184*0 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



277 





ore observation to make, which 



i have also one m 

 **'* f L deemed unimportant to the subject ; that the 

 ^.'"L osed bv the Evangelist, and translated 

 word 9*«>P° —fined in its meaning, but is equally 



i/r 





" ; fi not so connneu iu it» u«^««»«6> ~~~ — -n — v 



" tr .^bl to 1 rge shrubs, not only « Arbores," but 

 ?f?unce rar-diores ;» as Virgil applies the word 

 » Su>a '' to herbs in his " Georgics." My own opinion on 

 ■T casual consideration of the expressions used m the 

 wi i« that thev have been somewhat misunderstood 

 F the causes I have mentioned, and that this « Mus- 

 .7^" mav be considered as a "large shrub " grow- 



r^m a small seed, where the small birds that frequent 

 irom » B . i: __ j ;w„» ;„ kz» •« Dai..*-;.*.. »> 



SddTidge for shelter or for rest. 



™* \Z7 *uch as Lamartine describes in his 4I Palestine, 

 Jdens ' • • ' *■ Had it been truly a 



prietT called a ugaraen neru —„. «^«, -— . 



/WAiifl*.— These are much hardier than is generally 

 lupposed. In several gardens which I have visited in 

 Ireland, I have seen plants, even larger than Gooseberry 

 boshes.'of Ricartonii, globosa, gracilis, and others, survive 

 without the least protection in winter; and they flower 

 freely during the summer and autumn months. It is 

 lurprising that these graceful shrubs are not more gene- 

 rally cultivated in the open air than they are. Nothing 

 can surpass fine standard Fuchsias planted out singly on 

 a lawn or in groups. I planted out last May the follow- 

 ing : _Globosa, tr. splendida, tenella, conica, Standishii, 

 gracilis, g. multi'flora, expansa, Riccartonii, grandiflora 

 maxima, mutabilis, stylosa conspicua, Youngii, Buistii, 

 and others. These, however, were cut down with the 

 frost, but they are now, April 22d, growing luxuriantly ; 

 ■ome of the shoots measure five inches in length. Their 

 root* have bad no covering whatever ; the borders were 

 rough dug, and fully exposed to the severity of winter. 

 I would recommend Fuchsias to be planted plentifully in 

 pleasure-grounds and flower-gardens, either as standards, 

 which should be at least 4 feet high, or as bushes, along 

 the borders of the principal walks, at equal distances ; 

 the standards should be planted 4 or 5 feet from the edge 

 of the walk, and supported by neat stakes, after the 

 manner of standard Roses. Put the dwarfer ones in 

 front. Nothing can surpass a walk of this description. 

 The standards may be grafted with the more dwarf- 

 growing kinds ; the operation should be performed in the 

 common way, when the young wood is almost ripe. 

 Fuchsias will grow and flower freely in any kind of 

 soil and situation; but if it is desirable to have fine 

 specimens, the ground should be a rich peat ; it cannot 

 be too rich for them. The plants which I put out 

 m May last, into a highly-manured border, produced 

 shoots from 3 to 5 feet in length, quite covered with 

 flowers. If the winter should set in sharp, I would 

 recommend that the standards be protected with a few 

 Fir branches, or any old spare mats, which should be 

 removed on all favourable occasions ; the dwarfer plants 

 placed here and there through the grounds, which have 

 been killed by the frost, should have their branches cut 

 close over by the ground ; without further trouble they 

 wu come again in spring, as vigorous as ever. Plants 



Trr ^i 81 " 6 mtended t0 be P ianted out in s P rin S «hould be 

 Kru« in autumn under a handglass, in a mixture of peat 



™i 7 In e( l ual quantities. If peat cannot be easily 



art rlZ A nj t COmmon !oam will answer. As soon as they 



inacoW fr. P - ° ff iDt0 an y rich soil > and P Iace them 

 Perm?/. fr * m \ gmng «r plentifully whenever the weather 



with lafetv i eni i of April the y ma - v be P lanted out 



with .hrnli I af " lnformed that Fuchsias are to be met 

 ■od that tht S StemS 7 and 8 inche * in ^meter ; 



* mountain? hl7 ^ ^ wel1 within a short distaDCe 

 twe is 88 , n hdf "° Vered with 8 »™, where the tempera- 



"jyiniurv Th? I I ?* without th e plants receiving 

 this inti£.»s . ls of importance to cultivators of 



trough n?l ™ d u ^ cM shrub.-,/. ML, Hills- 

 j»d*es from Jk r observed that our correspondent 



C/a»[ri, \ lmate ° f Ireland 

 taf «Be»eVipi« fft °. offer a meihod of glazing, which I 

 ha * only l0 h," L Pract,sed but by myself, and I imagine it 

 nntl «ei over th 7J 1 t0 be S enerall y adopted. Its ad- 

 Jit J. economv am? » pla ,? are >~ grater neatness, durabi- 

 0f h S ht - Instead f eanImess » as well as a freer admission 

 tie ordinary wav T overla PP in S the panes, as is done in 

 Perfectly straiW a ° aUSe the & ,azier l ° c «t each with a 

 the other, go t L fu ge ' and then to P lace them one before 



* ^mpleted th. / Shal1 al1 fit exactly. When the light 

 tQ ere are no inf ?" rface . of the glass is perfectlv level, and 



aula te, or for thJ i ,CCS •" which the dust ' &c - can accu " 



Onecan eo „r Ue Posit of moisture. Rv rhi« mp»n< 



0ne cause of rn ne -r P V, moisture. By this means 



? tire, J avoided er ?i 6 breaka Se, in frosty weather, is 



J r °ken ia . 



fracture A - 



*aol e i s ver" firm and^ bey ° a< * tne " si ' n ° le P ane - The 



oided- and if "'*""" a & c > '" "ost; 



each ' a pane of S la8S is accidentally 



»« „^ pane ,s _ lnd ependent of the others, the 



so 

 hite 





— v uuc as f compact, and the glass is not liable 



ffV l first S^ ^"^ opening and shutting 



.i'^t Cucumber f 1>lan about six y ears a S°^ on a 



A , bo >»t two vear, . r™!*' and k answered perfectly. 



' hicQ na 8 been i„ g ° had ° Ue H 8 ht S^zed in this way, 

 !? Wer » equally Veli nSta A ! T 6VCr SinCe ' and this al 



?, sint to each iLTn r At fir8t l a PP lied a little whiv. 

 ^^ewetS? te u r / he S la «s was fixed, thinking 

 L?? Quired a f d tpOSSlbl y 8 et trough J but this I find 

 t V lhi » than hi Z 1 M ere ,S Certainl y mu «h less " drip » 



&^ilc thoT2T, a br ? ken pane «*ce it was first 

 !? de "' »re te^iSni ° n , the ° ld pIan ' and P laced close 



TJ?' t0 drop out 7^' and several •• *• P*" e * 

 Bedale. P «-^T. L. Snoio, Swinton Gardens, j 



. A **leas ^.T K 



^^^ica^aj'f P. la k ot8 of different varieties of 



7 ° l Whlch *™ large specimens. Only 



two plants have or will bloom this year ; thev are now J ticularly in a succession 



making their wood, and are in a very healthy state. The 



flower- buds were formed, but they turned brown and fell 



off. This is the first year they have so disappointed me. 



The difference from their usual treatment was in not 



housing them until mid December, and in putting them 



in a dry Vinery that was close but cool, instead of an 



airy, cold greenhouse. We had no frost before they 



were housed, sufficient to freeze the earth in the pots. 



Can any of your correspondents inform me of the cause 



of their not blooming ? — Flora. 



Sphenogyjie speciosa. — This is not hardy. I sowed 

 some seeds last autumn, under a painted canvas cover : 

 they had got about an inch high, when the frost we had 

 on the night of the 2d Dec. killed them, although plants 

 of Schizanthus pinnatus remained uninjured in the same 

 situation. — Geo. Thompson, Alunden. 



Watering Out-door Plants. — In Numbers 28 and 

 32 of the Chronicle for 1843 are letters written on 

 this subject by " J. L., Newburgh." In these the subject 

 has been brought forward, without stating in what situa- 

 tion the plants were placed ; but from his statements we 

 may learn that they were fully exposed all day to the sun, 

 and what, I may ask, would be the value of a morning's 

 watering to them in clear dry weather ? The dry air, 

 together with the powerful rays of the sun, would dry up 

 the moisture before mid-day, and, consequently, before 

 the plants would have time to imbibe more nourishment 

 than what would merely keep them alive ; but eren with 

 plants exposed to the sun, evening watering would be 

 more beneficial to them than when given in the morning, 

 for the following reason, viz., that plants, during dry 

 warm weather, always grow most in the night ; and if 

 they be watered in the evening, they have more time to 

 store up nourishment, and, consequently, are better 

 adapted to withstand the scorching rays of the sun. At 

 night, when the temperature is lowered, organisable matter 

 is formed, and the plant is extended, while at the same 

 time it is supplied with more nourishment, to supply the 

 place of that which has been expended in the forming of 

 wood, &c. ; but to give water in the morning would have 

 a contrary effect; and, as before stated, the plants would 

 receive only a scanty supply, from want of time to imbibe 

 it ; and that little would scarcely have circulated through 

 the plant, before the cool night would arrive, when it 

 would be deposited in the plant in a crude state. " J. 

 L." states further, that the soil being made darker with 

 the watering, favours radiation. From this I learn that 

 he does not water his plants with cold well-water, 

 for that would cool the soil down below the tempera- 

 ture either of morning or evening, and surrounding 

 media would radiate heat into them. Then if he waters 

 them with water always exposed in some tank, it will 

 not be often far below the temperature of the night, 

 and if the soil is made warm with the sun it will only 

 radiate until it is cooled down to the same heat as the 

 surrounding atmosphere, and that is what it ought to be. 

 We have comparatively fcr very dry nights in this 

 country to cause much evaporation, and what arises from 

 the surface of the pots tends to invigorate the plants (in 

 the absence of a damp atmosphere) rather than chill 

 them ; but " J. h." seems to think that because the 

 combined influences of evaporation and radiation cause 

 cold or frost, that, in whatever ratio it is given off, it must 

 be in some degree hurtful to plants. By the same way of 

 reasoning I might say, that, because water will drown 

 plants, therefore they should have none at all. " J. L. w 

 states facts but draws wrong conclusions from them ; he 

 states at p. 55G, that if you place a cup of water in a tray 

 of vitriol or dry muriate of lime with a bell-glass over 

 them, the powers of these two substances for attracting 

 the vapour will be seen ; and then he infers that the cup 

 of water is like the wet pot or patch of soil, and the vitriol 

 and muriate of lime like the dry soil or other objects 

 surrounding. Now although the vitriol and muriate of 

 lime may absorb moisture with a bell-glass over them, 

 that is no proof that dry earth or other dry objects 

 will do the same — on the contrary, the soil in the pots 

 possesses in itself no power of attracting vapour; 

 it is only when it is watered or comes in contact with 

 vapour ascending from the ground, that it becomes any 

 damper at all. The real question seems to be, Does the 

 amount of vapour caused by the dry nights from evening 

 watering tend to hurt the plants or invigorate them, or 

 does it do neither of them ? These remarks apply to 

 plants set in the sun, where they ought to be, but they 

 should be ranged in certain conditions, and not placed in 

 the shade, as is often the case, where the sun never shines 

 on them at all. — A Practical Man. 



Rats. — (How to poison if it is convenient so to do, con- 

 sidering the disagreable smell afterwards under floors, 

 drains, &c.) — I have several times practised very success- 

 fully nearly the same receipt I once observed in the 

 44 Gardeners* Chronicle." I take a portion of good sweet 

 oatmeal with a piece of fresh butter, and a small portion 

 of fine lump sugar, along with some nice fresh boiled 

 Potatoes. These I mix and beat up well together until it 

 becomes a tough paste. Forming this into boluses about 

 the size of a filbert, I lay 4 or 5 of them on a crock or 

 piece of clean slate, in convenient places near their holes. 

 Repeating this feed for 2 or 3 nights, I then add a portion 

 of arsenic to the said paste, and repeat the dose if the rats 

 are not all destroyed, but by the first bait I have generally 

 succeeded in clearing the whole. I have occasionally been 

 very successful with arsenic mixed in new milk, or rubbed 

 on a bit of lean beef. With one or the other of these 

 remedies 1 have always been particularly successful in 

 entirely destroying those artful vermin. During this last 

 season, however, I had no sooner cleareJ away one batch 

 than I was very quickly annoyed with another, more par- 



pit of a considerable length 



having hollow walls and pigeon holes ; this is wholly heated 



by a body of fermenting materials inside and out ; which I 



hope to see entirely dispensed with and turned to a more 



useful account. 1 revived one fine day, all bands being 



busy, to get the whole of the Pine plants out ; I threw the 



tan away from the walls inside, back and front, into a ridge 



up the middle of pit ; I then took a quantity of 32 flower-pot 



saucers or stands, and placed them 5 or 6 feet apart, back 



and front, and into each of these I dropped about 2 



ounces of flour of sulphur; a man followed with a shovel 



of red hot embers, and dropped a small portion into each 



pan of sulphur : this caused a stifling thick cloud of smoke 



which penetrated into every crevice, and 1 have neither 



seen rats or any other vermin there since. There may 



not be anything new in either of these methods, but I 



have myself been often perfectly satisfied with the good 



effects of each. — Observer J. 



Rats. — (How to decoy, if you are troubled with only 

 one or two old cunning ones used to drains, and having a 

 bad convenience for setting a trap). — Procure some new 

 bran, and throw two or three handfuls into a corner, 

 where you could, after repeating this for two or three 

 nights, and allowing them to scratch about at pleasure, 

 set a spring trap or gin, as it is called by some, covering it 

 well with the above material. I find this to be a never-fail- 

 ing remedy, and nine out of ten get caught by both fore 

 legs, generally high up towards the shoulders, on account 

 of their going eagerly to scratch among the bran as they 

 were accustomed to do. — Observer J. 



Birds. — In reply to a correspondent, who signs himself 

 " X.," I would beg to observe, that it would be a work of 

 great difficulty, and perhaps, after all, unintelligible, were 

 any attempt to be made to describe the various notes of 

 small birds which are now to be heard. Some, for in- 

 stance the oxeye-tit (parus major), have several spring 

 notes, varying much from each other in sound. The com- 

 mon wren and the hedge-sparrow sing beautifully at this 

 season, and the migratory birds, which are flocking over 

 to this climate for their summer residence, add daily to 

 the music of our groves. Among these the nightingale, 

 blackcap, and sedge- warbler, are the most celebrated 

 songsters. The wryneck (yunx torquilla) is the bird 

 which is known under the name of cuckoo's mate in many 

 parts of the kingdom, because it makes its appearance 

 here shortly before or much about the time that the 

 cuckoo is first heard. — Oswald Mosley. 



Deformity in the Timber of the Elm. — On March 14» 

 at Stackpole Court, the seat of the Earl of Cawdor, an 

 Elm-tree was felled, with a woody tubercular excrescence 

 encirculating the trunk, the length of which is four feet 

 five inches, and diameter three feet seven inches. The 

 trunk's diameter below is one foot two inches, and above 

 this excrescence one foot — a strong proof that the circula- 

 tion of sap was to some extent checked at this point. It 

 had a most singular and somewhat ornamental appearance 



when standing, uemg ]'Z ieet from tim grounu \ it con- 

 tained nearly 33 cubic feet, and weighed 1 ton 2 cwt. 3 qrs. 

 — T. Davidson. 



Miscellaneous. — Mr. Whiting, of the Deepdene, near 

 Dorking, finds Berberis trifoliata, trained against a wall, 

 and protected by a mat on severe frosty nights, stand the 

 winter without- injury; it is now in bloom. He states that 

 the flowers are inconspicuous, and come out in small clus- 

 ters from the axils of the leaves on the last year's shoots. 



A Subscriber remarks that in the present month, and only 

 up to the 27th, fifteen dozen of wasps have been destroyed 



in a garden in one of the northern counties. D. C. L, 



inquires if there has been any peculiarity in this season, 

 that may account for the unusual attack made by birds 

 upon Gooseberries ? He writes that he has lost nearly all 

 his, and says that to the best of his recollection such a 

 thing never occurred in the neighbourhood in which he 

 resides before. 



Societies. 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



May 1. — The 35th Anniversary Meeting was held. 

 From the report of the Auditors it appeared that the 

 Society had succeeded in discharging their bonds bearing 

 5 percent, intei est, by the issue of promissory notes at 4 per 

 cent. ; and that the debt was reduced in the course of the 

 year to the extent of 1428/. 5s. Id — Mr. Allntjtt put 

 some questions to the chairman respecting certain details 

 in the arrangements for the exhibition of plants at the 

 meetings at Chiswick : he was of opinion that a new re- 

 gulation, which excludes plants that had been previously 

 exhibited elsewhere, was one which required explanation ; 

 and he much objected to the practice of stamping their 

 price on the face of the tickets issued to Fellows at 3s. 6rf. 

 each. The meeting being of opinion that mere details 

 concerning the regulations for exhibition were not of a 

 nature suited to discussion at the Anniversary meeting, 

 the Vice-Secretary confined his reply to the chief heads 

 of observation. He stated that no regulation existed by 

 which plants previously exhibited were excluded. The 

 words of the regulation were, that the Judges, in making 

 their award, would take into consideration whether the 

 plants to be judged had been exhibited previously during 

 the season. The object of this rule was not to exclude 

 previously exhibited plants, but to prevent the same plants 

 taking prizes repeatedly, and to give specimens, produced 

 at the Society's meetings for the first time, the advantage 

 of their novelty. To what extent this would be carried 

 would rest with the Judges, who are the persons to take 

 all such cases into consideration. It was well known that 

 certain plants were carried from Show to Show, and exhi- 

 bited over and over again, thus gaining an amount of 

 reward to which the degree of talent manifested in grow- 



