October 6, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
§7 
corner of the soil yard, to rot. The material thus 
obtained will be of the utmost service for the top- 
dressiug of herbaceous borders and shrubberies. A 
good heap of leaf soil is one of the things no gardener 
should be without, the uses to which it may be put 
being so many and varied. 
Old plants of Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, and 
other summer flowering subjects should be cleared 
entirely away. The beds should then receive a light 
forking over and have all rubbish cleared from them. 
They will then be ready for the reception of Wall¬ 
flowers, Stocks, Erysimums, and any other hardy 
subjects suitable for display during the spring 
months. It is a great pity that the planting of 
such hardy plants as these is not more commonly 
practised than it is. Under the present system of 
summer bedding a show is obtained for only a com¬ 
paratively few months of the year, leaving the beds 
and borders bare, and the garden desolate, during a 
much longer period than need be. 
Hyacinths, Tulips, and Anemones may now be 
planted in beds and borders, amongst the grass on 
lawns, or in thinly-planted shrubberies. Bulbs 
quite good enough for the purpose can be obtained 
from any nurserymen at surprisingly small cost, and 
there can be no doubt that any extra outlay in this 
direction meets with ample reward. 
Tuberous Begonias. —These are immensely popu¬ 
lar at the present as bedding plants, and few indeed are 
the places in which the flower garden does not boast 
a bed or two filled with them. When the tender 
succulent stems are destroyed by frost, the tubers 
should be lifted, placed in shallow boxes with a 
covering of sand or dry soil, and given a place upon 
the shelves 'of the store-house. Failing that, they 
may be kept through the winter very easily in a 
cellar or shed from which the frost is excluded. But 
at any rate they should be got out of the ground as 
soon as possible, as from the tubers lying so close 
to the surface of the ground they may readily take 
harm from severe frost. 
Gladioli, too, are very sensitive, and it is not 
advisable to leave them out too long, or the corms 
will be sure to take harm from sharp frost. The 
corms should be lifted with the stems and leaves 
attached, as soon after the first check as possible, 
a placed in a shed or outhouse to ripen. After 
which the stems may be removed (cut off with a 
pair of shears) and the corms packed away in sand 
or dry soil.— A. S. G. 
-- 
THE VEGETABLE GARDEN, 
Vegetable Supplies. 
The supply of these in many places will have been 
somewhat reduced by the frosts last week. Here in 
Derbyshire, in all the low-lying districts, Runner 
Beans and late Peas that were not protected have 
been cut down. The late Potatos, however, in 
some places are still green, therefore scarce ready to 
lift; there is but little signs of disease, particularly on 
the light soils. When time permits, clear away all 
sticks from Peas and Beans, and prepare the ground 
for futute crops, such work being of the greatest im¬ 
portance, for the longer the soil is exposed to the 
weather the better will it be for future crops. 
Asparagus. 
IN many places this has to be forced very early in 
the season, and if special preparations were made as 
previously advised in these pages, by reserving some 
of the most forward beds, by allowing them to make 
their growth early in the season, these will now have 
become ripe and may be cut down. When doing 
this, all those having seed should be reserved, as this 
will be useful for sowing next spring. It is a good 
plan to remove some of the soil when the growths 
have been cut off and cleared away,as this will induce 
the crowns to ripen more quickly and cause them to 
start into growth more readily when placed into heat. 
Forcing Asparagus is not such a difficult task, but to 
keep up a constant supply is another thing, and 
where space is limited the chief drawback is in pro¬ 
ducing the roots, as much ground is required to grow 
them of sufficient strength to be of any use. Those, 
however, who have spare ground would do well to 
sow a piece each season and grow as many plants as 
are likely to be required for lifting, if this be done 
the permanent beds need not be touched. 
Such plants can be grown in most gardens with¬ 
out any special preparations, but where the soil is 
too heavy it will be necessary to add that of a differ¬ 
ent texture to cause it to be more porous, otherwise 
the roots will not make satisfactory progress. 
Asparagus, as all gardeners know, thrives best on a 
light, rich soil of a good depth resting on a subsoil of 
gravel or sand, in such it can be fed to almost any 
extent without any fear of the roots becoming stag¬ 
nant in winter, whereas if the ground be heavy,resting 
on a bed of clay, the water cannot pass away quick 
enough to cause a healthy and robust growth. On 
the former it will be necessary in dry seasons to feed 
liberally, while in wet the growth will be extra 
strong. On the other hand, if the soil be too cold 
and retentive, the roots often perish in winter; and 
many of the crowns go blind and are therefore use¬ 
less for forcing. When lifting the roots do not ex¬ 
pose them to the atmosphere longer than can be 
avoided, or they will not start so readily when put 
in .—Kitchen Gardener. 
The harvesting of the crops of the later varieties of 
Apples and Pears, must still be carried on. Most of 
the sorts will be fit for gathering by the middle or 
end of the month. At any rate, after the expiration 
of this period, they will obtain no benefit whatever 
from hanging upon the trees. Indeed, it will be 
much better for the fruit as well as for the tree, if 
the crops are gathered and allowed to finish their 
work of ripening in the store room. Late Plums on 
north walls, such as for example Coe’s Golden Drop, 
will keep for some time if picked (when dry), wrapped 
in cotton wool, and laid in shallow boxes on the 
shelves of a dry, but not too warm, store room. 
This late fruit, although it will not have the fine 
flavour of the earlier varieties will yet be fairly pre¬ 
sentable if treated in this way. Filberts must be 
all harvested as soon as possible and laid on hurdles 
to dry before storing. 
Raspberries. —Where new plantations of these 
are to be made, no time should be lost in making a 
start, for if planting be deferred for too long 
(especially on heavy soils), the tramping about 
necessary during the operation will result in a hard 
beaten plot of land more like a brickfield than any¬ 
thing else. Raspberries like a deep, rich soil, and the 
ground on which it is proposed to plant them should 
receive a liberal manuring—afterwards trenching two 
or three feet deep—if three feet so much the better. 
A distance of 5 ft. should be allowed between the 
rows, and about 3 ft. between the plants. A greater 
space may be given, however, on very rich soil when 
planting strong growing varieties. Some growers 
allow 8 or 9 ft. between the rows—the spaces be¬ 
tween being devoted to the growing of various 
kitchen garden crops. Very good results are 
obtained in this way, the only thing of importance 
being to notice that the spade or the fork is not 
allowed to approach too closely to the stools of the 
plants, or they will be sure to suffer.— A. S. G. 
Vines.— Houses of late Grapes must have as free 
ventilation as it is possible to give them if the 
berries are to be anything like well-coloured. In the 
South of England less difficulty in the perfect ripen¬ 
ing and colouring of late crops of Black Alicante, 
Lady Downe’s Seedling Muscat of Alexandria, etc., 
is experienced than is the case in the north of 
England, and in Scotland. There, in seasons like 
1894 has been, to obtain well coloured berries in the 
late vineries is always a work of great difficulty. 
The application of firfe-heat will therefore be a matter 
of necessity, if grapes of good appearance, as well as 
well-ripened wood are to be looked for. The atmos¬ 
phere in the houses must be kept pretty dry, and 
the temperature should not fall below 6o° Fahr. by- 
night. Water at the root should be given very 
sparingly. Late crops of Figs must also be treated 
pretty much the same way. The fruit ripening now, 
however, will soon begin to deteriorate in quality. 
Melons.— Every possible advantage must now be 
taken of bright sunny days. The houses should be 
shut up very early in the day, and plenty of fire-heat 
applied. By this means some very good fruit may 
be obtained, although very much will depend upon 
the state of the weather during the next few weeks. 
A dull damp period would seriously affect the 
prospects of success. 
(Meanings front thi^ H$orlt» 
of Science. 
Luminous Plants. —Many of our readers have 
doubtless heard of the fire flies that dance through 
the Myrtle boughs, and many more have heard of 
the glowworm of this country, or even seen it. 
Luminous plants constitute a subject that is less 
familiar, though by no means new. The fact that 
certain plants give out light was known to the 
naturalists Aristotle and Pliny. So far as has yet 
been discovered, this property of giving out light is 
confined to the lower classes of plants which are not 
distinctly separated into stems and leaves. This 
particular kind of luminosity is known as phosphor¬ 
escence ; but there are luminous plants which do 
not give out light of their own production, but 
gather together the rays of sunlight which they can 
find in their dark and shady abodes and reflect it 
again. 
Phosphorescence. —Decaying wood sometimes 
appears luminous, but this is owing to no property 
of the wood itself. It is due to the presence of the 
mycelium of a fungus named Agaricus melleus 
which lives upon the decaying wood of trees. 
Decaying meat and vegetables sometimes become 
phosphorescent owing to the presence of some 
Schizomycete living upon the rotting materials in 
question. In several other cases the light is entirely 
given out by the fruiting part of the plant, or what 
we should call the Mushroom or Toadstool. One 
of these (Agaricus olearius) is a native of the South 
of Europe, while several light-producing Agarics 
come from Australia. Other Toadstools that behave 
in this remarkable manner come from Amboyna, 
Manilla, and Brazil. That from Amboyna has been 
named the Fiery Agaric, or Agaricus igneus. Other 
plants have been recorded from time to time as being 
phosphorescent, but there are still some doubts of 
of certain of them being luminous at all. They are 
water plants, and in that case the light given off by 
some of them at least might be due to incrustations 
of foreign matter upon them. 
Electricity.—At intervals for many years past, 
instances have been recorded of light being given off 
by certain flowering plants. The light in these cases 
is intermittent, consisting, in fact, of flashes or 
sparks, and if the observations were trustworthy, 
may be attributed to electrical discharges. Accord¬ 
ing to record, the daughter of Linneaus was the first 
perhaps to notice, or imagine she noticed, sparks, as 
it were, of fire emanating from the flowers of Tro- 
paeolum majus. Other observers have noted similar 
phenomena from the flowers of Oenothera macro- 
carpa, Polyanthus, Phytolacca, Calendula officina¬ 
lis, Helianthus and others. In the case of the first 
three the light was continuous, but might have been 
due to the presence of light producing fungi. All 
these cases, however, require more elucidation to 
guard against mistake, for anyone can determine for 
himself that white and yellow flowers are 
remarkably luminous during the summer evenings. 
This is, doubtless, of great advantage to the night- 
flying moths and other insects which visit them. 
Even the small white flowers of Anthriscus 
sylvestris are very noticeable all through the night. 
Luminosity from other causes.—Those who 
explore the caverns or mountain caves of Central 
Europe without previous knowledge of the phe¬ 
nomena will be astonished at the presence of 
innumerable specks of golden green that flash and 
sparkle in the darkness. Detaching a piece of rock 
and conveying it to the light, he will find nothing 
but a thin crust of Moss covering very dull coloured 
stones. The cells of this Moss are of peculiar con¬ 
struction, being spherical, and found in such a way 
as to gather up and concentrate the rays of light 
upon the chlorophyll which they contain. But they 
also reflect the light, hence their brilliant and spark¬ 
ling appearance in darkness or semi-darkness. This 
kind of luminosity is, therefore, concentrated and 
reflected light, and is, therefore, quite different from 
phosphorescence. 
Cause of Phosphorescence.—The fuDgi above 
mentioned can only give out their peculiar light 
when living and actively carrying on their chemical 
changes. The plants have to be in contact with air 
or oxygen and the temperature must range within a 
certain limit. When too low, luminosity ceases, and 
when too high it also ceases as the plant gets killed 
with the heat. Part of the energy of the plant is 
released in the form of light, which is, therefore, a 
waste product, the result of the destructive metabo¬ 
lism of tbe plant. 
