J 





THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



211 



"■"^rrrURAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.- 



ORTICL LI U K-V^ o EX HIB1TI0NS of FLOWBB 



.* >'»"•" E *&, Saturdays. m.-May 18 



^"U'^rfS^SSJaa.,. at 3, 6,. eac„. 



RS 



season, will 



« k /^»i^rrr,o,rATuv^-«i.eu^ayjr w e h i s h 



E 



^MTIONS of FLOWERS, &c. 



?A« •T^^^o'-^.'-ni.c.^o™. .n the 



REGENT'S 



s appointed for the 



■*-* r ^ «f Pi 4VTS. FLOWBRS, anu wit n u w.. , "" ". 

 B xbibitiOOJ * I J£J2 BOTANIC SOCIETY OP LONDON, thlS 



<**«» of the KorA TuKSDAY> Apri i 30, 



; " Tubsdav, June 4, 



TcgSDAY July 2, 1844, 

 — Hinir aoo/ will be distributed. Tickets for 

 ^^^^ byordwfroin Fellows or Members at 



. *■ !L^ a rdens • price, on or before Saturday, April 13, 



**°*"£X?"u. except on the Days of Exhibition, when 



Aer will ^^p^fand further particulars may be had at the 



tfcej 



may 

 J. D. C. Sowbrby, Secretary. 



F 



TrnvFR. SHOW.— The Annual Flower-Show, under 



L ° cT^nrVnaence of Mr. J. T. Nkvili.e, of Ebenezer 



*^3hE wWieW in the Grounds of the Almshouses 



ffi TutcheT's Charitable Institution at Walham Green, 



the U" 1 "" . r pnd of June or beginning of July, 



Fol^m "arthelatter end of June 

 Bith^r notice will be Riven. 



beginning: or ju;y, of which 

 Jambs Nf.ss, Secretary. 



A 



PERSON having healthy young plants of THE 



'riTRON (Citrus medica), THE LIME (Citrus acida), THE 

 HADDOCK CiTrus decumana), or any of the larger fruited 

 J£n?tnbe ; may hear of a purchaser, by addressing a line to 

 ^J? 5 Charles-street, Covent Garden, stating size, price, &c. 



©artieners* Chronicle 



SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 1844. 



MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 

 FiiPAv, April 18 • Botanical ... 8 r.M. 



Horticultural • 3 p.m. 



Linnaean ... 8 p-k 



._ r Society of Arts . i 8 r u. 



7 I Micro»copical . . 8 pm- 



Tiui'AT, April 16 -J 



IHDAT 



A Fox, says the fable, having lost his tail, persuaded 

 his companions that tails were useless, and thus it was 

 that bobtails came in fashion. Something of this, 

 sort must have happened to the early Pine-growers 

 or they never could have fallen upon the strange plan 

 of cutting off its roots to make the Pine-apple grow 

 The preservation of roots was found difficult with the 

 old and inefficient modes of obtaining bottom-heat ; 

 and therefore roots were voted useless. 



Cut off all roots that are not fresh and healthy, says 

 Speedily ; away with straggling roots, writes Nicol ; 

 disroot, disroot, cry half-a-dozen more, for roots are 

 only annual things, and of no use to Pines after they 

 are a few months old. Even Baldwin, with all his 

 skill, could not perceive the error of the practice, 

 although he confined his disrooting to the time when 

 his successions were taken out of the tan and trans- 

 ferred to pots ; and Mr. Glendinning, a still better 

 authority, speaks of disrooting as a beneficial prac- 

 ^jad'tong, however, that it suits Queens better than 

 tne black sorts. There was, however, an exception to 

 tnis singular practice, in the person of Griffin, the 

 gardener to Mr. Samuel Smith, of Woodhall, who 

 never would allow healthy Pines to be disrooted at any 



n2£n£ 7w ]* at aU his contemporaries in the mag- 

 S*S£ ° f hls 1 fr r mt ' *°ough he was some way behind 

 u* > Bicton and Longleat Pine-growers of the present 



W 



thepSi^f^^^zledtofind a reason for 

 wfcE E w as t Z tlI \ °ff the roots of the Pine-apple, 

 bottom-heat J*o aS • e lm Perfect mode of obtaining 

 of roots and nl C Ti nuall y leading to the destruction 

 il wa » thoujffi/ 1 ^ the P lants ^tinned to grow, 

 *ere better Z! i'/ 0018 Could be of n0 use > and 



? hich .because i will u 1 M with the ° ran S e - tree > 



* un ger, and nenJL -J* 5 " a great deal ot " coId ' 



f *°cy cannot wS 1 1 Wltnout perishing, some people 



! No plant Z Ve I 00 much of such treatment. 



2 ,rcel y an v otCM? ""natural treatment, and 



ill-usage, without h? ?° uId endure half so much 

 ? soniethin^ like t Ir" g alt0 S et her. The Pine-plant 

 5 *® endure 1?^^ beast the donkey,- 



^&&J^^ ° f ^^ J ° re 



*« toe ^ho^ 6 ^ res of the ^ne-apple 

 E? n °* imagined^ K ?»> Merely annual, aa is 

 *«1'. although th e 1. the Case with the S ^w. 

 <*» \\*i sho * that thi, n •° mm0n atten tion to facts 

 & at Barnes h« suffici^ 1 i m0n iS entirel y unfounded. 

 td? 1 ^ Paper ® Ttl ^t «* K*^ *■ 

 j£* or e recently, Mr „. G f dencrs Magazine;" 

 ^growing was rev W XT lhon > whose w « rk on 

 ^fPter to fhe LnosuI ed ?*u 0ther da ^ has de ™ ted 

 **{ / n ^orJt Sd >° f thlS COmmon and la tal 



t^7 c11 further on ^ ^ affr ° nt t0 our readers 

 & re be regarded herfj° Ult ' ^ is rooting will 



l+^^»^d^ tet > ** the sure raark of a 

 R2'« Pi ne-houses wni u CS FUCtion of root s by ac- 

 ^^^^ of the cUt 



inuest maxims of cultivation is— 



PSS5L ta sink «^2J o S p t e o riod - of vesl 



J 



2fe> 



ft** 3 



*7i^ vine ^* P * UCI, er or 



^Viit growin ^ a ' 

 i«^SsSr n H.«eadil 



have returned. This principle is of universal applied- | sibly be identical with it, for everything is constructed 

 ■" * '* " ..... ' i n the mind before the hand is set to execute. The 



analysis of mental power is a very interesting subject; 

 but it would be out of place to enter on it here. 



Although mere Light and Shade are necessary t3 



bring out striking effects, Colour must be attended to. 



Light and Shade, we all know, when the sun shines, 



vary every moment ; and therefore it becomes a study 



so to assort objects within range of the principal 



point of view as to bring out various good effects. 



Not only must we regard the diurnal motion of the 



sun, but his position in the ecliptic, so that when he 



is at various elevations and positions light may strike 



and shadows spread out where they may make the 



strongest impression on the eye. This is a point not 



much attended to, but one of very great value, and 



well deserving the closest study by the Landscape 



Gardener. Frequently, the admission at a particular 



spot of a mere streak of light enlivens a whole scene 



and excites the highest admiration. Sunshine through 



trees, when the orb itself is concealed and the rays 



are penetrating a thin shower falling among them, 



produces at times delightful effects. 



To enumerate all the effects that have occurred to 

 us in rural scenery of various kinds, especially that 

 denominated the romantic, might occupy a goodly 

 volume. It is impossible to exhibit an effect and to 

 analyse the manner in which it is brought about 

 without the help of drawings and diagrams. With 

 a few observations on colour, and remarks on one or 

 two collateral subjects, we shall in our next con- 

 clude what we have to say. — G. 



Hon ; there is no known or probable exception to it ; • 



and every deviation from the rule is of necessity at- 

 tended more or less with injury. The odd thing is, 

 that Pine-growers should have generally admitted its 

 importance, and yet not have perceived that a destruc- 

 tion of roots must be the severest check that a plant 

 can well receive. Checks are indeed the greatest of 

 all the causes of mischief in Pine-houses ; crowds of 

 suckers, a fence of gills, a disproportionate crown, 

 and similar things, arise from that circumstance ; and 

 when once they appear, good-bye to good fruit. 

 Disrooting is the prolific mother of them. 



As we have no intention of returning to this sub- 

 ject for the present, we may as well mention Mr. 

 Barnes's method of preventing the excessive growth 

 of Pine-crowns, when by any accident a plant will 

 try to produce them. It must be obvious that, if the 

 Pine-apple plant has to feed both its fruit and a huge 

 tuft of leaves on the top of it, (which, as our clever 

 friend truly says, look like a baby's head with a 

 man's hat on,) the nourishment which the plant is ca- 

 pable of yielding must be divided between them, and 

 the man's hat will be formed at the expense of the 

 baby's face. To prevent this, from three to six days 

 after the blooming is over, he thrusts a small knife 

 into the centre of the crown, and gives it a twist, 

 when outcomes the centre of the heart, which checks 

 growth without disfiguring the plant. u The fruit 

 taking theadvantage, improves in swelling amazingly, 

 and when finished, has a nice neat little crown on it, 

 from 2 to 3 inches high, looking, in comparison, like 

 a well-fed happy Englishman, with a becoming hat 

 on his head." Speedily adopted a similar practice 

 with suckers, in order to stop their growth. 



The next faculty which ought to be found in the 

 mind of the Landscape Gardener is that of Imitation. 

 We all know how readily this faculty runs into abuse 

 when powerful, and not restrained by a sense of pro- 

 priety. The proper exercise of it, in the case before 

 us, is to imitate Nature — to ask, in all cases, what 

 would Nature do ? To be able to answer that question, 

 the Landscape Gardener is supposed to have followed 

 the advice formerly given, to examine Nature in all her 

 aspects, and to take heedful note of them. A clever 

 man, on looking at a scene to be improved, can form 

 in his mind, almost instantaneously, a view of what is 

 required ; he can see at once what the execution of 

 his design will effect, if well carried out. Having 

 made himself acquainted with every kind of tree and 

 shrub that may be available, its habits, size, colour, 

 style of growth, &c, he knows what to select, and 

 what will suit the soil and climate. The knowledge 

 he must acquire, in order to enable him to imi- 

 tate Nature — to make Art her handmaid, is extensive. 

 The imitative power is indispensable ; but there must 

 be also a discriminative power, to hinder it from mis- 

 placing imitations. This faculty occasionally leads to 

 very great absurdities ; and yet we should consider its 

 gratification, and not laugh at its votaries, though, to 



X 



FAM1L 1AR BOTANY. 

 Morphology. — No. X. 



Come sweet-lipped Zephyr and Favonius, bland ! 

 Teach the fine seed, instinct with life, to shoot 

 On Earth's cold bosom its descending: root ; 

 With pith elastic stretch its rising- stem, 

 Part the twin lobes, expand the throbbing gem. 



If the power of the Creator is wonderfully manifested 

 in the formation of the embryo plant, out of mucilage and 

 just-born cells, how much more admirable is the quality 

 implanted in that embryo of developing itself into a 

 perfect being 1 How marvellous the impulse which causes 

 it to burst through the sides of its early tomb, to awaken 

 by degrees from a death-like aleep, never again to rest, 

 and from a wan and torpid grain to spring into that ever- 

 changing, never-resting, gay and gaudy thing — a plant ! 

 Let us observe what we are permitted to know of the 

 first changes that the little embryo undergoes ; and for 

 this purpose let us take the garden Mustard. 



When the embryo of the Mustard is at rest it is yellow, 

 and consists of two plano-convex scales of the consistence 

 of an almond, upon which the radicle is folded down. The 

 moment it begins to inhale the hrsath of life it softens, 

 lengthens, bursts through the seed and begins its first 

 change. This consists in a lengthening upwards and 

 downwards of tho imall cylindrical apace lying between 

 the point of the radicle and the base of the scales ; and 

 its effect is to produce a white thread, the loose end ot 

 which forces its way downwards, drinking eagerly the 

 moisture of the soil, while at the same time the other 



grauiicauon, aim "» "V* » « TnTv end rises upwards and carries the scale-like cotyledons 

 our taste, they may have spoiled what n *.ight have int0 light and air . and while they thus are rising uuwards, 

 been rendered agreeable. | their ~~" J "~* — "~" "-—•-» > * - • - 



The faculty we are next briefly to consider — that of 



Construction — frequently helps Imitation into the ridi- 

 culous. We recollect having somewhere seen a mass 

 of rockwork on a great scale — a little mountain, pre- 

 cipitous all round, and broken through by ravines, 

 &c; it was quite an expedition to get up to it and 

 travel over it. But it was out of place. It is very 

 proper to give to rock-plants a suitable dwelling-place 

 in a collection ; but where there are no rocks, imita- 

 tions of them are absurd. If they exist on grounds 

 that are to be ornamented, rock-plants may with per- 

 fect propriety be made to grow upon them. Any 

 feature that is grand in Nature cannot be imitated 

 with effect where the general scene is not grand ; and 

 where the scene . is naturally grand, imitations of 

 grandeur are not needed. Unless art can be effectually 

 concealed — unless all objects be absent that can suggest 

 it to the mind, trouble and expense are thrown away 

 on imitations. There are many circumstances which 



solid contents are dissolved and converted into 

 bland milk, which flows along the thread (which is tho 

 axis of growth) and sustains it in its growth, as a mother 

 nourishes the infant at the breast. But in effecting this 

 important purpose the scales are gradually metamorphosed, 

 and from minute fleshy plano-convex yellow bodies they 

 change into large thin roundish green lobes having all the 

 texture and character of a leaf. Here, then, U a dirctt 

 alteration of one thing into another wholly unlike it. 

 The cotyledon grows into a leaf; therefore the cotyledon 

 was a young leaf. 



Next observe the garden Cress. It, too, goes through 

 a similar series of changes in its earliest growth. The 

 yellow fleshy scales of its embryo extend into long- 

 stalked narrow lobes of a bright- green colour exactly of 

 the nature of the future leaf ; and, in order to show still 

 more distinctly the identity of their nature, sometimes 

 they are split into three pieces, just like those of the 

 leaves to be subsequently produced. 



It is true that this curious change does not take place 

 in all embryos. In the common Pea, for example, the 



render art essential, and certain forms imperative ; but ? cal f e h 3 . ne :? r h ^' e / n ^'i^ 1 a?I>e n raDCe ' bUt T^ 



there is some great purpose to serve, which cannot be m the,r 8ubterranean abode - «WUi« up and not 

 well served without a degree of formality. All that 

 can be done in such cases is, to avoid formality as 



much as possible, and to render things not positively 

 disagreeable. 



It is only with great features that Landscape 

 Gardening has to do ; and little matters may 

 be treated in a little manner. The symmetrical 

 is allowable, and even necessary, when we come to 



enlarging; a circumstance which is possibly owing to 

 their containing a much larger quantity of solid matter 

 than the Mustard and Cress, and the conversion of which 

 into fluid nutriment is so slow and difficult as to require, 

 for chemical reasons, a continual detention in obscurity. 

 But it is a principle in philosophy, which cannot be 

 shaken, that what is true of an organ in one plant, is 

 true of the same organ in all other plants ; and f 

 therefore, if it can be proved that the cotyledons 



minor concerns. The faculty " of Construction un- | °[ t } ie Mustard and Cress are imperfect leaves, those 



:_ t __!____. ^._..j__.-__ *i u lof the Pea must be so regarded also. Not that it is 



doubtedly operates in Landscape Gardening, though 

 apparently, the practitioner has only to design ; but in 

 desgning, the execution of the design is kept in view, 

 else schemes might be propounded the realising of 

 which might be impossible. It appears to facilitate 

 tiie conception of how a thing may be done, and like- 

 wise how it ought to be done, when more ways than 



absolutely necessary to have recourse to such reasoning in 

 order to sustain the proposition ; on the contrary, from the 

 Pea, turn to the Kidney Bean, and therein will be found 

 the most conclusive proof. The Kidney Bean is, in many 

 respects, of the nature of the Pea ; its embryo scales are 

 very thick, hard, and fleshy, and slowly dissolve their solid 

 contents, so that they have little power of thinning, ex- 



a ctivity when its allott 1 l ° r ° USe ° De °^ doin S present themselves. It is intimately panding, and changing. They, however, differ from those 



tea season shall connected with what is called intuition, and may pos- of 4 the Pea m this, that they do become green, are partially .- 



