58 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



may increase the size of his garden a hun- 

 dred times in regard to thecuUnre of coni- 

 fers by iulopting my mtthod. Wliere there 

 niav not be room Ibi' a single spriici', or tir, 

 or pine, as a tree, a collection of fifty or a 

 hundreil, or more or less, of conifers as 

 bushes in pots, may be got together, and 

 the gratification they will afford will be far 

 more than an equivalent for the small ex- 

 pense which their purchase will occasion. 

 I am just now rejoicing in tlie beautiful 

 appearance of my Jardinet. I lost the time 

 for planting bulbs in the autumn through 

 sheer pressure of engagements. There was 

 so much to do in the way of earthwork, 

 owing to the disturbance occasioned here 

 hy the works for the main drainage, with 

 which I connected the drains of the house 

 rather against my will, that I could not 

 even prepare for Christmas, according to 

 custom, by making a display of shrubs d la 

 promenade, in the vicinity of the house. 

 And a good thing for me, perhaps, that it 

 was so, for conifers newly potted just pie- 

 vious to that Christmas fiost, woitld pro- 

 bably have become firewood hy this time ; 

 and this brings us to the reason for attend- 

 ing to such matters at tliis time of year, 

 bolore the hurry and bustle of bedding out 

 commences, and while the ground is cool 

 and moist to encourage the plants newly 

 shifted, for the potting is to be followed by 

 phmging, and there the trouble ends. The 

 cut inserted last month was from a draw- 

 ing made in the winter of 1859-60, when 

 the stone-bed was furnished with i'inus in- 

 signis, Cephalotaxus Fortuni, Pinus cem- 

 hra, Picea pinsapo, Abies Menziesii, Abies 

 orientalis, and small plants of silver-leaved 

 box to fill in between. These were the re- 

 mains of a collection of pot-conifers which 

 had all grown out of hounds, and had by 

 degrees been planted out on permanent 

 stations. In the spring of 1860 this remain- 

 der was turned out, having got to fifteen- 

 inch pots, so that it was time to begin 

 again with a fresh lot of small nursery 

 plants. This new lot now occupy the bed, 

 ■which holds twenty trees, averaging thirty 

 inclies in height. My neighbour, Mr. 

 Chitty, saved my time by running down to 

 Cheslinnt to pick them over for me, and 

 make sure of straight, short, well furnished 

 trees. The planting ttiis time is — for the 

 centre, a very handsome Cephalotaxus, 

 three feet high, in an eight-inch pot; on 

 each side of it, right and left, so as to form a 

 pair, two Juniperus commuuis oblonga ; on 

 each side, the other way, say front and 

 back, Juniperus thurifera. Thus we have 

 a centre tree of a plumed habit, and re- 

 motely resembling ostrich feathers, and 

 around it four erect, densely foliaged trees, 



of delicate colour, and pyramidal outline. 

 Then, for the outside circle, there are Abies 

 Fiazeri (Picea I'razeri), Juniperus Chinen- 

 sis foeuiina, Juiiip rus fragrans. Jumpeius 

 Gossiiinthanea, Thuia gigantea, Pinus cem- 

 bra. These are all in pairs, eacli species 

 opposite its fellow, so tluit the whole is 

 symmetrical, ami on the bedding system as 

 to harmonies of colour. 



Let it be understood that I give this 

 planting only as an example of what m;iy 

 be done to keep up the style of a garden 

 during the dull season. Tlie plan may be 

 extended in half a dozen different direc- 

 tions, and may be followed on the plan 

 of planting out as well as by potting. But 

 potting is preferable, because the trees are 

 more completely under command. All my 

 small trees are in six and eigbt-incli pots. 

 The soil used is pure loam from Wanstead, 

 with the turf in it well chopped over ; no 

 sand, no leaf-mould, but plenty of drainage 

 and the stuff well rammed in. You will 

 always observe that plants from nurseries 

 have their roots all on one side. That is 

 owing to the quick system followed in 

 planting. A trench is chopped down, the 

 trees are put against the side of the trench 

 to the line, and the trench tilled in ; hence 

 they root away from the hard side of the 

 trench into the soil that was broken up for 

 them. The consequence of this is, that 

 unless large pots be used, it is impossible to 

 place the trees in the centre of the pots, 

 which is of no consequence at all, if they 

 are to beplvmged. With a sharp knife cut 

 clean away all long, fleshy, straggling roots, 

 to reduce them to a moderate compass. Get 

 them into as small pots as possible, but not 

 to jjunish the roots excessively ; pot them 

 firm, and give a good soaking with water. 

 As soon as they begin to make fresh root, 

 the new fibres will touch the pot, and every 

 kind of plant will thrive when that is the 

 case, provided it has a shift when it has 

 exhausted the space and the soil allowed 

 it. Supposing you cannot command a sup- 

 ply of nice silky yellow loam, such as I use, 

 then good turfy peat, mixed with an equal 

 bulk of ordinary good garden-mould, alto- 

 gether free of manure. Leaf-i7iould is au 

 excellent soil for conifers, ana in clay 

 countries should be used freely with the 

 best of the top soil that h is been well 

 frozen, and a proportion of burnt clay and 

 sand to render the whole porous. That 

 conifers ofien look miserable after being in 

 pots a year or so is true, but tiie reason of 

 that is, that they are not cared for, and the 

 chief cause of their suffering is want of 

 water. I drench my potted conifers once 

 a-week all the sumuier long. In July they 

 have a shift into larger pots, if they require 



