678 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE: 
[Serr. 30; 
to which you have recently been calling attention. Wher- 
ever it has appeared the Lucerne is either dead or dying, 
and at all events whether it is the Dodder or not, it appears 
to be something equally pernicious.—B. Milnethorpe. 
[It is the Clover Dodder, certainly ; and this is an interest- 
ing soa connected with the probable introduction of this 
est. 
Transplanting, &¢.—I am very much obliged to your 
correspondent ‘‘ Timothy’’ for what he has stated in the 
Chronicle, at p. 645, and I am fully aware of the truth 
of what be states. I take blame to myself for not ex- 
pressing myself differently when speaking of the Pear-tree 
mentioned at p. 630. I should have said that it was 
never expected to survive such a check; indeed, it was 
never put into the ground after it was taken from the 
place which it had occupied for about eight years before. 
To saye any further doubt, allow me to say, that it was 
no sooner out of the ground, than it was chopped into 
pieces. The height of the Pear-tree was about twenty 
feet ; it was trained against a south wall, and its shoots 
were only allowed to be produced on one side of the main 
stem. These shoots ran more than five feet along the 
wall, and produced a good quantity of fruit. It was by 
the method mentioned by ‘‘ Timothy’’ that the Rose- 
tree was saved; and I am quite sure it is impossible to 
save a Pear-tree of any size, if removed in the month of 
June.—Oriolano. 
VineDisease.—You are certainly right (see “ Notices 
to Correspondents,” p. 649) in imputing the want of 
colour in my Hambro’ Grapes to the disease of the leaves. 
But the cause of the disease puzzles me. The house is 
twenty feet long by twelve wide, with the usual height. I 
have about seven cart-loads of tan, besides heating with 
fifty feet of four-inch diameter hot-water pipe. I seldom 
allowed the heat to be more than eighty degrees. I gave 
air by opening partially two lower and two upper sashes. 
Perhaps the current of air may have caused the mischief. 
I have another house about the same size as the one just 
described ; here the sashes are so fastened that I cannot 
ventilate by them. Here I have no tan, and here the 
foliage of the Vines is in full vigour, whilst the Grapes, 
Hambro’ and Esperione, are as black as Sloes; in short, 
Tam puzzled. Perhaps you can throw some light on my 
failure from an examination of the leaves I have sent. 
The roots of all the Vines in both houses are from the 
same bed or ground, where nothing ‘is allowed to inter- 
fere with their growth.—A Subscriber. [From the ap- 
pearance of the leaves sent to us, we should judge that 
the mischief has been caused by allowing a current of cold 
air to pass over the leaves while tender, and perhaps wet 
with dew.] 
Vines.—I perceive that a correspondent has been 
endeavouring to prove the propriety of a certain system 
of Vine culture by arguments drawn from a passage in 
the Gospel of St. John. Now I think it would be much 
better if Scripture were not brought forward in cases 
where Scripture can be no authority at all. The object of 
the mission of the Great Founder of Christianity to this 
world was one of far higher import than the improvement 
of Horticulture, or of any other of the arts of life; conse- 
quently, while He gave His followers a set of rules whereby 
to regulate their lives, which, unlike any other system of 
Ethics ever promulgated, was incapable of improvement, 
suited at once to every man in every age, adapted alike to 
nations just emerging from barbarism, and to those which 
have attained to the highest pitch of refinement, He left 
science just in the state in which He found it, to await the 
slow progression of ages for its development. Whenever 
the arts of life are mentioned in the sacred writings, they 
are merely alluded to in order to illustrate something else, 
Tn the passage in question, it was not necessary that the 
principles of Vine culture referred to should be the best 
t ould be adopted; but it was absolutely necessary 
quarry in the solid stone, and at the depth of about 25 feet 
from the surface. The top root is quite discernible, and 
the course of many of the smaller roots is distinctly marked 
in the stone for the space of several feet. The branches 
and upper part of the tree have been cut away in the 
course of excavation. The bark, apparently from the con- 
tact with it of a slight stratum of coal, has a blackish 
appearance, and beneath the roots there are also traces of 
coal, in which one of the roots has been imbedded, The 
rock, to the depth of several feet below the tree, and at 
least 10 yards below the surface of the soil, is strewed 
with vegetable fossils, some of which are marked in longi- 
tudinal or transverse ribs, whilst others bear the im- 
preasion of leaves, &c. It is the intention of the proprietor 
of the quarry to present this petrified tree to the Liverpool 
Mechanics’ Institution. — Facile. 
Camelina, or Gold of Pleasure.—There is a report 
that the seed of this, when crushed into cakes for the 
feeding of cattle, has an acrid quality which disagrees with 
them. erhaps some correspondent may be able to 
satisfy the public on this point. As it appears not to 
exhaust the soil, this plant may be more safely cultivated 
than Flax, for the mere purpose of producing oil and oil- 
cake, though not available for thread.—C. M. S. 
Schomburgkia tibicinis.—1 send you the following 
extract from the letter of a friend resident in Honduras, to 
whom I am indebted for specimens of this plant, which so 
seldom flowers. He says, ‘‘ You talk of the Cowhorns 
not flowering with you, or but once. When round at the 
New River lately in the dry season, they were all in flower, 
of a pale straw-colour, (some are of a deep pink) hanging 
over the water, where there was plenty of air and sun. 
Now at home, it struck me that your hothouses were far 
too moist and confined, at least for this sort.”’ It would 
seem that there are very distinct varieties of this species, 
and that the description of our friend, Mr. Skinner, must 
not be thought too glowing from the pale variety which 
flowered at Lady Ackland’s.-— Pons Alii. 
ats—In answer to your Correspondent ‘ Devoni- 
ensis,’’ at p. 574, I beg to prescribe a cure. Take 
powdered Assafoetida 2 grains, Essential Oil of Rhodium 
3 drachms, Essential Oil of Lavender 1 scruple, and Oil 
of Aniseed 1 drachm, and prepare them as follows :—first, 
mix the Assafcetida well with the Aniseed, then add the Oil 
of Rhodium, and still mix all in a mortar, after which add 
the Oil of Lavender ; then cork all close in a bottle until 
wanted. Next, procure a large wire cage-trap, into which 
introduce your mixture ona small saucer, or any such 
vessel ; close down the trap and place it in some con- 
spicuous part of the garden, and leave it to work for itself, 
and communicate the result.—.dn Irishman. 
Peat.—I think it is Dean Swift who says, that, however 
closely an assemblage is crammed or wedged together, 
one thing is remarkable, viz., that there is always plenty 
of room upwards; but then the difficulty, the vewata 
quastio, arises, how are we to get at it? I am strongly 
reminded of this by the piece of kind information com- 
municated by your correspondent “Thomas Cowan,” 
—p. 629, of the Gardeners’ Chronicle—who advises me 
to use pulverised dry peat to protect the roots of my 
vegetables, till ‘‘ Moorland Willie’ unfolds to view his 
marvellous ‘‘ mackintosh.” I do not know where 
“Churchill Gardens” are situated, perhaps in the “ Moor- 
lands’? also, as the material recommended is not to be 
found everywhere. Having been bred in a part of the 
country— 
“Mong Moors and Mosses, many, O!"? 
Tam very well acquainted with the virtues of pulverised 
peat ; but here, in regions of chalk and clay, Dean Swift’s 
question arises— How am I to get at it? I know where 
th ey should be such as were at the time y 
understood and acted upon. Had they been one step in 
advance of the age, the illustration would have required a 
mental effort to understand it, and q 'y would not 
have answered its purpose, It appears to me that we 
might as reasonably employ women to grind our Corn by 
manual labour, in the Eastern fashion, as attempt to cul- 
tivate our Vines by the rules of Scripture. I would say, 
in conclusion, let your correspondents in their life and 
conversation adhere as closely as they please to Scriptural 
rules ; let them make the Scriptures (to use their own 
expressive language) ‘ a lamp to their feet, anda lantern 
to their paths :’’ but they must seek some other guide in 
the culture of their Vines.—W. H. M., Trentham. 
Petunias.—From two or three pods of Petunias, viz., 
the one called “ scarlet,’’ but which is in reality a bright 
rose-colour, I have raised this year seedlings of several 
shades of peach-blossom and lilac, deep rosy-purple, 
and pure white ; also white, with the outside shaded with 
lilac, and dark eye, without any hybridisation.—Z. J. 
Double Stocks.—In compliance with your suggestion 
T have minutely examined flowers of the Double Stock, 
and I find them to be decidedly destitute of male organs of 
fructification (and, of course, without the female ones, as 
we never have seed from the double flowers). I was in 
the Isle of Wight last week, and I consulted two or three 
eminent Stock-growers on this subject, and they were not 
aware of the double flowers being useless. At my re- 
quest, each examined a flower, and their opinions exactly 
agreed with mine, viz., that they are entirely destitute of 
either Stamens or pistils. Your correspondent ‘ Quer- 
cus” agrees with me in this respect, and I hope to learn, 
through the medium of the Chronicle, the opinions of 
others Tespecting this beautiful flower.— Timothy. 
; A Petrified Tree.—At the stone quarry of Mr. Littler, 
in the outskirts of St. Helen’s, is a petrified tree, apparently 
a relict of an antediluvian period, which has attracted many 
there is plenty—400 miles off, and some nearer—but, even 
in this age of railways and steam-boats, it is as much 
like a terra incognita, and as inaccessible to me, as 
‘* Moorland Willie’s” mackintosh ; but, apropos of peat 
earth: when a youth, I went first to work ina new garden, 
one half of which was made out of a complete quagmire, 
the other half a dry sandy bank or acclivity. When the 
former remained in its natural state it consisted of a sub- 
stance something like semi-liquid, with a tough surface of 
tangled vegetable matter, and when drained, there was 
found immersed old Roman millstones, and some other 
antiques ; but when dry and used for garden crops, it was 
in consistence a light porous peaty earth, and its produc- 
tions were of acharacter I have never seen excelled. 
Every kind of garden crop grew in it with the utmost 
luxuriance—especially Celery and Cauliflowers; the former 
came out as white as if new washed—some of the latter 
measuring from 20 inches to 2 feet over the crown, taking 
the convexity. Ever since, I have had a favourable 
opinion of peat as a garden soil, and if this should attract 
the notice of any of your numerous readers who have had 
the privilege of gardening on peat, I should feel gratified 
to learn the result of their experience.— Quercus, 
Fungus on Bark-beds—In the Chronicle of August 
12th I observed in the ‘* Notices to Correspondents ’’ that 
an inquiry had been made respecting a method to destroy 
the Fungus which springs up in Bark-beds, which question, 
with your permission, I will answer; as I have been very 
much annoyed with it this season myself, insomuch that 
I was compelled to turn a great many plants out of their 
pots in order to clean the roots, which was effected by 
brushing the Fungus completely off with a brush, and this, 
as I anticipated, has had the effect of wholly saving 
my plants, and Iam happy to state that I have not lost 
one since in consequence ; although it had spread through 
the mould in the pots, and for some inches up the stem. 
Before replacing the plants, I watered the bed well all 
over with boiling water, and covered it with salt, which 
quickly dissolved, and in half an hour afterwards I covered 
it over again with an inch of sand, to prevent the bottom 
of the pots from coming in contact with the salted tan, 
and I can safely affirm that I have never seen the least 
appearance of anything of the kind since.—D. Z. 
Onions.—The Onion seed was remarkably good this 
season, and in many places the crops were thicker than 
what they were intended to be. After some of my beds of 
Onions were thinned, some of the thinnings were left in 
the ground. Ina short time after they were pulled, I 
observed that the bulbs swelled much faster than those 
that were left growing ;—the outside leaves of those that 
were pulled soon withered, and one or two of the heart 
leaves continued green for some time, after which they 
died. The bulbs were as large as common marbles, and 
had the appearance of being firm and ripe, while those 
that were left in the beds were scarcely half the size, at 
the time when the thinnings were ripe, although they were 
in a healthy growing state. Would the leaves draw 
nourishment from the atmosphere, to swell the bulbs 
when the roots were dead ?—Peler Mackenzie. 
Hawthorn.—There is a brown knot-like substance 
common upon the young shoots of the Hawthorn hedges ; 
it is full of small apertures. The mouths of the open- 
ings appear to be surrounded with fringes, something 
like the Peristome of Mosses. is it a Fungus, or the 
work of insects?—P. M. [This is the Fungus called 
Ascidium laceratum.] 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
FLORICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
Sept. 26.—This Dahlia exhibition is confined to class showing, 
and to the exhibition of seedlings. There were some remarkably 
fine blooms set up, and it was the best show of seedlings we have 
seen this season, The prizes were awarded as follow:—AmA- 
TEURS AND GENTLEMEN’S GARDENERS: White-tipped Purple, 1, 
Mr. Wildman, Brown’s Miranda; 2, Mr. Wildman, Brown’ 
Queen of Trumps. White-tipped Pink, 1, Mr. Prockter, Ansell’s 
Queen ; 2, Mr. Turville, Whale’s Phenomenon. Dark, 1, Mr. Ford, 
Turville’s Essex Triumph; 2, Mr. Wildman, Turville’s Essex 
Triumph, Lilac, 1, Mr. Turville, Turville’s Essex Bride (seed- 
ling, double prize awarded); 2, Mr. Wildman, Widnall’s Queen, 
‘vrimson, 1, Mr. Wildman, Smith’s Sir R. le; 2, Mr. Ford, 
Springfield Rival. Purple, 1, Mr. Ford, Brown’s Blue Bonnet; 2, 
Mr. Prockter, Girling’s Indispensable. Rose, 1, Mr. Ford, 
Mitchell’s Mrs. Kelly; 2, Mr. Ford, Jackson’s Lady Cooper. 
son’s Princess Royal. Yellow, Mr, Prockter, Dodd’s Prince of 
Wales. Orange, Nil. hite, Nil. SEEDLINGS, 1843: Ist Class: 
Red, Mr. Prockter, Nonpareil. 2d Class: 1, White and Purple, 
Mr. Gaines, Matilda; 2, Dark, Mr. Bragg, Monitor; 3, Deep Rose, 
Mr, Keynes, Princess Alice. Nor Puacen: 1842, White, Mr. 
Riley, Pearl; Mr. Dodd, O erb; White and Purple, 
Mr. Davis, Beauty of Birmingham ; White and Pink, Mr, Bushell, 
Emma; 1843, Yellow, Mr. Gaines; Scarlet, Mr. Prockter; Mr, 
Cook, Notting-hill Rival. Nursrrymen: Dark, 1, Mr. Brown, 
of Slough, Turville’s Essex Triumph; 2, Mr. Bragg, of Slough, 
Turville’s Essex Triumph. Rose, 1, Mr. Bi 
Bragg, Bragg’s Antagonist, White tipped with Pink, 1, Mr. 
Brown, Widnall’s Marchioness of Exeter; 2, Mr. Bragg, Widnall’s 
Marchioness of Exeter. While tipped with Purple, }, Mr. Brown, 
Brown’s Lady St. Maur (seedling, double prize awarded); 2, Nil, 
Searlet, 1, Mr. Bragg, Thompson’s Vivid; 2, Mr. Brown, Thomp- 
son’s Vivid. Purple, 1 and 2, Mr, Bragg, Silverlock’s Candidate 
and Brown’s Blue Bonnet. Crimson, 1, Mr. Keynes, of Salisbury, 
Keynes’ Standard of Perfection (seedling, double prize awarded) ; 
r Gaines, of Battersea, Stanford’s Victory of Sussex. Yellow- 
lipped, 1, Mr, Bragg, Hudson’s Princess Royal; 2, Mr. Brown, 
Hudson’s Princess Royal. Seepiines, 1842, (Sia blooms): 1st 
Class: Mr. Keynes, Standard of Perfection. 2d Class: Lilac, 1, 
Mr. Turville, Essex Bride ; ir. Sparry, Lady Antrobus; White, 
Emma Noke (neat and compact, but rather pink, 
and requires bleaching); 4, Mr. Bourne, Model; 5, Mr. Brown, 
Rembrandt (fine form and petal, but not good centre); 6, Mr. 
Brown, Raphael (fine form and petal, but not good centre) ; 7, 
Orange Perfection (low centre). The third and final 
competition for the 10/. Prize, offered for the best White, was 
decided in favour of Mr. Bragg’s Antagonist, 
COUNTRY SHOW. 
Salt-Hill Dahlia Show, Sept. 22.—Names of the flowers in the 
winning stands, as promised last week.—1s7T CLASS, AMATEURS.— 
12 blooms : 1,—Emmerson, Esq., Bath, for Mrs. Shelley, Widnall’s 
Queen, Candidate, Phenomenon, Indispensable, Bedford Surprise, 
Widnall’s Eclipse, Pickwick, Beauty of the Plain, Essex Triumph, 
Lady Cooper, Hudson’s Princess Royal; 2, oward, Burn- 
ham, for Dodd’s Prince of Wales, Admiral Stopford, Mrs. Shelley, 
Beauty of Sussex, Lady Cooper, Bedford Surprise, Widnall’s 
Queen, Phenomenon, Essex Trinmph, Hudson’s Princess Royal, 
Vivid, Sir R. Sale; 3, Mr. Skelton, Ivor, for;Andrew Hofer, Dodd’s 
Prince of Wales, Adm. Stopford, Duchess of Richmond, Walter’s 
Unique, Perpetual Grand, Hudson’s Princess Royal, Antagonist, 
Widnall’s Queen, Essex Triumph, Mrs, Shelley, Sir F. Johnstone ; 
4, Mr. Headley, for Cambridge, Phoenix, Lady Cooper, President 
of the West, Essex Triumph, Victor, Dodd’s Prince of Wales, 
Duchess of Richmond, Confidence, Hudson’s Princess Royal, Sir 
F, Johnstone, Man of Kent, Phenomenon. 2p Crass, GArR- 
DENERS.—12 blooms : 1, Mr. Maher, Hawthorn-hill, for Grand 
Baudine, Phenomenon, President of the West, Hudson’s Princess 
Royal, Mrs. Shelley, Dodd’s Prince of Wales, Euclid, Admirable, 
Essex Triumph, Bedford Surprise, Perpetual Grand, Widnall’s 
Queen; 2, Mr. Turville, Springfield Lyons, for Northern Beauty. 
Vivid, Indispensable, Widnall’s Queen, Phenomenon, Essex Tri- 
umph, Dodd’s Prince of Wales, Lady Cooper, Hudson’s Princess 
Royal, Grand Baudine, Springfield Rival, Mrs. Shelley; 3, Mr- 
Ford, Pinkney’s Green, for Admiral Stopford, Duchess of Rich- 
mond, Blue Bonnet, Great Mogul, Hudson’s Princess Royal, 
Catleugh’s Eclipse, Lady Cooper, Grand Baudine, Marchioness 
of Exeter, Mrs. Shelley, Widnall’s Queen, Sir R. Sale; 4, Mr. 
Weedon, Hillingdon, for Mrs. Shelley, Bedford Surprise, 
