1843.] 
THE GARDENERS 
CHRONICLE. 
317 
good farmer, and the English one a bad farmer.—Not a 
Scotch Farmer. 
The Parks.—I av much surprised to find by your 
most valuable Paper of Saturday last, that your corre- 
spondent ‘‘ Lexicon’”’ disapproves of the naming of the 
trees and shrubs in Kensington Gardens and St. James’s 
Park; and I am much gratified to find that you are not 
of his opinion. I think that the naming of these trees 
and shrubs is a most laudable effort, on the part of the 
Commissioners of Woods and Forests, to render these 
delightful places of recreation as interesting and as 
instructive as possible. To Gardeners and Amateurs 
these names will be exceedingly useful; and to ladies 
who are attached to Botanical pursuits they will be a 
source of pleasing recreation. They will, I trust, also 
interest the youthful mind, so many of which class 
frequent these delightful breathing places. The Commis- 
sioners of Woods and Forests will, I trust, remove the 
hurdles which at present prevent the public from going 
among the named trees and shrubs, without which few 
of the names will be distinguishable from the walk. I 
am pretty sure that very little injury would be done to 
the plants by their doing this; for the public, I think, 
know better now-a-days. ‘This I think is fully borne out 
by the little injury that has been done to Kew Gardens 
since they have been open to the public. I trust your 
correspondent ‘‘Lexicon’’ will clearly see from your 
interesting and plain explanation that the naming of these 
trees and shrubs will be of immense advantage to the 
public, though it may not be so to him; and that the 
Commissioners of Woods and Forests deserve the greatest 
credit, as you say, for having done what they have. 
hope the so-called fountain, of which you complain, will 
be speedily removed, and something of a more artistical 
character and in harmony with the scene substituted.— 
Ortolano. 
Bees.— B, M. W.”’ presents her compliments to the 
Editor of the Gardeners’ Chronicle, and for the benefit of 
all apiarians who, like her, wish to manage their Bees 
themselves with the least possible trouble and risk, and 
to have the power of examining their interesting proceed- 
ings at all times, she has procured a sketch of the ‘ Pa- 
tent Bar and Frame-Hive,’’ which, she believes, will con- 
siderably facilitate the experiments of Amateurs iv general; 
and offer the easiest mode of taking the honey to those 
who keep Bees for profit as well as amusement. This 
hive was invented by Mr. Munn, of Throwley-House, 
near Faversham,—a gentleman whose apiarian taste has 
led him to spare no trouble nor expense, in order to pro- 
cure a hive which might include the following advan- 
tages :—Perfect protection from wet in the open air; an 
equable temperature within, in winter and summer; a 
method of feeding the Bees without exposure to cold or 
attacks of other insects; protection from vermin and 
thieves, (being under lock and key ;) cool store-room, and 
easy method of taking the honey; every facility for 
making artificial swarms, and performing every experi- 
ment that ever has been tried, and complete inspection 
of the entire hive, under every possible circumstance 
without disturbing the Bees, or stupefying them with 
smoke. A hive on this construction may be seen at Mr. 
Milton’s, 10, Great Marylebone-street, Wimpole-street.— 
Rectory, April 28, 1843. 2. pole-street.- 
a {Patent Bar and Frame-Hive,” containing eleven frames; 
ne being drawn out to exhibit the comb in the glass observa- 
ie. 
tion-frame.] 
is Floricultural Society.—The remarks which headed your 
: otices to Correspondents in last week’s Paper will be 
Pie interest by the numerous class who cultivate 
lorists’ flowers, as an earnest of your intention to follow 
Up with renewed vigour the exertions you have hitherto 
Bie ue gratify their tastes in common with those of your 
Sat readers, To those of your correspondents who 
: ay a sacrifice a great general object on the shrine of dis- 
pupcmnted personal vanity, or because their individual 
1 Seats private purposes cannot be carried into effect, 
This § offer a few remarks on the Floricultural Society. 
demure y was formed in consequence of the repeated 
AOS those who had seceded in disgust from the 
Bltehed' 4 ee Society ; and having once been esta- 
ane cate oars ofa few, was soon joined by the 
feeeoan es me known florists, both amateur and pro- 
Sobidne nie aie aes being In opposition to any other 
encourag Principally directed to the examination and 
sement of seedlings. Many of these parties, 
actuated by sincere and proper motives, have continued 
their support ; but many, on the other hand, from causes 
which I do not now wish to scrutinize, have retired in dis- 
appointment, and expressed this by abuse. I would not 
attribute unworthy motives to all such, for even in the 
best of us there is a feeling which arises from disappoint- 
ment, and often exercises an influence over our conduct of 
which we are not conscious—and this is especially the case 
when the parent-like affection we have for our own pro- 
ductions (particularly if our interest is also at stake) meets 
with any check. Hence has arisen the idea that the 
Society has been unnecessaril ict; and from this, 
amongst other circumstances, the Society, however steady 
in its advance in the estimation of the public and of all 
honourable men, has not been supported by some of those 
who would eventually be most benefited, with the vigour 
and cordiality which might have been expected, had their 
desire for a fair and impartial tribunal really been zealous, 
Another charge against the Society is, that they have 
refused to give private opinions, (which of course are for- 
gotten if adverse, but, without;fail, made public use of, if 
favourable,) and have thereby discouraged appeal from 
those who did not wish to have their names appear. This 
may to a certain, but very limited extent, be true ; but the 
general advantage of the system is so great that it ought 
not to be sacrificed to a trifling exception, and after all, 
the test by which the Society must be judged is not 
whether they have pleased every one, for that is impos- 
sible, but whether they have acted up to the principles 
with which they started, and whether, allowing for the 
fickleness and uncertainty of the flowers, the merits of 
which they have been called upon to decide, and the falli- 
bility to which all human judgments are occasionally 
subject, the result will prove that they have been guided 
by the honesty of purpose and the skilfulness for which 
you have given them credit. In regard to the Society’s 
holding its meetings by candle-light, the i f 
the great majority of the members is thereby best con- 
sulted ; and, but for this arrangement, too much of their 
valuable time would be sacrificed, or they would be alto- 
gether unable to attend.—7. C. Wildman. 
Scotch Crops.—Through the medium of your Paper 
I take the liberty of asking a question cf your correspond- 
ent of p. 265, signing himself ‘* Not a Scotch Farmer.” 
His account of the extraordinary crops of Wheat and 
hay obtained by Mr. Mowbray, of Cambus, chiefly, as I 
understand him, by the application of Liquid Manure, I 
do not disbelieve; but as an average produce of 9 quar- 
ters to the acre over a field of 30 acres, and in some 
places of that. field of 15 quarters to the acre, and a crop 
of 3 tons of hay to an acre, are results so far exceeding 
any I have ever heard of from the best farming on the 
month or five weeks. I then pot them in thumb-pots, 
setting them in the frame, shading from hot sun, and 
harden them to it by degrees, as they will bear it. As 
soon as they have filled the pots full of roots, they are 
shifted into sixty-sized pots, with more leaf-mould and 
less sand, and put into the frame again, where they are 
kept close for a week, till established with fresh roots. 
More and more air is then given, till I leave the light 
quite off. The plants are then set out thinly on coal- 
ashes, where worms do not get into the pots. Pinching 
off the tops, I let them stand out as long as they are safe 
from frost, and store them away where room can best be 
spared, giving as much air as consists with the safety of 
other plants. I have thus fine healthy stock plants to 
plant out, which require no layering to make them dwarf, 
and no shifting from the sixty pots ; for I have now good 
plants raised in that way, showing three or four heads of 
flowers. The seed is easiest saved about the latter end of 
August, gathering the heads as they ripen, and laying 
them in the greenhouse or hothouse on paper, thinly, to 
dry. When dry, they should be well rubbed out, and 
sifted in a sieve of sucha size that the seeds may pass 
through, leaving the seed-vessels in the sieve. Keep the 
seeds dry till March, and then sow them in pans, placing 
them in acucumber-frame till they germinate. They must 
not remain there long, or they will damp off; take them 
to a vinery or hothouse, and place them near the glass till 
they have four leaves, then prick them out in pans or 
boxes till they are two inches in height, when they must 
be potted in thumb-pots. They should afterwards be 
potted into sixty-sized pots, and treated exactly as recom- 
mended for the cuttings. If there is plenty of room, and 
large plants are desired, they must be stopped and shifted 
into forty-eight-sized pots. But I find that the smaller 
the pots, the less likely the plants are to shed their leaves, 
as the Scarlet Pelargoniums do not root so freely as the 
other kinds. I have now about a thousand seedlings 
ready to prick off, and find it much easier than striking 
them by cuttings, besides the chance of getting improved 
varieties. I never heard before of potting the plants in 
fresh green turf ;—will any of your correspondents say 
whether they have found it answer, as it seems something 
new ?—Caleb Diplock. 
Manures.—The very interesting and instructive experi- 
ments of your correspondent at Cookridge, near Leeds, 
seem to furnish an illustration of the principle in artificial 
manuring—that little benefit can be expected in employing 
a fertilizer, the components of which do not enter, or but 
in a very small proportion, into the composition of the 
plant it is intended to grow. On referring to the table 
given by Dr. Daubeny, in Vol. iii. of the Journal of the 
Royal Agricuitural Society, entitled Table Il.—of the 
Consti f Crops—it will be seen, that of all the 
best land in this country, I wish to ing what pro- 
portion, and at what periods of the year, was the Wheat 
crop watered with the Liquid Manure; and what species 
of cart was employed ?—A Subscriber. 
Budding Roses.—As the plan which I adopt in budding 
Roses has been eminently successful, (scarcely one having 
failed out of a very large number of stocks operated upon 
last year,) perhaps you will allow me again to repeat it, 
for the benefit of my amateur brethren. I generally select 
the Bengalensis (or Blush Boursault, as some gardeners 
call it) in preference to the Wild Briar, which I find more 
apt to canker and become bast-bound. I commence m 
labours about the beginning of June, and continue till the 
middle of August; and I invariably leave a small piece of 
the wood, asa protection to the eye, using worsted for 
binding instead of bast. The rise of the sap is rapid and 
plentiful in the Bengalensis, which keeps the bud cool 
even in the hottest weather, which was satisfactorily 
proved last summer. Some of the stocks which I worked 
early in the year formed good ripe wood before the winter, 
and promise to produce a fine crop of blossoms this season. 
The propagation’ of the Bengalensis is exceedingly easy ; 
and although it is rather capricious in flowering itself, it 
never fails to support a stranger in a most flourishing 
condition. The disappointment of amateurs in budding 
is occasioned too often by their attempting to deprive the 
bud of all the wood, which, unless it is very skilfully 
extracted, irreparably injures the bud. New wood must, 
of course, always be chosen in both cases—W. W. 
Scarlet Pelargoniums.—In noticing Mr, Drummond’s 
remarks on these plants, I think he is a lucky man to 
have so much hottom-heat, other materials, and spare 
time,—which few gardeners can now boast of. I will offer 
a few simple hints as to how J manage to have plenty of 
good plants to turn out with little trouble; it may be 
acceptable to some one who is, like myself, short-handed. 
The readiest way is to raise them from seed. If, however, 
you have any particular sort, you must propagate by 
cuttings, which I manage in the following manner :—I 
tum all the plants I have to spare into the open border 
about the 21st of May; I thus get plenty of cuttings and 
seeds. The cuttings I take off about the middle of July, 
in an afternoon, and trim them ready for potting the next 
morning, cutting them close under the fourth joint, laying 
them thinly in the greenhouse or shed, to dry till the 
morning. I then get some wide-mouthed thirty-two-sized 
pots, and fill them about half full of crocks, with the rest 
silver-sand and leaf-mould, equal proportions, putting 
them close round the outside of the pot with a dibble, 
and pressing them firmly. I give them just a sprinkle of 
water, and place them ina two.light box, only filling one 
light, so that the light that contains the cuttings may be 
covered with a mat, and the sun be allowed to shine on 
the other; which will warm the frame. If the surface of 
the pots is dry in the morning, I give a gentle watering, 
giving air for half an hour to get the leaves dry if it is 
likely to be a dull day. IT apply no water unless the 
cuttings look very flagged. They will be well rooted in a 
crops therein named, Potatoes contain the least lime, and 
but a few ‘contain less su/phuric acid. The proportion 
which these two substances bear to one another is 
pretty nearly that of their representative numbers, so 
that it may be inferred that in the Potato root they 
are really present as sulphate of lime or gypsum. 
Another reason w. sum alone was not likely to 
benefit the Potato is to be found in the fact, that almost 
all soils contain an appreciable quantity of this substance ; 
and the Potato requiring but a very small supply, and 
being furnished with deep-striking roots, it would pro- 
bably meet with a sufficiency in any soil not absolutely 
destitute of it. If this be so, the inutility of applying 
gypsum, in this case, as a manure is evident. Not so, 
however, with the alkalies; for the Potato, in its natural 
state, contains as much soda as dry Wheat grain, and more 
than one and a half times the quantity of potash.* This 
consideration is evidently the key to the fact of the great 
benefit effected on this root by wood-ashes (rich in potash), 
and sulphate of soda (glauber salts). I think it would be 
satisfactory to know with certainty whether or not the soil, 
in the experiment of your correspondent, does really con- 
tain sulphate of lime; and if he think so too, I shall be 
happy, gratuitously, to solve the question, if he will for- 
ward a sample to me, and Iwill let your readers know 
the result. —IV. H. Potter, Chemical Works, Fore 
Street, Lambeth. 
Gentianella.—(Gentiana acaulis).—This jis seldom seen 
to flower well, and Doctors differ much about its treatment. 
IT made a little square bed, in 1840, in which I planted 20 
good-sized bunches, with good balls of earth attached to 
each bunch. ‘They have flowered well every year since, 
and have been much admired by all who saw them. At 
the present time there is upwards of 350 blossoms upon 
them ; the situation is very low, so that we lose many 
perennials in damp winters. The soil they are grown in 
is half common garden mould, which is very light, and 
half Joam and leaf-mould, such as comes from an old 
Melon-bed ; and every year the bed is top-dressed with 
loam and. leaf-mould, in fine weather, in February or earl 
in March. Neither spade nor fork is used among alata, 
but when a weed appears it is taken away, and the top- 
dressing is done carefully between the plants. — Winchester 
College Gardens. 
ghar Plants.—Notwithstanding the soundness of 
.’s” arguments, I am still doubtful if themethod prescribed 
OM p. 84, has the effect of abstracting frost from plants. 
Facts are stubborn things,’”’ and I have fully experienced 
that, when the plan is successful, the plants had received 
little damage. If « C.’” has determined it by actual expe- 
riment, I am bound to submit to his better judgment ; and 
when occasion requires, I may still continue to practise it, 
against the evidence of my senses, on the faith of others. 
Indeed, one morning last month, when visited with both 
* J would strongly recommend the leaves of the Beet (or, per- 
haps, those of Mangold Warzel would do as well,) as a manure 
for Potatoes, as they contain much alkali, > " 
