February 27, 1890. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
18. 
As soon as the plants commence growing at the top shake them out. 
If you cannot get a good fibrous loam, have half loam to half peat, with 
leaf mould, charcoal, and a little sand. This will make a good compost. 
Start the tubers in small pots, only large enough to get the tubers in. 
If placed in a hotbed they will not require so much water, but a vinery 
is a good place to start them in, plunging the pots in a box and placing 
them on a shelf. After potting the tubers need very great care in water¬ 
ing, as if too much is given they will soon decay. They require much 
the same treatment as Gloxinias. As soon as roots are seen to push from 
the drainage ic is time to place them into larger pots, for if not kept 
repotted they have a tendency to push up their flower spikes. At all 
times keep them near the glass. In summer they will do well in an 
ordinary greenhouse. If plenty of heat is not at command in spring do 
not start them before April, and give them the same treatment as Zonal 
Pelargoniums. If they are kept growing on they may be had of any size, 
but when they are root-bound they begin to flower. In this neighbour¬ 
hood they do not succeed well outside, but in Lincolnshire they do. In 
a naturally light soil at Branston Hall they were planted similarly to 
Potatoes, and they grew and flowered remarkably well. Some people 
start them in pots and then plant out. When the plants are well 
established be careful not to give too much water. They may also be 
propagated from shoots with a little heel attached, and from cuttings of 
the tops of the shoots. 
Discussion took place on the advisability of watering the soil in 
the pots before sowing the seed, which was recommended, and on the 
method of potting, Mr. Collier advising that the surface of the soil in 
the first potting should be the same in all subsequent pottings, not bury- 
ing the tubers deeply. Mr. Collier was thanked for his paper. 
GARDENERS OUT OF SITUATIONS. 
With your correspondent, Mr. Bishop, page IGO, I agree that a 
Gardeners’ Self-Help Society is desirable, and I should be pleased to 
join any well matured project having that object in view ; but at the 
same time the congested state of the supply of and demand for gar¬ 
deners is not new, and in considering the matter it must be allowed 
that the disease is chronic, and should be remembered in assisting to 
choose the callings of our sons, to, if possible, lessen the supply. Although 
the evil is an old one, if a remedy can be found it should be tried. 
Mr. Bishop seems to think I am over the stile and out of the wood. Of 
course, that is a private and personal matter, but I trust I may never 
be out of sympathy with a brother in distress, and a gardener in 
particular. Such sympathy on my part would prevent me from with¬ 
holding what I knew from personal experience to be true. And I like¬ 
wise agree with the American motto, “Not to swop horses whilst 
crossing a stream.” Further, not to drop the bone with a little meat 
on it offered by the nurserymen (which has kept many a good man from 
going wrong), at least not before the shadow of a Self-Help Society has 
become a substantial reality. Mr. Bishop seems to think a man should 
be able to dictate his terms of agreement and rate of pay when seeking 
temporary employment with a nurseryman, which I think under the 
circumstances most unreasonable. I consider to take the half loaf with 
a good grace betokens better manners. Whilst looking forward to 
being generous to our brethren of the craft in the future, let us not 
forget to be just to old friends of the past, or to despise the bridge that 
has carried many of the craft over. I hope that the day is not far 
distant when a system of national insurance for workers will be 
inaugurated on the same principle as that which recently has become 
law in the German empire.—K. M. 
THE ACTION OF ROOT GROWTH. 
[By Dr. G. M. Lowe.] 
At the last monthly meeting of the Lincolnshire Gardeners’ Associa¬ 
tion, held at the School of Science, Lincoln, the Hon. Sec. (Mr. A. Wipf) 
read the following paper on “ Root Growth,” which had been prepared 
by Dr. G. M. Lowe, who was unfortunately unable to be present;— 
“ There are three chief peculiarities about the action of roots, that, 
although well known, require to be kept in view in considering the sub¬ 
ject :—First, their tendency to strike towards the centre of the earth 
(geotropism) ; secondly, their tendency to recede from light (aphelio- 
tropism) ; and thirdly, their extreme sensitiveness to contact. The 
action of gravitation need not be discussed, as it has been proved to 
have little or no influence on the root direction. Both Sachs and 
Darwin have demonstrated that root tips, like those of the growing 
shoots of plants and tendrils, continually move in a circular or spiral 
manner, searching their way, as it were, in every direction, but guided 
by the influences above described. If a Bean, for instance, be allowed 
to germinate on the surface of the ground, the young root (radicle), as 
soon as it protrudes from the seed coats, begins to circumnutate, and is 
at once acted on by the force called geotropism, and bends down from 
whatever position it* may be accidentally placed, towards the ground. 
Thus, if it be emitted on the upper surface of the seed, and its tip there¬ 
fore is vertical, it cannot be acted on by gravitation, but, nevertheless, 
it curves over to one side and takes the shortest course downwards ; it 
recedes also from the light, and, if other conditions are equal, will turn 
towards the shady side of the seed ; and, further, if it meets with any 
obstacle, even though it be the thinnest possible tinfoil laid on damp 
sand, it will turn off at right angles and glide over it without leaving 
any impression. When the root tip reaches the soil surface it seeks to 
penetrate it at some convenient spot, such as a minute crevice, a worm 
hole, or, if the soil be loose, between its particles. If the surface be dry 
and the Bean lying loosely, the latter will be raised up, as is often seen 
when large seeds are only lightly covered: but presently the root 
develops hairs in its surface and these attach themselves to irregular 
particles of soil, and so enable the growing root to force its way down- 
words ; in this process the rotatory or zigzag movement of the advancing 
tips greatly assists. 
“ The apex of the growing root, it must be observed, is protected by 
the root cap, and when once firmly attached to the surrounding earth 
has a penetrating pressure (according to Darwin) of at least a quarter 
of a pound ; but whilst thus increasing in length it increases also in 
thickness, pushing away the damp earth on all sides with a force equal 
to 8 lbs. The primary root also emits secondary ones, w’hich are only 
slightly affected by geotropism, and so proceed sub-horizontally ; their 
tips also rotate, and are sensitive to contact. These secondary rootlets 
again send out tertiary ones, which are not at all affected by geotropism,. 
and so protrude in all directions, and thus the whole soil within reach 
is searched for nutriment. The aerial roots of the Pothos, or Monstera 
deliciosa, have afforded me excellent opportunities of observing some of 
these peculiarities. In this plant, which in its natural habitat grows 
over lagoons and tropical marshy localities, one thick and many smaller 
roots are thrown out opposite each leaf ; the larger roots, which are 
about as thick as the little finger, grow rapidly downwards, and can be 
dealt with at will. Directly they strike damp soil they throw out 
numberless rootlets, and if they reach a tank of water will speedily take 
possession. If near a damp wall they incline at once towards it, and 
become attached to it in the same way as the root hairs of the Bean. 
This process is peculiar, and worthy of study. The damp surface seems 
to signify the outer envelope of the root stem, which then flattens itself 
against the surface and becomes glued as it were to it; the object seems 
to be to absorb water. Direction is also influenced by vapour, and again 
by contact, for if a card is placed on one side of the tip the latter 
recedes in the opposite direction. Again, if a pendent root be raised 
horizontally over the edge of any object, as a flower pot, the tip 
immediately curves downwards at an acute angle at the point of contact 
only. Light also acts on the principle before mentioned. I have beem 
experimenting on these roots with a view to ascertain the action of 
various chemical substances on the colouring matters of the leaves, and 
endeavoured to receive the descending roots in tall glass vessels of fluid' 
fully exposed to the light, but found that when the liquid was colourless 
the root refused to enter, no matter how tempting the contents might be 
from a plant food point of view, whilst a jar covered with black cloth, 
or filled with a strong solution of Judson’s blue dye, was rapidly filled 
with rootlets.” 
A vote of thanks was tendered to Dr. G. M. Lowe for his paper. 
GARDENING AT KEW. 
I BEAD with much interest the excellent papers on Gardening in' 
your last issue of the Journal (page 157). While agreeing in the main 
with Mr. Lewis’s views there is still one point on which I think he is 
under a misapprehension. He says that the skilled workmen employed? 
in the Royal Gardens, Kew, are to be regarded more as specialists than 
as gardeners proper. Now, that I consider is quite a fallacy. True, the 
departmental system is here in full operation, but the young men are 
by no means confined to one department. When they have become 
familiar with the details of cultivation of one class of plants they can 
on application be removed to another department, and have thus the 
opportunity of becoming practically acquainted with all the details of 
management of the largest collection of exotic plants in the world. 
Having only one class of plants under their charge at a time they are 
enabled to pay more attention to them than they otherwise could, and 
thus act on the good old rule of having “ one thing at a time, and that 
done well.” Further, a certain proportion of time is allowed the 
gardeners every week that they may go round the various departments 
and take notes, while there are also lectures on the sciences bearing 
directly on horticulture, so that they have a better chance of becoming 
good all-round gardeners than those in private places. 
Mr. Lewis may not be aware of the fact that no gardener is admitted* 
to Kew without at least five years’ practical experience in good piaces. 
Having been employed in the Royal Gardens for some time, I can speak 
from personal experience. I hope you will find space for these linos, 
as the mistaken idea that the gardeners at Kew are specialists may be 
detrimental to the interest of the young men when they come to seek 
another situation.—R. G. K. 
Dracaenas. —Plants of gracilis, Goldieana and Lindeni that have- 
grown too tall may now have their heads rooted. These may with safety 
be cut off, and the heads rooted without losing a leaf if the pots can be 
plunged in a close frame in a temperature of C5°, and in bottom heat 
10° higher. It is necessary to cut them where the wood is soft, as when 
cut where the wood is firm they are months before they root and often 
lose their foliage. This can be quickly tested by inserting a few eyes 
below where the head h.as been removed. These should be numbered 
1, 2, .3, and so on as they are taken off downwards, and it will 
be found that the first below the head will form roots and commence 
to grow long before No. 3, and so on according to the firmness of 
the wood. It is a good plan to insert two or three eyes with a leaf 
attached from each plant after the removal of the top ; it is a quicks 
