182 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 29, 1898. 
prove upon their past experience and 
successes or failures. 
The lecturer also argued with reason 
that, if gardeners make an effort to under¬ 
stand the anatomy of plants, and the 
functions of the different organs and tissues, 
they would be better able to place the 
plants under the conditions most favourable 
to their highest possible development. 
They are not called upon to make experi¬ 
ments upon the anatomy of plants, and the 
functions of the various organs, for all 
these things have been done by men who 
have devoted their time and talents to the 
same, and placed the information at the 
disposal of all whom it may concern. 
The gardener is better situated than the 
scientific man in the laboratory, for 
making observations upon various plants, 
whether under glass or out of doors, as to 
the exact amount of light or exposure that 
is best suited for the welfare of any given 
plant. Every gardener can do this to the 
best of his ability if he will but exert it ; 
and we are fully cognisant of the fact that 
skilful and successful gardeners do exert 
their prerogative to the full in these respects, 
to their own and their employers’ advan¬ 
tage. Much of this experimental phase of 
gardening consists in assisting plants to 
adapt themselves to their surroundings 
along lines suggested by the plants them¬ 
selves, and which can only be determined 
by experimenting, and by correct reasoning 
upon the observations one may make. In 
the case of newly introduced plants it is 
always safe to imitate Nature pretty 
closely in attempting to cultivate them. 
It is the duty of the collector to duly record 
the conditions of climate and soil under 
which he found the plants : but after a 
number of years' experiments the gardener 
is often able to greatly improve upon the 
specimens growing in a wild state and we 
give him credit for it. There is, however, 
another phase to the subject, and that is, 
that many of the garden-raised races of 
plants are enfirely different from their wild 
relatives. In raising seedlings the more 
vigorous and healthy are naturally selected 
in preference to those that are weakly. 
By this process of selection the practical 
man gradually gets a stock of plants that 
are more suited for artificial treatment 
than the wild ones. The new race grows 
much more vigorously than the wild ones, 
though under, it may be, entirely different 
conditions as to soil and climate. In these 
respects the practical gardener is a 
vegetable physiologist of no mean order. 
The lecture was further continued by 
dealing at some length with the various 
conditions necessary for the germination 
of plants, with roots and their functions, as 
well as the functions characteristic of 
leaves. Until comparatively recently gar¬ 
deners could only have a very crude notion 
of the manner in which absorption is per¬ 
formed by the roots of plants, as the 
description recorded even in standard 
works on gardening was altogether 
erroneous and misleading. All this has 
now been altered by the investigations of 
the microscopist, and it is to be hoped that 
all books on gardening topics, when deal¬ 
ing with this subject, will be careful to 
discuss the matter in its true aspect. The 
relation of light to the green parts of plants, 
but particularly the leaves, was dealt with 
in a manner that can only be done by one 
who thoroughly understands his subject. 
The question of coloured glass and its 
deleterious effects upon plants was illus¬ 
trated, amongst other things, by animad¬ 
verting to the coloured glass of the Fern 
houses at Kew, all of which has been 
entirely removed upon the reconstruction 
of the houses within recent years. By 
substituting movable white shading, the 
intense glare of the sun has been modified 
to the requirements of the plants without 
decomposing the sunlight, as was the case 
with green glass, to the predjudice of the 
Ferns beneath it. The practical utility of 
this arrangement has been ascertained by 
the experiments of the scientific physi¬ 
ologist. 
To those just commencing the study of 
botany the words that indicate the func¬ 
tions of the leaves, such as assimilation, 
transpiration and respiration, are alarming 
and puzzling, though the difficulties are 
easily got over by those who face them 
firmly. Though respiration is not by any 
means confined to the foliage, we allude to 
the word here from the fact that the 
beginner has sometimes great difficulty in 
distinguishing the differences between it 
and transpiration. The latter again comes 
into conflict with evaporation, which may 
take place in the case of dead vegetable 
matter, while living plants alone can 
transpire. All these things were explained 
at Chiswick, and the various processes will 
have to be repeatedly pressed home to the 
minds of each succeeding race of young 
gardeners, who cannot fail to benefit by 
such knowledge in after life in proportion 
to the attention they give them, and the 
extent to which they put the knowledge to 
a practical issue. 
- of. - 
The Sweet Chestnut is largely used as food in 
Spain. It is also an article of commerce, being ex¬ 
tensively exported. 
Seeds that Came up Quickly.—" How are you 
getting on with your garden, Mr. Weedlechick ? 
Did your seeds come up ? ” “ Oh, yes, they all 
came up in about two days. My neighbours keep 
bens. 
Seeking for a Tip.—The following was sent by a 
servant to a florist:—"Dear Sir, sent girl down to now 
if you will give me a little Ineoughment for the 
Custmom as I should be glad as I am married and 
should be glad of a little Ineouchment.—Mrs. Ford 
Cook."— Patterson. 
Prize of Honour.—Amongst the prizes of honour to 
be offered at the great International Chrysanthemum 
Exhibition at Lille, figures a superb, unpublished 
bronze of the sculptor Ravet, offered by M. Jules 
Lefebvre, the president of the Chrysanthemum 
Society of the North. This bronze of Ravet, of 
which the Society of Chrysanthemists has obtained 
the first copy, represents a Japanese lady, executed 
after the style of the most authentic documents, and 
is a marvel of grace and elegance.— Nord-Horticole. 
Something like a Chrysanthemum Poster.—The 
organisers of flower shows in this country seldom 
attempt anything of a pictorial or artistic character. 
Our Continental neighbours on the contrary must be 
accredited with the attempt now and again to break 
away from the beaten track and to produce some¬ 
thing unique in its way. We have just received the 
show bill or poster of the Chrysanthemum Society 
of the North of France, whose shows are held at 
Lille. The annual exhibition is to be held from 
November ioth to the 15th, and the conference, as 
we previously announced, is to be held on the open¬ 
ing day of the show. The poster announcing these 
facts is over 4 ft. long by 3 ft. wide, and at the top 
left-hand corner gives a picture of the Palais 
Rameau, in which the show is to be held. Lower 
down, on the same side, is the picture of a 
Japanese lady fanning herself, and presumably con¬ 
templating the various types of Chrysanthemum in 
a vase in front of her. All these pictures are worked 
out in different colours, the whole design being 
unique and very well executed for this class of work. 
The French are nothing if not enthusiastic, and in 
this kind of work they might well be imitated by 
the organisers of shows at home. We are lead 
to understand that the bill can be adapted for 
English advertisers of shows, and if so we hope to 
see a similar display of artistic taste. The Minister 
of Agriculture for France gives 500 francs and a gold 
medal to be distributed in the name of the Govern¬ 
ment of the Republic,. 
Erratum. —On p. 118, in the bottom paragraph of 
the first column, " schedules are made " should read 
" schedules are read.’’ 
Flying among the Dendrobes.—Locality—A private 
establishment where a large collection of plants was 
grown. Head gardener, much averse to fumigating ; 
the X.L. All was net ihen known. The jellow fly 
often appeared among the Dendrobiums, and one of 
the young men was constantly sent to remove them 
with a brush. “ A." writing to " J." some time after 
the latter had left, remarked : " Tom has learned all 
the secrets of aerial navigation; for now he is con¬ 
stantly flying among the Dendrobes.”— Snaggs. 
Syndical Chamber of Belgian Horticulturists —At 
the monthly meeting organised by the above and by 
the Royal Agricultural and Botanical Society of 
Ghent, on the 2nd inst.,the jury awarded Certificates 
of Merit for flowering to Leucanthemum uliginosum 
and Caryopteris Mastacanthus, both presented by 
M. F. Van Driessche. They also awarded Certifi¬ 
cates of Merit for culture to Acacia floribunda, 
shown by the previous exhibitor; and to a lot of 
Cyperus alternifolius (eight months’ culture), ex¬ 
hibited by M. Aug. Van den Heede(with unanimity); 
and to Aralia kerchoveana, presented by M. Allon- 
cius. Honourable Mention was accorded to a lot of 
fine foliage Begonias, shown by M. Aug. Van den 
Heede. 
Two Walking Ferns.—Fern lovers have been ac¬ 
quainted with Camptosorus rhizophyllus for many 
years past though it is by no means a favourite with 
the general public. It is a native of North America, 
but the date of its introduction does not seem to have 
been recorded. Some authors place Camptosorus 
under Scolopendrium, to which it is undoubtedly 
allied, though for garden purposes it is very distinct. 
The only congener which C. rhizophyllus has is C. 
sibiricus, a native of eastern Asia. A figure of it is 
given in the autumn number of the Fern Bulletin. It 
has short, ovate, barren fronds, while the fully deve¬ 
loped fertile frond is linear-lanceolate, narrowed to 
the base (not cordate as in C. rhizophyllus) and 
drawn out at the apex into a long, slender point. 
The American species, at least, produces a plantlet at 
the apex of the frond which arches over so that the 
young plantlet can root in the ground at some little 
distance from the parent; hence the name of walking 
Fern. 
Street Sweepings as a Fertiliser.—The United 
States Department of Agriculture has made an 
investigation of the fertilising value of street sweep¬ 
ings. In the report issued analyses of hand and 
machine collected sweepings in Washington are 
given. A sample from Trenton, N.J., on analysis 
showed that it contained -19 per cent, nitrogen, -3 
per cent, phosphoric acid (P 2 O s ), and potash 
(K 2 O) -iS per cent. On a valuation this sample 
was worth $ 90 (3s. gd.) per ton. The bulletin 
states that the material is of considerable value for 
many soils in addition to the plant food it contains, 
since it improves the mechanical condition of stiff 
and badly aerated soils. With this part of the state¬ 
ment all practical gardeners both in this country and 
the United States will fully concur. Perhaps it is 
a matter of less common knowledge that it would 
also improve very light soils which are deficient in 
moisture holding capacity because of the small per¬ 
centage of organic matter they contain. The nitro¬ 
gen of street sweepings is not so easily available a 
plant food as the nitrogen of ordinary stable manure 
because of the smaller portion of urine contained in 
it. It is a well established fact that the nitrogen in 
the urine is more readily available than that in the 
solid excrement. It is exceedingly difficult to make 
an estimate of the manurial value of street sweep¬ 
ings generally for they vary to a great extent, their 
composition being dependent upon the season of the 
year at which they are collected, and the method of 
collection, and many exhaustive tests must be made 
before we can obtain a correct estimate of the 
amount and representative money value of the 
fertilisers that are annually wasted in all towns and 
large cities. At any rate, the waste in London must 
be enormous and sufficient to produce many an acre 
of golden corn. Sixteen cities in the " States" 
reported the price at which the sweepings are sold to 
farmers by their street cleaning departments or con¬ 
tractors, analagous to our vestries. The price 
varies from $15 (7$d.) to $2 (8s. 4d.) per ton. 
