316 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



of uniform growth and bloom, the lateral branches ex- 

 tending 2 feet from the main stem, thus giving a circum- 

 ference of 8 feet. F. Rogersiana (a cutting of the cur- 

 rent year), was also as much in circumference. *. 

 racemiflora elegans (a cutting) formed a very graceful 

 plant from 7 to 8 feet in height ; F. conspicua arborea 

 (a cutting) reached G feet; F. tricolor (cuttings) of uni- 

 form growth and bloom, was G feet in circumference ; 

 F. magnifica (a cutting) was the same s'ze ; F. St. Uare 

 (a cutting), removed the third week in May from a GO to 

 an 8 pot was 2 feet in diameter by the first week of 

 August. F. rosea elegans, and Cooperi were each 

 12 feet in circumference. A plant of F. magni- 

 fica (a cutting) was selected from very .°eaut,fully- 

 formed plants of the same variety grown in pits, and 

 subjected to the above trfa^/jr^ieiVextent of growth 

 and bloom.— Smith's (of Dalston) varieties were received 

 in May about 9 inches in height, and by August nearly 

 the whole were 2 feet in diameter (in 12s and 8 sized 

 pots), and exceeded all others by their uniform vigour 



and bloom. 



Those who wish to speculate in dispensing with inter- 

 mediate shifts, by removing from GOs or 48s to 12s, 8s, 

 or Gs, must bear in mind the following conditions: — 

 1, a slight elevation of the bill of the young plant, 

 above the level of the soil around it ; 2, an exposure 

 upon a shelf, or lofty platform, to intense sunlight ; 

 3, alternate syringings, in the place of waterings, for a 

 few weeks ; 4, the essential proportion and texture of 

 the sub-drainage ; 5, the leaf-mould, or decomposed 

 manure, in a partially dried state ; 6, the surface of the 

 soil to be but slightly compressed until the plants are 

 established. The importance of the last condition is in 

 proportion to the increased size of the por, and the 

 diminutive vigour of the plant. — William Wood, Pine- 

 apple Place. 



FRENCH ROSE CULTIVATION. 



The following are a few remarks on the mode of rear- 

 ing Rose-trees in France ;— No French nurseryman 

 engrafts his Dog- Roses (Eglantines) on other persons' 

 hedges ; for if so, he would require, for the many 

 thousands of them which he plan's, the command of a 

 great deal of spare ground. He has not inclosures sufficient 

 to maintain the number of them which he would require 

 according to his system of culture. He employs, there- 

 fore, boys to provide him with them ; and where the 

 culture of Roses is extensive, as in the vicinity of Paris, 

 there are people in the season who make a regular trade 

 of gathering them wherever they can find them ; so that 

 the gardener who would engraft Rose-trees on the 

 hedges and in the woods would only give himself trouble 

 for the benefit of other people ; he would in such a case 

 have undoubted reason to apply to himself the M sic vos 

 non vobis " of the poet. 



According to our system, the Rose-trees which we 

 have for sale have been nourished in our gardens before 

 they are grafted, and brought to exhibit the beautiful 

 varieties which we produce. If Rose-trees exported by 

 us are ill-furnished with small roots, this deficiency has 

 been caused by the quality of the soil in which the wild 

 stock' have been reared. Those which are grown in 

 strong heavy land produce but few capillary roots, while 

 those reared in light soil produce them abundantly. The 

 truth is, that Rose- trees are transferred from our nurse- 

 ries so soon, that they have not time to multiply their 

 roots to any great extent. It often happens that Dog- 

 Roses planted in autumn may be sold with a very strong 

 head at the same period of the following year, which is 

 easily accounted for by the manner in which we cultivate 

 them. 



We procure early in autumn stocks that are at least 

 two years old, those of one year old being too thinly 

 wooded, and liable to injury from frost ; and we 

 plant them and support them by stakes. In the begin- 

 ning of February, the cuttings for grafting are cut from 

 those sorts which we wish to multiply, and stuck into 

 the ground, numbered, and opposite the north, in order 

 to retard their budding. 



In March and April we take them up, and graft them 

 on the Dog-Rose Briers ; and it is important that this 

 operation should be performed when the sap of the stock 

 Brier is in circulation (which is ascertained by the shooting 

 of the buds). The operation of grafting, en fente (by 

 cleft), as we term it, is too well known to require ex- 

 planation. I shall merely remark that the stocks 

 which, from the smallness of their diameter, can 

 only bear one graft, should only be split at one 

 side, and that opposite the bud nearest the 

 upper surface of the stock, where it has been cut 

 evenly across. This bud is designed to draw the sap 

 into the upper part where the scion is, and to impart 

 life to it. Two grafts may be placed opposite each other 

 on stocks of sufficient diameter. Two buds are sufficient 

 to have in any graft, and wl»*n this is cut in the proper 

 wedge-form, it should be inserted in such a sloping 

 direction as will bring the lower part of the wedge into 

 contact with the second bark of the stock ; and the lower 

 bud of the graft should evidently be kept on the outside 

 of the slit. Unkss the graft be the termination of a 

 branch, its upper part, to which the knife has been ap- 

 plied, will require to be protected by a little cement; and, 

 if the stocks be not sufficiently larga to receive the grafts 

 completely and firmly, these ought to be tied and covered 

 at the point of union with cement. Our composition for 

 cement is made of rosin and pitch in equal quanti- 

 ties, with half as much of white wax as of the other 

 ingredients, properly melted and mixed together. 



Grafts thus placed oa strong and healthy plants cannot 



Tail : and will form a superb head in autumn, if care is 

 aken to pinch them off to the height of from 4 to 6 

 inches, to make them branch. It is also necessary not 

 to leave too many buds at the lower part, but those on 

 the top cannot be too numerous. By this kind of graft- 

 ing, a Rose-tree in full flower may be obtained in six 



weeks or two months. 



Dog- Roses, if planted as stocks in pots, should be 

 taken into a greenhouse early in the season ; and, as 

 vegetation soon begins there, the stocks will be fit to be 

 grafted in a month or six weeks, and flowers will be ob- 

 tained from them much sooner than from Rose-trees in 

 the open air.— Bataille, Curator of the Botanical Gar- 

 dens at Auranches. _ 



BOILERS. 

 "~ I have a large garden, and many sorts of boilers, from 

 the old waggon-form down to that of Messrs. Stephen- 

 sons. But when I want to heat some new building, 1 

 find that the cost of even the cheapest of them is a very 

 serious difficulty. For example, I wish to force some 

 Seakale in an open bed. A few drain-pipes will enable 

 me to do so ; but then there is the boiler — and really it is 

 too bad to be forced to pay SI. or 6/. for an instrument 

 which is to produce me a crop not worth half the money. 

 I see, too, by your Notices to Correspondents, that many 

 others are in a similar difficulty with myself; and well 

 they may be. Let us then see whether a cheaper kind 

 of boiler than any on sale may not be readily contrived. 



In the section A we have a common 4-inch iron pipe, 

 placed with one end over a fire, and the other in a tank of 

 water. When heat is applied the water circulates in the 

 direction of the arrows, and the heating effect is just as 

 well gained as if the most complicated boiler were em- 

 ployed. But there is no setting A in brickwork advan- 

 tageously. 



A 



But if the pipe has an elbow over the fire, as at B, the 

 setting is more easy, and all the effect that we desire is 

 obtained. 



Nevertheless, people may complain of the waste of fuel 

 and of the awkwardness of these contrivances, and with 

 some reason, though not with a great deal, because it is 

 to be recollected that such an apparatus is only for a 

 temporary and slight purpose. However, to satisfy them, 

 let us take the section C, which represents what you have 

 occasionally recommended, an iron-saucepan, with a lid 



fastened down by a bayonet- catch, and adapted to the 

 tank by a flow and return pipe. Now here, by casting a 

 flange, a, a, upon the upper edge of the saucepan, six 

 inches deep, a sufficient means is offered of setting such a 

 contrivance in brick-work, and thus a good boiler is at 

 once furnished. I find that a common 6 gallon iron 

 pot costs in the shops 10s., and I see no reason why 

 such a boiler as this, which is nothing but a pot with 

 a flange and a fixed lid, should not be sold for Ids., 

 instead of four or five pounds, which is the lowest 

 price of the hothouse boilers now in use. It would 

 certainly answer the purpose of any dealer to sell such 

 things, or if they will not do so, an ingenious blacksmith 

 could make them out of an old saucepan and a piece of 

 sheet iron, and thus the means would be afforded of apply- 

 ing heat efficiently to purposes in which it cannot be 

 employed at all, so long as there is no refuge from the 

 costly boilers of the day. — Dion. 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



Acarus hortensis {the Garden Mile).— When I 

 lately had occasion to reply to a correspondent respect- 

 ing this mite, I had no doubt in my own mind that it 

 was identical with that which infests and lives upon va- 

 rious beetles ; but upon relaxing and setting out speci- 

 mens of both varieties, it appeared at once evident they 

 were totally different, although nearly related. I there- 

 fore take an early opportunity of correcting my error ; 

 and it may serve as a lesson how unsafe it is to take 

 things for granted, and at the same time be admitted as 



a convincing proof, to those who are engaged hTT^r 

 cultural pursuits, that in the investigation of th " 



struse subjects it is indispensable to exercise th ^^ ***" 

 caution in the discrimination of the insects suo*^ 6 !!^ 

 affect and injure the crops. From the commua£j° 

 above alluded to, it appeared that some mites abo^S2 

 to such an extent in the Cucumber frames that th* ^ 

 stroyed one set of plants, by eating off the roots mw*i 

 compelled the owner to turn out the infested pfo \ 

 the soil likewise. Having done so he put i n freih' *** 

 and new plants, but these were getting as bad a«»v.c 

 by the middle of March. 5 Daa a s the first, 



This Acarus diffe 

 named and described 



ring from any of those I have 

 J, I have called it Acarus hortenii. 

 from its inhabiting gardens. It is oblong, shinin* am! 

 of an ochreous colour, but the body is of a semi-t 

 parent white, with a large thoracic crustaceous platTt 

 shield of a deep ochreous tint, separated from a smalW 

 one, of a somewhat transverse ovate figure, merelvb * 

 narrow white suture ; the head is small and trigonate nil 

 two points in front, and on each side is a slender palou 

 of 5 or 6 joints, and slightly hairy; it has 8 legs the 1st 

 and 4th pairs being long, the four intermediate ones 

 shorter and perhaps a little stouter ; they are all bristlv 

 or hairy and taper ; they are, I believe, only G-jointed if 

 the tarsus be not included, the last joint being the 

 longest and most slender ; from the extremity of this 

 projects a fine whitish thread which forms the foot and 

 appears to be Particulate ; the apex is dilated and semi- 

 circular, forming a pulvillus, with 2 divaricating dark 

 rays, which may be the claws. Figs. 1, 2, the same mar- 

 nified. 



I have added figures of Acarus coleoptratus (3 and 4), 

 the species I at first supposed the above mite to hare 

 been ; the body is more oval and broader, the horny 

 shields are larger, with a much narrower transverse su- 

 ture, and there are a few bristles scattered over them • 

 the head is not so prominent, and it is of a darker ochre 

 colour. These mites are generally seen running over the 

 underside of beetles that live upon putrid animal and 

 decomposing vegetable substances, more especially t 

 genus of Silphidas, called Necrophorus or grave-diggers, 

 and of Scarabceidse, named Geotrupes or dung-bee'les,* 

 and it not unfrequently happens that one finds a 

 wretched individual of the latter genus sprawling on its 

 back, or with scarcely strength to crawl, the entire con- 

 tents of the body having been eaten out by this dreadful 

 scourge. 



Labouring under the mistaken impression that th«e 

 were the mites which infested the Cucumber plants, I 

 imagined they had been introduced by the infested beetles, 

 which were conveyed into the frame with the hot manure, 

 or had crept in whilst the glass was off ; if such had been 

 the case, a single beetle would soon have established a 

 colony extensive enough to do the mischief complained 

 of. But as it proves to be a distinct species of Acarus, 

 which probably only feeds upon decomposing vegetable 

 substances, we must trace its presence to other causes. 

 I therefore think it very likely that it is generated m toe 

 manure, and in that case it would be advisable to sprinkle 

 unslaked lime between the layers when it is turned oyer, 

 which I expect would kill the Acari, or gas-water mj« 

 be equally effective. There is also another i m P° r ",. 

 point to be attended to, and that is neatness and clew* 

 ness in the frames. If the woodwork, as it trequ : , 

 happens, be rotten and crumbling away, it forms 

 ceptable harbour for woodlice, mites, earwigs, ana \ j 

 kind of animal destructive to frame plants; alter ^a j 

 is cleared off, and before the frames are again . ^ 

 boiling water should be poured upon the parts i com „ 

 contact with the soil; they ought to be well scru «~ 

 with soft soap, and afterwards washed with s P ,n " thc 

 pentine or painted on the inside ; then, again, an ^ 

 crop is off, whether of Cucumbers or Melons, no 

 the fruit should be left to rot, or the stalks to 

 pose there, as it cannot fail to attract and harbour -* 

 &c, which when once est Wished are frequently 



readily exterminated.; . • ca tmg 



I am, however, surprised to hear of "the Acan rf 



off the roots of the Cucumbsrs," and « nal1 £ * b ject; 

 any information which may throw light upon inc ^ 



for whilst the roots are healthy I should n0t ex / deteC tcd 

 these little animals would attack them. 1 &a t3 j 



large nests of Acari in the putrescent c luD °*° but 

 Cabbages and in Turnips suffering from anoj 



Cabbages and in Turnips suffering from amw ^ 

 never in those which were not diseased. * D tfae ^ 

 ever, that these Acari are scattered throng ^ 



and are consequently ready to fix upon any d 7 fa |i 3 1 



which speedily becomes a nidus for them, pfU . 



sacrifice to their attacks. It is, therefore, ^^ 



dent not to allow drooping and weak plants ^ ^ 



but to dig them up at once and burn them, t c0lB - 



reraove them to a distant spot, where they ^ 



municate disease to the rest of thecrop^--*__ 



* Curtis's Brit. Ent. folios and pi. 71 and « 



