July 27, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
755 
STRAWBERRIES. 
JAMES VEITCR & SONS 
beg to intimate that they are now booking orders for all the leading kinds of Strawberries, either in pots 
or prepared runners. 
SPECIAL LIST, just published, can be had on application. 
ROYAL EXOTIC NURSERY, KING'S ROAD, CHELSEA, S.W. 
10 
10 
6 
io 6 
12 6 
SEEDLING PLANTS OF 
CHOICE FLORISTS’ FLOWERS, &c. 
Post Free at Prices Quoted. Per doz. Per ioo. 
CALCEOLARIAS.— From choicest flowers s. d. s d 
only.i Q 
CARNATIONS and PICOTEES. — From 
stage flowers . r 6 
CINERARIAS.—From a grand strain, very fine i 6 
„ New dwarf, large flowered, fine 2 0 
CYCLAMEN PERSICUM GIGANTEUM 
STRONG TRANSPLANTED 
SEEDLINGS from single pots... 3 C 
,1 PURE WHITE, very beautiful 
and select. 46 _ 
GLOXINIA GRANDIFLORA ERECTA — 
From a magnificent strain . .26 
PANSIES, DANIELS’ PRIZE BLOTCHED. 
—Planted out now will bloom grandly 
next spring and summer .16 
PRIMULA.- Our Primulas are acknowledged 
to be unsurpassable 
,, ALBA MAGNIFICA.—Solendid white 26 — 
„ DANIELS’ CRIMSON KING — 
Splendid variety 2 
„ ,, SUPERB BLUE.—Veryfine 2 
„ „ CHOICEST WHITE.-Fine 1 
,, „ „ Red, splendid ... 1 
,, „ „ Mixed, many beautiful 
varieties 1 
„ >, „ Extra strong p'ants 2 
25 
15 
10 6 
10 
10 
to 
15 
DANIELS BROS., 
TOWN CLOSE NURSERIES, NORWICH. 
For Present and Later Sowing 
THE THREE BEST WALLFLOWERS 
ARE 
Dicksons’ Golden Beauty. 
Dicksons’ Selected Dark Red. 
Dicksons’ Primrose Dame. 
Per Packet 6d. and As. Free by Post. 
Choice Mixed Double Wallflower, Myosotis, 
Silenes, &c., &c. 
For prices and ail other particulars see our Illustrated 
Catalogue, free on application. 
ninifcruic seed growers, puegtcd 
UlUlXOURO NURSERYMEN, &c. bflfcO I til. 
WINTER FLOWERING ZONALS, 
Good Plants ready for shifting into 5 and 
6 in. pots. 4s. per dozen. 
S E ED LING PRUVIULAS. 
Extra quality. All colours. Mixed, is. 6d. 
per dozen. Free for cash with order. 
XX. J. JONES, 
RYECROFT NURSERY, HITHER GREEN, LEWISHAM. 
Carnations! Carnations ! 
Carnations! 
The Choicest Varieties in Cultivation, from the 
late Mr. Dodwell’s Garden, 
FROM 6s. PER DOZEN, UPWARDS. 
DESCRIPTIVE LIST ON APPLICATION TO— 
ARTHUR MEDHURST, 
THE COTTAGE, STANLEY ROAD, OXFORD. 
ORCHIDS. 
Clean Healthy Plants at Low Prices. 
Always worth a visit of inspection. Kindly send for Catalogue. 
JAMES CYPHER, 
Exotic Nurseries, CHELTENHAM. 
A 
SPECIALITY. 
A MAGNIFICENT STOCK IN IMMENSE VARIETY. 
Catalogue (No. 40) Free on Application. 
W. & J. BIRKENHEAD, F.R.H.S., 
Fern Nurseries, Sale, near Manchester. 
For Index to Contents see page 765. 
11 Gardening is the purest ol human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man."— Bacon. 
f((<f faMw ijldfli 
Edited by J. FRASER, F.L.S. 
SATURDAY , JULY 27th, 1895. 
NEXT WEEK'S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Wednesday, July 31st.—Midland Carnation and Picotee 
Show at Birmingham. Burton-on-Trent and Woking 
Flower Shows. 
Thursday, August 1st—Aberdare Flower Shows. Con¬ 
tinuation of Birmingham, Burton-on-Trent, and Woking 
Shows. 
Saturday, August 3rd.—Opening day of Liverpool Rose and 
Southampton Summer Shows. 
f ULTURAL AND OTHER EXPERIMENTS AT 
Rothamsted.— On Monday last, the 
Technical Instruction Committee of the 
Essex County Council, accompanied by a 
large party of Essex farmers, paid a visit to 
the far-famed experimental grounds of Sir 
John Lawes, Bart., at Rothamsted, 
Harpenden, Herts. On arrival at the 
Laboratory, the party was met by Sir 
Henry Gilbert and Mr. J. J. Willis, who 
has been his assistant for a long period of 
years. In connection with this station it 
may be stated that from the commencement 
of the field experiments in 1843 to the 
present time, it has been maintained 
entirely at the cost of Sir John Lawes, and 
was and is entirely disconnected with any 
external organisation. Sir John has also 
set apart a sum of ^100,coo, the Laboratory, 
and certain areas of land for the continu¬ 
ance of the investigations after his death. 
Sir Henry Gilbert at once led the party 
through the extensive Laboratory and 
explained the nature of some of the experi¬ 
ments being conducted there. In one case 
there were as many as 400 samples of soil 
taken from one field and bottled up for 
analysis to determine the composition and 
ascertain where faults and deficiencies may 
exist. Sir Henry said that experiments on 
the fixation of free nitrogen were commenced 
nearly 40 years ago before anything was 
known about microbes in the soil. Gramin¬ 
eous seeds were sown in sterilised soil and the 
media enclosed to prevent access of matter 
from without, and beyond the nitrogen con¬ 
tained in the seeds sown, there was no gain. 
Leguminous plants were treated in the 
same way and -the results were similar. 
Considering the importance (if confirmed;, 
of the results promulgated by Professors 
Hellriegel and Wilfarth, another series of 
experiments was commenced in 1888 and 
continued to the present year. In the case 
of cereals it was proved that there was no 
gain of nitrogen beyond that supplied. On 
the other hand, when the soil in which 
leguminous crops were growing, was inocu¬ 
lated with a suitable microbe-infection, 
there was an abundance of the so-called 
leguminous nodules on the roots of the 
plants and there was coincidentally a very 
considerable fixation of free nitrogen. The 
evidence points to the conclusion that the 
free nitrogen is fixed in the course of the 
development of the organisms within the 
nodules, and that the resulting nitrogenous 
compounds are absorbed and utilised by the 
higher plant. Experiments were made 
with annual leguminous plants such as 
Peas, Beans, Yellow Lupins, etc., and after 
infecting the soil with microbes there was 
a gain of ten-fold in the Peas, thirty-fold in 
the Vetches, and forty-fold in the Lupins. 
In the case of perennial species like Red 
and White Clover and Sainfoin, the gain 
was greater in proportion to the duration of 
the plant, as the nodules and nitrogen con¬ 
tinue to accumulate to the end. 
Space forbids us to enter into details 
with regard to experiments with Turnips, 
but the results went to show that this 
particular crop is dependent upon the 
amount of manure applied to the land and 
that which is not taken away by the re¬ 
moval of the crop. If a wet winter succeeds 
a fallow a great quantity of the soil nitrogen 
is washed away in the drainage, while there 
is-a larger residue of nitric acid in the soil 
after a dry winter. Concerning the appli¬ 
cation of nitrogenous manures, if made in 
autumn there was a loss equivalent to 388 
pounds of nitrate of soda, but only 178 
pounds if the application of this particular 
manure was made in spring. Statistics 
by the hundred were represented on diagrams 
hung round the walls of the laboratory, as 
well as illustrations of plants resulting from 
various cultures. Here also was a case 
fitted up in compartments and filled with 
the dried grasses that grew on the old 
pasture, partly unmanured and other 
portions manured with various ingredients, 
in order to determine their influence upon 
the various nature-sown subjects found 
there ; but we shall refer to them below. 
Sir Henry then conducted the party 
through the experiment fields, and showed 
the crops of Wheat and Barley grown upon 
land that had been under those crops and 
others of a four-course rotation for the last 
forty-eight years. The worst crop of Barley 
was that obtained after a root crop supplied 
with mineral manures only ; more Barley 
was obtained from land that had not been 
manured at all. The Wheat after fallow 
was thin owing to the excessive rain of last 
winter making the soil water-logged. A 
field of Sugar Beet, laid out in differently 
treated plots, created a considerable 
amount of interest. One plot, treated with 
a complete or general manure, bore a 
splendid crop, and though the leaves of the 
plants were relatively of a light green, it 
showed that there was less nitrogen but a 
greater assimilation of carbon by the leaves. 
The foliage of the crop manured with 
superphosphates alone was very drvarf, 
with short but intensely dark green leaves. 
In previous experiments with Beet an 
application of mineral manures alone gave 
a return of 950 pounds of sugar per acre in 
the produce; potash and ammonia salts 
gave 2,487 pounds • nitrate of soda gave 
2,470 pounds; Rape cake and potash gave 
2,873 pounds; and a full manure gave 3,312 
pounds. There was a corresponding 
