11.—1846.] 
THE 
purpura LM ia NES LAE 
GARDENERS' 
CHRONICLE. 
163 
ORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.— 
NURSERYMEN TO 
AND HER MAJESTY 
FLORISTS THE QUEEN. 
Y OUELL & CO. beg to refer the readers of the 
Gardeners’ Chronicle to their advertisement in last week's 
Paper, containing the newest and very best Fuchsias, Ver- 
benas, Carnations and Picotees, Pansies,’ Petunias, Cinerarias, 
Ericas, Herbaceous Plants, &c. &e., as well as the Fastolf 
ipberry, 
30 packets of new and Choice Flower Seeds, per post, free, 6s, 
Steam-ships to London three times in the week; to Hull 
twice in the week ; and per rail every eight hours to London. 
Great Yarmouth Nursery, March 14. 
The exarmenerg? Chronicle. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1846. 
MEETINGS FOR THE FOLLOWING WEEK. 
montes MaRS Ne ae June Teeth’ Le Sana 
Occ Dp CoD a d 
— s1— Royal Botanic RO eR vs! 
Sarumpay, 
Tux most serious objection that has been made 
to Hor Warer as a HEATING Menus, is its tend- 
ency to incrust the interior of the apparatus with 
carbonate of lime, thus producing explosions, or 
rendering the fire inefficient, We have now before 
us an instance of the kind where a boiler became 
lined, in a few months, with a crust nearly half an 
inch thick, and as hard as freestone; and there is 
no doubt that such deposits are accumulating in all 
hot-water boilers and tanks, with more or less ra- 
pidity, according to the impurity of the water em- 
ployed. Indeed, everyone who has a hot-water 
apparatus in action must, unless he constantly uses 
rain water, expect to be obliged some day to pull it 
down for the purpose of having it cleaned. 
This inconvenience is more serious than is com- 
monly supposed, and having been found universal 
in steam boilers, has attracted. the attention of Dr. 
Rirrersranprt, who lately brought the subject be- 
fore the Society of Arts, suggesting an effectual 
cure. 
In order to obviate the difficulties just spoken of, 
r. lurrERbRANDT proposes to use the salts of am- 
monia, it being known that if to a soluble salt of 
lime be added a solution of carbonate of ammonia, 
precipitation takes place, and the acid which held 
in solution the dime unites with the ammonia, while 
the carbonic acid of the carbonate of ammonia 
combines and falls down with the lime 3 but, 
upon the water being heated, the precipitated 
carbonate of lime combines with the salt of 
ammonia, is re-dissolved, and the carbonate of 
ammonia is formed and escapes with the vapours of 
t, it only remained to be proved how 
pable of decomposing the 
eady existing in calcareous 
water, and the results exceeded the most sanguine 
expectations. However highly charged with lime 
water may be, the Process answers, and the solution 
is in all cases perfect. 
The rationale of the chemical reaction, although 
familiar to chemists, may not be so to all our readers, 
and is therefore explained by the following diagram. 
Muriate of Ammonia 
„Consists of .. Muriatic Acid. Muriate of Lime, 
and soluble, 
; Ammonia, 
Carbonate of Li B 
an insoluble salt” 
Consists of ,." Lime È 
3 Carbonic Acid. „Carbonate of Ammonia 
volatile. 
We take these details from a report of the pro- 
ceedings of the Society of Arts, at a subsequent 
meeting of which very useful institution the sub- 
ject was revived, and some further information com- 
municated by Dr. Rirrrrpranpr, On the latter 
occasion a number of experiments. were made. to 
Iuriate of ammonia effect- 
the boilers, whether 
Mr. Goocn, of the 
when the subject 
there were two 
upon the metal. Upon both of these points he 
expressed himself perfectly satisfied, and stated that 
he had adopted the plan with ail the engines under 
his superintendence. The quantity of ammonia 
used on the Southampton Railway is at the rate of 
1 lb. for every 1500 or 2000 gallons of water. The 
cost of the ammonia is about 3d. per lb.—Mr. 
Goopirr had also seen experiments made on the 
engines of steam-vessels, one of which, George the 
Fourth, had, its boiler completely incrusted ; but 
after the experiment had been carried on for six 
weeks, the boilers became clean. It had also been 
tried in a small stationary high-pressure engine, of 
eight horse-power, working with salt water, and the 
same results followed. 
'The lesson which gardeners should learn from 
this important practical communication is, that if 
they wish to keep a hot-water apparatus in working 
order, without running the risk of the interior be- 
coming “furred” up, they will invariably add one 
ounce of sal-ammoniac (or muriate of ammonia) to 
every 90 gallons of water with which their appa- 
ratus is filled. 
Durine the past week Lord Groner Bentinck 
has been lecturing to the House of Commons on 
the Poraro prsrasr. He has discovered that kiln- 
dried Potatoes will not grow, and that either lime or 
charcoal will make diseased Potatoes keep. His 
lordship might have gained the first piece of erudi- 
tion from the nearest maltster ; the latter we should 
have thought he had picked out of the reports of the 
Irish Commissioners if the assertions he has been so 
obliging as to make respecting these gentlemen did 
not show that he had never read their recommenda- 
tions. But, said Lord Groner, the very worst Po- 
tatoes, if you spread them out on the floor ofa Peach- 
house, and dust them with quick-lime every day 
until the rotten part is converted into starch (!) 
( O magnis posthac inimicis risus 1) will. form fine 
healthy shoots ; and all at the small expense of 6d. 
a sack for the lime. It is a pity that we have not 
Peach-houses all over the country, and that people 
employed in turning over rotten Potatoes, and dust- 
ing them until the marvellous conversion of rotten- 
ness into starch is effected, should be so unreason- 
able as to demand wages for their trouble. 
This exhibition in St. Stephen's forces us back to 
the question of what was the cause of the disease. 
It may by some be assumed that the unvarying 
success which has attended our earliest recom- 
mendation ( August 23 and 30, 1845) of keeping the 
Potato dry, in which manner only do either lime or 
charred materials appear to act, is a proof of the 
truth of our original hypothesis ( August 23, 1845), 
that the peculiar atmospheric causes of 1845. pro- 
duced the mischief. For ourselves, we are wedded 
to one opinion only in regard to this matter, and 
that is, that the evil was not caused by fungi, At- 
mospherie conditions seemed to explain the diffi- 
culty best, and, in the absence of a more rational 
solution, we have looked to them ; but we are now 
bound to say that circumstances have by degrees 
come to our knowledge which weaken this hypo- 
thesis materially, if they do not entirely destroy its 
value. So long since as the autumn of last year we 
were made aware of the singular fact, that Potatoes 
of 1844, in the possession of Sir Joun Luszock, 
upon being placed in dry sand under a shed, where 
they were guarded from the weather, produced dis- 
eased tubers ; but their malady was somewhat dif- 
ferent in its aspect from that of the open fields, and 
as the case at that time stood alone, we could not 
attach much importance to it. Ata later period 
similar intelligence reached us, but not having seen 
the Potatoes alluded to by our informant, that too 
was not calculated to shake our first opinion. 
Two other facts have, however, come to our know- 
ledge, which, in connection with those above men- 
tioned, are calculated to give rise to a very different 
speculation. The British consul at Lisbon states 
in his despatch dated December 29, 1845, that the few 
Potatoes diseased near that city, were grown from 
seed received from England. We have now before 
us young Potatoes raised in the garden at Bodorgan 
from sets ripened in 1844, and kept in reserve till 
August 1845, when they were planted in the open 
ground, a large proportion of which are very much 
diseased ; and those the most so which are oldest. 
In another column a similar fact is mentioned by 
Mr, Swan, of Garnston, 
This looks as if the murrain was engendered in 
1844 and only showed itself in 1845. The facts 
may, perhaps, be otherwise interpreted, but they 
seem to point to that conclusion. ‘They are scarcely 
reconcileable with the action of unfavourable 
seasons, or of an epidemie, which was first con- 
tended for, we believe, by Mr. Moons, of Glas- 
nevin, and has since been recognised by others of 
undoubted authority, among whom Dr. GREvILLE 
and Mr. Goopsmm must more especially be men- 
tioned. If, however, they do nothing more, they . 
certainly complicate the question, and render the 
fate of the succeeding crop more doubtful than ever, 
for if they lead us to assume that the murrain was 
engendered in 1844, and only manifested itself in a 
formidable degree in 1845, we must look out for the 
worst consequences in 1846; as the experience of 
the. United States indicates, and as the gathering 
evidence already brought forward by us seems so 
strongly to point out. 
The question of providing, for poor people at 
least, a sure substitute for the Potato crop, becomes 
then of the highest importance. It will not do for 
them to try experiments and fail; such expenses 
must be incurred by the wealthy, or by speculators. 
We now, therefore, produce the following Table, 
showing the quantity of produce, of 13 different 
crops, that may be obtained from an English acre, 
under ordinary circumstances. This will enable 
everybody to judge for himself what is most worth 
his growing. Ifit should appear that the produce per 
acre is in any case taken too low, or too high, a 
little calculation will serve to correct it. No doubt 
it is generally much too low where high cultivation 
is employed. If Potatoes are averaged at only 
eight tons an acre, although plenty of growers 
obtain 12 or even 14 tons, so also are Parsnips 
taken at only 12 tons instead of 20, Carrots at 
15 tons instead of 25, and so on. 
A TABLE of the average weight per acre of 13 crops of corn 
or vegetables; and also of their organic and inorganic con- 
stituents, calculated by Epwarp Souzy, Esq., F.R.S. 
hasan pog 
3 S te 
EHFHET 
Average Produce per Acre. | Water. | $2 | $8 Es 
38 EF) 24 
Pf | e|" 
25A Lis qoc ou eu D | ace pss wal mead 
1 E Ibs. Ibs. | Ibs. | Ibs, 
1, Turnips 25 tons, or 56000 3309.6 | 442,4] 448.0 
2, Carrots 15 tons, or 33600) 3128.2 | 655.2| 388.0 
3. Parsnips 12 tons, or 26880) 4642.2| 561.8| 333:3 
4. Potatoes 8tons, or 17920) 3053.6) 433.7) 204.2 
5. Barley bsh. or 1800 1314.2 205.9 423 
5. Oats 40 bsh., or 1700) 1215.7) 187.8] 58.5 
T. Peas. . 25 bsh or 1600 1017.7| 399.4|^ 45.3 
8. Beans . 273bsh., or 1750) 138.2 979.0 581.2| 516 
9. Wheat , 28 bsh., or 1680| 243,6 |1184.4| 218.4| 33,6 
10.Cabbage,10000 plants or 80000) 73840.0 1184.0 1456.0] 522.0 
11. Jerusalem | | 
Artichokes,500 bsh., or 28000] 22176.0 |4888,8| 599.0| 336.0 
12. Beet — .. e. | e. 75000] 65850.0 7212.5 1020.0 |. 817.5 
13. Buckwheat, 30 bsh. or 1300 162.5 | 942.5| 177.51 17.5 
In this Table it will be observed that the largest 
amount of waste is in Cabbages, and the smallest in 
Peas. But, to ascertain the real importance of these 
crops, it is necessary to examine firstly their relative 
value, if protein alone, the only nutritive part, is re- 
garded ; and this is shown in the following Table :— 
ibs, 
1 Cabbages  .. m 
2 Beet ., It m 
3 Carrots Ag m 
1 Jerusalem Artichokes 
5 Beans .. E . 
6 Parsnips .. . 
AE ET mS 
9 Pe 
10 Whea 
11 Barley 
12 Oats .. 
18 Buckwheat .. — ..  .. 7T. 
In the next place,we ought to consider what they 
are worth if the other matters which, although not 
literally nutritious, nevertheless render them fit for 
food, are taken into account. e following Table 
shows their relative value, if organic matter of all 
kinds is taken :— 
Beet .. 
2 Cabbage 
3 Jerusalem Artichokes. .. 
4 Parsnips . It .. 52 
5 Carrots 
nips .. 
1 Potatoes . 
13 Buckwheat "ex V 
The great value of a Cabbage crop is here appa- 
rent; for it is evident that if land is planted with 
Drumhead Cabbages, two feet apart, and they can 
be made to weigh 8 lbs. each, a greater amount of 
food will be obtained than from any crop, except 
Beet, which Cabbages beat in nutritive matter, but 
give place to in absolute quantity. Beet, however, 
being less palatable and saleable, except for.cattle, 
than Cabbages, must rank lower. Then we find 
what enormous quantities of food may be derived 
from Carrots, Parsnips, Jerusalem Artichokes, and 
Beans, each, of which ranks above Potatoes in what- 
ever way they are regarded. As to Jerusalem Ar- 
tichokes, they appear to be far beyond the Potato : 
in real value, although, perhaps, not equally palat- 
able ; for, in addition to the excellent quality oftheir . 
roots, to which alone reference is made in these 
Tables, they will grow in the poorest soil, require 
no storing during winter, and their coarse woody 
