830 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Dec. 14, 



and man, oo the oilier hand, has been endowed with 

 I roptusities, faculties, and feelings which orgs him on 

 to asce i these dormant caps ie*, and work them 

 out to s tit his own ends. And here, m ; iant, let me 

 remark, tbat horticultur nts one of the Most co*eut 



proofs of ■ creative Intelligence that natural theology 

 cm offer for consideration. Ofwbat use would these 

 hidden powers if plants have been if m i, or s-ome 

 such being, had not been present with them, to em- 

 body their Latent forms ? or of what use would 

 have been those q iatlOM in roan merely to ope- 



rate on pi. us which do !ly disa; >int*d all his 

 expectationi of change I But there is no such diicre- 

 pancy in oreati m : the constitutions of man and of 

 plants harmonise with an exaetit so nice, that no 

 species of reasoning can invalidate the in ence of their 

 mutual iptation ; and if this is so, it «p :s of a 

 creative l'ower wh. bfl fined and completed the 



beautiful arrangement. He that would sneer, therefore, 

 at the ci Ltd f plants, kno^a not his own mental or- 

 ganisation, nor Its harmony .a I the vegetable world ; 

 he am; as the Author of both in a scoff at bis neigh- 

 bour's foible. 



E I plant in Na are has its own soil and climate, 

 where the parent, in its o d apre, will be succeeded by its 

 seedling offspring, and continue thus to thrive as a spe- 

 cies without interruption for unlimited years. When we 

 bring a plant under cultivation, we endeavour to place it, 

 as far as possible, under the same circumstances, pro- 

 vided our object be merely its conservation. The nearer 

 we can bring th-se circumstances to those of Nature, the 

 better willoor plant thrive with us; but, in some cases, 

 this is impossible, as when we attempt to cultivate an 

 Alpine plant on grounds near the sea level. The Potato 

 may here bi ven as an instance ; it grows in its wild 

 state on the high lands of Peru, and, of course, under a 

 much lower atmospheric pressure than in any situation 

 in which we are iu the habit of cultivating it in Britain. 

 This may be one of the causes of the sickliness of that 

 succulent, now so much complained of; and I imagine 

 that this opinion may, to some extent, be borne out by 

 observation, for the plant is, in general, much less liable 

 to failure in the hilly districts than it is in the low 

 grounds, and on this account seed Potatoes are generally 

 procured, on account of their vigour, from the former 

 situations. One thing, however, from expe.ience in the 

 cultivation of this root, is clear, that for many years 

 after its introduction, there v. as no sickliness or death 

 in its ranks — every paring with an eye was sure to sprout 

 forth. The plant must, from the hrst, have been de- 

 clining in vigour, although that did not become obvious 

 until frequent mortality cave evidence of the fact : an- 

 other cause besides — a difference in atmospheric pressure 

 — tended to produce this evil ; wl 6 the plant was in full 

 vigour with us, we couiinued to propagate from the same 

 root, not considering that any individual plant must ne- 

 cessarily get old and feeble, and we had not recourse to the 

 only natural process of reprodi ion by seed, till that 

 feebleness of constitution could only give us a sickly 

 offspring, by which, of course, the evil lias not been re- 

 medied. We should agtin have recourse to the plant in 

 its native wills, import seeds or roots from Peru, renew 

 them occasionally by seedlings from healthy plants, and 

 there will be no danger of losing this valuable succeda- 

 neum for bread.* That which gave us a stock of flou- 

 rishing Potatoes for many years after their first intro- 

 duction, will, there is little doubt, do so again by a rep 

 tition of the sane means ; if the soil is at fault, chemi- 

 cal analysis can tell us where. 



As reproduction by seed is the only natural mode of 

 increase with plants, we cannot expect to possess them 

 for any length of time in luxuriance by other modes of 

 increase, however suitable our soil and climate may be 

 for their growth. Of whatever longevity an individual 

 plant may be possessed, old age will ai last creep on it 

 with nil its feebleness, and although we may protract the 

 period of its natural existence, by transferring a bud or 

 scion to a youthful stock, or give it fresh roots in the 

 toil, it is still a portion of the same individual, and will 

 at last die out : hence it is that many of our fine Pears 

 and Appl re giving way to tuis imperative law of dis- 

 solution, and sinking under their load of 3 cars. Here 

 Art fails to preserve for us that which she has reared, 

 aud we must go again to her for a fresh progeny. 



There are several modes by which plants may be v ed, 

 or, as I have termed it, by which their latent capabilities 

 may be educed. The mei e retarding the growth of Oata, 

 for instance, is said to be sufficient for is transmutation 

 into Rye ; and it may be that other annual Grasses and 

 plants may have changes effected in them by a similar 

 process : that subject, however, is yet new, and demands 

 extensive investigation. By excessive nourishment, and 

 repeated sowings of the see of plants t s fed, we 

 often effect changes of a remarkable nature : many of 

 our finer fruits and florists* flowers lave been thus'ob- 

 tained ; but the very means employed to effect these 

 changes stem often to impair the v iity of the produce, 

 so that it requires constant care, skill, and attention, to 

 preserv; the fragile beings in life and health which we 

 have thus given birth to. The fact is, that wh art 

 ficiai means seem necessary to effect a ch; : on \ 

 table forms, Nature is only assiduous in preservin; er 

 own, and denies that perpetuity to e results of "art, 

 whicl he *< to her 1 J 1 ig • 



so that were the Lorti tuii from Lis 



Nature would e in as rt her supremacy, and return to 

 that class of forms originally committed to her trust. In 

 I instances where the high-feeding system is had re- 

 course to, in order to effect a change of form or colour, 

 whether in fruits or flowers, this resulting debility more 

 or less takes place ; and although we desist from the 

 paten after obtaining the de-ired improvement in any 

 plant, still our purpose is not gained ; it either dwindles 

 back and makes approaches to its original type, or con- 

 tinues as liable to disease as heretofore. This evil is often 

 committed where there is no necessity for its occurrence ; 

 in the usual routine of nursery business plants are over- 

 stimulated in ord<rr to procure an adequate supply of sale- 

 able specimens of any new variety, and their future 

 vitality and strength of constitution are thus impaired, 

 so that they often give way under agencies which would 

 not affect them seriously if more considerately treated. 

 How many fine Dahlias, Pansies, and other plants are 

 thus lost, after they, with great trouble, have been pro- 

 cured ! From the 'same excessive competition amongst 

 salesmen, many of our hardy forest-trees are murdered 

 in their infancy. Larches, for example, are reared in 

 nurseries, in a hot d, comparatively speaking, to their 

 final destination ; they are sown thickly in a good soil, 

 suffered to draw each other up to so many saleable 

 inches of growth, reared from any sort of seed that may 

 be conveniently or cheaply come by, without regard -to a 

 healthy parentage, and sent out for planting on sterile 

 wastes and bleak slopes of hills, where they are expected 

 to grow and become valuable timber without further 

 trouble. The fact, however, speaks for itself at last, in 

 rotten hearts and unsaleable timber; the soft, spongy 

 heads derived from quick rearing in the nursery, and 

 often perpetuated by close planting and untimely thin- 

 ning out in the young plantations, decay ere many years, 

 and pumped timber, as it is termed, is the natural result. 

 By far the most important and extensively applicable 

 mode by which we can vary plants is hybridisation ; and 

 here Nature and Art are often compatible in perpetuating 

 fertile varieties which have been in t is manner once 

 obtained. It is not at all necessary to enter into the 

 modus operawli of this process — every cultivator of plants 

 knows enough of it, and deems it one of the most de- 

 lightful and interesting of his occupations in the garden. 

 Congeners have been brought from various and far 

 distant climes, and mated with each other in the hot- 

 house and garden, so that their progeny are now, like the 

 Israelites of old, like the very "sand on the sea-shore in 

 number. Considering how readily crosses are often 

 effected, it is wonderful how comparatively seldom they 

 appear in nature. There are causes in operation which 

 tend to prevent this. In the first place, plants are more 

 readily fertilised by their own pollen than by that of 

 another ; and in the vegetable world there is no super- 

 fectation. In the second place, insects haie geuerally 

 their own particular species of plants, whose flowers they 

 frequent to the exclusion of others. These wild crosses 

 are occasionally, however, evident, as in the Cacti and 

 Aloes, and hence the botanical difficulty of properly defin- 

 ing a species. In crossing, if one desires a healthy sound- 

 cocstitutioned offspring, the purest plants should be kept 

 as nearly as possible in their natural condition, neither 

 over stimulated, nor under-fed, unless it is intended to 

 combine high-feeding and hybridising, which is fre- 

 quently done, but at the risk of a shorter lived progeny. 

 — Vidimus. 



* The native Per an Potato ylel much less increase by 

 root tha. rs, aj e stem and sec may, in consequence, 



posses vitality and vigour. I ha\ e grown a Peruvian 



Potato for three si years, without a single tuber of 



increase. The original tuber has merely tripled its size. 



ON THE PRESERVATION OF SNOW AS A 



SUBSTITUTE FOR ICE. 



We have no ice-house here: much building has been 

 going forward, and the ice-house was therefore unavoid- 

 ably delayed till other more important structures should 

 be completed. The following statements with reference 

 to snow as a substitute for ice, will I think show that an 

 ice-house is not essential, nor indeed necessary. Such' 

 houses are costly in the first instance, and nothing is 

 more common than disappointments in the preservation 

 of ice. 



There is but little water here, and this chiefly running 

 water, which does not very readily freeze. It would 

 have been impossible for us to have filled an ice-house 

 this season or last. The frosts in both years have seldom 

 been of long enough duration, even where water is favour- 

 able and in sufficient quantity. Last year I was in Lopes of 

 getting some ice, aa I had done the former year (about 

 48 cart-loads ; this was preserved till about the beginning 

 of October in a heap on the surface of the ground 

 Towards the end of January then, last year, we had a 

 heavy fall of snow, and having hitherto had no chance 

 of getting ice, my employer suggested a trial to be made 

 with snow. Accordingly I looked out a place (to be 

 afterwards described), and carted 170 loads in a heap, 

 partly under, and partly above ground, and thatched 

 it over with straw, &c. This stood all the demands 

 upon it, which were considerable, up to February in the 

 present year, when we had another deep snow. The 

 heap was uncovered to be renewed, and it was found 

 there were about 30 cart-loads remaining. ■ To this 1GG 

 loads were added. It is deposited in a sort of hole, in a 

 grove of oaks, which, however, do not by any means fully 



iade it from the sun. The hole is "of a oval form, 

 about 15 yards long, by about 11 yards wide at the top, 

 and falls in every way gradually to the centre, w h is 

 about 3 feet deep below the level of the surrounding 



round. The bottom is a thickly stratified roek, the 

 fissures of which is all probability permit the escape of 

 the dissolving snow. In order to make quite sure of this , 

 a drain was cut after the snow was lodged last year. 

 This was easily done, as one side is close to a rapid 

 j declivity, This is the state in which I found the hok 



no faggots, straw, or anything of the kind was laid in the 

 ottom. It is difficult to think what such au excavation 

 could have been made for. I conceive the snow to be 

 in the best possible state for collecting ai.d carting 

 when thawing, and quite soft. In this state I com- 

 menced with ic lost year, and this, in the following 

 manner : — All hands proceed to roll snow-balls, and the 

 ground in the direction of the hole being a ntle decli- 

 vity on smooth Grass in the park, a man can continue 

 to roll a ball till it is above two cart-loads. I have 

 found it prudent to roll a great deal more up at 

 once than I supposed I should haul, thereby making 

 ample allowance for a rapid thaw. In the balls it of 

 course keeps much longer. It is compressed by its 

 own weight in rolling. In the soft state described, it is 

 also much easier filled into the carts; and, what is of 

 more consequence, it is in the best state possible for 

 treading in the heap, which it is impossible to overdo. 

 Eight or ten men are stationed at the heap, treading 

 and beating it as brought in. As soon as a sufficient 

 quantify is deposited in the bottom of the hole to render 

 it safe, the horses and carts are driven in at one side o?er 

 the snow. This is continued to almost the close of the 

 carting. It is so hard, that the horses' feet and cart- 

 wheels make scarcely any impression upon it. They are 

 thus of the most essential service in giving it solidity. It 

 is carried up at first without regard to form, in order to 

 prolong the prac lability of driving the horses over it • 

 but eventually it is marked out in a circular form, not 

 unlike the top of a corn-rick, and the sides without such 

 circle thrown on the top, which is about 14 feet above 

 the level of the ground ; thus making it 22 feet t! k in 

 the centre. It is then covered all over with short Wheat- 

 straw, such as is not fit fur thatch, then another cover- 

 ing over this with Fern, found in the Park ; finally, a 

 third covering of thatch. These different coverings and 

 thatch are about a yard thick. Tiie hauling this year oc- 

 cupied 6 horses with four carts, and about 17 men, two 

 days ; throwing up into form, hauling, and putting on co- 

 vering, &c, about another half day. Tli is, I feel per- 

 suaded, does not exceed the time and cost of filling an 

 ordinary ice-house. I think, too, that the thatch might 

 be dispensed with, which would abridge the hbour, and 

 save the most valuable part of the material used. Fern 

 is found near the spot, and this, or short straw alone, of 

 sufficient thickness, I* have little or no doubt would 

 answer the purpose. If I am right in this supposition, 

 there is no question with me that the annual expense of 

 collecting and storing ice is, in most cases, much greater 

 than that now described. It will be obvious, tbat iu 

 taking out supplies the heap has by far the advantage ; 

 a cart-load may be got in ten minutes. Houses very ge- 

 nerally have double and treble doors, and the intervening 

 pass s are fitted with straw, all which has to be more or 

 less displaced at every time ice is wanted ; and when 

 within the house, its mosphereis unwholsome, and even 

 dangerous, as a correspondent of the Gardeners 1 

 Chronicle in 1841, p. 797, truly states. 



Local circumstances will of course, in some cases, 

 affect the comparative advantages that I have stated snow 

 to possess ; as, for instance, where there is a large sur- 

 face of still water, aud the ice-house near to such water, 

 and ice can always be obtained from it, all is well ; but 

 were I to have the water, I should be very content with- 

 out the house. I should then lay in a supply of either 

 ice or snow, just which might come first. Ice, however, 

 has to be pounded small ; there is not this labour with 

 snow, and the rolling of the latter takes less time cer- 

 tainly than getting ice off the water, and pounding 

 it; and I think it cot mere generally and certainly be 

 obtained. Those situated like myself can be in no he- 

 sitation. 1 trust I need not insist that snow answers 

 every purpose quite as well as ice ; when taken out of the 

 heap, it cannot be distinguished from pounded ice. 

 /. IF., Sal . 



ACORNS AND THEIR USE. . t 

 A paragraph has appeared in the Papers, gmng an 

 ac -ouut of a great demand for Acorns in Sussex, ana 

 great curiosity is expressed at the use that is to be maae 

 of them. Without diving into this mystery, the resae*s 

 of the Chronicle will perhaps be satisfied with r *nng 

 that, except when Acorns are very plentiful, wbicu 11 v 

 pened to be the case this year, the use that is to oew ^ 

 of them cannot be' of any importance to the grower 

 Oak ; plentiful Acorn years are not very common, 

 severity of our springs often destroying the very e y 

 blossoms of the Oak. In general, however, « ier ° * 

 Acorns enough to carry on the great purpos °' * u 

 viclence, the continuance of the sp; cies ot tree w ^ 

 produces the Acorn, and the supply off ^ nQt 



nimals that feed upon them— some us 

 po y so— thou it would be rash to say w * 



animal in the creation is not useful : among rac ^ 

 may bo reckoned sheep*, pigs, and deer ; bqu v &g 



mice can hardly be defended on the score °* U J! '* t 

 far as we know of their, modes of life, though tney 



Acorns also. , ., ro duce5 



In all seasons, however, the Oak in general 

 Acorns sum .it to carry on cue of the great ^ 



of their creation, as before mentioned— the ym 

 of 1 ies of tree ; and it is of this part of tue 



I am going now to treat. . tg j n 



N V ' v » has attempted to raise C F 1 ed 

 plan ions near a rabbit cover, can fail *• ^ 



how 1 n the plants are attacked by them; ana n» ■ 

 very ready to assist. The observer of any young p d 

 tion may also have seen how much sooner a new y ^ 

 tree is attacked than a young tree, grown up 1 .. 



naturally sown, or from a shoot Uom a cul-ove* 



