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282
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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
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JOURNAL
OF THE
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
areen e 4
ROYAL CHARTERS A.D. 1809, 1860, 1899
ESTABLISHED A.D. 1804
| ads ol avi Cae |
EDITED BY
GEO. §. SAUNDERS, F.L.S., F.ES.
Pree ie Boel tT BY
F. J. CHITTENDEN, F.L.S5.
VOR. AAAI.
1908
The whole of the Contents of this Volume are Copyright. For permission to reproduce any of the Articles application should be made to the Council of the Society, in whom the Copyright vests.
LONDON Printed for the Royal Horticultural Society
BY
SPOTTISWOODE & CO. LTD., NEW-STREET SQUARE, E.C.
Part I. published March 3, 1908. Part II. published July 8, 1908.
CONTENTS OF VOL. XXXIII.
SEE ni ee ene PAGE Tae True Darwinism. By Rev. Professor G. Henslow, M.A., V.M.H................ a3 | Darren Gourna. By J. A. Barbour James..............0:cceccssccetserncsmecsanscnssneasoees 8
Te Rexation or Mereoroutoey to Horticutture. By R. H. Curtis, F.R.Met.Soc. 12 Tae AMATEUR AND HorticutturaL Law. By H. Morgan Veitch, Sol.R.H.S. ...... 20 PHYLLOTAXIS, OR THE ARRANGEMENTS oF Leaves. By Rev. Professor G. Henslow,
a NN er eG ee ores Coy ones a nadas caus calamacabguenssectecsecsacebaestenn 36 ARCHES, PrnLaRs, AND Percouas. By W. P. Wright, F.R.HLS. ...........seceeeeeeees 49 JAPANESE DwarF TREES: THEIR CuLTIvaTion, &. By A. Maumerneé ............... 53 Miprneron. By W. Smyth, FR.H.G. «2.22... cnc... ccccccees cdcncccecsscecnsensscsseceeceees 71 GESNERACEAE: ANNOTATED List or GENERA AND Species. By Col. R. H. Beddome,
a er ee nes eee n cco vdoe cticekane Made edecensdtocnecerscce weber’ 74 A Bunvie,.or Herps. By Miss H. C. Philbrick, F.R.H.S. ............ccccssscecsencenes 101 ORNAMENTAL Grasses. By W. Smyth, F.R.H.S. ......ccccccscsccccscrenerscsctteecenseees 107 Naturat Setection. By C. T. Druery, V.M.H., F.L.S., and Rev. G. Henslow,
eR EN teen tis cos crawditatiiradhio ten acs eessaetanecredasdduacess 114, 576 OR en ea a eS aoe ciara Ne saelinksinaiiaSesciacescsavedsescoses ete 119, 579 NR aR EPEIT eEyrere oiac cine eens acai dcs an censesaretsodecaseoessuetmoess 184 REPORT ON CANNAS .........00. RMS mt een eae ae hecepinasns aiines's.oeete) ween openssl Sek diteadane enn 212 Sa ERE Se eek, csp caians acs saeaisaveestisoneceataesdeninedaacevont 223 aM NRE Soe (aicinwicy cicia ve esleesvee sci ge vue anedy poneenesneadees ences 232 REPORT ON MELONS.....0...cee0000:- Pe aaa eseae soe cava ania ua Se omaanioss sieteai ce siagysteass 281 REPORT ON STRAWBERRIES ..-.......sscsccccecsccccscoss il Reh ape ethan en Ae ee a eieacre ee 285 ar MIESA Neha 28- do 2 05. csv chu nceceesebasivecececes Be he cree seaste cae Sen anwaga oan sd 288 ees MCI Ot Foe, daa gtakas Jévatncnsaaciessdquandecsee! Jods cenveesce 292 PTT ICBENG SOW OMIONG: 5. .20e< 0a cade.ccscateterbaaes issn se cceersesesderewseasvecaere 296 aE MN EE ees sore 7, CS vein ces va vateaacebc vacuous toes von euacenssseseneens 299 el ea SERUM Behe) hove casas ad de cewuasienw race oe treicnde sb onvaveuanadeereass 306 PeeEETOGN NAWUEMA- AND APPLIANCES......0:0icccsescecos sodnecsscwesonscessseceucsesetoress 311 PPeEOME ON MISOUITANEOUS FLORAL TRIALS ......:.+000.s-0.--ecseosescesrasecscsceocenaees 313 MNES CARNE ibe «Seek g eh as fej ceiaie «oss ¥odel docbcdacarevessisnePansewttasneneess> 316, 534 ea Foie aCe cocasa ge oe udiee scat cee hcsnevaicddaee ae a" Casrenscedee 326 FELLOWS’ PRIVILEGES OF CHEMICAL ANALYSIS ....c...sececcseececncececeesesseceseeseeeons 328 MeNMMRPNERCOM@ ret WIALMY LA GORATORY,...<..0.0.0.c0oasesescdassescevceesseccssecncccaconsees 329 Rare SuRvps in THE Open Arr. By the Hon. Vicary Gibbs .........2:-.seeeseee 347 Harpy Nympwaras. By A. Bedford.............ccccccsecneeeeeeteeeeeeeenenen essa esena eran ees 364 Puants For TERRACE GARDENING. By Jas. Hudson, V.M.H..........s2:sssse8 oceeees 369 Lesser Known Orcuips. By F. W. Moore, V.M.H.............02 sesseeeeete eee eeneenn es 378 Tae Cumvese Fiona. By B. H. Wilson.............0eccccceseececceeceeeeeneeseneseneeeanens 395
Exectric Cunrivation 1x Rezation tro Horticuttore. By B. H. Thwaite, F.C.S. 401
THe OricIn anp DistRIBUTION oF THE British Frora. By the Rey. Professor Henslow, M.A., V.M.H. ........ccccccccsccsscsccccssrennseccecesccsncenceccnsceseesageranacs 417
lV CONTENTS
THe Commoner Brrps oF oUR GARDENS: THEIR Hasirs AND Foop. By C. H.
PAGE
Hooper, MRA, - 5.02.2. «2. aise: ctguscaesiasen gar ienee sani tees bee aaNet Bake wan aes oe SuccunenT Puants. By R. I. Lynch, M.A., A.U.8., V.M.H. ........sceesecssecesessees 401 Garpen Exrerments. By F. J. Baker, A.R.C.Sc. .........ssceveessssesscesectuces saphan ate Summer Prunine. A discussion at the Scientific Committee ................ Soden 487 CoNTRIBUTIONS FROM THE WIsSLEY LABORATORY:
I. AppLE-LEAF Spot. By F. J. Chittenden, F.L.S........ Pe iidaciaits te iteeks .... 500
II. A Disease oF THE CrneERARIA. By F. J. Chittenden, F.L.S. ............. Pre 2 | | ReEporT OF THE SocreTy’s CuHEmist. By Dr. J. A. Voelcker, M.A., F.I.C............. 514 Report or METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS AT WISLEY IN 1907. By R. H. Curtis,
PER Met-S0e. 5. 6c isc0es stesso » aie bas oa eae aes aa ey OEE ay, ES ANOTHER PracH Pest. By Dr. M. C. Cooke, M.A., V.M.H. . ......ccscccscesccevsvsevee D2G REPORT ON, CHERRY. jocce5 F.0d cone ce cos heh eer deck oe as ek ee ae gh es REPORT ON MISCELLANEOUS VEGETABLES ........ce0eseee00: EER ee a TE Report ON BurRNHAM BEECHES.............:: Pe Ee Ee Ae ae) gy CoMMONPLACE NOTES .......... on bain eres ansin bane CERNE ae Oe Ciena aeeaiee Miaec ae bh ieee ane Priririon TO Barcway. COMPANUBS 06025055 Ss ws back neon s oO te RE dee dn ad lees dos a BOokKS ADDED: TO UuitBRABY De. 255 icehossco decatty Gasakbe uel le aaeiebode Giese ee Psekt. eics BG Booxs, Puants, SEEDS, &C. PRESENTED TO LABORATORY AND GARDEN ......... Pe ee 570 EXTRACTS FROM PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY:
GENERAL MEETINGS ...... seveecessseecencencesenevecsnecescesesssesscensesassewely Xli, CXxxiii
Report OF CoUNCIL AND BALANCE SHEET ....... fy guekt ves cen cou Ree's tetris LR aaeeias iii
Teen SHOW “dace isis ices cs deddadadug aedem eee nadia khots busts Yan aneaucumudwua techs tercudy okey
Houuanp House Show ........... chis ate ebees ChAT eye, sane Fhe pe eee use tee ..eCXX1X
Barris’ PRUPE SHOW Wi. se. no op sok rece os eae ences eee SA Or ary ns ee fe Sb coo ARIE
CotoniaL Fruit SHow ......... Weeden one ak Rt Paes egies ate ropa teprnek xx, cliv
ScrENTIFIC COMMITTEE ...........- a yeaah nonas sakes Feet raters Gites tock asageeenaly ake
FLORAL COMMITTEE .........00. Wt Eis ep p og §E hae Pe ee ree
FRUIT AND VEGETABLE COMMITTEE ......... win Samm RDOAb Ua ek beh ch Glare de peek aaeet Supe ane Bee
Nancrssus-ann Poir Costnrrrie., isc censl ios tpl cavcgeensy cde cenee natn scart ie eeeeee lxix
ORCHID COMMITTEE ......0.0sccsesseveeee Sica Ne heal ea eaS ret eee re
GENERAL EXAMINATION IN HORTICULTURE........... an oe Ps er Srathoncdcetehireotns x¢evlii
TEACHERS’ EXAMINATION IN HORTICULTURE..... A lst UR ety SLT Bhan Fy eee Rees cii
EXAMINATIONS IN 1908) .......ceaceees Howey, Oe EA rgb eet praed AY Ppa pnt a cvi
Novices -T0' FELLOWS sivcactoy sndscsan osawnasbaxh deusdesceres Jue yihabs setun) anata et INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS........ th awansogoeteae mp bahay Rep ep pp hake ht on tg pape he RE NA RS GENERAL INDEX ..... Sa fen, & a ificbvteguienatacetre Mest Uh an ek oe weee CCXlIix
DIRECTIONS TO BINDER.
Vol. XXXIII. has been issued in two numbers, each contaming the “ Journal” proper, paged with Arabic figures, and “ Extracts from the Proceedings,” paged with Roman figures. Tris title and contents sheet should be placed first, and be followed by pages 1 to 828 and then by pages 329 to 628. After that should come the “ Hetracts from the Proceedings,” pages i to exxviii and exxix to cexlvi, concluding
with the two Indexes.
= ee igas se Eanes Bee eh BS 2) ef. fol XXXII Part I.
JOURNAL
OF THE
| lng Horticultural Society
| Ht EDITED BY ii Ss G. S. SAUNDERS, F-.L.S., F.E.S. —— : Hl ~The whole of the contents of this volume are copyright. For permission to | = reproduce any of the articles application should be made to the Coumeit. ‘le CONTENTS. | PAGE The True Darwinism. By the Rev. Prof. G. Henslow, M.A., V.M.H..... 1 British Guiana. By J. A Barbour James -... : es 8 | The Relation of Meteorology to Horticulture. Bg R. HL Curtis, fe ce P RIMOL. SOG. =>. is a Sei ve Si bee ee ano ae = ia Amateur and Horticultural Law. By ae Morgan Veitch, Sol. F.R-H.S. . <s Ae a eis = ae a _ Phyllotaxis, or the Acwandeiitits oF Leaves. By the Rev. Prof. y G. Henslow, M.A., V.M.H: Be ieee PTC eer Ei ON ee eR Arches, Pillars, and Pergolas. By W. P. Wright, F.R:H.S. ae .. 49 | Japanese Dwarf Trees: their Cultivation &c. By A. Maumerné ..._ 58 Mistletoe. By W. Smyth, F-.R.H.S. isa am a By oawy zt | _ Gesneraceae : Annotated List of Genera ane Spasles. By Col. R. H.
emuiie io 6 eS MA A Bundle of Herbs. By Miss H. C. Philbrick,F.R.HS. .. ... .:. 101 - Ornamental Grasses. By W. Smyth, F.R.H.S. ee ss cae te LO? | Natural Selection. By C. T. Druery, V.M.H., F.L.S. oes te 114 ~ Abstracts . os oes eee ene ose ose oes ee oC : Reports of Trials at Wisley = ts aay ae iss = .. 184 | RNG rt BOOKS ooo ne a SSS BIB __ Juniperus Sabina Be Pe sa ves wi Zed se as ... 326 _ Meetings :—General, p. i; Scientific Committee, p. xxiv; Floral Com- _ mittee, p. xllii; Fruit and Vegetable Committee, p. Ixiii; Narcissus ; and Tulip Committee, p. Ixix; Orchid Committee, p. Ixxiv. | _ Examinations 6 = Se ee = aR we < os xevili | | RR COE COWS eo press pase CS aug eee Ge ge FS ea ase eee. LOX | |
- Advertisements. Index to Advertisements, Advt. pages, 34 and 36.
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JOURNAL
OF THE
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Vout. XXXIIT. 1907.
THE TRUE DARWINISM. By Rey. Professor G. Henstow, M.A., V.M.H.
[Lecture given on March 5, 1907.)
Up to the middle of the last century we all thought that each species of animal and plant was created by a direct fiat, somewhat as Milton so graphically described in his “ Paradise Lost.’’ Darwin, however, revived the doctrine of Evolution, about which philosophers had speculated in times past; but he put it forward in a more attractive form, so that it was soon accepted, not only by biologists, but by all the world as well.
Darwin, however, went further, and propounded a theory of the method of Evolution. ‘This is called ‘ Darwinism,’ and is defined by the title of his book, “ The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection ’’ (1859).
Darwin based this theory upon the following, partly true and partly hypothetical statements :
1. Variability, or the capacity of varying, which, under changed conditions of life, produces new structures.
2. The production of seeds is enormous; but only the usual average of adults occurs in nature ; the majority die.
3. All plants show “ Individual Differences’; and when a number of seedlings of the same species grow up under new conditions of life or environment, Darwin asswmed that of their individual differences some would or might, by chance, be “ favourable,”’ z.c. structures adapted to the new surroundings; while others, the majority, would be “ injurious,”’ i.e. madapted, and consequently fatal variations ; as Weismann observes of even slight variations, they may be a matter of life or death to the indi- vidual—a pure assumption, based on no evidence.
This mixture of good and bad seedlings Darwin called the “ Indefinite Results of the Direct Action of the New Conditions of Life.”
4, Presuming the preceding to be true, Darwin now introduced “ Natural Selection ’’; by which he meant that, in the struggle for life, the individuals with favourable, 7.c. adaptive variations, would survive ;
B
2 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
while all those with “ injurious”’ or inadaptive structures would perish. This he termed the “ Survival of the Fittest.”
5. Lastly, the survivors must leave offspring with the new structural characters ; for unless they be hereditary, the new variety or species could not be certain of a continued existence. Then through several generations, the slight and favourable variations begun in the first generation would accumulate till they would be recognised as constituting a “ variety” ; and a variety Darwin regarded as an “ incipient species.”’
Turning now to the “ Origin of Species, &c.,’”’ we find his theory based on the preceding facts and suppositions thus expressed :—“ Can it be thought improbable . . . that variations useful in some way to each being in the great and complex battle of life should occur in the course of many successive generations? If such do occur, can we doubt ... that the individuals having any advantage, however slight, over others, would have the best chance of surviving and of procreating their kind? On the other hand, we may feel sure that any variation in the least degree injurious would be rigidly destroyed? This preservation of favourable individual differences and variations and the destruction of those which are injurious I have called Natural Selection, or the Survival of the Fittest.”’* This passage may be called the Foundation of Darwinism. In order to make the theory clear to his readers, he gives the following illustration: “If an architect were to rear a noble and commodious edifice without the use of cut stone, by selecting from the fragments at the base of a precipice wedge-formed stones for his arches, elongated stones for his lintels, and flat stones for his roof, we should admire his skill and regard him as a paramount power.
“Now the fragments of stone, though indispekeele to the architect, bear to the edifice built by him the same relation [as a matter of fact there is no relationship at all] which the fluctuating variations of each organic being bear to the varied and admirable structures ultimately acquired by its modified descendants.” T
With regard to the yates Darwin says: “ their shape may be strictly said to be accidental’’; moreover, he overlooked two important facts. First, it is quite impossible to build a “noble and commodious edifice ’’ out of unhewn and unprepared stones, and without any unprepared mortar. Secondly, What takes the place of the architect’s and bwilder’s skill in the construction of a living organism? Prof. A. H. Church invented the word “ Directivity”’ to account for the fact that nature can make many products in plants which he, as a chemist, can construct in the laboratory, and so suggested this word as representing that property of life which takes his place within the plant. Or, the question may be put in Darwin’s words: “If the architect would be a ‘ paramount power’ in constructing the house, What is the paramount power in the Evolution of animals and plants ? ”’
In the above illustration Darwin is considering the result of “ favour- able’’ variations represented by adaptable stones. To complete the parallel, suppose the builder is careless and takes up stones at random, using inadaptive as well as adaptive ones, what would happen? He tries
* Origin of Species, dc., 6th ed., p. 62. + An. and Pl. under Dom. ii. p. 430.
THE TRUE DARWINISM. 3
to build his arches, &c., with them ; but the insecurity of the walls would be an obvious result, and unstable equilibrium would be the consequence. So that, as soon as the weight of the first floor was sufficient, the whole would come down with a crash like a house built of cards, and it would perish in its “development.” The unsuitable stones here stand for Darwin’s “injurious”’ individual variations, which thus involve the death of the plant itself. If that be so, why need there be any struggle for existence and natural selection at all? The struggle may hasten the death, but it would happen in any circumstances. Natural selection really and only means that “some live, but more die.”
Darwinism, in point of fact, stands upon, or falls with, the one word “injurious ’’ being true or otherwise. Thus Weismann maintains : “The minutest change in the least important organ may be enough to render the species incapable of existence.”’ *
We have seen that variations of structure are produced through the “ direct action of changed conditions of life’’; and, according to the theory, the result is a mixture of many individuals with injurious, and a fewer number with (perchance) favourable, or adaptive variations. This Darwin called “Indefinite Results.’”’ But he also observed that “Definite Results’ sometimes occurred ; by this he meant that all the individuals of a batch of seedlings might vary alike in the same favourable or adaptive manner, there being mo injurious or inadaptive variations at all. Hence, there would be no mixture for natural selection to deal with, and all would survive, provided each individual could secure enough nourishment and light; but, as a matter of fact, the younger individuals would be overshadowed by the older, &c.; so that the many might perish in the struggle,-though they would have thriven if there had been no struggle at all. Such is what I have elsewhere described as the true meaning and application of Natural Selection.t
It may be observed that those who accept Darwinism always speak of adaptive characters, but regard them as due to natural selection. Thus, Dr. D. H. Scott writes: “The word adaptive is used here simply for characters newly developed under the influence of Natural Selection, as distinguished from those which were so developed earlier in the history of the race, and have been transmitted for many generations by inheritance. Personally, I regard all characters alike as adaptive at their origin.’ + The last sentence is undoubtedly correct, and is the true explanation of all specific and generic characters ; but to attribute the “development ”’ of “adaptive characters ”’ to the “influence ”’ of natural selection is a mis- interpretation of. facts.
Darwin cautions his readers against supposing natural selection to have any influence, agency, or powers of any kind. He says: “It implies only the preservation of such variations as arise and are beneficial to the being under its conditions of life.’$ “It may metaphorically be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinising, throughout the world, the slightest variations ; rejecting those that are bad, preserving and adding
up all that are good.’’|| Since, however, there never are any “ injurious ”’ * Hssays, p. 265. ft Journ. R. Hort. Soc. vol. xxxi. t Studies in Fossil Botany, p. 524, note. § Origin, éc., 6th ed., p. 63. | Ibid. p. 65.
t JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY,
variations, as he calls them, natural selection—in Darwin's application of the term—has no place in nature.
When Darwin wrote his book (1859) he was, to a limited extent, acquainted with this fact; but he thought it was very exceptional, and certainly not the rule. He gives us a hint, even so early as in the Intro- duction to the first edition of the “ Origin, &c.”” Hethus wrote: “ Natural selection is the main, but not the exclusive, means of modification.”” This is explained on the eleventh page, wherein he adds: “ Some slight amount of change may, I think, be attributed to the direct action of the conditions of life;”’ i.e. by the plant respunding by making adaptive structures.
When we turn to his “Animals and Plants under Domestication ”’ (1868), we find that he is much more positive about it. His words are: “ The direct action of changed conditions of life leads to definite or ‘assumed] indefinite results. By the term ‘ Definite Action,’ I mean an action of such a nature that when many individuals of the same variety are exposed during several generations to any change in their physical conditions of life, all, or nearly all, the individuals are modified in the same manner. A new sub-variety would then be produced without the aid of selection.’ *
The reader will now perceive that ‘ Indefinite” and “ Definite” results must be mutually exclusive. A batch of seedlings cannot all vary alike (i.e. definitely) and at the same time have the majority with injurious variations (7.e. indefinitely). In 1859, however, Darwin seemed to have thought that natural selection was somehow aided by “ definite action ”’ of the environment ; but he evidently came’to the conclusion that such a combination was quite inadmissible in 1868.
In another passage in his “ Animals and Plants under Domestication ”’ he speaks yet more strongly, for he observes: “ The direct and definite action of changed conditions, in contradistinction to the accumulation of indefinite variations, seems to me to be so important that I will give a large additional body of miscellaneous facts’’; and he adds about thirty more to the one only which previously he had regarded as “ the most remark- able case known to me, namely, that in Germany several varieties of maize brought from the hotter parts of America were transformed in the course of only two or three generations.” T
By the year 1876 we find that Darwin had become even more thoroughly convinced of the importance of ‘“ Definite Action,’ by which he means, “Direct action of new or changed conditions of life producing definite results, or adaptive variations ’—for he wrote to Professor Moritz Wagner as follows: {—“ The greatest mistake I made was, I now think, I did not attach sufficient weight to the direct influence of food, climate, &c., quite independently of natural selection. When I wrote my book, and for some years later, I could not find a good proof of the direct action of the environ- ment on the species. Such proofs are now plentiful.”’
After this, one is not surprised to read in the sixth edition of the “Origin of Species,’’ published two years afterwards (1878): “There can be little doubt that the tendency to vary in the same manner has often
* Animals and Plants under Domestication, vol. ii. p. 271; see also Origin, éc., pp. 6, 72, 80, &e. (6th ed.). t An. and Pl. under Dom. ii. pp. 277-281. t Life, vol. iii. p. 159.
THE TRUE DARWINISM. 5
been so strong that all the individuals of the same species have been similarly modified without the aid of any form of selection.’’ *
By ‘‘ tendency to vary,’’ he evidently means “ Response to the direct action of the new conditions of life.”
To judge from the past, had Darwin lived until to-day, he would have become assured that “Definite Results” are not only “ plentiful’’ but universal; and that ‘‘ Indefinite Results’’—among which the majority are “Injurious ’’ variations—do not occur at all under any new conditions of life in nature ; so that ‘“‘ New sub-varieties,’ and we may add varieties, species, and genera, are, in fact, always produced “without the aid of natural selection.”’
The reader will perceive thai, unlike “ Darwinism,’’ Darwin himself conclusively shows that this alternative interpretation of the Origin of Species is no theory at all, but represents the true Natural Law of Evolution.
Half a century has well-nigh passed away, and thirty years since Darwin wrote that letter to Wagner have elapsed: how do we stand now? Not a single wild species, whether of animals or plants, has ever been scien- tifically proved, either by induction or experiment, to have had its origin by “means of natural selection.’”’ Dr. Wallace said: “It is, of course, admitted that direct proof of the action of natural selection is wanting.”’ If a theory cannot be substantiated in fifty years, why is it retained ? Hspecially since Darwin’s alternative solution of the Method of Evolution, or the production of “ definite ’’ varieties, by means of the response of the organism itself, to the new influences of changed conditions of life, has been long since proved to be the invariable law of nature.
Let us now see what are the opinions of many eminent botanists at the present day, who study plants as they grow and change in nature. They are now called “ Ecologists ’’ for that reason.t
There are three things which every Ecologist at once perceives. The first is the struggle for existence. This prevails everywhere, and accounts largely for the Distribution of species, by the survival of the better adapted im the circumstances. Secondly, there are obvious adaptations in the structures of plants to their environments, whether the locality be dry or moist, cold or hot, &¢. Thirdly, whenever one and the same species finds its way into a different set of external conditions, it at once, as it grows, puts on more or less the same adaptive characteristic structures, both morphological and histological, of the natives of the place. This is brought about by means of the inherent responsive power residing in the living protoplasm and nuclei of the plant.
I will now quote a few observations by eminent Ecologists on “ Adaptation.”’
Mr. J. A. Thompson, writing on “Synthetic Summary of the Influence of the Environment upon the Organism,” says: “ No attempt to explain the adaptation of the organism to its environment can be com- plete without recognition that external influences, in the widest sense and in various degrees of directness, have, and have had, an important trans- forming and adaptive action.’ This is exactly what Darwin meant
* Origin, &c., p. 72; see also p. 421. + Te. ‘* The study ”’ of plants ‘“‘ at home.”’
6 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
by “the Direct Action of the conditions of Life producing Definite Results.”’ * |
Professor Warming, of Copenhagen, in describing adaptations among “xerophytic ” plants, i.e. of dry countries, as Mexico, &¢., says: “I answer briefly to the question which arises—namely, whether these adaptations to the medium should be regarded as a result of natural selection, or whether they owe their origin to the action, in modifying forms, exercised directly by the conditions of the medium. JI adopt this latter view... the characters of adaptation thus directly acquired have become fixed.” +
M. Costantin, speaking of Arctic plants, says: ‘‘ We are led to think, so to say, invincibly, that one can only explain the general characters of Arctic plants by adaptation—e.g., if all Arctic plants are perennials, it is because they live near the Pole. It is the conditions of life which have created this hereditary character.” t
As another illustration, Professor Warming, of Copenhagen, and Fritz Miller, in Brazil, have both recorded the fact that certain species which are non-climbing herbs when living in the open, become climbers when growing in the semi-darkness of adjacent forests.
Lastly, aquatic plants will often grow better and stronger in air than when submerged ; but the whole anatomical structure is at once altered
- to suit aérial conditions.
The preceding are just a few cases; but the reader must understand that the Power of Responding to New Conditions of Life, and of forming Structures in direct adaptation to them, is a Universal Natural Law.
The reader will now realise why I call this Responsive power with Adaptation the “ True Darwinism,’’ for Darwin suggested it. Of course, it is more or less of the nature of a revival of Lamarck’s theory, but it has the advantage of excluding his errors, and is based on an infinite amount of facts, as far as plants are concerned.
It is not my province to carry itinto the animal kingdom ; though, as far as inductive evidence goes, it is precisely the same, e.g. it is infinitely more probable that all animals with paddle-like limbs, in adaptation to water, acquired them by response with modification in adapting themselves to it, than that the same mechanical structures should have arisen acci- dentally, according to Darwinism, and never out of water. For such structures are found in the invertebrata in insects, also in fishes, amphibia, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Experimental evidence may not be so easy to procure with animals as with plants, but Nature is not likely to adopt two different methods of Kvolution. Semper,$ Pascoe,|| and Himer,#] however, have attacked the problem from the zoological side, and the reader is referred to their works.**
Royal Phys. Soc. Edin. (1888). Lagoa Santa, p. 465 (1892). Les Végétaux et les Miliewx cosmiques, p. 85 (1898). . The Natural Conditions of Existence, as they Affect Animal Life (Nat. Se. Ser., VOl. XXX1.).
| The Darwinian Theory of the Origin of Species.
“ Organic Evolution. (Translated by Cunningham:}
** Since the above was written, Mr. B, B. Woodward has shown that the lungs of molluses are the direct result of adaptation (Presidential Address to the Malacological Society, 1907).
* t + $ 3
THE TRUE DARWINISM. 7
An objector observed that “ Weismann had proved” that any effects on the soma, 7.e. the vegetative system in plants, by external agencies could not be hereditary. Not to press the fact that it is impossible “ to prove a negative,’ plants entirely disprove Weismann’s assertion, which was only a Supposition to support his theory of germ-plasm. Thus our garden varieties of root-crops are hereditary ; but they arose by modifications on the soma long before any reproductive organs existed, as they are biennials. According to Weismann, only those effects of the direct action of the external conditions of life can be hereditary which can reach the repro- ductive organs. Yet round and long-rooted forms of turnips and rape, of the carrot, and of the radish, arose from sowing the seed in stiff and loose soils respectively, and are due to varying degrees of mechanical obstruc- tion ; yet they are now hereditary, and “true ” by seed.
What, then, is the conclusion of the whole matter? It is that Darwinism, or “ The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection,” must be replaced by “ The Origin of Species by means of Response with Adaptation to the Direct Action of New Conditions of Life.’’ This is the real basis of Evolution.
8 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
BRITISH GUIANA. By J. A. BArsBour JAMEs.
‘Lecture given on March 19, 1907.]
I po not think it necessary for me to refer to the geographical position which British Guiana occupies in South America, considering that it has been under British rule for over a hundred years (it celebrated the centenary of its occupation in 1903), but I am afraid that the British public, as a rule, has but a very vague idea of the constituent parts of the Empire, and that British Guiana is frequently confused with Guinea, in Africa, and British New Guinea. This, no doubt, is to be accounted for, to a great extent, by the similarity of the names. The area of British Guiana is 90,277 square miles, or nearly twice the size of England and Wales.
Tt is a part of the mainland portion of South America, and is divided into three counties, viz. Demerara, Berbice, and Essequibo, each called after the river of the same name. It extends from Venezuela to the river Corentyn, which divides it from Dutch Guiana (or Surinam).
Very little was known of the country until the search for the golden city of Manoa and the wonderful Eldorado allured many adventurous spirits to explore its great forests.
From reports gleaned out of Spanish letters found in captured vessels, Sir Walter Raleigh was induced by the accounts of this fabulous city to undertake the disastrous expedition which cost him his life.
The climate of British Guiana now compares most favourably with that of most tropical countries, and though a little hot at a certain season it is far from being unhealthy, as is generally supposed by persons who have not visited its shores.
There are instances of longevity among settlers on the banks of the rivers Demerara, Berbice, and Essequibo which can be readily quoted, the natural drainage being so perfect that all impurities of the air are washed away by the torrents of rain which fall, and the purity of the air is so great that the planets Venus and Jupiter may at times be seen during the daylight. x
The year is divided into two wet and two dry seasons. The long wet season commences about the middle of April, and with westerly winds prevailing lasts until August. The long dry season then begins, and continues until November. December and January constitute the short wet and February and March the short dry seasons.
The temperature seldom falls below 75° Fahr. or rises above 90°. The mean annual temperature of Georgetown, the capital, is 80°, and the average rainfall is about 85 inches.
The diversity of altitudes in British Guiana accounts for variety of indigenous productions, while many vegetables and floral exotics have been from time to time introduced and have readily adapted themselves
BRITISH GUIANA. 9
to the climate and soil. The growth of vegetation is perpetual, and the never-failing verdure is of surprising brilliancy. The grandeur of Nature’s gigantic efforts displayed in the vast size, varied forms, and extraordinary rapidity of growth of the -vegetable kingdom has often filled the stranger, accustomed, perhaps, only to the less luxuriant aspect of colder climes, with astonishment and delight.
For example, the promenade as well as the Botanic Gardens, the former situate in the centre of the city and the latter at the back, are lovely spots, and greatly impress the stranger at first sight. Their charming and varied scenery and vast amount of rich, shady foliage render them delightful places of resort.
The Botanic Gardens occupy a strip of land in the form of a parallelo- gram of about 160 acres in extent, nearly five times as long as it is wide. A portion of it is a flower garden, occupying the part nearest the town, and has an area of between thirty and forty acres on the left of the ample carriage drive which passes through the centre, and parallel with it is a series of lakes linked together by narrow underground con- nections by which they are supplied with water from a common source (a large reservoir called the Lamaha Canal).
There are several nurseries of considerable proportions, containing hundreds of thousands of young plants of all descriptions. These are sold, or in many cases given away free of charge for cultivation.
As an example to the general public most Government buildings are rendered very picturesque by being surrounded with flower gardens, the Alms House, Orphan Asylum, Onderneeming Reformatory, Town Hall, Government House, Victoria Law Courts, &c. being particularly well kept. The following are some of the flowering and foliage plants cultivated :—
Asparagus ferns. Ginger lily. Bay trees. Hollyhocks. Begonias. Honeysuckles. Camellias. Hyacinths. Cannas. } Lilies of the valley. Carnations. Nasturtiums. Chrysanthemums. Oxalis.
Coleus. Palms.
Crotons. Pansies. Dahhias. Primroses. Daisies. _ Rhododendrons. Kucharis lily. Roses. EKvergreens. Selaginellas. Ferns. Stephanotis. Foxgloves. Sunflowers. Fuchsias. Sweet peas. Geraniums.
There had been held for some considerable time previously at stated periods, varying from three to five years, Agricultural Exhibitions in the colony, which were more or less restricted, or rather were taken advantage of by only a limited class. About fifteen years ago, however, horticulture
10 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
began to come into fashion, and as it was found that it encouraged a better taste in the community, the Band of Hope held a Horticultural Show with results which far exceeded all anticipations, and at present — every well-to-do inhabitant either cultivates his flower garden or, if he should not have the facilities which a plot of land would afford, his window boxes. No lady in the colony to-day thinks her home complete without flowering or foliage plants forming part of its decoration. This applies chiefly to the city, but a more substantial development resulted in some of the rural districts, where there are in existence Horticultural and Agricultural Associations, which arrange Shows periodically, under the direction of the Department of Science and Agriculture, over which Professor J. B. Harrison, C.M.G., presides. Professor Harrison has taken the same interest in these matters as the late Mr. G. S. Jarman did, to whom the colony is much indebted for the splendid public gardens of which it now boasts.
The Government of the colony has warmly responded to the wish of the people, and, since the creation of the Imperial Department of Agri- culture at Barbados by Sir Daniel Morris, Commissioner of Agriculture for the West Indies, has evolved a scheme by which the schoolmasters have been taught the science of agriculture. With a view to imparting the same to the scholars, School gardens have in several places been established. Some of the scholars are thereby brought practically in touch with the subject. Field lecturers visit these schools, and their services are also available to all farmers in the neighbourhood.
I need not apologise for referring to the subject of Agriculture, con- sidering that the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society wish to become the means of exhibiting colonial agricultural and other economic products.
The following are some of the vegetables cultivated in the colony: the plantain, yam, squash, cassava (sweet and bitter), tannia, eddoe, pumpkin, cucumber, breadfruit, egg cup, tomatos, cabbage, corn, beans (various), shallot, onions, pea, ochroe, sweet potatos, pepper, carrot, parsnip, cress, turnip, radish, lettuce, celery, spinach, thyme, mint, &c.
Fruits: the cocoanut, gooseberry, mamee apple, mango, sapodilla, sugar apples, custard apples, grapes, water melons, oranges (sweet and Seville), musk melon, lemon, citron, pear, shaddock, granadilla, pine- apple, water lemon, guava, pawpaw, sour sop, banana, figs (various), plum, cherry, nut, pomegranate, &e.
Coffee, cocoa, rice, corn meal, cassava bread, cassava meal, arrowroot starch, cassava starch, honey, ginger, tobacco, pickles, sauces, guava jelly, chutney—in very many cases these products are only cultivated for home use, but should the growers be able to secure a remunerative market for their produce Iam certain they will take every opportunity of availing them- selves of it. Perhaps it may be interesting to recount one or two instances in connection with the agricultural development of the colony, which make me anticipate a large foreign trade.
It was while opening one of. the exhibitions of the Victoria Belfield Agricultural Society that I,as President, had the pleasure of accepting the offer of three prizes spontaneously made by Sir Cavendish Boyle for the best essay on agriculture, which might be of help to the Government in popularising that enterprise in the colony. These were forthcoming, and
BRITISH GUIANA. 11
I believe assisted the Government considerably in carrying out subsequent schemes. A most gratifying feature in the agricultural life of the colony, so far as it affects district organisation, is the periodical meeting of a conference, when views regarding the agricultural outlook are discussed.
The following are the Societies (District) in the colony: Victoria Belfield, Buxton Farmers’, Bagotville, and Wakenaam.
The statistics given below may be of interest:
The population of the colony in 1904, according to the census, was 301,923, of whom 10,000 were aboriginal Indians, viz. Accuvoi, Carib, and Waren. The population of Georgetown in 1905 was estimated at 48,802.
The birth rate of the colony in 1905 was 33°6 per 1,000 and the death rate 27°4 per 1,000. The colony can boast of 535 miles of tele- graph wires and 814 miles of telephone wires, with an exchange capable of accommodating 500 subscribers (450 of whom are connected), 72 post offices, 24 submarine cables connect various parts of the colony.
The exports in the six years 1900 to 1906 were :
Sugar, valued at. : : . #£1,208,155 Rum ses. : ; 126,739 Gold, 95,048 oz. 352,021 Diamonds, 4,202 carats . 5,045 Timber . : : : Sede : 24,939 Balata . Z : . 5 : ; 40,3812 Other items . ; : . 1,831,479 9
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THE RELATION OF METEOROLOGY TO HORTICULTURE. By R. H. Curtis, F.R.Met.Soc. (Lecture given on April 16, 1907.)
RAINFALL,
In a previous lecture on the relation of Meteorology to Horticulture which I gave last year (JourN. R. Hort. Soc. vol. xxxii. p. 104) I dealt chiefly with the subject of temperature, but in explaining the use of the wet-bulb thermometer I then referred at some length to the fact that water is a large and most important constituent of the atmosphere, in which it is always present in the form of an invisible gas or vapour, although the quantity varies greatly in different parts of the world, and changes also in the same region almost from hour to hour with variations of the temperature of the air and of other conditions.
I showed that in certain circumstances, which almost invariably involve the cooling of the air, this vapour may be condensed, and that it then becomes visible as a cloud or fog consisting of numberless particles of water each of extreme minuteness—so minute indeed as to be quite invisible individually.
To understand the formation of these minute particles of water we must regard the invisible steam from which they are derived as being itself composed of still more minute atoms, each of which is separate and distinct from its neighbours. When the air becomes sufficiently cooled to produce condensation these molecules of steam coalesce with those immediately adjoining, forming themselves into groups, or minute drops of water, which occupy in their new form very much the same position as they had previously filled as atoms of gas. There is, however, another constituent of the atmosphere which plays a very important part in the formation of these water particles—namely, the excessively minute atoms of dust which are everywhere present to a greater or less degree, and which exert a very material influence upon other phenomena besides the formation of rain-drops. These dust particles form nuclei upon which the vapour molecules condense, each atom of dust forming the foundation of a separate mass of water, so that, speaking generally, we may say that, other conditions being favourable, the greater the dustiness of the air the more numerous will be the particles of water formed, and the greater will be the density of the resulting fog or cloud.
A good deal of thought has been expended in trying to explain how it is that these particles of water, forming large clouds, fléat in the air instead of at once falling to the ground, because water, being heavier than air, is as little able to float in the atmosphere as iron is able to float in water. An explanation which used to be very generally accepted was that the drops were hollow, like a soap bubble, and therefore floated because of their relatively large displacement. But if the centre of the drop be a
THE RELATION OF METEOROLOGY TO HORTICULTURE. 13
solid particle of dust it is clear that that explanation cannot be a correct one; and indeed it is not strictly correct to speak of the drops of water as floating in the air, because in reality they are always gravitating slowly towards the earth, and therefore the explanation we require is one which will account for the slowness of their fall rather than one to account for their not falling at all.
The rate at which the water particles descend is not uniform for all the particles alike, but is proportional to their size; and in this fact we find the explanation of the further fact that in their descent the particles erow and form the relatively large rain-drops with which we are all familiar. The weight of the particles is proportional to the cube of their diameters, and therefore by doubling the diameter of a drop its weight will become increased eightfold. The rate of descent of the smallest drops is very small because their diameters and weight are very small, and if the drops were all of uniform size they should all descend at the same rate and without increase of size. But their size is not uniform, and therefore the larger and heavier drops will fall more quickly than the others, and overtaking those smaller ones which are in their path will collide with them and combine to form larger drops. These enlarged particles of water will then fall at a still faster rate, and by overtaking yet other particles the process of augmentation will be again and again repeated, and at an ever increasing rate.
The ultimate size of the rain-drop is, however, governed by another set of phenomena. The ageregation of water particles is held together by their cohesive force, the surface of the drop forming a kind of skin, which is capable of resisting a certain amount of strain before it will break. But when a drop has attained the size and weight at which this limit is reached it will break up into smaller drops, and this explains why, although a rain cloud may be of enormous thickness and density, the rain-drops which fall from it never exceed a certain size—probably not more than one-twentieth, or perhaps in extreme cases one-sixteenth, of an inch in diameter.
In my previous lecture I explained that there is a definite maximum amount of vapour which a given volume of air, at a given temperature, can contain in the gaseous state. When that amount has been reached, any further vapour which may be added will be deposited as water, unless at the same time the temperature of the air be raised, when its capacity for holding vapour will be at once increased. On the other hand, if without changing the amount of vapour the témperature of the air were to be lowered, the cooled air would no longer be able to retain all the vapour present, and therefore some of it would become condensed into water.
Cooling of the air is, therefore, the primary cause of condensation and of the formation of fog or cloud, and we may, therefore, consider briefly - how such cooling may be brought about-in nature.
There are more ways than one in which it may be effected. Air may be sufficiently cooled to produce condensation by coming into contact with colder ground which has been chilled by radiation on a clear, quiet night, and the ground mists and fogs, which commonly occur after a warm day, particularly in autumn, are generally caused in that way.
14 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
But so far as the formation of rain clouds is concerned we need only consider the dynamical cooling of the air caused by its expansion, because it is in that way that nearly all such clouds are formed.
Air, like all gases, expands when it is relieved of pressure, and in doing so it becomes cooled in accordance with definite and well understood laws; and a body of air which from any cause is made to ascend to a higher level in the atmosphere must necessarily become cooled in this way, because of its expansion as it passes into air whose density is less than its own.
Now let us imagine a body of warm moist air blowing across the surface of the earth and meeting in its path a range of high hills. The horizontal movement of the air in front becomes checked by the mountains, but being pressed on by the moving mass behind it is forced up the mountain slopes to flow over their summits. At that higher level the pressure may be two or three pounds per square foot less than it was at the level of the sea, and owing to its being subject to this reduction in pressure the air would expand considerably, the expansion would be accompanied by a large fall of temperature to below the dew point, and a dense cloud would necessarily be formed.
Those who live in the neighbourhood of high hills are perfectly familiar with the result of this dynamical cooling, although possibly they do not always attribute it to its real cause, but they see it in the covering of cloud with which the flanks and summits of the hills are frequently hid.
But away from mountains the process of cloud-making may often be watched on a warm summer day when the ground has become heated by the sun. The warm ground radiates its heat into the layers of air immediately above it, and the air thus warmed rises in a stream to higher levels, causing the process of expansion, and consequent cooling, to take place in the same way as when the-air is forced up the slope of a mountain. When the temperature of the air has fallen to that of the dew point, or, in other words, to the temperature at which it can no longer carry all the vapour it then contains, condensation will begin, and will be shown by the formation of a tiny cloudlet, which will continue to grow in size as fresh supplies of air arrive from below, and will presently form one of those large cumulus clouds which, when lighted by the sun’s rays, are often objects of surpassing grandeur and beauty as they slowly sail across the sky. Very often the bases of these clouds appear as if they had all been cut off at a given level, which marks, indeed, the point at which the condensation took place and the formation of the cloud began.
As the evening comes on the reverse of this process may sometimes be seen. With the declining sun the earth’s surface begins to cool, and consequently the supply of warm ascending air is first of all checked, and then entirely ceases. ‘The clouds then sink slowly to a lower level, where the air is warmer, and there they again dissolve into vapour and gradually disappear, till soon the sky again becomes cloudless.
Very often, however, instead of dispersing in this way condensation proceeds, and the eloud particles increase in number and size till they fall to the earth as rain.
THE RELATION OF METEOROLOGY TO HORTICULTURE, 15
Meteorology is less concerned with the part which water plays in the phenomena of plant and animal life than with questions concerning its ‘supply and the amount of rain which may be expected to fall, under average conditions, in a particular district or country: the question of the adequacy of the supply to the requirements of any particular species or phase of plant life belongs to the domain of the horticultural physicist.
To obtain the required data for answering questions respecting this important factor of the climate of any region the meteorologist regularly measures the fall of rain, in order to find the average fall and also its distribution as regards time. His measurements are made by means of a rain gauge, which is a very simple instrument, consisting of a cylindrical vessel, generally either 8 inches or 5 inches in diameter, which is placed in the ground at an exposed spot, with its rim 1 foot above the ground level. The water which falls into it is measured in a graduated glass vessel of much smaller diameter, so that a fall of rain which, spread over the area of the gauge, would measure, say, but a tenth of an inch would fill the glass to the depth of perhaps an inch, and thus make it possible to read with accuracy falls of rain which, spread over the surface of the ground, would not be more than a hundredth of an inch deep. Such a gauge is read daily, and usually at 9 o’clock each morning.
There are several patterns of rain gauge in use, but all of them do not fulfil the requirements of a reliable instrument. The aperture of the gauge should, of course, be true in shape, and it should have a sharp rim, so as to prevent splashing of rain-drops falling upon it. Besides this the aperture should be sufficiently deep to prevent rain from splashing out, or snow from being blown out, when once it has fallen into the gauge; and finally the receptacle for the water should be protected against loss by evaporation by the gauge being sunk to a fair depth in the ground, and by causing the water to pass into the receiver through a small aperture and pipe, with ee the inverted cone-shaped opening of the gauge terminates.
It is, however, for many purposes desirable to know something of the rate at which rain falls, and frequently it becomes important to know the precise time at which a fall of rain occurred, or the distribution of the fall over the day.
For these purposes a self-recording gauge is used, in which the rain as it falls is made to actuate a pen, which marks the rate of fall by a line traced upon a piece of paper, the paper being made to turn at a uniform rate by means of a clock.
There are several forms of recording gauge in use. In some the rain passes into a balanced bucket, which, when filled to a certain point, tips over and empties itself at the same time that it moves the pen by turning a toothed wheel one notch; simultaneously another bucket is brought up on the opposite side to be filled, the two buckets thus alternating in a kind of see-saw movement.
In another gauge, known as Beckley’s gauge, the rain passes into a receiver which floats in a vessel filled with mercury. As the receiver fills it sinks, and carries down with it a pen attached to it by a strip of metal, which, as before, makes a mark upon a clock-turned strip of paper.
16 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
When two-tenths of an inch of rain has passed into the receiver a syphon comes into action, by which the receiver is emptied and the pen brought back to the top of the paper to begin another descent.
Almost the newest form of self-registering gauge is Halliwell’s, in which the trace is on a more open scale, and the action of the pen is controlled in a very ingenious way. Here again the water passes into a receiver, and in this case raises a float contained within it. As the float rises it pushes upwards a pen, which moves freely between a couple of guides, to keep it upright. At a given point in its rise the rod attached to the float upsets a balanced hammer, which, falling upon a small catch, liberates a syphon and allows it to fall into the receiver. The syphon discharges the water in a couple of seconds or so into another and lower chamber, from which it can run away somewhat less quickly ; but before its escape has been accomplished the pen will have fallen again to its zero, and another float in the second chamber will have had time to lift the syphon back into its place, ready for its next liberation.
Now let us turn to some of the results which have been obtained from the systematic measurements of the fall of rain which have been made in various places in the way I have just described, and first as regards the British Islands.
Rather more than forty years ago the late Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., began the “ British Rainfall Organisation,’ which to-day consists of an army of more than 4,200 observers, who daily record the fall of rain in all parts of the kingdom, and forward their observations to Dr. H. R. Mill, the present director of the Organisation, by whom they are collated and arranged. Dr. Mill is thus able to supply us with information of the most complete kind respecting the rainfall of the British Islands.
The wettest parts of Great Britain and Ireland are the hilly districts of our western coasts. The reason for this I have already referred to. It is due to the uplifting of the moist air coming from the ocean into higher levels by its encountering the hills in the west of Ireland, in Wales, the Lake District, and the north-west of Scotland. The average fall of rain in and around London is only about 24 inches per annum, but to the south of London, on the hills of Surrey and Sussex, it amounts to 35 inches, On the Deyon and Cornwall moors it rises to 60 inches, and in North Wales, the Lake region, and the Western Highlands of Scotland to 100 inches.
To show the way in which the contour of a district may affect its rainfall, take as an example a portion of Sussex of which Chichester is roughly the centre, where the rainfall varies from 25 and 80 inches over the lower part of the region bordering upon the coast to between 80 and 35 inches over the greater part of the Downs, and to between 35 and 40 inches in the neighbourhood of the highest and steepest summits.
The difference between the rainfall in different years is sometimes very large. The driest year of recent times was 1887, when all over the kingdom there was a shortage of rain, and large areas had less than 20 inches in the year. 1908 was, on the contrary, the wettest year.
Pride of place in the matter of heavy rainfall in Great Britain belongs to Seathwaite, in Cumberland, where the daily fall has once at least slightly exceeded 8 inches, and on seyeral occasions has amounted to
ELS =
THE RELATION OF METEOROLOGY TO HORTICULTURE. 17
6 inches, whilst the average yearly fall is rather more than 137 inches. However, a week without rain is not unknown even at Seathwaite. This place affords an excellent illustration of the way in which rainfall is produced through the cooling of air by its expansion. The moist air, which reaches the southern part of Westmoreland from off the sea, sweeps upwards towards the hills, and in the neighbourhood of the Styehead Pass is driven through a deep valley up the pass to a con- siderable height, and this results in the copious condensation and fall of rain at Seathwaite, which is just beyond. Last year the largest fall recorded in Great Britain was above 205} inches at Gleslyn, on Snowdon, whilst the least was but little more than 19 inches at Boyton in Suffolk. ;
A still more striking instance of this kind is to be found in India at Cherrapungee, on the slope of the Khasia Hills, where the average annual fall of rain amounts to 500 inches, and occasionally exceeds 600 inches, the air in that case being the vapour-laden south-west monsoon from off the Bay of Bengal. We sometimes are inclined to think that our rainfall is exces- sive, but compared with that of Cherrapungee even a Snowdon fall of 205 inches becomes very insignificant indeed.
As an example of a less favoured region I might mention Egypt, where the rainfall does not exceed a couple of inches in a year, but where, under the strong sun and parched air, the evaporation exceeds 100 inches in the year. What this amount of evaporation means may be inferred from the fact that, in connexion with the Nile Dam, in summer about 400,000 tons of water has to be held up daily to balance the loss by evaporation.
In the driest parts of our own country the rainfall in summer is about balanced by the evaporation, and therefore the water required to supply Springs and underground water has to be drawn from the winter falls; but in the wettest districts the rain which falls is, all the year round, far in excess of the amount evaporated. It may happen, however, that although the surface soil may be well saturated the reserves in the earth may at the same time be very limited, and this condition might very well lead to stagnation in plant growth in the drier seasons of the year.
The conservation of rain water is a matter of practical importance to horticulturists, who grow plants under glass covering a large area, espe- cially in the neighbourhood of towns. These glass roofs collect large quantities of water, which might be stored in tanks underground and pumped by wind power to supply the houses as required. Where water has to be purchased from the water companies the saving in cost which would result from such a plan carefully thought out should suftice to pay interest and to form a sinking fund on the capital expenditure needed to carry it out.
The amount of the rainfall has an important influence upon the character of the plant life of a district or of a country. A few slides will indicate this clearly and briefly. ‘The first shows a ravine in the side of a hill-slope above Loch Fyne, eroded by the action of the water draining the hills and running down to the loch. The course of the ravine is plainly seen by the vegetation which covers its sides, whilst the délris which has been carried down by the stream has formed a fertile delta extending some distance into the loch itself, Other slides will giye us an
C
18 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
idea of the characteristic vegetation of other regions, humid and dry, and of the results obtained in arid districts by means of irrigation.
From measurements which have been made of the hourly falls of rain as recorded by self-registering gauges it is possible to find out what are the most rainy hours of the day in many places. The most rainy hours are in the morning, somewhere near 6 A.M., and there are indications of a second maximum in the afternoon, the driest part of the day being about noon. The quantity of rain measured in each hour is also greatest in the morning, except at Kew, at which place the afternoon hours get the largest falls.
I have already mentioned the limitations of the part played by the meteorologist in dealing with the supply of water, and pointed out that it is the botanical physicist who has to deal with the effect of the supply upon plant life. But there is one important point bearing upon those effects to which I should like to call attention, and that is the relation which Dr. Shaw, the director of the Meteorological Office, has found to exist between the amount of rainfall in the autumn and the yield of wheat in the succeeding harvest ; and he has deduced a formula by which he can calculate the probable character of the ensuing harvest from the amount of rainfall, and he finds that the calculated amounts for the same district compared with the actual yield per acre each year are remarkably similar.
I have not the time left to say anything about snow or hail, except to mention that the first is formed of minute particles of frozen vapour in hexagonal crystals, adhering to one another and forming flakes of beauti- ful form. It only falls in cold weather, whilst hail, on the other hand, seldom falls in winter but generally in the hot weather, and frequently in connection with thunderstorms. ‘The cause of the formation of hail is not very well known, but it is most probably due to the sudden chilling of vapour which has already been condensed into water and which by a sudden further fall of temperature becomes frozen into pellets of ice. It is not necessary to remind a gathering of horticulturists that sometimes hailstorms may be productive of much damage to crops and to gardens.
I said just now that we in this country are much favoured in the matter of rain. At times, however, we get more than we appreciate, and those who dwell by the sides of rivers have sometimes ample reason for an appearance of ingratitude. A rainfall of less than about 18 inches per annum is probably too small for the requirements of agriculture without the aid of irrigation, and an excessive rainfall is doubtless less hurtful to vegetation than a deficient one.
But occasionally long-continued wet weather combined with modern methods of draining land leads to heayy floods, the rivers receiving more water than they can readily carry away, and it is quite easy to understand how dwellers by their banks should fail to consider rain an unmixed blessing.
During one flood, in 1894, the gauging at Teddington Lock showed that the quantity of water which passed over the weir in one day was fifteen times the normal quantity, and amounted to twenty thousand one hundred and thirty-five and a quarter million gallons. Well, that is a quantity which the mind cannot grasp. But I have calculated that if the entire surface of Middlesex were enclosed with a wall 44 feet high the excess of water passing over the weir in that one day would have sufficed
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THE RELATION OF METEOROLOGY TO HORTICULTURE. 19
to fill the enclosure to the top of the wall. Or, taking the area of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens together as 700 acres, if the same amount of water had been turned into that space a wall nearly the height of the Hiffel Tower, or exactly 978 feet high, would have been needed to retain it.
A fall of one inch of rain does not appear at first sight to be much; but spread over an area of two square feet such a fall would measure one gallon and weigh ten pounds ; and over an acre its weight would be 100 tons, and over a square mile 60,000 tons !
These figures will enable us to form some idea of the quantity of water which the earth receives from a shower of rain, and to understand better the extent of the refreshment which even a gentle shower brings to the parched ground after a spell of summer heat.
Notre.—The lecture was illustrated by a large number of photographic slides and maps, which are not reproduced.
20 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
THE AMATEUR AND HORTICULTURAL LAW. By H. Morean Verrtcx, Solicitor. (Lecture given on April 30, 1907.]
In considering the rules of Horticultural Law as they affect our present subject it is necessary to bear in mind that a very wide distinction has to be drawn between the rights of the amateur and the professional grower. One has to remember that practically none of the Acts of Parliament in force for the benefit of agriculture or market-gardening have anything to do with the amateur gardener. For present purposes these must be entirely dismissed from our minds, and it is equally necessary to follow the same rule with regard to the judicial decisions which we find in the Law Reports. But having got so far, there are still other considerations to be borne in mind if one is to avoid being hopelessly confused by reports of cases which at first sight appear to contradict each other. Many reported decisions with regard to trees (either timber trees or those of smaller growth, such as fruit trees) go back to a very early period of legal history, and one has to remember the varying conditions of land tenure which were in force at that time. For instance, in the case of land held under what is called copyhold tenure (that is to say, land held by the tenant from the lord of the manor) the copyhold tenant had various rights and duties, which varied according to the custom in different localities. These local customs, though in many instances still surviving, do not necessarily represent the general law of the land relating to free- hold property let on lease, and, as many legal authors have not sufficiently emphasised this distinction, considerable confusion has sometimes been created in the mind of the casual reader.
Again, it is necessary to recollect that many reported judgments deal only with the question of what a tenant may or may not do in the case of “settled land’’—that is to say, land which under the trusts of a will or settlement is given to one person for life, and on the death of that person goes to someone else called the reversioner. Disputes with regard to the right to cut either timber or seasonable wood or underwoed often arise between the person who is enjoying the property during his life and the person who expects to come into that property when the tenant for life dies. The tenant for life naturally wishes to get as much profit as possible out of the property during his own lifetime, whereas the person - entitled in reversion is equally anxious that the tenant for life should take away as little as possible, so as to leave all the more for him when he comes into his inheritance. In these disputes the main point very often turns upon whether or not the tenant is what is called “impeachable for waste,’’ and it would be highly misleading if one were to assume that the rights, which in these cases the Court declares to belong to a tenant for life, are necessarily the same rights as those which belong to a tenant who is merely holding under a lease for a term of years. Finally, in the case
THE AMATEUR AND HORTICULTURAL LAW, 21
of such decisions of the Courts as deal only with the rights of the private lessee one has still to make a further distinction, because these rights vary according to the nature of the property itself. Where a house and grounds of considerable extent, including woods and undergrowth, are held on lease it by no means follows that because a tenant has been held entitled to cut down or lop certain trees in the woods therefore he is entitled to cut down or even lop similar trees which are growing in the private ornamental garden surrounding the house. If, therefore, this paper is to be kept within reasonable limits we must deal only with that part of the law which affects the ordinary private garden attached to a house, and we must eliminate all those cases which deal with the rights of any other class of limited owner.
PRIVATE GARDENS.
Bearing these considerations in mind let us first consider the rights of the private lessee with regard to the trees in his garden. It is sometimes stated in text-books that a tenant (unless restrained by express stipulation) is entitled “to cut down and appropriate all trees on his holding except timber and fruit trees and such trees as have been planted or left standing for ornament, shelter, or shade.’’ This covers most things growing in a private garden, but to secure strict accuracy one must slightly extend this rule. If accepted without qualification it would lead to the conclusion that a tenant may with impunity cut down all trees outside the above definition—for instance, trees planted as curiosities, or for the purpose of botanical and scientific interest, quickset hedges planted to serve the purpose of a fence, and trees planted as landmarks or to commemorate some event, or to mark the site of a grave of a favourite animal. In my humble opinion the tenant is bound to respect all trees such as those just enumerated, and therefore the rule as stated in the text-books requires some modification. In fact it appears to me that the common-law rule would be more correctly stated as follows: A tenant may not cut down timber or fruit trees, nor trees planted or left standing by his landlord with the intention that they should form a permanent feature of the property, nor any trees whatever planted by the tenant himself; all such trees come under the head of “ fixtures ” and must be respected accordingly.
Any trees which do not fall within any of the above categories (self-sown trees, for instance) might possibly be cut down by the tenant (thus forming an exception to the rule that everything affixed to the land constitutes a fixture), but the class of trees to which this exception applies must obviously be very limited and need only be referred to for the sake of strict accuracy.
According to the text-books the tenant is also entitled (in the absence of stipulation to the contrary) to lop those trees which are “timber ’’ for necessary repairs of hedges and husbandry implements, and for fuel ; and it is said that he may even cut down the timber trees themselves proyided they are required for necessary repairs to houses and principal buildings. These rights to cut wood for repair and firing are known as the tenant’s “‘ botes ’’ and are distinguished as house botes, plough botes, hay botes, &c. It is interesting to note that they represent general
22 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
customs which have survived from the old times when the tenant was usually dependent on his lord for the necessaries of this kind, i.e. before railways and other means of transit for building materials were in existence. It will be observed, however, that the rights in question are really matters of agricultural necessity, and with all due diffidence I venture to suggest that the ordinary private householder would find it difficult to assert any rights of this kind in the present day.
It will be seen therefore that unless our amateur makes a special bargain with his landlord he is bound almost hand and foot. He must not cut down, nor, strictly speaking, may he even transplant the trees; even those which he may himself plant during his tenancy. He must not cut down or remove the plants or bushes, and in short he must do nothing but take those steps which are calculated to improve the growth of whatever he may find growing in the garden or afterwards plant there. For instance, it has been held that a tenant must not grub up or destroy a quickset hedge of white thorn even if he replaces it with something else ; though, on the other hand, he may cut a quickset hedge and may keep the trimmings, “because the hedge will grow better by reason thereof.’ (Although this is good husbandry one must remember that the agricultural rules as to “good husbandry”? do not apply to private gardens, and it was held a hundred years ago that they do not even affect nursery gardens.) The tenant has, however, the right to windfalls of decayed timber and of such trees as are not timber; but sound timber
which has fallen belongs to the landlord, “ because it is useful for building.”
TIMBER.
It frequently happens that in a lease of a house with ornamental grounds the landlord reserves all rights in respect of timber and’ timber- like trees. This should be objected to by the tenant if possible, because it would enable the landlord to enter and cut down such trees as he thought fit without paying the tenant any compensation. In certain old cases it has even been held that a landlord may erect saw-pits on the tenant’s land, so as to cut up this timber, provided he does not take an unreasonable time in so doing; but I confess I should not care to advise the landlord of the present day to attempt to take liberties of this kind with his tenant’s garden. Where, however, the landlord reserved the - right to timber trees, but the tenant expended money with the knowledge and consent of the landlord in laying out and improving the grounds on the assumption that certain trees, on which the beauty of the scheme of improvement depended, should be left standing, the Court interfered to prevent the landlord from cutting down those trees, thus making a useful exception to the general rule.
This brings us to the question, ‘‘ What is timber in the eyes of the law ?’’ and at once we are carried back to a very ancient period of history. In the ancient feudal times of which I have already spoken one must remember that houses were not made of brick, but of wood. Consequently trees which were suitable for building purposes were extremely valuable and were jealously guarded by the law, so that although a tenant was entitled to his “ betes,’ or right to take wood in
THE AMATEUR AND HORTICULTURAL LAW. 23
order to repair his dwelling, he was not allowed to cut timber trees unless no other kind was available. What trees were meant by timber varied in different parts of the country. The oak, ash, and elm were everywhere regarded as timber, and those exceeding twenty years of age were practically sacred, but in many localities certain other trees (if more than two feet in girth) seem to have been considered legal timber, this probably being accounted for by the fact that in some parts of the country there were noi enough oak, ash, or elm trees available for building. For instance, in some parts horse-chestnuts, limes, birch, beech, ash, and walnut trees were regarded as timber. In the county of York birch trees have been held by the Court to be timber, because they are used in that county for building sheephouses, cottages, and such other small buildings. At Mottesfont, in Hampshire, and in Berkshire and Yorkshire willows have also been recognised as timber by the custom of the county. Where beech is admitted to be “timber by custom’” it has been held that the general rule of law applicable to timber trees in general attaches, so as to give beech the properties and the privileges of “timber ’”’ at twenty years’ growth. Beech has been held to be timber by custom of the county in the following places: Buckinghamshire, Buriton in Hampshire, Whitmead in Bedfordshire, Mickleham in Surrey, and Whitcomb Magna and Minchinhampton, both in Gloucestershire. One of the Judges (Lord King) was disposed to think pollards might be deemed timber, provided their bodies were good and sound, but other authorities have sometimes taken a different view. There are various other questions arising with regard to what is known as seasonable wood (technically ealled selva cedua), and also underwood, but this leads us into considera- tion of that fascinating branch of law which relates to woods and forests rather than that affecting an ordinary garden, and we must therefore pass it by.
It may be interesting to note that the word “ trees,’’ when used in a lease, is as a rule confined by the Court to wood applicable to buildings and does not include orchard trees. In one case a landlord reserved to himself “all timber trees and other trees, but not the fruit thereof.’’ The Court held that this reservation did not cover fruit trees, for in legal language “fruit’’ may apply to the produce of timber trees without necessarily dragging in any other kind of fruit. Even an exception in favour of the landlord of “all trees &c., of what kind soever,”’ has been held not to include fruit trees where the surrounding circumstances showed that they were meant to apply to trees only useful for their wood.
Before leaving the question of ornamental trees it may be well to mention that in deciding the question of “ what is an ornamental tree”’ the sole point is whether the person who planted it intended it to be (or thought it would be) ornamental. In one old case involving the rights of a tenant for life Lord Eldon made some scathing remarks on what he considered to be the execrable taste of a tenant who had cut his yew trees into the shape of peacocks, the matter being made worse by the fact that they were in sight of the road and could be seen by passers-by !”’
In connection with ornamentation of a garden there is judicial authority for saying that a tenant may build a fishpond in his garden. The reason given by the Court in this old case was.a quaint one. It was not a
24 JOURNAL OF ‘THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY,
question of ornamentation, but because “ fish are a matter of profit and increase of victuals.’’ At the same time I should not advise anyone to rely on this case to the extent of putting a fishpond in the middle of a tennis or croquet lawn !
DAMAGE,
Finally, one might discuss for a moment the question of how far a tenant is obliged to keep his garden in good repair at the expiration of his tenancy. Unless the tenancy agreement contains a distinct provision on the point, the outgoing tenant need take no active steps to put the garden into good condition before leaving it, but on the other hand he must take no active steps to doit harm. We have already seen that he must not remove the trees, plants, and bushes, and it has been held that he must not maliciously grub up a strawberry bed before leaving. So far as injury to trees &c. is concerned, the tenant who does wilful damage for the purpose of spiting his landlord incurs a double lability.
Going back as far as the Magna Charta we find a clause forbidding waste (7.e. damage) in the case of gardens and orchards—“ in boscis et gardenis,”’ as the language of that day puts it—and the landlord can still obtain compensation from the tenant for damage done. Furthermore the Malicious Injury to Property Act of 1861 makes it a criminal offence to destroy or damage trees or shrubs in a park, garden, orchard, or ground belonging to any dwelling-house, the maximum penalty being, if the damage exceeds £1, three years’ penal servitude or two years’ hard labour. In small cases where the injury exceeds one shilling, on summary con- viction before the local magistrate the maximum penalty is a fine of £5 or three months’ imprisonment for the first offence, and twelve months’ hard labour for the second offence. Of course this only applies to malicious injury. When the damage is caused other than maliciously the proper remedy is to sue for damages in the Civil Courts.
From all the foregoing remarks it will be seen that if one desires to have a free hand in connection with the transformation of a garden it is necessary to see that one’s lease contains special power to take liberties in this respect, and, on the other hand, any rights reserved to the landlord in respect of timber or timber-like trees should also be carefully watched.
sy-the-by, there is a popular fallacy with regard to the stamp on the agreement for lease. It is not sufficient to use a 6d. agreement stamp (except where the rent does not exceed £5 and the term does not exceed thirty-five years or is indefinite). In all other cases the amount of the stamp duty varies according to amount of rent payable. It is also a mistake to assume that a lease or other legal document is not valid unless it is stamped. With very few exceptions every legal document is valid although not stamped, the only difficulty being that an unstamped docu- ment cannot be used as evidence in Court without paying the necessary stamp duty and interest in addition to a penalty for non-stamping. Agreements for lease not under seal have to be stamped within fourteen days after execution, but in the case of deeds under seal, such as a lease, thirty days is allowed for stamping.
THE AMATEUR AND HORTICULTURAL LAW. 25
ANCIENT LIGHTS.
Perhaps the question of ancient lights is one which affects the amateur horticulturist as much, or even more, than his professional brother, because usually the amateur conducts his operations in a much more confined space. ‘The general rule of law is that where a person has enjoyed the right of light to his buildings for twenty years he is entitled to restrain his neighbour from interfering with this light, but it must be borne in mind that this right of ancient light applies only to the light coming to the windows of a house and does not apply to light which merely fiiters into a garden.
Recently I saw it suggested in an agricultural paper that a person might have the right to restrain his neighbour from shutting off the sunlight from his garden, on the ground that this would constitute a nuisance, but I confess I should be very reluctant to advise anyone to institute litigation with this object at the present day. During the last few months the Law Lords have considerably restricted even the right of windows in a building to the enjoyment of ancient lights. In a recent case the Courts have held that it is no longer sufficient to show that the light to one’s windows has been interfered with by a neighbour. If one seeks for the protection of an injunction one must go still further and prove that the interference with the light is of such a serious nature as to diminish the rental value of the building. This does not mean merely the value to the person who is in occupation at the moment (who would naturally miss the slightest amount of light of which he might be deprived), because the next tenant might notice nothing particularly wrong, not being aware of the additional advantage enjoyed by his predecessor, and in that case the rental value might not be diminished.
OVERHANGING TREES.
The subject of interference by neighbours leads us up to consideration of the remedies available when trees overhang a boundary wall.
If the trees are of such a poisonous nature as to injure a neighbour's horses or cattle which may be likely to feed upon them (in the case of yew trees &c.), an injunction can be obtained against the person on whose land the trees stand, compelling him to cut the trees back to his own boundary, even if the trees have overhung for more than twenty years. Again, the Courts recently granted an injunction against a land- owner who allowed his elm and ash trees to overhang a boundary fence in such a way as to interfere with the growth of his neighbour’s crops. The Court held that the neighbour was entitled to protection, and compelled the owner of the trees to cut back the overhanging branches. It will be noticed that in this last case the Court interfered expressly because the overhanging trees caused actual damage to the person owning the land on the opposite side of the boundary fence. The Court would not have been so willing to interfere if the trees caused no damage, or were unsightly, or because some capricious objection was taken to the overhanging. Even in cases where no damage results there is, however, a legal remedy, because if your neighbour's trees overhang your land you
26 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
are entitled to cut off the overhanging branches, and it has been held that one may cut a Virginian creeper which overreaches in the same way. If you cannot do this without going on to your neighbour’s land for the purpose you must be careful to notify your neighbour beforehand of your intention to go on his land with this special object. I must warn you, however, that if you cut off any more than what actually overhangs you may incur heavy penalties. There is another reported case where a grower allowed thistles to multiply on his property to such an extent as to blow on to his neighbour’s land and damage his crops. In this case the grower was restrained by the Court from permitting the nuisance to continue.
In exercising one’s rights to cut the overhanging branches of a — neighbour’s trees it is necessary to bear in mind that the boughs when cut off still belong to the owner of the tree, and it would therefore be wiser to ascertain whether he wishes them to be returned to him. On the same principle it has been held that if trees growing in a hedge overhang another man’s land, and the fruit of them falls on the other’s land, the owner of the fruit may go in and retake it if he makes no longer stay than is convenient and does not break the hedge. The owner of the trees has the same right if they are blown down by the wind or fall over by any other inevitable accident. Before going on to one’s neighbour’s land, however, in order to take back fruit or branches which have fallen in this way it is necessary first to ask for permission to enter on the adjoining land, but if the request be refused then the owner of the fruit may enter and take his fruit without permission. Of course it often happens that it would be very unwise to exercise one’s strict rights in this respect, because if friction were to arise the owner of the adjoining land might have the trees cut back by way of reprisal, and one therefore comes back to the point that the wise man is he who acts reasonably towards his neighbour without casting round to see what may be his strict rights or how far the law may permit him to cause annoyance.
With regard to trees overhanging highways, it has been said that if the occupier of land suffers his trees so to protrude over the highway as to inconvenience passers-by, it is a public or common nuisance, and the trees may be lopped sufficiently to avoid the evil by any of the public passing that way, for anyone may justify the removal of a public or common nuisance which is so remediable; it has indeed been stated that by the old law nobody was bound to cut his trees that overhung the road, and therefore anyone might do it.
It is, however, extremely doubtful whether this can now be taken to be an accurate statement of the law, and I should advise you to be very cautious about accepting it. But even if it be correct, any person who pro- poses to act as a public benefactor in this matter would do well to bear in mind that the person who abates a public nuisance in this way must show special damage arising from the nuisance, and can only interfere with the nuisance so far as is necessary to the exercise of his own right of passing along the highway, and he must not do any unnecessary damage. Probably the safest plan, therefore, is to invoke the aid of the highway surveyor, who in a proper case can obtain a justice’s order under the Highway Acts directing the owner of the offending trees to lop the over- hanging branches. If this notice is neglected for ten days the owner is
THE AMATEUR AND HORTICULTURAL LAW, 27
liable to a penalty, and the surveyor is authorised to cut or trim any offending trees or hedges himself, the expenses of so doing being made recoverable from the defaulter ; so that a complaint to the local authori- ties is by far the cheapest and most convenient way to obtain redress.
It is, however, worth noticing that these powers only apply in the case of carriage-ways or cart-ways and not in the case of footpaths. Moreover, trees planted for ornament and for shelter to any hop ground, house, building, or courtyard of the owner thereof are exempted from the operation of this enactment, and it is expressly provided that no person shall be compelled nor any surveyor permitted to cut or prune any hedge at any other time than between the last day of September and the last day of March.
A question sometimes arises as to who is the owner of a tree standing near a boundary line where this tree grows and expands so as to encroach on to the neighbour’s land. If the tree is only growing near the confines of the land of the two parties, then, although the roots may extend into the neighbour’s soil, the tree still continues to belong to the owner of that land in which the tree was first sown or planted ; but one learned author lays down that a distinction must be made where a man plants a tree upon the extreme limit of his land so that the tree in the ordinary course will necessarily grow on to the neighbour’s land. In this case—that is to say, where the tree is planted on the boundary line itself—the trunk must in the natural course of growth stand and grow on the land of both the man who plants it and on the land of his neighbour, and the roots in such case will inevitably penetrate into the soil of each. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the man who planted the tree must have anticipated and intended this result; consequently the tree must be deemed to be the common property of the two adjoining owners. The same author is of opinion that it has yet to be judicially decided beyond any question of doubt whether one proprietor can in the absence of an agreement compel another to have his land burdened with the roots of his neighbour’s tree. A right of this kind could only be acquired adversely by an enjoyment which was open and as of right. Still, the law not requiring impossibilities but recognising the course of nature, it seems reasonable to suppose that the right in question may be legally acquired by prescription, i.e. adverse enjoyment, and the author in question remained of this opinion although in one reported case the contrary was suggested by one of the Judges. However, this suggestion was by way of obiter dictum only and the point was not actually decided.
DITCHES.
It may perhaps be of interest to state what is the rule of law with regard to the ownership of ditches where two adjacent fields are separated by a hedge or a ditch. For instance, supposing you have a garden in the country, and at the end of your garden there is a hedge, and beyond the hedge there is a ditch. If there is no evidence to show who is the owner of the ditch the law would assume that you are the owner of it, although it is on the other side of your hedge. At first sight this judgment seems curious, but the rule is arrived at by the following argument: No man
ee
28 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
making a ditch can cut into his neighbour’s soil, but usually he cuts it to the very extremity of his own land. He is of course bound to throw the soil which he digs up on to his own land and not on to his neighbour’s. Therefore having thrown the soil backwards on to his own land he often chooses to plant a hedge on the top of it. Consequently it is reasonable to suppose that the ditch is included in his land.
WALLS AND FENCES.
In the case of walls and fences, if there is no evidence to show to whom they belong the law assumes they belong equally to the owners on each side; that is to say, these owners are said to hold as tenants in common ; but one owner may lose his rights if he “ stands by”’ and allows the other to exercise acts of ownership, such as coping the edge or building or repairing the wall for a considerable length of time, and in this connec- tion a case was decided which may perhaps prove interesting to those who may build a greenhouse against a dividing wall. In the case in question a tenant who owned a wall in common with the owner on the other side took the coping stones off the wall and heightened it, and built a washhouse against it (presumably the result would have been the same if he had built a greenhouse). The roof of this washhouse occupied the whole width of the top of the wall, and the tenant who built the wash- house also let a stone into the wall with an inscription on it stating that the wall and land on which it stood belonged to him. Upon these facts it was held that the builder of the washhouse had ousted his co-tenant, who had made no protest at the time, and it was declared that the wall belonged to the builder. .
As to the repair of dividing fences, if there is no evidence to show who
is responsible, then the only obligation on each is, that he must so maintain
the fence as to prevent his beasts from straying on to the land of his
neighbour.
Speaking of fences and ditches reminds one that there is a popular belief in some country districts that the owner of a boundary fence, consisting of a bank with a ditch on the outside of it, is entitled to four feet in width from the base of the bank and four feet in width for the ditch. It is true that there may be some local custom in certain places according to which eight feet in all, to be taken from the owner’s own land, are commonly allowed for a bank and a ditch, but there would seem to be no general rule of law to that effect.
FIXTURES.
I mentioned in the early part of this paper that for present purposes we must clear our minds of all those special laws relating to nurserymen and market gardeners. In considering garden fixtures we must follow the same rule, because although a nurseryman on one side of the street may have certain special privileges it does not follow that the amateur neigh- bour on the other side has any similar rights.
First, it may be well to remind ourselves what fixtures really are. A fixture is an article actually attached by some visible means to the soil or to some building on the soil. If it is not so attached it is not a fixture
THE AMATEUR AND HORTICULTURAL LAW. 29
at all, and anyone, even a private tenant, can remove it. It does not matter how large or how heavy the article may be; if it merely rests on the surface of the land by reason of its own weight it is not a fixture. If, however, the article is attached to the land, or to some building on the land, then it is a fixture, and we have to consider whether it is a landlord’s or a tenant’s fixture. The first test to apply is whether the article can be removed without causing serious injury to the freehold. If it cannot be removed without such injury then it is usually a landlord’s fixture ; if it can be removed without such injury it is usually a tenant’s fixture, and it is for this reason that tenants are generally advised to employ screws instead of nails when putting up fixtures for their own use.
But even in the case of what would ordinarily be construed to be landlord’s fixtures a tenant who is a professional grower has certain special rights under the common law, because these rights are in fact necessary to the carrying on of his trade. For instance, the nurseryman is entitled to remove nursery trees and shrubs, although growing in the ground and therefore fixed to the soil; and he is also entitled at the expiration of his tenancy to remove his greenhouses, although it is still doubtful whether under English law he may remove the low brick walls on which the green- houses are usually raised. But the private owner has no such right, because the garden is maintained, and the greenhouses are erected, for his own pleasure and not by way of trade. It has been held, for instance, that the private tenant must not remove fruit trees even though they have been planted by himself, nor, strictly speaking, can he take away other things which he may have planted, such as hedges, plants, or a border of box. Possibly some of those present may have read a short article of mine on this subject which appeared inthe “ Gardeners’ Chronicle”’ last year, in which I mentioned that whatever may be the actual law on the subject I had been given to understand that amateurs often “pot’’ a few of their favourite plants before their tenancy comes to an end. It is of course quite clear that private owners may remove plants standing in pots or erowing in a detachable window-box.
Of course, we are now considering what are the strict legal rights of the private owner, and in practice one knows that a good deal of latitude is taken by tenants; unless the matter assumes serious proportions the English landlord usually does not interfere with a tenant who takes an interest in his garden even if he sometimes exceeds his strict legal rights.
Before leaving the subject of fixtures it may be useful to quote a few lines from the article to which I have just referred :—
“It has been held that a non-trading tenant cannot take away a conservatory erected on a brick foundation affixed to and communicating by windows and doors with rooms in his dwelling-house even where he has put it up at his own expense, neither can he remove a verandah the lower part of which is attached to posts fixed in the ground. Further- more, the non-trading tenant cannot take away greenhouses constructed of wooden frames fixed with mortar to foundation walls or brickwork, and some learned writers have even doubted whether he can take them away although only resting on the foundation walls or ground by reason of their own weight. However, this seems to carry the doctrine rather far
30 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
in favour of the landlord, and there is certainly one decided case where a
rector was held entitled to remove his hothouses without incurring liability for dilapidations. A private tenant cannot remove a boiler built into the masonry of a greenhouse, but on the other hand it has been held that he is entitled to remove the pipes with heating apparatus connected with such boiler by screws.”
IMPROVEMENTS.
The same distinction as I have already quoted between the rights of the professional and the amateur grower extends also in other directions, such as compensation for improvements made by a tenant during his tenancy. ;
The market gardener is entitled to compensation for such improve- ments as the following :— |
Planting of standard or other fruit trees or fruit bushes permanently set out.
Planting of strawberry plants; also asparagus, rhubarb, and other vegetable crops which continue productive for two or more years.
Erection or enlargement of buildings ; and
The application to the land of purchased artificial or other manure.
The private owner has no rights whatever in this respect. If he chooses to spend money on another person’s property he must at the expiration of his tenancy leave all improvements of this kind behind him for the benefit of his landlord, and can claim no compensation. It is, indeed, a curious anomaly that even a nurseryman does not enjoy the protection afforded by the Market Gardeners’ Compensation Act, being left to derive such comfort as he may from his common law right to remove nursery trees or plants and his greenhouses. Strong efforts have, how-
ever, recently been made to get this anomaly rectified, and there seems
good reason to hope that before many months have passed steps will have been taken to place the nursery trade on a better footing in this respect. It is understood to be the intention of the Government to bring in, as soon as pressure of public business will permit, a new Market Gardeners’ Compensation Act, and the opportunity will then be found—and, one may hope, seized—of putting the matter right. But it is impossible to hold out any prospect of relief to the amateur grower in this respect. Before leaving the subject of fixtures it may interest nurserymen present to know that although their growing trees are part of their stock in trade it was decided nearly a hundred years ago that their landlord cannot distrain on these trees for arrears of rent.
ERECTION OF GREENHOUSES.
With regard to notices to be given to a local authority before the erection of conservatories or greenhouses much will depend upon the by- laws of the particular town where the premises are situated. These by-laws, of course, vary according to different localities. Before erecting a greenhouse it is, therefore, always wiser to make inquiry of the local authority on the point. It sometimes happens that a greenhouse may be deemed a building for one purpose although not for another purpose.
THE AMATEUR AND HORTICULTURAL LAW. 31
For instance, in a recent case a town had a by-law requiring the walls of any new building to be made of incombustible material, and the question arose as to whether a greenhouse was “a building” for this purpose. Lord Esher held that a conservatory made of wood and glass was not “a, building’ within the meaning of this particular by-law, although he was not prepared to say that it would be impossible to frame some by- law in such a way as to include greenhouses. On the other hand, a case was heard not long ago in which a photographer had placed outside his house a wood and glass structure measuring 9 feet 6 inches by 3 feet.7 inches, this erection being used for the purpose of exhibiting photographs. The local authority contended that this wood and glass structure came within those sections of the Public Health Acts which provide that “in an Urban District it shall not be lawful to bring forward any house or building in any street or any part of such house or building beyond the main front wall of the house or building on either side in the same street, unless the written consent of the Urban authority is first obtained.” The Court held that this photographer’s show case was “a building ’’ within the meaning of the section in question ; so that, if a show case of this kind is a building, then it seems obvious that a greenhouse must bea building also within this particular section. Consequently one realises the curious position that sometimes a greenhouse is a building in the eyes of the law and sometimes it is not, and each case must depend on the par- ticular facts and on the particular statute or by-law under which the point arises for consideration.' Perhaps the most curious point which appears in the Law Reports with regard to conservatories arose in a case where a greenhouse had been turned into a bedroom. A by-law in that particular locality laid down special rules with regard to the making of any addition to an existing “ Building” by raising part thereof. The Court held that the conversion of a conservatory (made of wood and glass) into a bedroom by adding brick walls came within the meaning of the by- law in question, although the bedroom only occupied the same space as that which the. conservatory had previously occupied.
Finally, in a case under the Agricultural Rates Acts 1896 the glass houses of a market gardener were deemed to be “ buildings’’ within the special wording of the Act in question, and were therefore not entitled to the privilege of paying half-rates under that Act. On the other hand, nursery grounds have been held to be none the less nursery grounds, and therefore entitled to quarter-rating under the Public Health Act 1875, although consisting of land covered with glass houses. However, neither of these two Acts applies to greenhouses occupied otherwise than for the purposes of trade, and for the purposes of the present subject they are only useful as bearing on the question, ‘“ When is a conservatory a building, and when is it not?”
NUISANCES. The question of nuisances caused by a neighbour cannot adequately be dealt with outside a volume of considerable size, but the following extract 1 Since this lecture was delivered the Divisional Court has held that a show-case
similar to that described above is not a “ building”’ within the London Building Act, thus reversing the previous decision and removing an anomaly.
32 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
from a judgment delivered many years ago sums up in somewhat quaint language the general principle affecting the subject :—
“ We think that the true rule of law is, that a person who, for his own purposes, brings on his land and collects and keeps there anything likely to do mischief if it escapes, must keep it in at his peril; and if he does not do so he is prima facie answerable for all the damage which is the natural consequence of its escape. He can excuse himself by showing that the escape was owing to the plaintiff's default ;,or, perhaps, that the escape was the consequence of vis major, or the act of God. The general rule, as above stated, seems on principle just. The person whose grass or corn is eaten down by the escaping cattle of his neighbour, or whose mine is flooded by the water from his neighbour’s reservoir, or whose cellar is invaded by the filth from his neighbour’s privy, or whose habita- tion is made unhealthy by the fumes and noisome vapours of his neigh- bour’s alkali works, is damnified without any fault of his own; and it seems but reasonable and just that the neighbour who has brought some- thing on his property (which was not naturally there) harmless to others so long as it is confined to his own property, but which he knows will be mischievous if it gets on to his neighbour’s, should be obliged to make good the damage which ensues if he does not succeed in confining it to his own property. But for his act in bringing it there no mischief could have accrued, and it seems but just that he should at his peril keep it there, so that no mischief may accrue, or answer for the natural and anticipated consequence. And upon authority this, we think, is established to be the lew, whether the things so brought be Ne or water, or filth, or stenches.”’
In connexion with the subject of nuisances I have been asked to deal with the question of damage to gardens caused by a neighbour’s birds or animals. Unfortunately the reported cases are in many instances very conflicting, and the law on the subject is distinctly vague. ‘The owner of horses, cattle, or poultry is liable for any damage they may do when tres- passing, as the law requires him to take steps to keep them in by main- taining reasonably sufficient fences or hedges. So far as dogs are concerned, it would seem that an owner is not liable for the damage done by his dog trespassing, unless done by his consent or incitement, or unless he knows the animal’s mischievous propensities and does not take reason- able steps to prevent indulgence in them. (I am, of course, dealing here with damage which may be caused to a garden and not damage caused to cattle, the latter being specially protected by statute.) The gardener who suffers from the depredations of a neighbour’s pigeons is in a position of considerable difficulty, and he may possibly find comfort in an old case which decided that although it is not a nuisance to erect a dovecote, yet the owner of the doves can be sued for damage done by them to a neigh- bour’s crops. There is also a reported case in which an owner was held liable for damage done by his tame rabbits, which he had allowed to stray. But on the other hand there are reported cases which were to the opposite effect. The general opinion nowadays seems to amount to this : aman is liable for the trespasses of his tame animals, such as cattle, horses, and poultry, but is not liable for the trespasses of his wild animals or birds, such as pigeons. But he is liable if he causes a legal nwisance,
THE AMATEUR AND HORTICULTURAL LAW. DD
provided it can be shown that the damage threatened is substantial and such as could be reasonably contemplated. This involves really the question of “degree.” The law would not interfere when a man keeps a few pigeons (de minimis non cwrat lex), but might possibly do so when such yast numbers were kept as to involve a legal nuisance, especially if they were not supplied by the owner with sufficient food. There is at all events one decided case where a man was restrained from so overstocking his land with game as seriously to damage his neighbour’s crops. The above remarks with regard to pigeons may possibly also apply to tame rabbits, but one is naturally reluctant to indulge in prophecy as to what view the Court might take at the present day.
Stray animals which trespass and are caught doing damage “ red- handed,”’ or “ damage feasant,’’ as the law terms it, can be impounded ; but the right to impound gives only a lien on the animal, and so far as pigeons are concerned it is to be feared that even the most active of gardeners might find considerable difficulty in impounding the culprit. Animals trespassing may be entrapped by merciful means, but may not be killed (a case to the contrary effect having been questioned by later authorities), though perhaps if a gardener were to see a pigeon doing considerable damage, and happened to have an air-gun handy, he would not stay to consider his legal rights, especially if he felt assured that the owner of the pigeon was not looking.
It is a punishable offence to put down poisoned seeds or flesh on the land, though poison for rats may be put down if placed where other animals cannot suffer injury. If traps are used they must not be of a nature likely to involve pain and suffering.
TRESPASSERS.
Perhaps a few words with regard to trespassers may be of some practical use. One often sees notice boards exhibited to the effect that “‘Trespassers will be prosecuted,’ but as a matter of fact you cannot prosecute a man criminally merely because he trespasses on your land. You can only do so if, while trespassing, he wilfully damages the land or any cultivated roots or plants on it. Grass does not come within this definition, so that it would be useless to prosecute merely on the ground that while running or walking over the land damage had been done to it by reason of the grass being trodden down. If only uncultivated roots or plants, such as wild mushrooms, blackberries, primroses, or wild plants, are trodden down there can be no criminal prosecution. On the other hand, if you scatter mushroom spawn over your field the mushrooms are legally looked upon as being cultivated plants, and a trespasser could be criminally prosecuted for damaging them.
A well-known Judge used to find a special delight in trespassing wherever he saw a warning to trespassers. If the owner or keeper came up to stop him the Judge would solemnly asseverats, “I claim no right, I have done no damage, but in case I have inadvertently done damage I hereby tender you the sum of one shilling in settlement.’ It may be as well perhaps to point out here that one is not entitled to shoot at a -burglar when found on private premises, although one often comes across @ mistaken idea to the contrary. The punishment for burglary is
D
34 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
imprisonment and not death or maiming ; consequently the only occasion on which one is justified in shooting a burglar is when it is necessary in self-defence. Probably, however, where a burglar has any offensive weapon handy it would not be difficult to convince a jury on very slight evidence that the shooting had been done in self-defence, and possibly this is how the misunderstanding of the law on this point has arisen. Neither is one justified in setting one’s dog on to a trespasser, and here one may mention another legal fallacy which is somewhat widespread. It is not true that “every dog is entitled to his first bite.” If you are injured by a dog all you have to prove is that the owner knew, or ought to have known, that his dog was of savage propensity. Of course where a dog has bitten anyone before that is the best evidence of savageness, but it is quite sufficient to show that the dog had a savage reputation—if, for - instance, he has been known to fly at people before, even though he may not have succeeded in biting anyone.
Of course there are other remedies for trespass in addition to the one of criminal prosecution. For instance, if a person walks on to your land without having any right to do so you can, after going through one important formality, proceed to eject him; but one has to bear in mind that an owner is not justified in forthwith assaulting a trespasser for the purpose of ejecting him from his land. The owner must first go through the formality of requesting the trespasser to leave, and then, if he will not do so, the owner can proceed to eject him ; but this remedy has to be used with great caution, inasmuch as the owner is only allowed to use just as much force as is necessary to eject the trespasser, and if the least force is used over and above what is necessary, then the owner is guilty of an assault, and can be prosecuted or sued for damages accordingly.
An owner can also bring an action in the Civil Courts aguiiee a trespasser and can claim damages on account of the trespass, and in this case (which, it will be observed, is quite distinct from a criminal prosecu- tion) the owner need not show that he has suffered any damage by reason of the trespass. In an ordinary case of trespass, however, only nominal damages would be given by the Court to the owner, but the trespasser might be ordered to pay the owner’s costs, which in a High Court case might be heavy. Recently the Judges have shown a marked inclination to discourage actions for merely technical trespassing. Where there are any special circumstances which aggravate the offence, or where the offender has trespassed after receiving notice not to trespass, then the Court has power to award heavy or vindictive damages irrespective of whether the owner has really suffered actual damage or not.
However, the main difficulty which lies in the way of owners who wish to protect themselves from trespass is that the persons trespassing frequently do not cause damage of such a nature as would justify a criminal — prosecution under the circumstances above set forth, while, on the other hand, if the owner brings an action in the Civil Courts claiming damages for the trespass it frequently happens that the offender is a person of no means, so that the owner is unable to get any damages out of him, or even recover legal expenses to which he had been put.
One learned writer has suggested that the best means of keeping impecunious persons off one’s lands is always to have two or three fierce
THE AMATEUR AND HORTICULTURAL LAW. 35
little Welsh bulls on the property, but unfortunately this cuts both ways. Bulls have little discrimination, and after the owner had been tossed off his own property he might consider that even the points of a lawsuit were preferable to those of a bull’s horns.
Before leaving the subject of trespass it may be remarked that the law recognises certain acts as constituting a technical trespass as distinct from an actual trespass. For instance, it is a trespass to throw stones or rubbish on to a person’s land, or for a householder to let his chimney or any other part of his house fall on to his neighbour’s land, or to erect a spout on his own land which discharges water on his neighbour’s property. Also if a man lets his cattle stray from his own land on to his neighbour’s estate it is a trespass (provided the case is one where the neighbour is under no legal obligation to fence his property). Is it a trespass or even a legal nuisance for an orchid-grower to unwittingly import mosquitoes, with the result that they escape into his neighbour’s house? I doubt if any action would lie, as anyone may grow orchids and no one would willingly encourage mosquitoes ; but this point has yet to be judicially settled. |
The notice “ Beware of spring guns and man traps”’ is of course an absurdity in these days, as it is a criminal offence for any person to set or allow to be set on his lands any spring gun, man trap, or other engine calculated to destroy life with the intent of destroying or doing bodily harm to trespassers. Finally, if land adjoining a highway is fenced off with barbed wire, so as to be a nuisance to the highway, the local authority has power to compel its removal.
36 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. ©
PHYLLOTAXIS; OR, THE ARRANGEMENTS OF LEAVES IN ~
ACCORDANCE WITH MATHEMATICAL LAWS. By the Rey. Professor G. Henstow, M.A., F.L.S., V.M.H., &e. (Lecture given on June 25, 1907.)
WE all know that the motions of the heavenly bodies are subject to strict mathematical laws ; that the formation of crystals in the inorganic world is likewise in accordance with laws which can be represented mathematically ; but when we turn to the organised world we do not, somehow, expect to find structures of animals and plants reducible to any representation by mathematical formule. Yet this is very often quite possible. The animal frame is’ composed of bones and muscles, which
form levers of various kinds. The flight of birds is strictly in accordance
with certain muscular actions, which counteract gravity and can be represented mathematically ; while the bee has practically solved the problem of making cells with the least amount of material, but combined with the greatest capacity and strength. When we turn to the vegetable kingdom we are again amongst organic forces, and we look about almost in vain for results which can be tested by mathematics or which can be represented by their formule. The most remarkable instance is probably the arrangement of leaves, and which forms the subject of the present lecture.
If several leafy shoots from different plants be taken, it will be observed that many, probably the majority, have their leaves placed one at a time on the stem, or, as botanists say, alternately; e.g. the Garden Flag, a Sedge, the Oak, and the Holly. Others will almost always have two leaves at the same position (or node), but situated on opposite sides of the stem; e.g. Lilac, Privet, and Horse-chestnut. Of the latter it will be also noticed that each pair of leaves stands at right angles to those above and below it. Such series of pairs of opposite leaves constitute what has been called the decussate arrangement. Extended observations will only strengthen the conclusion that leaves are for the most part alternate or opposite.*
Alternate Leaves.—If I take a branch of the May or Oak, and hold it vertically with any selected leaf before me, and then pass my finger upwards along the stem from that leaf to the next, and thence to the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth leaf in succession, I find that the one last reached (sixth) is exactly over, or in the same vertical line with, the first ; and if I proceed further I shall find the seventh is vertically over the second, the eighth over the third, and so on, the eleventh being, therefore, over both the sixth and first. |
The following observations will result from this examination :— Obs. 1. All the leaves on the branch are arranged in five vertical rows :
* Leaves will occasionally be found grouped in threes or some higher number ; they are then said to be whorled or verticillate.
Oe a,
- PHYLLOTAXIS. a7
from this fact such an arrangement has been called pentastichous. Obs. 2. The imaginary line traced by the finger in passing from leaf to leaf successively is a@ spiral line. Obs. 8. This spiral line coils twice round the stem before arriving at the sixth leaf; the portion of the spiral intercepted between the first and sixth leaf is called a cycle. Obs. 4. A cycle contains five leaves, the sixth being the first leaf of the succeeding cycle.
The method adopted to represent this arrangement is by means of the fraction 2. The numerator (2) indicates the number of coils in a cycle. The denominator (5) shows the number of leaves in a cycle.
Let a complete cycle be projected on a plane surface, and represented by a “helix” (a spiral line like a watch-spring) having two complete coils, and let the corresponding positions of the leaves be marked upon it. Then if radii be drawn from the centre to the positions of the leaves, the angle between those drawn to any two successive leaves will be two-fifths of a whole circumference, or of 360°; 17.e. it will contain 144 degrees. From this fact the fraction ? is called the angular divergence of the pentastichous arrangement of leaves. An observation of some importance may be here conveniently made, viz. that each coil («.e. the circumference of a circle) contains three leaves; this same number is invariably true for all other arrangements of the “ primary ”’ series (with one exception only, viz. the 5 arrangement), as will be hereafter described.
Let another example be taken. Suppose it to be a Sedge (Carez).
Here the fourth, seventh, tenth, &c. leaves will all be found arranged vertically over the first; the fifth, eighth, eleventh, &c. over the second ; and the sixth, ninth, twelfth, &c. over the third. Hence there will be only three vertical rows of leaves, and the name given to this arrangement is consequently tristichows. Moreover, it will be observed that there are but three leaves in each cycle, and that the cycle completes but one coil ‘or circle passing from any leaf to the next immediately over it; so that by adopting the method given above, of representing this arrangement by a fraction, the fraction will be 4, and the angular divergence will be 3 of 360°, or 120 degrees.
By extending such observations as these we should soon discover other arrangements of leaves to exist in nature; and we should find that their angular divergences are equally capable of being represented by fractions. Thus in the Garden Flag (Jris) the leaves are on opposite sides of the stem, but are “alternately ’’ arranged, as no two stand at the same level. This, therefore, will be represented by 4, because in passing from one leaf to the next an entire semicircle is traced, and from the second to the third another complete semicircle ; so that the third leaf (which commences the next cycle) is over the first. This arrangement is consequently called distichous, as all the leaves on the stem will be in two vertical rows, and on opposite sides of the stem. In another kind a cycle will coil thrice round the stem, and contain eight leaves ; hence 3 will represent the angular divergence. Another is found to be y3, and several more exist. E
If the fractions thus constructed from actual examination of plants be written down in succession according as the numerators and denominators increase, they will be seen to form a series with remarkable connections
38 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
between its component fractions. It will be as follows: 4, 4, 2, 3, &c.; such I have elsewhere* proposed to call the primary series. It cannot fail to be noticed that the sum of any two successive numerators, or of any two successive denominators, forms that of the next fraction respectively, so that we might extend this series indefinitely ; thus: 3, 1, 2, 3, vs, op 3, 24, 34, &c. It will be also observed that the numerator of any fraction is the same number as the denominator next but one preceding it. There yet remains one more remarkable connection between them, viz. that these fractions are the successive convergents
of the continued fraction i 241
141 1+ &e.
That is to say, if we reduce, by the ordinary rules for simplifying fractions, the portions .
dF Ft: ee &e.
a
and so on, the resulting fractions will be the same as those given above.
I have said that the above series of fractions represent the arrange- ments which exist in nature, and it is not usual to find any species departing from the arrangement which may be characteristic of it; in other words, the phyllotaxis of any species is, as a rule, constant to that species. The following are illustrations :— .
4. Iris, or Flag. The glumes (chaff) of all grasses. Some “ orchids.” . Carex, or Sedge. Leaves of several grasses.
. Oak, Hawthorn. This is one of the commonest arrangements. 3. Yew, Greater Plantain. A common arrangement amongst mosses.
3. Fruits of Pineapple and many Fir-cones.
2. Scales of Spruce fir-cones.
If, now, a semicircle be described, and one extremity of its diameter represent the position of any leaf, assumed as the first (in the diagram), and if a radius be drawn at the angular distance of 120° from this point, then the point where the radius meets the circumference will be the position of the second leaf of the tristichous arrangement. The opposite extremity of the diameter will be that of the second leaf of the distichous arrangement. And these points form the extreme positions for the second leaves of spirals of the primary series, corresponding to the fractions 4 and } respectively. No second leaf ever lies nearer to the first than 120°, nor further than 180°. The positions of all the second leaves are upon the arc included between those extreme points (viz. 120 and 180 degrees from the extremity of the diameter corresponding to the position of the
*“On the Variations of the Angular Divergences of the Leaves of Helianthus tuberosus,”” by the Rey. George Henslow, Transactions of the Linnean Society, vol. xxxi. p. 647.
t If the second leaf be at a greater distance than 180, and not less than 240 degrees from the first, it will be seen that the conditions are simply reversed, and the spiral will then run round in the opposite direction.
Sik OC
PHYLLOTAXIS. 39
assumed first leaf). Thus: for the pentastichous, as we have seen, it is at an angular distance of 144°; for the 2 divergence the second leaf is at an angular distance of 135°, while the positions of the second leaves of the spirals, represented by the consecutive fractions +°;, sy, +3, &c. gradually approximate to some intermediate point on the arc, but which no known example ever reaches. That point will be understood by mathematicians to represent the “limiting’’ value of the continued fraction given above, or °° of 360°, or 187° 30’ 28’ +
Occasionally other fractions must be constructed to indicate peculiar arrangements, and which cannot be represented by any one of the fractions of the primary series. I discovered the Jerusalem Artichoke to be a plant which, unlike most species having their own peculiar
180°
137° 30! 28” + 120°
Limtés | Primary
Series
99° 30’ 6” +
ee 190°
72°
Fie. 1.
arrangements constantly the same, offered the most singular varieties. Not only were some leaves opposite, i.e. in pairs at right angles, but also in threes, all on the same level; and when this was the case they followed the same law regulating their positions, as already mentioned in the case of opposite or decussate leaves, viz. that the leaves of each group of three alternate in position with those of the groups above and _ below them; I have called* this arrangement tricussate. But besides these two kinds the leaves on many stems were arranged alternately, and could be represented by the fractions 4, 3 3, &c. But more than this; for I found that the fractions 2, ;°,, 7°5, and others were likewise to be frequently-obtained. Now these latter are obviously part of an analogous or secondary series; and if continued would stand thus: 3, 4, 7 fr ¥s zo &e, * Op. cit.
40 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
This secondary series will be seen, on comparing it with the primary, to differ in commencing with the fractions 3, 4, &e. in place of i, 4, &e.; but afterwards each successive fraction may be written down as in the primary series by simply adding the two successive numerators and denominators respectively.
If, now, we project on a plane a cycle of any one of the spiral arrangements represented by a fraction of this secondary series, as in the case of 2, we shall find that a complete circumference will invariably contain four leaves instead of three. And, moreover, the angular diver- gence of any leaf from the next in succession will be found in a similar manner to be that fractional part of 860°. Similarly, just as all angular divergences of the leaves of the primary series lie between 120° and 180° inclusively, all those of the leaves of the secondary series lie between 90° and 120°, the limiting point being at an angular distance from the first leaf of 99° 30’ 6’ +. Lastly, it must be observed that the fractions of the secondary series are the successive convergents of the continued fraction :
1+ &e.
In a manner analogous to the above, we might construct a tertiary sertes, commencing with the fractions }, }, and which would then appear as follows: 4, 1, 3, 3, 3, 38, &c. Such a series, moreover, does exist in nature, as well as others, in Lycopodium; e.g. the fractions 2, 3, 77) corresponding to the series 1, 4, &.; 4,4, &e.; 3,4, &e. respectively. Though these series are rarely to be met with now, it is interesting to find that of the trees of the Coal period several of the family allied to our existing Lycopodium, or Club-moss, illustrated them. Indeed, I have found # on Araucaria imbricata on one branch, but the usual arrange- ment belongs to the usual series, 3, 3, &c. This conifer is a living representative of a very ancient type. Having, then, before us three analogous series, it is obvious that we might construct any number of such series, and finally all would be represented by the algebraical forms, where @ is any number :—
1 ] 2 3 5
&e.
a atl 2a+1 3a +2 5a +3
These fractions being the successive convergents of the continued fraction ] a+1 |
1 + &e.
In all the preceding investigations I have supposed the space between any two successive leaves on the stem to have been sufficiently developed to enable me to trace an imaginary spiral line through the leaves. But it sometimes happens that such spaces, called internodes, are so short, or are practically wanting, that the leaves become crowded together, so that
PHYLLOTAXIS, . 41
it is quite impossible to say which is the second leaf after having fixed upon some one as the first. This is especially apparent in the case of fir-cones, where the scales may be considered as the representatives of leaves, and which, though crowded, are arranged in a strictly mathe- matical order. . If a cone of the Norway spruce fir be held vertically, the scales upon it will be observed to run in a series of parallel spirals both to the left hand and to the right. This is a result of their being crowded together, as well as of their definite arrangement. It is the object of the observer to detect and represent that order by some arithmetical symbo]. This
Fic. 2.
may be done by attending closely to the following directions :—Obs. 1. Fix upon any scale as No. 1, and mark the scales which lie in as nearly a vertical line over it as possible, viz. numbered at 22, 43,64, &c. Obs. 2. Note the scales which are below, nearest to, and overlap that scale (No. 22). Obs. 8. Run the eye along the two most elevated spirals, one to the right hand, the other to the left; and passing through the scales which overlap the scale numbered 22.* Obs. 4. Count the number of spirals (called secondary) which run round the cone parallel to these two * These spirals are shaded in the figure, so as to render them more conspicuous viz. the spiral 1, 9, 17, 25, &c. to the right; and 1, 14, 27, 40, &e. to the left.
I have said the most elevated spirals, because had I chosen the spiral passing through the scales 1, 6, 11, 16, &c. the object of search would not have been obtained.
42 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
spirals just observed; there will be found to be eight such parallel spirals to the right, and thirteen to the left, inclusive respectively of the two first noticed.
From these observations a rule has been deduced for obtaining the fraction which represents the angular divergence of the so-called ‘“‘ generating ’’ spiral which takes in every scale on the cone, in a manner similarly to those described above. Rule: The sum of the two numbers of parallel secondary spirals, viz. 13+8, or 21, forms the denominator, and the lowest, 8, supplies the numerator; so that .§, represents the angular divergence of the generating spiral. From this it is obvious that the scale immediately over No. 1 will be the 22nd, and this must com- mence a new cycle.
If the object of our search be only the discovery of this representative fraction -*;, or the angular divergence of the generating spiral, then all that is required will have been done; but in order to prove the truth of the rule given above, we must proceed to affix numbers to every scale, and so put it to a rigid test. We have, then, to show that the first cycle of the spiral line passes through twenty-one scales before arriving at No. 22, which stands almost immediately over No. 1. Secondly, the cycle must coil eight times, or complete eight entire circumferences in so doing.
Method of Numbering the Scales. — Assuming there have been 8 parallel secondary spirals to the 7ight, and 13 to the left, as in fig. 2, the process of affixing a proper number to each scale on the cone is as follows : Commencing with No. 1, affix the numbers 1, 9, 17, 25, 33, 41, 89, 97, 105, &e. on the scales of the secondary spiral passing through it to the right ; these numbers being in arithmetical progression, the common difference being 8, or the number of such parallel spirals; thus all the scales on one of the secondary (shaded) spirals will have numbers allotted to them. In a similar manner, affix the numbers 1, 14, 27, 40, 58, &c. on the successive scales of the secondary spiral to the left, using the common difference 18. Thus we shall have two secondary spirals intersecting at No. 1, and again at No. 105, with every scale properly numbered. From these two spirals all other scales can have proper numbers affixed to them. Thus, add 8 to the number of any scale, and affix the sum to the adjacent scale, on the right hand of it. Similarly, add 18 to the number of any scale, and affix the sum to the adjacent scale, on the left hand of it; e.g. if 8 be added to 40, 48 will be the number of the scale to the right of it, so that 40 and 48 are consecutive scales of a secondary spiral parallel to that passing through the scale 1, 9, 17, &c.; or if 18 be added to 25, 88 will be the number of the adjacent scale ; ze. on the spiral parallel to that passing through 1, 14, 27, &e. By this process it will be easily seen that every scale on the cone can have a number assigned to it. When this has been done, if the cone be held vertically and caused to revolve, the observer can note the positions of each scale in order (1, 2, 8, 4, &c.) ; and he will then find that the cone will have revolved eight times before the eye will rest upon the 22nd scale, which lies immediately over the first.
This experiment, then, proves the rule for the artificial method of dis- covering the fraction ,*;, which represents the angular divergence of the ‘* generating ’’ spiral.
a
PHYLLOTAXIS 43
We may also remember that there must be 21 vertical rows of leaves. These may generally be seen without much difficulty by holding the cone horizontally, and looking parallel with its axis, when the twenty-one rows of vertical scales will be observed on revolving it, somewhat in appearance like the rows of grains in a head of Indian corn.
I have said that the 22nd scale will be found almost immediately above, but not accurately in the same vertical line, with the one selected as No.1. That it cannot be precisely so is obvious from the fact that 4, of 360°, or 187° 31’+, is not an aliquot part of a circumference; the consequence is that the 22nd leaf must stand a little out of the vertical line, and of course the 48rd will be double that distance, and the 64th treble the amount, and so on. Hence it results that this swpposed vertical line is in reality a highly-elevated spiral line, and instead of there being 21 actually vertical rows of scales there will be 21 very elevated spirals (see fig. 2).
That the rows of leaves on any stem may be strictly vertical, the arrangement must be represented by some fraction the denominator of which measures 360°, suchas 3, 4, 3, and 3; whereas +3,, 34, &c. represent spirals in which no two leaves are ever in the same vertical line exactly.
As a general rule, all leaf-arrangements on stems with well-developed internodes can be represented by some one of the fractions 3, 1, 2, and 2; whereas those with undeveloped internodes, as in the scales of cones, thistle-heads, &c., are represented by higher members of the series, such aS 15) 21) ba &C.
I must now turn to the other condition under which leaves are arranged, namely opposite. When this is the case, each pair of leaves, as has been stated above, stands at right angles to the pairs above and below it. Some plants have, either normally or occasionally, three or more leaves on the same level. When this occurs, the leaves of each group stand over the intervals of the group below it; ze. they alternate with the leaves of the groups both above and below it.
This kind of arrangement is best seen in the parts of flowers, all of which are homologous with, or partake of, the same essential nature as leaves, and which, when complete in number, are separable into four sets of organs, called the four floral whorls; viz. calyx of sepals, corolla of petals, stamens, and pistil of carpels. It appears to be an invariable law that the parts of each whorl should alternate with those of the whorls above and below them. Indeed, so impressed are botanists with the persistency of this law, that when the parts of any one of the floral whorls stand immediately in front of the parts of a preceding external whorl, they at once infer that an intermediate whorl has disappeared. This is con- Spicuously the case in all primroses and cowslips, and other members of the family to which they belong; wherein it will be noticed that each Stamen is affixed or adherent to the tube of the corolla, but immediately in front of a petal, and not between two petals. That this idea of the Suppression of another whorl of stamens is not without foundation, it may be observed that the flowers of a little denizen of damp meadows, Samolus Valerandi, and akin to a primrose, have rudimentary stump-like organs which stand affixed to the corolla, and alternate with the petals ; while the true stamens alternate with the former ; and therefore, as in the
44 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Primrose, stand immediately in the front of the petals. In the Primrose itself no trace of any such suppressed whorl of stamens is ever apparent. In a large number of plants which are habitually—normally—without a corolla, the stamens, as would be expected, stand in front of, and not alternating with, the sepals.
Although the organs of flowers are usually grouped in distinct whorls, yet in many are they spirally arranged; and when this is the case they can be represented by some fraction of the series given for alternate leaves.*
A point now to be particularly observed is that these two arrange- ments, viz. the “spiral’’ and the “ verticillate’’ (or “ whorled,” including the “ opposite ’’), appear to be due to forces acting independently of each other ; for it is rare to find whorls passing into spirals, and still rarer for spirals to pass into whorls—if, indeed, it ever occurs.
“The Jerusalem Artichoke, however, furnishes many illustrations of the former process, and in some instances of the latter, though no gradual transition from a spiral to “verticillate’’ or opposite conditions ever occurred in the cases examined.
The following will enable it to be understood how a passage from opposite or verticillate leaves into spiral arrangements can be effected: The change from the opposite (decussate) leaves into the ? divergence occurred somewhat frequently as follows: A pair of leaves slightly con- verge to one side, the angular distance between them being about 150°. The succeeding pair likewise converge, but have a somewhat less angle, one of the leaves in each case becoming slightly elevated by the develop- ment of an internode; so that the sixth leaf now appears over the first, or the lowest leaf of the first pair that converged to one side. It must be noted that the angles between the radii drawn to the position of the converging leaves do not accurately contain 144°, or 2? x3860°. But as the spiral arrangement is continued up the stem and into the terminal bud, the leaves seem to “right’’ themselves, as it were; so that the appearance of the spiral in the neighbourhood of the summit is more accurate than at the point of departure from the highest pair of opposite leaves.
The change from opposite and decussate leaves to the 2th arrange- ment will be seen by the following diagram. The leaves are represented as still standing in their original positions; but in becoming alternate one leaf of each pair stands at a higher level than that of its companion. Now the order in which the leaves are raised above their fellows is seen by the numbers, lying on a long spiral line (fig. 8).
The passage from opposite and decussate positions to the ? arrange- ment is effected by three processes. irst, the second pair of leaves is not quite at right angles to the first chosen. Similarly the third pair is not at right angles to the second ; a slight twist, as it were, has been given to both in the same direction. Secondly, the order of uplifting of one leaf of each pair to a higher level than that of its companion is in a definite and constant order, as shown in fig. 3. This causes a short internode to
* A point worthy of note is, that the free portions of the corolla of a primrose overlap one another in just such a way as corresponds to the ? arrangement of spiral leaves ; though, of course, they are now actually verticillate.
PHYLLOTAXIS. 45
be developed between the leaves of each pair. It subsequently becomes equal to the longer intervals between the pairs. ‘T'hirdiy, each pair grows at an obtuse angle of about 150°, finally becoming between later pairs of leaves 144°, when the 2 arrangement is established.
Returning to fig. 3, it will be observed that if a spiral line be drawn through the numbers 1 to 6 it will make 2 coils or circles: 1 to 9 will make 3, 1 to 14 5 coils, and so on.
It will be noted that } and } are not provided for: yet these two represent the commonest arrangements in Monocotyledons, just as the preceding do in Dicotyledons. The reason for this is that in the latter class alternate leaves follow on a pair of opposite cotyledons; and the usual plan is ?, as may be well seen in a germinating acorn. ;
When there is only one cotyledon the next leaf may be either at a distance of 180°, that supplies the 1; or 120°, which results in the 1 arrangement: because (with the exception of 4) in nocase is there ever
per ed te iG £9 SPP ED of
more or less than three leaves in any part of the spiral which completes a circle.*
Species of Pondweed (Potamogeton) have their leaves distichous, but not infrequently they are in pairs, apparently opposite without being decussate ; but one leaf of each pair really overlaps the other. They may be distichous with internodes well developed between each leaf (P. lwceis) ; or there may be some in pairs, others alone (P. prelongus, perfoliatus, and crispus) ; or they may all be in pairs (P. densus).
It is an interesting fact that Ranunculus Ficaria, which has one cotyledon only, also has its leaves distichous in a similar manner. But when we arrive at the flowers we find the phyllotaxis suddenly changed * to 4 arrangement in the 3-sepalled calyx, and 3 in the 1-petalled corolla. This will be explained below.
That Monocotyledons are descended from Dicotyledons is borne out by the fact that it is not infrequent to find the embryo of the former pro- vided with a rudimentary second cotyledon. Thus, Tamus communis, the
* In the series 3, $, &c. there are always 4 leaves &e.
46 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Black Briony, and Asparagus are both provided with it. Several grasses appear to have such a rudiment.*
Changes from the tricussate arrangement, 7.e. decussating whorls of threes, into the 3 divergence of the secondary series were frequent. It takes place in the following manner: The first step is to cause the three leaves of the different whorls to separate slightly by a development of their internodes. Then, if any two consecutive whorls be examined, the order of succession of the six leaves (No. 1 being the lowest) is thus :-—
6 3 2 7 9 4 8 5 1
Fic. 4.
In which it will be noticed that the fourth leaf, instead of being over the interval between the first and second, is over that between the third and first, so that the angle between the first and second leaf, or between the second and third, is dowble that between the third and fourth. These latter, it will be remembered, are separated by a long internode. The same order obtains with the succeeding whorls ; the nodes, however, are now much more widely separated, while a true spiral arrangement, with the same angular distance between all its leaves, is ultimately secured, and is henceforth continued uninterruptedly into the terminal bud, and represented by the fraction ?
The method by which this is secured is much the same as for the 2 from opposite and decussate leaves, for in order to reduce the angle eee 1 and 2 from 120° to 108° (nearly), and to enlarge the angle between 8 and 4 from 60° to 103°, Nos. 1 and 3 approach No. 2, Nos. 4 and 6 approach No. 5, and Nos. 7 and 9 approach No. 8. By this means the larger angles are reduced and the smaller, 7.e. between Nos. 3 and 4, 6 and 7, 8, and 9, are increased till they all reach 108°.
From very many observations on stems of the J erusalem Artichoke, it appears that to resolve opposite and decussate leaves into spirals of the primary series and tricussate verticils into those of the secondary series is more easily accomplished than any other kinds of transition. To reverse the process, or to bring back spirals into verticils, seems quite contrary to all nature’s tendencies to change, except in flowers. Stems of the | Jerusalem Artichoke occasionally had their leaves arranged spirally below, and verticillate above; but then the change was abrupt. The spiral suddenly terminated, and the last leaf was succeeded by three in a whorl. The extra third leaf is often “ thrown out,” as it were, as a supernumerary member.
Leaf arrangements are usually pretty constant to any species; but this is not absolutely so; because plants have the power to change it if it be desirable to secure light in different ways. Thus the common laurel,
* For further particulars the reader is referred to my paper on “ A Theoretical
Origin of Endogens from Exogens through Self-Adaptation to an Aquatic Habit ”’ (Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xxix. p. 485).
hie ays
PHY LLOTAXIS. AT
which has its leaves distichous on the lateral boughs, so as to expose their upper surfaces to the light from above, will produce vertical shoots from the top of the bulb, having their leaves arranged on the 3 plan. Thesame occurs with the free branches of the ivy compared with those climbing up a wall, on which the leaves are distichous.
The Yew seems to have its leaves distichous, but a closer inspection reveals the fact they are not so, but on the 2 plan: each leaf, however, is twisted at its base, so as to make the whole horizontal. The young shoots, which may stand more nearly vertical, reveal the true order. As this habit is retained in the Irish Yew the leaves are never distichous on that variety.
Floral Phyllotaxis.—As the parts of flowers are all identical in origin with leaves it is natural to suppose that they will follow the same laws. This they do, with certain modifications, in order to adapt them for their new functions. We have seen why 3’s prevail in monocotyledons, and in dicotyledons 5’s. The reason is that 5’s are cycles of the 2 arrangement and 3’s of the 4. But, instead of each cycle, i.e. floral whorl, being exactly over the preceding, the “law of alternation”? now intervenes ; so that each whorl alternates, i.e. in a “‘ decussate ’’ manner, with the next. Hence when a whorl happens to be suppressed this alternation appears to be violated, as stated in the case of the five stamens of a Primrose. If 2’s or 4’s occur in flowers of dicotyledons, they generally result from opposite leaves, as in Lilac.
By the way the petals are folded in the bud various modifications. become revealed. If the reader draw a plan of the ? arrangement on a spiral containing two coils, and place the Nos. 1, 2, 3 at an angular distance of 144°, he will find that by a slight alteration the second petal (represented by a crescent) may have one edge wnderlying the third petal. Then, if the fourth similarly underlies the fifth, we get the so- called imbricate whorl, 7z.e. each petal overlaps the next. But when the first is also underneath the third then the convolute or “contorted’’ condition is reached, characteristic of mallows, flax, convolvulus, &c.
Various modifications are to be seen in papilionaceous flowers of the Pea family, and especially in flowers with coherent petals, as the Snap- dragon, &c., but for details of these I must refer the reader to my paper elsewhere.*
Elaborate calculations as to the number of parts of flowers in many different individuals of the same species have been made to ascertain their relative sequence. ‘Thus on counting the rays or pedicles of umbels of Torilis Anthriscus the maxima were 5, 8, 10 (=2x5); while the number of ray petals of Chrysanthemum segetwm gave 18, 21, 26 (=2 x 13), 34. In the case of the stigmatic rays of poppies 13 is the maximum. With the ray flowers of the ox-eye Daisy, 21 far outstripped the others. In the Cowslip, 3, 5, 8, 10(=2 x5), 138 were the maxima, 5 being the chief.
It will be at once seen that these maxima correspond with the different phyllotactical arrangements; but why, in fixing the number of parts ina whorl, Nature should endeavour to retain what may be called “cycular’’ numbers is unknown. ‘The above experiments in calculations
* “ On the Origin of Floral HMstivations,”’ Trans. Linn, Soc. vol. i. 1876, p. 177.
48 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
only illustrate what may be observed in nature. A composite with ray florets often has eight only. This was the case with the wild Dahlia and Zinnia, but under cultivation the number rapidly increased. Chrysocoma has regularly five only, thereby mimicking a five-petalled flower. One common by road-sides near Cape Town, and in a semi-starved condition, always bore tree ray florets only. A correspondent informs me that in counting the ray florets of a South Kuropean marigold the maxima were 21 and 34, being correlated with their habitats. Thus 21 is the usual or typical number; but near the sea the first maximum rose to 26 (=2x13) and 34. “ The ox-eye daisy has generally 21 florets at the level of Lake Como; but at a height of 400 to 500 feet on the mountain a form is developed during the height of the flowering season with 34 rays, reverting at the end of the season to 21. The number of ray florets in different composites varies with the environment.”
With regard to the 3 sepals and 8 petals of Ranunculus Ficaria, the former arise from the fact that the plantis monocotyledonous, as stated above, but the change from 3 sepals to 8 petals is due to the fact that the angle of 120° (4) is nearer to 185° (2) than 144° (2), so that the change is easier from the } to 3 arrangement than to the 2.
Conclusion.—I have now endeavoured to give a brief and as clear account as I can of the main facts and principles of Phyllotaxis. But, if we venture to search for a cause of such definite and exact arrangements of leaves, it will probably be fruitless, for as yet no satisfactory explanation has ever been given. It is not enough to say that it is a wise arrange- ment that leaves should not all be over one another, so as to exclude the light and air, and impede one another’s functions ; but why are there so many different ways of doing it, as represented by the fractions 3, 4, 2, &e.?
ARCHES, PILLARS, AND PERGOLAS, 49
ARCHES, PILLARS, AND PERGOLAS. By Mr. Wauter P. WRriaHt.
[Summary of a lecture delivered on July 11, 1907.)
THs subject could be dealt with from the descriptive, the artistic, or the practical point of view. I might merely give particulars of existing examples, say what I think they ought to be, or describe how to con- struct and clothe them. But it would be of little real value to speak at length of the pretty arches or beautiful pergolas in various parts of the country, and I will pay most attention to practical matters.
First, however, let me say that the word “art’’ is used in far too loose a way in connection with flower gardening. Most people seem to think that they get an artistic garden if they simply leave out ‘‘ geraniums,”’ and that when they have stuck in some arches, in however incongruous a way, their handiwork is complete. Often the arches are of wire; I prefer my ironmongery in the form of spades and hoes. :
As an example of a modern artistic garden I recently saw a straight walk spanned with a series of disconnected wire arches, each with an anemic and decrepit example of Crimson Rambler Rose. Why arches in such a place? ‘The natural and appropriate use of arches is to mark divisions of gardens. The proper thing for a straight walk is a pergola. Arches out of place, of the wrong material, and with unhealthy plants upon them are ugly and incongruous.
When we have made up our mind that wooden structures are more suitable than metal ones we bring ourselves to practical questions. What is the best material? Where are we to look for it? What may we expect to have to pay for it? The best natural material is larch, because it is straight and is a recognised market commodity. Timber merchants in country districts often stock larch poles about 22 feet long, which, when cut into two, will make two uprights of suitable length. It is the truest economy to purchase a supply of long poles and cut them up. Do not let the vendor peel them; the bark is best left on, as the poles then have a more natural appearance. Larch is not a durable wood naturally, but if 3 feet at the bottom of the pole be peeled and treated with some preservative it would last for a very long time. Some might ask, Why treat 3 feet? Will not half that length suftice? Arches, pillars, and pergolas must be constructed properly, and in order to have them firm and secure from being swayed by the wind, which is very bad for the plants, the upright should be sunk into the ground nearly or quite 8 feet. With an 11-foot pole there will be 38 feet in the ground and 8 feet out of it, which is the orthodox height.
A common preservative is creosote. This should not be used for green wood, as the latter will absorb too much. Seasoned poles should be secured. The creosote should be used cold, as then it has no
deleterious action on the tissues of the wood. It is better to soak the EB
50 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
ends of the poles in it for two or three weeks rather than to paint it on, and when treated thus the poles are well-nigh imperishable, but it is not innocent of causing root injury. A safer plan is to get ordinary coal tar, ready boiled, paint it on the bottoms of the poles, and dust with sand. This answers well, and is considerably cheaper than creosote, enough for a considerable number of poles being obtainable for 5s. A third and still more economical way is to char the ends of the poles in the garden fire.
The question now arises: Where shall we get the material? Obtain- ing poles is not so serious a business as is generally supposed. They can often be got at timber yards in the larger country towns where good nurseries exist. Or they may be obtained at timber sales, which are held in many districts in autumn. For a 15-foot to 18-foot larch pole, rough, one might pay 6d. at a sale, and for a 22-foot pole at the timber mer- chant’s 2s. to 3s. Even at the higher price, viz. 3s., one cannot say it is dear, as two 11-foot poles are thus obtained for 1s. 6d. each. _ In districts where there are woods, dead spruce may often be obtained cheaply by getting into touch with the forester, and it can be made good use of. So far as durability is concerned oak is undoubtedly the best, but it is very expensive, 11-foot posts costing 3s. to 4s. each. Even an oak post needs the base dressing. When putting arches together one wants a certain amount of short, gnarled, crooked, rough material for the upper part. This is often difficult to get, but it can be obtained at many wood yards in districts where there are large gardens.
A special word should be said about pillars. They form a most valu- able feature in flower gardens. Clothed with Clematises, as at Kew, they are exceedingly beautiful, and for giving variety they are splendid. An excellent plan is to have three good pillars in a rough triangle, 3 feet to 4 feet apart, of good, stout material.
Pergolas are annually becoming more popular. I might describe a pergola as a connected series of arches. It may be constructed in various ways, and one of the most solid and attractive that I know of may be briefly described. It is in the garden of the mayor of Canterbury, Mr. Bennett Goldney. On the top of each of the upright poles that form the supports for the pergola is laid a stout piece of unpeeled larch, about 18 inches long. On this meet the ends of three horizontal poles—two forming the continuation of the top side lines and the other connecting the two sides of the pergola across the walk. These three ends abut. On them lie the ends of two more poles—namely, the top diagonals. All these are securely spiked together, forming an absolutely taut, substantial, and homogeneous erection.
The ordinary pergola has the upright poles 8 feet out of the ground and 8 feet apart, but of course this can be varied considerably to suit individual requirements. The upright poles on each side of the path are connected by two lines of horizontal poles, and these in turn are con- nected with cross poles of lighter weight ; 6-inch material for uprights and 8-inch or 4-inch for cross poles are generally used, but of course much more substantial structures are erected where cost is not the first con- sideration.
We now come to the important question of themost appropriate kind of plants for arches pillars, and pergolas. One cannot recommend the same
ARCHES, PILLARS, AND PERGOLAS. 51
kind of plants for all. For arches the first essential is plants that produce long canes, ‘Crimson Rambler’ Rose being a good example. For pillars
we want something that throws out vigorous lateral growths, a typical
plant being the old but beautiful rose ‘ Félicité-Perpétue.’ For pergolas E2
Fic. 5.—A Prraonua at BuytrHEwoop.
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we require a blend of both. Of roses suitable for arches we have ‘ Crimson Rambler,’ ‘ Euphrosyne,’ a splendid variety, ‘Carmine Pillar’ (an almost ideal arch rose), ‘ Cheshunt Hybrid,’ and ‘ Ards Rover.’ Roses suitable for pillars are ‘Félicité-Perpétue,’ the beautiful white-flowered variety ‘Rampant,’ which is not half enough known, and ‘ Dundee Rambler’ among the oldest sorts, whilst among the newer varieties ‘ Hiawatha,’ ‘Paradise Rambler,’ ‘Lady Gay,’ ‘Stella,’ and ‘Kathleen,’ should provide almost ideal raaterial. ‘Penzance Briers’ are usually looked upon as hedge roses, but they are valuable for pillars if the strongest varieties are selected and well vultivated. ‘Lucy Ashton,’ ‘ Lucy Bertram,’ and ‘Meg Merrilies’ are three of the best. By growing in deep, rich soil one gets many long canes, and I deal with some of these in a somewhat heterodox manner. Selecting two or three of the strongest and best ripened canes, I cut them down in the spring to within eighteen inches of the ground; I cut others to within a yard of the soil, and leave the rest uncut, tying in their long laterals in a line with them. One thus gets masses of bloom from bottom to top. ‘Lord Penzance’ and ‘Lady Penzance’ are too weak growers to treat like this.
Among the Clematises we have splendid material for covering arches, pillars, and pergolas. A few of the best are ‘Miss Bateman,’ ‘The — Queen,’ and ‘Fair Rosamond,’ of the patens type, which need little pruning in spring, and ‘Jackmanni,’ its white variety, and the red ‘Madame Edouard André,’ all of which need hard pruning in spring. There are, of course, a large number of other kinds of plants suitable for pergolas, such as Ceanothus, Eccremocarpus, Kerria, Honeysuckle, Jasmine, and the Vitises.
A word in conclusion about cultivation. No matter how well we con- struct our arches and pergolas we shall never get them well clothed unless we give the plants proper care and attention. Too often the framework is everything, the culture nothing. The soil should be worked two to three spits deep and well manured. Vigorous growth is then insured.
THE JAPANESE DWARF TREES, 53
THE JAPANESE DWARF TREES: THEIR CULTIVATION IN ; JAPAN AND THEIR USE AND TREATMENT IN EUROPE.
By Monsitgeur ALBERT MAUMERNE. 3
(Abstracts from a pamphlet published in Paris in 1902.|
THE matter contained in the following paper is derived partly from original observation and partly from consultation of the undermentioned works : Bine, 8. Dwarf Trees of Japan: Catalogue of a collection of. (Paris, 1902, with 10 plates.) Carrizre, E.-A. Articles on Japanese Horticulture. (Rev. hort., Paris, 1878, p- 271.) —— Japanese Gardens. (Rev. hort., Paris, 1899, p. 374.) Dysowskt. The Japanese Garden. (Nature, Paris, 1889, II., p. 239.) Maury. On the Japanese Methods of Dwarfing Trees. (Bull. Soc. Bot. France. Paris, 1899, p. 290.) Tue Yoxouama Nursery. How the Japanese grow Dwarf Trees in Jardiniéres. (Gard. Chron., London 1899, II., p. 466.) Vautot, J. Physiological Causes which produce the Stunted Formation of Trees under Japanese Cultivation. (Bull. Soc. Bot. France, Paris, 1889, p. 284.)
MM. Carricre and Vallot do not treat the subject in a detailed manner. They do not advance any very intelligent suppositions, and confine themselves principally to facts.
The paper on the Yokohama nursery is by no means a description of the methods of dwarfing adopted by the Japanese, but simply of the treat- ment bestowed by them on trees already trained or in course of formation.
The art of restricting the growth of even the largest trees, so that they only attain to a mere fraction of their normal size, is, like every other Japanese idea, both original and curious ; and it enables us to place on our tables a fir 200 years old or an octogenarian plum tree. To a Japanese the dwarf trees are works of art, equal in value to pictures by true artists. This art of dwarfing forest trees is part of the education of the Japanese gentry. It has its schools and its old masters. The young persons of the wealthy classes devote to this art the time which young European ladies spend in music, drawing, &e. This shows that the Japanese views on many points are very different from ours. To the Japanese the garden is the outdoor salon, and the salon is the indoor garden. They always like to have before them the illusion of a natural landscape. To admire these works in default of special education in this matter, one must learn to appreciate such curved lines as will charm the eye at first sight.
The art of the Japanese gardeners does not consist in simply growing and flowering beautiful plants. Their ambition is far greater: the trees cultivated in china pots must recall and reproduce by their appearance those which grow on the mountain slope or on the edge of the ravine, and
54 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
although dwarf, they must preserve their majestic shapes and natural outlines.
Next to the artistic part, the treatment of these trees is all a matter of time, and it needs the skilful fingers of the Japanese, their light and accurate manipulation, and their sense of what is necessary to bend, twist, and tie down those frail branches from the offspring of giants, and to make lilliputian trees which will live to 100 years or more.
LONDONETCH Co
Fic. 6.—Marir, 250 years oup. (J. Carter & Co.)
JAPANESE AistHETICs.—The Japanese, who have invented the art of dwarfing things, prefer the tiny trees and lilliputian forests (which seem so odd to our eyes), rather than the lofty forest trees, venerable shades, and the free growth of plant life. These tiny trees, when planted in little jardiniéres or in very shallow trays or pans, have all the appearance and the characteristics in miniature of their congeners growing freely in the open; and the majority bear the marks of time as well as such obvious traces of their treatment as knotted and deformed trunks, twisted and deformed branches, and scanty, limited foliage.
The aspirations and tastes of Orientals are different from our own; they hold fast to their national traditions, and particularly to those of
THE JAPANESE DWARF TREES. 55
an wsthetic nature. Generally speaking, the Japanese men are small, and their houses also, the latter are built with a view to resisting the elements and earthquakes better. Tiny gardens of delicate scenery surround them, in which big trees would appear to be out of propor- tion and harmony.
It may easily be imagined what pains, patience, and constant attention are necessary to obtain such results, and to arrest the growth of what
Fic, 7-—PomerGRANATE, 150 years oup. (J. Carter & Co.)
would become a large tree, so that it only attains very dwarf proportions, is no easy task. For if the dwarf tree lose one of its branches, or characteristics, by a bough being badly trained, it is no longer of any value. It has been said that these plants might be compared to monstrosities or to deformed people; but this reproach is not merited, for their cultivation consists of a real restraint applied to a tree, which, unrestrained in its development, would have grown freely; {and much
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determination, patience, and tenacity of purpose are required to meet the circumstances of each case.
It would not be accurate to compare dwarf plants obtained by Kuropean cultivation with those miniature trees in the treatment of which the Japanese excel. Whilst the “dwarfing”’ of plants is carried on by us principally in the direction of “ hybridisation’ and selection, to which certain cultural operations are added, notably “ pinching,” in order to render the plants useful for certain purposes, in Japan it is the result of a special and consistent treatment, and we may add that more than one of these dwarfed trees put into the open ground did not take long to break away from the narrow limits in which they had been forced to grow.
We consider, on the other hand, that there is no comparison between the plants treated by the Chinese, and the Japanese dwarf trees, so different are the objects aimed at, and the methods employed. Monsieur Albert Tissandier, who has sgen these trees at home, has explained in “Nature”? (1891, p. 860, and 1902, p. 86) the manner in which the Chinese prepare them. Their system is to use a framework of iron wire representing various persons, an animal, or other object, being placed on the vase, on which were trained the branches of the plant, when it was wished to represent people, the head, hands, and feet being painted on earthenware. In other cases, yews are cut and twisted in the form of mandarins or other persons. One can thus see that the Japanese plants have no more than a distant resemblance to those of China, as they are treated in an entirely diiferent manner.
PHYSIOLOGICAL CAUSES OF DWARFING AND OF DEFORMITY IN VEGETA- T10N.—Dwarfing, or, to be more exact, the atrophy of these plants, is due to physiological causes, which are themselves the result either of the methods of cultivation employed, or of the conditions amidst which they grow. We can even see both in the formation of the lilliputian Japanese trees, as the climate of that country predisposes the plants to remain dwarf.
Altitude, dry heat, constant chills, lack of nourishment, confined space for the roots, want of nourishment during the youth of the plants, and strong winds, are among the elements which contribute to stunting the plants. Anyone making an excursion among the mountains on their sunny slopes and in dry places, the details of which cannot be now given, “may notice how a conifer which has lost its head is checked for a time, and if, after the tree has begun to grow again, this injury is repeated from time to time, the check will be felt more and more at each re- petition, and the tree will remain stunted, knotted, and deformed. All the cultural operations bear on these points—want of nourishment, frequent pruning, twisting and bending the branches, the use of small pots, root pruning; and anything which can paralyse the vitality of the plant, by impeding the circulation of the sap and diminishing the nourishment, tends to check the growth and leads to a very noticeable change in the aspect of the plant so treated, and renders it capable of being dwarfed, which is then only a matter of time and perseverance.
That is why the same subjects, but less exaggerated in their growth, may be met with in every pass on the mountain side, in fissures in the rocks, and in all places where the plants have to struggle for their existence, against the natural surroundings. The methods adopted by the
THE JAPANESE DWARF TREES. of
Japanese are not so unnatural as has been often stated. That is, one must not forget, that they are clever and adroit imitators rather than creators in the full sense of the word; everything in Japanese arts and indus- tries demonstrates this most fully.
The raising of dwarf trees has been practised for centuries in both Japan and China with a true artistic passion, These productions of the
Fie. 8.—TxHovya.
collaboration of man and of time are handed down from generation to generation, and plants grown to perfection exhibit either a certain shape obtained according to an initial plan, or else present the same outline in miniature as they have when growing naturally.
This form of Japanese art has its schools and its acknowledged masters, both amateur and professional, just as in Europe in the case of painting and sculpture. Eséki, Chokaré, Murano, Oesopé, Magoyémon,
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who were experts in the treatment of pines, the family Ito, who preferred to work on Chamaecyparis and Thuya, have educated at Tokio and other centres renowned pupils: Nishé of Idéka, Také of Denchu, Tanaka, Takaghé, Terano of Yamamoto. LHach of these artists has signed these vegetable masterpieces which have attained and kept a high value, equal at times to that of a great picture. These trees are always taken particular care of, as the least fault in the shape is regarded as a graye blemish.
Fic. 9.—Tuovya.
THE DirrFeERENT Forms oF TREES AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION.— Independently of efforts made to preserve the natural features in dwarfed trees, attempts are made to get forms which follow definite theories of lines which’ conform to the «esthetic canons of Japanese floral art, the best proof of which is that the dwarf trees are classed in seven well-defined principal groups, which are recognised under the following names :
30NSAI.— Miniature trees preserving their natural shape and character- istics (figs. 14, 16, 18).
Mikosu1.— Dwarf trees in which the base is bare (fig. 8).
THE JAPANESE DWARF TREES. ‘59
KenGAi.—Trees overhanging a rising ground, or which appear to throw their branches over a rock (fig. 9).
Nazasui.—Dwearf trees with weeping or downward growing branches (fig. 10).
JIKK1.—With formal arrangement of the branches (figs. 11, 12).
NEAZARI.—Trees or shrubs in which the bare roots above ground are regarded as of most importance (figs. 12, 15, 17).
Bonxkai.—The arrangement in the same vase of several dwarf plants, forming a group or a picturesque scene.
This classification could be considerably simplified by dividing the plants into two main groups :
(a) Those trees which are only dwarfed and keep their shape and general appearance so exactly that they seem to be photographic reduc- tions of natural-sized plants ; or, to use another comparison, they resemble the natural-sized trees if the latter are looked at through the wrong end of an opera-glass.
(b) Those which have undergone a modification of shape in their treatment, according to a certain theory of lines.
ScrNES AND MrntaATuRE GARDENS.—We must add that the same principles inspire the formation in a simple tray some few inches square, produced by a happy arrangement of various plants on a miniature hillock, sometimes flanked by a rock, the whole generally well propor- tioned, and showing in miniature various scenes in celebrated Japanese gardens. These are made on a certain preconceived idea, nothing being left to chance. They are made with a real knowledge of the law of pro- portion, and give the idea of a real piece of country.
We have seen in a tray a miniature reproduction of the Isle of Misaka made by a twisted pine, a loose-growing cryptomeria, a kirisima and a bamboo with their branches entangled, and sheltering under their foliage little houses of bronze, in front of which little china figures appear to be moving. In a second tray was another miniature garden dominated by the curious and twisted form of a pine growing above a Thuya which reared its knotty trunk over a rock, clasping it with its red string-like roots, which somewhat resembled serpents, whilst a dwarf maple overshadowed a little porch with its branches of different coloured leaves.
After having modelled the foundation of a garden in clay, so as to accurately represent the contour of the ground it is wished to portray, the gardener adds fragment of rocks, if the scene requires them, always in proportion to the size of the whole. Then he puts the selected plants, which have been arranged beforehand, in the positions chosen for them, after which he adds the models of dwellings, porticoes and other erections, and finally places in position the figures which serve to give life to the scene. There is nothing artificial in this arrangement, and if a rocky escarp- ment or other natural rugged scene is shown, everything that would be artificial is omitted, even those groups of plants which might, by one growing out beyond the others, show in time the difference between un- cultivated nature and the carefully tended garden.
THE PLANTS MOST SUITABLE FOR Dwarrine.—It is evident that the Japanese excel in selecting the species which are best adapted for
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dwarfing and for the treatment which they have to undergo, at the same __
time preserving the whole of their natural characteristics. | Conifers are the favourite plants, and among them Thuya obtusa,
and var. breviramea (which the Japanese call the green variety), and
Fic. 10.—Prunus Mvume, :
var. filicoides aurea (the golden variety); Pus densiflora and var. albiflora, P. parviflora and var. brevifolia, P. Massoniana, P. Thunbergu, Podocarpus Nageia and var. variegata, P. macrophylla, P. okina ; Larix
THE JAPANESE DWARF TREES. 61
leptolepis ; Juniperus rigida, J. recurva, J. chinensis, J. sabina ; Crypto- meria japonica, Cupressus Corneyana ; Sciadopitys verticillata ; Thuya orientalis, Tsuga Sieboldu, Ginko biloba, &e., are the best adapted for dwarfing for many reasons; they can live with but little nourishment without any risk of the plant dying suddenly, their roots grow quickly and enable the trunk to carry the crown of foliage at a considerable distance from the pot.
Generally speaking, deciduous plants are not so useful; the leaves have a tendency to become as large as when the plants grow naturally, and all proportion is lost. Conifers, on the other hand, always appear
Fic. 11.—Pinze, CHAMAECYPARIS.
as true representations of the larger trees, and the size of the leaves 1s in perfect harmony with the size of the plants.
The plants other than Conifers which are most used are: Negundo aceroidés, Acer palmatum, A. trifidwm, and other cut-leaved varieties ; Rhyncospermum japonicum, Zelkova crenata, Quercus cuspidata, and Q. phylliraeoides; plum trees (Prunus Mume and P. kaido), Styrax japonica, Lagerstroemia imdica, Cycas revoluta, Crataegus cuneata, Azalea indica and varieties, honeysuckle, Wistaria, bamboos, Zelkova acuminata, Euonymus Thunbergianus, Ivy, Cydonia japonica, «pome- granate, flowering cherries, Ficus nipponica, Pittosporwm, T'rachelo- spermum jasmunoides, &¢c., Ternstroemia japonica, &e.
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ImporTATioNs OF Dwarr TreEs.—M. Kasavara showed a collection of dwarf trees at the Exposition Universelle in 1878, which was the first importation into France.
English people seem to be particularly fond of these trees, which explains the large and numerous importations which have reached that country during the past few years. His Majesty King Edward VII. him- self possesses some unique examples, in which he is greatly interested.
Fic. 12.—Pine.
THE VARIOUS METHODS ADOPTED IN JAPAN FOR DWARFING TREES.— The best way of obtaining these trees is perhaps from seed, but it is also
the slowest. ‘The seeds, chosen from among the smallest and poorest of
each kind, are sown in small pots and in poor soil. As soon as the young plants have appeared, their heads are taken off just above the two cotyledons with the view of encouraging the formation of two shoots which are much less vigorous than one central shoot, and of which only the weaker is preserved. ‘The development of this shoot takes place very slowly when in a vessel of small size, deprived of nourishment, and only watered
a a
etintierdeie)
THE JAPANESE DWARF TREES. 63
sufficiently to prevent the young plant from perishing. As soon as it is long enough, this shoot is made to take the form of a letter §, or it is bent in different shapes, or when it has become woody, and has been rendered very pliant by being deprived of water until it begins to droop, it is tied as a string might be into several knots. This operation, which is especially practised on pines, checks their development and makes them grow in an unusual manner at the collar. When the branches are developed, those which are not cut off are twisted, and in due time and in pro- portion to their length so fastened to the trunk as to make them take an irregular growth, sinuous, zigzag, either vertical, horizontal, or oblique, according to the idea aimed at.
Fic. 13.—Oaxk, 150 YEARS OLD, SHOWING BRICK EMBEDDED IN TRUNK. (J. Carter & Co.)
ARRANGEMENT OF THE BrancHes.—The frequent nipping-off of buds, and the use of numerous, almost invisible, fastenings of brass wire or of very fine slips of bamboo, assist considerably in keeping the plant in the form which it is desired it should have.
When a branch dies, another is selected or it may be replaced by grafting.
In many cases, and especially among conifers, the trunk of a young tree is twisted round a support as if it were a climbing plant. This explains the spiral form of certain trunks of Thwya, and especially those of pines. The support employed is either a stout length of bamboo, which is subsequently taken away, or the trunk of a tree fern, or again
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a fragment of porous rock, of coral or madrepore, the outline of which is in harmony with that of the trees, which is allowed to remain. Many of the pigmy trees imported into Europe have been trained in this manner, and their branches have grown on to the rock or the piece of fern trunk which formed their support. One can understand that by this operation the cells become wasted, and the circulation of the sap is hindered. Thus the young tree becomes deformed, or rather assumes the distorted shape which is wished for. 3
SUPPRESSION AND MUTILATION OF THE Roots.—Stunted vegetation is greatly due to lack of nourishment and to the very limited space in which the roots are placed, and which they quickly fill as they grow, in their effort to escape downwards. The pots should be changed at intervals of several years, but the new ones should be but little larger ; the plants do not resent this treatment in any way. The entire or partial cutting of the taproot, and mutilations of the principal roots, have a con- siderable influence in the final result. Even if nothing were done for the suppression of roots, the tap (or principal) root, restricted in its develop- ment, soon becomes weak or dies; the rootlets, also restrained in their growth, are unable to develop rapidly enough or in sufficient quantities to draw from the soil the nutritive elements required for the normal nourishment of the plant.
The result of this treatment is a general, very noticeable, altera- tion in the habit of the plant, which continues, nevertheless, to live, but in a sorry and miserable manner. This fact is observable, but in a less marked degree, in plants in European gardens which have not been repotted at the right time.
TREATMENT OF OLD TREES.—Notwithstanding the perseverance and patience which they bring to bear on the formation of trees which they have raised from seed, the Japanese often wish to gain the same result more quickly. So they search the mountains, the sides of cliffs, and wooded districts, for plants already stunted, twisted, and deformed, or laid low by storms, and to which the situation where they grow has already added a curious, irregular, and picturesque appearance. Or, again, they select in the nurseries subjects whose appearance suggests that they would be susceptible to the intended treatment. As the roots of these plants are far too plentifully developed for them to be kept in the small vessels for which they are intended, all the large roots are cut off and only a few small ones left just to prevent the tree perishing, and for this purpose short roots are the most suitable. The result of this operation is to hinder yery considerably the growth of the plant.
In repotting, if the subject is suitable, part of the stock is left out of the earth in the small vases, and the trees are kept in positions similar to those which they have been accustomed to. As to the formation of the branches, those which are twisted are kept, and those that are not required, and which spoil the general effect, are suppressed. Others are bent down and contorted in order to fill places devoid of foliage, so as to be in keeping with the picturesque appearance, and the effect which is desired. Then twistings are practised, bending those which are too vigorous or which take a bad direction, just as is done with seedlings. The trees remain puny and stunted, from the roots having but a limited space to develop
THE JAPANESE DWARF TREES. 35
in, the supply both of nourishment and water being scanty, and from the trees, moreover, being exposed to the broiling rays of the sun.
TREES WITH A&RIAL Roots.—In many plants, the roots, on being confined in the very limited space of a vase, are forced to rise above the soil. To encourage this bareness of the roots, the earth is removed cradually, and the trunk finds itself raised above the ground and
Fic. 14.—Cycas rEvotuTsa; 15, CuaMarEcypaRis; 16, CryPTOMARIA.
supported from four to thirteen inches in Leight above the vase by its roots like an epiphytic plant or a Pandanus (figs. 15 and 17).
But in the majority of cases these long, frail, aérial roots are obtained by a different treatment, which commences on the sowing of the seed. Each seed is placed in the midst of a small space in a receptacle with firm walls, in which is a mixture of cocoa-nut fibre, moss, torn-up rags,
F
66 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
and powdered charcoal. The seed germinates and the little plant appears ; as the roots grow they describe several twists and turns in the limited space. Water is only given when it is necessary. As nutritive matter is very scanty, the young tree grows but slowly, and its branches become twisted spirally or are directed by numberless ties and bands, or restrained by fastenings. This does not prevent the roots from stretching out in search of nourishment, or in branching at their extremities. Whenthe Japanese gardeners consider they are sufficiently long, the young plant is lifted, its roots are laid out, and the lower parts are replanted in a pot of small size. Thus growing upwards and kept in position by props, the roots carry the delicate branches to a certain height above the pot. Sub- sequently the air, winds, and want of water harden them, causing the circulation of liquids more difficult in the shrunken cells, which are
Fic. 17.—CHAMAECYPARIS OBTUSA.
rendered still more useless owing to the numerous contortions which give to the tree a more rugged aspect, and an appearance scarcely less fantastic than if it were some unreal and mythical object.
The more vigorous the plants are the more numerous and severe are the cuttings and restrictions of the principal roots and the other methods of treatment, also the supply of water and nourishment. is curtailed.
The pines retain their vigour notwithstanding the numerous cuttings and bendings to which the branch which is allowed to remain is subjected : this explains the presence of gouty stumps and excrescences from which springs a weak branch with spreading foliage, which grows spirally after having been twisted several times upon itself, tied, and kept in this position by many fine fastenings made of brass or fibres of bamboo.
The Japanese also endeavour, in certain trees, to change the normal distribution of the branches, by favouring the development of the large
THE JAPANESE DWARF TREES 67
branches in the upper part, and in not preserving the weaker ones near the base.
GrAFTING.—Grafting plays a great part in the formation of pigmy trees, as in the grafting of tw different kinds together. When certain of the branches die from the twisting and contortions they have been subjected to, these are replaced by grafting. Often, indeed, all the branches are cut off, and a certain number of grafts are inserted in the trunk, in order that they may be trained in accordance with pre- conceived ideas.
But it is principally in training the Podocarpus that grafting is largely resorted to, The grafts give this tree a somewhat flattened
Fic. 18.—Rertrnosrors; 19, Prinze TRAINED TO RESEMBLE A Boat.
pyramidal shape. With this object, plants of Podocarpus macrophyllus the trunks of which are 2 or 3 inches in diameter, are repotted in small vases, and cut down to a height of from 15 inches to 24 inches. On the top of this bare trunk are placed five or six grafts, and for almost the whole of its height grafts are inserted on the sides at convenient distances apart, of a different species, and especially of those with variegated foliage. The weak branches are fastened together in proportion to their length, nipped and interlaced in the form of a more or less regular pyramid or of a cocked hat.
Maples are the most interesting subjects for grafting. Two maples of different varieties are placed in the same vase and grafted together
about six inches below the surface of the soil. When these young trees F 2
6
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have arrived at a certain height, the Japanese insert a series of grafts of several other varieties, and so obtain a great diversity in the form and the coloration of the foliage of the same tree.
THE ImiraTIoN OF GRAFTING.—Japanese gardeners and amateurs are wont to conceal the normal grafts; but, on the other hand, they give as much prominence as possible to the apparently abnormal-looking grafts which, to the uninitiated, have the appearance of being real, but which represent anomalies and monstrosities. That is, as one can see in some examples, where pines appear grafted on maples, and vice versd, which in reality are simply the result of a pretence of grafting.
Two plants are often planted side by side in the same vase and grafted by being in close proximity to each other. As one of the two has usually more strength than the other, it partly surrounds and hides the other, and they grow so that the result appears to be a true graft. In other cases the trunk of a maple is twisted with that of a very flexible young pine, and both are trained together. After a time the
trunk of the pine encases that of the maple and completely hides it. The —
same method is followed with two different kinds of conifers.
DercoraTIVE Use.—Without comparing the ornamental part which these curious plants can play in the decoration of rooms and gardens to that which is filled by plants generally used for that purpose, they can produce in most cases very quaint effects.
A little Japanese scene can be easily arranged in one corner of the garden, in which the outline harmonises perfectly with the other objects employed; or, instead of a scene of this kind, the trees can be placed on the grass where the effect of some of them crowning a rock after the manner of rock-plants, would have somewhat of an Oriental appearance. But it is principally in the decoration of the house that their bizarre elegance is seen to the best effect.
We may now consider whether these plants can live in Europe. Our climate, although different from that of Japan, should be no obstacle to keeping these lilliputian trees in good condition. In England there are numerous specimens of these trees, growing as they would in Japan. King Edward VII. possesses superb specimens at Sandringham, and in France M. de Montesquiou has a collection of magnificent Thuyas, which since 1889 have grown considerably, but which, on the other hand, are models of vigour and grace.
Many people consider that these trees are only suitable for houses, and this mistake has led to the loss of a great number. On the contrary, the trees for the most part should be grown in the open air, and should be placed in a semi-shaded position, either in the garden or on the terrace. This need not prevent them from being brought into the rooms from time to time as curiosities or to take their part in decoration, but they should be taken into the open air afterwards.
In order to keep these trees to their original form it is necessary ©
every spring to practise pruning rigorously, and during the summer to severely nip off the buds, particularly in the case of those with deciduous foliage, for often some buds are inclined to grow away to the detriment of the others, which spoils the beauty of the shape of the trees.
THE JAPANESE DWARF TREES. 69
Maples and other plants with deciduous foliage should be trimmed rigorously in the month of February; afterwards, during their growth, the shoots are pinched back (the more severely the stronger they are), according to the shape of the plant, and the shoots which develop after- wards are treated in the same manner.
The vigorous branches of peaches, plums, cherries, and pomegranates, Lagerstroemia indica, &c., are shortened in February, because then the floriferous shoots will not appear until after the flowering season. Wistaria, which is very vigorous, is pinched back to four or five leaves, so as to induce it to remain longer in flower. The honeysuckle is treated in the same manner. Conifers generally, with the exception of pines (the buds of which are not pinched back), have all their shoots pinched back during the growing season. Other evergreen shrubs, such as azaleas, are pinched back and shortened after flowering, when that has taken place in the spring; and as early as the month of February if the blossoming of the flowers is very late.
Dwarf trees should not be repotted in too large pans or pots with the idea of providing them with more nourishment, still less should they be planted out in the ground. Nature will always rapidly reassert her rights. To keep trees in a dwarf state it is necessary to restrain their roots in a very limited space. :
The soil may be changed every three to five years, and the same pot or vase, or one only very slightly larger, employed. The tree having been lifted, the old earth is loosened all round the bole, as is done in the majority of plants cultivated in pots. It is useful to cut away any roots which are developing too vigorously. The vase having been well drained, the plant is replaced exactly in the proper position on a little fresh compost. Then a little compost is filled in round the edge of the pot, and with the aid of a stick is pressed into all interstices. The same precautions should be taken as in moving heaths and Australian plants. The compost should be a mixture of leaf-mould, peat, and garden soil. February and March are the best months for repotting, as vegeta tion has not then begun. Plants cultivated in shallow dishes, basins, or pots should have the old top soil removed annually and replaced by new. A copious watering should follow each repotting or re-surfacing to facilitate the union of the old with the new soil. It is desirable to apply some mild manure annually to trees which are not to be repotted. This should be done twice a month from March till June, avoiding the hot months and those of autumn and winter. The most suitable manure is finely powdered oilcake and burnt bones. The quantity to give is about three teaspoonfuls per pot of 12 inches diameter, and half a teaspoonful for those of 4 to 5 inches. The powder should be scattered on the soil and watered in.
Generally the trees, whether evergreen or deciduous, can withstand the temperature outdoors even in the coldest seasons. It is, however, more prudent to keep them in a well-lighted place without artificial heat but well ventilated. It is very desirable to avoid the late spring frosts, which nip the plants just when the buds are swelling.
During the spring and summer Thwya orientalis should be placed in a light airy position and watered just sufficiently to keep the soil moist,
70 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
but avoid too much moisture or dryness, excess or want of water being equally harmful. Waterings during the winter should be less frequent. The trees can be used with excellent effect to decorate a terrace, a flight of steps, or a balcony, provided only that they are not continually exposed to a brilliant sun. The different pines, being less susceptible to external conditions, can also be similarly treated, but their leaves fall more quickly, and they suffer more from being kept too long in a room.
Azaleas and other foliage shrubs endure the same treatment as Chamae-
cyparis very well, if placed in a position less exposed to the sun.
The foregoing remarks also apply to deciduous plants. Maples endure the climate very well in sheltered places.
Figs. 6, 7, and 13 were kindly supplied by Messrs. Jas. Carter & Cc.
ee
MISTLETOE. 71
MISTLETOE.
By WALTER SMYTH.
Tuts “quaint and mystic plant that grows ’twixt earth and heaven ”’ is annually drawn attention to as the festive season of Christmas comes round in the sequence of the events of the year. The mistletoe grows in quite an extraordinary way, never sending its roots into the ground, but drawing its nourishment from other trees, where its berries or its seeds within same have been placed either by the agency of man or birds. I do not think there is any other way in which the mistletoe is likely to be con- veyed to the bark of a tree save as before mentioned. The berries might, of course, be carried by mice in the case of ivy growing on an oak tree, or by squirrels to whose feet they may have become attached, but I have never seen these means suggested. Growing as it does in such a different way from the immense majority of plants, mistletoe has always been an object of interest ; but in the olden times it was more than this, it was also an object of veneration. So much was this the case that when the ancient order of priests called Druids found it growing on an oak tree—a tree on which it is rarely found—they held a service under the tree in its honour, as it was considered to be a forerunner of good fortune to the people or tribe. At this service the priest, attired in a white robe, cut away a portion of the mistletoe with a golden knife, letting the severed part fall into the lap of a white-robed attendant who waited beneath the tree. There are many other superstitions connected with mistletoe. In Sweden a ring made from its wood is considered to be a charm against evil. Itis also called “ the branch of spectres,”’ as it was said to enable the holder to see ghosts and familiar spirits when they came about, which was, perhaps, a safe virtue, considering the rarity of the latter. A decoc- tion from the wood was said to be a cure for strained sinews, toothache, hydrophobia, and poisons.
In Worcestershire there is a popular belief that farmers were in the habit of cutting a bough of mistletoe and giving it to the cow that first calved after New Year’s Day to eat, as this act was supposed to avert ill- luck from the dairy. In the West of England there is also a tradition that the Cross was made of mistletoe, which until that time had been a fine forest tree, but was henceforth as a punishment condemned to lead a parasitical existence, and never to draw sustenance from the earth again. The mistletoe was always cut at a particular age of the moon at the begin- ning of the year, and it was only sought for when the Druids pretended to have had visions directing them to seek it. If the mistletoe fell to the ground without being touched it was considered to be an omen of mis- fortune. The old and popular custom of kissing under the mistletoe is one of its attractions at Christmas time. And who does not look back to childhood with memories of those happy early days when, like the mistle- toe, life was evergreen? The custom seems to have been derived from the
72 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Scandinavian myth which narrates that one of their most beautiful, bright, and good-natured gods was killed by an arrow of mistletoe which an earth-god had shot at him. The goddess Friga wove a spell whereby mistletoe was prevented from growing cn the earthagain ; hence its growth on trees; and she decreed that it must be suspended from mid-air, and under it the kiss of peace was to be exchanged; and this is why we have the mistletoe in our houses at Christmas. The old mistletoe should be allowed to hang until the new is put up at the following Yuletide, when the old branch should be burnt.
The propagation of mistletoe is very simple, and I have seen many fine clumps raised by merely rubbing the berry and pressing it on to the bark of the tree on which it is desired it should grow. Some persons,
however, make a V-shaped cut underneath the branch, and then raise the -
bark and insert the berry under it; but this is quite unnecessary ; others graft the plant into another tree in the many ways in which grafting is done; while others tie pieces of cotton, wool, or fine linen over it to keep off the birds. The progress of germination seems to be on this wise. The viscid gum-like substance surrounding the seed dries up and forms a crust, and gradually the radical pierces the bark and throws out rootlets, which draw out the sap of the tree for the nourishment of the plant. At the end of the first year after the berry is attached to the tree a little green curved piece of mistletoe may be observed containing two tiny leaves ; but it grows very slowly, and it is not until the end of the second year that a full leaf appears. The progress of growth is more rapid after this, and eventually a fine clump is the result. April or May is said to be the best month for propagation, but from March onwards, when the seeds are quite ripe, propagation should be tried, and, I think, would be followed by success.
Mistletoe, being a true parasitical plant, breaks out in different places near to the original plant, and so gets well established on the host tree.
On a thorn bush in the garden here it has broken out in about twenty |
different places, and I am sure that three or four berries at the most were placed there at first. Mistletoe does not grow readily on the oak, but it
has been found there. It may, however, be grown successfully on the -
apple, mountain ash, thorn, willow, sycamore, white beam, true service tree, and elm. On the poplars (Populus alba and P. nigra) it is also not uncommon, and has been noted on Acer campestre and Robima Pseud- acacia, and on the true service tree and sweet chestnut. It does not grow readily on the pear tree in this neighbourhood, (County Down). It may be seen growing on the oak in Hackwood Park, but I have not seen it on this tree in this neighbourhood. It is considered very lucky to find it growing on the oak tree, and should be reported when found.
There is a species of mistletoe (Viscwm minimum) which grows on the Euphorbia, a tree in South Africa, and is possessed of handsome red berries ; and there is another beautiful species which grows in Morocco, and is called Viscum cruciatum. It is at present, I understand, growing on the above tree, Euphorbia, in several greenhouses in England.
The question, ‘Does it harm the tree?’ is often asked, and has certainly been answered in the affirmative by the French Government, who ordered it to be exterminated in their orchards in the sunny plains
a
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MISTLETOE. 73
and valleys of Normandy. But on the whole one is led to believe that no great harm can arise from its growth. I would also suggest that in the case of apple trees being too luxuriant mistletoe might be very beneficial in drawing off the superabundant sap, and thus bring the tree into fruitful condition. It might also act beneficially on trees affected with canker, and, like the leech, draw away the poisoned sap from the stricken tree. The fact that the sap circulates through the entire tree backwards and forwards would also tend to show that it does not harm the tree to any serious extent. On the whole I think the trees are seldom much injured by it, and its beautiful yellowish green foliage and soft pearl-like berries are very handsome during the barren season of winter.
A curious incident, showing that the berries if taken in large quantities are not suitable food for birds, was told me some time ago by a friend and naturalist. He had been walking in a garden about Christmas time, when the mistletoe was covered with berries and looking at its best, giving a beautiful display to the seeing eye. During the evening the barometer fell, and a snowstorm came on, covering the sround and trees with snow. On the following morning my friend visited the same garden, and found that all the berries had disappeared, and on looking closely at the foot of some of the trees found them in clusters of eight to a dozen, all more or less burst, showing that they had been swallowed by missel thrushes and other birds, and had acted as an emetic, proving indigestible. The sexes are represented in the mistletoe by different plants, one bearing the male and the other the female flowers. The latter may readily be distinguished from the former, it being the plant which produces the berries. It does not take very long to make a clump in an orchard. There is one in this neighbourhocd where mistle- toe berries were attached to the trees some four years ago. In many cases large clumps may now be seen. There is another shrub which appears to be very akin to mistletoe, and which in the South of Europe is seen very frequently on oak trees, and is called Loranthus europaeus. L. odoratus is another species which is possessed of very fragrant flowers. Also in America there are many different species which go under the name of Phoradendron.
The derivation of the word “ mistletoe ’’ is said to arise from the Anglo- Saxon muistel=gloom, and Webster noted the Saxon word mistelta, and states that it is a plant or shrub which grows in trees, and was held in great veneration by the Druids; but F. A. B. (Mrs. Boyle) in the _ “Garden’”’ notes that the Anglo-Saxon word must have meant “ dropped,”’ namely, dropped by a bird on a tree, and thus propagated; while some modern writer translates ‘mist’? into “glue,’’ which seems to be the most probable of all. The mistletoe tribe contains about four hundred species, which mostly inhabit the tropical regions. One of these, named Nuytsia floribunda, which grows in the neighbourhood of King George’s Sound, and bears an abundance of bright orange-coloured flowers, is said to look like a tree on fire, from which it is called the “ fire-tree.”’ It is, however, not a parasite like the majority of the species referred to. The mistletoe is not now used, I believe, for medicinal purposes, but a species of Loranthus is used in Chili as a dye.
74 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
GESNERACEAE
Wirn Annotated List oF THE GENERA AND SPECIES WHICH HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED TO CULTIVATION,
By Cou. R. H. Beppomg, F.L.S.
A very beautiful order, almost every plant of which grows most readily from cuttings, chiefly represented in the western tropics of America and the adjacent islands. In the East, however, we have the beautiful genus Aeschynanthus, besides Chirita, Didymocarpus, Jerdonia, Agal- myla, Stauranthera, Lysionotus, and Boea; also other genera not referred to here, as they are not showy enough to find a place in our conservatories. Africa yields Saintpaulia, Streptocarpus, and Acan- thonema; Australia, Fieldia; New Zealand, Rhabdothamnus; Chili, Mitraria and Sarmienta, greenhouse plants; the mountains of Europe, the well-known hardy plants Haberlea and Ramondia; and finally Japan, Conandron.
The plants of this order are mostly herbaceous perennials, many of which adorn our stoves all the year round; a few only are shrubby.
Amateurs wishing to make a collection of this order should consult Continental catalogues (Lemoine, Van Houtte, Roozen, and others), as it there receives far more attention than in England; and the hybridising of such genera as Gesnera, Achimenes, Isoloma, and Naegelia, &c. has received much attention for many years, though it does not seem to have been taken up in this country—why I have often wondered, for they evidently hybridise very readily, and few