

THE GARDENERS 



CHRONICLE 



mm 



id 



interest I believe with you that they 



take so much 



..c *i , •riit'i.li secures the access 



proposed by Mr. 



t„ ^vered iliTstokeTby the end of June ; and, by the end 

 Mi to J^JJJJ the brant f hes wiU droop from all sides of the 



Covered with their beautiful blossoms, while the 



W. K., Knowsley-hall (hardens, 



the 



which the cake was 



of air to 

 Dart of them which o 



rrwitfi Had the floor been ot concrete, ™T"«~» ;; 

 roots, nau w» * the result would have been 



i • JZ Pxtrv iinary provision for aeration), I 

 making some exTworumtwj i ™;oV>Wrmc; 



mav mention the following instance of mischievous 

 SltT.-ia theyearl34D,Ihad occasion to concrete 

 the surface of a border under a north wall, for the pur- 

 pose of setting pots upon during the summer months, 

 thus rendering it impervious to worms Upon this 

 wall there were two fine healthy Morello Cherry trees 

 crowing, in a well-drained, porous border of fine sandy 

 loam, alid of course under all the conditions favourable 

 to their healthy progress, excepting the one I have just 

 mentioned. The following year, they began to decline 

 in vigour, and this year they are wholly dead. I think 

 you do wisely iu pointing out to those w] 

 auth , that those trees, althoogk safe themselves, are 

 fraught with danger to the public. My own experience 

 confirms your view of the treacherous nature of the 

 branches of old Elms. Living in the midst of fine 



I am a constant eye-witness 



» 



was 



n 



ho are in 



trees ^ . , 



to the sudden fall of a mighty limb, with a report like 

 the discharge of artillery, and this in the most still and 

 sultry weather, when scarcely a zephyr is breathing ; 

 while in the midst of the storms and desolation of win- 

 ter the trees are rarely injured, unless the branches are 

 loaded with snow. My conviction of the insecurity of 

 large branches of Elm in the summer months is such, 

 that I would not willingly stand under one, or cause a 

 scat to he placed under it. Undoubtedly the increased 



leverage caused by the weight of foliage is one cause; 



but may it not be owing to the expansion by heat of the 

 fluid matter which the tree contains, in some degree ? 

 May not the expansion of the vessels to a greater de- 

 gree than usual weaken the tissue, and render it less 

 capable of sustaining the superimposed weight ? What 

 say y i! The question is of grave importance as far 

 as the Crystal Palace is concerned. Should the danger- 

 ous trees be retain 1, however agreeable and inviting 

 their shade may be, [ would repeat the maxim of the 

 old poet, * Nimium no erode colori." I fully believe 

 that casualties of this kind are in the proportion of three 

 to one more in calm summer days than in stormy wintry 

 Ones. IF* nry Bailey, Nw am, Oxford. 



To Keep Bl om Picking Fruit.— As the season is 



coming oil for the depredations of birds, I beg to report 

 my experience of last year, when I saved my Currants 

 and Gooseberries, by winding coloured worsted round 

 and across my bushes ; and my Cherries, by hanging 

 up several pieces of tin with strong thread in the 

 different fen \ two pieces being hung near enough 

 together to clash with the wind, which sound, with the 

 bright reflection of the tin in the 



plant, 



pot will scarcely be seen. 



Lancashire. • 



Cacti.—" I manage these plants myself," remarked a 

 gentleman to me in allusion to a nice little collection of 

 Cacti, in which were representatives of most genera of 

 that interesting tribe of plants. "They are my 

 favourites, not perhaps from actual taste, but from cir- 

 cumstances. You see I am the greater part of my time 

 buried beneath that murky atmosphere yonder," point- 

 ins towards London, for the garden in which we were 

 attached to a pretty villa some eight or ten miles 

 distant from the metropolis, " and I could not afford the 

 ecessary attention to plants of delicate habits and con- 

 stitutions. I find no difficulty in making them 

 bloom profusely, and almost at any season of the 



The great secret— if secret it may be termed 

 in the proper application of water. A dry 

 season and a moist one they must have— alternate 

 periods of rest and growth are the great essentials to 

 satisfactory culture. Here you see are Mammillarias, 

 Epiphyllums, Cereuses, and Opuntias, all in excellent 

 condition. At all seasons I find something in them to 

 admire. Now it is the rich corollas of the Epiphyl- 

 lums, then the serpent-like trailing of the Cereuses, and 

 anon the grotesque forms of the Mammillarias or the 

 Melo-cacti. In fact I love my plants. I have tended 

 them so long with my own hands that I entertain a real 

 affection for them, and — don't believe it a weakness— I 

 always imagine they look brighter when I pay them 



visit. I said the great 



Before I took their 

 death was for 



and examined many lumps, and found them f 11 

 defunct and expiring enemy. The pract ° f 



th4 wo ™ Prevail^ J « 



-5 



course followed wherever the worm ""pre^ii? Was i 



a year or two the land was perf 



without any recurrence of the evil. ftir. Cha' ^ ^ 



on several occasions since, has had recoup + .i 



™„o~« f-«. w « U.. i,:~ /-» . ux =>eX0the 



liable to be attacked, and he has invariably T^ 



means for preserving his Carnations, which 



are 



the same satisfactory results. The plan is so si i 

 apparently so efficacious, that I need not i[\\l?Y> 



1 



upon it than to remind those who may be &\§ ^ 

 try it, that whilst they may hope to destrov th*^ te 

 they will certainly add a rich fertiliser to their ^ 

 at a reasonable cost. It should perhaps be ™ ^^ 



. Mr. C. applied th* ***** 



year. 

 — lies 



waedj, is . 



ry soil on the magnesian limestone, and I be] - 1 

 V. Cooke's was the same, hut I see no reason T*^* 



that the land to which 



d 



W. vww p ww* w»« ocmuc, uut a see no reason for " 



posing that it would not^ be equally efficacious on !St 



soils. E. F. K. ^ 



Timber Trees. — A short time ago your column 

 tained a few suggestions from a correspondent 5 Sl 

 signed himself "A Young Gardener." After ]» 

 ing (not without good reason) the little attention tk^ 

 paid to rearing timber for naval purposes, and exn 



in 



my accustomed morning 

 secret was water. I believe it. 

 management into my own hands, 

 ever making merry amongst my pets 

 rot. About every alternate week my 

 meet me with a rueful visage and something like the 



' Another of them Cactuses 



The nur- 



Rot, rot, 

 man would 



g sundry dismal apprehensions on tl;e subject ^t 

 height of his enthusiasm for " British Oak," head 

 that farmers shall in future be compelled to rear so* 

 clumps of trees in their fields. Now, with all defera? 

 I would suggest that so long as the country po«S 

 capital, if we do not get home-grown timber ve2 



plentifully supplied from other sources. 



v I hear the '* British f»*mA» *> exc | •. 



cap 



alwavs be 



almost fancy I hear the 



in 



friends." I 



[ 



his present depressed state, " save us from q» 



a 



complaint : 



'en.' 



following 



is dead, Sir. He had'nt got no roots, 

 seryman you bought 'em on, Sir, cheated you ; and as 

 he had'nt had no roots, why, in course, the water rotted 



In nine cases out of ten the water had * rotted 

 'en,' beyond all cure. So, tired with constantly buying, 

 and receiving no pleasure for my money, I determined 

 to try what common sense would effect in their manage- 

 ment. I had been reading a work on physical geography, 

 and a page or two of the work detailed the natural con- 

 ditions of the succulent plants found on the plains of 

 tropical America and Africa, the home of so many of 

 the Cactus tribe. I learned that the two seasons, the 



At one time the soil 



Here Cacti 



wet and the dry, were excessive, 

 is scorched, and at the other flooded, 

 flourish. Provided with a skin that will, to a great 

 degree, resist evaporation, they struggle almost unhurt 

 through the fiery ordeal, and when the periodical rains 

 saturate the soil and moisten the atmosphere — for from the 

 latter they imbibe a large portion of nourishment — thou- 

 sands of flowers stud their grotesque forms. I followed 

 as near as possible these conditions, and my success was 

 perfect. When I water I flood the whole plant, not 

 only the soil in which it grows, but its whole surface. 

 This treatment, after a period of rest, induces immediate 

 k - — „ — w *«- growth and blossom. After this I gradually permit the 



™TJ!Z„.Al1'' *? PT?. ^?« ? C ?25? a /«hpiql4es a .plant to sink again into repose, to be again brought into 

 T " A, ° •*—"—* - r — **•*- — " •• . - - flower. A long period of rest is not necessary. We 



sun, certainly 

 frightened them away, and I had my due share of fruit, 

 which, the preceding year, I was obliged to relinquish 

 to them. 11. M. 



Begoni (see p. 118).— I would advise your corre- 



moist atm. .sphere, and from 65° to 70 Q of heat by day 

 lowering the temperature at night. B. incarnata will do 

 well in a conservatory, and it is by far the most showy of 

 the gem I have some plants now in bloom here 

 which have been in flower ever since the beginning of 

 October, and they are likely to continue in bloom "two 

 months longer. I would prefer incarnata to fuchsioides 

 for a cold conservatory. W. Culver veil, Thorp Perrow 



Tor ia astatica.— This Torenia may be grown in the 

 following manner, so as to form a highly ornamental 

 object. Take a cutting from a specimen that is free 

 from insect, m August. When it* has struck root, pot 



!J,™J \ 3 . m * l *f » P eat > *«*>* and silver sand ; tl en 

 place tt m the hothouse under a hand " 



can outstrip Nature, divide one season into two, mimic 

 the Sahara twice a year in the hothouse, and enjoy its 

 beauties without any disagreeable addenda." Alpha. 



Bain.—Uhe following is an account of that which fell 

 at Thurston, near Dunbar, N. B., during the last five 

 years. Thurston is 280 feet above the sea, from which 

 it is distant two miles. Latitude, 55.57 N. : Longi- 

 tude, 2.20 W. ° 



1817. 1848. I 1849. I 1850, 



January 



to» for three or 5£T* 



._ .^w^v, luiu^i- a nana-giass for threp nr tr 



four day,, after wl it should be hardened by t^s ££ 



Afterwards place it near the glass, and frequently stop 



■ •• 



• • » 



• t • 



t . t 



• - * 



• t « 



• • - 



• • t 



it, in order to encourage it to make laterals 

 1st 



About the 



• r > 



oecu 



san 



In 



u 1 1 i . , * ' — tne beginning: of Aoril it 

 should be potted for the last time into a 7-inch K in 

 the same compost as before, to which a little manure has 

 been added. After this, all stopping should be di se on 



the 'iSt f„ v n T ?*?; pl;ints w t0f > «» 



foJi«™ ' g ' Ia ^ Jt ihouItl b e staked 



foUowmg n, :ner: one upright stake4feet £ 



June 



July 

 August ... 



September 

 October... 



November 

 December 



• • • 



• i - 



* * ■ 



• • * 



• t « 





• ». 



• • 



• ■ t 



• ■ • 



■ > 



• e . 



In. 



20 



1.3 



2.1 



1 4 



2.0 



4.0 



% 



3.7 



7.0 

 3.6 

 0.7 

 0.8 



In. 



2.2 

 1.4 

 2.0 

 1 

 2.8 

 1.3 

 2.0 

 1.1 

 1.2 

 2.3 



1.7 

 4.2 



23.2 



In. 



0.8 

 6.0 

 2.6 

 15 

 2 3 

 5.4 

 1.3 

 1.4 



1.2 

 5.1 

 2.4 

 2.2 



32.2 



In. 



3.0 

 0.5 



0.3 



4.0 

 3.3 

 3.2 

 2.4 

 2.3 

 2.1 

 2.3 

 1 5 

 1.4 



26,3 



In. 

 0.7 



3.2 



0.8 

 2.9 

 4.1 



1.2 

 1.0 

 0.8 

 2.3 

 13 

 2.2 

 0.3 



20.8 



from 



in the 



length 



__Anpuil amounts I 32.5 



Destruction of the Wirewm**-l beg to furnish you 

 with a copy of the following plan for destroying wi re w -m 

 I knownotlnng oi its merits myself; but I intend trying 

 it foi Carnations. Some years ago, Mr. Charnock waS 



cannot help thinking the 

 unhappy one, more especially at this crisis," when £ 

 utmost must be made of every inch of ground (k 

 arable land, groups of trees are most objectionaUe- 

 they both do mischief to the cultivator, and are rob! 

 ously treated, by having their roots cut off, and h 

 careless lopping. A few trees in parks or Grass gromS 

 are desirable, but a war of extermination has seta 

 against them upon well cultivated arable fields, la 

 our woods be better managed ; but let our fields ke 

 unincumbered by the large fences and trees which hr 

 so frequently seen. Henry Bailey, Nimeham, 



A Plan for forcing Asparagus, SeaJcale, Rhh^ 

 Chicory, &c— Nothing is more easy than to have tie 

 above all the winter, and that too by the most simjk 

 means. All that is wanted is a good supply ^f roofe 

 Asparagus three years old ; Seakale grown from piece 

 of roots planted in the spring, make fine plants in c 

 summer ; Rhubarb also makes fine plants, by dividing! 

 large root into as many pieces as there are eyes to 

 crown, planting it out in January. Chicory sown 

 May or the 1st of June, makes fine roots for forcic 

 and a brick pit divided into two lights or more,acccr 

 ing to the size of the family, will be necessary fori 

 purpose. The pit should be heated with hot water 

 a three-inch pipe, which should run along ml 

 a foot of the glass, descending at the further er 

 and returning along the bottom in the centre rf 

 the pit to the boiler. The length of the pit skou 

 not be less than 16 lights, which will afford the mm 

 of producing a regular rotation of the above vege- 

 tables. Its depth need not be more than 4 feet in fc 

 hack, and 2 feet 6 inches in the front ; and for conve- 

 nience in getting at the centre it should be 6 feet broai 

 When the above vegetables are out of season the} 

 would be suitable for the production of Cucumber 

 Melons, and many other things. It may, perhaps, le 

 needless to mention that Seakale must be kept quite 

 dark ; as must also Chicory ; and Rhubarb is mc 

 tender if too much light is not allowed to reach it. 

 would be well if no other heating power were employ* 

 than hot-water. Dung is good in the shape of rmW 

 and cannot be dispensed with ; but men's time would* 

 more usefully employed in keeping other parts flf J 

 garden in good order than in turning over andovfr 

 dung with a view to keep up heat, and at the same tea* 

 [destroying its best qualities. Such apitasfteaW 

 need never be idle, and might with much propriety* 

 calleoVthe "industrious pit." James CuthilU Camkm 

 Plant buying.— U I purchase a horse, I either rely* 

 my own eyesight and judgment, or I require a ** 

 ranty; and if I do not require a warranty, u^ 





obtain 



these, so as to form 



1 nearer 

 shorter 



The wholo of *\uT V V , w Iorm an ou to 

 SITS? ?L the 8t *k*L should incline out 



circle. 



wants, except the centra ^«~ 



disposition of the "hootTL^V Z** re « ard to the 



them Sir Wo. then informed him that he had heaS'of 



and adopted a plan which had proved perfectly effective 

 ™f In '• * ' S " b ' SeflUently f0UmNe(1 •*£*•««£ 



dust, apply to 



horse turn out lame or sick, it is aJl "on raj o 

 account and risk" as the merchants* say, unless w» 

 a gross case of fraud or concealment can be p»*» 

 against the horse-jockey, and then perhaps (at*** 

 far greater generally than the first loss) I may , 

 redress. If I buy a plant or tree of a nurserymjV 

 am bound to judge from the general appearance ot 

 Plant, of its general health, and no guarantee is 

 i'nred ; if it die, it is the fortune of war: }°* e ' 

 to prevent disappointment, the wisest course W «i«£J 

 with all tradesmen, is to adopt the political e*JM*g 



Hen of the ordinary top- dress n^ of iZt TT> mA W " for verification of quality,'' °y S^ 

 the land, and mix wellwi A thelou t^ ° ^ tode «™n of the beet character, paymft •* 



£?J?®**> W the Uo ouS-°ro WS ,to which 



suspended in regular 





Rape-- - • -'"- ^5owt 



grad 



this 



outside branches ^should "be _ 



. ing that the longest 



towards 



onus 



wav Afirl Q « , L , the centre - K staked in 

 i^'Jl % vep y llbe » 1 SU PP^ of water be given, 

 Mo allow it to flag from Ma/ until August, occa- 



th liquid manure, and slightly 



sun is powerful, it will have 



size of half 



that the wii 



cake, devouring them with such uiHit* . a * , ^ - -- 



usual, some 25 percent, extra. 



I have, however, ung 



•wing it wheu the 



. or from the 



!^ d th ^ msi ?y nurserymen, on learniug that a P 

 it has perished from ill-treatment, replace ^^ 



sent out has died, where there is no reason to 



this would be obviously" inconvenient, and . . 



to dispute if it were. I have been led to the cot i»° 



believe there is no such general rule in the trade ; in 



is wonlrl K« A |»L-ji :« rt ^_;nnf and ^ uld .^, 



I -« »»v,*^. j. HOtO MCtx* ,.«.-- - Qffi 



tion of this point by having my advice sought w. 

 under the following circumstances. My friend purcn % 

 of a gentleman collector through his g^f n . p „'df 

 list, without inspection, a set of plants, and wnt 



