Tm 
44—1846.] 
THE GARDENERS' 
CHRONICLE, 
725 
Lindley in the Gardeners’ Chronicle on the Ist of Aug., 
simply on the grounds that this tendency to premature 
germination had become a matter of notoriety. 3d. 
That, by the application of the natural system of 
organic chemistry, the outlines of which were brought 
before the last meeting of the Association, it was in his 
power to establish an important principle, which had 
baffled the genius and resources of the Commission ap- 
pointed by G t to investigate the subject. 
Some remarks followed, which all bore on the import- 
ance of autumn planting. Numerous striking instances 
were adduced in which healthy Potatoes had been grown 
from diseased tubers planted in the autumn. 
Wepnespay, Sept. 16.—The following letter was read 
from the Hon. Fox Srraneways: “In the immediate 
ighbourhood of Al d d, near Wansiedel, a 
few miles south of the road from Bayreuth to Eger, in 
the Fichbelgebirge, is a mountain called now the Louis- 
enberg, formerly the Luchsberg, which is much visited 
by strangers on account of some of its natural curiosities. 
Tt appears not to consist of any mass of rock in situ, but 
to be an enormous heap of disconnected but rounded 
fragments of granite, thrown confusedly upon each 
other, and having arches, passages, and grottoes of 
various sizes wherever the interstices have not been 
filled up with smaller pieces. The whole is overgrown 
with wood, so that, excepting where paths are made, 
it is difficult to penetrate. One of the caverns or 
chambers, formed by a single flat block of granite rest- 
ing horizontally as a roof on other masses, is nearly an 
exact cirele of 60 feet English in diameter. Many that 
penetrate deeper into the mass of rocks are mere ere- 
vices, but they present a remarkable phenomenon, 
which is not observable in the more open ones. ‘This 
henomenon consists of a pale, but beautiful greenish 
yellow phosphorescent light, which, as the observer pro- 
ceeds into the cave, becomes stronger and stronger, till 
1 t 
planting; for keep them where you will, bulbs now 
give signs of life. Hyacinths, Tulips, and Crocuses, are 
developing their leaf-buds, and unless the formation of 
roots keeps pace with the growth of foliage, the future 
plant will suffer. 
have generally observed in gardens a great parsi- 
mony in reference to bulbs in the open air; they are 
planted too far apart, and there are too few of them to 
make a good display. Yet what can better repay all 
the labour and money expended on them? How dull 
will the garden be for many months if this interesting 
class of flowers is neglected. The growth of bulbs is 
indeed a winter and spring study, and a most beauteous 
style of gardening has been enjoyed and has disap- 
peared before the beds can admit the tender exotics 
which are to adorn them in summer and autumn. My 
advice is, to be generous now. If you can afford to do 
so, buy Crocuses by thousands, and Tulips and Hya- 
cinths by hundreds, Remember they are all very fond 
of increase, and with care your outlay will come back 
with interest, But be careful how you buy. Go toa 
respectable florist and not to auctions, and lay in a stock 
of healthy and sound bulbs, and next season you may 
calculate on adding 75 per cent. to your collection, 
without reckoning small offsets. Crocuses and Tulips 
multiply without much trouble; and I have found by 
some years’ experience that Hyacinths may be success- 
fully propagated here as well as in Holland. Quantity 
is indispensable if you would be a bulb amateur in the 
garden, and the outlay of a few pounds will make you 
the envy of your neighbours, and become a source of 
profound enjoyment to yourself. There are many other 
bulbs besides those I have mentioned, which ought not 
to be neglected, and the above kinds are only adduced 
as examples. 
These bulbs may be grown in beds or in borders, ac- 
ording to room and circumstances, Have at any rate 
iated 
it can only be compared to hundreds o 
lying close together on the ground ; and it is singular 
that, however strong this light may be, it does not 
assume the appearance of a sheet, but always seems to 
lie in spots, though close together. On taking up some 
of the mould on which this phosphorescence appears to 
rest, and bringiog it to daylight, its own light (as might 
be expected) is overcome and disappears, nothing being 
seen in the hand but black earth, a little sand, some 
minute whitish eryptogamie powder, and a few fronds 
of a very smali filmy Moss of a pale transparent green 
colour. On taking the mould again into the darkness 
the light reappears, but so mach dimmed that it appears 
asif the slightest disturbance had a tendency to dissi- 
pate it. ‘he traditions of the country have long 
pointed at this mountain as the repository of gold and 
silver and precious stones, and as the abode of evil 
spirits or Kobulds, who amuse themselves by tanta- 
lising eredulous mortals with the sight of gems and 
riches without end, which, when touched, are turned 
into dross or vanish from the sight, ‘The explanation 
given by this phenomenon to such a belief, current 
among a simple and imaginative people, is evident. 
The original name of the mountain itself, Luchsberg, 
i.e, Lynxberg, is somewhat expressive of this splendid 
peculiarity. 
Mr. Bastyeton observed that the Moss, in this case, 
was undoubtedly the cause of the light, and it was pro- 
bably the Schistostega pennata, which exhibited the 
same appearance in this country. 
Some fibres of the Lavatera arborea were sent by 
Captain Peterson for the inspection of the section, with 
thesuggestiou that they might be useful for manufacture 
into cordage. 
Mr. Duncan exhibited a fruit which he had observed 
to grow abundantly in Africa, The trees bearing it 
are found ou the north bank of the Lagoon River, be- 
tween Ahguay and Popoe, on the west coast of Africa, 
and also on the banks of the river Halio which runs 
into the Lagoon river in latitude 6° 20’ north, and 
longitude 1° 25’ east. This region has not before been 
explored by any European, The tree when growing 
resembles the Orange in nearly every respect, and is 
quite as abundant. The specimen exhibited having 
been gathered for two years had lost the pulpy sub- 
stance with which the inside is filled in its fresh state. 
This substance is about the consistence of the interior 
of an Orange, and is used as soap by the natives, and 
considered superior to anything manufactured in 
England. Mr, Duncan also exhibited some candles 
made of Shea butter, and described at some length the 
tree which produces it, The butter is manufactured 
by boiling the seeds, and then putting them into a grass 
bag and pressing. The butter which is expressed is 
then poured into vessels about half filled with cold 
water; it then cools and hardens, and is ready for 
market. (To be continued.) 
THE AMATEUR GARDENER. 
On Duras.—( The various methods of growing them). 
—Havying in a former paper treated on the growth of 
common bulbs in pots, for gracing the window and 
greenhouse during the winter and early spring, nothing 
need again be said on that subject, except to warn the 
amateur that his pots and glasses should now be all 
oceupied, that an early stock of roots may ensure an 
early bloom. The writer wishes now to call attention 
to bulbs grown in the open air, as they ought to form a 
conspicuous part of every well regulated garden, This 
is the time for laying in a stock and planting ; the latter 
operation, indeed, should be no longer delayed, for it is 
desirable every bulb should be well rooted before win- 
ter, Nature is a sure instructer in this duty of early 
c 
ore bed approp to Crocuses, that your eyes and 
heart may be gladdened, when in January or February 
a kindly sun calls forth their gorgeous beauties. 
Let this bed, intended for early effect, have every ad- 
vantage you can give it, sloping towards the south, well 
drained, and composed of friable, generous mould. 
Such a bed may have a few early Tulips and Hyacinths 
mixed with the Crocuses, that when the latter are off, 
it may still be attractive. But probably the borders 
will generally be preferred to separate beds, and then 
the following plan will be found advantageous. Let the 
outer row be composed of Crocuses, the next of Hya- 
cinths, and the third, or inner row, of Tulips. You 
need not be afraid of planting too thickly, but let there 
be two or three inches space between each kind of bulb. 
The Croeuses will be off the bloom by the time the 
Hyaeinths are in their prime, and the foliage, long and 
pendent, of the former will make a pretty fringed 
border for the latter. Oval or round beds have a fine 
effect when planted in this way; the beauty is prolonged, 
and the whole may be cleared away in time for the 
spring beddi t of the ji exotics, 
In planting, dig a trench about four inches deep 
around the bed, and as wide as you require it. Let 
the bottom be well loosened, and then place the bulbs 
in order upon it. Cover with about half an inch of 
rotten'leaf mould and sand, if you have prepared any 
such precious compost, and then return the mould first 
thrown out. During the winter be careful of the 
ravgges of mice, for they often devour thousands of 
Crocuses and Tulips before they are observed. The 
Crocuses may be mixed, or planted in alternate rows of 
various colours. The same plan may be pursued with 
the Hyacinths. For planting in the open air, purchase 
the mixed sorts, sold at 3s, a dozen, single and double 
white, red, and blue. These mixtures generally contain 
many fine sorts. — Snowdrops, Crown-imperials, Nar- 
eissus, &e., may be placed in clumps in various parts 
of the beds, bordered in the manner just described, and, 
thus furnished, wait with patience till the first warm 
suns of spring call your beauties above the ground.— 
T. B. 
Home Correspondence. 
Fairy Rings—In your- last Number are some 
remarks by Mr. Arthur Henfrey on my theory of 
fairy-rings. Iam mot surprized that this gentleman 
should have observed in the abstract of my paper a 
want of that consisteney and connection which is inse- 
parable from all truly philosophie researches. This, 
however, is the fault of the abstract (although quite as 
good as the ordinary specimens of such abridgments), 
and is not, I hope, a defect of the original paper. In 
my essay I have supposed it likely that some one would 
inquire why, if there was an abundance of phosphates 
in the soil, the Grass should not equally take advantage 
of them as the fungus? Mr. Henfrey’s own statement 
of the extended underground development of this class 
of plants is only confirmatory of the justice of some 
such solution of the difficulty as I have there offered. 
I have pointed to the rapid growth of plants of this 
species, which in the ease of the common Mushroom is 
so great that large and heavy specimens are formed in 
one night, as an indication of the powers of atmospheric 
assimilation which warrant us in aseribing to them a 
co-existent. but equally unusual energy in seeking and 
obtaining mineral food. The remark was also made that 
the quantity of water whieh they are known to exhale 
is, in all probability, instrumental in introducing into 
the substance of these Agaries the large portion of alka- 
line phosphates they actually contain. The fungus pos- 
sesses these two sources or means of mineral food which 
nary extension of its underground organs, and the 
great quantity of salt-laden water which is conti- 
nually circulating in it. Many of your readers will 
I am sure agree with me that the natural top-dressing 
of phosphates to which the decay of the fungus gives 
rise, is amply sufficient to explain the luxuriant crop of 
Grass which occurs. In my paper (which is now out 
of my hands, and will be published entire in the next 
Number of the “ Royal Agricultural Society's Journal,”) 
T have said that the influence of the nitrogen must not 
be forgotten, but I have ascribed the principal effect to 
the phosphate of potash. In judging that the abun- 
dance of phosphates present in the soil as evidenced by 
the analysis of the fungus is opposed to the view of 
their beneficial effect on the subsequent crop of Grass, 
r. Henfrey bas evidently overlooked a now acknow- 
ledged principle, that the abundant supply of food fitted 
by its solubility for the immediate use of plants exercises 
a most powerful and beneficial influence on their 
growth. If the whole phenomena connected with these 
singular rings can be satisfactorily explained on known 
botanical laws, as Mr. Henfrey intimates, then, indeed, 
have I intruded upon the domain of that beautiful science 
by attempting their elucidation through the agency of 
chemistry. This, however, I cannot understand to be 
the ease.—J. Thomas Way, Agricultural College, 
Cirencester, Oct. 26. 
Storing Potatoes so as to secure the Advantages of 
Autumn Planting.—1n taking up a.erop of Potatoes 
last July, which were planted early in spring, and 
ripened off without a speck of disease appearing on 
either the haulm or tubers, the middle sized portion 
were reserved for seed, and spread out to green in the 
open air protected from the midday sun by leafless 
branches. In a few days after being so exposed they 
all became diseased, whilst a portion of the same crop 
left undug remained perfectly safe from disease, and are 
so at this date. I intend to leave them in the ground 
till next spring, but have had them earthed over to a 
good depth. From the very different results I have 
experienced of autumn planting, I am not in favour of 
it on an extensive scale. When not attended with in- 
convenience, I would advise Potatoes to be left in the 
ground over winter (that is, the portion intended for 
seed), but to be earthed over a good depth. 1 have re- 
marked that Potatoes left in the ground last winter, 
when dug out in spring were perfectly sound, whilst the 
same sorts stored carefully were much diseased. When 
not convenient to leave Potatoes undug, I would recom- 
mend the portion intended for seed (and those should 
be the middle-sized tubers) to be stored in the follow- 
ing way :— Choose a piece of ground ina dry situation; 
lay it off in beds 4 feet wide, with alleys of 2 feet 
between ; on the surface of the beds lay an inch deep 
of peat; on this lay the Potatoes (having previously 
dusted them over with fresh slaked lime), so as not to 
touch each other ; over them put another layer of peat 
as before, then let the alleys be trenched up on the beds, 
covering them in every part at least 12 inches deep, 
letting the top slope from the middle of the beds to the 
furrows. In this way they remain till the beginning of 
February, when they are to be planted. By this means 
all the advantages of autumn planting are obtained, 
and many of its risks avoided. tried this plan last 
season, and it has been very successful ; and seed thus 
managed and planted at the time mentioned was a 
far better crop than an autumn-planted one of the same 
sort of Potatoes.—J. J. Geoghegan, Thomastown, ‘co. 
Tipperary, Oct. 22. [Compare this with a leading 
article, see p. 563 of the present volume of this Journal. j 
The Season —We this day gathered Pears perfectly 
matured on the same tree from which the first erop 
was taken in August last. The sort is the Paradis 
d'Antomne.— W. Mason, Necton, Norfolk, Oct. 23. 
Large Gourds.—At Mr. Ewing’s window, in Ex- 
change-street, Norwich, is a fine specimen of the club- 
shaped Gourd (Lagenaria clayata), a variety of the 
Bottle Gourd, a native of the East Indies. The follow- 
ing are the dimensions: Length, 43 feet; circum- 
ference at the largest end, 14 foot—in the middle, 1 foot 
—smallest end, 9 inches. Another, standing by tke 
door, was nearly of the same size. They were shaped 
very much like clubs.—Z. Wilkins, Norwich, Oct. 22. 
Potato Disease not confined to any particular Month. 
— In your paper of 17th inst. (p.692) you extract the re- 
port of Prof. Liebmann to theDanish Government relative 
to the all-engrossing subject of Potato-blight, and I ob- 
serve one statement put forward with much confidence 
by him, viz., that the fungus which he assumes to be a 
cause, vegetated only for the £rst 14 days of August this 
year, and that its ravages were confined to that period. 
Now, this may be the case in Denmark ; but certainl 
not in Ireland, as a case under my own eye will clearly 
prove. I raised a quantity of very fine Ash.leaved 
Kidneys in July, and in clearing the ground afterwards 
some small sets which had been overlooked were turned 
up and had budded, and seemed so healthy, that I was 
induced by way of experiment to plant them ina warm 
border, where they grew vigorously, and in the end of 
September were fine plants; but were attacked with 
the blight in the usual way, and have all faded away. 
From this it is manifest that the disease, be it what it 
may, is still as prevalent as at any time during the sum- 
mer.—John Montgomery, Belfast, Oct. 27. 
Hazard's Plan of Heating.—1 have been for some 
time waiting Mr. Hazard's reply to Mr. Meek's letter, 
which appeared on the 19th Geptember ; the reason of 
his silence I am at a loss to conjecture, as. he could, I 
am convinced, easily prove that the “icy winds” of a 
are not so fully enjoyed by the Grass—the extraordi» | winter's night do not affeet his stove in any way te 
