im 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 31, 1897 
A golden-yellow flower is Aurea. Madame Crozy is 
orange-vermillion, edged and mottled with gold 
The vermillion-red and yellow-edged flowers of Duke 
of York are very freely produced. The glowing 
golden-amber flowers of Paul Bert are distinct and 
striking. Orange-scarlet is represented by Nardy 
Pere and Senateur Millaud. Sunset Glow is bright 
salmon. Other shades are represented in great 
variety, and we have never seen them finer. About 
a hundred of the best varieties are in the collection. 
Balsams, Fuchsias, &c. 
A fine batch of double-flowered Balsams is now in 
full bloom, and will presently furnish a good harvest 
of seed. Petunias are also grown in some quantity, 
the flowers we noted being mostly double. A rosy- 
pink variety with compactly arranged, curled and 
crisped petals closely resembles Mrs. F. Sander, if 
not the same thing. Another of the same type but 
having darker rose flowers and very closely arranged 
petals, beautifully crisped and curled is named Mrs. 
Cannell. A very singular flower of another type is 
made up of pink and white petals mixed. The Messrs. 
Cannell have always been famous for Fuchsias, and 
though the day for big specimens is almost a thing 
of the past, yet the plants are neither out of fashion 
nor neglected. This will be conceded when we state 
that about 200 varieties old and new are cultivated 
at Swanley. Moderate sized plants in endless variety 
of colour may be seen, both light and dark, single, 
and double, with narrow and wide corollas. Very 
handsome is Royal Purple, the corolla of which is 
rich purple with broad, convolute petals. The sepals 
on the contrary are red. Fuchsia boliviana variegata 
has its leaves broadly margined with creamy-white. 
Altogether different in its way is Dunrobin Bedder, a 
dwarf Fuchsia belonging to the same type as F. 
Riccartoni, and used for bedding purposes. It forms 
compact little bushes about a foot in height, and 
flowers profusely. Efforts are still being continued 
to improved the Fuchsia by cross-breeding, and 
many unnamed seedlings may yet be seen at Swanley. 
Achimenes and Streptocarpus are grown in con¬ 
siderable quantity, and have been flowering for a 
long time past. Many varieties of Coleus are grown 
in quantity in a house that is largely devoted to this 
fine foliaged subject. There is a great range of 
colour in the foliage. Some of the leaves are of 
enormous size, particularly those of Coleus Emile 
Rodigas, a leaf of which without the stalk measured 
10 in. by 9 in. It is velvety-crimson with carmine 
veins and a yellow base. 
Capisicums in great variety are grown for orna¬ 
mental purposes. Many varieties are peculiar for 
the remarkable shape of the fruits ; and amongst 
them Elephant's Trunk may be included, with long, 
curved fruits as the name would suggest. 
A splendid strain of Cockscombs is grown for the 
purpose of seed which is now nearly ripe. After this 
has been gathered the combs commence growing 
again, swelling out to exhibition size. We noted all 
shades of colour from white to the deepest crimson 
and carmine, Other shades are rose, purple, yellow, 
lemon, golden, and rosy-violet with a wavy golden 
line along the top of the crest, giving the variety a 
quaint and pretty appearance. They are grown in 
pots in one of the many span-roofed houses so well 
suited for the cultivation of the soft-wooded subjects 
so largely in vogue at the present day. 
We shall have to refer to the zonal Pelargoniums 
on another occasion, for they are never out of season ; 
and though old-fashioned subjects they are ever new 
and interesting, especially for pot work under glass 
where their huge flowers and trusses can be pro¬ 
tected from the variable and fickle whims of our 
climate. 
- » 9 »— — 
CHEMICAL PROCESSES IN AN ORCHID. 
{Concluded from p. 741). 
This (see diagrams) would be an explanation of the 
manner epiphytal Orchids derive their earthy and al¬ 
kaline constituents, and it is suggestive of the 
cause why Orchids growing on native wood go wrong 
when the wood begins to decay. The earthy salts 
would then be in a different state, and probably less 
soluble, and therefore in a condition which the root 
of an Orchid cannot absorb. I have found that 
hanging an Epidendrum ciliare up and simply water¬ 
ing, although it flowered for the first year or two, 
ultimately perished, no doubt due to exhaustion 
caused by the removal of a certain proportion of the 
earthy salts by the flowers, and by the inability of 
the plant to obtain a fresh supply of the earthy salts. 
Dendrobium nobile will also exist for a year or two 
under similar conditions, but will gradually decrease 
in the size of its growth and ultimately perish. 
I noticed that after a severe thunderstorm on 
Whit Sunday, the tips of the leaves of the Bull-rush 
became changed from their green colour to the brown 
colour of autumn, this was no doubt due to a rapid 
formation of ozone during the storm, acting upon the 
chlorophyll and bleaching it. I have found that a 
similar re-action takes place by placing a portion of 
the leaf of the Bull-rush in per-oxide of hydrogen, 
HO g , and exposing it to sunlight. The influence of 
sunlight and a temperature over 70 F decomposes 
the HOg, and sets free an equivalent of oxygen O, 
which attacks the chlorophyll with the result, 
bleaching and turning brown of the edges of the 
leaf. 
Turning now to the flower bud when it first 
appears from the sheath it is green from the chloro¬ 
phyll, but as it expands it becomes white by the rapid 
oxidation of the chlorophyll. Carbonic acid and 
water are formed, and the colouring matter is pro¬ 
bably in the condition of white indigo, but after a few 
days a further equivalent of hydrogen gets oxidised, 
and the mauve colour of the Cattleya appears. I 
have no doubt that many of the white blooms which 
become tinged with colour, and are therefore com¬ 
paratively valueless, derive their colour in the above 
manner, and it is only the plants of weak constitu¬ 
tion that are the true albinos. 
The act of the expansion of the flower is a reversal 
of the growth of the leaf. In the case of the leaf 
carbonic acid is absorbed by the tissues, and oxygen 
expired ; in the case of the flower carbonic acid is 
expired and oxygen absorbed. 
Assuming that the chlorophyll in the flower bud 
has the formula C 19 H ls N 0 5 by the absorption of 
fifteen equivalents of oxygen, a compound would be 
formed with the formula C 19 H ls N 0 . 22 , which under 
the influence of sunlight might split up iDto 
C lfi H 6 NOj (white indigo) plus 3 of carbonic acid 
3 (CO, 2 ) plus 12 of water 12 (HO), if, however, another 
equivalent of hydrogen was oxidised, blue indigo is 
formed, C 16 H s N 0 . 2 . 
In the split up of the juices of flesh the following 
products are formed — 
Urea C. 2 H 4 N. 2 0 . 2 
Kreatine C^HgNgO^ + 2 (HO) 
Kreatinine C 8 H 9 N 3 0 4 
Sarkosine C 6 H 7 NO ± 
and it is probable that a similar series may be formed 
oy the split up by the oxidation of the chlorophyll 
in the flower bud. 
Professor Graham, in a classic paper published in 
the Phil. Trans, for 1866, on the absorbiion and 
dialytic separation of gases by colloid septa, 
demonstrated that gases behaved very differently if 
passed through indiarubber or gutta percha mem¬ 
branes, although indiarubber and gutta percha are 
chemically identical substances. He showed that 
gases pass membranous septa most readily, which 
are easily liquified by pressure. Carbonic acid, 
therefore, penetrates more easily than hydrogen or 
oxygen. 
Thus, with the time being equal, the volumes of 
gas which pass through the rubber express the 
velocity of penetration. 
Penetration through rubber in equal times 
Nitrogen 
Velocity. 
.. I 
Carbonic Oxide 
III 3 
Atmospheric Air 
1-149 
Marsh Gas CgH^ 
.. 2148 
Oxygen 
2556 
Hydrogen 
5 5 °° 
Carbonic Acid .. 
13085 
That is, carbonic acid passes 13J times more 
rapidly than nitrogen. This is not wonderful, con¬ 
sidering that carbonic acid is soluble in water, in 
ether, and volatile oils, and that it is dissolved by the 
Diagrams xo Illustrate the Effect of Removal of Earthy Salts by the Flower of an Orchid 
Deprived of the Possibility of Getting any Fresh Earthy Salts. 
