March 14, 1867. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



195 



I have amelt the smell of electrised air most acutely. It appear? 

 to me, that the next thing necessary to arrive at the truth, 

 would be to analyse the air when it is charged with electricity, 

 at an early stage — when the leaves begin to show disease. It 

 may be only the phosphorus that one smells ; and is phos- 

 phorus an agent like electricity, to do deadly work upon the 

 growing crops of Potatoes ? It is known that electricity co- 

 operates in the formation of rust upon iron exposed to moist 

 air. — Upwards and Onwards. 



[The foregoing is all ingenious ; but how can the fact be dis- 

 posed of, that Potatoes have been exposed to the same electric 

 influences for centuries, yet the disease only appeared about 

 twenty years since ? — Eds.] 



DISA GRANDIFLORA. 



Having grown this lovely Orchid for some years I was, I 

 confess, terribly taken aback by the statement in the Journal 

 of February '21st, that Major Trevor Clarke had found it to be 

 hardy. The note in the following number correcting the state- 

 ment explains it. However, let me add that although not 

 hardy, it will bear not only anything short of frost, but even a 

 degree or two of frost without injury. My plants were this 

 winter gi-owing in a greenhouse with Pelargoniums, &c., and 

 the first night of frost came so unexpectedly on us here that 

 X did not light my lire. In the morning I was in a grievous 

 fright, for, as I keep the Disas very wet, I expected to find 

 them severely injured if not killed. The leaves were partly 

 frozen I saw at once. However, I immediately covered up the 

 house and set the fire going, and to my satisfaction found that, 

 with the exception of a very slight scorching, they were all right. 

 I have heard even lately one of our most successful plantsmen 

 say that he found this a difficult plant to manage. I find it 

 very easy. It requires light, air, plenty of moisture, and the 

 very coolest of cool treatment. — D., Deal. 



weakly and delicate sorts grown as standards are quite deadr 

 I planted a bed of dwarf plants consisting of new varieties only 

 a week before the frost, and none of them are touched. They 

 were grafted on the Maoetti stock planted up to the union, 

 and afterwards mulched with half-rotten dung. 



In the unhealed orchard-house the roots of the fruit trees 

 were made safe by being entirely covered with cocoa-nut waste. 

 The pots were plunged to the rim before the frost, but to make 

 all secure, a quantity of fibre was placed over the roots to the 

 depth of 3 inches. T'wo large Aloes about forty years old in 

 the house are very much injured ; the young leaves are begin- 

 ning to decay at the base and to fall over. In the kitchen- 

 garden quarters the white Broccoli is entirely destroyed, and 

 part of the Sprouting. A number of young plauts of Pinus 

 insignis in a sheltered corner are much cut up ; other coni- 

 ferous trees are safe, and most of them as green as they were 

 before the frost came.— J. Douglas, Loxford Hall. 



THE INTENSE COLD AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 



Derby. — The following plants have suffered here from the 

 effects of the .January frosts : — Ceanothus azureus, Garrya 

 elliptica, both on a south wall. Golden Queen Holly, and Abies 

 Albertiana, slightly touched. Our Eoses are on their own 

 roots, and pegged down ; they were well covered with snow, so 

 escaped injury. The Broecolis destroyed ai-e Snow's Winter 

 White, Grange's Autumn Cape, and Penzance. Later sorts 

 have stood well. Cabbages, Savoys, and other Winter Greens 

 are mostly killed. '24° below freezing was the minimum tem- 

 perature registered here, the thermometer being placed ,S feet 

 from the ground in a north aspect. — Charles Coomes, The 

 Gardeii.f, Brcaihall Priori/. 



Ilford, Essex. — I send you, now that the damage can be 

 more correctly ascertained, an account of ftomo of the effects of 

 the intense frost at this place. I am sorry tbat I cannot state 

 the lowest temperature on the nights in which the cold was 

 greatest, as the registering tliermometer ceased to act correctly. 

 We are nine miles from London, and about one mile from the 

 Thames, on the north side ; the situation is much exposed, 

 and yet veget.'ition has not suffered to the extent that it has 

 done in other parts in the neighbourhood of London. 



Common Bays are scarcely touched, while at other places 

 where I have been every leaf is browned above the snow line. 

 The Sweet Biys in exposed places are very much injured, but 

 in more sheltered situations they have suffered only very 

 slightly. I am pleased with the appearance of the Aucuba 

 japonioa ; a large plant fully exposed had berries on it which 

 were quite green when the frost came, aud I made sure that 

 they would never colour; but they have changed to red, and 

 are at this moment quite sound. I will send you a cluster or 

 two, so that you may judge by their appearance of their capa- 

 bility of withstanding frost. I have never observed the birds 

 attack the berries, although there are legions of sparrows, but 

 other birds are scarce. 



Amongst Tea Koses killed are Devonieusis, Canary, Madame 

 Falcot, Adam, Souvenir d'un Ami. Martjchal Neil, and Vicom- 

 tesse de Cuzes, as standards. Gloire de Dijon is the only 

 standard Tea-scented Itose alive; Solfaterre (Noisette), a fa- 

 vourite Eose as a standard here, is dead ; Celine Forestier 

 (Noisette), as a standard, is safe. I pruned all the Hybrid 

 Perpetuals this week, and found the wood largely discoloured 

 just under the bark in numbers of them. Some of the more 



TIME REQUIRED FOR RIPENING GRAPES. 



I WISH to know if a certain given time should always be 

 completed from the time of commencing to force until the 

 Grapes should be ready for eating ? 



I have studied the " Vine-Manual," which proceeds from 

 your office, and have recommended my man to go entirely by 

 it; but I find that he, who has had charge of houses in this 

 island (Jersey) for some years, is inclined to use a much higher 

 temperature throughout, and last year he forced the Grapes in 

 four months only. Also, provided sufficient heating power is 

 attainable, should there be any difference in the length of time 

 used for forcing Vines — say, in the north of Scotland and in the 

 island of Jersey ? — H. W. 



[We iucline to the opinion, that Vines will be forced in a 

 shorter time in Jersey than in the north of Scotland, but we 

 have had no experience in Jersey. In the higher temperature 

 the Grapes will come a little sooner to maturity, but we con- 

 sider at the expense of two losses, the use of more fuel to 

 attain the higher temperature and the earlier exhaustion of 

 the Vines. We should be obliged by statements of the ex- 

 perience of some of our Vine-cultivators.] 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 

 We have been requested to state that the note in.^dvertently 

 appended to the schedule of the Bury Show, which states that 

 the prizes offered as cups, &e., may in some cases be received in 

 money, was inserted in error, aud that there is no intention of 

 such an arrangement being carried out. It is quite natural 

 that those who give cups and other objects as prizes should 

 wish that these should form more lasting memorials of the 

 event than mere money prizes can ; and we conceive that the 

 prizes arranged in some conspicuous position in the Show 

 would form no insignificant feature both of beauty and of 

 interest in the Exhibition. As wo understand many of the 

 prizes are already purchased, it would add much to the interest 

 attaching to them, were they to be exhibited in a group at one 

 of the exhibitions of the Eoyal Horticultural Society in London 

 during the season. 



^ A WORK that has run through so many editions as Mr. 



Eivers's " Kose Amateur's Guide," does not require any further 

 notice than the mere fact, that the ninth has just been issued ; 

 and we have no doubt but this new edition o.f a work which 

 has contributed so much pleasure and instruction to so large 

 a class of readers will meet with as gi-eat success and as hearty 

 a welcome as its predecessors have done. 



Mr. John Haythorn, late of Wollaton, died at Notting- 

 ham on Sunday, the 10th inst., aged 8.3 years. The deceased 

 was head gardener to three Lords Middleton at Wollaton Park, 

 near Nottingham. He was a Corresponding Member of the Eoyal 

 Horticultural Society, and for several years a subscriber to the 

 Gardeners' Benevolent Institution. Ten years ago he left Wol- 

 laton, and has since resided at Nottingham, and died there at 

 the house of his eldest son, the manufacturer of hexagon net. 

 He was married more than sixty years, and survived his wife 

 ouly twenty weeks. He' was the father of eleven children, of 

 whom five only are living. His sixth son, the Eev. Francis 

 Haythorn, was curate at Leiston a short time before he died. 



On the evening of the 6th inst. a deputation waited on 



Mr. Simpson, gardener to Lady Maria Molyneux, Stoke Farm, 

 Slou^^h, and, in the name of the young men who had served 



