eee 
— 
35—1846.] 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
579 
FLOWERING BULBS, &o. 
OUIS VAN HOUTTE'S Autumnal Price Current, 
No. 26, is to be had on prepaid application to Mr. GEORGE 
Rann, 52, Mark-lane, London. 
The Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 1846, 
MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 
Tunsvay, Sept. 1—Horticultural — .  . e . 38» 
Faipay, — 4-Botanical " . . . . 8 PM. 
— %Entomologicdl . > 1 i 
Moypay, 8 rac 
COUNTRY SHOWS, 
Wspwmspay, Sept. 9-Craven Ea ee PERRE 1 
anet Floricultnral an orticultural, 
Tuurspay, = Di South Essex Horticultural. 
1 T Amone the little Societies which the good feel- 
ing and right-mindedness of country gentlemen 
àve suggested for the benefit of the agricultural 
poor, that of Rereare called the Corrace GAR- 
DENERS’ Socrery is one to whose proceedings we 
always look with interest and without disappoint- 
ment, The fifth Report is now before us, from 
which we learn that the Society continues to carry 
out its objects with unflagging diligence, and that the 
Tesults are, as they always have been, satisfactory. 
ord Somers presided at the last anniversary, 
and expressed his great satisfaction on seeing assem- 
led so many praiseworthy and industrious neigh- 
bours, who had by their care and skill been en- 
abled to raise such excellent vegetables as were 
there displayed ; and of the neatness and order of 
whose gardens he had heard so favourable a report. 
He expressed his approbation of the objects of the 
association, as promoting these good results, for 
their own sake, as sources of profit, as well as plea- 
Sure ; and also as having a favourable influence on 
the moral conduct and character of both parents 
and children. 
Thirty-four prizes, varying in amount from Qs. 6d. 
to 27., were distributed among the cottagers, in ad- 
ition to a set of garden tools in each case. Never- 
theless, the Treasurer retainedin his hand 137, 115. 8d. 
a balance nearly equal to half a year's expenditure. 
At the conclusion of the Meeting, the Rev. 
Henry Gossz alluded in the following terms to 
the public advantages of such associations, We 
need not say that we entirely agree with him on 
and where he may shew himself their real protector 
and guardian instead of being such (as too many 
are) only in name. The love of a nicely ordered 
garden tends also to promote general tidiness and 
cleanliness. If the husband is not careful about the 
appearance of that which is without, how can we 
expect the wife to be so about that which is within. 
She has no encouragement to keep her cottage 
neat, if it is to be approached by a path full of 
weeds; and if the cottage is not comfortable 
within, she may expect that her husband will go 
elsewhere for comfort. But when the whole garden 
is well/ordered and neat, thea we generally see 
within a tidy room and a cheerful fireside, the 
man then begins to respect himself, and when he 
has begun to respect himself, we may hope that he 
will take decided steps for the maintenance of that 
character which he has learned to value. The cul- 
tivation of the garden tends also to raise the mind. 
He who loves to be amongst his plants and flowers, 
and marks the various laws of nature by which they 
are influenced, cannot but be an observant man; 
and if so, he will see in all these wonderful 
processes of nature by which the seed is brought to 
be the parent of seed, traces of a higher power ; he 
will be brought almost unconsciously from the con- 
templation of nature up to nature's God. And in 
time the habit of reflection will be firmly fixed in 
him, so that he will not brush the nightly moisture 
from the heath in his homeward path, or mark the 
approaching shower, or see the little pimpernel 
shutting up her leaves, without its crossing his 
mind * Hath the rain a Father? and who hath be- 
gotten the drops of dew?’ Thus will his mind be 
raised to think of that which is above, from the 
contemplation of that which is below. He will 
learn to refer all things to their Great First Cause. 
And although natural religion is not all that we 
want, I believe that he who has been accustomed 
to think on the goodness of the God of nature, will 
be by that very habit more easily taught to appre- 
ciate the mercies of the God of revelation.” 
ee 
On the north side of a carpenter’s shop, not an 
hundred miles from London, stands a FucusrA un- 
the subject :— 
“We feel a peculiar 
Pleasure in looking on 
that which is now ex- 
hibited, from the know- 
ledge that the perfection 
there attained is the re- 
Sult of the industry of 
those, the employment 
of whose leisure hours go 
forms to us a subject of 
the deepest interest ; for 
We cannot k 
thoughts and feelings, 
and therefore, of conse- 
quence, to all the out- i 
ward conduct of the man. 
“Tn proportion as they 
are spent in that which is 
useless and demoralizing, 
they degrade the man; 
but if they are occupied k 
1n that which is not only | 
work and plant the soil, or train his favourite Rose ; 
even gardening, were employed in the case: that 
the whole skill consisted in the application of com 
mon sense, and well-ascertained principles of culti 
vation, by an intelligent person whose judgment was 
not strangled by prejudice, to a plant which he 
afterwards let alone. 
The plant in question was grown on the onc-sAift 
system—on that fatal plan which the learned in 
plant-potting declared but three years since to 
threaten the destruction of everybody's collections ; 
which was denounced as absurd and dangerous ; or 
what was worse—ridiculous ; and which, therefore, 
all men of intelligence have of course adopted. 
There was no sifting of earih till it was reduced 
to a fine soft powder, no careful selection of 
compost, no mixture of peat and sand, and leaf- 
mould and loam, by weight or by measure, in pro- 
portions as exact as if it were physic that was about 
to be administered. The refuse of a potting-shed, 
rubbish which others throw away, the coarse ma- 
terial which had “lost all its goodness,” except that 
of being particularly well suited to plants, was the 
material employed, with the addition of old manure 
applied in the right way. 
The exact process was this ; a hole at the foot of 
the wall was dug 4 feet deep and 4 feet square, so 
as to reach a loose gravelly bottom. Into this hole 
were thrown as many fragments of bricks and pot- 
tery as filled it nearly half way. On these were 
placed some turves of coarse peat. Upon the 
whole was thrown the refuse of a potting shed, 
mixed with a small quantity of very old crumbling 
cow-dung. Therein a nice young plant of a Fuchsia 
was planted in the spring; and the surface of the 
soil was coated with about half an inch of fresh 
cow-dung and sheep’s-dung. During the summer 
the plant was abundantly watered, and three or 
four times with the black drainage of a dunglill. 
That was all. 
The main point here ‘secured was that capital 
mechanical condition of the soil to which we referred 
a few weeks since, when speaking of fruit-tree 
borders. The coarse materials employed, and the 
perfect drainage afforded by the hard rubbish in 
contact with gravel, permitted water to be supplied 
in any quantity ; which, rapidly soaking through 
the soil, carried air as 
well as moisture to the 
roots, and then passed off 
Mnocent, but useful and zi 
Interesting, they raise him 
1 proportion. You need 
anxious respecting the 
not wonder then that we, 
Nowing this, are very 
manner in which those few hours are spent which 
h © labourer has to himself, when the toil and 
atigue of the day are passed ; and looking to this 
Short lime, which, in some respects, is all he can 
call his own, we cannot, I think, do better than 
encourage care and diligence in the cultivation of 
the garden, 
“T believe it is quite true that diligence in the 
Cultivation of his garden is beneficial to the labour- 
ae, man in many ways—for instance, it promotes 
i mestie habits, and I need not say how valuable 
ese are. How does the father of a family fulfil 
the duties of the position in which his Creator has 
Placed him, if he is to be seen evening after even- 
ing forsaking the cottage hearth, for those noisy 
Scenes which I need not name, where half the hap- 
Dinessiof. the English peasantry is buried, and half 
€ evil and distress of the country begins. 
How different will be the effect of an evening 
E in the cultivation of the garden, where the 
fe dren may gather round and learn to love their 
ith 
again without remaining 
stagnant. The turves of 
rough peat placed over 
the. bottom rubbish ef= 
fectually prevented the 
finer particles of soil from 
washing down and 
choking up the drainage. 
In this little example 
lie the whole theory and 
practice of plant-grow- 
ing. Capital drainage 
is provided by hard rub- 
bish, communicating with 
a ready outlet; that 
drainage is kept clear 
by the mechanical fil- 
ter of a few coarse sods ; 
the soil itself, with its 
fragments of crocks and 
bits of roots, is so loose 
as to permit no water to 
lodge, but passes it 
manure, with which the 
soil is coated, converts 
-! every shower from the 
surpassed in this country for its beauty. It is 9 feet 
high, and about as much across, and during its 
flowering season was loaded with as many flowers 
as the branches could produce. In fact, it possessed 
every point of excellence which isto be found in 
the finest examples of « specimen ” plants of any 
kind, and more. 
This charming Fuchsia is of the * Ricearton " 
variety, and has occupied its present. position three 
years ; its stem guarded in winter by hoards placed 
so as to form three sides of a box, and stuffed with 
straw, the wall forming the fourth side, and its roots 
protected at the same season by a deep cone of 
coal ashes heaped over them. It was killed to the 
ground by the frost of 1844, but has not since been 
materially affected by cold. 3 
How, it will be asked, was this fine specimen ob- 
tained ? 
——-—— What drugs what charms, _ 
What conjuration, and what mighty magie, 
were invoked on the occasion? Which was the 
gardener whose skill produced an object worth this 
er, and the wife may bring her work and watch special notice? Some of our readers may be sur- 
an approving eye the husband's efforts to! prised to learn that no drugs, conjuration, magie, nor 
watering-pot intoza fertilizing stream; and in 
fine thesair has as ready an access to the roots as 
is necessary to keep in constant action all those 
chemical changes of the soil which are indispeusible 
to plants which are to acquire the most perfect 
health of which they are susceptible. 
We trust that “the Fuchsia by the carpenter's 
shop," will become a standard of imitation, and 
that no one will be satisfied with his gardening 
until he has produced its rival. 
HAMILTONIAN SYSTEM OF PINE GROWING. 
HAVE permission from Mr. Hamilton to make an 
extract from a letter received from him a short time 
ago ; and I may, perhaps, also be permitted to offer a 
few remarks in connection with it. d 
Mr. H. says :—“ I have a Montserrat (B. Jamaica, 
I presume) which has been planted out several years; 
its last fruit was cut on the 11th of January last ; itis 
now showing three other fruits, which will make four 
from one plant in less than 12 months." 
I would here stop and ask,with all deference,whether 
the markets of this country will not be one day supplied 
by some such plan? The late Mr. Loudon, I remem- 
ber, suggested a plan some years ago for producing 
