JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Morcn 21, 1872. 



^I'ftfting 'Witi au oblique slit, as the wound is not so large as 

 with tie straight slit, and a scion of small diameter fits better. 

 " — Baltet, L'.1)-( de Greffcr. 



A SOJOURN IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 



(Continued from page 192.) 



Took the rail to Dankeld, where we arrived about six o'clock, 

 and then had a walk. In the morning we rose early in order 

 to visit the long-famed Stenton Rooks, the habitat of the now 

 very rare little Forked Fern (Asplenium septeutrionale). The 

 rocks are given as near Dunkeld, but we found them four 

 miles away. On reaching what we supposed would be the 

 rocks wo inquired of a man who was hedging the road-aides, 

 Where the Stenton Rocks were ? " There they are," said he. 

 " Are ye come to look for the Stag-horn Fern ? " " No, the 

 Forked Fern , Asplenium septentriouale " " We call it the Stag- 

 horn Fern," said he; " well, ye may go, but ye'U not find it." 

 " But," said we, " it must be in plenty somewhere here, for 

 we saw thirty or forty plants stuck in some rockwork near the 

 tollgate." "Oh!" said he, " those belong tome and my boy." 

 "What l(^•ill be your price for the lot? " we asked. "I will 

 not sell them," said he, " my boy will perhaps give you one." 

 We found cunning Sandy wished to make more than the 

 market price of his plants, so we left him. " I'm certain ye'U 

 not find it," said Sandy, as we left him. " Then," we replied, 

 " we will see whore it has been." We explored the roc'KS care- 

 fully, found one or two jilants, but had to mount each other's 

 shoulders ladder-wise before they could be reached. We saw 

 a few others, but too far up in the cliffs, which are hig'n and 

 quite perpendicular. We have, at aD times, a great reluctance 

 to rob habitats of rare plants, but these plants might just as 

 well be taken away as left. The timber that formerly gave 

 Bhade is being cut down, and as the rocks will now be exposed 

 to the full blaze of the sun the little Forked Fern cannot 

 possibly Uve. 



We afterwards visited some rocks overhanging the Tay, 

 v.-hich we were led to seek out in consequence of having received 

 letters regarding a habitat of this Fern on rocks overlooking 

 the Tay. These rocks are almost perpendicular, and a false 

 step would have thrown us do\vn their' jagged edges into the 

 Tay, which here flows close to the rocks fathoms deep. At 

 imminent peril we succeeded in getting about a dozen more 

 plants of this rare Fern. 



We found the hiU (on the face of which are the Stenton 

 Rocks) had been a Roman encampment, with three linos of 

 cu-cumvallation. Near the Stenton Rocks wo gathered a fine 

 form of Polystichum aculeatum, new to us, a good name for 

 which win be P. aculeatum protrusum. We almost regret to 

 say that we left some large plants of this fine Fern, only bring- 

 ing away t vo of it. 



AVe got back to Dunkeld about one o'clock, and by the side 

 of the Tay we saw some fine timber. We measured an Oak 

 and a Sycamore close together ; at 4 feet from the ground the 

 former was 21, and the latter 20 feet in cu'cumfereuce. These 

 were a noble pan-, symmetrical, healthy, and vigorous. As- 

 cended Birnam HiU, made famous as one of the scenes in Mac- 

 beth ; we found in the Birnam Wood plenty of that interestmg 

 little plant TrieutaUs europiea, with which we were much 

 pleased. The dusky grey of evening came on before we reached 

 the top of Birnam HUl, and we retm-ued to our lodgings, where 

 Donaldson, a nurseryman, market gardener, and botanical col- 

 lector, visited us. We found him au agreeable and interesting 

 old man, and after giving him half a dozen plants of Polv- 

 stichum Lonchitis, he offered to send us at any tune plants of 

 the Asplenium septentriouale, but we should like to know 

 where he wiU now find it in any quantity. 



Next mornmg we went to Perth by an early train to see our 

 esteemed friend Mr. John Sim, and, after a long chat with him 

 on botanical and other subjects he took us into his garden by 

 the Tay, and gave us a few of his rare plants, such as Aremonia 

 agremonoides. Lychnis Viscaria, and Rosa alpina. — (Extracted 

 from Mr. Stiinxtield's notes read before the Todmordeu Botanical 

 Societtj.) 



EXPLANATION NEEDED. 

 In the Journal of the 18th of January last appeared an ad- 

 vertisement from " Amateuii," U, Hadley Street, Prince of 

 Wales Road, Kentish Town, London, offering Geraniums, &c., 

 for sale. On January 25th I forwarded to " Ajliteur " 3s. 8rf.' 

 in stamps for plants which I then requested to be sent to 



me, bat as they did not arrive I again wi'oto to "Amateub" 

 on January 31st, but have never received 'he plants nor any 

 reply to my letters ; nor have the latter been returned to mo 

 through the Dead Letter Office. As the advertisement at ouco 

 disappeared I concluded I had been swindled. Much to my 

 surprise, I find from your Journal of the 7th iust. that " Ama- 

 ieue" is agam advertising Geraniums, <S;c., for sale from tho 

 same address. — W. Cross, EafJ Acridgc, Barlon-on-Hnmber. 



A PLEA FOR HOUSE PLANTS. 



I BEG to caU attention to the following facts, culled from 

 an article on the subject which I recently came across : — The 

 opinion frequently expressed concerning the injurious effect of 

 house plants is by no means a new one, nor is it confined to 

 the young. It exists in " older heads," and wiU prevaU, it is 

 to be feared, rmtil the sciences of botany and chemistry are 

 studied in our conunon schools and by our firesides. From 

 them we may learn many facts, estabUshed by experiment, 

 proving that, so far from being injurious, plants are the great 

 promoters of health and supporters of animal life, not merely 

 iu furnishing food, but also the breath of life. These sciences 

 abound in interesting facts and experunents, showing how in- 

 organic substances, such as air, water, and some minerals, are 

 transformed into the various vegetable substances used by 

 animals to sustain life and promote growth, and how, in return, 

 animals furnish plants the necessary elements of life and 

 growth. When wood is charred in a pit, a black mass is the 

 result. This is carbon, the solidifying principle of aU sub- 

 stances possessing life. When this carbon or charcoal is 

 burned, heat is produced by its union viith oxygen. Carbon 

 also exists in the blood of animals, and serves the i^urpose of 

 producing animal heat by union with oxygen in breathing. 

 The result of this union is carbonic acid gas, the impure air 

 thrown from the lungs. This cannot be again taken into the 

 lungs, as expelled, without producing death. But the reve- 

 lations of chemistry teach us that this carbonic acid gas is 

 exactly fitted for the use of plants, and even indispensable to 

 then- life and growth. Being absorbed by them through tho 

 numberless pores on their surfaces, it is decomposed, tho 

 carbon going to form the vegetable structure and increase its 

 gi'owth and solidity, whUe the oxygen, the only life-sustaining 

 principle of the atmosphere for animals, is thrown off, to bo 

 again inlialed by the lungs, there again to receive carbon and 

 return, thus passing to and fro, carrying the elements of life 

 from one to the other constantly. The same poisonous gas 

 arises from decaying vegetation ; and with another called 

 ammonia, from decaying animal substances. These cause the 

 unhealthfulness of cities where vegetation does not abound. 

 It is the office of the green parts of vegetables to absorb and de- 

 compose these gases and water. Hence the immense amount 

 of green surface spread out to catch the aerial aUment. 

 Wherever a green plant exists, whether it be those which man 

 cultivates as sources of food, or the venerable forest trees, or 

 the wild weeds of the hedgerows, or the humble grass by the 

 wayside, or the seaweeds which grow in the ocean, or the 

 exotic in the parlour ; — this is its essential function — that in 

 which vegetable hfe consists, to absorb carbonic acid gas, de- 

 compose it, use the carbon in forming organic vegetable com- 

 pounds, and restore the oxygen to the air. From these facts 

 we may safely infer that the cultivation of house plants under 

 favourable circumstances, so far from being injurious, is bene- 

 ficial to health. Those which present the most extended leaf- 

 surfaces are the most useful. 



There is also another way in which house plants benefit 

 health — viz., by promoting cheerfulness. Now is the time to 

 secure these sources of joy for the coming season. They will 

 cost less and afford more real amusement than heaps of trifles. 

 • — (Enylish Mechanic.) 



THE CHEMISTRY OF MANURE^. 

 Beino an amateur gardener iu a smaU way, I have been a 

 constant reader of your .Journal for the last three years, and 

 most of the technical knowledge I have on the subject has 

 been derived from its contents. I have often been interested, 

 and instructed too, by the Rev. C. P. Peach's communications, 

 especiaUy those on bedding plants and " The Election of the 

 Roses," but I cannot accept his teaching on the chemistry of 

 manures as orthodox. That manures are valuable' only in so 

 far as they contain a maximiuu of nitrogen I do not believe, 

 but I do believe that farmyard manure, as a general rule, is the 



