854 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 14, 1880. 
and pleasure grounds ; but in others miles may be traversed and a 
hundred gardens visited without seeing any specimens of the 
Syrian Hibiscus, or, as it is commonly known, Althaea frutex. 
Hibiscus syriacus has long been known, as it was introduced 
nearly three centuries ago. It was described by Gerarde, also by 
Parkinson, but at that time was not considered hardy, as this old 
and very precise writer observes—“These wooddy ldndes of 
Shrub Mallowes have somewhat large, long, and divided leaves 
set dispersedly on the whitish hard or wooddy stalkes ; their 
flowers are large like vnto a single Hose or Hollyhoke, in the one 
being white with purple spots in the bottome ; in the other of a 
deepe red colour, or else of a paler purple with a deeper bottome, 
and with veins running in every leaf; they are somewhat tender, 
and would not be suffered to be vncouered in the winter time, but 
kept in a large pot or tubbe in the house, or in a warme cellar, if 
you would have them thrive.” 
The old author’s description is very accurate ; but whatever the 
shrubs needed two hundred years ago they do not need a “ tubbe ” 
and warm cellar to have them thrive now. They are perfectly 
hardy, but to have them in the best condition they should have 
positions fully open to the sun, so that the growth becomes 
mature and a floriferous habit is induced. Specimens 10 feet 
high and through, bearing hundreds of flowers, are surpassed by 
few flowering shrubs, and equalled by none that are established in 
our gardens and flower in August and September. There are 
several varieties, some with variegated foliage and others with 
double flowers, but the two ordinary forms figured, the purple 
and white, are as free and effective as any ; and, as the planting 
season is approaching, these old and good flowering shrubs should 
not be forgotten. 
FUNGI ON POTATOES. 
I thought it was an undisputed fact that the fungus was the 
cause of the Potato disease, and not a result. I have always 
found the spots spread from a minute centre either on the leaf¬ 
stalk, tuber, or fibre. Again, I have often found that plants in the 
most confined sheltered spots are attacked first either in the field 
or garden. I have often noticed this, and if the weather continues 
dry the fungus does not spread beyond its original first patch ; and 
again, if those first affected are carefully removed at an early 
stage of its appearance you save the surrounding crop ; otherwise 
if the weather is favourable it spreads from these centres most 
rapidly, whereas if the weather continues very dry or the first 
attacked patch is carefully removed, I have found it has not 
spread for weeks. I ought perhaps to say that almost invariably 
the under part of the leaf is affected first. I say, Almost in¬ 
variably, for sometimes the very centres of the young growths are 
affected, on the edges of the leaves on the upper sides, under 
sides, or wherever the spores, according to my view of it, first fix 
themselves. My reason for this is that such parts are the most 
tender in tissue, and therefore the most favourable to the growth 
of the fungus. My impression is that the spores are carried 
upward from the earth by evaporation, and after a shower the 
under part of the leaf will be found quite wet long after the upper 
part has been dry, so that they more readily fix themselves to the 
wet tender parts. Again, as to the stem, it will be found, I think, 
that the most fleshy parts if screened by leaves are those affected 
first. Examine the fibres : if a fungus is not the cause why 
is the extremity, as also that attached to the stem, perfectly 
sound, and the other part, just a spot of a feVv lines or an inch 
or two, quite perished. As to the tubers, I think all are a,greed that 
the largest are the most likely to be affected. Now, why is this ? 
I think it is because there is more space for the spores to grow 
than on the smaller tubers ; and again, why are some tubers 
affected in six or eight or more places, some only in one ? Another 
argument, if I may be allowed the expression, to prove that 
fungus is the cause and not the result, will be found in a variety 
of Potato being planted in different soils, say one well drained 
and dry, thoroughly exposed to the air, and not rich, and the other 
in a well-drained but moister soil, such as Cabbages or Broccoli 
would delight in. In the summer in the one you get a sturdy 
growth, especially if about equal space is given to each set in both 
situations. In the rich soil the Potatoes grow luxuriantly with 
disease early and far-spreading both in top and tuber, whereas in 
the poor soil the plants possibly escape disease altogether. Now 
why is this, except that the tissues are more tender and therefore 
more readily attacked by the spores which more readily germinate 
on the tender tissues 1 
With regard to the tubers after they are lifted, I well remember 
about twenty-five years ago I lifted some old Ashleaf Kidney that 
I intended for seed. Part of them were removed at once to a loft 
and spread not more than three deep, the others were left on the 
ground two or three weeks. The latter were mostly diseased, 
quite 80 per cent., while those in the loft had only about a dozen 
diseased Potatoes out of several sacks. How is this to be ac¬ 
counted for if the development of spores is not the cause of 
disease ? 
There is one more fact I wish to state—namely, give your 
Potatoes sufficient room between the rows for all haulm to be laid 
between them, and secured so that no part shall rest on the rows 
where the tubers are underneath, and the result will be, that 
although you cannot save the tops from the attacks of disease, you 
do save the most of your crop large and small. I cannot account 
for this except that the majority of the spores that fall from the 
tops get fixed to the soil underneath where they fall, and the most 
of those that rise into the air are borne away, and do not settle 
on the plants. I think it might as reasonably be argued that dry 
rot in timber is not the result of the attack of a fungus. It does 
not matter much how healthy and vigorous a tree is, bring dry rot 
into contact with its wood, and you will find that it will soon and 
effectually do its work. 1 could give many more illustrations.—■ 
George Lee, Clevedon. 
THE EFFECTS OF ELECTRICITY ON VEGETATION. 
Speaking of atmospheric electricity, and having described 
electricity as an attracting and repelling force, it will be very 
difficult for the non-scientific reader to at all realise the concep¬ 
tion of an existing attraction surrounding him which he can 
neither see nor feel; yet such is the fact, and hence it will be 
desirable to suggest a very simple experiment by which it may be 
made evident. For this purpose, however, we may have recourse 
in the first instance to magnetism, the attractions of which are 
precisely the same. Procure a small horseshoe magnet and place 
it upon the table without its iron keeper; or, what is preferable, 
set a thick book up endwise, and lay it across the top so that the 
two ends may project beyond it. Now hold a small key or the 
soft iron keeper, which has no magnetism itself, a short distance 
in front of the pair of ends, but without touching them, and it 
will at once become a temporary magnet. Hold a fine sewing 
needle to the keeper and it will cling to it, and after the two have 
been removed it is probable that the hardened-steel needle will 
have been converted into a permanent magnet, whilst the soft 
iron will have parted with its magnetism altogether. An elec¬ 
trical atmosphere surrounds the magnet which can neither be 
seen nor felt, and can only be made apparent by its effects. 
Some iron filings sifted on to a piece of thin paper stretched 
tightly on a frame and placed over the magnet, and the frame 
then tapped, they will arrange themselves in beautiful magnetic 
curves and lines, which must be seen to be comprehended. 
Corresponding to this the earth has also an electric aura en¬ 
veloping it in the same manner, and consequently all objects 
within it will be affected in some one way or other. But to 
make this attracting atmospheric force recognisable a somewhat 
different arrangement will have to be adopted, for instead of 
magnetism we shall now have chemical action as the result. 
Procure an ounce phial and a piece of copper wire just long 
enough to be enclosed within it, as in fig. 64 ; put in dilute sul¬ 
phuric acid (one to ten) to one-half the depth or less, and cork it 
up with the wire as represented ; very soon the upper part of the 
copper will begin to appear damp, and after a time the whole 
upper part will have become quite wet. Then minute granules 
will be seen studding nearly the whole of the exposed portion of 
the metal, and these ultimately will develope themselves as the 
very beautiful intense blue crystals of sulphate of copper. Now, 
if we put a second portion of the same wire and acid into another 
phial, so that the whole of the metal may be submerged and out 
of contact with the air, as in fig. 65, it will be seen that little or no 
solution of the metal will have been effected, as evidenced by the 
absence of colour in the acid ; and therefore it is a proof that the 
dissolving of the metal is owing to the partial contact of the latter 
with the atmosphere contained in the phial. Here, then, is the 
very remarkable fact of substances being attracted (or repelled) 
upwards in direct contrariety to the ordinary law of gravitation. 
But there is another feature far more significant and important in 
its bearing on our present subject. By referring to fig. 66, which 
is the wire of fig. 64 enlarged, it will be seen that the copper has been 
eaten partly through just beneath the lower edge of the crystalline 
deposit. This, however, is the portion that was located just above 
the surface of the acid (A, fig. 64) and hence it was exposed to the 
lower surface of the atmosphere, where the acid and the air meet. 
It will be within the knowledge of most persons that wooden 
posts and railings are rotted off just above the surface of the 
ground in the same manner, so that our experiment represents 
precisely the same result that occurs in nature. It has always 
