1843.] 
THE GARDENERS 
CHRONICLE. 
grown by John Digby, of Buxton, on one piece of ground, 
between March 11 and Oct. 20, this year. Digby him- 
self gives the following account of his crops :—‘‘I have 
grown, this summer, four crops of Potatoes from the same 
ground, from March 11 to Oct. 20. The first crop ripe 
for seed in May ; the ground cleared before the next crop 
was put on. The second crop taken up the fore part of 
July ; the ground was spaded. The third crop was taken 
up in August ; the groundcleared. The fourth crop was 
taken up Oct. 20. I have a multitude of persons that 
have witnessed what I have now stated. Four crops of 
Potatoes were never known to be grown in the memory 
of man before.” This year John Digby has grown three 
other crops off another piece of ground; the first was 
Cabbages, which he sold at Norwich and Buxton at a 
penny each, at the latter end of March. He then planted 
Onions, for which he obtained a prize at Norwich, for 
being the largest on the Cottagers’ table. He exhibited a 
peck at Aylsham, grown upon the same ground, which 
were superior in size and quality to any others shown 
there, although the others exhibited were not grown after 
another crop, as Digby’s were. He had then another 
crop of fine Cabbages, some of them beautiful white mid- 
dles. Digby says, ‘‘I have the method of growing new 
Potatoes in the winter :—Commence digging at Christmas 
till April, at the rate of two bushels a rod, natural grown; 
no more trouble than those that are grown in spring, and 
are superior in quality to those which are grown in spring.”” 
The above is cut out of the Bury Post. I saw the Pota- 
toes and read the same account at the late Norwich Exhi- 
bition. A certificate of the man’s respectability was ap- 
pended by the Rev. Mr. Jarvis, the clergyman at Buxton. 
—Ranbler. 
Leycesteria formosa.—In reply to‘ M. B.,”’ p. 809, T 
beg to state that I find the berries of Leycesteria formosa 
are readily eaten by pheasants and peafowls, and I know 
Of no plant more desirable for shrubberies and plantations, 
as it seeds freely and is very ornamental.—N. S. H7., 
Botanic Garden, Bury St. Edmund's. 
ees. —‘' J. B.”” relates at p. 758 something curious 
Yespecting Bees being at work in two separate hives. If 
there was a communication between the ‘old and new 
hive,’’ the circumstance of the Bees taking possession of 
the latter would be similar to Bees at work in an end box 
41n a collateral hive ; but if the bustling colonists entered 
both hives at their common entrances, the case would be 
different. The like, however, does happen, though rarely. 
et I never knew an instance of a Queen-bee being the 
head of two separate hives at one time ; consequently, there 
was little chance of ‘‘ securing a fresh colony by removing 
the new hive to a distance from the old one,’’ for the Bees 
Would soon return to the one containing the Queen, 
Supposing that ‘‘ J. B.’s’’ friend’s two hives were at a 
distance from each other during the time the Bees were at 
Work in both, the thing would not only have been curious, 
ut have supported what some apiarians advance, viz., 
when Bees are short of room they search for a place else- 
where to store up their treasure until there is space for it 
at home. This I believe is founded on a statement of 
Gelien’s ; but it cannot be correct. Whoever found Bees 
4n such temporary abodes? indeed it is against their habits 
to Construct cells and work without a Queen, except old 
hives, which are Queenless for a few days after the old 
Queen’s departure with the first swarm.—J. Wighton. 
'0 Bloom Carnations in Winter.—All that is necessary 
is to take them into a greenhouse, giving as much light as 
Possible, and just excluding frost. In this way I have 
wie a large collection blooming from Christmas to April. 
b here piping is practised, they are frequently coming into 
loom as strong plants from layers are going out. The 
however, are always weaker than in the proper 
Season. A common frame raised over a few pots in the 
angle of a south wall, will preserve the bloom some time, 
Stopping the opening below and covering at night.—O. 
) ee sd. Cr. #8. 
79.cash paid for Prizes 215 11 0| By Balance from 1842 10 1) nt 
Tintin, v2 +170 0 0 
1 9} Subscriptions . 
Amount received from 
Mr. Cross on account 
24164] of shows at the 
Censors and other ex. 
Penses at Flower 
OWS . . . 
Advertisements, Sta 
nery, &c. . + 33 11 3] Admissions to Sho’ 
Collector’s poundage ns 
hi 
( 16 50 ¢ Horns 
‘alance due to the ‘avern . . ‘SQLS Belg: 
ety fs, + 38 67} Amount received from 
€ for extra 
prizes, exclusive of 
three silver cups. 1g 7 9 
340 11 11 34011 11 
The following Medals have been awarded durin 
V b g the season ;— 
Gold, 9; Large Silver, 43; Middle Silver, 98; Small Siivaneuy 
Small Si In addition to which 
M. the Queen 
Young. The present number of Members j ; 
elected eG the year, and 31 ee ee 
Several changes were proposed in the Commi! 
spirited contest, the following were elected eae eet) 
u's. Messrs. Barnard, Burnard, Burru| 
Edmonds, Fox, Jeffs, Schroeder, Seldon, Sangster. Te ee 
Gardeners.—Messrs, Atlee, Bruce, Coutts, Hamp, Payne. Nur- 
See rs Meath James Dickson, R. Chandler, Catleugh, Groom, 
nyer. : 
From the active part taken in the proceedings b: 
y many of the 
members present, it is quite clear thatno supineness or partiality 
must exist on the part of those in office. Neither, we verily 
believe, have hitherto existed ; and we are happy in having the 
opportunity of bearing testimony to the high respectability of 
those who have had to conduct the affairs of the Society. Com- 
plaints have no doubt been made, and, in some respects, im- 
provements might perhaps be effected ; but we believe that any 
imputation of unfairness would be totally destitute of foundation. 
An occurrence took place in the course of the meeting which 
will well serve to show the independence and proper feeling of 
It may be recollected that for the last year or 
two Mr. John Dickson has offered a five-guinea cup for the 
best 12 Picotees exhibited by an Amateur. It having been 
understood that, in offering the cup for the coming season, 
r. George Glenny and Mr. Neville were appointed by Mr. 
John Dickson to be censors on the occasion, a question was 
askedf&s to whether this report was true; which having been 
ascertained, and upon Mr. John Dickson declining to withdraw 
a condition so offensive to the Society, it was resolved unani- 
mously “that the Cup be rejected.” Mr. man, of Woolwich, 
immediately offered a Cup of equal value, for the same purpose, 
unconditionally, which was accepted, and the thanks of the 
meeting were voted to Mr. Norman with acclamation. 
LINNEAN SOCIETY. 
¢, 19.—Edward Forster, Esq., in the chair. Dr. Barrett, Dr. 
Allamy, Dr. Hillier, and S. Hanley, Esq., were elected Fellows. 
Mr. Henry Denny was elected an Associate. A communication 
was read from Mr. E. Tradescant Lay, British Consul at Amoy, 
giving some account of a vegetable production called Keih 
Seen-me, which is used in China as an article of diet. It appears 
to be a species of Alga, belonging to the genus Nostoc. A box 
full of the dried plant was exhibited. Its chief use in China is 
in making ragouts, and is in much request at Nankin. Messrs. 
Whitley and Osborn exhibited specimens of Shepherdia argentea 
in full fruit. This isa North American plant, capable of growth 
in this climate. It produces a red fruit, about the size of a large 
Currant, and having an agreeable flavour, perfectly innocuous,and 
used for making jellies, preserves, &c. aper was read from 
Dr. Boott, on a new species of Carex, a native of Scotland, which 
had been found in Clova by Dr.Graham, and had been hitherto con- 
founded with the Carex saxatilis of It was, however, a 
the production of the shrub bearing the name of Balsamodendron 
which is a small shrub. The worst and more liquid kinds 
steep marble rocks, and seem to require little soil for their growth. 
he gum may be obtained by bruising the tree during its growth. 
It is collected by the natives of Abyssinia, and exchanged by them 
for tobacco, cloth, &c. as a remarkal The outer 
layer or epidermis is very thin. The second layer is somewhat 
thicker, and may be used for the purposes of writing. The third 
layer of the bark is at Jeast an inch thick, Specimens of the bark 
were exhibited. A microscope, lately purchased by some of the 
Fellows and presented to the Society, was exhibited. 
MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 
Dec. 20.—A paper was read from Mr. Tulke on the discovery of 
a new parasite, the Demodex folliculorum of Owen, on a dog 
which was suffering from the mange. This animal, which is 
placed by zoologists in the order Arachnida, was first described 
by Dr. Simon as an Acarus, and afterwards by Mr. Wilson as an 
was first discovered in the human skin, where it 
exists sometimes in considerable numbers in the mucous fol- 
licles. In the instance of its being found in the mangy dog it 
did not appear to be the cause of the disease. Mr. Tulke was not 
able to discover sufficient difference of structure between the 
present and the human species to warrant him in giving it a new 
ett exhibited specimens of Cycada septem- 
a short account of an exami- 
nation he had made of Daguerreotyped portraits, and whichpre- 
sented the appearance of hexagonal cells, which probably arose 
from the crystallization of the iodide of silver. A letter was read 
from the Rev. J. B. Reade, recommending an infusion of nut-galls 
as one of the best fluids for cleaning glasses used for microscopi- 
cal purposes, r. Busk exhibited an achromatic lens, between 
glasses of which were evident indications of the growth of a Con- 
ferva of a simple kind. Mr. R. olly observed that such 
markings on telescope glasses were very common, and were 
supposed to arise from some decomposition of the glass. Mr. 
Ross said he had often seen this same kind of marking, and did 
not think it could be of a vegetable nature, as the glasses required 
grinding to get it off. Dr. Lankester thought this inquiry im- 
portant. Microscopists were often misled, and crystalline markings 
ofa dendritic form in agates, rocks, &c., had been mistaken for 
vegetables. He was inclined, from the circumstance of thes: 
glasses not having been exposed to damp, the branched charactey- 
of the marking, and the necessity there was of grinding the glas,s 
to remove it, to consider it as of crystalline, and not of vegetahie 
origin. 
o 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
DECEMBER. 
By the Author of “ Rural Sonnets ;” ‘ Spartacus ;*" &c. 
Crown’p With Chrysanthemums that, on his brow, 
Smile lonelily, like Duty tending Age, 
December, to fulfil his rigid vow, 
O’er moor and mountain toils in pilgrimage. 
Lo! with the stinging sleet, or driving blast, 
He buffets; or with mist his path is cross’d ; 
Now, a ‘‘ white world,” bewildering, sets him fast ; 
The trees all cover’d, and the tracks al t, 
Or Robins bare the berries to the sight ; 
Or madcap elves, in holida: ‘eer, 
Snowball each other to their hearts’ delight, 
‘Till driv’n to troop—from ghosts and darkness round— 
Where fireside romps and cheer, for Christmas folk, aboand ! 
Inner Temple, Dec. 13, 1843, TLS. 
Dublin.—We understand that Dr.” Allman is likely to 
be re-elected Professor of Botany in this University ; and 
that Mr. W. H. Harvey, the well-known zealous and 
talented author of “ British Alge’’ is a candidate for the 
Curatorship of the Herbarium, vacant by the death of Dr. 
Coulter. 
New Natural History Society.— Papers have been 
circulated inviting naturalists to co-operate in ‘the forma- 
tion of a new Society, to be called ‘‘ The Ray Club,” the 
objects of which are stated to be the Promotion, of Natural 
History by the printing, and circulation among its mem- 
bers, of original works in Zoology and Botany ; of new 
editions of works of established merit ; of rare Tracts and 
MSS. which throw light on the history of tlese branches 
of science ; and of translations of such forgign works as 
tend more directly to illustrate the Zoology and Botany 
of the British Islands. We confess it appésrs to us much 
better to support the Linnean and Zoological Societies 
than to form a new one, for which there does not appear 
to be the smallest necessity. 
Pruning Fruit-Trees.—In a garden at Ville d’Avray, 
near Paris, there is a piece of excellent open ground 
where fruit-trees, particularly Pears, grow with much 
vigour, which suggested to M. Milange, the gardener, a 
mode of pruning suitable to their strength. The branches 
are all single, that is to say, not forked. He only leaves 
the strong shoots and the fruit-buds, so that the branches 
pruned according to their vigour, and ata suitable distance 
in the height of the trees, allow the sun and air free action 
upon the fruit to ripen and colour it.—Rapport & la 
Société Royale d’ Horticulture, par MM. Godefroy, 
Janin, Pépin. 
Fruiterers’ Shops at Chrisimas.—‘ Fruiterers were 
radiant in their glory. There were great, round, pot- 
bellied baskets of Chesnuts, shaped like the waistcoats of 
jolly old gentlemen, lolling at the doors, and tumbling 
out into the street in their apoplectic opulence. There 
were ruddy, brown-faced, broad-girthed Spanish Onions, 
shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish Friars ; 
and winking from their shelves in wanton slyness at the 
girls as they went by, and glanced demurely at the hung- 
up Mistletoe. There were Pears and Apples, clustered 
high in blooming pyramids; there were bunches of 
Grapes, made, in the shopkeepers’ benevolence, to dangle 
from conspicuous hooks, that people’s mouths might 
water gratis as they passed; there were piles of Filberts, 
mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance, ancient 
walks among the woods, and pleasant shufflings ankle 
deep through withered leaves; there were Norfolk 
Biffins, squab and swarthy, setting off the yellow of the 
Oranges and Lemons, and, in the. great compactness of 
their juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching 
to be carried home in paper bags and eaten after dinner.’ 
—Dickens’ Christmas Carol. 
Portable Hot-bed.—We find ina French periodical the 
following account of a contrivance which may suit the 
taste of amateurs, who have a small number of cuttings 
to strike, or may wish to amuse themselves with garden- 
ing experiments. The apparatus consists of three pieces 
of earthenware (zinc or copper would be better) ; viz. :— 
@, the foot, ou which stands 6, the basin, which is itself sur- 
mounted by the plate, c. In the foot, a, is placed a tin or 
earthenware lamp, Three or four inches above the 
wick is placed a short iron cistern, ¢, carried by three feet 
which yest upon the bottom of the basin, d ; it is 3 inches 
eep, 7 inches in diameter, and is fed by a pipe and funnel, 
SF; inito which water is poured until it can be seen at the bot- 
town of the funnel, which shows that the cistern is full, 
The plate ¢, formed of common red earthenware, consists of 
‘wo circular trenches gg, hh, 4 inches broad, and as much 
deep, filled with sand, in which are placed, in two rows, in 
the trench, g, 86 little thumbpots, and in the trench h, 40, 
which’ makes room for 120 or 130 cuttings, or more, aceord- 
ing to the size of the thumbpots. In the foot, a, is a 
door, fastening with a button such as is always used in 
earthenware furnaces ; it is removed when the lamp is in- 
troduced, and is afterwards replaced. This lamp gets air by 
eight holes, i, bored in the foot, a, by eight others still 
smaller at k, and eight or ten at/, inthe plate. Itis easy to 
conceive that the cistern, e, isintended to break and regu- 
late the heat, which principally passes through the water, 
or, when it rises between the cistern and the lower part of 
the vessel, 0, is diffused under the plate, where it circu- 
lates, charged with water, in the spaces, nn. The most 
intense part of the heat strikes m, through a plate of 
metal pierced with holes. From this arrangement, it 
results that the centre of the apparatus, that is, the ditch, 
h, is hotter than the others by some degrees, so that the 
one will do for stove plants, and the other for greenhouse 
ones. The whole is covered by the handglass, p. The 
apparatus is also adapted for bringing up seeds, or trying 
their germinating powers. The cost of oil for the lamp 
is said to be at Paris four francs per month. 
Scientific Bequests.—The late Mr. Thomas Botfield, of* 
Hopton Court, near Bewdley, has lately bequeathed to 
the Horticultural, Royal, and Geological Societies, the 
Royal Institution, and the Society of Arts, the amount of 
a life subscription to each of those bodies. 
GARDEN MEMORANDA, 
Bodorgan Hall, Anglesea.—At this place has lately b 
a large ornamental stove which is heated by a fine *,. oe recom 
with open gutters, thus taking advantage of fire-h’ sos in tyro y 
Round the stove a large fiue is constructed t ¢-5 feet decpeantll 
20 inches broad, and instead of the common f, oy, tiles tt 
jal, but having two 
‘ - : 4ow and return for the 
circulation of hot water from a boiler he yateq by the same fire, 
The smoke enters the flue near where ‘(he pipes. from. the hoiler 
