THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



-^ .^ in ail y DVII , ™„~ ..hen it is so driven 



^-iELn can feel if it comes in contact with a 

 * <rC ^ nd by moviug the handle of the fork to 



17 



*• 



t~,Z will spring the prong and pass by the stoue. 



I Jearn from the description which your cor- 

 3L,t gives of his land I think three-prong forks 



-idiMwerhis purpose better than four prongs, I 

 **^ tnces where two prongs are the most useful 



t m rT *« for digging clay-land. As a general rule a 

 •P"jh©uld never use more prongs than he requires, 



the greater the number of prongs the greater is 

 -. ua0 ^ Xk t of pressure demanded to sink the fork 

 J* its depth, and the greater is the cost of the 

 *j?k In some instances a three-prong fork will 

 CSt* clod up the centre, allowing a part to 

 §Tto either side, where a fork one inch wider would 

 {ring up the clod whole, notwithstanding the prongs 

 ""* • * il ~"~* Your correspondent says 



occasi ally ripens fruit. The ltose-appie is a common 

 garden tree, attaining to great size and beauty. In the 

 fields and in the litrle plots and terraces of soil, which 

 are cultivated with infinite industry amidst the basaltic 

 rocks, we see the plants of the tropics mixed with 

 those of the temperate zone 



C iht 



^ so much further apart. 



J^ jam will dig from 5 to 6 rods per day ; I presume 

 JLflat 30 square yards in the rod. This is by no means 

 tfe maximum amount of labour which can be performed 

 if the workman lays himself out judiciously for the 

 •orfc. Throughout a large tract of land lying between 

 Birmingham and Lichfield, trench digging is now 

 antanAlly adopted, and we have many men in this ini- 

 tiate neighbourhood who frequently dig 5 roods per 



lead do, as in lead lights ? I have just constructed a 

 garden wall of stone, on which I intend to stretvh a 

 wire trellis, like the invisible wire fence, to save defacing 

 j the walls, and to prevent the fruit being eaten up by 

 woodlice, &c. I have cut off the capillary attraction of 

 the wall by boiling gas-tar and lime together, and 

 spreading it on the stone about 6 inches from the earth. 

 This has answered the purpose, wears very well, the 

 stone beneath the tar being dark and wet, all above 

 being white and perfectly dry — the whole expense for a 

 wall for half an acre of garden being only a few shil- 

 lings. The composition must be laid on boiling, and 

 afterwards more lime sprinkled over it to dry it. This 

 would do for any wall, and the expense not to be com- 

 pared with slate and cement. I am making some glass 

 wails (20 oz.), which, when complete, will cost 4£<j. per 

 foot. I thus grow trees on each side, and the appear- 

 ance is very good ; this is intended for the south wall 

 of my garden. I thus have no damp dark side. S* N. 



Lombardy and Black Italian Poplars. — At p. 1 04 I 

 perceive a question as to the utility of the last-named 

 species (monilifera). In looking over an old book on 



gardening in 1818 I met with the following distich re- J exotic plants become naturalised, 

 lative to the Poplar : — 



di?(a local measure of 8 yards each way, viz. 6i square 



urdi). We have, in fact, one man particularly clever 



at this kind of work, who has with the assistance of his 



own two boys, aged respectively 11 and 13 years, dug 



is acre 18 inches deep in 10 days. This is the system : — 



Sappose the land to be a foul stubble it is ploughed 



ibout 5 inches deep, and then the manure is carted on 



| ; it is then ready for the diggers. The man gets out a 



trench from 20 inches to 2 feet wide. The first boy 



Ukes a four prong steel Potato or short-handled dung 



fork, one that has been considerably worn ; with this 



implement he pulls the furrow slice of the plough to 



pieces, »nd places it in the bottom of the trench, taking 



are to keep it all down level, to prevent Couch from 



growing through ; he then scatters the dung all over it. 



The man follows with his large steel trenching fork, say 



)|byl6 inches (two spits with this fork take up the 



width of the trench), and this soil is turned over (right or 



left, as the case may be) on to the manure. The second 



toy follows with a No. 1 shovel, and clears up the 



•limbs from the bottom of the trench, pointing the 



work with them. In clay land, perhaps, this last 



Iteration would be better omitted. F. ParJces, Sutton 



•IdMd, near Birmingham. 



The Late Frost and Rain-fall in 1854 in Hertford- 

 litre.— The following list of the minimum temperatures 

 on the severest nights of the late frost may be interesting, 

 byway of comparison. The minimum thermometer is 

 6 feet from the ground : — 



Mm. 

 10° 



15 c 

 15° 



8° 

 14° 



the 

 Vegetation, notwithstanding the long- 

 WDtinned severity, has escaped better than in the two 

 preceding years, Laurels and Bays especially, a result 

 toamly to be attributed to the previous dry season. I 

 llw a plantation of young Laurels completely destroyed 

 tythe frost in Feb. 1853, which was not nearly so 

 ■We a month as the last (mean temp. 4° higher), but 

 wwch set in after a wet mild December and January, 

 »a very wet autumn in 1852. The ground in which 

 ■tywere planted was light and sandy, and well drained, 

 ™ the situation rather elevated, so that no excessively 

 ;ow temperature could have been the cause. The frost 

 «Mo4 injured Bay and Laurustinus shrubs, which 



tree is, its growing 

 where almost every 



thrive. C. T. f Whit- 



Jimmy 19... 



31... 



February 1 



9 

 10 



• ■• 



t • ■ 



• • • 



W 



t fl« 



• ■ • 



• » • 



• * ■ 



Min. 

 13 5 

 18° 

 11° 

 14 

 12° 



February 13 



15 

 16 

 17 



18 



ji 

 11 

 it 



• • • 



• t t 



* ■ I 



f i t 



■ ■ • 



• ■ • 



irom reb. 7 to 22 the temperature never reached 

 freezing point. 



year have been unscathed, 

 ^•fell at this place during 



Jttotry Inches. 



*ebrairy 



Mirth 

 April 



M«y 



Jane 

 July 



I subjoin a table of the 

 1854:— 



• i • 



• • 



• •• 



• •§ 



»•! 



•• • 



• #. 



»• • 



• •; 



• • • 



• • • 





• it 



• ■ . 



• . • 



• • • 



• » ■ 



• . . 



••» 



1.91 



0.87 

 0.45 

 0.81 



3.36 



1.16 

 1.86 



10.42 



Brought forward 

 August 



September... 

 < )ctober 



November... 



December 



• • • 



• t • 



• • • 



• • • 



Inches. 

 .. 10-42 

 .. 1.98 

 0.83 



2.37 

 1.59 

 1.42 



■ • • 



• » • 



Rain, 1852 ... 

 1853... 



18.61 

 29.79 

 38.07 



" Though heart of Oak be strong and stout, 

 Yet keep me dry, I'll see him out." 



I was at that time gardener to a gentleman whose alcove 

 (which stood on the bank of the river Test) was under- 

 going repair ; the floor, which rose 5 feet above the 

 ground, was in a dilapidated state, and I advised him to 

 renew it with boards prepared irom the Lombardy 

 Poplar. He did so, and I had thus an opportunity of 

 testing its lasting properties. For 25 years it neither 

 showed signs of dry rot nor the least symptoms of decay, 

 and it is probable that it would have remained in the 

 same condition for a period as lung again had not the 

 place been pulled down to make room for improvements. 

 If the Black Italian Poplar be as lasting, its rapid 

 growth, durability, and the facility with which it can be 

 propagated would render it invaluable to large landed 

 proprietors. I have a tree now growing in my garden, 

 which when planted in 1841 measured 6 feet in height, 

 its stem being rather larger than a man's thumb. The 

 trunk of this tree now measures 38 inches in girth 6 feet 

 from its base, and its height is upwards of 45 feet. 

 Another peculiar feature in this 

 luxuriantly in low marshy bogs, 

 other species of timber ceases to 

 church, Hants, Feb. 25. 



Mr* John Weeks' and CoJs Oj holler System of Heating. — As 

 your reporter visited our nursery in December last and reported 



I on our improved apparatus for heating the whole of our establish- 

 ment with one boiler, and .is since then the winter has been 



I unusually long and severe, we think both you ami the public will 

 be interested in learning how the apparatus heating such exten- 

 sive ranges of houses and pits by one boiler has succeeded. The 

 conservatories, hothouses, and pits would extend m one line 

 1000 feet and expose to the atmosphere 16,000 superficial feet of 

 glass. Many of the houses are wide and lofty, and are divided 

 into about 40 different compartments, and several of the propa- 

 gating houses and pits have both, top and bottom-heat. Through- 

 out the whole of the late vere weather the boiler and apparatus 

 have worked to our entire satisfaction, giving us a greater com- 

 mand of heat than we required, and enabling us for the first time 

 to dispense altogether with matting and every other description 

 of external covering. In this we have found a large economy 

 not alone in saving the cost of mats but also in avoiding the 

 breakage of glass, which formerly was both expensive and 

 seriously inconvenient. In our hothouses we have been able to 

 maintain a temperature of from 70° to 8>°, in the greenhouses 

 60 p , and 90° for bottom-heat, air having been admitted both by 

 day and night Our nursery, though laid out with much regu- 

 larity, yet consists of various detached buildings, so that large 

 portions of the main pipes have to pass underground; but not- 

 withstanding this great disadvantage, we feel confident that we 

 co»ld heat nearly if not quite double the quantity of glass with 

 the same boiler. We use coke, the consumption of which 

 has not averaged more than three sacks each 24 hours, and 

 we teed the boiler every 12 or 14 hours. We are no longer in- 

 convenienced by having to attend to a number of fires, stokeholes, 

 and chimneys, and the boiler and apparatus being powerful there 

 is always a large supply of hot water in circulation through 

 every house, or division of a house; and by a simple but well 

 contrived brass valve we are enabled in a few minutes to regulate 

 the temperature throughout each building of the establishment 

 according to our desire. Our Orchid-house is situated upwards 

 of 300 feet from the boiler, and in it we maintain a regular steady 

 temperature of from 70° to 80°. We are fortunate In having had 

 so severe a winter to test the efficiency of our new arrangements, 

 and doubly so in their having proved so eminently successful. 

 John JVee&s & Co., King's Road, Chelsea. 



shall be doing 



A^ forward j 



' *£ P., Stevenage, March 12. 



^3t l€ my Potat o.—I think I 

 kidney. -J recomraendi ng your readers to try this 

 •Utow t qUaUty is excellent > an* 1 it is an abundant 

 I* tod ° . lned this sort from Messrs. Sutton last 

 W nn °* U t ° f the P rodu ee, which was about 2 bushels, 

 SoL /? tuber was slightly affected with disease. G. 



WalZ**! 1 ^ nmr Bath > M *rch 13. 

 ^rThTf ' 0rch « r d-houses, arid Garden Walls.— 



which;" 1 f n aere of water at the t0 P of a m > from 

 ^ywri^f r^f weather i^ues a stream about the size of 



4 - feet 



bel 



- ;-v» wrei - issues a stream aoout trie size of 

 his water I am conveying to a kitchen garden 



w the 



Finite 



^y of 



H*; the g**88 21 



- ^ apart. - 



jour correspondents give me their ex- 

 tnia matter I T - 



. the Banana, Siuar-cane, 



coffee, Orange, and Guava, in company with the Peach, 

 Vine, Fig, and the tali Italian reed, Arundo Donax. 

 Two of the characteristic field crops in Madeira are the 

 Sweet Potato (Batatas edulis, Convolvulus Batatas ?), and 

 what is there called the Inhame or Yam, which 

 is an aroideous plant (Caiadiura nymphteifolium?) with 

 beautiful large leaves of a peculiarly soft and tender 

 green. The culture of the Cactus or Opuutia (O. Tuna, 

 according to Mr. Lowe), has of late been much extended! 

 When, leaving the beautiful gardens of Funchal, search 

 was made for the native vegetation, considerable disap- 

 pointment was at first experienced, partly owing to the 

 season ; for winter has a much more decided effect on 

 the condition of the vegetable world in that island than 

 might have been inferred from its latitude. One striking 

 characteristic of Madeira is the rapidity with which 



This process is going 

 on so fast that it is difficult, and is constantly becomin 

 more difficult to judge what plants are really native an 

 what are introduced. For example, a beautiful cherry- 

 coloured Oxalis (O. speciosa ?) from the Cape of Good 

 Hope was introduced into the island by a lady still living 

 there, and is now thoroughly established as a wild plant 

 and very abundant in many places, not only in cultivated 

 fields, but on rough, wild, broken ground amidst the Fir 

 plantations. So also Pelargonium capitatum and Salvia 

 pseudo-coccinea are completely naturalised in various 

 places. The Datura arborea and Fuchsia coccinea are 

 rapidly establishing themselves. It is very probable 

 that many other plants, of which the exotic origin 

 cannot so easily be traced, may in like manner have 

 been introduced into Madeira in modern times, through 

 the agency, either voluntary or accidental, of man. 

 The culture of the Vine hardly extends above 2000 feet; 

 beyond this there is still some cultivation, but it is in 

 scattered patches, no longer so continuous and exten- 

 sive as to exclude the native vegetation. Of Ferns, 

 the Polystichum angulare and Blechnum boreale are 

 very common in the Chestnut woods of the mountain 

 sides. Asplenium anceps, Asplenium acutum, and 

 Polypodium vulgare frequent on rocks in this as well 

 as in the lower region. Nephrodium affine [Lastrsea 

 Filix-mas] and Polystichum falcinellum more local 

 This last is au interesting plant remarkable for its very 

 rigid texture, and its resemblance at first sight to the 

 leaves of a Z'imia. Mr. Bunbury found it sparingly in 

 the woods about, the Jardim da Serra, the residence > f 

 Mr. Veitch, 2000 feet above the sea, and in a more 

 dwarfed state amidst the crowning rocks of the Arre- 

 bentao peak, at an elevation of more than 3800 feet. 

 The beautiful ravine, commonly called the Little Carral, 

 from which the Ribeiro de Joao Gomez descends to 

 Funchal, is attractive to a botanist, and especially to a 

 lover of ferns. Here Woodwardia radicans, Adiantum 

 reniforme, Pterisarguta, Cystopteris fragilis, Athyrium 

 Filix femina, Lastreeaelongata,Davallia canariensis, may 

 all be found, with abundanceof Lycopodium denticulatum. 

 The fine ravine of the Santa Luzia torrent, at the head of 

 which is a remarkable waterfall, is still more rich in 

 Ferns. Woodwardia radicans, Allantodia [Asplenium] 

 umbrosa, and Pteris arguta grow in most luxuriant 

 beauty about the foot of the waterfall, at an elevation of 

 2600 feet above the sea. Adiantum reniforme is plen- 

 tiful on the cliffs that bound the ravine ; and A. capillus- 

 veneris, which at Funchal grows close to the actual 

 sea shore, extends even up to the waterfall. In this one 

 ravine, and in one day's excursion, 22 species of Ferns 

 were observed. The Tea tree is cultivated with great 

 success by Mr. Veitch at the Jardim da Serra, and its 

 produce is of excellent flavour. At Funchal it does not 

 succeed. On the highest parts of the southern moun- 

 tains occur a few Ferns, particularly Gymnogramma 

 Lowei [G. totta], and Blechnum boreale ; these 

 two ascend to upwards of 3800 feet. Madeira 

 is famous for its abundance of Ferns, owing to its 

 wild and wooded condition, and its very moist climate. 

 The beautiful Haresfoot Fern (Davallia canariensis), 

 and the Polypodium vulgare, appeared the most gene- 

 rally common throughout the island. The other Ferna 

 enumerated by Mr. Bunbury, with notices of their 

 localities, were the following : — Nothochlaena lanuginosa, 

 Gymnogramma Lowei, G. leptophy 11a, Acrostichum squa- 

 mosum, Blechnum boreale, Woodwardia radicans, Pteris 

 aquilina, P. arguta, Cheilanthes fragrans, Adiantum 

 reniforme, A. capillus- veneris, Asplenium palmatum, 

 A. anceps, A. monanthemum, A. marinum, A. cana- 

 riense, A. lanceolatum, A. acutum, Athyrium Filix- 

 femina, Allantodia umbrosa, Scolopendrium vulgare, 

 Ceterach ofticinarum, Polystichum falcinellum, P. acn- 

 leatum [angulare], Nephrodium molle, N. affine, N. 

 elongatum, JN. fseuisecium [the three latter Lastreeas], 

 Cystopteris fragilis, Davallia canariensis, Trichomanes 

 speciosum, Hymenophyllum tunbridgense. The Fern 

 Flora of Madeira, according to Mr. Lowe, comprises 

 40 species, of which the relative distribution in Madeira 

 pipe 2 inches in ing at the capital of Madeira is the thoroughly tropical and the adjacent isles is traced. The author then, 

 ; - A ~ At - ■ ' ... . -,. ~ .i- a t considerable length, records his observations on the 



lower cryptogamic and the phsenogamous plants of the 

 island. 



^octettes* 



Linnean, March 6. — The President in the chair. 

 Mr. J. T. Syme exhibited specimens of a variety of 

 Ophioglossum vulgatum found at Swanbister, Orkney, 

 together with a series of specimens of the species from 

 other localities ; and also specimens of O. lusitanicum 

 from various distinct localities ; and made seme observa- 

 tions on the two supposed species, which, in common 

 with many recent botanical writers, he considered as 

 merely varieties of one species. N. B. Ward, Esq., 

 exhibited on the pirt of Mr. M. T. Masters a remark- 

 able abnormal stem of a species of Dipsacus ; and some 

 observations on the specimens exhibited by Mr. Masters 

 were read. The commencement of a memoir on the 

 botany of Madeira and Teneriffe, by C. J. F. Bftnbury, 

 Esq., was read, and from it the following passages are 



The first tiling that strikes a botanist on land- 



Wddle of7lT T " ie pond ' t0 ^PPty a fountain in the 



* fewer t garden > and also t0 g ive J t ( the garden) 



* ton a « W ° ° r . t 1 hree time S a week. I want this water 

 f«?elociu- Wh atl wish to know is, the power 



* **mefcer *h* U l ° the P eri P her y of a water-wheel .6 feet J gleaned : 



JjBfcter, w'ithV^ t6r FUnnin S 0Ut °* a P^P® 2 inches in j ing at the rajnuti ui .uaucra ia mo iiiuruugui/ tr^™ 



JH^ boxes " *i ° f * al1 Cr P re8sure > into the U9ual i aspect of the cultivated vegetation. The Banana, the 

 C*Q ant, _p on tne circumference of a water-wheel J Snirar-fMuiP- *1ir f!,,ff^ th<> ftimvu. and tha Cnstard- 



Sugar-cane, the Coffee, the Guava, and the Custard- 

 apple are seen in all the gardens. On the lower slopes 

 of that sunny amphitheatre of mountains, which rises 

 from the Bay of Funchal, most of the productions of the 

 tropics are cultivated with success. The Papaw is 

 the f ~ "'** -" AIJ "*"5 v * 5*w*ing frequent in the gardens, and ripens its fruit abundantly. 

 ™ters instead of puttying. Would | Paudanus odoratissimus grows to a great size, and 



I am constructing an orchard- 

 ounces to the foot, the rafters 23 



for 



?P in 8 the ol WaUfc *° Sllb8t i tu te something i 

 ^ ^ fate STLiiL J . ^thinking of groovi 



Pomological, March 5.— Dr. Daviks, of Pershore, in 



the chair. The chairman furnished a collection of 

 Apples from the orchards of Worcestershire, among 

 which the most remarkable were the Flanders Pippin 



