October 25,1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
381 
winter’s rest, when the energy tf the plant is stored up in resting 
buds, stems, scales of bulbs, corms, tubers and roots, or those bgni- 
fications of wood and bark which give the tree rigidity and stability. 
This ripening of the stem is a widely different thing to the changes 
which take place in the coatings surrounding the seed in edible fruit. 
The very elements which are drawn from the leaves cn the approach 
of the autumn, to be used in the maturation of the buds, or con¬ 
served in the cambium layer till the rise of the sap in spring, and 
are the essence of its ripeness, are absent from the fruit, referring 
of course to the more succulent parts as distinct from the embryo. 
Here the protoplasmic substances are withdrawn and the cells are 
filled with glucose, sugar, fruit salts, oils, and other carbonaceous 
compounds which in their decay may or may not foster the life of 
the embryos, or may have served their purpose in assisting in the 
dispersal of the seed. The chlorophyll and the chloroplastids, in 
which, by the aid of light and heat, the energy of the life processes 
have been carried on, have disappeared, or become absorbed, and all 
further changes (decay) must be so many steps towards the inorganic. 
This is the very reverse of what takes place in the stem, which in 
maturation acquires a greater intensity of energy, quiescent, it is 
true, but yet there for the time that spring calls, by the increase of 
heat and the rising of the sap, for renewed activity. 
If the writers on this question hold that there is an analogy 
between the two, as “ E. K, Dublin," appears to do on page 358, 
“ Sceptic ” may well be sceptical in the matter, for the processes are 
the very opposites of each other, one being the formation of a series 
of compounds from which the power of organic change (or growth) 
has been withdrawn, and the other in which the proteid compounds 
are stored up in their most concentrated forms, associated with the 
infiltration of lignin into the cellulose of cells and vessels, by which 
firmness and bulk is given to the stem, and not as “ E. K.” asserts, 
by the use of organic salts, excepting, of course, the silicates of 
grasses and plants of that nature. These salts, while necessary to 
the processes of life, become the waste products, and are largely 
passed into the leaves as they get old, to be removed by the fall 
of the leaf, just as other waste products are removed from the 
plant by the roots by the process of exmose. 
Most readers will agree with Mr. J. G. Pettinger, page 359,_that 
it is idle to deny the annual maturation of stems, called “ ripening ” 
in this discussion. That this is of different degrees in different 
seasons, experience shows. The activity of what scientists know as 
the chloroplastids of the protoplasm in the leaf cells depend upon the 
direct action of the rays of light at the violet end of the spectrum. 
If these are strained out during their progress through the atmosphere 
by the exesss of vapour or other obstructions, as tinted glass, textures, 
smoke, or fog, there is by so much a reduced life in the protoplasm 
of the leaves. Usually the lessened actinic power is associated with an 
excess of moisture poured into the leaves by the root action, which has, 
of course, to be got rid of at the expense of the vitality of the leaves. 
If an insufficient actinic power reaches the leaves at the close of 
the vegetative period, when the axillary and terminal resting buds 
are being formed, with an excess of watery sap, then there is a 
lessened volume of proteid and glucose and ligneous compounds 
returned to the stem. An addition is made by the plant to the 
vegetative organs (leaves) in the buds instead of reproductive organs 
(tlowers) until such time (which may be another season) that a 
balance is struck, and the vegetative gives place to the reproductive 
effort, when flower buds are formed in place of leaf buds. The plant 
endeavours by the production of greater leaf surface to dispose of 
the excess of crude sap ; when this is overcome the chloroplastids 
under pure light, heat, and lessened moisture are active in producing 
those compounds which drawn into the stem stiffen the vessels with 
lignin, store the cambium region with proteids, and are used in the 
buds for flower production in the spring. 
The presence of chlorophyll granules in the cells of leaves is 
usually accompanied with the production of starch by the aid of 
light. As starch grains cannot pass through the cell walls, under the 
action of the actinic rays certain ferments are formed in the cell sap 
which change this material into glucose. This compound is trans¬ 
mitted from cell to vessel till it reaches the part of the organism 
where it can be either used to build up the structure, or can be changed 
again by the action of leucoplastids to starch and stored for future use. 
The answer to the query. What is the ripening of wood? is— 
1, The transmission into the leaf of waste products ; 2, The return into 
the stem of compounds produced under the action of light in the cells of 
the leaf, which can be used as lignin in the wood and bark; and 3, the 
elaboration of material in leaves under the same conditions, to be used in 
the formation of buds, (flower and leaf) for the ensuing season.—J. A. 
I REGRET that owing to other matters claiming my attention 
during the past week I am unable to do more than acknowledge the 
two communications appearing in your last issue, reserving to myself 
the right to deal with them in detail upon another occasion. 
“ E. K., Dublin ” (page 358) suspects that your “ verdant corre¬ 
spondent is more anxious to arrive at the truth than to wash out the 
subject in a wave of scepticism.” Whatever these last nine words 
may be supposed to mean, he could not have paid me a greater 
compliment than accuse me of being a persistent seeker after truth. 
I hope always to remain so. 
As, however, this controversy has now become rather protracted, 
I think a brief recapitulation of its leading features may not be out 
of place. In July you printed over the initials of your Irish con¬ 
tributor an article describing in glowing terms the benefits which had 
accrued to horticulture generally from the heat and drought of 1893. 
This article was headed “ Ripened Wood." Disgusted at what I 
regarded as an ebullition of hysterical gush, I penned a short 
paragraph, which, however, was merely an amplification of one 
word—Fudge! “ E. K.” remained quite silent then, but Mr, 
Raillem came forward to do battle for the ripe-wood men, he 
attempting to prove that the disasters of this season were due to the 
May frosts instead of, as I contend, the ripening and roasting of the 
wood last year. 
After two or three rounds Mr. Raillem retired, and “E. K.” for 
the first time took up the running, since when others have joined in 
the fray. As three months have now elapsed since his first article 
appeared, I think I may fairly ask if your correspondent still 
adheres to the opinion he then expressed—viz., that the heat and 
drought of 1893 was beneficial to vegetation throughout the length 
and breadth of the land ? This is the gist of the whole question, and 
aught else is but beating about the bush. 
Again, will “ E. K.” undertake to assert that wood this year is 
not efficiently ripened ? Comparison between two utterly different 
—but each in their way extraordinary—seasons is the only possible 
means of arriving at a solution of this difficult problem. But that is 
just what the ripe-wood advocates have carefully evaded, knowing 
full well the risk their pet theory runs of being found wanting when 
submitted to so practical a test. 
“ Azoto’s” letter (page 321) which appeared between the writing 
and publishing of mine requires no answer ; his attempt to confuse 
the issues being too palpable to impose upon anyone.—A Sceptic. 
[VVe know that “ Azoto ’’ is, equally with “ A Sceplic," an earnest 
“ seeker after truth," and we suspect our readers will consider his 
article this week worthy of their respectful attention.] 
The Pickering Lodge Orchids. 
On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in last week the 
remainder of this noted collection of Orchids were sold by auction 
under the direction of Messrs. Protheroe & Morris. We are 
informed that the chief prices realised included 100 guineas for 
Cattleya Massaiana, 70 guineas for a plant of Cattleya Hardyana, 
50 guineas for Laslio-Cattleya calistoglossa, 75 guineas for small 
pieces of Lmlio-Cattleya bella and the original Cattleya Reineckiana. 
A small healthy plant of Cypripedium insigne Sanderse, in a 4-inch 
pot, went to the son of the late owner at 260 guineas. A fine 
piece of Lmlio-Cattleya bella fetched 150 guineas, and Cattleya 
Schroderi alba 160 guineas, 
Epidendrum Godseffianuji. 
This is the newest addition to the genus Epidendrum which 
has been brought into cultivation. It is stated in the “Garden 
and Forest" that the plant came in with large importations of 
Cattleya labiata, and from this it is safe to assume that the treat¬ 
ment adapted to this Cattleya should also suit the Epidendrum, 
and so it has proved with us here. Epidendrums are the oldest of 
known epiphytes, and at the beginning all such were called 
Epidendrums by Linnaeus ; but as material came in it soon became 
evident that a division was necessary, for even Dendrobiums were 
included, until at least nine species were known to science at the 
time the name was given by Swartz, himself a pupil of Linnaeus. 
Epidendrums, as a class, are not much in favour with culti¬ 
vators, there being but few that are showy enough to meet the 
popular demand at the present time, and it is to be feared that 
E. Godseffianum will not be much sought after unless the fashion 
changes. The flowers, about an inch in diameter, are produced 
sparingly on long branching stems, and all their plants are of a 
pale olive green, except the lip, which is white, faintly'^ lined with 
purple. This Epidendrum is a very free grower when placed on 
blocks, with a little moss to hold the moisture about the roots. It 
is not easy to place the plants in pots, as they have a habit of 
ascending as they grow each year ooe above another. 
