2U 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 12, 1865. 



Bee it amalgamated wtli the much older society, the Caledonian 

 Horticultural, and that both might f^o on together in a career of 

 prosperity. 



Mr. Thoiison briefly returned thanks for the kind manner in which 

 his name had been mentioned by the right hou. Chairman. With 

 reference to amalgamation with the Caledonian Horticultural Society, 

 he might be allowed to say that he should be delighted to see that 

 event take place. The only difiicnlty was the circumBtanee that the 

 Cftledouiau was under a charter, and rules and regulations entirely 

 different from the Edinburgh Society, and rightly or wrongly the 

 practical gardeners considered the machinery of the old society too 

 complicated. On the other hand, the Kdiuhurgh Society, though it 

 bad existed for only eight years, had had a series of most successful 

 shows, crowned by the great show which they had had to-day. There 

 was no point in the show he regarded with more satisfaction than that 

 they had been able to attract to the Scottish capital so many men 

 eminent in horticulture. The right honourable Chairman had taken 

 a great amount of credit to Scottish gardeners. Now, he bad lived a 

 long time in England, and he had had very able English gardeners 

 under bini ; and there were English gardeners in this room who were 

 second to none he knew in Scotland. There were florists and nursery- 

 men in England who were not suq>assfcd in the world. They had 

 some gentlemen present on this occasion whose names were familiar 

 in their mouths as household words. They had present among them 

 Mr. Turner, Mr. Paul, Mr. Standish, Mr. Moore, and many others, 

 •whom they were all delighted to see, and to give them a most cordial 

 reception. He begged to propose *' The health of the Strangers 

 present, with the name of Mr. Turner of Slough." 



Mr. Turner retunied thanks, and offered, in the name of the 

 horticulturists of England, as cortUal a welcome to the Great Interna- 

 tional Show there, in May next, as they had on this occasion received 

 from their Scottish brethren. 



Mr. C.uiPBELL SwiNTON proposed " The health of the Judges." 

 The very excellent show had, he said, imposed nil the more arduous 

 duties on the Judges, whose impartiality, assiduity, aud skill would be 

 acknowledged even by those who had not succeeded in obtaining their 

 awards. He regretted the absence of Dr. Hogg, who bad done more 

 for the culture aud nomenclature of fruit than probably any other 

 living man, hut he hod the pleasure of coni)ling with this toast the 

 names of Mr. Moore, well known as a leading authority in horticultural 

 literature, and Mr. Paul, a gentleman who was by universal consent 

 acknowledged to be one of the most distinguished florists in the king- 

 dom, and whose writings had for a considerable period acquired the 

 reputation of standard works. 



Mr. Moore, Chelsea, briefly returned thanks. 



Mr. William Paul, of Waltham Cross, in responding to the 

 toast, said that the show of fruits was the tinest he had ever seen. 

 and both fruits aud flowers were in some instances so near in point of 

 merit that they had taxed the power of the Judges to the utmost. He 

 hoped that the exhibitors were satisfied, and could assure them that 

 the Judges had worked honestly at their task and brought their best 

 powers to the work. Perhaps it was too much to expect that all 

 should be satisfied, as cultivators and exhibitors were from familiar 

 acquaintance so well versed in all the beauties of their own pro- 

 ductions while striving to correct their defects, that they were apt to 

 over-estimate the one and not dwell sufticieutly on the other. Exhi- 

 bitors often viewed their plants as parents did their children, and we 

 all know how many wonderful children there are in the world in 

 proportion to the number of woudeifnl men. The number of good 

 things had not suq>rised him so much as the thorough absence of all 

 that was bad, aud the lowest prize was. in his opinion, a prize to be 

 proud of. He thought the thanks of horticulturists were especially 

 due to the Managers of the Show fur the business-like manner in 

 which they had conducted it, aud also to those who had aided the 

 movement by their money and inliuencc. Perhaps there was no 

 country in the world where there were so many rich people as in 

 Great Britain, and certainly none where that great wealth was so 

 freely bestowed to promote all that was useful and good, and calcu- 

 lated to improve the taste of the community at large. He could not 

 help contrasting the state of horticulture now aud thirty years ago, 

 and congi-atulating the present generation on the progress that had 

 been made. Thirty years ago Knight aud Loudon were the gieat 

 names in gardening, and Paxton aud Lindley were the risiug stars. 

 There was then no *' Gardeners' Chronicle. ' no "Journal of Hor- 

 ticulture." Dr. Hogg had not written his "Manual of Fruits," ond 

 Mr. Moore had not given us those faithful and minute descriptions of 

 Ferns and other plants which rendered the pencil of the artist almost 

 superfluous. We had then no Hybrid Pei-jjetual Roses ; few of the 

 present most beautiful varieties of flowers ; no British Queen Straw- 

 berries ; no Duchess of Buccleuch Grapes : no Castle Kennedy Figs. 

 Yet great as had been the improvement in the jiast. he looked forward 

 to even a more glorious future. The urt of cultivation had been 

 pushed almost to its limits, but there was a wide and almost 

 untrodden field opening before them ; he alluded to the improve- 

 ment of races by hyhriiUsation and cross-breeding. In order to obtaiu 

 all the results that were derivable from this source, the education 

 of the rising generation of gardeners and nurserymen should he more 

 systematically pursued. In addition to the ordinary routine of edu- 

 cation, a special education was demanded. The rising generation 

 ehouid be taught to obsen-e facts correctly, to note all the phenomena 



of nature, to collect and classify instances, and to reason accurately 

 upon them. They should he taught to go from the garden to the 

 study, and from the study to the garden, to collect facts in the one 

 and digest them in the other for a croM-ning act to reduce their con- 

 clusions to practice. One word more. He had often regretted that 

 there was not a stronger fellow-feeling between the scientific and 

 practical workers in this great field of nature. The scientific man was 

 too apt to look coldly on the practical man, and the latter to return 

 the compliment sometimes with interest. He could not understand 

 the necessity of this. To his comprehension it was both unchristian 

 asd unphilosophical. He looked on the two arms of the service as 

 members of the same body : although each might accomplish — nay, 

 had accomplished — great things alone, he thought that the union of 

 forces would be productive of far greater results. They had accom- 

 plished a gi'cat deal by their exhibition that day ; would they take up 

 this new work ? He believed by so doing they would do much good in 

 their own day, and bo remembered with gratitude in the future. 



The ''Horticultural Press " was then proposed by Mr. Thomsoir, 

 and the " Competitors, successful and unsuccessful," coupled with the 

 name of Mr. Mereilith, by Professor Maclagan. Mr. Meredith in 

 replying expressed a hope that many of the Scotch gardeners who had 

 competed so successfully would visit the Great International Show in 

 London, in May next. Mr. Harry Yeitch proposed the health of the 

 Chairman, and spoke in highly eulogistic terms of the Exhibition, than 

 which he had never seen a better. 



CONSTRUCTmO A SMALL GEEENHOUSE. 



I THINK of having one about 12 feet by 8 feet. Would a flue 

 work well made about 9 inches square, with a hollow space on 

 each side, carried once round the house below the floor, and 

 then continued above the floor along the back and one end (not 

 the fireplace end) by means of round nine-inch earthenware- 

 pipes ? Would it draw sufficiently '! And would the back and 

 end get more than their proportion of heat ? My object iu 

 having it so long is to make the coal do as much work as if 

 used in connection with hot-water apparatus. 



Your Manual on "Greenhouses," says, at page 13, "The 

 angle of the roof is best when low — say about 30°, that green- 

 house plants always do best when the roof is pitched low. A 

 higher an(;le is apt to draw the plants too much on one side." 

 At page 2'J, it says, " An angle of 45° combines more useful 

 properties than any other. For very early things the glass 

 should approach more nearly the perpendicular — say 25° to 35°. 

 For gaining most power in summer, the angle should be larger 

 — say 50° to 65°. Iu other words, the front would have to be 

 raised, so that the glass would be flatter." In one place 25° to 

 35° is called " low," or flat, and in the other it is called nearly 

 perpendicular, while 50° to 05° is called low or flat, as though 

 in one place the reckoning is made from the meridian, and in 

 the other from the horizon ; and after all a margin of about 

 20'' is left between what is considered the best angle in the 

 different places. Will you please give me a definite figure ? 



Can you tell me whether Beard's houses let in rain or not ? 

 It appears to me that the glass being laid edge to edge, even 

 though ground true at the edges, would let iu water, if only by 

 capillary attraction. — Wiiekin. 



[We have no doubt that the flue will answer the purpose ad- 

 mirably, if the top of the flue forms part of the floor. The 

 hollow space on each side of the flue will also be an advantage. 

 We think you will have quite enough of heat without the con- 

 tinuation of nine-inch earthcnware-pipes above the floor ; but 

 that you can please yourself about. There will be no difliculty 

 in the flue drawing, provided the bars of your furnace are from 

 20 to 24 inches below the level of the bottom of the flue, if 

 more, so much the better, and the flue rather rises than sinks 

 to the point where it enters the chimney. 



We have frequently explained how the difficulty is caused 

 about the angles of roofs, according to the side of the quad"- 

 rant used. The angle of 45° is the same in both modes of 

 reckoning, and the first part of your letter just shows that what 

 is tei'med the English mode of reckoning, is adopted when it 

 speaks of a house from 25° to 35° getting more nearly to the 

 perpendicular than 45°. In the other place, where an angle 

 of 25° is spoken of as low and flat, it shows that the French 

 mode of reckoning is resorted to, that low roof of 25° being 

 identical with our flat room of 75°, or just a little more steep 

 than a common garden frame. Some time ago figures and ex- 

 planations were given, illustrative of the whole affair, but there 

 is such confusion, that the context in the meantime must 

 supply the chief information, as to what system the writer 

 adopts. For ourselves, we always reckon from the perpendi- 

 cular line of the quadi-ant. and count on the arc beginning at 1° 



