524 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



layer each year, between the bark and wood, to enable it 

 to bear the additional weight it has to support, as well as 

 to enlarge the channels for the conveyance of sap to an 

 increased head. Both these causes act upon trees which 

 have their own entire weight to support, and therefore 

 they are conically shaped ; only the last applies to 

 creepers aDd climbers, and therefore they can but barely 

 be called so, being nearly of a size all the way up. On 

 this showing, therefore, if the old wood be cut away, the 

 injury done to the root in moving, is made up by the 

 non-necessity of keeping up the old wood ; and thus 

 great part of the labour of the sap being saved, and its 

 duty diminished, as well as a free course given to it, the 

 buds succeed. This, it is apprehended, is the theory 

 upon which all pruning for transplantation is founded. 

 But, to explain this more fully : — Amongst trees, there 

 are some of which the bark is so strong that the sap is 

 confined in its ascent, and the tree becoming hidebound, 

 is unable to increase, unless a slit be made from the top 

 of the tree to the bottom, in order to give the sap full 

 liberty to ascend. Those whose barks have become 

 hardened and dry, may sometimes be seen to throw out 

 buds all the way up the body of the branch, each bud 

 being weaker than the lower one, the point of the branch 

 dying away. This tendency of the cap to desert its 

 former channels, may be observed in newly- planted 

 thorns, particularly whenever they have not been cut 

 back enough. Now, a transplanted tree frequently 

 makes but little wood the first year, and consequently 

 few leaves ; and the intercourse between the roots and 

 stem being thus, as it were, partially sugpended, the 

 bark becomes hard, and the next year the sap has a great 

 difficulty in ascending. Where a check occurs in vege- 

 tation, a sufficient quantity of sap to start the leaves 

 creeps up and accumulates by gradual stepu ; but when 

 the warm weather comes on, snd the shoots are expected 

 to flourish, they are found to have no support from the 

 root, and they go off accordingly. Shoots called Gour- 

 mands, on the contrary, and suckers, being soft and 

 free, arrive to an astonishing size : witness the shoot of 

 a Vine, which is frequently larger in the girt than the 

 stem it proceeds from. A tree lately moved and planted 

 with more branches than its roots can nourish, may be 

 considered like a man in debt ; the little it can do is 

 absorbed by the demands upon it, and it is just able to 

 keep up what it has. The next year sees it in the same 

 state of weakness, with a hard bark, and the whole sub- 

 stance confined ; it has a more difficult "duty and unin- 

 creased means. Or if it has not sap sufficient to keep 

 up its present head, its parts die off as the supply 

 diminishes, and the tree grows weaker and weaker; and 

 having exhausted all its supply, without an efficient 

 return from the leaves, which are unhealthy, it dies off 

 and perishes by degrees. On the contrary, a tree newly 

 planted may be likened to a person who is promised that 

 no demand shall be made upon him until he is enabled 

 to answer it, when it is placed in the ground with no 

 open buds upon it, and only enough closed ones to carry 

 on the duty required when they are forced open, which 

 will be sooner or later, according to the individual 

 strength of the tree. The sap accumulates, the buds 

 start at their proper time, and when started, the tree, 

 weakened by its removal, has no length of half-dried 

 wood to force t le sap through, but the new buds throw 

 out soft and large bases, the sap courses through them 

 establish a give-3nd-take intercourse with the root at 

 once ; they require no more of the root than it can per- 

 form, and they are ready to repay with interest ; and as 

 a free passage for the fluids is as much the cause of health 

 and vigour in the vegetable as the animal creation, the 

 tree flourishes and succeeds. Thus, time to recover, and 

 liberty in its work, are two great desideratums in remov- 

 ing a tree; and if these are attended to, a newly-budded 

 stock may be removed, even from a hedge, with barely 

 any root, into good ground, 

 with perfect success, by the 

 circumstance of the bud being 

 placed, as in this instance it 

 would be, below the head, when 

 the sap would have only half its 

 original height to ascend ; and 

 as the weight of a hundred cubic 

 feet of water would cause a 

 fountain placed below it to rise 

 to a certain height, and the same 

 fountain, with only fifty feet of 

 water above it, would play 

 equally well, if it were only re- 

 quired to rise to a height pro- 

 portioned to the decrease of force 

 acting upon it : so a tree budded 

 and cut as below would succeed, 

 from the same cause. 



Home Correspondence. 



Melons, to fertilise.— Among some experiments which 

 I have lately witnessed is one which, if not new, is in- 

 teresting. Mr. Aitkin, gardener at Pitfour, in Fifeshire, 

 is in the practice of treading the soil firm into the frames 

 where he grows Melons ; and he does not water the 

 plants until the fruit attains a large size. The plants are 

 allowed to grow until they nearly fill the frame, when 

 they are pruned back until they show fruit-blossoms on 

 the lateral branches. The strongest flowers are selected 

 and fertilised in the usual manner, the male flower or 

 anther being left in the female blossom. The corolla is 

 then gathered together by the one hand, while the other 

 immediately draws the dry mould over it. .The fruit 

 remains covered until it attains the size of an Orange, 

 when it is placed upon elate* in the usual way,; \ Mr. J 



Aitkin uncovered a number of fruit in my presence, none 

 of which were injured by damp ; indeed, his Melons in 

 their various stages are well grown. They are nearly 

 white when first exposed to light, but very soon become 

 of a bright green. Whether this system of growing the 

 Melon may turn out of utility or not, it may at all events 

 increase the facility for keeping varieties true ; and 

 although the soil may be too moist with many growers, 

 perhaps it may suit equally well to cover them with dry 

 sand, &c. on the slates where they are commonly set. 

 Mr. Aitkin considers the extra temperature of the soil 

 advantageous in the diffusion of the pollen. May this 

 not suggeit experiments regarding fertilising many kinds 

 of flowers in dark warm cases, &c. while the leaves grow 

 in the light ? — R. Arthur, Waterloo-place, Edinburgh. 

 Bees.— It has been a matter of< dispute among 

 apiarians whether it is advisable or not to co-operate 

 with the working bees by assisting them in their warfare 

 at this season against the drones. Some have contended 

 that it is not ; and, certainly, in the manner in which it 

 has been usually attempted, it had better be avoided. 

 But in the method I am about to detail, I put at rest the 

 question as to any injury to be sustained by a family of 

 bees, from the sudden abstraction" from it of all the 

 drones it had contained. Those who have paid atten- 

 tion to the habits of these, when an attack has com- 

 menced on them by the watchers, must have observed a 

 disposition to congregate together, as if for mutual pro- 

 tection, in a distant part of the hive. It occurred to 

 me that this tendency to separation might be turned to 

 account advantageously, if the suitable means were pro- 

 vided. The hive on which my experiment was tried was 

 a collateral one, viz., a centre and two side-boxes. The 

 centre and one side-box were occupied by the bees, and 

 pretty well filled ; the other side-box was empty, the 

 bees not having access to it. T resolved onjmaking this 

 a place of refuge for the drones, if they chose ; and, ac- 

 cordingly, on the morning of the 14th June, when the 

 work of proscription had evidently commenced, I opened 

 a passage throughout nearly the whole length of the 

 bottom edge of the empty box, about half an inch high, 

 but leaving all the upper openings closed. On looking 

 into the windows of the side-box at night, I found my 

 expectations completely verified, for the drones, to avoid 

 persecution, had availed themselves of this asylum, and 

 were clustered together in a compact body, like a new 

 swarm, at the top of the side-box ; and in no part of the 

 other two boxes could I discover one. What effect the 

 pangs of hunger might subsequently have had upon 

 them I know not ; but during the time they had thus 

 voluntarily expatriated themselves, the drones showed no 

 disposition to return to the parent hive, but continued 

 to hang motionless, as I have described. In this state 

 I left them till the following morning, when I shut off 

 the communication between the boxes, and removed the 

 one containing the drones. These I speedily suffocated, 

 with the exception of about 200 that escaped. I had 

 sometimes imagined that the number of drones in a hive 

 at this season is larger than common computation 

 makes it, and this was a point I wished to determine. 

 The dead drones were carefully counted, and amounted 

 to rather more than 2200 in number, besides those that 

 had escaped, and doubtless many more had previously 

 fallen victims to the working bees; of the latter not a 

 single one was found amongst the drones. On the same 

 day all commotion had ceased in the hive, and the bees 

 went with unusual alacrity to work, and did well. The 

 first drones I had observed in the stock of bees subjected 

 to the operation, were on the 23d of May, and after their 

 destruction I saw not a single one until the 23d of July, 

 when a second hatching of drones commenced ; but the 

 greater part of the grubs were ejected from the hive in 

 that state. It is needless, perhaps, to say, that so com- 

 plete and sudden an abstraction of the drones, entirely 

 refutes the notion entertained by some theorists, that 

 their presence is essential to the fecundation of the eggs, 

 previously laid by the Queen ; but it seems also to prove 

 that they are as little required in the hive for the gene- 

 ration of the necessary degree of heat in the hatching 

 season, as has been surmised ; or why ia it that in a hive 

 subjected to the cooling process of ventilation, (and the 

 hive I have herein referred to was one of these,) the de- 

 struction of the drones usually takes place earlier than in 



one left in its natural state of warmth ?— //. Tat/lor, 

 London. 



Preserves, to Cork.— In the receipt for preserving 

 Currants, resin is recommended for the corks, but the 

 brown cement, Parker's or Roman, answers much better 

 and breaks off when wanted without any trouble. Mix it 

 thinner than for cement, and put some over the nose of 

 the bottles : it soon sets. The writer has used it for 

 years. — N. O. P. 



Large Gooseberry.— On the 29th of July, Mr. T. 

 Gibson, of Nottingham, found a Loudon Gooseberry, 

 grown in his garden, of the weight of 35 dwts. 12 grains. 

 — J. F. W. 



Asparagus.— I can, from long experience, confirm 

 all you recommend as to the application of salt to 

 Asparagus beds ; and I cannot comprehend the objection 

 to this saline manure ; it must either result from igno- 

 rance, or from the use of the salt at an improper season. 

 Perhaps those gentlemen who write against it, applied it 

 whilst the roots were in a dormant state ; if so, I do not 

 wonder at the destruction of their Asparagus plants. Let 

 them try it just as the roots begin to move in the spring, 

 and let the application be renewed two or three times 

 during the growing season, and let them always select a 

 wet day for the work, and I will vouch for it they will 

 soon become converts to the use of salt in a proper 

 season ; but other manure must not be forgotten. J [ 



[Aug. 3, 



have quite renovated an old bed by an abundant use f 

 salt. For many years I have known sea-weed, and stron 

 sea-sand, taken wet from the receding tide, used as 

 dressing for Asparagus beds, and I never knew thotl 

 beds to fail. Now the secret of this application is in thl 

 saline qualities of the weed and of the sand, and not h 

 any substantial quality of the sea-weed, for when this U 

 dissolved there is nothing left for the earth of the beds 

 to feed upon. An attentive observer of the natural 

 history of the Asparagus plant cannot fail to discern 

 the propriety of using saline manures in its growth ; and 

 the same treatment as to sea-weed and sea-sand applies 

 to sea-kale. Both these plants are indigenous in Corn- 

 wall, and there is an island near the Lizard Point, called 

 Asparagus Island, on which that plant grows, and where 

 I have frequently gathered it. In heavy gales of wind 

 the sea breaks over the part of this island on which the As- 

 paragus grows. The soil is sand, and loose decomposed 

 vegetable substances. — Cornubiensis. 



Acclimatising Plants. — In reply to Mr. M'Intose 

 who lately desired some one to give the results of their 

 experiments on the above sul ject, I would mention that 

 I have for several years preseived many of the different 

 kinds of Fuchsias in the open garden, in all situations 

 during the winter, by simply cutting them down when 

 they have done flowering, covering them over with a 

 spadeful of gravel and a small slate, or flag. The slate 

 or flag, I find useful in preventing the heavy rains m 

 winter washing away the ground, and, consequently, 

 starving the plants, as in this part of the country we have 

 generally very wet winters. Last year having too very 

 tali Fuchsias (Globosa), above five feet high, I did not 

 cut them down, but took them up, potted them, and 

 placed them in a room without fire, i.ear to a window 

 facing the north ; gave them very little wa*er, and treated 

 them according to my notions judiciously ; but to my 

 surprise, I found in the spring that the main stem was 

 dead; a proof that I might as well have saved myself ths 

 trouble I had been at, by cutting them down in the open 

 ground, as above mentioned. — Chemical Jack. 



Humphreys's Soluble Compound. — If Mr. Humphreys 

 has professed to sell a compound whose utility depends 

 on constituents which it does not really possess, the 

 exposure which he has received in your Chronicle is no 

 more than he deserves : but if your remarks were in- 

 tended to convey the impression that in consequence of 

 the absence of phosphoric acid, his Compound was of no 

 value, I am bound in fairness to fay that I have made 

 some experiments with it, which show that it docs 

 possess fertilising powers of a very powerful character. 

 They may arise from the nitrate of ammonia, and he 

 may charge an extravagant price for his mode of making 

 up that material: I ani not able to speak on those points. 

 But I can say that on the 22d June, I applied the Com- 

 pound in the proportion recommended on the label, to 

 a Petunia, Verbena, Fuchsia, Pelargonium, Campanula, 

 Pultencea stricta, and though only one application has 

 been made, the invigorating effects are most visible. The 

 leaves are larger, and of a deeper green than other 

 specimens exhibit which stood by their side, and were 

 similar in every respect, as far as I could perceive, before 

 I made the experiment. Yellow leaves on the Pelar- 

 gonium in more than one instance were turned into a fine 

 deep green. — C. I. D. [Our correspondent will see 

 that we have never said one syllable against Humphreys s 

 Compound as a manure : our observations have been 

 strictly confined to the question, whether it contains 

 phosphoric acid or not ? Nitrate of ammonia is a sub- 

 stance extremely rich in nitrogen, and well known to be 

 valuable if judiciously applied.] 



Colours.— In Notices to Correspondents lately, you ask 

 someone to answer " N. O. P.,"who wants to know why 

 colours made by man are different by candlelight from 

 daylight, whilst in those of Nature, hardly any difference 

 is perceptible? I beg to answer him by denying tne 

 latter part of his position. I took a candle into my 

 greenhouse for the purpose of testing the fact, and found 

 that Verbena Hendersonii, which is a beautiful purple, 

 appeared of a decided crimson. Sollya heterophylla, ana 

 angustifolia, which are of a light and dark-blue, appeared ox 

 a pale and deeper-lilac. The corolla of Fuchsia formosa 

 elegans, and globosa, which is a deep violet, appe area to 

 be a dull dark maroon; and fin.lly, the *«»•" *«**"* 

 leaves of a Tropasolum pentaphyllum were of a fine aeep 



green. — C.I.D. , . , ., „ i •„. 



Planting Pines in Tan.-Acting under the advice 

 given in Mr. Hamilton's treatise on the Pine Apple, 

 I planted out, a few days after his work appeared, ^ 

 fruiting plants in tan, or rather tan and decomposed 

 leaves, under the expectation that they would produce 

 me some tolerable fruit ; but to my great disappoint- 

 ment the experiment is a complete failure ; and on ex- 

 amination I find the plants have not made a single root 

 into the tan, and even where young roots were formeo, 

 they have died off. Now, these plants have neitner 

 been too hot, too wet, nor too dry, the bottom heat 

 having been about 80", which is regulated by a tan*, 

 and the material they were planted in was just ; wna 

 Mr. H. would have selected himself, being tan ana 

 leaves that had been at work about six week *, an d j ust 

 in a decomposing state, mixed with about one fourth oi 

 new tan, just to give life to the mass. Sii bg Mi 

 strong succession plants were planted out at in« ; » 

 time, eighteen plants in tan, and the remaining • tx& teen 

 plant's in soil ; the plants in tan turned yd ow in .a 

 fortnight, and have made a poor sickly growth, wn 



those in soil have grown in great ^ K urian ^ t /"f aD Ted 

 shortly show fruit ; and finally, six other lights pUnte 



out with suckers on the old stools m ^X"* Id be 

 fresh loam over a tank, are growing as well as co 



