82 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
July  24,  1902. 
Ad  Evening  with  the  Microscope.* 
Our  subject  this  evening  is  one  a  little  removed  from  thej 
ordinary  course  of  practical  gardening ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  not 
one  on  the  cultivation  of  plants,  fruit,  or  vegetables ;  but  it  is 
“  An  Evening  with  the  Microscope,”  and .  although  this  may 
appear  to  some  a  dry  and  uninteresting  subject,  I  sincerely  trust 
not  one  of  you  will  return  home  without  the  satisfaction  of 
having  heard  or  knowing  something  you  never  knew  before,  and 
which  may,  to  some  extent,  give  you  some  satisfaction  for  your 
attendance  here.  A  microscope  is  one  of  the  most  useful  instru¬ 
ments  that  a  gardener  can  possess,  whether  it  be  in  tlie  simple 
form  of  a  single  or  treble  pocket  lens,  or  mounted  on  a  brass 
stand  and  fitted  up  with  numerous  eye-pieces,  objectives,  Ac., 
for  higher  magnifying  powers  and  a  greater  field  of  study.  By 
its  use  it  reveals  to  him  the  presence  or  absence  of  many 
insect  enemies  that  are  totally  obscure  and  undiscernible  to  the 
naked  eye,  and  which,  if  allowed  to  establish  themselves  in 
quantity,  would  prove  very  injurious  to  plant  life,  and  much 
more  difficult  to  eradicate.  It  also  enables  him  to  examine 
valuable  plants  when  in  a  sickly  condition,  to  find  out  whether 
it  is  caused  by  dreaded  fungus  in  various  forms,  or  from  other 
effects.  To  the'  botanist  it  is  invaluable,  as  by  its  use  he 
examines  the  structure,  of  the  growth  of  wood,  shoots,  steins, 
flowers,  and  foliage  of  plants,  which  enables  him  to  classify 
them  in  their  various  orders,  genera,  and  species,  so  as  to  ulti¬ 
mately  discover  whether  the  plant  under  examination  is,  or  is 
not,  recorded  in  botanical  history.  . 
The  first  microscope  I  ever  saw  was  a  small  single  pocket  lens. 
When  I  was  apprentice,  the  gardener  was  examining  some  Peach 
tree  leaves  that  I  had  syringed  the  previous  day  with  insecticide 
to  kill  red  spider,  and  I  was  curious  enough  to  ask  permission 
to  look  through  it,  which  favour  was  granted  ;  at  the  same  time 
I  was  informed  that  if  I  intended  to  be  a  gardener  I  must 
quickly  get  into  possession  of  a  similar  instrument,  and  must 
also  make  myself  thoroughly  acquainted  with  insect  enemies, 
and  with  botany.  Outside  the  garden  boundary  was  an  enclosure 
for  hay,  which  was  gaily  decorated  with  abundance  of  yellow 
flowers,  and,  as  though  I  was  a  manufactured  expert,  he  said, 
“Jim,  what  is  the  botanical  name  of  those,  yellow  flowers?” 
“Why,  Dandelions!”  said  I.  “No,”  said  he,  “it  is  Taraxacum 
.officinale.”  I  thought  to  myself  if  that  is  a  botanical  name,  I 
don’t  want  many  of  them  ;  but,  bucking  up  courage,  I  walked 
three  miles  to  buy  a  pocket  microscope,  and,  having  fortified 
myself  with  a  copy  of  Lindley’s  “  School  Botany,”  which  was 
closely  followed  with  a  copy  of  Macgillivray’s  “  British  Wild 
.Flowers  ”  and  Hooker’s  “  British  Flora,”  together  with  a 
botanist’s  collecting  case,  I  soon  felt  myself  in  the  enviable 
position  of  being  a  full-blown  botanist — with  everything  to  learn 
however!  ,  <  ’ 
After  having  acquired  a  certain  amount  of  knowledge  on  the 
subject,  as  time  went  on  I  found  there  was  an  upheaval  going 
on  in  the  gardening  world,  and  except  in  strictly  botanical 
gardens  the  botanist  had  to  give  way  to  the  gardener  of  decora¬ 
tive  skill,  and  the  prize-takers  of  flowers,  plants,  .fruit,  and 
vegetables.  But  a  further  change  has  taken  place,  and  at  the 
present  time  I  think  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  the  gardener  in 
most  demand  is  that  class  of  men  that  do  the  most  for  the  least 
money,  or  who  can  plant  a  fruit  tree  overnight  and  find  a  crop 
of  fruit  on  it  the  next  morning.  Can  this  be  wondered  at,  con¬ 
sidering  the  enormous  amount  of  garden  produce  of  all  kinds 
imported  into  this  country  from  all  parts  of  the  w'orld  at 
ridiculously  low  prices?  We  live  in  a  fast  age,  when  rapidity  of 
transit,  whether  by  locomotion  or  navigation,  is  the  order  of 
the  day.  Steam  navigation  and  railways  have  revolutionised  the 
world.  Yet  be  not  discouraged,  gardeners  have  always  been 
wanted,  and  have  existed  from  the  days  of  Adam  to  the  present 
time,  and  that  gardener  who  fortifies  himself  with  the  greatest 
amount  of  knowledge  in  readiness  to  occupy  any  position  in  life, 
botanical  or  otherwise,  is  the  most  likely  man  to  secure  a  good 
position  when  it  presents  itself.  When  living  in  Scotland,  I  had 
a  young  man  with  me  that  imbibed  the  idea  that  he  would  like 
to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  botany,  so  I  asked  him  if  he  would 
remember  the  botanical  name  of  Dandelion  if  I  would  tell  him. 
He  instantly  assured  me  he  would,  and  when  I  told  him  it  was 
Taraxacum  officinale,  he  replied,  “  Master,  I  could  never 
remember  that  name;  it  is  as  long  as  the  Caledonian  Railway.” 
Such  are  the  general  impressions  of  the  young  aspirant  when  a 
difficult  task  presents  itself;  but  the  youth  with  a  determined 
nnnd  invariably  surmounts  the  difficulty;  but  I  would  here 
warn  the  ambitious  man  who  yearns  for  a  thorough  knowdedge  of 
botany  that  to  devote  too  much  time  to  this  study,  and  neglect 
f  Paper  read  by  Mr.  J.  Ollerhead  at  a  meeting  of  tbe  Wimbledon  and 
District  Gardeners’  Mutual  Improvement  Society,  February  17lh.  1S02.  Tlio 
subject  being  again  brought  forward  on  March  17th,  after  a  discussion  on 
Roses  in  ots. 
the  other  principal  branches  of  the  work,'  would  be  fatal  to  his 
prospects  as  a  practical  gardener.  We  are  told  by  the  Dean  of 
^Rochester  in  his  “  Book  on  Roses,”  page  125,  “  I  never  remember 
to  have  seen  a  scientific  botanist  and  a  successful  practical  florist 
under  the  same  hat,”  Ac.,  Ac. 
It  is  now  desirable  that  we  should  make  ourselves  acquainted 
with  the  instrument  in  question,  also  its  numerous  parts,  and 
the  use  of  the  same.  I  will  therefore  proceed  to  briefly  describe 
them.  The  first  of  the  kind  I  ever  possessed  was  a  pocket  lens; 
hut  you  will  observe  there  are  three  lenses,  each  one  giving 
increased  magnifying  powers,  it  is  the  instrument  in  common  use 
with  gardeners  and  botanists.  In  the  ordinary  way  it  is  found 
amply  sufficient  for  general  purposes ;  but  aspiring  to  higher 
class  instruments  for  greater  magnifying  powers  we  find  them  of 
a  very  different  construction.  This  is  a  binocular  instrument, 
i.e.,  you  can  see  the  object  exposed  on  the  stage  with  both  eyes 
at  the  same  time.  It  was  considered  one  of  the  best  at  the  time 
it  was  made.  This  is  the  tripod  stand,  the  feet  being  movable 
for  the  convenience  of  packing  in  small  compass ;  this  is  the 
circular  base  to  which  the  feet  are  secured.  I  may  here  say  there 
is  a  little  history  attached  to  this  instrument,  which  is  vouched 
for  by  the  inscription  on  it — viz.,  “Presented  by  the  members 
of  the  Liverpool  Naturalists’  Field  Club  to  the  Rev.  William 
Banister,  M.A.,  in  acknowledgment  of  his  assiduous  and 
successful  exertions  as  honorary  secretary,  December,  1866.” 
You  will  notice  the  base  is  in  two  portions,  the  upper  swivels 
round  for  adjusting  the  instrument.  This  is  the  upright  limb, 
with  movable  joint,  for  inclining  it  into  any  position.  This  is 
the  principal  limb  that  carries  the  body  of  the  instrument ;  these 
two  small  milled  heads  and  screws  are  for  holding  the  side  silver 
and  glass  reflectors;  the  larger  milled  heads,  with  pinion  for 
rackwork  underneath,  is  for  quick  adjustment  when  focussing. 
The  body  is  supported  by  the  strong  limb.  This  milled  head, 
with  these  racks  and  pinions,  is  for  focussing  the  eye  pieces, 
and  this  one  at  the  lower  end  of  the  body  is  for  very  fine 
adjustments.  These  are  the.  sliding  sockets,  worked  by  rack  and 
pinion,  for  focussing  the  eye  pieces,  of  which  there  are  three 
pairs,  with  various  magnifying  powers.  No.  1,  the  longest,  is 
the  lowest,  and  of  the  short  ones,  No.  3  lias  the  highest  power. 
They  are  fitted  with  sliding  caps,-  and  blackened  to  prevent  any 
glare  to  the  eyes  when  viewing  the  objects.  This  is  an  improved 
form  of  cap,  sloped  to  fit  over  the  eyes  tightly,  and  effectually 
excludes  the  light  or  glare  of  lamp  from  the  eyes  when  objects 
are  being  examined.  This  is  a  slot  for  the  insertion  of  a  micro¬ 
meter  for  measuring  objects.  This  one  is  fitted  with  a  Quekett 
indicator  for  small  objects.  This  is  the  draw  tube  to  lengthen 
the  limb  as  desired,  more  particularly  to  make  an  object  fill  up 
the  whole  of  the  field  of  view.  It  has  a  scale  for  recording  the 
length  of  focus  and  to  calculate  the  magnifying  power;  it  is  also 
used  with  the  erecting  glass  and  two-third  object  glass  for 
extending  or  reducing  the  magnifying  power  without  changing 
the  object  glass,  more  particularly  for  dissection  and  manipu¬ 
lating  purposes. 
You  will  notice  one  limb  of  the  instrument  looks  direct  to 
the  object  on  the  stage,  and  the  other  is  fixed  obliquely  to  it, 
so  that  it  would  seem  impossible  to  see  the  object  on  t hostage 
with  the  left  eye,  but  this  difficulty  is  overcome  by  the  insertion 
of  a  small  Wenham  prism  at  the  lower  end  of  the  body  of  the 
instrument,  and  is  held  in  position  by  a  small  spring;  thus 
the  object  on  the  stage  is  reflected  up  the. left  limb  of  the  body, 
so  that  it  can  thus  be  distinctly  seen  with  both  eyes  at  the  same 
time.  This  is  a  triple  nose-piece,  and  is  an  invaluable  acquisition 
to  the  microcopist,  as  by  its  use  three  objectives  of  various 
powers  can  be  fixed  on  the  instrument  at  once,  and  each  objective 
swivel  round  to  the  field  of  view  in  a  second,  thus  dispensing 
with  the  necessity  of  waiting  to  screw  off  and  on  each  objective 
separately.  Thus  if  the  object  can  be  seen  to  better  advantage 
with  a  low  power,  or  vice  versa,  they  can  be  instantly  applied 
to  the  object. 
These  are  the  objectives  of  various  magnifying  powers,  the 
lowest  being  three  inch,  and  the  highest  one-tenth  of  an  inch. 
The  approximate  range  of  their  powers  is  from  about  thirty  to 
one  thousand  five  hundred  and  over.  Those  I  mostly  use  are 
the  three  inch,  inch  and  a  half,  and  two-thirds.  There  are  many 
specimens  that  look  most  beautiful  under  the  low  powers, 
because  they  are  not  too  much  magnified  to  penetrate  deeply 
into  them,  whereas  if  closer  details  of  the  subject  under 
examination  is  desired  the  higher  powers  can  be  quickly 
swivelled  into  the  field  of  view  to  obtain  them. 
This  is  the  stage  on  which  the  objects  for  examination  are 
placed  or  fixed  by  means  of  the  springs  provided  for  the  purpose. 
The  lower  portion  is  fixed  to  the  main  limb,  and  has  a  circular 
hole  in  the  centre  of  it  to  allow  the  transmitted  light  from  below 
to  pass  to  the  object  on  the  stage,  whether  it  be  from  the  mirror, 
Wenham’s  Parabola,  Amici,  or  Nachet’s  prisms,  or  polarised  light 
from  Nicol’s  prisms.  Into  this  fixed  portion  others  are  made  to 
work  in  grooves  by  means  of  the  milled  heads,  pinions,  and  rack- 
work,  so  that  the  object  can  be  moved  up  or  down,  or  from 
right  to  left,  as  desired;  it  also  revolves,  so  that  the  object  can 
