January  21,  1897. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
47 
Where  such  encouragement  is  denied  when  represented  properly, 
there  remains  the  Post  Office  Savings  Bank,  open  to  receive  weekly 
contributions.  In  gardens  where  there  is  one  of  the  official  watering 
can  boxes  fixed  I  presume  there  would  be  no  objection  to  the  appropria¬ 
tion  of  the  contents  towards  the  same  assistance. 
There  is  a  time  in  the  probationer’s  life  when  he  feels  constrained 
to  make  some  kind  of  provision  for  the  proverbial  rainy  day  ;  but  as 
he  knows  little  or  nothing  of  this  Institution  he  is  easily  attracted 
to  the  local  lodges.  I  have  not  one  word  to  say  against  them  ;  on  the 
contrary,  some  are  known  to  be  most  worthy  and  well  managed,  but  the 
prudent  man  will  compare  the  results.  In  the  “  Royal,”  for  one  pay¬ 
ment  of  10  guineas  he  is  eligible  at  sixty  if  needy,  or  sooner  if  incapa¬ 
citated,  to  receive  by  right  the  sum  of  £20  per  annum  for  life  without 
further  trouble. 
In  working  up  our  Worcester  branch  it  astonished  the  Committee  to 
find  the  number  of  gardeners  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  the  Institu¬ 
tion.  Personally,  I  should  like  to  see  the  leading  gardeners  of  each 
county,  or  federation  of  counties,  form  themselves  into  working  com¬ 
mittees  with  the  intention  of  forming  branches  locally,  to  map  out 
districts  for  each  committeeman  to  canvas,  and  bring  home  to  every 
gardener  in  the  United  Kingdom  the  claims  and  existence  of  such  an 
Institution. 
None  could  then  plead  ignorance,  and  I  am  almost  autocratic 
enough  to  suggest  a  black  register.  If  this  county  federation  were  done 
thoroughly  I  predict  a  result,  both  direct  and  indirect,  that  would  justify 
the  appeal  now  being  made  by  our  Treasurer,  Mr.  Harry  J.  Veitch,  to 
establish  a  “  Victorian  Era  Fund,”  and  even  exceed  his  most  sanguine 
expectations. — William  Crump,  Madresdeld  Court. 
Allow  me  to  congratulate,  those  contributors  to  “The  Young 
Gardeners’  Domain,”  who.  on  my  advice,  are  now,  or  about  to  be,  Royal 
Benevolent  Gardeners.  There  are  few,  in  the  bothy  at  least,  but  what 
to  be  so  must  entail  some  little  self-sacrifice  ;  not  in  itself  sufficient  to 
provide  an  excuse  for  standing  aloof,  but  amply  sufficient  for  us  elders 
to  honour  their  spirited  action.  May  I,  too,  be  permitted  to  express  the 
wish  that  the  governing  authorities  of  that  body  could  see  their  way  to 
encourage  young  gardeners  by  admitting  them  as  members  at  a  reduced 
subscription  of,  sav  half  a  guinea  per  annum,  until  they  attain  the 
position  of  “head.”  Bravo!  young  gardeners.  You  have  “  done  well, 
and  not  too  soon,”  and  afforded  much  gratification  to — An  Old  Boy. 
We  may  add  that  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  no  form  of 
commemorating  the  Queen’s  reign  would  be  more  in  consonance 
.with  Her  Majesty’s  feelings  than  such  a  Fund  as  that  proposed 
by  the  G.R.B.I.  ;  because  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who  has  received 
many  inquiries  on  the  subject,  has  stated  that,  whilst  giving  no 
advice,  he  suspected  the  Queen  would  be  best  pleased  with 
celebrations  “  which  may  tend  to  brighten  the  lives  and  ameliorate 
the  condition  of  Her  Majesty’s  poorer  subjects.”  This  is  exactly 
the  object  of  the  Institution  and  its  “  Victorian  Era  Fund,”  and 
it  is  hoped  it  will  be  supported  by  the  workers  casting  in  their 
mites,  as  well  as  by  the  wealthy  in  the  gardening  community. 
We  should  like  to  say  also,  in  connection  with  commemorative 
proposals  and  decisions,  how  gladdening  it  is  to  find  that  a  kindred 
institution  which  graces  the  horticultural  world,  the  Royal 
Gardeners’  Orphan  Fund,  which  was  established  in  honour  of  Her 
Majesty’s  Jubilee  in  1887,  has  been  enabled  to  admit  all  candidates 
to  the  benefits  of  the  Fund  during  the  present  eventful  year.  The 
claims  of  this  admirable  charity  must  never  be  overlooked.  In 
view  of  calls  for  the  assistance  of  aged  gardeners,  widows,  and 
orphans,  also  of  the  Indian  Famine  Fund,  we  begin  to  think  that 
Mr.  Wood’s  laudable  endeavour  to  provide  a  Hall  of  Horticulture 
must  stand  over. 
CHEMISTRY  IN  THE  GARDEN. 
The  rapid  strides  which  scientists  have  made  during  the  past 
fifty  years  in  extending  our  knowledge  of  natural  science  is  one  of 
the  most  marked  features  of  the  present  age.  Science  permeates 
every  trade,  and  many  are  the  facts  which  could  be  brought 
forward  to  show  how  valuable  it  is  when  combined  with  good 
practice. 
What  is  science  ?  The  late  Professor  Huxley  defined  it  as 
“  organised  common  sense,”  or  what,  in  other  words,  we  should 
call  “  true  knowledge ;  ”  and  what  can  be  more  profitable  to 
cultivators  than  true  knowledge  of  the  work  in  which  they  are 
engaged  ?  There  are  two  sides  to  all  garden  work — namely,  the 
scientific  and  the  practical.  To  know  why  we  prune  our  fruit 
trees  or  pot  and  water  our  plants  is  the  scientific  side  ;  to  do  the 
pruning,  potting,  or  watering  is  the  practical.  Science  and  practice, 
therefore,  go  hand  in  hand,  and  cannot  be  separated. 
Gardening,  like  agriculture,  is  an  art  which  has  been  pursued 
from  time  immemorial.  If  practice  alone  could  make  an  art 
perfect,  gardening  and  agriculture  ought  to  stand  out  pre¬ 
eminently  above  all  others.  Do  they  ?  I  think  not. 
Anyone  coming  in  contact  with  continental  gardeners  soon 
notices  how  wide  is  their  knowledge  of  natural  science,  and  will 
then  begin  to  understand  why  we,  in  some  departments,  are  losing 
ground.  To  some  extent  we  are  not  so  fortunate  as  our  continental 
neighbours,  for  while  they  have  many  institutions  devoted  to 
extending  the  scientific  as  well  as  the  practical  knowledge  of  their 
gardeners,  we  have  but  few.  The  books  written  on  garden  science 
are  not  many,  and  when  we  read  the  few  there  are,  we  soon  find 
out  how  much  we  are  depending  upon  other  countries  for  our 
scientific  information. 
Chemistry  is  one  of  the  natural  sciences,  and  is  the  one  most 
useful  to  gardeners  and  horticulturists  ;  for  by  its  aid  we  are  able 
to  prove  —  (1)  What  substances  plants  take  from  the  atmosphere 
and  soil  to  increase  their  growth  ;  (2)  of  what  soils  consist ;  and 
(3)  what  ingredients  manures  contain  that  make  them  valuable  to 
apply  to  the  soil  for  the  use  of  growing  plants. 
It  seems  at  first  difficult  to  grasp  the  fact,  that  so  far  as  we 
know  every  substance  in  the  world  is  made  up  of  one  or  more 
simple  bodies — called  elements — of  which  about  seventy  are  known 
to  the  chemist.  Some  of  the  elements  are  found  in  Nature  in  a 
free  or  uncombined  state  ( eg .,  sulphur,  iron,  or  gold),  while  others 
are  united  or  combined  to  form  compounds  ( e.g .,  water,  ammonia, 
or  salt).  I  shall  have  constantly  to  refer  to  these  two  words — 
namely,  elements  and  comjwunds,  therefore  let  us  clearly  understand  the 
meaning  of  them. 
An  element  is  a  substance  which  cannot  by  any  known  means 
be  made  to  yield  anything  other  than  itself  ;  a  compound,  however, 
differs  from  an  element,  because  it  can  be  made  to  yield  those 
elements  which  build  it  up.  To  make  this  clearer  I  might  say 
that  an  element  resembles  a  letter  of  the  alphabet,  while  a  com¬ 
pound  would  be  similar  to  a  word.  If  we  take  the  letter  “  A,” 
for  instance,  we  know  we  cannot  make  it  yield  any  other  letter, 
but  if  we  take  a  word  we  can  make  that  word  yield  the  letters 
of  which  it  is  formed. 
Chemists  have  been  able  to  tell  us  of  what  elements  plants 
consist  by  carefully  analysing  them.  The  following  elements  have 
been  found  in  all  the  plants  that  have  been  analysed  : — Hydrogen, 
oxygen,  nitrogen,  carbon,  sulphur,  chlorine,  phosphorus,  potassium, 
calcium,  magnesium,  iron,  and  generally  sodium  and  silicon. 
Vegetable  physiologists  took  the  subject  up,  and  by  growing  plants 
in  pure  water  or  quartz  sand,  to  which  they  applied  compounds 
containing  the  above  named  elements,  they  found  they  were  able 
to  grow  plants  quite  as  successfully  as  they  could  in  fertile  soil.  By 
leaving  out  any  of  the  elements  in  the  compounds  they  applied  they 
were  able  to  see  what  effect  the  deficiency  had  on  the  plant.  These 
experiments  soon  proved  that  plants  do  not  obtain  their  carbon 
from  the  soil,  and  also  that,  as  a  rule,  they  (plants)  could  be  grown 
successfully  when  chlorine,  sodium,  and  silicon  were  not  applied. 
If  any  of  the  other  elements  named  above  were  omitted  the 
plants  either  refused  to  grow,  or  would  only  do  so  to  a  limited 
extent. 
We  will  now  proceed  to  the  study  of  the  different  elements 
found  to  be  essential  for  the  growth  of  plants,  for  it  is  only  by 
doing  so  that  we  can  obtain  that  solid  foundation  upon  which  to 
build  our  knowledge  of  garden  chemistry. 
Hydrogen  (symbol  H). — This  element  is  a  colourless  invisible 
gas  which  is  found  only  sparingly  in  Nature  in  a  free  state. 
Although  hydrogen  enters  into  the  composition  of  all  plants  and 
the  organic  compounds  found  in  them,  they  (plants)  never  absorb 
it  as  a  gas,  but  always  in  combination  with  other  elements  which 
we  shall  subsequently  consider.  It  will  be  sufficient  at  present 
to  say  that  plants  obtain  their  chief  supply  of  hydrogen  from 
water. 
Oxygen  (symbol  0). — This  element  is  a  colourless  invisible 
gas  found  in  Nature  in  considerable  quantities,  both  in  a  free  state 
and  in  combination  with  other  elements.  Indeed,  it  is  the  most 
abundant  of  all  the  elements,  forming  as  it  does  one-fifth  by 
volume  of  the  gases  which  constitute  the  atmosphere,  eight-ninths 
by  weight  of  all  the  water  which  exists,  and  in  combination  with 
other  elements  it  forms  a  large  part  of  the  solid  mass  of  the 
earth. 
Oxygen  enters  into  the  composition  of  all  plants,  and  also  into 
the  compounds  found  in  them.  Plants  would  die,  and  seeds  would 
not  germinate  if  they  were  deprived  of  this  gas.  The  reason  of 
this  is  that  during  growth  certain  chemical  changes  are  taking 
place  during  which  oxygen  is  absorbed  and  carbon  dioxide  exhaled  ; 
energy  is  also  required,  and  this  is  produced  by  the  oxidation  of 
certain  compounds  within  the  plants  or  seeds.  This  interchange 
of  gases  is  called  the  respiration  of  plants.  The  principal  source 
from  which  plants  obtain  hydrogen  and  oxygen  is  water.  This 
being  so,  we  see  that  plants  have  an  unlimited  supply  of  these  two 
element*. 
