192 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 30, 18S3. 
Houtte, Etienne Levet, and C. Lefebvre. Several of these were in Messrs. 
Cooling’s stand, and also Madame Victor Verdier, E. Y. Teas, Madame Hunni- 
bell, Bouquet d’Or, and Franqois Michelon. Mr. M. A. Durban, Bath, took 
the third prize. The amateurs also showed Roses in grand condition, Miss 
Watson Taylor being especially successful. Among Miss Taylor’s fine stand 
of eight triplets the best blooms were of Jean Ducher, Marie Baumann, A. 
Colomb, Horace Vernet, and Mrs. Jowitt. Mr. J. Campbell, gardener to S. P. 
Budd, Esq., Bath, and Mr. J. Davis, Wilton, took the remaining prizes for 
very creditable exhibits. Miss Taylor was also first for twelve singles, these 
including Belle Lyonnaise, Sultan of Zanzibar, Marie Rady, Souvenir d’Elise 
Vardon, and Catherine Mermet. Mr. Budd and Mr. T. Hobbs were placed 
equal seconds, both following the premier stand very closely. Dahlias were 
also particularly well shown by Messrs. Keynes & Co.; and Messrs. G. 
Humphries, Chippenham, J. Wheeler, Warminster, A. A. Walters, Bath, 
were all successful exhibitors, while Messrs. G. Cooling & Son had a great 
variety, including singles and new semi-doubles, but not for competition. 
Mr. S. Bishop, gardener to G. S. Jones, Esq., Mr. S. Prances, Weston, 
and Mr. C. Bailey, Bath, had the best boxes of twenty varieties of choice 
cut flowers, and took the awards in the order named. Mr. H. S. James, 
gardener to Mr. A. Taverton, Farleigh, was the most successful exhibitor 
of vaseSj wreaths, and bouquets ; and Messrs. Cross & Steer, Salisbury, was 
also a winner of prizes in the same line. Mr. M. Hookings displayed great 
taste with bouquets, wreaths, and vases filled with hardy flowers, and several 
others exhibited creditably. 
There was rather less fruit than usual, and that may have influenced 
Mr. King, gardener at Devizes Castle, when he staged such enormous dishes 
of fruit in competition for the prizes offered for a collection. At any rate 
he made a very effective display, and the fruit, too, was of first-class quality. 
The collection included six fine bunches of Black Hamburgh and a similar 
number of Muscat of Alexandria Grapes, large heaps of Pine Apple and 
Prince of Wales Nectarines, Exquisite and Barrington Peaches, Jefferson 
and Green Gage Plums, and Eastnor Castle Melon. Mr. A. Miller, gardener 
to W. H. Long, Esq., M.P., Rood Ashton, took the second prize, his collection 
including good Lady Downe’s and Foster’s Seedling Grapes, Belle Beauce 
and Barrington Peaches, and Best of All and Premier Melons. Mr. King 
was first with Black Hamburgh Grapes ; Mr. W. J. Coles, Devizes, second ; 
and Mr. A. Miller third. The best Muscats of Alexandria were staged by 
Mr. W. Shelton, gardener to W. K. Waite, Esq., Mr. A. Shad well being 
second, and Mr. A. Miller third. Mr. J. Jordan took the lead with Any 
other white variety, staging fairly good Buckland Sweetwater, Messrs. 
Miller and W. J. Loosemoore taking the remaining prizes. Mr. J. Jordan 
was awarded a first prize for Black Alicante Grapes. Melons were well 
shown by Mr. W. J. Weston, gardener to the Rev. C. C. Layard, Combe 
Hay, Mr. T. King, and Mr. A. Miller; Plums by Messrs. G. Kitchen and 
W. J. Morris ; Peaches by Messrs. J. Palmer, gardener to Miss Jarrett, and 
G. Pymm ; Nectarines by Messrs. J. Palmer and T. King ; Apples (dessert) 
by Messrs. A. T. Hall and G. Pymm ; Apples (culinary) by Messrs. F. Smith, 
Salisbury, and W. J. Smith, Bath ; and Pears by Messrs. Hall, Bath. Large 
quantities of vegetables of all kinds were shown, including single dishes. 
The collection which best pleased the Judges was staged by Mr. M. Burn- 
field, Bath, Mr. A. Miller being placed second for decidedly the best lot. 
JUNIPERUS SABINA. 
Dwarf-growing Conifers are not numerous, and particularly those 
of low spreading habit, hence the value of the Savin for clothing rocky 
slopes, in which the larger members of the family could not make head¬ 
way. It does not do well in all soils ; indeed, I have not seen it thrive 
in soils other than gravelly, doing remarkably well in the gravel soil of 
the oolitic formation. As I am interested (and who is not ?) in the 
growth of plants, I desire to ask for particulars of specimens of this 
useful Conifer, with a view to arriving at a record of the largest in the 
British Isles. I may state that we have an isolated specimen here 
(Paxton Park, St. Neot’s) 6 feet 6 inches high in the centre, 18 feet 
across, and 54 feet in circumference. It forms a beautiful symmetrical 
bush, and is very healthy, of a deep green colour. Judging from the 
growth made this season it will evidently attain to very much larger 
dimensions.—G. Abbey. 
THE LEAVES OF PLANTS. 
Mr. G. Thompson asks for “full particulars of the leaves of plants 
and their functions.” This subject is too large and important to be 
discussed, and the question too comprehensive to be answered in the 
ordinary form through our correspondence columns ; in fact, we cannot 
answer it fully here, but the following article by a very able writer 
may perhaps be worth attentive perusal:— 
The leaves are highly vascular organs, in which are performed 
some of the most important functions of a plant. They are very general, 
but not absolutely necessary organs, since the branches sometimes 
perform their offices ; such plants, however, as naturally possess them 
are destroyed or greatly injured by being deprived of them. The 
duration of a leaf is, in general, but for a year, though in some plants 
they survive for twice or thrice that period. These organs are generally 
of a green colour. Light seems to have a powerful influence in causing 
this, since, if kept in the dark, they become of a pale yellow, or even 
white hue, unless uncombined hydrogen is present, in which case they 
retain their verdure though light be absent, hence their blanching would 
seem to arise from their being unable to obtain this gas, under ordinary 
circumstances, except when light is present. Now, the only source 
from which they can obtain hydrogen is by decomposing water ; and 
how light assists in the decomposition may perhaps be explained by 
the disoxygenising power with which it is gifted. The violet rays of 
the spectrum have this power in the greatest degree ; and Sennebier 
has ascertained by experiment that those rays have the greatest influ¬ 
ence in producing the green colour of plants. 
Sennebier has observed that, when plants are made to vegetate in 
the dark, their blanching is much diminished by mixing a little hydrogen 
gas with the air that surrounds them. Ingenhousz had already remarked 
that when a little hydrogen gas is added to the air in which plants 
vegetate, even in the light, it renders their verdure deeper ; and he 
seems to think, also, that he has proved by experiments that plants 
absorb hydrogen gas when so circumstanced. M. Humboldt has observed 
that the Poa annua and compressa, Plantago lanceolata, Trifolium 
arvense, Cheiranthus cheiri, Lichen verticillatus, and several other plants 
which grow in the galleries of mines, retain their green colour even 
in the dark, and that in these cases the air around them contains a 
quantity of hydrogen gas. This philosopher concludes, from his 
observations, that the white colour of blanched plants is occasioned by 
their retaining an unusual proportion of oxygen, and that this is pre¬ 
vented by surrounding them with hydrogen gas. This may, perhaps, 
be true in certain cases ; hut the experiments of Mr. Gough are sufficient 
to prove that the retention of oxygen is not the only difference between 
green and blanched plants. 
The green colouring matter of plants has been shown by Rouelle 
to be of a resinous nature. From this, and from the circumstance of 
its being formed only in the light, Berthollet has inferred that the 
leaves of plants have the property of decomposing water as well as 
carbonic acid when exposed to the light of the sun. The oxygen emitted, 
according to him, is derived partly from the decomposed carbonic acid 
and partly from the water, while the carbon and hydrogen enter into 
the composition of the inflammable parts of the plant. This ingenious 
theory, though sufficiently probable, is not susceptible of direct proof.. 
From the experiments of Saussure we learn that when plants are made 
to vegetate in pure water, in atmospheres destitute of carbonic acid gas, 
the quantity of their fixed matter does not increase ; but when their 
atmospheres contain this acid gas the increase of weight which they 
receive is considerably greater than can be accounted for by the carbon 
and oxygen derived from the carbonic acid absorbed, hence it is clear 
that a portion of the water must enter into their composition. It is 
more likely that the elements of this portion arrange themselves in a 
different way than that they still continue in a state of water. These 
facts certainly strengthen the hypothesis of Berthollet; indeed, if we 
consider the great quantity of hydrogen contained in plants, it is diffi¬ 
cult to conceive how they should obtain it, provided the water which 
they absorb does not contiibute to furnish it.—( Thomson's Vegetable 
Chemistry .) 
When the leaves are of any other hue than green they are said to be 
coloured. This variegation is often considered to be a symptom either of 
tenderness or debility ; and it is certain, when the leaves of a plant, 
become generally white, that that individual is seldom long-lived. Mr. 
Knight, however, has demonstrated that variegation is not a certain 
indication of a deficiency of hardihood. 
All organs exhibiting or assuming a green colour are found to be 
capable of decomposing the carbonic acid of the 6ap or of the air when 
exposed to the action of solar light. In this operation the oxygen of 
the acid is exhaled into the atmosphere, and its carbon fixed in the 
vegetable tissue, whence it seems to follow that the green colour of the 
leaves is owing to the fixation of carbon, for where the decomposition 
of carbonic acid is not going on the organ remains colourless. The 
brightness of the green seems to depend upon the degree of light to 
which the organ is exposed, and yet solar light is not indispensable. 
De Candolle gave the green colour to some plants of Lepidium sativum 
merely by the light of a few Argand lamps, but they did not give out 
oxygen when placed in water. 
Still the deposition of carbon caused by the action of solar light 
does not affect the membranous tissue, still this tissue retains its original 
colour and transparency, so that it is only the chromule which assumes 
the green colour. But how does carbon, which is black, yield a colour 
which is green ? Sennebier solved the problem as follows :—Carbon is, 
in strict propriety of speech, not a black, but a very deep blue ; and 
vegetable tissue is not absolutely a pure white, but rather a pale yellow, 
hence the green is formed by a mixture of a yellow and blue. This 
explication, quoique ung>eu mecanique, De Candolle regards as likely to- 
be the true one, yet we cannot help entertaining some doubts with regard 
to its validity. Surely the membranous tissue of many plants assuming 
a green colour has nothing in it of a yellow ; but wherever we turn to 
look for an explication there is doubt, and the solution of the problem 
may be said to be a chemical puzzle. One attributes it to the. presence 
of an oxide of iron, another to the predominance of an alkali, and 
neither solution is satisfactory. Yet plants placed in the dark do not 
lose their green colour if the atmosphere in which they grow contains 
a certain quantity of hydrogen or of azote. Humboldt found the leaves 
of Poa annua and Plantago lanceolata still green though growing in 
the galleries of the mines of Freyberg. It should be recollected, how¬ 
ever, that they must have been occasionally exposed to the light of the 
miners’ lamps. Leaves, bracts, calyces, ovaries, are the organs that are 
most generally green, though you may find exceptions to the rule, both 
in organs which it includes and in organs which it excludes. The 
bracts of Bartsia coccinea are scarlet, and the embryo of the Mistletoe 
is green.—( Keith's Lexicon.') 
The functions of the leaves appear to be a combination of those of 
the lungs and stomach of animals ; they not only modify the food brought 
to them from the roots, so as to fit it for increasing the size of the 
parent plant, but they also absorb nourishment from the atmosphere. 
