I 
394 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
[ May 19, 1881. 
light served in looking over the Rose bushes in my little garden, 
pouncing upon wriggling caterpillars, squashing fat brown grubs 
in the leaves, and digging out others from the stem. I did not 
number the slain and will not send you fancy figures, but I killed 
a host. I thought I was acquainted with all the enemies of the 
Rose, but an unknown stranger has made his appearance in my 
garden. White spots appear on the leaves, the leaf being eaten 
away on the under side and only the upper cuticle left. On 
turning up the leaf a small grub a quarter of an inch long appears 
holding on by its head, its body encased in a brown envelope 
projecting from the leaf at right angles. Can any of your readers 
tell me the name of the “ little beggar ?”— Edward Lester. 
BECCCJLI ON FIRM GROUND. 
Some twelve months ago there appeared in this Journal an 
excellent article from the pen of Mr. Wright, about planting 
Broccoli on hard ground. This I had never practised nor seen 
carried out in previous years, and I was therefore anxious to give 
what I thought a good system a fair trial, not merely for the 
sake of testing the advice there given, but for the purpose of grow¬ 
ing the plants more solid and hardy, so as to reduce the death 
rate amongst my plants if possible, as it was enormous during 
the winter of 1879 and 1880. The system referred to appeared to 
me to be the most likely by which that end could be achieved, 
and the result proved very satisfactory. Two portions of ground 
were selected that had the previous year being occupied with 
late Teas and Beans, and the ground in consequence was firm. 
A moderate dressing of manure was applied and just forked 
in below the surface, so as to allow' of small drills being drawn 
about 3 inches deep for the young plants when ready (a system 
1 generally carry out in planting the Brassicas). The seed w T as 
sown in an open position about the middle of April, and the 
seedlings produced grew slowly, but sturdily. Cattell’s Eclipse 
and Leamington were the two kinds selected, and when between. 
2 and 3 inches high they were finally planted upon the firm 
ground in rows 2 feet 6 inches apart, and the same distance 
from plant to plant. At first growth was slow, but when well 
established they soon covered the space allotted them. In autumn 
the stems w 7 cre thick and hard, and the plants dwarf and sturdy ; 
all w'ere lifted, and their heads laid to the north on the same 
portion of ground. Of the former eight out of every ten passed 
the winter safely, w'hile about half the latter were left alive ; 
both are now producing fine heads. Late Queen, recommended 
by some as the hardiest of all Broccoli, died with me treated in 
every respect the same as the preceding varieties. Those grown 
upon deeply dug rich soil, including the above, Carters’ Champion, 
and Harrison’s Late White, all succumbed to the effects of the 
severe w 7 eather; the thermomeler registering on one occasion as 
low a temperature as zero.— Wm. Bardney. 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Owing to the report of the Scientific Committee and the Rev. G-. 
Henslow r ’s lecture not reaching us sufficiently early last week, we 
were compelled to defer Iheir publication until the present issue. 
Scientific Committee. — Sarracenia. —Mr. Smith made some ad¬ 
ditional remarks on the petals of this plant, having come to the con¬ 
clusion that they rose when in a saturated atmosphere, in conse¬ 
quence of a strong light being thrown upon them. He exhibited a 
drawing to show how the uplifting of the petals would facilitate the 
ingress and egress of insects. 
The Influence of the Electric lArjht on Plants. —Mr. Buchanan exhi¬ 
bited Wheat plants sown on December 17th in the open air and sub¬ 
jected to the electric light. They came up slowly and were covered 
with snow. Several plants perished, but the remainder have grown 
very rapidly during the last five weeks. They were vigorous and 
green. They were about 15 feet from the light, which shone upon 
them every and all night. He also exhibited a Melon planted on 
November Gth. The light, however, was at too great a distance ; 
hence the plant grew very weakly. When, however, the light was 
subsequently brought nearer in January last it made rapid progress. 
The question was raised as to the flavour, but Mr. Buchanan observed 
that no opportunity as yet had occurred of making comparative 
experiments with those grown in sunlight. A vote of thanks was 
given unanimously to Mr. Buchanan for his interesting observations. 
Elisena. —Col. Clarke exhibited a hybrid between E. longipetala and 
Ismene callisthena, and which appeared to be identical with I. deflexa. 
The uppermost stamens were sharply bent down and across the tube 
of the perianth, as in Ismene, but the lower were declinate, as in 
Elisena. He also exhibited Tulipa undulatifolia and others, as well 
as Cyrtanthus McOwani. 
Abies Nordmanniana. —Boughs cut by the frost were exhibited by 
Dr. Masters. It appears that they had perished through the thaw 
rather than the frost, for they had been bowed down by snow which 
melted, and were then subjected to a hot sun. The violence of the 
contrast in temperatures caused their death. Col. Clarke observed 
that Silver Eirs and Norway Spruces had lost their leaders .during 
the late winter, while Mr. Wilson remarked that Cupressus Lawsoniana 
had also been killed. 
Thorns. —Dr. Masters recorded a remarkable instance of a Hawthorn 
around which a wire had been fixed to support a Rose tree. The 
wire had completely cut through the tree in ten years, but the wound 
had healed up, so that the tree had been quite uninjured. He also 
mentioned the case of a Hawthorn whose stem had been split for 
about a yard in length, the whole of the length had spontaneously 
reunited. 
Mr. E. Davies forwarded examples of Primroses with virescent 
corollas from Swansea ; Pansy with blue posterior petals. Mr. Noble 
exhibited a seedling with remarkable petals, apparently indicating 
a new departure in the distribution of colour. It was an accidental 
seedling. 
Mr. Buchanan mentioned the case of a Crab tree caught within the 
fork of a Beech and completely embedded in it. The effect appeared 
to be that the Crab tree blossomed much earlier than others in the 
neighbourhood. 
Mr. Henslow exhibited Daffodils in which the membranous spathe 
had dehisced in a circumscissile manner, entirely cutting off the upper 
part. He also showed “ Jack in the Green” Primroses from a plant 
found wild in Ireland. He exhibited some Willow catkins forwarded 
by Mr. Marshall of Ely, who had observed that those from monandrous 
Willows always flowered from the apex downwards, whereas catkins 
from the triandrous Willows flowered from the base upwards. 
Lecture. —The Rev. G. Henslow took the tribe “ Pome® ” of the 
Rose family (Rosaceee) as the subject of his remarks, as Mr. Barron 
exhibited several branches of Apple trees illustrating considerable 
varieties of form, size, colour, &c., in their blossoms. He described 
the flower of the Apple, and pointed out the affinities with the Plum, 
Blackberry, Strawberry, and Rose, as well as the differences, espe¬ 
cially in the characters of their fruits respectively, which separated 
them. He dwelt upon the so-called “ calyx-tube,” or rather “recep- 
tacular-tube, and showed how it was characteristic of the whole 
family under modified forms, constituting the thin tube of the Cherry, 
the flat dish-like process in the Blackberry and Strawberry, the haw 
of the Rose, and the fleshy part of the fruit of the Apple, Pear, &c. 
As the season of the year has arrived when frosts prove most 
disastrous to fruit trees, the lecturer proceeded to make some lemarks 
upon it. He first observed the importance of understanding the ex¬ 
ternal conditions which were favourable or otherwise to the acquisi¬ 
tion of hardiness by plants. One of the most important facts is, that 
in low-lying situations (if away from any large body of water, which 
might act as a radiator of heat and so moderate the temperature in 
its neighbourhood) frost almost invariably proved more destructive 
to vegetation than on higher and more exposed situations. That 
such was the case had long been observed. Mr. Henslow ventured 
to offer the following explanation :—In the first place valleys accu¬ 
mulate heat, and being naturally moist vegetation is earlier, more 
stimulated, and later in drawing its period of activity to a close ; 
hence there would be a less capability of ripening wood and hardening 
the constitution in autumn. It is then in a condition likely to suffer. 
On the other hand, when frosts occur the atmosphere is clear and 
comparatively free from moisture, so that radiation can proceed 
rapidly and without interruption. Now, since moisture is slow to 
acquire heat and equally slow in parting with it, from this fact alone 
one would be inclined to infer that the temperature of valleys ought 
to be slower in reaching the freezing point than that of higher ground. 
But evaporation from a moist surface would take place, especially 
under just those atmospheric conditions which favour frost; and it is 
this (the lecturer suggested) which was probably the cause of the 
increased lowering of temperature, since to evaporate water a con¬ 
siderable amount of heat is required, as may readily be recognised by 
wetting the finger and allowing it to dry by evaporation. 
The chief cause, however, of valleys being colder than the higher 
situations at night was probably that, although radiation takes place 
from both, yet in consequence of the air on higher ground being more 
agitated than that in the valleys, no portion of it rests long enough 
in one place to become much colder than the general mass of the 
atmosphere of the same height. Moreover, the chilled air on the hills 
being heavier, slides down into the valley, making room for the 
arrival of a fresh supply of warmer air. With regard to spring frosts, 
what usually caused them to be so disastrous was a previous condition 
of wet, as so often occurs in April. When vegetation is started the 
tissues are loaded with moving sap ; then if a frost comes, and a 
bright hot day follows, the sudden transitions of temperature prove 
disastrous. If the frozen trees be syringed early in the morning with 
cold water, so as to raise their temperature slightly above the freezing 
point, the intense heat of a May sun may be powerless to injure the 
tree. 
The presence of a surface of water near fruit trees has been 
suggested as a preventive of frost, just as pails of water are some¬ 
times placed in storerooms, which are said to protect Apples, Pota¬ 
toes, ifec., from being frostbitten, while the W'ater in the pail itself is 
frozen. If it be correct, the interpretation would seem to be that in 
order for water to freeze it must part with a relatively large amount 
of heat; this is distributed to the atmosphere about it, and its tem¬ 
perature will be obviously raised. The lecturer suggested that fruit¬ 
growers should experiment on this point by placing pails or troughs 
