THE GARDENERS 



CHRONICLE 



crocks ; I then fill up .. 



sifted compost of leaf soil and old decayed manure 

 (equal parts), with an admixture of sand to keep the 

 whole porous. 1 now put in my seed (two dozen 

 and a half seeds will be plenty in the pot), and cover 

 them orer lightly with the above-named compost, 

 giving a gentle watering with a fine-rosed watering pot, 

 so as not to disturb the seeds. I finish by plunging them 

 in a mild bottom heat, so placed that they can be kept 

 close to the glass, when the seeds will soon germinate. 

 As soon as the plants have made a proper start from 

 the seed leaf I get a compost made up of the following 

 materials : Two parts sifted rotten dung and one of leaf 

 soil, and a little loam sifted with it, together with a 

 liberal quantr of md to keep the whole open, so as to 

 ensure aspeedy root action. I mix the whole well, and pre- 

 pare as many 3- inch pots as 1 require, and pot off singly. 

 It will not be out erf place to notice here that some use 

 larger pots,and put two plants in them, thinking thereby 

 to savo a little room. This is, however, a mistake. 

 Nothing is more inconsistent with the well-being of 

 Balsams then cramming two of them in a pot ; the roots 

 get woven together, and in parting them at repotting 

 time they get injured and the plants are thrown into 

 bloom before anything liko half their size has been 

 attained. Having potted them off singly at first, I give 

 them a slight sprinkling with water aud remove them 

 to a hot-pit or any other convenient place where they 

 can be kept close to the glass, and where the temj erature 

 does not fall below 6 'at night. As soon as the pots 

 are nearly full of roots I repot into 4-inch pots, u*0g 

 the same soil as before, except in a rougher state, and 

 containin/ rather more dung ; a little of which is also 

 mixed with the potsherds, among which the roots love 

 to creep. A bed is now made up for them with n ate- 

 rials in which there is a slight declining fermentation ; 

 in this the pots are plunged, and kept rather close for a 

 day or two, and a slight shade is used should the 

 weather be sunny. I repot again when I see the rnM 



coming uiiuu-a *ne noie m the bottom of the pot, 

 using an 3-inch pot, in which they are bloomed. The 

 soil now employed is very rich, viz., two parts of old 

 decomposed night-aoil and one of leaf mould, and rich 

 fibry loam and peat in equal portionp, with a free supply 

 of silver sand thoroughly incorporating the whole toge- 

 ther. The plants are again plunged, and air admitted 

 freely on fine days, syringing early in the afternoon 

 and shutting close up ; the atmosphere is thus kept 

 moist, which, with the ammonia arising from the dung, 

 gives them a fine strong healthy appearance, and when 

 in flower they are removed to the conservatory, and 

 supplied with liquid manure twice a week. By sowing 

 at intervals, Balsams maybe had during the whole of 

 the autumn. IV. F. 



1 I appears to Le perplexed at one piam m^-Wg different 



but pruning, 



Every- 



« 44UB J.MM—V ™nagea, Hawthorn plants should be 

 cut down to within a few inches of the ground-mark, on 

 being planted out into the line of fence lhere are 

 iust three cases in which these plants ha 



may recommend, a few 

 tion ; and I 



yards from its present 



just 



d better be 



am anxious to take everV ca7e rft 

 from its having been presented to me by % »- , a* * 

 now no more. The soil is a good hazel ioJL a?! 

 have at command leaf-mould, sharp BandTandkL! 

 earth from an ancient wood, should you think it J -^ 

 able to make a compost of these materials. The iZL 





Hedges. — In an article which appeared in your Paper 

 of the 19th ult. regarding the editor of the « Forester" 

 giving advice on the formation and treatment of hedges, 

 the writer " G. W. L." appears to have missed the point. 

 If* he will read the « Forester" again, he will find that 

 Mr. Brown, the editor, only recommends a mixture of 

 Thorn and Beech where wished for by way of ornament 

 This is a matter of taste, but where Foil is of a light 

 gravelly nature on a dry bottom Beech will thrive well 

 where Thorns would scarcely succeed. Of this I have 

 ample experience. As regards treating every tree 

 alike, how can your correspondent compare the treat- 

 ment of Thorns with that of young Oaks — the one to be 

 reared for a hedge, the other for a timber tree ? The 

 less pruning hard woods receive the better, provided 

 the top can always be kept ascending ; on the contrary, 

 the more side branches one can get on Thorns for a 

 fencfe the more compact will the latter be. Let 

 u G. W. L." pull out his pocket knife, prune a few 

 Thorns, and let a few remain unpruned, the same with 

 Beech, and he will soon see his problem solved as to the 

 accuracy of cutting over of Thorns and not of Beech. 

 His system of planting on raised up dykes, unless in 

 extreme cases, I do not remember the " Forester " 

 recommending. If he would appeal to some of the 

 Lincolnshire farmers about planting on raised ridges, 

 they would soon satisfy him on that point, for I must 

 say that that county has probably done more than many 

 others in that branch of rural economy. The manuring 

 of land for hedges is impracticable unless it could be 

 kept up by rotation. It would do more harm on bad 

 land than on good. How would U G. W. L." like to be 

 nursed for a few years on carnivorous principles and 

 afterwards be fed like a Russian soldier on black rye 

 bread and water ? Would not this alter the entire 

 system I If poor ihJn land 25 to be made to rear good 

 Thorn hedges, trench it 4 or 5 feet broad and 2 feet 

 deep, reject all bad subsoil, and make all well up with 

 good soil from a distance, if that can be had. Let this 

 lie for a time, and then plant your Quicks, when they 

 will push rapidly, remembering to cut them all over 

 11 inch above the ground ; if not cut they will hare 

 enough to do to make leave?, but by the former system 

 I have seen shoots the first year 3 and 4 feet long. 

 A Reader. [We did not understand the remarks by 

 " G. W. L." to refer to " Brown's Forester," but to 

 the writer of an article in the * Quarterly Review."] 

 . 1 am surprised that the notions of hedge manage- 

 ment to wliich " G. W. L. " refers have not been set to 

 rights by some of your correspondents, for in every 

 statement the " Quarterly " is quite sound, and quite in 

 accordance with the practice of the beat hedgers, who 

 have tried many methods of growing fences. «G.W. L." 



allowed to stand for a year without neaamg uovvu . , a , 

 when they are very small plants ; 2d, when the plants 

 have been injured from drought, lateness m trans- 

 planting, or any other cause which has the effect ot 

 reducing their growth ; 3d, when the ground is not 

 congenial from being newly trenched, and want of ex- 

 posure to atmospheric influence, &c. ; but in neither of 

 these cases is it wise to insert the plants where the 

 cost of fencing and management is greater than in the 

 nursery. Let every thing be in proper trim, and your 

 headed plants will rise from 16 to 24 inches the first 

 season. Several mixtures of plants form hedges both 



compact and permanent. W. R, Aberdeen. 1 quite 



agree with the remarks on the " Quarterly V| plan of 

 forming a hedge ly cutting down Quicks quite close, 

 and mixing them with Beech, and I may add that the 

 shade and noxious drip of the latter would, probably, 

 kill the shoots of the former as they spring up. Having 

 planted during the last 36 years many, many miles of 

 Quick fences, and tried various modes of doing it, I 

 have found the following plan most successful. I make 

 a trench about 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep, and border 

 it with one clod on each side, and cast into it the best of 

 the soil taken out of the ditch made 2 feet wide on 

 one side and manure it. I then place Quicks, three or 

 four years transplanted, in two rows (each 8 inches 

 from the clod), and each plant 9 inches from, and 

 sloping at an angle of 45° towards the next in the 

 row, and zig-zag with the Quicks in the opposite or 

 parallel row. On this plan the new shoots, when break- 

 ing out, spring upwaulls, and making angles with the 

 stems soon supply a great width of folice, and form a 

 sort of natural pleaching. Towards winter, or in spring, 

 ueJore the new buds push out, I cut the top of the fence, 

 lowering it to about 2 feet high, and trim up the sides 

 from the bottom into a wedge-edge at the top, by 

 which the whole side of the fence is exposed to 

 the sun and air, and no gaps can be formed below 

 by the over-hanging and drip of projecting branches 

 above. At the same period I weed the fence, and, if 

 requisite, water it with liquid manure. I trim the fence 

 every year, keeping it finally at the height of 4 or 5 feet. 

 I put up, at 4 feet outside of each clod of the fence, posts 

 (not morticed) with three rails, or four towards a road, 

 fastened with t nails ; and in two or three years I 

 widen the ditch to 3 feet, casting the best of the soil 

 into the trench with the Quick. I always season my 

 posts and rails, as well as timber for other purposes, by 

 placing them for a fortnight or three weeks in the lime- 

 pit, of which you inserted the particulars in the Gardeners 9 

 Chronicle, July 9, 1853. I think I adopted this plan 

 from a statement in the " Edinburgh Quarterly Journal 

 of Agriculture," 1828, giving an account of its successful 



PLAN OF FENCE. 



have suffered from the late severe winter. A T m TZ? 

 Subscriber. [Dig, with a draining spade, a txrtm 



tUi 



trench round your Araucaria, about 2 feet deepS 

 far enough off the stem not to cut through 

 the ends of the roots. Fill up the trench with kat 

 mould and sand, or sandy loam. Leave the plug m 

 September, then transplant it carefully, and yon w3 

 find the trench full of fine new roots, which will ** 

 easily break off in the lifting.] 



Mushrooms. — West of Hereford, a great crop ol 

 Mushrooms sprang up in the fields last week, (hmj* 

 the few warm days. (J., May 30. 



£wfetiefif* 



Caledonian Horticultural, May 12.— On thisc 

 sion prizes were awarded as follows :— To Mem 

 Dickson & Co., for four stove or greenhouse plants, tU 

 kinds being Calceolaria violacea, Azalea Fioai, A. 

 phcenicea alba, and Bossisea linophylla. To Mr. Lock- 

 hart, gr. to R. Dundas, Esq., for Tetratheca verticil^ 

 Pultensea stricta, and P. subumbellata ; to Mr. Ritchk 

 gr. to A. Duncan, Esq., for Boronia tetrandra, Apheloa 

 speciosissima, and Adenandra speciosa ; to Mr. Cud* 



ron 



aurem 



DITCH. 



CLOD. 



QUICKS 



CLOD. 



hybridum ; to Mr. Lockhart, for Erica elegaas ut 

 mutabilis ; to Mr. Ritchie, for E. ventricosa, cocoa* 

 minor, and perspicua nana ; to Mr. Lockhart, for i 

 trained plant of Torenia asiatica, 3 feet 6 inches high b; 

 2\ feet broad ; to Mr. Cameron, for Azalea m&gnifica 

 purpurea and lateritia alba ; to Mr. Pender, gr. to D. 

 Anderson, Esq., for Triumphans and Gledatanesi o» 

 celsa ; to Mr. Ritchie, for Optima and Phoenicea ; to 

 Mr. Cameron, for Duke of Devonshire, Corona*, *d 

 Liliiflora. To Mr. Reid, gr. to W. Wilson, Eeq., for 

 well-grown plants of Cinerarias Bessy, Queen i 

 Beauties, Lady Hume Campbell, and Climax; to it 

 Walker, gr. to J. Moody, Esq., for Angelique, Lidj 

 Gertrude, Cerito, and Lady Hume Campbell. To Hr. 

 Walker, Rosehall, for Auriculas Fletcher's Mary An, 

 Leigh's Colonel Taylor, Taylor's Glory, Fletcher's lb 

 Plus Ultra, Lightbody's Star of Bethlehem, and Lady 

 Ann Wityraham ; to Mr. Woolley, gr. to C. M'Ltfii, 

 Esq., for Morning Star, Taylor's Glory, Rule-all, E*f 

 of England, Oliver's Lovely Ann, and Conqueror* 

 Europe. The prize of one guinea, offered by mm 

 Dicksons & Co., for the four newest and best 

 Azaleas, was awarded to Mr. Pander, for Optima, m- 

 stautissima, Lateritia superba, and Liliiflora. A 0» 

 ficate was granted to Messrs. Cunningham, Fr **>* 

 Co., for Viburnum macrocephalum in profuse bkm> 

 Mr. Stark sent a basket of rare Ferns, with VioU p£ 

 mata and Primula capitata in flower. From Mr. rlMA* 

 syde came a basket of the new Conifer© and «v 

 ornamental trees and shrubs, including JWjg 

 japonica intermedia, new gold-leaved Ivy, £ ■»; 

 gigantea (or Libocedrus decurrens), T. phcata,aaa ir 

 Parryana. Mrs. Carstairs had a bunch of «»J"* 

 Giant Asparagus (25 heads) weighing 2/ oz. rrom^ 

 garden of Sir W. Gibson-Craig, Bart, were Dode^gJ 

 californieum in flower, and a variegated variety oi 



Webbiana. From Mrs. Fraser, CanoDffiilla t 



including Arenn* 



good specimens of Alpine plants, 



sod 





ELEVATION OF FENCE. 



practice at Closeburn Hall, Dumfries, by the late Sir 

 Charles Menteith ; and my carpenters have been much 

 struck with the hardness and density imparted by the 

 process to the softest woods during the two last years, 

 when it has been in constant use. L. A. Lloyd, Leaton 

 Knolls, Shrewsbury, May 30. 



The Weather during the month. — The following is a re- 

 turn of the minimum of my self-registering thermometer 

 (seven miles south-east of York, Lat. 53° 54', Long. 

 0° 57' west, about 28 feet above the level of high water 

 in the adjacent river Derwent ; thermometer 5 ft. 6 in. 

 from the ground, outside a window facing north-east), 

 during most of the nights, up to this day (May 30) of 

 this unusually cold* month. You will observe that 

 during no night has the decimal figure been 5 ; that on 

 nine it has been 3, and on three 2 ! 



ndinomm if 

 Mr. Stf- 



From 



Aiuga 



midalis, Hutchinsia stylosa, and other Aip'"'^ 

 The exhibition was enhanced by some nne P**"" "u 

 the Society's gardeD, including the »»«* ^ 

 Rhododendron Edgworthi, R. Gibsoni, gbuenw. 

 lepidotum. 



Notice* 



&ooH 



F.Bii 



This little volume, wh 



May 



n 



11 

 M 



11 



11 



Greatest cold of the 2 



2 35° 



4 27! 



1 Asparagus in 



5 23! >• open ground 



J killed. 



6 44 



7 36 



8 36 



9 25J ! Asparagus killed 

 10 41 



12 34 



May 13 33£ 



14 32 



15 34 



16 41 



21 42 



22 42 



23 35 



27 48* 



28 42" 



29 41 



30 36 



11 

 11 



3) 

 » 

 



It 

 31 

 11 

 11 



The thermometer is examined in the morning, and the 

 greatest cold is that of the night preceding the day 

 entered. I will add, with reference to the cold season, 

 that the Blackthorn was nearly a month later than its 

 u&ual time of flowering, and the swallows, like wise 

 birds, deferred their arrival for about the same period. 

 As I am writing, I will take the opportunity of asking 



1 • ft f . V a \ t at • a 



Practical Meteorology. By John Drew, Ph.D. 



Van Voorst. awu# 



prefer to *£* ^ 



observe" meteorological F uenomen8 ', I p_ Der i e nee» s- 

 author to be the result of eeven years j y ^ 

 observer and student. The work consist oi rf ^ 

 the first, which is introductory, is on J »«, ^a* 

 affecting atmospheric changes ; «V^ ded*<£ 

 descriptions of instruments of obser by grom*3 



from observations on the ^^^Wf^S 

 barometric, and electric condition of tne ^jg 



part relates to the present ^J? «&&» <*" 

 science in England ; and an W D ° * t f ° D8 , 

 useful tables for meteorolog.cal c^latioo ^g 

 In the first part, the composition <£* e]v <ia* * 

 its mechanical properties, weight, an ^ „^, 

 laws of heat, expansion, conduction, g erapo^JJ 

 ductors, reflection, latent and ^°^J way Jfjg 

 Ac, are all explained in much the » b£ 



usually are in ^«n«ntary W»^ b weU p*^ 

 The construction of tbennometen . , f £>£ 



principle of their action,^, ^S^^Vj 



to adapt a correct sca« rri,« ciriB 3 "" 



utmost 



The 



