The Scientific Notebooks of German Orchidologist Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Kränzlin

598 THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. [NOVEMBER 5, 1881.

— SANDERINGHAM.—We hear that two of WEEKS & CO.'s Hyrdo-Caloric Coils have been fixed in the grand saloon at Sandringham for the purpose of improving the warming and ventilation of that apartment, which has not been hiterhto deemed quite satisfactory.

— ANTS IN STOVES.—After trying various means to rid his Orchid-houses of these pests, Mr. BULL finds nothing so satisfactory as sugar and water placed in ordinary ounce physic vials. These are filled two-thirds full with the solution, and placed about the plants. The insects readily enter by the narrow neck, but do not find the exit so easy. It is a singular fact that ordinary sugar has little attraction for them: the sugar used must be the best crystallised kind. From inspection we can testify to the success of the plan.

— MUSHROOMS.—I have just had a communication made to me by an experienced doctor, that several cases have occurred this year of diarrhœa from eating Agaricus campestris, and one of great severity. My remark in this, and other cases of supposed poisoning with undoubtedly good Mushrooms, is simply that the persons who gather them return hungry and fatigued, the Mushrooms are badly cooked and hastily swallowed, so that they are irritating, tough, indigestible masses in the intestines. When properly masticated they are, on the contrary, perfectly wholesome. A schoolmaster who had been employed by BAKER when preparing his history of Northamptonshire, and in his intercourse with his accomplished sister had acquired a considerable knowledge of natural productions, fed his family every year for some time during the autumn months on the fungi with complete security. It is not an example to be followed without a competent knowledge of species. A case of fatal poisoning has lately been reported from Norfolk. M. J. B.

— MARKET GARDEN CROPS.—On the whole market gardeners can scarcely complain of the past spring and summer. There has been a great abundance of greenstuff; and, indeed, so much is now being sent to the market that there is quite a glut of it. The summer-sown seeds for winter and spring crops have done well. Such a plant of hardy white Cos Lettuce has hardly been known for some time, and should the winter be sufficiently kind there will be plenty of Lettuces in May and June. On the somewhat light, and always richly manured ground, of our market gardens, Lettuces generally stand well, and they are always sown sufficiently thick to allow for losses. Up to within the past few days the young plants have grown rapidly, but the recent frosts have now checked their development. The crops of winter Spinach are in every respect most promising. Since the time of sowing the weather has been favourable to a free growth, and acres of vigorous plants can be seen with scarcely a break, so regular is the growth. With the plants have sprung up an abundance of weeds, and hand-weeding has been resorted to to keep them under. In like manner the crops of Lisbon Onion are very good; one piece of 6 acres, sown in drills, is as regular in growth as a field of grass. The hoe has to be in constant requisition, but now is the time for cleaning to be done. On the whole, market garden prospects are promising, but a great deal will depend on the severity or otherwise of the winter.

— DACRYDIUM FITZGERALDI.—Baron VON MUELLER writes:—"Some time ago I obtained through Mr. FITZGERALD fruiting specimens of Dacrydium Fitzgeraldi, which showed the fruiting characters to be those of Pherosphæra, the size and shape of the fruits being all much like those of Pherosphæra Hookeriana|P. Hookeriana]]. Whether Pherosphæra is to be maintained as a genus, or whether it should merge as a section into Dacrydium, depends much on the latitude any one wishes to allow to generic limits in Coniferæ, and I am quite willing also to D. Fitzgeraldi to Pherosphæra."

— "ICONOGRAPHY OF INDIAN AZALEAS."— Under this somewhat awkward title M. AUGUSTE VAN GEERT, of Ghent, has undertaken the publication of a monthly periodical devoted to the illustration and description of the Indian Azalea. The introduction comprises some brief historical details, from which it appears that the Azalea was first introduced into

Holland about 1680, when it was described by BREYNIUS. Three quarto coloured plates are given, with an illustrative text, the English version being undertaken by Mr. THOMAS MOORE, Jun. The varieties figured in this first part are A. alba speciosa plena, which epithet does not apply to three plants, as might be imagined, but to one only; A. Madame Paul de Schryver, and A. antigone. Would that all garden plants of this description had such names as the last, or at any rate something different from the long string of Latin adjetives, which LINNÆUS demolished, but which the horticulturists seek to revive.

— "BRITISH BIRDS."—Another part of Professor NEWTON'S new edition of YARRELL'S History of British Birds has been issued (VAN VOORST). It contains the continuation of the history of the cuckow (sic) and its allies, the hoopoe, the roller, the beeeater, the kingfishers, the woodpeckers. The text combines with the most accurate scientific descriptions matter of a more popular character, relating to the history and literature of the subject. This circumstance alone, apart from the excellent woodcuts, keeps YARRELL'S Birds still a favourite, as it has always been the standard, authority on British birds.

— INSECTS OF MISSOURI.—For ten years Mr. C. V. RILEY annually prepared a report on the insects of Missouri of interest to the cultivator. In this way a vast amount of very valuable information on the habits of insects and their relation to farm and garden crops was got together. It was, however, published in such a form, as a Government report, that it was not readily accessible to the masses. To obviate this inconvenience, or, at any rate, to lessen it, Mr. RILEY has now published a full table of contents of each of the nine reports and copious indices of plants, insects, and illustrations, together with supplementary notes, lists of errata, and descriptions of new species and varieties. There can be no question as to the value of this laborious work, for which those who have access to the volumes will be devoutly thankful, but it is worth Mr. RILEY'S consideration whether a popular volume, containing a condensed account of the several insectes, and the mode of preventing or remedying the ill effects occasioned by them, would not be even more generally useful. At present we have a veritable encyclopædia of information on the phylloxera, the locust, the Colorado beetle, and scores of other insects, but from the conditions of publication it is diffused and scattered ina way that renders it difficult for a professed entomologist to get at all he wants, and almost impracticable for an amateur to do so. In so saying, however, we do not wish to underrate the valuable aid given in the indices now published.

— "THE HEREFORDSHIRE POMONA."—The fourth part of this superb publication is before us, containing eleven coloured plates of great beauty and mostly very faithful representations. Twenty-nine varieties of Apple and thirty-five kinds of Pears are illustrated and described in the present part. The literary matter also includes the completion of the practical treatise on the orchard and its products, i.e, the manufacture of cider and perry, and a note on the orchard in its fianancial aspect and its future by the Reb. C. H. BULMER. The work is to be concluded in seven parts. The woodcut outlines are still coarsely executed and not worthy of the remainder of the volume. Nevertheless, the work must always rank among the foremost of its class, and reflects credit on the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club, under whose auspices it is produced.

— THE SMOKE ABATEMENT EXHITITION.— We are requested to state that Mr. J. CAVEN FOX, who was officially employed in the Exhibitions of 1855, 1862, and 1871, and who is so well known to many of our readers as the agent for the sales made in the Royal Horticultural Society's Gardens, is authorised to act also as agent for the sale of objects exhibited in the forthcoming Smoke Abatement Exhibition, to be held in the Royal Horticultural Society's Arcades and Annexes at South Kensington. Mr. FOX'S office is in the East Arcade, and all communications should be sent to that address.

— NATIONAL ROSE SOCIETY.—We understand that the dates for the National Rose Society's exhibitions n 1882 are—for the metropolitan show, July 4, at the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society;

and for the provincial exhibition, at the Sydney Gardens, Bath, June 28. As these dates are too early for the Northern and Midland growers, it is contemplated to hold a third show about the third week in July at some town in the Midland Counties.

— CRYSTAL PALACE SCHOOL OF GARDENING. —The Rev. G. HENSLOW delivered his fifth lecture on the "The Practical Application of Vegetable Physiology to Methods of Propagation," on Wednesday last. The lecturer treated of vegetable multiplication, and showed, first, how this is the only method in certain plants, as some algæ and fungi, and that while conjugation or a union of different cells give rise to new beings, till the elaborate processes carried on by stamens and pistils was reached, yet the vegetative method was never obliterated, and in higher plants often assumed an importance quite equal to the reproductive process by seeds. After enumerating plant organs, viz., roots, subterranean stem-structures, aërial stems, buds, he showed how Nature could utilise each of them as a means for propagating, and that the cultivator might imitate Nature in doing the same. Though roots are usually distinguised from stems by not bearing leaf-buds, yet in many cases they will do so naturally if exposed to the air, and may even be stimulated to bear them by artificial treatment. As far as subterranean stem-structures furnish propagation means there is little to do beyond separating and replanting; but with layering and cuttings of aërial shoots several physiological conditions must be considered, viz., the concentration of the elaborated or descending sap by notching, &c., the regulation of light, heat, and moisture being most important so as to check too great transpiration on the one hand without reducing the excitement to form roots. The choice of and time for making cuttings was then alluded to, and the importance of knowing what is the usual temperature at which any plant thrives, as a cutting from it must be placed at a higher temperature, in order to stimulate it to produce roots.

— FUCHSIA EDELWEISS.—The new Fuchsia Edelweiss, of which we have received copious examples from Messrs. W. HENDER & SONS, of the Bedford Nursery, Plymouth, is one of the largest and finest double whites we have yet met with. Messrs. HENDER themselves say that "grown beside the best double whites they know, including Grand Duchess, Clarinda, Miss Lucy Finnis, Snowcloud, &c., this beats them all in every point; the purity of the corolla is unapproached, while the habit is, we think, equal to that of any of the dark free-blooming kinds. It often has from four to six flowers at a joint, and is scarcely ever out of bloom." It is certainly a most profuse bloomer, and has a noble presence. The tube and calyx is of a rich carmine-scarlet, the tube short )about 1/2 inch long), the sepals 1 1/4 inch long and 5/8 inch broad. The corolla is dense and moderately spreading, showing clear white on the outer surface, and very slightly streaked with rose at the base of the petals. The buds are very large, almost globose, with a short point, about 1 inch long and 3/4 inch wide. The leaf is ovate, about 2 inches long, and therefore, as will be seen, not at all coarse for so massive a flower. It is a very showy and telling variety.

—MESSRS. VEITCH'S NEPENTHES-HOUSE.—A visit to Messrs. VEITCH'S collection of Nepenthes just now will fascinate the plant lover and stir the pulses even of the most indifferent spectator. The free unconstrained way in which the fling their branches about, the luxuriance with which they hang down their goblets, and their remarkable forms and distinct colours leave an impression of as great beauty as singularity. Let no one suppose that there is a monotony either of form or colour among them. It is very much otherwise. There are the gigantic blood-red tubes of N. sanguinea, the long horn-like tubes of N. distillatoria, the bar-like pitchers of N. Rafflesiana, so richly spotted with dark red on a green ground, and with deep wings. To the same general type belong N. Hookeri, N. Domini, and a host of other hybrids, all different but acknowledging a common starting point. Then there is N. bicalcarata, a most robust habited kind with sturdy foliage and bag-like pitchers provided with a vicious looking rat-trap-like apparatus in its lid which renders it very distinct from its neighbours. N. Veitchii is one of the most distingué of the series, with its yellowish-green soft pitchers