230 



THE GARDENERS* CHRONICLE. 



upper part of the 6 is evideutly worn off, as that part of 

 the beam, being much exposed to the weather, is decayed, 

 and there can be no doubt but that the date is 1635. 

 From the Philosophical Transactions, Vol. x., Part Hi., 

 and p. 1254, it appears that the Indian or Arabic charac- 

 ters were introduced into Europe about the year 1352. 

 In the same vol. are copies of Arabic numerals that were 

 taken from beams ; one from Ashford, in Kent, is dated 

 1295 ; another from Cambridge is dated 1332; but these 

 are very rude specimen?, with the figure 5 inverted thus o. 

 From this it is clear that these numerals did not get into 

 general use until about the 16th century. The durability 

 of Oak-timber, when felled in winter with the bark on, is, 

 however, fully established, as the Oak-beams of both dates 

 had sound bark on them, and, consequently, the timber 

 was also sound. — IV. Billing/on. 



Thunbergias. — These pretty climbing plants are gene- 

 rally cultivated in a stove. They will, however, grow and 

 flower freely in a greenhouse ; or even when they are 

 planted out in the open border, during the summer months, 

 if the situation is sheltered, and exposed to the influence 

 of the sun, they will flower well. In propagating those 

 that are intended for planting out, take off the lateral 

 shoots when they are of a sufficient length (which, if pos- 

 sible, should be done in March, so that the plants may 

 have attained a medium size before they are put out), pot 

 them in equal quantities of peat and sand, then plunge 

 them in a hotbed, and they will strike root in a week or 

 two. When they are rooted pot them off into small pots 

 filled with good rich loam and Jeaf-mould, mixed with a 

 little sand ; then replace them in the pit, or frame, until 

 the middle of May, when, if the weather is favourable, 

 they may then be planted out. If the soil is not naturally 

 good it should be made so ; and as the plants advance in 

 growth, they should be trained to some kind of support, 

 which may be of any shape that fancy may suggest. If 

 the season is dry, they should be watered and syringed. 

 About the middle of October take up the plants, with 

 good balls, repot them, and place them in the greenhouse. 

 After they have been there for a short time, they may be 

 removed to the stove, where they will keep gay for the 

 greater part of the winter. T. alata has a beautiful effect 

 when it is planted out on a rockwork, where the plant 

 appears in its natural character, clinging to the various 

 projections, which it quickly covers.— J. Mel., Hills- 

 borough. 



Suggestions in Manuring. — Taking a lively interest in 

 the subjects discussed in the Gardeners' Chronicle and 

 Agricultural Gazette, and in the very various inquiries 

 now in progress as to the food of plants, it has occurred 

 to me whether sugar might not be usefully applied in 

 certain cases — 



The analysis of sujar I believe to be— of carbon . 42*85 



Oxgen and hydrogen 57-15 



100 parts. 

 Consequently, it is wholly composed of most essential 



elements in the growth of plants. Might it not be wp!I 



deserving of experiment whether its -~ c *teai effects as a 

 manure might not be powe r f u i ? _ No doubt it wouW be 



'expensive ; but it might be efficacious in very small 

 quantity, and although it might not be applicable to 

 Agriculture generally— it might be reasonably applied to 

 certain purposes in Horticulture. Can any one say what 

 effect might be produced in the culture of the Grape or 

 Garden Red Beet, both of which contain so large a quan- 

 tity of saccharine matter ? Possibly it might produce a 

 powerful effect on the Onion. The constituent parts of 

 sugar justify the idea that it might produce powerful 

 effects on vegetation : experiment can alone determine, 

 and such experiments can be so easily made, that I should 

 presume to say they were deserving of being made. It 

 might be applied judiciously either in the raw state, like 

 other concentrated substances, or in solution. Possibly it 

 might be worth while, in addition to the Vine, to make 

 such trials with reference to the Peach, the Nectarine, and 

 the Fig— on the principle that the produce of plants par- 

 takes more or less of the nutriment they receive. Con- 

 sidering the quantity of silica contained in the bark of the 

 Vine, might not an experiment as to the effect of silicate 

 of potass be deserving of being made ? I admit that these 

 proposals are somewhat empirical, but they seem also to 

 have something like chemical principle for their founda- 

 tion. — Amateur, Dublin. [We have ourselves tried the 

 effect of solutions of sugar on plants, but the result was 

 not such as to induce us to repeat the experiment. Others, 

 however, may be more fortunate. Perhaps by mixing it 



with small quantities of animal manure, sugar might be 

 made to act.] 



Miscellaneous. — Sylvanus is desirous of obtaining in- 

 formation as to the price of Oak-bark, foreign and English, 

 in the Bristol, Liverpool, and London markets. He ob- 

 serves that an extensive combination exists amongst the 

 tanners to keep down the price of bark, and promises to 

 write to us on the subject, if we do not take it up our- 

 selves. We believe that a combination does exist 

 amongst the tanners to keep down the price of bark ; 

 but we have really no time to devote to ferreting out these 

 abuses satisfactorily, although it would give us pleasure to 

 see the matter taken up by * 'Sylvanus," or any other party. 



A correspondent, signing himself Drewen, states that 



an effectual way of preventing Vines from bleeding after 

 they are pruned is to mix equal quantities of quicklime 

 and poor cheese in a mortar, with a little water, and work 

 all together until they become quite incorporated. He 

 then directs that a small quantity of this mixture should 

 be rubbed very hard into the wound, leaving a small cover- 

 ing of the cement on it. This, he says, will stop a Vine 



from bleeding at any time of the year. We have before 



ns some communications on the quality of the Thornfidd 

 ~~ f but we should be greatly obliged to known 



correspondents for further information before we publish 

 it. It is a public question of some importance, and we 

 are anxious for the opinions of the best men who have 

 pergonal knowledge of the facts relating to the subject. 



Structural Disease.— *• Der GreiP' begs to express his willing 

 acquiescence in the courteous suggestion of the Editor of the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, and therefore refrains from any further 

 effort at present controversially to establish his opinion of the 

 essential dependance of functional upon structural dis- 

 ease, although he feels how much ought to be said under other 

 circumstances concerning the distinction between "change of 

 condition and change of s-tructure." At the same time he begs 

 to express li^iively sense of the aptness and beauty of *«M. D.V 

 reasoning, derived from the presence of nerves and vessels of 

 nutrition, and of function in many organs, although he could not 

 feel the weight of his mechanical analogies. He humbly con- 

 ceives that that reasoning gives new strength to his own opinion, 

 which he would be, nevertheless, far from wishing to hold against 

 any evidence that could approve itself to his judgment as true. 

 But " Der Greif* may perhaps be allowed to remark that " M. D." 

 cannot have clearly understood the nature of his objections to 

 the mechanical analogies. His position (defined now, not for the 

 sake of controversy, but for the cause of truth), is simply this : 

 —The cogs and wheels of a mill form component parts of an 

 engine which has certain work to do ; they are framed out of 

 fixed material, and undergo no interstitial change excepting 

 that dependent upon the slow chemical change of decay, and 

 they are fitted for the performance of their labours by this fixity 

 of atomic constitution. The individual organs of an animal 

 form component parts of its integral frame, and have each a 

 certain office to perform, but they are kept in a fit state for its 

 performance by constant interstitial change effected in the 

 material of their organisation by the absorption of effete material, 

 and by the deposit of new ; whatever may be the source of their 

 functions, the healthy nutrition of their subject material is the 

 means provided for the continuance of those functions; and 

 therefore the inference is perfectly philosophical, sincf there can 

 be no instant of their healthy existence in which atomic changes 

 are not effecting within their tissues, and since no cessation of 

 those changes can take place without occasioning structural 

 derangement in that material whose structural fitness for office 

 requires continued change ; that functional derangement is inti- 

 mately connected with the presence of some abnormal, or the 

 absence of some normal, change in the intimate constitution of 

 the material tissue of organisation. 



Sboctetfes. 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 

 J. E. Gray, Esq., F.R.S., President, in the chair. 

 Various donations to the Library and Herbarium were 

 announced, including some spec es of Algae from Cape 

 Raceife, Algoa Bay, from Mr. Bowerbank. Read— the 

 conclusion of the Paper commenced at the last Meeting, 

 being a " Synoptical View of the British Fruticose Rubi, 

 arranged in Groups, with explanatory remarks by Edwin 

 Lees, Esq., F.L.S., &c." The groups into which Mr. 

 Lees unites the species have been reported in the Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle, and it is unnecessary to enter into 

 further details respecting Mr. Lees' views on the groups, 

 species, and varieties of British Rubi, as they are now 

 before the Botanical world in the *• London Catalogue of 

 British Plants," just published by the Society. The 

 Paper was accompanied by drawings and specimens : the 

 latter are deposited in the Herbarium of the Society. 



LIInN^EAN SOCIETY. 

 April 2.— Robert Brown, Esq., in the chair. Dr. 



Donaldson and Mr. Joseph Exall were elected Fellows 



Mr. Hugh Low presented to the Society 140 species of 

 Australian plants, collected by Mr. Drummond ; also a 

 collection of Proteaceous plants from the Swan River. 

 Captain Jones, M.P., presented to the Society dried spe- 

 cimens of the Ulva calophylla from Armagh, and the 

 Oscillatoria aeruginosa from Glasslough.— Prof. Forbes 

 exhibited a species of Tulip, from Mount Ida, found by 

 Capt. Graves and Lieut. Spratt. The perianth was white, 

 but it is undoubtedly theTulipa tricolor, of Ledebour and 

 others. — Mr. Osborne presented cones of the Pinus Aya- 

 cahuite, P. bocarpa, P. filifolia, P. pungens, and a capsule 

 of Spathodea campanulata.-The Duke of Northumberland 

 presented a monstrous specimen of growth in the branches 

 of the common Holly.— A continuation of Mr. Newport's 

 paper on the Myriapoda chilopoda was read. This paper 

 consisted of an elaborate examination of the structure 

 of the Myriapoda, in relation to the other groups of 

 articulate animals. The structure of the segments, their 

 development in the ovum, the position and character of 

 the nervous system, were minutely detailed. The number 

 of the segments entering into the composition of the head 

 of the articulata had been variouslyjstated as two, twelve, 

 five, three, and seven. The author concluded that in the 

 Myriapoda they were eight. The foot-jaws of the 

 Myriapoda he demonstrated to be the analogies of the 

 mandibles of insects. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 

 ^ri/l.--Geo. Newport, Esq., in the chair. Dr. 

 Harris, of America, Signor Costa, of Naples, Charles Lu- 

 cien Buonaparte, Prince of Canino, were elected corre- 

 sponding members—Specimens of the bark of the Elm- 

 tree were exhibited by xMr. Samuel Stephens, which had 

 been attacked by the Hylesinus varius. These markings 

 were smaller, but closely resembled those of the Scolvtus 

 destructor.— Mr. Westwood exhibited a box of Goliath 

 beetles from the New World, from Mexico ; these were 

 unique, and the first American specimens seen in this 

 country.— Cases of insects were exhibited from Mr. Eis- 

 dale Downes, of Bombay, accompanied with notes ; they 

 consisted of the larvae of a small species of beetle, named 

 Cassida, and several cocoons and perfect insects of a new 

 species of moth. The cocoons were attacked by a spe- 

 cies of the family of Ichneumons. The notes referred 

 also to the habits of a species of Cercopis, which is called 

 the Cow-ant. The author supposed that the ants, in 

 surrounding this insect, attempted to destroy it ; but the 

 fact is, that the Cercopis secretes from its skin a saccha- 

 rine matter, of which the ants are fond of partaking ; and 

 this is why it has the name of Cow-ant. It has also, in 

 addition, a pair of abdominal appendage?, which look 

 very like horns.— A continuation of Mr. Saunders's 



[Apr. i 3> 



paper on the Chrysomenda^nTistog oTcW^ 

 the genus Prionopleura, was read-4 ,„ pt,0n, <* 

 was read from Captain Boys, of India 1 ° mtnun »c*tioa 

 drawings of a species of /ausus, ^^7^ ^ 

 onging to the genus Anth*nus, which haTbeea * **" 

 living upon horse-hair gloves.— The ser-nL foan<1 

 paper, which he had received through M? ,7* * 

 Loyd, from Dr. Holme, on the discovery Jt thi r^ 

 somuss lmearus, a small beetle, in black cark Coa ~ 

 matter taken from a cavity £ a ^w e T^ 



t eS h\ Ti T?k inSeCtS ^T 6 ^^jMbet^ 

 the bark and the wood of the Oak-tree- rpm- 



Oak-wood were found in the cavity This n« ' ° f 

 rise to some discussion.-Mr. Westwood thoul^ 

 age of the barrow must be at least 1G00 Y ears • h* I a ^ 

 specimens of insects found in a vase in a tomb at R *** 

 and also some from a box in a tomb from E™t 5* 

 thought these insects might have been intentfnnVn u 

 ried with the body amongst whose remains the %]*' 

 found.-Mr. Spence thought they must have been int * 

 duced by means of the Oak-wood which was contain^ 

 the barrow ; and Mr. Waterhouse accounted for the n 

 sence of insects in tombs, by supposing that they *Z 

 introduced unintentionally with the articles iu which th.. 

 were found. " tue J 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 



March 20 — J. S. Bowerbank, Esq., in the ch»i 

 Messrs. Avery, Thomas Callaway, jun., Aikin and Orvtf 

 were elected Fellows of the Society.— A paper waa Jh 

 by Edwin Quekett, Esq., on the Structure of the Ligament 

 of the Valves of Conchiferous Mollusca. The author com 

 raenced by stating that the ligament which united the two 

 valves of the shell-fish known by the name of Bivalvei 

 was composed of elastic tissue, and that the property of 

 elasticity remained after the death of the animal The 

 position of these ligaments is of two kinds ; they are 

 placed either on the inside or on the outside of the shells 

 which they unite together. During life the contraction 

 of the adductor muscle keeps the valves together, and 

 when this is relaxed the shell opens by means of the 

 ligament. In cases where the ligament is placed in the 

 inside of the shell, its elasticity would produce the opening 

 of the valves, but where the ligament is placed at the 

 back of the valves it is necessary to suppose that it pos- 

 sesses a contractile as well as an elastic power. On 

 examining by the microscope the texture of the ligaments, 

 it was found that those existing in the inside of the shell 

 presented a simple homogeneous structure, whilst those 

 attached to the outside exhibited a fibrous structure. The 

 fibres were of a uniform size, and transparent, and pre- 

 sented a close analogy with the structure of muscular 

 tissue. This structure was remarkable, as neither blood- 

 vessels nor nerves could be found in it, and yet it presented 



the power of contractility A discussion followed ia 



which Dr. Lankester stated that he thought Mr. Quekett 

 had not fully demonstrated the contractile function of the 

 posterior ligament. If it were contractile it was an 

 important fact, as this tissue was independent of the 

 nervous system. — The Chairman stated his conviction 

 that nerves might pass through the substance of the shell, 

 and influence the function of the tissue. It was well 

 known that vessels existed in the substance of the shell, as 

 he had demonstrated. 



iicbtctus. 



Irby and Mangles* Travels in the Holy Land, 



12mo. Murray. 

 A cheap edition of this most interesting book, which is 

 quite indispensable to those who would study the Scrip- 

 tures critically, is indeed most welcome, and Mr. Murray 

 has our thanks for introducing it into his Colonial and 

 Home Library. It is only a week or two since (p. 199) 

 the question of the Mustard-tree of Scripture was dis- 

 cussed in our pages, and we are now able to give, verbatim, 

 the travellers' account of this tree :— . . 



* There was one curious tree which vre observed in 

 great numbers, and which bore a fruit in bunches, re- 

 sembling in appearance the Currant, with the colour ot 

 the Plum; it has a pleasant though strong aromatic 

 taste, resembling mustard, and, if taken in any quantity' 

 produces a similar irritability in the nose and eyes. I * 

 leaves of this tree have the same pungent flavour , a, fh , t 

 fruit, though not so strong. We think it probable tn « 

 this is the tree our Saviour alluded to in the parable 

 the Mustard-seed, and not the Mustard-plant, whicl1 . 18 

 be found in the north ; for although in our journey tro 

 Bysan to Adjeloun we met with the Musta. d-plant grow^ 

 ing wild, as high as our horses' heads, still, j " eiu f 

 annual, it did not deserve the appellation of a tree, 

 whereas the other is really such, and birds might eas jt 

 and actually do, take shelter under its shadow. 



We may add, that the volume is full of ,m P°J! ,. 

 information concerning the Natural History of the n J 



The second part of The Botany of H.M.S. Sulf > «£ 



(see p. 70) is before us. It is wholly °™ u ? ie *J ciei 

 Californian plants. Among the more remarkable S P . f _ 

 are a new Fraxinus (latifolia) from San Francisco, a . 

 tynia (althieifolia) from the Bay of Magdalena, ana s 

 Eriogonums. The plates consist of new gener 

 species described in the text. We are still without jt 

 intimation of Mr. Barclay's Californian plants . n 

 been sent from the British Museum for exarol " Go- 

 which, considering that this work is supported "J^^ 

 vernment funds, is, to say the least of it, a cir ? u , t0 j n . 

 that requires explanation. The public has a rig ^ ^ 

 quire how it happens that an official account o ^ 

 Botany of the Voyage of H.M.S. Sulphur " P«^ ^ 

 without the slightest assistance from the material* 





