84 
THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 
[Frs. 11, 
notions and prejudices, they may 
determine a very important problem in the present 
state of agricultural science.” 
ance with previous 
—— 
ON PLANTING. 
Oax, Elm, Beech, Sycamore, Spanish Chesnut, and 
zome other trees, when planted so as to stand clear 0} 
everything else, are apt to throw out vigorous branches of 
nearly equal strength, which sometimes cause the trees to 
grow forked, and leave no straight stem. When there are 
many shoots of nearly equal sizes, the best method is every 
year to remove close to the stem from three to five of the 
strongest, so that the straightest and best only is left for 
a leader to form the stem or trunk of the future trees. 
A person who understands the nature of this work (and 
any one of common capacity might, with practical instruc- 
tion be made to comprehend it in a few hours), might 
thus thin out vast numbers in a day; and by repeating 
this once or twice annually for a few years, he would train 
up thousands of fine trees in lieu of those useless unsightly 
objects which are at this day to be met with in most plan- 
tations. 5 ‘ 4 
Any one who takes a pleasure in rural affairs might 
effect this for his own recreation, while walking or riding 
through his plantations ; and when he understood its 
nature, he could instruct any of his servants or labourers 
how to do it, and judge when it was properly performed. 
When it is considered what a number of trees a skil- 
ful person could go over ina day, and when we look for- 
ward to the value of a well-formed tree of any kind that 
has arrived7at maturity, compared with one of those huge 
jll-formed ones that have been neglected, which when cut 
down, after having encumbered the ground for 50 or 100 
years, is of little value except for the fire ; and when we 
contrast the difference, and reflect that a few cuts of the 
knife would have made it a tree of great utility, how 
much is it to be regretted that such important results should 
be lost, from the want of applying annually so useful and 
simple a remedy! 
We frequently see near gentlemen’s houses, where plan- 
tations are made for ornament and shelter, a quantity of 
trees planted thickly for the purpose of making a blind as 
quickly as possible ; these are suffered to grow up without 
one being removed or pruned, until the side branches are 
killed and the trees become naked at the bottom. As 
soon as the trees grow so near each other that pruning will 
De of no avail, some of them should be taken out entirely. 
By attending to this simple rule, permanent trees, with 
the branches to the very ground, if required, may be ob- 
tained. Some may be left to nature unpruned, or trained 
to any form which fancy may suggest, if such should he 
the taste of the proprietor. 
If young persons, when they begin to plant, would but 
well consider these things, they might live to see valuable 
and ornamental trees of their own planting flourishing 
round their domains. In low situations, where the soil 
js rich and deep, and by the sides of drains, Ash or Elm 
may be planted, with any of the Fir-tribe, either separate 
or mixed, as may be judged expedient. In high and cold 
situations more of the Fir-tribe may be more abundantly 
planted ; where the Larch will thrive, however, it is pre- 
ferable to any other. 
The Sycamore thrives well on high, bleak situations, 
and looks well as an ornamental tree on the outskirts of 
plantations, or in high lands, if the ground is hilly ; its 
bushy, dark green foliage, makes it a conspicuous object 
in the distance. Instead of mixing Alder, Birch, Poplar, 
Willow, and Sycamore trees, more of the Mountain Ash, 
Bird Cherry, and Hazel should be introduced ; where 
coif rods and etherings for hedges or other purposes are 
saleable, a great profit would then be secured to the 
proprietor. 
To ensure success in planting, it is evident that the 
ground should be laid dry by draining, and that the places 
where the plants are to stand should be raised with good 
earth ; this will cause the ground to be much drier, and 
can be done at less expense than by digging holes pre- 
viously. The tender shoots of the Spanish Chesnut are 
less liable to be killed by spring frosts in high situations 
than in low or moist places; whence it.appears that this 
tree will thrive in much higher and colder districts than is 
generally imagined, particularly if sheltered in its infancy 
by other plants. 
The Chesnut, Maple, Ash, Beech, Elm, Sycamore, and 
Silver Fir, will increase in girth | inch to 14 inch per 
year on an average of 100 years, if they have sufficient 
room to make branches. This must show the utility of 
thinning and pruning woods in proper time 5 Oaks, if they 
have sufficient room, will, on an average, increase about an 
inch or little more in girth every year; but by neglect or 
mismanagement, this may be retarded, so as not to in- 
crease more than a of an inch yearly. In 20 years from 
planting, with early care and proper management, a 
gentleman may look forward after bine out a crop of 
Larch, to have Oak, Ash, and Elm trees from 20 inches 
to 2 feet and upwards in girth.— R. 
ON MANURING WITH GREEN CROPS.—No. IX. 
(By Provessor Cuartes Sprencer. Translated from 
p the German.) 
‘TA @mmon 
i 
(Continued from page 68.) 
5,920 feet Prussian, which is about 4%, of an 
Magdeburgh acre consists of 180 square 
yhich are used for Green Manure without being 
he neighbourhood of the sea and in similar 
f these plants, which the waves have thrown 
ich grow in lakes and stagnant waters, yield 
ful manure. ‘Those which have been most 
Crowfoot (Ranunculus), Duck-weed 
< 
“ 
a101 
SMUANGUVDS 
| (Lemna), Pond-weed (Potamogeton), Hornwort (Cera- | 
are all | 
saline 
analysis confirms 
(C. vulgaris) consists of 158 lbs. of carbonate of lime, mostly 
deposited on the plant itself, 8 lbs. 
of soda. They contain, moreover, 
trogen, as much as 3.9 lbs. in 1000 lbs. of the green 
plant. No doubt they also contain much sulphur, and 
phosphorus in abundance, for in their speedy decomposi- 
tion much sulphuretted and phosphoretted hydrogen are 
developed. Although growing 1p water, they contain a 
comparatively small amount of that fluid (in 1000 Ibs. of | 
the green plant, 596 Ibs. of water), all which leads us to 
the conclusion that even in small quantities they must be 
a powerful manure. In fact, experience has already 
shown, that if used too copiously they produce a too lux- 
uriant growth. In collecting the Chara for manure, it is 
drawn out of the water by hooks used by a person stand- 
ing upright in a boat. It, is then collected on shore, 
either in large heaps, where it is left for some time, to rot, 
or is conveyed at once on the land, where it is spread 
thinly and at once ploughed in. | The latter plan is the 
best ; because, when Chara rots in heaps, it loses much 
gaseous manure, gases in the form of ammonia, sulphu- 
retted and carburetted hydrogen, &c. The quantity of 
Chara required for an acre of land is 9 or 10,000|bs., which 
js considered. equal to a strong manure of dung. 
crops will grow well for the next 3 or 4 years—a circum- 
stance easily explained; because 5,000lbs. of the green 
herbage convey 800lbs. carbonate of lime and 20lbs. 
nitrogen to the soil, Barley succeeds best after Chara. 
2. Long-leaved or various-leaved Crow-foot (Ranun- 
culus fluviatilis, R. aquatilis),—These often grow in large 
quantities in stagnant water, or in slow, shallow rivers 
and brooks. Like the preceding, they are drawn out of 
water with hooks. It is best to plough them in at once ; 
but, as they do not act as powerlully as Chara, a greater 
uantity must be used. In some places, they are also 
given to cattle as fodder. They have not yet been chemi- 
cally analyzed. 
Hornwort, like Chara, 
lime, and acts more powerfully. 
attention. 
ir 
@ 
is incrustedwith carbonate of 
Duckweed deserves less 
(To be continued.) 
TRELLIS FOR CLIMBERS. 
es 
AMATEURS’ GARDEN, No. VI. 
Tux sudden change in the weather on the evening of 
the 3rd inst., which brought on 12° of frost, no doubt 
injured the greenhouse plants of Amateurs as well as prac- 
tical gardeners ; and as the previous mild weather had 
induced a luxuriant growth, they were in consequence 
rendered more susceptible of injury than if the season 
had previously been more rigorous. Tf the best remedy 
for recovering plants has been adopted, viz., syringing 
them with water at a temperature of 40°, by which the 
water loses 4° of heat, and the plants receive heat in the 
same proportion, and are thus brought to a temperature 
of 36%, but little injury will have been the result, further 
than that the plants will have sustained a severe check ; 
but if the sun was permitted to shine upon the plants, or 
the house was suddenly heated before they were thawed, 
their tissue will have been so much ruptured that there 
will now be no remedy but to cut them back to the sound 
wood, and excite them gradually into new growth, I[t is 
highly important that plants after being frosted be excited 
very gradually, because it is evident that a frost, sufficiently 
severe to destroy the foliage, must also have acted inju- 
riously on the young roots surrounding the interior of 
the pots; and therefore any attempt to stimulate the 
plants into new growth before they have made fresh roots 
must be attended with unsatisfactory results. Hence 
it is necessary to ventilate the house freely, and not to 
growth. These remarks apply particularly to soft-wooded 
things, as Pelargoniums ; but with hard-wooded plants, 
their very existence, after being frosted, depends upon 
their not being stimulated by heat. 
Tender plants in the open air generally suffer more 
from spring frosts after a mild winter than they do after a 
| severe one ; as,in the former case, they are excited into 
premature growth ; while in the latter, they are kept in a 
dormant state until all danger of frost is over. Hence, 
as I remarked, relative to the management of tender 
Roses, it is not protection that they require, so much as 
treatment to keep them in a dormant state. For this 
reason, in mild winters, the covers of plants should be so 
contrived, and constructed of non-conducting materials,— 
such as reeds or straw, which are non-conductors in con- 
sequence of the air confined in their stems,—that, by ad- 
mitting a current of air through the covering, the plant 
will be actually colder than if it was fully exposed to the 
influence of the atmosphere ; and yet, when closed up for 
the night, the cover will, by intercepting the radiated 
heat, render the internal some degrees warmer than the 
exterior air. From these remarks, the Amateur will see 
that it is quite as necessary that plants should be covered 
in a mild season to keep them from growing, as it is that 
they should be protected from the cold in severe ones. 
Pelargoniums which it is intended to bloom in the 
greenhouse must now be removed into their flowering- 
pots ; and the branches must, moreover, be tied out, 
if large symmetrical plants are desired. Those stopped 
in November will flower in May; a second lot should now 
be stopped to flower in June and July ; and a third about 
the middle of April, to bloom in August and September. 
For growing the Pelargonium, I have never found any- 
thing equal to the parings of grass verges, or thin turf one 
year old, and leaf-mould and peat-earth, in the propor- 
tions of four parts of the former to two parts of each of 
the latter, roughly mixed together but not sifted. In 
fact, I never sift soil under any circumstances, unless for 
the purpose of taking the fine particles out and using the | 
turfy portions only. This compost, with the admixture 
of a little sand if the plant is delicate, or loam, if of lux- 
uriant growth, will answer for all kinds of greenhouse gE 
plants, with the exception of Heaths, and other delicate- 
rooted hard-wooded plants.—W. P. Ayres. 
——_—————————— 
HOME CORRESPONDENCE. i 
Grafting as practised by the Ancients. — The Gar- 
deners’ Chronicle having udmitted several communica- 
tions on the subject of biblical botany, in which, in com- 
mon with several of your readers, 1 have felt much inte- 
rested, I am induced to trouble you with the following, in — 
hope that it may attract the attention as well of vegetable | 
physiologists and of practical gardeners as of those occupied | 
with the interesting subject of the botany of the Bible 
and in the horticultural practices of the ancients, The 
point to which I wish to direct attention is that of graft- 
ing as practised by the Romans, not in reference to the 
whole question, but to a particular point of it; namelyy 
the. practice which seems to have been common, of 
grafting from wild plants on a cultivated stock. We aré 
in the habit of doing exactly the reverse, and by this 
means preserving the peculiar characteristics of our es- 
teemed fruits, There would be no object in grafting from — 
a wild plant on any of these cultivated stocks; but “ 
where the produce of a wild plant is of a useful na 
ture, what would be the effect of grafting on a cul- 
tivated steck? would the grafted branches be moré 
vigorous—would they be more prolific—or would they 
be merely useful in filling up blanks in a tree in full bear 
ing? These questions will perhaps be more intelligible if \ 
Ladduce the, Olive as the plant on which this method 0} i 
grafting was practised, We read in Holland’s edition of 
Pliny, xvii., ch. 18: “In Barbarie, the people have this 
practice peculiar to themselves ; for to graft in a wild 
Olive stocke, whereby they continue a certain perpetuity i 
for even as the boughs that were graffed and (as I may 
say) adopted first, wax old and grow to decay, a second 
quickly putteth forth afresh, taken new from anothel 
tree, and in the same old stocke sheweth young and 
lively ; and after it a third successively, and as many, 
need ; so as by this means they take order to eternizé 
their Olives; insomuch as one Olive-plot hath bee? 
knowne to have prospered in good estate a world of yeare® 
This wild Olive aforesaid may be graffed either wil | 
scions set ina clift, or els, by way of inoculation, with th? 
scutcheon aforesaid.’’ Pliny himself describes the whol?” 
much more briefly, e. g.: “ Africe peculiare quidem in 
Oleastro est inserere. Quadam eeternitate consenescud? 
proxima adoptioni virga emissa, atque ita alia arbore e 
eadem juvenescente: iterumque et quoties opus sit, 4 
gvis eadem oliveta constent. Inseritur autem Oleasté 
calamo, et inoculatione.” The Olive is well known, et i 
is universally acknowledged to have been early cultivate 
j 
by the Romans, and in Greece, as well asin Syria and 2& 
léstine. The Oleaster has been a subject of dispute, ie | 
i 
cause this name has been applied to different plants, wh 1 
we need not notice on the present occasion, inasmuch as a 
think the practice of grafting the Oleaster or ‘Wild Olive | 
the cultivated Olive, so as to ‘‘ eternize”’ their Olive plat 
tations, proves beyond a doubt that the term Oleaster “a 
often, if not usually, applied to the true Olive, oF ok 
europea, when growing in a wild state, as no grafting | 
plants of other genera—or, indeed, of species of Olea 
ever could have produced Olives, even if they had ae ‘ 
as grafts. The passage of Scripture which this the, 
tends to elucidate is that in St. Paul’s Epistle ce 
Romans, xi. 17, where he warns them against self-col fi 
dence, &c.—“And if some of the branches be proken off, a! 
thou, being a wild Olive-tree, wert graffed in among thes 
attempt to force the plants until they show signs of 
and with them partakest of theroot and fatness of the Oli" 
