kjBQi c 4, IS 



THE GARDEN I R 



own 



H 



. mo, an. I Parmelia ptrlata at 190/. r.» 225/. But the 

 worl'i may l>e said to be an open field ; in every 

 io every soil, at almost every elevation, and in all 

 tinctorial species grow, and even luxuriate. 

 OTW ern Europe, in Scandinavia, and even in our 

 Highlands and Islands, many such species are 

 aidant, and might surely be collected at a rate so 

 is to render it remunerative for the manufacturer 

 employ our destitute Highlanders in gathering 

 ifcpnj. Moreover, in connection with the development 

 «f the economical applications of Lichens, it is not unim- 

 portant to bear iu mind that many species contain such 

 ill imoant of starchy matter as to become, or to furnish 

 excellent articles of food ; many are used as fodder for 

 cattle, tome are eaten in Iceland and arctic countries, 

 md one, at least, is frequently used in the making of 

 jellies in this country. I need only here allude, in con- 

 firmation of this statement, to the Cetraria islandica, or 

 « Iceland Moss' of our shops ; the Gyrophora or < tripe 

 de rocbe' of the arctic regions, whereby the lives of 

 many intrepid travellers have been preserved ; the 

 Lecanora esculenta, a kind of Manna, peculiar to the 



of Tartary, and the Cluo'onia rai^iierina, or 



familiar * Reindeer Moss* of Lapland. On the moun- 

 tain of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, species of Leca- 

 . liyrophora, Umbilicaria, and Isidium, capable of 

 yielding fine qualities of orchil, cudbear, and litmus are 

 more or less abundant. While the cudbear manufacture 

 flourished in Leith and Glasgow, the Lecanora tartarea, 

 from which it was prepared, was collected to a great 

 extent in our Western Highlands and islands, but with 

 the transference of this manufacture into the hands of 

 ]_gliah orchil makers, this source of remunerative 

 employment to our poor Highlanders suddenly ceased 

 tad this Lichen is now chiefly or wholly imported from 

 Norway and Sweden for the London market. The 

 Talue of this Lichen in Scotland is said to have averaged 

 10t per ton. Hooker states that, at Fort Augustus 

 in 1807, a person could gain lis. per week by 

 collecting it, estimating its market price at 3s. Ad. per 

 Stone m 22 lbs. Pennant records it as an article of 

 commerce about Taymouth in Perthshire. Miss 

 Roberts mentions its having been collected in North 

 Wales at \{d. per lb. for the London market ; and it 

 appears also to have been largely gathered in Derby- 

 shire, the price there given to the collector, who could 

 gather 20 to 30 lbs. per day, being Id. per lb. The re- 

 introduction of this trade or means of employment might 

 be a great boon to the Highlanders, who have, within 

 the last few years, been deprived of another source of 

 remunerative labour and comfortable sustenance,— the 

 collection of 'Kelp' or < Sea- wrack' on our rocky and 

 Stormy western coasts, and whom dire necessity now 

 compels to transfer their energies to foreign lands." 

 He then made observations on the mode of collecting 

 i-Khens their mode of transport, and the mode of 

 mbng the colorific value, and of evolving the colouring 

 jS^f*?* finally, lie gave tabular views showing the 

 wiel dye-Lichens applied by the peasants of various 

 countries to the dyeing of stockings, yarn, woollen stuffs, 



CHRONICLE 



i February last a generally low t< mrerature7~wkh eaat 



and north-east winds, prevailed during two weeks Phi 

 following list of plants injured or killed in the Belfast 

 Garden during last winter has been made out by the 

 curator, Mr. Ferguson — Pi nus maerophylla, much in- 

 jured, 12 feet high ; P. apulcen^i s killed, 8 feet hH, • 

 P. patula, much injured, 6 feet high ; P. pseudo-Strobe 

 Slightly injured, 7 feet high ; P. Devonians, much in- 

 jured, 2| feet high ; P. Kuaeelliana, browned ; P 

 palustns, killed ; Abies Brunoniana, killed ; A. Jezo- 

 ensis, killed ; (upressus funebris, north side killed ; C. 

 Uhdeana, much injured ; C. elegans, killed ; C. mexi 

 cana, killed ; C. torulosa, one killed, and the other 

 much injured ; C. lusitanica, killed ; Junioerus macro. 



feet high ; baxe-othcea conspicua, killed, 4 feet high • 

 Cephalotaxus Fortuni, not injured in the least, whereas 

 the large-leaved variety has suffered very much • Erica 

 arborea, killed, 10 feet high. For the sake of com- 

 parison, it may be interesting to insert here the follow- 

 ing report by the late Mr. Templeton, of Oranmore 

 respecting the severe winter of HU3-14, as reported in 

 the "Belfast Magazine" for that vear :— « V.burnum 

 Tinus, Cistus ladaniferus, C. creticus, Erica arborea 

 E. austral is, E. mediterranea, Ulex Euivpons, the 

 common and Portugal Laurels, in many place* were 

 killed to the ground or had their prong branches de- 

 stroyed. Edwardsia microphylla and i oronilla glauca 

 which, trained against a wall, had stood the frost of 

 several winters, are either killed to the ground, or 

 have their branches of two or three years killed, Caly- 

 canthus praecox, Pyrus japonica, and Corchorus jape- 

 nicus, have passed the winter in the open ground 

 Timber trees suffered greatly, especially the Oaks' 

 which were split with great violence. \Valnut. Ash 

 and other trees had their last year's shoots killed. The 

 frost began in November; on December 29, the ther- 

 mometer fell to 7° F." 6. Account of the origin and 

 of some of the contents of the Museum of Economic 

 Botany attached to the Royal Botanic Garden of Edin- 

 burgh. By Professor Balfour. 



51 



cestoid 

 nnd hi 



MtO!.' U8JH gutria. hiz 



enil ryos of all higher animals 



i uioarv co! n.is are 

 ice, and the chit nous oo» 



oiiuu iu }K>lyg*stra 



i in ^s of insects and 



crustaceans havs a much closer reseir. ance to l.gneotu 



nore than to proper animal tissues. The presence of 



starch , 8 of itself quite inadequate as a grout of dia- 



tmction even were it proved ,.. f, „ |iai .. tl , ^ „_, 



wi h?» f ^ the " ,lur b,u,d ' nit «i«» ooibiLet 



with earbo,, and hyarogen to constitute the chief tissues 



of the sponges, al-te, and fungi. The* exhale carbonic 

 acid like well-organised animals, and the poW»*ria 

 exhale oxygen lik typical plants. «~» 



th'JltV fi 6 ? -" Upa r° f < * ar,lcter8 ** are eeMotial to 



he true definition of a plant an.l an animal interdisi- 

 tate so to speak, m that low dep:n nnent of die oreauic 

 world from which the two great l-rauches rise and 

 diverge. Every naturalist or physiologist is at liberty 

 of course, to adopt any one of the characters that have 



>een supposed to divide the t«,» kit loms ; but the 

 boundary, so defined, will be artificial, and each different 

 character w,l isecf the debateablc ground in a different 

 latitude „f the organic world." 



This extr t is not only very interesting in itself but 

 furnishes a good example of the philosophical spirit in 



which the subjec: is here treated through above '.00 

 pages. ^ 



tbi and 

 tod bear 



•fossil state 



^ege, Cork. 

 Wain trees a 



hri 



tmus. 3. On Diatomacese found in a 

 Dumfriesshire, by E. Harkness, Queen's 

 4. Notice of the time of flowering of 



ng the past month, by Mr. M'Nab. 



Name. 



Pnun » avium ... 



W,:* J? T l sn *' DM - Flowered 

 Pwil i chmtnsi « (on wall) 



*** d ^estica, Service tree 



ooccme 



2*2? *«cupari 



■ « 



First flower 



observed 



open. 



When in full 

 flower. 



••• 



* •• 



• . . 



•f . 



•t • 



• • i 



•• 



tit 



w (varieties) 



*?acantha 



• •■ 



• •• 



• • • 



• ■ . 



• t . 



* t » 



- . • 



t • 



• • • 



• • s 



• •- 



• ■ • 



• • . 



• • 



• •• 



• «• 



• • • 



May 

 it 



IT 

 it 



it 

 n 



M 



June 



It 



3) 



tt 

 It 

 )t 

 It 

 »• 



o 



1 



5 



18 



20 



23 



27 



28 



28 



28 



30 



1 



1 



2 



3 

 4 



8 

 9 



12 

 12 

 13 



May 20 

 „ 23 



June 8 

 10 



9 



8 



9 



8 



7 



8 



12 



14 



12 



10 



13 



20 



20 



20 



20 



25 



Tt 

 It 



n 



tt 

 it 

 yi 

 it 

 it 

 it 

 n 

 it 



it 



it 



n 

 n 

 ii 



Mrtut* of Books, 



Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of 

 ! the Invertebrate Animals. By R. Owen, F.R.8, 



2d edition. 8vo, pp. 689, with numerous woodcuts. 

 The name of the author of this important book is an 

 ample guarantee for its being learned, able, and con- 

 scientious. Nowhere, indeed, will the reader find the 

 interesting facts belonging to the lower forms of animals 

 more amply or more philosophically explained than in ] 

 the pages before us. They, however, relate but in a 

 slight degree to the subjects properly included within 

 our own field of discussion ; and we can only recom- 

 mend the careful study of Professor Owen's admirable 

 work to all who are desirous of familiarising themselves 

 with those progressive stages of animal life which stop 

 only when the principal nervous system occupies the 

 centre of a bony column, vertebra, or backbone. 



One point, however, namely the difference that exists 

 between plants and animals, may arrest our attention for 

 a moment. We need not say that the distinctions 

 which naturalists once thought they had found, such as 

 locomotion, nitrogenous compounds, respiration, volition, 

 perception, spontaneous action, have one by one given 

 way before the march of investigation, so that no one 

 can now say that a living body is an animal and not a 

 plant because it moves from place to place, gives out 

 ammonia, respires carbonic acid, obeys the impulse of 

 its will, or perceives what passes around it, and regu- 

 lates its movements accordingly. These properties 

 belong, or appear to belong, to some plants as well as 

 to animals, or are deficient in some animals as well as 



But when the naturalist broke down the 



Garden Memoranda. 



HoRTiruTURAL Society's Garden, Turnham Grken. 

 —In one of t sto l which are now gay with A chi- 

 nienes, Begonia*, Orchids, &c , the new plant called 

 I vdaea gigantea was in (lower. Whan we say that its 

 blossoms s» much resemble thoee of Achimenes picta 

 as to be scar v distinguishable from them, some idea 

 may be formed of what it looks like ; its foliage, how- 

 ever, has none of tln.se silvery markings about it which 

 thatot the last-named plant possesses. It appears to 

 be a free flowerer, and to have the advantage of a rather 

 more robust constitution than the Achimenes. In one 

 of the greenhouses Platycodon chinen s was coming 

 beautifully into flower ; though hardy this well deserves 

 a place under glass, for when in full blossom what can 

 be h.u. Isomer, 1{S colour and appearance forcibly re- 

 minding one of the Russell Lisianth, with which it may 

 well be ranked. Another hardy plant in the same 

 house worthy of notice was the well known Lilium 

 chalcedomcum, whose waxy orange red blossoms con- 

 trasted well both in shape and colour with those of 

 its associates. Impatiens Jerdoni® was also here 

 covered with showy blossoms remarkable as much 

 for the singularity of their shape as for the brilliancy 

 of their colour. Few plants of recent introduction 

 promise to give more satisfaction than this Balsam. 



The Rose house is again as gay as it well can be 

 with flowers, which belong to a second crop this season, 

 and there is every project of there now being abund- 

 ance of blooms in it all through the autumn. The 

 plants being clean and healthy are much admired by all 

 who visit the garden. 

 In the great 



*£*inu* ornug 



* lC?lw the £ ffects of Iwt winter upon pknin in 



"*^V ^Ki* 1 "? Garden > Belfast, by Dr. Dickie. The 



•^metpJ 7 ii , B the lowesfc P oint to which the 

 ll «■ taken f ng the m0Dth of February, 1855. 



Bel^_ u Irom a register kept at Queen's College, 



(meter fc 





Date. Min. 



Date. Min. F. 



15 ... 13.0 F. 



22 ... 27.0 



16 ... 19.0 



23 ... 30.0 



17 ... 20.0 



24 ... 24.4 



18 ... 17.0 



25 ... 34.0 



19 ... 21.5 



26 ... 34.0 



20 ... 22.0 



27 ... 34.0 



21 ... 27.0 



28 ... 37.4 



Maxim 



i 



Mean Minim 



27.7 



Amnt.of Rain. 

 1.690 



[ "*■ on th* 

 Si the tk^™ JOin > viz., 13° R In 1845, on March 



*»a 



,Tf, tnat tne absolute lowest tempera- 



-wrmnJ * * Viz *' 13 ° R In 1845 > on March 

 T *n lower l ter in the Botanic Garden indicated 



i in l«5o, was greater, because in 



vatory were beautiful examples of 

 the blue and white Tracheliums, which though little 

 better than annuals are very showy at this season of 

 the year, and on that account should not be lost sight 

 of by persons who have plant-houses to keep M dressy." 

 The large Brugmansias have been cut ■ hard in," in 

 order to keep them within bounds, and to clean them and 

 prepare them for another crop of flowers. The Orange 

 Cestrum is just coming freely into blossom. This we 

 need scarcely say should be in every conservatory 

 where there is room for it ; for, when well flowered, 

 nothing can be more ornamental. The beautiful Chry- 

 santhemums which are so much admired in this house 

 every year about Christmas have just been shifted out 

 of their cutting pots into larger ones. They are grown 

 three in a pot, and when shifted are spread out as much 

 as possible, to make them fill the pots, and let air and 

 light into the centre of the plants. 



Among plants out of doors, annuals are now in full 

 beauty. The more remarkable, new, or little known 

 kinds were Iberia contracta, a lilac Candytuft, which 

 will doubtless be a favourite ; a double Sunflower, 

 which does not rise at most above 2 feet in height ; a 

 dwarf very dark-coloured Nasturtium, a free- flowering 

 and very handsome scarlet Aioosoa called Warsewiczi, 

 Escholtzia tenuifolia, Messrs. Vei tea's WhitJavia grandi- 

 flora, and Cacalia sonchifolia, which makes a showy bed 

 of orange flowers. 



Other novelties, in the shape of young plants raised 

 from seeds furnished by Mr. Skinner and others, were a 

 Rondeletia, reported to have orange and yellow flowers ; 

 a Geophila, said to bear handsome ultramarine-coloured 

 seeds ; a white Centradenia, called Skinneri ; Rhexia 

 glandulosa, a pretty plant with rose-coloured flowers • 

 Tecoma velulma, called "Bucaro" by the natives, by 

 whom it is much prized for its luxuriance and beauty - 

 a Mexican Begonia, and other plants, which shall be 

 Mimosa pudica and I more fully noticed hereafter. Among new trees raised 

 the Dionasa muscipula, as to which the statement that | from seed was an Ash from the Alma, apparently 

 such movements were destined solely for the furtherance ; Fraxinus lentiscifolia ; the Californian Plane tree, and a 

 of formative operations, would be purely gratuitous, quantity of American Oaks of different kinds the'acorns 

 Locomotion also crosses the supposed line, and is an j of which were collected and presented to the' Society by 

 endowment of the embryos or spores of the sea-weeds. Mr. Frederick Rowe. 



On the other hand, the rooting or fixation of the The orchard -house is every day becoming more inter- 

 organism is continued upwards from the vegetable esting. Some of the trees have borne good crops, all 

 kingdom into the Radiate, the Articulate, and the Mol- have made wood satisfactorily, and are in excellent 

 luscous divisions of the animal kingdom. The cellular j health. Some of the little Nutmeg Peaches an 

 and cellulo-vascular forms of the assimilative ccvity, j beginning to colour, and Fairchild's Early Nectarine is 

 common to plants and sponges, is repeated in the j swelling rapidly. The Stanwick has also good sized 



in plants. _ # -- _. — „ 



barriers once thought to separate the vegetable and 

 animal kingdoms, he failed to construct others in their 

 room, and is now compelled to avow that they pass 

 into each other by such insensible gradations that no 

 man can say where one begins and the other ends. 

 Let us hear what Professor Owen has to say upon this 

 curious topic : — 



"Thus, after reviewing the different characters by 

 which it has been attempted to distinguish the special 

 subjects of the botanist and zoologist, we find that 

 neither sensation and motion, the internal assimilating 

 cavity, the respiratory products, the chemical constitu- 

 tion of the tissues, nor the source of nutriment, abso- 

 lutely and unequivocally define the boundary between 

 the animal and vegetable kingdoms. We can only 

 recognise the plant or animal when a certain number of 

 their supposed characteristics are combined together. 



" An internal assimilated cavity, whether in the form 

 of cells, canals, or bags, is essential to all. The move- 

 ment of a part, when. stimulated, is a property continued 

 from the higher organised forms far down into those 

 that manifest the combined characteristics of the 







