THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



19 



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W 4nQ FROM A ROSARY. By T. Westwood. 



E\DS * K ~i r nf «« Miscellaneous Poems." 



L „„dorSA«° - ^^.S-PaUMaUEast^ 



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T^OVEDPLAN OF [H]EATING. 



«-«« Tuv and Co., Gloucester-place, Chelsea, 



W EEKS, JUNm an » Gardening: Profession, 



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Thursday, * e °-J' ted to communicate as soon as possible, 

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G 0UC h S am Sh Baldwin Vceadock. Paternoster-row. 



Cfje gar^ggg^ Chronicle 



SATURDA Y, JANUA RY 13, 1844. 



MEETINGS FOR~THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS 



Tomday, Jan. 16 



u 



»? 



Wsdnmdat, Jan. 17 

 » »» 



Horticultural 

 Linnean 



Society of Arts 

 Microscopical 



W»d»k«»at, Jan. 24 . Entomological 



3 P.M. 

 8 P.M. 



8 P M. 

 8 P.M. 



8 P.M. 



We have already expressed our intention to devote, 

 durincr the present year, a few articles to the consider- 

 ation of economical and efficient heating as applied to 

 conservatories, with a view especially to the improve- 

 ments which have heen introduced in the course of 

 the last three or four years. That period has been 

 unusually fertile in projects— some good, and some 

 indifferent, connected with every branch of the sub- 

 ject ; with the production, as well as with the appli- 

 cation, of heat ; with the chemistry no less than the 

 mechanics. We shall therefore commence our inqui- 

 ries with the first of these, as being the first in order, 

 and as being scarcely less interesting to the possessor 

 of a conservatory than to the proprietor of a steam- 

 engine. The waste of mere money by bad combus- 

 tion may, it is true, be of less consequence to the 

 former than to the latter; but the nuisance arising 

 from smoke and deleterious vapours, considered as a 

 matter of taste and comfort, is not less objectionable 

 in an ornamental garden than in a manufacturing 

 town. 



With reference, then, to the economical production 

 of heat, or in other words, to the construction of a 

 furnace which shall effectually consume all the con- 

 sumable constituents of the fuel, the public have, it is 

 to be feared, been repeatedly misled; 1st, by pro- 

 mises of performing something which is perhaps im- 

 possible ; and 2dly, by experiments made under cir- 

 cumstances of care and vigilance, which are inconsist- 

 ent with the ordinary and indispensable routine of 

 actual business. While, therefore, some chimerical 

 perfection has been toiled after in vain, the parties 

 most interested have become dispirited by repeated 

 ill success, and have been deterred from attempting 

 to secure the moderate degrees of amelioration which 

 we believe to be practicable and easily obtainable. 

 The often-promised excellence has so often failed to 

 be forthcoming, that the most imperfect and wasteful 

 contrivances have been submitted to in despair. 



It has been assumed by one very large class of the 

 furnace-improvers, that the cardinal defect of all the 

 old arrangements consists in the failure to supply at 

 the right time and in the right place a sufficient, yet 

 not more than sufficient, quantity of air. By another 

 and almost equally large class, it has been taken for 

 granted that the mischief has arisen from the circum- 



5k n u e that the cold fuel > bein S usuall y placed above 

 tne hotter portions, the early products of the distilla- 

 tion of the coal issue from a comparatively cold 

 stratum, and therefore escape unburnt for want of 

 sufficient heat to inflame them. 



in rU*t fa i Ct is ' most P r °bably, that there is some truth 

 in ooth these statements ; but not so much in either 



A J kT advocate s contend for. And both of them are 

 doubtless wrong in taking it for proved that all 



narv ga r e °^ P roducts of the coal, as liberated by ordi- 

 with ( ! stlllatlon > ar e combustible when duly supplied 

 name] res P ective specifics of the candidates— 



other air ° n the 0ne lland ' and heat upon the 



to a!u I th } 8 is not the case > we think must be obvious 

 count h° amused themselves (and who in this 



as thev not ?) by watching the play of the gases 



sionallv 680 ^ 6 ** 0m the coal in a common fire - ° cca " 

 * n a hair JG - Wi ^ De 0Ds erved issuing from a fissure 

 tne four? P- te< * nodule ( we presume this word to be 

 coals ») % 101 } of the parlour phrase, " nice nohbly 



the fire • tr? a Jet wiU be P ro J ected out *n front of 

 within thV . efore > in to a pure atmosphere, and 

 neverthelp re810n ° f hi gnly-elevated temperature. It 

 an d will rp!- C .° n n nues in the state of white smoke, 

 the annW- st all / ndeavours made to inflame it by 

 ^cr, i^in U0n 1 f a ^nted match. At length, how- 

 tQ e circum.? Uddenl y ta ke fire, without any change in 

 cvidentT' tanCe \ of air or hea t; but solely, as is 

 graduallv oK. USe ? e Products of the distillation have 



cnanred • the emitted m has been altered 



in its chemical character, and has become susceptible I 

 of that inflammation which it previously refused. 

 This is a point which, it appears to us, the furnace- 

 physicians have not sufficiently noted : and it leads 

 us to doubt of that perfect combustion which has 

 been aimed at and rather rashly undertaken. Here, 

 at least, seems to be a case where neither heat nor air 

 could produce inflammation in a distinctly-visible 

 gaseous matter, and to which none of the prevalent 

 schemes apply any remedy — of which, indeed, they 

 take no notice. 



Nevertheless, we have every reason to believe that 

 there is in every furnace, at some period of its opera- 

 tion, an inadequate supply of air, or of temperature, 

 and sometimes of both. The advocates of fresh air 

 laugh at those who demand additional heat, and ask 

 whether they are aware that heat, although it will 

 burn their fingers, will not burn smoke, or anything 

 else — using the word burning in the sense of consum- 

 ing, by new chemical combinations. These parties, 

 however, laugh rather too soon, and not, we suspect, 

 with quite sufficient reason, as the following common 

 fact will show :— when coals are heaped in excess on 

 an ordinary fire, a dense mass of smoke rises from the 

 upper surface, which, like the jet before alluded to, 

 will for some time resist inflammation, whatever heat 

 be applied to it. After a certain period, however, it 

 becomes inflammable, yet fails to inflame, because no 

 sufficient heat finds a road to it from the overloaded 

 fire. If in this state a lighted paper be thrown on the 

 top of the coals, the whole surface becomes a blaze, 

 showing clearly that the gaseous matters were pre- 

 viously escaping unburnt for want of heat alone. 



On the other hand, it must be admitted that this is 

 not the only defect ; the imperfect combustion does, 

 in many cases, arise from the inadequate supply of 

 air, and occasionally from an improper mode of sup- 

 ply, even when the quantity is abundant : sometimes, 

 perhaps, even from an excess of air ; but these are 

 intricate questions, which we must postpone to another 

 paper. — A. 



It must not be supposed, from the statement last 

 week quoted from Mr. Barnes's Treatise on Pine- 

 growing, that he starves his plants with poor hungry 

 soil ; that, indeed, would be a strange way of obtain- 

 ing results like his. On the contrary, he uses manure, and 

 a good deal of it. His charcoal is a sort of manure, and 

 moreover he employs liquid manure, in the form it 

 always should have ; not the filthy mud with which some 

 gardens are rendered offensive both to the eye and other 

 senses, but the clear bright essence of the material. " Of 

 course," Mr. Barnes says, "I do not supply it so 

 strong to small w r eak plants as I do to strong large 

 ones, and I always give it in a clear state, never by any 

 means when thick and muddy, but clear and pure, as 

 I would like a cup of coffee or a glass of ale. Is it not 

 absurd to take pains to get the earth pure, and to admit 

 pure air, and then to apply impure muddy water, thus 

 stopping the pores of the earth ? and there too where 

 a mole, mouse, worm, or other insect, is sought for, 

 and expelled as an enemy, instead of being encoura ; i d 

 as a friend. Practice has taught me that thick in ;\ i c 

 water, supplied largely to any plant under artificial 

 treatment, proves often very injurious out of doors ; 

 where the worm is not destroyed it acts differently ; 

 at the same time, my choice is always to apply it both 

 in doors and out in a clear state, as I am well con- 

 vinced of its superiority." Upon this matter we may 

 possibly have something to say another day. 



Then, with regard to bottom-heat ; can anything 

 possibly be so absurd as to run the common risk of 

 burning off the roots of the plants by a too high 

 terrestrial temperature ? To be sure, this may seem 

 of little consequence to those who cut off the roots if 

 they are not killed in some other way; but Mr. 

 Barnes knows better. He is aware of the great 

 importance of preserving the roots, and accordingly 

 his directions about bottom-heat are worthy of being 

 inscribed in letters of gold. 



" You may have the best of soil and water, but 

 without bottom-heat is very particularly and punc- 

 tually attended to, great disappointments will ensue : 

 there is more injury done by bottom- heat than by all the 

 other causes put together ; and, to my thinking, this 

 was, in the first instance the means of giving them 

 the character of being annually-rooted plants. Of 

 one thing I am certain, that by misapplication it has 

 often been the means of depriving them of their roots, 

 not only annually, but almost every time their fer- 

 menting bed got renewed; which sudden checks are 

 the principal cause of their producing such abundance 

 of rubbish of suckers, and diminutive bits of fruit. 

 To prevent those unnatural checks and disappoint, 

 ments my method is, to plunge the pot they are grow- 

 ing in not more than two-thirds of its depth, with an 

 inverted pot for each plant to stand on (any ill-shaped 

 old pots, or such as have a piece broken out of the 

 side, or are cracked, fee* are always put by for this 

 purpose), the fermenting material being always kept 

 tolerably loose about them. Should I think the bot- 

 tom likelv to heat strondv. I merelv oive the *wt* - 



move back and front with a strong stake, which causes 

 them to stand clear, with a cavity all round, to allow 

 the heat and air to circulate freely ; and when settled 

 I loosen the whole bed up between the pots with a 

 small hand-fork, and strong pointed stake, for the same 

 purpose, just as I hoe and fork amongst crops in the 

 Kitchen garden. I have observed people plunge their 

 Pine-plants down into a strong bottom-heat, and 

 fancying, perhaps, after a time, that they were too hot, 

 set to work and move them : and others I have ob- 

 served pour a quantity of water round them ; my 

 maxim is, prevent those occurrences ; for it generally 

 proves like the old proverb of locking the stable after 

 the horse has been stolen. Of what utility can a good 

 preparation of pure soil and water be, if it is to be 

 soured and spoilt by an unnatural bottom-heat ? My 

 own practice is never to allow more than from 70 to 

 80° near the pot containing the roots." 



Keep your plants constantly and steadily growing. 

 No disrootings ; no starving to-day and cramming 

 to-morrow; no doing good by fits and starts; but a 

 constant, steady, uninterrupted quick growth,— that is 

 what the Pine wants. Mr. Barnes shifts from 24s 



to 8s and then to 2s. 



" Sudden checks, such as burning the roots, over- 

 watering, extensive fluctuations in top-heat, &c., are 

 the means of causing numberless rubbishly suckers to 

 be thrown up, more particularly from old stunted 

 plants, which is a very great disadvantage to the 

 swelling and flavour of the fruit if they are allowed 

 to stay on the plant ; and if they are not taken oft 

 with great care, there will be so many wounds left on 

 the stem of the plant, that the sap which should 

 assist in swelling the fruit, oozes from the stem in the 

 shape of gum, and the remedy becomes as bad as the 



evi1 -" 



And now, after these and other excellent remarks, 



full of practical value in other things beside Pine- 

 growing, we trust that we shall have no more idle 

 cavilling about want of means and want of space and 

 want of time, and all sorts of other wants, as impedi- 

 ments to growing Queen Pines to the weight of (5 lbs. 

 avoirdupois. We shall set down all such pretences as 

 only a new phraseology for want of skill. For what 

 does Mr. Barnes use which all Pine-growers do not 

 possess ? The poorest soil, manure- water, large pots, 

 charcoal, care, skill, and attention. But enough for 

 to-day. We shall take an early opportunity of return- 

 ing to the subject, which is a long way from being 

 exhausted.* 



A correspondent is shocked at a paragraph in a 

 Leading Article of last week, on the subject of Ward s 

 Cases, as he well may be. He cannot be so much 

 shocked as we are. Speaking of dew formed on the 

 inside of the glasses in these contrivances, there is the 

 following paragraph :— w As to the deposit of dew 

 upon the glasses, we may observe that since this is 

 owing to the inside of the case being colder than the 

 air that surrounds it, the only course to take is either 

 to warm the internal air by some means, or to open a 

 door in the case for a short time." 



How a statement so entirely at variance with tact 

 could have escaped observation can only be under- 

 stood by those who are aware of the errors that 

 arise from illegible writing, and of the confusion 

 that is inseparably" connected with the publication 

 of the first Number of a new Newspaper. We 

 hope no one will imagine that the sentence] was 

 written as it has been printed. What the author 

 of the paragraph actually wrote was no doubt this : 

 — " As to the deposit of dewupon the glasses we may 

 observe that since this is owing to the ow*side of the 

 case being colder than the air that it surrounds, the 

 only course to take is either to warm the eternal air 

 by some means, or to open a door in the case for a 



short time." 



Fortunately, this misprint is # not likely to have mis- 

 led any one, because all gardeners know how the facts 

 stand, by their experience with frames and green- 

 houses, even if they should not be acquainted with the 

 A B Cof Natural Philosophy. We hardly need add 

 that the object of opening a door in a Ward's case is to 

 equalize the temperature of the inside and outside, 

 the result of which is the non-formation of dew. 



No. II. 



THE SEEDS OF GARDENING. 



(Continued from page 4.) 



The flinty coating of many foreign Legumes will pre- 

 serve the living germ for an indefinite period, and with- 

 stand scalding water, and even several rounds of the 

 grindstone, to reduce the envelopes bufficiently to admit 

 t he air and water necessary to germinate the infant pl ant. 



* We had written thus far, when we received a letter, reproach- 

 ing us for not having reprinted the whole of Mr. Barnes s article, 

 as it appeared in the " Gardeners' Magazine" of Jan. i ; anu 

 pointing to another Gardening newspaper as authority for J"""** 

 so. Our answer is very brief. The « Gardeners' Magazine ana 

 the papers in it are the property of Mrs. Loudon : tot™ 8 '""? 

 property to out own columns is to dip our hand into our neign 

 hour's pocket and empty its contents into our own-a convcu enc 

 mode of getting rich, butnotavery honest one. W e are not j plun- 

 derers of the widow and orphan ; and we are sure that our ^or- 

 respondent will see, upon reflection that his first view of tn£ 

 matter was a mistaken one, and that the obligations we iow to 



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