328 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



forms have no bare length of stem, but the foliage sweeps the ground. 

 The height of the trees is about 3 metres (10 ft.). They flourish 

 wonderfully in soil made from oak- and orange-leaves. They vary in 

 price, according to age, beauty, and size, from 100 to 200 lire (* : 4 to £8) 

 the pair.— TU. C. TU. 



Lawns. Manuring of. By A. D. H. {Gard. Chron. No. 942, p. 17, 

 Jan. 14, 1905). — The question how to improve the grass of lawns, tennis- 

 courts, &c. is one of increasing interest, particularly as near London the 

 difficulty of obtaining good turf is so great. The judicious manuring 

 of lawns appears from experiments which have been carried out at 

 Eothamsted, and of which a short account is given in this paper, to be 

 very successful in destroying weeds, or rather in enabling the grass to 

 smother the weeds. Details as to the best manures and the proper 

 amounts to use are given. — G. S. S. 



Leptosporangiate Ferns, On the Arrangement of the Vas- 

 cular Strands in the 'Seedling's* of certain. By S. E. Chandler 

 {Ann. Bot. vol. xix. July 1905, pp. 365-409 ; 3 plates). — Seventeen species 

 of ferns were investigated. The following conclusions are reached : The 

 primitive type of vascular system in the ferns is a solid rod of vascular 

 tissue, which may be a solid xylem strand surrounded by phloem, or an 

 amphiphloic strand. The complex dictyostelic structure results from the 

 moulding and elaboration of this solid vascular strand, the moulding and 

 elaboration being largely due to the necessity for an efficient attachment 

 of leaf-traces. The development of the vascular system proceeds aloug 

 certain well-defined lines, and practically all the intermediate stages have 

 been adopted by different plants as most suited to their individual mature 

 requirements. The ontogeny of the vascular system strikingly resembles 

 what we must suppose to have been its phylogeny. — A. D. C. 



Lettsomia Melvillei. By S. Moore (Journ. Bot. 509, p. 144 : 

 5 1905). — Description of a new species resembling L. setosa. but 

 possibly an Ipomcsa, collected by Major Melville, at 3.000 feet altitude 

 at Pyinsamben. in the Shan States, and preserved in the National 

 Herbarium. — G. S. B. 



Leucadendron arg'enteum. By C. Spiengei {Bull B. Soc. Tosc. 

 Ort. 4, p. 120; April 1905). — The silver-tree grows well and handsomely 

 in the gardens of Naples and Palermo, where it is quite at home. It likes 

 the open air and light soil ; it cannot bear to be shut up in a plant-house, 

 and can resist fairly low temperatures outside. Its roots do not like to be 

 confined to pots. It will grow in open woods and copses, and looks well 

 planted in small groups : it likes rocky, but at the same time deep and 

 sweet soil. It prefers hillsides and to grow among recks, artificial or 

 otherwise. This tree is also called by the colonists of the Cape " The 

 Splendour of our Woods." It grows much better in woods than under 

 the restraining and conventional conditions of gardens ; it is indeed the 

 tree of liberty. The tree is not only beautiful, but useful ; for the bark 

 contains tannin. The white wood is used, even in Europe, for numerous 

 kinds of artistic ornaments. — TU. C. TU. 



