l82 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



These water conditions and the Habihty to covering by blown 

 sand produce extraordinary variations in the growth of roots. A 

 four-weeks' old Eryngium maritimum had a root 3 feet long and a 

 hypocotyl 20 cm. long. When again covered by sand the (first) leaf- 

 stalks elongated by intercalary growth. An Oenothera had a root 

 loj feet long and covered an area of 21 feet in diameter. Elder is 

 often planted as a protection on the dunes. 



In storms, the sand blown by the wind is apt to do much damage 

 to hyacinths and tulips. In consequence windscreens of Thuja 

 occidentalis or other quick-growing plants are required. — G. F. S. E. 



Saxifrage Hybrids. By Mrs. Lloyd Edwards {Garden, Sept. 27, 

 1913, p. 485 ; coloured plate). — ^The authoress gives an account of 

 how she raised a number of hybrid saxifrages, beginning with a chance 

 seedling called Apple Blossom, probably from Guildford's seedling X 

 S hirta, and including 5. Clibrani, S. sanguinea superba, S. rosea 

 superba, ' Rose Beauty/ and others. — H. R. D. 



Scale, Pernicious. By C. P. Lounsbury {Agr. Jour. Cape G. H. 

 vol. vi. No. 4, p. 663, Oct. 1913). — In the report on the present position 

 with regard to this pest it is stated that lime-sulphur wash and 

 " scaleicide " were the spray fluids chiefly employed, and both proved 

 highly efficient. " The experience of the past year has amply demon- 

 strated that spraying as a suppressive measure is cheap and highly 

 satisfactory, and has also demonstrated that good spraying has a 

 very decided value in retarding local spread. One thorough spraying 

 every winter is evidently all that is required to prevent damage to 

 a tree ; but two or three thorough sprayings in one winter may be 

 necessary to get the pest well under control in the case of trees which 

 have been allowed to become badly infested by neglect in one or 

 more years." — A. A. K. 



Scolopendrum vulgare var. Daedalea. By E. Bouvel {Rev. 

 Hort., p. 53, Feb. i, 1914 ; i ill.). — This variety, found wild near 

 Chapelle-Basse-Mer (Loire Inferieure), bears a well-developed flat 

 crest, divided into two, with broad flabellate terminals. The spores, 

 being sown separately, some from the crest and some from the normal 

 base, have yielded, it is stated, typical plants from the former and 

 purely normal ones from the latter, thus refuting, as far as it goes, the 

 theory until now accepted, that the abnormal influence pervaded 

 the frond instead of being merely confined to the abnormal portion. 

 This appears to have been the case with several successive trials — an 

 interesting fact, but requiring further experiment on similar lines. 



C. T. D. 



Seedcoats, Semipervious Nature of. By Charles A. Shull {Boi. 

 Gaz. Sept. 1913, pp. 169-199; 9 figs.). — ^The author found that 

 the seedcoat of Xanthium (like that of Nordeum) is not impermeable 

 but semipermeable. A power of selection is shown ; certain sub- 

 stances such as copper sulphate, sugars, glycerol, hydrochloric and 



