February 28, 1865. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTITBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEK. 



167 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



^0? 

 U'ntb 



"c7 



Week. 



FEB. 28-MARCH 6, 1865. 



Average Temperature 

 near London. 



Rain In 



last 

 38 years. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clocll 

 before 

 San. 



Day of 

 Tear. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



ra. h. 





m. a. 





28 



To 



Sheove Tuespat. 



49.2 



33.4 



41.3 



14 



49af6 



36af5 



46 7 



39 9 



8 



12 44 



69 



1 



W 



Ash Wednesday. 



49.0 



35.6 



42.2 



14 



47 6 



38 5 



18 8 



57 10 



4 



12 32 



60 



2 



Th 



Lungwort flowers. 



49.8 



32.2 



41.0 



15 



45 6 



40 5 



53 8 morn. 



5 



12 20 



61 



3 



F 



Yew flowers. 



49.7 



31.2 



40.0 



11 



43 6 



42 5 



33 9 11 



6 



12 7 



62 



4 



S 



Pilewort flowers. 



48.9 



31.7 



40.3 



10 



41 6 



43 5 



20 10 17 1 



5 



U 54 



63 



5 



Sun 



1 Sunday in Lkkt. 



48.9 



32.6 



40.2 



14 



38 6 



45 5 



12 U 13 2 



8 



11 41 



64 



6 



M 



Shepherd'fi Purse flowers. 



48.7 



32.8 



41.1 



14 



36 6 



47 5 



after. 13 3 



9 



11 26 



65 



From observations taken near London during the last thirty-eight years, the average day temperature of the week is 48.6° 



, and its night 1 



temperature 



32.8', The greatest heat was 70° 



on the 4th, 1S60 ; and the lowest cold, 15°, on the 4th, 1852. The greatest fall of rain was | 



0.81 inch. 















i 



"' ■fSP-'^''' 



HOUSE SEWAGE : 



ITS EFFECTS AND MANAGEMENT. 



EUIT - EATEE 

 (may Ms crops 

 always be boun- 

 tiful and of first- 

 rate flavour), 

 says,"Howtlus 

 sewage water- 

 ing sbould af- 

 fect the flavour of tbe fruit 

 is worth a little inquiry." I 

 think some observations I 

 may have to make in answer 

 to " Young Beginner " may to some 

 extent meet the queries of " Feuit- 

 EATEE " at page 105 ; and I assure 

 him that I have not arrived at impart- 

 ing flavour to fruit by chance. Some 

 of the chief observations of " Feuit- 

 EATEE " were answered dt once in one 

 of those excellent articles by the Eev. 

 T. CoUings Brehaut, " The Modern 

 Peaoh-Pruner. No. 3." 



" YotTNG Beginner " is " most 

 concerned to know the truth " about 

 the application of sewage, and that 

 is what we are aU desirous of know- 

 ing, though I believe there are very 

 few persons indeed at present who 

 can inform us correctly. It would be 

 vain for me to pretend to work-out 

 in figures the practical bearings of 

 the subject as regards quantities, 

 value, and applicability to different 

 localities. I know from my own ex- 

 perience of house sewage that pro- 

 duction, as well as flavour, in fruits and vegetables, is 

 greatly increased thereby, and that the time has now 

 come when, the laws of chemistry being understood, those 

 who think upon the subject wiU no longer from a sense of 

 false delicacy remain averse to the application of house 

 sewage to the land. How unreasonable is it for us to 

 spend millions annually for guano whQst we poison our 

 streams with excreta which would more than compen- 

 sate for the loss of the guano. The latter is only fertilis- 

 ing according to the amount of ammoniacal salts which 

 it may contain, and the very same salts largely abound, 

 along with many other organic and inorganic substances, 

 in sewage — such as are necessary for building up the 

 structure of plants and fruits, particularly of the latter 

 in their unripe state — viz., humus, potash, soda, phosphate 

 of lime, carbonic acid, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. 

 The latter exists not only in the atmosphere, but is always 

 active in the soil when this, by good drainage and surface 

 stirrings, is kept pervious and moist, promoting warmth 

 and the decomposition of organic substances, and convert- 

 Ke. 2«5.— Vol. Tin, Nkw Siauss. 



ing old into new compounds. By it the starch and 

 gluten are converted into mucilage and sugar in the 

 ripening of fruits ; and the soil being porous and moist 

 at that time in particular there will be more oxygen and 

 warmth at the roots and more flavour in the fruit. 



I discontinue the appKcation of sewage at the latter 

 period; for although the spongioles of the roots have 

 the power to reject solutions which may not be wanted 

 at the time either for growth or fruit-bearing, it would 

 be unnecessarily taxing the rootlets to separate those 

 solutions from the water which the plant does not want, 

 and wasteful besides in the cultivator to give manure at 

 a time when vegetation only required plain water. And 

 here opens up a problem for those knights of the spade 

 and the hoe who dung heavily, dig deeply, and take 

 culinary crops from their fruit-borders, or who, with the 

 common hoe (which along with the common rake I have 

 many years laid aside ; even the occupation of the spade 

 is to a great extent gone since I have used " Parker's 

 first-quSity " five-tined steel forks), are so prone to 

 mould and chop about the roots of Potatoes and other 

 crops — all the deeper apparently because the roots hap- 

 pen to be there. " Various salts have been dissolved in 

 the same solution, and plants with their roots unmuti- 

 lated have been made to vegetate therein, and it was 

 found that only some of the salts in different portions 

 were absorbed ; clearly establishing that plants possess 

 discriminating powers — that they do not in an unmutilated 

 state absorb solutions merely because they happen to be 

 in the soil. And, on the contrary, careful researches 

 have proved that when the roots were cut the plants 

 absorbed all the solutions indiscriminately ; and that 

 when these plants were afterwards chemically examined, 

 the salts so absorbed were found in them crude and 

 unaltered." The above is an abbreviation of a paragraph 

 which I read some years ago, and which struck me very 

 forcibly at the time, and I have taken care since then . 

 never to crop my fruit-borders, or mutilate the roots of 

 any growing fruit-bearing tree or plant if I could help it. 

 When I find it necessary to operate in that way I do so 

 when the plants or trees are at rest, on the approach of 

 winter if possible. I should not expect to find such 

 delicious flavour in the London, Catharina, and the little 

 Ironmonger Gooseberries, or the British Queen Straw- 

 berry, Marie Louise and other Pears, and Cox's Orange 

 Pippin Apple, as we are accustomed to, were I to apply 

 manure in any shape, and mutilate their roots when their 

 fruit was ripening or even forming. _ : 



I wUl relate a case in point. Eeturning from some city 

 business last December, I called in at Fleet Street to pay 

 my respects to " our Editors," and they informed me that 

 they had just been tasting some samples of Pears I had 

 sent, requesting their opinion of them as to flavour. They 

 said, there was no mistake about the flavour of mine; 

 but that those grown only a few yards off in a neighbour's 

 garden " tasted as ;f they had been watered with sewage !" 

 It was just the contrary. Mine had been watered with 

 sewage, without the surface roots haying been disturbed 

 in the least ; the trees were growing in a five-feet border 



No. 857.— Vol. XXXHI., Old Ssbies. 



