"FLOWERS AND FRUIT, in the Society's Garden, 
49—1846.] 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE, 
< 803 
H ORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.— 
Notice is hereby given, that the EXHIBITION ae 
in the 
ensuing season, will take place on the following Saturdays, 
viz., May 8; June 19; and July 17 ; and that Tuesday, April 20, 
is the last day on which the usual privileged Tickets are issued 
to Fellows of the Society. 
GOLD AND SILVER PHEASANTS. 
O BE SOLD, at half price, One Guinea each—the 
Pheasantry being overstocked. The Birds are in high 
plumage. Sold in Pairs, or Cocks singly.—Letters addressed 
to Z. Y., Miss Denham’s, No. 189, Regent-street, London. 
The Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1846. 
MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 
Monpax, ‘Dec. 7—Entomoiogical . . + + e > 
Wrorxspax, — 
Sarorpay, — 12—Royal Botanic 
TUESDAY, — 15—Linnean 
Tue utility of a NewsrareR, as a medium of com- 
“munication between persons interested in similar 
pursuits, must be obvious to everybody, and al- 
though, like all things which conduce to improve- 
ment, it requires time before its real value can be 
appreciated by a certain class of individuals, yet we 
feel confident that every intelligent gardener will 
readily acknowledge the advantages which result 
from a discussion of subjects connected with his 
profession, and bear testimony to the pleasure he 
derives from the mutual interchange of opinion 
which such discussions occasion. The very best 
instructed are not to suppose they have attained 
such a degree of perfection as to have nothing more 
to learn, Scarcely a week passes over our heads 
without bringing with it some important discovery 
in the various branches of science having reference 
to gardening and agriculture. On this account the 
truly wise are those who feel that they know but 
little, and are glad to receive advice and assistance 
from men who have had more experience than 
themselves. It was never intended that we should 
be selfish, solitary beings, unconnected with one 
another in society. On the contrary, we are so 
formed as to enjoy social intercourse, and to delight 
Vin the esteem and good opinion of the world. We 
haye each a certain sphere of action assigned us, 
and it is our duty to perform the part which may 
fall to our lot, to the best of our ability, taking care 
not to interfere with the affairs of others so as will- 
ingly to give offence, and endeavouring as far as 
possible, to view men and things in the clear sun- 
shine of charity and good nature, free from that 
dark and sullen shade which a jealous rivalry casts 
over them. 
The interest in all publie vehicles of information 
is greatly impaired when cavilling and insolence 
form the return which is made for instruction or 
temperate di ion; intelligent or right-mi 
men are disgusted at being brought into uninten- 
tional collision with the unintelligent and wrong- 
minded ; they naturally shrink from such company, 
and instead of icating their knowledge for 
‘the public good, they prefer to confine it to their 
immediate neighbours. From this cause the public 
suffers grievously, and newspapers which tolerate 
such conduct soon fall exclusively into the hands of 
those who combine the greatest amount of impu- 
dence with the smallest amount of intelligence. 
Against this we must protect ourselves and our 
readers. 
We have been led to make these somewhat trite 
remarks in q of a ci which 
recently oecurred with reference to a statement 
published some time ago in this journal. The act 
is in itself unworthy of notice, except as regards 
the proper conduct which ought to be pursued by 
gardeners to one another ; and as it serves to illus- 
trate the feelings which some unworthy men are 
actuated by. It will be remembered that the dimen- 
ions of a tree of Abies Douglasii, at Dropmore, 
were sent us by one correspondent, and inserted at 
Page 709. Another correspondent compared them 
with those of a tree of the same kind at Carclew, in 
Cornwall, and candidly owned, as will be seen by 
referring to page 693, that the Dropmore specimen, 
in regard to size, was much the larger of the two. 
As their height had been recorded some eight or 
nine years previously in Loudon’s “ Gardeners’ Maga- 
zine,” a comparison was instituted as. to the rate of 
annual growth since that time, when it was found 
that the tree at Carclew had the advantage. Who 
could have imagined that this small matter could 
have given offence to even the most wrong-headed 
of human beings ? 
It turns out, however, that somewhere in the 
neighbourhood of Bristol (at least his letter bears 
the Bristol postmark), one of those perverse gen- 
tlemen is to be found who, conscious of his own low- 
mindedness, and of the cunning with which he 
would himself misrepresent any facts that came 
before him, has addressed to our Carclew corre- 
spondent the following anonymous letter, which we 
print verbatim, in the hope that it may contain 
such internal evidence as will unveil the writer. 
“The comparison of the growth of the Abies 
Douglasii at Dropmore and Carclew loses all its interest 
by the dishonest way in which it is made by W 
Booth, P. Frost describes the seed as sown in 1828 
and the young tree as planted out in 1829, about a year 
old. W. Booth, notwithstanding the above plain state- 
ment, describes the tree at Dropmore as planted out in 
1828, and the one at Carclew in 1831. This looks very 
like a wilful misrep tion, and a d t 
conceal the real age of the Carclew tree, the real seed 
of whith was no doubt sown in 1828 or 1829. Surely 
‘honesty is the best policy,’ even in such little matters.” 
And so, because in Mr. Boorg's communication 
the year 1828 is printed instead of 1829, this cha- 
ritable person permits himself to charge the writer 
with dishonesty and wilfulmisrepresentation. Why 
what sort of understanding can such a man have? 
How does he know that Mr. Boorn wrote 1828 at 
all? Is there no possibility of its being an error o 
the pen or of the press? or one of those trifling 
mistakes, of no earthly consequence, to which we 
venture to presume this anonymous writer is as 
liable as any man? an error, too, in no way what- 
ever affecting the question. The subject of com- 
parison was twofold; first the actual size of the 
trees; and secondly their rate of growth since 
1837. "Their age was not a subject of comparison, 
and for the purpose of the inquiry the Dropmore 
tree might as weli have been planted in 1826 or 7 
or 9 as in 1828, Yet this anonymous writer founds 
upon a mere, and utterly insignificant, mistake, of 
writing or printing, no one can know which, a charge 
of wilful misrepresentation | 
Our letters lead us to fear that men like this ano- 
nymous personage are much too common near 
Bristol; which, considering the intelligence of 
others there, is not a little remarkable. It ma 
therefore be as well to remind them that there is 
such a maxim as, “ Be charitable unto all men”; 
that we are all liable to error ; that abusive anony- 
mous letters are uot resorted to by persons of 
respectability ; and that when men venture to com- 
mit themselves by having recourse to such disreput- 
able proceedings, they inevitably lay themselves 
open to the grave suspicion of being themselves 
actuated by those unworthy motives which their 
ungenerous nature leads them to impute to others, 
Waen the subject of Pormatse heating was first 
introduced by us, we had no other object in view 
than the convenience of Horticulture ; but it will 
be seen by a communication from Mr. Mzzx, in 
another column, that it has in his view a still more 
exteusive application, and one perhaps of more im- 
portance. We all know how badly our places of 
worship are usually warmed, if they are warmed at 
all; that massive stoves, under whose influence a 
small part of the congregation finds itself in Libya, 
and the greater part in Iceland, form the common 
resource ; that in other cases gas is brought into 
stoves, to the misery of all who are condemned to 
breathe the polluted air; and that hitherto hot 
water has been the only agent which could be made 
to act usefully, but that the heavy cost of its appa- 
ratus places it far beyond the means of the greater 
proportion of churches and chapels. 
Such being the fact, it becomes extremely desir- 
able to test the fitness of Polmaise for such buildings, 
and we see with great satisfaction that Mr. Msex 
has pointed out an excellent opportunity of putting 
it to the test, by proposing that the unfinished church 
of St. Thomas, at Winchester, should be subjected 
[to the trial. For ourselves we anticipate no diffi- 
culty in the operation, and no uncertainty in the re- 
sult, and therefore we might perhaps assume that a 
trial is needless. But we must admit that it is 
always possible, for some evil may lurk in the sys- 
tem which experience has not yet detected, and 
that what appears to be sound theory up to the 
present time may be found defective in some unex- 
pected point. For that reason we by no means 
blame those who are cautious in accepting as cer- 
tain anything which has not been proved ezperi- 
mentally, and we cordially join in the recommenda- 
tion that the friends, and opponents, of Polmaise 
will both subscribe their guineas for the purpose of 
settling the question. 
Of course the condition of the experiment is, that 
the application of the principle to St. Thomas’s 
Church shall be under the uncontrolled direction of 
Mr. Meex, to whose generous and disinterested 
zealin this good cause the publicis already so much 
indebted. Entertaining this view, we have already 
sent our guinea, in the form of a Post-office Order, 
to the Rev. Georce James Cunirt, St. Thomass 
Rectory, Winchester, and we would strongly urge 
our friends to do the same. We shall not fail to 
report progress, and to give the names of those 
who thus become contributors to the first Polmaise 
experiment in church heating in England. 
CULTURE OF THE PINE-APPLE. 
Third Notice.] 
Tux size of the plants which produce fruit varying 
from 7 to 10 lbs., of the Queen variety of Pine, at 
Meudon, is by no means large ; their general character 
and appearance is very striking, and must impress any 
ne d to the cultivation of the Pine with 
exalted notions of the superiority of Mr. Gabriel Pel- 
vilain’s system. It is that system I have to deal with 
e 
o | at present; I may, however, by and by have a word 
or two of explanation to advance in answer to some of 
your correspondents, because the only object I have in 
view is to introduce a system as much superior to all 
other modes of culture now pursued in almost all 
garden establishments, as the result of that practice 
whieh has been witnessed by hundreds of the best Pine 
growers in this country is superior to the productions of 
these cavillers : and this result has been attained at a 
comparatively small outlay, and at half the trouble at- 
tending the common practice of Pine growing. If I were 
about to set forth a system merely because it may have 
a little novelty about it, and that alone was its only 
recommendation, then I might well deserve a hurricane 
of abuse to be hurled violently at me, by those who 
have plumed themselves on their own exalted doings ; 
but the system has something else besides mere novelty 
to acquire for it id ion an inati am 
not afraid that it will make its own way, despite of the 
doubters, the objectors, or obstruetors. I already know 
of several of the best gardeners in the country who are 
setting about it in right earnest ; sensible men who can 
benefit by the practice and experience of others, 
The young Pines at Meudon, whieh we may term the 
succession plants, were in their general aspect and 
character quite as extraordinary as those in fruit. Of 
this description there were upwards of 600 plants, all 
ofthem in equal health ; there were no mixtures of 
yellows, none of them lanky and narrow-leaved, and 
tottering in the soil, unable to maintain their standing. 
It would have puzzled even a doubter to have discri- 
minated between the worst and the best; unquestion- 
ably there was disparity in size but none in health, all 
were of the same luxuriance, with short broad foliage, 
and as green as a bed of Leeks rioting in the rich 
alluvial deposit of Fulham-fields. These plants were 
growing in structures which had not engaged the atten- 
tion of any great architect. Mr. Pelvilain produces 
them in frames, that is, in wooden boxes. These boxes 
are supported by pieces of wood, about 24 feet above 
the ground. The under portion of the box is lined with 
old ship timber, laid as elose as possible to prevent the 
ingress of steam, and also to keep the soil in which the 
Pines are planted from mixing with the. stable litter 
which is employed in heating them. Thus a complete 
box is formed. Mr. Pelvilain introduces into the box 
about 16 or 18 inches of the peat soil formerly de- 
scribed. His bed is thus compieted, his plants are then 
stuck into the soil, making allowance for their season’s 
growth. It would not do to plant them in the first 
place without considering well this point, otherwise they 
might possibly choke one another. A season's prac- 
tice will afford this information, bearing in mind 
that it is always better to err on the safe side ; 
that is, by allowing plenty of room, and admitting a free 
circulation of air amongstthem. There are no stated 
periods when these plantations are formed ; that depends 
exclusively upon the supply of crowns and suckers. 
ut suppose, for example, that a bed was planted in 
spring, these in the autumn would have attained a size 
sufficient to justify Mr. Pelvilain’s statement, that, in the 
following summer, Pines equal to those I have deseribed 
would be produced by them. It will be remarked that 
this system transforms, in six months, erowns and 
suckers into noble succession plants, without the trouble 
of potting and renewing of tan, and other expensive 
hindrances which have attended the usual modes of cul- 
ture. It has more the appearance of warket-garden 
culture of Cauliflower or Lettuce, so simple is it, than 
complicated systems with cumbrous and expensive ap- 
iances, These plants are produced in pure peat, and 
watered with pure water. The heat applied to them is 
by means of hot stable dung. Now, it is not unnatural 
that many may ascribe much of the success attending 
the Meudon practice to the ammonia escaping from the 
fermenting litter ; such an inference deserves considera- 
tion and respect, not only because authorities which we 
reverence and regard may be supposed to support such 
a plea, but also because long practical experience would 
induce us to entertain a similar notion; but Mr. 
Pelvilain is decidedly of an opposite opinion, and ren- 
ders his boxes proof against the access of an 
steam or gas which may escape from the fermenting 
material which surrounds the boxes. This was a point 
on which, if I had doubts, I investigated fully ; for 
although the boxes were at the time I examined them 
surrounded with warm litter, and the space beneath the 
boards also filled up with the same, we could not dis- 
cern the slightest effluvium inside them. Thus then 
the ammonia escaping from the stable-litter was not 
the “hidden virtue” that swelled the Meudon Queens. 
This is accomplished by simple gardening, pure peat, 
pure water, and pure air. None of the adjuncts usually 
called into isition by the Pine-growers of this coun- 
F 
D 
iry are employed at Meudon, and the result of the prae- 
tice there deserves, as it receives, our warmest enco- 
miums—our heartiest eulogy. Mr. Pelvilain, unlike 
some of his compeers in the art of Pine-growing, begins 
