CCXXxiv PROCEEDINGS OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The effect of trenching must vary greatly in different soils, and, if 

 accompanied by a liberal digging-in of manure, may, in many cases, be 

 beneficial : in our case it has been very much the reverse (though the 

 above results may be accidentally too high), and all the money spent in 

 trenching our ground has certainly been wasted. 



Careless planting, accompanied by neglect of the soil (except that 

 manure has been given) and trees, has proved disastrous, but this must 

 be attributed solely to the neglect — chiefly to not tilling the ground— and 

 not to the careless planting ; for a set of trees, planted in the same way, 

 recovered at once as soon as the soil was tilled (one year after the plant- 

 ing), and have been quite as profitable as their properly planted neigh- 

 bours. 



Grassing Established Trees. 



Half an acre of mixed plantation was taken twelve years after planting, 

 and half of it was laid down to grass, the other half being kept tilled. 

 Some effect was noticeable even in the first year, and now, in the third 

 year, the grassed trees of most of the varieties are so affected that they 

 will probably die if the grass is not removed. One or two varieties have 

 not suffered much yet. The following are the relative values of the crops 

 this year, chiefly from standard trees. 





Tilled. 



Grassed. 



Warner's King . 



. Value 100 



100 



Newton Wonder 



„ 100 



60 



Gascoyne's Scarlet . 



„ 100 



31 



Yellow Ingestrie 



„ 100 



30 



Golden Noble . 



„ 100 



18 



New Northern Greening . 



„ 100 



3 



Peasgood's Nonsuch . 



. „ 100 



2 



Scientific Committee, 



December 7, 



1909. 



Mr. J. T. Bennett-Poe, M.A., in the Chair, and eight members present. 



Lobelia thapsoidea. — Mr. Worsley showed flowers of this species, 

 a tall-growing plant, reaching 7 feet in height, seeds of which he had 

 collected at the summit of the Organ Mountains, in Mexico. 



Saxifraga tridactylites. — Mr. Fraser, F.L.S., showed specimens of this 

 plant growing vigorously in a pot, reaching a size considerably greater 

 than that attained in its usual habitat, such as the tops of walls and 

 similar places in the British Isles. The seed had been collected at 

 Weybridge, and the plants were now commencing to flower. He 

 remarked that the plant had a wide distribution through the north 

 temperate zone, and that, although in this country it was confined to 

 such situations as the tops of walls, on the Continent it grew among 

 pasture plants and appeared able to compete with them. 



Psychotria jasminiflora. — Foliage cut from a seedling of this plant, 

 raised by Mr. George Lee, Clevedon, was sent, illustrating the difference 

 between the juvenile and adult forms of leaves, the latter being much 

 broader in proportion to their length than the former, and also consider- 



