THE GARDENING WORLD. 
699 
June 30, 1900. 
The green towering Lombardy Poplar, and either 
Larch, Birch, Taxodium distichum, or other trees 
may likewise be used to build up the general effect. 
Of purple-leaved shrubs we have Prunus cerasifera 
var. atropurpurea, and Corylus Avellana purpurea, 
both of which form bushes that often go up to 14 ft. 
or more in height. There is also Berberis vulgaris 
purpurea, Acer palmatum roseo-marginatum, Prunus 
Pissardii, and Acer rubrum. 
Yellow is furnished by the Golden Elder, Golden 
Privet, Cornus Mas variegata, and Neillia opulifolia 
aurea, aDd white or silvery shades by Elaeagous 
argentea, a pretty bushy North American shrub ; 
Negundo variegatum, various Acers, and other things. 
M. R. R. 
THE WATER LILY POND, GREENWICH 
PARK. 
In consequence of a note sent to The Gardening 
World by Mr. Webster, the Superintendent of 
Greenwich Park, which appeared in a recent num¬ 
ber, I went a few days ago to have a look at his 
Water Lily pond. This is situated at some distance 
towards the top of the park, and is within a large 
enclosure surrounded by a wire fence; and what I 
was informed was originally a sandpit is now con¬ 
verted into a most interesting botanic garden. 
Unfortunately, the pond or lake has lost so much 
water of late as to be in parts almost dry, and I 
think that it will be necessary to take some steps for 
an artificial supply of water. 
The Water Lilies were not in evidence. It seems 
early for them to have given over flowering, so 
perhaps I had misunderstood that they were in 
bloom when Mr. Webster wrote. There were some 
capital clumps of the yellow Iris Pseudacorus, and 
also a lovely dark blue species in flower. I hope I 
am not wrong in my observation when I state that I 
think I detected some Australian Blue Gum trees in 
a dry part of the lake—if so, I must apologise—it 
seems rather a curious locality. A few Guuneras on 
the bank will soon assert themselves and claim 
plenty of space. 
Outside the lake'the garden is treated with much 
professional skill. The soil evidently is poor and 
sandy, but much has been done. Some Rhododen¬ 
drons seem to be flourishing, and various species of 
Viburnum, notably V. plicatum are doing remark¬ 
ably well. There are beds of Violas which are 
flourishing, and a good collection of Spiraeas. 
Polygonum cuspidatum is much utilised, as it 
deserves to be for its healthy and vigorous foliage. 
Altogether, I think Mr. Webster is to be congratu¬ 
lated on his success in introducing a section of Kew 
into Greenwich Park, and, as Rip van Winkle says, 
'* May he live and prosper.”— Sigma. 
- - g- 
THE LIFE-PRINCIPLE OF NATURE. 
According to announcement Rev. Prof. Geo. Hen- 
slow, M.A., V.M.H., delivered No. 1 of his series of 
four scientific lectures in the Great Vinery at 
Chiswick, on Wednesday, the 20th inst. W. 
Marshall, Esq., occupied the chair, and in a few 
brief sentences, wherein he urged the young men to 
take notes, and not merely to trust to memory, he 
introduced the Professor. About fifty persons 
attended. 
The subject of the lecture was " Protoplasm : 
What it is and bow it Maintains Plant Life.” What 
protoplasm is no one so far has been able definitely 
to say, nor do we know all about its complex work¬ 
ings and properties. That it is the life-principle of 
Nature, the basis and primary factor in life, has 
been discovered. Protoplasm, too, is continuous 
throughout all liviog organic units, hence the ex¬ 
pression "continuity of the protoplasm.” 
No one has succeeded in manufacturing artificial 
protoplasm. Even the most careful and delicate 
compounding of all the necessary elements—carbon, 
hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorous—has 
only resulted in yielding a matter devoid of the vital 
life-power. 
Prof. Huxley, during his voyage on " The 
Challenger," in some of his marine investigations 
fished up a slimy matter from an ocean bed so much 
resembling vital protoplasm that he described it as 
such. On careful analysis, however, it was dis¬ 
covered to be a mere composition of " salts,” having 
no life-spontaneity. This slimy or gelatinous stuff 
is found at great depths in the oceaD, and has been 
termed " Bathybius,” or " Life of the Depths.” 
Prof. Henslow summed up the intricacy of proto¬ 
plasm when he said that it was “ as complicated as a 
steam-engine.” What plant protoplasm was like can 
be specially well seen in springtime by peeling off a 
strip of bark from a shoot, whence the slimy matter 
may be both seen and felt. 
Continuing, the lecturer produced a diagram of a 
root-tip much enlarged. The structure of the root 
and the development of the cells received minute 
attention. The details need not be here reported, 
but a summary of the growth of a cell is briefly this : 
It starts from a small nuclear mass surrounded with 
less concentrated protoplasm, and bounded by a 
cell-wall. The cell gets bigger and bigger, and may 
assume various shapes, according as the protoplasm 
is more active in one part than another, &c. As the 
cell enlarges, vacuoles or air-spaces become appar¬ 
ent throughout the body of it, and chiefly by their 
means circulation of the protoplasm is set up. 
Proceeding to explain how the cell divides after it 
has attained to its full size and power as an indi¬ 
vidual, Prof. Henslow enlightened his audience with 
a new discovery, one of the most important in 
natural science for twenty or thirty years past. It 
has been discovered that around the nucleus (which 
usually occupies the centre of a cell) there is a net¬ 
work encirclement of " chromosomes,” otherwise 
termed " footrule bodies,” because during their 
development they become lengthened and bend upon 
themselves. They take up and variously utilise the 
solar colours. When the chromosomes have doubled 
into the "footrule” form, they penetrate higgledy- 
piggledy in one conjoined mass with the nucleus. 
“Stars,” called more fully "conducting stars,” are 
also known to exist at either pole of the nucleus, and 
their part in the cell division is-that of attracting a 
portion of the nucleus from its position in the centre 
of the cell, to themselves at the ends. The chromo¬ 
somes greatly facilitate them and their " attracting ” 
power, for soon after twisting and knotting them¬ 
selves up with the nucleus, they lengthen out toward 
the " stars,” forming as it were, a number of con¬ 
ducting tubes or flow-lines, along which the nucleus 
easily travels under the influence of the attraction at 
either end. Thus one half is drawn to one star and 
the other half to the opposite star, so that at this 
stage there are two nuclei, formed from one parent 
nucleus ; then the cromosomes re-arrange themselves 
around the new nuclei, a partition grows between the 
young divisions, and so we have two cells now in 
place of only one which existed before. Long cells, 
that is, fibres, are formed just as ordinary parenchy¬ 
matous cells are, only with thisjdifference, that there 
are no partitions laid between the new and the old 
portions of an elongating cell. 
But if Nature did nothing else than this it would 
result in always forming vegetative tissue. Other 
tissues and organisms are, however, duly built up. 
The stamens with their pollen—wonderful things— 
the ovary with its ovules, each having an embryo 
sac, and the complicated union of the parts of these 
are other formations originating from protoplasm, 
cells, and cell division. A pollen grain may briefly 
be stated to consist of an inner and an outer “ coat.” 
The inner one grows out and forms the pollen-tube 
conveying the male nucleus or fertilising element. 
The ovary contains either one or more ovules, 
having two outer integuments and an embryo sac in 
the centre of all. The growth of the nucleus of the 
embryo sac divides once, giving two nuclei; these 
again divide, and four is the result, which four 
dividing for the last time yield eight, or four at each 
end of the embryo sac. The generative male 
nucleus passes between the two uppermost (neck 
cells or synergides) of the four cells in the 
embryo sac and fertilises the third, which 
becomes the embryo, while the fourth travels 
to the centre of the embryo sac, where it meets 
with a similar cell from the lower end of the 
sac. These two unite and form the working cell 
which develops the endosperm of a seed. In abnor¬ 
mal cases sometimes a seed produces two or three 
fully formed and perfectly good embryos. This 
arises from one or two or three, as the case may be, 
of these otherwise dormant nuclei which lie at the 
ends, having been fertilised by other pollen nucleus. 
The development of the endosperm (or starchy 
matter which the germinating embryo lives on) the 
suspensor and cotyledons of the embryo from the 
time of fertilisation was fully and very carefully 
described by Prof, Henslow. All this went to show 
the power and the functions of protoplasm. The 
lecture was listened to with rapt attention through¬ 
out, for there are no finer teachers of such a subject 
than Rev. Prof. George Henslow. 
THE PHALAENOPSES AT HOME. 
The Phalaenopses are natives of the Phillipine 
Islands, which extend from the fifth to the eighteenth 
degree northern latitude. They are bordered on the 
east by the North Pacific, and on the west by the 
China Sea, being visited by north-west winds from 
October till May, and by south-west winds from May 
till October. Winds in both directions carry rain 
with them, which is deposited along the coasts and 
highlands of the islands. The limits of these rains 
are the mountains which traverse the islands from 
north to south. Thus the mountains have a con¬ 
tinuous moisture, and in their valleys the Phalae¬ 
nopses grow. Sometimes during a typhoon, the rain 
will continue pouring in these valleys for fourteen days. 
Otherwise the rain is about the same as in Europe, 
only that the rainy period is steady for a few months. 
There are also very hot days, often running into 
weeks without any rain at all. The Phalaenopses 
grow upon the highest branches of the trees where 
wind and sunshine can have most effect. Plants 
which are too low, or in places over-grown with 
creepers, soon die. Bees and other insects carry the 
seeds from tree to tree, so that there is a constant 
vegetation. The period of rest seems to be only a 
short while after flowering. All the plants are 
strong, for the weaker are over-grown by the more 
robust. Great care ought to be taken in collecting 
and transporting the Phalaenopses. It is at this 
time that they frequently become infested with 
insect pests. In their natural habitat they are said 
never to be attacked by insects. These are the 
natural conditions which prevail in the habitats of 
these beautiful Orchids, according to “ Moller’s 
Deutsche Gartner-Zeitung.” They are worthy of all 
the care we can give them. 
-- 
SOME BEAUTIFUL TULIPS. 
Tulips do not obtain quite so much notice as they 
at one time did, yet they still occupy a goodly share 
of our thoughts, our regard, and our time. The 
amount of money spent upon Tulips each year is 
almost incredible. And since if has been proved 
that they succeed well when planted out in the grass, 
the chances are that the demand will increase and 
more and more will be grown for sale. Tulips are 
beautiful in pots, but not half so lovely as when 
grown in beds or borders. The varieties which are 
given below are mostly of the early and May flower¬ 
ing types, and were noted in the nursery of Mr. 
H. J. Jones, Ryecroft, Lewisham, and in his group 
at the Temple Show. 
Empress is of a dusky blue, with chocolate and 
orange suffusion. Snowball, white, with a deep 
yellow throat; Sunset, a mixture of colours, mostly 
bright blue and yellow. Stellata is a blue-gray 
variety; Lemon Queen, pale yellow; Avalanche, 
pure white; Catherine, lavender, and white, and 
yellow ; Chrysolora, clear bright yellow ; the Moore, 
brownish violet purple, and Louise, pale lavender 
with a white fringe. The descriptions do not detail 
the exact colours and blendings, but no one need 
falter in selecting one, rather than another. All are 
very lovely. Commandant, flaked white with resy- 
crimson, has open obovate flowers ; Rembrandt is a 
brilliant rosy-cerise; gesneriana albo-ocul 3 ta, 
rosy-cerise with a white base, a pretty 
variety; and Orange Brilliant, with its beautiful 
yellow base, is very fine. Vitellina, is a pale creamy- 
yellow variety; and Scarlet Beauty is perfectly 
charming with its glowing crimson-scarlet globes. 
Another of the gesneriana varieties of merit which 
Mr. Jones grows well is spathulata, which measured 
nearly 9 in. across the mouth of the perianth. It is 
a bright crimson-scarlet, and has a lovely blue base. 
Billetiana is another of the richly coloured Tulips, 
having also an exquisite form. It is a bright yellow 
variety with broad orange-red tips and edges. 
Wilhelmina is a capital rosy-cerise of glowing 
colour. Vondel is a well know variety, rather larger 
and deeper coloured than the last, but not quite so 
brilliant in colour. It is at the same time a first- 
