252 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 24, 1860. 
20 rods of Swede Turnips might be sown with that crop. 
The cultivator by this time will have attained a consider¬ 
able amount of practical knowledge, and 'be able to com¬ 
prehend his requirements better than before : therefore, 
with this season’s cultivation, we will close that of the 
“ Stiff Land Farm,” making, however, a few observations 
generally in another place on the routine work not par¬ 
ticularly mentioned already. J. Robson. 
{To he continued.) 
EDGING ROUND A CARRIAGE ROAD. 
A “ Subscriber ” wishes to know what would be the best for 
edging round a drive in front of a mixed border backed with 
shrubs with a margin of turf next the gravel ? She would like 
something hardy that could be kept neat with little trouble. 
Would either Cerastium or variegated Mint do ? 
[Neither the variegated Mint nor the Cerastium will do as an 
edging round a carriage drive, or round a mixed border, any¬ 
where in this latitude. Rut your question is a puzzle; 
whether you mean the new edging to supersede the grass verge, 
or to run along at the back of the grass in front of the mixed 
border. The carriage drive we know best runs up all the way 
from the lodge gate to the front of the house, and is bordered 
one-half the way with evergreens on both sides; the other half 
of the distance is planted only on one side, and that half is full 
of evergreens and half of fine-flowering deciduous shrubs, Roses 
(dwarf's and standards), Phloxes, Golden Rods and Michaelmas 
Daisies, Hollyhocks; and, in summer, Dahlias, standard Fuchsias, 
and ever so many odds and oddities. That half and this half 
are edged with the common evergreen Berberis (B. aquifolia) 
instead of grass verges; and you never saw a more neat or more 
comfortable drive, or one that gives less trouble to keep so.] 
THE SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 
{Continued from page 226.) 
The ascent of the sap, like the circulation of the blood, is in¬ 
creased in rapidity by an addition to the temperature in which 
the plant is vegetating; and when it is flowing from incisions 
made in a stem at various heights from the ground, a sudden re¬ 
duction of temperature will cause a cessation of the flow from 
the upper wounds whilst it continues from those below. 
These facts indicate most satisfactorily why the gardener finds 
his Vines, Peaches, and other plants in the forcing-houses in¬ 
jured by keeping them in a high temperature during the night. 
It is then, as in the animal economy, that the individual functions 
are renovated by a temporary repose, and if left to the dictates 
of healthy nature, the sap, like the blood, flows at night with a 
much diminished velocity. 
If the night is cold, the ascending sap actually sinks back—a 
fact observed by Hales and Knight, and further established by 
the experiments of M. Biot. Thus showing that, as in most 
animals, it is the daily period of diminished circulation and 
of consequent rest. Hales found that a Sunflower which per¬ 
spired 30 ozs. during a warm day, perspired only 3 ozs. during a 
warm, dry night. 
In man the number of inspirations are diminished during 
sleep, in the ratio of six to seven when awake, and the pulsations 
in the ratio of three to four per minute. The temperature of 
the body is about 2° lower at midnight than early in the morning. 
It is evident that in plants as well as in animals, light acts 
as a stimulant, and darkness, or the absence of light, acts as a 
sedative. Thus, it is known that the leaves of many plants 
assume a very different position in the night from what they 
have had in the day. These positions are not the same in the 
case of all leaves that are said to sleep. They differ with the 
species in which the change of position takes place. Simple 
leaves that sleep are affected in their totality. Compound leaves 
that sleep are not always affected in their totality, but only in 
some of their parts. 
Of simple leaves some ,—the opposite, meet by the bending in 
of their petioles, and sleep face to face, as in A triplex; some,— 
the alternate, by the folding in of their edges, so as to embrace 
the stem, and cover the flower in their axil, as in the Mallows; 
and some by the bending down of the leaf-stallc, so as to cover 
the flowers below, as in Impatiens. 
Of compound leaves, some are trefoils, and some winged, 
forming the ground of a primary division. Of trefoils, some 
bend their leafits so as to bring the base and summit nearly into 
contact, leaving a cradle-like cavity in the middle, which some¬ 
times protects the flowers, as in Trifolium incarnatum. Some 
bend them by the lower half, and leave the summit divergent, as 
in the Melilots ; and some bend them down so as to face by their 
inferior surfaces, as in Oxalis. Of winged leaves, some erect 
their leafits, so as to meet above the petiole, face to face, as in 
Colutea. Some bend them down so as to meet below the petiole 
by their under surfaces, as in Acacia. Some fold them up, above 
and along the common foot-stalk, so as to overlap one another, 
in a direction looking to the summit of the petiole, as in the 
genus Mimosa, in which there is this singularity, that while the 
leafits bend up, the main petiole bends down. Lastly, the leafits 
of Tephroisa Caribcea fold up and overlap like those of Mimosa, 
but in a direction looking to the base of the petiole .—{De Can¬ 
dolle, Thy to. Vey., 857.) 
No other evidence need be given that plants are benefited by 
exposure to a lower temperature at night than that to which they 
have been subjected by day, than the fact that wherever a plant 
grows naturally, there it is subjected to such daily alternations 
of temperature. 
The following table exhibits the average day and night tem¬ 
peratures at a few places in each month of the twelve :— 
January. I 
February. 
j March. | 
April. 
tA 
c3 
3 
June. I 
jA 
'B 
>-> 
August. 
September 
October. 
November. 
December. 
London .j 
40-3 
44-6 
481 
55*4 
64-1 
G8-4 
71-5 
71-2 
65-7 
57-1 
47-2 
42-7 
31-4 
33-7 
35-3 
39’4 
46-5 
49-8 
53-8 
53 9 
48-7 
43-5 
36-5 
33-9 
Canton .j 
57 
58 
71 
76 
78 
84 
88 
86 
84 
76 
68 
63 
45 
45 
60 
69 
73 
79 
84 
83 
79 
70 
61 
52 
Sadiza(Assam) j 
60-5 
47-5 
61 
52’5 
69 
56 
73-5 
66-5 
78-5 
70 
83-5 
76-5 
83-5 
76 
84 
77 
85 
76 
80 
69-5 
77 
64-5 
... 
Mussooree ( 
51-5 
63 
69 
77 
78 
74 
71 
69 
69-5 
66-5 
57 
55 
(Himalaya) i[ 
34-5 
27 
37 
41 
41 
61 
63 
63 
57 
48 
48 
29 
Macao .J 
72 
71 
77 
83 
85 
89 
92 
90 
88 
86 
80 
70 
53 
49 
55 
66 
71 
74 
81 
79 
76 
61 
57 
57 
Madras .j 
81-1 
83-6 
87'6 
91-4 
92-9 
93-0 
92-3 
90-2 
88-5 
84-9 
82-8 
80-6 
72-7 
72-6 
76-9 
81-0 
82-4 
82-0 
Sl-5 
80-1 
79-2 
77-4 
74-3 
73-0 
Dodabetta l 
58 6 
56-7 
61-7 
61-3 
62’4 
54-9 
54-4 
55-1 
54-9 
55-6 
55-6 
54-0 
(Neilgherrv ' 
44-4 
45-9 
47-1 
51-2 
49-9 
46-1 
47-9 
46-8 
47-4 
48-1 
47-2 
45-1 
Hills) ( 
Such a table as this of the lowest and highest temperatures to 
which the plants of every country are subjected, would be one of 
the best guides for their culture that could be bestowed upon the 
gardener. Tables of average temperatures, jumbling together 
those of the day and the night, are worse than useless, for they 
often mislead. Who can tell from a general average of 60°, 
whether the day’s highest is 80° and the night’s lowest 40° ; or 
70° and 50°; or 65° and 55° ? The best light we can throw 
upon such dark, uncertain tables, is to remind the gardener that 
the average night temperature of any place is usually from 10° 
to 20° lower than its average day temperature. 
In addition to this we will add M. Boussingault’s list of the 
maximum and minimum temperatures favourable to the par¬ 
ticular vegetables in the success of which man is more especially 
interested. 
Coco or Chocolate Bean 82 to 73 
Banana.— to 64 
Indigo . — to 71 
Sugar Cane. — to 71 
Cocoa nut. — to 78 
Palm. — to 78 
Tobacco . — to 65 
Manihot (Tapioca) . — to 72 
Cotton Tree. — to 67 
Maize . — to 59 
Haricots . — to 59 
Kice . — to 75 
Pine Apple . 
to 
68 
Melon . 
_ 
to 
67 
Vanilla. 
Grape Vine . 
. 79 
to 
74 
Coffee . 
_ 
to 
66 
Wheat . 
to 
59 
Bailey . 
— 
to 
57 
Potatoes . 
. 75(?)to 
49 
Flax . 
to 
59 
Apple . 
to 
59 
Oak . 
to 
61 
That plants do become exhausted by too unremitting excite¬ 
ment is proved to every gardener who has a Peach-house under 
his rule; for if the greatest care be not taken to ripen the wood 
by exposure to the air and light during the summer, no Peach 
tree will be fruitful if forced during a second successive winter, 
but will require a much more increased temperature than at first 
to excite it even to any advance in vegetation.—J. 
{To he continued.) 
