

724 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Nov. 3, 1855. 



the plan is being carried out, in order to judge for 

 ourselves. 



The ground in question lies close to the railway 

 station, and is certainly well worth inspection. 

 Mr. Wilkins's mode of applying liquid manure is to 

 give it to the roots of plants under ground instead 

 of using it on the surface. He prepares his manure 

 in a covered tank similar to a tanner's bark liquor 

 pit of a size proportioned to the quantity required. 

 This tank has a false bottom, placed at from 1 to 

 2 feet from the bottom of the tank, and pierced with 

 numerous small holes. Into this tank is thrown a 

 quantity of solid manure, such as road sweepings, 

 dung from stables and cow houses, and all refuse 

 animal and vegetable matters. The tank is then 

 filled up with water which, in passing through the 

 manure, gets impregnated with its qualities ; this 

 liquid descends through the perforated false bottom, 

 and thus, as it were, strained and cleared, is 

 pumped up into a tank on a higher level, to give it 

 a fall into a pipe which conveys it to the beds in 

 which the crops operated upon are growing. 



The ground on which this experiment has been 

 tried is laid out in beds 3 feet in width, and divided 

 into equal lengths by a walk, on one side of which 

 the beds are irrigated on Mr. Wilkins's principle, 

 while on the other they are not. The different 

 crops may therefore be compared with facility. 

 The beds, on what is called " the new system," are 

 prepared as follows: — The earth is dug out to the 

 depth of at. out 2 feet. In this excavation a water- 

 tight bottom is formed of bricks, with sides of the 

 same from 4 to G inches high, to prevent the 

 liquid from running over until the earth has 

 absorbed it. Upon this bottom is put one 

 row of half-drain tiles, running the whole length 

 of the beds — loose and not jointed. At the end of 

 each bed an admission-pipe for the liquid slopes 

 from the surface to the end of each row of drain- 

 pipes just mentioned, and at the other end of the 

 bed is an upright round earthenware pipe, to indi- 

 cate at what height the liquid stands in the bottom 

 of the bed. When it is found to be 4 inches in 



depth the supply is cut 

 formed as just described, 



off. 

 the 



The bottom being 

 soil is filled 



is niiea in as 

 before and proceeded with as in ordinary gardening. 

 It has been contrived by means of one gutta percha 

 or common gas-pipe, with arms to each hed, and 

 furnished with a stop-cock to shut the liquid off or 

 allow it to flow as may be required, to manure the 

 whole of the beds at once. The liquid passes along 

 their entire length, and rising through the small 

 spaces between the drain-pipes feeds the plants ; 

 the bottom being watertight none of it is permitted 

 to run to waste, and by means of a cock or plug 

 at the end of each series of pipes the supply may 

 be drawn off when desired. This is the arrange- 

 ment in the model garden at Reading. 



That this system of applying manure is produc- 

 tive of extraordinary results no one who has seen 

 Mr. Wilkins's crops will for a moment doubt. But 

 how, let us inquire, could it be otherwise? The 

 plants are supplied with an abundance of food in a 

 condition best fitted for their wants, and where they 

 can most readily avail themselves of it, viz., at the 

 tips of their roots. Besides, during the hottest 

 weather and times of drought, they have always a 

 supply of moisture, which keeps them growing 

 while other crops not so favourably situated are 

 either perishing from want of water, or are at least 

 comparatively inactive. Under such circumstances 

 can it be wondered at that the manured beds have 

 yielded, as all of them have 

 double the produce of 



than 



done, more 

 similar beds planted 

 with the same crops ; but managed in the ordinary 

 way. Celery, now to be seen in the ground, is 

 much larger and finer than that not treated on Mr. 

 Wilkins's plan, and beautiful Potatoes have this 

 year been produced in sand, poor earth, and sawdust 

 alone, all reported to have been quite free from 

 disease. One tuber planted in pure sand has pro- 

 duced 94 Potatoes, while two sets in the same 

 material under the old system only furnished 

 77 Potatoes. One plant of Ash-leaved Kidney in 

 sawdust has yielded 26 tubers, weighing altogether 

 Sulfas., while a plant in the same material, but 

 irrigated with manure, has produced 101 Potatoes, 

 weighm in all 24 lbs. One red Mangold Wurzel, 

 under the new system, weighed 14 lbs. 14 oz., and 

 measured 23 inches in length, and the same round, 

 while the same description of root, under the old 

 system only weighed 5 lbs. 10 oz, and measured 

 13 inches in length, and 19 inches in circumference. 



n h e T nK Wlt ti Ca f r °, ts ; under lhe new P 1 ™ one 

 weighed 1 lb., while the best from a bed under ordinary 



k , - -. - . Yl « Swedes and Kohl Rabi 



have also nearly doubled their usual size, as also have 

 Hemp and r lax. 



culture weighed only 



l * j a a Lu ? erne an <* Italian Rve-grass 

 have afforded five cuttings in the season, while that 

 to which no liquid manure was given only yielded 

 two cuttings. Hops, both cuttings and yearlings 



are bearing a full crop from top to bottom, while 

 the same kind of plants without manure have not 

 made half the growth, and have no Hops on them 

 at all. Of two Vine cuttings, both planted at the 

 same time, one in a manured bed, the other not, 

 the one fed with the liquid is about 15 inches high, 

 while that which had no such encouragement is 

 scarcely 4 inches in height— and the same holds 

 good in regard to other crops. 



Mr. Wilkins, in short, professes to show how the 

 produce of light land, be it ever so poor, can by his 

 plan be very greatly increased, and that in certain 

 instances, not only may two crops be grown where 

 only one has before been produced ; but that good 

 crops may be obtained from soils that had previously 

 been considered all but worthless. It will be seen 

 that the experiments above recorded, as far as they 

 go, bear out this statement provided the outlay is, as 

 Mr. Wilkins asserts, one to be not only covered by 

 the produce, but actually productive of profit. 



We understand that a company is being formed 

 to give the system a fair trial. That wonderful 

 crops might be grown by it we are certain ; but its 

 cost appears to us to be against its general adoption. 

 Bricks for bottoming the beds are dear, we doubt if 

 it would even pay to employ a cheap concrete on a 

 large scale for the purpose, to say nothing of other 

 objections to which we may advert 

 hereafter. In the meanwhile the 

 subject deserves the attention of 

 those who have the means of putting 



it into practice. 



We may add that although Mr. 



Wilkins's process is patented yet 

 that he gives ample encouragement 

 to the poor allotment holder and 

 cottager to employ it ; for he states 

 that either of these renting a cottage 

 and garden at not more than five 

 guineas per annum, may use the 

 patent for their garden sat Ida-year. 



Why do Pears and Apples crack, 

 and put on the appearance of rifted 

 bark ? That question we shall en- 

 deavour to answer in the following 

 memorandum. People little suspect 

 that this ruin to their crops is one 

 more example of the enormous in- 

 jury inflicted upon plants by para- 

 sitical fungi. 



Both Pears and Apples are ex- 

 tremely subject to be attacked by 

 a parasitic fungus, which produces 

 black unsightly spots upon the 

 fruit, rendering them almost un- 

 saleable, and ultimately inducing 

 decay from the rupture of the 

 cuticle, and the consequent expo- 

 sure of the subjacent tissues. The 

 fundus is known under the name 

 of Spiloccea Pomi, but we may ob- 

 serve that it has no pretensions to 

 rank as a distinct genus, and is in 

 fact a mere form of the Helmin- 

 thosporium Pt/rorum which is often so abundant on 

 the leaves of Pears in autumn, and is so destructive 

 to the young shoots. Specimens of Pears so affected 

 have just been forwarded to us by the Marquis of 

 Huntly, with a view to the suggestion of some 

 remedy, and we think that the identity just men- 

 tioned indicates the probability of its yielding, like 

 other cases of mould, to the application of sulphur. 

 In order, however, that this may be effectual, the 

 intelligent cultivator must anxiously watch for the 

 first indications of the disease, which commences 

 sometimes very shortly after the fruit is set. There 

 is the greater necessity moreover for an early appli- 

 cation, because the fungus is very insidious in its 

 attacks, and on the fruit at least, is in the first 

 instance developed beneath the true cuticle, inso- 

 much that if it is to be arrested effectually the evil 

 must be attacked before the first spores are perfected. 



The beneficial effects of the application of sulphur 

 in this case are at present doubtful, because it does 

 not necessarily follow that inasmuch as sulphur acts 

 destructively on white moulds it should have the 

 same results with those dark coloured species which 

 have very different affinities. It is, however, worth 

 a trial, and the evil is so destructive, that we doubt 

 not that it will be put to proof next year. With 

 proper precautions and intelligence on the part of 

 the cultivator we have little doubt as to the result. 



It may be useful to add a few w r ords to this notice 

 relative to the fungus itself. We have just said that 

 the Spiloccea is identical with the Helminthosporinm. 

 But it appears further, from the observations of M. 

 Desmazi£res, that it is nothing more than the Cla- 

 dosporium dendriticum, Wallr., and that when it 

 grows on the leaves of Service or Apple, it becomes 

 * the Actinonema Cratcegi, P. & A. Pomi. Lev. Other 



synonyms might yet be added, and amongst them 

 that of Phlyctidium Cratcegi, Wallr. This is a spe- 

 cimen of what the cryptogamic botanist has to con- 

 tend with every day, and is but a sample of th« 

 state of botany in other branches. There is, how- 

 ever, a hope of better things before us. The leading 

 cryptogamists are every day exerting themselves td 

 eliminate the host of false species with which they 

 are oppressed, and w r e shall be greatly disappointed 

 if the example of Dr. Hooker and Dr. Thomson ia 

 their w Flora Indica," does not lead to a complete 

 reformation amongst phaenogamists. M. J". B. ~ 



Erratum.— In p. 707, col. c, for M Black Italian Poplar " ret 

 Loinbardy Poplar. 



New Plants. 



146. Passiflora cinnabarina. 



P. cinnabarina ; (Disemma) foliis trilobis palmatisqr.e temiibus- 

 lobis ovatis, petiolis eglandulosis, corona exteriore quam 

 interior plicata densa villosa multo longiore. 



This very pretty species was discovered in New Holland 

 by Lieut.-Colonel Sir Thomas Mitchell, the distinguished 

 Australian traveller, who gave seeds of it to the Horti- 

 cultural Society. As it has been extensively dis- 

 tributed from the Chiswick Garden some account of it 

 will be useful. It ia a graceful bright green climber, 

 with thin half transparent leaves, which are mostly 

 3-lobed, but occasionally palmate, and having slender 



stalks entirely destitute of glands. The flowers gro* 

 singly on weak wiry stalks, and are of a dull red colour 

 except the coronet which consists of yellow thread* 

 converging into a cone and concealing a second coronet 

 which is plaited, thick, and shaggy. The fruits are like 

 yellow Plums, have a distinct perfume like that of* 

 ripe Melon, and form a very beautiful appearance while 

 hanging in profusion from branches trained over tli» 

 ratters of a greenhouse, which is all the shelter » 



requires 



VEGETABLE 



No. XCIV. 



The 



376. Hypertrophia* {Excessive development). 

 main end of vegetable life is the securing the production 

 of perfect seed for the propagation of the s P ec,e5 ' ol L 

 some other subsidiary mode of increase by buds, buiw» 

 &c, where the production of good seed is difficult 

 accomplishment. These latter formations .are in ^ 

 cases perfectly normal, and cannot be considered in * 

 light of morbid phenomena. But besides these nio 

 immediate provisions for vegetable growth, deposits 

 nutritive matter are laid up in the common tlssl } eS / 

 in more or less modified organs, sometimes years beio * 



♦ From vTtf excess, and r*4£tj nutriment. 



