Ctf 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



403 



- 



Si 



. Tlf UhW. ' c IKTY OF LONDON. 



1 ^V c * t ,„n„ -*...»«. Present ,he 



1 l ** ! «.V#"v h*» kt"<"y direct the Or..., '« of 



•a ♦• vTTV .w- I9rn Jl Y. Tickets are U*ued to the 

 *^^Tin t* afternoon of the 19 h .Inly, a: 7* O/ 



^ -n »!•© •ti^T to orders allied by Fallows nf 



.JE. But rcapactaVe atrai*eers, or re idents in the 



^T^rln will r*ard their «ddre<«e« Iti writing to the 



^S^rr •! R**" street, on or before Thursday 



^iJTf J',.'v" «a obtain from that Office an authority to 



^"% Slitta "» ■*"■• «*«»«<>■• ** oflicial oroer8 for TicketS 



^Jfo S^uVba^iasuedlaRejeiiUstreetoiitheday 



^•* 1|,,OT L f {iniifferB qoi d«aireront se procurer des billets 



po*irront en obtenir des mandate en s'addressant 



i «*h iinde ou a leur Consulate. 



Sim E OF FELLOWS.-Eaeh Felh>w of the Society 



all BMwal admiaaion to theae Exhibitions without a 



uTorehe may also p»reo«allv introduce a friend 



-<,h an Admission Ticket at half.pa.t Twelve, at Gate No. 4, 



A $»«• "f Devonshire's road ; or, if nnaMe to attend per- 



JIt a fife, brother, son, dan-hter, or sister if resident in 



EhJv m«T r«*Went the Fellow, if furnished with «n 



Ticket on which the signature of the Fellow is 



Jl Regent-street, London. 



ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY, Regent's Park. 

 T lait EXHIBITION of PLANTS, FLOWERS, and 

 ?RnT this season, will take place on Wednesday next, 

 Juh UL Tickets to he obtained at the Garden*, by orders of 

 Ftttowf of tha8ociety, or by letters from Foreign Ambassador* 

 llioisters, price 55., «r on the day of Exhibition, 7.« /.each. 



The Rose Garden is expected to be in full bloom. 





THE sTANWICK NECTARINE. 



MR. J. C. STEVENS will Sell by Auction, from 

 50 »o 60 fine Plants, in pots, of this valuable Fruit Tree, 

 «BTrE*P\Y, July 1, at his Great Room, 38, Kin^-strpet, 

 00Ttn'-«»rden, on account of the Fund forming by hi. (irace 

 At Duke of Northumberland, in aid of the Gardeners' Bene- 

 volent Institution —Catalogues of Mr. J. C. SteveiCs, 38, King- 

 Cv»?eat-garden, London. 



were poking fun at them. shook theirs ._ icioushea 

 and pronounced the scheme an idea worthy of the 

 editor of the Gardner J Chronich . and, we suppose . 

 of nobody else. We have, therefore, for their espe 

 cial comfort, the pleasure of announcing that the 

 experiment has been attended by continued and 

 perfect success, that Pine Apples grown in this way 

 have actually fruited, that the fruit has actually 

 ripened, that fine clear-skinned, everily-swelled 

 Queen with a barrel like a hand-organ, have been 

 produced, and that the said fruit was of so fine 

 a quality, so fragrant, so rich, so everything that 

 a Queen should be, as to have excited the private 

 admiration of the fastidious jury, No. III., now sitting 

 in judgment upon the eatables, drinkables, and 

 smokables, submitted to their Rhadaminthine 

 opinion in the Crystal Palace. 



Thus it appeai-s that a Pine Apple climate may 

 be formed in Great Britain, without the cost of a 

 farthing for heat, and that a West Indian Sun may 

 be had for nothing. 



grew well in air which had becu \iU4u«a oy the 

 breathing o\ animals, and that they soon restored 



uch air to its original state of pu; ; it seem- 

 that he did not at that time very distin ly connect 

 the two phenomena together, for it was not till 



fter Dr. Pkrcivat.^ < riments had been pub- 

 lished, and after In jkhousi 1 a I promul ted his 



views upon the 

 be regarded as 



bject, that carl nic acid began to 

 till to the growth of plan's. It 



Tr*tD4T. Jttlj 



Wan<ratDAY, — 



THt<* •DAT. — 



?ErPAT, — 



f ATrKPftY, 



Efir (Bartreuettf' Chronicle* 



SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1851. 



MEVTTNOS FOK THE ENSUING WEEK. 



1— Horticultural 3 r.if. 



2 -Royal Botanic Garden* 2 p.m. 



3-Zoolosrical 3 f.af. 



4-Botanical 8 r.at. 



5 — Asia t ic ##»•••••••••••••■•*•«•••••* r. is» 



<Ofcemt SwoWf.-TapwrJay. July 1: Oxford HoTticnHnral.— Ttiiirrtay, 

 JalyS: llitabufv and North London Horticultural, and Ipswich Horticul- 

 tafal.- Saturday, July 5: North Kent Horticultural. 



On several occasions we have ventured to suggest 

 to the owners of stationary steam engines that they 

 might, with advantage to themselves and the public, 

 eeenetaise the heat belonging to their waste water, 

 by applying it to horticultural purposes. Manu- 

 facturing towns were more especially pointed at as 

 places where this kind of economy might have a 

 flfrge application. 



"We particularly referred to some important expe- 

 riments of Mr. Dillwyn Llewellyn, of Penllergare, 

 which we think it desirable to reproduce. From a 

 small 8-inch cylinder engine, employed by him for 

 agricultural purposes, this gentleman conducted a jet 

 of steam for twenty minutes daily, through an inch 

 iron pipe, into a bed of rough stones, covered by a 

 ^•ued frame. A journal of the temperature was 

 kept for 11 days, with the following result : 



Statement of Experiment with Waste Sream, a* a medium 



of Bottom-heat, made at Penllergare, 1850. 



Date. 



Time of 

 Obseirat 



Thermo- 

 meter. 



... ...... 



■ .... 





......... 



... 



........ 



...... 



......... 



. i • • • • • 



......... 



••• • • 



.■■...■•■ 



51 



54 



• i »6 

 68 

 7S 

 85 

 93 

 108 

 104 

 98 

 83 



7* 



69 



75 



83 



79 



70 



73 



81 



76 



79 



W 



110 



108 



98 



Steam introduced about 12 



[o'elook. 



Steam introduced. 



Steam not introduced. 



Steam not introduced. 



introduced. 



Steam not put on # 



Steam introduced* 



Steam introduced. 

 Steam introduced. 



Steam introduced. 



Steam not introduced. 



From this it appears, 1st, that although steam was 

 introduced among the stones for only 20 minutes a 

 day, the temperature w r as raised from 51° to 68° 

 in the first 24 hours ; 2d, that the temperature con- 

 tinued to rise for many Wours after the second appli- 

 cation of steam, until the thermometer reached 108° ; 

 3d? that, at the end of 19 hours, the heat of the frame 

 diminished ; yet 4th, that at the end of seventy hours, 

 the temperature still was 69°. This appears a con- 

 clusive answer to those who think that masses of 

 heated water, or heated porous materials, like rough 

 •tones, vill become so reduced in temperature by a 

 few hours' withdrawal of the prime heating power, 

 as to endanger the plants cultivated in houses thus 



Plants play a very important part in the economy 

 of the ( ;ation ; for, independent of their relation 

 to animals as the real source of all food, they are 

 essential to the purity of the air. We are told by 

 chemi . that the com »n of the atmosphere is 



quite constant and uniform ; that air. n >m Mmtever 

 ptace it is collected, is alwapt found to conotot of 



the 



proportions of oxygen and nitr< n and 

 carbonic acid. This fact has now been € ablished 

 y a number of careful experiments, m le In- 

 different o M-vers, in various parts of the globe, 

 and extending over a eonsiderahle period of tim 



5, 



so that it may in fact be considered as proved, not 

 only that the composition of the air is uniform 

 throughout, but also that it does not undergo any 



is not easy now, neither in fact is it very important, 

 to decide exactly what degree of merit belongs to 

 each of these thr philosophers. The experiments 

 of Ingenuoisz were the most numerous and minute, 

 and his views were trie most strongly criticised by 

 contemporary naturalists ; at the same time he dis- 

 tinctly states that his experiments arose out of those 



of Dr. Priestley. 



The circumstance which prevented many ob- 

 servers from believing in the i in porta e of carbonic 

 acid to plants, arose from the fact, that as in nature 

 they are only supplied with it very gradually and in 

 small quantities, id as their organs are only fit' I 

 to absorb it when largely dilut I with common 

 air, so, when placed in an atmosphei- containing a 

 considerable proportion of this gas, they are alw, 

 more or less injured; and it was difrkul to under- 

 stand how, if carbonic acid in small quantities was 

 food and nourishment, tl l in rather larger quan- 

 tities it would be hurtful ami even p >us. 



Dr. Pkrcivai/s idea of the probable value of ir- 



bonic acid as a powerful agent in the hai a of the 

 skilful gardener, is one which naturally leads to 

 iveral interesting considerations an 1 it has ace d- 

 ingly produced a number of curious experiments, 

 which, though they certainly do not justify his predic- 

 tion, or, indeed, give much prospect of any really im- 

 portant direct improvement in practical lenii ire 

 nevertheless*erycuriou md interesting. The primary 



into it in various ways, 

 animals are 



oxygen 

 acid, and 



the 



same 



appreciable variation in nature from year to year. 



There is certainly something very wonderful in this, question of course is. are plants always able to ab- 



" *" ' sorb as much carbonic acid from the air as they re- 



quire, and v mid benefit be derived by increasing the 

 proportion of it, in the air of a foreintr-house for 

 example ? When Dr. Piuestlf.v found that pure 

 carbonic acid was hurtful to plants, he next tried 

 mixtures of it with common air, and he found that 

 even one-eighth of it rendered the air poisonous. 

 IxciKXiiousz, after a great number of experiments, and, 

 though quite satisfied that plants really decompose 

 carbonic acid, speaks with great doubt of the effects 

 which it produces when artificially added to the 

 air. lie says, " plants grow tolerably well in air 

 to which a small quantity of carbonic acid has been 

 added, especially if they are exposed to the sunshine ; 

 sometimes even they seemed to grow all the better 

 for it," but he adds, " that it is doubtful if this effect 

 was really due to the presence of the carbonic acid." 

 A secondhand very remarkable series of experiments 

 is described by De Saussurr, the result of which 

 showed that the addition of carbonic acid, where 

 more than a tenth was added, always did harm, 

 whilst a twelfth produced a decidedly beneficial 

 effect, if the plants were exposed at the same time 

 to the influence of light ; there are however, unfortu- 

 nately, several interfering causes in these experiments, 

 which Saussure overlooked, and which diminish 

 and Incrxhousz, extended, repeated, and j their real value. Three years since, some valuable 

 confirmed by a host of other observers. observations on this subject were made by Dr. 



In Dr. Priestley's fiist experiments on carbonic Daubkny, Avho conducted a careful series of expe- 

 acid or fixed air, it is evident that he regarded it as J riments, with the object of ascertaining what pro- 

 highly poisonous to plants ; for in the first volume portion of carbonic acid in the air healthy plants 

 of his very interesting Essays -on Air, he says,— are able to endure, without inconvenience. The 

 "Fixed air is presently fatal to vegetable life ;" and result of his investigations prove, that 10 per cent. 



of carbonic acid is not at all injurious to plants, and 

 that it i§ some time before even rather larger pro- 

 portions of that gas begin to produce bad effects. 



Even as much as 20 per cent, produced no injury 



and indeed it seems difficult to understand how it 

 really can be the case, when we observe the _ r reat 

 chemical changes which are at all times going on in 

 the atmosphere, and the enormous quantities of 

 certain substances which are constantly being poured 



Night and day all living 

 consuming the oxviren of the air 



converting it into carbonic 



effect is also constantly being produced all over 

 the earth, by fires, furnaces, lamps, candles, 

 and in short by combustion in all its forms. 

 Decay, putrefaction, and fermentation, are also 

 giving rise to the evolu i of carbonic acid ; and 

 lastly, besides all these sources, immense quantities 

 of the gas in question are evolved from fissures in 

 the earth, especially in what are termed volcanic 

 districts. There are then, to say nothing of smaller 

 or more local causes, at least half a dozen great 

 natural operations, all tending to vitiate the air, 

 diminishing the quantity of oxygen which it contains, 

 and increasing the proportion of carbonic acid. All 

 these causes, we are told, are exactly balanced and 

 neutralised by the decomposing influence of plants, 

 and the wonderful power which they have of 

 absorbing the carbon of carbonic acid. We owe 

 this remarkable fact to the researches of Drs. 

 Par 





he then goes on to show that plants, in many 

 were very soon killed, when exposed to the influence 

 of carbonic acid gas, collected from the fermenting 

 vat of a brewery ; he however observes, that he did 

 not repeat the experiment with pure carbonic acid 

 artificially prepared, and regrets that he had not yet 

 had leisure to do so. These experiments were re- 

 peated and extended by his friend Dr. Percival, who 



in 10 days. 



In all considerations of this sort, it is ohviously 



the best way to commence by studying the natural 



conditions of plants, before we begin to place them 



published an account of his results in Hunter's ! in new and unnatural circumstances. In nature. 



tf rf~* ■ * t— aw m« m a m m * - ' 



"Surgical Essays.' 1 The conclusion to which he 



arrived, was just the contrary of what might have 



been expected from Dr. Priestley's experiments ; 



for he states, " that fixed air not only retards decay, 



but actually continues the vegetation of plants, and 



affords them a pabulum, which is adequate to the 



support of life and vigour in them for a considerable 

 length of time." 



plants are supplied with an almost infinitely small 

 quantity of carbonic acid, and the effect of their 

 growth is to deprive the air which surrounds them 

 of that carbonic acid, and to replace it by an eqnal 

 volume of oxygen. 



The chief difficulty which exists in comprehending 



the true bearings of this great fact, depends on the 

 So satisfied was he of the truth of! enormous magnitude of the entire atmosphere, and 

 this, and the important influence that the discovery j the almost infinitely large quantities which we hare 

 would have upon the art of gardening, that he goes on to consider. It is easy to form some idea of the 

 to point out how the florist who is anxious to obtain a J quantity of carbonic acid which is produced in a 

 prize at some great meeting held for the encourage- given time on a square mile of the earth's surface, 

 ment of horticulture, might perhaps avail himself of | and which the plants growing on it consequently 

 the powersof " fixed air,"either to quicken the growth may be supposed to have to decompose in the same 

 of his plant if still immature, or to preserve it in all its period. But it is very difficult to form any just 



beauty, and retard its decay if fully developed ; and idea of the whole atmosphere, -or to 



he accordingly gives several directions to gardeners the relation which exists between the 



who are willing to try the effect of carbonic acid carbonic acid and that of the entire 



gas on their flowers. Some years before this time, Large as the former appears to 



however. Dr. PklKSTT.P.V hnA nbeorv^d that nlants ita nnanti'fir £• mlian rt Amnnra*l 



comprehend 



bulk of the 



atmosphere. 



and eaormous as 



. ,» r • i i i * uvwcio. wme years ueiuic tuts tmiw, , uarge as tne lormer appears to ns, awi ^wruious. ss 



^ar learned practical friends "thought that we however, Dr. Phikstley had observed that plants J its quantity is, when compared to the largest tree, 



