428 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  4,  1897. 
as  a  whole,  form  the  best  feature  of  the  establishment.  Grown  by 
hundreds  in  the  long,  light,  adequately  ventilated  orchard  houses,  the^ 
are  wonderful  examples  of  what  may  be  done  with  fruit  trees  under  this 
system  of  culture.  Repotting  was  being  done,  and  the  manner  in  which 
the  roots  were  dragged  about  with  chisels  so  as  to  leaie  room  for  fresh 
soil  to  be  put  in  the  new  pots  was  enough  to^  make  one  gasp  with  astonish¬ 
ment.  “  Only  annual  roots,’  said  iMr.  Riv'ers,  with  the  most  perfect 
nonchalance  as  we  passed  to  examine  the  Apples  and  I  ears,  loaded  still 
with  fruit.  It  is  probable  few  cultivators  would  feel  disposed  to  treat 
their  trees  in  such  a  drastic  manner  ;  but  the  condition  of  those  at  Saw- 
bridgeworth  proves  that  they  do  not  object  in  the  slightest ;  in  fact,  they 
revel  in  the  treatment  that  is  accorded. 
There  are  dwarf  bushes,  half-standards  and  standards,  of  Teaches, 
Nectarines,  Cherries,  as  well  as  of  the  Apples  and  Pears  just  noted. 
The  branches  are  beautifully  trained,  so  that  no  obstruction  of  light 
occurs  at  any  period  of  growth,  and  it  is  astounding  to  see  the 
profusion  of  buds  on  every  single  branch,  or  rather  growth,  for  they  are 
almost  too  small  to  be  called  branches.  The  trees  have  produced  fruit 
this  year  as  they  did  last,  and  as  they  will  have  to  do  next,  unless  some¬ 
thing  entirely  unforeseen  occur.  In  comparatively  small  pots  there 
are  bushes  of  considerable  size,  and  of  course  it  is  not  possible  for  them 
to  derive  all  the  nourishment  they  require  from  such  an  amount  of  soil 
as  that  which  surrounds  their  roots.  To  meet  this  deficiency,  each 
one  is  generously  fed  from  the  surface,  both  by  top-dressings  and  by 
waterings  with  liquid  manure.  It  is  mOre  than  probable  that  upon  this 
feeding  depends,  to  a  large  extent,  the  success  or  otherwise  of  the  trees 
that  are  grown. 
Oeaxges  axd  Vines. 
Before  concluding  these  notes  of  Sawbridgeworth  we  may  refer  to  the 
Oranges,  of  which  a  whole  houseful  are  grown.  Some  are  small  and 
others  of  good  size,  but  their  culture  is  crowned  with  yearly  success. 
Grajies  are  magnificent.  House  after  house  is  filled  with  Vines  that  have 
been  cropping  heavily  for  over  twenty  years,  and  show  no  signs  of 
diminishing.  The  bunches  are  made  up  of  large  splendidly  coloured 
berries,  and  nowhere  is  there  a  sign  of  an  enemy.  There  were  hundreds 
of  bunches  hanging  when  this  visit  was  paid,  and  all  alike  were  excellent. 
With  these  we  must  stop,  though  much  more  might  be  said,  but  this  shall 
be  left  to  the  writers  of  the  future. — Visitor. 
INTELLIGEXC^E  IX  PLAXTS. 
{Continued  from  page  .378. 3 
In  Spiranthus  autuiimalis  there  is  a  boot-shaped  disc,  which  when 
touched  by  the  proboscis  of  a  bee  instantly  splits  its  whole  length, 
and  exudes  sticky  matter,  to  which  pollen  adheres.  When  the 
bee  withdraws  its  now  loaded  proboscis  it  finds  it  cannot  enter 
another  flower  of  the  same  age,  and  is  compelled  to  visit  older  ones 
with  wider  orifices  until  it  gets  rid  of  the  pollen,  when  it  can  visit 
lesser  ones  again.  This  arranges  for  the  fertilisation  of  older  flowers 
by  jmunger  ones.  Darwin  says  bumble  bees  begin  at  the  lowest 
flower  on  the  stem  of  this  plant,  and  work  upwards  till  they  come  to 
one  they  can  enter,  and  it  almost  seems  in  this  case  as  if  the  bees 
had  some  idea  there  was  a  mutual  benefit  to  be  had. 
In  the  Listera  ovata  a  drop  of  sticky  water  is  shot  out  at  the 
invading  insect  with  great  precision,  and  hardens  rapidly.  If  the 
intruder  be  weakly  or  small  it  is  frequently  blinded,  or  even  smothered 
by  the  explosion.  This  may  be  a  blunder,  and  it  also  may  be  a  bit 
of  Nature’s  policy.  We  so  often  find  that  we  thought  was  a  blunder 
was  quite  otherwise,  that  it  is  best  to  wait  for  further  information 
before  libelling  any  of  Nature’s  methods.  The  Cattleya  is  fertilised 
by  the  good  offices  of  a  bee,  and  the  visitor  in  leaving  the  flower  turns 
up  a  specialised  tongue-like  stigma  called  a  rostellum,  which  exudes 
the  sticky  matter,  and,  as  usual,  in  the  right  place. 
The  Australian  Orchid  (Coloena)  makes  a  prisoner  at  once  of  any 
insect  that  alights  on  its  lip,  and  really  what  happens  is  not  yet 
well  understood.  In  the  Dendrobium  chrysanthum  there  is  a 
mechanism  which  raises  the  anther  lip  to  have  the  pollen  attached, 
but  this  does  not  always  occur ;  and  if  the  lip  is  ever  raised  again  it 
rises  with  an  impetus  that  sends  the  pollen  up  in  the  air,  so 
that  it  may  fall  on  the  stigma  of  the  same  flower,  and  thus  effect 
self-fertilisation. 
The  Angr^cum  sesquipedale  of  ^Madagascar  has  a  whiplash-like 
nectary  nearly  a  foot  long,  and  the  honey  at  the  bottom  of  it  has  to  be 
got  at  somehow.  It  is  supposed  there  is  a  moth  with  a  corresponding 
12-inch  proboscis.  The  sticky  matter  is  round  the  opening  into  the 
nectary,  so  that  this  still  unknown  moth  is  a  requisite  here,  and  the 
fertilisation  does  occur.  We  have  to  imagine  the  moth.  Here  let  us 
ask  a  question,  and  find  the  answer  if  we  may.  If  the  moth  is 
necessary  for  the  plant,  was  it  made  for  it  ?  Obviously  the  moth  can 
do  without  the  plant,  but  the  plant  cannot  do  without  the  moth,  and 
what  does  it  all  mean  ?  Is  it  a  sort  of  partnership,  and  the  partners,  one 
or  both,  unaware  of  the  fact  ?  When  a  bee  starts  out  honey  gathering, 
how  is  it  that  it  only  visits  one  class  of  flower,  as  a  rule,  on  that 
particular  journey  if  it  has  no  idea  of  its  mission  ? 
Catasetum  saccatum  when  touched  even  by  a  hair  on  one  of  two 
horn-like  processes  slioots  out  the  pollen,  sticky  end  first,  with  great 
force  to  a  distance  of  2  or  .3  feet  if  nothing  intervene.  Gardeners 
meddling  with  these  get  the  discharge  in  their  faces  sometimes,  fi’he 
mechanism  effecting  this  expulsion  is  complicated,  touching  the  horn 
ruptures  a  disc.  A  Catasetum  callosum  shot  its  pollen  bag  on  to  a 
window  a  yard  away,  where  it  stuck  by  its  own  glue.  Many  Orchids 
expel  their  pollen  thus,  but  there  has  to  be  that  mysterious  ripeness 
before  it  occurs.  No  discharge  happens  on  touching  the  horn  before  it 
is  ready. 
In  the  IMormodes  Orchid  the  pollen  bags  are  at  the  end  of  a  long 
stem,  which  is  bent  downwards  and  kept  in  that  position,  in  spite  of 
the  growing  tension  caused  by  the  growth  of  the  plant,  till  the  magic 
touch ;  then  the  usual  burst  takes  place,  and  the  long  straining  stem  is 
suddenly  released,  and  with  the  spring  bends  over  the  other  way,  and 
with  that  tears  itself  up  by  the  roots  and  rebounds  into  the  air.  In 
one  Orchid  the  passage  into  the  nectary  is  so  complicated,  that  the 
insect  is  a  very  long  time  in  finding  its  way,  and  thus  does  the  know¬ 
ing  plant  gain  tft.e  needful  time  for  its  sticky  matter  to  set.  These 
nectaries,  as  I  have  already  said,  do  not  always  contain  nectar,  and 
whether  the  plant  has  so  far  progressed  as  to  be  able  to  think  out  a 
pretty  little  swindle  or  no  is  not  quite  apparent.  Darwin  thinks  that 
when  there  is  no  nectar  there  is  a  compensation  in  some  nodules  or 
excrescences  which  may  be  food.  One  hardly  likes  to  differ  in  opinion 
rom  such  an  acknowledged  master  mind,  but  a  nectary  is  not  needed 
if  there  is  no  nectar,  and  the  nodules  do  not  explain  the  peculiar  shape. 
It  is  true  peculiar  modifications  of  the  original  intent  are  frequent,  and 
it  may  be  that  the  owners  of  the  nectarless  nectaries  have,  so  to  siieak, 
changed  their  views. 
The  Mistletoe  is  a  curious  illustration  of  this  change  of  purpose. 
It  produces  a  flower  as  if  it  was  going  to  produce  a  seed  in  the  usual 
way,  and  then  it  develops  a  sort  of  gimlet  instead,  which  it  bores 
its  way  into  the  heart  of  its  host — usually  an  Apple  or  Pear  tree,  and 
not  on  the  Oak,  as  popular  fancy  has  it.  It  bores  in  deeper  and 
<leeper  year  by  year,  and  yet  it  only  abstracts  water  and  the  salts  in  it, 
and  does  not  prey  on  its  host,  as  is  usually  supposed,  for  its  general 
food.  In  some  way  it  provides  its  own  chlorophyll.  If  you  want  to 
know  what  this  chlorophyll  is,  I  can  tell  you.  Chloro  means  green,  and 
phyllon  is  Greek  for  a  leaf,  which  is  not  valuable  information.  I  can 
tell  you  further  that  it  absorbs  light,  many  red  rays,  a  good  many 
blue  violet  ones,  and  some  of  the  green  and  yellow  rays.  What  it 
does  with  them,  and  what  sustenance  there  is  in  a  ray  of  light,  is 
what  I  cannot  tell  you. 
When  you  grow  a  plant  in  the  dark  it  is  not  green  because  it 
cannot  form  any  chlorophyll,  which,  again,  is  an  explanation  that 
wants  a  good  deal  of  explanation.  There  is  no  chlorophyll  if  there  is 
no  iron  about,  but  then  nobody  knows  what  iron  is,  even  in  Sheffield, 
md  in  fact  the  things  we  do  not  know  are  quite  numerous,  and  grow 
more  numerous  every  time  we  find  anything  out. 
Amongst  other  things  chlorophyll  works  a  sugar  manufactory,  a 
starch  manufactory,  and  maintains  a  chemical  laboratory  which  can 
deal  with  water  and  carbonic  acid  and  other  chemicals,  and  convert 
them  into  plant  substances ;  but  to  discuss  chlorophyll  fully  would 
take  at  least  one  separate  paper  all  to  itself,  and  more,  probably  a 
dozen. 
The  Dodder  (Cuscuta  trifolia)  is  not  so  considerate  to  its  host  as  the 
Mistletoe.  I  am  afraid  it  is  a  bit  of  a  thief,  and  prefers  living  at  the 
expense  of  others,  like  certain  members  of  the  very  superior  human 
family.  The  seed  of  the  Dodder  has  nearly  forgotten  how  to  enter  the 
soil ;  it  has  developed  a  gimlet,  and  bores  into  its  host,  which  is  any¬ 
thing  it  can  find  that  is  green.  It  is  fond  of  Clover,  and  knows  the 
difference  between  that  and  a  dry  stick.  The  Banyan  tree  has  dis¬ 
covered  a  "way  of  doing  without  seeds  j  it  drops  a  bough  to  the  ground, 
which  takes  root,  and,  in  time,  forms  a  whole  forest  of  trees,  if  let 
alone. 
The  Aristolochia  flower  is  a  fly  trap.  It  secretes  a  nectar  in  a  tube 
which  the  flies  can  smell,  and  on  entering  find  a  forest  of  hairs  which 
easily  bend  inwards  and  let  the  burglar  m,  but  as  they  will  not  beqd 
outwards  the  fly  has  to  rertiain  and  feed  till  the  pollen  is  ripe  and  dusts 
it  all  over.  Then  the  hairs  shrivel  up  and  the  victim  escapes  to  carry 
the  pollen  into  another  similar  prison.  The  common  Arum  has  a 
similar  trap,  but  in  this  trap  are  both  the  male  and  female,  so  that 
self-fertilisation  seems  avell  provided  for ;  but  it  is  impossible,  for  the 
stigmas  ripen  first  and  lose  their  fertility,  and  when  the  anthers  ripen 
the  pollen  falls  on  the  imprisoned  flies,  and,  as  before,  the  hairs  wither 
and  the  flies  escape  to  carry  the  pollen  elsewhere.  Now  here  is  a 
lesson  not  to  det  a  first  glance  of  things  be  considered  decisive — that  is 
not  science.  Science  means  seeing  into  things,  and  a  first  glance 
inside  an  Arum  flower  most  people  on  seeing  the  male  and  female 
parts  both  enclosed  in  the  same  receptacle  avould  say,  “  Oh,  here  self¬ 
fertilisation  is  carefully  provided  for,  and  well  arranged,  they  are  boxed 
in  together  for  that  purpose.”  Yet,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  it  is 
made  quite  impossible. 
But  here  is  a  nut  to  be  cracked  by  those  who  will  not  believe  that 
a  plant  has  intelligence.  The  common  Figwort  is  fertilised  by  wasps, 
and  for  some  reason  these  creatures  in  visiting  a  number  of  flowers  on 
