116 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Feb. 24, 



co^aHn;. .^^, coining, or approvi,,, the | p.neip.e, ^ A good i—n oH*U istobe foond io a 



feet attainment of timber by using seed, instead of seed- 



varieties as they unfolded to their view, and as the notes 

 ■were originally taken for private guidance, and not for 

 publication, they may, it is presumed, afford some criterion 

 respecting the merits of the sorts described. 



Class I — Selfs. 

 CEil Noir, very fine, dark rich colour. — Naxara, extra 

 fine dark, (one of the best of its cl*s.«).— Fete Nocturne, 



rich purple, fine Duke of Bedford, large fine formed 



crimson— Giles's Eliza, very fine straw, extra form, super 

 variety. — Costar's Apollo, very fine dark, rather coarse in 

 petal. — Tyso's Laureate, very fine, pure yellow.— Com- 

 tesse Plaisance, very fine yellow, good form. — Les Vos, 

 dark purple, very fine.— Rosa Montana, superior bright 

 rosy crimson, excellent form.— Tyso's Nivis, fine white. 

 —Costar's Tippoo Saib, rich, dark.— Condorcet, fine puce 

 _purple.— Bouquet Nonpareil, dark olive, very fine. 



Class II. 

 Flavimorus, cream with purple edge, very fine.— Tyso's 

 Victoria, clear white with crimson edge, very fine. — 

 Aust's Ilenritella, white, crimson-edged, good shape, very 

 fine.— Horatio, yellow-edged, fine, free bloomer, not quite 

 a pure ground.— Tyso's Herbert, yellow with red edge, 

 very fine. — Terr.eraire, white, red-striped, (one of the best 

 of its class).— Lightbody's William Penn, white with 

 purple edge, very fine, strongly marked, ground colour 

 seldom pure. — Melange des Beautes, red and yellow- 

 striped, (an excellent old liower, merits well known). — 

 Tyso's Alexis, yellow. spotted, extra fine, good form. — 

 Tyso's Attractor, white, with purple edge, large, very 

 fine.— Kilgour's Queen Victoria, cream, crimson-edged, 

 large, and extra fine. — Costar's Coronation, buff, pink 

 mottled, very fine. — Grand Monarque, yellow-edged, fine 

 petals, rather loose. — Aust's Nonsuch, white, purple- 

 edged, distinct, very fine.— Tyso's Felix, buff, with dis- 

 tinct spot, extra fine. — Lightbody's No Mistake, cream, 

 purple-edged, 6trong marking, very fine.— Dr. Franklin, 

 fine clear white, with purple edge, very fine.— Tyso's 

 Edgar, yellow, coffee-edged, excellent form, extra fine. — 

 Quintin Durward, yellow-edged, very fine colours, rather 

 thin.— Tyso's Delectus, yellow, red-edged, very fine. — 

 Lightbody's Rob Roy, cream, crimson edge, very fine. — 

 Imbert, yellow, with faint brown spot, very good. — 

 Tyso's Fhnninius, yellow, with aark spot, extra (one of the 

 best of its class). — Herald, white, crimson-edged, very fine, 

 excellent shape, high crown. — Tyso's Creon, buff, dark 



edging, very fine Glacia, yellow-mottled, large and very 



fine Paxos, white, with deep purple edge, extra fine. — 



Biddal's Duke of Wellington, yellow, delicate-edged, very 

 fine. — Macrobius, white-spotted, very fine. — Lightbody's 

 Endymion, white, with delicate rose-edging, very good. — 

 Tyso's Premium, white, purple spot, very fine, high crown. 

 Aust's Queen Victoria, white, with delicate edging, very 

 fine. — Saladin, fine yellow, with faint spot. — Sophia, or 

 Ma Delice, cream, with rose edge, very good.— Tyso's 

 Vendome, cream, with dark purple edge, extra tine, rather 

 sportive. — Waterstone's Epirus, yellow-spotted, very fine. 

 The 50 sorts above enumerated are selected for their 

 quality, without respect to their age or novelty, and they 

 will be found worthy of a place in the collections of culti- 



vators for competition. — W. J. 



A KNOWLEDGE OF PRINCIPLES ESSENTIAL 

 ,TO THE BEST CULTIVATION.— No. II. 



(Continued from page 100.) 



An ancient philosopher * on leaving Athens for exile 

 (for advocating the unity of the Deity) exclaimed, " There 

 is a straight road to heaven from every country ; " so 

 also is there a straight road to truth from every principle 

 in Nature. It has been already stated, that *' every ope- 

 ration in Art is limited in its effect in proportion as it 

 diverges from the line of agency which Nature has pre- 

 scribed for the same end ; " t and such I consider is the 

 result of every process in shifting which seeks to attain 

 the highest effects by a succession of causes, each of 

 "which is destructive of an ultimate effect in the one which 



succeeds it. * , 



As it is "the elementary condition of an organised 



being that favours the mature development of its parts," X 

 so is that development rendered less perfect by every 

 process which retards the operation of its elements ; and 

 in everv argument to prove that a non-disturbance of 

 functional organs (such as roots, &c.) is essential to per- 

 fect and mature growth, we must, consistently with such 

 reasoning, attach an equal, if not stronger importance to 

 such non-disturbance during the earlier stages of growth ; 

 because every plant is subject to the law of causal agency 

 throughout its period of life. In short, if the process of 

 shifting prevent plants from appropriating the same 

 amount of atmospheric and solar agency which they 

 appropriated prior to the operation, then such a process 

 (whether considered in a physiological or practical point 

 of view) is an evil, great in proportion to the frequency 

 of its recurrence ; and that which is an evil in part is an 

 evil in the whole, as the whole exists but in its parts. 



Such conclusions appear to me to be necessarily de- 

 duced from the true principles of cultivation, and by such 

 I shall abide until reasons are adduced to show that to 

 produce and maintain a perfect development of the organs 

 of plants " a. continued and uninterrupted supply of 

 fluid from the roots " is not indispensable. To hold other 

 opinions would be to abandon the conviction resulting 

 from 15 years' practice, and to forget the experience of 

 my whole professional life. 



jj»And in what does the evidence of the truth of these 

 principles consist ? it may be sskeu. In the highest effects 

 of cultivation at the present period is the reply ; and with- 

 out presumption, it may be added, that the highest capa- 

 bilities of nature are based upon the application of those 



* Anaxagoras. f Chronicle, p. 734. X Ibid., p. 734. 



lings (or transplanted growth) is adverted to, and fur- 

 nishes conclusive evidence of the superiority of a pro- 

 gressive and accumulative system of cultivation over all 

 others. It also strikingly confirms the truth that " a 

 constant and uninterrupted supply of fluid from the roots 

 is indispensable" to perfect growth. 



The same principle was insisted on in a previous paper, 

 by showing that the only natural mode of perpetuating 

 the primary vigour of plants, is by reproduction from 

 seed. In like^manner that mode of culture which ap- 

 proaches the nearest to this will be productive of the high- 

 est vigour and most perfect proportions. Hence it fol- 

 lows that the several organs of a seed, a bud, a cutting, 

 and a layer, are each possessed of a principle of vitality, 

 varying in power from a seed downwards. 



Admitting the correctness of these views, it follows, that 

 since the most valuable results may be attained, by conti- 

 nuing the progressive development of a plant from its 

 rudimentary condition as a seed, such will be the propor- 

 tionate success attending the imitation of that process in 

 Horticulture. 



It has been wisely remarked, that "there is nothing in 

 religion contrary to right reason," and it is equally true 

 that there is nothing in nature contrary to first principles. 

 Much of the difficulty and loss attending their application 

 has arisen from a misapprehension and forgetfulness of 

 the requisite conditions. Men are seldom wise in the 

 exercise of a new power ; disappointment is the inevitable 

 result of an injudicious application of powerful agencies, 

 which also meet the counter influence of successful, but in- 

 ferior modes of culture. For example : the proprietor of 

 an extensive establishment lost many plants ; on inquiry, 

 it was found that the person in charge of them had, in 

 the process of potting, omitted bottom drainage, with the 

 exception of a single potsherd. Many persons would, 

 perhaps, have inferred that the deficiency of bottom 

 drainage was the sole cause, but a better informed culti- 

 vator would have withheld an opinion until he had ascer- 

 tained that no modification or judicious arrangement of 

 the soil could have been made equal to the preservation 

 of the plants. Those who doubt the possibility of dis- 

 pensing with bottom drainage, may be reminded of the 

 increasing evidence in favour of prepared vegetable mat- 

 tar being rendered subservient to valuable purposes : and 

 further, that one of the most extensive establishments in 

 the world has, in the general cultivation of Heaths, for a 

 long time discontinued lower drainage by potsherds, with 

 the exception of a single one over the hole, and this prac- 

 tice is attended in ten thousand instances with uniform suc- 

 cess. These facts are not now quoted either in commenda- 

 tion or disapproval of the custom, but to show that there 

 are modes of culture which hitherto have not been satis- 

 factorily explained. Until this is done, first-rate garden- 

 ing must be content, as the proverb says, to " make haste 



slowly." 



All improvement is a victory won by struggles, and 

 signalised by conflicts with opposing principles. Hitherto 

 we gardeners have been dealing with only the fragments 

 of a system of cultivation, and not with it as a whole. 

 We have been more restricted by general rules, which are 

 limited in their effects, than guided by principles which 

 are perfect in their application. A principle bears the 

 same relation to truth, that a seed does to a plant, the 

 former being a perfect and necessary condition of nature, 

 the latter a perfect and necessary condition of a vegetable. 

 — William Wood, Pine Apple Place. 



through the tender bark it acts like a syphon, by which 

 the sap is conveyed into their soft and expansive bodies. 

 By exudation, and possibly the natural evacuations of 

 the animals, they are mostly surrounded with a reddish 

 liquor, forming globules, and by squeezing the animals the 

 same colourea fluid is expressed from their bodies. 



It is often asked, how the American Blight is conveyed 

 to localities where it had been previously unknown, or had 

 been eradicated for a long succession of years? conceiving-, 

 as many do, that it is entirely a wingless insect. This 

 pest is no doubt frequently introduced with a young tree 

 which, however clean it may appear to the careless ob- 

 server, may contain the latent germs of disense ; but there 

 are other causes— I had repeatedly examined Apple-trees, 

 in order to find winged Eriosoma, and after many attempts 

 I discovered them in July and August, in the nests with 

 the wingless females and in considerable abundance. I 

 have little doubt that later in the season winged females 

 may be produced, since such is the case with most of the 

 plant-lice, and if my conjectures be well founded, their 

 appearance in fresh localities is at once explained. The 

 winged males (fig. 3) are pale-green, the head and eyes are 

 black, and the back of the thorax is pitchy, often powdered 

 over with white, becoming cottony on the abdomen, which 

 is broad, the apex pointed ; the tubes are wanting, which 

 has led to its separation, with some others, from Aphis, 

 under the generic name of Eriosoma, woolly body; the 

 wings are transparent and iridescent, the superior are very 

 long and ample, with a green stigma, one large marginal 

 cell, a furcate nervure near the tip, the basal branch not 

 reaching the subcostal nervure, and there are two trans- 

 verse ones approaching each other at their origin, but 

 remote at the outer margin ; the inferior wings are small, 

 with a subcostal nervure, sinuated towards the apex, and 

 two oblique nervures on the disc ; the antennae and legs 

 are pale greenish-ochre, rather short and slender, the 

 former are filiform and composed of seven joints, the third 

 elongated ; the hinder legs are not elongated, and the tarsi 

 have two joints and are terminated by minute claws ; a and 

 b show the natural sizes of the sexes, and I find the absence 

 of the abdominal tubes, and not the simple apical nervure, 

 is the best characteristic of Eriosoma. 1, therefore, expect 

 the Elm-tree gall Aphis will be included in that group 

 and not in Cinara. 



X ENTOMOLOGY.— No. LV. 



The American Blight. — (Eriosoma lanigera.) — 

 Such numerous complaints reach us regarding this pest of 

 the orchard, and so many inquiries are made concerning 

 its economy, that it seems advisable to relate its history, 

 and this is the more necessary, since other species are often 

 mistaken for it, leading to great errors and even mischief 

 to proprietors. Many persons have imagined that the 

 Aphides forming the galls on the Poplars and other trees, 

 are the same as the American Blight, and to prove how 

 essential it is to be well acquainted with these subjects, 

 we will quote Mr. Spence's observations in the " Monthly 

 Magazine," where he says: — "In consequence of the 

 ignorance of the orchard proprietors at Evesham, they cut 

 down all the Poplars in that neighbourhood, seeing that they 

 were inhabited by a cottony Aphis, supposing it was the 

 same as the one infesting the Apple-trees, whereas had 

 they been better informed they might have saved their 

 Poplars, for the insects upon them, of this family, never 

 do the slightest injury to the Apple or any Orchard tree." 



Early in the spring we may find, on close inspection, a 

 cottony appearance in the chinks of the excrescences 

 found on the twigs of Apple-trees (fig. 1, a), and by the 

 time the leaves are expanded the crevices in the back often 

 exhibit the same appearance, and this white filmy sub- 

 stance becomes at last so abundant that threads are "drawn 

 out by the wind, very probably containing the embryo 

 young, which soon people the adjoining trees ; such, how- 

 ever, is not always the mode by which the disease is com- 

 municated. On examining one of these cottony masses, 

 a number of the wingless females will be found, generally 

 closely packed over one another (a), their heads being 

 concealed, and smaller ones are running about ; the old 

 sluggish females (fig. 2) are of a reddish or plum-colour, 

 with two short six-jointsd antennas and six legs, but nearly 

 the whole of the body is clothed with long white filaments, 

 I believe of a resinous substance, which project far beyond 

 the apex of the abdomen. These females, like all the 

 Aphides, are furnished with a proboscis, which in this 

 instance is tolerably long and stout, and being insinuated 



It is said that the females begin to lay their eggs in the 

 middle of August, previous to which period I suspect they 

 are viviparous ; they are deposited in the crevices of the 

 bark or in the excrescences, and I suppose remain until the 

 spring before they hatch ; but it has been asserted that 

 they are breeding throughout the winter, and Salisbury, 

 who seemed to be well acquainted with their economy, 

 states that the young Aphides may be found at all seasons 

 amongst the roots of the Apple-trees. The American 

 Blight loves sheltered spots, and increases most rapidly 

 in val'eys and on dry soils, and is said to be much less 

 frequent on strong cold clayey lands. The Codhn and 

 Sweet Apple-trees are its favourite haunts, and it will not, 

 I have heard, attack the Crofton Pippin or Whee ler s 

 Russet. Can this be owing to the smoothness of the baric • 



To free the roots they should be partially exposed to 

 the frost and cold, and the application of night-soil ana 

 the ammoniacal draining of stables will effectually remedy 

 the evil in that direction. About the end of Febru ^ 

 the trunks and large branches should be well scrape d, t 

 excrescences cut off, and the whole be well scrubD 

 with soap-suds, after which the same parts may be wasM 

 over with a good coating of lime and water, until tuer 

 is a regular white deposit upon them ; when this h»s &e 

 done with attention, and repeated where the slightest r - 



appearance of the Blight has been detected, I. have ° e ^ 

 Tobacco- water, oil and soot, clay and water, or gas-tar, 



known the process fail. Those who prefer it may 



soap -lees, and oil of turpentine, in proportions of me ' 

 one, or one part of vitriol to seven parts of water, 

 also been strongly recommended as washes ; butt heg 

 secret in curing this disease is to penetrate every cre 

 with the brush, and to repeat the application two on ^ 

 times if necessary, — by perseverance the enemy n»us 

 defeated. — Ruricola. 



THE ROSE GARDEN— No. VI. 



{Continued from p. 101.) . ee fc, 



[By an oversight a part of this paper wai printed u» 

 It is now repeated.] i:-„tion.-~ 



Mixture to heal Wounds, and mode of A ppltcaw 

 ive-eighths of black pitch, one-eighthof resin, one-e g 





Fiv 



of tallow, one-eighth bees'-wax :— or, half bees -wax, ' 



white Burgundy pitch, • q uari 



pitch : — or, one pound of 



