Oct. 13, 1855.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



I i 



"ible and then to exclude the action of the outward 

 air and rain. The circumstances of the case will best 

 indicate what is the most proper course to pursue ; 

 sometimes where the cavity is small, it may be filled 

 vith some cement which will exclude moisture, or it 

 mav be closed with a plate of metal ; or as a temporary 

 remedy, where it is hoped that the fractured surface 

 may soon be grown over, paint or varnish or some other 

 anti-corrosive application may be used. Judicious 

 measures will often be attended by success, and I could 

 now point out a tree which was carefully tended more 

 than 40 years ago, though then in a very dilapidated 

 state, which is still at this present time in a fruitful 

 condition, and may remain so many years longer. It 

 does not, however, always follow that it is best to cover 

 the cavity. Every one knows how slow the process of 

 decay is in certain cases, where the cavity is subjected 

 to a free current of air, while there is no lodgement of 

 wet, and in some cases, as in the Elm, the surest remedy 

 consists in some external outlet for the decomposed 

 matter. M. J. B. 



i 



PROTECTING MATERIALS. 



My foreman, who is a very intelligent man, prognos- 

 ticates another hard winter ; he says that severe winters 

 .alwajs occur in groups of three or four together; there- 

 fore we are to have one or two more hard winters. 

 He is as confident in this opinion as though he had the 

 .gift of prophecy, and really looking to my own expe- 

 rience, I am half afraid there is some truth in the 

 matter, which makes me shrug up my shoulders rather 

 ominously, for besides the crops here in the open 

 ground being sadly thinned last winter, I had; a con- 

 siderable quantity of glass structures at work, forcing 

 «arly Grapes, &c, and I do not want another J winter 

 season for trouble, anxiety, and coal bills, like the last. 

 It has set me thinking upon what every one of any expe- 

 rience feels to be, if not the great want, at least a great 

 want of the gardening craft, an effective material for and 

 method of covering up and protecting pits, frames, hot- 

 houses, &c. How often have I in a sharp frosty night 

 when the thermometer outside the forcing-house indi- 

 cated 15° or 20° of frost, and in the house 60° or 65° 

 *(and a roaring fire to keep it there, too), stood and 

 imagined I saw the whole of the glass covered with an 

 effective protecting material, so that one might see all 

 covered up warm, with a moderate slow-burning fire, 

 and retire to rest feeling assured that all would be safe 

 till the morning, come what weather there might. One 

 great evil in many of our forcing-houses is a deficiency 

 of piping ; all forcing structures should be so heated that 

 there should be no necessity to work the apparatus so 

 ■hard ; the great desideratum, however, is not the put- 

 ting so much fire heat in, but to prevent so much going 

 out ; some effective protection is very much wanted for 

 cold pits for wintering the numberless half-hardy 



plants in. 



I have often thought that the forcing of early vege- 

 tables, Lettuces, Radishes, Carrots, Turnips, Potatoes, 

 Ac, might be carried on on a much larger scale than 

 it is at present, for the large supply which we have from 

 the Continent, being readily sold at high prices, proves 

 that there would be an extensive sale for such articles 

 if they could be sold at a moderate price. I imagine 

 that they could be grown almost, if not quite as well, 

 under an opaque covering as under gla^s, for nine 

 times out of 10, when the weather is not frosty, all 

 coverings are best off', and when it is frosty the plants 

 do not want light ; if a'glass frame, which now costs 

 12s. , could be supplanted by one costing 2s. or 3a., a 

 great point would be gained. 



Now what have we in the shape of protecting mate- 

 rials ? Basfc mats, I suppose, are as old as any, but 

 every one knows that one is of very little use against a 

 .sharp frost. Two mats are not sufficient, and when 

 they get frozen they are very awkward and difficult to 

 put on or take off; besides two mats thick costs too 

 much, as they will not last more than one season. Some 

 ■ttse two mats with a layer of hay or straw between them 

 fastened in with twine, so that they look like a mattress, 

 ■and this is a very effective covering when dry, but when 

 wet and frozen it is the worst of all. 



Straw mats are a very cheap and good article, but 

 they do not last long, and they lack one essential point 

 of a good protection, viz. they are not waterproof. They 

 freeze on, and when wet are heavy and soon rot. Reed 

 mats are more durable, but when saturated with water 

 they are very heavy, and in many places they cost more 

 than many might imagine. I am of opinion that no 

 . material will be found suitable for general use that is 

 not waterproof. I need say little about loose straw ; 

 it is a very effective covering when the weather is 

 calm ; but a cutting east wind in half an hour often 

 blows it ail off where it is wanted, and carries it where 

 it will take all the next day to clear it up again. There 

 can be no question, I think, that all these articles are 

 very defective, and with them I must class Frigi Domo ; 

 to say that it is a perfect non-conductor and keeps a 

 fixed temperature where it is applied, is quite a mistake. 

 Those who have tried it have decided that as a protec- 

 tive material it is about equal to a single mat. 



Canvas made waterproof is employed by a few, but 

 its expense is against its general use : when kept some 

 distance from the gia^s, so as to have a body of confined 

 Air beneath it, it is a most effective covering ; but it has 

 some serious drawbacks ; it is very awkward to put on 

 or take off unless it is on rollers ; and even then, when 

 most wanted, viz. during alternate frosts and thaw, 

 sometimes you cannot roll it up ; at other times you 



cannot get it down. I conceive it must be at times very 

 troublesome ; but I confess that I do not speak of it from 

 experience. It is a mistake to think that a protecting 

 material must be flexible. There will always be a dif- 

 ficulty in using it when most wanted in bad weather, 

 and all waterproof textiles, if strong, cost too much. 

 For this purpose some stiff substance, if it could be 

 made light enough would, 1 think, be much the best, 

 the facility in taking off and putting on being so much 

 greater and surer. Asphalte felt, no doubt, makes a 

 good covering, and I wonder it has not been more used 

 for that purpose; but its cost has been against it — not the 

 price of the felt, but it requires a frame with several 

 bars to fix it on, and then it must be coated with 

 tar, lime, and sand, so that by the time it is finished, it 

 has cost nearly the price of a wooden shutter, which 

 perhaps would be better. Wooden shutters are very 

 effective, but very dear ; 6j., 8a., and even 10s. in some 

 places for a single shutter will always prevent them 

 from being used. What we want is a cheap light water- 

 proof covering, which could be easily applied. I have 

 been trying various things for some time, and think I 

 have made an advance ; but I should like to see this 

 matter freely discussed, for perhaps necessity has given 

 birth to some idea which may be of benefit to us all. 

 Let us hope that something will be done before this 

 winter sets in. Economy. 



NEW GARDEN FERNS.— No. V. 



^ephrodium venustum, Heward MS. AsrimuM 

 venustum, Heward, Mag. Nat. Hist, 1833. 



Fronds glabrous lanceolate, pinnato-pinnatifid ; pinnte alternate, 

 narrow linear lanceolate, sessile, or, the lower very shortly 

 stalked; segments roundish oblong-obtuse subfalcate; sori 

 Bubmarginal; rachis stellato-tomentoi-e in front. 



This is a handsome free growing Fern of considerable 

 size, the fronds being from 2 to 3 feet long, and from 

 7 to 10 inches broad. They are quite smooth and 

 shining, bright green, pinnate ; the lower pinnae short, 

 and somewhat stalked ; the upper ones sessile, tapering 

 from the base to a sharp elongated point. The pinnro 



are cut about half-way down into bluntly-oblong some- 

 what falcate lobes, which are entire, and slightly ciliated. 

 The sori are submarginal, often becoming confluent in 

 lines. The fronds are adherent to an erect rhizome. 

 It is a native of Jamaica, and was introduced in 1852, 

 to the Botanic Gardens of Kew and Glasnevin. It is an 

 evergreen stove Fern. 



14. Lastrka pilosissima, J. Smith MS. Aspidium 

 ^filosissimum, G. Don MS., Herb. Hort. Soc. Lond. 



Fronds ternate, deltoid or pentangular; the lower branches tri- 

 pinnate, trapezio-triangular, the posterior plmw thrice as Ion- 

 as the anterior ones; apex elongated; pinnules obliquely 

 oblong-ovate, deeply pinnatifid, with oblong or obovate entire 

 or sinuately notched segments; sori small scattered; rachis 

 and costa hairy above, pubescent beneath ; stipes hairy. 



A very distinct plant, requiring stove heat, a native 

 of Sierra Leone, and introduced to the Chelsea Botanic 

 Garden in 1851, by the late Mr. Whitfield. The fronds 

 are grayish green, herbaceous, and extremely liable to 



is equal sided, is similar to that of the posterior or more 

 highly developed side of the branches ; ttuse parts are 

 tripinnate in fully developed fronds, the ultimate pin- 

 nules being rather bluntly ovate or oblong ovate, and 

 often oblique or unequal Bided, deeply pinnatifid, the 

 lobes oblong or obovate, entire or sinuately notched 

 along their margin. The termination of both central 

 and lateral branches is caudate. The sori are terminal 

 on the veins, rather small, scattered over the whole 

 frond, few on each segment The stipes is densely 

 covered with spreading white hairs, sparingly intermixed 

 with long black hair-like scales ; the rachis and costa 

 are hairy above, pubescent beneath ; and the upper 

 surface of the frond is furnished with rigid divaricate 

 hairs, which occur also beneath along the veins. This 

 species seems closely related to the Aspidium subquin- 

 quefidum of Palisot de Beauvais, but is much more 

 compound. T. M. 



Home Correspondence. 



Method of Cult (voting Potatoes Free from Disease— 

 Use a pretty fair allowance of stable or yard dun::, 

 well incorporated previously with as much common 

 refuse salt as will not prove destructive to the vege- 

 tation of the plants. Deposit this along the drills 

 that have been opened for the reception of the sets, 

 and place these (moderate sized whole tubers are the 

 best) therein in the usual way on the top of the 

 manure. Then throw over each set a spadeful of 

 wood ashes, and afterwards fill up the drills with the 

 earth that has been raised on cither side in forming 

 them. The salt thus supplied not only yields chlorine to 

 the plants (of which there exists a large per ct ntage 

 in their composition, as found from analysis), but 

 effectually prevents worms, slugs, ftc, from lodging in 

 the dung, as they would otherwise do ; and the wood 

 ashes afford an ample provision of potash, as well as 

 tend to keep the soil dry and porous about them, all the 

 other substances requisite for their food being contained 

 in adequate proportion in the dung. I have never found 

 this system of cultivation fail in averting the disease, as 

 it causes the plants to grow in a most healthy robust 

 state ; and it has, moreover, invariably improved the 

 quality, both in mealiness and flavour, and augmented 

 the quantity of the produce of the crop in no small 

 degree beyond what 1 have ever obtained in using dung 

 alone. Whether the plants are at once able to assimi- 

 late to their requirements the chlorine and potash so 

 administered I am not competent to determine, but 

 there appears to me to be no doubt that these adjuncts 

 become available to them in some way or other during 

 their advancement in growth from the application of 

 salt and wood ash ts, \evy different from what is pro- 

 duced when the same substances are supplied to them, 

 either in a simple or compound form, derived through 

 the agency of the chemist, thus demonstrating that in 

 the feeding of plants Nature possesses a talisman con- 

 genial to their appetite, and conducing to preserve them 

 in a healthy condition, unattainable by art As to the 

 Potato being a nitrogenous or non-nitrogenous plant, or 

 how far the state of the atmosphere may exercise an 

 influence in occasioning the blight, I shall leave to others 

 to decide, and with regard to the nostrums that are ad- 

 vertised to produce such wonderful effects, all I have to 

 say is that I have fairly tested, I believe, most 

 of these at a considerable expense, without deriving 

 any benefit whatever, that I could perceive, in reme- 

 dying the evil. The culture I have recommended 

 for adoption, as stated above, is the result of my own 

 experience ; but whether it will turn out equally suc- 

 cessful in all cases where it may be practised, of course, 

 I cannot take upon myself to guarantee. As, however, its 

 trials will not be attended with much expense, any of 

 your readers who may be inclined to follow the plan are 

 quite welcome to do so, for I have no intention to take 

 out a patent for the recipe, nor any interest in retaining 

 the secret, if so it may be called, my sole motive in 

 addressing you on the subject arising from a desire to 

 prove serviceable to them. For the benefit of those who 

 may experience a difficulty in procuring wood ashes, I 

 should imagine the manure dealers would find it to their 



become blackened by exposure ; they grow a foot and 

 a half or 2 feet high, and are three branched, deltoid, 

 or rather five-angled in consequence of the excessive 

 development of the two divergent basal posterior pin- 

 nules. The composition of the central portion, winch 



advantage to keep a supply of that commodity for sale 

 in store, in the event of its becoming extensively em- 

 ployed. P. W., South Wale*, Oct. 9. 



Gigantic Coekspur Thom.-l have just returned from 

 Devonshire, where I noted down the measurements ot a 

 specimen of the Crataegus Crus-galii that I now forward 

 to you. It grows on its own stock, and measures in 

 its smallest circumference (close to the ground) 6 feet 

 8 inches. At the height of 5 feet, and just below the 

 lowest branches, the girth is 7 feet 6 inches. The cir- 

 cumference of its spread is 44 yards, and would be more 

 but for the browsing of cattle and the encroachments of 

 other trees The maximum semi diameter of its 

 spread is 29 feet. It flowers and fruits freely, and is 

 now covered with the latter. The blossom somewhat 

 resembles that of the Pear, and the berries are sixor 

 eight in a cluster, and of the size of Cherries. The 

 flower is white, the fruit red. There is no specimen of 

 the kind in Kensington gardens, but 1 am told that 

 there is a small one in those at St. James's Park. /. F., 



Parthenon dub. 



Monstrous Cabbage Leaf.— I have sent you a Cabbage 

 leaf, on whose midrib are numbers of small leaflets 

 which grow larger and longer every day ; in fact they 

 progress much more rapidly than the leaf itself, and the 

 plant shows no disposition to Cabbage. You will observe 

 that the leaflets also have growths of a similar kind upon 



them. Bolehopt Fell [This is a curious, but not very 



