GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



67 



II 



^ — ^- ; nrl wTY OF LONDON.— 



^.,-riTl'RAL ?UL1 ,. i; ivHon^ ol" Flowers and 

 ORTICI LI L ^ that theExhib on g OI r take 



t-^^? Saturdays, viz.. May 18, J inccdf [t hag 



••fftffSTthe regrulations already * making: their 



fc *"£Kb£ the Judges be Whether the Plants to be 

 *• "^^ nto consideration, whether ^^ FuU 



" Zw>^Z%&TcJr» obtained u,on 





*-S3SSS3SBT3 5 obUinedu^on 

 -rr^^^^^^ a clean and 



:r7onF\Er!$ , CHR ° *} „a vols of the Gardeners' Chro- 

 "g ^iTt ia»«** e *%?-- Rf Edmonds. . 



tt 



•■ ^IV Book* B«y_st. *,«.»»^_^ -ofTCrTr^uT 

 J * f ' Ir^wVRNER, Seedsmen 28 Corn! ill, 



, 1' \RNER AND « AKi^ > h • Fri ends to " Har- 



U \^* r ^$l?£\M*ry, for their Advertise. 

 ^jS^WSr&AwSniid FLOWER SEEDS. 



tTURDAT, FEBRUARY 3, 1 



HITINOS ronlMWO^LLOWINO W 



«. L « . Entomological • 



1844. 



EEKS. 



Mmtmt. Feb. 5 



»dat. Feb. 6 

 WiwiiMi.FeW 

 TuvMWT.Feb. 15 



Linnean 

 Society of Arts 



8 p.m. 



8 P.M. 



8 FM. 



7 pm. 



Microscopical 



The causes of the"D^ToF Plants, like those 

 of animals, may be divided into the predisposing and 

 tiding. To the predisposing causes must be referred 

 all tboie peculiarities in the structure and growth of a 

 plant that would render it more liable to be attacked 

 by disease than other individuals. Thus it is found that 

 - --ij varieties and species of plants, from primitive 

 tituiion and other causes, are more liable to cer- 

 tain diseases than others. These causes, then, which 

 ire frequently most obscure, are predisposing. They 

 should not, however, be lost sight of, as it is an im- 

 portant fact to know that particular varieties or spe- 

 cies ire most subject to disease. The exciting causes 

 if disease in plants are the increase, decrease, or alter- 

 *te of the various external agents by which their 

 life is maintained; these agents are light, heat, elec- 

 tricity, air, water, and the soil. It is through their 

 action that the functions of life are carried on, and the 

 plait g rows and continues its species. In a state of 

 Mtoethe constitution of plants is adapted to the 

 damnation of these agents on the globe, so that dis- 

 et« a not often met with in those which are wild ; but 

 when plants become cultivated, their natural relation 

 t hese agents disturbed; and, like civilised man 

 "ddom^cated animals, they become the subjects of 

 g*J» does not, however, arise from any pos- 

 ^e necessity but from our ignorance of the precise 

 ~«b7 *** bedth b may be secured P 

 JUt^n S ° CStlmate the influe "<* of these 



2X ttr on of disease ' itshouw ™ te 



^« t IT 7 /" 86 [ r ° m a complication 



^^^rs^hr the to °^ reat ° r to ° 



P^^onofhea'v^ J 8 *" 8 " Thus the <*e- 

 ** *" it wlS Lt ° n F lantS growin S °» a bad 

 T ™» XiX ° m n th0se *"™S on a good 



•^ Point out the &, CaSeSin P lants « and **» 

 ^ iD planS ofr L - Ce ' ln re I )ortin S cases of 



^-funct£ nJ tkevlant that ca « °ff*ct its 

 1 &* influence of Hah* • 



E^Ptata; it W* ^ great on the healthy 



Jfc^N. Whe„ r -° f ?' ants are alm °st en- 



SS^^pla fc ed ,- fit ' whatiscaIletl 



oJZT^'y bad r en I .* -' SeaSe of the P la » l . 

 bE"*, I* eB t T rse t0 ln ma ny gardening 



gESs£ Saps b&J 



25?.? * fi wi, Dis f ase ma y ^ 



•^^ V ' n ^ shady 8 8 itu' a ,i ere P ' ants &™™Z 



y "tuations are exposed to its 



■^of 



>perai 



uv -"^ uii me 



leases produced bv 



diminution of so little 



.^ti^Ss"*' *« older t^y;;: 



^ ns "«d:r .. and P is ^offlo y wers 



& de P«ds 1 .1, " ln " nution of so little 

 at,* 6 ** have i C,rc ? ,nsta nces of the 

 2^ 'o bear ", a ;f ex Panded, the parts of 



atmosphere, and liquid in the soil, is necessary to most 

 plants ; but when either in too large or too small 

 quantities, it is the cause of disease. Anasarca, or 

 dropsy, occurs where there is too much moisture in 

 the air ; and the excessive development of hairs on 

 particular parts of the plant is a consequence of dry 

 air. When in too large quantities in the soil, canker, 

 a premature falling of the leaves, and other diseases, 

 are the consequence. Withering, and also a falling 

 off of the leaves, is the consequence of too little water. 



What influence the composition of the soil has on 

 particular diseases of plants we are not in a position 

 to state. Matters which are in excess in the soil are 

 frequently taken up by plants and thrown out again 

 as excretions on the surface. Thus, an excess of salt 

 is often got rid of in the form of an excretion on the 

 leaves by plants growing on the sea-shore. The want 

 of particular ingredients will, it is well known, pre- 

 vent plants from growing; but what the diseases are 

 they suffer from is at present but little known. 



Through the medium of the soil and air, various 

 poisonous agents are introduced to plants. From this 

 cause arise important effects requiring investigation. 

 The precise influence of carburetted hydrogen, 

 chlorine, sulphurous acid, and the gases in the air, 

 is not known ; and in the neighbourhood of towns a 

 variety of injurious ingredients get into the soil 

 which are destructive to vegetation. 



To the influence of each of the above agents in 

 producing disease we might have devoted a separate 

 article, but our object has been to point out what 

 are the causes of diseases rather than to give any 

 lengthened account of them, in order that our readers 

 may at once begin to co-operate with us in investiga- 

 ting the diseases of plants. When we proceed to des- 

 cribe particularly each disease, we shall have frequent 

 occasion to refer at length to the causes of the depar- 

 ture from health in plants. 



With regard to the treatment of diseases of plants, 

 we shall have abundant reason to see that prevention 

 is better than cure. Nevertheless, a knowledge of the 

 causes of disease will frequently enable us, by remov- 

 ing them, to cure them ; and this is more particularly 

 the case with shrubs and trees. No treatment, how- 

 ever, can hold out any chance of success that is not 

 founded upon a knowledge of the functions obstructed 

 in diseased parts, and the causes which have contri- 

 buted to such obstruction. We shall be glad of any 

 communications on the subject of the treatment of 

 diseases of plants, and hope our correspondents will 

 remember that unsuccessful cases are equally valuable 

 with successful ones. — L. E. 



a*Tei 



fe*nchj? **tal 



^ y*> for S Uced by it. 



canker 



of the stem and 



^A »& stru^ r " • H Plants neve ' get 

 2? N?ht * ht yof nh ll d0es , not a Ppear to 



(*L ,r ""otbS I kn «* own T,h the av erage tem- 



cold aft 



ss s^ft «ttK 



*£ 



*Wy of 



frequently 



to be 



™ to '»*"»» «r ..„ ln „,, 



Most heavy-land farmers know the value of paring 

 and burning their land. Experience has shown that 

 no operation is to be compared to this for improving 

 the fertility of soil. Gardeners, however, have been 

 but little accustomed to practise it, and usually resort 

 to other means, which, if as effectual, are far more 

 expensive ; for burning clay, if properly conducted, 

 has the great merit of costing nothing beyond a little 

 labour. 



Why burnt clay should be better than that sort of 

 soil in its ordinary condition, is sufficiently obvious. 

 Its texture is changed. In its natural state it is so 

 adhesive, that air cannot get into it, nor water out of 

 it. It also offers great mechanical opposition to the 

 passage of roots through its viscid mass, and hence 

 it is exclusively inhabited by a coarse and worthless 

 vegetation. Burning changes all this; the particles 

 of clay lose their adhesiveness, and this alone gives a 

 new character to the soil, which offers freedom to the 

 entrance of air and exit of water, and which crumbles 

 readily away beneath the advancing roots of a soft and 

 succulent race of plants. 



Such changes are in themselves most important ; 

 but this is not all the difference between burnt and 

 unburnt clay. The roots of plants, which were 

 before unable to decay, are reduced by fire to their 

 saline constituents, and so enrich the land. And, 

 moreover, the burnt particles of clay acquire the power 

 of absorbing ammonia from the air, and holding it 

 within their pores till showers fall and wash it into 

 the land, where it immediately acts as a nourishing 

 food to the crops. 



The employment of burnt clay in gardens has, per- 

 haps, been neglected in consequence of a supposed 

 difficulty in conducting the operation. In our volume 

 for 184. i we gave an account of a simple method by 

 which large masses of clay may be set on fire for farm- 

 ing purposes; and we now publish the following 

 excellent practical letter from Mr. W. Paul, of Ches- 

 hunt, in which his mode of proceeding and the results 

 of it are explained. 



It has been the custom here for some years, in spring, 

 when the operations of pruning, &c. are ended, instead of 

 suffering the rough branches to lie about, presenting an 

 untidy appearance, to collect them in a heap, and budd a 

 wall of turf round them in a semicircular form about three 

 teet high. Thty are then set fire to, and when about half 

 burnt down, such weeds and other rubbish as collect in 

 \ every garden, and will not readily decompose, are thrown 



on the top, and earth is gradually cast up as the firebreaks 

 through. 



During the first two or three days no ordinary care is 

 requisite to keep the pile on fire, but after this, if the fire 

 is not allowed to break through and thus expend itself, it 

 will certainly spread through the whole heap, and almost 

 any amount of soil may be burnt by still adding to the 

 top. The soil we burn is the stiffest loam that can be 

 found within our limits, and is rather of a clayey nature ; 

 also turf from the sides of ditches and ponds, in itself 

 naturally sour and full of rank weeds. 



The clay thus burnt has been found beneficial in every 

 instance. In black garden-mould, where Peach-trees were 

 disposed to sucker and canker, despite of animal manures 

 and drainage, two or three annual dressings of burnt earth 

 appear so to have altered the soil that they now grow 

 clean, vigorous and healthy, are free from suckers, and 

 produce roots completely matted with fibre. The like 

 success has attended its application to other fruit-trees. 



During the summer of 1842, six beds of Tea-scented 

 Roses growing in an alluvial loam (the adjacent fields are 

 of the same soil, and grow large crops of Wheat and 

 Potatoes, but the particles of soil run together after rain, 

 and present a smooth cemented surface) were manured 

 with the following substances, viz., 1, bone-dust; 2, burnt 

 earth ; 3, nitrate of soda ; 4, guano ; 5, pigeon-dung ; 

 and 6*, decomposed stable-manure. The guano produced 

 the earliest visible effects, causing a vigorous growth, 

 which continued through the season ; the flowers,, how- 

 ever, were not so abundant, and the shoots did not ripen 

 well, and were consequently much cut with the frost. 

 The bed manured with burnt earth next forced itself into 

 notice ; the plants kept up a steadier rate of growth, 

 producing abundance of clean, well-formed blossoms; the 

 wood ripened well, and sustained no injury during winter. 

 The results of the other manures were not remarkable — 

 acting as gentle stimulants, the nitrate of soda and bone- 

 dust least visibly so — although they were applied in the 

 quantities usually recommended by the vendors. 



From the fact of the beds of Roses being all planted at 

 the same date, and their progress being carefully watched, 

 I would suggest the application of burnt earth as an excel- 

 lent manure for Roses in adhesive soils, as well as for 

 fruit-trees where disposed to canker. Whether it acted 

 by furthering drainage, or by opening the soil to the fer- 

 tilizing influences of the atmosphere, or by fixing the 

 ammonia conveyed to the soil by rain, I do not pretend 

 to say, but its value is sufficiently apparent. I believe it 

 is considered that the vegetable matter contained in soils 

 is destroyed by the act of burning ; and I do not think the 

 remains of the materials used in combustion could exer- 

 cise any extended influence, as the quantity compared 

 with the earth burned is so small, and the earth comes 

 from the heap burnt red and hard, and a great portion 

 quite free from the remains of the substances used in 

 ignition. 



Our readers will remember Mr. Rivers's advice 

 about roasting turf, of the use of which this is a con- 

 firmation.^ It is perhaps as well to add, that burning 

 is more injurious than advantageous to light soil. 



THE ROSE GARDEN.— No. III. 



(Continued from page 53.) 



The following, which was taken from the side of a road 

 from whence it was observed, may be considered as an 

 extraordinary specimen for height, shape, health, size, and 

 vigour. 



The stem perfectly straight, with 36 branches upon it, 

 many of which had side-shoots upon them ; but as one- 

 half of these were cut off in removing the head, and the 

 remainder were close below them, the stock itself being 

 very close-jointed, and the lower branches small, they 

 formed little or no objection to the stem when removed. 



When replanted, the height of the shoot was five feet 

 one inch from the ground ; it then divided itself into four 

 branches, which were left for budding upon. The circum- 

 ference at the base being four inches and a quarter, the 

 centre three inches and a quarter, and at five feet one inch 

 from the ground, two inches nine-sixteenths, the base 

 being the largest part of the plant, which diminished 

 gradually to the top. 



The species was the green and brown, or grey striped, 

 the prickles similar to those of the Eglantine in regularity ; 

 the wood so clean, that there was not a speck upon it, and 

 the whole appearance that of an extremely healthy and 

 vigorous plant of three seasons ; its strongest shoots the 

 autumnals of the present year, and near the top of the 

 head ; evidently showing that the sap was not likely to 

 desert the stock and escape in suckers the next year. The 

 root was, however, large, and furnished with but two or 

 three fibres, which were found quite sufficient to maintain 

 the plant in full vigour when moved. The branches left 

 for working were not, however, fit for the purpose for 

 want of a sufficient flow of sap, and were removed in 

 the winter ; but had they been taken off in the first in- 

 stance, young wood would undoubtedly have been formed 

 fit for use. From two feet six to three feet high to the first 

 branch, and one inch three-quarters in circumference, may 

 be considered a good size (very much above the average) 

 for plants at their best, viz., either as ripened suckers 

 of the current, or seasoned ones of the preceding, year. 



The French Stocks are considered far superior to th« 

 English, and in consequence, when worked, afford an 

 article of much commerce between the two countries ; 

 in France more trouble is bestowed upon worked Roses, 

 as well as a more practical degree of knowledge. A large 

 quantity of Stocks ]are placed in pots, and plunged for 

 working, by which the roots are probably multiplied, (a 

 circumstance in general the case in confined spaces, by 

 which nature makes up to a certain degree for extent,) and 



