THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



179 



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'1LLI 



wee* 



(ipE TlNIA PUNCTATA." 



iiM MILLER intends to give a List in next 



l :)Xroncleo( those Nurserymen that have ordered 

 * ■rin«l Flower. Other Nurserymen who wish 



! 



■^SKmS? endYhe^oiae^mediately. 



0BO d«M«inr 





IS 



Sussex. 



AS, 



rT^«xiTRSERY.MARESFIELD,nearUclifield,Sa9! 



OODLANDb>LRSERY. FUCHSIASf VERBENi 



W E L-vfxS CINERARIAS, CAMELLIAS, GREENHOUSE 

 ~d jSioVS*™*™- HARDY CLUMBERS, and Plants 



ana HtAw- 1 "*-- .- - 



■ dap,ed « r ^f* Sov bee to inform their Friends nnd Amateurs 

 W "vl..?^e of the above, together with a List of entirely 

 ***' ROSES. £ pow ready, and may be had Gratis on application. 



c\)t erwtomm' Chronicle 



SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1844. 



MEETINGS FOB THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 

 Widkmday, March 27 Society of Arts . t 8 * m. 



Motoay, April 1 . Entomological . . 8 p.m. 

 *° ' y r Horticultural . . 3 m. 



Tuhl-ay, April 2 'iLinnaean • . . 8 m. 



Thi well-known experiment of conducting- a por- 

 tion of the unburnt gas from the interior of a candle- 

 flame, and then lighting it at the end of the tube, 

 forms the basis of Mr. Williams's 

 retsonings in behalf of his im- 

 proved furnace. This experi- 

 ment, which we recall to mind by 

 the annexed diagram, is assumed 

 as proving that the whole of a 

 gaseous current will never be con- 

 sumed unless some extraordinary 

 means be previously taken to 

 intermix the gas with the air, 

 whose oxygen is to combine with 

 it. " If, then, the free unre- 

 •tricted access of air on all sides 

 of this small flame is not able by 

 force, attraction, or the laws of 

 diffusion, to form a due atomic 

 mixture in time for ignition, 

 a fortiori, it cannot do so when 

 the supply of air is restricted, and 

 that of the gas increased." 



These words form the conclusion of Mr. Williams's 

 notice of the experiment in question, and he proceeds 

 to contrast it with the combustion of an argand lamp 

 (his furnace being called the Argand furnace), in which 

 he infers that no such phenomenon could be exhibited. 

 We think, however, that there is a slight error in sup- 

 posing that because some portion of unburnt gas can 

 thus be abstracted and afterwards inflamed, that it 

 would not have been equally burnt if left to itself. 

 There is little doubt, we apprehend, that the upper 

 part of every flame consists of the gas which but an 

 instant before had formed the yet un consumed central 

 portion of the volume, and which might have been 

 conducted away and burnt at the end of a tube instead 



W^V lncrease the length of the original flame, 

 ye think there is a second error in supposing that in 

 tins respect there is any essential difference between 

 "je name of an argand lamp and that of a candle. 

 1ft combustion in the flame'of the argand-lamp is, 



in *k • ln the candle » successive. The flame has 

 "™gtn in proportion to the supply of gas, because 



fa V r°\ U °a ° f gas re( l uir es to be brought to the sur- 

 face oi the flame, in order to gain access to the air ; and 

 uiereis exactly the same central portion of temporarily 

 Durnt &**> throughout the entire ring of the argand 



flame as there is in the 

 candle, and which may 

 be in the same manner 

 abstracted and burnt at 

 the end of a tube thus. 

 The great distinction 

 between an argand lamp 

 and a candle consists in 

 the chimney,for without 

 the chimney the best oil 

 in an annular wick burns 

 less perfectly than the 

 commonest tallow with 

 a simpler form of cotton. 

 Besides the draught pro- 

 duced by the chimney, 

 and the consequent in- 

 creased supply of air, the 

 in trip r h; i . contraction or shoulder 



ciblv *„»' ?\ nves the ascending current of airfor- 

 n»ixture nf S • ns l n S 8 as ' and compels an inter- 

 to comhncr ;« G ^ a ? d gas ' which is hi S h, y favourable 



«* RTZ> , and ^ h , ich ma y easil y *™ **>* 



The 2£ ^TT of fu ™aces. 

 ^deed fl "? contra ction in the chimney, and 

 &* and iff 7 . COntnvance ty which an inflammable 

 ^crisverv^V 6 ! 111 ^ t0 im P in ge against each 

 ^Ps f r h,w $7 ft 01 ™ in the recently-invented 

 1 f burmn 8 ^gUy rectified spirits of turpen- 



tine. In these, a narrowing of the chimney corres- 

 ponds with a metal button over the centre of the 

 flame, by means of which the mutual penetration and 

 intermixture of the two currents is made much more 

 complete than in the common Argand lamp, and 

 therefore a material is caused to burn without smoke, 

 which, without some such extraordinary provision, 

 fails to obtain a sufficient supply of oxygen from the 

 air for its complete combustion. 



These lamps exemplify very conclusively the lead- 

 ing argument of Mr. Williams, that, in order to ob- 

 tain chemical combination, it is not sufficient to bring 

 the materials into mere juxtaposition, though they 

 may leave some doubt as to whether the means he 

 proposes are the only ones, or the best for the pur- 

 pose. The public is much indebted to him for the 

 perseverance with which he has followed out the sub- 

 ject, but we think his own illustration of the Argand 

 lamp scarcely does justice to this invention. 



In the annexed diagram we have shown how sim- 

 ply and easily the benefits, real or supposed, of the 

 contrivances 

 in question 

 may be ob- 

 tained in fur- 

 naces resem- 

 bling those ge- 

 nerally used 

 for Horticul- 

 tural purposes. 

 The apertures 

 in the brick- 

 work marked 

 by 4 arrows, 

 which indicate 

 the course of 

 the entering 

 current of air, are the only novelties, and Ihcy are 

 new only in this peculiar arrangement, because, 

 as we have already stated, air has been admit- 

 ted behind the fire for the same purpose for very 

 many years. In this arrangement, the air which 

 enters by the four channels meeting the current of gas 

 at right angles, or rather, indeed, opposed to it, would 

 tend to produce that sort of forced intermixture 

 which is secured in the turpentine-lamps by the 

 peculiarly-formed chimney, and the deflecting button 

 placed above the flame. Common open stoves for 

 dwelling-houses have been made with grated sides and 

 backs to admit air to the upper parts of the fuel, for 

 nearly half a century. For furnaces, the mode of 

 admission has been much varied, though it has never, 

 we believe, been done exactly as proposed by Mr. 

 Williams, nor as is suggested above. Many years 

 since, a furnace was brought before the Society of 

 Arts, and was published in their Transactions, in 

 which the fire-bars are all tubes, through which the 

 air is made to pass, and from which it escapes into a 

 long narrow chamber formed in the bridge behind the 

 fire, which communicates with the tubular bars, and 

 from which it issues finally through a thin aperture. 

 This arrangement was supposed to possess the double 

 advantage of heating the current of air, and of cooling, 

 and therefore preserving, the fire-bars. How far all 

 this is accomplished we are not called upon to say ; 

 but this proposal, and many others, show that the at- 

 tention of practical men has been long directed to the 

 supposed necessity of giving air to the gases otherwise 



than through the fuel. 



The first question therefore for any Horticulturist 

 who wishes to avail himself of these advantages, is 

 one having reference to patent rights. The air 

 has been admitted through gratings, through long 

 narrow channels, and through tubular fire-bars, but 

 not through small perforations in bricks, as suggested 

 by Mr. Williams. It may therefore be questionable 

 whether the four or more apertures described in the 

 above diagram, which are supposed to be eight or 

 nine inches long, and an inch wide, could be used 

 without infringing any patent. On this subject we, 

 of course, do not offer an opinion ; our business is 

 merely to show with what facility provision may be 

 made for admitting air above the fire in the boilers 

 used by gardeners ; because it will be obvious that the 

 arrangement above described is perfectly applicable to 

 conical, cylindrical, and indeed to all the boilers now 

 commonly in demand, as well as to the horseshoe- 

 form shown in the engraving. — A. 



the application of water, or any other agent winch acts 

 mechanically by pressure upon such a mass of confined 

 matter, will naturally tend to lessen the distance between 

 every particle of which the mass is composed, which will 

 thus become, because of the cohesion of its parts, in- 

 capable of permitting the uniform action of other agencies 

 (§§ 3, 6, 7.) This shows that the confinement of 

 matter in garden-pots is attended by a loss of the 

 mechanical force by which matter operates. Again, sup- 

 pose the same amount of soil to be transferred to a pot 

 with the ordiuary bottom hole, and water to be similarly 

 applied, it is clear that by the passage of the fluid, and 

 the diminished confinement of the soil, its mechanical 

 force is increased exactly in proportion to the continued 

 agency which acts upon it We know that the pas- 

 sage of moisture in pots is in proportion to the absence 

 of any obstruction to the bottom hole, in consequence of 

 potsherds over it. This will be clearer, if we consider 

 that, as the gravitating tendency of all matter is to a com- 

 mon centre, and as the theory of gravitation or attraction 

 implies an agent, namely, mechanical force (llerschel), so 

 it is assumed that mechanical agency should be strictly in 

 proportion to the amount of the circumscribed matter it 

 is intended to affect (§ 7.) Admitting the correctness of 

 this view, the reader is reminded that the whole base of 

 an ordinary flower-pot surrounding the bottom hole ii 

 diametrically opposed to the natural arrangement of 

 matter which admits the action of other agencies upon it, 

 this defect being in all cases obviated by the internal 

 arrangement of potsherds, which, acting mechanically, 

 modify the pressure of the remaining parts. 



The arrangement of the materials employed in potting 

 may be defined to be — 1. Bottom drainage by potsherds, 

 &c, solely intended, according to general cultivation, to 

 act mechanically, by preventing the obstruction of the 

 cavity which regulates the chief drainage. 2. Sub-drain- 

 age, by coarse vegetable matter or soil, intended also to 

 act mechanically, by the coarseness of its parts, and 

 nutritively, by its progressive decomposition. 3. Soil, 

 adapted for growth, acting mechanically by its peculiar 

 •texture, and nutritively by its uniform proportion of 

 chemical properties. 



That thrse parts should bear a strict relation to each 

 other (mechanically and chemically), has been proved by 

 the principles 7 to 10, inclusive. 



In accordance with the opinion given in a previous 

 Paper, which states that the vigour of plants is in pro- 

 portion to the uniform excitability of their organs, * 

 plants of Fuchsias from cuttings of the current year's 

 growth are preferred to others ; and when such are not 

 procurable, the most vigorous, uniform, and short-jointed 

 of one-year-old plants may be selected ; and in all cases 

 cuttings from the base or root of the plant are preferable 



to those from the maturer stem. 



On receiving plants which may have been injudiciously 

 potted, with a deficiency or disarrangement of drainage, 

 it is nevertheless better to retain them in their pots 

 (unless injured or broken), in order to regulate the cir- 

 culation of their fluids, according to the existing state of 

 the plant, as follows : — 1st. If the bottom cavity shows, 

 by its close position, that free drainage is impeded, 

 enlarge the cavity externally with an iron wedge, in pro- 

 portion to its defective state, and thus, without disturb- 

 ing the vital function of the roots, the first simple remedial 

 process is effected. 2d. If the growth of the plant is 

 feeble, reduce it by pruning to the size which appears 

 most favourable to a uniform and accumulated vigour. 

 As the future figure of the plant is regulated by its first 

 formation, the following rule may be given for plants of 

 one year's growth, namely, a branch may be formed from 

 every axil or bud, where already the small young leaves 

 appear ; but, where they are wholly absent, there is a risk 

 of a very late development : this, however, will depend in 

 some measure upon the uniform excitability of the plants, 

 and upon the nature of the atmosphere to which they 

 are exposed. 3d. Open the surface of the soil ; and, 

 4th. Raise the pots either upon a shelf, or on inverted 

 pots on an ordinary front platform of a stove or forcing- 

 house, where the heat is maintained at from 55° to 70°, 

 where they will require occasional waterings, with alternate 



syringings. The importance of syringing is in proportion 

 to their continued exposure to strong sun-light, and an 

 otherwise dry atmosphere; apart from other reasons, 

 which will be hereafter noticed. In this position they 

 remain until the buds are formed as young branches, and 

 the roots are making their appearance at the enlarged 

 cavity.— William IVood, Pine-apple Place. 



(To be continued.) 



FUCHSIAS. 



(Continued from p. l6i.) 



Having thus stated what the conditions are upon which 

 the just preparation of soils depends, it will be of some 

 interest to consider the separate parts which constitute a 

 correct arrangement of soils in the process of potting. It 

 has been shown by an illustration of § 1, that matter when 

 circumscribed is subject to an undue attraction or cohesion 

 of its parts, and that all arrangements of soil in pots 

 being circumscribed, are, in the absence of some modifying 

 agent, subject to cohesion by atmospheric and mechanical 

 pressure. Suppose, for instance, a flower-pot without the 

 bottom hole which admits the escape of superfluous 

 water, and in that state filled with soil; it is obvious that 



ENTOMOLOGY. 

 Attelabus curculionoides {the Black-legged 

 Coral JJ'eevil.) — There is no district, however barren, 

 nor any period of the year, however cold and dreary, that 

 will not afford amusement and instruction to the reflecting 

 mind, if imbued with a taste for Entomology and other 

 branches of Natural History. Even in the Polar region* 



our enterprising countrymen found various insects to 



capture and admire, and tropical countries are swarming 

 with species which vie with the splendid feathered race in 

 the brilliant lustre of their plumage. We need not, how- 

 ever, wander from our native land for amusement, if we 

 are disposed to study the economy of insects ; there is not 

 a wood, field, or meadow, heath, or hedgerow, that will not 

 present abundance of materials to those who seek dili- 

 gently and zealously to explore the treasures that -Nature 

 has in store for those who become her admirers, and we 

 are often rewarded in the pursuit when we least expect 

 it. I remember rambling in a wood early in June, 

 admiring the charming wild flowers which there adorn 



* Chronicle, p. 7» ( 1 94*v 



