«^^H 



THE GARDENERS* CHUOXICL) 



UVJ 



m/00k 



Mr 



ants budded on (not from) t» 

 ,STia5l). /. fiiUUtone, Starwur. 



ased 





InjiiMK —i nav© been more than pit 



i remarks on the nightingale; and. 



them with what he has written before on 



am led to believe the rank of amateur 



^t belon* to him— he is more. Coupled with hiB 



M* he has sought the " dens " where the 



tim of the feathered tribe is annually lm- 



%n & I has obtained a deal of startling informa- 



- .unds a common observer, like myself. 



+m *§he ^oes not relv on the cruel gentlemen prac- 



fwbo make a trade by taking nightingales) for 

 on the subject, I am the more inclined to 

 his instructions. Perhaps my sense of shame 

 toad me 'to own that I blush to reveal ray 

 ; connected, as it is, with the subject of night- 

 bat will be candid enough to own my failings 

 «,- carina but little for the condemnation that will 

 WirJed me bv the readers of your Paper ; for, being 



catcher, keeper, observer, &c, my time 



, or I should 



occupied at this season 01 tin 

 H- have solicited an explanation on one or two points 

 jSh Mr. Kill asserts) that have never come under 

 jjjijolke. As well as my memory will serve me, and, 

 Jerioos to Mr. K. closing the subject, allow me to ask 



E^three questions. Mr. K. asserts (I have not the 

 Paper! me. remember, for a reference), t it in the] 

 ^^ state, the cause of the male bird ceasing to sing 

 in the pftp r MHO is Owing to its duties in assisting 

 tbt foniaK luring parental occupation. I cannot assert 

 Mnmeh: t th I know, that the male bird in the 

 case havii > paternal care, ceases also at the same 

 tiina He also states that extreme kindness and accus- 

 tmmi familiaritj will induce the bird in rjuestion to 

 taecne very tame. I have it not in my power to cor- 



< (to myself) new statement. Perfectly 

 twe as the bird appears to be in its natural state 

 ferine taptn v. I have always found it the reverse; 

 ind in justit ition of my statement can remember 

 fWtteg a Wend at Hath, who had a nightingale in each 

 tame" of the room, and though I had been often 

 tharniel with the song of these feathered warblers, the 

 moment an advance was made towards the cage, or the 

 reflection of a shadow cast its gloom in the wiry habita- 

 tion of these prisoners, their rushing and beating about 

 their " prison house" was painfully terrific ; and though 

 Br friend (who had kept them for 30 years), continually 

 offered to present me with one, the cause just named 

 never allowed me to suppose I could divest myself 

 if a feeling approaching to nervousness at the unhappy 

 disposition of these birds in confinement j of course, 

 this was previous to my becoming a nightingale-keeper. 

 I merely wish to find out how Mr. K. succeeded so well 

 with his nightingales. James Wait, Port ish cad, near 

 Bristol. In the last of Mr. Kidd's very interesting 



__. • . ■ «~« -»"k • ^ 4 « 1 1 ■ l 



a rding to the season.* The quotation is from 



Maunder, who, I admit, is not "an aathorit; i such 

 matters, but 1 adduce the passage as being simply so 

 much disinterested testimony. Thomas B. I ler f 



Warrington. 



Orch ids. — In the report in the 6 -deners' a I 

 Farmer? Journal, p. 4"»3, of the Liverpool Horticultural 

 Society, held on June the 20th, it is stated that " tin 

 collection of Orchids comprised some rare plants, such 

 as Kalosanthes miniata, Stephanotis floribunda. 

 Saccolabium guttatum, Crassula miniata, all of which 

 were well grown."— Query : Are Kalosanthes miniata, 

 Stephanotis floribunda, and Crassula miniata, Orchids! 

 G. V/., London. [Not that we are aware of.] 



Parrots.— It is said that when a parrot picks its 

 feathers, it is from a craving for raw meat. Anon. 



Aquatics.— 1 am assured by an eye-witness that the 

 double white Nymphaea is now full of blossom in the 

 parsonage garden at Navestock,near Romford, in Essex ; 

 having been planted there by the late incumbent, Mr. 

 For 1. I wish the fact could be verified, 1 t my infor- 

 mant (no great Horist) should be committing any mistake. 

 Iris ochroleuca proves a most vigorous aquatic 

 Hemeroeallis fulva, which I put in the water last 

 October, continues in health. A, &• 



Watering a Flam* «fe» (see page 438).— I quite 

 a^ree with your corn spondent that watering during 

 continued sultry weather, as often » performed, 

 does more harm than good. This is generally the 

 case when an insufficient quantity is given to reach 

 below the roots; dribbling upon the surface is worse 

 than labour lost. The surface, under such e i re u instances, 

 becomes so caked, that no air can pe netrate the ^ soil. 

 But if the latter is well deepened, moisture will rise to 

 enable the roots to supply the leaves with what is lost 





no more. His animated countenance i> » now 



l^efore ■ whilst relating minutely, and with in- 

 tense interest, the singular and ridiculous disparity 

 observable between the natural and the putative parent. 

 The description he gave me of their joint occupation in 

 cramming the lubberly, ill-favoured young cuckoo, was 

 too vivid for me easily to forget it. The manner of the 



relation, too, apart from my friend's known veracity, 

 carried with it the most perfect conviction of its truth. 

 Nor is this bv any means a solitary instance of%he 

 (latent) natural affection of the cuckoo, implanted Iry 

 Nature, and called forth under peculiar circumstances ; 

 for, let me add, the phv> al strength of small b Is is, 

 occasionally, totally inadequate to the heavy duties of 

 filling the maw of so voracious a gourmand as a young 

 cuckoo. Like " Oliver Twist/* of workhouse notoriety, 

 his constant cry is,— " More ! More! ! M and .readily 

 impatient is he till he gets it 1 would remark, in con- 

 clusion, that it is as unfair as it is unwise for your cor- 

 respondent to try and put down so brusquely, by empty 

 assertion, what is advanced upon the most respectable 

 authority. It is the direct way of preventing those 

 useful additions to our knowledge, which it should be 

 our endeavour, as much as it is our interest, always to 

 encourage. In so saying, I speak but the sentiments of 

 all true lovers of Nature. William Kidd, Hammersmith. 

 Perhaps the following facts may not be uninteresting. 

 A few days ago a person brought me a young emkoo, 

 almost ready to By, which he had found in a s all n- t 

 n the ground. Tasked him to accompany me back to 

 the place with the cuckoo, which I put down on the Grats 

 within a few yards of the nest, and in less than 15 

 minutes it was surrounded by upwards of 10 or 12 

 little birds of the whitethroat kind, all of which com- 

 menced, one after the other, to feed the cuckoo. 1 may 



b™ ^^ A «*» £ add that the little fellow was reared in the nest of 



Sots in many ways but the d >bling svsMh, while whitethroat. 1, as well as three other mdivnluaK *** 



roots m man) wa% , ..*__?., / wit||in 10 vards f the cuckoo at feeding tune, and we 



distinctly saw one bird after another drop the msecte 

 or larvse into its mouth. C. E. Bod> A nglesea. 



Grape Mildew.— I beg to send you a specimen of the 



i ,:„a «r M ;m.,„. ««V.;Mi Uaa infWod Vines both in houses 



papers 



he makes a state- 



it does no good to the lower and principal roots, deprives 

 them also of their previous supply, as watering the 

 urface destroys for a time the power of capillary at- 

 traction. Surface watering encourages surface fibres, 

 which are easily scorched by a burning sun ; fresh 



waterings are given, fresh fibres encouraged, and thus 

 the contest goes on between the vitality of the plants on 

 the one hand, and the mistaken kindness of tin gardener 

 on the other. Some soils require less watering than 



others— for instance, where the staple is stiff and heavy 

 it is liable to crack and bind together so hard that it 

 will not p emit the first rain to penetrate it ; under 

 such circumstances deep Stirring will be found most 

 useful, as stiff soil retains its moisture much longer than 

 that of a porous character. CUjmro. 



Potato Disease— I examhn carefully all our Potatoes 

 previous to the thunder-storm on Saturday last, and 



was pleased 

 mildew on them 



and in the oj.cn air, in the vicinity of Paris during these 

 three years past, and principally in the gardens of 

 \ -saifles, Suresne, and lYrrieres. In these places, all 

 possible means have been employed to avert the malady, 

 but without success. Sulphur, tobacco smoke, tar 

 water, and lime water, have been used, but the parasite 

 makes new progress every day, and the Grapes are 

 rendered uneatable. 1 hope you will be able to furnish 

 us with some new expedient for combating the 

 epidemic. F. Bergman, Jan., Gardener to Baron 

 Jama de Rothschild, at Ferriera, near Pans. [\ou 



ment which I have always considered, with him, " a 

 most astounding truth;' viz., that "in Devonshire, as 



c lo ,u,u ««, K ». » v sulphurators. Sulphur applied early enough, and per- 



m • now however, in less than 48 hours, severed in, is a certain cure in tins country. But you 



h,,: Sis on?;, Van, sorry to say, a fair M persevere, and you ^attack the enemy when 



° - - ' vl * ' J he first appears.] 



well as Wales, the song of the nightingale is never 

 beard." Now, I was in company with a lady and her 

 daughter who have lived most of their lives in a part of 

 the county of Kent where nightingales abound, and who 

 in musical talent may perhaps rival the •< Devonshire 

 •yrens," and " ken " the voice of that sweet and cheer- 

 ful warbler full well, and they assure me that, while 

 Itaying at Torquay a month or two ago, they were 

 n itly enchanted by the song of the nightingale, and 

 they very positively contradicted the popular error. 

 Should Mr. Kidd or" any one else wish it, I will inquire 

 farther of them, but I think their ears are too good to 

 have been'deceived. Northwood. — I am one of the many 

 who will ever feel indebted to Mr. Kidd for the very 

 interesting articles on " British Song Birds," which 

 tppear, from week to week, in the Gardeners 9 Chronicle, 

 —articles well worth a place in that excellent journal. 

 And now that Mr. Kidd has done with the " best poet 

 of the grove," the nightingale, I am induced to trouble 

 you with a line respecting that enchanting songster. 

 1 have had no experience in the keeping of nightingales 

 myself, consequently I can offer no opinion of my own. 

 I am, however, very much interested in all that relates 

 to them, and was, therefore, no little concerned when? 

 two or three weeks ago, Mr. Kidd sent forth a fiat that 

 we must expect to part company with the nightingale, 

 sfter a three years' confinement. I confess that, as 

 tt love and song is all its pleasing care," three years is a 

 period of no mean servitude in that little bird ; and 

 *>rry indeed should I be to say anything that might 

 tend to prolong, unduly, its confinement. But we never 

 consent to part with the company of a dear friend one ' 

 moment sooner than is necessary ; and it appears to me 

 that there are instances in which nightingales have been 

 kept a very long time. The following I take to be well 

 authenticated proof of this, which many may be glad to 

 p ^, and, perhaps, none more so than Mr. Kidd 

 himself : — « It is very generally supposed that the 

 nightingale will live but a very short time in confine- 

 ment Our own experience, however, proves the 

 contrary ; having kept one upwards of three years in 

 * case, which de ijhted us with its song during eight 

 nionths of the y ar. It was regularly feed with meal- 

 w orms, as well as with boiled eggs and raw meat, 

 chopped very fine. But this is nothing to what Dr. 

 WeiiBenborn relates ; he says, that a nightingale, which 

 Imd been caught in Germany, in its adult state, lived 

 n^wly 30 years confined in a cage. One of the bird's 

 ^^acrs, a" tradesman at Weimar, who kept it for 16 

 ?****) par great regard to the bird's cleanliness, and 

 ^^ays fed it on pupa of ants, either fresh or dry, 



the accompany .~ — , - , ,-, - . u i 



specimen ; the stems and branches are also blotched 

 and fast going to decay, the tubers seem still unaffected, 

 but they cannot long continue so. I have bad the haulm 

 of some of them carefully dusted with fresh slacked 

 lime, a plan 1 adopted at Merton on a similar occasion 

 two years since with considerable success ; it evidently 

 gave a check to the rapid advance of the pest. When the 

 young Potatoes have got to their full size, I intend 

 pulling up the haulm altogether and at once. I under- 

 stand that all r mud Uckfield and Newick the air is quite 

 tainted with th-s effluvium of the decaying haulm. James 

 Brute, Highlands, Framield, Sussex. [This is a true 

 case of Potato disease, and one of the very few that we 

 have hitherto seen.] 



Tlve Cuckoo. — Your correspondent, Mr. Henry 

 Doubleday, has, it appears, read some remarks in a pub- 

 lication called « the Naturalist/' (reviewed in your 

 Paper on the 12th inst.), about the cuckoo. I too, in 

 consequence of Mr. Doubleday's observations, have 

 bad the curiosity to read the article he refers to, and 

 ive full credence to its truth. Indeed, I have perused 

 it with much interest. I must confess my surprise— a 

 urprise which will be shared in common with most 

 of your other readers— why your correspondent should, 

 in a paper bearing so high a character as the Gardeners 9 

 Chronicle— md in such unmeasured terms, too !— fall foul 

 of a writer who, while giving his name and address, very 

 modestly relates of this, and another bird, no more than 

 he is prepared to verify. Mr. Doubleday asserts, or to 

 use his own strange language, " positively states," that 

 the cuckoo " never feeds its own young !" In makin 

 this positive, but rash and erroneous assertion, he has 

 greatly exceeded the bounds both of prudence and of 

 courtesy ; for it is a fact patent to most ornithologists 



^oricttrs 



Horticultural, July 19 : Garoen ExiumT!oN.--lf 



any one portion of this in all respects excellent July 

 exhibition can be said to have attracted more attention 

 than another, it was the fruit, of which there was an 

 extensive and grand display. Pine-apples were nu me- 

 rous and handsome. Black Grapes were generally well 

 coloured, and quite ripe ; but as much can hardly be 

 said of all the white Grapes ; those, however, to which 

 the first prizes were awarded were not only perfectly 

 ripe, but beautiful both in bunch and berry, exhibiting 

 that fine golden colour which is so much prized m the 

 Muscat and other white kinds. Peaches and xNectarmes 

 were large and well swelled, and there were some beau- 

 tiful dishes of Strawberries and Black Circassian, LI ton, 

 and Bigarreau Cherries. Melons were plentilul and 



unusually good. ■ 



No less than three collections of fruit were produced 

 on this occasion. The best was furnished by Mr. 

 Spencer, gr. to the Marquis of Lansdowne, at Bowood. 

 It consisted of four well ripened Providence Pine- 

 apples, two Queen ditto, Black Hamburgh and Sweet- 

 water Grapes, a dish of Noblesse Peaches, 2 ditto Royal 

 George, a dish of Elruge Nectarines ; Blackall green- 

 fleshed, Danesbury Park, and Beech wood Melons; 

 two dishes of Kitley's Goliath Strawberries, and a dish 

 of Bigarreau Cherries.— Mr. Fleming, gr. to the Duke 

 of Sutherland, at Trentham, to whom the 2d prize was 

 awarded, had twof beautiful Pine-apples of the Queen 

 and Ripley Queen kinds, Trentham Hybrid and Hybrid 

 Dampsha Melons, a dish of Pope's Hamburgh Grapes, 

 f« mA ... "R/wqI advert* and Noblesse Peaches, a dish of 



feeding her offspring— I say assisting, because where 

 there is no necessity for her aid in this matter, she 

 never interferes. The hedge-sparrow and the robin * are 

 the two principal birds delegated to officiate on these 

 occasions. They are wisely selected by the cuckoo to be 

 the custodians of her eggs, inasmuch as they are best 

 adapted, from the nature of the food they eat, for the 

 task of feeding her young, when hatched. A few years 

 since, the sight of a redbreast feeding a young cuckoo, 

 assisted by the old cuckoo, was witnessed by a most 

 truthful and worthy ornithologist, a friend of mine, now 



i 



* The ne*t of the robin, I would observe, is sometimes budt 

 in situations quite as accessible as tempting to the cuckoo. I 

 h*s been so in my own garden ; and two years since, early in 

 the morning I Tbserved a cuckoo very busily watching the 

 movements of a robin, then about to sit. My avocation*, how- 

 ever, at that time— for I was constantly away from home-- 

 prevented my witnessing what I have bioce imagined mignt 

 have taken place. 



Wood's 



Nectarines, one ditto Moor Park Apricots, May Duke 

 Cherries, and White Ischia Figs.-lhe third collection 

 was contributed by Mr. Munro, gr to Mrs. Oddie, of 

 Colney House, St. Alban's, Herts. It comprised Black 

 Hamburgh, White Frontignan, and White Muscadine 

 Grapes : Grosse Mignonne Peaches ; Violet Hj^J 

 Elruge, and old white Nectarines ; Eleanor, W hit* 

 Bicton, King, Elton Pine, Chieftain, and Patens beed- 

 !iri£ Strawberries ; Snow's Green-fleshed, 

 Persian Hybrid, and Brown's Superb Melons ; making 

 17 dishes in all of very good fruit. 



Among Pine-apples, Mr. Jones, gr. to Sir J. Uuest, 

 Bart. f had a Queen finely swelled and ripened, weighing 

 .5 lbs. 12 0ft. ; Mr. Frost, gr. to E. Betts, Esq., the same 

 variety, weighing 5 lbs. 5 oz. ; and Mr. Higgs, gr. to J . 

 Barchard, Esq., sent one weighing 4 lbs. 4 oz. Mr. 

 Jones also contributed an Enville, 8 lbs. 9 oz. ; Mr. 

 Bray, «. to E. Lousada, Esq., a smooth Cayenne, 6 lbs. 



