December 1, 1881. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
495 
Apples for Dwarf Culture.— It is essential that trees for 
this purpose be free and early bearers. Some that I have found 
to answer this description are Stirling Castle, Keswick Codlin, 
Jolly Beggar, Betty Geeson, Cellini, Ecklinvillc Seedling, Small’s 
Admirable, Norfolk Bearer, Nonesuch, Large Hunthouse, Winter 
Hawthornden, and Winter Majetin : those are kitchen. lor 
dessert—White .I uneating, Irish Peach, Devonshire Quarrenden, 
Kerry Pippin, King of the Pippins, Cobham, Cox’s Orange Pippin, 
Court of Wick, Margil, Braddick’s Nonpareil, Dutch Mignonne, 
and Sturmer Pippin. The soil here is light loam, the situation 
elevated 510 feet above sea level, in North Yorkshire.— Yorkshire 
Cultivator. 
AREAS OF GLASS STRUCTURES. 
In your notes (page 473) of Mr. Fawkes’ first lecture at the 
Crystal Palace it is said that “ with the same width and the same 
pitch, a span and a lean-to roof contain the same area.” Though 
this is correct it will 
convey a wrong im¬ 
pression to many, who 
will suppose that by 
the words “contain the 
same area ” cubical 
contents are meant. 
There is the same 
superficial area of roof 
in A c as in A B D, and 
the same ground space 
i3 covered, but the con¬ 
tents of the span are 
only half that of the 
lean-to. I find that ^ 
many gentlemen and 
gardeners have a great difficulty in understanding this, as they 
mostly say that, a lfi-feet sash lean-to covering 13 feet wide, 
being the same width as an 8-feet sash span roof, must have the 
same contents, or “area” as they frequently call it. The matter 
may seem trifling, but it is a common error and may be worth 
explanation.—B. W. Warhukst. 
WHAT PLANTS USE. 
( Continued from page 474.) 
Sulphuric Acid. —One of the peculiarities of cow urine is the 
quantity of sulphuric acid it contains. Like potash, this is pre¬ 
sent in much larger proportion in the liquid than in the solid 
excrements of animals. It is met with in sulphate of ammonia, 
which is a very stimulating manure, and owes its rapid action 
chiefly to its ammonia, but there can be no doubt that the sulphur 
it'contains is also of benefit to many crops. It is also met with 
in sulphate of lime or gypsum, and is much used on the Continent 
for cereals and in America for Potatoes. Its use in this country 
is nothing to speak of ; why, we know not, for if accounts are to 
be believed, the Germans and the Americans find it of great 
service. In some accounts before us we read of the addition of 
ten bushels per acre of “ plaster ” doubling the crop. Unless this 
be “tall” talk, we must suppose that the undressed soil must 
have been singularly deficient in sulphur, or lime, or both—a by 
no means uncommon occurrence in many of the now impoverished 
lands in the United States. 
In dissolved bones, or superphosphate of lime, it is also largely 
present, and possibly the use of these has helped to limit the use 
of “ plaster,” gypsum, or sulphate of lime, by which names the 
substance is known. 
Lime. —This is such a well-known substance, and its use so 
generally understood, that little need be said in this place about 
it. It may be well, however, to recapitulate briefly the effects of 
lime on soil. (1) Applied to heavy clay land lime tends to 
lighten it, make it more easily worked, drier, and therefore 
warmer and the crops earlier, adds plant-food to the soil, and 
by its chemical action prepares many other unavailable plant- 
foods present in the soil, and so conduces to an earlier, more 
vigorous growth. (2) Applied to old garden land rich in 
organic remains, it hastens their decay, and so liberates the 
mineral salts they contain, thus preparing them for being utilised 
by the growing plants. In practice it is often found that an 
application of lime to land long manured will produce greater 
crops for one or two seasons than will an application of ordinary 
manure. (3) Applied to sour land it does much to cure the 
sourness by combining with the acids and forming salts which 
are either available as plant-food, or, such as are soluble, easily 
washed from the soil by the rains which pass through into the 
drains. Cultivators will require to imitate this cleansing action 
of rain in the case of fruit-tree borders under glass by drenchings 
of water which will pass through the soil and into the drains, 
carrying the hurtful matter along with it. Readers of the Journal 
will recall instances of Vines and other indoor fruits being perma¬ 
nently improved by an application of lime. In the case of borders 
where there is reason to believe that sourness exists, an application 
of lime is a cheap and easily applied remedy. (4) Applied to 
lawns (and grass land generally), it does much to destroy moss, 
which, by reason of the “ survival of the fittest,” may be dis- 
poiling the grasses, and it does much to nourish many of the 
smaller-growing kinds which cannot thrive on land where lime is 
absent, or nearly so—a state of matters everywhere existing where 
for long years lawns have been continually robbed by having the 
mown grass, with all the mineral matter contained in it, continu¬ 
ally removed, and robbed by having its lime and other matters 
continually washed beyond the reach of the roots by the rains. 
Lime applied at intervals maintains the turf in good condition. 
In our case, we find phosphoric acid, potash, and nitrogen in some 
form necessary in addition. These we supply in the form of bone- 
meal and lime sprinkled on in spring, and a dressing of urine in 
wet weather during winter. This application we have found to 
have an almost marvellous effect on worn-out lawns. 
Where slugs abound lime may be made to kill “ twa dogs wi’ 
ae bane.” When newly slaked and sprinkled over ground where 
these abound it will destroy them, and afterwards prove beneficial 
to the soil. In applying lime to inside borders it is best to use 
newly slaked lime mixed with water to the consistency of milk. 
When newly slaked it is soluble in water, and, applied as we 
have recommended to the surface of borders loosened to secure 
its admission, there is no trouble causing it to reach every part of 
the border. Sprinkled on the border it quickly assumes the in¬ 
soluble form, and is less readily diffused through the soil. It, 
however, even in that state never fails to descend and prove bene¬ 
ficial, although the effects are less rapid. When newly burned 
wood ashes ai'e to be had in quantities, and regularly applied to 
the soil, liming is not necessary, because wood ashes contain a 
plentiful supply, not of lime only, but of all the other mineral 
elements of plant food. 
Soda. —Tnis is present in all natural manures. It is available 
in the form of common salt and nitrate of soda, or in the form of 
soda crystals. Possibly the most economical method of applying 
it to soda-loving plants or ground deficient in soda is in the form 
of salt to land rich in decaying organic matter, and in the form 
of nitrate of soda to new land which has little organic remains. 
Water from laundries contains much soda, and water containing 
soda is a valuable manure. Applied to Spinach and Strawberries, 
both “soda plants,” it produces an astonishing result on exhausted 
land. 
Here we have a quantity of Grove End Scarlet Strawberries, 
which bear wonderfully on a piece of very thin very poor ground, 
and manured with soapsuds only. For three years we have given 
a portion of the plot cow urine for manure, a portion we have 
given soapsuds to, and to a third we have given nothing. We 
find that the part dressed with urine produces a ranker growth of 
leaves than either the undressed portion or the portion dressed 
with the suds ; and that the last, while producing a more robust 
growth than the undressed portion, and less than that dressed 
with urine, produce double the amount of fruit foot for foot than 
either. The urine, we find, scarcely increases the yield of fruit; 
its strength is expended on leaves. This we attribute to the 
nitrogen. Common salt in our district applied to Strawberries 
always tells favourably on the crop, but more especially on well- 
manured land ; but even on poor ground its effects are great. On 
poor land we find nitrate of soda preferable, but not on rich; in 
that case the leaves grow too much. 
We ought to say that our situation is inland. In districts 
influenced by the nearness of the sea soda in any form is a useless 
addition, for it is deposited by the rain, and it is, therefore, unne¬ 
cessary to apply it artificially. On light inland soils it seldom 
fails to produce favourable effects. 
Common salt is used by all plants, and is always present in 
common manure ; but, being very soluble, it is being continually 
washed from the soil, and its addition, either by the rain or other¬ 
wise, becomes necessary to the best results. In America it has 
been found that salt and soot alone produced better crops of 
Potatoes than any other manure. As Potatoes require very little 
salt, we can only suppose that where salt produces effects like 
that referred to it must have been singularly deficient in the soil 
and manure alike, and that all the other matters necessary were 
present in moderate abundance. Like lime, salt is easily carried 
away, and, like lime, it is comparatively inexpensive, and always 
repays with high interest its application to land in inland situations. 
