1843. ] THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 589 
result of another analysis of mine, made with another sort ing-powder) manufactory; and have been brought to 
of peat-earth, consider what might be done most advantageously with | also a most delicious Green Flesh, a small fruit, the seed 
100,000 parts of dry peat contained :— the chlorine refuse. This refuse ig of the same nature as | of which ae ae ate mperor’s garden’at Constantinople, 
313 parts of silica and quartzose gravel that from the bleaching of rags, and produced, like it, | and is calle the Melon of the r m now 
97 Dy alumina from salt, manganese oxide, and sulphuric acid (oil of | growing about nine quency of Melon, and my gardener 
190 =, oxide of iron vitriol). The chemical nature of this refuse will depend | has no difficulty wit any of them. Talso keep a good 
33 aD oxide of manganese upon the proportions of the articles used. There is almost | eye on the new ones.— vee F ; 
141 if lime (carbonate of) always a large excess of manganese, but this is, or should Fe Disease in Pansies. ees at p. 573, an article on 
86 is magnesia (carbonate of) be, separated by washing &c., to be used over again, | a Disease in Pansies, fe to inform you that last 
102 4 gypsum The salt is generally in excess in relation to the sulphuric | year I lost nearly all my pena aneass in a similar 
10, common salt acid, it being the cheaper material. Such being the case, | manner. This year I tried the + lowing plan, which has 
12 % sulphate of soda and the oxide of almost ly containing | been perfectly successful, for have not lost a single 
16 3 phosphate of lime. carbonate of lime and oxide of iron, the residuum must plant this season. About the beginning of June I had a 
eee consist of the sulphates of manganese, of soda, of lime barrowful of soil, finely sifted, consisting of loam, rich 
1,000 parts. (Gypsum) and of iron, anda portion of common salt, As | soil, river sand, and one shovelful of lime: this was well 
Now of this sort of peat 33,000 lbs. (in the shape of | all these substances (although | in proportion infinitely 
Manure) will ‘furnish a Magdeburg acre with only varied) enter into the composition of almost every plant, 
0 Ibs. of gypsum, 42 lbs. of carbonate of lime, 28 Ibs. of | there is good reason, @ priori, to suppose that the judi- 
Magnesia, 30 lbs. of alumina, 3 lbs. of common salt, 4 lbs. | cious application of such a compound can hardly fail to 
of sulphate of soda, and 5 lbs. of phosphate of lime; and | be beneficial, if your reiterated and excellent rules be duly 
this shows clearly that the first sort of peat-earth is far | observed,—“ little and often.”’ I do not know, that, with 
as stated. — W, 
Asparagus.—The extent of scientific information which 
has been elicited through the pages of the Gardeners’ 
Chronicle is doing much to amend former practices in the 
Preferable to ti i respect to the sulphate of manganese, any exact experi- cultivation of Asparagus. It is, however, a matter of 
Shooe ila Bo eA tient Have’ Ween seaordeds Ales may happen that form- | considerable doubt if it ever can be produced in Britain 
AMATEUR’S GARDEN.—No. XXXIV. ing a principal part of the refuse, it might exert a poisonous | equal in size to that grown in Austria. We have a state- 
MONG Flower-garden plants Calceolarias deservedly influence, if used only so strong as to give the other 
old a Conspicuous place, as being the best flowers we ingredients a chance of acting. Nothing, however, can be 
have for forming orange and yellow groups, and there are | easier than to try it, and vary the experiments as to 
also some of the dark and ferruginous-coloured hybrids quantity, and, above all, carefully to record the results. 
Which make good beds. In my estimation C, viscosissima | There is no doubt about this refuse being most excellent 
18 the best for turning out, as the orange colour of the | for fixing ammoniacal matters, if the ammonia be in the 
Ower is clear and distinct, and it is moreover a most State of carbonate of hydro-sulphate, (vide my letter in 
abundant bloomer. C. rugosa has a rather paler orange | the Chronicle, page 117 of this year’s vol.) or even if free, 
Ower, and C. integrifolia and its variety angustifolia are | should the oil of vitriol have been used in excess. The 
C. rugosa and integrifolia are | modus operandi will undoubtedly be partly as a stimulant 
confounded in many collections, and by a great number of | and partly as a conveyer of nutriment, and the probability 
gardeners the former is not known at all; its leaves are is, that, being referrible to the class of ‘* Saline Manures,” 
Tauch wrinkled, but their upper surface is perfectly | its best effect will be produced as a top-dressing, and 
Smooth, and the flowers are nearly double the size of | dissolved in water. I hope that your Correspondent 
those Of C. integrifolia. It is an excellent one for bed- | will have nerve enough to make the experiments I have 
The, Out,—perhaps, taken altogether, the best we have. mentioned, and philanthropy enough to communicate his 
vere is also another Chilian Species which produces | results when obtained. Most of the sulphate of manga- 
& nse heads of flowers and which in some collections is hese might be separated from the other salts by a managed 
called C. densiflora. It makes a good specimen for a | crystallization, and will fetch a good price with the calico- 
» but does not flower sufficiently profuse to printer.—W. H. Potter. 
to eacee bed. _C. bicolor is usefulin a fine season, Peas.—In Berrow’s Worcester Journal, of the 17th 
ae cing very brittle is liable to be much damaged by | inst., is a receipt for preserving Green-Peas, &c., which 
re i in is oe one, unless very securely pegged down. | runs thus :— Gather Peas (varieties that are green when 
pee a eeeaes with the exception of those first ripe) when fit for the table, lay them to dry in the pods 
GE faa see uto, Indian Chief, Harlequin, Sultana, | over the hothouse flue, or on any place where they can 
for bea ‘ a ae or two more, they are generally unfit | have a continual warmth. When perfectly dry, put them 
’ Ve Howers being large and open in the throat, | away in a dry drawer till wanted 3 and whether at Christ- 
le plants By al : > are Consequently washed off | mas, or even the following spring, if steeped for 24, 30, 
Tae wana aa a fea smart shower of rain that falls. | or 36 hours before boiling, they will be found nearly equal 
tie Ae oa veg an of Calceolarias is in an inverse | in every respect to Peas fresh gathered.’ Now, barring 
tHe Size of the flowers, for the larger | the blooms the boiling, the Editor might have added within his edi- 
€ less are they adapted for out-door cultivation. torial brackets,—fine substitute these would make for small 
About the middle of August is considered the best time | shot for the gamekeepers to kill young rabbits with in the 
to propagate hard-wooded Calceolarias in the generality | garden. This would be better than pirating paragraphs 
of seasons; butin this, the first week in September will from the Gardeners’ Chronicle, editorial remarks and all. 
be quite Soon enough, as more depends upon the wood | —D. B. [We really are surprised that so respectable a 
being about half ripe than upon the time at which the | paper as Berrow’s Worcester Journal should thus expose 
ment in Keysler’s Travels, published in 1760, in which 
he says, that ‘‘ the goodness of the soil may be inferred 
from the largeness of the Asparagus that grew last year at 
above the surface ; these shelter it from the inclemency 
of the weather, and cause it to shoot up apace. Besides, 
by this contrivance it is kept soft, for it is apt to become 
Austrian gardeners continue to produce such monstrosities, 
as to me it appears altogether incredible that one head of 
Asparagus should weigh half a pound. I have experienced 
the good result derivable from Spring protection, and there- 
fore can bear testimony to its efficacy. In a garden of 
which I once had the management we were annually, 
more or less, deprived of an early crop till the adoption of 
such a procedure, By some it may be argued that Aspa- 
ragus is as hardy as any other marine plant, which inha- 
bits our sea-coast. To this I readily assent; but when 
subjected to artificial cultivation, its primitive character 
is changed, by the application of manure, which enlarges 
the vegetable tissue, and it is consequently less able to 
resist the effects of cold.—Alexander Cramb, Gardener 
to H. G. G. Sudlow, Esq., Heywood House, Westbury, 
Wilts. 
Strawberries. — The Strawberry deservedly occupies 
attention in the Chronicle, and it is to be hoped that your 
just remarks at p. 555 will speedily explode that almost 
worn out system of annually mowing off the leaves, which 
cannot be too strongly condemned as unnatural and mis- 
chievous, My present purpose is to draw the attention 
f your correspondent  D. Z.” to my method of manage- 
ment, differing as it does from the practice of other 
gardeners lately recorded in the Chronicle. To obtain 
ripe fruit as early as possible out of doors, I plant Keen’s 
putlings wice put in. T itself to the charge of being a receptacle for stolen property.] Seedling 18 inches apart, in a row close to the bottom of 
aie Bees.—‘ A Bath Subscriber ’’ replies to Apis” that | @ south wall, ata point where the perpendicular of the 
ce he once discovered a swarm of Bees in a Hawthorn-hedge, wall forms an angle with the horizontal line of the 
and their comb contained brood. To some this may 
appear strange ; however, ‘a similar thing sometimes hap- 
pens. This season I found a weak swarm of Bees in a 
© happy to barter m. hedge, having a small comb containing eggs and a little 
pollen, but no honey. The cold, and shortness of the 
ve time they had been in their airy abode, may account for 
.-€K in next month the latter. Such occurrences do not bespeak much for 
garden soil, thereby giving the plants the benefit of 
€xposure to the sun during the day. For the general 
crop, I trench, clean, and well manure the ground ; when 
the whole subsides, I draw the soil with a hoe into ridges 
Six inches high and two feet apart : early in the season, | 
when the first runners are in a fit state, the best plants | 
are planted out on these ridges, two in a patch, 12 or 18 
| 
r the notion that Bees will not work, I mean construct inches apart in the rows, according to the richness of the | 
Ree their cells, except in the dark.—J. W. Soil and the vigour of the varieties, Pines requiring more | 
ae Fruit without Leaves.—Should there remain any doubt | space than Scarlets. By December, I take the opportu- 
le 3 
5 £ as to the maturation of fruit without leaves, I beg to state 
atry vhich i ired to preserve through the Winter, | that last year I had a shoot sixteen inches long, which 
hay. 2,1 the autumn; and indeed, for my own part, ] | never showed a single leaf, but bloomed and ‘set its 
ine always found small plants much more capable of | fruit well; one-of which I allowed to remain as near the 
es ‘uring cold than strong, free-growing ones; and the | middle of the shoot as possible. I, together with two of 
ason ees probably is, that containing little sap, they | my young men, determined to watch its progress. The 
nity of frosty weather to wheel on a quantity of half. i 
decayed leaves-scrapings from the wood yard, long dung, 
&c., to fill the space between the ridges ; and early in | 
May, the prunings of fruit-trees and other small loppings | 
strewn between the plants, to support the fruit and 
Tunners a few inches above the soil; by this method the 
the less liable to have their tissue ruptured by sudden | Peach ripened and coloured beautifully, and was as fine as | fruit is large, well flavoured; Bests! perfectly clean, | 
situa, or by being blown about by the wind. 4 dry | those exhibited before the Horticultural Society. The | and the ground is not impoverished by the growth of | 
a ton and poor soil, on a north aspect, well Protected | shoot gradually died back to the fr uit, which it reached | useless plants on the runners ; the wood-supports prevent | 
anita cetting winds by a hedge or shrubs, is the most | when the latter was about half swelled; but the disease | this. Early in autumn, I remove all useless growth, fork | 
an le situation; and if the walks between the four-feat went no further until the fruit was plucked, when it went up the soil between the rows, and repeat the mulching in | 
ane are left sufficiently wide to allow ofa ridge being | on to the main branch, which, I think, fully testifies that | the winter. By this system of culture, Strawberry plan. | 
> the ae Up in the winter, it will be very much in favour of the Peach had the power of drawing the matter necessary 
au ‘ants, for its support— MM. Henderson, Coleorton Gardens. 
greenhouse next spring, and also for turning Melons.—I agree with you generally in your remarks, 
be 7.) 8eneral collection of the best tender Annuals should | at p- 571, upon the Melon, but not with Tespect to an 
Chella Sown, such as Jpomopsis elegans, Clintonia pul- | unceremonious dismissal of the ‘‘ whole race of Canta- 
Natys “@ elegans, Schizanthus retusus, Priestii, pin. loupes,”’ for I think many of the Cantalowpes are good. 
Tangy, 2*, humilis, and several more; and if you can : 2 4 
Be a bed of Lisianthus Russellianus, it will not be | this year succeeded in growing one of the most magnificent 
Spi fi CER is 
me foe feature in the flower-garden this time twelve | Melons I ever saw; the seed was sent to me from Syria, 
tations may be kept in the highest state of productiveness H 
for several years. To obtain plants for forcing, 48-sized | 
or the pots, filled with rich mould, are placed in the brambles, : 
between the rows. When the strong runners show signs | 
of rooting, place two apart in each pot, and to secure | 
them, place a few pebbles on the Surface, which will also | 
Prevent the soil from drying quickly. As soon ag the 
pots are filled with roots, the plants are shifted into the 
usual size for fruiting. In this way I have never failed 
Several ¢ rachycome iberidifolia is highly spoken of by | but I only succeeded in rearing one plant, The fruit was to secure in one season healthy vigorous plants for forcing, | 
b an is My correspondents as making an excellent bed ; | most exquisite, and meited in the mouth like the most highly stored with organisable matter, and fit in every 
its liabiy ad feature, at least as far as T have seen of it, is | delicious Peach; there was not much pulp in it, and the | every respect to pad Purpose.—H. Bowers, Lee's 
Cause. a fo die off suddenly, and without any apparent | fruit was eatable close to the rind, but this was rather | Nursery, Hammersmith. “ 
hone is se thus make gaps in the beds. This, however, | hard,—however, not near so hard as in the old cultivated _ Bobbin Joans.—Some time since ] mooted the question ; 
it win Ret the exception than the rule, and at any rate | Melons. The shape was a fine oblong, and it was beauti- | in the Chronicle, as to the Propriety of using Salt as i 
house © found exceedingly useful in pots in the 8reen- | fully covered with net-work, and when ripe was quite | manure, foun’ on various allusions in the Sacred i 
Next Spring, — PLA s, Brooklands, golden. It requires a smart bottom-heat, and is inclined Writings, where it is noted as an emblem of sterility and 
: pak ssi to be woody; this season—which, by-the-by, is no crite- | desolation, A correspondent (Mr, Brewer), answered 
yee HOME co RRESPONDENCE, rion—it was shy in fruiting. The finest Melon weighed | me by a reference to his own successful experience in em- i 
4 deny, Maher? Refuse.—Tn answer to your correspon- | about seven pounds. I am also growing the Candahar, | ploying it, 1 requested him, through the medium of your i 
4 ag ries about the utility of the paper-making refuge | sent to me by a friend, but from the lateness of the spring | columns, to state the nature of his soil, and the frequency | 
ns . 
latery gntre, T beg to observe that the same subject has } when I received the seed, T am afraid I shall not bring 
/ 8ive Upied my attention, I have been requested to the fruit to perfection; for they evidently, like the 
of the application, the quantity applied to a given space, 
Advice for the establishing a chloride of lime (bleach- Syrian, require plenty of sun. The fruit upon the 
&c., to which he has never, to my knowledge, replied—a i 
matter which I regret. The notice at p- 427, on disease | 
