.: 



1851. 



THE GARDENERS ) CHRONICLE. 



419 



I I - . <£aci rue I>r«c * r Drr.iafiiiftt. 



" *»*? *"«. hat ki«id J dirtott 



a^llia*—* 1 _ w/ ..a for »»i rwfD 1 



OF LONDON.— 



Preatdtnt ot th*» 

 the Groo >d« «if 



r^cep i »n »f f he Visitors 



£*£ Oaffi "< jhB NEXT" EXHIBIT!.*, on 



,fFi»* 



w — ^ - |W .. Jf Y. Ticfceti are »8«ued to the 

 * S ?£J~ot rbt S^xriety <nlT, Btthii Office, pric* 5« ; 



in the afc*raoon of the 19th Ja v. at *$ to 

 *w~ ^.^ alto oo't to oroer-* tuned by Fellows of 



-. — »^ itraocers. or re i'ient* in f h»* 



Btit reM— table stranger: 



W1 i\ forward their addre*«e« in wrrinj? to 'he 



Jl Re**»nt-«trvet, on or before ThuriwI »j, 



Sir mar ob'aia from that Office an authority to 



Z/JL thi* amaaioa. No official orders for Ticket. 



*ry 



•i l ^-.^^.**i tbif occa»io 



w ^. — . After that day. 



J^jaTiek** wUl be issued in Regent-street on the day 



^fj*W»e»_ ^^^ qai Heslreront se procurer del billets 



!^..— *»r *n obtenir <ies niandaia en s'addreasant 



feat 



rront en obten 



,1ecmal*urC«>nsul*te. m—*-* 



EtTilOE OF P£LLOWS.-Ea*h Fellow of the Society 

 ^!l «MaaMl admission to theae Exhibitions without a 



uT or ike may also personal! v introduce a fr-end 

 ^i-nw Ticket at half-pa*t Twelve, at Gate No 4, 



*• 



Ad*iaaifttt 



of DeYotish ire's road ; 



^^ or, if unable to attend p^r. 



*^JT^ifi."br«*thtr, son. dauthte*-, or sister, if resident in 



SAsw may represent the Fellow, if furnished with an 



^^ Tiek-t on which the signature of the Fehow is 



I, RejrenU*tr**t, London. 



VAT10NAL 



LORICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



lanes 



Ji HEOENT-STKBBr, LONDON. 

 U hereby given, that the 8EVBHTH ME 



*TING eg 



a .il^«ociet» will beheld onTHORSDAT next, the I0h inst.. 

 ilXkf.r the elimination of SBEDUVG FLORIST 

 SfnwBfts' an J rewarding deserving novelrios by granting 

 Sari «. Or COMMEN0A r TON. CERTIFICATES OF 

 gjir i FIR^T CLASS CERTIFICATES, at the discre- 



*in •abitflta fur examination must be entered, labelled*; and 

 *Htd at lea* t two clear hours before the hour of meeting 

 Saver* ire required to be punctual in their attendance at the 

 isjs staled in tMir eammons, viz.. 1 o'clock. 



By order, Jons Edwabds, Hon Sec. 



IffftlTNG PEHRGONICM. FUNP.— The Treasurer take* 



B^opanrtuni ■% of announcing 'hat a statement of receipt* and 



ipaaditurr will be p I iced for examinati «n. and the I'm z- ess 



Ptlf ah Interested are th»-r< fore requested to attend at 21, 



lsfto».*tree\ on the 10 h inst , at 1 o'clock. 

 ji !f J.>hw Edwasds. 



CILECTED CINERARIA SEED, saved from one 



Oaf the choicest and hn*st varieties in cultivation, this 

 Irtaf •• prop-r *ime for sowing (which any ama'eur ma\ 

 its with little tr -fihle ind nure success), to injure good 

 plan's that will bloom well the forthcoming season. 

 fiesatt of the above can be forwarded to any part, on receipt 

 tf It penny p »«?*te stamp*. — Edward Tilkt, Nurseryman, 

 Indsmin, and Florist, 14, Abbey Churchyard, Bath. 



Hie t&xtittmvff Cfiromcle* 



SATURDA Y, JUL Y 5, 1851. 



MIlTINOR P(IK THK KNSOINQ WEER. 



flesMT, Jaly 7— En»eniolosrieal Sf.n. 



CV^miMil Gardens 6 r-M. 



TeitaAT, — 8< Londo > Ploricultural fi r.u. 



^ /i'Hiloaieal 9 r.u. 



m I Roy«» Bniaaie 34r.n. 



raoa«»4f — 10 -Nutional Ploricultural ... 3 r m. 



CHn t > , Saijwt.-Tuetdny, July S: Soufh Detnn Botjinicul and llnrti- 

 fS?.ii "1 TfUf ° Hon l CUlta^a, •— w'edneeday July 9: Barton-on-Hu mbcr 



Shall wr keep the Crystal Palace? says 

 *Di5ARrus/' What is to become of the Crystal 

 ?au«r ] mIcs Mr. Paxton ; and the same question 



daily pnt by thousands of voices, less powerful 

 ki not less earnest. As yet no answer has been 

 |Wen, and probably no answer will be given till the 



Cblic has more generally expressed its own opinion. 

 t us then endeavour to point out to those who do 

 the honour to read our columns in what way this 

 fiction strikes ua. 



"PaWARius" believes that the building may be 

 Wkd to various scientific uses, that it may 

 wane a great i^allery of sculpture, a winter garden 

 ■dwith fountains and groves of Orange trees, a 



Coasium where science and art may unite in 

 ily contest, where schools and lectures would 

 lly arise, and where periodical exhibitions 

 •■•Id be held of silk-weaving or cotton-printing, 

 •itbe manufactures which give their names to the 

 P*i City Corporations, the Goldsmiths', the Iron- 

 ^', the Mercers', the Dyers', &c. "If the 

 fj^, rt he says, " were recognised as a receptacle 

 ■f Pkat* and shrubs, it might be expected that 



' £ ^^ - S ^° rt time ifc would ^ e wel * furnished 

 ™* public donations. Proceeding w T ith the 



•••wpment of this idea more in detail, it may 



M^^ 16 ? ° Ut that the DaVe and the aisles 



toid W ^ e wou ^ 8^ ve a space of 10 acres inde- 



^«ntly of the galleries, which would give in 



««Uon walks exceeding a mile. The ground- 

 ^"^ght be u«ed for plantations and sculpture, 



ffaSf es for P otted A° w ers and smaller works 

 ■fcfoary; but care should be taken to consider 



TP^enade as the chief feature, and not to 

 ^gy too much space with the collections. The 

 jy would desire to have walks amon^ flowers 

 w^ a,1 i;~~ not flowers and plants with some 

 jj*p Jhis last kind of treatment belongs to 

 a M Chiswick, and the Regent's Park. 



fckw e exLreme 8i(les of tbe building might 



| B ^J^ va f ant to be applied to various public pur- 



p^jj^ "^ periodical exhibitions of agricultural 

 ^arAa ° b J ects claiming patent lights, manu- 

 °% off ^ ^ e ' ^ owever » as we understand him, 



•» as « supplementaiy to the great object of 



a winter garden ;" and we are bound to say, that we 

 doubt the wisdom of carrying them out, even if it 

 were possible. 



Mr. Paxton, whose pamphlet we reprint in 

 another column, entei tains different views. He 

 would have a garden or pirk, and nothing more, 

 embellished with birds, and flowers, and trees, and 

 sculpture, displayed in a climate temperate at all 

 seasons. Hrc ver perpetitom would be inscribed 

 above his portals, and the scene within them would 

 be that of a noble " park, decorated with the beau- 

 ties of nature and art, under a sk3^-roof, having a 

 climate, warmed and ventilated for the purpose of 

 health alone, furnishing, close to their own firesides, 

 a promenade unequalled in the world, and, for the 

 six winter months, a temperature analogous to that 

 of Southern Italy. Beautiful creeping plants might 

 be planted against the columns, and trailed along 

 the girders, so as to give shade in summer, while the 

 effect they would produce by festooning in every 

 diversity of form over the building, would give the 

 whole a most enchanting and goraeous finish." 



Are these vision capable of being realised ? That 

 is the question which it really interests us to 

 answer. The funds and means out of which such a 

 reality may arise are subordinate considerations ; 

 especially since the building, the main feature in 

 any calculation of cost, may be said to be already 



paid for. 



That all which Mr. Paxton proposes to do maybe 

 easily done, no one acquainted with gardening will 

 doubt; that the climate of Naples or Madeira may 



of the Crystal 



^antities than those just mentioned, 

 i™quent comparison is comparatively 



be secured to Hyde Park by 

 Palace, is as certain as the existence of those two 

 countries. All we require in order to accomplish 

 such an end is a heating power, which will exclude 

 frost in winter, and a water power which will 

 exclude drought in summer. The rest is simple. 



gain any clear idea of such enoimous qu itities 



qu 

 as the volume of carbonic acid produced during an 

 entire year by the breathing of the whole human 

 race, is, as we have already said, by attempting to 

 ascertain what relation it bears to the bulk and 

 weight of the entire atmosphere ; and though in 

 doing so we must necessarily speak of even 

 still larger 

 yet the su 



easy. It is well known that the atmosphere is not 

 all of the same density ; that the higher we ascend, 

 the rarer and more attenuated it becomes, of which, 

 in fact, we have an accurate measure in the fall of 

 the barometer, when it is taken up the side of a 

 hill, or in a balloon. By means, too, of the barometer, 

 it is easy to calculate the v ight and bulk of the 

 entire atmosphere ; and we learn that the whole 

 quantity is equal to one mile in height, the whole 

 being supposed to be of the same density as that of 

 the air at the surface of the earth. In order then to 

 ascertain the bulk of the entire atmosphere, and to 

 know the extent of the storehouse of vegetable food 

 from which plants derive their nouiishment, we 

 have only to calculate the surface of the whole 

 globe, and ascertain how many cubic miles of air 

 would be required to cover it. In round numbers 

 the quantity is nearly 200 million of cubic miles. 

 Now a cubic mile of air would weigh about 

 1,673,290 tons, and consequently if we wish to 

 know the weight of the whole atmosphere, we 

 must multiply these two numbers together, and we 

 shall have 334,658,000^)00, 000 tons! 



As far, however, as plants are concerned, w T e have 

 only to consider that small portion of the atmo- 

 phere, the carbonic acid which it contains, and 

 which amounts to about one-thousandth part; in 

 calculating therefore the total supply of carbonic 

 acid, on which plants have to depend, we must 



That the great engineers who put together the vast divide the«e large numbers by a thousand, which 

 fabric can water it and heat it, nobody doubts ; that ] eaves us 200,000 cubic miles of carbonic acid, or. in 



plants will thrive in it if heated and watered, we all 

 of us know perfectly well. 



But would such a winter garden be attended by 

 the advantages that are expected from it to public 

 health and convenience ? That is to say, would it 

 be agreeable to ride and walk under shelter while 

 rain or snow is falling all around 1 W%ild it be 

 comfortable to have a cool garden of 18 acres as a 



Have dust or mud 



These are 



weight, about 350,000,000,000 tons. Now, the 

 statement with which Wi set out was, that the 

 quantity of carbonic acid which would be formed 

 during a whole year, by the breathing of 600 mil- 

 lions of human beinss. would be 145 millions of 

 tons ; and this, 



place of resort in the dog-days 1 



irresistible attractions to urns' English 1 



matters of taste which all men can judge of for 



themselves. 



If we look at the matter as it affects the value of 



contiguous property, then such questions as the 



following arise. Would it be advantageous to the 



neighbourhood to be within a few minutes' walk of 



Naples or Madeira! Would invalids find any 



comfort therein 1 Would the aged and infirm ? 



And if health and comfort should be increased by 



turning the Crystal Palace into such a place 



large as it is, is evidently but a 

 small quantity compared to the whole quantity 

 which usually exists in the atmosphere ; in fact, it 

 only amounts to about one 2400th part of the whole 

 quantity. With this statement before us, it is 

 not so difficult to understand the kind of natural 

 balance which must ex fc between the production 

 of carbonic acid, on the surface of the earth, and its 

 decomposition by growing plants. It is plain from 

 the action of the winds, and other causes, that the 

 whole mass of the atmosphere must he in a constant 

 state of mixture, and that the carbonic acid poured 

 into it must be soon regularly diffused throughout 

 the whole of it ; observing, then, the enormous 

 quantity of this gas, which is at all times present in 

 Mr. Paxton contemplates, would the value ot houses the atmosphere, it is evident that a very consider- 

 and land at Knightsbndge, Kensington, Brompton, | aMe addition may at any time be made to it with- 

 out any very evident increase being produced in its 



and Bayswater, rise or fall ? The owners of pro- 

 perty there will probably express their opinion as 



to those points. 



Should all these questions be answered in the 

 affirmative (and who can doubt it) ; if the comfort, 



relation to the entire atmosphere. From what we 

 have just shown, it appears that the carbonic acid 

 gas formed by the respiration of the whole human 



large as the quantity certainly is, would not, 



«**.<. i.tiv.w V r,„„ ^..w v-ww-ww * v i *. "-- v ^.«. v .«, - raC€? i a yge as me quanuiy certainty is, wouiu not, 



the health, the enjoyment, the wealth of the metro- in a centuryj do more than increase the present pro- 



polis would be thus largely increased, by converting 

 the Crystal Palace into such a park as could only be 

 naturally found in Portugal or Madeira, then the last 

 inquiry that we should make would be, who will 

 recommend its rkmoval, when a short Act of Parlia- 

 ment shall be introduced to enable it to remain 

 where it is. 



• In speaking of the inffcience of carbonic acid 

 gas upon growing plants, and pointing out the 

 effects which they produce in regulating the com- 

 position of the atmosphere, two questions naturally 

 arose, the one relating to the entire quantity of 

 carbonic acid at all times to be found in the air, 

 and the second, having reference to the more 

 practical question of artificial supplies of that sub- 

 stance, to plants cultivated under glass, or in 

 houses. Both these points deserve a little further 



portion one twenty-fourth part. Such a quantity 

 must be added to the atmosphere every year, for 

 more than 10,000 years in succession, in order to 

 double the present proportion of carbonic acid. 



It is difficult to understand how the growth of 

 plants should be so nicely proportioned to the forma- 

 tion of carbonic acid, as to insure constant equality 

 of composition in the atmosphere; although as 

 Inoenhoubz has well observed, the circumstances 

 which tend to increase the formation of carbonic 

 acid, are also, for the most part, those most favour- 

 able to the growth and development of plants. But 

 from the facts just stated, we may be led to inquire 

 whether a very considerable increase in the total 

 quantity of carbonic acid in the atmosphere may not 

 take place, which yet would not cause the per 

 centage to be raised to an extent capable of being 



consideration. It is plainly evident, that if the indicated by the most accurate chemical tests. That 



composition of the entire atmosphere were liable to 

 undergo considerable fluctuations, it would naturally 

 produce corresponding effects on the growth of 

 plants ; on the contrary, however, there is good 

 proof that the proportion of carbonic acid in the air 

 i$ very nearly always the same. The cause of this, 



| we shall now proceed to show, is not so much that 

 the production of carbonic acid is always exactly 

 counterbalanced by its decomposition by plants, 

 but that the quantity of that substance which the 





this may really be the case, a very little consideration 

 will readily prove ; setting aside the extreme diffi- 

 culty and delicacy of the experiment, it appears 

 that the recorded results of different observers vary 

 considerably, and though the evidence is quite 

 satisfactory that the average amount i# not far from 

 one-thousandth part of the whole air, yet it has 

 sometimes been found to be as low as one two- 



The acknowledged 



from 



thousandth, or even still less. 

 variation may be fairly set down at 



one- 

 whole atmosphere contains, is so vast, that no j thousandth to one twelve hundred and fiftieth— one 

 ordinary natural cause is able to make any sensible . quarter of the whole j a variation which, if it 

 change in its average proportion, in the space of happened to occur equally throughout the atmo- 

 a single year or two. I sphere, would evidently amount to many thousand 



Perhaps the best way in which we are able t$ 1 millions of tons.- In fact, so large is the quantity of 



