726 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



FNov. 



1S55. 



to produce a draught likely to affect any plants that 

 may be exposed to it. Although this is only a modifica- 

 tion of ope of the principal features which characterised 

 the Polmaise system of beating, still I think the way 

 in which it has been applied is worthy of especial notice, 

 and may be viewed as a step in the right direction 

 towards solving the difficult problem regarding 

 aeration that has so long occupied the attention of some 

 of our very best gardeners. 



The plan of having ventilators along the ridge of the 

 house, in the manner represented in the large sketch, 

 with openings at the back, and a wide coping to protect 

 the roller blind in front, is the same as was adopted by 

 Mr. Booth at Carclew, in 1846, when reconstructing a 

 stove for Sir Charles Lemon, Bart. The only difference, 

 as Mr. Booth informs me, consists in the ventilators at 

 Carclew being hung a little above the centre, and having 

 each a small piece of lead let into the wood, so as to 

 prevent them from opening unless when required for 

 the purpose of giving air. 



The roller blind has been long in use for the covering 

 of hot-houses, and I believe was first successfully applied 

 as a shade to some pits at Syon in 1828, by Mr. Forrest, 

 when gardener to the late Duke of Northumberland. 

 An account, accompanied with a sketch to show the 

 mode of fixing this sort of blind, will be found in Loudon's 

 a Gardeners' Magazine," vol. v., page 510. 



Although it would appear from what has been stated 

 that there is really little novelty in the construction and 

 arrangement of the Orchid-house and pits at Porth- 

 gwidden, I trust it will not be inferred that they are on 

 this account devoid of interest. So far from this being 

 the case, they are, in my opinion, worthy of being re- 

 garded as models of their kind, in which some of the chief 

 improvements in the heating and ventilating of horticul- 

 tural buildings, up to 1850, have been introduced with 

 considerable skill and complete success, and our acknow- 

 ledgments are due to Mr. Phillpotts for having made the 

 public acquainted with his plans, and the result of his 

 experience. C. Truro. 



DESTRUCTION OF MUSTARD SEED CROPS. 



From a communication which we have received from 

 Professor Henslow it appears that the little blue beetle 

 Phsedon Betulae, has again this autumn renewed its 

 attacks upon the Mustard seed crops in the Fen districts 

 near Ely. In the early part of the autumn of 1854 they 

 were so numerous that hundreds of thousands might be 

 collected in a few minutes by shaking the stems of the 



Danger attending Transplanting Trees at Midsummer. 

 IpI am surprised that Mr. Sc3tt should pronounce in 

 such a dogmatical tone "midsummer " to be the best 

 time for transplanting trees and shrubs, "and October 

 and November 5 ' to be only "second best" for that 

 purp se. I, however, by no means wish to say that 

 Mr. Scott has been unsuccessful in his operations. By 

 securing good balls to his plants, having but a short 

 distance to convey them, perhaps a week's dull weather 

 after planting, or deluging them with water, and screen- 

 ing them from the scorching rays of the sun ;— by a 

 fortunate concurrence of these circumstances, I say, 

 Mr. Scott's practice may have terminated in success. 

 But is he not upholding a system— or, at least, trying to 

 Jo so — contrary to the laws of nature, as I will now 

 endeavour to show ? Mr. Scott will surely agree with 

 me when I state that plants are in a more active 

 state of growth at midsummer than in autumn ; that, 

 owing to perspiration from the foliage, the roots have 

 more to do at midsummer than in autumn ; and that, 

 consequently, the less roots are disturbed at that season 

 the better — and it is almost impossible to lift a plant of 

 any size without injuring its roots to a greater or less 

 extent. As roots, therefore, are the principal feeders 

 of the leaves, what can be expected but failure when 

 they are mutilated and exposed to air while the plant is 

 in luxuriant growth \ Besides, the atmosphere is much 

 drier and hotter at midsummer than in autumn, and 

 hence there is a greater amount of evaporation going 

 on, and, as I have already stated, a more abundant 

 supply of sap required of the roots. How, therefore, 

 can this be furnished when the roots are rendered in a 

 great measure inactive ? — which must be the case for 

 some time after transplanting. I trust that these facts, 

 without entering into further detail in the matter, will 

 suffice to show the danger attendant upon the system 

 Mr. Scott so positively asserts to be the best. It Mr. 

 S. will only adopt the two months he condemns — 

 t{ October and November "—and include September, he 

 will find them far better adapted both theoretically and 

 practically for the purpose of transplantation than the 

 season he recommends. W. A. BUthfleld. [We, at least, 

 are no advocates of Mr. Scott's views.] 



Artificially Frosted Glass. — Many are practically cog- 

 nisant of instances where this kind of glass is used as a 

 means of shading, so as partially to intercept the sun's 

 rays ; but the advocates of the practice must be blind, 

 or they would see at once the iil effects of which it is 

 productive. When used for such structures as vineries, 



white Mustard over a newspaper, a/sta ted in the Pro- P ioerie8 > and houses devoted to hard-wooded plants, 



ceedings of the Entomological Society on the 4th Sept. 



(p. 24) ; they entirely devoured the leaves and barked 



the stems and coshes, or seed-vessels, the seed thereby 



becoming lean and of inferior quality. In the present 



month of October we learn from a letter from Mr. 



Henry Balls that they are equally prevalent in the Fen 



districts, and that they have attacked all green crops, 



especially Mustard and Garlick, the former being 



devoured to the very stalks, and in many places in t! e 



district they have cleared 50 acres, and then passed to 



the next field, being Cole seed, making a path in their 



progress. A plan for arresting these ravages had been 



tried by laying straw between the two fields and then 



setting it on fire to windward. They now (middle ot 



October) appear to have taken to their winter quarters. 



in crevices of gate-posts and other similar situations. 



They have not been noticed in their preparatory states ; 



this is a point which appears to us to require especial 



investigation on the spot, where we apprehend the larvae 



will be found feeding upon the leaves of allied species 



of hedge row plants. J. 0. Westwood. 



Home Correspondence. 



American Plums.— We are indebted to the Americans 

 for some really valuable Plums. Among them the 

 Jefferson holds the first rank; ripening just after the 

 Green Gage, and being quite equal to it in flavour and 

 far superior in beauty, it cannot be too highly eulogised. 

 I had some fine fruit in pyramids this season, which, 

 owing to the fine weather in September, slightly 

 shrivelled on the trees, and became of a deep golden 

 colour, blotched with red]; they were full of delicious 

 juice; I thought them superior even to the Green 

 Gage. Denniston's Superb, ripening 8 or 10 



ripenin 

 als 



days before the Green Gage, is also a valuable 

 Plum; this year the fruit were particularly fine 

 from pyramids ; Huling's Superb is also a very large 

 and very rich Plum ; the Autumn Gage, an oval 

 medium-s'zed yellow Plum, is very valuable, as it 

 hangs well on the tree till after the middle of October. 

 Blecker's Scarlet is a useful kitchen Plom, remarkable 

 for its hardiness and productiveness. Smith's Orleans, 

 an oval reddish purple Plum, has not proved quite 

 equal to its reputation in America. Columbia is a large, 

 round, and very handsome Plum, rich and sugary but , 

 rather dry, and ripening with a crowd of other sorts, is ' 

 E!L 8 ° I^ abl l M J he firstna med varieties. I may 



every cultivator endeavours to prevent a prostration of 

 the faculties of his plant when in a growing tender 

 state by intercepting intense sunshine, at the same time 

 admitting as much light as possible ; but when such 

 plants have completed their growth, their manifestations 

 alone will teach us how indispensable is a due amount 

 of this agent to the ripening of their wood ; and howls 

 this to be accomplished beneath frosted glass 2 The 

 appearances of the Vines and plants grown under such 

 disadvantageous circumstances will afford ocular de- 

 monstration of the evil. The wood will be long-jointed, 

 sappy, and watery, the leaves will have long slender 

 petioles, and lamina of meagre size etiolated and pallid, 

 thus deteriorating them until they become so constitu- 

 tionally impaired as to be valueless in all their growing, 

 flowering, and other properties, even if exposed to a 

 clearer medium and more favourable circumstances 

 hereafter. With such unfavourable demonstrations and 

 impracticabilities attending this mode of shading, why 

 not resort to a more expeditious, easier, and cheaper 

 method, which will possess greater advantages and incur 

 less risks than the mode in question ? /. R. T., gr. to 

 G. S. Wintk, Esq., Hucclesate Gardens, near Gloucester. 



Orchard Houses. — Being about to erect an orchard 

 house, induced by the favourable accounts which have 

 been given of their success, I think it probable that some 

 of your readers may be able to give information which 

 would be of advantage to myself and others in like circum- 

 stances. In a lean-to house of small size, erected by an 

 amateur in my neighbourhood, the plants, though 

 having fully the distance between them recommended 

 by Mr. Rivers, appeared too crowded, and those in 

 front were pressing up against the glass. It struck me 

 that the house ought to be wider and higher than Mr. 

 Rivers originally recommended, and that a span-roof 

 would possess great advantages. The opinion of any of 

 your readers who may have experience on the following 

 points will therefore be a favour : viz., most suitable 

 height, width, and form of house generally, and, as ap- 

 plicable to my own case, whether it is indispensable that 

 a span-roofed house should stand south and north, as it 

 cuts up my garden very much to place it otherwise 

 than south-east and north-west, or south. west and 

 north-east. A Ten Years' Subscriber. 



Salix Babylonica var. annularis. — I am not aware 

 that the origin of this variety of Weeping Willow is 

 precisely known. My earliest recollection of it is that 

 my father gave 15s. for a plant in a pot 6 inches high. 

 It was kept in the greenhouse a year or two, and finally 



irent, rarely attain their full size and flavour ; the j proved to be as hardy as the species. £ late as the 



imate seems too cool and moist for them, for if Un- 

 sized friii t are obtained from trees against walls, flavour 

 is sacrificed. Corse's Nota Bme, an oval purple Plum of 

 medium size, is I think a Canadian Plum, from 

 Montreal ; this is an enormous bearer, withstanding our 

 spring frosts well, and ripening early in August. Plum 

 are becoming most valuable fruit, for owing to several 

 new varieties the dessert and the kitchen can be supplied 

 from the end of July till nearly * " 



T. Rivers. 



arge- publication of Loudon's " Arboretum " it is not known 

 *— — ' where it sprang from ; but if its origin is buried in 



obscurity, a curious return to its nature has convinced 

 me that it is but an accidental sport — perhaps of one 

 shoot that has been perpetuated. About 25 years ago 

 I plant* d in our nursery a tree by the road-side to 

 attract notice ; for 20 years it showed no sign of change, 

 but a single shoot in the following year grew more 

 vigorously than the rest, and produced the leaves in 

 their usual form. This shoot has continued to ramify, 



impunity. 

 The pulp 

 but the kernel is a dangerous 



and every twig from it shows the original character 

 whilst every other part retains its curled character of 

 leaf and shortened and condensed ramification. William 

 Masters, Exotic Nursery, Canterbury. 



Double-flowered Peach. — I send you a fruit grown in 

 my garden on a standard double-blossomed Peach. I 

 am led to suppose that its fruiting is rather an unusual 

 occurrence. The Peach in question fell off on Saturday 

 last. A,, Dulwich Common, Oct. 30. [The double-flowered 

 Peach, being only semi-double, will occasionally p ro . 

 duce fruit, but it rarely ripens, and when it does has no 

 value.] 



Tew Berries. — I do not remember to have ever seen a 

 more abundant crop of these than there is this autumn. 

 Observing that the birds eat them greedily, I occasionally 

 eat a few and find them sweet and grateful as the purest 

 honey. Allow me to ask whether they may be made 

 into jelly, and eaten in that form with 

 Rusticus. [Take care you don't kill yourself, 

 is harmless, no doubt- 

 poison.] 



Poplars and Varieties of Larch. — In reply to u An Old 

 Pupil," you state that Poplars can never be so profitable 

 as Larch in dry exposed places. Generally speaking 

 this may be the case, but still there are exceptions, and 

 an extreme one presents itself in the spot from which I 

 write. It is subject to great droughts, and as much 

 exposed as most parts of the kingdom (as those who 

 witnessed the gale of Friday last can testify) ; yet the 

 Black Italian, the best, and to my fancy by far the 

 nicest looking of Poplars, surpasses all trees by its ex- 

 traord nary growth, and that in exposures where the 

 Larch positively requires shelter : without which in the 

 course of most seasons its beautiful green is browned 

 and its tender shoots destroyed by the severity of the 

 gales, and an atmosphere saturated with salt ; con- 

 sequently in such localities, particularly where shelter 

 is i he object, the Poplar will be found the more suitable 

 of # the two. While speaking of Larches allow me to 

 express my regret that the many beautiful and 

 striking varieties which exist of this tree should be 

 confounded in a common name. No doubt to most 

 people a Larch is a Larch, and there ends the matter; 

 but observers cannot help seeing how widely the forma 

 of many differ from the stiff compact pyramidal habit 

 which characterises the race, more especially those 

 recently raised, and demand a place for elegance of 

 habit among Deodars and Cedars of Lebanon. For 

 profit or Hop poles probably *the common sorts may be 

 preferable, but when they are to form part of park 

 scenery, surely a little trouble in selecting them would 

 be well bestowed ; many of their habits are greatly 

 changed and only fully developed by age, still the ten- 

 dency to do so is observable even in the nursery, and 

 quite perceptible before they have arrived at an age fit 

 to plant out. It is probable that many of the venerable 

 specimens which now command our admiration might 

 not literally produce Ck seed after their kind." Never- 

 theless much might be done to furnish varieties for 

 ornamental purposes, and I have no doubt that any 

 attention paid to the subject would meet with reward, 

 J. M., Folkstone, Oct. 27. [Our correspondent has mis- 

 taken the question. The Lombardy Poplar was the 

 tree inquired about, not the Black Italian, which makes 

 a great difference.] 



Wireworms and Fruit. — I have often been struck by 

 the amount of mischief done to various crops in a short 

 time by wireworms, and cannot conceive how so small 

 a creature can find its food, growing, as it does, a good 

 distance apart, with such certainty. If a field affected 

 by them'be carefully examined it will be found that the 

 soil in many instances is not so full of the insects as a 

 person would imagine from seeing the amount of injury 

 done, and it is necessary to believe that they have 

 rather the power of selecting and finding the food they 

 like best, than that they travel along eating anything 

 suitable lying in their path. I have been led to make 

 these remarks from observing their good taste in the 

 selection of fruit. Almost all the lower animals which 

 eat fruit appear to like best those varieties valued by 

 man. I have often remarked this in the case of 

 sheep and game, the latter particularly ; for whilst the 

 cooking Apples lie almost unmolested under the trees, 

 Uibstone Pippins, MalBters, Wykin Pippins, &c, are 

 almost always spoilt before the morning. I hardly 

 think, however, that the wireworm would be expected 

 to be so nice in its choice, but so it is : I have observed 

 many baking Apples just attacked and left, whilst a good 

 eating variety has been full of the worms. From a 

 Bees Pool Apple I extracted 24 fine fat fellows (many 

 of them contained from 6 to 12), whilst from a nearly 

 ripe Comte de Lamy Pear I took out the almost in- 

 credible number of 37. I should state that all our 

 orchards are carefully gathered every few days, so that 

 I have no reason to believe these fruits had lain long oil 

 (he Grass. T. R. Pearson, Chilwell. 



Shell Rain in the Isle of Wight {see p 

 earnestly hope that " C." of Winchester will give some 

 more particulars regarding the fall of Bhellsat Osborne. 

 Were any of the shells living ? Over how wide an area 

 did they fall ? During how long a time are they be- 

 lieved to have fallen ? At what hour and on what day * 



m one kind of shell fall ? I hope « C." will tor- 

 give me for suggesting to him how very desirable it is 

 that so extraordinary and very interesting a fact should 

 be authenticated by the narrator's name, 

 almost a duty towards the science of natural history to 

 do so. Were the Zua identified by any good concholo- 

 gist 1 — this seems to me an important point. C D., Do&n* 

 [The Zua was very obligingly identified by Dr» Baird 



710). 



I 



Did onlv 



It is really 



