1.—1846.] 
THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. 5 
Being always in the habit of forcing my first Vinery 
very early, say the first of November, to have Grapes by 
aster, I find, however, this season, that my Vines are 
not going to produce any fruit, excepting a few poor look- 
ing bunches. I may mention that they are planted out- 
side, and I have a quantity of leaves and hot dung on 
the border to raise a slight heat in the soil, and to keep 
Offrain. I attribute the want of fruit to the backward- 
ness of the season, the wood not being properly ripened. 
In former years I have always had good crops consider- 
ing the early season of forcing. Has anybody else ex- 
Perienced this? Iam afraid mine will not be a solitary 
Instance this next season.—J. King. 
Bee Flowers.—Since I recommended the Melilotus 
leucantha (p.135) as a bee flower, I have received 
Several applicati pecting its cultivati It is 
biennial, and should be sown in March, or in the begin- 
ning of April, on a deep, rich, and dry loamy soil, in 
drills about 18 inches in width, and the plants should 
e thinned to 9 or 10 inches apart. It will grow from 
6 to 8 feet in height during the first summer, and from 
10 to 12 feet in the second. Ifsome plants of it are 
cut down to within two inches of the ground when about 
two feet in height, they will bloom later in the summer, 
and a succession may be had from June to November, 
Which will be frequented by thousands of bees during 
every fine day throughout the season. I saved some 
Seed during the past autumn, and shall have pleasure 
3n sending a packet of it to any of your apiarian readers 
Who may forward their names and address.— E. Briggs, 
Swainsied, near Bourn. 
Gooseberry Caterpillars. —May I ask “J. P.,” who 
States (p. 874) that he has failed in preventing cater- 
Pillars from attacking his Gooseberry trees by the 
application of soot, whether he acted upon the instruc- 
tons formerly given. Did he apply the soot in a fresh 
State when the buds were just opening on a damp morn- 
ing, when the young leaves were moist with dew? If 
e neglected any of these particulars, I cannot answer 
Or his success. When applied as recommended at 
P. 21, I have never found it to fail for upwards of 20 
years on a very extensive scale.— William May, Hope 
Nursery, Bedale, Yorkshire. 
Sulphur v. Rabbits.—About two years ago, while 
visiting a gentleman's seat in the north of England, my 
attention was arrested by seeing several men Stooping 
down at some rabbit holes, with something burning in 
their hands. On inquiry the men said they were “sul- 
phuring the rabbits,"  Sulphuring the rabbits !” said 
I; “What can that be?" The reply was, that the 
gentleman was going to give his farmers a day or two's 
Sport in hunting and shooting rabbits, and that when 
the holes are fumigated in this style, they will allow 
themselves to be run to death rather than enter them 
for several days afterwards, and the practice had been 
Carried out with perfect success. The manner in which 
this was effected was by having a rag thickly covered 
with sulphur paste ignited, and in each hole it was held 
as far as the arm would reach for about a minute. This 
year, when I planted out Dahlias, &c., in a place exposed 
O the destruction of vermin, I took the precaution to 
dust each plant all over with sulphur, and the ground 
Tound it. On going a few days afterwards to see how 
the plants were doing, I found most of them partly 
eaten ; and in order to try the efficacy of sulphur, I 
gave the remaining parts of the plants a thick covering 
With it, and in a short time again visited my nurselings, 
and was surprised to find hardly a vestige of them left ; 
the rabbits and hareshad eaten most of them down to the 
very earth, and it appeared to me that sulphur gave 
them a relish for the plants rather than otherwise. It 
had not the least effect in preventing their destruction. 
"ford. 
TO 
Ld 
„ Frogs and Toads not Viviparous—The frog is the 
first to deposit its spawn in the spring. The spring of 
the past year (1845) having been very backward, I dis- 
Covered none of that gelatinous substance full of black 
Specks, in ditches, till the 30th of March ; and what I 
en saw appeared to have been recently deposited. 
Put some of this into an inverted bell-glass of water, 
and when the sun shone upon the water the whole mass 
Tose to the surface. At first I was quite at a loss to 
account for this, but I soon found that it was occasioned 
by the little round Jumps of spawn expanding in the 
Centre, and consequently decreasing in their specific 
Bravity, Whatwas more curious, those lumps which were 
qebermost appeared above the water like transparent 
enses, exposing to the sun the round black eggs or 
germs of the future tadpoles. On the 2d of April those 
ee appeared like Onion seeds, then kidney-shaped, and 
© next day showed signs of life. On the day following, 
tee small tadpoles were wriggling about. As they ate 
peir way through the lumps of gelatinous substance, 
these filled with water, and began to sink while the full 
Ones rose and took their places. By this curious pro- 
cess the whole of the spawn was successively exposed to 
i e sun and hatched. The remaining substance, 
ike jelly, afforded the first food for the young tad- 
Poles- an admirable provision of Nature, I fed them 
afterwards with a green slimy weed, commonly 
ound in wet ditches, and usually called water-flannel, 
pong which they would have been found, if they had 
een hatched in the natural way. I supplied them fre- 
Wendy with water from the ditch until the 1st of June, 
ts en the tadpoles began to change colour. Their hind 
as now appeared, and, on the 8th, the fore legs ; then 
€ tail or fin began to shrink, and in three more days 
ha hopped out of the water, perfect little frogs, about 
S Size of small horse-beans. The spawn of the toad 
deposited in the water about a fortnight later than 
= 
that of the frog. It does not lie in a mass together, but 
in two distinct rows, resembling strings of black beads, 
each about two yards in length. This remarkable dif- 
ference in the spawn, independent of the toad being des- 
titute of teeth, might suffice of itself to show that the 
useful and much misrepresented toad is not a degene- 
rated species of frog, as M. Raspail supposes ; nor vivi- 
parous, as some have imagined. On the l5th of April 
I procured some toads’ spawn, from which I obtained 
tadpoles on the 28th, which differed in no way 
from the frog tadpoles, except that their colour was 
darker. I put both together, and they throve equally 
under the same treatment, without one set devouring 
the other, as some assert that tadpoles do ; and they 
became perfect toads about the Ist of July. The 
spawn of toads being in strings, cannot float with- 
out support, like that of frogs; and to secure its 
position near the surface of the water, it is cast 
among floating weeds and tangled roots, and often 
in deep water. The tadpoles do not burst the 
little black beads, which are the actual tadpoles, and 
they gradually swell and open into life. In the face of 
this fact, so easily ascertained, there is an opinion, ad- 
vocated even by some of our best naturalists, that toads 
produce their young alive, and in the reptile state. They 
appear to argue from the supposed analogous case of 
certain lizards, which are said to be either oviparous or 
viviparous in different localities. Those who advance 
this theory appear to lose sight of their own declara- 
tion, that the spawn is fertilised as the female de- 
posits it. But my own observation and experiments 
prove that this is erroneous. And how could tad- 
poles live and be supported in the body of the parent 
for the time required for their perfect formation 
in the water, which is near two months and a half ? The 
great number of tadpoles produced from a single toad 
would require the toad to be as large as a sea turtle. 
The circumstance of very small toads having been 
found in places distant from water, has been brought 
orward in support of the above opinion: but it must 
be recollected that the toad once formed returns to the 
water no more, except in the pairing season. It 
is usually found in dry banks and obscure places; its 
nature will, therefore, lead it away from its native ditch, 
and little toads can easily climb up banks and make 
their way rapidly enough to a considerable distance.— 
J. Wighton. 
A New Vegetable ; “ Rhaflower.”—We have been in 
the habit of eating the leaves of the Rhubarb plant for 
many years, and seeing that the fruit stalks of this 
vegetable were counted as waste, I thought it very 
likely that they were the better part of the plant, and 
I now find that the pouches of unopened flowers bear 
the same relation to the leaves of Rhubarb that Cauli- 
flowers do to Cabbage leaves, and may be obtained in 
great abundance, and that at a time (April) when all 
kinds of vegetables are valuable. The pouches of 
flower-buds are of a beautiful colour when dressed in 
the same manner that Rhubarb is dressed, and resemble 
the inside of a fig; the flavour is milder than that of 
Rhubarb stalks, but I do not look upon it so much in 
the light of an article for making tarts of, as I do for 
its use as a boiled vegetable, to be used like Broccoli. 
Let no one take my opinion of this matter, but let 
every one judge for himself as soon as the flower stems 
shew themselves. As a matter of course, the plants 
should be grown in rich ground, and the pouches to be 
crisp should be got very young, and will require some 
care in cooking.—Alewander Forsyth, Alton Towers, 
Dec. 31, 1845. 
is clavicul Although a iderable num- 
di to our island, have 
the dignity of a garden flower. This plant (better 
known to many as Fumaria claviculata, Linn.) is by no 
means of frequent occurrence. It inhabits the sandiest 
soils, and equally enjoys trailing along the ground, and 
climbing in shady places amongst the ferns and brambles. 
It is therefore well suited to cultivation on the north 
side of masses of rock-work, or in the shady, bushy 
parts of a shrubbery. In proof of its perfect hardiness, 
let me state, that last Wednesday, the day before Christ- 
mas-day, I saw the Corydalis in full bloom in its native 
habitat among the Fir plantations, at Parkmount, near 
this place ; and a friend, into whose garden I trans- 
planted a few specimens last autumn, informs me that 
his are flowering, and may probably seed so abundantly 
as to occasion him some trouble to keep them in 
bounds. Notwitl ding this hardy c itution, our 
plant is peculiarly characterized by much apparent 
tenderness, and a habit of remarkable slenderness and 
delicacy, The stems are long, filiform, and of a rosy 
tint; the leaves, furnished with tendrils of a tender 
light green, and beautifully reticulated with translucent 
nerves, like most F i ; the loured 
flowers ean scarcely be called showy, being small, in 
axillary racemes, I shall feel much pleasure in sup- 
plying such of your correspondents as feel inclined to 
patronise my protégé with seeds or young plants.—F, 
A. Malleson, Pulborough, Petworth.* 
Spot on the Pelargonium Leaf.—l beg to inform 
Mr. Hood (p. 856), that spot is not occasioned by 
* In my article on “British Evergreens” at page € 
fell into an error, by trusting to memory in describing th 
in Parham Park. m 2 nine inches i i 
ferenee, whi 
paper, s 
h gives a diameter of 11 inches. 
ing was printed for spiny, and arme for aiio, 
cramping the roots, for I have found from experience 
that, unless the pots are filled with roots, a fine head of 
bloom cannot be obtained. Some weak young-plants are 
bject to spot than stronger growing varieties, which 
was probably the case with Mr. H.’s plants. I have 
invariably seen the spot make its appearance in autu 
more particularly if the weather is wetand eold, before 
housing the plants; but I have never seen the Pelar- 
gonium thus affected when the plants were in good con- 
dition. Of what strength does Mr. H. use guano-water 
for his plants 1—J. Parker, Elm Grove, Roehampton. 
Cisterns, to render Watertight.—In reply to * A Sub- 
scriber,” who asks (p. 874) if India-rubber can be used 
to render slate cisterns watertight, I beg to refer him 
to Messrs. A. Jeffery and Co., Brunton Works, Lime- 
house, for marine glue, a material which will fully 
answer his purpose. It should be carefully used ; and 
if he mentions for what purpose he requires it, and 
how he should best apply it, I have no doubt the 
patentees will give proper instructions.— Agricola, 
ourneyman  Gardeners.—Among the many com- 
munications which appear in the Chronicle, I find 
nothing respecting the condition of the journeyman 
gardener, who has to struggle on against adverse cite 
cumstances on the poor pittance of 9s. a week, which 
are the general wages in Scotland, and on this sum they 
are expected to maintain a respectable appearanee 
(which they in general do), but to how many privations 
do they subject themselves iu doing this ; and, moreover, 
to attain any proficiency in the business, they must pur- 
chase books. Now, supposing them to have acquired-a 
pretty fair share of education before they commence 
their apprenticeship, and this I hold to be absolutely 
necessary, books on horticultural subjects can scarcely 
be said to be within the reach of men who earn only 9s. 
per week, although in most places of any consequence 
they have lodgings and firing. I am not aware how the 
j man gard i ditions may be bettered but 
this is a “consummation devoutly to be Wished” ; should 
you, however, or any of your correspondents, put ina 
word in their behalf, something might be done, for I 
imagine, that if gentlemen were made fully acquainted 
with the case in all its bearings, they would raise the 
condition, and endeavour to inerease the comfort of 
those who must one day succeed the men who are now 
their masters.—J. M‘Z. [In our opinion men should 
not become gardeners who have not friends capable of 
assisting them with the means required for their edu- 
cation. Journeyman gardeners should, like other 
people, put the saddle on the right horse.] 
Transmission of Seeds to New Zealand. — From 
having observed (p. 840) a query respecting the trans- 
mission of European seeds to New Zealand, I am in- 
duced to offer the following method, and its results. I 
contemplated emigrating to New Zealand some twelve 
or fifteen months previous to starting, consequently 1 
had that time to prepare. I managed to collect a large 
number of seeds, such as Gooseberries, Currants, Rasp- 
berries, and Strawberries, and many ornamental her- 
baceous plants, besides Acorns, Laburnum seed, Ash 
seeds, &e., &e., and about a bushel and a half of Quick 
seeds (Crateegus oxyacantha) for hedging. The last 
named, as also Asparagus seeds, I put in large flower- 
pots as soon as they were gathered, and sunk them te 
some depth in the open ground ; there they remained 
until spring, when I took them up, washed the seeds 
clean, and spread them out to dry; by this procese 
they occupied less room than if dried as they came off 
the trees; such as Strawberries, Raspberries, and all 
those pulpy fruits, I washed as soon as they were 
gathered ; all were dried by sun heat. When thoroughly 
dry, they were wrapped in common brown packin, 
paper,with the name carefully written on each packages 
they were then stored in a dry airy place until my 
embarkation, which was in June, I then procured a box 
sufficiently large to hold them, without pressing them 
too hard, I pierced this box in a number of places with 
a small auger, for the purpose of admitting air, and ir 
this all the seeds were carried to New Zealand, except 
the Quicksets, which were conveyed in a canvas ba; 
On boarding the vessel I found that it was impossible 
to keep them between decks, the small quantity of 
articles allowed there prevented me, and therefore had 
to submit to regulations by allowing them to be “ stowed 
away in the hold,” I took care, howeyer, that they were 
ut from under the hatches, and clear from 
the sides of the vessel, as they would in either 
case have been liable to get wet in stormy weather. 
We were five months on the voyage, during which time 
I took the advantage of the hatches being opened, on 
three different occasions, to bring my seeds on deck, 
where I unpacked and spread them out to dry, not more 
than an hour on each occasion. In addition to what I col- 
lected in the country, I had upwards of a hundred other 
different kinds of seeds, which were packed in a hamper, 
and received the same treatment on board as the former. 
On arriving in New Zealand, I found it was mot such an 
easy mattexto renta bit of ground, on reasonable terms, 
as we were Il to believe previous to leavir& England 5 
and thinking my seeds would take hurt by being longer 
out of the soil, I roughly formed a few small boxes, in 
whieh I sowed some of those that I considered the most 
valuable, such as Gooseberries, Strawberries, Fuchsias, 
and a small packet of Pelargonium-seeds, Peas, Beans, 
Turnips, and a few other things, I sowed in a neigh- 
bour’s garden, all of which germinated ; thus proving 
that they travelled from England in good condition. 
Owing to matters not turning out to my expectation in 
New Zealand, I went to Sydney ; but before leaving £ 
gave the remainder of my seeds to a friend, who being. 
