230 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Januaky 11, 1859. 
and only solitary plants occasionally. Young ones being raised 
»o easily, it is not worth caring for older ones. But, as ray cul¬ 
ture differs in some respects from that of those given at pages 
185 and 186, I may be allowed here to explain it. 
In the middle of the kitchen garden there is a brick pit, six 
feet wide, and one hundred feet long ; the back, eighteen inches, 
or more, high ; the front, about a foot high ; the whole being of 
four-and-a-half-inch brickwork, with timber top-plate. This pit 
is generally more than half full of Calceolaria cuttings, placed in 
rows, about throe inches apart, and about two inches, or less, 
from each other in the row. These are put in from the middle 
to the end of October; and, if the weather be dry at the time, 
they are watered, and some old lights placed over them ; but if 
moist, they are left open, and the lights are only put on when 
sharp frosts set in. Generally speaking, every cutting becomes a 
plant. But there is not much growth until February ; and 
sometimes by the middle of March they have grown so much as 
to render it necessary to take up alternate rows and plant else¬ 
where, in order to give the remaining ones room; but none are 
potted, and no description of plant, that I am aware of, moves so 
well. The roots, being a great number of small fibres, radiating 
from the stem, and all of equal length, clasp the earth within 
them so firmly, that it all adheres, and they plant out admirably. 
Last year, the most of them were in the beds early in April, a 
slight protection being given on cold nights. I have even planted 
some out in March, with tolerably good success; but this is too 
soon, in a general way. With me, the soil is too light for their 
doing well in dry weather, which is also a reason for planting them 
early in the season, and for their standing so well in the winter. 
I shall certainly be sorry to lose their services in the flower 
garden, as nothing conduces more to general effect than good 
beds of yellow Calceolarias ; and, taking the compact habit of the 
plant, the brilliant hue of the flowers, and their adaptability 
for bouquet or other pm’poses, I trust the day is yet far distant 
when wo have to bid it farewell from the garden. But, as prac¬ 
tical notices are more useful than conjectures, I may here con¬ 
clude by saying, that, so far as my experience goes, it proves the 
plant capable of enduring a good share of hot, dry weather ; but 
this checks its growth, and, the continuous formation of flower- 
buds not going on, there is a long and serious blank after those 
in flower cease to be ornamental. But, when we hear of whole 
beds failing hi the moist districts of Stailbrd and Lancashire, it 
is proper to inquire if some other agent is not at work than 
merely the hot weather complained of. The whole subject being 
one of great interest to the flower gardener, it ought to be sifted, 
when, doubtless, something useful to the community at large may 
be gleaned from the various reports.— J. Robson. 
THE CHEMISTRY OF GARDENING. 
Chemistky teaches us of what all things in and upon the 
earth are composed, the changes to which they are liable, and 
how to promote or prevent those changes. Chemistry, therefore, 
is peculiarly applicable to gardening, for gardening has for its 
objects the production of the fruits, flowers, and culinary vegetables 
of any climate, in any habitable place, in perfection, and at the 
least possible expense. 
Now, to attain that perfection, and as much as possible to 
avoid unnecessary expense, a gardener ought to understand the 
changes going on in every part of his plants during every period 
of their growth, and how those changes may be modified. Not 
any of this can he understand, unless he lias a knowledge of 
chemistry. Chemistry, as applied to the cultivation of plants, 
has made large onward progress since the days when Sir 
Humphry Davy first lectured upon the theme; yet even then he 
justly pointed out, that, “If land be unproductive, and a system 
of ameliorating it is to be attempted, the sure method of ob¬ 
taining the object is by determining the cause of its sterility, 
which must necessarily depend upon some defect in the con¬ 
stitution of the soil, which may be easily discovered by chemical 
analysis. 
“ Some lands of good apparent texture are yet sterile in a 
high degree; and common observation and common practice 
afford no means of ascertaining the cause, or of removing the 
effect. The application of chemical tests, in 6uch cases, is 
obvious ; for the soil must contain some noxious principle which 
may be easily discovered, and, probably, easily destroyed. 
“ Are any of the salts of iron present? they may be decomposed 
by lime. Is there an excess of siliceous sand? the system of 
improvement must depend on the application of clay and cal¬ 
careous matter. Is there a defect of calcareous matter? the 
remedy is obvious. Is an excess of vegetable matter indicated ? 
it may be removed by liming, paring, and burning. Is there a 
deficiency of vegetable matter? it is to bo supplied by animal 
and vegetable manure. 
“ A question concerning the different kinds of limestone to be 
employed in cultivation often occurs. To determine this fully in 
the common way of experience would demand a considerable 
time—perhaps some years, and trials which might be injurious to 
crops; but by simple chemical tests the nature of a limestclne 
is discovered in a few minutes ; and the fitness of its application, 
whether as a manure for diflerent soils, or as a cement, determined. 
“ Beat earth of a certain consistence and composition is an ex¬ 
cellent manure; but there are some varieties of peats which 
contain so large a quantity of ferruginous matter as to bo ab¬ 
solutely poisonous to plants. Nothing can be more simple than 
the chemical operation for determining the nature, and the 
probable uses of a substance of this kind. 
“ The phenomena of vegetation must be considered as an im¬ 
portant branch of the science of organised nature; but, though 
exalted above inorganic matter, vegetables are yet, in a great 
measure, dependent for their existence upon its laws. They 
receive their nourishment from the external elements ; they assi¬ 
milate it by means of peculiar organs; and it is by examining 
then- physical and chemical constitution, and the substances and 
powers which act upon them, and the modifications which they 
undergo, that the scientific principles of cultural chemistry are 
obtained.’’—( Davy’s Lectures .) 
Science, it is true, can never supersede the necessity for a prac¬ 
tical acquaintance with the operations of the spade, tho knife, 
and the hoe; but it is their best guide—a pilot needed even by 
the most experienced. 
The growth of horticultural science lias been slow; for, al¬ 
though its dawn was in the Elizabethan age, yet it never afforded 
any distinct light to gardening until the beginning of the present 
century. 
It is undoubtedly true, that in much earlier ages there were 
surmises bom of inquiring minds, that are startlingly in accord¬ 
ance with the results afforded by modern vegetable chemistry aud 
physiology; but they were no more than surmises; fortunate 
guesses, that, among many totally erroneous, happened to savour 
of truth. Thus Pythagoras forbade the use of Beans as food, 
because he thought that they and human flesh were created from 
the same substances, and modern research has rendered it certain 
that that pulse has among its constituents more animo-vegetable 
matter than most other seeds. Empedocles maintained that 
plants are sexual; that they possess life and sensation ; and that 
he remembered when ho was a plant himself, previously to being 
Empedocles. 
Theophrastus and Pliny wrote more voluminously upon plants, 
but not with more knowledge of their physiology ; and little or 
no improved progress is really visible until the sixteenth century 
was well advanced,; for this branch of science was no bright 
exception from the darkness [enveloping all human knowledge 
during the middle ages ; and it w r as not until that period in which 
Bacon lived, that the human mind threw off the trammels of the 
schoolmen, and instead of arguing as to what must he, proceeded 
to examine and search out what is. Tho Reformation, the spirit 
of the age, was then not confined to religion. By delivering tho 
human mind from thraldom, and teaching man to search all 
things, but to retain only that which is good because true, it gave 
an impetus to improvement which no tyrant opposition has ever 
since been enabled to cheek. 
Such men as Bacon, Peiresc, Evelyn, Grew, and Malpighi arose. 
Bacon was the first to teach aloud, that man can discover truth 
in no way but by observing and imitating the operations of 
nature; that truth is born of fact, not of speculation; and that 
systems of knowledge are to be founded, not upon ancient au¬ 
thority, not upon metaphysical theories, but upon experiments 
and observations in the world around us. 
Peiresc was a munificent man of letters, whose house, whose 
advice, and whose purse were opened to the students of every 
art and science. His library was stored with the literature of 
every age, and bis garden with exotics from every clime, from 
whence he delighted to spread them over Europe. 
Grew, in England, and Malpighi, in Italy, devoted themselves 
to the anatomical examination of plants, and these were followed 
by Linnteus, Gsertner, and others, who, trusting only to the 
dissocting knife and tho microscope, soon precipitated into ruins 
