Fitly 2 



1898 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



425 



pace a peach 



Influence of t 



on Crops 



u 11 cover if given ample space to develop. _ , ~' . i-.»n i_n»-i i v/m. v/n unuro, 



"^bSi fruits, such as currants, will soon be approaching the ripening period, and Of all the influences brought to bear on vegetable life by the atmosphere that of 

 _n netting to preserve them ; and it is a great gain to tne cu tivator wnen temperature is, Mr. Mawlev 



he nets 



placed 



^lCULl J* lll^ll gALlltlllJ^ - j-, ' ~~ 



""r^ Demianent wire protection is a long way the best, and probably quite as 

 ( S[d in the end. Previous to netting it is advisable to cut back the new main 

 C - wths'to within four or five leaves from the base in the case of red and white 

 plants • many object to this summer pruning, but I consider it does much good 

 1 ' pening the fruit, removing insect pests, and rendering the fruit 



~" I* --. . n ._ J anc J 



assisting 



• 1 



easier to gamer, ui tuunc, uiam cuimnib uccu m^i^ ;^ u "g ww**, 

 are best left ; but in their case useless spray wood may be removed and 



light admitted to the fruit. Cordon gooseberries are often grown on walls ; 



ff]Q[£ lit iavj******""- O 0 



these must be spurred back closer, only leaving three or four eyes ; at the 



* i. 1 _ — ^ A^nrvA 4-^-\ f 1 nvf^noiAMf 4-^ 4- V\ ^ 1 0 nn if nAn^ccoriT thin 



Jbe fruit on trees much crowded, especially those needed tor late dessert, tne 

 hinnings being used at once. Cordon trees trained to stakes in open quarters 

 fill need similar attention in the way of pruning, and both these and wall trees 

 will well repay for a good mulch of manure, as they suffer badly from drought and 

 become infested with red spider. Raspberries will greatly benefit by mulching, 



KCCHUC IIIICMCU wxuii 1 cpiuvi.* i\ao^uLiiiL3 Will ^^ (XLL J uv,uuuu uy uiuiuiuu^, 



and on our light soil we find cow manure excellent, and this is equally good for 

 the other bush fruits noted. The later varieties will now need protection, and 

 moisture also on light soils on gravel, as in our own case the plants have already 

 Aown the need of such, in spite of the heavy rain-fall early last month; but it 

 should be borne in mind there is a great demand on the roots with the fruits swell- 

 ing fast. When giving moisture, it is much best to give a thorough soaking than 

 driblets occasionally ; liquid manure may be employed if it can be given without 

 touching the fruits, but it should be diluted. Give liquid manure to fruit trees of 

 all kinds; bush or pyramid trees will take copious supplies, and, given a mulch, 

 the soil will retain the moisture. Trees in orchards, with rank grass over the roots, 

 ire difficult to feed, but here much may be done with liquid manure, and I find it 

 1 good plan to remove the coarse grass near the stems in a two-ft. circle ; give a 

 mulch of manure, followed by liquid manure. Newly-grafted trees should be 

 namined, and relieved of the binding material if the unions are complete ; 

 but should any doubt exist, it will be best to give support by ties and damp moss 

 for a short time. — G. Wythes, Syon Gardens. 



Japan 



Dwarf 



Tre 



curious Japanese produc- 



II in New York City. Some five hundred were sold, and realized about 

 000 dols. ( - £2,083). 



This is the first sale of these curious nananized trees in this city. The north- 

 t of Japan ls famous for these arboreal curios, where for centuries it has been 

 iproper thing for private people to have a few of these trees growing around and 

 >ut heir dwellings, forming miniature patches of exquisite landscape. True 



rillllTr WC £ SCe u at u he W ° r ! d ' s Fair in l8 93> ^ the horticultural building, 

 hi coun I"" t" G . a T beCnan mcre ^ed desire for introducing these subjects 

 > this country. Several Japanese agencies have opened up and others that were 

 xutence before have launched out considerably, and big efforts on all handle 

 g made to popularise the trade. Doubtless/this exhibition Ld sale wm e "e 

 nonnous impetus to the business, but we are informed by Mr B Suzuk fhat 



-S not 1* COniferS ' *"M ^ch, s ve^ Hmited 



SS but o7 t U i an - 2,000 ?' antS f ^° ld Can now be found in the ^tive home 

 XpU -supply? X ' mapleS ' and the CU " 0USl y trained Dava,lia bullata, there 



nmaTedtt M Q " estion ' ^ subjects that composed the bulk, and which 



^v^cflffi!aS«S: W - rC ThUya ° b V USa .' P ° doCar P us n^acrophyllus, 

 I trained man le ' nn. vanCgata ' leptolepis, Rhapis humilis 



'•Sodoir (= £ S ' ift? last ' named Acer palmatum, realised 



i *> z 4 95. 7a ), and the tree was not forty inches in height. 



How the Trees are Dwarfed. 



^^TLfcygSS $T ^° St in 3 P ° rtant ° f a11 these ^ Japan, 

 * are I 'in , < 7u ■ ° f their cultivation and preservation. The most noDular 



>ZrZ ( ro m S lT' P J nUS Sparsifl ° ra aDd Pinus ThunbergT T Ly P aS 



h-prfng of tt second a ;l grea n Car ^ S SC,eCt the cho ' cest q«2t£.' 



«!Kht, they are staked I with I ' k D sc ^ hn P are about eight inches in 

 2* fcnt fn diSl^^ ^ the piants 



soil id~i|* ySSSi VSZ Jl hC nCXt thC l arC trans P la nted" to a 

 «Jt»i8ted and tied in fanciful form, tu^^ Spi f mg the P ,ants are rest aked 

 I^th }ear , when ? h l™"l *ul ThlS mod e o{ r treatment is given until the 



^ches being trained \? n I A*} haVC a f SUmed fair, y large proportions, the 

 P* The S^lnSi 8 ^^ ^ 0, - iage likG SmaS clouds of dens e e 



" f»meter, and are kent weH w«t^ P .^ V° P °- tS one and one-half feet I degree from this base temperature of 42 de 



* t»ken of new shoots which nmlfSV SSIf^ y ear g rea t care must follows : Suppose the minimum temperature 



J* «f this treatmen 7he t«£ I, * F f?™^ h ck ' After another three the maximum ; ' L ^ A ~ 



»^th thereafter. ' thC trees are Vlrtua,, y dwar fed, there being no visible low as 42 degr 



temperature is, Mr. Mawley states in his paper on Weather Influences on Garden 

 and Parm Crops the most powerful and far-reaching. Not only are plants affected 

 by changes of temperature above ground, but its influence upon their roots is in 

 most cases even more clearly to be traced. The fact is, each kind of plant and each 

 function of its growth has its own particular requirements, as regards day and 

 night temperatures, during its growing period ; so that if these temperatures be 

 exceeded or fallen short of, it does not thrive as well-too great warmth over- 

 stimulating its growth, and too little checking it. Of course, the wider the depar- 

 ture from these special temperatures, the more will its growth be injuriously 

 affected. Then, again, a certain degree of warmth must be maintained for a 

 sufficient length of time to allow of any plant coming to maturity. For instance 

 maize can be grown as a fodder crop in this country, but it seldom, if ever, perfects 

 its seed, owing to the shortness of our summers. If we trace the distribution of 

 indigenous species of this and other countries, we shall find that each advances as 

 far, and only as far, into higher latitudes or into elevated regions as it finds the 

 amount of heat required to complete its growth and ripen its seed. From this we 

 learn how important it is that the cultivation of those farm crops alone, which from 

 experience have been found best adapted to our soil and climate, should be 

 attempted. Of course, in gardens where extra care and attention can be given to 

 each kind of plant, this caution may be to a great extent neglected. As a rule a 

 seasonable amount of heat is best suited in this country to a majority of our farm 

 and garden proaucts. That is to say, a gradual rise in temperature from the middle 

 of January to the middle of July, and as steady a decline until the coldest period 

 is again reached, would best meet their requirements. But, unfortunately, we can 

 seldom count upon such favourable conditions being maintained for more than a 

 few weeks at a time, the general tendency being at any season towards too great 

 or too little warmth. Most of our field crops, with the exception of clovers and 

 grasses, are annuals ; whereas most of the plants grown in the garden excepting 

 the kitchen garden are perennials, which require rest at some period of the year 

 and this, with few exceptions, they obtain during the winter months. Knowing 

 as we do, how the atmosphere receives its warmth, not only from the direct 

 influence of the sun, but from the heat it obtains from the ground, it will be readily 

 understood how greatly the surface soil, particularly uncropped soil, becomes 

 heated above that of the air. It is, however, not only the surface soil which 

 becomes heated, for the warmth thus obtained descends to a considerable depth 

 in the ground. So that the subsoil in this way becomes a storehouse of heat for 

 plants to draw upon during the comparatively sunless period of the year ; while 

 it likewise serves by its lower temperature to keep their roots from becoming 

 unduly stimulated during the summer months. 



At one foot deep a clay soil— taking the year as a whole— is rather colder than 

 the air, a sandy soil decidedly warmer, while a chalk soil is generally about the 

 same temperature as the air. At four feet deep the ground is in all three cases 

 cooler than the air during the period when most plants are in active growth 

 (April— August), and warmer during the remaining seven months. These 

 differences are greatest with a chalk soil ; less with a clay soil ; and least with a 

 sandy soil. In fact, the soil last named is at four feet deep but little cooler than the 

 air throughout a great part of the five warm months above mentioned, although 

 decidedly warmer during the rest of the year. The greater the depth below the 

 surface the more slowly are the changes above ground felt. For instance, taking 

 one foot deep as representing the soil and four feet deep the subsoil, the former, 

 like the air, is warmest in July ; whereas at the depth of four feet deep the warmest 

 month is August. Again, Mr. Symons has shown that at one foot deep the ground 

 is coldest, as a rule, not during the night, but at nine a.m., and warmest, not at 

 mid-day, but at nine p. m. ; whereas at tour feet deep the changes take place so 

 gradually that there is no appreciable difference at any hour. It was found by Dr. 

 Buchan, when discussing the temperatures of light and heavy soils, " that light 

 soils are subject to a greater degree of frost near the surface than strong clay soils, 

 but the frosts do not penetrate so far down into light soils as into strong clay soils, 

 the explanation being that light loose soils are worse conductors of heat than strong 

 clayey compact soils." 



Investigations on the Continent appear to have shown that the rate of progress 

 made by any crop is governed in a great measure by the duration or rather 

 accumulation of temperature above or below the point at which active growth 

 begins and is maintained. This cridcal point varies with different plants, but the 

 Meteorological Office in its publications has adoped forty-two degrees as a 

 sufficiently close approximation for most farm crops in these latitudes, and employs 

 the method devised by Sir R. Strachey, F.R.S., by means of which the variations 

 from this base are determined. Following the nomenclature adopted in the case of 

 " foot-pound," General Strachey introduced the term M day-degree," by which 

 is signified the continuance throughout twenty-four hours of an excess or defect of 



t rWr^» fmm base tomrwrature of 42 decrees. The calculations are made as 



mean 



Grafted Trees. 



SS arC effeCted °y mea ns of grafting. Let 



^rter K^hM f""^. ¥™S ^^^^^ 



XT*"* one-inch d eP notT^ " T ^ P orti ™ of the trunk 



he bent more eiflv in '^^/^ytwo or three-inch space, so that the 



degrees it IS alSO ODV10US mat, 1I Uic u*^c icmptiaiuic ui ^* ucgira uc ucuuwicu 



from that value, the difference plus 18 degrees will represent the accumulated 

 amount of this effective temperature. On the other hand, had the readings 

 throughout the day been below the base temperature the difference between the 

 mean and forty-two degrees would show a defect of so many day degrees. In 



^ process 



. ,*"»• The 



* aaaumt 



onentalis (pendula) stem. 



vault id uuLaiiitvi uy ujui^ c* — i • — j - — — r — - 



by Sir Henry Gilbert, F.K.S., and reproduced in his paper, gives a very good idea 

 as to how far such accumulated temperatures may be relied upon to furnish approxi- 

 mately correct results in this country. Those given in the lower part of the table 

 are derived from the mean of the Meteorological Office estimates of daily excess at 



all the stations in England East and in the midland counties. T « — 1 



the calculations date as in the Weekly Weather Reports from 



^hoo poles, L bC g f afted have al'ea 

 ■? removed eS>f d T er these are thrown 



J a P«<»e anH _ ni .ght. This makes the method ^„ than 



an d others have led™ ^ , 06 much more sin 



nave led us to believe. —American Gardening 



•nic!^ 0 ^^?!. ^ arc ^ cn for the whole year is th* t*Jl*_j % r « . 



a In the first column 



the calculations date'as in the Weekly Weather Reports from January I ; in the 

 second from February I ; in the third from March I ; in the fourth from April I ; 

 in the fifth from the period when the crop appears above ground ; and in the sixth 

 from the same period, but omitting those days which are too cold to allow of any 

 progress being made. It will be noticed that, however calculated, the difference 

 between the least and the greatest amount of accumulated heat required at 

 Rothamsted in any year to complete the growth of wheat and ripen the grain was 

 in all cases about 300 degrees, or about one-sixth of the total mean value for the 

 eighteen years. This appears to Mr. Mawley a very large range indeed, and 

 shows that such calculations can only be regarded as rough approximations, at all 

 events as far as the leading cereal crop in this country is concerned. 



