43^ 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



economical considerations, and not always coinciding 

 with the time of maturity in the botanical sense, cannot 

 be made the si iect of exact calculations as to tempe- 

 rature. , . . ^ ._ ^ 

 9. Solar radiation being also nearly constant in the 



game climate, it* it be added to the temperature of the 

 air the relation between the suras of temperature is not 

 changed ; but it is changed if passing from one 

 climate to another. Tin's heat, added to the tempera- 

 ture of the air, oiuht to be taken into account when the 

 possibility of cultivation in a given place has to be 

 ascertained. Comptes rendus. 



Home Correspondence. 



Garden Irrigation.— On a former occasion I cursorily 

 noticed the use made of a tank for water in foreign 

 gardens for the purpose of irrigation. The increased 

 adoption in this country of the system on a large soale 

 to farm lands, In ^ests its application to the garden, 

 which is generally foremost in all minute improvements. 

 An abundant and conveniently placed supply of water is 

 of itself of first consequence; and there is, moreover, 

 such a prospect of an increased produce as to induce 

 owners of gardens to have it brought in on a regular 

 system. I will note down what occurs to me on the 

 subject. The sources of supply of water, and the best 

 means of bringing it in are the first consideration. If it 

 can be got so as to fill a cistern at a higher level than 

 the garden wall, it will be best. It will in many cases 

 be proper to consider the supply in connection with the 

 house, particularly if the sewer can be taken to the 

 garden, in which case the water is returned with inte- 

 rest, and the same level or the same power might be 

 made to serve both house and garden. Very few houses 

 are fully supplied with water beyond the every day 

 requirements, while in the case of fire or flushing the 

 drains provision is seldom made. The supply may be 

 obtained from springs, small streams, ponds, or drain- 

 age, and rain-water might be collected to help other 

 sources. The quality of the water should first be inves- 

 tigated. The reservoir, of course, should be in propor- 

 tion to the space to be irrigated, and the nearer the 

 garden the better, as water may be conveyed to the 

 stem in open cuts, but in most cases it must be in pipes 

 from it to the garden. If the reservoir can be made in 

 the ground and well y -uddled with clay it is the best ; 

 but generally one requires to be made of iron, slate, or 

 wood ; and at the back of the garden wall, forming the 

 roof of some shed, appears to be a very suitable position. 

 Both ingenuity and taste will be brought into play in 

 arranging the cistern or reservoir. If mixings of 

 manures are to be made it would be well to have a 

 second cistern for the purpose on nearly a similar level; 

 a small stage, and steps to* it, will be necessary. The 

 most efficacious method of applying artificial manures will 

 probably be found to be to let on the water between the 

 plants, then apply to each its modicum, and again the 

 water. The nigh level gives the command of the water 

 for wall trees and standards, as v II as of every part of 

 the garden ; and if it be necessary to use labour to force 

 up the water at all, it will save it by sending it up at 

 once to the necessary height. If the supply is just above 

 the level of the garden the foreign fashion of a brick 

 tank with sluice and open gutters, having a projecting 

 roof over it supported by pillars, around and over which 

 creepers and flowers are trained, will answer most pur- 

 poses, and form an ornamental object. The main pipe 

 from the reservoir should be of ample size and be laid 

 along the most central part, and from it branches will 

 be carried into the chief compartments of the garden • 

 cocks with screwed nozzles have to be placed at frequent 

 intervals, to which hose can be attached, and thus a 

 stream can be directed to any part of the garden. The 

 pipes sbjmid be laid at the sides of the walks and out of 

 the rea<* of spades. They would be the better for being 

 placed m some non-conducting substance. When the 

 supply of water is below the level, means must be used 

 to force it up. " 



'tied 

 The 



22£ inches long, 7 4 inches in circumference, and w 

 2 lbs. 12 ozs. Both had the flower on the end. 

 flesh was solid and excellent, and the surface so even 

 that scarcelv any waste took place in paring them.] 



Popular Natural History.— The more elementary a 

 work may be upon any subject, the more scrupulous 

 ought the author to be in the correctness of his teach- 

 ing. An advanced scholar may detect an error and 

 avoid it, but a beginner is not always able to do so, 

 and false knowledge is worse than no knowledge at all ; 

 you lose the time occupied in gaining it as well as in 

 unlearning it. Till late years books published on 

 natural history were notoriously disfigured by the 

 marvellous; " I have heard " usurped the place of "I 

 have seen." Nor are modern works entirely free from 

 these objections. I have no pretensions to the critic 

 in natural history ; but when I meet with a statement 

 which will not bear investigating by the ordinary pro- 

 cess of analogical reasoning, I set it down as untrue 

 until I see reason to change my opinion. Some time ago 

 I spent an afternoon in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's 

 Park. To economise time I purchased the sixpenny 

 guide book having a plan of the gardens. This,by-the-bye, 

 I would recommend every stranger to do who wishes to 

 save his legs and his time. Subsequently, in turning 

 over the pages of this book, I met with the following 

 passage : — " Here also will be found the brush turkey 

 of Australia (Talegalla Lathami), the representative of 

 a limited but most singular group of birds, which are 

 inhabitants of Australia, New Guinea, and a few of the 

 adjacent islands of the Indian Archipelago. They are 

 all remarkable, like the brush Turkey, for the great 

 strength of their feet. The peculiar function to which 

 this structure is directed is discernible in the history of 

 their reproduction. Instead of making a nest, they 

 scratch together enormous mounds of leaves and earth, 

 in which they bury their eggs, to be matured by the heat 

 of fermentation. As soon as the chicken leaves the 

 shell, it excavates a way to light by means of its strong 

 and well-developed feet ; and then, it seems, the mother 

 bird, guided by unerring instinct to await this moment, 

 receives her young, and commences the actual duties 

 of parental care." Now, does any body in the r 

 senses believe this % Fancy a young bird just warm 

 from the shell, with tender feet and legs, scratching its 

 way out from* under an * enormous " mass of fermenting 

 leaves and earth I But further comment is needless. 

 Though the able secretary's name is on the title page 

 no one will do him the injustice to believe that he wrote 

 this passage. It would, however, have been well if 

 he had corrected the proof-sheet. While on the subject 

 of natural history I may allude to a statement in a 

 recent part of the * The English Cyclopaedia," in the 

 article on the Pheasant, in which Mr. Selby is quoted 

 as saying "that the bulk of the garden Tulip is an 

 article of diet which the pheasant omits no opportunitv 

 of obtaining, and which, however deeply buried, the 

 bird is almost certain to reach by means of its bill and 

 feet." Now I happen to live in one of the best situations 

 possible for testing the truth of this. My house 

 is close to, in fact in the midst of a pheasant pre- 

 serve. In the front is a small lawn, on which 

 in the spring of the year, and in fact at almost any 

 time, in the morning several pheasants may be observed 

 picking among the Grass ; and so tame are they that, 

 much to my cost, they can with difficulty be driven 

 away. On this lawn, for two seasons, I had a bed of 

 Tulips ; but not a bulb was touched by the pheasants. 

 Many a time have I seen three or four fine fellows 



canadensis, Jnni>^TSSS^S == SrT - 

 japomcum, at best doubtful character, w ^ ib *^ 

 and are growing freely, while dnnM ? 

 Furze bushes are killed to the ^ound / v\ - 

 A Country Gardened Vintfo Zd^'iS^ 

 times thought that a great part of thTC ■ 

 ledge in and about London is kent t T* ** 

 strait-jacket. No doubt many a working 

 like the writer of this article, has found mL 1 

 in botanical studies after the labours ^2 C 



over, and would be glad of anv oniwn*,."-*^ 6 **? *+ 



withi,^ 



stock of knowledge. 



open 



I visited London some time ago, I hurried &U* 

 place to place, as my time there was of »hori2L • - 

 One day I came to what might be called a trinL T*** 

 garden namely, a hedge, a paling, and the p£! 

 I saw tallies with scientific names upon J " W~" 

 would defy them that ran to read them, and itwJEZ 

 * i-«le dangerous at times to be p^pin* thiZF 



ng or making long necks to ascertain ^Hft!! 

 told the passer by ; but I thought there would be **C 

 passage somewhere, and that I would come oat % 

 informed person than when I went in - but what I 

 came to a wide entrance I found that it waa too Mm, 

 for me to enter. I was told that it required % * 

 order from a member, and that there were mortth* 

 thousand of them ; but I might as well have rata V 

 a lost needle in a truss of hay as found one of thai 

 It was of no use telling that I was a stranger from Sew. 

 land, that I was a gardener whose stay was to be abort 

 I mentioned names, the reply was " Not at 

 They appeared to be as closely shut up as the cotyletei 

 of the Windsor Bean in its leathery integunafc [ 

 turned about not very well pleased, thinking npoB 

 dog Cerberus with three heads, the fabled keeper 

 Pluto's palace, wishing no doubt that AuU Nict wnM 

 not be at home when any poor wight came 

 dwelling, and I felt somewhat vexed at the thought t 

 I would get more botanical knowledge within 

 ring fence on a Scotch moor than I could 

 fr 





around the bed ; both when the bulbs were recently 

 planted and when the leaves were just peeping from 



tlia caJI ««rl :„ £~~L -.x _U . r n - r . ° . _ 



a metropolitan botanic garden. I got mm 

 easily into another garden, which I learned ifie 

 I got within was Kensington Gardens. We an ' 

 somewhere that George Don, by order of the C 

 missioners of Woods and Forests, correc named 4 

 the trees and shrubs supplied to St. James's Park awl 

 Kensington Gardens. I ventured to speak to one man 



who was examining the state of the tallies in the arte- 

 return. I expected to get some information from fc 

 on the subject about which he was employed, tat be 

 confessed that he knew nothing at all about bote ; 

 he told me, however, that it was the best arboretum m 

 England. I had my doubts, however, about the si 

 ment, and thought that a person so employed, who ktev 

 nothing about botany or the naming of plants, might aooi 

 derange the best named collection of plants in exist- 

 ence. My next disappointment was at the Britiai 

 Museum. I purchased " a hand-book guide for visitors,* 

 and glancing over the divisions of the book my ejt 

 caught " Gallery of Natural History "which I found wm 

 in five divisions; the first on the list was the "Bo* 

 nical Museum/' In that noble building, with its rich col- 

 lections of the works of God and man, there is B» 

 | to attract the attention of those who visit it for the m 

 time, and the statue of Sir Joseph Banks and the ^por- 

 trait of Sir Hans Sloane put one in mind ^ * el ||* 

 nical museum ; but my search for it was something ate 

 the gentleman who was seen poring over the map 

 world for the kingdom of Lilliput. 



i„i j u- *.. ":„ * ..«.«; J a . iiftnl- Another tfl» 



After some m 



t - 1 ? l steam en 8 ine is the bes t> ^less 

 you are favoured by a stream to drive a small water- 



wneel. Bat both the various other purposes to which 



Wtn ^ P 77K mi f ht . be a PP lied >»ad the means of 



S?fi? • - 7 tl l e fire and boiler seem t0 folate 

 that the engine is preferable. When the water has to 



come any considerable distance in pipes, air vessels are 

 necessary to ensure a regular flow. In the whole 

 wrangement there need be nothing complicated, but it 

 will be safer to obtain the advice of some one conversant 

 m such matters, than to trust to the plumber or 

 gardener, however well informed in their own imnie- 

 aiate departments. F. 



PmpaaOras s .-0\^TyiDgmmy inquiries during the 

 Past year for information respecting the locality of the 

 3™*nam argenteum, I wrote to a friend in Monte 



ailm g him t0 collect me some of A c seeds, 



Tm^hJT « he P l eaSUre to 8tate that * sha11 r€Cei ™ 

 ^osUmri", T *i. Ship fr ° m that *> lace > whe » I shall 

 Wver to P L°f d,S ^ bute thera ' Thi9 P lant » ^t, 

 vXo;bu^ ^vJrl Tm the nd «hbourhood of Monte 



of the provide ^ ■***« P-t 



in a rather wet toil tj y r f 8 ^ Xt ,s most la *uriant 

 JwJS l * W? * Woodcock, Manchester, 



the soil, and, in fact, at all stages of their growth ; and I 

 am sure that if the birds had any great liking for Tulip 

 fare they would have helped themselves. I have, I am 

 sorry to say, but few things in my garden, culinary or 

 otherwise, that pheasants or rabbits will not readily 

 eat ; but I can safely say that Tulips are amone the 

 exceptions. G. W. L. B 



Paulovnia im.perialis —The flowering of the Paulovnia 

 in this country is now likely to become a common 

 occurrence. You mentioned its having done so this 

 season in a recent Number of your Paper, and I have 

 lately seen a specimen some 20 feet high in the grounds 

 of H. Kingscote, Esq., at Sandgate, with flowers fully 

 expanded, and there are others in this neighbourhood. 

 A sight of the plant mentioned suggests the propriety 

 (especially for small places), of growing it more in the 

 form of a bu*b, that its beauty and fragrance may be 

 more accessible. In all probability age is all that is 

 required in order to secure a yearly supply of bloom in 

 favourable localities. The small extra degree of heat 

 during last autumn does not appear to roe to sufficiently 

 account for the unusual supply of blossom this 

 spring ; at least, I would claim for 



was told that the * Botanical Museum " was 

 plete and not open to the public. P.Macto 



irCOC 



IM 





Flcan, . . .|_ 



Oak Grafted on a Willow.— I hare been u"** 1 ' 

 a gentleman who has lately been in France «■»•" 

 in the garden of Le Petit Trianon a grafted w^ 

 the stock of which was said to be Willow, ««M*L 

 was done by Napoleon I. I wish to know *&""«FL 

 think this possible ; and if you have no cerwa 

 mation, I beg the favour fof an inqmrf ^"f^U 

 columns. J. J. M., Leysters. [surely you do not w-- 

 in such a preposterous absurdity. Your tne 



be less credulous.] ^ T --^ tfe 



Mistletoe on the Oah— Speaking to Ur. <J -^ 

 discoverer of vaccination, of the Mwtlewe m ^ 

 and remarking that I had never seen that pan ^ 

 Apple trees and sometimes on the i»» . „, 

 Mountain Ash, he said he had seen one .^,J^. 

 growing on an Oak in the forest of Dean, in " $ ^ 

 shire. Dr. Jenner was, as is well MO ^^ 

 accurate observer and good naturalist , n ^ ^ ^ 

 its rarity and uncongenial habitat the c * u fcjgj. 



'•pholoyy. 



V * ; ■ ■ 



rh f' * 



•red* . 



Gigantic Cucumber*.- 

 rs, Lynch's Star of 

 . Gennains' eardem 



forward a brace of Cucum 



your opinion respecting ZZ^Tpt J obli « ed 

 Plymouth. [Of 1 these 8 one w^Jta^*"?' **<* 



in circumference, and ^%£$1*%J 



dented dryness of the preceding 1 8 months some ofThe 

 merit of producing such a result, and would press its 



!!"!l < !f!'!! i ^. 0n J U J ?!). aS J 1 *™ ? he cb * r g* of valuable „«« oi uwn: «,,*. * - ~~ -.v. ,. -rf^ps J*- 



being in a great measurein their r thlnk'it'worth while'to" notice it. J° hn ^ ! °^ «**>• 



[Such cases are not uncommon. i» J g ^ i* 



■ 



out of their tops. 



I do not knowi 



01 



fgards 



own hands, while that relating to heat is altogether 

 beyond their control. Perfect drainage, high or surface 



ins. 



planting, benefit by the dryness thereby conferred, and 

 might be carried still further by rendering (during the 

 ramy season at least) the ground for gome distance 

 around valuable specimens waterproof, feeling assured 



t Sl m ? a9C ° f -YT b0rdCT8 > &c ->> th * trouble 



ZZ\ ^S!/ mp3 [ K epa,d - by - the Paction of firmer 

 wood, that would be easier ripened, and less liable to be 



acted upon by frost. The severity of the past winter 



has here produced some strange effects. The Pinus 



metamorphosed branch.] 



U*** 



Stocks V. Scions.- AWow me to « k J. * ^WjJ 

 practical horticultural and noriculturai ^^ ^ a 



lowing questions. 



I. Would a 





mid W*!L al 



or sufficient shoots, suckers, or w , be gjo 



destroy in any unlimited period ot vm tf 

 such graft, and resume its ong.^ » "J^ or «f ** 

 T,~*Unt*A a nH loft to its own growtn w 



J 



