14.—1846.] THE 
GARDENERS' CHRONICL 
E. 219 
FJ ORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.— 
Notice is hereb: 
FLOWERS and FRUIT, in the Society's Garden, in the pre- 
sent season, will take place on the following SATURDAYS, 
viz., May 9, June 13, and July 11; and that Tuesday, April 21, 
is the last day on which the usual Privileged Tickets are issued 
to Fellows of the Society. 
P OYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY, REGENT'S PARK. 
—The EXHIBITIONS in the Gardens of this Society will 
will take place on. 
WzpwzspAy, May 20th. 
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3rd. 
WEDNESDAY, JULY lst. 
Prizes to the amount of 10007. for PLANTS, FLOWERS, 
and FRUIT, will be competed for. 
Ticketsfor admission may be had at the Gardens, by pre- 
senting an order signed by a Fellow or Member of the Society ; 
price, on or before Saturday, May 9th, 4s., after that day 5s., 
'except on the day of Exhibition, when they will be 7s. 6d. each. 
Tellows are privileged to take 30 Tickets at one time for 
51, 5s. until May 9th. 
"The Exhibitions will be wholly under cover, connected with 
$ gate at the north side of the Garden. The gates open at 
o'clock. 
ARAUCARIA IMBRICATA, or CHILIAN PINE. 
EIE AND OO/s Stock of the above magnifi- 
cent hardy tree will be found unequalled in this country 
or the Continent either for extent or luxuriance of growth ; and 
‘that those they offer are not nursed plants or drawn u] 
its excessive cutting winds. 
for plants in pots, and may be planted out with advantage at 
the present season. 
. amo ++ 9s, per dozen. 
Ed UE M en. e dA. = 
MO DUM ETS eL SEO 6 A 5 
Boc cio Sn E nee . 30s. Y. 
5 " m m m m 60s. ps 
Cedrus Deodar,-1 year, fine .. 18s. 5. 
ig? tora Fae 30s. : 
Pinus excelsa, 3 inches E 4 98. Ww 
5 » _4to 5 inches we e. 18s. "n 
, 18inch, fine bushy plant 42s, * 
Gerardiana, ? years ++ 308. P 
Abies Khutrow, years — .. +. 9s. Hi 
Also fine specimen plants of older growth from 10s. 6d. to 
21, 25. per plant.—Great Yarmouth Nursery, April 4. 
The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 
SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 1846. 
MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 
Tuzsspnav, April 7 MEE Mara 3 PM. 
* How am I to sow my flower-seeds?” “I have 
had some beautiful seeds given to me, but I have 
no gardener, and I don’t know what to do with 
them.” ‘I don’t know how it is, but my gardener 
never can get his seeds to grow. What skall I 
do?" “How deep, sir, would you advise me to 
bury my seeds?” 
Such are the sounds of woe with which our ears 
are not uncommonly assailed. That information 
äs much wanted in this matter is most certain; that 
endless mistakes follow in the train of all vague di- 
rections nobody can doubt ; that seed-sowing does 
demand some “knack” and practice we readily 
admit, and therefore we shall on this occasion utter 
no voz ambigua, but cut the matter short by say- 
ing, * Don't bury your seeds at all!” 
We can quite imagine the surprise that this an- 
nouncement wili occasion in some minds ; but we 
presume to hope that when we have been heard to 
an end, the recommendation will not be thought 
‘so paradoxical as it appears to be. 
Let us, in the first place, ask why seeds are 
buried alive under clods of earth? Does Nature 
thus inter them? And if so, who or what is her 
Srave-digger ? When the acorn falls it has no 
power of wriggling into a hole in the ground, and 
when the Chickweed scatters its tiny seeds they lie 
and grow where they fall. hat reasons, then, 
tan gardeners have for making themselves seminal 
Sextons ? 
“ Reasons!” says the man of learning, * I will 
give you fifty ; firstly, a seed must have darkness 
and oxide of hydrogen in order to germinate ; under 
hese infl i bines with the O of the 
latter, and forms CO, which is extricated ; then 
diastase comes into play, and the amylaceous par- 
ticles are saccharified ; thirdly"—but hold—enough 
of that. “Reasons!” says Mr. Ponyanruus, the 
gardener, * Why how are you to keep the birds off if 
you do not bury seeds? or the mice? or such ver- 
min. How are you to keep them moist when they 
first chip the shell? How are they to hold to the 
Soil when they have got aroot? Reasons enough 
are these, I think.” 
Certainly. But, then, cannot all these objects be 
Secured by other means than burial? Let us see. 
We want fine dry soil. First provide that ; get 
the ground level, and press it gently with a piece of 
tile or glass. If it contains stones or clods remove 
them. If your seeds are very small, sift over it a 
little silver sand, or peat; upon this scatter the 
Seeds thinly. If they are excessively small mix 
them before sowing with dry sand or peat in order 
given, that the EXHIBITIONS of | al 
to separate them ; and again with gentleness press 
at. 
Then provide some coarse Moss—any sort will 
do; but Bog-moss or Sphagnum is the best—hav- 
ing previously soaked it in boiling water to kill in- 
sects ortheireggs. e | 
Press it till its 
wetness is ex- 
changedfordamp- 
ness, and then, 
ter it loosely over 
the seeds. Press 
over the Moss azu—  — ence m aret) 
common garden-pot, lay a tile on the hole, and the 
operation is performed. 
But the little apparatus thus contrived must be 
watched. In a day or two lift up the pot, raise the 
Moss, and examine the seeds. Ifthe Moss is dry, 
which is not likely to happen, again damp it with 
warm water. If all is still, have patience. Thus 
go on until you find your seeds beginning to grow. 
Then remove the tile from the hole in your pot, 
and leave them for another day. At the end of 
that time you will possibly find that the seeds have 
grown much more ; if so, take away a part of the 
Moss, so as to give the young things more air and 
light. The next day, raise the pot on one side, so 
as to open it to the south. This may be done with 
a stone placed beneath its front edge ; but do not 
raise it all round, because if you do the strong cur- 
rent of air setting over your seedlings and through 
the hole in the pot will chill them. As soon as you 
find the seedlings green and plump and stout, the 
Moss may be entirely removed and the pot raised 
higher. And very soon that, too, may be quite 
dispensed with, unless there are frosts at night, or 
bitter dry easterly winds by day. In the former 
case, replace the pot every night and take it off again 
inthe morning; in the latter, it is wise to place a 
little screen between the plants and the wind. For 
this purpose a pantile is a capital thing, but a piece 
of board, or any such matter, will do. 
Inthis way you secure all that you want in order 
to get a hardy seed to grow:— Darkness, moisture, 
air, warmth; and afterwards moisture, air, light, 
and shelter. 
Let no one say that large seeds cannot thus be 
raised. The finest Oaks spring from Acorns 
dropped in the.forest.and covered by a few leaves. 
The Sycamore, the Ash, the Beech, the Horse 
Chesnut will all sow themselves wherever their 
seeds can stick to the ground until a coverlet of 
leaves is moistened by an April shower and warmed 
by an April sun. Neither have such seeds any 
difficulty in steadying themselves by their roots; a 
long fang is driven by vital impulse into the earth, 
andit is to that, and not to a bit of the buried neck 
of the stem that the seedling trusts for support and 
nourishment. 
We will only add one word. Those who have 
ever attempted to sow seeds upon rockwork, know 
to their cost how very difficult it is to make such 
seeds take root. The method now proposed 
answers the end completely, and it is the only plan 
which, in difficult cases, does succeed. Experto 
crede Roberto. 
Tux sale of Oncuips from Guatemala which we 
lately announced, has just taken place, and the lots 
have produced very large sums. We can now 
state that a further supply from the same country 
has since arrived, and will be brought to the hammer 
soon after Eastev. If we are not misinformed, the 
present consignment is again in excellent order, and 
includes a new Per, steria, from a district into which 
neither Mr. Hanrwi:6 nor Mr. Skinner were able 
to penetrate, together with large masses of Lycaste 
Skinner, Odontoglossu m pulchellum, and Lelia 
superbiens. 
A rew nights since Sir Ja, wes Gnatraw produced 
to the House of Commons ‘the following official 
Trish return :— 
Number of Electoral Divisions in which the €" 
the Potato Crop we: d lost, conden, '€ 
Reports of January 15, 184 
Between 8-I0ths and 9-10ths "S zi 7 
0i abulary 
,  T-l0ths and 8-10ths' re 
a 6-10ths and 7-10ths T 
» 5-10ths and 6 10ths E 
5 —ld0th and 2-10ths 
Not exceeding 1-10th 
Noloss .. m I 
Not returned m oe 
This may be taken to represent the amor 
in the crop as being about 8500 out of every 20,000 
bushels. A day or two afterwards the Duke of! 
WELLINGTON, with that noble frankness which | 
no less than his illustrious deeds, has won for him 
the affection as well as admiration of all ranks of 
people, is reported to have stated to the House of 
Lords, that he had been one of those who in 
November last doubted the extent the evil would 
reach: he was sorry now to say that those who 
were of a different opinion then were entirely right, 
—while those who did not think the evil would be 
of such magnitude were entirely wrong, and he was 
one of them. 
It is, therefore, unnecessary to go into any proof 
of the accuracy of the estimate made in the begin- 
ning of November last by Professors Pravrai and 
LiwpLEY, when they stated that in their opinion 
one-half ofthe Irish crop was either lost, or unfit 
for human food. The best of all proofs in such a 
case is to be obtained by time, and time alone. It 
now turns out that the proof is ample, and that the 
charges of great exaggeration which Lord GEORGE 
Bentinck and Mr. SHAw have ventured to make, 
fall to the ground. 
We shall assume, then, that the loss of the Irish 
crop is proved to be one-half. It is, in fact, proved 
by laterreturns to be much more—but, to avoid all 
possibility of misrepresentation, except from crazy 
partisans, we shall take it at only half. And now 
let us ask those who complain of the undue import- 
ance that we give to the Potato question, whether 
they have any notion of what half the Irish Potato 
crop amounts to? In the absence of better evidence, 
we have formerly estimated the quantity of land 
under Potatoes in Ireland at 800,000 acres, the pro- 
duce of which may be taken at 6,400,000 tons. 
Half this will be found, by a little calculation, after 
deducting 75 per cent. for water or waste, to be 
1,767,000,000 pounds, which are equal to 9,612,900 
quarters of corn, of 62 Ibs. to the bushel! And if 
we take the value of this to be represented by the 
lowest grain now in the market, the loss will be 
equal to at least as many pounds sterling. 
If, then, the loss to Ireland is called 3,500,0002., 
we should be glad to know how much the total loss 
will have been when the destruction in England, 
Wales, and Scotland, is taken into account. To 
place the latter at 1,500,0007 is no very ex- 
travagant assumption ; and if so, this country has 
lost five millions of money by the Potato murrain, 
But all Potato land might have grown Wheat ; and 
if in this computation we exchange the piice of 
inferior Oats for good Wheat, we shall double the 
amount of loss. May we now inquire, how the coun- 
try is to bear such prodigious waste, and whether 
there is any common sense in pretending that dangers 
are exaggerated, until a new crop of Potatoes shall 
have.been planted, and a second five or ten millions 
have followed the first to destruction. 
Granting that the Irish Potato-fields do not 
amount to 800,000 acres ; granted that they are but 
half so much—and we do not pretend that a rough 
estimate is a guide to be relied upon—still, re- 
ducing the amount of loss to 1,500,0007. or 
2,000,0007., the misfortune is fearful beyond all 
power of description in such a country as Ireland. 
THE AMATEUR GARDENER. 
On THE CULTURE or ÁNNUALS.—From the numerous 
advertisements of annual flower seeds, we may pre- 
sume there are vast numbers of buyers, and when the 
beauty of this extensive tribe is considered, we cannot 
wonder this should be the case. To depreciate Annuals 
would, indeed, be a tasteless and a hopeless task, since 
they are worthy the best treatment, and are of such 
essential; service in most gardens. My object will 
rather be to direct and regulate, and not to discourage 
the growth of Annuals. I shall therefore make some 
general remarks of annual flowers themselves, and then 
lay down a few rules for their successful culture. $ 
In gardens of great extent, there is a capacity for 
growing almost everything to advantage. Some plants 
are attractive anywhere ; others make the best appear- 
ance in situations where a close inspection is possible 5 
but many are not fit for confined situations, and when 
they are admired it is confessed that “distance gives 
enchantment to the view." The common Sunflower is 
ungainly and awkward in a little suburban garden, but 
it tells well in a plantation, or when it can be seen afar 
ff. The same may be said of the Orange Erysimum 3 
d Proportions of | its eolour renders it invaluable when grown in clumps 
m Const 
for general effeet, but how miserable it looks when 
found in a small mixed flower-bed? In growing 
Annuals, therefore, their size and habits should be 
diligently studied, as well as the extent of the garden 
which they are intended to adorn. If this rule is 
neglected, Amateurs will be disappointed when they 
purchase seeds which may have been justly commended. 
When grown and in flower, it may be true they are 
individually beautitul, but they may not be in keeping 
with objects around them. Great care should, there- 
fore, be used in selection, if the time and money of the 
amateur are not to be wasted. 
For small gardens, shrubby and compact greenhouse 
ants which do well in the open ground in our summers 
much to be preferred to many Annuals. Pelar- 
as, Fuchsias, Caleeolarias, Verbenas, Petunias, 
be preserved with ease through the wintery 
li 
are 
goniun. 
&c., may 
