336 
THE GARDENER 
CHRONICLE. 
[May 20, 
combustible matter be ? Thope in an early Number to | in the room 3 “and from it (if still kept t! 
see an answer oa this point, which I have no doubt must 
have puzzled many others besides myself, and of which I 
have never been able to obtain any explanation, though I 
have observed the process for years. It is to be observed 
that the clay itself seldom contains any carbonaceous 
matter, and that the sods are not thrown on the burning 
mass, but are exclusively used to form the walls of the | 
kiln, so that the vegetable matters contained in them can 
in no degree be efficient as fuel.—Philogiston. [We are 
unable to solve this problem, if, as our correspondent 
states, there is really no organic matters present in the 
clay; but we suspect there is, although they escape 
observation. ] 
Pronunciation.—My reason for mentioning “Anemone” 
was, that (as it is universally mispronounced) it affords 
a warning to modern nomenclators not to add to vulgar 
errors. Though the Professor, speaking ea cathedri, 
could not be charged with pedantry for calling it Anemone, 
I yet doubt whether even he would ask a shopman, to 
whom he was not known, for a pound of double Anemone 
roots. I was fully aware of the word being classical. 
Perhaps it is not generally known that “ Dog-rose’’ is 
classical too—Theocritus, as my Gradus informs me, 
using it, at least the expression KuvooBaros—in the very 
same {line with aveuwva, It may be said that Dog-rose is 
not the strict equivalent, though it) is with kuvopodoy ; 
but whether the latter word occurs in any respectable 
author, or has been coined for the Anglican market, you 
can perhaps inform—Salopian.—[The earliest trace that 
we find of the latter word is in a Latin form. Valerius 
Cordus, a writer who flourished in the beginning of the 
16th century, has a Cynorrhodos, which is said to have 
been the modern Rosa arvensis; but we do not know the 
word at all ina Greek dress. ] 
The Douglas Fir.—Among your answers to Querists in 
last Number of the Chronicle, is one to “ H..B.,” on the 
fruiting of Abies Douglasii; in which you observe it is 
supposed to have fruited for the first time at Dropmore, 
about two years ago. I beg to state that there is at 
Ashtead Park, the seat of the Hon. Colonel Howard, a 
seedling plant about Gin. high, from seed gathered from @ 
plant growing there in 1840. At that time seed enough 
was obtained to sow a bed of about 4 square yards, and 
that solitary plant is all that vegetated. Karly this spring 
Mr. Hislop sowed several seed-pans, with seed gathered 
Jast autumn, not one of which has yet appeared, though 
the seed looked good. At this moment the tree which 
was planted in 1835, and has grown vigorously, is full of 
young cones, and looks beautifully.—Quereus. 
On Keeping Apples.—\ have at present some Apples 
in my store in a perfectly sound condition, although they 
are not of a kind reputed to be good keepers. On former. 
occasions I have tried various plans to preserve this valu- 
able fruit, but never succeeded so well as I have done the 
past season. In order that others may benefit by my 
experience, I take this opportunity of informing my bro- 
ther amateurs of the system adopted. I hand-pick the 
fruit before it is quite ripe, and after rubbing it over with 
a towel, I deposit it on shelves in a large cupboard, with 
closed doors, constructed so as to exclude all light. The 
shelves, having a rim about 1 inch in height all round, to 
prevent the Apples tumbling off, are about 6 inches apart, 
and made to slide in and out for the convenience of sort- 
ing. The Apples are placed so as not to touch each 
other, and rest on the eye; I have sometimes left them 
a month in this way without looking at them, and although 
during that time one or two may have shown symptoms 
of decay, the contagion has not spread in the same manner 
that it does when they are packed in layers with straw 
in open frames, or exposed to the light without any cover- 
ing. It would be very satisfactory if one or two of your 
readers would experiment on the foregoing plan, and 
report the result. Darkness, and protection from frost, 
appear to be the merits of the wooden press as @ conser- 
vative—W. W. 
Asparagus.—The method of growing Asparagus by 
inverting a bottle over the head when it first appears from 
the ground—intended to produce a head something like 
a Cauliflower—was tried by myself with as little success 
as seemed to attend the experiment elsewhere. Bottom- 
heat is, [ think, required; perhaps some of your corre- 
spondents have tried the plan in a frame over a hotbed, 
and can ‘speak more definitely on this point. The cir- 
cumstance connected with it that I wish to communicate 
is this :—Late last season, I cut the stalk, over which the 
bottle was inverted, and which had grown to such a size 
that it was impossible to move it without breaking the 
bottle, I thought no more of the matter; but am at this 
time surprised to find that the first head from the same 
crown is at least three times the size of any other on two 
large beds. What is the reason of this ? Asa correspondent 
lately inquired whether salt would injure the heads now 
growing, I beg to add that I have applied 2 stone of salt 
to asurface of 12ft. by 4 ft. 5 especially selecting some 
young growing heads, and almost encasing them in salt. 
I applied it so lately that I see, and expected to see, no 
improvement in the size and quantity of the heads ; but 
it assuredly did no injury to the growing ones, while it 
completely destroyed the weeds, of which the bed was 
full, It is evident that there is little to be feared from 
an over-application.—Cepophilus, 
Verbenas.—Many persons, who have no greenhouse, 
complain of the difficulty of preserving the Scarlet 
Verbena (Melindres major) through the winter. Let 
them, in summer, take up 4 root with all its runners, 
(scarcely missed out of a large patch,) plant it ina pot, 
and train it upright against a twig of Elm, which throws 
out its lateral shoots so as to present a plain surface. 
This will form an elegant flowering plant till November 
here) abundance 
of cuttings may be taken in the ensuing season, and after- 
| wards the stalks may be laid on the ground horizontally, 
| some mould sprinkled over, and a handlight superadded, 
| which will strike in many places. I have tried this plan 
with a small plant this winter, and have about 34 from it 
at this time, besides the parent root.— Cepophilus. 
Cucumbers.—The following system of growing early 
| Cucumbers is practised by Mr. Barton, the gardener at 
| Springfield, near Liverpool:—They are grown in a pit of 
| forty-eight feet in length, by ten feet wide, heated by a 
|} common flue. A bark-bed of four feet wide is filled to two 
| and-a-half feet with fresh tanners’ bark ; upon this a thin 
layer of rotten dung is placed, upon which is put a layer 
of the top spit of a piece of pasture-land, broken fine with 
| the spade. This brings the surface of the bed to about 
| two feet from the roof of the pit. The plants are fas- 
| tened to stakes till they reach a trellis which is fixed six 
| inches from the glass; upon this they are trained in a 
neat manner. Mr. Barton commences forcing the latter 
end of January, and very little air is given during the 
| growth of the plants. If it is found requisite to admit 
| air, itis done early in the fore part of the day. The tem- 
| perature is made to range from 75° to 80°, as near as 
practicable ; and the plants are syringed early in the morn- 
ing and again in the afternoon. By this method fruit 
| are cut by the first week in April. Mr. B. prefers the 
| top spit of pasture-land a twelvemonth old, to the most 
richly-manured compost. The kind of Cucumber grown 
| 
| 
is the Kenyon. This sort is preferred by most of the gar- 
deners in the vicinity of Liverpool, for early foreing.—J. A. 
Figs.—Seeing that there are still a good many inqui- 
ries through the Gardeners’ Chronicle about growing the 
Fig-tree, I send you my mode, which has succeeded quite 
to my satisfaction. I get small arches turned in the back- 
wall of a Peach-house, so that the roots have liberty to 
get into the border on the north side. I planted two 
trees, which were very small, about 4 years ago, and J got 
60 well-ripened fruit last summer. 1 have at this moment 
200 figs on the same trees,‘of a good size and colour, 
which I think are likely to do well. I give them the same 
treatment as I do the Peach-trees.—J. M., @ Gardener. 
Stale of Gardening.—Adam Smith’s “ Wealth of Na- 
tions”? is generally looked upon as the text-book of poli- 
tical economists; but how far he is right in all tt 
hat he has 
advanced, I will leave it for others to decide. In book Ist, 
chapter xi, he states that Gardening is not a profitable 
employment ; he refers, I think, to market-gardening, and 
says, ‘* The circumstances of gardeners, generally mean 
and always moderate, may satisfy us that their great in- 
genuity is not c y over p d. Their de- 
lightful art is practised by so many rich people for amuse- 
ment, that little advantage is to be made by those who 
practise it for profit; because the persons who should 
naturally be their best customers, supply themselves with 
all their most precious productions.’’ He goes as far back 
as the days of Democritus, to prove that it was not profit- 
able to inclose a kitchen-garden; he also quotes from 
Columella and Palladius on the same subject. But from 
the account given of Garden Husbandry in the ‘* Penny 
Cyclopedia,” it would appear that it is not quite so bad 
as it is represented by Smith ; but I do not know whether 
he referred to the kale-yards of Kirkcaldy or the gardens 
of the Metropolis. The author of the ‘‘ Wealth of Nations,” 
in another place, says, ‘Ina hop-garden, a fruit-garden, 
a kitchen-garden, both therent of the landlord and the 
profit of the farmer are generally greater than in a corn or 
grass field; but to bring the ground into this condition re- 
quires more expense.’”” And from other statements that 
are made, one would be ready to conclude, that there is 
little difference between the profits of a grass-field and that 
of a kitchen-garden of the same size. In the ‘‘ Cyclo- 
pedia’’ it is stated that ‘the profits of a garden near 
London, of the extent of ten or twelve acres, are as great 
as those of a farm of ten times the extent, cultivatedin the 
best manner, without the help of purchased manure.’’ In 
another part of the same article, it is said, ‘‘ And many a 
man from a very small beginning has, with a moderate 
share of judgment and prudence, raised himself to inde- 
pendence, if not to affluence.” From these statements 
surely we may believe that the condition of gardeners has 
improved since the time that the “Wealth of Nations” 
was written. Does it proceed from an increased knowledge 
in the cultivation of what the garden produces—or is 
there a greater demand for the articles cultivated ?— 
Peter Mackenzie. 
Kitchen Garden Economies, No. 2.—By cutting off 
Lettuces'immediately above the life-knot instead of pulling 
them up by the roots, when wanted for table, a single or 
at most two sowings will suffice for the year. The root 
will soon send out a crop of shoots, which are just as 
good as those first taken; but they require to be used 
before they become large, as they are apt to run up and 
flower.—Sprouts. 
Kitchen Garden Economies, No. 3.—Where room is 
scrimp,—that is, where there is room for more, it is not 
a bad plan to mix Onion and Leek seed together, and sow 
broad-ecast ; then to thin out the Onions by taking up the 
Leeks and plunge them as deep as you please in a fresh 
bed prepared for them.—Sprouts. 
Bees.—As a remedy against the eflluvia arising from the 
dirt collected in Beehives, ‘* W. W.’’ states, in the 
Chronicle for April 29,—‘* Let a drawer be attached to 
the ordinary wooden hives about an inch in depth, which 
may be removed, when required, for the purpose of 
cleaning: to prevent the combs being cemented to the 
drawer, a light frame-work may be constructed and placed 
over it, with apertures about an inch square.’’ This may 
appear a very good plan, but if the entrance is above the 
“ frame-work,” it would be a very unfit floor for the traffic of 
the Bees ; if otherwise, the frame would in some measure 
prevent the egress of the Bees, who seldom or never cement 
their structures to the floor of their dwelling, but leave a 
small space to afford free access to the divisions of combs. 
If the drawer was less than the space, say } an inch, the 
frame might be dispensed with ; but when we take into 
consideration the probability of the drawer not acting 
well, and crushing the Bees, I think it would be best let 
alone. ‘The floors of common hives can be cleaned by 
lifting them up and sweeping off the dirt. “Mr. Savage 
noticed this in a previous Paper. It is worthy of remark, 
that though the effluvia from dead Bees, &c. is very 
injurious, still it is not the primary cause of disease, and 
it is a well-known fact that healthy colonies always 
cleanse their dwellings from these accidental impurities. 
—J. Wighton. 
Conifere.—Observing in the Chronicle of May 13, an 
article on the cultivation of Coniferz in pots, 1 am in- 
duced to make a few remarks on the statements there 
made by Mr. Bishop. He recommends ‘* that plants be 
raised in the spring, and potted off into 60-sized pots, and 
as soon as established to be shifted into 48s; and in six 
weeks another shift would be required into 24s; and at 
the approach of autumn to place them in 8s. The plants 
to remain in 8s, and in spring to be again removed into 
2s. This (he observes) will complete a twelvemonths’ 
growth ; when, if due attention has been paid, the 
plants will be objects of wonder.’”’? In the first place, 
Mr. Bishop recommends the plants to be shifted from 
“ 483 into 24s,” thus leaving out the intermediate size 
of 32s, which, I think, all gardeners will acknowledge is 
too large a shift for a Pinus, which does not form its roots 
so readily as many other plants—especially in six weeks. 
Mr. Bishop proceeds,—‘* At the approach of autumn place 
them in 8s,” thus leaving out the intermediate sizes of 
16s and 12s. JI cannot agree with Mr. Bishop, by shift- 
ing into large pots in rapid succession. Supposing the 
Pinus to be shifted in autumn from a 24-pot into an 
8-sized pot, at the very season of the year when the plant 
discontinues growing, in order to facilitate the ripening of 
the wood,—and the roots, of course, have almost done 
growing,—of what service to the plant can that enormous 
shift be at that advanced period of the year? It is my 
humble opinion, that if the plant were to be top-dressed, 
and remain in the 24-pot all the winter, and shifted into 
a 16-pot early in the spring, it would be more advantageous 
to it, and would enable the grower to shift into larger- 
sized pots in succession as required. Among the Pinus 
recommended by Mr. Bishop, are Pinus Devoniana and 
P. Russelliana, which are two of the slowest-growing Pines 
ofall. We will suppose a plant of each potted from the 
seed-pot into small 60s in the spring, and as soon as 
established removed into a 48-pot, and, if necessary, Te- 
moved into a 32 at the latter part of the summer. What 
would be the height of those plants the next spring, after 
a twelvemonths’ growth? Why, not more than nine 
inches. At this period Mr. B. recommends their being 
shifted into 2s; consequently, we should have a plant 
nine inches high in a pot as large as a moderate-sized 
washing-tub ; and what is to become of that plant after 
it is shifted into so large a pot? Asa matter of course, 
it must there remain, and in the course of two or three 
years all the goodness of the soil would be exhausted 5 
when, on the contrary, if it had been shifted from a 60-pot 
into a 48, and from thence into a 32, and so on in suc- 
cession, shifting about twice a-year, the plant would have 
the advantage of new soils in its infancy; and I think, 
with frequent waterings, the growth of the plant would be 
promoted, and the treatment be more beneficial to the 
plants.—S. Snipe. 
Yeast Plant.—I was surprised to see that your col- 
respondent ‘ John Abbott, Jun.,” considers the Yeast- 
m plant to be Centaurea benedicta, oF 
the Blessed Thistle ; but on looking, 
into “ Loudon’s Encyclopedia ° 
Plants,” under Centaurea, I find 
that the leaves of some of the 
species of that genus bear a strong 
resemblance to those of the Yeast 
plant; and I should be glad t0 
know from Mr. Abbot how he hap: 
pened to suppose it was the Blessed 
‘<,, Thistle—if he has ever seen it culti- 
~/ vated, and if the same properties 
were ascribed to it as are in Americ 
to the Yeast-plant. The plant J 
have raised from the seed in question 
is of very vigorous growth, 2 
although it does not yet show flowe” 
I have no doubt you can form i 
tolerably correct idea to what 4 
belongs from the cut I now se” 
you, which is an exact representa’ 
tion of one of its largest lem : 
natural size at present. The Ce 
is dark green ; the midrib of @ pe i. 
colour, and tinged with red. | 2 
whole leaf is downy on both ane 
but more particularly on the bat 
and towards the base. The young leaves that are fom 
at the heart are assuming a broader shape, and have 
same number of indentations, but they are deeper 
more pointed. The seed was sown in the open alt on hts 
2ist of February, and germinated in about @ fortmg 
Although a coarse-growing plant, the slugs eat nd days. 
of it, and Iam obliged to watch it almost night # 
—A Lady, and Constant Reader.—[We ©2 
light on this subject without seeing the plant. peforey 
dence now supplied only shows, what was shown 
that it is of the Composite order.) . 
+ 
