July 3, 1897. 
693 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Precocious Perspicuity.— He : Life is so slow here 
that I lead a merely vegetable existence. 
Little Maud (interrupting him) : Oh, I guess that’s 
what papa meant when he said you were a dead 
beat.— Floyists’ Exchange. 
Four Elms Gardeners.—At the last monthly meeting 
of this society the novel queen wasp competition was 
decided. The wasps were to be stuck on cardboard, 
the first prize going to the collector of the greatest 
quantity. The competition was open to all those 
within a radius of 2 miles. This year all records 
since the starting of the society four years ago, were 
beaten. Mr. A. Lock was 1st with no fewer than 
1,720 wasps; Mr. A. Aynscombe was second with 
707 ; Mr. H. Oliver third with 492. 
Botany at University College, Dundee.—Mr. Robert 
Smith, B. Sc., has just concluded a series of lectures 
on the "Field Botany of Dundee District." Mr. 
Smith spent last winter studying geographical botany 
at the Institute of Botany, Montpelier, and has 
made a thorough study of the flora of the Mediter¬ 
ranean. He is thus well quali6ed to deal with the 
distribution of plants, for which the facilities for 
studying are very great in the Dundee district. 
Within a short radius of Dundee many classes of 
plants are represented. Mr. Suith’s lectures have 
been a valuable adjunct to the enjoyable Saturday 
afternoon excursions in the course of which he has 
taken his students to such places as Duntrune, 
Tentsmuir, Woody Island, Perth, and the Sidlaws. 
Mr. Smith is a younger brother to Dr. W. G. Smith, 
lecturer on plant physiology at the Edinburgh 
University, and whose translation of Dr. Karl 
Freiher's work on the " Diseases of plants induced 
by Cryptogamic Parasites" has been very highly 
praised. 
Thunder and Hailstorms—On the 24th ult., after 
an oppressive day of heat, with the temperature 
standing somewhere between 8o° and 90° ia the 
shade, the sky suddenly changed, becoming overcast 
with great streaks of an inky blackness about 4.30 
p.m. over the region of Norwood, Surrey, where we 
happened to be. We deemed it expedient to get 
under cover of a railway station, and were not much 
too soon when a severe thunderstorm broke out, 
doing damage in various ways not only in that 
neighbourhood, but over many counties. Gardens 
around Streatham were much damaged by large 
hailstones, yet only a deluge of rain fell in the 
valley of the Thames, both in Surrey, Middlesex, 
Bucks, and Berks, the chief result in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Windsor being the flooding of certain low. 
lying parts of the town and the delay of the floral car¬ 
nival on Windsor Bridge and other places on both sides 
of the river. Lightning did damage to house property 
at Slough. To the north of London, hail as big as 
walnuts fell at Harrow on-the-Hill, cutting Roses 
and other garden flowers into shreds. Mr. John 
Rochford at Enfield and Ponders End had 80,000 sq. 
ft. of glass smashed to atoms and the plants in the 
houses cut to pieces with hail and falling glass. 
The glass was insured, but not the plants. Other 
market gardeners suffered in the same way to a 
great extent, the estimated damage being about 
000,000 sq. ft. of glass. At Chelmsford in Essex 
enormous damage to crops was caused by a terrific 
hailstorm such as has not been experienced for 
years. The extraordinary heat that prevailed in 
the Luton and Dunstable district of South Beds was 
followed in the afternoon by one of the most terrible 
thunderstorms ever experienced. For twenty 
minutes hailstones as large as walnuts fell over the 
district, smashing glass and doing damage to fruit 
and grain crops. Similar destruction was also 
effected by the terriffic storm at Marlow, many of 
the fruit trees being lacerated and cut to shreds by 
the downfall of hail. Similar reports come from 
other places in the southern counties. 
-» l — 
Gardening Miscellany. 
NEW STYLE OF GRAFTING. 
"Is there anything new under the sun?" was, I 
believe, one of Solomon’s queries, and has often 
been asked since, sometimes with a fair show of 
reason. For instance, the so-called new style of 
grafting noticed by you in a recent issue is a case in 
point, and, ho sever, it should pass unchallenged at 
any meeting of a horticultural society, especially at 
an R.H.S. meeting seems, at least, strange. This 
particular mode of grafting has been practised in 
some of our cider counties for generations. A wood- 
cut representing it is given in the first edition of the 
Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary, 1852, and I believe the 
like may be found in much older works by anyone 
having them at hand.— W. B. G. 
DIPLACUS. 
This genus, consisting of only a few species, is 
closely allied to the Mimulus, only they are more 
shrubby in habit than those. D. glutinosus was 
introduced many years ago from California. The 
plants are beautiful objects when well grown either 
for greenhouse decoration or for a shady border. 
Like many other neglected plants they are well cared 
for in Messrs. Balchin & Sons’ Nurseries, Hassocks 
Gate, Sussex. At the present time they form an 
interesting feature, from the brightest yellow to the 
deepest and richest orange-scarlet, in many shades. 
They are flowering most profusely. I often wonder 
they are not more generally grown. They are easy 
to grow, of good habit, and profuse blooming ; and 
as seen here are lively objects for decorative 
purposes. They are propagated easily by cuttings. 
— Rusticus. 
ROSE COOLING’S SINGLE CRIMSON 
BEDDER. 
Amidst all the glory of the hybrid perpetual and Tea 
Roses so largely grown for exhibition purposes there 
is still plenty of room for Roses of a purely decora¬ 
tive type in gardens. The small and profusely 
flowered sorts, as well as single Roses, have a dis¬ 
tinct beauty of their own, and which for brilliant 
colours or effectiveness cannot be ignored, even if 
they are less durable than certain other kinds. 
Messrs. Geo. Cooling & Sons, Bath, grow a general 
collection of all the more popular Roses, including a 
fine collection of purely garden sorts. Oae of the 
most recent additions to this class is Cooling’s Single 
Crimson Bedder, with single flowers, but apparently 
inclined to be semi-double by the production of a few 
extra petals. The flowers are large, and the outer 
petals broad and of a rich, glowiDg carmine hue that 
is beautiful either in sun or shade. They are also 
produced in clusters, terminating the shoots and 
expanding in succession. The variety has been 
flowering for three weeks past at least. 
PEA CARTERS’ LIGHTNING. 
Without doubt this is one of the finest early Peas 
grown. Out of six early varieties this has been the 
first one to turn in. It is a splendid cropper for an 
early Pea, and the flavour cannot be beaten. It 
grows 2 ft. 6 in. in height, and averages seven fine 
Peas in a pod. A good companion for the above will 
be found in Re-selected Blue Express. It grows the 
same height as Lightning, comes in a few days 
later, with an average of eight Peas in a pod, is a 
heavy cropper and of fine flavour. Another good 
Pea sent out by the same firm will be found in 
Springtide, it is a few days behind Lightning, a 
splendid cropper, and very hardy.— Thos. Cockerill, 
Wirksworth, Derbyshire. 
— -—*»- 
ORCHID NOTES k GLEANINGS. 
By The Editor. 
Cattleya Mossiae Lady Pirbright. Nov. var. 
The sepals and petals of this very distinct variety are 
of a soft rose. The lip constitutes the most distinc¬ 
tive feature of the variety. The exterior of the tube 
is similar to the petals, but the colouration is even 
brighter internally on the sides. The throat, base 
of the lamina, and the side lobes are deep primrose, 
with a purple blotch on the middle of the lamina, 
fading to a broad pure white margin, netted with 
faint purple lines. The primrose shading is carried 
to the base of the tube, where it is even brighter and 
lined with purple close to the base. Amongst light 
varieties it is unusually pretty and distinct. It comes 
fairly close to Lady Wigan, but is quite distinct even 
from that. The variety has been named in compli¬ 
ment to Lady Pirbright, the sister of the present 
Lord Mayor of London. It has been flowering for 
some time past with Mr. P. McArthur, The London 
Nursery, 4, Maida Vale, W. 
Orchids at Maida Vale.—Some Orchids of 
special interest, chiefly Cattleyas are flowering with 
Mr. P. McArthur, 4, Maida Vale, W. Anguloa 
Ruckeri sanguinea is notable for the dense crimson 
spotting of the inner face of the sepals and petals. 
The lip is not white as it is accustomed to be, but 
lilac and splashed with purple spots. We noted a 
beautiful variety of Cymbidium lowianum in which 
the sepals and petals were clear yellow, without any 
of the usual brown shading or marking. The lip was 
white, with an orange-red blotch at the tip instead of 
the usual maroon-crimson one. The plant is of 
large size and capable of producing a considerable 
quantity of bloom. The varieties of Cattleya 
Mossiae have been numerous and many of them fine. 
One had a huge, rich purple lip marbled with lilac 
and finely crisped. A very distinct and handsome 
variety had its lip covered for about half of its ex¬ 
tent by a bright orange blotch. The rest was white, 
with a pale purple margin. Altogether this may be 
reckoned amongst the most distinct and beautiful. 
Another variety of C. Mossiae was notable for its 
rich, clear orange blotch, extending on to the sides. 
The lip was very long, with a rich, clear oraDge 
blotch extending on to the side lobes. The disc was 
crimson purple, with a band of lilac round about it 
and a white edge. All of the above Cattleyas came 
from last year’s importation, amongst which one 
blue, one white, and several very choice varieties 
turned up. They were collected on an island in one 
of the rivers of Venezuela, where none had ever been 
collected before. Special permission had to be 
obtained for collecting here, and all the plants were 
brought away except one. 
-- 
PHYSIOLOGY OF PLANTS. 
(Concluded from p. 685). 
In Gentisia there is no true root. The pitchers are 
filamentous in shape, and end in two long straggling 
arms. These arms bore into the soil in the same 
way as is done in Erodium and Stipa pennata, and 
bury the pitchers. The pitchers have a dilation at 
the end of the neck, and within a dense coating of 
hairs directed from the opening. 
Dischidia is a curious production. The position 
of the aperture in the pitchers varies. Sometimes 
the latter are erect, sometimes inverted. Their con¬ 
tents thus naturally vary. The inverted ones, of 
course, hold nothing, the erect ones contain a little 
water, dust, a few live ants, etc. They are not 
intended to catch insects. Their function is to catch 
water and economise it. They are full of stomata 
and a little root grows from the base of the stalk into 
the mouth of the pitcher, evidently in order to find 
the water. 
Lathraea has small scaly underground leaves with 
little cavities at the base of the stalk. Bowman in 
1829 thought them to be respiratory organs. They 
contain small glandular hairs spreading into the 
cavities. These were said to be threads of living 
protoplasm which were credited with the ability to 
move about and catch insects, but they have since 
been proved to be sessile bacteria. They are 
probably organs for getting rid of surplus water, and 
this view is substantiated by the fact that fora short 
radius round the plant the soil is damp. 
Some Liverworts have been known to develop 
pitchers. 
As to the origin of pitchers no satisfactory conclu¬ 
sion has been arrived at. Peccari in his book on the 
Malay Archipelago suggested that they may be due 
to the irritation of insects, a gall-like excrescence 
being the first result of the irritation. He, himself, 
however, would suggest the probability that the leaves 
differed from the usual type for simple reasons, viz , 
with a view to getting rid of the superfluous water 
but not losing it entirely. Utricularia and Gentisia 
having no roots, the leaves possess a developed insect 
taste. 
In summing up the lecturer stated that only the 
Nepenthes could be truly called insectivorous plants, 
although the pitchers of all the genera mentioned, 
with the exception of Dischidia and Lathraea, catch 
insects. In the last two cases the pitchers are 
closely connected with the water supply, and have 
nothing to do with the trapping of insects. 
At the close of the lecture Professor Henslow 
asked the lecturer some questions, to which Professor 
Vines replied in concise and satisfactory fashion. 
