I 



1853.1 



i 



I fi £~ UAK0 j'/lVJi 11 o iTxYJV I tf iv r. _i 



QUTTON'S SHORT SEED LIST.— 

 J^ On KBB last Page of the present Number of this 

 Paper vrill be seen a concise List of the leading binds of 

 Seeds, which it is hoped will be found convenient to 

 Gentlemen writing out their Seed orders. 

 Early commands will have the preference of scarce sorts. 



S rTTO K & Sons:. Seed Growe rs Reading. 



SUTTON'S COMPLETE COLLECTIONS, 

 CARRIAGE FREK. 



Particflak9 of the Sorts and Quantities contained in Sut- 

 ton's Collections of Seeds will be sent post free on receipt of a 

 stamped envelope with address. 



By the perusal of this List, it will be seen that the very 

 lest kinds of Vegetable Seeds may be obtained in full 

 quantities, and p per proportions for one year's supply 

 of a large garden for the sum of U.,and other complete 

 Collections of equally choice sorts for smaller Gardens at 



21. , 1 /. 5s., and 1 5s. The economy of cost is by no means the 

 onlv advantage gained by ordering one of these Collections. 

 Addre Jonx Sutton & Sons, Seed Growers, Reading. 



ENDLb'S COMPLETE COLLECTIONS OF 

 KITCHEN GARDEN SEEDS are now ready. 

 Tliey can be had to suit various sized Gardens at the 

 following prices : — 



No. 1 COLLECTION £3 



2 19 ••• ••• ••• ••• & VJ \) 



o «• •«• ••• ••• ••• X o u 



4 «• ••• ••• ••• *•• ^ ^** ^- 



The quantities are fully detailed in their " Price Current and 

 Garden Directory," a new edition of which is just published. 

 Willia3I E. Rendle & Co., Seed Growers, Plymouth. 



Established 68 Years. 



ClHAKLWOOD and CUMMINS have to offer Seeds 

 S of the LIL1UM GIGANTEUM in packets of 100 Seeds, at 

 205., free by post. Also Acorns of the following varieties of 

 American Oaks : — 

 Quercus alba 



" 3£2& > per quart *• 6*. 



If 



n 



. • • 



• •• 



it 



nigra 

 One-vear's Seedlins Plants of each 



• • • 



ft! 



per 100 ... 3s. 0d. 



Abies pinsapo per 100 seeds Ss. Qd. 



They will also have in time for this Season's sowing Seed of 

 the Osage Orange, at 45. per lb., for which early orders are soli- 

 cited. Their C ilogue of Agricultural, Garden, and Flower 

 Seeds are ready, and will be sent free on application. 



14, Tavistock Row, Covent Garden. 



COLE'b CRYSTAL WHITE, & COLE'S DWARF 



RED CELERY. 



JTHORNELEY,COLE,&.Co., Nurserymen, Seeds- 

 • men. and Florists, Withington. near Manchester, beg to 

 innounce that they are now prepared to supply these two well- 

 known varieties, raised by Mr. W. Cole (late of Dartford). 

 CRYSTAL WHITE, 1 oz. packets, free by post, for 12 stamps. 

 SUPERB DWARF RED, £ oz.pkts., free by post for 9 stamps. 



Price per lb. to the Trade on application. 



ration. The Council will also be glad to encourage 

 the production of examples illustrating the opera- 

 tions of Arboriculture, whenever they are calculated 

 to throw light upon either the theory or practice of 

 that important branch of rural economy, or upon the 

 quality of British-grown timber. To this are added, 

 Raw Materials from the Vegetable Kingdom useful 

 in Arts, Manufactures, or as Food (Agricultural 

 produce excepted), whether of home or colonial 

 growth. Even Honey in the Comb is not excluded, 

 as it has hitherto been. 



It must be owned that this is a very extensive 

 scheme, but we think not more so than may be 

 expected from a corporation chartered u for the 

 improvement of Horticulture in all its branches, 

 ornamental, as well as useful." These words, which 

 are taken from the charter of incorporation, plainly 

 show that in the minds of the advisers of the Crown, 

 when the charter was granted, purposes of utility 

 were to be placed before those of ornament ; by 

 now including them on equal ground, the Society 

 is working out the main objects for w T hich it was 

 instituted. Its career opened with an almost 

 exclusive attention to subjects of utility ; at a sub- 

 sequent period ornamental gardening received the 

 greatest encouragement ; of late years both have 

 been combined, but we have never before seen 

 objects of utility placed by the Society in so 

 minent a position. Arboriculture and the 

 Materials of Manufactures ! how extensive a 



2Tht (Satfr ewrg' C ftrmitcfo 



SATURDAY, JANUARYS, 1855. 



♦ 



For some time past it has been known that the 

 Council of the Horticultural Society had it in 

 their contemplation to introduce very considerable 

 changes into the meetings both in Regent Street 

 and at Chiswick. We have not, however, felt at 

 liberty to introduce the subject until the plans had 

 been finally settled. The Society having at length 

 announced its intentions, we are now able to say 

 with ceitainty what they are. 



It appears that the number of meetings in Regent 

 Street is to be six only : the months of November, 

 February, March, April, May, and June being 

 selected, and that upon each occasion the subjects 

 of exhibition are to be collected upon a scale ap- 

 proaching that of the Garden Meetings, as far as the 

 space to be found in a London house may permit. 

 In connection with this plan, it is proposed that 

 the objects of exhibition shall be open to inspec- 

 tion for four clear hours in the months of February, 

 March, and November, and for five clear hours on 

 other occasions. A schedule of objects, the pro- 

 duction of which the Council are ready to reward, 

 is provided for each day of meeting, so as to enable 

 gardeners entering into competition to be prepared 

 beforehand, and also to render each meeting a horti- 

 cultural illustration of the advancing season. In 

 making the arrangements for these as well as for 

 the Garden Meetings, the Council have received 

 the active assistance of Mr. Ingram, of the Royal 

 Gardens, Frogmore, of Mr. Fleming, of Trentham, 

 of Mr. Spencer, of Bowood, and of Mr. Davidson, 

 of Shrubland Park, under whose advice the classes 

 have been settled and the amount of prizes deter- 

 mined. The co-operation of gentlemen of such 

 acknowledged horticultural eminence cannot fail to 

 be regarded as a guarantee that the best interests 

 of the Society and the public have been consulted. 



But so far as the meetings in Regent Street are 

 concerned the objects of exhibition are by no means 

 limited to those enumerated in the schedules. On 

 the contrary, we are informed that the Council invite 

 the exhibition of every valuable article connected 

 with gardens, which may be either remarkable for 

 novelty or intrinsic excellence, and that the merits 

 of such objects will be recognised as far as the funds 

 of the Society will allow. Among the unenume- 

 rated articles which are more particularly pointed 

 out are Ornamental Plants, and Useful Fruits or 

 Esculents of all kinds, Models of Improvements in 

 Horticultural Buildings, Improved Garden Imple- 



pro- 

 Raw 



field 



of inquiry do these two subjects occupy, and of 

 what great importance to mankind. 



The greatest uncertainty exists as to the real 

 value of even our own wild Oaks, to say nothing of 

 the effect produced upon the commercial value of 

 timber by different modes of cultivation ; little 

 or nothing is known of the real quality of the 

 timber produced by the numerous coniferous and 

 other trees introduced to cultivation during the pre- 

 sent century ; and even as regards some of the 

 timber trees wild in Europe, there is scarcely any 

 satisfactory evidence concerning the influence pro- 

 duced upon the quality of many of them by climate, 

 soil, or situation. 



So with regard to textile materials, or substances 

 of a similar nature. The consumption of such arti- 

 cles has become so enormous that the gravest social 



questions are connected with an abundant or deficient 

 supply of materials, to which, a few years since, 

 small importance was attached. The supplies, for 

 instance, of Hemp have become so insufficient for 

 the wants of manufacturers, even in periods of poli- 

 tical tranquillity, that recourse is already had to the 

 importation of many other substances, and there is no 

 doubt that the existing demand will hereafter b£ 

 greatly increased. It is, therefore, a question of 

 the highest public importance, whether more skilful 

 cultivation may not be applied to the crops of 

 textile plants already cultivated among ourselves, 

 so as to augment produce without deteriorat- 

 ing, if not improving quality ; whether new kinds 

 of plants are not at least as suitable to our climate 



those 



most 



tural Society will meet with support, and that they 

 will eventually enable us to know with certainty 

 what our home or colonial capabilities really are, 

 either in the state of unaided nature or under the 

 direction of intelligent cultivators. The public ex- 

 hibition of results, and a recognition of merit by the 

 distribution of medals and rewards, appear to offer 

 the most ready means of effecting this very desir- 

 able object. 



If from the consideration of the plan for ex- 

 tending the importance of the meetings in Regent 

 Street, we turn to those great assemblages now called 

 Garden Meetings, we find that material changes are 

 there also made, although upon different grounds* 

 In the first place they are to be held on Wednesdays 

 instead of Saturdays. We are, moreover, informed 

 that " the coldness of our spring weather, and the 

 backward state of vegetation, have of late years 

 rendered the Society's Garden so little attractive is 

 the early part of May, that the Council have been 

 anxious to find some place near London in which 

 the first meeting can be held instead of Chiswick ; 

 and they announce officially that Her Majesty's 

 Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 have 

 most obligingly placed the grounds of Gore House at 

 the disposal of the Society, in consequence of which 

 the great meeting on Wednesday, May 16, will be 

 held in that garden instead of Chiswick.' 1 This will, 

 we imagine, be found a very satisfactory arrangement. 

 The grounds belonging to the Royal Commissioners at 

 Kensington Gore are very conveniently situated, 

 and well adapted to the proposed purpose ; and it 

 must be owned that to drive five miles from Hyde 

 Park Corner to see an exhibition in a garden when 

 the trees are not in leaf, and all that renders such a 

 place moSf attractive is necessarily absent, does 

 seriously task the zeal of the admirers of Garden 

 Meetings and Chiswick flower shows. In June and 

 July the exhibitions will be held in the Garden of 

 the Society as heretofore. • 



We observe with pleasure that the Council have 

 contradicted as follows an unfounded report, to 

 which we adverted some months since : — " It has 

 been confidently asserted within the last twio years 

 that the Society is about to abandon its Garden. 

 Such a statement is wholly without foundation. The 

 Garden is held of His Grace the Duke of Devonshire 



as tnose already grown among us ; and, 

 especially, what of the innumerable species inhabit- 

 ing our foreign possessions, of which at present 

 little is known to science and nothing to commerce, 

 can be the most profitably introduced to notice, 

 whether by cultivation in the climates that are 

 natural to them, or by mere collection in the wild 



state. 



Cotton offers a still more striking instance of the 

 pressing necessity of this investigation, and of 

 further attempts f being seriously made, not only to 

 improve its quality in those British colonies which 

 already produce it, but to introduce it to others 

 which have not been hitherto thought suitable to 

 such a crop. Of course we do not overlook the 

 extensive experiments that have been made by the 

 East India Company— experiments worthy of so 

 great a body ; but it is greatly to be wished that 

 such attempts should not only be continued in 

 India, but imitated wherever circumstances are 

 favourable to the operation. 



Another class of plants consists of those which 

 can be employed in the manufacture of paper. Raw 

 material for this purpose is already becoming so 

 scarce that even straw is largely employed in the 

 absence of a more suitable substance. Neverthe- 

 less, we are perhaps surrounded by plants whose 

 fibre may be advantageously converted, although we 

 are at present ignorant of their possessing the pro- 

 perties required by the paper-maker. It is possible 

 that such plants might be profitably cultivated ; it 

 is still more possible that the refuse of certain 

 branches of cultivation may have a market value 

 now unsuspected ; and it is at least certain that our 

 tropical colonies abound in the requisite substances, 

 now wild and unrecognised, but susceptible of ready 

 collection or cultivation. 



upon a lease, which does not expire till Michaelmas, 

 1881. It seems almost unnecessary to add that if it 

 had been the intention of the Council to surrender 

 the Garden, the Fellows of the Society would have 

 been immediately acquainted with the fact, and not 

 left to derive their information from common 



rumour." 



Such is the substance of the announcement that 

 has just been made. To borrow once more the 

 words of the Council :— " The Society has now 

 existed as a corporate body for forty-five years, 

 during which period it has constantly promoted the 

 interests of Horticulture to the utmost extent of the 

 means at its disposal. A very large proportion of 

 the finest exotic plants and fruits now common in 

 our Gardens has been introduced by its collectors. 

 A distinguished naturalist (M. Botteri) is at this 

 time engaged in exploring the rich vegetation of 

 Orizaba, and his contributions, which have already 

 begun to arrive in England, will speedily be in course 

 of distribution." We therefore trust that, even 

 amidst the din of arms, this great national institution 

 will be so supported that it may continue to remain 

 what it has hitherto been, the most distinguished 

 association of its class. 



Upon these grounds we feel persuaded that the 

 Etteais, and whatever contributes to Garden Deco- I proposals now made by the Council of the Horticul- 



1 





There is a letter in our pages to-day, signed 

 T. R., on the cost of digging at Lbis-Weedon ; and 

 we have inserted it, — not because we regard the 

 writer's objection as sound or his practice either 

 good, or like that of Lois-Weedon, but simply as a 

 vehicle for a few words of explanation on a point 

 which is generally useful to the cultivator of the soil. 

 The writer states his practice. to be to dig his clay 

 land two spits deep. He does not state the depth 

 of his staple ; but, taking it at the outset to be 

 6 inches, and each spit to be 10 inches, he digs 

 20 inches deep at once, bringing up 14 inches of the 

 raw clay subsoil, which will take years and years to 

 beconuTpulverised and mellow, and fully productive ; 

 and for this comparatively unproductive operation 

 he has to pay the heavy penalty of 8/. per acre- 

 Let him mark the difference of the practice at 

 Lois-Weedon, and he will no longer wonder at the 

 difference in the cost. The rule laid down in the 

 " Word in Season to the Farmer " is " to bring up 

 only 4 or 5 or 6 inches of the subsoil, according to 

 its nature, whether tenacious or loamy or light. To 

 bring up more at the outset would be a wa "ul and 

 injurious expense" (p. 53, 13th ed.). And the 

 reason for that rule, with reference to heavy land 

 especially, is that it may have time during the 

 year's fallow to become mellow and productive for 

 the succeeding crop ; that its mineral elements of 

 fertility may become gradually soluble ; and that its 



