318 
THE GARDENERS 
CHRONICLE. 
[May 18, 
frost and snow, I tried it on wall-trees, and Gooseberry- 
bushes, without any marked result. I am‘perfectly aware 
that frozen vegetables, of a hardy nature (possibly green- 
house plants likewise, which I mean to try the first 
opportunity,) if immersed in water soon recover ; but they 
must not be exposed again to a freezing atmosphere in 
their wet state, or the frost would lay greater hold on 
them ; and unless a plan could be devised to place the 
plants, immediately on watering, in a temperature above 
freezing, any benefit they received from the water would 
soon cease, should the water freeze upon them; which is 
more from the state of the atmosphere than from any 
secret interchange of temperature going on between the 
plant and the water, as it is well known water will not 
freeze, even if thrown upon ice, unless the temperature is 
below freezing (?) The analogy between a cold bar of iron 
in a warm hand and the present case does not hold good, 
since the effect produced by the process of interchange 
ceases immediately the hand is removed; so the watering, 
to have any effect, ought to be of sufficient quantity to 
prevent its congealing on the plants, or their texture 
would be more endangered than if they had remained dry. 
I am sorry I expressed myself so vaguely, that ‘‘C.” should 
suppose me ignorant of the tendency of heated air to 
ascend ; and that, consequently, the nearer the glass, the 
warmer it is. I thought I wrote near the front glass ; my 
Pelargoniums stood on the floor of a vinery between the 
upright sashes and the flues which run along the middle 
of the house, and on a little higher elevation than where 
the plants stood; so that there is no inconsistency in the 
injury being sustained in that position. ‘‘C.” is likewise 
in error as tothe object for which I place pans of water 
under my Apricot-trees, which is not to create evapora- 
tion ; but from the affinity which frost has for water, it is 
conjectured that the nitrous particles which will lodge on 
the dewy blossom would be diverted into the water.— 
J, M._ [This last paragraph is above our comprehension. } 
Birds.—Two or three years ago I witnessed a very 
surprising instance of parental affection in a very young 
bird, exemplified in the case of a Thrush, which had been 
taken from the nest about a fortnight and was just able 
to feed itself, and a couple of Blackbirds about three parts 
fledged, and as yet unable to feed without assistance. 
The latter were introduced into the Thrush’s cage, and 
had not been there long before the Thrush, itself only just 
emerging from babyhood, took compassion upon their 
helplessness, and began feeding them with all the solicitude 
ofa mother. From this time till they were able to fee 
themselves it constantly attended to them, and upon no 
occasion could it be tempted to swallow a morsel itself, 
however tempting, until its young companions were satis- 
fied.— Boughton Kingdon, Teignmouth. 
Vines.—Has guano been applied’to Vines, and if so, ina 
liquid or dry state ? My Vines show a quantity of blossom 
every year, and as regularly shank off ; although for some 
years past I have never applied fire-heat to the house 5 
the border is fully exposed to the sun, never having any 
crop on it, so that in this instance you would think that 
it could not arise from the cold at the roots and heat at 
the tops. I have tried guano with everything, and found 
everything benefited by it. Ienabled aGreengage Plum last 
year to swell and ripen an enormous crop, solely, I am 
sure, by giving its roots a copious dose of guano in the 
middle of July.—#. #. LZ. [Guano should always be 
applied in a liquid state, and not too strong; a little and 
often is a good maxim to observe with it. It is not pos- 
sible to say what causes your Grapes to shank without 
inspecting the place ; but we entertain little doubt that 
the roots are wrong—perhaps in a cold wet subsoil. ] 
Bones.—I am rather surprised to find from Mr. Solly 
that boiled bones are so superior to unboiled. I have pur- 
chased both, and I find the former weigh 56 lbs. to the 
bushel, whereas the latter only weigh 28lbs. This is a 
great difference ; and I cannot comprehend how bones, as 
a manure, can be improved in value by having all their 
juice stewed out of them. Surely, 28 lbs, to the bushel 
of fat, grease, and glue, must be worth something. I am 
not prepared to prove the actual difference between the 
two as regards their effects on land.—Z. R., Halifax.— 
It is und i that the experi of farmers, especially 
in Cheshire, is in favour of boiled bones. Theory would 
possibly prefer them unboiled; but if facts are against 
it, theory must give way. Will you kindly report the 
result to us ?] 
Turnip-fily.—l have found that lime lightly strewed 
over Turnips (just up) before the dew is off the ground 
in the morning, most effectually and invariably preserves 
the crop from the Fly, &c. This I know will be useful 
to some of your readers.— Rus. 
_Seeds.—The Editor of the Gardeners’ Chronicle agrees 
with me, that seeds sown in dry, pulverised soil, shortly 
afterwards moistened with rain, will be more likely to 
vegetate than seeds sown in soil already moist ; the Editor 
does not, however, admit my reasoning upon the fact. In 
a late Number of the'Chronicle, a grower of Scarlet Pelar- 
goniums, who frequently repots his cuttings, shakes the soil 
from their roots, which he afterwards dips in warm water, 
before replanting, assigning as a reason, that the soil 
adleres more firmly to them when they are fresh potted. 
I know a lady who never fails of success in transplanting 
into pots for winter bloom, seedling plants of Mignonette. 
From the roots of these she shakes off all the soil, and 
replants them in puddled holes in pots of earth: I may 
be wrong in believing that success, in both cases, depends 
upon coating the roots with fine particles of soil, under 
circumstances which will secure its adherence: the Editor’s 
explanation will be thankfully received.—C.—[It may be 
true that our correspondent’s explanation of the behaviour 
of his roots is just; but it cannot hold good of seeds, 
because as soon as the radicle sprouts forth, it leaves that 
surface to which particles of earth are said to adhere. The 
reason why it is best to sow seeds in what is called dry 
earth, is, that they may be very gradually, not suddenly, 
moistened ; they then decompose the water as they get it, 
and are not suddenly gorged with fluid they cannot digest.] 
Draining.—In your Number for April 15 I observe a 
communication signed “ W. W.,” strongly recommending 
a mode of draining by a movable mould, upon which the 
strong clay of Gloucestershire is forced down and packed, 
when the mould is withdrawn for another operation. Its 
cheapness at 13d per yard,and its duration said to be proved 
for 18 years, would be great recommendations, but they 
will not justify the practice if it is ineffectual for the 
purpose intended. Drainers are very apt to imagine that 
their object will be attained by merely forming an under- 
ground passage through which the water will flow, and 
this is very well where a spring is to be caught and carried 
off, but where frequent or furrow-draining is the operation 
to be performed, the object of which is to collect and 
convey away the surface-water along the whole course of 
the drain, the plan under discussion will be utterly ineffi- 
cient. It is painful to see a piece of good land covered 
with coarse swampy herbage, or bearing miserably-stunted 
crops for want of draining ; but it is still more provoking 
to see a similar state of things from drains being badly 
executed, when the whole capital spent in their construc- 
tion is literally buried with their materials; yet this 
often happens not only from the plan under discussion, 
where the very support of the drain depertds upon its 
being made “impervious to the water it is intended to 
carry off, but from the slovenly execution of frequent 
drains of tiles, stones, or other materials. It is commonly 
imagined that when the drain is laid the work is done, and 
that the most retentive soil may be heaped in and packed 
down above it; whereas laying the drain is but half 
the work, if an access-soil for the water from above is 
not retained by filling it in for a considerable depth with 
gravel, broken stones, or porous earth. And thus this most 
invaluable improvement is subjected to distrust, and a 
vast amount of capital is wasted forjwant of a little reflec- 
tion or attention to practical rules.—J.'S. F'. 
Wireworms. — Observing, many inquiries in your 
Paper as to the best mode of destroying the Wireworm, 
I beg to tell you that last year I had been using some 
chloride of lime-water, and poured it over some grass, when 
it immediately killed the worms. I was from this success 
induced to try it on some very sickly Carnations infested 
with Wireworms, and had the satisfaction to find them 
recover rapidly. The proportion I used was about a table- 
spoonful to a pint of water, but this of course must 
depend on the quality of the soil.—F. B. H. 
Pears.—In reply to ‘* A Subscriber,” I beg to inform 
you that the Pear “ Inconnue (Van Mons)’’ was sent to 
me some six or eight years since, by M. Van Mons, of 
Louvain, as a seedling without name, with several others, 
also seedlings not named. To distinguish them, they had 
the above name attached to them, with the number in the 
catalogue. Thus, the above is ‘‘ Inconnue Van Mons, 
175:’’ several others, with different numbers, have not 
yet fruited. The above is a most excellent middle-sized 
melting Pear : shape, oblong ; colour, green; keeping till 
February. Inconnue Van Mons, 219, will, I think, prove 
also a fine late Pear. I have reason to believe that Pear 
culture is yet quite in its infancy. I anticipate that we 
shall have as many fine varieties ripening in spring and 
early summer as we have now in autumn. To arrive at 
this, seedlings should be raised from some of the late 
Pears that keep through the year, such as Bellissime 
d’Hiver, Easter Bergamot, Bergamotte de Hollande, 
Poire Jalvie, and Rouse Lench. These have been pre- 
served here in my fruit-cellar till June, and even later: if 
crossed with such sorts as Hacon’s Incomparable, Beurré 
Rance, Winter Nelis, and Ne plus Meuris, some good 
melting very late Pears would probably be the result. I 
should recommend Rouse Lench to be fertilised with 
Winter Nelis, previously removing the stamens of the 
former; and this should be done before the blossom 
expands, by inserting sharp-pointed scissors. aster 
Bergamot might be crossed with Ne plus Meuris, Berga- 
motte de Hollande with Hacon’s Incomparable, and so 
on, according to the fancy of the cultivator. The object 
to attain is, to procure very late Pears with the high flavour 
of some of our earlier varieties —7'. Rivers, Jun. 
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE. 
New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand, Dec. 1.— 
I have great pleasure in informing you that we have 
founded a Horticultural Society at this place. Although 
the first body of emigrants landed here so lately as 
March, 1841, we now muster between'40 and 50 Members, 
and had it not been for the lateness of the season when 
the Society was formed, should have enrolled a great 
number more, who have expressed their intention of 
becoming Members next year. Considering the many 
cares and difficulties attending a new settlement, I think 
it speaks very bly for our population, that so many 
have taken an interest in the Society; and convinces me 
that although we have commenced on a very small scale, 
we shall prosper, and I trust sustain the character of the 
Taranaki district, of being the garden of New Zealand. 
‘We have a beautiful climate, and I hope we shall turn it 
to advantage, although some time must necessarily elapse, 
as we have everything to do.—R. C. 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
May 11.—Mr. Edward Solly delivered his first lecture on the 
Chemistry of Vegetation. After adverting to the progress that 
Organic Chemistry has made during the past year, and especially 
abroad, he proceeded to point out the fact, of all plants consisting 
of certain invisible elements, transparent, impalpable, and alto- 
gether escaping ordinary observation. After experimentally 
explaining the nature of those elements, he adverted to the great 
difficulty of conceiving how the combination of such substances 
can produce all the varied forn s recognised among the vegetable 
bodies surrounding us. A number of beautiful experiments was 
then made to show that an infinite variety of changes takes 
place by combinations of gaseous and fluid matters under 
different Circumstances. Colourless finids were shown, when 
mixed, to form colours: one kind of colour was changed into 
another; colourless flnids became coloured by merely passing 
through the air; solid metal was thrown down from colourless 
transparent fluids. Gases were then acted upon and shewn to 
behave in a similar manner, changing colour instantly upon com- 
bining with the oxygen of air. Solids were shown to change into 
gaseous matter, iron itself being converted into vapour. 
were condensed into solid matter by their mutual action. Fluids 
were in ike manner suddenly condensed into solids. Finally, 
solids were dissolved inair. After these preliminary observations 
Mr, Solly proceeded, in conclusion, to explain the manner in 
which they applied to the iti egel ti 
By the analysis of the Spinach and Rhubarb leaves, he demon- 
strated experimentally the existence in those substances of 
Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen—the gaseous elements 
tation ; Ammonia was then obtained in abundance from 
atter, in order to show the identity of the p: 
thus obtained from both the animal and vegetable kingdoms. 
These experiments were very interesting, as proving the existence 
in plants of Nitrogen, thus confirming the statements of modern 
chemists upon that subject, and proving the great importance of 
this element to vegetation. Sulphate of copper was also intro- 
duced successfully as a beautiful and very sensitive test of the 
presence of ammonia; its white colour, when powdered, chang- 
ing into deep blue, when acted on by very minute quantities of 
ammonia. 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. 
A monthly council was held at the Society’s house, in Hanover- 
square, on Wednesday, the 8rd of May, the Earl of Hardwicke, 
President, in the chair, John Bell Crompton, Esq., Mayor of 
Derby, was elected a Governor, and sixty-two gentlemen Members 
of the Society. Mr. R, Barker, Chairman of the Finance Com- 
mittee, reported to the Council that agreeably with the order of 
the Council, the Committee had purchased 1,000/. in the New 3: 
per cents. in the name of the Trustees of the Society; the total 
amount of the Society’s Stock in the funds now am i 
subscription was in arrear, were ordered to be expunged from 
sovereigns for 
ns a 
interview with the Council, for the purpose of advocating th 
claims of the towns whic! ley respectively represented. Th 
members of each deputation laid before the Council the replies 
to the official queries transmitted to them on their original appli- 
cation; and they also gaye the Council detailed information in 
reference to the communication of each place by railways, &c, 
© directors of the South-Western Railway, following the 
example of the directors of the Midland Counties Railway at 
Derby, and on the representation of Mr. Etwall, M.P. for Andover, 
on Friday last, also decided to convey to and from Southampton 
all the show-cattle at half fares, and further pledged themselves 
‘0 give every facility for quick conveyance, and not to charge any 
additional fares for passengers, On the motion of Earl Spencer, 
the President was requested to direct a special council to be 
summoned for Thursday, the 11th of May, and a committee was 
appointed to report to the Council on that occasion. Agreeably 
with the standing regulations of the Society, the Council ordered 
that a preliminary impression of the Prize-Sheet for the next 
year should be prepared, and laid before the Members at the 
ensuing Anniversary Meeting on the 22d of May, for their revision. 
and suggestions, previously to its final adoption and confirmation. 
y the Council; on which occasion Mr. Charles Stokes gave 
notice that he should propose the first prizes in each class of 
Bulls to be raised from 30/. to 50/. Mr. Gibbs brought forward 
his motion on the subject of the date at which subscriptions shall 
be considered to in arrear, 
ie 
e 
rosa informed the Council of the meeting this year of the Italian 
cientifie Association at Lucca during the two last weeks 0! 
September. The Council then adjourned to Wednesday, 10th May+ 
LINNEAN SOCIETY. 
May 2, 1843.—The Lord Bishop of Norwich, President, in the 
chair. M. Achille Richard and Prof, J, F, Schow, were elected 
Foreign Fellows. Dr, Salt was elected a Fellow, and Mr, Lanson 
an Associate. A present of Fruits collected 
in his late visit to Australia was exhibited ; amongst others were 
the fruits of a species of Cycas, of Callitris pyramidalis, Guilan- 
dina Bonduc, Barringtonia speciosa, &c. On account of the death 
of the Duke of Sussex, it was suggested by the President that 
the paper for the evening should not be read, 
SOCIETY OF ARTS. 
capital in farming, the increase of labour, and the mode by wh” 
these objects might be effected. 
1 ight be divided into low and high SYS 
tems of Agriculture; the former prevailed in many parts Ww 
England, the latter in Scotland. ‘The characters of the 0 
system were, that the land was let from year to year ; and, a 
consequence of this, the tenant expended but little capital in © 
cultivation. The drainage was imperfect, the pasture-land exten- 
sive, the arable land in bad condition; the ploughing was ® 
| 
} 
; 
} 
| 
