1844.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



165 



TT^rflowTand'these feeble creatures would 



* 6 " P - Tin these cells one would have supposed they 

 ■" Cst'secur but such is not the case, for they are 

 ^r free f om the inroads of Aphidivorousinsect3,such as 

 £e 1 rvTo the Ladybirds, Syrphtd*, &c,* many of which 

 ?? fnnnd living amongst the Flant-hce in the gal f, 

 ixur a ng ujon fheir flocks, which seem scarcely to be 

 j nUl ed bv the hourly drafts which are made upon 

 *t* this however, is not actually the case, for a single 

 ! lm : o a Svrphu« will often, before it arrives at matu- 

 S;\narelycliar.g.HofthePlant.lice. . 



i.uh to repeat, that the Eriosoma bursana is a typical 

 -.VTp. of the genus ; and if the nerving of the wings be 

 !SLn»red with that of the Elm-tree-gall Aphis and the 

 ? Jriean Bli-ht, it will be seen that it varies very mate- 

 Mr so that°a careful observer could readily distinguish 

 SI; first from either of the others, which are also easily 

 ieparated by the for m of the stigma.— l luncola. 



r familiaTTotany. 



Morphology, No. VII. 



(Continued from page 148.) 

 What is this mighty breath, ye sages I say, 

 That in a powerful language, seen, not heard, 



Instructs us? What but God? 



Inspiring God, who, boundless Spirit all, 



And unremitting Energy, pervades, 



Adjusts, sustains, and agitates the whole ? 



He ceaseless works alone, and yet alone 



Seems not to work ; with such perfection fram d 



Is this complex stupendous scheme of things. 



If it is a fact almost surpassing man's powers of com- 

 prehension, that all the varied products of vegetation are 

 but little changes in the proportions of the elementary 

 matter that constitutes the fabric of plants— which fabric is, 

 moreover, ifself, for the greater part, a mere condensation 

 of air— it is not less curious, though far more intelligible, 

 that the different kinds of tissue which are gathered 

 together into stems and leaves, and flowers and fruits, 

 should themselves be but changes from one common form 

 of tissue, notwithstanding the diversity of forms in which 



it finally appears. # 



If you boil a head of Asparagus, and then rub it in 

 water in a dish, you will find that it separates into different 

 parts, one being a kind of pulp, the other strings. The 

 pulp consists of minute bladders ; the strings are composed 

 of fine threads of different kinds. Or, again, take a young 

 shoot of the Elder-tree, and pound it in water ; it, also, 

 will separate into pulp and strings, the former consisting 

 of bladders, and the latter of threads, as before. Such 

 bladders and such threads are found in all plants, consti- 

 tute what is named their tissue, and form the whole fabric 

 of vegetation. 



Nothing can be more different than the forms of tissue. 

 The bladders are more or less round and brittle, constitute 

 pulp, pith, cork, and such parts, and, from their appear- 

 ance when cut across, are named cellular tissue. The 

 threads are very longand tough, and some of them extremely 

 curious, resembling little corkscrews of silver. A muslin 

 handkerchief is composed of threads that are straight, 

 extremely fine, and several inches long; such threads 

 form wood, give toughness to all the parts of a plant, and 

 are called woody fibre. If you snap the stalk of a Straw- 

 berry leaf, with a little care, you will find that it contains 

 a fine cobweb-like substance in its interior ; the parts that 

 snap and cover up the cobweb are, first, a layer of cellular 

 tissue, and next a coating of woody fibre, which guards 

 the cobweb. The cobweb itself may, with gentleness and 

 care, be pulled out to a considerable length, and will be 

 found, when viewed against the light, to consist entirely 

 of spiral threads of inconceivable fineness ; such threads 

 we name the spiral vessels. These kinds of tissue are all 

 very different, not merely in form, but in the uses they 

 are .or; thus the cellular tissue is for digestion, the 

 woody for strength and the conveyance of sap, the spiral 

 lor the passage of air. Yet thev are ail one, as may be 

 demonstrated. 



The Oak grows out of an Acorn, the Wheat from a 

 gram of Corn, the Cocoa-nut tree from the contents of a 



hi h ft , ' The 0ak ' the w "eat, the Cocoa-tree, have 

 win cellular, woody, and spiral tissue ; but the Acorn, 



\t ,"• and the shell have nothing but the cellular, 

 would therefore seem from this that the two others 



he Creator 



. , ...w Morphologist is not con- 



ned with an inference ; he looks for proof. 



tet t WlUl a P° werful microscope, keen knives, and 

 J« Keener eyes, he patiently watches the progress of de- 

 opment in the germinating embryo, and then he finds 

 clusJT 6 °i the little bladd ers lengthen, thicken, and 

 Ion// a 8 i e l ' tiU the y cease to be bladders, and become 

 n and delicate threads. He looks again, and lo ! there 



ton.£ L S,which also lengthen, but without becoming 

 tranYn • graduall y for ™ on the inside of their thin 



sparent sides a spiral line, which applies its turns the 

 against the other, till at last a second shell, spiral 

 withi 1 \ gh inde scribably slender, is deposited 

 donhl Thc P" m W*e bladder has, in truth, the 



denr, v Pr0perty0flen S thenin S on tbe one hand > andof 

 a i„? i ng 1 . matter » wh 'ch is secreted all over its inside, in 



variott.1 u re 1 ctlon » or as a uniform varnish, or in a 

 ^noualy broken and interruoted laver. 



«% wouia therefore seem from this that the U 

 nnt f °* fashi °ned by the powerful hand of th 

 tented h ******** But the Morphologist is 



| and gives it force to resist the 6torm ; or extended, and 

 lined by a spiral thread deposited within them, they form 

 the exact imitation of the breathing apparatus of insects, 

 and almost of man. 



And thus does Nature simply work in the elementary 

 construction of that which seems so wonderfully compli- 

 cated a machine, the fabric of a tree. Three, or at the 

 utmost four, air-like bodies are condensed intobladders.to 

 which the power is given of secreting internally matter like 

 themselves, and of assuming various forms at the bidding of 

 the vital force. The bladders in their new shapes are 

 compelled to arrange themselves in the endless forms that 

 clothe the earth with a verdant mantle ; and thus, and 

 thus only, are provided the materials of the largest of the 

 Kingdoms of Nature. 



Untutored man looks on such things without seeing 

 them ; he is surrounded by silent prodigies more sur- 

 prising than the wildest dreams of fancy ; and he knows 

 them not, or disbelieves. He is satisfied with results, and 

 thinks not of their causes. It is only to the philosopher 

 that are revealed the mighty secrets of the hidden places 

 of the earth. — It. 



that tht' thCn ' WC have P roof » ^resistible and convincing, 



dders, dif- 

 changed, 



ferentl! ma " y , t L extures of a plant consist of blad, 



and I I 7 IJ!" ed by - the wondr ous power of life. Un „__, 



moulding AT Pn ! DUlve cond ition, these bladders form 



Parts .i!! 8, fi J 00ms » P ith ' P ul P> and al1 the softer 



»i«»of?.» CMd ° Ut ' and ren dered tough by a smooth 



U,I1 K0[ ma fpr COnrnU.1 * 4 1 .1 ° . J 



i'l 



THE ROSE-GARDEN.— No. VII. 



{Continued from pnge 117.) 



Plants which have been weak, sickly, and unfit to 

 work the first season, will frequently break at several 

 joints in the spring, beginning from the root ; in this 

 case, the converse of the habit of a healthy plant is 

 exhibited, in the unhealthy the highest shoot is the 

 weakest, in the vigorous the greatest power is displayed 

 at the summit of the plant. When the weakness of a 

 plant is determined, the whole of the buds should be 

 allowed to push, in order to loosen the bark ; when each 

 push has produced two or three pair of leaves, the high- 

 est, which is in general weak, should be removed, the two 

 next left to increase, and all below them stopped, only 

 one or two pair of leaves being left to each, their final 

 removal not taking place until the three upper shoots left 

 to increase are become vigorous. 



Insects. — In order to secure the shoots from the attacks 

 of the caterpillar, it is necessary to look over them fre- 

 quently, destroying slugs and snails also, as all of these 

 do much injury — the first by eating the point of the 

 shoot, on which it remains whilst there is food, twisting 

 the end leaves together, and living on them — the others 

 by eating through the shoot, frequently at its base, if not 

 large and ripening. 



Keeping shoots even, and removing thorns. — As soon 

 as the spring-shoot is over, it will be well to look over 

 the stocks, and wherever a single shoot be found which is 

 running away from the others upon the same stem, it 

 must be stopped by pinching off the extreme point, in 

 order to bring the others up to it, that all the shoots 

 may assimilate in size by the time they are to receive the 

 bud. On the 1st of July, it will be well to remove the 

 thorns from the places desired to bud upon. If this be 

 delayed, the plant will have had no time to recover from 

 any slight injury ; and if omitted, there will be some 

 trouble and inconvenience in placing the buds. A suffi- 

 ciency of the shoot should be thus cleared, to allow of the 

 ligature being bound around, without any thorn interfer- 

 ing with the operation. 



Time of Budding. — It may be observed, that the 

 growth of the wild Rose differs so much from that of 

 most other plants, that shoots may be found to receive 

 a bud at all seasons of the year. A plant budded on the 

 21st of October with a species not free growing, was the 

 forwardest, out of fifty which had been budded the same 

 autumn, to start vigorously in the following spring. If, 

 therefore, an unexpected shoot break in a desirable place 

 from a stem (already budded in August or before), use 

 should be made of it without reference to the time of 

 year. 



From the beginning to the end of August is, per- 

 haps the most certain time to bud with a dormant eye 

 (a Vceil dormant), as the* sap is then in full force, espe- 

 cially if the season be moist, after a drought. The pas- 

 sage of the sap, however, varies in different years, and 

 the time to bud of course varies with it. The desideratum 

 is, that the trees should be in full vigour, and the bark 

 part with the utmost facility from the wood, showing a 

 rich supply of sap below it. This is, in general, the case 

 at the season before mentioned. A fall of rain should be 

 taken advantage of, if possible ; for, be it observed, that 

 budding during a long drought would be labour entirely 

 thrown away. If the season, therefore, advances without 

 rain, 'and the sap in consequence be checked, the substitute 

 (which, by the bye, is a poor one) of watering the roots 

 of the stocks well for some days beforehand should be 

 adopted ; but, in the event of rain, the operations may 

 be commenced the next day. Early in the morning, and 

 late in the evening, are the best times to bud ; an4 a 

 cloudy atmosphere affords the most advantageous oppor- 

 tunity. Above all, a day having a dry northerly or 

 easterly wind should be rejected, for great evaporation 

 taking place at that time, the tender parts exposed to it 

 are instantly dried up, and the work is frequently de- 

 stroyed before it is completed. 



It will be observed, that during wet weather plants 

 increase in bulk, during hot weather in length ; if, 

 therefore, a long continuance of heat and drought take 

 place (especially in a poor soil), after the working of a 

 plant, the action of the sun, which drives the sap to 

 the point of the shoot by contracting the bark, 

 loosens the ligature, and the inserted eye frequently 

 perishes. For this reason it is desirable to enter the buds 

 as soon as each plant is forward enough to receive them. 

 Stopping the end of the shoot may occasionally remedy 

 the evil, by preventing an extension, and thus causing it 



to swell. When a slight or indeed heavy rain takes 

 place just before the stocks are setting, the sap will be 

 found in motion, and buds may be inserted with facility; 

 but unless a continued supply follow, the juncture of the 

 newly inserted bud with the* stock will not take place, and 

 failure may be expected. 



Dormant and Pushing Buds. — The difference in Eng- 

 land between a dormant and pushing-bud {ceil dormant 

 and ceil pons s ant) is generally one of chance, and almost 

 confined to free-growers. The time chosen to bud is 

 commonly the end of July, or beginning of August ; and 

 if a bud springs, the branch is shortened, two or three 

 buds only being left on the branch, (and these are pinched 

 off, one by one, as the shoot advances :) these, of course, 

 beyond the inserted bud, which thus has a chance of 

 shooting strong enough to ripen before winter : if this be 

 done, one bud should always be left (though nipped at 

 the point to prevent its occupying the sap), as a security 

 during winter, which would otherwise be more likely to 

 cut off the shoot, which has, as yet, but little strength. 

 This lopping a branch, however, at a time when the sap 

 is at its fullest, cannot but injure the root of the plant, 

 by the temporary stagnation it causes. 



Grafted and budded Roses of all sorts will be found to 

 dwindle away, when the heads they carry have become 

 weak and the bark of the stock set and hard for a whole 

 season. On the transplantation of all worked Roses great 

 care should be bestowed to secure the roots from injury, 

 as well as to replace directly (rapid growing soils suffer- 

 ing less from temporary stagnation than delicate ones). 

 The stock, in its natural state, will exist and recover 

 almost without a root, but it must be remembered that 

 this pre-supposes it to have been healthy and vigorous, 

 under which circumstances, when the top is cut off and 

 the roots cut in, the vigour which is retained in the neck 

 of the plant will make extraordinary exertions for its re- 

 covery ; large shoots will be thrown out from its sides, 

 and the activity of the plant will be rapidly restored ; if, 

 on the contrary, the stock be replanted with any shoots 

 left upon it, this recovery will be neither so rapid nor so 

 certain. Great attention is, therefore, necessary in prun- 

 ing trees after transplantation, which operation should 

 always be done with the object of promoting the speedy 

 ascent of the sap and formation of fresh free-growing wood 

 on the spot to which the plant has been removed. la 

 direct opposition to this, many sorts of Roses, on their 

 own bottoms, require lifting occasionally, to prevent the 

 roots going too deep, and the flowers diminishing in 

 quantity, as well as to divide the roots, remove the de- 

 cayed parts, obtain offsets, &c. 



In France, budding with a pushing eye takes place at 

 the end of May, and is frequently used when, a few 

 buds only being procurable of a certain desired species, 

 it is an object to increase them as soon as possible ; in 

 this case, three or four natural buds should be left be- 

 yond that which has been inserted, and these should be 

 taken away, as before mentioned, with the intervention of 

 a week between each. 



(To be continued.) 



Home Correspondence. 



Tank-Heating.— Permit me to make one or two obser- 

 vations upon the subject of tank-heating, of which I 

 have now had some experience. My greenhouse is 45 

 feet long and 14 feet high, and therefore contains a 

 considerable area. This I have succeeded in heating 

 very perfectly, by means of the smallest size Rogers 

 boiler communicating with a brick gutter cemented : the 

 gutter is not divided, but passes round the house, obstruc- 

 tion to the entrance being avoided by carrying the water 

 under the floor opposite the door, by means of a lead 

 pipe which dips and rises on the other side to the same 

 level ; the water thus leaves the boiler, and passing once 

 round the house re-enters the boiler. I conceive that this 

 arrangement is to be preferred to the divided gutter, where 

 the water-course is long, the water being less cooled than 

 if it ran round the house and back again before it re- 

 entered the boiler. You had some doubts as to the 

 applicability of brick gutters with slate covering, to the 

 case of greenhouses, fearing that the atmosphere might 

 be too much charged with moisture. I can assure you 

 that fear is quite groundless, as I find my house perfectly 

 free from damp, and indeed the plants require watering 

 now every other day, the soil becoming quite dry in that 

 time ; a moister state of the air may be maintained when 

 proper, by raising two or three slates in different parts of 

 the house. The slates I employ are a quarter of an inch 

 thick, and are cemented to each other at the sides j this 

 thickness adds to the strength, but I imagine, has the 

 disadvantage of confining the heat longer than thinner 

 slates would do, which might be equally well secured 

 by cementing their edges, made to overlap. There is an. 

 appearance upon the surface of the water contained in 

 these cemented gutters, which being a crisp scum and 

 somewhat like a coating of ice, may have puzzled some of 

 your readers who have seen it. I may mention that it is 

 chalk, and that the water contained in a recently con- 

 structed cement tank is highly charged with lime ; in fact, 

 is pretty strong lime-water, feels soft to the fingers, and 

 gives a bitter taste to the tongue ; the carbonic acid gas 

 contained in the air of the house, acts upon the surface of 

 this lime-water, and converts it into carbonate of lime. I 

 suppose that this solution of thc cement is peculiar to 

 recently constructed tanks, and such as have been made 

 use of before the air had the opportunity of acting upon 

 the surface, and converting it into carbonate of lime J ; ana 

 should the evil continue, I should be disposed to draw ott 

 all the water, and allow the tank to be exposed to the air 

 for a few days. My gardener has been **?}°V**™ 1 ?* 



,hot water for the parts of my Mills' pH mfeated q 



