458 General Notices. 



Bottom Heat. — The following article, by Dr. Lindley, appeared in a late 

 number of the Gardeners' Chronirle, and, although not quite so applicable 

 to our climate as that of Great Britain, still the hints which it contains are 

 of sufficient interest to claim the attention of all cultivators. Every gardener 

 is aware of the importance of bottom heat in the growth of many kinds of 

 plants ; but the question is, how many other sorts are there to which it has 

 not been applied, that may not be benefited by it? 



One of the most important points to which modern gardeners have had 

 their attention turned is that of bottom heat. It is, to a great extent, the 

 cause of their eminent success in some branches of horticulture ; and the 

 tim§ is coming when it will be looked upon as the foundation of all practice 

 whatsoever. As matters now stand, the subject is only considered specially 

 in a few cases, such as pine apples, melons and cucumbers, and in the ope- 

 rations of seed-sowing and cutting-striking. But it really concerns every 

 plant that is known ; more, perhaps, than even top-heat. Those for which 

 it is so carefully studied are only extreme cases, but they point the way to 

 general rules. We may be sure that, if one plant is so constituted that its 

 roots require to lie in a medium of a particular temperature, all other plants 

 will also have some temperature which suits their roots better than any 

 other. This is acknowledged to be so with their branches and leaves ; and 

 it is certainly quite as true as respects their roots. 



We might be certain that this opinion is well founded, even in the ab- 

 sence of direct proof, because we know that the aim of cultivation is to imi- 

 tate, as exactly as possible in all respects, the conditions under which plants 

 naturally grow. If in its natural state, where it arrives at the greatest per- 

 fection of which it is susceptible, a plant is continually exposed to a certain 

 temperature of the earth, to another of the air, to a particular amount of 

 light, of humidity, of atmospheric pressure, it cannot be doubted that the 

 first business of the gardener is to imitate those peculiarities by all the means 

 at his command ; having done that, he may proceed to stall-feed his plants, 

 till they resemble the bullocks at the Smithfield Club ; but to cram them till 

 he has secured their perfect health, is like overfeeding a savage debarred 

 from his natural exercise and occupations. 



A very interesting proof of the advantage of attending to this subject is to 

 be found in our columns of last week, (p. 543.) It is there shown that, in 

 Mr. Purdey's garden at Bayswater, a vinery has been filled with wood and 

 fruit in little more than two years, by merely warming the border in which 

 the vines grow. It is said that the latter made shoots thirty-seven feet long, 

 strong, short-jointed, and well ripened in the first year. The grapes, which 

 we have seen, are excellent, and were ripe in the beginning of August ; so 

 that they must have been forced in good time. We fully anticipate bunches 

 from this house which shall equal the largest of Syria. Mr. Purdey has 

 obtained this result by applying artificial heat to his vine-border, so as to 

 insure its having a suitable temperature at the season of growth. In gen- 

 eral, vines are treated as a man would be, if exposed to a steam bath with 

 his feet in ice. The manner of heating that has been adopted at Bayswa- 

 ter has the fault of being too expensive. Let Polmaise be substituted for it, 



