August 11, 1870. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



103 



gather health, if not profit, in the pursuit of gardening under difficulties. 

 But we must forgive the general sterility of this formation when we re- 

 member the Rhododendrons and Azaleas, and the vision of beauty we 

 have before us now in Oxford in Mr. Jackman's varieties of Clematis. 



The natural world is replete with examples of agencies compensating 

 wasted powers, and effecting restoration — evolving new forms. We 

 have seen how the hills have been riven and washed, and the frag- 

 ments spread far and wide over the land and sea. An illustration of 

 the saying, that nothing is ever lost, is before us in the rich, alluvial 

 plains that are found in Lincolnshire and elsewhere along the coast. 

 If any one wants a proof of the influence of soil and situation on 

 animals and plants, he should go first to a hilly inland district in 

 Derbyshire, and after looking at the cattle and the crops, he should 

 proceed to Peterborough, Wisbeach, Sutton Bridge, or to Sleaford 

 and Boston — he would find cattle double the size, and corn crops at 

 least twice as productive as in the colder county. Here we come to 

 a grand result, and a great example, in showing what soil and situa- 

 tion will do. A realisation of an almost perfectly fertile condition of 

 land is a sort of philosopher's stone to gardeners ; and what often 

 ■gives additional value to these fine alluvial plains, is that beds of silty 

 gravel are found beneath them, and form the best natural drainage. 

 Nothing is wanting in Buch fortunate districts but increased elevation 

 (50 feet heavenward). Some of our best seed grounds are found on 

 these rich tracts, and the principle is quite right, to grow seed stocks 

 on the most fertile land ; there will then be no retrogression of type. 



It would be interesting in a horticultural point of view, and at the 

 same time it would tend to illustrate my subject, if I could follow out 

 the river system of England, and write the story of all the streams 

 that, springing from the heart of the country, flow ever onwards to- 

 wards the sea. In the present instance I can only venture to indicate 

 very slightly the influence of rivers, regarded in the light of soil-produc- 

 ing agents. A great arterial river is a great power moving through the 

 land, and together with its tributary streamlets, which gather their 

 quota of earthy matter from the land adjacent, effects great changes 

 in the distribution of soil. 



The gravel beds of a river help ns to understand the history of its 

 wanderings. Pebbles of quartz and grit, and eroded fragments of granite, 

 a lump of mountain limestone, tell us that the water has passed over 

 an ancient drift bed. The Trent gravels are very much made up of 

 the pebbles from the Bunter conglomerate, and the meadows that 

 spread ont through its wide valley show, in occasional sections, that 

 the rich loams that belong to it were borrowed from the marls and red 

 sandstones, through which it has for so many miles forced its way. 



An immense gravel bed fills up the valley of the Thames to a dis- 

 tance of fifty miles. The gravel is composed chiefly of chalk flints. 

 The great beds of loam which rest from one to several yards in thick- 

 nesB on the gravel bed, appear to be an alluvial deposit of the post- 

 pliocene time. This loam, derived from calcareous formations, clay, 

 greensand, and gault, is an extremely valuable soil for garden pur- 

 poses. I know three tributaries of the Trent ; one passes through a 

 great clay formation, another comes from the iron beds of the inferior 

 oolite, and passes through lias clay and marl stone — its gravel is bnt 

 the stone from the beds over which it flows. Another takes its rise 

 amongst oolite hills, and in ancient times has given large sandy 

 deposits to the valley through which it runs. An unwary gardener 

 might look upon these light soils as suitable for American plants, he 

 would be woefully deceived ; derived from limestone they still possess 

 some of the properties of that mineral, and are inimical to Heaths 

 and Rhododendrons when planted in them. Each of these rivers, in 

 a comparatively restricted area, has formed loamy deposits, which, 

 derived immediately from, are exclusively characteristic of, the forma- 

 tions through which they pass. From these examples I judge that 

 tributary streams bring down more waste in proportion from the land 

 than the main streams, and give a more varied character to the loam 

 beds that are formed in the main valleys. 



I must not conclude my Btory of the soils without referring to the 

 peaty deposits and the bog lands, which, having a special botany, are 

 ©f greater interest and importance to gardeners than many ordinary 

 soils. Nature has infinitely multiplied her forms of life, and adapted 

 them to every circumstance of soil and position found in the world ; 

 nothing seems so abhorrent as utter barrenness. The desolation of 

 our moorlands would be complete were it not for the Heather and 

 -Gorse, the Fern, Moss, and Lichen. 



The weathering of the millstone grit gives ns a poor siliceous soil ; 

 decaying Moss, and Lichen, and Heath, in process of time add the 

 vegetable pabulum necessary to support these hardy denizens of the 

 mountains. The greensands in Kent and Surrey, the Bagshofc sands 

 in Sussex, and Hants, afford examples of peat soils. Wherever poor 

 sandy drifts occur, heath and peat soil is found. 



Bog is a prodact of decayed vegetable matter due to moisture ; an 

 alteration in the level of a district has caused the submergence of ex- 

 tensive forests, and so a black vegetable soil is formed. Most larga 

 rivers have boggy deposits, due to inundations, and to the course of 

 ■the river being encumbered with weeds and rubbish, just as the Upper 

 Nile is at the present day. 



The value to us of either peat or bog is due to the fact cf their 

 perfect freedom from the taint of stronger soils. Pure sands and 

 vegetable matter are always safe to employ. 



In endeavouring to recall instances of an exceptionally favourable 

 development of vegetation arising from the influence of soil, the mag- 



nificent Oaks in Bagots' Park, North Stafford, are vividly brought to 

 my recollection. The park is 1000 acres in extent, and splendid speci- 

 mens of Oak timber occur all over it, but notably in the case of the 

 Beggar's Oak, the Squitch Oak, the King aud Queen Oaks. These 

 are giants amongst trees, and exhibit perfect vigour and health. 



Knowing that red marl occupied to a great extent the country about 

 Bagots, I had assumed that these trees were luxuriating, as they often 

 do, in the rich marl beds of the red sandstone. A subsequent and 

 closer inquiry proved my assumption erroneous. 



The park is thinly covered by beds of the lower lias which have 

 escaped denudation. These beds have not been disturbed by cultiva- 

 tion. A section on the north side of the park shows 1 foot of drift 

 clayey soil, few pebbles, 2 feet clay, 2 feet laminated shale with mica- 

 ceoas particles, 3 foet mixed clayey rubble, 3 feet shale. 



Nothing can be more unpromising, on firjt looking on this section, 

 than the soil. The secret lies in the fact that all these apparently 

 poor beds contain an exact balance of the mineral constituents of 

 fertility in a state of slow decomposition. They are compact, without 

 being too retentive of moisture. 



I may, in conclusion, advert to the singular advantages enjoyed, in 

 an economical point of view, by the assemblage within a comparatively 

 restricted area of all the more important rock formations that belong 

 to the earth, and by the position of these rocks, by which they are 

 rendered accessible to, and their peculiar products more readily avail- 

 able for, the uses to which they are applied by man. England epito- 

 mises the world in its rocks and rich mineral products ; such a land is 

 a fitting home for representatives of the great races of the world, 

 whose energy and intelligence have found a home and fitting field for 

 the exercise of the best and highest human faculties. A land endowed 

 like this is a fitting school for a hardy and enterprising nation, and 

 the varied knowledge gathered in the pursuit of the industrial arts, 

 manufactures, mining, agriculture, and horticulture, has fitted the 

 adventurous men, the pioneers of civilisation and Christianity through 

 the world, for the great works they are destined to accomplish. I 

 tbink I may truly say that Englishmen generally are content to win 

 laurels by successes achieved iu prosecuting the arts of peace, in con- 

 quering the unproductive soil of those countries whose undeveloped 

 resources remained too long in abeyance under the sway of the savage. 

 The agricultural and horticultural productions brought together in 

 this city of learning help to illustrate my remarks. The cereal riches 

 and the blessings spread far and wide over the world, in fruits that 

 gratify every sense, aod flowers that gladden the very soul of man, are 

 presented to us. The lessons gained in these bloodless encounters, 

 these modern wars of the Roses, are carried by our ever -de parting 

 pilgrims to their distant habitations ; and it is the glory and delight 

 of oar brothers in their far-off homes to gather together their flowers 

 and fruit, and emulate the work of this, the parent Society of the 

 world of horticulture. 



The riflxt paper which we shall give ia that of Mr. Williams, 

 of the Victoria Nursery, Holloway, 



ON PITCHER PL4.NTS. 



The plants upon which, with your permission, I intend to offer a 

 few cultural remarks to-day, and of which I have brought a few small 

 specimens for your inspection, are amongst the most curious of Nature's 

 productions which have hitherto been introduced to our gardens. They 

 are known popularly as "Pitcher Plants," from the curious ascidia or 

 pitcher-like bodies which terminate the midrib of their leaves. 



In treating of Pitcher Plants, I shall confine myself exclusively to 

 the genus Nepenthes, although, did time permit, the genera Sarracenia, 

 Darlingtonia, and Cephalotus would be found equally deserving of 

 attention. 



Of Nepenthes we have now a considerable number in cultivation. 

 Some are hybrid forms, which have been produced in this country, but 

 the majority are introduced species, and, what is very singular, we 

 appear to have introduced the least interesting kinds first. There are 

 many large and most remarkable forms yet to introduce, which will be 

 grand acquisitions for our plant stoves. The names of those in cultiva- 

 tion are — Nepenthes ampullacea, N. ampullasea picta, N. distillatoria, 

 N. distillatoria rubra, N. Dominiana, N. gracilis, N. gracilis major, 

 N. hybrida, N. hybrida maculata, N. Hookeriana, N. lsevis, N. phyl- 

 lamphora, N. Bafflesiana, N. sangninea, and N. villosa. 



Some of these are hybrids which have been produced in the establish- 

 ment of Messrs. Veitch & Sons ; but beautiful as many of them are, 

 they aro entirely eclipsed by some kinds yet unintrodueed, such as 

 Nepenthes Lowii, N. Kajah, N. Edwardsiana, N. Boschiana, and some 

 others, which I am extremely anxious to see in cultivation. 



Many absurd stories are in circulation respecting the uses of the 

 curious ascidia developed at the extremities of the leaves of these plants. 

 The most popular amongst these describe how the plants are endowed 

 with such extraordinary vitality as to enable them to grow in arid 

 sandy deserts, where nothing else in the shape of vegetation exists ; 

 that they have the power of distilling water to fill their pitchers ; that 

 the lids are closed down to prevent evaporation ; and that birds, 

 animals, and even man is accustomed to resort to them to allay their 

 thirst with the cool and pure water found therein. It is scarcely 

 requisite for me to state that these are nothing but pretty fancies, the 

 fact being, that they grow in boggy swampy soils, and cannot exist 

 long n an arid atmosphere. 



