132 THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[Mar. 4, 
shrivelling, and shanking, and scorching, and not 
setting, and not colouring, every one of which is as 
much a disease as the gout or rheumatism in a man. 
Let us begin with the rust of the Vine. 
The rust of the Vine is a disease which attacks the 
Grapes, covering them with a tough brown skin which 
is incapable of natural extension, and which stops 
their growth, Wherever the disease appears the crop 
is injured, or even ruined. Now, in this, as in all such 
cases, if we are to cure the evil we must find out its 
cause ; and it is to that we would ask our gardening 
friends to attend, by way of beginning a formal inves- 
tigation of vegetable diseases. One person says 1t is 
caused by the attacks of the Thrips insect ; another is 
convinced that it arises from his having planted his 
Vine too deep ; others are perfectly satistied that it is 
caused by the perspiration or greasiness of the hands 
of those employed in thinning the berries ; a fourth 
observer refers it to a period anterior to the setting of 
the berries. One of our correspondents, who ascribes 
the rust to the Grapes having come in contact with 
greasy substances, at the same time throws the blame 
upon the Thrips (see Mr. Bromley’s remarks, p. 853) ; 
and in a subsequent letter, now before us, he gives as, 
a reason for preferring the long-rod mode of pruning to 
that of spurring, that old spurs are difficult to clear of 
Thrips: so that here are two totally different causes 
assigned by the same observer for the same malady. 
Finally, to close the catalogue of opinions, we have a 
letter from Mr. Webster, who conceives the rust to 
arise from the use of excessive moisture previously to 
the opening of the flowers. 
Which of all these speculations is to be regarded as 
correct? that is what should be proved experiment- 
ally ; and the season is now arrived when the matter 
may be investigated by thousands of observers. We 
would therefore propose the following plan :— ¢ 
1. Grease a few bunches, just as much as it is pro- 
bable they would be soiled in the operation of thin- 
ning, and leave the remainder of the crop without 
being touched. This will settle that part of the 
question: if indeed it is not decided by the fact that 
Grapes on the open wall, unthinned, are ional] 
as rusty, or more so, than in houses. 
2. Where the rust prevails, examine the plants 
well, and see whether Thrips abound ; if so, observe 
the effect of removing this insect. 
3. Direct attention also to the red-spider, and ascer- 
tain, if possible, whether that pest has not something 
to do with the rust. 
4. Watch the Greengage and other sweet Plums in 
the same way, and observe whether Thrips, or red- 
meee or greasy substances produce the mischief 
there; for we presume that the rust of Plums is of 
the same nature as that of Grapes. 
Here are some experiments, trifling in the amount 
of observation they demand, but very important in 
their results ; and we trust they will find observers 
among a good many of our readers. 
J 
In another column we give the Report of the Flori- 
cultural Society upon the seedling Dahlias exhibited 
before it during the last year. That the owners of 
second-rate flowers should be discontented at their 
being so classed, and that in carrying out its objects 
the managers of this Society should have made some 
enemies, is only what must be expected by all those 
who venture to expose fraud and discountenance 
imposition. Nevertheless, in the long run, honesty of 
purpose, as well as honesty of action, is sure to bring 
its own reward ; and we entertain no doubt, that, in 
proportion as the Society is out of favour with self- 
seeking florists, it will gain the good opinion of their 
customers. 
As we have stated on a former occasion, the great 
point to attend to in the formation of the committees 
of all such Societies as this, is the exclusion of every 
eae whose character is at all doubtful; this has 
een attended to most scrupulously by the Floricul- 
tural Society, and must secure for them the support of 
all honest and respectable florists. As for those of a 
different description, they may always be known by 
their associates. 
Fotpive Sheep on Turnips, where the land is light 
and dry, is the most effectual and economical mode 
of manuring. Much attention is required to make 
the profit on the Sheep pay something towards the 
great €xpense incurred in raising a good crop of 
‘Turnips : and, in this, great improvements have been 
introduced of late years. The principal are: the 
cutting of the Tumips in slices, or rather strips, by 
means of a machine worked by hand, feeding the 
Sheep in narrow troughs, and regularly, so that 
nothing is lost, or soiled, to disgust the animals. 
The troughs are placed on the spot from whence 
the Turnips were drawn to be cut, and moved 
so that the droppings of the dung may be equally dis- 
tributed ; cut Clover, Hay, or Pease-haulm, is given, 
mixed with crushed oil-cake, or Pease or Bean meal, 
or Oats, This not only corrects the cold watery 
nature of the Turnip, but also materially improves the 
manure ; that from Sheep fattened’ in this way may 
be considered as of double the effect to that of store 
Sheep merely fed on Turnips and some Hay. The 
advantage of the old mode of folding Sheep at night 
on fallows, when they had run in poor pastures all 
day, is problematical: for not only are the dung and 
urine of a much less fertilising nature, but the Sheep 
suffer, and in many cases the loss on this account 
makes the manuring, such as it is, be dearly paid for. 
Hence some good farmers have a prejudice against 
folding Sheep, and not without some reason ; but the 
mode we are describing is very different : here, the 
Sheep are well fed, and not driven from a pasture to a 
fold, which is only robbing one part of a farm to 
improve the other. They very soon fill themselves 
and lie down to ruminate, and thus communicate con- 
siderable warmth to the soil. It is extremely useful, 
not only to their general health, but likewise to stimu- 
late their appetite, to place lumps of rock-salt here 
and there in a trough for them to lick at. We have 
invariably found that with salt to lick they could 
digest more Turnips, and thrive faster, while their 
dung and urine are certainly improved by the salt 
dissolved in them. The quantity of oil-cake or meal 
which is most advantageous to be given must depend 
on the time when it is‘desirable the Sheep should be fat 
for the butcher. They should never be overfed, but 
as long as they eat up all that is placed in their 
troughs, after having had a full meal of Turnips, they 
may be safely supplied; cut Clover-hay may be 
mixed with crushed oil-cake or meal, in the proportion 
of one peck of meal to'two or three bushels of cut hay ; 
of this mixture they may be allowed to eat as much 
as they like, twice a day, after they have eaten their 
cut Turnips. The same system may be pursued for 
ewes and lambs. Bean-meal and oil-cake increase the 
milk of the ewes, and all the fat will go to the lambs 
as longas they suck ; when Turnips are cut into short 
strips, it is astonishing how soon lambs begin to nibble 
at them, and learn to lick up the meal; by the time 
the lambs are weaned or sold off, the ewes will be in 
good condition; and whether they are fatted or kept 
for breeding, will be much the better for good feeding. 
The calculation of the difference in the expense, com- 
pared to the benefit received by the improved method, 
depends so much on circumstance and situation, that 
we cannot enter into them. It will take women and 
boys to pull up the Turnips, clean them of earth, and 
cut off the greens, which are left on the ground to be 
first picked up by the Sheep when they are let into 
the fold; there is not much nourishment in the 
green leaves. When Turnips are carried off the land 
to be eaten in the yards, or stored for winter and 
spring use, it is best to leave the tops to be ploughed 
in as manure; and in this way they are useful. A 
flock of 300 wethers will require the constant attend- 
ance of a man and a boy. They are to set the hurdles 
and change the folds regularly, put the food into the 
troughs, and clean them out—a very useful practice after 
every meal. I'wo women, or a woman and a boy, can 
pull up the Turnips and cut them, the shepherd and 
his boy helping occasionally. The hay and meal are 
supposed to be prepared in the barn, and brought to 
the field daily, taking back a cart-load of Turnips for 
the cows at home; if no bullocks are fatted in the 
yards this expense must be added, deducting the value 
of the Turnips carried off. If the value of the Turnips 
can be estimated at what they could be sold to carry 
off the land, this must be set against the profit on the 
Sheep, after the hay, meal, and attendance are 
reckoned: the balance is the cost of the manure, which 
can only be valued by its effects on the subsequent 
crops. The form of the account:is as follows:— 
300 tegs or wethers, valued or purchased, £ s. d, 
a er head 2 > ‘ 
— acres of Turnips, at per acre . 
— loads of Clover-hay, at —_ per load 
— quarters of meal, or bruised oil-cake, 
at per quarter... ; 
Expense of cutting . . E : 
Carting and grinding : . . 
A shepherd, boy, and two women, 
weeks, at per week. 
Total cost £ 
Contra. : ek emt! 
Sold 300 fat Sheep, average _per head 
(deducting loss by death or acci- 
dent), including the wool . 3 
Balance, as the cost of manure. . 
This balance must be carried to the account of the 
next crops in the rotation. 
Without correct accounts no accurate result can be 
obtained ; and after two or three experiments it will 
e soon ascertained what is, upon the whole, the most 
profitable method. It is well known from the dis- 
coveries of the first chemists that Turnips are defi- 
cient in nitrogen, and that all animals require a 
portion of it for their healthy nourishment. Clover 
and meal contain, besides other nourishing substances, 
a sufficiency of nitrogen for the supply of animal 
flesh, and their addition greatly increases the fattening 
qualities of Turnips ; much of the juice of the Turnips 
remains undigested, and is voided without any change 
when they are the only food of the Sheep, which more 
nitrogenous food would enable the stomach to decom- 
pose—at least such is the prevailing theory ; and it is 
very plausible. Experiments and accurate observa- 
tions alone can substantiate it, or refute its truth. 
We can only repeat the excellent advice of Professor 
Henslow to the farmers around him, to make 
numerous accurate experiments, which they can do 
with little trouble and expense, and by the multitude 
of the results they will be able to ascertain what is 
real fact under dissimilar circumstances, and whether 
the theories of scientific men are proved or disproved 
by these facts.— M. 
SANDAL-WOOD. 
Your readers, like every one else, must have heard so 
much of the Sandal d gates of S th, that some 
account of the tree producing it, as well as some circum- | 
stances connected with its history, may prove not devoid | 
of interest. Mr. Atkinson, indeed, throws some doubt 
upon the famous gates having been made of Sandal-wood 
at all. “The door,’ he says, “is part of the spoil 
brought by Mahomed himself from the Hindoo temple at 
Somnauth, in Guzzerat, said to be made of Cedar or Sandal 
Wood; but the smell is certainly gone, if it ever had any. | 
Itis in panels, carved, and well put together. ‘wo folds, 
hinged, form one-half of the door, which seems to be 
about 8ft. wide, by 14ft. high. It is a massive door, and | 
the same which Runjeet Singh coveted so much, that he 
at one time demanded it as part of his recompense for 
aiding in the cause of Shah Soojah’s restoration. He 
coveted it because he wished to rescue it from the Maho- 
medans, and to restore it to the temple of Somnauth ; 
thereby hoping to merit the gratitude and admiration 
of the Hindoo world.” But notwithstanding this doubt, 
the probability is that Sandal d would alone be em- 
ployed in a temple on which the riches of the Hast seem 
to have been lavished. That it was the practice in the 
East to make gates of Sandal-wood is evident, from the 
observations of Joseph Barb. viaggia alla Persia, quoted 
by Celsius. La porta della camera era di Sandali entar- 
siata con filid’oro.”’? And again—‘‘ Mi monstrarono eti- 
andio due, porte lavorate grandi di Sandali, di piedi sei 
Yuna,” &c. 
The term Sandal-wood has been applied to the wood 
of several trees, which have nothing to do with the 
subject of this article: for instance, there is a red 
Sandal-wood, yielded, I believe, by two trees, one Ptero- 
carpus santalinus, and the other Adenanthera pavonina. 
There is also a yellow Sandal-wood, which may or may 
not be produced by the same tree as white Sandal-wood. 
This wood has long been famous in the Hast for its very 
agreeable and fragrant odour, on which account it has 
been much employed for different articles which are 
much handled, such as fans and rosaries; in Europe we — 
find it esteemed for ladies’ work-boxes, cabinets, &c- 
An oil is also distilled from it, which is much esteemed in 
Turkey in the present day. From such applications 
Sandal-wood might be supposed to be an article of little 
importance; but from the price currents of Calcutta and 
of Canton, we find that about 200 tons of this wood _ 
are annually imported ‘into the former, and about double — 
that quantity into the latter. These two ports are not, | } 
however, supplied from the same places, Calcutta being 
supplied from the Malabar coast, and Canton chiefly from 
the Feejee, Marquesas, and Sandwich islands, as well as _ 
from India. It might be that the same species of tree — 
yielded the Sandal-wood of all these localities; but as 
two species have been formed by Botanists, we shall first 
notice the Indian species, and then that which has been 
more recently discovered. ' 
The Indian Sandal-wood is produced by Santalum 
album, of the natural order of Santalacee, and which © 
has been made more interesting from the many 
valuable observations made on the development of its » 
ovule by Mr. Griffith. This species is common on thé 
Malabar coast. The fullest accounts of it have been 
given by Dr. Buchanan in his Journey through Mysore, 
Malabar, and Canara, where he says it is called Sri-gunda- 
It is also found in the central forests of Mysore, that is) 
to the westward of Bangalore, and likewise in those o0 
the Malabar coast between Seringapatam and the sea-ports 
of Tellichery and Calicut. The tree is usually about 25 
feet in height, with opposite, oblong, and smooth leaves; 
which are glaucous on the under surface. The flowers ar@ 
small, at first straw-coloured, afterwards purplish, and 
without odour. The tree resembles the Myrtle, more 
perhaps, than any other plant which is common. Whet 
felled, the stems are usually about 9 inches in diametet 
but they are ionally 3 cubits in ci thoug! 
it is not probable that they have been allowed to attai? 
their fullest size in modern times. About two-thirds of 
the diameter is white wood, nearly devoid of smell, av* — 
the remaining third more highly coloured and fragrant 
The scent, indeed, is said to be in proportion to the dept 
of colour; and hence some of the yellow Sandal-wo0 
may be yielded by this species, as well as by that to be 
subsequently mentioned. The lowest part of the stem, OF 
that immediately above the division into roots, is the best, 
and that grown on steep rocky soil is far superior 
\ to such as is produced in low rich situations, The trees | 
