42—1846.] THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. 693 
tits Since it is now made apparent that the illness is caused by | to “spare, and they cannot be earthed ‘up much “more | plant still being capable of doing the same for a series 
nds fungus, itis evident that all previous suppo-| than at present ; several are now putting forth fresh | of years, for Mr. Hamilton has stools which have been 
is sitical 
sitions about the degeneration of the Potato plant as cause of 
the illness are groundless, and that orders for seed Potatoes 
from places hitherto free would be useless. That may easily 
be conjectured when the cause of the illness is known; and 
What confirms this opinion is that Liebmann, on a journey 
fhrough the island of Tionia, in the beginning of this month, 
learnt thatseveral farmers who, at great cost, had got seed 
Otatoes from. s in the United States free from illness, 
had, notwithstanding, got several such fields attacked as much 
as others with the common seed, 
“The committee feels therefore pleased that already, before 
*these experiments were made, it advised not to import from 
Spain or the United States, feeling convinced that there was 
Small probability of the complaint being from degeneration of 
he plant. Zt és therefore evident that all trials to destroy the com- 
Plaint will be useless, inasmuch as it originates in a parasitic 
ble germinating grain of which is carried 
which will develop itself wherever it finds 
ts fin 
bothey natives or from 
" The Potato complaint is an evil which we hope time will 
heal ag it has brought it, 
b "B; A. SomanriNG, F. LIEBMANN, A. WEILBACH." 
Copenhagen, August 31." 
Home Correspondence. 
,Polmaise Eeating.—I have felt, much interest in the 
discussion on Polmaise heating, and should feel obliged 
W you would grant me a corner to put a question or two 
on the subject to Mr. Meek, who I make no doubt will 
he so kind as to favour me with a reply. In the first 
Place I should be glad to learn what proportion (for 
they evidently must bear some ratio to one another), 
there should be between the number of. superficial 
inches of heating surface with which it.is proposed to 
bring the air into contact, and the number of cubie feet 
of air to be raised to a given temperature, and under 
the following variety of circumstances, viz., a lean-to 
Sreenhouse; a span ditto, sides all brick; ditto. ditto, 
Sides half of glass; stoves under the. same three 
Varieties of condition ?: Second—As I suppose the 
Quantity of moisture absorbed by the heated air to de- 
Pond onthe extent of watery surface over which it is 
ot apelled to pass, what proportion should the surface 
af us water bear to the cubic feet of air.to be charged 
th Moisture, under the same six varieties of condition 
ERES aboye? N, B.—As it will be desirable to vary 
ne relative proportions of heat and moisture commu- 
ASA to the air at different periods of the year, 
ink it would be useful to adopt, in a modified form, 
P Suggestion of one of your correspondents, who pro- 
B using earthern troughs, one or more as occasion 
QUAERE i for instance, the cistern might be made with 
M aeons, of which one, two, or more, miglit be kept 
at a time, Third—The third point involves a 
"Bgestion of my own, on the validity of which I shall 
9 very glad to have the opinion of Mr. Meek, or of 
Y of your dents, whose i 
enable him to speak on the subject. Inany ease naci 
bottom-heat is ent v 
m 
ot ; and I would suggest for the consideration of 
ers, especially of Mr. Meck, whether such uni i 
shoots. Will fresh stable dung, leaves, or rotten dung, 
be best to put over them, or can you advise me what to 
do!—4. G. S. S. [When Potatoes are killed back by 
frost, the crop is apt to consist of small tubers. The 
second destruction, in our correspondent’s case, is pro, 
bably what produced the mischief. Had his Potatoes 
been deep, or well earthed-up, no such consequences 
would have ensued, Thin land is not fit for Potato 
growing. ] b 
Balsams.—Some seeds of 14 varieties of Balsams, 
received from Vilmorin six years ago, produced that 
year flowers large, true to their colours, and very 
double. Last spring I gave what remained of these 
seeds to a friend who has an excellent gardener, with 
everything at his command for the due cultivation of 
her garden. Plants of all the 14 sorts were raised, but 
the flowers they bore were most of them single, the 
greater number white, none of them either large, hand- 
some, or true to their varieties.— M. 
Bones Dissolved in Sulphuric Acid.—1 applied them 
as manure to Strawberry plants in pots for forcing, and 
from the appearance of the plants I am satisfied it is 
one of the very best manures for this fruit, and worthy 
of extensive trial. I have tried the effect of various 
manures on the Strawberry, but never had plants near 
so good as I have them this season. Should they pro- 
duce fruit according to my expectation I will send a 
pay for inspection, Robert Cassilis, Ewen Kemble, 
Wilts. 
Abies Douglasii.—On seeing the notice of the size of 
this plant at Dropmore, as given at page 661, I was in- 
duced to measure the largest specimen at this place, of 
which I subjoin the dimensions, viz. :— 
Jarclew. 
48 ft, 4ins. 
ft. 0 
81 
Height .. oe . » 
Girth 3 ft. high on e | 4ft. 0 
Diameter of branches .. | 29 ft, 0 | 88 ft. 6 
The tree at Carclew was planted out in 1831 ; the one 
at Dropmore in 1828. The difference in height is only 
2 inches; but in other respects there is considerable 
disparity between the two—the Dropmore tree being 
much larger in girth, as well as in the diameter of its 
branches. It is interesting to compare the relative 
growth of the two trees. In the “ Gardeners’ Maga- 
zine,’ vol. xiv, page 31, the height of Abies Douglasii 
at Dropmore in 1837, is stated to have been 18 ft. ; 
whilst the one at Carelew was only 14ft. The annual 
rate of growth, therefore, appears to have ayeraged 
rather more than 3 ft. 4 ins. at Dropmore, and 3 ft. 9 ins. 
at Carelew. We have had cones in abundance on our 
plant for several years past ; but owing to some cause 
or other the seeds have not come to perfection.— Wm. 
B. Booth, Carclew, near Penrhyn. 
Rain Gage.—In a late Number you refer to a rain 
gage employed» by a military officer in India. From 
our description and the panying sketch, as sent 
to me by Lieut. Maxwell, Bengal Artillery, I conelude 
they are the same. Perhaps his explanation may be of 
serviee to some of your readers who wish to construet 
Its simplicity and cheapness 
such an instrument. 
of botto 
night 
brought about 
viz, 
S, and s 
of the is 
Us’ heat, 4} 
Title oc 
domes MAD ange, instead of being reduced to the same 
of iier the air in the body of the house, as it must 
Suggested 2 be without some such appliance as I have 
Autun =A Constant Reader, Carnarvon. 
Potatoes Planting Potatoes. — In your remarks on 
the obje US do not seem to attach any importance to 
through hee to autumn planting, “lest they should get 
by frost,» TERQUE 80 early in spring as to be cut back 
Were abby me autumn-planted Potatoes in my garden 
earthed e ground in the middle of Jan. last, they were 
-~P and seemed to continue healthy till the severe 
down - th now of March 18, and following days, cut them 
which we ‘eY Put out some fresh shoots in a few days, 
never iads Again cut off on the 10th April. Many sets 
© any more attempts at growing, and the crop, 
ew that did show any stalks eventually, was 
the digging. Now, was not this failure the 
of their being above ground too soon ? 
at they were ‘not set deep enough, and that 
CY mild winter forced them more than would 
i 
HO eh; 
much diseased. 
enough to stand the winte 
strongly d it, and obtained for it the approval 
of the engineer department in India, 
“ABCD ti 
tube with a large 
mouth about 2 feet 
6 inches long. Make 
the area of A B ten 
times larger than the 
area of section of 
© DEF. Make a 
measuring iron rod, 
divided into inches 
stand, 
paratus is complete. 
e cup 
T 
same a 
fore haying measured 7 
with the rod how many inches of water are in the cylinder 
EF CD, divide it by 10 for the actual quantity of rain that 
has fallen ; therefore the rod, which is divided into inches and 
tenths, measures in tenths and hundredths of rain,"—C. M. 
Horticultural Society.—At the meeting held at the 
Regent-street rooms on the 6th inst., I was struck by 
the extraordinary conduct of an exhibitor, who earried a 
basket with two lids which could not be shut down owing 
to the quantity of whole Pears, Chesnuts, cut flowers, 
&c., indiscriminately crammed into it by this visitor. 
By calling publie attention to this, you will probably 
prevent a recurrence of it, and save the other visitors 
the possible error of considering the things exhibited as 
public property, and transferring them from the tables 
into their own pockets.— Honesty. [It is contrary to 
the rules of the Society that anything should be 
removed from the tables unless special notice to that 
effect is given. On the occasion in question Chesnuts 
were allowed to be removed, and a few flowers were 
distributed by the Vice Secretary; but nothing more. 
We think you must be mistaken] 
The Hamiltonian System of Pine-growing—(see p. 
613).—Some growers imagine that Pine plants cannot 
support both fruit and suckers at the same time, for, 
say they, the one will diminish the other. Now this 
may possibly be the case when the plants are confined 
in pots, but this is not Nature’s plan of doing the work, 
neither is it Mr. Hamilton's, who follows Nature so 
closely. Provide soil for the plant to grow in without 
restriction, and it will effect the rest itself, To the 
lover of Pine-apples it is delightful to see three and four 
fruit produced by one plant in about 12 months, the 
imac | exhibits an inconceivable picture of beauty. 
planted out from 12 to 13 years. The suckers, even 
while the fruit is swelling, bounding away in the most 
healthy luxuriance. Mr, H.’s Pinery is but small com- 
pared with many ; it contains about 62 or 63 stools in 
a space in which 62 good fruiting plants in pots could 
scarcely be accommodated. Now contrast the differ- 
ence between this and the old mode of Pine growing. 
Average Mr, Hamilton’s stools to produce three suckers 
each, the suckers producing three fruit, making 186 
fruit from the 62 stools, and that in 12 months. Now 
some gardeners tuke 18 months, two years, and others 
still longer, to produce one fruit from one plant; then 
look at the time, trouble, expence of potting, disroot- 
ing, renewing bark beds, &c., and after all the produce 
is only about a third of that by the Hamiltonian system. 
With Polmaise heating and this admirable system of 
Pine-growing, fruit may be grown at one half the ex- 
pence at which they now are. In the summer time 
Mr. Hamilton can ripen fruit in from 12 to 14 weeks 
from the time they show, so that both sucker and fruit is 
perfected at that season in seven months. In conclu- 
sion I beg to say that I never saw Pines swell off better 
than those at Thornfield, three and four on a plant, 
averaging from 16 to 17 lbs. weight, and occupying no 
more room than a single plant in a pot.—J. Ellis, Yew- 
tree Cottage, Eccles, September 30. 
The Hedgehog Carnivorous. —I once kept two hedge- 
hogs for several months, and their food was bread and 
milk, Apples, crabs, &c., with a daily allowance of raw 
meat cut into small pieces. I have seen their saucer 
half full of bread and milk and my hedgehogs rolled u; 
snugly in a corner of their pen; but when I whistled 
them up on supplying the raw meat, they would turn 
out briskly and eat it with great avidity. Whilst on this 
subject I may mention, that I was once advised to turn 
up a hedgehog on my premises which were infested with 
rats, and they would shortly disappear. | I tried the ex- 
periment. In a few days I noticed that my poor hedge- 
hog was exceedingly lame, and took him up for exami- 
nation ; his leg had evidently been bitten, and I natu- 
rally suspected the rats; shortly afterwards I noticed 
that most of my hedgehog's spines had lost their sharp- 
ness; they appeared to have been clipped or stunted, 
probably by being bitten off at the points, and again 
suspected the rats; finally, the hedgehog disappeared 
altogether, and the rats continued to indulge me with 
their company.—Edward Cope, 15, New York-street, 
Manchester, Oct. 5. 
Potato Disease.—I have this year raised Potatoes 
from seed of five different kinds, and all are more or 
less diseased. I also planted about five bushels of the 
Hen’s-nest variety, in November 1845, and took up a 
most excellent crop from them in July, 18 or 20 large 
Potatoes from one on the average, and not a symptom. 
of disease among thèm all.— Z. W. W. 
Paujovniaimperialis,—This is a highly ornamental tree, 
which has not yet been fully estimated in this country. 
It appears that for the first year or two, when planted 
in congenial soil, it grows most vigorously, and conti 
nues its growth late in autumn. The shoots, from their 
extraordinary grossness, are not properly ripened, and 
consequently get killed back to the harder parts in 
winter. Ihave plants at this moment with leaves 20 
inches across, and shoots of the current year’s growth 
6 feet long. I was informed that when first planted in 
the Garden of Plants at Paris, it grew away in the same 
robust manner. ‘This is not, however, now ihe case, 
the original tree which first flowered there is 30 feet 
high, the branches are about 20 feet in diameter, with 
a clean stem 3 feet in circumference, he leaves now 
upon this tree are about the size of those of the Catalpa, 
and the shoots scarcely exceeding a foot in length, 
which of course ripen perfectly. ‘This is (October) 
covered with a complete mass of incipient blossoms, 
which do not expand until next spring, when the tree 
Tt is a re- 
markable fact that this tree only flowers in alternate 
years, when it ripens an abundance of seed. What an 
admirable subject this is for shrubberies and general 
ornamental planting, both as regards its foliage and 
flowers, and may well be pointed oui as an object de- 
serving the attention of planters.—R. G. 
Influence of the Moon on Vegetation in Columbia — 
In this country trees and plants during the increase of. 
the moon are full of sap, at the decrease the sap de- 
scends. "This is so well established a fact, that timber 
felled at the increase is useless, rotting immediately. 
have myself seen in the Cauca the great bamboo, 
called Guadua, whose joints supply the purest water 
in the first quarter of the moon, perfectly 
full moon. Does this singular fact lead us to suppose 
that Nature intends it as a sort of repose fore vege- 
tating process where winters are unknown ——JW.J., 
Liverpool. ; E 
The Camberwell Beauty.— A. very fine specimen of this 
beautiful insect was taken by a lady at North Cray, in 
Kent, in August last; likewise a Sphinx convolvuli by 
myself.— Constant Reader. 2 
Result of Sowing Beans"und Potatoes in the same 
Drills, with reference to Disease.—Last spring, dread. 
ing a return of the Potato disease, I had Beans sown in 
the drills with my Potatoes at the time of planting, 
hoping the former might do some good in case of the 
latter failing, as they eventually did, and I have now 
reaped a crop of excellent Beans; the return, so far as 
ean be calculated before thrashing, appearing to bë con- 
siderably above thirty-fold. But what I consider re- 
markable is, that while the Bean crop in the neigh. 
