

804 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Dec. 8, 1855. 



examination. They were 



October ; they are to be seasoned for not less than 



from 



T 



six months, and a piece 6 feet 9 inches lonj 



the butt end is separated, which will be hereafter cut 



up into scantlings for experiment. 



As we trust that many others of our great nobles 



and gentlemen will co-operate in this inquiry, and 

 since it is desirable that the trials should be con- 

 ducted, as nearly as possible, on one uniform plan, we 

 think it advisable to mention how some experiments 

 made in H.M.'s dockyard at Portsmouth, by Mr. 

 James Bennett, the very able timber inspector 

 there, were conducted. Six pieces of New Forest 

 Oak were taken from the Vindictive, each piece 

 being 7 feet long, 2 inches square, containing 336 



cubic inches, and resting upon props 6 feet asunder. 

 Three of these pieces were common Oak, and 

 three Durmast, all received into store in 1830, used 

 in 1832, and tested in 1849. The results were 

 given thus : 



Both leaves and 



felled in the end of seeds. It crawls over shady banks. 



flowers beautiful." From its great resemblance to a 

 Geophila, it was provisionally named G. villosa, under 

 which name it has been distributed. Now that it has 

 flowered it has been identified as the Coccocypselum cor- 

 difolium of Brazil, whush has found its way as far 

 northwards as the forests of Guatemala. The flowers 



Name 



of 

 Oak. 



Weight 



No. of 

 piece 



Deflection 



at crisis of 



breaking. 



Weight of 



a cubic 



foot. 



Specific 

 gravity. 



Since Lord Fitzwilliam's experimental timber is 

 already cut into 6 feet 9 inch lengths, it is as well 

 that others should adopt the same measurement ; 

 for the comparative results will not be affected if 

 6 feet 9 inch pieces, 2 inches square, resting on 

 props 5 feet asunder, are substituted for those em- 

 ployed by Mr. Bknnett. 



We would also advise that, in order to render 

 comparison perfectly satisfactory, the pieces experi- 

 mented on should be squared from just within the 

 sapwood, and therefore consist of nothing but heart- 

 wood or " spine." The back and belly of the pieces 

 should be as nearly as possible parallel with the 

 annual rings, while the sides should also be parallel 

 with the grain or medullary rays. Moreover, in 

 trying the strength the back of each piece, that is to 

 say the side which was next the sapwood, should be 

 placed downwards. It would not much matter, in- 

 deed, for comparison if it were placed upwards, pro- 

 vided all experimenters would do the same ; but we 

 should prefer it downwards, because when wood is 

 bent in that direction the elastic resistance to a 



are in very small heads, about three together, of a pale 

 lilac colour, and of little interest in their present state ; 

 but it is conceivable that if carpeting a bank, and 

 blooming abundantly, the appearance might be gay 

 enough. It is, however, to the " ultramarine- coloured n 

 berries that we must trust for the beauty which belongs 

 to the plant. The leaves are roundish cordate, of firm 

 texture, shaggy, with stalks longer than the peduncles 

 in the wild plant, though much shorter in the specimen 

 that has just flowered. 



153. Eucharis grandiflora. Flanchon and Linden 



Fl. des Sevres j ix., 957. 



This is one of the handsomest of bulbous plants. A 

 correspondent (J. M. A.) has sent us a flower, pure 

 white, thick like fine kid leather, 4 5 inches in diameter, 

 and sweet, like a Tuberose in the evening. In appear- 

 ance it may be compared to a Pancratium, or rather to 

 a Eurycles. The leaf is 5 inches broad by 7 inches 

 long, acute, somewhat heart-shaped, with the texture of 

 a Fuukia. Three or four such flowers as are above 

 described form an umbel, on a stiff terete scape. The 

 tube is curved and trumpet-shaped, more than'24 inches 

 long ; the border is quite flat, consisting of six ovate 

 segments, the inner overlapping the outer at the base. 

 The coronet is fleshy, cylindrical, about half an inch 

 deep, with 18 thick teeth, every third of which is longer 

 than the others, and bears an anther. The style pro- 

 jects a little, is very slender, slightly decimate, and ends 

 in a flat bluntly 3-lobed stigma. Each cell of the ovary 

 contains about a dozen papilliform ovules. 



The plant was found by Mr. Triana, one of Mr. 

 Linden's collectors, in the province of Choco in New 

 Grenada. It requires stove temperature while growing, 

 and a dry greenhouse when at rest, and is a charming 

 thing. 



er 



has a tendency to reduce plants to their form 

 condition. 



396. It is clear that where plants are naturally wild 

 the tendency to reversion may be expected to be much 

 greater than under contrary circumstances. Hybrids 

 too between species will have a much greater tendency 

 to revert than hybrids between varieties, and conse- 

 quently the Swedish Turnip is much more subject to the 

 malady than the common Turnip.J 



397. Affections, apparently similar, exist occasionally 

 in tubers, as in the Potato. As these tubers have in 

 reality neither the functions nor organisation of a root 

 the case is one merely of analogy. In the Potato^ for 

 instance, where the tubers, sometimes, as in a case 

 before me, assume a form like that of a human foot 

 or as in that figured in Gardeners 9 Chronicle, 1849, p, 4' 

 present a gouty hand, the affection is due to the protru- 

 sion of some of the superficial buds, so as to form fresh 

 tubers adherent by their base to the original tuber. In 

 the first case mentioned above some larva had burrowed 

 into the substance, so as to destroy the vitality of the 

 terminal bud, and hence as the tuber was still inclined 

 to increase some of the lateral buds were brought into 

 action. The same effect may be produced by excessive 

 pressure, as was probably the case with the Belgian 

 specimen figured in this Journal. The affection is, how- 

 ever, no attempt to revert to the original condition of the 

 plant, but arises from purely accidental causes. M.J\.B. 



JJEGETABLE PATHOLOGY. 

 394. Dactylorhiza*. 



No. XCVIII. 



This 



SUBTERRANEAN IRRIGATION. 



[From Mr. Mechi's communications to Stockhardfs 

 Chemical Field Lectures.] 



" I am so frequently questioned as to the cost and 

 success of this operation, that I purpose, as briefly as 

 possible, giving the necessary information. 



" Supposing the farm to # be of 200 acres, pipes of 

 3 inches diameter would be sufficiently large : — 



Cost per acre. 

 15 yards of 3-inch iron pipe, weight 5J cwt., £ s. d. 



fit #0. UUi ••• ... ... ... ••• ••• 



Laying an<J. jointing with lead and yarn, 18 

 hydrants, and fixing, at 1$. per yard 



A liquid manure tank of 4^-inch brick-work, 

 with 9-inch dome, 100Z 



200 yards of gutta percha 2-inch tubing, at 

 55. 6d. per yard, or 1 yard per acre 



Steam-engine of 6-horse power, 200? 



Pair of G-inch pumps, 20-inch stroke, 1001. ... 



2 13 

 15 



10 



.0 5 

 1 

 10 



6 

 

 



strain is the greater, as archers know. 



have received 



place 

 friend Mr. 



Since writing the above, we 

 piece of the old timber taken 

 unburnt at the late fire at Stirling 

 Castle, which the Governor has 

 been so obliging as to place at 

 the disposal of our 

 Peter Mackenzie. It came from 

 li the Douglas room," which is 

 said to be the most ancient 

 part of the old castle. How long 

 it may be since the tree that pro- 

 duced it was felled we have no 

 means of knowing ; but it must 

 have lain in its place for several 

 centuries, inasmuch as James II. 

 of Scotland who stabbed the 

 Douglas in the room it floored 

 died we think in 1456, at which 

 time Stirling Castle was an an- 

 cient fortress. It is not a little 

 curious to find that this wood, 

 of such high antiquity, is that of 

 Quercus sessiliflora, as every piece 

 of very ancient English Oak 

 which we have yet seen has in- 

 variably proved to be. 



The annexed is an exact 

 measure of the annual rings in 

 the specimen before us ; from 

 which it appears to have grown 

 pretty fast for the first 30 years, 

 after which its rate of increase 

 gradually diminished, till at last 

 the annual rings can with diffi- 

 culty be counted even 'with the 

 aid of a magnifying glass. That 

 it must therefore have been pro- 

 duced in an unfavourable climate 



a 



from the remains 



BARK. 



> Sapwood 15 yrs. 



103 years old. 

 100 years old. 



90 years old. 

 80 years old. 



70 years old. 

 60 years old. 



50 years old. 



£5 1 9 



So that about 51. per acre will be the cost of the whole 

 operation ; this is considerably higher than the estimates 

 quoted by the General Board of Health, p. 136 (whose 

 paper on this subject everybody should read), and 

 much higher than my own expense ; because when I 

 carried out this operation in March 1852, the price of 

 iron pipes was only 41. 5s. per ton, labour, materials, 

 &c, in proportion. 



u I think I have somewhat over-estimated the cost, 

 but there are always a number of incidental expenses 

 which tend to enlarge the estimate. 



" Assuming 7\ per cent, on the sunk capital to be a 

 sufficient charge, your fixed charge on every acre of 

 the farm will be 7s. 6rf., and your working expenses 

 will be as follow on the laud actuallv irrigated 



6-horse power, or 7 cwt. of coals per diem 



Engineer 



Man and youth to work jet, 2s. 6d. t Is. Gd. 

 Miscellaneous expenses i*. 



• • • 



• ■ • 







40 years old. 



30 years old. 



20 years old. 



10 years old. 



( Fingers and Toes) . 



disease was not clearly distinguished from Anbury, 



which is in reality a very different affection, till Mr. Buck- 

 man published his excellent memoir in the 15th volume 



of the * Transactions of the Royal Agricultural Society," 



which was transferred with copious illustrations to this 



Journal in the volume for 1854, and some observations 



on the same subject have very recently appeared in our 



pages confirmatory of what had been advanced in the 

 previous year. It is like the disease treated of in our 

 last article (P. 388), a more or less complete reversion to 

 the natural condition of the plant, and the remedy con- 

 sists in like manner (P. 392) in good cultivation and a 

 proper selection of seed. 



395. Anbury properly so called (and clubbing belongs 

 to the same category) is a deformed condition of the 

 roots induced by the attacks of insects, f In the present 

 disease no insect is immediately concerned, and if larvae 

 appear at a later stage of growth their presence is alto- 

 gether accidental. In their wild condition Parsnips, 

 Carrots, Turnips, &c, throw out a multitude of principal 

 roots and heads, whereas the effect and object of high 

 cultivation is to produce a plant which shall have a 

 single head only, and one tap root without any principal 

 laterals. In some plants, as in the Rarapion and 

 Skirret, the innate propensity to division is so strong 

 as to make them scarcely worth cultivating, notwith- 

 standing their intrinsic merits. Mr. Buckman has shown 

 that the tendency of cultivation accompanied by a careful 

 selection of seed and change of soil is to produce single 

 taproots, but that amongst a quantity of seedlings, 

 under the most favourable circumstances, there is 

 always a disposition to revert to the original con- 

 dition, and that this tendency is increased in pro- 

 portion to adverse agricultural influences, as untimely 

 sowiug, poverty of soil, repeated produce upon 

 the same ground, &c. Wherever, therefore, a large 

 quantity of branched roots occur the quality of the seed 



may be suspected, provided it has not come from too j 5 inches of friable and well- looking soil," whilst all below 

 rich a soil, the soil itself be in proper condition, and the shows undisturbed poverty. 



same crop has not been taken several years in succession. "Irrigation remedies this and fertilises where th« 

 Under unfavourable circumstances the branched roots plough-iron never enters. 



will become woody and the plants run rapidly to seed, « In the practical working of the operation, a hundred 

 presenting a condition identical with that in our last difficulties presented themselves ; these have all 

 article. The vulgar notion that the division arises from 



£0 8 







2 



6 



4 







1 







£0 15 



6 



With 



this 



Or 155. 6d. per diem working expenses. 

 power you will put on 5000 gallons per hour, or 50,000- 

 gallons in 10 working hours ; allowing two hours on 

 each acre, or 1 0,000 gallons per acre, the cost for each 

 dressing per acre will be 35. Id. 



" Supposing the Grass or other crop requires four 

 dressings per year, the cost would be 125. 4<f. per acre 

 on the land actually irrigated. 



u It is now three years and a half since I first began 

 irrigating, and I have no hesitation in saying that the 

 operation is a profitable one. By this process you 

 intimately admix your manure with every granule of 

 the soil and subsoil to the depth of the drains, which! 

 have often seen discharging the liquid at 4 and 5 feet 

 deep. A cross cut in our ordinary soils exhibits 



the manure not being properly incorporated with the 

 soil, insomuch that small fibres attracted by the isolated 

 patches become strong branches, is, I believe, entirely 



without foundation. 



been 



overcome, (as with steam, gas, and other new inventions); 

 and now our men pursue their avocation without let or 

 hindrance. 



" I have written largely on this subject in the Agri- 

 cultural Gazette, and under the head 'Sewage & 

 * Blackie's Cyclopaedia of Agriculture.' 



"The main difficulties that have been overcome ware 



would seem certain. In fact the 



sap wood, now in a state of decaj 7 , 



that the tree could not have gained half an inch 

 in diameter in 15 years. 



the avoidance of concussion by ample air-vessels, the 



395. It is highly necessary for the prevention of this 

 condition, that seed should be raised from selected roots 

 and not from a crop taken indiscriminately; that the! 



sap wooX now* irTa statVof decay /formed so slowly « r °°. tS shou * d not 5 av , e f ome from v . e 7 late so™ s<*d, fcttnitfxiw wwTs^ the^so!^ manure by 



duce plants which run to seed rapidly without forming e i J r 



a tap root, and that the roots themselves should have 



Kew Plants. 



152. Coccocypselum cordifolium. Nees and Martins, 



D. C. Prodv. iv. 397. 



Among many curious plants raised in the garden of 



the Horticultural from the abundant collections of our 



zealous friend Mr. Skinner is this, which he describes 



A3 " an exquisite little thing, with nltramarifle-colourej 



been raised and stored some time previously to bein" 

 committed to the ground. It was explained before that 

 the greater part of the objects of agriculture are due to 



a certain debility of constitution, and by storing the 



an air-pump. . . 



* The substitution of a gutta percha suction pipe wltu 

 corrugated joints instead of iron pipes. . 



" The use of a large suction gutta percha bulb wit 1 

 many holes, by which the manure is gradually an j 

 slowly drawn in, thereby avoiding the choking, wtlic 



plants, that exuberance^ jregetationjs checked which was caused by a violent rush through limited opening*- 



5 k' romHuiruXas a finger, an >/£« "a rootl 





