1844.] 



THE GARDEJJERS' .CHRONICLE. 





LANDSCAPE GARDENING AND GARDEN ARCHITECTURE. 



MR. GLENDINNING, since his residence near the 

 Metropolis, has had the honour to be consulted by a 

 number of Noblemen and Gentlemen in the improvement of 

 their Parks and Gardens, and in the construction and heating 

 of Horticultural Buildings in the most economical as well as 

 effectual manner. He has now made such arrangements as 

 will enable him to devote his particular attention to these im- 

 portant subjects; and Noblemen and Gentlemen desirous of 

 consulting him, are respectfully requested to address him at 

 Chiswiek Nursery, near London. 



I 



actual temperature of the soil in the Garden of the 

 Horticultural Society: — 



A Return of the Temperature of the Air and Earth in the Garden 



of the Ho rticultural Society. 



Air. 



829 



1844. 



TO THE SEED TRADE. 



JG. WAITE, Wholesale Seedsman, begs to inform the 

 • Trade, that his PRICED CATALOGUE is now ready, and 

 can be had on application. 



1 and 4, Eyre-street-hill, Hatton Garden, December 14. 



Dec. 



19 

 19 

 11 



99 



9f 

 99 



4 

 5 



6 



7 

 8 



9 

 10 

 1! 



Min. 

 22 



14 



14 

 20 

 26 

 •J 3 

 28 

 22 



Max. Mean. 



Earth. 



40 

 35 

 30 

 31 

 32 

 32 

 32 

 30 



31 



24J 



22 



27 



29 



30 

 30' 



26 



One foot dec Two feet deep. 



40 



38 



27 

 37 



36 



36 



:;■> 



36 



SATURDAY, DECEMBER U, 1841. 



MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 

 Saturday, Dec. 14 Hoy al Botanic . . 4 * 



Tuksday, Dec. 17 Linnean . . 1 I *' 



Wkdnbsday Dec. 18 Society of Arts * * 8rtt. 



43 

 43 



42 

 41 



41 

 40 

 40 



30 



When, at p. 795, we adverted to the difficulty of 

 obtaining information as to the temperature of 

 soil, we had overlooked the very able paper on this 

 subject by Mr. Parkes, Consulting Engineer to the 

 Koyal Agricultural Society. If the reader will turn 

 to the volume of that Society's Transactions for 

 1844, he will see that we are not alone in our regret 

 at finding so little precise evidence upon one of °the 

 most interesting and important points to which the 

 cultivator, whether philosophical or merely practical, 

 can turn his attention. 



im T ^ hi S hl y interesting experiments recorded by 

 Mr. Parkes in the paper alluded to, do not touch 

 upon the depth to which frost penetrates the. soil, 

 for his observations were made in the summer, and 

 had reference to other questions ; but every farmer 

 and gardener in this country ought to learn them by 

 heart. We have, however, been favoured by this 

 gentleman with some unpublished observations bear- 

 ing directly upon the frost and Potato question, and 

 with his permission we are able to make them 

 public : — 



"It may not be uninteresting," writes Mr. Parkes, 

 * to know that I preserved Potatoes in the ground, per- 

 fectly, through the excessively hard winter of 1829-30, 

 in France. In that season the Seine carried down 

 ice on the 9th Nov., but it melted again; the ice 

 began to pack up against the various bridges between 

 Paris and Rouen about the 1 st Dec, and the river 

 was finally sealed over at Paris on the 9th of Dec. 

 Winter dia^not break up until the 9th of March, the 

 ice then being from 18 to 20 inches in thickness oppo- 

 site my house at Puteaux, near Neuilly, four miles 

 from Paris. A long pit, 4 feet deep, was dug in 

 a dry sandy part of the garden, and filled with Po- 

 tatoes to within 2 feet of the surface, being covered 

 with the same soil quite flat ; no straw was used. The 

 bury was opened in the early part of March, and 

 the whole of the Potatoes were discovered to be 

 quite sound ; the frost had not even penetrated to 

 the upper layer, and very little sprouting had taken 

 place. During three weeks of this period, I never 

 observed the thermometer hanging in the garden to 

 rise higher than 16J° below zero, even during the 

 daytime, with a cloudless sky and brilliant sun. No 

 rain, and but little snow fell during this severe winter, 

 and that little rapidly wasted by evaporation. The hy- 

 grometrically dry condition of the atmosphere was 

 evidenced by the rapid drying of linen hung out of 

 doors quite wet ; in a minute or two, the clothes 

 were frozen solid, and quickly afterwards thev were 

 limber and dry. A large Plane-tree was split open 

 in the same garden during this frost. I discovered, 

 on examining it, that a decayed part of the heart 

 had admitted water, which became a core of ice, about 

 a yard in length, and this burst the tree by its expan- 

 sion with a loud explosive report— a well-known phe- 

 nomenon in cold climates, but which I had not be- 

 fore experienced. I also preserved Carrots for the 

 horses, and salads throughout this winter, by lining 

 or walling the inside of a pit, first with stable- 

 dung (a common plan in France), then clean straw 

 against it, and intermixing tolerably dry sand with 

 the vegetables throughout the mass. The Carrots 

 were perfect, and the outer leaves of the Lettuces, 

 Celery, &c. only were affected. No disagreeable fla- 

 vour was imparted by the dung. 



" It may be added, that the severity of this winter 

 was considered by the Parisians to be equal to the 

 Moscow winter, 1812. Fires were lighted in the 

 streets for the poor houseless wretches, and many 

 were frozen to death." 



These facts testify to the very extreme and long- 

 continued frost that i:s necessary to bring down the 

 temperature of dry soil to the freezing point at 

 2 feet deep. In fact, Mr. Parkes's garden was not 

 frozen to that depth during the whole of that 

 "gorous season. 



It may be interesting to add, that since the frost of 

 l ne present year set in, the following has beca 



From this it appears that in five days after the 

 frosty set in this year, the thermometer had fallen 

 within 4° of freezing, at one foot below the surface 

 of the soil; that the cooling down was a slower pro- 

 cess than might have been supposed, and not coin- 

 cident with the air-cold ; for it was 3 davs after the 

 greatest amount of air-cold was felt before the lowest 

 temperature at a foot below the surface was attained. 



Should the coming winter prove a severe one, we 

 trust that some of our friends will make similar 

 observations on this point, or at least ascertain to 

 what depth their soil is frozen. For ourselves, we 

 shall certainly recur to the subject at no very distant 

 period. 



Next week we shall resume the experiments on 

 Potato-growing. 



When we see a plant which will endure the 

 highest temperature given to stove plants, without 

 being incommoded, and that for many season's in 

 succession, we naturally conclude that it is not of 

 the class from which subjects fit for conserva- 

 tory culture might be expected. Taking this pre- 

 sumptive evidence, and reasoning, in the absence of 

 direct experiments, we probably exclude many fine 

 plants that would otherwise excite great interest, 

 and give a more exotic cast to our conservatories. 



A proof of this may be adduced in the case of 

 Calliandra Houstoni, a plant lately noticed in our Ca- 

 lendar of Operations under the name of Acacia 

 kermesina, for its graceful habit, and fine foliage, 

 and for its flowering in winter. It has been in 

 our stoves for upwards of 50 years, under different 

 names, but was never suspected of being anything 

 else than a stove plant. More recently, however, 

 some one gave it the popular name last quoted, 

 when a place was assigned for it in the conservatory, 

 where, we are told, it has proved to be sufficiently 

 hardy to stand all the year round. In fact in the Ca- 

 mellia house of Messrs. Pince and Co., of Exeter, it 

 was removed because it threatened to smother the 

 Camellias. Since we are certain that not more than 

 one plant passes under this name, the fact of its being 

 so hardy becomes more generally interesting, for 

 there can scarcely be a more graceful or more 

 suitable plant for covering the bottom of a 

 pilaster in the conservatory— a situation often in 

 want of some such ornament when strong-crowing 

 climbers have become naked at the bottom, as they 

 often do after a few years. 



In some instances the more hardy stove climbers 

 are now planted out into the conservatory after 

 they have been grown in vineries or other forcing- 

 houses, or in stoves, till they are long enough to reach 

 the top of the house at once, which is kept suffi- 

 cienily close to afford them the necessary tempe- 

 rature. Many of this class must necessarily be left 

 naked at bottom, where the air of the house is too cold 

 for their young shoots, and thus, a space is left for 

 choice woody plants that are not climbers, among 

 which the subject of these remarks may take a 

 leading place. 



At present, when climbers get naked at the bot- 

 tom, the practice is either to cover the parts with 

 long shoots from the top of the house, or to plant 

 slender-growing climbers round them ; but a better 

 way would be to select fine plants, not exceeding 

 ten or twelve feet in a rich border, or that might 

 be easily kept to the required height by pruning; 

 such plants being remarkable for some peculiar 

 feature, such as a graceful mode of growth, fine 

 foliage, conspicuous or sweet-scented flowers, &c. 

 A situation of this kind would suit Luculia gratis- 

 sima, particularly if it happened to be near the 

 doors or source of ventilation. This beautiful shrub, 

 so lovely at this dull season, although a strong- 

 growing plant, is a delicate feeder, and a strong 

 climber planted behind it may be said to assist 

 its growth rather than impede it, by appro- 

 priating to itself the more gross parts of the soil in 

 the border. If the climber, however, is of the very 

 fibrous rooted kind, like the Ash, few plants can 

 compete with it for nourishment; whereas, such 

 climbers as I pom oca Horsfallia?, Combretum purpu- 

 reum, Heaumontia grandiflora, and most of the Pas- 

 sion-flowers, Hardenbergias, Zichyas, &c , form their 



roots differently, and are suitable for this kind of 

 furnishing when they become naked below. 



Plan's for such a purpose ought to be well esta 



Wished, and of considerable size, before they are 

 finally planted out, and all plants, whether climbers 

 or otherwise, that have been first reared in the stove 

 or in heat, ought to be thus treated, otherwise it is 

 found in practice that many of them make little pro- 

 gress for the first season or two. Another cause which 

 operates against the free progress of some climbers is, 

 that for the sake of convenience thev arc increased 

 from cuttings cf the flowering shoots, which are 

 more or less stunted, and the young plants for a time 

 retain that character, until forced by good feeding 

 or strong heat to assume their native" freedom ; and 

 even after that is effected, if they are afterwards 

 much confined in small pots, they become again 

 stunted ; then the best remedy is to cut them down 

 to the surface of the ground, and force them in a 

 hotbed to make a fresh growth. Beaumont ia grandi- 

 flora, and some of the stove Bignonias, are the first 

 to suffer from either cause ; yet when they arc >ung 

 and vigorous they grow from ten to twenty feet in 

 length in one season, and some Bignonias even much 

 more. The former should be about two or three vears 



old, and from 15 to 20 feet in length, before it is 



planted in the conservatory, where it flowers freely 

 for two or three months, in terminal heads of large 

 white trumpet-shaped fragrant flowers.— J), li. 



NATURE AND ART. 

 I s r Nature all plants seesn to enjoy a soundness of 

 constitution which bids defiance to disease— no failure 

 of crops or falling off of blcom prematurely; age after 

 a^e views these inhabitants of mountain and plain luxu- 

 riating in wonted vigour, and rarely dying out before a 

 progeny to continue the species has been insured. They 

 may be browsed on by wild beasts, and have their seeds 

 gathered by birds for food; yit they are still found 

 flourishing in their natural habitats, peering forth in 

 humble beauty from the sod, or flaunting with gorgeous 

 festoons in the fitful zephyr. Such are plants, and so 

 would they continue, if left to Nature ; but man desires 

 their service and company ; their flowers please his eye, 

 and their produce gratifies his palate ; and as he cannot 

 at all times afford to travel M from Indus to the Pole," 

 to admire and collect them, he has attempted to dorti- 

 cile.his favourites with himself, and with wondrous suc- 

 cess. Plants have thus been nursed, fed, petted and 

 fondled, until they have fairly outgrown and excelled the 

 humility of their origin ; nor, indeed, would the parent 

 of some of these prodigies be known in its offspring if 

 placed beside it, so little family likeness is there between 

 them. Like spoiled children in general, however, he e 

 pets are capricious and delicate, and if returned to her 

 pristine condition, would seldom ou'live the change; 

 they have been so habituated to artificial training and 

 luxurious habirs, that, thrown on their own resources, 

 they would either pine away or again relapse into savage 

 nature, and become as plain and commonplace as they 

 originally were. Even with all the care and kindness 

 thit their guardians can employ, these nurslings frequently 

 get sickly and diseased, falling into consumption, cancer, 

 gangrene, and various incurable maladies, disappointing 

 the hopes of their unfortunate possessors, decimating 

 their ranks, or sweeping them almost entirely away. 



Without, however, proceeding farther metaphorically, 

 let us inquire how far Nature and Art seem compatible 

 in the growth of plants, and to what extent we can effect 

 improvements in them fcr our own purpose, without 

 impairing that constitutional vigour which in their wild 

 state they appear to possess. 



The first idea which strikes one on inquiry into this 

 subject, is the latent capabilities of plants in relation to 

 our own wants ; and as this principle lies at the founda- 

 tion of all horticultural improvement, I may, perhaps, 

 be permitted to enlarge a little on the topic. ' A leading 

 and prominent feature in the mind of man is curiosity, 

 or, as phrenologists term it, wonder. This gives him a 

 desire after, and keen relish for variety, novelty, and 

 change ; it is the first faculty which becomes apparent 

 in the restless gaze of the infant, and in the rambles of 

 the child. One new object after another engages its at- 

 tention incessantly, and handfuls of wild-flowers are suc- 

 cessively deserted for the possession of a new assortment. 

 Nature in her extensive domains offers a vast field for 

 the indulgence of this appetite ; the mountain and val- 

 ley, the forest and glade, the sea-shore and inland se- 

 clusion, have all been ransacked to furnish objects for 

 its gratification ; for the adult acknowledges its sway 

 equally with the tiny collector of roadside beauties. 

 Nature, however, has limits, while the passion for no- 

 velty knows no bounds ; and thus, at first sight, there 

 seems an incongruity or want of harmony between them ; 

 but in reality this is not the case. Plants possess latent 

 capabilities, as I have stated, and man has powers, by 

 the exercise of which these are ascertained and brought 

 out. What are all our florist flowers in Nature, or our 

 fruits without cultivation, compared to the progeny 

 which has been elicited from them ! The Tulip might 

 command a passing gaze from the traveller, or the sour 

 Crab-apple a single trial of its unpalatable austerity, but 

 with their occult properties, partially unfolded, the one 

 offers a display, varied and gorgeous in the extreme, to 

 the eye of the beholder ; and the other affords a profu- 

 sion of the most delicious fruit which Pomona can pre- 

 sent at her banquet. Thus it is that the vegetable world 

 and man are linked together in the most explicit and 

 intimate union. Plants possess powers of variation and 

 improvement, which in Nature would exist, and continue 

 in abeyance, bat for man to call forth and embody them ; 



