276 



JOtJENAL OF HOKTICtlLTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ April 9, 18G3. 



grinations. Tbe best instruction may often be gathered from 

 mistakes, as the soundest wisdom is gathered from failure. 



Since I msy appear to bave promulgated a theory recklessly 

 and vnthont due consideration, I may, perhaps, be pei-mitted to 

 give a brief rcsiimr of my mode of reasoning, which led me to 

 the conclusion which I had the boldness to submit to the public 

 through the columns of the Journal. In respect to inhalation 

 or absorption — for thongh the terms are different in animal, I 

 have yet to learn that they are not synonymous in vegetable 

 physiology, inasmuch as in the vegetable kingdom both are 

 carried on by the same m-gans of respiration, while in animals 

 inhalation is by the lungs, and absorption independent 

 of them, except indirectly. Now, as to noxious or poisonous 

 gases, my view is that excess is poison, and therefore noxious. 

 As there is such a great analogy and harmony of operation 

 between the vegetable and animal kingdoms, I think I am not 

 unreasonable if I lay the latter nndcr tribute for examples, and 

 so reason by induction. Excess, then, is poison, both as taken 

 into the syetcm by liquid and solid constituents for its support, 

 and also in the shape of vitiated air or noxious gas inhaled by 

 respiration. In the former I will only instance the connnon 

 mussel, and in the latter the extrication of a combination of 

 gases, primarily carbonic acid, resultant from the burning of 

 charcoal. A death resulting from either of these is death by 

 poison, and in this case there must be something noxious. 

 Neither is the irainediate inhalation of noxious gas absolntely 

 necessary to constitute animal poisoning. By the important 

 Innotions of res))iratJon the arteri»lisation of the blood is 

 effected. This function failing, then commences the work of 

 poisoning by the jienetration and circulation of venous blood 

 acting on the nervous and muscular textures of the body, the 

 venous blood itself being a poison of the most deadly kind. 

 This poisoning takes place if the animal is placed in vacuo, or 

 in an irrespirable gas, as nitrogen. Suffocation and asphyxia are 

 the terms commonly applied when an animal dies from an ex- 

 cess of noxious gas, but it is in reality poisoned. Here, then, 

 are ray reasons for considering excess poison ; and if the excess 

 is in a gaseous form, it follows that it must be a noxious gas. 



I will now Btep into the vegetable kingdom. Plants, I assume, 

 possess organs of respiration, by which they inhale or absorb 

 atmospherical constituents for assimilation and support. On 

 the authority of the Editors plants would seem to possess a 

 powei' of selecljou, and to apply only those elements which are 

 essential to their welfare. This is new to me, and I do not for 

 a moment hesitate to acknowledge and admit my ignorance. 

 Here they po8.sess an advantage over the animal kingdom. Ey 

 what law this power of selection is effected and governed I am 

 also ignorant. If by the law of compensation, I should have 

 thought they would have the power to resist excess. This it 

 appears, by that excellent work of refeience " The Cottage 

 Gardener's Dictitmary," they are unable to do. According to 

 that book, hotbeds sometimes liave the air within them con- 

 taminated by carbonic acid, causing injury to the plants by 

 an excess of acid which they are not able to digest. •' Digest " 

 would imply pre- absorption ; if so, it seems to me 'that they 

 absorb an excess which injures them, which excess of gas is 

 consequently noxious. 



During the past summer a gentleman, a few miles from here, 

 in order to destroy the red spider had a quuntity of sulphur 

 burned in hi.'i greenhouse. Tliis not only killed the red spider 

 but also every plant in the house, and every leaf of the Vines 

 also. My opinion, and 1 submit it was a natural one, and it was 

 endorsed by abler men than myself, was that death here re- 

 • suited from an excess of sulphurous acid absorbed by the 

 leaves. This appears to be erroneous. Strictly speaking the 

 Vines may bo said to have been suffocated, and have died from 

 want of gasfs which they could not ab-^orb, or by the retention 

 of gases which they could not transpi.e or liberate. What is 

 this but poisoning by gases previously absorbed becoming 

 noxious, just on the principle of venous blood in the animal 

 becoming poison from not being arterialised ? If a jdaut like 

 an animal is placed in irrespirable gas, I submit it is to all 

 intents and purposes poisoned by its own constituents pre- 

 viously absorbed by its roots and leaves, and that part of it 

 which is gaseous btcjming noxious gas. 



I will refrain from entering further into this, as I think I 

 have said enough to make it understood what I meant in my 

 previous article. There I may have wrongly expressed myself, 

 but the results are the same, and are for all practical pur- 

 poses applicable to the case. In this article I may but have 

 made a still greater parade of my ignorance, and my temerity 

 may be answered by another rap on the knuckles, or, perhaps 



this time by the bastinado. Well, be it so ; I will try and sub- 

 mit to it peacefully, since I know it will be inflicted mercifully. 

 Feeling that this is a subject not exactly of a kind suited to 

 your colnmus. I am unwilling to put pressure on space which 

 might be devoted to more practical and matter-of-fact subjects ; 

 I shall therefore try and not be tempted to enter farther into 

 the matter. — J. W. 



[We should, under any circumstances, readily admit onr ex- 

 cellent eonrespondent's explanation ; but we do so the more 

 readily because his explanation shows where he was wrong, and 

 why we said we differed from him. He R.ssumed, and still 

 assumes, that suffocation is the same as poisoning. If so, the 

 man who is hung is poisoned ! Now, tmquestionably, this 

 similarity is not admitted. Suffocation is the exclusion of the 

 gas needful for a plant's or animal's life. Poisoning, on the 

 other hand, is the actual admission of something, whether by 

 root, leaf, or mouth, injurious or fatal to the plant or animal. 

 If a plant is plunged into an atmosphere containing a great ex- 

 cess of either carbonic acid or solphnrous acid, arising from 

 burning snlphur, it is killed by suffocation. It does not inhale 

 either of the gases, and in the case of the sulphurous acid the 

 very texture of the leaves' epidermis is destroyed. The same 

 power of rejection is possessed by the spongioles of the root- 

 lets. It has been shown by actual experiment, that when two 

 or three salts were dissolved in one water and the roots of a 

 plant placed in it, they absorbed one or two of the salts and 

 totally rejected the other. That leaves have the power of 

 selecting the gas or gases beneficial to the plant, has this evi- 

 dence : 31. Saussure grew the Lesser Periwinkle (Vinca minor), 

 in a vessel containing, in round numbers, 21'2 parts azote, 

 56 parts oxygen, and 22 carbonic acid. The plant absorbed all 

 the carbonic acid, but did not diminish the other two gases. 

 I What is said in the " Cottage Gardener's Dictionary " is in 

 I no way contradictory of our opinion. The carbonic acid may 

 , be to a certain extent increased beyond the proportion usuaDy 

 pr»ent in the atmosphere, and yet be inhaled by the plant, 

 ( and even with apparent benefit for awhile ; but it is injurious 

 ! if long continued. So in the case of man ; he can breathe an 

 atmosphere containing an excess of oxygen. It increases the 

 rapidity of his pxilse, intensifies the colour in his cheeks, but 

 hurried respiration, debihty, and insensibility soon occur. — 

 I Eds.] 



' double-blossojmed peach fruitful. 



1 I HAVE sent to-day a branch of the double-bloesomed Peach 



I for your inspection. We have here a fine standard of it now in 

 beauty, but I have not sent it for its flowering properties so 



; much as its fruiting. Last season I gathered six dozen of 



j Peaches from it all ripe, and several dishes were sent to my 



! employer's table, and pronounced very good. 



[ The tree stands in quite an open situation, but. nothwith- 

 standing that, it stood the last frost in May, while others on a 

 south wall lost nearly all their fruit. As I do not think this a 

 common occurrence I thought it might be worthy of notice. — 



i E. Chiitt, Oatlands Par]:, Walton-on-Tliamcs. 



I [Although more numerously petalled than is usual in a 

 Peach blossom, yet each flower of the specimen sent has per- 



I feet stamens and pistil. We once had in Essex a maiden 



; seedUng standard Peach tree, and it bore fruit for several 

 years.] 



PROPAGATION OF CENTAUREA CANDIDISSIMA. 



Ant one without difficulty may secure a stock to propagate 

 from, by taking up in autumn as many plants as will be required 

 for cuttings, and treating them in the following manner : Lift 

 the plants by the end of October or early in November, pick off' 

 the dead leaves, and pot in soil consisting of about equal parts 

 of loam and dung from an old Mushroom bed or hotbed, with 

 a little sand. Then water them, place them in a late vinery 

 or Peach ho\!se, and through the winter treat like Scarlet 

 Pelargoniums. 



About the middle of January place them in a warmer situ- 

 ation to produce growth for propagation. As soon as they are 

 growing freely pick out the tops ; they will soon push numerous 

 side shoots, which will be fit for cuttings by the beginning of 

 March — quite soon enough to begin ; and if the following direc- 

 tions be adhered to no difficulty will be met with in obtaining 

 by the end of May a fine stock of plants for bedding-out or for 

 pot culture. 



Into saucers such as are in use in most gardens put about 



