120 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ August 9, 1877. 



It must not be inferred that I dispute altogether the possi- 

 bility of the air supplying a portion of its carbon to the plant- 

 Carbonic acid may be carried down into the earth by showers> 

 and there put in a fit condition for the plant which may then 

 take it np by the roots. All that I say is, that it does not enter 

 free into the plant through the leaves, and that the idea of its 

 descending from them, and supplying the plant with carbon for 

 its structure, is an absolute impossibility. 



With a glance at one other class of experiments which bear on 

 this point I have done. I do not know that Sachs has relied on 

 it, but other physiologists have. It has been maintained that 

 not only carbonic acid, but nitrogen free and uncombined, is 

 taken up by the plant through its leaves, and it is plain that if 

 the one can be so taken up there seems no very good reason 

 why the other Bhould not also — possibly not so readily, but 

 still taken up. Both are constituent gaseous elements found in 

 the plant, and if it could obtain one of them through the leaves 

 it should follow that it might equally well have obtained the 

 other also. Now with nitrogen the question has been fairly 

 tried by many first-rate chemists and physiologists, and a great 

 multitude of experiments have been made ; and although dis- 

 crepancies have occurred on points which do not concern this 

 question, I think I may say that, with one exception (De Villa), 

 the conclusion has been unanimous in the negative. It would 

 be tedious to mention all the experimenters, but when I name 

 Boussingault as commencing the inquiry, and Lawes and 

 Gilbert terminating it, no question as to the efficiency of the in- 

 quiry can arise. Mr. LaweB' concluding words were, "In view 

 of the evidence afforded of the non-assimilation of free nitrogen 

 by plants Hnder the wide range of circumstances provided in 

 the experiments, it is desirable that the several actual or possible 

 sources of combined nitrogen to plants should be more fully in- 

 vestigated both quantitively and qualitatively." — Andrew 

 Mubbay. 



ME. BICHARD WEBB. 



On Thursday, July 26th, at his residence, Culham House, 

 Beading, died Bichard Webb, Esq., of Calcot, aged 79. Seven 

 years have passed since we visited this worthy and consistent 

 gentleman at his country residence, and these were our notes 

 upon him and his surroundings : — 



We were introduced to ten dogs, and then to sixteen cats, 

 fathers and mothers of fourteen kittens, all alive and not 

 doomed to a brick-and-water death. " Their master must be 

 a kindly man," and so we found him — a lover of animal and 

 vegetable life too — a man who does firmly what he thinks has 

 to be done rightly, and the evidence was before ub. There 

 was a stone monument bearing this inscription — 



" Beneath this stone lies buried 



Our race's deadliest foe; 



Myriads he has hurried 



Down to the realms of woe. 

 " More mischief he produces 



Than filled Pandora's bos, 



And more disease induces 



Than plagu'd th' Egyptian flocks. 

 *' Evils attend his reign. 



Yet thousands own his sway, 



And madly hug the chain 



That drags their souls away. 

 "Reader! beware his wiles, 



He lurks within the bowl, 



And stabs you while he smiles, 



Then oh ! shun Alcohol." 



The burial took place more than forty years since, and there 

 were on the occasion committed to their grave three hogsheads 

 of strong beer, two casks of home-made wine, and some dozens 

 of foreign wine and spirits. After the ceremony a harvest- 

 home supper was provided on the lawn under a tent, when 

 nearly 150 persons sat down to a good substantial meal con- 

 sisting of a roast sheep, two rounds of beef, barley puddings, 

 and a copper of coffee, after which they listened to a good 

 temperance lecture, and then returned home free from any 

 intoxication. There has not been a drop of alcoholic drink 

 allowed in the house or on the premises Bince, not even for 

 medicinal purposes, nor has the deed ever been repented of, 

 but, on the contrary, rejoiced over. 



Calcot includes ten acres, entirely enclosed with a brick wall 

 about 8 feet high, hollow, and with mock chimneys at uniform 

 intervals, justifying a popular comment, " He may well have 

 good crops of fruit, for he warms the walls ! " It is especially 

 devoted to fruit-growing, and trees — Pears, Apples, and Plums 

 — all most healthy, and free from disease and moss, are there 

 mostly at judioious distances ; but the underwood (for the term 

 is justified by the abundance) is composed of Nut bushes. 

 These are not bearers of common kinds, but of more than 

 thirteen varieties raised by Mr. Webb and shown by him at 



the Great Exhibition of 1862. We tasted specimens of their 

 fruit, Cobs as well as Filberts, and, late as the season is, they 

 were all good, but we especially liked those called Eugenie and 

 Garibaldi. 



The Nut bushes are never pruned, but they are of an uniform 

 height of about 10 feet. Last year they produced nearly eight 

 tons of Nuts. 



Lastly we will note an extraordinary Black Hamburgh Vine. 

 Its stem is 2 feet 3 inches in circumference at the ground's 

 surface ; it has eight branches. 



No. 1 is about 51 feet long, with laterals 9 feet long. 



No. 2 is about 24 „ „ 10 feet long. 



No. 3 is about 24 „ „ 7 feet long. 



No. 4 is about 41 „ „ 7 feet long. 



No. 5 is about 62 „ „ In a greenhouse. 



No. 6 is about 80 „ „ In a greenhouse. 



No. 7 is about 30 „ ,, 7 feet long. 



No. 8 is about 25 „ „ 7 feet long. 



Thus this Vine covers 1539 feet of wall, without including 

 any part of the roof of the greenhouse which it clothes, nor 

 various portions of branches, which, having taken root, are not 

 to be considered as sustained by one stem — they are rooted 

 layers, but unsevered from the parent. The two largest Vines 

 mentioned by Speechley, are one growing about a century 

 since at Northallerton in Yorkshire, and the other at Bury 

 St. Edmunds. The first covered 1320 square feet, and the 

 second 1233. 



MOSS BOSES FOE MAEKET. 



At every turning in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden we 

 find huge piles, baskets, and bunches of Boses. In whatever way 

 fashion may vary as to flowers in our gardens, there is always 

 a large demand for Moss Boses in London. The white, though 

 not very common, and two or three reds, and a pink one are the 

 kinds principally supplied ; and the old Provence Boses, too, are 

 among the most beautiful. The common Moss, a sport from 

 the old Cabbage Bose of our cottage gardens, is not largely 

 cultivated by market growers, the reason being that it is not 

 considered either robust or floriferous enough to give remunera- 

 tive results. The sort most preferred is a deep red kind, which, 

 though not nearly bo mossy as the lighter-coloured varieties, 

 is remarkably floriferous, and the buds being cut before they 

 are too much expanded their mossy Burrounding is more 

 noticeable, and consequently the blooms are more valuable. 

 To supply the enormous demand for Moss Boses 60me market 

 growers near London devote several acres of land to their 

 culture. The plantB are, however, seldom grown on one spot, 

 but are distributed about in rows or patches — some occupying 

 a warm border sheltered from the north winds by a wall, 

 hedge, or row of fruit trees, whilst others occupy positions 

 right under orchard trees, the main crop being generally 

 grown on an open quarter. By this arrangement a lengthened 

 season of cutting is secured. The border plants furnish the 

 earliest blooms ; these are followed by those under trees ; and 

 thoBe in the open quarters give a later supply. As regards 

 culture, the plants are cultivated much after the fashion 

 adopted for Baspberries, with the exception that the old wood 

 of the Boses is allowed to bear several crops before it is cut 

 away, whilst in the case of Baspberries the wood is removed 

 every year. When well established, Mobs Bobob are so produc- 

 tive of young growths from their bases that it is found neces- 

 sary to keep the bushes well cleared of both the old wood and 

 the weakest of the young growths. The plants themselves are 

 grown on their own roots, and probably under these conditions 

 much better results are obtained than would be the case were 

 any form of budding or grafting on other stocks practised. 



As an under crop Moss Boses are most profitable. They 

 thrive well under orohard trees, and the Bhelter afforded by the 

 overhanging boughs often saves the buds from frost in the 

 spring, when those in open quarters often suffer Beverely. The 

 usual mode of increasing the plants is to lift the old shoots, 

 strip them of the outside growths, which are planted in rows 

 3 feet apart each way. During the firBt two years after plant- 

 ing vegetable and salad crops are grown between the rows ; but 

 the third season, if the Boses do well, they require all the 

 room. As before stated, during the winter the old Bhoots, as 

 well as the weakest of the young shoots, are thinned out and 

 the most robust are shortened back. The soil between the 

 rows is then forked over, and a heavy mulohing of half-rotted 

 manure ie applied. Thus treated the plants receive no further 

 attention until the spring, when the blooms are fit for gather- 

 ing. Some growers plant Mobs Boses between Gooseberry and 

 Currant bushes, bat it is not a desirable method, as in a very 



