152 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 16,1894. 
' Events of the Week. —The events of horticultural interest to 
take place during the ensuing week include the Co-operative Festival 
and exhibition of garden produce at the Crystal Palace on the 17th and 
18th inst. The Shrewsbury Floral Fete will be held on the 22nd and 
23rd inst. 
- The Weather in London. —Showery weather has been 
experienced in the metropolis during the past week. The greater part 
of Sunday was fine, but rain fell heavily during the evening. Monday 
was cloudy, raining at night, but Tuesday was bright, the temperature 
being above the average. Wednesday morning was overcast, but at the 
time of going to press it was clear. ’ 
- Science Examinations. —At the recent examinations held 
by the Science and Art Department, South Kensington, Mr. W. Dyke, 
gardener, age twenty-four, Turnford, Herts, passed successfully the 
following subjects :—Advanced stage of botany, advanced stage of 
scientific principles of agriculture; elementary stages of geology, 
physiology, inorganic chemistry. He also obtained a first-class certificate 
in the examination held annually by the Horticultural Society. 
- Royal Botanic Society of London. — The fifty-fourth 
annual meeting of the members of this Society took place last week, Mr. 
G. W. Bell occupying the chair. The report showed that there had 
been a larger attendance of visitors than usual during the year. The 
Council had made a regulation by which the entrance fee to the Society 
might be paid in one sum of 5 guineas, or in five annual payments of 
1 guinea each. The lectures to the Fellows of the Society and their 
friends had been much more fully attended than in previous years, 
especially by the younger visitors to the Gardens, an evidence that the 
study of botany was more generally appreciated. Mr. J. S. Rubinstein 
proposed a resolution for the admission of visitors to the gardens by 
payment on week days, and the Council promised to consider it. The 
Duke of Teck was re-elected President, and Mr. H. L. Antrobus 
Treasurer. 
- Forestry. —At the British Association meeting last Thursday 
Professor Isaac Bayley Balfour advocated systematic and scientific 
forestry in this country, contending that it would pay landowners, 
provide labour, stimulate industries, and increase the national wealth, 
wherefore it ought to be fostered by the State. Net revenues abroad 
differ : Bavaria, 2,000,000 acres, 5s. per acre per annum ; Wurtemberg, 
nearly 500,000, 11s. ; Saxony, rather less, 17s. Our State forests result 
in a loss. Private returns are not available. At Novar, in Ross-shire, 
Mr. Munro-Ferguson, M.P., had 24 acres of Pine and Larchwood clean 
cut in 1883, after sixty-one years* growth. For the whole period it 
yielded Os. per acre per annum, compared with from Is. to 2s. yielded 
by the adjacent grazing land. The outlay upon labour had been 31s. 
per acre per annum. Forestry involves the employment of labour, 
much of it at a time when there is little else doing in country 
districts. 
- Contractility of Plants. — In the form of a lecture 
delivered at the Marine Biological Laboratory of Wood’s Holl, Massa¬ 
chusetts, Professor J. M. Macfarlane described some very interesting 
observations on the irrito-contractility of plants. He maintained that, in 
the animal as in the vegetable kingdom, we have to do with a true 
contractile tissue. In the higher plants this tissue is made up of cells, 
each consisting of an irrito-contractile protoplasmic sac enclosing a 
quantity of sap, each cell being joined to neighbouring cells by 
protoplasmic processes which pass through minute pores in the common 
cellulose membrane. Irrito-contractility may be started by stimuli of a 
mechanical, chemical, thermal, luminous, or electrical nature. The seat 
of this contractility is unquestionably the vacuolated protoplasm, and 
not the cell-wall, as held by some observers. The degree of contraction 
of an organ is proportional to the relative molecular activity of the 
protoplasm, and to the strength or continuity of the stimulus. Professor 
Macfarlane, according to “ Nature,” has already shown that in the leaves 
of Dionaca contractility can only be excited by two successive stimuli 
separated by an interval of time ; and he now illustrates his conclusions 
by the phenomena presented by the closure of the leaves in a number 
of different plants. 
- Death of Mr. J. Jefferson.—I t is with regret we record 
the death of this able gardener. Mr. Jefferson was gardener to 
J. Garside, Esq., Carlton House,. Worksop, Notts, for forty-one years. 
Previous to the last twelve or fifteen years Mr. Jefferson was a frequent 
exhibitor of fruit at the leading shows in the country, and was a most 
successful prizetaker. He was a kind friend and good neighbour. 
—J. M. 
- Sir James Whitehead, M.P.—We regret exceedingly to hear 
(says “ The City Press ”) that it is doubtful, in view of the state of his 
health, whether Sir James Whitehead will again be able to take an 
active part in any public work. A large number of our readers will 
share in this regret, but still hope, as we do, that rest will lead to 
restoration of health. A later report says Sir James is so much better as 
to be able to travel to Switzerland, but he has resigned his seat in 
Parliament. 
- Lecture on Gardening.—A n interesting open-air lecture 
on fruit growing and gardening was, says the “ Rural World,”^ 
delivered by Mr. E. Luckhurst, F.R.H.S., at the allotments, London 
Road, Osmaston, last week. The prevention of Potato and other blight 
was lucidly explained ; the layering of Carnations and the best mode 
of budding Roses and fruit trees was practically illustrated ; whilst 
many seasonable hints on the summer cultivation of flowers, vegetables, 
and garden crops generally were attractively suggested by the lecturer. 
At the conclusion of this instructive discourse a complimentary vote 
was accorded to Mr. Luckhurst on the proposal of Mr. Craigie, who 
thought that the useful address to which they had just listened would 
prove a valuable acquisition to the series, and in the course of his 
remarks expressed the opinion that the chief difficulties in the way of 
local extension were the inadequate number of allotments and the high 
rents which prevailed. 
—^— Rainfall Recorders. —Mr, G. J, Symons, in his volume 
just issued, treating of the “ Distribution of Rain over the British Isles,” 
refers with just pride to his observers, whose numbers now exceed 3000. 
Their distribution over the country is so good that Mr. Symons does 
not remember any part of the British Isles where one could not walk 
in the course of a day from one observer’s house to the next. Improve¬ 
ment, however, is still possible, and with this object it is suggested that 
observers might write down the names and addresses of everyone whom 
they know to be keeping an accurate record, and then reporting any 
one of them whose name is not to be found among the General Tables 
officially published. Death unhappily has been, busy among the little 
band during the past year. No fewer than sixty-five of them died, and 
among them Colonel Haywood, who had been engaged in the work for 
thirty-six years ; Mr. Arthur Marshall, who had done it for thirty-eight 
years ; and Mr. Ingram and Mr. Dyson, who had been similarly 
employed for even longer periods—thirty-nine and forty-two years 
respectively. Whether or not the habit of correct scientific observation 
is favourable to longevity is left for others to determine, but Mr. 
Symons mentions the fact that the great majority of his rainfall 
observers live to a good old age. 
- In a volume entitled “ Above the Clouds ” Mr. Charles 
Ellis, of Lyme Regis, under the nom de of “ A Lyme Gardener,” 
puts forth a series of prose reflections and poems. There is an Old 
World ring about the utterances of Mr. Ellis which will fall refreshingly 
upon the ears of those who live in the great centres of modern life, and 
who And themselves bewildered by the torrent of innovation 
characteristic of this age. From the feverish cosmopolitanism now 
radiating from the Metropolis it is soothing to turn to the spirit of 
rural seclusion and meditation breathed by Mr. Ellis. It puts one in 
mind of the times when men like George Herbert, Robert Herrick, Sir 
Thomas Browne, and William Cowper lived far from the madding 
crowd of London, and ruminated upon things earthly and things 
unearthly amid the sweetness of the country air and the fragrance of 
their country gardens. Possibly those were dull and in many respects 
rude ages compared with our own, but the lofty and placid tone of these 
writers, and their keen appreciation of the beauties of Nature, throw a 
glamour over the generations of which they formed a part. In the same 
way the perusal of Mr. Ellis’ book conjures up pleasant pictures of life 
at Lyme Regis, and puts a town existence by comparison in a somewhat 
unsatisfactory light. We should have liked to have heard Mr. Ellis 
discourse more about plants, flowers, gardens, and gardeners than he 
has done, for where he touches upon these he does so with the hand 
of an enthusiast, and kindles a corresponding enthusiasm in the minds 
of his readers. 
