December  9,  1897. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
553 
REST  IN  PLANT  LIFE. 
Is  it  absolutely  correct  to  assert  that  “  it  is  an  indispensable  part  of 
t  e  great  plan  that  all  life  should  have  rest  ?  ’*  I  ask  this  because,  being 
e  opening  sentence  in  j’our  first  paper  of  last  week’s  issue,  I  felt  that  it 
constituted  either  an  unquestioned  dictum  or  set  up  an  empirical  theory. 
am,  perhaps,^  rather  sceptical  with  reference  to  many  assumed  physio- 
ogical  ‘truths  ’  in  relation  to  vegetable  life,  for  the  somewhat  obvious 
reason  that,  not  only  is  our  present  knowledge  of  plant  physiology 
soniewhat  restricted,  but  from  time  to  time  we  find  new  ideas  put  forward 
at  seem  to  be  contrary  to  previous  views,  and  these  new  ideas  gradually 
ostablished  facts.  Now,  I  put  aside  all  reference  to  animal 
lie,  because  animal  life  and  vegetable  life  are  so  essentially  dissimilar. 
In  relation  to  the  latter  life,  however,  I  ask  the  above  question,  because 
see  that  in  tropical  countries,  and  in  tropical  houses  here,  there  seems 
to  be  none  of  that  “  rest  ”  which  is  found  in  vegetation  in  cold  or 
emperate  climes.  Tropical  Palms,  Ferns,  Crotons,  Dracasnas,  indeed  a 
arge  variety  of  ordinary  plants,  have  to  be  kept  at  home  as  they  are  in 
their  native  habitats — always  growing.  If  they  cease  growth  at  all, 
re  atively  it  is  only  when  temperature  is  reduced  and  natural  requirements 
are  not  furnished.  But  such  conditions  are  not  furnished  to  enforce  rest, 
ut  merely  to  suit  the  gardener  s  necessities.  There  is  in  the  case  of  all 
is  tropical  vegetation  absolutely  no  proof  that  what  is  empirically 
termed  “  rest  ’  is  necessary.  f  i  .7 
But  what  is  with  vegetation  this  so-called  “  rest  ?  ”  True,  we  see  in 
eci  uous  or  herbaceous  plants  complete  defoliation  in  the  autumn,  and, 
apparently  complete  cessation  of  growth.  That  may  be  as  much  due  to 
e  reduced  temperature  of  the  season,  just  as  the  increased  temperature 
ot  the  spring  time  compels  active  foliage  production.  But  if  the  tempe¬ 
rature  of  .lanuary  or  February,  with  general  absence  of  sunlight  were 
continued  on  into  June  or  July,  would  the  trees  and  shrubs  put  forth 
eatage  then  simply  because  they  had  had  their  customary  season  of  apparent 
rest,  or  would  they  remain  resting  until  warmer  weather  compelled 
activity  ?  It  IS  very  evident  that  in  considering  this  matter  w^e  have  to 
separate  ‘  rest,  *  if  such  be  an  essential  element  in  plant  life,  from 
dormancy  or  inaction  enforced  by  low  temperature. 
What  are  plants,  shrubs,  or  trees  doing  during  what  is  termed  this 
resting  season  ?  Are  they  like  the  seed  which  seems  not  to  have 
changed  in  any  sense  from  the  time  gathered  in  the  summer  till  sown 
in  the  following  spring  ?  Rest  is  a  relative  term,  because  it  may  mean 
one  thing  or  another.  Thus  to  some  it  simply  means  sleep,  a  kindly 
torpidity,  without  change  of  any  sort,  a  mere  waking  up  to  find  just 
what  w'ent  to  sleep.  How'  vegetation  can  be  in  any  sense  benefited  by 
such  rest  it  is  hard  to  understand.  Then  there  is  the  wider  and  more 
apt  interpretation  of  the  term  “rest,”  which  means  in  this  case  recu¬ 
peration  ;  a  common  as, sumption,  yet  perhaps  not  the  correct  one,  seeing 
that  recuperation  means  making  good  some  exhaustive  effort,  and  where 
do  we  find  exhaustive  efforts  in  vegetable  life,  seeing  that  every  effort  of 
growth  rather  strengthens  than  exhausts  ? 
f  I’d  said  that  the  fruit  tree  which  carries  an  unduly  heavy  crop 
OT  fruit  rnust  recuperate,  as  it  has  in  carrying  the  crop  suffered  exhaustion. 
How  18  that  proved  ?  There  is  really  no  proof  that  the  tree  or  Vine  or 
bush  has  become  exhausted,  but  the  soil  in  which  the  roots  range  may 
have  become  so  and  needs  replenishing  with  food,  or  time  is  required  to 
enable  the  roots  to  go  farther  afield  to  find  soil  that  is  not  exhausted.  Oh, 
but  It  will  be  said,  if  the  tree  be  not  exhausted,  how  is  it  that  it  does  not 
produce  a  crop  of  fruit  the  following  year  ?  That  is  not  good 
argument,  because  it  is  so  obvious  that  whilst  the  tree  is  carrying  a  fruit 
crop  it  could  not  manufacture  fruit  buds.  It  is  not  recuperation  to  say 
that  in  producing  fruit  buds  the  following  year  it  was  getting  it.  The 
tree  is  simply  doing  one  thing  or  another  because  it  is  not  possible  in  one 
season  to  do  both. 
That  fact  is  so  well  recognised  in  fruit  culture  generally,  that  thinning 
down  of  crops  to  suit  the  capacities  of  the  tree  or  Vine,  and  yet  enable  it 
to  perform  fruit  bud  production,  is  invariably  practised.  In  this  case  the 
cultivator  recognises  that  heavy  fruit  crops  cannot  be  produced  with 
mature  fruit  buds  the  same  season.  But  after  all,  whilst  vegetation  so 
largely  goes  into  an  apparent  state  of  rest  in  the  autumn,  whether 
natural,  and  of  necessity,  or  whether  enforced  by  low  temperature,  we 
see  all  evergreen  vegetation  not  resting,  because  if  no  growth  be  apparent 
It  is  absolutely  certain  that  all  the  forces  of  life  are  active.  Leaves 
whilst  existent  and  green  must  perform  their  respiratory  functions.  If 
these  cease  the  leaves  must  soon  fall.  If  leaves  be  active  sap  must  be 
active,  and  rods  must  be  active.  This  being  so  in  the  case  of  evergreens, 
where  comes  in  that  rest  which  is  said  to  be  thus  indispensable  ?  Has 
any  plant  physiologist  ever  yet  given  a  lucid  explanation  of  the  causes 
which  in  one  class  of  plants  enforce  evergreen  leafage,  and  in  another 
entire  annual  defoliation,  and  in  the  same  climate,  soil,  and  environment  ? 
Do  trees  or  shrubs  that  become  defoliated  in  the  winter  really  remain 
inactive  ?  Does  the  lower  atmospheric  temperature  congeal  or  harden 
the  sap  in  the  wood,  causing  it  to  contract  or  to  expand,  yet  being  abso¬ 
lutely  torpid  ?  and  do  the  roots  also  get  into  the  same  condition  ?  Surely 
whatever  may  be  the  case  with  the  wood  it  is  not  so  with  the  roots,  for 
these  are  more  or  less  active  in  winter,  and  we  know  that  they  exhibit 
in  winter  considerable  absorbent  powers.  We  also  know  that  trees  or 
shrubs  apparently  dormant,  if  lifted  and  replanted,  will  put  forth  fresh 
rootlets,  evidencing  activity.  Even  with  respect  to  herbaceous  plants  that 
have  no  wood  growth  during  winter,  there  is  no  proof  that  the  roots  are 
dormant  or  inactive.  Now  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that,  unseen, 
the  roots  are  assisting  to  create  crowns  or  shoots  that  shall  produce  the 
plant  growths  of  the  succeeding  year. 
The  subject  is  an  almost  illimitable  one,  and  needs  to  be  approached 
with  very  open  minds  and  an  entire  absence  of  egotism.  Knowledge, 
based  on  generally  received  ideas,  may  after  all  be  very  far  from  exact. 
Probably  there  is  nothing  in  gardening  of  greater  interest  than  is  found  in 
plant  physiology,  not  least  for  the  reason  that  even  yet  there  seems  to 
be  so  much  that  remains  unknown  or  unexplained. — A.  D. 
The  Bondage  of  the  N.C.S. 
Is  the  National  Chrysanthemum  Society  the  slave  of  the  Aquarium 
authorities?  This  is  a  pointed  question,  that  every  member  of  the 
N.C.S.  should  ask  himself.  “A,  D.  ”  (page  503)  hits  in  terse  terms  the 
keynote  of  the  situation,  and  I  have  for  some  time  past  attempted  to  show 
in  Committee  that  we  are  under  the  thraldom  he  indicates. 
It  would  be  well  if  every  member  would  ask  himself  whether  the 
Society,  as  now  constituted,  is  holding  its  own  in  the  furtherance  of  its 
objects,  as  the  premier  Chrysanthemum  Society,  against  the  rapid  strides 
and  successes  gained  by  several  provincial  centres  ;  also,  whether  the 
700  or  800  members  of  the  N  C.S.,  who  are  working  so  unselfishly  and 
zealously  for  the  cause  of  the  Chrysanthemum,  are  reaping  anything  like 
the  reward  for  their  labours  that  they  ought  to  receive,  and  which  they 
would  receive  were  they  not  fettered  hand  and  foot  by  the  present 
position  of  affairs.  By  usage  and  custom  for  several  years  past  the 
Society  seems  to  have  parted  with  its  original  birthright  -  independence  ; 
in  exchange  for  a  mere  cover,  in  which  to  display  the  productions  of 
exhibitors. 
After  the  many  pointed  remarks  made  at  the  Jubilee  dinner  (1896) 
at  the  Hotel  Metropole,  by  several  gentlemen  who  were  present,  and 
deeply  interested  in  both  the  Society  and  the  culture  of  the  Chrys¬ 
anthemum,  several  of  the  executive  felt  that  it  was  time  to  face  this 
matter  boldly,  and  as  a  matter  of  duty.  Mr.  Bevan,  the  Chairman  of 
the  Floral  Committee,  and  several  others  who  were  loyal  to  the  object, 
proceeded  to  try  and  see  if  it  was  possible  to  make  preparations  for  a 
change. 
Printed  circulars  were  sent  to  the  thirty-six  members  constituting 
the  General  Committee,  setting  forth  the  objects  of  the  proposed  meeting. 
Most  of  the  members  of  this  Committee  responded  to  the  invitation,  and 
a  long  and  fair  discussion  ensued  ;  but  as  soon  as  affairs  were  turning  to 
a  practical  issue,  and  apparently  going  against  the  Aquarium  Company, 
there  was  shown  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  higher  officials  a  decided 
disinclination  to  further  the  objects  of  the  meeting. 
The  Aquarium  authorities  were  extolled  for  the  good  they  were 
doing  for  the  Society,  and  the  members  present  were  told  that  if  the 
exhibition  was  taken  away  from  its  present  home,  the  said  officials  would 
each  of  them  withdraw'  their  services  from  the  Society. 
It  was  also  stated  that  if  we  left  the  Aquarium,  the  Directors  of  the 
Company  would  institute  an  exhibition  of  their  own  against  us.  The 
amount  of  subscription  given  to  the  Society  by  the  Company  was  held  out 
to  us  as  a  great  blessing.  The  persuasive  eloquence  of  a  few  exercised 
its  influence  over  some  others  in  opposition  to  the  existing  state  of  things. 
Two  evenings  were  consequently  spent  in  fruitless  discussion,  finally 
ending  in  a  complete  farce.  Those  w'ho  took  a  prominent  part  for  the 
removal  of  the  show  felt  that  time  and  money  had  been  wasted,  and  they 
are  yet  regarded  by  their  opponents  as  cantankerous  obstructionists  to 
the  progress  of  the  Society,  whereas  they  are  as  earnestly  desirous  of 
extending  its  influence  and  increasing  its  power  as  the  most  pronounced 
aquariumists  can  possibly  be. 
Let  us  look  into  matters  fairly  and  dispassionately.  Turning  to  the 
financial  statement  for  1896  I  find  that  prizes  and  medals  to  the  amount 
of  £839  10s.  were  paid  as  follows  : — 
£  s. 
September  show 
October 
November  Ist 
November  2nd 
December 
Medals  (all  shows) 
20  7 
40  15 
464  13 
155  10 
54  13 
103  10 
d. 
6 
0 
6 
0 
6 
6 
Total 
£839  10  0 
On  the  other  side  I  find  that  the  Royal  Aquarium  Company  gave 
towards  the  working  expenses — 
October  show .  75  0  0 
November  . 17-5  0  0 
December  .  50  0  0 
Total 
...  £300  0  0 
It  would  appear  from  this  that  the  Society  received  no  support  from 
