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270 
THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 
[APRIL 25, 
gradually raising the thermometer until it has reached 
609. As respects the heat generally in the propagating 
compartment, I certainly never heard of any construc- 
tion that would retain heat so long with so small a 
portion of fire, I got 10cwt. of coke, which eost 3s. 4d.(1); 
this I have been burning these three weeks, and I ex- 
pect it will last three weeks longer. Ihave kept up 
a high temperature constantly. I have frequently left 
the pit at 65° at nine o'eloek at night, and found it at 
58° in the morning. On one occasion I left it at 60° 
and found it in the morning at 59°. I have often left 
the fire for 12 or 14 hours, and have found the heat 
very little diminished. Now for the expense of the 
apparatus. The whole of the iron work, ineluding the 
plate and also the stone' slab, cost 4/. 6s., and even this 
expense might be considerably reduced by purchasing 
a ready-made stove. "The hot-air chamber and flues 
were built by one man in about a day and a half. The 
flues I had buiit merely to prevent tlie escape of heat, 
and to save fuel. As for repairs, I do not expect any 
will be required for 10 or 15 years, except that the 
flues may want cleaning in three or four years.— Isaac 
Davies, Larkfield Nursery, Wavertree, near Liverpool. 
[We shall endeavour to find room for some plans by 
“J. H. H” next week, 
Bee Trees in the New F'orest.—In a decree of the 
Court of Exchequer (26 Elizabeth), is the following 
assage :—‘* It is likewise ordered that the said keepers 
ofthe New Forest, shall each of them in his several 
walk, have only such windfall trees and boughs where 
no part of the root is turned up, and in boughs also, only 
to so much thereof as the bees do light on, and the 
honey that shall be found on the tree, but not to cut 
away auy main bough or tree by colour thereof."— 
Thomas Falconer. 
Covering Walls with Glass.—i have for three years 
adopted the plan of covering Peach and Nectarine 
trees, as also Vines, with wooden frames and moveable 
fronts ; but I cannot say they have quite auswered my 
expectations. Some of the fronts are glazed, others are 
covered with oiled lawn, and all removable when the 
fruit is considerably advanced. Ido not perceive much 
difference between the glass and the lawn. I think the 
latter the warmest, and as the covers are principally 
used at night, the only advantage of glass is its dura- 
bility. The difficulty I experience is the want of a 
little heat so as to advance the growth in spring and 
get the fruit and wood well ripened in the hot weather. 
I have tried a lamp without any sensible effect. The 
thermometer inside the glass ranges nearly the same 
in half an hour as that in the open air; so that the 
priucipal protection is to the young flowers against 
wind and rain. Unless your eorrespondent can devise 
some cheap aud easy means of introducing and con- 
tinuing sufficient heat to resist the frost, we shall obtain 
little advantage, and run the risk of advancing the 
blossom only to see it nipped in the bud. Ihave a 
roller blind over the glass; and the promise of this 
mild spring is certainly greater than in the two pre- 
ceding years. The difference between the trees covered 
and uncovered is very manifest, both in size and 
quantity ; but I have had my frames on these two 
mouths. The fronts should be hung from the bottom 
and not from the top ; the latter plan encourages the 
fly. The syringe is a dangerous auxiliary without some 
means of evaporation, and unless your ingenious cor- 
respondents can devise a method of introducing a 
current of warm air, I augur little advantage from 
these protections in ordinary seasons. I may add that 
they do not answer so well for Vines as Peaches and 
Nectarines ; the former filling the box full of wood. 
—Amateur. 
Vegetable Phenomenon.—As Mr. Mallison has sub- 
mitted his paper on this subject to your readers in the 
hope “ of eliciting parallel instances,” I beg to state 
that there is an occurrence of the same kind at Dal- 
keith Park, N. B., in a Lime-tree ; and another in an 
Elm-tree, at Charborough Park, Dorset. Both are 
very similar to the representation given at page 252, 
only the trunks or branehes are much smaller, and 
higher up than in the one just referred to.— J, M*Intosh. 
ere is in the parish of Bayton, in Worcester- 
shire, an Oak which goes by the name of the self-bored 
Oak. It has an aperture resembling that mentioned by 
“F. A." and the country people think that they cure 
the hooping-cough by passing their children backwards 
and forwards through it. I remember a man upon 
whom the operation had been performed. The hole is 
not larger than will admit an infant, and I think has 
t d since I ber it. The Oak is pollard, 
and stunted. It grows on the property of C. Wicksted, 
-— Anon. 
Cement.—If “ An Inquirer" wants a cement, pray re- 
commend the following :—Fill a bottle with isinglass 
chips, and pour in as much gin as the bottle will hold. 
The isinglass will be dissolved, and become a jelly; and 
when wanted for use must be placed in hot water or 
before the fire, to bring it toa fluid state.— 4non. 
Temporary Vineries.—I am about to put up a tem- 
porary Vinery. I have eight lights, 14 feet long, and 
propose to make a boarded shed about 8 feet high, at 
the back, and to ventilate by two front glass openings, 
and two at the back ; and to place in it a large Arnott's 
stove, surrounding this with woollen cloths, or 
worsted nets, some of the strands to be in water. 
conceive this will be quite sufficient for late crops. At 
the back I propose to train Figs. | if any of your cor- 
respondents have any experience as to such a house, I 
shall be glad of information.— Dodman. s 
m 
an iron tank, and have the boiler in the house; thus 
getting the bottom-heat over the tanks, which are 
covered with slate, and the air of the house is heated 
by the iron of the tanks, aud that produced by the 
boiler. The boiler is small, and does not take up much 
room; and this evil is more than compensated by the 
grêat additional heat. obtained. The boiler is of iron, 
made by Messrs. Smith and Co , of Leamington. The 
tanks are 30 feet long, and these, with the boiler and 
putting up (exclusive of the brick supports), eost 257. ; 
it is easily managed ; the consumption of fuel small. 
On the whole, I think, for a small foreing-house, this is 
one of the best I have seen.— Dodman. 
Effect of Burning Green Wood in Stoves.—My gar- 
dener, in a fit of economy, burnt in the furnace of a 
Pioe-stove a quantity of green wood ; the result has 
been that the bricks of the flue have become impreg- 
nated with pyroligneous acid, or some deleterious ma- 
terial, so as to cause an unpleasant effluvium, and 
materially to injure both Pines and Strawberries in the 
house. What will be the best plan (short of pulling 
down the flues) of removing the evil.—J. P., Cheshunt. 
Liquid Guano.—I think it worthy to mention the 
good effects derived from the diluted concentrated ex- 
tract of Ichaboe guano, by all plants in the greenhouse. 
I have a plant of Lowndes’ Perfection Pelargonium in 
an 8-inch pot, measuring 5 feet in diameter, on which, 
three days ago, I counted 53 trusses of expanded 
bloom, and there were altogether at one time visible on 
the plant 227 trusses. 1 water my Fuchsias once a 
week with diluted clear guano-water at the rate of one 
table-spoonful of the extract of guano to a gallon of 
water, and the plants are thriving more than usually 
well.— Lyston. 
Bell Glasses.—l have been a constant reader of the 
Chronicle, aud it has struck me as strange that every 
Number lias an advertisement about glass, and that no 
manufacturer has ever hinted at bell-glass, so much 
used in olden times, and so much wanted in the present 
day. lam persuaded that a ready sale might be found 
for such farticles, made of any common 
strong glass, coloured or plain. In one of 
your Numbers you alluded to an insect- 
trap, but no one has ever made them. 
Everybody conversant with a garden would 
buy bell-glasses, The trap was of this form, 
to hang on walls. I propose that you 
should tell us where we can procure bell. 
glasses, 2 feet across and of less sizes, the 
large ones like carboys, and decreasing ; a 
hole at the top, or solid, of strong green 
glass, like wine-bottles.—.X. Y. Z. [We are unable to 
afford the information desired. We quite agree in the 
importance of these things. Very common glass 
would do.] 
a 
Hoc.eties. 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
April 21.—R. W. Bancuanp, Esq., in the chair. 
The Earl of Scarborough aud Mr. J, Foster were elected 
Fellows. A paper was read from Mr. Maher, relative 
to the prevailing disease in Potatoes, the prineipal 
features of which were as follows. A thunderstorm, 
accompanied by high winds, having occurred in July 
1845, washing away the soil from the tubers, Mr. 
Maber was of opinion that the disease was caused by 
the heated water passing down by the cavity formed by 
the wind-waving of the haulm, and that the malady 
might be prevented from further spread by storing the 
tubers when taken up in perfectly dry earth. Speci- 
mens illustrative of the good effects of this mode of 
storing were produced. ‘These evidently showed that 
they had at one time been diseased ; but thatits further 
progress had been stayed by this method of storing. 
Mr. Maher was also of opinion that the remaining 
sound portion of the tuber might be safely used as 
sets for the next year’s crop. In regard to other 
matters, Mr. Rae, gardener to J. J. Blandy, Esq., 
sent various Orchids, especially a fine specimen of the 
showy Cattleya Skinneri, Peristeria Humboldti with four 
pendulous spikes of dingy spotted blossoms, the sweet- 
smelling Lyeaste aromatica, Oncidium pietum, Hunt- 
leya violacea with curious violet-coloured flowers, 
having hing of the app f a bivalve shell, 
and a seedling Azalea. A Knightian Medal was 
awarded.—From Mr. Alnutt, of Clapham, was a large 
specimen of Kennedya coccinea, for which a Certificate 
was awarded.—Mr. Dobson, gr. to Mr. Beck, of Isle- 
worth, received a Certificate for a fine specimen of the 
larger and best variety of Oncidium ampliatum.— From 
the same collection were also Oncidium luridum and 
papilio, and the beautiful golden-veined Ceylon An:ee- 
tochilus setaceus, growing in company with the silver- 
veined American Physurus ( ) under a bell-glass in 
an elegantly-formed Orchid basket, similar to those re- 
presented at p. 35. It was constructed of green slate, 
held together by brass clasps, and had altogether a very 
neat app and was well caleulated for being placed 
in a drawing-room.—Mr. Conway, of Brompton, sent a 
large, coarse-looking Fuchsia, named Goliath, exhibiting 
a multiplication of the petals. Sports in this tribe being 
of frequent occurrence, it is not impossible that 
this, although probably the first double Fuchsia 
which has been exhibited, may be only the fore- 
runner of a series of double-flowered varieties 
much more symmetrical than the subject in question. 
—Mr. Redding, gr., to Sir J. D. Broughton, Bart., 
produced two maguificent cut specimens of a purple 
Rhododendron, named Alta-clerense Broughtonii, and 
Heating.—Llhave fitted up a low forcing-l with 
Messrs. Veitch and Son, of Exeter, sent a Saccolabium, 
stated to be new, but which, if not S. micranthum, very 
much resembled that species.—Messrs. Fairbairn, of 
Clapham, received a certificate for a famous specimen: 
of Erica vestita coccinea, every branch of which was 
surmounted by a ring of bright red blossoms.—Mr. 
Moore, gr. to- R. Hanbury, Esq., sent Oncidium albo- 
violaceum, one of the most delicate of its class, for which 
a Certificate was awarded; and a sweet-smelling 
Epidendrum, from Honduras, apparently E. varicosum, 
was exhibited by Mr. Low, of Clapton.—Mr. Jackson, 
of Kingston, sent an Epacris-like piant, with small 
white flowers, from Swan River ; and beautiful eut blooms 
of the Poppy Anemone,came from Mr. Marshall, of Sur- 
biton.—Mr. Glendinning, of the Chiswick Nursery, sent 
Begonia albo-coccinea, a pretty pink-flowered sort.— 
From Mr. Anderson, gr. to the Marquis of Bath, was- 
Lilia flava, a pretty yellow-flowered species, forming a 
striking contrast with the  purple-blossomed kinds. 
From the same garden was also a sample of Ash-leaved 
Kidney Potatoes, which were said to haye been produced 
from diseased sets. These were clear-skinned, fine look- 
ing specimens, and apparently free from disease. One 
which was cut, however, for the purpose of trying 
them, very soon became discoloured in the centre when 
exposed, which is characteristic of the disease in an 
early stage.—From Mr. Plant, gr. to J. H. Schroder, 
Esq., were Vanda cristata, with bright brown streaked 
blossoms of no great beauty, and a good specimen of the 
showy Pimelea spectabilis——Mr. Ayres, gr. to J. Cook, 
Esq., of Brooklands, sent an exceedingly well-managed 
Stephanotis floribunda, loaded with sweet-scented white: 
blossoms down to the very pot, and a well-grown Ixora 
crocata, a pretty species, well deserving of more ex- 
tensive cultivation than it has received. A Knightian 
Medal was awarded for the Stephanotis.—Of Fruit, a 
handsomely-grown Queen Pine-apple, weighing 3 lbs. 
7 oZ., came from the garden of the Marquis of Bath; 
and a certificate was awarded to Mr. R. Fish, gr. to 
Col. Sowerby, for beautiful specimens of British Queen 
Strawberries, which were mentioned to be most suitable 
for forcing when very early fruit is not wanted.—Mr. 
Hutchinson, gr. to E. J. Shirley, Esq., again sent speci- 
mens of ripe Peaches, which were, however, inferior to 
he sample produced at the last meeting. Finally, 
various foreign fruits came from Messrs. Keeling and 
Hunt, of Mouument-yard. These consisted of fruit of 
the Banana, a Yam, Tangerine Oranges, Sweet Lemons, 
Forbidden Fruit, a Water Melon, Blood-red Oranges, 
and two cones of the Pinus Pinea, or Stone Pine,— 
From the Garden of the Society were the showy Cattleya 
Skinneri, a Guatemala species, the lilac-blossomed C. 
intermedia, Oncidium altissimum, Achimen:s pieta, a 
red Indian Azalea, Disocactus biformis, a seraggy Cac- 
taceous-looking plant with small purple flowers ; varieties 
of Hippeastrum Johnsoni, Cytisus canariensis, a seed- 
ling Cineraria, the beautiful Berberis trifoliata, which 
has been proved to be hardy, Cuphea pubiflora or stri- 
gillosa, and Arctostaphylos nitida, a Mexican shrub, in- 
troduced by Mr. Hartweg, which is not sufficiently 
hardy to withstand the rigour of our winters, and not 
gay enough to gain for it a place under glass. Packets 
of a dwarf Canadian Haricot were distributed among 
such Fellows as wished to receive them ; and it was 
mentioned that Potatoes, from New Grenada, were at 
via service of those who might express a wish to have 
hem. 
April 21.—E. Forster, Esq.,in the chair. Mr. N. 
B. Ward exhibited a specimen of the stem of Pteris 
caudata, upwards of 7 feet in height. This plant abounds 
in New Zealand, where with its leaves it attains a height 
of from 20 to 30 feet. He also exhibited a specimen: 
of Uncaria procumbens, from the Cape of Good Hope, 
a plant belonging to the natural order Pedaliaceze, and 
which produces a fruit whose carpels are furnished with 
strong hooks, hence it is called at the Cape Grapple- 
plant.—A paper was read from Edwin J. Quekett, Esq., 
on the structure of starch and ehlorophyl. After de- 
tailing the remarks ‘of Möller and Nægeli on the deve- 
lopment of starch and chlorophyl, the author gave the 
result of his own observations on several species of 
exogenous and endogenous plants. He agreed with 
Neegeli and Möller, that starch and chlorophyl, as well 
as cellular tissue, are developed from a nucleated cell 
or cytoblast, but he differed from these observers, in the 
fact that instead of having seen the starch granules de- 
veloped in the cytoblast, he had always observed them 
external to that body. They had, however, made their 
observations on Acrogens, whilst the author had con- 
fined himself to exogens and endogens. The plants 
which he examined were a species of Circæa, the tuber 
of the Potato, Lilium bulbif , and Iris g i 
ROYAL SOUTH LONDON FLORICULTURAL 
SOCIETY, . 
April 22.—This, the first meeting for the season, was 
held in the Horns Tavern, Kennington. The display of 
Aurieulas and other Florists’ flowers was tolerably 
good. J ll llections were 
one or two int ing singl 
nd al 
5 
were produced 
ther the exhibition may be idered an im- 
provement on the last spring meeting. As the AURI- 
curas form the principal feature of this show we will 
begin with them, 
In the Private Growers’ Class, for the best pair, the 
Large Silver Adelaide Medal was awarded to W. 
Trahar, Esq., for Dickson’s Duke of Wellington and 
Unique. A small Victoria Medal, as 2d prize, was 
voted to J, Chapman, Esq. for Page's Champion and 
Sykes’ Complete, 3d, a small Linnean Medal to W. S- 
