350 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 3, 1870. 



Bent out five vigorous sboots. I then cut it into as many sets, 

 and planted them, having previously manured the ground well, 

 and covered it with an inch of sand. I took up the crop 

 October 20 h, when I had a yield of 133 lbs ; thirteen roots 

 weighed together 1 11 J lbs., one of these weighed 13 lbs. ; eleven 

 Potatoes weighed 27 lbs., including one 4 lbs. weight. These 

 Potatoes are most excellent for table use. — R. L. Beabshaw, 

 Appleton Academy, near Warrington. 



PORTRAIT OF MR. RIVERS. 



The following extracts from letters enclosing subscriptions, 

 •will convey some idea of the motiveB which influence the con- 

 tributors to the memorial : — 



" I do not know Mr. Rivera personally, but I look on him as 

 a great public benefactor." 



"Rivers has given the world his brains, and well deserveB 

 recognition." 



"Tarn glad to have this opportunity of showing my respect 

 for one who has contributed more to my eDJoyment of life, 

 during the past ten years that I have been an invalid, than any 

 other man living." 



The following is the list of the subscriptions already received, 

 towards carrying out the above object : — 



£ s. d. 



Journal of Horticulture. Proprietors of 5 



Allsopp, H., Esq., Hindlip Hall, Worcester 5 5 



Barnard, Wm„ Esq., Sawbridgeworth 110 



Blackmore, R D., E-q., Teddington 1 1 



Bottomer. Fredk., Markree Castle, Colluoney 10 



Darwin, C.,E?q , F.R S.Down, Beekenham 2 2 



Dombrain, Rev. H. H, WeBtwell Vicarage, Kent . 10 6 



Fitzgerald, Mrs., Shalstone, Buckingham 1 1 



Harrison, John, Rose Nursery, Darlington 10 6 



Hole, Rev. S. Reynolds, Ciunton Manor 5 



Hooker, Dr. J. Dalton, *\B., Kew 2 2 



Hopkyns, D. D., Efq., Weycliffe, Guildford 5 



Kingsley, Rev. W., South Kilvington 2 2 



Masters, Dr., F.R.S., Ealing 1 1 



Moore, Thomas, Esq., F.L.S., Chelsea 1 1 



Moffat, Mr. A., The Gardens, Hindlip Hall 10 6 



Morris, Mr. John, Wethersfield 1 1 



NewiDgt.on, Dr., Ticehurst 3 3 



Paul, Mr. William, Waltham Cross 110 



Peach, Rev. C. P., Appleton-le-Street 2 2 



Pearson, Mr. John, Cbilwell 1 1 



Radclyffe, Rev. W. F., Okeford Fitzpaine 5 



Rendle, Mr. W. E„ Welbeck Street 1 1 



Roden, Dr., Kidderminster 2 2 



Sparke , George, Esq., Bromley 3 3 



Speed, Mr. Thos. Chatsworth Gardens 1 1 



Taylor, Mr. T. (Webber & Co.), Covent Garden.. 1 1 



Turner, Mr. C, Slough 10 6 



Warner, Mr. J. H, The Abbey, Leicester 1 1 



Wilson, Edward, E.-q., Hayes, Bromley 2 2 



Wilson, G. F., Esq., F.R.S., Heatherbank 2 2 



Subscriptions addressed to Dr. Hogg, 99, St. George's Road, 

 London, S.W., will be promptly acknowledged. 



SUBSOIL TEMPERATURES. 



The following ia an extract from the report of the Under- 

 ground Temperature Committee of the British Association. 



At dep*hs of 2 or 3 feet itia necessary to observe, once a-week, 

 or so, throughout a year, in order to get the mean temperature 

 at that depth for that year ; and this may differ by a consider- 

 able amount from the mean of a series of years. 



In the report of the Scottish Meteorological Society for the 

 quarter ending December, 1862, there is a comparison of the 

 mean temperature of the air with that of the soil at the depths 

 of 3, 12, and 22 inches, at four stations, from observations ex- 

 tending over five years ; and in the " Journal " of the same Society 

 for the quarter ending December, 1865, there is a comparison 

 of the temperature of drained and undrained land from one 

 year's obaervationa, undertaken for this purpose at two stations, 

 and including also a comparison with the temperature of the 

 year. The mean temperature of the air for each day is, in 

 these comparisons, assumed to be the simple arithmetical mean 

 of the maximum and minimum, as indicated by self-registering 

 thermometers 4 feet from the ground. From these observa- 



tions, it appears that the mean annual temperature of the soil 

 was in every case rather above that of the air, and that the 

 excess was greater for sand than for undrained clay, and was 

 greater for drained land than for the same land undrained. 



The greatest excess occurred in the case of the 22 inch ther- 

 mometer at Nookten (Vale of Leven), where both surface and 

 subsoil are sandy and dry. The five yearly means at this sta- 

 tion were : — 



Air 46°.l; soil at 3 inches 46°.3, at 12 inches 47°.3, at 

 22 inches 48°. ; giving an excesB of 1°9 for the temperature 

 at the depth of 22 inches as compared with air. 



The smallest excess, in the caseof the 22-innh thermometers, 

 observed for five years, was at Linton (East Lothian) where it 

 amounted to 0°7 ; but the observations on the effect of drainage 

 gave for the year of observation an excess of only 0° 2 at the 

 depth of 30 inches in light sandy but undrained soil under a Rye- 

 grass crop, at Otter House near Loch Fyne, the corresponding 

 excesss for drained land of the same kind and in the immediate 

 vicinity being 0°.9. 



The mean temperature at the depth of 3 feet at Professor 

 Forbes' three Btations at Edinburgh, from five years' observa- 

 tions, gave an excess of 0°.55 above the mean temperature of 

 the air at Edinburgh as determined by Mr. Adie's observations. 



Observations on soil temperature in Eogland are much 

 needed, but the Greenwich observations give an excess of soil 

 above air temperature falling within the limits above quoted, 

 the excess at 3 French feet being 1°.7, while at 24 French feet it 

 is reduced to 1°. The soil of which the Observatory Hill is 

 oomposed, and in which the thermometers are sunk, is dry 

 gravel, and the unusual circumstance of decrease of temperature 

 downward observed in the comparison of the 3-feet and 24-feefc 

 thermometers, seems to indicate that the surface of the bill is 

 warmer than the surrounding land. 



LABELS FOR FRUIT TREES. 



" A. R." in last week's issue recommends zinc, and states that 

 " if the label be suspended by copper or lead wire it will last 

 for generations ;" " that a glance will show whether the wire 

 is cutting into the tree or not, and that a minute or two will 

 rectify the matter." I once indulged the same delusive fancy, 

 and suffer from it now. First I used lead wire — chemical 

 action, I believe, takes place, besides the harder edge of the 

 zinc cutting the softer lead wire — and about twelvemonths saw 

 all my labels on the ground ; next I used annealed copper wire 

 on about a thousand trees. I am now busy cutting these labels 

 off, for wire seems to have a prescriptive right to cut into 

 the bark and fasien itself in every possible way without the 

 least provocation, causing no end of gum and canker, and if 

 by any remote chance, these do not occur, the label is the 

 sport of winds and the ruin of the bark. I now use a strip of 

 flat lead, stamped with the number which corresponds to the 

 particular tree in my orchard book. This may be liable, be- 

 sides the trouble, to as many evi's as the methods I have 

 already abandoned, but as yet I am innocent. 



" A. R." well depicts the promiscuous misnaming of fruit 

 trees. Nothing is more common than to find trees, and some 

 of the commonest, wrongly named ;' and the lack of knowledge 

 of varieties, and, in fact, of fruit-culture generally, is remark- 

 able in many gardeners who exctl in floriculture. As to cor- 

 rectly naming trees, the "greater nurserymen" are by no 

 means immaculate. I have received many trees, from one of 

 the best in every way, wrong to name ; but when one has 

 experienced the difficulty of keeping a few hundreds right in 

 one's own garden, and then considers the thousands of each 

 sort a nurseryman is expected to produce, the marvel is that 

 they are so often correct. — C. C. E. 



ARE GUELDRES ROSE BERRIES POISONOUS? 



We ask this question because of the evidence given at an 

 inquest held at Sudbury, Suff.dk, on the 27th ult., on the body 

 of the child of the Sapeiintendent of the Cemetery, whose death 

 was supposed to have been occasioned by eating the berries of 

 the Gueldres R ise (Viburnum Opulus). 



Mr. W. B. Smith, surgeon, deposed that he had made a post- 

 mortem examination of the body, assisted by Dr. Williams. 

 They oould discover no natural cause of death ; he inferred 

 that death must have been caused by the absorption of the 

 active principle of some narcotic poison. Dr. Taylor, in his 

 work on toxology, had stated that narcotic or vegetable, even 



