

THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



13& 



livered to hm own gardener uwj «fi- — 



coSion ; but it turn at that the greater part of 

 SU plants, tl ugh carefully treated, died; none however 

 tfSe others in the original collection partook of tins 

 mortalitv, and the fair inference was that the plants 

 sold had either been unduly exposed, or were not .n a 

 Jood state when sold ; in fact, like some of the china- 

 men's Plants they had no roots, ftc. I advised, that 

 unleas actual fraud or misrepresentation could be proved, 

 my friend had no remedy, beyond ineffectual remon- 

 strances I added a recommendation that for the future 

 mv friend should make his purchases perhaps at a 

 creater cost, but where he had the character of the 

 tradesman to rely on. The point however, being new, 

 have any of your correspondents any information on 



the subject to'give \ D. 



Rhuharb.— In comparing the relative qualities of 

 forced and natural grown Rhubarb, Mr. Cuthill observes 

 that the former is so delicate and tender, that it is not 

 necessary (as with the latter) to remove the outside'or 

 stringy portion of the stalk. Now, as observed on a 

 former occasion, the best and proper way to prepare 

 this vegetable for a tart, is simply to wipe and wash it, 

 and then chop it into pieces, of at least an inch in length. 

 By no means remove the outer portion of the stalk, for 

 this deprives it of the beautiful scarlet colour, which 

 growers take so much pains to obtain, by covering each 

 plant with litter. At this moment, within a fewn lutes' 

 walk, are acres of Rhubarb so covered, not with a 

 view to get it earlier, but solely to obtain the rich 

 colouring which renders it saleable, and which the 

 skinning process would remove. Your correspondent, 

 Mr. M'Elroy, of Stamford Hill, very justly praises 

 Mitchells Prince Albert ; it is certainly the best early 

 Rhubarb, it was pulled from the open and unprotected 

 ground on this spot, and sent to market on the 17th 

 instant. Its principal defect seems to be want of con- 

 tinuous vigour, and in this respect it is immeasurably 

 inferior to Myatt's Linnaeus and Victoria. The Albert 

 comes remarkably well the first season after planting, 

 and continues tolerably good for three or four years ; 

 it then becomes puny, throwing up a quantity of small 

 stalks. It should, I believe, be renewed every four or 

 five years. Not so the Victoria or Linnaeus — give them 

 plenty of dressings, and they will stand for 12 years, 

 without showing any signs of exhaustion. 1 have known 

 them produce astonishing crops after having been 

 planted 1 8 years. 0. T W. 



H Nemesis Divina," which w never published during 

 his lifetime, nor indeed intended for publication, being 

 merelv, as it appears, a collection of instances of the 

 retributive justice of Providence, designed for the in- 

 truction of his son. Such a collection Linnaeus was 

 known to have made, but the papers were entirely lost 

 si«dit of, and only discovered a few years since by Dr. 

 Acrell, a son of Professor Herell, who had the disposal 

 of the manuscripts left by the younger Linnceus. It has 

 now been deposited in the public library at Upsal, by 



The work, if a judgment may be formed from the 

 extracts here given, does not seem to be of any great 

 value, except so far as it may throw light on the character 

 and mind of Linnaeus. The lecturer commences with 

 some remarks on retributive justice as displayed in the 

 Providence of God, and alludes to the peculiarity of 

 Linnaeus* ideas thereon, the peculiarity consisting appa- 

 rently in his having imagined a kind of regular system, 

 upon which the workings of Providence develope them- 

 selves. That such a system exists who can doubt, but, 

 embracing as it does relations infinitely too extended 

 and complicated for man's research, it must lie far 

 beyond the sphere of his understanding. After this 

 opening, an account is given of the work itself and its 

 discovery, together with some extracts, first of sundry 

 moral maxims and then of some practical examples of 

 providential retribution, chiefly instances occurring 

 under the writer's own eye, and lastly, of some curious 

 ghost stories, omens, warnings, &c, to which he appears 

 to have attached considerable credit. 



The pamphlet concludes with some good advice to 

 the students, and good wishes for themselves, their 

 friends, the university, and finally for mankind in general. 



i 



Garden Memoranda. 



Carhead, Yorkshire, the Seat of W. B. Wain- 

 man, Esq.— A fine specimen of the noble Dendrobe 

 (Dendrobium nobile) is now in bloom at this place. It 

 measures fully 5 feet in diameter, is graceful and ele- 

 gant in shape, and promises to remain in beauty for 

 some! time yet to come. There also exists here a 

 remarl ble instance of the mildness of the season, in 

 the shape of two Rhododendrons, which are now in full 

 bloom in the open ground, where no protection what- 

 ever has been afforded them. The kinds are varieties 

 of Nobleanum, from both of which beautiful trusses 

 have been obtained for drawing-room decoration, from 

 the first week in January up to the present time. S. 



row of new square brie oxes, set upon damp clay 

 drained on an old and very bad system, and having in 

 other respects, the most inconveni* ?nt arrangement — a 

 succession of dust-holes close under the kitchen-windows, 

 and in a line beneath the back dining-room window — 

 and I am presented with a succession of some eighteen 

 •might walls, enclosing straight strips of garden, each 

 lined out by the bricklayer, in parallel lines, as a brick- 

 layer naturally would do, and each one being the exact 

 counterpart of the other. The whole set are made 

 neat and sightly for letting, by the use of the broom 

 to sweep out all manner of rubbish from the houses, — 

 and the spade to bury it carefully in the garden beds 

 and borders. Some poor woman, a bankrupt laundress, 

 a servant-of-all-work out of place, or a charwoman 

 with her family, is put in to " mind the house," and 

 open the door to those who are looking out for a house. 

 The rubbish and refuse she and her family will accu- 

 mulate during her stay, perhaps of one month, perhaps 

 of six, must not be thrown into the dust-hole, for that 

 has to be kept tidy for letting ; she therefore gets a 

 man, or her husband when he comes home in the 

 evening, to bury it " somewhere'' in the garden. The 

 extreme ends of these garden walls are met by 

 the ends of other garden walls on the opposite side. 

 I turn my gaze on them very often while sitting at 

 my dressing-table, but gain little consolation from what 

 I see. On this side, the outline of the garden walls is 

 nearly the same as those I have been describing, and 

 the laying out displays no better taste. Several of these 

 strips are laid out in three round puddings of beds, one 

 after the other, with the largest round pudding in the 

 middle. Others have great beds made like aces of 

 diamonds ; three of them have made hard-favoured 

 sets of little beds, like furrows cut across the whole 

 width of the garden, with narrow walks between, like 

 ruled copy books ; and two of them have fairly given 

 up the matter, and allowed the whole strip to lie like 

 the fallow-field of rank grass, from which they were 

 originally separated by the builder's walls. Dickens 9 



B< sehold Words. 



Sale of Plants. — One hundred and sixteen lots of 

 Camellias, together with a few Rhododendrons, An- 

 dromedas, and Araucarias, were sold the other day by 

 Mr. Stevens. They fetched from 6*. to 30s. per lot, 

 with the exception of one or two Double White 

 Camellias, which fetched more than 21. The latter 

 invariably realized higher prices than any of the othefc 

 varieties, though all of them were good sorts. 



Lkcnean, Feb. 18. — W. Yarrell, Esq., in the chair. 

 Mr. Thomas Moore, of Chelsea, was elected a fellow. 

 A letter was read from Benjamin Clarke, Esq., to the 

 President of the Society, on the subject of the position 

 of the carpels in some genera of plants, that had not 

 been determined in his recent paper read before the 

 Society- A paper was read, communicated by the Pre- 

 sident, giving an account of the A qui lav i a Ay all 'achum, 

 of Roxburgh, the tree which produces the wood known 

 by the name of Aloe's wood, Eagle wood, &c, by 

 Messrs. Dicks and Colebroke. The tree which pro- 

 duces this precious wood grows in various parts of Hin- 

 dostan, and also in Cochin China. In order to pro- 

 duce the wood the trees are cut down, and only those 

 portions are cut out which contain the scent, for which the 

 wood is so highly prized. The wood is powdered, and 

 used for burning as incense in the temples of China, as also 

 for religious purposes in this country. When distilled, it 

 yields an essential oil, which goes under the name of 

 Uttur or Uggur. The portions of wood which contain 

 the oil are heavier than water, and are known by their 

 sinking in it. The paper was illustrated by an original 

 drawing of the plant, by Dr. Roxburgh. 



Botanical, of London, Feb. 7. — A. Henfrev, Esq., 

 in the chair. The following donations were announced : 

 British plants, from Mr. Fen ton, J. A.Hort, Mr. B.D. 

 Wardall, and Mr. J. Lynam : also, the " Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society's Journal,'' and the i( Pharmaceutical 

 Society s Journal," from their respective societies ; and 

 the u Magazine of Botany," from the Editors. — Read 

 the continuation of Mr. Daniel Stocks's Paper " On the 

 Botany of Bungay, Suffolk." 



long. 



fixfiitts 



Of <800fcSu 



Carl von Linnts Anteclcningar ofver Nemesis Divina. 

 Inl j udn lag's- Sir if t til morgondagens Philosophiska 



Unircrsitets Stiftelse den 



Promotor Elias 



Promotion frdn Upecda 



FJHftiondctjuncle of till! ordnad 



Fries. Upsala Kongl. Ac. 1848. Fol. pp. 20. 



Though this academical paper has no connection 

 either with gardening or botany, we think that it may 

 not be uninteresting to notice it, as an account of a 

 recently discovered treatise of the celebrated Swedish 

 botanist, to whom science is so much indebted, though 

 for many years the extravagant deference paid by his 

 admirers to everything that came from his pen, had 

 rather a tendency to obscure that real and peculiar 

 merit which has caused him to be considered legiti- 

 mately as the father of botany. 



The pamphlet before us then, the possession of which 

 ve owe to the kindness of the author, is simply a lec- 

 ture delivered at the University of Upsal to the young 

 m*n graduating there on the day before taking their 

 degrees, a kind of commencement sermon, in fact— with- 

 <Klt a text, the subject taken up by the lecturer, the 

 well-known Elias Fries, being a work of LinnCs, called 



Miscellaneous. 



The Brie-Bayer's Garden.— But now for the "garden." 

 The ground at the bade of the house was levelled and 

 enclosed by walls, in the shape of the house, as nearly 

 as possible. It would have been a square by choice, 

 but circumstances have caused it to be somewhat too 



In short, it is of that well-known outline, called 

 a "strip," being, of all others, the most difficult to deal 

 with for the picturesque or graceful laying out of a 

 garden, even when the dimensions are of some extent ; 

 but when small, needing the greatest exercise of in- 

 genuity to prevent ugliness and awkwardness, or the 

 hardest lines that can offend the eye. But what is the 

 gardener about ? He has got a bricklayer's lino, and 

 is drawing it along parallel with the wall, for the for- 

 mation of a long border, thus repeating the hard out- 

 line : and instead of carrying the eye away from it, or 

 endeavouring to conceal it, he is literally forcing it into 

 the most riveting attention. Gardener did I call him? 



no, it is one of the bricklayers, assisted by a hodsman. 

 Several cart-loads of mould are now brought into the 

 garden, and shot down, and to work they go in "laying- 

 out." Each strip of ground is separated from that 

 belonging to the next house by a long wall. The wall 

 of the first one is only half finished, and a bricklayer 

 is at work upon the other side, while the gardening 

 bricklayer on this side is laying down the mould for a 

 border. Numerous pieces of broken and chopped off 

 brick, with corresponding dabs of mortar, consequently 

 fall over and are mixed up with the border mould, 

 which the bricklayer on this side carefully buries, and 

 then proceeds to make the border very fine on the 

 surface. A path is next measured off by the brick- 

 layer's line, parallel with the border, thus again re- 

 peating the sharp outline of the wall ; and this path is 

 covered with brick-rubbish and stones, and well trodden 

 and beaten down, so that it would be no small trouble 

 to change the form and direction of the path, if any 

 tenant had the taste ami moral courage to attempt it. 



tlnT 



(7 



Calendar of Operations. 



(For the ensuing week.) 



PLANT DEPARTMENT. 



The generality of plants are now about to commence 

 their new growth, and with the gradually increasing 

 light, will require a proportionate increase of heat and 

 moisture. Encourage their healthy development, by 

 sufficient room, and by placing them as near the glass 

 as circumstances will allow. Admit air enough at all 

 times to ensure a circulation, and as much more as the 

 weather renders necessary ; but carefully avoid cold 

 currents during the growing season. In repotting, be 

 guided more by the state of the roots than by the 

 tops, as the latter, when exposed to a disproportionate 

 heat, are liable to start into growth without the roots 

 progressing in a corresponding ratio ; and they are, 

 therefore, not so well prepared to take advantage of the 

 new soil, as those whose roots are in motion. These 

 last may be repotted with safety ; and when the plants 

 are passing through your hands for this purpose, let 

 everything needful in the way of pruning, tying, or 

 freeing them from insects be done, that the work may- 

 progress in the most economical manner. Before any 

 plant is potted, the state of the soil should be carefully 

 examined ; and if the ball is dry, it should be soaked in 

 a pail of water, not too cold ; after which it should 

 stand long enough to allow the superfluous moisture to 

 drain aw T ay. A sowing should now be made of Thun- 

 bergias, Ipomocas, and other stove annuals, required for 

 the decoration of the conservatory in summer and 

 autumn; the two first, with others of a similar cha- 

 racter, should be sown in 3-inch pots, two seeds in each, 

 and the rest in ordinary seed-pans ; the whole should be 

 plunged in a hotbed, and shaded till they make their ap- 

 pearance above-ground. As the majority of plant-houses 

 are better adapted for small and moderate-sized plants than 

 for large ones, and as the same description of plants is 

 most generally useful for placing in ornamental china 

 vases in the drawing-room, &c, it is important that at 

 this season a young stock be raised of all the choice 

 things that are ornamental and interesting as small 

 plants. And this matter should be particularly attended 

 to with reference to such as will be useful next winter ; 

 of a few of these we subjoin a list. Euphorbia fulgens, 

 Gesnera elongata, Manettia bicolor, Begonia nitida and 

 B. insignis, Abutiion venosum, Poinsettias, Polygalas, 

 Francisceas, Tremandra verticillata,and T. Hugelii, <Scc. 

 Such well-known favourites as Chrysanthemums, Cine- 



By way of making tin? laying out perfect of its kind, 



a long central bed is now marked off, and covered with 



mould, parallel with the previous lines, and bein 



exact counterpart of the outline of the entire strip, only 



some sizes less. The gardening bricklayer manages 



his spade very assiduously, and neatly too, considering 



it is not his proper tool,— in fact, from his general 



handiness, I conjecture him to be an Irishman ; and 



also, I must add, from his want of forethought : for 



this morning I perceive he is about to finish the top rarias, Primulas, &c, will suggest themselves to every 



** 1 11 1 * t J 1 1*11 ll ll * ■ 4 11 1 i' 1*1** 1*91 * 







row of the wall bricks, to do which he stands on this 

 side, thus trampling down all his fine surface of border- 

 mould as he goes, besides strewing it all over with a 

 second fall of fragments of brick and mortar. By night 

 he has done. Next morning he is there again ; not 

 with his trowel, but his spade, carefully burying all the 

 bits of brick and rubbish, and oner more working the 

 surface of the mould very tine to look at. Morning 

 after morning have I watched these various operations 

 during three months, and now, finally, I behold, a long 



one.| All plants of which it is desirable to increase 

 the stock should be propagated as soon as they make 

 shoots fit for the purpose ; these should be watched; 

 and slipped off with a heel when 2 or 3 inches long, as 

 they will strike with great facility in that stage if placed 

 in a temperature resembling as nearly as possible that in 

 which they have been grown ; taking care to keep them 

 close, to shade them from sunshine, and to guard them 

 against damp, or excessive dryness. If the young plants 

 q§ the various kinds of Ipomcea are liberally treated 



