330 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ April as, ibsi. 
ling of ground bones, old mortar, and a little soot. Last season 
it grew well but did not bloom. This year I have been cutting 
flowers for the last month, and shall have a good supply for some 
weeks. The plant is producing strong shoots, and after the flower¬ 
ing is past I shall cut it well back, and no doubt by the autumn 
it will have extended the full length of the wall.— Amateur, 
North Lancashire, 
THE EFFECTS OF ELECTRICITY ON VEGETATION. 
(Continued frontpage 270.) 
Ventilation. —Many years back, and long before there were 
“ greenhouses for the million,” we were desirous of having erected 
a small plant house to serve as a greenhouse and conservatory, 
as well as a kind of porch to a south doorway opening from the 
hall into a small garden ; but the difficulty was to find someone 
to undertake the construction who seemed equal to the occasion, 
and therefore information had to be sought from practical gar¬ 
deners as to the requirements, and the only thing they all agreed 
in was that there must be “ plenty of ventilation.” Acting on 
this advice, in a small house (12 feet by 14) there were no less 
than eleven sashes hung for opening, so as to have the opportunity 
of trying all aspects and to almost any degree. This, however, 
was soon found to be all a mistake and worse than useless. 
Without enumerating all the failures, it will be sufficient to state 
that after innumerable trials a principle was hit on that has been 
working for many years with the most complete success. On 
reflection it will be seen that the air or wind never blows down 
vertically upon plants and trees, but that it always strikes at an 
angle sideways. Now any opening in the roof under the pretence 
of letting out the heated air is just what I hold it does not do, but 
it lets in a mass of cold air in an unnatural direction upon 
the plants. The only way in which the heated air can be let out 
in this position is by dividing the area of the opening midway, 
so that cold air may come down on one side of the partition and 
force up the hot air on the other side ; but this does not obviate 
the former evil. In order, therefore, to fall in with Nature’s 
arrangements a large sash was made to open immediately under 
the apex of the half-span roof at both ends, east and west, and 
these sashes were hung at the lower edge so as to open at the top 
outwards. By this provision the hot air would naturally escape 
immediately under the ridge of the roof, whilst the colder air 
would roll down over the inclined sash and thus acquire a slanting 
direction into the house, and at the same time be mollified by 
admixture with the warmer air met with in its passage down¬ 
wards. The extent of ventilation will necessarily be regulated 
by the condition of the external surrounding atmosphere. What 
will do in one situation may fail in another, but this same principle 
of direction will apply in all. It has been observed that plants 
require to absorb moisture and carbonic acid from the atmosphere, 
hence it is essential that a due proportion of these should always 
be present. Surrounded by buildings, the dry walls rob the air 
of its moisture and impoverish its nutritive qualities, in this way 
rendering it unsuitable for ventilation ; therefore an elevated point 
of admission is far preferable to others lower down, whilst the 
deficiency of moisture may be more easily made up by syringing 
below. 
In the open country the surrounding vegetation keeps the air 
moist and genial, whilst the necessary carbonic acid is abundantly 
supplied by all fermenting and decaying organic matter. Now, 
as the air parts with its moisture, its oxygen, and its carbonic 
acid, and becomes exhausted, its removal to make room for a 
successive supply fully charged is one of the intentions of venti¬ 
lation. In animal life this is provided for in a special direction ; 
the expired air charged with warmth and moisture is thereby 
rendered lighter than the colder and drier air to be inhaled, and 
hence it ascends in the atmosphere immediately on escaping, and so 
leaves the fresh air uncontaminated below it. Not so, however, 
with plants ; its removal and replacement can only be effected by 
the wind or motion of the air. It is desirable, too. that although 
rapidity of change may be advantageous, it is highly important 
to avoid all cold and cutting draughts. 
In the Mushroom pit it is equally important that there should 
not be sufficient ventilation to disturb the negative stratum of air 
necessary for the fructification of the fungus. On the other hand, 
in the fruit room it is a consideration to obtain a free circulation 
of the positive atmosphere in order to dispel any negative stag¬ 
nation overlying and enveloping the fruit that might induce 
mouldiness. In mildew one of the primary conditions is want of 
polar energy, which may arise from dryness or an unequal supply 
of moisture to the roots. In the case of pot plants standing on 
pans of wet cinder ashes will be found an excellent proceeding, 
whilst for Roses, &c., planted out drain pipes choked at the lower 
end and sunk among their roots here and there and kept full of 
water in dry weather will prove serviceable feeders. In vineries 
and plant houses it is notorious that mildew occurs chiefly in the 
night, and that it is almost certain to occur in the autumn when 
roof windows are left open during the darkness ; but with the 
upper end opening my own experience has shown that it rarely 
if ever occurs. It must, however, be observed that it is only the 
east window that is ever left “ air on,” and this has arisen entirely 
from direct experiment; but why this aspect in preference to any 
other, may seem a puzzling question. It must have been felt by 
the generality of practical men that extremely minute and subtle 
changes have great influence in promoting health or disease, and 
therefore they will necessarily be prepared for any announcement 
of the existence of apparently mostinsignificant matters provided 
as means to an end. Now, as the sun’s rays have a very marked 
influence upon the atmosphere through which they pass, and upon 
the vegetation they impinge upon, the direction in which the rays 
fall will naturally be of no slight consequence, and hence the way 
they are met will of course be of some considerable importance, 
as we see by certain leaves always directing one particular surface 
sunwards. The apparent motion of the sun from east to west 
being caused by the real motion, or revolving of the earth on its 
own axis in the opposite direction—namely, from west to east, 
places the eastern or south-eastern side of a house in the position 
up to noon of meeting the advancing rays ; but after that, when 
the sun has passed the meridian, the western and south-western 
side will be running away from the receding rays as they in¬ 
cline towards the setting in the western horizon. Hence, air 
admitted to a house or frame on the eastern side will be 
that which has received the latest benefit of the sun’s rays ; 
but it must not be confounded with the wind or air’s current, as 
these are as perfectly distinct as the motion of a running stream 
from the wave motion upon its surface, and must be admitted 
through spaces proportioned to its intensity. A small house 
erected for containing a dozen Tea Roses had at first only an east 
window, but fancying more air might be advantageous a west 
window was introduced, and this was the commencement of the 
appearance of mildew. It was then closed and the plants sul¬ 
phured, when the mildew disappeared and has never since re¬ 
appeared, although the east window has been left open night and 
day up to the present frost. The same result has been obtained 
in the city conservatory ; but whether peculiar circumstances 
may in either case have had influence, or whether the principle 
applies generally, remains to be proved, and which is well worthy 
of attention. Then, again, there is one other significant feature 
that has as yet never received attention—glass being an electric, 
which means that it is a non-conductor of electricity and hence 
acts as an insulator, and thereby separates electrically the con¬ 
fined air of a house or frame from the electricity of the atmo¬ 
sphere surrounding it, as well as itself becoming charged with 
electricity. These facts enlighten us as to the action of glass 
frames and other coverings hitherto unrecognised.— W. K. 
Bridgman. 
A PLEA FOR ANNUALS. 
On a future occasion it is intended to direct attention to some 
of the best hardy herbaceous and alpine plants for garden deco¬ 
ration, but in the meantime the advisability of cultivating annuals 
more freely is strongly urged, special emphasis being laid on the 
word “cultivating,” as in many instances these plants are not 
cultivated but starved. They are worthy of a better fate, as they 
produce shades of colour that are not obtainable in any other 
flowers. 
We have frequently been told when arguing the claims of 
annuals “ that the plants are very pretty while they last, but 
their flowering season is so brief that they are scarcely worth the 
trouble of growing them, especially as they leave the borders 
blank and dreary, besides causing them to present an untidy 
appearance when the plants are fading.” These statements are 
to some extent true, but that they are so is not so much the fault 
of the annuals as of those who grow them. What would be said 
of a gardener who, to keep up a succession of any vegetable, say 
Peas, only made one sowing ? He certainly would not be called a 
model kitchen gardener. What, then, can we say of those having 
flower borders which they wish to be kept gay with annuals who 
only make one sowing, and because the plants do not continue 
flowering throughout the season discard them altogether 1 
Annuals are charming additions to a flower border if a succes¬ 
sion of sowings are made. Some kinds require to be sown in the 
autumn, as the spring-sown seeds do not pioduce such fine flowers, 
whilst many of the autumn-sown plants will survive and help to 
produce a brilliant display in early spring. 
