24—1846.] 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
387 
Er eee ETT 
RIED PLANTS FROM CHINA.—A few sets of 
the VALUABLE DRIED PLANTS collected in China 
by Mr, FonrUxE, may still be procured by applying to R. 
Hrwanp, Esq., Young-street, Kensington, London: 01 
n are many new and rare species scarcoly known to Euro- 
eans, 
OYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY.—The LAST EX- 
HIBITION this season in the Gardens of this Society in 
the Regent's-park, will be held on WEDNESDAY, JULY Ist, and 
Will include FRUIT. ‘Tickets can be obtained at the Gardens 
‘by presenting an order from a Subscriber, price 5s., or on 
day of the Exhibition 7s. 6d. each. 
PROMENADES, to which Fellows have the privilege of ad- 
mitting their friends, will continue to be held every Wednesday 
3n June and July, except July 1st. 
J. D. €, Sowersy, Secretary. - 
The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 
SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 1846. 
MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 
TumpAy, June 16—Linnean |. . s . . 8M. 
"bNWeAY, — l7-SocetyofArts . . . . 8 rae 
"Wxpwmpay, — Si—RoyalSouth London . . 3 
COUNTRY SHOWS. 
Toma, June 16- Stamford Hill Horticultural, 
Wuowmapay, — 17. Scottish Pansy Society. | 
Chichester Horticultural. 
Tuureray, — 18) Gravesend and Milton Hort, Societys 
‘Trurspay, — 25—South Essex Hort. and Floricultural, 
lxx. 
‘We have received so many complaints from well 
Meaning persons and others against our refusal to 
Occupy our pages with WraTHER PREDICTIONS, 
Which the first have a craving for and the latter 
live by, that we are glad to extract from the 
„Atheneum the following paragraph, which must be 
‘Our answer to such remonstrances :— 
‘the moon and comets on the changes of the weather. 
^ hese results demonstrate peremptorily that the 
unar and cometary influences are scarcely sen- 
Sibles and therefore that weather-prophecy can 
never be a branch of astronomy properly so 
called. For, in fact, our satelite and the 
Comets have been at all tithes considered. in 
meteorology as the preponderating stars. Since 
t 95e former publications, I have examined the sub- 
Ject in another point of view. I have been inquiring 
Wf the labour of men, and if events which must al- 
Ways escape our scrutiny, may not have the effect 
of accidentally and very sensibly modifying climate 
7-88 regards temperature in particular, Already I 
See that facts will yield me an affirmative answer. 
should greatly have preferred to delay the an- 
Rouncement of thatresult until after the completion 
9! my werk ; but let me candidly avow that I have 
Sought to make an occasion Jor protesting aloud 
against those predictions which ave yearly laid in 
any name at home and abroad. No word has ever 
‘sued from my mouth, cither in the intimacy of pri- 
yate communication or in my courses delivered 
wang thirty years—no line has ever been published 
qn my assent—which could authorise the attribu- 
*0n to me of an opinion that it is possible, in the 
pront State of our knowledge, to foretel with cer- 
3 nty what the weather will be, A YEAR, A MONTH, 
I QE niay I will say, a siNGrE pay, in advance. 
Bere only that the annoyance which I have ex- 
tine? at seeing a host of ridiculous predictions 
ished in my name may have not have led me, 
eaction, to give exaggerated import- 
causes of disturbance which I haye 
[e ei At present I feel entitled to deduce 
sate € sum of my investigations this capital con- 
Of the woe Nxvrn—4dwhatever, may be the progress 
and c Sciences —uill the savant, who is conscientious 
Pierii ul of his reputation, SPECULATE ON A PRE- 
The OF THE WEATHER.’ ” 
Weather wet to be decisive as to the fate of the 
SER APTO ets, whose opinions may be best con- 
findable, 
& 
o that limbo where man’s lost wits are 
Tur followin, 
à Corre, 
Comple: 
ate fro 
Ge onl es ene 
g statement has been received from 
Spondent :—“ The stems of our Vines are 
tely overgrown with roots, some of which 
ota, m nine inches to a foot in length. Durin 
but "d Weather the points of these rootlets shrivel; 
ush DU return of dull weather, they begin to 
Bis EM above the shrivelled points. As it will 
ded om in a short time to withdraw moisture on 
ought of the ripening of the Grapes, in what wa: 
We to proceed? Or do you consider it a 
| t^^ nvoner destination of this is the roots 
Cut 
sign of unhealthiness, as it is feared it is, the borders 
being very bad? They are upwards of 5 ft. deep, 
and of a rather stiffish clay. The house is kept 
pretty moist by means of pans on the flues.” 
The Vine possesses a very strong vegetating 
power, which is manifested whenever sufficient heat 
and moisture are present. It is also well known 
that if one portion or shoot of a Vine-plant is intro- 
e | duced to an atmosphere congenial to its growth, the 
buds will push into foliage and shoots ; whilst the 
rest of the plant, exposed to cold, will not be per- 
ceptibly affected, and will contribute nothing to the 
active vegetation of the branch introduced to heat 
and moisture. A ingto circumstances, therefore, 
vegetation may be active in one part, and at the 
same time comparatively dormant in another part of 
the same Vine-plant. 
The circumstance of Vines under glass emitting 
roots at the joints along the shoots is not uncom- 
mon. We wish it were less so, for it is injurious to 
the future prosperity of the Vine, and tends to pre- 
vent the existing crop from acquiring perfection. 
We must endeavour to explain the cause; conse- 
quences, and remedy. 
Moisture favours the formation of these roots. 
As our correspondent stated they shrivel in hot dry 
weather, but push again on the return of a dull or 
moist state of the atmosphere. But the principal 
cause of their appearance is not moisture. They 
arise from the shoots being in a highly favourable 
situation for growth, and the roots in the reverse. 
The leaves elaborate a quantity of sap proportionate 
to their size, and to the share which light has had 
in perfecting their development. Part of this ela- 
borated sap is appropriated by the above-ground 
portion of the plant. But in ordinary cases, an 
more especially where a vigorous growth is pro- 
moted, there is always a surplus beyond what the 
stem and its dependencies above ground require, and 
a in ardar 
that their increase máy correspond with that of the 
plant above them. But roots in a border 5 ft; deep, 
and of a clayey nature, will be in a température 
little-above 409 early in spring. At about 409 
water has its greatest density. Undersuch circum- 
stances any movement in the fluids of the’ roots 
must be extremely sluggish ; and were these roots as 
open to observation as the stem is, theres no doubt 
they would be found as dormant as a shoot left out- 
sidein the cold; compared with another introduced to 
thé heat of a forcing house. When the roots of Vines 
are healthy, in proper soil sufficiently warm, their 
growth proceeds in due proportion to that of the 
top, but if they are badly conditioned, they can t 
neither act their part nor appropriate their share of 
the returning juices ; quently an 
of the latter takes place in the stems, and, favoured 
by the moist warm atmosphere of the Vinery, bursts 
through the bark in the form of spongioles, continu- 
ing to lengthen till they are checked by drought. 
An extraordinary production of these aerial roots 
was observed to tàke place whilst an experiment 
was being made with'a Black Hamburgh Vine, in 
the garden of the Horticultural Society. It had 
grown vigorously in an open border, along with 
other varieties, forming part of the collection of 
Vines ; growing at full freedom, no rootlets broke 
out from the shoots. A 3-light frame was placed 
over this plant, and made as air-tight as possible ; 
the sashes were never opened, except to supply 
water to the roots; a thermometer inside the frame 
was generally raised every day above 140? by sun 
heat. An Orchid placed in' a shaded part of the 
frame was killed in two days, yet the Vine continued 
to grow. It burst its winter buds rapidly into shoots, 
and almost as soon as the buds on these young 
snoots were formed, tney also pushed, weaker of 
course, and again still weaker growths proceeded 
from these secondary shoots, Meanwhile a väst 
number of roots issued from the shoots trained hori- 
zontally near the glass, and these roots soon reached 
the surface of the ground, which became matted by 
them, for it was moist, and for a little way sufh- 
ciently warm, by reason of the sun-heated air in the 
frame. But with regard to the old roots in the 
earth, the case was very different. The heated air 
of the frame could but slightly affect the soil at the 
depth where they were situated, whilst those ex- 
tending beyond the limits of the frame were of 
course entirely beyond its influence. 
It may be safely concluded when Vines are scen 
throwing out roots in the air, that the roots in the 
soil are in bad condition, provided only a due 
degree of heat and moisture has been maintained 
in the house. But in the Vine, which will bear 
great vicissitudes of temperature, a disparity may 
take place in two ways, so as to produce the effect 
in question: either the temperature of the border 
may be much too low, whilst that of the Vinery is 
not too high; or the border may be rendered com- 
fortable enough in every respect for the roots, whilst 
the conditions of heat and moisture in which the 
shoots are placed, like those in the experiment above 
detailed, may be much too high. 
The consequences which result from a profusion 
of branch-roots on the Vine are these; they act 
as spongioles, and absorb moisture and gases from 
the air in the house, and they tend to increase the 
breadth of the foliage and swelling of the berries ; 
even the thickness of the wood is considerably in- 
creased by them, for it is not uncommon to see a 
Vine branch-smaller at the base than higher up; 
inshort they are sources for the supply of nourish-* 
ment. But they are sources which dry up wlien they 
are most wanted. They ought not, therefore, to 
be at all encouraged. They assist in forming a 
widely expanded foliage during moist weather; 
and when dry weather demands a greater supply, to 
compensate for increased evaporation from broad 
foliage, the stem-borne rootlets contribute nothing, 
they themselves being dried up. To their pre- 
carious supply may be partly attributed the shank- 
ing and shrivelling offruit. They should be checked 
in time by allowing the air in. the house to become 
oecasionally dry iustead of feeding them constantly 
with water from evaporating pans. But above all 
things, their appearance should be prevented by 
maintaining a due proportion between the tempera- 
ture of the air and earth in which the Vines are 
plunged. We know that some learned Vine- 
growers will scratch their heads and wonder what 
a due proportion signifies; but if they will study 
they will learn, andif they will not study we will 
tell them one of these days.—||. 
DOUBLE BROMPTON, QUEEN, AND TEN- 
WEEK STOCKS, 
Few hardy plants are more valuable than the different 
varieties of Brompton, Queen, and Ten-week Stocks, 
when double, and clear in colour, either as objects for 
decorating the flower-garden or the sitting-room, both. 
as regards their fragrance ana ong aurauon, ana at tne 
same time there are few plants upon which there is so 
much uncertainty. Very few persons care for the 
single Stock, while in the double state it is the admi- 
ration of everybody. I shall, therefore, endeavour to 
point out the surest means of obtaining double flowers, 
and at the same time show how they should he treated, 
so as to have plants in bloom from April to November, 
and even in very mild winters all the year round. In 
commeneing, first procure, if possible, seeds of a good 
kind (that is, from some place where more double than 
single ones are produced from the seed) for in so doing 
you may save yourself much disappointment. 
They are dingly easy of cultivation, merely 
requiring to be sown in a rich loamy soil, not very reten- 
ive, and at different seasons, so as to produce a suc- 
cession. Those which should be put in at the present 
season, namely, the Brompton and Queen Stocks, 
should be sown at two different times, cne about the 
end of June, and again in the end of July, in a border 
or bed not very rich or confined, merely screened from 
the mid-day sun. If such a situation is, however, not 
convenient, sow in the open ground and put a few 
twiggy branches over the beds, placing the branches 
flat on the ground, which will be quite shade enough, 
removing them again as soon as the young plants begin 
to show their first rough leaves, otherwise they become 
drawn, and consequently never flower well. 
In sowing the Brompton and Queen Stocks always 
sow rather thinly, and on ground which is somewhat 
firm, for if sown on very loose fresh dug ground, and 
if the soil is rich, which it should be, the plants grow 
too rapidly, become soft,and are very liable to be 
destroyed in winter if the latter should prove severe. 
When large enough, which will be by the prn s 
pou or August, trans zant uem into w ped 
rich soil, and water freely after planting if the weather 
is dry, but if possible defer planting until showery 
Woamer, In making a selection for transplanting, 
first reject all the very strong-growing plants, because 
they are almost sure to be single ones, and also those 
with a single tap root, preferring only the smaller 
stunted plants with horizontal fibry roots, as those in 
most cases produce double flowers, 
In planting at this season, much of the success de- 
pends upon the kind of winter which follows, and it is 
a very good plan to plant one portion on very poor soil, 
to stand if the winter should prove very severe, and 
another on rich soil (these should be the produce of the 
latter sowing), to produce fine flowers, in case the fol- 
lowing winter shonld prove very mild. These plants 
will flower from the end of April to the middle of July 
oreven longer, and should be supplied with manure 
water once or twice in April and May, particularly 
planted in rather poor soil. 
. The next sowing should be of Ten-week Stocks, for pot- 
ting and keeping in cold pits or frames during winter 
to be afterwards turned out into the open borders, abou 
the end of April ; the seeds of these are best sown on 
a good rich border, about the beginning of Septembe 
in the same manner as those of the preceding, and 
selection should be made in the same ner, rejecting 
the very strongest and tap-rooted plants as much as 
possible. When the plants are sufficiently large, po 
them in 5-inch pots (48s), putting three or four plants 
into each pot round the side, and in very rich compost ; 
they must be shaded for a few days, and afterwards 
