SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1913. 
VOL. LVI.—No. 3,098. 
THE GARDENERS’ MAGAZINE 
NOTE OF THE WEEK. 
Coal. 
Coal is so familiar and apparently com¬ 
monplace a subject that we rarely give a 
thought to the underlying wonders which a 
careful study of it reveals. The garden 
lover who soars beyond the simple culture 
of hardy plants in the open, and whose 
pocket and inclinations permit 
him to deal with tender and 
choice exotics, recognises the fact 
that coal as a heating material 
is ail essential as an indirect 
means of protection of these 
against, the rigours of winter; 
hut probably rarely recognises 
the fact that by its use he is 
really availing himself of a pre¬ 
vious generation of plants whose 
remains are now yielding up 
their long-imprisoned sunshine 
in support of their present suc- 
Tlie human mind, how- 
^'’er, is totally incapaible of esti¬ 
mating the chronological gap 
which lies betaveen the two 
epochs. The great Book of 
Nature which lies beneath our 
\ feet, enshrined in the rocks which 
^ form the terrestrial crust, gives 
»s glimpses of that inconceiv¬ 
able past during which the now 
rv land, or even lofty moun- 
•ains, have alternately sunk into 
the profundities of deep oceans, 
and eventually risen anew there- 
torn into the realm of sun- 
f ine. Each of these changes 
Is clearly proved, and is not the 
mere outcome of vague theory 
as IS evidencerl in the familiar 
tegmns of Kent by the coal 
ch!T wnd<“rlying the 
halk. This naturally leads to 
the questions, “ What is coal ? ” 
ahh What is chalk?” As 
egar<k the latter, we dealt 
th It recently under the title 
of the w’’Jf ‘^’tr 
'bat it tt- 've showed 
posit wh! ^ ®®aentially a deep ocean de- 
foritvT 
animal ^ ^ ac*eretion of marine 
to the coal, 
®nd that fashion, and we 
'nal meaL. immense thickness of the 
*^hallv sloif* ** entirely due to a probably 
“^tetion of terrestrial plant 
%ain C m their allies. 
®*'hpi’ed these plants 
elevated +i areas on more or less 
sa-ampy’u,,,!°"8‘* P'«®omably flat and 
humid Piobably in a con- 
^••opical temn t"’osphere of tropical or sub- 
t^mperature, and under a more or 
less clouded sky—i.e., in the most con¬ 
genial conditions possible for such a class 
of groud-h. It is also reasonable to expect 
that in those far distant times the per¬ 
centage of carbonic acid gas in the atmo¬ 
sphere was much greater tlian at present, 
since at that time all the solid carbon now 
locked lip in our coal seams must have 
been held in suspension as invisible gas in 
the upper air. Profiting by these condi- 
MR. A. BULLOCK. 
“ Notes 
showed 
tions, these fern forests grew luxuriantly 
generation after generation, rising up and 
dying down^ each one in its decay con¬ 
tributing something to the underlying mass 
of vegetable debris, which was eventually 
solidified by its own and subsequent pres¬ 
sure into the coal we are using to-day, in 
which, and the associated shales or under¬ 
lying soil, abundant evidence is found in 
the shape of the veritable frondage itself. 
Such specimens are often so perfect that we 
are quite able to compare them witli pre¬ 
sent-day growths; and, singularly enough, 
though they date so far back that evolu- 
tionally they might be expected to be 
much simpler as an approach to their un¬ 
doubted progenitors, the seaweeds of the 
primeval oce?ms, they are equally complex 
in structure and perfect in detail as their 
succors of to-day. One of the most 
curious features in connection with the 
coal formatio.i generally is the successional 
character of the seams themselves, each 
one of which must represent a continuous 
forest of very long duration. In some parts 
of the world they occur in considerable num¬ 
bers, one after the other, each one definitely 
separated by rocks formed of soli¬ 
dified clayey soil, shale, or even 
of other descriptions, the total 
thickness of such superimpo>secl 
seams running into thousands of 
feet. This could only happen by 
each forest, in turn, becoming 
submerged, which can only mean 
a subsidence of the suiTace and 
consequent flooding. Tliis, in its 
turn, must have brought sus¬ 
pended soil, and accumulated it 
until conditions were restored 
favouring fresh growth and the 
formation of another seam, the 
alternative being a rise of the 
land, which resulted in draining 
it sufficiently to effect the same 
results. Probably the successive 
seams are due to both causes, 
each involving very long periods, 
while the total period involved 
in subsequent deposits, and re¬ 
moval of deposits by denudation, 
since the coal-forming plants 
flourished on the surface, defies, 
as we have said, even an ap¬ 
proach to computation. 
Mr. A. Bullock, head 
gardener to J. AVythes, Esq., 
at Copped Hall, Epping, for the 
past eleven years, has charge of 
an old and very interesting gar¬ 
den, and one which has been 
greatly extended during his 
service. Nothing is specialised 
in, but every effort is made to 
have each department up to 
date, and to maintain a supply 
of fruits, flowers, and vegetables all the 
year round. Tlie gardens are especially well 
provided with a fine lot of glass-houses. Mr. 
Bullock, who is now well known in the 
Metropolitan district, was previously head 
gardener to the late Lady Howard de Wal¬ 
den, at West Malvem^ and before that ho 
was employed at Lockinge, Halton, and 
Dover House, consequently his experience 
has fitted him for the position he now occu¬ 
pies. He is a first-rate all-round gardener^ 
a capable organiser, as exemplified by the 
work he has accomplished at Copped Hall, 
and a most genial companion. For sonio 
time past Mr. Bulloch has had a seat on the 
Iloyal Horticultural Society’s Fruit aiul 
Vegetable Committee, and his thorougli 
