240 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ October, 
one of those of D. imperialis, the colour being pale lilac. It is a native of the Winter berg 
district of the Cape Colony, and appears to vary its nature and in the colour of flowers, from 
a deep violet or purple to pure white. Mr. Barker, to whom our English gardens are 
indebted for many treasures, speaks of the plant as growing “ in the valley of the Winterberg in 
patches, many thousands close together, as if they had been planted in beds.” It must pro¬ 
bably be ranked as a biennial, and no doubt it would be better to raise the seed in a little 
heat, and plant out afterwards. This is unquestionably one of the very finest herbaceous 
plants grown. 
- 3£n a recent work entitled “ Air and Rain ” is given a report by Mr. 
Roth well on the Capacity of Plants to resist Acicl Fames , such as emanate from 
factories. The following are classed according to the effects produced on each :— 
I. Fern, only in the summer; Scotch Firs, Spruce, and Larches, a little in winter; Clover, 
white and red, Trefoil, white and red, Rye-grass : all suffer damage during the winter to the 
roots; Poplars, Hawthorns, Potatos. II. Wheat receives some damage in winter, Oats in 
May; when in the grass state they soon receive damage; Barley, Mangels, common Turnips, 
Rhubarb. III. Laurels, British and Portugal; Aucubas, British and Portugal; Yews, British 
and Portugal; Holly, British and Portugal; Gorse, British and Portugal. These plants 
receive damage in winter, but more in summer. Old grass meadows and pasture receive 
much damage in the winter. IV. Ashes, Oaks, Hazels, Horse Chestnuts, Walnuts, Spanish 
Chestnuts, Sloe Thorn. V. Swedish Tiumip and Cabbages, Damson and other fruit trees, Beech, 
Elm, Birch, Alder, Sycamores. Trees exposed to noxious vapours get bark-bound, and then 
cannot thrive, for they take damage in the winter, and the sap cannot flow when spring 
comes. Grass land takes as much damage in winter as in summer. 
-. ®he following should be a useful hint to the growers of Deodars whose 
trees have not fulfilled their expectations:—“It always seemed to me,” writes an 
India forest officer, “ that it was hopeless to expect Deodars to come to any per¬ 
fection planted, as they are usually at home, either isolated or only two or three in a clump. 
Perhaps there is nothing more astonishing in natural forestry than the enormous size which 
Deodars will attain when growing so close together that their trunks almost touch. In some 
of the Kulu forests, I have seen 20 to 30 huge trees, from 8 to 12 feet girth, and nearly 100 
feet high, growing so close together that a man with outstretched arms could touch the trunks 
of any two of them, and with only a few small branches for their heads. It is the most extra¬ 
ordinary thing possible as to how they attain so great a height and size, growing so close 
together. But an isolated Deodar is rarely anything but squat and stunted, and never seems 
to come to perfection.” 
- She Araucaria imbricata seems to be seeding freely tliis year. A fine 
example has been sent us from Conliolt Park, the seat of Lady 0. Wellesley ; and 
one of the trees at Dropmore is ripening seed. In tliis case tlie female tree is 80 
yards from the male, so that the wind must have carried the pollen. The latter was a cutting 
plant, taken from that at Kew, and bought from Mr. Knight for 10 guineas. 
(Dbttttarg* 
- $$R. William Pringle Laird, of the firm of W. P. Laird and Sinclair, 
nurserymen and seedsmen, Dundee, died at Fountainbrae, Monifietli, on the 14th 
inst. Mr. Laird was born at Balgone, in East Lothian, and in 1833 commenced 
business in Dundee, where his frankness of manner and careful attention to the interests of 
his customers, as well as the sound practical advice which he was always ready to 
impart to all that applied for it, soon secured for him a wide range of horticultural 
friends. 
— Gris, of the Botanical Department of the Jardin des Plantes, died 
recently, at the early age of 42. Latterly M. Gris has published much on 
systematic botany in association with M. Brongniart, and he has recently completed 
a very valuable monograph on the pith of plants, which is destined to take its place among tho 
classical memoirs on vegetable anatomy and physiology. 
