May 25, 1896. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
615 
Pelargoniums. —These will now be making a 
gorgeous show if they have been well looked after 
during the early months of the year. Staking will, 
of course, be an important point to attend to, for the 
plants in most cases make heavy growths, that if not 
supported are extremely liable to break off at the 
base during shifting. A few neat stakes carefully 
inserted also allows of the trusses of bloom being 
evenly distributed over the plant, of itself no small 
consideration. But, while the Pelargonium is a most 
showy and useful greenhouse subject, it causes a 
good deal of trouble, as the continually falling 
blooms make a lot of litter. They should therefore 
be gone over every day and all yellow leaves or 
falling blossoms removed. It is also advisable to 
alter the arrangement now and again, and thus vary 
the appearance as far as possible, besides keeping 
the plants neat and trim. 
Later Batches of plants which are not yet in 
flower must be kept near the glass to prevent them 
becoming drawn. A liberal allowance of liquid 
manure may be given at alternate waterings. At 
this time of the year green fly usually proves more 
or less of a nuisance, and its first appearance must 
be carefully watched for. Any affected plants may 
be syringed or dipped with tobacco water, washing 
this off with clean water after a lapse of not more 
than ten minutes from the time of application, 
when it should have done its work pretty effectually. 
Soot.— While this is one of the most easily 
obtained it is also one of the most useful manures 
that can possibly be applied, either for soft or hard- 
wooded plants. At this season of the year, when so 
many subjects are needing some stimulant or other, 
a supply of soot water should be always on hand. 
The best method of procuring this is to place the 
soot in a bag, tying the mouth of the latter firmly 
and soaking it in a tank of water for a day or two 
before using. By this means a clear solution is 
obtained, free from all the sediment, which, if this 
precaution were not taken, would form a hard crust 
upon the surface of the soil. 
Pits and Frames. 
Primula sinensis. —It is now quite time that the 
main sowing of Chinese Primulas should be made. 
Rather shallow pans should be chosen. These must 
be well drained and filled with fine light soil to 
within an inch of the brim. A gentle pressure must 
be given the soil with any flat surface to make it 
even, and then the seed may be sprinkled carefully 
over it, afterwards lightly covering it with sand. A 
piece of glass laid over the pan will, by preventing 
rapid or excessive evaporation, do away with the 
necessity for frequent waterings until the seed has 
germinated. Place the seed pans in a close warm 
pit, and shade carefully from hot sun. There are 
now a great many beautiful varieties upon the 
market producing flowers of various hues from which 
the best results may be confidently expected. Any 
or all of the following sorts can be confidently 
recommended Veitch’s Snowflake, Superb Fringed 
White, Superb Fringed Red, Chelsea Blue, Sutton's 
Giant White, Reading Blue, Rosea magnifica, and 
Alba magnifica. 
Double Primulas. —A batch of these should be 
grown in every garden, for not only do they consti¬ 
tute an agreeable contrast to the single varieties 
when both are grown side by side, but they come in 
very useful for the furnishing of cut flowers during 
the dull months of the year. The double varieties 
must be propagated each year either by cuttings or 
division. The latter method is to be preferred as 
being more certain. Plants which have been 
flowering through the last season should have had 
all their flower scapes picked off, and should have 
been introduced into a gentle heat to induce them to 
make growth. The base of the stems may now be 
earthed up with leaf-mould, or, if preferred, with 
sphagnum moss. The plants will root freely into 
this surrounding material, and thus, when division 
takes place a few weeks hence, the cuttings will be 
furnished with roots, and, as a result, strong young 
plants will soon be forthcoming. So floriferous are 
the double varieties of Primulas that, as a rule, it 
will be necessary to pinch out the flower stems which 
they never seem to tire of throwing up throughout 
the whole of the growing season. 
Cinerarias. —Seed must be sown without delay 
if it is desired to have nice sturdy plants to bloom 
from February onwards. Similar treatment to that 
advocated for Chinese Primulas will be necessary. 
The great thing is to obtain a good strain, and this, 
if the seed order has been entrusted to a good seeds¬ 
man, is not a difficult matter. Any seed that has 
been saved from particularly good varieties of home 
cultivation may also be sown, as the best of results 
are sometimes obtained in this way. The plants 
resulting from home saved seed should in all cases 
be marked for comparison with others obtained from 
purchased seed. 
Bedding Stuff.— The later struck cuttings of the 
tenderer section of bedding plants will now be going 
through the usual process of hardening off in readi¬ 
ness for planting out at the beginning of June should 
the weather prove favourable. Taking into con¬ 
sideration the recent inclement weather it will not be 
advisable to expose Iresines, Coleuses, or Verbenas 
too much. The lights should therefore be put on 
the frames containing these plants at nightfall.— 
A. S.G. 
* 
The Show House. —Those that are fortunate 
to have such a structure at their command have an 
advantage in being able to show off their plants by 
placing Palms and Ferns amongst them whilst in 
flower, which takes off the stiffness otherwise 
observed in such things as Cattleyas and some of 
the Dendrobiums. Besides they can be viewed with 
more comfort, as it is not necessary or judicious to 
keep the temperature of the house nearly so high or 
the atmosphere so moist, as in the growing divisions 
we are not all so favoured and are compelled to 
make the best of what we have. We manage to 
make an imposing show by massing all those in 
bloom either along the side of the middle stage or at 
one end, relieved with a few Palms and Ferns. This 
is much better than for one to be in flower here and 
another a little farther on, and these perhaps not 
within the line of sight; they last longer in bloom, too, 
because they are not so liable to get wetted when 
damping down. 
Odontoglossum Citrosmum. —This fine Orchid 
has pendulous spikes if left to its own resources and 
is rather difficult to show off well; a good plan with 
the spikes is to stake them up when the blooms are 
about half developed. I do not mean to tie the 
whole length securely to the stake, but just catch it 
loosely below the bottom bloom, allowing the other 
part to arch gracefully over the foliage. 
Dendrobiums. —Every encouragement must now 
be given to all sections which are in an advanced 
stage of growth by affording them an abundance of 
heat and moisture. The past week has not been at 
all favourable to any plant, let alone those in active 
growth, being dull and cold, compelling us, though 
reluctantly, to again have recourse to fire heat in the 
day time as well as at night. 
Shading. —After a spell of dull sunless weather 
such as we are having, the plants will require careful 
looking after as regards shade when bright weather 
comes, or a lot of damage to foliage will be the result, 
until it again becomes accustomed to it, when less 
would suffice. 
Compost.— The material best suited to their 
requirements consists of peat of the roughest kind 
and growing heads of sphagnum moss ; to this should 
be added rough pieces of charcoal, pieces of broken 
crocks, or anything to keep it porous, as they dislike 
a compost that will not allow of the moisture passing 
freely away. 
Manure Water. —When well established they 
are much benefited by weak doses of some stimulant, 
drainings from the cow sheds very much diluted 
being very good for them, either direct to the roots 
or used fcr damping down purposes. Next to getting 
a good growth is giving them a good season of rest 
if they are to flower well. The temperature should 
range from 8o Q to ioo° with sun heat, with a night 
range of 70° to 75 0 .— C. 
- -I - - 
(Meanings from the Purlti 
nf Wiener. 
Tricks played by Plants.—Dr. Lundstrom has 
recently described some cases of alleged plant 
mimicry. The cultivated plant known as Calendula 
may in different conditions produce at least 
three kinds of fruit. Some have sails, and are 
suited for transportation by the wind ; while others 
have hooks, and catch hold of passing animals ; but 
the third kind exhibits a more desperate dodge, for 
it becomes like a caterpillar! Not that the fruit 
knows anything about it, but, if it be sufficiently like 
a caterpillar, a bird may eat it by mistake, the 
indigestible seeds will be subsequently sown, and so 
the trick succeeds. The next case is more 
marvellous. There is a more graceful wild plant, 
with beautiful delicate flowers, known to many as 
the Cow-wheat. Ants are fond of visiting the Cow- 
wheat to feast on a sweet banquet spread out upon 
the leaves. Dr. Lundstrom has observed one of 
these ants, and was surprised to see it making off 
with one of the seeds from an open fruit. The ant 
took the seed home with it. On exploring some ant- 
nests, the explorer soon saw that this was not the 
first Cow-wheat seed which had been similarly 
treated. Many seeds were found in the ant nur¬ 
series. The ants did not eat them or destroy them ; 
in fact, when the nest was disturbed the ants saved 
the seeds along with their brood, for in size, form, 
colour, and weight, even in minute particulars, the 
seeds in question resemble ant-cocoons. Once placed 
among the cocoons, it requires a better eye than an 
ant has to distinguish the tares from the wheat. In 
the excitement of flitting, when the nest is disturbed, 
the mistake is repeated, and the seeds are also saved. 
The trick is found out some day; for the seeds, like 
the cocoons, awake out of sleep. The awakenihg 
displays the fraud. The seeds are thus supposed to 
be scattered; they germinate and seem to thrive in 
the ant-nests. [We admit that Dr. Lundstrom has 
correctly observed the form of the fruits of the 
common Marigold; but we doubt if birds ever eat 
the caterpillar-like fruits, and should prefer to say 
that they may carry them away and ultimately 
discover their mistake when they proceed to swallow 
the hard and much ribbed achenes. Unless they 
could manage to shell the fruits to get at the kernel, 
we should imagine they would be dropped as un¬ 
eatable. The purpose of dissemination would thus 
be served by the cheating of the birds which may 
carry the fruits to greater or less distances from the 
parent plant. —Ed.] 
Is science bankrupt?—More than thirty years 
ago Darwin published his great work on " The 
Origin of Species," and since then most people 
engaged in investigations on the problems presented 
by living matter have embraced the creed embodied 
in that book. The question at present to be con¬ 
sidered is "what progress has been made in biological 
science since Darwin promulgated his great theory ? 
Professor Ray Lancaster has undertaken to answer 
the question by a series of lectures at the Royal 
Institution, and the first was delivered on the 14th 
inst. There had been much useless talk on the sub¬ 
ject by various writers, some of whom imputed 
bankruptcy to science, which had promised the 
millennium but had given disappointment. The 
pretensions of magazine scribblers and newspaper 
paragraphists did not, he said, affect the aims and 
doings of scientific men, whose work was proceeding 
and progressing in the unravelling of the tangled web of 
nature. The charge of bankruptcy was easy disproved 
on behalf of biology judging from the results being 
achieved in the detection and prevention of disease. 
He gave a summary of the cell theory of life while 
reviewing biological history for the past thirty years. 
One of the most important discoveries made during 
that time was the continuity of the protoplasm in 
plants as in animals; another was that a vast 
kingdom of animal life exists in which the animals 
are limited to a single cell of protoplasmic matter. 
The importance of the nucleus of a cell was also 
discovered. Before a cell can divide into two an 
important process termed karyokinesis takes place, 
and during this the original nucleus breaks up into 
two, and each constitutes the nucleus of a cell after 
a partition has been formed through the middle of 
the original one. Thus all the cells are related to 
one another by direct descent from the original one 
of the embryo; and the ultimate form which each 
takes depends upon its position in the plant and the 
function which it is called upon to perform. The 
differentiation of cells takes place by a process of 
evolution, for the original cell divides into many 
which are at first alike. Not only do the cells 
become differentiated, but the whole organism as it 
progresses toward the a dult stage. _ 
Vines and Vine Culture.—The best book on Grapes. By 
Archibald F. Barron, Superintendent of the Royal Horticultural 
Society’s Gadens, Chiswick; Secretary of the Fruit Com¬ 
mittee. Demy 8vo., Handsomely bound in Cloth. Price, 5s, 
post free, 5s. 3d., from Gardening World Office, t, 
Clement's Inn, Strand, W.C. 
