June 26, 1897. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
685 
a cheap way of making these slopes attractive, but 
would likely be pleasing to those townspeople who 
are not able to see the Gorse and Heather blooming 
in their native wilds. New bye-laws for the govern¬ 
ment of the park have lately been put in force, 
although seeing that the grounds are open day and 
night it is a matter of difficulty to preserve good 
order. 
PHYSIOLOGY OF PLANTS. 
Professor Vines of Oxford was announced to give a 
lecture on the 11 Physiology of Plants” at the meet¬ 
ing of the Royal Horticultural Society held on June 
15th. He confined his remarks, however, to the so- 
called insectivorous plants, which he has studied so 
closely and painstakingly. The Rev. Professor Hen- 
slow occupied the chair. 
In defining the scope of his lecture Professor Vines 
tabulated the following genera, which he dealt with 
jn order of mention:—Sarracenia, Darlingtonia, 
Heliamphora, Nepenthes, Utricularia, Gentisia, and 
Dischidia. The first group Sarraceniaceae 
include Sarracenia, Darlingtonia, and Heliamphora. 
All three genera are American. The first two come 
from the temperate regions of North America, whilst 
Heliamphora is a native of the mountainous regions 
of tropical Guiana. Nepenthes is confined to the 
Old World and is particularly strong in the Malay 
Archipelago, and in Madagascar. Cephalotus is 
confined to Australia. Sometimes this is referred to 
Saxifragaceae, at other times it is placed in a small 
order of its own. Dischidia was originally discovered 
in Australia, but is now known to be a native of the 
Malay Archipelago. 
Looking at the whole of these plants, continued 
the lecturer, one could not fail to notice the differ¬ 
ence in the size of their pitchers. Thus those of 
Utricularia are very small, whilst those of Sarracenia 
and Darlingtonia often exceed a foot in length. 
Although the pitcher plants have been studied for 
nearly 300 years (the first mention of them on record 
being dated 1,600) we yet know comparatively little 
about them. They vary considerably, and the 
position in which the pitchers are borne is specially 
variable. In Sarracenia and its two allied genera 
the leaves and pitchers are all radical. In Nepenthes 
they are elevated on distinct stems. In Cephalotus, 
again, they are close to the ground. In Utricularia 
and Gentisia they are borne on the leaves. Some of 
the Utricularias grow in the water, others on the 
land, some of the latter having underground pitchers. 
In Gentisia the pitchers are all radical, and relatively 
long and narrow. At a certain stage in their develop¬ 
ment the pitchers of Gentisia bend down and bury 
their open ends in the ground, thus becoming sub¬ 
terranean. The Dischidias are epiphytes, that is 
they are to be found growing on other plants, trees 
usually. The genus Lathraea, although not usually 
placed among the pitcher plants, ought to be. The 
plants are parasites, have no green colouring matter 
or chlorophyll, but have scaly subterranean leaves. 
Referring to the views of the earlier botanists with 
regard to the use and meaning of the pitchers Pro¬ 
fessor Vines stated that Sarracenia first came into 
notice in connection, naturally enough, with the 
intercourse between Europe and America. The idea 
held by Linnaeus was that the pitchers were reservoirs 
for collecting water for the use of the plants, and 
that the hood which guarded the mouth of the pitcher 
opened and closed to control evaporation. He held 
that they were closely allied to the Water-lily, the 
peltate leaves of the latter having become rolled up 
to form a tube. Sir Jas. Edward Smith at the begin¬ 
ning of the present century quotes the view of 
Linnaeus, but does not believe in it. He notes that 
the pitchers are so constituted as to exclude water 
and not to collect it. He suggests that the air evolved 
by the dead insects contained in the pitchers may be 
useful to vegetation, and notes the hairs at the mouth 
of the pitchers. Me Bride, an American, states that 
these hairs are glandular and secrete a fluid to attract 
the iasects. It is now known, however, that the pit¬ 
chers are really elaborate insect traps. Thus in looking 
at the structure of the pitcher in Sarracenia we find 
a ring of glandular hairs at the mouth, then a smooth 
surface, affording no foothold for the luckless insect, 
and then towards the bottom a number of stiffspine¬ 
like hairs pointing downwards, which effectually 
prevent escape. 
This leads to the question of "what is the good of the 
insects ? " It is generally admitted that they assist 
in the nourishment of the plants, but the exact 
manner in which they are utilised is still an object of 
discussion. The two alternatives are ” are the insects 
digested by the fluid poured on them ?” or “ are they 
decomposed naturally,” and the products of decom¬ 
position absorbed by the plants ? The second seems 
to be the more feasible in the case of Sarracenia, 
for the pitchers often exhale a most disagreeable 
odour and maggots have been found. Neither of 
these facts could occur if the fluid possessed 
digestive qualities. Therefore in Sarracenia the 
pitchers are not digestive. 
In Nepenthes the pitchers always contain fluid and 
frequently insects. The structure is different to that 
of Sarracenia. There are the glandular hairs at the 
mouth,then the smooth surface next them,but no stiff 
hairs pointing downwards as in Sarracenia, but the 
bottoms of the pitchers are covered with glands 
which secrete a liquid. This liquid has digestive 
qualities. The old idea was that the fluid in the 
pitchers was a special arrangement of Providence 
for providing water for travellers in tropical 
countries, and further that this liquid was an 
assuager of grief—hence the name Nepenthes. Sir 
Joseph Hooker, at a meeting of the Royal British 
Association in 1874, remarked that the contents of 
the pitchers did not pass into a state of putrefaction. 
Since then, a Frenchman and a Russian had come to 
the conclusion that the liquid was not digestive, but 
that the bodies of the insects were utilised by the 
plants after they had become putrified by the action 
of micro organisms. This had led him (Professor 
Vines) to make further experiments,and he had come 
to the conclusion that the fluid is digestive. In the 
first place a distinct digestive action can be obtained 
from the fluid taken from unopened pitchers. This will 
digest scraps of animal matter in the course of one 
hour. No micro-organism could do this in so short 
a time, and besides it is not possible that micro¬ 
organisms could obtain entrance to a closed sac such 
as the unopened pitcher. Again by cutting up the 
pitcher and making an extract from it with glycerine 
a digestive action is obtained. The pitcher should 
be soaked in alcohol for twenty-four hours before 
cutting up in order to kill all micro-organisms that 
could posssibly be present. Still further, the liquid 
can be kept for some time, and this would not be if 
it owed its digestive qualities to micro-organisms; 
therefore it must owe them to something dissolved, 
not something suspended in it. 
With regard to Cephalotus it is doubtful as to 
what happens. Mr. Lawson Tait says the fluid 
secreted is digestive, but the pitchers are small, the 
fluid secreted small in quantity, the plant is bad to 
propagate, and there is a difficulty in obtaining suffi¬ 
cient material wherewith to experiment. 
Utricularia has bladders with a narrow mouth 
closed by valves opening inwards, which open to let 
the insect in and close after it. -The old view of the 
use of the bladders was grotesque, continued the 
lecturer. De Candolle in 1832 says, ” the bladders 
are floats filled with mucous matter heavier than 
water in the spring, keeping the plant at the bottom 
until flowering time, when the bladders emptied 
themselves of the mucous matter, became filled with 
air, and floated the plant to the surface. After 
flowering, the bladders become heavy again and the 
plant sinks.” This, however, cannot be true for 
there are land forms of Utricularia, and besides air 
is never found in the bladders in the water forms. 
Darwin, at the time, proved that the bladders were 
not floats as the plant would still float when the 
bladders were cut off. With regard to structure the 
inside of the bladder is a smooth wall, with here and 
there a hair with four arms spreading into the cavity. 
Probably the products of decomposition are absorbed 
by them. There is no evidence to show that the 
bladders possess digestive powers. 
(To be continued.) 
——-■>»«■ — 
SOCIETIES 
YORK GALA .—June 16th, 17th and 18th. 
“ The wind one morning sprang up from sleep, 
Saying, now for a frolic, now for a leap ” — 
sang the poet, and the good people of York will 
forgec neither his frolic nor his leap for many years 
to come. As we informed our readers last week in a 
short telegraphic despatch sent us on the morning of 
Wednesday, June 16th, from the scene of action a 
hurricane visited the show on the opening day and 
involved both tents and their contents in inextricable 
confusion. With the comiDg to hand of the whole 
of the detafls the damage done is even greater than 
was at first feared. This is all the more regrettable 
from the fact that the show this year bade fare to be 
a record one with regard to quantity and quality of 
the exhibits; but alas the "record” has been 
established in quite another way, and in a fashion 
that the people of York will not wish to see broken 
The tents, it is estimated, occupy fully three acres 
of ground. The main tent was, as usual, in the form 
of a right angle one arm of which contained the 
various groups of plants, the other accommodating 
huge banks of Pelargoniums, whilst at the point of 
junction of the two arms appeared a lofty and an 
imposing cone of stove and greenhouse plants. The 
groups themselves were five in number and are 
stated to have been finer than any that have 
previously been seen at the Gala. This year a new 
feature had been introduced, viz., Orchid groups for 
which prizes of £20, £15, and £10 were offered. 
Mr. James Cypher, of Cheltenham, and Mr. John 
Robson, of Altrincham were the only two com¬ 
petitors, but both had a fine lot of material. 
From the arm containing the Pelargoniums 
branched off three other large tents. The first of 
these was devoted to fruit, cut hardy flowers, and 
table decorations. The second contained the Orchids 
which were present in much greater numbers than 
at any time before, and occupied fully two-thirds of 
the space allotted. Many single specimens of great 
value were staged. The remainder of this tent was 
occupied by large foliage plants, and flowering green¬ 
house subjects. The third tent held a grand lot of 
pot Roses. Cut Roses were not very numerous but 
the quality was excellent. In this tent were likewise 
collections of British and exotic Ferns. 
Rain fell in the early hours of the Wednesday 
morning, but ceased about 7 o'clock, and was 
succeeded by a strong wind, which gradually in¬ 
creased to a perfect gale. The stability of the tents 
was soon threatened, and men were set to work to 
strengthen the supports, but the wind raged away 
with ever increasing violence, and shortly before 9 
o’clock the small tent erected near the entrance 
for the use of the committee collapsed. 
Then it was seen that the tent sheltering 
the fruit and table decorations was in 
imminent jeopardy. Pegs and props started, up¬ 
rights cracked and gave way, and finally the 
exhibits beneath were entombed in the folds of the 
fallen canvas. The second of the branch tents was 
now exposed to all the fury of the storm, and men 
were told off to hang on to the stays and ropes, but 
all to no purpose, the poles darted hither and 
thither, great rents appeared in the canvas, and the 
ragged strips thrashed and flogged the air in all 
directions. The whole tent seemed like some 
sentient creature chafing under the bonds which 
held it, but the bonds grew ever weaker and weaker, 
and the rents ever larger and larger until at last like 
a runaway balloon it burst all trammels, for the 
centre upright, a pole of some 6 ins. diameter 
snapped under the strain, and away went that tent. 
Meanwhile the large marquee was not to escape. 
The shorter poles staying it were lifted from their 
sockets, and flogged around amongst the plants like 
flails. In the central dome portion the large mast 
supporting it cracked, and the various classical 
figures with which it was ornamented lapsed into the 
most undignified attitudes. The poles, about 15 ft. 
in length, which formed the next support, then com¬ 
menced some.wild gyrations on their own account, 
and in their grotesque antics lifted as many as seven 
or eight men off the ground at a time, depositing 
them in various corners with more force than polite¬ 
ness. Presently rents in the canvas made their 
appearance, and it was seen hat the large tent also 
was doomed. Scores of men, therefore, set to work 
with all possible speed to remove the plants from the 
falling canvas. This was a task of great difficulty, 
and scarely less danger, for now a scene of the 
wildest confusion reigned, and ever as the men 
worked the yawning fissures became greater, and the 
loose poles more frantically energetic. 
The Rose tent, which was nearest to Bootham, 
was the last to go as it had the most shelter. By 
1 30 p.m , however, the whole of the tents had gone 
down before the destroying breath of the west wind, 
and the erstwhile spick and span show ground with 
its complement of swelling canvas was nothing but a 
heap of wreckage. 
