THE GARDENERS 



CHRONICLE 



in 



S^TTloT the remaining lour, n is frequently 

 snowed and sunned in the same hour Durmg 

 genial weather, when the sun heats the soU to 50 

 its perfumed foliage scents the air ; whilst to snow 

 s orm and frostit is insensible, blooming through all 

 expanding its little purple flowers to the day and 

 oX closing them to wither, after fertilisation has 

 taken place." Such is SikkimJ 



We understand that the late Mr. Feuding, 01 

 Lancaster, has bequeathed his Herbarium to the 

 University of Oxford, upon certain conditions. 1 his 

 collection, formed at a very large expense, is under- 

 stood to consist of 70,000 species, forming one of 

 the most complete herbaria in the world. 



^ — - - i' _^_^ j^— 



WEEDS.— No. II. 

 On Liwrvs.— The beauty of a Grass plot or lawn is 

 so much dependent upon its being free from weeds, that 

 I think my commentary would be incomplete if a few 

 observations were not made on this branch of my theme. 

 J have sometimes seen operations upon a large scale 

 order to eradicate Moss, but I think that unless ex- 

 cessive in quantity it forms a luxurious carpet, and in 

 extensive grounds is useful to cover the surface where 

 little else can grow. In the more distant and sequestered 

 portion of pleasure grounds, I prefer the mossy bank, 

 overhung with umbrageous foliage ; but in the formal 

 quadrangles of mansions or colleges, neither moss nor 

 weeds should grow. Such plots, with the margins of 

 walks in terraces, their slopes, and the formal patches 

 of Grass, which frequently form part of a design, should 

 be free from Moss, Daisies, and all broad-leaved plants, 

 including the coarser Grasses, such as the Couch-grass 

 (Triticum repens), and the Cocksfoot (Dactylis glome- 

 rata). There is no plant which detracts so much from 

 the beauty of our English lawns as the common Daisy 

 (Bellis perennis). Sorry am I to lay such a charge 

 upon this w modest crimson-tipped flower," associated as 

 it is with our happy recollections of childhood, when all 

 that was gay and pleasing seemed made for us alone, 

 and we dreamed not that the same field which yielded 

 us Daisies and Buttercups produced also Nettles and 

 Thistles. But while I would do it ample justice as a 

 wild flower, which 



•• Opens with perennial grace, 

 And blossoms everywhere," 



I confess to have found it my greatest plague, parti- 

 cularly in the earlier spring Und summer months ; after 

 the lawns have been neatly mown, u swept, and gar- 

 nished," a few hours of sun have studded them with 

 these flowers, producing a frittered effect, and destroying 

 that agreeable contrast which a well-kept lawn always 

 gives to masses of flowers, particularly those of a scarlet 

 colour. In gardens where there are many large trees, 

 the better Grasses will not thrive, but even if annually 

 renewed, as annually perish ; in such places the Daisy 

 and Moss alone will thrive, and therefore in all such 

 spots I would not disturb them, but take their verdure as 

 the best instalment we can have for the effect of turf. 

 On the contrary, wherever level open spaces prevail, 

 more particularly in scenes which are highly artistic, 

 the Daisy has no place. The quadrangles of the 

 colleges at Oxford have long been celebrated for the 

 beauty of their Grass-plots ; and I remember that at 

 All Soul's College I have seen the most perfect speci- 

 men of a well-kept lawn I ever beheld : not a Daisy, or 

 broad leaved plant of any kind, but one uniform, dark- 

 green, velvety surface, such an one as perfectly accorded 

 with the artificial expression of the venerable buildings, 

 and was evident of the design and influence of highly 

 civilized and erudite man. 



Beautiful as were the Daisies and golden Dandelions 

 of our childhood, and much as we regard their beautiful 

 forms and wise adaptation as a link in the great charm 

 of nature, we hail their a! 

 regions as a boon. 



It is necessary to take 



and therefore 





at the end and forked th~s >. 



out the entire roots of these > plants, 



advantage should be taken to do it after rain, the 



operator placing the forks under the leaves of the plant, 



and pressing the handle gently down, the plant is drawn 



out of the earth, the point of fulcrum being that where it 



begins to curve. 

 I fear that my remarks may be thought tedious upon 



this simple subject, but as " trifles make the sum of 

 human things," it is evident that to do great things well 

 we must not despise little ones. My maxim through 

 life has been— that what is not worth doing well, is not 

 worth the attempt. Often have I seen persons on Grass 

 delving and pottering with a short weeding knife to 

 extract weeds, when the use of the Daisy-digger would 

 have done double the work in a more efficient manner. 



According to Professor Burnet, the Plantain * has a 

 peculiar tendency to follow the migrations of man, as if 

 domesticated or sympathetically attached to the human 

 race. It has by the natives of some of our settlements 

 been emphatically called « the Englishman's feet,' for 

 with a strange degree of certainty, wherever it is found, 

 there our countrymen have trod." Henry Bailey, 

 Nuneham, Oxford. 



structure is against theT^T^T^r^p 



hold with RaI, that ^ntoeon^. 



the catholic laws of rnotioni T^*™"" '" * 



the 



ction i 8 ^ 



to have been" impaired aneetfJll^]? canno ' be J 

 « Read the « VestLs of thl w^J^r* «< the J 



thing without example— not ohI/uTm".^ 11 ? of &t 



earth— -V** 



animals, but in the smallest of 



said one of our 

 weeks since 

 we mortals 



« 



you will then 



philosoph 





ers 



m. 



, jv,* ma men agree with ^ 

 were most probably 8 , „,*£ 5* 





can tell to the contrary, original^ the ZiZt 

 rejoicmg in plump round bodies, with eorl-V- 



BRITISH SONG BIRDS. 



(Cage Rirds, No 42 ) 



No. L VIII.— It can hardly be matter for surprise that, 

 whilst reasoning logically on the ways of Providence, 

 and whilst directing attention to an undeviating "universal 

 law " by which all things (animals included) are wisely 

 governed,— it can hardly be matter for surprise, we 

 repeat, that we should raise up some few opponents ; and 

 that by such we should be esteemed c ignorant/ and 

 behind the times in which we live. Be it so. These 



^d I enumerate hereC 



u-u JL-# « i ! 0rks * hve read al 

 which, so far from « convincing me of my error' >lf 



rather to confirm mv fixed. imrti*.u...- J ™ r0T * *** 



very 



pursue 



Indeed, I stated at the 



be quite 



principle 



>ch of oq 



ou t of place. 



of 



lit 



in 



■ 



c 

 s 



f 



1 



I 



I 



Indeed, l stated at the outset, that a m t K • 

 disquisition on such subjects was, in the cohiiW 

 newspaper, impracticable, and would readiK- fin V 



volume, 



r, iiu F x»uLii;au«;, ana would readih- fill « 1 



. I might have added, si x largeToS ffi e 8 S 

 ever, I consider that what has been advanced h 

 been de trap, and that it will not be without its S 

 purpose. It will lead people to «tlnnk" :r -.. \ 





*«*," if it do M 





classic 



m 



One of our poets has immortalised the Daisy 

 these lines — 



'* The Rose bag but a summer's reign, 

 The T)ni'j never dies." 



Now it is precisely for these ever-blooming and 



never dying qualities that we gardeners banish them 



trom our lawns. They may be ranked in the first class 



2 ° U f ( , fo ^ me " not8 '" and eveI T gardener may truly 



for 7 S2£l££$* "* -* ° f ** T, " that* 



JwhP^* o> Weed8 m }™™> «">» the Dandelion 

 and Rib Grass, or Plantain ; these are the only ones which 



become troublesome when Grass is moderately well 



tSt, rvTfJ^ is d t fiden * i" q«an«ty is compensated 

 for by the feahty with which great quantities are pro- 



inw ? n fr ™ 86 ^ 9 - T ^ e P ractice ° f neglecting the 

 mowing of ^ Grass as a point of economy Is not to be 



commended, because i. g ive3 these pests an opportunity 

 of propagating themselves to an almost incredible extent 

 not only stocking the Grass with *u*i* * v' 



also the walks, eir fre( l uenc ^ but 



The task of cleaning a foul lawn i« ; n ;. AA ,i « ^ • 

 one, but one which will amply \^^l?J? m * 



ffssakw-jaSSSHSS 



The best workman for the purpose is a boy from 12 te 

 1 4 years of age, who need only be thus occ/p Tm drv 

 and suable weather. The best instruuE is 2 



SKSff? L lt Jr a handle like that * f a C n Sr 



m* which » fixed a piece of iron, which is bent^wards 



" wise men " will have it that f reason, • properly so 

 called, must reign wherever there is brain, — and they 

 defy all proof to the contrary. Whilst < doctors so 

 disagree/ who shall decide the point \ However, even 

 the renegade Pilate could ask " What is truth ? " and 

 surely it is worthy of careful inquiry to come at it. 



Our modern philosophers are by no means the* only 

 persons who have made the brain of animals a matter of 

 constant study. But the point in which they fall short is, 

 the inability they possess to ' comprehend/ — that is the 

 word, the difference between matter and mind, — ' ponder- 

 ables * and < imponderables.' The philosophers of the 

 old school, amongst whom materialism seems to have 

 found comparatively little place, — filled as they were 

 with admiration at the wonderful works of God, 

 settled this question at once, and discarded all c specula- 

 tion ' the moment they found they were on * sacred 

 ground.' Far be it from us to imagine that the Creator 

 of heaven and earth should make man " in his own 

 image," and share such honour indiscriminately with the 

 brute creation ! To everything has been given * its own 

 body" — beautiful in the extreme in all its interior 

 machinery, and admirably adapted for its purpose ; but 

 as Equality never was designed to reign on earth, every- 

 thing in Nature is assigned its proper, its fitting place. 



Buffon, a true experimental philosopher, tells us, 

 that on dissecting the uran-utan,* there were found 

 "many essential distinctions in its internal formation 

 from that of a man ; though in some parts," he adds, " the 

 affinity is so great that their inferiority can only be 

 attributed to the want of reason, or a deficiency in those 

 intellectual powers that lift the human race above all other 

 creatures. ^ The tongue, and the organs of the voice, are 

 exactly similar ; yet is the animal dumb. In the 

 appearance and arrangement of the brain, no difference 

 can be perceived ; yet is the uran-utan irrational." 

 Hence, Buffon wisely concludes that mind does not 

 depend upon any conformation of matter, but is of a 

 nature superior and independent. Derham, too, the 

 reverend author of the c Physico-Theology,' made this 

 particular question a matter of intense study ; and gives 

 us "proofs" undeniable of the soundness of the argu- 

 ment on which we insist. Many other equally corrobora- 

 tive facts— gwee nunc perscribere longum est, might 

 be adduced ; but we feel they are not required. We may 

 just observe, that all our wisest philosophers are agreed 

 upon the genus Simia having its organisation as nearly 

 as possible framed like that of man. Admitting this— 



MV .aa .« 6 -^ ~ , ~ .. —, «**» <*™«r, ion«y them against 



giving too great credence to all the hy^S of 

 Modern Science. 



I purpose devoting two 'more chapters to this series 

 of Papers— one, of course, to the instinct observable 

 in the « higher order " of animals, with pleasir 

 examples ; and the last to the noble consideration of 

 Reason, and its gradual advance upwards, from the cradle 

 to the grave. Instinct we have shown to be stationary • 

 reason, it will be proved, is always progressive. 



The termination of this inquiry which has formed so 

 interesting a subject for the last eight weeks, will brin* 

 us, should we live so long, to the end of the present year, 

 a year long to be remembered by us all ; for such fine 

 successive seasons as we have had, are beyond the 

 j recollection of any of us. No time has been lost, so 

 far as our winged friends are concerned. Passing 

 through a state of probation, the last three months of 

 the year are with them a tempus non ; but so soon as 

 the new year commences, they all in turn give signs of 

 new life, and return to the performance of their allotted 

 duties in the choir with due energy. We do indeed 

 long once more to commence heralding their sayings 

 and doings ; and we shall be found ready to sing their 



praises at the first dawn of 1852. 



The voices of the blackbird and the thrush, at preset 

 small and irregular, will then be heard merrily pealicg; 

 and many lesser feathered pensioners, even now 

 benumbed with cold, and occasional parlour visitors, 

 will in January present themselves at our windows to 

 share our Christmas cheer. Truly welcome shall they 

 be to the rites of our hospitality ; and we shall look for 

 our reward in the harmony of their sweet voices at an 



early day of dawning spring. 



No person, if he be honest, can say that the gratitude 

 of a bird does not far exceed that of any of the human 

 race. By the former, a favour conferred is mtr 

 forgotten ; whilst, by the latter, it is seldom, if ever, 

 remembered. We speak truly, experimentally, advisedly. 



William Kidd^ 







I 







even to the full extent of the organs of speech being 

 identical in both,— why, let us ask, do they not speak 1 



vs. as 





If the "vital principle " be really the same in brutes as 

 in ourselves, how can it fail to act, cceteris parib 

 well in the one machine as in the other ? The philoso- 

 phers shirk this altogether. Lucretius took the proper 

 view of " mind and matter " when he remarked 



JOTTINGS ON FOREST PRUNING. 



I have alluded to the philosophical bearing of torest 

 pruning, as distinct from the mechanical, anddemanamg 

 as such a separate course of inquiry* The effects oi w 

 latter are generally visible to the eye ; for tnei* 

 appreciation of the former, a certain amount oi imib 

 demanded— faith in the existence and operation on 

 powerful but invisible agents which enter sc Marg / 

 L^ *w-> — *«-ui -~~.m „Za ™h\oh in their combination 



into the material world, and which in their 



orm 



the great labo 



ratory of Nature. We 



lortant 



organ it is. 



K 



Nil ideo nitum est in corpore ut uti 



Possemus; sed quod natum est id procreat usum." 



And after giving many proofs of the correctness of his 

 arguments, he adds,— 



Omnia denique membra 



Ante fuere, ut opinor, eobdm quam fuit ustra." 



By this sound doctrine, atheistical cavillers are worsted 

 in their dictum,— that " Things make Uses." We main- 

 tain that the converse is the case ; and that "Uses make 



^Nature, unassisted, could not constitute bodies, whose 



o* Th^rel*, at the present titfV, in the Z<> hun^ti «.,.,, " — 

 RwntVpark, oneoftbe.e extraordinary niXltwhth^ 



to observe bow constantly 



evidence, we can wiw **- A* fixation. 



We cannot follow with the eye the fix ati^ 

 of carbon, building up the solid tissues ot 5°^^ f 

 elaboration of absorbed fluids, or the G y m0inent & 

 secreted products ; yet we know that even ^ 

 the growth of a plant, some one, or aU o _ . baity 

 cesses are going on. We know, beyond ^F ^ 



of doubt, that fluids are pumped up from u« ' , 

 _u i__J r .t_. .. . CZLi /.nncentrated, a» u 



absorbed from the air; "mixed, concent *^ ' ion t0 

 portion again exhaled ; that any material on evjdences 

 the circle of phenomena, which are the visi , ento Uy 

 of the life of a vegetable, must act a eu ^ { 

 to ite constitutional vigour, and it is to tru s p for 



wish to make allusion in relation to trees h 

 timber. 



_.. of lay** 



W 



of wood overlying each other 



the layer of this 







a' the l ftS * 

 completely enveloping that of the P^? ce ^ taC t with 

 formed layer of course being in imme dia ^ ^ . and if 

 the leaves, by whose agency it hap been ior d ^ 

 will be found that such a connection is ^ a ^ cume8 the 

 every layer after its formation till i de ^ reaS jpg a* 

 character of heart wood, such connection^ ^ ^ st ^ 

 we approach the centre of the tree. f } r °r orn iatioa °^ * 

 inferred that for several years after the _^, 



Erratum. 



in J,,t w*ek'* article the ^cl^^.-n 



<»*« urcono para*ra|.b, linel4), should^ ^tve ™» re tol re«w 

 AUhon^h the mistake i« p«1pab»etotheeyeo^ w m W» 

 }tt the correction is important, aa tixe « - 

 uff:cted by the word as j .stands at present. 



