16—1845.] 
THE GARDENERS' 
CHRONICLE. 251 
ORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF LONDON 
Notice is hereby given, that Tuesday, April 21, is the last 
day on which Exhibition Tickets are issued to Fellows of the 
Society at 3s, 6d. each, 
—— ad pel 
Roxar BOTANIC SOCIETY, REGENT'S PARK. 
-U —The EXHIBITIONS in the Gardens of this Society 
Will take gus this season on 
EDNES| 
5 
z 
3 
£ 
2 
5 
o 
8 
d 
ES 
$ 
3 
p 
E 
B 
E 
$ 
ES 
8 
2 
E 
E: 
a 
ay 5s., except on the 
ee of Exhibition, when they will be 7s. 6d. each, 
ellows are privileged to take 30 Tickets at one time for 
51. 55., until May 9th. 
FINE IMPORTED GARLIC, 
G. WAITE having just received a large consign- 
^ * ment of GARLIC in prime condition and first-rate qua- 
lity, begs to offer the same at 40s. per ewt,—4, Eyre-street-hill, 
Hatton-garden, London, April 17, 
GROOM, CuAPHAM Rise, near Lonpon (re 
Saxony, begs to say his Catalogue of GERANIUMS, AURI- 
PLANTS is 
ion, 
He has a fine stock of CARNATIONS and PICOTEES, 
*«* Foreign orders executed, 
The Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
SA TURDAY, APRIL 18, 1846, 
MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 
Tourspay, April si ortiealenzal se e e BA. 
innean AE int y NS ac 
Wepwespay, — 22—Royal South London . * lea, 
Sarunpay, _— 35—RoyalBotmio . . + . 4X 
Fripay, May 1—Botanical ee ee: SA 
COUNTRY SHOW. 
Wennaspay, April 99—Norfolk and Norwich Horticultural Society. 
We were among the first to suggest that the 
Poraro pisEAsE was owing to atmospheric causes; 
Tecently, however, we have seen reason to doubt 
the soundness of that opinion, as our readers know ; 
and we now lay before them the following state- 
ment by Count Gasparin, who, with others, re- 
gards the murrain as a sort of vegetable cholera. 
. DE GasPAnIN states that, in the south of Eu- 
Tope, two crops of Potatoes are obtained every 
year. The first crop is planted in March, and har- 
vested in June ; the second is planted in July, after 
the Wheat is cut, and taken up in October. The 
first of these crops was absolutely sound; the se- 
cond was diseased. | In the following Table he gives 
the state of the weather during the two periods :— 
| First Orop, ||Second Crop. 
Usual Usual 
1845. | Mean. | 1845: [wenn 
Mean temperature .. — .. — ..| 125,5 | 145,4 || 199,0 | 195,6 
1 
Mean solar heat at 
Mean of minima gees | 051] 792 || 119,0 | 122 
2 P.M, 2 
Temperature of the earth, 1 yard : 
eep .. .. 109,6 | 119,6 || 179,6 | 189,4 
Number of showers.. — .. — ..| 47,0 | 32,0 || 38,0| 30,0 
j mm, | mm. || mm. | mm. 
Quantity of rain .. ae + +| 200,5 | 215,1 || 319,2 | 287,6 
mm. | mm, || mm. | mm, 
se se ae e| 781,7 | 918,5 || 929,0 | 978,4 
Cloudiness (100 parts represent the 
heavens completely covered with 
o E s hen 
N B 12,4) 12,1 6,9| 10,6 
orth wind; number of days ..| 75,5 76,6|| 69,0| 74,3 
Force of north wind per second,| m. m. m. m. 
and mean of each day s+} 6,0 4,8 5,2 4,4 
—M— 
From this it appears that the South of Europe 
Second crop suffered, although it was grown under 
the highest temperature, when there was no greater 
ifference from the average quantity of rain than 
Oceurred in the first crop which was sound, while 
$vaporation was most active, and when the sky 
Was clearest. In short, M. pz Gasparrn concludes 
at no customary meteorological phenomena can 
have been the cause, and that therefore those who 
Continue to rely upon such an explanation must 
ave recourse to conjectures which there is no possi- 
bility of verifying ; in short, that in this case, as in 
that of the Asiatic cholera, meteorology is incapable 
of explaining the cause of the Potato disease. 
We are afraid that Count Gasparin is right ; 
and this very circumstance, this absolute impossi- 
bility of assigning a satisfactory reason for the 
Appearance of the murrain, must, we think, add 
Seriously to the fears of those whose full know- 
edge of the facts of this terrible visitation prevents 
their placing any confidence in the safety of the 
Crop of 1846 in the United Kingdom. 
is opinion is confirmed by the wholly unex- 
Pected intelligence, to be found in another column, 
at the Potato disease has broken out in the dry, 
warm colony of the Cape of Good Hope. 
y lar us once again draw attention to the little 
ELGrAN Winpow GARDEN, mentioned at p. 203, A 
Model of such a contrivance was most obligingly 
a Warded to us from Boulogne, by our good corre- 
jbondent, Mr. Cnocksuaxxs, and shown to the Fel- 
ae of the Horticultural Society. It teaches us 
in eral things. A rolling blind is made to work 
" the inside, so as to screen the plants from too 
much sun, when placed in a southern aspect. A 
trellis-work of wires is carried up the ends, and 
adds much to the appearance of the little garden. 
Here thrives Maurandya Barclayana, together with 
the little Tropseolums of Chili. The bottom should 
be guarded by a raised edge next the sitting-room, 
80 às to form a shallow box at least 6 ins, deep ; this 
is to be filled up with damp moss, in which the pots 
are plunged, and by which they may also be 
covered. Attention to these matters has been found 
by experience to be essential. We would add 
movable ventilators at the front and sides, so that 
air might be given when it would not be prudent to 
raise the sash. 
Such little details are what constitute the secret 
of success ; and now that the plans of construction 
are intelligible, and that many are, as we believe, 
preparing to adopt these gardens, we must offer some 
ints in a general way. 
The advantage of such an apparatus consists in 
its separating plants from a sitting-room when they 
are not wanted, and introducing them there the in- 
stant they are wished for. Open the doors, and 
the garden forms part of the room ; close them, and 
the apartment is relieved from the presence of the 
plants. But, what is of much more importance, in 
the latter case the plants are themselves completely 
relieved from the fatal atmosphere of the apartment, 
—not fatal, indeed, if inhaled for a few hours at a 
time, but certainly destructive if endured for long. 
What, it may be asked, is there in the air of a 
sitting-room which plants are thus unable to sup- 
port? Can anything be purer than the atmosphere 
of an English drawing-room? Perhaps not ; but 
it is this purity which in part inflicts the injury. 
Plants would thrive better ifit were otherwise, but 
it is more especially its pryness. Let any one 
measure the moisture of a sitting-room and the open 
air, and he will see how great a difference prevails. 
We have this moment tested it by Simmons’s hy- 
grometer ; in the open air this instrument indicates 
40°, in a sitting-room 60°. 
When plants are kept ina dry atmosphere, they 
rapidly lose their water of vegetation ; the sides of 
their pots are robbed at the same time ; and it is 
impossible for plants to suck out of soil thus par- 
tially dried the moisture demanded for the suste- 
nance of their exhausted foliage. Such a state of 
things is inseparable from a sitting-room. To ren- 
der the latter congenial to plants it would be un- 
inhabitable by ourselves. The extent to which 
plants are injured in a common sitting-room is 
strikingly illustrated by the condition of cut flowers. 
Let two clusters of fresh-gathered flowers be intro- 
duced into a sitting-room ; place the one in the 
mouth of a narrow-necked jar of water, and arrange 
the other upon such a shallow pan of water asa 
deep dish will furnish. It will be found that the 
latter will be perfectly fresh days after the former 
are faded. The reason is that in the narrow- 
necked jar the flowers have no access to water 
except through the ends of their shoots, and are 
surrounded by a very dry air; while in the flat 
dish they are able to absorb abundant water, be- 
cause a large part of their surface is in contact with 
it, and are moreover surrounded by air incessantly 
moistened by the vapour that continually rises from 
the dish. 
Of this we may be sure, that darkness, dust, heat, 
want of ventilation, and all the other calamities to 
which plants in sitting-rooms are subject, are as no- 
thing compared with the inevitable dryness of the 
air; which indeed acts injuriously, not merely by 
exhausting plants of their water of vegetation, but 
by lowering the temperature of the pots in which 
they are grown, in consequence of the evaporation 
constantly taking place there. 
What makes the evil greater is, that the plants 
which are purchased for sitting-rooms are invariably 
brought into high condition by being grown in a 
damp atmosphere. They are transferred from the 
hands of skilful gardeners, armed with the most per- 
fectly-constructed forcing-houses, into the care of 
inexperienced amateurs, whose means of maintaining 
a plant in health are something considerably less 
than nothing. 
A case will illustrate this: A Rose-bush is 
bought in the market, fresh and trim, with one or 
two flowers open, others in bud, more still younger, 
and many but just peeping out. From such a spe- 
cimen nothing, it would seem, can result but a long 
succession of beauty. But this charming thing, so 
fresh and promising, was, perhaps, a few hours be- 
fore, the inhabitant of a damp greenhouse or pit, | 9' 
where its leaves were formed in shade, and their 
surface softened by a daily bath of artificial dew. 
Itis suddenly conveyed to a sitting-room ; its leaves 
shrivel up under the withering influence of its new 
habitation; the fountains of life become dried; 
the young flowers, starved by want of their accus- 
tomed food, drop off, the leaves follow them ; the 
green-fly or red spider attacks the suffering remains, 
and a week or two are sufficient to witness the de- 
struction of all the buyer's hopes. 
We appeal to everybodys experience for our 
proof that this is an ordinary case. But a Belgian 
window garden removes the difficulty ; in such a 
place a plant is kept in precisely the circumstances 
most conducive to its health ; light and moisture 
foster the young shoots, and the softened air pro- 
vides a due supply of all that is indispensable to 
vigour. 
To those who propose to engage in this kind of 
amusement we would add a very few words of 
empirical advice. 1. Always use rain-water; 
2. Always let it be milk-warm ; 8. To every quart 
of rain-water add half a grain of nitrate of ammonia, 
or sulphate of ammonia; 4. Invariably keep up a 
continual current of warm fresh air through the 
garden whenever the circumstances of the season 
will permit ; the easiest method of accomplish- 
ing this, which is equally important in large as in 
small houses, and yet is almost universally neglected, 
we shall consider on a future occasion. 
Tue readers of the Chronicle are indebted to 
Mr. Murray for the following Facrs from Pol- 
maise: 
THE CHURCH. 
1. St. Verner’s Church is 70 feet long, 50 feet 
broad, and 40 feet high, with five doors and windows 
on four sides. 2. The hot chamber, in session- 
house, is 7 feet high by 5 feet 6 inches each way, 
inclosing the stove. 3. Hot-air opening into the 
church is 3 feet 6 inches by 2 feet, situated at one 
corner of the church!! 4. There are only two 
cold-air drains, 2 feet each, with 3 feet openings 
into the church!! 5, These cold-air drains only 
extend 20 feet into the body of the church!!! 
6. On the 4th of February, in the night, the stove 
heated the church to 759 Fahr.; was kept at that 
heat for several hours. 7. Four thermometers were 
placed in separate parts of the building: near the 
hot-air opening, at the opposite end, in the centre, 
and in the gallery ; the greatest variation was onl, 
59. The stove was put up in the year 1840, and 
has required no repair ! 
THE HOTHOUSE. 
1. The hothouse is 30 feet long by 12 feet. 2. Hot 
chamber 6 feet 8 inches long, 4 feet 3 inches broad, 
and 7 feet 8 inches high, leaving an open space of 
1 foot 8 inches round three sides and top of stove. 
3. Hot-air opening is only 2 feet by 1 foot 6 inches, 
and is 2 feet above the level of the floor of the 
house. 4. ere are two cold-air drains, 1 foot 
each, with 2 feet openings. 5. The fire and ash-pit 
doors are to the open air, consequently separate 
from hot-air chamber. 6. The supply of air to the 
fire is quite distinct from that of the house, so that 
no gaseous exhalation from back draught can take 
place. 7. On the 5th of February, 1844, the ex- 
ternal temperature was at 6° Fahr. (269 of frost) ; 
there was no difficulty in keeping up the required 
temperature, and with much less fuel than was re- 
quired in the adjoining house, heated by a flue. 
8. The hothouse can have the heat raised in 25 
minutes!!! 9. The temperature has been raised 
to 1009 Fahr.!!! 10. The fire lasts all night, re- 
quiring no attention till morning. 11. The gar- 
dener can admit fresh air to be warmed! and sup- 
plied to the plants at pleasure. 12. When the 
thermometer is 209 higher in the Polmaise-house 
than in the flue-house, it does not feel so hot or 
oppressive!!! 13, Every leaf can be made to hang 
with dew. 14. The apparatus has not required 
any repairs. 15. It cost 30/., was the smallest size 
made by Havens, but would heat from 100 to 150 
feet of hothouse. i 
These facts are recommended to our readers till 
others can be accumulated ; they will be very grati- 
fying to those who wish well to the system ; andits 
adversaries will find more profitable employment in 
giving them the consideration they deserve, with a 
view to their explanation, than in the invention of 
such mischievous tales as were noticed in the 
Leading Article of our Paper on Saturday last. 
HAMILTON'S PINE SYSTEM. 
As the public has shown some interest in this mode 
of Pine culture, to which I confess myself in the main 
a convert, I may perhaps be allowed to say a few words 
about it. Ihave both examined into the matter by in- 
spection, and have also made several inquiries by letter 
to Mr. H., all of which he has kindly and explicitly 
answered, and has also permitted me to make any use 
his remarks which I may think proper. To be 
guarded in the matter, however, as it has already given 
rise to some disputing, I may as well state that I am 
not assured that it will drive what is called the maiden 
plant system into entire disuse ; what I think is, that 
where constant succession, coupled with a severe eco- 
nomy is the object, it is the plan of all others. A large 
pit, full of ripe or ripening fruit, under the old system, 
is, of course, at all times a matter of interest, and 
