July 11, 1896. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
715 
THE WEST PATENT ORCHID, 
NEW STYLE BASKET. 
(West’s Patent Improved.) 
FERN, Ac, BASKET. 
OLD STYLE BASKET. 
(Patent No. 14,573. Aug., 1895.) 
5-Inch Basket. 
5-Inch Basket. 
FOR GR0WING ORCHIDS, FERNS, AND OTHER PLANTS 
PRICE LIST, with full Particulars, to be had from all Orchid Growers, Nurserymen, Sundriesmen, &c 
THE CHEAPEST (Under i^d. Per Inch complete) AND THE BEST (see testimonials). 
SAMPLES, PER POST, TWELVE STAMPS 
Save expense by making your own baskets, for with a West’s Patent Bottom a child could put 
them together. 
.bottoms and Teak Rods of every description. Wire Pins and Suspenders at Lowest Prices. 
Made by the Latest Improved Machinery. Inspection Invited. 
C. WEST, F.R.H.S., Roundhay, Leeds, 
MANUFACTURER of EVERY DESCRIPTION of TEAK RECEPTACLES for HORTICULTURAL 
PURPOSES 
N.B.—Please remember a WEST'S PATENT will PLANT a SIZE LARGER than any other, thus making 
them so very much cheaper. 
THE BEST CABBAGE 
For Present Sowing is 
Daniels’ Defiance. 
A magnificent variety, growing to the weight of from 
10 to 20 pounds. Remarkably early, short legged, 
and compact, and of the most delicious marrow 
flavour. Invaluable for the Market Gardener or the 
private grower. Our own grand selected stock. 
Per oz., Is. 6d.; per packet, 6d. 
Daniels' Defiance Cabbage. 
ONION—DANIELS’ GOLDEN ROCGA. 
Fine globular shape, golden yellow skin, mild 
flavour, and with careful cultivation comes equal to 
the imported Portugal Onions, and keeps sound till 
June. This variety is the best exhibition kind 
known, and has obtained more prizes than any 
other Onion. If sown in Autumn, and kept under 
first-class cultivation, will grow bulbs two to three 
pounds each. 
Per oz., Is. 6d.; per packet, 6d. 
BOX’S BEGONIAS 
Received the highest award 
(a SILVER GILT FLORA MEDAL 
or Begonias exclusively) at the Temple Show on the igth 
May. The exhibition under glass at the West Wickham 
Nurseries is easily reached by Mid-Kent Railway S.E.R. 
Station, only five minutes from Nurseries. Visitors are wel¬ 
come all the summer. Two acres in b 00m outdoors in Sep¬ 
tember. The best Begonias for quality and quantity in the 
trade. 
JOHN R BOX, 
West Wickham Nurseries, near 
Beckenham, S.E. 
%* Letters to Croydon. 
O RCHIDS of the highest quality, every 
plant guaranteed true to name, from 2/6 each. Please 
send fnr free list.—P. McARTHUR, The London Nurseries, 
4, Maida Vale, London, W. 
For Index to Coctents see page 726. 
" Gardening Is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man "—Bacon. 
Edited by J. FRASER F.L.S. 
SATURDAY, JULY nth, 1896. 
DANIELS BROTHERS, 
Seed Growers and Nurserymen, 
NORWICH. 
ORCHIDS. 
Clean Healthy Plants at Low Priees. 
Always worth a visit of inspection. Kindly send for Catalogue, 
JAMES CYPHER, 
Exotic Nurseries, CHELTENHAM. 
CHRYSANTHEMUM GUIDE 
and 
CHRYSANTHEMUM ALBUM. 
I have a few of these valuable works left and will send a 
copy of each, post free, for 2s., or separately, The Guide, 8 
stamps, The Album 18 stamps. 
Both are invaluable to Chrysanthemum Growers. 
H. J. JONES, 
Ryecroft Nursery, Lewisham. 
NEXT WEEK'S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Tuesday, July T4th.—Royal Horticultural Society: Meeting of 
committees at 12 o'clock. 
Wednesday, July 15th.— Royal Botanic Society, promenade. 
Ulverston Ro-e Show. 
Thursday, July 16th.—Jersey Summer Show. 
Shows at Selby, H.lifax, and Finchley. 
Friday, July 17th.—Buwdon Show (2 days). 
Sales ofOrchhisbv Messrs. Protheroe & Morris. 
Saturday, July 18th.—New Brighton Rose Show. 
he Rothamsted Experiments.— The 
Rothamsted Experimental Station is 
the oldest and most notable of its 
kind in the British Isles, and was 
founded by Mr. (now Sir) John 
Bennett Lawes. Soon after entering into 
possession of his hereditary property at 
Rothamsted, Harpenden, Herts, in 1834 he 
commenced making experiments with plants 
grown in pots and supplied with various 
kinds of manure. In the course of a few 
years, some striking results were obtained 
by the use of phosphatic manures in the 
growth of root' crops, which subsequently 
led to more extensive trials in the field. 
Systematic field experiments were com¬ 
menced in 1843, and a barn was used as a 
laboratory. This was practically the date 
of the founding of the Rothamsted Experi¬ 
mental Station, which celebrated its jubilee 
in 1893, as is tabulated on a huge, unhewn 
block of granite near the present commo¬ 
dious laboratory and its accessories. In 
1854 and 18-55, this new laboratory was 
built by a public subscription of agricul¬ 
turists and presented to Sir John Lawes in 
1855. From 1843, Dr. (now Sir) J. Henry 
Gilbert has been associated with Sir John 
Bennett Lawes, and since then has had the 
direction of the laboratory. Assistants 
have been added from time to time as this 
became necessary, including Mr. J. J. 
Willis, who is right-hand man to 'Sir J. 
Henry Gilbert. 
Agriculturists, professors, and other 
scientific rren interested in agriculture and 
horticulture make pilgrimages from all 
parts of the world to inspect the experi¬ 
mental grounds every year. The other 
week a party of twenty-five Belgians were 
present and Sir Henry Gilbert had to ex¬ 
plain the operations being conducted in the 
French tongue. He is also a master of the 
German tongue, and finds a use for it even 
at Rothamsted, On Monday last, a party 
of sixty Essex farmers paid a visit to the far 
famed Experimental Station and were con¬ 
ducted over the grounds by Sir Henry, who is 
close upon eighty years of age, but as active 
as ever. Sir John Bennett Lawes, who is 
three or four years older than Sir Henry, 
was absent in London. The party was 
first conducted through the laboratory by 
Sir Henry, and also through the Sample 
House, the two buildings containing some 
40,000 bottles of samples of experimentally- 
grown vegetable produce, of animal pro¬ 
ducts, of ashes, or of soil, besides some 
thousands of samples not in bottles. These 
samples constitute a history or record of 
what has been done on each field under 
experiment, and the soils constitute a 
record of the soils and the plant foods they 
actually contained in the early days of the 
experiments, so that those soils would now 
be very different. Charts suspended round 
the walls of the laboratory give details of 
manures applied, rainfalls, records of loss of 
nitrogen by drainage in wet seasons and 
during winter, showing what to avoid and 
what to pursue in the application of 
manures, etc., so that everything was of 
great interest to the audience, but the time 
all too limited for grasping the details. 
The fixation of free nitrogen by Legu¬ 
minous plants proved of great importance ; 
but though the subject is not newto science, 
it is of perennial interest, especially by the 
addition of fresh evidence in the field 
experiments. Peas, Vetches, and Lupins 
were sown in sand and ash, sterilised ; in 
sand and ash, microbe-seeded ; and in 
garden soil respectively. The results 
showed that these subjects in sterilised soil 
made very little growth, and that merely as 
a result of the small amount of nitrogen 
stored up in the seed. After this was 
exhausted, growth became stationary. The 
garden soil gave much better results, 
doubtless because it contained the microbes 
which enable the plants to fix and utilise 
the free nitrogen in the small tuberous 
nodules upon the roots. Those soils which 
were artificially seeded with the microbes 
gave the best results. Lupins in this soil 
made excellent growth and had accumu¬ 
lated thirty to forty times as much nitrogen 
in their root nodules as the same class of 
plants did in the sterilised soil, thus incon- 
trovertibly proving how essential these 
