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756 
[Ocr. 28, 
THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 
When science shall have fully determined the cause, 
and shown the easiest remedy, it will haye rendered a 
most essential service to Agriculture. Let men of 
science keep this steadily in view; let them make 
experiments, first in their laboratory, then in the 
fields, to establish their conclusions, and they will be 
entitled to the lasting gratitude of all practical agri- 
culturists. At present science has not yet thrown 
much light on the subject, and the various theories 
which haye been proposed to solve this problem have 
scarcely a sufficient foundation in certain experience 
to be received without hesitation, however eminent the 
authors may be by their deep knowledge and accurate 
investigation of the nature and combination of the 
various elemental substances which may be found on 
the surface of the earth. 
This is by no means said to disparage science—far 
from it ; it is to make science and practice go hand in 
hand; to prevent uncertain theories being received, 
and by their failure throwing a discredit on science. 
It is to render the result of scientific experiments 
certain before any new practice is recommended. 
With all the expense incurred in the trial of various 
bst: Yr led as substitutes for the com- 
men manure which is made in the farm-yard, none, 
except ground bones, which have the sanction of long 
experience, on light gravelly soils, have yet obtained 
the general confidence of practical men. The interests 
of commerce and of individuals have exaggerated the 
virtues of various manures, which have been imported 
at a great expense. The results have been so various 
and uncertain that the practical farmer waits for 
further evidence before he lays out his money at a 
venture, and in the meantime is content to apply the 
means which he knows will fertilize his land, because 
they have been tested by long experience —M. 
Tne author of one of the estimates of the expense 
of Wheat-splitting, published last week, has sent 
the following correction of his observations:—In 
the calculation No. 3, for planting an acre of Wheat, 
it should have been stated that the plants were to be 
planted one foot by one foot six inches apart, and not 
one ft. six in. each way; and at the ‘end it should 
have been mentioned that an allowance of about 
10 per cent. (about one half of that stated by Mr. 
Palmer) from the entire number was made for re- 
planting, an expense which seems unavoidable in 
such cases, for Mr. Palmer in his very careful experi- 
ment in pots had a failure of 20 per cent. after the 
final planting out ; therefore, before any fair criterion 
can be formed, less than 10 per cent. cannot be calcu- 
lated upon for failure, after planting, when the plants 
are placed at such a great distance apart ; for if failures 
were allowed to remain, the loss of ground would be 
very great. 
NOTES on CUSCUTA TRIFOLII or BABINGTON. 
r. Robert Gibbs, an intelligent farmer at Thorley, 
rmouth, who begged some information of me as 
to the name and properties of a plant which he designated 
as akind of Vine * without leaves, and which he com- 
plained had overrun and greatly injured a field of Clover 
immediately adjoining the farm. On going to the spot, I 
found large patches, of many feet in diameter, quite 
matted with a Cuscuta, which I am almost ashamed to 
say I hastily pronounced to be the greater Dodder 
(C. europea), a species very abundant in one locality on 
the wild top near Kerne, a farm about half-way between 
Brading and Newchurch, where it was pointed out to me 
two or three years since by my friend Dr. T. B. Salter, 
of this town, though previously noticed as a native of the 
Isle of Wight by Mr. Joseph Woods, many years ago, in 
Turner and Dillwyn’s ‘* Botanists’ Guide,” and found by 
that gentleman at Lake, near Sandown, where I have 
often sought it unsuccessfully. I may here observe, 
parenthetically, that the Hop is a most universal and pro- 
fusely abundant inhabitant of thi and, and I am per- 
suaded is equally with the Red Currant (Ribes rubrum) 
truly and aboriginally indigenous here, occurring copiously 
in our moist hedges and deep boggy thickets, and ocea- 
sionally substituted by the poorer classes for the cultivated 
plant in their domestic brewings, for which I am told it 
answers extremely well. But to resume our subject of 
the Clover Dodder. This erroneous conclusion of mine, 
to which I was led by the stouter stems of the plant, and 
their paler colour as compared with those of C. epithy- 
mum (a species from which scarcely a patch of Furze in 
any part of the island is entirely free, and which on our 
larger heaths and commons often infests that shrub as it 
Were with entangled skeins of scarlet silk), prevented my 
paying more attention to the subject till again called to it 
y the notices of this new Cuscuta, in the Phytologist,” 
ics xix. and XX1., pages 412 and 466, when it was 
to obtain specimens. But last week, being again 
i RR Gees NE Co 
on Rae is a common term in the Isle of Wight and Sonth of 
Serene eanarally for any twining dr scandent plant; thus, 
se wet ts called Bed-vine, or corruptly Bedwine, T: 
communis, Wila va +e Membty 7 , Tanus 
.{ to our Wheat 
at Yarmouth, I was informed by Mr. George Gibbs, 
brother of Mr. R. Gibbs, that the Dodder had appeared 
in another field of the same farm very remote from the 
first stated. Thither limmediately repaired, and found it 
occupying a spot of very limited extent, but still in flower 
Oct. 12); nor were any seed-vessels yet formed. Having 
furnished myself with flowering specimens of C. epithymum 
from a neighbouring common, I proceeded to examine their 
relative character, of which the following imperfect sketch 
is the result, not being able to compare the capsules and 
seeds of each species together:—Hyen with the disad- 
vantage of operating on dried specimens only, Mr. 
Babington has displayed his usual tact for discrimina- 
tion in most correctly assigning the characters of his pre- 
sumed new species, as far as it was possible for him to 
ascertain them under those circumstances; nor to his 
diagnostic formula (Phytol., No. xxi., p. 467) have I any- 
thing at present to add; it perfectly agreeing with my 
fresh specimens. The calyx, as Mr. Babington remarks, 
either quite equals, or very nearly so, the corolla in 
length ; the segments are narrower, or more sublanceo- 
late, than in C. epithymum ; the tube of the calyx larger, 
and perhaps rather less deeply cleft than in that, colour- 
less, or slightly tinged with green only. In C. epithymum 
the calyx is mostly purplish, though occasionally also de- 
void of colour, and variable in its relative length to the 
corolla; as in some of the flowers in the specimens 
before me, the calyx-points nearly touch the opening 
segments of the latter, though in general coming much 
short of them. The corolla of the Clover Dodder is evi- 
dently more terete, or inclining to cylindrical, than in C. 
epithymum; the segment less abruptly acuminate or 
more tapered, and very acute. The flowers in all my spe- 
cimens of C. trifolii are manifestly larger (nearly, I should 
say, half as large again), and of a purer white, than in the 
other; the clusters fewer flowered and less globose, the 
stems in general stouter and paler red or yellow; hence 
the cause, as before mentioned, of my mistaking it for 
C. europea rather than for our smaller C.epithymum*. 
do not find’any material difference in the scales in the throat 
of the corolla, though they may perhaps be somewhat more 
deeply cleft in the Dodder of the Clover, as suggested 
by the Editor of the ‘ Phytologist ;’’ these scales are, 
however, very irregularly laciniated in both, as regards the 
depth, number, and direction of the segments. The styles 
and stamens appear precisely similar in each ; but I think 
none of the flowers in the specimens before me of Cuscuta 
Trifolii are four-cleft, which is commonly the case with 
some on every example of C. epithymum. I hope next 
year to be enabled more fully to investigate this important 
subject, by an examination of the Dodder in all stages of 
its growth, and to obtain, if possible, some information 
as to the date of its first appearance in the island. 
Towards a settlement of the question,—whether the 
Clover and Furze Dodder be distinct species or not, fur- 
ther examinations of the plants in seed is necessary. I 
am inclined to Mr, Babington’s opinion, that it is pro- 
bably specifically different from C. epithymum; and I 
ground my view not only on the characters just assigned, 
which may be liable to variation from soil or the nature of 
the plants on which the parasite grows, but from the ex- 
treme unlikelihood that a species of so rare occurrence 
in most parts of England, and very abundant in this 
island, should so far and so suddenly change its habits, 
as all at once to seize upon and infest, with still increasing 
pertinacity, a cultivated plant of yet more extensive dis- 
tribution ; for which, till within a recent period, it was 
er observed to evince any predilection. In other 
words, were the Clover Dodder and the Maidenhairt 
of our Isle of Wight commons, one and the same species, 
would our Agriculturists have so long remained in happy 
ignorance of the mischief already caused to their Clover 
crops by the introduction—no doubt from abroad—of the 
former rapacious parasite? Unless measures are taken 
to prevent the further spread of this pernicious annual, 
the evil threatens to become more serious, because more 
universal, than has been the dissemination in our corn-fields 
of the gaudy but notorious Poverty weed,t (Melampyrum 
arvense, Linn.) which, from negligence in keeping the 
land clean, ha’ been suffered to creep nearly across the 
entire breadth of the southern part of the island where- 
ever the land partakes of a calcareous nature, the absence 
of lime appearing to be a barrier to its progress onward. 
As the plant is annual, comes up strong, and pulls up 
easily, I am persuaded that it might be completely kept 
under, if not entirely eradicated, by setting women to 
weed it out before the Wheat comes into ear. At present 
the plant is suffered to grow up and ripen its seeds with the 
crop; these are partly shaken out in mowing or reaping, 
to come up when the land is next laid down for Wheat, 
the rest gathered in with the sheaves are threshed out 
with the grain, which they most resemble in size and 
colour, and having the same specific gravity, cannot be 
separated by winnowing to the great detriment of the 
* T presume the same error is committed by Bertoloni in “ Fl. 
Ital.” where he says, speaking of C. europma, “Hac stirps 
S pratorum est, in quibus serunt Trifolia, aut Medicaginem 
Si 4.3” and then goes on to propose a remedy, which it 
behoves our farmers to attend to in time: ‘* Abscinde, et projice, 
antequam perficiat semen, si vis destruere et purgare pratum.” 
Which sensible advice may, for the benefit of those country gen- 
tlemen, be laconically Englished,—‘ Cut and carry before it 
seeds, and so save your crops.” 
+ The vernacular name here for Cuscuta epithymum, 
+ The honour of having conferred this undesirable ornament 
ds is traditionally imputed to Spain, and the 
Ys ich last place is certainly and happily 
rom its presence. own opinion is that we are 
probably indebted to Norfolk for the specious plague, it havin 
been imported with Seed-Wheat from that county~one of the 
‘ew in England known to produce if, 
5 
latter, to which, when made into bread, these seeds impart 
a hot unpleasant flavour, and communicate a blue colour 
to the flower, besides depreciating the marketable value of 
the grain so contaminated. I apprehend the good hus- 
bandry of Norfolk must now have banished the Melam- 
pyrum from the arable land to the adjoining banks, its 
natural and legitimate place of growth, and where it can 
do noharm whatever. Bulky and prolific as this weed is, 
it is yet doubtless one of the easiest to subdue, provided 
the attempt at extirpation be made at a proper season, and 
with the requisite care. 
In conclusion, I may remark that the present summer 
has been very unfavourable to the growth of those filiform 
parasites, the Cuscutas, at least in this island, where they 
have been much less abundant than usual. From reference 
to the works of many continental Botanists, there seems 
reason to conclude that our Clover Dodder has as often, if 
not oftener, been passed by for C. europea, or for 
C, epithymum, since, judging from my own specimens, the 
lately-introduced stranger unites to structural affinity with 
the latter the larger size and general aspect of the 
former.—W. A, Bromfield, Ryde. 
THE ACCUMULATIVE SYSTEM OF POTTING. 
Tue principal instances which led to a recognition of 
the practicability of applying larger portions of material 
in the process of potting, and so of superseding the ordinary 
mode of shifting from small to larger pots, were in the 
cultivation of Schizanthus retusus and the Garden 
Balsam, the growth of the latter having been deferred 
until so Jate a period, that no hope was entertained of 
flowering it under ordinary management. 
It is well known that uniform success in the culture of 
Schizanthus retusus is, up to the present time, attended 
with a difficulty which nothing but a correct knowledge 
and application of proper soils to the various physiological 
differences in the organs of plants can overcome. At 
the period to which this statement refers, (1829 and 30), 
the plant in question was of recent introduction, and in 
their attempts to obtain mature growth. 
particular difficulty in its early management, that is to 
say, from the seedling state up to its removal from sixty 
sized pots, the cause of which may be assigned to the 
increased temperature to which it would for that period be 
exposed, and which would maintain an excitability equal 
to the amount of light, heat and moisture to which f 
was subjected. It was on its removal to a lower tempera~ 
ture, and exposure to an increased action of chemical ag: ncy 
by heavier quantities of soil in shifting to Jarger pots that 
its tendency to resist the ordinary rules of cultivation 
was manifested, whatever the position or variation © 
treatment it otherwise received. At this period I ha 
imbibed (as one result of self-taught practice) an erro- 
neous opinion as to the qualities and effects of heath- 
mould ; and the practice I had adopted of using a portion 
of that material in almost every instance of cultivation 18 
still brought to mind, by its unfavourable results upon a 
plants whose quick growth requires such materials only 88 
favour a rapid circulation, so as to enable the organs 0 
the plant to assimilate as much food as the excitability of 
those organs demands. 
The effects which generally followed the removal of 
Schizanthus retusus to heavier masses of soil were, in the 
instances which fell under my observation, a sudde? 
stoppage in growth and a collapsed state of the parts 5 and 
these symptoms generally succeeded the waterings usually 
required after a long exposure to sun-heat, which had 
caused a full absorption of the previous supply of moisture § 
and in all cases the results were aggravated or fatal, 12 
proportion to the fluctuating influences of a low am! 
clouded atmosphere, and vice versa. The material the? 
employed, and under which such effects followed, was ® 
mixture of loam, peat, highly decomposed leaf-mould (the 
latter giving the appearance of loose black garden soil), a f 
a portion of sand. The two first were wholly destitute ° 
fibre, and the third was in such a state of decomposition 
as to leave no traces of organic remains 3 consequently the 
texture of the compost was such that the application © 
water served only to increase its retentive and binding 
effect. Having sustained repeated losses, I in vain oon 
sulted, for a remedy or practical reason, those who ha 
experienced similar failures ; and though I found instances 
of greater success up to a certain point, yet no consisten 
reason could be assigned why plants of a finer prone 
should be subject to the same fatality as others. At that 
time I was unable to detect the cause, by seeing the ne 
sity, when plants approached maturity, of adapting th? 
materials employed in their cultivation to their consti 
tutional character or habits. i 
These unsatisfactory results naturally led to consulting 
Nature through the medium of her own works, and as he 
own interpreter. Having accidentally observed the differ- 
ence between two plants of the same size, one of we 
had grown in the compost before alluded to, and the oe 
in fibrous sandy loam with a little leaf-mould, and tha 
the latter far exceeded the former in the healthy expansion 
of its leaves, I could not fail to connect the difference ee 
their appearance with the opposite combination of mate: 
tial used in their growth. i 
J have already stated that the compost previousl = 
was destitute of vegetable matter in & partially decom: 
posed and friable state. Not having within reach suc 
materials as appeared essential for the object in view, 
resolved upon the nearest approximation to them. and 
For some time previous to this experiment I Of 
adopted successfully the practice of using coarse flakes 
half-decomposed manure in a thoroughly dried and mule 
y used 
eel 
