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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



accurate Guicheneuf (Lcs Plantes bulbeuscs, tuberculeuses et rhizomatcuscs 

 ornament ales de serre et de pleine terre), and it does not figure in the 

 catalogues of the best-known horticulturists of Europe, except the Cata- 

 logue No. 129, 1892, of Dammann & Co., of S. Giovanni at Teduccio, 

 near Naples ; the Irid List of Plants offered by the Hortus botanic us 

 Vomerensis, C. Sprenger, Naples- Vomero, July 1904 ; and the Catalogue 

 general of Yilruorin-Andrieux et Cie., Paris, 1905, p. 172. C. Spreuger 

 received seeds of the var. Candida from Central China, and calls it a 

 true gem and a precious acquisition for our gardens. The type comes 

 from China, and also from Japan ; it is commonest in the environs of 

 Y'okohama, and owes its name to the fact of its growing on the straw- 

 and- clay-roofed peasants' huts, to which it imparts a most beautiful 

 appearance during the time of its flowering. The chief characters 

 distinguishing it from its allies are : the tuberous articulated rhizome ; 

 the leaves strougly carinate on dorsal side, linear-lanceolate, long- 

 acuminate ; scape simple, bearing two or three flowers ; peduncle as long 

 as ovary ; flowers of a deep azure-blue, with the three outer perianth- 

 segments reflexed, expanded, with undulate limb, adorned with stripes 

 interrupted by a deeper colour, which in the whitish claw become violet 

 and narrower ; the three inner divisions are erect and recurved towards 

 centre of flowers ; of a rather paler colour, and without spots and stripes. 



The form and colour of the flower are of the greatest beauty. It will 

 grow in pots or in open ground, in shade or in sunshine ; but not in a too 

 damp soil. It requires neither manure nor water in summer, and complete 

 rest in winter. It should be planted in October or November ; and it 

 flowers in April or May. It can withstand several degrees of frost, and is 

 much hardier than I. fimbriata. — W. C. W. 



Irrigation Waters and their Effects. By W. P. Headden 

 (U.S.A. Exp. Stn. Colorado, Bull. 83; 10 1903).— Gives a popular 

 account of the changes that take place in stored water and during the 

 passage of the irrigation water through the soil. It is pointed out that 

 the exhaustion of the fertility of the Colorado soils proceeds very slowly, 

 particularly with regard to potash and phosphoric acid. It is also shown 

 that the amount of matter carried by the irrigation water is so small 

 (0*0016 per cent.) as to have no appreciable mammal value. — F. J. C. 



Jacobinia, On a brilliant Pigment appearing after Injury 

 in Species Of. By T. Parkin {Ann. Bot. xix. Jan. 1905, pp. 167-8).— 



J. tinctoria and J. Mohintli were investigated. The pigment does not 

 exist as such in the living plant, but only appears on death. Leaves, 

 however, killed with boiling water remain green and do not darken. 

 Hence it is most likely that the pigment arises through enzymic action. 

 Oxygen is necessary for its formation. It is readily soluble in water, and 

 gives a fluorescent solution ; purple to violet by transmitted, and blood- 

 red by reflected light. Acid robs the solution of its colour, but alkali 

 turns it bluer. Other chemical details are given. — A. I). C. 



Kimberley, Horticulture at. By A. Chandler (Gard. Gkron. 

 No. 945, p. 67, figs. 30 and 31, Feb. 4, 1905). — In this paper an interesting 



