1843.] 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 51 
In the Press, and will ibe published ina few days, in one small 
vol. 12mo, 
WY Riedl +4 Gouda aad Mcol oSilb-7 Ruy’ 
By EpwA: y un., F.R.S., 
Experimental Chemist to the Horticultural Society of London. 
——- SS 
The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1843. 
MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 
ea Geological 8y aw. 
Wednesday, Fe 
Friday, Feb. 8 
Monday, Feb.6. 0. + 
Tuesday, Feb 7 
+ Entomological. 
Sifmean * 
Wednesday, Feb.8 . 
Saturday, Feb... 
We have already stated that during the last session 
of Parliament Mr. Pusey gave notice for a committee 
to inquire into the subject of Drainage; and we be- 
lieve that evidence was prepared to establish and show 
the necessity of enforcing the universal clearance and 
maintenance of the outfalls now existing, so that 
underdraining might hereafter become a less diffi- 
cult and costly operation. We are, however, not 
aware that there was an intention of making the 
measure universally compulsory, and placing it under 
scientific administration ; nor do we understand that 
the a/ter-applicati drain-water had attracted the 
attention of those agricultural Members of Parliament, 
who are generally interested in such matters. Indeed 
it is chiefly in the pamphlet of Mr. Bailey Denton. 
already referred to, thatthe subject has been examined: 
and as we agree with that gentleman in believing that 
even more ultimate profit may be’ derived to the 
country from beneficial after-uses of drain-water than 
from the mere eradication of existing evils, we shall 
Now proceed to consider that topic. 
If a profitable distribution of the drain-water, which 
Now is so injurious from its stagnation, be practicable, 
it must be secured by uniformity in arranging the re- 
ceiving watercourses; and although that uniformity 
can only be worked out in districts, still it is essential 
that those districts should be allotted in relation to the 
whole country, and without regard to the interests of 
Private individuals. This systematising of the mains 
or receivers is the amount of compulsion to which we 
alluded in our former notice of the subject; and we 
are of opinion that, in the absence of such compulsion, 
the nation will never be made to feel a great and im- 
Portant change, but will be brought, by the desultory 
plans of separate individuals, into the same condition 
as London, so far as regards systematic arrangement 
of the mains, and the application of the valuable mat- 
ter to be derived from them. 
The dislocation of the Metropolitan sewers is a matter 
of common complaint; they have been planned without 
reference to each other, and now they will not work toge- 
ther ; but had all the London works of this kind been 
formed upon one well-considered, preconcerted plan, 
Not only would the drainage of London and its suburbs 
lave been more effectual but the water of the Thames 
Would still be as pure as it was originally: and instead 
of being corrupted by the refuse of the town, the 
valuable contents of the sewers might have been di- 
Yected to the large increase of agricultural wealth. By 
Some such uniformity of arrangement as would have 
Secured to London advantages of which we can now only 
Tegret the loss, the waters of the higher lands may, in 
Many cases, conduce to the fertility of the lower lands. 
But this uniformity can never be secured if we allow 
€ opportunity to pass without incorporating with the 
Tegulations of a General Drainage Act stringent pro- 
“isions for regulating the dispersion of the water to be 
8ained by its operation. There is no'apparent reason 
y the measure which renders clay lands dry enough 
ie improved cultivation should not also make light 
‘ands moist in all cases where a transfer of surplus 
Water can be effected advantageously ; though such 
°Pportunities would not be general, they certainly 
2 
2 
te gland cannot indeed be called, in strict agricul- 
a terms, an irrigating country ; but, nevertheless, 
is €s may be found in Wiltshire, Bedfordshire, and 
ae parts of Scotland, where the benefit to be de. 
R ce from such an use of water is distinctly shown, 
wh jombining the measure we are now advocating 
ae that for the sewerage of towns, land-waters 
for id be exchanged, where loculities are favourable, 
Sota refuse. Where towns are situated in yal- 
Weal the one hand, the waters from the hills above 
ing che collected (as at Greenock), and conveyed 
eee © towns for cleansing the streets, flushing the 
ete and furnishing a supply for domestic pur- 
a and, on the other, the refuse substances would 
wate. Pred to the land, either in mixture with the 
being that had served for cleansing the town, or, after 
te aa Taised into flat-bottomed vessels, like the boats 
be flog. the Germans for the same purpose, it would 
He Near Edinburgh, 
olyrood ‘meadows, we have a well-known 
proof of the value of irrigating with the contents of 
sewers ; for there, sandy, inferior land has become 
worth as much as 57/. an acre, annual rent ; not that 
we are atall disposed to advocate the manner in which 
the sewerage is used in this instance; on the contrary, 
we agree with Mr. Bailey Denton in regarding such 
a selfish use of the sewerage in the light of an abuse. 
We would rather turn to Mr. Roe’s very recent 
Report on the Drainage of Eton *, because the improve- 
ments suggested by him afford a better illustration 
of this part of the subject. That gentleman (whose 
great practical experience entitles his observations to 
the most careful consideration) particularly directs 
attention to the importance of the contents of sewers 
for irrigating meadow land, and turning them to 
profitable account as a means of supplying an abund- 
ance of rich manure. We have already seen, in the 
report of the Poor-law Commissioners, that the 
contents of the ditches at Eton have been found to 
kill the Grass ; a circumstance which plainly shows 
the ignorance of some farmers, and the value of 
sewerage when sufficiently diluted and judiciously 
applied. 
With regard to the application of drain-water as a 
moving power, there can be no doubt that this may 
be effected in many places at a cost quite trifling 
when compared to steam; for there must be at this 
moment numberless springs gushing from hill-sides, 
having a flow of water sufficient to drive a 10, 20, or 
80-feet wheel, and therefore capable of being instantly 
turned to profitable account. Upon this point we 
would particularly refer to Mr. Bailey. Denton’s 
pamphlet. If the supply from springs were aug- 
mented by water brought together by main-drains, we 
should confidently look for this branch of its applica- 
tion being carried to a great extent. Indeed it is only 
necessary to turn to the ‘instance afforded by Lord 
Hatherton at Teddesley, and to the mines and works 
in Wales, in Cornwall, Devon, and Ireland, to gain 
assurance of its paramount economy. Besides, as we 
cursorily remarked last week, the quantity of water to 
be accumulated by judicious management would afford 
means for compensating millowners and others who 
may be aggrieved by the removal of their mills, weirs, 
and dams. 
We think every one will agree with Mr. Denton, 
that, if the after-application of drainage water should 
form part of any legislative measure, not only would 
the direction of the system be more skilful in itself, 
but the obligation on the part of individuals to keep 
their watercourses clear, would produce a result more 
beneficial to thorough drainage than could arise from 
any measure devoted to that object alone. 
In recommending to Parliament the propriety of 
uniting the distribution of drain-water and of the 
refuse of towns with the improvement of outfalls and 
watercourses, we do not advocate the execution of 
expensive works, like the aqueducts and reservoirs of 
Lombardy, Spain, and India; these, in a country like 
England, would not repay their cost. All we ask for, 
is, such as may be constructed economically and 
profitably, and which in their maintenance and 
repair would create a continued and paying demand 
for labour in winter. 
But it may be asked whence all this water is to 
come? Upon this point we shall content ourselves 
with referring to Mr. Denton’s pamphlet, where it is 
shown, by fair calculation, that the force of surface- 
water alone is equal to 2,000,000 horse-power, the 
whole of which might, by skilful engineers, be turned 
to the useful purposes we have mentioned. 
These considerations must, we think, be felt by 
every one to be of great importance to the country; 
they demonstrate how enormous are the annual losses 
of national wealth by neglect, supineness, or unskil- 
fulness ; they point out a new and immense field for 
the employment of labour profitably ; and we do trust 
they will lead Parliament to give the whole question 
the most careful consideration without further loss of 
time. 
As we anticipated, the determination of the Horti- 
cultural Society to exclude from the best prizes at the 
Garden Exhibitions, Roses that are cut, and to encour- 
age the cultivation of those plants in pots, has excited 
a good deal of interest, and produced a fair crop of 
opinions, a tolerable sample of which has already 
reached us. One man congratulates the Society upon 
the decision at which they have arrived ; another 
doubts the possibility of cultivating Roses thus with 
any sort of success; a third says he can’t do it, 
abusing us for advocating it, and his master for 
insisting upon his making the attempt. We are 
perfectly aware that the plan will not suit the “stand 
stills ;? and we can easily understand that those 
Gardeners who have no notion of the reason why 
they do a thing, may be aghast at the very thought 
of having to grow a Rose as well as a Pelargonium ; 
but we also know that the thing may be done, ani 
well done too, and that the really intelligent gardener 
* Report on the State of the Drainage of ‘Eton College, &c., ina 
Letter to Dr. Hawtrey. 
will have no serious difficulty in the matter. Indeed, a 
better test of the metal that a man is made of could 
scarcely have been hit upon; and the only persons 
who have any just grounds for complaint, are the 
Pelargonium growers, who now stand a good chance 
of being eclipsed. If Roses are as well grown, and 
as well got up, a8 Pelargoniums, the tide of fashion 
will be very likely to take a turn, for, after all, there 
is nothing like a Rose. Wecannot conceive anything 
more perfectly enchanting, in the way of flowers, 
than a sitting-room decorated with Banksian and 
Chinese Roses, gracefully arranged upon the trellises 
of flower-pots. ere 
That there are difficulties in the way we freely 
admit, that many of the first attempts will be failures 
we cannot doubt ; but perseverance is sure to triumph 
—and in what cause, let. us ask, can perseverance be 
more worthily employed ? One of the first stumbling~ 
blocks will be uncertainty as to the manner of pre- 
paring plants for cultivation in pots. One man will 
perhaps grow them “on their own bottoms,” others 
will use stocks, and then will come a question as to 
the kind of stock that had best be employed. Upon 
that point, and some others, we have a welcome 
communication from Mr. Robert Reid, gardener 
at Noble Thorpe, near Barnsley. Mr. Reid, in 
the spring and summer of 1838, was living in 
Philadelphia, U. S., where the culture of Roses in pots 
is carried on to a great extent, both in nurseries and 
private gardens, and where, at the monthly exhibi- 
tions of the Philadelphia Horticultural Society, they 
form a leading feature. Nothing, he says, could ex- 
ceed the beauty of some of the collections. ‘There 
were not many climbing Roses, except the double 
white Banksian Rose, which, being so very sweet, is 
a great favourite there; and of this he saw plants in 
large pots (16’s or 12’s), coiled neatly round three or 
four sticks, covered with Roses down to the pot, and 
forced early in the spring, which it bears exceedingly 
well. He justly observes, that, as the Banksian is, per- 
haps, one of the most difficult Roses to flower in a 
pot, many other of our beautiful climbing varieties 
would succeed in the same. way. 
The manner in which these Roses are prepared is 
stated by Mr. Reid to be as follows:— 
“The Boursault Rose, being for pot-culture supe- 
rior as a stock to any other kind, should be planted in 
good rich soil in a sheltered situation; and, if cut 
down to form stools for the purpose of producing 
layers, it will in the second year be strong enough to 
produce abundance of fine shoots, the earliest of 
which will make such rapid growth, that they may be 
layered the same season. If this operation is carefully 
performed, and if the end of the layer is tied up neatly 
to a stick, it will in a few weeks be sufficiently high 
to allow one bud to be inserted in the stem. ‘It is a 
safe plan to cut the tongue on the upper side of 
the layer, whereby all danger of breaking the shoot is 
prevented. It is, however, advisable to insert a piece 
of clay, or a small stone, in the opening, to prevent it 
from adhering before roots are formed. 
“ About the end of October, these early layers will 
have made sufficient roots to admit of their being taken 
up and potted; and it will thus be seen how quickly 
a re and vigorous collection of Roses may be propa- 
gated. 
“The reason why only one bud should be inserted 
upon each stock is obvious: the latter, when headed 
lown, furnishes its whole strength to the bud, which 
soon forms as fine a head as a Maiden Peach, and @ 
much morehandsome plant than if the supply had been 
divided between several buds, 
“ All the unbudded shoots which remain upon the 
stools car. be layered in the following spring, and may 
be budded in the course of the summer. By the adop- 
tion of this plan, a whole year is saved; instead of a 
crop of layers to be taken off for planting owt in nur- 
sery rows, to be budded in the succeeding summer, 
here is a crop of fine young plants ready for being 
potted the same season. Many sorts, such as Bourbon, 
Noisette, China, and Tea-scented Roses, will, if well 
managed through the winter, flower beautifully during 
the following spring and summer. 
“Jn this manner, plants of much greater strength can 
be raised, and in a much shorter time than from cut- 
tings. For the Amateur, they will make excellent 
window-plants ; and to the Gardener they will be in- 
valuable for the greenhouse and Conservatory during 
winter and spring, and for planting out during sum- 
mer in the flower-garden, from whence, after bloom- 
ing throughout the autumn, they must be again taken 
up and repotted for spring flowering. There is little 
pe! but ee the market florist would find a ready 
Lael Setcemege "potas as the taste for — 
all classes; and a long _be 
pleats and shaded after the manner of Tulips would 
be a beautiful sight for summer visitors.” 
A Stirzine Correspondent strongly urges us to call 
on to a new source of manure, which he thinks 
must exist in our own country. He says that every 
attentii 
year seems to be proving more and more conclusively 
that guano is one of the best of our manures, and 
