Fhe Gardening World 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“Hast thou named all the birds without a gun? Loved the Wood Rose and left it in its stalk ” —Emerson' 
Veekly Prizes 
FOR 
Short Articles. 
The Proprietors of The Gardening World \ 
v|| „; ve a cash prize of Seven Shillings and < 
I-: FOR THE BEST PARAGRAPH, or SHORT > 
Vi k i.k, sent 1 >y readers during the week, and ' 
I,, shillings and Sixpence as a second < 
ii/e. Tlie Editor's judgment must lie con- 
Leretl linal, and he will he at liberty to use 
of the contributions sent in. The para- < 
I.Uh, or article, MUST not exceed one ? 
n.r.MN IN length, hut the value, rather than ‘ 
i' length, of the article will he considered in ^ 
irking the award. Competitors may send in - 
f.ms of news or comments on news ; HINTS of S 
actical interest to gardeners or growers of ; 
lilts, fruits, or flowers : successful methods of < 
opagating plants usually considered difficult; ! 
contributions on ANY subject coming < 
ITHIN the sphere of gardening RROI’ER. < 
■tters should he addressed to The Editor, \ 
arked “ Competition,” and posted not later s 
lan Friday night to ensure insertion in the i 
sue of ne xt week. __ \ 
The following Coloured 
>)ateS have appeared in < 
recent numbers :— 
| September 12.—SIX NEW PAFFODILS. 
1 (Jctober 3.-LILIUM AURATUM PLA- 5 
YPHYLLUM SHIRLEY VAR. 
Novembei 14.— ROSE MME. N. LEVA- < 
ASSEUR. 
January 2— HYBRID TEA-SCENTED 
10SE IRENE. 
January 30. — TUBEROUS BEGONIA 
10UNTESS OF WARWICK. 
February 27.-A FINE STRAIN OF 
3LOXINIAS. > 
April 2. — WISTARIA MULTIJUGA 
HJSSELLIANA. 
May 7 —CACTUS DAHLIA DAINTY. 
June 4.—CACTUS DAHLIA SPITFIRE. 
July 16 —ROSE LADY BATTERSEA. 
October 1. — GEUM HELDREICHI 
SUPERBUM 
October 15.— ROSE HUGH DICKSON. 
Back numbers may be obtained from the 
nibliahere, price 2£d. post free. 
This week we present a Half-tone 
Plate ot 
DAPHNE BLAGAYANA. 
Next week we shall give a Half-tone 
Plate of 
ERICA MEDITERRANEA HYBRIDA. 
The first prize last week in the 
Readers’ Competition was awarded to 
“R. Thatcher,” for his article on 
“Ismene calathina,” p. 138; and the jj 
second to “ J. 0.,” for his article on 
“ Centropogon lucyanus,” p. 140. 
See alterations in the prizes above. 
Views and Reviews. 
The Living Plant. 
The. reader who acquires this book need 
not suppose he can read it through at a 
sitting, for it runs to 420 pages, including 
a good index, and contains many lessons on 
different subjects all relating to plant life. 
The numerous illustrations will enable him 
to comprehend^ what is said about many of 
the plants and their parts here under 
notice. A very large number of the illustra' 
tions are hand drawings from theplants them¬ 
selves. There are, however, numerous full- 
page illustrations reproduced from photo¬ 
graphs. The drawings of those portions of the 
plant that can only be seen under the 
microscope will enable readers to understand 
the same who have not yet had tlie oppor¬ 
tunity of making a practical acquaintance 
with them with the aid of that instrument. 
A number of the photographs represent 
scenes which include plants under notice, 
as they occur in a state of nature in the 
tropics. We can also admire a photograph 
of the real Scotch Thistle (Cnicus lanceo- 
latus), not an imaginary sketch, nor an 
exotic which is often made to do duty for 
that interesting plant. There is also a 
coloured plate of the Ragwort taken from an 
original painting by Sir Harry Johnston, 
Gl.O.M.Gr. The authors are also known for 
separate works relating to plants, which 
they have previously written. Mr. Knight 
is evidently a clever draughtsman. Mr. Step 
is already known to a wide circle of readers, 
especially in connection with his hooks ” The 
Romance of Wild Flowers” and “Wayside 
and Woodland Blossoms.” 
The joint authors commence at the very 
beginning or lowest edges of plant life, and 
work right through the whole field of p la fits, 
wonderful and otherwise, coming under 
their notice from various parts of the 
world. Commencing amongst the lower 
organisms, they make it clear that the 
line between the mineral and vegetable 
kingdoms is very sharply drawn, and 
that the mineral kingdom is not on'y 
dead but has always been so ; and on the 
contrary, that life which belongs only to 
plants and an-mlls has never been shown 
* “ The Living Plant in Leaf, Flower,land Fruit.’’ A popular 
book on Botany for the general reader. By Alfred Ernest 
Knight and Edward Step, F.L S. With 871 illustrations, 
specially drawn for the work, by A. E. Knight. London : 
Hutchinson & Co., Paternoster Row, 1905. Price 12s. 6d. net. 
to originate spontaneously, but that each 
form of plant life originates from a preced¬ 
ing one. The plea of spontaneous genera¬ 
tion has antiquity only to recommend it, 
but after everything has been examined such 
a theory is shown to exist solely in the 
imaginations of those who first originated it. 
Several others are quoted, including Lord 
Kelvin, who said that “ dead matter 
cannot become living matter without 
coming under the influence of matter pre¬ 
viously alive.” This simply means that 
plants already in existence make use of 
mineral and vegetable matter to build up 
their bodies, but that is ultimately again 
deposited at the end of the life of the indi¬ 
vidual using it, but that same individual 
communicates life to one or more other 
plants so as to continue existence in the 
form of seeds, spores, &c. 
The whole history of plant life is simply 
the question of protoplasm and its covering, 
as we shall endeavour to show while re¬ 
ferring to the physiology and morphology 
of plants as delineated in the story here. 
The first chapter is headed “ The Proto¬ 
plast.” To describe this term we may 
remind readers that the only real live 
portion of plants is the protoplasm con¬ 
tained in the interior. As far as the 
microscope shows it, it consists merely of a 
thin, colourless, jelly-like matter endowed 
with remarkable functions, and constitutes 
the physical basis of life. 
Scientific men have endeavoured to build 
up protoplasm from the complicated ele¬ 
ments such as are found in the protoplasm 
of a plant. This, of course, they may have 
done, but have never been able to give life 
to it, no matter how nicely these elements 
have been compounded, so that although 
the life of a plant resides in this protoplasm 
no one has ever been able to originate life 
by artificial means. When an Apple tree 
has lost its leaves in winter and consists 
merely of so much wood or stem and 
branches covered with bark, the only real 
live portion of that tree resides iu the 
cambium layer lying immediately inside 
the bark; all the rest is merely dead 
matter, though at one time alive, but 
remains useful simply as the skeletal 
structure supporting the plant. 
To return to the story as here delineated ; 
the authors show that the protoplast or 
individual piece of live protoplasm in work¬ 
ing out its life history according to its kind 
begins in a very simple way amongst the 
