THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



261 



rafted specimens could easily be formed, 

 gran 4 -;.,«■ *nv one to have « 



ng < 



cote 

 ario 



^^henboth "the 7hoots of the stock and species 

 j» to be, when °u as brittle as the top of a 



of 



Rattan* «' &"~ * c ,n»nosinff anv one to nave a 



JV ' Ss^S- Firs wblcb .night 

 ^iX * t «rU; height., choosing kr« ar dutaoce.. 



I 



best time for commencing this opera- 



•• intend to crafr, are as orittie as ^ up ui a 



* bich J°° "las which is generally about the middle or 

 young Aspawg ' ^ ^ dep e n ds much upon the sea- 



bttef tt the We of my proceeding to graft, I endeavour 



»\ 1. stock in a suitable situation, where there would 



r'Tc^ on To remove it after grafting I break off the 



U f^hTitock, and split it down about an inch and a 



top ,° w ! rhoos in- a scion of equal size to the stock, and 



h * lf J l ^ yTo oth into the shape of a wedge, I insert 



WU,0g l stock, leaving it an inch above, and tying it 



UU, °.ar as the incision was made, grafting both the 



rlV-nd uppermost lateral shoots. In about fifteen 



1 Ln dm > you may tell if it has taken; and at the 



"Afa month' or five weeks, the tying may be loosened, 



the flock will swell fast, and if allowed to remain, 



" nld rrove injurious to both stock and scion. I have 



W l«ivi found it needful to preserve the scions from wither- 



inw by keeping them in a little moist grass, ~ 



a/rincthe time of o P erating,for which T prefer 



hi jUninc. or dull days. The branches of 



bg, evening, or 



or moss, 



the morn- 



the stock 



they 



round 



hould not be pruned off, but only shortened where 

 E row too vigorously. The Pinetum here is a space of grounu 

 of nearlv seven acres, adjoining to the Arboretum, on a 

 foot sandy loam, facing the south-west, with many fine 

 •Decimensof Pinus insignis, P. macrocarpa, P. sabiniana, 

 and Abirs deodara, from 8 ft. to 11 ft. and 12 ft. high, 

 which are in a most promising condition. In no one in- 

 stance ha« there been any preparation made for any of the 

 specimens, beyond a good digging in the ordinary way of 

 plantin-.-«/0A» Slowe, Gardener to W. R. A. Baker, 

 Esq., liayfordbur y. Herts. 



Home Correspondence. 



Morphology.— There are those who deny that in the 

 development of plants those parts which, under certain 

 circumstances, become expanded in the form of leaves, 

 admit of being developed in a different character, viz., as 

 flowers, and as fruit, if the circumstances affecting that 

 development are changed in due time and in the requisite 

 degree. They seem to assume that flowers are pre-organ- 

 ised in the embryo plant, and therefore are developed as a 

 matter of course (a woman's reason — because it is so) as 

 the plaut extends its growth. That the production of 

 flowers and fruit, the "seed after its kind," is indeed 

 provided for, in the designs of the Infinite, cannot be 

 doubted ; but as those designs are ever cairied on by 

 means of natural agencies, there is no atheism or infi- 

 delity in believing that circumstances are ordained to 

 exercise influence over the development of plants, and 

 thus to bring about their fructification : neither is there 

 anything unreasonable in such a view, inasmuch as there 

 is an overwhelming mass of natural evidence to prove it ; 

 whilit, on the other hand, to assume that these parts are 

 each and all formed in the embryo, and are uninfluenced 

 in their development by the circumstances in which they 

 ere placed, is to take up a position which is directly at 

 variance with all natural evidence. It appears to be suf- 

 ficiently clear that •■ what would be leaves under certain 

 conditions of growth, would be flowers if those conditions 

 were changed soon enough, and the requisite conditions 

 ■applied ;" and yet there are those who profess to deny this. 

 As the attention of gardeners has of late been directed to 

 this subject, it would certainly be interesting to those who 

 desire to arrive at the truth, to try a simple experiment, 

 directly bearing on the case. Let two young plants of 

 the same kind (Salvia splendens, for example) be taken, 

 M nearly alike as possible ; that is, of equal age and 

 eight, having an equal number of leaves of equal size ; 

 let their equality be further established by selecting them 



waWf Weight ' when the soil is car efully and entirely 

 not A lheir roots : let one of these be takeu and 



Sio>i ♦ let u be P laced in a close ' nioist - dee P ] y- 



to which rt 8pherC '- warmed t0 a fe * degrees above that 

 let it K .l^ aQt is naturally adapted ; in this situation 



cation of'T?* 1 ' and HS8isted in its K rowth b y thc a PP U - 

 the limit t Simulants, except light, which, within 



let th/ii f rea80n ' U ma y be Possible t0 apply to it ; 

 a eenial 7 r P nt be P otted in similar soil, and placed in 

 peratiiri °? pbcre « dul y regulated with respect to tem- 

 itimulan/ m this sit uation let it, too, receive all the 

 growth , T» ,ncIudin 5 I'glit, which can minister to its 

 noted-' Jj , resu * ts iu both cases should be carefully 



*ouldaff n J gh the trial is an eas y task ' the results 

 be leav ? roug evide nce whether or not M what would 



floors if* Certain cond it*»ons of growth, would be 

 and ran coad itions of growth were suitably varied ;" 

 MornKnT e4U ^ ntly ' whe ther or not this part, at least, of 



$& 1S tfUlh ° r f alsehood.-r. Moore. 

 ^awherrier'^ ^e lately seen some very fine forced 

 Barnet- t * en S Seed "ng) at Willan-hall, East 

 of them'in h C n aS P robabl y not less than a thousand pots 



fQ H beariL tl " h ° USe * The P lanta were nearIy a11 in 

 *ere g n r.» i 7 had a 6ne appearance, as the shelves 



ttnctlt frn' f tC dthat each lin e of pots was seen dis- 

 **r of &° ne ^ ? f the house t0 tbe ol 



Birds' Eggs. — Waterton's plan of preserving birds' 

 eggs, mentioned at p. 245, cannot be improved on so far 

 as relates to the interior of the egg. If the outside is 

 varnished twice with isinglass, dissolved in gin, the pores 

 of the shell will be closed, and the colour, in a great mea- 

 sure, preserved. The shining properties of the varnish 

 disappear in a few hours, and leave the egg quite natural 

 in appearance, which is not the case with mastic varnish. 

 — A. C, Leeds. 



Birds. — Would any of your correspondents describe 

 the various notes of the small birds which are now to be 

 heard in all directions. The skylark, blackbird, night- 

 ingale, robin and missel-thrush are generally known, 

 but there are many which I cannot discover. What is 

 the bird known provincial!? as the cuckoo's mate, or 

 cuckoo's harbinger ? Bewick does not mention it under 



that name. — X. 



Rabbits. — A few miles from the place where I was 

 brought up, a gentleman had a herd of deer, which he 

 allowed to wander about wherever they liked. This greatly 

 annoyed his tenants and neighbours, and, like the gentleman 

 of whom your correspondent "* " complains, he was deaf to 

 all entreaties to kill or park them up ; he told all who 

 complained, that if the deer came into their fields they 

 were to lay hold of them, and he would pay for every one 

 that they caught. An old farmer accordingly set to work : 

 he fastened a long rope to the door of an old barn that 

 stood at some distance from the rest of his houses ; he then 

 strewed the floor with hay, and also laid some outside, 

 and in a day or two the whole herd paid him a visit. It 

 was winter, and the ground being covered with snow, the 

 loose hay attracted them to the place; they soon eat up 

 all that lay outside, and a good many of them ventured 

 inside: the farmer then shut the door by pulling the rope, 

 and kept them there until the gentleman came and paid 

 dearly for them. If your correspondent will inclose a 

 small space with hurdles, opposite the grounds from which 

 the rabbits enter, then, like the old farmer, fasten a long 

 rope to the gate, so that he may shut it at pleasure, and 

 if he will scatter some Cabbage-leaves, or anything of 

 which rabbits are fond, inside and near the gate of the 

 inclosure, there will be plenty in before 1 1 o'clock at night, 

 when he may shut the gate. If he leaves it longer they 

 perhaps will have finished the prog and have gone out in 

 search of more. Another plan, equally successful, is, in 

 place of having a gate, have a number of holes all round 

 the inclosure; inside of each of these set a snare, and lay 

 something down that is eatable, to tempt the rabbits to go 

 in. They like to work among fresh earth, and if some 

 parts of the inclosure are dug up with a spade, the tempt- 

 ation will be double. If your correspondent perseveres in 

 this way for a short time, I imagine that his neighbour 

 will become tired of breeding rabbits for him to destroy, 

 and will either destroy them himself, or try to keep them 

 at home. I observe that " J. " recommends the use of 

 arsenic for the purpose of killing rabbits ; but that might 

 be attended with dangerous consequences, for possibly 

 some poor person might find some of the poisoned rabbits 

 and eat them. In my opinion poison ought never to be 

 used for killing vermin, until all other methods have failed, 

 because there is always danger of poisoning something 

 else.— J. W., Derbyshire. 



Bees These are now collecting quantities of farina 



and a small portion of honey. The population of strong 

 hives is rapidly increasing. Bell-glasses for flat-topped 

 hives should now be cleaned and made ready for that pur- 

 pose. Let every glass contain a small piece of the 

 whitest of last year's comb. This should be attached to 

 a thin lath, about one inch wide, which should be fitted 

 into the hole at the top of the glass, extending downward 

 its whole depth. The comb should be fixed upon the 

 farther end of this. By warming the edge of the comb 

 and lath with a lighted candle or hot iron, they will readily 

 adhere. Be careful to place the glasses directly over the 

 centre of the holes, which should be one and a half inch 

 in size in the top of the hive, letting the lath and comb 

 unite to the apertures of communication. As the popu- 

 lation increases and the weather becomes warmer, they 

 will soon cluster upon the comb, and commence filling 

 the glasses. Great care must be taken to exclude all 

 light and cold from the glasses, which must be protected 

 by a cover, without a top, made with pasteboard or floor- 

 cloth, of sufficient size to cover all the glasses. Fill the 

 spaces between them and the cover with black cotton 

 wool or wadding, in order to exclude light and cold air 

 from the glasses. By following these directions failure 

 will seldom occur, provided the season is favourable for 

 collecting honey. Quantities of from 2 lbs. to 2\ lbs. are 

 oftentimes gathered during the day ; this is of the purest 

 quality. — fV. Savage, Stcaffham. 



Insects of the Damson-tree. — A day or two ago I ob- 

 served some blossoms of a Damson-tree in my garden 

 fallen on the ground, and as there had not been sufficient 

 wind to knock them off, I was induced to examine them, 

 and found that in every case the calyx had been bitten 

 into by some insect, which had doubtless weakened the 

 stalk, and caused the flower to fall on the least wind. I 

 send 



respo 



you this at once, in the hope that some of your cor- 



._. r jndents, with more leisure at their disposal than I 



was seen ais- have at the present moment, may be induced before the 



"of fori? ° nC Cnd ° f the house t0 the other. The num- blooms are past to examine into the history of the insect 



the m weiihi CaCh P,ant Was from 18 t0 30 - and man y of in c l ,,estion ' of whose operations I have hitherto met with 



*Ir. Hall— e( \ m °, rc than h alf.an-ounce. The gardener, no notice.— J. O. IVestwood, Hammersmith. 



nailer. «f. -i a. . Polter > s Liqllid Guano.— I cannot speak of this in any 



adequate terms of praise. I tried its powers on Hyacinths, 

 Narcissus, Crocuses, Snowdrops, &c, both in pots and in 

 glasses, and I may with truth say that the effect was 

 magical. Not only were my flowers the finest, 



Pfeatsfromti *' S reat importance to procuring the 



This he can „ T Se a * Cre forced the P^vious spring. 

 P l *nUoutiJr a i! ' as he invariably turns the forced 



r ^Mtinto the onen irrA., n J mL- .i. __ i j 



the 



ring u " °P en 8 rou nd soon after they have done 



fc runner, ay ! l u at plants 80 treated produce excel- .— 3 -— , . . . . ., . . 



Wn._^ r- aa abu « d ant crop late in the healthiest, and the most luxuriant thatl ever oeheW, J)ut 



time, and gave forth a fragrance of surpassing sweetness.— 

 William Kidd, Sander's Cottage, New Road, Hammer- 

 smith. 



Figs. — With regard to these, I beg to offer a few 

 remarks on what I have observed and put successfully 

 into practice. The year 1818 was remarkable for abun- 

 dance of Figs, on account of its long duration of heat and 

 drought. Happening to call during that year at the Duke 

 of Richmond's Gardens, Goodwood, near Chichester, in 

 August, I was much pleased, and at that time quite 

 astonished, to see a row of very large standard Fig-trees 

 loaded with the greatest abundance of fruit, both ripe and 

 unripe, in the highest possible perfection. The soil there 

 is shallow, on a bed of chalk. I likewise observed during 

 the same year abundance of Figs in many of the cottager:' 

 gardens in Sussex, produced on standards that were 

 growing in the same kind of shallow soil, and where the 

 bottom was nothing but chalk. Figs appeared to be no 

 luxury in that quarter. In Kent I have observed good 

 Figs aud very fruitful trees on a similar bottom. At the 

 late Lord Audley's Gardens, Belvedere, Erith, I have 

 observed the most abundant crops of fruit, raised for 

 several years in succession in the highest state of perfec- 

 tion, where the soil is shallow and dry, and where the sub- 

 soil is nothing but a rock or bed of pebbly gravel, called 

 there pea-gravel ; after a heavy rain, scarcely a particle of 

 earth was there to be seen on the surface. I have long 

 observed that shallow dry soils are the best for producing 

 good crops of Figs, and where the trees have been planted 

 without much care, and allowed to grow without much 

 pruning or nailing, which does not at all suit the Fig. Such 

 places as stable-yards, farm buildings, in any dry corner, 

 amongst stones, chalk, brick-bats, or lime-rubbish, where 

 they are well trodden or paved about the trees, are the places 

 to see fine crops of good Figs. Trees in such situations have 

 a number of joints in the length of one inch of young wood. 

 Over-luxuriant trees never bear abundant crops. The 

 wood of a Fig-tree that is long-jointed, pithy, aud soft, 

 does not produce Figs in perfection. The growth of the 

 Fig requires to be checked, if fruit is wanted. In preparing 

 for growing Figs, instead of trenching the ground, I 

 should recommend merely forming a flooring under them 

 with concrete, brick-bats, stones, chalk, gravel, lime- 

 rubbish, or with whatever is most convenient to be had, if 

 the bottom is not naturally chalky, rocky, or gravelly. 

 Those that, are troubled with over-luxuriant Fig-trees 

 might practise the following method, which 1 have myself 

 done with good success :— Cut a trei*b, 3 or 4 ft. wide, in 

 front of the trees (if against the wall, or all round them, if 

 they are standards), below all roots, which should be cut 

 clean off as the trench is dug, then fill up with any of the 

 above materials that can be easily procured, pouring a 

 quantity of grout amongst it as the filling up proceeds, or 

 the roots will soon get through it ; otherwise, build a wall, 

 as recommended by Mr. Errington. Figs require to be 

 planted high, and the depth of soil about them should not 

 be more than one foot. If the season is very dry when 

 they are ripening their fruit, the trees will be much bene- 

 fited by giving them a good soaking of water, as that is 

 the time when they will be benefited by water.— 



Observer J — 4. 

 Slugs, §c.— To preserve your Annuals, Marigolds, 8cC, 



from slugs, and other vermin, scatter lows sha £ tobacco 

 (not pig-tail) round the stems. I have tried it with much 



success. — A Sailor. 



Peaches of Leiimcritz.—l have received from a friend 

 at Frankfort some Peach-slones, with the following 

 memorandum :— " I inclose some stones of a curious 

 fruit, cultivated in a part of Bohemia under the name of 

 Peaches of Leitmeritz. To me they seem more like 

 Apricots, with a little of the Plum in them, but less than 

 the bloody Apricots of pies,— a fruit 1 have never seen 

 anywhere else. Something of the same sort is said by 

 travellers to grow in Persia, but it is described as more 

 completely a Plum, and to be very good, but it has a 

 downy skin like all those I have mentioned. They would 

 all, probably, preserve excellently. " So far my corres- 

 pondent. The stones appeared to me to resemble the 

 Apricot more than a Peach or Plum. I rather think they 

 had been kept too dry before they came to me (in number, 

 5 or 6). I planted them immediately in a pot. and placed 

 them in a Peach-house. One of the number only vege- 

 tated ; it has the decided leaf and character of an Apricot, 

 and is growing well. Do you know anything of this 

 Bohemian fruit ?-W. [We are entirely unacquainted 



" lt The Season.— The weather the last ten days has been 

 everything we could wish— dry, and growing, and not too 

 hot. The Apricot. Peach, and other wall trees, with the 

 Standard Pears, Cherries, and Apricots, are setting fruit 

 beautifully. In fact, we have always fine weather in Eng- 

 land nine months out of the twelve, whenever the column 

 of air over our heads exceeds 30 inches. The power 

 of the atmosphere to dispose of the daily-raised surface 

 water from land, sea, and vegetation, is then so enor- 

 mously increased, that, whether the dew-point at which 

 the vapour begins to condense into clouds be at 

 the height of 1500, 2000, or 3000 feet from the sur- 

 face of the earth, the re-evaporation of these clouds by 

 the power of the sun soon dissipates them again, and gives 

 us the solar influence on the ground. Take the register 

 of the weather from about 15th of April, to about tbelotn 

 of Oct., with the barometer fluctuating between -9.4U, 

 and 29.90 ; and again between 29.90 and 30.40 for pe- 

 riods of 10 or 12 days together, and the °^ T ™„*£ 

 prove my assertion that we have always fine weatne 

 a high barometer, and warm temperature ^n - 



meteVishigh. Ignorant 1*^"^^ 

 servation, always cry out whenever^the^ duJt^ ^ 



| ih ;f p^s^ed *^e^ beauty nearly double their usual [ in April and May, -Oh! if we could but have a 



