20—1846.] 
THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. 
319 
Pine Growing at Thornfield.—The following facts 
are the result of what I term a threefold advantageous 
mode of Pine culture ; for by it I can produce fine 
fruit with expedition, and with little labour. Almost 
everybody now, I presume, is favourable to the anti- 
mangling system, and are prepared to make the most of 
the matter stored up in the old stole, which is ready to 
Supply the wants of the sucker. Who, indeed, I would 
ask, would not seize on this gratuitous storehouse, and 
at once discard the root-mangling system? One or two 
good houses, having a pipe or tank for bottom-heat, 
might be turned to a better account by my system, than 
Several houses by the ordinary mode of cultivation, 
The Jamaica, with me, has produced two fruits on one 
Stem, 10 lbs. in weight, which is double that of any 
Single fruit ever produced from a maiden plant in the 
ght hood of M ter or Stockport. Thus has 
been achieved, at least in effect, what Mr. Barnes is 
Straining every nerve to accomplish. The following is 
a list of 12 Envilles grown at this place during these 
few years past. Only two or three of this sort are 
fruited here each season, on account of their inferior 
flavour compared with that of the Montserrat. Their 
Weights were—7 lbs. 8 oz. ; 7 lbs. 15 oz. ; 81bs. 8 oz. ; 
71bs. 12 02. ; 8Ibs. G oz.; 7 lbs. ; 8 lbs. ; 7 Ibs. 6 oz. ; 
Blbs. 10 oz. ; 91bs. ; 8 Ibs. 12 oz. ; and 8 lbs. 12 oz., re- 
Spectively. These weights are taken from a diary kept 
by the butler here, who books the Pines when taken 
into the house. Mr. Barnes inquires, “ to what weights 
have I grown Queens?” The black kinds, he states, 
May be grown to any size. Now, upon inquiry, I find 
that where the Queen and Jamaica have been grown 
together in this locality, the former in most cases has 
roved larger than the latter. y neighbour, Mr. 
ayward, has produced the Ripley Queen 1 Ib. 12 oz. 
eavier than the Jamaica. Mr. Adderley grows the 
old Queen and Jamaica of equal weight. Mr. Lodge, 
of Heaton Villa, informs me that he has produced the 
Queen upwards of 7 lbs. I have now in the Pine stove 
four fruits, of nearly equal age, swelling off : they con- 
Sist of an Enville 14 pips high, weighing about 3 Ibs. 
120z.; a Ripley Queen, 10 pips high, weighing about 
about 
7 pips, weighing 3 lbs. 4 oz. These are all 
planted out except the first. The Enville and Queen, 
to all appearance, will swell much larger ; and there is, 
moreover, every probability of eutting other two fruits 
from the Queen some time during the present year. 
These are good for this season of the year, but nothing 
beyond what has already been accomplished by others 
who have followed the same course as myself, and in 
Some instances I have been surpassed. The principal 
agents of success are light, heat, and moisture ; but the 
greatest and most important of these three is light. 
hoever cannot command a sufficiency of these three 
elements must lag behind. Young gardeners and ama- 
teurs who have commenced my system (at least in this 
locality) have succeeded nearly as well as myself—thus 
showing the simplicity, economy, and merits of a system 
destined ere long, I am persuaded, to triumph over 
the old method. With regard to expedition, I may 
Mention that a plant of the Jamaica is now showing two 
fruits very strong, whose former fruit was cut in 
August last ; another is showing two fruits, from which 
I cut one in September last; a third is showing two 
fruits, whose former fruit was only cut in February 
last ; a fourth is showing two fruits which ripened one 
in December last. I might proceed to some length, 
but I trust enough has already been said to show what 
May sometimes be accomplished under a good glass 
roof, with skilful management. If spared, I hope y 
to produce three fruits from one plant in about six 
months, which only a few years ago would have oceu- 
Pied a period of six years. Now, is not this expeditious 
Mode far preferable to our present systent?’—Joseph 
Hamilton, Thornfield, Stockport. 
Morels.—I do not know what growth Morels have 
Made in other parts of the kingdom this year, but we 
yesterday gathered, with many other fine ones, five, 
which weighed together no less than 2 lbs. 12 oz. But 
ts, I may observe, is quite a Morel country, from the 
ancient woods and plantations about us, which encou- 
Tage their growrh.—W. Mason, Necton, May 8. 
Weather Rules.—In reply to € G. W.” I beg to say 
that my observation respecting the wind at the time of 
the late vernal equinox was made in the immediate 
Neighbourhood of London (north side); 16 March, 
NM. Strong gales, and squally with rain; 17th, 18th, 
19th, and 20th, N, weather moderate and cloudy ; 
21st, SS blowing hard, with squalls of rain, and very 
Cold; 22d, 23d, and 24th, S.W., fresh breezes, with 
hail and rain. The observations for former years alluded 
E. in last reply were made in a village about seven miles 
us W. of London. It is no uncommon occurrence for 
e weather as well as the wind to be very different at 
the same time in different parts of our island, and this 
Occasionally happens, though more rarely, to the whole 
Season. It being warm and dry on one side, whilst it is 
old and wet on the other 5 so that the observations 
oth as to wind and weather, though opposite and 
Apparently contradicting one another, may each be cor- 
ct in its respective locality.—M. E. 4. 
The Romance of Gardening.—An able writer in 
Your columns once observed that an ingenious man 
ee experience little difficulty in writing a book on 
HE Eecentricities of Vegetable Life; " and I think 
May be said, with equal truth, there would be no 
e difficulty in compiling a similar one from notes 
ents, on the ** Romance of Gardening and Natural His- 
tory.” We have the ‘Romance of Life,” the 
** Romance of History,” and fifty other ** Romances :” 
then why not * The Romance of Gardening?” I trust 
I shall not be misunderstood. I havea full conviction 
of the benefits gardening, in common with all other 
sciences, has derived from good theory, well digested 
by practice, and cleared of its superfluous matters, and 
would be the last to give even the slightest hint caleu- 
lated in any way to check its full development. Some 
of the greatest improvements in our arts, our 
manufactures, in all that relates to our physical and, 
consequently, social and moral comforts, are, to speak 
figuratively, the kernels of rough and uninviting fruits 
(theories), divested of their thick and useless husks by 
the forecast and perseverance of minds gifted beyond 
the “ million? minds capable of observing the good 
concealed beneath the rough exterior—capable of infer- 
ing that the uninyiting subject— 
Wears yet a precious jewel in its head.” 
It rarely happens that thorough practical men are 
good theorists, and, vice versa. It requires a com- 
bination of the two to effect the ultimate object. 
The master-mind of the theorist must conceive, 
that of the practical man execute. But there are some 
men who will write, who will be theorists, without 
one real pretension to either, who ean only be 
compared to Pope’s young aspirant for literary hon- 
ours, who * Penn'd a stanza when he should engross.” 
The class of writers alluded to would do we'l to 
study and practice Bishop Butler’s excellent maxim 
—* Never to speak but when you have something 
to say.” But, “to our tale." I think no one can have 
failed to be struek with some very absurd articles which 
from time to time have appeared in the “ Home Cor- 
respondence.” As I have made no notes of them, I 
shall only allude to a few which I can at the moment 
recollect, but which I trust will be thought sufficient to 
illustrate the point in question, and to point out the 
character of the correspondence to which I allude. 
Thus one correspondent details with the utmost per- 
spicuity and gravity his system of cultivating Conifers 
during the first twelvemonths of the young plant’s 
growth, and would have us believe that at the close of 
that period his plants have attained such magnitude as 
to require a bushel pot to accommodate them comfort- 
ably. Another, equally sagacious, has succeeded in 
combating the effect of frost on his plants by burning 
pieces of rush-light in his frames. The originator of 
such a scheme ought surely to receive the acknow- 
lg ts oj hortieulturi: whom a subserip- 
tion should be set on foot to raise to him a monument 
In natural history, too, we have some excellent articles 
—the result of close observation. Weare told by one 
that he has seen the wonderful phenomena of a cat 
eating a raw Potato. Another, that a friend of his was 
actually obliged to destroy a magpie because it con- 
tinually flew at a particular window. And, to return 
to the subject of gardening, a writer, in a late Number, 
adyises those who would seeure good crops of Aspara- 
gus to bare the crowns of their plants and allow them 
to be well frozen up, thereby greatly increasing the 
produce !— G. 
Potato Crop.—Although you are probably tired of 
the Potato discussion, I shall take this opportunity of 
submitting to you an idea I have formed of a mode of 
renovating the constitution of the plant for seed. The 
Potato in its indigenous state in South America I un- 
derstand to be a small, moist, waxy tuber, about the 
size of a Walnut. In our hands it has become a very 
different article, greatly enlarged, highly farinaceous, 
and very superior in quality as food. It seems pro- 
bable, however, that a long course of cultivation and 
continual foreing with manure in high conditioned land 
has materially altered its constitution and lowered its 
vitality, so as to render it less capable of resisting un- 
favourable hygrometrie and thermometrie conditions of 
the atmosphere. If this supposition be just, it would 
seem that the rational mode of renovating the constitu- 
tion of the plant should be to adopt, for Potatoes in- 
tended for seed, such a course of cultivation as should 
in a period of two or three years, bring back its strue- 
tural condition to a state more or less approaching to 
its original nature—a small, hard, waxy tuber, from 
which to commence a new course of stimulating culti- 
vation, With this view it might be planted this year 
in land with the manure ploughed in during or before 
winter, next year with a dressing of vegetable mould 
without manure, and the third year in altogether un- 
manured land, possibly repeating the same treatment 
for a fourth year. I should be much inclined to re- 
commend a trial of this process on a small scale, and 
purpose to attempt itmyself. Of the different kinds of 
Potatoes, I found the Buffs and Reds most affected by 
the disease. Two-thirds of the crop were more or less 
affected by it, but fit for the use of the cattle; and the 
refuse of the worst,which were grated for making starch, 
was found, when boiled with chaff and Turnips, excel- 
lent feeding. The Potato most exempt from the dis- 
ease was the black Potato with purple heart (I am ig- 
norant of its proper name), of which not more than 
about 1-16th was touched by the murrain. Of a quan- 
tity of Potatoes picked carefully from the crop as sound 
for seed and summer use, a considerable part decayed 
during the winter, not, however, from the spread of the 
murrain, but from common rot.—J. S. H., Perthshire. 
[Read the account of Mr. Shepherd’s capital plan of in- 
vigorating the Potato, as stated in a Leading article 
some weeks since, Our Black Potatoes a// rotted in 
nished from time to time by theoretical correspond, | the ground. 
e y pond, | g 
Potato Disease.—1l am happy to state that everything 
relating to the Potato crop looks more cheerful than we 
antieipated ; the old white ones are keeping very well. 
Any seed that has been sown is not failing, and at this 
time of the season I never sawa larger breadth in 
ground. I look forward to have plenty by St. John's- 
day (24th June), and some of my neighbours will have 
them soon.—J. B. Warren, Warren's-grove, Crooks- 
town, Cork. . [We hope you may be right ; but —.] 
Marine Glue a Substitute for Putty.—Being about 
to make a pit last autumn, and having seen in the 
Chronicle much said in the praise of the marine glue, 
I wished to use it instead of putty in glazing the lights. 
I, however, found it unmanageable till I had recourse 
to a heated iron instrument, with which I applied the 
glue as I would solder. There was no fracture of the 
glass from the heat of the iron, and it has answered 
very well.—S. M., Melksham. 
Canker.—I think you mistake when you assert that 
the Glout Morceau Pear trees never canker ; such, 
am sorry to say, is not the ease. I have seen them badly 
diseased, and have one now that is very much infected 
with it, though only six years old. My own opinion of 
canker is, that it is produced from our short summers 
not sufficiently ripening the timber ; and I always found 
the trees that were well eut back in autumn less infected 
than others. — J. B. Warren, Crookstown, Cork. 
To the list of fruit trees that invariably canker in 
gravelly soils, either as dwarfs or standards, I would 
add the Golden Reinette, and the Ribston Pippin. To 
those that do not canker, I would add the Keswick 
Codlin, and the Manx Codlin, the Sykehouse Pippin, 
the Doetor Harvey, and pre-eminently the Downton, 
All Cherries, more especially Bigareau, and the May 
Duke are liable to canker: this I state after many 
years’ experience. To the list of Pears that do not 
canker, I would add the Sweetwater, the latter Lammas, 
the Passe Colmar, and generally the later Flemish 
varieties. My plantation is a sharp gravel, sloping 
gently to the south and east ; four years ago I sub- 
drained it completely, and the drains are in constant 
action. One drain ran close to a row of Hawthorn- 
dens, horribly eankered, but the drain has not been 
of any service to them, Very many of my trees were 
planted upon brick platforms, many feet square, but the 
sorts liable to canker went off the same as the others. 
The orchards in the deposit commonly called the 
London clay, with its varieties of sharp gravel, coarse 
gravel, tenacious brick earth, blue clay, and black sand, 
are on the whole unproductive. Is would be useful if 
fruit growers would notice those fruit trees which 
succeed best on their respective soils, naming their 
soils and their sorts. Such information would have 
been very valuable to me, as very many sorts have 
been tried, and after some few years have been found 
unprofitable. I bave just read the article on this 
subject at p. 299. I have always planted my fruit- 
trees on small mounds, with the surface of the earth 
just covering the crown, whence the roots spring, and 
yet sorts liable to canker have still been cankered. 
— Este. ‘The canker, or erasion of the bark and 
wood, is a disease produced often in trees by a poverty 
of soil; and it is invariably connected with old age, 
The cause seems to be an excess of alkaline and earthy 
matter in the descending sap. I have often found car- 
bonate of lime on the edges of the canker of the Elm. 
The old age of a tree, in this respect, is faintly analo- 
gous to the old age of animals, in which the secretions 
of solid bony matter are always in excess, and the ten- 
deney to ossification great. The common modes of 
attempting to cure canker are by cutting the edges of 
the bark, binding new bark upon it, or laying ona 
plaister of earth ; but these methods, though they have 
been much extolled, probably do very little in produc- 
ing a regeneration of the part. Perhaps the applica- 
tion of a weak acid to the canker might be of use ; or, 
where the tree is of great value, it may be watered oc- 
casionally with a very diluted acid. The alkaline and 
earthy nature of the morbid secretion warrants the 
trial, but circumstances that cannot be foreseen may 
oceur to interfere with the success of the experiment. 
—A. B., South Shields. [We regret our inability to 
assent to this doctrine. ] d 
Bees.—Communications have appeared in former 
Numbers detailing the facts I have witnessed in con- 
nection with these interesting insects. At p. 739 for 
1845, I gave an aecount of my suecess in making an 
artificial swarm, and I am pleased to be able to add 
that the parent hive and the artificial swarm have con- 
tinued in the best possible condition, remarkably strong 
and healthy ; and, so far as I have been able to observe, 
the number of dead bees in front of the hives have not 
exceeded 30 altogether from each, since the period of 
the destruction of the drones, in the autumn of 1845, 
until the present date, Feb. 21,1846. The parent hive 
I have never fed or assisted in any way, as it evidently 
contains ample store of honey, and there is plenty of 
pollen to be had now from the Crocus and blossoms of 
Furze, and other flowers which are daily expanding. 
The artificial swarm I have fed from the 27th of Jan. 
last with about half a pound of honey in combs in con- 
sequence of having observed them endeavouring to rob 
their more wealthy neighbours in the parent hive, which 
caused the destruction of a few, but now all is harmony, 
and the inmates of each hive are as industrious and 
active on every favourable occasion as I could wish to 
see them. Having taken a particular interest in the 
success of my artificial swarm, which I made in a side 
box 8 inches square inside and 10 inches deep, lined 
j with matting, and having two glass windows each, 
