168 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  21,  1902. 
in  practice.  Plants  may  be  assisted  or  damaged  by  the 
manure  use'd  according" to  the  purpose  for  which  they  are 
.grown.  Nitrate  of  potash,  better  known  as  saltpetre,  is  a 
quick-acting,  valuable  manure  when  applied'  -in  small 
quantities.  It  supplies  not  only  nitrogen,  but  potash,  two 
elements  of  plant  food  often  deficient  in  soils. 
The  best  general  artificial  manure  is  genuine  Peruvian 
guano.  It  contains  all  the  different  kinds  of  plant  food' 
usually  lacking  in  soils,  and  in  such  form  that  they  become 
available  as  the  plant  requires  them.  In  poor  or  Worn’  out 
soils  it  is  a  manure  that  can  scarcely  come  amiss.  There 
is  great  choice  amongst  phosphatic  manures.  Bones,  raw, 
dissolved,  boiled,  and  steamed  ;  mineral  superphosphates  ; 
basic  slag ;  phosphatic  guanos,  and  others.  Ground  raw 
bones  are  slow  in  action,  but  promote  healthy  growth ;  dis¬ 
solved  bones  are  quicker,  but  do  not  usually  give  such 
sturdy  growth.  Steamed  bonemeal  and  flour  are  inter¬ 
mediate  and  valuable.  Mineral  superphosphate  hastens 
the  maturity  of  plants,  and  gives  bright,  clean  growth. 
Basic  slag  is  the  slowest  of  the  lot,  and,  containing  a  large 
percentage  of  free  lime,  is  excellent  on  sour  soils  ;  in  these 
it  neutralises  the  acid  vegetable  matter,  and  induces  healthy 
growth. 
Potassic  manures  include  muriate  of  potash,  sulphate  of 
potash,  and  kainit,  the  latter  being  commonest  and  cheapest. 
Wood  ashes  also  contain  a  considerable  p'ercentag'e  of 
potash.  Potash  is  said  to  assist  in  the  formation  of  starch, 
hence  its  value.  It  is  usually  on  light,  sandy  soils  that  this 
class  of  manure  is  most  effective,  clay  soils  being  compara- 
tively  rich  in  potash.  There  are,  under  these,  many  manures 
that  cannot  be  mentioned  in  the  space  at  disposal. 
There  is  one  more  aspect  of  the  question  to  be  briefly 
discussed,  namely,  Have  artificial  manures,  or  chemical  sub¬ 
stances,  much  influence  on  the  colour  of  flowers  1  We  know 
that  iron  gives  us  blue  Hydrangeas  ;  manganese  is  said  to 
deepen  the  tint  of  blue  flowers,  and  generous  feeding 
brightens  the  colours  of  some  others.  Beyond  this  our 
knowledge  is  circumscribed.  It  is,  nevertheless,  an  interest¬ 
ing  question,  and  deserving  of  more  inquiries  and  experi¬ 
ments  than  have  yet  been  extended  to  it.  If  these  few 
remarks  draw  attention  to  artificial  fertilisers,  they  will  have 
served  their  purpose. — W.  P. 
- fr— 0*0— ♦ - 
l  ,r 
Rambles  in  Switzerland. 
Not  being  gifted  with  either  Musel’s  cloak  or  Fortuna- 
tus’  hat,  I  had  to  pass  over  some  seven  hundred  miles  of  land 
and  sea  before  I  reached  the  point  where  I  was  to  be  intro¬ 
duced  to  “the  Merry  Swiss  Boy”  and  his  surroundings. 
Now,  that  boy  is  no  common  boy,  and  he  cannot  be  a  common 
boy — of  course  I  speak  of  a  generation,  not  of  an  individual 
— who  is  born  and  passes  his  life  in  such  a  mountain  land. 
I  will  not  pause  to  argue  over  the  why  and  because,  but  I 
rest  upon  the  fact  that  the  people  of  the  mountains  are  every¬ 
where  superior  to  the  people  of  their  neighbouring  lowlands, 
both  mentally  and  physically.  The  Dutchman  has  a  large 
posterior  development,  but  the  Swiss  has  a  muscular  leg 
and  arm  and  an  elevated  cranium.  Look  at  the  clusters 
of  Swiss  boys,  each  with  his  knapsack,  passing  on,  morning 
after  morning,  from  every  point  of  the  compass  to  the  canton- 
sustained  school  of  the  district ;  and  from  these  clusters 
you  may  deduce  another  evidence — universal  education — 
why  a  Swiss  is  intelligent  and  free. 
I  certainly  feel  equally  free  of  pen,  for  when  I  dipped  mine 
into  the  ink  it  assuredly  was  with  no  intention  to  dwell  upon 
Swiss  boys  and  their  education,  but  to  have  made  no  pause 
until  I  came  to  my  recollections  and  notes  of  Zurich.  Well, 
here  I  am  beneath  the  trees  at  the  end  of  the  garden  of  the 
Baur  au  Lac,  and  looking  upon  the  lake’s  blue  water  and  its 
bright  green,  villa-dotted  banks.  There  are  three  English 
ladies  and  one  Swiss  lady  near  me  ;  and  this  one  last-named 
reminds  me  that  the  girls  and  women  of  this  land  are  also 
physically  and  intellectually  superior  to  the  feminines  of 
lowland  countries.  Let  one  instance  suffice.  A  Swiss  lady, 
evidently  a  governess  commencing  her  annual  holiday,  was 
in  the  same  railway  carriage  with  me.  We  crossed  the 
Channel  together,  went  on  to  Paris  together,  and  there  I 
thought  that  mind  and  muscle  demanded  rest ;  but  not  so 
my  companion.  The  Ranz  de  Yache  had  a  spell  over  her, 
and  on  she  went  to  travel  without  a  resting  over  some  more 
hundreds  of  miles,  until  she  had  reached  the  land  of  her  birth. 
Well,  God  speed  her!  But  before  I  pass  from  the  remem¬ 
brance  of  her  fair  face,  and  mind  as  fair,,  let  me  record  that 
it  is  a  delusion  to  believe  that  a  Ranz  de  Yache  is  one 
especial  and  universally  accepted  melody.  Every  district 
has  some  favourite  air,  and  that  is  its  Ranz  de  Yache.' 
And  n.ow,  .if  I  can  restrain  my  thoughts  from  further 
vagrancy*  let'  me  dwell  upon  subjects  more  consonant  with 
tjlie  special  topics  of  your  pages.  No,  it  cannot  be  ;  for  I 
must  jot  down  first  something  about  that  John  James 
Scheuchzer  whose  “  Itinera  Alpiiia  ”  is  the  first  published" of 
•Swiss  guide  books— and  a:  strange  book  is  it.  He  was  a  pro¬ 
fessor  at  Zurich,  this  very  place  whqre  my  Swiss  notes  begin. 
Some  ignorance  of  the  district  around  does  he  betray,  yet 
both  he  and  his  brother  John— rare  fraternity  in  science — - 
'Were  superior  botanists.  John'  devoted  himself  especially 
to  the  study  of  the  Grasses,  and  John  James  to  the  study  of 
alpine  plants ;  and  they  are  most  aptly  commemorated 
by  the  genus  Scheuchzeria,  for  its  solitary  member  is-  of. 
grassy  habit  and  of  alpine  birth.  John  James  was  a  native 
of  Zurich  ;  he  was  its  special  physician,  its  professor  of 
mathematics,  and  there  he  printed  and’ published  nearly  all 
his  numerous  and  voluminous  works.  Most  of  these  works 
have  one  peculiarity — wherever  an  engraving  could  be  pos¬ 
sibly  introduced,  there  one,  however  irrelevant  and  un¬ 
needed,  is  introduced.  Thus  in  his  “Physique  Sacree,”  or 
Natural  History  of  the  Bible,  having  occasion’ to  quote  the 
Psalm,  “  Who  can  endure  the  cold  of  the  Lord  1”  is  inserted 
a  picture  of  about  twenty  men  who  suffered  severely  in  the 
ice;  qnd  an  allusion  to  some  coin  enabled  him  to  add  en¬ 
gravings  of  medals  he  had  collected  !  Peter  the  Great  en¬ 
deavoured  to  lure  him  from  his  native  land,  but  the  Senate 
of  Zurich  prized  Scheuchzer  too  highly  to  permit  his  depar¬ 
ture.  They  bestowed  upon  him  honours  and  stipends,  and 
thus  detained  him  until  he  died  in  1733  among  his  fellow 
citizens.  , 
His  “  Itinera  Alpina  ”  does  not  differ  from  his  other  works 
in  having  numerous  illustrations,  and  the  most  interesting 
is  his  own  portrait.  An  inscription  beneath  each  reveals 
that  they  were  added  at  the  expense  of  his  friends,  and  it 
startles  at  first  to  find  that  our  Sir  Isaac  Newton  thus  con¬ 
tributed  some,  and  that  the  portraits  of  plants  wrere  paid  for 
by  our  botanists  Bobart,  Lhuyd,  and  Dale.  With  no  faint 
interest  did  I  examine  the  specimens  collected  by  the 
Scheuchzers,  preserved  and  labelled  in  their  own  hand¬ 
writing,  in  the  herbarium  attached  to  the  Zurich  Botanic 
Garden.  This  garden  was  established  in  1560  by  him  who 
has  been  well  named  “  the  greatest  naturalist  the  world  had 
seen  since  Aristotle,”  Conrad  Gesner.  His  collection  of 
dried  plants  has  been  mentioned  as  preserved  here  ;  but  it 
is  not,  nor  could  I  learn  that  it  had  been  ever,  deposited  in 
any  of  Zurich’s  public  museums. 
This  town,  like  our  Norwich,  has  been  fertile  of  botanists, 
besides  many  high  masters  of  many  other  sciences  ;  but  I 
will  dwell  only  upon  one  other,  who,  like  Gesner,  was  one  of 
the  most  lovable  of  men — Lavater,  the  physiognomist,  who 
needs  no  other  testimony  than  that  he  would  not  reveal  the 
name  of  his  assassin,  and,  perhaps,  it  is  an  evidence  that  his 
countrymen  think  he  needs  no  eulogy,  that  there  is  no  other 
epitaph  over  his  grave  than  this,  in  the  obscure  churchyard  of 
St.  Anne: — “  J.  C.  Lavater’ s  grave.  Born  15th  Nov.,  1741. 
Died  21st  Jan.,  1801.”  I  might  not  have  noticed  this  true 
personal  illustrator  of  charity,  had  not  I  long  pondered  over 
the  physiognomy  of  organised  forms  which  Lavater  has  left 
unnoticed — plants.  They  have  had,  however,  their  Lavater, 
for  Humboldt  wrote  “  Considerations  on  the  Physiognomy 
of  Plants  ”  ;  but  he  and  his  disciples  have  confined  their 
comments  to  the  features  imparted  to  a  country  by  the  plants 
which  are  there  specially  predominant.  The  Palmse, 
Musacere,  Piperacese,  and  Scitaminacese  impart  a  physio¬ 
gnomy  to  the  tropics,  totally  differing  from  that  imparted 
by  the  Abietinie  of  northern  latitudes.  But  we  might,  I 
think,  go  some  steps  further  ;  might  detect  the  internal 
qualities  of  plants  from  their  physiognomy.  When  we  see  a 
plant  having  the  form  of  a  Grass,  whether  it  be  a  pigmy,  as 
the  Poa  annua  on  our  gravel  walks,  or  50ft  high,  as  in  the 
Bamboo,  we  know  that  starch  predominates  in  its  seeds. 
Again,  in  the  large  natural  family  of  the  Rosacese,  is  there 
one  fruit  that  is  unwholesome,  or  one  that  does  not  contain 
malic  acid-? — W.  J. 
(To  ho  continued.) 
