January 1, 1824, and January 1, 1825. Extracted from the Minute
Books and Papers of the Society_.
A novel kind of pine pit is described, which is said to answer every
purpose that can be desired. It is heated by flues passing through a
chamber, formed by beams extending from the back to the front wall,
and so becoming a sort of floor, upon which is first placed a layer
of turf; and then the tan in which the pine-plants are plunged. The
warmer air is conveyed into the upper part of the pit by means of
small apertures contrived in the walls, at four inches and a half
apart, both in the back and front of the pit, and also through
iron pipes resting on the beams and passing through the tan. The
ventilation is effected by air-holes in the front wall, and sliding
shutters in the back walls. An explanatory figure accompanies the
statement.
The famous rhubarb, which has of late acquired so much celebrity
under the name of Buck’s rhubarb, is mentioned as excellent when
forced. It is not generally known, that this sort is the genuine
Rheum undulatum of botanists uncontaminated by mixture with the
common garden kinds. The plant generally called Rheum undulatum, is
a half-bred, possessing none of the good qualities of the native
species.
George Tollet, Esq., of Betley Hall, in Staffordshire, recommends
the preservation of apples for winter store, packed in banks or
hods of earth like potatoes. The method is said to be effectual and
economical.
Thomas Bond, Esq., of East Looe, in Cornwall, describes his mode of
cultivating strawberries. He does not adopt the common practice of
cutting off the runners, but they are confined to the bed by being
turned back among the plants from which they spring. In the autumn,
the beds are covered to the depth of two inches with fresh earth,
through which the strawberry plants shoot in the spring with great
vigour.
A kind of wicker basket is described, which is cheap and well adapted
for screening half hardy plants during the winter. It is fixed in the
earth by means of the points of the ribs of the wicker work, which
are allowed to project a few inches for the purpose.
It is stated by John Wedgewood, Esq., that good celery may be readily
obtained by transplanting seedling plants that have remained in the
seed bed, till they had acquired a [p169] considerable size. They
grow more vigorously than the younger plants that are transplanted in
the usual way.
William Cotton, Esq., of Wellwood-house, describes the good effects
of painting an old garden wall with seal oil and anticorrosion paint.
The wall in question was covered with trees, which were every year
attacked by blight. Since the operation the trees have borne good
fruit, made healthy wood, and been free from the bad consequences of
blight.
Mr. John Mearns states, that the red and white Antwerp raspberries
may be brought to bear abundantly in August, long after the usual
crop of raspberries is past, by the following management. In May he
removes the young fruit, bearing shoots, from the canes, leaving in
some cases one or two eyes, in others, cutting them clean off. Under
either plan, they soon produce an abundance of vigorous new shoots,
which blossom freely in July.
Mr. Elias Hildyard, gardener to Sir Thomas Frankland, kills the grub
which infests his onion beds by trenching the beds in winter, digging
in manure at the same time, and leaving them exposed to the frost in
a rough state till the time of sowing.
A mode of inducing fertility in a barren Swan’s-egg pear-tree trained
upon a wall, is described by the Rev. John Fisher, of Wavenden, in
Buckinghamshire. It consists in twisting and breaking down the side
shoots of the main branches in such a way, as to make them pendulous
without separating them wholly from the parent limb. In a short time
a grumous formation takes place where the fracture has occurred, the
wound heals, the flow of the sap is moderated, and fruit buds are
formed instead of sterile shoots.
Mr. William Mowbray, gardener to the Earl of Mountnorris, states,
that the different species of eatable Passifloras which do not
generally produce fruit, may be induced to do so abundantly, if the
pollen of other species is applied to their stigmas.
Currants are preserved in perfection in the garden of James Webster,
Esq., of Westham, by being covered with bunting when the fruit is
fully ripe, care being had to unloose the bunting occasionally from
the bottom of the bushes, in order to remove the decaying fallen
leaves.
X. _Report on the Instruments employed in, and on the Plan of a
Journal of Meteorological Observations, kept in the garden of the
Horticultural Society at Chiswick_.
This and the following paper we propose to notice in detail on a
future occasion. [p170]
XI. _Journal of Meteorological Observations made in the garden of
the Horticultural Society at Chiswick, during the year 1826_. By Mr.
William Beattie Booth.
XII. _On Orache, its Varieties and Cultivation_. By Mr. William
Townshend.
The herb orache was formerly cultivated as a kind of summer spinach;
but in this country it has long been expelled from the kitchen garden
by other kinds. It is, however, still seen in the gardens of France,
where it is commonly called Arroche des jardins, being used in that
country, both by itself as a spinach, and mixed with sorrel, the
acidity of which it corrects. Seven varieties are described, which do
not differ in their qualities, but are distinguished by the colour of
their foliage.
XIII. _On planting the moist Alluvial Banks of Rivers with
Fruit-Trees_. By Mr. John Robertson.
The object of this writer is to show that the low grounds that form
the banks of rivers are, of all others, the best adapted for the
growth of fruit trees; the alluvial soil of which they are composed,
being an intermixture of the richest and most soluble parts of the
neighbouring lands, with a portion of animal and vegetable matter,
affording an inexhaustible fund of nourishment. In such situations,
however, the trees are liable to injury from floods in the winter,
unless some means are used of draining off the stagnant water. This
is to be effected by digging deep trenches between the rows of trees,
casting up the earth from the trenches around the trees on either
side, so as to form elevated banks. Such is the practice in Holland,
where the western slopes of the dykes are generally covered with
fruit-trees, chiefly apples and pears. Mr. Robertson is of opinion,
that the banks should be raised, if possible, at least three or four
feet above the highest water-mark, and be made eighteen feet broad
at the base, and twelve at top; the trenches should be fifteen or
sixteen feet wide, admitting the soil to be three or four feet deep.
Upon this plan, it is probable that abundant crops would be obtained;
but with regard to the quality of the produce, we suspect it will be
quite as indifferent as the apples and pears of the Dutch, which are
notorious for their want of flavour.
XIV. _On Dahlias_. By Mr. William Smith.
This is an attempt to distinguish by words the best varieties of
the Dahlia, and to fix the names of those which are the most worthy
of cultivation. Sixty kinds are well described, [p171] arranged in
divisions depending upon the size of the plants and the colour of
their flowers. We do not propose to analyze this paper, which is far
too extensive for our limits; but instead, to throw together a few
remarks which are suggested by the subject.
The first fact to which we would call attention has reference to
acclimatization. The Dahlia has now been cultivated in Europe with
the utmost assiduity for nearly thirty years. During that period
millions of plants have been raised from seeds, and under almost
every possible variation of climate; and anomalies the most singular,
not only in colour, but in general constitution and physiological
structure, have been obtained. The colour of the flower has been
altered from pale yellow, or lilac, to every hue of red, purple,
or yellow, to pure scarlet and to deepest morone, or has even been
wholly discharged from the radial florets in the white varieties; the
period of flowering has been accelerated nearly two months; the tall
rank weed, exceeding the human standard in height, has been reduced
to a trim bush, emulating the pæony in dwarfishness; the yellow
inconspicuous florets of the disk have been expelled to make room for
the showy deep-coloured florets of the ray; what is more remarkable
still, the same yellow inconspicuous florets of the disk have been
enlarged, and stained with rich morone, so as to rival the colours of
the ray without losing their own peculiarity of form; and finally,
the whole foliage and bearing of the plant has been altered by the
substitution of simple leaves for compound ones. But notwithstanding
all this proneness to change, notwithstanding the multitude of
varieties which have been thus procured by seed, _not one individual
has yet been discovered, in any degree whatever, more hardy than its
ancestors_. The earliest frosts destroyed the Dahlias as certainly in
1826, as they could have done in 1789.
But, however strong may be the disposition of the Dahlia to vary
from its original structure, it is curious to observe how strictly
it conforms to the laws by which such variations are controlled
by nature. In altered structure all the changes take place from
circumference to centre. The florets of the ray displace those of the
disk, but the latter never attempt to occupy the ray; when a change
occurs among the florets of the disk, they merely dilate and assume
the colour of the ray, without changing their position or their
peculiar form. So with the leaves; by a reduction of the lateral
leaflet, till the terminal one only remains, simple foliage is
substituted for that which was compound: but no case has been found
in [p172] which the suppression of the terminal leaflet has taken
place and the lateral ones have been preserved. In change of colour,
too, there is a circumstance which demands consideration, and of
which no explanation has yet been offered. It is not generally known,
although long ago noticed by M. De Candolle, that among flowers,
yellows will not produce blues, nor blues yellows, although both
these primitive colours will sport into almost every other hue. Thus
the hyacinth, the natural colour of which is blue, will not produce
a yellow, for the dull, half-green flowers called yellow hyacinths,
are, in our judgment, whites approaching green; the blue crocus will
not vary into yellow, nor the yellow into blue; and the ranunculus
and the dahlia, the natural colour of both which, notwithstanding
the popular belief to the contrary, with respect to the dahlia, is,
we believe, yellow, although they are the most sportive of all the
flowers of the gardens, varying from pink to scarlet, and deepest
shades of purple, have never yet been seen to exhibit any disposition
to become blue. This subject offers a most amusing field for
investigation, and would well repay the attentive consideration of
the philosopher.
XV. _On the Cultivation of Camellias in an open Border_. By Mr.
Joseph Harrison.
Mr. H. finds that the double red camellia, the double white, and
the double striped, will bear an English winter if planted out when
about two feet high, having been previously stunted in their growth
by repeatedly stopping their leading shoots. For two winters the
young plants are to be protected by a wooden screen fixed round
them, and covered by a hand-glass, the whole being enveloped in
mats; afterwards they require no other protection than to be guarded
from heavy snowstorms, and to be assisted by a thick covering of old
tan upon the ground in which they grow, to the distance of two or
three feet from their stems. If this success has been met with in
Yorkshire, what may not be expected in our more southern counties!
On the 12th of March of the present year these camellias were not
injured by a frost which did considerable damage to the common laurel.
XVI. _A Method of growing Crops of Melons on open Borders_. By Mr.
William Greenshields.
The sorts fitted for this purpose are the black rock, scarlet rock,
green-fleshed, netted and early Cantaloup melons. The method consists
of forming a bed, by half filling a shallow [p173] trench with
decayed vegetables, and covering them with the exhausted linings
of cucumber beds. The young plants are reared for some time under
handlights. For full particulars of this practice, we must refer to
the paper itself, which is clearly written, and, coming as it does
from one of our most skilful gardeners, well worthy of attention.
XVII. _Notice of Five Varieties of Pears received from Jersey in the
year 1826_. By John Lindley, Esq.
The fruits here described are of the highest excellence. They are,
1. the Marie Louise; 2. the Duchesse d’Angoulême; 3. the Doyenné
gris; 4. the Doyenné panaché; 5. the Beurré d’Aremberg; and 6. the
Gloux morceaux. The second, the fifth, and the sixth kinds are
represented in two very beautiful coloured plates; and are, perhaps,
the most exquisitely flavoured of all the varieties of the pear. The
Beurré d’Aremberg and Gloux morceaux are long keepers; the others
are autumnal kinds. Of the former it is said, “the flesh is whitish,
firm, very juicy, dissolves in the mouth, and is wholly destitute of
grittiness; it is sweet, rich, and so peculiarly high flavoured, that
I know no pear that can be compared with it in that respect.”
XVIII. _Upon the Culture of the Prunus Pseudo-cerasus, or Chinese
Cherry_. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq.
This species of cherry is expected to become an acquisition of
considerable value, for the purpose of forcing; and also as an early
fruit, when trained upon an open wall. Mr. Knight recommends its
propagation by cuttings, which root freely, and that it be abundantly
supplied with liquid manure. From its highly excitable habits, he
suspects it to be a native of a cold climate, probably of Tartary.
XIX. _On the Culture of the Pine-Apple_. By Mr. James Dall.
XX. _On forcing Asparagus_. By the same.
These two papers were communicated by the Cambridge Horticultural
Society, having gained one of the annual silver medals presented
by the London to Provincial Societies. They contain good practical
directions for the cultivation upon which they treat.
XXI. _Observations upon forcing Garden Rhubarb_. By Mr. William
Stothard.
This plan is perhaps the best that can be followed, as it is at once
the most certain and the most simple. You sow rhubarb seed on a rich
moist border in the beginning of April, [p174] The young plants are
well thinned during the summer; in the end of October they are very
carefully transplanted into forcing-pots, five or six in each pot.
They are placed in a north aspect, to recover the effect of their
removal from the seed-bed, and in a month they are fit for forcing.
We can safely recommend this method.
XXII. _Account of some remarkable Holly Hedges and Trees in
Scotland_. By Joseph Sabine, Esq.
This is in elaborate account of extraordinary specimens of hollies,
and appears to have been written with a view to induce the more
general cultivation in this country of that very valuable tree. At
Tynningham, the residence of the Earl of Harrington, are hedges
extending to no less a distance than 2952 yards, in some cases
thirteen feet broad, and twenty-five feet high. The age of these
hedges is something more than a century. At the same place are
individual trees of a size quite unknown in these southern districts.
One tree measured five feet three inches in circumference at three
feet from the ground; the stem is clear of branches to the height
of fourteen feet, and the total height of the tree is fifty-four
feet. The other places at which the hollies are of unusual size,
are Colinton-house the seat of Sir William Forbes; Moredun, the
seat of David Anderson, Esq.; Hopetoun-house, the seat of the Earl
of Hopetoun, and Gordon-castle, where are several large groups of
hollies, apparently planted by the hand of Nature.
XXIII. _An Account of a Plan of Heating Stoves by means of Hot
Water, employed in the Garden of_ Anthony Bacon, Esq.
We conceive that a new æra in horticulture will commence with the
publication of this paper. We already possessed contrivances of a
sufficiently good kind for all purposes connected with artificial
climate, except the power of commanding heat; for which the two
methods hitherto employed have been either too clumsy or too costly,
and in either case liable to numerous objections. The old mode of
introducing heat into a stove, by means of brick flues, has long been
considered so bad, that every scheme that promised to supersede such
flues has been hailed with joy; the uncertainty of the quantity of
heat given out by a brick flue, its continual liability to explosion,
the impossibility of preventing the escape of smoke from between the
joints of the bricks, are all evils that require a remedy. For this
purpose steam was introduced, and with great advantage in extensive
ranges of hothouses. But the enormous expense of erecting a steam
[p175] apparatus, the danger attending its use in the charge of an
unskilful or careless gardener, and also the rapid loss of heat
from the pipes upon any neglect of the boiler, have all contributed
to prevent the use of steam becoming very general. The plan now
described has the great merit of possessing all the good qualities
of steam, without any of its objectionable accompaniments; its cost
cannot in any considerable degree exceed that of flues, and its
effects are so certain and durable, that a house so heated may be
almost said to be beyond the power of neglect on the part of the
gardener.
Without entering into the details of this plan, for which we must
refer to the paper itself, we shall content ourselves with explaining
its principle. Suppose two iron reservoirs, A and B, of equal
capacity, placed twenty feet apart, and connected at the top and the
bottom by iron pipes, the level of both reservoirs being the same;
it is obvious that water poured into one of these reservoirs will
flow into the other through the connecting pipes, and that it will
consequently stand at the same height in both. Let the reservoirs
be thus filled above the level of the uppermost pipe, and heat be
applied to the bottom of one reservoir, A; the water in this will
presently be forced through the upper pipe into the reservoir, B, of
water not heated; in proportion as the heated water flows out of A,
through the upper pipe, the cold water will flow out of B through
the lower pipe; and by this means a circulation of water heated and
water to be heated will be formed, which will continue as long as the
application of fire to the bottom of one reservoir is continued. When
it is discontinued, the temperature of the two reservoirs and of the
intermediate pipes will be the same within three or four degrees.
As it is the property of heated water to part with its heat very
slowly, it follows that heat will continue to be disengaged from the
reservoirs and pipes long after the application of fire has ceased.
In fact, when the two reservoirs are once heated, the gardener may
make up his fires and retire to rest, certain that his house is
sufficiently provided with heat for the night.
The paper is accompanied with a plan of a vinery warmed upon this
principle. [p176]
_On the Recent Elucidations of early Egyptian History_.
Since the commencement of the present century, the researches of
philologists have ascertained that the language of ancient Egypt,—the
language of the hieroglyphical inscriptions engraven on its ancient
temples and monuments, and of the still existing manuscripts of the
same period,—differs from the modern Egyptian or Coptic, only in the
mixture in the latter of many Greek and Arabian and a smaller portion
of Latin words, introduced during the successive dominion of the
Greeks, the Romans, and the Arabs, and occasionally substituted for
the corresponding native words. The grammatical construction of the
language has remained the same at all periods of its employment: and
it finally ceased to be a spoken language towards the middle of the
seventeenth century, when it was replaced by the Arabian.
In writing their language, the ancient Egyptians employed
three different kinds of characters. First, _figurative_; or
representations of the objects themselves. Second, _symbolic_; or
representations of certain physical or material objects, expressing
metaphorically, or conventionally, certain ideas; such as, a
people obedient to their king, figured, metaphorically, by a bee;
the universe, conventionally, by a beetle. Third, _phonetic_, or
representative of sounds; that is to say, strictly alphabetical
characters. The phonetic signs were also portraits of physical and
material objects; and each stood for the initial sound of the word in
the Egyptian language which expressed the object pourtrayed: thus a
lion was the sound L, because a lion was called Labo; and a hand a T,
because a hand was called Tot. The form in which these objects were
presented, when employed as phonetic characters, was conventional,
and _definite_ to distinguish them from the same objects used either
figuratively or symbolically; thus, the conventional form of the
phonetic T was the hand open and outstretched; in any other form
the hand would either be a figurative, or a symbolic sign. The
number of distinct characters employed as phonetic signs appears to
have been about 120; consequently many were homophones, or having
the same signification. The three kinds of characters were used
indiscriminately in the same writing, [p177] and occasionally in the
composition of the same word. The formal Egyptian writing, therefore,
such as we see it still existing on the monuments of the country, was
a series of portraits of physical and material objects, of which a
small proportion had a symbolic meaning, a still smaller proportion a
figurative meaning, but the great body were phonetic or alphabetical
signs: and to these portraits, sculptured or painted with sufficient
fidelity to leave no doubt of the object represented, the name of
hieroglyphics, or sacred characters, has been attached from their
earliest historic notice.
The manuscripts of the same ancient period make us acquainted with
two other forms of writing practised by the ancient Egyptians, both
apparently distinct from the hieroglyphic, but which, on careful
examination, are found to be its immediate derivatives; every
hieroglyphic having its corresponding sign in the _hieratic_, or
writing of the priests, in which the funeral rituals, forming a
large portion of the manuscripts, are principally composed; and in
the _demotic_, called also the _enchorial_, which was employed for
all more ordinary and popular usages. The characters of the hieratic
are for the most part obvious running imitations, or abridgments
of the corresponding hieroglyphics; but in the demotic, which is
still further removed from the original type, the derivation is less
frequently and less obviously traceable. In the hieratic, fewer
figurative or symbolic signs are employed than in the hieroglyphic;
their absence being supplied by means of the phonetic or alphabetical
characters, the words being spelt instead of figured; and this is
still more the case in the demotic, which is, in consequence, almost
entirely alphabetical.
After the conversion of the Egyptians to Christianity, the ancient
mode of writing their language fell into disuse; and an alphabet was
adopted in substitution, consisting of the twenty-five Greek letters,
with six additional signs expressing articulations and aspirations
unknown to the Greeks, the characters for which were retained from
the demotic. This is the Coptic alphabet, in which the Egyptian
appears as a written language in the Coptic books and manuscripts
preserved in our libraries; and in which, consequently, the language
of the inscriptions on the monuments may be studied. [p178]