The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-11-20 00:00:00

plaints attended to. %I nat are _ _
police about to give occasion for such remonstrances 7.1

SEACOMBE FERRY

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

SlR,—Observing a paragraph in your last paper, relative to
the loss of one of the Seacombe packets ; and also that you have
exposed the hardship sustained by the owners of property at
Bootle, by the refusal of the Earl of Derby to allow compensa-
tion for injury done to them,

I wish to draw your attention, and that of the public
generally, to the cause of the loss of the packet in question,
and to similar injury upon private individuals, done without
redress by the Birkenhead Dock Committee. In consequence
of the construction of the wall for the Birkenhead Dock Works,
the set of the tide has been so altered that an enormous accu-
mulation of sand has taken place, in some places to the depth
of about ten feet, and a new bank is forming to the eastward of
the N.E. corner of this wall, at times covering the rails on the
slip, so as to prevent the stage trom moving down. The
lessees of the ferry were for a long time at an enormous ex-
pense in endeavouring to keep the slip free from sand, and the
public very much inconvenienced. The lessees of the ferry
commenced an action against the Birkenhead Dock Trustees
to recover the losses they have sustained, and for repair of the
injuries done to the slip in consequence of the sand depositing
on the rails. The stage not being able to move down, a packet
was placed at the end of the stage, lying upon and across the
rails, for the passengers to land over, and sometimes as many
as threei packets have been so placed, to their injury, and the
consequent destruction not only of the rails but the masonry
also. The day previous to the trial coming off, the Dock
Trustees proposed the matter being settled by arbitration,
undertaking to pay all law costs incurred up to that time, and
all costs of every description to be incurred by the arbitration,
and to bear the expense of all losses and injuries that might be
done in the mean time, and take upon themselves the manage-
ment and responsibility of keeping the sand clear—at which

and decided in favour of the claini of the lessees, but not as to
the exact sum ; and most disgraceful is it that this matter was
not settled long ago. One of the claims, and evidence given
before them was the state of the slip, the requisite repairs, and
an estimate of the cost, with a report as to the danger to the

put..ncta envuou MUM LUllle again wmist in tars state. ' They did
not repair the slip, nor pay the slightest attention to it, which
is the cause of the loss of this packet. The slip on the first day
of this present month did get sanded, and the stage could not
be got down, therefore it was necessary to place a packet on
the end of the slip ; as the tide ebbed the packet turned over
to larboard, that is towards the river, and continued to do so,
although every effort was made to keep her up; the sand was
so steep it was imcossible ; and, as the tide flowed very rapidly,
she filled with water, was swept from the end of the stage, and
finally rolled over in deeper water.
This was the cause of the accident, and a very pretty account
the trustees will have to settle. The progress of these works
has certainly been carried on in the most reckless and im-
provident manner; and what are they now on the ec4cGmhe
side of the Pool? nothing, but the greatest nuisance that could
be made. Why should they, as their first work, build a dock
and works at Birkenhead for which they had no power under
their then act, and be obliged to go to Parliament for another
to legalize this illegal act? Why should they build, so many
years before it was wanted, the wall opposite-Seacomb ; doing
all the injury that has before been stated, inclosing the sewers
of Seacombe, and allowing the contents thereof to flow upon
the mud opposite the houses, where there is no current to
carry it away ? and where at times, when it is not covered by
the water, it evicts the most dreadful stench, that at times the
inhabitants can scarcely stop in their houses. Why should
this wall have been built when (they have always been short of
money) the money could have been employed elsewhere, where
it was wanted, the cost of which must be paying interest, the
same as any other portion of their debt, the amount of which
interest is an accruing loss? And why have not these Com-
missioners complied with a clause in their Act of Parliament,
making it imperative upon them at their own expense, from
and immediately, after the passing of the Act—" A sufficient
culvert or culverts to retain the sewage and all waste waters
from the lands, and all houses now built, or hereafter to be
built, on this portion of the shore of the River Mersey!" ?
These questions, sir, I think? will be difficult to answer.
There has been a great depreciation in property near this filthy,
stinking pool; and I am only surprised the Commissioners for
the Improvement of the Parish of Wallasey do not take this
matter up, and compel them to do that which is imperative for
this side of the Pool. I must apologize, Mr. Editor, for asking
to occupy so much of your valuable paper, but the matter has
assumed such a disgraceful form at last, that every person I
speak to about it invariably expresses the greatest disgust;
which pleas,e.take as my excuse.
I remain, sir,
Your obedient servant
Searombovl2Cl4 November, 1849. A. RAtEPAYER.

THE
agriruiturat anb llortiruitural

COLUMN

We recollect to have met somewhere or other with the
remark, that plants are often grown too fast. We believe
it originated with George Glenny, whose theoretical
knowledge of plant-growing will not be very easily sur-
passed. The suggestion is a very valuable one, and we
have often thought of claiming for it the attention of our
readers. It was forced upon our own in a most particu-
lar manner the other day, by inspecting a collection of
large azaleas, varieties of the Indian species, which the
gardener triumphantly assured us were but of three years'
growth. They were large, straggling bushes, with foliage
ample in size, but very deficient in quantity. The
branches were numerous long flexible twigs, all bending
downwards from their own weight and want of substance.
Now, if size were the first point of excellence in a speci-
men plant, fast growing would be the easiest method of
attaining perfection; but size is only a secondary quality,
beauty of form and healthiness of foliage being paramount
to every other qualification. It is a questionable matter
whether any plant is benefited by fast growing, but most
certainly no plant of all the Ericacew ; on the contrary,
they invariably suffer by it.

Too much anxiety is shewn to get plants to bloom,
which is a great error ; grow the plant well, and there
will he no fear of its not blooming. Who does not ad-
mire the beautifully compact habit of Azalea varieyata
and Gledstanesii .2 and we believe every other kind, if
properly treated, may be grown quite as compact, though
not perhaps so neat in the foliage. Depend upon it,
luxuriant growth is destructive of beauty of form. How
often do we see the fuchsia reared in a cottage window
exhibit greater beauty than its more pampered congeners
of the greenhouse ! and why ? Because they have grown
slowly in the window, clothing themselves as they grew
with nice, healthy, thick-set foliage, and in proper time
produce a rich display of blossoms. Now the greenhouse
plant has been subjected to bottom-heat, and a high,
moist temperature, which has produced an excessive
growth, indicated by long succulent shoots, coarse foliage
sparingly produced, and overgrown flowers devoid of that
beautiful wax-like texture which is so eminently the cha-
racteristic of the sepals of this fine genus.
The most beautiful fuchsia we ever saw was a plant of
the old F. globosa, some years since in the collection of
the Messrs. Loddiges ; it was a perfect standard of consi-
derable age, having a fine large compact bushy head, and
a clear stem, about three feet high, and three or four
inches in diameter; no new variety, however fine, ever ex-
ceeded this fine specimen in beauty, covered as it was with
thousands of its prettily-formed blossoms, like bells of
coral.

We have only instanced two plants, but we might men-
tion two dozen which are thus maltreated. The only re-
medy for this is a greater spirit of inquiry amongst gar-
deners, who should make themselves acquainted with the
temperature of those places which are the natural habitats
of the plants they cultivate. Both of those we have men-
tioned come from tropical countries ; but in those coun-
tries there is every variety of temperature, from the snow-
capped mountains to the torrid plains ; and between these
two extremes are found the fuchsia and the azalea; and
nothing can exceed their beauty when flourishing in their
native locality. The geographical distribution of plants
is a matter deserving the utmost attention from horticul-
turists.

PAPERS ON AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY
__ NO. VIII.
_

Having now briefly cOnsideled the most essential ele-
ments of vegetable life, which may be summed up in three
words, carbonic acid, ammonia, and water ; and having
shown that humus, the supposed food of plants, only acts
by increasing the supply of the first of these three ; we
will now proceed to show in what way plants receive their
nutrition.

Beginning with the seedling plant, which has just
emitted its rootlet, and is still destitute of leaves or other
organs, we find that the humus of the soil, by its amaz-
ing power of producing carbonic acid, affords a constant
supply, and enables the new-born plant to develope its
leaves; these in their turn carry on the process of absorp-
tion, and drive ammonia, carbonic acid, and water from
the atmosphere. From these they form cellular tissue,
woody fibre, vegetable albumen, &c., and the process of
growth is thus kept up as it were by compound multipli-
cation. In the Autumn ligneous plants cease to form
woody fibres, but large quantities of starch are formed by.
the leaves, and diffused through every portion of the
plant ; finally each leaf deposits a large supply of starch
at the base of its petiole which, by its accumulation,
effects a separation of the leaf and stem, from which it
then falls, having fulfilled its ultimate object.* This takes
place regularly and completely in deciduous trees and
shrubs in autumn, but only partially and at various sea-
sons in the evergreens.

The starch which is thus accumulated is in the follow-
ing spring converted into sugar and gum ; the gum is
used in the formation of the new leaves and shoots, as
these attain maturity, by the assimilation of nitrogen, the
sugar comes into play, and assists in the development of
the flowers and fruit ; these being perfected, the same
. .

process is repeated, that is, all the energies of the plant
are exerted in the formation of starch for the next year's
supply. Such operations are going on unremmittingly in
the wonderful laboratory of nature, operations so perfect
in all their details, and in the effects produced, that man,
with all his boasted 11 k-

.nemic, Knowledge, can only regard
them with wonder and astonishment, acknowledging from
his inmost soul the illimitable power and wisdom of the

great Creator,

*This subject was ably treated by our intelligent townsman,
Pr. Inman, in a paper read to the Liverpool Literary and Phi-
losophical Society.