March 3. 1900. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
427 
shade in L ; atris, dwarf and tali kinds. Lythrum 
roseum, Spiraea palmata, Rudbeckia purpurea ; and 
set forth in its best in the scarlet Geum coccineum, 
and Lychnis chalcedonica ; and of black and bright 
hues in Potentilla. 
Blood red we have in the old garden forms of 
Paeony, and of softer shades in the many hybrid 
varieties. 
For orange red we have to refer to the Tritomas. 
Taking the colours collectively we find them making 
an early appearance, and all represented more or 
less in the alpine garden first. 
Yellow takes the lead in the tiny Morisia hypogaea ; 
blue in Anemone blanda, Scilla sibirica; white in 
Saxifraga burseriana, Arabis, &c. ; red in Cyclamen 
Atkinsoni varieties. 
Flowers possessing coloured rays or petals, of 
course, are in use in the art of decoration; and again 
colours act as a medium or agency of attraction for 
insects, which greatly assist in fertilisation, for the 
reproduction of species. In the case of many seeds 
and fruits which are highly coloured, birds are at¬ 
tracted, and act as one of the many ways for the 
distribution of seed. A single flower does not 
possess all the four primary colours, but it oftentimes 
occurs that many have a suffusion of all the four 
shades of the primary ones. A flower may possess 
one or more such as a clear red, or it may De 
blended with white or yellow, with dark centres, &c.; 
so that many flowers occur which are bicolors ; but 
not often do we get tricolors in the herbaceous 
flora. 
(To be continued,.) 
- » l» - 
A COMPARISON. 
Having read with interest an article on pages 
406-407 of your last issue, re “ Varieties of Straw¬ 
berries suitable for market growing in Midlothian,” 
it has occurred to me to be worth while comparing 
in brief the varieties grown in the Midlothian dis¬ 
tricts for the Edinbargh market, with those grown 
in the Clydesdale fruit farms for the Glasgow 
Bazaar. 
It having fallen to my lot to be employed for a 
period of time on one of the extensive fruit farms of 
the west, I have always taken a special interest in 
this subject. 
My master in this case being a shrewd, intelligent 
gentleman, and having a large retail trade as well as 
that of producing for the wholesale market, he was, 
ihereby, in a position to gauge the public’s taste and 
fancy. 
Finding that appearance was an important factor 
in the public’s appreciation of the Strawberry, and 
trusting that they would willingly sacrifice the little 
loss in flavour to the increase in size, he resolved to 
plant the then much lauded Noble, and the results 
he obtained far exceeded his expectaiions. 
Early and abundant crops of large, well formed 
berries rewarded his enterprise, his consignments 
commanding top prices in the market, and several 
leading fruiterers in the city solicited special direct 
deliveries. 
As illustrating its good travelling qualities, we 
supplied a certain party with large quantities, the 
only means of transit to whom being by rail and 
steamboat, thus necessitating frequent, and often not 
very careful, handling, yet they arrived in prime 
condition. 
This variety which then gave such excellent 
results has now, however, to give place to its 
successor, which may be termed the "Queen of 
Strawberries," that is, Royal Sovereign, and during 
the past year the grower to whom I refer has laid 
down acres of this variety and hopes to achieve 
great results from it. 
It has proved to him to be fully up to its raiser’s 
description, being hardy, vigorous, of large size, firm 
flesh and splendid flavour I might here mention 
that they are grown on gravelly soil with a southern 
exposure, in teds 3 ft. wide, with 18 in. between the 
beds. A great advantage is that by this arrange¬ 
ment, the fruit when ripe and weighed down does 
not rest upon the soil but is kept clean by the 
carpet of foliage below it. 
But what do the Midlothian growers say of these 
two grand varieties which I have mentioned ? They 
are worthless. The former is deficient in flavour 
and too soft to carry, and the latter of too weak a 
constitution. 
Great diversity of opinion, however, exists 
between growers (Clydesdale) resident within a 
radius of a few miles as to the best variety. One 
occup) ing a low-lying piece of ground grows only a 
seedling of his own raising which is conical in shape 
with a rich, sweet flavour. Another confines him¬ 
self to the old Wizard of the North, which is so 
much in demand as a preserving berry. Garibaldi 
is also a general favourite, and here also demon¬ 
strates its peculiar fitness for the marketers. John 
Ruskin, a hardy, vigorous, early variety, and Presi¬ 
dent are to be met with. Elton Pine and Waterloo 
are grown as late varieties but can scarcely be 
recommended as profitable. 
Coming to new varieties which may prove an 
acquisition, is a berry of Continental origin described 
as a " Continual ’’ bearer, St. Joseph. It is of good 
size, shape and apparently hardy, but it has got to 
prove itself worthy of a place in the market gar¬ 
dener’s collection.— W. L., Edin. 
-—- 
SAP FLOW. 
Theory has always taught me in my life experience 
that it was impossible for a branch of a tree to live 
any length of time, clean barked all round the branch 
down to the hard wood. In the summer of 1896 my 
attention was drawn to a Pear tree, on which was a 
large branch full of fruit. Near the main stem it 
was quite barkless down to the hard wood. It had 
been so for some years, and is still alive, and carries 
fruit each year. Now, if sap does not flow upwards 
in the hard wood what keeps that branch in foliage 
and fruit ?— E. Yeomans. 
There is no doubt much to be determined upon 
the important subject broached by A. D. on p. 394, 
in relation to the flow of sap in trees. The field of 
inquiry, however, is not so unexploited as might 
appear on the face of it. The term " absolutely dry ” 
is hardly appropriate, or on all fours with the facts 
of the case when applied to any portion of a tree, 
whether dead or alive. The wood may, and does, 
contain a certain amount of moisture, though that 
may have little effect upon or relation to the vital 
activities of the tree as a living organism. Class 
teachers, who are supposed to know something of the 
subject, speak as if the heart wood were dry and 
dead. Dead it most certainly is ; and in those trees 
which have a close grained and often dark heart wood, 
the latter may contain a limited quantity of moisture, 
but it is quite immaterial to the life of the tree, which 
may live possibly for centuries after the centre has 
crumbled into dust by the admission of moisture and 
air from above by th^breaking of a limb by the wind, 
or its removal by a woodman’s saw or other agency. 
The sap in plants has a progressive but not a 
circulating motion like the blood in animals. To say 
that it ascends from the roots through the wood to 
the leaves, and then back again by the inner bark 
and the cambium layer to the roots; is mere theory, 
and has long ago been exploded. Trees, and for the 
matter of that, all plants possessing a rise of sap 
from the roots towards the leaves, lose many times 
the bulk and weight of water from the leaves than 
ever goes down again to the roots. In order to prove by 
what tissues this current of water rises in trees, Thos. 
Andrew Knight, F.R.S., of Horticultural Society 
fame, away back near the beginning of the present 
century, made some experiments. By removing a 
ring of bark from the trunk he found that the tree 
still retained a healthy appearance and went on 
growing ; also that the tissues above the ring con¬ 
tinued to deposit woody matter and to show thicken¬ 
ing at the edge of the cut, thus demonstrating that 
some amount of sap descends by the bark. He next 
removed the pith and the central and harder layers 
of wood. The tree continued to support its leaves 
as usual, so that the rise of sap to the foliage could 
not have been passing through the hard heart wood. 
He next cut a ring of tissue from the stem of an Oak, 
removing the bark and the younger wood (alburnum), 
leaving the hard heart wood or duramen bare. The 
foliage soon began to wither, and the tree soon after 
died. This is accepted by modern physiologists as 
a solution of the fact that the " sap current ” flows 
in the younger wood next the bark. A. D. asks 
whether this is in the “ really hard wood,” or the 
soft cambium layer. The above experiment says in 
the wood just beneath the cambium layer, and ex¬ 
tending some distance inwards. 
A. D. also asks, •' How soon after formation into a 
woody layer does the cambium layer become 
sapless ? ” Well, the cambium layer never becomes 
sapless. It is really the only part of the tree that is 
alive at the present time, with, perhaps, some of the 
cells or vessels of the soft bark immediately on the 
outside of it. When growth is going on actively 
some of the cells of the cambium develop into wood 
cells and vessels which soon lose their vitality, that 
is their protoplasm, after being fully developed, and 
having thickened their walls. After that they may 
remain intact for centuries, but are practically life¬ 
less after losing their protoplasm. There is always 
a cambium layer in an Oak, for instance, till tfle tree 
dies outright. 
Concerning the sap descent, it may be stated that 
only a small percentage of it ever descends, just 
sufficient to carry the material required for thicken¬ 
ing the branches and trunk, and to extend and 
thicken the roots. 
Again, when an Oak is in full leaf in summer, and 
during the day when it is losing moisture by trans¬ 
piration, the cavities of the wood cells and vessels 
contain only air, the sap rising in the walls of the 
said cells and vessels. During night transpiration 
ceases, but the roots continue their work of pump¬ 
ing up water, which finding no means of escape by 
the stomata of the leaves,filters into the cavities of the 
wood and vessels till the same may be said to be 
gorged like the flooding of land by the overflow of 
rivers. If the stems were then cut they would 
exhibit the phenomenon of bleeding which would 
not be the case during the day.— P.L. 
--— 
FORMALITY IN GARDENING. 
It seems odd to read that it is so much prettier to 
see Wallflowers growing just as naturally and indis¬ 
criminately sown than when they have been planted 
at equal distances apart. We have but to vary these 
common garden flowers by introducing all other gar¬ 
den plants and then find what singular appearances 
our gardens could present. It is all very well to sigh 
for informality in gardens, and there is no objection 
to so planting, that as little of that formality may be 
evident, but to assume that gardening can be con¬ 
ducted, whether in relation to flowers, shrubs, trees, 
or vegetables, without considerable formality is 
ridiculous. Gardening of necessity constitutes form¬ 
ality, because it is work done on recognised lines. 
When these lines are no longer followed then gar¬ 
dening is absent, and Nature alone is left. 
Why may not a bed of Wallflowers, no matter 
what colour, when properly planted be as pleasing 
to see and to cut from as a bed sown where 
growing and left to thrive as best it can. It by no 
means follows that in putting out plants at equal 
distances straight lines are of necessity formed, but 
where these equal distances are observed, do not the 
plants materially benefit ? And have not all an equal 
chance to grow and flower ? And is not that gain ? 
When plants are sown and grown in wild form, some 
that may be the earliest or strongest grow and 
strangle or crowd out the others, and in all cases for 
their good they are far too crowded. 
To look upon such a condition of competitive ex¬ 
istence is painful. It is particularly so to the gar¬ 
dener, because all his teaching, all his experience 
favours the equal treatment of all, that all may 
have an equal chance. Had we allowed the wild 
growth practice in gardening to exist, very much of 
our most beautiful or useful plants would have been 
killed in infancy, or, perhaps, never have seen the 
light. Their existence now is due to the gardener's 
care, to his wise judgment and treatment, not only 
in enabling all to have an equal chance, but also to 
specially encourage those which seemed to be of the 
weaker nature, that they may have in due course 
ample facilities for developing their properties. 
Practically gardening is in direct antagonism in 
one sense to the doctrine of the survival of the fittest, 
as it exists in Nature, because in that case the fittest 
is but the brute strongest, though not always the 
best. There may be some reason for what maybe 
regarded as wild or informal growth of all things 
sown or planted in essentially wild garden areas. 
But even in those it not infrequently conflicts with 
one’s notions of propriety to find large clumps of 
essentially garden plants where things that are 
always associated with wild or natural surroundings 
should be found best. Where would be our satis¬ 
faction in having what are called kept gardens, did 
we not in them have essentially garden features and 
garden culture ? In what respect should we learn 
