1844.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



539 



« 



A 



TO HORTICULTURAL BUILDERS. 



GENTLEMAN wishes for a PLAN and ESTI- 

 MATE for a small GREENHOUSE or CONSERVATORY, 

 to be erected at the end of his Drawing-room (which end faces 

 the west, and the front the south, and from which a door of 

 communication opens), size 15 feet 6 inches by 12 feet; there is 

 a return wall of 5 feet to be glazed with Drake's Sheet Glass, 

 and finished in the best manner.— Direct to E. L. f at the Office 

 of this Paper. 



^t)e QBr&tt>emv& ©Droirtcle 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1844. 



There has lately been laid before the French 

 Academy of Sciences a most important paper on 

 Foresting. The author, M. Chevandier, who 

 appears to have the charge of one of the French 

 forests, has been investigating the effect of water 

 upon the produce of wood, and his results are not a 

 little startling. 



From a multitude of experiments made with trees 

 growing on the sandstone of the Vosges, he has ascer- 

 tained that, powerful an agent as water is well known 

 to be, its effects are not in proportion to its quantity, 

 but to the manner in which it communicates with 

 the roots of trees. For example, he found that if 

 the quantity of timber furnished by Spruce Firs in 

 a given time, on a given space, in the swamps (ter- 

 rains fangeiuv) of the Vosges is taken as 1 , the pro- 

 duce in dry land will be about 2, in land so situated 

 as to receive rain water as it falls between 4 and 5, 

 and in stations where the soakage of running water 

 maintains a continual freshness rather more than 6. 

 He endeavoured, he says, to collect together all the 

 cases where the same tree growing in the same soil 

 and aspect, nevertheless had its roots in a different 

 condition as to water. He felled them in large num- 

 bers, keeping an exact account of their age and of all 

 the circumstances that appeared likely to have in- 

 fluenced their growth; and he found, upon com- 

 paring trees of the same age, growing in the same 

 soil, that the differences produced by the action of 

 water were constantly in the proportions above 

 -stated, so far as Spruce Firs are concerned, to which 



M. Chevandier's observations appear to have been 

 confined. 



The following figures, which have furnished the 

 proportions alluded to, express the annual increase in 

 •dry wood of the Spruce Fir : — 



Kil. Years. 



Swampy land . . . 1.84 f M * an a & e . a * which tne 

 _ c Spruce is felled . 



Dry land .... 3.43 Ditto .... 



Land watered with rain "i n . ff 



water .... 8.25 J mtzo .... 



Land watered with run- \ n .. . 



ning water . . . 11.57/ -UUto 



In order to show more strongly the value of these 

 considerations, M. Chevandier gives the following 

 average rate of growth of the Spruce Fir, when about 

 100 years old: — 



.1 kilogramme* 



101.88 

 71.57 



74.45 

 99.45 



In swampy land less than • 



In dry land less than . . 3 



In land which is watered, about 20 



»» 



This gives for the total weight of a tree a century 

 old — 



1 00 kilogrammes or J of a steref 

 300 „ or 1 stere 



2000 „ or 7 steres 



according to the circumstances in which it has 

 grown. " And if we calculate the value of a tree, 

 reckoning its price to be according to its size, we 

 arrive at this conclusion, that a seed of the Spruce 

 Fir will become, at the end of a century, and accord- 

 ing to the state of the soil with respect to water, a 

 tree worth 1£ franc, or 7 francs, or 85 francs." 



It is impossible to estimate too highly the value of 

 facts like these, which deserve the most serious con- 

 sideration of all planters. Nothing can show more 

 clearly how much of the results of planting depend 

 upon circumstances little taken into account The 

 value of irrigation in particular is very striking; and 

 M. Chevandier strongly urges the owners of moun- 

 ^ tain woods to turn the favourable position of such 

 places to account, i by introducing a good system 

 of ditching. The plan which he finds most advan- 

 tageous is to cut on the bill-side horizontal ditches, 

 » about a yard wide and deep, and 12 to 15 yards 

 1 *P art » which will catch the rain as it runs down, 

 J and afterwards soak into each other, so that what 

 the uppermost ditch loses the next below it receives, 

 w and so on. Such a plan has been carried into effect 

 , in the forests belonging to the plate-glass works of 

 ^iicny and he finds it neither expensive to make 

 nor to keep m good order. 



- f? e facts el ^ ited h y M - Chevandier's experiments 



nave a very wide range, and affect every branch of 

 "-sbandry quite as much as growing Spruce Firs. 





appearance^ l- are r aWare , that ver - v Portly after the 

 advan a"e it * ^™ we P° inted out the many 



faya^^ sess ^^ Nv y ealand ag a countr £ 



t a ]V'°S r .*mme is about 21bs. 3oz. 



t a stere is rather more than 35 cubic feet. 



for agricultural and horticultural emigrants. From 

 time to time we have produced evidence of the 

 correctness of our original views upon this subject, 

 which we have never found it necessarv to modify 

 in the smallest degree. Nevertheless," the colon v 

 has, as our columns have also shown, fallen into a 

 state of the greatest embarrassment, and the opera- 

 tions of the New Zealand Company have been 

 brought to a stand-still. It was our intention some 

 time since to advert to this unfortunate state of 

 affairs ; but we have deferred doing so until the Re- 

 port of a Parliamentary Committee, appointed to 

 inquireinto the state of New Zealand, should be made 

 public. That Report is before us. 



It now appears that the distress of New Zealand 

 has arisen — not from bad climate, sterile or uncultiv- 

 able lands, open roadsteads, or the operations of land 

 jobbers — but from monstrous mismanagement on 

 the part of the Government Officers. The Commit- 

 tee declare " that the difficulties now experienced in 

 New Zealand are mainly to be attributed to the fact, 

 that in the measures which have been taken for 

 establishing a British Colony in these Islands, those 

 rules as to the mode in which colonisation ought to 

 be conducted, which have been drawn from reason 

 and from experience, have not been sufficiently at- 

 tended to ;" and they have passed a series of resolu- 

 tions, very strongly condemnatory of the conduct of 

 the Colonial Office, or its agents." They declare that 

 the local authorities have made a treaty with the 

 natives, which is only a part of a series of injudicious 

 proceedings ; that their acknowledgments of a right 

 of property on the part of the natives in all the wild 

 land was an error which has been productive of very in- 

 jurious conseq\iences ; and that the non-settlement of 

 land claims (one of the first duties of the Govern- 

 ment officers) has been productive of great confusion 

 and mischief. ! 



All political discussion being studiously excluded 

 from our columns, we forbear from making any 

 remark upon this announcement of the Committee ; 

 indeed, we ^only produce it in order to show that no 

 kind of reason exists why confidence should be 

 shaken in the excellence of the soil and climate of 

 New Zealand for the purposes of British cultivators, 

 and that the disasters of the settlers are owing to mis- 

 government, andnothing else. We expect with im- 

 patience the evidence as to the capabilities of New 

 Zealand that has been elicited by the Parliamentary 

 inquiry, and shall take the earliest possible opportu- 

 nity of making it known. In the mean while, it is 

 most satisfactory to learn, that in spite of difficulties 

 thrown in the way of the settlers by those whoseduty 

 it was to assist them, the colony is steadily rising 

 into importance. In the words of the Report of the 

 Directors of the New Zealand Company, dated July 

 31 — " It appears that the natural resources of the 

 country are sufficient to outweigh impediments to 

 prosperity occasioned by misgovernment. In the 

 midst of the anxieties produced by the massacre at 

 Wairoa, and the continued operation of the causes 

 of that calamity, five vessels in the course of three 

 months sailed from Wellington for London, en- 

 tirely laden with the produce of the Company's 

 settlements, consisting of oil, whalebone, flax, 

 ornamental woods, and wool." 



ON THE PURITY OF WATER. 

 Every one is aware that water varies very greatly in 

 nature— some waters being what is termed soft, and 

 therefore well adapted for washing, and various domestic 

 purposes ; whilst other waters are said to be hard, and 

 are unsuitable for washing, &c. In fact, when we 

 examine the numerous operations in the arts, in which 

 water is employed, we find that the successful perform- 

 ance of most of them is more or less dependent on the 

 purity of the water employed. For some purposes soft 

 water is requisite, whilst for others hard water is pre- 

 ferable. 



The purity of the water employed for gardening pur- 

 poses is a matter of considerable importance, and there- 

 fore the causes which affect its purity, the substances 

 which modify its properties, and the methods of purify- 

 ing it, are all subjects of some interest to the gardener. 

 The natural waters of the earth— namely, sea and spring 

 water—are hard ; they are not pure water, but contain a 

 portion of saline and earthy matter dissolved in them. 

 Sea-water contains by far the largest quantity of 

 these substances ; but spring-water also contains them ; 

 and, in consequence, both these sorts of water are hard. 

 In order to purify such water, we have only to boil it, 

 and convert it into vapour by heat. Pure water rises in 

 the form of steam ; the impurities of the water are not 

 volatile — they cannot be raised in vapour by heat : hence 

 they remain behind, whilst the water is converted into 

 vapour, and obtained quite free from impurity when the 

 vapour is cooled or condensed. 



When we thus distil water, we do that on a small scale 

 which is every day taking place on a large scale all over 

 the surface of the globe. The heat of the sun every day 

 raises a large quantity of water in vapour from the sur- 

 face of the land as well as of the sea ; and this vapour 

 returns to the fluid state when cooled, descending to the 

 I surface of the earth in the forms of rain and dew. Rain- 



water is as much distilled water as that prepared arti- 

 ficially in a still ; and therefore, as rain-water is free 

 from earthy and saline impurities, it is the softest of all 

 natural waters. 



A little consideration will convince us that though the 

 water which comes from the clouds is pure and soft, or 

 at most contains minute traces of such substances as it 

 may find in its descent through the air, yet that when it 

 reaches the surface of the earth and soaks into the soil, 

 it must soon dissolve a small quantity of such salts of 

 lime, &c, as the soil contains, and in consequence 

 become hard again. The water of springs is always 

 more or less hard, yet it has previously been soft, for 

 springs are caused by an accumulation of rain-water, 

 which has filtered or drained through the soil and strata 

 below it, in passing through which it dissolves a small 

 quantity of earthy matter, and in consequence becomes 

 hard. 



The substances which commonly exist in hard water 

 are sulphate and carbonate of lime, either separately or 

 together ; and in greater or less quantity they give to 

 most spring waters the character and property of hard- 

 ness. Sulphate of lime, or gypsum, is soluble in water, 

 but only to a small exteut, 500 parts of water dissolving 

 about one part of the sulphate, or in oth*r words, every 

 gallon of water being able to dissolve about 150 grains 

 of sulphate of lime. Perfectly pure water does not 

 dissolve carbonate of lime, but water which contains any 

 carbonic acid gas readily dissolves a small quantity of 

 carbonate of lime ; now rain-water always contains a 

 portion of this gas which it absorbs in passing through 

 the atmosphere, and the presence of which does not give 

 it any character of hardness, or at all interfere with its 

 economical uses ; hence rain-water is able to dissolve a 

 small quantity of carbonate of lime, and therefore in 

 passing through a soil containing either sulphate or 

 carbonate of lime it dissolves a little of these substances, 

 and becomes hard. 



The water with which plants are naturally supplied, is 

 the pure soft water which is condensed from the clouds ; 

 hard water containing much lime is not well suited for 

 the nourishment of plants, and indeed the presence of 

 any quantity of the salts of that earth in water, is found 

 to kill many of the more delicate plants. It is obviously 

 impossible to purify the water for gardens by artificial 

 distillation, and besides it is generally unnecessary, for, as 

 has j ust been stated, rain-water is distilled water, and it may 

 readily be collected and preserved in tanks for use, for 

 any reasonable time. Rain-water, which collects from a 

 clean slate roof, contains nothing but a small quantity of 

 carbonic acid, ammonia, and other matters derived from 

 the atmosphere, which is greater of course in towns 

 and the vicinity of places where much fuel is burnt, than 

 in the free and open country. It also generally contains 

 a small quantity of organic matter, derived from birds, 

 insects, and other similar sources. These impurities, 

 particularly if present in any quantity, cause a tendency 

 in the water to become foul, but do not at all interfere 

 with its uses for horticultural purposes. The water 

 which drains from tile-roofs generally contains a portion 

 of lime, derived from the mortar ; but even then the 

 quantity, except in particular cases, is but small. No 

 good garden should be without rain-water tanks, well 

 made, and properly covered, to prevent earth or rubbish 

 falling in; and rain-water alone should be used for syring- 

 ing, washing, or watering delicate plants. For common 

 purposes, and where the supply of rain-water is insuffi- 

 cient, river orspring-water'must be employed ; but such 

 water is always inferior for horticultural purposes to 

 rain-water, being more or less contaminated with sul- 

 phate of lime. 



Water which contains carbonate of lime, dissolved in 

 consequence of the presence of carbonic acid, may be 

 greatly improved by several means ; if it be boiled, the 

 carbonic acid gas is expelled; the carbonate of lime being 

 then no longer soluble, falls as a white powder, and the 

 water ^becomes soft. The same effect is gradually pro- 

 duced by mere exposure to air ; it is found that spring- 

 water of this kind, after some'days' exposure, becomes 

 milky, and throws down a quantity of carbonate of lime, 

 as the carbonic acid is given off from the water. Lastly, 

 such water may be purified by the addition of a little 

 quick-lime, which takes the carbonic acid at once, form- 

 ing carbonate of lime, which is insoluble, and therefore 

 separates, together with that carbonate of lime which 

 the water previously contained in solution, owing to the 

 presence of carbonic acid. 



Spring or river water, holding sulphate of lime in solu- 

 tion, may be purified by the addition of a little carbonated 

 alkali ; thus, when carbonate of potash or soda is added 

 to such water, these salts decompose each other, sulphate 

 of potash or soda is formed, together with carbonate of 

 lime, and the latter, being insoluble, separates as a white 

 powder. If only a small quantity of the alkaline carbon- 

 ate is employed, it considerably improves the water, for 

 the alkaline salts are less objectionable than the sulphate 

 of lime. There is one practical difficulty in the use of 

 this process, which is, that if the water contains any free 

 carbonic acid, the presence of that substance prevents 

 the precipitation of the carbonate of lime, by rendering 

 it soluble in water; this can only be obviated in the 

 manner before stated. Carbonate of ammonia would be 

 far preferable than carbonate of potash or soda, inasmuch 

 as the resulting salts of ammonia remaining in solution 

 would be not merely harmless, but even beneficial ; it is, 

 however, unfortunately the case, that carbonate of am- 

 monia does not precipitate lime so readily as the carbon- 

 ates of the common fixed alkalies; the carbonate of lime 

 formed remains in solution, in consequence of the pre- 

 sence of carbonic acid. Carbonate of ammonia contains, 



