BO 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Jan. 13 



I mention this to show that Nature baa herself tinted to 

 m the necessity of encasing the feeds that we would 

 preserve. 



The seeds of Conifene, encased in their resinous integu- 

 ments, are beautiful illustrations of seed -keeping, sound 

 seeds being found in cones attached to the spray on which 

 they grew, three or four years after the blossom that pro- 

 duced them had been dead. The seed-pods of the common 

 Oorse snd the Rho l< ndron are frequently sealed up 

 from the foul weather of wiuter, and onlv en t » scatter 

 their seeds to the spring sunh am ; the (iorse and Rhodo- 

 dendron are therefore notorious examples of neglected 

 plants, for though some may object to the Yew-tree as 

 being an in-dweller with the crave, erbaps not free 



from poison if eaten to « e»s by men or domestic animals, 

 yet no such excuie can be urged agaimt the Rhododen- 

 dron, still less against tin- Gocse, for it is by far the best 

 cover for game of any British plant we possess, and Yields 

 a canopy of green and gold to the landscape, food and 

 shelter to the wild fowl, and forage for cattle ; and surely 

 the Rh< lendron might stmd in all its loveliness. 

 Wherever the wild Heath grow*, there, be assured, the 

 soil U suitable, for all Ericace« may follow where Calluna 

 has been, as far as soil is concerned ; ai»d as a mod rate- 

 sized bush of Rhododendron produces at least lOOi) perfect 

 •teds annually, w r not if fair and friendly hands go 



forth to sow; and thus Brit i moorlands, proverbially brown, 

 may yet, ere an age r\j>ire, put on a rosy hue. Nature has 

 taught Ith riendroni to open their blossoms in early sum- 

 mer, to ensure Impregnation, and perfect seed, an I again 

 to hurst their seed pods in « arly spring, to secure a favour- 

 able tt«d ue; therefore, if thi y are once put in posses- 

 sion of our heaths and m< ds, their posterity will be 



pro? d for, and I! lin'l hills adorned ; for they will 

 soon propagate themselves by my r ads on every mutt and 

 moor. Tl > so here, and at ( hatsworth in situations 



high and bleak, hith » considered unfavourable to Ann 



ricen plants, thereby proving pro ly the working of 



»c plan 1 propose — of Inoculating, as it were, by patches, 



the mountain's brow and wide extending moor with seeds 



of native and exotic evergreens, and thus bringing them 



Jiecemeal into ornamental and valuahle cultivation, for 

 am tired of seeing square miles of H the land we live in" 

 ) Iding only besom -timber. 



But I bi ■ the main subject, namely, the saving, 



preserving, indd buting of seeds with some fixed system, 

 and scrurding to some general plan. In the saving of seeds, 

 I would nor have gardeners to be seedsmen ; yet, to a certain 

 limited extent, is this branch forced upon us, meet it how 

 we may. A drying-room, hot room, or something very 

 nearly resen ing a slow Corn-kilo, is essentially neces- 

 sary in every garden, not only for seeds, but also for all 

 other art es requiring drought, or liable to injury from 

 damp, inch as the nets I bunting for wall-trees, and the 

 like; garden-mats, glazed lights, ra wet weather, or when 

 washed previous to punting; and last, though not the 

 least necess proper drying of pot-herbs — a process 



seldom, if ever, properly dour. To prove tuis, it is only 

 necessary to examine Knglish-dried Bati), Mint, Marjo- 

 ram, or the like, in bundles, leaves, and stems, or perhaps 

 with the leives wanting, exhibiting only a bundle of dry 

 or mouldy stilks, dusty or damp, as the apartment 

 chanced to be where they were stowed. Compare these, 

 I pray you, with Chinese dried herbs ! And be it known, 

 that English herbs will dry as neatly as Chinese tea in a 

 hot room, such as is used here and in many other places 

 for the seasoning of green timber. Camomile flowers and 

 the leaves of pot-herbs may in this manner be dried of a 

 fine green colour in IS hours ; and, if canistered imme- 

 diately, will keep fresh and fragrant for years. The sun 

 I highly injurious to the drying of herbs, as it bleaches 

 them ; and as for using canisters to keep herb. leaves in, 

 I will produce precedents by thou , for all wise 



matrons must agree that canist i must be had to preserve 

 the flavour of fine tea, and so of other leaves and flowers ; 

 n short the saving of seeds in such a manner as shall 

 preserve in the highest degree their vital energies, requires, 

 in our humid clime, the aid of artificial drought, and when 

 they are dried and dressed bright ami dean they must be 

 encased in something impermeable to moisture, in a word 

 they must be kiln-dried to ripen them off, and canistered 

 to keep them. Scarcely any article that we possess, 

 unless it be as obdurate as the nether-millstone, can for 

 any length of time remain unchanged in its nature and 

 consistency, if exposerfto the jarring elements that agitate 

 our ever- varying atmosphere : hence the imperative neces- 

 sity of having seeds, and indeed everything else, isolated 

 from the air itself, as well as the other elements, if we 

 wisH to preserve them in statu quo, and I have not the 

 least doubt that if seeds were soldered air-tight in cases, 

 after being perfectly ripe and hard dry, and excluded from 

 the ordinary changes on the earth's surface, by being en- 

 tombed deep in its bowels, they would rise and resume the 

 place and the line of their ancestors if carefully sowed in 

 season time, though they may have reposed a century undt 

 ground ; for one grand cause of seeds not keeping is their 

 imperfe ons and encumbrances. Take a powerful micro- 

 scope and examine seeds six months after harvest, and you 

 will find their coatings clammy from original or occasional 

 damp, and eggs of devouring insects si ng to their husk, 

 ready to begin as soon as it is warm enough to devour the 

 core of the seed on which they have fixed their dwelling. 

 — A. Forsyth, Alton Towers, 



(To be continued.) 



TANK HEATING. 

 Thk subjoined is a plan of a Pine-pit recently erected 

 at Trentham, in which the tank system of bottom- 

 heating and that of hot-water pipes for top-heat are 



combined j tad for keeping a sufficient^ and stead/ 



heat, with a small consumption of fuel, nothing can 

 be more satisfactory. The pit is 77 feet long, and 12 

 feet wide inside, and is heated by what is called a saddle- 

 boiler. Under the bed are four tanks, a a a a, into which 

 the water is delivered from the boiler, by a four-inch pipe 

 at o &, and after pursuing the course indicated by the 

 arrows is again received by another pipe, the end of which 

 is shown at c. The advantage of two deliveries is that the 

 water, not having so far to go, does not get so cold before 

 it is returned to the boiler, and the heat is more regular 

 in all parts of the house. The depth of water in the tauks 

 is about 3 inches. The tanks are made of brick work, coated 

 with Roman cement. They are arched over wi'h brick- 

 work also, which we find cheaper than covering them with 

 slates, and by leaving interstices between the bricks of 

 which the arch is composed, the steam is allowed to 

 escape, and penetrating the stratum of rubble above, to 

 keep the tan in a proper state of moisture. The same 

 boiler also supplies a range of four-inch pipe, which goes 

 round the pit, as shown at e in the section. There are 

 cavities in the wall, to permit the steam from below to 

 psis to the top of the pit. The aperture to these can be 

 closed at pleasure, thus insuring a perfect command over 

 the moisture of the atmosphere, g is a chamber which 

 formerly contained a flue belonging to the house that 

 occupied the place of the one I am now describing. This 

 chamber has b i left with the view of its being useful 

 for filling with hot dung, either for the purpose of assisting 

 to maintain the heat of the house, or for destroying 

 insects, thus anticipating Mr. Beaton's remarks of the 

 week before last. The tanks and pipes cannot both be 



worked at the same time, but they are fitted with stop- 

 cocks, so that either can be worked at pleasure ; and a 

 few hours in the middle of the day, when the pipes are 

 not wanted, is found amply sufficient to keep up the 

 bottom-heat, as the mass of material, when once heated, 

 retains its heat for a considerable time. I am keeping a 

 register of the heat indicated by the thermometer out-of- 

 doors, in the pit, and in the bed, taken every morning at 

 daybreak — and of the quantity of coals consumed each 

 day ; and when the weather is sufficiently severe to test 

 the efficiency of the apparatus, I will send it, if you think 

 it will be interesting to your readers. — G. Fleming, 

 Trentham. 



THE ACCUMULATIVE SYSTEM OF CULTIVA- 

 TION— No. I. 



At page ""G of 1343 an instance is given of the benefit 

 of a proper mechanical texture of soil in the cultivation 

 of Sch thus reti s, and evidence was produced to 

 show that the proportions of material to be employed in 

 potting are, to a great extent, regulated by its property of 

 maintaining a uniform circulation of moisture during the 

 whole growth of a plant, all other conditions being equal. 

 In the same paper mention is also made of the success 

 attending an application of manure (as a substitute for 

 leaf-mould) in a partial state of decomposition, to such 

 plants as are capable of deriving nourishment from nu- 

 tritive material in a gross form; and the following instance 

 is cited of high culture being attained by a treatment, 

 which, at that period (1832), was deemed impracticable. 



Having two store pots of seedling Balsams, which had 

 remained for some time exposed upon the front platform 

 of a greenhouse, and the season (the end of June) being 

 too advanced to obtain seed from them under ordinary 

 management, it occurred to the writer, that having dis- 

 pensed with the process of shifting in the growth of 

 Schizanthus, the same operation might also be avoided 

 in the present case. To obtain healthy plants for the 

 experiment, they were pricked off singly in 60 sized pots, 

 and placed on the elevated front of a small greenhouse, 

 here, with repeated syringing, and as high a tempera- 

 ture from sun -heat as the situation would admit, a vigor, 

 ous circulation of sap was obtained. The following com- 

 post was used :— finely-pulverized vegetable mould, having 

 the appearance of coarse black garden soil— to which was 

 added an equal portion of half-decomposed, dry, friable 

 manure in flakes, the latter only being Dassed, as far as 

 it could be reduced, through a sieve of" little more than 

 two-eighths of an inch in the wire. 12 sized pots 



were prepared with a bottom drainage of one large slightly 



hollow potsherd, or two large flat potsherds, laid over th« 

 cavity half way, each upon the other's edge ; upon thest 

 as sub-drainage, were added two to three inches of lar.' 

 coarse flakes of similar manure (dried by exposure to tK 

 air) closely pressed. The plants were potted n.-mlvsi 

 this well-incorporated material. An experienced gardener 

 observing the process of potting, remarked that the writer 

 would '* rue that,'' meaning that the soil would prove in. 

 capable of sustaining the plants against a high tempera, 

 ture, and the variations of atmosphere to which they mirfe 

 be subject. 



They were thus placed upon a tile platform and stare 

 of a greenhouse, admitting a tolerable elevation and foil 

 exposure to light. There being no front lights, the poti. 

 tion was well adapted for close treatment. In this situ, 

 ation they were subjected to as hot and humid an atmo- 

 sphere as the weather would permit. Great attention *u 

 paid to giving air in the fore part of the day, for two 

 three, or four hours ; and equal care was observed 

 throughout the whole period of growth in maintaining! 

 desirable temperature, by closing the house immediately 

 on the indication of a change in the external atmosphere 

 as the only means of securing the highest possible degree 

 of heat under the most unfavourable influences; and, on 

 all occasions, when the intensity of sunlight would allow 

 it, the house was closed (during the first and intermediate 

 stages of growth), with a temperature varying from 

 70° to 90°, with requisite waterings and syringing! 

 over the whole house. By these means, a uniform and 

 accumulated growth was obtained, to the surprise of 

 those who anticipated opposite result?*. The emission of 

 roots upon the stems, the uniform bloom, and the exube- 

 rant foliage, afforded ample proof that larger proportion! 

 of soil might have been applied with equal success. Gar- 

 doners inquired how many shifts these plants had received, 

 and when their first growth was made; and when they 

 were told that the position in which the plants then 

 stood was the only one from the first shift, those culti- 

 vators could not understand the principles on which the 

 experiment was founded, nor admit the progressive action 

 and power of decomposed vegetable matter, when applied 

 in a modified state, and acted upon by an intense atmo- 

 spheric and solar agency. In this instance, they could 

 not perceive that, in obtaining a simultaneous and unin- 

 terrupted growth, the means employed were equal to the 

 effect ; and that, in transferring the plants in a young and 

 excitable state to large masses of soil, that the material! 

 * were of a texture and quality adapted to their growth, 

 and so mechanically arranged as to enable their tender 

 organs to assimilate their food without being exposed to 

 excess of moisture.*'* In fact, this first attempt to 

 supersede the ordinary operations of shifting by the 

 higher and more powerful agencies of Nature was misun- 

 derstood, and that important principle, that "atmo- 

 spheric and solar agency should be so modified as to 

 balance the power of absorption to which plants are 

 exposed,"-)- and vice versd, was entirely overlooked. By 

 using portions of soil in a partially dried state, it was ren- 

 dered applicable to the different stages of growth : 1st, 

 mechanically, by its greater porosity ; 2dly, nutritiously, 

 by the gradual decomposition of organic remains in pro- 

 portion to the power of absorption required for perfect 

 growth. The foregoing instance of cultivation involves 

 the following principles : — 



1st. — For the attainment of perfect growth in plants, 

 "it is indispensable that the supply of fluid by the roots 

 should be continued and uninterrupted."^: 



2d. — The accumulative vigour of all plants is exactly in 

 proportion to the progre£sive agency of the cause to whieh 

 they are first subjected. — IV. Wood. 



BEES.— No. II. 



(Continued from page 5.) 



Almost all the hives that are used about London are 

 wider at the top than at the bottom, in order to prevent 

 the combs from falling down ; but if they were an inch 

 or two wider at the bottom than the top or crown, the 

 Bees would gather more honey, the process of taking out 

 the combs would be facilitated, and the hives would not 

 become awry so often. In the centre of the crown of each 

 hive there ought to be a hole six inches in diameter, 

 covered with a movable lid. To this lid a bit of comb 

 (that working Bees are bred in) ought to be sealed, or 

 sealed to a tally, and then pinned to the lid, to induce the 

 Bees to make the combs run from front to back. Four or 

 five sticks or stakes must cross from side to side of 

 the hive, to which the Bees fasten the combs. Where 

 sticks are thus used the Bees have passage-holes or 

 by-ways in every comb at every stick. These by-wayi 

 are not in combs when sticks are not used. The door of 

 the hive should be five inches wide, and nearly one inch 

 high. The boards on which hives are placed should not be 

 fastened to single pedestals, but be movable with the hives. 

 That part of the board which projects in front, which the 

 Bees arise off and alight on, ought to be eight inches broad 

 and the same long ; for if the Bees are gathering honey 

 fast, coming home heavily loaded, they often miss the 

 alighting-board, if it is small, and do not rise for a consi- 

 derable space of time. " When a pheasant rises to fly," s avS 

 Rennie, M it may be observed, first to fill its body with air by 

 taking several deep inspirations, at the same time often 

 rising on tip-toe, hopping a short space, and puffing out and 

 balancing its body to feel whether it be light enough to 

 rise." Though a pigeon does not thus hop previous to 

 taking flight, yet it, like the pheasant, cannot go off *' 

 full speed without taking an inspiration or two. Bees, 

 like the pheasant, generally run a short space before they 



» '* Paxton's Magazine," June. Page HO. 



t Chronicle, p. 734. 



% Lindley's M Principles of Horticulture," 303. 



