April 28, 1900. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
551 
times supplied to the border in quantity to insure a 
plentiful up-draught to meet the requirements of 
growth. Secondly, a suitable hygrometricity of the 
atmosphere ; and, lastly, judicious ventilation. 
Young Vines, or Vines just started, and whose 
foliage has not yet become strengthened, demand 
very great attention in this matter of air giving. 
For Vines in flower, a dritr air is for the present 
necessary. As soon as the berries begin to swell, 
heavy syringing with chilled water may again be re¬ 
sorted to. Do not allow the fruits to develop so that 
they become crowded. Thin the bunches in good 
time. 
Vines whose crops are in full development must 
be kept well nourished with liquid manure at the 
roots. Thomson's or Clay’s may be used. Syringe 
both in early morniDg and again after two o’clock 
p.m., at which time the house musJ be shut up, 
though the top ventilators should be slightly opened 
one and a half hours later. 
Vines to ripen soon should be specially well 
treated, and such quick acting chemicals as sulphate 
of ammonia (one oz. per gallon of water) should be 
supplied until they are well tinged. I believe it is 
owing to a contracted supply of nourishment at too 
early a stage that many berries fail to properly 
colour up around the foot-stalk. 
Peaches and Nectarines -First-forced houses 
with well established early varieties are now so far 
advanced that the fruit should be supported by laths 
and turned to the sun to ripen. Allow the house as 
much warm air and light as possible. Nothing im¬ 
proves appearance and flavour more than plenty of 
sunshine and air. Desist from syringing. Nourish¬ 
ment ought, of course, to have been so supplied that 
the roots can find sufficient for their present needs. 
When fruits are colouring, the greatest call upon 
the provision and work of the roots has passed. 
Tying in, disbudding, watering, and syringing must 
all be attended to in the care of successive houses. 
Figs. —Figs must be maintained at a steady tem¬ 
perature. Warmth and moisture can be given in 
some amount. The first crop of fruits is now fairly 
swelling up, and on no occasion should they be in 
distress for water. It takes a large quantity of water 
to fully provision the demands of strong growing 
Figs. The syringe must be rigorously applied on all 
favourable days; twice on days which are sunny. 
The fruits or leaves should be sponged with soft- 
soap and water, when the least appearance of red- 
spider is detectable. The growths here must be 
regulated. Old and bare shoots should be covered 
with young growths. A temperature ranging 
between 75 0 and 8o° will be necessary. 
Strawberries. -Little need be said now in regard 
to Strawberries in pots. Damping off, and mildew 
are both to be guarded against. Slight dusting of 
the leaves with sulphur will check or prevent mildew. 
Careful watering will mitigate the damping of leaves 
or fruits. 
Melons and Cucumbers. —Endeavour to see a 
nice even crop of Melons, at one and the same time, 
so that each fruit develops with its neighbour. 
Syringe the plants constantly and so regulate the 
lateral growths and foliage that a healthy develop¬ 
ment can be made. Top-dress the roots with fresh 
loam and artificial manurial dustings as frequently 
as the roots show through the previous dressing. 
Crops whose fruits are well advanced must be seen 
to, so that the fruits can be supported. Cucumbers 
should be grown at a high temperature, 75 0 as a 
minimum, and kept close and moist. Nourishment 
should be provided both from the air and by the 
roots. Cut back worn out shoots and lay in fresher 
ones. In both the case of Melons and Cucumbers, 
keep the base of the stems well rubDed with lime, 
soot and charcoal.— J.H.D. 
THE FLOWER RARREIi. 
Beds and Borders. —Fruit trees, ornamental trees, 
and Roses are all pushing ahead now. The 
pruning of the latter should not be delayed any 
longer if the work is yet incomplete. Growth from 
the apical buds weakens those which arise at the 
base, so that to preserve the strength of these 
latter it is necessary to remove those parts of the 
shoots not wanted for flowering. To prune properly 
some little knowledge of the various kinds of Roses 
is necessary. Teas, which are not so rank as H.P's, 
only require to have their more slender shoots re¬ 
moved. The points of the long shoots should 
be cut back. Then the case with the climbing 
Roses, as Gloire de Dijon, Marechal Niel, Solfaterre, 
and others, is equally simple. The long shoots 
should alone be thinned out. The breast wood 
may be left to arch outward if there is no room to 
lay it in upon the wall. This can easily be overdone, 
however, by leaving too many branches or too 
great a length of branch unsupported. Only a few 
inches of these shoots need be left. 
I would like to throw out a suggestion for Rose 
growers to try Gloire de Dijon and other vigorous 
kinds in beds, and to peg the shoots in a horizontal 
line. They should be pruned back to strong wood, 
and the shoots should be then equally directed over 
the surface. From along the entire length they 
throw out a noble profusion of blooms. Neat wire 
stakes may be employed for the pegging down. 
Keep the shoots at a distance of 1 ft. or 18 in. from 
the soil level. 
Standards or dwarf perpetuals are usually pruned 
hard back. In the case of dwarfs, as I have said 
before, if the wood is strong and matured, such very 
hard pruning is not necessary. Only exhibitors of 
Roses need practice the system. Roses for showing 
and Roses for mere garden ornament may be treated 
quite differently. The surface of Rose beds may be 
pointed over. If there remains any manure from 
the winter mulching point that in. A dressing of 
artificial manure may or may not be given. Rcses 
have their leaf and bloom growth to make, and 
must be well nourished— J. H. D. 
-•*«- 
Cleanings from the IDucfti 
of Science. 
The Scientific Committee of the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society discussed the undermentioned subjects 
on the toth inst.:— 
Vine Leaves Diseased.—With reference to the 
samples brought to a previous meeting from 
Gunnersbury, Dr. Masters observed, from further 
examination, that they were certainly not attacked 
by red spider, but possibly by mites. There was 
still some doubt as to the presence of the young con¬ 
dition of Glaeosporium. 
Oranges Striped.—With reference to the orange 
brought to a previous meeting, Dr. Bonavia writes 
further in regard to the criticism on his theory that 
the stripe did not correspond to a single carpel, but 
covered halves of two :—"If this be so, I think that 
fact would seem rather to strengthen my theory, for 
the law of phyllotaxis (alternation of whorls) would 
appear to require such a disposition. My view is 
that the peel and the pulp with carpels are too 
independent whorls, the former coalescing to form a 
protective covering, while the latter has its carpels 
separable.” The difficulty in accepting this theory 
arises from the fact that there is no mark of separa¬ 
tion, the spongy tissue being continuous from the 
ovary cells to the circumference, the latter being 
charged with oil glands. Secondly, if the superficial 
layer were " foliar ” one would look for fibro- 
vascular cords running through it, whereas'there are 
none. All that are present permeate the soft tissue. 
Lastly, if it were foliar it must represent a whcrl of 
stamens; but where such a whorl takes on a pistil¬ 
late character, they form short horn-like processes 
around the base only, and not a uniform covering. 
Mandarine Oranges Striped—Mr. Hudson 
brought some fruit which always had slightly raised 
ridges, on a line with the backs of some of the 
carpels, and green. They proved to be quite super¬ 
ficial, only retaining the chlorophyll grains, which 
had disappeared elsewhere. 
Acorn with three Embryos.—Mr. Saville, of 
Maplestead, Essex, on growing an acorn in water, 
found that it sent up three stems. They proved to 
arise from three distinct embryos within the common 
husk. Such polyembryonic conditions occasionally, 
but not very frequently, occur. 
Douglas Fir Diseased.—Dr. Smith reports on 
the specimen sent to him that it is attacked by 
Phoma pithya, but will add fuller details hereafter. 
Potatos diseased with Scab, &c.—Dr. Smith 
also reports on samples received from Mr. Escombe, 
Penshurst, Tunbridge, in August, 1899. Prolonged 
cultivation of the fungi showed several species, that 
it was difficult to detect, which was the primary 
cause of the disease. " The skin of the Potatos bore 
two distinct forms of disease. (1) Scab, the cause of 
which is not yet known ; (2) dark brown bodies 
adhering to the skin, called Rhizoctonia Solani, 
being a mycelium of some unknown fungus. Other 
fungi present appeared to be Potato dry rot 
(Fusarium Solani) and the Potato mildew (Phytop- 
thora infestans).” Dr. Smith proposes to continue 
the culture, and to add a further report hereafter. 
Mr. Hudson observed that scab frequently appeals 
on Potatos when pig manure has been added to the 
ground. Such would appear favourable to the 
fungus which causes it. 
The undermentioned subjects were discussed at the 
meeting of the Linnean Society of London, on April 
5th. 
Mr. Edward Bidwell, F.Z.S., exhibited specimens 
of Beechwood showing old carving singularly im¬ 
bedded by subsequent growth. 
Mr. W. B. Hemsley, F.R S., F.L.S., exhibited and 
made remarks on a selection of plants collected by 
Dr. A. Henry and Mr. W. Hancock in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Mengtze and Szemao in Western China. 
Sphenophyilum.—Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S., read 
a paper " On Sphenophyilum and its Allies, an 
Extinct Division of the Vascular Cryptogams.” The 
author explained that his purpose was not to com¬ 
municate any new observations, but to give a 
summary of our present knowledge of the group and 
to discuss its affinities. He pointed out that the 
study of the Palaeozoic Flora not only greatly 
widens our conception of the three existing classes 
of Pteridophyta, but adds a fourth—that of the 
Sphenopbyllales—to their number. 
The external characters of certain species of 
Sphenophyilum and Trizygia were first describe I, 
and attention directed to the slender ribbed and 
jointed stems, the whorled and superposed leaves, 
and the great variation in the form of the leaf. The 
commrn hypothesis, based on the dimoiphism of the 
leaf, that Sphenophyilum was an aquatic genus, was 
inconsistent with other facts, and Mr. Seward’s 
suggestion of a climbing habit appeared preferable. 
In external morpho'ogy the resemblance was closest 
with the Equisetales. 
The anatomy of Sphenophyilum was then illus¬ 
trated ; the centri petal, triarch or hexarch primary 
wood, and the successive addition of secondary 
tissues by means of a normal cambium, were among 
the chief points noted, the formation of a regular 
scale-bark being another remarkable feature. 
The cones were next described, that of Spheno- 
phyllum Dawsoni, identified by M. Zeiller with L. 
cuneifolium, being explained in detail. The presence 
of pedicellate sporangia, of peculiar structure, 
appeared to be general in the genus, and there were 
reasons for regarding the pedicel as comparable to a 
ventral lobe of the subtending bract. 
The question of heterospory was discussed, and 
the evidence regarded as wholly inconclusive. 
Bowmanites Roemeri and Sphenophyilum 
majus were cited as examples of somewhat more 
complex examples of Sphenopbyllaceous fructifi¬ 
cation. The latter was compared with the fructifi¬ 
cation of Tmesipteris, and the points of agreement 
between Psiloteae and Sphenjphyllales indicated. 
Cheirostrobus Peltzemensis, a cone discovered 
some years ago in the Lower Carboniferous strata 
of Burntisland, was described, and its highly com¬ 
plex organization explained. The agreement ana¬ 
tomically with the Lycopods and morphologically 
with the Equisetales was found to be even more 
striking in Cheirostrobus than in the Sphenophylleae 
proper, and the reasons were given which have led 
the author to place the genus in the Class Spheno- 
phyllales. 
The various views which have been held as to 
affinities of the Spbenophyllales were then discussed 
in the light of the results recently attained. The 
supposed relation to Hydropteridae, though sup¬ 
ported by some ingenious arguments, was rejected 
as baseless, and as inconsistent with the manifest 
Filicinean affinities of that family. 
The author came to the conclusion that the 
Sphenopbyllales were most naturally regarded as the 
derivatives of a synthetic group, combining the char¬ 
acters of Lycopods and Equisetales, and indicating 
the common origin of those two classes. 
The paper was illustrated by lantern-slides. A 
discussion followed, in which Prof. Farmer, Mr- 
Worsdell, and Dr. Lang took part. 
