208 THE GARDENERS 
CHRONICLE. 
[Aprix 1, | 
if, therefore, it has been long exposed to wet in a ripe 
state, it is of far less value than if stored up soon after it 
has been cut. It is also better if cut green, for in that 
case, less of the manuring substances passes into the grain; 
the straw of leguminous plants yields better manure than 
that of Cerealia, because it is rich in phosphorus, sulphur, 
chlorine, potash, soda, nitrogen, lime, and magnesia. 
a, Wheat Straw.—100,000lbs. of Wheat straw, dried 
in the air, consist of from 50,000 to 52,000lbs. of woody 
fibre, and from 48,000 to 50,000ibs. of substances soluble in 
alkali and water, which consequently are also nutritious, 
and soon yield humic acid. Amongst the latter, however, 
there are (according to Boussingault) but 300)bs. of nitrogen. 
The mineral substances contained in 100,000 parts of 
air-dried Wheat straw are : 
0-020 4, potash. 
0-029 =, = soda. 
0°090 ,, oxide of iron, alumina, and oxide of 
2870 ,, silica. [manganese. 
0°170 = ,, phosphoric acid, 
0037 =, ~— sulphuric acid. 
0-030 =,, chlorine. 
3°518 parts of mineral substances or ashes. 
As therefore 100lbs. of Wheaten straw contain 34lbs. of 
mineral substances, 9641bs. must consist of carbon, hy- 
drogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. The quantity of nitrogen, 
however, is very small; in 100,000lbs. of straw there are 
merely 3lbs., or in 100lbs. of straw merely »8,lb. ; whence 
it is evident why this straw is of so little value as fodder, 
nitrogen being essential for animal nutriment. 
On account of its woody nature it decomposes slower 
than Rye, Barley, or Oat straw; but quicker than the 
straw of Beans, Rape, or the haulm of Potatoes. 
6, Rye Straw.—100,000 parts of air-dried ripe Rye 
straw contain 48,000 parts of ligneous fibre, and 52,000 
parts of substances soluble in water and alkali; the latter 
(according to Boussingault) consist of but 200 parts of 
nitrogen, whence it follows that Rye straw is somewhat 
less nourishing than that of Wheat, and so far as nitrogen 
is concerned, it cannot yield such a good manure; on the 
other hand, it possesses some advantages in consequence 
of its greater quantity of potash ; but there is less lime, 
magnesia, and phosphoric acid in it. 
he mineral substances contained in 100,000 parts of 
Rye straw consist of— 
2-297 parts of silica. 
0-178 i 
» lime. 
0-012 ,, magnesia. 
0-032 ,, potash. 
0-Oll ,, soda. 
0-025, 4 iron, alumina, and oxide of manganese. 
0-170 = ,, — sulphuric acid. 
0:051  ,, phosphoric acid, 
0-017, ,, chlorine. 
2-793 parts of mineral substance. 
As Rye straw contains much less phosphate of lime than 
that of Wheat, it is not so good a fodder for young ani- 
mals, which require much of this substance for the forma- 
tion of their bones. 
~ Among the different sorts of Corn straw, that of Rye and 
Wheat is the best adapted for the absorption of the fluid 
parts of animal excrement, because it retains for the 
longest time its tubular consistency. The straw of Barley 
and Oats is beaten flat by threshing. According to Block, 
if Rye straw is put under cattle in due proportion to the 
fodder, and if the dung remain eight days in the stable, 
100lbs.of it yield from horses 96lbs., | from cows 97|bs., 
and from sheep 95lbs., of dry manure. 
¢. Barley Straw.—100,000 parts of ripe air-dried Barley 
straw consist of 50,000 parts of woody fibre, 1000 parts 
of wax and resin, and 49,000 parts of substances soluble 
in water and potash; the latter contain (according to 
Boussingault) 260 parts of nitrogen. 
100,000 parts of the straw contain of mineral substances, 
3°856 parts of silica. 
0-554 i 
5 » lime. 
0:076 4, magnesia. 
0-180 4, potash. 
0-048 4, soda. 
0-146 =, alumina. 
0-014 ~=,, ~~ oxide of iron, * 
0020 ,, oxide of manganese. 
0-160  ,, phosphoric acid. 
0118 =, — sulphuric acid, 
0-072 ~=,, ~— chlorine. 
a 
5244 parts of mineral substances. 
As, therefore, 100Ibs. of Barley straw contain 5.2lbs. of 
mineral substances, the remaining 94,8lbs. consist of carbon, 
hydrogen, oxygen, and that smaller quantity of nitrogen. 
It contains (as is seen) much more lime, magnesia, potash, 
soda, and chlorine, than the straw of Wheat and Rye, and 
must consequently yield a somewhat better manure. As 
its texture is not very woody, it is easily decomposed either 
on the dunghill or in the field. The manure obtained by 
Barley straw being used as litter, consequently operates 
for a shorter time than that obtained from Rye or Wheat 
straw; but Barley straw is mostly used as fodder, because 
cattle eat it more eagerly than any other straw of cora- 
lants. According to Block, 100lbs. of either Wheat, 
arley, or Oat straw yield 2lbs. less manure than Rye 
straw—consequently, from horses 941bs., from cows 95lbs., 
from sheep 93lbs, 
(To be continued.) 
RIDGE AND FURROW PIT. 
In our Garden Memoranda, we some time since (p. 855, 
1842) gave a short account of a pit of a somewhat novel 
construction, which has been in use for the last two 
seasons in the garden of Mr. Allcard, of Stratford Green. 
Our description was then necessarily incomplete, from the 
absence of any drawing to render the explanation more 
clear. To supply this deficiency we have been favoured 
with the accompanying plans by Mr. Croucher, the 
gardener, who states that this pit will be found well 
adapted for small places where ground is an object, 
no room being required for drawing off the lights at 
back and front, as is the case with pits constructed 
upon the ordinary principle. It is particularly suitable 
for preserving through the winter those plants which re- 
quire a free circulation of air, because both the back and 
frant ventilators can be opened in wet weather without any 
fear of drip. After the plants are removed in spring, the 
interior of the pit can be filled with dung or other fer- 
menting material for the growth of Cucumbers, Melons, 
&c. The pit from which the drawing was taken is 40ft. 
long, 93ft. wide, 5ift. deep at the back, and 4ft. in front. 
It is divided into three compartments, and is heated by a 
hotwater pipe, passing along the front and connected with 
a boiler which heats the two adjoining vineries. 
A represents a light open, with the iron-stay pierced 
with holes to regulate the opening. B, plan of rafter, 
under each pair of lights, with a concave centre to carry 
off the water into the front pipe. ce, small gutters on 
each side of the rafter to carry off water caused by evapora- 
tion. D, plan of hinge, to which the lights are secured 
by a bolt which can easily be removed. EH, movable 
board, for placing plants on in winter. 1, wooden venti« 
lator, closed. G, the same, open. H, movable shutters, 
made’ of painted canvas, to protect through winter the 
Alpine plants, growing at the back of the pit, in a raised 
border. The lights shut together at the top with a rebated 
ae tongued joint, which renders them perfectly water- 
tight. 
) eZ 
GRAFTING 
As the period for grafting Vines has now arrived, afew 
remarks upon the manner of performing that operation 
may not be out of place. The facility which it affords of 
changing an inferior kind without the necessity of removing 
it, by which a delay of two or three years would be occa- 
sioned, is sufficient to render its adoption desirable. It 
is true that inarching offers a surer means of effecting the 
same object, but it is not in the power of every gardener 
to procure a young plant of the kind which he wishes to 
increase ; consequently, he must either resort to grafting, 
or to the more tedious method of propagating by cut- 
tings or eyes. 
Several modes of grafting the Vine are practised, but 
none appear preferable to that adopted by Mr. T. A. 
Knight, and recorded in the Transactions of the Horti- 
cultural Society. He there states that upon calling to 
mind the practice of the ancients in employing cuttings, 
consisting partly of a year old and partly of two year old 
wood, he conceived it probable that their success in graft- 
ing the Vine might have arisen from their selecting grafts 
similar to their cuttings. He therefore chose three 
grafts, each having at its base one joint of two year old 
wood ; these he fitted to branches of nearly the same size 
but of greater age, and all succeeded perfectly. The clay 
which surrounded the bottoms of the grafts was constantly 
kept moist, and the moisture thus supplied to the graft 
acted very beneficially, if indeed it was not essential to 
the success of the operation. Another method somewhat 
similar was equally successful. The grafts were prepared 
in the same manner, but instead of clay being placed 
around them, a flower-pot, filled with mould heaped suffi- 
ciently high to cover the graft, was placed under each, 
and they were thus kept supplied with moisture. The 
grafts employed consisted of about two inches of old wood 
and five inches of annual wood, by which means the junc- 
tion of the old and new wood—the point at which cut- 
tings most readily emit roots—was placed close to the 
head of the stock, only a single bud being exposed to 
vegetate. 
In the same work there is an account of another method 
pursued by Mr. J. Braddick. That gentleman foun 
that the stocks of Vines, when grafted in the usual way, 
bled profusely ; and it therefore occurred to him that the 
proper time for grafting them, without incurring any danger 
of their suffering from bleeding, would be when they had 
reached that period of their annual growth, at which the sap 
ceases to flow thinly and rapidly. He accordingly cut the 
branches of several in that state, and whip-grafted them 
with cuttings of the preceding year, binding the joints up 
with bast, and surrounding the latter with grafting clay. 
The whole of them grew, and he was thence led to conclude 
that healthy Vines might be successfully grafted with 
young wood of the preceding year’s growth from the time 
that the shoots of the stocks upon which the grafts are to 
be placed have made four or five eyes, until Midsummer. 
Mr. Braddick also found that Vines out-of-doors might 
be grafted with shoots of the same summer’s growth 
worked into the rind of the young wood, from the time 
that young bunches of Grapes became visible upon the 
ng 
ill 
of the time required for ripening the grafts before winter. 
Chaptal, in his treatise on the culture of the Vine, 
states that the following mode of grafting is practised in 
the vineyards of France to replace those stocks which die 
from age or other unforeseen accidents. ‘ Having selected 
a healthy stock, it is, just when the sap is beginning to 
flow, taken off with a clean cut an inch or two below the 
surface of the ground. The upper portion of the stock, 
which must be perfectly free from knots, is split evenly 
down the centre and pared quite smooth within, of a suffi- 
cient size for the reception of the scion. The latter is 
pruned to three eyes in length, having the lower part cut in 
the form of a wedge, commencing about an inch beneath 
the lowest eye, and gradually tapering to the bottom. It 
is then inserted as far as the lowest bud into the cleft in 
the stock; the second bud is level with the surface of the 
ground, which is drawn close around it, and the upper- 
most is quite above the soil. Great care is necessary in 
adjusting the scion, that its bark may touch that of the 
stock in every possible point. ‘The whole is then bound 
round with a pliable osier, which retains the scion in its 
proper place. The best season for grafting the Vine is 
{ just when the warmth of spring sets the sap in motion, 
and it should be performed when the sky is cloudy, with 
the wind blowing from the south-east or south-west. 
Whenever a northerly wind or great drought prevails, it is 
better to delay the operation; a burning sun or cold 
wind would arrest the course of the sap by drying up the 
vessels at the point of union. Neither is it advisable to 
graft in rainy weather, because the water will trickle down 
into the incision, and prevent the union between scion and 
stock. The best time for taking off the grafts is in a dry 
day towards the end of autumn, when the sap is still. 
They should be cut off with a portion of the old wood ad- 
hering, which will assist in preserving them until wanted 
for use. They should be plunged two or three inches 
deep in damp sand, and kept in a cool cellar, where 
heither heat nor frost can penetrate. Twenty-four hours 
previously to being used, they should be taken up, and 
that part which had before been in the sand should be laid 
in water.” Chaptal moreover states, that the Vine is 
thus grafted with so much facility, and the union between 
scion and stock is so perfect, that no plant appears more 
adapted for this mode of propagation.—R. d. 
A Corresvonpenr has requested information respect- 
ing all the pretty annuals that can be cultivated in this 
country, with the height and general appearance of the 
plant and colour of the flower, ‘Lo give a list of them 
all would be only to bewilder the Amateur, I have 
therefore made a selection of those kinds which I think 
most deserving of cultivation, especially in small gardens. 
The height of the plant is given in feet ; where there are 
several species of the same colour in the same genus, the 
darkest are placed first; and the character of the plant is 
