405 
THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. 
[JUNE 20, 
sawdust, oue part loam, aud some silver sand, and it 
has now covered thickly a trellis 12 feet in circumfer- 
nee —S. Whitmore, gr. to J. Bullock; Esq, Falk- 
bourn-hall, Witham, Essex.. [The Cueumber-leavés 
are very fine. What is called sawdust is in the state of 
black vegetable mould, such as is found iu the inside of 
old hollow trees.] 
Hybrid Aautirrhinums;—1 believe that in England as 
well as here they are hybridizing Antirrhinams, For 
this purpose you ought to get the great yellow A. lati- 
folium of southern Europe, and the more delicate sieu- 
lum; these, and Asarina, mixed with some of our oid 
sorts, might produce a good breed. ‘They succeed better 
with Linaria triornithophora here than in England, in 
cultivation; I have seen no hybrids from it.—iV., 
Fraukfort. 
The Nuthatch.—I was surprised to find that * Anon ? 
80 positively denies the well known fact of this bird's 
eapability of cracking nuts. If he wil turn to Mr. 
Yarreii’s excellent work upon British birds, he will 
find at page 175, vol, 2, first edition, the following re- 
mark —"* Thenaniésornuthatch and nutjobber have been 
given to iliis bird from its habit of feeding on the kernels 
of nu s. which however thick or hard the shells mày 
happen to be, are broken with equal ease and dexterity.” 
He wiil also find that the Sitta europea does belong to 
the Ccrthiade or family of creepers, Mr. Wighton, 
made a mistake in the number of toes, which * Anon? has 
eorreétly stated as three before aud one behind. There 
is a nest of this interesting bird a few miles from this 
place, in tie hollow of an old tree; the aperture is 
carefully plastered up, with the exception of a small 
orifice for the ingress and egress of the bird, aud the 
mud with which this is effected so ex.cily resembles the 
bark of the tree, that the deception is not diseoveréd 
without the clusest examination. How beautiful are 
facts like this to those who contemplate, study, and love 
nature! ——C. R. Bree, Siowmarket. At p. 308 are 
Some remarks upon the nuthatch (Sitta europæa) by 
an anonymous correspondent, which are so totally in- 
correct, that Í cannot aliow them to pass unnoticed. 
The writer states that this bird * never cracks nuts at 
all.” Now, the real fact is, that nuts constitute the 
principal food of the nuthateh in the autumn and 
winter, A chink or crevice in thé bark of a tree suit- 
able for the purpose is selected, and to this place nuts 
are fi sutly carried froin a considerable distance ; 
1 
having fixed the nut, the bird places itself above it, 
with the head downwards, and soon bréaks it by rè- 
peated strokes of the beak, I have watched them 
Scoreso* tines,and hayeseen à quarter of a peck of shells 
Seattered at the foot of a tree to which thése ‘birds 
carried tue nuts, They will also crack the seed of the 
Yew ia the same manner to get at the kernel. may 
also remark, that they will névér take a bad uut.— 
Henry Doubleday, Epping—Many à bit of Kaow- 
ledge, and many a faet previously unknown to me, have 
I gleaned from the columns of the Gardeners’ Ohro- 
nicle, to the correspondents of which I'am always very 
grateful for their information. I have, however, this 
Morning been a little startled at a piece of information 
pn to the nuthatch) by à correspondent, signing 
imse!f ‘* Anon," wlio boldly ‘asserts that this bird 
“never cracks nuts at all!” He also speaks of mecha- 
nieal power; of the strength of materials ; aid of the 
advantage of personal observation in the study of 
Nature as leading the mind to the love of truth, aud to 
admiration of the beautiful contrivances by Which Pro- 
vidence adapts means for the accomplistimént of ends. 
“Anou” has, notwithstanding all this, been somehow 
or other led into the error he depfeecates, and in this 
inStance has adopted an opinion not founded on per- 
sonal observation, for nuthatches do crack nuts ; and 
if Anon” should ever happen to visit the midland ôr 
Southern counties of Englai.d (there are no nuthatehes 
at Mytholmroyd), he may easily convince himself of 
‘the fac. On entering one of the fine old woods iu 
almost any of these beautiful distriets of Eügland, lie 
may, without much trouble, find the workshop of the 
nutha‘ch on the rough bark of an old tree ; for, like 
mauy a clever mechanic, he is partial to the bench at 
Which he has long worked ; and the situation of which 
is sufficiently apparent by the abandance of nutshells 
Scattered beluw. Here the observer will not have long 
o wait for the arrival of the nuthatch ; in a few minutes 
is comes with a nut between his mandiblés, and after 
having divested it of its outward covering, proceeds to 
fix it Securely in a crevice, where he has before fixed 
many an oue; and now for the little fellow’s mode 6! 
Cracking nuts, “ Anon” may, perhaps, in his journey 
through this weary world, have oceasionally noticed ‘a 
blacksinith; at work on a piece of hot iron ; not by tlie 
pressure of the tongs, but by rapid and incessant hani- 
than usual. 1n a sheltered part of my garden E drove 
in four posts, to which I nailed boards, and had a 
frame:work covered with prepared calico as a protec- 
tion from frost at night. Within this, without auy 
extra manure, on Feb. 26, I dibbled in a portion of the 
slight'y sprung Potatoes, and the renreinder on a, south 
border. “Now, the singularity of the matter is that 
nine-tenihs of the whole (both in the frame and out) 
have quite changed their character. The stalk is longer, 
the leaf wrinkled and rough, and smaller, like that of 
the American; blossoms are appearing, and the roót 
consists of fibres aud runners, but. not a single Potato, 
or the appearance of one, except the origiual set, very 
fresh; while the few which have retained their own 
character of leaf have excellent Potatoes at them. I 
‘|gompleted the same border with the same seed un- 
foreed, of which about one-sixth appears changed ; but 
the result is not known, as they were not planted till 
the middle of March. It is four years since I first 
obtained the seed, and have raised them niost succes- 
fully each year in different parts of my garden. Does 
the seed degenerate ? and does this arise from being 
confined to the narrow limits of a garden consisting of 
nearly half an aere of ground !— Wansbeck. 
Eupteryx Solani.—In last week's Number is a very. 
accurate description of this insect. These insects have 
attracted my attention for severaly ars past, on account 
of the ravages which they inflict upon our Ílop.bines, 
they being in some instances almost as destructive. to 
the crop as the aphides. They usually make their first 
appearance about the first or secund week in June; 
according to the forwardness of the season, after which; 
in some years, they increase most rapidly, so that in the 
course of three vr four weeks, hundreds of them are 
to be found living upon a single plant. I have fre- 
quently counted 50 and upwards on a leaf. They 
pierce the cuticle of the most succulent parts of the 
plant, viz ; the heads of the bines, and the stems of the 
leaves ; aud when they are numerous, their effects arë 
soon visible in completely arresting the upward growth 
of the bines. I think the plant sustains more injur; 
from the eseape of the sap through tlie hules whieh they 
puncture, than from the loss of what they take for their 
own support, I have often observed large drops trick: 
ling from the ineisions. They are, in fact, a vety 
serious pest to the Hop: grower, and if any means could 
be devised for their destruction in their carly stage of 
existence, it would be of great advantage to him. The 
plan here adopted for their extermination, when théy 
become very numerous, is, by means of a large shallow 
tin pan (something like a dripping pan) filled with gas 
tar. This is carried by a man and a boy, from pole to 
pole, throughout the Hop ground, and each pole is struék 
; smartly with a hammer, when the creatures fall into the 
tarand are hered. It is » though ‘a 
troublesome and expensive remedy.—J. Manwaring 
Paine, Farnham, 
Cements.—Perhaps isinglass and whisky ought to 
make às good a cement as isinglass and gin, which it 
Seems; by your eorrespondent's complaint, they do not. 
Now, 1 have many years’ experience of the strength, of 
the cemvnt made by the latter materials ; the solution 
of the chips in gin may be hastened by placing the bottle 
near the fire; aud the cement must be made liquid; 
when wanted for use, by putting the bottle containing it 
| in hot water or near the fire. Another strong cement 
may be made with isinglass dissolved in Water, and the 
white of egy added to it: Anon; June W.——If “G. J)” 
will either: put his bottle of isinglass and gin into a watér 
bath; and heat it or set it for a Whilé on the hob-of tlie 
firé-plate, the isinglass will very, speedily -dissólve, aud 
when Gold thay éasily be made liquid again’ by immer- 
sion in warm water, and will be fouid a very neat and 
clean cement for anything that does not require wash- 
ing in warm water. I beliéve isinglass' will nét dissolve 
ia pute*spirit, and the only use of the gin in this case 
is that it liquifies at a lower liéat than whén dissolved 
in water alone; and from the more rapid evaporation of 
the spirit when-used a8 a ceménit, it dries or séts quicker; 
it also tends to preserve the cement from. putrefaction; 
—G. M. 
Potatoes.—My crop for the present, yeac is looking 
remaikably well, and the néw ones in daily use, though 
ratliér small, from the dry weather, dre quite sound, and 
free froin any appearance of the disease 0f list fear: 
As Sdon as the disease appeared in my érop last year 
(Red Kidney) I mowed off the haulm, and when they 
were taken up in October, though not above half their 
proper size, theie Was not above One in ten diseased. 
Istowed them away in a cool cellar, and cévered them 
With stiaw. "hey kept remarkably well, and I planted 
|aboütan acre of them. My soil ‘is a dry loam, with 
Saud dnd brick earth beneath.—C. R, Bree, Stowmarket. 
mering, i$ the shapeless mass reduced to form ; exactly 
in the same way does the nuthatch, proceed 3 his blows 
dealt with rapidity and precision are effectual, and do 
indeed exhibita beautiful adaptation of means to the ae- 
complishnient of an end; the kernél affords to him a 
luxuriant meal he has richly earned, and one never 
missed by the lordly owner of the wood.—Sutor. 
Curius Transformation in Potatoes. — Such a 
Strange change has taken place in my Ash-leaved Pota- 
toes, that I am anxious to know the cause, and whether 
the mishap is usual. I` saved my own seed, having 
heretot found it excellent, and was very particular 
in dry ing it in the sun, and buried it in a sea-kale pot 
inm, ‘don, About the end of January [ took out 
Y gar too! 
100 Poixtoes, and placed them in an old bin in my 
cellar, at 2 temperature o: 46°, slightly covering them 
with oll saw-dust, in order to have some more early 
Stick Seed. —I believe the superiority of the German 
seed may be attributed, in a great meàsüre, to tlie män- 
nër Of growing it. The best seed is saved fiom pot 
plants, and mone is allowed to ripen but five petal 
furnace which is kept surrounded with. water, 1 had 
reference in this observation to the simple arrange- 
ments adopted at Polmaise, which, as I understand 
them, consist merely of an air stove placed in a smal] 
chamber, and may be represented by the annexed dia. 
gram, in which C is the hot 
chamber, and S the stove, and € 
F a small portion of the flue 
included in the chamber. 
The, stove and small piece 
of flue, there comprise the 3 
entire heating surface. from 
which any useful effect is 
obtained, and whatever por- 
tion, of heat escapes be- 
yond the point F of the flue, where it leaves the hot 
chamber, is lost or wasted. To compare this loss with 
what it would be in a hot water apparatus we must 
suppose S of the diagram to represent the furnace, and 
C the boiler filled with watér surrounding the furnace 
and small piece of fue, F, as before, representing the 
point beyond which whatever heat escapes is lost or 
wast Under these circumstances, if a thermometer 
were applied at F, it would be found that the tempera- 
ture of the escaping gases is much higher in the case of 
the stove than of the boiler fürnace, consequently indi- 
cating greatér loss or waste of heat: This resalt is 
nothing but what may bé'fairly presumed from the dif- 
ferent relations to heat of air and water in the property 
of conducting liceat, and in their capacities fot heat, 
technically called their specific heats. The conducting 
property of air aud water is to be carefully distibguished 
from their property of carrying heat; which is a property 
peculiar to fluids as distinguished früm: $olids; an 
refers to the internal motion of their particles in eifeu- 
lating currents; produced by the tendency of each 
particle as it becomes heated to ascend and give place 
to the colder particles above; which therefore must 
move in an opposite direction and constitute the de- 
scending current. his property; though of the greatest 
importance in diffusing heat through fluid bodies, in a 
way that could never be effected by mere conduction 
from particle to particle, does not respeét the actual 
reception or imparting of heat by their particles, but 
simply the motion produced in them consequent ‘on 
tleit teception of heat; ad as this depends on the 
mobility of the particles of the fluid, the carrying or 
distributive property of air may be assumed to be 
Superior to that of water. The eondueting property 
of ait and watér, on the other hand, respects the actual 
reception and impartibg of heat by their particles from 
and to other bodies; aud in this property air is very 
inferior to water: lam mot aware what figures repre- 
sent their relative conducting power; but that the differ- 
ence must be very great nrdy be inferred from the 
circumstance related by Dr. Thomson in his system of 
Chemistry; art. Heat, of Sit J. Banks; and other gentle- 
men; having remained without inconvénienee for some 
time ii a room heated to 260°; whereás no one could 
be plünged into water at 2129, for the shortest time 
without being scalded to death. The effect of this 
difference willbe perceived im the state of tlie heating 
surface S: (0f the ding.) considered as surrounded ‘by 
water and air respectively: In the case of water, the 
passage of heat into it from the surface S will be 
prompt and active, the température of the latter will. be 
kept down, and with it the température of the gases 
passing through its interior, so that on their escaping 
at the point Fit will not greatly exceed that of the 
$urrounding water: Bat when S is surrounded with 
ait, the abstraction of heat from itis aecumplished with 
difficulty; it accumulates faster than it is removed, 
perhaps to the extent of S becoming red hot; andthe 
temperature of the gases passing through its inte- 
rior, dnd éseaping at F, must inevitably participate 
in this aggravated condition; These results, indeed, 
are due not only to the disparity in the conducting 
power of air and water, bat also, in a greater degree; to 
the disparity in their capacity for heat, or of their spe- 
cific heats. This property exprcs;es a certain quantity 
of heat, which entérs into substances, to raise their 
temperature any assigned number of degrees as indi- 
cated by the thermometer ; every substance requiring 
x certain quantity peculiar to itself; and different from 
the quantity required by other bodies, to raise their 
teniperature to the same degree on the thermometer. 
Water is Superior to most substances in its capacity for 
heat; and stands nearly at the head of the table of $pe- 
cific heats of bodies. The specific heat of air is little 
tiore than one-fourth of that of water, taking equal 
| quantities by weight of both, the specific heat of water 
being 1:000, and of air 02660: But if the comparison 
be made in bulk or volume, the disparity will appéar 
much greater; for, as water is 800 times heavier than 
dir; the specific heat of one cubie foot of water will be 
equal to the specific heat of 800 x 4— 3200 eubié feet of 
air; or; in other words, a cubic foot of water will ab- 
Towers; and,as you will generally find blossoms of 
four and five petals on the same plant, the former áre 
carefully picked off as they expand.— Rock Colliery, 
Monmouth. 
Polmaise Weating.—In a fornier communication, I 
observed that I thought it likely there should be a 
greater loss or waste of heat in the Polmaise method 
by means of an air stove than in a hot water apparatus, 
from the circumstance of air being very infer 
or to 
water in the property of appropriating or absorbing 
heat, which would cause the gaseous products of com- 
bustion to pass off into the flue or chimney at a much 
higher temperature from a stove than from a boiler 
sorb as grvat a quantity of heat, in the process of having 
its temp raise d as 3200 cubic feet of air 
will; which heat is stored up in the water, to be given 
out again to other bodies àt a lower temperature than 
itself. It is this property which constitutes water such 
an exeellent receptacle or magazine for heat, as by 
common consent and practital adoption it is allowed to 
be. When we cousider, then, how inferior air is in the 
property of couducting heat, and in its capacity for 
heat, it is difficult to resist the conclusion, that mueh 
useful heat must pass off by the flue unappropriated in 
the arrangement adopted at Polinaise, if correctly repre- 
sented by the diagram. At the same time I admit that 
