GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



2U 



of* - 



.S-.work.fitt; on the top of the fountain. 



™Z be sufficiently large to adm.t free 



"•for the birds' heads. Let the water be always 



i Aran i and the fountain also. 



•ft SUSSkcd on a former occasion, that good song 



1SL much of their song, when put up for breeding 

 H^iloW.Diw n Th;s r(jmark may be gomewhat 



f"H**? ILq the sexes are associated in a room. By 



10 re freedom allowed them, and by being kept 



SSSe 



**** T^ltant round of cheerful excitement, while 

 8 ° e o^t^f their windows, &c, they sometimes con- 

 ring throughout the season _ _ 



Jeople turn a number of canaries indiscrimi- 

 r^ r , i» aTO tlipm to riair as thev will. 



„fr|v into i 

 fliig is kind 



them or a't least some of them, in small, separate 

 Cdwhen paired, allowing them , to come toge- 

 " then vows eternal fidelity, and is 



Agr-eech 



.— %a " wit sunn? x^ft ^~~~ r — 7 - - 



JET Joni can the peculiarity of feather and caste be 



T|m§ AI0I1C w» r « nQ rc nf « odd fellf)WS " 



,perly preserv 



ed. Some few pairs of « odd fellows 

 allowed to intermarry. It will certainly 



stock 



Fla\ 



your ^ 



J2JS "SJon" to* S 1 ™7° ur birds g P° d and P 7° P u er f °° d - 

 STTe'canary-seed be large and glossy, and the rape 



io lar-e and new. The same remark applies to the 



These three seeds well mixed together (the two 



* in smaller proportions), are the proper food for a 



Ztrv Bruised Hemp-seed, in very small quantities, 



mav be' occasionally given. As birds, whilst performing 



the duties of incubation, are very frequently subject to 



constipation, boiled milk, with crumb of bread soaked in 



(it should be placed in the room at least twice a week. 



1 It' will do all the birds good. A saucer is the best 



, tehicle for its introduction. ... 



If ever vou perceive any of the male canaries to be 



of a depraved disposition (as they too often are), abusing 



md persecuting their * better halves;" and showing 



oiler anti-conjugal tendencies— mark such transgressors. 



The cares and anxieties attendant upon the hatching and 



rearing of a family, are alone sufficiently heavy, without 



the hen being in addition subject to cruel treatment. 



Check, therefore, all these innate bad propensities the 



moment yoif perceive them ; and get rid of the offender 



tommarily. Other suitors will take his place ; and her 



ladyship will feel herself lawfully divorced, « under the 



(circumstances.'' 

 When the nests are made, the hens will speedily com- 



raenee laying. Do not, as many silly simpletons do, 

 trouble yourself about looking at the eggs, or about 

 removing them— substituting ivory "imitation eggs," 

 &c, until the whole batch of eggs shall have been laid. 

 Nature abhors any interference of this kind. It is de- 

 sirable that the eggs should not be hatched all at once. 

 The mother can feed her progeny all the better for their 

 appearing one by one. Besides, more warmth is thereby 

 generated for the next forthcoming stranger. Believe 

 me, all officious solicitude about assisting Nature at such 

 seasons, either with birds or with ourselves, is morbid 

 affectation. Nature wants no such aid. Leave the 

 birds to manage their own affairs, and let common-sense 

 preside in the * sick chamber f then all will be well. 

 Birds hate to be subject to prying curiosity when 

 breeding ; so do all animals. Some when thus imperti- 

 nently watched — the cat, the rabbit, and others — make 

 & point, very frequently, of devouring their offspring 

 the instant they come into the world ! This fact speaks 

 with a loud voice. 



A canary lays, on the average, from two to five eggs ; 

 occasionally as many as seven. The time of sitting is 

 13 days. The duties are shared, during this period, by 

 both parents ; but near the time for hatching the female 

 fcMom quits the nest. The male, if a kind, affectionate 

 tasband, is most assiduous in feeding his * ladye love," 

 as she sits on the nest; and excepting for water, she 

 *Bom quits her post for an instant. If, in her mo- 

 nientary absence, the expectant Papa should occupy her 

 pUce — he will most assuredly * nap " it. On her return, 

 he will ? by an action of ejectment, have the shortest 

 possible notice to quit ; and woe be to him if he resists ! 

 Madame will enforce her demands by pecks and blows. 

 Her commands are — " Stand not on the order of thy 



ping— but go ! " 



If you carefully noted the time when your birds began 

 *° ^t, yon may very nearly anticipate the due time of 

 hatching. On the thirteenth day, the inmate of the 

 nrst-1 : wu q ma ke its appearance. If, within three 



days, any of the eggs remain in statu quo, you had better 

 remove them with a warm hand, and place them gently 

 on some warm water in a basin. By their irregular 

 movement, or otherwise, you may pronounce their con- 

 * nt5 - If alive, they will give evidence of it ; if there 

 w no embryon, the'egg will be fresh as when first laid, 

 in the former case, carefully replace the eggs in the 

 *<*t ; in the latter, destroy them at once. William Kidd 9 

 new Road, Ham mith. 



VILLA AND SUBURBAN GARDENING. 



**[. ERE is scarcely any lover of a garden who is not 

 ■specially partial to Stocks. They are easily grown 



:hat 



:ks 



foil h » m p«| f— j ^^n^va , uivjr auiiiii, UI so 



sc & variety likewise, besides the perfume they so 

 ^ U n<iantiy - tvo off in. a summer's evening, that few 

 J^teurs dispense with them entirely, and others would 



°C \ i0 turu theirattention to their cultivation. 

 l *xxi seed is the first point to secure : little of that 



which is saved in the open air in this country can really 

 be considered first-rate. It would not pay the English 

 cultivator to appropriate his greenhouses, as is done in 

 Germany, to the saving of Stock seed ; and when pro- 

 duced in the open ground, the autumns are scarcely suffi- 

 ciently long to perfect its maturity. The seeds which 

 are imported from Germany, are all saved from plants 

 cultivated in pots in greenhouses ; and this constitutes 

 almost a business of itself. They can, therefore, be 

 obtained genuine from any respectable seedsman, and 

 are to be preferred, because of the care taken in saving 

 them, so as to secure a preponderance of double flowers ; 

 and also because of the perfect maturity which the seeds 

 attain, under the circumstances. 



Where ample convenience exists for their culture, 

 they may be sown in pots about the end of March or 

 beginning of April, and placed in a pit or greenhouse. 

 When fully up and beginning to exhibit their second 

 leaves, they should be potted into 4-inch pots, placing 

 three plants in a pot. When the plants are sufficiently 

 advanced, and all danger from frost is past, they may 

 be turned out into borders or beds, as may be required. 

 Where no opportunity exists of raising them under 

 glass, they can readily be raised upon a slight hotbed 

 protected with mats, and transplanted on favourable 

 opportunities into the flower garden. Plants so raised 

 are, however, liable to suffer much more from removal 

 than those grown in pots, as the roots of the latter do 

 not sustain so violent a shock as those removed from 

 the bed ; consequently, showery weather is to be pre- 

 ferred for the operation of transplanting. If planted in 

 patches in the borders, and bright sunshine should 

 follow immediately afterwards, they can easily be shaded 

 for a few days, while the sun is powerful, by placing an 

 empty pot over each patch. Should they be planted in 

 beds, the latter may be temporarily hooped over, and 

 a screen of mats or canvas employed until they have 

 made fresh roots into the surrounding soil. A circular 

 bed of Stocks looks very attractive, commencing with 

 the lightest colours in the centre, and gradually finishing 

 with the darkest in the outer ring. Pharo. 



I 



TRADE MEMORANDA. 



A correspondent expresses a desire to 

 thing of J- Broad, of Norwood Farm, 

 head. 



know some 



Leather 



Home Correspondence. 



Heine ^laude Monstrueuse de JBavay. — Mention of 

 this Plum has been made several times lately in your 

 Paper. I planted it against an east wall in the autumn 

 of 1846, and it fruited for the first time last autumn 

 It is a very large and fine Plum, nearly, if not quite 

 equal to the Green-gage in flavour, and much larger, 

 ripening about 10 days later. It appears a free bearer, 

 having borne last year more fruit than any other out of 

 12 different sorts planted at the same time. This spring 

 I noticed a peculiarity which may account for its fruit- 

 fulness. Although growing very vigorously, it produces 

 flower buds, not merely on the spurs, but also upon 

 the young wood. Shoots between 2 and 3 feet long 

 have flower buds on them. No other Plum, with which 

 I am acquainted, exhibits this habit. A Reine Claude 

 Violette, planted at the same time, has not yet shown 

 one flower bud, and an old Green-gage has com- 

 paratively few. They are in similar soil and situation ; 

 I therefore infer the new Green-gage to be a more 

 fruitful kind. It is not quite so rampant as the Purple- 

 gage, but stronger than the Green-gage. J.R., Sevenoahs. 



The Coffee Plant. — Will any of your correspondents 

 oblige me by answering the following question : — Are 

 fruit-bearing plants more likely to bear heavily at a low 

 elevation, above the level of the sea, than at a higher, 

 other circumstances being equal ? Take, for example, 

 coffee ; and it being established that a certain quality of 

 soil and degree of heat and moisture are necessary for 

 its successful culture, which essentials are only to be 

 obtained near the equator by ascending some 3000 or 

 4000 feet above the level of the sea ; and suppose that 

 the same position can be attained in a higher latitude, 

 at the level of the sea, or near it, would not the quantity 

 of produce, cceteris paribus, be greater in the latter case ? 

 How far might such an increase be supposed to go ? It 

 appears to me, that placing other circumstances out of 

 account, or supposing them alike in both cases, plants 

 which derive so much of their support from the atmo- 

 sphere must grow more vigorously where that atmosphere 

 is dense, than where it is rarefied. A. C, Ceylon. 



Mignonette. — As the common Mignonette has ever 

 been an especial favourite, on account of its sweetness, 

 perhaps the following method of inducing it to assume 

 the character of a bush, may not be uninteresting 

 Not later than the beginning of April, sow a few seeds 

 in deep pots, filled with rich sandy loam, place them in 

 a Melon frame where there is a good moist heat ; 

 when they have made about four leaves, pick out all 

 but one strong plant in each pot ; as they grow pinch 

 off all side shoots, taking care to leave a leaf at the 

 bottom of each. When the plants have attained the 

 height of 12 inches, they will show their blossoms. 

 The latter must be nipped off, and at the same time 

 the plants will require tying up to thin sticks, with 

 matting ; leave them about a week longer in the Melon 

 frame, taking care to pinch off all side shoots, then 

 remove the plants to the greenhouse, where they will 

 have less water and plenty of air ; in a short time they 

 will again begin to put out the top shoots, but only one 

 on each must be retained, which must be led up the 

 sticks, and all side shoots again pinched off. By this 



time the plants will be about eight inches high, the 

 bloom must be again cut off, and the plants st 11 kept 

 in the greenhouse ; in the autumn they will put out 

 plenty of shoots from the top, and will form handsome 

 bushes, which will come into flower in the following 

 March ; by cutting off the flowers, occasionally, for 

 bouquets in the spring, they will send forth fresh shoots, 

 and will continue to flower all the summer. Anon, 



April 1. 



The Spruce Fir twigs that are found strewed over the 

 ground below the trees, are bitten off by squirrels. Of 

 late years I have been very much troubled with them, 

 and the only remedy I can discover is shooting them ; I 

 find them very actively at work both morning and 

 evening. As they are bitten off, the twigs lodge in the 

 branches, and the first wind that occurs scatters them in 

 all directions. A. S. 



The Gardeners 9 Benevolent Institution. — If one of the 

 noblest aspects in which our country can be viewed be 

 in the light of its many and varied institutions for the 

 benefit and relief of our fellow-men, then surely one of 

 the noblest characteristics of men, as individuals, is 

 their willingness to support such institutions, especially 

 those which particularly embrace their own country- 

 men. And if it lays on a man's heart (as it does on 

 that of every right-minded man), to do something, how- 

 ever small, for the benefit of others, the unfortunate 

 or unsuccessful of his own trade or profession have 

 perhaps the largest claim on his sympathy and reliefl 

 Some may aid by money, some by work, some by sug- 

 gestion. The "Gardeners' Benevolent Institution " 

 might be much more efficient than it is, but more 

 cannot possibly be done than is done, unless additions 

 be made to the funds, and its resources enlarged. 

 I beg therefore to throw out a suggestion on this subject 

 which has occurred to my mind, in order that some one 

 better able than myself may take it up, and reduce it 

 to possibility ; and so the seed thus cast into the ground 

 at length may become a tree laden with fruit for the 

 nourishment of perhaps some who aid in its growth. I 

 beg therefore to propose a Monster Floral Exhibition in 

 London, in aid of the funds of the above-named institution. 

 To this exhibition I would request every nurseryman, 

 florist, market-gardener, or gentleman's gardener in the 

 country, or any one else interested in the Society, or 

 has a benevolent heart in him, to contribute something 

 towards the general display. At such a meeting I 

 should like to see all animosities and jealousies between 

 different societies and growers thrown overboard, and 

 each striving, not to vie with each other, but to do all 

 that he can towards the production of a grand, and 

 hitherto unprecedented display, alike worthy the 

 object and the name of a British gardener. I 

 would exclude nothing, however common, if good and 

 showy, from such an exhibition ; for number iess gar- 

 deners and nurserymen, especially in the unfavourable 

 districts around London, for the growth of what we 

 generally term show plants, could make a brilliant 

 display of the more easily cultivated, though by some 

 considered less worthy subjects. I should propose no 

 entrance fees, and no prizes. The gratification that each. 

 exhibitor would experience at the general good he would 

 feel himself an assistant in, would, I believe, be far 

 greater than the value of many of the prizes given by 

 other than first-rate societies. But, in lieu of prizes, I 

 would suggest that certificates might be given, which 

 should entitle the holders to a graduated scale of votes 

 for the next election, or otherwise,as might be determined. 

 I would also propose, that such an exhibition should be 

 open for two days— L e., that the plants, &c, should be 

 all ready for the censors by 10 o'clock one day, so 

 as to open to the public at 2 o'clock, at, say 5s. a head 

 by ticket only, and the next day for "the million," say 

 from 10 o'clock till 5, at I*, a head. Should this sug- 

 gestion be taken up in earnest by any of the readers of 

 this Paper, and the thing assume a form, I might per- 

 haps add a few more hints ; but I think if it find sup- 

 porters at all, it will also find many far more able to 

 carry out details than the individual who, as he ^ said 

 before, only pretends to drop a seed which he believes 

 to be new, and hopes will prove good and O. R. O. W. 



Training Cherry and Plum Trees.— In 1843 I made 

 some notes in a scrap-book respecting the training of 

 fruit trees ; and year after year facts convince me that 

 Cherry and Plum trees cannot be trained horizontally 

 against a wall with so much success as on the fan sys- 

 tem. Although the Cherry makes shoots freely, the 

 yearly increase in size is seldom more than a layer of 

 branches and the leader ; if more is aimed at, it is often 

 acquired at the expense of some untidy curve, in order 

 to bring the shoot into its proper place, and years are 

 needed to make a fine tree. Before the top is com- 

 pleted, how often do we see one of the under branches 

 gum and die, and sometimes two, if a shoot from a 

 spur does not present itself in a fit place to be laid 

 in ? We have a bare place on the wall, because the 

 lower part of the tree is too old to produce a shoot. 

 My first notes relate to some May Duke Cherries, 

 which had lost their under branches in the way I have 

 described, and I have notes of other kinds in a similar 

 condition. The Cherry gums more readily in some 

 situations than in others ; and I have also remarked that 

 trees have done well for some time after planting, until 

 the roots have found their way into a cold heavy soil 

 below. This may not be the immediate cause of 

 gumming, but it is often the cause of ill health, and 

 gumming follows ; we often find a tree exude sap when 

 a nail comes in contact with the bark ; this is sometimes 

 cured by lopping it off, and covering the wound witn 

 clay. In gardens where I have found the Cherry piantea 



