17 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 12, 1859. 
Tlie seedlings were kept in the same box for two years, 
at least, and a fresh surface of the finest soil was put, 
one each year, in October. All sowings and transplant¬ 
ings were done at the full of the moon ; but on that let us 
each have his own notion, without insisting one way or 
the other. 
Now, the inference from all this is, that the extreme 
richness of the soil stimulated all the three parts wdiick 
go to form a double flower—the petals, stamens, and pis¬ 
tils—to a certain point, or stage, on the journey, or de¬ 
velopment into a leaf; and that, at that stage, the bad 
drainage, and the want of air in the soil among the 
roots, were powerful checks to the principles of de¬ 
velopment; the less-developed parts, as the stamens 
and pistils, could be pushed on to that of the petals; 
but a contrary agent—bad gardening, prevented a far¬ 
ther rise ; so that the power to make double flowers 
consists of two strong agents, and the one constantly 
opposing the other. The having the seeds in the soil for 
six or seven mouths before the sprouting, may be a third 
agent or not. The only certain thing is, that under such 
circumstances, all the best double flowers now in cultiva¬ 
tion had their origin. * 
But we must not stop here, since the researches of 
science have revealed to us that peculiarities in the consti¬ 
tution, the icliosyncracy of the individual, are transmitted 
from parents to their offspring, both in the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms. Therefore, during the first course 
of these experiments, we may not arrive farther than to 
induce a peculiarity—a distant, but distinct peculiarity, or 
disposition—To a double flower, that disposition must be 
transmitted to a second generation of the same stock and 
blood, and also through other generations ; but all under 
the same treatment which predisposed the change. 
When florists get any quality, or goodness, once esta¬ 
blished in a seedling, they do not ask for fresh blood to 
heighten, or perpetuate, that quality : they rather trust to 
the well-known transmission from blood to blood, and 
breed in and in. The best two seedlings in a thousand 
are immediately crossed again, if they both possess the 
wished-for quality. A different blood is not let in, 
unless a different quality is desired. A leaf out of their 
books will be the bes^ guide on breeding for double 
flowers, if the pollen of one seedling is not thought to be 
better in the instance. D. Beaton. 
OUR SUPPLY OF WATER THIS YEAR. 
Several times attention has been directed to the prin¬ 
ciple of watering plants, in pots, and in the open ground ; 
but all these directions had reference to a supposed 
abundance of the necessary liquid. Instead of that being 
now the case, many of us arc beginning to calculate where 
our supply for the coming summer is to come from; and, 
as a consequence, scheming how r every drop that falls 
upon houses, or anywhere else where it can be collected, 
shall be saved for use. Instead, too, of slashing water 
about in the paths of houses, for the purpose of cleansing 
aud throwing moisture into the atmosphere, gardeners, 
especially in elevated places, are beginning to look upon 
water with as much carefulness as if they were resident 
in the eastern continent, and not in a little island like 
Britain. Surrounded with such an expanse of ocean, it 
might be considered, that, in our latitude, the evaporation 
arising from that alone would give us a sufficient amount 
of moisture in the shape of rain, independently of that 
raised by evaporation from the land. On the western 
coast we suppose that this is still the case ; but in the 
inland and eastern districts there can be no question, what¬ 
ever be the cause, that there has been a great diminution 
in the fall of rain this last season, reaching to as much 
as from twelve to eighteen inches below the average. As 
a consequence, the springs are unprecedently low—lower : 
even now than they were in the autumn, and likely to 
j continue so, or even to get considerably lower still, unless 
1 we have continuous heavy rains before the warm weather 
| sets in ; for it has been sufficiently demonstrated, that it is 
the rains and snows of winter, and not those of summer, 
however heavy the latter may be, that raise the springs, or 
the great body of water beneath us. A great quantity of 
water often falls in thunder-storms in summer ; but then 
much is absorbed by growing plants—much is quickly 
evaporated into the atmosphere again, owing to the heat 
of the ground ; and if the surface of the ground is at all 
hard, as well as dry, much passes offto the nearest hollows 
aud streams. If the present dry weather continue, many 
of us will have to look to the catching of such water in 
summer for the means of attending to our pot plants, 
and giving what little assistance is possible to general 
crops. 
The want of water, last season, was a general com¬ 
plaint ; and even at this early period gardeners are getting 
stinted in their supply—many being already interdicted 
from taking a drop from the deep well that supplies the 
mansion. A great many ice-houses are unfilled this year, 
not because ice could not have been obtained in Novem¬ 
ber, but because the proprietors of, and resorters to, 
ponds and pools, objected to the ice being taken, owing 
to the shortness of water. Many of these pools, filled 
from surface drainage, especially from hard roads, are 
now better supplied ; but others, depending upon springs, 
or deep drainage from the fields and grounds adjacent, 
are still comparatively dry. A large pond here (Luton), 
overshadowed, too, considerably with trees—and which, in 
the beginning of summer, used to have from three to four 
feet of water, making us quite independent, so far as 
general watering was concerned—had but little in it last 
summer; and for two months now has been vv holly empty. 
With the exception of what rain falls on its large surface, 
and the rain from the roof of a large shed in its vicinity, 
it was supplied from deepish drains in a part of the 
park or meadow-ground in its vicinity. W hen it was 
most plentifully supplied with water, it came chiefly from 
open culverts, and shallow irregular ditches, by the side 
of hedgerows well supplied with timber. 
Whether, notwithstanding our insular position, the 
great changes effected on the surface of the country of 
late years,—chielly by the clearing off woods; greatly 
enlarging fields by doing away with the intervening 
hedgerows and hedgerow timber; and draining the land 
to a great extent,—have had the influence of making our 
climate so much warmer and drier than it used to be, is 
worthy of careful inquiry by those who have time at 
their disposal; as it is just possible that even these im¬ 
provements may be carried to such an extent as may 
bring upon us evils of an opposite nature. Inquirers on 
this subject are generally agreed, that the reducing the 
amount of timber has made the atmosphere drier, and, 
in sonic cases, lessened the general volume of water in 
our rivers. Travellers in America tell us, that from this 
cause the channels of once-considerablc streams are now 
dried up ; and it is said that similar facts in plenty can 
be adduced from the continent of Europe. Trees not 
only prevent, by their shade, evaporation from the ground, 
but by their sharp points, either when leafless or when in 
foliage, act as condensing points when the atmosphere is 
well supplied with vapour. When I was just feeling my 
way amid the theories and facts of evaporation and con¬ 
densation, I noticed, in early spring, that a perfect puddle 
was frequently formed beneath a Beech tree on the side 
of the road, whilst all beyond its circumference was 
dry. On placing some vessels below the tree one even¬ 
ing, so as to catch some of the water as it fell, and, 
making a rough calculation, I was amazed at finding 
that that single tree had condensed enough of vapour to 
make from twenty to thirty gallons of water, and I had 
frequently noticed the ground much wetter. It would 
be interesting to know the comparative properties of trees 
in this respect; for even if Beech should prove to be one 
