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bel Nufacturers to the art of making them of more 
1843.] TH 
E GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. ‘517 
ARAUCARIA IMBRICATA, or SIR JOSEPH BANKS’S PINE. 
OUELL & Co., possessing the most extensive stock 
in the country of the above Splendid Hardy “Ornamental 
Tree, beg to offer them on the following advantageous terms :— 
Fine robust, 3 year-old plants, 8 to 9 inches high, 104. per 100, or 
30s, per dozen.—Great Yarmouth Nursery, July 26, 1843. 
SATURDAY, JULY 29, 18438. 
MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WE 
f Horticultural 
Tuesday, Aug-l + + +4 ese . 
Vane Be 
LF ln 
Friday, Aug.4 2 +. «Botanica 
Tuesda 
We 
Aug. 8. 
‘ednesday, 
"igo fWest London Floricultural, Walham Green. 
Country Sxows-— Wednesd: 
y, Aug. 2. Doncaster. 
" In another column will be found a statement of the 
Prizes which the Horticultural Society of London 
offers to exhibitors at the Garden for the year 1844. 
t seems desirable to mention some of the more 
important particulars in which the plan which has 
een observed this year is to be departed from. 
In the first place, the number required for large 
collections of Stove and Greenhouse plants is reduced 
tom 40 and 20to 38 and 14 ; but it is to be observed that 
neither Greenhouse Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Cacti, 
Orchidacew, Pelargoniums, Heaths, Calceolarias, or 
Fuchsias, will be allowed to form a part of those large 
Collections. This will have the effect of making the 
‘atter more strictly than they have been, collections of 
Miscellaneous plants, and of confining the excluded 
Plants to the classes in which they are separately shown. 
On the other hand, the medals are increased for 
Some of the plants belonging to the excluded classes. 
For example—a new class of Azaleas in sixes is 
Spened ; the medals for Cacti are increased from a 
‘arge Silver to a Gold Banksian, or, in other words, 
from 35s. to 7. ; and the number of Rhododendrons 
to be shown is reduced from twelve to six. Then a 
ew class of Orchidacee is added to the old ones. It 
48 now decided that a large gold medal, value 20/. 3a 
Gold Knightian, value 10/.; and a Gold Banksian, 
Value 71, shall be given for the best three sets of 
xotic Orchidacew shown in collections of not fewer 
than 20 species. This will, it is expected, produce 
the important effect of inducing the very great 
Stowers of these wonderful plants to contend with 
€ach other, and consequently of giving an increased 
chance of success to those whose means are less ample. 
In Roses, the prizes offered for specimens in pots 
Yemain as before; but Amateurs are not required to 
Show more than twelve plants. This will, we trust, 
Secure the appearance of many rivals in what we 
Tegard as one of the most interesting branches of cul- 
tivation. It will be remembered that we last year 
Offered an additional prize of Five Guineas to the | 
Sentleman’s gardener who should first obtain the | 
Principal medal for Roses in pots. No gentleman’s 
Sardener having succeeded in doing so, we paid it to 
Lessrs, Lane, of Berkhampstead, to whom the Gold 
Banksian Medal was assigned by the Judges at the 
June Meeting. We now offer the same sum, in two 
Prizes of Three Guineas and Two, to the best and 
Second best collections of Roses in pots, exhibited by 
ntlemen’s gardeners at the meeting in May next 
Year, provided they have not been previously exhibited 
ewhere, 
b Among minor changes is the reduction in the num- 
*t of Stove and Greenhouse Climbers from 12 to 6, 
med, & corresponding diminution of the yalue of 
y, als offered. for them ; the union of Shrubby and 
&tbaceous Calceolarias in one class, there being no 
longer Calceolarias , ing 
Bee any limit between them; the exclusion of 
Prattsease from exhibition, and the admission of 
nay tlerery as exhibitors of fruit in the same class with 
ket vardeners. 
S new subjects for exhibition, Cinerarias in 
‘or th and plants grown in Ward's cases ave now, 
atte ie first time, specifically admitted. Upon the 
Ther Subject we have a few observations to make. 
tyne Seems no reason to doubt that the plan of cul- 
the Ng plants in close-glazed boxes, first proposed by 
wien! leman whose name they bear, is one which 
Of one nable all persons, whether enjoying the blessing 
rs Mntry air or not, to manage plants successfully ; 
Most 4 a ready means of indulging in one of the 
affon, Pleasant and unfatiguing of all recreations is thus 
iy ed even to the poor invalid who is unable to quit 
Toom. Yet Ward's cases are seldom seen. ‘his 
from certain practical difficulties attendant upon 
Teatment of plants in them, and we now trust 
the offer of medals for them will have a twofold 
eae of causing skilful gardeners to turn their 
4 On to the details of their management, and 
Gy 
that 
ext forms than a seen, If this i 
c ; ny we have yet seen. s is 
the plished, We may, without exposing ourselves to 
expectation that Ward's cases will become as com- 
mon everywhere as bird-cages are now. 
mesa re Lands by the proprietors or lessees, the expense in 
A very sensible letter appeared in the Murk-Jane | each case being accurately stated. In these instances 
Express of the 17th on the improvement of waste | the waste Jand was already attached to farms in culti- 
lands, or rather on the necessity and advantage of | vation, and consequently required few additional 
such improvements. ‘Chere can be no doubt that | buildings; but the results show that inmost cases 
there are at this moment immense tracts of absolutely 
waste land in Great Britain or Ireland, or of land 
producing so little in scanty pasture as to be nearly 
the capital laid out was amply repaid; and these 
reports afford much useful information to those who 
would embark in such undertakings. 
waste ; and our attention has been long directed to| Why should the strength and sinews of the nation 
the means by which such lands might be rendered | be expended in distant lands, which scarcely acknow- 
productive, without any great risk or sacrifice. The | ledge a common interest with the mother-country, 
suggestion in the letter alluded to,—to establish Joint | while there are yet so many wastes affording ample 
Stock Companies for this purpose,—appears to us to | scope for industry, even within a few hours’ walk of 
be made without much reflection on the nature of | the metropolis? “A foreigner is struck with the light 
such companies and the mode of their management. | heaths and commons near London, and is apt to ex- 
There is no difficulty in finding capital for any | claim—Where is all the superfluous capital, which can 
rational enterprize, provided it be clearly shown that | scarcely find profitable employment, and suggests 
Charge of euthusiasm, express our confident 
there is a fair prospect of its being secure and affording 
a reasonable interest; but before you can raise money 
by mortgage on waste lands, something more than the 
re soil must appear as a security. his is labour, 
judiciously applied, and buildings. ‘The first thing is 
to get houses erected for the cultivators, with other 
necessary farm-buildings, of such dimensions as may 
induce men with slender means to lay out their labour 
on the land. There is no mode of bringing poor land 
into cultivation like a garden-systen—the spade must 
begin the work. Trenching and clearing of Jarge 
stones are essential preliminaries to future production. 
This can only be done with the spade and pickaxe: 
but when it is done there is already a value added to 
the land. If extensive draining, such as that of bogs, 
is necessary, the proprietor must do this himself, or 
grant such length of lease as will indemnify the 
lessee ; and there is no want of enterprising men who 
would risk 10,000/. or 20,0002, if there was a fair 
prospect of profit. This is seen every day in Scotland. 
One good directing head, who has a large sum of 
money at stake, will be worth a whole board of 
directors paid for their services, and only risking litde 
of their own compared to the whole eapital of a com- 
papy. But whatever be the capital of the improver, 
he cannot insure success without the help of inferior 
agents, who must be stimulated by a si:ilar motive of 
self-interest, An industrious man with a family may 
undertake ten, fifteen, or twenty acres of waste land, 
and will in time bring it into cultivation. The land 
in its present state is worth little—little rent, therefore, 
must satisfy the proprietor ; and a lease of twenty-one 
years will appear to the tenant as a kind of perpetuity. 
The expense of the buildings, if built by the proprietor 
of the soil, should pay a fair interest, clear of repairs, 
half of which should be done by the landlord and the 
other half by the tenant. If the tenant can build a 
house, it should be done according to a regular plan 
given by the proprietor, who may furnish materials or 
not, according to circumstances. The tenant, in general, 
has little except labour to give; but this is exactly 
what is most required. No paid labour will ever 
equal that which is voluntary, and of which the 
immediate profit is the labourer’s. Experience fully 
proves this. Intelligence, diligence, and sobriety, 
which are the fruits of a judicious education, are 
essential to success. In Scotland and Prussia, where 
the labourers are well educated, great tracts of poor 
land have been brought into excellent cultivation by 
being Jet out in small portions on lease ; and when the 
term is out the tenant has thriven, and the landlord’s 
rent is vastly increased. Then several of the small 
holdings may be thrown into a farm ; more extensive 
buildings erected, and the most industrious and intel- 
ligent of the smaller occupiers made regular farmers, 
But what is to become of those who are turned out at 
the end of the lease? If they have shown sufficient 
intelligence and industry, another portion of waste 
land may be let to them on advantageous terms, and 
they will go on improving land with all the advantage 
of their former experience. If they have not satisfied 
the expectations of the proprietor, and have not been 
so successful as others, they had better return to the 
condition of day-lubourers. 
A great part of Flanders has been changed from a 
barren sandy heath into fertile fields by the industry 
of small occupiers, and land which was of little or no 
value in its waste state now pays a rent of from 20s. 
to 30s. per acre; while the tenants have, in many 
instances, saved as much as to buy the land they had 
improved, at 30, and even 40 years purchase. 
In Prussia, and different parts of the North of Ger- 
many, the same system has had the same result ; and 
we know of a large tract of black peaty soil in the 
North of Scotland where Heath alone was seen, and 
where stones and rocks of all sizes appeared through 
the soil, completely reclaimed by being let on lease in 
small portions to industrious labourers, who, haying 
materials allowed them, built small houses and sheds, 
according to a regular plan laid down, and gradually 
brought the whole into cultivation. In the 10th Vol. 
of the Prize Essays and{Transactions of the High- 
| 
day in reading and study ; where his own experience 
uncertain expeditions to the Antipodes in hopes of 
| profit, when the bosom of the earth is open, and 
would gratefully and amply repay what is judi- 
ciously confided to it? One great cause of the fear of 
|; embarking in a losing Agricultural speculation is a 
waut of confidence in the steadiness and sobriety of 
| the labouring classes in England. They cannot 
| always be trusted to their own guidance; they are 
not sufficiently educated to feel the importance of 
industry and sobriety. Whenever they are not under 
the eye of the master the temptations to idleness are 
too strong to be resisted. he activity of the mind 
having no proper direction—the desire of information 
not being satisfied, for want of early habits of reading 
and reflection—company is the only relaxation, and 
the company of idle men leads to idleness and intem- 
perance when there is no substance in the thoughts 
or conversation. When the waste of the mind shall 
have been cultivated, there will be no difficulty in 
reclaiming that of the land. 
The well-educated labourer is in a far superior 
position ; he can find relaxation from the toils of the 
» he can have access in books to the experience of 
past generations. The examples of those who have 
risen to affluence, and even power, from the lowest 
ranks in life, stimulate his exertions; he dreams of 
advancement, and every nerve is strained to improve 
his situation in life, Which he knows can only be 
secured by honest and persevering industry. How 
important, then, to the prosperity of a nation is a pro- 
per attention to the education of the people !—i/. 
We mentioned'some time since (p. 603. 1842) that 
Count Hompesech,a Belgian gentleman, had ascertained 
that the bituminous shale of Portland could be profit- 
ably worked as a source of manure, in consequence of 
its becoming, when carbonised and deprived of the 
bituminous watter, a powerful disinfecting material, 
resembling animal charcoal in that respect. 
We now find that the facts connected with this 
project have been collected into a small pamphlet *, 
in which the advantages expected from the preparation 
of the shale are explained. For ourselves, we can only 
state that it is certainly a most energetic remover of 
putrid smells, and express our belief in its being a ma- 
terial extremely well worth examination. We have no 
personal experience in its manuring quality, but we 
understand that when united with decayed animal 
matter, it has proved highly valuable in gardens. 
Among some papers before us, we find the followin 
Memoranda relating to this matter :—* Three sick 
Orange-trees, in a very bad state, with a few yellow 
leaves, and which had not flowered for two years, were 
top-dressed two inches deep with the prepared powder 
on the 15th of March. “In two months they were 
covered with leaves of a deep green, and flowers were 
appearing abundantly. Similar effects on the Camellia 
were obtained by similar means,—the flowers became 
larger and more double.” ; 
Count Hompesch tells us that he has always found 
it best to use the material as a top-dressing, and to 
water with it frequently in small doses ; and that when 
the material has been mixed with the soil, he has not 
found the same beneficial effects. “This,” he 
observes, “ I attribute, to the disinfecting powder of 
the bituminous shale having the property of retaining: 
the carbonate of ammonia in its pores, and to the water 
that passes through being charged with just the dose 
which vegetation requires; so that absorption is slow 
and uniform, instead of being unequal and rapid, as 
happens when the material is mixed with soil,” 
We may add that an interesting account of the 
important fertilising powers of some bituminous shale, 
at Christian Malford, in Wiltshire, is eiven by Mr. 
Gowen in the last Number of the Royal Agric! 
Society’s Journal. ie 
ENTOMOLOGY 
No. 
UV i. 
The Brown Lim 
* SNubice. Uin LE aeeeresLy and Means tur 
Establishment for the Manufacture, on an Extensive Seu 
New and Powerful Manure.” Brussels: Meline & Co, 
