\2- 
ESCALLONIA MACRANTHA. — THE CHEMISTRY OF SOILS AND MANURES. 
ESCALLONIA MACKANTHA. 
Nat. Order. — Saxji-ragace^e \ Escallonie-e. 
Generic Character. — Escallonia, Mutis. — Calyx with a 
hemispherical tube adherent to the ovary ; limb superior, five- 
toothed or five-parted. Corolla of five petals inserted on the 
margin of an epigynousdisk, oblong-spathulate, the claws erect, 
the limbs obtuse and spreading. Stamens five, inserted with 
the petals; filaments thread-like; anthers ovate-oblong, two- 
colled. Ovary inferior, with a cushion-like or cup-shaped epi- 
gynous disk, two- or more rarely three-celled ; placentas adhe- 
rent to the middle of the dissepiments or to the central angles of 
the cells, with many ovules ; style simple ; stigma sub-pel- 
tatcly dilated, with two or three notches. Capsule crowned by 
the tube of the calyx and the epigynous disk, two- or three- 
celled, septicidally two- or three- valvcd from the base; valves 
coherent at the apex ; placental column thread-like, free. Seeds 
numerous, with a pitted testa. Embryo orthotropous, subcy- 
lindrical, short, in the axis of fleshy albumen. — Trees and 
shrubs growing in the tropical part of South America and be- 
yond the tropics in the south ; most frequently resinous ; 
leaves alternate, entire, or sharply serrate, without stipules ; 
flowers terminal or more rarely axillary, solitary, paniculate, 
or racemose, white rose-coloured or purple. — {Endlicher Gen. 
Plant. 4674.) 
Escallonia macrantha, Hooker and Arnott. — Large red- 
flowered Escallonia. — Branches glandular-pubescent ; leaves 
obovate-elliptic, somewhat obtuse, wedge-shaped at the base, 
serrated, reticulated, glabrous, dotted with resinous points be- 
neath ; panicles terminal, with deciduous bracteolcs ; calyces 
glandular-pilose, the teeth subulate. 
BESCEIPTION. — A most beautiful evergreen shrub, of branching habit, growing four or five 
feet high. The branches terete, clothed while young with glandular hairs. Leaves 
obovate-elliptical, somewhat blunt-pointed, and tapering to the base, alternate, doubly serrated; 
the upper surface smooth, dark shining green, marked with depressed reticulations, the under 
surface paler coloured and dotted with resinous points. Flowers in terminal panicles, large, 
deep red, on bracteolated pedicels, the bracteoles deciduous. Calyx turbinate, clothed with 
stalked viscid glands, the lower portion of the tube adherent to the ovary, the upper part free, 
bell-shaped, and divided about half-way down into five slightly-spreading awl-shaped teeth. 
Corolla of five spathulate petals, the erect claws of which form a tube five-eighths of an inch 
long, and the spreading laminoe a limb of fully three-fourths of an inch across. Stamens as long 
as the tube. Ovary two-celled ; the style columnar, surrounded at the base by a large furrowed 
gland, and tipped by the thick dilated obscurely two-lobed stigma. Capsule turbinate-cyLm- 
drical, surmounted by the persistent limb of the calyx. 
History, &c. — A fine hardy evergreen shrub imported by Messrs. Veitch of Exeter, from 
Chiloc, through their collector, Mr. W. Lobb. It was produced by them a year or two since at 
the metropolitan exhibitions, and about the same time figured by Sir W. J. Hooker, in the 
Botanical Magazine. No garden where ornamental plants are esteemed ought to be without this 
Escallonia, which blooms from June onwards for a considerable period. Its blossoms are rich 
crimson red, and are rendered more attractive by contrast with the background of deep green 
glossy foliage. Our figure was made from specimens communicated last June by Messrs. Yeitch, 
who have this year exhibited the plant with deeper coloured flowers than on former occasions. 
Culture. — The species of this genus arc all free-growing plants, in any moderately good 
soil. E. macrantha is found to be hardy in the climate of Devonshire, but it will probably, in 
less favoured localities, require the protection afforded by a wall, and a dryish situation; and, 
even then, will need some slight covering to enable it to withstand our severer winters. In a 
cold conservatory it would, no doubt, form a splendid bush, planted out in a bed of good peat 
and loam ; and moderate sized plants grown in pots would be found very useful for purposes of 
decoration. It may be multiplied to any extent by cuttings of the young shoots planted under 
hand-glasses in sandy soil ; the young plants requiring the protection of a frame in winter. — M. 
THE CHEMlSTliY OF SOILS ANT) MANTJKES. 
By Dr. A. VOELCKER, Phofkssor or Chemistry in tih: Royal Agricultural College, Cirf.m i rss 
ON Till'. FORMATION OP SOILS — MECHANICAL CAUSES. 
/ /]■', now come to notice another class of agencies of a different nature to those to which we have 
W4 before adverted :- 
II. Mechanical causes active in the formation of soils. — Generally the first stage id the disintegra- 
tion of rucks can be referred to a chemical force. The described chemical agencies, however, are often 
(2 associated with mechanical ones or followed by purely mechanical causes, which produce great changes vs 
f\ in the appearance of rocks, and contribute much to the rapid formation and the peculiarity of some soils. j\ 
H\ ^" , • ln * - D \k \ 
