April  9,  1868. 
JOURNAL  OP  H  0  R  TIC  UL  T  UUP  A  NO  COTTAGE  GAEdENEU. 
329 
been  treated  with  commercial  fertilisers,  it  may  now  receive,  or  at 
the  time  of  sowing  or  planting  the  crop,  the  customary  dressing. 
This  is  all  that  is  necessary  in  most  cases,  and  every  one  of  the 
chemical  fertilisers  not  containing  organic  matter  are  insecticides, 
for  pests  cannot  live  on  inorganic  matter  until  it  is  organised  by 
the  plant.  This  derives  its  food  solely  in  the  form  of  chemicals — 
chlorides,  nitrates,  phosphates,  and  sulphates  of  calcium,  iron, 
magnesium,  potassium,  and  soda.  Chlorides  mean  chlorine, 
nitrates  nitric  acid,  phosphates  phosphoric  acid,  and  sulphates 
sulphur.  The  salts  enter  the  plant  by  the  absorbent  surfaces  of 
the  roots  and  pass  upwards,  through  the  stem,  to  the  leaves  and  the 
new-forming  buds,  and  these  parts,  which  are  unfolded  to  the  air, 
gather  from  it  carbon  dioxide  gas.  This  compound  is  decomposed 
in  the  plants,  its  carbon  remains  there  and  its  oxygen,  or  very 
nearly  an  equivalent  quantity,  is  thrown  off  into  the  air  again. 
From  the  carbon  thus  acquired  the  plant  organises  the  carbo¬ 
hydrates,  starch  being  the  first  product  recognisable  by  the 
microscope.  The  albuminoids  require  for  their  production  the 
salts  of  nitric  acid,  and  the  fats,  alkaloids,  and  acids  are  built  up 
from  the  same  food  elements.  The  carbo-hydrates  and  albuminoids 
diffuse  from  the  leaves  or  green  parts  to  every  active  organ  of  the 
plant,  and  thus  this  becomes  food  for  animals  and  fungi  from  the 
root-hairs  upwards  to  the  glands  and  hairs  of  the  leaves  or  green 
parts.  Even  in  decay  and  fluid  form  the  organic  matter  of  the 
plant  is  ingested  and  digested  by  lowly  forms  of  animal  life,  and 
really  is  not  safe  from  attack  until  resolved  at  last  into  chlorides, 
nitrates,  phosphates,  and  sulphates — purely  chemical  compounds — 
the  whole  and  sole  food  of  the  plant. 
It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  understand  the  principles  governing 
the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms,  which,  though  merging  into 
each  other  in  their  lowest  forms,  have  two  distinct  modes  of 
existence  and  no  analogy  whatever  in  functions.  The  plant  subsists 
solely  on  inorganic  matter,  the  animal  and  parasite  feeds  exclu¬ 
sively  on  organised  substance.  Inorganic  matter  is  food  to  vegeta¬ 
tion,  to  the  animal  it  is  poison,  or  in  small  amounts  what  we  term 
condiment  or  medicine.  To  the  animal  in  this  form  it  is  an 
inorganisable  substance,  and  the  organism  of  the  animal  structure 
has  no  power  to  appropriate  or  eliminate  such  matter  but  by  reason 
of  the  organised  elements  it  has  derived  from  an  organised  sub¬ 
stance.  either  directly  from  the  vegetable  or  indirectly  from  the 
animal  ;  this  latter  makes  a  distinction  between  the  animal  living 
directly  on  the  first  organised  substance— the  plant,  and  that  living 
secondhand  carnivorously  or  parasitically  on  the  animal  or  already 
organised  matter.  The  carnivora  and  parasite  are  not  considered 
wholesome  food  ;  but  this  is  solely  a  matter  of  taste  and  of  fitness, 
as  some  are  considered  dainties  and  others  loathsome. 
This  difference  in  foods  rests  solely  on  chemical  principles, 
prevention  and  cure  of  diseases  being  wholly  founded  on  those 
grounds.  It  is  recognised  alike  by  patient  and  practitioner  that 
there  is  a  cause  for  a  certain  malady  which  has  produced  certain 
effects,  and  that  to  perform  a  cure  substances  known  by  experience 
must  be  administered,  either  to  eliminate  offensive  or  supply 
defective  elements.  This  must  be  done  without  prejudice  to  the 
afflicted  plant  or  only  temporary,  and  so  act  as  to  restore  the  normal 
condition,  thus  enabling  it  to  recuperate.  Under  this  regime  come 
manures,  which,  especially  chemical,  eliminate  offensive  matter  and 
supply  material  for  recuperation.  Some  do  more  than  this — 
namely,  act  as  poisons  to  parasites  or  otherwise  destructively  to 
them  by  their  chemical  energy,  while  promoting  the  well  doing  of 
the  plant.  0 there  not  only  destroy  parasites  but  injure  or  kill  the 
infested  subject,  and  in  no  sense  act  beneficially  on  either  the  food 
of  the  organism  or  on  this  itself  as  regards  the'future.  I  will  refer 
to  manures  as  food  for  plants  and  as  poison  to  their  enemies 
another  week. — G.  Abbey. 
(To  be  continued.) 
DOUBLE  PRIMULAS. 
These  flowers  are  too  well  known  and  justly  appreciated  to 
necessitate  any  eulogistic  remarks  from  any  pen.  Sufficient 
evidence  of  this  is  easily  acquired  by  a  knowledge  of  the  demand 
not  only  for  the  plants  but  for  flower*  in  a  cut  state  in  the  market. 
On  this  account  they  are  very  largely  grown  by  skilled  market 
growers,  especially  the  old  Double  White,  named  alba  plena,  and  it 
is  surprising  to  notice  their  great  superiority  to  the  majority  of  the 
plants  so  frequently  seen  in  private  gardens.  The  great  difference 
of  effect,  like  everything  else,  is  regulated  by  the  causative  opera¬ 
tions  at  work  in  the  production  of  such  dissimilar  results,  and 
leads  us  to  ascertain  the  best  methods  adopted  in  their  successful 
cultivation. 
There  are  two  fairly  successful  methods  of  increasing  these 
plants — viz.,  by  earthing-up  the  side  shoots  and  by  cuttings. 
Presuming  that  we  have  old  plants  to  deal  with  at  the  present,  which 
is  the  best  possible  time  to  handle  them,  it  will  be  necessary,  if  the 
plants  have  been  subjected  to  a  temperature  higher  than  65°,  to 
harden  them  in  a  lower  temperature  for  a  few  days,  when  the 
shoots  should  be  cleansed  from  all  the  old  persistent  footstalks,  of 
which  there  is  usually  an  abundance.  I  have  found  Grape  scissors 
very  convenient  for  the  purpose,  after  which  the  pots  should  be 
filled  with  soil  up  to  the  active  crowns  of  the  plants,  and  if  an 
incision  is  made  in  each  shoot  it  will  facilitate  root  action.  The 
soil  employed  for  layering — good  fibrous  yellow  loam,  leaf  mould, 
and  coarse  silver  sand  in  equal  parts — should  be  well  watered  round 
the  shoots.  The  plants  ought  then  to  be  placed  in  a  close  pit  or 
house  with  a  moist  temperature  of  from  65°  to  70°,  and  be  kept 
shaded  and  moist.  They  will  be  well  rooted  in  about  three  or  four 
weeks  after  being  treated,  and  may  be  severed  from  the  parent 
plant  and  potted  singly  in  small  pots,  using  the  same  compost., 
placing  them  again  in  the  same  temperature  until  they  are  well 
established,  when  they  may  be  gradually  hardened.  It  is  very 
beneficial  to  keep  the  small  plants  as  near  the  glass  as  possible,  and 
well  shaded.  By  this  means  with  care  there  is  no  reason  why 
every  shoot  should  not  be  quickly  converted  into  a  well-established 
plant. 
They  may  also  be  increased  by  cuttings,  and  this  is  a  very  con¬ 
venient  method  when  there  is  a  constant  demand  for  young 
stocks.  They  can  be  taken  from  the  plants  with  a  good  chance 
of  success  any  time  between  March  and  August.  In  all  cases  the 
cuttings  should  be  well  hardened  before  being  removed  from  the 
parent  plants,  and  with  a  portion  of  the  mature  wood  attached. 
Each  cutting  should  be  carefully  cleaned,  and  inserted  singly  in 
well-drained  small  pots  filled  with  soil  like  that  described  for  the 
layering  process,  with  a  copious  supply  of  coarse  silver  sand  on 
the  surface,  and  for  this  as  well  as  most  other  purposes  the  coarse 
Bedford  sand  is  preferable.  The  pots  should  then  be  plunged  in 
the  propagating  case  with  a  bottom  heat  of  from  65°  to  70°,  a 
higher  temperature  being,  judging  from  my  experience,  not 
desirable.  The  cuttings  should  be  well  watered,  after  which  they 
will  require  little  or  no  more  water  until  they  are  rooted.  If 
so  it  should  be  given  carefully,  allowing  as  little  as  possible  to  rest 
on  the  foliage.  They  will  usually  root  in  a  fortnight  or  three 
weeks.  They  must  be  kept  well  shaded  during  sunshine.  It  is 
not  absolutely  necessary  to  have  a  hotbed  to  plunge  the  pots  in, 
as  the  cuttings  will  root  freely  enough  under  a  hand-light  in  the 
same  temperature.  After  being  well  rooted  they  may  be  removed, 
gradually  hardened,  and  kept  in  the  small  pots  until  the  latter  are 
well  filled  with  roots. 
Supposing  this  stage  is  reached  by  the  middle  or  end  of  June, 
they  should  then  be  shifted  into  larger  pots,  say  54  or  48  sizes, 
using  as  the  compost  for  potting  fibrous  loam,  leaf  soil,  and  sand  ; 
if  the  48  sized  pots  are  to  be  the  flowering  size,  the  mixture  will 
be  more  useful  to  the  plant  if  an  equal  part  of  well-decay  el  cow 
manure  is  added.  They  may  then  be  grown  in  a  cool  house  near 
the  glass,  with  a  cool  base  for  the  pots  to  rest  on.  The  necessity 
of  perfect  drainage  cannot  be  too  strictly  enforced,  no  small 
amount  of  success  depending  on  this  receiving  proper  attention  ; 
or  they  may  be  placed  in  a  cold  pit  or  frame  facing  north,  or  in  a 
shaded  position,  when  they  should  be  kept  close  for  a  time,  only 
giving  air  during  mid-day.  The  time  of  placing  them  in  the  cold 
frame  must,  of  course,  be  regulated  by  the  weather.  If  cold  and 
dull,  they  are  best  kept  in  the  house  rather  liter,  or  until  favour¬ 
able  weather  sets  in.  If  the  pit  is  very  deep  the  pots  should  be 
arranged  upon  others  inverted  ;  and  in  places  where  only  a  small 
number  is  grown  this  will  be  the  wisest  course  to  adopt,  as  it 
insures  a  more  copious  supply  of  air  amoDgst  the  plants,  and 
allows  of  perfect  drainage.  Ventilation  should  be  effected  by 
tilting  the  lights  from  below  rather  than  sliding  them  down. 
During  the  month  of  August  and  early  in  September,  if  the 
nights  are  warm  and  moist,  it  will  greatly  benefit  the  plants  if 
the  lights  are  entirely  removed,  replacing  them  again  early  the 
following  morning,  as  the  dew  which  usually  prevails  during  the 
night  appears  to  suit  them,  and  dming  these  months  I  find  they 
make  very  rapid  growth.  It  is  likely  that  if  the  plants  are 
developing  properly  they  will  require  repotting,  which  should, 
however,  not  be  done  till  the  old  pots  are  well  filled  with  roots, 
as  thev  do  not  like  to  be  overpotted.  The  pot  emploved  for  the 
final  shifting  may  be  6  or  7  inches  wide  inside,  just  giving  them  a 
fair  increase  of  root-room,  using  the  same  kind  of  soil.  If  it  is 
necessary  to  keep  them  in  the  48-sized  pots,  they  may  be  fed  with 
weak  liquid  manure  twice  a  week,  which  will  materially  assist 
them.  In  any  »tage  of  growth  particular  att  n  ion  must  be  given 
to  watering.  When  in  active  growth  they  must  never  be  allowed 
to  get  dry,  and  copious  supplies  may  be  given  them  provided  the 
drainage  is  efficient.  Owing  to  their  propensity  for  perpetual 
flowering  the  young  plants  will  constantly  be  throwing  up  flower 
spikes,  which  should  be  at  once  removed,  so  as  to  give  the  plant 
the  benefit  of  all  the  strength  to  be  derived  during  the  growing 
