December 5, 1903. 
Fhe Gardening World 
GENERAL NOTICES. 
We would earnestly urge secretaries of societies to notify us as far in advance as possible as to dates of meetings, shows, etc. We desire to do all In our power to have these 
squately represented in the columns of The Gardening World. 
We respectfully request our readers, when they write to persons or firms advertising in this paper, to mention that their advertisement was seen in The Gardening World. 
ey will thereby not only oblige this paper, but the advertisers. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“Well must the ground he digged, and better dressed, new soil to make and meliorate the rest.’' — Virgil. 
Weekly Prize 
FOR 
Short Articles. 
The Proprietors of The Gardening World 
will give a oash prize of Ten Shillings for 
THE BEST PARAGRAPH, or SHORT ARTICLE, Sent 
bv readers during the week. The Editors 
judgment must be considered final, and he will 
be at liberty to use any of the contributions 
sent in. The paragraph, or article, must not 
EXCEED ONE COLUMN IN LENGTH, but the value, 
rather than the length, of the article will be 
considered in making the award. Competitors 
may send in items of news or comments on 
news; hints of practical interest to gar¬ 
deners or growers of plants, fruits, or flowers; 
successful methods of propagating plants 
usually considered difficult; or contributions 
ON ANY SUBJECT COMING WITHIN THE SPHERE 
of gardening proper. Letters should be 
addressed to The Editor, marked “ Competi¬ 
tion,” and posted not later than Friday night 
ti ensure insertion in the issue of next week. 
The following Coloured 
Plates have appeared in 
recent numbers:— 
May 23.— SAXIFRAGA GRISEBACHII, 
May 30. — DENDROBIUM NOBILE 
ROTUNDIFLORUM and D.n. NOBILIUS. 
July 4 —APHELANDRA AURANTIACA 
ROEZLII. 
August 1.— BORONIA HETEROPHYLLA. 
September 12.— SIX NEW DAFFODILS. 
-October 3— LILIUM AURATUM PLA- 
TYPHYLLUM SHIRLEY VAR. 
November 14.— ROSE MME. N. LEVA- 
VASSEUR. 
Back numbers may be obtained from the 
publishers, price 2^d. post free. 
NEW CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
The following supplements illustrating new 
' Chrysanthemums will appear during November 
and December:— 
MRS. GEORGE D. JUDGE, 
MAUDE DU CROS, 
MERSTHAM YELLOW, 
AND 
WILFRED H. GODFREY. 
Views and Reviews. 
The New Soil Science. 
In the early part of November Dr. Hunter, 
of Edinburgh, read a paper before a meeting 
of the Renfrew Agricultural Society at Pais¬ 
ley, in, which he discusses what he calls the 
“ New Soil Science.” After reading his 
paper all that we can glean is that the new 
science consists in the application of small 
quantities of lime at frequent, intervals and 
of the micro-organisms in the soil without 
which no 1 soil can be fertile. He seems to 
have no patience with the old scheme 1 , which 
he describes under such terms as corrupt 
views, and rotten. According to the old 
view, the only function of a field drain, was 
to carry away the water, but the doctor finds 
that the micro-organisms manufacture enor¬ 
mous quantities of carbonic acid, which being 
a heavy gas, it is necessary to have good; 
drainage in order to- carry away this carbonic 
acid. He says that, supposing a good soil 
with no more water in it than was required 
for a crop, unless there was a drain to carry 
off the poisonous gas manufactured by these 
soil organisms, they as well a,s the crop 
and every other living tiling would perish. 
The doctor’s statement is rather a heavy 
one, hut whether it will cause misgivings ini 
the minds of his audience is quite another 
matter. We have every reason to 1 believe 
that good crops existed before drains werei 
made and before there was such a thing as 
a spade or a plough. Even in those days we 
can fancy that eveiy plant was able to find 
a. soil in which it could grow, and when land 
was saturated with water, forming a marsh, 
let us say, the soil was capable of supporting 
a class of subjects which we may term marsh, 
plants. Even where the water was veiy 
deep, water plants were still able to 1 eke out 
an existence, so that the nature of the ground 
would merely determine the class of plants 
which would or could grow upon it. That, 
then, does not bear out his statement that 
every living thing would perish where no 
drain existed. 
He also 1 was very hard upon the question 
of capillary attraction in soils, which is de*- 
cribed according to the doctor in those awful 
books which picture “ with painful precision, 
those capillary pipes.” He says it must be 
admitted that there is a certain amount of 
surface' attraction, but, no shadow of truth 
about those pipes. In all that has been said 
and done with regard to capillarity, he says, 
it, is simply proof of evaporation. Hoeing 
the soil simply breaks the continuity of the 
particles of the soil, and this diminishes 
evaporation. That may simply be another 
way of expressing it, but surely the benefi¬ 
cial effects of water in, the lower reaches of 
the subsoil would indicate that a certain 
amount of it rises to the surface, and that 
the plants growing in the surface soil derive 
benefit therefrom. 
If moisture does not rise from the subsoil 
nor spread laterally from one piece of ground 
to another, how is it that trees are able to 
exist and thrive in streets that are entirely 
covered with asphalt and other forms of 
paving, thus preventing the 1 -access of rain¬ 
water to their roots? We have also seen 
fruit-trees grown in pots plunged in soil and 
covered with a layer of cement on the top 
to keep out the rain. The tree© did not 
make much progress, but- they were certainly 
able to keep alive and healthy, although the 
only access they had to moisture was what 
could percolate through the porous walls of 
the burnt clay pots. If rain could not get 
through the paving of the streets nor through 
the cement covering to the- fruit-tree pots', 
we siiould also think that the same means 
would check evaporation. We do not imply 
that, the moisture already in the pots would 
be sufficient to keep the trees alive for years, 
but that they obtain further supplies from 
outside the pots. Possibly the doctor could 
explain where it comes from and what term 
he would apply to the process. 
He also abuses the practice of ridging up 
soil so as to- expose it, to the action of frost 
in this country. He compares this also to 
the ridging in tropical countries, where, of 
course, there is no frost, and yet good cul¬ 
tivators do ridge the soil in certain cases. 
He has no faith in the action of carbonic, 
acid in the soil as a dissolving agent, and 
evidently has little faith in the action of 
