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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Oct. 13, 1855 





unusual condition of the Cabbage. It is one oi" the 

 proofs that leaves can grow like branches.] 



Stockwood Golden Hamburgh Grape. — Being about 

 to plant a vinery I am anxious to procure the best 

 Grapes, and have referred to the different periodicals 

 on the subject. Amongst other remarks I found one in 

 the " Cottage Gardener" for July 24th, on the new 

 white Grape Stockwood Golden Hamburgh, which is 

 said to be a seedling from Black Hamburgh, hybridised 

 by (t White" Sweet Water, and no doubt very excellent, 

 but stated to be second to the Froutignan. On the 1-lth 

 August I find words to the following effect : — " We 

 cannot speak too highly of this Grape, which is with- 

 out doubt the best of all except the Muscats." On 

 Sept. 4th we have a full description of it in a leading 

 article, in which the writer gives the preference to the 

 Muscats only. Am I to understand that it is now found 

 to be superior to the Frontignan ? Is it not a curious 

 circumstance that the Golden Hamburgh is an oval berry 

 when neither of its parents are so ? I should without 

 at all doubting the merits of the Grape be inclined to 

 think there is some mistake about its parentage. I have 

 Been a white Grape in this neighbourhood raised evidently 

 from the Black Hamburgh, which has all the charac- 

 teristics of its parents except colour, which is a bright 

 amber ; form, size, flavour, habit, ajl correspond. The 

 raiser has received letters from some of the leading 

 horticulturists, who have seen it and all pronounce it 



food, and say that it is equal to the Golden Hamburgh, 

 ut quite distinct from it. Do you not think that this 

 will be a great acquisition also ? Will some of your 

 correspondents favour me with the names of six or 

 eight Grapes they particularly recommend ? C. Reid, 

 Perry Bar, near Birmingham. [ We have always under- 

 stood that the Golden Hamburgh was a pure seedling, 

 not hybridized. We should say that too little is as yet 

 known about it to justify very positive assertions. When 

 we saw it we thought it an excellent variety ; but we 

 have only seen it once.] 



Specific Gravity of Different Bodies. — It is interesting 

 to read the reports of the British Association held at 

 Glasgow this season, but there are some assertions con- 

 nected with gardening which, if collected and made 

 known, would perhaps puzzle some of the philosophers 

 to understand them, but coming from the cultivators of 

 Cabbages, of course they would be little esteemed. 

 Water, we are told, is generally the substance employed 

 for ascertaining the precise weight of any body, which 

 is a very curious branch of the science of hydrostatics. 

 The reason why any body floats in water is that, taking 

 bulk for bulk, it will be found lighter. This relative 

 weight in bodies is called their specific gravity, and 

 water is always taken as the standard for the specific 

 gravity of all bodies. If a body when thrown into 

 water displaces a column of that liquid greater than its 

 own bulk, it will immediately ascend to the top and 

 float upon the surface, with as much of its bulk below 

 as corresponds exactly with the quantity of water dis- 



{>laced ; on the contrary, if it displaces a body of water 

 ess than itself it will sink to the bottom. It is on this 

 account that a piece of marble will sink and a piece of 

 cork will swim. In hydrostatic calculations, water, as 

 the standard from which the respective gravities of 

 other bodies are taken, is reckoned as unity or 1, 100, 

 1000, &c. ; a cubical foot of it weighs 1000 ounces 

 avoirdupois. Taking water at 1000, cork will be about 

 240, and the comparative weight of sand will be about 

 2590, and it is a common thing for cork to float and 

 sand to sink. Yet I find in some of my operations that 

 sand will rise through water and float upon the surface 

 like cork. P. Mackenzie, West Plean, Stirling. 



Effect of Overfumigating Vines with Sulphur. — A 

 friend of mine erected a vinery about three or four 

 years ago, and planted young Vines in it ; they grew 

 exceedingly well until last year, when the gardener 

 having some plants with vermin on them in the same 

 house, gave the whole a severe fumigating with sulphur, 

 using by mistake twice as much sulphur as he ought to 

 have done. The leaves all dropped off the Vines 

 immediately, and the fruit which was then fully grown 

 ripened badly. Since that time the wood is puny, and 

 the fruit is small and poor in quality. Will you say if 

 that overdose of sulphur was sufficient to cause this bad 

 condition in the Vines ? and if so, is the evil likely to 

 continue much longer? The border for these Vines is 

 12 feet wide, and is raised rather high towards the 

 house. The gardener say6 that the border is too narrow, 

 and too high ; is he right ? Any suggestion to clear up 

 this business and to effect a remedy will be thankfully 

 received. Roaldus. [If, as we infer from your statement, 

 your gardener burnt su'phur and so killed the foliage 

 of your Vines, he ought to have known that such mis- 

 chief would happen. You had better cut the Vines 

 hard back in the winter. We see nothing the matter 

 with the border.] 



Grafting or Budding Walnut Trees.— Are Walnut 

 trees ever grafted or budded ? and if so, when is the 



i * TT f ° r S0 doing ? Se^ral gardeners have been 

 asked the question, but none of those asked had any idea 

 or had ever heard of such a thing. It is well known 

 that the tree raised from the Walnut seed does not 

 roduce a nut like the seed sown ; for instance, a nice 

 avoured small nut sown produced a large half-filled 

 French Walnut kind, with inferior flavour to the seed, 

 and vice versa. I should be obliged by any informa- 

 tion on the subject. A Constant Reader. [Walnuts may 

 be both budded and grafted, by taking proper precau- 

 tions ; especially by performing the operation after 

 growth has well commenced. Full details are given in 

 the Theory and Practice of Horticulture, p, 338.1 



Grafting Embryos.— Y our article on this subject at 

 p. 627 has led me to try the experiment. I am not 

 sure, however, that I fully understood your meaning, as 

 I find some difficulties which I cannot satisfactorily 

 explain. My experiments were made on the kernels of 

 Peaches and Nectarines, and on the seeds of the common 

 Nasturtium and Tropaeolum canariense, the two former 

 and the two latter being respectively grafted together. 

 I found it impossible, by merely skinning the kernels, to 

 place the surfaces in sufficient contact to bear the tying 

 together, as they are rounded and very slippery, and 

 you did not, I believe, in your remarks say anything 

 about cutting or paring them down, so as to make the 

 surfaces fit each other, which appears to be the only 

 likely way of performing the operation neatly. If they 

 are to be cut, in what direction is it to be done ? The 

 cotyledons of a Peach or Nectarine when separated in 

 the kernel somewhat overlap each other at their inner 

 edges, and in whatever direction they can be cut would 

 be so injured as to destroy the form of the future leaf. 

 But supposing that two or more were cut to fit each 

 other, and could be made to grow together in the 

 embryo, I cannot see that it would produce any effect 

 on the future plant if the axes of the cotyledons 

 remained free, as the roots and stems of the grafted 

 cotyledons would then grow from those points inde- 

 pendently of each other. The only plan of forming 

 them into one plant appears to be by grafting the 

 embryos at the axes of the cotyledons. Supposing this 

 to be practicable each side of the graft would represent 

 half of the diameter of the root and stem of the young 

 plant ; and the thing to be proved by the experiment 

 is, I suppose, whether the leaves afterwards developed 

 during growth will gradually lose their identity and 

 produce a similar effect on the buds they may nourish, 

 so as to give rise to a fruit of a twofold character. How 

 such an effect can be produced any more by this plan 

 than by the ordinary method of grafting does not appear 

 very plain, as in both cases the wood alone is acted upon. 

 Should not the operation be performed on the blossoms 

 of the trees 1 for if that is practicable I can understand 

 that the object might be attained. [No.] Let us trust 

 that you will favour us with further information on the 

 subject. Gamma. [We think the embryos must be 

 pared down. You cannot graft wood itself by mere 

 contact. But the mode of carrying out this operation is 

 precisely that which must be made the subject of the 

 proposed experiment.] 



Sulphured Hops. — The fault does not wholly lie with 

 Hops. Maltsters are well known to use sulphur in 

 drying off malt to give it a brighter colour, such malt 

 bearing a much higher price. A Constant Reader. 



Vine Borders.— I shall be glad of advice under the 

 following circumstances. I am making a new kitchen 

 garden, and am now forming the borders in front of a 

 greenhouse for Vines, from hints which I have taken 

 from your Journal. In page 205, 1847, dead lime 

 rubbish is recommended to form a portion of the com- 

 position. My nurseryman says that nothing is so 

 poisonous to the roots of trees as that is. Is this so ? 

 I am about to pull down a building upwards of 100 

 years old, and shall have plenty of dead lime rubbish, if 

 it is desirable to use it. The border will be 11 feet wide 

 and 2 J feet deep, on a substratum of broken pieces of 

 stone 1 foot deep, passing from the house to a drain ; I 

 propose to cover the stones with a thin coat of old lime 

 rubbish, well beat down, to prevent the roots of the 

 Vine from penetrating through the stones to the subsoil, 

 which is not good. The site of the ground being on the 

 slope of a hill, and the position of the greenhouse in 

 other respects making it desirable to have it below the 

 surface of the ground, the top of the Vine border will 

 be only 6 inches below the sill of the front lights. My 

 gardener says that will be an advantage. Is it so ? In 

 page 683, 1847, plaisterers* rubbish is again recommended, 

 and materials from the tan-yard. The latter are now 

 sold here for 14Z. a ton, which is rather too expensive. 

 I have a quantity of old must, the refuse of the Apple, 

 which has been converted into cider ; it has been lying 

 for some years in a heap till it has become black and 

 decayed. Is there any value in this 1 I am told that it 

 is worthless as manure; would it be injurious to the 

 garden mould if mixed with it ? There is a new manure 

 advertised under the name of nitrophosphate, a blood 

 manure; would not this be good to mix up with the com- 

 position for the Vine borders, and in what proportion, 

 though the price is rather high ? H. W., October 8. 

 [ Lime rubbish, and especially plasterers' rubbish, is an 

 excellent material for Vine borders. Tanners' refuse is 

 also good : but not at all necessary. Bones crushed, 



and rotten dung — not too much of the latter do as 



well. It is advantageous to have the border sloping well 

 away from the front wall— only because it is thus kept 

 warmer and drier. Decayed must is like decayed leaves 

 or rotten wood ; you cannot call it a manure. With the 

 action of nitrophosphate we are unacquainted. Have 

 any of our readers used it ?] 



Treatment of Orchids.— It has been repeatedly stated 

 in your columns that Orchids do not require so high 

 and moist a temperature as we generally find them 

 grown in by some of our beet cultivators. It is true 

 that our Orchid growers are for the most part very 

 successful both in cultivating and flowering their plants. 

 But still the cost, trouble, and expense of the Orchid- 

 house too often exceeds the gratification derived from 

 it, besides which the great amount of heat and moisture 

 maintained frequently deters those for whose pleasure 

 the plants are cultivated from entering the house to 

 examine or admire them. That the plants require a 

 somewhat high temperature I allow, but that they must 



be cooped up in a close and very moist house 1 cannot 

 believe. On the contrary such a practice appears lo U 

 unnecessary, and I am convinced that under contrary 

 treatment the plants will succeed equally well. ThissuoJ 

 mer several plants of Cymbidium aloifolium, Cattley J 

 Mossise and granulosa, Dendrobium nobile, Vanda Rox. 

 burghi, and others, were removed from the end of a very 

 hot pit in the early part of the summer (in consequent 

 of repairs, &c), and placed in a greenhouse, the average 

 temperature of which seldom exceeded that of the open 

 air. The top of this house, which was on the ridge and 

 furrow system, fell off at the back into a kind of receae 

 or room immediately below a couple of chambers which 

 formed part of a dwelling-house, and which effectually 

 prevented the rays of the sun from scorching the plants 

 within it. Now this recess, or part of the house, which 

 was of some considerable size (45 feet by 15), and which 

 contained several Orange and other trees, was selected 

 as a repository for the outcast Orchids, which were 

 either hung on the branches of the Orange trees or, 

 was the case with those in pots, placed on a pavement 

 of white sandstone, and therefore were in a colder 

 position than those suspended on the branches above 

 them. Now under these conditions the plants grew and 

 flowered far better than they did the preceding year in a 

 hothouse whose temperature seldom fell below 75° y 

 and sometimes reached 100°. Now to-day, by way of 

 experiment, I placed immediately below a flower spike 

 of Stanhopea tigrina a thermometer, so as to be enabled 

 to ascertain the exact temperature in which the plant 

 was blooming. This I found to be exactly 66°, and it 

 frequently fell at night to 45° or 50°, so that I am now 

 convinced that some of our most beautiful Orchids will 

 bloom freely if placed in a tolerably shaded situation at 

 the temperature I have mentioned. Of course I am 

 not speaking of the more tender and valuable species. 

 The plants above referred to were seldom watered dur- 

 ing the time they were in the greenhouse, and the ven- 

 tilators and doors were kept constantly open, so that 

 there was nothing to impede a free current of fresh air 

 from circulating among the plants. One of the latter 

 (Dendrobium nobile), which was placed on the pave- 

 ment, sent out shoots fully a foot long, and I never 

 remember having observed a plant of this description 

 looking more healthy or flourishing. It, however, did 

 not flower as the Cattley as, Stanhopeas, &c, did, it 

 having, as I am told, not been in the habit of flowering 

 for the last year or two; in the cool temperature of the 

 greenhouse, however, I believe from its appearance that 

 it would soon do so. To be able to observe these curious 

 and beautiful productions during the heat of summer in 

 a cool and shady greenhouse or conservatory, more 

 especially when suspended from the larger trees and 

 shrubs, or placed on stands amid them, is indeed a 

 treat compared with the risk which some persons sus- 

 tain from entering the close and humid houses in which 

 we generally find them confined, and I trust that the hints 

 here thrown out may be the means of making it more 

 generally known that numbers of these fragrant and 

 beautiful plants will flower and flourish during part of the 

 year in any ordinary greenhouse or conservatory, 

 without any of those extreme applications of heat or 

 vapour generally afforded them. Strathfieldsaye. 



$ocietie& 



Entomological, October 1. — J. Curtis, Esq., F.L.S., 

 President, in the chair. An extensive series of donations 

 to the library was announced as having been received 

 from the Natural History Societies of Belgium, Moscow, 

 the Society of Arts, Messrs. Hewitson, Zuchold, New- 

 man, &c. Mr. F. Smith exhibited an extensive series 



of rare Coleoptera, especially rich in Curcuhonid© 

 collected by himself during the past month at 

 Deal, and Mr. Dawson a number of specimens ot 

 the hitherto unique Harpalus cordatus, from the same 

 locality. A box of insects from Perthshire was al*> 

 shown by Mr. Foxcroft, Mr, F. Bond exhibited tne 

 rare moth Heliophobus hispid us, from the Isle 

 Portland ; Mr. Newman a specimen of Kirby's Xyo- 

 copa iricolor, a large imported species of bee, tak en 

 Dulwich ; and Mr. Power a specimen of Din r~ 

 Maillei, a native of Turkey and Greece, which had been 

 taken by Mr. A. Adams at Gurnard Bay, in Mow, near 

 the western extremity of the Isle of Wight, w> 

 Elaphrus lapponicus. Mr. Stainton exhibited ^ 

 new Lithocolletes, reared from the leaves 

 Vicia Sepium, and Mr. Curtis a gigantic scorpio 

 from Sierra Leone. Mr. Westwood stated that ^nen 

 received information from Mr. Mitchell of the de ^. 

 tion of a considerable quantity of Turnips by the atw 

 of aphides, which in their turn were devoured by 

 Iarv*e of Syrphideous flies. Mr. Curtis stated tnw 

 had been informed that the crops of red Cabbage ^ 

 Cranford had suffered materially from the attach ^ 

 aphides. Mr. Westwood stated that he had o*** 

 that the past summer had been very propitious* o^ 

 propagation of obnoxious species of sawflies ; t ^ 



sawfly, the slimy larva of the Pear and FIum gope r- 

 leaves, and the Gooseberry sawfly had bee» ^ ef- 

 abundant. Mr. Lubbock Btated that the ni & eT heT $ 

 pillar of the Turnip had also appeared in large duib i 

 in Kent. Mr. F. Smith stated tb*< he h * d i ,f*Jri tin g 

 the fly Elachiptera brevipennjs *fl the act of oepu 

 its eggs in the body of a Jiving Nabis subaptera. 



Dougla* communicated a note on E,aterl . d ^. n F SO Q on 

 upon aphides. A note was read by Mr. Afckin , jf r . 

 several species of Indian butterflies, and °. ne Z we t, 

 Newman on the manufacture of hats impervious w 



