1844.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



85 



ch 



^ts of a iike nature. Now, if it happens that such 

 "*t nt flowers ihc bud, which would otherwise have pro- 

 \ P Cleave, the year after, is converted into a scape a year 

 tt r wheiS it come, to pass that the rudimentary 

 , .. Win* in the bud lose a part of their nutriment, in 

 ^qu'cnce of the sap being drawn off to the fructihca- 

 * -herefore those leaves continue small, assume a 

 !lXrent structure, easily wither, and are called by botan- 

 ♦. h™ct< Thus bracts are nothing but leaves whicL 

 ^ald have been developed another year if the plant had 



DO !.\7t C o C the calyx. ' That the calyx is only the approxi- 

 mated leaves of a plant, is apparent from several instances. 

 Th calvxes of Pvrus and Mespilus are often expanded 

 . ^r'fect leaves ; the Rose offers a similar instance of 

 Ik r l aoec The leaves of Mesembryanthemum bar- 

 bstunf «re 'supplied with a most curious apparatus of 

 Tar.- and the calyx consists of five pieces, in all 

 respec'ts similar to the leaves of the stem. The caly- 

 cinf leaves, indeed, are often very small, jmceless, and 

 different from those of the stem as if scales of buds 

 previous to their developement ; but that they still are 

 nothine but leaves of the same nature as those of the 

 stem must be concluded from this, that when plants, 

 Roses and Geum rivale for example, become, in conse- 

 quence of excessive nutriment, proliferous, the calycine 

 leaves which before were small and dry, expand into leaves 

 in sixe, colour, figure, texture, and substance, exactly like 

 those of the stem. Hence it is not to be doubted that 

 the calyx and the leaves of the stem were in the beginning 



alike.* 



** As to the petals. * It is often very difficult to dis- 

 tinguish them from the calyx. The white corolla of 

 Helltborus niger, after flowering, assumes the green ap- 

 pearance of the calyx. In luxuriant flowers of Rosa and 

 Geum, the corolla sometimes becomes wholly green, and 

 assumes the foliaceous nature of the calyx. As the calyx 

 is nothing but leaves, and as each leaf contains in its axil 

 the rudiment of a plant consisting of the rudiments of 

 leaves of a future year, it follows that the petals are of 

 necessity the rudiment immediately within the calycine 

 leaves; the petals, therefore, would have been leaves 

 another year, if flowers had not been produced.' 



*• As to the stamens. * From double flowers it is ap- 

 parent that stamens do change into petals and petals into 

 calyx. This is so well known that it need not be insisted 

 on. Now, as from the axil of every leaf arises the rudi- 

 ment of a plant, and from the axil of the calyx are pro- 

 duced the petals, which are nothing but more tender 

 leaves, and as these petals must have, like other leaves, the 

 rudiments of leaves in their axils it follows that stamens 

 are so, for they can be transmuted into petals, as the 

 petals can into the leaves of the calyx.' 



As to the pistil. The evidence of this being also 

 reducible to leaves, is taken from a change observed in the 

 flowers of Carduus heterophyllus and tataricus, in which 

 the style was changed into two green leaves like bracts, 

 and from the common conversion of the pistil into leaves 



in proliferous individuals of the Rose, the Anemone, and 

 others. 



This is enough to show in what way the great Lin- 

 Offius regarded this curious question. I shall next explain 

 how others have unjirovedupon his views.— R. E. 



THF MISTLETOE. 



In the days of the Druids, this parasitical plant was 

 supposed to have its attachment principally to the Oak- 

 tree. The Celtic priests regarded it with extreme venera- 

 tion, and collected it for charms, and cures, and religious 

 ceremonies, with solemn formalities; but with them it 

 owed all its supposed mystic influences to its connexion 

 with the sacred Oak. 



I am led, however, to imagine, from recent inquiries 

 and some personal observation, that we do not know the 

 true Mistletoe of Celtic superstition, and therefore that 



th n -a naturalist > though be was contemporary with 

 e Uruids, may have in some way mistaken the plant, 

 ne probably took his report on trust. It may not have 

 oeen a production of his climate, he may have had no 

 opportunity of observing it himself. We know that most 



rriltA*?** glVen by him and Theophrastus have been 

 ejected by modern botanists, or have been applied to 

 «er plants ; as the Daphne, which was the Laurel of the 



whifw IS not our Laurel. Virgil speaks of the Fiscum, 

 UlCh * c 8u PPose to be the Viscum album- 



vwaic solet sylvis brumali frigore viscum 

 rronae virere nova, quod non sua seminat arbos, 

 but »f*W. ; oceo fcetu teretes circumdare truncos j 



or an T V aDy dirCCt allusion in those liues t0 the 0ak 

 r «fers to TH " 181 " tree as its nurs e, though he certainly 

 liaes farth ^ in the course of llis metaphor, a few 



ATranche 8 aiUe, k the Curator of tlie Botanical Garden at 

 nas favour' 1 De P art ment of La Manche, Normandy, 



wn »ch ha* \a Wlth some interestin g notes °" tae subject, 

 Plantation* 6 u me t0 examin e Oak forests, and various 

 to corroha ^ dist "ct, the examination of which tends 

 botanical r re ™rks. He asserts that in all his 



n *i never CSCarcIles throughout the arrondissement, he 

 nor been ah?* the Mistletoe growing from the Oak, 

 8e *n it on th l ° discover tnat a °y otDer person had 

 ^ee, the H u tr6e ' taou S n ifc is common on the Apple- 

 w bich the &W 0rn > a °d many other of those trees on 

 of pronJJ h ( which » believed to be the agent 



berr »et of iK g i thc pUnt ) had voided the undi S ested 

 feeding TK Vlscum album on which it had been 



tha * nuti t by * bountif *l provision of the Creator, 



Ule earthT l i WhlC . h olhcrwise would fall barren to 

 •liment wh'k perisn tnere from want of the peculiar 

 **«* fur th^A haS be<n P llced in the bark of certain 



e development and nurture of the vital princi- 



i pie within it, is rendered reproductive. The considera- 

 tion of the extent of injury which this parasite occasions 

 to the trees which it tends to exhaust, is beside the ques- 

 tion under consideration. But we may conclude with Sir 

 John Colbatch, " that this beautiful plant has some import- 

 ant properties, and that it has been designed for further 

 and more important purposes than to feed thrushes, or to 

 be hung up surreptitiously in houses to drive away evil 

 spirits." 



The Druids occupied the forests in Normandy and 

 Brittany : if, then, the Mistletoe with which we are now so 

 familiar, and which is naturally growing at this day on 

 the Acacia, the Hawthorn, and the Poplar, in the botani- 

 cal garden which is under the care of M. Bataille, be 

 the same as that which the Druids venerated, and which is 

 believed to have been the companion of the Oak, how 

 does it happen that the one has since repudiated the 

 other ? 



M. Bataille states that after consulting the works of 

 many of those botanists who have given the description of 

 the plants of France, he has found that the authority of 

 Duhamel alone is urged to prove that the Mistletoe may 

 be brought to grow indiscriminately on any of the indi- 

 genous trees of the country and on many exotics, in 

 opposition to which Thuillier,* who describes this ligneous 

 parasite accurately, says, that it is found on almost all 

 trees except the Oak.-f* 



M. Bataille planted an Apple-tree among the Honey- 

 suckle tribe in the Avranches garden, and in the part of the 

 tree where Mistletoe would be most likely to establish itself, 

 he inserted in the bark some of its berries ; these germi- 

 nated, the radicles stretched out and fastened upon the 

 bark, on which they continued firmly imbedded during 

 the summer and winter without farther apparent progress. 

 It was not until the succeeding spring that they gave 

 any signs of life, in throwing out a few little branches 

 furnished with the elements of leaves. 



M. Bataille has repeated experiments of the same kind 

 with Oak, but unsuccessfully. However, he is about to 

 renew them, in the expectation of ascertaining: whether it 

 has much disposition to nourish the Viscum album or not. 

 —Martin Doyle. 



Home Correspondence. 



Burnt Clay. — I can fully confirm the statement of Mr. 

 W. Paul, of Cheshunt, which appeared in the last week's 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, as to the good effects produced in 

 gardens, where the soil is strong, by the use of burnt clay 

 or marl mixed with the ashes of vegetables and the charred 

 branches of trees. I have had for some time past several 

 of these burning heaps in the environs of my garden, 

 which produce us in succession a very valuable manure ; 

 they are easily kept in a state of combustion, and all the 

 care they require is, to cover and surround them occa- 

 sionally with fresh clay or marl, that they may not burst 

 out into an open flame. My gardener sowed two beds of 

 Onion-seeds of the Globe, James's Keeping, and Stras- 

 burg sorts, mixed together, about the 10th of March last, 

 with 1 lb. of seed to each bed. The beds were each of 

 them 18 yards by 12 yards, and one of them was manured 

 with good stable-dung ; the other by this mixture of burnt 

 clay and vegetable ashes. The produce of the first did 

 not exceed five bushels of an inferior size, the greater part 

 having been destroyed by the larva of the Onion-fly ; 

 whilst that of the latter was 20 bushels of Onions, as large 

 as those imported from Portugal. Another remarkable 

 circumstance is, that the former have not kept well ; but 

 the latter are as sound as possible, not a single bulb in 

 the strings showing the least appearance of decay. The 

 same burnt mixture has been applied with equal success 

 in my fruit-garden. I had observed a great decrease in 

 my crop of Apricots for several years past, and upon a 

 careful investigation as to the cause, my gardener and I 

 agreed that it must be owing to the tenacity of the border ; 

 we therefore had the old soil removed, and a quantity of 

 this burnt mixture with a little fresh loam substituted 

 for it. My gardener planted the border so renewed with 

 runners of Keen's Seedlings, in rows ; they became strong 

 plants by June, when they flowered and produced an 

 abundant crop, and all my Apricot-trees were covered 

 during the summer with well-ripened fruit. I am so fully 

 persuaded of the excellence of this kind of manure, that I 

 intend to adopt it generally on my farm. It will there 

 have a double advantage ; for I shall be enabled to save 

 the farm-yard dung for composts, and I shall have the 

 gratification of seeing my hedges neatly trimmed and my 

 ditches well cleared out. Our stiff soils will be also 

 rendered more friable, and will not suffer as they now do 

 from the retention of wet on the surface. — Oswald Mode y, 

 Rolleston Hall, near Burton-on- Trent. 



Durability of Oak cut in Winter.— We have a saying in 

 Surrey, that the sap of winter-fallen Oak is as hard as the 

 heart of that which is thrown in the spring. There may 

 be a little exaggeration in this saying, but it serves to 

 show the common impression of the comparative dura- 

 bility.—^. C. P. 



Raising Seedling Picotees.— Wood's Col. Steel, red 

 Picotee — from three seedlings out of this flower, three red 

 Picotees were produced, one of which was just admissible 

 on a stage. From Hufton's Isabella — I had about thirty 

 plants, many of them were very large and showy, both red 

 and purple Picotees, were well-formed, and made hand- 

 some border-flowers ; but they were either serrated in a 

 slight degree, or somewhat barred. Lee's Cleopatra— from 

 forty plants of this none were good. From Ely's Criterion, 

 red Picotee, we re seven plants, one very capital red 



* Author of La Flore Parisienne. 



t There is a branch of Oak with the Mistletoe around it pre- 

 served in the Museum of Paris: if it were not considered a rare 

 production I am at a loss to account for its being: so preserved.— 

 M.D. 



Picotee, one sinjrle red ditto, one dark self, and four ran 

 pink bizarre*. From Ely's Grace Darling, purple Pico- 

 tee, were also seven plant*; one excellent, one middling, 

 three with round useless pods, purple Picotees with light 

 edges, two died. Same sort sowed in November produced 

 sixty plants, but none good. From Sharp's Nymph of 

 the Nore, red Picotee, I had two plants ; one was a self, 

 the other a red Picotee, with the narrow petals of the 

 parent ; otherwise, first-rate. From Hufton's Nehemiah, 

 I raised three plants, viz., two purple Picotees, of which. 

 one was tolerable, and one purple self. — O. 



Cucumbers. — The accumulation of steam in Cucumber- 

 frames about this season is often injurious to the plants. 

 To obviate this I caused a bed to be made of well-prepared 

 horse-dung and Oak-leaves, for a two-light frame, having 

 a partition in the middle, and forming, as it were, two sin- 

 gle-light boxes. Each was subjected to the same treat- 

 ment with regard to fermenting materials ; the bed was 

 raised high in order that a good front lining might be 

 applied, the end and back were well thatched with straw 

 to keep out frost, wind, &c. The bed being made, and 

 the boxes placed on it, the seeds were sown in one of them ; 

 when these began to vegetate, I found it necessary to 

 supply a lining, and at the same time I introduced a tin 

 pipe, six feet long, and two inches in diameter, placing it 

 longitudinally, but in a sloping; direction, in the front of 

 the frame, with the lower end protruding through the 

 lining, near the ground, and the upper entering the bot- 

 tom of the frame, thus causing a draft of air through the 

 pipe into the frame, the effect of which was not only to 

 raise the thermometer 10° or 12°, but to expel the damp 

 and dry the soil, so that after the plants were potted, I 

 found it necessary, notwithstanding the very cold damp 

 weather, to water daily ; and in about three weeks I had s 

 good stock of strong healthy plants. With a view to test 

 the advantages of this treatment, some of the plants were 

 placed in the adjoining frame, which was prepared in the 

 same way as the one they were raised in, with the ex- 

 ception of the air-pipe. Having a good stock of plants, 

 three pots of the best were selected ; but although the 

 frame was previously replenished with a lining, and every 

 care taken to preserve them, at the end of a week they 

 perished for want of heat. I then introduced an air-pipe 

 into this frame also, and planted more plants, which 

 flourished through the season with the best results ; thus 

 proving to my satisfaction the utility of air-pipes. Much, 

 1 imagine, may be effected by this mode of heating, not 

 only in growing Cucumbers, but other plants, where there 

 is a good supply of fermenting materials. — M. Power. 



Cause of Hardiness. — The difference between hardy 

 and tender plants arises from their capability of taking 

 up chemical substances, alkalies, acids, or earthg, by which, 

 the juices are kept in a more or less fluid state. In tender 

 plants they become thickened, and are not capable of 

 passing up the vessels at a comparatively mild temperature, 

 and if the temperature is reduced the plant dies, in conse- 

 quence of the juices becoming congealed. In hardy plants' 

 these remain fluid at a very low temperature ; if they were 

 to become frozen they would expand and burst the vessels, 

 and death would be the consequence. Plants the most 

 succulent, and apparently very teoder, stand severe frost 

 (Scilla Sibirica for instance), while trees, to appearance 

 quite hardy, are destroyed by it. The hardiness of a plant 

 does not depend upon woody fibre, as death in all cases 

 proceeds from the juice expanding and forcing the baric 

 from the wood. Perhaps this notice will lead the Chemist 

 to analyse the juices of hnrdy and tender plants with a 

 view to determine their different propertied, in order to 

 ascertain if it is possible to render plants hardier by giving 

 them substances which will keep their juices fluid, and 

 make them less liable to the effects of frost. In accli- 

 matizing plants, little alteration has taken place in the 

 constitution of any particular species or variety, beyond 

 the capability of its taking up more of the substance, what- 

 ever it may be, which renders the juices thinner, and 

 makes th«m susceptible of the action of frost. Can there 

 be any latent caloric iu substances taken up by plants 

 which is afterwards given out to thena ? — H. Groom. 



Slugs. — I have a few Cauliflower plants which were 

 much eaten by slugs. I put a small one-light frame over 

 them to protect them from frost — any access from without 

 seemed improbable; nevertheless, when I searched I 

 found a great many slugs; whenever I lifted up some 

 pots of Strawberries within the frame, I always found two 

 or three large ones. I conclude that they have been for 

 some time buried some depth beneath the surface, and 

 perhaps their habit is to lie deeper than is generally sup- 

 posed.— J. fV. t Peterborough. [Pretty strong gas- 

 water applied to ground infested with slugs at their feed- 

 ing time kills them effectually.] 



Digging, Vine Borders. — In many places Vine borders 

 are dug, and an early crop of Cauliflowers taken from 

 them, or they are planted with annuals and greenhouse 

 plants. This is a practice which every gardener should 

 condemn, for it cuts all the roots near the surface, which 

 is a serious injury to the Vine ; as the surface-roots are 

 capable of receiving more nutriment from dung laid on. 

 the border than those at a greater depth, and in pro- 

 portion as the surface-roots are destroyed or damaged 

 will the crop be scanty. — J. IV. K. 



Mr. Loudon. — As I find that a passage in the Adver- 

 tisement on our behalf, which appeared in the Gardeners 

 Chronicle of Jan. 27, has led to an erroneous im- 

 pression with regard to Messrs. Longman, I shall feel 

 very much obliged by your allowing me to make the 

 following statement. The fact is, that though all the 

 works, which were poor Mr. Loudon's own property, do 

 " stand pledged" in the hands of Messrs. Longman to 

 defray the debt on the Arboretum, &c, those gentlemen 

 hold the books solely as trustees, to receive their proceeds, 



