1843.] = 
THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 
71 
provided with sluices, by which the admission or exclusion, 
and quantity of water can be regulated. Before the heavy 
rains in Oct. and Nov. the ditches and mounds are put in 
order. Both the broad hoe and the spade are used for 
this purpose, and almost for this alone is the spade em- 
ployed. The mound is often planted with the Aloe, which, 
growing luxuriantly in rows and attaining to a large size, 
has a very stately and striking appearance, and is useful 
as well as ornamental. It makes, by means of its large, 
strong, prickly leaves, an admirable fence. The Vines are 
planted in rows, with perfect regularity, 3 or 4 feet asun- 
der, A new plantation is formed either by laying shoots 
or by grafting the Currant Vine on the common Vine. 
The best shoots for propagation are obtained by cutting 
the parent trunk very low beneath the ground ; after this 
Operation, the shoots spring up very vigorously. They 
are cut off in December, covered with light mould, and 
planted in spring ; 6 or 7 years elapse before they come 
into bearing. The process of grafting has, of late years, 
been much in use, since the value of the fruit of the one 
has exceeded that of the fermented juice of the other, 
and especially in Cephalonia. It has, moreover, this 
advantage, that the grafted Vine becomes productive in a 
much shorter time; in 3 or 4 years it is in full bearing. 
The operation of grafting is thus conducted :—a pit is dug, 
exposing the trunk of the common Vine 1 or 14 foot below 
the surface ; the Vine is amputated as low as this, and two 
or three perpendicular incisions are made in the stalk with 
@ chisel near the bark, into which the last year’s shoots of 
the Currant Vine are inserted, of such a length as to have 
two or three eyes or buds above the surface. Then some 
moist marl is applied to the engrafted part, wrapped in 
leaves, and bound with rushes, and the earth is thrown 
into the pit. The season for grafting is, of course, in 
Spring, when the sap is ascending. The pruning of the 
Currant Vine is an operation said to require much judg- 
ment, not as regards time, for that is fixed by custom, but 
in relation to the quantity of wood to be removed,—the 
quality and even position of the branches to be left. It 
48 not completed at once, but at intervals. In December 
the Vines are cleaned ; the dead, weakly, and unpromising 
branches are removed ; only a certain number of the more 
Vigorous shoots of the preceding’ spring are left,—selected 
©n account of their position, and the indications afforded 
1 their buds of their fruit-bearing powers. Towards the 
end of February, the knife is again applied, and the re- 
taining branches are curtailed, so as to insure active vege- 
tation. Each eye is considered equivalent to a fruit-bear- 
Ing branch ; and no more are left than it is supposed can 
amply nourished, 3 or 4 being the usual number. The 
Currant grounds, where there is a command of water, are 
flooded from the latter end of October or beginning of 
November, till the latter end of December, when the 
sluices are opened and the excess of water is allowed to 
Tun off. The after-irrigation is merely to keep the ground 
Moist. About the same time that the Vines receive their 
last pruning, the earth is moved about their roots, being 
Scooped out round the stems, and piled in small heaps at 
alittle distance, thus favouring the watering of the plants 
and the warming of the roots, as well as the exposure of 
the Soil to the influence of the air. In April, the ground 
1s moved a second time, and that deeply ; then the surface 
Is levelled. Occasionally manure is used ; it is, however, 
‘ar from a general practice. It is said to increase the 
quantity of fruit, but to injure its quality. The new soil 
rought down from the hills by rain, is considered the 
Natural and most appropriate manure. The Currant Vine 
48 allowed to grow without check; the ends of its shoots 
are not broken, like those of the common Vine; and the 
Tuxuriance of its annual shoots, in favourable circumstances, 
1s extraordinary. They are always supported by stakes. 
Great care is paid, at allseasons, to the Currant plantations, 
specially in spring, when vegetation is commencing, and 
the Opening buds and young shoots are so tender as to be 
Very Susceptible of injury. If the bud is broken, the em- 
bryo bunch is destroyed. The Currant Vine is one of the 
farliest kinds. Its fruit is often sufficiently ripe for the 
table in the last week in July: it is then of a purplish 
ue, not too luscious, as when thoroughly ripe, but agree- 
ably sweet and sub-acid. The period of the vintage in the 
Plain of Zante is commonly in the middle of August ; 
And this is a very interesting and important period to the 
antiote.—Davy ’s Notes and Observations on the Ionian 
Islands, 
On Wood.—« He would if he could.”’— Old Proverd. 
pvood may be divided into several heads; and my own 
ee has consequently come in fora fair share of it, 
b ere is the Lignum Vite, or the log of life, which ma 
af taken to represent a living log, and of these I have 
f Veral specimens in my own family. ‘he woods and 
Crests are an interesting branch of this subject. 
se woods begin at Waterloo-place and end some. 
€re about Albany-street. Where the forests are, 
8 not been discovered; but perhaps they extend as 
#6 a8 the Fishmonger Groves at Charing-cross. These 
ig and forests are capable of granting leave to 
aren who wish to build; but they do not seem to 
ake in any other manner of the florescent character, 
Mises Pavements are an innovation on all old practices ; 
the igh it is contended that they are only an extension of 
Roe con custom of wearing wooden legs, which in- 
fome the necessity of walking on wood, at least, in 
Btregy Measure. It is true there is a street called Wood- 
Tigh, Cheapside ; but though I have inspected the pave- 
ing ty, minutely, and tested the materials by seratch~ 
factor my nails, I have not arrived at anything satis- 
Reon, My objection to paving with wood has been 
approve’ for by saying that I cannot bring myself to 
Telereng of a practice of trampling upon what, in 
© to the heads of the City, may be called our 
own species. This I deny! It is said in favour 
of wood, that it enables one to go quietly on one’s 
way, but I had rather make a noise in the world, and 
if one pays a good price for a carriage, one ought at 
least to have the luxury of hearing the wheels rattie. It 
may be said in favour of the antiquity of wooden pave- 
ments, that there is an old expression about ‘ hallooing 
before we are out of the wood.’’ Perhaps there is an Act 
of Parliament prohibiting the itinerant vendors of certain 
commodities to cry their wares at halloo until they are out 
of the wood. I say, there is, perhaps, such an Act of 
Parliament, but I am bound ‘to admit that perhaps there 
isn’t. In conclusion, let me say, that I am not a bigoted 
enemy of wood paving, and I am still ready to consider the 
matter, or, in othér words, to give my head to it.— Punch. 
i | Antiquities of Gardening ; Green Peas.—The taste for 
Green Peas appears to have been carried to great excess in 
the time of Louis XIV. Bonnefonds mentions them in his 
* Jardinier Francais,” 1651, and describes them as the 
Dutch Pea, or Pea without shell ;* and adds, “ Until very 
lately they were exceedingly rare.’’ Roquefort says 
they were first introduced by M. de Buhl, the French 
Ambassador in Holland, about 1600. The author of a 
Life of Colbert, 1695, says, ‘‘It is frightful to see persons 
sensual enough to purchase Green Peas at the price of 50 
crowns per litron” (little more than an English pint). This 
kind of pompous expenditure prevailed much at the French 
Court, as will be seen by a letter of Madame de Mainte- 
non, dated 10th May, 1696. “The subject of Peas, con- 
tinues to absorb all others,” says she; “the anxiety to eat 
them, the pleasure of having eaten them, and the desire 
to eat them again, are the three great matters which have 
been discussed by our Princes for four days past. Some 
ladies, even after having supped at the Royal table, and 
well supped too, returning to their own homes, at the 
tisk of suffering from indigestion, will again eat Peas 
before going to bed. It is both a fashion and a madness.” 
It is curious to remark that, notwithstanding the fashion 
and consequent high price of the article, to produce them 
in the beginning of May was the earliest period that the 
art of Horticulture was at that time capable of. 
Mr. Weekes’s Annual Dinner.—The fourth anniversary 
dinner given by Mr. J. Weeks to the various members of 
the Horticultural profession was held on Thursday evening 
last, at his manufactory, in Gloucester-place, King’s-road, 
Chelsea. The room was handsomely fitted up for the 
occasion, and was crowded with guests, principally gar- 
deners, who collected to the number of a hundred to do 
honour to their host’s hospitality. 
Source of Fat in Animals.—The observation by Liebig, 
that the fibrin of plants and animals is identical in its 
composition, led to the inevitable conclusion, that the 
animal organisation merely modifies the state of the sub- 
stances presented to it by the vegetable kingdom, and 
does not form any solids, as plants do, from their gaseous 
constituents; or, in other words, the fibrin or curd of 
milk exists ready formed in the vegetables which serve as 
the food of the cow, while the. main constituents of the 
blood, in like manner, are derived directly from the vege- 
table matters which constitute the food primarily of all 
animals. No exception could be urged to this affirmation 
in reference to the formation of blood and muscle. The 
anomaly which presented itself was in the instance of fat, 
which, as far as experiment had cartied us, did not appear 
to exist in sufficient abundance in vegetable food, to au- 
thorise us to ascribe its origin to such a source.  Liebi, 
quotes the instance of a lean goose, weighing 4 lbs., which, 
in 36 days, gains 51bs. weight by consuming 24 lbs. of 
Maize, and yields 3} lbs. of pure fat. The latter could 
not be derived from the Maize, said Liebig, because 
Maize, according to such experiments as had been made 
upon it before Liebig wrote, did not contain the thou- 
sandth part of its weight of fat. The ingenious views of 
Liebig have led Dumas and Payen to make a series of ex- 
periments, for the purpose of determining the quantity of 
fatty or oily matter in Maize. They have found 9 per 
cent. of yellow oil to exist in this vegetable; hence they 
conclude, when a lean goose eats 24 lbs. of Maize, it takes 
up 23 Ibs. of fatty matter, which, with the fat previously 
existing in the animal, is sufficient to account for the 
source of the 341bs. of fat. Dumas adds the remark- 
able intelligence, that Hay, such as it is met with in 
the trusses eaten by animals, contains 2 per cent. of 
fatty or oily matter.—Proceedings of the Philosophical 
Society of Glasgow. 
Trufies.—The Paris states that at the last market held 
at Angouléme, 2000 Ibs. of Truffles were sold at 3f, 25c. 
per pound. ‘‘A farmer at Dordogne,” says that journal, 
“has found means of cultivating Truffles like any other 
vegetable. It has been ascertained that they grow near 
or under the shade of a peculiar species of Oak. This 
person planted some years ago a considerable number of 
those Oaks, and we have been assured’ that he sold last 
year 100,000f. worth of Truffles. He expects this year 
to realise by their sale double that_amount.?? 
threatened at one time to destroy his garden 3; but we were glad 
to see that it is still uninjured, although the Loch by the side of 
Every lover of science and hor- 
ticulture in the country would have felt nearly as much as Dr. 
* Pois sans Parchemin, is a variety cultivated at the present 
day, the pods of which, being destitute of tough lining, are used 
like those of Kidney Beans, , 
Neill himself had anything happened tothis warden. “We under- 
him to sit for a bust, to be executed by Mr. Steele, in marsle, 
F. 
SSS 
Rebiews. 
Popular Flowers: The G, ium; its P: : 
Cultivation, and General Treatment in all Secu. 
®& Tyas and Co. 
Tris is the first of a series of Treatises, each to be de- 
voted to some popular flower, 
marks the Author states, that “It is matter of surprise 
so little acquainted with their proper treatment, simple 
though it be; and the pleasure they feel in beholding 
their beauty is marred by seeing them prematurely decay, 
For such these few pages are compiled.” 
e wish we could say they were likely to answer that pur- 
pose; but the work bears evidence of not being written by 
a practical person, and the Author loses sight of the ob- 
ject with which he started; for, although some of the 
directions are good, others are insufficient for the purpose, 
and a few would lead to curious results: for instance, to 
extirpate the green-fly, the Author recommends the eggs 
to be destroyed in winter, and as the cheapest mode, to 
“‘ wash your plants with hot water at 200 degrees!" To 
instruct persons so ignorant of the management of flowers 
as the Author supposes the generality of people to be, 
requires that the directions for the different operations 
should be much more precise and ample than those which 
he has supplied. 
CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS for the ensuing week. 
AcTIve preparations must now be made for sowing seeds. 
New or well-cleaned pots, plenty of drainage, and light, dry, 
loamy soils, with dry sand and peat, will be indispensable, Nur- 
serymen and gardeners who have command of stove-heat have 
sown many seeds last autumn, which those who have no such 
conveniences must have delayed till the return of spring. The 
seeds of such plants as are liable to dai in wii 
otherwise difficult t 
soon springs up, but not too quickly now fora plant which 
flowers so late in the autumn, after all other Ipomceas have 
bloomed. August is the best time to sow it, where it can be 
carried through the winter on a dry shelf in the stove. Early 
last autumn I grafted many of these on young plants of Ipomeea 
Learii; they have all succeeded, and some o} 
8, Calceolarias, Gesneras, 
pot, as these are liable to be disturbed by watering, and thus get 
mixed together. After sowing, press the seeds down gently, to 
imbed them in the surface, and sprinkle a little white sand over 
them; not, however, with a view of covering the seeds, but to 
make a firmer surface, which future waterings will not so easily 
further precaution against damp, < 
seedlings, and many other things, are peculiarly liable on their 
first appearance, keep a potful of sand on the top of the fire. 
place, or over a hot pipe or flue, for the next four months ; and. 
as soon as tender seedlings of any sort make their appearance, 
bear the nearest resemblance to each other should be sow; 
one pot; thus, for instance, seeds of common Broom, the old 
il, especially if they have travelled far, or are at all di $ 
gol 7 we ore water should be given them than wil] coop woaad 
i Same opinion as “ An 
joa a ee mee that “a series of papers on the 
management an‘ conservatories i i 
aentibe generally acceptable.” |] gh; les in more full detail 
time to point out the most useful plants for this purpose, with an 
outline of their management, in the 
for the last two months, if these are taken into a moist atmo- 
sphere, and supplied with water in succession, they may be had 
