Fobraorj 20, lS7i ] 



JOUENAIj of HOBXICULTUaE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



133 



the ground is tolerably level, so that a eight can be obtained 

 by placing stakes at regular distances in a line with those first 

 fixed. In doing this there ought to be two persons engaged, 

 one to place the poles while the other takes the sight from the 

 first two poles put down. After fixing upon the length of this 

 wall the nest thing is to strike out the liiie for the wall that is 

 to run from east to west, or the north wall, which ought to 

 proceed at right angles to it. In order to make sui'o of this, 

 instead of trusting to the eye alone, it will be found by working 

 out a simple problem in practical geometry. 



The accompanying figure (./(;/. 1) will give the method. The 

 line A B is 2 inches long, and for the purpose in view we will 

 say that it represents 20 feet, or the wall running from south 

 to north as above described. Extend the line 1 inch, or 10 feet 

 beyond b, and take that length as a radius, and describe an arc 

 touching at points c and d. The width from c to d is equal to 

 one side of the figm-e. Now take three parts, or 15 feet of this 

 width, and from points c and d describe the arcs at c, then 

 draw a line from e through the intersection at c, and it will give 

 you the direction the north wall ought to take to be at right 

 angles with a b. Proceed in the same manner to find the course 

 of the other walls, and the square will be completed. 



The above describes the formation of /ii/. 1 in my article 

 No. 5 (page 121) ; for Jhjs. 2 and 4, which are oblong instead 



of square and the walls proceeding at right angles to each 

 other, the same rale may be adopted, the only difference being 

 that in the former the north and south walls must be extended 

 to the desired length towards the west, and in the latter the 

 east and west walls towards the south. 



Fig. 3 (page 121) shows some difference from the others as 

 its shape indicates, but only in the position of the south wall. 

 Now, as before stated, by adopting this shape it is intended 

 that there should be no part of the garden within the walls on 

 which the sun could not shine at some time on a clear day 

 during the summer months, therefore it is necessary to be par- 

 ticular that this object is secured by giving the waU its proper 

 position. Assuming that the other walls in this garden are 

 placed east, west, and north, and that the west wall is GO feet 

 long, the east wall ought only to be one-thii-d the length of 

 that, or 20 feet ; then if the south wall starts at the extremity 

 of the west wall and joins the east wall at b, that will give the 

 direction requned. Fiij. 2 will illustrate my meaning, and it 

 ■will be seen that the length of the wall a e is considerably 

 greater than if on the square, which will be considered an ad- 

 vantage by some. — Thomas Eecoed. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



A humour having got abroad that a number of the Fellows 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society had formed themselves into 

 a body to Institute a suit in Chancery against the present 

 Council, we have received the following communication from 

 good authority intimating what the real proceedings are. It 

 is certainly very desirable for all parties that any doubt as to 

 the responsibility of the late and present Councils should be 

 set at rest. 



" Allow me to inform your readers that the measure now 

 contemplated by some Fellows of the Eoyal Horticultural 



Society for the purpose of deciding the legality question is 

 not a suit in Cltam-enj, but a very different and more simple 

 proceeding. The Lord Chancellor has a pecuUar and especial 

 jurisdiction in such cases, and it is to him that the appeal will 

 be made. The situation has now become an intolerable one, 

 and the gentlemen alluded to have determined that the ques- 

 tion shall be settled one way or the other. — E. T. C." 



I AM not going to inflict another long letter upon you, but 

 must beg for a small space to answer objections raised to the 

 guinea subscription plan. At the Wednesday meeting I was 

 placed near four good specimens of their respective branches 

 of the profession, two being well-known nurserymen and two 

 first-class gardeners ; one of the former suggested that I was 

 trusting too much to gardener subscribers. As one of the gar- 

 deners spoke out well for his class, I left them to settle the 

 matter between them, but afterwards had the objection raised 

 more fully. I will now answer it. 



I never contemplated the social position of the Society being 

 lowered, or that the renovated Society should consist in a very 

 large part of gardeners, though I believe that a considerable 

 accession of these mere working bees would greatly strengthen 

 it. A head gardener, to keep his situation in a large place, must 

 be a superior man, and it is only the best of these (such as 

 those who work so actively on our Committees), who would 

 take enough interest in general horticulture to make them 

 afford the guinea annual subscription. In very many cases 

 their influence would make their employers join the Society. 

 Judging from the letters that come to me, the idea of the 

 guinea Fellowship has been most warmly take i up by people 

 in as high social station as that of the present Fellows, and 

 they talk of influencing their friends, presumably of the same 

 class, to join with them. 



I see the acting Council has published in extenso in one of 

 your contemporaries the Society's accounts for the past year. 

 Let anyone look through these, bearing in mind that much of 

 the cost of Chiswick goes for furnishing South Kensington, 

 and judge for himself whether a Society with the guinea sub- 

 scription of 5000 Fellows would not have far greater working 

 power than the Society in its present state has with the much 

 larger income, of which the lion's share goes to keep up a 

 square for the Kensingtoniaus. — Geokge F. Wilson, Heather- 

 bank, Weyhridije Heath. 



I AM sure it would be very satisfactory indeed to be informed 

 whether there is to be a grand provincial Show of the Koyal 

 Horticultural Society this year or not. Yes or no, one way or 

 the other. If the former, why we can all wait for the schedule ; 

 and if the latter, there would be an end of the matter. It ought 

 to be settled one way or the other. Even supposing a show to 

 be decided upon, it will occupy a very considerable time before 

 the schedule can be in the hands of exhibitors, and it would be 

 both a mistake and a hardship to spring a schedule upon them 

 at the eleventh hour, when in many cases proper preparation 

 would be impossible. — T. M. Shuttlewokth, F.E.H.S. 



NEW BOOK. 



The Potato Disease and its Prevention. By C. Dimmick, 

 Nurseryman, Eyde, Isle of Wright. London : Houlston and 

 Sons. 

 We have received several pamphlets on the same subject, 



but not one characterised by the good sense of Mr. Dimmick's. 



We wUl give a few extracts, and recommend the entire pamphlet 



to our readers. 



" After long and careful investigation I came to the following 

 conclusions : — 



"Ist. That the Potato being a native of a dry, warm, sunny 

 country, it requii'es extraordinary care to preserve it in a state 

 of health in more northerly regions. 



" 2ad. That it is a disease and not a blight. 



" 3rd. That the constant mbbing-off of the shoots of the 

 seed tubers, which had been practised year after year, had bo 

 diminished the vital energies of the Potato, that its constitution 

 has become weakened and debilitated thereby, and rendered 

 increasingly susceptible. And that the constant ill-treatment 

 and high cultivation it has been subjected to, combined with 

 the sudden changes of our variable climate, have brought it 

 into a state of disease. 



" It is reasonable to conclude that the laws of Nature may be 

 interfered with in a vegetable as well as in an animal, and in 

 my experience I have found how remarkably Nature's laws have 



