May 27, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
427 
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE. 
Sir J. D. Hooker in the chair. 
Bhoiodendrons. —Hon. and Rev. F. Boscawen exhibited five branches of 
R. arboreum “ improved,” being a hybrid between R. arboreum and 
R. atro-sanguineum. The truss stands well above the foliage, and is more 
continuously flowering than R. arboreum. The tree is now 15 feet high. 
Malformed Parsnip. —Mr. Smith exhibited a specimen which had grown 
through the neck of a medicine bottle ; the result was a quaint hourglass¬ 
like form. 
Crybe rosea. —Mr. O’Brien suggested that the Orchid so named and 
exhibited at the last meeting was probably an Ambletia. He also exhibited 
for Dr. Duke, of The Glen, Lewisham, a fine plant of Catasetum atratum. 
Liparis Loiselii. —Mr. Ridley exhibited plants of this Orchid ; the pot 
in which the rhizomes had been was allowed to become perfectly dried ; 
but in breaking up the earth and watering this spring they have recovered 
and are flourishing vigorously, Colonel Clarke remarked on the tenacity 
of life of Orchid bulbs ( e. g., O. Morio) under great drought. 
Ophrys Bertolonii, —Mr. Brockbank exhibited a specimen of this Ophrys 
received from Nice. 
Pig. 77. 
Tobacco cultivated in Great Britain .—Colonel Clarke exhibited dried 
leaves of various kinds—1, Plants sown early and gathered early of yellow¬ 
ish brown colour (1884); this was the best quality. 2, Plants left too long 
in the ground, the leaves being much longer and greener. 3, Nicotiana 
rustica, a very coarse form. 4, Hybrid between N. rustica and the Havana 
Tobacco. It bore the form, habit, and colour of the latter. 
E ! ms. —Prof. Boulger showed a fruiting branch of a tree from Barham 
Court Park (R. Lee, Esq.), supposed to be a “ Wych ” Elm; but Mr. Boulger 
observed it has many suckers, is very smooth, with the seed vessel above 
Fig. 78. 
Pig. 79. 
the middle of the samara, and therefore it belonged more nearly to Ulmus 
camp-stris. He believed it to be U. leevis. 
Gall on Violet .—He also showed a specimen of gall of Cecidomya viola;, 
from Kent, which in 1884 was found in Essex, and believed to be new to 
Britain. It occurred on V. sylvatica. . , . 
(Ecidium on Chives.—The following communication was received from 
Mr. PlowrightMr. Phillips two years ago drew attention to a Puccinia 
accompanied by uredospores upon Chives, which he found near Shrewsbury. 
This was called Puccima mixta, Fckl. Dr. George Winter, however classes 
it with other Medines upon various allied species of host plant under the 
name Fuccinia poeri (Sow). Later in the same year I found specimens of 
this Puccinia upon Chives at Downham. During the present month (May) 
on visiting the Downham habitat I was fortunate in finding upon plants 
which bore the Puccinia the cecidiospores which answer Dr. Winter s 
description. The CEcidium is distinct from theCEcidium on Allium ursinum, 
which has an heteraecismal origin. 
Bed-spotted Potatoes.- Mr. Plowright also sent the following remarks 
on this subject :-In 1884 it will be in the memory of the Committee that a 
number of tubers grown at Chiswick in connection with the Jenseman experi¬ 
ments, which were found upon section to be spotted inside, as if from the 
effects of the Phytophthora ; so much, indeed, did they resemble truly 
diseased tubers, that some members of the Committee regarded them as 
such. Specimens were, however, sent to the three gentlemen in Europe to 
whom we owe tli9 most of our knowledge of the 'Potato disease—namely, 
to Professor De Bary of Strassburg, Dr. J. Kuhn of Halle, and Mr. Jensen 
of Copenhagen. Without throwing any light upon the true rature of these 
spots, all three of these gentlemen were unanimous in their opinion that the 
spotting was entirely unconnected with the Phytophthora. Ad instance of 
this spotting disease came under my notice the same year near King’s Lynn, 
and I took the opportunity of making a few observations upon the affection. 
First and foremost, although resembling the Phytophthora spots in colour, 
there is this great difference. The Phytophthora spots always originate 
upon the surface of the tuber and pass inwards, this being, as De Bary has 
long ago shown, the essential nature of the disease. Secondly Phytophthora 
spots are soon followed by decay (wet rot), the spotted tubers under discus¬ 
sion do not tend to decay at all. I had under observation about half a 
bushel of suspected tubers, for the tubers show no indication of the spotting 
until they are cut open, from October till May, but none of them showed 
any signs of decay. I obtained these tubers from the grower who resided 
near King’s Lynn, and who suffered considerable loss from the affection, 
because it was impossible to tell how many were spotted until they were 
cut open ; the consequence was that the crop was unsaleable, and, as a 
matter of fact was used for feeding pigs. *«| 
In the following spring (1885) my tuber began to sprout just as healthy 
tubers would. 
On the 24th May (1885) five tubers were selected, which on section 
showed the internal spotting in a very marked degree; they were planted 
in my garden and carefully watched. In due course they threw up healthy 
shoots, which bore healthy leaves and grew in all respects as healthy 
Potatoes ordinarily grow. On the 16th October they were dug up and 
examined. They had produced forty-eight tubers, each of which was cut 
up into slices and closely examined for the internal spots, but not a trace of 
the disease could be detected. 
Hence it would appear that, whatever may the nature of the affection 
which gives rise to this internal spotting, it cannot be very readily trans- 
Fig. 80. 
mitted to the young tubers by using diseased sets, and although this negative 
result is all that i was able to arrive at, yet it seemed to me of sufficient 
interest to lay before the Scientific Committee. 
Deutzia scabra, Blind Flowers of. —Mr. Henslow reported on his exami¬ 
nation cf these flowers, brought to the last meeting by Dr. Lowe, and found 
that they differed from the normal flowers in the following particulars. The 
sepals were much smaller, as also were the petals. The stamens had short 
filaments entirely devoid of the wing-like appendages in the usual flowers ; 
the anthers were shrunken and devoid of pollen. The ovary was much 
smaller, with the placentas incoherent in the axis, and with rudimentary 
ovules ; the style much shorter ; and lastly, the stigmas smooth and not 
papi lose. One or two normal flowers were occasionally present on the 
same raceme as the abnormal. The conclusion drawn from th“ above 
appearances was that from some unknown cause the flower buds had been 
insufficiently supplied with nutriment, causing arrest of structure in every 
part of the flower. Col. Clarke observed that he had frequently noticed 
that the earlier flowers were reduced in size, but as the season advanced the 
normal flowers followed, so that those sent by Dr. Lowe represented a still 
further reduced condition—no doubt caused by atrophy. 
HEATING SMALL GREENHOUSES AND FRAMES. 
We have received a circular from Mr. Toope of Stepney, in which 
we find representations of heating small amateurs’ greenhouses, and 
also ordinary garden frames, with a request that if we see anything 
novel or good in them to bring them to the notice of our readers. The 
frame heater, fancifully called the “ Little Vixen,” is, so far as we 
know, quite new. It is a small gas or oil-heated boiler placed outside, 
with pipes conducted through or round the frame for heating it, as 
shown in fig. 77. The plan and section (fig. 78) show the boiler, 
which, including the lamp, is only 1 foot high and 7 inches in diameter, 
this size having been heating a frame satisfactorily for some months, 
the roughest winds not blowing out the light. We think this appliance 
should be exhibited at horticultural shows and meetings, as a safe, 
certain, and inexpensive frame heater could scarcely fail to meet with 
acceptance by gardeners and amateurs, as enabling them to turn their 
garden frames to useful account in winter as well as summer. 
The “ Champion Heater ” for small greenhouses appears to differ 
from others we have seen in the method of heating the water. The 
flame (from gas or oil) strikes directly on the water at the top of the 
