630 
THE, GH RDENERS’ CHRONICLE. 6H3‘1 [November 17, 1883. 
medium of dry specimens brought from foreign 
intries, that there are no fewer than about 100,000 
ferent flower-bearing plants. At a liberal estimate 
: number of plants which could be said to be of 
ect service to mankind would not amount to more 
in 10,000. There would be 500 different kinds of 
it trees, then all sorts of vegetables, trees supplying 
iber, and plants which give material for the manu- 
ture of clothing— cotton, hemp, flax, and so on. 
le greater portion of the | remainder of the plants 
re ornamental, but to his mind every bit as useful 
the economic ones. As nearly as he could estimate 
ire might be some 5000 plants which were more 
less poisonous and hurtful, some of them very much 
i others only moderately so. The most important 
t of all was that a large proportion of the deadly 
.nts with which we are acquainted are admirable 
dicines in the hands of a clever physician who 
Dws how to administer them in proper quantities 
i at proper times. We may, therefore, look upon 
isonous plants and accept them as the good gifts of 
Dvidence, intended to be applied to certain purposes, 
'. Bruce Findlay will read a paper on “ A plant, 
lat is it ? ” at next Thursday’s meeting. 
The “ CovENT Garden ” Lifeboat.— 
1 the 3d of the present month the new “ Covent 
irden ” lifeboat was launched with great success 
presence of the Mayor of Yarmouth arid a large 
mpany of friends and supporters of the Life- 
at Institution, including Mr. T. A. Dickson, Mr. 
. R. Buck, Mr. S. J. Pallant, Mr. C. Denton, 
d Mr. J. Webber, members of the Covent Garden 
mmittee, of which Mr. Webber was the Honorary 
cretary, and who, in the name of the committee, 
nded over the new lifeboat into the keeping of the 
.rmouth and Caister Branch of the National Life- 
at Institution, with the remark that he was sure 
J boat would be safe in their keeping, and would 
launched whenever a signal of distress was ob- 
ved. The Mayor, on behalf of the lifeboat com- 
ttee, thanked the Covent Garden committee for 
;ir munificence. He assured them that the new 
at would be perfectly safe in the hands of the 
ister beachmen, than whom a braver set of men 
^ist on the coast. 
■7“ 
— ^ Fungi on Foreign Grape Vines in 
lERiCA. — The following very interesting communi- 
.ion has been received from Dr. Taylor of the 
.‘partment of Agriculture, Washington, dated 
:tober 28 “This summer, and at this moment, 
□ foreign Grape Vines of 100 varieties are, so to 
7, covered with the perithecia of an erysiphoid 
3gus of which I enclose specimens. I am fully 
rare that many of the American varieties and some 
the species have the form Uncinula on them, but I 
.1 not aware that any one has ever found any form, 
bgenus, or species of this character on the foreign 
rape Vines. You are, I suppose, aware that in 
Drth America the foreign Grape Vine is grown 
aolly under glass structures. The Oidium Tuckeri 
quite common on the foreign Vine. Within twelve 
ars our foreign Vines were affected alike. I have 
Itched each year since 1871 but no perithecia were 
m.” On examination of the specimens we find the 
ncinula. as far as we can see, to be identical with 
. spiralis. Berk, and Curtis, having the same long 
ipendage, the tips of which are distinctly spiral 
)s and not merely hooked. This species was sent 
us by Mr. Curtis on leaves of Vitis Labrusca. As 
r as we are aware, like Dr. Taylor, no perithe- 
um has ever been developed on European Vine, on 
hich the Oidium is so common and destructive, 
ycnidia have been found by Amici, but no peri- 
ecia. It is, therefore, certainly curious that 
irithecia should have developed in America under 
ass, and still more so that it should be a specimen 
aich occurs on the well known Vitis Labrusca. As 
at Uncinula is not known in Europe we cannot 
the broad handsomely bipinnate leaves in the fading 
autumn months is more suggestive of the robust and 
vigorous growth of summer. Although individually 
small, these flowers in the aggregate at some little 
distance resemble the snowy masses of such as Spirsea 
Lindleyana, or S. arisefolia. The plant is perfectly 
hardy and deciduous, but retains its beautiful 
foliage till late in the season, and whether in flower 
or not, deserves a prominent place in the shrubbery ; 
and were it not for its naked stems in winter, it would 
constitute a bold and telling specimen for the lawn. 
These stems, being straight and unbranched in the 
young state, present the singular appearance of stakes 
stuck in the ground. The plant is also known as 
Aralia chiri^sis, and together with some others forms 
a subgenu'T-dF^Sctibfn 6T "the- 4 ^g?- and. j^aried genus 
Aralia, George _., y 
COPROSMA lucida. — Outside of botanic 
gardens (with the exception of C. Baueriana and its 
variegated varieties) the members of this genus seem 
little if at all known. Several species have been 
introduced from New Zealand, and are so hardy^that 
C. Baueriana and C. Cunninghamii will live/ and 
even flower, under the protection of a wall. The 
flowers are small and insignificant, for which the 
leathery evergreen leaves are some compen^tion ; 
but their chief value from a horticultural point pf view 
lies in those sorts having variegated foliage, o^, as in 
the present instance, having highly coloured and 
attractive berries. In the winter garden Kew a 
large plant is conspicuous amidst the su^ounding 
greenery by its clusters of small scarlet berries, which 
seem to weigh down the small twiggy shools by their 
abundance. This it seems to do annujtlly with a 
regularity that would make it worth the general culti- 
vator’s attention as a conservatory plant. 
Mr. William Falconer.— The American 
Gardeners' Monthly sympathises with the Cambridge 
(Mass.) Botanic Garden on its loss of Mr. William 
Fal,coner, its Curator, who is reported to have been 
engaged by Mr. Charles A. Dana as his gardener 
at Glen Cove. Many of our reader^ will remember 
Mr. Falconer as a young man of great promise who 
was well ' l?nown to horticulturists in London a few 
v^ears ago, ala^d whom they will wisl^vall success in his 
^w undertaking. * 
anew RACifOF W inter MloweringCaena- 
I'IONS. — This remark may be correctly applied to a 
group of Tree Carnations exhibited by Messrs. Hooper 
^ Co., Centre Row, Covent Garden, at the meeting of 
the Floral Committee at South Kensington on the 
jjth inst. There were so ne three dozen plants of the 
following varieties : — Irma, .fright purplish rose ; 
Purity, white ; Zouave, depp crimson ; and Jean 
Sjsley, sulphur, flaked crimson and rose. They are 
of the dwarf, free-branching type known as A. Alle- 
gatiere, but in some respects dwarfer, and singularly 
free of bloom ; and it would appear that they can be 
easily grown in pots, the bulk of the plants shown 
being from cuttings struck in the spring, and some of 
them— the larger and taller— being two years older. 
That such fine bushy, Vigorous plants should have 
been produced in the sp^'ce of eight or nine months 
speaks volumes in favour of their free growth ; and 
they were full of bloom| and with numbers of sifcces- 
sibnal buds showing ^themselves. This race will 
be found of much va^ue for autumn and winter 
cultivation, and with' them there will be no 
difficulty in having blooms of Carnations all the 
year round. 
The Week.— Now that the Apple Congress 
is over, and that the special Chrysanthemum shows 
absorb the interest in those flowers, it might be 
thought that the last meeting of the Royal Horticul- 
tural Society would have been, to say the least, flat. 
Nothing, indeed, can be imagined more dreary than 
there is no doubt whatever that the luminousness 
brilliancy of the flower is enhanced by allowing 
yellow disc to be seen. Of course florists wi) 
agree to this, nor will they or ought they to assei 
the ragged, unsymmetrical ray florets ; but if M< 
Cannell’s forecast be true, improvements in 
^ particulars will soon be forthcoming.— The new p 
exhibited by Messrs. Veitch & Bull were, as 
always are, of interest to the few. It may be fi; 
teft years before the great British public cai 
bre^ght to see their charms. The great B 
pub|c is a very incomprehensible body, and 
cle^y not always an advantage to be before 
it. “ New Plants,” described by our forefi 
by ourselves years ago and forgotten, come | 
; 4 he present generation; a /w'ore is made,' 
/ the services of those who have gone before 
ignored, and their results appropriated by n( 
and brought out as new.— Hybrid Sarracenias a 
teresting no doubt, as all such productions are 
from a purely decorative point of view it is doi 
whether some of the crosses are any improveme 
the originals. Still they are, or may be, the st: 
points of some new forms, and should be encou 
accordingly. It is another mysterious circums 
that the flowers of these plants should attract so 
attention, and yet they are to the full as extraord 
and even more attractive than the pitchers, 
day they will come to the front as something quite 
— With regard to the Potato disease, it was pc 
out at the Scientific Committee that the tubes en 
from the bud-spores (conidia) could not, or at 
had never been seen to penetrate the thick, 
layer, by which the surface of the tuber is inv( 
What, then, becomes of M. Jensen’s theory ? A 
as to the alleged “ sclerotia,” to which attentio 
called by Mr. A. S. Wilson, it now appears that 
bodies are only masses of oxalate of lime, and s( 
another theory. It is a subject for inquiry, hov 
whether the calcic oxalate may not in some 
another be connected with the fungus, for it ii 
known that crystals of this substance occur in 
fungi. — The rediscovery of Narcissus viridiflorus I 
Maw is also a matter of considerable interest, t 
alluded toelsewhere. — The Grapes shown byMr. 
were wonderful for size, but we do not think 
would grow Colmar for flavour if they could gel 
thing else. — Chrysanthemum shows are the order 
day, and they afford something to look at fo 
florist pure and simple, as well as for the lo\ 
fancy flowers and morphological curiosities, 
diverse utility of the Chrysanthemum, from J i 
January, is one of the special points in its favoi 
At the dinner of one of the City companies, 
unconnected with horticulture, the guests 
insulted by being presented with calico Rose 
their biifttonholes. We have every wish to encor 
honest industry, but when it comes to wearing c; 
Roses when fresh flowers may be h'ad/lt is tim 
the horticulturists to protest. Better nothing a 
than such abominations. — The lectures on 1 
Diseases are alluded ^ elsewhere as a step ii 
right direction.— Mr. I|indlay may well thinl 
successful Apple show, held under his manageme 
Manchester, is a similar §tep in advance ; and 1: 
we are glad to chroniefe the fact that the 1 
national Forestry Exhibition, in Edinburgh, is 
to be a great success.— The question whether 
country ought or ought not to become a party t 
Phylloxera Convention is well worthy of carefu 
sideration by our nurserymen. In the meantin 
do not deserve the castigation administered b 
Gardeners' Monthly, who assumes that this co 
has entered the Convention. The Gardeners' Me 
ought to know that no one has been more outsj 
as to the folly and futility of the Phylloxera laws 
ourselves. 
The Paraguay Flora. — M. 
Micheli has recently issued a monograph 
Leguminosae of Parapuav. mflinlw j ■■ 
copyright reserved 
