THE GARDENER 



CHRONICLE 



soil 



nd that 



to us 

 Defore us 



the remedy is to withhold all 



At least 

 little 



301 



.capable of yielding ammonia At 

 - L «« f/> he the substance of the 



*Tl as producing evidence obtained by himself 



Z Advantages of refraining from the employ- 



-tothcaayain^ -nltivatini? the Potato, we 



m 



the 



evidence obtained by himself 

 imrouu*- J refraining from the employ 

 SSinSurein cultivating the Potato, w 

 Tj5 to see Mr. Malam's remarks ; but we are 

 **%*! to find them published in the year 1855 

 ''thing new, for the same result was obtained 

 u^Selves ; several years since, after an examina- 

 *- af the numerous returns from all parts of 

 Tinted Kingdom, procured with great labour 

 Za trouble in the yea; : 1849, and then pub- 

 ??.j : n our columns. There has never, indeed, 

 J!; the least difference of opinion 



of well-informed persons that all manures 

 Mtiimqg ammonia are prejudicial to the crop. 

 5E, has been stated over and over again in our 

 i j WB i > and no reasonable doubt exists of its per- 



fet tilth. 



Bat although ammoniacal matter most unques- 

 tionably increases the tendency of the Potato to 

 (latitat we are by no means called upon to believe 

 tMt it caused the disease. It is, indeed, not a little 

 mnlar that Mr. Malam should not have felt that, 

 to establish his case, it is necessary to show that 

 ammonia in excess was presented to the Potato 

 crop for the first time in the year 1845. Was that 



If heavy rains fell then, so had 



of towns into a profitable manure, by its "dilution 

 with coal tar. The process, so far from bein^ 

 prejudicial to public health, would be beneficial to 

 it. The disinfectant properties of the tar not only 

 neutralise the noxious gases emanating from the 

 sewerage, but give out those volatile properties 

 advantageous to health in a vitiated atmosphere." 



Whatever opinion may be formed of the relation 

 of these statements to the Potato, it is at least 

 certain that they possess public interest for reasons 

 of another kind. 



New Plants. 



123. Escholtzia tenuifolia. Bentham in Trans. Hort* 



Soc., Ser. 2, 1. 408. B.M. t. 4812. 

 This is one of the very pretty annuals imported by 

 Messrs. Veitch & Co. Like Esch. californica it is per- 

 fectly hardy. Whatever botanical difficulties may stand 

 in the way of a rigorous definition of the plant, no reason- 

 able doubt can, we think, be entertained that it is a per- 

 fectly distinct species, without the strong straggling habit 



so f Surely not. 



they hundreds of times before without destroying 



this plant ; and it will surely not be pretended that 

 thunderstorms broke over Potato fields for the first 

 tim in 1845. It may be very true, and we believe 

 it wit so, that the Potato crop in some cases ran 

 into a state of putrefaction immediately after thun- 

 derstorms, or when the air was highly charged with 

 electricity ; bat these were customary events, and 

 they produced no disaster till 1845. There can 

 therefore, be no doubt that something had occurred 

 to the Potato in 1845 which had never occurred 

 before, and which made it prone to become diseased 

 from the operation of causes previously inoperative. 

 This is the answer that we give to all speculators 

 cpon this singular visitation, from Prof, Liebig at the 

 top of the scale to Mr. Alfred Smee at the bottom. 

 On other points we also find matter worth a 

 Ntoce, ever}- word of which has, however, been 

 jw* ago anticipated in our columns. The most 

 «nkiDg is what relates to tar as a preventive of 

 Jww. On the 6th of March, 1847, we gave 

 u»e history of a fisherman who had accidentally 



IPS j Potatoes ***** tar, and of the produce 

 *nich had proved sound. This now appears in the 



Rowing form of illustration of the value c* 



Jpgenised matter a$ manure for Potatoes. v™ 5 - 

 j»» a hydrocarbon which, according to our author, 

 ^no nitrogen in its composition, and which, he 

 «,w a singularly good manure for Potatoes. 



Tot est the disinfecting properties of coal tar, I 

 5K? f e j S P°?V s emptied, the sewerage of them 



JJ^JO or 120 gallons of the water. One of the 

 2ft te contained about 1000 eallo— e 



RL^m c?Me > and the effect — w — 



^pletely inodorous, that neither I, nor those 



Gas- 



was to render 



ip7 



an d forming 



a new compound with the 



"PnretM 9 «,T T 6 , compound with the 



:i a £ t ^ d ,P hos P^etted hydrogen gases. &c, 



« black ed,ment at the bottom of the cess- 



^e coal-dust. 



Mr. Reed, of Montrose, in 



' A1 Hh I 1 J ™™l of Gas Lighting' states, 

 **^ lZJ™ h }? ^ rectl y t0 corroborate its 



5**/ ff™ i lng tJ J e Potato di8ease > * can with 



* *i*Sh„ " S a / alue e? nera11 ? as a manure. 

 *' *»t him ?«n fi US \° f the amt »omacal water 

 ?* **,»£*? ^y stained quantities of our 



^ithat'r 111 ^ V 7l SiA' but his mode 

 *&n ft! ,„T mT * f ™ W« stable and cattle 





*»»kl«d oveHt l deep ' and ' when ] evell< 

 ***** oxl: I. a g00d coatiD S of tar. Thi 



is was 



2^"^?°^ tr SS di f n0t a PPea; tole 

 ^^^etariSf't,! a r gula T change in the 

 m^ di8 »PP«ar S bv u 6 l plaCe : IlS oi 'y ch aracter 

 SjL^rtSSnV 1 ab80r P tlon in ^e manure, 

 £5* lh <» vZZSZJT " re, ? ,ainS in its P ] ace! 

 St? »**' ST r J r , mvanabl y been found to 



fi?» an <* abuSwS ' and greener Cr °P s tllan 



5l W WlyStS ^ the cost ' Mr ' 



3?- , ^iv Z ? valu , e of gas tar » a 



S?^. I have had fh - Value of "werage water 

 U?L A PPte, Goosebtr XtU i e a PP lied 2 all my 

 % 5?" Plot 7fcZ\?i C H»* ^es, and 



•arda 



** ^Sr^ Health should « RE 



i the conversion of the sewerage 



VEGETABLE PATHOLOGY.— No. LXX. 



306. 3. Chlorosis of Cucumbers. Cucumber Dis- 

 ease. — The first notice that I can find of this disease 

 is in 1844, when complaints were made that Cucumbers 

 were apt to exude a gummy substance from their sur- 

 face, a circumstance supposed then to be attributable 

 either to excess of moisture or want of bottom-heat, 

 while the superficial temperature was high. In 1846 

 these complaints were faintly repeated, but in the fol- 

 lowing year the evil became so widely diffused as to 

 excite a good deal of attention amongst cultivators. 

 Specimens were at that time submitted to me for inspec- 

 tion with an intimation that there could neither be 

 excessive moisture nor defect of bottom- heat from 

 the construction of the frames ; and it is now well 

 known that the very best cultivators are scarcely less 

 subject to the evil than those practical men with whom 

 everything depends either on chance or inveterate 

 routine. The whole history of the disease shows that 

 it is strictly constitutional, and though the subsequent 

 indications if examined by themselves might lead to a 

 different conclusion, an attentive consideration of its 

 early stages and development point out that it is 

 essentially a case of chlorosis. 



807. The Cucumber disease, like most other consti- 

 tutional maladies, makes its appearance at very different 

 stages of growth. Sometimes the plants are what gar- 

 deners call '* miffy " from the very first, inclined, that is, 

 to damp off ; sometimes they progress rapidly till the 

 blossoms appear, when both the leaves and snoots are 

 affected ; but more frequently the malady appears 

 when the young Gherkins are just formed, and 

 attains its height by the time the fruit is fully deve- 

 loped. In all cases, we believe the first symptom 

 of the disease is an unnatural paleness confined to 

 certain spots, in consequence of the chlorophyll 

 being only imperfectly developed or altogether 

 wanting. Meanwhile the neighbouring 



of the common kind, for which is substituted a compact 

 tufted manner of growth. Its leaves too are much 

 finer and somewhat downy, its flowers much smaller 

 and prettier, paler on the under than upper side of the 

 petals, and the calyx-cup destitute of any conspicuous 

 shining horizontal rim. 



It is one of the neatest annuals among the novelties 

 of the season. 



often increases while the tip makes no progress, or iven 

 withers up entirely. According to circumstances these 

 chlorotic spots exhibit different phenomena. The cells 

 of which they are composed are equally unfit to resist 

 heat or moisture ; in the former case they dry up on 

 exposure, and the foliage exhibits a disagreeable 

 withered aspect, even though the plant itself should not 

 entirely fail. Sometimes, however, especially in the 

 more juicy parts, as in the shoots and fruit, the gummy 

 fluid not being disposed of in the formation of chlorophy 11 

 bursts through the walls incapable of exerting much 

 resistance, and as air and moisture are thus admitted to 

 the tissues and the spores of moulds enter with them, 

 decomposition of greater or less rapidity, according to 

 varying circumstances, takes place. These secondary 

 phenomena are, in fact, no part of the disease 

 itself, but only a consequence of it. Further faci- 

 liiies for decomposition are afforded by the condition 

 of the tissues. A vertical section through the diseased 

 fruit in an advanced stage of the malady shows that the 

 intercellular passages are extremely dilated, and in 

 aggravated cases the component cells eventually dis- 

 united, circumstances which are highly favourable to 

 decomposition, though even in these cases I have seen 

 an attempt at the formation of new independent cells, 

 containing chlorophyll in the intercellular cavities. In 

 some instances, after the disease has advanced to a 

 certain stage, a curative process commences, arising 

 probably from some favourable condition of external 

 circumstances, by which the diseased matter is isolated, 

 and the fruit, though full of unsightly pits, goes on to 

 maturity without decomposition. In the earlier stages 

 something may certainly be done by attention, main- 

 tenance of that degree of light, warmth, and dryness 

 which the particular case may require, and in the Melon 

 disease which has lately been so troublesome, and which 

 seems perfectly identical, I have myself seen cases 

 where a crop has been secured simply by careful vigi- 

 lance, with nothing beyond a common garden frame and 

 stable manure, while in a neighbour's garden, with every 

 available horticultural means, there has been a total 



failure. 



308. Where the disease advances to that condition in 

 which actual decomposition takes place, there is almost 

 always a development of fungi, such as Cladosporium 

 herbarum and Botrytis capitata, but though they may 

 possioly take their share in producing more rapid decay, 

 they have no primary part in the matter. 



309. As the disease is strictly constitutional, the only 

 way to combat it effectually is by securing if possible 

 healthy seed. I have very lately suggested in this 

 journal a method which might easily be pursued, viz. to 

 take the oldest seed which can be procured, and to 

 select from such plants as germinate the very healthiest, 

 rejecting all which show the slightest indication of dis- 

 ease. Meanwhile the fruit intended for seed should be 

 impregnated with pollen from the healthiest plant that 

 can be found. A little attention in this respect would 

 soon produce seed upon which dependance could be 

 placed, and if, as I believe to be the case, the malady 

 is universal,* no other method can give security. The 

 offspring of two animals of a strumous constitution is 

 sure to be weakly, and twice as sickly as its parents, 

 and the same principles hold good amongst vegetables. 



§ 





Our figure, reproduced from our article 1847, p. 356, 



represents at 1,2, 3, the condition of the tissues in a 

 diseased fruit. In Number 3, the cells of the cuticular 

 strata are undisturbed, while those beneath are entirely 

 separated, stained with nlmates and humates, while in 

 one intercellular space a new cell is formed containing 

 chlorophyll. Figures 4, 5, 6, represent Botrytis capitata, 



* Plants raised from foreign seed are quite as subject to disease 



as those from the best English gardens. A white and a green 



exuberant health, and may in some cases increase so variety from Brussels with extremely small fruit viz„Concombre 



rapidly M to cause distortion, a circumstance which M&^^SS^;^^ 



fruit of each to ascertain its characters. 



part 



