214 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Jttly 12, 1859. 
prizes to tho elementary students of all the schools, both in town 
and in the provinces, which are connected with the Department 
of Science and Art, South Kensington Museum, at which Insti¬ 
tution I hare the honour to be the lecturer. Tins fact, mingled 
with a little fear in the mind of the learned Doctor lest there 
should not be such a demand for the works hitherto offered to 
the students as there heretofore has been, fully accounts for that 
clause in the review which says, “ Mr. Dresser has produced an 
expensive book, which tons quite uncalled for." The preceding 
sentence, viz., that “ Mr. Dresser does not understand his sub¬ 
ject ” is fully explained by one or two pages of my work ; of 
these page 267 furnishes an example, where the notes to propo¬ 
sition 819 are intended to show that the learned Professor lias 
given us in his “ Elements,” at propositions 385, 388, one or two 
statements which are false.* Relative to the mistake in my book 
quoted in the last clause of the review, I, without hesitation, 
acknowledge it to be such. Instead of being, “ a Fig may be 
regarded as a peduncle turned inside out," it should be, “ a Fig 
may be regarded as a peduncle turned outside in." This, however, 
is not a proposition—the proposition is correct—nor a whole 
note; and the remainder of the note is right. So both the re¬ 
mainder of the note and the proposition correct the error. But 
as regards mistakes, the one I have already pointed out as exist¬ 
ing in the Doctor’s “ Elements ” is of greater importance than 
the mistake in my book ; and it is in the propositions, and is 
nowhere corrected in the work. In the Professor’s “ School 
Botany” we have (page 15), “If the filaments grow from im¬ 
mediately below the pistil, they are called hypogynous; if they 
grow upon the sides of the calyx they are perigynous; and if 
upon the summit of the ovary they are epigynous. On page 23, 
the Doctor says of the sub-class Calyciflora, of Exogens, that the 
“ stamens ” are “ always perigynous," and yet he places in that 
sub-class (page 64) the Epilobium, where the stamens are as 
truly epigynous as they are, perhaps, in any known instance ; and 
this flower happens to afford Dr. Balfour an illustration of 
epigynous stamens (“ Bal. Class Book,” p.227, fig. 614). I 
mention this in order to caution those who live in glass houses 
against throwing stones, and to show that others make mistakes 
as well as myself.—C. Dresser, South Kensington Museum. 
£We think Mr. Dresser has just cause for complaint, as well 
for the hypercritical review of his book as for the refusal to afford 
him an opportunity for explanation. We have seen the “ Rudi¬ 
ments of Botany,” and feel bound to say, that although it does 
not contain anything that is strikingly new in that science, it 
presents the old truths, and the newest discoveries so intelligibly 
and clearly, as to suit the meanest comprehension of those who 
are earnest in the study of the science ; and this is more than we 
can say of many of the books that are written on the same subject. 
The work is copiously illustrated with very excellent and charac¬ 
teristic wood engravings; and although it may contain such errors 
of oversight, or inadvertence, as have been indicated in tho review 
alluded to, we conceive these to be no more a justification for the 
charge that “ Mi-. Dresser does not understand his subject,” than 
the same charge should be made against Dr. Lindley for the 
errors. that are to be found in his works.— Eds. C. G.] 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GLAZING A WALL. 
“ I have a wall about thirty yards long, and upwards of ten 
feet high, with a south aspect, which I wish to cover with glass 
for the purpose of growing Peaches and Plums without fire heat. 
I think of making, against this wall, a lean-to- house eleven feet 
wide with glass in front. This wall, of course, would be covered 
with trees ; and I propose to fill the house with trees in pots or 
* Let us again take our two simple forms of inflorescence [Fig. 3G1, 
A b), one of which (b) is definite, or compound, according to Dr. Lindley— 
that is, it is formed of more than one branch ; and the other (a) is indefinite, 
or, accoiding to Dr. Lindley, simple—formed of the buds cf one branch. 
Now, in each of these we have the same number of axes, and the same 
number of buds, and in both the primary axis has gi\ en off two branch 
axes, and each of these is terminated by a flower ; and yet one is said to be 
compound (composed of more than one branch), while the other is simple, 
or the result of one branch. In both cases we have a central axis, which 
is the primary stem, and in both cases this primary stem gives oft' two 
branches, which are, therefore, the result of the simple and compound, 
while perfectly expressive of diverse formations of the axis, are inappli¬ 
cable to the inflorescence (save to its axes). The expansion of the flowers 
reveals whether the mode of growth is definite .—Rudiments of Botany, 
p. 267. 
boxes, and bush trees planted out. Would the trees on the wall 
be too far from the glass ? Will Pears do well under glass ? 
Some of my friends tell me that when grown in a house they have 
no flavour.” 
[Your plan will answer well, if you do not let your trees in 
front shade those at the back. If tho front part were sunk lower 
than the back border, that would help you. If there is any 
doubt as to the flavour of the Pears, turn the pots and boxes out 
of doors as they are taking their last swelling. Vou will secure a 
crop—the great thing.] 
RENOVATING AN OLD PEAR TREE. 
“ A wall Pear tree trained fan-shape is, I should suppose, at 
least fifty years old. The subsoil is sandy, and the shoots canker 
away, and the tree is fruitless. My employers have been advised 
by a visitor to train the young lateral shoots by the side of the 
main branches. These laterals to remain and grow up with the 
rest of tho tree. I have failed to convince them that the method 
is impracticable, and that no advantage would attend the carrying 
out of the suggestion.”—K. H. 
[The plan proposed will not cure the tree of canker; to do 
this, the roots will require to be raised into better soil near the 
surface. Otherwise, the laying-in of the young wood is a good 
plan ; but in doing so, each alternate main branch should be cut 
out, or all the spurs at present on the branches, so t hat the young 
lateral shoots may have plenty of light. Were the shoots reversed 
—that is, trained backwards instead of forwards iu the usual way, 
the chance would be improved. It would be two years at the 
earliest before the fruit.] 
GRAFTING AND INARCHING A VINE. 
“ ‘ B. C.’ will feel obliged by your telling him if it is too late 
to graft a Vine ? It is in a late house, and in full leaf. 
“ Also, should the graft be put on the old wood or the young?” 
[Unless you have a retarded scion not yet beginning to move, 
it. is too late to graft the Vine. We hardly think that, you could 
keep a scion in any place without budding before July. If it 
had been in April we should have cut the Vine down, and put 
the Vine scion on last year’s wood, so that the inner bark of both 
would meet, and tie and clay in the usual manner. 
At this season you had better proceed by inarching. Choose 
the strongest shoot of this year’s growth on the Vine, bring a 
Vine in a pot to it, slip a piece ofl' from the outside of both 
shoots, join them together, and in a few weeks the union will be 
effected. To give strength to the inarched shoot, gradually re¬ 
move first a part and then the whole of the old Vine above the 
inarching. When the inarched shoot is growing vigorously, 
separate it also from the pot.] 
SELF-ACTING VENTILATOR — CALIFORNIAN TREE 
LUPINE. 
“Having a greenhouse to attend to a mile and a half from the 
garden, 1 have found it very troublesome at times. A thought 
struck me that there was a possibility of having a self-acting 
ventilator; and being aware of the laws of expansion, I thought 
that an iron bar, or rod, with a few pinions would be all that was 
necessary : the solar heat would accomplish the rest. The plan 
looks so feasible and so simple. A few wheels connected with the 
metallic rod would, from half an inch expansion, gain perhaps 
two feet. The plan is probable, but it is for you to say if it is 
possible. 
“ I got a few seeds of the Californian tree Lupine three years 
ago, and only two of them ever saw the light. I kept one of 
them in the greenhouse, and I planted the other out against the 
wall of my own house. The greenhouse one is a poor sickly 
thing; but the other is as Btrong and healthy as a whin bush, 
and flowering to profusion. It is now getting so strong, that it 
has nearly deprived me of daylight. If I had known that it 
would have been such a beauty, it should have been placed iu a 
more conspicuous situation. Can I lift it with any chance of 
success ? and when ? 
“ Which is the earliest Strawberry ?”— I. M. I. 
[Ventilation may be given as you suppose; but it is rather an 
intricate affair, and the machinery is apt to get out of order. 
Such a house so far from the superintendent is of little value. 
