156 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



of iron to i litre of water, but this proved to be too strong. The 

 leaves of the tree turned black and fell off ; the new leaves which 

 replaced them after some weeks were, however, quite green. The 

 dose was reduced to 50 milHgrammes per litre of water, and the ex- 

 periment was tried on pyramid trees instead of on branches of cordon- 

 trained ones. The result was completely satisfactory, the leaves 

 were not detached from the tree, they regained their normal colour 

 a few weeks after having absorbed the pyrophosphate of iron, and 

 though there has not been time yet to register exactly how long the 

 effect remains, it is already apparent that the action of the iron 

 remains in force for several years. — M. L. H. 



Irritating the Skin, Plants {Agr. Gaz. N.S.W. vol. xxiv. pt. x. 

 p. 916). — Humea elegans must be added to the list of plants which 

 may cause skin irritation. — 5. E. W. 



Kniphofia gracilis [Rev. de I'HorL Belg. July 15, 1913, p. 227 ; 

 plate). — Messrs. Krelage & Sons, of Haarlem, have produced a new 

 race of hybrid Tritomas {Kniphofia gracilis) which should be a great 

 acquisition. The spikes of bloom are smaller and more graceful than 

 those of the old Kniphofia aloides, the colours vary from pale yellow 

 to a flaming orange-red, and the variety has the advantage of producing 

 an uninterrupted profusion of flowers during the whole summer and 

 until the frost. The most meritorious of the section are said to be : 



* Golden Spire,' ' Jaune Supreme,' ' La Citronniere,' * Orange Queen,' 



* Prince of Orange,' ' Solferino,' ' Sovereign.' — M. L. H. 



Lemon, The, To Preserve and Prepare for Sale {Rev. Hort. 

 de VAlg. July 1913, p. 280). — A note on gathering, maturing, and 

 packing lemons for market. Care and attention are well bestowed 

 on these processes, as the lemon is a fruit which is capable of great 

 improvement after it has been gathered. — M. L. H. 



Light and Shade on Beech Twigs, Effect of. By Hermann 

 Farentholtz {Beih. Bot. Cent. xxxi. Abt. i, Heft i, pp. 90-118). — 

 There is a great difference in anatomical characters between the long 

 and the short Beech twigs, which must be compared separately. On 

 sun shoots the epidermis has smaller, thicker-walled cells ; the periderm 

 is formed sooner and is more abundant (seven to ten layers on upper 

 side as compared with four to five layers on upper side of shade twigs) ; 

 the tangential walls are stronger ; stone cells are more numerous (170 

 on upper, thirty on lower, as compared with only four in the whole 

 of a shade twig) . The primary bast fibres are more strongly thickened 

 in sun shoots. The wood is also much more developed. A sun shoot 

 two to three years old is equal in thickness to a shade shoot ten to 

 twenty years old. 



The short shoots differ in many characters from the long ones, 

 and some of these appear to be due to differences in the exposure to 

 light. 



The differences in seedling Beeches exposed to hght and shade 



