THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
207 
January 17.] 
that roots travel in the direction where the most 
acceptable food is presented, overturn, beyond all 
controversy, Mr. Knight’s hypothesis, that the de¬ 
scent of the root is a consequence of the laws of 
gravitation; for these laws will not explain why 
roots grow sideways, and even upwards, if their best 
source of nourishment is so placed as to require it. 
Gravitation could only influence them to a down¬ 
ward direction in a fluid medium. To maintain that 
the laws of gravitation will make the tender radicle 
of a seed pierce the hardest soil, appears to he a self- 
evident absurdity. 
The death of the last of the members of the 
original firm of “ Conrad Loddiges and Sons ” de¬ 
serves move than the brief notice, that William 
Loddiges died at Hackney, on the 28th of Decem¬ 
ber, aged 73. The event deserves a larger notice, 
because the firm has been associated with the pro¬ 
gress of gardening, both in its practice and its lite¬ 
rature, for nearly the last eighty years. Conrad 
Loddiges, the father of the deceased, entered into 
possession of the Hackney nurseries as long ago as 
the year 1771, when old John Busch gave them up, 
in consequence of being appointed gardener to the 
Empress Catherine of Russia. Both Busch and 
Loddiges were Germans. Conrad Loddiges lived to 
the age of 88, not dying until the March of 1820, and 
was succeeded by his two sous, George and William. 
Than the proprietors of the Hackney Botanic 
Nursery, no men of our time have more promoted 
the onward progress of horticulture. They difl'used 
a taste for it by the publication of the “ Botanical 
Cabinet,” one thousand seven hundred of the figures 
in which were drawn by Mr. G. Loddiges, who died 
during 1840, in his 00th year. They laboured assidu¬ 
ously to gratify the taste thus increased, by sending 
collectors of plants to various parts of the world; 
and the plants thus discovered, and all others worthy 
of cultivation, were gathered together and vended 
to the public, at their Hackney nursery. If cleared 
ofl’at the retail prices, the stock would realise little 
short of A'200,000. Here is assembled an unrivalled 
collection of tender exotics and hardy trees, &c. Thus, 
of Orchids there are nearly 2,000 species, and of 
Palms 180; of Ericae nearly 400, and of Roses, in¬ 
cluding varieties, about 2,000. This garden is so 
arranged, that every species and its congeners may 
be easily examined; and the greenhouses, stoves, &c., 
are most extensive and complete; one—being for 
the special cultivation of palms—is 80 feet long, 
00 feet wide, and 40 feet high. 
The memory of the Loddiges will be well retained 
by that beautiful evergreen, native of the Cape of 
Good Hope, the Loddigesia oxalidifolia. 
The business, we believe, will be continued by 
Mr. Conrad Loddiges, son of the late Mr. George 
Loddiges. 
If any one, having a taste for the highest depart' 
ments of horticulture, can spare sixpence a week for 
its indulgence, let him expend it on The Gardeners' 
Magazine of Botany, the first number of which ap¬ 
peared on the 5th of this month. We say, without 
any reservation, that it is excellent in its literary 
merit, excellent in its typography, and excellent in 
its illustrations. Beautiful as is its coloured plate of 
Passiflora Belottii and Maurandga Barclagana (var- 
rosca), yet the woodcuts are most in accordance with 
our judgment of what the illustrations of such a work 
should be, to be most useful, as well as ornamental. 
The portrait —for it deserves this name—of Colocasia 
odorala, is just what the cultivator of plants requires; 
it shows him the habit of the plant, and gives him 
a model of good growth to imitate, as well as enables 
him to judge, before purchasing, whether it is suited 
to his purpose. There are five other woodcuts, and 
the number is, altogether, the cheapest sixpenny- 
worth of high art we ever have examined. 
THE PKUIT-GARDEN. 
Fruit-forcing : the Peach. —We are now arrived 
in the middle of January, and although much re¬ 
mains to be said, to the cottager and others, about 
out-door fruits, yet, as the earlier portion of the new 
year is always the signal for a renewed campaign in 
the forcing way, we must beg to say a few words about 
the peach. 
Those peaches intended for early forcing have been 
at rest for, at least, two months; if three, all the 
better. By “ rest” is meant a period, dated from the 
casting of the foliage; and, of course, extending up 
to the period of germination. During the rest period, 
and, indeed, for several weeks prior to it, all good cul¬ 
tivators encourage an amount of dryness at the root, 
which at other times would, if not productive of in¬ 
jury, starve the trees. Indeed, from the period of the 
fruit changing colour, water is gradually withheld; it 
being understood that too great an amouut of suc- 
culency in the shoots, or general habit of the tree, 
tends to imperfect elaborations in its sap,—and very 
true the impression, doubtless, is. It so happens, at 
least in our opinion, with the flavour of fruits, as 
with the scent of flowers ; the sweetest mignonette 
we ever knew, grew out of an old brick wall; whilst 
its congener, which grew in a deep bed of moist peat- 
earth, at the foot of the walls, was comparatively 
scentless; proving, beyond all doubt, that in the one 
case, elaboration was “ well up to the mark,” as some 
of our wits say; and, that in the other, it was just 
the converse. 
Such, then, being premised, we will suppose the 
soil, in which the peach-roots are situate, to be rather 
dry; or, as some gardeners will have it, “husky.” 
Water of some kind must, therefore, be administered, 
to get the root in action, if possible, before the shoots ; 
or, at least, perfectly ready to reciprocate the benefits 
derived from them. 
The first proceeding is to go over the surface, and 
scrape, sweep, or collect, by any means, all the pow¬ 
dery, loose, and exhausted-looking soil, which, after 
water has been absent for a long while, is sure to 
collect. This material would not cause any injury, if 
suffered to remain; but it may be considered some¬ 
what exhausted as to the peach, which, like most of 
our stone fruits, prefers a loamy material: that, is to 
