-1'nI^Li . 
W) NOTES CULTURAL, CRITICAL, AND SUGGESTIVE. 175 1% 
and vegetables, 'which are influenced by the more slow but regular change that light perforins in the 
whole system of vegetation. Iu the absence of the rays of light, the leaves inhaled the oxygen of the 
atmosphere ; and it was not until the solar light had shone that the oxygen was expelled by decom- 
posing the carbonic acid gas, when the carbon (the cause of the green colour) was fixed in the tissues 
of the leaves. We constantly see the same thing occurring in the vegetable kingdom ; the example is 
a general one. If we deprive a plant of light, we deprive it of the power of fixing carbon ; it is on the 
direct influence of solar light that its fixation of that element depends. Deprived of light, it will not 
only cease to fix carbon, but it will continue to excrete it, and the result is a weak and watery speci- 
men of mismanagement. But take another plant, treat it in all particulars like the first, with the single 
exception of exposing it to the genial influence of light, and by giving it the power of fixing abundance 
of carbon in its tissues, it will be a fine healthy specimen to prove the advantage of light as a great 
principle, upon which the proper cultivation of plants and vegetables depends. 
3 
NOTES CULTURAL, CRITICAL, AND SUGGESTIVE. 
Mildew on Plants. — In our preceding volume we noticed two sulphurators for horticultural purposes, 
and we have there stated our opinion of then' great 
utility. We have now before us Mr. Epp's Regis- 
tered Sulphurator, and for the purpose a more 
useful machine can scarcely be conceived. It is 
well made, strong, and very powerful, and with 
it an ordinary-sized greenhouse may be filled 
with clouds of sulphur in a few mmutes. All 
who have used it speak highly of it, and for 
our own part, we regard it as an indispensable article to good cultivation. Annexed is an engraving 
of the machine. 
Fumigating. — On this subject a pamphlet * has just issued from the press, in which the benefits 
derivable from fumigating horticultural and agricultural crops is pointed out, and some of the machines 
invented for that purpose are represented and strongly recommended. The chief object appears to be 
to recommend vapours in preference to powder or solution, and we are told (p. 4) that vapour of 
tobacco smoke is " not only innoxious to the most delicate plants, but congenial to their growth, while it 
effectually cleanses and invigorates them, and destroys the Aphides and Thrip." The italics are our 
own, and we have no doubt but these parts of the quotation will be quite new to our practical brethren. 
We, in our simplicity, when we have seen stages and shelves strewn with fallen flowers the day after 
fumigating, have blamed the filthy weed, and thought it injurious, and we must still confess we are 
not likely to apply to fumigation for an " invigorating " and " congenial " atmosphere. For fumigation 
on a large scale, and for agricultural crops, machines of a large size are manufactured, and the material 
recommended (p. 7) " is damaged hay. straw, or refuse herbage in a damp state, mixed with coal tar or 
sulphur." Truly this is a queer mixture, better suited for destroying insect life in the neighbourhood of 
St. Giles' and Seven Dials, and other parts of the great metropolis, than for removing the "ills" 
which the crops of our protectionist friends '■ are heir to." " It is not pretended that blight or aphis 
can be totally destroyed in the open air by means of smoke, still the insect will be so paralysed as to 
render it unable to prey upon the young crops, and if the plants can be grown into rough leaf it is 
beyond the danger of its ravages." Fumes of sulplrur and coal tar against vegetable life!! O 
tempora, O mores; and this in the nineteenth century, the great 1851 ! ! The work has evidently been 
"got up" by some ignorant pretender, more interested in selling fumigators than destroying insects, 
for certainly no person acquainted with the subject could have strung together such a tissue of misre- 
presentation, and the sooner the pamphlet is involved in its own smoke the better. We are soma to 
sec the name of the " Gardeners' Chronicle " even as the publishing office connected wtli it. 
Till'. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
May 1. — This was the anniversary meeting for the auditing of accounts, electing of officers, &c, 
Two ii"\v propositions were submitted for the consideration ol the Council, one to admit, under certain 
regulations, Fellows and their friends to the Garden on Sunday afternoons, and tlie other for an 
unlimited number of privileged tickets, for the exhibitions at the Gardens, to lie is^iu d to follows up to 
a certain day prior to the first exhibition. The first proposition we hope to see carried out. for we si e 
• Bradbury i l ■ ■ i niton. 
2=r 
