380 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 25,189i. 
Chellaston, Slater of Manchester, Headly of Cambridge, Willison 
of Whitby, and many others, whose successes stimulated culti¬ 
vators to still further efforts, and produced the splendid varieties 
raised by Martin of Whalley, Lane, Storer of Derby, Dr. Hardy 
of Warrington, Hepworth, Parker and Hardwick of, or near, Wake¬ 
field, Battersby of Mansfield, Ashmole and Jackson of Middleton, 
Lane., and Dymock of Stockport, whose flowers, together with 
the survival of the fittest of older times, practically form our 
modern collections. 
From the year 1855 Tulip growing began rapidly to decay in 
the south, and the reason is not far to seek. Situated as the 
southern growers were, almost entirely in the vicinity of London, 
the spread of bricks and mortar spoiled and destroyed the gardens 
of the florists, and although some removed their favourites further 
afield, yet the general effect was disastrous, old ties were loosened, 
growers disappeared, and the fancy became practically extinct. 
Of late years a similar decline has been ,witne8sed in the 
midlands, and now Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, counties 
which once contained the collections of numerous famous growers, 
have scarcely a Tulip fancier left in them. In Lancashire and 
Yorkshire, however, there are still ardent and successful growers, 
and to these counties the Royal National Society has to look for 
the bulk of its support. Still a few are faithful in other places, 
and there are signs of a revival of interest in the south, not the 
least being a Tulip show in London last May, which attracted 
much attention and greatly encouraged the growers who promoted 
it to hope that the old flower might grow into wider notice once 
again. 
(To be continued.) 
RIPENED WOOD. 
“ Sceptic ” first defies the consensus of opinion resultant from 
the world-wide experience of the general body of practical gardeners, 
aid then in attempting to defend his anomalous position he relies 
on being allowed to substitute in the place of sound reasoning a 
mixture of burlesque, with here and there a surface-scratching of the 
subject, which as mere details in no way affect the main question. 
When under the impression that he is conveying to us valuable 
information, or it may that whilst attempting a reductio ad alsurdum 
as when referring to ripened wood as something to eat or to be 
distinguished by the sense of smell, under the impression that he is 
poking fun at us, he unconsciously time after time supplies the rod 
for his own punishment. “ Bipened wood in the sense as generally 
understood in millions of cases not only gratifies the senses of smell 
and taste, but it also sustains life ; in fact no life would be possible 
were it not for the connection of “ solar influences,” which 
“ Scept'c ” is so ready to ridicule with the processes of ripening. 
Last week “ E. K.” (page 359) gave “ Sceptic ” a very good 
definition of “ripened wood,” but as he shows so little tolerance to 
the opinions of others I propose to take the matter still further, so 
far as space will allow, and show how the process of ripening is 
brought about. Although used as a figure of speech, it carries with 
it a tangible and definite meaning, known as maturation, combined 
with ihe storing of reserve material by a series of physiological 
processes which obtain all through Nature, giving vital force to and 
leading up to reproduction. For the sake of illustration we will call 
the reserve force here alluded to a supfilementary one, or a surplus 
one beyond that required to maintain life and ordinary growth. 
Consequently' w'oed fully ripened should have in its store reservoirs, 
not only in the current year’s growih, but also in the branches, 
stems, and roots, a large reserve of materials to meet the requirements 
of ordinary growth, es well as those required in the production of 
fruit buds and blossom, of which mire by-and-by. 
The first thing to realise is that about one-half of the dried 
substance of plants is carbon. Previ ms to it being used up to build 
up the plant’s structural skeleton carbon plays an important part as 
being of necessity a proportion of the physical basis of the plant life 
—viz., the protoplasm ; it also enters largely into the composition 
of the carbohydrate series of formative materials, the vegetable 
acids, and the albuminoids. Yet as plants do not take up carbon 
in solution by the roots the question arises. How do they obtain it ? 
It is here where the importance of “ solar influences ” comes in, in 
conjunction the physiological process of the assimilation of carbon, 
followed by the metabolic changes, and subsequent translocation of 
the constituent elements. 
Carbon is obtained from the carbon dioxide present in the 
atmosphere, in the proportion of about four parts in 10,000. Its 
chemical formula CO 2 shows it to be composed of one part carbon 
and two parts oxygen. The power of breaking up this compound of 
tw’o gases is vested in the chlorophyll in the leaves of deciduous 
fruit trees, but a suitable temperature, which varies in different 
plants, and sunlight are the necessary' conditions for this process. 
During the process of the splitting up the CO 2 the ox 3 'gen is returned 
to the atmosphere, and the carbon combines with the cell sap. This 
combination of the carbon with the watery sap gives the formula 
CH 2 O the first ternary compound leading up to the formation of 
starch. Although it may appear a simple process by adding the 
sy'mbol C for carbon to that of H 2 O for water, with the sum standing 
at CH 2 O, it requires a great amount of energy being expended on it 
by the vital forces of the plant. It may be interesting to “ Sceptic ” 
to know that the light and heat of the sun supplies this energy, 
the chlorophyll seizing on and absorbing some of the light rays, 
and turning them into chemical work. 
After the formation of the first ternary compound CH 2 O several 
complex changes occur by the re-arrangement of the molecules of the 
carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, resulting in the formation of the carbo¬ 
hydrate series of formative materials having the same physiological 
value as the substance of which the cell walls are built — viz., 
cellulose. As one of this series “ starch holds an important signi¬ 
ficance ; it is the first solid substance formed in the leaf, and no 
starch can be formed except the sun shines. According to Sach’s 
experiments starch was proved to have been formed after two 
minutes’ exposure to bright sunshine, but when the sun was obscured 
by clouds two hours elapied before any starch could be detected, 
consequently the longer plants are exposed to sunlight the greater 
the amount of starch formation takes place. The starch formed 
under these conditions is rendered soluble in the dark by' the process 
of hydrolysis, and takes up the formula of glucose ; as such it is 
passed on to where growth is taking place, and is here used in 
conjunction with the nitrogenous and mineral elements brought up 
by' the roots in the formation and furnishing of the growing cells. 
During long continued sunshine the formation of starch is greatly 
in excess of the plants’ requirement for ordinary growth ; this excess 
is passed to the store reservoirs and reconverted into starch as a 
reserve to be drawn on when conditions are unfavourable for its 
elaboration in the leaf. On the other hand, a comparatively sunless 
summer means a limited reserve being formed of the carbo-hydrates 
series of formative materials ; but we shall also be able to show that 
the same conditions apply with equal force to the supply of mineral 
food being taken into the plant system. The amount of mineral 
elements taken up is dependent on the amount of water carried off 
by transpiration. During cloudy weather little transpiration takes 
place, during wet weather scarcely' any', but during sunshine the 
amount is immense. As plants can only take in an exceedingly 
dilute form of mineral elements, the more continuous the current set 
up by sunshine the greater must be the supply coming in contact 
with the products of assimilation in c^jurse of manufacture, where 
they' play their part in the elaboration of the nutritive materials of 
growth and reserve store, while the water is carried off by the stoma 
of the leaf. 
After defoliation in the autumn, were it not for this reserve store, 
it would be' impossible for the plant to meet the requirements of 
growth going on under the scaly covering of the buds, where all 
through the winter, according to temperature, an immense amount of 
growth is takine place in the development of leaves and shoots for 
the succeeding summer ; but the requirements for this purpose would 
be a small fraction of that required for the development of such a 
crop of fruit blossom as was the outcome this spring of last summer’s 
ripening influinces. 
In a discussion of this character it is impossible to compress so 
wide a subject within the limited apace at command. These remarks, 
although only touching the fringe of the matter, cover all “Sceptic’s ” 
scepticism, as being embodied from the advanced teachings of the 
day by the best authorities. It is for “ Sceptic ” to accept or reject 
them as he pleases. This could only be a matter of indifference so 
far as he is individually concerned, but we cannot allow to pass 
unchallenged the mischievous effect which his self-confident and 
somewhat plausible style may have on the unformed opinions of 
young gardeners and the employers of gardeners generally. 
In conclusion, for “Sceptic’s” satisfaction, I may'inform him 
that if he requires further proof, or evidence—Firstly', bearing on 
the ripening of the Vines in what he is pleased to elegantly dub as 
the South Wales Vine muddle ; secondly, on his meteorology for the 
years 1893 and 1894 ; thirdly, on the question of fruit colouring 
being higher this year than last —if he will explicitly state his case 
on these three questions without so much sound and fury, one 
question at a time, and allow the Editor to pare down rigidly all 
extraneous matter, “all wordless generalities, meaningless vapour¬ 
isation, and similar nonsense,” I shall have much pleasure in joining 
issue with him on those grounds.— Azoto. 
The use of Ihe word “ ripened ” in this discussion, in which both 
sides apply it to two totally different and distinct conditions of plant 
life, must inevitably tend to confusion of thought. It is a convenient 
phrase to use when referring to the annual change which takes place 
in perennials of temperate climates prior to and preparatory for the 
