Abstract
OWING to the severe damage caused by London fogs to orchid flowers, begonias and other plants at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, experiments have been carried out at Kew during the past few months with (1) ammonia, (2) electric fans. These experiments were described by Sir Arthur Hill at the Linnean Society on January 30. A 2 per cent solution of ammonia was placed in trays on the floor of the house where begonias, “Gloire de Lorraine”, etc., were in flower, with the object of neutralising the sulphuric acid present in the fogs. Very little shedding of flowers or leaves took place beyond what is normal at this season. Electric fans were installed in the Tropical Begonia and Tropical Orchid Houses, and proved quite successful during the bad fogs in December 1935. Calanihe flowers remained uninjured, whereas in an adjoining similar house without fans all the flower spikes were seriously damaged and blackened.
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Effect of Fog upon Plant Growth. Nature 137, 370 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137370a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137370a0