THE 



GARDENERS 



MAGAZINE. 



SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1898. 



ISHOP'S 



STORTFORD 



WEDNESDAY, August io 



FLOWER 



SHOW, 



W. Smith, 



Hon. Secretary. 



'EST OF 



ENGLAND 



CHRYSANTHEMUM 



SOCIETY. 



1. XVVUAL SHOW wi,l this year ffHft. THURSDAY and FRIDAY, Nov. 

 £ £^d of Nov. . and . as prevtously announced. ^ w „„„ SeC , 



X tlorth HiM^^" 



liffus^ ' r C ^ ° f thdr r °° tS ' WhiGh bein S eXUded ^ 



its^tar^^T S ° UP ° n thC SOil P artideS ' will > accordin g ^ 



o 2£ Z IT '"^ ; b£ Capab!e of dissolving a greater or less amount 



large number of plants has been determined by Dr. Bernard Dyer, who 

 nas ; also compared the results obtained by the action of a solution of citric 



rn^t "I: r !! P ° n gStrCngth u P° n soils of the Rothamstedexperi 



He li3,s time cii/MTyr> J m amamIiimm Professor 



-i^lS^FHuiT SHOWS, &c— JUDGING OF FRUITS. . He has thus shown, in accordance with Professor 



f 0 ?BffifSSs!EftJU«X SKT F - R - H ' S - y?*Zjr*™. *« - » d~ correspondence of 



Horticulturist, Bottesford Vineries, No ,f l 5: 

 Terms on application. Telegrams, "Grapes, Bottesfokd. 



ORTICULTURAL SHOW AUVisKii^jyi 



XL at One Shilling per line, the minimum charge 

 t:.j a irWetrate Street. London k i?- 



NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS. 



continued increase in circulation, the " Gardeners' Magazine » 

 now goes to press on Wednesday. No advertisement can be guaranteed 

 insertion, or altered, unless received before Four p.m. on that day. 



Owing'to 



NOTES OF THE WEEK. 



EARLIER OPENING OF KEW GARDENS. 



During the agitation in favour of the opening of the Royal Gardens, 

 far, at an earlier hour than noon, we were assured both by speakers at 

 the meetings and writers in the local Press, that the gates were beseiged 

 bf visitors anxious to gain admittance long before they were thrown 

 open, and that there was a strong desire on the part of business and pro- 

 fessional men and the working classes to enjoy the beauties of the gardens 

 before mid-day. It mattered not that the gardens remained open until so 

 late an hour in the evening during the summer, that both the business 

 ten and the working classes could visit them without neglect of business 

 on the one hand, and loss of time and wages on the other, the forenoon 



possible. Our 



the cultural results obtained from the soils with the amounts of soil 

 ingredients extracted by the weak citric acid ; so that, so far as the 

 mineral plant food ingredients are concerned, the manurial requirements 

 and needs of the soils can be foreseen or deduced from such deter- 

 minations. We are told by Professor E. W. Hilgard, that at the 

 University of California, numerous corresponding determinations made 

 at that station with cultivated as well as with virgin soils, have 

 corroborated to a remarkable degree Dr. Dyer's results ; so that we 

 appear to have in this method, varied according to the nature of the soils 

 and crops, a means of determining the cultural condition of our fields 

 and gardens. It seemed especially desirable to test, with a view of such 

 determinations, the root sap of citrus trees, the fertilisation of which is 

 practised more extensively at the Californian station than that of any 

 other one crop, while a great deal of money is doubtless spent uselessly 

 upon the purchase of ingredients not needed as yet. The results obtained 

 show that there exist not inconsiderable differences between the acidity 

 of the roots from different localities, and especially between the large and 

 small roots. The latter being the ones actually active in the absorption 

 of plant food, of 



— - — — — — — - » — — — ^ - — w» ww* \-T WW w * 



actually brought to bear upon the soil particles. But the comparative 

 analyses of the bark and wood of one and the same root, also show that 

 the acidity resides pre-eminently in the bark. The data thus far gathered 

 give as the average acidity of the root sap of citrus trees the figure of 

 0*83 per cent. Dr. Dyer found that plants belonging to the Rosaceae 

 — , r . Mm mil w „ p™^, v, U i and Plumbagineae orders gave the highest strength of root sap acidity, 



opinion of these absurd assertions was expressed in no hesitative ran S in £ from tw0 to five and a " half P er cent - The general average 



taken from twenty different natural orders being about one per cent., 



but it was found that the variations in amount of acidity were wide even 



■ ~_ _ mm _ 



• inner 



*-* a 7 — 



yielded to the pressure, and arrangements were made for opening the 

 gardens on week-days at ten a.m. The gardens have been opened dur- 

 ing the past two months at the earlier hour, and the results have been 

 ■ exact accordance with our anticipations, and the local Press are 

 beginning to give expression to their sense of disappointment that the 

 business man has not deserted his counting-house, and the labourer 

 left his work, to enjoy a morning stroll in the gardens. The Richmond 



*W TlVtchpriJi/im TVi»,„^ ../u:„V. A v , /- , 



in plants of the same order, and even of the same species. 



PURE AIR. 



When we consider that despite all the pains which we bestow upon 

 the preparation of soils and their enrichment with manure or manurial 

 salts, it is to the unpalpable air around us that we must look for the chief 



ofjL 1 ' — — - — ~~ au,utaito food for our plants, we can easily appreciate that the quality of this food 



e c ange which has been made, says: " So far the early opening is a very important factor in successful culture. Curiously enough, 

 ew Gardens has not attracted a great number of visitors. We though the one essential element in the air is precisely that car- 

 mm we are correct in stating tt " 



Seaixl comr!iti h f Und f ed il A large P ro P° rtion are children, and we have ing, and by every fire in the act of burning, the extra supply in the 

 comn »mf C ^ ^ . , . ^ e c h ron j c « out 0 f wor k > vicinity of towns exercises no appreciable effect as a stimulus to growth, 



cou ^ 1S t0 SeC ° n the Thames Embankment. These, and it is in the pure air of the hills that vegetation is most rampant The 

 1 TIC™ ^ people * hat re quire a good deal of looking after actual addition of this gas to town air is, however, practically a very 



thrown 



ill 







1 



■■few 



4 



ad 



Ytstors are f *a 0 the mornin g hours, when ordinary small one indeed, air at the top of Ben Nevis containing 327 gallons of 



»»isothee ( between > the y w . iU want all the more watching, it to the million, as compared with 380 gallons per million in London 



d <lightful 



a. 1 . . — ~- ^ ***JV*vf. V/l *_VJUI 



« a fairly nuri,^ Gard , e , nS W, T visit ° rS arefew ' but what is wanted 

 •ben ther P ^ 1 spr , inkun & of people, for all the mischief is done 



* their oln police whP ^ ™ ° f ViSit ° rS * the Gardens ' The P ublic 



* ^ not be fT ZT mer ? ^ e Plenty 0f them - A t the same time 



* ha * mentioned V t ^ 7 tC ' t0 draW deductions fr «™ the facts 

 ^wt. The nnhi ,f CCeSS ° r failure of A e early opening 



the Garden, «1 gene r alI y have n °t yet got it into their heads 



Of course it is very streets. This small difference is due to the rapid diffusion of gases, and 



the fact that big as London looks to man's eyes, and great as is the mul- 

 titude of exhalers which people it, and the number of fires which burn 

 in it, it is but a small patch upon the bottom of the great aerial ocean 

 which sweeps over it, and to which its quota of contributed carbonic acid 

 is consequently extremely minute. Town air, morever, is laden with 

 many other matters than an extra supply of this gas ; coal in burning 



. gives off, unfortunately for plants, another gas, sulphurous acid, which is 



This is a deadly poison, and in large manufacturing districts the contributions 



lBew i<iea, and it is a T u- g the mornin g hours. This is a deadly poison, and in large manufacturing districts tne contnoution; 



S old ^ea and plant 1 g -° SeC h ° W Iong h ta kes to get rid of to aerial muddiness are multifarious in the extreme, and mostly detri 



oeoni. _:ti a new one »n the mind of the ereat Rrih^ ™,ki;^ ™<>„foi -n,* unfortunate plants subjected to this mixed diet, and open 



We 



in "time' wJ°^ * British P ublic " mentaL 



^efro 

 ^teniporj 

 ■* «rong( 

 of a 



Purpo 



ing their myriad of leaf pores to imbibe the one essential, are conse- 

 quently very apt to find that essential gas allied with its poisonous com- 

 panion, and in any case they speedily become choked with accompanying 

 soot and dust, and thus are starved in the midst of plenty, even if they 

 escape the poisoning process Tt is. md^d. *M>n to be a verv marvellous 



S r eat scientific * 1 k u en made > the proper escape the poisoning process. 11 ib, inueeu, seen 10 u C * vciy « 



lr Pose than Drft eS ^ abl,snment has been greatly hindered for thing, considering the very small propertion of carbonic acid in the air, 



f or loafers dul l 4 / ygr ° Und for a few childre n a ^d a that it should sul 



s aurm S the forenoon. „_j .:^u_ 



enormous 



J under,, A C '? ITV 0F R°°T SAP. 



ciea with, if not directly dependent upon 



seed, and timber growth of the world year after year, and century after 

 century, without any appreciable diminution of the aerial store. True it 

 is that animal life, as we have seen, does something to restore the 



food 



be added the proportion consumed by fire, plus a contribu 



