382 



JOiniNAL OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ May 16, 1866. 



fhsiy.T. I have only carried out the lines c, us I am considering 

 the case of a house in winter ; and here you will see, when 

 the sun is in the east or west, it will still be, as shown in 

 Plan No. 5, which I consider Mr. Speechly was justified in 

 calling improper. May we not all coul'ess he was vei-y wise 

 in his generation ? I have been as much sui-prised as 

 pleased in reading his book, and shall set great store by 

 it.— G. H. 



EAETH A DEODOEISEE OF SEWAGE. 



SIt attention has been directed to two letters in your 

 Journal signed " Upwards and Onwaeds," in which the 

 writer gives much, and to some extent merited, praise to a 

 pamphlet by Mr. Wilmot on the dry treatment of excre- 

 mentitious matter. In asserting, however, that ashes are 

 a better material for the purpose than dry earth, he has, 

 together with Mr. Wilmot, fallen into a great error. I shall 

 feel, therefore, greatly obliged if, as the advocate of the dry 

 earth systei-:. whose observations and experiments have 

 extended now through many years, I may be allowed space 

 in your Journal for a few words on the subject. It is so 

 long ago as the year 1857 that I discovered that very im- 

 portant property of dry earth or clay, of which Mr. Wilmot 

 makes no account whatever — viz., its capability of repeated 

 use. I will limit my remarks to his two objections to my 

 system. Firstly, that I recommend the use of a mechanical 

 application of earth ; and secondly, that I use earth and not 

 ashes as the medium of removal. 



Now, with regard to the first of these objections, there is 

 no gi-eater necessity for the use of mechanical arrangements 

 for the supply of earth than for the supply of ashes : indeed 

 my pamphlets indicate the simplest possible mode of apply- 

 ing the earth without any machinery. Almost as soon as I 

 began to carry out this mode myself I perceived certain 

 obvious advantages which would arise from some mechanical 

 contrivance— advantages (I might almost say necessities), 

 if the system should ever be adopted, as I am confident that 

 sooner or later it will be adopted, in towns, inside houses, 

 and in upper stories of houses — advantages in economising 

 the use of earth, both as to smallness of the quantity to be 

 used, and especially in the cases of schools, gaols, and 

 asylums, and as to the certainty of its application. In conjunc- 

 tion, therefore, with Messrs. White & Co. I contrived, and 

 have patented some very simple contrivances for thispurpose; 

 and although Mr. Wilmot may have seen and heard of one 

 or two f;iilures, as he asserts, arising from defective manufac- 

 ture, those advantages of which I speak can be, and are, by 

 mechanical contrivances secured. Without some such con- 

 trivance it is sufficient to observe that a closet is exactly 

 what a water-cloaet would be without a mechanism for 

 applying the water. 



Second, as to Mr. Wilmot's other objection to the use of 

 earth and his preference of coal ashes, I venture to pro- 

 nounce it simply absurd. From the very first I have 

 regarded my system as one not for England only, but suited 

 to all countries ; and, as I have stated in my thii'd edition 

 of "National Health .and Wealth," it is already very gene- 

 rally adopted in the gaols and barracks of British India. 

 Where will Mr. Wilmot find his coal ashes there ? Where 

 will he obtain them on the continent of Europe ? And even 

 if during the winter months in England there should be nn 

 adequate supply, what cottage or what moderately-sized 

 house will supply enough for a large family during the 

 summer? 



The most decided objection, however, to the use of ashes 

 is that which Mr. Wilmot himself acknowledges — viz., that 

 the mass of excrement with ashes becomes foul and gives 

 off a bad smell. How then can they be said to bo equal in 

 deodorising power to dry earth or clay ? The truth is tliat 

 ashes from their alkaline character exert a chemical action 

 on the nitrogenous matters of this mixture, and gener.ate, an 

 analagoas process to that of fermentation, without absorbing 

 the gases generated ; whilst, on the other hand, dry earth, 

 from its well-known capability of absorbing manurial com- 

 pounds, takes up into itself any gaseous products which 

 through its mixture with foul substances may have been 

 eliminated. Such mixture will give off no smell and is per- 

 fectly harmless. If the mixing, moreover, bo intimately 

 done all olTensive appearance, as well as oflensive smell. 



vanishes, and if in that state it be allowed to diy it may be 

 used with equal efficacy the tenth time. — Henry Motjle, 

 Fordington Vicarage. 



POETEAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWEES, AND 

 FEUITS. 



Ctpbipedium LiEviGATUM (Glossy-lcaved Lady's Slipper). 

 Nat. ord., Orchidaceaj. Linn.; Gynandria Diandria. — Dis- 

 covered by Mr. J. G. Veitch in the Philippine Islands. 

 Flowers yellow, variously streaked with purple. — {Hot. Mag., 

 t. 5508.) 



Arum pal-estinttm (Jerusalem Arum). Nat. ord., AroideiE. 

 Linn., Monojcia Monandria. — Procured from near Jerusalem 

 by Messrs. Veitch. Spathe inside and spadis dark pui-ple. 

 —{Hid., t. 5509.) 



Eaphiolepis japonica liar, inteqeekima (Entire-leaved 

 Japanese Eaphiolepis). Nat. ord., Eosaceaj. Linn., Icos- 

 andria Digynia. — Native of Japan, &c. Flowers white and 

 sweet-smelling. — {Ihid., t. 5510.) 



Htpcestes SANGUINOLENTA (Blood-vcined HypoBstes). Nat. 

 ord., Acauthaceas. Linn., Diandria Monogynia. — Introduced 

 by Messrs. Veitch, it is believed, from Madagascar. Flowers 

 pale purple ; leaves dark green, veined with pale purple. — 

 {Ibid., t. 5511.) 



AucuBA JAPONICA (Japanese Aucaba). — ^Noticed at p. 361. 

 —{Ibid., t. 5512.) 



Odontoglossitm Pescatokei var. splendens. — White 

 spotted witli purple. Eeceived a first-class certificate from 

 the Eoyal Horticultural Society's Floral Committee. — {Floral 

 Mag., pi. 241.) 



Camellia Contessa di Qonda. — Delicate pink, with darker 

 stripes of the same colour. At Mr. Bull's Nursery. — {Ihid., 

 ill. 242.) 



Hyacinth Thorwaldsen. — Exhibited by Mr. Cutbush, High- 

 gate Nursery. Pale blue, lobes with darker centre. — {Ibid., 

 pi. 243.) 



Olaekia integeipetala floee pleno (DoiiMo Entire- 

 potalled Clarkia). — Flowers double, rosy crimson. Possessed 

 by Messrs. Carter, Holborn. Handsome flower. — {Ibid., 

 pi. 244.) 



Achimenes. — Rose Queen, purple. Aurora, scarlet. Stella, 

 mauve. The two first-named had fii'st-class certificates, and 

 the third a second-class certificate from the Floral Com- 

 mittee. They were raised by Mr. A. Parsons, gardener to 

 W. J. Blake, Esq., Danesbury, Welwyn. — {FloHsl and Pomo- 

 logist, iii., 89.) 



THE PLEASUEE-GEOUNDS OF PAEIS. 



The Botanic Gardens, like many other venerable places, 

 have been preserved with great expense, as an illustration 

 of the ease and tranquillity with which public business was 

 executed in old times. Add to these the gardens of the 

 Luxembourg and Tuileries, all three of which have lately 

 undergone some improvements, and we have the gardens of 

 Paris as furnished by the State. On the arrival of the 

 Emperor in 1852, knowing the useful effect of transforming 

 the many resorts of vagabonds and strongholds of revolu- 

 tion, he determined to embellish the city, improve its health, 

 and give employment to the dangerous, if not working, 

 thousands of the Parisian populace ; losing no time, he 

 appointed Baron Haussman, as prefect, to dii-ect and carry 

 out his plana. He proposed the improvements for the con- 

 sideration and sanction of the municipal council, and ordered 

 that the money received at the octrois, which amounts to 

 about 180,000 francs per day, sliould be expended for this 

 purpose ; iio appointed a staff of officers to conduct, and 

 assistants in every branch capable of directing, the practical 

 operations. The result is incredible : it surpasses even his 

 own anticipations. Never have such improvements been 

 eil'ectod in the same time in any other city in the world. 

 Parks, promenades, gardens, lakes, fountains, bridges, 

 temples, and boulevards of unequalled beauty, have sprung 

 up on the very spots where imagination would have called 

 them, to replace those retreats of sickness and filth — those 

 dens of vice and crime. 



Wherever the Emperor iias gathetod his notions of boule- 



