October 7, 1860. ) 



JOURNAL Of HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



277 



SMOKE, AND ITS EFFECTS ON PLANTS. 



F the various pajjers read at tlie Horticultural 

 Congi-ess at Manchester, there was one on 

 the efl'ects of smoke on vegetation, which 

 deserves further inquiry, as smoke is an 

 evil against wliich the best-du'ected slcill can 

 contend with only partial success, and not- 

 withstanding the laws general and local bear- 

 ing upon the nuisance, it is still on the in- 

 crease. The Legislature may compel manu- 

 facturers to employ furnaces consuming their 

 own smoke, but the chimneys of private dwelling-houses 

 send it forth in quantities which yearly increase with the 

 population and the accumulation of wealth. It is, too, 

 somewhat unfortunate that in those places where steps 

 have been taken to abate the evil, or at least to draw 

 attention to it. the cause of vegetation has been but little 

 urged in comparison to what has been said of human com- 

 fort and general appearances ; even the claims of archi- 

 tecture have been put forth in advance of those of vegeta- 

 tion, but, fortunately, where injury is done by the blacken- 

 ing smoke, its etiects being more visible on the vegetable 

 world, those complaining have in certain cases obtained 

 damages when their case has been investigated in a court 

 of law. The number of suli'erers who obtain redress in 

 this way is so small that the majority of us are content to 

 grumble at the grievance as one which cannot be helped. 

 So, in spite of all that has been said and promised to be 

 done, the smoke nuisance goes on increasing. Possibly 

 some day a less costly and troublesome mode of diminish- 

 ing its evils may be found, and its application to dwelling- 

 house fires enforced by law. as it is now in some cases in 

 those of factories and steam-engines ; but until something 

 of the kind be done, we must be content to try to mitigate 

 the miscluef by whatever means we can. 



The injuries caused by smoke to vegetation have been 

 long known, and remedial measures of many kinds sug- 

 gested, but with little effect ; in fact, the only practical 

 cure for the evil is to divest the smoke of its hurtful 

 tendencies, and to some extent this has been done, but 

 not until much damage has been inflicted, not by coal 

 smoke alone, which of itself is by no means so deleterious 

 as many suppose, but when that smoke is tainted with the 

 fumes of poisonous cliemicals. Witness a plantation of 

 fine large trees, mentioned by Mr. Green, near AVidncs, on 

 the borders of the Mersey, oiie-half of them or more stand- 

 ing like skeletons, the others fast approaching that con- 

 dition, presenting a spectacle that cannot be looked at 

 without some feeling of awe, so desolate is the scene. 

 Even here vegetation of all kinds does not sutler alike, 

 some plants struggle to keep up an appearance of life, 

 while others are still less affected ; but Mr. Green having 

 described this, it need not be referred to again. The rising 

 town of Widues can hardly be expected to possess a 

 horticultural society ; on the contrary, vegetation shrinks 

 from its borders, and its smoke- stained walls can never 

 hope to be draped in the cheerful garb of floral beauty in 

 the shape of climbers, or clad with the more sombre jet 



No. H5.— Vol. XVH., New Seeies. 



equally interesting Ivy. The smoke and vapours of its 

 chemical works, however purified by all the efforts of skill 

 and science, continue in some degree to escape, all the 

 modes adopted to prevent injurious results being ineffectual. 

 The evil, however, is certainly mitigated, and perhaps 

 may eventually be more so, but the volatile character of 

 some of the ingredients employed leaves small hopes of 

 entirely remedying so subtle an evil. In the early days 

 of such manufactories litigation often followed damages 

 done to farming and other crops by the smoke emitted 

 from chimneys, where soda and similar substances were 

 manufactured. The leaning that jurymen had thirty or 

 more years ago towards the suli'erer is similarly carried 

 out at the present day by those engaged in assessing 

 damages for a railway accident, and the object, if not the 

 justice, is certainly good. As regards the manufacture 

 of articles causing a poisonous vapour, it sharpened in- 

 vention, and caused the adoption of preventive measures ; 

 and in the case of railway accidents, heavy damages now 

 and then are followed by more care on tlie part of the 

 companies' servants. Probably coal smoke may eventually 

 be no longer allowed to pollute tlie air, and shrubs and 

 trees may again rejoice in that natural clearness which 

 in the neighbourhood of towns they have so long been 

 strangers to. 



Smoke tells most disastrously on evergreen shrubs ajid 

 trees, for those which are deciduous shed their foliage 

 when smoke commences to be more abundant — namely, in 

 the winter, and they do not put forth leaves again until the 

 evil is somewhat abated in spring. Even in factories 

 where the consumption of coal and other fuel is the same 

 all the year round, the higher state of the barometer pre- 

 vents the smoke doing so much harm as at other times, 

 so that it is not unusual to see such plants as Wistaria 

 sinensis, Laburnum, and Virginian Creeper, looking fresh 

 and well against walls in the heart of London in May and 

 the early part of June. The stems of these plants, how- 

 ever, are crusted deeply enough with tlie sooty matter. 

 Some annuals of robust growth also thrive better than 

 others in similar places. I have seen 'Jropreolums grow- 

 ing in very ci-owded quarters, and have also seen them 

 within a stone's throw of the ocean : but ornamental shrubs 

 capable of withstanding tbe smoke and dust of great cities 

 are few indeed. The Auonba is the best, and the appear- 

 ance it presents there difl'ers widely from that which it 

 has in healthy country di.stricts where the soil is of a 

 suitable kind. Amongst trees that endure ordinary coal 

 smoke best the Lime and Ash are as good as any, being 

 both late in coming into leaf, and early in shedding their 

 foliage : but the number of trees and shrubs that thrive 

 well under such circumstances is so small that the most 

 common are acceptable when they can be coaxed to grow. 

 I have seen the common Elder made a pet of where scarcely 

 anything else would live, and many a dull dusky corner is 

 brightened up liy a few plants of the common Marigold 

 planted here and there without regard to order or arrange- 

 ment ; in fact, robust-growing annuals seem to do best 

 under such circumstances. 



Those having the management of shrubberies and similar 



No. 1037.- Vol. XLIL. Old Seeies. 



