THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



from the 



lam being blotched with yellow ; the flowers remain 



lonsc hi bl om. 



L'celogyne Wallichiana, a b 

 mountains of India, flowers in 

 and remains long in beauty. 



pot ; f^e blossoms are of a beauti 



Ccdogyne pratcox requires the same 



This plant succeeds best 



in a 



There is so 



BRITISH SONG BIRDS. 



(Cage Birds, No 23.) 

 No XXXIX.— It is a fact admitted by all careful 

 observers, that the black-cap, like the nightingale regu- 

 larly revisits, year after year, the scenes of his childhood. 

 Where he was born, there lies his heart. This cannot 

 be a matter for wonder or surprise ; indeed, appreciating 

 their instinct as we do, it would be strange were it 



This very year, I recognised most readily, by the 

 peculiarity of his voice and richness of his 

 my favourites that left us last autumn, 

 much difference in the quality of their song, and also in 

 the arrangement of their notes, that you might really 

 " swear " to a particular bird. I speak of this identical 

 bird, because of his rare excellence. Doubtless many 

 others, of second-rate powers, accompanied him to their 

 old quarters. Nature is always true to herself. 



The black-cap is known to naturalists as the contralto 

 singer of the woodland choir. His fine, varied, music- 

 ally joyous voice arrests the attention of the most listless 

 traveller, and he feels his weary way beguiled by such 

 an attendant. Main describes the strain of the black- 

 cap as occupying about three bars of triple time in the 



and he very justly adds, that although 



perf 



very frequently repeated, it is varied at every repetition. 



He begins with two or three short essays of double notes, 

 gradually crescendo up to a loud and full swell of varied 

 expression. One passage in particular often occurs, as 

 truly enunciated as if it were performed on an octave 

 flute. It has been remarked that the style and key of 

 the song are nearly the same in all the tribe ; but all 

 have not the power of improvising such extraordinary 

 u variations.* This is Nature's own gift. 



In some situations, this bird courts unusual retire- 

 ment, and you can very rarely get a sight of him. When 

 this is the case, approach carefully the spot where you 

 hear him sinking, and conceal yourself under the nearest 

 bushes. While you remain quiet, he will unsuspectingly 

 continue his song : and even should you by chance dis- 

 turb him, he will, if you stand still, speedily recom- 

 mence his song. These birds are of so joyous a tem- 

 perament, that singing is the one great business of their 

 happy lives ! No heavy cares sit on their brow. 



The black-cap arrives amongst us, very frequently, 

 before the nightingale. This year he was m avance 

 some 10 days. Like the latter, he comes to spy out the 

 land, before the lady-birds set foot on our shores. Their 

 arrival may be noted about the 20th to the 24th of 

 April. No time has been lost by their liege lords 

 during the interregnum caused by their absence. Their 

 song has been duly chanted from the very moment of 

 their arrival ; and convenient localities have been warily 

 chosen for the pitching and furnishing of the family tent. 

 I may here remark that the black-cap is, of all birds, 

 the most prudent and cautious in its selection of a site 

 for rearing its young. Apparently aware of the innate 

 propensity of men and boys to rob and plunder the 

 feathered tribe of their eggs and children, they build 

 their nests in the most artfully-concealed places ; and 

 they are as cunning in their movements to and fro, 

 during the period of incubation, as ever was fox when 

 fleeing from his pursuers. This is evidenced by the 

 fact of very few of their nests being obtainable by pur- 

 chase, when those of other birds are plentiful enough. 

 They go to nest almost immediately after their arrival, 

 and rear one brood. Sometimes, but rarely, they have 



a second family. Tins depends on the fineness of the 

 season. 



Talking of nests, reminds me of the cruel acts of 

 spoliation which I now regularly witness, week by week, 

 in my rambles. For the last three weeks, I have seen 

 most painfully verified the truth of Virgil's remark,— 

 m Sic vos non vobis nidihcatis aves/" The remnants of 



, the rude destruction of beautifi 



the pitiful outcries of young, unfledged nestlings, and the 

 bewailments of their bereaved parents ; these sights I 

 have seen, and these sights I continue to see, ad 

 nauseam. There assuredly must be still something 

 radically wrong in the early education of our youth. 



r he organ ot "dwtawtm^ew" cannot only be so 



egregiously large m the whole genus juvenis, that no 

 means can be taken to reduce it. Gigantic are the 

 strides we have made, since the days of Virgil, in every 

 one of the known arts. The art of curing the innate pro- 

 pensity m boys to rob orchards and birds' nests, is, it 

 would seem, malheureusenmit, the one solitary human art, 

 in which no progress has been, or ever can be made ! I 

 should have imagined that Dr. Birch might have effected 

 more good than he appears to have done. I fear he is 

 grown indolent as he is callous. William Kid A 



a small parabolic mirror, the vertex of which is trun- 

 cated, so that the focus of the mirror may be about 

 0*1 inch beyond the truncated edge. The rays which are 

 converging to the focus are received on the surface of a 

 small plane mirror which is attached to the bottom of 

 the object-glass, so that the surface of this mirror may 

 be nearly level with the lowest surface of the' object- 

 glass. All the rays of light which subtend any angle 

 from that of the object glass up to about 170° are thus 

 rendered available for the illumination of the object ; 

 which, as it is illuminated by very oblique rays, must 

 not be placed in a depression or cavity of any kind. 



On a New Airangement for facilitating the Dissection 

 and Drawing of Objects placed under the Microscope ; 

 By C. Brooke. — Two short pieces of tube, one of them 

 the size of the eye-piece, the other the same size as the 

 body of the microscope, are attached at an angle of 

 about 4° to the sides of a brass box containing a rectan- 

 gular prism. The smaller tube enters the body of the micro- 

 scope and the larger screws the eye-piece. The image that 

 enters the eye is now inverted in a plane passing through 

 the axis of the body and of the eye-piece ; and in order 

 to erect the image, a cap is placed over the eye-piece, 

 to which is attached a small rectangular prism, having 

 its axis in the plane in which the image is already 

 inverted. This arrangement provides a very convenient 

 position of the eye when the hands are engaged in 

 manipulating an object placed under the microscope. 

 A rectangular prism has already been introduced into 

 the body of the microscope by Machez ; but as this 

 was placed near the object-glass, it must, to a certain 

 extent, interfere with the definition of the objects. 

 For the purpose of drawing, a small piece of parallel 

 glass is substituted for the rectangular prism placed in 

 front of the eye-piece, through which the drawing-paper 

 is seen directly through two opposite surfaces, and the 

 object is seen by reflection from an outer surface 

 placed at an angle of about 45° with the axis of the 

 eye-piece. The image inverted by the first reflection is 

 again inverted in the same plane by the second ; and 

 is, therefore, correctly represented in the drawing. — 

 Sir D. Brewster said that there were physiological 

 reasons which rendered these contrivances for enabling 

 a person to use the microscope with erect head im- 

 portant. When the eye was turned downward, in the 

 first place, the fluid which works the cornea, and which 

 during ordinary vision is spread in a uniform film over 

 the*cornea by the actional" the cornea, and is constantly 

 draining downwards over the cornea in the intervals, 

 collects, when the eye is placed downwards, in a lenti- 

 cular-shaped mass on the very centre of the cornea, so 

 as 'greatly to impede vision : — and, moreover, those 

 little fragmentary portions of the crystalline lens which, 

 when it is breaking up, particularly in old age, become 

 the elements of the muscce volitantes— those which, in 

 the erect position of the head by sinking down to the 

 lower part of the lens, remain without interfering with 

 vision— these when the eye is turned down collect in 

 what is then the lowest and central part of the lens in 

 the .direct line of sight, and greatly impede the rays 

 of light. 



Section B. — Dr. Gladstone gave the results of ex- 

 periments made and still in progress, with his brother, 

 Mr. G. Gladstone, On the Growth of Plants in various 

 Gases, especially substituting Carbonic Oxide, Hydrogen, 

 and light Carburettcd Hydrogen for the Nitrogen of 

 the Air. The experiments were at present in an 

 incomplete state, Mr. R. Warrington suggesting, that in 

 such experiments the plants be allowed to take root well 

 before immersing them in the gases ; next, that the 

 combined atmospheres were too much saturated with 

 moisture, often causing rapid growth and decay, and that 

 these flowers and roots should be compared with others 

 grown in similar volumes of confined common air.— 

 Prof. Dumas spoke of the great and, indeed, almost 

 unsuspected influence of carbonic oxide gas. The judi- 

 cial investigations in France had disclosed the fatal 

 effects of this gas as being so much greater than carbonic 

 acid gas. In the atmosphere produced by the burning 

 of charcoal, one 200th part of carbonic oxide was fataf, 

 while with one-third the volume of carbonic acid the 

 animal was asphyxiated, but afterwards revived.— The 

 Chairman said he had reason to believe that in the 

 combustion of anthracite, much carbonic oxide gas is 

 produced. 



close carriage 



glass medium JL ** 



% 



damp air on a glass medium "112 **** 

 claret bottle which thev^doTJ 11 I* * 4?!^ 



which they do not occupy • hi, t *? nt * r ' 0f 4* U 

 writer's purpose. The kdi^ W * 



m close carriages, with 5*^ 3J Defi toondu 



** 



ventilated garden of 1 acres is i *; ! iT *° 

 We should not like such Tj$^ * 

 Leave the arrangements to its . W pre *** 

 will be probably°as much pleat dS* *» 

 no one need fear its bein 1S 





now 



. — 6 averted *i*J 

 quarium, or a lannH ** 

 nave oeen called into action bv th*T r - V ; ^ ' 

 purpose of getting up the steam !-° Ve ^ 

 vellous combination that ever m \ 7^ mm m 

 energy of man. F. /. Graham Cr^ ** 

 Paxton's excellent propositio'n^^t ^ 

 effect, allow me to suggest a plan that ^ 

 facilitate its being stocked with plant ^* 

 tionai interest to the whole *i« H '.^ P* fc 

 to the inhabitants of t„ P °UnS £££** 





any large specimens of plants, suitaLfc l** 

 A list, with their height^c, coZTt^ 

 party named, as soon as possible after uV 

 decided on, and if the plants should turn W* 

 be placed in the Palace, and the name l 1? 

 marked on the usual label, it would induce 12 H 

 gladly to contribute plants that have crown fcTl5*I 

 their own conservatories, by their beL aJ^jJ 

 recognise them, as, in many cases, there^u?*! 

 peculiar interest attached to the plants bvXt? 

 If this were carried into effect, I humbly m£* 

 it would be carrying out the original planrfZy? 

 by making it mainly a contribution from the 

 Vectis. 



BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE- 



MENT OF SCIENCE. 

 Thursday,^ 4.-- Section a.-0» « New Mode of 



niumznattng Opaque Objects under the highest powers ot 

 the Microscope; % C. Brooke.- A parallel pencil of 

 rays is obtained by placing a camphine lamp (which, of 

 all kinds of lamps, gives the most intense illumination) 

 in the principal focus of a combination of two plano- 

 convex lenses. This pencil is secured on the surface of 



Correspondence. 



The Crystal Palace.— The paragraph which you quote 

 from the writer in the " Quarterly Review," although 

 indicating abilit !, is so extremely hyperbolical as °to 

 assume the appearance of a burlesque, and reminds one 

 of the quaint anecdote related of the s ( m$ who, in 

 getting up an article on the crab, described it as a fish 

 of a red colour, which walked backwards ; when 

 apropos, m came Cuvier, and the exact description was 

 handed to him, upon which he is said to have observed, 



I hat with three exceptions, it was perfectly correct : 

 1st, that ic was not a fish ; 2<lly, that it was not red • 

 and odlv, that it did not walk backwards." Mr. Paxton 

 is the Cuvier of glass houses, and has sufficient abilities 

 not to erect a hot stove where he requires a cool frame 

 and to prevent the humidity of an Orchid house with a 

 medium l temperature of 42* in that most splendid and 

 wonderful building, in which he might bid 



" Swe, t Ivy wind iu bough* and intertwine 

 With hlusmng Roses and the clustering Tint," 



without saturating the finest muslin; and from which 

 black soot balls and fogs also in a great degree might 

 be excluded, and all sudden alternations of climate 

 av<-M, instead of ladies shutting themselves up in 



Guano and Charcoal— During the previ^ ja. 

 Potato disease last year, I caused 48 different 

 ments to be made with genuine Peruvian nm. 

 with different chemical salts, on both cSS 

 varieties, to ascertain if, through the mew 4 fc 

 potential manure, it was possible to counte*!! 

 Potato plague. My idea was that the Peru^i* 

 by reason of its ammonia, would supply food s * 

 plant, so as to strengthen it against the first itfct^ 

 then one or other of the salts would furnish tbeR&fc 

 I will not detain you with the unsuccessful 

 point out at once that where 2 cwt. of Peru 

 were mixed with 30 bushels of carbon, either ax t 

 charcoal, and given to late varieties of Pot»ta>I± 

 tained the best results. And I am final)* of not 

 that if experiments are made this year with Pemi 

 guano and carbon, we shall gain sufficient bowieda-a 

 this subject to enable us to meet the difficulty next t*. I 

 should it occur. The carbonised guano is best yw { 

 as soon as the first leaf in the neighbourhood 

 disease, or even in anticipation of it ; if applied *k 

 time of earthing up it saves extra labour. In the* 

 sence of carbon, I would use fresh new chj earti. 

 have a very high opinion of guano as i top dremf 

 the Grasses. In this neighbourhood a gentleman pauti 

 of Peruvian guano, in February, on a lOacreMri* 

 costing him, say, 11. per acre, and he had, in taft,ien| 

 of hay, to the extent of 2 £ loads of hay to te « 

 being twice as much as had ever been taken is 

 that field before. A return of 70*. for the q§ 

 diture of 20*. on the same rent (only four warn 

 before) is something in these days of f» 

 tural difficulty. The only thing requisite to 

 is, that when the guano is top-dressed on the « 

 it must be done in very wet weather. I am only 

 for very wet weather to put Peruvian guanc » at^ 

 of 2 cwt. to the acre on some uphill land, wI ^/[f- 

 been overstocked with sheep, is now as bare of ■*? 

 as the back of my hand. Query : Is it poa*? * 

 aid of Peruvian guano, to obtain two crops ofjp- 

 same year, the second crop to be in e ^."J? 

 good as the first, and at what cost ? M « ■■ 

 unadulterated Peruvian, for V have tnrf *£ 

 Possession Island, Saldauha Bay, Chilian, WJf 

 and others, and have come to the cone»» . 

 some of them are not worth the cost even oi £jj 

 It is generally supposed that Messrs. w bDS »« ^1 

 gate-street, will not sell less than 30 tons « ^ 

 mum wholesale price of 91. 5s. per ton. i» . 

 is not the case ; anv person who has once* 

 obtained 30 tons, can have any quantity 





tons in 



eich m 



loway. 



Epps's Sulphurator 



Since 





itrument, 



— — - m » 



syringe, I am of opinion that no ms.- ^ 

 economical as this in its application, or 



with 



garden^ 



its 'effects. An ordinary g«?° , 3ji f 

 may be thrown into a complete mist ^ ^ 

 of sulphur in two or three minutes, m 



diffused in the most regular manner. * J^rf 

 it not only in glass structures, but on i ^^ 

 in the open air ; and, indeed, on qu»*«^ in fe** 



with the most complete success. 



From 



T0B 



,r 



various parts of tne «. v- ^ 



it ^ 



>t\ 



to state that mildew has again w >p _ 



an unmistakable form, and in som« >¥ As »fri* 

 pletely destroyed the crop of grapes. ^n 

 gardeners, let me seriously recommeu ^ 



to their use. R. Gkndinning. $# W*. 



Roses (see p. 455).— In our * rt f e . . st**" 

 MaiK-ttii i rks, it should read tnn 





