86 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
Oct. 11th, 1884. 
THE GENUS EUCHARIS. 
In the last number of The Gardening Would 
(p. 69) an illustration of a somewhat remarkable spike 
of Eucharis Candida was given, with an article on its 
culture by Mr. E. Dumper. Mention is there made of 
another plant which is cultivated under the same 
name, but which must in no way be confounded with 
the trueE. Candida. This, too, is a species of Eucharis 
—unless it be not the plant which I shall mention 
presently—and as all the species first become known 
through their introduction to gardens, and moreover 
are so ornamental, I have thought a short account of 
the genus would be of interest. 
Eucharis, then, is an Amaryllidaeeous genus of 
plants, which was founded in 1853 by Planchon and 
Linden, in the Flora des Serres. A single species 
was described, and well-figured (tab. 788); the coloured 
plate representing a leaf and spike, beside which a 
much reduced figure of a growing plant shows the 
habit. The species was named E. Candida, and as 
the plant figured last week in these columns is 
identical, there is no question as to which is the 
original E. Candida. In the following year, the same 
authors described and figured a second species, the 
well-known E. grandiflora (tab. 957 of the same work). 
In 1857, these authors described and figured a sup¬ 
posed third species under the name of E. amazonica 
(tab. 1216), but which subsequently proved to be 
nothing but E. grandiflora; hence the second name 
had to be dropped. After the introduction of E. 
Candida, which seems to have been very rare in 
England, another plant began to do duty for it—a 
fact which for a time appears to have passed unnoticed. 
At length Mr. Bull introduced the true plant, and in 
1867 figured it in his catalogue (p. xvi.), pointing out 
that the plant cultivated in gardens under the name 
was not the true plant. This false E. Candida—for 
we may call it so—got into the hands of Mr. Baker, 
of Kew, who considered it to belong to the closely- 
allied genus Calliphruria, and described it as C. 
subedentata, in The Botanical Magazine (tab. 6289). 
This was in 1877, but Messrs. Bentham and Hooker, 
in their Genera Plantanm, have since transferred 
it to Eucharis, as E. subedendata. The remaining 
species, E. Sanderi, was described by Mi-. Baker as 
recently as last year, and is well-figured in The 
Botanical Magazine (tab. 6676). These four species 
are all natives of the Andes of Columbia and New 
Grenada, and all of them are exceedingly useful 
plants when successfully grown. 
In conclusion, it may be as well to point out the 
differences between E. Candida and E. subedentata, 
as they have been confounded together. E. Candida 
has ovate-oblong, long-necked bulbs, broadly elliptical 
and acuminate leaves with flat petioles, and nodding 
flowers. The slender decurved tube is about 2 ins. 
long, suddenly expanding into six spreading segments. 
The yellowish-tinted corona is composed of six large 
lobes, which are united only at the base. C. subeden¬ 
tata has globular, neckless bulbs, very similar but 
usually a little broader leaves, and much smaller 
flowers. The tube is much shorter and stouter, gradu¬ 
ally expanding into a funnel-shaped flower, the seg¬ 
ments not widely spreading as in the preceding. The 
corona, too, is very small and included in the flower, 
though the lobes are only united at the base. In E. 
grandiflora the pale green corona forms a complete 
ring, the lobes being united to the apex. In E. Sanderi 
the corona is yellow, adnate to the perianth segments 
nearly to its apex, where it forms a narrow collar-like 
free border or ring, on which the filaments are in¬ 
serted.—A'. 
CAPE BULBS EASILY GROWN. 
Some writers, no doubt without intending to do so, 
when treating of Cape bulbs, have made it appear 
as if there were great difficulty in cultivatkig them. 
Some of them are without doubt difficult to manage; 
but there are some others that can be successfully 
managed by reverting to simple means. Take the 
Freesias for instance, they are among the most 
beautiful of all Cape bulbs, growing about 9 ins. in 
height, and producing six to eight flowers upon a 
stem. Now as Freesias start early into growth, they 
must be potted early. There are two that are now 
grown, viz., F. Lechtlini, clear pale yellow, with a 
bright orange blotch on the lower petal; and L. 
refracta alba, or odorata, pure-white, and delightfully 
fragrant. Ixias and Sparaxis are also easy of culture. 
Of the former, special mention may be made of 
crateroides, bright scarlet; Golden Drop, gold and 
yellow; Hypatia, pure white and lilac; longiflora, 
buff ; maculosa, bright rosy-pink; and viridiflora, 
pale sea-green with black centre, one of the most 
distinctive coloured flowers in cultivation. There are 
many others; but these make an ample selection for 
a beginner. Then of Sparaxis, the following are 
beautiful varieties: Angelique, pure white; grandiflora, 
bright crimson ; Leopard, yellow shading to primrose; 
maculata, white spotted with purple ; Tricolor, white, 
red, and yellow; and Victor Emanuel, red and yellow. 
Anyone contemplating growing a few of these bulbs 
should obtain them without delay, especially the 
Freesias, which as above stated become active early. A 
compost made up of soft yellow loam, some peat, 
sand, and leaf mould; 5 or 6-in. pots should be used, 
well drained, and six to eight bulbs placed in each, 
allowing about an inch of soil to cover them. The 
pots can be placed in a cold-frame, or at this time of 
the year, in the open-air for a season ; but they should 
be screened from heavy rains, and worms should not 
be allowed to make their way into the pots. The soil 
should be kept moist enough to keep the bulbs active 
in growth; when they have made a good growth and 
are on the point of throwing up their flower-stems, 
they can be taken into the greenhouse to flower. At 
no stage of growth is heat absolutely necessary, they 
will bloom nicely in a cold-house.— R. D. 
MANURES FOR POTATOS. 
Although I consider that the use of complete 
artificial manures involves too great a cost for their 
employment in the growth of ordinary farm crops, 
perhaps an exception may be made in regard to 
Potatos, a crop which requires a large supply of both 
potash and nitrogen. At Rothamsted we have grown 
nine crops of Potatos in succession upon land which 
for fifteen years previously had received no yard 
manure, and the average yield of the last three crops 
has been 400 bushels per acre, calculating the bushel 
to weigh 50 lbs. The manure used each year has been 
300 lbs. of sulphate of potash, 350 lbs. of super¬ 
phosphate of lime, and 400 lbs. of salts of ammonia; 
while in another experiment, instead of the salts of 
ammonia, 540 lbs. of nitrate of soda were applied. 
The produce from both manures has been almost 
identical. 
The sulphate of potash supplies about 130 lbs. of 
potash—and we find very nearly the same amount in 
the crop. The phosphoric acid, on the other hand, is 
much in excess of the requirements of the crop, and 
it might be reduced one-half. The salts of ammonia 
and the nitrate each supply about the same amount 
of nitrogen—87 lbs.—and of this the crop does not 
take up more than 50 lbs.; there is, apparently, 
therefore, a considerable loss of this substance; but 
at the same time any reduction in the amount of 
these manures would be followed by a reduction in the 
crop. The loss of this costly manure ingredient is a 
most serious matter, as unfortunately there is but 
little prospect of recovering, in succeeding crops, any 
appreciable amount of the 37 lbs. not taken up by the 
first. By means of the same mineral manures alone 
we have grown—over the same period—one-half the 
crop we obtained by the application of minerals with 
nitrogen, the soil having supplied a sufficient amount 
of that substance to give a product of 200 bushels; 
but one-half of the minerals applied remained inactive 
in the soil; these, however, might be made available 
to the crop by an application of nitrogen. 
The quantity of potash removed in Potatos is very 
large. In the 400 bushels it amounts to about 130 lbs. 
Compare this with the amount removed by animals. 
An ox, weighing 1,400 lbs., which was killed for the 
purpose of analysis, contained 2J lbs. in the whole 
carcase and offal. Hay is another crop which takes 
a good deal of potash from the soil, and farmers in 
England rarely grow either Hay or Potatos for sale 
unless there are facilities for the purchase of town 
dung. Artificial manures are certainly not used 
alone by practical farmers in the growth of then' 
crops. 
In our experimental field the character of the 
manure is always represented in the stem and leaves 
of the plant. Ammonia and nitrate without minerals 
give a low stem and greenish-brown leaves, which in 
the evening appear almost black. Minerals without 
nitrogen give a thin, low stem and yellowish-green 
leaves, while minerals and nitrogen together give a 
luxuriant, and sometimes an over-luxuriant, stem, with 
leaves of a bright green. There is no difficulty in 
accounting for these peculiarities. A plant takes up 
whatever food is most abundant in the soil, with the 
hope, as I sometimes put it, that sooner or later 
it may find the food which suits it best. In the 
dark-green leaves the nitrogen is in excess, but starch 
cannot be formed without potash, and the supplies of 
potash are not sufficient to use up the nitrogen. It is 
far more easy to change the yellowish-green of the 
mineral-manured Potatos into a dark green than it is 
to lighten the colour of Potatos which receive nitrogen: 
a solution of nitrate of soda will effect the one in a 
very few days, but as potash and phosphoric acid 
insoluble compounds with the soil, they are much 
more slowly taken up by plants. 
We always, however, obtain a larger crop of Potatos 
where we apply the mineral manures alone than 
where we apply the nitrogen without the minerals, 
though in the next field salts of ammonia, applied 
without minerals for thirty-nine years in succession, 
have grown larger cropsnf Wheat over the whole period 
than mineral manures without ammonia.— Sir J. B. 
Lawes, in the Rural Neio Yorker. 
SHOVELS AND SPADES. 
Mr.Willlaai Robert Lake, Southampton Buildings, 
London, has patented an invention in connection 
with the sockets of shovels and spades, and the 
method of attaching the same to the body or blade. 
In ordinary cone-rivetted shovels the handle is seemed 
to the blade by means of straps, one being provided 
with a V-shaped flange, which extends downwardly, 
and is rivetted to the blade, and the other unprovided 
with a flange, but having its lower end also rivetted to 
the blade, both straps being rivetted to the handle, 
which is exposed on either side at its lower end. 
Another form of shovel, sometimes called the 
“ Oxford,” has its lower strap formed integral with 
the blade, and its upper strap provided with a 
V-shaped flange, which is rivetted to the blade of the 
shovel, thereby rendering it very costly to manufac¬ 
ture, and objectionable on account of the rivets which 
protrude on the underside of the blade. 
In carrying this invention into practice, an 
A-shaped depression is formed in the lower side of 
the blade at its upper edge, and the socket for 
receiving and holding the handle and the flange by 
which it is attached to the blade of the shovel, are in 
integral, or formed of a single piece of metal, the 
flange being V-shaped, and struck up and bent or 
formed to fit the depression, but of such width or 
size as not to extend below the lower surface of the 
blade. The socket proper, or that portion of the 
socket which is designed to receive the handle of the 
shovel, is formed by curving or bending the sides 
inwardly at their centres and upper ends, and slightly 
curving them downwardly and outwardly at their 
lower ends, thereby bracing and greatly strengthening 
the socket at the point where it is subjected to the 
severest strain in using the shovel. The socket 
is also bent or curved to form a goose-neck, but this 
bend may be slight, or entirely omitted if desired. 
Both the socket and its flange may be made of cast- 
metal, either malleable or otherwise, if desired, 
although wrought-iron or steel is preferable. 
The advantages claimed are—cheapness of con¬ 
struction ; a slight saving in the material used; a 
great saving in valuable stock over the method 
described of forming the socket, or any part of it, 
integral with the blade; the handle does not necessarily 
require bending or rivetting; the heads of the rivets 
on the under side of the shovel being above the lower 
surface of its blade, and within the depression, are 
protected from wear, and not liable to be broken off. 
—Agricultural Gazette. 
“ Sapoline ” is the title of a new insect-destroying 
compound introduced by Messrs. Brown, Martin & 
Co., 69, Chancery Lane, E.C. 
