THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



a-tlr caused the monstrosity in question, might 1 

 nroduced by various causes ; by anything, in fact, whic 

 Seeks the proper development of the epidermis of tl 

 barry." In that opinion I quite concur, and by way < 



tensive Graperies, o; 

 fcng ; and in additio 



: wall, and also « 



happened to be very n 



irere more or less rusted ; tins, tnen, is a proof tnt 

 rough handling when the berries are young aud tende 

 produces rust. This has been observed by others, wh 

 lave thence concluded that rough handling wit 



, heavy soil, and in consequence only ti 



owe hardy kinds, such as the Black Hamburgh i 

 line, produced tolerably good fru 

 the White Frontignans invariably shanked, about wh 

 I shall have more to say hereafter. The Grapes i 

 to house were not subject to rust, which proves th: 

 disease to be unconnected with deep planting, althoug 



ii^But in 1847 all the Grapes in this house, i 

 well as those in another where the Vines wei 



cause the abortion figured in the Gardeners' Chronicle. 

 Now, rough handling could not in this case have 

 produced this excessive state of the disease, because 

 it manifested itself as soon as the berries were 

 (airly set ; neither could it have been brought on 

 by syrmging, to which some maintain that rust is solely 

 to be ascribed, for the Vines had never been syringed 

 after the buds broke into leaf. As, therefore, none of 

 the causes to which rust is usually ascribed could have 



evil must be discovered ; and after much cogitation on 

 the subject, I came to the conclusion that the tender 

 skin of the lerries had been injured by the fumes of 

 sulphur with which the atmosphere of the house was 

 strongly impregnate!! whenever fires were made, 

 through that substance having been too liberally mixed 

 with the whitewash used by the bricklayers af:er clean- 

 ing the flues. Further observation strengthened this 

 opinion, which has since been confirmed by a conversa- 

 tion with an excellent Grape grower (Mr. Frost, of 

 Dropmore), who says that if sulphur is spread over 

 the heating apparatus of a Vinery, in quantity sufficient 

 to kill the red spider, before the seeds are formed in the 

 fruit, ru-t will m variably follow ; but if the application 

 Of the sulphur is deferred till after the stoninj 



The foregoing facts therefore abui 

 nut on Grapes might be produced by 



sulphurous acid gas, is 

 the red spider ; for t 



d as they inci 

 h any small colonies that may have escaped tl 



Q the whole plant after i 



self. Prof. Daubeny, Prof. Henslow, and Prof. Lindley, 

 appointed for the 



Vitality of Seeds. During the past summer a portion 

 of each kind of seed collected in 1941 and 1846 were 

 sown at Oxford and Chiswick, together with a few 



;t n of W the e abs e e r nce m o e f Ur.££ £, 



very desirous of having seeds sent thera whose age 

 be authenticated. A list of the names of the plants, 

 from which the seeds which were sown had b< v 



pressed a hope that as the committee had m,w 1 



they had perforr 



win eh ] reduced 



: ihe embryo, were all points • 



vitality r>f the «-ed, m .1 



now approximatively determine.— Mr. H. E. Strick- 

 land said that he felt the time had come when an ar- 

 rangement of the fasts might be made, although on 

 previous occasions the committee felt that the data they 



Sept. 17.— Section P., Chemistry.— Report on the 



Dr. Daubeny.— This report, having emanated from the 

 comliued recommendation of the Chemical and Natural 

 History Secti, n<?, was read in Section B to-day. 

 An outline of this report is given above. — Mr. 



this inquiry, offered a few remarks in general con- 



at Oxford. He, however, stated that the difficulty ex- 

 perienced in growing the plants in perfectly air-tight 

 M great, -™ : -~ 



feared all the resulted 

 — Professor Rogers, a 

 by Dr. Daubeny on tb 



care is necessary, for a slight excess of the gas would 

 destroy the leaves as well as the spider. Mr. Frost's 

 nethod of applying sulphur is a safe one, therefore I 

 •WH describe it here, for the benefit of those among 

 your readers who are unacquainted with it : Shut up 

 b ft V f a fire "* tbe house which k t0 be fumi S ated > 

 KlJ^ a V ernoon °f a gloomy day, when there is no like- 

 «?*xl of the sun shining upon it, and when the flues or 

 JE hav , e become w arm, sprinkle a little sulphur upon 

 ffo' T - Continue the fire tU1 the Person who performs 

 SL^.^) *** » pungent m se S Srin\fs e E os\Hl"s, 



taeW £ ep ° D the Safe Side « and D0t volatiIise t0 ° 

 £ ?l 0f tne sulphur, even though it should be necessary 

 Otitis* *f " d ° Se a feW dajS afterwards - Some 8a y 

 ^VS"* V^^^wffi*? Sta way! 

 cheSn! 1 Bynn S e VIne « regularly, with a v,ew of 

 ,S™g the red spider, should be car. ful that the 

 BDheL * J \ USe is clean > and not colder tllaa the ata0 " 

 T*K of the house at the time ; also that the nozzle of 

 syringe is not £0 coarsely perforated as to throw a 



j to the Ferns becoming 

 ural conditions, that he 

 uewhat vitiated thereby. 



nee of carbonic acid in 



was invariably absorbed 



by water at the normal pressure of the atmosphere, and 



of the vegetable origin of coal 



Section C, Geology.— Mr. II. F. SmirKi.^Nn i 

 bited some specimens of vegetable remains in 



Kenper Sandstone of Lor * 



are for the most part f 



1'B 



lsual with fossil plants of so great 

 antiquity, they are of a light brown colour and highly 

 elastic, resembling recent dead leaves. When viewed 



lular texture in great perfecti-n. The only o 



I, c.V.-i in Gnat Ih'raiii " h> re plants have been fou 

 in the Keuper Sandstone is at Ripple, three miles e: 



-* quarried there at present. ' The only anir, 



nunications on the crossing and raising of 

 seed, which have appeared in your pages, 

 and, from what has come under my notice, I have not 

 the least doubt of the practicability of the affair. Den- 

 drobium nobile crossed with D. chrysanthum produced 

 me a pod of seed, and when the latter appeared to be 

 rpe, I sowed it in three ways : some on a log, with 



;num, and 



on it, suspended 



of which was stuffed with 

 sphagnum', and placed in a pan of water, which 

 answered well, as far as keeping the pot moist Mas con- 

 cerned, but neither of these two sowings vegetated. 

 For the third sowing I procured a pan similar to the 

 double flower-pot, but without a hole at the bottom. 

 It was 12 inch.es in diameter and 3 inches deep. A 

 cavity about an inch wide run all round between the 

 outer and inner rim of the pan ; this was filled with 



and 2, inches deep ; it was filled with water, in i 

 was placed a piece of cork about 8 inches wide i 

 inch thick. I sowed the remaining portion of se 

 the cork, which was then gently pressed under the i 



from coming to the side, and caused it to form a floating 



:.tipede, or woodloose could 



were preserved from the ravages of these destructive 



a bell glass, which rested on the sand between the two 

 rims of the pan, and placed in a shady part of the Orchid 



grow, and seemed to be going on very m 

 had fast hold of the cork ; they were tl) 

 months old. At that time I began to tak 

 them at night, covering them again in t 

 after doing this for about tliree weeks, I too 

 of the water and suspended it to the roof 

 in which place it remained about three w< 

 time the plants looked healthy, but theroo 



■rv : .L 



I 'suitable tor Sn^Orohid sfed*! 



-inr, Oct. 6. 

 Potatoes on B l ska of culti- 



vating Potatoes was given in the BelfastNorthern Whig 

 of October 2d ; but it appeared first, 11. 



-.. 



y would dig out Potatoes, which he had 



planted on a new principle, on the following Monday. 



Accordingly, we attended at the place named to witness 



the result of the experiment, and we must say we were 



, 1 at the success of the new system. Mr. 



1 to his hearers his experience, for the 



last four or five years, of the blight— which amounts to 



. hat the blight of the Potato stalks is » 



,i;y from the calamity of the Potato rot. 



That, in fact, the blight of the stalks was caused bj 



frost, and the rot of the tuber was caused by rain. He 



ned many instances in corroboration of this doe- 



assented to fully by 1 



dug out in the presence of them i 

 Ie of planting, so that the rai 



[ not, under 

 er the land 



placed a spadeful of loose earttt. iie Uien place* 



_ Thole Potato, with the eyes upwards, on the top, and 



had a sufficient quantity of slay put on to cover both 



seed and manure. This was on the 22d of March.- 



Mt had produced from four to eight younjj 



ma, about 8 inches high, rising from the top of! 



:h hillock. He then had the stems gently bended 

 ,^m the centre towards the circumference, and had a 

 small quantity of mould placed in the centre of the stemsi 

 so as to keep them in that position. In about 

 he stems began to turn up their crowns, and he had then 

 nore mould placed in the centre. In this way he had 

 hem moulded five or six times, during June, July, and 

 Vugust. When we saw them they had the appearance of 

 rows of large bee hives, with the steins of the Potatoes 

 wowing out all round about half way up from the base, 



t the young tubers, and they, consequently, 



rotten. Mr. Kelly stated that he had ©thee 



: h he planted in drills, and when they 



came up to a proper height he had divided the stalks to 



. had the mould placed in the centre, and 



expected he would have them all sound. He said, 



rned out of the ground before, and they were all 



.1, clean, large, and beautiful." In this 



part of the country I think that there will be a good 



o place. The "Cups" that stood mi 



in such good stead before, have failed us this year. 



: rmac f M.D., Belfast, Oct. 4. 



• . "■ 



