260 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



them wantonly, and to such an extent, may be a 

 feature in his instinct and economy, intended by Nature 

 to keqp this class of crawling vermin in check by 

 constituting the Swan their natural enemy, — an office for 

 which he seems eminently qualified, although to all appear- 

 ance but indifferently rewarded. Besides clearing the lakes 

 of toads, &c, I find that Swans shear the grass on the 

 brink, and thus keep it short and neat ; and, woe to any 

 aquatics, whether weeds or not, that the strong bill of a 

 Swan can either rend or root up ; this noble bird may 

 therefore be regarded as an industrious dresser and 

 keeper of his domain ; and whoever has not already 

 "banished the frogs and toads, will be glad to hear of so 

 effectual a remedy for this plague as the Swan undoubtedly 

 is ; for he seems animated with such a hatred of all vermin, 

 and so determined to drive them either to death or 

 banishment, as has not been seen since the days of 

 St. Patrick. In Laughton's " Guide to the Isle of Man," 

 I see that M Mona's Isle," as well as Erin, is said to have 

 been cleared of this species of vermin by the agency of 

 that celebrated missionary ; and the following humorous 

 quotation is given as a sample of the manner in which 

 the laudable deed is handed down to posterity : — j 



u Success to bold St. Patrick's fist- 

 He was the Saint so clever- 

 He gave the snakes and toads a twist, 

 And banished them for ever. 

 There's not a mile in Erin's isle where nasty varmint musters, 

 Where'er he put his blessed foot he murthered them in clusters. 

 The frogs went hop, the toads went plop, slap dash into the water. 

 The bastes committed suicide to save themselves from slaughter." 



Whilst on this subject I cannot help alluding to the 

 painful practice of pinioning young Swans, by cutting a 

 piece of the flesh of the wing off to prevent their flying. 

 The poor cripple thus mutilated may look like a Swan, 

 but can give no idea of the nobler movements and truly 

 majestic character of that fine bird on the wing and 

 on the water, in the enjoyment of his native liberty. 

 Surely some one will be found humane enough to advo- 

 cate the cause of the Swans, and induce their keepers to 

 refrain from this barbarous practice, and rather delight 

 to see them in their true and perfect character. 



Notwithstanding all the tenderness that Swans show to 

 their young in infancy, when the cygnets are nearly a year 

 old, the old cock begins to give battle to his sons, and makes 

 them take to flight. On one of these occasions, when a 

 cygnet had been obliged to flee away, I saw him coming 

 home to his father soaring in circuitous lines through the 

 haze of gray mist, that made him appear much larger and 

 altogether so changed from the simple cygnet he used to 

 look on the water, that I began to think if gentlemen so 

 much admire the dignified animation that pinioned Swans 

 confer on ornamental water, what would they not feel 

 who have a taste for the sublime, to see these noble 

 birds perfect and free, coming in the clouds of heaven as 



silently and softly as the flakes of snow A. Forsyth, 



Alton Towers. 



/ FAMILIAR BOTANY. 

 Morphology.— No. XII. 



The penetrative sun, 

 His force deep darting to the dark retreat 

 Of vegetation, sets the steaming power 

 At large, to wander o'er the verdant earth, 

 In various hues, but chiefly thee, gay green ! 

 Thou smiling Nature's universal robe ! 

 United light and shade ! where the sight dwells 

 With growing strength and ever-new delight. 



The juicy groves 



Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees, 

 Till the whole leafy forest stands displayed 

 In full luxuriance to the sighing gales. 



Before proceeding with a demonstration of the con- 

 version of leaves into the parts of a flower, it will be as 

 well to pause, in order to show another curious change 

 that comes over the organs of plants during their growth, 

 by means of which an apparatus, quite as little like the 

 leaf as the gayest corolla, is plainly proved to be never- 

 theless no more than metamorphosed foliage. 



Evidence of this kind meets us at every step, now that 

 all Nature is struggling once more into active life, and 

 that the wondrous powers of organisation are exerting 

 their force with the most prodigal luxuriance. When the 

 ruin of winter is repaired by the magic hand of spring, 

 the first movement of life that is perceptible among plants 

 is the swelling of their buds, just as the first step towards 

 repose was connected with the formation of those curious 

 organs. 



A bud at rest is but a dingy lifeless thing— a point on 

 the surface of a branch — a speck that none but a botanist 

 would know to be pregnant with life. But when it begins 

 to move and be animated with the throes of nature, it 

 swells, divides into scales, and by slow degrees is the 

 mother of a branch. To watch how this happens is most 

 instructive. Take the Horse-Chesnut for examination. 



iV 1 *}**? ° f the Horse - Chean u t J Hke all buds, consists 

 of hard, dry plates, having no more resemblance to the 

 great fingered leaves of the trees than the scale of a 

 soldier s epaulette to his cuirass. If we cut a bud open 

 during winter, we find these plates all alike in form and 

 structure ; but the interior softer and greener than the 

 exterior. When, however, the growth commences, the 

 centre swells and forces the plates asunder. Then the 

 outermost, hard, thin, and dry, retain their first form with- 

 out change ; the next become a little thinner and greener • 

 then follow plates growing at their base and becoming 

 quite green ; to which succeed others so green, and thin°, 

 and large, that they could not be known to be transformed 

 plates, if a portion of the original brownness did not still 

 adhere to their points. And this is the first stage of 

 change. The hard, dry plates .of the bud are gradually 

 fitttsjaorphosed into pale green straps. 



' But the current of change is onward, onward. The 

 force of Nature, once aroused, can no longer be checked ; 

 imperfection changes with rapid and resistless energy to 

 perfection. The pale green straps lengthen, and become 

 hairy ; others are longer, narrower, and more hairy ; a 

 third stage, and they are shaggy with wool, and furnished 

 at their points with a deep green appendage or two. The 

 second stage of change approaches ; the fingered leaf 

 is begun. 



Then arrive more rapid metamorphoses. Just above 

 the plates of the last degree, long narrow, shaggy, and 

 bearing an appendage at their points, come parts still 

 narrower, with more of a leaf at the end ; and then, by a 

 further contraction of the first-born plate and enlarge- 

 ment of the last-born leaf, the foliage appears in all its 

 completeness. 



No man in his sensescan deny that this curious series 

 of changes from a hard dry brown plate to a large suc- 

 culent green fingered leaf has been so gradual as to prove, 

 to the most rigorous demonstration, that the whole series 

 of parts consists of the same organ in different stages ; 

 and consequently the winter plates in which a leaf-bud is 

 encased, as in defensive armour, are really nothing more 

 than leaves in an incomplete condition. 



W T hat is true of one leaf-bud is true of all others ; and 

 consequently all leaf-buds are composed of rudimentary 

 leaves. If that is so, why should not a flower be formed on 

 the same plan ? And now for the proofs of that. — R. E. 



mischief. They are most readily caught i '—- — ^" 



weight or spring to the door, which shut?*? J? ?i »» ■ 

 enters. Bait with fat or oats, or both T t e bir * 

 a long plank raised from the ground with »* * hiTe 

 on each side to keep the food from falling J!"" * ***** 

 ing away. The plank is 40 feet from soL ^^ ** 



behind which a person fires a gun when th k *' 



po 



as thirty at one shot. The plank must of course t^ 7 

 line with the gun. ac °e la a 



In order to keep down wasps in sprint I mi«* 

 or children the large females, by which nraX ?' ° f 

 fewer nests of this troublesome insect in the autum 

 catching vermin in traps, the first lesson to be tauL- 

 that they should have free ingress and egr esa ""£ *■ 

 acquire a confidence. Many more will be caud.t thi 

 than if the traps were continually set.— Drewen. "** 



^ * 



mexicanTines. 



The following statement of the present conditini, * 

 some of the Mexican Pines growing at BavfnSu 

 (Herts), has been delayed in order that I might th e fr 

 show how far they appear to be uninjured by the W 

 winter, during which they have remained without aav nrn! 

 tection. It will be seen that Pinus oocarpa and P 

 leiophylla were both killed in 1842, and P. pseudo-stmK 

 much injured in 1843, having all its young shoots killed 



MEXICAN PINUS AT BAYFORDBTJRY, 



vermin. 



As it is of great importance to Gardeners and Agricul- 

 turists to have vermin destroyed, and as I have been suc- 

 cessful in this, I wish to communicate the methods I 

 follow. I am not aware that I have either a rat or mouse 

 in my house or garden, and sparrows are so much dimi- 

 nished in numbers that my currants hang on the bushes 

 until late in the autumn. 



Against the rats I have employed the bricklayer, who 

 has spoiled all 'their runs with brick and mortar, conse- 

 quently they have left me. With regard to mice, I keep 

 two traps ; one under cover in my garden and another in 

 my garret, baited with oatmeal. These traps catch the 

 first mouse in the manner of a rat-box trap ; other mice 

 then enter in by two little falling doors which allow a 

 passage only inwards. This kind of trap requires good 

 workmanship in' the making, and hardwood, to prevent 

 the mice gnawing a way out. 



Planted in 1841. 



Finus patula 

 P. apulcensis 

 P. Teocote . , 

 P. Hartwegii , 

 P. macrophylla 



at 



ft.in 

 6 8 



5 2 



4 6 



1 1 



2 3 



P. Devoniana . . 

 P. Russelliana . . 



1 10 

 1 10 



Observation*. 



ft.in. 

 1842.. 3 9 



1843.. 2 

 1842.. 2 

 1843.. 2 

 1842.. 2 

 1843.. I 

 1843.. 



1843.. 1 10 



fc^ 





P. Montezumce . 3 7 



P. oocarpa • . 

 P. leiophylla . 

 P. pseudo-strobus 



Abies religiosa 



Janiperus flaccida 

 Cupressus thurifera 



3 6 



1843.. 1 4 

 1843.. 1 2 



1843,. 1 3 



1843.. 1 4 



I 4 



1 7 



4 



2 5 1843.. 1 2 2 8 



3 



7 6 



3 2 — 



5 — 



Unprotected and 



uninjured. 

 Do. do. 



do. 



Do. do., apparently 

 will be very hard r 



Do. do, apparently 

 very hardy, and pro- 

 mising to be very 

 fine, with I earn 10 

 inches in length. 



Do. do., length of 

 leaves, lft. 6in. 



Do. do., length of 

 leaves, l ft. 



Do. do., length of 

 leaves, loin. 



Killed in 1842. 

 Do. 



Very much injured ia 

 1842; the yoiBg 

 shoots killed back to 

 last year's wood in 

 1843. 



Protected with 

 single mats, and 

 uninjured. 



Unprotected and 

 uninjured. 



Do, do. 



GRAFTED PINUS AT BAYFORDBURY. 



Name of Graft. 



[Name and 

 height of 



Stock. 



The best kind of Mouse-trap. 

 Door, 3i inches wide j Top, 84 inches square j Height, 3 inches 



Pinus macro 



carpa 

 P. Sabiniana * 



P. Lambert ana 



P. Lambertiana 

 P. Montezuma* 



P. insignis • • 

 P. insignis . . 



P. Laricio, 



2 ft. 

 P. Laricio, 



2 ft. 

 P.S)lvestris, 



4 it. 



o c 



C u 



w rj 



fa c 



cd o 





1843 



ft.in 



Ten distinct 

 species 



P. strobus, 

 4 ft. 6 in. 

 P.sylvestris, 



lift. 6 in. 

 P.sylvestris, 



4 ft. 



P.sylvestris, 



9 ft. 



June 

 1840. 

 June 1 1 



1840. 



May 



1842. 



May 



1842. 



June 

 1842. 

 June 



1842. 



June 

 1843. 



1 9 



10 



2 7 



1843 

 ft. 



7 



Observations 



2 



1 10 



2 8 





Girth of graft, 5 io»- 

 Four shoots »«• 

 grafted besides f}« 

 leader, producing in 

 all 18 branehet- 



Girth of graft, < '"* I 



P.sylvestris, 

 12 ft. 



May 



1843. 





The leader and later*! 

 shoot* of the sVtdt 

 were crafted with *7 

 gratis on it, all ukea 

 well, and jrrownfrc* 



4 in. to 8 in. theita* 



season. 

 All of which are d.«nff 



well. It will hat. 

 a curious effect. 



These plantg were raised from seed sent out by t 

 Horticultural Society in 1840, and when planted out 

 1841 were not more than from two to four inches ^£^ q 

 have not seen any of the Mexican Pines in any " n 

 approaching to such vigour of growth. 



collection 



Trap for Tomtits and Green Linnets.— Green Linnets are fond 

 of Hemp-seed. 



As to birds, by far the most mischievous to the gardener 

 is the bulfinch, as its only food in spring is fruit-buds. 

 All gardeners and orchard-owners should keep a male and 

 a female bulfinch and two trap-cages. With this apparatus 



other bulfinches ;are easily taken. Tomtits are next in 



~ I would particularly call attention to the lined od 

 grafting Pines after the manner spoken of by Mr. L° » 

 in his " Arboretum Britannicum," in which I have thinkf 

 very successful ; some of my specimens may, ^ 



deserve notice, as being not only very good examp ^ 

 the success of the system, but as producing shoot 

 length and size which I have not seen in others o ^ 

 same species. I allude to the two Pinus . Lamber f 11 ® ; ta 

 which species I have never seen such vigour 01 : g . 

 among the few seedling plants existing in this co ^ 

 I have also found P. insignis make vigorous sh00 "' r 

 take more freely than any other which I have triea, g^ 

 ing the same season that it is grafted some inches, , d 

 but few of the others are inclined to do. 1 nav j 

 most of the hardy species, and find Pinus *l lf **r bies eX . 

 suitable as a stock than any other for Pinus ; a ^ 

 celsa for Abies, and A. Picea for Piceas. The ten ^ 

 species grafted on the same plant of Pinus syiv ^ 

 doing well, and will have a curious and perhaps o 



effect. f . t0 12 feet 



I grafted many species on stocks from l" Ie : hicn are 

 high, in various places about the park, all o r^g, 



j promising to make fine trees. By this system w * 



