The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-02-05 00:00:00

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COLUMN,

it is high time that some steps were taken to improve
the nomenclature of florists' flowers; the country has
long been looking to the metropolitan societies for some
change, but as yet nothing has been done. Every year
the catalogues teem with names most incongruous or
meaningless. Not only are flowers christened with ridi-
culous names ; but fruits also come in for a share of the
absurdity.

We should willingly take the initiative from the Lon-
don florists, who are in every respect competent to set an
example; but we think that much longer time ought not
to be allowed to elapse before some radical change is ef-
fected ; and, if need be, we believe the Liverpool horticul-
turists are as capable as any of making the commence-
ment. What can be more absurd than such names as
Marchioness Cornwallis, Oakley's Surprise, and Sweet-
meat, for three Dahlias? The first is unexceptionable, if
it were part of a uniform system ; that is, if florists were
to name all deserving flowers after some distinguished
member of the aristocracy : the light colours might be
named after the female celebrities, and the dark-coloured
ones after the male. For such flowers as tulips the
names of military men might be used. Classical names,
ancient and modern, with the distinction of male and fe-
male, or light and dark, as proposed for dahlias, would
serve for roses. Numbers would do for many flowers of
inferior note, as pansies, pinks, calceolarias, &c. A little
ingenuity would soon supply all that is necessary to com-
plete a system. Scientific names might easily be sup-
plied to designate every new variety, but this is not
wanted. Where species and genera are concerned, the
case is different; the universal language of science is then
absolutely necessary, that all may be able to recognise
the individual designated ; but varieties have generally
only a temporary, and even in some instances a local in-
terest; sometimes they are mere matters of trade, or of
fashion, and generally cease to be remembered as soon as
newer favourites are produced. This is no objection,
however, to the proposition we have made, for introducing
a regular nomenclature ; system in this, as in everything
else, would increase the facilities of studying floriculture.
But facility is quite a secondary object to be gained ; the
real benefit would be in avoiding that medley of vulgar
and absurd names which makes the cultivation of florists'
flowers positively annoying to persons of refined taste.
We give the following, which is only a fair sample :
Tulips: Dangerous and Do-little. Carnation: Premit's
Bendigo. _Ranunculus: Quaker Lady. Verbena: One
in the Ring. Pansy: Privateer. Dahlias: Box, and
Triumph de Peck. Pinks : Smallthorn and Harkforward.
Polyanthus : Cheetham's Lancashire Hero. A nice se-
lection for a lady's garden ! We can hardly fancy such
names tripping from a lady's tongue ; besides which, their
incongruity must strike every one. To begin with the list,
there is a dangerous tulip and a lazy one, a prize-fighting
carnation, a quakeress ranunculus, a verbena (like the
carnation) " one of the fancy," a buccaneering pansy,
a dahlia called box, from no resemblance, we presume,
but probably to add another to the many meanings of
that little word ; and one named " Triumph de Peck,"
most likely to shew that some Mr. Peck admires the
French language. These absurdities might be multiplied
ad infinitum ; we believe they only require to be com-
pletely exposed, and they will then soon be abolished :
the sooner the better; and we should like to see the step
first taken by the Liverpool horticulturits.

PAPERS ON AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY.
NO. XVIII.

The loss of manure in this country is almost incredible,
and the money expended in bringing it from distant parts
is also immense ; in the article of night-soil alone it is
calculated that at the present price of manure not less
than £2,000,000 worth is annually wasted in the river
Thames alone, every particle of which might be saved with
ease, and rendered totally inoffensive; besides which, it
would become as easily transportable as guano, more effi-
cacious, and infinitely cheaper. Whence then the in-
fatuation which allows not only its waste, but the mischiefs
which it causes by polluting our rivers ? Public attention
is becoming awakened to the importance of this subject,
and money is beginning to be realised, in the metropolis,
by the conversion of night-soil into manure, which has
all the advantages, and even more, than guano. It is
calculated that if the sewage and night-soil be added
together they would furnish sufficient to raise all the corn
which this country at present produces, and yet they are
thrown away, to create sickness and death, and the
hardly-earned money of the agriculturist is expended in
the pu!chase of foreign manures. In order to render
night-soil fully available, as a manure, it is absolutely
essential to have large tanks in the farm yard ; into these
tanks not merely the liquids of the manure heap should
be allowed to drain, but also all the refuse of every kind
from the house ; the solid manure of the stables should
also be mixed from time to time, in small quantities, that
it may be thoroughly decomposed, while powdered char-
coal and calcined loam should be mixed at intervals, to
fix the ammonia, and destroy the offensive effluvium. Of
course, this must be applied in a liquid form, and the
best time for administering it would be after the crops bad
commenced growing—this of course could easily be done
by liquid manure carts. These admit of great room for
improvement, and doubtless may be made much more
convenient than those at present in use. A great object
would be gained in manuring two ridges at one time ;
this might be managed by mounting a square wooden
tank on the centre of a long axle, which would carry the
wheels into two furrows, while the horses could be led
along the intervening one. The tank should have per-
forated delivery pipes, corresponding with the length of
the axle; these would spread the liquid over two ridges
with ease ; the front of the tank would have to be sup-
ported upon another wheel, which would run in the centre
furrow ; thus the liquid manure could be distributed
without the slightest injury to the growing crop, and not
one particle would be wasted, which is not the case when
manure is applied to the soil before the seed has germi-
nated. We have, (on a small scale,) tried the difference
between manuring before the germination, and after the
plant is up ; the difference in favour of the latter is two-
fold.

MISCELLANEA

We regret exceedingly to find that the plants of Victoria
at Kew, which last September were in such vigorous
health, and promised so much, have also failed during the
present and late severe and very dull, " lifeless" weather.
Some of the plants were found, after death, when the
centre of the stems were examined, to have the flower-
buds perfectly formed ; showing, we think, if anything
can, that the plants were checked, not for want of water
or suitable earth—not for want of any essential ele-
ment but one. Autumn had returned, and brought
with it long, dark nights and dull days, and of course a
diminution of light. Thus autumn arrived a month too
soon. Had the plants been provided with a suitable tank
in June or July, instead of September, we cannot conceive
anything more certain than that the plants would have
matured their flowers early in the autumn. The fate of
the Chatsworth plant will determine, to some extent,
whether or not it is an annual. We understand Mr.
Veitch has also lost his plant. Such of the plants at Kew
as may be preserved through the winter, will now, however,
be in a condition to make a fair start on the return of
brighter weather and longer days ; and no doubt they will
be seen in flower in these gardens early in the summer.
It is gratifying to be able to state that the large palm-
house and the heating apparatus at Kew have all answered
completely during the late severe weather. In the large
house the plants look remarkably well ; and, notwith-
standing the severity of the weather, it had not been
found necessary to call the whole of the heating apparatus
into use. It is a remarkable circumstance that on the
morning of December 29th, when there were in the
Regent's Park 18 degrees of frost, there should be exactly
the same degree of cold at Kew, and at Exeter, in Devon-
shire. We are in the habit of calling Devonshire a mild
climate, We fear many of the Devonshire plants, which
usually stand the winters there, will suffer during the
present winter.—Gardeners' and Farmers' Journal,
Our attention , has been called to the culture of the
New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) as a suitable plant
to grow under the shade of trees as a cover for game, and
as an article of utility and value on account of its fibre
for the purpose of cordage. As some of our readers may
not be familiar with the plant, we may say it belongs to
the natural order Asphodelete, and is associated with such
genera as Narthecium. Scilla, Alium, Asparagus of our
British flora ; and Dracaena, Dianella, Thysanotus, and
others as exotics, and resembles a gigantic sweet flag or
Iris. In many gardens about London it stands ; it will
survive without much injury such winters as the present,
that is it will bear 18 degrees of frost in an exposed place,
with such protection as, if thickly planted, the foliage of
the plant itself would supply. That it would therefore
grow freely, and with a large amount of certainty, along
the south coast, and especially in Cornwall and the south
of Ireland, no reasonable doubt can be entertained ; but
as to how far it could be made profitable, is a question
the solution of which is involved in considerable difficulty.
The plant, as most of our readers are aware, abounds in
fibre, from which cordage and fabrics of various kinds are
manufactured in New Zealand and Norfolk Island, where,
indeed, they have no other.—Gardeners' Journal.—
[With care we feel sure the Phormium tenax might be
grown in the neighbourhood of Liverpool. In pleasure
grounds it would produce a fine and novel effect.—Hort.
Ed.]
Dr. Hooker, the enterprising botanist, now in India,
has been made a prisoner by the Rajah of Sikkim, but no
evil is apprehended more than the delay.