to form blossom buds. In this, as in their first situation, they emit much honey, and the transmutation of the leaf bud into a blossom bud is prevented. A large number of humble bees and wasps are always attracted by the honey ejected by this insect, which will never fail to indicate its presence to the gardener. It is in size a little less than the black aphis usually seen upon the cherry tree, and its colour, when it is young, is a dull green, with dotted lines of pale brown; and in its mature state its colour is dark brown, with transverse stripes of green across its back. The colour of the male, which is winged, is nearly black, except the upper part of the abdomen, which is a dull flame colour. It is (as Mr. Curtis informs me) the Psylla Pyri of Linnæus. I noticed it in the garden here about forty years ago, when it rendered all the crop of pears perfectly worthless. I have subsequently pointed it out to gardeners in other situations; and I suspect that it often exists unnoticed, and greatly injures the quality of the pear. I washed my pear trees with an infusion of tobacco in the spring, which appeared to have destroyed the insects; but they appeared again in great numbers, and the frequent use of the engine did not prevent their doing considerable injury. Not improbably an infusion of the green leaves of either the Nicotiana Tabacum or N. rustica, which might have been obtained at a very small expense, would have destroyed or driven them off, but it did not occur to me to try it."

15. Notice of the most remarkable Varieties of Fruits sent to the Society since 1831. By Mr. Robert Thompson.

Apples. Two seedlings, the one called Maclean's Favourite, and the other Sudbury Beauty, were raised by Dr. Allan Maclean of Colchester: the former is described as one of the finest dessert apples known; the latter is a very handsome table apple, resembling a well-grown Downton Pippin.

"On the 18th of October, 1832, John Williams, Esq., of Pitmaston, sent some fruit of the Golden Pippin grown on the common stock and on the Siberian crab stock, accompanied with the following remarks. Walking through the garden of a friend in Worcestershire two days ago, some yellow ripe golden pippins took my eye; these were growing on a tree I recommended, three or four years ago, to be worked with the Golden Pippin, and which was a healthy stock raised from the Siberian crab. The grafts were taken from an old espalier, grafted on the common crab, in the same garden. The difference in the degree of ripeness of the fruit was most remarkable.

"When the truth of preconceived theory is confirmed by the result of actual experiments, it affords great satisfaction to the mind. I refer to my paper published some years ago, in which I recommended the Golden Pippin apple to be grafted on the Siberian crab root and stock; I say root and stock, for some have absurdly regrafted the Siberian crab obtained from nurseries which had been worked on the common apple or crab stock: of course this could have no effect.'

"The Golden Pippins from the Siberian crab stock were firmer, more yellow, and richer, than those grown on the common stock."

Pears. Uvedale's St. Germain. A fruit of this variety, from the garden of Mrs. Chalmers of Feversham, weighed, when gathered, 3 lb. 3 oz.; in the beginning of December, 3 lb. 2 oz.; and in the end of the same month 3 lb. "In October, 1832, specimens of the Monsieur le Curé pear were received from M. Vilmorin of Paris, in order that they might be compared with the St. Lezin, to which the former had erroneously been made a synonyme. It was found to resemble the St. Lezin only in size and form, and proved a very superior fruit to it; being, instead of a tough stewing pear, a valuable dessert one of first-rate quality. In a letter received from M. Vilmorin in January, 1835, the following note is given respecting it:—‘After repeated verification, the Monsieur le Curé pear, or Monsieur, as it is now abbreviated, or Poire de Clion (the name to be preferred), is decidedly different from the St. Lezin, and greatly superior to this last sort.' On November 4, 1833, a box

was sent to the Society, by the late John Wynne Griffith, Esq., containing specimens of twenty-four sorts of pears, from his garden at Garn in Denbighshire; with a statement that they were from grafts received from the garden of the Society in 1830, worked on branches of four old trees, viz. brown beurré, crassane, autumn bergamot, and jargonelle, which were growing against a south-west wall, and the grafts brought over to the south-east side. The sorts were all true to their names, and very well grown. From an account of the number of fruits produced, it appeared that upwards of ten dozens had been obtained in the second year after grafting, and more than thirty dozens in the third year, from the grafts on these four trees; a proof of the rapidity with which a supply of good pears may be procured under favourable circum

stances.

"Grapes. On the 9th of November, 1831, a bunch of White Muscat of Alexandria grapes was received from John Williams, Esq., of Pitmaston, grown on the open wall, on a south-east aspect. A ligature of waxed string was tied tight round the stem in April, which was found nearly as beneficial as ringing, and less injurious to the future health of the tree.

"On the 2d of January, 1833, fruit of the Charlesworth Tokay grape was received from the Hon. William Booth Grey. Bunch large, long and tapering, rather loose; the shoulders moderately strong.

"On the 24th of February, 1834, the following communication was sent to the Society relating to the Nice Black Cluster grape; fruit of which was subsequently received.

"The Nice Black Cluster, I have no hesitation in saying, if planted against southern walls facing any point between s. E. and s. w., or against the fronts of houses or trellised to balconies, will ripen in ordinary seasons at London, by the end of September or beginning of October, sufficiently for the purpose of making wine of the nature of champagne, and much better than half the champagne sold in London. But for this purpose I recommend to use the pure juice only, without any admixture of sugar and water, or brandy. It is also an excellent grape for a cool late forcing-house, not being liable to rot; nor do the berries wither so much when kept late on the plant, as is the case with many other kinds : this is rather an unusual circumstance, considering that it is not a fleshy grape. It is remarkably juicy, and the seeds readily separate in the mouth without trouble. I only gathered the last from my grapery three days ago, and they were still very juicy, notwithstanding the dry heat and ventilation they were exposed to from the daily fire in the flue, made in order to prevent their rotting. By reference to the long article on Grapes cultivated in Burgundy, in Miller's Gardener's Dictionary, you will observe the finest Burgundy is made from a variety of the Auvernat grape, having its bunches formed with loose berries: but, owing to the tenderness of the grape, planters in general, for the sake of quantity at the expense of quality, cultivate the more hardy sorts with crowded berries. Now, I have reason to believe my seedling grape is as hardy, with the advantage of loose berries, as the common crowded Auvernats; and for this reason I wish to have it tried in France.'

"The bunches were loosely formed with regularly middle-sized berries, which, from not being overcrowded, were thoroughly ripened and sugary; and on this account it seems highly deserving of cultivation.

"Strawberry. On the 5th of July, 1831, fruit of Myatt's Pine-apple strawberry was exhibited by Mr. Joseph Myatt, Manor Farm, Deptford. Fruit as large as the old pine, oblong, with a neck, and having the calyx spreading or reflexed." It is added, that this variety produces but sparingly in many soils, on which subject see p. 302.

"Gourds. On the 21st of December, 1831, a very large gourd, the Potiron Jaune, was presented for exhibition by Mr. Carpenter, from the garden of the Rev. H. Wise, Offchurch, near Leamington [a descendant of Mr. Wise, gardener to Queen Anne]. Its weight was 153 lb., and it was one of a crop weighing altogether 555 lb. from the same vine.

"On the 21st of October, 1834, a gourd of the same variety, but of size still more enormous, was exhibited, from Lord Rodney. It was 8 ft. in circumference, and weighed 212 lb."

16. On the Grafting of Vines. By Mr. William Gowans. Communicated by the Horticultural Society of Glasgow. Read June 7. 1836.

This communication, somewhat varied and enlarged by its author, has appeared in the Gardener's Magazine for 1837, p. 117.

17. Upon the supposed absorbent Powers of the Cellular Points, or Spongioles, of the Roots of Trees, and other Plants. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., F.R.S., Pres. Read May 17. 1836.

"An opinion is very extensively, if not generally, entertained, that the nutriment which trees and other plants derive from the soil in which they grow is exclusively taken in by the cellular extremities of their roots, which, from their texture, have been called spongioles, and which, in their organisation, differ from other parts of the root in being totally without any alburnous or woody matter distinct from bark. But it is through the alburnum alone of trees, as I have proved by a great variety of experiments, and as is, I believe, generally admitted, that the ascending sap, under ordinary circumstances, passes up from their roots into their branches and leaves; and, as this substance does not exist in the spongiole, my attention was directed to an enquiry, whether the spongioles possess the power of transmitting fluids, and, if such power were found to exist in them, through what peculiar channels such fluids pass up: and as these questions are necessarily interesting, and to some extent, in particular cases, may become important to the practical gardener, I communicate the result of my experiments.

Spongioles are obtainable in the most perfect state from large seeds, such as those of the common or French bean, which have been permitted to germinate, by simply detaching them from the cotyledons, as they thus remain united to the caudex of the plant, and its bud and plumule. Many of these were obtained from the seeds of plants of several kinds, and subjected to various modes of treatment in soils of different qualities; but all perished without a single plumule having expanded, or having apparently received any nutriment, either from the soil or other source. Yet the spongioles, in these cases, must have contained greatly more living organisable matter, derived from their cotyledons, than the whole body of the seed of a very large majority of plants can possibly contain; but they were, I conclude, incapable of transmitting it into the plumules, owing to the want of alburnum.

"I therefore believe my opinion, that spongioles are imperfectly organised parts of the plant, which neither absorb from the soil, nor transmit fluids of any kind for the service of other parts of it, to be well founded: but alburnous matter is generated with great rapidity within them; and they become to a very great extent transmuted into perfect roots, long before the growth of the stem or branches of the tree commences in the spring; and by these newly formed roots (but not by these exclusively) I conceive that nutriment is absorbed from the soil and sent up into the leaves, to be there converted into the true sap of the plant. I am aware that the above-stated opinions are in opposition to those of many eminent physiologists, to which much deference is due; but I think that they have erroneously included within their spongioles portions of alburnous fibre, a substance never found in the organ properly called a spongiole."

18. Observation on a Seedling Pear, raised by Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., called the Althorp Crassane. By Mr. Robert Thompson. Read Jan. 19. 1836.

This variety, Mr. Thompson observes, will bear competition with the finest of the varieties introduced from Belgium or France. It bears well as a stan

dard; and the flesh is buttery, rich, and very high flavoured It is in perfection in the end of October and during November.

19. On the Cultivation of the Bignonia venústa. By Mr. George Phillips, Gardener to the Misses Trevor, Tingrith, near Woburn, Bedfordshire. Read Dec. 1. 1835.

Two plants of this splendid hot-house climber are planted in the back corner of the bark bed, in a mixture of turfy loam, leaf mould, and peat, while the roots have the whole range of the bottom of the bark bed in a thin layer of rotten tan, which is not disturbed when the tan is turned. The shoots are trained under the glass, and cover a surface of 500 ft. The plant continues in flower from the beginning of November to February; after which it is cut back to one stem of 6 ft. in length. In 1835, this stem, at the point of amputation, was 4 in. in girth. "From the point where it is cut back, young shoots soon push out in abundance; three or four are selected for training, and the others taken off. If young plants are wanted, this seems to be the most favourable season for propagation; when the shoots are from 6 in. to 9 in. long, they will readily strike root in any light soil in a bottom heat. The young plants may be grown to a large size the first season by frequent shifting, as they are fond of plenty of room for their roots." 20. On the Cultivation of Alströmerias. By Mr. W. Scott, Gardener to Charles Barclay, Esq., M.P., F.H.S. Read February 2. 1836.

Being very partial to the genus, although I had never seen any of the varieties before, except Ligtu and Pelegrina, I began, when I first came to live at Bury Hill, in April, 1831, immediately to turn my attention towards them. Being well aware, from what I had seen of the two kinds with which I was acquainted, that they require rest for a few months in the course of the season, I removed all the plants I could find (which, as well as I can recollect, were Hookeri, pulchella, pallida, pelegrina, acutifolia, pelegrina alba, psittacina, edulis, Ligtu, and a variety from Mr. Nuttall, raised by him from Peruvian seeds, and which had never flowered here) to a small pit in front of the pine-stove, giving them no water till the earth about their roots got quite dry; as soon as they began to recover, I potted them in the size called fortyeights, and kept them then on a shelf against the back wall of the greenhouse, about 3 ft. from the top-lights; and, although I lost Hookeri, pelegrina alba, and edulis, I had the satisfaction of seeing the others thrive much better than they had done the previous year. I also took up, from the border in front of the stove, tricolor and pulchella, and gave them the same treatment. When the leaves began to decay, at the end of July or beginning of August, I withheld water, and allowed the plants to rest until the beginning of November, 1832, when they again began to vegetate: I then repotted them, and gave them every encouragement, in rich mould, composed of loam, rotten dung, and leaf mould, with a little sand: this I find to be the best compost for growing them in. As they filled their pots with roots, I shifted them progressively to a larger size; and had, in June, 1833, the pleasure of flowering the species from Mr. Nuttall and pallida, for the first time since they had been at Bury Hill; and I succeeded in growing tricolor to the height of 2 ft. 3 in., well covered with flowers. None of my pots that season were larger than what are termed sixteens. When the flowering was over, and the leaves were beginning to decay, I again resorted to the plan of drying or resting the plants till the following November. I afterwards gave them the same course of treatment as before; but, as the roots had attained a greater degree of strength, the size of the pots was enlarged, until some of the stronger varieties were planted in the size No. 6, in which they arrived at the state in which they were exhibited at the Society's Garden in June, 1834. During the time of growing, I keep them on a shelf, or trellis, in front of the green-house, having upright lights about 5 ft. high, and I give them plenty of air, carefully avoiding the least application of heat, which would draw them

up weak, cause the flowers to be much smaller, and very much injure their colours. By these means I have had them continue in good bloom for full four weeks."

21. On the Means of destroying the Red Spider in the Melon Frame. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., F.R.S., Pres. Read May 3. 1836. "The red spider is one of the most formidable enemies with which the gardener has to contend, and against which he is least well prepared with the means of defence. His peach and nectarine trees upon the open wall are often considerably injured by it; and the conservatory, the forcing-frame, and the stove, scarcely present a plant which is not subject to suffer from its attacks. When it appears upon trees growing upon walls in the open air, and wherever water can be abundantly applied without material injury to the plants, it is easily destroyed; but there are, I believe, comparatively few plants which are not much injured by having the lower surfaces of the leaves much wetted. In a former communication I stated the destructive effects upon the melon plant of the application of water to the under surfaces of the leaves, apparently owing to the cells of that surface of the leaf having absorbed the lighter fluid, in the manner pointed out by M. Dutrochet, and transmitted into the denser fluid the vital sap of the plant.

"The aversion of the red spider to sulphur, or its inability to live in the close vicinity of that substance, has long been known to gardeners; and the object of this communication is only to point out a more efficient mode of employing it than has, I believe, hitherto been practised. The instrument which I use bears a very close resemblance to those employed in fumigating with tobacco, but it is filled with pieces of the wing feathers of pigeons or poultry, amongst which a small quantity of flowers of sulphur is dispersed. The receptacle is then closed with a lid, the front surface of which is perforated with many small holes, through which the air impelled by the bellows passes, carrying with it a portion of flowers of sulphur. By shaking the bellows, the feathers are made to change their position, by which many successive portions of flowers of sulphur are made to escape, till the whole which the receptacle contains is expended.

"I first employed this instrument in the last summer in my melon-house, in which, upon some of my plants, I observed a large number of red spiders. After using it, I noticed with a lens in the web an immensity of minute particles of sulphur, in company with a very large number of red spiders; but upon examining my plants three days afterwards, I found the particles of sulphur alone remained, and that the red spiders had either died or marched off. I found no difficulty in causing many minute particles of sulphur to adhere to the under surfaces of the leaves of all my plants, and during the remainder of the summer I was not able to find a single red spider upon them.

"The form of the instrument for melon plants growing in hot-beds requires to be considerably altered; and the perforations for permitting the escape of the flowers of sulphur should be lateral, instead of being in the front of the lid that should be made slightly conic, and of less width than the receptacle, so as to come within it to a small depth; by which means the whole of the flowers of sulphur that escapes will be impelled forwards. The apertures should be confined to one side of the lid, which should not sink wholly into the receptacle; and through such apertures the flowers of sulphur will be made to escape below the level of the leaves of the melon in the common frame, and be dispersed over the under surfaces of its leaves.

I applied flowers of sulphur in several other cases in the last summer, and always with success; and I am applying it to my peach-house and vinery, instead of water from an engine, and I have reason to believe with perfect

success.

"My friend Mr. Williams of Pitmaston has perfectly succeeded in banishing the red spider from his melon-house, by causing sulphur to evaporate from