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JOtJKNAI. OP HORTICnLTUBE AHD COTTAGE OARDENEK. 



r luj 1, uai. 



means thuu by seej. Somo eeods remain (or a long time 

 attached to the plant tliat jiroducea them, and some, though 

 oast off, are still fonn'l in numbers enclosed in u shcuth, cap- 

 sule, pod, or iithor covering, from which the.v are liberated 

 when the proper season arrives. I will not, however, follow 

 this subject further, but will now make a few romarlui on 

 another feature peculiar to some seeds. 



The modes in whicli the seeds of plants are disseminated are 

 not less various and wonderful than the means for their pre- 

 servation. Some seeds are armed with a thorny substance, 

 rendering them formidable to the birds or animals that would 

 otherwise consume them ; some are also remlercd capable of 

 being transported to long distances, either by their extreme 

 lightness or by being furnished with a sort of substitute for 

 wings, as in the case of the common Thistle, which floats in 

 the air to long distances ; others attach themselves to animals, 

 as the seed of the Goose Grass, and may tlius be c;irried a long 

 way off ; while others, again, arc contained iu a sort of pod, 

 out of which they are jerked at the jiroper time to a consider- 

 able distance, as with the Balsam, Laburnum, and I'cllitory of 

 the wall. The dispersion of seeds is likewise effected by birds 

 and animals congregating at the place where they are produced ; 

 thus a bird carries off a Cherry to somo distant tree, cats the 

 pulp, and drops the stone. In addition to those glanced at, many 

 other natural modes of transit arc met with. 



We now come to the conditions necessary to insure a long 

 continuance of vitality iu seeds. Ground has been turned up 

 which there is every reason to believe has not been disturbed 

 for a century, and perhaps plants spring up in it without 

 having been sown there, leading to the inference that they had 

 been deposited there at some time, and, being excluded from 

 the air, could not germinate, but still were able to withstand 

 the decaying influences of the medium sunrounding them. 

 Seeds buried by the spade or plough very often appear after a 

 year or two, but as to whether it is true or not that certain 

 seeds have preserved their vitality for such long periods as 

 they are sometimes asserted to have done, I will not hazard an 

 opinion ; and there is some doubt whether those seeds yielded 

 by the mummy caverns in Upper Egypt were really as ancient 

 as the mummies themselves. 



I now come to the important subject of how to treat seeds 

 which we wish to turn to account, or rather in what way we 

 are to preserve and sow them so as to insure a successful 

 result. The latter is a question of sufficient importance to 

 demand a separate paper, and the former has been in somo 

 degree treated on in the remarks made on the natural means 

 by which seeds are preserved ; and if we follow as far as we 

 can the rules of Nature we cannot very well err. Some depar- 

 ture from them must of course be made, but let such be as 

 little as possible, and the result will most likely be successful. 

 These remarks, however, relate only to the preservation of 

 seeds, which, as objects of commerce, too often are subjected 

 to processes calculated to please the eye rather than promote 

 germination ; but the sooner that the latter become the para- 

 mount consideration the better. As the subject of sowing seeds 

 deserves more space than can be given in a single article, it 

 must be deferred till another time. — J. Robson. 



BLEEDING OF VINES. 



If a Vine shoot bleeds from the wound made by the knife 

 in pruning, if the cut has not been so made, let it be made 

 so as to leave an inch or two of stem above the bud. Cut 

 clean in a slanting direction as iu ordinary pruning ; then take a 

 Potato, and, cutting off a slice, press the Potato carefully upon 

 the shoot, so that the Potato may not split, but completely 

 cover the wound. The Vino will not afterwards bleed for more 

 than a few hours at the most. The sap of the Vine and juice 

 of the Potato seem to form a sort of starchy compound effec- 

 tually stopping up the pores of the shoot. The Potato must 

 not be removed until the leaves are growing vigorously, and, 

 therefore, elaborating the sap. 



f I have tried this remedy for the last two seasons, iu both 

 cases having had my Vinos pruned too late, and sometimes 

 have had the half of a Potato on every third spur, aud I have 

 never known it fail. This year I cut" down, about a fortnight 

 ago, young canes that were just breaking to within a few eyes 

 of the base, applied the Potato at once, and in none of the 

 three cases has any bleeding whatever occm-red. — Con.stant 

 Beadek, Lincoln. 



P.S. — The Potato should only be cut at the part at which 



the shoot is inserted. It would not do to use merely the 

 middle part of the Potato with both ends out ; at least, I hava 

 only tried it as I describe. 



MY NEW ORCHARD-HOUSE. 

 TiiK winter, now happily past, has been a remarkable one, 



if only for its high temperature and destructive storms. The 

 Channel Islands, situated as they are iu a large bay, the fonn 

 of which greatly influences the tidal wave, and lying at the ex- 

 treme edge of the vast European continent, while the open 

 Atlantic encircles their rocky shores, have experienced theil 

 full share of the dangerous winter gales. 



Guernsey, as the outlying island of the group, of medioia 

 size and elevation, is peculiarly disposed to develope the per- 

 nicious influences of contending land and sea ai-riul currents, 

 which, in their action on each other, tend to produce rotatory 

 storms of a destructive character. That of the 11th of January 

 was of this nature, and did considerable damage to the island 

 in consequence. It will, no doubt, be of interest to the readers 

 of this Journal if I describe some of its effects, and note chiefly 

 the dangers which the numerous vineries in the island imder- 

 went, and especially my own houses. These dangers arose 

 mainly from the cyclonic character of this awful storm. This 

 CDiisideration leads me to hope that some of the intelligent 

 writers in this Journal will devote more of the fruits of their 

 oxporienco for our benefit in such very important matters as 

 the ability of wood and glass to resist storms with a pressure 

 of more than 28 lbs. per square foot — that is to say, when 

 the pressure reaches 30 lbs. per square foot during frequent 

 squalls (of tolerably long duration too), that the danger to 

 which glass houses of the ordinary construction are exposed 

 must be enormous. If this happen, then, during a rotatory 

 storm, which tries all parts of the houses in succession, it is 

 evident that wo require all the appliances of science to pre- 

 serve them. I doubt, therefore, it a large span-roofed house 

 would have weathered the gale of the 11th of January during 

 the period when the house received the fullest force of the 

 air current ou its broadside. In such houses, therefore, wa 

 must mainly rely on extra solidity of construction, joined to the 

 advantages of a naturally well sheltered position. On this, and 

 on other points, however, experience and mechanical skill may 

 best decide. 



Living, as I do, in an island, which my friend Professor 

 Anstcd in his " Channel Islands " describes as the battle field 

 of all the blasts under heaven, and having had one large 

 orchard-house completely destroyed in a gale in 18C0, and the 

 new house just added much injured on the 11th of January, 

 these matters are of importance. Mr. Clay, of Hampton 

 Court, writes to me that his large house was several times 

 flooded by the Thames. This, by loosening the foundations, 

 could it have occurred with us, might have caused the destruc- 

 tion of all the buildings in even an ordinary gale. 



To understand, then, our risk, let me briefly describe the 

 situation of our houses, now seven in number. By the addi- 

 tion of the new orchard-house, which is a lean-to like all the 

 others, the whole now present three sides of a square, which 

 I consider to bo a form well calculated to resist ordinary gales 

 from the usual quarters. The fourth side (of shrubbery), 

 being on tlio quarter least exposed to damage, allows the 

 current of air to escape freely. We are thus only subject to 

 injury from the east, which, however, would be unsafe in many 

 other places. To the south and south-west, to the west and 

 north-west, all points whence proceed customary gales, we pre- 

 sent either the strong back walls of lean-to houses, or else, as in 

 the case of the new house, a front of glass framed in rafters of 

 extra strength, with thick stone walls for gables, and a high 

 back wall, at least 18 inches thick, which also protects the 

 upper side of the square. "We are sheltered naturally by an 

 adjacent hill, the elevation of which, however, at times causes 

 a plunging current, which those who live in valleys know to be 

 dangerous ; but the square is adapted to meet this, and the 

 open side is invaluable. The effects of this cold evaporating 

 current on vegetation are painfully perceptible. To the north 

 and north-east we show only solid walls, aud the dwelling- 

 house itself, continuing this side of the square, materially pro- 

 tects it. 



The strength of glass used is generally 18 ozs., most of 

 which comes from Belgium. The sizes vary from the largest 

 sizes in the old houses to much smaller in the new house, 

 which is most exposed. AVe experienced, however, during the 



