7 



THE GARDENERS 



CHRONICLE 



IN 



W KThSit Tiwht to find a place in every 

 * t£?J£ whether domestic or public. The 



JeTel7cWd, and the tar barrels turned upside 



that it was difficult to get at the burning 



^tablishment 



first, 

 mast 



candlewick 



and certified t 

 :k and wadding 



is thus described by themselves : 



belonging 



Hopes Carr Mills, amg 



Mr F.I KAN AH CHEETHAM 



water 

 I am 

 I 



f 



und floor 628 lbs. weight of 

 l v waste,' and which burns 



cotton known as oily j»i ^ J To 



into this body of 



we put a quantity 



^cLr wh h w^re all Wl soaked with oil and 

 Sen t SSw to the midst of it a large shovel full of 

 ^ht coals from the engine fire- Having gone to 

 J theexpense entirely ourselves we were determined 

 Z proved we might^ for the future fully depend 



on your machines in cases of fire at our 



mTriaTs inside, the flam'es broke°out again ma few 

 minutes, and were again completely and instanta- 

 neously subdued, and a few buckets of -*♦* 

 removed all risk of their breaking out again, 

 so entirely satisfied with the experiment, vhich 

 consider to have been a very high trial, and of the 

 value of the invention, that I intend to keep some 

 of your machines in different parts of this house and 

 the buildings attached, and have to request that 

 you will supply me with half-a-dozen of the size 

 Led the other day, which I believe were No 5 

 I oucht to add, that a very considerable number ot 

 persons who were present at the experiment ap- 

 peared entirely to concur in the view which I took 



of its complete success." . 



No comment upon these conclusive experiments 



can be necessary. 



«af 



mills, which are very oiten nappcumg , »* w «~— 

 waited until this body of cotton, &c., was one mass 

 of livid fire, and it was not until the beams and 

 boards of the floor above had caught fire, that we gave 

 the word to strike off two of the No. 5, Annihilates 

 Hand Machines ; the vapour instantly began to 

 rush out, and in a few seconds the flames were 

 entirely extinguished, and in three or four minutes 



the fire was entirely put out. 



" As many of the persons present, amongst whom 



were the owners or representatives of the largest 



cotton mills in Stockport, could not approach the 



room where the fire was, owing to the great interest 



excited in the crowd of persons about, we decided 



to try the power of a hand machine, to see if it 



could extinguish burning cotton in the open air, and 



we had a fresh quantity of the same kind of cotton 



(oily waste) and some old machine boards taken on 



to the open ground behind the mills, and set on fire 



in the same way, by throwing into it red-hot coals ; 



the flames were fed and increased by the wind, and 



after waiting until the whole was a mass of fierce 



fire, the word was given, and the only remaining 



No. 5 machine was struck off ; notwithstanding the 



wind, the flames were instantly cut off, and in one 



minute the whole of the burning mass was dead out, 



to the great astonishment and complete satisfaction 



of every individual present. 



" Why we have put your Fire Annihilator Hand 

 Machines to such severe tests is for this reason : in 

 our branches of the cotton business we are more 

 liable to fire than in any other branch, and the fire 

 offices will not insure us ; it was to us, therefore, of 

 the greatest importance to try and prove for our- 

 selves if we could master this scourge of our trade. 

 We have now fully satisfied ourselves we can do so, 

 and that too without damaging our machinery or 

 cotton." 



The second trial, personally made by the Earl of 

 Derby, we give in his lordship's own words, in a 

 letter to one of the agents for the sale of the 

 machine ; — 



" Knowsley, Oct. 18, 1851. 



* I have much pleasure in bearing my testimony 

 to the success of your Fire Annihilator in an expe- 

 riment here on Wednesday last. The building in 

 which it took place was one which I was about to 

 pull down, and from which I had removed the wood- 

 work, doors, windows, sashes, &c. The centre part, 

 in which the experiment was tried, was a circular, 

 two-storied building, 24 feet diameter in the interior, 

 and having in the centre a circular staircase of 8 feet 

 diameter. There were two windows to the back, 

 and two and a door to the front, and the flooring 

 being removed, and the upstairs window sashes, 

 there was a very powerful draft of air through the 

 building ; the space between the outer and inner 

 circle was about three parts filled with shavings, 

 faggote, and a number of old tar barrels, and a 

 considerable number of planks soaked with oil were 

 set upright in a slanting direction against the inner 



and outer walls This mass having been set 



allowed 



some of 



barrels 



^ »,uie ox me lar oarrels to be in a blaze, 

 before I gave the signal for applying the machine. 



at this 

 height, and threw 



time had attained 



out 



The flame — ..,..» ,.„ ie naa attained a great 



.- u . - ,. . i -— a very fierce heat, not- 

 withstanding which, the man who managed the 

 machine was enabled to approach so near as ap- 

 parently to touch it, standing in the doorway of the 

 urmng building. The first ' 



hatever 



charge, though it 



the flame, and I confess I had some apprehensions 

 %tl^T Ume ^ T° Qld F rove * ktt™ ; but the 



PREPARING GROUND FOR PLANTING 



FOREST TREES. 



About 1815, Mr. Kirkman Finlay, the then M.P. for 

 Glasgow, an extensive cotton spinner, employing alto- 

 gether some 6000 people, being persecuted by the 

 Radicals for his Conservative principles, left Masgow 

 and took shelter in Argyleshire, where he bought a large 

 estate called Castle Toward. He no sooner got posses- 

 sion of it than he set about improving it, by employing 

 400 labourers, as well as building a new castle. So great 

 an outlay of money in a comparatively poor neighbour- 

 hood soon regained for him his former popularity. In 

 five years he planted an enormous amount of trees, nearly 

 emptying the nurseries of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kilmar- 

 nock, &c, of forest stock ; a number of acres was 

 trenched by the spade, the surface was deeply pared and 

 put into the bottom of the trench, then a spit deep, and 

 the crumbs were shovelled out and laid on the top. 

 Where the land was shallow, it was only just dug as 

 deeply as the gravel would permit. Large breadths 

 were ploughed, and many acres were planted in the 

 turf upon the slit or T system ; but hundreds of the 

 plants so treated died every summer, being choked by 

 the rough herbage, as well as injured by the hor>ks and 

 scythes used in destroying it. I am told, however, that 

 after they outgrew the Grass they made good planta- 

 tions ; but taking the labour of mowing and clearing 

 away the Grass into account, Mr. Finlay found that 

 trenching or digging was by far the cheapest plan, and the 

 best for the trees. Large * squads" of men were there- 

 fore employed all the summer in preparing the ground 

 for the next winter's planting, as well as hoeing round 

 the stems, and keeping down the weeds on the ground 

 that had been planted in former years. Trees are just 

 like other plants, the cleaner they are kept, and the more 

 the earth is stirred about them, the faster they grow, and 

 the sooner they are out of harm's way. Even in 

 u Quick " (Thorn) planting, Mr. Finlay had trenches dug 

 out, and rotten dung put in, and then the " Quick " 

 planted in the trenches made capital fences in a very 

 short time. Of course a * Quick " planter would not 

 cut off the heads at the time of planting. The cutting 

 down ought never to take place till the second year ; the 

 same holds good with fruit trees. A large market- 

 gardener once informed me that he never cut down any 

 tree till the second year, on account of the entire head 

 exercising so much more power in drawing up sap, and 

 consequently making good roots ; therefore, when 

 beheaded the next year, the roots being strong and 

 numerous, plenty of sap is sent up, and a vigorous and 

 well-formed head is the result. How often do we find 

 Rose trees and many [other 'plants die, on account of 

 cutting their tops off ? 



How gentlemen can permit acres of forest trees to be 

 planted upon the "J" or sht system, as is sometimes still 

 done, on a hard grassy bottom, which in the memory 

 of man has never been disturbed, one is at a loss to know, 

 considering that so much good information has been 

 published on forest management. Should the soil be a 

 retentive clay, the slit into which the unfortunate roots 

 are so unmercifully thrust must form a miniature well 

 of water all the winter, rotting the roots, which can 

 have no vigour when spring arrives. I had the 

 superintendence of planting a few belts of planta- 

 tions on the South Downs, belonging to the Earl 

 of Chichester, where the land on the chalk was in many 

 places only about 2 or 3 inches deep. In this case we 

 had to collect the turf into hillocks, and plant the tree 

 in the centre ; and, I am told, they have thriven 

 tolerably well. Had the trifling expense of collecting 

 mould, and carting it near where the trees were to be 

 planted, been incurred, however, they, no doubt, would 

 have thriven as well again. Plantations are like other 

 crops — if well attended to they pay ; but if badly 

 managed, just the contrary. 



We have the best land in this country for all sorts of 

 trees, but it wants labour before planting ; and as it 

 will not be disturbed during the next 50 years, it will 

 get hard enough for even the roots of an Oak to per- 

 meate it in search of food. The landed proprietor is 



ought to be ; and presently 1 shall be ^hT — ^= 

 the produce paid accordingly *° *•* ^ 



Summer pruning ought to' be looked aft*, 

 plantation is from 15 to 20 years old • 7?' **** 

 performed when the trees are in full Wf"^ 

 pruning not only makes valuable timbeT 

 shorter time, but it renders the trees mJi * ** 

 in form than when left to K*tJ^h^*^ 

 to grow till they are 5 or 6 incC faKl* ** 

 haggled off by persons who know nothbo^S* 

 physiological construction of a tree ^** k 



The highest ground at Castle Toward that ». . 

 was about 800 feet above the level of the ZT^f'^ 

 parts, where the spade could not be used with ^ ** 

 on account of the rains washing the earth down T*6 

 the trees were planted on the slit on turf svsL * 

 where the soil was sandy, I am told that the to? 5 ^ 

 in this way have thriven pretty well. WherTtiiLi 

 was not very good, green crops were grown »L • 

 merely to ameliorate it before tree planting wm ^ 

 menced. Upon very stiff and stubborn soUafcfTl 

 could be burned. This would benefit the land ^ 



Along the sea coast, the outer lines were Set JWi 

 thorn and that beautiful bush the Tamarisk^*!* 

 these nothing thrived better than Scotch Fir *^* 

 Stone Pines were also planted, but I am told bv M 

 Gillies, now gardener at Deanston, who lired tW 



more 



instantaneous, and almost magical 



was 

 Every vestige 



SecJnch d tKT« !" thC WBne 0f tWe or f °»r 

 second.-,, and the fire was so comnWu, „„i^„,.j 



5 



expense than that of buying the trees and then plantin 

 them three times as thick as they ought to be. He 

 should not, however, be satisfied with this : he should 



tw i±£ . ' , completely subdued 



mat nothing remained except some smouldering r^^H'^^F 1 ? 



embers, The planks, however, having been ^ and drained r ^ere required. Mr. Finlav, although rich, 



9 ' s Deen wm-iwasamanofbnsinfiss.andha"- - * ' 



nature, 



as a man of basinet*, and had his operations doneas they 



"" wwulBW «i ▼no bred then 

 ... • became top heavy, and wen 



blown down by the heavy gales, which are tremendotti 

 there ; so much so, that during the buildiM: 

 the castle, a. long wooden ~ U - J ' •" ^ 



of 



_ shed, nowing abo* 



50 masons, was carried away on one night seretil 

 hundred yards. The thinning the wood commenced n 

 the end of the first seven years or so. Mr. FinUy 

 felled all his Larches when his trees were about fata 

 12 to 15 years old ; and having a saw-miD on tin 

 estate, they were prepared and sent to the Glum 

 markets. The last time that I saw him, Mr. F. stated 

 that all his thinnings would not pay for the 

 of the outlay, such as fencing, draining, baying 

 trees, planting, rent, &c. ; but then the main am 

 was to come, not to say anything of the beauty, 

 shelter, &c, which the trees afforded, compared withtht 

 Heath clad mountains and barren ground which pi 

 viously existed where they grow; at the pretest 

 time Castle Toward is one of the finest estate 

 on the Clyde, and being exactly opposite the Bay 

 of Rothsay, occupying about three miles of the raggri 

 shore, its wooded appearance produces a striking effect ; 

 the beautiful turreted castle peeping through the dark 

 Scottish Firs and the pretty cottages lining the shore 

 do much credit to the late Mr. Kirkman Finlay. Jama 

 Cuthill, Cambettoett* 



BRITISH SONG BIRDS. 



Cage Birds, *J*o. 38. 



No. LIV.— Having drawn particular attention to tluf 

 fact,— that birds which are under the immediate care * 

 man (such as fowls, geese, ducks, Ac) are gifted will 

 little foresight,— inasmuch perhaps as they hire ~ 

 immediate need to call it into exercise ; we will i*- 

 consider the instinct of those birds of the air,whohif« 

 to provide for their own and their families satety *n» 

 surrounded by enemies of every kind. 



I have not failed to vindicate the ways of *atoie 

 p Vfi rv nccaxion where her aid is required ; ano^» 



pleasing to know, that I have been the means, wow 

 of most satisfactorily establishing the fact of theUc, 



•• 



i 



i certain occasions leeaing ner ««" j — o- .^ 

 itil lately, with some few persons a vexea q 

 i have elicited, also, most abundant and moot 

 proofs, from men of reputation, obserraoon, 

 doubted veracity, that the female docs o J» 

 known cry,-' Cuckoo ! Cuckoo I V ^.f^SZ 

 birds do linger with us until after My, ,"? m 

 conduct to such of their offspring as may n» 

 hatched so late in the season. > _ , $0$ 



We must not wonder, but ^J "*' m " ° d pr0 «8 

 takes such singular care of her cWdwn, r^ tfj 

 them from their earliest infancy in all tim r ~ n 

 danger. If they offend against her »J»r V ***" 

 « reasonable " folks do, too often, ag™ toke t be 

 knowledge,— then they, like ourselves, mtm 

 consequences. There is but one law i 

 and woe be to him who transgresses it • 



universe 



«linu 



ited" &* 



<C 



gift 



their 



'talent of just sufficient value l° e sec ^'^ ^^ 



and happiness -has, by way 01 " ^^ we « **£ 



^ .... „ >b T — ^mr^^^ 



traordinary 



able beings" are 



:o 



instances 





the especial provision made dv w« " .fjnujg. i»ho,»"^ 

 to supply the necessities of helpless aniffl ^ e ^i 

 were, like ourselves, left to grow w se, ^ ^ 

 themselves, after whole years of n"™^ me^flW 

 anxiety on the part of their P a ^' w5nter . To<J«J 

 perish during the very first ™*k of J"*, d^JJ 

 this, there is implanted in e^^peak, of ** 

 breeding season, an excess, if I "»/ 



_, -that 2rop7^ which !««!*•*«;, ,# 



«' Knows no bounds,-^ "nl? ^ bir d, 



and which comes into the world w» 



few alone excepted. . bro 00 "' 1 ^, „ tW 



We cannot imagine that a nw**^ trhjjj 

 callow family, can «r eason "as to J rf sup ^ 

 will be able to fly. Tins wf^^ke ^ ">• 

 What then is it that *P els het *A*e*r Wf% 

 moment, exert all her energy, » n } ftb out &> 

 out in the service she performs, to 



C7 



affection, 



