1879.1 



A XD HO R TIC UL T UN IS T. 



199 



cultural subjects a good deal of nonsense regard- 

 ing the soil, which this or that plant is said to 

 prefer or actually demand for its well-being; 

 whilst for more than forty years ago it has 

 been proved, that it is not the chemical or min- 

 eralogical composition, but the combination of 

 moisture and temperature of the soil which con- 

 stitutes the principal condition of vegetation. It 

 may be considered an axiom in horticulture, 

 that all plants require the soil as well as the at- 

 mosphere in which they grow, to correspond in 

 temperature with that of the country of which 

 they are natives. It is for the want of sufficient 

 bottom heat, that some grape vines do not 

 set their fruit well ; that tropical palms and 

 other plants, where it is impracticable to heat 

 the soil in which they grow, soon become un- 

 healthy and that some get covered with a black 

 mould, as orange trees, myrtles, eupatorium, 

 veronicas and many others, which we meet with 

 in our so-called conservatories, but which are 

 not cultivated in them, living barely through the 

 Winter until planted out, when our Summer, 

 with the heated soil comes to their relief. To 

 what extent the soil to the depth of about one 

 foot is heated, in the different parts of the world 

 we can only form an unsatisfactory idea, since 

 so few actual measurements have been made, 

 and as 3'et none at all have been made in 

 the United States ; though we have an agricul- 

 tural department in our government, with a full 

 complement of well-paid employes. 



We know, however, that seeds of tropical 

 plants will not germinate even, unless the soil 

 is permanently heated to at least 75*^ F. That 

 whilst in Xova Zembla the soil was not warmed 

 above 84 j" F. with Ranunculus nivalis and Oxy- 

 ria reniformis in bloom, and in Takutzsk, wheat, 

 I've, cabbage, turnips, radishes and potatoes were 

 cultivated, though the soil never thawed to more 

 than about three feet, and in the garden of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, London, the heat 

 of the soil varied between 37" and 6G" during a 

 twelvemonth. Sir John Hershel in a bulb gar- 

 den, at the Cape of Good Hope, observed it to be 

 159°. In Egypt it is from 133" to 144", and ac- 

 cording to Humboldt, in the tropics from 126" to 

 134", in some places 140". In Chili 113° to 118". 

 Bermuda 142". And in France 118" to 122" 

 even as high as 127". The Orange tree is only 

 found in perfection where the heat in the soil 

 rises to 85° and never falls below 58". 



The real difficulty with regard to bottom heat 

 has been, not so much the necessity of" it, but 



the manner of obtaining and applying it. Tanks 

 have proved too damp, pipes too dry, dang and 

 bark constantly subject to excess and defect. But 

 as long as we cultivate our plants in pots only, 

 which are surrounded by a sufficiently high tem- 

 perature of the atmosphere, one will have little 

 difficulty in supplying the necessary heat to the 

 roots ; but as long as our present means and 

 mode of heating do not give to the plants 

 the necessary, and, according to circumstances, 

 carefully to be regulated bottom heat, together 

 with the requisite moisture, our in-door gar- 

 dening will remain an undeveloped and un- 

 satisfactory proceeding. It is therefore not to 

 be wondered at that so little interest is shown 

 in it by our wealthy people. Let gardeners, 

 rather than learn how to grow orchids or to milk 

 a cow, learn to understand and apply the princi- 

 ples and explanations of science, to the routine 

 of horticultural practice, and it cannot fail that 

 the intelligent will take a more lively and active 

 interest in that beautiful art, which seems now 

 to have dwindled down to the mere production of 

 a few kinds of flowers, about as easily produced 

 as weeds. 



[We commend strongly the main point of Mr. 

 Poppey's communication, which is that too few 

 gardeners take an intelligent interest in their 

 profession. We know the general answer to be 

 that there is little inducement ; that gardeners 

 are too poorly paid, and therefore they abandon 

 the field to mere laborers who seem to monopo- 

 lize the term "gardener." It is true that many 

 worthy men do not find the place for which they 

 are eminently fitted, and that miserable fellows 

 occupy positions better men should fill ; but this 

 is no more true of horticulture than of many, 

 nay of all other professions. It does not hurt 

 any gardener to know something of the more 

 intelligent subjects connected with his profes- 

 sion. There is a pleasure in knowledge for its 

 own sake, independently of any money that 

 may accrue from it possession ; and the intelli- 

 gent gardener has at least an equal chance in 

 the race for good positions as the dolt. There 

 are continually places; well paid places, open 

 for intelligent persons ; and though the wrong 

 person often gets into the right place, we know 

 that it is not always so. — Ed. G. M.] 



ABOUT POTTING. 



BY E. P. P. 



It is curious that flower lovers should so often 

 lack the potting instinct. A neighbor brought 



