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GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART LIBRARV
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VriTH DESCUIPTIONS THEREOF
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PREFACE.
t'.'E are now enabled to speak of this Magazine with a confidence which, much nearer the commencement of its career, would have
been presumptuous. A definite purpose is generally contemplated by every new periodical undertaking of a literary kind, which
has nevertheless to be afterwards shaped and modified by events that were not anticipated, and by circumstances of an uncertain
order. Like an idea of a bright or noble character, that ripens, and swells, and gains in excellence, as we proceed to develope its
proportions in a written form, even a well-considered monthly magazine will after a time become, in some particulars, a more
symmetrical object, if uniformly conducted with zeal, than was ever dreamt of by its projector, however deep or direct-sighted he
may have been. New fields open up, the tide of knowledge sets difl^erently in, the taste of friends take a slight turn, so that
altogether the offspring-shoot, though none of the original features be lost, assumes gradually an individual and peculiar direction
and bearing, as much indebted to the style of its nurture as to its parentage.
But, to put similitudes aside — we unhesitatingly assert, that whatever were our original views and desires in reference to
the " Magazine of Botany and Gardening," none of them have been varied but as respects their progress to perfection, whilst some
additional topics of a kindred nature have been introduced, tending greatly to enrich the work. Allusion is particularly made to
many original talented papers, several of them agricultural, but all connected with rural economy, in a manner that cannot but
be appreciated by practical people, and all such as are eager after useful knowledge — the great object of desire in these matter-of-
fact-days. It will also be apparent to our readers, that there has been, especially towards the beginning of the volume, no lack
of scientific information regarding every point connected with the philosophical character or history of the vegetable world. We
may say, indeed, that the physiology of plants, their chemical properties and anatomical structures, have been treated and illus-
trated in every manner, and by numerous hands. Our translations, our reviews, our original papers, have been largely devoted to
these branches of inquiry. The gardening operations, strictly of a domestic character, and gardening e.\periments, have been most
variously and abundantly introduced ; whilst the botanical descriptions of plants, both according to the artificial and natural
systems, are numerous and interesting. Of the plates, and the coloured figures of plants represented by them, we know not what
to say that can be half so proper as that which one glance, especially of our late numbers, will suggest. Sixteen different highly
finished plates coloured from nature, and sixteen close-printed pages of valuable matter, for one shilling, presents certainly a
novelty, even in this age of cheap publications, and, with confidence we utter it, not to be equalled in the whole history of embel-
lished literature.
Besides, our Magazine still maintains its distinctive character, as compared with all others of the class.' As we have stated
on a former occasion, the periodicals that give coloured figures uniformly confine themselves to a peculiar class, some being re-
stricted to new plants, some to florists' flowers, some to fruits, and the like ; ^'hereas every object in the vegetable creation is
embraced in. our pages. We may, without the fear of contradiction and alone declare, that from the number of our pages, from
the dense and varied matter which fills them, and from the labour bestowed on every portion, that no work in existence, of double
the price, contains. either the amount of delight and instruction, or the number of embellishments and subjects that the " Magazine
of Botany and Gardening" does.
To any one a total stranger to our Periodical, and who has only been acquainted with our predecessors or rivals, the above
itle may suggest a mere nomenclature or catalogue of plants, and a gardener's directory for the months as they come round.
Let it be understood, nevertheless, that we embrace a far different field. We combine the names and knowledge of things together ;
and whilst we chiefly strive after direct utility, we flatter ourselves that it is through a simple and intense perception of the
beauties and the blessings of nature, as showered around us in the parts of creation more immediately contemplated by our work.
We wish, as regards this enthusiasm, we could impart the taste to all. By far the cheapest and most lovely, the healthiest and
most accessible studies, are to be found in the book of nature. It has been well said, that most studies abstract a man from the
sky, the earth, and the sea ; from the world of wonders that is every where around and above us. But we would be xhildren still,
plucking flowers, luxuriating in the fields, cultivating the friendship of every little monitor that grows there. In so far as our
enthusiasm goes, it matters little whether it be the stately tree " that summers and winters with us," or the tinier and more
uncertain visitants of the field or garden. They are each and all our companions, most of them our subjects. It is an affecting
truth, that every plant cultivated by man assimilates itself in some measure to him, laying aside its natural habits and forms, and
bending to his tutorage. But we are running wide of the limits and purpose of our Preface ; forgetting that the delights of fancy
are not the only or chief object of our labours ; for, as rational and practical men, we pay the highest regard to the substantial
and permanent good of the community. We endeavour to teach the blessings of rural life, domestic economy, and innocent
pursuits. .4bove all, we love to trace the hand of a wise and benevolent Creator in every exhibition of nature that falls to be
considered by us.
ii PREFACE.
These varioiis points and ends we shall continue to place prominently in our eye. Indeed, our arrangements and means
will, in future, enable us to surpass anything we have yet done, as regards the beauty and value of our periodical. To begin
with the figures of the plants — the artist^ hitherto employed have necessarily been acquiring greater dexterity and delicacy in
copying the matchless forms and tints of nature ; and, with something not unlilse the ease and softness with which the sweet, the
blushing, or the gorgeous flower Comes forth, can almost in an instant design, sketch, or colour, with extreme fidelity, the object
required. It is on this account that, in the course of the present volume, we have been enabled to give precisely double the
former number of coloured figures ; nor could any one otherwise understand, than as we have stated, how sixteen highly finished
pictures should be furnished for anything like the price that the entire work, letter-press and all, amounts to. Of the late and
future descriptions and selections of the plants, we need not say much. Botanists and students of nature must at once perceive
and understand* the accuracy of the science therein displayed. We have only here to add, that if half a lifetime's devotion to any
one branchof-kpo;jj|ledge be k guarantee of a man's superority in that branch, it has been unequivocally secured by us.
Of tile more' miscellaneous_ ana by much the largest proportion of the literary part of the work, it becomes us to use a few
words. " The whole of the letter-press amounts to sixteen double-columned pages quarto, closely and handsomely printed : in
truth, every one of oftr shilling numbers contains as much matter as many small volumes do. In the course of this year it will
be seen that we, by me&nSj^jf a smaller type, greatly enlarged the quantity of letter-press — a step naturally suggested by our
greater fai^^iliarity with the various Subjects found to be in demand by the public. And we again intimate, that for the future,
we shall stilji-farther increase the pagei so as to. be better suited to contain the additional information which we command, for every
month ; ...and tfiis too ^without any alteration in price. Our increasing sale affords these advances.
t, , fA&t^tfi&irrtcise subjects to be hereafter treated in our pages, it is impossible to speak very minutely. In what belongs '
properly to horticultute,it is not so miich our study to search for rasi novelties of persons of no note, as to collect the discoveries
and experim'entsxif skilful and scientific "men. Utility is our great aim. Respecting the culture of all sorts of plants, our pages
may be looked to for the most striking lessons. The monthly operations as a calander shall be continued, and during the dreary
and gloomy winter season, we purpose to enliven our readers with accounts of some curious and lightsome methods by which
certain garden articles may simply and ingeniously be forced, to delight the eye or gratify the palate, not generally practised or
understood. Some examples may be found in the last number of this volume, shewing how the summer may be, to a certain
extent, transplanted into winter.
It will be observed that during the year, but more particularly towards the latter end of it, we have introduced a number of
agricultural hints. Several papers have been devoted to that larger field of rural economy, which is, we think, a valuable feature
in our work, inasmuch as it holds the place of an elder sister, and can never be entirely disjoined from practical gardening. We
may especially allude, when on this point, to the articles under the names of individual counties, that treat of what is most pro-
minent either in their excellence or their defects, as respects the agricultural art. These are to be regularly continued, pretty
nearly in an alphabetical order ; by which, at the close of the whole, the cream, so to speak, will be gathered into a small compass,
of all that is known in regard to husbandry. It has already been in our power to shew, that not merely the rearing of crops will
thus be described according to the most advanced practice, but that dairy husbandry, which nearly concerns the prosperity of
every gardener and every cottager, will be made plain and interesting. To be sure, we have not as yet reached any county where
the highest grain culture could be explained ; but wait till Berwickshire appear ; and then it will be seen what may be expected
of the Lothians, Norfolk, Suffolk, &c.
The earlier numbers of this volume, as we have before mentioned, are full of scientific information regarding the vegetable
kingdom ; and throughout, the physiology of plants, being one of the most beautiful and instructive branches of study, has largely
occupied our pages. Science will ever be a principal object in our labours, both as illustrated in original articles and in the works
selected for review. And one inducement for the introduction of such matter is, that to inquiring minds it opens paths and shews
lights by which new researches will be set on foot, leading to new discoveries. This is one mighty advantage connected with scien-
tific studies, that: they do not so much teach how the truth in question has been found out, or what may be its amount and value,
as by what means and ways further research should be conducted. What can be more mischievous than to induce a feeling that
nothing more is to be known, and that the wonders already found out are to be an impassable bar to the advancement of
knowledge ? The region is illimitable which man may explore, and the example furnished by what has been done, should be a
stimulus to new, bolder, and more brilliant enterprise and conquest.
We have spoken of our reviews. In these our own remarks are studiously short : persuaded that an author, however defec-
tive his work as a whole may be, must present choice portions, the result of well-balanced consideration, which are more worthy
of being introduced than anything we can be supposed to have in our power to state on the topic. We give briefly and fairly an
opinion of the work ; and then by the course taken, extract the riches of many an expensive, it may be ponderous tome, so as to
present our readers with the wheat without the chaff, saving them, besides, a trouble that is not unfrequentiy of the most
irksome kind.
We now close these prefatory remarks, which, in the fulness of our hope and purpose, seemed to us suitable to the second
volume of this Magazine. It is only our desire at present further to add, that with increased energy, with enlarged resource*,
and with better prospects than ever, we enter upon a Third Volume, and a New Year.
■^7 4
Disposition of tke Scales iax tke Cones of Firs &■ Rues.
22
Zoftxicft. G-Mefi^tTson. l,(?lclB a/lev.
THE
MAGAZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
1. Chorizema naniim.
2. Gentiana Caucasea.
3. Babiana stricta.
4. Laclienalia rubida.
5. Melanthium viride.
Hedysarum roseum.
7. Cyclamen hederaefolium.
8. Thea Chinensis.
CHORIZEMA NANUM.
Decandria Monogynia, Linn;eus; Leguminosse, JossiEu.
Calyx tubulosus, 2-labiatus ; labium superius emarginatum : la-
bium infeiiiis, 3-iidum laciniis acntis. Cor. papilionacea carina
brevissima. Stylus recurvus. Legumen oblongum polyspermum.
Chorizem'' nanuni; caule erecto flexuoso, foliis ovalibus obtusis
spinoso-dentatis.
Pultenaea nana. Bot. Repot, f. 434.
A MINUTE shrub, with an upright wavy stem, hardly
exceeding five or six inches in height. Leaves alter-
nate, rigid, holly-like, eliptic, blunt, with undulated
spinous margins. Leaf scales minute ; spines at the
angles of the stem and the foot-stalk. Flowers pa-
pilionaceous, distant, in longish flexuose clusters,
growing upon the axils of the leaves. Pedicels very
short, mostly recurved. Calyx tubular, two-lipped ;
upper lip broad, notched ; lower lip shorter than the
upper, three-toothed: teeth equal, acute. Standard
large, notched, reflexed, yellow, with a red streaked
star at the base ; wings as long as the standard,
very narrow, pendulous, crimson coloured. Keel
not half the length of the wings, white, with purple
tips. Stamens ten, distinct; anthers globular, white.
Seed organ ovate-acuminate, villous; style short,
recurved; summit abrupt.
M. Labillardiere, who went on the voyage to the
south- sea in search of the unfortunate La Perouse,
has given the first account of this genus in his rela-
tion of that voyage. To the species which he found
on the south-west of New Holland, he gave the ap-
pellation of Chorizema ilicifolium, deriving its speci-
fic name from the resemblance of its leaves to those
of holly, and that of the genus, probably, from the
inconvenience its spinous leaves must occasion to the
naked-footed dancers of that country.
VOL. II. NO. X. — JAN. 1834.
Our plant is evidently not the same species as
the one that is there described and figured, which is
larger, and has narrower and more pointed leaves,
but less, like those of holly. Specimens of both are
preserved in the Banksian Herbarium; that of C.
ilicifolium collected on the south-west coast of New
Holland by Mr. Archibald Menzies, and that of C.
nanum raised in the Kew garden (where it flowered
in 1804), from seeds sent from the same by the late
Mr. Peter Good.
Propagated by seeds, which it produces with us.
It requires a soil similar to that used for the cultiva-
tion of heaths, and merely to be protected from the
frost.
GENTIANA CAUCASEA.
Pentandria Digynia, Linnaeus; Gentianea;, JussiEu.
Corolla 1-petala. Caps. 2-valvis, 1-locularis ; Receptaculis 2,
longitudinalibus.
Gentiana caucasea ; coroUis quinquefidis hypocraterifovmibus,
i'auce barbatis, foliis ovatis acutis caiile tetragono ascendente; pe-
dunculis axillaribus calyce longioribus.
Root biennial, stem square, ascending. Leaves
opposite, sessile, ovate-acuminate, three-nerved,
smooth, quite entire. Flower stalks axillary, one-
flowered, as long as the leaf, solitary; at the extre-
mity of the main stem there are frequently four
flowers growing together crosswise, so that the
flower stalks issue singly from the axil of each
leaf. Calyx tubular, five-cornered, splitting with
age, five-toothed: teeth awl-shaped, the length of
the tube of the corolla. Corolla tubular, saucer-
shaped, tube longer than the limb, greenish : limb
violet coloured, four-cleft, segments blunt, throat
bearded. Stamens five, enclosed; filaments inserted
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
at the base of the tube; anthers white; seed organ
linear; summits two, divaricate. Capsule nine-pin-
shaped, clothed with the persistent calyx and co-
rolla, one-celled.
Mr. Loddiges raised it from seeds he received
from Mount Caucasus. It flowers in July, and is
propagated by seeds only. This is a hardy plant.
BABIANA STRICTA, VAR. 7.
Triandria Monogynia, Linn^us; IiideEe, JussiEU.
Babiana stricta.
Babiana purpurea. Curtis 119. pag. all.
Ixia purpurea. Jocq. Ic. Rar. 2. t.286. Coll. 3, 26S. Willd.
Sp. PI. 1. 198.
Gladiolus strictus. Vahl. Enum. 2. 118.
Gladiolus purpureus. Id. I. c. 2. 114.
Ixia villosa. /3. Mart. Mill. Did.
This was enumerated by Jacquin and Curtis as a
distinct species ; but, upon comparing the living
plants, no mark of specific difference appears, nor
indeed any difference whatever, except colour and
scent. It was imported by Messrs, Lee and Ken-
nedy from the Cape of Good Hope. The specific
character of Babiana stricta is, — flowers funnel-
shaped and regular; the segments fiat, and scarcely
longer than the tube. It is propagated by off-sets
in sandy heat.
LACHENALIA RUBIDA, VAR. «,
Hexandria Monogynia, Linnaeus; Asphodeleae, Jussieh.
Lachenalia rubida (floribus majoribus) foliis, lanceolatis pervaria
macularum aspersione ; corolla pedicellis pluries longiore, pendulo-
natante, trigono-cylindiica, subbilabicata, staminibus liuic sub-
aqualibus imis tribus deflexo-convergentibus; stylo deflexo ex-
serto; laciniis intimis subquarta parte longioribus, quarum infiraa
e suis subbreviore subdiiformi ; extimarum suma suavum longiore,
triuicato retusa.
•Lachenalia rubida. Jacg. Ic. Rar. 2. t. 398. Coil. 5. 60. Willd.
Sp. PI. r. 179.
(/3.) Lachenalia tigrina. Jacq. I. c. t. 399. Coll. 5. 67. Willd.
I. c. 180.
(y.) Lachenalia punctata. Jacq. Let. 397. Col 2 323. Willd.l.c.
Orchis hyacinthoides foliis caude et floribus maculatis. Buxb.
bent. Plant. 3. p. 12. t. 20. Olim perpeTam a Linna:o in Mun-
tissa Alteridi fVeltheiviiceJ capensi pro synonymo adscripta.
Bulb truncated, oblong-ovate, about the size of a
pigeon's egg, base umbilicated hollowed ; leaves two
to four, lanceolate, varying much in the spotting,
having however the stains always round, sometimes
very strongly marked and thick set, at others thinly
sprinkled and faded, sometimes appearing on one
surface only, at others on both ; stem at first higher
than the leaves, more or less coloured by close and
confluent blood-red dots; cluster lax, few — many
flowered; flower scales small ovate, acuminate, de-
current, membraneous ; corolla an inch or more in
length, trigonal-cylindric, subbilabiately patent pen-
dulous, several times longer than the pedicles, re-
ceiving a carmine hue from numerous thick-set dots
of that colour, which are spread over a transpa-
rently whitish ground; segments distinct quite to
their base, outer a fourth shorter, appressedly in-
cumbent on the inner, cuneate oblong, concave,
thicker; subcalycinate, upper one the longest of the
three truncately retuse and glandulary thickened at
the top; inner ones obcuneate-oblong, patulous up-
wards, convolutely concave downwards, lower one
rather shorter and somewhat differently shaped;
stamens fixed to the bottom of the corolla, to which
they are about equal, compressed filiform, the three
upper a little the longest, diverging, lower ones de-
flex, converging, resting on the lowest segment ;
anthers reddish, oblong-sagittate ; style slender,
defies protruded considerably beyond the stamens,
attenuated; summit indistinct when magnified, ap-
pearing blunted triquetral, and glandularly pubes-
cent; germen pale, ovate, trisulcate, three-lobed,
trigonal, lobes pulvinate.
A native of the Cape of Good Hope ; should be
kept in the green-house with other bulbs from the
same country, and planted in a small pot, with a
mixture of three-fourths peat earth to one of loam ;
blooms in the autumn.
MELANTHIUM VIRIDE.
Hexandria Trigynia, Linnjeus; Melanthacise, Jdssied.
Bractea; nuUse. Corolla infera, sequalis, ex hexapetalo-partita
varie patente ad hypocrateritbrmem, unguibus in angulorum
coalitis, laminis stellatim aut rotatim solutis. Stam. aut immedi-
ate hypogyna, aut adnata unguibus, aut per tubulum decurrentia.
Style 3, sligmatosi, rostratim continui, persistenses, raro filiformes,
decidui. Caps, coriacea, varie pulvinatim trigona. Sera, plurima,
subglobosa vel-corapresso orbiculata.
Radix bulbus solidus, ovato-pyraniidatus, hinc basi oblique de-
pressus, membrana saepius Crustacea vel subputaminea tectus( a
se ipso quotannis renascens frugifer, dum iile precedentis anni
(functa modo vice raatricis, cseteroquin stevilescens) totus emar-
cescit. Folia tria-plurima disticha canaliculata-lanceolata, vel
angustiora convoluta-concava, rarius subfistulosa, deorsum vagi-
nantia, conduplicantia. Scapus de subnullo bipedalem usque.
Inflor. 1-multiflora, vel spicata, vel racemosa-paniculata pedun-
culis magis minusve decurrenter adnatis, modo subcorymbosa.
Stigmata parum manifesta ad lentem rimulae oblique dehiscentes.
Filam. setaceo-subulata Quando laciniae ad infra usque germen
sint distincta perstat corolla, dum vero coha-rescunt istae, ut quo-
modocunque dictum cingant organum, per ejusdem incrementum
tandem dejecitur. Genus Tulipae adeo propinquum ut vix detur
unde distinguere.
Melanthium viride foliis caniculato-lanceolatis; caule folioso pani-
culato-racemoso, peduncuHs unifloris deorsum decurrenter-adna-
tis ; corolla persistente, cernua, laciniis reflexis juxtura supra genu
areola colorata cum disco scrobiculatim depresso notatis; stylis
deciduis, filiforniibus, stamina e.xsuperantibus, divaricatis.
MelanthiuiTi viride. Linn. Suppl.2l3. Hort. Kerv. 1.4SS. Tliunb.
Prod. 67. Bot Rep. t. 233. Willd. Sp. PI. 2. 269.
Ornithoglossum glaucum. Parad. Lond. t. 34.
Bulb solid, about an inch and a half high, ovate-
pyramidal, flatted obliquely on one side of the base,
covered with a somewhat crustaceous membrane
like that of a tulip root; leaves opposite, alternate,
radical one close, largest, channelled-lanceolate, far-
acuminate, recurved; stem leafy, angular, somewhat
taller than root leaves, branched downwards, up'-
wards paniculately racemose; peduncles divergent,
numerous, one-flowered from the axils of the leaves
(which become gradually smaller), more or less de-
currently adnate to the stem, recurved, thickening
THE CONES OP FIRS.
at their top ; corolla cernuous, hexapetously di-
vided persistent ; segments green, edged with pur-
ple-broun, equal, subulate-lanceolate, reflex, con-
volutely concave, shortly unguiculate, marked just
above the bend vi-ith a roundish spot, the disk of
-which is slightly hollowed; filaments exactly hypo-
gynous, subulate-setiform, one-third shorter than
segments, divergent, recurved; anthers small, sa-
gittately ovate, brown; germen obconic-globular,
rounded-trigonal; styles three, green, filiform, ex-
tending by half their length beyond the stamens,
urceolately divergent, not beakedly continuous with
the germen, deciduous; stigmas inconspicuous, ob-
liquely slit, hiant, brown. The whole plant scent-
less. It should be kept in the green-house, and
treated like other Cape bulbs.
HEDYSARUM ROSEUM.
Diadelphia Decandria, Linn^us; Leguminosce, JussiEU.
Calyx 5-fidus ; Corolla carini transverse obtusA. Seg. articulia
1-spermis compressis.
Hedysarum roseutn ; caulescens, assurgens, foliis pinnatis sep-
teivjugis; foliolis ellipticis, raceniis capitatis axillaribus pedun-
culatis, vexillo striato emarginato carina longiore.
This plant was drawn from a specimen raised by
Mr. Loddiges, from Mount Caucasus. It is pro-
bably biennial, as some of the plants, but not all,
flowered the same year they were drawn.
CYCLAMEN HEDERJEFOLIUM.
Petandria Monogynia, LinNjEUS; Primulacea;, JossiEU.
Corolla rotata, reflexa, tube brevissimo ; fauce prominente. Bacca
tecta capsula.
Cyclamen hederaefolium ; foliis cordatis angulatio denticulatis.
Hort. Keio. \.p. 1%. mtld. Sp. PL 810.
Cyclamen Europseum. Mill. Diet. 1.
Cyclamen folio hederae et vernum. Lob. Icon. 605.
Cyclamen romanum foliis hederse, flora carneo et flore purpureo.
Swert. Florileg. I. 49.
Cyclarainus orbicularis. Dod. Pempt 337.
Cyclaminus vernotempore florens. Chis. Pan. 234- Uist. 265.
Cyclamen hederajfolium. Bauh. Pin. 303. Ger. emac. 844. T.f.h.
Rait Hist. 120fi.
Cyclamen vernum flore purpureo. Park. Parad. 195. t. 197. f. 1.
The ivy-leaved Cyclamen is said to be a native of
Italy ; is a very valuable plant, on account of its
early flowering, sweet scent, and beautiful foliage.
It is not so hardy as C. Europseum, but can be cul-
tivated in the open grovmd. May be propagated
by cuttings of the root. It was cultivated by
Gerard in 1596.
THEA CHINENSIS, VAR. /S.
Monodelphia Polyandria, Linn^os; Camelliese, Jussied.
Calyx 5 — 6 partitus; corolla 5 — g. petula. Styli 3 coaliti. Caps.
3-locularis. Sem. solitaria.
Thea Chinensis ; floribus subhexapetalis axillaribus subsolitariis
erectis, frnctibus nutantibus.
a Thea viridis. Sp. PI. 7S5. Willd. 2. USO. Jteich. 2. 5S9.
Hill. Exot. t. 22 GaiTt. Fruct. 2. p 83. t. 95. Letts. Monog.
t. 1. n'oodv. Med. Bott. Suppl. 116, t. 256.
Thea bohea b. stricta. Hort. Kew. vol. 2. p. 230?
Thea sinensis. Blackw- t. 351.
B. Thea bohea; Linn. Sp. PI. 734. Hort. Cliff. 204. Amcen.
Acad.l.p.Ti'd t.i. Hill. Exot. t. 22. Blackw. t. S52. Thunb.
Jap. 225. Willd. 2. 1180. Hort. Kew. v. 2 p. 230. var. a laxa.
Mart. Mill. Diet. Lettsom. Man. ed. 2 p. 41. Ic.
Thea cantoniensis Tnur. Cochin. 339.
Thee. Kcempf. Amcen. 605, t 606.
Theefrutex. 'Bartk.Acti.p. l.t.l. Bont.Jav.ST.t.SS. Barrel.
Rar. 123. <. 904.
Thee Sinensium. Breyn. Cent. Ill /. m pag. HI. Ic. 17. 2. 3.
Boc. Mus. 114. i. 94. Rail Hist. 619.
Chaa bauh. Pin. 147. Bauh. Hist. 3. I. 27. c. 1. p. 5.
Euonymo affinis arbor orientalis nucifera, flore roseo, Pluk.Phyt.
t.as.
Camellia bohea. Ker.
It is now nearly ascertained that all the different
sorts of tea, prepared in China, are the produce of
the same species ; and that the colour, form, and
qualities, depend chiefly upon the climate, soil, age,
modes of preparation, and various manipulations
that the leaves are subjected to. The bohea variety
appears, however, to be more tender than the green,
and will not endure the severity of our winters,
which the latter bears with impunity.
According to Mr. Ker, Thea and Camellia cannot
be kept apart, but must be united into one genus.
The imbricated calyx of the latter may be thought
to keep them distinct, though the former has like-
wise a few scales at the base, which soon fall off.
Most certainly, however, even in the Linneean sys-
tem, Camellia and Thea ought not to have been
placed in different classes, for the filaments and
petals of the tea all coalesce at the base, and always
fall off united in one piece, though, if examined
when the flower first expands, the filaments will be
seen firmly attached to the receptacle.
The variety here figured, according to Loureira,
grows in the province of Fo-kien, in China ; and
occurs also, both indigenous and cultivated, in the
province of Canton.
It flowers with us in the autumn, and when
planted in the open ground not at all, except in the
most favourable seasons. It may be propagated by
cuttings.
ON THE DISPOSITION OF THE SCALES IN THE CONES OF FIRS.*
BY A. BRAUN.
See Plate 22.
In 1829, Dr. C. Schimper explained to the Society
of German Naturalists, assembled at Heidelberg,
the notions he then had of the laws which reeulate
the relative position of leaves. This gave M. Braun
the idea of studying in detail the cones of the pines
and firs, by which he expected to throw some li^ht
• Nova Acta Phys Med. Acad. Caes. Leopold. Nat. Curios. Bonn. Tom. xv. p. 197.
B 2
4
THE CONES OF FIRS.
on tlii; disposition of the foliaceous organs in gene-
ral. We will follow the author in the development
of this idea.
The scales of fruits in the Coniferae are, in fact,
only leaves accompanying the pistil, that do not,
like the floral envelopes of other plants, form a
complete cavity surrounding on all sides the sexual
organs, but which offers a slightly concave surface
that protects them only on one side. This being
n-ranted, if we consider attentively the cone of a
pine (Pinus picea), or a fir (P. abies), we first ob-
serve whether the scales are disposed in spirals or
whirls. On breaking a cone of the P. picea (pi. 22,
ficr. 4,) in the middle, three scales will be seen,
which at first appear on the same plan, but on a
more attentive examination it will be perceived,
that the depth of their insertion are really different,
and also that they are placed at unequal distances;
so that tliey must not be considered as forming a
whirl, but rather as making a part of a very close
spiral. On examining the external surface of the
entire cone, it will be found that the shells are dis-
posed in oblique lines, which may be considered,
first, with reward to their composition, or the num-
ber of shells necessary to form a complete spire ;
second, their inclination, or the angle more or less
open or obtuse which they form with their axis ;
third, of their total number, and their arrangement
round the common axis, which constitutes their co-
ordination. Lastly, we should endeavour to disco-
ver whether the spires turn from the right to the
left, or from the left to the right.
The inclination of the spires on their axis is of
little importance ; it varies according to the length
and the age of the fruit. The question as to whe-
ther the spires turn from left to right or from right
to left is equally unimportant. Nevertheless, in
order to avoid confusion, it must be remarked, that
the spectator ought to consider himself as forming
the axis of the spire, so that his left hand is changed
to the right, and vice versa, exactly as if he beheld
himself in a glass.
If we consider attentively the spiral lines formed
by the scales of the P. abies (pi. 22, fig. 1), we shall
at first see that the most prominent turn from left
to right, and that they are of the number of five
parallels between them. The first of these spirals
is denoted by ciphers 1, 6, 11, 16,. . . .-IG, 51,56,
61, 66, 96, 101, lOG, 111, 116, &c. ; the second
4, 9, 14, 19, 24, 54, 59, 64, 69,74,79, 109,
114, &c.
After some researches, we shall find a second
kind of spirals turning the contrary way, and de-
noted by the ciphers 1, 9, 17, 25, 33, &c. ; this
spiral has eight parallels. All the kinds of spires,
however, are not yet exhausted; they become less
evident, because the scales which constitute them
are more distant, but they may still be traced by an
effort of attention, and it will be remarked that they
becc.\e more and more vertical. Thus it will
quickly be discovered that parallel spires still exist
(fig. 1), one of which answers to the numbers I, 14,
27, 40, &c., which are to the number 13 ; and, finally,
we shall arrive at a last series of scales which is
only a straight line entirely vertical. One of these
vertical lines is denoted by the ciphers 1, 22, 43, 64,
85, 106. These lines are of the number 21, and
they are named ranks (^Zeilen) in opposition to the
true spires (Wendeln).
We here make a remark entirely incidental, which
will be found applicable hereafter. Ifwe place in
succession the numbers
21, 13,8,5,
which expresses the number of parallel spirals of
each kind, we shall see that each of these numbers
is the difference of the two that precede it, or the
sum of the two that follow it. Thus 8zi21, — 13,
and 13=8 + 5. Not being able to continue the se-
ries beyond 21, which expresses the parallel vertical
ranks, evidently the most numerous, let us continue
it in another sense, by subtracting each number from
that which precedes it :
21, 13, 8, 5, 3,2, 1, 1,0.
Neither of the spires which vpe have hitherto found
is the true one, the generative spire, since each
(abstracting its parallels) comprehends only the 5th,
the 8th, or the 13th part of the total number of the
scales ; but with patience we shall at length find
spires which have only three parallels (fig. 1.) 1,
4. . . ., 16, 19, 22, 25, &c., others which have only
2: 1,3 ,9,11, 17, 19,..., &c. The figure
2 represents all those spires denoted by different
colours. The ranks (Zeikn) to 21 parallels are
marked by the black lines, those to 13 by black dots,
those to 8 in blue, those to 5 in red, those to 3 in
yellow.
By the method of exclusion, we shall at length
arrive at a single spire without parallel. We con-
firm this result by marking all the scales which we
rank according to this spire, with a particular sign,
and recollecting that to the last all the scales of the
cone are marked with the sign which we have
adopted. The spire found is then the fundamental
or generative spire ; all the others previously ex-
amined are only false appearances, fictitious series,
a secondary result of the primitive disposition of the
scales ; this is demonstrated by the figures 3 and 4,
where the ciphers indicate the order of succession
of the bracteas.
Let us now count the number of scales which form
this fundamental spire, or, in other terms, let us
ascertain after how many scales we meet with one
placed vertically over the first ; so that we may con-
sider the round of the spire as commencing again.
We shall find that it is the 22d leaf (fig. 3.) which
corresponds with the first, and that the spire is con-
sequently composed of 21 scales. We shall, more-
THE CONES OF FIRS.
over, observe, that it is after eight turns that the
22d leaf is found placed above the first ; conse-
quently, when we would give an idea of a position
of leaves, it is not sufBcient to say that the 22d is
found beneath the first ; we must add after how
many turns this coincidence occurs. If we now
place (fig. 4.) the ciphers 1, 2, 3, 4 , 21 at the
extremity of the rays which traverse the summit
and the base of the scales to indicate their order of
succession, each of these ciphers will not be placed
on a ray contiguous to the ray of the following
cipher, but, on the contrary, it will be separated by
7 intermediate rays from the cipher that imme-
diately succeeds it. We explain this by saying that
the divergence is marked by the number 8 ; and the
spire will be noted by means of the fraction ^V; 'he
numerator indicating the number of turns on the di-
vergence, the denominator that of the scales. In
representing on a plan (fig. S.) the projection of a
cone, in such a manner that its axis reduced to 0
may be the centre, we may indicate, with different
colours, the different spires according to which the
bracteas are disposed, and we shall clearly see that
the generative spire expressed by the fraction -jV is
the only one that comprehends all the scales of the
cone. We may also conceive that amongst these
diverse spires will exist arithmetical relations, which
will express the various combinations of a certain
number of elements disposed in a regular manner.
Thus we shall find that a spire which has 5 parallels
will always pass by the 5th leaf, the leaves being
numbered according to the fundamental spire, that
is to say, it will pass by the ciphers 1, 6, 11, 16, 21,
26, 31, &c., or 5, 10, 15, 20, &c. ; tlie series to three
parallels will pass by the numbers 1, 4, 7, 10, &c.
With the aid of this table, it is easy to enumerate
the bracteas of a cone. Beginning from a scale
taken at random, we mark a spire to S parallels ; for
example, the ciphers 1, 9, 17, 25, &e., of which the
difference is always S. Commencing from the same
bractea, we describe one of the spires to 13 parallels
by 1, 14, 27, 40, &c. ; that to 5 parallels by the
ciphers 1, 6, 11, 16, &c. We may then with these
three kinds of spires, by additions and subtractions,
proceeding by S, by 13, and by 5, mark all the scales
of the cone ; the sjsirals to 2 and 3 parallels are not
sufficiently evident to be used without fear of error.
When the whole cone is enumerated, the series of
ciphers 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. permits us to follow that of
the scales in the generative spire which before was
not visible.
When we have denoted by -jV the divergence of
the leaves in the fundamental spire, we have not
satisfied ourselves on the divergence of the spirals
deducted from the generative spire. But if the di-
vergence in the latter (fig. 4.) is ,V between the first
and the second scale, it will be ^-f between the first
and the third, moving from right to left like the ge-
nerative spire ; but on turning the contrary way, its
divergence will be only ,V« Oi^. the spiral that con-
tains the bracteas 1, 3, 5, &c, is that of two parallels :
its divergence then will be /^. At the same time,
we observe that this spire turns contrary to the
generative spire, since in that direction we find the
least divergence. The fourth leaf of the funda-
mental spire will again fall beyond the first; or, the
spiral which goes successively from the first to the
fourth, and to the seventh bractea, is the spire of
three parallels ; its smallest divergence will be iV)
and the spire will turn in the same direction with the
fundamental. These arguments apply to all the
other spirals, and we can establish the series
13 8 5 3 2 1 1 0
21' ^l' Fl' 21' 21' 21' 21' 21*
Since /, expresses the divergence of a spiral going
in a contrary direction to /y, it follows that i^ will
also be contrary to the generative, while -^V, ttj iti
will be in the same direction. We also see that in
order to find the divergence of any line whatever,
or, in other terms, the expression of that spiral itself,
it is sufficient to subtract each numerator from that
which precedes it.
M. Braun afterwards investigated the height whieh
separates the first scale of a spire from the last ;
wliich is termed the distance. It will be easily con-
ceived that the question respects only the relative
distance or the number of scales interposed, for the
absolute distance will vary not only with each cone,
but also according to the age of each fruit taken
singly. It is evident that the generative spire ^\,
which takes in all the scales, is that which moves
the most horizontally. We will therefore express
the distance in height, which separates the two scales
numbered 1 and 22, by the expression :5^V> 'he spire
of tvs'o parallels by jV, in such a manner as we shall
find for the vertical series which rise parallel to the
length of the cone, or where the divergence is 0,
1} which agrees with the experiment, since they are
composed of 21 scales, and the last separated from
the first by the same number.
If then we take the series of divergences, and
place beneath them that of the distances, we shall
have the two series contrary.
.2113 85 32 11 0
21' 21' 21' 21' 21' n' 21' 2l' 21'
„ 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21
2"l' 21' 2*1' 21' 21' 2"T' 2T' 21' 21*
The numerator of each fraction of the series A,
will show us the number of turns in each spire, and
that of the corresponding fraction in B, the number
of parallel spires of each order. Thus the spire 2^4-
accomplished its revolution in 5 turns, but it has but
one parallel, or, in other words, there are but two
spires of this order in the whole cone, as indicated
by the fraction ^\ placed beneath. The common
denominator marks the number of elements which
compose each of these spires. Second inference :
THE CONES OF FIKS.
the expression ^V denotes in the series of distances
B the generative spire, and we see that, being twice
found, it corresponds in that of the divergences to
the two fractions ^-f and ^\, which is explained by
putting -J-, — ) the sign V indicating that the two
spires correspond to the same generative, but that
one goes from right to left, and the other from left
to right.
The whole question then of the spires is reduced
to the knowledge of the divergence and of the num-
ber of scales forming the generative spire, since,
these two being ascertained, we may easily conclude
on the number of the turns and the distance in height
of all the others.
The determination of the inclination of the spires
is still inferred from the relation found between the
divergences and the distances ; it is equal to the
divergence divided by the distance, and gives the fol-
lowing series of quotients :
"> TT> ■B'J T> ■'l 2> °> '^•-'o-
And we obtain two series, one descending to 0,
which is the case of the horizontality, the other as-
cending to infinity, which explains the vertical posi-
tion.
It was not until after long trials that the author
succeeded in finding the condition indispensable to
the determination of a spire, that is, the divergence
of the elements which constitute it. We must pur-
sue a more expeditious method in order to discover
it in a plant or a cone. In the Isatis tinctoria, it is
not difficult ; the generative spire, like the cones of
the Firs, is expressed by ^\, and it is at the same
time tiie most apparent. But it is not always so,
more frequently the fundamental spire is the least
striking of all. If we had the divergences of two
kinds of spires expressed by the fractions which fol-
low each other in the series A, it would be easy, by
subtracting them from each other, to obtain the com-
plete series ; but it often happens, as in the invo-
lucres of the Cinara and the Corymbeferae, that
the cone is not terminated, and the turns of the
spires, which recur only at a great distance in height,
remain incomplete, because the axis is too short.
Nevertheless, we can always determine the number
of the parallels of two or several spirals. Let us
suppose that, in the case of one cone, we have found
that it had spirals of 5 parallels, others of 8 : we
should have established by addition and subtraction
the following series :
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5,8, 13, 21, 34, 55
On one hand, the series has no limits vmtil we have
found the number of the vertical ranks (21 in the
cone of the fir) ; but it is often difficult to recognize
these lines. We must therefore seek by another
process; this process will consist in counting the
number of spirals, including the perpendicular series
{Zeilen), which approach nearer to the vertical than
those which we have noted. Having found the spires
5 and 8, there are still two which are less inclined,
one 5 +8 = 13, the other 13 + 8=21, the last num-
ber that explains the vertical ranks ; the series
ought therefore to stop at 21. We have seen that
the numerator of the fraction of the distances marked
the number of the spires of each order in a given
cone ; we have also seen that the series of distances
is that of the divergences reversed (series A and B),
and the common denominator, the number express-
ing that of the vertical ranges. These two series
being established, the generative spire will be that
where the fraction of the distances will have 1 for
its numerator, since that spire is always singular.
The corresponding fraction in the series A will give
the divergence of this same spire.
Having established the means of determining the
secondary and generative spires on a cone, we
must now enquire whether the expression ^V found
on some cones of pines is invariable if there are va-
riations; and, lastly, if, amidst these variations, we
can seize any fixed law.
There exist two varieties of spires. At first sight
it often happens, that after the spires to 5 and 13
parallels, instead of finding the vertical rank (21)
which terminate the series, we still find 13 + 21 =:34,
and 21 + 34=55, which express the number of the
parallel ranks, and if we establish the two series of
the divergences and the distances, we shall have :
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55.
55, 34, 21. 13, 8. 5, 3, 2, 1, 1, 0.
55
This gives ^ Vt ' for the expression of the genera-
tive spire, and experience proves, that in these
cones the twenty-second leaf is not found placed
vertically over the first, but the fifty-fifth. A slight
twist of the axis is sufficient to produce this result,
but it is not purely accidental ; the effect of growth
for example, as it is found in very young cones.
All this does not weaken the general law. In fact,
these irregular cones are only regularly twisted, so
to speak, on themselves and in which the last cipher
of the series expressing that of the vertical ranks is
greater; but such a cone contains not less, as a ge-
nerative element, than that of the regular cone.
The regular generative spires of the cones of all
the species of pines, analyzed by M. Braun, give
the following series:
0 1 1 2 3 .5 8 13 21 34 55
T' "2' 3"' 5' 8' lli' 2"!' si' Sb' 89' 144'
The following has regard to the species, with
their fundamental regular spire.
l-j- Pinas pinaster. -j^J P. sylvestris, P. •pumU'io,
P.montana. P.resinosa, P.halepensis. i\ P.picea,
P. cemhra, P. larix, P. jiendula. -^-3- P. strobus, P.
canadc sis. f on a single cone of P. canadensis. I P.
microcarpa. The divergences J, | and also -J, vvhich
denote a rank of bracteas placed one over the other,
are not met with in the cones of the pines.
It would now be interesting to investigate if a
M. BIOT ON THE SAP OP PLANTS.
common tie re-unites these different series of brac-
teas, whether they can all be traced to a common
origin. The number of turns, that of the scales of
each spire, the angles of divergence give nothing
with certainty.
It is not under one particular point of view, but
the whole of the elements, considered collectively,
that we find fixed and invariable relations. Thus,
in the preceding series, each fraction is the sum of
the fractions that precede it, which gives a certain
proportion between the number of turns in a spire,
and that of the scales which constitute it. Example :
1+ J=:|. ; therefore each fraction is a proportionate
arithmetical medium between the two fractions
which precede it, and we establish the following
equation :
5 3+2 2+2+1
13^ 8 + 5^5 + 5 + 3
That is to say, one spire is equivalent to the reunion
of several others, whose sum is equal to the fraction
which represents it. This the author proves by the
figures.
M. Braun infers from the series which we have
established, a number of other conclusions which
are only results of calculations, translated in vulgar
language. We have reported enough to give an
idea of his manner of proceeding, which in his de-
ductions are entirely mathematical, verifying never-
theless the justness of his calculations on nature.
Does any relation whatever exist between the dis-
position of the bracteas of a cone and that of the
leaves on the branches of the same species of pine?
Experiment proves that there does. Thus, on the
P. abies and P. picea, the buds containing the clus-
ters of leaves are disposed like the scales of the cone
according to the series if, sometimes j-f, and, finally,
sometimes, but very rarely, fi. P. Canadensis tt,
also the P. sylvestris, P. Larix, P, Eiiropsa W; ex-
pressions which are often identified with those which
we have found for the cones of these different species.
The examination of a catkins in the Amenlacece,
and particularly in the section of the Beiitlinece,
gives results analogous to those which we have ob-
tained from the coniferous. The Betula alba and
B , piibescens give ^V and ^^. The B.fruticosa ge-
nerally TT- The Alnus glutinosa and A. incana .^-y,
rarely t^. The small catkins of Coryliis often exhi-
bit anomalies. The regular spire of the C. avellana
is 2T-) that of the C. Americana and C. tubulosa ^\.
The male flowers of the Quercus rohur, of the Popn-
lus Nigra and P, tremula, are placed according to
the divergence §. The male catkin of the Carpinus
bettdus are disposed J. The leaves are ranked ac-
cording to the more simple spires: | in the genus
Fagus, Castanea, Carpinus, Corylus; § and f in the
leaves of the willows fSalix cinerea, S. caprcea, S.
fragilisj, and the poplars (Populus Ilalica, P. tre-
mula J ; I- in the oaks.
M. BIOT ON THE SAP OF PLANTS.
In all my experiments the motion of the sap appears
to me to proceed from the eminently hygroscopic
quality of the vegetable tissue. The sap received
at the roots evaporates by the leaves, whilst between
these points the vegetable tissue acts precisely as a
cylinder composed of animal charcoal, covered with
an impenetrable envelope, and witli its lower part
immersed in liquid. The column is thus supplied
with all the liquid that it can contain ; the vegetable
tissue becomes itself in the state of saturation that
suits its mass under the existing temperature. This
kind of equilibrium being established, should any
cause — a sudden change of temperature for in-
stance— increase the evaporation at the extremity
of the branches, these will act by suction, draw
more from the roots, and the equilibrium is still pre-
served. Should, however, the roots come to furnish
more, and the leaves evaporate less, then will ensue
turgescence in the vegetable tissue ; and if a hole be
made, the sap or liquid will overflow. 1 his is pre-
cisely what is observed in the birch tree in spring,
when its sap begins to rise, and before its leaves
have come forth or are able to perform their task of
evaporation.
As another trait of resemblance, it may be re-
marked, that the lateral action of heat on an hygro-
scopic column, such as we have represented the
vegetable tissue to be, would have the effect of
rendering it capable of less saturation, and conse-
quently, would oblige it to throw out a part of the
liquid it contains, 'i'his is the effect which the sun
produces upon the birch, and upon other trees,
whose sap runs out at this peinod. When the leaves
come, these phenomena cease ; the task of evapora-
tion is performed, and the sap bursts neither from
the bark, nor through an orifice, if made.
Now, suppose we replace the impermeable or air-
tight envelope by one, on the contrary, capable of
absorption from within, and exhalation without, the
state of things will be changed. The issue of the
sap or liquid by the sides of the envelope, will be
more frequent and facile. The diminution of the
exhaling power by a sudden cold will favour it, and
the sap will burst forth at once from all the pores of
the tree equally, taking into account merely the
different degrees of thickness in the bark. Such is
an account of the emission of sap by the sides of the
nut-tree and sycamore in spring.
The influence of the leaves on the internal motions
of the sap in trees being thus explained, let us ob-
serve what will be the consequence if these leaves, or
great evaporating organs, be enveloped with a colder
8
ON IVY.
atmosphere. The sap conveyed to them being no
longer evaporated, will rest and collect on their sur-
face, and check all evaporation, especially at night.
The upper parts of the vegetable tissue, or hygrosco-
pic column, being thus overcharged, will let fall their
superabundance upon the parts that are lower, which
will produce a descent of the sap. Hence proceed
the alternative ascent and descent of sap, such as
have been noticed. Moreover, these effects will
become continuous, if the evaporating property of
the leaves should diminish before the supplying
power of the roots ceases to throw up the sap; and
this is precisely the case in September : the same
trees that afforded me, but their ascending sap in
the spring, in September afforded a continual sweat.
The latter was no longer the same as the spring sap,
for it contained no saccharine principle.
M. Biot concludes, from his experiments, that the
alimentation of the foliaceous organs is accomplished
principally during the day ; whilst the alimentation
of roots, and the formation of new layers of them,
is effected during the night, when the diminution of
evaporating power in the leaves precipitates the
sap in a descending course towards the roots.
That in deciduous trees, the annual increase of the
trunk and branches taking place in summer, the in-
crease of the roots takes place in winter. The
ascending motion is thus suspended by the cold, and
the absence of leaves allows the sap to accumulate
in the roots, which experience little of the atmo-
spheric variations, and which, in the first warmth of
spring, send up their accumulated juices with force,
through the uppermost parts of the tree.
ON IVY.
BY CHARLES A
Thot3gh I am of opinion that the useful and enter-
taining publication edited by you is neither perhaps
so well calculated, or at all intended for the admis-
sion of communications from occasional correspon-
dents altogether unacquainted with the subjects of
which it treats in a scientific view, yet as it strikes
me that you may introduce into some of your own
judicious observations or lucubrations a hint, either
generally or particularly beneficial to society, I take
the liberty of putting you in possession of the fol-
lowing observations and suggestions, which I some
time since made, and of which I was again reminded
by reading in your fourth number Dr. Johnston's
remarks on Ivy.
It appears, at least in this country, to be a very
generally received opinion, or rather let me call it
prejudice, and one neither, as I think, supported by
experience nor judicious and right reasoning, obser-
vation of the laws of nature, and analogous results
under similar circumstances, that permitting ivy ex-
ternally to cover the walls of houses, occasions an
internal damp, and is therefore injudicious and inju-
rious ; whereas I am persuaded, both by experience
and observation, that the very contrary is the fact,
and that if it could be as promptly applied and made
available, it would be a far more effectual preventive
against damp walls than weather-slating, or any other
at present in use.
I was some time in the last summer, vvith a num-
ber of others, inspecting the repairs of a public
building in this town, from the western gable of
which (by the way, the part most exposed in our
climate to rain and storm) a complete covering of
ivy, of several years' growth, had been unnecessarily
just cut and torn down, when I observed that this
was a most unwise and uncalled for proceeding. At
BREW, ESQ.*
my opinion respecting it, the gentlemen present ex-
pressed surprise, saying that it must occasion internal
damp ; all, with the exception of one, who agreeing
in opinion with me, said, that the driest part of his
house was that which was many years covered with
ivy, and that it was evident this must be the case, as
the inside part of the ivy by the wall was covered
with cobwebs, and just as dry in the wettest weather
as the back of a stove ; which, as I then and fre-
quently before observed, was a natural consequence
easily accounted for, from the self-evident facts, that
the ivy-leaves, hanging one over another from the
ground to its highest point of ascent, not only pre-
vents the rain beating against the wall, but carries
away the drip from it, and that the small clasping
fibres which the ivy shoots into the crevices of the
wall to support its ascent, acting like so many roots
thirsting for the nourishment of moisture, must draw
away any occasional damp which the walls might be
naturally supposed to imbibe or attract from the
earth or the atmosphere.
In addition to the foregoing observations, I shall
merely say, that the wall of the room in which
I sleep, which is exposed to the north-west, and was
some years since exceedingly damp, being neither
externally plastered, rough-cast, nor weather-slated,
is for the few last years, since nature has clothed it
in a delightful evergreen covering coat of ivy, per-
fectly dry : nay, even the glass and frame of the
upper window-sash, which I suffered the ivy to
cover for a year or two, I found, on removing it in
the last summer, covered with dry dust and cob-
webs, and without the smallest appearance of having
ever been wet through their verdant cloak.
Ennls, Oct. 22, 1833.
Other communications from our intelligent Correspondent would be acceptable.— Editor.
SCIENCE OF GARDENING.
9
THE EDITOR ON THE SCIENCE OF GARDENING.*
The Hand Book of Gardening, formerly announced,
is now published, and we think our readers may be
pleased to see how one branch of the subject has
been treated, namely, the Science of Gardening ; a
department which has hitherto been sadly neglected,
both in large and small works, and was certainly
never before brout^ht at so small a charge within
the means of purchase of the labouring classes, and
never before brought so level to the comprehension
of all. This is saying a great deal ; but not, we
believe, an iota beyond the facts, as our readers
may judge for themselves from the following ample
specimen upon the Science of Gardening, which it
may be remarked, begins at the beginning by ex-
amining the organs tlirough which plants are nou-
rished with appropriate food, as indispensable to
their life as to the lives of animals. These feeding
organs are in the Hand Book denominated
" MOUTHS OF GARDEN PLANTS.
" Unlike the mouths of animals, which are placed
on the upper part of the body, the mouths of plants
are placed at the lower part — in the root ; though
not in the body, nor the crown of the root, but at
the very tips of the root fibres.
" At the tip of every root fibre, there is a little
mouth, or rather a spongy sucker ; and though we
cannot discover any opening there, we can always
prove that water and other fluids are sucked up by
these root tips, which are called spongelets, in the
same way perhaps as ink is sucked up by a bit of
bloating paper.
" The largest spongelets I ever saw were in the
root tips of a willow which had shot into a pond at
Woolwich. They are also large in evergreens, in
gooseberry trees, and in heaths. In the turnip they
are to be sought for only in the small fibres at the
tail ; and care must be taken not to confound the
tips of the claspers in ivy with the spongelets, which
are always under-ground, and never on the bark of
trees, as is ignorantly supposed. Ivy therefore does
not, as is supposed, injure trees by feeding on them.
" The openings or pores of the spongelets are so
very small that they will admit no liquid thicker
than water, and no solid substance however fine.
" It will be obvious from this that all manure
must be not only rendered liquid, but also be as thin
as water before it can be sucked up by the sponge-
lets ; and hence even the drainings of stables and
dunghills, which are very rich in nourishment for
plants, are too rich, that is, too thick, to pass th^
small openings till they be largely mixed with water,
without which they will choke the crops instead of
feeding them. When the leaves become yellow from
this cause, they are ignorantly said to be burnt by
the heat of the manure. In the same way, the finest
soot, or the finest powdered lime, bones, or shells,
cannot, till dissolved in water, get tlirough the
spongelets into any plant.
" It is on this account, that in transplanting, the
tips of the root fibres are pressed and obstructed by
the earth of their new situation, and are therefore
unable to feed till they can place themselves in simi-
lar freedom in the earth as they had before trans-
planting. When they are bent or obstructed in this
way, their growth is also prevented, and new fibres
spring from other parts of the root, out of the ma-
terials which would otherwise have enlarged the
old fibres,
" Plants thus acquire a greater number of mouths,
the oftener they are transplanted, a circumstance
usually acted on by nurserymen, who shift their
young trees and other plants for the purpose of
multiplying their root fibres, and consequently of
strengthening the plants, by giving them a greater
facility of feeding. This is also important in cul-
tivating cabbages and greens.
" Every removal, however, must tend to obstruct
or injure the root tips, and of course check growth
by preventing them from feeding. But by lifting
plants with balls of earth so as not to disturb the
root fibres, or by taking great care not to injure
these, and at the same time spreading them carefully
out by hand in their new situation, Sir Henry
Steuart, Bart., of Allanton, has introduced the novel
and successful practice, founded on science, of
transplanting even the largest trees.
" THE SORTS OF FOOD TAKEN BY GARDEN PLANTS.
" The tips of the root fibres, where the mouths
of plants are situated, cannot travel artjout like ani-
mals in search of food, and being fixed to one spot,
can only take such food as they find there.
" The indispensable ingredient in all plant-food is
water, to dissolve the other ingredients, and enable
them to pass into the root tips in the same way as
the fluid in an animal's mouth is indispensable to
mix with solid food when chewed for rendering it
easy to swallow. But water alone will not nourish
any plant well, as has been erroneously asserted.
* The Hand Book of Gardening, in Principle and Practice, for the Use of Schools and Self-Instruction. Written at the request o^
J. S. Menteath, Esq., Close Burn Hall, Dumlriesshire. ISnio. Orr & Smith, London, 1S34.
VOL. II. NO. X. — JAN. 1834. C
10
SCIENCE OF GARDENING.
" Another indispensable ingredient in plant food
is air — tlie common air, which when mixed with
water, as it always more or less is, gives it that
agreeable brisk taste tliat boiling destroys by driving
off the air.
*' It is on tliis account that the watering of a gar-
den in dry weather by throwing over it buckets of
water from a pump, as I have sometimes seen my
neighbours in Kent do, is of far less use than if the
pump-water was thrown through the fine rose of a
watering-pot, so that each drop might mix with and
carry down a portion of air. Rain, again, which falls
from a considerable height, must carry down a great
deal of air, and hence it is found to fertilize more
than any sort of watering by hand.
" When the water supplied to plants has its mo-
tion stopped by any means, such as by a stiff clay
soil on a dead level, it becomes unwholesome food
for plants, chiefly from not having an opportunity to
mix with air, which it can only do by moving or cir-
culating freely.
" Soils, where water does not circulate freely, are
popularly termed cold and sour, though their chief
defect is the want of a due supply of air. The water
of such soils, indeed, tastes vapid, somewhat like
water deprived of air by boiling. Too much water
in a soil is certainly injurious; but even a rather wet
soil will be greatly benefited if all its water be kept
in free circulation by judicious draining, levelling,
and sloping; or, in the case of stiff clays, by ma-
nuring with coal ashes and the like, to open the
texture of the soil.
" Besides common air, the water or moisture in
garden soils, is always more or less mixed with a
substance termed by chemists humic acid, or humin,
which is the chief nutritive ingredient in dung, stable
drainings, rotted leaves, peat, turf, and dark coloured
loam. Humic acid, however, when pure, will not
mix with water, and plants cannot, of course, feed
upon it till it be so mixed and thinned down, This
is effected by combining humic acid with lime,
potass, or ammonia, when it readily dissolves in
water.
" The utility of lime, in one point of view, may be
thus seen, though it is seldom useful to put much
lime on a garden. Hence also we may see the use
of the ammonia (popularly called hartshorn), wliich,
as the smell fully shews, is produced during the fer-
mentation of urine and dung ; and when more of
this is produced than the humic acid can combine
with, it streams off in a pungent strong smelling
vapour, supposed, but without good proof, to be a
serious w-aste and loss as to quantity of plant-food in
the fermenting manure.
" All these ingredients in plant-food are com-
posed of a few simple gases, as follow :
" Water is composed of two parts of hydrogen and
one part of oxygen.
" Common air is composed of twfenty parts by
bulk of oxygen and eighty parts of nitrogen.
" Humic acid is composed of carbon and hy-
drogen.
" Ammonia is composed of three parts of hydro-
gen and one part nitrogen.
" Lime is composed of a metal called calcium and
oxygen.
" Potass is composed of a metal called potassium
and oxygen.
" Potass, lime, and ammonia, are often combined
with carbonic acid gas, which is also contained in
small quantities in common air.
" Perhaps the most important of all these simple
principles is carbon, the chief ingredient in humic
acid, and which is nothing else than pure charcoal.
It is this carbon that constitutes the greater portion
of the solid substances in all plants, while water con-
stitutes the chief fluid portion ; and hence hydrogen,
which is contained in water, in humic acid, and in
ammonia, is so important.
" In order to understand these simple principles
well, some knowledge of chemistry would be requi-
site ; but to go minutely into the matter here would
lead us away too far from our immediate purpose.
What has been here said will suffice to show the na-
ture and general ingredients of plant-food. Those
who wish to learn more are referred to the Alphabet
of Scientific Gardening, and Alphabet of Scientific
Chemistry.
" The mineral part of the soil, which, exclusive
of lime, is composed of clay and flint earth, in the
form of sand and gravel of various fineness, together
with sometimes magnesia, iron, and a few other
metals, contributes little or nothing to the food of
plants. These portions of the soil appear to be
chiefly useful in dividing and diffusing the nutritive
parts arising from decayed plants in natural soils,
and from various manures in artificial culture.
" On these principles we can easily account for
the barrenness of stiff" clays, dry sand, and more
particularly soils chiefly consisting of granite sand,
as in Arran and near Plymouth ; while in the in-
stance of sand or clay from basalt or whinstone, as
well as from limestone and chalk, the carbonic acid
gas tends to greater fertility, as in the Lothians,
Ayrshire, and Kent. No mixture then of clay and
sand will be fertile without limestone, chalk, or ba-
salt, that is, whinstone ; and more particularly with-
out decayed plants or manures, containing a large
proportion of humic acid, and other combination of
carbon and hydrogen.
" Somemineral substances are positively injurious,
such as iron, and perhaps all the metals, when com-
bined with oxygen or acids. JVlany good soils indeed
contain iron, known by the reddish rust colour it
imparts ; but in that case they would appear to be
fertile in spite of (not on account of) the iron.
SCIENCE OF GARDENING.
11
" Such is the sort of food which all plants feed
upon|; and that they require a large quantity of this
food, appears from the experiments of the Rev. Dr.
Hales, who found that a hop-plant sucked up four
ounces of water in twelve hours in a shady place,
and eight ounces in a place more open ; while a plant
of mint, whose roots were set in a tube containing
water, made this water fall an inch and a half during
the day, but only a quarter of an inch during the
night.
" It would appear, therefore, that plants feed most
heartily in the day and in open places, being most
probably influenced to this by the light.
" Artificial watering may be supposed on this ac-
count to be most beneficial early in the morning,
just as the plants are commencing their breakfast.
" CHANGES UNDEBGONE BY THE PLANT-FOOD.
" As plants have no stomach like animals for the
reception and digestion of food, and no moving in-
testines for carrying through the body what has been
digested, the necessary changes similar to digestion
take place, first, in the soil without, before the food
enters the root tips ; and secondly, within the plant,
more particularly when the food has reached the
leaves.
" The changes which take place in the soil before
the food enters the root tips, consist of the fermenta-
tion of decaying leaves and other parts of plants,
and the circulation of such portions of these through
the ground as become mixed with the moisture
derived from rains and dews.
" Heat is indispensable for producing such changes,
and hence in this climate they do not take place, or
at least very slightly, in winter, and in the cold wea-
ther of spring and autumn. This, however, is of
less moment, as the plants are then torpid, like bats,
bees, and squirrels, and take very little food.
" It will follow from this, that when a soil is
known to contain rotting weeds and other plants, or
has rotted manure spread over its surface, it cannot
be too well dug and raked, in order to mix the richer
parts of these with the less rich clay and sand ; on
the same principle that at dinner we mix in eating
the richer beef or mutton with the less rich potatoes,
cabbage, and bread. Both we and the garden plants
must have a large portion of water to thin or dilute
the food, otherwise health will suffer. The water
which we drink in the form of tea, coffee, or beer, is
similar in kind to the manured moisture sucked up
by garden plants, which feed solely on liquid food.
" THE SAP AND THE PULP.
" When the water containing air, humic acid, and
other nutritive materials, is sucked in by the root
tips, and is carried up into a plant, it takes the name
of Sap. This is in most, if not in all plants, a clear
fluid, slightly sweet, the bulk of it being water, but
becoming thicker as it rises, probably from mixing
with what has been farther changed in the leaves.
The milky matter in lettuce and dandelion is not
the sap.
" It is not yet known whether the sap rises through
vessels similar to the blood vessels of animals, or
whether it rises tlirough the tissue of the plant, as
ink spreads through bloating paper, or water through
lump sugar. The latter is the opinion of some of
the highest living authorities.
" It is not of any practical importance, so far as
I know, which opinion in this matter is adopted.
" The sap, in whatever manner it does rise through
a plant, at length arrives at the leaves in a somewhat
thickened state, and is spread out under the very
thin skin of the upper side of the leaf, for the pur-
pose of being exposed to the action of the air, in a
similar way as the animal blood is spread out for the
same purpose in the minute blood vessels of the
lungs.
" On the leaves are very numerous minute open-
ings or pores, often smaller than pin-holes, which
appear both to admit air and permit the escape of
moisture, similar, probably, to the nostrils of animals,
or rather to the breathing pores of insects.
" These pores have raised lips, varying in form,
which shut when they are wetted, and also in the
dark ; but open in dry air, and when exposed to svin-
light,
" The pores of the leaf lead to small air-cells,
which, when larger than usual, form the white or
yellow spots on plants with variegated leaves.
" Through these pores the sap gives off two-thirds
of its superfluous water, in a similar way as the
animal blood gives off its superfluous water by the
breath and by perspiration. The third of the sap
that remains will of course be much thickened by
the loss of so much water.
" This third I call the jiulp^ to distinguish it from
the crude watery sap, with which in books it is very
commonly confounded. The pulp is of similar use
to plants in promoting their growth, as the blood is
to animals.
" The pulp, which is chiefly composed of the
carbon, or charcoal, derived from the humic acid of
the sap, is of a dark blue colour ; but the trans-
parent tissue of the leaf in which it is enclosed
being more or less yellow, the combination of the
two colours forms a green. When no pulp is
formed, the leaves accordingly become yellow.
" Several important inferences arise from these
facts. The change, for example, of sap into pulp
cannot take place in the dark, sunlight being indis-
pensable to open the pores ; and hence plants
growing under thick trees, or any thing that ob-
structs the sun's light, cannot well effect this im-
portant change, and the pulp being in consequence
c 2
12
SCIENCE OF GARDENING.
only prepared in small quantity, they become slen-
der, yellowish, and sickly, for want of due nourish-
ment. It is ignorantly said that the trees draw
them.
" Plants in pots in an ill-lighted window suffer
the same inconvenience, and bend their heads as
much as possible towards the light, not that they
have any knowledge of the use of it, no more than
a hungry infant has of the use of the milk which it
greedily sucks ; but because in the part most ex-
posed to the light, a greater quantity of pulp is
formed, which renders it firmer, heavier, and shorter
than the part less exposed, whose laxness causes it
to give way and lengthen, on the same principle
that a piece of somewhat moist paper will bend
when exposed to the heat of a fire, from the side
nearest the fire losing its moisture and contracting.
When the change of sap into pulp is in any way
prevented, as by shade or by moisture, the leaves
naturally become yellow, as when plants in pots
have more water given them, in saucers or other-
wise, than the sunlight can cause to pass off; or
when they are root-bound, and the root tips have
not room to feed.
" By tying the leaves of lettuce near the top, the
inmost leaves are kept from the light, and hence
little or no pulp being formed there, they are ren-
dered white, crisp, and tender; as cabbages and
savoys grow of their own accord without tying,
though tying will hasten the process. This is called
blanching, which means ' whitening.'
" In all cases, the more light plants are exposed
to, the hardier they will be, provided they be not
gorged with too watery food; and the less light
they have, the more feeble, sickly, and yellow they
will be. Light from above also is greatly better
than side light.
" The importance of wide planting in most cases
will therefore be obvious ; for if potatoes, cabbages,
or other plants are crowded together, they become,
at least at their sides, nearly as much shaded from
the light by each other as if growing under trees.
" AIR.
"The common air contained in the sap when it
first arrives from below, is composed, as already
shown, of twenty measures of oxygen and eighty
measures of nitrogen. At the same time then that
two-thirds of the water of the sap passes ofl' through
the leaf-pores, a considerable portion of this oxygen
is given ofit'; a process that tends to restore to the
atmosphere the oxygen consumed by the breathing
of animals and the burning of fires. This effect,
however, only happens during daylight.
" At night, plants, instead of giving off oxygen,
take it up from the air, giving off carbonic acid gas ;
and hence plants in pots must render bad the air of
rooms where they are kept, except during daylight,
when they improve the air where they grow.
" From these facts, the importance of a free cir-
culation of air to the healthy growth of plants must
be obvious ; and hence a garden cooped up between
high walls or bushes, even though it have plenty of
sunlight, which is still more indispensable than free
air, will never produce good crops. It has been
supposed by some also, that plants require to be
somewhat moved and shaken by the winds, as a
sort of exercise for circulating the sap and the pulp,
inasmuch as they cannot take walking exercise like
animals. This, however, is only an ingenious fancy.
" CAUSES OF THE GROWTH OF PLAKTS.
" When the pulp has been formed from the sap
by the loss of its water and some of its oxygen, it
passes back from the leaf to the branch or the stem;
though by what channels is no better understood
than those by which it came from the root. ' No
man,' says Solomon, ' can find out the work that
God maketh from tlie beginnin<i to the end.'
" As the blood of animals prepared in the lungs
by losing water and carbonic acid gas, goes to form
or increase the bones and the flesh all over the
body ; so does the pulp of plants go to form new
branches, leaves, and roots, and increase in size
those already formed.
" The great use of the leaves will now be under-
stood, as being nearly as important to plants as the
lungs are to animals.
" When plants are accordingly stripped of their
leaves by accident, such as by the ravages of cater-
pillars or the browsing of cattle, they either die or
become sickly, till new leaves (as will happen in
vigorous plants) sprout again to prepare the neces-
sary supplies of pulp. My neighbour's savoys this
autumn (1833) were devoured by caterpillars down
to the stumps ; but I advised him not to pull them
up, and they formed very fine little heads in two
months. It is therefore an error to pick off leaves,
as is sometimes done, with the intention of exposing
fruit, such as grapes, to the sun to hasten their
ripening ; for a supply of pulp is still more import-
ant to their ripening than such exposures, and
without leaves no pulp can be formed.
" REJECTIONS OF PLANTS AND ROTATION OF CROPS.
" Plants, like animals, do not appropriate all the
food which they take ; and having the means of
separating what is useful, they reject what is useless
and put it aside. Independent of the great quantity
of water and gases, which plants throw off by their
leaves, they also throw out from the roots a sort of
excrementitious slime, different in different plants ;
but poisonous or injurious to the same kinds of
plants which throw it out.
SCIENCE OF GARDENING.
13
" The fact has been long known to gardeners and
farmers, that they could not get good crops of the
same kinds from the same piece of ground season
after season, though the cause of this has only been
investigated of late years, and has been proved by
experiments of Brugmans and Macaire, not to arise,
as was formerly alleged, from the food in the soil
being exhausted, since all plants feed nearly alike,
but from the excrementitious slime, which acts upon
the same sort of plants that produce it as a slow
poison. Thus the slime from a crop of cabbages
will greatly injure another crop of cabbages, though
it will do little or no harm to potatoes or peas ;
while the slime from peas will injure peas, though
it would not injure cabbages or turnips.*
" When this is known, it will prevent two succes-
sive crops of the same kind from being tried, unless
the ground be so trenched and dug as to bury the
slime deeper than the roots can reach. In many
parts of Ireland, and probably of Scotland, the slime
from potatoes is so mixed with the soil, that a good
crop of potatoes cannot be had.
" HEAT, COLO, AND SHELTER.
" Plants, though not so warm as animals, are in
general some degrees warmer than the soil they
grow upon, and in winter a little warmer than the
air. As the heat in animals appears to be produced
by the chemical changes which take place in breath-
ing, t so the heat of plants is probably produced by
the change of sap into pulp.
" The external heat of the air is indispensable to
the due flowing of the sap, and hence it flows very
slowly in winter and in cold weather. The stop-
page of the flow of sap at the beginning of winter
is erroneously ascribed to its descent to the roots
at that season.
"As heat then is probably one of the chief causes
of the flow of the sap, the artificial heat produced
by hot-beds, and also by any sort of shelter, tends
to forward the growth of plants.
" Heat is very equally distributed among all
things on the earth's surface, by a process some-
what similar to that of water always coming to a
level ; that is, heat will always pass from a hot sub-
stance to one near it which is colder — from the
warm ground, for instance, to the cold air, till the
heat in the ground and in the air becomes equal.
" Now this off-streaming of heat from a warm
substance to a cold one, is as easily prevented as
the passage of light by any thing non -transparent ;
as we have only to interpose something that heat
will not easily pass through, such as canvass, flan-
nel, or straw ; on the same principle that we pre-
vent the heat of our own bodies from streaming off
into the air by means of dress, which will be more
or less warm in proportion as it can prevent the
escape of animal heat.
" Upon these principles are founded the different
modes of sheltering plants, or, in other words, of
preventing them from being robbed of heat by the
cold air. Shelter will be most wanted in gardens
during clear, cloudless nights in spring and autumn;
for when there are clouds, they prevent a great deal
of heat from streaming off into the upper air, and
hence no dew (which is always caused by the mois-
ture or vapour in the air losing its heat) is ever
formed on a cloudy night ; and the same holds, for
the same reason, of hoar frost. As dew will form
on the under side of leaves, it is an error to say it
falls. Snow acts similarly to clouds in preventing
the heat of the ground from streaming off.
" Tender crops, such as lettuce, may be on these
principles sheltered during continued frost by hoops
bent over them, and covered with mats, straw, or
fern leaves. They must, however, always be un-
covered during the day in open weather, to admit
light and air.
" Rhubarb, and other plants and flowers whose
stems die down, ought to have their roots covered
over during the cold season with long dung, straw,
or silver fir branches, removing these when the
leaves shoot up in spring.
" Plants in pots ought on the same principle to
be well exposed to light (not side light if possible)
and air in the day-time, at least when it does not
freeze, but closely housed every night ; for the win-
ter nio-hts, even in open weather, are too cold for
geraniums, hydrangeas, and other favourite window
plants.
" All the preceding remarks apply exclusively
to plants which are past their seed-leaf; but the
principles applicable to seeds before and after sow-
ing, till they get into their seed-leaf, are so totally
different, that it will be necessary to point out the
difference.
" SEED SOWING.
" Every seed has a shell, more or less hard, to
protect it from external injury, and at its base what
is called the seed-pore (popularly the eye), for the
passage inwards of the nutrient pulp before it is
ripe, and for the passage outwards of the young
plant after sowing.
" Within the shell is the kernel, consisting of the
embryo plant, with its radicle or root, its gemlet or
stem, and the neck between these, besides the seed
lobe or lobes, containing materials for nourishing it
in the first stage of growth.
" In order to begin the growth of the embryo,
• Seethe details of M. Macaire's Experiments, Field Nat. Magazine, Decemtier 1833.
t See Alphabet »f Scientific Chemistry, p. 105 ; and Alphabet of Zoolngi/, p. 85.
u
SCIENCE OF GARDENING.
four tilings are indispensable ; heat, water, air, and
darkness.
" The heat is required to soften the nutrient ma-
terials in the lobes, but without water it would be
more likely to harden these. Pure water is more
advantageous than water containing humic acid or
other rich materials, what is contained in the lobes
being sufficiently rich.
" Freely circulating air is indispensable for sup-
plying oxygen and carrying off carbonic acid gas, a
process the reverse of what takes place in leaves
exposed to sunhght. For the same reason, light is
injurious, by carrying off the oxygen requisite in
this stage of growth.
" In sowing any sort of seed, these four circum-
stances must be carefully attended to. For want of
heat, accordingly, seeds will not come up during
frost ; for want of water, they will not come up
when sown in dry sand ; for want of air, they will
not come up if too deep in the ground ; and if not
duly covered, they will not come up from having
too much light.
" Most seeds are benefited by steeping them for
an hour or two in pure water, which in the cold
weather of spring may be made milk-wann. Pickles,
train-oil, urine, and other steeps, must in most cases
be injurious, and will never, as is ignorantly pre-
tended, kill the eggs of insects, even if such be
among the seed, of which I know not a single in-
stance.
" Too much water, however, will be certain to
injure the seeds, by gorging them and rendering
them dropsical and liable to rot. Hence the well-
known benefit from sowing in dry weather, to
insure only moderate moisture.
" The seed-lobes, when in part exhausted of their
nutrient naatter, are changed into seed-leaves, and
go on to prepare pulp from the sap now taken up
by the young root.
" The seed-leaves are now therefore so important
to the very existence of the plants, that when they
are eaten off by insects, as is done to seedling tur-
nips, radishes, and cabbage, by the turnip-fly, the
crop perishes.
" METHODS OF MULTIPLYING PLANTS NOT }3Y SEED.
" The most common way of procuring a great
nimnber of plants of one kind is by sowing seed ;
but some plants, as the foreign geraniums and
most double flowers do not ripen seed ; others,
as the rose, the seeds take as long as two years to
come up, and several years after to blow ; and in
others, the plants from seed are very different from
the parent plants. These circumstances have led
to other methods of multiplying particular kinds,
as follow :
" DIVIDING THE EOOTS.
" Every root has what is called the crown or
neck, and in some roots, as the potatoe, a similar
part is called the eye, attached to which is the body
of the root, with the fibres and their feeding tips
or mouths.
" The crown, neck, or eye, is in most roots the
only part of a root that can send up a stem. The
exceptions to this are the roots of mint, horse-
radish, iris, Jerusalem artichoke, and a troublesome
weed in gardens called ash- weed, from the leaf
resembling that of the ash, the least bit of all which
roots will grow ; because they seem to be rather
under-ground stems than real roots.
" It will follow, that with these and a few other
similar exceptions, roots will only be capable of
being divided, when they have more crowns or eyes
than one, as in the small bulbs that grow at the base
of the larger bulbs in lilies, daffodils, tulips, and
snow-drops; the eyes in potatoes, rhubarb, dahlias,
and peonies ; the crowns in primroses, auriculas,
sea pinks or thrift, and double rockets ; and the
side branches in border-box and carnations.
" The crown or eye ought to be cut with a sharp
knife, so as not to tear or bruise the parts ; and
should if possible have both a piece of the body of
the root, and also some fibres with their tips unin-
jured. This, however, is not indispensable, for the
crown or eye alone will often grow ^vithout any
fibres at first, as in auriculas ; though the fibres will
in no case grow without any part of the body
attached to them.
" SEPARATING OFFSETS, LAYERS, AND SUCKERS.
" Many plants, instead of having a number of
crowns or eyes, have only one, and send off short
stems, like the daisy and houseleek, or larger run-
ners, like the sweet violet, ground ivy, and the
strawberry, with young plants at the end, which
readily take root, and may either be allowed to root
after cutting the runner, or, if it is required to make
them rather stronger, before the separation.
" The time for doing this must be in some mea-
sure regvdated by the growth of the ofl'sets, and by
the season of the year ; for it will in all such cases
be important to have the young plants well rooted
a month or so before the setting in of frosty morn-
ings in the autumn.
" When the offsets are not naturally fitted to take
root of themselves, as in the carnation, an operation
called layering is performed, which consists in inter-
rupting the passage of the pulp downwards by
making an upward slit with a penknife half through
the stem, and by several other methods ; then fixing
the cut part a little under-ground «ith a hooked
peg, when root fibres will form, and the rooted
ON RUST IN CORN.
15
layer may of course be removed and planted else-
where.
" Many other plants, such as double wallflowers,
lilacs, honeysuckles, roses, sweetbriar, laurels, and
most evergreens, may be layered in a similar man-
ner, it being a very certain as well as an easy mode
of getting a number of plants.
" The young plants called suckers, which spring
up from the deeper roots of some shrubs and trees
at a distance from their trunks, as in the currant,
gooseberry, rose, lilac, and plum-tree, may be taken
up with a bit of root (with root fibi-es and their tips
if possible) attached to them. These however will
take nearly as long to come into bloom and bearing
as plants raised from seed, and in this respect are
inferior to layers from the older branches, which
usually blow soon.
" In the monthly rose, suckers make the best
plants, as they do also in the sweetbriar ; but this
does not produce many. Such suckers, when long
and easily bent, may also be treated as layers ; and
as many ne^v plants may be obtained as there are
buds on the sucker, by making a ring-cut through
the bark below each bud, and laying over the whole
sucker when pegged down a shallow covering of
rather dry earth, when a stem will rise from each
bud, and roots grow from each ring of bark that
has been cut : a good mode of multiplying rose-
trees.
" STItlKING OF SLIPS OR CUTTINGS.
" The younger twigs of some plants and shrubs,
and even large trunks of such trees as willow and
elder, when planted in the ground, will continue to
live almost as well as a layer attached to the parent
plant, till they acquire root fibres ; and in this way
many plants are multiplied.
" The success of this process depends on the end
of the slip or cutting not being too young and soft,
otherwise it will become gorged with moisture and
rot ; in its not being too old and hard, otherwise it
will not take up moisture enough to keep it alive ;
and hence, when possible, the end should be cut
with a slope, so as to have one side rather soft, and
the other rather hard, taking care not to bruise
the bark nor leave it ragged. For the same rea-
sons, both a very moist and a very dry soil will
not answer, though the last, and even pure sand, is
preferable for delicate plants, with frequent gentle
waterings, so as not to gorge and rot them.
" As the life of cuttings must be somewhat feeble
till roots are formed, they ought not to have much
light, and may be slightly darkened by a bell-glass,
nor many leaves and no flower-bvids left on to ex-
haust them ; and, as has been said of seed sowing,
they ought not to be planted too shallow, for roots
dislike light ; nor too deep, for roots cannot do
without air.
" The ease with which cuttings of currant, goose-
berry, and monthly rose trees, southernwood, gera-
niums, thyme, sage, and many other plants grow, is
known to every body, and extensively practised at
haphazard, without knowing the principles just
stated ; and, consequently, when the same method
is practised with the moss-rose, sweetbriar, myrtles,
double yellow wallflowers, and other plants more
difficult to strike, as it is termed, no reason can be
given for disappointments. Perhaps, however, there
are no plants that may not be successfully struck
by cuttings, if care be taken to nurse their enfeebled
life, by excluding bright light and preventing en-
gorgement till they can form roots."
These principles are in the succeeding parts of
the book applied to the practical parts of kitchen,
fruit, and flower gardening ; and the whole is con-
cluded with a Calendar of garden work to be done
in each month of the year.
ON RUST IN CORN.*
EY M. STANDINGER, FARMER AT FLOTBECK, NEAR HAMBURG.
Cultivators, all over the world, attribute rust to
the influence of a malignant dew, or to what is
termed blighting weather. This opinion, however,
is not less erroneous than that of those who attri-
bute it to the vicinity of a barberry bush (Berberis
vulgaris). Professor Hornemann, of Copenhagen,
planted some corn in a garden, and surrounded it
with barberry bushes ; this corn was not attacked
by the rust; the experiment repeated several times
always produced the same result. Since the pro-
scription of the barberry, the rust appears not less
frequently ; of this, the year 1830 is a proof.
The author thinks that rust may be attributed to
the re-union of many causes : such as the nature of
the soil, too vigorous a vegetation, a sudden change
of temperature, and continued drought or rains.
The following are the facts which the author has
cited in support of his opinion
During fifteen or twenty years, the tillage of the
environs of Altona has furnished a proof that an
exuberant vegetation may become the cause of dis-
ease. The lierring fishing produced so abundantly
at the mouth of the Elbe, that the fishermen laden
with these fish returned up the river and offered
Oken's Isis, 3rd for 1832, p. 262.
16
ON GROWING EARLY POTATOES.
them to the peasantry at so low a price, that the
latter bought them for manure; some of them mixed
it with a certain quantity of good earth, and ob-
tained a fine harvest, especially on sandy soils :
others covered their fields with these herrings, and
were much astonished at finding the wheat and oats
attacked by rust before the ears were formed. Cold
lands produced only a moderate crop. Potatoes
thus manured, at first grew very rapidly ; their
leaves were of a blackish grey, and in November
they were besprinkled with spots of rust ; the
storks under-ground produced only small abortive
tubercles, which were also covered with spots of
rust.
Those who had manured their meadows with a
mixture of earth and herrings, gathered a good crop
of hay, but the grass was invaded by the rust as
soon as it reached a certain height. In 1830, the
same phenomenon was observed on all sandy soils.
Having been sufficiently watered, they were co-
vered with magnificent corn which were soon de-
voured by the disease,
A previous observation serves to support this
theory. In 1794, the author went on an agricul-
tural journey through Holstein. The division of
property had been lately adopted, the produce of
agriculture was rising in value, and the cultivators
loaded their land with manure, bestowing no other
labour on it. It was then observed that the corn
was pressed down, and rust became more frequent
from year to year, while the luxuriance of vegeta-
tion of the corn increased. The peasantry in the
neighbourhood of Hamburg and Altona attributed
the rust to the introduction of the potatoe. In this
opinion they were both right and wrong, for this
reason : the Dutch had formerly monopolized the
sale of potatoes, and exclusively furnished the
marshes of Hamburg with them ; but when they
began to cultivate the blue flowered variety, called
Dutch, they could no longer support the concur-
rence, and the price of corn having at the same
time considerably increased, the farmers began to
manure their lands to excess with the mud of
Altona and Hamburg, and thence the rust was
introduced into their fields. Thus may be ex-
plained the coincidence of the introduction of rust
with the culture of potatoes, without any direct
reference to cause and effect.
A NEW WAY TO GROW EARLY POTATOES.*
On walking out the other afternoon, in company
with some friends, we were caught in a thunder-
storm, and obliged to take shelter in a farm-house,
the owner of which was known to one of the party.
During the storm, tlie conversation turned upon
gardening, and our host gave us a plan for raising
new potatoes, which I send you. It may appear
strange, but, as he says, he has tried it, and found it
to answer very well. At all events, I think it wor-
thy of consideration and a trial. I will give his own
words, so far as my recollection serves.
" I was getting up my potatoes one year, in that
field below the house, when the thought struck me,
that by planting the smallest of them again, imme-
diately, they would grow, and I should have new
potatoes very early. I resolved to try the scheme,
I had no hot-house or green-house, and was there-
fore obliged to hit on a plan for keeping off the frost,
which I did as follows. I chose a part of the field
in which I was working, and made trenches along
the top and sides to keep it dry. I then covered it
a few inches deep with litter, put on a few inches of
soil, and planted the potatoes, covering them again
with soil. In order to keep the earth from falling
down and smothering them, when they began to
shoot, I stuck sticks and brushwood over the last
layer of soil, and put on a quantity of litter, covering
the whole with soil. One of my neighbours, who
saw me, was surprised, and said he was sure I should
have nothing in the end ; but I told him to come
again on new year's day, and we would see. We did
so, and we opened the bed and found new potatoes
about the size of a marble ; I then told him I would
leave it until the 6th of March. I did so, and on
opening it again, the new potatoes vi'ere as large as
an egg, exceedingly well tasted, and quite mealy.
I showed some to the gardeners in the neighbour-
hood, who would scarcely believe me, when I told
them how I had grown them."
The situation in which they were grown, and
which I myself saw, was on the north side of a hill,
in the northern part of Lancashire, not the warmest
situation in the world, as you may imagine.
The idea of growing potatoes in the manner above
stated is good, but my informant's mode is, I think,
capable of improvement If, instead of the side of
a field, an old hot-bed were used, and hoops placed
so as to prevent the soil from falling down and
pressing on the young shoots, which would not grow
very high, as potatoes when deprived of light do not
grow so much above-ground as they do naturally,
I think early potatoes might be raised without any
expense. I intend to try it, at all events, and hope
I some of your readers will do so likewise.
* From Hort, Register,
Melanthiinn. viride
L
v^'
Cvclamen NedecefoU'UBi
Thea Chinensis
DENDROLOGY.
17
MR. WALLIS'S DENDROLOGY.*
This is a very singular book. It is the production,
as we have been informed, of an old man who has
been successively a common sawyer, a feller of tim-
ber, a milkman, and a timber surveyor, who can,
moreover, do little more in the way of letters than
subscribe his own name to an accovmt for work
done. He boasts in the preface (page vi.) of never
having read any work on botany in his life (for
the best of all possible reasons, we guess), for which,
he says, he was praised by no less a person than
Sir Joseph Banks ; it being hence obvious that the
President of the Royal Society deemed botany use-
less to a practical man like Mr. Wallis.
The work is creditably written, notwithstanding
the sine eruditione of the author, who scruples not
to quote Latin ; but it contains such strange doc-
trines, that our readers might suppose it more likely
to be the production of a closet dendrologist, who
had never seen a tree, than of a practical man.
Such anomalies however now and then happen, the
practical man stepping out of his beat to wander
into the mazes of theory. We had in a former
number a striking instance of this in Mr. Main,
who fancies the life to be a particular member of a
plant ; and here we have a still deeper plunge into
theory, for Mr. Wallis maintains that the root is not
essential to the nourishment of plants at all. It is
very obvious he might as well maintain, that his ow n
mouth is not essential to convey food to his stomach.
Here are his conclusions from a few facts stated in
the first twenty-two pages.
" From the various specimens and experiments
already laid before my readers, they will be able
dearly to deduce, that trees possess the following
properties : —
" First, — That trees that have been felled in
winter, can, nevertheless, produce leaves and shoots
in spring, as if growing in their natural position in
the earth.
" Second, — That trees have their bark full of sap
in activity in the spring, although felled in the win-
ter of the preceding year.
" Third, — That trees that have lost their bark
from the trimks, can produce fine heads, and live
many years, and even throw out shoots, — a circum-
stance which has been more particularly observed
in limes, elms, and thorns.
" Fourth, — That trees that have been ringed, and
have at tliat part had their liber scraped away, can
still produce heads and leaves, and a greater in-
crease in the portion of their trunks above the ring,
than they would had they been left in a state of
nature ; whereas, no increase or growth ever takes
place in the trunk below the part ringed ; — on the
contrary, it prematurely, though slowly, dies.
" Fifth, — I'hat the branches of trees continue to
live, to be supported, and grow, after both trunk
and bark have become rotten.
" Sixth,^ — That branches possess the property of
forming bark, and bark the property of producing
boughs and roots, some of which latter are often
found projecting and hanging down from many feet
above the earth, and even growing into the trunk
again, — for each branch is perfect in itself, and
independent of its trunk.
" Seventh, — That decayed trunks grow heads as
readily as sound trees ; and that so also does the
mere shell of bark, which is well shown by some
aged elms in Hyde Park at this time.
" Eighth, — That bark from the branches grows
downwards, covers and shields, or heals over, that
part of the tree from which limbs have been lopped ;
and that the upper portion of a trunk can re- produce
bark, and project it downward, and recover parts
stripped of their bark.
" Ninth, — That the head of a tree can live, thrive,
and produce, when suspended in the air, and even
after its own trunk has entirely rotted away.
" Tenth, — That a tree will even continue to live,
to grow, and to produce leaves, buds, blossoms and
fruit, for years after its trunk may have been di-
vided, and all communication with the earth com-
pletely cut off.
" Eleventh, — That gooseberry and other trees
will grow and produce roots when inverted, — their
branches set in the earth, and their roots projecting
up in the air; — and that the vine, the ivy, &c. will
produce roots or shoots, at either end of their
branches indifferently, or from any knot in their
structure.
" Twelfth, — That trees continue to live after their
roots have rotted away ; and without branches when
all of them have been cut away, — as in the instance
of the withy.
" Last, — That shells, with bark, can re-produce
roots, woody fibre and heart, and, in fact, nearly
constitute itself a new tree ; and so, inversely, can
roots.
" If, after the facts already related, and espe-
cially after the ringing, and thereby the destroying
of the vessels supposed to have the only power to
convey the sap from the root to the extreme rami-
fications,—I say, if the upper part do still continue
to live, and to receive a due supply, nay, even to
grow more luxuriantly, whilst all parts below the
ring, and its bark and roots, die, — I say then, this
• Dendrology, &c. by John Wallis, Timber Surveyor. 8vo. London, 1833.
MAGAZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL. II. NO. XI. — FEB. 1834.
18
DENDROLOGY.
proves, beyond the possibility of a rational doubt,
that the juices, or immediate causes of continuation
of life and circulation, are conveyed through other
channels than the roots, or upwards through the
stem, — and which position is satisfactorily main-
tained by the very extraordinary fact, that, with
due precautions, you may cut through the trunk, or
remove the bark, and yet that the portion of trunk
and branches of the tree above the division will
live, increase, and produce, for years after such dis-
severance. The roots themselves may rot away,
and yet the trvmk can live on and form new roots.
" Now, as the trunk possesses the power to live
without its roots, so ought the correspondent part,
the plumula of the seed, to possess the same power ;
and I have ascertained, by the following experi-
ments and many others, that it does.
" I removed the caudex from the plumula of a
growing pea ; yet the plumula lived on, and grew
to six times the size it had attained prior to the
removal of its caudex ; and this happened in spite of
the cold temperature of the pi-esent March, and the
germination being caused to take place out of its
natural season.
" It therefore manifestly appears to me, that the
opinion of the botanists,- — viz. that an acorn, (seed,
or the like,) when germinating, must ' first strike
down a root,' or radicle, for the support of the plu-
mula,— is an alogy ! a perfect non-sequitur ! And
in manifestation hereof, a pea (or other seed) put
into water, germinates ; and by the time the peri-
carpium bursts, the plumula is in existence, and a
caudex, not furnished with radicula, is thrown out;
and both the caudex and plumula are supported for
days after this by the cotyledons of the seed alone,
and not by the caudex : and nearly twelve days will
elapse from the commencement of germination be-
fore a single radicle is formed.* Now, very long
before this period the plumula will have shot out,
have erected itself, partly have expanded its leaves,
and doubly outgrown the size of the very caudex
itself, — v/nich by the botanists is said to be the
means of support,— and at least one half of that
caudex will generally by this period have withered,
and its end be twisted upwards.
" The radicles are now about formed, and sent
out by the remaining portion of the caudex, or im-
mediately beneath the base of the plumula, or by
the plumula alone ; and then, indeed, when the cau-
dex has been furnished with the remainder of its
parts, i. e. tlie radicula, can we say the radix is
complete, and not before.
" The caudex is at times but partially, and at
other times not at all, developed f during the pro-
cess of germination ; and yet just as vigorous a
plumula is formed, and as fine a plant is produced,
as if the caudex had been first projected from the
seed.
" And hence I maintain that it is the corculum
itself that has the power of propagation and sup-
port before the radicle is in existence, and that this
power in the corculum is first exerted to complete
the plumula, and then the radix ; and that if it fails
in this its primary object, the radicle will not be
projected at all, nor will any plant be formed; but,
on the contrary, the caudex may be pinched or cut
off, J and yet the plumula may live on and produce
the plant.
" The former theory in explanation of tliis-sub-
ject by the botanists, is looking to a secondary cause
for a primary effect, which is alike contrary to fact
and reason; and I ask. If the corculum and seed or
pea, have the power to form, and give support for
a time to both the plumula and the radicle, why
should it be thought incapable of supporting for a
time the plumula alone, which requires but a smaller
portion of this acknowledged power ?
" Having collected, brought forward, and related
in the foregoing part of this work, reasons, experi-
ments, and proofs which, I think, are more than
sufficient to overturn the theories and the received
opinions, that the roots are the way and means, or
channel, or conduit of nutrition from the earth ; and
that the radicle is the primary support of the plu-
mula,— I shall proceed to describe a more simple
theory, founded too on a more simple process, by
which I think a tree really lives, and by which it
carries on its circulation, and whereby I get rid of
the difficulty of fluids rising against gravity : viz.
by showing that the sap and juices descend, and
therefore are generally assisted by that power ; and
thus vvill the theory be simplified, and anomaly got
over, and all be more in unison with the general law
of Nature, — omnipotent, omniscient, all-marvellous
as she is.
" It is well known to the physiologist, that Nature
ever adopts the simplest means to effect her pur-
poses : and therefore it seems more than probable,
where extravagantly complicated means appear to
be employed in producing complicated effects, that
we are totally in the dark as to the true modus
operandi."
On the subject of training we have the following
remarks, which we leave our readers to appreciate
for themselves.
" As all trees receive, as I have proved, their only
nutriment — the sap — directly through their top or
head, it is evident that a tree, intended to grow fast
* " Is not a sufficient example of the above fact exhibited, by a slip or cutting hanng the power to throw down a root ? for ' each
branch is pel feet in itself,' as is truly set forth in the Scriptures.
f " This latter circumstance occurred in two instances out of a few germinaling peas.
X " This experiment was made several times, and with similar success.
DENDROLOGY.
19
and produce good wood, should always have the
largest possible quantity of head left for its sup-
port ; never forgetting that it is the top and leaves
alone that prepare and transmit the sap and nutri-
ment. I can safely assert, that one half the timber
grown in Great Britain is utterly spoiled by inatten-
tion to those valuable rvdes, and whicli have been
drawn from a thorough knowledge of the descent
of the sap.
" The gardener, alike uninformed on this practi-
cal point, and acting upon the old received, but
mistaken, belief, viz. that sap rises from the roots,
is led to remove even the last year's shoots, and to
cut away too largely from the heads of trees : and
the reward of this false theory and practice is, that
his constant care and labour will invariably lead to
a very diminutive crop ; and the fruit so produced
will alwaj's be found less in size than the same trees
would have borne had they been properly pruned,
or even left wild.
" As a general ride, then, no fi'uit-tree should be
cut or pruned, or leaves removed, except during
the months of January, February, and March; and
the common practice of cutting wood and removing
leaves at Midsvunmer, when the tree most needs
support, is highly improper and injvirious, and
savours of ignorance.
" I made the following experiment in exemplifi-
cation of this point. The vine of a next-door neigh-
bour grew up the back of the house. I begged
leave to train over the party-wall some few of the
branches. I carried them horizontally along my
wall above a window, and the first year they bore
little or no fruit. I let them grow on without cut-
ting any part from them until the next winter ; then
I cut off the wood 1 did not wish to train up. In
tlie following year I found these branches grow
luxuriantly, and throw out more fruit. I again let
them go without pruning imtil the third winter. In
the following season I had an immense number of
bunches produced, considering the size of the
branches. My neighbour, who pruned his part of
the same tree at Midsummer, and who had almost
the whole vine, and in the same aspect, had not six
bunches of his grapes that weighed so much as some
one of mine. I possessed many bunches (of these
white cluster grapes) a pound and a half each in
weight
" But to conclude the subject of decay in timber,
I may state, that when a large portion of bark is
injured or bruised, it dies, and after a time falls off,
and then the surface of the wood, called sap-wood,
remains exposed. This part of the trunk is white,
but has witliin it a deeper-coloured part, called the
heart-wood, and this is most distinct and best seen
in oaks and elms. The bark will cover over the
surface of this defect ; but, nevertheless, the white
wood, called sap-wood, is invariably found decayed
when the tree is converted into use. Yet it should
be observed, that underneath the bark that grew
over the injury, new sap-wood will be produced the
following year under the bark, and over the old de-
cayed wood that had been exposed ; and even new
heart- wood will in time be formed exterior to the
old rotten portion of wood, which the year or two
before, viz. at the time of the injury, was the outer
portion of the ti-unk, but which has now become the
inner portion of it. So complete in their formation
are these new-deposited parts upon the old trunk,
that no observer, after a time, is capable of seeing
any defect in that portion of the tree from without.
This fact is too well known, and to the cost of the
timber-merchant, who frequently purchases such
trees as sound, but on converting them into use,
finds himself considerably out of pocket, in conse-
quence of such portion of timber not being fit for
the purposes to which he had designed it.
" A similar defect is also produced when the bark
is removed from the roots, and they themselves
have become rotten This is the cause of hollow-
ness towards the bottoms of trees ; and the roots
first decay, and then are soaked by water abun-
dantly, which gradually finds its way up the trunk.
From this cause 1 have often observed trees to be-
come rotten to the extent of twenty feet from their
base. Such old shells will frequently be seen to
put out new roots, and to re-]iroduce branches,
which thrive and grow much quicker in proportion
than those of young and sound trees, as there is no
longer a trunk to be supported.
" When roots decay without mouldering away,
they, by conducting wet for many years, produce
red or foxy timber, which is totally useless, for,
although it looks sound when cut, on exposure to
the atmosphere it soon completes this incipient de-
cay, and moulders the timber into dust,— a circum^
stance by which ship-builders are much annoyed,
" Decayed roots, above thus spoken of, are most
frequently met with in those trees that have lived
long enough to become feeble, and to have lost the
power of sufficiently supplying their roots with sap,
which is reason sufficient to account for such fre-
quent decay of root and base in the same tree. We
most frequently find this peculiar red timber in
trees that have grown upon stubs, and on that side
of the tree on which the roots have died, and also
on that side of the tree on which no new roots have
since formed from the bark.
" The decaying portion of old root always leaves
a vacancy, by which air and moisture enter the
trunk and destroy it. If such trees be cut down
soon enough, the timber is scarcely injured ; but if
cut late, it is found to have become red ; and if al-
lowed to stand still longer, perfect rottenness will
invariably be found to have ensued.
" I have now proved, to the satisfaction, I trust,
D 2
20
ON EXCRETIONS FROM THE ROOTS OF PLANTS.
of my unprejudiced readers, the various positions
I advanced in the course of this work ; and I hope
I have clearly shown that trees and vegetables do
not receive their sap or nutriment from the earth,
but that it only serves to prevent the evaporation
from the roots, imparts warmth, and acts as a ful-
crum ! 1 have shown in the second chapter that the
leaves prepare the sap, and that the bark conveys
and circulates it, and that its course is invariably
from above downward, through the trunk, and so
onward to the roots, when any exist : and I have
set forth a rational method of pruning, founded on
the above knowledge ; and I have shown how decay
may be prevented, and a larger quantity of sound
timber grown."
ON EXCRETIONS FROM THE ROOTS OF PLANTS.
BY MR. TOWERS.*
I SHALL state the facts which led me to the opinion
that I formed about four years since, and in which I
have been confirmed by repeated subsequent obser-
vations. It was notorious that many crops could not
be made to succeed, if repeatedly placed in the same
individual portions of ground. Manures were found
ineffectual ; and, therefore, the deterioration of the
crops coidd not proceed from a want of sufficient
aliment. The necessity of a rotation was observ-
able chiefly in the farm ; still, however, the garden
afforded many instances confirmatory of the fact.
As I was writing solely upon the produce of the
garden, it occurred to me, when treating upon the
singular and sudden deterioration of the raspberry,
that to the same causes which produced the destruc-
tion of a fruit-bearing shrub, might be ascribed
the debility that ever followed the successive repe-
tition of a corn-crop upon the farm. I had observed
that the soil about the roots of the raspberries ac-
quired a peculiar colour and texture ; it differed
from that of any other soil of the garden : manure
was freely applied, and still the plants became
weaker, shorter in growth, and less fruitful. I did
not know the age of my plants, because the bed had
been formed before I came into possession of the
ground ; but I really ascertained that plants of the
white Antwerp variety, which I purchased and
placed alongside of an outermost row of the bed,
would not take to the soil ; and about the period
that the whole had become almost worthless, I saw
several remarkably fine plots of the shrub, and con-
versed with the owners, from whom I learned a
variety of facts, which, though detailed in the plain,
imishilosophical manner of cottage gardeners, led
me to conclude that the raspberry plant deposited
feculent matter in the soil, which, after a certain
period, rendered the soil vitterly unfit to support
the shrub, and enable it to produce fine fruit. Re-
flection and recollection, at the same time, informed
me that a variety of vegetable crops imparted a
manifest odour to the soil; so much so, that in dig-
ging uj) a crop, the whole plot was perceived to be
imbedded with a specific aroma. I confirmed these
facts, and then wrote the passages that I have
quoted in the early part of this article. Subse-
quent observations, and much experience, have con-
firmed the opinion that I then noted down ; so that
the reader may rely upon the correctness of the
following facts. When peas are sown in pots or
boxes, with a view to future transplantation into
rows or plots, the vessels become replete with
matted roots. Upon removing the peas to their
place in the garden, the soil they grow in is found
to be completely saturated with odorous matter ; it
emits a powerful peculiar smell, that cannot be mis-
taken. Tlie kidney-bean (Phaseolus) produces a
similar effect, but the odour differs from that of the
pea : the same may be observed in plants of the le-
guminous tribe in general ; and I have little doubt
that this tribe will be found particularly to require
a frequent change of situation. I have already re-
ferred to a well-known effect produced by the pea
upon the shallow, loamy soil, of that eastern part of
Kent called the Isle of Thanet ; and the experiment
of M. Macaire with the bean (Vicia Faba) is in ac-
cordance with, or at least may be adduced in sup-
port of, the facts named above.
The Brassica tribe, cabbage, brocoli, &c. also
impregnate the soil with a marked and peculiar
odour.
From whence do the gases which produce these
effects proceed ? Many, perhaps, will be inclined
to suppose that it is not tlie soil which gives forth
the smell, but the root itself; but how can any plant
retain within its substance an odour that is exter-
nally sensible ? If a flower, a rose for instance, be
held at some distance from the nose, the specific
aroma of that delightful flower becomes manifest ;
but could this be the case if the rose did not emit
the gaseous vapours which disseminate the odour ?
Whatever it be that yields odour or scent, whether
that be agreeable or offensive, must be material,
because it produces a positive effect upon one of the
senses ; and, moreover, the odour of flowers is very
* From the Quart. Journ. of Agvi;ulture.
ON EXCRETIONS FROM THE ROOTS OF PLANTS.
21
frequently productive of faintness and debility !
If the roots of a plant radiate odour, the earth about
them, being the medium in which they germinate,
must receive the odorific matter ; and, in fact, a
spade can scarcely be put into a plot of soil that has
borne a crop of some vegetables, withovit liberating,
as before stated, a volume of vapour sufficient to be
discerned, at the distance of a foot or more, above
the surface.
Again, if soil be perfectly fresh, that is to say,
raised from the depth of two or three feet below the
surface, it will generally be found of a different
colour from the old worked soil of the garden or
field. A hazel-loam, which is a combination of
sand, aluminous and chalky impalpable matter, co-
loured by oxide of iron, is frequently found at the
depth mentioned, and may be considered pure virgin
earth. If such soil be planted with strawberries,
or almost any vegetable crop, its colour will under-
go a change, and become many shades darker. Is
this change of tint effected by carbonaceous matter
excreted from the roots, by the partial de-oxidation
of the ferruginous constituent of the earth ? The
latter may probably operate to a certain extent, but
I hold it more philosophical to conclude that the
cliange in colour is to be ascribed to hydrogen gas
(holding, perhaps, carbon and other matters in solu-
tion), emitted from the roots into the soil, and
therein effecting chemical decompositions by specific
elective, or rather electric attractions.
This blackening of the soil may be suspected by
some to proceed from the decomposition of carbo-
naceous matters ; and it is highly probable that it
does so proceed ; but even admitting that manures
have been placed in the soil, their decomposition
and absorption, according to the received opinion,
by the roots of the crop, ought to abstract the car-
bon from the soil, and not to deposit it therein !
But I am supposing a case wherein pure virgin sandy
loam, without manure, is employed ; and, to simplify
the experiment, I say — let a middle-sized garden-
pot be filled with such soil, and in it let a single
vigorous strawberry-plant be placed in the month
of February, and be regularly watered ; by the end
of August following, that is, about the period when
the growing season is almost passed, the soil will be
found of a deeper colour, by many shades, than it
exhibited wlien placed in the pot.
My experience has taught me this fact, and I as-
cribe the effect to the matter emitted by the roots
into the earth. Earth so coloured is not, I con-
ceive, exhausted ; it is doubtless changed, and in
time would be incapable of supporting the vegeta-
tion of the plant which had deposited the colouring
matter within it, but in respect of mere abstract
quality, it is unquestionably richer than it primarily
was, having received fnore than it gave out, and this,
in fact, manure for another species of vegetable.
This is in accordance with the very valuable ex-
periment of M. Macaire, which indicates tliat yellow
colouring matter was afforded by the bean to pure
water ; which yellow matter was taken up by " plants
of wheat," that " lived well," and afforded evidence
of having " absorbed a portion of the matter dis-
charged by the first" (the beans.)
My own reflection, and the observation of facts,
have satisfied me that certain plants do emit hydro-
carbonous compounds into the soil, that poison it,
inasiuuch as refers to themselves individually ; but
such experiments, as those of M. Macaire, are in-
valuable, and ought to be persisted in, in conjunction
with daily observations of the soil of the field and
garden, till the facts in all its bearings be esta-
blished. I for one intend, if life be spared to the
next spring, to follow the advice to " prosecute
those interesting investigations" as far as the means
within my command will permit, for they can scarcely
fail to lead to important results.
It remains to be observed, that the doctrine of
the excretory powers of plants does not strictly
apply to all vegetables ; at least, it is manifest tliat
trees and many shrubs will live on, and improve in,
the same piece of ground for an almost indefinite
period.
Many garden vegetables furnish also exceptions
to the rule, and I particularly notice the potatoe.
In fact, the experiment of M. Macaire seems to
afford evidence that this vegetable does not secrete
matter of any decisive character. I know those
who have assured me, that potatoes have been set
for ten or even twenty years on the same land, with
little or no other manure than coal-ashes and the
scrapings of road-sand. This sand was, in the
county I allude to, obtained from the calcareous
stone of the neighbourhood, and it proved a power-
ful meliorating substance to the cold clayey soil of
the district.
I venture to suggest, that grain and other crops,
which expend all their vegetative energy upon ihe
production of seed-vessels, are less likely to pro-
trude matter from their roots than other crops which
abound with large bulky foliage ; they, therefore,
cannot prove manure crops for their con years, al-
though they may render the soil unhealthy to them-
selves individually. With respect to the potatoe,
I think it evident, that its foliage elaborates much
vegetative matter, a large portion of which is ex-
pended in the production and support of tubers
under ground. These tubers are not the roots pro-
per, but enlarged processes, the depositories of
much nutritive matter. It is highly probable, that
the plants which produce bulbs, tubers, or spindle-
roots, whose foliage is abundant or very large, will
in general be innoxious to themselves, at least com-
paratively so, in consequence of the absorbent
powers of their bidky root processes. They will
22
ON THE CULTIVATION OF MANGOLD WURTZEL.
in proportion also be of little service to corn or otlier
crops, unless much manure be previously applied.
In a word, the vast foliage which they develope,
must claim a great supply of raw sap from the soil.
This, or the prepared portion of it, is returned with
interest to the roots, but it is then diverted into
peculiar channels, and is employed in the production
of those processes tliat constitute so large a portion
of the food of man and of cattle. The bulb or
tuber-bearing plants are generally but indifferent
preparers of the soil for other crops, for they must
exhaust its decomposable materials ; but they may
be grown (though not to full perfection perhaps) on
the same ground without becoming diseased. Such,
I think, will be found to be generally the fact ; and
this, as far as the experiment goes, has been con-
firmed by the observation of M. Maeaire.
From all that has been said, it is, I think, fair to
conclude, that, although plants decompose and take
up nutritive matters of the soil, and render manuring
indispensable, yet it is not by exhaustion that a soil
is rendered unfit for a repetition of an individual
crop. Facts in abundance might be multiplied, in
order to prove that a rotation is called for, in conse-
quence of the feculent matter previously deposited
affecting the nutritive power of the soil in support-
ing any individual crop.
ON THE CULTIVATION OF MANGOLD WURTZEL.
BY MR. RYAN, GARDENER AT KILLAKEE-HOUSE.*
The cultivation of the mangold wurtzel appears to
retro-^rade rather than advance in this country ; so
that if our apathy to it continue much longer, the
term under which it was originally introduced, " the
root of scarcity," will be as applicable to it as ever.
It has been cultivated in this country to my own
knowledge for about twenty years, in which time it
has been grown on every description of ground, from
the deep black bog to the sand and gravelly hill,
where the soil is not four inches deep. It however
requires, in order to attain its greatest degree of
perfection, a deep, fresh, friable loam, on a dry sub-
stratum ; in such, when in good heart (and if it be
not, it must be rendered so by manuring with rotted
dung, such as what is called scavenger's dung, in
Dublin, and may be had there in any quantity, at
from six-pence to ten-pence per ton), I have seen it
attain the enormous weight of twenty-six pounds.
But on a large scale, when judiciously treated, I have
known the roots to average five pounds. This, sup-
posing the drills two feet apart, and the plants a foot
from each other in the lines, will produce the asto-
nishing weight of seventy-five tons per Irish acre.
I am aware that such crops are seldom had ; but
I may appeal to every grower of this root on good
ground for the truth of the above statement. This,
one would think, would be sufHcient inducement to
extend its cultivation, particularly as we know there
cannot be a more acceptable food for cattle, nor one
on which they thrive better, nor give more milk.
The cultivation of mangold wurtzel is extremely
simple, and not liable to the casualties attending a
turnip crop, tliere being no fly which appears to af-
fect it. The ground should be deeply ploughed,
and rendered as friable as possible with the brake
harrow; it is then to be thrown into drills about two
feet apart, in which rotted dung, in quantity accord-
ing to the wants of the ground (the more dung the
better), is to be placed and covered as for turnips ;
a roller is then to be drawn over the ground, and
the crown of the drill opened to receive the seed^ — -
this I have usually performed with the corner of the
common garden-hoe, but have latterly applied a
little implement which I got at your brother's esta-
blishment, and which I think he called a souflet, to
that purpose, which I find it performs admirably.
I have sketched it as if lying on the ground, and
have shewn the opening into which a handle of about
four feet in length is inserted. It was recommended
to me for stirring the ground amongst vegetables,
or else for drawing drills in a garden, which it also
does very well. A man opens a drill with this al-
most as fast as he can walk ; and the drill is effec-
tually covered by drawing the same implement on
its side along the top after the seed is sown. I
choose dropping weather, if possible about the mid-
dle of April, for sowing the seed; and always mix
it with moist sand a few days previous to sowing,
first being careful to float it, and skim off such seed
as appears small and light. A few drills being
drawn, I set two little boys or girls to drop the seed,
which is now swollen and beginning to bud, deposit-
ing a seed as nearly as possible every six inches ; a
boy follows with the souflet on its side, and with
this number of hands, viz. a man and three boys, I
sow an acre a day. I am aware that machines have
been invented for sowing the seed, but do not think
they can perform as well as the machinery I have
described, neither is the plan of dropping the seed
in holes formed by the dibber, whether of one or
many prongs, nearly so good a plan, for if wet wea-
ther follow the sowing, and particularly if the ground
* From the Irish Farmer's and Gardener's Magazine; a very excellent and spirited publication.
ON THE CHANGES IN PLANTS.
23
be stiff, the hole becomes a reservoir of water, and
the plant perishes or assumes an unhealthy appear-
ance. About three pounds of seed is sufficient for
an acre.
If the weather is genial, the plants will make their
appearance in about eight or ten days ; and as more
than one plant will generally arise in each place, al-
though but one seed (or rather capsule or seed-
vessel, which it really is, each containing one, two,
or three seeds) were sown, they must be thinned as
soon as they arrive at tlie height of about two inches,
the strongest of cou'.se being left with those that are
pulled up : any misses that may be observed must
be made up. This is the only case in which I re-
commend transplanting mangold wurtzel, for it is
impossible to take it out of the ground vi'ithout
injuring the tap-root, and that once destroyed, the
plant becomes forked, and seldom acquires a great
size. The plants must be kept clear of weeds, and
be alternately filled so as to stand one foot apart.
The drill-han'ow, with the lower line on each side
bent nearly at a right angle, is the proper imple-
ment for keeping the ground clear between the drills ;
and the garden-hoe will remove the weeds from be-
tween the plants. It is usual after the drill-harrow
to raise the loosened earth to the plants with the
double-mould-board plough ; but this practice I con-
sider erroneous. It has been recommended in some
of the periodicals lately, not to earth up potatoes ;
but the growth and nature of the two plants are very
dissimilar ; the latter throws out runners, and forms
tubers in the loosened earth ; whereas the object is
to get the former to strike downwards. I was led
to form this opinion by observing, that the best roots
are always those that rise highest out of the ground,
and are most exposed to the influence of the air ;
and I became confirmed in it by the result of experi-
ments, which I instituted for the purpose of ascer-
taining the comparative value of each mode of
treatment.
Any plants which appear to be starting for seed,
should be cut down nearly to the point from which
the stalk originates, leaving however a few eyes.
Should they make a second attempt, which many of
them will, I repeat the heading down, and find that
I thus force the plant to acquire a tolerable size.
Cultivators of this root appear to be divided in opi-
nion as to the propriety of taking off the leaves
during the growth of the plant; some affirming that
we lose as much or more in the weight of the roots,
as we gain by using the leaves. On this subject I
was desirous to obtain information ; and on observ-
ing that the Agricultural Society of Doncaster had
published a report on this subject, possessed myself
of it ; but what was my surprise to find that this
important part of the treatment of mangold wurtzel
was not even alluded to — the only mention of the
leaves being a recommendation to cut them together
with the crown off at the time of taking up the roots,
and carry them to the cow-house or feeding-yard ? —
no, but to plough them down for manure. In want,
then, of satisfactory information on this point, I ad-
here to the plan I have so long pursued with such
good effect, which is to take off the large flagging
leaves which hang down on the ground, of which an
acre will supply a great quantity of fodder. I have
made experiments for the purpose of ascertaining
this point ; but hitherto they are not conclusive.
I shall repeat them ; and may on a future occasion
make known through the " Farmer's and Gardener's
Magazine." Towards the beginning of November
these roots will have attained their full size ; and as
they are very easily injured by frost, should be se-
cured on being taken up. Some time previous to
this I commence cutting off the tops, and carting
them to the piggery, byer, and feeding-yard, by
which means I never have a greater quantity than
I can use whilst fresh ; the roots being taken up on
a dry windy day, are pitted in a dry situation, or
placed in a shed as convenient as possible to the
place where they are to be consumed ; if in the open
air, I place some straw over them, which I cover
with earth at least a foot thick ; if in a shed, a little
hay or straw will be sufficient covering.
ON THE CHANGES PRODUCED IN PLANTS BY CULTIVATION.
BY PROFESSOR LYELL, OF KING's COLLEGE, LONDON.*
Common wheat was procured by Delille from closed
vessels in the sepulchres of the [Egyptian] kings,
tlie grains of which retained not only their form, but
even their colour, so effectual has proved the pro-
cess of embalming with bitumen in a dry and equable
climate. No difference could be detected between
this wheat and that which now grows in the East and
elsewhere, and similar identifications were made in
regard to all the other plants.
And here we inay observe, that there is an obvious
answer to Lamarck's objection, that the botanist can-
not point out a place where the common wheat grows
wild, unless in places where it may have been de-
rived from neighbouring cultivation. All naturalists
are well aware that the geographical distribution of
a great number of species is extremely limited, and
that it V7as to be expected that every useful plant
should first be cultivated successfully in the country
* From " Principles of Geology
24
ON THE CHANGES IN PLANTS.
where it was indigenous, and that, probably, every
station which it partially occupied when growing
wild, would be selected by the agriculturist as best
suited to it when artificially increased. Palestine
has been conjectured, by a late writer on the Cerea-
lia, to have been the original habitation of wheat and
barley, a supposition which appears confirmed by
Hebrew and Egyptian traditions, and by tracing the
migrations of the worship of Ceres, as indicative of
the migrations of the plant.
If we are to infer that some one of the wild grasses
has been transformed into the common wheat, and
that some animal of the genus canis, still unre-
claimed, has been metamorphosed into the dog,
merely because we cannot find the domestic dog, or
the cultivated wheat, in a state of nature, we may be
next called upon to make similar admissions in re-
gard to the camel ; for it seems very doubtful whether
any trace of this species of quadruped is now wild.
But if agriculture, it will be said, does not supply
examples of extraordinary changes of form and or-
ganization, the horticulturist can, at least, appeal to
facts which may confound the preceding train of rea-
soning. The crab has been transformed into the
apple; the sloe into the plum; flowers have changed
their colour and become double; and these new cha-
racters can be perpetuated by seed ; — a bitter plant,
with wavy sea-green leaves, has been taken from the
sea-side, where it grew like wild charlock, has been
transplanted into the garden, lost its saltness, and
has been metamorphosed into two distinct vegetables,
as unlike each other as each is to the parent plant —
the red cabbage and the cauliflower. These, and a
multitude of analogous facts, are undoubtedly among
the wonders of nature, and attest more strongly,
perhaps, the extent to which species may be modi-
fied, tlian any examples derived from the animal
kinxdom. But in these cases we find, that we soon
reach certain limits, beyond which we are unable to
cause the individuals, descending from the same
stock, to vary ; while, on the other hand, it is easy
tp shew that these extraordinary varieties could sel-
dom arise, and could never be perpetuated in a wild
state for many generations, under any imaginable
combination of accidents. They may be regarded as
extreme cases brought about by human mterference,
and not as phenomena which indicate a capability of
indefinite modifications in the natural world.
The propagation of a plant by buds or grafts, and
by cuttings, is obviously a mode which nature does
not employ ; and this multiplication, as well as that
produced by roots and layers, seems merely to ope-
rate as an extension of the life of an individual, and
not as a reproduction of the species, as happens by
seed. All plants increased by the former means
retain precisely the peculiar qualities of the indivi-
dual, they have only a determinate existence ; in
some cases longer, and in others shorter. It seems
now admitted by horticulturists, that none of our
garden varieties of fruit are entitled to be considered
strictly permanent, but that they wear out after a
time ; and we are thus compelled to resort again to
seeds ; in which case, there is so decided a tendency
in the seedlings to revert to the original type, that
our utmost skill is sometimes baflfled in attempting
to recover the desired variety.
The different races of cabbages afford, as we have
admitted, an astonishing example of deviation from
a common type; but we can scarcely conceive them
to have originated, much less to have lasted, for se-
veral generations, without the intervention of man.
It is only by strong manures that these varieties
have been obtained, and in poorer soils they instantly
degenerate. If, therefore, we suppose in a state of
nature the seed of the wild Brassica oleracea to have
been wafted from the sea-side to some spot enriched
by the dung of animals, and to have there become
a cauliflower, it would soon diffuse its seed to some
comparatively steril soils around, and the offspring
would relapse to the likeness of the parent stock,
like some individuals which may now be seen grow-
ing on the cornice of old London bridge.
But if we go so far as to imagine the soil, in the
spot first occupied, to be constantly manured by
herds of wild animals, so as to continue as rich as
that of a garden, still the variety could not be main-
tained, because we know that each of these races is
prone to fecundate, and gardeners are compelled to
exert the utmost diligence to prevent cross-breeds.
The intermixture of the pollen of varieties growing
in the poorer soil around, would soon destroy the
peculiar characters of the race which occupied the
highly-manured tract ; for if these accidents so con-
tinually happen, in spite of us, among the culinary
varieties, it is easy to see how soon this cause might
obliterate every marked singularity in a wild state.
Besides, it is well known that although the pam-
pered races which we rear in our gardens for use
or ornament, may often be perpetuated by seed, yet
they rarely produce seed in such abundance, or so
prolific in quantity, as wild individuals ; so that if
the care of man were withdrawn, the most fertile
variety would always, in the end, prevail over the
more steril.
Similar remarks may be applied to the double
flowers, which present such strange anomalies to the
botanist. The ovarium, in such cases, is frequently
abortive, and the seeds, when prolific, are generally
much fewer than where the flowers are single.
Some curious experiments recently made on the
production of blue instead of red flowers in the Hy-
drangea hortensis, illustrate the immediate effect of
certain soils on the colours of the petals. In garden-
mould or compost, the flowers are blue ; and the
same change is always produced by a particular
sort of yellow loam.
LIST OF GRASSES AND OTHER PLANTS.
25
Linnseus was of opinion that the primrose, oxlip,
cowslip, and pol3'anthus, were only varieties of the
same species. The majority of modern botanists,
on the contrary, consider them to be distinct, al-
though some conceived that the oxlip might be a
cross between the cowslip and the primrose. Mr.
Herbert has lately recorded the following experi-
ment : — " I raised from the natural seed of one umbel
of a highly-manured red cowslip, a primrose, a cows-
lip, oxlips of the usual and other colours, a black
polyanthus, a nose-in-nose cowslip, and a natural
primrose bearing its flower on a polyanthus stalk.
From the seed of that very nose-in-nose cowslip I
have since raised a nose-in-nose primrose. I there-
fore consider all these to be only local varieties upon
soil and situation." Professor Henslow, of Cam-
bridge, has since confirmed this experiment of Mr.
Herbert, so that we have an example, not only of
the remarkable varieties which the florist can obtain
from a common stock, but of the distinctness of an-
alogous races found in a wild state.
On what particular ingredient, or quality in the
earth, these changes depend, has not yet been ascer-
tained. But gardeners are well aware that particu-
lar plants, when placed under the influence of certain
circumstances, are changed in various ways accord-
ing to the species : and then as often as the experi-
ments are repeated, similar results are obtained.
The nature of these results, however, depends upon
the species, and they are, therefore, part of the spe-
cific character ; they exhibit the same phenomena
again and again, and indicate certain fixed and inva-
riable relations between the physiological peculiari-
ties of the plant, and the influence of certain external
agents. They afford no ground for questioning the
instability of species, but rather the contrary; they
present us with a class of phenomena which, when
they are more thoroughly understood, may afford
some of the best tests for identifying species, and
proving that the attributes originally conferred, en-
dured so long as any issue of the original stock
remains upon the earth.
LIST OF GRASSES AND OTHER PLANTS COMMON IN THE PASTURES OF
CARNARVON AND ANGLESEY.
BY J. S. MENTEATH, ESQ., CLOSEBURN HALL.*
Veronica officinalis.
■ chamtedrys.
agrostis.
arvensis.
Pinguicula vulgaris.
Anthoxanthum odoratum.
Valeriana locusta.
Eleocharis palustris.
Scirpus caespitosus.
Eriopliorum polystachion.
angustifolium.
— vaginatum.
Nardus stricta.
Phalaris arundinacea.
Alopecurus pratensis.
■ geiiiculatus.
Agrostis canina.
' — \'ulgaria.
• — alba.
Aira cjespitosa.
flexuosa.
prsecox.
caryoph3'llea.
Holcus lanatus.
mollis.
avenaceus.
Poa pratensis.
annua.
Triodia decumbens.
Briza media.
Dactylus gloraerata.
Cynosurus cristatus.
Festuca ovina.
vivipara.
dui'iuscula.
bromoides.
pratensis.
Bromus mollis.
Avena fatua.
pubescens.
flavescens.
Lolium perenne.
Triticum repens.
caninum.
Scabiosa succisa.
■ arvensis.
Sherardia arvensis.
Galium saxatile.
■ verum.
Melica crerulea.
Poa trivialis.
Plantago major.
lanceolata.
maritima.
coronopiis.
Alchemilla arvensis.
vulgaris.
Myosotis scorpioides.
Primula vxilgaris.
veris.
Anagallis arvensis.
Campanula rotundifolia.
Jasione montana.
Viola canina.
— — tricolor.
Chenopodiiim album.
Hydrocotyle vulgaris.
Bunium flexuosum.
Heracleum Sphondylium.
Chserophyllum sylvestre.
Nartliecium ossifragum.
Junci, about 15 species.
Erica iiilgaris.
Stellaria media.
holostea.
■ grammea.
Fragaria vesca.
sterilis.
Tormentilla officinalis.
Caltba palustris.
Ajuga reptans.
Glechoma hederacea.
Betonica officinalis.
Thymus serpyllum.
Prunella vulgaris.
Rhinanthus Crista-Galli.
Euphrasia officinalis.
Radiola palustris.
Cardamine hirsuta.
pratensis.
Polygala vulgaris.
Ononis arvensis.
Ulex Europaeus,
nanus.
Vicia sativa.
Ornithopus perpusillus.
Trifolium repens.
pratense.
procumbens.
— minus.
Lotus corniculatus.
Medicago Lupulina.
Leontodon Taraxacum.
Hieraceum Pilosella.
Tussilago Farfara.
Senecio vulgaris.
Bellis perennis.
Achillsea Millefolium.
Carex, about 30 species.
* From a paper communicated by the author, printed in the Wevn. Trans.
MAGAZINE OF BOTANiT AND GARDENING, VOL. II. NO. XI, — FEB. 1834.
26
ON CLUBROOT,
LIST OF SNOWDON PLANTS.
BY WM. WILSON, OF WARRINGTON, ESQ. AUG. 1828,
PLANTS FREQUENTIORES.
Saxifraga nivalis, Wyddva
summit, and near TwU
Du.
Cerastium latifolium, Clog-
wyn y Garacold.
Aspidium Lonchitis.
Serratula alpina.
Salix herbacea.
Epipactis argifolia.
Orchis albida, near Llan-
berris, below Ffyanon
Freeh.
Juncus triglumis.
Sedum Fosteranium.
Saxifraga oppositifolia.
Juniperus nanus, Glyder
Fawr.
Subularia aquatica, Lleyn
Ogwen.
Isoetes lacustris, Ffyanon
Freeh.
Chara gracilis, Lleyn Idwal.
Alisma natans, between the
lakes and Llanberris.
FIiANT;E RARISSIM^.
Anthericum seratinum, near
Twll Du.
Arabis hispida, Clogwyn
Du'r Ardhu.
Saxifraga csespitosa, near
Twll Du.
Woodsia ilvensis,
near Llyny Cwn /
W. hyperborea, > Ferns.
Clogwyn y Gar- \
nedd
Cyathea (now Cistea) regia,
Clogwyn Du'r Ardhu.
Lobelia Dortmanna, Llan-
berris lakes, Lleyn Idwal.
Potentilla a] pestris, Clogwyn
y Garcold.
Asplenium viride, near Twll
Du.
septentrionale.
£pilobiumalsi!iifolium,Cwm
Gaseg,belowGarned Llen-
llyn, and by Aber Water-
fall.
Rubus saxatilis, near Twll
Du, also at Fachmere.
Papaver Cambricum, near
Llanben-is.
Thalictrum minus, Clogwyn
Du'r Ardhu, and Twll Du.
alpinum, do. and
Carex rigida, Wyddfa sum-
mit.
atrata, below Ffynon
Freeh.
Draba incana, do.
Galium boreale, do. andnear
Twll Du.
Arenaria venia, do. do.
Rosa villosa, near Llanberris
Hieracium alpinum, near
Lleyn y Cwm.
near Twll Du.
Poa alpina, do. and Clogwyn
y Garnedd.
Glauca, near Twll Du.
Epilobium angustifolium, by
Lleyn y Cwm.
Asplenium septentrionale, Hyperborea, and Hieracium
alpinum, are so excessively scarce in Carnarvonshire, in-
deed almost extinct, that there is little probability of
obtaining them : they are more plentiful in Scotland. The
first of these is found chiefly on Arthur's Seat.
The following are common on the mountains : —
Rhodiola rosea. Trollius Europseus.
Saxifraga hirta, platypetala. Hieracium maculatum, near
Twll Du.
Lycopodium alpinum.
■ selaginoides.
selago.
Hymenophyllum Tun-
bridgense.
Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea.
Silene acaulis.
Gnaphalium dioicum.
Saxifraga stellaris.
Asplenium trichomanes "
Cistea fragilis (
Polypodium Dryopteris {
Phegopteris -
Rubus Chamsmorus is hardly to he found in Carnar-
vonshire. It is said to be common on the Berwyn moun-
tains, on the peaty bogs near the summits.
ON CLUBROOT.
BY THE EDITOR.
Clubroot is a sort of galls produced by insects on
the roots of cabbages, turnips, holyhocks, and other
species of cultivated plants, sometimes called an-
bury, and popularly, but mistakingly, supposed to
arise from peculiarities of soil, or growing the same
crop successively on the same field, or to variations
of seasons. Nothing can be more simple than the
disproof of all these theoretical notions : take some
of the cabbages or turnips whose roots are infected
with anbury, and keep them in garden-pots covered
over with close gauze, and in a short time, if the
plants be kept growing, the little weevils, evolved
from the grubs in the interior of the roots, will make
their appearance, ready to multiply their species, by
depositing their eggs, as their parents had done, on
the first turnip or cabbage they can find ; then is the
critical time to destroy them, and prevent their in-
crease. The weevil thus arising continues to be no
less, often more, destructive than the grub had
proved to be in feeding on the roots ; for it thrusts
its beak [rostrum) into the seed-leaf of the turnip,
and greatly injures the crop. Neither of these in-
sects would ever be bred in dung. When the turnip
is advanced to the rough-leaf, these insects either
die, as most insects do when they have laid their
eggs, or betake themselves to some other plant, such
as clover, suited to their taste.
It will be therefore evident that no peculiar rota-
tion of crops, nor peculiar manure for dressing the
soil, can be of any avail in preventing anbury, or in
stopping its progress when the insects have obtained
a lodgment within the roots. The destruction of
the adult insects before they have laid their eggs is
the only remedy, though in the case of so small a
species it is peculiarly difficult to put in practice.
REPORT OF A NURSERY OF HALF AN ACRE.
27 _
IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURE AND GARDEN CULTURE.
BY A CORRESPONDENT.
It has ever been our opinion that if the intelligence
of the country was properly brought into operation,
that we might so improve the earth's surface as to
make England independent of foreign corn. This
has been proved by the experiments of Mr. Lance,
and the reasonings which he has set forth in his
Agricultviral Essays. We are satisfied that more
than half the present seed-corn might be saved^ —
that labour on the land might be beneficially in-
creased— and the surface in tillage be made to pro-
duce one-third or one-half more than it now does.
But, then, scientific reason must guide our farmers,
and not the rule of thumb alone. In addition to
what has gone the round of the public journals,
relative to Mr. Lance's great increase of corn pro-
duce, by culture and careful seeding, as now ex-
hibiting in London, we are favoured with the fol-
lowing additional proofs of what a saving of corn
will do. Mr. Yovuig, at Farnham Wharf, being the
barren Bagshot sand district, set some peas at
regular distances in properly prepared ground ; they
tillered out prodigiously, some to three or four
stems, and in one instance he counted one hundred
and forty pods from one pea, and the produce was
seven hundred and seventy peas ; these were the
Marlborough grey. A new sort of pea has been
grown by J. Langdon, Esq., Broomsgrove, Wor-
cestershire, which produced ninety pods : they are
exhibiting at the Museum of Arts, Leicester-square.
Other persons, who sow in the usual old routine of
seeding, get about six-fold for their labour, six times
only what they put in the ground. The same Mr.
Young above mentioned, has experimented on Mr.
Lance's plans ; he, unlike other farmers, is not
frightened at the word experiment, and does not
consider it in the same light as speculation. He
has obtained at the rate of eight quarters per acre of
wheat, and in one particular experiment he obtained
sixty-fold for the seed he put into the ground, on
the hitherto despised sandy soil a few miles before
you reach Farnham.
REPORT OF A NURSERY OF HALF AN ACRE, AT MUCRUSS, COUNTY
KERRY.
BY THE REV. T. RADCLIFF.
1801. Planted sixteen acres of Turk mountain,
with 97,000 Scotch fir, oak, ash, and sycamore, and
twenty-two pecks of acorns dibbled. Transplanted
98,000 forest trees.
1802. Planted nine acres of Turk mountain, and
thirteen acres of Rusneagarry, with 131,000 trees of
the above kinds. Transplanted 184,000, amongst
them 70,000 larch from Scotland, all the rest reared
at home.
1803. Planted sixteen acres in various directions
with 104',000 forest trees. Planted in the nursery
131,000 seedlings, principally oak.
1804. Planted sixteen acres in detached pieces
with 114,000 forest trees. Planted in nurseries
336,000, 300,000 of which were oak, reared at
home.
1805. Planted ten acres with oak, &c. so as to
obtain a premium from the Dublin Society. Re-
placed the wood of Tonris 1500 acres, by 49,000
three year old oak. Planted 5,200 in the nursery.
1806. Repaired the planting of the years 1801,
1802, and 1803; also planted about three acres.
Transplanted in nursery 68,000 forest trees.
1807. Repaired the planting of former years,
planted small pieces, and planted in the nursery
68,000 forest trees.
1808. Planted ten acres with 70,000 trees, chiefly
oaks. Repaired the wood of Caiarnabawn. Planted
the fall of the last year, with 16,000 oak of eight
years old. Planted in nursery 76,000 forest trees.
Sold 50,000 seedlings.
1809. Planted the fall of the last year, with
22,000 oak. Planted in nursery 40,000 seedlings.
Sold 30,000 seedlings.
1810. Planted the fall of the last year, with
12,000 oak. Planted in nursery 32,000. Sold
35,000.
1811. Planted the fall of the last year, and a
large tract coppiced in, with 40,000 oak and Scotch
fir. Planted in nursery 32,000. Sold 35,000.
1812. Headed down all the oaks in the planting
of 1808, and planted amongst them 10,000 Scotch
fir, as nurses. Finished planting bavina wood, of
4,300 acres. Planted in nursery 30,000. Sold
35,000.
E 2
28
ON COTTAGERS GARDEN SOCIETIES.
ON COTTAGERS' GARDEN SOCIETIES.
BY JAMES STUART MENTEATH, ESQ.*
Few employments are more useful, or more amusing
than gardening; while it ornaments the country with
a variety of beautiful plants, it may be made the
means of contributing to the comfort and sustenance
of numbers, by an abundant supply of vegetables.
It is somewhat extraordinary that in Scotland, a
country which supplies England witli some of her
best gardeners, the labouring population should he
so little acquainted with the culture of the garden.
We need not be surprised at the disappointment
which the English traveller feels, when passing
through Scotland, in observing the garden ground
attached to the cottage, neglected, ill cultivated, and
for the most part overgrown with weeds and useless
plants. We can hardly tell, from this neglected
state of the cottage garden, how it should come that
Scotch gardeners are so frequently found in tlie em-
ployment of the richer classes in England.
To remove all ground for such remarks on Scotch
cottage gardening, and to spread among all the la-
bouring people of Scotland an universal taste for
this most useful art, the following hints are sug-
gested.
In almost all professions we observe, that the
members of them, in order to advance their skill
and acquaintance with the art they are pursuing,
form themselves into a society. And to stimulate
each other in their progress, rewards are fixed and
distributed among the most deserving.
Ploughing matches, and horticultural societies, as
every one knows, have done much to improve the
skill, dexterity, and intelligence of the ploughman,
and the gardeners of the landed proprietors.
With this view we propose that a Gardening So-
ciety, solely confined to the labourers of one or more
parishes^ of any district, should be formed. That
rules and regulations be drawn out for regulating
tlie concerns of such a society. That regular meet-
ings at different periods of the year should be held,
at each of which there should be exhibitions of the
produce of the gardens of the different members.
That prizes should be awarded to the exhibitors of
the best fruits, herbs, roots, and vegetables, and
perhaps of the more ordinary kinds of flowers. That
a list of the competitors for the prizes should be
published sometime before the meetings of the so-
ciety : and, to afford general satisfaction, that the
choice of the judges should be left to the competi-
tors. That bee husbandry be encouraged, by re-
warding those who raise the greatest quantity of
honey. That prizes of the following articles be dis-
tributed— money, packets of seeds, each packet con-
taining an assortment of all the useful kitchen garden
seeds, with a few flower seeds, garden tools, and a
few useful short works on common kitchen garden-
ing. That the smallest annual subscription from
each member be received. That an account of each
of the meetings be drawn out, with the list of the
names of the successful parties, and be inserted in
one of the county newspapers.
That the society should annually purchase a quan-
tity of the best kitchen garden vegetable seed, and
re-sell it at a reduced rate to its members, in such
proportions as each of their small gardens require.
That landed proprietors in the neighbourhood
should be solicited to aid the usefulness of the so-
ciety, by sending for distribution among its members,
hardy evergreens, cuttings, and seeds of useful and
ornamental plants ; and in order particularly to en-
courage the children of the members of the society
in the same taste, that prizes should be given to such
children as have produced, at the meetings, flowers
cultivated by their own hands in their little gardens.
I'he advantages of such a Cottage Garden Society
must be so apparent to all as scarcely to demand
enumeration.
Among the chief advantages would be that of
fostering a general spirit of gardening throughout
the district. By giving prizes at the several meet-
ings within the year, deserving and meritorious
members' exertions would be publicly made known,
and their praiseworthy industry be rewarded in the
presence of their fellows.
Many of the members — as several of the prizes
would consist of packets of seeds, consisting of most
of the most useful common kitchen vegetables, would
have at command, for sowing their gardens, the pro-
per seed ; and those who are not successful in ob-
taining prizes, might, at a reduced price, purchase
from the society such vegetable seeds as they
wanted.
The society, also, having at its disposal, by the
liberality of the landed proprietors in the neighbour-
hood, presenting them for distribution, hardy ever-
greens, cuttings, and seeds of useful plants, would
give these away among its members.
Last, not least, of the benefits of such a society,
would be the ample increased supply of wholesome
garden vegetables, for the use of the cottager's fa-
mily, of his pig, and of his cow. And in addition to
* Circular communicated by the author.
ON THE CULTURE OF HYACINTHS.
29
this, by the increasing interest the labourer would
take in cultivating his garden, his health and com-
fort would be vastly augmented.
The skill and intelligence of all being thus pro-
moted, the best method of raising the greatest pos-
sible quantity of garden produce on a given piece
of ground would be discovered. Many useful and
valuable vegetables, unknown and uncultivated in a
parish, would be introduced. Such a society would
also be a little seminary, where many an intelligent
young man, learning the rudiments of gardening,
would be qualifying himself to manage the garden of
a nurseryman or of some landed proprietor.
The landed proprietor, while witnessing the in-
creased zeal and laborious efforts of the cottagers to
cultivate their gardens, to obtain the prizes offered
at the different exhibitions, could not fail to view
them with the liveliest interest. Kis support and
kindness to them would be rewarded on their part
by the most grateful feelings ; and thus the links of
society, now too far apart, would be drawn closer
and closer.
In short, the success of such a parish Garden So-
ciety as is just pointed out, would be a triumph of
Closeburn Hall, Dumfries-shire.
knowledge over ignorance ; of virtue over vice ; of
happiness over misery. And instead of the cottager
indulging himself in sloth and drunkenness, we
should see his leisure hours spent in his garden: his
pleasure would be in the society of his wife and
children ; and his anxiety be, that they should share
with him in all the domestic comforts that could be
afforded by his garden.
To shew more fully than any reasoning can do,
the good effects of such an institution, it may be
mentioned that a society, nearly of the same kind,
has existed for several years in the Glenkens of
Galloway, formed, we believe, under the direction
of Mr. Grierson, of Garroch. The effects in that
quarter have already been remarkable, in improving
the appearance and comfort of the cottages, and in
bettering the habits of the labouring classes.
Were these Garden Societies once established in
separate parishes, a number of them might be united
in one district, into a larger Garden Society, as has
been done in that of the Glenkens Society, to which
allusion has already been made, and prizes of a
larger amount to be distributed among the success-
ful competitors belonging to it.
ON THE CULTURE OF HYACINTHS.
BY E. ESBURY.*
I SEND you an abbreviation of a paper on this sub-
ject, by, the Honourable and Reverend William
Herbert, which contains an account of the Dutch
method of management, and as the author is known
to be a skilful cultivator of bulbous-rooted plants,
may be considered fully sufficient for the successful
cultivation of these beautiful flowers in England.
The compost used at Haarlem (the centre of
hyacinths in Holland), is rotten cow-dung, rotten
leaves, and fine sea sand. In making this compost,
the Dutch gardeners prefer the leaves of elm, lime,
and birch, on account of their rotting more quickly
than those of other trees. The cow-dung which
they use is also of a peculiar quality, being collected
without any mixture of straw or other litter, in the
winter, when the cattle are fed upon dry food. The
cow-dung and leaves must not be used till they are
thoroughly decayed ; the compost should then be
mixed in the following proportions, viz, one-sixth
rotten leaves, two-sixths pure sand, and three-sixths
rotten cow-dung ; and it should be allowed to be
together some time, to ameliorate and incorporate,
before it is used for the beds. This compost retains
its qualities about six or seven years, but the Dutch
avoid setting hyacinths in it two years successively ;
nor do they set them in it the first season, as the
fresh manure might be injurious to them. In the
alternate years they plant tulips, narcissi, &c. The
beds should be made about three feet in depth with
the compost, and must not be trodden down hard,
but, trenches being opened, the bulbs may be ar-
ranged, and then carefully covered, from three to
five inches deep. They should not be dibbled or
pressed into the compost. A little pures and placed
round the bottoms of young bidbs is believed to pre-
vent them from cankering. The later sorts nearest
the surface, to make them flower earlier. If the
situation is wet in winter, the beds may be raised six
inches, or even more, above the level of the soil, to
prevent the injury which the bulbs might receive
from moisture ; but if too much elevated they will
suffer from drought. The Dutch cover their beds
with dung in winter, to keep off the frost, but this
appears unnecessary in our climate. When the
leaves of hyacinths begin to wither, the bulbs should,
if possible, be pulled out of the bed by the hand, to
avoid the danger of cutting them with a spade ; the
leaves should be cut off, and each bulb laid on its
From Hort. Register.
30
DESCRIPTTON OF A GARDEN.
side, covering it lightly with the compost about two
inches thick ; — in this state they should be left about
a month (but the tardy sorts are usually left longer,
and more lightly covered), and then taken up in dry
weather, and exposed to the open air for some hours,
but not to a powerful sun, which would be very in-
jurious to them. They should after this be carefully
examined, and the decayed parts of any bulbs which
may have cankered, must be removed with a knife ;
for which purpose it will sometimes be necessary to
cut deep, for if it is not done effectually, the whole
bulb becomes diseased, and infects others which
may be near it. The bulbs should be placed in an
airy store-room about the end of June; they must
not be suffered to touch each other, and must be
frequently looked over, in order to remove those
which may shew fresh symptoms of decay, until
November, the time for replanting. Old tan, well
decayed and pulverized, may be substituted in the
compost above described if leaves cannot be ob-
tained; and when the compost has been in use for
about six years, it will be necessary to renovate it
by the addition of some fresh materials.
DESCRIPTION OF A GARDEN.
BY MATTHiEUS SYLVATICUS.
Phcenicia's gardens have enough been sung.
Enough the praise of proud Versailles has rung;
Where stiff in rows the walks and groups are made.
And Nature's corpse at Euclid's feet is laid.
Rise, rustic Muse, and sing, in simple strain
''s little garden, small in vain ;
Where Art in Nature's wildest pathway treads,
And boldly follows wheresoe'er she leads ;
Where rivers flow, where rocks stupendous rise.
And where th' expanded lake reflects the skies.
First, from the house o'er level walks we pass,
With flowers bordered, and with verdant grass ;
Here roses and diosmas freely grow.
Here heaths and beauteous myrtles deign to blow ;
Here clove carnations catch the dazzled sight,
And helianthus pours a blaze of light.
A rural trelliage gate we now pass through.
Shaded and arched o'erhead by lilac blue :
The sumach with the dahlia here combines.
And coreopsis, bright in beauty, joins.
Thence to the left we turn, ascending high
A rising hill salutes the gazing eye;
Far on the right extends a verdant mead ;
Rocks on the other side to rocks succeed ;
Pomona's offerings overhang the road,
Scarce can the branches bear the luscious load ;
Geraniums smile beneath the solar ray.
And antirrhinum courts the eye of day :
Thine arms, convolvulus, each tree embrace,
And gentianella beautifies the place.
But soft — behold where yonder mountain's brow
With lordly scorn surveys the vale below ;
A nodding wood adorns its topmost height,
O'ergrown with shrubs impervious to the sight ;
And, where a torrent once its passage rent,
A rough and dark defile affords descent :
So in Breadalbane's wilds, 'mid forests green,
The Trosach's glen contrasts the sylvan scene.
The mountain pass'd, to strike our wondering eyes
The lake's unnumber'd beauties next arise ;
So clear the flood we see the spreading sands.
The garden in the crystal mirror stands ;
While China's glittering fish, securely gay,
At ease within its bosom bask or play.
A length of pleasant walk we now must tread,
To reach a bridge across a river spread ;
Here, pleased to rest, a rustic bower we view.
Where our exhausted strength we can renew.
Such varied charms this lovely seat can boast.
We know not which to like or praise the most.
Within, all neatness. Flora for her own
Has fix'd this spot, and here has placed her throne ;
Without, th' acacia waves her graceful head.
The glo'.ving cistus all around is spread ;
The holyoak its varied beauty shews.
And ivy gives the scene its due repose.
Recruited now, we leave the sylvan seat,
And view the precincts of the sweet jetreat;
Far on the left, old Bacchus' plant appears,
Each lengthen'd branch the luscious fruitage bears ;
No trees are near, and here, in pomp display'd.
Are all those flowerets which avoid the shade.
Another bridge we cross, again the lake
Displays its charms, the woodland view to break :
Unnumber'd sweets, around its borders shewn.
Our every sense delight and make their own.
A grateful coolness tempers here the heat,
A mulberry grove affords a calm retreat.
Border'd with grass the winding path proceeds,
Thro' numerous groups of flowers it homeward leads;
Again the flower garden paths we tread,
And to the house by Friendship's hand are led.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
31
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
POINCIANA PULCHERRIMA.
Decandria Monogynia, Linnaeus ; Cassiea, De Cond.
Calyx 5-phyllus, inferiore majora. Petala 5, summum diiForme.
Stam. longissima; omnia ftecunda, discreca. Legumen com-
pressoplanum, bivalve, pluviloculare. Sem. unicum in singulis
loculamentis.
Poinciana pulcherrima ; aculeis geminis. Spec. PI. 554. Reich. 2.
p. 258, Hort. Up.i. 101. Horc.Kew. 2. p. 54. Jacq. Amer. 122.
Ld. Pict. 62. t. 120
Poinciana. I'ourn. Just. 619. t. 391. Brown Jour. 225. Hughes
Barbad.p. 201.
Csesalpinia pulcherrima ; foliolis oblongo-ovalibus emarginatis
calycibusque glabris, corymbes simplicibus petalis imbriatis,
staminibus longissimus. Swartz. Obs. 166. IViUd. Sp. PL 2.
531. 3Iart. Mill. Dirt, a 2
Senna spuria arborea spinosa, &c. Sloave Jan. 2. p 49.
Crista Pavonis flore elegantissimo variegato. Burn. Zeyl 79.
Crista Pavonis frute.K pavonius. Breyn. Cent. 61. t, 22. Rail
Hist. 981.
Acacia oi-ientalis gloriosa, colutese foliis, ad genicula spinis ge-
mellis aculeata. Piuk. Alur. 5.
Flos Pavonis Mer Sur. 45. t. 49.
Tsietti mandaru. Rheede Mai. 6. p. 1. f, 1.
The name of Poinciana was given to this splendid
shrub by Tournefort, in commemoration of M. de
Poinci, governor of the Antilles. Its English appel-
lation denotes the use to which it is frequently ap-
plied in the West Indies, and Jacquin remarks that
a hedge made of this plant, especially vshen mixed
with Parkinsonia aculeata, forms the most beautiful
fence imaginable ; indeed few flowers have been
described in more enraptured language. Although
long since widely diffused through the West India
isles, and frequently found of spontaneous growth,
it is doubtful whether it be originally indigenous
there. Ligon says expressly that it was imported
into Barbadoes from the Cape de Verd Islands. It
is cultivated through all the tropical countries of the
East, especially wherever any Chinese are settled,
by whom it is called the Peacock's breast. It was
introduced into Holland from Amboyna about the
year 1670, and cultivated in Chelsea Garden, by Sir
Hans Sloane, in 1691 ; but as it cannot be preserved
out of the stove, nor propagated except by seeds, it
must ever remain a rarity in northern climes.
The flowers are said to be sweet-scented ; but the
whole plant, when bruised, diffuses a disagreeable
smell, very like that of Savin, which it appears to
resemble in virtue, being considered, in the West
Indies, as a powerful emmenagogue.
Swartz has thought proper to unite Poinciana
with Cassalpinia, in which he has been followed by
Willdenow and Martyn ; but, that, according to
Gaertner, the seed-j)od of Cassalpinia Sapan is one-
celled, which in our plant is divided by a transverse
septum between each seed; and in respect to the
form of the flower, Poincinia seems to have a nearer
resemblance to Parkinsonia,
PELARGONIUM PULCHELLUM.
Monadelphia Heptandria, Ll-jN/Eos; Geraniae, Jdssied.
Sect. 11. Fructus rostro spirali intus barbate.
Acantia : radice rassifornii ; filamentes 5 sterilibus. P. foliis pin-
natifidis, laciniis 3-5-lobis : pedicellis brevissimis : calycibus ven-
tricosulis, ^■iscid^lo-pubescentibus : petalis spatulatis, inferioribus
angustis. Sponte nascentera in Promontorio Cap.
The tuberous-rooted Pelargoniums from the Cape
of Good Hope, are so numerous and distinct in their
habit, that it is greatly to be wished some character
could be found to separate them as a genus. In
every flower of the specimen of that now figured
which was examined, the anthers were persistent,
not falling off soon after shedding their pollen, as in
most other Pelargoniums : but whether this circum-
stance is peculiar to the whole group, or even con-
stant in this one species, has not been ascertained.
It seems allied to Mr. Kennedy's Roseum, well
figured in the Botanical Repository; and the calyx
being constantly swelled at the base, may perhaps
disting-uish it from that and some others.
PHYLLODOCE TAXIFOLIA.
Decandria Monogynia, LinNjEos; Erica;, Jdssied.
Calyx pi'ofunde 5-fidus. Corolla 1-petala, decidua. Filamenta 10,
toro inserta. Antberce juxta apicem foramine obovato dehiscentes.
Pericarpium superum 5-loculare ; septis eniarginibus valvarura,
ab axi debiscentibus. Semina elliptica scrobiculata. Fruticulus
semper virens, Folia alterna, lateribus reduplicatis quasi subtus
sulcata ut in Ericfi. Flores ex axillis 2-9 ultimis fasciculura
mentientes, ramo nunc prolifero. Bracteae 2 ad basin pedunculi
praeterfolium, persistentes. Nomen poeticum, exemplo immor-
talis Linnaeus in Andromeda ad hoc genus selagi, quod toto anno
etiam subnive foliis ornatur. Illi valde atfinis est Erica Daboecii
Sp. PI- quam ob dehiscentiam fructusolim ad Menziesiam retuli
uti nuper Jussieu, sed cum inflorescentiA longe diversa folio tan-
tum absque bracteis pedunculo subjecta nee non receptaculo
seminum abludat, potius erit sui generis.
P. foliorum laminis linearibus, obtusis : corollae tubo urceolari.
Erica cajrulea. If 'Hid. Sp. PI. v. 2 p. 303.
Andromeda taxifolia. Pall. Fl. Ro.is. part 2. />. 54. t. 72. ,f. 2.
Andromeda caerulea. FL Dan. t 57.
Erica foliis acerosis de Gmel. Fl. Sib. v. 4. p 131. t. 57. y. 2.
Andromeda caerulea Linn. Sp. PL ed 2. p. 563.
Erica rarior Norwegica. Linn. Ama'n v 1. edLugce. Bat. p. 332.
Andromeda foliis de Linn, FL Lapp. n. 164. t. \.f. 5.
Sponte nascentem in Lapland abunde, legit C. Linne : in Labra-
dor coUibus sicus, legit J. Banks, Baronettus ; in Kamschatka et
America Borealis oris occidentalibus lat. 52. rupibus muscosis,
legit G. W. Steller.
The stems occasionally attain a foot in height when
growing among rocks and mossy banks. The leaves
are shining green, with a whitish line running through
the middle of their under surface, obtuse, line-like,
fringed with short gland- bearing hairs at the bend,
which is not the true margin, as is sometimes sup-
posed. Flowers on solitary long flower-stalks, issu-
ing from two to nine of the uppermost axils of the
leaves. Flower-scales two, at the base of each
32
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
flower-stalk, besides the leaf which supplies the
place of a third flower-scale ; and becomes gradually
a little shorter and more like a flower-stalk in spe-
cimens with many flowers, all persistent, and not
caducous, as in Menziesia. The calyx is finely
haired and viscid ; the corolla purple, varyins; to
pale red and white, but never blue, for which reason
Professor Pallas has very justly changed the name
of ccerulea to taxifol'mm. The anthers are long,
without nerves, and obtuse at the base.
DIAPENSIA OBTUSIFOLIA.
Pentandria Monogynia, Linn^us; Ericse, JussiEU.
Calyx S-phyllus, peristens. Corolla 1-petala: Tubus calathi-
fovmis: Linibus recurvulus, 5-partitus: decidua. Filamenta 5,
lata, tubam inter lacinias terminantia. Anthers didymse, nunc
basi rostratOE. Pericarpium fere totum superum, ovatum, 3-locu-
lare 3-valve, medio loculorum dehiscens. Stylus crassus. Stigma
3-lobani. Semina numerosa, colo retuso ad angulum internum
sessilia, subovata. Fruticuli cajpitosi, sempervirentes, Calcilis,
foliis, emarcidis vestitus. Folia alterna subopposita, in resus
conferta. Flores albi, pedunculo subnuUo vel longiusculo 1-rii
terminales, erecti. Bractese 3 juxtacalycem, praeter unam alter-
amne infra sparsas. Genus in serie naturali forsan juxta Azaleum
locandam cujus duse species innotuerunt.
D. obtusifolia foliis spatulatis, glabris : antheris, obliquis, muticis.
D. lapponica. Oed. in Ft. Dan. t, 47. bova.
D. lapponica. Linn. Fl. Lapp. n. 88. t. \. f. 1. Sponte nascen-
tem in Lapland, alpibus muscovestitis, legit. C. Linne : in
Norway, horridis scopulis, legit. G. C. Oeder : in Ins. New-
foundland, rupibus maritimis, legit. J. Banks, Baronettus : in
New Hampshire, alpibus, legit. J. D. Peck: in Kamschatka,
legit. J. Dixon.
D. cuncifolia foliis lanceolato-cuneatis, inferne pubescentibus :
antheris hoiizontalibus, basi rostratis. Pyxidanthera barbulati.
Michaux. Fl. Boreali-Am. v. 1. p. 152. 1. 17. Sponte nascentem
in North Carolina, montibus, legit. A. Michaux.
Stems several, leafy, branching closely into little
tufts or cushions, which Professor Peck says often
become large and firm enough in the White moun-
tains of New Hampshire to bear the weight of a man
standing upon them. They are very slender, but
woody, and covered with the decayed leaves for
years. Leaves dark green, and more or less tinged
with brown on their upper surface, yelloviish green
on their under surface, from four to seven lines long,
very closely imbricated, and sitting ; their lower
part erect, dilated into a thin membranaceous mar-
gin, and hollow ; from thence recurved, spatulate,
very entire, blunt, quite smooth, slightly channelled
with convex sides, flattish underneath, thick, and
hard. Flowers solitary, and without smell. Flower-
stalks terminating most of the principal branches,
from six to ten lines long, nearly erect, cylindrical,
smooth. Flower-scales three, imbricated near the
calyx, erect, oval, persistent : besides these, one or
two smaller are scattered lower down ; and they are
all similar to the leaves in consistence. Calyx of
five leaflets : these are somewhat imbricated, erect,
oval, often slightly crenulated towards the top, which
is rather tumid, quite smooth, nearly equal in size,
persistent. Corolla white, full three lines in length :
tube bowl-shaped : limb slightly recurved, divided
to the base into five egg-oblong, very entire, blunt,
flattish divisions : smooth on both surfaces, deciduous.
Filaments five, white, terminating the tube between
the divisions of the limb, broad, short, erect, some-
what narrower towards the top, quite smooth, hol-
lowish. Anthers yellow, confluent with the filaments,
retuse, didymous: lobes oblique, elliptical, 1-locular,
2-valved, splitting lengthwise, not much contracted
after the pollen is discharged. Pollen yellow. Seed-
vessel green while young, hollow within the sur-
rounding torus, upon which the calyx and corolla
are inserted so as not to be quite superior, almost
globular, 3-celled : when fully grown, oval, splitting
in the middle of the cells. The receptacles of the
seeds are retuse. Style pale yellow, reaching to
about the height of the anthers, columnar, round,
smooth. Summit deep, somewhat egg-shaped, very
finely scrobiculated.
This curious little shrub is from Labrador: in
that dreary country, as well as others near the Arctic
circle, it grows plentifully upon the most barren
maritime rocks, insinuating its slender roots into
crevices, where there is a little soil.
VACCINIUM BUXIFOLIUM.
Octandria Monogynia, LiNNiEOS; Ericae, JossiEO.
Pericarpium inferum 4-5-loculare succulentum, clausum, deci-
duum. Semina, 10-30 in singulis loculis. Corolla monopetala
limbo luevi, 4-5-fido; decidua. Antherje 8-10, valvis apice ob-
lique forarainosis. Frutices quidam humillimi, gemmiferi. Folia
alterna, in plerisque dentata, autumno decidua, vel semper-
virentia. Flores solitarii fasciculati spicative, ssepius axillaries.
Folia sempervirentia.
V. foliis obovatis, dentatis, glabris, subtus aquatis : spicis e supe-
rioribus axillis, dense multifloris : stigmatibus hemisphasricis.
V. brachycerum. Michaux Ft. Boreali-Amer. v. I. p. 254. Sponte
nascentem circa Winchester in Virginia, legit A. Michaux.
The stems creep a little under the ground, and are
covered with a short rough down. Leaves some-
times oval, without any callous dots on the under
surface: midrib hairy on its upper surface. Flowers
bluish coloured. Common flower-stalk very short.
Calyx and corolla generally five-cleft. Filaments
ten, attached at the very base to the corolla, but in-
serted like it, in the receptacle which surrounds the
top of the fruit, having anthers shorter than in many
others, and without a spur.
A beautiful dwarf species, resembling V. Vitis
Idsea, from which however it may always be distin-
guished by the knobbed summit.
It thrives best in light sandy vegetable mould,
among rock, and other shrubs.
2G
CULTURE OF THE PRICKLY COMFREY.
33
ON THE CULTURE OF THE PRICKLY COMFREY.*
BY J. T.
In the autumn of 1830, I was induced by the re-
commendation of a neighbour, and the highly
laudatory accounts in some of the public prints, to
purchase fifty plants of tlie Symphytum asperrimum
I received them in November ; they were very
small, somewhat resembling young primrose plants.
They were immediately placed in a bed of rather
strong, but sandy loam, aboimding with chalky
particles, three feet asimder, in rows four feet
apart. In spring I perceived that several had
perished, in consequence of a large quantity of
snow that had accumulated, and lain about that
particular piece of ground for a considerable time.
The lost plants were replaced by others, procured
in the beginning of April, 1831. In common with
many other herbaceous plants, the Symphytum will
remove with the greatest safety and success, just at
that period, when, after the recession of the winter
frosts, the ground is in a meliorated and readily
pulverable state, and the herb in an excitable state,
and just beginning to push. If transplanted in the
autumn, when dormant and unexcitable, the accu-
mulated prepared juices, that are deposited by the
leaves before their final decay, frequently become
decomposed by frosts, damp, and particularly by a
mass of snow, and decay takes place. This seldom,
however, occurs when the plant has remained un-
disturbed ; because the vessels are not lacerated,
and, therefore, the connection between the root, or
hybernaculum, and the soil continues uninterrupted.
My plants, from the period referred to, grew
rapidly, and spread extensively ; they fully occu-
pied the space allotted to them, and notwithstanding
the memorable and extensively destructive frost of
the 7th of May, I could not perceive that a leaf
was injured.
I had occasion to remove nearly the whole of my
plants, and at the latter end of February, 1832,
transferred them to a broad border of an orchard
with a north-east aspect.
The greater part of the roots were found to be
from ten inches to a foot and a half long, readily
divisible ; they were very succulent, mucilaginous
and tender ; their internal substance was of a dirty
white, but the cuticle of a dark brown colour.
These plants stocked the border, the length of
which is twenty-six yards, and the breadth about
six yards. They were in number, about one hun-
dred and fifteen, and were set in holes, distant three
feet by four from each other ; and by the end of
the month of June, the leaves met, and covered
the surface.
After these general facts, I proceed more parti-
cularly to notice the soil in which it grows. Mr.
Grant, in his circular, says, " It will grow in all
soils and situations, superior to any other plant ; it
may be planted by the sides of ditches, in any
waste corner of fields, orchards, gardens, &c. where
useless rubbish grows." I have tried my plants in
every species of soil I possess, from that of the
unprepared, untilled land of a field, where the roots
of an adjoining plantation of elms had taken undis-
turbed possession for years, to the richest manured
plot of a kitchen garden. The spot where the bulk
now stands, was a soil degraded by rubbish of
every kind ; it was artificial, and a set of sheds and
out offices of a farm yard had been erected on it ;
brick-bats, lumps of chalk, fragments of glass-
bottles abounded ; and what with these, and the
roots of elm trees, the work of trenching was ef-
fected with much labour and difficulty. If the
plants have thriven better in one soil than in another,
it is perhaps in a sort of stiff" but pale sandy loam,
which, by analysis, I have found to contain in two-
hundred parts, when dry, one hundred and fifty
parts of silicious sand, of chalk, fifteen parts, alu-
minous impalpable matter, twelve parts, oxide of
iron, six parts, and of vegetable fibre or water, not
separated by the previous process of drying, the re-
maining seventeen parts.
In regard to their propagation, the plants may be
raised from seeds, subject to the difficulty already
alluded to ; but they may be multiplied to any ex-
tent by separation of the roots. These may be
torn asunder, chopped lengthways with a spade, or
more cautiously divided by the knife or bill-hook,
during any period of the growing season ; but de^
cidedly by preference just before the central shoot
has pushed above ground. They succeed under
all these modes of separation, and make fine large
plants in a few months. Upon this subject, how-
ever, in the very early progress of my experience,
I wrote to Mr Grant, and received a reply of date
May, 1831, wherein he stated, that the roots " may
be planted at any time when you may wish to in-
crease your stock, care being taken to have a part
of the crown with each cutting. It increases
freely. I made it from two plants to forty thousand
in five years,"
The very young plants make rather slow advances
* From the Quart. Journ. of Agriculture.
MAGAZINE OF BOTANY AND OAKDENIN6, VOL, II. NO, XII. MARCH, 1834.
34
CULTURE OF THE PRICKLY COMFREY.
after removal in the spring, for a month ; but if
rains fall, and genial temperature supervenes to-
ward the middle of May, they set off rapidly, and
extend in every direction ; the flower stem is soon
developed, and will be perfected in July. But
plants made by separation of the larger plants, I
have found to grow and expand with amazing ra-
pidity ; they resemble in this respect the gigantic
rhubarb, (Rheumhybridum,var.)which I have always
observed to be accelerated by removal in sjiring.
" I went down to Lewisham last week," says
Mr. W. W. Fames, in the Farmer's Journal of 14th
June, 1830, on the growth of the Symphytum," and
can assure you I was very much pleased, I may say
astonished, at the produce ; it was beautifully in
bloom, and some of it near seven feet high.
" All that Grant has said of the produce and
quality seems to be correct ; from the taste of it,
1 think there can be no doubt but it contains a great
deal of nutritious matter. I saw one plant which,
I was informed, had been planted three years, con-
taining thirty-two stalks, none of them less than
six feet high, and from one and a half, to four
inches in circumference. The plant was cut and
weighed this day in the presence of Mr. W. C.
Selby, of the Bridge-house Farm, Lewisham, and
weighed fifty-six pounds."
I never saw the flower stems of my plants above
five feet high, but then, till the present season,
none of them have been at rest ; they have not
been in undisturbed possession of the soil, and
have been cut over so repeatedly, as to prevent the
roots deriving all the vigour and energy which
would have been afforded" by the foliage, had the
stalks been sufl^ered to grow uncut or unpulled
during one entire summer.
The experiments that have come under my notice
have been made in latitudes coinciding with that
of London ; but I have observed no diiference in
the strength and verdure of the leaves, be the as-
pect what it might. A large part of my stock of
plants is shaded by a south-west fence ; and al-
though hoar-frost and general cold temperature
have prevailed throughout March, and the three
first weeks of April, I have already drawn off
the leaves in succession, from above one half of
the plants ; and so rapid is the growth, that by the
time the whole shall have been pulled, the opera-
tion may be recommenced. A bushel basket nearly
of the leaves is collected daily, and given to a cow ;
and this in a season when the grass in the same or-
chard is just assuming a full green tint, and begin-
ning to lengthen ; and on an adjoining patch of last
year's lucerne, is only protruding its first shoots
above the surface of the soil.
Mr. Grant observes that he once " cut and
weighed one square rod ; the average was seven-
teen tons, three hundred per acre." He says it rises
to more than seven feet in height, and so thickly,
as completely to cover the ground on which it
stands ; that by the first of April, (1830,) " it is
now fit for cutting." I have not as yet observed it
to attain so great a height, but I have often taken a
cutting from the crown, placed it in the border or
shrubbery, and have seen the herb spread during
the same summer to the breadth of nine or ten in-
ches, the flower stem to rise to the height of four
or five feet, and the root to penetrate the ground
far beyond the depth of a spade, and to an extent
that would have furnished three or more fine large
plants. Mr. Grant represents the leaves to be
eagerly eaten by horses, and this I, as well as a
highly respectable neighbour, have proved to be
the fact. " Cows do not take it in the first instance
so freely as the horse, but they all soon take to it,
and then they are quite as eager for it." The fact
is, if they are offered to a cow when the flower
stem is grown up, the whole stalk and its foliage
are so very prickly and rough, that the animal
seems to shun it. During the summer of 1832, I
greatly feared that the attempt to feed cows with
Symphytum would end in complete failure. In that
season we invariably cut it over with a reaping
hook ; the leaves were frequently eaten, but the
stems were left. The present year, however, I
determined should witness another mode of proce-
dure, and as soon as the first leaves were fully ex-
panded, I directed them to be drawn up, and not
cut off, and every leaf is now greedily devoured.
Dr. Withering says of the common comfrey (Sym-
phytum officinale), cows and sheep eat it ; horses,
goats, and swine refuse it. The roots are gluti-
nous and mucilaginous." The roots of the S. as-
perrimum are the same, and I find that cows will
eat them freely. The plant also will etiolate, or
blanch to perfection, as I discovered by finding one
in a bed of damp leaves ; it was eight inches high,
and as white and crisp as a plant of celery. " Sheep
and lambs will take it freely. Lambs will all feed
on it before they are a month old, and as it is such
a very early plant, it will immediately follow the
turnips." I cannot from my own experience deter-
mine the correctness of this observation. Mr. Grant
finally observes, it is very useful to pigs ; that he
" kept a sow with twelve pigs chiefly on it ; she
brought them up well ; they all fed on it before
they were three weeks old."
Geese do well with it, the young ones will feed
on it as soon as hatched ; I have invariably found
that pigs will eat the Symphytum leaves freely, and
the stalks also to a considerable extent ; but as to
geese, my experience by no means justifies Mr.
Grant's assertion. I have left leaves all night about
the farm yard, when the geese could get at no
other food, and could never perceive that one had
disappeared. The goslings also refused them at
ON FARM ORCHARDS
83
any age, even when shopped up. I had, however,
the experiment repeated yesterday, that I might,
before closing this paper, either confirm my past
observations, or obtain an exception in favour of
those of Mr. Grant, and the result is doubtful.
The goslings, it is true, had grass at command, and
some young sprouting clover. They would not eat
the cut leaves at the time, but they have disap-
peared during the night. I conclude, therefore,
that where grass is of ready access, the geese
greatly prefer it. Upon the whole, then consider-
ing the precocity of the crop, the plant fairly
rising early in April, if the weather be at all genial,
and extending with great rapidity ; the frequent
recurrence of the gatherings ; the great abundance
of green food yielded, and that for a period of
seven months ; the quality of that fodder, which
appears to be nutritive, and of a mild bland fla-
vour ; I arrive at the conclusion that Symphytum
asperrimum ought to be considered a valuable ad-
junct to the byre and farm yard ; that it ought to
be tried by every impartial experimenter without
hesitation, and if the success be equal to what
has attended my trial, I have little hesitation in be-
lieving, that a piece of comparatively useless
ground may be profitably set apart for the culture
of so productive a vegetable.
As a caution, and in order to secure the perma-
nency of the plantation, I vcould enforce the prac-
tice of pulling up the leaves, instead of cutting the
whole plant over. Grant observes, that he " can-
not pretend to say what effect continual cutting
may have on a plant, or on the land for many years
together ; but that he had never known one to die ;
though some have stood more than twenty years,
and in as full vigour as the first," It may be pulled
three or four times at the least, that is the full
grown leaves may be taken from around the stems ;
the stems as they advance to a foot high may be
broken off to within three inches of the soil, and
thus the plant may be always kept down by de-
forming or mangling it, and some foliage will at all
times remain to be acted upon and stimulated by
solar light.
With respect to tillage, I should recommend
that, after the final gathering, the spaces between
the plants (which should be at the least three feet,)
be roughly dug or ploughed, and left neat for the
winter ; that during the first dry and favourable
interval, about the middle or close of February,
another deep moving of the soil be given, and a
little of the mould brought round the plants ; and
that during the growing season, the ground be kept
clean and neat as time will permit. If at any time
the surface become hard-bound by treading over,
great benefit will be deiived from a second stirring
of the soil, but that not to such extent as to injure
the roots. Manuring may, in some soils, be of use,
but I have not observed that it has produced any
great advantage ; my plants appearing to be as
strong on those spots where none has been applied,
as on others where a dunghill had previously stood.
I hope the foregoing remarks will stimulate many
liberal minded cultivators to introduce this plant.
It is not required to substitute it for grass or other
well tried staple produce ; but as of late it has been
the earnest endeavours of the philosophic writers of
the day, to bring into notice any productive vegeta-
ble that may advance the comforts of domestic
economy, particularly in the homesteads of those
who possess but a small portion of land, and very
limited means of support, it surely is desirable that
Symphytum asperrimum should be permitted to
take its chance with hemerocalis, cichorium, Italian
rye grass, or gama grass. The wise man economises
in every thing, and though it is to be lamented that
the price of the first parcel of Symphytum must be
considerable, (that is, presuming it is still rated at
20s. per hundred plants,) yet fifty of these would,
as I have found, suffice to stock a large piece of
ground in little more than six months. I believe
that, by suffering one or two plants to ripen, and
detach the seeds, and by a careful attention to the
young seedlings, in connection with a proper divi-
sion of the roots in the second of March, after
planting, an acre of ground might be sufficiently
cropped with this prolific herb.
ON FARM ORCFIARDS.
BY MR. MAIN OF CHELSEA.*
It is expedient that every farm should have some
portion of orchard ground attached to it. Every
landlord should encourage and assist his tenants to
plant them, where there is yet nothing of the kind.
It is an improvement which bestows benefits on
both landlord and tenant. To those who may have
such improvement in contemplation, the following
observations may be of service.
The most convenient and guarded place for a
farm orchard, is immediately behind the house, so
* From the Quart. Jouin. of Agriculture.
F 2
36
ON FARM ORCHARDS.
that the back kitchen door may open into it. It
matters not whether it be on the north or any other
side of the buildings. Many think that an orchard
should be in a low sheltered spot, but this is a se-
rious mistake. Fruit trees do best on a moderately
high and open situation. Shelter from wind is cer-
tainly necessary, but this protection must be ob-
tained, otherwise than by planting in a dell.
A deep mellow loam is most suitable for an or-
chard. It does not require to be richly manured,
provided it is fresh, unexhausted, and sufficiently
dry. Whether the sub-soil be gravel or stone, so
as such beds lie not too near the surface, it will be
no detriment to the trees ; but if of a tenacious
clay, which is retentive of moisture, then draining
must be resorted to, to free the soil from superflu-
ous moisture. This must be done effectually,
otherwise the defect will ever after be regretted by
the planter. A sloping surface is better for all
plants, than a dead level ; not because a heavy or
long-continued rain, or melted snow runs the sooner
off such a position, but because that portion of it
which sinks into the ground gradually passes down-
ward in an under current, leaving no portion of it
to stagnate in any one place, so as to be prejudi-
cial to the roots.
There are different kinds of orchards, most gene-
rally of apples, as being on the whole, the most
valuable of British fruits. Sometimes there is a
mixture of pears, rarely all of pears, except in
those places where perry is the common drink of
the farmer and his labourers. Sometimes we meet
with orchards of heart cherries only, which, when
near towns, pay well. In some counties there are
extensive orchards of Kentish cherries, the soil
being a light, sandy, and dry loam, particularly
suitable to this variety of fruit. In other places we
find the common black or caroun kinds preferred to*
all others, as being not only richer in quality, but
the most certain bearers, and consequently most
profitable to the farmer ; considerable quantities of
them (or their juice) being annually exported to
Spain and Portugal, for the purpose, it is said, of
colouring wine. This sort of cherry-tree grows to
a stately size, and yields valuable timber. Some
orchards of this kind, of five or six acres, pay an
annual profit of £100, the fruit being gathered and
sent to market at the expense of the purchaser,
independently of the ground as a pasture.
But the most profitable kind of orchard is that
which contains all kinds of hardy fruit-trees and
bushes, and where the land is solely appropriated
to that purpose. This kind resembles gardening
more than farming, and is therefore unsuitable to
large farms, but quite applicable to small ones, to
which an acre of orchard, requiring no horse la-
bour, would be of essential benefit. In such, half
standard apple-trees are planted in rows eighteen
feet from each other, the trees being twelve feet
apart. In the same line with the apple-trees are
planted either gooseberry or currant bushes, or,
what pays equally well, filberts. The latter are not
allowed to rise higher than about four feet, and
kept spurred in exactly like the white currant.
Gooseberries gathered green for tarts, pay the far-
mer better than when ripe, and are not nearly so
troublesome in the carriage to market. As such
an orchard is not to be grazed, two feet of the soil
on each side of the rows of trees is kept bare, and
always free from weeds. On this a mulching of
rotten dung may be laid every winter, and raked
off in the spring, upon the intermediate strips of
ground to be planted with potatoes, or some with
onions, turnips, scarlet runners, or any other crop
which the cultivator can most advantageously dis-
pose of in his neighbourhood.
For such an orchard, the earliest and surest bear-
ing apples shovdd be preferred. The greatest ma-
jority should consist of the hawthornden, the rest
of the French-crab, and scarlet nonpareil. A few
of the earliest pears may be intermixed, as the pe-
tit muscat, a kind which fetches a good price on
its first appearance in the market. The most hardy
and profitable kind of plum for a farai orchard is
the common damson, it being always in request for
baking, preserving, or for wine making.
In preparing the ground for an orchard, different
methods are followed. When the spot is fixed on,
the fence (if it requires one,) shovdd be first exe-
cuted. This is best done by a well planted white
thorn hedge and ditch. The latter should be on the
outside, and not less than three or four feet deep,
to allow a bank of corresponding heiglit. Young
plants of the English elm should be planted with
the thorns for a hedge row screen to shelter the
fruit trees, except towards the southern exposure.
The elms may be put in at six or eight feet dis-
tances, and as they bear lopping, they may be kept
triaimed up to form, together with the hedge, a
lofty narrow protection against wind.
The next thing to be considered, is, whether the
ground is sufficiently dry. If not, rubble drains
should be made across the slope, (if there be any
declivity) into the lowest outside ditch.
The ground may be prepared for receiving the
trees, either by trenching it wholly with the spade,
fifteen inches deep, or with the trenching plough.
This trenching is particularly necessary when the
orchard is not intended to be a meadow or pasture.
If the soil be thin, it may be ploughed into ridges
six yards wide, twice gcithered, which will give a
sufficient depth of mould on the ridges to receive
the trees. Another way is to trench beds eight feet
wide for the trees, and prepare the rest of the
ground with the plough and harrows, to be sown
down with grass seeds and a single cast of a dwarf
BEDEGUAR OF THE ROSE.
37
growing oat, in the month of March after the trees
are planted. There is still a cheaper way of plant-
ing an orchard on land which is already in turf, viz.
digging or trenching pits six feet square for the
trees. This is done by first taking off the turf, to
be relaid when the tree is planted, stirring the soil
in the pits eighteen inches deep, and adding, if
necessary, a barrowful or two of maiden earth,
mixed with a little rotten dung, to place the tree
in. This plan may be pursued when the soil is of
sufficient depth on a gravelly subsoil ; but if on a
clay subsoil, it is the worst way possible ; because
these pits become receptacles of stagnant water in
wet seasons, and are of course injurious to the roots
of the trees.
Whichever mode of planting is determined on,
the openings should, in the first place, be made
ready for the trees, which should be had from the
nearest nurseryman, carefully taken up, and as
carefully planted. If the roots are broken, or
bruised, they should be smoothly cut back, and the
shoots of the head pruned into about one tliird of
their length, in the month of April, after the trees
are planted.
For a farmer's orchard, which is also intended
for a penn or pasture, the trees must be all stand-
ards, with stems six feet high. This precaution is
absolutely necessary where cattle are permitted to
range. They should be grafted on free stocks and
true of their kinds. The sorts of apples before
mentioned may be chosen; of cherries the caroun,'
of plums the damson, should be the principal.
Any favourite sort of pear, or other fruit, may be
added for the sake of variety. But there is a safe
rule for the choice of fruit trees, viz. to prefer
the kinds that succeed best in the neighbourhood ;
for it is certainly true that some sorts of fruits are
affected by one description of soil, and local cli-
mate, more than others. This circumstance de-
serves attention.
Trees planted in rows at twelve feet apart from
each other, and eighteen feet intervals between the
rows, may be supposed to stand too thick ; but as
they will bear a good deal of fruit before they in-
terfere injuriously, the underlings may be pruned
away without regret when this takes place. The
whole should be placed in quincunx order, as the
one affording most air and light to each individual.
It is almost unnecessary to add that every tree
should be securely staked up, to keep them steady
against wind, and be carefully cradled, or bushed
before any kind of cattle are admitted into the or-
chard. An acre of orchard planted at the above
mentioned distances, would require above two hun-
dred trees.
BEDEGUAR OF THE ROSE.
BY MR. JESSE.
I HAVE often admired a small, round, mossy sub-
stance attached to a branch of the dog-rose growing
in our hedges, and which I was imable to account
for until the following circumstance was related to
me by an ingenious florist and nurseryman in the
King's Road. Mr. Knight, who informed me,
that, having been requested by one of his custo-
mers to endeavour to preserve a favourite mulberry
tree, which for many years had flourished on her
lawn, but which, with the exception of one very
large branch, was either dead or decaying, he
waited till the sap had ascended, and then barked
the branch completely round near its junction with
the trunk of the tree. Having filled three sacks
with mould, he tied them round that part of the
branch which had been barked, and by means of
one or two old watering-pots, which were kept
filled with water, and placed over the sacks, from
which the water gradually distilled, the mould in
the sacks was sufficiently moistened for his purpose.
Towards the end of the year he examined the sacks,
and f Hind them filled with numerous small fibrous
roots, which the sap, having no longer the bark for
its conductor into the main roots of the tree, had
thus expended itself in throwing out. A hole
having been prepared near the spot, the branch was
sawn off below the sacks, and planted with them,
the branch being propped securely. The next sum-
mer it flourished and bore fruit, and is still in a
thriving state.
Having heard this fact, I examined the massy
substance on the dog-rose, and found that, in con-
sequence of the bark on the branch on which it was
found having been removed by some insect, the sap
in receding had thrown out roots, wliich, from the
exposure of the air, produced the mossy ball in
question, and which was probably made the nest
or hybernaculum of some insect. If this mossy
substance be examined, the larvae of an insect will
be found belonging to the genus cynips.
38
PLANTS INDICATING THE QUALITY OF SOILS.
ON SANDY AND GRAVELLY SOILS.
BY COUNT GYLLENBORG.
Sand and gravel, which consist of a stony powder,
or exceeding small stones, have no cohesion of their
parts, whether wet or dry.
There is a kind of gravel which the country peo-
ple make use of as mortar; but on trial, this appears
to have in it a mixture of clay, which may be washed
away ; of calcareous particles, as appears by its ef-
fervescence with acids ; and of chalybeate particles,
which aqua regia extracts ; whence it appears, that
this gravel is a natural mortar.
As sand and gravel are vitriable, they give way to
no menstruum. Neither water nor the most corro-
sive menstruums can separate any thing from them.
Some kinds of gravel become adhesive, on the
addition of water, owing to a mixture of clay, as
already observed ; and on drying them they become
very hard : which circumstances can be applied only
to the above mortar.
Sand and gravel do not conti-ibute at all to vege-
tation; neithev materially, as nourishment, nor in-
strumentally, unless by accident, by the mixture of
other earths. They indeed, render strong earths
more porous and loose.
They render spongy turf more solid ; and hence
it is, that we find that the slime left in low places,
becomes stronger by the mixture of sand, the sand
and slime uniting into a more solid earth.
They admit the air to the roots of plants ; and
they facilitate the culture of the land.
Some think that flints and stones render the
earth more fruitful, from a salt contained in them ;
but they are much mistaken. Flints and pieces of
stone may become useful, from the shade they
yield ; especially if, by rising above the surface,
they protect the plants from the heat of the sun ;
or, as water cannot enter tliem, all the rain that
falls upon them goes to the plants and their roots ;
and hence it is, that grass looks so thriving around
stones, provided there is a sufficiency of earth.
Gravel and sand become rather hurtful, by heat-
ing too much ; for stones being denser than the
earth, retain the heat longer, and are sometimes
slower in admitting the cold. They render the soil
too loose ; whence water and the richness of the
earth are soon lost, either by soaking through, or
by being evaporated : and hence they easily admit
cold to the roots of plants. Because of their hard-
ness, they attract little or no moisture, or other
matter from the atmosphere ; so that neither medi-
ately nor immediately, can they in any way contri-
bute to the nourishment of plants.
What has been above said, shows, and experi-
ence proves, that sand is usefid in wet and cold
soils ; and hence it may be concluded, that such
soils may be usefully laid on sand.
In judging of land, particular regard must be
had to the strata or layers underneath. The upper
layer is sometimes poor when there is a richer soil
beneath it ; and at other times the upper surface is
more friendly to the growth of plants, than what is
met with lower down. What has been here said of
the use, or of the advantages and disadvantages of
the several soils, must be understood only of the
upper layer considered by itself ; knowing, at the
same time, that the upper layer may be rendered
better or worse by a mixture with the lower, ac-
cording to the different qualities of each.
PLANTS INDICATING THE QUALITY OF SOILS.
BY MR. NEVIN, GARDENER TO THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND.
[The following paper upon a subject of great in-
terest, we extract from the Irish " Farmer's and
Gardener's Magazine," a spirited periodical, just
commenced in Dublin, under the superintendence of
two able editors, Martin Doyle and Edmund Mur-
phy, to whose practical and praiseworthy under-
taking we wish every success. — Editor.]
That a pretty correct estimate may be formed of
the quality of a soil from the plants growing spon-
taneously thereon, every experienced agriculturist is
ready to admit. It appears therefore a subject not
of the least importance to ascertain whether some
arrangement might not be adopted, whereby to de-
termine the proper qualities of soils, simply from
such indications. If this can be accomplished, we
have undoubtedly an additional argument for recom-
mending the study of plants botanically to the stu-
dent of agriculture. In all such cases, a scienlijic
knowledge should exist, not merely as regards the
plants used in agriculture, but also with respect to
those indigenous to the country.
Numerous indeed are the productions of the ve-
getable kingdom, and very different are the soils
and situations where they are found ; and althougli
many of the same species grow in soils of the most
opposite character, yet the qualities of soils may be
very accurately ascertained by the plants that more
especially predominate on them. An all-wise pro-
vidence has, as well in the vegetable as in the animal
PLANTS INDICATING THE QUALITY OF SOILS.
39
world, taught plants to seek the food best adapted
for their nourishment. For example — as well might
we expect the animals of the land to live in the sea,
and, vice versa, as the plants of the mountain to exist
where the floating aquatic flourishes in all the luxu-
riance of its native element.
Valuable and interesting as Sir Humphry Davy's
Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry unquestionably
are, yet wlien the ]iractical farmer reads the follow-
ing (which it may not be improper to extract), he
must feel it more a matter of fine philosophy, than
capable of being easily applied in his practice. In
describing the necessary apparatus for analyzing a
soil. Sir Humphry says, " The instruments for the
analyzing of soils, are few, and but little expensive.
They are, a balance capable of containing a quarter
of a pound of common soil, and capable of turning |
when loaded with a grain ; a set of weights from a
quarter of a pound troy to a grain; a wire sieve suf-
ficiently coarse to admit a mustard seed through its
apertures ; an Argand lamp and stand ; some glass
bottles, Hessian crucibles, porcelain, or queen's ware
evaporating basins; a wedgwood pestle and mortar;
some filtres made of half a sheet of blotting paper,
folded, so as to contain a pint of liquid, and greased
at the edges ; a bone knife ; and an ap-paratns for
collecting and measuring aeriform fluids," &c. &c.
This is all very well for the philosopher or chemist,
but for every day use it appears anything but suited
for the practical improver.
The present subject is one on which for several
years I have bestowed some attention. The follow-
ing Table is therefore submitted as the result of
these observations.
INDICATORS OF QUALITY OF SOIL.
BOTANICAL NAME.
Tussilago Farfara,
Stachys palustris,
Holcus mollis.
Ranunculus repens,
Cnicus arvensis,
Senecio Jacobea,
Chrysanth. Leucantliemum,
Plantago lanceolata,
Bromus mollis.
ENGLISH NAME.
Colt's-foot,
Clown's All-heal,
Soft Grass.
Crow-foot,
Field Thistle,
Ragwort,
Ox-eye Daisy,
Rib Grass,
Brown Grass,
Spergula arvensis,
Pteris aquilina,
Lolium perenne,
Triticum repens,
Viola tricolor,
Mentha arvensis,
Hippuris vulgaris.
Iris pseud-acorus,
Pinguicula vulgaris,
Juiicus efRisis,
Cardamine arvensis,
Orchis latifolius,
Spurry,
Brake,
Rye Grass,
Couch Grass,
Heart's Ease,
Wild Mint,
Eriopliorum angustifola,
Myrica gale.
Sphagnum palustre,
Comarum palustre,
Equisetum palustre,
Erica vulgaris.
Erica carnea, &c.
Vaccinum Myrtillus,
Empetrum nigrum,
Mare's Tail,
Yellow Iris,
Butterwort,
Soft Rush,
Lady's smock.
Orchis,
Cotton Grass,
Sweet Gale,
Bog Moss,
Cinquefoil,
Horsetail,
Common Heath,
Purple ditto,
Blackberry,
Crowberry,
Clayey.
Loamy.
Sandy.
Marshy.
Boggy.
Sandy Peat.
Retentive.
Gravelly.
Gravel and Sand.
Clayey, or Clay
and Gravel.
Loam, Clay, or
Gravel, or decom-
posed Gravel, fre-
quently at great
depth.
Sand, or Free-
stone Rock.
40
ON THE STRUCTURE AND REPRODUCTION OF PLANTS.
ON THE STRUCTURE AND REPRODUCTION OF PLANTS.
BY W. RHIND, ESQ. SURGEON.*
Vegetables are, as it were, the clothing of the
earth, without which, it would be bare, rugged,
and unseemly ; flowers, and shrubs, and trees, the
ornamental embellishments which add beauty and
splendour to the face of nature. There is a softness
and appropriateness in the subdued tinge of green
too, which is with very few exceptions the prevail-
ing colour of the vegetable kingdom, something
which is pleasing and refreshing for the eye to look
upon, without being too glaring or dazzling.
Vegetables, though not possessing the structure
and sensations of living animals, yet have a species
of vitality of which inert matter is altogether des-
titute ; they form a link, and a most important one,
between dead or unorganized substances, as rocks,
stones, &c. and animated beings.
Vegetables may be said to be almost the sole
medium by which nourishment is first extracted
from the earth, and water, and air, and so assimi-
lated, as to form the food of animals and man ; for
we believe that the great mass of living creatures,
either directly or indirectly, live on vegetable matter.
Numerous quadrupeds derive their sole support
from grasses, and many species of birds from grain
and seeds ; these become the prey of carnivorous
animals, and afford them their whole means of sub-
sistence. Fishes prey upon flies and insects, which,
either directly or indirectly derive their subsistence
from the vegetable kingdom ; and man as well as
some other animals, lives indiscriminately both on
animal and vegetable matter.
It is an important office of vegetables, therefore,
that, by their peculiar structure and functions, they
decompose the air, the water, and, in all probabi-
lity, the several salts of the earth, and recombine
these again into new substances fit for the suste-
nance of the animated kingdom.
It is to the operation of vegetation, too, that we
owe a considerable proportion of the soil which
covers the earth. A seed of a moss plant cast on
a barren rock will chng to it, and attracting mois-
ture from the atmosphere, will spring out a living
plant, produce seed, and then moulder into dust.
Others, of the same kind, spring up from its ruins,
and, feeding on the moisture and air, and the
mouldering rocks beneath, in time accumulate a cer-
tain depth of soil, which still goes on increasing,
till at last it becomes a deep bed, fit for receiving
and nourishing other species of plants, that may
be driven towards it by the agency of the winds, of
birds, or other means which nature employs for the
propagation of vegetables. In this manner, by the
accumulation of decayed plants, mingled also with
the dust of rocks and minerals, acted upon by the
sun and air, have our deepest and most fertile soils
derived their origin. We find also in peat-bogs an
accumulation of decayed moss plants, extending
sometimes to the depth of twenty or thirty feet.
Vegetables are organized substances, consisting
of a complicated structure of tubes, and air cells,
and various organs, all performing functions tend-
ing to the increase, preservation, and multiplication
of the several species. They may, therefore, be
looked upon as possessing a living principle ; and
though they have not sensations like animals, yet
have what has been called irritability, which in
many instances, presents phenomena very similar to
those in the animal kingdom, as is exemplified in
the shrinking of the sensitive plant when touched by
the hand, the moving of the tendrils of plants to-
wards the light and air, and the twining of many
plants round other neighbouring substances for sup-
port.
Plants consist of a stem, with roots passing into
the earth, of leaves, and of blossoms, or flowers,
for the production of seeds. Throughout the stem
and roots there is in most plants a series of tubes
and air vessels, by which the sap passes from the
soil up through the plant, and, combining with the
vital air of the atmosphere, through the medium of
the leaves, is elaborated into nourishment for the
growth and development of its several parts. The
outer bark of the plant consists of a thin membrane,
somewhat like the skin of animals, and serves a
similar purpose, to protect the parts beneath from
the air and all external injury, serving also for the
exhalation and absorption of moisture. Immedi-
ately under this skin is a soft pulpy structure, con-
sisting of innumerable cells, being of a green colour
in almost all vegetables. Of this kind of structure
too, the leaves of plants are composed. Under this
cellular substance we find in woody plants the true
bark, or liber, composed of numerous fibres run-
ning in a longitudinal direction, and having the
appearance when slightly macerated, of a fine net
work. In this portion of the bark the peculiar vir-
tues of plants principally are found ; such as those
characterising gums, resins, cinnamon, essential oils,
the astringent matter of the oak, &c. The wood
is found immediately under this, in circle within
From " Studies in Nutaral History."
ON THE STRUCTURE AND REPRODUCTION OF PLANTS.
41
circle, extending to the heart or pith, which is
situated in the centre. The outer circle of wood
next the bark is softer and whiter than those in the
centre ; and as a circle is formed each year, the
number in a tranverse section near the root denotes
the age of the tree.
Throughout the woody fibres, but especially the
outer circles, there are numerous sap vessels, ex-
tending in a longitudinal direction, and mixed with
these many cells, generally of a hexagonal shape.
The pith is situated in the centre ; and in young
growing plants is large and juicy ; but in older ones
it becomes small, and light and cellular.
Its proper use is not exactly ascertained. Some
are of opinion that it is essential to the plant, in or-
der that it may throw offshoots and branches; others,
for supplying moisture to the leaves, when there
is an excess of perspiration. In few herbaceous plants
is there any pith ; the proportion of cellular substance
in these stems is greater than in those of woody plants;
and there is rarely any appearance of concentric
circles in a transverse section.
The leaves of plants are most important appen-
dages and may be compared in some degree to the
lungs of animals. Plants will not thrive if deprived
entirely of their leaves, or if these have not free ac-
cess to the air. The juices of plants, while circu-
lating through the minute vessels of the leaves, un-
dergo a change very important in their own economy,
and by which the purity of the atmosphere is most
materially affected. The leaves also absorb and
give out moisture, as the economy of the plant re-
quires. In spring, when after a season of torpidity,
the regulating powers of vegetables are called into
activity, the sap, extracted from the soil by the fi-
brous roots, mounts up through the vessels of the
plant with surprising force and impetus. After
undergoing a change in the leaves, it descends
through the plant, and gives out to the various
parts, the peculiar substances which enter into their
formation, and which form the distinctive qualities
of the particular plant. During the day, and in the
sunshine, plants absorb the carbon and azote of the
atmosphere, and give out or set at liberty, the
oxygen or vital principle ; but it is found that dur-
ing the night this process is reversed, carbonic acid
being given out, and oxygen absorbed.
Light, as well as air, is essential to the proper
growth of vegetables ; for almost all plants growing
in the dark are of a pale sickly aspect, altogether
devoid of colour, which may be seen every day in
potatoes vegetating in dark cellars ; it is singular,
also, that if the least ray of light streams in through
a small aperture, the shoots of these potatoes will
be found directed to it, and spreading out to meet
the light, as it were by a sort of instinctive impulse.
The roots of many plants consist of a covering
of bark and a fibrous structure, similar, in a great
measure, to the stems. The office of the roots is to
absorb the juices from the soil. That water forms
a considerable part of the food of plants is extremely
probable ; but that other ingredients of the soil,
such as the saline parts, extractive matter, &c. en-
ters into their composition, is also pretty evident.
Some botanists have doubted whether plants derive
any part of their nourishment from the earth, main-
taining that they grow by the decomposition of air
and water alone ; but, besides many proofs by direct
experiment to the contrary, we think it is evident
that they do derive much of their substance from
earth, from the circumstance that many animals
purely graminivorous, not even requirin-r water, as
rabbits, sheep, &c. have phosphate and carbonate
of lime in the composition of their bones, which, as
far as we know, could only be afforded by vege-
tables assimilating such matters from the soil.
It is found, however, that pure earths alone will
not answer the purposes of vegetation, the various
salts and extractive vegetable matter beino- useful
either as stimulants, or as entering directly into their
formation. This is the reason that manure is so
essential for the ground, and that its annual renewal
is necessary, if full and luxuriant vegetation is ex-
pected. When one kind of vegetable is planted
successively on the same soil too, it exhausts it by
extracting the particular substances which enter
most abundantly into its composition ; and hence the
annual change of crops, which farmers know so well
to be necessary.
Nothing more beautifidly demonstrates that na-
ture, through all her works, proceeds on a imi-
formity of plan and design, than the fact, that plants
as well as animals are possessed of organs necessary
to accomplish the great end of nature, — the re-pro-
duction and continuation of their species. The pistil
which occupies the centre of the flower, is designed to
produce the seeds ; while the stamens of the plant con-
tain a peculiar substance necessary for fertilizing
them, without which substance coming in contact
with the pistil, the seeds are incapable of re-pro-
ducing the plant.
Although Linnseus did not make this discovery,
it is to him we owe its complete elucidation.
From remote antiquity, the importance of these
organs, in perfecting the seed, has been known ; but
it was not untill 730 that Linnseus established a fact
so long in dispute, and proved the stamens and pis-
tils to be essential to every plant.
A plant may want its leaves, and blossom : but
these organs must be present. An example of this
is found in the common mare's tail of our ditches.
Here a stamen and pistil present themselves, but
no corolla, and scarcely any vestiges of calyx or
flower-cup. In most animals these organs are se-
])arate, there being a distinct male and female crea-
ture ; while in the majority of the more highly or-
MAGAZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL. II, NO. XII. — MARCH, 1834.
42
MANAGEMENT OF CUCUMBERS.
ganized vegetables they arc united in one flower,
altliougii numerous examples are not wanting of a
different arrangement, as the hazel, oak, Ijireli, &c.
We find some flowers having stamens, and others
pistils ; while, in another division, the stamens and
pistils are on different individuals. Of this the wil-
low is a familiar example. The date- tree fur-
nishes another : and at a very early period the
Greeks discovered that, in order to have abundant
fruit, it was necessary to plant male and female trees
together.
MANAGEMENT OF CUCUMBERS.*
The cultivation of the cucumber, at an early period
of the year, is attended with considerable risk and
difficulty, especially when grown on dung beds, as
the steam and moisture, arising from the dung, are
very liable to damp and injure the plants ; parti-
cularly when the weather continues, for any length
of time, in such an unfavourable state as to prevent
a free circulation of air being admitted into the
frame.
Wiien this fruit is wanted at an early period, the
seed should be sown the latter end of November,
or beginning of December. Previous to sowing it,
there should be a one or two-light box or pit i)re-
pared, in thickness of not less than four to five feet,
of well concocted dung, or leaves and dung well
mixed ; these ingredients should be two or three
times turned together previous to using, and allowed
to ferment for al)out three weeks before it is made
up into a bed, wiiich will then become sweetened,
and will retain the heat much longer than if made
up in a recent state. When the bed is composed to
the de])th above specified, the lights should be kept
close siuit up two or three days, to assist in draw-
ing up the heat, which will soon arise, when plenty
of air nuist be admitted, to allow the rank effluvia
from the bed to pass away. As soon as the violent
heat has subsided, the bed may be moidded over to
the depth of three or four inches, and the seed sown
in pots from four to five inches diameter, and
plunged in the moidd half way to the rims.
In the course of a few days after the seeds are
sown, the cotyledons of the plants will begin to
make their appearance ; and wlien these are fully
expanded, and the plants about two inches high, it
will be time to remove them into other pots ; by
placing three plants in each, and giving a gentle
watering, with water of the temperature of the bed,
to settle the soil about the roots.
Much care and attention are required at this cri-
tical season, to prevent the plants from damping off;
and tiie linings round the beds will require frequent
turnings, and additions of fresh dung, to prevent the
heat from declining, whicli would otherwise soon
become not of a sullicient warmth for the plants.
The fruiting bed should also be got in readiness,
and made according to the directions above-men-
tioned, at this wintry period of the year.
It is very desirable to have a strong body of the
fermenting materials together, for the purpose of
kee])ing up a good heat throughout the severest
months ; but as the season gets advanced, the beds
may be prepared of less thickness than that speci-
fied. When the first or second rougli leaf makes
its appearance on the seedling plant, it will be time
to begin to pre])are and mould the beds upon which
they are destined to produce their fruit. The soil
should be collected under each light to the depth
of twelve inches, and formed into round hills ; the
top of which should be kept, at the first formation,
pretty near the glass, as they will be sure to sub-
side. The mould in which the cucumber will grow
freely and produce fruit, is one half of maiden loam,
one fourth leaf mould, and one fourth of decom-
posed good stable dung ; which ingredients should
be well incorporated together previous to using, and
spread over the surface of the bed for a few days,
before gathered into hills for the reception of the
plants. As soon as the mould is in a warm and
congenial state, the plants may be removed from
the seed-Dcd and committed to their final situation,
placing three plants in each hill ; they should like-
wise have a little water to settle the soil about their
tender fibres, which should be given of the same
temperature as the atmosphere of the frame, as
water, at this season, without the cold air being
taken off, would chill and injure the plants.
During the winter months, the cucumber requires
a higher temperature for its preservation, than even
the pine apple ; consequently the atmosphere in
the cucumber frames should not be allowed to fall
under seventy degrees, and should be permitted to
get as high as eighty or eighty-five degrees l)y sun-
heat. The external dung linings will require to be
frequently turned, and fresh dung added to renew
the heat.
Air should likewise be admitted at all favourable
opportunities; in short, even in the most severe
weather, a little ought to be given daily, which will
encrease the vigour and health of the plants, as no-
thing is more pernicious to their growth, than being
shut up for any contimu'd time without it. When
the dung that is applied to the exterior of the pits
is in a rank state, it will sometimes apjjcar neces-
sary to leave the lights a little tilted behind during
the night, so as to allow the steam that may collect
in the frame to pass away. The ends of the mats
must, however, be lapped over the apertures thus
left, otherwise the frosty winds will be liable to in-
•Fvom " Foi-bes'a Ilovuis Grnmineus Woburnensis." The Editor takes this opportunity also of mentioning that he was wrong in
attributing the Salictum Wobuni. to Mr. Sinclair, it being the work of Mr. Forbes.
ON APPROACH IN LANDSCAPE GARDENING.
43
jure the plants. When the weather is very severe,
the beds, or pits should be covered early in the
afternoon, with two or three tiers of mats, and not
uncovered before nine o'clock in the morning.
When the fruit blossoms begin to make their ap-
pearance, it will be necessary to assist nature at an
early period of the year, by taking off the male
flower, and inserting its anthers into the fertile
blossoms when it is fidly expanded, as the limited
admission of air that is given, in the winter season,
is not sufficient for the dispersion of the pollen for
impregnation, without which the fruit will not
swell ; but at a more advanced period of the year,
the current of air, and the bees that generally
frequent the cucumber and melon bed, are the best
and most natural sources of fertilization. As the
plants advance in.growtli, they should be regularly
pegged down to the surface of the bed ; also gra-
dually adding mould to their hills, until the entire
bed is covered over to the depth of a foot or four-
teen inches. Occasional waterings will be re-
quired ; but care must be taken not to give them in
such quantities as will sour and saturate the soil.
The dung linings which surround the bed, will
also require to be frequently attended to, and re-
newed, in order to keep up the requisite degree of
heat amongst the plants.
Should there have been a favourable portion of
sun throughout the month of February, the plants
will then be shewing fruit, and will be fit for cut-
ting by the beginning or middle of the ensuing
month. When a large supply of this fruit is want-
ed, a succession of crops will require to be kept up,
by ridging out young plants every month or six
weeks, till June, when the plants put out on the
ridges, for prickly cucumbers, will keep up a sup-
ply till they are destroyed by the frost.
The plants in the frames will require to be looked
often over in the course of the season, and thinned
out by removing such superfluous and decayed
shoots as may appear ; they will also require large
supplies of water throughout the summer months ;
by all which processes they may be kept in a
productive state for eight or nine months in the
year.
Cucumbers may be also successfully grown and
brought to perfection in the winter months, on the
back flue or front cm'b of a pine stove, or in any other
compartments in which the temperature is kept
from sixty-eight to seventy, or seventy-five de-
grees ; and when the plants can be placed so as to
receive the full benefit of the sun and light in the
gloomy months. The most successful cultivator
of this fruit, at an early period, that I have yet seen,
is Mr, Forrest, at Sion Gardens, who grows it in
great perfection in the winter season, and who has
got a particular sort of cucumber, that he calls the
iSion Free Bearer, which is well adapted for winter
culture, and produces fruit in great abundance in
the pine stoves, from November until the other
sorts come in, in the regular frames. The seeds of
this kind are sown in August, and nursed in small
pots until fit for planting out ; wlien the plants are
placed in boxes about two-feet long, and which
are made so as to stand on the top of the back flue
of the pine stove, where they are placed. There is
also a trellising for training them, formed over the
back part of the pine-house, where the plants are
exposed to the greatest degree of heat and light in
the house.
This method appears to be most simple and ef-
fectual for procuring a crop of cucumbers in the
winter season, that I have ever seen. It is a plan
that has been long pursued by Mr. Alton, in the
Royal Gardens, although not perhaps with the
same degree of success ; the stove in these gardens
being not so well adapted for the culture of this
plant, as those at Sion, which have also the ad-
vantage of a steam boiler, whereby the house can
be at pleasure filled with vapour, which is known
to be most conducive to the health and vigour of
the cucumber plants.
CUCUMBEKS CULTIVATED,
Lancashire Prize Fights,
White Turkey,
Green Turkey,
Superlative,
Early Short Prickly,
Sion Free Bearer,
ON APPROACH IN LANDSCAPE GARDENING.
Architecture requires symmetry ; the objects of
nature, freedom ; and the properties of the one, can-
not, with justice, be transferred to the other.
Choice, arrangement, composition, improvement,
and preservation, are so many symptoms of art,
which may occasionally appear in several parts of
a garden, but ought to be displayed, without re-
serve, near the house ; nothing there should seem
neglected ; it is a scene of the most cultivated na-
ture ; it ought to be enriched ; it ought to be
adorned ; and design may be avowed in tlie plan,
and expence in the execution.
Even regularity is not excluded : so capital a
structure may extend its influence beyond its walls;
but this power should be exercised only over its im-
mediate appendages ; the platform upon which the
house stands, is generally continued to a certain
breadth on every side ; and whether it be pavement
or gravel, may undoubtedly coincide with the shape
of the building. The road which leads up to the
door may go off from it in an equal angle, so that
the two sides shall exactly correspond ; and certain
ornaments, though detached, are yet rather within
the province of architecture, than of gardening ;
G 2
44
ON THE HEAT OF VEGETABLES.
works of sculpture are not, like buildings, objects
familiar in scenes of cultivated nature ; but vases,
statues, and termini, are usual appendages to a con-
siderable edifice ; as such they may attend the man-
sion and trespass a little upon the garden, provided
they are not carried so far into it as to lose their
connection with the structure. The platform and
the road are also appertenances to the house ; all
these may, therefore, be adapted to its form ; and
the environs will thereby acquire a degree of regu-
larity ; but to give it to the object of nature, only
on account of their proximity to others which are
calculated to receive it, is, at the best, a refinement.
Upon the same jirinciples, regularity has been re-
quired in the approach ; and an additional reason
has been assigned for it, that the idea of a seat is
thereby extended to a distance ; but that may be
done by other means than by an avenue ; a private
road easily known ; if carried through grounds, or
a park, it is conunonly very apparent ; even in a
lane, here and there a bench, a pointed gate, a small
plantation, or any other little ornament, will suffi-
ciently denote it ; if the entrance only be marked,
simple preservation will retain the impression along
the whole progress ; or the road may wind through
several scenes distinguished by objects, or by an ex-
traordinary degree of cultivation ; and then the
length of the way, and the variety of improvements
through which it is conducted, may extend the ap-
pearance of domain, and the idea of a seat, beyond
the reach of any direct avenue.
An avenue being confined to one termination, and
excluding every view on the sides, has a tedious
sameness throughout ; to be great, it must be dull ;
and the object to which it is appropriated, is, after
all, seldom shewn to advantage. Buildings, in gene-
ral, do not appear so large, and are not so beauti-
ful, when looked at in front, as when they are seen
from an angular station, which commands two sides
at once, and throws them both into perspective : but
a winding lateral approach is free from these objec-
tions ; it may besides be brought up to the house
without disturbing any of the views from it ; but an
avenue cuts the scenery directly in two, and reduces
all the prospect to a narrow vista. A mere line of
perspective, be the extent what it may, will seldom
compensate for the loss of that space which it
divides, and of the parts which it conceals.
ON THE HEAT OF VEGETABLES.
BY SIR HENRY STEUART, BART. LL.D. F.R.S.,
&C.
It has been doubted by some phytologists, whether
trees generate heat. I believe it is certain, that frosts
of very extraordinary severity will destroy trees.
The nonconducting property of wood, may, in some
measure, protect the juices ; but their chemical
composition is such, that they do not congeal, unless
the cold be of the severest sort and many points be-
low the freezing point of water. In weather so
hard as to occasion the juices to freeze, the wood,
in the act of congelation, is violently rent asunder.
But in the more common destruction of woody
plants, it is not so much the degree of cold that kills
them, as the too sudden reapplication of heat.
The ingenious Hassenfrats, to whom the chemi-
cal world is under some obligations, held, that
vegetables are not fed by carbonic acid. In a me-
moir on the nourishment of vegetables, read in 1792
to the Royal Academy of Paris, having shown, as
he conceived, that water and air are insufficient for
all the purposes of vegetation, he attempted in a
second ingenious paper to prove, that carbonic acid
gas is not decomposed and digested in the organs
of growing vegetables, and that they cannot be fed
by it ; because oxygen, escaping from combination
in the decomposition of carbonic acid, and water
escaping in vapour in the state of gas, would absorb
caloric, and produce cold ; whereas by the experi-
ments of the late John Hunterjliving vegetables con-
tain a degree of heat greater than that of the sur-
rounding atmosphere. The reason of this differ-
ence in opinion between these two accurate en-
quirers may possibly be, that Hunter's experiments
were made only in the autumn, the winter, and early
in the spring, when the activity of vegetation was
suspended, which does not seem to have been the
case respecting those of Hassenfrats.
It appears, however, that both Riichert and Se-
nebier ascertained, that vegetables do decompose
carbonic acid, retaining the carbon, and emitting the
oxygen. Dr. Woodward made many experiments
with plants of mint growing in water ; and found
that a plant, in water from the Thames, which must
certainly have contained a large share of carbonic
acid, encreased considerably more in weight, than a
plant growing in pure water. Schoppet, who ex-
amined the temperature of growing trees in New
York, found, that from November to April, when
the bulb of a thermometer was put into a hole made
in a tree, the mercury rose higher than in the open
air. And Ingenhoutz found, that a piece of green
paper hung on a tree, in a warm summer's day, felt
sensibly warmer than the leaves. Hunter, likewise,
who was fond of trees, used to keep thermometers
in them for months together, and obtained similar
results. The subject is curious, and is the more de-
serving of the planter's investigation, that the state
of the bark, and its power, when thick and indu-
rated, to protect the sap-vessels, are so intimately
connected with all facts, that tend to illustrate the
subject.
ON THE STING OF THE NETTLE.
45
ON THE EVAPORATION OF PLANTS.
BY KURT SPRENGEL, OF BERLIN.
In the parched deserts of Africa, where the quan-
tity of rain in a century rises scarcely to the height
of an inch, the most juicy plants are often found to
grow to an astonishing height. They can only be
nourished by means of their surfaces. In hot-
houses, too, we never attain a brisk growth so much
by watering the roots of the plants, as by an artifi-
cial wetting and sprinkling of the plants from above.
Evident as all this is, it is still a difficult matter to ex-
plain this absorption, upon common principles,
through the closed sides of the cells. We might
indeed ascribe this effect to the under surface of the
leaves, on which principally the slits are seen ; but
as dew and rain much more frequently fall than as-
cend, we cannot avoid confining this absorption of
the vapours and fluid drops, to tlie upper surface,
on which supposition, we are again forced to betake
ourselves to an organic perspiration.
The evaporation of leaves, is one of the most ob-
vious and important of their functions. No person
can deny it, who has noticed the dropsof clear mois-
ture on the points of leaves even in hot-houses,
where they cannot be affected by the dew ; or who
has traced the movement of a mist in a still even-
ing, as it raises itself from fields planted with vege-
tables ; or who has seen the rising of clouds from
forests, and the ascent of vapoury colunms from the
same places before the formation of a storm. In
fact, plants lose, by evaporation from their leaves,
the greatest part of the moisture which they take in by
their roots. The proportion of the water absorbed, to
that lost by evaporation, is as fifteen to thirteen,
seldom as four to one. It is hence that a branch
without leaves, when it has been placed in water,
becomes heavier than one in a state of frondescense,
because it wants the organs through which it may
rid itself of its superfluous nourishment. The
organs which are chiefly employed in evaporation.
are the slits, and also the hairs, which latter organs
are, therefore, more abundant in young shoots, and
in those parts whose evaporation is most active.
Evaporation has an essential influence on the
economy of the plants themselves, and on the whole
economy of nature. The activity by which the
plant empties itself of its superfluous matters,
operates as an incitement to the other functions,
and a plant is, in truth, the more healthy, the more
freely it evaporates. Yet there may be an excess
in this also, especially, when not only unformed
juice, but the prepared and proper s'ap is given off.
The evaporation of leaves has a great influence
on the general economy of nature. As in the tran-
sition from the form of drops to that of vapour, a
greater portion of heat is consumed, the quicker
this transition takes place ; we find, in this fact, a
principal cause of the low temperature which the
juice of living plants exhibits, even during the great-
est summer heat. Nay, the shade of a leafy tree
will always afford a greater coolness to sentient ani-
mals, than the shade of lifeless objects.
The influence which the evaporation of leaves
has upon the whole atmosphere, as well as upon the
earth and its waters, produces very extensive effects.
Forest regions are not only cooler, but also more
productive of rain, than steppes and sandy deserts,
where vegetation is entirely wanting. All the
streams of the world have their sources in mountain
chains covered with woods ; and although the melted
snow is their immediate cause, they would neither
continue to be poured along, nor grow to a river,
unless forests and woods, by their evaporation, in-
cessantly afforded the necessary stores of water.
The largest rivers in the world flow in South
America, in Upper India, and in Northern Asia,
through forests of immeasurable extent.
STING OF THE NETTLE,
BY PROFESSOR DRUMMOND, OF BELFAST, f
Three species of nettle are natives of Great
Britain ; the Roman nettle, the common nettle, and
the small. The first is limited to certain situations,
but the other two are found almost everywhere.
The common or large nettle is known by grievous
experience to every one, though perhaps you have
never yet enquired whence the pain arises from touch-
ing it. You have often been pricked with a pin or
needle ; but you \vi\l recollect that the pain suc-
ceeding that injury is very different from what fol-
lows the stinging of a nettle. Now, the wound
made by either of these, is, perhaps, twenty times
* From the German.
f From his " Letters."
46
HARMONIES OF COLOUR AND FORM IN PLANTS.
larger than that made by the sting , so that in the
operation of the latter there must be something
more than the mere extent of the wound to account
for the greater pain which is produced. In fact,
it is a process altogether analogous to the stinging
of a bee, or the bite of a venomous serpent. The
sting is not like a pin or needle, solid throughout,
but is hollow in the centre, and perforated at the
point ; and when touched, it is not only sharp
enough to pierce the skin, but also is so constructed
as to inject a particle of poisonous fluid into the
wound it makes, and that is the source of the pain
which follows. The wound itself is so minute, it
would scarcely be felt, but the poison irritates, in-
flames, and causes the well-known pain alluded to.
The poison fang of the serpent is, in some re-
spects, difl^erent from the sling of the nettle.
There is a gland on the cheek which secrets or
forms the poison, and this is conveyed by a duct,
and discharged into a bag, which serves as a reser-
voir. With this reservoir the base of the fang is
connected in such a way, that, when the point of
the fang presses against an object, the resistance
pushes its root into the poisonous fluid, and this, of
course, passes into the cavity of the fang, and is
ejected from its aperture, which is a slit at some
distance liehind the point.
Were it not for this poison, the bite of a serpent
would only cause a simple punctured wound ; but
by the contrivance mentioned, it produces death in
a very little time, even in the largest animal which
the serpent will attack. Let us not pass over this
subject without a little reflection. It offers us a
striking example how the Almighty can turn sim-
plest circumstances into the most important. Only
a small number of the serpent tribe are armed with
the poison apparatus ; the rest have simple teeth,
and take their prey by suddenly twisting round its
throat and strangling it. The poisonous serpent,
on the other hand, merely gives its bite, and then
watches the animal bitten, till it falls dead.
We have the dreadful venom of the serpent ela-
borated from its blood by a small gland placed upon
the cheek, and to analogous process we are to refer
the poison which produces the stinging pain of the
nettle. Heat plant, the small species of which
(Artica lireas) stings the most severely, is covered
all over with hairs ; but by using a microscope, or
a magnifying glass, you may perceive that these are
not all of one kind ; some being perforated, which
are the stings, while others are not. Each sting
stands upon a pedestal, and this pedestal performs
the office both of gland and poison bag. It is cel-
lular and spongy within ; the sting is placed on its
top, and may be moved by a slight pressure to
either side, or round in a circle ; it seems to stand,
as it were, on a universal joint. When a body
touches its point, the base is pressed down into the
spongy pedestal, and the poisonous fluid rushes up
through the tubes of the sting, and flows out of the
terminal apertures.
HARMONIES OF COLOUR AND FORM IN PLANTS,
BY T. CASTLES, M.D., F.L.S.*
Nature, in the creation of the universe, has very
beautifully moderated the influence of colour. To
the firmament, she has given a beautiful azure tint;
to the earth itself, a variety of shades, all more or
less harmonizing with the blue on high, and the
agreeable green of plants. If she had given to
plants a yellowish hue, they would have been con-
founded with the soil; and if she had dyed them
blue, they would have been confounded with the
sky and waters. In the first case, all would have
appeared earth, in the second, all would have been
sea ; but their verdure forms the most delightful
contrast between them and the grounds of the
grand picture, as well as consonances highly agree-
able with the yellow colour of the earth, and with
the azure of the heavens.
In giving to vegetable productions a green shade,
though only one single colour is employed, there
are certain tints which appear to be given accord-
ing to the situation or circumstances under which a
plant may grow. Those that are destined to grow
immediately on the earth, on strands, or on dusky
rocks, are entirely green, leaves and stem : as the
greater part of reeds, grasses, mosses, taper-trees,
and aloes ; such, on the contrary, as are intended
to issue from amidst herbage, have stems of a
brownish hue, like the trunks of most trees and
shrubs. The elder, for example, which thrives in
the midst of green turf, has the stem of an ash-
grey ; but the dwarf elder, which otherwise resem-
bles it in every respect, and grows immediately on
the ground, has the stem quite green.
Not only the green of the plant is given to har-
monize with other objects, but even the flower and
fruit have their shades apparently proportioned ac-
cordingly.
It seems correct that the blue colour is not to be
found in the flowers or in the fruits of lofty trees,
for, in that case, they would assimilate with the
sky ; but is very common on the ground in the
» From his Introduction.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
47
flowers of herbs: as in the corn-bottle, the icabiosa,
the violet, the liver-wort, and others. On the con-
trary, the colour of the earth is very common in
the fruits of lofty trees: as in those of the walnut,
the cocoa, the pine, and so on.
In the form of flowers, the most perfect speci-
mens of harmony might be selected, which would
faithfully shew, that even in pleasing the sight, the
greater object of utility is combined, if not in-
creased.
This is very sweetly shown in the structure of
compound flowers, particularly such as the sun-
flower and daisy. What would these flowers be in
appearance, without their radii? Yet are the radi-
ated petals of the circumference, not only given to
complete a pleasing harmony of sight to the tubu-
lar florets of the centre, but they answer as impor-
tant purpose of moderating the influence of heat,
&c. thus is the double object of utility and beauty
combined.
Another point productive of some very pleasing
deductions, is founded on the harmonies from con-
trast. Plants opposite in nature, are almost always
associated.
'J luis round the faded trunks of trees, twines the
creeping ivy, or the great convolvulus, compensa-
ting the apparent want of blossom. The fir rises
in the forests of the north, like a lofty pyramid, of a
dark green colour, and with motionless attitude.
Near this tree, you almost always find the birch,
which grows to the same height in the form of an
inverted pyramid, of a lively green, and whose
moveable foliage is incessantly playing with every
breath of wind. The reed, on the banks of rivers,
raises erect into the air its radiated leaves, and its
embroidered stems, while the nymptasa spreads at
its feet its broad heart-shaped leaves, and its gold
coloured flower ; the dark blue violet is contrasted
in the spring with the yellow tints of the cowslip
and the primrose. On the herbaged angles of the
rock, the fungus, white and round, rises from
amidst beds of moss of the most beautiful green.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
TRYPETHELIUM SPRENGELII, ACH.
T. Sprengelii, Ach. Liin- J^Ieth. Lick. p. 18. t. iv /. 8,9.— Fee,
Meth. JLich., p. 24, t. 1, f. IS. Ejmd. Essai Cryp ccore exot.
qffic , p. 6b. tab. xix.f. 1 — Spreng., Sgst. Vegetab., iv, 1, p.
348.
T. Eleutherise, Spreng., Anlist A nlest zu kent. dev Gervasch.,
etc. 3, th., p. 350, t. x./. 95.
Thallo (crusta) fulvo-flavescente, effuso, Isevi.
Apotheciis (verrucis) tierinsphsericis, glabris, subnitentibus
I'usco-ferrugeneis ; Thalamcis (E 16) suiiglobosis ; Perithecro
crasso, ater-rimo, nuclee albido ; Sarcothecio fulvo.
Habitat in America ad corticem Crotonis CascarillEe, nee non in
Peruvia ad corticera BonplandiEe trinoliatfe, /co77. tab. xx.Jig.
1, A, magnitudine natural! ; B, fragmentum auctiim : C, apo-
therium liorizontaliter sectum ; D, theca ; E, gongylus.
This plant abounds on the bark of several trees in
Peru, St. Domingo, and Guadaloupe, and pro-
ably in many other localities.
PHLOMIS LYCHNITIS.
Didynamia Gymnospermia, Linn. ; Labiatoe, JussiEU.
Calyx angulatuz ; corollse labium superius incumbens, compres-
sum, villosum.
Phlomis Lychnitis, foliis lanceolatis tomentosis, floralibus ovatis,
involucris Setaceis lunatis.
Sp. PI. 819 Reich. 3 p. 70. MUl. Ic. 204. Mart. Mill. Diet. n.
f>. Unit. Kew, 2. p. 308.
Phlomis Lychnitis. Clu. Hisp. 379. Hist. 2. 27. Tourn. Inst
178. Pena in Hist. Lvgd.. K03. Ed. Gallic. 2. p. Wi.
Ti'Assa. Arrag. n. 536. Gh. Prov. 264 2, Villars Dauph. 2
p. 393. QjieT. Flor. Espan. v. 6. p. 95. Allioni Ft. Ped. 12l'
IVilld. Sp. PL 3. p 119. Brot. Flor. Luset. v. J. p. 166.
P'.ilomis foliis legalatis utrinque tomentosis, radiis involucri
setaceis villosis. Suav. Mosp. 143.
Verbascum angustis Salviae foliis. Baugh Pin. 240. Ger. emac.
767. Rail Hist. 511.
Verbascum sylvestre foliis salvias tenuifolise. Lob. Ic. 558.y. 1.
et 2. advers. p. 241.
Verbascum sylvestre monspeliense, flore luteo triante. J. Baugh.
Hist 3. p. 307, quoad descriptionem.
Stadrys prselongo angustoque folio, flore luteo. Barrel, Ic. 1321.
Salvia fruticosa lutea angustifolia. Park. Theat. 51. y. 10.
Among the figures above quoted, those of Clusius
and Pena, Barrelier and Philip Miller, are the only
original ones. Of these, that of Pena expresses
the habit of the plant the best, but was taken after
the flowers had dropped off"; in which state the spe-
cimens in herbariums are often found. Perhaps it
was this circumstance that misled Linnaeus when
he describes the corolla " as scarcely larger than
the calyx."
It is a native of the south parts of France, Spain,
and Portugal ; growing chiefly on dry gravelly hills ;
is said to be particularly abundant about Mont-
pelier, and in similar soils in other parts of Lan-
guedoc.
It owes its specific title of Lychnitis, as well as
its Spanish name Candelero, to the use to which
the long slender radical leaves are apjjlied, as wicks
for lamps ; which purpose they are said to answer
very well, even in their recent state.
It was cultivated by Miller, in the Physic Gar-
den at Chelsea, in 1731, but may be considered
with us as a very rare plant. It is generally treated
as a green-house shrub ; but in a sheltered situation
and dry gravelly soil, it would probably do much
better in the open air. It flowers in July.
48
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
IRIS LURIDA.
Triandiia Monogynia, Linn ; Iridea;, JussiEU.
Calyx, sheaths bivalve, separating the flowers, permanent.
Corolla six parted. Petals oblong, blunt; the three exterior
ones reflexed; the three interior upright and sharper; all con-
nected at tlie claws into a tube of different lengths in the dif-
ferent species. Stamens, Filaments three, awl-shaped, incum-
bent on the reflex petals. Anthers oblong, straight, depressed
Pistils with the seed organ, inferior, oblong, style simple, very
short ; summits three, petal form, oblong, reeled within, fur-
rowed without ; incumbent on the stamens, two lipped. Outer
lip smaller, and notched ; inner larger, forked and sabinflected.
Capsule oblong, cornered, three-celled, three-yalved.
Seeds several large.
The nectary in some (1. 9.) is a longitudinal villose line, engraven
on the base of the reflex petals ; but in others it consists of
three melliferous pores at the base of the flower. The cap-
sule in some is trigonal, in others hexagonal.
ItIs lurida.
Ait. Hort. Keto 1, 68.
Bearded, stem higher than the leaves, and many
flowered, outer petals ri volute, inner from erect
bent in, somewhat waved and slightly eniarginate.
ALOE LINGUA VAR. A
Hexandria Monogynia. LiNN; Hemerocallidiae, JussiEU.
Alee lingua ; acanlis, curviflora, foliis distochis, base imbricate,
conduplicantibus, lingua; formibus, punctnlis instar aranefe
cuticuire pnimatis, variegatis, corolla subampallacea, laciniis
breviter coalitis.
Aloe Africana flore rubro, folio maculisub utraque parte notato.
Knorr. Thes. Rhei. Herb. v. 3 A. t. 14. Camm. Hort Amst. 2.
15. <.8.
Aloe Africana raaculata flore rubro, secund species. IVernm.
Phys. Icorit. 57
Aloe africana foliis linguam vitulinam exprimentibus. Sabbat.
Hort. Rom. 6 t. 71.
(Aloe a hngua di vitello). (E) foliis latioribus obscurius varie-
gatis. G.
Aloe obliqua. Jucq. Hort. Schcenb. 4. t.
Aloe nigricans. Haworth. Linn. Trans. 7. 13.
This plant grows with its leaves, near the ground.
These are about six inches in length. The flowers
are in slender and loose spikes, each hanging down-
wards, of a red colour at bottom and green at top.
BIGNONIA VENUSTA.
Didynamia Angiosiiermia, Linn ; Bignoniae, JussiEU.
Calyx 5-fidus, cyaithforniis ; corolla, fauce campanulata, 5-fida,
sobtus ventricosa ; Siliqua 2-)ocularis ; semina, membranaceo-
alata.
Bignonia yenusta scandens ; foliis glabris, infesiorbus ternatis
ecirrhosis, superioribus conjugatis cirrhosis, foliolis oblongo-
ovatis acuminatis basi inoequilateri-oblignis, petiolis intri
villosis ; calyce brevi cylin drico-rotato sequaH denticnlis 5-
teretibus villosis invincem distantibus, pedimentis corymboso
— pluri-floris.
This splendid plant was received about fifteen or
twenty years ago from the Brazils, by Lady Liver-
pool, and flowered first in this country in 1818, in
the hot-house at Coombe Wood. The figure in our
plate was drawn and engraved from a specimen sent
us by Mr. Forbes of Woburn Abbey, accompanied
with the following letter :
"Woburn Abbey, Jan, 21st, 1834.
" Sir, — I herewith send you a specimen of the
Bignonia Venusla, which is at present in flower, in
the Garden of R. Trevor, Esq., Tingrith, who very
kindly sent this specimen over to me this morning,
to forward to you, should you consider it worth a
place in your Magazine. I believe it is very rare
to see this species of Bignonia in flower. This
plant is growing in a corner of the pine stove at
'J'ingrith, and the roots are nourished by the tan-
bed, and frequent waterings with liquid manure,
which induces it to grow luxuriently every year ;
and has produced this, and last year, an incon-
ceivable multitude of blossoms. The shoots are
trained along the back of the pine stove, as well as
down every rafter ; and when in flower, they have
really a magnificent appearance.
" I understand that Mr. Phillips, Mr. Trevor's
gardener, has sent specimens of it to Mr. Loudon,
lately, with the particulars, relative to his manage-
ment of it; which he informs me, is to appear in
the next Magazine. If you should notice it in your
Magazine, you will of course mention the garden
where it has been brought to such high perfec-
tion in.
" I remain, Sir, your very obedient servant,
"J. Forbes."
The following is the article by Mr. Phillips, above
alluded to: — B. Venusta appears to like free scope
for its roots. We have here two flowering plants,
which are planted in the back corners of the bark-
bed, in boxes one-foot square and five-feet deep,
formed of perforated boards, and filled with a mix-
ture of sandy loam and leaf mould. The roots have
passed out of the boxes into the decayed bark of
the bark bed, in which there is always a gentle heat,
and in which they grow and spread very freely.
We water liberally with the drainings from the
hot beds and rain water. The plants are trained
perpendicular, with a single stem, now three-inches
in girth, to the points where they touch the rafter ;
and to this point the branches, when they have
done flowering, are always cut back, while at the
same time the bark-bed is renovated, and the roots
reduced. When the grape-vines are taken out, we
lead the shoots of the bignonia along two wires close
under the rafters over the path a foot from the
grass. When the grape vines are taken out, we lead
the shoots of the bignonia down the rafters, and, in
its flowering season, it maybe said to cover the whole
house ; and it has a most splendid appearance.
In 1831-2, the B. Venusta began flowering on Oc-
tober 3 ; in 1833, two or three weeks later. It con-
tinues blossoming between three and four months,
and some of the finest specimens have upwards of
seventy flowers in a corymb. A branch introduced
into the greenhouse has flowered sparingly. Cut-
tings of the young shoots, when about 9 inches long,
will strike root freely in a hot-bed.
f ' ' If 1 llCrajttltiL.^ liycmi :i li.-: .
49
MR. WILLIAM GRIFFIN'S MODE OF CULTIVATING THE PINE-APPLE.
With respect to the most appropriate soil, Mr. Grif-
fin, very justly it would appear, laughs at those
who prescribe many different strange ingredients for
compost ; adding, that after numerous experiments
made with mixtures of deers'.sheeps', pigeons', hens',
and rotten stable-dung, with soot, and other manures,
various proportions and combinations, with fresh
soil of different qualities from pastures and waste
lands, I can venture with confidence to recommend
the following : — Procure from a pasture, or waste
land, a quantity of brown, rich, loamy earth, if of a
reddish colour the better, but of a fattish mouldy
temperature ; that by squeezing a handful of it toge-
ther, and opening your hand, it will readily fall
apart again : be cautious not to go deeper than you
find it of that pliable texture ; likewise procure, if
possible, a quantity of deers' dung : if none can be
conveniently got, sheeps' dung will do, and a quan-
tity of swines' dung. Let the above three sorts be
brought to some convenient place, and laid up in
three different heaps ridgeways, for at least six
months ; and then mix them in the following man-
ner, covering the dung with a little soil before it is
mixed ; four wheel-barrows of the above earth; one
barrow of sheeps' dung, and two barrows of swines'
dung. This composition, he adds, if carefully and
properly prepared, will answer every purpose for
the growth of pine plants of every age and kind.
It is necessary that it should remain a year before
applied to use, that it may receive the advantages of
the summer's sun and winter's frost; and it need
not be screened or sifted before using ; but only
well broken with the hands and spade, as, when
finely sifted, it becomes too compact for the roots of
the plants."
In rearing the young plants, he generally plants
the crowns in the bark till they have struck root ;
but the suckers he pots at once, unless they are small
and green at bottom, when he treats them like the
crowns. The pots he uses for both crowns and
suckers are five inches diameter, and four inches
deep, unless the suckers are very strong, when he
puts them in pots seven and a half inches deep. The
plants are shifted in the March following into pots
nine inches in diameter, by eight inches deep, turn-
ing each singly out of its present pot, with a ball of
earth around its roots, unless any appear unhealthy
or any ways defective, when it is eligible to shake
the earth from the roots, and trim off all the parts
that appear not alive. He plunges them in the bark
(refreshed as at each shifting) eighteen inches from
plant to plant in the row, and twenty inches distant
row from row.
Mr. Griffin shifts for the last time in the October
of the year preceding them in which the fruit is
expected ; the pots he uses are twelve inches in
diameter, and ten inches deep. He plunges them
in the bark-bed, about twenty inches plant from
plant, and two feet distance from row to row. He
says, " place the first row eighteen inches from the
kirb, angling them in the rows as you go on."
It is of some consequence to remark, that Griffin's
practice in not divesting the plants at any one shift-
ing of their balls of earth, differs from that of Speech-
ly, Nicol, and most other practitioners, excepting
Baldwin. It appears highly probable, that by not
disturbing the balls of healthy plants, they will pro-
duce their fruit both earlier and of a larger size ; for
the cutting off the roots must produce a check in
the growth of the plant, and their renewal must
occupy its chief energies for some time, and thus
lessen the vigour of the leaves ; since the leaves and
roots of all plants assist each other alternately as
occasion requires.
Those who advocate the practice of shaking off
the balls of earth, and cutting off the roots of pines
in the second year's spring shifting, say, that though,
at first sight, it has an unnatural appearance, yet, on
more minute inquiry, it will be found congenial to
nature. In the first place, they say that they only
cut aAvay the lower decaying roots, and preserveall
the others, unless they are bruised by the shaking
off the ball ; or injured by disease or otherwise. In
the next place, they state, that on attentively examin-
ing the pine-plant, it will be found, that, in its mode
of rooting, it may be classed with the strawberry,
vine, and crowfoot, which throw out fresh roots
every year, in part among, but chiefly above, the old
ones. This done, the old ones become torpid and
decay, and to cut them clear away, if it could be
done in all plants of this habit, would, it is said, be
assisting nature, and contribute to the growth of the
new roots, though it will ultimately increase the
vigour of the herb and fruit, will retard their pro-
gress to maturity.
Speechly has the following jiidicious observations
in allusion to those who recommend always shifting
with the balls entire.
" It is observable, that the pine-plant begins to
make its roots at the very bottom of the stem, and as
the plant increases in size, fresh roots are produced
from the stem, still higher and higher; and the
bottom roots die in proportion : so that, if a plant in
the greatest vigour be turned out of its pot as soon
as the fruit is cut, there will be found at the bottom
a part of the stem, several inches in length, naked,
destitute of roots, and smooth : now, according to
the above method, the whole of the roots decay and
MAG.4ZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL. II. NO XIJI. APRIL, 1834.
50
ON LANDSCAPE GARDENING;
turn mouldy, to the great detriment of those after-
wards produced."
The first ball, which remains with the plant full
two years, by length will become hard, cloddy, and
exh,iusted of its nourishment, and must, therefore,
prevent the roots afterwards produced from growing
with that freedom and vigour which they would do
in fresher and better mould.
The old ball continually remaining after the fre-
quent shiftings, it will be too large when put into
the fruiting pot to admit of a sufficient quantity of
fresh mould to support the plant till its fruit becomes
ripe, which is generally a whole year from the last
time of shifting.
In giving air and water, Mr. Griffin differs
nothing from Nicol ; he waters moderately in win-
ter, and more liberally in the growing seasons, from
March till October ; want of water to keep the plants
moist, he considers one of the reasons of their show-
ing fruit prematurely. He never waters over the
leaves in any stage, nor gives much at the roots in
damp weather.
With respect to temperature, this author differs
from most others who have written on the pine, but
not from many very successful practitioners. He
recommends 60 degrees as the heat proper for the
pine in every stsge, not exceeding five or six de-
grees over or under. The bottom heat, which he
considers proper, is from 90 to 100 degrees.
After many trials and experiments, he found the
following the most effectual wash for destroying
insects on pines.
To one gallon of soft rain water, add eight ounces
of soft green soap, one ounce of tobacco, and three
table spoonfuls of turpentine ; stir and mix them
well together in a watering pot, and let them stand
for a day or two. Wlien you are going to use this
mixture, stir and mix it well again, then strain it
through a thin cloth. If the fruit only is infected,
dash the mixture over the crown and fruit, with a
squirt, untill all is fairly wet ; and what runs do^^'n
the stem of the fruit will kill all the insects that are
amongst the bottom of the leaves. When young
plants are infested, take them out of their pots, and
shaking all the earth from their roots, (tying the
leaves of the largest plants together,) and plunge
them into the above mixture, keeping every part
covered for the space of five minutes ; then take
them out, and set them down in a clean place, with
their tops declining downwards, for the mixture to
drain out of their centre. When the plants are dry,
put them into smaller pots than before, and plunge
them into the bark bed.
Mr. Griffin's object seems to have been to pro-
duce large fruit in the proper season. \^'Tien gar-
dener to J. C. Gerardot, Esq.,at Kelham, near Not-
tingham, he cut twenty green pines, which weighed
together, 87 pounds seven oimces. In July, one of
the New Providence kind, weighing seven pounds
two ounces. In August, one of the same kind,
weighing nine pounds three ounces. And at ano-
ther time he cut 22 green pines, which weighed
together, 118 pounds three ounces.
ON ENGLISH LANDSCAPE GARDENING.
BY WASHINGTON IRVING, ESQ.
The taste of the English in the cultivation of land,
and in what is called landscape gardening is un-
rivalled. They have studied nature intently, and
discover an exquisite sense of her beautiful forms
and harmonious combinations. Those charms,
which in other countries she lavishes in wild soli-
tudes, are here assembled round the haunts of domes-
tic life. They seem to have caught her coy and
furtive graces, and spread them, like witchery,
about their rural abodes,
Nothing can be more imposing than the magni-
ficence of English park scenery: vast lawns that
extend like shofets of vivid green, with here and
there clumps of gigantic trees, heaping up rich piles
of foliage. The solemn pomp of groves and wood-
land glades, with the deer trooping in silent herds
across them ; the hare, bounding away to the covert ;
or the pheasant, suddenly bursting upon the wing.
The brook, taught to wind in the most natural
meanderings, or expand into a glassy lake — the se-
questered pool, reflecting the quivering trees, with
the yellow leaf sleeping on its bosom, and the trout
roaming fearlessly about its limpid waters : while
some rustic temple, or sylvan statue, grown green
and dank with age, gives an air of classic sanctij;y to
the seclusion.
These are but a few of the featu^res of park
scenery ; but what most delights me, is the creative
talent with which the English decorate the unosten-
tatious abodes of middle life. The rudest habitation,
the most unpromising and scanty portion of land, in
the hands of an Englishman of taste, becomes a
little paradise. With a nicely discriminating eye,
he seizes at once upon its capabilities, and pictxires
in his mind the future landscape. The sterile spot
grows into loveliness under his hand, and yet the
operations of art which produce the effect are
scarcely to be perceived. The cherishing and train-
ing of some trees ; the cautious pruning of others ;
the nice distribution of flowers and plants of tender
and graceful foliage ; the introduction of a green
slope of velvet turf; the partial opening to a peep of
blue distance, or silver gleam of water ; — all these
are managed with a delicate tact, a pervading, yet
ON ROTTED DUNG.
51
quiet assiduity, like the magic touchiiigs with which
a painter finishes up a favoui'ite picture.
The residence of people of fortune and refine-
meiit in the country has diffused a degree of taste
and elegance in rural economy that descends to the
lowest class. The very labourer, with his thatched
cottage and narrow slip of ground, attends to their
embellishment. The trim liedge, the grass plat
before the door, the little flower bed, bordered with
snug box, the woodbines trained up against the wall,
and hanging its blossoms about the lattice ; the pot
of flowers in the window, the holly providently
planted about the house, to cheat winter of its
dreariness, and throw in a semblance of green sum-
mer to cheer the fire-side. All these bespeak the
influence of taste, flowing down from high sources,
and pervading the lowest levels of the public mind.
If ever love, as poet sings, delights to visit a cottage,
it must be the cottage of an English peasant.
ON ROTTED DUNG AS A MANURE*
It is certainly an erroneous assumption to say, the
first stage of fermentation in dung, must necessarily
throw off' its valuable parts. Every dung-hill of
fresh dung throws off a gaseous exhalation, a very
short time after it is put together, and the quantity
thus thrown oft', is regulated by the state of the
atmosphere. But this exhalation does not consist of
the valuable gases ; it is a mere evaporation of the
water contained in the dung. The same hot haze
may be seen flickering over a fallow field on a svmny
day in summer. Nobody could with truth assert,
that this haze arises from the disengagement of the
gases in the dung, which had previously been inser-
ted into the soil, when it is clearly nothing more
than the evaporation of the moisture in the soil.
In Saxony, hay is made by heaping together the cut
grass, fermenting it for a short time, and afterwards
drying it in the sun : but in this process, nobody
would say that the nutritious portions of the grass
are dissipated, when it is only the superabundant
aqueous portions of the grass which are driven off' by
heat. To say, therefore, the first stage of decompo-
sition in a dung-hill throws of " the most valuable,
and the most efficient " parts of the dung, is just to
say the vapour of water is the most valuable part of
dung.
It is true, were the fermentation continued after all
the water in the dung was evaporated, a considerable
increase of temperature would ensue ; and when the
texture of the fibrous portions of the manure began
to decompose, there would be an evolution of
valuable gases. Direct experiment has proved the
escape of gases from a heap of dung which has been
long fermenting. But what harm accrues to the
dung as a manure, from the escape of these gases ?
None whatever. We are told these gases constitute
the food of plants, and if they are permitted to be
dissipated by decomposition, the quantity of nourish-
ment in the heap of manure, will of course, be so
much diminished ; that if the bulk of the dung-heap
be diminished one half, or one third, by excessive
fermentation, the quantity of nourishment to the
crops will be diminished in a greater ratio. These
cautions have long been whispered to the ears of
practical men, but they have listened to the advice
with a provoking indift'erence. Like ducklings,
when tliey first take the water, they have continued
to disregard every remonstrance of their foster
brethren against injurious practices, raising and
devouring their food, and enjoying themselves with
the greatest complacency in their vocation. It is
true, and we must admit it, that some of the gases
constitute tlie food of plants, but it does not follow
that plants would receive them as food, directly as
they are disengaged from a fermenting and heated
mass ; nay, it is probable they would rather reject the
food that would injure them. But, as plants are not
endowed with locomotive powers, they cannot avoid
the food wliich is directly presented to them ; they
will therefore be obliged to partake of it even in an
injurious state, and in thus taking it they die. Ac-
cordingly, we invariably find that plants suffer from
the contact of fermenting dung, and it is this well-
known fact, more than from any other circum-
stance, which deters farmers from applying d\mg in
an unprepared state. It is sometimes applied to the
soil, it is true, in an unprepared state, but long before
the crop is brought into contact with it, and after it
has undergone fermentation in the soil. Though
this application of dung is recommended by men of
science, it is performed from the very opposite prin-
ciple which they recommend. They recommend it,
because the gases arising while the dung is ferment-
ing, are absorbed by the soil, and are then given out
for the use of plants ; on the other hand farmers per-
form it, because the fermentation will have ceased
before the crop is inserted into the ground. Wliich
of these is the more rational reason ? 'i he practical
one undoubtedly ; for it is surely impossible that the
slight covering of earth upon the dung can prevent
the escape of the elastic gas, however it may retard
fermentation.
We may conclude from analogy, that plants like
animals, have a mode of consuming their food pecu-
liar to themselves. They may not necessarily con-
sume the food in the state we choose to prepare it for
them. All they require is, that the material which
supply their food shall be placed in the soil in the
* Quarterly Journal of Agriculture.
H 2
52
ON ROTTED DUNG.
state least injurious to them, and within their reach,
and will feed themselves. Now, what is the least
injurious state in which dung can be presented to
any crop ? Experience has always said in a " soft
cohesive mass." Recent discoveries show that
practice has always spoken in accordance with
science. Consequently, this concurrence cf science
is a tardy justification of practice.
The history of the recent discoveries alluded to,
which shew the scientific accuracy of practice in
applying dung in a rotten state is this. In 1802, the
celebrated chemist and analyst, Klaproth, received
from Palermo, a substance which exuded sponta-
neously from the bark of a species of elm. To this
substance, Dr. Thomson gave the temporary name of
ulmin. It dissolves speedily in a small quantity of
water, in which respect it is like a gum : but, when
the solution is very much concentrated by evapo-
ration, it is not the least mucilaginous or ropy, nor
does it answer as a paste. In this respect, uhnin differs
very essentially from gum. When a few drops of
nitric or oxymuriatic acid are added to the solution, it
becomes gelatinous, which, when slowly evaporated
to dryness, and treated with alcohol, and again eva-
porated, leaves a light brown, bitter and sharp resi-
nous substance. Thus, it appears that ulmin, by the
addition of a little oxygen, is converted into a resi-
nous substance. In this new state, it is insoluble in
water. This property is very singular : that a sub-
stance soluble in water should assume the resinous
form with such facility is very remarkable. Bei'-
zelius has found this curious substance in all barks ;
Bruconnot, in saw dust, starch, and sugar. But,
what is more to our present purpose, Sprengal and
Polydone Boullay have found it to constitute a
leading principle in all soils and manures. Sprengel
appropriately calls it Humin, {rom its existence in all
soils : ulmin being given to it by Dr. Thomson
several years ago as a temporary name.
Such is the histoiy of this remarkable substance,
which performs so important a function in the ac-
tion of putrescent manures, and which is found in
abundance in " the soft cohesive mass" of rotten
dung. Let us see how it operates in manures.
The chief food of plants consists of the carbonic
acid gas and humic acid mixed with water. Every
manure is therefore only valuable which contains
these substances in the greatest degree, and in such
a state as they are most easily available to plants.
Now, practice recommends the rotting of every
kind of dung, whether simple or compounded, and
the reducing it into a uniform dark brown " soft co-
hesive mass," similar in consistence to fresh peat, so
that it may be cut with the spade, because it main-
tains that dung in this state is much more valuable
to crops than fresh dung or mere litter, whatever
may have been the quantity of carbonic acid gas
which had evolved during its fermentation. Recent
discoveries have proved the wisdom of this recom-
mendation of practice, because they have proved
that rotted dung contains much more carbonic acid
gas and humic acid, weight for weight, than fresh
dung. There is, it is true, a loss of bulk in rotting
fresh dung, and of an evolution of carbonic acid gas
during its fermentation ; but the question is not
what the volume of carbonic acid gas alone is in
dung, but what is the most available state in which
the carbonic acid gas in the dung can be presented
to plants ; and this is the rotted state, because in that
state alone, it contains the humic acid in quantity.
All the black carbonaceous matter in dung-hills is
the humin ready to be converted into humic acid,
which is in fact the cooked state of the food of
plants. Moreover, practice finds that fresh dung Ls
injurious to vegetation, and recent discoveries now
inform us that this arises from the acridity of the
ammonia, which is always present in unfermented
dung. Fermentation drives off the acrid ammonia.
Fresh dung is found to injure plants by burning
them, which is a very appropriate term to describe
the action of ammonia. In like manner, stale liquid
is not so good a top-dressing to grass as fresh, or
when it is largely mixed with water; because
science now informs us, that ammonia becomes con-
centrated in stale liquid manure, and is, therefore, in
an injurious state from plants, and that it is neces-
sary to mix liquid manure largely with water, in
order to dilute the ammonia, and allow the proper
action of the humid acid, which exist in large
quantity in them. Again, it is not an uncommon
practice to cover a dung-hill with earth in hot wea-
ther, and this is now explained, not as it hitherto has
been, that the earth absorbs and prevents the escape
of the carbonic acid gas, which it could no more do
than a balloon made of gauze could prevent the es-
cape of hydrcgen gas ; but that a violent fermenta-
tion in the dung is checked by the earth partly ex-
cluding the atmospheric air and rain water, the oxy-
gen in either of which is indispensable to continue
the process, it being this oxygen which forms the
carbonic acid gas by uniting with the carbon of the
dung. The necessity of checking a violent fermenta-
tion in a dung-hill which contains a large portion of
horse dung, is to prevent it being what is technically
called "fi/refanget," a state of dung which is
useless.
In regard to composts, it is found that to mix
lime with fresh or rotten dung is to waste it, because,
as is now explained, the lime takes up and renders
useless the carbonic acid gas which they contain. In
like manner, a compost of fresh dung and weeds,
green leaves, grass, turf, and green vegetables,
without lime, is valuable, because all these sub-
stances supply abundance of humin. On the other
hand, lime promotes the fermentation of peat earth,
dry leaves, and every thing which contains hard
woody fibre, and supplies humin in quantity.
It is requisite to attend to the seasons of manuring.
ON KITCHEN GARDENING.
53
Dung, in any state, is never applied to the land in
winter ; it is best applied in spring : it is injudicious
to expose it to a hot sun in heaps ; and it is impro-
per to allow it to remain a length of time in heaps
on the field. These practices are now easily ex-
plained, and are quite in accordance with science.
In winter there are no crops in the field to which
tlie dung can be applied : in spring, on the otlier
hand, plants and seeds are ready to shoot forth into
life ; their roots are then most active to devour the
nourishment which may be placed within their
reach. To spread out rotted dung in hot weather
and let it lie, must be to suliject its component parts
to the highest degree of evaporation, and to allow it
to remain in large heaps for a time on the ground, is
to give the portions of the ground which are covered
by the heaps an undue advantage.
We thus see that science now agrees with that
practice which has been pursued for years with un-
exampled success. It is consolatory to practitioners
to think that their experience, though unknowingly
to them, has guided them to success on really scien-
tific principles. This agreement of experience and
science should teach every one that science and ex-
perience, and not science alone, ought to be made
the tests to try the accuracy of opinions. Unfortu-
nately for the credit of science, the test of accuracy
hitherto, in the application of putrescent manure,
has not been submitted to practice. It is always for
the interest of practice, however, to listen attentively
to the suggestions of science. One of these sugges-
tions as a rule to try the value of all sorts of manures,
is, that they shall be judged by the proportion of car-
bonic acid gas and humic acid they contain or may
evolve after they have been applied, and also by the
quantity of water "which they are able to take up
and retain. The rule, when confined to carbonic
acid gas and water, was supposed to lead to a cor-
rect view of the subject, independently of ascertain-
ing the proportion of humic acid. But when the
rule was confined to these substances before the dis-
covery of the importance of the humic acid, we see
the errors which even men of science fell into.
Knowing now the effects of the important principle
of humic acid, it ought to be strictly retained as a
term in the rule ; because, were the ability to retain
water alone taken as a test, bog earth, the most
sterile substance in an undecomposed state, might
be decided to be the best of all manures ; and were
the evolution of carbonic acid gas alone taken as a
test, chalk should be an excellent man\ire, and so it
would always be, could it be brought to take up and
retain enough of water to dissolve a portion of it,
which it can do by means of the humic acid. Now,
let us apply these texts to rotten dung. There can
be no question that rotten dung is very much supe-
rior in imbibing and retaining water, to what is
fresh, unfermented, or beginning to ferment. A
simple experiment can easily prove this to those
who doubt the fact. " With respect to carbonic
acid gas, humic acid, and the minor materials of the
food of plants," says a recent author, " there can be
as little doubt of the superiority of rotten dung,
which is, in fact, in a state very nearly approaching
to the best leaf mould or virgin loam, and though a
weighed quantity of fresh dung certainly will yield
more carbonic acid gas than when this same quan-
tity is allowed to ferment and rot, in consequence
of much of it being given off during these pro-
cesses, yet the weighed quantity of fresh dung will
bear no comparison in this respect with rotted dung.
The quantity of humic acid is very considerably
greater in rotted dung. Hence, in treating in future
of all putrescent manures, the very important effects
of the humic acid must never be overlooked."
ON CONVERTING A LEY FIELD INTO A KITCHEN GARDEN.
BY MARTIN DOYLE, OF BALLYORLEY.*
In the late editions of my " Hints to Small Farmers"
there is a brief detail of the Rev. Richard Radcliff's
modes of sod banking, which, as it may be new to
many readers of this Magazine, I shall now beg
leave to restate :
" We lightly ploughed half anacreof old grassland,
and employed boys and girls to collect the sods into
banks, twenty yards asunder, by which the expense
of car work was saved When this was done, the
spaces between those banks >vere ploughed, and
drills being formed, he gave the usual allowance of
manure, and planted potatoes in them ; then that
the banks (which were twelve feet in breadth,
and two feet and a half in depth) might not
be unproductive, he had them also planted with
potatoes in the Munster f shion, taking care to
cover them sufficiently from furrows at each side of
the bank." — " The general advantages to be ob-
tained from this plan, Mr. Radcliff states to be (and,
in his opinion, he is strongly supported by the flatter-
ing approbation of the veteran agriculturist. Sir John
Sinclair) the collecting on the spot a great quantity
of the choicest manure, producing valuable crops ;
while it is rotting, the clearing of the land from
weeds, the saving of a ploughing to one sixth part
of itself, and the bringing into action a body of fresh
earth, enriched by manures washed into it during the
preceding years."
The following circumstances have subsequently
led me to perceive the particular excellence of this
process, as applied to a garden :
One of my daughters, about two years and a half
* From the Irish Farmer's and Gardener's Mag.
54
ON KITCHEN GARDENING.
ago, married a person of my own line of life, but
more of a grazier than a general agriculturist, such
as I am pretty well known to be. On going to
the house of her husl;and, she found that he, like
many men of his cl ss, neither knew nor cared much
about a garden. His small patch of parsnips and
cabbages — the only vegetables which he cultivated —
were usually sown and planted in the corner of his
haggard, or in the headland of a potatoe field.
Kitty (mydaughter) was exceedingly disgruntled at
this obvious deficiency ; and having inherited from.
Mrs. Doyle and me, a fondness for the pleasures and
comforts of a garden, determined with her husband's
acquiescence, to form one, and I was, as a matter of
course, consulted.
Their house stands at one end of a well enclosed
field, about an acre in extent — at that lime (March
1831) covered with a rank grassy sod. Mr. Kelly,
my son-in-law, proposed the immediate breaking up
of this luxuriant ley for lazy bed potatoes, as a good
preparation for a kitchen garden ; but his plan neces-
s.rily required twelve months for actual effect; and,
therefore, was uncalculated to satisfy Kitty's im-
patience. My advice to proceed immediately on
Mj-. Radcliff's plan, as given in my " Hints," was
received, and instantly acted on. The various pnd
successive operations of ploughing, gathering, and
banking, were soon executed ; and never, I believe,
with better result. I shall state the minute par-
ticulars. After the abstraction of the vegetable sur-
face, the soil proved to be, in many places, especially
near the house, fourteen inches in depth, and not
less than nine inches, except in one portion about
half a rood) where the extreme shallowness of earth
made me regret the spoliation of its upper covering.
The banks (powdered lime having been scattered
through them in the course of their formation)
were well planted with potatoes, put in, according
to the Munster fashion, with the back of the spade,
and the intervals well manured and well dug, occu-
pied with cabbages, cavdiflowers, parsnips, carrots,
artichokes, lettuces, &c. &c., which succeeded per-
fectly, affording much more than an adequate sup-
ply for the master and mistress. As may be sup-
posed, the potatoes in the banks were most luxuri nt,
probably at the rate of two hundred barrels per
acre.
But it was in the succeeding year that the supe-
riority of this mode of management became remark-
al)le. The banks after two or three perfect diggings,
and exposure to the winter's frost, became, with an
application of a moderate quantity of rotten dung,
-critically suited to the asparagus and sea kale plants,
which soon took root and flourished. Portions of
the banks were thus appropriated, and the remaining
parts of them, under similar treatment, were occu-
pied by carrots, parsnips, mangel wurzel, white
beet, and magnificent celery. The intervals, as in the
former years, were filled with cabbages, cauliflowers,
turnips, brocoli, and artichokes. In short, a greater
proportion of vegetables (exceptin the particular spot
already noticed for its shallowness of earth) never
grew on the same space of ground, and there the
crops were imdoubtedly bad. But a whim of
Kitty's led to the remedy of this deficiency; she
took it into her head (and very properly) to have an
Italianated grass garden, on a small scale, for flower-
ing shrubs and showy flowers, and this ornamental
ground she desired to have near the parlour windows
in the said field, and on the very spot where her
husband's calves used to caper, and his dirty noisy
geese used to waddle. To gratify her longings, my
son-in-law fist rolled aM'ay (I mean by deputy) in
wheelbarrows, from each of the four parallel banks,
(which met the house at right angles) about twenty
yards of their component matter, leaving at the
bottom of each merely enough of stuff to form half a
dozen fancifully shaped beds, for the reception of
shrub.s, so arranged as to conceal, in a very few
years, the kitchen garden beyond. The rich com-
post of rotten sods removed to the poor patcli, was
laid on veiy thickly, at least six inches in depth, and
has, consequently, rendered that spot most produc-
tive.
A neighbouring market will always afford a ready
and profitable channel for the sale of the vegetables,
which this family cannot consume.
The portions of the banks which are not per
manently devoted to the production of asparagus
and sea kale will be gradually transferred, as occa-
sion may require, to the intervals, rendering them
also extremely rich, and productive of the more
valuable kinds of kitchen vegetables, onions, cauli-
flowers, &c., with appropriate diversions for fruit
trees. The soil in the parts of the ornamental patch,
which has been covered with thin mountain turf,
was previously shovelled off evenly, and added to
the earth whicli forms the beds for the flowers and
shrubs, so there is no particles wasted.
I cannot imagine a better mode of forming a new
garden, under similar circumstances, and I strongly
recommend its adoption, especially in the neighbour-
hood of cities, where seedsmen and gardners have
frequently occasion to transmute turf (ley) into gar-
den and nursery soil.
55
CATECHISM OF GARDENING.
BY MR. MAIN.
In the Biltish Farmer's Magazine, Mr. Main, of
Chelsea, well known to our readers as a practical
man of extensive and soimd experience, has com-
menced to give in detached portions a catechism
of gardening, which we are given to understand is
to be published separately, as soon as completed. If
this intention is carried out, we hope for the sake
both of the author and of the public, that all the
questions will be cancelled ; for amongst all the cate-
chisms which we have ever seen constructed for the
avowed purpose of simplification, this is decidedly
the greatest failure. It does not simplify one jot,
while the questions lumber the page, increase the
expense of printing, and, worse than all, they ever
and anon break up the continuity of the author's
excellent practical statements as much as Uncle To-
by's Lillcbidlero would do an anthem of Handel's,
and as offensively to our taste as a drain from a
dunghill would be if carried right through a parterre
of flowers. We therefore advise the author, if he
have any wish for the success of his little work
when published separately, to recast the whole, and
leave out every one of the bungling questions, when
it will, from its high practical character, be quite
certain to sell largely. That our readers may see
we have given a just opinion of the merits of the
production, every way creditable to Mr. Main, ex-
cept in the stumbling blocks above said, we shall
give his fourth chapter entire.
On " The Cultivation of Leaves and Leafstalks."
Q. You have now to enumerate and describe the
leaves and leaf-stalks used as food : what are they ?
A. All the cabbage tribe, lettuce, endive, spinach,
white-beet, celery, cardoon, rhubarb, lambs lettuce,
sorrel, parsley, mustard, cress, and watercress.
Q. What concerning the cabbage ?
A. The principal and most useful varieties are,
the early York and early dwarf, for first crops ; Bat-
tersea and sugarloaf for latter supplies ; the small
red for pickling ; and the drumhead and large red
for field culture. The early Battersea is_an excellent
sort for cottagers.
Q. At what seasons should cabbage be sowed ?
A. For the principal spring crop the seed should
be sowed sometime between the 25th of July and 8th
of August. If sowed before that time, many of the
plants run to seed without heading ; and if later,
they do not come in soon enough for the table.
Q. Is not cabbage seed sowed at other times ?
A. Yes ; as a succession should be constantly
coming in all the summer, another seed-bed is sowed
in September, and again in April and June, from
which sowings young plants may be had to keep a
supply the year round.
Q. How are the seed beds made ?
A. An open spot or border is chosen, well ma-
nured and digged ; the seed is scattered regularly,
firmly trodden in and raked smooth. As the seed-
lings rise they must be guarded from birds, and
kept free from weeds.
Q. Is it necessary to transplant the seedlings to
a nursery bed ?
A. As it is an advantage to have plants of what
is called a stocky, i. e. a stout, low habit, it is good
management to prick out all the strongest into a
fresh ijed, not only that they may have ample room
to spread their leaves, but because the underlings in
the seed bed will be greatly benefited by their re-
moval.
Q. How is this part of the business done ?
A. There are two modes practised. The first is-
to prepare a bed thiice the size of the seed-bed ; on
this the largest of the seedjings are carefully dibbed,
four or five inches apart ; here they stand to gain
strength till they are finally planted out in October.
Q. What is the other method ?
A. The ground (or part of it) intended for the
principal crop of cabbage is got ready soon as the
seedlings are fit to prick out. Here they are placed
in rows twice as thick as they should ultimately
stand — say in rows ten inches asunder, and the
plants seven inches apart in the rows. About the
,5th of October, all the ground being prepared for
the reception of the supernumeraries, each interme-
diate row, and each intermediate plant in the stand-
ing rows, are transferred to their proper places on
the vacant ground, to complete the plantation.
Q. Is there any other way of raising cabbage ?
A. Yes. Some curious persons sow the seed
thinly in drills, and, when the plants are fairly up,
thin them to five inch distances ; by which treat-
ment they grow strongly, and are in excellent con-
dition to be finally set out in October ; but this is a
refinement in the cultivation which is not absolutely
necessary.
Q. What is the general management and its
effects on a plantation of cabbage ?
A. The bulk, as well as the quality of the crop
varies with the character of the soil. In light,
sandy, and moderately rich ground, cabbage are
earlier, and sweeter in flavour, though yielding
smaller heads; of course, in very rich land (and
all the tribe require rich land) the crop is somewhat
later and correspondingly larger. But in any ground,
in good heart, if well digged and prepared, a crop sel-
56
CATECHISM OF GARDENING.
dom fails if the plants are hoed among and properly
earthed up.
Q. What are the usual distances at which cab-
bage are planted ?
A. The smaller early sorts may be planted in
rows eighteen inches asunder, and twelve inches
apart in the row ; the larger sorts should have two
feet intervals between the rows, and eighteen inches
distances from plant to plant. The planting may
be done as the digging proceeds, which saves break-
ing the ground ; or first digged and planted after-
wards.
Q. What precautions are necessary in transplant-
ing cabbages?
A. That the plants may be carefully taken up ;
long straggling roots may be shortened ; and should
the maggot have seized the root or stem, the tu-
bercles must be paired off. In dibbing or planting
with the trowel, the plants should be let in up to
their lower leaves, and made perfectly firm in their
new place. If the ground or weather be dry, give
each a little water.
Q. What is the maggot you mention ?
A. It is a fly, or beetle, which deposits her eggs
within the cuticle of the lower part of the stem,
causing deformities called " clubbing" by garden-
ers, and " fingers and toes" by farmers.
Q. Is there any preventive against this insect?
A. It is found tliat soap-boilers waste is useful ;
and probably, were the seed beds occasionally
watered with soap-suds, the parent fly might be
deterred laying her eggs on the plants. Some gar-
deners make a puddle of earth, soot, and lime, with
which the roots are smeared before planting, but
this not always effectual.
Q. Wien are the autumn planted cabbages fit
for use ?
A. Generally about the beginning of May fol-
lowing. The forwardest are tied up like lettuce,
which serves to whiten the heart. If the plants be
true in kind, and have had equal treatment, many
come in together; in which case, a good plan in
using them is not to cut one here and there, but to
begin at one side, taking row after row, till the
whole is used. The advantage of this, in a little
garden, is, that as soon as one row is cleared, the
ground may be immediately re-cropped.
Q. And how is the summer supply continued ?
A. By a succession crop from the seed bed sowed
in September, and again from those sowed in April ;
from the last of which plants may be had to serve
till winter.
Q. Are any later sowings made ?
A. Yes. A seed bed is sowed in June, to raise
what are called coleworts, or open cabbage, during
autumn and winter.
Q. Are red cibbages sowed and cultivated in the
same way ?
A. Yes: nearly so. Sow in August for the sum-
mer supply : and again at the end of March for
winter service. Red cabbage require more room than
other sorts, and do best in single rows ; as in the
alleys of other low crops. Though seldom used in
cottages, the cottager should always have a few, as
they meet ready sale in market towns.
Q. WTiat are those greens, of which so many are
sold in the London market, called plants ?
A. Young cabbage, or coleworts, sowed and
planted out at any time of the year, and pulled for
sale just before or after they begin to form heads.
If quickly growed, they are preferred to headed cab-
bage, being more mild in flavour.
Q. Which is the next variety of this tribe deserv-
ing notice ?
A. The savoy : as being hardy and useful, parti-
cularly in winter ; indeed, it is said they are im-
proved by frost. For a principal crop, the seed
should be sowed about the middle of April. Defend
the seedlings from birds ; and prick them out into
nursery beds, if there be time and opportunity. At
the beginning" of July they may be transplanted out
for good, on well digged or trenched rich ground, in
rows two feet apart, the plants being dibbed at six-
teen-inch distances in the row.
Q. Are there different varieties of the savoy ?
A. There are three — the green, the dwarf, and
the large yellow ; the first is the most delicate, but
the last is preferred for the main crop.
Q. What is borecole ?
A. A svilwariety of the cabbage, commonly called
Scotch kail, of which there are several kinds, as the
tall and dwarf green, the brown, the Jerusalem, the
Buda, &c. All are hardy, and well worth a place in
every garden ; not so much for the principal heads as
for the great number of sprouts which rise in succes-
sion from the stem. Woburn kail is a distinct
variety, being a perennial, and propagated by cut-
tings from the old stool planted in spring.
Q. What are Brussel sprouts ?
A. A sub-variety of the Savoy; the head is incon-
siderable ; but from the stem come forth a vast num-
ber of little compact heads of excellent quality, and
for which the plant is chiefly cultivated. This, and
all the sorts of kail are raised from seed, sowed about
the 20th of April, and transplanted into good rich
soil, and afterwards managed like cabbage.
Q. What have you to state relative to lettuce ?
A. It is one of our principal sallad herbs : pleasant,
sanative, and easy of culture. As lettuce soon runs
to seed ; it requires to be frequently sowed in the
summer months. For the earliest spring supply,
seed beds are sowed in August ; whence a part of
the plants may be removed in October into frames,
or to some warm dry situation, where they may be
sheltered from the north and east winds, and be
occasionally covered with mats, dry fern, or branches
of evergreen trees during severe frost.
Q. Do you call these the principal crop ?
CATECHISM OF GARDENING.
57
A. No. The principal crop for summer use, is
sowed as early in the year as the weather will per-
mit, or in frames under glass, from whence they are
planted out for good, when the leaves are about
three inches long, and the mild spring weather
allows the tender plants to be set abroad. The rows
should be twelve inches asunder, and the plants
about nine inches apart in the rows.
Q. What is further to be observed in growing
lettuce ?
A. That they are planted on very rich ground,
which should be frequently hoed, and when the
plants have nearly attained full size, the forwardest
should be tied up to assist the whitening the heart.
Sometimes this crop is sowed thinly in shallow drills ;
the supernumeraries are drawn for transplanting,
which prolongs the supply from one sowing.
Q. Is it not usual to sow lettuce with other
crops ?
A. Yes ; both the coss and cabbage are sowed
with spinach, in August, and the former among
onions in March. Those sowed among spinach are
intended for transplantation if they survive the
winter, and those raised among onions, are drawn
for use as soon as fit, or when they damage the
onions.
Q. How many sorts of lettuce are cultivated ?
A. About twenty varieties ; but the hardy white,
hardy green, green and Egyptian coss kinds, are the
best for connnon use. The brown Dutch, common
white, and grand admirable cabbage sorts, are pre-
ferred for kitchen use. All are used as salad herbs
in every stage of their growth ; but the larger and
whiter hearted the coss varieties are, the more they
are prized.
Q. Is not endive allied to lettuce ?
A. No ; notwithstanding their properties and uses
are alike. Endive is less crisp, and more bitter than
lettuce ; but it is capable of being beautifully
blanched, and thereby becomes palatable; it is also
more hardy than lettuce, and therefore, is chiefly
vised in the winter months.
Q. When shovild endive be sowed ?
A. If sowed early in the year, the plants soon run
to seed. The middle of the months of June, July,
August, and Septeinber, are the proper seasons for
sowing, in order to have a full supply through the
autumn, winter, and spring. Whether the plants
remain in the seed bed, or are transplanted in rows
into fresh beds, they req\iire at least, twelve-inch
spaces, as the leaves spread widely and close to the
ground.
Q. How is it blanched ?
A. By tying the leaves together like lettuce, or by
earthing up the full grown plants with dry soil, or by
placing them during the month of October in raised
beds of dry sand, the leaves gathered up and laid
close together, to be guarded against rain and frost
by mats or frames, or they may be stored in sheds.
As sallad herbs form no part of the cottager's fare
during winter, endive is of little value in his gar-
den. There are four varieties of this plant ; the
white curled and the white Batavian being the most
desirable.
Q. Mliat is the use and culture of spinach ?
A. The leaves are a delicate green, and much
used in superior cookery. Where a constant supply
is wanted, the round-leaved variety is sowed on
large beds broad cast or in drills, monthly from
January until August. The seed is well trodden
before the ground is raked. When the seedlings
are an inch or two high, they should be hoed to five
inch distances, and kept always free from weeds.
Q. Is there not another variety ?
A. Yes, the prickly seeded of which the prin-
cipal and largest sowing is made about the 10th of
August. This yields the winter and spring supply,
the leaves being repeatedly picked or cut from the
plants. Even to the cottager, a bed of spinach may
be profitable, as it is a pleasant addition to the rasher
when turnip-tops are scarce, or before the cabbage
comes in.
Q. Are there any other spinacious plants ?
A. Yes, there are two ; viz., the New Zealand
spinach and the white beet. The first is only culti-
vated in gentlemen's gardens, and managed much
as ridged cucumbers are ; though if sowed in May,
in the open ground, and allowed to ripen and shed
its seed, which it will do in autumn, plants will come
up plentifully in the following summer. The second
is a substitute for spinach when nothing better can
be had. Ten or twelve good seeds of the white
beet, dropped in a drill, on well manured ground,
are sufficient for a small garden.
ON NEW ZEALAND FLAX.*
This highly useful plant is one of the many im-
portant discoveries for which we are indebted to the
late Sir Joseph Banks, who says, in Cook's First
Voyage, when speaking of the productions of New
Zealand,
" But among all the trees, shrubs, and plants of this
country, there is not one that produces fruit except
a berry which has neither sweetness or flavour, and
which none but the boys took pains to gather, should
be honoured with that appellation. There is, how-
ever a plant, that serves the inhabitants instead of
hemp and flax, which excels all that are put to the
* From Ciu-tis's Botanical Magazine.
MAGAZINE or BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL II. NO. XIII. APRIL, 1834
58
ON NEW ZEALAND FLAX.
same purpose in other countries. Of this plant there
are two sorts ; the leaves resemble those of flags,
but the flowers are smaller, and their clusters more
numerous ; in one kind they ate yellow, and in the
other, a deep red. From the leaves of these plants,
with very little preparation, the natives make all
their common apparel, and they also manufacture
their strings, lines, and cordage for every purpose,
which are so much stronger than any thing we can
make with hemp, that they will not bear a compa-
rison. From the same jjlant, by another process,
they draw long slender fibres, which shine like silk,
and are as white as snow : of these, which are also
suprisingly strong, the finest cloths are composed ;
while of the leaves, without any other preparation
than splitting them into proper breadths and tying
the strips together, they make their fishing nets,
some of which are of an enormous size. A plant,
which, with such advantages might be applied to so
many useful and important purposes, would certainly
be a great acquisition to England, where it would
probably thrive with very little trouble, as it seerrs
to be hardy, and to aff'ect no particular soil, being
found equally in hill and valley, in the driest mould
and in the deepest bogs. The bog, however it seems
rather to prefer, as near such places we found it to
be larger than elsewhere."
The seeds brought home by Sir Joseph Banks in
1771 did not succeed, but the New Zealand flax was
introduced to the royal gardens at Kew, through the
medium of the same enlightened individual, in
1789, and thence has been liberally distributed to
collections in our own country and upon the Con-
tinent. By Mr. Actors it was sent to the gardens
of the Museum of Natural History of Paris in
1800; and in that country it has, as might be ex-
pected from the nature of the climate in many of
the districts, been cultivated in the open air, and for
the first time, it produced flowers in the department
of Drome, in 1812, but it bore no fruit. Messrs.
Labillardiere, Faujas de St. Fond, Desfontaines,
and Freyconet have devoted mvich attention to the
cultivation and to the manufacture of this plant. It
has even withstood the severe winters of Paris ; but
in the south of France it has been propagated with
considerable success, and survived the winters
without the smallest protection. In the department
of the west, particularly in the environs of Cher-
bourg, it has perfectly succeeded and yielded ripe
fruit. It is readily increased too, by dividing the
roots. M. Faujas de St. Fond, gives the following
mode of dividing the fibre. He dissolves three
pounds of soap in a sufficient quantity of water, toge-
ther with twenty-five pounds weight of the split
leaves of the Phormium tied up in bundles ; all are
then boiled during the space of five hours, until the
leaves are deprived of a tenacious gluten, and of the
gum resin, but which is not removed by the ordinary
process employed in the preparation of hemp : after
which they are carefully washed in nmning water.
From the experiments of M. Labillardiere, the
strength of the fibre of this plant, as compared with
that of the Agave Americana, flax, hemp, and silk
is as follows : the fibre of the agave breaks under a
weight of 7 ; flax, of 11 1 ; hemp, of 1 6| ; phormium,
23-7-1 Iths ; and silk of 24. Thus it appears, that of
all vegetable fibre, that of phormium is the strongest.
It possesses, too, this further advantage over hemp
and flax, according to the French authors, that it is
of a brilliant vs^hiteness, which gives it a satiny ap-
pearance, so that the cloths made of it do not need
to be bleached by a tedious process, or through those
other means, by which the quality of hemp and flax
is much injured.
There scarcely can be a question, seeing that
the phormium tenax has succeeded remarkably
well in the open air of Invernesshire, Scotland,
(apparently in the neighbourhood of the sea,)
without any shelter in the winter, and without
even the protection of a wall, that the opinion ex-
pressed by Sir Joseph Banks, of the suitableness of
the English climate to it, is well founded. Indeed,
we know that the late Yates, Esq. of Salcombe,
Devonshire did cultivate this plant upon a rather
extensive scale, and made preparations for con-
verting it into thread, which his sudden death pre-
vented him from carrying into effect. The south of
Ireland would in all probability be found to be well
suited to its growth and increase.
The phormium tenax is indigenous to the islands
of New Zealand. On the northernmost of the islands,
which has been traversed almost in every direction
by Europeans, it is found in greater or less abund-
ance, as well as on the immediate coasts in low
situations, subject to be overflowed by the tide, as in
the inland county, generally in grounds more or less
swampy.
Extensively diffused as this valuable plant is over
the surface of the island, it is along the western
coast, to the southward of the parallel of 35 degrees,
and in Cook's Strait, the greatest quantities have
been found, where it is said to grow in fields of in-
exhaustible extent. The indigenous growth of the
phormium is not limited simply to New Zealand,
for it was long ago discovered in a wild state at
Norfolk Island, where it forms long tufts along the
cliffs, within the influence of the salt spray rising
from the heavy surfs, which ever and anon lash the
iron-bound shores of that small but truly beautiful
spot of the Pacific.
The preparation of the flax for their own use, or
for exchange with Europeans, is effected by the na-
tive women, and their method of separating the
silky fibre from the long flag-like leaf of the plant,
of which it forms the under surface, appears simple
enough. Holding the apex of a recently cut leaf
between their toes they make a transverse section
through the succulent matter at the end with a shell
ON NEW ZEALAND FLAX.
&9
(which they still employ though they possess every
species of iron-edged tool), and inserting the shell,
(said to be of the genus Ostrea) between that sub-
stance and the fibre, readily effect its separation, by
drawing the shell through the whole length of the
leaf. It is to be observed, that the separation is
always performed by those people when the vegeta-
ble is freshly cut: nor has the attempts of Euro-
peans to extract the filaments from the leaf by ma-
ceration, been at all successful : the experiments
that have been made at Sidney, showing that ' the
large proportion of succulent matters (for so the
failure was accounted for) rendered it impossible to
effect the separation by decomposition in water,
without materially injuring the strength of the fibre.'
Simple as this mode appears of separating the
flax from the leaf by a shell in the hands of those
savages, still the European has not succeeded in his
endeavours to prepare the fibre for himself, either
by that, or any other means that have been tried ;
nor has any insti-ument or piece of machinery yet been
invented to enable him to strip off, and prepare this
valuable filament for the English market. The Port
Jackson traders must still be dependent on the na-
tive women and their shells for the cargoes they
obtain.
The flax thus obtained from the natives by the
merchants of Sidney, undergoes no heckling, clean-
ing, or other preparation, previous to its being
shipped for the English market : but is merely made
into bales, by being put into a press and screwed
down. It is manufactured into eveiy species of
cordage, except cables, and Mr. Bigge, the Commis-
sioner of Enquiry to New South Wales, observes in
his report, pp. 52, 53, that its superiority of strength
to the hemp of the Baltic, has been attested, both by
experiments made at Sidney, and by one that was
effected under his own observation in the King's
Yard at Deptford"
I have not heard that canvas has been made of it,
but my correspondent (a merchant from Sidney,
now in London) informs me, that a person has been
trying it in table-cloths, napkins, &c. but with what
success he was not aware.
For many years past, has some communications
been kept up by individuals residing at Port Jack-
son, with the natives of New Zealand ; but it is only
of late that the trade in flax has been found to be a
profitable speculation. Of this, the merchants of
Hobart's Town and Launceston, in Van Dieman's
Land, are now fully aware ; and having had their
attention turned to its advantages, they are begin-
ning to prosecute it with ardour.
I may here remark, that at the period (years ago)
when the trade with this noble race of savages was
first opened by persons of courage and enterprise at
Port Jackson, axes, knives, and other edged tools,
together with beads and similar ornaments, were
received by them with avidity ; but now they will
hardly take any thing in exchange but arms and
amunition. With these last named articles the peo-
ple are not all likely to be satiated : there is no
danger of there being a glut of muskets and gun-
powder, to stop the trade in flax or Cawdie timber ;
but the arms must be of a superior, or, at least, of a
good quality : for, as Mr. Bushby, in his paper on
New Zealand just published, with other authentic
information relative to New South Wales, justly
observes, (p. 61) ' Houghi, the late chief of the Bay
of Islands' tribe, could bring into field five hundred
warriors, all of the aristocratic or free class, armed
with muskets ; and so well are they now acquainted
with the qualities of the latter, that a vessel which
lately took down two hundred could not dispose of
them on any terms, because the locks were only
single bridled. The same vessel sold a ton and a
half of gunpowder, in exchange for flax, in a few
days, and would have had as little difiiculty in dis-
posing of the muskets had they been of a better de-
scription. Although most of the chiefs can now
muster a large force armed with muskets, their
avidity to add to their armoury has undergone no
diminution ; and, with the exception of blankets,
red woollen shirts, and other warm clothing, to-
bacco, and sugar, scarcely any other article of English
manufacture or merchandise has, as yet, any attrac-
tion for them.
To what extent the trade in flax has increased
with these islanders of late, (say, since 1828,) some
idea may be formed from the following facts. Ac-
cording to the statistical return of New South Wales,
for the year 1828, New Zealand flax to the extent of
sixty tons, and valued at 2,600/. was exported from
Sidney to England, during that year; whilst, during
1830, (according to the returns taken from the Cus-
tom-House books,) the quantities stated as the im-
ports of it into Sidney for the English market, were
eight hundred and forty one tons ; and in 1831, one
thousand and sixty-two tons. Its present price in
London, my correspondent informs me, may be
stated from 15/. to 25/. per ton, much depending on
its quality, and the clean manner in which it is
brought into market. Some doubts have been en-
tertained by merchants of this kind of trade with
the New Zealanders being likely to continue. In
reply to this doubt, my friend observes, that he,
among others, considers it doubtful at present : for
as the demand for the raw commodity as introduced
into the London market, is not considerable, and at
the public sales of it there is but little competition ;
few houses having commenced to manufacture it, it
may hardly fetch a remunerating price. But when
its character has become more generally known,
than it at present is, and its superiority to Baltic
hemp more fully ascertained by rope manufacturers
in England, the demand for it will increase, and the
price improving, will induce Sidney merchants, to
hold out to the New Zealand chiefs such novel and
i2
60
ADAM, THE GARDENER.
costly temptations, in the way of trade, as would
ensure the continuance of their exertions in prepar-
ing the flax for them, in which it has been said they
have rather relaxed of late, because they are deter-
mined to see what new articles of use or ornament
we could offer them, that would be worthy of their
acceptance, other than muskets and gunpowder.
I will close my remarks on the sulaject of phor-
mium, and the communication which it, and other
indigenous productions of the soil of New Zealand,
have brought about, between its half civilized in-
habitant and the European, in the words of Mr.
Busby, in the page just referred to. " This inter-
course (with commercial men) claims the attention
of his Majesty's Ministers, from the advantage which
could not fail to result from fostering and protecting
a trade, that is calculated to open a very considerable
demand for British manufactures ; and to yield, in
return, an article of raw produce, not only valuable
to England as a manufacturing country, but indis-
pensal)le to her greatness as a maritime power, and
which the superiority of that power will always
enable her to command, independently of foreign
countries. And, apart from all luotives of interest,
it is deserving of attention from the opportunities it
affords of ciA'ilizing and converting to Christianity,
one of the most interesting races of people, which
British enterprise has yet discovered in any quarter
of the globe !
ADAM, THE GARDENER.
BY C. C. CLARKE,
Author of " Tales in Prose, from Chaucer."*
An elegant little work, full of pretty writing and in-
teresting information to young gardeners and young
botanists, conveyed in the form of narrative and
conversation, and arranged under each month of
the year, beginning with January. It opens thus
JANUARY.
" Dread Winter spreads his latest glooms,
And reigns tremendous o'er the conquer'd year.
How dead the vegetable kingdom lies!
How dumb the tuneful!"
Thomson.
Adam Stock was the eldest son of a gentleman,
who, having retired from London to the southern
coast of our island, had there purchased an estate,
consisting of a house, a large garden, a field, and a
poultry yard. He knew the value of industry, and
that, to an independent and contented mind, few
things are }-eally necessary for our comfort ; he,
there, determined to cultivate his own ground ; rnd
as nearly as he could, to do every thing for himself.
This is the true meaning of being independent. He
bought a cow, and some pigs, chickens, ducks, and
geese. Mr. Stock understood the principles of gar-
dening, and possessed great taste and knowledge in
the cultivation of flowers, his garden was, therefore,
always beautiful to look at, and the more so, because
you knew that it was the work of his own hands,
and that all you saw, was done with pleasure. This
is the reason why a cottagers 's garden is a more plea-
sant sight than a rich man's : for though the rich
man's garden may be larger and much more hand-
some, yet we do not know that he is pleased with it ;
because it is only his money which makes it look
beautiful. But when we see a neat and pretty gar-
den belonging to a poor man, we may be sure that
that man is contented and happy ; and a happy poor
man is one of the most charming sights in the
world.
" Little Adam loved his father very much, and
was fond of being near him whenever he was at
work. He had heard his father say, that on the fol-
lowing morning he should rise early to brew some
beer for the family : and Adam dressed himself be-
fore it was light, and came to call his father, which
pleased him veiy much. So he was allowed to help
in the brewing ; and, as a reward for his diligence,
his father permitted him to stay up all night till the
whole process was finished. '\\'Tien Mr. Stock was
employed in the garden, little Adam would always
be at his side, asking him the names of the different
flowers that were in blossom, together with many
questions about the way of cultivating them. He
showed such delight in the amusement, that his
father told him one day, that if he would be a good
and obedient boy, he would teach him to be a com-
plete gardener, so that by the time he grew up to be
a man, he should be able to do every thing for him-
self, and know how to direct others. Adam was
delighted. ' "Well then,' said his father, ' this is
now the first month in the year, and to-morrow we
will begin. There is at present no snow upon the
ground, and the frost has given way. I will buy
you to-day a spade, and a rake, and a hoe ; and I
think you will be set up. One thing only you must
promise me ; — that you will attend to what I tell
you ; and endeavour to do every thing in the best
way you possibly can.' This you may be sure he
promised to do."
Such is the opening, and we shall now dip into
* 12mo. E. Wilson. 1834.
ADAM, THE GARDENEE.
61
what immediately claims attention in this " merry
month of May," whose beauties are thus touched
upon by Mr. C. C. Clarke.
" By four o'clock Mr. Stock had roused all the
sleepers in his house, singing to them in the words
of the motto in this chapter, " Now the bright morn-
ing star," &c. " Up ! up !" said he, " you slug-
abeds ! the lark is awake, and the bee is stirring ;
all but you are preparing to meet the rising sun.
The flowers are getting ready to open their dewy
buds, and the morning air is blowing softly upon them.
Here is May-day come in after the old fasion, cheer-
fully and bright : so we will keep it after the old
fashion. Come ! up with you ! make haste — we
shall not begin it properly, if we do not see the sun
rise. Get up, you lazy dog ! Adam — let me catch
you in bed in five minutes time, and I will give you
such a cold pig as shall make you remember May
morning for some time to come." Who could sleep
after being called in this manner ? I know but of
one ; but he has reformed ; and, therefore, shall be
nameless. In about a quarter of an hour the whole
family were dressed, and hatted, and bonnetted, and
had started off,
" Bnishing with hasty steps the dew away,
To meet the sua upon the upland lawn."
All noticed how very grave every thing appeared ;
there was such a stillness, as if all the birds and
beasts were waiting in fear, lest the sun should not
rise again. Indeed, I have often thought that the
first breaking of the dawn was vei-y awful : the deep
stillness — the solemn colour — and the cautious un-
folding of the light, is as if something veiy great
and good was about to be done in Heaven — and so
there is ; for we are to the blessed sun. There is no
solemnity like the first dawning of mom :- —
" That vast dumbness nature keeps
Throughout her starry deeps,
Most old and mild, and a^vful, and unbroken,
Which tells a tale of peace beyond whate'er was spoken.
Leigh Hunt.
When they had arrived at the highest part of a rising
ground behind their house, they looked over a tract
of country, and the sea beyond it, and saw the great
sun slowly moving up, while all the clouds around
were drawn up from it like long handfuls of wool
dyed rose colour, and the edges of them dipped in
gold ; the wide sea was gold, and all the sky was
gold. " We cannot wonder," said Mr. Stock, "that
some people should worship the sun as their God,
when we behold what a grand object it is, in its
rising, and when it is at the height of noon, and in
its setting. When we also consider that there is not
a single comfort we possess, but we have it by the
means of the sun. If the sun were to rise no more,
everything in the world that grows, and has life,
would die ; and ive should die. There would be no-
thing in all the world but the ground ; for, without
the light and heat of the sun, everything would rot
and become dust. Therefore we cannot wonder, I
say, that some people think that the sun is their 07ily
God and preserver. But then," continued the
father, " I wonder they never thought that, since
no one, and no thing that we know of, ever made
itself, so the sun did not make itself; and that who-
ever made the sun, he was God."
They now continued their walk into some pretty
close, and winding lanes ; and now and then passed
some little cottages, the children of which were all
up, and had been out Maying. Some were making
their garlands, and some had finished them, hanging
them across the lane before the door. Adam and
his sisters said they should like to make a garland
too. " Then pray do," said their father, " but I
fear you will not find any white thorn blown ; it is
as yet only in the bud ; yoii must be contented with
what field flowers you can pick up; unless. Indeed,
you meet with some black thorn ; which, you know,
comes into bloom before the other, but it is not so
pretty, for the leaves come after the blossoms have
gone off." So they hunted about, and plucked all
the little flowers they could find, and put them into
their handkerchiefs, because the heat of their hands
would have soon killed them. While they were busy,
little Tom was endeavouring to get some primroses
that were on the top of a high bank : finding them,
however, rather out of his reach, he asked Adam to
pick them for him, who refused ; telling him to try
and get them for himself. The father heard this,
and rebuked Adam very sharply for being a selfish
and unkind boy ; and desired him to gather them for
his little brother directly ; which he did, though not
very willingly. For some time after this, he seemed
as if he had been thinking with himself; at last he
said " I thought you told us, papa, that we were to
try and do eveiything we could for ourselves ; and
that that was independent." — "Ay! ay!" said his
father, ' but I did not tell you to be unkind and dis-
obliging. You are to endeavour to do all you can
for yourself, but at the same time to be always ready
to help every one that wants your assistance. If you
were a man, and could divine very well, would you
not try to save a fellow creature, who could not
swim, and was drowning ? Would you tell him
that he ought to help himself, or else he would not
be " independent ?"
Such is the manner in which useful and pleasing
information is conveyed in " Adam, the Gardener."
62
ON BOTANICAL THEORIES AND DR. PROFESSOR LINDLEY.
BY THE EDITOR.
The term theory is very commonly used to bemask
some wild fancy with the semblance of science ; and
I could not bring a stronger example of this than
what has been termed the metamorphosis of plants,
as must appear at a glance to every reader endowed
with common sense.
The doctrine in question is alleged to have ori-
ginated with Linnaeus, in 1759 — 60, but the distin-
guished German poet, Goethe thinks very lightly of
the fancies which Linnaeus termed anticipation,
while he claims the honour of discovering (invent-
ing, I should say) the doctrine of Metamorphosis in
1790, a doctrine of which De CandoUe is the most
distinguished disciple.
The doctrine bears that every part of a plant
consists of " disguised leaves," and hence part of
the stem, the flower-cup, the blossom, the stamens,
and pistils, with the seed vessels, and even fruits
themselves, are nothing but leaves in a state of dis-
guise or metamorphosis. " These are all the same,"
says Von Martius, " in their essence, and only
differ according to the intensity of their metamor-
phosis.
Von Martius further instructs us, that evei-y plant
possesses two living forces, one vertical, the other
spiral, by the action of which forces the plant is
formed. By the action of the vertical force the root
goes down and the stem rises up ; and, by the spiral
force, the leaves, both in their natural state and in
their disguised forms of flowers and fruit, are wound
about their stem in spiral whirls. As soon, then,
as a plant begins to grow, a series of leaves winds
upwards around the stem in a spiral direction, and
hence a whole plant is considered to consist of no-
thing more than a vertical axis and a spiral of
leaves.
In the more recondite parts of the theory, we are
told that a stamen is only a leaf, the filament being
the leaf-stalk and the anther the leaf-plate, while the
furrow between its two lobes is the mid rib, and the
pollen the leaf pulp ; that a disk is only the base of
the foot-stalks of abortive leaves ; and that the pistil
with its summit, is only a mid-rib denuded of its
rind at the tip, while the seed organ is the expanded
leaf-plate of the leaf folded, with its upper surface
winding round the axis, and having its edges united
and adhering.
A leaf thus folded up into a seed-organ, is termed
a carpel, the adherin gedges forming the verge, and
buds upon these two edges form two rows of nascent
seeds. In some plants, several leaves are said to be
thus folded into a carpel, and hence the number of
verges will correspond to those of the folded leaf
edges.
The cause assigned by De CandoUe for this meta-
morphosis of leaves into flowers and fruit, is de-
generacy, or, as Dr. Professor Lindley terms it,
stunting, the parts of a flower being therefore abor-
tive leaves. " A flower," says Dr. Professor Lind-
ley, " is, in reality, a stunted branch, that is, one
the growth of which is checked and its power of
elongation destroyed." " The fruit is, in common
language, the flower, or some part of it, arrived at
its most complete state of existence; and, conse-
quently, is itself a portion of stunted branch."
It would be, I conceive, an unprofitable waste of
time, to expose the absurdities of these fancies,
which have been generated by the erroneous logic
of raising analogies into realities. The analogical
resemblances are tolerably made out ; but we would
not surely conclude, that a butterfly is a bird, or a
bat, or a flying fish, because the wings are analo-
gous, no more than we can agree with the theorists
in calling a rose or a peach a bundle of abortive leaves.
It seems indispensable for every theory to have a
loop-hole through which to escape in case of diffi-
culties ; and in the present instance, the escape is
made by maintaining nat\ire to be wrong when op-
posed to the theory. " All dissepiments" (parti-
tions), says Dr. Professor Lindley, " whose position
is at variance with the foregoing laws are spurious."
It is needless to remark that this mode of decision
at once quashes all objection, and puts an end to
every appeal to fact. Well might M. Le Vaillant
say, that " the present state of natural history often
exhibits nature making sport of our systems." M.
Le Vaillant elsewhere says, that " one fact is enough
to demolish a theory ; " but here we have a theory
demolishing the facts, and calling them spurious.
It is in consequence of such exposures as the pre-
ceding, that Dr. Professor Lindley has thought fit to
set himself against the Editor in private and in public,
both in acknowledged wincings and (if we are
rightly informed) in anonymous ejections. Let him:
he can never get over the sheer nonsense he has
published, nor the Editor's exposure of the same,
not even with the aid of the Bayswater book manu-
factory, nor of his friend Dilke to boot. He must
wince on, let him do what he may to escape through
loop holes, unless he come forward in a manly man-
ner, and acknowledge the fatuity of his blunders. Then
his love of truth might be admitted ; now he stands
ashamed of his errors, and tries, though unsuccessfuly ,
to undermine the exposer thereof with the public.
63
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
FRAGARIA MONOPHYLLA.
ONE-LEAVED STRAWBERRY, OR STRAWBERRY OF
VERSAILLES.
Class and Order.
Isocaudi'ia Poylgynia.
Generic Character.
Cahjx 10 — fidus. Petala 5 — Receptaculum seminum ovatum
baccatum deciduum.
Specific Character and Synonyms.
Fragaria monophylla foliis simpUcibus. Lin. Si/st. Veg. p. 476.
Le Fraisier de Versailles. Duschesne Hist. nal. des Frais.
p. 124.
The first mention made of this strawberry we
find in the Histoire Naturelle des Fraisiers, where we
have its complete history, and from which we learn
that it was originally raised at Versailles, in the year
1761, from seeds of the wood strawberry.
From France this plant has been conveyed to
most parts of Europe, how it has happened we know
not, liut it is certainly very little known in this
country: in the 14th edit, of the Syst. Veg. of Lin-
ruevs, it appears as a species under the name of mo-
nophtjlla, originally imposed on it by Duchesne;
Linnaeus, however, has his doubts as to its being a
species distinct from the vesca, and, in our opi-
nion, not without reason; for it can certainly be
regarded as a very singular variety, only its origin
is indeed a proof of this ; in addition to which we
may observe, that plants raised from the runners
will sometimes, though very rarely indeed, have three
leaves instead of one : and it is observed by the
very intelligent author of the Hist. Nat. above men-
tioned, that seedling plants sometimes produced
leaves with three divisions like those of the wood
strawberry. Besides the remarkable difference in
the number of leaves of this plant, tlie leaves them-
selves are observed to be much smaller in the winter
season, and their ribs less branched; the runners
pIso are slenderer and more productive, and the
fruit in general more oblong or pyramidal. As an
object of curiosity, this plant is deserving a place in
eveiy garden of any extent: nor is its singularity
any recommendation, its fruit being equal to the
finest wood strawberry, with which it agrees in its
time of flowering, fruiting, and mode of treatment.
FRANKLIN'S TARTAR.
A SCARLET BIZARRE CARNATION.
The carnation here exhibited is a seedling raised
lay an ingenious cultivator of these flowers. We
have not figured it as the most perfect flower of the
kind, either in form or size, but as being a very fine
specimen of the sort, and one whose form and colours
if is in the power of the artist pretty nearly to
imitate.
The Dianthus Caryophyllus or wildclove, is generally
considered as the parent of the carnation, and may
be found, if not in its wild state, at least single, on
the walls of Rochester Castle, where it ha.s been
long known to flourish, and where it produces two
varieties in point of colour, the pale and deep red.
Flowers which are cultivated from age to age are
continually producing new varieties, hence there is
no standard as to name, beauty, or perfection amongst
them, but what is perpetually fluctuating ; thus the
red Halo, blue Halo, the greatest Granado, with se-
veral others celebrated in the time of Parkinson,
have long since been consigned to oblivion ; and it
is probable, that the variety now exhibited may, in
a few years, share a similar fate, for it would be
vanity in us to suppose, that the carnation, by assi-
duous culture may, in the eye of the florist, be yet
considerably improved.
To succeed in the culture of the carnation we
must advert to the situation in which it is found
wild, and this is oliscrved to be dry and elevated ;
hence excessive moisture is found to be one of the'
greatest enemies this plant has to encounter ; and
on this account it is found to succeed better when
planted in a pot, than in the open border ; because
in the former, any superfluous moisture readily
drains oif ; but in guarding against too much wet,
we must be careful to avoid the opposite extreme.
To keep any plant in a state of great luxuriance,
it is necessary that the soil in which it grows be
rich, hence a mixture of light loam, and perfectly
rotten horse or cow dung in equal proportions, is
found to be a proper compost for the carnation.
Care should be taken that no vporms, grubs, or other
insects be introduced with the dung, to prevent this,
the dung when sifted fine, should be exposed to the
rays of the sun, on a hot summer's day till perfectly
dry, and then put by in a box for use, still more to
increase the luxuriance of the plants, water them
in the spring and summer, with an infusion of sheep's
dung in the water.
The Carnation is propagated by seeds, layers, and
pipings; new varieties can only be raised from
seed, which however is sparingly produced from
good flowers, because the petals are so multiplied as
nearly to exclude the parts of the fructification
essential to their production.
The seed must be sown in April, put in boxes,
very thin, and placed upon an East border.
In July transplant them upon a bed, in an open
situation, at about four inches asunder; at the end
of August transplant them again upon another bed,
at about ten inches asunder, and there let them re-
main until they flower ; shade them until they have
taken root; and in very severe weather in winter
cover the bed with mats, over some hoops.
The following summer they will flower, when
you must mark such as you like, make layers, frame
and pot them.
The means of increasing these plants by layers
and pipings are known to every gardener, Such
as wish for more minute information, may consult
the new Editon of Miller's Gardener's Dictionary.
64
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
PRIMULA A'lLLOSA, MOUNTAIN PRIMULA.
PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Inrolucrum umbellul. Corolla tubus cylindricus: ore pa-
tulo.
Primula villosa foliis obovatis dentatis villosis, scapo bre\is-
simo multifloro.
Primula villosa, Jacquiii Fl. Austr. app, b. v.
The plant here figured has heen introduced pretty
generally into the nursery gardens in the neighbour-
hood of London witliin these few years, and has for
many years been cultivated in a garden in York-
shire.
It is not noticed by Linnaeus : Professor Jacquin,
in his Flora Austriaca, has figured and described a
primula, which, though not agreeing so minutely as
could be wished with the one we have figured, is
nevertheless considered by some of the first 1 otanists
in this country as the same species ; he gives it the
name of villosa which we adopt, though with us it is
so slightly villous, as scarcely to deserve that epithet.
It varies in the brilliancy of its colours, flowers in
April, and will succeed with the method of culture
recommended for the round-leaved Cyclamen.
ERANTHUS HYEMALIS. WINTER HELLEBORE OR
ACONITE.
Polyandiia Polygnia.
Petala 5 fine plura. Nectaria bilabiata, tubulata.
Capsulse polyspermEe rectiuscul^.
Hellebonis hi/emalis flore folio iusidente. Linn. Syst. Vegetal.
p. 431, Sp. PL p. 7S3.
Aconitum unifolium bulbosum. Bauh. Pin. 183.
The Winter's Wolfesbane. Park Purad. p. 214.
Grows wild in Lombardy, Italy, and Austria,
affects mountainous situations, flowers with us in
Februaiy, and hence is liable to be cut off in severe
frosts. " It is propagated by offsets which the roots
send out in sbundance. These roots may be taken
up and transplanted at any time after their leaves
decay, which is generally by the beginning of June
till October, when they will begin to put out new
fibres, but as the roots are small, and nearly the co-
lour of the ground, if care is not taken to search for
them, many of them will be left in the ground.
These roots should be planted in small clusters,
otherwise they will not make a good appearance,
for single flowers of these small kinds so scattered
about the borders ; nd scarcely seen at a distance,
but when these and the snow drops are alternately
planted in bunches they have a good effect, as they
flov>-cr at the same time and are nearly of a size."
SCHIZANTHUS RETUSUS.
SCHIZANTHUS.
Diandria, Monootnia : Linn. Scrophularinese, Jissiec.
Calyx, five-parted somewliat unequal. CoroUa, limb in four
parts, lobed, irregular, plaited while expanding ; tube narrow
and short. Stamina four, two upper ones barren, filaments
aU adaate. Anthers inserted below in tno places, confluent
at the top. Ovarium of two locaments placed on a smooth
fleshy disk. Stigma compressed, obtuse, of two united lobes.
Capsula of two places, containing many seeds ; valves
divided. Dissepiments parallel. Placenta two, spongV;
Seeds simple, shell-like, having a hai'd wripgled integument;
albumen fleshy. Embryo arched ; the rostel roundly obtuse
and twice as long as the seed leaves.
This flower is an annual plant of great beauty, of
tolerable easy culture, growing from seeds which
ripen freely, if the plants be kept in an airy situa-
tion at the time of flowering.
Those intended for the principal flowering should
be sown the previous summer, or early in the
autumn ; and in Februaiy and March two more
sowings should be made to succeed each other. The
autumn sowing, or rather these of the previous sum-
mer, should be made in the middle of July and
beginning of August. Light rich mould is the
most suitable fur the purpose.
GREWIA ELASTICA.
The description of this flower must be deferred till
next month.
MECONOPSIS aculeata.
Meconopsis aculeata, caule erecto siUcato ut plantfe omni
parte aculeato, foliis longe petiolatis oblongis decurrentibus
subpinnatisectis sinubus obtusis, floribus auxUlaribus solita-
riis terminalihusve paniculatis, capsulis oblongis, utrinque
acutis dense aculeatis.
Stem ascending, erect, from one to two feet in
height, leavy, furrowed, and like every part of the
plant, except the petals and stamens densely aculeate.
The leaves long-petioled, oblong, subpinnatifid,
■with irregvdar and obtuse sinuses, frequently decur-
rent on the petioles, upper ones sessile. Petioles
broad and sheathing at the base. Flowers axillary
and terminal, often in the axillae of all the leaves,
long peduncled. Calyx 2-sepaled; sepals roundish,
oval, caducous, aculeate. Petals 4, obovate roundish,
red. Stamens very numerous : filaments capillary ;
anthers cblong, inserted by the base ; ovary ovates
pointed, aculeate. Style half the length of the
ovary; after the flower has fallen, it becomes elon-
g; ted and twisted. Stigm. s 4, cblong, united into
a capitate head. Capsides oblong, tapering towards
both ends, 1-celled. Verges ribbed intervalvular;
valves 4 to 5, separating from the pkcentse at the
apex of the capsule for the escape of the seeds.
Seeds numerous, minute.
CORYDALUS GOVANIANA.
C. Govaniana; Wall.) foliis petiolatis oblongis bipinnatisectis,
segmentis cuneatis profunde pir-natilobatis, lobis lineari-
obiongis obtusis cum cuspidula integris vel bilobis, racerais
secundis, bracteis foliaceis cuneifcrmibus inciso-lobatis pedun-
culos superantibus, supremis l.Tnceolatis integris, calcare
pedicello suba^quali, siliquis pendulis oblongis urtinque acutis
apice stylo locgo acuminatis.
This plant was first described ly Dr. Wallich, in
his Tent. Fl. Nep. p. 55, and there is little to be
added to his description. It was supplied to him 1 y
Dr. Govan from Gurhwal. It is extremely com-
mon in the Himalayan mountains, particularly on
the Choor, above 8,000 feet of elevation. It varies^
from a few inches to nearly a foot in height.
X
ON THE EFFECTS OF REMOVING POTATOE BLOSSOMS.
65
EXPERIMENTS ON THE EFFECTS OF REMOVING POTATOE BLOSSOMS*
BY MK. JAMES MURRAY, OF ABERDEEN.
The experiment was made according to the plan
laid down by the Highland Society in their list of
premiums for 1833.
The quality of the soil was not the best adapted
for a very successful potatoe crop, but as I did not
think of making the experiment until after the
ground had been sown, I had no alternative left me.
At the same time, I believe, that an experiment of
this nature, although made upon a crop raised in
soil not peculiarly well adapted for its culture, will
be quite as satisfactory in determining the advan-
tages or disadvantages of it, as one made upon a
more congenial soil. The soil consisted, throvighout
the two acres upon which the potatoes had been
sown, of a very shallow loam, upon a bed of what is
generally called till. The field had been well drained,
but like every other field of the same nature of soil,
(unless where Mr. Smith, of Deanston's, trenching
plough may have been used,) continues in what
may be called a cold damp state, and therefore an
enemy to the potatoe.
The variety of the potatoe sown, was one which
had been brought from Ireland some years ago, by a
gentleman of this neighbourhood, and is called the
red potatoe in this neighbourhood.
I divided the whole field into parts of three drills
each, and having explained what I wished to be
done, to a few children of from nine to twelve years
old, previous to the appearance of any blossoms,
they never allowed a day to elapse without looking
after their charge, and no sooner had a blossom be-
gun to appear, (or in bud,) upon No. 1. of each
part, than it was certain to be immediately plucked
off. The other two drills of each part remained un-
touched until the blossoms upon No. 2, seemed to
be fully expanded, when they were also plucked off,
while No. 3, was allowed to ripen its fruit. By ar-
ranging the drills in this manner, I could depend on
being more correct in having the soil of each of the
drills of each part exactly similar than I could have
been, had I divided the field in the manner proposed
by the society.
The preceding part of the experiment was (as it
must appear to be) very simple indeed, and attended
with no expense whatever ; for there are always
children in the neighbourhood of a farm, who will
do the work for a few pence a day.
The most difficult part of the experiment to ar-
range, was the taking up of the crop, so that there
might be no interference between the different
drills. To obtain this, I took three carts, one of
which was appropriated entirely by No. I, of each
part, another by No. 2, and the remaining one by
No. 3. In this manner I prevented the very slight-
est mingling of the potatoes.
The quantity of potatoes which each cart held,
was exactly ascertained, and the management of
this part of the experiment being given to one
person, it was his business to mark down how many
loads each cart took to the potatoe pit.
After the whole crop had been taken off the field,
and the overseer's note book examined, the follow-
ing was the result : -
Drills, No. 1, being those from which the blos-
soms were plucked in the bud, contained 30 bolls, 2
bushels.
Drills, No. 2, being those from which the blos-
soms were plucked when in full flower, contained 27
bolls, 3 bushels.
Drills, No. 3, being those upon which the fruit
was allowed to ripen, contained 26 bolls. The su-
periority, therefore, of No. 1, over No. 2, was 2
IjoUs, five bushels ; over No. 3, was 4 bolls, 3 bushels;
and of No. 2, over No. 3, was 1 boll, 3 bushels.
From the above experiment it would appear, that
the potatoe crop had been improved by having the
blossoms plvicked off, and that according to the pe-
riod at which it had been done. At the same time,
the difference is perhaps not much more than would
be counterbalanced by the additional trouble given
in taking up the crops ; for although regulated as
well as possibly could be done, still it could not be
taken up in nearly the time in which it would have
been done, had the drills been resorted to indiscri-
minately.
The quality of the potatoe is remarkably good : it
is of a mealy nature, and an uncommonly good
keeper. We were using them last year here, in pre-
ference to early potatoes.
* From the Trans, of the Royal Highland Society.
MAGAZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL. 11. NO. XIV. MAY, 1834.
66
ON TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES *
BY E. MURPHY.
A GREAT book, the adage says, is a great evil — an
expensive book is also an evil, and the more so, if it
treat on subjects which ought to be familiar to per-
sons whose means do not admit of purchasing ex-
pensive works. Both these objections apply with
peculiar force to a work pviblished a few years ago
on this subject. That Sir Henry Steuart's book
possesses an uncommon degree of merit, both as
regards the subject, and the manner in which that
subject is treated, I would be the last to deny. In
arrangement, elegance of style, and many other at-
tributes, it is such as was to have been expected
from Sir Henry's classic pen ; its almost only fault,
in ray opinion, is the length to which a subject,
capable of having ample justice done to it in a few
pages, has been extended. But my object in what
follows is not to review " The Planter's Guide,"
which I earnestly recommend to every person in-
terested in ornamental planting, and who can afford
to possess it, promising him great pleasure and much
information in the perusal of it — it is to lay down a
few rules, the result of observation and experience,
by which any ordinary planter may effect what, by
the learned manner in which Sir Henry Steuart
has treated it, many suppose to be attended with
almost insurmountable difficulty. With this view
it may be necessary to say a few words on the sub-
ject of the nature of trees in general.
Every one knows, that when the seed of a tree,
or of almost any other plant, is committed to the
earth imder favourable circumstances, it vegetates
and produces a plant, that this plant also, under fa-
vourable circumstances, increases, until at length it
becomes a perfect specimen of its particular kind.
These favourable circumstances are, in the former
case, a certain degree of air, moisture, warmth, and,
I may add, exclusion from light — and in the second,
soil, situation and shelter, necessary to its perfect
development. But how vegetation in the former,
and increase in the latter, is effected, has baffled
the ingenuity of the most acute physiologists to
determine. They siippose that moisture causes the
juices in the seed to undergo a kind of ferment-
ation, by which sugar is produced, which serves to
nourish the plant until it is provided with roots ;
that the roots being formed, ramify and suck up
from the earth, by their fibres, water, either pure or
having dissolved in its animal and vegetable sub-
stance, salts, &c. ; that this sap having ascended to
the leaves, is spread out, and parts with a portion of
its watery particles, which are exhaled by the sun ;
that the now inspissated or thickened juice, returns
by ducts (veins) in the back of the leaves, and in
its progress back to the roots, not only supplies
nourishment to the different parts, but deposits an
annual layer of wood beneath the bark.
Taking for granted that this theory is correct, it
follows, with respect to trees, that they will thrive
best in a deep, friable (^loose^ soil, in which their
roots can easily spread in search of nourishment;
one capable of retaining the proper degree of mois-
ture, in which the roots will neither be saturated in
winter nor parched in summer, and which possesses
a quantity of decaying vegetable or animal matter ;
and this we find in practice is the fact, provided,
which is generally the case, that such soil is suffi-
ciently sheltered. It also follows, that the fibres of
the roots, and the leaves of the tree, being the im-
portant agents in vegetation, the more of each the
tree possesses, the more rapid will be its increase in
stature.
Bearing in mind the above principle, we may
proceed to the subject of removal, which, for con-
venience, may be treated under the heads — selec-
tion— preparation of the soil — removal — after treat-
ment— expense.
First — Selection. Trees which grow in situations
fully exposed to the wind, and which stand at such
a distance from each other as not to afford mutual
shelter, are found to possess the following proper-
ties: abundance of branches, robust trunks, thick
bark, firmly rooted in the ground, and roots corre-
sponding in quantity and in extent to the branches —
whilst those which grow in masses, so as to shelter
each, and, to use a practical term, draw each other
up, have long trunks, with few branches, and these
only at the extremity, a thin bark, and few roots,
running near the surface of the ground. The for-
mer are only fit for removal into open situations, the
latter, particularly if under twenty years growth,
may be removed with safety, provided they be re-
planted in large masses and sheltered situations.
This adaptation to particular situations has been in-
sisted on at a great length by Sir Henry Steuart, yet
it is almost never sufficiently attended to by those
who remove large trees, as the failures and unhealthy
appearance of those that survive, in most places, suf-
ficiently indicate : indeed, it is not a little extraordi-
nary that the very persons sent by Sir Henry Steuart
to this country for the purpose of transplanting large
trees, either through ignorance (which is hardly to
be supposed) or a want of proper subjects, made
use in some places, (as at Woodstock, these at of
Lord R. Tottenham, in the county of Wicklow,) of
* From the "Irish Farmer's and Gardener's Magazine."
ON TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES.
67
those quite unfit for the purpose, and the failures
have been proportionate to the want of judgment
displayed in the selection.
It frequently happens that trees possessing the re-
quisite qualities for removal into open situations, do
not occur on the estate where they are required, in
which case handsome trees should be selected in
situations where they can be spared, and all others
in their immediate vicinity should be removed, not
at once, for then they would receive a check from
which they would slowly, if ever perhaps, recover,
but gradually ; and a trench should be opened round
about, and at, perhaps, three yards distance from the
trunk of a tree (suppose it to be of about thirty
years standing) ; the trench shoiild be about eighteen
inches wide, and at least two feet deep, and should
be filled with some good earth or compost, for the
purpose of causing the roots which have been cut
in opening" the trench, to push out a quantity of
fibres ; this should be done at least two years before
the tree is to be removed — if but one, as is very
often the case, the fibres will be so tender as to be
liable to be destroyed in the operation. In opening
the trench. Sir Heniy Steuart recommends that the
very strong roots which may be met with, be not
cut or injured, but left at length to serve as stays
for holding the tree steady after it has been shifted.
This artificial method of multiplying the fibres was
in use not only as a preparation for removing fruit
trees, but even for forest trees — those which have
grown in exposed situations do not require it. But
the best method of preparing trees for removal, is
that long since practised, and recommended by
Boucher in his excellent work on nursery business —
namely, to remove trees intended for final trans-
plantation, at a large size, repeatedly — say once in
three or four years, until they are twenty years old.
Were nursery men, who have a large sufficiency of
land in the vicinity of large cities, to apply a portion
of it to this branch, there is little doubt they would
be remunerated, sogreatan object is it to afford the
person of taste a means of at once beautifying his
lawn and pleasure ground.
Preparation for receiving the tree in its new situa-
tion.— To determine the best possible site for the
new tree is sometimes a matter of considerable dif-
ficulty, in which case the judgment will be assisted
by making use of a young tree of such a size as that a
man can readily carry it — the lower part of the trunk
of which being sharpened, may be inserted in a hole
formed by a stake and mallet — the effect will by this
means be anticipated. This matter being determined,
an excavation in size, corresponding to the roots of
the tree intended for it, which for a tree of from
thirty to forty years old should seldom be less than
eighteen feet in diameter, should be made at least
two and one-half feet deep ; the good earth being
laid at one side, and the bad at another, with a space
of eight or ten feet, on which no earth is to be
thrown : the bottom of the whole being loosened
with a pick, so that water may not remain in it after
the tree is planted, the sod, if suchthere was, is to be
thrown in and chopped fine, after which, good earth
formed by adding friable black moor, or what would
be far better well rotted dung, to the earth, which
was taken from the hole ; it is to be put into the hole
so as to raise it to the required height — a sufficient
quantity of the compost should also be ready for
filling. The hole being thus prepared, the tree is to
be raised, in doing which. Sir Henry Steuart re-
commends that a trench, such as that described for
preparing the tree, be formed around the tree, at a
distance corresponding to the size of the tree, gene-
rally almost as far from the trunk as the branches
extend. Where a preparing trench was made, that
now described must be formed immediately without
it. This trench being about two feet deep, and of
such width that a man can stand in it and use a
shovel. A set of careful persons, six or eight in
number, each having a light one pronged pick, com-
mence at the inner margin of the trench, and with
his head towards the trunk of the tree loosens the
earth, letting it fall into the trench, from which it is
removed by the man with a shovel. In this way
much fewer roots are damaged than if spades were
used. The roots, when exposed, are to be preserved
from injury, by being tied in bundles with hay ropes,
and some of the largest roots are to be pursued to
their extremity, and taken up entire. The tree
being thus disengaged, the timber carriage, which
differs in no respect from the janker used in all sea-
port towns for transplanting logs of timber, except
that this is much lighter in construction, and has a
platform or bolster above the axletree, is brought
up to the tree, and the pole of it fastened to the
trunk by a rope. The pole of the machine, with the
tree attached, is then pulled down, by which the
roots are raised, and the tree is now ready to be
drawn to its destination — roots foremost, ^¥hen
arrived there, any roots or branches which may have
been broken by accident may be removed : but
shoidd none be injured, none are to be taken off'.
In planting, the side of the tree which in its original
situation was presented to the storm, must now be
turned from it, by which means the short branches
will become long, and the long ones checked, so that
the tree will recover a just balance. Sir Henry
Steuart has the merit of this discovery as applied to
trees — every gardener practises it with his green-
house plants. The tree is now, we will suppose,
seated in its new birth — to retain it firmly there. Sir
Henry uses no other means than carefully ramming
the earth around the small ball which always adheres
to tlie tree, and disposing the roots, which are to be
K 2
68
ON LEAVES OF PLANTS.
spread out in their natural directions, tier above
tier — filling every crevice, and firming the earth
well down. But with larger trees than Sir Henry
is in the habit of removing, and in more exposed
situations, I am of opinion, that additional supports
will be used with advantage. I have elsewhere
described a method used by Mr. Paxton, at Chats-
worth, the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, by
which, in an exposed situation, he maintained in an
erect position trees of an astonishing elevation.
His method is — to drive three strong posts into the
ground, so that their tops shall be level with the
upper part of the strong roots of the tree ; on the
tops of these three posts, rails pressing upon the
roots are spiked ; and this being firmly done, the
tree is immovable ; tlie earth is then filled in, and
raised somewhat higher than the surrounding ground
to admit of sinking ; a good watering is given,
which must be repeated occasionally throughout the
spring and summer ; and a coat of bog stuff, or, if it
can be spared, rotted dimg, must be spread on the
surface, to prevent evaporation. Sir Henry Steuart
recommends shoves (the refuse procured in dressing
flax) ; but the manufacture of flax being unfortu-
nately no longer worth attending to in this country,
shoves are not to be had. In this way every kind
of tree may be removed ; but elms, limes, oaks,
alders, and poplars, with least risk. Any open
weather, from the fall of the leaf to the beginning
of March, will answer for performing the operation;
if the ground be liable to retain a superabundance
of moisture, or be much exposed to storms, spring is
the best season. Under other circumstances, autumn
and the beginning of winter is decidedly preferable.
With respect to expense, that will of course de-
pend as well on the size of the tree, as on the dis-
tance and nature of the ground over which it is
necessary to transport it, rate of wages, &c. &c. As
general approximate it maybe said, that trees of from
ten to fifteen years growth, the roots of which do not
extend beyond four feet from the trunk, may be
taken up and replanted for one shilling each. I
have had many scores of such removed from plan-
tations where they were too close, and replanted at
two pence eacli ; but then they were placed in
sheltered places, and it was not necessary to be very
solicitous about taking them up. A tree of about
twelve or eighteen inches in circumference at the
ground, as many feet high, and from twenty to thirty
years growth may, imder ordinary circumstances, be
removed and replanted for about eight shillings. For
trees considerably beyond that size, the expense
will be much greater than the proportionate size of
the tree would lead a person inexperienced in the
business to suppose.
ON LEAVES OF PLANTS.
BY J. S. DUNCAN, A.M.
The curiously mechanised organs of the root and
stem manifestly tend in the first place to the
formation and evolution of leaves. " The leaf,"
says Thomson, Lect. ix. p. 478. " is a temporary
organ of plants, which performs nearly the same
functions in the economy of vegetable life which the
lungs perform in that of animal life ; or, in fewer
words, leaves are the respiratory organs of plants :
in aphyllous (or leafless) plants, the surface of the
stem performs the function of the leaves. But
herbs, and the soft part of woody plants, absorb
moisture from the atmosphere by the pores of their
epidermis," That moisture is absorbed by the leaves,
as well as by the root, appears manifest from the ex-
periments of Du Hamel, Mariotte, and Bonnet, enu-
merated by Keith, vol. ii. ch. iii. p. 92. The mois-
ture, thus imbibed, is quickly decomposed in the leaf
by & continual and rapid process of perspiration,
which appears necessary to the decomposition,
elaboration, and assimilation of the components of
atmospheric air and of water, the elaboration of the
sap, of carbonic acid, and of oxygen.
" The principal part of the elaboration of the sap,"
vol. ii. ch.iii. p. 136, " is operated in the leaf: for the
sap no sooner reaches the leaf, than part of it is car-
ried off by means of perspiration, perceptible or
imperceptible ; effecting a change in its component
parts, and by consequence a change of its properties."
" Bonnet has shewn, that most leaves absorb
moisture better by one surface than another ; and it
is known that some surfaces actually repel it, as
drops of rain roll along the upper surface of the cab-
bage leaf without wetting it," ch. iii. p. 97-
Various experiments show that leaves vary in re-
spect to this capacity, some absorbing lietter by the
upper, some by the lower surface. The absorption
was thus demonstrated ))y Mariotte. He cut a
branch terminating in two twigs, one was suspended
within, the other hung without a vessel filled with
water : that whicli hung without preserved its ver-
dure, while the other withered.
Leaves, during the day, and particularly in the
sun, inhale carbonic acid gas; " but the gas thus in-
haled is not assimilated immediately, or at least not
wholly, for it is known to be evolved when they ve-
getate in the shade, and during the night."
Ingenhouz observed, " that leaves placed in water
and exposed to tlie sun's rays evolve oxygen gas :"
Sennebier afterwards ascertained, " that this process
only takes place when leaves are fresh, and the water
ON LEAVES OF PLANTS.
69
impregnated with carbonic acid." Of the effect of
light in promoting this process, there can be no
doubt : how it operates is yet among the unexplored
secrets of nature. The root, the wood, the petals,
and leaves, that are faded, and have lost their health-
ful colour, (which is commonly green, of various
shades, but sometimes red and variegated,) are not
found to exhale oxygen gas. The effect is operated
chiefly by the parenchyma, or green portion of the
plant. Keith, ch. iii.
The parenchyma is fluid or granulated matter,
found in minute cells of leaves and leaf-stalks. " In
thin leaves, the cells near the inferior disk are more
transparent than those near the vipper disk ; but in
both we perceive a number of granules, which are
more opaque and of a deeper green as the cells con-
taining them approach the upper disk. In succulent
leaves, and those which maintain a vertical position,
the opacity and green colour of the granules are the
same towards every face of the leaf; but they are
generally colourless in the centre. In the cells of
some leaves, regidar crystallized salts are found, in
others the fluids are tinged of different hues, in
which cases the leaves display the same hues on one
or both surfaces." Thomson, Lect. x. p. 595.
Mr. Keith, after noticing that oxygen gas, that
constituent of atmospheric air which has been found
to be indispensable to the life of animals, is no less
so to the life of vegetables, yet nevertheless, that
plants thrive better in common air than in pure
oxygen gas, concludes excellently; " From whence
it follows, that oxygen, though the principal agent
in the process of vegetation, is yet not the only agent
necessary to the health and growth of the plant,
and that the proportion of the constituent parts of
the atmospheric air is just what it ought to be, as
well for the purposes of vegetable as of animal life,
being at once an indication Ijoth of the wisdom and
goodness of Him by whom it was established." Vol.
ii. p. 175,
" Among fallen leaves, which have been exposed
to the action of the atmosphere in a damp place, we
find some in which the cuticle and pulp are com-
pletely destroyed ; whereas the ribs or veins, as they
are erroneously termed, being less susceptible of de-
composition, remain almost entire, and display a
beautiful tissue of complicated net work. This is
the vascular system, and the leaf in this state is
termed a skeleton leaf. Artificial preparations of
skeletons, by macerating skins in water, preserve
the most minute cords of the vessels, and enable us
to trace with the greatest readiness the divisions,
sub-divisions, and various ramifications of the vas-
cular fasciculi. In Phil. Trans. 1730, No. 414, p.
371, Francis Nichols gives an account of the skel-
eton of a pear leaf, the net-work of which he sjilit
into two equal layers." Thomson, Lect. x. p. 549.
" The fibres are not only subdivided into a variety
of ramifications forming a fine net-work, but that
net- work is double;, consisting of two layers, the one
corresponding to the upper, the other to the under
surface of the leaf. No language is able to convey
an idea of the delicacy and intricacy of the web.
Linnfeus discovered the points of union between the
layers, and remarked that the net-work correspond-
ing to the under surface was much less firm and
compact in its texture than that corresponding to
the upper surface." Keith, vol. i. sec. iv. p. 275.
" Leaves," saj's Sir J. E. Smith's Grammar of Bo-
tany, p. 9. " receive the sap from the wood by one
set of vessels, and expose it to the action of the air,
light and heat, by their upper surface, while what is
superfluous passes off by the under. The sap thus
changed, assumes peculiar flavours, odours, and
other qualities, and is sent by another set of vessels
into the bark, to which it adds a new layer every
year internally, and another layer to the external
part of the wood. Hence the concentric circles in
trees; the number of which shows their age, and the
breadth of each circle the abundance and vigour of
the foliage which formed it."
A volume, or rather many volumes, instead of a
general indicative outline, or short essay, might be
fully devoted to trace the analogy between the vas-
cular system of animals and that of plants. That
such analogy does exist to a certain extent, every
reader of the works of Keith, Smith, and Thomson,
must be readily convinced. Animals, as well as
plants, derive nutrition and the maintenance of their
subsistence from extraneous substances ; vessels are
placed just where they are indispensably requisite,
adapted to select the juices suited to such purpose in
the forms of sap and chyle : other vessels are adapted
to receive the first modified fluid, and to promote its
necessary changes into proper juice, for the purpose
of various assimilation into blood, and bile, and sa-
liva, and synovia, &c. in animals, and into saccha-
rine and other juices, oils, and resins, in plants.
Leaves, like lungs, expose the involved fluids to the
action of air which they decompose, and in that ac-
tion undergo changes essential to vitality. Not to
pursue the comparison further than this point for the
present, it is scarce possible not to perceive, even in
this cursory glance, that the wide difference between
the locomotive animal, deriving nutrition only frojn
the introsusception of previously organized sub-
stances, and the permanently fixed vegetable, " ef-
fecting the development of its parts by the introsus-
ception and assimilation of unorganized substances,
derived from the atmosphere and from the soil,"
(Keith, vol. ii. p. 471), cannot be the result of one
uniformly acting undesigning principal, one blind
impulse, attraction, or gravitation : that the adapt-
ation of the nicely measured and suited parts and
vessels to the successive purposes and the common
obvious end, the continuance of vital subsistence,
must be the result, in plants as well as in animals, of
an operative power, which made long beforehand
7<J
ON LEAVES OF PLANTS.
preparations for changes predestined to exist at a
remote season ; changes necessary to the continual
production and support of successive races of living
beings, capable at least in part, if not in the whole,
of moral, as well as of physical enjoyment, for a
period distinctly limited, as to each individual of
successively life-receiving and life-yielding beings,
through a long succession of generations.
But nothing can more simply, clearly, and obvi-
ously display the unlimited extent of that mysteri-
ously operating power or spirit, which has pervaded
and modified, and still pervades and sustains every
part of creation, from the bright centres of celestial
systems, from the ellipses of the planets and the co-
mets, to the nervous ganglion of a worm, or the ca-
lyptra of a moss, than the infinite diversity of forms
and modifications of the most familiar objects. It
seems as if an angel's voice was heard from every
leaf, exclaiming to the systematic caviller. Look at
the leaves of one hundred thousand species ! In
every species they are different ; among myriads of
myriads of leaves no two exactly resemlile each
other ! Of the varieties of forms, surfaces, attach-
ments, directions, consistences, colours, pubescence,
aggregation, &c. of gems, or buds, of footstalks, of
leaves, and of their general appendages, thorns, ten-
drils, glands, bladders, spathes, involucra, &c. seve-
ral hundreds are enumerated in Thomson's " Me-
thodical Index of Organs," In some plants, whose
stems are very succulent, leaves are wholly wanting,
such as salicornia, cuscuta, stapelia. What terms of
language could so strongly express, what characters
could so intelligibly designate, the eternally import-
ant truth — The power that made this scene of won-
der is a living law unto itself : it is without limit,
capable of infinite diversity, controlling, not con-
trolled by any properties, vital, mechanical, or che-
mical ; the source of all the means of all diversified
existence, of all relations throughout all extent and
variety of being ?
On the subject of vegetable vitality, Keith forci-
bly observes, vol. ii. p. 438. " The best evidence of
its presence is that of its rendering the subject in
which it inheres capable of counteracting the laws
of chemical affinity. This rule, which seems to
have been first instituted (especially insisted on) by
Humboldt, is obviously applicable to the case of ani-
mals, as is proved by the process of the digestion of
food, and its conversion into chyle and blood ; as
well as from the various secretions and excretions
effected by the several organs, and effecting the
growth and development of the individual, in direct
opposition to the acknowledged laws of chemical
affinity ; which, as soon as the vital principal is ex-
tinct, (j. e. withdrawn,) begin immediately to give
indication of their action, in the incipient symptoms
of the putrefaction of the dead body. But the rule
is applicable to the case of vegetables, as is proved
by the introsusception, digestion, and assimilation,
of the food necessary to their development ; all in-
dicating the agency of a principal capable of coun-
teracting the laws of chemical affinity, which, at the
period of what is usually called the death of the
plant, begin also immediately to act, and to give evi-
dence of their action, in the incipient symptoms of
the putrefaction of the vegetable."
It must be further observed, that the relations of
leaves extend far beyond the mere nutrition of the
plant, of which they form a part. They contribute,
in their healthy state, to maintain the purity and sa-
lubrity of the atmosphere during the action of light
upon their surfaces, which surfaces, it is obvious,
must far exceed in their aggregate of extent, that of
the whole earth, perhaps of the whole terraqueous
globe, They afford to the far greater number of
animals the principal portion of their food. The
teeth and stomachs of the larger grazing animals,
the pachydermata, and ruminantia, and most of the
rodentia, demonstrate their special destination and
adaptation to this species of food. Is it possible to
consider these extensive relations of one totally dis-
tinct class of beings to another of a widely different
nature, and conclude that such close and multitudi-
nous connexions, of adaptations, ties, and mutual
dependences, can be casual, or without an adapting,
an arranging cause ? Is svich conclusion reason, or
is it madness ? But leaves supply no small portion
of the food of man: the varieties of cabbage, spinach,
lettuce, celery, thyme, sage, sorrel, parsley, fennel,
are too familiar for further enumeration. In Britain,
as well as in China, tea has become almost a neces-
sary part of food amongst all ranks ; and since the
days of Raleigh, the luxury of tobacco has, with ra-
pid and unexampled progress of proselytism, spread
its influence, holding, like wine, a sort of middle
rank between food and medicine, from the western
coasts of America to the eastern extremity of Asia.
71
ON THE EXCRETORY POWERS OF PLANTS*
BY S. W.
I HAVE read with considerable interest the articles on
the rotation of crops and the excretory powers of
plants in the two last numbers of the journal, and
do hope that some of your correspondents may soon,
by further experiment, be enabled to give more in-
formation on the subject. In the mean time, I
would offer you a few remarks which have occurred
to my mind.
You inform us, that M. Macaire seems to have
ascertained that plants which display their flowers,
exude matter from their roots ; and I am inclined
to think that it is only then, or when plants are
forming and ripening their seeds, or dying, that
exudation takes place to any extent, or such as to
render the soil again unfit for carrying the same
crop to advantage ; for we know that onions, and I
believe, I may say, every garden vegetable, may be
cultivated in the same plot of ground year after year,
with the assistance of manure, to advantage, except
pease and beans, which are permitted to form the
seed. Your correspondent, Mr. Towers, also justly
includes the rasp amongst the defilers of soil, which
I would account for by its peculiar growth, namely,
the wood dying every year, after having yielded the
fruit.
This new discovery (if I may so call it) explains
the remark of that wonderful man. Lord Kames, in
the " Gentleman Farmer," that plants exhaust or
defile the soil chiefly whenforming and ripening their
seed. " Culmiferous plants," says his lordship,
" having small leaves, and few in number, depend
mostly on the soil for nourishment, and little on the
air. During the ripening of the seed, they draw
probably, their whole nourishment from the soil, as
the leaves by this time, being dry and withered,
must have lost their power of drawing nourishment
from the air. Now, as culmiferous plants are chiefly
cultivated for seed, and are not cut down till the
seed be fully ripe, they may be pronounced all of
them robbers, some more and some less. But such
plants, while young, are all leaves, and in that state
draw most of their nourishment from the air.
Hence it is, that when cut green for food to cattle, a
culmiferous crop is far from being a robber." But
to show that they defile it only, and do not exhaust
it, — I tried an experiment about five years ago :
Having often seen cresses growing in flannel
moistened with water, I took that plant for my ex-
periment, and sowed the seeds in a flower pot filled
with stocking, well washed to take the oil out of it ;
and the plants not only grew, but ripened their
seeds, thus proving that plants do not require soil to
bring them to maturity.
The practice of General Beaston sowing wheat
on the same land year after year, (not that I recom-
mend it,) cannot, I think, be explamed on any other
theory than that of destroying or decomposing the
exudation of wheat by fire, that he was enabled to
get such crops as he did. But I consider liming a
better way of decomposing the exudation of plants ;
and as grass, oats, and barley are all of the same fa-
mily, I have no doubt that this is one reason why it
answers so well to lime land when laying it down to
grass, and sowing barley; namely, the lime decom-
po.ses the exudation of the barley, and prevents its
injuring the grass plants. Many old fashioned
farmers are still fond of spreading lime on grass
land before breaking it up for oats ; and I have no
doubt, in the same way, the lime, by acting on the
exudation of the grasses, prepares it as food for the
oats, which it might otherwise injure.
I therefore hope you will continue to encourage
those who are enabled to make experiments on
grasses, and particularly as to the time when the
exudation from their roots takes place, as we would
then be taught the proper time for cutting hay ; we
would be taught if it was desirable to depasture our
grasses so close as to prevent them seeding or
flowering ; — we would be taught whether or not we
ought on all occasions to be at the expense of peren-
nial grass seeds, if, by the dying of the annual rye-
grass, the land is rendered afterwards unfit for oats;
— perhaps we would be taught not to take oats at all
in breaking up from grass, which is almost the uni-
versal practice at present, for we ought to remember
that oats and grass are of the same family. I feel
confident that in this particular, alteration may be
made with advantage in the general rotation of the
countiy ; and I have no doubt another crop may be
had without any extra manure, which would be no
small advantage to the farmer. I am not prepared
to say what crop should be taken in breaking up
from grass. That must depend much upon the soil
and other circumstances ; but I have known beans
taken with advantage, and it must be either beans,
vetches, pease, or potatoes ; then oats, turnips, with
dung, barley, grass, keeping the land in grass one,
two, or three years, and giving lime with the barley
every twelve or fourteen years.
From the " Quarterly Journal of Agriculture."
72
ON THE GROWTH AND CULTURE OF TULIPS *
By \V. B. p. OF HULL.
The plan I have purs\ied for tlie last twenty years
is simple, and one I have always found to answer my
most sanguine expectations except through misfor-
tune by frost, hail, &c. ; against such unforeseen cir-
cumstances it is almost impossible to guard. I al-
ways plant my tulips about the 8th to 12th of No-
vember, 3i to 4 inches deep, on a bed raised by side
boards about a foot from the surface ; which in our
heavy cold soil gives room for the superfluous water
to drain off. I always plant them in the soil taken
from the ranimculus bed, which ranunculus bed I
generally manure at the latter part of the year with
cow dung, and throw the tulip bed on the ranunculus
bed, which is manured again in the same manner,
with an excejjtion in the year 1832; that season I
manured my ranuncidusses with rape dust. I took
of the soil as before, and I never remember having
had so fine a bloom ; this at once proves the supe-
riority of the manure. I generally take out a spade
depth. Some florists will tell you manure will cause
them to run in colours ; this I grant will be the
case if due care be not taken to use the manure suf-
ficiently old and well neutralized, and deprived of
its poisonous qualities, as acids, salts of iron, and all
metallic substances, by the action of sun and air ;
with such care they will never run, as I have tried
maiden soil, soil slightly manured, and the above
soil from the ranunculus bed, manured with rape
dust, and I never witnessed so strong and regular
a bloom. I must also beg to differ from an old
grower respecting the existence of those small worms
which are not wire worms, but are generated in the
bulb from disease or injury by frost or hail storms,
and not from a disposition of adhering to good flow-
ers more than bad, but owing to the finer sorts be-
ing more tender and delicate, consequently more lia-
ble to be attacked by disease, which may also be oc-
casioned by a portion of fresh mjinure coming into
immediate contact with the bulb ; yet I believe frost,
in nine cases out of ten, is the prevailing cause of
disease, as one season I had nearly the whole of my
bed injured by it more or less, and the whole of the
injured bulbs were attacked by those small worms,
and it was two years before I could recover them ;
many were completely destroyed in the ground, and
others went oif after being taken up. I this season
had a bed lying east and west, which were all more
or less injured by a severe hail storm in the latter
part of April ; whilst another north and south was
not injured at all, though only a walk separated the
two beds ; the former on being taken up, were many
of them nearly wholly destroyed by hundreds of
those marauders, and I have not the least shadow of
a doubt of their being attacked in consequence of
their getting diseased by one or both of tlie above
causes ; and as a preventive I should recommend
a net about half inch mash, to be thrown over the
stage about the latter part of April, as we have for
the last three years had severe storms of hail about
this time, and suff'er it to remain until it is necessary
to put on the main covering ; this will not injure the
flowers or weaken them, but may prevent a severe
loss. I should also recommend Tulipus to use a rich
maiden loamy soil, the soil from his ranunculus bed,
or if he does not grow them, to use the soil from his
carnation pots. They may be grown in the loam
one year, and the second year add one sixth dung
from the cucumber bed, and one sixth coarse sand.
Hull, June 13, 1833.
ON THE MANAGEMENT OF ORCHARDS IN LANARKSHIRE.!
BY W. AITON, ESQ.
The modes of planting and managing fruit trees,
have been variously conducted and understood by
gardeners and orchardists, and many plans have been
suggested for promoting their growth, and render-
ing them productive of fruit of an improved qua-
lity ; but some of these plans have been found to be
rather fanciful, and have been abandoned. Per-
ceiving that all sorts of trees grow well in rich deep
soil, some have not only heaped rich earth together,
for fruit trees to grow on, but have laid flags, or
formed causeways, under the trees, to prevent them
extending their roots into the sub-soil. It has been
stated in favour of these precautions, that, on dig-
ging up an ancient garden at Deer, it was found
that a bed of rich earth had been laid to a consider-
able depth over the sub-soil, a causeway had been
formed above that earth, a bed of sand, of a foot
deep over the pavement, and into which the trees
had been planted. This sort of preparation of the
soil for fruit trees appears to have been done at a
From " Florist's Magazine."
t From " Quarterly Journal of Agriculture."
ON THE MANAGEMENT OF ORCHARDS.
73
vast expense, to little purpose. The two causeways
could do no good, as the roots of the trees would
easily penetrate both of them, and enter the sub-
soil in spite of all that costly preparation.
The intelligent orchardists in Lanarkshire, have
acquired more correct knowledge in managing
orchards, than the monks had prior to the reforma-
tion, so that their horticultural practices have re-
quired reformation, as well as their theological opi-
nions. Some modern orchardists have indeed placed
flat stones under fruit trees, to prevent as they con-
ceived, the roots reaching the sub-soil ; but it has
always been found that the trees extended their
roots over, around, and under the stones into the
sub-soil. Others have dug pits, several feet in
width and depth, and filled them with rich mould ;
But when such pits were dug in clay-land, they
could not fail to be filled with water among the
mould, and which the clay would retain, so as to
injure the roots of the trees far more than if no such
pits had been dug, and the trees had been allowed
to follow their own course in extending their roots.
It was on the same erroneous principle that mounds
of rich earth were raised for fences, and the thorns
planted upright, three or four feet above the surface
of the ground, to preA'ent them striking root in the
cold tilly sub-soil, which was imagined to be the
cause of their becoming stunted in growth and
covered with fog. The folly of attempting to prove
either trees or thorns to grow secundum artem, is now
seen in its proper point of view, and abandoned.
Some have recommended to dig or trench the
ground which the fruit trees are to occupy about
eighteen inches deep ; but if the ground is nearly
level, and the sub-soil retentive, the water in that
case would remain about the roots of the trees and
injure them. If trenching the ground be at all re-
sorted to, it ought to be extended over the whole
orchard ground. But if it is executed in a sterile
clay-soil, resting on a tilly bottom, the better earth
would be buried under a foot of barren sub-soil,
which it would require much manure and labour to
enrich ; while the former soil being buried, would
soon become inert. In bare clay-land, like that of
the Clydesdale orchards, it is probably the best
course to dig up the soil with spades, about ten
inches deep, preserve it from being buried under
barren earth, and enrich it as much as possible with
manure, and occasional exposure to sun and frost to
render it friable.
The orchardists in Lanarkshire have relinquished
the practice of placing flags under the fruit trees,
and they neither make pits, nor trench the ground
eighteen inches deep, or more than ordinary delving
with spades. They plant the trees only from six to
eight inches deep, and raise the earth a foot or 18
inches round them, a few inches above their roots,
to enable them to withstand the blast.
Considerable diversity of opinion prevails in La-
MAGAZINE OF BOTANT AND GARDENING, VOL II. NO. XIV.-
narkshire as to how far the fruit trees should stand
from each other, and errors have been run into
both in planting too near and too sparse. In the
Dalziel orchards, and some others, the rows of trees
are twenty-two feet apart, and eleven feet distance
in the rows. The trees in the orchard at West
Brownlee are closer. In the new orchard on the
estate of Wishaw, the rows are at thirty feet dis-
tance, and fifteen feet from each other in the rows.
On the Coltness estate, the rows are twenty-seven
feet, and the trees ten and a-half feet from one ano-
ther in the rows. Some, however, are sparser, and
in some of the oldest orchards the trees are irregu-
larly planted. In general, however, they are
planted closer than is usually done in the English
orchards. It is a common practice in the Clydes-
dale orchards to plant an early bearer, alternately
with other trees in the rows ; and some plant goose-
berry and currant bushes between the trees ; while
others raise only potatoes, oats, &c.
In all the Lanarkshire orchards, every spring or
damp ground is carefully drained, with either open
or covered drains. But in all clay-land, a covered
furrow drain ought to be formed between each row
of trees. The great advantage of furrow-draining,
in all heavy soils, is now universally admitted : and
it seems more necessary in orchard ground than in
arable land, as the trees overshadowing the ground
create more damp than when the grain crops are
taken ; and as the roots of trees grow deeper into the
earth than those of corn plants, draining in orchards
is necessary to relieve the soil of all stagnant mois-
ture. Young fruit trees require ropes of straw, or
sprigs of broom, to be tied round them, to prevent
their bark being eaten by hares. Either of these
means are preferable to besmearing the trees with
soot, or any other nasty substance.
After trees have been planted for five or six
years, they ought to be divested of such branches as
seem to point too near to the ground, and that rub
upon one another. Some orchardists liave at-
tempted to train their fruit-trees, so as to send out
branches in every direction, and to have the tree
open in the middle. This method, however, is not
in every case practicable with fruit-trees, and par-
ticularly in regard to pear-trees, which frequently
tower high up in the top. It is a better, and still
more common practice, to allow trees to take every
one its own shape, and merely to lop off', with due
caution, such branches as hang too near the ground;
and they are not so much shaken by the wind as
branches that soar higher. Wherever blotches
appear on trees, they ought to be cut off to prevent
their forming ulcers. All sorts of moss ought to be
removed from fruit-trees, and the fruit should never
be pulled from the trees when it is damp. It is
better to take the fruit off" with the hand than to
shake the trees, which injures both them and the
fruit. Those who purchase the fruit have the
-MAY, 1834 ^
74
ON THE MANAGEMENT OF OKCHARDS.
trouble of taking it off the trees ; but they do not
always exercise sufficient caution to save the trees
from injury.
The produce of the Clydesdale orchards, consisting
of apples, pears, plums, and small fruit, has hitherto
been disposed of as fruit for family use, or sold to
retail dealers in Glasgow, Paisley, Hamilton, La-
nark, &c. ; and part of it has often been disposed of
in Edinburgh. But now that the prices of apples
and pears have fallen to less than one third part of
what they brought about twenty years ago, and from
the great expense of carting fruit to market, the
orchardist would do well to consider if it could not
be manufactured into cider and perry. It is well
known that apples raised from a clay-soil make the
best cider, and from the best information I have
been able to procure, from twenty-four to thirty
bushels of apples yield a hogshead, or one hundred
and ten gallons of cider, the price of which varies
from 1/. 5s. to 21. 2s. per hogshead. In Hereford-
shire, twenty hogsheads of cider have often been
made from the apples grown upon an English acre
of land, although no more than forty trees grow on
an acre. If a part of the fruit in Lanarkshire were
converted into cider and perry, when the crops are
most abundant, and only the marketable part of the
crop, or what is known in Glasgow by the name of
" shop fruit," were sold, a considerable sum might
be raised by beverages, whilst the value of the
marketable fruit might be kept at a remunerating
price. Should the return from cider and perry fall
short of the price the fruit brought some time ago
in the Glasgow market, the expense of the carriage
of the fruit at all events would be saved. I under-
stand that tlie whole apparatus and utensils for
making cider may be fitted up for about 50/. ; and
that two or three of these establishments would be
sufficient to bruise one-half of the fruit that these
orchards produce annually.
From the vast quantity of gooseberries and cur-
rants now raised in the Clydesdale orchards, and in
every garden in that country, their prices have
fallen to about one-half, or two-third parts of what
they brought some years ago. But as immense
quantities of them are now made into jam, jelly, and
wine, as well as into tarts and other confectionary
articles ; condiments so wholesome and palatable
cannot fail to be in high request among all ranks of
people. These fruits, in fact, occupy the same
place in Scotland that the vines do in warmer coun-
tries. Apples and pears are eaten in France and
Belgium as food along with bread of rye ; and in
Cornwall and some parts of England, the labouring
people eat fruit instead of bread or potatoes, and
prefer the fruit to either of them.
Under crops of potatoes, oats, beans, barley, &c.,
are raised to a considerable extent among the fruit-
trees in the Lanarkshire orchards, though not in
that regular order as to be traced to any specific ro-
tation of cropping. Potatoes with dung are gene-
rally followed by oats, and next by clover and rye
grass. Where the trees are planted near to each
other, the orchard small, and the ground steep, the
ground is dug with spades for the under cropping ;
and even where the plough is used, three or four
feet on each side of the trees are dug with the spade,
to prevent the trapping of the horses injuring the
trees. After the trees have grown twenty years,
milch cows are sometimes allowed to browse in the
orchards. But the ground requires to be broken
up, manured, and cropped every few years, in order
to enrich the soil, for the benefit of the fruit-trees,
and to prevent their becoming stunted in growth
and covered with moss. The tacksmen of the cot-
tage orchards are bound in their leases to manure
their orchards every four years. This is necessary
in the sterile grounds on which many of these or-
chards have been formed, and especially when the
trees are young. Even in richer land, the health
and fecundity of the trees are promoted by under
digging, and the application of manure. The under
crops themselves far more than repay the dung and
labour bestowed on the land.
ROYLE'S HIMALAYAN BOTANY.*
This is a splendid and interesting work on the
botany of a district rich in the productions of natural
history. The opportunities which the author en-
joyed as superintendent of the Company's garden
at Saharunpore, he employed in forming an exten-
sive herbarium, and procuring all possible informa-
tion on the subjects of his peculiar pursuits. The
results are to be published in the work before us,
which, however, being in parts, we have as yet
only a small portion of what is to come. He com-
mences with an introduction embracing a few ne-
cessary geographical details, among which our read-
ers must be pleased with the following : —
" The plants of Kunawur have generally a dry
sombre aspect, few leaves, and those small, fre-
quently inserted in a cluster round the root, from
the centre of which rises the scape of generally
large and showy flowers. The petioles not under-
* " Illustrations of the Botany and other branches of the Natural History of the Himalayan Mountains, and of the Flora of
Cashmere." By J. Forbes Royle, Esq., F.L.S. & G.S., M.R.A.S. Of the Honourable East India Company's Medical Esta-
blishment ; Member of the Asiatic, Medical, Agricultural, and Horticvdtural Societies of Calcutta ; and Late Superintendent of
the Honourable Company's Botanic Garden at Sahaninpore.
ROYLE S HIMALAYAN BOTANY.
75
»
going decomposition, from the dryness of the climate,
remain attached round the plant, and as they be-
come pushed outwards by the growth of internal
parts, the cellular parts are destroyed, while the
fibrous remain, and protect the root, as with a cover-
ing of air, from the severity of the weather. One
peculiarity is remarkable, and that is, the resem-
blance externally between the plants and this cold
region and those of the desert-like country near
Delhi ; but this is observable only in the parts of
vegetation, and not in those of fructification, for in
the cold climate, the flowers are large and shoTi-y,
and in the hot, small and inconspicuous : in both
the shrubs are stunted, thorny, and frequently hairy;
the wood scanty, hard, and compact ; while the sur-
face of each is dry, and of an ash grey or pale green
colour. The only similarity in climate is, that in
each there is great dryness of the atmosphere ; the
the resemblance therefore is probably dependent on
peculiarity of the transpiratory surface. Capparis
and Salsola are almost the only genera common to
both situations ; the latter evidently owing to the
soil of each being covered with saline efflorescence."
We are much pleased with general remarks of
this description, and wish we could more frequently
see them introduced in works on botany, though it
is not always to be expected that a mere collector
of specimens or a Jussieuan botanist, eagerly dissect-
ing fruit and flowers to detect fanciful analogies run-
ning through what he terms families and orders,
can either have leisure or tact for this purpose,
warped, as all his thoughts must be, by the influ-
ence of a theory. We are glad to give another
specimen of the matter of which we cordially ap-
prove, before we come to what is objectionable.
" If," says Mr. Royle, " instead of keeping on
mountain tops, we descend into the vallies on their
northern face, we shall observe that, with many of
the phenomena peculiar to such localities, there is
considerable modification in the vegetation of each,
according to elevation and latitude. The valley of
Cashmere, situated between the thirty-fourth and
tliirty-fifth parallels of latitude, in the most northern
part of Himalaya, and to which we descend to
the snow-clad summit of Peerpunjal, is described as
being of an oval form, encircled by mountains clothed
with vegetation, which are themselves girded by a
higher range covered with snow. The level of the
valley is of considerable extent, being about sixty
miles in length, and about forty in breadth in the
widest part ; its elevation is estimated by the late
lamented traveller, M. Jacquemont, to be from 5,248
5,576 ; he however states that the beauty of this
valley has been much exaggerated, both by his coun-
tryman Bernier and by Mr. Forster. But there is
no doubt that, in consequence of its being copiously
watered by numerous streams, lakes, and canals,
there is considerable moisture both of soil and
climate, and almost constant verdure ; while the
numerous gardens, and the great variety of fruit-
trees and of beautiful flowers, must always strike
visitors from the arid plains of India, whether Eu-
ropeans, as Bernier and Forster, or Asiatics, as
Abul Fuzl. From the mixed nature of the culti-
vation, the climate must evidently be mild and tem-
perate, for even in the warmest months of summer
the breezes which descend at night from tlie moun-
tains are always cool and pleasant ; the periodical
rains consist of gentle showers, and the snows
which fall in winter cannot remain long upon the
ground. Abul Fuzl says, that it rains and snows
here at the same season, as in Tartary and Persia;
and that during the periodical rains in Hindoostan
light showers only fall here, though with great
violence on the mountains which form the barrier
to the south-east.
" From the northern latitude and great elevation
of the valley of Cashmere, we are not surprised at
finding in its flora a great resemblance to that of
European countries ; but the moisture of the climate,
and its mild temperature in the season of vegeta-
tion, causes so great an extension of the herbaceous
parts, as well as of the flowers of plants, that many
of them rival in luxuriance those of tropical coun-
tries. The mildness and moisture of the climate is
indicated by the extensive cultivation of rice, as
well as by the successful cultivation of the Cticur-
bitacea, as no where are there finer and larger
melons, water-melons, gourds, and cucimibers. The
kidney bean, though not common in the gardens of
the north-western provinces, thrives remarkably well
in Cashmere, as well as the egg-plant and the cap-
sicum, The lakes abound with Trophis bispinosa,
and species of Nymphtea Menyanthes. The existence
of hemp and of species of balsam, of marsh-tree,
and common mallow, all indicate a temperate cli-
mate, as do the cultivation of wheat, barley, and
saffron, together with the culture in their gardens
of such European vegetables as turnip, radish, beet-
root, and cabbage ; and the usage of clover as fodder
for cattle ; all proving the approximation in vegeta
tion to that of European countries, as has been
already indicated with regard to the climate by the
testimony of so many travellers. The other genera
of which species have been brought down by the
plant collectors are chiefly European, as Viola, Trol-
lius, Dianthus, MatUola, Cheiranthus, Draba, Cap-
sella, Hypericum, Lythrum, Spiraa, Rubus, Geum,
Myricaria, Eryngium, Euphrasia, Salvia, Nepeta,
Phlomis, Trifolium, Vicia. Orobus, Ononis, Medicago,
Lactuca, Sonchus, Iris, Narcissus, and Crocus. The
species which have been already identified with those
of Europe are the following : Mentha viridis, Mentha
arvensis, Mentha sylvestris. Hibiscus Trionum, Cen-
taurea moschata, Hieracium sabaudum, Dianthus bar-
batus. Lychnis coronaria, Myosotis palustris, Dactylis
glomerata, Cucubalus baccifer."
We now turn to the body of the work, which
76»
aOYLs's HIMALAYAN BOTANY.
contains a detailed account of the Jussieuan family,
Ranunculace*, which, though in some respects it is
done in a masterly manner, contains a very erro-
neous and withal a highly dangerous doctrine,
namely, that the plants arranged in a family like the
RanunculacetE possess " the same sensible properties
and modes of action on the human frame" (page
45), a doctrine which, as we shall presently see, is
contradicted by the author's own details ; but before
coming to these we shall stop for a moment to ex-
amine what Dr. Professor Lindley says on the sub-
ject— the doctor being esteemed among his clique the
great oracle upon sucli absurd dreams and fancies.
The doctor, when engaged for the Bayswater book
manufactory, got up some sad contradictory stuff for
the Encyclopiedia of Plants, of which, we doubt not,
he has long been ashamed ; but there it is in good
stereotype print. At page 1052 of this work. Dr.
Professor Lindley tells us, that when the natural
order of a plant is ascertained (we quote from the
Editor's Alphabet of Botany) many of its most im-
portant qualities, such as " medicinal properties,"
may be " safely" inferred. Now, if this were so,
nobody, I think, would dispute the high value of this
Natural system. Unfortunately, however, this prin-
ciple is virtually contradicted by what follows.
Thus, under Celltjlares, Order viii.. Dr. Professor
Lindley gives us " Cetraria Islandica, &c., tonic and
nutritive," along with " Evernia vulpina, poisonous."
Under Vasculares, again. Order cxli., (to say no-
thing as to size, form, and stnicture,) of " the fig,
the mulberry, and the bread-fruit tree" being natu-
rally (common sense wovdd say unnaturally) classed
" among worthless weeds," such as " the common
stinging nettle," " and shabby half herbaceous
shrubs," such as " the hemp and the hop; " what are we
to think of "safely" inferringfrom the fig, the bread-
fruit tree, and the sago plant, the " medicinal pro-
perties" of " the upas tree, now known to be the An-
tiaris toxicaria," the inspissated juice of which, to use
Dr. Professor Lindley's own words, " is a frightful
jjoison" (p. 1083)? Were I the proprietor of this
work, I would not hesitate an instant to break up the
the stereotype plates, in order to expunge such glar-
ing contradictions and highly dangerous errors. In
his own work on the Natural System, Dr. Professor
Lindley alludes to the discrepancy in these words :
" The fig, the bread-fruit tree, the jack, and the
mulberry, are all found here, and are a curious in-
stance of wholesome or harmless plants in an order
which contains the most deadly poison in the world,
the Upas of Java ; the juice, however, of even those
which have wholesome fiiiit, is acrid and suspicious,
and in a species of fig, Ficus toxicaria, is absolutely
venomous."* Now had the author not been blindly
prejudiced in favour of the system, he must have
Keen that instead of this being a " curious instance,"
authorising a theoretical suspicion of the mild fig,
and nutritious bread fruit, is fatal to the whole
doctrine of " safely" inferring medicinal properties.
Dr. Lindley complains bitterly in his preface, that
" the Natural System of Botany" lias to contend
with a great deal of deeply rooted prejudice ;" but
the wonder ought rather to be that such doctrines
as those under notice ever found any person so fool-
hardy as to promulgate and defend them.
In the division just alluded to, which is the fif-
teenth class of our Alphabet, in the second order,
among those especially called the true nettles ('as if
there could be in nature any false ones), we find the
mulberry tree, side by side, with the stiff hemp and
the light climbing hop. Now admitting that the
seed and the flowers of all these agree in structure,
as they nearly do, it must appear obvious that the
plants are as incongruously and unnaturally grouped
as possible, in reference to their general form and
habits ; while, if we look to qualities, what can be
more incongruous than to rank the poisonous upas
of Java in the same order with the fig? In the
seventh order of the eighth class, also, we find the
wholesome potatoe and the mild shepherd's club
ranking with henbane and the deadly night-shade.
In the third order of the eleventh class, we find
not only lofty trees ranked with dwarf shrubs, and
tiny slender herbs, but we have the cotfee ranked
with the well-known emetic, ipecacuanha, and this
again with Peruvian bark. In the thirteenth class
we have, so far as size and form are concerned, the
low-growing pinks, violets, and buttercups, ranked
not only with the tall sun-flower, but with the stately
horse-chestnut, the lime-tree, and the maple ; and
these again with the climbing vine, and the waving
barberry shrub ; while we could not, I think, " safely"
infer the " medicinal properties" of the poppy, from
which opium and laudanum are procured, gamboge,
which is violently purgative, and buttercup, which
is an acrid pois(jn, from the mild cocoa and marsh-
mallow, and the wholesome orange. This would
indeed be altogether preposterous. The fourteenth
class furnishes precisely similar discrepancies. In
point of size and form, we find the spring chick-
weed, one of our smallest British plants, ranked
among apple-trees and holm oaks ; and these again
with the light climbing passion flower and goose-
berry bushes. The " medicinal properties," how-
ever, of the poisonous elaterium, the acrid stone-
crop, the emetic laburnum, and the purgative buck-
thorn, could not be " safely" inferred from tie
nutritive pea and bean, or the wholsome pear, apple,
and gooseberry, — which are all in this class.
I could readily fill a volume with the similar
discrepancies of this so preposterously belauded Na-
tural System, which, if it have not to answer for the
loss of human lives by poisoning upon principle, it
* P. 95. "Lindley's Natural System of Botany."
ROTLB S HIMAXAYAN BOTANY.
77
is no fault of its promulgators. The fact is, that so
far from being more natural than the Linnsean sys-
tem, these instances now given, with many more,
show it to be more palpably unnatural. But the day
of philosophy has now, as I fondly hope, at last
dawned, and rational and useful studies must ulti-
mately banish mystery and nonsense, though these
may, for a season, stalk about in the mask and under
the assumed names of philosophy and science.
So far from the Editor's Alphabet of Botany : let
us now turn to Mr. Royle's book, in which, as we
have seen, these highly pernicious doctrines are ad-
vocated, though expressly contradicted by the state-
ments which the author himself furnishes in their
support. -•>;' -■
" The Ranunculacea form a very natural family, riot
only with respect to structure and geographical dis-
tribution, but also in possessing the same scTisible pro-
perties and modes of action on the human frame. This
is owing to their containing in all parts an acrid
principle, which Krapf ascertained to be neither acid
nor alkaline, but of so volatile a nature, that in most
cases simple drying in the air, or infusion, or decoc-
tion in water, is sufficient to destroy it; that its
activity is increased by acids, sugar, honey, wine,
and spirits, and is only effectually destroyed by
water and vegetable acids. (^Fi-e, Covrs. d'Hist.
Nat. Pharm. v. i. p. 373.) Two vegetable alkalies,
Delpia and Aconitia, the latter little known, are pro-
duced by the plants of this family ; if the acrid
principle be always of the volatile nature that it is
represented, the powerful effects attendant on the
administration of the root of Aconitnm ferox even
after it had been preserved ten years, must be as-
cribed to the presence of some principle of a more
permanent nature. According, apparently, to the
proportion of the s.crid principle to the rest of the
vegetable substance, or perhaps owing to the pecu-
liar nature of the acrid principle in each species, it
is found that they act either on the system gene-
rally, or in different degrees on particular organs.
Thus several species of Ranunculus are used as rube-
facients and vesicatories ; while the roots of Zan-
thorhiza, Coptis, and Hydrastis, as tonics ; and those
of Thalictrum majus as a substitute for rhubarb. Hel-
lebore has long been known as a powerful cathartic,
and Aconite as a no less powerful narcotic and
poison ; while some, from the destructibleness of
their noxious property by water, have been used as
food. The Mahomedan physicians in India having
derived their knowledge of drugs chiefly from Ara-
bian authors, who translated from the Greek, it is
surprising to find such articles as Hellebore, Pwony,
Lycoctonum, and Stavesacre, all of which, as well as
others, might be grown in the Himalayas, prescribed
in every part of India, though the druggists, calcu-
lating upon the ignorance of both pri ctitioners and
patients respecting the true drug, generally substi-
tute some which they consider an equivalent. Yet
it is interesting to observe, that independent obser-
vation has introduced into Indian practice several
drugs from this family, to which the same properties
are ascribed as in Europe. Thus Ranunculus scele-
ratus is used as a vesicatory. The roots of Thalic-
trum foliolosum as a bitter in the cure of fevers—
those of Aconitum heterophyllum as a tonic, and of
Aconitum ferox, though a poison, as a narcotic in
rheumatism. Nigella sativa is alone cultivated in
India, as in most eastern countries, and continues in
the present day, as in the most ancient times, to be
used both as a condiment and a medicine."
Now, how does it prove the doctrine of all these
plants, huddled up by Jussieuan botanists, into what
they call a family " possessing the same sensible pro-
perties and modes of action on the human frame,"
to tell us that some of them are used to blister the
skin, others as tonics; others as strongly purgative ;
others as narcotic poisons ; others as bitters in the
cure of fevers ; others as substitutes for rhubarb, a
mild aperient ; others as condiments, &c. ? It is in-
deed, nearly, though not quite so bad as the gross
contradictions of Dr. Professor Lindley ; for here, as
in his case, of the common and the poison fig, we
have Mr. Royle telling us that one species (Aconitum
heterophyllum) is " a tonic," and another species of
the same genus (A. ferox), a " virulent poison," the
terrible drug which the Hindoos call Bitch or Bish:
This is, of course, a great deal worse, because of the
dangers it may lead to, than that of classing the tall,
climbing, graceful shrubs, in the genus Clematis, or
Virgin's Bower, with such minute marsh plants as
Ranunculus hederaceus, and these again with the
gaudy peony and the plain meadow rue, calling the
whole a " a very natural family." It would appear,
from this latter phrase, that there are other families
in the so called natural system, which are not so
" very natural:" if they are more discrepant than
this, they must be bad enough in all conscience.
We shall, in order to give Mr. Royle all fair play in
his " Illustrations of the Natural System," make one
other extract from his account of what is certainly
a more natural family, if for once we may borrow
this highly objectionable phrase. Our extract shall
be from the Cruciferse.
" The Crucifera are, like the Ranunculacea, an [«]
European family, of which few are found in the
plains of India, but numerous species in the Hima-
layan Mountains. These belong chiefly to genera
which are common in Europe and the northern
parts of Asia and America, and of which several
new species have been described in the Floras of
Siberia, Caucasus, and of the Altai Mountains. The
species hitherto discovered are about 70 in number,
belonging to the genera Nasturtium, Barbarea, Tur-
ritis, Arabis, Cardamine, Dentaria, Draba, Thlaspi,
Hesperis, Sisymbrium, Alliaria, Erysimum, Lepidium,
Capsella, Sinapis ? The latter, mentioned with doubt,
as the only species known, are those described in the
78
ROTLE S HIMALAYAN BOTANT.
Flora Indica, obtained by Dr. Buchanan from Tibet.
The genus Tauscheria, which, from its singular fruit,
I had named Navicularia, is the only one of the pe-
culiar Siberian genera which extends to Kunawur,
where the arid and saline nature of the soil must be
as favourable to its growth, as the deserts of the
Kirghis, or the banks of the Irtisch. The Euro-
pean species of the above genera, which have been
found extending as far southward as the Himalayas,
are, Turritis glabra, Thlaspi arvense, Capsella Bursa
Pastoris, Alliaria officinalis, and Sisymbrium Sophia.
Besides Tauscheria desertorum, Crambe cordifolia, is
another plant belonging to the Flora of Siberia, as
well as to that of Caucasus, which extends to Kuna-
wur. Draba radicans of the present work, with its
radicating stems and yellow flowers, is closely allied
in general appearance to Draba repens, figured by
Ledebour, 1. 145. The other species of the same
genus are closely allied in habit to their European
congeners, and equally inhabiting, like them, the
cold and exposed summits of mountains.
" In the gardens of Northern India, Mathiola in-
cana and Cheiranthus cheiri are common ; and as I
have received specimens of both plants from Cash-
mere, there is no doubt that both have been intro-
duced from that direction into India, being still
much used in medicine, and known by the names
of white, purple, and yellow khueree, or, as com-
monly written, cheiri. In the plains of India, but
few species of this family are met with. Nasturtium
officinale, growing in the vicinity of water in most
parts of the world, seems to be found in all parts of
India, though the natives ascribe its introduction
to the English. I have found it near Hurdwar;
Dr. Wallich met with it in Rohilcund. Lepidium
sativum belonging to a genus, of which species are
found in Syria, Arabia, and Persia, has long been
known and cultivated in India. From the medicinal
and dietetic uses, as well as from the Arabic and
Persian synonymes of this plant, it is probable that
it was introduced into India from Caubul or Persia,
where also we must look for the route by which the
cabbage, radish, and turnip, have found their way
into India, as all were known and cultivated there
long before they could have been introduced by
Europeans, I have received the seeds of all from
Cashmere, and grown them in the Botanic Garden
of Saharunpore. The turnips, moreover, in Kuna-
wur, are described as being remarkably fine. Be-
sides these, which are confined to gardens or the
neighbourhood of villages, there are other species
of this family, which form very extensive agricul-
tural crops, Ijut, like the former, only during the
cold weather months. The majority-of these have been
referred to the genus Sinapis, and one species, which
agrees very closely with Brassica ervcastrum to both
Brassica and Eruca ; this is called tira : a variety ap-
parently of the same is cultivated in the hills. The
species or varieties referred to Sinapis still require
careful revision. Sinapis ramosa of Dr. Roxburgh ap-
pears tobe the species which is called r«ee, Indian mus-
tard, and is much used as a condiment, S. glauca may
be the toria,S .dichotoma the kalee-surson,dLnA S.juncea
the bunga-surson ; the three latter, as well as tira and
Sesamum orientate, being extensively cultivated for
the oil which is afforded by their seeds, as the na-
tives of the greater part of India depend upon them
chiefly for oil for burning in lamps, as well as for
that necessary for dietetical piurposes. Some other
species are described as being indigenous to and
growing wild in India ; but regarding all there is
some uncertainty, and though there is no doubt that
the cultivated species have been long acclimated,
yet having only been met with in that state, their
native country must still be considered undeter-
mined. But though there is this uncertainty re-
specting the cultivated Crucifcra, species of this fa-
mily are no doubt found in the plains of India : of
this a curious instance is the existence of a species
of Farsetia, in the neighbourhood of Delhi and
Agra, where it was first found by Dr. Hamilton, and
subsequently by myself in the same locality. The
existence of the species of this genus only in Syria,
Egypt, and north of India, may be considered as
confirmatory of the opinion stated, p. 7, that the
Oriental or Persian, or better, as Professor Lindley
calls it, the Syrian region, may be considered as ex-
tending to the north of India. Another plant more
singular was also first discovered by Dr. Hamilton,
Cochlearia flava, and has been described by Roth
under the name of Alyssum Cochlearioides which the
celebrated De CandoUe has called Cochlearia ? Alys-
soides, in his Prodromus, with a query, whether it
be not a species of Vesicaria. In its accumbent coty-
ledons, oval dissepiment and convex valves, it re-
sembles Cochlearia, but it differs in habit, which,
with the peculiar rounded form of its silicule, long
funiculus, yellow flowers, and Indian locality, might
entitle it to form a new genus. It is found all
along the banks of the Ganges, in Northern India,
as high as Hurdwar.
" The Cruciferce, one of the most natural of families,
presents also the most perfect analogies in respect
to sensible and medical properties. Most of the
species, though of course in different proportions,
contain an acrid volatile oil, which renders the In-
dian, as well as the European species, useful as sti-
mulants and vesicatorics, a fixed oil in their seeds,
for which many of them are cultivated, together
with azote, fecula, mucilage, and saccharine matter.
When the acrid principle is small, in proportion to
the mucilaginous or saccharine matter, many of the
Crucifera become, as is well known, useful articles
of diet."
We hope Mr. Royle will take our strictures in
good part, and will take care, as he proceeds, to
avoid contradictions. We shall probably return to
the work in a future page.
79
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
Convolvulus turpethum.
Foliis cordatis angnlatis integrisque obtusiusculis mucronatis
pubescentibus, pedunculis folio brevioribus, bracteis 2 mag-
nis tubum corolla fere aequantibus, caule alato.
Convolvulus Turpethum. Linn. Sp. PL p. 221. Willd. Sp.
PI. V. 1. p. 859. Roxb. Fl. Ind. v. 2, p. 57. Spreny. St/sl.
Veget. v. 1, p. 598.
Shevttdia Kodie.
Stems twining or procumbent, according to cir-
cumstances, with three wings, smooth. Wings de-
current from the petioles. Petioles flattened above,
and slightly winged on the edges, pubescent, about
li inches long. Leaves broadly sviborbicular, cord-
ate, entire, obtuse, softly pubescent ; above a little
harsh, from the hairs being shorter and stiff'er. Pe-
duncles axillary, round, pubescent, varying in length,
but usually longer than the petioles : at first two or
three-flowered, but afterwards increasing in num-
ber, owing to the lateral predicels becoming proli-
ferous and giving off fresh ones. Bracteas large,
membranaceous, deciduous. Cctlyx five-parted, outer
segments much larger than the others, concave, en-
tire, villous, mucronate, speckled within with nu-
merous black spots. Corolla white : tube short, con-
tracted at, and nearly closed by, the filaments, which
are much enlarged and hairy. Filaments short :
anthers oblong, spirally twisted after shedding their
pollen. Style filiform, longer than the stamens.
Stigma capitate, two-lobed. Capsules stipitate, two-
celled, four-seeded, enclosed in the greatly enlarged,
and now smooth greenish white calyx. In its junior
state the apex is covered with a green scale, which
drops as it approaches to maturity, leaving the cap-
sule transparent in the place it occupied.
OXALIS RUBELLA.
Decandria Pentagynia, Linn; OxalideK, JussiEU.
Co!. 5-pliyUus. Petala ungmibus connexa. Stam. Inaequalia,
S-brevlora exteriora basi connata. Caps, angulse dehiscens,
5-gona.
Oxalis rubella; caule ramosa folioso erecto, pedunculo unifloro
foliis multoties longiore foliis ternatis, subsessilibus linear!
cvineiformibus, corollis campanulatis obtusis stylis stamini-
bus intevioribus brediaribus. — Willd. Sp. PI. 2 p. 796.
Oxalis rubella; corollis campanulatis, stylis intermediis, fila-
mentis edentulis. — Jacq. Collect. 3 p. 232. Je. Rat: 3 t.
471.
Oxalis radia fibrosa, caulibus ramosis, foliis ternatis angustis,
florum petiolis longissimis. — Burn. Afr. IX. t. 28./. 2.
Oxalis hirta, 0. rosacea, and 0. re<Je/Za,are very much
alike ; perhaps too mvich so to be properly considered
as distinct species. If they are to be distinguished,
tliis plant, having obtuse petals, must be referred to
the last mentioned. It is a native of the Cape, and
requires the shelter of a green-house, and is propa-
gated by tubers.
MOR^A COLLINA.
Triandria Mouogynia, Linn. ; Liliaceae, JuSSiEC.
Morcea collina {multifiora ; cor. miformis ; imberbis ;) foliis lin-
earibus, convoluto-concavis, nudis ; coroUae laciniis subsequa-
libus, sursum recurvo-patentibus, deorsum turbinatim conni-
ventibus, elliptico oblongis subacutis, extimis basi scrobiculo
meUifero notatis ; stigmatibus miminuto petaliformibus;
filamento cylindraceo, colvunellari, pubescente.
Morcea collina. Thunb. Diss. 11. n. 13. Prod. 9. Jacq. Je.
Rar. 2. t. 220. Fragm. 14. n. 51.
Morcea miniata. Bot. Repos. tab. 404.
Sisi/rinchium colUnvm. Cavan. Diss. b. 346. Willd. Sp. PI. 3-
578.
(a) flore miniato, minore. — Bof. Repos. b. c.
(4) flore subminiato, majore.
(c) flore lutescente. — Jacq. I. c.
Root, a roundish bulb-tuber, covered with fibrous
coats ; leaves in the fertile plant generally cauline,
2-3, in the sterile plant one, radical linear-lorate,
narrow, far attenuated, caudate-cuspidate convolute-
concave, naked lower on reaching far above the
stem, upper shorter ; stem one or paniculately ma-
ny fascicled ; fascicles 2-3 flowered, convolute lan-
ceolate, awned-acuminate ; corolla ephemeral regu-
lar, upwards uniformly, and recurvedly patent,
downwards turbinately converging ; segments of the
same length, exterior ones, elliptic oblong, interior
oblong, narrower ; ungues broad, nearly the length
of the laminae, outer having at the base a small ob-
long melliferous indentation ; filament columnar cy-
lindric, entire, pubescent, about the height of the
ungues ; anthers linear-oblong, sessile, upright, ad-
pressed to the stigmas, than which they are very lit-
tle shorter; stigmas subpetaloid, bilabiate, barely
higher than the ungues ; inner lip bifid, with subu-
late segments, but just longer than the outer, which
is the broadest, retusely truncate ciliate, fringed pu-
bescent inward ; capsule membranous, columnar
slender, indistinctly trigonal, about an inch long.
A native of the Cape of Good Hope : it was im-
ported by Messrs. Lee and Kennedy. It blooms in
May, and is a green-house plant.
RANUNCULUS POLYPETALUS.
Polyandria Polygynia, Linn. ; Ranunculaceie, Jussieu.
R. Polypetalus scapo unifloro, foUis reniformibus crenatis calyce-
que glabris, petalis oblongis numerosis. Species distinctis-
sima, ad Ficariam accidens. Berba perennis, csespitosa, ru-
dimentis foliorum emarcidorum supra tecta. Radix fibrosa,
fusca. Scapi erecti, fiUformes, glabri, uniflori, semi v. poUi-
cares. Folia petiolata, reniformi-cordata, crenata, glabra,
3 v. 4-lineas lata ; dentibus 7-10, magnis, obtusissimis. Pe-
tioli glabri, semiunciales. Calycis foliola 5, elliptica, obtusa,
subcoriacea, glabra, persistentia. Petala 10 v. 15, spathu-
lato-oblonga, obtusa, flava, calyce longiora, 3 v. 5-nem?, ba-
si angustata, poro tubuloso esquamato aucta. Stamina du-
plici ordine uumerosa : filamenta dUatata : anthera subro-
tundie. Torus sphfericus. Carpella compressa, glabra:
rostro subulato, recto, elongate.
80
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
This new and very distinct species has been found
on the peak of Kedarkanta, in the East Indies, en-
amelling the ground with its rich yellow flowers im-
mediately on the melting of the snow.
VIOLA KUNUWARENSIS.
Pentandria Monogynia, LiNNiEUS ; Violaceae, JnssiEU.
Calycis sepala insequalia : petala ina^qualia, restivatione con-
voluta ; stamina nee coalita ; filamenta basi dilatata, an-
theras demissins gerentia ; ovarium nunc superum, nunc
semi-inferum ; valvulse capsulse elasticae.
This is a very pretty, though not a very showy,
species, the flowers being rather small and incon-
spicuous, though their colour is clear and uniform.
It has somewhat the habit of V. canina, though
more leafy, the leaves being oblong, bluntly pointed,
and slightly waved on the edges. The flower stalk
has a pair of flower scales (bractea^ a little below
tTie blossom. The five divisions of the corolla are
more equal than in V. odorata, or V. tricolor.
CORYDALIS CASHMERIANA.
Diadelphia Hexandria, Linn. ; Fumariacese, Jussietj.
C. Cashmericma ; caule simplicissimoerecto, foliiscaulinissubses-
silibus pinnatisectis, segmentis lineari-lanceolatis integris
rarisslme subdentatis, terminali cuneato trilcbato, racemo
coarctato paucifloro,bracteis foliaceis, summis integris 3-den-
tatis, ealcare pedicello hreviore obtuso incurvo. — Corollie pe-
tala externa cajrulea, inferiora rotundato-ovata, ungnicvdata.
Petala interiora unguibus flavis, limbis purpureis.
This beautiful plant has been as yet only found in
Cashmere.
ANEMONE DISCOLOR.
Polyandria Polygyaia, Linn. ; Ranunculaceje, Jussieu.
A. Discolor ; scapo unifloro maculate foliis 3 v. 5-partitis sericeo-
villosissimis, lobis obtuse inciso-serratis cuneato-ovatis,
involucris triphyUis sessilibus, foliolis cuneatis lobatis den-
tatis, sepalis 7 ovalibus extus pilosis, intus glabris, ovariis
ovatis Mrsutis.
The root is fusiform, and appears thicker than it
actually is, in consequence of being surrounded by
the sheatliing bases of the petioles of former years,
which as happens in many other plants of the Hi-
malayas and of Kunawur, remain undecomposed, and
protect the root from the inclemencies of the sea-
sons. The radical leaves form a spreading tuft
the petioles are broad, sheathing, membranous at
the base, and parallel- veined ; the leaf, auricula te,
acuminate, 3 or 5-lobed, lobes frequently subtrifid
oblong-cuneate, coarsely serrate, villose, soft and
velvety. The involucrum composed of 3 sessile leaf-
lets, which are entire and dentate, or 3-lobed, with
the lobes oblong linear 3-dentate. The scape is erect
or ascending, round, striated, frequently spotted,
hairy. Pedicels either single or double, in the former
case equal in length to the involucrum during aesti-
vation, afterwards twice or thrice as long ; where
there are two flowers, one is nearly sessile, the other
long pedicelled, with frequently a two-leafed invo-
lucel. The flowers are erect. The sepals, generally
seven in number, imbricate, obovate, three times as
long as the stamens, varying in colour from white
on the upper, and blue on the lower surface, to
entire blue, and even to a livid hue. The stamens,
with broad filaments tapering towards the apex.
The ovary ovate, oblong, and very hairy.
This species of Anemone, is chiefly found on thfe
tops of lofty mountains in the Himalaya.
SCILLA AMvENA VAR. 0.
Hexandria Monogynia, LiNN. ; Liliacese, JussiEU.
Scilla amaana ; foliis pluribus, extirais oblongo-ligulatis, obtusis
cum mucrone, medio nei'vosis ; scapis pluribus, varie com-
pressis. nervoso striatis racemo distante ; bracteis minntis,
solitariis corolla rotate ; filaraentis ea duplo brevioribus, sub-
ulatis, planis, hypogynis, mis laciniis, et mutuo inter se co-
haerentibus sequalibus ; germine oblongo ovato tritoroso, nee
in stylmn rostratum abeunte.
Scilla ameena.
( a ) racemo 7 multi-floro ; (lore saturate cyaneo ; filamea-
tis sursum coloratis ; antheris atro-cyaneis.
( /3 ) racemo 1 — 4 floro ; coroUa carulea ; filamentis palle-
scentibus ; antheris subteruginosis.
Scilla sihirica. — Bot. Repns. tab. 365.
Scilla prtvcox. — Donn. Cat. Hort. Cant ? Nee ea Willd. Sp. PI.
2 28 ; quae, ipso monente, meraT«/oH« varietas. — Vid. Schro-
der Journ.fur die Bot. 1799, vol. i. p. 287.
Bulb tunic ite, about the size of the walnut ; leaves
about four, ambient, convolutely conduplicate down-
wards, from upright recurvedly recumbent, outer
broadest, oblong ligulate, slightly concave, nerved
obtuse, with a somewhat glandular point ; scapes
within these, than which they are shorter, several, va-
riously compressed, striated, far-attenviated, upright;
floivers spikedly racemose, rather distant, nodding ;
pedicles, shorter than these ; bractes minute, mem-
branous, far shorter than pedicles ; corolla hexape-
talously parted, campanulately rotate ; contracted at
the base, segments oblong, pointed ; filaments about
half their length, flat, subulately attenuated ; mem-
branous, equal, divergent, cohering at their bases
among themselves, and with their corolla ; anthers
ovate, sagittate incumbent ; germen pale, ovate, tri-
pulvinate, trisulcate, uneven; style, about the length
of this, erect, filiform ; stigma a terminal point, in-
conspicuous above the anthers.
The plant blooms in March, and is hardy and
scentless.
GREWIA ELASTICA.
(PI. 2S. Fig. 6.)
Polyandria Monogynia, Linn. ; Tiliaceae, JussiEu.
Calyx 5-sepalus coriaceus nitus coloratus. Pet. 5, basi intus
glandulosa aut squamulosa, imo toro stipitiformi inserta.
Stam. CO ex apics. tori orta, libera, antheris subrotundis.
Stylus 1. Stigma 4-lobum. Drupa 4-loba, 4-pyrena aut
abortu 2- — 3-pyr. Nuces biloculares, 2-sperma2, autabortes
1-spermse. Embryo erectus.
Blossom yellowish, with rather small petals, strap
shaped and pointed ; buds, ash grey, as are the flow-
er stalks; fruit two celled and purplish, crowned
with the persistent pistil ; leaves alternate, dark
green above, hoary underneath, saw toothed, on
short foot stalks, with minute leaf scales at the base,
somewhat egg-oblong, but terminating in an acu-
minated point
»
81
MR. CONDUCTOR LOUDON ON THE EDUCATION OF GARDENERS.
BY CHRISTOPHER NORTH ESQ., OP BTJCHANNAN LODGE.*
We have often wondered that nobody has hitherto taken the trouble to unmask the shameless wholesale
plagiarisms, tlie vulgar and filthy language, and the utter ignorance and presumption which issue from the
book manufactory of Bayswater, and pollute the taste, and unhinge the principles, religious, moral and
political of gardeners and others, who unthinkingly drink their poison. What other could be expected from
an avowed subscriber to support Carlisle of Fleet-street ? We were ourselves preparing a list of Bayswater
plagiarisms,but found that even amodicum thereof would occupy some thousand or so of our pages, when we
had the pleasure to see the cudgel in far more stalwart hands than our own, and the redoubted demohsher ot
of literary pretenders mauling the " clipper " about with his terrible crutch, till the very shears dmled in
the clipper's hands, and the poor belaboured body would have been fain to clip out all he had ever cribbed,
and leave nothing but the lank fleshless skeleton to escape from the deadly floorers that came rattling on
his patchwork gaberdine as thick as hailstones, from that fearsomeand fearless castigator, Christopher IS orth.
We should not be doing our duty to our readers did we overlook the wholesome and manly exposure ot
the doings in king-making, match-making, and fiddler-making of Mr. Conductor Loudon. All readers ot
course read Blackwood— the magazine of magazines, the touch-me-if-you-dare with its chevmx de frise
of thistles, and all gardeners and botanists will read this paper which so nearly concerns them ; but lest any
by any clnnce— the merest accident in the world, should not see the May Maga, we here place a part ot it—
the drops before the shower— the cuflF preliminary— the smack initiative— the cut prefatorial--the hit intro-
ductory—the gowf prelusive— the blype by way of beginning— the touch of the knout to tickle the creature
into flagellatory trim— the taste indicative of the trouncing that is to follow— the fuge thump before the
awful set-to— the slogan before the onslaught— the pawing play of the lion before the death-pounce— the
hail-stone before the the thunderbolt— in the front of our number— the shower— the set-to— the onslaught—
the death-pounce itself in our next— together with a little bit of a tail-piece to be entitled " Bayswater Libel
on the Works of Creation," from the EncyclopEedia of Plants, supposed to be from the pen of Dr. I'rotessor
Lindley. When time does not press, we may possibly glance at Mr. Conductor Loudon's doings in spoiling
landscapes in Oxfordshire and elsewhere. It would be sacrilege to omit North's opening : Sit omnibus silen-
titim ibi ! Cavele ct tacite, Denson et Lindley ! ! North himself, in all his glory, thus begins :
We have all our lives envied Adam. Yet, would you believe
it, not for his abode in Paradise. The soul cannot now con-
ceive a perfectly sinless and perfectly happy state of being ; and
a mere name, and no more, to our ear is the garden of Eden—
ere was plucked
" That forbidden fruit, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world aud all our woe."
Our first parents are not felt to be otir first parents till they
are fallen ; then it is that we indeed love them ; our filial affec-
tion is made tender by pity, and awful by fear, and we weep to
think of them, as they,
*' Hand in hand, and slow
Through Eden took their solitary way."
It was original sin that made this earth so beautiful — that
gave it a beauty dashed and broken with tears. Look long at a
rose bush covered with lapsing dew drops, and you grow sor-
rowful— full of sorrow. If there were not the consciousness of
some great loss, and the presage of some great restoration, a
sight so simple in its purity coiild not so profoundly move the
spirit, as that its confessions should be a prayer. Not surely
in form aud colour alone lies the beauty of the rainbows
We envy Adam because he was driven from our Paradise.
For a while the earth for him and poor Eve brought forth but
thorns, so is it writ. But as the wind blew from Paradise, it
brought seeds that sowed themselves in the desert, till ere long
the desert blossomed like the rose. Assisted by younger hands,
Adam could afford to steal an hour or two as the sun was wes-
tering, from the toil of field tillage, and through the twdight,
and sometimes well on into the night, would he and Eve, not
unregarded by the stars, work by their two selves, shaping
bowers, and arbours, and glades, so as to form, by a model im-
perishable in theirmemories another small new garden of Eden—
not indeed so delightful, but dearer, far dearer to their souls
because every leaf was tinted by grief. Melancholy names did
they give then to the thoughtless plants and flowers, and they
loved them the better, that henceforth they reminded them
always, but not painfully of their transgression, now suffering a
punishment so softened, that it sometimes was felt to be a chas-
tened peace. Their hill side garden sloped to a stream that no
doubt was a branch of the holy river, of which the blind seer
sings, " southward through Eden went a river large. We see
the vision now, hut we fear to paint it. Eve is still in her
mortal shrine : and as for Adam, not Seth's seU' is comparable
to his sire, though his parents were wont to say, that this !5eth
had a face and a form that reminded them of one of the angels :
that to be indeed an angel he wanted hut those wings that
winnowed fragrance through the air as they descended on Para-
'"' And thus it is that to us all gardens are beautiful, and all
gardeners Adam's "favourite sons. An orchard ! ffmil.es of
fnut trees " nigh planted by a river," and that river the Clyde
Till we gazed on you we knew not how dazzling may be the
* Blackwood's Magazine for May, 1834. Part I.
MAGAZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL. II. NO. XV. JUNE, 1834.
82
LOUDON ON THE EDUCATION OF GARDENERS.
deUcatc spring, even more than the gorgeous autumn with all
her purple and gold. No frost ean wither, no blast can scatter
such a power of blossoming as there brightens the day with pro-
mise that the gladdened heart may not for a moment doubt,
will be fulfilled 1 and now we walk arm in arm with a venerable
lady along a terrace hung high above a river, but between us
and the brink of the precipice, a leafless lawn : not of grass,
but of moss, whereon centuries seem softly embedded, and lo I
we arc looking to the right down, down the glen, and to the
left up, up the glen ; though to the left it takes a majestic bend,
so that yonder castle seemingly almost in front of us, stands on
one of its cliffs ; now we are looking over the top of holly hedges
twenty feet high, and over the stately yew-pawns and peacocks ;
but hark 1 the flesh and blood peacock shrieking from the pine 1
An old English garden, such as Bacon, or Evelyn, or Cowley
would have loved, felicitously placed, with all its solemn calm,
above the reach of the roar of a Scottish flood 1
But we shall not permit the visions of gardens thus to sttfidy
themselves before our imagination ; and since come they will,
away must they pass like magic shadows on a sheet. There
you keep gliding in hundreds along with your old English halls,
or rectories, or parsonages, some alas 1 looking dilapidated and
forlorn, bnt few in ruins, and thank heaven, many of you in the
decay of time renewed by love, and many more still fresh and
and strong, though breathing of antiquity, as when there was
not one leaf of all that mass of ivy in which the highest chim-
neys are swathed, and buried all the gables. Oh I stay but for
one moment longer thou garden of the cliffs ! Gone by, with
all thine imagery — half garden and half forest — reflected in thine
own turn, and with thee a glimmer of green mountains and of
dusky woods. Sweet visionary shadow of the poor man's cot
and garden I A blessing be upon thee almost on the edge of the
bleak moon I But villages, and towns, and cities travel by mis-
tily, carrying before our ken many a green series of little rural
or suburban gardens, all cultivated by owners or tenant's hands,
and beneath the blossomed fruit trees, the ground variegated
with many a flush of flowers. What pinks ! Aye, we know
them well, the beautiful garden plats on the banks and braes
all round about our native town, pretty Paisley, and in among
the very houses in nooks and corners, which the sunshine does
not scorn to visit, and as the glamour goes by, sweet to our
soul is the thought of KilVmrchan, the loveliest flower in heaven
or on earth, for 'tis the piize-pink of our childhood, given us by
our Father's hand, and we now see the spot where tlie fine
grained glory grew.
M'c hope our stomach is not out of order, and that these fan-
cies are not the fumes of indigestion, as Cabanis and the mate-
rialists say. No, our stomach was never out of order in its
life, not even in "the Bayof Biscay O." At all events, that huge
Eneyelopjcdia of Gardening, beneath which our table groans, is
no spectral illusion; and might bjillast a balloon. It lies open at the
one thousand three humlrcd anil thirty-second page, and we espy
much matter on the Education of Gardeners, a pleasant prolific
theme. In our walks over the world, we have looked in upon hun-
dreds of gardeners in their own houses, and have always met with a
kind welcome. No other class of men are so well off for wives.
How lady-like many matrons who have received us with a curt-
sey, a smile, and a hand, in tree-shaded dwellings not far apart
from the hall or mansii>n house, nests in scehukd spots which
you may seek for, without finding among the wide sweep of the
demesne, that is, its elegant cultivation still retains something
of the wild character of the forest. Honest men's daughters,
not degraded surely, by having been in household service which
they adorned, and now visited familiarly by the young ladies,
who disdained not to wear the bridal favours on the marriage
day, and have sent her baby-linen duly every year. Not all
such ; for gardeners intermarry let us tell you, not unfrcquently
with maidens of the middle ranks— the daughters of statesmen
(cock lairds), tradesmen well to do, and clergymen. And we
could mention instances of gentle blood blushing in the faces of
the children of bold sons of the spade. What matters it whom
they marry, if their bosom friends be chaste, modest, and good ?
Many a pleasant evening have we passed id sijch domiciles, for
wc are something of a botanist, though that not much ; a
florist of the second rate in knowledge, and of the first in love ;
and though no great linguist, we have studied all the tongues of
trees, and not a language spoken in the forest of which we do
not know all the roots, and most of the ramifications. Soon
after sunrise, whatever might be the season, we always took
our departure ; nor empty-handed were we allowed to go our
ways, for all the gardeners who were friends of ours, enjoyed
the privilege of giving presents of a dozen or two of green gages,
a few pints of grozets — say the roaring lion ou the fiery dragon,
and if still the vernal breezes were blowing in our breast, a
a flower, composed of many flowers, as we crossed the moor-
land wilderness, companioned us through the solitude, as if
our attendant spirit were the sweet-sccuted spring.
But our table groans again — and fain would wc relieve it from
the burden ; but on attempting to lift up the Encydopsedia of
Gardening, we find we are not the man we once were, and our
back beseeches us to remember its lumbago. A ponderous
tome I But is it not now republishing in numbers ? Tliat is
merciful. Now for our review.
Mr. Loudon observes that the terms knowledge and igno-
rance are entirely relative ; that the knowledge of a chemist's
porter, would have subjected him to be hanged and burned in
the dayscf the first Popes; and that any bricklayer's labourer
who reads the London newspapers, has more correct ideas on
the principles of political economy, than nine-tenths of the no-
bility of Russia and;|Spain. Will he persist in saying so, with
the i)roceeding3 of the Trades' Unions before his eyes ? In spite
of the much vaunted march of intellect during the last dozen
years, and all the efforts of the Educationists to enlighten the
labouring classes, they seem stone blind to the jilainest and
simplest truths, and hurrying headlong on the road to ruin.
What does Mr. Loudon know of the Russian nobility ? Among
them are many men of the highest mental cultivation ; and
Nicholas, who may be autocrat, (how few who call him so know
the meaning of the epithet !) happening to possess great talents,
knows that the stability of his throne depends now on the in-
tellect of that order. Political Economy — and good Political
Economy too — Storch has a European reputation — is better
stiulied in Russia than it is in Britain ; and Mr. Louilon himself,
though he may have " as correct ideas on its principles" as any
bricklayer's labourer, would soon be made to sing small on the
question of Free Trade in an argument with any fur-clad Russ
taken at random from ti.e nine-tenths of the nobility whom he
ignorantly honours with his scorn. The Spanish are not what
they once were ; but the Spanish bricklayers, meaning thereby
the Spanish people we are sorry to say, may be safely backed at
oilds against the British, in the practice of the "few plain
niles" which suffice them whose lot it is to cam bread by sweat.
We know the character of our countrymen, and we honour it;
but they arc puffed up with foul wind blown into their minds by
quacks, and if it be not beaten out of them they will burst.
'ITicir knowledge of their own trades is admirable, and in strength
and skill they excel all the nations : but their ignorance of the
principles of Political Economy is night <lark, and they go reck-
lessly groping through the gloom, stumbling over obstructions
which they can no more remove or surmount than they can
change the laws of nature.
" It is impossible," quoth our sage, '"to set limits to the
knowledge which may be obtained by those who are destined
even to the most severe and constant labour." That sounds
grandly, but it is mere nonsense. Limits are set to knowledge
by severe and constant labour itself; yet are they not narrow
limits, and within them may be found, within the four seas,
myriads of men " their country's pride." Base would it he
to seek to thwart the desire for instruction ; but foolish is it
to direct it to unattainable objects ; or encourage it to go be-
LOUDON ON THE EDUCATION OP GARDENERS.
83
yond the sphere of those essential and vital duties of which the
performance secures the corresponding rights. And no language
can be conceived more foolish than this loose talk of Mr. Lou-
doL's, to which the whole history of man in his best imaginable
condition gives the lie. "If," says he, " every cook-maid,
before she could obtain a first-rate situation, were required to
be able to read Apicius Redivivus in the original tongue, there
would be no want of learned cooks ; and if no gardener could
obtain a first-rate situation who had not written a Thesis in
Greek, or who had not made the tour of Europe, there woxdd be
soon found abundance of gardeners so qualified." How wise and
how witty !
Mr. Loudon holds, that every rational man may obtain every
thing he desires, if he but desire it strongly and steadily, and
carry his desire into continuous action. As he is not an in-a-
tional man, and manifestly desires to write sense, how happens
it then, that he has jotted down so much portentous nonsense }
" Suppose," saith he, "a man desires to be aking; that is a
desire sufficiently extraordinary; but if he will first make him-
self acquainted witli the history of aU men who have raised
themselves from nothing to be kings, and then consider in
which part of the world he is most likely to succeed, he may very
likely obtain his object.^' Suppose Mr. Loudon himself desires
to be king of Dabomey.' He would find it no easy matter to
kick all the native princes out of his way to the throne ; and we
should not fear to lay a pine-apple to a crab that, long before
his ambition was gratified by finding himself sitting in state,
almost naked, with a gold-rimmed cocked hat on his regal
head, he would have to act, not as king's chief drummer, but
as chief drum, his skin haWng been skilfully made into that
warlike instrument, wherewith the slave of the legitimate and
reigning monarch "affrighted armies." Would he, as a sim-
pler speculation, try to be king of Brentford } That monarchy,
we believe, is elective; but what a crowd of competitors!
How many were the chances even against Bamfylde Moore
Carew himself, who, by a rare concurrence of circumstances,
was chosen by acclamation king of the beggars !
Suppose again, " that a man desires to possess great
wealth," — to be as rich as Croesus, while he chooses to con-
tinue in that post of honour, a private station. He may at-
tempt this, Mr. London tells us, in three ways ; and as he
mentions but three, we may presume, that in his estimation
there are but three, and that unless he follow one or other of
them, a man may never rationally hope to be rich. "This he
may attempt in three ways — by a saving of income and gain of
time, that is by denying himself the usual gratifications of food,
clothing, and rest, and laying out at compound interest what
is gained by these deprivations ; by gambling speculations in
property; and by marriage." Thank heaven, we have no de-
sire " to possess great wealth." We sometimes dream of gold,
yea,' much fine gold in mountains, Alp above Alp — aChim-
borazo of bullion — gold-bars broader than the sunset clouds.
Our imagination despises Mr. Canning's famous picture of a
good currency — a mountain of paper irrigated by a river of
gold. Wordsworth had us in his mind when he indited the
pregnant line, " That poor old man is richer than he seems."
But all the stories that make such a noise in the world, of our
worldly wealth, are idle ; for we are a mere annuitant of a few
thousand pounds, and, with the exception of Buchannan Lodge,
(not fifty acres, policy and all) we are " lords of our preserve,
and no land beside." Wbat then ? We are not the man " to
desire to possess- great wealth, by denying ourselves the grati-
fication? of food, clothing, and rest.". The gi'atifications of
food are intense, incluiUng, of course, all eatables and drink-
ables ; and rather than forego these, might we cease to be.
Yet we eat rather with a steady than a voracious appetite, and
pity 'tis that we flourished not during the Grecian mythology,
that Bacchus and Adriadne might have taken a lesson from us
how to turn up the little finger. Neither did we ever feel any
inclination to deny ourselves the gratification of clothing, ex-
cept when taking the plunge or shower bath in a pool, or be-
neath a waterfall of the Tweed. Then the shepherdess on the
liill beholds us through her hollow hand, animated image of
the truth, lustrous amidst the vapours. And what would be
human life without rest I O divine privilege of leisure I To
us the land of Drowseyhead is the land of Faery ; and as we
awaken at the touch of morn's rosy fingers, what an illustra-
tion of the otium cum dignitate, in the person of one neverthe-
less well-stricken in years I We scorn the assistance of red
plush breeches, worn by a celebrated philosopher to prevent
him sliddering down the inclined plane of his couch, — and
though we lie in finest linen, trust fearlessly to the native
tenacity of our limbs and frame, and to that noble organ of
adhesiveness which phrenologists have come from afar to ad-
mire. " Laying out at compound interest, what is gained by
these deprivations of food, clothes, and restl" The idea of
compound interest is to us so shocking, that while our meta-
physical genius would fain analyze it, our conscience instinct-
ively recoils from the horror, and leaves the monstrous mass
in all the loathsomeness of its conglomeration. Sufficient for
the day is the money thereof, enough and to spare. Nor, we
hope, do all poor people go unrelieved from our hntel, though
now and then an idler or a drunkard may with his heel indent
a curse on the gravel walk, or, in sullen spite, uproot a flower
from the borders, that, like two harmless and splendid snakes,
sometimes shrub-concealed, glide towards our porch. Though
silly ones seem to know it not, we have all our lives been
lovers of simplicity ; so no wonder we delight in simple inter-
est, and see a charm in two per cent, beyond the reaches of a
miser's soul in his most avaricious dream.
And what say we to Mr. Loudon's second way of getting
possession of wealth — " gambling speculations in property?"
We abhor all gambling, but all speculations in property are
not gambling ; and hundreds and thousands of British mer-
chants acquire " great wealth " by knowledge working, ac-
cording to a rule of life drawn by honour and conscience, and
rather than swerve from it, they would be poor. " The ac-
complished men of the accounting are they ; ' ' through them
has this empire waxed great, and may the seas be for ever
whitened with their sails. Too many gamblers there are in
trade, and they are seeking now to strangle their native soil,
but the nobler terrce filii will not suffer them, and Ceres smiles
to see a muzzle put on the mouth of the blatant beast that has
been so fiercely growling for cheap bread, reckless all the while
of that industry which has already filled our market-places with
cheap corn, and will keep England, " meiTy England " still, if
the plough be not palsied, nor the natural order of civilized
society inverted, and " the smiling power of cultivation," which
now lies on many a once unproductive hill, withered by insane
legislation for false friends or true enemies, who hypocritically
bless or sincerely curse us for our power and our dominion,
from lands beyond the sea, whose slavery we yet may pity, and
whose liberty we do not need to envy, so long as we till the
glebe that, in spite of snows and hails, shows its rich harvests
to the sun, ripening in frequent glooms, and sometimes reaped
by a hardy race amidst the pauses of the tempest.
But what think we of Mr. Loudon's third and last way of
acquiring "great" wealth— by marriage ? Why, a beautiful
young woman, with a sublime fortune, is not to be sneezed at
in nuptial sheets, unless it be to give the dear creature an op-
portunity of saying " God bless you I " An ugly old woman,'
on the other hand, in the stocks, is to be scunnered at, in a
similar predicament, were it but to induce her to allow you a
separate maintenance, and all the privileges of a bachelor.
The world knows we are engaged ; but were we offered our
choice of two lovely beings, both beautiful, — but the one, sole
child of an eminent banker, — and the other, the last of a second
series of daughters raised, as the Americans say, not forced,
from the time-honoured bed of a country gentleman impatient
of widowhood, whose ancestors had killed their own mutton
84
LOUDON ON THE EDUCATION OF GARDENERS.
from time immemorial — we should, unless her hail- were -very,
■very reJ indeed, take unto our bosom the dowerless damsel,
were it only for the pure delight of seeing her, at our own ex-
pence, "taking off her marriage clothes," or, in other words,
providing herself with a tasteful trovssemc. In short, we would
take her with raptiu-e into our arms, though she had just a shift
to her hack, and but one pair of elastic garters. Like the moon
without a cloud, or like the moon veiled in clouds, her beauty
would thus be ours too, inasmuch, as we should be the sun
that illumined the lovely orb. Think but for a moment of your
bride buying, out of her own dower, you being farthingless,
and receiving discount for ready money, not only the four-
posted bed, but all the rest of the furniture ; nay, the very
house to which you bring her home, and of which, with a face
of the most brazen assurance, you tell her to consider herself
the mistress — she having considerately bought up the few duty,
and introduced gas ! Then the degradation of never being
permitted, while you breathe, to put on or take off your bree-
ches, without the consciousness that she paid for them (and
consequently is entitled to wear them ad libitum), whether vel-
vet or fusHan, so inexorable is the law of the association of
ideas. Far rather — so help us heaven — would we wear kilts
till we dropped into the grave.
But what thinks and says Mr. London ? Why, that of the
three ways aforesaid, " the first is slow, but certain, — the se-
cond is dangerous, — and the third doubtfut. From this, it is
clear, that he recommends the first, and would have all prudent
gardeners (for it is to them he is writing) " deny themselves
the usual gratifications of food, clothing, and rest." The
second — " gambling speculations in property," lie seldom in
their way, and are dangerous ; and the third is so doubtful,
that better far a son of the spade should go sans meat, sans
drink, sans clothes, sans sleep, sans every thing, than look out
for a lass with a tocher. But why call the third mode doubt-
ful ? Assure yourself of the precise amount, at a fair valuation
by an experienced appraiser, of the real and personal property
of the favoured fair, and by marrying her instanter across the
bonnet, you make yourslf uUimus et solus hieres, to speak clas-
sically, of the great globe herself, and aU that she inherits.
Nothing doubtful after that, but as sure as a gun are you an
opulent gardener. Your search, by the premises, was not for
heart's-ease or none-so-pretty ; you have got your dandelion,
a flower which apprentices call by a grosser name, but what
you wished for was gold ; and is she not as yellow in the face,
and all over, as a gowden guinea ?
Again — " Suppose," quoth our beadsman, " a man wishes to
become an eminent poet, he may not become an eminent poet,
he may not become such a poet as Burns or Lord Byron, be-
cause the clay of which he is formed, may he originally of infe-
rior qiiality to that of these men ; but if his natural faculties
are of the average quality, he may become a poet of respectable
rank." From Mr. Loudon's cautious use of the "may," he
seems merely to think that the probabilities are against the
generality of gardeners becoming absolute Burnses or Byrons ;
the thing is not impossible, for though their " clay" may be of
inferior quality, so may it be of equal, or haply, of superior ;
and from soils of average quality, pretty heavy crops of poetry,
which may be sold per sample, may be depended on with ordi-
nary management. And how is the man, gardener or not,
" wishing to become an eminent poet," to proceed ? " First,
let him read all the poetry that has been written in such lan-
guages as he understands ; next, let him, by the aid of books
on rhetoric, and on the art of poetry and criticism, analyze all
the best poems, and treasure up in his mind all the figures,
metaphors, &c., that are made use of in them. Then let him,
according to the line of poetry which he chooses to pursue,
place himself in circumstances favorable to its study, and per-
severe till he produces at least a new combination of former
figures, joined, if possible, with some which, as Addison has
expressed it, are both ' strange and new.' " And thus may he
become an eminent poet of respectable rank.
After these remarks on extravagant desires, that is to say,
on desires derided as extravagant by thoughtless people, and on
what Mr, Loudon chooses to call the possibility " of attaining
ends generally considered as depending on fate, original genius,
or predestination, it will not be necessary," he says, " to hint
at the practicability of any man's attaining eminence as an
artist of any description, as a literary character, natural or ex-
perimental philosopher, mathematician, divine, lawyer, or phy-
sician:" If all this be true and we should be sad and sorry ,
to deny it, we cannot help wondering at there being so many
professional gardeners, so few kings, and fewer poets. But
our enthusiastic friend drives his doctrine on desire still farther
home, assuring us, " that no self-convicted sinner ever failed of
being converted, nor any persevering lover of getting possession
of his mistress." How does he account for remorse committing
suicide ? And if a dozen persevering lovers are " a' wooin',
puin' at her," will they all get possession of the same mistress ?
Other faculties, however, are necessary to ensure success in
horticulture, besides desire, and of these the chief are attention
and memory. " Unless," says he, " we pay attention to what
is addressed to us, whether by the ear or eye, it is impossible
we can i-emember, because the sight or sound has made no im-
pression on the memory, and without memory there can be no
knowledge." Of the truth of this oi'iginal observation, he
gives a very striking illustration. " It is a common thing for
a person to walk out and return without being able to describe,
or even mention, any one thing he has seen ; or to read a news-
paper without being able to tell what he has read, further than
to give some vague idea of the subject." But attention alone
will not do ; and he instructs the young gardener how to cul-
tivate memory on philosophical principles, after a fashion that
makes small beer of Feinagle. The generic names of plants
and animals are, he tells us, of three kinds (just as there was
three ways of getting rich) ; " those composed of words indi-
cating something of the nature or appearance, or uses of the
plants, — those composed of the name of some eminent indivi-
dual,— and those composed of native or local names. Do you
wish to remember the name of some plant of the second or
third class ? Then,
" Thus, Gordon was a nurseryman at Mile End, a short,
lame, sailor-looking man, who dressed in blue trousers, chewed
tobacco, and was without offspring ; it is easy to imagine his
wife reproaching him with the last circumstance, while he holds
out to her a plant of Gordonia, as a substitute for a son and
heir. Elettari being extensively cultivated as a spice by the
natives of Coromandel, we may imagine a group of these In-
dians arriving after death at the gates of Paradise, each with
a bundle of the plant. The porter may be supposed, on first
opening the gate, to be about to shut it in the faces of these
poor black fellows, till they shout out, " Elettari." " What
then," says the porter, "you are elect-are-ye ? " and lets them
in. Elettari is the only native generic name in Monandria
Monogynia ; the native specific names in the same class and
order are Allughas, Zerumbet, Cusumunar, and Mioga, which
may be easily likened in sound to Hallilujah,][strumpet, cheese-
monger, and Maijocchi ? "
All other names, whether of science, or those which occur
in the common intercoui'se of life, as of persons and places, are
to be recollected " on the same principle," " and the more
ludicrous the association, the better will it be recollected." AU
this may be extremely witty ; but then, Mr. Loudon should
recollect that a sense of the ludicrous is not equally given to
gardeners ; that in some it is fine, in others coarse ; in some
quick, in others slow ; that in many it seems almost dead or
dormant, and in most suppressed during the duties of daily life,
by other senses of a higher kind. Be that as it may, it is in-
sulting and injurious to vegetables to recollect their names by
ludicrous associations alone, — and if such of the Monandria
Monogynia as rejoice in their native specific names, could be
informed of Mr. Loudon's new nomenclature, they would rise
up to a plant, and push him from his stool in his pride of place
LOUDON ON THE EDUCATION OF GARDENERS.
85
The coarse, vulgar wit of animal matter we can well believe
very offensive to a sensitive vegetable ; and coarse viilgar wit
as Mr. Loudon's here as ever set the smiddy in a roar. What
decent gardener would call anything with buds or leaves —
strumpet ? What gardener who had read his Bible, as a touch
of the ludicrous, would change allughas into Hallelujah ? What
a capon, who should chuckle to call, cusumunar, cheesemonger ?
And as for remembering for ever Mioga, by pronouncing it
Maijocchi, does Mr, Loudon imagine that the name of that un-
grateful reprobate is familiar as a household word in English
gardens ? He makes such free use of the scissors, that we do
not always know when he is original and when he is indebted
to wits no way inferior to himself in power of illustration. Is
the following his own, or Feinagle's, or some other fools ? In
spite of inverted commas, it must be a lump of Loudon.
" If I am told that the Dutch merchant, Schimmelphenninck,
was a very wealthy or religious man, that will not assist me in
recollecting his long name ; but if I say to myself there is some
resemblance between Schimmelphenninck and skim-milk-pen and
inky the resemblance may enable me to do so ; or if I have re-
course to a Dutch dictionary, and discover that, schimmel, is
grey, phennick, a penny, I have grey penny, as a synonyme,
which, with the operations the mind has undergone, is getting
at it, will most probably impress the original name on the me-
mory. If a highlander tells us his name is Macpherson, I im-
mediately interpret it Mac-parson, — son of a parson — son of a
Catholic priest and a Highland maid ; and I figure to myself
his first parents of a former age, a Franciscan friar, ' an oily
man of God,' and a bare-legged brawny wench. I see the
monk receive her into his cell, take her confession, lead her
from the confessional to his couch, there to kueel and join with
him in prayer : the straying hands of the holy father surprise
the penitent, but he consoles her : *' let us forget ourselves,
daughter, all flesh is grass," but God is every thing, and every
thing is permitted to his servant St. Francis, — let our bodies
take their course !' Nine moons hence, and the sun rises on the
plantlet of the tree ofMacphersou.*'
Having thus strengthened his memory by the same means
by which he has refined his taste, the gardener cannot fail in
giving himself " an intellectual education, independently of ac-
quiring his profession." Eight hours per day, we are told, is
about the average of his labour throughout the year. It is
not often severe ; so he has eight hours for '* rest, dressing
and undressing ; eight for labour, and acquiring the practice of
gardening, and eight hours for refreshment and study. On
comparing this time for study with that which is usually de-
voted to it by young men at college, not the generality of young
men, but those even who attain to eminence, we will find the
diflFerence very inconsiderable." The young man at college, Mr.
Loudon reminds us, require the same time for rest as the gar-
dener, and at least two hours more for dressing and undressing ;
for breakfast he requires an hour, and for dinner and tea three
hours. It is so long since we were a young man at college,
that we cannot speak confidently as to all the items in Mr.
Loudon's account. But never shall we believe that we required
at least two hours for dressing and undressing — washing and
shaving of course included in the bill of the day. For undress-
ing we could not have required above a minute in the twenty-
four hours then — on the supposition, a liberal one, of our hav-
ing undressed twice — for we do not require for the same pur-
pose, and on the same supposition, more than two minutes noiv.
Five seconds for neckcloth, five for coat and waistcoat, cossacks
five, drawers five (for if you hurry you tear), and stockings
five each — on an average of a year^ — for occasionally we keep
dancing about on one leg, with the silk fiiped over the instep of
the other foot, and clinging to it with an obstinacy that would
have decomposed the man of Uz, thougK not us- — and that
makes one minute. No allowance is here made for shirt or
flannel waistcoat — b\it these no true Scotchman changes above
once a week ; that is a work for sabbath hours, and we have
known it take double the time of all our other dis- apparelling.
No young man at college will ever be in the first class, or senior
wrangler, who cannot undress within the minute, and dress with-
in the quarter of an hour — so, from Mr. Loudon's most extra-
vanant and outrageous allowance of two hours, subtract one
hour and twenty-eight minutes, which add either to sleep or
study, or in equal proportions to both, for surely you would
not add them to eating, which, according to Mr. Loiidon, al-
ready engrosses four hours, withoxit including its consequences,
which, however, perhaps fall under the head of relaxation.
Who ever took an hour for breakfast ? Why we could make
three breakfasts — and material breakfasts, too — in that long
space of time, were it not for fear of a surfeit. Three hours,
** at least," for dinner and tea, is likewise enormous ; and a
poor creature indeed must he be, who takes tea at all when
reading for honours. He makes his debut in the world in the
shape of a wooden spoon.
It finally appears, that your gardener, who works on a yearly
average but eight hours per day, has more time for study than
your Oxonian or Cantab. It is true, allows Mr. Loudon, that
he is " subject to the time employed in eating, but that may
well be considered as compensated by the knowledge of botany
he acquires in the garden during his hours of labour." The
great advantage, however, which your gardener possesses over
your Oxonian and Cantab is, " that, unless his religion forbid,
he may study at least twelve hours every Sunday." Mr. Loudon
is the most liberal man in his religious opinions we ever heard
of, as you will see by and by ; meanwhile, do you not admire
the coolness with which he lets drop, " unless his religion for-
bid," into the above passage? He recommends thatthe Sunday
shall be employed thus : — Morning commenced as usual with a
language; "the remaining part of the day we would dispose
of in portions of one, two, or three hours, in bringing fonvard
those evening studies which we had been least successful in
during the week, or found ourselves most in want of for actual
use. This day is also particiilarly adapted for drawing, which,
though it ought not to be neglected with artificial light, yet goes
on best with that of the sun." Arithmetic, mensuration,
and land-surveying, mechanics and experimental philosophy,
essay and letter writing, " both with a view to impi'ovement in
the style and penmanship," and, if possible, miscellaneous
reading from an Encyclopsedia — these are the studies on which
the gardener, according to Mr. Loudon's scheme of education,
is to be employed twelve hours every Sabbath or Lord's day.
These are some '* of the branches which best deserve his at-
tention." But this gardener's friend holds that " one branch
of knowledge is as much as any person ever does or can excel in."
A gardener, therefore, should not he thinks, " attempt to excel
in any one branch of Knowledge besides that of gardening."
Even in botany he cannot arive at great perfection, from not
having an opportunity of consulting the herbariums and books,
which are only to be found in the metropolis. Instead there-
fore, of vainly attempting " to excel in any one branch except
gardening, "he ought to follow another plan entirely, and a most
plausible one it seems in Mr. Loudon's simple words. " He
ought rather to make himself acquainted to the degree that cir-
cumstances may permit, with the whole cycle of human know-
ledge." But, even when he has done so, he must not think of
everbeing able to become "expert at chemical analysis, dissection
of animals, solving problems in any of the higher branches of
mathematics, ortoexcelin painting, music, or poetry,"
Discouraging doctrine, and we hope, unsound: but how is the
gardener to find means of making himself acquainted with the
whole cycle of human knowledge ? " To the degree that cir-
cumstances may permit," is a most indefinite degree ; and
should it so happen that the gardener has found a place "among
the farthest Hebrides," the degree to which he may have made
himself acquainted with the whole cycle of human knowledge
would be hardly, we should think, worth taking, except for the
honour of the thing, and to be worn as a titular ornament. In
86
STRUCTURE OF THE RADISH ROOT.
happier circumstances, the source from which he is to derive his
general knowledge, " it may be easily conceived is chiefly from
boolis." He is to derive aid from professional men, men of
talents, and learning, wherever he has an opportunity of conver-
sing with them, public lectures, artists, arti5ans, manufacturers
of every description, manufactories, engines, mines, docls-
yards, and aU other works displaying human skill. But the
grand source is books, and the question is, says Mr. Loudon,
how a journeyman gardener, whose wages are often less than
those of a common labourer is to procure them .'
Now it is well kno%^Ti to aU persons conversant with such
matters, that there are, over and above the more rare and un-
common one of purchase, three ways of procuring books, beg-
ging, borrowing, and stealing, though by means of a fine but
not difficult analysis, all the three nay all the four, may be re-
duced to one — to wit, stealing, as a few words will shew. You
pretend to purchase books, but you never pretend to pay for
them ; and thus, '• to the degree that circumstances may per-
mit, you become acquainted with the whole cycle of human
knowledge." The distinction between begging and borrowing,
is so slight, as to be at times almost imperceptible ; but beg-
ging is morenearlyakin to purchase without payment ;.forinbot !
cases alike you make the book your own, with consent of the
precious owner, and write your name on it, not only witliout
compunction, but with a rejoicing conscience. Borrowing, you
perceive at once, is stealing, with a gentler name, aggravated
by audacity, for you do not for a long course of years deny the
fact ; but on the contrary, apologize every time you meet the
previous owner, which however, you take care shall be as sel-
dom as possible, nay, promise to return it on Monday. Your
friend cuts you, or goes abroad, or marries, and forgets his
books in his children, or, best of all dies, and the book or books
are yours for life. Mere simple stealing, that is shop-lifting —
though common, is not correct ; but being committed probably
on a sudden impulse, on the sly, and with shame, it is a venial
offence in comparison with borrowing : though we believe that
he who steals many books, one after the other, never gives over
doing so, even after frequent detection and exposure, will be
almost sure to take to borrowing at last.
With such sentiments on stealing, we were startled by Mr.
Loudon's answers to his own question, " How is a journeyman
gardener, whose wages are less often than a common labourer
to procure books ?" Our answer is borrow them, and make it
a fixed rule to purchase no books excepting grammars, dictio-
naries, and other elementary works, and of these, used and
and cheap copies." And from whom is he to borrow ? Why
from the head gardener to be sure. And how does he procure
them ? Why, he borrows them of course, from " the patron
under whom he serves." And how came they into disposses-
sion ? Probably by purchase, without payment ; and tlms do
the journeymen gardeners over all Britain " become acquainted
as far as circumstances may permit, with tiie whole cycle of
human knowledge," at the expense of John Murray, Longman,
and Co., and William Blackwood! We pity the poor book-
sellers.
The sort of books, says Mr. Loudon, "desirable to borrow,"
independently of those connected with professional acquire-
ments, are treatises on chemistry, zoology, mineralogy, and
above all, a good Encyclopedia — one systematically, instead of
alphabetically arranged would be the best ; but as most existing
libraries, he says are now stocked with the Encyclopedia Brit-
tannica, or Hees' Cyclopedia, " these must be taken, till a
well executed one, on the plan of the Encyclopedia Metropo-
litan, now publishing (but badly executed,) finds its way into
general use." The Encyclopedia Metropolitana is not badly
executed, as this conceited gentleman impertinently says in a
parenthesis, any one number of it being worth all he has com-
piled since he became a cHpper. Then there is the Edinburgh
Encyclopedia, edited by Sir David Brewster, now complete, and
the property of that enterprising bookseller, Mr. Tcgg, full of
the most useful information of all kinds, as Mr. Loudon well
knows, though he has kept his left hand thumb upon it, all the
while brandishing in his right hand a formidable pair of shears,
that might trim a privet hedge, or the mane of a bonassus.
[So much for the First Fitte.]
STRUCTURE OF THE RADISH ROOT.
It is well known to most observers, that at tlie sum-
mit of the root of the common radish, at the very
base of the stem, or that place which the French call
the collet — the English the neck, is £.n appendage, at
first resembling a membranous sheath, enwrapping
the young root, and subsequently as the root distends,
becoming two loose straps hanging down on eachi
side of the root. The nature of this appendage was
unknown until the late ingenious L. C. Richard
discovered the existence of two modes of germina-
tion, called the exhorhizal and endorhizal, and
suggested that the radish w. s an example of the
latter mode, a notion which has been generally ad-
mitted by recent writers, notwithstanding the cir-
cumstance, that, if endorhizal, the radish would offer
an exception to a very general law that endordizal
germination goes along with endogenous growth.
M. Turpin has lately demonstrated that the fleshy
supposed root of the radish belongs to the ascending
axis, not to the descending one, and that, conse-
quently, it belongs to the system^ of the stem, and
not to that of the root. In the next place, he asserts,
that the tumour, which ultimately becomes the rad-
dish, is in the beginning cylindrical, and that its
cuticle loses at a very early period the power of
distension ; in short, that it dies, and separates from
the subjacent living matter, just as dead bark sepa-
rates from liber and young wood in old stems. Now
this premature death of the cuticle is connected with
the rapid lateral distension of the tumour, the cause
of the existence of the two appendages in question,
which are nothing more than two straps of dead cuti-
cle, rent asunder by the gradual but rapid distension
of the part that they originally ensheathed.
87
EXPERIMENTS ON THE CULTIVATION OF TURNIPS.
BY MR. HUGH MUNKO, ASSTNT BY EVANTON, ROSSHIRE.*
1 HAD a field of nine acres which I wished returned
into grass, and, from the little experience I have
as a farmer of four years standing, I considered
that grass after turnip eaten off by the sheep, would
be better than after any other course. I at one
time thought I should be obliged to purchase bone
manurefor this field, not having any fold manure; but
the expense of bones for nine acres, at twenty five
bushels per acre, at 2s. lOd. (the price last season),
would amount to 31. 10s. lOrf. or 31Z. 17s- 6rf. I have,
however, heard that fourteen bushels of bones per
acre have been applied to raise turnip with suc-
cess, which makes 11. I9s. 8d. per acre, or lyZ. IJs.
for nine acres. So I determined to try and find a
substitute that would be cheaper and equally effec-
tive, in which, I am happy to say, I have succeeded
beyond my most sanguine expectations. I got some
of the small tenantry to bring me a quantity of peat-
moss, for which I paid 21. 10s. I then mixed all the
chaff from the mill, the fire ashes from my own
house, together with the sweepings and fire ashes,
&c. &c. of my servants' houses, (for which I gave
straw to bed their pigs,) the scrapings of roads and
ditches, and then wetted the whole with the super-
fluous urine from the fold, having added a little lime
and house dung, and turned it frequently till it was
well pulverised ; and in this way I prepared forty-
five single cart-loads. During the winter, I drilled
from the stubble the field intended for turnip, and
let it be exposed to the weather in that state until
the end of May, when I harrowed it smooth, and
then drilled it again by splitting the former drills.
I then put a light roller over the drills to make them
smooth, and commenced laying down the turnip in
the following manner. I had five men with large
dibbles made of hard wood, with which they made
holes eight inches apart on the top of the drills, press-
ing down the dibble with the foot, each man having
a single drill, followed by a woman with a basketful
of prepared manure, and into each hole made by the
dibble she placed a handful of manure. The ma-
nure is taken to the field in carts from where it is
made, and the driver fills each woman's basket as
they may require it. After her, followed a girl with
a little bag of turnip seed, putting from three to six
or more grains on the top of the manure, with her
fore finger and thumb, drawing a little earth over
it, and in this manner I carried on five drills at a
time with fifteen people ; viz. a man and two wo-
men to each drill. I only expended two pounds of
turnip seed for each acre. The whole went on like
clock-work, and I finished the nine acres in four
days, at an expense of about 51. including purchase
of peat-moss. The turnips grew rapidly, and I had
them cleaned in the usual manner, sometimes leav-
ing two plants in one hole, which I found to answer
well, especially when the plants happened to be a
little distant from each other, say about two inches.
I have thus raised an excellent crop of large turnips,
by applying onhj five single cart-loads per acre of
this prepared manure, and the expense of the whole
dees not exceed 51. ; indeed, they are so good, that f
am now stripping one half previous to putting on
the sheep. Every one who has seen the turnip has
been surprised, and several in my neighbourhood
intend adopting the same plan next year. I shall
now attempt to make some observations on this plan,
which I have iidopted, and which I believe to have
originated with myself ; at all events, I never heard
or read of such a plan before ; and you will readily
agree that the experiment was tried on an extensive
scale. I will now observe that
1st. Where the land is foul with weeds, the usual
mode of cleaning should be adopted, and then drill-
ing the land once.
2nd. That the manure to be prepared, should be
made as strong as possible, by the superfluous urine
of the court-yard in winter ; and that the scrapings
of roads and ditches, with rubbish of old houses, &c.
would be preferable to peat-moss. A boll of lime
should also be mixed with every ten cart-loads, and,
when well attended to, less than five cart-loads per
acre will be found sufficient.
3rd, I observe that, although the season may be
dry, and the sides of the hole liable to fall in, yet,
by making the women with the manure follow the
dibble quickly, this inconvenience) and I may say
it is the only one) will be obviated in a great mea-
sure ; and, where this was done, I found no differ-
ence in the crop of turnips.
4th. This plan can be followed in all kinds of
weather, and better while raining, which is not the
case n the usual method.
5th. Where five or more grains of the seed come
up together, (forced on by the strength of the ma-
nure, over which the seed is immediately placed,)
they will force themselves through, even shoidd the
soil be barkened by rain, wind, and sunshine. And,
6th. Shoidd dry weather be the character of the
season while sowing the turnips, they will show a
healthy braird, the manure, which is tlieir food, being
close at hand, and they not being obliged to push
their delicate roots through a quantity of earth in
search of nourishment, as in the method now in use.
I have now given a statement of my plan of culti-
vating turnips, with the observations I made, as far
as I have been able ; and I am certain, that whoever
tries the above plan, will not be inclined again to
purchase the bone manure, at its present price.
* From Trans. Highland Society.
88
ON THE GENERATION OV PLANTS.
EXPERIMENTS ON THE GENERATION OF PLANTS, PARTICULARLY PUMPKINS,
HEMP, AND LYCHNIS DIOICA.
BY CH. GIROU DE BUZAREINGUES, COKRESPONDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.
In 1832, I so\\'ed in my garden three varieties of
the pumpkin, the Barbarine, the Pastisson, and the
Giraumon.
I cannot conceive that any foreign pollen could be
conveyed by the wind or by insects, as there were
not for three leagues round, any pumpkins similar
to my own, nor probably Qther piimpkins of any
sort. ■ :.;■ •,: . ;:.,^,;:
About the 27th of July, I took care to destroy all
the male flowers before they were blown, as all the
female flowers which had blown before this were
abortive. The fruit became yellow, wlien about the
size of a cherry. The number of abortive plants
were fifteen barbarines, and two pastissons.
After the 27th July, I began a series of different
experiments, either by means of artificial fecunda-
tion and without mixture, by hybridation, or by the
destruction of the males : I in the end, left my pi ,nts
to themselves.
T proceeded with the artificial fecundation,
without mixtiu'c and hybridation.
il. In the humid way, by separating the stimens
m'the calyx, and by diluting afterwards tlie paste
with a considerable quantity of water to render it
liquid, and touching the pistils with this liquor by
the aid of a caincl hair pencil, or by turning in tlie
bell-shaped corolla of the female flower.
2. By insertion, placing one or more male flowers,
deprived of the corolla, into the female flower, and
enveloping them as it were in a jaurse, by the aid of
a ligature around the side of its border. This expc
dienf appeared proper, to disperse from the pistil all
foreign influence which might have deranged my
experiments,
3. By simple insertion, that is to say, by placing
many male flowers in a female flower without a liga-
ture. In order that I may be certain of the hybri-
d^itfon, I take the precaution the day before to des-
titoy, previous to their exp nsion, the male flowers
of the variety which I i)urpose to cross on the mor-
row. If however, after this precLiution, it some-
times happens, before the rising of tlie sun, and the
awaking of the bees, male flowers have expanded, I
destroy them instantly, and leave them to subsist
wittout artificial fecundations, the females which
were their neighbours, in order to prove if there
was sufficient nearness to the male, under circum-
stances little fayour,.ble to the dispersion of the pol-
leji, to the females that were fecundated, and. to
render useless my trials of Jiybridation. „,■ j,>j,.^;;
If it hajjpened that the female flowers, .pfjiUe
variety which I wished to cross, were near ex-
panding, I took advantage of the others blpssomin.g.
and even sometimes by an incision into the corolla,
prevented the procedure of hybridation.
I tried also the artificial fecundation with .ijiftles
gathered the day before and withered. , i..;jjfi,f
Although there had been dry weather for: t]ii;^e
months, my experiments were attended with suc-
cess, owing to the care I was at in waje^jiig, the
pvunpkins abundantly every evening. ;;-,.-,/,!,.
In fine, to avoid confusion, I marked all the female
flowers, the object of one experiment, with long rods
of wood, numbered and carefully registered, :
I would however have been liable .to mista,kes,
if I had not first destroyed the aborti\'e fruit, as soon
as the abortion had taken place, taking up the cor-
respondent rods, ;ind carefully registering this with
the designation of the proper number.
Here, I may recapitulate the regult§ of these expe-
riments.
In fourteen trials of artificial fecundation, with.out
mixture by the humid way, one only was successful.
Upon foiir female flowers, which had each a male
flower of their own proper variety, three produced
fruit, only one was abortive, and this abortion was
owing a little to a blossom on the stem, which in the
lower part nourished also a pumpkin well deve^
loped. ,,, :. J ,^, ,; , 1
Upon five female fiowefs which had each inapy
males of their own proper v..riety, not one was bar-
ren, and the pericarps were filled with seeds pro-
vided with kernels.
Ujioii fifty-three feniale flowers of the barbarine
wliicli had each received a male pastisson flower,
twenty three were abortive, among which, tWiO,h3,d
received two males gathered the day beforevr.ii v.'«.-l.'
Among these which prospered, many of them had
not blown when all the males of their variety were
destroyed. ,
In three female flpwers of the pastisson, wihich 'had
each received a iijiale h,a,ji!n3f iiie,i S^pyir^v,. jiog^ Qf^
proved abortivci. , ; . : ,, .. : '■■ . ■ , •, y , t n.;
Upon nine female flowers of the barbarine, which
had eacli a male of the Giraumon, tlu'ee only were
quite abortive ; .one only was filled with seeds, and
this one by exception had been fecundated by the
males of its own variety, and it was demonstrated-
to me, lJjat,it was so in..eifi'ect.;t. As. to, .^he., Either
One, was of the diameter of two inches six lines; of
a size above the medium of my barbarines, produced
nothing but one seed provided with a kei'nel, and in
the other four seeds, one of wliich was of more than
ordinary bulk, and three very small, the whole were
destitute of kernels, and presented only the episperm.
1
ON THE GENERATION OP PLANTS.
89
A second, of the diameter of twenty-two lines
produced many seeds, one of which only was pro-
vided with a kernel.
A third, of the diameter of twenty-two lines, pro-
duced only two grains destitute of kernel.
A fourth of the diameter of eighteen lines, pro-
duced nothing but two very small seeds destitute of
kernel.
The fifth, of the diameter of sixteen lines, pro-
duced many seeds, of which one only was provided
with a kernel.
According to the small number and condition of
their seeds, these five barbarines presented a striking
contrast with all the others, in which were found a
great number of seeds, sometimes more than a hun-
dred, of which the greater part were provided with
kernels.
Of two female pastissons, each of which had re-
ceived a male giraumon, neither prospered.
One female giraumon, which had received a male
pastisson, proved abortive.
Upon seventeen female flowers expanded in the
morning, when the precaution had not been taken
to destroy the males, and leave them without arti-
ficial fecundation, after the destruction of the ex-
panded male flowers, seven produced fruit.
Upon thirty-one females expanded in the morn-
ing, after having taken the precaution the day
before to destroy the males which could be dis-
covered, and to suppress in the morning, previous to
the rising of the sun and setting out of the bees, all
those which having escaped the first investigation,
and were expanded thirty were abortive.
Upon sixty-two female plants which had flou-
rished after the conclusion of these experiments,
twenty-five proved abortive.
The pastissons produced by these experiments,
have been wholly without a crown ; yet I have taken
seed from them in subjects richly provided with it ;
they have been on the other hand, a little crumpled
or warty : they had also the flat or discoid form,
and the yellow colour of the variety from which
they came.
The first change of form induced me to suppose,
that the seed whicli I sowed had suffered hybrida-
tion by the assistance of the wind or insects. The
possibility of hybridation had been many times
proclaimed as deduced from various experiments ;
it has been proved to me by the evolution of fruits
coming from flowers in which I have tried it, and by
the sterility of those placed in the same circum-
stances, but by design deprived of the male flower.
But I was permitted to observe a new proof, and I
did not neglect it.
I sowed in 1833, the seed arising from my mix-
tures of the preceding year.
Mark the result of this second part of the expe-
riment.
The seed furnished by the barbarines united with
the pastissons, produced fruits which were, some the
form and colour of the pastissons, others the colour
of the pastissons with a spherical form.
From the seed furnished by the pastissons united
with the barbarines, were produced fruits which had
completely the form and colour of the pastissons ;
others which had the globular form of the barba-
rines, and the colour of the pastissons; others in fine,
which had the lengthened form of the cucumbers,
and the colour of the pastissons.
The seed produced from doubtful hybridation of a
barbarine with a male giraumon, produced me
fruits which changed these doubts into certainties ;
for they were absolutely the form, the bulk, and
colour of the barbarines.
The grains, in small number, furnished by the
barbarines allied with the giraumons, have pro-
duced nothing, although cultivated with care.
Observations on the Results of these Experiments.
The females which flourished in the period when
I had destroyed with care all the males, before their
expansion, were all abortive. There is at the same
time, first, an exception of one in twenty-nine of
those which I wished to fecundate by the humid
way ; second, an exception of one in tiiirty-one of
those which I had left to grow without artificial
fecundation, in the period when I attempted the day
before, previous to their expansion, to destroy the
males of the variety which I proposed to cross two
days afterwards ; third, of those which I wished to
fecundate with the pollen of the flowers gathered
the day before.
Hybridation with the giraumons, was only par-
tially successful.
The varieties then, of pumpkins employed in my
experiments, cannot reproduce without the concur-
rence of the male.
This result is in perfect harmony with that whicii
was obtained by M. Desfontaines in 1831.
Among the other results of my experiments 1
will remark the following :
1. The defeat of fecundations by the humid way.
This fact is in accordance with a general observa-
tion that rain falling at blossoming time, occasions
the falling off" or abortion of the fruits. Humidity
co-operates in two ways to produce this last pheno-
mena, as an obstacle to the opening of the cells of
the anthers, and by the activity which it gives to the
vegetation of the stem, which is hurtful to that of
the fruit.
2. Fecimdation cannot be certain, except a male
flower be expanded for some time near to a female
flo^ver also when this expansion only takes place
before the rising of the sun and the awakening of the
bees : it is necessary that there be a cause to set at
liberty the pollen, and another which may transport
it to the female flower.
UAOAZINB OF BOTANT AND GARDENIXG, VOL. II. NO. XV. JUNE, 1834.
m
ON THE GEtJBRATION OF PLANTS.
3. Fecundation is uncertain when the male
flower is already becoming faded.
4. The produce of fecundation is in proportion
to the abundance of the pollen.
5. The existence of a small number of sterile
•seeds are sufficient for the development of the peri-
carp.
6. The possibility of hybridation is incontestible ;
but it is more or less difficult according to the dis-
tance or diiference among the varieties which we
wish to mingle.
7- Among plants as among animals, the influence
of the male upon the forms and the colour of the
produce, may be such as to render imperceptible
that of the female.
8. By hybridation, we can obtain anomalous
farms, which may neither resemble, not even in a
medium degree those of the father or mother.
Though the presence of the male may be as neces-
sary in androgynous or monoicous plants, as in
hermaphrodite plants, to the fecundation of the
female, we ought not to conclude that it is the same
in dioicous plants. In these, the male is latent, and
in the female plant it manifests itself at the same
time, sometimes by its organs.
To deprive this female of all commimication with
males of its own species, it is not necessary to rob it
of the unseizable masculine power which is in it :
and althoiigh we may be ignorant by what means
such a power can be supplied, it does not follow that
there cannot be such a power.
When an organ exists, the capacity which is re-
presented, is contained in it : to suppress this is to
destroy it. But because there is not an organ in a
plant, or in an animal, by which it may concentrate
itself, or by which a faculty is unveiled that accords
with all other organized bodies, or is capable of be-
coming so, we would not infer so much, if we were
not authorized by constant observation to draw tliis
conclusion of the total absence of this faculty.
Where are the male organs of the polypus, of the
female aphis, or of the Daphnia pulex, and the like?
Where is the organ of vision in the medusa, or
that of hearing in insects ?*
I will not insist more upon these ideas which I
have already presented and developed in my book
on Generation ; I pass to the following facts.
I repeated my experiments upon the hemp plant
and upon the Lychnis dioica, with so much care as to
authorise me to affirm that these plants reproduce
themselves without the aid of the male organs.
In 1832 and 1833, I attentively examined the
flibwers of hemp which I had planted out for my ex-
periment, after having destroyed all the males before
blossoming time, in order that there might be no
rudiments of the stamens in the envelope of the
pistil. The observation was extended to seventy-six
plants; my eyes were assisted with a good magnifying
glass, but nothing could be discovered. I do not
deny so far, that the stamens or rudiments of the
stamens may light upon the females of the hemp. I
have found it so myself in other circumstances : but
this M'as not the case in my seventy-six subjects.
How do you know ? tell me ; have you verified it in
all the flowers ? No : but observation has taught
me that it is in general sufficient to understand the
sexual organization of one flower, to comprehend
a little of that of all the flowers on the same plant ;
and I have only occasion to study one flower on each
plant : I verified also the more early. Again, can
we reasonably suppose that the rudiments of the
stamen, inclosed in the envelope of the seed organ,
can be able to fecundate all the females of a neigh-
bouring plant ? My observations upon the pump-
kins is, that fecundation by the pollen, does not make
sport of all these obstacles, and that it is more to
hinder than to further it.
My seventy-six plants of hemp were all blown,
and abundantly ; the seed was well developed ; it
was completely isolated ; there was no hemp field
nearer than the distance of half a league, in a coun-
try interrupted by hills and valleys, the vegetation
was early, and a high wall acted as a safe shelter from
the west wind, which can cany pollen a long dis-
tance, if any exists, I will add that the flowering
and fructification of my hemp have been general
and of short duration.
Upon Lychnis dioica, I commenced wholly (after a
complete destruction of the males before blossoming
time,) upon the female subjects, where were found
the rudiments of stamens ; but as it is necessary to
understand, with respect to this, the state of one
flower to judge of all those of the same plant, it has
been easy to suppress, before l)looming, all those
plants where were found the rudiments of stamens ;
the others ha \'ing produced seed in great abundance.
I wished to be assured, among these, in the course
of the blossoming, if the pistil had not received pol-
len which could be carried to it by the wind or bv
insects, also what was the indisputable cause of the
precocity of my Lychnis ; and for this purpose, I exa-
mined many of their pistils with a microscope, but
could not discover any globule of the pollen.
I continued, upon the Lychnis dioica, my obser-
vations upon the aptitude of the seed to produce one
sex rather than the other, following its situation
upon the stem or upon the verge, (Jrophosperme).
This plant is dichotomous by the abortion of the
median stem, but this abortion is not constant, es-
pecially among the females, and in this case, th^
m.edian stem is slender, and terminated by a flower.
After the observations which I have already made
and communicated to the academy, from which it
results, tliat the aptitude of the seed to produce
• See Alphabet of Insects, Second Edition, for different opinions on the Hearing of Insects.
A
DUTROCHET ON DIASTASE.
9T
females is much greater at the top than at the base
of the stem, or of the spike, or of the verge, and
also upon strong and more vigorous stems, than
upon slender stems, I ought to infer that it will go
on increasing from the lower to the higher bifur-
cations, and that it will be less upon the direct con-
tinuation of the stem than upon its branches. These
results have not disappointed my attention.
I divided my seed of the Lychnis into four parts :
the first produced from the lower branches ; the
second from the direct continuation of the stem ; the
third from the second pair of branches in going from
below to above ; and the fourth from the third pair.
I diNaded the second part into two sections, of
which one was taken from the base or lower half,
the other from the summit or upper half of the
verge.
Here are the results :
The first part gave me 268 males, 247 females :
in the proportion of 1085 to 1000.
The second part, first section, 186 males, 160
females: in the proportion of 1162 to 1000.
The same part of the second section, 200 males,
182 females: in the proportion of 1099 to 1000.
Total of the second part, 386 males, 342 females :
in the proportion of 1129 to 1000.
The third part, 217 males, 244 females : in the
proportion of 889 to 1000.
The fourth part, 201 males, 255 females : in the
proportion of 788 to 1000-
This experiment appears curious by the regula-
rity of its results.
New experiment on the Hemp.
I supposed that seed of a high colour ought to be
more especially formed under masculine influence
than seed of a pale or ashy colour. I in consequence
sowed separately, in 1832, from seed of a deep green
and streaked with brown, and from seed whitish or
greyish white.
The first gave me 137 males, and 108 females :
in the proportion of 1268 to 1000; and the second,
59 males, and 68 females : in the proportion of 868
to 1000.
The experiment was repeated in 1833.
The brown and streaked seed gave me 265 males,
258 females : in the proportion of 1007 to 1000.
The pale seed produced 153 males and 175 fe-
male : in the proportion of 874 to 1000.
If it was more marked the first year than the
second, it is a little owing, either to the differences
of the colour, or still more to the form, the brown
seed being more flattened than the pale seed, which
was more globular.
I may remark that in 1832, brown seed had been
sown in two different parts of my garden, and that
in both places it produced a proportionally greater
number of males, than the pale seed.
As these results appear to me rational, I have no
doubt they will be obtained by all those who wish to
try the experiment.
The advantage of this discovery may be to furnish
cultivators with the means of knowing before-hand
if the seed which they intend to sow ought to pro-
duce a greater relative number, whether of males
or females, a circumstance which is not altogether
indifferent to them.
ON DIASTASE* AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY.
BY M. DUTROCHET, MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE.
The tegumentary envelope of the grains of fecula is
burst, and the substance which contains these grains
is set at liberty by the action of many agents. The
inost generally employed of these agents is water
heated to a boiling temperature. When the quantity
of this liquid is considerably increased by the sub-
stance which it dissolves, it cannot form a liquid
paste, we see that when it is left to cool, it precipi-
tates, not only the insoluble teguments of the fecula,
but also a great quantity of the substance which has
been dissolved by the heat. The quantity of this
substance which rests dissolved in the cooled liquid,
is so trifling that it can scarcely be perceived to aug-
ment by its presence the density of the water.
I have proved that this density of the cooled
water, loaded with as much of the soluble substance
of the fecula as it can contain, is only^ 1 .002, the
density of water being 1. When the quantity of
this substance dissolved in hot water is very conside-
rable, it coagulates by cold. This coagulation is
the result of a virtual precipitation of the soluble
substance of the fecula, the substance which rests
suspended in the liquid, ceasing to deserve that
name ; and is that which is called the paste (colle) .
The interior substance of the fecula also, indefinitely
soluble in boiling water, is very little in cold water.
We can reasonably conceive that the boiling
water determines the bursting of the teguments of
the grains of the fecula by softening them, and dila-
ting by heat the substance which they contain. We
ought to add to these causes of bursting, the endos-
mose which cannot fail to be very energetic on ac-
count of the great density of the liquified substance
that encloses the grains of the fecula, bathed exte-
* As chemists are not yet agreed upon the composition of fecula, and in consequence the number or names of substances in which
it is contained, I abstain from adopting here any of these names. — Author.
92
DUTROCHET ON niASTASR.
riorly by tTie ll'ot'\\^feT. '' 'The fendbsitiobfe introduces
water into these small vesicles, which become also
extremely turgid and which finish by bursting.
The diastase, without being at all considered us'a'
chemical menstruum, produces, notwithstanding, the
dissolution of the fecula with great rapidity. TTie
manner in which the diastase acts in performing this
phenomenon, appears to me easy to be determined.
The diastase cannot dissolve the teguments of the
fecula. This fact is proved by experience ; for the
prolonged action of the diastase upon the teguments
of the fecula previously separated, do not cause them
to lose any of their weight. It is not consequently,
by attacking these teguments that it occasions their
bursting. It appears then neces.sary to have recourse
exclusively, to the action of the diastase upon the
interior substance of the fecula. We have said
above that this last is very little soluble in cold
water. But, the accession of an excessive small
quantity of diastase, 0.000.5 for exam])le, gives ra-
pidly to this substance an extreme solubility in water.
The mode of this chemical action is unknown ; but
the fact that is thus unveiled to us, is one of great im-
portance, not only in chemistry, but also in physio-
logy. It is evident that it is to this augmentation
of the solubility of the interior substance of the fecula,
we must refer the bursting of the teguments which
enclose it. By reason of its acquired solubility, this
substance forms with the water a liquid very thick ;
it exercises in consequence an endosmose very ener-
getic, and for thi« reason it makes the delicate tegu-
ments of the grains of the fecula swell rapidly. To
verify this theory, I experimented comparatively
upon the force of the endosmose of cold water,
saturated as far as possible with the soluble substance
of the fecula, by the previous action of boiling water,
and upon the force of the endosmose of cold water,
loaded with a quantity of this same substance, mo-
dified and rendered soluble by diastase. The first
of these liquids, the density of which was 1.002 did
not produce the slightest endosmose ; the second, in
which the water was loaded with the interior sub-
stance of tlie fecula modified by diastase in the pro-
portion of one-forty-eighth of its own weight, and
in which the density was l.OOG, produced an endos-
mose, which, compared with that of sugared water,
{eau ma-ie) of the same density, it was found to bear
to it the proportion of 7 to 9. In employing a so-
lution of this same substance of which the density
was 1.013, 1 obtained an endosmose which compared
with tliat of the sugared water of the same density,
was found to bear to it, the proportion of 5 to 6.
Tliis difference in the two experiments arose pro-
balily from this, that in the two solutions the action
of the diastase had produced more sugar in the one,
than in the other. It always results from these ex-
periments, that the interior substance of the fecula,
modified by diastase, possesses a power of endosmose,
little inferior to that which the sugared water pos-
sesses. But, I have shown, in another work,' that
sugar is of all vegetable substances, that which pos-
sesses the greatest power of endosmose. The interior
substance of fecula, is modified by diastase, approaches
to it under this point of view ; its power of endos-
mose is very superior to that of gum, which after
many experiments, I found to be nearly one half
that of sugar. Thus, it cannot be doubted that
the substance contained in the grains of fecula,
does not possess an energetic endosmose when it is
modified hj the action of diastase. When the tegu-
ments of the grains of fecula, are very much dis-
tended by the introduction of water, they terminate
by bursting, n'his effect takes place in cold water,
as well as in hot water of about 75 degrees, of the
Centigrade thermometer, but considerably slower.
We know that at a high temperature the diastase
decomposes it. When the grains of the fecula have
not undergone the action of diastase, the substance
which they contain being either insoluble or to a
very trifling degree soluble in cold water, there can-
not be an endosmose of the product ; these grains,
in consequence, cannot be forced to burst, but con-
tinue to preserve their integrity.
We see also that the separation of the interior
substance of the fecula from the teguments under
the influence of diastase, is the result of a succession
of phenomena. The diastase acts upon this interior
substance, as an agent of the modification of compo-
sition which disposes it to liquefaction ; in virtue of
this modification, this substance acquires a great
power of endosmose. Tliis last physical action pro-
duces the entrance of the water, into the tegumentary
vesicle of the grain of the fecula, and renders it tur-
gid, to such an excess that it bursts. This bursting
having taken place, the separation of the interior
substance of the teguments is worked upon only by
the dissolving action of the water. Tlius, the dias-
tase cannot act directly by separating the interior
substance of the fecula from its envelopes, as the
etjinology of its name indicates. It would be more
eligible to give to this new chemical agent, a name
of which the etymological signification might indi-
cate that which changes the chemical nature of the
insoluble substance upon which it acts, and which
renders it soluble. At length, the name being im-
posed ought to be preserved, but without any regard
to its signification. Science presents many other
examples of disagreement between objects, and their
names, in relation to the etymological signification,
which however are still preserved. The discovery of
diastase will claim a high station in the science Hi
physiology. It is a phenomena in organic chemistrj^,
well worthy of serious investigation on account of
the rapid change, of the nature and augmentation of
solubility, whicli is produced in an organic substance,
by the accession of some atoms of another organic
substance, which is neither an acid nor an alkali.
ITiis proves to us that when organic substances have
M. MERAT OM BONNET STRAW.
93
undergone a dissolution, or rather a liquifaction, we
ought not at all times to attribute this phenomena to
the action of a chemical menstruum. It can be pro-
duced by an agent, which we may term diastasier,
that is to say at once a trausformer and liquifier,
without being a menstruum. The phenomena of
digestion has certainly received a new light, (which
it did not previously possess), from the discovery of
this new order of facts in organic chemistry. It is
very probable, indeed, that the gastric juice is to the
organic alimentary substances, a sort of diastase,
which produces the transformation, and occasions the
solution of organic alimentary substances, All these
organic animal and vegetable substances are com-
posed of agglomerated globules, and these globules
which are vesicular like the grains of fecula, are re-
quired to be crushed to carry to alimentation the
substances which they enclose. There would thus
be many gastric species of diastases, in proportion to
the kind of alimentation of animals.
The liquifaction of alimentary substances in the
act of digestion offers phenomena which it is impos-
sible to explain, by the action of a chemical men-
struum. Thus, for example, we know with what
facility bones either entire, or in large pieces, are
liquified in the stomach of dogs. This liquifaction
results from the solution of the gelatine, which re-
unites the particles of calcareous phosphate. The
bone is then converted into a jelly, better than it
could be effected by Papin's digester. This surprising
effect cannot evidently be attributed to the action of
an acid, so weak as that which is found in the gas-
tric juices.
Let us admit, instead of that, the existence of a
gastric diastase, the accession of which modifies the
elementary composition of the gelatine, and gives to
it a great solubility, and the phenomena of digestion
will then become a question easily explained. The
bone thrust into the stomach of the dog is quickly
liquified, and the gelatine will transform itself into
another organic liquid ; that will be the act of the
stomachic digestion. :].'■
After these considerations, we are able to undei;
stand in the action of transformation and liquifaction
of the diastase, upon the fecula during vegetation, a
sort of vegetable digestion, very analogous to animal
digestion.
I have been long persuaded, that in the study of
vegetable physiology, there was to be found a solu-
tion of many dark problems in the physiology of ani-
mals. The discovery of diastase, and its action upon
the fecula during fermentation, strengthens more and
more my opinion in this respect.
NOTE UPON THE PLANT WHICH PRODUCES THE STRAW OF THE LEGHORN
AND TUSCAN BONNETS.
FROM A i.B,XXER ,()? M., JIiB|RA,T,|M^D!, tIo^^'THK EDI'TOR Ot^THE ARCHIVES DE BOTANIQUE.
PpffMiT me Sir, in reply to a note in the Archives
of Botany, on the subject of the plant which furnishes
the straw with which we fabricate in the environs of
Florence, the bonnets called Leghorn and Tuscan
bonnets, to forward to you the following observations,
resulting from the statements furnished by M M.
Bonafons, Berlese, the Count de Lasteyrie, &c.
This gramineous plant is a genuine wheat, (Triti-
cum) and not a rye (Secale) as M. Chaubard terms
it;, it is a summer corn, a sort of spelt. It is sown
in the spring in barren ground, in a dry soil, and cut
do^yvTi before the expansion of the ear. The entire
straw (Sommites) , after having been first bleached in
the dew, and afterwards by a chemical process, is em-
ployed. There are lands which produce superior
straw to others, and of which the middle boles (Centre
tuevds) are longer, a circumstance which is particu-
larly desirable. The same seed fields in France do
not produce such good straw, although the grain
answers well. We cannot work this straw so well
as tiUey do in Italy, for the, manufacturers of bonnets
Jc'J-jd Oi'Jii) i« nyii *';
81.' '•! sovoTcj exd'i'
in France, although they may have the straw direct
from Florence, cannot produce equally advantageous
results. It would appear desirable that this manu-
facture should be tried on a new system, so that it
might prove successful in France; we can bring over
workmen from Florence to instruct ours in the cul-
ture of the seed and the working of the straw ; this
would be to introduce a useful branch of manufacture
into our country, and which it does not seem impos-
sible to naturalise. The benefit would be conside-
rable, for the price of these bonnets is from 40 to 100
francs, and we have known them cost three thousand
francs.
I talce this opportunity, Sit-r'ib assert that the
bonnets of straw called de riz are hot manufactured
from rice straw; we manufacture them with shavings
made with the aid of appropriate instmments, fr6m
the Poplar and from the Willow, but not from their
bark.' , / ' ., ,,
■ 'jAi ic. ■".
•haa'lo 19'"
■£oq lii':-
94
PESCKIPTION OV THE PLATES.
EFFECTS OF MOUNTAIN HEIGHTS ON PLANTS.
Ma. Gay, in his recent interesting' tour among the
Cordilleras, discovered many beautiful and rare spe-
cies of Baccharis, Loasea, Alstroemeria, and " above
all " he says those " charming Mutisia which exhibit
this singular phenomenon, the tendrils with which
these plants are usually furnished, becoming useless
in these cold regions, unprovided with shrubs or
bushes, change into real leaves, organs of such great
utility to alpine plants, I have also remarked that
the plants which are herbaceous in the plains, become
here entirely ligneous, and that several trees, espe-
cially the Escaleonia, instead of assuming that forked
appearance which characterizes it, becomes stinted,
creeping along the rocks and thus offering less sur-
face to the cold with which the wind is charged in
passing over these numerous and immense glaciers.
But another observation which I have also made
among these cold regions is still more interesting ;
it is the form of imbricated leaves which the greater
portion of the vegetables assume, those genera even
whose habitual form seems to be entirely contrary to
this disposition. Thus the leaves of the Triptilions,
which are so lax and small in the lower regions,
become here extremely hard and tovigh, closely im-
bricating the stalk and even the flowers of these
beautiful plants. The Mutisia which is nearly
devoid of leaves when at the side of the mountains,
produces at their summit a considerable number.
The violets here have not that elegant form which
we observe in those lower down, but are found
under a form altogether diferent ; they represent a
rosette which may be compared to that of a Sedum,
with this difference, that the leaves, instead of being
almost vertical, are in these alpine violets entirely
horizontal. These leaves, which are extremely
hard and tough, are round, scabrous, strongly
1 imbricated, and exhibit at the footstalks flowers
which are sessile, and of a violet colour somewhat
I approaching to red. Although very familiar with
I the genera Triptilions, Escaleonia, Mutisia, Viola,
the particular aspect of these alpine species caused
me to mistake them entirely, and I did not discover
to what genus they belonged until I studied them
I after my return."
MR. MAIN'S CATECHISM OF GARDENING.
This deserving little work, which we noticed in a
previous number, has at length been completed in
the form of a neat little school book, and is published
at Ridgways, the great depot for rural publications.
As Mr. Main has had long and extensive practice, and
is besides a good observer, and withal a good writer,
those who patronize his book may recommend it with
all confidence as to the soundness of the directions
given. We wish it every success, and as we under-
stand but a very small number of copies have been
printed, those who are desirous of seeing it may be
disappointed if they delay ordering it at their book;
sellers, as we should think the demand may be con-
siderable, from its being so cheap.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
RIBES SANGUINEUM.
Pentandria Monogynia, Linn ; Grossulariacea, De Candohe.
Calyx superior in five coloured divisions. Corolla petals, five
inserted in the top of the calyx ; stamina five, inserted oppo-
site to the petals ; anthers compressed, and inclining. Gcr-
men, simple ; style one ; stigmas two ; herry round, umbili-
cated, of one place, containing many seeds.
Leaves heart-shaped of from three to five serrated lobes, linearly
veined, rough, above hairy, downy white beneath ; branches
flexible and nodding ; flowers aggregated ; petals oblong ;
bractea ovally spatulate, somewhat longer than the foot-
stalk ; ovarium covered with glandular hairs.
The species of Ribes now figured, surpasses every
other in beauty. It is a native of Nortli-west Ame-
rica, and, according to Mr. Douglas, Archibald
Mcnzies, Esq. discovered it near Nootka Sound
in 1787» when on his first voyage round the
world ; and on his second voyage with the cele-
brated Vancouver, he found it again in various
parts of North-west America. From the time of its
first discovery until its introduction in 1826, com-
paratively nothing was known of it in this country ;
but in that year it was cultivated in the Horticul-
tural Society's garden. , - <
It is perfectly hardy, and nearly as easy of cul-
ture as the common currant bush of our kitchen
gardens; it requires to be planted in a dry situation
and a light soil, when it produces abundance of
beiutiful purplish-red flowers about the beginning of
May, and continues flowering for two or three
weeks successively. It is increased by cuttings,after
the manner of the common currant, which should
be planted in light sandy soil, either in Septem-
ber (which is probably the best time) or in spring.
The colours of this, as well as many other plants, are
subject to considerable variation, some bearing
flowers of a light rosy colour, others of a dark^car-
mine, and others with deep purple tints.' " ■'"^' '
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
95
borOnia pinnata.
Octandria Moiiogynia, Link.
Calyx quadrupartitus. Petala 4. Antherse infra apicem fila-
mentorum pedicellatse. Stylus ex apice germinis, brevis-
simus. Stigma capitatum. Capsulse 4. coalit%. Semina
arillata.
Calyx in four divisions. Petals four. Anthers on footstalks,
below the sxiramits of the filaments. Style from the top of
the germen, very short. Stigma capitate. Capsules four,
united, seeds tunicated.
Foliis imparl pinnatis integerrimis, pedunculis axillaribus dicho-
tomis, filamentis apice obtusis glandulosis.
IiEAVES abruptly pinnate, flower stalks axillary,
forked^ Summit of tlie filaments obtuse and glan-
dular.
A smooth shrub, near two feet high, with many
wand-like, roundish, leafy branches.
Leaves opposite, rarely three together, without
stipulje, composed of from three to five pair of sitting,
lance-shaped, pointed, entire, smooth, somewhat suc-
culent leaflets, with a terminal one like the rest,
though often rather smaller; the common leaf-stalk,
is joined, channeled and winged.
The elegant flowers arise from the bosoms of seve-
ral of the uppermost leaves, in solitary corymbose
forked clusters, and are of a rose colour, smelling
like hawthorn blossoms.
Stalks angular, with a pair of small pointed brac-
teae at each divarication.
Calyx small, reddish and smooth.
Petals four times as long as the caljTc, spreading,
darker on the outside, slightly acid.
Filaments red, fringed with white hairs to the
very top, -yvhich tenninates in a blunt glandular pro-
tuberance, sometimes slightly hairy also, into the
base of which on the inside is inserted a slender
short smooth little footstalk, bearing the authera,
which is oval, smooth, incumbent, bursting b}'' two
longitudinal fissures on the other side.
Germen small, smooth, four-lobed ; style short,
liairy ; stigma bhmt, with four furrows.
Capsules smooth.
Seeds solitary, black, fenclos8^ in a white polished
two valved elastic case. ' '
This species flowered fd* th6 first time' in Europe,
.It Messrs. Lee and Kennedy's, in the spring of
1795. If is tireated as a rather tender sreen-house
plant. ^
BORONIA SERRULATA.
Koliis trapeziformibus acutis antice Inseqnaliter serrulatis, pe-
dunculis .aggregatis terrainalibus, filamentis apice cordatis
hispidis.,
Leaves rhomboid, pointed; in the upper part mi-
nutely and unequally serrated. Flower-stalks clus-
tered terpainal. Summit of tlie filaments heart-
shaped bristly. ,.,,,„„... ., ,,..■.-,-... ,, ,
This IS a very beautiful shrub, rising to the
height of about four feet ; tlie stem variously
branched and suTjdivided ; round, smooth, with a
deciduous cuticle ; the younger branches clothed
with leaves, and terminated by flowers.
Leaves without stipulse, opposite, nearly sitting,
but little spreading, somewhat oblique, rhomboid,
pointed, entire towards the base, finely, sharjjly, and
unequally saw-toothed towards the point, without
vein or rib, punctuated with resinous dots, aromatic,
with a smell approaching to that of turpentine.
Their colour is a fine green, often with a purpleish
tinge.
Flowers in little terminal somewhat corymbose
clusters, of a beautiful red, and with the scent of a
rose, as we are informed by Mr. White, who men-
tions this shrub as one of the most admired in New
South Wales. They are a little larger than those of
the Boronia pinnata.
Bracteae opposite, lance-shaped, concave, pointed,
often downy in the margin.
Calyx red; its segments egg-oblong, pointed,
slightly keeled and ribbed, permanent, the two oppo-
site ones external, the margin of all slightly downy.
Petals thrice as long as the calyx, spreading, egg-
oblong, rose-coloured with darker stripes, acid.
Filaments red, fringed with white hairs at the
base, more naked above, but terminating in a glo-
bular notched protuberance, (less conspicuous in
the four shorter stamina) which is thickly covered
with white projecting hairs or bristles, the an-
thers being inserted on footstalks, just lelow it, and
shaped as in the preceeding species.
Germen small, four-lobed ; stigma nearly sitting,
large, conical, blunt, smooth, slightly four-lobed.
Capsules smooth, sprinkled with resinous dots^.
Seeds two in each case, of a shining black.
SPRENGELIA INCARNATA.
Pentandria Monogynia, Linn.
Calyx quinque-partitus, peristens. Petala quinque. Stamina
receptaculo inserta. Antherae connatee" Capsula quinque-
locularis, quinquevalvls ; disepimentis e medio valvularum.
Calyx in five divisions, permanent. Petals five. Stamina in-
serted into the receptacle. Anthers united. Capsule •with
five cells, and five valves ; partitions from the middle of the
valves.
Calyx a part of the flower, in five deep divisions,
so as to be almost composed of five leaves, chaflf'y,
coloured, permanent, segments equal ; lance-shaped,
pointed, concave ; after flowering, erect and closed
together.
Petals five, about as long as the calyx, lance-
shaped, pointed, cohering a little way above the
base, in the upper part spreading, and assuming the
appearance of a wheel shaped corolla ; after flowering,
erect and closed together, soon falling off^.
Stamina five, the length of the petals ; filaments
inserted into the receptacle, distinct, line-like, flat,
equal, smooth ; anthers vertical, united into a tube,
clothed externally with numerous yellow club-shaped
hairs. -.iirj" ';u'..,'."; s li -P, OkM ;. o
Pistil -, germen superior, roundish, depressed.
96
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
with five furrows, smooth ; style simple, about equal
to the top of the anthers ; stigma simple, blunt.
Capsule somewhat cylindrical, blunt, with five
furrows, separating in the uppej; into five valves ; par-
titioTis longitudinal, arising from the middle of each
valve; column a little rugged, shorter than the valves.
Seeds numerous, roundish, minute.
This is a shrub, about two feet high, much
branched, rigid, very smooth, flowering copiously.
Wood hard, white. Branches round, wavy, leafy,
brown, cracked when old.
Leaves alternate, sometimes tiled in three ranks,
embracing the stem, spreading very much, lance-
shaped, entire, concave, a little glaucous, without
veins rigid and projecting, remaining (though faded)
through the winter, and at length being loosened at
the base, they may be tuftied round in any position.
Stipulae none.
Flowers terminal, clustered on flower-stalks, pale
red.
Flower-stalks clothed with tiled bracteae like the
leaves, but smaller, and with a membranous and
fringed margin, clustered under each flower.
Calyx rose coloured, very rarely a little downy on
the outside.
Corolla, flesh-coloured.
WESTRINGIA ROSMARINIFORMIS.
Didynamia Gymnospermia, Linn ; Labiatae, JnssiEU.
Calyx semiquinquefidus, pentagonous ; corolla resupinater ;
limbo quadrifido ; lobo loogiori erecto, bipartite.
Stamina distantia j duo breviora (inferiora) abortiva.
Calyx five-cleft half way down, five-sided ; corolla reversed ;
limb in four segments ; the longest erect, cloven.
Stamina distant ; the two shorter or lowermost, abortive.
A SHRUB very much branched ; the branches either
opposite or four together, square, silky, leafy.
Leaves in fours, on foot-stalks, spreading, line-like
lance-shaped, entire, revolute, rather pointed ; of a
bright shining green above, and almost naked ;
clothed with white silky down beneath.
Foot-stalks very short, silky. Stipulae none.
Flowers from the upper part of the branches,
axillary, solitary, on short flower-stalks.
Bractese a pair at the base of the calyx, line-like,
short, silky.
Calyx silky, its segments naked, with revolute
margins.
Corolla white, with purple spots about the orifice.
We are not informed of any particular qualities
in this shrub. The leaves are slightly bitter, not
aromatic : the flowers not inelegant, though without
smell.
This plant is a native of North America, and was
introduced into this country in 1724. It is in
height about ten feet, and flowers from June to
August inclusive.
It is a very beautiful climber, which, like its
congener, Wistaria consequana, formerly Glycine
Sinensis, spreads more slowly through English gar-
dens, than in these days of botanical vigilance would
be imagined. Their having been known as green
house plants, seems to have formed a bar to the ex-
tension of their acquaintance as hardy climbing
shrubs. The Wistaria futescens is, however, per
fectly so, and from its great beauty should have a
place in every garden. It is more hardy than Wis-
taria consequana, and its flowers being produced
later in the season, they are less liable to injury from
spring frosts.
Planted in loam and peat, against a southerly
wall, it will grow very freely, and the cultivator
may expect to be highly gratified by its rich display
of beautiful flowers. It is usually propagated by
cuttings of the young wood, planted in sand, or
very sandy compost, on a hot bed, under a hand-
glass.
GENTIANA CRUCIATA.
Pcntandria, Digynia, Linn ; Gentianese, JussiEi'.
This low free-growing herbaceous plant, is well
adapted for ornamenting the fronts of borders and
mounds; but it has not the advantage of some others
of the same genus, in affording an evergreen embel-
lishment of bright green leaves to enliven the little
garden landscape of winter.
It will grow in any common soil, and seems to
prefer a rather cool and moist situation. It may be
divided in spring or autumn.
WISTARIA FRUTESCENS.
Diadelphia Decandria, Linn ; Legnminos», JussiEU.
GERANIUM LANCASTRIENSE.
Monadelphia Decandria, LiNN ; GeraniaceiE, JussiEu.
The genus Geranium, is now confined to such of
the plants, originally so called, as possess ten per-
fect stamens. By such division, all those beautiful
subjects, generally known by this name, which have
been cultivated in the green-house, or more inti-
mately domesticated in the dwelling-house, form
another genus, under the name of Pelargonium.
These have but seven fertile stamens.
Geranium Lancastriense has, by some authors,
been considered a variety only of Geranium san-
guineum. The union of it to that species would do
no violence to botanical description, but its general
habit, and permanence of character, under cultiva-
tion, incline us to follow nature rather than science
in the distinction. It is a very desirable little plant,
always in flower during summer.
It may be readily increased by cuttings, planted
imder a hand-glass, on a shady border.
,') , Jilllil UlLStlillJ
(i .Ej^iJL(iI)iuiu Ly nmlojia'i
.//
89
MARTIN DOYLE ON FLOWER GARDENING*.
This popular and sensible author has a right feeling
about him respecting the language of gardening,
and uniformly advocates as we do, plain English in
preference to the outlandish words which have lately-
been so much forced into fashion, by illiterate pedan-
try and cockscombry. The Editor of this Maga-
zine has elsewhere remarked, that for practical gar-
deners to affect hard words, appears exceedingly in-
judicious, as it must prove extremely injurious to
themselves by deadening, rather than exciting, in-
terest about the garden. If you talk to a lady, for
example, or even to most gentlemen, about Endoge-
nous plants, it is most likely it would be placed to
your ignorance of the proper pronunciation of the
word indigenous, rather than obtain you credit for a
knowledge of De CandoUe's system ; but, if you in-
terlard your conversation with the terms Monocotyle-
donous. Dicotyledonous, and the like ; though you
might perhaps with a little management, make such
useless outlandish terms as Arboriculture, Floricul-
ture, and Gardenesque, pass muster, and might be
allowed to call herbs, herbaceous plants, and flowers,
floriferous plants ; yet you may be certain you will
either be listened to with impatience, or, most pro-
bably be laughed at for your affectation of unjDro-
fitable learning, as we once saw happen to a prim
barber at a fashionable watering pilace, who deemed
it very fine to talk of an " elegant morning."
Certain peculiarities of language readUy produce
imitation, and are so very contagious, that we doubt
not many have been led to frequent the society of
gamblers and boxers mainly on this account; but
such peculiarities are contagious, because they are
easily learned. As prince Henry, in Shakspear says,
" they call drinking deep dyeing scarlet ; and I am so
good a proficient in half an hour, that I can drink
with any tinker in his own language during my
life." But so far from the terms used in modern
gardening being thus easily learned, they are pecu-
liarly difficult and calculated to disgust, rather than
attract the interest of proprietors, and hence their
attention to their gardens must be frequently diverted
into other channels, and the gardener consequently
deprived of their hearty support, because he talks
unintelligibly, and therefore not contagiously.
" The arts," says Sir John Herschel, " cannot be
perfected till their whole processes are laid open,
and their language simplified and rendered univer-
sally intelligible. Art is the application of know-
ledge to a practical end. If the knowledge be merely
accumulated experience, the art is empirical ; but, if
it be experience reasoned upon and brought under
general principles, it assumes a higher character, and
becomes a scientific art. In the progress of mankind
from barbarism to civilised life, the arts necessarily
precede science. Applications come later, the arts
continue slowly progressive, but their realm remains
separated from that of science by a wide gulf, which
can only be passed by a powerful spring. They form
their own language, and their own conventions,
which none but artists can understand. The whole
tendency of empirical art, is to bury itself in techni-
calities, and to place its pride in particular short
cuts and mysteries known only to adepts ; to surprise
and astonish by results, but conceal processes. ' The
character of science is the direct contrary. It de-
lights to lay itself open to inquiry; and is not
satisfied with its conclusions, till it can make the
road to them broad and beaten ; and in its applica-
tions, it preserves the same character ; its whole aim
being to strip away all technical mystery, to iUumi-
minate every dark recess, and to gain free access to
all processes, with a view to improve them on rational
principles. It would seem that a union of two qua-
lities almost opposite to each other — a going forth
of the thoughts in two directions, and a sudden
transfer of ideas from a remote station in one, to an
equally distant one in the other, are required to
state the first idea of applying science."
In all this Mr. Martin Doyle agrees with us to the
letter, and even a Kttle beyond the letter, as SirVicary
Gibbs was wont to do by the law, when he had things
almost his own way. We have generally observed,
that those who are the most ignorant of facts, are
the fondest of long sounding pedantic words, and
those also who know least of the pedantic words,
are most apt to thrust them prominently forward,
where they are least wanted.
" I must be permitted," says our author, " to ex-
clude very harsh words — those among you, who most
admire, and best understand the noble science of
Botany, will, nevertheless, admit that a minute ap-
plication of it in a compendious work of this nature,
would be unsuitable and diffuse. Extensive cata-
logues and botanical delineations might, indeed, be
introduced ; but each additional page adds to the
cost of publishing, and of course to the price of the
book — this is to be of limited extent and price, and
should be dedicated to practical matters, rather than
to the Decandrias.
" Few ladies understand Latin and Greek, — (and
the fewer the better,) some may guess at the Latin
from their knowledge of Italian, (which I have
been told is very like it,) but when the Greek comes
across them, they are fairlj' baffled, and might get
into a similar scrape with my old friend Caukerosus
* The Flower Garden ; or Monthly Calendar of Practical Directions for the Culture of Flowers. By Martin Doyle, I2mo.
Dublin. 1834.
MAGAZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL. II. NO. XVI. JULT, 1834. O
90
MARTIN DOYLE ON GARDENING.
in the preface to my former treatise. As for myself,
I must confess my deficiency in the knowledge of any
language except my own, and a smattering of Irish :
nevertheless, I should be sorry to make my fair
readers submit altogether to my ignorance, and where
it may be necessary or useful to adopt scientific
names, I shall not scruple, for their sakes, to call in
the aid of an obliging friend, who is a great adept
in those matters, and on whose taste I must depend
for the arrangement of the nosegay which I am about
to present. But, my dear ladies, let us be practical
and plain, and leave all high-flown matter, however
interesting in point of science."
We by no means agree with him in the books
which he recommends ; inasmuch as these are de-
cidedly the very reverse of plain and intelligible ;
while one of them is only half published, and likely,
we hear, to stop altogether. But leaving this out of
consideration, let us see in what manner Mr. Mar-
tin Doyle treats the subject of his new volume, — if
the neat brochure before us be entitled to that name.
As we have formerly seen in the case of the kitchen
garden, our author here follows the order of the
calendar months, beginning with November as the
most natural commencement of the gardener's year.
We shall give the present month, July, as a speci-
men of the book : —
JULY.
Work to he done in the Flower Garden.
Take up those bulbous roots which have ceased
flowering — Hyacinths, Tulips, Martagon Lilies, and
such bulbous Irises as are out of flower. Ranunculus
and Anemonie roots, which have now lost their foli-
age, may also be taken up.
Seedling Auriculas
Which came up last spring, should now (if not be-
fore done,) be potted, and placed in a shady situa-
tion, watered moderately, and kept free from snails
and slugs.
Carnations and Pinks.
This is stOl a good season for propagating these
charming flowers, by either of the modes directed
in June ; but this work should not be postponed to
an advanced period of the month. As soon as the
shoots are strong enough to layer down, let them
be put out.
The latter end of this month and beginning of
August is the usual season for layering Carnations,
which, however, may be done earlier, if the plants
are sufficiently advanced in growth ; the new plants
from those early layers wiU be more vigorous, and
better able to endure the severity of winter, than
those of a later season. In detaching them, it will
be necessary to cut them close under the joint from
which the roots have been produced, and from which
the tongue had in the first instance been cut ; the
young plants may now be potted, and with the
shelter of a frame, will in a few days be sufficiently
established to bear exposure in the open air. In
the space of a few weeks it will be found that layers
thus treated, wiU have formed a quantity of root
from the other half of the joint, where they had been
attached to the parent plant ; and they will not only
be equally sound and healthy, but much more luxu-
riant than plants produced by piping.
The operation of layering is very simple, and
is done by first stripping the leaves from the second
or third joint of the intended layer, then introducing
the blade of a very sharp penknife at about a
quarter of an inch under the joint, and cutting half
way through the layer up to the joint, but not into
it ; the knife is to be then drawn out, and the tongue
so produced, cut away neatly under the joint, but
so as not to wound it, or the layer will not root.
The future fibres or roots of the new plant pro-
ceed from the joint itself, therefore any injury to
it win prevent their formation. The old mode of
cutting up through the joint is not only useless,
but injurious, causing an unsoundness and canker*,
which, although the layers may have rooted, will
probably destroy them during the winter ; the layers
are then to be pegged dovm (with care not to crack
them at their junction with the mother plant) and
thinly covered with light rich compost ; for if they
are deeply buried, they root badly and with diffi-
culty, the access of air being necessary to promote
the free production of fibres : the points of the
leaves of the layers must be presen'ed uninjured,
and not cut off or shortened, as is the usual prac-
tice, or you will deprive the plant of a necessary
means of support, the leaves of plants being as
essential to their vitality, as lungs are to animals.
In five or six weeks from the formation of your
layers, they will be rooted, and may be removed
from their parent stems.
The Carnation blossoms are now advancing fast
to maturity ; those which are very double and in-
clined to burst, should have the flower pods either
tied neatly with bass mat, previously wetted, or sup-
ported by circular cards, with holes punched in the J
centres, to fit the pods ; and these should be cut M
(with a very sharp penknife) through each of their
divisions to the base, taking care not to injure the
petals. This process permits the flowers to expand
evenly, and the cards not only preserve the blossoms-
* For this reason, plants produced by piping are preferred, being more healthy and sound.
MARTIN DOYLE ON GARDENING.
91
in their natural form, but also aid materially in
increasing the duration of the bloom. The Carna-
tions, if in beds in the open ground, and unprotected
by canvas or other substantial covering, should
have their blossoms guarded from the sun and rain,
by umbrella-shaped pasteboard shades, which may
be attached to the stakes supporting the blossoms ;
but if this cannot be conveniently done, they should
be fixed to pieces of slit lath, placed in the ground
in the most advantageous positions to afford shelter
to the blossoms.
Mignonette.
If you desire to have Mignonette in blow at the
latter part of the floral season, you ought to sow
it now.
Roses, Jasmines,
The layering and budding of Roses and other
shrubs may now be performed. Some species of
the Rose do not freely yield suckers, and must
therefore be propagated by layers.
The stocks for budding may be taken from the
suckers of the most common kinds. The common
dog-briar, from its superior vigour, is the most
desirable stock. Jasmines are principally propa-
gated by budding, and the common white kind is
the most usual stock.
Propagation of Chrysanthemums.
The suckers which at this season have attained
the height of twelve or more inches, may be now
parted and planted in separate pots, in a compost of
equal parts of leaf mould, garden soil, and rotten
dung; they will make fine blooming plants for
November or December ; when they are strongly
rooted, cut away the centre or leading shoot, to let
the plants push out side shoots, and form a bushy
and well-shaped head, while they at the same time
preserve the dwarf size, which is desirable, if the
plants are grown in pots.
Cuttings rooted early in the month, with a little
bottom heat, will also make pretty dwarf growing
plants to flower in autumn.
Treatment of Dahlias.
These are now coming into flower, and will re-
quire the support of hoops, or of the triangular sticks
described in the preceding month.
The general work of this month consists princi-
pally in watering and tying up plants, and in
weeding,
Work to be done in the Green-house.
Syringe and water Camellias and Oranges fre-
quently, and shade them from hot sun.
Plants potted in peat, (as are most of our Cape
and Australian ones) should be carefully examined
every day, lest they should become too dry ; for peat
is so little retentive of moisture, that they will
require frequent watering.
Take cuttings of your green-house plants, if you
have not taken a sufficient supply in June, and plant
them in a bed, shaded during the day by the hoops
and coverings already recommended.
The very tender succulent ones should have a
mild hot-bed, but all the Geraniums, Myrtles, Jaco-
beas and Cape shi-ubs, will freely root themselves in
a bed of rich earth in open air ; exposure to noctur-
nal dews in either case is desirable.
Remove insects from the leaves, which are now
peculiarly liable to injury from them.
Give abundant air to the green-house.
Shift seedlings accordingly as their growth re-
quires it, from smaller to larger pots ; water and
shade them, until they have rooted.
Exotic Seeds.
Gather and save seeds as they become ripe, and
spread them in dry places to harden ; afterwards
preserve them in their pods.
The most ornamental Herbaceous Plants in flower.
Double Rose Campion, Hollyhocks, Spiderwort,
Campanulas, Scarlet Chelone, Blue Catananche,
Dragon Head, Rudbeckias, Coreopsis, Gentian,
Erynga, Spiraea trefoliata. Perennial Sun-
flower, Hemerocallis, Iris, Lilies (White, Orange,
and Martagon), Lilium Japonicum, Verabrum,
Phlox (of various sorts), Escholtzia, Cardinal
Flower, Monkey Flower, iEnothera, Monarda, Po-
tentilla or Cinque Foil, Penstemon, Feather Grass,
Verbascum, German Catchfly, Scarlet Lychnis,
Scarlet Geum, Perennial Larkspur, Blue Catanan-
che, Dahlia, Menyanthes, Campanula Pyramidalis,
Gladiolus Cardinalis, Nolana, Lupinus, Polyphyllus,
Potentilla, Lathyrus grandiflorus. Sea Holly, Water
Lily, Ixia, Stapelia, Gladiolus Psittacinus.
Ornamental Green-house Plants in flower.
Sensitive Plant, Nerium Splendens, Escholtzia
Californica, many Ericas, Acacia, Wax Plant (Hoya
Carnosa), Double Red and Double White Lily,
African Lily, Agapanthus, Begonia, Evansiana,
Commelina, Gardenia, Melaleuca, Neurumbergia
92
HUGO MDHL OK CRYPTOGAMOUS PLANTS.
Phoenicia, Double Pomegranate, Psidium Catleya-
num. Cape Trumpet Flower (Bignonia Capensis),
Tuoma Capensis, Single Oleander, Double Red and
White Oleander, Verbenum, Fuchsia, Calceolaria,
Double Nasturtium, Metrosideros, Jasmine, Mela-
leuca, Chironia, Agapanthus, Balsams, Ice Plant,
and the whole tribe of tender Annuals.
Shrubs.
Roses*, Yellow Broom, Spanish Broom, Aristo-
lochia (a beautiful Climber), Azilia, Rhododen-
dron, American Canothus, Virginian Ilex, St. John's
Wort, Cytisus Capitalis, Double Bramble (Wiite
and red). Lupine tree, Menziesia, Buddlea, Myrtles,
Jasmines, &c.
Climbers.
Japan and Chinese Honey-Suckles, Passion
Flower, Clematis, Eccremorcarpus.
We cau with confidence recommend the work to
all those who amuse themselves, and improve their
taste, by rearing flowers.
ON THE FORMATION AND STRUCTURE OF THE SPORES IN CRYPTOGAMOUS
PLANTS.
BY M. HUGO MOHL, M.D.
Authors have endeavoured to compare the spores
of cryptogamous plants to the seeds of phaneroga-
mous plants, attributing merely a more simple struc-
ture to the former. One of the chief causes of the
numerous errors committed in this view of the sub-
ject arises from the spores not being examined at
the first moment of their evolution. Recent expe-
riments have taught us, that we cannot have a cor-
rect knowledge of this structure, except by a minute
investigation of the nascent seed (Ovulum). Now,
M. Mohl has shewn that it is also necessary to
follow this rule in cryptogamous plants ; but there
is a great difficulty in this examination arising from
the organs of fructification in these plants being so
very small.
The author has chosen, in commencing his ex-
periments, a plant which presents these organs of a
large dimension : it is the Riccia glauca. Its re-
ceptacle {sporangium) is globular formed of longish
cells, with thin coats full of the germs of chlorophyll;
it is concealed in the leaf (frond) ; when it begins
to develope itself, it is found fullof globular vesicles,
formed of a thin and colourless membrane. These
vesicles inclose a thick and granular liquor, that
separates itself slowly into four parts, whence it
covers itself with a very thin membrane. By the
pressure that these four small parts exercise mu-
tually the one upon the other, their forms become
that of a pyramid, blunt and three angled ; the face
turned against the sides of the vesicle becomes con-
vex. The author imposes upon this the name of
the tetrahedrous union (tetraedrische vereinigung).
As the granules attain the size of the spores and
come to maturity, the shells in which they are
formed disappear entirely, at a point where we can
discern no trace of them ; at the same time it pro-
duces upon the exterior of the thin and uniform
membrane which covers the spores, another mem-
brane formed from the small cells, which takes at its
maturity a dark brownish tint. The substance en-
closed in the spores then becomes oilj''.
The same phenomena are observed in the spores
of Anthoceros. Among the mother cells is found a
net of saw-toothed longish cells. These form, when
they become shrivelled, after the disappearance of
the mother cells, the bodies to which Hedwig gives
the name of Elateres (spore-hairs). In the Antho-
ceros, however, this organ does not present a point,
as in the JungermminicB and the Marchantia,
threads spirally twisted, which the author terms'
mother cells (MiUter-Zellen). The examination
of the large species of the genus Jungermanniee pre-
sents a structure similar, in all respects, to that of
Riccia. As the spores not evolved are found in
the mother cells, the spore-hairs (elateres) are pre-
sented under the form of spindle-shaped cells, of
which the interior is filled with very small granules
of starch ; these granules disappear about maturity ,
and the spore-hairs (elateres J are presented under
the appearance of threads in a spiral form. This
observation demonstrates the error of those who
have believed that they have seen each spore at-
tached to a spore-hair as in the funicle. In the
Jungerviannice epiphylla, the spores united in four,
differ from the ordinary form in that they are egg-
oblong, and in that they do not touch except in one
part of their surface. The granules enclosed in the
spores, not yet mature, are of a green colour, as in
the other species of the same genus. The figures
which M. Corda has published in the Flora Ger-
mania of Sturm, the Marcliantia, Grimaldia dicho-
toma, Consinia, Targiona, Blasia, and the like
prove the identity of the structure of these plants
with those examined by Dr. Mohl.
The Ferns are very similar to those plants which
we have just had under consideration. The young
Although the greater part of the Rose tribe flowers has passed away with the last month, there are many varieties of the
Chinese, Bourbon, Musk, and Damask species, still in bloom.
HUGO MOHL ON CRYPTOGAMOUS PLANTS.
93
Capsule is, like that oi Riccia, entirely filled with
round mother cells. Towards maturity, these mo-
ther cells disappear, and the spores occupy the in-
terior of the capsule, without being as yet fastened
among them, and without presenting much of an
enveloping membrane, which is found to cover
verj' slowly a second. This new membrane, how-
ever, does not in all the species present the same
structure. In some, it is formed of very small dis-
tinct cells ; in others, it presents an organization
entirely homogeneous ; behind them is covered the
granules in form of papillpe in the Pteris crispa,
Davallia canariensis, Osmunda regalis, Polypo-
dium vu/gare, P. aureum, P. calcareum, P. rhceti-
cuin, and Cheilanthes odora. In other species, these
granules are prolonged into small needle-formed
bodies, as in Aspilnium Breynii, P olypodium Lon-
chitis, P. aculealum, P. fragile. In others, in fine,
they are fastened and extremely small : as in Stru-
thiopteris, Doodia aspera, P olypodium fUix-fcemina,
Pteris atropurpurea, Pt. longifolia, Pt. serrulata,
Pt. cretica, and Aorosticlrum alcicorne. A great
number of Ferns exhibit the spores in three angled
pyramids rounded at their base ; in others, these
present a different form somewhat oval, proceeding
from their position in the mother cell. It is evi-
dently the fact, that the form which the spores
ordinarily assume, is owing to the pressure they
exercise the one against the other. In Osmundacecs,
the author has found the structure of the Polypo-
diacea ; for example, in the Osmunda regalis, and
O. speciosa Wall ; Mertensia gigarUea, Gleiohenia
microphylla, Lygodiiim polymorphum, and Merten-
sia pubescens. At the same time, four species of
Anemia examined by M. Mohl, presented a struc-
ture of the spores a little different. The examina-
tion of the LycopodiacecE presented entirely similar
results. In the Lycopodium Selago, the capsules
ought to be examined two years before their ma-
turity, while they are still imperceptible to the naked
eye. The mother cells swim in a mucilaginous and
granulous liquor, and resemble small vesicles. The
following year, the mother cells have filled already
the whole cavity of the capsule, and the surrounding
liquor has disappeared. We can already perceive
sometimes the four parts of the tetrahedrons union
separated. The author notes, also the differences to
be observed in the structure of the envelopes in the
different species of Lycopodia.
The reproductive organs of Marsilea and of
Pilularia, are produced equally by four in the
mother cells which disappear more slowly ; they are
envelopes of two membranes, and are filled with an
oily and grumous substance. Without venturing to
decide upon tlieir true nature, the author is clearly
of opinion that they cannot be considered as grains
of the pollen, since at the perfect maturity of the
spores they are still enclosed in cavities, which are
termed anthers, and which do not present any change
analogous to those which occur in the Phanero-
gamia, at the epoch when their fecundating func-
tions are terminated.
The same uncertainty continues to govern the
functions of the analogous granules of Isoetes.
According to the observations of Wahlenberg, the
two species of granules are developed by four in
the mother cells. The Salvinia presents on analogy
sufficiently far from the spores of Marsilea and of
Pilularia. The Equisetacece show a still further
removal.
The spores of the Mosses grow in a similar man-
ner with the cells of the Hepalicce and of the
Ferns ; but to discover these we ought to proceed
to an examination of the capsule in its early growth.
The Splachnum gracile, for example, examined at
the period when the capsule -bulge (apophysis^
commences only to inflate itself, presents the spores
already disseminated between the pillar (^columella)
and the interior membrane of the capsule. A very
thick liquor shows the nascent state of diiferent parts
shut up in the capsule ; the manner in which these
are composed is described in detail. The author
has been able to convince himself with certainty,
that in this Moss the number of spores enclosed in
one mother cell cannot be more than four. He
has seen distinctly that which he calls the tetra-
hedrons union in the Neckera viticulosa, Polytri-
chum aloides, Orthotrichum crispum, and the like.
The excessive smallness of the greater part of the
spores of Mosses opposes a serious obstacle to a
correct acquaintance with their structure. This
inconvenience disappears especially in the Meesia
uliginosa, where these present an outer coloured
membrane, translucent, grumous, easily detaching
itself ; the interior membrane being very thin and
colourless.
The spores of the Mosses are developed in a hol-
low of the pillar {columella'). Here the author adds
some observations upon this latter organ. Palisot
de Beauvois has admitted that the spores of Mosses
formed in the interior of the pillar {columella'), and
that the granules placed between the pillar and the
interior capsular membrane, ought to be considered
as the pollen.
M Mohl enters very minutely into the interior
structure of the capsule ; he demonstrates the ho-
mogeneity of the interior capsular membrane, and
of the pillar. He admits besides of the resemblance
between this membrane and the interior brim,
{peristoma) of certain Mosses.
The author still continues to speak of the forma-
tion of the spores in the Lichens, with the intention
in a second memoir to treat of the less perfect cryp-
togamous plants. If in their organs of fructification
the Lichens present that which the author calls
mother cells, there however exists this difference,
that in the shields {scutella) of the Lichens, these
cells do not develope themselves, nor are they all
94
HUGO MOHI, ON CRTPTOGAMOUS PLANTS.
ripe at the same time ; they are not effaced at the
maturity of the spores ; they exist still after the
entire evolution of these, and replace in some degree
the receptacle (sporangium) which is wanting in
the Lichens ; their walls besides are very thick.
The mother cells are in the beginning full of a thick
grumous mass, which undergoes a slow change
into spores with a very thin membrane ; but the
number four is no longer observable; they are
much more numerous in each cell, ordinarily they
are to the number of eight ; in the Usnea barbata,
the cells are simple, they are composed of cells
united in a straight line, and to the number of two
in the Borrera ciliaris, of four in the Peltigera
resupinata, and six in P. ?'M/eicew^, from twelve to
sixteen in Arthonia mellosa, Eschweiler. It appears
general, that in this family the number of cells
which constitute one mother cell, are the multiples
of four, namely: 8, 16,32 (64?), 96, 128. Ordi-
narily the spores are so very small that we can
make no correct examination of their structure.
They appear formed of a thin interior membrane,
colourless, and of another external, sometimes
slightly granular. Frequently they enclose a drop
of oil, which we find sometimes, (as in the Borrera
ciliaris,^ across the membrane which covers it.
At the conclusion of this exposition, the author
traces a parallel between the spores of cryptoga-
mous plants, and the nascent seeds (ovula) of
phanerogamous plants, such as these observations
have a tendency to explain. These are the more
important results of this comparative examination ;
if the nascent seed (^ovula) of phanorogamous plants
is by reason of its verge (trophosperm) much more
a scion than a real eg^, it is not the same case in
the Cryptogamia ; their spores are developed in-
dependently of the capsular wall, they swim in a
liquor with which the cavity is found to be filled ;
they do not show any organic structure, and they
acquire but by slow degrees a distinct individuality.
Their affinity with the animal egg is then very
conspicuous. The intimate conformation of the
spores does not present the less difference ; the
membranes in which they are enveloped grow only
after their contents ; this last, however, the deve-
lopment of the membranes, lose all organic struc-
ture and changes itself into an oily liquor, in which
there cannot be discovered the slightest trace
of future plants. We see then, that the spores
do not lead by any means to the comparison,
either with the entire seeds of phanerogamous
plants, or with some one of their parts. The opinions
of Treviranus, of Fischer, and Agardh on this
subject, are refuted by M. Mohl. He equally rebuts
in a lengthened detail, the theory of Turpin and
Raspail on the development of vegetable matter.
If we bring forward an organ of phanerogamous
plants with which we can compare the spores of
cryptogamous plants, we find that the development
as such that the conformation of these last present
a greater analogy with the organization of poUinic
granules. The pollen, like the spores, developes
itself in the interior of the cells which disappear at
its maturity. We find the same numerical relations
in them, the greater part of phanerogamous plants
present the tetrahedrous union ; rarely their pollen
is in a parallel position ; interior, tender, uniform ;
the exterior of a large consistence, sometimes cellu-
lar, sometimes granular, smooth, or well covered
with needle-formed bodies. We know that M. M. ■
Turpin and Agardh have considered the spores as
the grains of the pollen, and they attribute to them
in a series of the vegetable creation of male func-
tions, and in the other of female functions. M. Mohl
combats these errors, and the contradictions that
these explications present as to the morphological
analogies proposed by Agardh in his Biology of
plants ; and he terminates his important memoir in
indicating the differential points depending in the
germination of seeds, and development of spores.
The two plates which accompany the memoir of
M. Mohl, are very well executed, and greatly assist
the understanding of the reader.
SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES OF FALLOWING.
Fro7>i the Editor'' s Hand Book of Allotment of Agriculture.-^ Just Published.
Fallowing, is the ploughing or digging successively
for six or nine months, without having any crop on
the ground. The effects of fallowing, are founded
on the same principles as that of the rotation of
crops. The slimy excrementitious matter, left in
the soil by previous crops, being exposed by turning
it up to the sunlight, and the passing air becomes
decomposed, or exhaled in the form of vapour.
This simple explanation, gets rid at once of all the
various conflicting opinions about the effects of
fallows. The only plausible advantage of fallows,
usually stated, is the getting clear of weeds ; but
this is a very minor matter, compared with the ex-
pulsion of the excrementitious slime. It wiU also,
on the principles now I believe published for the
first time, be evident, that what is termed a turnip
fallow, is as absurd in principle, as it has been
found to be bad in practice ; for no sort of crop
which keeps sunlight from the ground, can ever
answer the purpose, though it may help to clear
away weeds ; and, for the same reason, one week
of bright summer sunlight, is worth ten of winter
exposure.
95
NEW RESEARCHES UPON THE STRUCTURE OF THE OUTER BARK (EPIDERMIS)
OF PLANTS.
By M. Adolphe Brongniart.
The outer bark which covers the several organs of
plants, and particularly the leaves, has already been
the object of numerous observations, because this
outer bark presents rather a complex structure, and
because all those who study vegetable physiology
have felt that the exact knowledge of this their
outer bark, is very important in estimating the mode
of action in the organs which it covers.
In a former essay upon the anatomy of leaves, I
quoted the principal opinions of botanists upon
their structure, and advanced some new observa-
tions in support of that which considers the outer
bark (epidermis) as a simple layer of utricvda, dif-
fering by their form from those which compose the
subjacent parenchyma, without any mixture of ves-
sels, and present from distance to distance the co-
verings which form the stomata.
I have lately observed, however, that by macera-
tion we can separate from the surface of the leaves
of the cabbage, a very fine pellicle, without any
sign of cellular organization, and in which the
stomata do not appear any thing more than as simple
coverings in form of a button-hole.
At this moment, not having leisure to repeat this
observation on other leaves, and after a maceration
more or less prolonged, I have hesitated to admit
this pellicle as a component part of the outer bark
of all plants ; but I have already remarked, as
many of the figures which I have published , lead to the
conclusion, that the utricula, which, disposed in a
single layer, constitute ordinarily the outer bark,
present a thicker coat on the external surface than
on the other sides, such as may be conceived by
their union with a simple pellicle, that would
have covered them externally.
Desiring to elucidate this question, I renewed
these observations during the summer of 1832 ; I
examined, by maceration, a great number of leaves
of monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants, and
I convinced myself, by this procedure, of the general
existence of a very fine superficial pellicle, which
covers the external surface of the cellular layer of
the outer bark.
It is sufficient to be convinced of the existence
of this membrane and its independence of those
utricula, which constitute the more internal layer of
the outer bark, to macerate leaves in pure water for
a longer or shorter time, according to the nature of
the leaf and the state of the atmosphere.
In examining from time to time the leaves in
such a state of maceration, we can easily perceive
that the parenchyma alters first, the outer bark is
detached and is raised ; but at this epoch there is
sometimes no sensible difference from that which
takes place mechanically upon the fresh leaf ; but in
general it becomes a little less transparent. In fine,
sometimes in five or six days, but more frequently
in ten or twelve days, we can easily, with a needle,
derange, scatter, and completely raise the vitricula,
which, by their drawing nearer, formed the very
varied net-work of the outer bark.
We know that, in general, these utricula form
only a single layer ; but following the species, they
are formed very different; in monocotyledonous
plants, with parallel ribs, they are lengthened, and
have parallel edges ; in dicotyledonous plants they
are generally angular, and at the edge they become
sinuous. When these utricula are thus detached by
maceration, they still perfectly preserve their primi-
tive form, only the angles are rather round, and the
flat surfaces which terminate them when they have
become intimately united among these, are found
more or less convex.
These utricula are for the most part completely
transparent and without any trace of organized
matter in their interior ; in other cases, we can dis-
cover sometimes small irregular granules.
The detachment of these utricula of the outer
bark is effected with the same facility when this
membrane is formed of many layers of cells.
After having thus raised these utricula, we see
that there remains a very small continuous mem-
brane which forms the external surface of the outer
bark. This membrane is sometimes perfectly trans-
parent, colourless, or of a very pale greyish tint, we
cannot discover any indication of organization, or
only light traces of lines of junction of these utri-
cula, forming a net-work scarcely distinct, and ge-
nerally very transparent.
These light traces also disappear when we pro-
long the maceration a little longer.
In other cases, this membrane puts on a granular
texture very conspicuous, as we perceive in the
outer bark of the carnation and of the Agapanthus.
It may be, that this granulation results from the
disjunction of the granules, of which we can sup-
pose that this membrane is formed ; it may be, that
these granules come before an interposed particular
matter between the superficial pellicle and the sub-
jacent cellular layer ; the opinion which seems to
me most satisfactoiy is, that all the membranes of
the outer bark do not present this granular aspect,
as we observe in the lily, garlic, iris, day-hly, cab-
bage, beet, and the like. In all the cases where I
96
NEW RESEARCHES UPON THE STRUCTURE OF THE OUTER BARK (ePIDERMIS) OF PLANTS.
have found this membrane offer thus a gramilar
aspect, these granules fail in the points which cor-
respond to lines of junction of the utricula of the
outer bark, in order that the superficial pellicle,
detached from these utricula, may present still an
analogous net- work to that produced by their lines
of junction, but formed by these lines deprived of
the granules, and more transparent, absolutely as if
this granulation had been the adherence of these
utricula to the superficial membrane.
If the maceration has been prolonged for a con-
siderable time, the utricula are detached of them-
selves ; they are decomposed, or else float more or
less altered in the liquid ; and the pellicle, in ge-
neral, does not present any trace of net-work pro-
duced by the cells, nor any kind of structure dis-
coverable by a microscope.
All the outer barks which I have thus treated by
maceration, have presented me this organization,
which I believe to be general ; but this pellicle under
the outer bark, and of which I have just indicated
the existence in all outer barks composed of leaves
living in the air, appears to me to exist also in sub-
merged aquatic leaves, which are destitute of the
layer of colourless cells, which ordinarily constitute
the outer bark.
If we place in water the leaves of Potamogeton
lucens, after a very long continued maceration (con-
tinued for three months in my experiments), we
perceived that there was separated from the surface
of these leaves a pellicle almost colourless, trans-
parent, not granular, presenting reticulated lines
which correspond to those separations of the utri-
cula of the green parenchyma, which are found im-
mediately in contact with this pellicle. In the pre-
paration of Potamogeton of which I have spolien,
these utricula were full of green matter, more or
less_ altered, being, in many points, still applied
against the pellicle, but could easily be deranged or
raised by very slight drawing, and we distinctly dis-
cern their relation with the superficial net-work.
_Mr. Henslow, of Cambridge, has recognized the
existence of a similar membrane upon the outer bark
of the corolla, of the filaments of the stamens, and
of the pistil of the Digitalis. It was separated
from these subjacent cells by maceration in nitric
acid.
I believe, in fine, that this is the same pellicle
which covers certain stigmata, as I have indicated
in those of Nymphcea and Ni/ctago, in my researches
upon the generation of these plants.
We find, then, that the existence of this simple
pellicle, without appreciable organization, is a ge-
neral fact ; that it covers all the organs, with the
exception of the extremities of spongelets, of the
root, and for the most part of the stigmata, organs
in which the utricula, almost free from deep-seated
tissue, come to project upon the external surface.
This is, then, a general envelope, a continuance of
the whole part, and extends almost over the whole
surface of the plant. It is probably owing to this
that the outer bark owes, in a great measure, its
being so little altered by the action of external
agents ; fur in these macerations, it resisted for a
much longer time than the other parts, and often
when the leaf was entirely reduced to a sort of un-
formed and fetid pulp, we find still this pellicle
formed at the largest laminse scarcely altered.
This method of analyzing the outer bark in thus
separating the different parts of which it is com-
posed, may be also of some service in elucidating
the structure of the stomata ; and all the observa-
tions I have made upon this subject confirm the
existence of a real longish opening in the middle of
each of these organs. The superficial pellicle, se-
parated from the cellular layer, presents these aper-
tures perfectly transparent, well limited, and which
offer no trace of a granular texture which we ob-
serve in the pellicle itself; the membrane will then
completely fail in this point.
The two moon-shaped utricula which border the
interior of the orifice of the stomata, are separated
equally by maceration. We thus, also, isolate the
different elements constituting the outer bark, and
we can understand that it is formed in the four fol-
lowing ways.
1. Of a simple superficial pellicle, continuing with-
out an appreciable textvire, or having a granular
appearance, pierced with longish apertures, which
correspond with the middle of the stomata.
2. Of a layer or of many layers of utricula, of
different forms, following the species which we
study, disposed with regvilarity intimately united
among them, and generally filled with a colourless
liquid.
3. Of longish utricula, arched in the form of a
crescent, united two by two, between the concave
sides of which is found a space corresponding to
the aperture of the superficial pellicle, and consti-
tuting the stomata.
4. In fine, this superficial pellicle exists only and
without an opening at the surface of aquatic leaves,
in which it covers immediately the green paren-
chyma.
We find that these observations in a great mea-
sure confirm the two opinions which we have gene-
rally advanced upon the outer bark ; the one
considering it as constituted of a simple pel-
licle; the other admitting that it cannot be formed
without a layer of utricula of a special form; at
length the ordinary outer bark, on aerial leaves, is
composed of a cellular layer and of a simple pellicle,
which covers this cellular layer and is closely united
with it, a pellicle which exists only on submerged
leaves, and which I had at first thought to be desti-
tute of this organ.
97
MR. CONDUCTOR LOUDON ON THE EDUCATION OF GARDENERS.
BY CHRISTOPHER NORTH, ESQ. OF BUCHANAN LODGE.
Fitte the Second.
While the journeyman gardener is thus making himself ac-
quainted, to the degree that circumstances may permit, " with
the whole cycle of human knowledge," the indefatigable book-
borrower has not been neglectful of personal accomplishments,
which !Mr. Loudon classes under the following grand divisions
— "Dancing, fencing, boxing, w'restling, the infantry manual
exercise, whist, backgammon, and the fiddle." Of these, he
considers, " dancing, boxing, and the fiddle, as the most essen-
tial objects. In most country places, these and all the other
acquirements may be learned from retired valets, old soldiers,
or from some of the servants in a great family, <d an easy rate."
They may be paid for in vegetables.
Dancing, and the manual exercise, are particularly useful,
Mr. Loudon thinks, as improving the gait of a gardener, " and
habituating him to good postures, both in standing ajid sitting."
He looks like an old soldier. We fear that retired valets are
seldom good hands at the boxing-gloves, and seldomer with the
naked mawlies ; and that a yokel in a turn-up at a fair has a
better chance of flooring his man, by his own natural way of
fighting, whatever that may be, than by the pseudo-science
taught him by my Lord's gentleman. In the ring, " a little
knowledge is a dangerous thing;" and there is nothing, with
the uniniti.n.ted into the greater mysteries, like good round hit-
ting, closing, and hugging, with an occasional, and perhaps acci-
dental and unaccountable cress buttock. Let the gardener, say
w^e, eschew fighting altogether ; if wantonly attacked, let him
use the blackthorn, hitting fearlessly at the head ; and if his
heart be in the right place, by using that simple recipe, he will
down half-a-dozen gypsies. Against the fiddle we have nothing
to say — except the Scotch one — and in lieu of it we beg to sub-
stitute the bagpipe. We can say little or nothing in favour of
cards. We hate the whole pack. Mr. Loudon, however, thinks
whist "an essential accomplishment of every man who would
find his way in society in England, where conversation is not
nearly so well understood as on the Continent, and therefore,
less relied on, for passing the time agreeably."
An easy, graceful, and yet manly action is to be attained by
the young gardener, as we have seen, by the practice of dancing
and the manual exercise ; but these are insufficient to give him
a good address. He is therefore " to read Lord Chesterfield,
guarding against those slips of the pen where he seems to re-
commend impurity and deception." And he can only acquire
"a gracious and polite manner of speaking by much reading,
and by attending to the language of ladies and gentlemen, fre-
quenters of polished society." Much depends upon the proper
management of the muscles of the face. A gai'dener must not
be a gawky. Now our physiognomist has noticed, " that the
features of the face may be set" to any emotion, so that "if the
muscles of the face are put in training by a gardener at the
commencement of his apprenticeship, almost any thing may be
done with them, as in the case of comedians." Should he tire
of his profession, he may go upon the stage, and a Matthews,
a Yates, or a John Reeve, be found in every provincial theatre.
Yet we find " that a gardener's object should be less the power
of varying them than of giving a set expression of animation,
joined to a degree of satisfaction ; this medium or central dispo-
sition he can occasionally alter to that of pleasure on the one
hand, or disapprobation on the other, as circumstances require."
The art of conversation, so flourishing on the Continent, being
little understood here, " consisting, in ordinary society, in tire-
some relations as to the party or their affairs, attempts to ob-
tain victory in argument, &c." Mr. Lotulon has devised a scheme
M.\C-AZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL. II. NO,.
for the cultivation of conversation, as a delightful art, which we
hope will not be confined to gardeners, but extended to all man-
kind. "Three or four gardeners, all eager for improvement,
might practise conversation on this principle, by assembling
occasionally, and either conversing as equals, or, for the sake
of variety, assuming characters. Two, for example, may take
the part of the parents of a family, one or two as strangers on
a visit to them, and the rest as children, and so on. The party
might first produce that sort of family wrangling and snarling,
which commonly occurs at firesides, as the conversation to be
avoided ; and next a conversation as it ought to be, or as each
gardener would desire to have it in his own family." In short,
all having already put the muscles of their face in training, and
being excellent comedians, they are to have private theatricals,
at one another's houses, at which will be enacted extemporary
domestic dramas, such as the Spoiled Child, the Brawling Bro-
thers, the Scolding Wife, Who's Papa, and My Uncle. There
are few stronger innate principles in human nature than "a
pawpensity for the dwama;" and we have only to hope that uo
beak will interfere with so moral and intellectual an entertain-
ment, no money, we presume, being taken at the door, and the
most delicate female parts being performed by stout yormg gar-
deners.
There are, Mr. Loudon tells us, two things in conduct which
the gardener ought most particularly to avoid— familiarity and
cupidity. Nothing more odious than familiarity, nor a more
certain mark, he says, of low birth and breeding. Really, as to
low birth, there is no need to sneer at it here, for few gardeners
are what is called gentlemen born — though many of them are,
in the best sense of the word, gentlemen. Low birth and low
bi-eeding generally go together, such is the lot of man. And
we must not be offended by the familiarity of the vulgar, but
make allowances for the manners of well-meaning people, whom
Providence has made delvers and ditchers. " A low ignorant
man," quoth Mr. Loudon, " if he receive the slightest civilities
from a superior, immediately conceives the latter has a particu-
lar friendship for him, and even endeavours to turn this friend-
ship to advantage, by asking to borrow money to forward him-
self in business, or requesting a place under government, or a
pension." And pray, why not try to borrow money as well as
books? A place under government is a more serious affair, but
as for a pension, if the man be an old soldier or sailor, and have
a wooden leg, he enjoys one already ; and if he he sound, wind
and limb, he is probably on the parish. You may, in most
cases, put him off' with half-a-crown ; but it is not so easy to
get rid of the fair sex. For Mr. Loudon assures us, that " if a
gentleman, or indeed any man, notices a low familiar woman,
the latter immediately concludes he is in love with her." Very
likely, if the notice taken of her chance to be in a wood, and
consist in chucking her under the chin. But then the famili-
arity is first committed by the gentleman, or any otlier man,
and he must abide the result. On the high-road, or m the har-
vest-field, or in the churchyard, "on the skaleing o' the kirk,"
or at the cottage-door, surely you may " notice a low familiar
woman," without inspiring her with a sudden belief that you
are the victim of passion for her charms, and will never rest
tm you have effected her ruin, or made her your wife. Few
men of our years are more likely to kindle a flame in the sus-
ceptible bosom than Christopher North ; few men of any years
more suave to the sex. Yet we have noticed hundreds, aye,
thousands, of maids, wives, and widows, of low birth and low
breeding, who dropped us a curtsy, and asked us " to come ben
XVI. — JULY, 1834. ^
98
LOUDON ON THE EDUCATION OF GARDENEaS.
the house and taste," without seeming, so far as was known to
us, simple souls, to suspect us of being over head and ears in
love with them, though we confess our crutch has occasionally
heen spirited away in a most miraculous manner, found next
morning by "the auld wife ayont the fire," behind a cabinet in
the spence, and delivered to us, without explanation, embroid-
ered with a spider's web, and in the web the spider.
"A well informed and polite man," says our sage, "is not
familiar with any one." What sayest thou to that doctrine,
dear Charles Lamb? Where are gone " all the familiar faces !"
The well-informed and polite man, Mr. Loudon tells us, is not
familiar with any one, " because he knows that if he were to lay
bare every thing respecting himself, he would lessen respect."
There is no occasior; to lay bare every thing, not even when you
bathe in loch or river ; but why sTich fear of lessening respect?
We have some friends — three, or perhaps four — whom we love
like uterine brothers — but, thank God, we know them too well,
and they know us too well, to allow the possibility of muti'.;l
respect. For half a century and upwards we have been as fami-
liar as trees composing one clump on the hill-side — or as clouds
brought into union by heaven's own breath " frae a' the airts
the wind can blaw," and allowed to settle down on a bright
blue spot of sky, for an hour of profound and perfect peace !
Respect! Away with it to hypocrites or self-deceivers. Bat ours
be the bond and balm of life — the Christian virtue that is born
in the freedom of the heart — fearing nothing, suspecting nothing;
but, like a bird on the bough, or a flower on the brae, singing
and smiling, for its own sweet sake, as if there were neither sin
nor son-ow on all this earth — and that is Love — the same love
that was in the heart of Cain before he came to envy Abel, and
while yet he saw, without anger, the smoke of the sacrifice
ascending from that iiiral altar, " and blessed the brotherwhom
ere long he slew !"
But what saith Mr. Loudon on cupidity? That is out of the
<|Uestion with a well-informed and polite man. And why? Be-
cause he knows mankind too well to suppose they will give him
a valuable thing merely because he asks it ; but even if there
were a chance of getting it in this way, still he would not ask,
because he might be asked something more valuable in return."
Hobbism is heard in all its hardness but from the jaws of a
thorough-going Scotsman. No Englishman of the selfish school
could have made such a barefaced avowal as this of the princi-
ple of his moral creed. His own pride would have been offended
by such a direct and explicit confession of his own meanness ;
and were the words set down for him, we can fancy we see
John Bull trampling upon and tossing them, with fire-eyed
disdain, like his namesake, more wrathful than seems reason-
able with the toggery of a tailor, who is taking a swim with his
friends the frogs.
Mr. Loudon, however, makes some amends for his enun-
ciation of such despicable doctrine, by a good remark and
pleasing illustration on the subject of "judicious restraint."
" A man properly under its influence," he finely says, " may
be compared to a well-trained tree ; and as this figaire is fami-
liar to the young gardener, it may be well for him frequently
to ask himself, whether, supposing he were a cherry-tree, he
would be reckoned one finely spread against a wall, or an un-
pruncd standard." Fairest and gentlest of readers, that ever
dropped a tear on page of Maga, or illumined it with a smile,
what sayest thou ? Wouldst thou, supposing thy sweet self to
be a cherry-tree, be one finely spread against a wall, or an un-
pruned standard ? Oh ! not for all the suns and systems in
the universe would We see thee finely spread against a wall !
Thy tender trunk trained up from childhood in the way it
should go, anil from which no liberty is left it to depart wlien
it is old — thy delicate limbs, spread eaglewise, fastened with
rusty nails and bits of musty fiannel to the unfeeling bricks 1
All the rounded proportions of thy naturally graceful figure
flattened into a pancake — or say, rather, a fan, unfolded for
ever, yet flirted net at all ! What, though by this process
thou art made to bear show-cherries like plums ? Alas ! alas !
love sickens and dies at sight of the long, lank, productive
espalier ! But love springs again to life at the airy whisper of
that exquisite unpruned standard, blushing yonder with blos-
soms that look as if they were composed of snow and fire,
blended in wondrous union by the cieative and reconciling
spring. We clasp her stem that softens in our embrace, and
thrills to our passion, while from each core expires a long-
draAvn mutual sigh. We release her — oh ! sweet Helen tree—
from our imaginary marriage, and retiring a few steps, that
she may have room to display herself all abroad, on the green-
sward of the sunny glade, an island in the wood, we gaze on
the virgin glory till our soul assimilates itself to the sight, that
fills it through a thousand eyes — and oh ! metamorphosis divine,
transfig-ured are we into a stately young male cherry-tree,
while all the birds of the morning break out into a nijptial
song, and so closely intertwined are now our branches, that the
sun himself knows not how to distinguish our blossoms, and is
pleased to see the loving confusion every moment coloured
brighter and brighter with beauty born of bliss ; nor can the
clouds themselves, who come floating along from the orient to
adore and worship, either abate or bedim the still unsubdiieti
splendctir of that onc-in-two and two-in-one unpruned standaril
Cherry-Tree.
Supposing a young gardener to have obtained a tolerably
good situation at home, and to have proved it for a year or
two, Mr. Loudon says he should set about two things; " the
first is saving money, and the second is entering into the mar-
riage state." He treats us with two tables of calculations,
showing how an industrious, suceessfnl, and money-loving
gardener may, at fifty, purchase no trifling annuity for two
lives — his own and his wife's — and thereby continue to jog on
comfortably to the end. We have nothing to object to these
tables, except that they leave us rather in the dark as to Mr.
Loudon's opinions on marriage. He is manifestly a Malthu-
sian, and speaks with fear and trembling, as well he may, of
what he calls " thoughtless and unmeasured procreation." But
here is the concluding paragraph of his treatise on the educa-
tion of gardeners : —
" The vulgar reason why a young man ought to save money
is, that he may get together as much as may enable him to
collect some furnittire and get married. This, however, may
be called saving to produce want and tnisciTr. A young couple ,
eager to get the use of each other's persons, will not be veiy
nice in the quantity or quality of their furniture. All they
consider necessary is, accordingly, often got before either are
twenty. Housekeeping and propagation are commenced ; and
thus the foundation laid of a life of hard labour, scanty food,
and their attendants, bad temper, and often disease. After
twenty-flve years of bustle aud distraction, nine or ten children
have been produced, and are most probably growing up in rags
and ignorance ; and all that this couple can say is, that they
have struggled hard to create nine times as much misery as
that by which they arc oppressed. If the man had limited
himself for twenty-five years to making the hesds of pins, he
might have accumulated as much as would have made him iji-
dependent and comfortable, and still had sufficient time berore
him to marry, and enjoy the comfort and solace of a wife and
children. But the use of a wife to a gardener, rndto every
man who is not independent, ought to be chiefly as the operative
partner in his domestic economy ; to prepare his food, and keep
in order his lodging aud clothes. If, in addition to these duties,
she has cultivated, or will cultivate her mind, so as to become
interesting as a companion, so much the better ; and if the
parties further think that they can attain their object of inde-
pendence, and rear one or two ciiildren, let them do so. Uni-
versal sources of happiness should never be rejected when tliey
can be retained."
Mr. Loudon seems to us to have here huddled together all
the most loathsome language of the anti-propagationisti — and.
LOUDON ON THE EDUCATION OF GARDENERS.
99
therefore, he must strip aad submit his back to the knout.
He speaks like a vulgar fellow, when he speaks " of a youn^
couple eager to get the use of ea(;h other's persons." Were that
ail they wore eager about, they would not " wait to collect some
furniture." But eveu if it were, let uot this elderly man, by such
coarse and hateful words, show himself no better than a monk.
He should remember, that in the young, even aiiimal passion itself
is commonly accompanied with feelings and fancies that are not
auimal — and that t!ie most ignorant, coarse, and clownish lout
of a clod-hopper, notwithstanding all his grinning, may be se-
riously in love with a sweetheart whom it is hardly possible for
us to look at without laughter, presenting, as she does, so rare
an assemblage of all that is most ludicrous in nature and in art.
Yet tUe poor creatures are Oiristiaus — they havo been married
this very day in a church — and, after a supper provided for a few
friends, of beans and bacon, and a gallon or two of cider, they
will .CO to bed— now husband and wife — and rising thankfully,
long before Mr, Loudon, go together to their work. They con-
trive to continue in the same cottage, and have childi-en, some of
whom die, and are biiried with some expense and some grief —
others live, sometimes behaving well, and sometimes very ill
indeed — and there is scolding, squalling, culhng, kicking, and
frequent pulling of ears. Yet, on the \\hole, the family are
hnppy — as happiness goes in this \Mjrld. And 'tis amusing
to see how the parenlis have transmitted both their faces to
their eldest daughter Dorothy, who is, notwithstanding, not
oaly a good creature, but a Blue. Yes, she is the village poetess
— and here is a little poem of hers on the Battle of Agincourt,
which she hitely sent in a modest letter to IMaga.
How sublime are Honour's deeds.
Displaying rectitude ;
In point of Glory there it lies,
Prince Henry's Magnitude.
Is not our slight sketch more true to nature than Mr. Loudon's
finished picture ? "Housekeeping and propagation are com-
menced" are ugly words, because spat in an ugly spirit; and
the whole world, we feel assured, will be against Mr. Loudon
in the preference he gives to the making of the heads of pins,
through the long space of twenty -five revolving years, and with
us in the preference we give, through the same protracted pe-
riod, to the making of the heads and tails of children. From
his pitiful prating about pins, it would appear that he thinks the
proper age for a man marrying is about forty-five. But what
young woman would marry such a foggy, if she could have a
spruce lad of two or three-and-twenty ? Observe, that a man
of five -and -forty, who has been married twenty years and up-
wards, and can shew a comely wife, and a fine grown-up, or
growing-up family of sons and daughters, is viitually a young
man^ and in the prime of life ; but a barren bachelor of the
same age has almost always such a suspicious look of longevity
about him, that he is often accused, we confess unjustly, of
being a Nestor aping a Neoptolemus. Mr. Loudon is as ob-
scure an oracle on the proper age of our friend's wife. ' ' If tlie
parties further think that they can attain their object of indepeud-
ence — and rear one or (wo children — let tfietn do so.^^ A'ery
laconic. They are to rear only one or two children — pray, arc
they not to beget any more ? And if the answer be, — " No —
not any more," — will Mr. Loudon have the goodness to point
out — not for our sakes, we have no personal interest in the
matter — but for our mari'ied brethren of niankind — how they
are to prevent it? Better far, to our mind, a life of hard la-
bour, scanty food, and their attendants, bad temper, and often
disease, after twenty-five years of bustle and distraction, nine
or ten children, growing up in rags and ignorance, and the
hardest struggles to create nine times as much misery as
that by. which the multiplying pair have been oppressed — better
far, we say, the sum-total of tlie misery, with all its formidable
items set down by the stet;l pen of a Loudon, than the incon-
ceivable and unnatural suffering of that pair sternly resolved,
at bidding of a Loudon's " let them do so," to confine the
amount of their offspring within the dual number — conjugating
and declining, after a dismalfashion, the verb and the noun love;
so as to draw tears down Pluto'siron cheeks, and awakenuniversal
sympathy for the infatuated sinners, even among the damned.
" The use of a wife to a gardener, and to every man who is
not iudependent," ought to be, quoth this liberal-minded man,
" to prepare his food, and keep in order his lodging and
clothes." Let him go into the poorest hut and tell the gude
wife so, and she will bundle him out, not A^dthout a crack on
the sconce from the mop-staft', while she will continue twirling
the muff thereof with great animation, as she washes the
threshold from the dust off his shoes ; and then with loud
laughter, pursuing his flight, she flings herself back, on the
gude man's elbow-chair, and eries to herself — " What a coof V
The education of a gardener, or any other man, cannot be
complete, we should think, wilhout religion ; and so thinks
Mr. Loudon. We have seen that he counsels gardeners to
bring up their weekly studies, during all the twelve hours of the
Sabbath day. Are they never to go to church ? That is as it
may happen — " as their religion may permit." The sage
defines religion — '* our opinions as to the nature of things "— it
being, he says, the same as devotion, devoted to, and in Latin
religio. In certain periods of the progress of society, he tells ns,
morality and religion are treated as depending on each other —
"the latter is considered as the principal foundation of the former,
and man is taught to be sober and honest, not only to escaj e
the punishment awai-ded by the laws of his country, but to avoid
still greater punishment in future. Fear is the motive to obe-
dience in both eases, and while some defend the principle of
employing the fear of hell along with that of the law, others
argue that the principle ofutUity is alone a sufficient foundation
for morals. Self-interest, and the dread of losing reputation,
they say, is a foundation more to be depended on than a joint
fear of the law and of hell, because if thu party changes his
religion, the fear of hell or future punishment may be got rid
of, and what remains of earthly fear may not be sufficient in the
first instance to restrain from excess."
Our modern Socrates, *' without defending either opinion,"
begs leave to make a few remarks on both. To rude and gro?s
minds, he thinks '* that the fear of being hanged and eternally
burned is more suitable than the more simple and refined
motives of personal advantage and reputation." It seems to us,
that to be hanged and eternally burnt, must be a great personal
disadvantage to " any gardener, or any other man ;" that self-
interest is not lost sight of in seeking to avoid them ; and that
men may desire to have a fair reputation who believe in futiirc
punishments.
Our sage thinks, that as society improves, " man begins to
have less extravagant notions of his own importance ; and from
ranking himself among the immortal gods, at last finds himself
but an animal among other animals, and a mere man. His
extravagant hopes now vanish, and with these his superstitious
fears. He finds nothing left but to make the most of life, by
the exercise of his faculties in such a way as to keep up a lively
consciousness of existence, and a feeling of enjoyment or hap-
piness." This happens, he says, as *' society improves ;" and
we take the liberty of telling him — that he lies.
The truth is, that this man is a WTctched ignoramus on all
subjects on which it behoveth a man humbly to seek light ; and
we have been graciously told, that whosoever secketh in aright
spirit shall find it. That he is a wretched ignoramus, we sha'l
shew out of his owtt mouth. " There are a great many diffe-
rent species (of religion) in the world, and those of the more
civilized nations, as the European, Indian, Chinese, like plants
which have been long in cultivation, are branched out into
numerous varieties."
That is, apiece of pompous pedantry, but let it pass. He
continues thus : — *' It may well be asked, wdiieh is the true reli-
gion, or that which a man had best adopt ?" A^Tiy, does not
the blockhead know that the Christian religion is the true
religion, and that which a man had best adopt ? He does not
I'OO
NOTES ON I'ALLOWING.
know it, and therefore we call him agaiu a wretched i^o-
ramus. Will the gardeners of Britain degrade themselves so
far as to borrow a book blundered out of the blockhead of such
a fool as he wlio spawned the following filth ? — "Trathis either
absolute or relative. Absolute truth is that which is true in
the nature of things, or capable of demonstration ; thus, in
arithmetic, three and two are equal to five in every part of the
world, and have been so, and will be so for ever. Relative
truth is that which is believed to be true by any particuUir per-
son, or among any particular people. Thus, if a man believe
that Rome is paved with cinders, to him it is tnie ; and if a
whole people believe, with Pythagoras, that the earth is an
immense plain, to them that system is as true as the Copernican
system is to us. The same thing holds as to religion, and each
species or variety is true to those who believe in it. What
may be absolutely true in this sentiment, can only be ascer-
tained by finding out what is common to all religions. It would
appear that all of them, of which any distinct accounts are
obtained, profess two things ; first, to give an account of the
origin of the world and of man, their history and destinies ; and,
secondly, to prescribe some form of devotion. The intention of
the first is to satisfy curiosity, and of the second to procure the
favour of the Author of nature. As no two religions agree in
their historical accounts, and^as no greater blessings are observ-
ed to follow the devotions of one people more than those of
another, all that can be said to be universally true in religion
is, that it exists, and that it attempts to explain the nature of
things, and prescribe homage to the Author of nature. In short,
that it is a sort of speculation on the nature of things, — philo-
sophy in a certain stage of its progress. According to this
theory, there can be no person without religion ; — that is, there
can he no person without ideas as to the nature of things ; and
whatever any person may think or determine in his own mind
on these subjects, these thoughts, and the actions which flow
from them, constitute his religion ; thus, what arc called Deists,
Atlieists, Sceptics, &c., can no more be said to be without reli-
gion, than Christians, Mahommedans, or Cliinese. It is true,
they are not of any particular religion at present avowed by
whole nations, but they, have just as much religion as whole
nations have ; that is, they have certain ideas on the subject,
and they act in consequence of these ideas." So Mr. Loudon
tells the gardeners of Great Britain, that it is all one whether
they be atheists or Christians. For saying so we shall not call
him fool, for we are told not to g-ive that name to a brother.
Yet we are likewise told, that " the fool saith in his heart, thei-e
is no God." He so saith in his heart, because his heart is des-
perately wicked, and hard as a stone. But affliction comes like
a great frost, and slits the stone into pieces, and then the wretch
knows that there is a God, and a judgment.
Mr. Loudon is, like ourselves, an editor. He has then a
catapulta and a battering-ram to bring against us ; and, if our
wall be weak, he may hope to breach it, to rush in and storm
our citadel, and put our garrison to the sword. But we pro-
mise, if he be rash enough to face such an encounter, to meet
him, not in the breach, but outside the ramparts, and within
his own lines, at the head of a victorious sally, and in our hand
the Crutch. In hoc siyno vincimus — and our very name has long
been atowerof strength, andasword of fire — Christopher North.
Gardeners of Great Britain and of Ireland 1 for we love the
Emerald of the Sea — ye will range yourselves, we know, under
our banner. How often have our hearts been gladdened by the
sight of that Annual Show, moving to music through the streets
and squares of high Dunedin, a waving wood of beautiful green
branches, fruit laden, and bright, too, with flowers, while under-
neath, with measured tread, whose firm sound brings from the
dust the pleasant sound of peace, marches a long line of
thoughtful, biit cheerful faces, of figures, such as, if need were,
would drive, with levelled bayonets, all invaders into the sea.
Sons of Adam, and followers of his trade I we greet you well —
one and all of you — at this hour pursuing your work, which is
your pastime, on the bosom of the various spring. We are
with you on Mayday. Saunders, give us a spade.
" When Adam delved and Eve span,
Who was then the gentleman ?"
Why, Adam, to be sure, and Eve was the lady — and so is every
Adam still — and so is every Eve — who delving, remembers that
he too is but a worm ; who spinning, thinks sometimes of her
own frail thread of life !
O, gardeners of Mid-Lothian ! we saw you — through a win-
dow— we say not in what street — with our own old eyes,
walking in that multitudinous procession on the day celebrative
of Reform. What Pan, and Sylvanus, and Vcrtumnus,
and Pomona, and Flora, thought and felt, we know not; per-
haps even as Christopher North. May no frost kill the blos-
soms of your hopes ! May the tree then planted be the best of
bearers, and a very golden pippin in the flavour of its fruit !
As for you, ye Plumbers, " with leaden eyes that love the
ground !" we noticed your banner, emblazoned with " Christo-
pher under the Pump." It was a poor caricature — and the in-
scription stolen from Maga. It had been well if all the mem-
bers of your managing committee had confined themselves to
such petty theft. But, on the very day before the procession,
that very standai-d-bearer, availing himself of his office of
Inspector of the Gutters, in which we had employed and paid
him for a good many years, cut off some hundred pound weight
of lead, and rolled it up like a few yards of carpeting, over his
unseen shoulder with it, down stairs, out of the area-door, and,
having deposited it in a place of safety, away to speak on
Reform — the orator being at the same time a Thief and a
Robber.
NOTES ON FALLOWING.
1st. Nature does not require any pause or rest,
and the eartli was evidentlj' dtsigned to j-ield a re-
gular uninterrupted produce.
2ndly. As the productive quality of the earth
never ceases, if corn is not sown, weed will be pro-
duced ; therefore, it is our business to expel the un-
productive plant, and to introduce others that are
beneficial.
3rdly. That the idea of leaving land at rest, is
ridiculous ; for, by keeping it clean, and by a judici-
ous intermixture of crops, it may be managed like a
garden, and sown from one generation to another.
_4thly. That the fallows in England, exhibits no,
thing but a conflict betwixt the farmer and his
weeds, in which the latter prevail ; for at best, they
are only half-stifled, and never elFectuaJly killed.
It is acknowledged, that it is only upon wet soils,
or, in other words, on land unfit for the turnip hus-
bandry, that a plain summer fallow is necessary, and
this, we suppose, includes three-fourths of the Island.
To speak of following nature in farming is ridicu-
lous ; for, if we were to imitate nature, we would
not cultivate land at all.
Clay-soils, and every soil incumbent upon a wet
bottom, cannot be kept clean without the assistance
of this radical and ancient practice.
The process of drilling cannot be executed upon
clay-soils, with the slightest prospect of ad^-antage.
101
Bayswater libel on the works of creation.
In that miraculous work, the Encyclopaedia of
Plants, which was got up at the Bayswater Book
Manufactory, as a p.irtial specimen of the universal
language of hieroglyphics, wliich the conductor
sanguinely prophesies will supersede all others
throughout the world, when Egyptian darkness, as
he hopes and trusts is to extinguish civilization : -we
find the following notable attack on a group of plants,
though not created plants we presume, but only the
caput -rAortuum of the blind chemistry by which all
animals and plants are alleged in such writings to
have been produced. The plants of the genus
Valaniia are certainly not so showy nor so useful to
man as many others : but do they merit to be libel-
led in the following terms ?
" Miserable weeds, of no beauty, or [nor] use ;
called by their present name by Linneeus, in refer-
ence to Sebastian Vaillant, a learned and excellent
French botanist, who died in 1722. The author of
the name would have employed his time better in
considering the botanical writings of Vaillant, than
in identifying with the most worthless part of vege-
tation an author's merits he was not able to under-
stind. No man was more given to sneers of this
kind than Linnseus: and yet his followers manifest
a most extraordinary degree of sensitiveness when-
ever he is retorted upon in a similar way, although
few ever deserved criticism in some things inahigher
degree than himself." — P. 862.
That this balderdash is from the pen of Dr. Pro-
fessor Liudley, who is employed in Loudon's Book
manufactory, as an occasional jobbing hand, — we
infer first, from the declaration in the preface, that
this Lindley " either wrote or examined the notes,'*
and secondly, from similar contemptible language,
being used for other plants in a portion of the same
work, expressly said to have been written by this
Lindley at page 1083, where we have the Urlicece
characterised as " worthless weeds and shabby lialf
herbaceous shrubs."
What daring presumption ! what libelling blas-
phemy ! to say that any portion of the glorious gar-
niture with which the Creater has vested the green
earth, is worthless and shabby ! " Vain man,"
says Solomon, " would be wise, though he were born
like a wild ass's colt."
ON vegetable absorption of ALIMENT.
BY PROFESSOR TIEDEMANN, OS HEIDELBERG.
I
All plants take their nourishment by absorption.
The liquid alimentary matters are equally absorbed
by the organs placed at the exterior of the body
among the embryos of animals still enclosed in the
egg ; but after they have broken the envelope of
the egg, the animals receive their aliment by a par-
ticular opening, the moutli, of which vegetables are
'ieprived, and they pass through a canil equally
particular, in form of a sac, — the intestinal canal, —
where the liquid parts are already absorbed by
themselves, or become such by the addition of
moisture coming from the same body. AVe intend
to treat here of absorption in jjlants only.
The organs by means of which vegetables plunged
and implanted in the aliments themselves, absorbs
those matters which serve for their nourishment are
well known. The roots of cellular plants, of many
mosses, of some lichens and mushrooms, are filiform,
prolongations or capillary, at times branchy, which,
the same as the entire plant, are composed of a cel-
lular, tissue containing often cavities in form of a
sac, in which the absorbed liquid mounts. In the
roots of vascular plants, particularly dicotyledonous
plants, we can distinguish a body, with its ramifi-
cations and appendages. Among the grasses, we
perceive a knot where the radical fibres meet. The
body of the root is composed of wood and bark.
The first, which, among certain plants, mcloses the
pith, results from an assemblage of cellular tissue
and of vessels. Some anatomists, Duhamel (Pliy-
siqne des Anbres), Camparetti, Bell (Mem. of the
Manchester Society, Tab. 11. p 403), Link, and
others say, that they have seen in the woody part,
real spiral vessels, of which the existence is denied
by others. The bark contains much of cellular
tissue, as that of the nutrient vessels necessary to
the growth of the roots. Those which are deprived
of the outer bark {epidermis), properly so called,
are as much in the Monocotyledons as in the Ut-
coliiledons, after the researches of Kieser and of
L C Treviranus (Ueber die Oberhaut der Ge-
waechse: Vernmchte Schriften). The radical
fibres are for the most part of a cylindrical form,
having their ramifications more dehcately turmshei
with appendages capiUary, or spongy, and which
Treviranus has found only composed of cellular
tissue Following the experimental facts of bene-
bier, Caradoni, and DccandoUe {Mem. sur le Deve-
hmpement des Bacines; dans Annal. de Sc. Nat.
de Geneve 1826, jp. 1.) It is principally the extre-
mities of these appendages which accomplish the
act of absorption. We still cannot find orifices or
102
ex VEGKTABLE ABSORPTION OP ALIMENT.
pores by which the liquid nourishment penetrates.
If they do exist, they of necessity are infinitely small,
since from the experiments of Sprengel and of Link
{Grundlehren, &;c.,j). 72), the radical fibres suck
ujj colouring matters minutely divided and dissolved
in water without touching the cells of larger mole-
cules. The latter are only absorbed when the roots
are injured.
It results from the experiments of Labaisse,
(Diss, sur la Circulation de la Seve dans les
Plantes,p. 33), Hales, Senebier, and others, that
absorption by the roots takes place in a manner
veiy active, especially in the spring. Some phy-
siologists have attributed to these organs the faculty
of making a choice in those liquid substances with
which they come in contact, and to refuse those
which were not most necessirv' for their nutrition.
This is an error, which numerous recent experi-
ments have sufficiently refuted. Th. de Saussure
has found that plants absorb common salt, nitrate of
lime, the sulphate of potass, sal ammoniac, sulphate
ijf copper, sugar, gum arable, and the like. G. J.
.Tseger (^Diss. de Effectis Arsenici in varios Orga-
nismos, Tubinuue. 1808.) has verified the delete-
rious action ot arsenic upon plants of which the
roots plunged in water containing only a small
quantity of this substance ; these -withered and pe-
rished. C. J. F. Becker, Schreibers, and Goeppert
have seen that hydrocyanic acid produced a similai
eiFect. We are indebted to M. Marcet, junior, for
numerous and interesting experiments, and of which
the result wis, that plants having different mineral
substances dissolved in water, as the arsenical acid,
corrossive sublimate, salts of copper and of lead,
also that of the extracts of opium, belladonna, nux
vomica and of hemlock, hydrocyanic acid, alcohol,
and the like, and that this absorption exercised a
deleterious influence upon them. Similar experi-
ments have been made t y Macaire Prinsep, also bv
Schuebler and Zeller, with the same results.
This absorbing faculty belongs also to the leaves.
That which proves that plants absorb liquids by
means of their leaves, of advantage to their nutri-
tion, is the benign action which is exercised upon
the rose by the rain and the sprinkling of the leaves
with water, circumstances which all favour their
growth. Many vegetables, of which the roots are
reduced almost to nothing, but of which the leaves
are thick and succulent, for example the Cactus,
])reserves itself principally by absorption, which ac-
ciimplishes tliese, and which preserves itself even
■fresh, after having been for some time detached
trcm the plant. Many cellular plants, sea-weeds,
ConfervcE, mushrooms, lichens, and mosses espe-
cially, absorb abundantly liquids by their entire sur-
face, and seme even, as the greater part of the li-
chens, which may be properly said to be destitute
of roots, appear to nourish themselves by absorp-
tion performed at the surface. Hales proved by
experiments, that vegetables increase in weight in
a moist atmosphere. Mariotte Duhamel, Merret,
and especially Bonnet, have equally put out of
doubt the absorption exercised by the leaves. The
latter has remarked that leaves draw from water
not only that which preserves themselves, but also
tends to keep alive the branches and branchlets
I which support them. Absorption of liquids ap-
pears to take place on both surfaces of the leaves in
herbs, and chiefly by the lower surface in trees and
shrubs. It is probably their Icngish pores which
carrA' on absorption, as is admitted by Humboldt,
Kroker, Sprengel (^Biolugie, Tab. IV, p. 38),
Schrank, G. R. Treviranus, and L. C. Treviranus.
Among cellular plants, however, which have not
any pores, it takes place without this.
A problem is here presented to be resolved,
namely, if the introduction of liquid alimentary
matter into the interior of plants is a pure result of
capillary action of a porous body, such ;;s occurs
when a glass tube of veiy narrow calibre draws up
the liquid in which it is plunged ; or if absorption
be rather a peculiar vital phenomenon. Many phy-
siologists, Malpighi, Grew, Bonelli, Delahire, Brad-
ley, and others, have admitted the first hj-pothesis,
and considered the rootlets as so many capillary
tubes, whose office it is to pump up, and cause to
ascend the nourishing liquids. It is possible, that
this force in part, contributes to the production of the
phenomena ; but it cannot be the sole cause, as the
following considerations clearly prove. Absorption
of nourishing liquid varies according to the state of
plants, the periods of their development, and of their
growth, and the epochs of the year during the period
of the formation and the growth of leaves, absorption
and progression of the sap goes on the more rapidly as
the leafiag is more rapid. Also at the time of flowering
and formation of the fruits and grains, the jilants are
more nourished from the soU. We likewise know
that absci-ption and the progression of absorb liquid
depends upon the influence exercised on plants by
heat and light ; that absorption indeed is more active
in the spring than at any other period, that it
diminishes in autumn, and is reduced almost to
nothing, if it do not altogether cease in winter. All
these phenomena cannot be considered as the pure
effects of capillary action, this cannot be rr.odified by
the seasons, nor bv the influence of heat. In fine,
there is still this difference between capillury absorp-
tion and that of plants, which is that, a capillary
tube does not reject by its upper orifice the liquids
which it pumps, while the liquid, absorbed by vege-
tables, flows through the vessels, as we make an
incision into them. These are sufficient motives to
oblige us to follow the opinion of Senebrier, Saussure,
Desfontaines, DecandoUe, and others, who regard
the absorption of vegetables as an organic or vital
phenomena.
103
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
GONOLOBUS DIADEMATUS.
Qorgeited Gonoluhus.
Peatandiia Digynia. Lix.
Gonolobus. Massje Pollinis Isves, 10, ti-aasversse. Cor. sub-
rota. Sem. comosa. Brown in Hort. Kew. ed. 2. 2. 82.
Suffnitices vohibilcs. Fol. opposita, latiuscula. UmbellEe in-
terpetiolares. Americse prtesertim inter tropicos indigenfe.
An unrecorded species, which we have ranked in the
present genus, chiefly from habit or general like-
ness ; for it has not precisely the transverse anthers,
which constitute a prominent feature of Gonolohus,
as now defined. Mr. Brown, who has so advan-
tageously remodelled the natural order to which
this genus belongs, seems inclined to think that the
character should be extended to admit the present
species, along with some others which he has not
had an opportunity of finally determining, rather
than that a separate generic group should be
founded on them. Besides the expressed difference,
however, the anthers vary in form from those of all
the described species of Gonolobus, and the stami-
neous crown, instead of gi'owing distinctly upon the
filaments, is grown to the bottom of the faux, while
its connection with the filaments can only be traced
by attentive dissection.
A twining shrub, 15 feet high or higher: stem
corky and furrowed at the lower part ; hrunclies
round, with a tawny fur ; hairs articulated. Leaves
distant, membranous, roughishly furred, elliptically
oblong, lanceolately acuminate, contractedly cordate
at the base, the lobes meeting together, from two to
three inches long, and from an inch and a half to
two inches broad, nettedly veined underneath: pe-
tioles thickish, bent two or three times shorter than
the blade; intci-petiolar fringe but slightly distin-
guished from the general pubescence. Umbels in our
specimen 3-5-tlowered, capitately contracted, with
an involucre or ruffle of lanceolate leaflets : common
peduncle thick, shorter than the petioles, pedicles
about the length of the calyx, separated by narrow
bractes. Flmcers greenish yellow, about an inch in
diameter. Calyx equal to the faux, campanulate,
villous, of live ovately lanceolate leaflets. Corolla
coriaceous, urceo, lately rotate with darker veins,
smooth, opaqiie on the inside, shining without ; limb
flatly extended, five-parted to below the middle, seg-
ments rounded : faux short, urceolately tubular :
stamineous crown light purple, gj-own to the bottom
of the faux, of five squarish scutiform contiguous
laminsR which ascend without adhesion along the
wall of the faux to a Httls above its orifice, and are
repand at the upper margin, with a very faint triple
indentation. Stamineovs column equ;nl to the crown.
Slirjma depressed, whitish.
CROTALARIA RETUSA.
Weilcjcd-haved East India Crotalaria.
Diadelphia Decandria. Linn.
Leguminosce. JussiEU.
Crotalaria. Supra toI. 2, fol. 128.
C. retusa, foliis simplicibus oblongis cuneiformibus retusis,
racemo terminali. Willd. sp. pi. 3. 976.
Crotalaria retusa. Linn. sp. pi. 2. 1004. Mill. diet. ed. 8. a.
7. Vahl symb. 1. 53. Hort. Kew. 3. IS. ed. 2. 4. 272.
Gaertn. sem. 2. 316. t. 148. fig. 2.
Tandale-cotti. Rheede mal. 9. 45. t. 25.
An annual species, native of the East Indies. Cul-
tivated at Chelsea by Miller, in 1731; the seeds
were sent him from Holland by Boerhaave.
DIGITALIS LUTEA.
Small yelloio Fox-glove.
Didynamia Angiospermia. Linn.
ScrophularifT, JussiEU,
D. lutea. foliolis calycinis lanceolatis, coroUis acutiusculis labio
superiore bifido ; infcriore intus barbato, foliis glabris.
Brown in Hort. Kew. ed. 2. 4. 29.
Digitalis lutea. Linn. sp. pi. 2. 867. Mill. diet. ed. 8. n. 3.
Hort. Kew. 2. 345. Jacq. bort. vindob. 2. 47. t. 105.
Willd. sp. pi. 3. 285. Baumgartcn en. stirp. transylv. 2.
212.
Digitalis parvifiora. Allion. pedem. I. 70. n. 257. Lamarck
and Decand. fl. fran^. 3. 597; (nee aliorum.)
Digitalis foliis calycinis lanceolatis, galea bifida, floribus imma-
culatis. Hall. helv. 332.
Digitalis lutea, minore flore. Riv. Monop. t. 105.
Digitalis lutea parva. Lob. ic. 573. f. 2.
Digitalis minor lutea sive pallida. Part. par. 3S2. 7.
A HARDY perennial plant, native of the South of
France, Italy, and Transylvania, where it is found
on stoney mountainous places, in the shade. Culti-
vated in this country by Parkinson before 1629. In
the Flore Francaise above cited, we find the name (jf
lutea, by which the species has been generally known
from the time of Linnteus till now, not only changed
to one which is less pertinent, but to one by which
another species of the same genus has been long
since universally known.
POLYGONUM FRUTESCENS.
Shrubby Polygonum.
OctanJria Trigynia. LiN.v.
Polygoneic. JussiEU.
P. frwtescens, caule frntieoso, foliis lanceolatis titrinquc atten-
uatis, ochren lanccolata internodiis breviore, petalis binis
e\terioribiis niinoribus refle.xis. Willd. sp. pi. 2. 440.
Polygonum frutesccus. Linn. sp. pi. 1. 516. Hort. Kew. 2.
29. ed. 2. 2. 416. Ga;rtn. sem. 2, 182. t. 119. f. 5.
Polygonum frutieosum, floribus pentapetalis, octandris, trigynif ,
2 extcrnis petalis reflexis, ramis in extremo inermibns.
Grael. sib. 3. 60. t. 12. fig. 2.
104
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
Atraphaxis inermis foliis planis. Hort. cliff. 138.
Lapatlium oiientale, fiutex humilis, floie pjilchro. Tournef.
cor. 38. Amra. in comment, petropol. 14, 400. tab. 13.
Lapathum dauricum montanum, fruticans, ramis, lat^ sparsis.
Amm. rath. 227.
The present is a hardy shrub, and belongs to a
.species which forms one of a section of the genus
that comprises the common Buckwheat. It is a
native of Siberia, and, if Tournefort's plant is really
the same, of the Levant. Introduced by Monsieur
Richard, in 1770 ; but is not often met with in our
collections, where it requires to be cultivated in the
same soil and situation as Rhododendrons and Aza-
leas.
ERICA AUSTBALIS.
Spanish Heath.
Octandria. Monogynia.
Ericese. Jussieu.
This plant is in height about two feet, a native of
Spain, and flowers general^ in April and May. It
will always prove a particularly interresting append-
age to the peat border, and should never be dis-
pensed with. The hardy heaths form a little tribe
of shrubs whose beauties we cannot class with the
splendour of the Kalmias, the Azaleas, and the Rho-
dodendrons, but they equally interest us though
through a different medium. They introduce them-
selves to our feelings, by their modesty and humilit)';
and we readUy admit the propriety of Dr. Watts's
assertion —
" Humility Is a^jlant of lovely growth."
Still the humble growth of some of the tender species
of Erica, whose flowers are occasionally very spe-
cious, may further remind us of him who is humble
only to embellish his grandeur.
The Erica Australis should be planted in sandy
peat ; or in a mixture of peat and fresh loam ; and like
most other of the hardy heaths, though they make
root but slowly, may be increased by layers.
EPILOBIUM DODONjEI.
Dododavs^s Epilobium.
Octandria. Monogynia. Linn.
Onagiarise. Jussieu.
Epilobium is compounded of three Greek words,
EPi LOBOU ION, a violet upon a pod ; or, more
literally upon-a-pod-a-violet ; not that a violet re-
sembles the blossom, but is intended to indicate a
beautiful flower. Dodonsei from Dodonseus, an emi-
nent physician and botanist of Friesland, who lived
in the sixteenth century-, and published several bo-
tanical works in Germany, illustrated by wood cuts
similar to those of Gerard and Parkinson.
It is the prettiest plant that we know of the tribe,
and is never troublesome, by spreading at the root,
as are some species of Epilobium. This species a
perennial plant, and is a native of Switzerland ; it has
been noticed, by some writers, as synonj'mous with
Epilobium angustissimum. Ours is a plant with pro-
cumbent stems, and otherwise differing: from anarus-
tissimum. The height is nine inches, and it flowers
in July and August.
After it has done blossoming, the whole of the
stems may be cut off, or they will continue to grow,
and thus, soiretimes, lessen the vigour of the roots.
It is easily increased by separating the young shoots
in the spring, which will succeed, notwithstanding
they may be^entirely 'dereMd of any fibrous append-
age.
LILIUM TIGRINUM.
Tiger-spoUed Lily.
Hexandria. Monogynia. Linn.
Lilliagcae. Jussieu.
This plant is a native of China, and in height about
four feet, it is a perennial, and flowers in July and
August, and was introduced into this country in
1804.
We know of very few plants that excited more
general interest than did the Tiger Lily on its intro-
duction into this country. Every one admired, and
resolved on possessing, this Chinese beauty ; and in
a very short time, from its facility of propagation,
the cottager and nobleman boasted alike of its splen-
dour in their gardens.
TAGETES PATULA.
French Man/gold.
.Syngenesia. Polygamia Superflua. Linn.
Corymbiferae. Jdssieu.
This plant is a native of Mexico, and flowers in our
gardens in August to October, its height is about
three feet, and it is an annual, and was cultivated
the first time in this country in 1596.
The cultivation of this plant is so generally known,
that nothing need be said respecting it ; except to
warn our readers against a formidable enemy to the
young plants. If they be much eaten, a single ex-
amination, late at night, with the assistance of a
light, will show the depredators to be young earwigs,
(Forficula auriculara). Woollen cloth loosely folded ;
hollow bean stalks ; or two small boards, placed
upon each other, with one edge of the upper one
raised sufficiently to admit their creeping between
them, will form useful traps, and the insects may be
destroyed every morning.
I
Sis.'
ri-Iiiiii ;i *'inl;iri;i
i Mrcjifaitf iit'rvi i tipit .»
I
-A
1^
la^^
-^>*>'^)«
5^
13. IJisL'utelUi liispitla.
J IVriht-nvi Anlileliii
In.OiuJuis liLiTina.
16 . TuJip a s iLa\''i' oli- as .
M
105
LADIES' BOTANY*.
BY JOHN LINDLET, PH. D.F.B. S., &C. &C.
In the preface to this work, the author contends that
the principles of the artiticial system of Linnceus, which
were so important and useful at the time when they
were first propounded, are now generally admitted to
be altogether unsuited to the present state of science,
and states that the author of the latest work published
in this country upon that system, is obliged to rest his
defence for still following it, upon " the facility with
which it enables any one, hitherto unpractised in
botany, to arrive at the knowledge of the genus and
species of a plant." But, he observes, if a system of
botany is only a contrivance to help those, who will not
master the elements of the science, to determine the
name of a plant ; and if it is really necessary to have a
mental rail-road on which the student in botany may be
iuipelled without any exertion of his own, then he
thinks that the analytical tables of the French are much
better contrivances than the sexual system ; because if
well executed they meet every case, and lead with cer-
tainty to positive results. He says he has always been
at issue with the Linna'an school as to their system ac-
complishing even the little it pretends ; and appeals to
his own personal experience of the difficulties of a be-
ginner, who is unassisted by a tnfor, to prove that it is
totally opposed to such a conclusion. He began with
the Linna?an system, which he had been taught to be-
lieve little less than an inspired production. He had
plenty of works, compiled according to tliat system, to
consult ; and asserts that he was fairly driven to seek
refuge in the natural system from the difficulties and in-
consistencies of Linnccus. He considers that there is a
confusion of ideas in what is urged in favour of the Lin-
nccan system, and that its theoretical simplicity is mis-
taken for practical facility of application. That the
principles of this system are clear, and simple, and easy
to be remembered, he cannot deny ; but are they, he
asks, equally easy in their application ? When, for
example, a specimen of a monopetalous plant has lost
its corolla, or when the stamens or pistils are absent,
either accidentally or constitutionally, as in Dia?cious
plants, what Linna?an botanist can classify the subject
of inquiry ? Or where a genus comprehends species
varying in the number of their stamens, as the Poly-
gonum, Salix, Stellaria, and hundreds of others, who is
to say which of the species is to determine the classifi-
cation of the rest? or when that point is settled, how is
a student to know what passed in the mind of the botani-
cal systematist ? The latter puts a genus into Octan-
dria, because out often species, one has constantly, and
two occasionally, eight stamens, and he includes in the
same class and order all the other species of the genus,
although they have five, six, or ten stamens. He sup-
poses a student to meet with one of the last, and wishes
to ascertain its name by the Linna^an system, he will
look for it in Pentandria, or Hexandria, or Decandria,
in none of which classes will he find it. After wasting
his time, and exhausting his patience in a vain pursuit,
he must abandon the search in utter hopelessness, for
there is no other character he can make use of as a check
upon the first. At length some one will tell him that
his plant is a Polygonum; he turns to his book, wonder-
ing how he could have overlooked it, and he finds Poly-
gomun in Octandria, not because it is Octandrous, but
because it is so very like other Polygonums that it can-
not be separated from them, and they belong, in most
cases, to Octandria. This he conceives to be the una-
voidable answer ; and that it reaUy means, that it is not
in consecpience of its accordance with the system that
the student's Polygonum is to be discovered, but in con-
sequence of its natural relation to other Polygonums ;
so that it is necessary to understand the natural system
to make use of the artificial one. He acknowledges
that such inconvenience is guarded against in some
books by special conti'ivances ; but those contrivances
form no 'part of the system. But granting, he says, for
argument sake, that these and other objections are over-
stated, and that the Linuiean system does really facili-
tate the discovery of the class and order to which a
plant belongs, he next considers what advance towards
the determination of the genus or species, or, in other
words, the name of a plant, a student has really made,
and in order, he asserts, that every advantage may be
given to the friends of the Linncean system in this dis-
cussion, he examines of what use it will be to him in re-
gard to the few hundred plants which grow wild in Eng-
land. For this purpose he takes the generic characters
in Diaudria Monogynia, as stated in Dr. Hooker's British
Flora, from which he concludes that, to determine to
what genus a plant belongs, a great deal of inquiry be-
yond the discovery that it has two stamens and one style
is indispensably necessary. The student must first be
acquainted with the meaning of many techninal terms,
he must have the plant in different slates of growth, he
must procure the fruit, must examine the interior of that
part, in short must go through a long and careful ex-
amination, which is entirely independent of the sexual
system. In other and larger classes, such as Pentan-
dria, Hexandria, Tetrandia, &c., the length and diffi-
culty of such an examination is greatly increased. He
distinctly asserts that there is no greater difficulty in
determining the natural order of plants than in that of
making out the genera in the Linna?an system ; in fact,
he says it is the very same thing, only with a different
result ; in the one case it leads to the mere discovery of
a name, in the other, to the knowledge of a great num-
ber of useful and interesting facts, independent of the
name. And this he asserts is so strongly felt by all bo-
tanists of any experience, that they never think of using
the artificial system themselves, they only recommend it
to others.
The work is itself written in the form of letters, ad-
dressed to a lady on the botanical education of her chil-
* Ladies' Botany, or a Familiar Introduction to the Study of the Natural System of Botany. By John Lindley, Ph. D. F. R. S.,
&c. &c., Professor of Botany in the University of London. 1 vol. large 8vo., with plates. London ! James Ridgway and Sous.
183-1.
MAGAZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL.11. NO. XVII. — AUGUST, 1834. U
106
LADIES BOTANY.
dren ; in the first of which he relates the following fable
from a French author, in answer to a supposed question,
whether the difficulties which are said to accompany
the study of this branch of science carmot by some little
contrivance be either entirely removed, or at least very
much diminished : —
A lady one day observing some ants travelling across
a table, dropped a piece of sugar in the midst of them ;
but to her astonishment, although these little insects
are noted sugar eaters, they all retreated with terror
from the spot, nor did they afterwards find sufficient
courage to return to examine the object of their dread ;
on the contrary, they carefully avoided that which would
have proved a treasure, had they known its value. —
Stnick by this circumstance, the lady placed the same
piece of sugar on that part of the table near which the
ants were in the habit of crossing, and when she saw
one of them approaching it, she gently placed her fin-
ger in his way, but in such a manner as not to alarm
him, wliilst it obstructed his passage ; the ant paused,
looked round him, and then took a new direction, not
exactly towards the sugar, but near it ; the lady again
opposed his passage gently, and at last, by making him
take a sort of zigzag direction, tacking, as it were, at
every few steps, the ant was unconsciously brought to
the sugar without being frightened. Once there, he at-
tentively examined the glittering rock, touched it with
his antenna?, broke off a morsel, and hastened away
with it to the ant-hill; thence he presently returned at
the head of a host of his comrades, by whom the
rest of the sugar was carried off". From this anecdote
the author infers, that, if young persons are once alarmed
at the aspect of a new pursuit, a knowledge of which
they are endeavouring to obtain, it is almost impossible
to restore their confidence ; but that there are few who,
if led to it insensibly, will not persevere till they have
made themselves masters of the subject.
There is, he thinks, no mistake into which the public
i'; apt to fall greater than the notion that botany is a
science of easy acquirement. It is, by far, too compli-
cated in its phenomena, like all other branches of na-
tural h'story, and too diversified in form to be attainable
as a science, without long and attentive study ; never-
theless, he thinks that a certain portion of it may be
acquired without any extraordinary application, and he
hopes that the plan of his work will sufficiently explain
in what manner this may be best done. The mode he
recommends to be adopted is, to follow the order he has
laid down, and to procure for examination the flowers
that are named in it, as they are in most cases within
the reach of those who live in the country. The speci-
mens should be carefully compared with the descrip-
tions and plates given of them, and when they are all
remembered and understood, he thinks that the student
will be a botanist ; not a very learned one, but acquainted
with many of the fundamental facts of the science, and
capable of prosecuting his inquiry to any further point,
and of studying other and more scientific works with
facility and advantage. The plan he lays down to
be pursued by those who desire to push their inquiries
beyond the information contained in the present work,
is to read some inh'oduction to botany (his own of course),
in which the modern views of structure and of vital ac-
tion are well explained ; they should then make them-
selves familiar with the technical terms, which he has
carefully avoided in the work before us, but which can-
not be dispensed with in works of a more exact and sci-
entific character, and at the same time perfect them-
selves in a knowledge of the natural orders, by gathering
the wild plants which are within their reach, comparing
them with one another, and with the characters assigned
to them in systematic works. Being thus provided with
a considerable amount of fundamental knowledge, they
may then apply themselves to the study of the natural
system in its great features, when, and not till then,
they will be aljle to appreciate the various modifications
of organization that connect one tribe of plants to an-
other, and to understand the infinite wisdom and beauti-
ful simplicity of design which is visible in the vegetable
world, the just application of which, through the count-
less gradations of form, structure, and modes of exist-
ence, he considers, shotdd be the constant aim of the
botanist to demonstrate.
The most discouraging part of botany to a beginner,
he conceives, to consist either in the nimierous new and
strange names, the meaning of -which he has to learn,
or in the minuteness of the parts by which plants are
distinguished from each otlier, or in the great multitude
of species of which the vegetable kingdom consists ; and
he confesses that there is somethi)ig alarming in the
mass of preliminary knowledge, which, it would appear,
has to be acquired before any perceptible progress can
be made. But when the suijject is examined more
closely, we shall, he observes, find that only a small
number of technical terms employed is really necessary
in the beginning, that the minute parts are but little
consulted in practice, however .much thej- may be in
theory, and that the arrangements of botanists are so
perfect, that no more difficulty is expei'ienced ft-om the
number of species than in any other branch of natural
history. There are certain terms, the exact meaning
of which cannot be dispensed with, if the science is to
be studied to any good purpose ; a certain habit of ob-
servation must also be acquired, without which the dif-
ferences between one plant and another cannot be ap-
preciated or remembered ; but these may be gained
imperceptibly, or without any exh-aordinary degree of
exertion or industry. The student has only to com-
mence at the beginning, and never to take one step till
that which preceded it is secured ; he may then advance
to whatever point he pleases ; and this, the author ob-
serves, is the whole secret in teaching botanv.
107
ON LAYING DOWN ARABLE LAND INTO GRASS'
r
Agricultural seedsmen declare, that they have done
more business in this, than in any other year, for a con-
siderable time back. It may be worth while to inquire
into the immediate cause of this exti-a demand for grass
seeds ; and also to examine what the layers down of
land expect to derive from such a measure.
Those who are acquainted with the general state of
farming in this country at the present moment, will be
at no loss to account for the more than usual demand fur
grass seeds. In the first place, corn is at a low, by far
too low, a price, to encourage the cultivation of it ;
while the produce from meadow and pasture ground, in
other words, from live stock, fetches remunerating
prices. Another thing, many farms are deserted by the
tenants, and, of course, fallen into the landlord's hands.
The latter takes the easiest way of making anything of
his tenantless farms, by laying the whole down as a
sheep-walk. This also creates an additional demand
upon the seedsman, while it lessens the charges of
labour, horses, &c. But there is a new idea, and which
begins to be extensively entertained respecting old
meadow and pasture land. From time immemorial
grass land has been particulfirly valued, and specially
protected by specific clauses in leases and agreements
between landlords and tenants; because it was supposed
that a meadow was good in proportion to its age ; and
that, if once broken up, could not be renewed or got
back to its former state under a long term of years. The
validity of this old opinion and belief has been, of late
years, attacked and overthrown by several eminent agri-
cultiu'al writers, particularly W. Alton, Esq., of Hamil-
ton, who has, by practical tests, proved that grass land,
after a certain number of years, becomes mossy and
worthless, and should then be broken up, to yield three
or four crops of corn, and laid down again as soon as it
can be got perfectly cleared from root weeds. By this
management heavy crops of corn are obtained, and in
such extra quantity as fully repays the expense of seeds
to re-lay it doAvn again. And such is the facility with
which arable land may be changed to pasture, that an
excellent and productive sward will be formed in the
second year after sowing a proper selection of perma-
nent grasses, in due quantity, either with or without
corn. The propriety and practicability of this new ex-
pedient in the business of farming has attracted general
notice ; and to it, together with the circumstances al-
luded to before, may be ascribed the increased demand
for grass seeds at the present time, for the purpose oi
laying down new meadow and pasture to serve instead
of those intended to be ploughed up.
The introduction of this new branch of " convertible"
husbandry is attended with the advantages of keeping
more live stock, which is the soul of fanning ; because
gi'eater quantities of manure will be made for the arable
crops, as well as for the grass land ; thus keeping the
whole in good heart, and always in condition, either for
the production of hay, corn, or pasturage.
The objections against taking meadow and pasture
land into the general rotation of cropping a farm are
these, viz. they generally lie close round the homestead,
forming convenient outlets from the yards and cattle-
sheds ; corn crops being at some distance, are less
liable to injury from poultry and pigs ; every field is
not supplyed with water, and therefore cannot be appro-
priated as cattle pasture ; and as grass land is so pe-
remptorily protected by existing leases and agreements,
no tenant, so bound up, can avail himself of such conver-
sion, however advantageous it might be to him. B\it all
these objections may be met, and in many cases nullified
by judicious exertion on the part of the tenant, by tem-
porary fencing, well-digging, &c., and by permissive
measures and assistance on the part of the landlord.
And surely the present situation of farmers in general
should prompt them to every means of improved cul-
ture, however diflfering from the old or customary rou-
tine ; and induce every landlord to take oif all restric-
tions which cramp the exertions of the tenant, and com-
pel him to take less from the land than, by improved
management, it is calculated to produce.
Old productive meadow land, on the banks of rivers,
or in low situations, no one would think of distiirbing
\rith the plough ; but there is much upland pasture
which might be made doubly valuable by being put
under a course of arable cultiu'e for a few years, and then
returned to grass again. Many instances of such con-
version might be appealed to as proofs, in difierent parts
of the kingdom, and on dilTcrent descriptions of soil, as
executed by the late Mr. George Sinclair, and by the
old firm of Messrs. Thomas Gibbs and Co., Agricultmral
Seedsmen, Half-moon-street, Piccadilly, London. Here-
tofore, it was supposed, that seven, some say twenty
years, were required to establish a good sound turfj now
by the attention bestowed on this branch of rural eco-
nomy, and by employing a mixture of the best perennial
grass seeds, "a good and sweet bottom may be obtained,
as before observed, in two years.
Land that has been long, or for several years, in
grass, is found greatly restored, as to fertility, by the
accumulation of vegetable and animal substances there-
in, and in fine condition for the growth of white crops,
when properly treated. Some farmers prefer sowing
peas on the first furrow, and which usually yield abun-
dantiy ; others take a crop of some small kind of oats ;
for ifPoland oats be sowed they fall a prey to the wire-
worm, often prevalent in old turf Whichever crop be
chosen, the ground is in fine order to be fallowed in the
following year, to get rid of many root weeds which had
flourished in the turf. If the fallow be got perfectly
clean before the first of June, a crop of tankard turnips
or mangold wurtzel may be put in, and eaten or drawn
off time enough for sowing wheat ; but if not got clean
enough for this intermediate crop, the fallowing must be
continued to the wheat-sowing season, \\hich brings the
field into the regular rotation of the farm.
There are two wavs of laying down arable land into
grass. The first is laying down witii a half-cast of barley
or oats, which, if the summer be moist, is the most eco-
nomical ; but if the summer prove dry it is not the best
plan. The seedlings of many of the best grasses are,
on their first appearance, so feeble and attenuated, that
* From the British Farmer's Magazine.
108
ON GREENHOUSE PLANTS.
one (lay's bright sunsliine withers them up ; and if the
thin crop of corn or favouring season does not protect
them, they are lost. A more certain way is to lay down
after turnips, by giving up the barley crop, stirring the
surface, during summer, till it is as fine as possible, by
tlie action of tlie plough, harrow.s, and roller, and sow-
ing the grass seeds upon a smooth surface about the
10th of August, and covered in by a bush-harrow ; fin-
ishing with the roller. At lliis season the sun's heat is
less ardent, the nights are longer, and the plants, unhurt
by drought, gain strenglh enough to resist the frosts of
winter. Whether attempted to be laid down with a sin-
gle cast of corn in the spring, or sowed in the auttnnn,
if blanks appear in the following spring they are again
sowed and raked in before rolling down.
The treatment of young seeds, during the first year
after sowing, is of consequence. They had better be
skimmed over by the scythe, about the end of June, than
grazed by cattle, which may poach, or by sheep, which
bite too close. After tlie month of September, the new
grass may receive any kind of stock ; being then out of
danger, either from the teetli or feet of grazing animals,
if the state of the weather or nature of the soil will
allow. Every following year each individual plant in-
creases in size and slrengtli, till the whole surface is
plenished by the roots and side-shoots; from this time
the plants become diminutive and cramped, for want of
space ; the hardier and most worthless kinds extirpate
the best; moss springs up and chokes what renuiins,
and then is the time for breaking it up again, to undergo
the course of cropping already described, and so stren-
ously recommended by many of the first agriculturists of
the kingdom.
As the nature of soils, as to their tenaciousness or
friability, are very diiTerent, so the labour required in
breaking up old grass for the reception of a crop of corn
is more or less easy. If the soil be tough and untracta-
ble by the harrows, dibbing beans on tlie first furrow
may be the best management ; but if it will harrow well
(whether ploughed iit the autumn or spring) peas or
oats may be sowed either broad-i;ast or drilled. . ,, ,
The expense of the seeds, however, is, in laying tlowii
new grass, a serious matter to the ftirmer, wlio is noijr
puzzled to "make botli ends meet." That the suxierior
crops of corn from the freshly broken-up ground will
more than cover the expense of seeds, may be relied on;
but the expense of buying seeds must be incurred, before
the remunerating crops are in the barn : because it would
be very impolitic to break up old grass before the new
was ready, or nearly ready, to take its place. The ex-
pense, per acre, of the best selected permanent grass
seeds, would amount to not much less than two poimds :
and although common mixtures might be had for lesi,
tlie dearest, in such cases, will be found the best. ■ '
ON GREENHOUSE PLANTS*.
BY MR. TOWERS, AUTHOR OF THE DOMESTIC GARDENER S MANUAL.
I WISH to combine the didce witli tlie ii/ile, to lead the reader
on through pleasurable paths to tlie attainment of knowledge,
and therefore I propose to familiarize, to the utmost, every
beautiful object, to speak of it in the most simple terms possi-
ble, to describe its habits, native country, and most approved
modes of culture; and then, to close tlie account with the bo-
tanical remarks which I conceive to he indispensably required,
in order to put the reader in possession of those facts which no
cultivator of plants ought to be ignorant of. I shall so far re-
tain my original jdan, as to follow the ord.r of the LiunfEan
classes; thus, we shall ',rocced methodically. I commence,
then, with the first class. Without attempting to write a
botanical treatise, I must introduce each of the classes with a
few initiatory remarks, otherwise, I shall be doing little better
than to speak "in an unknown tongue." In the study of
botany on the Linna'iin system, there is fortunately no defi-
ciency of elementary works. For young beginners, I am not
aware that any better work can be found, nor one written in
more familiar language, than the Letters upon Botany by the
late Prisc'dla Wakefield, to which 1 may add the Grammar and
the Inlruduclion to Botany, of that renowned botanist. Sir
James Edward Smith, the late President of the Linna'an So-
ciety. To attain an elementary knowledge of the Natural or
Jiissieuun Si/stem, now becoming so fashionable, many more
difficulties must be encountered.
I shall now proceed to notice those individual plants which
it is ray intention to select as fit objects for illustrative de-
scription.
The system of Linnxus contains twenty-four classes, ar-
ranged in two grand divisions ; the first of which comprises all
those plants whose flowers or fructiferous organs are conspicu-
ous and determinable. The second dicisiun comprises all thoie
plants whose flowers or organs of fruit are inconspicuous, or
not clearly to be determined ; such are the ferns, mosses, sek-
weeds, and the fungi, or mushroom tribe. The first fifteen of
these classes are founded upon the number of the stamens or
male organs of the flower. The remaining eight classes of the
first division depend upon the position or arrangement of the
fruitful organs. The twenty-fourtli class, Crypioffamia, con-
tains, as its name implies, all the members of the second divi-
sion ; that is, the plants whose reproductive organs are incon-
spicuous and perhtp; doubtful. I shall not, in this paper,
enlarge upon the structure of the natural arrangement, which
is too complex to admit of any cursory description, but shall
merely notice, in passing, the order therein, to which every in-
dividual that I describe is to he referred, adding a slight men-
tion of its characteristics.
The first class contains many specimens of exceeding beauty ;
but as they are, for the greater part, natives of tropical or
warm climates, they cannot with safety be generally intro-
duced into the greenhouse. The roots of many of the genera
abound in aromatic qualities, as in the ginger, turmeric, zedoary,
galingale, &c. ; others contain mucilage and nutritive matter
in abundance. The native or indigenous genera are unattrac-
tive.
This class is named Mox.\ndria, beciuse it has but one
stamen or male organ. It contains two orders, determinable
by the number of the styles. The titles of the orders are
A/onogi/nia and Dii/t/nia, the former from the Greek word, munos
one, and gune or gi/ne female ; the latter, from dis two, and gyne.
From the Q.i»arterly Jsursai -of Agriculture.
ON GREENHOUSE PLANTS.
109
From this class I select but. two plants, as subjects suitable
to ordinary culture in common greenhouses.
The first plant is the Common huJian Shot, or Indian flower-
ing reed, an old and very favourite tenant of the stove ; for,
coming from India, it had, for a long period, been considered
and treated as a very tender stove plant. E.xperience has,
however, determined that it may, under propitious circum-
stances, and in favourable situations, be preserved in the open
yround, during our ordinary winters, and almost to a certainty,
in a good glazed pit, without fire.
There are two varieties of Indian shot, the one with red
ilowers, and the other with red spotted or striped with yellow ;
the former, in the opinion of many, is greatly to be preferred.
In the cataiogties of London's EncyclopEedia of Plants and Hor-
tus Britannicns, these two varieties are described as stove
plants, growing to the height of two feet, in flower all the
year, with red, and red and yellow flowers ; received from In-
dia in 1750, propagated by division of the roots, and growing
in rich mould. Upon these data, compared with my own ex-
perience, I shall give the following directions for the treatment
of these elegant plants : —
It is scarcely possible to describe this plant (the flowers of
which are of very pectiliar structure), so as to make the reader,
who has not seen it, understand its general appearance. The
roots are of a fleshy texture, somewhat resembling those of the
common blue iris, but less bulky. In young seedling plants,
the tnberous knobby processes of these roots send up but one
stalk, if that may be called such, whose substance is little more
tlian a leaf coiled into a tube, and enclosing another leaf, which
protrudes from it in an opposite direction. One leaf proceeds
from and within another, as the plant advances in growth, and
these expand right and left. They are of a lively and most
beautiful green, spear-shaped, smooth, and six or eight inches
long. The veins are numerous, proceeding from a central mid-
rib, in parallel wavy lines, not forming a network. The stem
consists of little more than the footstalks of the leaves, each
wrapping round the base of the leaf immediately above it, for
the length of two or three inches, varying according to the na-
ture or strength of the plant. When five or six are developed,
the flower-stem protrudes from the centre of the upper leaf.
The flowers are enclosed in a sheath, and expand in succession,
to the number of perhaps from three to five or six. They are
■ornamental, but fugacious, are divided into six segments, irre-
gular in figure, and of a bright scarlet, or scarlet and yeUow,
spotted also or veined with red. The blossom is succeeded by
a roundish seed-vessel, supported upon a footstalk ; the ex-
ternal covering of the seed-vessel is rough, and rather prickly ;
this rough coating, as the seeds become mature, detaches itself,
or may be readily rubbed ofl^ from the inner coat, which remains
entire, and contains several globular seeds, somewhat resem-
bling sweet peas, but larger, more polished, and of exceedingly
hard texture, insomuch that it is said the natives of the countries
where the plant is indigenous use them as shot, whence the
familiar name.
It is usual to raise the plants in the spring, by sowing the
seeds in a pot, placed in a frame, over a gentle hot-bed. When
the young plants have produced two or three leaves, they may
be cautiously lifted by a smooth stick, with sonie of the mould
adhering to the fibrous roots, and transferred into separate
pots. These pots may either be large sixties, the internal
diameter being about three inches, and the depth four inches ;
and, in this case, when each plant shall have filled the pots
with roots, it is to be removed, with its ball entire, into a pot
of double the size ; or, the larger pots may be used in the first
instance, to spare trouble. If the plants have been raised in a
hot-bed, they should, after potting ofi', be replaced in the frame
for a few days, and gently watered now and then with milk-
warm water, till the roots have fuUy established themselves.
The seeds will certainly vegetate most freely in heat ; but they
Vuill succeed, as I have witnessed, in a parlour window, where
the plant also will grow freely, and bring its fruit to perfection.
As the summer advances, so many plants as are not wanted
for the greenhouse or sitting-room may be placed in the open
borders, where also they will flower freely, and produce ripe
seeds.
Many ofi'sets from the roots are sent up ; and these may be
taken ofi", and the plants thus multiplied. The soil should be
a rich mellow loam, made light with road-grit and decayed
vegetable earth. When I say rich mould, I do not mean eurth,
enriched hij duwj, but that fat unctious loam which contains all
the staple mineral mutters, as siliceous sand, alumcn, or pure
clay, chalk, and a certain portion of oxide of iron. The soil I
made mention of in my first paper, obtained from decayed
couch-roots, contains all these matters in excellent proportions.
It is a remarkable fact, but not less wonderful than true, that
decayed vegetables (and manures do the same eventually), fur-
nish in decay all the staple matters of the finest native loams ;
and couch-grass, though it may owe some of its earthy particles
to the soil removed with its roots, wastes down to a perfect
pale-brown earth, containing every requisite for promoting and
sustaining vegetable growtli. This soil, with some decayed
leaves, with road-sand in nearly equal parts, will be suitable to
the plants in every stage of their growth.
Soft pond or river water should be given pretty freely ; and
some say that each plant, when flow'ering, ought to be kept in
a pan always full of water. Those that have been retained in
the house, in pots, may be kept throughout the winter perfectly
safe, in a turf glazed pit ; but, in that case, little water should
he given. In the greenhouse, more fluid may be allowed ; and
in the eiove, where the temperature is maintained, during the
night, to 50 or 55 deg., the plants will flower freely, and should
be liberally supplied with water.
Perhaps it is advisable to raise fresh plants from seeds every
spring. I have, however, had one in the stove during winter,
which has showed flower occasionally from December to the
end of Februai7 ; and I have just removed it from its pot, and
parted the roots with a knife. I think that these plants will
furnish all I shall require throughout the season.
The botanical characters of Indian reed or shot, are —
Canna Indica. Class l. Order 1. Monandria Monogy-
nia of Linneeus ; that is, with one stamen and one style. Calyx,
or flower- cup, of three leaves. Corolla, or flower-proper, of one
petal, divided into six segments. Anther simple, attached to
the edge of the filament, which is flat, and resembles a petal,
or segment of the flower. Seed-vessel, a rovmd, slightly angu-
lar, germen, with a flat style, the upper part of which (stigma)
is linear and obtuse. The germen becomes a roundish capsule,
with three cells, containing globular seeds.
In the natural system, Canna constitutes the type of the
152nd order, termed Canneee, in the second great class of plants
called the Monocotyledones, the seeds of which have generally
but one cotyledon or seed lobe. The leaves do not usually ar-
ticulate with the stems, and the veins run in parallel lines,
without ramifying into a net-work. Plants of the order Can-
nece differ from those of their near neighbours of the 151st
order, in their roots being devoid of aromatic properties.
Maranta arundinacea, or Indian arrow-]-oot, is one of the
genera of this natural order. For farther and more minute
particulars, the reader is referred to Dr. Lindley's " Principles
of Botany, ^^
The name Canna is a latinized Greek word (Kayva), and sig-
nifies a reed or cane.
The only plant in this class w-hich remains to he noticed,' as
likely to prove of any interest, or suitable to greenhouse cul-
ture, is —
LOPEZIA racemosa. Smooth (branching) Lnpezia. This is
a pretty biennial, producing its clusters of red flowers from tile
angles (axilhc) of tlie leaves. According to the Encyclopteilia
of Plants, it was (with the other species of the- same genus)
named in honour of the licentiate Thomas Lopez, a Spanish
botanist, who paid particular attention to the natural history
of the New World. It was introduced to England in 1792,
no
ON GREENHOiDSE PLANTS.
and is a native of Mexico. Grows to the height of 18 inches ,
and flowers from August to October. Tiie plant is iigured and
described in the Botanical Magazine of the late Mr. Curtis,
No. 254. The stem of the plant is four-cornered and smooth,
the leaves ovate or egg-shaped, and widest at the base. It
may be propagated by suckers from the roots, and grown in
common garden soil.
The botanical character of the genus Lopezia may be thus
stated : Class I . Order 1 . Monandria Monogynia. Calyax
of four leaves. Corolla of four petals, irregular ; fiowcrs not
contained in a sheath : hence termed naked. Filaments 2, one
fertile, producing an anther ; the other barren, and resembling
a petal. Germen below the flower (inferior), becoming a
capsule with four valves, having four cells, containing many
seeds.
In the natural system it is placed in the 7Cth order, Onagra-
rice, and is one of the members of the fifth tribe of that order ,
Circece. The plants, among other characteristic distinctions,
have usually the seed-vessel below the flower (" inferior" ), which
consists of a calyx of four leaves, a corolla of four petals, and a
definite number of stamens. Among the plants of this order
are the lovely /iicAsi'as, many of which will be hereafter de-
scribed.
The second Linnsean class will furnish several very beautiful
tenants of the greenhouse. It is named Diandria, from the
number {dis two) of its stamens ; and it contains three orders,
Monogynia, Digynia, and Trigynia, having respectively, one,
two, and three styles, or pistilla.
In the first order, the interesting family of the olive trees
(OUaJ contains several greenhouse species, but most of them
are very tall growers, and attain to the inconvenient height of
from 10 to 20 or more feet. I therefore select the fragrant
olive (Oka fragransj , as the most suitable, and perhaps the
most pleasing of the family. Of the various species may be
named the following, as desirable greejihouse plants for large
collections.
Olea europaa, several varieties. — Common fruit-bearing
olive, which produces the eatable fruit that is pickled and sold
under the name " Olives."
Oha capensis. Cape of Good Hope Olive, introduced in
lt30. The former has been cultivated in England for above
200 years. It is a " native of the south of Europe."
Olea fragrans grows to a height of 3 or 4 feet ; produces
yellow flowers in July and August, which are very odoriferous.
The leaves are lance-shaped, approaching to oval, and are also
fragrant. It has been cultivated here for about 63 years, as it
was brought from China, its native country, in 1771. It may
be considered as a rather tender evergreen, and unless it have
the protection of a very good greenhouse, may be more secure
in a sitting-room, where there is a fire, than in any common
frame or glazed pit. Tender plants, kept in a room, should
not stand, during the night, in the window ; they ought to be
placed on the mantel-shelf or sideboard, where frosty air can-
not reach them : in the day-time they might be brought to the
light. The soil should be kept free from drought, but not by
any means wet, in the dark months. Loam and peat {heath
mouldj , form a suitable compost ; and in it the plant may be
raised by layers, and perhaps by cuttings, with the assistance
of a little silver sand.
The botanical character of the genus Olea is the following.
Class II. Order 1. Diandria Monogynia. It has two stamens
and one style.— Calyx, or flower-cup, with four teeth. Corolla
of one petal, rather funnel-shaped, in four divisions, and below
the germen (inferior). Fruit a drupe, that is, a sort of berry,
with a fleshy or pulpy substance, enclosing a hard nut. The
fruit of the plum, apricot, peach, &c., is a drupe.
In the natural system, Olea is the type of the order No. 124.
Oleinm, derived from the Greek words EXaa or EAa;a (Elaa,
ElaiaJ the olice-tree ; hence Olea, and Oleum oil (of the olive).
The order includes, among other shrubs less known, the
Privets, lilacs, phillyreas ; the flowers are monopetalous, with
two stamens ; and the seed-vessels have two cells ; the leaves
are simple, and opposite to one another. Some of the generci
comprise evergreens ; others deciduous plants.
The Jasmine. This is a beautiful family; there are about
ten species which are considered greenhouse plants, and most
of these may be raised by cuttings, placed in fine white sand ;
and, when rooted, transferred to pots singly, containing good
rich and open loam ; or a compost of loam, peat-earth or sand,
and a small portion of perfectly reduced leaves or cow-dung.
The species, out of which a selection may be made, accord-
ing to the capacity of the house, &c., are the following, those
marked thus *, being superior either for beauty or fragrance.
Jasmine, glaucous or sea-green, from the Cape in 1774-
slender, from Norfolk Island in 1791.
cape, from Cape of Good Hope in 1816.
twisted, do. in 1818.
-great flowered, from East Indies in 1629.
* sweet scented, from Madeira in 1656.
The above produce white flowers ; the last
named is a climber, attaining twelve or more
feet in height.
* azorean, from Madeira in 1724.
* revolute flowered, from East Indies in 1812.
The last is also a tall grower ; both have yellow flowers.
The botanical characters of the genus are,. —
Jasminum. Class II. Order 1. Diandria Monogynia. Two
stamens ; one style. Flowers complete, comprising a calyx and
corolla. Calyx of one leaf, but divided into five segments.
Corolla inferior, of one petal, cut into five or more segments,
tubulous below, limb or border spreading, but bent back
(revoluti) in one or two species. Germen roundish, which
becomes a lierry with two cells, containing as many seeds.
In the natural system. The Jasmine is referred to Jasmineee:
an order which contains but two genera, Jasminum and Nyc-
ianthes. These are not far removed from the plants of the or-
der Oleina, to which they were once united. It has been re-
marked, that the olives will succeed by grafting upon each
other, but not upon the jasmines ; but surely this difference is
not alone to be decisive, for many plants which evince the
nearest relationship will not unite by the graft. The manifest
distinction between the entire system of foliage of the olives
and jasmines would offer, I conceive, legitimate cause for the
separation of the families.
Schizanthus. The hlunt-petalled. A most beautiful spe-
cies of recent introduction, figured in the Botanical Register, co-
loured. I extract the following brief notice of the plant from
the Botanical Register. " Schizanthus retusus. — Blunt-petal-
led Schizanthus. A splendid annual. Flowers of a rich rose
colour, blended with yellow. Native of the Andes of Mendosa,
from whence specimens were received from Dr. Gillies. Culture :
We are ignorant whether it is capable of bearing our summers
so well as S. pinnatus : hitherto it has been cultivated in the
greenhouse, where it flowers for four months successively. It
is easily increased by cuttings." I may add, that there appears
to be considerable difficulty in rearing this fine species. I pos-
sessed but one plant, and wishing to increase it, took off the
point of tbe shoot at the base of one of the leaves, in October.
The young plant would not strike, and the parent sickened from
the wound, and damped off during the winter. I lately saw a
considerable collection at a celebrated nursery, and observed
that the young plants were put in pots about three or four
inches wide, containing a soil closely resembling black sandy
heath mould. The nurseryman assured me that he could raise
the plants easily, but found a difficidty of preserving them, just
at the period when they showed blossom. Then, a plant would
become sickly, mouldy, and die off without remedy : no cause
could be assigned, nor conjectured.
There are five or six, perhaps more, species of this family,
namely.
ON GREENHOUSE PLANTS.
Ill
S. pinnatus, wiag>leaved Scbizanthus,
porrigens, spreading stalked —
Hookeri, Hooker's (chile) —
Grahami, Graham's (do.J —
hardy,
-do.
The two last and the subject of this article were introduced
in 1828, and it may be considered but semi-hardy ; at least,
tliey appear to suifer from moisture. The term Schizunihiis is
derived from two Greek words which indicate aflmoer, deeply
cut and much divided, and such are all the members of the
family.
ScHiZANTHCS belongs to Diandria Monogynia, it has two
stamina, effective; and the rudiments of two others, sterile.
The fiower is inferior. The cahjx five-parted. Corolla of two
lips, inverted, the upper segment (varying from the usual
position) being in this instance the lower one. So sitiiated, a
flower is termed resupinute. A leaf resupinate, has its faces
reversed by a twist of the foot-stalk, which brings the lower
surface in front ; the Alsfrosnomeria, a lovely family, afford strik-
ing examples of this position of the leaves. The upper lip of
Schizanthus is in five parts ; the lower one in three, narrow and
smaller. Seed-vessel, a. capsule of tv.'0 cells : seerfs numerous.
Naturally, this genus ranks in the order Scrophularinee, and
in the second section, wherein two only of the stamens have
anthers. Most of the subjects are purely herbaceous, though a
few are shi-ubs. In this section are to be found the extensive
family of Speedwell (Veronica), the beautiful slipper-worts
(Galceoluria) , the hedge-hyssop (Gratiola), and several others
less known. The order will be again referred to.
JusTicEA. A family of plants named in honour of J. Jus-
tice, a Scotch horticulturist and wi-iter of the last century, and
who died about the year 1761 or 1762.
It contains a great number of species, natives chiefly of the
East and West Indies ; and consequently too tender for green-
house culture. There is among them, however, one which is a
plant of singular interest, and which, though it ranks as a stove
plant, may, I think, be safely preserved in the dwelling or
greenhouse; itisthe "yellow-tufted" Justicea, and one of the
most curious flowerers that can well he found in any collection.
In the Hortus Britannicus, it is stated to be an under sknib of
the stove, growing two feet high with yelloio flowers, imported
from Brazil in 1825. I received this plant from a friend last
July; it was scarcely three inches high, but showed bloom.
Owing to a long journey, and being merely wrapped up in moss,
it had little vigour, and the flower failed. Shortly after, how-
ever, fresh roots were formed, and it soon produced a flower-
stem that increased and came to perfection. I noticed the
following particulars at the time, December 7, 18.33; they
will afford evidence of the nature and habits of the plant. Its
flowers are produced in a close terminal spike, the whole of
which is of a pale yellowish, slightly green tint. This, with the
tufty form of the spike, gives the name to the species. The
spike is formed of a series of spikelets, the one opposite to tlie
other; and the pairs are in alternate order, at a right angle
with those above and below. The leaves are also in pairs, and
in the same cross or rectangular order with themselves, and
with the flowers that terminate them. These leaves (in a very
small plant which flowered in December last) assumed an
appearance of singular interest. As the flower-spike advanced
and became well developed from being flat, and extending
horizontally, they gradually curled in a direction towards the
stem, some of them bending almost spirally downwards.
They are large, very handsome, ovate-cordate, highly glazed ;
and somewhat resemble the leaves of the hornbeam, with the
gloss of the beech. The plant is a ready flowerer ; mine was
scarcely six inches high; I kept it in the pine-stove, wherein,
throughout October and November, the heat during night
ranged between 53 deg. and 62 deg. Late in November, I
perceived that several unopened flowers fell oflr; I therefore
removed the plant to a sitting room, some blossoms expanded
in the course of a day ; and exposed as it was to the vicissitudes
of temperature, open winjows in the morning, confined, close
ail' in the evening, &c., it continued in health and bloom. Thus
this stove plant appears to be semi-hardy ; it is of ready cul-
ture, and grows well in a mixture of sandy loam, two parts, old
decayed wood earth and leaf mould, each one part.
I must add, that, on the 21st of March, 1834, the spike was
still in a very ornamental state. In January all the first
formed flowers had developed themselves and fallen off ; the
plant was then removed to the stove. After a period of rest,
the spike began to enlarge itself, and other flowers were formed.
The old calyxes and tufts remained perfect in form and colour,
and early in the present month a complete succession of blos-
soms pushed from the spaces between them. The spike is now
double its former size ; that is, about five inches long, and
blossom after blossom has appeared. In a word, taking all
things into consideration, though the colour of the flower is not
vivid, the plant is a perfect gem, and highly deserving of ex-
tended culture.
In the Linnaean system Justicea belongs to Diandria Mo-
nogynia. The flowers are inferior, monopetalous, and irregular.
The calyx is five parted, tubulous, equal. Corolla ringent or
gaping, divided into two nearly equal parts : the upper part or
lip arched, often reflexed, (bent upwards and backwards) ; the
lower divided into two or three equal parts, which are more or
less reflexed. Anthers two-celled ; style long and protruding.
Capsule oi two sells, elastic, with two seeds fixed by little hooks.
One plant styled,
Justicea flavicomu, or perhaps more correctly flavacoma.
Justicia with a yellow lock, or yeUow tufted, presents all the
above essential generic characters, with the specific peculiarity
of having the divisions of the flower-cup (calyx) terminated by
very long bristly points.
This genus, or family, forms one of the members of the
oriei Acanthacece, the 145th of the Hortus Britannicus,
Acanthus is the type of the order, and the term is derived
from a Greek word (akantha), which signifies a plant or shrub
abounding with thorns, A fitter type for a tribe, many of
whose members are wholly thornless, might surely have been
chosen ; however, the plants agree generally in the peculiar
elasticity of their seed-vessels, and the curiously hooked pro-
cesses of the seeds. Their stems also are swollen just above the
pairs of leaves, and that swelling gives them a characteristic
appearance ; cuttings at these joints strike with facility,
Slipperwort — better known by the classic term Calceolaria, a
noble family, almost without exception, of recent introduction.
There are four or more beautiful undershrubs in the genus,
which, though introduced about the year 1 822, are familiarly
known, and extensively cultivated ; there are many others of
herbaceous characters which are perennial or biennial, and these
sport into varieties and sub-varieties of surpassing beauty ; they
are, many of them at least, prize plants, and are exhibited by
florists and others at exhibitions, and are highly admired.
The three undershrubs which may be considered sufficiently
hardy for the parterre, are the
1. Rugosa, or Wrinkled-leaved Calceolaria, with yellow
flowers, produced in tufts of many pairs abundantly throughout
the autumn. The leaves are ovate-lanceolate, very i-ugose or
wrinkled, the under surface stained with a ferruginous brown.
2. Integrifulia, not differing materially from the preceding,
in the mode and duration of flowering. The leaves lance-
shaped, less rough.
3. Angustifolia, Narrow-leaved, perhaps merely a variety of
the last, having acute nervous leaves, not smooth ; also yellow
flowers. Others might be mentioned, equally adapted to the
greenhouse and the frame during winter, and to the decoration
of the garden after midsummer. They are indeed almost hardy
plants, for cuttings taken in December last from plants that
had stood out for two years have taken root in a cold frame,
the cuttings being placed in sand, laid upon a substratum of
mould in a pot.
Bicolor, or diffusa — ^Two-coloured Calceolaria, is certainly
112
0}f GREENHOUSE PLANTS.
mor^ tender ; its leaves are roughish ovate, or broader at the
base, of a delicate pea-green, and downy. The flowers are pale
sulphur-yellow ; the lower and larger lip tinged with white.
The greenhouse is rather too much exposed for its winter
abode, and it flourishes in rich verdure in the ^^nery ; but it
will live in a well-covered pit.
The soil for these shi-ubs may be wood-earth, or the siftings
of an old wood pile one-half, heath mould one-quarter, and
fine sandy loam one quarter, well blended, and kept in aheap
for two or three months. This compost is for pot culture. In
the open ground after May, I think that well-rooted plants
turned out of pots into any rich, and not cloddy soil, will not
fail to thrive.
Of the herbaceons fancy varieties, it would be endless to
write ; as their- tijpe, the
C'o-n/7nbosa, or corymbose tufty-flowered, may suflSce for ge-
neral notice. It is a beautiful plant ; its flowers are large and
5 ellow ; the sfaineiis concealed and sensitive when touched. Its
leaves are large, opposite, in pairs, rough, strongly veined ; and
it throws up a tall branchy fiov;er-stem, the leaves upon which
are rather heart-shaped, and their bases nearly meet round the
stem. It requires a light soil, almost wholly consisting of the
siftings of decayed stalks, and leaves of trees ; the rougher
parts, to the depth of an inch, being placed as drainage at the
bottom of the pot. This species, and hundreds of varieties,
may be raised from seeds ; though perhaps cross impregnation
is very frequently resorted to by the florists, The plant is
tender, during winter.
Calceolaria, botanically, is found in Diundriu Monogynia.
Flowers irregular but complete. C'abja^ four-cleft. Corolla,
ringent or gaping, inflated : the lower lip generally appearing
like the fore part of a slipper. Capsule of two cells. The
plants can be raised from seeds, which frequently ripen here,
though they are natives of Chile, Peru, &c.
In the natural system. Calceolaria is the first of the section,
with tico stamens, of the order Scroplndarinre, an order which
comprises many plants with irregular, gaping, and personate
flowers — such as foxglove, toadfla.\, and the like ; and with op-
posite leaves, of herbaceous habits. The few shrubby plants
of the order are of fragile texture, and their foliage is injured
and broken by the slightest violence ; this too is often seen in
the shrubby Calceolaria.
The Sage, or more correctly the Salvia family, is one of
great interest ; it contains many plants that may suit the green-
house, but they, almost without exception, appear to the great-
est advantage in the flower-garden after midsummer. In co-
lour, the flowers vary from v.hite to pale pink, scarlet, and the
most splendid crimson ; blue is a very prevailing tint, and this
passes through a variety of shades till it is lost in the full and
deep purple. The salvias appear to me to be the connecting
link between several members of the ringent or labiate families
of this second Liunsean class, and others which are to be found
in the fourteenth, where all the families have irregular and two-
lipped flowers.
The species of the family of Salvia are too numerous to be
referred to ; I therefore shall select, for greenhouse treatment,
those acknowledged beauties.
'1 . The Splendid, S. splendent, a native of Mexico, introduced
in 1822 — bright scarlet.
2. The Fulgent, S.fulgeiis, also from Mexico, 1829 — superb
crimson.
3. The Involucrated, S. involucraia, from Mexico, 1824 —
pink.
The culture of these salvias is very easy : it may be effected
by cuttings of the young side-shoots, or of the upper extre-
mities of the shoots, always taken under a joint, or at the juuc-
tioa with a stem. These cuttings, or even slips, the lower
leaves being removed, are to be placed in white sand, over a
rich sandy loam, both in a pot or deep pan. They are to be
inserted just so deep as to allow the next joint above the cuts
to rest upon the surface of the sand ; and then to be firmly fixed
by pressing the sand about the stems, and giving them a gentle
watering. The cuttings may stand very close in the pots, and
fifty may be struck at once ; the pots, however, ought to have
a hand-glass placed over them, and be kept shaded from the
full sun. If sand alone be employed, the plants ought to be
potted off singly, as soon as they have produced good roots,
into small sixty-size pots, of rich mellow loam, (such as couch
soil, and decayed vegetable earth, blended, and occasionally
stirred during six months.) If a stratum of sand an inch deep
be placed over good soil in a pot, the roots will be excited by
the sand, and then will proceed into the soil and be safe. Sand
is not absolutely required, but it is an exciting medium ; hence
tTie nurserymen use much of it in propagating plants ; and it
may always be removed and again employed, provided it be
kept sepr.rate from the soil. Sandy earth will be sufficient, if
pure sand cannot readily he obtained ; and a cold frame will
affoi'd warmth and protection sufficient for the work after the
end of March, when the stock for the borders and patches may
be prepared. For the green-house stock, September is a suit-
able month, and the young plants will be rooted for potting off
in the winter. Salvia sjjlendens should be kept in a tempera-
ture of 50 degrees, to insure a handsome foliage, and the pot-
ting should be repeated as the roots fill their pots; the soil also
ought to be kept moist. I have now by me seven or eight
young plants which were potted off early in the year : they
have been in a stove, and now show their fine stalked leaves of
the richest deep verdure. These leaves, in a cold greenhouse,
are deficient in number, become ragged, yellow, and sickly.
The floweis appear at the extremities of the stems, and are
scarlet in every part. In winter it frequently happens that the
Corolla is not produced ; but the scarlet calyx, and the coloured
bracteie or involucra, which partially enclose the flowers, are
admirable substitutes for the absent corollas. The graceful
bend of the flower spike, the gorgeous colour of the blossom,
and the verdure of the broad sub-cordate (rather heart-shaped)
pointed leaves, standing in opposite pairs, and each pair cross-
ing the one immediately below it, render this plant one of the
choicest of parlour ornaments in the early spring. In the
autumn, \\hen turned out of the pots into the parterre, the plant
forms a grand object. If the soil be rich and light, in great
part composed of vegetable mould, the plant sometimes forms
a complete bush, three feet high, extensively branchy, and
covered with pendent spikes of flowers from August till the
period of frost, a hint of which, however, is usually fatal to it.
Salvia fulgens, and S. involucraia, on the contrary, are
hardier, and have stood in the open ground all winter under
shelter only of a flower pot and a few dry leaves. The mode
of propagation described above will apply to these, and to most
other species of the family. All may be potted and repotted
till the size of the pots becomes inconvenient. The plants may
then be transferred into the soil of the garden, to which they
will gradually accommodate themselves, and become bej.utiful
iu the autumn. S. fulgens has its two-lipped calices of a dark
purplish green, its corollas of glowing crimson, covered, espe-
cially the upper finely arched lip, with gorgeous velvet. The
corolla is neither (as far as I have seen) absent nor defective ;
the spike is erect, and the flowers most abundant, though
more loose and scattered than in the splendid salvia. S. in-
volucraia is pink, its floral leaves large, enclosing the flowers
as in a round compact ball. The spike expands erectly, and
developes beautiful reddish-lilac flowers ; but these are apt to
be defective, or to open imperfectly. Were the flowers as free
in expanding as they are individually beautiful, this species
would be unrivalled. As it Is, the palm must be yielded to
fulgens, which, under every consideration of beauty, hardihood,
and certainty of flowering, for several months, is, I think, the
best of the "whole genus, if not the finest autumnal herbaceous
plant that we possess.
NO PKUITS AND FRUIT TREES.
113
■ Of blue species we have
Salvia mexicana, . Mexico, 1824.
boosiana or amaena, Blue Pemvian, 1821.
indica, . . India, 1731.
angustifolia . Narrowleaved, from Mexico, 1806.
Salvia ranks in Dinandria Monoyynia. Flowers complete, of
one petal, irre^lar, or' inferior, or below the fruit, which con-
sists of open or naked seeds, in the base of the calyx — not in a
seed-vessel. Calyx, various in figure, in some species inflated,
in some with three lobes, or three-toothed; and in others five-
toothed : thus it is uncertain, as far as refers to the generic
character, but is of great utility in arranging the species under
different and distinctive heads.
Corolla, ringent or gaping — the upper lip frequently being
bold, arched, and prominent.
Filaments of the stamens attached to the lower lip about mid-
way by a slender process, on which they are fixed, and move as
on a centre ; from this centre the upper half of each filament
projects into and under the arch of the upper lip, and bears one
of the two anthers ; while the lower half runs down the tube of
the flower, becomes somewhat enlarged, and the two spurs
or heels are sometimes partially united into one. The whole
structure is admirable and distinctive, and evinces an approach
to the staminous structure of the lobiate flowers of the
14th class.
Seeds frequently ripen and vegetate.
Salnia is found in the natural order Liabata, aud in the 5th
tribe Nepete<s. This order is not far removed from Cchrophu-
larinea, and it contains many of the genera of Diandria, and
all those of the first order of the 14th Linnaan class, which
have four naked seeds seated at the base of the calyx. More
will be said upon the labiate flowers, when the plants of that
class shall come under consideration. Several greenhouse
plants might be added to the list furnished by Diandria ; but
as this paper has become extended, and the genera already
noticed will yield an ample number of subjects to those who
are inclined to look over the catalogues published, I shall here
close my remarks upon the Second Class.
ON FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES.
BY MR. T. RIVERS, JUN.*
I AM a' great lover of fruits, and a persevering cultivator ; that
is, I spare no pains or application to arrive at correct nomen-
clature ; but surely no one, but a man like Mr. Thompson of
the London Horticultural Society, can form any idea of the
extreme difficulty of attaining that object. Before the publica-
tion of his catalogue it was all confusion. Some ten or fifteen
years since, I used to order the same article of two or three
respectable London nurserymen, and, if they all proved of
similar habits, I hoped I had got the right ; but if, as it often
happened, they were all different, I almost despaired of getting
correctly the plant I wanted. There was no individual blame,
for we nurserymen all thought we were right. Thanks to the
London Horticultural Society, these times are passed, and we
now know what to recommend. Mr. Thompson will, however,
find the Catahijue even now to require revision and correction
in the next edition : his ample notes taken in season, and his
fine opportunities for taking them, \vill allow him to do this in
the best possible manner.
It is now some years since an account of my orchard in
miniature was published: it is still in being, and annually
exacts my admiration. Planted on untrenched gi'ound, the
substratum strong clay, and the surface never dug, though kept
quite clean with the hoe, the trees make short shoots, which
are made still shorter by the knife in July : in consequence,
every tree is a dense mass of blossom and fruit in its respective
seasons, quite delightful to witness. None of the trees are
larger than a full-sized gooseberry bush.
The Flemish and other jiew Pears. — Every person with a
garden of ten square yards, ought to plant an Easter beurr^, a
Marie Louise, and a Hacon's incomparable pear : if they have
a larger garden, let them add gloux morceau, beurr^ Diel,
beurr^ ranee, and passe Colmar. These pear trees are all
great bearers of fruit of excellent quality; and they seem to
flourish in any soil. Confine their roots in a basin of stones,
and you may have a pear orchard in miniature without quince
stocks. I have a pyretum, in a row on each side of a walk, of
nearly 200 varieties, in which is evei-y sort that I have ever
heard of as worth notice ; besides this, in difi'erent parts of the
ground, in detached rows, are upwards of 600 pear trees for
bearing fruit, in various stages of growth, from 5 years to 50.
Every tree planted by my ancestors (for we have been " located "
here nearly a century), of a sort not exactly to my mind, I have
had grafted with the new varieties ; and the effect is wonderful.
I hope soon to be able to send all the valuable sorts to market
in as great abundance as we have hitherto done those that are
common and comparatively worthless. I have omitted to say
that all nurserymen may grow specimens of their pears even in
a confined space : every alternate year, let a man look over the
trees in winter, and apply to the roots of all those beginning to
shoot luxuriantly, a sharp spade with unsparing hand ; reduce
the shoots a little at the same time, and there will soon be a
regular crop of blossom buds.
I have also formed a proof walk of Apples of 250 sorts. I do
not allow myself to get beyond this uumber. As the seasons
roll on, and defects appear, either in quality or growth, I give
some their dismissal, some their introduction, and at last hope
to be somewhat near perfection. The spade is applied to the
roots of the apple trees in the same manner as to those of the
pears, to check luxuriance ; they are also planted ifa untrenched
ground, with a solid clayey substratum.
Plums and cherries are not quite so tractable, being rather
impatient of amputation, though I do not despair of keeping
plums within "rules polite."
An Orchard in Pots. Take some large pots, eights or twelves
of the London potteries, some strong yellow loam mixed with
one third of good rotten dung in lumps ; well drain the pots
with large pieces of tiles or broken pots, and in this compost
plant selected small dwarfs of Hawthornden, courtpendu plat,
Kerry pippin, golden Harvey, Cole's golden drop, Keswick
codlin, and scarlet nonpareil apples ; Passe Colmar, sickle,
Beurre de Capiaumont, Marie Louise, and Easter beurr^ pears ;
also two or three dwarf prolific nuts. Let the pots stand in the
centre, if a confined garden ; and by all means keep on their
surface, all summer, lumps of rotten manure. Thus treated, it
is astonishing how they will flourish ; and, if well supplied with
water (if manured water, the better), they will bear plentifully.
In very severe winters, a little straw should be put over the
pots, to prevent the roots being injured by the extreme frost.
This may certainly be called a cockney orchard ; but I know
that, if it is not profitable, it is very pretty.
Grapes from Layers and from Eyes. I have never been able,
after a year or two, to observe any difi'erence in their habits.
* From the Gardener's Magazine.
MAGAZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL.11. NO. XVII. AUGUST, 1834.
114
ON THE COTTON PLANT.
A prejudice has sometimes arisen against layers, owing to their
being planted with vigorous shoots, and not very vigorous roots ;
that is, layers but one year in pots. We English nurserymen
are apt to sell all our plants too young : in this trading country,
every one wants a quick return, even nurserymen ! ! " Heaven
save the mark ! !" why, we ought not to have a return, but
once in ten yerrs. Grapes ought to be layed in 32-pots the
first year ; removed from the stool, and put into larger pots the
second year ; again removed into twelves the third or fourth
year, and not sold till they bear fruit ; and then the gentleman
who plants his vinery in January may have an abundant crop
of grapes in September. Again, our trained apples, pears,
plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, and apricots, should be
trained two years to form the plants ; and then, instead of
allowing them to get full of rampant and luxuriant wood, let
them be removed cKery season, till all their shoots are fully
furnished with blossom buds, and their roots are in a state to
give those buds enough nourishment to bear fruit even the first
season of removal.
In doing all this, we should, perhaps, like many other great
but unremunerated men, live before our times : our trees, that
would save a man seven years of his life, would be wanted at
the same price as an unprepared tree ; for; in writing, A. will
oflfer a trained tree at 5s., B. will offer his at 7s. Bd., and in a
note calls his prepared trees in a fruiting state ; nevertheless,
A. will have the order, because he is cheaper, and B.'s recom-
mendation will be thought the puff professional. This will
take place in eight cases out of ten, for in such disproportion
are intelligent amateurs of gardening ; so that poor B., like all
clever fellows that march too fast, will find that his peep in
futuro will give him but little profit. However, as the plan
has not yet been tried to any extent, let us hope, in this ad-
vancing age, that prepared fruit trees may, in a short time, be
appreciated. I shall most certainly try it; and will, some
distant day (life permitting), send you a trained Easter beurr^
pear, with a blossom bud at every joint, and see you pluck pears
in October, from a tree planted the same year.
ON THE COTTON PLANT.*
Cotton is by far the most important product of the plants
of the order Malvaceie ; it was known in very ancient times ;
its consumption has increased in proportion to the progress of
the arts and civilization. It appears to have been originally
known only as a product of India, the country which at the
present day is supposed by many incapable of producing any
but the inferior kinds. As this is an opinion which appears to
me to have been hastily formed from the results of experiments
in a few situations, instead of after an investigation into the
nature and variety of the soils and climates of the different
provinces of this extensive country, it will not be perhaps irre-
levant to enter into a few details on the sabject.
That cotton was originally introduced from India into Egypt,
seems probable from Herodotus not mentioning it among the
products of the latter country, which he would hardly have
failed doing had it been common or cultivated, as its novel and
singular appearance must have struck a traveller from Europe;
particularly as in his account of the Indians, he mentions that
they possess a kind of plant, which, instead of fruit, produces
wool of a finer and better quality than that of sheep : of this
the natives make their clothes. In another place, he mentions
that the Egyptians, as well as the priesthood, are so regardful
of neatness, that they wear only linen clothing, and that always
newly washed. Book 2. c. 37; and again at c. 71. "Their
habit is made of linen ; over this they throw a kind of shawl
made of white avooI, but in these vests of wool they are for-
bidden by their religion either to be buried, or to enter any
sacred edifice." By some authors it has been suggested that
wo ought in some places to read cotton instead of linen ,■ but
this seems to be taking for granted, that the former was as
common in Egypt in ancient times, as it is at present; and it
appears to me, that in other places we ought to read linen instead
. cotton, as in the account of the Egyptian mode of embalming,
the body is said to be wrapped up in bandages of cotton.
That this was not the case, is proved by all the mummies which
have been opened and the cloth carefully examined under the
microscope, having been found to be swathed only in linen
cloth ; which it is not likely would have been the case, if cotton
had been as common an article of clothing in those, as it is in
the present day, particidarly as some of that used for this pur-
pose appears to have been previously worn, as it is repaired in
some places. It is not improbable, however, that cotton fabrics
were introduced into Egypt from India even at the earliest histo-
rical periods, with cinnamon, cassia, and frankincense. Pliny,
writing about 500 years subsecjuent to the time of Herodotus,
mentions, lib. 19, c. 1, that the upper part of Egypt, verging
towards Arabia, produces a small shrub, which some call (jossy-
pion, others xylon, and from the latter the cloth made from it.
xylinu, bearing a fruit like a nut, from the interior of which a
kind of wOol is produced, from which cloths are manufactured
inferior to none for whiteness and softness, and therefore much
prized by the Egyptian priesthood. Dr. Harris, in his Natural
History of the Bible, quotes several authors to show that
cotton was known to the Hebrews, adding that the name liutz,
by which it is distinguished, is not fonnd among the Jews till
the time of their royalty, when by commerce they obtained
articles of dress from other nations. The author of the Ruins
of Palmyra has shown that the East-Indian trade by that city
into Syria was as ancient as the days of Solomon ; and Heeren
concludes, that cotton fabrics formed an article of the ancient
commerce with India, as Ctesias mentions that the Indians
possess an insect, which affords a red colour more brilliant than
cinnabar, which they employ in dyeing their stuffs. Theo-
phrastus, lib. 4, c. 9., and Pliny, lib. 12, c. 10, who follows
him, mentions that the islands Tylos and Aradus, the modern
Bahrein, in the Persian Gulf, produce abundance of cotton,
which was manufactured into clothing. Heeren, Commerce of
the Ancients, vol. ii., p. 278, Fr. ecL, concludes by saying, "II
est fort probable que les plantations de Tylos furent le resultat
du commerce avec I'Inde, veritable patrie du coton."
It has sometimes been considered a subject of doubt, whether
cotton was indigenous to America, as well as to Asia ; but
without sufficient reason, as it is mentioned by very early
voyagers, formed the only clothing of the natives of Mexico ;
and as stated by Humboldt, is one of the plants of which the
cultivation among the Aztec tribes was as ancient as that of the
pili (AgaveJ, the maize and the quinoa (Chenopoiliumj . If
more evidence be required it may be mentioned, that Mr.
Brown has in his possession cotton not separated from the
seeds, as well as cloth manufactured from it, brought by Mr.
Gumming from the Peruvian tombs ; and it may be added, that
the species now recognised as American, differ in character
from all the known Indian species.
In a cultivated state, cotton is now distributed over a very
From Royle's Illustrations of Indian Botany.
ON THE COTTCN PLANT.
wide expanse of the globe on both sides of the Equator : on
the north extending as far as the southern shores of Europe,
and on the south to the Cape of Good Hope ; in the islands of
the . Pacific Ocean, it if found both in the Friendly and the
Society Islands. Nearly under the Line is is cultivated in the
islands of Celebes, Java, Timor, and the Seychelles, as well as
in Kutung, where the best is said to be grown, extending
northwards up the Malayan Peninsula, along the coast of
Tenasserim into the Burhmese territory, and from this west-
ward into Siam and Cliina, whence there is a peculiar species.
Cotton is common in every part of India; a wild species was
found in Ceylon, and another in Silhet by Dr. Roxburgh.
From India the cotton seems to have travelled by the way of
the Persian Gulf into Arabia, as well as into Persia, and from
thence to Syria and Asia Minor. From Arabia and from the
ancient commerce by the Red Sea with India it was probably
introduced into Egypt, whence it seems to have spread into the
interior of Africa, and to both its western and northern coasts.
The islands and shores of the Mediterranean long supplied
Europe with all the cotton it required ; during the reign of
Napoleon, he caused it to be introduced into Corsica, Italy,
and the southern parts of France ; and Mr. Kirkpatrick culti-
vated it in Spain, near Malaga. In America, cotton is exten-
sively cultivated in the Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and Eng-
lisn settlements ; one species is peculiar to Pera ; others are
cultivated in the West-India islands ; also in Mexico, and in
tlie southern states, as Georgia and Carolina of the United
States of North America.
Knowing the countries through which cotton is already spread,
the next interesting subject of inquiry is to ascertain the kind
of climate it requires, as well as that of the countries where the
best kinds are grown, and, if possible, to determine whether
this superiority depends on the excellency of the seed, the good-
ness of the climate, or care in the cidture ; and here the general
results which have been deduced by the illustrious Humboldt
render the most essential assistance. He remarks that Gossy-
]num barhadense hirsutum, and relU/wsuin, have their favourite
climate, from 0 to 34 deg. of latitude, where the annual tempera-
ture is from 82 68 deg., but that G. Herhacium is success-
fully cultivated in the temperate zone, where, with a mean
summer heat of 75.73 deg., that of winter is not less than
46.48 deg. Cotton is, however, cultivated as high as 37 deg.
of N. latitude in America ; beyond latitude 40 deg. in Europe,
and even as far North as 46 deg. near Astrakan.
As the British possessions in India extend from 8 to 31 deg.
of N. latitude, the whole are included within the favourite
tract of the cotton ; and as Mr. J. Prinsep has presented us
with an epitome of the meteorological phenomena at five places
from 12 to 30 deg., it will be seen that the mean temperature
of the year, along the whole extent, is what is required for the
cultivation of this plant. By all the observations to which
Mr. Prinsep had access, the mean temperature of Madras is
found to be 81.96 deg.; of Ava, 78.39 deg. ; of Calcutta,
78.13 deg.; of Benares, 77. 81 deg. ; and of Saharunpore,
73. 5 deg. : to these may be added that of Nagpore, about
80 deg. ; Nusseerabad, 76 deg; Bancoorah, 74. 5deg. ; Delhi,
about 75 deg. The mean temperatui-e of the winter months at
Saharunpore, the most northern station, is moreover about
55 deg., and though we are without any precise data respecting
the nature of the climate of the Tinnevelly district, the most
.southern portion, where, however, the best cotton is at pre-
sent grown, we may safely assume that in point of temperature,
and, I believe, in the course of the seasons, every part of the
Indian territories is fitted for the cultivation of cotton.
With respect to elevation, Humbodt mentions that in the
aequinotical regions of America, cotton extends to nearly 9,000
feet above the level of the sea, but in Mexico, in 1 9 deg. 22 min.
of N. latitude, it reaches only to 5,500 feet. In the Hima-
layas I have seen it above 4,0o0 feet in the tract between the
Ganges and Jumma rivers ; Dr. Govan mentions it as extend-
ing with the sugar-cane to about 4,200 feet between the Jumna
and Sutlej rivers ; both situations are within 28 to 31^ deg. of
N. lattitude ; but in neither is it cultivated to any extent, a
few plants only are grown about the villages, of which the pro-
duce is used by the females of the family. Mr. Trail mentions
that the cotton of the Kemaon district is superior to that of
the plains in softness of texture, gloss of colour, and length
of fibre.
In addition to the information which has 'dcen obtained re-
garding the temperature required for the successful growth of
cotton, and the notices we have from cultivators respecting the
soil, it is desirable also to ascertain the degree of atmospheric
dryness and moisture wMch is best suited to the formation of
cotton-wool. Respecting this I have been unable to obtain any
information, but there is no doubt that from the extent of their
distribution, the several cultivated species must be subject to
very different degrees of evaporation, and the production of
cotton, both as regard quantity and quality, must, I conceive,
be influenced by this as well as other causes, particularly as we
know that the formation of flowers and fruit depends upon the
nature and quality of the secretions which are formed by the
leaves, and in the cotton, probably, by the leaflets of the in-
volucel or exterior calyx. As the density of these secretions
depends as much upon the rate of perspiration as upon the sup-
ply of moisture by the roots, it follows that dilferent states of
humidity in the atmosphere, checking or exciting perspiration,
will influence the retention of the fluids in the state of sap, or
their conversion into concentrated secretions ; and, as it is upon
the latter that depend the formation of flowers and fruit, it
follows that whatever favours the former will be useful to tlic
latter ; or, as Professor Lindley has well and briefly expressed
it, Transplantation, a dry and heated (and it may be added a
rarified) atmostphere, a judicious pruning of the extremities of
young growing branches, a great decomposition of carbonic
acid by full exposure to light, or whatever interrupts the ra-
pid flow of sap, favours its concentration and the diminution of
excessive vegetative vigour, assists the formation of flower-
buds, and consequently the production of flowers. But a moist
or richly-manured soil, high temperature, with great atmos-
pheric humidity, a free and uninterrupted circulation of sap, or
a great accumulation of oxygen, in consequence of the imper-
fect decomposition of carbonic acid, have all a tendency to di-
lute the sap, promote the excessively rapid growth, the almost
exclusive production of leaf-buds, and are therefore unfavour-
able to the formation of flower-buds. v. Principles of Horli-
cnltwe, p. 85, and p. 54. The same reasoning will apply to
the production of fruit and the perfection of seed, as well as
cotton, and any other accessaries or secretions.
The degree of moisture and dryness which is best suited tn
each species, and for the production of its several parts and
products varies so much, that what is excessive for one
plant, may be just the degree that is requisite for another.
What this is, can only be known in general from experiment
and observation ; and in the present case we only know what
some cultivators have stated that, according to the moisture or
dryness ofa climate, the cotton was long or short stapled, fine
or coarse, early or late in flowering, as well as varying in the
quantity it bore. There is no doubt considerable difterenccs
must exist in this respect between the equability of insular cli-
mates within the tropics, the moist climates of Bengal anil
Guiana, and the moderation in temperature and evaporation
of Georgia and Carolina, as well as of the south of Europe.
It is generally admitted that the quality of cotton improves
in proportion to its vicinity to the sea ; but the Pernambuco
cotton is said to be injured by this proximity, and to improve
in proportion as its cultivation advances into the interior (A'os-
ter's Brazil). Wtih regard to latitude, the cotton of Java
under the Line is almost the worst in the market, and that
from Guiana and Brazil, within a few degrees of the Line, is
the second in quality ; while that from Jamaica, in 20 deg. of
116
ON THE INCREASE OF THE ROOTS &C. IN THE SILVER FIR.
N. latitude, more costly ia production, is 30 per cent, worse
than that from Demerara, 14 deg. more to the southward;
■while the cotton of Georgia and the Carolinas, nearly at the
most northern limit of its extension, is the best that is pro-
duced ; and the cotton of Egypt, of which the cultivation, with
returning civilization, has returned to the country by which It
was first made known in Europe, is of excellent quality. In
India, though some fine cotton is produceed in the neighbour-
hood of Dacca, and some other places, that of Bengal, accord-
ing to Mr. Colebrook, is worse than that of the north-western
provinces ; and the natural vegetation of these, as we have
seen in so many instances, corresponds to that of the coast of
Coromandel, where the cotton is grown, of which the Madras
long-cloths are made. It would appear, therefore, that not
only is temperature necessary to be considered, but also the
due balance between the supply of moisture to the roots, and
its escape by the perspiratory surface of the leaves, as well as
aU the varied processes of a judicious culture, in addition to the
choice of the species or variety to be • cultivated in any parti-
cular locality.
In the choice, however, of seeds, it does not follow that
that which is best suited to one climate, is the kind most
eligible for introduction into another, where the requisites of
soil and climate may be neither identical nor analogous. Dr.
Rohr and Bennet mention, that even in the same field some
plants were ten times more productive than others, and that a
variety which was sterile in one situation, became fertile when
removed to another, which did noe appear more favourable ;
while a kind that in one bore but little cotton, became most
productive in a neighbouring farm. Much, therefore, may be
done in improving the kinds which already exist in India, by
ascertaining with precision the parts of the country where the
best cotton is already produced, the peculiarities of soil, climate,
and culture, selecting the most prolific plants, and extending
their cultivation, to the exclusion of less fertile and inferior
kinds ; exchanging the produce of one place with that of another,
when others can be induced to take the same trouble in select-
ing and preserving only the best kind of seed. Doing, in fact,
what is every where done by all who are interested in the im-
proved cultivation of grain, vegetables, fruit, or flowers ; though
some varieties are difficult to propagate by seed, yet others
may be continued sufficiently long to attain the permanency of
species, instead of the liability to change of varieties. — To he
concluded in our next.
NEW METHOD OF CULTIVATING THE MUSHROOM.
The author informs us that being a great lover of mushrooms,
he was desirous of obtaining them more readily than they were
to be had in his native city ; and, for this purpose he sought
for information on the subject of their culture in books, by ob-
servation, by travel, and by conversing with cultivators. He
does not seem to have had recourse to any English works ; but
an Englishman gave him directions how to make spawn. By
observation he found that too much humidity and too much
dryness alike destroyed the mushroom spawn, whether in pas-
tures or in artificial beds. He found that, if much rain fell in
May and June, there were very few mushrooms to be found in
the September following. He also found that watering a
mushroom bed immediately after it was made destroyed the
spawn, as did exposing the bed to the full influence of the light
and air. In the course of a tour of Germany he learned what
he considers the best mode of producing spawn ; which is by the
use of short horse dung with a little dry cow-dung ; these
being mixed together, the mass is peirced with holes, into each
of which a little bran of wheat and a pinch of sal ammoniac is
put. He concludes his chapter ou making spawn by obsei-ving
that, if the farmers and stable-keepers of Belgium knew how
to cultivate mushrooms, they might soon become so abundant
throughout the year, as to be within the reach of the poorest
citizen. This is an excellent idea, and if acted upon would be
not only profitable, but a means of occupying the hours he now
spends in the tavern.
Perhaps the only idea in the tract which is new to the En-
glish gardener, is that of employing the dried powder of cow-
dung as a surface dressing to mushroom beds, and, after it is
laid on, watering it with water in which nitre has been dissol-
ved, at the rate of two ounces of nitre to the water intended
for four square feet of ground. The use of nitre, the author
says, is an invention of his own ; and he thinks that it not only
produces a more abundant crop, but eight or ten days earlier.
He grows mushrooms in Ijoxes, drawers, and in all the cliiFe-
rent modes now in use, and he goes even so far as to cultivate
them on the shelves or presses, in stables or cow-houses, |in cel-
lars, in garrets, in closets under stairs, in old chests of drawers,
in bedrooms, and under stages of flowers even in drawing-rooms ;
in short, wherever he can find room for a drawer or box 7 inches
deep.
To preserve mushrooms fresh for a few days after being ga-
thered, he tells us to put them in a flower-pot among dry sand,
and set the pot in a cool place. To preserve them for a few-
months, he orders them to be dried a little, next to coat them
with butter, and then immerse them in jelly in a gallipot,
covering them with melted suet, and tying a piece of bladder
to the mouth of the pot.
ON THE INCREASE OF THE ROOTS AND THE STUMP IN THE SILVER FIR LONG AFTER IT HAS BEEN
FELLED.
By M. Ddtrochet, Member ot the Institute, Paris.
When a tree has been felled, and when no shoots arise from
this stump, as well as the roots which fix it in the ground, fail
not iu a short time to die. The cause of this phenomenon is
found in that well-known law of vegetation by which the leaves
are produced from the efi^ect of the sap, the latter being essen-
tial to the life and gi-owth of the tree, both in the branches and
the root. When the stump reproduces stems after the tree has
been felled, the roots may continue to flourish to an indefinite
period. Thus, in coppice-woods, the roots of the same trees live
to an indefinite number of centuries, and their existence may be
prolonged to an indeterminate period. It is well known that
the coniferous trees never reproduce stems when the tree has
been felled ; and that the stump and roots which fix it in the
earth usually die, and are quickly decomposed.
There is, however, a very remarkable exception to this fact
in the silver fir (Pimis picea, Lin., Abies pectina la, De Cand.)
The stump and roots of this tree continue to live, and even
grow, during a great number of years. This singular fact was
pointed out to me by my brother, inspector of forests, one of the
most intelligent men connected with the forest administration ;
though I must confess I doubted the fact till I was enabled to
verify it myself. 1 have seen old stumps of the sUver fir which
according to certain marks, had been felled forty-five year,
before, still full of life. The interior was entirely decayed, but
the outer wood and the bark presented signs of life. These ob-
servations were made in the spring ; the stump and the roots
being full of sap, the bark, separated from the wood by the
effusion of the pulp (cambium) was easily detached. This bark
and the wood adjacent, had all the appearances which these
present when in a flourishing state.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
117
The existence of the pulp (camhium) indicated that the stump
was increasing in diameter. This point I was also able to
prove, which I did in the following manner. I perceived that
a kind of enlargement was formed between the bark and the
wood of the stump, and that this swelling, consisting of the
wood and bark which hal been produced since the tree was
felled, had again covered a portion of the transversal section of
tlie stump, so that the section of the sap which limited the
central system of the tree at the time of its being felled was
in perfect preservation. The traces of the axe on this sap,
transversely divided, removed all doubts on this point. I have
also seen on all these stumps an increase in diameter from
the production of new pulp, the thickness of which, in the
old branches which I examined, was about two-fifths of an
inch, so that these stumps, during the space of forty-five years,
had acquired a total increase of four-fiths of an inch, or eight
lines in diameter. — The phenomenon which the silver fir pre-
sents in such circumstances, appears at first sight to invalidate
the theory which supposes the sap furnishing the materials for
growth to be derived from the leaves or the umbrageous parts
of the vegetable.
But the extreme scantiness of the increase in the diameter of
the stump of the silver fir, on the contrary, confirms, this theory
which continues to live during so great a number of years, (for
the stump, increases thus slowly from the want of leaves, which
arep eeidiarly the productive organs of the nutritive pulp. It ap-
pears that the roots of this tree possesses the facultyof producing
a small quantity of crude sap, and converting it into nutritive
pulp, which preserves life in the roots and stump, and contri-
butes to their scanty growth during a great number of years.
This faculty is wanting in the Norway spruce and the Scotch
fir, (Pynus silvesfris) , of which the stumps and roots die soon
after the tree has been felled. Whence arises this diilerence ?
This is a question not easy decided. However this may be,
the fact is very remarkable, which proves that the roots of the
trees, and the small portion of the stem which is left when they
are felled, do, in certain eases, live a long time and increase,
though not surmounted by any foliage.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
ARUM MACULATUM.
Polyadelphia, Polyandria. Linn.
Aroidese. Juss.
Flowers arranged upon a spadix : sometimes separated, but
most frequently naked. Stamens in the naked flowers aggre-
gate : in the covered ones opposite to the lobes of the perianth,
most frequently equal to them in number. Anthers turned
outwards. Ovaries in the separated flowers, aggregate and
occupying the lower portion of the spadix ; in the perfect ones
solitary within the perianth, style more simple. Stigma, Peri-
carp berried or nut-like. Seeds Albuminose, radical, obtuse,
directed towards the hilum, or rarely opposite to. Herbaceous
root frequently tuberous or thickened leaves, sheathing simple
or compound, all of them radical.
This plant possesses a highly acrid and poisonous juice,
dissipated however by heat. Its medical properties are well
known, and it is applied to many purposes in our pharmacopiae.
PETUNIA VIOLACEA.
Pentandria. Monogynia. Linn.
Solaneaa. Jnss.
Calgx, shortly tubular, leafy, leaflets lacinated. Corolla,
tube cylindrical, bellying, limb plaited and divided into five
unequal lobes. Stamina five unequal, inserted in the middle
and within the tube of the corolla. Ovarium on a disk having
one tooth on each side. Stigma capitate. Capsule with two
valves. Seeds spherical and netted.
Stems prostrate, clammy and hairy ; leaves oval, with siiort
footstalks. Corolla bellying, lips cut into short divisions.
There are few plants that surpass this in brilliancy of blos-
soms and general beauty. It is a native of Buenos Ayres,
from whence seeds wei'e sent to this country in 1830, by Mr.
Tweedie. It succeeds extremely well in the open ground,
during summer, but must be treated as a hardy green-house
plant in winter ; the flowers wiU show to a great advantage if
a whole bed be devoted to them, and where the branches are
allowed to spread and become entangled with each other.
Under these circumstances the flowers will be produced from
July until the end of October, or, at least, as long as the
weather will permit. Whether planted in a bed or trained on
trellis, it is necessary that the situation be somewhat sheltered
from winds, but fully exposed to the influence of the sun.
Cultivated in a green-house, we would recommend it always
to be trained to trellis ; where it will generally extend from
four to six feet square, continuing to flower until quite winter,
and commencing again early in spring.
It thrives in almost any sort of soil, but prefers one that is
rich and light. It produces seeds by which it may be increased,
but also grows very freely from cuttings, which may be taken
oft" at almost any season ; its culture is in other respects like
those of Geraniums.
STREPTANTHEEA CUPREA.
Triandria. Monogynia.
Irideee. Juss.
Linn.
Spatha of two valves, membranaceous, somewhat cut, dry.
Pcnanthemum like a corolla in six divisions ; tube very short -
limbs regularly wheeled. Stamina tliree, inserted in the tube ;
filaments erect ; anthers twisted round and including the style.
Stirjmata three, dilated into two fringed lobes. Seeds round.
Leaves sword-shaped, acute, channelled and cut in the
middle. Flower stem bearing from two to four flowers.
Pcrianthii cut ovately obtuse ; keel having two spots upon the
base.
This is a very elegant species, introduced in 1825 by Mr.
Synnot, from the Cape of Good Hope. All the Cape Iridese
require one general mode of treatment ; which, in general
terms, may be stated as follows : —
' Pot the roots, or plant them in a border in front of a stove
or green-house, or other sheltered place, during the month of
October. Let the soil be composed of equal parts of leaf-
mould, sandy loam, and peat, well mixed.
If planted in pots, set them in a cold frame, and protect
them from severe weather, till the pots are pretty well filled
with their roots ; then remove them to the green-house, or
room where they are intended to flower.
WTien potted they must be watered very sparingly, until they
have produced leaves and begin to show their flower stems.
And after flowering, when the leaves are dead, the roots must
be kept perfectly dry in the pots. If planted in a border or
frame, they mnst be completely preserved from rains, snow, or
frost, particularly during their dormant state.
They flower generally in April, May, and June, but some
species somewhat earlier, others later. The plants at that time
require to stand in light airy places, and should receive a good
supply of water.
118
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
BISCUTELLA HISPIDA.
Hispid Biscutella.
Tetradynamia. Siliculose. Linn.
Cruciferse. Juss.
This species of Biscutella was introduced into tliis country in
1822 ; it is an annual, two feet in height, and flowers in July
and August.
It is not so much under an impression of the beauty, or any
other attractive property of this plant, that we are induced to
present it to our readers ; but rather, as the seeds of several
species of Biscutella are now offered amongst new annuals,
that they may be made acquainted with the general character of
the genus. The greater part of the Biscutellas are hardy
annuals, natives of France, Spain, and Italy, where some of
them hold the same place in agriculture, as our Sinapis anensis
or Charlock, does in Britain, and for wMch they may readily
be mistaken by the common observer.
It is easily propagated by sowing seeds in a light soil, in the
spring. Or, if sown in autumn, the young plants will live
through the winter and produce earlier flowers.
VERBENA AUBLETIA.
Rose-flowered Fervain.
Didynamia. Angospetmia. Linn,
Verbenacese. >.JtissCT
This is a "native of North America, and was introduced
about 1774 ; it flowers from July to October, and is in height
about fifteen inches ; it is a perennial plant.
The Verbena Aubletia is a species which has occupied a place
in the English garden more than half a century ; but our pre-
sent variety of it has been lately introduced from America, and
to the herbaceous border is a great acquisition.
Many plants which are perennial in their native soil, in more
northerly regions can only be cultivated as annuals, unless an
artificial climate be afi'orded them. This is most probably the
case with the Verbena Aubletia.. With us the seeds should be
sown in pots of rich light earth in March, and be forwarded in
a hot-bed till the beginning of May, when the plants should be
turned out into the borders to flower in autumn.
ONONIS HIRCINA.
Strong-scented Rest-Harrow.
Diadelphia. Decandria. Linn.
Leguminosae. Juss.
This plant is a native of Italy, but has been cultivated in this
country for a very long period ; it is in height about eighteen
inches, is a perennial, and flowers in June and July.
Several species of the Rest-harrow, even the wild one of
the English banks, the Ononis spinosa, are rendered very orna-
mental, if kept in poor gravelly soil ; but when planted in rich
light earth, both the roots and branches, of the latter one in
particular, extend themselves unduly, and but few flowers are
proportionally yielded.
The stems of this species are herbaceous, and the root is
hard and woody. It may be propagated from seeds, sown in
the spring ; or the roots may be di^dded.
TULIPA SUAVEOLENS.
Sweet-scented, or Fan Tholl Tulip.
Hexandria. Monog^'uia. Linn.
LUiae. Juss.
The Tulip, in some countries, is considered an emblem of
perfect love ; it is related by Chardin, in his Travels into Persia,
that in that country when a lover presents a tulip to the mis-
tress of his affections, he means to inform her, by the general
colouring of the flower, that he is on fire with her beauty ;
and by the black anthers in its centre, that his heart is burnt to
a coal.
When planted in the borders, from six to twelve, or more,
bulbs may be put in at four inches asunder, so as form an irre-
gularly shaped little bed ; for complete circles, ovals, or straight
rows, should always be avoided in the mingled parterre. The
soil should be well stirred, to the depth of nine inches, and, if
stiff, a little sand may be mixed with it. Then take out the
soil four inches deep, and having removed the hard brown skin
from the bulbs, plant them ; fill up with the soil again, and
make the whole level. If the situation be damp, or the soil
too retentive, a little soil should be placed round the bulb ; but
if very light, it may be stirred, and the bulbs put in by making
holes with a dibble to receive them.
For the earliest flowers, plant from the beginning of Septem-
ber to the end of October ; but for later floweis, plant, in
February. If, in autumn, Van ThoU tulip bulbs be planted
singly, in small pots of light rich soil, they will blossom
extremely well in the drawing room, and contrast prettily with
hyacinths in glasses ; but should be frequently exposed to fresh
air. They will flower in winter, as hyacinths, but with less cer-
tainty, and less luxuriantly.
POLYGALA ALOPECUROIDES.
Fox-tail. Milk-wort.
Diadelphia Octandria, Linn.
Polygalea. Juss.
Polygala, &c. ; floribus imberbibus, pedunculis solitariis,
axillaribus, foliis fasiculatis, lanceolatis mncronatis villos>s-
Thunb. Prod. 121.
Polygala, &c. ; floribus imberbibus sessilibus, foliis conpertis
ovaltis acutis carinatis pilosis. Linn. Mant. 260.
Muraltia Alopecuroides. De Candolle.
In its Blossoms it is very similar to Polygala Heisteria, but
is a smaller shrub, very pubescent, and partakes very little of
that inflexible rigidity, which occasioned the former species to
be compared to furze. A hardy greenhouse shrub ; native of
the Cape ; propegated by cutting ; flowers through the whole
of the summer.
IXIA CAPILLARIS AULICA.
-..-- ■ Rose-coloured Ixia.
Triandria Monogynia. Linn.
Irideie. Juss.
Ixia capiUaris, (Aulica Hort. Kew). G.
This is a mere variety of the above species, though made a
distinct one in the Hortus Kewensis, under the name of Aulica.
The Bulb-tubers of the sevei'al varieties differ much in the thick-
ness of the fibres, of which their reticulated coverings are com=
posed, as well as in the size of the Meshes. Our specimen
has been very recently imported from the Cape of Good Hope.
Their leaves are usually much longer than in our figure, and
their cartilaginous edge often very conspicuous, but sometimes
again quite obsolete.
CYNODON DACTYLON.
Creeping Dogs-Tooth Grass.
Triandria. Digynia. Linn.
Gramiueae. Juss.
Spokes' four, pr five, crowded together. Corolla smooth.
Panicum Dactylon. Linn. Sp. PI. 85. . ,,
The roots are tough and creeping, almost woody, witfi smooth
{
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
119
fibres ; stems also creeping to a great extent, matted, round,
jointed, leafy, very smooth. Leaves tapering, sharp-pointed,
ribbed, hairy, and glancous ; with long, striated, smooth
sheathed, and a hairy stipula. Flowering branches a span high ,
leafy, simple, terminating in four or five nearly equal, crowded,
erect, many-flowered, linear spikes ; the common stalk of each
triangular, roughish ; flat and slightly bordered on one side,
along which the nearly sessile shining, purplish flowers are
ranged in two close alternate rows. The corolla is larger than
the calyx, very much compressed, opposite, not, as some have
thought, alternate, with respect to the latter.
MYOSOTIS PALUSTRIS.
Great Water Scorpion-Grass.
Pentandria. Monogynia. Linn.
Boraginea2. Juss.
Seeds smooth. Leaves and calyx roughish, with close
bristles. Clusters leafless. Calyx funnel-shaped, with short
broad spreading teeth. Limb of corolla, horizontal, larger
than the tube. Root creeping.
M. Scorpioides Palustus. Linn. Sp. PI. 188. In clear
rivulets and ditches, common Perennial. June, August.
Roots very long, creeping, blackish, with numerous tufts of
strong fibres. Herb bright green, rather succulent, from six to
twelve or eighteen inches high. Stems ascending obliquely,
round, branching, leafy, either nearly smooth, or clothed with
more or less spreading, bristly hairs. Leaves sessile, nearly
imiform. Clusters many-flowered, two or three together, on a
terminal leafless stalk. Partial stalks at first crowded into a
dense revolute spike, whicli unrols gradually. Caly.x about
half the length of each partial stalk, after the flower is past.
Tube of the corollEe about as long as the calyx, whitish. The
flower buds are of a fine pink. Style the length of the tube.
Stigma capitate, umbUicated. Seeds ovate, compressed, obtuse,
blackish, highly polished.
This most elegant plant, the Forget-me-not, among the
Germans, is the most distinct and best known example of its
genus, though too long confounded with other common species.
LinnefBS records its being hurtful to sheep, which may have
arisen like a similar report of Hydrocolyte vulgaris, from
those animals sufi^ering on frequenting the wet situations of
these plants.
AZALEA CALENDULACEA.
Pentandria. Monogynia. Linn.
Ericise. Juss.
A native of Carolina and Virginia, on mountains ; also of
Georgia, where it was found, in 1774, by William Bertram,
who in his travels gives this most glowing description of its
beauty. "The clusters of the blossoms cover the shrubs in
such incredible profusion on the hill sides, that suddenly open-
ing to view from deep shades, I was alarmed by the apprehen-
sion of the hill being set on fire." He calls it certainly the
most gay and brilliant flowering shrub yet known.
It succeeds very well if planted in a bed of peat, mixed with
loam ; flowers in May and June, and may be increased by
layers, which in two years become suflicieutly rooted. It is
never injured by the cold of our climate.
POTENTILLA SPLENDENS. -
Icosandria. Polygynia. Linn.
Rosaceae. Juss.
This is a native of Nepaul, and was introduced in 1824. It
is perennial, almost hardy, and will probably become quite
naturalized in a little time : the fine silvery leaves are very
ornamental : the flowers, which are small, come out in June,
and are usually succeeded by seeds, by which, it is readily
multiplied. It will grow in almost any sod.
POTENTILLA ATROSANGUINEA-PEDATA.
Hybrid Potentilla.
Icosandria. Polygynia. Linn.
Rosaceae. Juss.
This plant is about eighteen inches in height, flowers in June
and July, and is perennial. On the introduction of the dou-
ble compound appellation Atrosanguinea-pedata, we may be
expected to offer some remark. Authors have not agreed on the
most convenient mode of naming hybrid or mule plants. Some
have thought names may be completely arbitrary ; some name
them after the person with whom they originated ; whilst others
woidd altogether excommunicate such productions from botani-
cal nomenclature. Notwithstanding the opposite theoretical
position taken by some botanists, we believe, doubtlessly, that
hybrid plants sometimes become established, and hold a perma-
nent place in the vegetable kingdom ; it is therefore but reason-
able to notice them ; and it is far better that their origin he re-
gistered whilst it is known, in lieu of remaining to become the
subject of future conjecture and error. We have taken the
trivial names of the two parent species of this hybrid plant, as a
compound name for it ; and although rather cumbrous, this in-
convenience is more than counterbEdanced by the advantage that
it is explanatory of its hybrid origin. The female parent ought,
we think, to hold the first place in the compound name.
We raised this plant from Potentilla atrosanguinea, fertilized
with pollen of Potentilla pedata, and we believe a more perfect
mixture of two distinct and dissimilar spieces is not known. The
dark red of the one, and full yellow of the other, are well min-
gled, and produce a rich deep orange. The foliage of it also is
intermediate between that of its two parents, as shewn by the
engraving.
In the year 1833, we fertillized flowers of each of the Poten-
tillas, the atrosanguinea, formosa, and pedata, with pollen of the
other two, separately. In each instance their anthers were
destroyed before they had burst, the pollen of one of the other
species applied to the stigma, and the flower then secured from
insects, by a covering of gauze. Out of upwards of two hun-
dred plants thus obtained from Potentilla formosa, not one was
sufficiently altered to merit notice. Nearly all those from Po-
tentilla atrosanguinea, were somewhat improved. From Poten-
tilla pedata, we obtained very few seeds. It is not a free seed-
ing species with its own farina, and far less so under a privation
of it. The plants from it were remarkably luxuriant, and its
blossoms large, but otherwise they showed but little variation.
The novel colour of this new hybrid flower, renders it very
desirable. The plant is slender, like that of Potentilla pedata,
and in culture may be expected to require no peculiar attention.
CITRUS MEDICA.
Monoecia Polyandria. Linn.
Aurantiaceae. Juss.
Calyx campanulate, short 3-5 toothed. Petals, 3-5 broad at
the base, distinct or more or less combined, stamens equal in
number to the petals, anthers distinct terminal, inserted within
the base, erect. Ovary ovate, many-celled ; style one rounded
stigma somewhat lobed thickish ; fruit many-celled, the cells
filled with pulp inclosed in little bags, and surrounded by a
thickish rind abounding in glands of volatile oil, seeds fixed to
the inner angles of the cells generally pendant without albumen
sometimes including more than one embryo.
This plant is remarkable for the flagrant bitter essential oil
which it contains, and the delicious fruit as well as odorous
flowers ; it is of very general use in medicine.
120
ESSAY OF STUDIES ON A HYDROPHYTE OF THE FAMILY OF CERAMIA.
BY MESSRS. CRONAN, BROTHERS, BOTANTSTS AT ROUEN AND BREST.
In the numeroas investigations which we have made in
the vicinity of Brest, to discover rare or durious alga;,
we met several times with a species (the conferva grif-
fithsiana Engl. Bot. tab. 2312), of which it is still uncer-
tain what place it ouglit to occupy in modern classifica-
tions. Tlius, without quoting tire first authors who have
given the description of this plant, as for at the time they
wrote the classification of these vegetables, was not
founded on their organization, as it has been for some
time past, we will only say that Clement in his essay,
and Agardh in his Dispositio universalis algarum, have
placed this species with the Algee not articulated; then
afterwards this latter author in his systema algarum
made it a Hutchinsia. Bonnemaison (essai sur les Hy-
drophytes loculees), arranged it in his Boryna with the
mark doubtful. M. Duby (botanicum gallicum) places
it among his ceramiam, between C. boucheli and the C.
corymbosum, and lamoui-otix, after Agardh would have
made of the same species a thjprea, This diversity of
opinions induced us to examine it with peculiar attention,
and to endeavour to determine exactly if it were possi-
ble, the characters of this production; we were still
more urged to do so by M. Gaillon a learned botanist of
Boulogne, who says, in his letter to us of the 4th of
Marcli, 1833, "this Hydrophyte lias not yet been suffi-
ciently studied. It is with uncertaincy that Bonnemai-
son places it in the genus Boryna, it has the form of a
Gaillona, the organization of its stalk places it between
this genus, and tlie Hutchinsia ; its branches alone would
bring it near the Boryna."
This interestig Hydrophyte may be seen from the
month of October till May ; it thrives on stones and
rocks which are only uncovered at spring tides; it
grows in tufts of a reddish colour' seen in the sea. Its
leaf generally a line, or 12th part of an inch in diameter,
is round, cartilaginous, without any appearance of par-
tition at the base ; it divides into alternate branches,
translucid, rambling, long, unequal, of which the articles
strise ; seen througli a magnifying glass, are rather
wider than long. There branches are edged with
simple little branches very sliort, narrow at the es-
ti'emities, as long as wide at the knots. Tlie fructifica-
tion \-isibIe to the naked eye, consists in capsules dis-
persed on the branches, and inserted on the articula-
tions. By subjecting afterwards to the microscope,
fragments of this algte we see clearly thai its articles
are multiplied. The very little branches appear to be
simple articles, but this appearance is only owing to the
fineness of the strite or translucid cells which we thought
we perceived, (see. pi. 39, fig. I and 2.) The specimens
that we have been so fortunate as to meet witli fruc-
tified, seen through a microscope, have presented to us
capsules of two sorts. Some are almost visible or
pedicellus, two or three lobed, and containing irregular
semina, (see pi. 39, fig. 3), of azure blue colour,
collected in bundles in tlie middle of each lobe, and en-
veloped with mucilage. Bonnemaison had also re-
marked this particular colour of the semina. The fig.
4, represents the other mode of fructification, where
the propagating organs which are limbed have broken
the membrane tliat kept them enclosed. Sowerby has
well figured in the English Bot. pi. 2312,) a capsular
limljed fructification ; but in this specimen the cap-
sules, isolated or united, are dispersed on the branches,
and do not issue out, one after the other, joined by a
membrane, such as in the form we have given of it. The
fig. 5, is the representation of the horizontal cut of the
article, or Endochrome of Mr. Gaillon, and the fig. 6,
that of the articulation or Endophragmi. The reading
of the learned memoir of Mr. Duby on the difficult
family of the Ceramia, determined us to examine this
hydrophyte still more closely, and to make vertical and
horizontal cuts as small as possible, so that we might
see its internal organization. After having, with a scal-
pel, taken of the epidermis, composed of lengthened
cells wliich form the striae, the following cuts have
shown us a lining of epidermal texture, resembling a
sort of net-work to the ceUs, like those we have repre-
sented, (pi. 39, fig. 7). But what was our satisfaction,
when after having made other vertical sections, very
small in order to remove this net work, we xierceived
spherical uncoloured cells, fitting large locules divisions
forming the article, which is then simple ! Tliese
locules that we see very exactly represented, pi. 39,
fig. 8, are susceptible of contraction, and produce with-
out doubt, in some species, those coloured lines which
have given rise to the belief in the existence of an in-
terior tube ; but it cannot be admitted, after having
dissected these plants with care, or after having read
the memoirs of Messrs. Duby and Gaillon, some ob-
servers have brought to believe in the existence of this
interior tube. It is not the same illusion which makes
us admit these great internal locules full of spherical
cells (a character very remarkable); these are micro-
scope cuts which we have executed on the Endochromes
or articles of this plant, which have confirmed us in the
opinion that we had of the double texture composing
its leaf. The horizontal cuts have also shown us these
spherical uncoloured cells, appearing placed over and
filling the ideal axe. We see by the liorizontal cut the
situation of tlie cylindrical cells composing the leaf;
some of the smaller ones, of an equal diameter, pre-
sent in this section a circular form : others much larger,
present that of an iUipsis. Their situation is circular
and regular to the middle of the diameter of the leaf,
(see pi. 39, fig. 9,) but does not surround a central
cell as in the genera Hutchinsia, Ag, and Gaillona
Bonnemaison. Bonnemaison says in his essay, (p. 53,)
that he has observed a doubling and internal oontraction
in the segments of his elegant Boryna. The examina-
tion we have just made of the internal organization of
the conferva GriffUhsiana, (Eng. Bot.) supports his
observation. We have also found this in other Borynas.
After all these characters, where shall we place this
Hydrophyte ? In considering its form, its interior or-
ganization that of its fine little branches and its fructi-
fication, one would be disposed to think it ought to be of
the under genus Gaillona, but when this plant has been
dissected and its organization studied, we find that it is
more nearly allied to the under genus Boryna ; its hori-
zontal cut resembles much those species which compose
it; it makes the passage, according to our opinion, from
\\;\t\Borynasto the Gaillonas and might remain at the end
of the former, where Bonnemaisson has placed it. As
these under genera form part of the genus ceramiam of
Mr. Duby, we will name it, with this learned botanist
Ceramiam filamentosam, but we will add to the generic
characters, that the internal texture in several species
presents a lining susceptible of contraction.
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121
On the orchards of Lanarkshire.
The orchards in this couuty have long been celebrated and
considered superior to any in Scotland. Within less than half
a century they have also been greatly advanced as respects the
entcrprize and skill of the cultivators of them. But as this
superiority does not seem to arise from any local and physical
advantages over many other parts of the kingdom, hut only
through the perfection to which this branch of horticulture has
been carried by human art, it becomes the more necessary that
a knowledge of tlie Lanarkshire or Clydesdale orchard hus-
bandry should be extensively disseminated. The following ac-
count will present the leading features of the system and its
details : —
It is unknown when orchards began to be cultivated in Lanark-
shire. It is at least very remote, and probably, like many other
arts, that of the management of fruit trees was introduced by
the clergy who came from Italy, and crusading warriors,
whose travels gained them necessarily much varied knowledge.
The art of engrafting, indeed, is spoken of in Scripture, and
probably was one of the first discoveries made by man. Gar-
dening at any rate in all its branches, independent of its sacred
connexion, recommends itself naturally to the domestic, the
secluded, and the contemplative ; and it is a fortunate circum-
stance, that, at the reformation in Scotland, the orchards around
the abbeys and monasteries, which had been skilfully reared by
the monks and others connected with their order, were not de-
stroyed, as the labours of the architect were,
ThA Lanarkshire orchards stretch along both sides of the no-
ble river Clyde, from the borough of Lanark to Bothwell Cas-
tle, which may be sixteen miles, and amounting, by imperial
measurement, to 1200 acres probably. This includes the small
domestic gardens, as well as the large and regular orchards.
The general aspect of these grounds resembles, as it has been
aptly compared, an open book laid upon a reading desk, with
the river's courseforming the jointure of the leaves. The channel
of the Clyde at the higher extremity of the orchard ground or
district is about 260 feet above the level of the sea ; but at the
lower, it is not more than fifty. Frequently (to keep by the
comparison of a book) the volume is not more than half open,
so that the orchard field may be but a little above the level
of the stream, and yet rise to one or two hundred feet laterally
higher.
The soil of this orchard district is much diversified. Part of
it is a deep and rich clayey loam, but much more is of a stiff
and sterile nature, resting on a tLUy subsoil, over sand- stone of
a reddish-tinge, which alternates with the ordinary coal-forma-
tion. In some places the soil is more friable and sandy. On
this last-mentioned sort of land the trees grow faster than on
an adhesive clay, but do not yield so much, unless of the small
fruit class. It does not appear, however, that any of these
various kinds of soil are unpropitnous to the growth of what-
ever is planted upon them ; but manure in a great measure over-
comes the natural defect, and skilful management is like second
nature. Mr. Smith, who has published a map of the strata in
England, says, that all the best orchards there are planted on
a stratum of red marl. Though this precise sub-soil has not
been found in Clydesdale, it is fully ascertained that a dry rocky
sub-soil, if the ground above it be good, is uniformly favoura-
ble to orchard fruit. Sloping banks, which abound on the
Clyde, are also advantageous situations for fruit-trees. It
would appear that the roots stretch farther abroad in such a
position than on level ground, whilst the sun and air neces-
sarily reach every individual tree, since none of the neighbours
can obscure it. The number of rills, too, that course their
way down the face of banks and braes must be propitious to the
fruitful sentinels that stand by them. Clydesdale is favoured
as respects climate as well as locality. That which prevails in
the southern counties of Scotland is usual here ; whilst the
western rains are moderated ere reaching this inland point, the
MAGAZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL.11. NO. XVIII
eastern hoar frosts are tempered, and their chilling influence
much neutralized.
Every one must know that a great deal depends on a proper
selection of trees as respects the soil, exposure, and climate for
which they are chosen. The scions should be from healthy trees,
and grafted on true crab-stocks. The plants should be three
years old after graftingere they are transported into an orchard,
and from three to four feet high, their roots well disposed, and
the figure of the plant altogether handsome. At the same time,
it is impossible to speak with certainty and to say what fruit-
tree will thrive and be productive on any given soil or situation
from its prosperity and value in another, even although to the
view of man both should seem exactly alike. This, however, is
an uncertainty felt in every department of agriculture, and, upon
the whole, serves the best ends ; one of which is, the calling
for extreme vigilance and exercise of prudence as well as skill.
Experience will ever in all such matters be the safest guide,
and all experienced horticulturists will try a variety of kinds of
fruit-trees upon any given soil. Were there, indeed, no other
advantage to be derived from such experiments, there is this,
that diflferent kinds of trees come into flower at diff'erent times,
and though some, by one night's frost or blighting weather,
may be destroyed for that year, others will have outgrown the
trial, or not yet reached the danger. On Clydesdale as else-
where, it is customary to plant and preserve standard-trees at
proper distances from each other, and between them to have an
early bearer. The Hawthornden, Carlisle Codlin, and Nonsuch,
are very frequently appointed to these intermediate posts. They
yield fruit the second year after they are planted, and though
they soon canker and become unhealthy, they generally will be
profitable till the time the standards begin to produce fi-uit.
The fruit cultivated in the Clydesdale orchard consists of ap-
ples, pears, &c.
The annexed list may be considered pretty correct.
EARLY APPLES.
Tarn Montgomery. — A yellow apple, rather above the medium
size, with small protuberances at the top-end, which the Clydes-
dale people call "cornering." The trees grow to a tolerable
size, and are excellent bearers. The name is taken from a man
in Ayreshire, who, for many years, had the only tree of that
kind, and would neither tell how he came by it, nor allow any
person to take a twig from it. But since his death, his name
has been perpetuated by the extension of this valuable tree.
Eurly Alinoml. — Is a large round apple of a red colour, and
of excellent quality. The tree bears early, and puts forth strong
shoots, but is much hurt by canker.
Milford. — A small red coloured, long-shaped apple of good
quality. The trees are strong growers, but rather shy bearers.
Junealing, — Is a small, fine-flavoured, solid, hard apple. The
trees healthy and good bearers.
Dri/law Pippin, — Is a small yellow apple, having an un-
commonly fine flavour. The trees grow well, and are good
bearers.
White Marrow. — A large good apple of a yellow colour, and
coroneted. The trees are healthy, and very productive.
Summer Strawberry, — Is a large beautiful apple, of a yellow
colour. The trees are good bearers, but much given to canker.
Haicthornden. — A large good apple, rather long and coroneted,
but do not keep long. The trees grow fast, with few branches,
but are greatly hurt by canker.
Nonsuch, — Is a large apple of good flavour and quality. The
trees grow well, but are very liable to canker.
Marigold or Saffron Pippin, — Is an excellent table apple,
rather above medium size, yellow and red streaked. The trees
are fine growers, healthy, and good bearers.
Early Magdalene, — Is an apple of medium size, and having a
good flavour. The trees are ready bearers.
, — SEPTEMBER, 1834. S
122
ON THE ORCHAADS OF LANARKSHIRE.
Bowyer's Lady Apple, — Is large and beautiful, of a red and
yellow colour. The trees are healthy and excellent bearers.
Thorl Pippin, — Is a beautiful apple, much relished at table,
and the trees are good bearers.
White Kesuick Codlin, — Is a large yellow good flavoured ap-
ple, much relished at table, and coroneted. It is frequently
made Into jelly. The trees are good growers, and very produc-
tive.
Lemon Pippin, — Is a large, beautiful, yellow, and russetty
fruit. The trees bear early, but are not very productive.
Oslin or Arbroath Pippin, — Is a good early table apple, and
the trees grow freely by cuttings.
HARVEST APPLES.
White Cluster, — Is of a medium size, and of a beautiful red
colour. The trees healthy, and good bearers.
Harvest Pippin,- — Is an apple of good size, streaked I'ed and
yellow, and of agreeable taste. The trees grow well, and yield
much fruit.
Wlieeler's Russet. — An apple for the table, is of a moderate
size, and rich flavour. The trees large and good bearers.
Dumbarton Pippin, — Is a small apple of a green colour, and
rich flavour. The trees healthy, and very productive of fruit.
Golden Rennet, — Has red and yellow colours, streaked, and is
good for the table or the kitchen. The trees are ready bearers.
TMiistleberi-y or Luffness Pippin, — Is a large yellow apple of a
rich taste. The trees grow well, but are shy bearers.
WaUa-bona, — Is a large, long, coroneted apple, of a red
colour. The trees are good bearers, but very liable to be hurt
by canker.
Bloodheart, — Is an apple for the table, of medium size, rich
flavour, and of a red colour, both on the outside and within.
Lady's Lemon, — Is a yellow apple, of medium size, and good
flavour ; but the trees are slow bearers.
Teuchet Egg, — Is a small apple of an orange colour.
Golden Mundi. — A good and beautiful table or baking apple.
WINTER APPLES.
Carse of Goterie. — A large apple of yellow and green coloui's,
excellent for baking. The trees bear well, but are infected with
canker.
Red Marroiff—ls a fruit of medium size, of a red and green
colour, and the trees are good bearers.
Winter Strawbn-ry,— Is a fruit of medium size, of yellow and
green colours. The trees are good bearers, but liable to canker.
Ribston Pippin, — Is a large green table apple, much cultivated
in the west of Scotland. They keep long, but the trees are slow
bearers.
Kentish Pippin, — Is a large beautiful table fruit, but not of
the richest flavour. The trees large and healthy.
Red Cluster, — Is a hard round apple, small in size, of a red
colour and good taste, keeps long, and the trees are good
bearers.
Gogar or Stone Pippin, — Resembles the Red Cluster; and the
trees grow well, and bear readily.
Norfolk Beaufin, — Is a large apple of green and red colours,
used for baking, keeps long, and has a rough russet skin. The
trees are good bearers.
Late Fulwood, — Is a large and excellent tasted apple, of a
green colour, used chiefly for baking. The trees are large and
bear readily.
Early Fulwood, — Is a baking apple of a dark red and green
colour. The trees are large and good bearers.
Yorkshire Green, — Is a large green baking apple, excellent for
sauces, and keeps long. The trees gi-ow fast, but are much in-
jured by canker.
PEARS.
Jargonelles. — On walls are very productive.
Crawford pears abound in every orchard.
Greg Honey. — A round early pear ; trees large.
Auchan. — A good pear, and the trees good bearers. '
Pear Saugh. — Large yellow fruit, and large trees.
Lady's Lemon. — A good early pear ; trees great bearers.
Green Pinkie A small early green pear ; trees productive.
Farrow Cow.- — A large pear ; trees large and good bearers.
Green Chisel. — A good pear.
Elshonhaft. — A rich pear ; the trees large and productive.
Early Carnock. — An excellent summer pear.
The manner of planting and managing their fruit-trees by
the orchardists of this range is now more simple and rational
than was wont to be in vogue. They neither incur the fruitless
expense of laying rich earth, where the soil is sterile beneath
the plants, nor of paving a floor to prevent the roots touching
iingenial substances ; nor trenching the ground immediately
around the spot where the tree is to be planted. The first two
of these fanciful schemes are ineffectual, the last is injurious ;
for unless the whole orchard field is trenched, these laboured
spots, particularly if the sub-soil is retentive, only serve to
drink and hold water in them to the great damage of the trees
unfortunately subjected to such mistaken kindness. The or-
chardists in Lanarkshire, now-a-days, merely delve, in an ordi-
nary style, the ground ; plant the trees from six to eight inches
deep, and raise the earth for a foot or eighteen inches round
them, a little above the general level, the better to prop them
at the time rough weather tries their fixedness.
There is no uniform rule observed in Clydesdale as to the
distance fruit-trees should stand from each other. Generally,
however, they are closer than in English orchards. In some
the rows are twenty-two feet apart, and the trees in these rows
eleven feet separated. Others are thirty feet by fifteen. If
eaidy bearers are not intermixed, small fruit bushes or potatoes,
&c. are cultivated. In managing both the trees and the
ground a deal of care is taken. After they have been planted
for five or six years, they ought to be divested of such branches
as seem to point too near to the ground, or that rub against one
another. With due caution, some of those that are too crowded
together must be cut. Horizontal branches should be en-
couraged ; they are much less liable to be shaken than those
that tower aloft. All sorts of blotches ought to be cut ofi', and
the moss that is apt to gather on them carefully removed. In
taking the fruit, it should be pulled, not shaken, and this when
the day is dry.
The orchard grounds are carefnlly drained ; and in clay-lands,
a covered furrow drain ought to be formed between every two
rows of trees, besides the necessary open drains. These are
more called for in orchard land than in any devoted merely to
ordinary crops, from the overshadowing of the trees. Ropes of
straws, or sprigs of broom, are tied round young trees to prevent
them from being eaten by hares. The ground to be kept in
good order requires not only to be broken up every few years,
but to be well manured, particularly in sterile fields, llie un-
der crops raised, far mere than repay the labour and riches thus
conferred on the land.
It is impossible to give any precise information as to the rents
given for orchard ground in Lanarkshire. The character of
the soil, the age of the trees, and various other particulars,
would require to be taken into every calculation to afford any
useful and determinate light on the point. Neither is it possi-
ble to say what relation the orchard profits bear to the ordinary
agricultural product of similar land in the immediate neighbour-
hood. One thing is notorious, that the great falling off in the
prices of orchard produce, since the conclusion of the last war,
brings the two systems of culture nearer an equality than before
as respects pecuniary returns. After aU, however, the orchardists
of Clydesdale draw a much higher income from their lauds than
can be raised by any other course of agricultural management,
even after counting every uncertainty, drawback, and failure.
And should still farther depreciations occur in the price of fruit,
the manufacture of cyder and perry is open, which we are led
to believe might before this have been resorted to with advan-
tage by the orchardists in this great fruit district of old Cale-
donia. G. A.
123
LETTERS TO A YOUNG NATURALIST ».
It is with ca very lively satisfaction, that we undertake
to recommend to the particular attention of the public
the work before us. We know of no other compressed
within the same limits which seems to us so happily
calculated to generate in a young mind, to sustain in the
matured, and to renovate in the old, an ardent love of
nature under all her forms. The volume consists of a
series of letters, in which the author treats, in a familiar
.style, of the most interesting objects which the fields,
the mountains, the rivers, and the ocean present to our
contemplation. He goes into the history of each of
those objects just far enough to render the outlines of
nature intelligible to the least cultivated mind, and he
adds reflections occasionally, of admiration, which,
breatliing his own feelings in eloquent language, are
sti'ongly calculated to excite kindi-ed emotions in the
hearts of others.
Speaking of the Ivy, Dr. Driunmond observes : —
" Why is it that every one is pleased with the com-
mon ivy ? There is a charm about that plant which all
feel, but none can tell why. Observe it hanging from
the arch of some old bridge, and consider the degree of
interest it gives to that object. The bridge itself may
be beautifully situated ; the stream passing through its
arches clear and copious ; but still it is the ivy which
gives the finish and picturesque effect. Mouldering
towers, and castles, and ruined cloisters interest our
feelings in a degree more or less by the circumstance of
their being covered or not by the ivy. Precipices, which
else would exhibit only their naked barren walls, are
clothed by it in a rich and beautiful vesture. Old trees,
whose trunks it surrounds, assume a gi'eat variety of
aspect ; and, indeed, it is a most important agent in
forming the beauty and variety of rural landscape. It
is also as useful as it is beautiful ; and among its uses I
would include the very thing of which I am now speak-
ing, for I have no idea that the forms and colours in na-
ture please the eye by a sort of chance. If I admire the
ivy clinging to and surmounting some time-worn tower,
and the various tints that diversify the parts of the ruin
not hidden by it, I can only refer the pleasure I expe-
rience to the natural construction of the human mind,
which the Almighty has formed to feel a pleasin-e in
contemplating the external world aroimd it. Who is
insensible to the beauties of nature at the rising and set-
ting of the summer's sun? Who can behold the moon-
beams reflected from some silent river, lake, or sea, and
not feel happy at the sight ? None, I believe, in early
life. When hardened in the ways of men — when the
chief good pursued is the accumulation of wealth, the
acquisition of power, or the pursuit of pleasure, so call-
ed— then mankind lose a sense of the beauties of na-
ture; but never, perhaps, till then. A love for them is
inherent in the mind, and almost always shows itself in
youth ; and if cherished at that period, by education,
would seldom be destroyed or become dormant in after
life, as it now so generally is.
" The ivy is of vast advantage to the smaller birds, as
it affords them shelter in winter, and a I'etreat for build-
ing their nests in spring and summer. It is in fructifi-
catioii in October and November, and the sweet juice
which its flowers exude supports an infinity of insects
in autumn, while its berries are a store of nutriment for
many birds in the early spring."
The wonders of the microscopic world have been in
some degree examined by scientific men, but much re-
mams stdl to be known of this comparatively hidden
portion, though perhaps the most surprising of the
whole of the works of natiu'c. The power of the micro-
scope exhibits the colours of flowers in a manner much
more perfect than we can see with the naked eye. The
author's observations upon the beauty of these great or-
naments of the creation are in his wonted strain of fine
philosophy,
" Why, for example, are flowers in general so exqui-
sitely beautiful as we find them, if it be not to exhibit to
us the hand of God, and to afford us, even in the colour-
ing of a blossom, a manifestation of himself, and a ration-
al cause for turning our thoughts towards him ? Look
with a magnifier at the flower of London Pride, or of
Forget me not, and inquire of yourself why these mi-
nute objects are so lovely, why scarcely any of the larger
flowers excel, and not many equal them : extend your
observation to some of the minute insects, and reflect
why they are dressed in colours as brilliant as those of
the peacock : magnify a gnat, and consider the superb
feathered antennce which grace its head ; examine its
whole structure, see the wonderful mechanism which is
in every part, the minute perfection, the elaborate fin-
ishing of this little being : remember that, in addition to
the structure, there are its appetites and functions, its
stomachs, and bowels, its organs of breathing, its mus-
cles of motion, its several senses, and perhaps its pas-
sions. Think on these, but not with the ti-ansitory admi-
ration which we often observe in persons who for a first
or second time see objects in a microscope. Be not
content with the cold acknowledgment that it is one of
the wonderful works of nature, and then let it slip
from your memory. I tell you it is the work of God ;
and I believe that the too liberal use of the term nature
has given rise to much of the apathy with which the ob-
jects of the creation are regarded. It is very true, in-
deed, that when we say nature produces a plant, or an
animal, the true meaning is, that God does so, nature
here being used as a synonymous term ; but still the word
has so many applications, and it is employed in such a
variety of ways, that w^e insensibly get into the habit of
using it, in natural history and other sciences, as if it
were some inferior power, or agent, acting by itself; and
we talk of the works of nature without any impression
being on oiu- minds at the time that they are in truth the
works of the Deity himself."
The whole is meetly wound up with reflections upon
natural religion, the "power and goodness of God, and
the love of ti-uth ; which, like those already noticed, are
marked by a pleasing tone of piety without cant, of
knowledge without pedantry, and of unbounded benevo-
lence, without a particle of morbid fondness, towards all
the objects of the creation.
* 0,» the Study of Nature, and Natural Theology. By James L. Drummond, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in
the Belfast Academical Institution, &c. 3rd Edit. 1834. London : Longman & Co.
124
ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF COTTAGES FOR THE LABOURING CLASSES.
The comfort and respectability of the working classes is of pri-
mary importance to the prosperity of the state. Next to a good
early education, probably nothing more certainly conduces to
their moral virtue than comfortable dwellings and small gardens.
We at present confine ourselves to the first article here men-
tioned. Hitherto, the manner in which our manufacturing
population have been crowded together, especially in large
towns, and the decayed or ruinous piles of buildings into which
they have been huddled, have greatly tended to disease, and,
what is worse, to encourage profligacy. Attention to this mat-
ter, however, is beginning to mark the present generation of
philanthropists ; nor do we despair of seeing, in the course of a
few years, a mighty alteration in the exterior condition of the
industrious labourers of our country. Certain it is that much,
besides the power of example, may actually be done by proprie-
tors of land and men of wealth. Neat cottages may be erected
in the neighbourhoods of towns, as well as upon large landed
estates ; and we proceed to give a short description of several
designs (see Plate 40) which we think admirably adapted to
such purposes in any quarter of the united empire, whether
built of brick or the more hardy material, stone. The plan and
arrangement of these neat, convenient, and comfortable dwell-
ings are distinguished particularly by their compactness. They
present, in short, multiim in parvo.
We have just one other general observation to submit, which
regards the requisites of cottages, and which these designs dex-
trously exhibit. Besides economy and convenience, each family
requires a cei"tain extent of variety of accommodation for the
sake of decency. This has hitherto been seldom considered as
a matter essentially necessary. If there was space found for
the poor man and family, wherein cold, wind, and rain were ex-
cluded, it was thought enough. It most probably was one lank,
bare, and empty apartment, without fire-grate or loft, the fold-
ing door and a unndow or two being the whole of the superfiuous
providing to gratify the eye of the new tenant, a sight sufficient
to turn the tide of a parent's emotions to despair and profligacy.
But the poor parents had children, and with boards, box beds,
and tattered blankets, strove to protect themselves from inde-
cent community, more than the landlord did to screen them
from wind and rain.
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE.
A few moments' examination of these designs are sufficient,
without any minute description of them, to make any one un-
derstand and appreciate their excellence, They in short speak
sufficiently well for themselves. In such cottages as are repre-
sented in fig. 1 and 2 of Plate 40, the outer door usually opens
directly upon the fire place, which, besides other discomfort, ge-
nerally occasions a misdirection of the smoke. Here, the evil
is well and neatly avoided by means of a porch. It will be seen
as another good contrivance, that the poultry-house is placed so
as to receive not merely the shelter but some of the warmth of
the cottager's apartments ; and that in a small and convenient
form every necessary provision is made as regards variety Of
divisions and cleanliness.
The third figure in Plate 40 is of rather a picturesque form,
but combines all the comfort and convenience, independent of
this, which is generally lost sight of by fanciful designs. In
this plate there will be observed a gradation of accommodation,
rising from the first design. They are all double, however,
which adds to their warmth and their cheapness. Still they
may be completely sepni-ate and distinct, as regards every ac-
commodation and right. Fig. 2 has a pavilioned roof, which
is made also to hang over the side-walls. Fiy. 3 has bed-rooms
over the centre, and lofts over the kitchens ; thus making each
cottage belonging to this design a house of three apartments,
with a closet, &c.
Fig. 4 combines four distinct dwellings. Tlie design consists
of a centre and two wings ; each of the latter forms one dwell-
ing-house, fronting a garden, completely closed in by itself.
It will be observed that the fire-places in all of these plans are
placed in inside walls, and that the wall cupboards are also in
inside walls, otherwise they must be cold and damp. The com-
bined cottage shewn, seems an admirable plan. Two of the
dwellings have poultry-houses, the other two, pigsties ; and
there is one cow-house placed in the middle of the back court,
which will in general be found sufficient.
We might lay down a number of rules and heads of a specifi-
cation for the construction of such cottages, whether of brick
or stone mason work, but which, according to the view we are
taking in this notice, it is not our purpose to speak of. The
depth of the excavations for foundations, the style and kind of
flooring, we leave to the wisdom of the builder. We would
recommend that the division walls of double cottages be carried
close xip to the slates ; that a dwarf wall be built across under
each room that is floored, for supporting the sleeper joists ; that
the floors be raised considerably, and, as the situation of the
building will always suggest, duly above the level of the ground
on which it stands : that the whole area immediately connected
with the buildings be properly drained, and that four openings,
eight inches square, and grated, be made below the wooden
floorings for ventilation and preserving the floor. Cottages
should not be thatched, nor any part of the work superficially
executed, if profit as well as comfort is looked to.
We need not give an estimate of the expenses which any one
of these designs will incur when fully followed out. We shall
only say, that the saving latterly, if every thing be observed
which has been said, will be as remarkable as are the compact-
ness and comfort of these cottages.
ON THE DAIRY HUSBANDRY OF AYRSHIRE.
Every art that has been carried to a high degree of
perfection finds some one country or district of a
country the seat of its reign. This is frequently attri-
butable solely to physical causes, by whicli the materials
to work on are confined to particular regions. But
sometimes, and probably more frequently still, the
matter is wholly referable to man's choice, and the
particular direction of his powers. Thus the growth
of tea or the propagation of the silk-worm are never
likely to distinguish the highlands of Scotland, but we
do not see why the whisky that is distilled there might
not be produced any where else, provided the grain
out of which it is made was found. Still, within very
narrow limits of a country or district, some arts and
manufactures will be seen to preserve themselves en-
tire, as if hemmed around by impassable ban-iers ; for
these barriers are the habits and the prejudices of
mankind, the most obdurate and insurmountable of any
on earth. , , .,,
It may in the next place be remarked, that the skill
that is so illustrious as to lend a distinctive fame to a
whole territory, may after all, be alone due to a limited
and confined section of that territory. Thus it is with
the Dairi/ Husbandry of Ayrshire ; for we are prepared
to shew, if called upon, that this art as understood
there, might be advantageously introduced and prac-
ON THE DAIRY HUSBANDRY OF AYRSHIRE).
125
tised in many other parts; and that though confined
to a comparatively narrow circle, it yet lends celebrity
to the kingdom. It holds with the Dainj as it does
with the Grain Husbandry of Scotland. The latter is
confined, in its high perfection, to certain districts on
the east coast of the kingdom especially, whilst the
former has its seat on the west coast. Nevertheless,
both branches are so zealously and skilfully pursued
in these opposite directions and Imiited quarters, that
both the one and the other have conferred upon the
whole country, a high and distinctive name. To be
sure, with regard to the eastern branch of husbandry,
it must be observed, that the nature of the soil and
climate forbid its advantageous adoption in the west ;
but the dairy of the west might and should be much
more extensively practised in the east than it has ever
yet been ; nay, it deserves to be understood and intro-
duced into many parts of the united empire, as the
account we are about to submit, though necessarily an
outline, will, we trust, establish.
We apprehend and feel strongly assured, that every
extensive proprietor and farmer ; that even every gar-
dener, peasant, and householder, to whom a single
milk cow is an object of attention, should take into
consideration the view and matter we have now entered
upon. Tlie writer speaks from actual observation and
experience, directed to rural aflfairs for these many
years, in various quarters of the united kingdom ; but
chiefly in Ayrshire : that county lending a name to the
dairy art, equivalent to that of Scotland. Nay, the
making of cheese belongs in its highest style but to
one of the three divisions of Ayrs'hire, viz. that of
Cuningham, although it has thence found its way, over
a nmch more extensive tract of country, including the
greater portion of the shire, and also of that of Renfrew
and the lower part of Lanark. The information atforded
by Mr. William Alton, of Hamilton, wiU also be taken
advantage of, who is the most judicious and enlight-
ened writer on the Scottish dairy system, that has ever
appeared.
Milk is probably the most essential and wholesome
species of food used by the human race. It is the
sustenance of childhood, and often of old age, and
the milk of cattle cannot find an equal in importance
except in bread, " the staff of life ;" it must accord-
ingly be a highly necessary thing, that mankind should
know how this great article of food is to be most
abundantly provided, and also most profitably used
and manufactured into the different forms of which it
is capable. The subject therefore leads us to consider,
what are the best modes of rearing and cultivating
cattle (the Bos tribe is of course solely understood
here), and next how is the produce of cattle to be most
profitably managed.
It might be useful as a preliminary matter, to con-
sider the nature of land best fitted for the dairy, and
relatively what is the most profitable branch of hus-
bandry, in certain given situations and soils. But this
would lead us, at present, into a too lengthened dis-
cussion. We only say generally, that land of a medium
or inferior quality, or where the climate is wet, will
yield a much higher rent if judiciously managed, on a
dairy system, than if devoted to any rotation of constant
cropping. It may be most confidently asserted, that if
the farmers in the counties of Ayr, Renfrew and
Lanark, were compelled to change their dairy system
for any other, that of cropping for example, they could
not give above three fourths of the rent they now pay.
The demand for, and the prices of that species of agri-
cultural produce, have never declined so much as that
of grain, or even less than butcher's meat.
We learn from Mr. Aiton, that on the authority of
the Board of Agriculture, the quantity of herbage that
will add 112 lbs. to the weight of an ox, will, when
bestowed on a dairy cow, of an ordinary good breed,
and in a fair condition to yield milk, enable her to
give about 2,700 imperial pints of milk : and that ge-
nerally in Scotland 17 pints of milk will yield an
imperial pound of butter ; and the butter-milk will sell
at one penny for three pints. Of Ayrshire or Dunlop
cheese, (as it is more fi-equently called) it will take
120 pints of milk, to yield from 16 to 171bs. avoirdu-
poise : it can easily be ascertained, therefore, whether
the beef, or those quantities of butter and cheese are
most profitable. Nearly 385 pounds, or 27i stones im-
perial of full milk cheese (that is of milk as it comes
from the cow) will take 2,700 pints ; and if so many
pints be made into butter, they will yield nearly 1574
pounds, besides the butter-milk, which may average
about half of the whole that has been churned. The
average price of beef for seven years past, has not
exceeded six shillings per stone; and the 112 lbs. or
eight stones, of course amount to 2^. ^s., while 1^i
stones of cheese, at five shillings per stone, the average
price paid to the farmer dm-ing the same period of
years, amount to 6^. 17s. Grf. ; and the average price of
157ilbs. of butter, at eight-pence per pound, for a like
course of time, amounts to 52. 5*., and of the butter-milk
to 1/. V]s. %d. more, both being 11. 2«. 6d.
Compare in the next place the rise on the prices of
grain, tlien of butter and cheese within the last sixty-
five years. While oatmeal, for instance, has not ad-
vanced more than 50 per cent, on an average during
that period, the price of cheese has risen from 200 to
sometimes 300 per cent., and butter from 300 to 500 per
cent, during the same time ; although these later kinds
of produce have been imported into Scotland to an
immense amount. It may be noticed, that though a
dairy requires an extent of labour and outlay conside-
rably greater than the fattening of cattle, there will
still remain a vast balance in its favour. Neither is
there much more expense incurred in bringing a cow
to the period when she has her first calve, than in
making her fit for fattening for the shambles. And
after giving milk for seven years, she may be fattened
to very considerable advantage, thus turning the matter
of rearing greatly in favour of the dairy cow.
But to come to the dairy cattle of Ayrshire. It may
first of all be observed, that the excellence of the breed
is not of very long standing ; neither is it clear to what
it is owing. The very limited importation of kinds
from other quarters, could not have produced that
which is now so celebrated, and accomplished it within
the last fifty years. It is pretty evident that the
matter must be attributed to the pains taken in the
cultivation of the indigenous breed, by carefiil crossing
and judicious feeding, first of all, in the district of
Cuningham in Ayrshire. From that spot the breed
has extended to many of the Scottish counties ; and it
is also in high estimation in England. And indeed
they are fully worthy of such celebrity; for they are
possessed of all the most important requisites of cattle ;
v^
0?J -J^ ^DAIRY HUSBANDRY OF AYRSHIRE.
they give a more -copious draft of milk than any breed
ia Europe ; they fatten as fast and cut up as well in the
shambles as any other. They are tame, quiet, docile
and hardy, and particularly exempt from disease.
In breeding, particular attention is paid to the shapes
of the bulls ; those are preferred that have the greatest
resemblance to a fine cow, at the same time suiting the
size of the bull to the cow ; taking care that he be not
too large. As to the most approved shapes of the cow ;
her head should be fine and narrow at the muzzle; her
eye small and lively ; her horns wide-set, slender, and
turning upwards after having bent inwards ; her neck
long, thin, and tapering towards the head; shoulders
also thin; fore quarters light ; hind quarters capacious ;
back straight; carcase deep; buttock's fleshy; tail
long and fine ; legs short and fine ; udder broad, and
stretching well along the belly, showing itself in rear
of the hind legs also, but not flabby ; and the teats
planted widely asunder. The skin and the hair should
also be fine ; indeed all the parts of least real value
must recommend themselves by handsome features and
points. S^ch are the qualities that skilful breeders
look after and desire. These cattle vary in weight
from twenty to sixty stones English, with fat sinking
offals; and theh prices at present run from 10/. to 15?.
sterling; which are much under what they brought
several years ago.
In rearing calves, of course those from parents the
most highly esteemed will be preferred ; and the most
fashionable colour is dark red, intermixed with white ;
the red greatly prevailing. The best period to choose
them, is when after about six weeks' feeding on milk,
they can be turned out to grass in May, to have all the
fine weather and grass of the year. They are never
allowed to suckle their dams ; hut are fed ft-om a dish.
For the first few days they should not be allowed to
have what they would take ; and after six weeks or so
pure milk diet, cheaper and less delicate food must be
very gradually introduced. It is always a safe rule,
however, to be kind to them as long as possible when
young ; the attention will be amply repaid in the cow,
not only as respects the abundance and continuance of
their milk diet, but in giving them the best pasture for
the first summer of their lives. It is good feeding and
treatment when young that brings them early to be fit
to give milk, and that abundantly : and such a style of
management is the great secret of bettering the breed.
A wise dairy farmer is as indulgent to his cows, as the
tenderest groom is to a race-horse : a good dairy-maid
not only will not huiry their pace in the field, but she
liandles them and talks to them with all the kindliness
possible. They literally know her voice, and court the
hand that cherishes them.
The milk cows are fed in summer on such pasture as
the farm produces ; care should always however be
taken, that they be not stinted ; nay, it is a great damage
to the cow, when she has to make it a day's work to
fill her belly. It should be frequently filled; and she
should often indulge herself with an "hour's rest, care
being taken that water is at her will. The writer knew
a farmer, who, when his wife complained of the cows
giving hltle milk, would say, " I'll sell one, and you'll
have more." In summer they are housed during the
night, and their fodder is chiefly oat-sti-aw. But of late
years a great deal more pains than formerly is taken,
to yUtJhepn have some succulent addition. And as the
period of their calving approaches, some substantial
grain is added, though in small quantities. The grain
should be bruised in a mill, the smaller the better;
bean-meal seems now to be in highest estimation. Fop
some time after calving this good feeding should be
continued, especially if the grass be too young to yield
a mouthful. It is prudent in summer weather to keep
the cows out in the field all night This not merely
makes them harcUer, but w ithout a great deal of care
and feeding within doors, there will be a sad falling off
in milk after a night's imprisonment. Let it be under-
stood that every judicious farmer allows at least, in all
kinds of food prepared by the hand for his cows, a
portion of salt, which they relish higMy. , - . , . . > .
A cow to give much and good milk must be m ^
thriving and good condition, Mr. Alton, who has
been at vast pains to ascertain every point regarding
dairy husbandry, satisfactorily sliows, that the average
retm-ns of the better sorts of cattle in Ayrshire, when
properly attended to, will amount to 6,000 imperial
pints of milk every year each cow ; the inferior sorts,
of course, yield much less. And when speaking of a
years milk, nine of tire twelve months may be taken as
a suitable portion for a cow to be kept in a milking
plight.
The cow houses ought to be capacious, well venti-
lated, and kept clean ; the side walls high ; no loft to
obstruct the ready escape of their breath ; and nume-
rous apertures in the building, to admit of the intro-
duction of pure air. Dryness more than heat is required.
The paths within and towards the house should be well
paved, that they may be easily kept clean. Thin flags
of stone about four feet square, are usually placed on
each side of the stalls, two cows being to a stall. The
best style of fastening the cattle, is by an iron rod,
about twenty inches long, fixed in a perpendicular
position, by the side of the flag, that a chain may be
allowed to shde up and down, and thus give the animal's
head sufficient freedom for feeding, without the possi-
bility of goring its neighbour sideways. In fi-ont of
the row of cows, there is usually a stone trough to hold
their food; there should also be a parallel passage.
The other dairy houses, connected immediately with
the manufacture of butter and cheese, together with
the proper utensils, fall to be considered, after these
articles of produce have been discussed.
In Ayrshire and the neighbouring dairy districts,
but chiefly in Renfrewshire, which supplies Paisley
and Glasgow, besides other towns, with the greatest
proportion of butter used in them, the best article of
the kind manufactured in Scotland, and perhaps to a
much larger extent, is to be found. Here the mode of
proceeding is very simple. It is the practice to chum
the whole of the milk, which is not generally observed
or known elsewhere. The milk, as soon as drawn from
the cow, is placed in shallow coolers, and stands for
twelve to twenty-four hours ; when the cream has risen
to the surface, the coolers are emptied into the churn,
where the butter is to be made. If another milking
is thus prepared, and ready to be poured into the
churn, (which is of the standing kind) before the for-
mer has begun to sour, it may be added safely ; but
if otherwise, or if the first be even approaching to
acidity, the admixtirre leads to fermentation and injures
the milk. Great care is taken not to allow the coagulum
of the milk in the chum to be broken, after it begins
ON THE DAIRY HUSBANDRY OF AYRSHIRE.
127
to become sour, till the operation of churning is set
about.
As a proof that the process of butter making in the
west of Scotland is not a complex one, it seems enough
to state that the farmers who supply Paisley and
Glasgow with this sort of produce, not only churn all
their milk, but do so almost every day in the week.
Plunge churns are usually found to contain about 100
Scotch pints, (a Scotch pint is two English quarts)
when worked by the hand; but when machinery is
applied, 150 or 200 pints are churned at a time. In
a few minutes after the operation is begun, as much
warm water is poured into the churn as raises the
temperature of the milk from fifty degrees or so of
Fahrenheit, (which will be that of the dairy-house)
to seventy or seventy-five. The water must be slowly
poured in, not dashed, and the churning must proceed
during the same time, without fail. In autimm the
milk is rich, and more water may be applied than
earlier in the year, when the serum is more abundant ;
and probably one pint of water on an average may
be near the proportion, to be added to every five pints
of milk. But much will depend on circumstances,
that cannot all be detailed. We may say, however,
that the character of the feeding, and of the milk of
individual cows, requires the observance of all who
would be expert and good hands in dairy work. Let it
be particularly attended to, that the milk be not too
much heated, or churned too hastily. From two to three
hours is a good allowance of time for the operation.
We have already alluded to the value of the butter
milk in the west of Scotland ; we now add that it is
not only a palatable but a delicious liquid, and finds
amongst the working classes a rapid sale. "VVe do not
wonder that in England the pigs should monopolize the
beverage : for whatever may be the cause, the fact is,
so far as we know, that the butter-milk is not fit for
human beings. There is a bitterness and nauseousness
in its taste, that leads us to suspect that the butter can-
not be perfect which has been extracted out of it. But
in the North, the peasantry very generally, as well as
the humble citizens in the manufacturing towns, prefer
the sour liquid for their porridge, to the pure sweet
milk in the state it comes fi-om the cow; and we ven-
ture to affirm that their health and strength is not
inferior to any class of the human race.
The Ayrshire or Dunlop cheese is thus made : —
When such a number of cows is kept as to yield milk
sufficient for a cheese of tolerable size at each milking,
the milk is passed through a strainer to clear it of
every impurity, into a tub or vat of sufficient size for
the purpose. The rennet is applied the moment all
the milk has been collected ; and as soon as the process
of coagulation is completed, the dairy maids' hands
are, gently at first however, employed, the curdling
being then very soft, to draw off the whey. The curd
is all gradually broken, but in such a manner, and such
a time, as neither to extract substance that would go
to enlarge the curd, nor be so tardy as to allow it to
become unmanageable. Where the milk at one milking
is not sufficient to make a cheese, it must be collected
from two or more milkings ; and this is done in the
shallow sort of coolers mentioned before, which are
of wood, stone, lead or tin. When the cheese, after
such a collecting, is to be made, the cream is skimmed
off the cooled milk, and poured into the large vat
through a strainer; whilst the residue, which is thin
milk, must be brought to a proper heat, and then added.
The heat of the whole mass should be about that of
new drawn milk. Were the cream, which is put into
the curd vat, heated, its oily particles would melt, and
be lost to the cheese.
The temperatiu'e at which the milk is kept, from the
time it is drawn from the cow, till it is fonued into
cheese, ought to be cai'efiilly attended to. If kept
much above 55 degrees of Fahrenheit, it will not cast
up the cream properly, and will soon sour ; and if below
that degree of temperature, the process of coagulation
goes on slowly, the cheese is soft that is made from it,
and the whey with difficulty drawn off and separated.
After the curd has been well broken, and cut by
means of a knife, and as soon as the greater part of the
whey has been drawTi off, salt is applied, at the rate
of about half an ounce to every pound of cheese, which
the dairy housewives have a marvellous knack at hit-
ting by the judgment, that a glance of the eye enables
them to form. The curd, however, must still have
submitted to a very minute chopping, before the salt
can intimately mingle with it. After this the whole
is put into a cheese-vat, surrounded with a piece of
thin cloth made into canvass from coarse lint, and at
first gently pressed by a weight of a very moderate
amount, lest the still tender curd should be injured.
Ere long, however, three or four hours from the time
the whole operation was set about, the cheese-vat is
put under the press : it is afterwards changed a few
times in the course of the day, not merely by having
dry cloths applied, but by reversing the now regularly
formed article in the cheese vat. After coming from
the press, the cheese is exposed to a considerable de-
gree of drought, and is turned every morning and
evening. It is thus treated for a few days, and then
last of all laid upon boards in the store room, only to
be turned every second day or so. Such is the simple
operation ; — skewers are never put into a cheese to
extract the whey; it is never sweated, nor rubbed
with butter. It is proper to add, that the entire ma-
nagement of the cheese dairy is confided and conducted
by women, and this leads us merely to notice, a
point far from imimportant, connected with this species
of rural husbandry, which is, that the females are
bred and kept to a most becoming employment, which
goes no small way to give a valuable character to the
entire body of the rural population. Dairy farms too,
are, it may be said, necessarily limited; they not
only call for the industry of the husbandman's daugh-
ters, but the sons cannot'afford to be gentlemen, but
have to work along with their fathers in the fields.
Accordingly and therefore it is, that the peasantry of
the west of Scotland are now, and have long been,
the most enlightened, the most religious, and the most
industrious of any even in that nation.
A milk house should be so large as to contain at
least one day's milk of all the cows on the farm ; and
still larger if butter and skim milk cheese are made.
It should be shaded from the sun as much as possible ;
and the best covering is thatch and turf, in order to
exclude the heat of summer and the cold of winter.
The window should be on the north side, that the
sun's rays may not enter, and it should also have two
ventilators, covered ^^■ith brass wire and gauze cloth
to keep out insects and mice. The floor should have
128
ON ENCL0SUEE3.
a well joined pavement, that no milk or dirt may lodge
in it, and it should uniformly be kept dry and cool.
Every thing, in short, about the milk house, should be
sweet and clean, and though it must be near the cow
house, it must yet be so distant as not to be polluted
by any effluvia from the cows. The dairy house must
also be so constructed, that the steam from the boiler
may not reach the milk. But if the milk house and
dairy house be distant from the cows, or from each
other, a covered passage should run between them, as
the mUk is soon affected by the rays of the sun, by
rain, or by exposure to the air. A storehouse is also
necessary ; and it should not be damp, nor very dry ;
the barn floor is very commoidy used in Ayrshire,
especially in the height of the summer season, or the
ground story of a house where the current of the air
is not too great, nor the light too powerful.
The dairy utensils in use throughout the west of
Scotland are few and simple, a general recommendation
of the implements handled in any art. The milking
pails are of wood ; the churns are wrought, for the
most part, with a staff, the head of which is as broad
and round as the circuit of the upright pump in which
it is plunged; and the cheese presses, now-a-days, are
chiefly wrought, or the pressure obtained, by means
of a lever power, by far the best sort of machine hither-
to known for the purpose. Such a press can be
carried, when not filled or charged with cheeses, in a
person's arms, from one place to another, and it occu-
pies so little room, as to stand in almost any bye
corner. Besides, it will press half a dozen cheeses as
quickly as one, provided the maker has given height
to it. Without a drawing, however, it cannot be de-
scribed intelligibly. Wheels, sliding pressure board,
and long lever spear, for weights to be hung on, are
the leading features in this press. The other dairy
utensils are common and few in number, not requiring
to be here mentioned.
We have, owing to the limited space allowed us,
been obliged to give a very cursory outline of the weSt
of Scotland butter and cheese making processes. But
enough has been said to shew the excellence of thfe
Ayrshire breed of cattle, and the profitable mode in which
their milk can be used. We conclude with asserting,
that if the high rents paid by the dauy tenantry, and
their habits and general comfort be matters worthy of
consideration, the branch of husbandry followed out by
them is the best that they can adopt, and that it should
be greatly more extended over Scotland, not to speak
at present of a much wider domain.
ON ENCLOSURES.
The great purposes served by enclosures are protection and
shelter. We are not sure that man in a rude state, so soon as
he fixed himself permanently in one spot, might not erect some
sort of \asible landmark, by which he individualized to his own
apprehension a definite portion of property, independent alto-
gether of the idea of protection. But it is obvious that wher-
ever there were other inhabitants, whether of his own species
or inferior orders of animals, fences would become necessary
that he might protect what had accrued to himself, from in-
jui^y and robbery. In sonxe cases the line that divided was
in a great measure ideal, and only preserved by large stones
erected at distant intervals of space ; such a division if kept
honestly by, was sufficient to show where one man's possession
joined that of his neighbour. But landmarks might be re-
moved, which, we read, was considered a heinous oifence. An
expedient was sometimes resorted to, of an affecting kind, to
strengthen the evidence as to precise localities. Children who
had arrived at an age such as usually enable them to treasure
up in their memory an event that had once made a deep im-
pression, were conducted to certain places, and there so satis-
factorily flagellated, as was not likely ever to be forgotten by
them. These places were of course, at the time, admitted by
the conterminous proprietors to be correct and precise points of
separation ; nor do we doubt, that the consecrated urchins
frequently visited and refreshed their memories, with all the
surrounding s^^mbois that were beheld at the moment of their
endurance.
But this species of registration was liable to serious mis-
chances, and other less frail expedients were resorted to. The
most natural and accessible were stone walls, continuous
mounds of earth, and rows of trees. Any of these were suffi-
cient to form a permanent landmark, which could not be re-
moved, and therefore the best, and still customary fence against
the encroachments of man. Anoth.er most important purpose
is served by enclosures ; they protect cultivated crops from the
depredations of the inferior animals ; and such animals as are
domesticated and reared by the care of man, from "wandering
too widely to their own damage and danger. And lastly, pro-
perly constructed fences, shelter both crops and animals from
storms and inclement weatfer. Herdsmen and the best trained
dogs could not be of any service in this latter capacity ; nor
could they at any time (luring day, much less in the night,
completely circumvent or controul the stock committed to their
charge. Hence the value and the necessity of sufficient
enclosures.
One other pui^pose is served by the expedients we are now
speaking of, and by no means an unimportant one, we mean
the pleasure confen'ed by the sight of a well sheltered and
divided territory. But this rather belongs to the subject of
landscape gardening than the objects at present before us, viz.
the origin, the economy, and the proper construction of land
enclosures.
After the ring fence which divided one man's property from
that of his immediate neighbour, it is obvious, that subdivisions
of his own land would come to be thought of. The simplest
and most natural principle was certainly that which pointed
out the richest and best watered spot for his dwelling houses.
Next the garden came to be hemmed in, then such bits of land
most accessible from his dwelling, had to be cultivated to rear the
grain, his means and circumstances suggested as necessary and
profitable ; and thus the long established order of things was
kept up, which in the northern parts of Britain went under
the description of InfieJd and Outfield ; the Outfield was ap-
propriated solely to depasturing the live stock ; the Infield to
rearing crops for the sustenance of the cultivators family ; to-
gether with fodder for the winter food of his cattle. This
half barbarous system continued through wdiat may be called,
the feudal ages of agriculture, and down to within these last
hundred years.
It was somehow or another discovered at length, that the
cereal crops became more productive, by the amehoration
effected in the soil by grass ; and that grass land supported
more live stock by being occasionally cropped with corn. This
new light destroyed the Outfield and Infield system, and gradu-
ally led not only to a new style of subdividing and enclosing
farms, but to all the great improvements that distinguish the
present rural economy of the island, especially in the north of
England, and the more fertile counties of Scotland, which we
ON ENCLOSURES.
129
venture to affirm are unrivalled ia the particular we are display-
ing, whether in ancient or modern times. In the few practical
observations we are about to submit, those districts, therefore,
shall be taken as the model for the construction of encloSTires
and fences.
There seems to be no department of rural economy less
understood or attended to than the one we arc now upon.
Most fences are comparatively useless, very many of them are
also wasteful. It sickens him who has a taste and a moderate
knowledge of farming, or any one who has but hastened
through the well-managed districts of the north, to see what
is very prevalent in the vicinity even of London ; the huge and
ugly forest of thorns and bushes that ai-e huddled together
upon some unshapely mound of earth ; the parallel ditch, more
like a foul canal than an open drain, which it should be ; and the
masses of noxious weeds that rankly grow, flourish, and yield
seed within and beyond the whole extent of these abomin-
ations. One should suppose that the waste of land was an
item not unworthy the attention of him who has a high rent to
pay ; but even worse than this are the destructive vermin those
■wildernesses of bush and weed harbour and foster, and the
quantity of vile seeds that are wafted every year from these
nurseries of foulness.
Where the white thorn will grow, the following is a prevail-
ing mode of management in the north. Hedges are double or
single ; the double is generally found now-a-days where the
fence is a boundary between two farms. But, as it is nothing
more than two single ones united, the mound out of which they
gi'ow being between them, we shall at once describe the simplest
example. A ditch is dug about two feet and a half deep, three
feet wide at the top, slanting to one and a half at the bottom.
This is prettv near the general size, where cattle are frequently
to be enclosed, and a considerable body of surface water is at
times to run. Shallower and narrower conduits in other cir-
cumstances are suflRcient. The soil dug out of the ditch forms
an embankment on one of its sides. The turf is turned first
upside down ; some of the best soil is carefully spread, and the
young thorns laid horizontally upon the level. Some more of
the best soil is spread above the plants, and the remainder
piled up and well clapped, so as with the ditch to form in front
almost a sufficient barrier. But the fence is completed by what
is called a cocking, that is, a strong range of thorns, cut to
about the length of three feet, stuck into the top of the wall of
earth. This range is allowed to stand for some years till the
thorns be in themselves a perfect hedge.
It is necessary to keep the young thorns and the ditch clear of
rank weeds for the first two or three years. And this is ac-
complished by two iceedings in the year, gently and most care-
fully conducted. We should have mentioned that the slender
tender plants, by being laid in a horizontal position, are sup-
posed to acquire a greater strength, near the root, in forming
the knee, which they naturally do as they advance in age and
grow upwards ; besides, by this expedient, the hedge is backed
and protected so long as it exists. It is advisable to lay these
thorn plants thickly, but never in more than one row.
The weeding of tlie hedge, and the cleaning of the ditch,
whenever it begins to fill up with mud, or to be choked with
trash of any kind, necessarily draws and shakes a good deal of
the best soil from the roots of the plants. This evil is dex-
trously avoided, by a small shelf being formed a little below
the thorn roots, and some fine soil laid thereon anew ; the
whole is then clapped and faced up as at first, for these things
■must all be attended to till the hedge masters every ordi-
nary impediment or obstacle.
There are various ways of mending gaps in an advanced
hedge. If young plants are inserted, care must be taken to
surround them with new and rich earth. Frequently a sprightly
branch of a neighbouring bush is bent down and across the
vacancy ; its points are introduced into the soil, that they may
strike. A notched stick holds the elastic branch to its proper
MAGAZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL. II. NO. XV
position, which is simply assisted by its having been cut half
through at the bending joint. This cut must always be on the
under side, and struck upwards, to protect the core of the
branch fi"om wet and injury.
It is usual to encourage a languid hedge by cutting it close
to the root, and cocking it behind, as at first. This operation
is usually performed when the field in front of it is under crop.
Immediately after this, the strong roots send up a multitude of
spiral shoots, that, in a few years, if properly attended to, will
almost exclude the little birds from entering its bosom ; or
rather, that shelters them from enemies of every kind. In
forming a hedge that may stand for generations, let the thorns
grow to a goodly size and height. With a hedge-bill the whole
should be dressed up into a wedge-like form, having the acute
angle at the top. This roof, or hogged mane, answers admir-
ably all the purposes of a fence, without bringing decay upon
it. The branches at the root may extend two feet from the
stem, and, by the gradual slant to the top of the steep roof,
every branch has its due share of sun, air and rain, without
injury to those below. After the thorns have thus been put into
proper shape, nothing in after years is necessary but to mow
the yearling twigs to the established form and surface ; thus
lifetime after lifetime enabling and forcing the fence to thicken
and strengthen into a vegetating wall.
In some places the thorns when planted are laid above a little
wall of stones, which is raised about two feet above the level of
the field, and only one stone thick ; the earth supporting tiiC
back which the roots of the plants reach and enter. MTiere
thorns will not grow, and stones are to be procured, the cheapest,
and indeed the best fence is, what goes by the name of the
Galloway Dyke. It is a wall of dry stones, between four and
five feet in height. The stones are built close for about two
feet from the ground, and then carried to the top with others,
so placed as to admit of the light between every two of them.
It is easily rebuilt, and sheep or other kinds of farm stock are
deterred by the open appearances, from attempting to climb or
leap such an obstacle. The top row of stones should be laid
asunder and across the fence ; smaller ones filling up the
distances, whilst the ends of the larger project on both sides.
Many other varieties of fences might be specified and de-
scribed ; but the two we have given are the best for such' dis-
tricts as can produce or foster them. We have a few sentences
to submit as to the size, form and position of fields enclosed
within farm fences. And nothing can be more obvious than
that, if a man was allowed to pitch his tent where he chose,
square or nearly square enclosures would be the most conveni-
ent and profitable. In lack of this choice, he must do the best
he can; and it is, therefore, impossible to lay down any but very
general rules for his guidance. Soil, the natui'e of the produce
reared, the position of the farm bouses, will direct him in many
things. There is one good general division to be observed in
grain farms ; there should be twice as many enclosures as there
are breaks in the course. Thus if a six years' rotation be
thought the most profitable there should he twelve enclosures,
two of which are always under the same crop. This tends to
equalize labour ; to allow such fields to be connected or dis-
joined as may suit soil, distance from the farm houses, and con-
venience of passage through intervening fields. Again, if
possible, every field should consist of one sort of soil. Again,
the ridges, if it can be managed, should always run north and
south, that both sides may equally have the benefit of the
sun ; and, if the laud be steep, they should not run, particularly
on light soil, from top to bottom, but slanting across ; this
saves the soil from being washed by heavy rains from the
higher parts to the lower. As to the length of ridges : it is
not advisable that they should be very long, and chiefly for
this reason, that too great a body of water thus collects and
has a run in the furrows before reaching a main ditch or open
drain. A cross ridge can always be formed where such a weari-
some length characterizes a field.
III. — SEPTEMBER 1834. T
130
ON THE COTTON PLANT.
Clumps of trees afford shelter to cattle, aud ameliorate the
climate. Where the fields is square its corners are very suit-
able parts for such a feature and purpose. It is hardly neces-
sary to add, that every field, especially where cattle are pastured,
should be supplied with water. And it is in Scotland usual,
where a small stream runs between two farms, that part of it
is entirely within the grounds of the one now, and of the other
afterwards. For if the water run forms not a sufficient fence,
it would otherwise be necessary that each farmer lined the
stream's border on his own side with a wall or hedge. Wliere
the matter, however, is arranged as we have stated it to be,
one fence serves the two ; the only inconvenience attending the
practice, arises from the circumstance that such a fence has
every now and then to cross the stream which calls for water
gates, that require looking after. But this would lead us
beyond our present limits, and to the consideration of farm
gates ; a subject deserving of a distinct notice.
ON THE COTTON PLANT.
(Concluded from p. 116.J
Much, moreover, may he effected by introducing into India
the different species and varieties which are already success-
fully cultivated in other countries ; and here the chief thing is
not to restrict ourselves to too small a number of varieties, be-
cause they happen to be those which at present produce the
best kinds of cotton. Not contented in America with possess-
ing already the best kinds of cotton, they have tried those of
other countries, to see if there were not among them some
suited to the peculiarities of their country and climate. Mr.
Spalding, in an interesting letter published in the evidence be-
fore the East India Committee, informs us that the cultivators
in America confine their attention to such plants as are of an-
nual growth. 1st. The nankeen cotton, introduced at an early
period from China ; this is abundant in produce, but the seed,
covered with down, produces wool of a dirty yellow colour,
which does not bring the price of the other short staple cottons.
2d. The ijreen-seed cotton, with white wool, which, with the
former, is grown in the middle and upland districts, whence the
latter is called wp7a»d co//on, also short staple cotton ; and, from
the mode in which it is cleaned, bowed Georgia cotton. This, Mr.
S. says, was cidtivated in Georgia and Carolina previous to the
revolutionary war, and considers it impossible to trace whence
it was introduced, but supposes it may have been from Smyrna
by one of the southern states. To this it may be objected, "that
as the 6. herbaceum, with greyish seed, is the kind generally cul-
tivated in Asia Minor, this green-seed cotton is probably one of
the cultivated varieties of G. hirsutunu 3d. The sea island, or
long staple cotton, which is distinguished by the black colour of
its seed, and the fine, white, strong, and silky long staple by
whi-ch it is surrounded. This is grown in the lower counti-y
near the sea, and on several small islands, which are not very
distant from the shore. This was introduced into Georgia from
the Bahama Islands, where it had been brought from a small
island in the West Indies, celebrated for its cotton, called An-
guilla.
In attempting the introduction into India of new kinds of
cotton, it would appear advisable to include in the. experiments
every kind that can be procured from all parts of the world,
whether they afford in their present site the best or only an in-
different kind of cotton ; for some which do not appear so good
may find a more suitable locality in some parts of India. An-
other consideration, not less important, is to extend the experi-
ments over as wide a field as circumstances will at present
admit of ; aud it will be extraordinary, indeed, if the extended
coasts and wide-spreading plains of the Indian empire do not
afford a sufficient choice of soil and climate for some one, if not
several, of the superior varieties of a plant which is already cul-
tivated in every part of the country.
With respect to the improvement of the kinds already in cul-
tivation in India, it will not be useless to call attention to the
evidence given before the Committee of the House of Commons
on the Affairs of the East India Company, where several places
are mentioned which already produce some fine kinds of cotton
— as the neighbourhood of the Silhet Hills, which is said by
Mr. Bracken to produce a cotton equal to any from the South
Sea Islands, and which he states that Mr. Finlay, of the Cal-
cutta Cotton Mills , considered equal to any cotton he had ever
seen. There is also a fine variety in the neighbourhood of
Dacca ; though the fine muslins of that name are no doubt
more owing to the workmanship than to the raw material. Mr.
Colebrooke (Bengal Husbandry, p. 140) states, that the best
cotton imported into Bengal is brought by land from Nagpore,
iu the Dukhnn, to Mizrapore. Another kind, superior in the
length and fineness of its staple, is brought by a land-carriage
of more than 500 miles from Ameraweti, a well-known mart in
the Dukhiin, situated about thirty miles south of the city of
Elichpore. The best cotton on the eastern side of India is now
said to be grown in Guzerat, and that from Cutch is particu-
larly fine in the staple, and well cleaned ; but the finest is pro-
duced at a village near Manyrole, in Kattywar. The great im-
provement in the Tinnevelly cotton is well known, and owing
to the introduction of foreign varieties, especially from the Isle
of Bourbon. The Seychelle cotton should also be tried, as well
as the different kinds which are produced in Siam and the seve-
ral islands of the Indian Archipelago, as well as of the Paciiic
Ocean. That of Pernambuco appears particularly desirable, as
it is said to improve the further it is carried into the interior.
The Brazils and West India Islands afford endless varieties ;
and the trials with the seed from Georgia and the Carolinas, as
well as from Egypt, should be repeated in every part of India,
but especially on the coast of Cutch, in Malwa, and in the north-
western provinces of India. With respect to the best mode of
cultivation, it is unnecessary to enter into all the details, as
they are given in works lately published, available to every one,
especially the Tropical Agriculturist, Captain Basil Hall's Travels
in America, Poiret's Diet, des Sciences Naturelles, tom. xi. ; but
as it will be useful to contrast the principles with the practice
in India, I have made the following abstract, chiefly from the
first-mentioned work : —
" The soil best adapted for the cotton is a light and sandy
soil, particularly if held together by a little clay or calcareous
earth, and mixed with a small portion of vegetable matter ; but
volcanic deposits are said to be the most favourable, and the
banks of rivers which are overflowed, and covered with mud.
A moderate degree of moisture is essential, but too great aridity
is injurious, and must be counteracted by irrigation ; and as an
excess of moisture induces the production of a profusion of
leaves and flowers, though the latter fall off, and the roots 7 ot,
it must be obviated by drainage. No great depth of soil is re-
quired, but it ought to be light and friable, so that the delicate
fibrils of the root may penetrate in every direction. The tap
root of the perennial species should, however, be able to descend jX
to some depth ; the sub-soil, therefore, should not be bard. ' ■
Two or three ploughings are necessary to pulverize the earth,
destroy all weeds, and expose every particle of the soil to the at-
mosphere, and to light and heat. In China the soil is harrowed
after each ploughing, and the latter is made twelve or fifteen
inches deep. If the soil be barren or exhausted, manure suited
to the nature of the soil is added, in China, after the last
ploughing, and consists of mud from the bottom of ditches,
STEPHENS ON DRAINING.
ashes of all kinds, and oil-cakes. Previously to being sown,
the seed is generally soaked in water ; oil has been recom-
mended for the purpose, but lime-water would be preferable.
The sowine takes place in Georgia from November to April, in
lines or furrows ; the latter may be five feet apart. In America
and the West Indies, Avhere the land has not been previously
cleared, the practice is to fell and set fire to the timber, and dig
holes for sowing the seed. These may vary in distance, but
are often eighteen inches apart, and about as deep. From
twelve to twenty or thirty seeds are sown in each hole, as soon
as possible after ploughing, digging, or hoeing, and are covered
with one or one-and-a-half inch of soil. The most important
operation is weeding ; this is repeated every eight or ten days
in China, until the bushes put forth blossom, and every month
in Guiana ; it ought to be carefully performed, so as not to in-
jure the young fibrils ; it is useful not only in removing weeds,
but also in turning up the soil. When plants are three or four
inches high, all, except three or four in each hole, are pulled
up ; at the end of the third month, all the plants but one are
withdrawn; in Georgia, after a month, si.x or seven are left in
each hole ; at next hoeing, only one, or the two which ai'e most
apart. When the remaining plant is eighteen or twenty-four
inches high, only twelve inches in China, the top is pinched off,
that the lateral branches may shoot out, which, after a time,
are treated in the same manner to favour the formation of
flower and fruit. This process is objected to by Von Rohr.
The blossom generedly appears about the end of July, or be-
ginning of August : pods open about six weeks after the bios-
131
som, and the crops begin in September, both in Georgia and
Guiana ; but most of the cotton is ready about the middle of
October, and the whole of the first crop is not got in before the
end of December in Guiana ; when, as in India, Christmas rains
occur, the plant afterwards sprouts out now shoots and blossoms,
and about the end of February the picking may be resumed, and
continued to the middle of April. The ground is carefully
weeded between the crops : women and chikh-en are employed
in picking the cotton out of the pods, and, as moisture is injuri-
ous, the gathering is not commenced until the dew is dissipated;
and as the pods ripen in succession, it is repeated at short in-
tervals ; the cotton is then sorted, that which had fallen on the
ground is kept separate, the whole cleaned, and then dried in
the sun : this hardens the seeds, and enables them to separate
more easily from the cotton, and is moreover useful in prevent-
ing the latter spoiling from heating. If left too long on the
plant, the withered leaves and calyx become mixed with the cot-
ton, as is so frequently the case in India.
" In Guiana the perennial cotton produces afuU crop the second
year, and remains productive for four or six years. In China it is
kept only three years ; young plants are put in wherever defi-
ciencies occur. In Guiana the pruning of the perennial cotton,
plant takes place in the second year of its growth, after the
whole of the produce is gathered in. May is considered the
most favourable month, when the trees are cut to about four
feet high, premising with a good weeding of the ground. Dry
weather and the early part of the day are recommended, that
the sun may dry up the wounds."
ON PRACTICAL IRRIGATION AND DRAINING*.
Whem agriculture began to attract particular attention, the
inferiority of wet land would soon become apparent. This in-
feriority would be most obvious in the temperate regions of the
globe ; because the eflFects of excessive moisture could only
there be always perceptible in the soil. It was in Europe that
agriculture received the first impulse towards improvement,
and agriculture still flourishes in Europe in greater perfection
than any other portion of the globe. To the Ramans belong the
honour of improving the general culture of the soil in Europe,
towards which draining contributed as much, perhaps more,
than any other single operation. The precepts which they have
bequeathed to the world in their writings on that subject evince
the observant faculties of that extraordinary people. They
were fully acquainted with the method of clearing their fields
of surface water, and they also understood the art of directing
springs, by means of drains, to places where they could do no
mischief. TMs art, however, appears to have been lost from the
overthrow of the Roman Empire to the revival of learning after
the dark ages. After that period to as lately as the middle of
the eighteenth century, it had been practised in a much inferior
manner than by the Romans. The small drains, with a stone set
on each side, and one covering them, situate between the soil
and the subsoil, which modern improvements in agriculture
h.ive discovered, are very inferior structures to those described
by the Romans.
It w^as reserved to a farmer in Weirwickshire, of the name
of Elkington, so lately as i764, to introduce what may pro-
perly be called a system of draining, superior even to that
of the Romans, and which, in peculiar situations, cannot be
surpassed in efficacy. The leading theory of his system is,
that, though moisture be seen on the surface of the soil at any
given place, the spring of water from which it originates lies
deeply seated in some porous stratum. His practice conse-
quently is, to discover, first, the seat of the spring, and then
to cut a drain deep enough to intercept the water, and carry it
away where it can do no mischief. The drain may not be able
to reach the seat of the spring, though it may be properly
situated in relation to it : in that case he bores holes with iron
rods, or sinks wells through the bottom of the drain to the
spring, in case the quantity of water be great. The water has
then liberty to rise through the bored holes and wells to the
bottom of the drain, on which it flows away innoxiously.
These principles of Elkington have been, and may be, ap-
plied successfully to the draining of lakes, bogs, and morasses ;
of hollow portions of land containing deep soil, but much in-
jured with water from the adjoining rising grounds ; and of
undulating ground subject to bursts of water. All these situ-
ations will be found to be connected with alluvial or rocky
strata, of difi^erent structure and compactness ; and in any
situation which possesses alternate strata, of various degrees of
permeability, these principles may doubtlessly be employed
with unfailing success.
It is the object of Mr. Stephens, in his Practical Drainer, to
enforce and illustrate these principles in every variety of situa-
tion to which they are applicable ; which will be seen by the
following extracts : —
" Open Drains. — In draining bogs or moss where the drains
do not reach the hard bottom, ditches are preferable to covered
drains, for should stones be used when the bottom is very soft,
they would sink, whereby the drains would become useless :
indeed, in all situations where the ground will allow it, the
principal drains should be open ; and when they can become the
division of fields, which, in many instances, is practicable,
that should never be neglected. It would be unnecessary to
give any particular directions for their depth or wideness, as
that must depend on the quantity of water they are to convey,
and on the nature of the soil and situation in which they are
made : one rule, however, may be general, that the width at the
bottom should be one third of that at the top, which gives a
sufficient slope to the sides, and the fall or declivity should be
such as the water may run off without stagnation. In very
soft soils, a greater degree of slope on the sides may be neces-
* The Practical Irrigator and Drainer. By George Stej hens. Land Drainer. 3d edit, Svo.
132
STEPHENS ON DRAINING.
sary ; and in all cases where it is meant to receive surface
water only, none of the earth thrown out should remain upon
the sides, but should be removed to the nearest hollows ; for,
when this is not done, their use is in a great measure counter-
acted. The earth, when left on the sides, prevents the surface
water from getting into the drain — its weight causes the sides
to fall in — makes it more difficult to scour or clean it — and
adds much to its disagreeable appearance in the middle of a
field. In cases where the augur or wells are obliged to be re-
sorted to in open drains, they should never be made in the bot-
tom, but on one side, with the outlet eight or ten inches above,
which will prevent surface or flood water depositing any sand
or sediment in the bore-holes whereby they might be injured.
" Shoulder Drains. — Any surface water or partial spnngs in
moss and marshy grounds, on which the large drains have no
effect, and where stones cannot be used on account of the soft-
ness of the soil, is most effectually removed by means of shoul-
der drains. The method of making them is, by digging a trench
from fourteen to sixteen inches wide, the sides perpendicular to
the depth of two or three feet, and then by taking out the last
spit with a spade, the breadth of which is three inches at the
bottom, and four or five at the upper part, a shoulder is left
on each side, on which the sod that was first taken up is care-
fully laid with the grass side downwards, or, if it is not strong
enough, others must be cut in the vicinity, and the remaining
space filled with the loose earth a few inches above the level of
the surface of the adjacent ground. Drains of this description,
when properly executed and moles kept out of them, will ope-
rate for a great number of years.
" Covered Drains. — lu every instance where covered drains
are used, their dimensions depend on the depth, the quantity of
water they have to carry, and the kind of materials they are
filled with. When the depth does not exceed five feet, two feet
wide at the top will be sufficient ; but, whenever it is more, the
width should be increased four inches for every foot in depth,
and the width at the bottom should be twenty inches, which
will give a sufficient space to build a substantial conduit. When
this is not attended to, and the bottom of the drain is made so
narrow that the stones of which the sides of the conduit are
foimed are obliged to be set on their edges and the covers laid
on them, in this insecure state, they, in many instances, fall
down before the drain is half finished, causing it to burst in a
very few years, and often forming springs in the driest part of
the field. '
" In digging drains, there are several circumstances which, if
attended to, will greatly facilitate the execution of the opera-
tions, such as having the stones laid down by the upper side of
the lines of the drains before the work is commenced, to be
ready in case tlie sides should slip or fall in, which often hap-
pens in mixed soils, as, when this precaution is not attended to,
the expense is not only considerably increased, but the work is
done in a less accurate manner. Particular care must also be
taken that the bottom of the drains is made with a regular
descent, so that the water runs from the one end to the other
without standing dead ; and where bore-holes or wells are ne-
cessary, they must be made before the conduit is laid, in order
that the sand may be removed which the water may throw up
from the stratum below, and would otherwise be deposited in
the bottom of the drain which would thereby he rendered use-
less. The dimensions of the conduit depends upon the quantity
of water it has to carry ; thus, in an outlet drain, it requires
to be larger than in a cross drain, which has only the water
collected in itself to discharge. In general cases, therefore, the
conduit in an outlet should be made from nine to twelve inches
square, and, in cross drains, from four to six inches square.
When the bottom of the drain is very soft, it must be laid with
flag stones, to prevent the materials from sinking ; and the
stones forming the side walls of the conduit must all be laid on
their flat beds, and covered with strong covers well joined to-
gether, and packed at their ends ; the space above, in clayey
soils, must be filled with stones, broken to the size of a man's
clenched hand, to within twelve inches of the surface of the
ground, which' remaining space must be filled with porous earth.
Before the earth is put into the drains, the stones must be
covered with straw, rushes, or turf with the green side down-
wards, to prevent the loose particles from subsiding into the
crevices among the stones. In cases where all the water comes
from bore-holes, or rises in the bottom of the drain, eighteen
inches of small stones above the covers are sufficient ; but when
it comes from the sides of the drain, it is necessary to fill the
drain above the covers with some kind of porous substances, six
inches higher than where the water breaks out : the neglect of
this precaution is the reason w^hy so many drains have so little
effect in drying land.
'* In making covered drains, particular attention must be
paid that they are not carried into the outlet at right ancles, as
their ends should be turned down in the direction the water is
to run a short space before they join it, to prevent the water in
the outlet depositing any sand or sludge in their mouths, which
will be the case if this is not attended to ; indeed it often hap-
pens, on almost every estate, that the drains are stopped and
rendered useless from this precaution being neglected. The
mouths of the drains ought also to be well built and secured
with iron gratings, to prevent vermin from getting into them ;
and it must be examined from time to time, to see that it is in
proper repair and the outlet kept a sufficient depth, so that the
water coming from the drains may ran away freely, otherwise
it will remain stagnant in them to the great injury of the land.
To obviate this, it is advisable that a person should be ap-
pointed on every estate, under the superintendence of the factor
or land-steward, to go through every field that has been
drained, at least once a year, to examine the mouths and outlets
of all the drains, and make any necessary repairs as he pro-
ceeds. Such an arrangement, I am convinced, would be very
beneficial, and is highly necessary, as I have often found drains
completely stopped in a year or two after they were made, and
the land beginning to be wet again from this cause alone.
Managers of landed property ought to be very particular in this
department of rural economy ; indeed a clause ought to be in-
serted in every lease, binding both proprietor and tenant to
keep the mouths and outlets of drains in proper order at their
mutual expense.
" Rumbling Drains. — These are well adapted for removing
water from alternate beds of clay and sand ridges, and also
water confined in porous soils with an impervious bottom, as
well as for receiving surface water from clayey soils. Their
depth, in the two former cases, is generally about four feet, and
in the latter from two to three feet, and twelve inches wide at
the bottom ; they are filled with stones, broken to the size of
coarse road metal, to within ten or twelve inches of the surface
of the ground, and, in clayey soils, the remaining space with
porous earth. Wood is sometimes used in duties of this de-
scription instead of stones ; but, as it is liable to decay soon,
and the drains will consequently be destroyed, it cannot be
recommended when stones, gravel, smithy-danders, or even
coarse sand can be procured. Indeed, whenever my opinion
has been asked with regard to making drains with wood, my
uniform answer has been against such a practice, having had
experience of so many instances in which wood had been em-
ployed, although stones might have been procured in the same
field, of the land having to be drained again within a few
years ; and, consequently, I could not consider myself acting
candidly towards my employers in advising it. An instance of
this occurred at Wallhouse, Linlithgowshire, a few years ago,
in which I was called on to make a plan to drain the ground
immediately around the mansion-house, and, having examined it,
I found that the whole had been drained some years before,
and the drains filled with thorns and other brushwood which
had decayed, and, the clay having fallen in, springs were formed
in many places in the lines of all the drains. What surprised
ON THE USE OF KELP COMBINED \VlTH PEAT-ASHES AS A MANURE.
133
me was to find them laid off io such a manner that there was
no occasion to allow any of the old lines ; and, having inquired
■who was the engineer, I was answered your late brother.
Being, however, aware that he never recommended drains to be
filled with wood, if stones could possibly be procured, and
more especially that he would not have done so in draining
pleasure grounds, where, in most cases, no expense is spared to
do the work in the most substantial manner, I suspected that
the work had not been executed according to his plan, and,
upon making further inquii^, I found that my suspicions
were correct, his specification having directed them not only
to be made with stones, but also to have been from two to three
feet deeper, which was exactly what I caused to be done, where-
by a complete drainage was obtained.
" Tile Drains.- — These are best calculated for removing sur-
face water, and are made just wide enough to let the tiles be
put easily into them ; they are, in most cases, about twenty
inches deep, but tiles may be used at any depth, provided the
drain is filled with broken stones, or other open materials, to
nearly the surface of the ground. The tiles should always be
well burnt, and laid on soles, as whenever this is neglected,
which is too often the ease where tile draining is now practised,
their duration will unquestionably be very short, whereas hard
burnt tiles will last for almost any length of time without
mouldering dowK. The expediency of using tiles instead of
stones depends entirely on circumstances ; for, if stones are to
be found, whether by collecting on the surface or ciuarrying
within the lands that are to be improved, or even if they can
be procured within a mile of the operations, tiles should never
be used. Stones are preferred to tiles in making drains in all
kinds of soils, provided a sufficient quantity are used ; but
where only a few inches of broken stones are used in a drain,
well-burnt tiles laid on thick soles, and covered with tnrf of any
other porous substance, would answer the purpose better ; and
in porous soils, when the water is found at or near the bottom
of the drain, if six or eight inches of broken stones were used
in packing and covering them, a more substantial drain would
be formed. In clayey or mixed soils, where the water enters
the drain at different depths, stones, gravel, or smithy-danders,
are the only materials that can be used with advantage ; in any
case, however, where the tiles are used, the space above them
must be filled to the surface of the ground with some porous
material, otherwise the drains will be useless, and the under-
taking will prove a complete failure."
Upon the whole, we have no hesitation in expressing Snr
opinion that Mr. Stephens' treatise is the best practical manual
in every respect of the several subjects of draining, irrigation,
and the embankment of rivers, of which it treats, that we
have met with. ,
ON THE USE OF KELP COMBINED WITH PEAT-ASHES AS A MANURE.
In 1832, a Scotch acre of dry stony ground, a great part of
which had formerly been the channel of a rivulet, was prepared
in the way usually followed in the cultivation of turnips.
A quantity of sea-weed was collected, dried, and burned in
the same manner as for kelp ; but, instead of allowing it to
form into a solid mass, it was removed from the fire in a cal-
cined state, in order to save the expense of afterwards grind-
ing it.
Of the ashes thus manufactured, twenty bushels were allowed
to the acre, and distributed in the drills with a barrow made on
the principle of bone-dust sowing machines.
When the turnips which were sown on this acre sprouted,
they had an unhealthy green, or rather yellowish appearance,
but, after some time, several patches in the field seemed to be
growing luxuriantly, while others seemed to retain their sickly
hue. Upon a careful investigation into the cause of this phe-
nomenon, it was discovered that wherever the ground was
deepest, and the ashes of the sea-weed had been most mixed yp
with the soil, the turnips were best ; and, on the other hand,
that where the ashes, not being mixed with the soil, came in
contact with the seed, the turnips did not at all thrive. In
cleaning the ground preparatory to drilling it, the weeds were
collected into heaps and burnt on the spot ; and it was observed
that, on the site of these heaps, the turnips were very nearly as
good as those on an adjoining piece of ground which had been
manured solely with dung.
In order to find out if the kelp ashes would have any effect
upon an after-crop, the turnips were not consumed upon the
ground. Last spring the land was merely harrowed and sown
down with oats and grass-seeds, and the oats, which have been
lately reaped, were quite as good as those which grew on that
part of the field manured solely with dung, except that they came
up thinner. The young clover is, however, thicker, and alto-
gether looking better than any crop of the same kind I have
ever seen in this part of the country.
As the result shewed that the quantity of kelp ashes xised in
this experiment was far too great, at least for the first crop, and
as the plants which grew on those portions of the field where the
ashes of the weeds were scattered were so far superior to the
rest, the experiment was repeated this year with a mixture of
kelp and peat ashes. A field of six acres was sown with this
mixture, distributed in the drills as before, at the rate of six
bushels of the kelp ashes and twenty-four of the peat ashes to
the acre ; and although, from various causes, the turnips were
not sown till the first week in August, they have grown remark-
ably well, and now, little more than two months from the date
of sowing, the average weight of them is from 2^ lbs. to 2 4 lbs.
Supposing kelp to be worth 'il. 10s. per ton, each bushel of
the kelp ashes would cost about two shillings, and the peat
ashes, which were in this instance collected from a number of
poor cottagers in the neighbourhood, who had been directed to
keep them dry and free of all sort of extraneous matter, cost
sixpence per bushel, so that, upon the whole, the price ofthe
manure was twenty-four shillings per acre. The labour of men
and horses being exactly the same as in sowing bone-dust, it is
unnecessary to offer any calculation of this part of the expense.
If this experiment be found to succeed elsewhere, as it has
done here (and there can be little doubt that, after a little more
experience, and in abler hands, it will succeed much better), it
may one day open up an important source of revenue, \i
not to kelp proprietors, at least to their poor tenantry, no indi-
vidual of whom uses any sort of fuel but pfat. At first it was
somewhat ditficult to convince the poor people from whom the
peat ashes were obtained for the experiment above detailed, that
they would be really purchased from them, and the consequence
was, that at first one-half of the quantity which each family
with a little attention could have supplied was thrown on their
dunghills, where, though it was eventually of some service, they
would never think of putting it, if they knew that they could
convert it into money. A man, however, was paid twcnty.five
shillings for his winter's ashes, and this year there is little
doubt that he will, besides enjoying the confort of a better fire
than he was accustomed to have, earn at least 21. for what, till
now, he had been in the habit of throwing at the threshold of
his door, as an invitation to cholera, or some other loathsome
disease. A. M.
134
DESCRIPTION
MABEKARIA ciliaris.
Gynandria Monandria. — Linn.
Orchidese, — Jc ss.
Herbaceous, either destitute of a stem, or forming a kind of
tuber above-gi'ouud (pseudobulbus) , by the cohesion of the bases
of the leaves, or truly caulescent. Roots in the herbaceous
species fleshy, divided or undivided, or fasciculate ; in the cau-
lescent species tortuous, green, and proceeding from the stem.
Leaves simple, quite entire, often articulated with the stem.
Pubescence rare ; when present, sometimes glandular. Flowers
in terminal or radical spikes, racemes, or panicles ; sometimes
solitary.
A native of North America, in meadows and drained swamps,
from Canada to Carolina. It is a beautiful plant, difficult of
cultivation : frequently imported into this country, but it never
lives long here. It flowers in June, from roots received the
preceding winter ; they should he potted in loam and vegetable
earth, and kept in a frame, under glass.
SC^VOLA MICROCARPA.
Pentandria Monogynia.- — Linn.
Goodenovise. — Brown.
Tube of the calyx adnate or half-adnate, rarely free ; the limb
5-cleft, or 6 — 3-partite, sometimes entire or obsolete, generally
equal, persistent. Corolla monopetalous, naore or less irregular,
deciduous or marcescent ; the tube cleft behind, sometimes cut
into 5 deep pieces, whilst the calj-x is nearly free ; the limb
5-parted, 2- or 1 -lipped ; the disk of the segments lanceolate,
plane ; the sides or wings of a thinner texture, elevated, with
an indupUcate asstivation, rarely obsolete, or wanting. Stamens
5, free, alternate with the segments of the corolla; filaments
distinct ; anthers distinct or cohering, linear, vertical, fixed by
the base, undivided, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally ;
pollen simple or compound. Ovary 2- or 1- (rarely 4-) celled,
with indefinite or definite erect ovules ; sometimes with a gland
between the two anterior filaments ; style 1, simple (rarely
divided) ; stigma fleshy, obtuse, undivided or 2-lobed, sur-
rounded by a somewhat membranaceous, cup-shaped, entire or
2-lobed indmium. Pericarp, when the seeds are indefinite, a
2- rarely 4 -celled capsule, or in consequence of the abbreviated
dissepiment almost 1 -celled: dissepiment generally parallel to
the valves, the axis bearing the seeds ;— when the seeds are defi-
nite (1 in each cell), a drupe or nut, bearing the seed at the
base of the cell.
This is a native of New South Wales : it was first raised by
Mr. Curtis, in 1793, as he informs us in his Magazine, from
seeds, which were brought accidentally to England in specimens
of earth.
It flowers in summer, continuing long : the plant is perennial,
of low growth : it must be kept in the greenhouse in winter :
it is propagated by cuttings, and should be potted ip: sandy-lpam
and peat. . , ,..,.
SEMPERVIVUM TABUL^FORME.
TABLE-SHAPED HOCSE LEEK.
Dodecandria Dodecagynia. — Linn.
CrassulaccEe. — De Cand.
Sepals 3—20, more or less combined. Petals equal to them
in number, and alternate with them, inserted into the bottom
of the calyx. Stamens inserted along with the petals, either
equalling them in number, and then alternate with them, or
twice as many, those opposite the petals the shortest ; filaments
distinct, subulate ; anthers oval, 2-celIed, bursting longitudi-
nally. There is a nectariferous scale at the base of each ovary.
Ovaries as many as there are petals, and, opposite to them,
placed in a circle, distinct, l-celled, tapering into the stigmas.
Carpels several, l-celled, opening longitudinally and internally.
OF THE PLATES.
Seeds attached to the margin of the suture, variable in number.
Albumen thin, fleshy. Embryo straight : radicale turned to-
wards the hilum.
A native of Madeira, introduced, according to Mr. Haworth,
in 1815. It is a curious plant : before flowering it has scarcely
any stem ; and the leaves, though numerous, are so closely
pressed together, as to form one compact, quite flat surface.
When it shoots into flower the leaves decay, as does after-
wards the whole plant : it can therefore only be increased by
seed. It must be protected from the frost in a dry greenhouse,
and potted in sandy loam.
DIGITALIS CANARIENSIS.
canary foxglove.
Didynamia Angiospennia.^LiNN.
Scrophularineie. — Juss. is
Calyx divided, persistent. Corolla mouopetalous, hypogj'nous,
often irregular, with an imbricated estivation, deciduous. Sta-
mens generally 4, didynamous, rarely equal, sometimes 2.
Ovary many-seeded, 2-celled : style 1 ; stigma 2-Iobed, rarely
undivided. Capsule (or very seldom a berry), 2-celled, 2 — 4-
valved, the valves entire of bifid, with the dissepiment either
double, from the inflexed margins of the valves ; or simple,
parallel with the valves and entire ; or opposite to them. Pla-
centas central, adnate with the dissepiment or separable from
it. Seeds numerous, albumiuose. Embryo included, straight:
radicle directed towards the hilum.
This is a native of the Canary Islands : itwas cultivated in
this country so long ago as 1698, but is by no means a common
plant.
It produces its elegant flowers in June and July ; they are
sometimes succeeded by rijie seeds : it may also be increased
sparingly by cuttings. It is necessary to keep it in a green-
house in winter : it should be potted in light loam.
ZIGADENUS BRACTEATA.
Hexandria Trigynia, — Linn.
Melanthacese. — Brown.
Perianth free, petaloid, 6-partite, tubular by the union of the
claws, with the segments in sestivation often involute. Sta-
mens 6 : anthers often turned outwards. Ovary 3-celled,
many-seeded : style trifid or tripartite : stigmas undivided.
Capsule often separable into 3, sometimes with the valves bear-
ing the dissepiment in the middle. Seeds with a membrana-
ceous testa, (neither black nor crustaceous). Albumen dense,
fleshy.
This is a native of Carolina and Georgia, and was introduced
in 1802 ; it flowers in September.
It is nearly hardy, requiring only the shelter of a frame in
winter. It should be potted in peat earthy and may be increased
sometimes by separating the roots,.
CYPRIPEDIUM INSIGNE.
NOBLE ladies' SLIPPER.
Gynandria Diandria. — Linn.
OrchidcEe. — Juss.
Perianth superior, ungent, of six segments in two rows, the
three outer usually coloured, of which the odd is uppermost in
consequence of a twisting of the ovary, and the one called the
lip (labellum) is undermost ; this latter is frequently lobed, of
a different form from the others, and very often spurred at the
base. Stamens three, united in a central column, the two late-
ral usually abortive, and the central perfect, or the central abor-
tive and the two lateral perfect, rarely all perfect. Anther either
persistent or deciduous, two, or four, or eight celled. Pollen
either powdery or cohering in definite or indefinite waxy masses,
either constantly adhering to a gland or becoming loose in their
cells. Ovary one celled, with three parietal placentas; style
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATLS.
135
forming part of the column of the stamens. Stigma a viscid
space in front of the column, communicating directly with the
ovary by a distinct open canal. Impregnation taking effect by
absorption from the pollen-masses through the gland into the
stigmatic canal. Capsule inferior, bursting with three vedves
and three ribs, very rarely baccate. Seeds parietal, very nu-
merous ; testa loose, reticulated, contracted at each end, except
in one or two genera ; albumen, none. Embryo a solid, un-
divided, fleshy mass.
This beautiful plant is a native of Nepal. It flowers in De-
cember and January, ia..Ae stove, which appears to be neces-
sEiry to preserve it.
It flourishes in vegetable earth, with a portion of sand, and
may be increased slowly by separating the roots. There is
something fascinating about this plant, as well in form as in
arrangement of its colours ; delightful to every eye, but doubly
so if we view it as formed by the kindness of God.
EUONYMUS AMERICANUS.
EVERGREEN SPINDLE TREE.
Pentandria Monogynia. — Linn.
Celastrinese. — Brown.
Sepals four-five, combined at the base, distinct from the
ov.iry, with an imbricated sestivafion. Petals four-five, alter-
nate with the sepals, rarely none. Stamens four-five, alternate
with the petals, with a doubtfully perigynous insertion ; anthers
two-celled. Ovary free, surrounded by a somewhat fleshy disk ;
two, three, four-celled ; cells one or many seeded. Ovules
erect, rarely pendulous. Style one, or wanting stigma, two-
four cleft. Pericarp a capsule, berry, durpe or samara, various
in fonn, often deformed by the suppression of some of the cells.
Seeds generally, especially in the capsular fruits, asillate. Al-
bumen none or fleshy. Embryo straight.
A hardy, almost evergreen shrub, of low bushy growth. It
has been long cultivated in this country, and is a native of
North America, where it grows wild in hedges and shady woods,
among rocks, and on the edge of swamps, from New England to
Carolina.
It flowers in June and July. The fruit, as in the other spe-
cies, is the most ornamental part. It wiU grow in any garden
soil, and is increased by seeds or layers.
ERICA VARIA.
VARIABLE HEATH.
Octandria Monogynia. — Linn.
Ericeae. — Lindley.
Calyx free, in five divisions, with four bracteas at the base.
Corolla monadelphous, nearly regular, five parted, marcescent.
Stamens definite hypogynous, alternate with segments of the
corolla. Anthers collateral, slightly cohering. Ovary one
celled, with a single erect ovule. Style single. Stigma en-
closed in a two valved cup. Fruit a membraneous utricle, en-
closed within the indurated tube of the calyx. Seed solitary,
erect, without albumen. Embryo with, plano-convex, fleshy
cottledons, and a minute inferior radicle.
This was introduced about the year 1810, from the Cape of
Good Hope, of which it is a native. It is a low, bushy kind,
flowering at different seasons, but principally in the autumn.
Like the other kinds, it must be preserved in an airy green-
house. It will increase by cuttings, and should be potted in
sandy peat soil.
RENANTHERA COCCINEA.
SCARLET FLOWERED RENANTHERA OR AIR-PLANT.
Gynandria Monandria. — Linn.
Orchidese. — Juss.
Stem often eight or ten feet in length, round, leafy, slightly
branched, the lower part sheathed with the persistent bases of
the leaves, pushing forth a few long, tortuous roots, by which
it clings to trees or stones. Leaves fleshy, distichous, vejnless,
flat, obliquely emarginate at the apex, dark-green, sublucid,
four-five inches long. Panicles lateral, loose, many-flowered,
two feet and a half long, with hard round branches. Bracteje
short, ovate, somewhat shrivelled. Ovarium continuous with
the short peduncle, pale red, with six furrows. Sepals spread-
ing, distinct at the base, not imbricated, fleshy, the three upper
linear, erect, the middle one being larger and spatulate, scarlet,
banded with yellow cloudy spots ; the two Imoer an inch and
half in length, longer than the upper, hanging down, collateral,
unguiculate, lanceolate, obtuse, abruptly undulated in the mid-
dle, scarlet, with a few obscure paler bands. Labellum dwarf,
only three inches long, bagged, articulated with the column,
three-lobed, the lateral lobes erect, truncate, yellow, bordered
and striped with scarlet, the middle one tongue-shaped, reflexed,
scarlet, yellow at the base ; saccus conical, obtuse, yellow and'
smooth inside, scarlet and dotted outside, with the throat cal-
lous all round. Columna scarlet, half round, the length of the
labellum apterous, striped with yellow in front, its anterior
margin incurved over the stigma. Stigma hollowed out, round-
ish. Anther terminal, opercular, dark scarlet, obtuse, one-
celled, half two-valved at back. Pollen masses two, reniform,
two-lobed at back, with a triangular gland, and a diaphanous
scarcely elastical caudicule, contracted in the middle.
The cause of previous want of success in inducing this plant
to flower has resided in its having been cultivated in too dry an
atmosphere. Mr. Fairbairn, gardener at Claremont, impressed
with this opinion, tried the effect of tying moss around the stems,
and keeping it constantly damp, exposed as much as possible to
the influence of the sun, which was entirely successful.
To botanists it has been as little known as to the rest of the
world, almost every systematist having omitted it. And yet
the language of Laureiro is far from unsatisfactory, allowance
being made for certain peculiarities of diction.
A native of the woods of Cochin China, where it climbs over
trees. Propagated without difficulty by cuttings. When in
flower, the plant may be safely removed to a dwelling apart-
ment, where the blossoms, which are very durable, will remain
in blossom many weeks.
CROTALARIA VERRUCOSA.
WARTED CROTALARIA.
Monadelphia Decandria. — Linn.
Leguminosffi. — Jess.
Stem erect, succulent, branched, augular, nearly smooth,
about two feet high. Leaves simple, ovate, apiculate, smooth,
with pubescent petioles, either acute or obtuse ; stipules half-
ovate, lunate, reflexed. Racemes terminal, many-flowered,
with the rachis, pedicels, and calyces pubescent, usually sterile
at the top. Bracteae very small, subulate. Corolla blue. Pod
oblong, inflated, pilose.
A tender stove annual, native of many parts of the East In-
dies, and varying extremely in the size and form of its leaves,
which are sometimes acute, as in the accompanying figure,
sometimes retuse at the apex, and sometimes even hastate.
PENTSTEMON DIFFUSUM.
SPREADING PENTSTEMON.
Didynamia Angiospermia. — Linn.
ScrophularineEe. — Juss.
Root perennial, creeping. Stems decumbent, rooting, branch-
ed, one and half to two feet high, round, smoothish, purple.
Leaves evergreen, ovate-oblong, unequally serrated, smooth,
deep green ; the upper serrated, the lower decurrent on the
petiole. Peduncles axillary, pubescent, generally shorter than
the leaves, many-flowered at the apex. Bracteae pubescent.
136
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
ovate-acuminate, entire. Calyx turbinate, pubescent ; the seg-
ments spreading, finely lacerated at the edge, aristate at the
point. Corolla purple, an inch long, smooth ; the upper lip re-
tuse, the lower trifid, with rounded segments. Fifth filament
sterile, the length of the tube bearded. Capsule ovate, slightly
pubescent.
A beautiful hardy perennial, with evergreen leaves, and de-
cumbent, rooting stems, by which it is readily increased. Na-
tive of open grounds and banks of streams in the districts
around the mouth of the Columbia River, where it was found
abundantly by Mr. Douglas.
Grows freely either in common light garden soil or in the
American borders, in both which situations it flowers in the ut-
most profusion from June till its growth is arrested by frost.
SINNINGIA VILLOSA.
SHAGGY SINNINGIA.
Didynaraia Angiospermia. — Linn.
Gesnerese. — Juss.
Stem round, thick, fleshy, simple, two feet high, pale green,
villous. Leaves on long petioles, oblong-lanceolate, crenate,
convex, villous, appearing as if strigose, pale green. Flowers
aggregate in the axillae of the leaves, than which they are much
shorter, on short peduncles. Calyx obovate, villous, the length
of the winged ovarium much shorter than the corolla. Corolla
externally villous, pale green, not dotted, about two inches
long.
This is a fine stove plant, floAvering abundantly during all the
summer, and growing freely in peat and loam. It requires a
high temperature, and much atmospheric moisture, to succeed
perfectly.
A native of Brazil, whence roots were sent in 1S26 to the
Horticultural Society by Henry Chamberlayne, esq. It is in-
creased with much difficulty by cuttings or by leaves.
PRUNUS CANDICANS.
SNOWY PL0M.
IcosanJria Monogynia. — Linn.
Amygdalaceffi. — D. C.
Leaves soft, oblong, simply serrated beneath, and on the
petioles, which are pale, pubescent. Flowers white, very nume-
rous, heaped in many, flowered fascicles, so as to cover the
bearing branches. Pedicels and calyces pubescent ; tube of the
calyx short, spreading, segments ovate, downy inside. Petals
oblong, unguiculate. Fruit unknown.
A fine hardy shrub, apparently not exceeding five or six feet
in height. Its native country is unknown. It was first pub.
lishcd by Mr. Balbis, in his Catalogue of the Turin Garden, in
1S13 ; and in the same year its name appears in Schlechtendal's
Supplement to Willdenow's Enumeration of the Berlin Garden.
We believe that the date of its introduction to this country is
1825, in which year plants were received from Messrs. Bau-
manns, nurserymen at BoUwiller, in Germany, by the Horticul-
tural Society.
This plant is quite hardy, easily cultivated, and in the spring
is so laden with white blossoms as to seem a mass of snow
amidst the green leaves and rosy flowers of the season. From
this circumstance its name has undoubtedly been taken, and not
from any peculiar whiteness of its leaves, as Mr. Seringe ap-
pears to suppose ; the under side of the leaves is not, indeed,
unusually white.
CASTILLEJA COCCINEA.
VERMILION-LEAVED CASTILLEJA.
Didynamia Angiospermia. — Linn.
ScrophularineBe. — Juss.
Stem annual, decumbent, striated, covered with long hairs.
Leaves oblong, trifid at the end, or entire, covered with long
hairs, with three nerves ; the lowest often entire. Bractese ob-
long, pinnatifid, scarlet, yellow, or white. Calyx tubular, with
a dilated limb and retuse segments. Corolla green, pubescent ;
its tube shorter than the calyx. Capsule roundish, oblong.
Seeds cuneate, reticulated.
A pretty hardy annual, native of gravelly soils in various
parts of North America. It is very abundant in upland mea-
dows about the river Columbia, where it was found by Mr.
Douglas. Seeds were sent by him to the Horticultural Society
in 1826, and plants produced by them flower in the open border.
Increased by seeds, which are produced in small quantities.
Should be grown in gravel or peat, and sand, and not in loamy
soil.
The plant as represented in the accompanying plate varies
materially from its wild state, in having its lower leaves entire
and not trifid ; but in other respects it agrees with the spon-
taneous specimens. The vermilion colouring of the bractese is
very beautiful ; sometimes it varies to a lively yellow, and even
to white.
PENTSTEMON PULCHELLUM. •
PRETTY PENTSTEMON.
Didynamia Angiospermia. — Linn.
ScrophularincEe. — Juss.
Stem erect, branched, a foot and half high, slightly pubes-
cent. Leaves linear-oblong, serrulate, smooth, the uppermost
sessile, and somewhat amplexicaul. Panicles terminal, simple,
rather one-sided, with two-flowered peduncles, longer than the
bractese. Sepals pubescent, somewhat glandtdar. Corolla
violet or lilac, pubescent, without glands, ventricose, with white
veins ; segments nearly equal ; palate spotted, villous. Sta-
mens smooth, the uppermost the length of the tube, and some-
what exserted ; sterile filament the same length as these,
bearded at the end.
A handsome, half-hardy perennial, a native of Mexico, whence
seeds were brought in 1826 to Mr. Tate, of Chelsea. It thrives
exceedingly well if planted in a warm border exposed to the
south.
This species is very near pentstemon, campanulatum, from
which it dilfers principally in its corolla being paler, more in-
flated, and destitute of glands, which abound on the corolla of
penstemon campanulatum. The leaves of this plant are also
less finely toothed, not so acuminate, and of a more oblong
figure.
LUPINUS LAXIFLORUS.
LOOSE-FLOWERED LUPINE.
Monadelphia Decandria. — Linn.
Leguminosse. — Juss.
Stems tufted, slender, pilose, purplish, I-l|^ foot long. Cau-
line leaves densely pilose ; stipulse subulate, very small ; leaflets
7-9, linear-lanceolate. Racemes lax, stalked; bractese subu-
late, the length of the pedicels, deciduous, very pilose. Calyxes
somewhat alternate, densely pilose, without bracteolse ; the up-
per lip short, ovate, entire, with a sort of bag at its base ; the
lower ovate, acuminate. Vexillum blue, obcordate, with the
keel, which is beardless, and the wings pale rose-colour.
A small, slender, perennial species, found by Mr. Douglas in
dry, open, gravelly plains, about the great rapids of the River
Columbia, where it is very common, forming patches of con-
siderable extent, occasionally acquiring a sufi'ruticose habit.
The flowers are blue, mixed with pink, and, although not
equal in appearance to some of the larger species, extremely
beautiful : they appear in August and September.
Grows readily in common garden soil : it has not yet pro-
duced seeds, but will increase by division of the root.
I
i
47
IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE. PARMESAN CHEESE.
137
THE IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE.
Frederick the Great, king of Prussia, was one of the most
enlightened improvers of the internal state of a country, that
ever existed. In that important hranch of policy, he principally
followed the advice of the celebrated Hertzherg, from whose
Jnemoirs the following particulars are extracted : —
" The prosperity, the happiness, and the resources of a great
nation, consist indispensably in the multiplicity, the quantity,
and the good quality of those means by which such nation
can procure, in the first instance, the necessaries, and after-
wards, the conveniences of life.
" As corn and all liinds of grain furnish certain food and sub-
. sistence to numerous inhabitants (fisheries only supplying small
districts), AffricuUui'e is incontestibly the source and positive
basis of subsistence for a great and populous country ; since it
furnishes grain of every kind for the support of man and beast,
as well as wine, beer, oil, timber, 6cc.
" Agriculture also furnishes flax, hemp, wool, silk, and every
thing necessary for the raiment and other comforts of life ; and
all the principal ingredients for manufacture, navigation, and
commerce. By these means, and the barter of its surplus,
it acquires gold and silver ; which last, though without intrinsic
value, have been received amongst all civilised nations, as the
sign and representation of wealth.
" Agriculture not onlymaintains the labourer and the husband-
man, but likewise every other class of individuals, not engaged
therein, but employed in any other calling or profession whether
civil or military.
*' Agriculture is then tlie grand staple and basis of pros-
perity in all states ; and this principle has prevailed to such a
degree for some time in France, that a set of ingenious agricul-
turists, to whom the lofty title of economists or physiocrates,
has been given, more conversant, perhaps, in theory than in
practice, have made every effort in their power to ol)tain for
agriculture, the chief and sole favour of government, p.irticu-
larly by a free exportation of corn, yet laying on agriculture,
almost exclusively the burthen of taxes. The impropriety of this
principle was soon discovered on more mature I'eilection ; for a
wise government, though it gives equal attention to nafionul
indiistn/, will not exempt it generally from national burthens.
This is doubtless the second basis of the prosperity of states,
since it gives the utmost value to the natural productions of a
country, as well as the labour and ingenuity of individuals, with
a considerable greater profit to those thus employed, than what
is got by labourers who till the land. It is such labour, as
Smith has admirably proved, which constitutes the true crite-
rion, and univeral estimation, of all merchandize and riches ;
and money is only the token ; for all productions, artificial and
natural, are the result of the labour of individuals, to support
themselves, and dispose of their surplus. The result of whicli
is, that the labour of individuals and national industry, which
form the second basis of national prosperity, may, on certain
occasions, supply the place of agriculture. Thus, the French,
with an inconsiderable portion of agriculture, have, for above a
century, rendered all the nations of Europe tributary to their
ingenuity, invention, and labour, in mechanic arts. Have not
the Dutch with a miserable barren soil, yielding a small portion
of what is wanting for themselves, carried on an universal trade
and navigation throughout Europe, and availing themselves of
the indolence of their neighbours, furnished them with their
wants, even such as the Dutch themselves did not possess.'
Have not the Spaniards, with all their silver, been at times in
want of bread ? Thus, Poland, a fruitful country, abounding in
corn, the result of agriculture, for want of national industry,
is bereft of many other conveniences of life. All these pre-
mises leave not the least doubt on the general principle, that
the primary basis, and prosperity of a state, and its most cer-
tain riches, consist in a well directed agriculture, and abun-
dance of natural productions ; and the second basis depends
upon national industry, giving by labour a value to natural
MAG.IZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL. II. NO. XIX.
productions, and, by ingenuity and application, a still greater
value to manual arts and manufactures.
" Impressed with suet, ideas as these, the sovereigns of
Prussia granted large sums for the cultivation of wastes, drain-
ing of bogs, the embanking of rivers, and other objects of in-
ternal improvement. Frederick the Great, in particular, dis-
tinguished himself in this way. He also rendered important
service to agriculture, by authorizing and encouraging tlie abo-
lition of commons, and separating arable laud from pasturage,
by which an individual proprietor may reap much greater ad-
vantage, than if he held such right in common with others."
We propose following up these views of the importance of
agriculture, by giving in a series of papers an account of the
various branches of husbandry pursued in Great Britain and
Ireland, with such suggestions as may arise as to the capability
of farther improvements which the United Kingdoms present.
PARMESAN CHEESE.
The following account of the method of preparing cheese in
the Lodecan, commonly called Parmesan cheese, is taken from
the Journal de Physique.
Tlie size of these cheeses varies from sixty to one hundred
and eighty pounds, depending considerably on the number of
cows of each dairy. During the heat of summer, cheese is
made every day, but in cooler months mUk will keep longer,
and cheese is made every other day. The summer cheese, which,
is the best, is made of the evening milk, after having been
skimmed in the morning and at noon ; mixed with the morning
milk after having been skimmed at noon. Both kinds of milk
are poured together into a copper caldron, capable of holding
about 130 gallons, of the shape of an inverted bell, and sus-
pended on the arm of a lever,' so as to be moved olf and on the
fire at pleasure. In this caldron, the milk is gradually heated
to the temperature of about 120 degrees; it is now removed
from the fire, and kept quiet for five or six minutes. When all
internal motion has ceased, the rennet is added. This substance
is composed of the stomach of a calf, fermented together with
wheaten meal and salt ; and the method of using it is, to tie a
piece of the size of a hazel nut, in a rag, and steep it in the
milk, squeezing it from time to time. After a short space, a
sufficient quantity of rennet passes through the rag into the
milk, which is now to be well stirred, and afterwards left at
rest to coagulate.
In about an hour the coagulation is complete ; and then the
milli is again put over the fire, and raised to a temperature of
about 145 degrees. During all this time it is heating, tile mass
is briskly agitated, till the curd separates in small lumps ; part
of the whey is then taken out, and a few pinches of saffron are
added to the remainder, in order to colour it. When the curd is
thus broken sufficiently small, nearly the whole of the whey is
taken out, and two pails fall of cold water are poured in. The
temperature is thus lowered so as to enable the dairy-man to
collect the curd, by passing a cloth beneath it, and gathering
it up at the corners. The curd is now pressed into a frame of
wood, like a bushel without a bottom, placed on a solid table,
and covered by a round piece of wood with a great stone at
the top. In the course of the night it cools, assumes a firm
consistence, and parts with the whey ; the next day one side is
rubbed with salt, and the succeeding day the cheese is turned,
and the other side is rubbed in the same manner. This alter-
nate salting on each side is practised for about forty days.
After this period the outer crust of the cheese is pared off ; the
fresh surface is varnished with linseed oil : the convex side is
coloured red, and the cheese is fit for sale.
-OCTOBER, 1834,
138
STACKING HAT, HAY TEA. EXPERIMENTS, &C. ON BREAD AND FLOUR.
OF STACKING HAY.
The mode in whicli hay is stacked in the vicinity of London
deserves to be more generally known than it is, and particu-
larly, should the enterprising agriculturists in the north attend
to it, where the hay is by no means so carefully or judiciously
manao-ed. In the neighhourhood of London, the crop is cut
when very green, before the blade is hardened, or the sap nearly
exhausted ; thus, in the first place, saving the land from farther
exhaustion, and increasing the value of the produce. As soon
as cut, it is put into small cocks, and stacked with due speed."
But it is the manner in which the hay is stacked we at pre-
sent particularly refer to. Two large posts are perpendicularly
erected at a distance from each other, equal to the length of
the intended stack ; a cross beam is laid, stretching from one
post to the other, upon which a large piece of canvass is hung,
intended as a covering to the stack during the time of building;
and the hay is brought in small quantities, according to the
state of the weather, or the degree of drying it has received.
By this means whenever any portion is got into condition for
keeping, it is instantly secured, whilst the stack is kept from
injury by the sort of umbrella that covers it. Thus also is the
■whole mass allowed to settle 'down gradually, which tends to
keep it from over-sweating, a thing highly injurious to natural
grasses. In such a variable climate as that of this island, this
method of preparing and preserving hay should be extensively
practised.
0
OF HAY TEA.
When speaking of hay, it may not be out of place to give a
receipt for the making of hay tea, which is a good and cheap
substitute for milk to feed calves, as has been found in the
north of England. Take a large handful, or about one pound
of red clover hay, w'ell got in and preserved, and boil it in six
quarts of clear spring water, until it is reduced to four quarts.
Then take out the hay, and mix one pound of barley, oat, or
bean meal amongst a little water ; put this into the pot whilst
it is boiling ; keep the whole continually stirring until it is
boiled and thickened. Let it cool to be lukewarm, then give
it to the calves, adding as much whey as will make a' sufficient
meal.
EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS ON FLOUR
AND BREAD.
The following judicious experiments and observations on flour
and bread were delivered by Dr. Iriving to the Committee of
the House of Commons, appointed in 1774 to consider of the
methods practised in making flour from wheat, &c., which we
think are worthy of being known at any time.
" To grind wheat into flour with the greatest advantage, the
millstone should make about sixty revolutions in a minute ; if
faster, the stones acquire too mucli heat, and give a burnt taste
to the meal ; if slower, a part of it adheres firmly to the bran
or husk, and cannot he separated in the bolting.
" Floui', when kept some time, evaporates a part of its
moisture, becomes less adhesive and clammy, loses somewhat
of its agreeable taste, and imbibes a greater portion of water in
the making of it into dough : the bread of it appears smoother
in the cutting, whiter in the grain, dries sooner, and becomes
more crumbly, than the bread of new flour. These reasons in-
duce the baker to prefer old flour to new in the making of
bread.
" The yeast of porter does not raise bread so perfectly as that
produced from small beer ; besides, it is bitter to the taste ;
the baker, therefore, in London, instead of using a sufficient
quantity of yeast for the leavening of his bread, mixes only a
small portion of it with flour and water, made to the consistence
of a syrup, called spunge, which, when fermented, is added to
the flour ; and, being worked up together into dough, the whole
mass is siiflfered to ferment.
" Tliis method, however, of leavening the dough, is by no
means so good as that in which yeast only is used ; as it gives
the bread a sour taste, frequently perceptible in that of London.
I find by experiment, three pounds and a half of flour, kept a
year in a dry place, requires two pounds of water to make it
into dough, and loses in the baking into bread, ten ounces ;
but from the variable age, dryness and quality of the flour, with
the indeterminate degrees of kueading and baking, it is impos-
sible to ascertain the exact proportion of water in all cases;
nor is any uniform proportion ever observed by the bakers.
*' Flour made from heated or damaged corn does not tho-
roughly mix with water, so as to form a perfect dongh, unless
a small portion of alum be added. In this case, the baker is
induced to use it ; as he may be likewise, when the water with
which he makes the dough is very muddy : alum having the
property of purifying it. I find, however, by the experiment
of dissolving the salt from bread by water, and adding to the so-
lution an alcali (Avhich would discover the earth of alum by pre-
cipitation) that the bakers in London very seldom use alum, but
substitute hard pump water, with an extraordinary quantity of
common salt ; which, in some measure, answ^ers their purpose
in the working of damaged flour.
" Flour or bread, freed of its salt, being burnt in a crucible,
leaves behind only a very small portion of earth ; but if ^chalk,
lime, whitening, bone ash, or any calcareous substance, be mixed
with either, these foreign ingredients will remain unconsuraed in
the crucible, and the quantity may be perfectly ascertained.
" The mixture of these ingredients with flour or bread may
also be discovered, by adding spirit of salt well diluted with
water ; and their quantity known by precipitation with a fixed
alcali. The following experiments were made with a view of
ascertaining these facts.
" FirsL One pound of fine flour, burnt in a crucible, left be-
hind twenty-eight grains of earth; of which nineteen were
sandy matter ; the remainder soluble in an acid.
" Secondhj. One pound of bread of a quartern loaf, freed of
its salt by water, and treated in the same manner, gave forty-
three grains, of which twenty-nine were sandy matter ; the
rest soluble by an acid.
" ThirdJij. One pound of bread added to spirit of salt, suf-
ficiently diluted with distilled water, gave scarce any precipi-
tation of earth by adding a fixed alcali.
" From these and other chemical trials, several times re-
peated with flour and bread procured in many parts of London
and Westminster, the result was nearly the same, except that
coarse flour and bread contained a few grains more of earthy
matter. It evidently appears, therefore, that no frauds were
practised in the above samples.
" The defects of the London bread seem to be owing to the
following causes: — 1st. The use of old flour, in preference to
new, which gives the bread a less savoury taste. 2nd. The em-
ploying s^j»»(/e, instead of yeast; which generally gives a sour,
unpalatable taste to the bread; and, .'Srd. Not kneading it suf-
ficiently, but, in place of that labour, using too great a quan-
tity of water, which makes the bread heavy and unpleasant."
THE AGRICULTURE OF ABERDEENSHIRE.
We propose to give a series of papers on the various branches
of rural economy ; and for this purpose shall fix upon some
particular county in the United Kingdoms, as the text for
particular subjects. In a former number the Dairy Husbandry
of Ayrshii'e and the western counties of Scotland have been
shortly described; we now proceed to the prominent feature
in the agriculture of Aderdeenshiie, availing ourselves of the
THE AGRICULTURE OF ABERDEENSHIHB.
139
cscellent report, of tliat county, drawn up by Dr. Skene
Keith. Gardeners, cottagers, possessing small allotments of
land, and farmers of all descriptions, cannot but be struck
and benefited by the reverend gentleman's information,
which we now abridge.
Necessity first drove the proprietors and small farmers of
Aberdeenshire to cultivate their lands in a manner to afford a
lesson to many others, viz.. by a mixture of the plough and
spade husbandry. From the peculiar situation of the cities
of New and Old Aberdeen, on a small neck of land between
the rivers Dee and Don, near their entrance into the sea, it
became necessary to cultivate all the ground in their neigh-
bonihood. Grass for the cow-feeders, garden-roots, and other
articles of provision, which could not be brought from the
neighbouring territory, were much wanted. As the popula-
tion amounted to many thousands, and was rapidly advancing,
the matter became more urgent. To improve the old lands,
therefore, and to trench with the spade and mattock a consi-
derable quantity of very rough soil, extending about three
miles from Aberdeen, were the steps taken to accomplish the
necessary object. In t!ie course of forty years, at least three
thousand acres in that vicinity were brought into cultivation.
The ground had been either covered with heath and fi 1 led with
stones almost to the surface, or interspersed with patches of
grass and large masses of granite lymg above ground. Tlie
expense of bringing into a good state such land was immense,
and probably never incurred in any other part of the island
to the same extent and in similar circumstances; nor could
it have been borne if the first crop had not produced from
30/. to 50/. per acre; this crop was granite stoues, which was
sold for paving the streets of London,
After all, the ground thus gained to the community would
not have recompensed the cultivator if a mixture of the
spade and plough husbandry had not been introduced. It
■would have yielded too little if tilled only by tlie plough,
and the outlay would have been too great if the soil had
been constantly digged by the spade. A medium process
therefore w.as adopted, which answered admirably ; and which
in the neighbourhood of all large towns should be adopted,
unless the nature of the ground forbid it. Gardeners and
cow -feeders, who pay lugh rents, are by this means enabled to
raise two crops in one year, or three crops in two years. Tlieir
rotations of cropping are very quick ; yet one year of clover
cut for soiling, or made into hay, and the pasturing of this
grass next year till after midsummer, and their breaking it up
for turnips, keeps the thin land near Aberdeen in good con-
dition, and tends to give more tenacity to the soil, which is
naturally light and of a loose texture.
Trenching is practiced in barren land, which abounds in
stones of different dimensions, used for this purpose, it is the
most complete method of rendering such land arable. In tliis
case the surface is cut into square or oblong pieces, and thrown
in the bottom of the trench, excepting when forming the first
trench, which of necessity is thrown on the barren or unbroken
laud. Tlie labourer cuts off a breadth generally of Ihi-ee feet,
and throws out both soil and subsoil to the depth of about
fifteen inches, and as long as he finds it expedient. He throws
all the stones on the surface, and generally requires two
spadiags and two shovcKnijs, to fill up his trench. The first
spading is about eight inches deep, if he be able to pierce so
far into the ground — this is thrown into the open trench;
then with a shovel he throws the loosened earth, left by the
sjiade, above the spading; after which he digs a second time,
and what is now raised is laid also above what was formerly
dug, using the shovel to level the bottom ; and thus, if the
new trench be deep enough, he is prepared to shape off ano-
ther course, to be dug and thrown in the same manner.
But it often happens that the spade cannot pierce stony
ground. In this case a kind of mattock, provincially termed
a pick, is applied, and this till the requisite depth be gained.
"Where the mattock is too weak to lift the stones levers are
used ; and if these be insufficient, they are blown by gun-
powder.
Wlien the ground is wet. the labourer shews particular
accuracy and dexterity in laying the bottom of the trench.
The grassy surface is most carefully laid on its back, and
every sod compactly joined together, that the water may form
a new pan or channel between the soil and subsoil. The bot-
tom of the trench is cleared of all loose earth and formed into
a slope, with a small descent if possible for the water, Ijefore
the surface is inverted or compactly laid. It is the care used
in scouring the bottom of the trench, laying the inverted sur-
face, and properly joining the sods, that renders the trenching
so useful in wet lands.
If draining be necessary as well as trenching, the drains are
cut as much deeper than the bottom of the trench, as that the
whole water contained in the drain shall be below the level of
the bottom of the trench. Only a small part of the bottom of
the trench is made to slope gently into the drain, that no
water may remain among the grassy sods.
When the object is merely to deepen the soil, the ground In
the subsoil is cliietly loosened by the mattock. But in this case
it is necessary that the bottom of the trench be completely
picked up, and that no interstices of hard subsoil be left between
the trenches. The labourer must also cka« the teeth of the trench,
so as to prevent any space being left unloosened by the spade;
otherwise the breaking of the plough, that comes in contact
with the ridge that was improperly left, is not the only evil
attendant on what uuskilfulness or dishonesty left unloosened.
It often happens that the soil and subsoil are of different
qualities ; trenching mixes them, and produces a better soil
than either. The surface no doubt is turned into the bottom;
but by using the shovel twice, the two are considerably mixed;
whilst in the course of two ploughings the thing desired is
completed. Trenching is also practised with great success
when the subsoil is tilly and very tenacious. When the moory
soil is thrown into the subsoil of a trench, and a mixture of
moor with the till in the bottom is laid on the top, the super-
abundant moisture is carried off, and the land becomes very
productive.
• Cropped land, especially when injured by getting too much
lime, is completely renovated by trenching; and either dung
or lime can be applied to the greatest advantage. Where
additional depth can be obtained by the plough, as in deep
soils, trenching is not necessary, even after once cropping.
But where the soil is different, and when by piercing the pan.
new soil is brought up, dung and lime are always applied with
success. Trenching, to mention one other benefit resulting
from it, is of the utmost service in foul land, or when either
stronger or cleaner soil can be brought to the surface. This
can always be done with the spade when the common plough
would be useless, and when the trench-plough could act very
imperfectly.
Such is the manner in which the effective process of trench-
ing has been carried on in Aberdeenshire, to the vast improve-
ment of the county, within these last seventy years ; furnish-
ing a highly important lesson to all who would improve or
renovate their lands.
ON THE FOOD, FIRING, CLOTHING,
DWELLINGS, GARDENS, AND COTTAGE FARMS
OF THE LABOURING CLASSES.
In our last number we gave the plans and the description of
several cottages, well worthy the attention of all who would
delight to see the condition of the labouring classes bettered.
The neatness, convenience, comfort, and cheapness of these
little dwellings must strike the mind of every one who glances
at them for the shortest period. Every thing tending to the
welfare of this interesting and most necessary portion of the
community has at all times been an important consideration in
the eyes of philanthropists ; but never certainly has the public
140
THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE LABOURING CLASSES.
jnind been so completely and earnestly engrossed with the sub-
ject as of late. The depressed state of the country, the scarcity
of employment, or the inadequacy of wages, are not the only
causes for this extraordinary degree of general excitement.
The Poor's Law Bill has brought the most momentous matters
connected with the lower orders to be discussed, whilst the
marvellous revolutions that have occurred, or are taking place,
in every department of social life and sentiments, unite to lend
to whatever concerns their dearest interests on earth an im-
mense value and weight.
The matters named at the head of this paper embrace
every thing, excepting education or morals, that is necessary
to human happiness, so far as its blessings are to he com-
manded in this world. In the careful, earnest, and benevolent
discussion which we now enter upon concerning the domestic
economy of the labouring classes, we shall be led to point out
the various states and fashions of those things particularly
named, as they are to be found in different parts of the empire,
and sometimes as they are to be seen in other countries. For
we have long lamented, that out of the thorisands of British
travellers that have treated the public with what they have dis-
covered in other regions, not one of them ever seems to have
thought it worth his while to devote his time and his talents
to the observation of the domestic economy of the most useful
orders that is to be found in any community. What a field for
investigation ; and how plentiful harvest would of knowledge, the
real, active, practical, and living knowledge, be ! This discus-
sion will naturally enable us or others to suggest further im-
provements from the lights v.-e fall in with. The public at large
have no conception how little one portion of our countrymen
know of the plainest and most necessary domestic operations of
another. Were there nothing more done by us in this attempt
than to shew the people in the north what is an every day iJiing
in the south, or, rather, were the inhabitants of the south to be
told what is constantly practised in the north, we venture to
predict that an amount of real benefit would instantly result
from this reciprocity of information that would far outweigh
the good which any one direct act of legislation has for a long
time accomplished. For it would lead the people themselves to
work out their own well-being, in which vohmtary endeavours,
the blessings conveyed in the thing obtained are not probably
so great as the habits which accompany the cheerfulness and
alacrity of the performances. Much railing has been afloat regard-
ing the English poor laws. Our taste and present object lay not
in this way ; for we are sure, that were the lower orders them-
selves earnestly to set about their own regeneration, the con-
sequences would bt much more delightful than those that can
possibly arise from stern legislation. Did they themselves
know the best practical modes of reducing their expenees, with-
out diminishing their comforts ; did they know the way by
■which to prepare cheap and pleasant substitutes for those articles
■which in times of scarcity and distress exhaust so much of their
daily earnings, doubtless advantage would be taken to a'remarka-
ble extent of such information. There are many mechanical con-
trivances which may with little expence be applied to render
the cottager's habitation much more comfortable than gene-
rally is to be found.
The labourer has many difficulties to struggle against. His
"wages are often too small, and he is as often obliged to pur-
chase the articles he must have in such petty portions as to be
at a great disadvantage compared with more opulent persons.
But above and beyond all this, ignorance, custom, or prejudice
lead him to adhere to improvident systems of dress, diet, and
other branches of private expenditure, which are much more
generally disastrous than any other cause cxternid to himself.
To convince an employer that he gives inadequate wages is not
an easy task ; but to make the wages received go a great deal
farther than they generally are allowed to go, depends on a few
simple arrangements at home. Alas ! how many instances
there are where no eccnomy can shield the virtuous poor. Still
there are as many in the deepest wretchedness of penury from
wasteful habits; and did our earnestness affect only this por-
tion, the result would be glorious. It has been an assertained
fact, that the greatest portion of inmates in the poor houses,
have been persons in the receipt of the best wages. We by no
means wish to enforce a cold-hearted doctrine, however, but
one tender, beneficient, and encouraging. It is this, that the
labourer's income may be spent in a far more advantageous
manner to himself than it usually is ; and with equal profit,
too, to those who subsist by the demand for consumable com-
modities ; for a decrease in the demand for such would be a
blow to the national good ; a thirst for superfluities is even of
great public benefit. But we are anxious that the labourer
should know what is the surest method of commanding such
commodities, nay, such superfluities, in health, sickness, and
old age. The humble labourer, still more the pauper, is an
object of the deepest concern to every well-regulated mind. He
who has been reduced by unavoidable misfortune should claim
equal observance in the eye of a brother with him who has
raised himself by extraordinary efl'orts from humility to dig-
nity, we mean, as an object of wonder ; whilst, as an object of
sympathy, it argues sorely against human nature that the con-
templator does not make himself great, through the oppor-
tunity ofl'ered for elevating his depressed brother. But what
shall we say to the improvident poor, to the wretched profli-
gate ? This is the class that above all others claims a nation's
heart. What is the woful state even of him who has been re-
duced by misfortunes, against which he was unable to stand,
compared to that one who has with a suicidal hand destroyed
his own earthly welfare ? that one who is wretched here, and
whose prospects hereafter oft'er no alleviation or recompense ?
It should be a nation's pride and labour, it should be the
leading object in every man's eye, to reclaim, regenerate, and
save this array of mankind. Pity it is that any should never,
either in time or throughout eternity, have tasted pleasure or
comfort 1 Be it our endeavour therefore on this occasion to
hold up in a plain and tangible shape some good things within
the reach of very many such of our most destitute and degraded
brethren. Numbers are so besotted and wedded to vice or
prejudices, that they turn from the benefits ofl'ered. But let
us implore for those the attention at least of their employers ;
the persevering and generous good oflices of every sound-think-
ing man. We think the contents of the following pages may
in some degree tend to direct a philanthrophic enquirer in this
matter : —
Diet leads us at once to make a remarkable comparison to
the habits of the labouring classes of these islands. There is
not only a great difference in the proportion of earnings appro-
priated to the pru'chase of subsistence by labourers in the
north and south of Great Britain, hut in the mode of preparing
it ; the dissimilarity is matter of wonder to us. In the south
of Kngland the poorest labourers are habituated to the unvary-
ing meal of dry bread and cheese from weeks' end to weeks'
end ; and in those families, whose finances do not allow them in-
dulgence of malt liquor, the deleterious produce of China consti-
tute s their v.snal beverage. \ If a labourer is rich enough to afford
himself meat once a week, he commonly adopts the simplest of
all culinary preparations, that of roasting it ; or, if he lives
near a baker's, of baking it ; and if he boils his meat, he never
thinks of forming it into soup, that is not only as nutritive,
but certainly more palatable than a plain boiled joint.
In the north, on the contrary, the poorest labourers regale
themselves v«ith a variety of dishes, wholly unknown in the
south, and at a cheaper and more wholesome rate. M'e shall
give an intelligible description of the processes there followed
out in their culinary duties. The luisly pvddmg is one of the
simplest articles. This is what Burns calls " the healsome
porritch, chief of Scotia's food." It is made of oatmeal, water
or whey, and salt in the follow-ing manner : To a quart of
water, whilst it is boiling in an open pot, a small quantity of
salt is added, and of oat-raeal, about 13 ounces are dropped into
it by little and little whilst boiling, and kept stirring by a stick,
THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE LABOURING CLASSES.
141
called a spurde. The wliole is boiled for several minutes till it
becomes of a proper consistence. This quantity is sufficient for
a meal for two labourers, and it is eaten with milk, bvitter,
beer, or treacle ; the best liquid, however, is butter or churned
milk, which, as prepared in Scotland, is delicious. See a paper
in our last number on the Ayreshire Dairy System. This is an
extremely nutritious dish, and highly relished by those who
have become accustomed to it. A good meal for one person,
supposing the price of oats to be twenty shillings per quarter,
w'ill not exceed a penny. But a little bread and cheese gene-
rally follows the mess.
Croicdiff or brose is a dish the most easily made ready, though
not so common as the former. The process is simply pouring
boiling water over dry oatmeal, and stirring it a little ; milk or
butter is then added, and the matter is complete. Fuf brose is
a luxury ; this consists of boiling broth being poured on oat-
meal, instead of water, and the meat from the broth is eaten
along with it. When they boil corned beef, which is generally
done on Sunday, this supplies enviable stores of savoux'y skim-
mings for crowdics. This last dish is most in use in the north
of England.
Frumenti/ or barleij-milk, is barley boiled for abaut two hours
in water. Milk is then added, and sometimes a little sugar.
But for hot weather, here comes the lightest and most cooling
food in the world perhaps ; it is called soicens, a kind of flum-
mery. It is thus made : When the oats are ground at the
mill, the husks or seeds as they are named, gathered in sifting
the meal, are as occasion rcquix-es put into water, where they
remain for about two days ; they are then wrung or strained
out again; and this process is repeated a second and third
time in different vessels of water. By this process all the
small mealy particles that were attached to the seeds are ex-
tracted. The waters are then mixed together, and when the
whole has stood about six hours, the clear water is poured oif,
and fresh water is added. When the sediment which is thus
obtained is to be used, it must be stirred up, and water put to
it till it will just tiuc'e a wooden dish with a whitish colour. It
is then put into a pot and boiled for nearly an hour, care being
taken to stir it all the time ; and it is said that the mess must
always be stirred one way. When poured into basons, it soon
acquires a considerable degree of solidity, and becomes, if suf-
ficiently boiled, perfectly smooth, like what is blanc-mange. It
is eaten with milk ; it has a deliciously simple taste, conveying
the idea of the utmost purity. But though cheap, it is by no
means a very nutritive dish. It suits admirably for supper, for
which in warm weather it is generally used, being, if allowed
to stand to cool in the coolest part of the house, as gratifying
as iced cream.
Potatoes every where now is an indispensable article of food.
But in the north ihcy are cooked in several ways unknown in
the south. We go on to mention one or two of these pro-
cesses. A principal dish is of potatoes peeled or scraped when
raw, chopped and hoUed along with a small quantity of meat
cut into very little pieces, or of bones that have been pretty
well bared; pepper, salt, onions, &c. are added. This is a
cheap and nutritive article, as the Johscouse of sailors may inti-
mate to many persons who have never visited the north of
Great Britain. In Scotland there is, during winter, very com-
monly a mess of nimhle-de-thump. This is a potful of pota-
toes that, after having been peeled, are carefully boiled. The
potful is then beat with a round and broad-ended staff to a per-
fect mass of meal ; which, as good dry potatoes are sought
after, is beautiful and white. Milk is then gradually added,
whilst the whole is kept stirring by means of a spurtle, till it
comes to a proper degree of thinness. Butter and pepper are
also add^d where they can be afforded ; and onions sometimes,
which have been beat along with the potatoes. The whole
presents a dish which a high authority has said is fit for a
prince.
What will some people say, when it is told, that seldom in
London are plain potatoes to be found well or perfectly boiled ?
But let lis hear what Count Rumford has advanced in reference
to directions of the Board of Agriculture on this point. In
London, he says, the proper mode of preparing potatoes as
food is little attended to ; whereas in Ireland and Lancashire
it is brought to very great perfection ; where they are fre-
quently ate as bread. The potatoes should be as much as pos-
sible of the same size, and the large and small ones boiled
separately. Tliey must be put into a pot with cold water, not
sufficient to cover them, well washed, but neither pared nor
scraped. (We would here add to the Count's statement, that
the practice of salesmen having the potatoes washed, it may
be for hours, or even days, previous to being boiled, is highly
injurious to the flavour of the root, and is a thing we never
saw in the north). If the potatoes ai'e tolerably large, it will
he necessary, as soon as they begin to boil, to throw in some
cold water, and occasionally to repeat it till they are boiled to
the heart. They will otherwise crack on the outside before
they are thoroughly cooked. Salt occasionally thrown in is a
great improvement ; but the slower they are boiled, the better.
When boiled, and the water is poured off, evaporate the mois-
ture by replacing the pot once more over the fire. They
should be brought to the table with the skins on, and ate with
a little salt, if used as bread. Nothing but exiperience can
satisfy any one how superior the potatoc is, thus prepared, if
the sort is good and mealy. Boiling, he continues, is better
than steaming, as it discharges a certain substance, which the
steam alone is incapable of doing. With fish, butter, milk,
even sour milk, an excellent mess is thus obtained. Yes, with
nothing better than butter-milk (not the nauseous stuff which
is to be generally found in English dairies), the potatoc is un-
commonly nutritious, and strongly conducive to aid the prolific
nature of mankind, as is proved in the case of the peasantry of
Ireland, who subsist almost entirely on such food. As Sir
F. M. Eden asks, from whose work on the state of the poor
we have largely drawn. Where have we more numerous hordes
of ruddy, healthy, and strong children, than may be seen daily
issuing from the cabins of the Irish poor ? Potatoes are a
strong instance of the extension of the means of human enjoy-
ment in modern times over the ancient. The price of wheat
no doubt, in comparison with the money price of labour, has
lately considerably increased. But many articles of food and
clothing can now be obtained by poor cottagers, which the rich
in much earlier years could not command ; and the root of
which we ai'e speaking seems the most remarkable. It is in
truth, now-a-days, " the poor man's wants, the rich man's
luxury." Potatoes can be turned to many uses which we can-
not taiTy to notice. We can here only farther say of them,
that in the north, mixed with oatmeal, or the flour of wheat,
barley, or rye, they are very frequently turned into cakes,
Scotch broth. — It is not necessary pr.rticularly to describe
this soup, as the pi-ocess by Avhicli the diih is made is generally
well enough known. The principal thing regarding it, for our
present purpose, is to say, that since it is a wholesome delicious
and cheap mess, particularly where there are many children, it
is to be lamented that it should be comparatively so rare in
England, Its rarity, however, must be chiefly owing to the
extravagant way the Southrons go to work in providing the
ingredients. Meat with them is the principal point, whereas,
we should say, vegetables are the most important in the north.
Beef, mutton, bacon, and these salt as well as fresh, are de-
voted to the bi-oth-pot ; a small piece of cither is sufficient for
a large quantity of vegetables, scarcely any species of which,
that is to be found in a kitchen-garden, is thought unsuitable.
In the south, the Scotch allotment of meat, in broth-making,
is laughed at. But a due regard to the most wholesome and
enlightened style of feeding man will call for abundance of
vegetable diet, as well as of butcher's meat. We think it would
be easy to show on which side the grossest error lies. At any
rate the broth-eaters seem to be as brawny and as long-lived
as the beef-eaters. Whilst the poor north-country labourers
can manage to rear a pig, or save as much as will purchase
14-2
THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE LABOURING CLASSES.
now aud then a small piece of meat, he will have his hot and
abundant mess at a comparatively small expence. Nor is it to
he overlooked, that potatoes, or abundance of other vegetables,
made into broth, always present an appearance of abundance
on the table, which no moderate expenditure in meat can ever
accomplish : a point of itself of extensive bearings.
Braid, the staff of life, claims our consideration. The
great features connected with this subject to be observed in the
north, are the various kinds of grain used for the production of
bread, especially that of oats ; and the making of it, being a
domestic occupation. In Cumberland, bread is generally made
of barley. After the usual process of turning the meal into
dough, with salt, &c., it is baked in unleavened cakes, about
half an inch tliick and twelve inches in diameter ; but is more
commonly leavened, and made into loaves of about twelve
pounds each. These loaves are usually baked in ovens heated
with heath, furze, or brushAvood. A common oven will bake
about three Winchester bushels of barley made into bread at
once. This bread will keep good for four or five weeks in win-
ter, and two or three in summw. It is considered an ex-
tremely nutritious article.
Oaten calces prevail all over the west of Scotland. They are
made generally only with water ; the dough, beiu^ kneaded
well, and rolled out into a thin, broad, and round form, which
is then cut into fardels or cakes, is placed upon a girdle or
gridiron to be hardened. The hardening, however, is best
completed by afterwards putting the cake in front of a clear
hot fire. These cakes keep sound for months ; but are for a
short time.;?)'cd again, after having lain long. The whole pro-
cess of baking and hardening them seems extremely simple ;
still, like many a simple process, the utmost dexterity is neces-
sary to its perfect performance ; so that being a good baker is
one of the greatest recommendations a servant can bring with
her.
Bannocks, which constitute in other parts of Scotland the
common bread, are thick unleavened cakes, made of water and
meal only ; pease, barley, and oatmeal are all in use; the last
most frequently. Sometimes milk, butter, or cream, with
eggs or carraway seeds, are employed without any water. Now,
a Scotch labourer will not allow wheaten bread to come into
competition with these sorts to which he is accustomed. Habit
is second only to nature ; and whoever is at pains to measure
his expenditure with his income, is not to be excused, if he will
not use, for the staff of his life, the cheapest article, so long as
it is wholesome and invigorating.
The principal advantage, however, which the labourers in the
north have over those in the south, in the matter of diet, is
the great variety of cheap and savoury soups to which they,
almost without exception, devote every sort of butcher's meat.
They never lose a drop of the liquor in which any species of
meat has been boiled ; for to roast is considered by the common
people as the most prodigal manner of cooking it ; since
thereby they cannot convert water and vegetables into a nutri-
tious soup. Could the use of barley, oatmeal, and soups be
introduced into the south, the condition of the labouring
classes would be at once wondrously improved.
The principal consumption of barley in the south is in malt
liquor ; and wc think a given quantity of the same grain may
be by the culinary art reduced into a soup, only by means of
water, w'hich will contain as much nourishment as beer. It is
certain that a person might subsist entirely on barley broth,
when porter would not support him. Count Rumford says,
.that each portion of barley soup should consist of one pint and
a quarter for one person, which, if rich, will afford a good
meal to a grown person ; and that such a portion will weigh
about one pound and a quarter, or twenty ounces averdupois.
That the basis of each portion should consist of one ounce and
a quarter of barley meal, boiled with one pint and a quarter
of water, till the whole be reduced to the uniform consistency
of a thick jelly. All other additions to the soup help, of
course, to make it more palatable.
In the north, milk forms a gi'eat portion of a labourer's
food : indeed, give his wife oatmeal and milk, and she will
astonish a fastidious appetite with her dainties ; more espe-
cially, if a morsel of meat he now and then within her reach ;
for she is sure to have a little garden, and then what else does
she require ? Certainly beer is not likely to be within her
doors or mouth for years. In the south, however, the prac-
tice of keeping cows is not nearly so general as in the other
direction. Before we close this paper, we shall have to speak
of cottage farms, and therefore can only here at present la-
ment that milk is such a minor point in any part of the em-
pire. With regard to milk, broths and soups, we are aware,
however, that a strong aversion prevails in the south. They
are condemned as washy stuffs, only fit for hogs ; and it is
said such liquids will not " stick to the ribs."
There certainly is a medium between food that is entirely
liquid, and what is entirely solid ; and when we consider the
toughness of, and the thirst occasioned by, the expensive sus-
tenance of London labourers, for instance, perhaps we may find
that the liquid which they are inclined to swallow amounts ia
quantity to as much as is usual with the same class in the
north. Beer is expensive, and if the labourer cannot afford
this beverage, quantities of weak tea, with a little sugar or milk,
are resorted to. In the north, and among poor labourers, tea is
not an every day indulgence ; whilst amongst those that are re-
spectable, it is only an afternoon dainty. Beer, again, is un-
known amongst them, unless when at market or when gay.
The limpid stream, whey, or milk, is their beverage : the two
first are cheap — the last feeds whilst it allays the thirst.
Drunkenness, no doubt, is prevalent in both quarters of the
island, amongst the worthless. But what we say is true, that
no species of strong and expensive drink, excepting milk, is at
all considered as a necessary of life in the north. If a la-
bourer in the south, whose habits are temperate, were to count
his yearly expenditure in beer, we think he would be staggered :
or, setting the prejudice aside, were he to compare its value
with the milk that thereby might have been procured, and
turned to various purposes, would he not be ashamed ? and last,
but not least, let him consider the temptations connected with
beer drinking, compared with the circumstances of the sorts of
beverage we recommend. We are confident, that so long as he
patronizes soups, pure water, cheap whey, or nutritious milk,
he neither will awake in the morning with a head-ache from
his debauch, nor find his pocket unfairly managed, nor encoun-
ter many dangerous associates. There are, however, other
things besides food and drink, necessary to man's welfare ; —
Fuel is a strong instance.
It must be confessed, that, as respects firing, the poor man
in the south of England has obstacles to encounter beyond
those in the north, and this affects, in no slight degree, his cu-
linary practices, and causes him, for instance, to send his meat
on a Sunday to the baker's. But it may be doubted, whether
the same fuel which is required to boil a tea-kettle twice a day
is not sufficient, with proper management, to dress various
kinds of soup. It is to be regretted, however, that the habi-
tations of the poor, for the most port, are badly adapted for
culinary processes. There is great room here for improve-
ment and ingenious contrivances. One very obvious truth is,
that the size, the position, and the form of the fire-place, may
cause a most wasteful, as well as uncomfortable current of air.
The slightest pains may at any time narrow the throat of a
chimney, immediately above the mantel piece, and circumscribe
the dimensions of the fire-place, when they are too large.
But, of course, the position of such an essential feature in any
apartmcnthelongs to the builder of the mansion. We refer our
readers on this point, to the plans for such dwellings as we are
treating of, given in our last number. It is not to be ques-
tioned, however, but that many economical inventions may he
used to obtain heat and firing, not at present known. It even
appears, that long ago, in England, several artificial means
were used, as we have discovered from certain old documents in
THK DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE lABOUEING CLASSES.
143
the British Museum. The curious may wish to see something
of what our ancestors did in this way. The scarcity and high
price of provisions during the civil wars turned the attention of
the people to many important subjects of domestic economy ;
and the following "Good news for the Poor" seem to have
been circulated about that period of time.
" 'Tis certain," says the writer of these good news, " neces-
sity is at the most times the parent of ingenuity. To pay forty
or fifty shillings for a chaldron of coals went deep into a trades-
man's pocket. Whereupon some plodding industrious heads,
that had seen fires of turf or peat iu the cou'jitry, or been in
Holland, where (as one saith pleasantly) they fetch fire out of
water, burning a kind of mud taken out of their ditches and
dried, began to think of mixing clay with their coals, which
they found succeed so well, that several eminent victuallers and
coffee-houses (particularly near the Royal Exchange) make it
now their common fuel, to their great advantage. The man-
ner of doing it is thus : —
"Take two loads, that is to say, a chaldron of coals, and
cause them to he sifted iu a wide-hole sieve ; that so all the
dust and small coals may go through, and the great round coals
remain behind. Then take a load of clay, and cause it to be
mixed well together with the said dust or small coals ; for
which purpose, if your clay be not moist enough to work up
well, you may wet it a little ; then make it up either in round
balls, or like bricks, but let them not be above half so big every
way ; and then letting them lie for some time to dry well, they
■will be fit for use: for having laid a small thin bottom of coals,
you must then lay on these pieces, iutermixing now and then
one of your round pieces of coal among them : this shall pro-
duce you a most rare fire, burning more clear, and casting a
greater heat than all coals: it shall continue fresh and in good
order, with very little trouble, a whole day, and is not offensive
in smoke, smell, or otherwise." Such is the receipt. The
writer goes on to say, that this will last longer than any three
chaldron of coals. He adds — " Some have thought it conve-
nient to put in a matter of two sacks of saw-dust to the afore-
said clay and coals, and upon experience find it does very well,
drying the clay, and making it the sooner fit for use."
Balls of small coal, mixed with clay, are said to have been
much used all over South Wales, particularly in the counties of
Pembroke and Carmarthen. They are formed about the big-
ness of a man's feet, great iu the middle, and verging smaller
towards the ends. They are generally made up and put upon
the fire quite wet, in the form of a pyramid ; and, when tho-
roughly lighted, make a most brilliant appearance. One of
these fires will last ten or twelve hours. Those who live near
the sea, instead of clay, use mud taken from under flood-mark
at low water ; which, from the quantity of salts it contains,
makes the ashes a valuable article of agriculture to the hus-
bandman, and in horticulture to the cottager ; for every cot-
tager in South Wales has a little garden, in which he grows his
own leeks, potatoes, cabbages, cole-worts, pease, &c. The
balls mixed with mud emit no disagreeable smell in burning.
But this is a subject which we rather endeavour to bring be-
fore the eye of the philanthropic and ingenious, than to afford
any thing new of our owm, not despairing that great improve-
ments and savings may be accomplished, to the apparent bene-
fit of the poor, Che.ip, yet comfortable houses deserve atten-
tion here, as immediately bearing, in an eminent degree, upon
the condition of the labouring classes. To what is to be found
on this point in our last number, we add ; that the sorts of
cottages seen in the different parts of the island are extremely
various : being of clay, brick, wood, or stone. Those of wat-
tle and daub, as they are called, are perhaps the warmest ;
those of brick or wood the driest ; and those of stone the most
durable. The mode of building those of the first mentioned
class, in the county of Dumfries, is, according to the Statisti-
cal account of the parish of Dornock, as follows ; which, as re-
gards cheapness and expedition, perhaps is unrivalled in this
country.
" The farmhouses in general, and all the cottages, are built
of mud or clay." (Of late years, however, we remark, mason-
work has come much more into use than foi'merly in tliat dis-
trict.) "These houses, when plastered and properly finished
within, as many of them be, are exceedingly warm and comfort-
able, Themannerof erecting them is singular. In the first place,
tliey dig out the foundation of the house, and lay a row or two
of stones ; then they procure from a pit contiguous, as much
clay or brick-earth as is sufficient to form the walls ;. and having
provided a quantity of straw or other litter to mix witu the clay,
upon a day appointed the whole neighbourhood, male and fe-
male, to the number of twenty or thirty, assemble, each with a
dung-fork or spade, or some such instrument. Some fall to
working the clay or mud, by mixing it with straw ; others carry
the materials ; and four or six of the most experienced hands
build, and take care of the walls. In this manner the walls of
the house are finished in a few hours ; after which they retire
to a good dinner and plenty of drink, which is provided for
them, where they have music and a dance, with which and other
marks of festivity they conclude the evening. This they call a
daubing, and, in this manner, they make a frolic of what would
otherwise be a very dirty and disagreeable job.
The diversity in the mode of preparing food is not greater
in the north and south of Great Britain than in the styles and
kinds of dress.
In the midland and southern counties, the laboiu-er in general
purchases bis clothes from a shop-keeper. In the neighbour-
hood of London, he usually purchases second-hand articles. In
the north, almost every article worn by the lower orders, not
many years ago, was manufactured at home, excepting shoes
and hats, and still is to a characteristic extent ; though the
midland system has rapidly gained ground of late. In Scotland
amongst the peasantry, linen, stockings, and flannels continue
to be generally made at home. We may say indeed, that the
labourer is poor, or worthless, who has not an enviable web of
linen, grown, spun, and bleached by his wife and daughters.
Such a web as will serve for winding sheets or wedding shirts
for every one of the family is commonly found ; and preserved
not merely to be shewn a visitor for its beauty, but as a symbol
of affecting anticipations. There are therefore strong moral
feelings of an excellent order connected with this article. The
labourers week-day shirt is a strong and coarse cloth, made of
the refuse of the fine lint. Farm servants and labourers knit
their own stockings, which is their usual employment through-
out long winter niglits ; and as the thread is spun at home, and
generally of three plies, about eleven ounces of wool go to the
pair. All these home-made articles are comparatively expensive
at the first, but they greatly more than cover this, by their dura-
bility and comfort, over those which are purchased in the mar-
ket. In the Highlands again, every man is Jack of all trades ;
and many a family appear at kirk and market, neat, tidy, and
almost fine, whose dresses have never been brought from more
distant quarters than the neighbouriug hills, where the wool is
reared on the patch of adjacent land where the flax is grown.
It is quite clear, however, that such primitive customs never
will be introduced in more populous or enlightened districts,
neither should we have made these observations respecting dress,
were it not that many sterling virtues seem to go hand in hand
with homely manufactures ; and that it is to be greatly lamented,
labourers' wives and daughters of the present day are inclined
to scorn the most becoming frugal habits of domestic eco-
nomy. But besides many fireside practices which with great
advantage might be introduced amongst the lower orders, there
are some out-door operations to be warmly recommended to the
cottagers in landward parts, to which we now proceed: we mean
the culture of a patch of ground, embracing a garden, and a
small allotment, for more extensive operations, in the style of
farming.
There are a great many cottagers who might, with the utmost
advantage to themselves, and of course to the community, culti-
vate a small piece of land. We know there has been, and stiU
144
THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE LABOURING CLASSES.
is considerable diversity of opinion on this subject ; alUiough of
late the AUoiment System, as it is called, has been gaining able
advocates ; whilst the great alteration contemplated by the
Poor's Law Amendment Bill, there is little doubt, will give an
additional weight to the discussion. To cottage farms, one of
the most commonly urged objections is, that they make of coun-
try labourers, not only bad servants, but also bad farmers. We
admit that there is a good deal in this, w-hen those farms
amount to four, five, or eight acres or such like. But what we
recommend is more properly called an allotment than a farm,
and should run in extent somewhere near one acre of land ; but
never above one and a half. At any rate that the management
of these should never interfere with the regular employment of
the cottager ; and yet that the possession of a cow should be
an object of first-rate consideration.
We are not going to be particular in our rules as to how the
cottager's garden, and allotment of land, are to be cultivated.
The great feature which we would have to be introduced is the
keeping of a cow-, and therefore the crops raised should have a
particular respect to this object. Much variety and enlivening
beauty might be imparted to many dreary wastes of the country,
were this system generally introduced among our rural labourers
and artizaus. But there would be something better ; there
would be a moral health spread amongst the lower orders, which
is ever inseparable from the natural and primitive character of
the operations referred to. Active and virtuous children are
reared where the spade, the flail, and the stable afford them a
regular recreation. But think of the degraded class who seldom
rear a third or second child without parochial aid 1 We have
known such, who, had they, instead of sending miles for a drop
of milk, been gifted with or possessed of this docile, most use-
ful animal, for the poor-man's household, of which we speak, a
totally opposite domestic picture would have been presented, not
merely as respected comfort, but purity of life.
But instead of general assertions and theoretic fancies, it for-
tunately is in our power to substitute facts and the truths
taught by experiment : to these we now call the attention of our
readers. Sir John Sinclair tells us of an experiment tried on a
large moor farm in the highlands of Scotland. Two acres of
arable land or fit to be made arable was allotted the cottager,
together with a house and garden, the proprietor becoming bound
to employ him for 100, 200, or 300 days in the year, as the
cottager chose : paying him so much grain and so much money,
in proportion to the number of days agreed on.. Thus the la-
bourer, in a manner, received rent from the landlord, instead of
paying any. This measure was adopted with great success with
a number of cottagers : nor could any be better devised for the
benefit of a thinly peopled country. General improvements may
thus be carried on by residenters ; so that it seems worthy of
the attention of extensive proprietors in similar situations. It
ought to be added, that, as Sir John farther mentions, wliilst
the men were employed by the proprietor, the women managed
the cottage farm at home.
And this brings us to a case, which we find quoted by Mr.
Davies, author of a View of the Agriculture of North Wales.
On Pulley common, be says, in Shropshire, there is a cottager's
tenement, consisting of somewhat more than one ninth of an
acre. The spade and the hoe are the only instruments used,
and those cliiefly by his wife, that he may follow his daily la-
bour for hire. The plot of land is divided into two parcels,
whereon she grows wheat and potatoes alternately. In October
when the potatoes are ripe, she takes oflr the stalks of the
plants, which she saves to produce manure by littering her pig.
She then goes over the whole to collect the weeds for the dung-
hill. She next sows the wheat upon the surface, and then
takes \ip the potatoes, with a three pronged fork ; and by the
same operation, the wheat-seed is covered deep. She leaves it
quite rough, and the winter frost mellows the earth, and by its
falling down in the spring, it adds vigour to the wheat plants.
She has pursued this alternate system of cropping for several
years. The potatoe crop only has manure. In 1804, a year
very noted for mildew, she had fifteen Winchester bushels of
wheat from 272 square yards ; being four times the general
averaging crop of the neighbouring farmers.
What has been the Shropshire cottager's history since 1804,
we have not learnt, but the somewhat distant date of the case
cannot affect the principles we seek to inculcate. Neither does
the remoteness of the era, to which the following minutely de-
tailed facts relate, weaken their force. The example, and the
manner in which it is explained, seem so applicable to our pre-
sent purpose, that we cannot do better than make use of them,
which we now enter upon. What we refer to, is an account of
a parish, drawn up by Thomas Estcourt, Esq. M. P., and pre-
sented to the Board of Agriculture in 1804. He tells.
That Lour/ Newnton contained 140 poor persons in 1800.
They were willing to exchange their claims to parochial relief
for any other aid, suitable to their habits, that would yield, with
their labour, a better prospect of procuring the common domes-
tic comforts of life. Upon this, it was proposed,
That each cottager on his application for the same should be-
come tenant of a small quantity of arable land, under proper re-
strictions, and at a fair rent ; but that no person should be
allowed to occupy more than the family of such person could
cultivate, without improperly interfering with his usual labour ;
nor more than he could procure manure to keep in high fertility;
that the large families should not therefore occupy more than
one acre and a half, the smaller families less, in proportion as
their numbers were fewer and not likely to increase.
That the rent of the land should be at the rate of one pound,
twelve shillings per acre. It was never known before to bear
more than twenty bushels of wheat to an acre, under the best
cultivation, and would have let to a farmer at about twenty
shillings per acre.
That one-fourth part of the land in each person's occupation,
should annually be well manured in rotation, and planted with
potatoes ; that the remainder should be managed as the tenant
should think proper, except that no person should have two
exhausting crops of corn (viz. wheat, barley, oats, rye) suc-
cessively.
That the land should he forfeited to the landlord if not cul-
tivated and manured as above mentioned ; or if the tenant
should be lawfully convicted of a felony, or any other offence
against the law, for which he would be liable to a fine, or im-
prisonment.
That it should be forfeited, if the tenant should receive any
relief from the poor rates, except medical assistance, and ex-
cept such relief as the family of any tenant should receive,
under the authority of any law relating to the militia, or any
other act of parliament that might afterwards pass, of a simi-
lar description , for the defence of the country.
That the land should be granted, if required, for a term of
fourteen years ; but the lease or agreement, should be void,
by either party giving the other three years' notice of such
avoidance.
This was the offer made them. They entered warmly into
the idea ; promised every possible exertion on their part to give
it success; and all accepted the offer, except two widows with
numerous families of yormg children, and some very old infirm
persons without families, who had not the courage to make
the experiment.
The high price of provisions at that time, notwithstanding they
all had a very liberal allowance from the poor rate, had run
them so much in debt for the common necessaries of life (chiefly
for bread), that, it being deemed essential to their success that
they should be freed from these incumbrances, money was ad-
vanced on loan amongst them, in proportion to their w-ants,
amounting to the sum of forty-four pounds sterling.
At Lady-day in 1801, each person entered on the first part,
or one-third of the land allotted to him; at Lady-day, 1802,
they entered on one-third more; and, at Lady-day, 1803 on,
the remainder.
Now, as to the result that speedUy followed this arrange-
ON THB FINEST VARIETY OP FKtTIT TREES.
145
ment. The only persons who had received any relief from the poor-
rate of this parish after Michaelmas, 1801, were the four old infirm
persons before mentioned (two of . them died soon afterwards),
and the two widows with large families. The two widows,
after a time, rather than go with their families to a work-
house, were, at their own request, put on a footing with their
neighbours, and received no relief from the moment their first
crop came into use ; the one having six, the other eight small
children, the eldest not twelve years of age. No person in
1804 had forfeited his land; but three single men had asked
leave to resign theirs, being able to subsist very well by their
labour.
Mr. Estcourt goes on to state a great many other striking
circumstances concerning this allotment experiment, which we
must abridge. He says, one circumstance was particularly
gratifying, viz., that those poor persons who had the largest
families, and were the heaviest charge to the parish, were those
who set the highest value upon their land, and the most anxious
therefore to avoid any act by which it would be forfeited. The
hoe was actually employed by the women and children to keep
the crops clean, who also performed almost all the other opera-
tions, excepting tilling and the carriage of manure and produce.
They soon discharged every debt owing by them, and nothing,
when Mr. Estcourt wrote, could reduce tliem to the
necessity of again applying for parish relief but some severer
calamity than they had ever been visited with. There is this
other obvious benefit resulting from the experiment described ;
the people felt themselves obliged to look forward, and to pro-
vide against occasional distress, which stimulated them to in-
creased industry and economy. The farmers of the parish too
admitted that they never had their work better done, nor found
their servants more able, willing, civil, and sober.
Mr. Estcourt farther states, that although the keeping of a
cow is justly deemed a very beneficial practice to a poor family,
yet, as it is attended with some difficulties in certain situations,
it was tliought proper not to make it a necessary part of the
experiment ; but as the poor are frequently discouraged from
economical practices on account of not being able to employ to
advantage any small sum they may save, it was proposed that
if any person could buy a cow, it should be taken in to joist at
five pounds four shillings per annum ; nor was it long ere a cow
or two had been purchased, whilst the other cottagers were
looking eagerly forward to their being able to do so also. One
thing deserves to be observed, that if charity alone were the ob-
ject, in such an experiment as we have now detailed from Mr.
Estcourt's pamphlet, a better mode of it could not be devised
than that which enables the poor man to exert with effect and
with honest freedom that strength and those faculties which
Provddence has blessed him with for the benefit of himself and
the support of his family. But it does more, for, whilst it con-
fers blessings upon the poor, it embraces the interests of the
rich, and adds to the welfare of the whole frame, moral and na-
tional, of society.
Various matters might be suggested as improvements upon
the experiment made at Long Newton ; and we had proposed to
ourselves to go at some length into their statement. But what
has already been said will enable any person who feels earnest
on the subject to point out for himself such things in a manner
more satisfaetoi-y than there is room for us at present to do.
Nor are we willing to injure the effect of the facts given, by any
speculation on such momentous questions as the welfare of the
labouring classes embraces. The introduction of milch cows,
and a little dairy business, are the things we should greatly de-
sire to have added to the allotment — farmers' domestic
economy.
THE FINEST VARIETIES OF FRUIT TREES FOR THE
SOUTHEKN OR MIDLAND COUNTIES OF ENGLAND.
The following list of fruit trees, drawn up from the experience
of some of the most competent judges in this country, will be
MAG.iZINE OF BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL.11. NO. XIX-
found highly worthy of the attention of any one anxious to
form a select collection. The different kinds contained in
everynurseryman's catalogue are so numerous, that it is a matter
of the greatest difficulty to know which to choose. In the Horti-
cultural Society's Catalogue, published in 1826, there are no
fewer than three thousand varieties, to which fifteen hundred
more might be added. Of this multitude, however, more than
a half are unworthy of being cultivated ; and of the remainder,
not above one quarter can be called first-rate kinds. In the
collection which follows, the second-rate and doubtful sorts are
left out, as also m!:ny common ones, when these ought to be
supplanted by newly-raised varieties. We only have to inti-
mate further, that none shall be named that may not be easily
procured.
Adam's Pearmain. Dessert. Winter and spring.
Hubbard's Pearmain. Dessert. Winter and spring.
Golden Reinette. Dessert. Autumn.
Dutch Mignonne. Dessert. Spring.
Gray French Reinette. Dessert and kitchen. Winter and
spring.
Franklin's Golden Pippin. Dessert. Autumn.
Golden Harvey. Dessert. Winter and spring.
Early Red Margaret. Dessert. July.
Juncating. Dessert. July.
Boston Russet. Dessert. Spring.
Canadian Reinette. Dessert and kitchen. Winter and spring.
Excellent.
Norfolk Beaufin. Kitchen. Spring. Cood for drying.
Traver's Pippin. Dessert and kitchen. Autumn and winter.
Court of Urick. Dessert. Winter and spring.
Cornish Gilliflower. Dessert. Winter and spring. Bears
badly, but is rich.
Ribston Pippin. Dessert and kitchen. Winter.
Old Nonpareil. Dessert. Winter and spring.
Scarlet Nonpareil. Dessert. Winter and spring.
Dumelow's Seedling. Kitchen. Winter and spring.
Newtown Pippin. Dessert and kitchen. Spring ; tender, re-
quiring a wooden frame or east wall.
Cockle Pippin. Dessert. Spring.
Kerry Pippin. Dessert. August and September.
Oslin. Dessert. September.
Blenheim Pippin. Dessert and kitchen. Autumn,
Winter Codlin. Kitchen. Winter.
Mank's Codlin. Kitchen. September.
French Crab. Kitchen. Spring and summer ; may be kept
for two years.
Gloria Mundi. Kitchen. Autumn and winter.
Beauty of Kent. Kitchen. Autumn and winter.
Lucombe's seedling. Kitchen. Winter.
Rhode Island Greening. Kitchen. Winter and spring.
MinshuU Crab. Kitchen. Winter.
Northern Greening. Kitchen. Winter and spring.
Duchess of Oldenburgb. Dessert. September and October.
Malearle. Dessert. Spring. Tender ; requires a south wall.
Sykehouse Russet. Dessert. Winter and spring.
Royal Russet. Kitchen. Winter and spring.
Beauehamwell Seedling. Dessert. Winter and spring.
Court Pender. Dessert. Spring.
Wormsley Pippin. Dessert and kitchen. Autumn.
Hawthornden. Kitchen. Autumn.
Sugarloaf Pippin. Dessert. July.
Downton Pippin. Dessert. Winter.
Brabant Bellefleur. Kitchen. Winter and spring.
Gravenstein. Dessert and kitchen. Autumn.
King of the Pippins. Dessert and kitchen. Autumn.
Sam Young. Dessert. Winter.
Alfristpn. Kitchen. Winter and spring ; very large.
London Pippin. Kitchen. Winter and spring.
Bedfordshire Foundling. Kitchen. Autumn and winter.
OCTOBER, 1834. X
146
ON THE FINEST VARIETY OF FRUIT TEEES.
Jargonelle. Dessert. Wall or queuouiUe. August.
Beurr^ d'Aremberg. Dessert. Wall and standard. October
and November.
Beurr^ Ranee. Dessert. Standard. March and May; the
best late melting pear yet known.
Gansel's Bergamot. Dessert. October; east and west wall ;
indifferent bearer.
Beurr^ Diel. Standard. October and November ; great bearer
and excellent fruit.
Florelle. Dessert. Wall and standard. November and De-
cember.
Marie Louise. Dessert. Standard. October.
Summer Francr^al. Dessert. Standard. August and Sep-
tember. A good bearer.
Winter Neilis. Dessert. December; excellent.
Capianmont. Dessert. Standard. October ; great bearer.
Chaumontelle. Dessert. Wall, standard, or quencuille. Winter.
Flemish Beauty. Dessert. Standard. October and Novem-
ber ; must be gathered early.
Duchess of AngouWme. Dessert. Wall and standard. Octo-
ber and November.
Easter Beurr^. Dessert. Wall and standard. January, Fe-
brnary, and March ; great bearer, and excellent.
Napoleon. Dessert. Wall and standard. November.
Early Bergamot. Dessert. Standard. August and September.
Autumn Bergamot. Dessert. October.
Bezy de la Motte. Wall and standard. October.
White Doyenne. Dessert. Wall and standard. October ; good
bearer.
Passe Colmar. Dessert. Wall and standard. December and
January ; great bearer ; trees not subject to canker ; excel-
lent fruit.
Colman. Dessert. Wall. December till March ; trees sub-
ject to canker.
Nutmeg. Dessert. Standard. Winter; small, but a good
bearer.
Swan's Egg. Dessert. Standard. November and December.
Crasanne. Dessert. Wall. October and November; shy
bearer.
Hacon's Incomparable. Dessert. Standard. November and
December ; tree hardy ; great bearer ; excellent.
Whitfield. Dessert. Standard. November ; good bearer.
Thompson's. Dessert. Standard. November ; one of the
finest Flemish pears ; good bearer.
Madeleine. Dessert. Standard. End of July ; a good bearer.
Sockle. Dessert. Wall and standard. October ; a plentiful
bearer.
Valine Frauche. Dessert. Standard. August and September ;
a plentiful bearer.
Passans de Portugal. Dessert. Standai'd. August ; good
bearer.
Bezy d'Hery. Stewing. Standard. Winter ; good bearer.
Chaptal. Stewing. Standard. Winter and spring.
Bequesne Musque. Stewing. Standard. Winter ; a great
bearer.
'Francr^al d'Hiver. Stewing. Standard. Winter.
Uvedal^s St. Germain. Stewing. Wall. Very large.
Rouselet de Rheims. For drying.
Neplus Meuris. Dessert. Standard. January till March a
good bearer.
CHERRIES.
Elton. Wall and standard. Beginning of July ; finest pale
cherry yet known.
Late Duke. Standard. August ; a great bearer.
Black Tartarian. Wall. June, July.
Belle de Choisy. Standard. Beginning of July.
Knight's Early Black, Wall. June.
Black Eagle. Wall and standard. July ; good bearer.
Downton. Wall and standard. July.
Bigareau. Standard. Late.
Florence. Standard. Late.
Waterloo. Wall and standard. Beginning of July.
Morello. Standard and north wall. Late ; preserving.
May Duke. Wall and standard. End of June.
Purple Griotte. Wall and standard. Beginning of June ; the
finest early cherry.
Kentish or Flemish. Standard. July ; preserving and kitchen
use ; great bearer.
PLDMS.
Purple Gage. Wall and standard. September and October ;
the finest dessert plum of its colour.
Green Gage. Dessert. Wall and standard. August and Sep-
tember ; preserving.
White Magnum Bonum. Wall and standard. September;
kitchen.
Isabella. Dessert. Wall and standard. September.
Kirke's. Dessert. Wall. September.
Nectarine. Dessert. Wall and standard. Beginning of Sep-
tember.
Coe's Golden Drop. Dessert. Standard and Wall. October;
excellent bearer ; dries, delicious.
Blue Imperatrice. Dessert. East or west wall. October.
White Imperatrice. Dessert. Wall. September ; tender.
Mimm's. Dessert. Kitchen. WaU. August and September.
Washington. Dessert. Wall and standard. September.
Drap d'Or. Dessert, and earlier than the Green Gage. WaU
and Standard. A good bearer.
Catherine. Presei-ving and Dessert. WaU and Standard.
End of September.
Gisborne's. Kitchen. August. Standard. Forces weU. A
good bearer.
Orleans. Kitchen. Standard. August. Good bearer.
Early Orleans. Kitchen. Standard. Beginning of August.
Good bearer.
Little Mirabelle. WaU and Standard. September. SmaU, but
excellent for preserving. Good bearer.
White Damson. Preserving. Standard. End of September.
Shropshire Damson. Preserving. Standard. September and
October. Great bearer.
Bulloeau. Kitchen. Standard. Octohet and November. Great
bearer.
Winesour. Preserving. Standard. October.
Royal George. Beginning of September. Freestone. Forces
weU.
Madeleine de Courson. Beginning of September. Freestone.
Noblesse. September. Freestone.
Early Anne. Middle of August. Freestone.
Grosse Mignonne. End of August. Freestone. Forces well.
Bellegarde. Middle of September. Freestone. Large and
excellent. Forces well.
Barringtou. Succeeds the Royal George. Freestone. Forces
well.
Chancellor. Middle of September. Freestone.
Royal. End of September. Freestone. The finest late sort.
APRICOTS.
Hemskirke. Dessert. Wall. End of July.
Royal. Dessert. Wall. End of August.
Large early. Dessert. WaU. Middle of July. The best
early Apricots.
Breda. Dessert and preserving. Standard. August.
Moorpark. Dessert and preserving. WaU. August.
Brussels. Preserving. Standard. Beginning of August.
Good bearer.
ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANT.
147
Orange. Preserving. Wall. A Clingstone. August.
Turkey. Dessert. Weill. Late in August.
NECTARINES.
White. Beginning of September. Freestone. Tender.
Elruge. Beginning ef September. Freestone. Good bearer
and forcer. Rich. The finest known.
Violet. Beginning of September. Freestone.
Pitmaston Orange. Beginning of September. Freestone.
Old Newington. Middle of September, Clingstone.
Queen.
Enville.
Providence.
Black Jamaica.
Antigua Queen.
PINES.
NUTS.
Casford.
Frizzled Filbert. A good bearer.
Cob Nut.
Red Filbert. A bad bearer.
Spanish Nut.
Pearson's Prolific. A great bearer.
Knight's Large. Very fine.
CITBRANTS.
Black Naples.
White Dutch.
Red Dutch.
eOOSEBERRlES — RED.
Broadman's British Crown. Large.
Roaring Lion. Large. Late.
Red Warrington. Large. Late.
Red Champagne. Small.
Small Dark Rough Red.
Early Black. Small.
White Crystal.
ASTiite Champagne. Small.
Cromptott's Sheba Queen. Large.
Woodward's Whitesmith. Large.
Mossey's Heart of Oak. Large.
Edward's Jolly Tar. Large.
Pitmaston Green Gage. Small.
Early Green. Hairy. Small.
Prophet's Rockwood. Large.
Haywood's Invincible. Large.
Yellow Champagne. Small.
Rumbullion. Small.
RASFBERBIES.
Barnet.
Red Antwerp.
Yellow Antwerp.
Bromley Hill.
Double Bearing.
STRAWBERRIES.
Duke of Kent's Scarlet. Earliest of any.
Elton Seedling.
Roseberry.
Downton.
Keen's Seedling.
Black Roseberry.
Grove-End Scarlet.
Old Scarlet. Valuable for preserving.
Old Pine.
Sweet Cone.
Alpine Red and White.
Prolific Hautboys.
Large flat Hautboys.
VINES.
For the open Wall.
Black July.
Miller's Burgundy. '
White Sweet Water.
Common Muscadine.
Pitmaston White Cluster.
Cambridge Botanic Garden.
Esperione. Sometimes ripens well.
Chaselas Musqu^.
For the Vinery.
Black Hamburgh.
White Frontignac.
Black Ditto.
Muscat of Alexandria, White.
Verdelho, White.
West's St. Peter's, Black.
Horsforth Seedling, Black.
Black, or Morocco.
Poonah, Black.
Royal Muscadine, White.
Black Damascus.
Grove-End Sweet Water, White.
ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY.
The botanical student, who has rambled over mountain and
marsh, with a box under his arm, and a bundle of grass or a
shrub in his hands, must have been conscious how like one
demented he often appeared to the unlettered rustics ; and
while the query, so invariably put to him, ' 1Vhat is that good
for ? ' received no satisfactory reply, how plainly their looks,
more expressive than language, told him, that he had better
stop gathering good-for-nothing weeds, and take to some
honest and profitable employment. This thing is too common
to be wondered at, and is moreover easily enough explained
on the ground of ignorance of any end or object in science,
save that of the most direct practical utility. But how is it
to be accounted for that men, whose education and intelligence,
we should suppose, must have carried them beyond such un-
worthy views of the nature of science, too often entertain no-
tions respecting botany, as confused and mean as those of the
most uncultivated mind? Why is it that they can look on
the plants of the field, clothed in the rich garniture of a sum-
mer month, — in spite of the beauty that allures their gaze,
and the admirable arrangement of organs, whereby the whole
economy of vegetation is maintained, — without receiving any
uncommon ideas of wisdom or power, and perhaps turn away
from them all, as unworthy of a passing notice ? Wliy is it
that they can hear of the labours of botanists, of their travels
by sea and land, amid suffering and privation, with no other
effect, perhaps, than to call up more vividly to their imagina-
tion the picture or caricatures of an enthusiast devoted to a
favourite science p
The truth, indeed, is too obvious to be questioned, that
botany doesnot bear that character of dignity and importance
in the public view, which has long since been obtained by
many other of the natural sciences. This may be sufficiently
explained, — at least, we know nothing else that can explain
it, — by the single fact, that very little has been done by its
friends towards introducing to general attention the more
elevated aud philosophical portions of the science, — those
148
ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY.
only that can make it respectable with thinking and well edu-
cated minds. When a person lights upon a botanical book,
and finds it,- — as nineteen times out of twenty he 'will find it,
— a catalogue of hard names, followed by still harder descrip-
tions in an unknown tongue, or it may be designed for juvenile
minds, and of course presenting nothing to him very striking
in point of novelty or importance, it is not to be wondered at
that he should imbibe no favourable impressions concerning it.
From such we might reasonably expect to hear the complaint,
that botany has furnished none of the useful and astonishing
results of chemistry; that it gives rise to none of those grand
and overpowering conceptions, which the study of astronomy
crowds upon the mind ; that we find in it little of the strong
. dramatic interest so powerfully awakened by the changing
scenes of creation and destruction which geology displays. In
short, however well calculated its study may be considered to
arrest the attention and induce good habits of observation in
the young, or to afford tliose of riper age apleasing relaxation
from other pursuits, it is too commonly regarded as destitute
of those general views and profound discussions that require
much thinking, or the exercise of a severe and precise logic.
It may be said, and no doubt with justice, that such erroneous
notions are the fault of those who entertain them, and that
little knowledge of any subject can ever be expected, if a man
can be turned from its pursuit at the first appearance of a
technical word, or confine himself to the pages of a school-
book.
Had half the elTorts been made to present the science in a
light at all worthy of its real merits, that have been used in
teaching words, or disseminating loose and superficial views,
its pretensions to a high character would long since have been
seen and acknowledged. We should not now be obliged to
say, at the risk of being suspected of exaggeration, that no
science is more distinguished than botany for tire enlargement
and permanence of its general views, for the strictness and
accuracy of its reasonings, for the sure and cautious deduc-
tions on which its great principles are established, for the
demonstrations of the harmony and contrivance with which
the organic world is ordered, and especially for a spirit of
patient and profound philosophy, which alone can confer
upon a science real dignity' and value. To obtain a rank
among the mostdistinguislied botanists of the present day de-
mands not only long and laborious investigation, but the ex-
ercise of talents that belong to the highest order of mind ; for
the relations to be discovered, and tlie principles to be de-
duced, must be the result of profound and untir-ing reflection.
The laws whereby the vegetable economy is regulated, those
which govern the affinities and. differences of its various mem-
bers, their distrilmtion over the surface of the earth, and their
connexion with the physical agents around them, are just be-
ginning to be discerned, and their study will long present a
field of inquiry, in which the most philosophical genius may
find ample scope for the exercise of its powers. The whole
end of botany is not accomplished when we have accurately
described the characters of plants by which they are distin-
guished from one another, and given them a name and a
place in the great register of nature ; for we are thereliy fur-
nished with no better knowledge of the plants themselves, than
we could obtain of the propensities and mental faculties of a
runaway, fronj the advertisement that describes his clothes
and person. Neither does the branch of physiology which
teaches us the functions and general economy of plants fur-
nish us with that particular knowledge of the plant that we
wish, any more than the most intimate acquaintance with
metaphysics or human anatomy would enable us to pronounce
at sight upon the raeutal or physical habits of an individual
man. The noblest end of botany, now, is to ascertam the
points of resemblance and difference between plants, which
associate them with and remove them from one another, to
trace the progress of organization through all its gradations
from its lowest to its highest forms, in short, to lay open the
operation of all the causes which modify the conditions of
their existence. This is that philosophy of botani/, to the ad-
vancement of which the most eminent' in its pursuit are
directing their utmost efforts, and some more adequate notions
of which are necessary to gain for it the general respect that
it really deserves.
The great, the essential preliminary towards the attainment
of this end, — if indeed it may not be more properly consider-
ed as comprising the end itself, — is to improve our classifica-
tions ; for these involve so many considerations, — have
reference to so many points in the history of the plant,— that
when it is once fixed in the place to which it most naturally
belongs, we are thus made acquainted with the most valuable
knowledge concerning it, always excepting its practical uses,
which are determined by experiment. Had this truth been
generally recognised, and made the basis of improvement in
botanical science, we should now be spared the regret that
we experience, while looking back on its progress, to see how
much labour and zeal have been expended on points of com-
paratively small or secondary importance, to the neglect of
those that deserved the first and closest attention. We should
not have to deplore that common misapprehension of the true
nature and purposes of botanical classification, which has
given rise to a fatal jealousy among men zealously devoted
to the cultivation of the same pursuit, and lain like a blight
on the growth of this beautiful science. While the number
of described plants was small, and those but imperfectly
known, the only motive that led to their systematic arrange-
ment was the greater convenience it afforded of ascertaining
their names, and in the facilities which it supplied for this
object consisted the sole merit of the arrangement. The
principle thus laid down, and which was well enough in the
commencement of the science, continued, however, to main-
tain all its force long after the accumulated results of dis-
covery demanded more ample and accurate information, more
enlarged views, and a spirit of philosophizing that should
concern itself -B-ith things rather than words. And, what is
stranger still, after this kind of classification had been carried
to its highest possible degree of perfection, and every thing
been accomplished by it that could have been anticipated, it
was looked upon as rendering any other on different princi-
ples and for different purposes altogether unnecessary, and all
that remained for botanists was to add to the existing heap of
crude and barren materials. The object indeed was an impor-
tant, an indispensable one, and the mind that best accom-
plished it was one of no ordinary capacity ; but, after all, it is
only a means, and not an end, for which it seems to have been
generally mistaken.
It is to be understood, that the difficulty under which
naturalists laboured for a long time, and which operated as a
serious check on the progress of science, was the want of a
system, whereby the contributions to the common fund of in-
fonnation could be easily arranged and readily referred to by
others. Without this their researches were almost vain, and
their results unprofitable. The same necessity still continues.
Fifty thousand species of plants have now been discovered,
every one of which has been examined, its characters set
down, its relations unfolded, and of many the properties and
uses have been ascertained. But how is this knowledge to be
referred to ? With one of this immense multitude in our
hands for the first time, how are we to ascertain a single fact
concerning it, without preiaously making ourselves acquaint-
ed with its name ? What clue is to guide us through the vast
labyrinth of genera and species, and bring us at last to the
very plant in question ? Some system of arrangement or
classification of course, is the only thing that will remove
the difficulty, and those that have been constructed in direct
reference to this point, viz. for ascertaining the Hawies of plants,
are called artificial or arbitrary methods, in contradistinction
to the natural meihoAs founded on the relations of plants, and
indicated by nature itself. Each of these methods has distinct
aud peculiar purposes of its own, and when these are under-
stood, and clearly kept in view, there cannot be a questiou
ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY.
149
with (hose in (he least qualified to judge, that hoth have a
utihly tliat is iadispensable to tlie interests of the science.
Simple and intelligible as this appears, yet an unaccountable
delusion seems to have prevailed, that they are not merely
different from, but opposed to each other ; that their ends are
the same, but attained by different routes ; that their merits
are conflicting, and are to be weighed in the same scales to-
gether. Opposition, jealousy, and party -spirit, have thus
been excited, \\here naturally no foundation for them ever
existed in difference of opinion or interest.
Bearing in mind the fact above stated, that in the artificial
method the oljject is merely to ascertain the names of plants,
we, of course, should not expect to find them arranged accord-
ing to their general affinities, for a single organ may be as-
sumed, and the differences which it presents in different spe-
cies be made the basis of the classification. Thus, if we class
plants according to the form, absence, presence, or some other
condition of the corolla, with Tournefort, or of the stamens,
with Linneeus, we shall bring species together, agreeing in
respect to these organs, while in evejy other particular there
may be the utmost possible difference between them. Plants,
between which the most obvious family likeness exists, may
be torn asunder, and placed in classes far remote from one
another, the oljject being not to ascertain relations, but names.
Though any part or quality of the plant may be made the
basis of this method, yet its design will be best fulfilled when
this basis is something inherent in the plant, easy to be ob-
served, found in the greatest number of plants, and pre-
senting sufficient variation in different species to make it
easily and clearly expressed. The artificial methods were ex-
ceedingly defective, and about as numerous as the botanists
who used Ihera, till Linnaeus, after devoting all his energies to
their improvement, finally succeeded in constructing one
which superseded every other, and has maintained its supe-
riority to the present day, unrivalled and undisputed. Con-
sidering the stamens as uniting the conditions just mentioned
to the greatest extent, he fixed upon these organs as the
ground of his classification, and certainly no man, starting
from a single idea, was ever conducted to more brilliant and
duralde results. His first eleven classes were founded on the
number of stamens ; the two next, on then- insertion ; the two
next, on their comparative length ; the five next, on their
union; the three next, on their separation from the pistils; and
the last, on their absence or obscurity. The remarkable facility
which this method afforded for ascertaining the names of plants,
and its admirable flexibility under difficulties, were so strongly
contrasted with the deficiency and awkwardness of all previous
contrivances, that we cannotwonder at all atthe universal ac-
clamation that greeted its announcement, or the hearty tribute
of homage and thanksgiving bestowed upon its author. And still
we ought not to forget the numerous other circumstances that
contributed at the time to give popularity to the new system.
Within a short period of its appearance, the rapid progress of
discovery had made the defects of other systems more appa-
rent and onerous than ever ; the credit of discovering the
functions of the stamens had just been given to his author;
science was incalculably Ijenefited by its introduction of spe-
cific names and characteristic phrases, and in his hands botani-
cal nomenclature was endowed with aprecision and force it had
never before known. Add to this, that he had rendered im-
portant services to every other branch of natural history ; the
whole domain of nature had been subject to his researches,
and he had every where left the impressions of his comprehen-
sive mind. We mention this, not in disparagement of the
sexual system, for we have no wish to detract in the slightest
degree from its merits, but in order to account for the common
disposition of its followers to give to it merits that it neither
does nor can possess, and pertinaciously to claim for it an end
never thought of by its author himself. It is not the first time
that a man, who has done one thing well, has been supposed by
his over-fond friends to have accomplished every thing.
In the natural method, plants are arranged according to
their natural relations ; those being associated together, wliich
most nearly resemble one another in the whole of their struc-
ture and appearance. They are expected to agree not in one
particular only, but in many ; all minute and trivial charac-
ters are disregarded, while the prominent and striking features,
being indicative of family resemblance, and connected with
the general economy of the plant, are assumed as furnishing
the only ground that should determine their relations. Every
plant stands by the side of those it most resembles, and if our
classes and orders are not defined by well-marked limits, but
gradually blend together on their outskirts, it certainly is not
our fault, for we do no more than preserve those family re-
semblances,— in fact, copy that arrangement of the vegetable
tribes, which nature itself has made. So plain and numerous
are the affinities (hat exist between certain plants, that little
botanical tact is required to discern them ; they are evident at
sight to the least practised observer. Every body can see
this strong family likeness between the different species of the
Grasses, and of the Palms, for instance, and would expect tc
find them, in a natural classification, arranged by the side d
one another. Let us not be misunderstood ; nature has in-
stituted neither classes, orders, nor genera. She has done no-
thing more than to throw together the various meml)ers of
the vegetable kingdom, in groups of more or less distinctness
and extent. It is our business to ascertain and define the
particular conditions on which the affinities depend. They
must necessarily be less obvious in some cases than in others,
but are noton that account the less real and strong. Inasmuch
as traits of consanguinity between different men may be dis-
cerned in their moral and intellectual resemblance, when
their features and complexion would never betray the fact,
so to discern the affinities of plants and animals, we must
often go beneath the surface, and find, in more important
parts of their structure, marks of relationship of the clearest
and strongest kind.
This brief exposition of the objects of the artificial and na-
tural methods of classification will show well enough their
several uses in the study of botany, and enable our readers to
see that while both are indispensable, the latter cannot be
neglected, without entirely overlooking the grandest views
and deepest principles that the science contains. An exclusive
attachment to the artificial method accustoms the mind to
partial observation and superficial views ; for as the attention
is directed solely to the sexual organs, and that only for the
purpose of finding the name of the plant, it is perfectly obvi-
ous, that much in its history must go unknown and unstudied.
The very convenience and facility which it continually affords
incline the mind more and more to look at vegetables in a
.single point of view, and finally to regard (his single object of
finding their names, as constituting the whole science of bota-
ny. Incorrect notions relative to the nature of organs, and
the force of characters, are insensibly imbibed ; and while ex-
aggerated estimates are made of the importance of some of
these, most unphilosophical notions are entertained of the in-
significance of others. In the natural method, on the con-
trary, not one, but all the organs pass under review, and are
submitted to close examination before the plant can be traced
to its place in the general arrangement, so that the process of
finding its name acquaints one with the most valuable points
in its whole history. Instead of referring directly to the spe-
cific description after a hasty glance at the stamens and pistils;
the calyx, corolla, seed-vessel, seed, and general aspect, are
also considered ; and thereby the student becomes better ac-
quainted not only with (he plant, but with a variety of pro-
perties which it possesses in common with a great many others.
The study of affinities, when applied to particular species, neces-
sarily throws light on other species; a knowledge of one con-
stantly illuslrating and increasingthat of others. Onthe score of
convenience too, the artificial has but little advantage over
the natural method, (o one, who is already acquainted with a
considerable number of plants. In most cases he would
hardly trouble himself to count the exact number of stamens
150
ON THE CULTURE OF FICS, ON BAISING APPLE TREES.
in order to ascertain its name, for the first glance would show
him its affinities witli otliers that lie had previously examined,
and consequently lead him at once to its place in the natural
system. Thus the relations that one plant possesses with other
plants, and which form the most valuable part of its history,
are already manifest before he lias found its name ; while he
who neg!ects the study of the natural system is unable to ad-
vance a single step in the knowledge of the plant till he is
master of this fact. The decided and emphatic testimony of
Linn^us himself in its favonris a striking proof of the com-
prehensiveness and impartiality of his views, and is singularly
contrasted with the misplaced jealousy of some of his disci-
ples. He declares, ' that the natural method is the first and
last object of botany ;' ' that its fragments even should be dili-
gently studied ;' ' that none but poor botanists think it of
little value; ' that it is the highest aim of his own la1)ours and
of those of every accomplished naturalist;' ' that he had made
some discoveries, and that the man who would remove Iris few
remaining doubts should be his Magnus ApoUc.^
(To be continued.)
ON THE CULTURE OF FIGS.
The fig is a fruit of great antiquity, as we learn from ancient
history thatjt was the principal article of food among the in-
habitants of the Eastern Countries, before the use of wheat,
barley, or any grain was known. The fig was cultivated
with great care up to the period at which the Spaniards were
suspected of giving poisoned figs to theii- enemies. No doubt
an aversion to figs arose at that time, and the best mode of
their cultivation was lost.
When I was gardener to Sir Chas. Monck, Bart. Belsay
Castle, we had a house built espressly for figs. They were
planted out in the border, in the same manner as vines.
Several were in pots and tubs, which were kept in the orange-
house, and some on a hot wall. Fig-trees are most fruitful
when planted in a strong hazelly cool loam. Those planted
in a light dry soil generally cast the first crop before it is ripe,
and show a second crop on the wood the trees make that sea-
son. Trees in the open air, that are subject to casting off the
first crop, do little good, for if the second crop be ever so
plentiful the season is too far advanced to allow the tree
to make wood and ripen the fruit, before the long cold nights
set in.
Fig-trees in pots are most dilBcult to manage, as they are
generally kept in a vinery, or some forcing-house. The soil
in the pot being of the same temperature as the house, the
tree becomes impatient, and if it sustain the least check for
want of water, the fruit will, a few days afterwards, drop off.
1 succeeded best with those I had in pots, by putting them in
a strong soil inclining to clay, and pressing it hard among
the roots as I potted, placing them in that part of the house
where they had plenty of air, and watering them plentifully
when the fruit was swelling. I have had excellent crops of
figs from trees against a hot wall. They were planted in a
strong hazelly coloured soil. Old fig-trees are generally most
fruitful, as their young wood is, for the most part, short
jointed and spur-like, which is always fruitful. Young trees
generally make long jointed luxurious wood, which is not to
be depended upon for a crop. After the fall of the leaf itt
autumn, I cover the fig-trees on the wall with fern to protect
the wood from injury by the frost. About the end of April
I clear away the fern, and nail the branches regularly to the
wall. In pruning I cut out any-long naked shoots to give
place for the lower branches. The young wood should never
be shortened, as the best fruit is generally on the extremity.
All shoots that push out in summer from wood of three or four
years' growth I displace immediately, as they are glutinous
and unfruitful. From April to the end of May, I cover the
trees on the wall at night with canvass and bass mats, as se-
veral of the fruit at that time are as large as Mazagan beans,
and the slightest frost would destroy them. During the sum-
mer months, I give them plenty of water over the leaves with
the engine, thrice a week. Young healthy trees are liable to
make a great length of young wood ; when that is the case the
sap flows too rapidly past the fruit, which thus starves and
drops off. This may be prevented, if observed in time. In
the month of June I examine the trees closely, and if the
wood is making rapid growth, I ring the part from which
the vigorous shoots issue. This immediately humbles the
growth of the wood, and the fruit keeps pace and swells in
proportion with it.
The fig-house in the gardens at Belsay Castle is of particu-
lar construction, being only four feet wide inside, the upright
glass in front ten feet high. The border is prepared on the
north side of the back wall, the wall being built on arches for
the roots to get through. Tlie trees are planted inside, and
trained against the wall. There is no artificial heat to the
house. The border was prepared with a strong hazelly loam,
the soil which I use for melons, taken from the top of a lime-
stone quarry. I never saw finer figs than were produced in
that house, particularly the Dwarf Brown Naples, which got
to a great size, and could not be exceeded in point of flavour.
W. G.
-^^iSlJ^M
ON RAISING APPLE TREES FROM SEEDS.
BY J. TRIMMER, ESQ.
It may, perhaps, be interesting to some of your readers to know
what was my success in a small experiment I made in raising
apples from seeds.
I collected some apple-pips, all from good sorts of eating ap-
ples, and sowed them in the spring of the year 1 802. During the
first few years, those which came up were greatly reduced in
nximber by several accidents, and afterwards by being removed
to another garden at an unfavourable season of the year ; all
but three trees were killed, and those much retarded for several
years in their growth. Of these three plants, one produced fruit
the twenty-second year of its age, and proved a particularly juicy
and very fine flavoured fruit, which keeps to the end of Novem-
ber ; it is a very abundant bearer, but not a very strong grow-
ing or very healthy tree. The second tree fruited the twenty-
fourth year ; it is a sweet fruit, but there is nothing to render
it worth propagating ; though I still have the original plant,
and it is equal in quality to many sorts that are still found in old
gardens. The third tree produced fruit in the twenty-sixth,
and I consider it a very valuable kind ; the fruit is of a good
size and appearance, and evidently allied, by its shape, to the
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATEB.
151
Pearmain. It is pleasant as an eating apple ; I know none that
exceeds it for boiling ; and it keeps particularly well to the end
of April without at all shrivelliug. Out of a good many sorts,
it kept this year the best of any that I had ; I used the last in
the last week in April, and I do not doubt that many of them
would have been good to the middle of May. It is a good
bearer, and a remarkably healthy tree. I shall have much plea-
sure in sending you specimens of each sort for yoiir opinion in
the atitumn, and afterwards cuttings for yourself, or such of
your friends as may deem them worth grafting with.
I trained, a few years ago, a nectarine from seed, which
fruited eitlier the sixth or seventh year, I am not sure which.
The fruit it produced was very like tlic Roman nectarine, but I
think rather higher flavoured. The flesh parts, when ripe, se-
parate very clearly from the stone.
I have stated these circumstances, thinking that, perhaps,
they might be considered such as to induce others to raise fruits
from seed, which must always be the source from whence we
derive new sorts.
ON THE CULTURE OF PEAS.
As the different varieties of the garden pea cannot fail to be
a subject of interest to society in general, perhaps it would
not be considered altogether amiss to offer a few observations
relative to their cultivation, &c. It is, I believe, a general
practice for peas to be sown in rows, from two to five feet apart,
according to the height which the dift'ereut varieties grow ; a
practice of which I do not altogether approve, with the excep-
tion of the earliest crops, there being in general but certain
compartments suitable for them. The method I have been in
the habit of pursuing is, to sow the seeds of the second and
after crops in rows, a considerable distance apart, say from
twenty to thirty feet, according to the size of the kitchen gar-
den, or the quantity required. The interval between the rows
is cropped with other vegetables of dwarf growth, such as broc-
coli, savoys, cabbage, spinach, celery, &c., so that there may
"be no loss of ground. The tall peas, when sticked, are an ad-
vantage rather than otherwise to the intermediate crops when
first planted, on account of the shade which they produce, and
in addition to which the ground always appears fully cropped.
It therefore must be admitted, that it adds to the beauty of the
kitchen garden. By the above treatment the crop is increased
fully one-third, and of superior quality. The produce of the
common bean, and also of the scarlet i-unner, is considerably in-
creased by the above mode of treatment. Respecting the hardi-
ness of the different varieties, I am not at present able to give
any decided information ; but it has been confidently asserted
to me, that some of the marrows, as well as other varieties,
are equally hardy as the early frame, charlton, S:c. If such is
the case, and I have no reason to doubt it, how much sooner
in the season might some of the finer varieties be sent to table ?
However, be that as it may, I propose to give the different
varieties a fliir trial, and hope to be able in due season to give
you a detailed account of the comparative hardiness of each
variety. The sugar peas are not unfrequently, when quite
young, gathered, sliced in the manner of harriiots, French beans,
and sent to table in that state. It may be necessary to add,
that the soil in which the peas grew was a strong i-ich loam, and
I have no hesitation in saying it is the best kind of soil for late
peas, and for early peas I believe a light dry soil will be found
to answer best. It is also a general practice, in small gardens
particularly, to sow their peas too thick, which is greatly detri-
mental to the crops. As a criterion, T should recommend, for
the earliest sorts, about a pint to every fifteen yards, and for
the later kinds the same quantity to about twenty-five yards.
The whole of the varieties of grey peas are unfit for garden cul-
ture. T.
Bt^criftian of tlje piateS.
CRAT^GUS CORDATA.
Heart-leaved Craicegus.
Icosandria Di-Pentagynia. — LiNN.
Rosaceje. — JussiEU.
Arbor mediocris, ramulis subangulatis, verrucosis. Folia
cordata, basi subtruncata, acuminata, lobata, serrata, utrin-
que la;via, suprk lucida, atrohiridia, petiolis longis, Isevibus.
Floris albi, corimbosi, parvi, calicibus glabris, petalis rotun-
datis, apice denticulatis. Styli 5. Fructus sphierici, pisiformes,
coccioei, carnosi, nuculis quinque osseis.
This handsome hardy tree is a native of North America, and
forms a beautiful bush or small tree, flowering rather later
than others of the genus, the blossoms beginning to open in the
end of May, or early in June. It is much valued for the fine
dark green glossy appearance of its leaves, and the vivid colour
of its scarlet fruit, which will sometimes hang on the tree during
the winter.
Young branches rather angular and warty. Leaves cordate,
somewhat truncate at the base, acuminate, lobed, serrated,
smooth on each side, above dark green and shining, with long
smooth petioles.
TULIPA OCULUS SOLIS.
Persian SuiVs Eye TuUp._
Hexandria Monogynia. — LlNN.
Liliaceje. — JussiEU.
T. Oculus soils ; integumento bulbi intus lanato, foliis 4 sub-
ciliatis caule floreque glaherrimis, labris conniventibus stig-
matum villoso-fimbriatis. Ker. supric, vol. 3. fol. 20i, v;itii
the synonyms.
B. Persica ; foliis latioribus magis glaucis, perianthio maximo,
integumento bulbi iutiis hirsuto.
The Agen, or Sun's Eye Tulip, is singular in the genus for a
deep black eye, or base to the perianthium in the inside, which
is bordered by a margin of yellow interposed between it and the
vermilion red of the rest of the perianthium : when expanded
beneath the influence of a bright sun, the effect of this is sur-
prisingly beautiful ; the flowers rarely open under less favour,
able circumstances. Hitherto it has been only discovered wild
in the South of Europe.
The roots of the common European kind are densely clothed
with wool beneath the outer integuments, — a provision, as it
would seem, by which Nature seeks to guard them from too
severe cold. The Persian variety, which, it is to be presumed,
has less need of protection of this kind, has, in lieu of wool, a
quantity of coarse hairs, forming a protection much less^ dense
than that which exists in the European kind. May it not
hence be suspected, that Persia is indeed the native land of the
Tulipa Oculus soils, and that the individuals found in the places
above mentioned are mere outcasts of gardens ?
This should he cultivated at the foot of a wall with a rather
southern aspect. The earth should consist of a light, loamy soil.
It is remarked by De Candolle that T. Oculus soils differs
from T. Sauveolens, nnd from T. sylvestris, in not having hairs
upon either its stem or its flowers ; from T. Gesneriana in its
■ pointed petals ; and from T. Clusiana in its much larger flower,
the claw of which is at least as long as the anthers, and in the
arrangement of itscolours.
CLIVIA NOBILIS.
Scarlet Clicia.
Hexandria Monogynia. — LiNN.
Amaryllideae. — JussiEC.
Clivia. — Perianthium tubulosum, sexpartitum, deciduum,
alciniis imbricantibus ; exterioribus paulo brevioribus. Slamin,
sex, sequalia, periantio basin versiis inserta ; filumenta subulata,
subinclusa ; anlherrc Versailles. Ovarium 3-loculare polysper-
mum. Fructus baccatus, indehiscens, monospermus. Semen
carnosum ; subrotundum. — Herba (Capensis), radicibns /asn'cM-
latis, foliis distichis, floribus umbellatis pendulis. Scapo phmo-
152
DESCRIPTION OP THE PLATE?.
Roots fleshy, fascicled. Leaves distichous, coriaceous, dark
green, strap-shaped, sheathing at the hase, retuse and oblique
at the apex, rough at the margin. Scape erect, plano-coavex,
bordered, furrowed towards the summit. Flowers from 48 to
50, on long stalks, pendulous, arranged in an umbel. Perianth
tubular, clavate, deciduous ; the segments yellowish scarlet,
greenish at the apex, obtuse, imbricated in a double row, co-
hering towards the base, the outer rather shorter than the inner,
like those of a Lacheualia. Stamens six, inserted in the orifice
of the tube, equal ; filaments smooth : anthers small, oval,
greenish yellow, versatile. Ovarium inferior, greenish yellow,
3-celled, many-seeded, round, ventricose. Ovula numerous, in-
serted towards the base of the axis ; style filiform ; stigma
somewhat 3-lobed. Fruit berried, indehiscent, red, generally,
in consequence of the abortion of two cells and most of the
ovula, one-seeded, marked at the top by the scar of the fallen
perianth. Seed single, ascending, (only seen unripe), very
smooth, transparent, oval ; hilum small, above the base ; fora-
men in the base ; raphe short, raised. Testa, when young,
marked with very minute areolations ; albumen abundant. Em-
bryo ....
A greenhouse plant, not appearing to require particular care
in its cultivation, and propagating either by seeds or suckers.
BILLBERGIA PYRAMIDALIS ; var. BICOLORED.
Two-coloured Pyramidal Billbergia.
Hexandria Monogynia. — Linn.
Bromeliacese. — JussiEu.
B. pyramidalis ; caule erecto : bracteis magnis spathaceis co-
loratis, spica suhcapitata cbracteata.
Billbergia pyramidalis. Lindl. supri, vol. xiii, fol. 1068, in nota.
Bromelia nudicaulis. Supra, vol. iii, fol. 203.
Bromelia pyramidalis. Bot. Mag. 1732.
;3. hicolor , petalis obtusus bicoloribus, foliis raagis acuminatis.
This is a native of some part of South America, and higUy
deserving of cultivation on account of the great beauty of its
flowers.
SOPHORA VELUTINA.
Decandria Monogynia. — Linn.
LeguminosEe. — JussiEU.
SoPHORA Linn. — Calyx 5-dentatus, basi campanulata v.
suhattenuatu. Petala carinalia ssepiiis apice concreta. Legu-
men moniliforme, apteriim, polyspermum. — Arbores fruticus aut
herbse, foliis impari-pinnafis, seepius exstipidatis, racemis fer-
minalihus simplicibus paniculatisvc. Dec. prodr. 2. 95.
A fine greenhouse shrub, which well deserves a trial as a
hardy plant : it is a native of Nipal, and was first raised some
years since from seeds sent to this country.
Although we have referred it to Sophora, we are by no means
satisfied that it is a genuine species of that genus, from which
it differs very considerably.
This plant would, if naturalized in our shrubberies, be a
very desirable addition to our collection of hardy plants.
GAILLARDIA ARISTATA.
Whole-coloured Gaillardia.
Syngenesia Frustranea. — LiNN.
Corymbiferse. — Jdssieu.
Gaillardia Fougeroux. — Involucrum polyphyllum, imbrica-
tum, squamis foliaceis. Floscvli radii ligulati 3-dentati neutri;
disci tubulosi, persistentes, basi herbacei subsolidi, dentibus ex-
tiis barbatis, centro masculi, ad ambitum hermaphroditi. Stiff-
mata subulata barbata basi pedicelliformia glabra. Fructus vU-
losusturbinatus, teres. Pa;);)Hs paleaceus. Receptaculum coaicnm
paleaceum.
A nearly evergreen perennial, with fibrous roots. Leaves
spatulate, tapering down into a long petiole, somewhat toothed,
covered on both sides with numerous soft hairs, which are di-
vided internally by several partitions ; stem sessile, oblong,
very entire, acute, very slightly amplexicaul at the base. The
radical leaves are occasionally pinnatifid. Stems erect, taper,
striated, with close-pressed hairs. Heads solitary, on very
long stalks, erect. Involucrum imbricated, many-leaved; the
scales foliaceous, finally reflexed, ciliated, the innermost being nar-
row. Florets of the ray 15, large, cuneate, 3-toothed, yellowish
orange, neuter ; of the disk purple, tubular, campanulate, with
a short, green, taper, solid base ; the lobes 5, acuminate,
bearded ; the florets are persistent almost until the ripening of
the fruit, and change to a greenish colour ; those of the centre
are male, those towards the circumference female or hermaphro-
dite. Ovarium turbinate, villous ; pappus paleaceous, aristate.
Anthers with a little appendage at the apex, and acute lobes at
the base. Style filiform, smooth. Stigmata purple, subulate,
bearded, furrowed along the middle, with a smooth stalk. Fruit
turbinate, taper, truncate, villous at the base, smooth at the
apex. Receptacle conical, covered with subulate palea.
A handsome hardy perennial, found in N.orth America by Mr.
David Douglas.
It is, no doubt, the G. aristata of Pursh, which is considered
a mere variety of G. bicolor. It appears to us, however, to be
sufficiently distinct as a species, especially as it does not lose its
wild features when cultivated. It is altogether a large plant,
more hardy, and distinguished by other important ditferences.
P^ONIA HYBRIDA.
Hybrid Pctony.
Polyandria Tri-pentagynia. — JussiEU.
Ranunculacctfi. — Linn.
P. hybrida ; herbacea, folliculis recurvatis pubescentibus, foliis
multipartitis : laciniis linearibus acuminatis glabris, flore cer-
nuo foliis longiore.
P. hybrida. Pall, fl. ross. 2. ;.). 94. t. 86. B'illd. sp. pi. 2.
1223. Ait. Kew. ed. 2. 3. 316. Smith in Rees, in loco, no.
10. Decand.syst. 1. 393; prodr. 1. 66. Bieb.fl.taur. cauc.
2. 11. et 3. 367.
This is the most beautiful of the cut-leaved Pseonies, from all
which it differs strikingly in the deeper red of its flowers.
Within a few years roots have been obtained from several
quarters, and the study of them in a growing state has now
made it evident that it is a genuine species. At least we have
high authority for saying that the characters which can he cer-
tainly depended upon in distinguishing P. hybrida from P.
tenuifolia, are, firstly, the nodding flower of the former, as con-
trasted with the erect flower of the latter ; secondly, the greater
length of the peduncle, by which the flower of P. hybrida is
elevated distinctly above the leaves, while that of P. tenuifolia is
always overtopped by them ; and, lastly, in the greater breadth
of the leaves of P. hybrida. From P. anomala it is readily
separated by its downy, not smooth, fruit.
HAMELIA VENTRICOSA.
Pentandria Monogynia. — LiNN.
RubiaccEe.— JussiEU.
Hamelia Linn. — Calyx parvus, 5-fidus. Corolla tubulosa
oblonga, 5-gona, limbo 5-fido. Stamina 5, medio tubi inserta ;
antherfE ohlon^ie. S^i(/mc obtusum, sub-5-gonum. Bacca ovata,
sulcata, apice retusa et coronata, 5-locularis, polysperma, semi-
nibus minutis. Frutices ; fo\ia plerumque 3, verticillata ;
flores corymboso-cymosi terminalis. — Juss. mem. jnus. 3. 398.
Branches smooth, somewhat 4-cornered. Leaves lanceolate,
membranous, stalked, quite smooth, inserted in threes or fours ;
stipules subulate. Corymbs terminal, spreading, smooth. Calyx
roundish, 5-toothed, Corolla yellow, funnel-shaped, ventricose,
gibbous at the base, with an erect, plaited, 5 -clef t limb. Anthers
linear, usually projecting.
A handsome hot-house plant, growing vigorously, and flower-
ing in abundance in nearly all the summer months. It is a
native of Jamaica, where it becomes a large tree, yielding hand-
some variegated planks, called by the cabinet-makers Spanish
Elm or King-wood.
^^fVl,^-^#yf^^
5,Pi-iiLnila cortiisoide
6 ■ PJiyi eTumT orbic-aligi-
ScTitelliiiia L-o]imm?j?.
iS. LlirvsiijitkennuLi. cnrniiaTiuin.
40
ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY.
153
ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY.
Concluded fi'om p, 150.
Many attempts have been made to arrange the vegetable
kingdom according to a natural system of classification ; but
Jussieu was the first to develope its tnie principles and con-
struct its foundations and frame-work, to be enlarged and com-
pleted by the labours and superior knowledge of succeeding
botanists. Considering the immense researches that were re-
quired to bring the undertaking to any thing like a finished
condition, and the disadvantages which naturalists of those
days laboured under, we have more reason to be surprised at
its excellence than its imperfections, and feel constrained to
look on it as one of the noblest monuments ever erected by
human industry and genius in the great temple of nature. Many
and important as are the changes it has suffered since its com-
mencement, the impress of its original author is visible at every
step, and time has not withered a single laurel tliat has been
placed upon his brows. The fundamental principle of his sys-
tem is, that all the organs, and likewise all the points of view
under which they may be considered, have not an equal degree
of importance or permanence ; that some control the others and
necessarily determine their relationa. It is this principle of the
subordination of characters, first distinctly set forth by Jussieu,
and now applied in the classification of every department of na-
tural history, which drew from Cuvier the splendid and merited
eulogium, ' that in the sciences of observation it created an
epoch as important as the chemistry of Lavoisier in the sciences
of experiment.' To the development of this great idea the
labours of botanists have been principally directed, in their en-
deavours to bring the naturiil method to the highest possible
degree of perfection ; and though genius and devotion have
been brought to the work in no stinted measure, yet to De-
candoUe we believe is assigned the palm of undisputed pre-
eminence. His Theorie EUmenfaire de la Botanique, which con-
tains a masterly exposition of the principles of natural classi-
fication, is the noblest contribution ever made to the Philosophy
of Botany, and justly entitles its author to a place among the
Newtons and Galileos of science. It is the production of a
mind that could dwell with minuteness on the smallest details,
without narrowing its range, and raise itself to the contempla-
tion of the newest and boldest truths, withoiit risk of yielding
to the allurements of baseless hypothesis. If we are sometimes
startled at the wonderful boldness and originality of his views,
we are no less surprised, as we follow him in his course, to
behold the caution and security with which eveiy step to their
attainment is effected, and are obliged to acknowledge in his
reasonings the power of that logic of facts, iu which no flaw
nor sophistry can be detected. Ever treading on the utmost
verge of truth, he never oversteps its confines to lose himself
in the bewildering regions of theoretical speculation. His rea-
sonings, though eminently acute and profound, are characterized
by a remarkable simplicity, and, presenting a noble specimen of
philosophical induction, they proclaim their author a worthy
disciple of the school of Bacon. Few are the naturalists, of
whatever age or experience, to whom the pages of this work
will not furnish, through life, inexhaustible materials for study
and reflection. As it is little known, however, and as little
^udied, we suspect, in England, we have thought we might
do an acceptable service to such of our readers as are interested
in Natural History, by presenting them not exactly an abridg-
ment of its contents, but an analysis of its genei'al principles.
The theory of natural classification consists essentially of
three parts, which treat respectively of the comparative im-
portance of the organs of plants, of the circumstances that may
deceive the observer as to their true nature, and of the im-
portance of each point of view under which an organ may be
considered.
I. Comparison of organs. — In order to ascertain the relative
importance of the organs, it is necessary to compare them in
reference to their functions. We say, for instance, that the
MAGAZINE OP BOTANY AND GARDENING, VOL. II. NO. XX
brain holds a higher rank than the nerves, and the heart than
the veins, but this does not decide the relative rank of the brain
and heart. Or, to adduce an illustration of a different kind, a
general is higlier than a captain, and a governor of a province
than the mayor of a town, but the arbitrary laws of etiquette
alone decide whether the general or governor be entitled to
precedence. The first general principle in the classification of
organized beings is, that the importance of each organ can be
calculated only when compared with those organs which relate
to the same class of functions. In the vegetable organization
there are two classes of functions, one destined to the preserv-
ation of the individual, the other to that of the species. These
no doubt are of equal importance, and always possessed corre-
sponding degrees of perfection. Hence, we deduce another ge-
neral principle of classification, viz. that systems, established
upon either of these two grand classes of functions, would be
equally natural, provided they were constructed with the same
care. The preference, indeed, has been usually given to the
reproductive organs, because differences iu the vegetable or-
ganization are more perceptible in them than in the nutritive
organs, and more especially too, because the latter have been
comparatively but little studied. Were they both equally well
understood, without doubt a system founded on one would be
identical with one established on the other ; for every thing
leads us to believe that any complication, or other modification
in one class of functions, is attended by a similar one in the
other. Cesalpinas had established certain classes upon the
structure of the embryo alone, many centuries before Desfon-
taines was conducted to the same result by making use of the
nutritive organs. Hence also we make the division of plants
into Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons with so much the more
confidence, because we are equally led to it, whether we assume
as the basis of our reasonings the reproductive or nutritive or-
gans. In order to estimate the importance of each organ ia a
given function, we must ascertain what is essential to its per-
formance, when reduced to its simplest conditions. Thus, the
essential part of reproduction is fecundation, and the fecundat-
ing organs are consequently of higher importance than all their
envelopes. At first, the sexual organs are equally indispensa-
ble, but the duty of the male part is of short continuance, and
they, together with a portion of the female parts, are destroyed
after fecundation. But as the female organ, beside this short-
lived part, includes another for which all the rest are con-
structed, its importance is obviously greater than that of the
male. Again : in the part of the female organ that remains,
the integuments or fruit may be separated from the seed,
and exist but for it. The seed has thus a higher value than its
envelopes ; and continuing the same reasoning, we at last find
the embryo performing the most important part in the whole
function of reproduction. If, now, our conclusions be just,
the organs may be arranged, in regard to their relative import-
ance, in the following order. 1 . The embryo, the great end of
all the rest. 2. The sexu.al organs, which are only the means.
3. The envelopes of the embryo, viz. the integuments of the
seed and the pericarp. 4. The envelopes of the sexual organs,
viz. the corolla, calyx and involucre. 5. The nectaries and
other accessory organs.
Another means of judging of the relative importance of or-
gans, is by the degree of constancy with which they appear in
the vegetable organization. Some, we know, are frequently
absent, some not so often, while others are almost always
present. Hence we infer, that the stamens and pistils have a
higher rank than the calyx and corolla, and these latter than
the nectaries ; the filaments of the stamen and pistil are
thus shown to be of less consequence than the anthers and
stigmas.
A third means of judging is, to observe to what point a
given organ is more or less intimately connected with the struc-
ture of certain groups, already acknowledged by naturalists.
Thus, we conclude that stipules are more important than spines,
because a great number of families either have or have not
, — NOVEMBER 1834. Y
154
ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY.
stipules, while there are many in which we find indifferently
species with oi- without spines.
II. The circumstances that may deceive the observer as to the
true nature of the organs. — Before we can decide any question
as to the relative importance of the organs, we need some
means of distinguishing the organs themselves, and recognising
their true nature, under all the modifications they are liable to
experience. Looking at a single organ abstracted from the
general structure, we can judge of its nature solely by its ivse,
■whatever may be its position, form, or mode of action ; thus,
the organ of vision is called the eye, and the part that bears
the flower is called the peduncle. But when we examine beings
as a whole, and judge of the nature of the organs in reference
to the symmetrical plan on which they are constructed, this
method will lead us into grievous errors. The tail of the kan-
garoo serves the animal as a leg, yet nobody denies that it is
still a tail : the nose of the elephant, prolonged to a great
length, performs the office of a true hand ; and the teeth im-
planted in the incisive bone serve a purpose entirely foreign
to mastication, yet none pretend to dispute the anatomical ana-
logy of these organs with the nose and teeth of other mammi-
fers. So too, we see the leaves of plants sometimes prolonged
and changed into tendrils, for the purpose of supporting the
stem, thoiigh their primitive function is to elaborate the nu-
tritious juices. The stipules, the peduncles, and even the lobes
of the corolla may be converted to the same use, and every
body is familiar with the leafy appearance and structure of the
branches of the Indian Fig, or Prickly Pear, (Cactus Opuniia).
From these examples, and a host more that we might mention,
we deduce the general conclusion, that it frequently happens, in
consequence of a given system of structui'e, that a certain func-
tion, not being s'.ifficiently performed by the organ ordinarily
allotted to it, is discharged wholly or in part by another. It
is this system of organization, this symmeti-y of the organs as
compared with one another, of which a knowledge is essentially
necessary to a perception of the general harmony and natural
classification of beings. This symmetry of parts, which should
be a prominent object of the naturalist's studies, is, in one
■word, the result of their relative disposition ; and therefore,
whenever this disposition is the same, no matter how various
may be the form of particular organs in other respects, the sub-
jects present a kind of general resemblance, that strikes the
least practised eye.
Among the causes of error that are liable to mislead us in
ascertaining the true nature of the organs, the principal is
abortion, more or less complete, which alters their symmetry.
Every body knows, that sometimes certain parts of organized
heings do not receive that increase and development for which
they were evidently destined, owing either to the compression
of a foreign body, or a loss of part of their nourishment. This
effect may be produced by internal causes, such as caries, for
instance, as well as external ; but among those which prevent
certain organs from receiving their full increase, it is possible
that some may be the necessary consequences of the growth of
another part, and will, of course, constantly occur in a given
system of organization. We may, therefore, admit in theory the
constant and predisposed abortion of certain organs, either wholly
or in part. This is a startling doctrine to those yet uninitiated
into a knowledge of the more hidden laws of organization, but
is, nevertheless, as easy of proof as an abundance of the clearest
facts can make it. Whoever will take the trouble to cut across
the ovary of a horse-chesnut flower, soon after the petals have
fallen, will find three cells and two seeds in each cell ; bxit let
him look a few weeks afterwards, when the fruit has attained
its perfect growth, and three seeds or nuts are the most that
can ever be found — sometimes but one. But to remove all
doubt as to the fact and nature of this phenomenon, we have
only to cut open an ovary every day after the periol of flower-
ing, to see some of the seeds gradually increasing, while the
others are observed to remain stationary, and finally to be com-
pletely choked by the development of the first. Now, when
wc bear in mind that this phenomenon is constant, and takes
place in trees perfectly sound, are we not forced to believe that
it is owing to some circumstance in the very system of the or-
ganizaton of this tree? In the oak, too, we have another
familiar instance of a three-celled and six-seeded ovary finally
resulting in one perfect seed only. The disappearance of the
sexual organs is a very common occurrence, of which an exam-
ple may be witnessed in the marginal florets of the snow-ball
genus, and many other plants whose flowers grow together in
large masses. The question then recurs, how shall we recognise
the general symmetry of plants, amid the confusion produced by
these partial abortions ? Some light may be obtained on this
point from observing appearances denominated monstrous — an
epithet commonly given to ail such as differ from the habitual
state of the organs, though many of them ai*e returns of nature
to the symmetrical order. Thus, to recur to an example al-
ready cited, if, by some accidental cause, the six little seeds
of the horse-chesnut or oak should obtain their full growth,
and present us with a fruit of six nuts or acorns, we should
call it monstrous, while, in truth, it is the single-seeded fruit
that is the real monster. The Antirrhinum or Toad-flax has a
personate corolla, the lower segment of which sends out a long
spur, with four stamens of unequal length, and the rudiment of
a fifth. In a variety of this plant called Peloria, the flower is
perfectly regular, having an equal five-lobed corolla sending out
five equidistant spm'S, in which are five equal stamens. Here
is a most singular case of a return of nature to her favourite
symmetry, and no doubt can be left as to which is the real
monster. The rare example of certain compound flowers, where
we see the egret become leafy and assume the appearance of a
true calyx, is a strong proof of the egret's being, in fact, an
abortive calyx. It is well known also, that trees which have
spinous branches in a dry soil, cease to have them in a fertile
one — a siifficient proof that spines are abortive branches.
Another guide, less sure perhaps, but adapted to more
general use, is analogy or induction. It is found solely in a
knowledge of the respective positions of organs. In an Albuca,
for instance, we find the entire structure of a liliaceous plant,
excepting that it has only three stamens bearing anthers, while
between them we observe three filaments placed precisely where
stamens would be, and very similar to the existing stamens.
Hence, we conclude that these filaments are abortive stamens.
In the Ice-plant (Mesembryanthemum), we find a great num-
ber of filaments disposed in several ranks, but all adhering by
their bases, and attached to the same point of the calyx, the
interior bearing fertile anthers, the middle having the anthers
wholly or in part abortive, and the exterior being true petals.
We conclude, then, that in this genus the petals are naturally
abortive stamens, and from a crowd of similar facts we are led
by a very powerful analogy to the belief that the petals of all
plants, as a general theorem, are only filaments of stamens,
whose developement is in the relation of cause or effect to the
abortion of the anther. When too we see the calyx of a Va-
lerian or Scabious, evidently assuming the form of an egret
or pappus, we are induced by analogy to extend this result
to the compound flowers, and conclude that their pappus is
only an abortive calyx. Finally, by analogy alone, we judge
in a host of cases of the natural number of the parts of flowers
and fruits, and are led to look carefully for those whose abor-
tion we suspect. It is the successful use of this principle
which, more than any thing else, facilitates the study of nature,
while the number of its objects are daily increased by discove-
ries, and constitute in fact the true genius for Natural History.
The proximate cause of abortion is principally defect or ex-
cess of nourishment, and it may be well to consider a little
farther the operation of these causes ; and first, the effect of
abortion by defect on the organ itself. When partial, it gives
rise to inequalities between organs naturally similar, and this
is the principal if not the only cause of the irregularities pre-
sented in the structure of vegetables. Every thing which has
any bearing on this subject goes to establish the conclusion,
ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY.
155
that all organized beings are regular in tbeir intimate nature,
and that ahortions, variously combined, produce all the irregu-
larities that arrest our observation. In this point of view, the
slightest inequalities between organs of the same name in a
plant, are important, because they tell us in language plainer
than words, that we may tind analogous plants where this ine-
quality is still greater, and others where these organs, thus
subject to partial abortion, have entirely disappeared. It may
be received as a general principle, that wherever, in any given
system of organization, there is inequality between organs of
the same name, this inequality may attain its maximum, viz.
the annihilation of the smallest part. When the abortion of an
organ has proceeded so far as to prevent it from discharging
its functions, it may be enabled, by this very circumstance, to
fulfil some other functions. The abortion of the extremity of
the leaf in vetches renders this part capable of performing the
functions of a tendril, and abortion of tlie flowers of the Vine
turns the peduncle to a similar use. In the same way, branches
are changed into spines, and serve as defences to the plant, and
the calyx of compound flowers into a pappus, which is useful,
not more to the protection of the sexual organs, than the dis-
persion of the seed. It may happen, however, that an abortive
organ, having lost the power of performing its pioper function,
never becomes adapted to any other, and remains without any
manner of utility in the plant. In a multitude of vegetables,
•we find abortive stamens and pistils reduced to simple filaments
or stumps, and evidently useless. Petals are sometimes found
so small that they can hardly be discovered, and cannot protect
the sexual organs. What purpose can those florets of certain
compound flowers serve, which are invariably sterile ? In the
animal kingdom, the nipples of males, the rudiments of clavi-
cles in the Cats, and of digits in the Ruminants, present us
instances of a similar kind. These useless parts are the result
of the primitive symmetry of the organization, and so far is
their existence from being an argument against the general or-
der of nature, that it furnishes one of the most striking demon-
strations in its favour.
Finally, abortion may be so complete as to leave no trace
■whatever of the organ. Sometimes, it may be discovered, as
in the seed of the oak, in the earliest periods of its existence,
and observed to he gradually diminishing, while, in other cases,
the organ is never found in any stage of growth. Here, abor-
tion is determined by causes so remote, that it is completed
before it could be visible to us, although it may nevertheless
have once existed. To illustrate this idea, let us suppose a
branch of a palm, cut open from top to bottom, and our atten-
tion directed to the bunch or cluster in the centre of the section
near the top, which is destined to expand the following year,
then, a little lower down to the one that is to expand the
second year, below that to one of the third year, and so on till
x\'e arrive at that which will expand seven years hence. Now,
in certain palms, there is an entire abortion of some parts of
the flower, and though this part may never be visible when the
flower is developed, yet no one can deny that it may have ex-
isted in the bunch of the proximate year, or in one of the fol-
lowing, and that with the aid of proper instruments we might
have discovered it. These abortions, like others, may be acci-
dental or natural : when the former, we may observe the part
uaffected by abortion in other individuals of the same species ;
■when natural, predisposed as it were by the'march of vegetation,
■we recognise the abortion only by the analogy of neighbouring
species. The elTects of abortion on other organs will diifer ac-
cording to the degree to which it is carried. If it be considera-
ble, or if the nourishment he thrown upon organs of a more
variable nature there results, not only a change of size, but
of function. In double flowers, which present a remarkable
example of this kind, the abortion of the anthers permits the
filaments to be developed beyond measure, and become trans-
formed into veritable petals. All that has been said of abor-
tions by defect is equally true of abortions by excess, but in an
inverse sense ; and thus, while one necessarily produces the
other, and both exist together, it is impossible in most cases
to determine which is the cause, and which the efl'ect. Resum-
ing now the immediate consequences of this theory of abortion,
we see in it, first, an explanation of a multitude of anomalies
in the number of the parts of plants ; secondly, of many, per-
haps all, the inequalities of proportion in similar parts ; thirdly,
of the changes of form, and consequently of use, so frequent in
organization, and incomprehensible without this theory.
The next source of error to he considered, is the adhesion or
enijruJ'iiiKj of organs. Every body knows that a buil or shoot,
placed upon another tree under certain conditions, is united to
it in such a manner as to form a part of it, and grow as if it
were on its own stem. Every body knows, too, that in forests
we find trees of the same or analogous species, which having
been accidentally approximated, are united together so as to
form but one trunk ; and many have observed that certain or-
gans of plants, that have been brought near one another, are
united in a most intimate manner ; that two neighbouring
flowers may be so united as to form hut one, having a double
number of parts, and that two leaves may also auhere together,
so as to form but one of a singular shape. So long as these
adhesions take place rarely, they are considered, and justly too,
as simple accidents, and no importance is attached to them in
classification. But let us suppose that two ovaries, for in-
stance, stand very close to each other from their origin, as in
the case of the Pigeon-berry, (Mitchella Repens) ; it is clear,
that by reason of this approximation, the opportunity of coa-
lescing is so great, that union will always take place, and we
shall never see them separate. Now, this adhesion is nothing
more than an accident, but it is one which is determined by
causes belonging to organization, and as constant as the organ
itself, insomuch that we have what may be called a constant
accident, and though these terms seem contradictory, this kind
of phenomenon is still very common in nature.
Not only may similar organs be primarily disposed in such a
manner as not to be able to grow without adhering together,
but the same thing takes place in different organs ; and it is
remarkable, that while this phenomenon has been recognised
under certain circumstances, it has, in analogous cases, been
entirely ovei-looked or denied. Any organ, a calyx or corolla,
for instance, may be described in two ways ; either analytically,
by considering it as an unique whole divided into parts more or
less distinct, or synthetically, as an aggregate of parts essen-
tially distinct, but more or less appro.\imated or united. In
the first method, we are bound to render an explanation of the
causes and laws of the separation of the parts ; in the second,
to give a similar explanation as to their approximation or union.
Both methods involve some hypothetical considerations, and
yet, we must follow one or the other. If we are describing a
Hollyhock, we must either regard the corolla as an unique ■nhole,
divided into several portions called petals, or the petals as dis-
tinct organs, which by their uuion form the corolla. Each of
these modes of reasoning may possibly have some good founda-
tion, but certainly it cannot be right to adopt one in the case
of the Hollyhock, and the other when treating of a diiferent
flower. We must be consistent, and a method being once ad-
mitted, it must be adhered to in all analogous cases. The phe-
nomena of crystallization, to borrow an illustration from a
neighbouring science, were explained by Rome de I'lsle, by
considering crystals as integral bodies, which, in consequence
of different truncations, assume all the secondary forms. The
Abb^ Hauy, on the contrary, explained the same facts by
supposing primitive molecules, which, aggregating after par-
ticular laws, determine all the secondary forms. Either theory
may be adopted, though the former is now abandoned ; but
what would be thought of a mineralogist, who should describe
one crystal after Rome de I'lsle's method, and another, after
Hauy's ? And yet, such is the state of botany, that this is
constantly done in regard to that science. It becomes, there-
fore, a matter of serious inquiry, which of these two methods
best expresses the whole of the facts, and whether there be
156
OK THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY.
cases where they may be blended together. When we speak of
the perfoliated leaves of the Honeysuckle, the idea meant to be
conveyed is, that an unique or orbicular leaf is traversed or
enfiladed by the stem that bears it, yet no one at the present
day hesitates to consider this pretended perfoliated leaf as com-
posed of two opposite leaves united at their base. In precisely
similar cases we use the term connate leaves, which expresses
nearly enough the idea of union ; we follow all its degrees from
the slightest to the most intimate kind, and when we perceive
an interval towards the point of junction, we still consider it as
two leaves imperfectly united, not as an unique leaf deeply gashed.
The reason is, that at the base of the plant the two opposite
leaves are separate and distinct, and that as we approach the
summit, they tend more and more to be united ; that we find
each half of the perfoliate leaf unique in appearance, and pos-
sessing all the organization of one of the inferior leaves. Thus,
though the phenomenon is constant, no one hesitates to con-
sider it as a kind of accident, determined by the organizntion
itself.
The law here recognised is applicable to every case of con-
nate leaves, and we must admit the general conclusion, that as
leaves may adhere together accidentally, there are eases in which
this phenomenon occurs constantly, in consequence of their na-
ture and position. All that has been said of leaves must be
readily admitted of stipules, which resemble them so closely ;
so that when we see all the Leguminosae having a stipule on
each side of the petiole, we may conceive that, if these two sti-
pules should be so large as to touch on the side farthest from
the petiole, they might be united, and consequently assume the
appearance of an unique stipule opposite the leaf. The invo-
lucres, too, are subject to the same law of adhesion, as might
readily be supposed from analogy, since these organs are now
universally regarded as only assemblages of floral leaves. In
the Umbelliferae, the involucre generally consists of a certain
number of whorled and separate leaflets, but in some species of
this order, there is found, instead of this whorl, a leafy disk,
presenting as many teeth and furrows as there are leaflets in
the neighbouring species. We are therefore constrained to re-
gard this disk as formed by the natural union, more or less
complete, of many leaflets, and not as a single-leaved involucre.
If then, the leaves and involucres be so readily regarded as sub-
ject to this law of adhesion — of the union of several distinct
parts into one — why should not the fact of its operation be ad-
mitted in regard to the calyx ? This organ resembles the invo-
lucre in every respect ; the anatomy of the sepals shows that
they are entirely leafy organs ; they are green and decompose
carbonic acid like the leaves ; they are almost always furnished
with the same hairs, glands, and sacks as the true leaves, and,
finally, in a multitude of cases, accidental or habitual, we see
them developed into true leaves. If then the calyx is of a leafy
nature, and so very analogous to the involucre, why describe it
on a diametrically opposite plan ? Why consider it as a unique
organ, more or less divided, instead of saying, as in the pre-
ceding cases, that it is formed of pieces more or less united
together .' Besides, the latter method involves no more hypo-
thesis than the former ; since, in a very considerable number of
plants the sepals are completely distinct from one another, and
even attached separately to the peduncles. It is best supported
too by their anatomy, for all the nerves of the calyx are di-
rected from the base to the summit, as in leaves, though con-
stantly described as if they proceeded from the summit to the
base ; and since all modern botanists admit the union of the calyx
to the ovary, it would be strangely inconsistent to imagine that
the sepals could not be united as easily to one another as to a
foreign organ. Instead of saying of a calyx, that it is deeply
cleft, the most proper language obviously is, that the sepals are
united only at the base ; instead of describing it as lohed and
toothed, the sepals should be considered as united half or more
of their length ; instead of distinguishing calices into poiyse-
palous and monosepalous, we are bound to use the distinctions
of polysepalous, or free sepals, and gamasepalous, or sepals
more or less united, and reserve the term monosepalous for the
rare cases, where there really exists but one lateral sepal.
The same reasoning, the same analogies are applicable, with
perhaps still greater force, to the operation of the same law
upon the corolla. This is not an unique whole, more or less
divided, any more than the calyx, but an assemblage or whorl
of petals, sometimes perfectly free, and sometimes more or less
united. In many eases this union is in a manner manifest to
the eye, while in others it is indicated by the disposition of the
vessels; where it is not thus visible, and the tubes are continu-
ous, it may be conjectured by analogy, and by the insensible
gradations to be observed between corollas with petals entirely
free, and those with petals united. The corolla of the clover is
formed of but one piece, instead of four separate and distinct
petals, as in all the rest of the Leguminosae ; yet who, on that
account, would deny its analogy to that order, and that it dif-
fers only in the natural adhesion of its petals .' Adopting the
ordinary way of distinguishing corollas into monopetalous and
polypetalous, we must suppose an organization entirely different ;
for what analogy is there between a flat petal associated with
several others in a whorl, each attached to a single point, and a
circular tuhidar petal, with many points of attachment and a
sinuated margin .' Such a fact can be considered as hardly pos-
sible, when we recollect how many families there' are, in which
we see plants with monopetalous and polypetalous corollas, in-
discriminately mingled together. And what are we to make of
those corollas whose pieces, as in the vine, are separate at their
base, but united at the summit ? This reasoning becomes still
more striking, when we . consider the light in which stamens
have been viewed. These parts possess an extraordinary ana-
logy to petals ; their point of attachment is constantly the
same ; their number and position are generally symmetrical ;
the anatomy and physiology of the filament of the stamen is
perfectly similar to that of the claws of the petals, and in some
flowers, they pass into each other by such insensible gradations,
that it is impossible to say where one begins and the other ends.
This being the case, we ought certainly to expect that the same
mode of reasoning, in regard to the adhesion of one, should be
equally applicable to that of the other. Now, however much
the stamens may be united together, they never are considered
in the light of an unique organ, divided more or less deeply into
several parts, but always as separate and distinct organs, united
according to the law of adhesion. But is this union of the fila-
ments any more apparent than that of the petals ? Are not the
two phenomena equally constant in the same species } Are
any more evident traces of it left in one than in tlie other ?
These two organs are of the same nature, and we must either
consider the whorl of stamens as an unique whole, deeply cleft,
or the whorl of petals as formed of many pieces more or less
united. What would bethought of a zoologist who should de-
scribe the feet of the web-footed birds as orbicular disks, di-
vided to a greater or less extent .' All naturalists regard them
as distinct digits, united by a membrane, and this mauner of
considering organs as compound bodies, is the only one that re-
presents the natural state of things, — the only one that admits
of clear expressions and exact comparisons.
The truth of this theory becomes still more manifest, when
we attend to the manner in which petals adhere at their base.
In a polypetalous flower we see that generally each petal is fixed
at its base by a fibre which carries its nourishment, and that if
its base be very large, the rest adheres only by cellular tissue.
Every family has thus a certain disposition in the vessels of the
petals, and it is always the same, whether they be united or not.
This analogy is equally striking, when considered in another
point of view. Petals are composed generally of a claw and
limb, as stamens are of filament and anther, and adhesion or-
dinarily takes place by beginning at the base and finishing at
the upper part, so that most petals, when they unite, adhere by
their claws, while the limb is free. In the same manner, most
adhering stamens have the filaments joined and the anthers dis-
tinct.
ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANT.
157
We come now to the pistil, or livliat, in this relation, is the
same thing, the fruit. In the Ranunculaceae, we generally find
the fruit composed of a considerable number of partial carpels,
united, in some species, only at their base, in others half their
length, in others, nearly to their summit. Hence, no conclu-
sion can be more natural than that ovaries, apparently unique,
but divided internally into many cells, are in reality formed by
the constant and natural adhesion of many carpels. Sometimes
the partitions between the cells are formed by the re-entering
valves, the carpels being plainly united by their lateral faces —
a fact which beautifully illustrates this theory. We would say
more on this point, but as it would be difScult to render our
language intelligible to any but practical botanists, we are re-
luctantly obliged to dismiss thus briefly the most interesting
among all the discussions on this subject.
If the above reasoning be correct, it appears that the adhe-
sion of different organs takes place as a necessary consequence
of primitive contiguity, constituting w-hat is called jvedisposed
adhesion. It is easily conceived that it may mislead us in re-
gard to the number, position and nature of the organs, and that
it constitutes a subject of considerable importance in classifica-
tion. Every case of adhesion cannot be of equal consequence,
and we are therefore led to adopt the following general rules for
guiding our inquiries on this point. First, the adiiesion of the
dift'erent organs of fructification is so much the more important,
as it takes place between parts in which this operation is most
difficult. Secondly, the adhesion of these organs is so much
the more important, as it is necessarily connected with the
greatest changes in the general symmetry. Thus, the union of
the petals and stamens, of the filaments and styles, of the an-
thers and stigmas, of the ovary and calyx, in consequence of the
great anatomical similarity of these parts, are phenomena of
easy and frequent occurrence, and therefore of no great impor-
tance ; while, for the very opposite reason, the union of the
corolla and calyx, of the stamens and calyx, of the corolla and
ovary, must be regarded as instances of adhesion of the highest
importance.
We are not to suppose, however, that whenever two organs
adhere together, they necessarily preserve all the parts of which
they were originally composed. When tw'o labiate flowers are
united, we rarely find eight stamens, hut seven, six, or only five,
and instead of ten lobes, their corolla may present indiiferently
all the numbers between five and ten. In fact, the union of
two regular flowers is seldom recognisable except by an aug-
mentation of the number of their parts, some of each being lost
by abortion. This theoretical consideration may be applied, in
many cases, for the purpose of recognising the affinities of cer-
tain plants. The Cruciferae; for example, have naturally four
petals and six stamens, which inequality in the number of parts,
indicating a loss of the original symmetry of the flower, we wish
to determine whether they are related to plants whose number
of stamens is double that of the petals, or to those where these
numbers are equal. If to the former, v:e must suppose them
iu their primitive state to have had eight stamens, two of which
have aborted ; if to the latter, that each flower is originally
composed of four petals and four stamens, but that they grow
in threes, and that there is a union of the three flowers, with an
abortion of the lateral ones, excepting a single stamen in each.
This latter hypothesis implies a more complicated operation
than the former, but still appears to approach nearer the truth;
for cases have been found where the flowers possessed four
petals and four stamens, and where, in place of the two lateral
stamens, there was on each side a flower with the same number
of parts. We are still farther confirmed in the belief that this
is the primitive state of the Cruciferae, because the position of
the two lateral stamens is always below that of the others, be-
cause they arc very constantly w-anting in many species, and
because the Hypecoum, the only genus with which the Cruci-
ferae have any marked relation, has four stamens and four
petals. This single case must suffice to show the practical ap-
plication of the theory of abortion and adhesion, iu unravelling
the natural affinities of plants.
III. Having now exposed the principal difficulties in the way
of recognising the symmetry of the organs, we shall show very
briefly in what this symmetry and the comparative value of its
elements consist. The most important of these elements is the
existence or absence of organs ; and on this point we must he-
ware of some powerful causes of error. Two organs really ex-
isting may be so united and assume such an appearance, that
the presence of one becomes problematical. Thus, the union of
the calyx and corolla has given rise to the idea that one or the
other of these organs is wanting in plants, where both really
exist, and the union of the pericarp and spermoderm has some-
times induced the belief that the seeds had no proper envelope,
or that the pericarp was wanting. Certain organs may fail
also, in consequence of abortion ; and it is only by means of an
acquaintance with the general symmetry of the plant, that we
can distinguish between this phenomenon and that where the
organ is naturally wanting.
After the presence or absence of organs, the next most im-
portant element of their symmetry is their absolute and relative
position ; for here we expect the greatest and most permanent
difl^erence. Tlie essential position of a particular organ must
be determined in relation to that which serves as its real sup-
port, that is, from which it receives its origin and nourishment,
and not organs foreign to its existence. This it is frequently
very difficult to recognise, but their relative position, though
less important, may be oftener and more surely employed. In
all vascular vegetables, which comprise all with whose symmetry
we are acquainted, we remark that their organs are placed rela-
tively to one another in a general order. In the flower, the pis-
til occupies the centre, and the stamens, petals, and sepals, com-
posed of a certain number of parts, are disposed around the
pistil according to diflerent symmetries. They may be placed
directly before or alternate with one another ; they may corres-
pond with the parts of the pericarp, or have no relation what-
ever with them. These diff'erent combinations possess consi-
derable importance in classification, provided that we avoid the
two sources of error already exposed, adhesion and abortion,
Avhich by diminishing the number of the parts, conceal their
true symmetry. Thus, it belongs to the symmetry of the
Leguminosae to have the petals alternate with the sepals, hut
if the two inferior petals be united, or if one of the petals prove
abortive, the number is reduced, and the symmetry is masked
to the eyes of the superficial observer.
The absolute or relative number of organs is a character
whose importance has been very differently estimated, but which,
like many others, varies under difl^erent circumstances. The
absolute number of organs is liable to be modified by a variety
of causes, such as abortion, adhesion, &c. ; but where all these
sources of error are avoided, we cannot deny that this character
is one of considerable importance, though subject to certain
conditions. We may say, first, that the absolute number of
organs in every plant is generally more fixed, and consequently
so much the more important, the smaller that number is;
secondly, that unity never exists naturally iu any of the re-
productive organs, except the pistil, — whenever they are found
single, it is the consequence of abortion or adhesion, — and in the
conservative organs, unity of the leaves exists only in the Mo-
nocotyledons ; thirdly, to ascertain the true absolute number
of organs in a plant, it is necessary to go back, by means of
the theory of abortion and adhesion, to the number that appears
to be the primitive type of the class, or to one of its multiples.
The numbers 4, 5, and their multiples, seem to belong to the
Dicotyledons, and 3, with its multiples, to the Monocotyledons,
while 2 and its multiples are very permanent among the Acotyle-
dons. Characters drawn from the relative number of organs,
that is, from a comparison of the proportional number of the
parts of the diff'erent systems of a compound organ, may be re-
lied on with considerable confidence. Thus, the absolute num-
158
ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF IIOIANY.
ber of stamens in the Epilobium is 8, the relative number 1
twice that of the petals. Under this point of view, we are
obliged to distinguish between muUipJe, determinate, and inde-
terminate relations. Au instance of the first we have in the
Epilobium, where the parts of the calyx are 4, corolla 4, sta-
mens S, and pistil 4 ; of the second, in the Violet, where the
parts of the flower are as 5 to 3 compared to those of the pistil ;
of the last, in the Magnolias, where the number is not fixed in
the petals, stamens, or pistils. If now abortion take place in
all the four systems of a flower at once, their relative numbers
may remain the same, while their absolute number -will be
changed ; but how are we to distinguish between these two
kinds of numbers ? If we consider that when a single system
is altered, the flower becomes necessarily irregular, and that
in all cases, where every system is affected at the same time,
it remains regular, we arrive at a simple and exact theorem :
viz. — In all regular flowers, the relative number of the pr.rts
of each system should be the first object of our research ; iu all
irregular flowers, we begin by ascertaining the absolute number
of each system, and thence deduce their relative numbers.
When one or more parts of a system are so numerous as to
present many ranks, the relations of number, though still ex-
isting, are difficult to he perceived, though by care and dili-
gence we may sometimes find them. An oriental Poppy has
been observed, which had 3 sepals, 6 petals, and 564 stamens,
that is, 94 ranks of 6.
The next element of symmetry to be considered, is the abso-
lute, relative, and proportional size of the parts ; and here we
may compare together, in regard to size, two systems, or their
parts. The proportional dimensions of the parts of a system
are frequently a matter of great interest, for the whole study
of irregular plants, and consequently, the whole art of referring
them to the regular symmetries of which they form a part, rests
upon the examination of the inequality of the parts of a system.
The fundamental principle of this examination appears to be,
that among vascular, and perhaps, among all vegetables, the
parts of the same system are naturally of equal size, and become
otherwise only in consequence of phenomena more or less inti-
mately connected with the general structure of the plant. The
causes of these phenomena we are not always able to specify,
but the position of the flower on the stem undoubtedly deter-
mines a great many inequalities. When solitary, erect, and
terminal, it is equally nourished, and will of course be regu-
lar, insomuch that it may be considered as an unexceptionable
general law, that flowers thus situated are regular, even when
they belong to a family ordinarily irregular. If other flowers
spring up aroiind it, forming a head, their equilibrium is dis-
turbed ; those in the middle, being equally pressed, will become
abortive or change their form, though still continuing regular ;
the lateral ones, being unequally pressed by their neighbours,
will have a tendency to increase on their external side, where
the pressure is least. AU families with a peculiarly irregular
flower, are never observed to have the flowers terminal, always
having them axillary, or disposed iu a spike or cluster. Some-
times, iu the Labiatae, we find terminal flowers, but then they
are always regular. An important result of these considerations
is, that since the primitive symmetry of each system may be
deranged by accidental causes, it becomes necessary, before we
can establish a good classification, to trace back all irregu-
lar plants to their primitive and regular types, though these
types may be rarely encountered, and sometimes are even ideal.
Thus, the Personatae are found to be only alterations from the
type of Solaneae,
We have thus exposed very briefly the principles which de-
termine the comparative importance of organs, and the method
•whereby we may graduate the degree of importance presented
by the different points of view under which each organ may be
studied. It is also requisite to show how these two modes of
reasoning maybe combined, or in other words, how we are to
arrive at a proper appreciation of characters : for a character,
in fact, is one manner of considering organs generally, applied
to one in particular. As a general rule, the value of characters
is in a ratio composed of the importance of the organ, and
of the point of view under which we may consider it ; so that
characters, drawn from a particular organ, will have a value
proportioned to that of the modification, and when drawn from
the modification, it will be proportioned to the importance of
the organs. Though the organs have difi'erent degrees of re-
lative importance, yet the value of characters drawn from them
will depend on the importance of the modification; for a very
trivial one in a very important organ may furnish a character
of less consequence than a greater in a far less important or-
gan. The results of the combination of these two elements
will be equal or unequal. They will be equal, first, when the
same modification is common to two organs of the same physi-
ological rank ; secondly, W'hen two modifications of the same
rank exist in one or two organs of the same rank ; thirdly,
when the importance of the organ is counterbalanced by that of
the modification. Thus, if we compare the sensible qualities
of the embryo, the highest of all the organs in the scale of im-
portance, with the existence of the nectary ; or in other words,
if we compare the least important modification of the most im-
portant organ with the most important point of view under
which the least important organ can be considered, we shall have
two analogous results, as theory and observation both testify.
Here we must close our notice of the Natural System,
Though many points have been left untouched, and though we
are sensible that general principles must lose much of their
force and clearness, when presented without the proper illustra-
tions and discussions ; yet, we trust that a more correct idea
of the philosophy of botany has been conveyed, than is readily
obtained from the books published as peculiarly illustrating it.
HOW TO THICKEN THORN-HEDGES, AND PRODUCE
BRANCHES ON TREES.
The object of the experiments related in the following paper,
(which we have gathered from the Transactions of the Highland
Society of Scotland) was to procure lateral branches from the
bare stems of thorns, and other ligneous vegetables ; and the
result being stated as satisfactory, it is only necessary to ex-
plain the manner in which it has been effected. The sap, in cir-
culating or ascending, naturally moves along the bark of a bare
stem of an even surface, without any tendency to develope la-
teral shoots ; but the temporary interruption of the course of the
sap in thorns, as it is known to do in other plants, seems to
give an impulse to inactive germs, by which lateral branches are
produced ; and therefore, in point of beauty and utility, the dis-
covery is important.
A thorn-hedge, when properly managed, surpasses in appear-
ance and durability any ordinary field fence. But they never
succeed in situations where they are exposed to too much mois-
ture or where the soil is arid ; and in cold exposed situations
their stems become covered with grey lichens, indicative of an
unhealthy condition. When such cold soils are not trenched
previously to planting, hedges and trees make slow progress,
especially where the ground is stiff, and opposes the shooting of
the roots, ^"^ery light gravelly soils are also unfavourable to the
growth of thorns. But the greatest error usually committed
in rearing thorn-hedges, is the neglect of keeping them clean
and properly trimmed when young, so that at best the hedge
becomes as broad as it is high, or looks like a canopy siipported
by bare sticks, on account of being choked at the root by weeds.
No hedge looks so neat or lasts so long as one kept nearly in
the form of a stone wall, the proper dimensions being from
three to four and a half feet in height, from one to two feet in
breadth or thickness at the base, inclining upwards, until at the
top its diameter is only a few inches.
But when neglected, as already said, it has hitherto been
considered an irreparable evil attendant on thorn hedges, as res-
pects their bushiness at the root, that they are scanty and bare,
ON THE NATUEAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY.
159
and not to be remedied but by cutting the whole close to the
ground, and training it anew, which though efficient is a slow
style of amendment. On a farm near Stirling a farmer tried a
new method of renovating his hedges, where many of the thorn-
stems were almost entirely destitute of lateral branches within
two feet of the ground. This he accomplished by making hori-
zontal and semicircular incisions in the bark, by which from a
quarter to half an inch in breadth of both layers of the bark
was removed fully half-way round the stem. In a few weeks
after, buds appeared and shot forth, usually close under, but
sometimes over the incisions. This simple operation, performed
by a hedge-hill or a pocket knife, early in spring, does not seem
to injure in the least the thorns, for the cut being clean and not
deep, no canker ensues, and it soon closes up again, leaving only
a slight scar in the place; care must be taken, however, that no
shred of the inner bark remain to continue the circulation.
The partial interruption merely causes a lateral exertion in the
sap-vessels to overcome the obstruction, and the sap thus accu-
mulated gives rise to the new branches, so that the stem may
be cut at two or more places if necessary. The artificial
branches seldom failed to appear where the stems were healthy,
and have sometimes attained a length of two feet the first
season. But as such tender twigs are apt to be hurt by frost,
if cut too young, they were not touched till the first or some-
times the second spring after, when such as required it were
cut off a few inches from the stem, which caused ao immediate
subdivision of each branch. Thus, the ragged ill-filled hedges
of this gentleman have been continued at the regular height,
and at the same time trained into a uniform breadth and thick-
ness, not attainable by any other method, in the same space of
time.
Having succeeded so well with the thorns, he tried after-
wards an experiment on a few forest trees, about six inches in
diameter. The incisions were made about si.x feet from the
ground, and, iu some instances, immediately above slight swell-
ings, which indicated a tendency to shoot forth branches. The
consequence was, that a new branch sprang forth the same
season, from almost every one of the trees. In the thorns,
however, no search was made for these eyes, and few or none
were observed. The object in these last experiments was to
ascertain whether a tree intended to be ornamental, but which
had been forced up by close planting to a long pole, might be
made to assume a lu.xuriant appearance, and so far as this gen-
tlemen has proceeded, it appears that his attempt has been fol-
lowed by the desired effect.
ON IMPROVING THE BLOOM, AND PRESERVING
OF CERTAIN FRUITS.
Mr. Robert Gauen, gardener, at MiUbrook, near Southamp-
ton, some years ago published a method of improving the
bloom of certain fruits, which is worthy of the notice of those
who have an interest in ornamenting, preserving, and packing
such articles, and to which we beg to renew attention. Ten
years' experience, and the award of many prizes for show fruits,
have conferred on Mr. Gauen singular skill in this branch. The
delicate bloom of the cucumber, its length, girth, and straight-
ness, are, as is well known, important considerations among
florists and growers of prize fruits. For these purposes the
cucumber must be protected from the drip of the lights, from
the pei'iod of its blossoming, and from the damp of the soil, by
two pieces of glass, about four inches wide, and from eight to
a dozen long ; the one placed under the fruit, and the other sup-
ported on pegs over it; both having a slope to one end, to carry
off any condensed damp.
To procure the straightness of a gun-barrel, a slender and
lengthy form for the cucumber, instead of supporting the upper
glass on pegs, lay on the under glass, alongside the young fruit,
two pieces of wood about the length you suppose the cucumber
may grow to, about two inches square, and with the upper
inner angle of each piece bevelled off. The solar heat is in-
creased by these pieces of wood throughout the day, and by
close confinement during the night, the fruit is conducted to
considerably more than its natural length. This mode of se-
curing elongation is attended with small prickles placed at
greater distances than is desirable in a handsome specimen.
To ensure shape, size, prickles, and bloom, the foliage of the
plant must be kept moderately thin. Never wet the fruit in
watering the plants. Before cutting it, be careful that it is
perfectly straight, at least a day previously, for this operation
can never be so well conducted as when the fruit is on the
plant. In straightening warped fruit after it is cut, let it be
kept in a cool, dry place, and excluded from the change of air.
Mr. Gauen merely kept them in their show-box, in a cool, dry
room.
His straightening process is thus : — Take a flat hoard, half
an inch thick, four inches broad, and the length of the cucum-
ber ; bore holes at intervals of half an inch across the board,
and within one inch of each end. Provide two strips the length
of the hoard, one half inch wide and one fourth inch thick;
place one strip on edge, supported by a peg placed in one of the
holes outside the strip that is on edge, and put the board under
the growing fruit, with the two ends of the arc formed by the
crooked fruit against the upright strip ; place a bit of cotton-
wool or moss between each end of the fruit and the upright
strip, to prevent bruising. Then take the other strip and bring
it within a peg placed at one end, with a bit of wool or moss
placed against the outer arc of the crooked fruit, as before.
Proceed to straighten the fruit with one hand, straining it by
tlie strip (keeping the whole steady with the other) towards the
fixed upright strip, so as to bring it in a straight direction, and
fix another peg. In ordinary cases the cucumber may be made
perfectly straight at the first operation ; but in some instances
it requires two or three. A fruit may be straightened at any
period of its growth, but it requires to be left one night under
training, after the operation, to prevent its return to crookedness.
The bloom of the fruits, which suffers by tl i^ operation, may
be restored ; which Mr. Guaen accomplishes by the use of a
box with sliding and false bottoms, a common powder-puff and
some finely calcined and perfectly dry magnesia. In packing,
if there are more tiers of cucumbers than one, they mnst be
kept apart by these false bottoms being supported so as not to
injure the subjacent fruit.
To preserve bloom on the grapes, complete the thinning of the
berries when they have gained half their size, and do not dash
water violently against them or subject them to a current of
steam. Abundance of sun and air are favourable for the produc-
tion of bloom, neither will a moderate degree of shade injure
them. When grapes with delicate bloom are gathered, they should
be placed in a basket of well threshed moss, taking care not to
bruise any of the berries. To restore the bloom to them, work
the puff at intervals of an hour or two, in the blooming box.
Grapes require more care in packing than any other species
of fruit. Mr. Gauen recommends moss and cotton wool, the
former well threshed and picked ; place a layer of moss at the
bottom of the box ; on this a layer of cotton-wool ; and next,
the bunches, side by side, within half an inch of each other ;
fill the interstices with cotton-wool, place a layer of the same
material over the fruit, and finish with moss. A false bottom,
supported by the sides of the box, may next be introduced, and
the operations repeated. When the bunches are very large, it
is necessary to interpose splints of whalebone through the hea-
vier parts of the bunches, to support them on the sides of the
box, or on the interstices of cotton-wool.
Of grapes, it may in general be said, that the berries of the
best flavour and colour are those of the first ripened bunches
(of the bunches at the root end of the vine), and of the lower
extremity of the bunch. Unlike many other fruits, they do not
improve ia flavour after gathering, and unripe bunches do not
become riper after they are removed from the vine. In select-
ing bunches, avoid those where any, or even one of the leaves
160
GARDEN OPERATIONS FOR NOVEMBER.
have been removed near the bunch, from the tree, because the
berries will there be of inferior flavour.
Phims, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and figs — ^indeed every
fruit which has a bloom — may be treated, in such a box as Mr.
Gauen describes, with the puff and calcined magnesia. ■ We
should have before mentioned, that the false bottoms in his box
consist of fine wire gauze, and by a particular process, which
cannot always be conveniently followed, he raises a cloud of the
powder, which most delicately covers the fruit. It seems re-
markable that a white powder should give bloom to fruits of
different colours ; but the colour resides in the skin, and the
bloom is merely a semi-transpai'ent colourless powder. Mr.
Gauen considers magnesia as merely a powerful antiseptic, and
being preferable to any other article, because it is neither offen-
sive to the taste nor deleterious in any shape.
BY INOCULATION TO MAKE OLD CHESEE OUT
OF NEW.
The flavour and appearance of an old cheese may be communi-
cated to new by inserting in the new cheese portions of the old,
containing the blue mould. The little scoop which is used in
taking samples of cheese is a ready instrument for the opera-
tion, by interchanging ten or a dozen of the rolls which it ex-
tracts, and placing them so as to disseminate the germ of the
blue mould all over the cheese. A new Stilton treated in this
■way, and well covered up from the air for a few weeks, be-
comes thoroughly impregnated with the mould, and generally
with a flavour hardly to be distinguished from the old one.
Mr. John Robinson, Secretary of the Royal Society of Edin-
burgh, says he has sometimes treated half a Lanarkshire
cheese in this way, and left the other half in its natural state,
and been much amused with the remarks of his friends on the
striking superiority of the English cheese over the Scotch one.
CHEAP METHOD OF CATCHING MICE.
The following stratagem has been successfully employed to de-
stroy in gardens these troublesome little animals. A quantity of
bell glasses are placed in the ground, being sunk till they are
level with the earth. They are filled half full Avith water ; a
little oatmeal is put over the water in the glass, and also a little
over the earth, about the outside, to decoy them to a watery
grave. The mice are bred for the most part on the outside of
gardens, and come in for provisions. In winter they catch best,
but, to prevent the water from freezing in the glasses and
bursting them, a covering must be used, yet so as to allow the
little animals to go under, and reach their fate.
GARDEN OPERATIONS FOR NOVEMBER.
1st. Kitchen Garden.
Tie up endive for blanching, continue to earth up cardoons, and
dress the plantations of artichokes ; that is, cut down their
larger leaves, and lay some earth about the plants to protect
them during winter. Carrots and parsnips may be taken up
and preserved in sand during winter.
Some more peas and beans may be sown to succeed those
that were sown last month, or to supply their place if they
should be cut off by the severity of the weather.
2nd. Fruit Garden.
The best time for pruning vines is immediately after the fall
of the leaf, because the greatest possible time in that way is
allowed for healing the wounds. Vines that are cut about the
time of the rise of the sap in spring, are apt to bleed profusely.
This happens sometimes even to those that are pruned in the
course of the winter. When praning is properly performed,
the young branches should be left at the distance of from one
foot or two feet, and, even upwards, from one another ; but this
in a great measure must be regulated by the size of the leaves.
When vines are weakly, each shoot should be shortened so as to
have only three or four inches ; w hen they are moderately vi-
gorous, each should be left about a foot long, and so upwards.
The shoots, however, that are trained to the rafters of a vinery
or pine-stove may be left eighteen or twenty feet long. It has
been observed that both the largest grapes and finest clusters
are produced on shoots of a considerable length.
If the following directions for training vines in a vinery be
observed, they will easily be kept in order, and plentiful crops
of good friut may be expected.
Vines may be planted on the back wall and front of a vinery :
those on the back should be from five to six feet asunder, ac-
cording to the vigour of growth of the particular sort, and in
such a position that the two uppermost buds may point east
and west ; those on the front, so as one may be trained to each
rafter. When the vines begin to grow, all the buds, except the
two uppermost, must be rubbed oft' from those on the back
wall, and all except the uppermost from those on the front wall.
If any of the plants shew fruit the first year, the clusters should
be rubbed off as well as the tendrils and lateral shoots, and the
principal shoots should be trained regularly as they advance in
growth. Fires should be put in the vinery during the spring,
to encourage an early growth in the vines, that they may have
full time to ripen their wood. In the month of June the glasses
may be taken off altogether, but should be put on again in
September, and continued till the fall of the leaf, when the
vines should be pruned. The two shoots which each vine on the
back wall was permitted to push, should be cut down to their
third or fourth bud, according as either of them appears fidlest
and strongest, and then bent down as near as possible to a hori-
zontal position, forming a figure resembling the letter T. Plants
in front, that are trained to the rafters, should be cut down al-
most to the bottom, and no more left than merely sufficient
to train them to the rafter. Only two shoots 'should again be
permitted to grow on each plant on the back wall, and one on
those of the front, and these may be allowed to run the whole
height of the house before they are stopped. After the vine
shoots are stopped (which is done by pinching off their tops),
they will in general push out laterals at three or four eyes, on
the upper part of the shoot. These lateral eyes should not be
entirely taken off, as it would cause more to push out lower
upon the shoots. It would, therefore, be prudent to permit
the Erst laterals to grow twelve or fourteen inches, and then to
pinch off their tops. These laterals in their turn will push out
secondary laterals, which should be pinched off at the second or
third joint, and in that way the sap may be diverted till the end
of the season.
The shoots of the plants on the back wall must be brought
down to a horizontal position, and cut so that the branches of
each plant may reach within afoot of the other. If all the vines
on the rafters have pushed vigorously, it will be proper to prune
every other plant down to three or four eyes, and the rest to
from twenty to twenty-five eyes each, the latter being intended
to produce fruit, and the former to make bearing-wood against
another year. When the vines begin to push in the spring of
the third year, the shoots of those on the back wall should not
be allow'ed to stand nearer one another than a foot or fifteen
inches, all the intermediate buds being carefully rubbed off.
The shoots ought to be trained up perpendicularly, and however
vigorous they may be, no more than one cluster should be al-
lowed to remain on any of them ; all of them may run up to the
height of five or six feet before they are stopped. The shoots
on the rafters that were pruned to twenty or twenty-five eyes
each, will probably push at all of them ; but not more than five
or seven shoots should be permitted to remain, even on the
strongest — viz. a leading shoot, and two or three on each side ;
care being taken to leave one shoot as near the bottom as pos-
sible, as the whole branch will require to be pruned down to
this shoot next winter. Only one shoot should be left upon
METHOD OF PROTECTING CAUHFLOWEKS. CLIMATE, IN KEEEKENCE TO HORTICULTURE.
161
■those vines that were pruned down to three or four eyes at
every other rafter ; and this must be trained up the rafter as in
the preceding year. At next pruning season, all the shoots
proceeding from the horizontal branches of the vines on the
back wall should be pruned down to three or four eyes. The
vines on the front which produced fruit should be pruned to
their lowest shoot, which should be shortened so as to leave
four or five eyes. Those at every other rafter which were
shortened the preceding year, and which were allowed to push
one shoot, should now be pruned like the bearers of tlte former
year; that is, twenty or twenty-five eyes should be left on each.
In the following and all succeeding seasons, those vines on the
front will require a similar management, with this difference,
that as they acquire more strength, they may be permitted to
push more shoots, and more clusters may be allowed to remain
on each shoot ; for as the vines advance in age, they will cer-
tainly be enabled to produce every year, for a certain period, a
larger crop of fruit. The spurs of the vines on the back wall,
that is, the shoots that were shortened to three or four eyes,
should be allowed to push up one shoot; these shoots at next
pruning season must be cut so as to leave a long one, viz.
about four feet, and a short one alternately. The long ones
should be allowed to push five shoots (all the other buds being
rubbedotf ), the four lateral of which should be cu tdown to two
or three eyes each, at next pruning season, and the terminal
one should be left about a foot and a half long. The short
shoots between the long ones must constantly be pruned down
to two or three eyes each, in order to keep a proper succession
of bottom wood. The pruning in the following season must be
the same, with this difierence, that the upright shoots, as they
have acquired a foot and a half additional length, may be al-
lowed to push seven shoots instead of five.
Gooseberries and currants may be pruned any time from the
fall of the leaf, till their buds begin to grow in the spring. If
these bushes be not well pruned, the fruit will neither be large
nor well-flavoured. The principal thing to be attended to is,
to keep them open, for they are very apt to become over-
crowded with branches ; all suckers, therefore, which arise from
the root, or shoots which proceed from the main stem, should
be removed, because they would only create confusion, by
growing up into the heart of the bush. When last summer's
shoots stand too thick on the main branches, they should be
thinned, and few either of them, or the main branches, should
be shortened, because the more they are shortened the more
liable they are to run to wood. They who make use of garden
shears may save time, and make neat-looking bushes, but
will be disappointed with respect to the quantity and quality of
their fruit.
3rrf. Flower Garden, or Pleasure Gi
'oitnd.
Fibrous-rooted perennial plants may still be planted; likewise
bulbous-rooted plants, such as tulips, hyacinths, &c.
Shrubs, and ornamental or forest 'trees, may be transplanted
now, or any time during the winter, when the weather is
open.
4^'j. The Niirserij.
Transplant young trees and shrubs, and protect tender seed-
lings during severe weather.
5th. Green-house and Hoi-house.
The plants in the green-house should have air during the
day, whenever the weather will permit, and shoidd receive but
little water. The plants in the hot- house should likewise re-
ceive air during the day, in favourable weather, and fires must
be put on every evening, but sehlom need to be continued
during the day, excepting the vreather is very severe.
METHOD OF PROTECTING CAULIFLOWERS, Sec,
IN WINTER.
Cauliflowers and other tender plants may be advantageously
protected, during winter, in the following manner, as has been
practically proved by some ingenious gardeners. The method
alluded to is by earthen pots and wooden frames, covered per-
manently with straw. The pits arc most properly made in n
south and east border, in an inclosure, or yard, such as is used
for hot-beds and composts, the fences of which aiford good
shelter from the cold quarters. The ground is at first made as
level as possible, and also as firm, by trampling in wet weather.
'The pits are then cut oi^t ten feet in length by about four in
breadfli, making the sides and ends as firm as can be, beating
them with the spades when wet. The depth of the pit is ac-
cording to the nature of the plants to be kept in it. About
nine inches is sufticicnt for cauliflower plants, and for these, care
must be taken that a sufficient quantity of proper soil is left or
placad in the bottom of the pit in which they are to be pricked
out. Each pit of the above mentioned size holds about four
hundred cauliflower plants. For plants in pots, the depth of
the pits must be proportioned to the height of them, the tops
of which must, when placed in the pits, be below the level of
the surface of the ground.
The frames to cover these pits are twelve feet in length by
six in breadth ; which is a proper size for two men to carry, or
to be opened and shut by one person. The timbers to form
the sides and ends of the frames arc required to be about three
inches square, and quite straight. These, when joined together,
arc placed on a level floor, and slips of timber, two inches in
breadth and one in thickness, are nailed lengthways on them,
at intervals of nine inches. When the timber work is fini«:hed,
the straw is fastened on in the manner of thatch, and tied to
the bars by rope-yarn. The best sort of straw is that which
is obtained by taking the wheat in handfulls out of the sheaf,
and beating it against a door firmly fixed on edge, which bruises
the straw very little, excepting at the tops. The frames should
be kept under cover during summer, that they may be properly
dried when put up. With proper care, after this they will last
for several years. When the plants are put into the pits, the
frames are laid over them. Air is admitted by placing in the
ground, near the centre of each pit, a forked stick, about four
feet in length, strong enough to support the frames when raised
like the lid of a box, and they remain in that position night
and day, unless when actual freezing takes place, or when frost
is expected in the night. Tbese straw frames are not to be
compared with glass, as respects appearance ; but they have
other advantages besides their cheapness. When they are raised,
the plants in the pits have the full advantage of air and sun,
and are little exposed to wet, the rain being mostly thrown off
on the back of the frames, and when they are shut down, frost
cannot easily penetrate through them to the plants ; whereas
mats and other sorts of coverings -arc necessary for covering
glass, the removing of which, to give air in the middle of the
day, and the replacing them at night, is very troublesome, com-
pared with the instantaneous opening and shutting of the straw
frames.
Such pits and frames are very suitable for the protection of
plants usually kept under glass witliout artificial heat ; but in
cases of necessity tender green-house plants may be preserved
through the winter in them, when they would perish under hot-
bed frames.
CLIMATE, IN REFERENCE TO HORTICULTUR.E.
Agriculture has for its principal objects the fertilization of
the soil by manures, and various processes of cultivation best
adapted to the peculiarities of any given climate, and the growth
of such plants as are either indigenous, or inured to the vicissi-
tudes of weather incidental to a particiUar country. But Hor-
162
CLIMATE, IN REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. THE COUNTY OF ANTRIM.
ticTilture contemplates a wider field; for, besides the points
above mentioned as belonging to agriculture, it aspires to tbe
preservation and propagation of exotics, and, tlicrefore embraces
the consideration of various climates, whilst it endeavours, by
artificial means, to neutralize and command the seemingly un-
tractable elements to be encountered in foreign soils and hos-
tile latitudes.
Horticulture may be conveniently treated, in reference to cli-
mate, either as controlling and invigorating its natural powers
in the open air, or as composing aad maintaining a confined
atmosphere, whose properties may assimilate with those of the
atmosphere natural to the particular plants to be cultivated.
The basis of the atmosphere is known to consist of the same
chemical parts in all regions. The modifications of these par^s
of light, heat, and moisture, and even as regards the open air,
depends much on artificial powers, as is amply proven evei'y
day in every well- managed garden in the land. We shall, there-
fore confine ourselvts to the atmospheric character and varia-
tions of our own situation, which are not merely great, but
often sudden. The main object of the horticulturist is to
stretch, as it were, his climate to the south, where the extremes
of drought and cold do not occur ; and not only to guard against
the injurious eftects of the ultimate severity of the weather,
but to ward off its sudden changes in the different seasons of
the year. Let us here remember how these changes are bi'ought
about in the general course of nature. The principal of them
are wind and radiation.
Evaporation and exhalation depend upon the saturated state
of the air with moisture, and the velocity of its motion. When
the air is dry, vapour ascends in it with great rapidity, and the
energy of this action is much promoted by wind. Over the
state of saturation the horticulturist has little power, but over
its velocity he has some control, by means of various sorts of
screens. And the use of high walls, especially upon the north-
ern and eastern sides of a garden, cannot therefore be doubt-
ful, whilst, in the case of tender fruit trees, such screens should
not be far apart.
Radiation also produces sudden and injurious influences upon
tender plants. Experience has taught gardeners the advan-
tages of warding off the effects of frost by loose straw or other
litter. Now, it should be borne in mind that the radiation is
only transferred from the plant to the mat, and therefore, con-
tact between the two should be prevented, for thus the stratum
of air which is enclosed will, by its slow conducting power,
effectually secure the plant.
Little is in the power of the horticulturist to effect, in the
way of exalting the powers of the climate in the open air, ex-
cept by choice of situation with regard to the sun, and the con-
centration of its rays upon walls and other screens. Draining
and drying the soil iramediai-ely subject to his culture, can have
nothing like a perceptihle influence on the climate. As re-
spects the choice of situation, however, it should be borne in
mind, that not a little depends on whether it lay in a low, and
wbere a perfectly still atmosphere dwells ; for the utmost con-
centration of cold can only take place in such a situation. Ac-
cordingly, a heavy mist is often formed in meadows, and a val-
ley surrounded by low hills is more liable to the effects of radia-
tion than the tops and sides of the hills themselves. It is also
a well known fact, that dew and hoar-frost are always more
abundant in the former than in the latter situations. It is not,
however, meant to include in these observations places sur-
rounded by lofty and precipitous hills, which obstruct the aspect
of the sky. Gentle slopes, which break the undulations of the
air without naturally circumscribing the heavens, are most effi-
cient in promoting this action, and it is worthy of remark, that
by walls and other fences we may artificially combine circum-
stances which may produce the same injurious effects. The ad-
vantages of placing a garden on a gentle slope are very appa-
rent, from those and many other facts and principles.
As to a confined atmosphere, where tbe gardener has to exert
the utmost artificial skill, let it also be remarked, tbat the
plants themselves are in the most artificial state that it is pos"
sible to conceive, for not only are their stems and foliage sub-
ject to the vicissitudes of the air in which they are immersed,
but, in most cases, their roots also are so exposed. The soil in
which they are set to vegetate is generally contained in porous
pots of earthenware, to the interior surface of which the ten-
der fibres quickly penetrate and spread in every direction ; they
are thus exposed to any change of temperature and humidity,
and are liable to great chills from any sudden increase of eva-
poration.
Gardeners are generally studious of the temperature of hot-
houses, but there are connected with moisture considerations
perhaps no less important. The climate of the torrid zone, to
which the inhabitants of these houses belong, is highly vapour-
ous, and hence we may learn the necessity of a strict attention
to the atmosphere of vapour in our artificial climates. Here it
may be remarked, that tropical plants require to be watered at
the root with great caiition ; but it is impossible that a suffi-
cient supply of vapour can be kept up from this alone : to over-
come the deficiency, the keeping of the floor of the house wet,
as also the flues, is practised by some enlightened horticulturists,
by which means an atmosphere of great elasticity, analogous
to the natural process, may be maintained. To the human
feelings, the impression of an atmosphere so saturated with
moisture is different from one heated to the same degree without
this precaution. Persons who have been used to hot climates,
have declared that the feel and smell of the latter exactly assi-
milate to those of the tropical regions.
These are a few disjointed observations and particulars con-
nected with climate, as applicable to horticulture, but the num-
ber and variety of other necessary attentions is great, and un-
less kept up, some of the things now recommended would be-
come injurious.
THE COUNTY OF ANTRIM.
The particular for our purpose, suggested as a leading feature
in an account of Antrim, and indeed of several other counties
in the north of Ireland, is the growth and manufacture of flax,
for numerous purposes. Of the mode pursued in the culti-
vation of this crop, and its preparation for being spun, we shall
now only speak in reference to Antrim.
The different kinds of flax-seed sown in this county are the
Dutch, the American, and tbe Riga. The Dutch seed is said to
be the produce of the Riga seed, raised in tbe Netherlands ; yet
the character of the seeds as imported to Ireland are very dif-
ferent. The Dutch kind is sold at a higher price than the
others, from its supposed superior produce. Tlie Riga is more
esteemed than it once was; but the American is the most gene-
redly used. Some years ago the annual average importation of
flax-seed into Belfast was 5,000 hogsheads of about seven
bushels each. If flax-seed is well saved and carefully stored it
will keep for several years. The time of sowing is as early as
tbe spring season will permit, and the sooner the seed is com-
mitted to the ground, provided it is in good order, the better;
the texture will also in that case be the stronger and firmer.
April is the usual time in the southern parts of the county.
There has been a great change in opinion respecting the pre-
paration necessary for flax. A potato crop was thought to be
the certain mode of bringing the ground into a proper condition
for it, but now it is known that it will succeed on lea ground,
or on stubbles that have been carefully tilled. Flax acts some-
what as a fallow crop itself: it is tap-rooted, and feeds far
below the surface, so that it is a good preparation for grain.
When it is sown after potatoes, a stroke of the harrow is given
before sowing; one stroke is sufficient to cover it afterwards.
If it is sown on ground that has been prepared by ploughing for
it, the ground is well harrowed before the seed is put on it,
then covered as before mentioned. The greatest quantities of
flax, it is believed, have been produced after potatoes; but land
THE COUNTY OF ANTRIM. ARGTLESHIRE.
163
that is not fit to be sown with grain will yield a good return
under the former.
The quantity of seed sown, when it is cultivated on a large
scale, is about three and a half bushels to the Irish acre ; where
only a small portion, generally thicker, wdth the idea of having
finer flax. When three or four inches long, it is most carefully
weeded, if it requires, aud after weeding there is a rapid growth.
The rolling which it receives from the weeders squatting them-
selves upon the ground seems beneficial.
The time for pulling flax depends on many circumstances :
If it is reqviired for spinning fine it is pulled not long after the
flower falls ; if it is beaten down by rain, so that it cnnnot stand
erect again, it must also be pulled to prevent it from rotting;
but if it is to stand for seed, the stalks must be fully ripe and
the heads well filled. Doctor Stephenson says, justly, that the
different growths ought to be pulled and kept separately, and
appropriated to difi'erent purposes, for the qualities being very
distinct, they will not work to advantage together. The next
step in the management of a flax crop is the watering it. This
is a critical process, and requires great skill to be properly ex-
ecuted, and to find the proper time when, by taking it out of
water, the fermentation must be stopped.
Watersof differentqualities operate differently, and the warmth
or coldness of the weather has a similar efiect. It has been
recommended that ponds should be sunk in clay, four feet deep,
six wide, and long according to the quantity of flax to be
watered. If the soil is not clay, to have the pits lined with it,
may be used, and so situated that a stream of pure water may
be turned into them. These pouds should not he under the
shade of trees, which causes a variation in the temperature, nor
where astringent leaves fall, for they may discolour the flax.
When the bark separates from the stalk, which is, however, by
rubbing it between the fingers, then the process seems to be
finished.
It should have been stated, when speaking of proceeding to
■water the flax, that it is tied in bunches, such as a man can
grasp with his hands, each bundle tied in the middle and at
both ends. Stakes with hooks are driven into the sides of the
pond, five or six feet asunder, level with the surface of the
water. The bundles are then thrown into the water about
twelve inches from each other; a pole is fixed under the hooks
at each side, aloiig each bank; the bundles are pressed down by
poles across the pond, each end of which is under the poles,
parallel to the sides. Poles and brushwood may be taken from
any kind of trees, except such as have astringent bark. The
intention in these operations is the production of fine filaments
without stains. The flax, therefore, is never allowed to touch
the sides or the bottom of the pond.
The next thing to be done after the watering is the grassing
of the flax. Meadows are generally selected for this purpose,
for one reason, perhaps, that they are free from cattle. But if
they are rich and quick of growth, and wet weather comes on,
there is a chance of rotting the flax before it is sufficiently
grassed ; turning is the only remedy. When it has been grassed
for a sufficient length of time, which is found by the manner of
its breaking, and by the feel, it is dried, and put up until con-
venience offers to have it broken, before being railled. After
this it is ready for the hackle, and here, unless the seed is saved,
the farmer's labour ceases, and it becomes a matter of manu-
facture and of commerce.
When the flax is intended to stand for seed, the steps already
described are those that must also be now followed, until the
time of pulling, for that which stands for seed must be longer
on the ground, to allow the heads to fill. When the pulling is
accomplished it is put in stacks, where it is allowed to stand for
different periods, according to the manner in which the seed is
to be disposed of. If it is to be saved by rippling, which is
performed by drawing the flax through a row of spikes fixed in
a plank, it is not required to stand so long as when it is to be
put into a stack, because part of the drying is done by spreading
it, after the rippling, on cloths exposed to the sun and air. But
when the stacking of it is intended, it must stand in the field
long enough to be so well saved that no danger of heating may
ensue. It must next be put on a stand, to protect it from ver-
min, which are very fond of it, and there it may remain till the
seed is w^anted, when it may be beaten out with flails. Those
who cultivate flax for seed may be said, therefore, to sacrifice
the former. Yet if not watered in the usual way, but spread
in the first instance on the grass, where it is necessary to allow
it to remain much longer than if it had undergone that process,
the produce will often be of a superior strength and fiueness,
and considerable in quantity. The seed which is raised upon
an acre of land may be rated at from one to two hogsheads.
In Ireland, however, seed is hardly ever saved.
This extremely useful article of farming, when used for flax,
returns from the mill in a rough state, without the coarser and
finer fibres being separated. The hackliug is the process by
which such severing is accomplished, when one-third of the
fine may be the proportion to the coar.^e. This last is called
iuir, which is used for cheap fabrics. We shall only further
add, that flax, when allowed to ripen ere it be pulled, is a scourg-
ing crop, though if pulled when in the flower it is not parti-
cularly so ; a few days of its ripening progress exhausting much
more of the riches of the soil than the same number at a previous
period of its growth.
ARGYLESHIRE
Is a maritime county in the west Highlands of Scotland, bounded
on the north by Invernesshire; on the east by Perthshire,
Dumbartonshire, and the Frith of Clyde ; on the south by the
Irish Sea; and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Besides a
mainland, it embraces a great number of islands, falling withia
the general class of the Hebrides. The continental part, in its
greatest length, extends to about 115 miles ; its greatest breadth
to nearly 70 miles. On the two sides, which border on the sea,
the land is everywhere indented with deep bays and creeks,
winding in a variety of directions, and shooting, as if most
fantastically, long arms into the land, forming the whole into a
number of peninsulas. The county altogether abounds more
in romantic scenes than in fertile plains ; its general features
are striking and varied in the highest degree. Towards the
northern parts it possesses the wild and savage gi-andeur of the
true Highlands of Scotland, some of the mountains rising
several hundred feet above 3000 ; and these are piled upon one
another in most magnificent disorder.
But scenery is not what we arc at present engaged upon ; we
are only going to give a short account of a few- features belong-
ing to Argyleshire, in its agricultural, productive, and econo-
mical history; and these are in reference to cattle, to coppice-
wood, and to kelp.
The native breed of cattle in Argyleshire, as it is now im-
proved, is well know n to be equal, if not superior, to any other
race in Scotland, for fattening. They are sent from the county
in a store condition, commonly when about three years old, and
fatted on the pastures of the south, the greater number for the
consumption of England. They arc a small hardy breed, gene-
rally weighing, when fat, from five to six stone per quarter.
The form most wished for is, to get them short in the legs,
round in the body, straight in the back, and long in the snout.
They are of various colours — black, dun, brindled, and brown ;
but the black is the most common and the most run upon.
Crossing the breed with any other than the true Highland breed
ought to be avoided, as it is found from experience that by any
other management they degenerate in the quality of the beef
and in feeding true, though not in size. They are not wrought,
nor well calculated for working, from the sraallness of their
size. It is a general opinion tliat the buil'should be changed
every third year, as, otherwise, the breed is thought to degene-
rate. Bulls are commonly disposed of at the age of six, though
they retain their vigour till they are ten years old; and no
164
ARGYLESHIRE.
person wishes to have more than is necessary to serve his field
ofiCOv.s. Premiums given to those who have the best bulls has
been found the best method of encouraging particular breeds.
The handsomest cows of the native breed, and such as have
the strongest bone, do not give much milk, but what they have
is very rich. Rearing, however, is more attended to than the
dairy, to which, at present. We couhue ourselves. Cows com-
monly calve in March and April. No calves are reared without
getting milk ; they are almost all allowed to suck the cows,
■which is considered preferable to what is called rearing by the
dish. They are weaned at six months of age, and for the last
eight d.ays are allowed to suck their dams only once a-day, till
the cows dry up. They are then separated, and put into hay
or some other rich pastures. True-bred Highland cows ought
never to be kept after they are nine years old, as after that age
they do not feed true. Indeed, the English buyers do not wish
them older than six at most; and they buy heifers of three,
four, and five years old, mucli higher in proportion to their
■weight than cows of the same breed that are more advanced in
age. Some winter their calves in open sheds, when they are fed
■with hay in racks, and have the liberty of going out and in at
pleasure. This makes them hardier and truer feeders than close
confinement can do. The distempers to which this race of cat-
tle are most liable are the black spall, bloody water, flux, and
picking calf.
When speaking of distempers in cattle, we may remark that
scientific knowledge is still greatly wanting among those who
pretend to be cattle doctors. We may, therefore, mention a few
methods of treatment in particular cases, which are practised in
various quarters of the country, and often with success. For
instance, as regards black spall, some say that the keeping of
one or two swine to pasture with the cattle is a sure prevent-
ive. Perhaps these animals eat up some plants that are in-
jurious to the cows. As to premature calving, bleeding ■when
they are from one-third to half gone with calf is earnestly re-
commended by some ; and ■when the accident does happen, to
bury the abortion immediately, and to keep the cow as widely
apart as possible from the herd; to be particularly careful that
she does not receive the bull that may herd with the cows, at
least not till such a lapse of time as, ■\vith good reason, she may
be thought completely recovered, and free from tlie possibility
of communicating the smallest infection.
For the disease called the red water, or bloody urine, bleeding
and change of food have been in many parts found effectually to
answer. A handful of salt, and a handful of oatmeal, after
being fried in the pan, are given in a quart of cold butter-milk,
in some districts, the beast being kept from food some time
before ; this once or twice given is said to remove the complaint,
if not too long neglected. Should the cow be bound after the
application of the remedy, stiff oatmeal gruel, two quarts at a
time, should be given twice or thrice a-day till the complaint is
removed.
For scourinc/ in calves, milk and water thickened with bean or
■wheat flour is given for their food till the scouring is removed,
or one or two half-pint drenches of rennet. Wlien the teat of
a milch cow cracks, and the bag becomes hard and inflamed,
with swelling in the uc'der (called the ijurifie in some parts), the
co^w should be blooded, her udder well washed and anointed
with hogs'-lard or sweet-oil, or other ointment; some recommend
■washing with butter-milk and salt, or salt and water. For
swelUng in doner, some recommend two ounces of Castile soap,
and some an egg-shell full of tar, to prevent the necessity of
tapping; but others apply what is more effectual — a hollow cane
thrvist down, four or five feet long, with a syringe in it, to ex-
tract the air and remove any obstruction at the mouth of the
maw. When a potato or turnip sticks in the throat, it may be
thrust down with a staff or any smooth piece of wood.
A great part of Argyleshire was once covered with wood, of
which every moss still shows the remains. It might have been
as desirable to get rid of some of it as it is now to rear it ; but,
as it often happens, men run from one extreme to the other, and
the loss was severely felt before any attempt was mads to repair
it. Even so late as the commencement of the last century the
woods iu this county, though greatly reduced, were held to be
of so little value, especially in tlie inland parts, that a large fir
wood was sold to a company of Irish adventurers at the rate, it
is said, of the third part of a penny per tree. Some time after
that, however, the remaining deciduous woods were brought
into greater estimation, by means of two English companies,
who set up iron factories in the county.
But what characterizes the woods of many parts of the West
Highlands of Scotland now, is the natural coppices that are
periodically cut, commonly every nineteen or twenty years ; and
at one time the returns were at the rate of twenty shillings per
acre annually, \mt the value of this article has of late greatly
diminished. It is computed that there are about 40,000 acres
of this wood in Argyleshire, and therefore it has become an im-
portant particular in the history of produce of the county.
When these coppices are cut, it is usual to leave a number of
oak standards, such as the parties agree are to he spared. Of
the timber that is cut, so much as is needed for county use is
srld; the rest is made into charcoal, and the bark, especially
that of the oak, disposed of to the tanner. The wood is then
inclosed, commonly for six or seven years, during which time,
however, some allow it to be pastured by horses. Some thin
or weed tlieir growing woods, by taking out such a number as
it may spare for barrel hoops ; but others leave the matter to
nature, and allow the stronger to destroy the weaker. The
more active proprietors are at great pains to encourage the
growth of oak, by cutting away any other kinds that interfere'
with it.
The season of cutting oak is when the bark rises, from the
beginning of May till Midsummer. The trees should be cut
close to the ground, that the young shoots may spring from the
ground, rather than from the old stocks. The stocks should
be cut clean and rounded, that no matter may lodge upon them,
which would make them rot. Care must be taken that the
trees that are left for standards should be healthy and vigorous,
and such as have grown in open roomy places without shelter,
as otherwise they will not bear to be exposed, and they should
by no means be deprived of any of their branches.
From the immense extent of sea-coast which borders Argyle-
shire, sea-weed may be presumed to be plentiful on its shores ;
indeed, kelp, which is made from this weed, is manufactured
in the county to the amount of SOO tons annually. The pro-
cess of the manufacture is thus : the rocks which arc dry at low
■water are the beds of great quantities of sea- weed, which is cut,
carried to the beach, and dried; a hollow is dug in the ground,
three or four feet wide ; round its margin are laid a row of
stones, on ■which the sea-weed is placed, and set on fire within
and quantities of this fuel being continually heaped upon the
circle, there is a perpetual flame in the centre, from which a
liquid like melted metal drops into the hollow beneath ; when it is
full, as it commonly is ere the close of the day, all heterogeneous
matter being removed, the kelp is wrought with iron rakes
and brought to a uniform consistence, in a state of fusion.
When cool, it consoHdates into a heavy dark-coloured alkaline
substance, which is used in soap and glass making, and in
bleaching. Different species of sea-weed, belonging to the
genus funis and order alr/ae, are cultivated for kelp. Fuci cut
when two or three years old, yield more in proportion to bulk
than when suffered to stand longer.
The county of Antrim, of which we have in a former paper
taken some notice, furnishes in one quarter excellent kelp. This
is on the rocky shore of the Giant's Causeway, and on the
north side of the island of Rathlin. In those places the beach
is free from sand. In Rathlin the quantity-is so great, that
the rents are paid by kelp. The best is that which the weeds,
cut from the rocks at a considerable depth, furnishes, which
aflFord a good crop every second year. May is the best time
for making this article.
E.OGET S ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY.
165
ROGBT'S ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY.
The portion of this talented and popular treatise which falls
within our department, though it occupies a comparatively
small share of the author's system of physiology, still affords
ample materials for a review. Indeed, the simplest forms of
organized existence is a perfect and marvellous proof of infinite
wisdom, the most excellent design, of Almighty power. And
were we possessed of intelligence of the highest order, perhaps
we should make no distinction, in judging of the Creator's con-
trivance, in point of perfection, whether it is looked at in the
vegetable or animal kingdoms. For the truth is, tlrat nothing
short of creative, divine, infinite Intelligence, can either fathom
the extent of the powers necessary to the production of a single
blade of grass, or have any notion of the manner in which those
Supreme powers have been exerted. Our purest and most
direct language is at fault the moment that it begins to de-
scribe, in those particulars. Tlie very simplest words bear no
adequate relation to the things spoken of. The terras ea^ient
and exerted^ which we have used, are not applicable to the
Creator, and are only excusable because we have no other
medium, by which to communicate our notions, than such as is
familiar to us in our modes of procedure. According to this
view, were we sufficiently acquainted with wbat is necessary
to vegetable productions and organization, we should, perhaps,
feel as much cause of wonder and adoration, as in the con-
templation of the highest created intelligence. At least, this
can be asserted of human penetration and ability, that what
appears to us the very simplest of organic products, namely,
Sugar, defies all the powers of man, aided by the most ex-
tensive chemical knowledge, to create, though the elementary
parts were set before him. Heat, moisture, and soil, we know
to be necessary to vegetable life; or it may be stated thus : —
The elements of organic substances are oxygen, carbon, hydro-
gen, nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorus, together with a few
of the alkaline, earthy, and metallic bases. Y'et, though pos-
sessed of all these, man cannot create, or rather combine them,
so as to produce organic .action and life that is in any shape or
degree like to what they are in the simplest object in the vege-
table or animal world.
But although we cannot create, we can, in some degree, appre-
ciate the beauty, tlie skill, and the wonders of creation. In this
way too, we are entitled and bound to read the character of the
Almighty Artificer. Nor can the inquirer do better than peruse
Dr. Koget's Treatise, as a lielp to tliis instructive study. We
take him up where he is treating of the vital functiom ; and
let us just for a moment think of the processes necessary to
nutrition. There is here, the reception of certain materials
from without, and their preparation as well as gradual conver-
sion into proper nutriment, that is, into the same chemical
properties with the substance of the organs with which they
are to be incorporated. There is circulation to convey the nu-
tritive fluids thus elaborated to the organs that are to be nou-
rished. There is secretion, excretion, and absorption, with
modifications of other processes, which we have not room to
describe, because they are so minutely perfect, that even the
minutest description fails in doing justice to them. We rather
go on now to present some passages from the learned Treatise
we have taken up; and this we shall do without any critical
links of our own formation, since nothing can be more interest-
ing than the author's words and information. The nutrition of
vegetables is, according to human modes of conception, the
simplest exhibition of the process of feeding: —
"§ 1. Food of Slants.
" The simplest kind of nutriment is that presented to us by
the vegetable kingdom, where water may be considered as the
general vehicle of the nutriment received. Before the discove-
ries of modern chemistry, it was very generally believed that
plants could subsist on water alone ; and Boyle and Van Hel-
mont, in particular, endeavoured to establish by experiment the
truth of this opinion. The latter of these physiologists planted
a willow in a certain quantity of earth, the weight of which he
had previously ascertained with great care ; and during five
years, he kept it watered with rain water alone, which he ima-
gined was perfectly pure. At the end of this period the earth
bad scarcely diminished in weight, while the willow had grown
into a tree, and had acquired an addition of one hundred and
fifty pounds : wlicnce he concluded that the water had been the
only source of its nourishment. But it does not seem to have
been at that time known that rain water always contains atmos-
pheric air, and frequently also other substances, and that it can-
not, therefore, be regarded as absolutely pure water : nor does
it appear that any precautions w^ere taken to ascertain that the
water actually employed was wholly free from foreign matter,
which it is easy to conceive it might have held in solution. In
an experiment of Duhamel, on the other hand, ahorse-chestnut
tree and an o.ak, exposed to the open air, and watered with dis-
tilled water a'one, the former for three, and the latter for eight
years, were kept alive, indeed, but they were exceedingly stinted
in their growth, and evidently derived little or no sustenance
from the water with which they were supplied. Experiments
of a similar nature were made by Bonnet, and with the like re-
sult. When plants are contained in closed vessels, and regu-
larly supplied with water, but denied an access to carbonic acid
gas, they are developed only to a very limited extent, determined
by the store of nutritious matter which had been already col-
lected in each plant when the experiment commenced, and which,
by combining with the water, may have afforded a temporary-
supply of nourishment.
" But the water which nature furnishes to the vegetable or-
gans is never perfectly pure ; for, besides containing air, in which
there is constantly a certain proportion of carbonic acid gas, it
has always acquired, by percolation tlirough the soil, various
earthy and saline properties, together with materials derived
from decayed vegetable or animal remains. Most of these sub-
stances are soluble, in however minute a quantity, in water:
and others, finely pulverized, maybe suspended in that fluid, and
carried along with it into the vegetable system. It does not
appear, however, that pure carbon is ever admitted ; for Sir H.
Davy, on mixing charcoal, ground to an impalpable powder, with
the water into which the roots of mint were immersed, could
not discover that the smallest quantity of that substance had
been, in any case, absorbed. But in the form of carbonic acid,
this element is received in great abundance, through the medium
of water, which readily absorbs it ; and a considerable quantity
of carbon is also introduced into the fluids of the plant, derived
from the decomposed animal and vegetable materials, which the
water generally contains. The peculiar fertility of each kind of
soil depends principally on the quantity of these org.anic products
it contains in a state capalde of being absorbed by tlie plant,
and of contributing to its nourishment.
"The soil is also the source whence plants derive their sa-
line, earthy, and metallic ingredients. The silica they often
contain is, in like manner, conveyed to them by the water, which
it is now well ascertained, by the researches of Berzelius, is
capable of dissolving a very minute quantity of this dense and
hard substance. It is evident that, however small this quantity
may be, if it continue to accumulate in the plant, it may in time
constitute the whole amount of that which is found to be so
copiously deposited on the surface, or collected in the interior of
many plants, such as the bamboo, and various species of grasses.
The small degree of solubility of many substances thus required
for the construction of the solid vegetable fabric, is, probably,
one of the reasons why plants require so large a supply of
water for their subsistence.
" § 2. Absorption of Nutriment by Plants.
"The greater number of cellular plants absorb water with
nearly equal facility from every part of their surface ; this is the
case with the Ahjie, for instance, which are aquatic plants. In
Lichens, on the other hand, absorption takes place more par-
166
ROGET S ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY.
tially ; but the particular parts of the surface where it occurs
are not constantly the same, and appear to be determined more
by mechanical causes than by auy peculiarity of structure;
some, however, are found to be provided in certain parts of the
surface with stomata, which De CanduUe supposes may act as
sucking orifices. Many mushrooms appear to be capable of
absorbing fluids from all parts of theJr surface indiscrimiuately ;
and some species, again, are furnished at their base with a kind
of radicnl fibrils for that purpose."
The other passages are happily described and illustrated as
follows : —
'* Several opinions have been entertained with regard to the
channels through which the sap is conveyed in its ascent along
the stem, and in its passage to its ultimate destination. Many
observations tend to show, that, in ordinary circumstances, it
is not transmitted through any of the distinguishable vessels of
the plant : for most of these, in their natural stale, are found
to contain only air. The sap must, therefore, either traverse
the cells themselves, or pa«s along the intercellular spaces.
That the latter is the course it takes, is the opinion of De Can-
dolle, who adduces a variety of arguments in its support. The
sap, he observes, is found to rise equally well in plants whose
structure is wholly cellular ; a fact which proves that vessels
are not in all cases necessary for its conveyance. In many in-
stances the sap is known to deviate from its usual rectilinear
path, and to pursue a circuitous course, very different from that
of any of the known vessels of the plant. The diffusion of the
sap in different directions, and its subsidence in the lowest
parts, on certain occasions, are facts irreconcileable with the
supposition that it is confined to the vessels.
*• Numerous experiments have been made to discover the ve-
locity with which the sap rises in plants, and the force it exerts
in its ascent. Those of Hales are well known : by lopping off
the top of a young vine, and applying to the truncated extremity
a glass tube, which closed round it, he found that the fluid in
the tube rose to a height, which, taking into account the spe-
cific gravity of the fluid, was equivalent to a perpendiciUar co-
lumn of water of more than forty-three feet : and, conseqiiently,
exerted a force of propulsion considerably greater than the
pressure of an additional atmosphere. The velocity, as well as
the force of ascent, must, however, be liable to great variation;
being much influenced by evaporation, and other changes, which
the sap undergoes in the leaves. Various opinions have been
entertained as to the agency by which the motion of the sap is
effected ; but althongh it seems likely to be resolved into the
vital movements of the cellular structure already mentioned, the
question is still enveloped in considerable obscurity. There is
certainly no evideuce to prove that it has analogy to a muscular
power ; aad the simplest supposition we can make is, that these
actions take place by means of a contractile property belonging
to the vegetable tissue, and exerted, under certain circum-
stances, and in conformity to certain laws, which we have not
yet succeeded in determining."
** § 4. Aeration of the Sap.
** A chemical change much more considerable and important
than the preceding is next effected on the sap by the leaves,
when they are subjected to the action of light. It consists in
the decomposition of the carbonic acid gas, which is either
brought to them by the sap itself, or obtained directly from the
surrounding atmosphere. In either case its oxygen is separated,
and disengaged in the form of gas ; while its carbon is retained,
and composes an essential ingredient of the altered sap, which,
as it now possesses one of the principal elements of vegetable
structures, may be considered as having made a near approach
to its complete assimiluHoiiy using this term in the physiological
sense already pointed out.
" The remarkable discovery that oxygen gas is exhaled from
the leaves of plants during the day time, was made by the
great founder of pneumatic chemistry. Dr. Priestley : to Senne-
bier we are indebted for the first observation that the presence
of carbonic acid is required for the disengagement of oxygen in
this process, and that the oxygen is derived from the decompo-
sition of the carbonic acid ; and these latter facts have since
been fully establislied by the researches of Mr. Woodhouse, of
Pennsylvania, M. Theodore de Saussure, and Mr, Palmer. They
are proved in a very satisfactory mahner by the following ex-
periment of De Candolle.
*'Two glass jars were inverted over the same water-bath,
the one filled with carbonic acid gas, the other filled with water,
containing a sprig of mint; the jars communicating below by
means of the water-bath, on the surface of which some oil was
poured, so as to intercept all communication between the water
and the atmosphere. The sprig of mint was exposed to the
light of the sun for twelve days consecutively: at the end of
each day the carbonic acid was seen to diminish in quantity, the
water rising in the jar to supply the place of what was lost, and
at the same time the plant exhaled a quantity of oxygen exactly
equal to that of the carbonic acid that had disappeared. A
similar sprig of mint, placed in ajar of the same size, full of
distilled water, but without having access to carbonic acid, gave
out no oxygen gas, and so on perished. When, in another ex-
periment, conducted by means of the same apparatus as was
used in the first, oxygen gas was substituted in the fii-st jar
instead of carbonic acid gas, no gas was disengaged in the other
jar, which contained a sprig of mint. It is evident, therefore,
that the oxygen gas obtained from the mint in the first experi-
ment was derived from the decomposition, by the leaves of the
mint, of the carbonic acid, which the plant had absorbed from
the water."
All scientific researches, as well as every other branch of
study in which man can employ his mind, ought to lead to
moral results. We are rational beings; nay, more, we are
responsible beings ; and religion should be tauE^ht by science.
*' The Great Author of our being, who, while he has been
pleased to confer on us the gift of reason, has prescribed certain
limits to its powers, permits us to acquire, by its exercise, a
knowledge of some of the "wondrous works of his creation, to
interpret the characters of wisdom and of goodness with which
they are impressed, and to join our voice to the general chorus
which proclaims ' His Might, Majesty, and Dominion.* From
the same gracious hand we also derive that unquenchable thirst
for knowledge, which this fleeting life must ever leave unsatis-
fied; those endowments of the moral sense, with which the
present constitution of the world so ill accords ; and that innate
desire of perfection which our present frail condition is so inade-
quate to fulfil. But it is not given to man to penetrate into the
counsels, or fathom the designs of Omnipotence ; for in direct-
ing his views into futurity, the feeble light of his reason is scat-
tered and lost in the vast abyss. Although we plainly discern
intention in every part of the creation, the grand object of the
whole is placed far above the scope of our comprehension. It
is impossible, however, to conceive that this enormous expendi-
ture of power, this vast accumulation of contrivances and of
machinery, and this profusion of existence resulting from them,
can thus, from age to age, be prodigally lavished, without some
ulterior end. Is Man, the favoured creature of nature's bounty,
' the paragon of animals,' whose spirit holds communion with
celestial powers, formed but to perish with the wreck of his
bodily frame? Are generations after generations of his race
doomed to foUow in endless succession, rolling darkly down the
stream of time, and leaving no track in its pathless ocean? Are
the operations of Almighty power to end with the present scene ?
May we not discern, in the spiritual constitution of man» the
traces of higher powers, to which those he now possesses are
but preparatory ; some embryo faculties which raises us above
this earthly habitation ? Have we not in the imagination, a
power but little in harmony with the fetters of our bodily or-
gans ; and bringing within our view purer conditions of being,
exempt from the illusions of our senses and the infirmities of
our nature, our elevation to which will eventually prove that
all these unsated desires of knowledge, and all these ardent as-
pirations after moral good, were not implanted in us in vain ?"
I
DESeRIPTION OF THE ENGRAVINGS.
167
(
fflejJttf^ttfltt at tijE ffiitfliabtngsi.
CAMPANllLA GLOJIERATA.
CLUSTERKD BELL-FLOWER.
Pentandria. Monogynia, Linn.
Campanulacte. Juss.
Gen. Char. — Corolla canipanulate, closed at bottom witli
staminiferous valves. Stigma 3, 5 -cleft. Capsule infeiior,
opening by lateral pores.
Spec. Char. — Stem angular, simple, smooth. Leaves sca-
brous, oblong, lanceolate, cordate, sessile. Heads clustered.
Campanula, a little bell. Glonierata, In-ought into a heap,
from its Lead of flowers, which is often more crowded than is
shown in our specimen.
This species, as well as a white variety, which is not uncom-
mon, is desirable, from its unobtrusive growth, its habit of free
flowering, and the little care demanded in its cultivation.
BUPHTHALMUM GRANDIFLORUM.
GEEAT-FLOWERED OX-BYE.
Syngenesia. Polygainia. Siiperjlaa. LlNN.
Compositce. Sub. ord, Helitinfhece.
This sbowy herbaceous plant is sometimes raised from seed,
and its offspring frequently presents trifling varieties of ap-
pearance. The roots also admit of division for increase, and
these may be planted in any common garden soil, in whatever
aspect is most convenient.
DIANTHUS DELTOIDES.
MAIDEN PINK.
Decandrla Bigynia. LiNN.
Nat. Ord. Caryophylleie. D. c.
Gen. Char. — Calyx cylindrical, 1 -leaved, with scales at the
base, /"e^afa 5, clawed. Capsii/e cylindrical, 1 -celled.
Spec. Char. — Stem decumbent, branched. Flowers solitary.
Scales ovate, lanceolate, acute twin. Upper leaves narrow,
acute ; lower oblong, obtuse.
Found on sandy banks and heaths, in various parts of Eng-
land, growing prostrate among grass and other herbs, for "want
of the natural shelter of which it is not easily, in a garden, cul-
tivated. There are two varieties of this pink, one of them of a
blush colour, and for this reason, Gerard says, it is called the
*' Maidenly Pink." The petals vary much in colour, being
sometimes of a very pale flesh colour, and sometimes deep red ;
but they are always marked with a ring of deeper red dots near
the centre of the flower. The other variety, which is very com-
mon in gardens, has white flowers, with a beautiful purple ring,
and leaves rather more glaucous.
Both varieties are extremely pretty, and should not be want-
ing in any collection of this admired family. They flower in
June and July, and continue flowering till late in the autumn.
May be increased by a division of the roots, made early in the
spring, and planted either in a pot or in a dry border of the
garden, carefully observing to protect them from too great a
portion of moisture, which is very injurious to the whole of the
Dianthus tribe.
SPIRAEA TRIFOLIATA.
THKEE-LEAVED SPIRiEA.
Icosandria Di-pentagynia, Linn.
Nat. Ord. Spirteceee. D. Don.
Gen. Char. — Calyx, spreading 5-cleft; Petals, 5; Capsule,
1 -celled, 2-valved, opening inwards, 1-3 seeded.
Spec. Char. — Stipules, linear entire ; Calyx, tubular cam-
panulate.
Of this genus both the flower garden and shnibbery are in-
debted for some of their chief ornaments. Of the hardy her-
baceous species the tri/oliata is considered as one of the most
elegant ; when it grows in perfection it certainly is a most delec-
table plant, generally rising to the height of two feet, with a
profusion of flowers. These continue from July to September.
It is usually increased by parting its roots. Miller says that
the seeds of it should be sown in the autumn, to ensure their
vegetation in the spring. The best situation for this plant is a
north border ; it loves moisttu-e, and should be planted in light
bog or peat earth, or a mixture of it and a pure hazel loam.
This species, and the S. Stipulacea, have lately been separated
from their original family to constitute a new genus, under the
title GiUcitia, eacli plant still retaining its former trivial name.
A native of N. America, introduced in 1713.
PRIMULA CORTUSOIDES.
CO RTUSA-LE AVED PRIMROSE.
Pentandria Monogynia. Linn.
Nat. Ord. Primulaceie. Brown.
Gen. Char. — Capsule, 1 -celled; Corolla, funnel-shaped, per-
vious at the orifice ; Stigma, globose.
Spec. Char. — Leaves cordate, stalked, doubly crenate, smooth
beneath, hairy at the veins; stalk villous; umbel many-flow-
ered, erect, the length of the tube.
In the wrinkled appearance of its foliage this species ap-
proaches the Primula Acaulis, whilst in its inflorescence, the
colour of its flowers, and solitary scape (which rises to an un-
usual height), it bears an affinity to the faHnosa. It flowers
in June and July, and may be raised from seeds, or propagated
by parting its roots ; but it is apt to be lost if not duly attended
to. It requires to be kept in a pot filled with equal parts of
loam and bog earth, to be placed in a moist shady situation in
the summer, and in a frame in the winter, when it loses its
leaves entirely, and forms a sort of bulbous hybernaculum under
ground. This circumstance is the more necessary to be known,
as it subjects the plant to be thrown away as dead.
Tliis very rare species of Primula, called cotusoiiles, on ac-
count of the similitude of its foliage to that of the Cortusa Mat-
thioli of Linneus, is a native of Siberia, and introduced into
this country in 17 94.
PHYTEUMA OBBICULARE.
ROUND-HEADED RAMPION.
Pentandria. Monogynia. LiNN.
Campamilaceee, Juss.
Phyteuma is a term used by the Grecian writers, and is al-
lowed to have been derived from phuteuo, to sow. Orbicu-
lare, from the Latin Orbis, an orb or circle, the application of
which is evident.
Each corolla, of this species of Phyteuma, forms a little
curved horn ; and it is rather remarkable that the five cohering
segments, into which each corolla divides itself, first separate at
their lower part, and form openings, after the fashion of the
Spanish costume, usually termed slashing.
SCUTELLARIA COLUMNiE.
HEART-LEAVED SCULL-CAP.
Didynamia 6mynospermi<i. LiN.
Labiatce. Brown
Gen. Char. — Calyx entire, after flowering closed with a lid.
Tube of the Corolla elongated.
Spec. Char. — Leaves oblong, cordate, serrate, pubescent
spikes elongated, 1 -sided. Bractes stalked, ovate, shorter than
the Calyx.
The flower of the Scutellaria Columnse will recommend itself
by its beauty, independently of any further attraction. It may
be planted in the open border, in light soil, where it will in-
crease, and sometimes produce seeds. It may afterwards be
divided ; or seeds may be sown in the spring, in pots, or on an
open border of rich earth. It may also be struck from cuttings
of the young shoots, which should be planted under a hand-
glass.
CHRYSANTHEMUM CORONARIUM.
GARDEN CHRYSANTHEMUM.
Pyngenesia. Polygamia Supeflua. LiNN.
Compositce. Sub. Obd. Anthemideie. Kth.
This plant is too well known to need description. Its ex-
tremely showy appearance in autumn secures for it a place in
almost every garden.
Seeds of it may be sown at the latter end of March or begin-
ning of April, either where the plants are to flower, or in pots;
if in the latter, the seedlings can be transplanted at pleasure.
168
DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGRAVINGS.
CYTISUS MULTIFLORUS.
Diadelphia Decandria. Linn.
LeguminosBe. Jussieu.
Lote^e. DecandoUe.
C. multiflorus; caulibus erectis, ramis elongatis teretibus : ju-
nioribus villosis, folioUs oblongis basi attenuatis subtus villo-
sis utrinque concoloiibus, floribus siibternatis, pedicellis
petiolis subEequalibus, vexillo emarginato uudulato.
C. elongatus; jS. multiflorus. Dec. prodr. 2. 155.
Dilfeit C. elongato, foliis subtus villosis, concoloribus, nee
appresse pilosis, argeuto mit-antibus; pedunculis petiolis longio-
ribus V. Eequalibus, nee multu brevioribus; vexillo emarginato,
undulato, quodammodo lacero, nee obeordato, piano, integerri-
mo; deuique, floribus majoribus, ternis quaternisve, nee subso-
litariis, raro ternis.
This plant is a very beautiful hardy border-shrub, remark-
able for the profusion of bright yellow flowers with which its
long slender branches are laden. It does not grow above two
or three feet high, and is easily propagated by layers. Its
native country is unknown.
The differences that exist between this and C. elongatus are
as follow : — The leaves are villous and green beneath, not closely
downy and silvery ; the peduncles are longer than the petioles
or as long, and not much shorter; the vexillum is ragged, emar-
ginate, and wavy, not obcordate, flat, and entire ; and, finally,
the flowers are much larger, and always produced in threes or
fours, and not usually solitary, orattheutmostproduced in threes.
CANAVALIA BONARIENSIS.
BUENOS AYRES CANAVALIA.
Monadelphia. Decandria. Linn.
LegurainosK and Jussicm Phaseolea. Dii Cand.
CANAVALIA Dec. — Calyx tubulosus, bilabiatus, labio in-
feriore dentibus tribus (vel unico) acutis parvis, supeiiore lobis
2 amplis rotundatis. Corollse vexillum amplum bicallosum ;
callis parallelis; alee stipitatae oblonga^ auriculatse; carina di-
petala. Stamina monadelphia, aut decimo subadherente. Legu-
men compressum, tricariuatum, nerape infn\ ct juxta suturam
superiorem nervo protuberante sutuiro parallelo utrinque in-
structum, muci'one inflexo terminatutn, membranis cellulosis
inter semina donatum. Semina ovali-oblonga, hilo lineari.
Herbse aut suffrutices, ramis volubilibus, foliis pinnato-trifolio-
latis. Racemi axillares multiflori pedicellis ternis. Flores
ampli purpurascentes.
C. bonariensis ; foliolis ovatis obtusis cum acumine coriaceis
glabris, racemis foliis longioribus, calycis labio inferiore uni-
. dentato.
Caulis lignosus, sarmentosus, volubilis, teres. Folia ternata ;
foliola petiolulata, ovata, cum acumine obtuso, coriacea, inte-
gerrimi, glaberrima. Racemi axillares, multiflori, penduli,
glabri, apice leviter pubescentes. Flores gemini, ternive, ^
gibbis racheos, ad basin sub calyce bracteolisduabus minimis
- rotundis sufi"ulti. Calyx viridis, campanulatus, bilabiatus,
glaber, labio superiore maximo, foliaceo, bilobo, demiim reflexo,
inferiore minimo, integerrimo, dcntiformi. Vexillum magnum,
ohcordatum, purpureum,basi limbi callosum, pube quadam intr<L
labia calli, abrupte refractura, et inde in inigue acuminatum ;
alse falcatae, obtufEe, vexillo breviores, purpurascentes; carina
longitudine alarum, cymbiformis, obtusa, purpurascens, cornu-
bus baseosbrevibus, iucurvis. Stamina monadelpha, declinata,
nuUo modo diadelpha; antheris oblongis, utrinque obtusis, al-
ternis demissioribas. Ovarium stipite villoso longo insidens,
falcatum, pubescens, heptaspcrmum, in stylo lineari, ascendente,
glabro acuminatum; stigma glabram, capitatum. (Semen
magnum, Wisterite frutescentis, sec. cl. Herbertum.)
This is a native of Buenos Ayres, whence its seed was intro-
duced into this country a few years since by the Rev. William
Herbert. We find that the stem is woody, and sends out fre-
quently horizontal or drooping runners, which cross along to the
furthest extremities of the hot-house, rising up here and there
to the top of the buildiiig, and again hanging down from the
wires upon the rafters.
A tender stove-plant, flowering during most of the summer
months. It is propagated by cuttings.
SALVIA INVOLUCRATA.
Diandria Monogynia. LiNN.
Labiate. Jussieu.
Stem exceeding the human stature, 4-cornered, somewhat
shrubby. Leaves cordate-ovate, acuminate, serrated, smooth,
with purplish veins. Flowers in capitate thyrses, bright rich
purple or lake colour, growing by threes out of the axilla; of
large, ovate, deciduous, coloured bractse. Calyx coloured,
2-lipped ; the upper lip acute, entire, the lower shorter, with
two obscure teeth. Corolla inflated, smooth, an inch and more
long, the helment downy, the Up rounded, with 3 lobes. Anthers
small, white, 1 -celled, the connectivum elongated downwards
into a sort of semisagittate straight process. Style pubescent.
This very handsome plant is a native of Mexico. It is a
most lovely border flower during the autumn months ; and in the
conservatory it is in blossom during the greater part of the
summer. Propagated freely by cuttings, and requires just the
same treatment as Salvia splendens.
We entirely agree with our friend Dr. Hooker, in consider-
ing S. Isevigata of Humboldt and Kunth identical with the S.
invoucrata of Cavanilles. We do not discover the slightest
difference between those two supposed species.
CRATyEGUS HETEROPHYLLA.
Icosandria Di-pentagynia. Linn.
Rosacete. Jussieu.
A middle-sized tree, with the habit of C. oxyacantha, but
more robust. Leaves hicid, quite smooth, falling off late iu the
season; near the inflorescence, and on old branches, lanceolate,
and quite entire, or oblong, cuneate, 3-toothed at the end ; on
the more vigorous branches pinnatifid, serrate, somewhat cu-
neate : stipulse very large, pinnatifid, half cordate. Cymes
many flowered, compact, perfectly smooth. Calyx with a linear-
oblong tube, a short campanulate limb, and accuminate, gland-
less teeth. Petals denticulate, white. Style thick, simple,
Fruit black, oval, or fusiform, crowned with the persistent
limb of the calyx.
A beautiful kind of Hawthorn, very littie known in our
English gardens, although it has existed in collections in this
country for many years. It is by far the handsomest of the
white-flowered species, and is remarkable for its black berries
in the autumn.
The native country of this flower is supposed to be North
America . but if we consider the litlte affinity that it has with
any known North American species, and its close resmblance to
C. maroccana^ it may be safely assumed that it had its origin
from the East,, as is indeed indicated by one of its garden
names.
LiaUORICE PLANT.
The Liquorice plant {Glycyrvhiza glabra) is cultivated in
Bourguel, in France, in the following manner : — Trenches, as
deep as the soil will permit, and about two feet wide, are open-
ed, three feet from each other ; the bottom of the trench is
dunged and dug, and two rows of cuttings of the roots are
planted as close as possible to its sides ; these are covered a
few inches, by sliding down a little earth from the ridglet ; as
the plants grow^, more earth is slid down, tiU, at the end of the
first summer, the whole field is level. In the second summer,
every pair of rows are earthed up from the wide interval be-
tween : during the third summer nothing is done: but in the
October or November following, the crop is dug up ; and while
the ground is being trenched for that purpose, it is sometimes
planted as before, for a repetition of the crop. In other cases,
a crop of barley, and two succeeding crops of clover are taken;
after which, the ground being again trenched, is found to con-
tain a number of liquorice roots ; the plant being difficult to
eradicate, when the soil and climate are suitable.
•y
\j^%,^M
I
9 . («ri:Ltin-ii.;i I'^t'ru;.! .
lU ■ Ku s :i searperfloTens .
11. Sdnia pTii*]>iijt*i
12 . KrTthrujiJ um ^^im^ririijonTn .
I
Pitcairnia :iugiis1iG»liu.
I
ON THE CULTURE OF HYACINTHS, ON THE CULTIVATION OF CELERY.
169
ON THE CULTURE OJF HYACINTHS.
The Dutch mode of treating Hyacinths was long ago minutely
detailed in a work by St. Simon, in which every thing that
could be said on the subject will be found. By following out
the directions therein laid down, hyacinth Howers fully equal
to those obtained from Dutch bulbs, have been prottuccd in this
country. The compost used for the purpose at Haarlem is rot-
ten eow dung, rotten leaves, and fine sand. In making this
compost, the Dutch gardeners prefer the softer leaves of elm,
lime, and birch, and reject those of oak, chcsnut, walnut, beach,
plane, &c., which do not rot so quickly. The cow-dung which
they use is also of a peculiar quality, being collected in the
winter, when the cattle are stall-fed upon dry food, without
any mixture of straw or other litter. The sand is procured in the
neighbourhood of Haarlem, where the soil is a deposit of sea-
sand, upon a compact layer of undecayed timber, the remains
of an ancient forest which lias been overwhelmed by the sea.
The leaves used by the Dutch are laid in a very large heap,
in a situation not much exposed to the sun, and not liable to
stagnation of water, wiiieh is carefully drained from them.
When they are decayed and lit for use, the compost is thus
made : first, they place a layer of sand, then one of dung, and
then one of rotten leaves, each being eight or ten inches thick.
These layers are repeated till the heap is six or seven feet high ;
a layer of dung being uppermost, sprinkled over with a little
sand to prevent the too powerful action of the sun upon it.
After the heap has lain thus for six months or more, it is
mixed, and thrown up afresh, in which state it remains some
weeks to settle, before it is carried into the flower beds. This
compost retains its qualities about six or seven years ; but the
Dutch avoid setting liyacinths in it t^vo years successively ; in
the alternate years they plant tulips, jonquils, narcissuses,
crocuses, lilies, &c. in Ihe same beds ; nor do they venture
to set hyacinths in the compost the first season, when the fresh
manure might be injurious to them. I'he choice bulbs are
taken np every year, and the soil that lay amongst the fibres
is then carefully brought up to the surface. The beds should
be deep enough to prevent a possibility of the fibres coming in
contact with the natural soil.
The Hon. and Rev. William Herbert says, that at his villa
in Surrey, where he had the advantage of the vicinity of the
fine sand of Shirley common, his hyacinth flowers were perhaps
superior to those obtained from the best Dutch bulbs, and that
he believes English sea-sand, or that got in the neighbourhood
of Croydon, will suit as well as that of Haarlem. Where the leaves
of elm, &c. cannot conveniently be kept distinct, he imagines
that other leaves will serve the purpose as well, if they are left
a much longer time to rot; and even old tan, if thoroughly
decayed, and pulverised, may be used instead of leaves, since
the Dutch have tried it with success. The difficulty in this
country is to obtain cow-dung without straw. . It may, how^-
evcr, be collected in the fields; but then it is the produce of
green food, and very probably not possessed of tire same virtue
as that used by the Dutch. However, it may with care be
gathered from the farm-yard ; but it must be completely de-
cayed, so that no portion of straw remain in it half rotten. The
mischief occasioned by the fermentation of undecayed straw,
and the great heat of horse-dung, S:c, is a contagious decay of
the buUjs ; the cause of which, Mr. Herbert thinks is fungus,
the spawn of which is nurtured in the dung. The Dutch, with
ail their precautions, are much troubled by this disease ; the
only remedy for which is the removal of the distempered bulb,
and the compost that was in contact with it ; and the cure of
the bulb itself, if the injury has not gone too far, may be ef-
fected by amputation of the diseased coats.
The beds should be made about three feet in depth with the
compost, consisting of about one-sixth of rotten leaves or tan,
two-sixths of pure sand, and the remainder of rotten cow-dung.
The compost should not be trodden down hard, but, the bed
being opened, the bulbs may be ranged, and then carefully
MAGAZINE 01^ BOTANV AND GARDENING, VOL. U. NO, XXL — DECEJMBEU, 1834.
covered from three to five inches deep, but they should not be
dibbled or pressed into the compost. The later sorts may be
placed nearer the surface, to make them flower earlier. If the
situation is wet in winter, the beds may be raised a few inches
above the level of the soil ; but if too much elevated they will
sufl'er from drought. The Dutch cover their beds with dung or
tan in winter, which they frequently put on or take off accord-
ing to the state of the weather. They like the frost to pene^
trate to the distance of an inch from the bulb ; if it descends
deeper, they consider that the blossom will be spoiled, and if
it reaches the roots, that they will be destroyed. Mr. Herbert
never found the frost injurious in England, even without using
a covering, but the winters are severer in Holland.
When the leaves of the hyacinths begin to wither, the bulbs
should, if possible, be pulled out of the bed by the hand, to
avoid the danger of cutting them with the spade. The leaves
should be cut oft', and each bulb laid on its side, covering it
lightly with the compost, about two inches thick. In this state
they should be left about one month, and then taken up in dry
weather, and exposed to the open air for some hours, but not to
a powerful sun, which \vould be very injurious to them. They
should, after this, be carefully examined, and all the decayed
parts removed by a knife, for which purpose it will sometimes
be necessary to cut deep.
The bulbs should be jihaccd in an airy store-room about the
end of June, but not suffered to touch each other ; they should
be frequently examined too, in order to remove those which
may shew symptoms of decay. Before they are planteil in
autumn, they ought to be carefully examined, not merely that
all the decayed parts, but withered coats may be removed.
Mr. Herbert with much apparent propriety says, that though
with greater loss from disease, any nursery-man in the neigh-
bourhood of London may produce hyacinth bulbs equal to
those imported from Holland. Nor would he be surprised, if
watering the compost before it is used, with salt water or brine,
should prove of some use, supposing a fungus to be one of the
causes of mischief ; for after trying many other things in vain,
he found salt to be the only remedy for the tanner's fungus,
which is so troublesome in tan-beds, and in the pots of eartU
in the stove.
— ^If^*'^ —
ON THE CULTIVATION OF CELERY.'
The following method of cultivating celery differs in some
points from the usual practice. The seed is sown about the
middle of January in a warm situation, on a very rich piece of
ground, and is well protected from the inclemency of the wea-
ther by mats at niglit. Wiicn the plants are from two to three
inches high, they are pricked out into the nursery-bed ; and, as
they are found to be much injured in their future growth, if the
fibres of their roots become at all dry, let them be immersed in
a little water ])laccd in a garden-pan, when they arc drawn
from the seed bed, so that they remain quite moist whilst out
of ground. The plants remain in the nursery-bed till they are
fit for the final removal, being kept clear from weeds, and
watered occasionally. But they should not be transplanted
until they become very strong. The ground should be pre-
pared, by being trenched two spades deep, mixing with it in
the operation a good dressing of well-reduced dung from the
old forcing-beds. That the dung may be the better incorpo-
rated with the mould, a second trenching should be resorted to,
and then leave it in as rough a state as possible, till the plants
are ready to be put out.
In the ground thus prepared, form trenches twenty inches
wide and six inches deep, at six feet distant from each other,
measuring from the centre of each trench. Before planting,
reduce the depth of the trenches to three inches, by digging in
sufficient dung to fill them up so much. At the time of plant-
ing, if the weather be dry, the trenches must be well watered
in the morning, and the plants put in, six inches apart in the
170
METHOD OF GllOWING EAULY FORCED POTATOES. MIGNONETTE THKOUfiH THE TEAR.
row, in the evening, care being taken, by the mode above men-
tioned, to keep the fibres quite wet whilst out of ground ; as
they are drawn from the nursery-bed, the plants are to be
dressed for planting, and then laid regularly in the garden-pan.
The trenches in which the rows of celery are planted being so
very shallow, the roots of the plants grow nearly on a level with
the surface of the ground, which seems to be advantageous ;
for as considerable cavities are necessarily formed on each side,
■when the moulding takes place, all injury from stagnant water,
or excess of moisture, is prevented. The trenches, when
planted, are watered as may be required.
It does not seem advisable to load the plants with a great
deal of mould at first ; the two earliest mouldings sliould be
done very sparingly, and only with the common draw hoe,
forming a ridge on each side of the row, and leaving the plants
in a hollow, to receive the full benefit of the raiu and waterings.
When the plants are strong enough to bear six inches height of
moidd, the moulding is done with the spade, taking care to
leave bases enough to support the mass of earth, which will
ultimately be used iu the ridge, and still keeping for some time
in a hollow, as before directed. The process of moulding is
continued through the autumn, gradually diminishing the
breadth of the top, until at last it is drawn to as sharp a ridge
as possible, to stand the winter.
In the operation of moulding, it is necessary, in order to pre-
vent the earth from falling into the hearts of the plants, to keep
the outer leaves as close together as possible. For this pur-
pose, before beginning the moulding, take long straws of bass
matting, tied together till of sufficient length to answer for an
entire row j and fasten this string to the first plant in the row,
then pass it to the next plant, giving it one twist round the
leaves, and so on till the other end is reached, where it is again
fastened. When the moulding is finished, the string is easily
unravelled, by beginning to untwist it at the end where it was
last fastened.
It is wrong to put much of a crop in the space between the
trenches, especially one that grows tall, for celery does best
when it grows as open as possible.
METHOD OF GROWING EARLY FORCED POTATOES.
Mr. Thomas Hogg, of Pine Apple Place, Paddington, several
years ago raised early forced potatoes at a period of the season
previous to that in which they are produced by the usual means
of a ci mmon hot-bed. The chief peculiarity of the method
consisted in using an old cucumber-bed or melon-bed, in which
the dung had long lost all its heat, instead of making use of
fresh hot dung, whereon to grow the plants. He cut the sets
about a fortnight before they were planted ; for if they are not
suffieicntly dried before being put into the earth, they are liable
to be raiteh injured by worms. One eye only should be left iu
each set.
He prepared the bed by removing all the earth from the top
of the dung, and covering it about one inch deep with fresh
mould, on which the sets were planted iu rows six inches
apart, and the same distance from each other in the rows.
They were then covered four inches deep with mould, and the
frames and glasses placed upon the lied, which must be care-
fully protected from frost. I'he covering best adapted for this
purpose is the second crop of short hay, called rouen in the
neighbourhood of London.
At the end of the fifth day, the outsides of the old dung must
be cut away from near the edge of the frame to the bottom of
ll.e bed, in a slanting direction inwards, of about fifteen inches
from the perpendicular ; strong linings of hot dung must be
applied to tlie space so made, and renewed, if necessary, at the
end of three weeks. Air must be given to the plants by
sliding down the lights at noon every day that the weather will
permit, and water in the mornings, leaving about an inch of
the light open, for the admission of air after watering. The
potatoes will be fit for use in about seven weeks from the first
planting of the sets, and the average crop to each light, if well
managed, will he about five pounds. This method Mr. Hogg-
continued to follow, it is believed, with the success above men-
tioned. Now, although the taste of the majority will prefer
the old and mature root in February to those of such early
appearance, yet, independent of the curious nature and result
of the experiment, the price paid in London for young potatoes
grown iu that month, is a proof that they are in sutfieieut re-
quest as an article of luxury, to induce private individuals, as
well as market-garUeners, to attend to their earliest culti-
vation.
To the above successful experiment we may add an account
of a mode of eontinu'ng a supply of young potatoes throughout
the year, which George H. Noehden, Esq. at one time sug-
gested to the Horticultural Society. He says that tlie potatoe,
from the abundant nourishment which the flesh of the tuber
affords to the embryo plant, has an extraordinary disposition to
vegetate ; and that it seems possible to place it in such a situa-
tion that the vegetating power, being prevented from exerting
itself upwards, so as to form stem and leaves, should be em-
ployed in throwing out roots only, with their appendages.
This, for example, may be effected, to a certain degree, by
laying up potatcies between strata of sand. In the corner of a
shed or other sheltered place, or iu the cellar, spread a layer of
sand, and upon this put some potatoes, then sand again, and so
on alternately till you have formnd your pile of the height and
dimension designed. The top is closed with saud. The strata
of sand may be two or three inches deep. In such a pile the
potatoes will emit roots and tubers, or, in other words, will
yield a young produce : whilst the growing process goes on
equally, near the top, in the middle, and at the bottom. Leaves
and stem are not seen any where. It is only full grown and
ripe potatoes that are fit for this experiment, and such in which
vegetation is not impaired by premature sprouting. The old
potatoes must be piled according to the times when the young
ones are wanted. These will be ready in December, if the pile
be formed in August, and thus one month will correspond with,
another. There can be no difficulty iu admitting that one sort
of potatoe may be bitter suited than another to this operation,
which experience will soon point out. The oxnohle has been
reeoraraended ; but it is probable that other varieties may be
equally fit for this use, or even superior. The produce which
is raised by this method is, however, not spoken of as very
good ; the young potatoes are generally ot a loose texture,
watery, and of indifferent flavour. This may perhaps be ac-
counted for from the want of suitable nourishment, that would
give them proper consistency and quality. The sand can contri-
bute little or nothing towards the matter ; and the young roots
and tubers must be chiefly fed from the juice and substance of the
old. If art could throw in anything to supply what is wanting,
good voung potatoes are likely to be obtained. What seems
to he the best means to accomplish this end would be the ap-
pl:ci,tion of a proper so'.l, or compost, in which the old potatoes
might be imbedded before the layer of sand is put upon them.
But this is a spcenlation which had not been submitted to ex-
periment by Mr. Noehden at the time he gave the above ac-
count. Afterwards, however, it came to his knowledge that
young potatoes had been raised in a similar manner to that
described and recommended by him ; and he remarked that
those were the best which had been grown in mould or some
sort of compost.
MIGNONETTE THROUGH THE YEAR.
Mr. George Rishon, of the Bedford nursery, Bloomsbury,
describes a method of raising mignonette in succession through
the year, nearly in the following terms. The demand for this
plant in pots at all seasons is so considerable, that particular
attention has been given to its cultivation by many gardeners
METHOD OF OBTAINING EABLY CROPS OF PEAS, AFTKE SEVERE WINTERS.
171
who supply the London market ; and as the same method may
be with tase applied to raising it in private gardens, this detail
is offered.
To olitain fine specimens of this fragrant annual, strong
and ready to blow, durini^ the winter months, and throtigh the
months of January and Fehruary, the seed should he sown in
the open ground at the end of July. By the middle of Septem-
ber, the plants from this sowing will he strong enough to he
removed into pots : for a week after this removal, they must
be shaded, after which they may he freely e.vposed to the sun
and air, care being taken to piotect them by frames fi"om da-
mage by heavy rains, and from injury by early frosts, until
the beginning of November. Many of them will now show
their flowers, and then they should be removed to a grecnliouse
or conservatory, or to a warm window in a dwelling-house,
where they w'ill branch out and continue to blow Till the spring.
The crop for March, April, and May, should be sown in
small pols, not later than the 25th of August ; the plants from
this sowing will not suffer by exposure or rain whilst they are
young ; they must, however, be protected from early frosts,
like the winter crop ; they are to be thinned in November,
leaving not more than eight or ten plants in each pot ; and, at
the same time, the pots being sunk about three or four inches
in some old tan or coal asl es, si ould be covered with a frame,
which it is best to place fronting the west ; for then the lights
may be left open in the evening, to catch the suu whenever it
sets clear.
The third, or spring crop, should be sown in pots, not later
than the 25th of February : these must be placed in a frame,
in a gentle heat, and, as the'heat declines, the pots must be let
down three or four inches into the dung-beJ, which will keep
the roots moist, and prevent their leaves turning brown from
the heat of the sun in April and May. The plants thus ob-
tained will he in perfection by the end of May, and be ready to
succeed those raised by the autumnal sowing.
METHOD OF OBTAINING EARLY CROPS OF PEAS,
AFTER SEVERE WINTERS.
The following short account of a mode of obtaining an early
crop of peas, has been gathered from a paper in tlic London
Horticultural Society's Transactions, furnished by Mr. Knight.
When severe winters have proved fatal to crops of peas sow-ed
in the preceding autumn, many gardeners have experienced the
advantages of raising other plants in pots, with artilieiai heat,
early in ihe spring, and subsequently transplanting them into
the common soil. But an improvement in the mode of repeat-
ing this operation is here described. Mi'. Knight says, that in
one particular spring his garden, owing to its soil being cold
and the climate rather inhospitable, did not contain in the end
of February a single living pea-plant, and he purposely delayed
the experiment to be explained till the first day of March.
Upon that day the ground was prepared, and part of the seed
sown, as usual, in rows, where the plants were to remain ; at
the same time other peas, of the same early kind, were sown in
circles within the circumference of pots of ten inches in dia-
meter, inside measure. These pots were filled with a compost
of a peculiar kind, from the highly nutritive and stimulating
qualifies of which he anticipated much acceleration in the
growth of his plants, with the advantages of being able to
remove them at the proper period to the open ground, without
having their roots at all detached from their pasture, owing to
the fil)rous organic texture of the compost. This was made of
equal parts of thin turf, to which much lifeless herbage was
attached, and iinfeimented horse-dung, without litter; and
also of a quantity of the ashes of burnt weeds, containing, as
usual, a good deal of burnt mould, equivalent in bulk to about
one-twelfth of the other materials. Mi-. Knight remarks that
equal parts of fresh soil, with unfermented horse-dung with
litter, and a small quantity of quick lime or wood ashes, would
probably operate as powerfully as the compost previously de-
scribed. The whole of the compost was reduced to small frag-
ments and well intermixed, and the pots were filled with it
within an inch of their tups. The peas were then sown upon
the surface of the compost, and covered with common mould ;
and the pots were placed in a peach-house. In this they re-
mained till the plants were an inch high, when they were
removed into the open air ; hut they were protected during the
night for some time, and particularly when the character of the
evening indicated the probability of frost.
In the last week of March the plants were taken from the
pots and planted in rows in the open ground, very near the
whole of the compost adhering to their roots, so that their sub-
sequent growth was not apparently checked by their trans-
plantation. They were placed in rows contiguous to thos'e
which had been previously sow n, a small quantity of compost
similar to that put into the pots being added ; and the com-
mon mould was then closed round their roots, and raised upon
each side of the rows. Sticks to support and protect the
plants were immediately added, in rather more than the ordi-
nary number and quantity, and subsequently no particular
attention was paid to them.
On the morning of the 29th of April Mr. Knight ascertained
the comparati\e growth of his plants, which had been subjected
to the dift'erent modes of treatment above described, in two rows
which grew contiguous lo each other, when he found the height
of those which had been raised in pots to be fifteen inches, and
that of the others to be scarcely four inches; and in May again
he remarked that he much doubted if ever he possessed, in the
most favourable season, as forward a crop of peas as at that
date. On the 27th of June the full result of the experiment
was seen. The plants so treated had produced a very abundant
crop, and at least twelve days earlier than those sown at the
same time in the usual manner, and with a much more rapid
succession of produce.
Many causes appear to have operated in conjunction to pro-
duce the effects described by Mr. Xinight. It has long beeu
known that snow does not lie so long upon ground which has
been manured in the same season with fresh unfermented horse-
dung, as upon unmanured ground; and therefore it maybe
concluded that some degree of heat existed in the compost, and
emanated from it, though probably never to the extent of being
felt by any warm-blooded animal. If placed in a heap, such a
compost as the one described, and even when the horse-dung is
much less in quantity, will heat violently. If heat, says Mr.
Knight, was in any degree generated by the compost in which
the peas grew, the escape of it was necessarily retarded by the
numerous sticks by which the ground was partially covered,
whilst little injury could have been sustained from their shade,
because the quantity of light comparatively with the tempera-
ture of the air and growth of the plants is very great after the
vernal equinox, aud it is every day increasing in power and
influence.
Another cause of the rajud growth of the transplanted peas
has probably been the very favourable state of tlio soil in which
they had been placed, w hich bad beeu turned over with the spade
immediately before transplantation took place; for peas never
thrive well in strong soils, when such have been compressed
and soddened in early spring by much moisture. But the chief
causes of their very rapid growth must have been the highly
nutritive and stimulating quality of the compost, and the pre-
sence of some degree of aduitional warmth. Mr. Knight men-
tions that he has frequently derived great advantage from
placing a moderate quantity of nearly similar compost imme-
diately under rows of peas which have been sown iu the usual
way, except that the seeds were placed upon the surface of the
soil within which the compost had been buried, and covered by
having had the soil collected from each side, to form a ridge over
them. In all cases where a compost of the kind described is
employed to accelerate the growth of dwarfish and early peas,
it should be used in small quantities only, that the early growth
172
THE PHTBIOLDGY OF "PLANtS.
of tie plants may be promoted Tcitliout excessive and conse-
quently injurious luxuriance being given. For transplanted
peas Mr. Knight prefers a poor and light soil, so that the roots
may he led, as they will be under such circumstances, to con-
fine themselves to narrow limits, and the plants consequently
brought to an early maturity.
^^^^■•»
THE PHYSiOLOaY,;PF, PLANTS.
The scientific inquirers into the phenomena of nature, whicli
have of late years figured, are neither few in number nor mean
in accomplishments. Still they may be divided into two classes,
upon one important ground. There is a class which, till lately,
seemed to enlist into its ranks the most illustrious names;
whose reasonings and conclusions, whether disingenuously con-
ducted or not, we must not at present assert, opposed, directly
or indirectly, many statements in the Bible, from which the
most peculiar doctrines of the Christian religion in a great
measure depend. This class, from its numbers, the names it
could boast, and the fashion in science which it established,
became so formidable, that he who confessed himself a Christian,
■was laughed at, when he added the term Philosopher. For
the days of Newton, Locke, and Boyle had gone bye. But the
nation and Europe can now, we are happy to say, point with
triumph to a second class, who, if their researches have not
found out so many new facts as the scorners did, can, with the
most complete power, turn, or rather apply those facts to the
illustration and enforcement of sacred truth.
Within a very late date, there have been many of these sacred
ministers employed in teaching us the true philosophy, who
have not dimmed or disfigured the most brilliant facts by a cold
and heartless infidelity, but who have made us to behold the
power, the goodness, and the wisdom of the Creator more
clearly than ever, and to perceive our own imperishable nature,
rights, and ends, in a manner that, while he is exalted, we are
enlightened. The writers of the Bridgewater Treatises have
acted effectually in this department, with many other authors
. whom we could name. The little work before us, which has
been for some time in the hands of the public, belongs to the
same able and benevolent school. We do not say that it
teaches new truths, or that it will yield much information to
him who has previously made a st)idy of the science of which
it treats. But it is capable of doing something no less im-
portant. For from it, the unscientific reader will derive much
of the riches which have been discovered, and these set in an
advantageous and attractive light.
The author is an enthusiast, as well as deeply versed in the
physiology of plants. It is not the mere nomenclature of plants
he cares about, but the history, the structure, the uses, and
phenomena of vegetation in its endless variety and beauty: each
and all engage his ardour ; an ardour which has been unre-
mitted, as we learn from him, for many years. And as we
have before hinted, he finds and exhibits the whole as mani-
festly declaring wisdom aad contrivance that are from above.
As introductory to the extracts we are about to siibmit to our
readers, we add, that as a graceful, enthusiastic, and enlight-
ened manual, we recommend this little volume to every general
reader, be he old, or be he young.
The work is divided into thirteen chapters, in which the
structure, attire, and composition of plants are first treated of.
The root — the stem — the blossom — seeds — phenomena of ger-
mination— secretions — vegetation — light and electricity in re-
lation to plants — and their age, are all separately, clearly, and
engfigingly discussed. We string together a few extracts taken
from this intelligible and agreeable arrangement of the sub-
ject.
" The bark, wood, and pith, are general terms, compre-
hending the mechanical structure of the trunk and twig, or
branch, the ramification of the stem. The epidermis is a thin
film, -which covers the bark, and forms a defence from exter-
nal injury. In the birch, wiien in an advanced stage of growth,
it is white and silvery, easily recognised even at a distance, and
thus adds a peculiar feature to the landscape ; it peels off rea-
dily in thin laminae. In the aucuba japonica, or gold plant,
the epidermis is yellow; it is, however, generally colourless,
and occasionally transparent. In leaves, the epidermis pos-
sesses a reticular or net-like stnicture, and the meshes of the
tissue vary in different plants, but are fringed at the edge by
spiral vessels. In reeds and grasses it contains much finely
divided silieious matter ; hence, two portions of ratan cane
emit sparks by collision ; and the equisetum hiemale is used to
polish wood, and employed by the Swiss, among the vallies of
Switzerland, ^;c., as a substitute for sand-paper, in their bea-
tiful models of Swiss cottages and dairies. A stem of barley
may be fused into a transparent globule, and lightning has
converted the hay-rick into a vitreous mass. The equisetum
has been used to give a keen edge to the razor ; and the Dutch
reed in polishing, derives its eflficiency from the same source ;
also the teazle, dipsacus fulonum, employed by the clothier to
raise a regular pile or nap on the sxu-face of the cloth. Mr.
Knight sharpens razors from the ashes of the Ehjmus arenunus,
and other marsh grasses ; also the ashes of Avheat. Stedman
mentions, that there is in Surinam a species of grass, the edge
of which cuts, like a razor, the legs of those who pass through
it: the edges of the Scleriu grundis are as sharp as glass. No
doubt, tropical forests and jungles are often set on fire by the
collision of the silieious matter of the ratan and other canes,
I when shaken with the -wind. The epidermis clothes the most
delicate petals of the flower, as the foliage, the stem and the
root. It seems to be altogether distinct and peculiar, is per-
vious to light, and is at the same time an absorbent and ex-
halcnt membrane, as well in its relations to moisture, as to
gaseous media. It is probable, that these composite functions
are connected with the presence and absence of light, and in-
crease or decrease of temperature : with both of these elec-
tricity is connected."
We pass over the author's observations on the bark and
wood, and call the reader's attention to one of the uses to
which the pith of plants has been devoted:—
" From the pilh of the papyrus antiquorum were formed the
papyri of Egypt, found in the sycamore (ficus fatua) coffins,
the dormitories of mummies, as well as those recovered from
the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The ' paper reeds by
the brooks,' are mentioned in the prophetic records, several
centuries before our era: the papyrus still clings to such spots
among the marshes of Egypt, and the Delta of the Nile; and
forms a beautiful ornament on the banks of the Anapus : that
fovmd among the swamps, near the ancient Syracuse, seems to
be a \ariety, if not a distinct species; and M. Lippi states his
having found two species different from the true papyrus anti-
quorum of modern botanists. The cyperus papyrus of Linneus
rarely exceeds ten feet in length, which is about that of a spe-
cimen ill my possession, though Pliny says the root was as
thick as a man's arm, and that the plant occasionally exceeded
fifteen feet in height. Its stem is imbricated, of a triangular
shape, and tapers towards the summit. The head of the pa-
pyrus is composed of a tuft of small grassy filaments, about
twelve inches long ; toward the middle, each filament sepa-
rates into four, and in the partition are four branches of
flowers, not unlike an ear of wheat, but forming a soft and
silky husk. The flower of the papyrus was used in ancient
limes in religious ceremonies. We have seen a very fine and
tall specimen of the papyrus antiquorum in the lecture room of
the Botanic Garden of Edinburgh, growing in a vessel of water.
This celebrated plant supplied the paper or writing material of
ancient times: and, in the natural history of Pliny, we are
supplied with a description of the process employed for making
paper: the papyrus was separated into thin slices, by a fine
point; these were brought into contact by their edges, trans-
verse slips were again supcrposited on them, with their edges
laS iPHYSlOLOGY OP PLASWS.
'.1^70
in similar contact ; this done, the mass was sprinkled with
Nile water, and submitted to pressure. This ancient paper,
which became an important branch of Egyptian commerce,
especiaUy with the Roman Empire, and in the reign of Augus-
tus, we liave every reason to believe was thus formed. If we
hold up a specimen of Egyptian papyrus between the eye and
the ligbt, the ribs may be seen parallel, and crossing each other
at right angles. We have seen two specimens of modern pa-
pyri, manufactured by the Chevalier Landolina, of Syracuse, by
a process similar to that described by Pliny, in which the me-
dulla, or pith, was employed, not the external rhind of the
reed, as has been generally supposed. One of these specimens
I saw at the Studio of Naples ; the other in the British Mu-
seum, with a description of the process in Italian, both pre-
sented by Landolina. I have compared each of these with
Egyptian papyri, also with those recovered from Herculaueum,
and there can be no doubt that the process employed has been
the same. Dr. S(;houw, of Copenhagen, supplied me with a
detail of the process communicated to him personally by Lando-
lina, and it is substantially what has been stated. I have my-
self tried the same experiment successfully, on a small scale.
The paper formed from the paper reed was in high estimation
in the time of Alexander the Great. Ptolemy Philadelphus king
of Egypt, when he commenced his library, and collected an im-
mense variety of books, bad them copied on this kind of paper.
In his reign, considerable quantities of the paper were exported,
which was, at length, however, prohibited, to prevent the king
of Pergaraus from establishing a rival library. Paper made
from the papyrus was principally manufactured at Alexandria,
and the city was considerably enriched by the exportation of
this paper, Vopiscus mentions one Fermies, who boasted that
he could maintain an army from the value of his stock of paper :
when it began to be disused is not certainly known; as late as
the fifth century it was in general use in Europe, and in Italy
and France, was continued to the eleventh and twelfth centu-
ries."
On roots, which serve as the anchorage of the plant, and
their capillary tubes, by which the plant is sustained, as also
on the diversity of forms which the roots of different plants
assume, he is lucid and entertaining. Mark the power of this
portion of the objects treated of.
" The power of the vegetating root is sometimes astonishing ;
it will grasp pebbles, and completely weave a fibrous web round
them, M. Pniot had experimentally shown, that the radicles
of seeds, when germinating, were capable of penetrating mer-
cury, A seed of the lathyrus odoratus, the cotly.lous of which
do not unfold themselves during the act of germination, was
placed one-fifth of an inch from the metallic surface, previously
moistened ; germination took place, and when the radicle
reached the mercury, it pierced, and buried itself within its
substance. Dr. Butler, of Shrewsbury, informed me that he
bad suppUed a number of peach and nectarine trees, trained to
a wall, with a (juantity of bones, byway of manure: some years
afterwards, he had occasion to remove the wall, and when the
fruit trees were taken up, the roots wxre found completely in-
vesting the bones, and in numerous instances the tips of the
roots adhered, like so many suckers, to the surface of these
bones, the tips being flattened in contact with the bone. The
root of the conch, or squitch-grass, will pass through the solid
tuber of a potatoe ; but I am not acquainted with a more ex-
traordinary instance of the force of vegetation, in reference to
the couch-grass, than the following : — In taking up last Novem-
ber, some bulbs of the tyger lily, I found two of them com-
pletely threaded by the repent root of this grass, so that the
bulbs, were monoliform, or like beads on a string. The roots
of the laurel will overturn a wall ; and in Needwood Forest, f
have seen the holly luxuriant on the summit of a venerable oak,
its roots having cleft and penetrated the stately trunk — and, in
Alpine regions, the calcareous and gigantic rock has been rent
in twain, by the penetrating root, as by a wedge. This tremen-
dous force would no doubt be partly occasioned by the infiltered
water, which would follow the root, the rent having been be-
gun, in the first instance, by absorbed moisture, &c. We have
been iuformed that the root of mint grows much more rapidly
during night, than by day; the plant for the experiment was
reared in a glass of water."
What heart is there which swells not with noble sentiments
when he beholds a stately tree ? Those here spoken of mu^t
have been noble /c/Zoics, and worthy to sentinel a mountain for
iiges.
" Lewis and Clarke report that the pines on the Colnmbia
river exceed the height of 300 feet. According to Mr. D, Don,
a distinguished botanist, the purple-eoned fir of Nepal, found
at an elevation of from 8,000 to 10,000 feet above the level of
the sea, is a magnificent pine. ' This, which may be regarded,'
says Mr. Don, ' as the silver fir of Nepal, surpasses all others
of the fir tribe in beauty: its lofty and pyramidal form ; its nu-
merous, long, erect, cylindrical purple cones, studded with drops
of pellucid resin ; and its flat leaves, silvery underneath, and of
a bright shining green above, which thickly adorn its afh-
coloured brajiclies, render it a truly picturesque object : the
trunk is from 70 to SO feet high, perfectly straicrht, covered
with a somewhat smooth grey bark, and having a circumfer-
ence of seven or eight cubits.'
" Not to mention the venerable oaks of huge diameter, in
this country, and many of which we have seen, the boaljab
(adansonia diijitalaj has been found 77 feet in circumference,
and even in solitary eases, 100 feet, while the altitude of the
stem seldom exceeds 1 5 feet. The chesnut, on the flanks of
Etna, called custugno (U cento cacalli, measures one hundreU and
eighty feet, and though now in fragments, it is unquestionuljle
that these stems were once united. Professor S^'houw, of
Copenhagen, informed me that he had the question distinctly
ascertained, by having the earth removed around it, and found
the entire trunks united below ground into one. The dragon-
tree at Oratava, in the island of Tenerifi^e, is 48 feet in circum-
ference. According to Labillardiere the largest cedar on Mount
Lebanon is nearly 28 feet in circumference. An oriental plane,
in the valley of Bajukuere, near Constantinople, h.as a cavity of
80 feet in circumference. The tree at Huahine, called by the
natives aoa, described in Bennet and Tyerman's ' Voyages and
Travels,' is probably a mangrove, judging from the description.
The girth of the trunk of this cloistered tree is stated to be
70 feet. The banian of the Nerbuddah, notwithstanding the
invasion of the waters on its territories, is still upwards of
2,000 feet in circumference round its principal stems. Some
years ago, the bole of a large black walnut tree was bronght
from Lake Erie, in America, to this country, and we believe is
still exhibited in London : it measured 36 feet around, and was
excavated and furnished as a sitting room."
" The flower or corolla," says the author, " is that painted
physiognomy by which the plant is recognised, and referred in
the Linnean arrangement to its individual station among the
tribes of vegetation." We take notice of this definition merely
to show that the writer is no friend to the natural si/sfcin, which
he calls " the most unnatural jumble of incongruities that ever
were collocated together." But of the part in question —
" Pliny, with rare felicity, characterized the flower as the
' Joy of Plants,' Flos gaudiunt arhorurn ;• — the rose, the ama-
ryllis, and the tulip are splendid attestations to this poetic
truth. The corolla is adorned with all the coloured imagery of
the prism, sometimes singly, at other times mingling its chro-
matic rays together on one disc, as if the rainbow had impressed
its beauteous seal on the fair canvass of the flower. At other
times we find the flower of dazzling whiteness, unrivalled even
by the snow, * To paint the lily,' is proverbial for what cannot
be improved; and who would dare to do it? Besides its showy
ornaments, the fragrance of the flower, as in the rose, is not
less delightful, though there he some that cannot so well com-
174
THK PHYSIOI.OGT OF PLANTS.
pele for the distinction ; but tlie, incense of flowers is often
WHtted afar on the breeze, particuliirly remarkable in the spice
islands, the approach to which is announced at an immense
distance at sea.
" These beautiful insignia of trees consist individually of a
variety of parts, all contributing their share to the perfection
of the whole: the bracteea, or floral leaves, sufliciently con-
spicuous and distinct in the artichoke, are sometimes present,
and at other times absent ; sometimes they are green, as in the
case referred to, as well as hypoxis erecta; or they are coloured,
as we find them to be in the examples already cited. In the
bartzia coccinea, the bractea are a bright scarlet ; in the tilia
europea, a pale yellow; and in the salvia hormiura, a beautiful
puple. The bractieas are more permanent, usually, than the
calix : the chalix or flower-cup is commonly the colour of the
leaf, as in the pink and carnation ; though it is also occasionally
coloured, of which the fuschia coccinea or common fuschia, af-
fords a beautiful example ; the scarlet, or rather crimson en-
velope, being a true calix, while the rich purple fillet it encloses
is the corolla.
" The corolla is usually distinguished from all other parts of
the plant by its rich and brilliant drapery — it is frequently
■white, but usually painted with the most exquisite colours, and
sets all art at defiance to imitate. One example of a green
flower has been given ; the flower of the daphne laureola is an-
other of the same kind,
" The variety in the forms of the corolla of plants is as
countless as its hues : it is of one piece, as the bignonia
or convolvolous, and of an elagant bell shape in the lily of the
valley, convallaria majalis —
' The silver mistress of the vale ! '
or, composed of numerous segments or pieces, as in the white
or orange lilies. The palms exhibit that peculiar form of co-
rolla, called the spatha or sheathe, of which the beautiful
white fillet of the cala ethiopica, forms an elegant tvpe : the
personate or masked, and the riogent corollas are singular and
curious: the snapdragon and monkey flower will readily occur
as examples. Among these are to be found the lobelia cardina-
lis and fulgens, as well as the salvia splendens ; rich and daz-
zling in the attire of their corollas. But in point of singularity
of structure, they are surpassed by several of the orchidece; in
the fly orchis, ophrys muscifera, the flower so much resembles
a fly, that it might be readily mistaken for one."
Speaking of seeds, the following passage regards a wonderful
contrivance for the propagation of objects not endowed with
locomotive power.
" The dispersion of seeds also supplies us with a chain of
curious contrivances, admirably suited to the purposes for
■which they are designed ; and it is a subject of regret, that
these singularly constructed species of mechanism have not
been so minutely investigated, as the interesting subject merits;
•nell might Forskalsayl ' Miro, nee adhuc investigato mecha-
nismo propelluutur semina.' The capsule of the violet will
project its contained seeds to a distance of several feet ; and
the elastic ariUus of the wood sorrel will eject them over a
considerably greater space. The euphorbia coccum (Grcetner)
is also remarkable in this respect, as well as some of the ferns,
wliieh possess an elastic ring for the purpose; geranium, fraxi-
uella, and others. The crackling of the capsules of furze in a
warm summer day must be familiar to many, and is sometimes
the only sound which breaks the stillness of the landscape. The
scales which enc'ose the seeds of pines sometimes open suddenly,
and disperse their contents. The noise occasioned by this me-
chanical impulse on the air, may be often heard at a consider-
able distance: * This crackling voice,' says Mr. Keith, 'was
observed and traced to a fir-tree, namely pinus, pinea at Ken-
dlesham parsonage, on July 14, 1808, by two young gentle-
men, my pupils, who thought the tree was bewitched, till the
cause of the noise was pointed out to them.' A species of
wild cress, cardamine impatiens, suddenly unfolds its seed ves-
sel, on being touched. I have, ■when handling the plant, and
more minutely examining the structure and elastic apparatus
of the seed vessels, been temporarily deprived of vision, by the
impulsion of the seeds into my face. The balsam, balsaniimunif
is not less curious than the rest of these, and has been not in-
appositely, from the elastic force employed by the seed pod in
the dispersion of its contents, called ' touch me not.' In these
cases, the power of the projectile seems to reside in the elasti-
city of the valves of the capsule."
An imposing and venerable idea is suggested hy the age which
some sort of trees reach to, that, joined with the stately and g.al-
lant appearance already spoken of, leads us to remember, and
not to marvel, that they have been considered hallowed and
sacred in heathen countries. We can feel something like re-
spect for an aged tree, and wonder less how kindre<l sentiments
would guide a benighted pagan. We would walk many a mile
to look on one of those described below. We would strive to
embrace it, and address to it, with head uncovered, a soliloquy
regarding the olden time.
"There were, in 1776, in the palace garden of Grenada,
several cypresses, which formed a cypress grove, and computed
to be eight or nine centuries old,
" Pliny mentions a plane tree in Lycia, hollowed out into a
cave, eighty feet in circumference; there is an oriental plane in
the valley of Bujukdere, near Constantinople, which embraces
a circuit of 150 feet, and has a cavity of eighty feet circumfer-
ence. The oriental plane of Stanchio, an island in the archi-
pelago, formerly Cos, is remarkable for its size, and no doubt
has a corresponding age. Earl Sandwich, in 1739, measured
forty-five paces from the trunk to the extremity of the branches;
these branches are supported by pillars of marble, verde antique,
and porphyry; and though time has assailed it, it is still im-
mense. ' Some notion,' says Dr. Clarke, ' may he formed of
the time those props have been so employed, by the appearance
of the bark: this has encased the extremities of the columns so
completely, that the branches and the pillars mutually support
each other; and it is probable, if those branches were raised,
some of them would lift the pillars from the earth.'
"There is a yew tree at Peronne in Picardy, which was
known to be flourishing in 634; it still existed in 1790, con-
sequently was 1156 years old: there is also an Italian fig, in
the Isle of Thanet, supposed to have been introduced by the
Romans in the first century. The yew near Staines, at three
feet high is nine feet three inches diameter, and the extent of
its branches embrace a circle of 207 feet: that it is of a very
considerable age there can be no doubt.
"Eight olive trees still remain on Olivet, said to he 800
years old; and it is ascertained that they existed prior to the
capture of Jerusalem by the Turks. Mount Lebanon, and the
range of the Taurus, are the native soil of the cedar of Lebanon.
It is a magnificent and beautiful tree, and several very venerable
and noble specimens still decorate the flanks of Lebanon. Ac-
cording to Labillardi^re, the largest of these patriarch trees is
at least nine feet in diameter. The trees are still held in great
esteem, and an annual festival is celebrated beneath their shade,
called the 'feast of cedars.' "
We conclude by telling our readers that this little volume
contains learning, research, talent, and sound philosophy, put
forwai-d in the most agreeable style. In truth, it is a delight-
ful book ; and more especially so, as there is a spirit predomi-
nating in every paragraph, which shows that the author is a
man of enlightened piety ; and to whom there is
" Not a tree, a plant, a leaf, a blossom,
But contains a folio volume,"
written in testimony of the goodness, -wisdom, and providence
of God.
ROYLB S HIMALAYilJO' BOTANY.
175
ROYLE'S HIMALAYAN BOTANY.
Several months ago we took up the two first parts of this
spleadiii work, on the botauy and other branches of natural
history, as preseated in the x-egions of the Himalayaii Moun-
tains and in Cashmere, which are amazingly rich in such pro-
ductions; and we now proceed to the third and fourtli parts,
which have since been published, that our readers may have a
taste of what is therein contained. We shall first of all abridge
part of the introduction, embracing general and geographical
details, which continues to form a considerable portion of the
third part, and serves to guide the mind with greater precision
and interest to the scientific points afterwards discussed.
Though extensive tracts of the Himalaya remain unexplored,
the uniform result of every observation establishes the great
elevation of this chain of mountains. Captain Herbert, speak-
ing only of the surveyed portion of them, observes that there
are no fewer than twenty-eight peaks in the Himalayas which
overtop Chimboi-azo in South America. But to form a true
estimate of these mountains it is necessary also to take into
consideration their breadth as well as length, and enormous
height. This is supposed to be greatest in the vicinity of
the lofty peaks near which the principal rivers have their rise.
Crossing from the plains of Hindoosthau to the snowy passes,
the distance is not less than SO or 100 miles. In no part is
there any thing like table-land to be found; but seen from the
plains of Northern India, the Himalayas appear formed of a
succession of parallel ranges, though nothing of this kind is
apparent when we eater the mountains themselves, for in as-
cending any of the principal points, a number of arms are seen
radiating in every directiun, separating deep ravines, connecting
the different mountains together, and throwing the waters of
the several rivers in opposite directions. Notwithstanding this
irregularity, the ridges generally run parallel to the direction of
the mountain mass; for in proceeding transversely across it, we
have constantly a series of ridges to ascend and descend, and
narrow vallies to cross.
Crossing these mountains, the descent on the side of Tibet,
according to the concurrent testimony of all travellers, is gra-
dual, and not of great extent, though the ascent up the southern
face had been so considerable. It is evident, therefore, that
the land on the northern face is much elevated. The different
aspects, climate, heights, and soils of this immense region,
must consequently afford a prodigious variety of natural pro-
ductions.
The parts now before us of the work we are considering are
devoted to botany, and describe several orders of great com-
mercial value. Take of Linea; the following species: —
'*Li/iete. — This order, named from, and chiefly composed of
tlie genus Liuum, of which one species has been known for its
important uses from time immemorial, is found chiefly in Eu-
rope and the north of Africa, but also in most other parts of
the world, though not very numerous in species any where. In
India one species, L. Mysurense, has been found in the Penin-
sula, and by myself on the Mussooreeand Kedarkauta moun-
tains. At the foot of the hills, and at moderate elevations
within them, are found the different species, L. Cicauoba, tri-
gynum, repens, and tetragynum, which are all distinguished by
the showiness of their flowers, are closely allied among them-
selves, and differ from the rest of the genus. Mr. Bentham
suggests that L. repens is only a variety of L. Cicanoba. This
I have found varying so much, that even L. trigyuum, of which
the older leaves, as Dr. Roxburgh mentions, are serrate, may
he a variety of it, as well as L. tetragynum.
*' In the plains of India, Linura usitatissimum is found every
where in a cultivated state in the cold weather months. This
plant, so well known for the tenacity of the flax yielded by its
fibrous bark, from which, in the present, as in the most ancient
times, linen cloth was manufactured, and which is subsequently
converted into paper, is valuable also for the mucilage yielded
to water, and the oil to pressure, the first by the covering, and I
the other by the almond of its seed ; while the residue forms an
oilcake fit for the food of cattle. Flax, extensively cultivated
in Europe, is imported into England, chiefly from Russia; and
linseed from both America and Holland. In Egypt, as in
ancient times, it is much cultivated in the present day ; it must
long have been introduced into India, probably from the north-
ward; but its names do not give us any assistance in tracing it
to its source; as the Sanscrit atasee, Hindee atees, Bengalee
mushina, have no resemblance to the Hebrew pishtah, Arabic
akshoot, Greek "Kivov, or Persian kutan. The latter, remark-
able for its resemblance to qootn or kutun, the Arabic name of
cotton, but this is written with the Arabic, and the former with
the Persian kaf. In India the flax is cultivated only on ac-
count of its seed, of which the mucilage is valued as a demul-
cent in medicine, and the oil in the arts ; but the plant, which
in other countries is most valued, is there thrown away; and
others, such as Hibiscus cannabinus and Crotalaria cannabina,
are cultivated almost in the same field, for the very products
which this would yield. It seems worthy of experiment, there-
fore, to ascertain whether a valuable product might not be
added to the Indian agriculturist's profits, without much addi-
tional expense. Flax having been manufactured into linen
cloth, both by the Egyptians and the Hebrews, as we learn
from the sacred writings, as well as from Herodotus, and
know from the mummies being exclusively, as far as hitherto
ascertained, wrapped up in linen clothing, it is curious that the
practice of converting flax into linen should not have passed into
India, This, I conceive, can easily be accounted for by the
latter possessing the cotton plant, of which the wcavable portion
is more obvious, elegant, and well suited to the climate."
In addition to what we have in another number extracted
from this work on the cotton plant, it will not be unacceptable
that we should present, on a subject so important to England
as well as to India, some further observations on the species or
varieties which are cultivated in different countries, with the
view of leading to improvements in its cultivation. But here
there are great difficulties to encounter, as botanists have gene-
rally neglected the subject, and omitted mentioning the culti-
vated species, while cultivators have used provincial names, or
applied new ones of their o%vn, to the exclusion of any notice of
the names in use among botanists. The celebrated De Can-
dolle has admitted thirteen species, observing that they are all
uncertain, whilst Dr. Roxburgh has added two, and others
have described a great many more. With the assistance of the
observations of this last-mentioned gentleman, who states that
he had studied the subject for thirty years, and some other
eminent botanists, the author hopes that the following kinds,
cultivated in different countries, has been by him referred to
their true species.
'* 1. G. obtusifolium (Roxb.) Shrubby, veryramous. Leaves
small, with three, rarely five, obtuse, ovate, entire lobes. Sti-
pules falcate. The exterior calyx with entire divisions. Cap-
sules ovate, cells tliree-seeded. Seeds free, and clothed with
firmly-adhering, short greenish-gi-ay down, under a small portion
of ash-coloured wool. — Roxb. Fl. Indica. vol. 3, p. 183. A
native of Ceylon, but not cultivated. Flowers during the rains
and cold season in the Botanic Garden at Calcutta.
" 2. G. acuminatum (Roxb.) Sub-arboreous. Leaves from
three to five lobed, lobes oblong, tapering, very acute. Exte-
rior calyx deeply lacinate. Stipules linear-lanceolate. Capsules
long, ovate, much pointed. Seeds many, adhering firmly to
each other, black, and free of every pubescence, except the long
white wool, which is easily removed. — Roxb. FJ. Ind. 3, p. 186.
** Dr. Roxburgh states that this species is easily distinguished
by its superior size and large black seeds, which adhere firmly
to each other. It is said to be a native of the mountains to the
north and westward of Bengal, but he does not find that it is
ever cultivated; but it is apparently a species well worthy of
trial in different parts of India, as it is indigenous, and desirable
on account of the faciUty with which the wool separates from
the naked scedaw
176
ROYLE « HIMALAYAN BOTANY.
"3. G. herbaceum (Lin.) Stems woody, bi-tfiennial, 4-6
feet high in tropical, lierbaceous and two feet high, in temperate
climates, the older parts reddish, the younger, as well as the
fiower and foot-stalks, hairy, frequently marked with black
spots. Leaves hairy, palmate, 3, generally 5-lobed, in herba-
ceous varieties, lobes broad and rounded with a little point; in
those which are woody sub-lanceolate and acute, with or with-
out glands. Stipules falcate-lanceolate. Flowers axillary, ge-
nerally solitary towards the extremities of the branches, petals
of a lively yellow colour, with a purple spot near the claw.
Segments of the exterior calyx or iuvolucel, D.C. cordate at the
base, margin dentate, sometimes entire. Capsules ovate,
pointed, :i or 4-celled. Seeds free, about five in number,
clothed with firmly-adhering, grayish down, under the short-
staple white wool. — Xylon s. Gossypium antiquorum. — G.
herbaceum. Linn. sp. PI. 3. p. 355. Lamarck Encycl. 2. p.
133. Cav. Diss. 6. p. 310. t. 164. f. 2. Wild. 3. p. 803.
Roxb. Fl. Ind. 3. p. 184. D.C. Prod. 1. p. 456. This and its
varieties are by far the most generally cultivated in India.
Dr. Roxburgh particularly distinguishes three varieties: — 1st.
Dacca Cotton, which furnishes that fine long soft cotton-wool,
employed in manufacturing the very delicate beautiful muslins
of that place, v. Ro.xb. Coroni. Plants, vol. ill. t. 269. 2d. Be-
rar Cotton, distinguished by growing to a greater size, and
having smooth and straight branches, leaflets of the exterior
calyx more deeply divided, and the wool of a finer quality than
in the common variety of this species. This is cultivated in
Berar and the Northern Circars, and with its cotton the fine
Madras, more properly Northern Circar, long-cloth is made.
3d. China Cotton, introduced into Bengal, where its wool, ac-
cording to Dr. Roxburgh, is reckoned 25 percent, better than
that of Surat. Lamarck's G, indicum. Encycl. 2. p. 134.
Capas, Rumjib. Amb. 4. p. 33. t. 1 2. Dr. R. says, is no doubt
one of these varieties; Cavanilles (Diss. 6. p. 314. t. 169.)
having seen it in flower in Paris, was of tlie same opinion.
The variety cultivated about Cawupore and in the Doab, is
figured tab. 23. fig. 1. from a drawing" in General Hardwicke's
collection. There are also specimens from Saluen and Tavoy."
The Tiliaceaj are closely allied with the Malvacete, the order
which embraces the cotton-plant, and like it includes species
that are turned to important practical purposes ; —
*' JViacecr. — The Tiliacete, though named from an European
timber-tree, are chiefly found in tropical countries. The genera
Corchorus, Triumfetta, and Grewia, of which numerous species
are found in India, are also abundant in the warm parts both of
Africa and America ; and as has been remarked with the plants
of some other families, many of the same species are found in
the most widely separated parts of India. Grewia betula?folia,
with Corchorus lin:earis and fascicularis, extend from the Penin-
sula up to the arid region on the western bank of the Jumna,
where a new species, C. prostratus, is also found. Corchorus
capsularis and acutangulus, as well as Triumfetta angulata,
are common at Saharunpore, as in the most southern provinces.
In the tract of jungle and forest, which clothes the foot of the
Himalaya, v.e have several of the species which are found in
similar situations in Bengal and Assam, as Triumfetta sestuans,
Grewia helicterifolia, tiliiefolia, and sapida, w^hieh is apparently
the same as G. pumila, Don, and G. nana. Wall. Triumfetta
oblongata extends as high as Jureepance, or five thousand feet
above the sea; and Corchorus humilis (nob) shews itself fifteen
hundred feet highci' up, but both only during the rainy season.
Grewia sclerophylla, didyma, oppositifolia, and elastica, are
found in the Kheree Pass, in the Doon, as well as higher up
within the Himalaya, particularly in the neigbourhood of
villages.
" As we have seen with the Malvacea', and the other allied
orders, so are the Tiliacea; remarkable for mucilaginous proper-
ties, as well as for tenacity of fibre ; and several species of the
genus Grewia have pleasantly-tasted acid berries, as was found
among the Malvacea?, in the fruit of Hibiscus SabdariiFa. Cor-
chorus olitorius is in India, as in Egypt, used as a pot-herb,
and is in Bengal cultivated for the fibres of the bark, which are
called jute and pat. C. capsularis is likewise cultivated in
Bengal as in China, for the same purpose. Its fibres, as well
as those of C. olitorius, are employed in making a coarse kind
of cloth, called tat, of which gunny, or rice-bags, are made;
also a coarse kind of linen worn by the poorer people in some
parts of Bengal, as we are informed by Dr. B. Hamilton; of it
also the cordage employed in agriculture, and for rigging boats,
is formed, and it is the material from which paper is made. The
inner bark of Grewia oppositifolia, as that ofTilia, or lime-tree,
is in Europe, is employed for the same purposes, at lower ele-
vations within the Himalaya; and the leaves of some species,
as of G. didyma, are given as fodder to cattle, and are even
stacked up for winter use. As the wood of the lime-tree is
valued for its close grain, lightness, and smoothness, so Berria
Amomnilla, or Trincomalee wood-tree, affords timber, valued
also for its lightness and strength, and is employed in the con-
struction of the excellent Massoola boats of Madras. Grewia
elastica, figured at PI. 22, called dhamnoo by the natives, and
common in the Himalayas in northern latitudes, at moderate
elevations, affords timber which is highly valued for its strength
and elasticity, and therefore much used for bows, buggy shafts,
and bangy sticks. Some of the species of Grewia, as before
mentioned, yield pleasant acid berries, much used for making
sherbet. Of these, G. asiatica may be instanced as common
in gardens; but G. sapida, helccterifolia, sclerophylla, and
others, are used for the same purpose."
Of some of the plants that belong to the order Ternstrse-
niiacefe we shall take occasion to refer to this work at ano-
ther time, on account of their extensive commeicial interest.
At present, however, we quote the scientific notices of the
author respecting the family generally : —
"Of all those which belong to this family, the tea-plant is alone
of any commercial importance, but this in so pre-eminent a
degree as to render it a most desirable acquisition to other
countries. An inquiry. into its history and habits, therefore,
becomes intei esting, that we may ascertain whether it be so
local and peculiar in its nature, as to render futile any attempt
to introduce it elsewhere. To do this satisfactorily, it will be
necessary to enter into some detail respecting the varieties or
species which afford the different teas of commerce, the extent
of their distribution, the climate, soil, and culture, which they
prefer, as well as the plants with which they are associated,
either in a wild or cultivated state.
" The tea-plant has been supposed to be indigenous in the
mountains which separate China from the Burmese territories ;
but we are informed by Dr. Abel that he found a small shrub,
of what is commonly considered the green variety, apparently
in its natural habitat, and near no plantation, at .See-chou, in
the province of Kiang-sea, about N. lat. 26 deg., where the
hills were covered with pines. Thunberg states that tea grows
every where in Japan, both naturally (sponie) and cultivated,
on the margins of fields. One species, so named, is described
by Loureiro, as found both cultivated and in a wild state, in
the northern provinces of Cochin-china; and the same author
describes T. oleosa as common about Canton, both wild and
cultivated. To the kindness of Mr. Reeves I am indebted for
the information that there is a species of Thea, growing wild in
the neighbourhood of Macao, which is much larger in the leaf
than either the black or green tea plants.
" But it has been made a question, whether the varieties of
tea known in commerce are due to difference in species, or only
to differences in soil, climate, culture, and mode of preparation.
The latter appears to be the opinion of Kaempfer, Thunberg,
and Siebold, as they admit of but one species of Thea, and is
that now generally entertained ; Thunberg notices two varieties
of Thea bohea, but says they can hardly be distinguished into
species. Siebold says that the variety viridis of T. Chinensis,
D.C, is a shrub every where cultivated in Japan ; but the
variety bohea he had only seen in gardens, introduced from
China. From this fact one would be iaclined to conclude that
ROYI.es HrMALAYAN BOTAVY. '
\W
they were distinct ; and as all -the observations were made in
Japan, it is probable they ;iU tiiree only siuv one species culti-
vated llxere : as there is reason for believing, that the opinion
of Linneusthat two species of Thea yield the teas of commerce,
is the mere correct.
" Dr. Abel, when passing through the tea country, had
little doubt of there being two species of tea-plant ; but he
could not at the time define the character, and was unfortunate
in losing his specimens in the shipwreciv of the Alcestc. But
he mentions that the plants from the black and green tea dis-
tricts differed in the form, colour, and texture of their leaves ;
those of the green tea being larger, thinner, and of a lighter
colour than those of the black, though growing in the same
soil : these differences he also observed in a large plantation
near Macao. Dr. Hooker, in the Botanical Magazine, t. 3H8,
has given the characters of the two species. Thea viridis,
which is the species figured, he describes as ' a large, strong-
growing, almost hardy, plant, with spreading branches ; its
leaves three to five inches long, very broadly lanceolate,
pale green, singularly waved, with Ihe margin reflexed ; the
flowers large, solitary, mostly confined to the upper axil.
These appear in autumn, six weeks or two months earlier than
those of T. bohea, which is of smaller size, with remarkably
erect stiff branches ; leaves not above half or two-thirds the
size of the former, perfectly flat, more coriaceous, of a dark
green, bearing in the axils of numerous leaves two or three
flowers, which are smaller, and have a slight fragrance ; and
are in perfection during winter. This plant cannot withstand
the frosts of an English climate.'
" Mr. Reeves, whose opinions, from his long residence in
China, and attention to subjects of natural history, are entitled
to the greatest weight, is the most recent author who has
referred to this subject ; and he expresses his surprise ' that
any person who has been in Cliin:i, or, indeed, any one who
has seen the diiference in the colour of the infusions of black
and green tea, could suppose for a moment that they were the
produce of the same plant, dilVering only in the mode of curing;
particularly as they do not grow in the neighbourhood of each
other.' {Loudon^s Gard. Mag., vol. ix. p. 713). To this opinion,
it will be seen, he still adheres, as in a letter with which I have
been favoured, he informs me that he believes that the Thea
viridis of the gardens is the plant from which the green tea of
commerce is prepared, and that the plant which produces the
black tea of commerce, as souchong, congou, &c. is not so
common in England. Both may be seen in great perfection in
the Messrs. Loddige's rich and extensive nursery-grounds at
Hackney, where a green-tea plant has lived for many years in
the open air. The first impression on seeing thera, is that of
surprise at their ever having been confounded ; as nothing can
be more distinct than tlie large, membranous, I'ght green,
wavy leaf, with large and irregular scrratures, and straggling
habit of the green-tea plant, from the smaller, flat, thick, and
coriaceous, dark-green leaf, with small and even scrratures, and
erect port of the black tea. Both plants have been figured in
Loddige's Bot. Cab. t. 226 and 227, and the characters well
given, as also in the above extract from Dr. Hooker. I would
only add, that the flowers, though commonly, are not always
single in the axils of Thea vindis ; and this, though earlier in
flowering, is not so much so as described. The green tea being
the hardier is cultivated, as we shall see, in the northern, and
the black tea in the southern provinces of China. The former
is the only kind cultivated in Japan, according to Siebold, and
is that figured by Kampfer, Amcen. Exot., p. 607.
" Notwithstanding the above opinions, and the distinctness in
the characters of the two species, as above given, there is an
unaccountable discrepancy in the statements as to the plants
which afford the green and black teas of commerce, especially
as Dr. Abel, after giving his opinion that there were two species
of tea-plant, mentions that * from persons perfectly conversant
with the Chinese method he learnt that either of the two plants
will afford the black or green tea of the shops ; but that the
MAGAZINE OP BOTANY .-IND GARDENING, VOL. 11. NO.
broad thin-leaved plant is JrtBfevred fdr making the green tea.'
(Journ. to China, p. 222).
"This is in conformity with the information communicated to
Dr. Hooker, and also with that originally given by Mr. Pigou
(As. An. Reg. 1S02), on the authority of a Chinese, who had
been eight times in the bohea country, remaining there from
four to six months each time, and who stated that ' bohea may
be cured as hyson, and hyson as bohea.' To this Mr. Reeves
replies in the letter to which I have alluded, that ' the Cliinese
manufacturers do not, and they say they cannot convert black
tea into green, and rice versa, and this I believe to be true •
indeed, the colour of the infusions is alone sufficient evidence.'
The discrepancy in the information Mr. Reeves explains, by
adding that ' there is a species of tea grown in the province of
Canton of a pale-coloured leaf (occasionally mixed with congou
tea, to make the tea imported under the name of bohea), and this
tea can be coloured and made up to imitate various qualities of
green tea, and large quantities are yearly thus made : but still
it is only an appearance that can be given : the deception is
detected as soon as it is put into water.' Owing, no doubt, to
these mixtures is the difliculty in detecting the two kinds of
leaf in the teas of commerce ; but in good teas they may be
distinctly recognized. Dr. Abel's information having been
obtained from hearsay at Canton, most probably refers to the
kind described by Mr. Reeves, as he most particularly distin-
guishes, and lays down on his map, the green and black tea
districts ; but arguing upon the correctness of the information
he had obtained, concludes that the diflfcrenees observed may be
produced by a due management of the heat used in dryin"- the
plant. Mr. Millet's account, Mr. Reeves says, he himself
knows refers to some of this tea.
"A very important consideration being to ascertain the climates
in which the tea-plants are chiefly cultivated, it is necessary, in
the first instance, to determine the extent over which they are
distributed, before we can form any idea of the degree of heat
and cold to which they are subjected. Dr. Abel states, that
' the green tea district in the province of Keang-nan is em-
braced between the 29th and 3 1st degrees of north latitude, and is
situated on the north-western base of a ridge of mountains, which
divides the provinces of Che-kiangand Keang-nan. The black tea
district, in the pro\'inceof Fokien, is contained within the 27th and
the 28th degrees of north latitude, and is situated on the south-
eastern declivities of a ridge of mountains, dividing the province
of Fokien from that of Keang-sec' p. 223. Hence we perceive
that the districts have both a north-western and a south-eastern
aspect, and that Dr. Hooker's statement that the Thea viridis is
able to withstand the greater degree of cold, is confirmed by the
fact of the green teas being procured from the more northern lati-
tudes. This has reference to the teas usually manufactured for
foreign trade, and is conformable to the information given by Mr.
Reeves (Bot. Mag.l. c), who statesthat 'the black teas are chiefly
grown in the N.W. corner of the province of Fokien, in about
lat. 27 deg. 50 min., long. 1 deg. 30 min. E. of Peking, and the
green tea in the southern part of Keang-nan province, about
lat. 29 deg. 58 min., long. 2. deg. E. of Peking.' At Hwuy-
ehow-Foo in the latter, the greater proportion of hyson and
twankay is manufactured, and the black teas at Gan-ki-hien in
Fokien. By Mr. Reeves I am further informed, that in a
Chinese Herbal, in which the plants used in medicine are de-
scribed, tea is said to be produced (among other places to the
northward of 31 deg.) in nine places in Hoo-Qwang, three
places in Ho-Nan, one place in Shensi, and two places in Shan-
tung ; one of these latter, and the most northward of the whole,
is Tang-chow-Foo, in 36 deg. 30 min. north lat. From Ksempfer,
Thunberg, and Siebold, we learn that the tea-plant is extensively
cultivated in the islands which form the Japanese territory ; and
these extend from 30 to 41 deg. of noith latitude. It is also culti-
vated in the southern province of Yunan, whence we learn from
Dn Halde and Sir G. Staunton, the tea is procured, whiehlis
made up into balls ; and likenise at Ho-ping in the province of
Quang-tung ; Dr. Wallich further mentions, that it is also
XXI. — DECEMBEK, 1834. B B
178
EOYLE S HIMALAYAN BOTANY.
cultivated in Cochin-cliina, as far south as 17 deg. of north
latitude.
" But as from the information obtained hy Sir G. Staunton,
■we learn that the tea-plant thrives best between 23i deg. and
30 deg., and as the principal cultivation of the best teas for the
foreign trade is between 27 deg. and 31 deg. of north latitude
the space included between these forms a belt, which will serve
as a criterion of the soil and climate best suited to this plant.
"With respect to the former, Dr. Abel gives the only precise
information I have been able to obtain, and he states that from
every account given of the tea-plant, it succeeds best on the
sides of mountains, where there can be but little accumulation
of vegetable mould. The plantations which he saw were always
at some elevation above the plains, in a kind of gravelly soil,
formed in some places by disintegrated sandstone, and in others
■fay the debris of primitive rocks. A large and flourishing plan-
tation of all the varieties of the plant brought together by Mr.
Ball, the principal tea-inspector at Canton, is situated on an
island close to jlacao, in a loose gravelly soil, formed by the
disintegration of large grained granite. ' Judging from spe-
cimens,' Dr. Abel continues, ' collected in our route through
the province of Keang-nan, whence the green tea is procured,
its rocks consist chiefly of sandstone, schistus, and granite.
As to what may be the exact nature of the rocks of the black
tea country in the province of Fokien, I have no precise infor-
mation. But as the great ridge separating that province from
Keang-si is a continuation of the one dividing the latter from
Canton, it is perhaps legitimate to conclude, that their con-
stituent rocks are the same ; and that the hills and soU on the
eastern are the same as we found them on the western side of
the ridge, or that they are covered by a soil like that in which
tUe Camellia flourishes.' (Abel, p. 224). This is most likely
to be the case, as Sir G. Staunton states that a chain of granite
mountains begins at Haugchoo-foo, with a direction to the
southward, and that vast tracts of hilly land are planted with
tea in tlie province of Fokien. Mr. Reeves, from the views he
has of Soo-Ei-Shan, where the best black teas are grown, sus-
pects that the hills are schistose.
" With regard to the climate of this tract of country, or that
best suited to the cultivation of the tea-plants, we are without
precise information, as no one competent to make observations
has resided throughout the year in the principal tea districts ;
but' the approximative results we are able to obtain will, per-
haps, be sufficient for practical purposes, particularly if con-
nected with a view of the vegetation. In the first place, if we look
at the tables which have been calculated, and those of Mr. Harvey
are the latest, we shall find the probable mean temperatures of
Canton, of the parallels of latitude of 29 deg. and of 31 deg.,
as well as of Pckin, to be 74.73 deg.; 72.62 deg.; 69.S6
deg.; and 62.43 deg. respectively. But it is desirable to have
these theoretical results confirmed by practical observations,
especially as temperature is not invariably found to go along
"with latitude, particularly w'ith regard to the eastern and western
sides of continents. Tliis the illustrious Humboldt has long
ago shewn in his paper on Isothermal lines : where he has re-
marked that ' the whole of Europe, compared with the eastern
and western parts of America and Asia, has an insular climate,
and upon the same isothermal line, the summer becomes warmer,
and tlie winters colder, in proportion as we advance from the
meridian of Mont Blanc towards the east or the west; the
western parts of all continents are not only warmer at equal
latitudes than the eastern, but even in the zones of equal annual
temperature, the winters are more rigorous, and the summers
hotter on the eastern, than upon the western coasts of tlie two
continents. The northern part of China, lilce the Atlantic
region of the United States, exhibits excessive climates (as
Buffon indicated) and seasons strongly contrasted, while the
coast! of New California and the embouchure of the Columbia,
have winters and summers almost equally temperate. Thus we
find at New York, the summer of Rome and the winter of Co-
penhagen; at (ixiebec, the summer of Paris and the winter of
Petersburgh,. la China, at Pekin, for example, where the
mean temperature of the year is that of the coasts of Brittany,
the scorching heats of summer are greater than in Cairo, and
the winters as rigorous as at Upsal.' These results have been
deduced by tlieir illustrious author from the observations of
Amyot, which were carried on for a period of six years : by
these it appears that Pekin, in N. lat. 39 deg. 54 min. and E.
long. 116 (leg. 27 min., and at the level of the ocean, has an
annual mean temperature of 54 deg. 9 min., that of the warmest
month being 84 deg. 38 min., and of the coldest 24 deg. 62 min.;
while the mean temperature of the three winter months is
26 deg. 42 min. The severity of tho cold may be judged of by
this, and by the thermometer sometimes falling, it is said, as
low as 63 deg. below zero, as well as by the great thickness of
the ice with which the rivers are frozen over. The summer is
as warm as that at Naples, with amean temperature of 82 deg.
5 8 min., and the greatest heat as high, it is said, as 121 deg.
The mean temperature of the three spring months is 56.30 deg.,
and of those of autumn 54.32 deg., but it frequently freezes in
both Marcli and November ; the mean temperature, however,
of seven months is above 51.8 deg., or that of the months Lu
which trees vegetate that lose tlieir foliage. The temperature
of the spring months being of March 41.4 deg., of April 57.0
deg., of May 70.3 deg., and of June 84. 2 deg. : the increase of
the vernal temperature and the dift'erences between these four
months are seen to be very great, and very equal (15.7 deg,,
13.3 deg., and 13.9 deg.) as characteristic of climates where
the division of the annual heat between the seasons is very un-
equal. (Humboldt on Isothermal lines. Brewst. Journal, vol.
iii. iv.)
" In some works it is stated that there are properly only two
seasons at Pekin, summer and winter, or the seasons of snow
and rain. The months of June, July, and August, are stated
to be very rainy, and the average of rainy days to be fifty-eight.
The climate of the northern provinces must, however, be con-
sidered a dry one, as w^e learn, from both Sir G. Staunton and
Dr. Abel, that large stacks of salt are left in the open air, on
the banks of the Pei-ho, covered only by bamboo matting under
a coating of clay. The showers are described as being light;
no indications of a damp atmosphere are mentioned, but heavy
dews occur in the evening. The season in which China was
visited by Lord Macartney's embassy was peculiarly dry, as it
is mentioned that from July to November scarcely a shower
had fallen, and the country had been traversed from Zhehol to
30 deg. of N. latitude. Lord Amhert's embassy also, which
arrived on the Pei-ho on the 12th of August, had hardly any
rain until the beginning of November, when they had got into
the tea country. Le Compte also mentions a drought which
had continued for five months in the year he arrived in China.
The foregoing view of the climate of Pckin, though more severe
than what the tea-plant is subjected to, will serve as an ap-
proach to a true estimate of the extremes of temperature which
it is capable of bearing, as it is cultivated in 36j deg. north,
and also in Japan.
" As an indication of a southern climate where the tea-plant
is cultivated, and the only one of which we have any account, it
will be useful to refer to the following view- of the climate of
Canton furnished by Mr. Reeves to Dr. Lindley. I have de-
duced the mean temperatures from the maxima and minima; the
residts, therefore, though somewhat too low, cannot be very far
from the truth. The range of the thermometer, and its means
in the several months at Canton, are: in
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. June.
Maxima 74 78 82 86 88 90
Minima 29 38 44 55 64 74
Means 51. S 58 63 70.5 76 82
July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dee.
Maxima 94 DO 88 85 80 70
Minima 79 75 70 57 40 45
Means 86.5 82.5 79 71 60
57.5 . , 69.7 Mean annual
temperature.
KOVLB's HIMALAYAN BOTANY.
179
" The cold weatlier months, or from Noveml)er to February,
are fine, dry, and bracing, with a range of the thermometer
from noon to night of 10 deg. and 20 deg., the prevailing
winds being N, and N.E. February is cold and rainy, Mnrch
warm and foggy. In April and May the weathnr is warm, but
pleasant, with variable winds, chiefly from the S. and S.E. In
June and July there are often heavy showers with thunder,
lightning, and occasionally typhous. Daring these two months
and in August, the thermometer attains its highest elevation,
but seldom exceeds 90 deg. The heat, however, is very op-
pressive to many; for at the latter part of this period, wiien the
wind is westerly, there is little variation of the thermometer
night or day, a sufficient indication of the moisture of the cli-
mate during this season.
" It would be desirable to know the quantity of rain which
falls, but the only register that I have met with is one kept at
Macao, and appended to the above thermometrical register of
Canton. The climate is much the same in the two places, with
the exception of a much smaller range of the thermometer at
Macao, as might be expected in an insular climate ; for though
the heats are nearly as great in the warm months, the fall of
the thermometer at night and in winter is much less. The
quantity of rain which falls at Macao, on an average of eighteen
years, is about 69i inches annually — 107 inches is the largest,
and 49 the smallest quantity which fell in any year. Some rain
generally falls in almost every month, though comparatively
little from November to March ; about five inches in both April
and October, and about teu inches in each of the months from
May to September, both included. If we compare the climate
of Canton with that of Calcutta, which is not a degree to the
southward, we shall find that with a maximum temperature of
93.6 deg., 3.6 deg. above that recorded at Canton, the minimum
is only 56.8 deg., being 27.8 deg. above that at Canton; and
while the mean temperature of the latter is 69.7 deg. (74 deg.
according to some), that at Calcutta is above 78 deg.
*' But as a great part of China, w^th a portion of the tea dis-
tricts, has been traversed by the two British embassies, it will
be useful to refer to the thermometrical observations which
were made, though only for a short period of the year. The
only meteorological register saved from the shipwreck of the
Alceste, was tliat kept by Dr. Lynn during Dr. Abel's illness,
from the Sth September to the 24th November, that is, from
Tiensing, near lat. 39 deg., to Nanchang-foo, about lat. 2Sdeg.
40 min., which is about the northern extentof the black tea, and
the southern linut of the green-tea district. Previous to this,
and while at Tung-chow, nearly in N. lat. 40 deg., Dr. Abel
observes, that Fahrenheit's thermometer from 20th August to
the 2d of September, frequently stood in the shade during the
day at 88 deg., rose once to 93 deg., and never fell below S3
deg. In the night it generally fell to 7 "2 deg. and 70 deg., and
the weather felt chilly. From the above register, it appears
that the range of the thermometer was : in the
>54
f
Province of Peclielee,
from Sth to 15 th
September
Province of Shantung,
from 16th Sept. to
2d Oct 3
Province of Keangnan, ^
from 3d to 1 Sth Oct. (
Province of Keangnan, I
from 1 Sth to end Oct. J
Province of Keangnan, ^
Tea-plant first met
with, from 2d Nov.
to 13th 3
Province of Kiangsee, 1
from 13th Nov. to V44
24th j
Morning. Noon.
Evening.
to 70". . 77° to 32". . 76° to 80°
64 ..72
65 ..65
.66
76
77
70
62 ..60 — 72
>52
63
.54
76
62 ,.50 — 58
" If we compare the range of tlie thermometer in the two
latter periods, or during the month of November, when the em-
bassy passed from 31 deg. to 28 deg. 40 deg. of N. latitude, eis
before, with some place in India, we shall find that Saharun-
pore, in lat. 30 deg., and elevated 1,000 feet, approximates in
climate during this month, as the thermometer ranges from
45 deg. to 55 deg. in the mornings, and from 60 deg. to 84 deg.
at the hottest time of the day, which is always, at least, two
houi's after noon. If we suppose the decrease of temperature
to be only equal to what takes place at Saharuapore, w^e shall
have a mean temperature of 52 deg. in the coldest month,
January ; with the thermometer sometimes down to the freez-
ing point, and ranging up to 65 deg. in the warmest part of the
day: hut the extremes w-e know must be greater from what
takes place both at Canton and Pekia, on account of the eastera
exposure of China. This is confirmed by Mr. Reeves, who in-
forms me that 'snow has been on the ground for days together
upon the green teas, and the manufacturers of the black tea
complain of the coldness of their country at times.' With re-
spect to moisture, we have seen tliat the largest proportion of
rain falls at and near Canton, while the sun is in the neigh-
bourhood of the tropic of Cancer; so that there may be said to
be a rainy season there, though not so decidedly as in Bengal;
and Mr. Reeves has known the black-tea manufacturers com-
plain 'that their first picking (in May and June) often suffers
from rain and cold easterly winds.'
"These few indications of the climate being premised, it
would be interesting to connect with them a precise idea of the
vegetation ; but this is hardly attainable, as so little is knowa
of the interior of China, from the want of competent observers
of the localities of plants ; hut there is no doubt that the vege-
tation must differ in the northern and southern provinces, and
also where these consist of elevated lands or of plain country.
From Du Halde, and the progress of tlic British embassies
through the provinces of Pe-che-lee, Shan-tung, and the north-
ern portion of Kiang-nan, we learn that from Tien-sing nearly
to Nankin, or from N. lat. 39 deg. to about N. lat. 32 deg.,
and in a S.E. direction to the termination of the grand canal at
Hang-cheu-foo, the country consists of level and extensive
alluvial plains, rich and highly cultivated; intersected by nu-
merous rivers and canals, and covered in some places with ex-
tensive swamps and broad lakes. In the most northern parts
of this tract, with many genera found in temperate and Eu-
ropean climates, we find some plants which we should expect
to find only in more southern latitudes, as Lagerstreemia indica,
Ipomiea Quamoclit, Celosia cristata, Gomphrena globosa,
species of Gynandropsis, Tribulus, Clerodendron, &c. ; the lakes
abounding with Nelumhium speeiosum, Trapa bicornis, Ponte-
deria vaginata, and others; while tbe fields are cultivated with,
rice, millet, cotton, sesasnm and castor-oil plant. Sida tiliiE-
folia, referred by Dr. Roxburgh to S. abutilon, affords fibres for
rope-making; and the gardens capsicums, gourds, melons, and
water-melons, the egg-plant, yams, and sweet potatoes, with
species of Soja, Dolichos, and Lablab, all of which are also cul-
tivated in every part of the plains of India.
'^As the two embassies separated at the great river Yang-
tse-kiang, and both shortly afterwards met with hilly country,
as well as with the tea-plant, it is necessary to notice both, and
more in detail tlian we have done above. Lord Macartney's
embassy found a chain of granite mountains extending south-
wards from Hang-cheu-foo, about lat. 30 deg. 20 min., on each
side of the river Che-tang-chaung, along which they proceeded
after issuing from the grand canal. Here they found the large-
leafed ehesnnt, and the towering larch ; the purple-leafed tallow-
tree growing near, and the shining-leafed camphor-tree further
from the water, with Thuya orientalis in the valleys. About
lat. 29 deg. 40 min. the banks receded from the river, and were
chiefly cultivated with sugar-cane in tlie neighbourhood of groves
of orange-trees. About this part of the route they were. sup-
plied with grapes, oranges, apples, pears, chesnnts, walnuts,
pomegranates, melons, and a kind of date, as well as the Chinese
180
ROTLE S HIMALAYAN BOTAJfT.
fruits see-cliec (Diospyros) and lee-chee (Euphoria). On the
sifles of the hills, pines were met -with, and on the sides and
tops of earthen embankments, dividing the gardens and groves
of oranges, tlie tea-plant was first seen growing like a common
shrub, and along with it the oil-plant or Camellia oleifera.
"Lord Amherst's embassy having taken the direct route to
Canton, proceeded up the Yang-tse-kiang first to Nankin, and
then along the sides of the Poyang lake, to Nan-chang-foo,
where the two routes united. In the neighbourhood of Nankin
tliey found the country become hilly, fir-trees were first seen,
and the cultivation of the mulberry and tallow-trees with that
of rice and cotton. Near that town Dr. Abel found Rosa Bank-
siana. Cotyledon spinosa, Hamamelis chinensis, andFicus repens
abundant, as well as Pinus chinensis (Pinus Massoniana, Abel),
with Salisburia adiautifolia. Near Tatung, about lat. .31 dep.,
which they reached on the 2d of November, where the country
was hilly and picturesque, the chief interest was owing to the
plants. The tallow-tree was abundant, and the tea-plant was
first seen; the barometer on the river stood about 30.13 deg. ;
but on the hills close to it five species of oak were found, among
them Quercus densifolia and chinensis, dwarf chesnuts, and
among the many ferns Pteris piloscUoides. Much ginger was
also grown here. A few days' further progress brought them
to the confines of the province of Keang-see ; near this they
found the tea-plant cultivated on the hills, which also abounded
with oaks and fir-trees; and near the banks of the river there
was extensive cultivation of rice, cotton, and bamboos.
The province of Keang-see, which in its northern parts is flat,
full of rivers and marshes, and in winter has a mean temperature
of 60 deg. (Enc. Metrop. Art. China) the embassy traversed
along the borders of the Poyang lake, of which the neighbour-
hood is hilly, and covered with plantations of oaks and fii-s, to
■which were now added Cunninghamia sinensis (Pinus lanceolate)
and Abelia chinensis. There were considerable quantities of
the tallow, varnish, and camphor-trees. At Nau-kang-foo,
situated about lat. 29§ deg., at the foot of a lofty mountain, of
which the top was covered with snow, which melted next day,
pines were seen at the greatest elevation. The barometer on
the river stood at about thirty inches, so that the neighbouriug
country must be about the level of the sea, and the banks were
covered with rice, cotton, and bamboo, and with them were cul-
tivated Arum esculentum and Arachis hypogcea. On the hills
many ferns were found, as species of Adiantum, Asplenium,
Aspidium, Blechmim, Davallia, Polypodiiim, Pteris, and Wood-
wardia; an Ilex allied to I. aquifolium, Pinus chinensis, several
species of oak and the tallow and camphor trees.
"At Nan-chang-foo, the route of the two embassies becomes
again united. From the 24th November to the 18th December
Lord Amherst's embassy proceeded up the river Kankiang,
■which Hows into the Poyang lake ; the hanks were chiefly com-
posed of red sandstone, resting on granite ; when low, cul-
tivated with rice, sugar-cane, bamboo, camphor-tree, and a
Picus, much resembling the banyan tree; and when high, with
the oil-hearing Camellia, or C. oleifera, which was first met
with by Dr. Abel shortly after leaving Nang-chang-foo, bear-
ing abundance of flowers in November, varying in height from
six and eight feet to that of a moderate-sized cherry-tree, and
flourishing best in a red sandy soil ; deer, pheasants, and par-
tridges were seen ; and a woodcock at Ciuachow. The sugar-
cane was observed ready to be cut down, and great fields of
■wheat were springing up. On the 6 th December, Pinus chi-
nensis and Cuninghamia sinensis were again met with ; and on
the Sth at Sceehou, about lat. 26 deg., the tea-plant was found
apparently wild ; in the neighbourhood of EIecococcus verrucosus
(Dryandra cordata) and Eugenia mierophylla. Beyond this,
were extensive plantations Camellia oleifera, where Eurya ja-
lionica was abundant.
" On the 20th December, they crossed the Meiling Mountain,
which divides Keangsee from Quantung, where groves of fir-
trees skirted their way ; and a species of Prunus was seen in
full flower at the top. On descending from this, they entered
the province of Canton, which at first they found mountainous
and barren, but shortly met with groves of Pinus chinensis, in-
termixed with Cunninghamia sinensis. The vegetation on the
surface of the hiils least decomposed, consisted of the species
of Lyeopodium, which resembles a tree in miniature. A few
days after passing Cbau-chou-fou, which is situated uear the
25th parallel of latitude, they found the neighbourhood of their
anchorage hilly, and very abundant in wild plants. Myrtus
tomentosa was of great size, and very abundant, Smilax China,
famed for its sudorific properties, scarcely less in quantity; with
another species, like S. lanceolata. A Begonia, resembling
B. grandis, was also found growing to the height of twenty feet ;
and a wild species of Camellia, which Dr. Abel considered to
be probably a variety of C. oleifera ; while the rocky banks
of some small streams were covered with species of Mar-
chantia and Jungcrmannia. Two Rhexias of doubtful species
grew in the rocks, with several plants of questionable genera.
(Abel, p. 199). Plantations of sugar-cane were frequent in
this part of their route, as well as in the southern portion of
the province of Kiang-see. As they approached Canton, groves
of orange-trees, of bananas, and of the rose-apple, relieved
extensive fields of rice. A great extent of this province towards
the coasts consists of level plains, and though so near the
tropic, the winters we have seen are severe; ice is sometimes
formed, but snow does not fall: owing, however, to the ge-
neral mildness of the climate, and the alternations of hot and
cold months, two crops, as in India, are annually obtained ;
and sugar, rice, and cotton, cultivated, as well as an inferior
kind of tea. The fruits consist of oranges and shaddocks,
bananas, pine-apples, and jack-fruit; with those which are pecu-
liar to China, as thelee-chce, longan, wampee, &e. : grapes, pears,
prunes, chesnuts, and peaches, [are alsofoundjbut do not ripen well.
In a garden near Canton, Dr. Abel found the Moutan Paeony,
Camellias, Azaleas, and roses, with the black and green-tea
plants, which he also saw in a plantation at Macao ; as well as
Vaccinium formosum, the tree like Lyeopodium, and the dwarf
elm. The province of Fokien, which is celebrated for the pro-
duction of the best black tea, lies to the northward of the pro-
vince of Canton, between the tropic of Cancer and 2S deg. of
north latitude. It is mountainous, but warm and healthy.
The mountains are terraced, and covered with firs: the cul-
tivation consists of rice and sugar, and in the cold season of
wheat; oranges, Ice-chees, and longaus are abundant.
" From the above few notices of the temperature and vegeta-
tion, though during only a portion of the year, in some of the
provinces of China, we may perceive a considerable resemblance
to what we have seen to be the characteristics of the Flora of
India and its mountains : that is, considerable uniformity in
these respects over an immense extent of plain country, and a
rapid change from a tropical to a European vegetation, when-
ever we begin to ascend the mountains. But this is a more
remarkable occurrence in China than in India, as its plains
stretch into more northern latitudes, and the extremes of tem-
perature between winter and summer, as well as the differences in
this respect between the northern and southern provinces, is much
greater than in India. But if n-e enter more particularly into
details, we shall find that this resemblance in the vegetation
and cultivation of different provinces with one another, and of
all with India, is almost entirely confined to annuals. Such
plants, cultivated in summer, are subjected everywhere to nearly
similar degrees of heat; while those which constitute the win-
ter crops, meet only with congenial cold. But the perennials
of mountainous situations, as well as those of the northern pro-
vinces, being exposed alike to the severityof a Chinese winter and
the heats of summer, which, though great, are excessive only for
a short time, resemble the plants of northern latitudes, and such
as are found on the slope of the Himalaya: belonging to such
genera as Pinxis, Taxus, Juniperus, Cupressus, Quereus, Be-
tula, Populus, Salix, Celtis, Ulmus, /Esculus, Castanea, Morus,
Fraxinus, Syringa, Tilia, Acer, Rhododendrum, Andromeda,
Azalea, Rhus, Juglans, Pyrus, Prunus, Crataegus, Cydonia,
nOYLE'S HIMALAYAN BOTANY.
181
together with Berberis, Sarabncns, Viburnum, Lonicera, Evo-
nyraus, Kharnnus, Ilex, and Stajihylea ; and among lici'baccous
plants, mimy RannnculaceK, Fuinariaccic, Crucitera;, Caryo-
pbyleie, Rosacea:, Sctnpervivse, Umbcllifer<e, and Pi-imulaccje;
as well as species belor.ging to the genera Viola, Erodiuni, Ge-
ranium, Hypericum, Kuta, Lytlirnm, Saxifraga, Chrysosplc-
nium, Uubia, Galinm, Linaria, Hyoscyamus, Statiee, Tlantago,
Iris, Lilium, Allium, Convallaria, and Paris. With these
genera are associated others, of which the species are most
prevalent about the centre of the temperate zone, and to which
great extremes of temperature may be supposed to be obnoxious,
as Pistncia, Olea, Punica, Cereis, Nerium, Oleander, Papaver
Somnifcnira and Rhocas ; and others, of which the species are
chiefly diffused through tropical countries, as Melia, Diospyrus,
Sterculia, Grewia, Zanthoxyium, Acacia, Tamarix, Indigofera,
Lespedcza, Iledysarura; but of these only single species have
in general been enumerated in the northern provinces of China,
in the same way that we have seen species of the same genera,
extending to the most northern parts of India, and ascending
up the sides of the Himalaya within tlie thick covering of jungle
and forest, when they could not exist in the moderate cold even
of the open places of Northern India.
" But the great resemblance of the Flora of the mountains,
and of the northern provinces of China and Japan, is to that of
Europe, as may be inferred from the existence in each of the
above genera and a number of the same species; as Hamulus
Lupulus, Chelidonium majus, Hyoscyamus niger, Hedera Helix,
Lithospermum arvense. Thlaspi arvcnse, and Capsella Bursa
Pastoris ; with several others, which are likewise found in the
mountains and north of India. But as the north of Cliina forms
the soutlieru boundary of Tatary, which indeed terminates only
at the range of mount:'.ins, over the vallies and across the ridges
of which the great wall is built, we may expect to find in the
province of Pe-ehee-lee, many of the plants of the Tatarian and
Siberian Regions, which are themselves nearly identical in ge-
nera, but distinct in species, in consequence of the greater dry-
ness of the former : but all these have a considerable resemblance
in being subjected to great dryness and great extremes of heat
and cold. Hence we meet with many of the plants of Pallas,
Ledebour, and others, as included by Bunge in his enumeration
of the plants of China. (Mem. De I'Acad. Imp. des Sciences
de St. Petersbourg). As for instance. Clematis angustifolia.
Delphinium granditlorum, Menispermum dauricum, Papaver
nudleaule, Viola varicgata, Amygdalus pcdunculata, Potentilla
supina, bifurea, soongorica, and fragarioides ; with Astragalus
adsurgeos and melilotoides, and species of Cnragana, Oxytro-
pis, and Pattiuia, which are characteristic of these regions;
with many others, as Serratula centauroides. Aster tataricus,
Scor.:onera radiata, .\pocyaum, aud Cynauchum sibiricum, Gen-
tiana squarrosa. Convolvulus subvolubilis, Iris dicbotoma,
Lilium tenuifolium, and Asparagus maritimus. As Kunawur
forms the western limit of tiie Tatarian region, we have some
of the plants which extended into it from more northera lati-
tudes, found also in this part of China, as Ranunculus salsu-
ginosus, and Sysimbrium Sophia. And as some resemblance
was shown to exist, in appearance at least, between the plants
of Kunawur and those of Delhi, we have some of the genera
of the latter in the province of Pe-cbc-lee, as Ailanthus,
Lyrium, and Salsola. Thunberg has long ago remarked, that
in Japan the cold is great in winter, and the heat considerable
in summer ; and that its botany resembles that of the north of
China : this is fully confirmed by a comparison of his Flora with
IJungti's list. He at the same time alluded to the affinity with
the Flora oi Northern America; this may be seen in the preva-
lence of the genera Magnolia lllieium, and Gleditschia. Panax
pseudo-ginseng, found by Dr. Wallich on Shcopore in Nepal,
differs but little from the American P. quinquefoliura, which is
supposed to be the same as the plant yielding the Chinese gin-
seng ; some species are identical, as Veronica virginiea, Ribes
( 'jnosbati, and Datura Stramonium ; of which the last, as well
as the genera Chaptaiia and Ampelopsis, has been found in
America, China, and the Himalayas. Between the two latter,
however, the analogy in genera is the greatest ; and even some
species which were first discovered in the Himalayas are now
enumerated in the Flora of China ; as Evonymus micranthns,
Fraxinus floribunda, Rhamous globosus (R. virgatus.' Roxb.),
and Convallai'ia cirrhifolia ; while others, which were only
known as Chinese and Japan plants, are found in abundance
within the Himalayas, ns Houttnynia cordata, Hovenia dulcis,
Ophiopogon spicatus and japonieus, Kadsura japonica,Hastingia
cocciuea, Murraya exotica, Hypericum patulum, Spirteacallosa,
Viola prionantba Bge, Lonicera japonica and chiuensis, with
Daphne canuabina, and many others.
" In conjunction with such genera as were first enumerated, it
may excite surprise to see so many annuals and such cultivation
as we ex])ect to meet with only in tropical countries ; but this
is far from surprising, when we consider that the temperature
of the summer months diminishes but little, and in some places
rather increases with the latitude ; as Bruce, in Abyssinia,
found the climate on account of the rain 12deg. cooler when
the sun was over-head, than when 36 deg. distant to the south-
ward. Thus, at Calcutta, the temperature of the three warmest
months, April, May, aud June, is 85.05 deg., and of the rainy
months, July, August, aud September, 82.83 deg. ; at Be-
nares, in N. lat. 25.18 deg., the mean temperature of the first
period is 90.99 deg., and of the second 83.01 deg.; and at
Saharunpore 84.3 deg. and 82.3 ; while at Canton, in the three
warmest months, it is 83.6 deg., and at Pckin 82.58 deg. ;
while at the last, the temperature of no less than seven months,
is above 51.8 deg. Hence we find the lakes in the northera
as in the southern provinces, abounding with Nelumbium
speeiosum and Trapa bicornis, and like those of India with
Euryale fcrox, aud species of Nymphsea, Pontederia, Sagittaria,
Utricularia, Myriophyllum and Leersia. Saururus supplies
the place of Aponogetcn ; Plirynium capitatum employed iu
making the excellent Calcutta mats, is found in both countries.
Species of Scirpus, as in India, yield tuberous roots, which
are used as food ; and species of Typha, Acorns, Lemna, Cer-
atophyllum, and Menyanthes, and are found as in more northern
latitudes ; while in the plains of the northern provinces, as we
have seen, many tropical plants occur. In the central pro-
vinces, as we learn from the list given by Sir G. Staunton of the
plants found in Shan-tung aud Kiang-nan ; we have such tro-
pical plants as Grislea tomentosa, Vitex negundo and trifolia,
Biophytura sensitivum, Boerhaavia repanda ; species of Jas-
minum, Clerodendrum, Justieia, Basella, Rottboellia, Anthis-
tiria, Andropogon, and Cenchrus, with many of those before-
mentioned , as occurring in the most northern provinces. With
these there is a mixture of European genera, such as exist also
in the soutlieru province of Canton, where species of Galium,
Seabiosa, Lycium, Chelidonium, Saxifraga, Sedum, and Reseda,
are stated as occurring by Loureiro. It may also be mentioned,
that many of the same flowers are common to Indian and
Chinese gardens, some of which may also be seen in the summer
in gardens in Europe ; while others which have been introduced
from China, are now common in every part of India, as Chi-
nese Aster, Dianthus, Iris, Pardanthus, and Justieia ; with
Lagcrstrremia idica, Dracfena ferrea, Hypericum monogynum,
Kerria Japonica, Hiptage obtusifolia, Olea tragrans. Thuya
orientalis, bcc.
" It is not surprising, therefore, that the cidtivation of every
part io tbc warm weather months, is, as wx have seen it to
be the ease even in the most northern province, like that of
India ; to the list there given we have only to add sugar,
and the mulberry for the silk- worm, to have a cultivation
identical with that of India during the warm weather and rainy
season. Irrigation supplies in China the want of a regular
rainy season in the most northern provinces. The analogy is
still greater, for at the termination of the rice and millet crop
we find wheat, barley, buckwheat, peas, beans, lueern, and
tobacco arc grown. For we learn from Staunton and Abel,
that as the Sorghum vulgare, the Jooar of India, and Kow-
182
CULTIVATION OF ASPARAGUS IN FRANCE.
leang, or tall corn of the Chinese, was cutting down in the
northern, ami sugar-cane in the southern provinces, wheat was
seen springing up, and about two inches high, about the mid-
dle of October and November. Thuuberg states, that it flowers
in March; so that the crop must be gathered in, about the
same time as in India, that is, about the end of iVlarch or
beginning of April. Mr.. Gutzlaff more specifically mentions
the two crops, one of rice, and the other of wheat, in the cold
season. That the accession of the cold weather is sudden we
may infer from being informed by Mr. Bell, that on their
arrival in China, near the great wall, they were supplied with
water and musk-melons, and on the 6th of November, only a
few days afterwards, they encountered a ' great fall of snow, and
a cold frosty wind.' Mr. Gutzlafif also states, that the
9th of November, when in 40 deg. of lat., was a very pleasant
day, but during the n:glit the wind changed, and a strong
northerly breeze began, to blow, the cold was piercing, and
in a few hours the rivers and creeks were frozen over. (Voy.
to China, p. 147) .
"That the perennials and the botany in general of the
southern provinces is very distinct from what we have seen to
characterise the central and northern provinces, with the ex-
ception of a few annual species of European genera, allowed to
exist during the coolness of the winter months, we may learn
from the writings of Loureiro and Roxburgh, the relations of
travellers, and the plants which have been introduced into
Europe. From these sources we learn the existence of a species
of Nepenthes, near Macao, with numerous Scitamincce, and
tropical Epiphytal Orchideoe, several Palms, as the Cocoa,
Areca, and Cane palms, together with species of Caryota,
Rhapis, Cliamserops and Tacca, in the most southern provinces ;
•with Pandanus odoratissimus, and Cycas inermis. Aloexylon
Agallochnm, the Eagle wood of the ancients, and Aloes wood
of the moderns, Baryxylum rufum, iron wood, with species of
Canarium, Phyllanthus Emhlica, and Guilandina Bonduc, are
specimens of some of the trees. Laurus Cinnamomum, Cam-
phora and Culilaban, affording camphor and cinnamon. Augia
sinensis, El<eococus verrucosus, and Stillingie sebifera, yield-
ing varnish, wood-oil, and vegetable tallow, are some of those
affording useful products ; while the fruits consist of pine-
apples, papayas, guavas, custard-apples, and such as are
mentioned at p. 1 1 8.
"The principal families to which the rest of the known
plants of the southern provinces of China may .be referred are,
DilleniaceK, Anonacece, Malvaceae, Aurantiaceie, Sapindacese ;
tropical Leguminosac, as Anagyris, Poinciana, Erythrina;
MelastomaceEe, many tropical Rubiacere and Synantherese,
Scrophularincffi, Verbenacea3 and Acanthacea;, Lauriiire, Eu-
phorbiaeere, UrticctC, CommelineEe, and tropical Graminete.
Species of the genera Cocculus, Capparis, Helicteres, Hiptage,
AgUaia, Cissus, Combreturo, Quisqualis Marlea, Lawsonia,
Nyrtus, Eugenia, Passiflora, Callicarpa, Cordia, Convolvulus,
Argyreia (Lettsomia. Roxb.) Bignomia, Jasminnm, Hoya,
Ardisia, Sideroxylon, Tropis, Antidesma, Boehmeria, Basella,
Begonia, Musa, Crinum, Philydrum, Aloe, Amaryllis, Aspho-
delus, Melanthium and Eriocaulon.
" If we compare this with the Flora of Southern India, we
shall find that the same great features are eommon to both ;
and though the northern provinces of China are more European
in their Flora than we any where meet with in the plains of
India, yet do their lakes abound with the same plants, and
their plains are covered with similar crops. But the Flora of
the mountain, including that of the most northern parts of
China, has an almost universal identity of genera with that
found covering the elevated belt of the Himalaya. If we com-
mence with the bases of these mountains, and pass succes-
sively through the several belts, and analogous to what takes
place between the parallels of latitude of 40 and 45 deg., ex-
perience the rapid decrease of mean temperatures, and the
quick succession of vegetable productions,, we shall first find
a vegetation similar to that of the southera provinces ; with the
agriculture of the banks of the canal, consisting of rice, millet,
amaranth, and an esculent arum, with ginger, turmeric, a
little cotton and sugar, at one season, succeeded by wheat,
barley, and buckwheat, in the cold weather months, (v. p. IS) ,
even the mountain rice, lauded by Loureiro, meets here with
a congenial climate. Along with plaintains, oleander, and
some of the orange tribe, and the various plants enumerated
at p. 13, we meet with some which were long considered pecu-
liar to China ; as Marlea begonifolia, and Houttuynia cordata,
with species of Chloranthus, Incarvillea, and Hiptage. At the
foot of the mountains of Silhet we meet even "with the Chinese
fruit Longan and other species of Euphoria. In ascending we
pass through different gradations of vegetation, until reaching
the regions of the oaks, and rhododendrons, which is immedi-
ately succeeded by that of the pines, we meet in the mid region
with a Flora which must approximate to that of the mountains
of the central provinces of China; for here we find the Chinese
genera Abelia and Eurya, together with Stauntonia, Cadsura,
Hovenia, Ophiopogon, and Pardanthus, as well as Deutzia,
first found in Japan, to which new species have been added by
Benge from the north of China, and by Dr. Wallich from the
Himalayas. In Nepal the latter has also discovered Hovenia
duleis, Taxus nucifera, and species of the equally Chinese genera
Camellia, Cleyera, Podocarpus, Raphiolepis, Photinia, and
Eriobotrya. But it is in the midst of similar vegetation that
the tea-plant is everywhere found ; and as we have some of the
very genera and species, which were first found in the tea-
regions, they point out, that here it may most fitly be intro-
duced. It cannot he a difficult task to transfer from one
country to another a plant, which grows naturally and is culti-
vated extensively, in one which possesses so many of the plants
which are common to the two, and not found elsewhere. Par-
ticularly when we consider that a tea-plant introduced from
China by one of the triennial embassies, has lived for many
years in the open air in Nepal, and was there seen ten feet
high by Dr. WaUich."
The AurantiaccEc is also a family presenting great popular
interest, and possessing no small commercial importance.
We observe that the author still clings to what is called the
natural st/stcm, and defends it on several grounds, in the fourth
part now before us. In the first notice which our Journal took
of his work, to be seen in the number for May last, the merits
of such a system were discussed at some length ; but as he
pertinaciously attaches himself to it still, we have no desire to
renew the dispute, unseemly in science as controversy must
ever be, and we conclude our present notice, highly gratified
with the information contributed by Mr. Roj'le regarding the
botany of the East Indies.
CULTIVATION OF ASPARAGUS IN FRANCE.
The part of the garden chosen for Asparagus, is that which is
longest exposed to the rays of the sun, and least shaded. A
pit is there dug five feet deep or so, and the mould taken from
it is sifted, throwing out all stones even of the size of a filbert
nut. The best parts of this mould is then laid aside for mak.
ing up the beds. The materials of a bed are thus placed : —
6 inches of common dung-hill manure.
8 inches of turf.
6 inches of dung as before.
C inches of sifted earth.
8 inches of turf.
6 inches of very rotten dung.
8 inches of the best earth.
The last layer of earth is then well mixed with the last of
dung.
The part is now divided into beds five feet wide, by paths
constructed of turf, two feet in breadth and one foot in thick- .
nes. The Asparagus is planted about the end of March,
eighteen inches asunder. In planting, the bud or top of the
ON DAHLIAS.
1S3
shoot is placed at the depth of an inch and a half in the ground,
■while the roots are spread out as wide as possible in the form
of an umbrella. A small cut of stick is placed as a mark at
each plant, as it is laid in the ground. As soon as the earth
is settled and dry, a spadeful of fine sand is thrown on each
plant, in the form of a mole hill. If the asparagus plants have
begun to shoot before their transplantation, the young shoots
are cut oif, and the planting will, with these precautions, be
equally successful, though it should be performed even as late
as July. Should any of the plants originally inserted die, they
may be also replaced at this season. They ought to be two
years old when they are transplanted : they will even take at
three, but at four they are apt to fail.
If it be necessary to buy asparagus plants for these beds, it
is necessary to procure twice as many as are re<|uired. The
best of course will be selected frojn these for planting, and the
remainder should be placed in some remote situation) of the
prepared bed ; but without separating the plants. Here they
must first be covered with four inches of sand during summer,
and as soon as the frost sets in, with six inches of dung after
that.
The stems of the planted asparagus are cut down as soon as
the frost commences, and close to the ground. The beds are
then covered with six inches of dung, and four of sand. In
March again the beds must be stirred with a fork, taking care
not to approach so near to the plants as to derange them.
Towards the end of April the plants which have died, may be
replaced with the reserved ones above described.
In three years the largest plants will be fit for use. If the
beds be sufficiently large to furnish a supply in this manner,
the asparagus shoots should be cut as fast as they appear,
otherwise they must be left till the quantity required has pushed
forth, in which case, the variety in colour and size is not so
taking in appearance. A kj\ife is used in cutting them, by
slipping it along the stem, till it reaches the bottom of the
shoot where the cut is conveniently made, the knife being much
in the form of a long bladed chisel. At the end of four years
the great and small ones may be taken indiscriminately. The
cutting should cease about the end of June.
At the beginning of winter, the stems are all cut away and
the beds covered with dung and sand in the manner above de-
scribed. If muddy sand from the sea shore can be procured for
the several purposes already named, so much the better ; but
if it cannot, river sand may be used, and if that is not to be
obtained, fine earth may be substituted. Such an asparagus
bed as has been described will generally last thirty years : but
if planted in such abiiudance as to require cutting only once
in two years, half the bed being always in a state of reservation,
it will last for a century. The turf used in niaking the beds
should be very free from stones.
Care must be taken not to tread on the beds, and to pre-
vent any such accident a plank should be used to. step upon.
The divisions which are formed of the beds by thick turf is
intended to prevent the condensation of tlie earth below, in
consequence of the necessary walking that is there. The turf
ought to be renewed every three years, that the ground below
may be stirred ; and in applying the winter coat of manure,
even these walks must be covered, otherwise the plants which
grow near the walks will be much inferior to those in the mid-
dle of the beds.
ON DAHLIAS.
The following observations on these plants are abridged from
a long account by Joseph Sabine, Esq., to be found in the
Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London. Dahlias,
when introduced into this country, excited great and singular
interest. Independently of the superior beauty and diversity of
the flowers, they have added a particular ornament to our gar-
dens at a season of the year when formerly they ^Yere very
naked and tame. The merit, however, of first carefully attend-
ing to their cultivation belongs e;;clusively to the continental
gardeners ; so that persons visiting the continent from this
country on the return of peace in 181-t were surprised with the
splendour and the varieties of this genus.
Dahlias were named in honour of Dahl, a Swedish botanist,
but they are natives of Mexico, where Baron Humboldt found
them growing in sandy meadows many hundred feet above the
level of the sea. Much confusion has been occasioned in the
names of the various species by different botanists having di-
vided the plants differently. But the names svperjfua and frits-
irunm, by which tiie species are now distinguished, are terms
that designate that part of the character of the plants which
depends on the fertility or barrenness of the rays of the flowers.
There can be little difficulty in distinguisliing the two species by
considering duly all the characters of each. The stiper/lua or
jnirplekimX is more coarse anddiffuse in its growth and habit ; and
the other more delicate and compact as well as more upright ; the
stems of the f nisi ranea or scarlet are perfectly round, and though
in most cases quite as tall as those of the other, are generally
slighter, and are always much covered with a glaucous dew,
resembling the bloom on a plum, and are never hairy or downy.
The leaves of the fi-usiranea are smaller, of a brighter green,
and of a slighter texture than is observable in the superjlua ;
and the portions of the leaves of this last are generally broader
than those of the other species. The flowers also of the frus-
traneu in plants of equal vigour and healtli are uniformly less
than those of the superflua, and the florets of its disc, are more
elevated above the level of the ray. Mons. de CandoUe has
also noted a difference in the roots of the two species, which
will be very serviceable to distinguish them in winter. The
txibers of the superflua are ahvays closely united to the main
stem, whilst those of the friistranea are more or less appended
to it by short strings and fibres.
The progress of the increase of the varieties at present ex-
isting is curious. In the royal garden at Madrid they were a
long time without any indications of change : and some years
elapsed after they were spread through Europe before any ex-
tensive increase or variation took place. But in 1 SOS Count
Lelieur began to direct his attention to the dahlias. Amongst
the plants raised at St. Cloud he mentions three with double
flowers — the purple, rose, and buff, as well as several striped
and shaded single ones. It was to his liberality that the Hor-
ticultural Society was first indebted for their fine assemblage of
dahlias. Other enlightened cultivators succeeded on the contir
nent in producing improved kinds by cross impregnations of the
stigmata of the florets. In our own country there was an
early promise of great success, had a right plan of management
in keeping the plants been bit upon.
The plants of the superflua species, Mr. Sabine observes,
which are raised from seeds, vary extremely in the form of the
leaves, and the appearances of the stems ; but as these diff'cr-
enees do not at all affect their beauty, it is unnecessary to notice
them faither than that such variations led the early writers on
the genus to separate this species into two. The. varieties of
the superflua with single and semi-double flowers are most nu-
merous, for the collections in the principal nurseries round
London consist of nearly 150 perhaps, with names, exclusive of
unnamed ones, all of them being so diiferent, yet possessed of
such qualities as to be much sought after. The colour of the
florets of the ray of the flower pass from the darkest purples
through lighter shades, into various deep and lighter reds
approaching to scarlet ; and through pale purples and lilace
into what may be called bulls, becoming paler, until they arrive
at different shades of yellow. It seems, with the exception of
the white varieties, as if purple and pale yellow were at the
extremities of the scale, though there may be exceptions even
here. Mons. De Candolle, in, his essay on the genus, says,
probably we shall never see a blue one, since the variation is
from purple to yellow. Blue and yellow he considers are the
fundamental types of the colours of flowers, and that they mu-
184
ANGLESEY.
tually exclude each other. But so numerous are the varieties
of the siiperjlua, that all speculation is vain on what new
changes may be effected by cultivation.
The frustranea or scarlet species have not exhibited so many
distinct varieties ; but it may be remarked that this and the
former species have been continually approaching to each other,
ahd as some pains have been taken to disperse the pollen of the
various flowers, it has been supposed that hybrid plants have
been produced, though Mr. Sabine thinks they exhibit not more
diversity of character than may be fairly supposed to have
arisen from pure seeds of the superJJiia, which has run into such
extraordinary varieties. He says there are nnquestionably va-
riations sufficient to destroy the accuracy of the specific cha-
racters of the two species ; the branches of some of the varieties
of the superjiua are smooth, and covered with a glaucous bloom,
and in some instances the florets of the. ray are entirely desti-
tute of stigmata.
The varieties are to be obtained from seeds, which should be
gathered from those plants whose colour and character are most
likely to please, always taking from the dwarf ones, where
no preference exists on other accounts. Many of the seedlings
will follow their parents, and therefore all will not be new
varieties. The seeds are to be sown in March, or cin-lier, on
heat ; the young plants, if necessary, to be pricked out into
pots or boxes, and kept under cover in warmth until the end of
April, when they may be planted out where they are to remain,
covering each plant for a time with an empty pot at night, to
avoid the eff'ects of spring frosts. The seedlings should be
planted in rows, say three feet apart and two feet distant from
each other, to allow room for an examination of the difi'crent
varieties. They thrive best in rich loam, and shordd have a
clear open space to grow in. They seem to suffer if planted
often in the same place. The addition of some fresh soil may
overcome this evil, if there be not space for the gardener to
move their qiiartcrs. Wind damages them ; therefore they
should be carefully tied to stakes as they grow. The seedling
plants thus managed will blow in July, and continue in perfec-
tion till autumn.
Until a seedling plant shows its flowers, there are no means
of ascertaining its value. The proper time to judge of the
flowers is in the morning, for the sun injures them. Those
produced in summer are much more brilliant than such as ap-
pear later in the season ; though from the quantity of flowers
in September or October the show may be greater. In the
selection of the vaneties, fancy must be the guide as to colours ;
the disposition to blow freely, and the having short pedicles, on
■which the flower stands boldly and well expanded, must also be
attended to. These qualities may be looked for particularly
from compact plants. Where any particular variety is ap-
proved, an increase may be made by cuttings of the young-
shoots of the branches, as soon as the value of the variety has
been discovered. These will readily strike in a moderate heat,
under a hand-glass, and in ii favourable season they will grow
in plain earth under a glass ; if well managed they will in either
case form roots and tubers before autumn.
Soon after the leaves and young branches of the plants have
been destroyed by the frost, they should be cut down : those
left in the ground must be protected by heaps of dead
leaves or tan. But it is advisable to raise them with their
x'oots and tubers entire, retaining a small part of the stem.
The chief point to be attended to in their preservation during
winter, is to have them kept plump, yet not so as to be rotted
by damp, or touched by frost. Any situation, therefore, where
this can be effected will answer as well as potting eacii root ;
snch as a cool floor in a fruit-room, covering them with sand
or coal ashes. When thus covered, however, tlieir crowns
should be placed erect and exposed to the air. In spring the
roots, if large, may be divided ; each tuber having a bud will
form a plant.
The roots thus preserved .^ire to be put out when all danger
■ 'rost is over ; but previously they must be potted in the
green-house, the object being to bring them as forward as
possible. When put out, they look best in a lai-ge mass, and
some nicety is required to distribute them in the manner that
will be most striking in the particular situation when in flower.
The earliest flowers of such treated plants will appear in June.
In the spring, another opportunity occurs of increasing, by
cuttings, the known varieties which are there to be planted. It
is proper to leaVe only a single stem to each plant, and these
will blow in the same season, but a little later than their pa-
rents.
In general an abundant supply of water to the roots is not
advisable, as it drives the plants into leaf and height, thus
diminishing the flowering. Great heat is also unfavourable ;
and until the weather becomes somwhat more temperate than
midsummers are frequently found to be in this country, the
flower-buds do not open well, but go ofi^. There has been a
speculation on the utility of roots as food. ?,Ir. Sabine has
tasted them, and found the old tubers very hard, and the young
ones more tender when boiled ; but he does not believe that the
addition of a good sauce will even make them palatable to be
used, except as an object of curiosity. Their flavour was.that
of a weak aromatic character, resembling ginger, which was
stronger in the coat than in the substance of the root, and
without which they seemed to be perfectly insipid.
ANGLESEY.
The short papers which we have begun to give of the rural
economy of the various corinties in the imited empire cannot all
be possessed of equal value. The leading characteristics of each,
are not of the same nature, nor, as respects agriculture and
gardening, or in any one of these departments, is every county
capable of furnishing lessons w^orthy of general observance.
Anglesey for instance, if we leave out of view its mines, which
cannot well be considered in this periodical, is greatly behind,
in every riu'al respect, to many other portions of Britain. Indeed
the climate and the unsheltered state of the land interpose diffi-
culties not to be surmounted, as compared with many districts ;
whilst the state of the inhabitants, their establishedi customs'
and modes of thinking, with various other circumstances, throw
such obstacles in the way of rural improvement, as to make it
appear probable that Anglesea will long remain in the back
ground.
If however we can find little that will directly instract us,
as regards our Journal, in this ancient seat of Dniidical fame,
it seems not beyond the scope of cur province, or of these short
county notices, that we endeavour to call public attention to
certain deficiencies in rural policy and manngemeot ; thus
indirectly doing our best to be useful. Accordingly we proceed
to name some of the obstacles to improvement, and to point out
a few glaring errors in the general condition as well as some of
the capabilities that distinguish this county.
As to these obstacles we follow the information which has
been afforded by writers on the rural state of North Wales.
Bleakness of exposure, owing to the yantof fences and planta-
tions, and the coal tax, are evils greatly to be deplored as re-
spects Anglesey. Now it is to be observed, that the island was
once called the dark or the shady, in allusion to its thick groves
of wood. Yet it certainly is true, that trees will not thrive ex-
cept they be planted, and here on a large scale. They must
also be protected from the depredations of sheep and cattle.
Quickset fences, which are so rare, would flourish under the
protection of such plantations, and thus mutual aid would be
propagated, that would extend to the fields of corn and p;;sture.
For were it not the bleakness of the exposure, the soil of
Anglesey is fertile.
The non-residence of proprietors, the want of mutual confi-
dence between them and tenants, the overvaluing of land by
strangers, who do it at something like a percentage upon the
advance, have all been complained of as reneral evils in the
island. It is no wonder that the want of capital should cha-
GARDEN OPERATIONS FOR DECEMBER.
185
racterise the farmers under such circumstances, and that leases
are in disrepute. It is in perfect accordance with the state of
things that the cultivators of the soil should still adhere to
many superstitious customs. We do not say that many farmers
are not to be found in Anglesey, particularly of late years, who
follow pretty close in the march of agricultural improvement ;
but the majority are and must be still, from the general influ-
ences and evils mentioned, little alive to advancement, or capable
of finding their way in its course, though perceiving its necessity.
Is it niatter of surprise, from what we have said, that a great
part of Anglesey is disgr.iced by cottages that are truly the
habitations of wretchedness ? Now the farmers, although their
intelligence and condition indicate clearly a county's advance-
ment, only do so in conjunction with the cottagers; and
although these may be of an inferior grade, when compare dwith
the former, yet they ever bear a close and intelligible relation
to their superiors : so that a better index cannot be found of
rural prosperity and eminence, than is presented by this inferior
but most useful class. Too many of these poor people have not
a garden, nor so much as a leek, except it be bought or begged ;
so that they cannot illustrate the moral of the adage, " Famine
never enters the house through the garden door."
The natural capabilities of Anglesey are not small. Its soil
is moderatley fertile : were it sheltered and inclosed properly, it
would produce fine crops, even of wheat. As it is it grows
more oats and barley than the consumption requires : and a
number of horned cattle, sheep, and hogs, are annually sent
over the Menai. The most valuable product of the island
however, arises from the mines. The Parigs mine, for example,
is the most abundant in copper ore of any in the known world.
And the magnificent suspension bridge recently completed,
thrown across the straits of Menai, together with a great road
affording a facility of intercourse between London and Dublin,
running in connection with this unrivalled bridge, must eventu-
ally lead to important changes in the wealth and economy of
the county, so that again it may hold true, "that Anglesey is
the mother of Wales, because, when other counties fail, she
plentifully feedeth them with provision."
The extent of the county is about 271 square miles, or
174,000 acres. The number of inhabitants in 1821 were
46,000. From what has been said, it is clear that the general
aspect of Anglesey must be naked and uninviting. There are no
considerable hills and valleys to diversify the scenery. The
climate is unhealthy in autumn by"prevailing fogs, which subject
the inhabitants to agues.
GARDEN OPERATIONS FOR DECEMBER.
This month is sometimes so mild, that one is apt to call the'
weather unnatural and ominous ; sometimes floods deluge the
earth for weeks together ; or again, it is not unfrequently bound
by intense frost, and covered with deep snows. It is therefore
clear, that no universal directions can within our limits be per-
emptorily given. The following, however, are applicable to
the circumstances which are at the same time supposed.
THE FLOWER GARDEN.
If the weather be not very frosty, let the gardener turn all
his heaps of compost, digging every parcel, carefully breaking
all clods, and throwing it up with a new surface. Then if the
weather be dry, he may give every heap a sprinkling of water.
In his gravel walks few weeds rise to trouble him ; but it is
fit to roll the walks firmly. The beds of ranunculuses, ane-
monies, and other choice flowers, require care. If snow
should fall it will do them uo harm ; but frost and rain are
equally destructive ; they must therefore be defended by cover-
ings, on either occasion. The consequence of severe frost, if
tbey be left exposed to it, is evident, and that of rains, if
violent, is perhaps, worse ; for they not only by their immediate
coldness and damp rot the roots, but if this evil should be
escaped, the wetness of the ground will give the next frosts
double power.
MIGAZINE OF BOTANY -AND GARDENING, VOL. II. NO. X
The careful gardener, who sees his present leisure and recol-
lects the hurry of his business in the succeeding spring, will
mark out all places where he can plant flowering shrubs, dig
them up two spades deep, laying the earth in a ridge, and once
in every week or so during winter, stirring and turning it
afresh.
THE GREENHeUSE.
The severity of the season will not generally allow the green-
house plants to have much air now ; but let there be no oppor-
tunity lost of giving them that advantage, when it can be done
safely. Every evening the shutters on the outside of the
window and doors should be closed in the worst weather, but
when it is anything milder, the plants must be refreshed with
air whenever the sun shines well upon the place. The difference
between noon-ilay and night is very great in point of cold,
even in the severest seasons ; and the air of the hardest
time of the day is very different when the sun shines, and when
his influence is obscured. If the gardener should keep his
greenhouse shut up for a considerable time together, in the
same manner as it is necessary to do in the severest nights, he
would see the destruction of the whole collection come on era-
dually ; but even the first notice he received this way, would
be so late, that a great deal of mischief would be past remedy.
The leaves toward the extremities of the branches in several
kinds would drop off ; and by that time many more would have
lost their hold, doomed to follow. The next stage of decay would
be seen in these branches themselves. In time the contagion
of these decayed leaves would extend itself through the wholi
place ; so that even those plants whose principle of vegetation
had been so strong as to resist the mischief at first, would perish
at last. At the same time, if the extent of the building were
perverted, by leaving the glasses too much open, a great part
of the plants would be lost through the absolute cold ; close
attention therefore is necessary to guard against the two
extremes.
A difference between a pure and foggy air is also very great.
A thick fog is in winter almost as much to be feared as frost.
Such an air, if let in for a few minutes, and then shut up in the
greenhouse, may do more mischief in one night than any other
accident. The plants now require less water of course than at
other seasons, and nothing will more contribute to the damage
they may receive from being kept too close, than the addition
of that damp which the warmth of the air will raise from the
wetted earth. Nothing will promote the decay of the extreme
parts of branches, so much as heat, closeness, and moisture.
The stove is a thing that must be particularly guided : and
the gardener must judge from the aspect of his plants how the
air is to be heated. If they shoot too freely, let the fire be
slackened; if they appear faint, let it be increased. It must
also be closely watched, whether they require more or less
water, and let none be used that has not stood a day and night
in the stove, and give this but sparingly to those that most
require it — such as the shrubs and plants of a firm structure ;
and scarcely any to the Cereus kinds. These have no leaves to
lose, therefore there is less danger of their wanting moisture :
but with regard to the others, as the heat of the air keeps them
perspiring, tliey must be supplied proportionally at the root,
otherwise they will be stripped one by one of their leaves. The
woody kinds will require water most frequently, the herbaceous
in a middling degree, and the succulent least. Those that re-
quire most should have it allowed them, not by an Increase of
the quantity, but by repeating it the oftener ; and it will be for
the advantage of the plants in general not to water too many
at a time.
NURSERY.
The earth above directed to be thrown np in ridges, that is
intended for planting in February, should be broke and turned
in a mild day, that the frost and winds may be received on a
fresh surface. There is no season when a gap or breach in the
fences of a nursery can be so injurious as at present, both as
respects the cutting winds and vermin. Let all be kept secure,
.\I. — DECEMBER, 1834. CC
186
ALDERNEY CATTLE.
and the young trees well supported by stakes, whilst their roots
are preserved by covering tlie earth immediately around them.
If the rains lodge in any part, cut drains to let them off. In
winter a wet ground gives the frost too much power upon the
roots, and in spri^ng it makes the shrubs shoot too fast. The
business in a nursery is to make the plants grow firm and
sound, which will never be insured when the ground is not duly
drained. The beds of seedlings, whether of the flower or tree
kind, must be sheltered a little by some sort of covering, ac-
cording to their nature, if the frost be severe.
FRUIT GARDEN.
If the weather be open, there is no time when the spade can
be tiscd to more advantage, as respects fruit trees. The season
is approaching for roots drawing nourishment, and those of trees
dp-il sooner than many imagine ; therefore let the earth, if pos-
sible, be now prepared to give way to their young fibres, and to
supply them with proper juices. It is proper to dig up all the
ground between the trees in an orchard a full spade deep, picking
out the roots of weeds, breaking the clods, and afterwards a
little soot may be sifted over the earth, and next a little pigeon
dung,: United to such operations, a free but judicious use of a
bill and a saw among the branches will tend greatly to insure a
good crop,
KITCHEN GARDEN.
Look to the artichoke beds, lately covered with mould ; if the
frost threaten, let a little dry pease-haulm be scattered over
them, and if wet lodges let it be caiTied oif. In a mild day dig
up some spot for a crop of peas and beans. Probably the best
beau for this plantation is the Sandwich, and the hotspur pea is
also a very proper sort for this early sowing. The mushroom
beds require good care now, and will repay it. Heat and
moisture principally promote the growth of the spawn -, but if
either of these be in too great a degree, they will fail in their
operations. IVIuch wet will drown the whole, but a good cover-
ing of long straw will keep the seed from frost and rain ; this
must be dry when laid on, and removed when it grows damp and
falls, to be anew supplied. The cauliflower plants under glasses
are in all respects in the condition of green-house plants, so that
the glasses must be let down in the evening to cover them close
from the night frosts, but towards noon in a severe day they
should always be opened. If any dead leaf appear*upon them
it must be taken off ; the mould must be drawn up about their
stems ; and it will be of service to stir the surface a little within
the glass frequently, and to dig it up round about it. Give air
to the young salleting, for it will no more thrive on a hotbed
kept close, than it will shoot now in the exposed ground. If the
weather he tolerably mild, the several cabbage kinds may be
planted for seed, selecting such as have the firmest and shortest
stems.
Such are some of the garden operations which may properly
fall within the month of December, though of course there are
many other points anti plants than we have enumerated 'that
may call for attention. But a prudent application of the above
rules may be very widely ajsplied.
METHOD OP DESTROYING ONE SORT OP THE
GOOSEBERRY CATERPILLAR.
A GAttDEiJER requ'ii'es, to know how to subdue the devouring
hordes of insects which infest the sphere of his occupations.
There is not a seed thrown, nor a plant put into the ground,
but is liable to be destroyed by some kind of insect, reptile, or
vermin. Many insects not only feed upon plants, but con-
stantly lodge about them in one shape or another, producing
distempers and failures in the vegetable kingdom, often imputed
to other causes. Gooseberry caterpillars have long been a
theme of complaint ; nximberlcss are the methods that have
been adopted to overcome them ; among which, we think, the
following is one of the most sensible : and as it claims to he put
into practice in winter, we insert an account of it at this season.
Of caterpillars there is one kind which goes into winter
quarters precisely under the bushes whereon they were fed ; and
if any old dung or rotten leaves lay under the branches or about
the roots, they resort thither. This fact, we are told, may be
proved by watching particularly the progress of such creatures
on some selected bushes. The inclemency of winter does not
destroy them in the situation to which they naturally resort.
In the course, therefore, of the winter months, pare all the earth
from imder the bushes, to the depth of about three inches,
turning it into a flat ridge betwixt the rows. On the first dry
day afterw-ards, tread, beat, or roll the ridges, and trench the
whole down one and a half or tv.o spades deep, observing to
tread the foul earth into the bottom of the trench.
From what has been asserted of the winter habitations of
these insects, gooseberry bushes should not be planted beside
box-edged walks, flower-borders, or rows of strawberries.
The season of the caterpillar's destructive reign is from the
end of March to the month of June, when cold easterly winds
prevail, which seems to cause the fly to take sl.elter under the
young foliage. Hence arose the ancient notion that they wore
brought by the east wind.
MODE OF PROTECTITSfG PRUIT TREES FROM
HARES AND RABBITS.
Take hog's lard and as much whale-oil as will work it up to a
thin paste or paint. With this gently rub the stems of the
trees upwards, at the fall of the leaf. This has been found
eifectually to prevent these aniccals from touching such trees
for a longer term even than the ensuing winter. The nature
of the ingredients are perfectly innocent, in so far as the trees
are concerned : and the ease with which they may be procured
speaks for itself.
ALDERNEY CATTLE.
The island of Alderney is famous for its excellent breed of
Cows. But they are in England only to be met with about,
the seats of the nobility and gentry, on account of their giving
exceedingly rich milk, though small in quantity. The race,
however, is so delicate and tender ever to be much attended
to by our British farmers, for they are not able to bear the cold
of England, particularly of its northern parts. They are very,
fine boned in general, but at the same time are ill shaped.
Their horns are crumpled, and their size diminutive. Their
colour is light red or yellow, and their beef generally yellow or
very high-coloured, fine in grain and wdl-flavoured. They make
themselves very fat, and Mr. CuUey says, he uever remembers
seeing one of them in the least subject to Iyer or black fleshed.
He adds, that he has seen some very useful cattle bred from a
cross between an Alderney cow and a short-horned bull.
We may advantageously follow up this short description of
Alderney cows, with a remark on the breeding of cattle, which
is confirmed, we believe, by the experience of every one ac-
quainted with the subject. It is a great mistake to eadeavour to
unite great milkers with quick feedei s. The consequence of sueh
an attempt is to get neither sort, as an offspring, in any perfec-
tion. If the dairy-man w^ants milk, let him seek after the milk-
ing tribe, both bull and cows, of the best family. The qtuckest
feeders, and those that have the finest flesh, must alone be pro-
cured by those who seek after the other class. It has been owing
greatly to carelessness in the union of distinct kinds, that so
much diflficulty frequently occurs in distinguishing the most va-
luable of either class. The general rule is, that a cow which
runs too much to flesh is not a good milker, for the great milk-
ers are uniformly thin. There may be a middUng kind of cows
that give a tolerable quantity of milk, and also keep in pretty
good order, but still such nevw- possess tbc highest phafacter.
for either quality. '■■■ esllicasiJxj ss^ulf/ .-ijig^i tic ,J jlduoi;
PESCRIPTIOV OF THE PLATES.
187
DAPHNE CNEORUM.
TRAILING DAPHNE.
Class — Octandiia. Older— Digynia.
Nat. Ord. — Thymelffiie.
Gen. Char. — Corolla four cleft ; drupe one seeded.
Spec. Char. — Flowers fascicled, terminal, sessile ; leaves
lanceolate, naked, mucronate.
This charming little shrub is a native of Switzerland and
Austria ; growing in such ahundance on many of the mountains
near Vienna that women gather it when in flower and sell it in
the markets. Its beautiful and fragrant blossoms come forth
in April and May, the principal season for its flowering, but it
frequently blows duringmost of the summer, and even in autumn.
It is extremely hardy, and should be planted wholly or in
part in vegetable moulds, and should never be unnecessarily
removed, or any attempts made to thwart its natural iiabit of
creeping, by supporting the branches oflf the earth. Thus
treated, the dapbne-cneorum will luxuriate and spread in every
direction, and in spring will exhibit its beauty, emblazoning the
earth, and surpassing every shrub of similar habit or magnitude
that may rival its claim to admiration.
ALYSSUM SAXATILE.
ROCK MADWORT OR VELLOW ALYSSUM.
Class. — Tetradynamia. Order. — ^Siliculosa.
Natural Order. — Crucifera;.
Gen. Char. — Silicle orbicular or elliptical, with valves flat or
convex in centre ; Seeds 2-4 in each cell ; Calix equal at
, base ; Petals entire ; some of the stamens toothed.
Spec. Char. — Stem lialf shrubby at base, subcorymbose ; leaves
lanceolate entire downy ; Pods obovate, orbicular, 2 seeded ;
.Seeds edged.
> As this plant has very generally obtained in gardens and
nurseries the name of yellow Alyssum, we have retained it ;
forthough it is not the only one of the genus which produces
yellow flowers, it may still be called yellow by way of eminence,
such is the extreme brilliancy and profusion of its blossoms.
Although not generally more than a foot in height, its
branches spread, and generally nrncb exceed that length, on
account of the trailing position that they assume near the root.
It begins to flower about the latter end of April, and conti-
nues to blossom through great part of ])'Iay ; and it is not un-
usual for it again to assume its vernal beauty in Autumn.
If it has a pure air and a dry situation, it will grow in almost
any soil. The usual way of propagating it is by slips, oi'
cuttifigs. • ' _■
As it S'a! -Siiisill shewy, hardy plant, and not disposed td
oveiTun others,' it "is 'very suitable to embellish rock work. Is
.1 naiive of Crete, and was first introduced to this country
in 1731.
LITHOSPERMUM PURPURE5 C^ftbiEUM.
PURPLE AND BLUE GHOMWELL.
Class. — Pentandria. Order. — Monogynia.
Natural Order. — Boragiucse.
GsQ. Char.^-Calyx 5 parted persistent; Corolla funnel shaped,
v.'ith a half 5 cleft obtuse limb, and an open orifice ; Anthers
included; Stigma obtuse, bifid ; Seeds, 4, hard, smooth,
closed at the base.
Spec. Char. —Leaves lanceolate, acute at each end ; Stem
herbaceous ; Corolla much longer than Calyx ; seeds smooth.
This is one amongst the prettiest native plants of which
England can boast. Its changeable hue, and the brightness of
its" fine blue tints, when fully ex-panded, render it particularly
atti'active. The long woody perennial root produces many
round, hairy, leufy stems, most of which are prqcumhent, and
tiu'ow out roots : the flowering ones only are perfectly erect,
and about 1 2 or 1 S inches high. The leaves are numerous,
and clothed with short close pressed- bristles. The beautiful
flovfers appear in April or May, standing erect in a sort of
double leafy spike, whose extremities are a little curved down-
wards before flowering. It rarely produces many seeds, like
most plants that increase much by the roots they are frequently
abortive. The seeds are singularly hard, glossy and grey, like
polished marble.
It grows freely in a light soil, mixed with old mortar, and
may be increased by its trailing stems being turned back, and
hooked down as layers.
GAZANIA RIGENS.
RIGID GAZANIA.
Class. — Syngenesia. Order. — Frustranea.
Natural Order. — Composite.
Gen. Char. — Receptacle naked or alveolote ; Pericarps very
villous ; Pappus hairy paleaceous ; Involuerum 1 leaved, the
tube naked or covered with imbricated leaflets.
Spec. Char. — Leaves lanceolate, spatulate, and pinnatifld
entire, white with down beneath ; Peduncle 1 headed, ter-
minal.
The greenhouse to which this splendid little plant properly
belongs, can scarcely boast a more shewy plant ; its blossoms,
when expanded by the heat of the sun, (and it is only when the
sun shines on them that they are fully expanded,) exhibit an
unrivalled brilliance of appearance.
It flowers in June, but rarely brings its seeds to perfection
in this country, which is of the less consequence, as the plant
is readily increased by cuttings, which require to be placed
under a hand-glass in a cool border, and when rooted, to put
them in a sandy compost, and to bo protected by a cold frame
during winter. I'hese may be Iransfdanteil into the borders
of the flower garden in May. Native of the Cape of Good Hope,
and introduced here in 1755.
NIEREMBERGIA PHCENICEA.
PURPLE NIEREMBERGIA.
Pentandria Monogynia.
Nat. Ord. — Solauea;.
Gen, Char, — Corolla infundibuliform, flve-lobed. Style di-
lated upwards. Stigma orbicular, marked with a transverse
line. Capsule two-celled. Dissepiment parallel with the
valves. Seeds studded with numerous raised points arranged
in lines.
Spec. Char. — Leaves ovate, lanceolate, alternate, rarely
opposite ; flowers axillar, solitary ; Calyx deeply five-partite ;
corolla broadly infundibuliform ; lobes entire.
Wheu trained against a wall, this species so extends itself as
soon to cover a space of more than forty square feet, exhibiting
at one time above three hundred beautiful and richly-coloured
puiple flowers ; few plants, therefore, aft'ord a more numerous
display than the Nierembergia phenicia.
It may be increased by seeds sown early in spring on a hot-
bed,
TETRAGONOBULUS SILiaUOSUS.
SaUARE-PODDED WINGED PEA,
Class — Diadelphia. Order — Deeahdria,
Nat. Ord. — Leguminosee.
Gen. Char. — Alse of the corolla covering by their upper edge ;
filaments dilated upwards ; legume square with four wings.
Spec. Char. — Pods solitary ; stems procumbent ; leaves
downy beneath.
In this species the stems spread from the root, on the surface
of the soil, they are about a foot in length, clothed with a white
pubescence. The extreme ends of the shoots and lateral
branches are raised from four to six inches high, producing
tlieir large pale yellow flowers through several successive weeks.
The pods are coriaceous and four-angled. It is peculiarly well
calculated for reclining on stones or spar, where it is shown to
the greatest advantage.
It flowers in July and August, and may be increased by
seeds, which should be sown early in April, upon an open bed
or border exposed to the sun, where the plants are to remain:,
when they come up they must be thinned, leaving thenj ne^ir.
188
two feet asunder, and afterwards they must be kept clean from
weeds, which is all the culture they require.
Native of the south of Europe, and was first introduced to
our gardens in 1683.
POLYGONATUM MULTIFLORUM.
MANY-FLOWJERED SOLOMON'S SEALS.
Class. — Hexandria. Order, — Monogynia.
Gen. Char. — Flower 6 cleft, cylindrical ; Filaments inserted
into the top of the tube ; Berry globose, 3-celled with 2-seeded
cells ; Flowers axillary.
Spec. Char. — Leaves alternate stem clasping ; Stem round ;
Peduncles axillary many flowered.
A native of woods and thickets in various parts of England,
though not very common. It is often met with in country
gardens, and will even bear the smoke of London. It Is peren-
nial, flowering in May or early in June, and is admirably
adapted to the filling up a damp and shady corner, where but
few others will thrive.
The roots are fleshy, creeping horizontally, and are said by
Linnaeus to be often made into bread by the hardy inhabitants
of Sweden. The stems are annual, a foot or more in height.
The leaves are elliptical, each of these towards the middle part
of the stem, bearing from their bosoms a branched flower, of a
whitish colour tipped with green, very slightly downy at the
summit, with a faint smell of bitter almonds.' The berries
are red ; they are rarely produced, the plant increasing so
much by the root. The unripe germen has a sweetish taste,
like green peas.
In speaking of its virtues, Gerard writes, not very gallantly,
"that the bruised roots takes away " blacke or blew spots gotten
by falls, womens' wilfulness in stumbling ^'pon their hastie
husband's fists or such like."
It may be increased by dividing the roots in spring or autumn,
and planting them in a shady situation.
DIANTHUS PLUMARIUS.
FEATHERED PINK.
Class — Decandria Digynia.
Nat. Ord. — Caryophylleas.
Spec. Char. — Glaucous ; stem 2-3 flowered ; teeth blunt ;
bracte ovate ; very short pointed ; leaves linear, rough at edge.
This species is perennial, with the stem ascending, a foot or
eighteen inches in height, and branched. The leaves are of
a glaucous hue, very sharp at the end. Flowers 1-2, seldom
3, at the end of the branches; they possess a sweet scent.
Calyx glaucous, green, longer than in the other species ; petals
large, light red or bright purple, sometimes white, with a circle
of red ; deeply jagged, having a red down at the base of the
lamina or border. Anthers red. Capsule shorter in proportion
than iu the other species.
It flowers from June to August, and is a native of Europe
and North America : on rocks, mountain pastures, and dry
woody places. Introduced in 1629.
Pinks are sometimes increased by layers, but the facility of
propagation by pipings has nearly superseded the practice of
laying them.
The best time for this is about the end of June, but will vary
with the seiison. It should always be done immediately before
or during bloom ; or indeed so soon as the young shoots are of
a sufiicient length for the purpose ; that is, to form pipings
from two to three inches in length. Pipings are made by
taking a branch of the pink, and immediately below the
second or third joint from the top cut it off, and the piping will
be readily disengaged from the bottom of the two leaves which
form a sheath round it, leaving it clear. The leaves may be
shortened, but it is unimportant. They should be planted in a
shady situation, and the soil should be a rich light compost,
three or four inches deep; if no rain falls it should be well
soaked with water a few hours before they are planted. The
pipings need not he planted at a greater distance than three
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
;i',n-iC-'}.i-?Tyr.,
inches square and about half an incJi^eep.^ The ground should
then be closed very hard upon them, aud they must be well
watered, and a hand- glass placed over them : the waterings
must be repeated as often as is found necessary, till they have
taken root ; after which they will require no other care than
to keep them clear from weeds till autumn, when they should be
transplanted to the borders of the flower garden, where they are
to remain. During the growth of the pipings, remove the hand-
glass for the space of ten minutes, daily, to give the pipings air,
shading them during the removal, if exposed to the rays of the
sun ; and at the same time, turning the hand-glass bottom up-
wards that its interior may be dried. When the pipings b.egin
to grow, air should be admitted under one side of^the glasfj..,to
inure them gradually to the atmosphere. . ^ -,i,'3<; ■■•»•*
^.:j.ioqa woiiay aai>b ai
GENTIANA VERNA-, ^ , „ 'I'"*
SPRING GENTIAN. .' V/£
Tet — Pentandria Digynia.
Nat. Ord.-Gentianee^:-'^- -"'""^^"^^^
r^:< .Kano/7 of. ((
G. corolla quinquefida infundibuliform^, foliis ovatis'acutiusculis :
radicalibus patentibus ; caulinis majoribus. Willd. sp. pi. ) .
p. 134 2.
This very elegant plant is a native of this country, particularly
of the forest of Teesdale, Durham, where it is known to the
inhabitants by the name of Spring Violet, as it copiously ena-
mela that country at a time when no other flower enlivens the
dreary scene. -,-, -^, .
The root is perennial, thread-shaped and creeping. Stems
about an inch high, simple, single flowered, thickly clothed
with leaves, which are more especially clustered in the lower
part, and are of an ovate form, entire, generally pointed.
The flower is terminal, solitary erect, large, of a most vivid
blue colour. The whole herb is smooth, less bitter than most
gentians, and from its beautiful appearance) deserving ^ place
in every collection. hi.
ROSA SEMPERFLORENS.
EVER BLOWING ROSE, OR DARK CHINESE ROSZ.
Icoysandria Polygyny,;,,, ^^^yr aavl t.
Nat. Ord. — Rosaceae.
Rosa semperflorens, fructibus oblongis pedunculisque hispidis
caule petiolisque aculeato hispidis; foliis subternatis acule-
atis. Willd. sp. pi. 2. p. 107S.
We are induced to consider this Rose, as one of the most de-
sirable plants in point of ornament, ever introduced to this
country, its flowers large in proportion to the plant, are semi-
double, and with great richness of colour, unite a most delight-
ful fragrance; they blossom during the whole of the year; more
sparingly indeed in the winter months ; the shrub itself is more
hardy than most green-house plants, and will grow in so small
a compass of earth, that it may be reared almost in a cup ; is
kept with the least possible trouble, and propagated without
difliculty by cuttings or suckers.
STEVIA PURPUREA.
purple STEVIA.
Syngenesia polygamia aequalis.
Nat. Ord. Composite.
Gen. Char. — Recept. nudum : Pappaus paleaceus. cal 'cylin-
draceus, ex simplici foliorum seri. Spec. Char. Foliis.
lanceolatis. trinervis, Canaliculatis corymob fastigiato.
A hardy perennial herb, native of Mexico. Flowering from
July to September, but of no striking appearance. The stem
is two feet high, inclined or spreading, round, leafy, its
branches terminating in numerous small corymbose flowers, of
a reddish hue. The leaves are rather more than an inch long,
shining, dotted, and occasionally serrated towards the top.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
■ A.n 3HT' -i'! i:aii-i. 'nJ
ERYTHRONIUM AMEllICANUM.
hUioie tiBfEtiiow FiibwERD dogs-toothed viousTpf. ■;'--:
thvr 9rf iium r.>i'- ::-Hexandria Monogynia. ' I'osofc -J
-j^.ih'-f.;" .i!; - . Kfat. Ord. — Tulipaceffi. ■■ > :'•■
•' 'Ei'ythronium Americaaum ; foliis lanceolato — ellipticis, mucrono
condriplicato ; stylo clavato, suIcato-trigoDO, one stigmatoso
''•^ "triangulosas subhiante intus glandulose pubesceate terininato ;
^'^ 'aijtheris luteis. Erythronium deiio Caais ; foliis lanceolato
''"''dbongis, flore flavescente, Miohaux Elor. Bor. — Amer. 1.
189
198. Nee Linnei.
'fT'is a hardy perennial, native of the coldet parts of North
America. The bulb is solid, about the size of a filbert, covered
with membranous dark brown coats. The leaves are coriaceous,
elegantly stained -with liver-coloured blotches, and have a hooded
termination, from the revolute edges of the point. The flower
is deep yellow spotted with red. Anthers and pollen yellow.
CALOPHYLLUM INOPHYLLUM.
SWEET-SOENTED CALOPHYLLUM.
■ Polyandria Monogynia.
Calophyllura Inophyllum ; foliis ovalibus. Willd. sp. pi, 2, p.
1159, Ponna. Rheed. Mai. 4 p. 79. t. 38. Rai. Hist. 15i5.
Bintangor maritima, Rumph. amb. 2, t. 71. Arbor indica,
medicae amplioribus foliis. Plunk, aim, 41. Inophyllum
Burm. 130.
• Tt grows to a large tree, with the trunk thick, covered with
a blackish, cracked, almost scaly bark, and supporting a vast
umbrageons head. The leaves are four or five iuches long, and
nearly three iuches broad, shining, smooth on both sides, and
remarkable for the numerous extremely fine parallel nerves,
which Burman fancied to resemble the fibres of a muscle dis-
sected longitudinally, and thence called it inophyllum.
The flowers are white and fragrant, the fruit very resinous
or oily ; kernel at first sweet, afterwards bitter.
When the bark is wounded, there exudes a viscous, yellowish
fluid, which thickens and hardens in the air. It is called green
balsam, or balsam of the Virgin Mary, and is'ttsedas a vul-
nerary. ''■ '-•■■': ■ '- ■
ANISOMELES OVATA.
BROAD-LEAVED ANISOMELES.
KEC't i!'.-- Didynamia gymnospermia.
Nat. Ord. — Labiatae.
A. foliis ovatls subeordatis creaatis, verticillis multifloris, brac-
,S13:'fiF.rtS{. — ,fr)0 .}£
sihiqsiil iUpi:iii.'i>ouIi3(J sijaoldo ej/dr)3ai> ,h)i >ny_ .
-iims eHcaisJdi'a eiiJol jaifaiqsiil oJaali/ois oi.'i ^ I
.8>0I .q .S .(q .jj,; i
■ i& iioat srfJ Ic 300 Bfl ,92oH airf} 7:ibieao3 oJ f>3Dj)linrr oxt
-;dj oj bMabottai isvs .JtiDmsnio \o Inioq ai sjoiilq aUt.
iOT3a 31U ,}a«Iq arfj oJ noiJioqoiq oi sgiBl iiawoh Hil .yiJnxios i
Idgilab Jeom a aJiou .looloalo easndaii Jssig Aim bae ,oliBSio\o^f.^!^
'001 ;iB»? aril to alorf'^-adJ giiiinb moaaoW ^3rf} ;30flBi5|j8iHj."t I '
•-.001 ei tl»e)i duida 9i[} ,• edJaora i3jniw sriJ ui basbni tl-^n'nmii: ! .,-.«•.., a
~- '--;'"■. 'fiw bus ,8JajBtq aeuorf-uaaig jaom 1/ '
if Jwiaoi 3d •{am Ji Jiirij ,iHi«9 >o .
bin-: ii'Saiot) sidiaeoq Jsaal aJ; , ... .:.,:,„
•BtaaCoB-a lo egaajiio ■jd YJIirainifi
.Aivaxa sjiaufi
ciiaopss flims^^roq fliesnsga^S
■ .-JiisoqcaoO .biO .)aVi
fitlp' laa .suaosslaq etiaqfitSl ; mtibua .)qo->sSl-
jiilol .iBrfO ..MqJi .1198 amoiloi ioHqraiaJtXffl embbrSPN,
.QjjiigiJsiit dora^xoo aiiaiitoiUanO ,eivi9U(it .eijaloaoaal
.iioii'V goiiswoM .ooixaM 1o aviJaii .diarf lainnsiaq \tnBd A
H9J8 oilT .SDnsiaaqqa gaijliijs on lo )uiS (lodnoiqgg oi '(ial
^ti ,vla9( ,bn«oi .gnib^jjjqs io I)9ijibai (Jgid J39l ow3 ai
»:. ,ai9wo8 aaodniYioa tljima euoi9im(n ai gnMcnimisJ earfaaaid
i^not risai as oeiSi 3iom viASai sta e9va9l sriT .surf riaifabai a
.oJ 9(fJ ebisvof bsjanaa Yllano(eii990 boa ,b9Mob i^gaioiils
-.^3(lt> inoO
teis linearibus, calycibus pilosis ; glandulis'inconspicuis. Ait.
Hort. Kew, Ed: 2, v. 3, p. 364. Marrubium odoratissi-
raum betonicse folio. Burm. z^ghs. 153 t. 71. f . 1 .
The whole herb has a velvet-like softness, owing to its fine,
short, soft, depressed hairs. The leaves sometimes vary much, in
size, shape, and serretures, but are oftener crenate than ser-
rated ; whorls for the most part crowded into thick, portly,
leafy spikes. The calyx is very curiously reticulated with co-
pious transverse veins ; its teeth large, broad, and pungent.
The upper lip of the corolla short. The seeds are beautifully
polished, elliptical, and of a shining black.
This plant is a native of the East Indies, and is hardly ever
preserved in the stoves, being an annual of Aa-grisat,ib^^ty,
however interesting to the curious botanist.iiDi/j; s'.ljnubal
PLATJE 55. '' -.'•■- U. aviWn A
PITCAIRNIABROMELi^FOLUj,^°';/„*^^''g'
PINE-APPLE-LEAVED PITCAIBNIAa/13V«lft ,(8i.->
Hexandria Monogynia. ■. r',! oi haiqehf
Nat. Ord. — Bromeliacea:. • i... , .(jm w:.;
Pitcairnia bromelisefolia. P. floribus lexe raceffiosisV'^edi-
celis calycem Eequantibus, foliis inferne ciliato — spinosis.
Pitcairnia bromcl'iEBfolia. L'Herit, sert. angle, p. 7, t. II.
Swartz. Fl. Ind. Occid. 1. p. 580. bane, illustr. t. 224.
Pitcairnia brorailisefolia. P. foliis ciliato spiniosis, pedun-
culis germinitusque glaberrimiso Ait. kew. 1, p. 401.
Schnev. ie. fasc. 4. t. 11. Wild. Spec. 2, p. 10. Poir. Diet.
Enc. 5, p. 534. Hepetis Angustifolia, Swartz. prod. 56.
An inhabitant of Jamaica, where it is said to grow on the
shady sides of mountains, flowering in April and May.
The rachis of the raceme as well as the peduncles and
corrolla are of a fine scarlet colour ; the latter is persistant
changing to a greenish, and lastly to a brownish hue. The
transparent scale at the inner base of each segment is of an
ovate fomv, truncate at the top, crenate, attached by its back,
while the edge and summit are free. Radical leaves from three
to four feet long, scarcely an inch broud when flattened. Scape
terminal, a foot high, many flowered.
Is is a very ornamental plant ; requires lo be kept in the
tan pit; often seeil^J b,i\t,is genefajly proiiagatcd by offsets.
■ oa t-P. ixi'Jit ; i.j.'.Oi'-'ilO — .i'.fi,} .rjoqc.
.;3VB3! ; baJnioq S10A3 ytw ; 9)avo 9l9aic
3*8 3d} dJiv/ .lainosisq siegbsqa sidT
'■■> .-aibnaid fana ,lr!si9ii ni eorioni oj 1 ' ,
■^0' 'bno i}iii in qia(l<j i[i9V ,ojud enorj;;. ;■.
.0 odi lo ban odl in ,;
,«99ig .siToaualg x^laO
■ •■ • , •• - -. ■ ..j.'i.iij^ .,T(.ii.!i| jilylid 10 bs'i Jrigil .i-yxni
s/ii ?o jB,id .liU Jfi Bwob bat a gnivad .bag^Bi /(q99b ; !>;■
ti'ai jsnodis alusqaO .bai'siariiuA .nfiinod 10 auim;.;
.asbaqa i9rf)o 9nj ui aedt
.,-.„-!fj! \c r-t!En is bI bolt ,*eiisoA oJ oauh «ioi1 ei»v?oB JI
■ jijouom ,5^901 ao :a9li9aiA dJioM has
.eC9I ai baoulio-iinl .asoalq {boow
,s isvsl ^tf baeagiani a9mHoaioa 9i« eilnW
uabaeiaqua (Iiaaa a«d bgniqiq ^d noijiigaqoiq
.raarf* ■^ulvAi
■ "f: ' '-.. J;icr ,3ttul 'iobai gdJJuoda si aid) lo't araiJ Jsod adT-
filfilic ^I'jtHibsmmi anqb 3(! e^awla bluoda *I .noense ariJ Aiiv
lo aia eioodi gnaof orij aa aoos oa baabn! lo ; moold gfliiifb lo
agiiiqiq flj-io'l. ot ,ai .Jari) ; saoqiuq 9ril -lol iHsnal Jnabiftua it
■(d alxm !)TO egnlqi'I .rilijiisl lii asdool aaidJ 0* owl moil
aiD' ■nolnJ ■fhiiiiinmmi bau .jl.'iiq 9dt lo ihnaiii it gnUiW
P9ff»T^Rq,ll'SlfWS\^»Ji J«3 qoi 9,11 (QOll )n: :,uO-j;-<
doUiir ioveal a//) adi lo aJoMocf 9d.t moil lia^i' .;•:•; si)
ad rif ■ "■ -' "■'■'' — ' -.■ ' *r bajjc.r ,,< -- ■
an' .na ei Ji in'
■J8»'!' ,., --.-•: .-. -!\t baa .aolL,, .-.:'.
ilsw ad bliioiia )i ailat aim oa li : qasb fid^ifl tuiil io 9911(1
ariX hflnn^i aia ^sriJ siolsitt eiwod wsl a wiaur diiir b9;iso?
ssidi I'db itiaivs a tebsiaalqaii too bna igaiqiq
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