THE FLORAL WOULD AND aARDEN aUIDE. 



151 



border that has been enriched with decayed 

 manure or a quantity of leaf-mould, sup- 

 ply plenty of water, and if the plants are 

 trained perpendicular, they will soon be the 

 same height as yourself. Again, if dry 

 weather, the foliage will become small and 

 scant. A deficiencj' of flowers, then, must 

 be the result in both cases. What, then, 

 will such experience teach us ? Why, that 

 the majority of the failures are owing to 

 light soils. If the}' are planted in a good- 

 holding ham, in wet seasons they cannot 

 work too fast with their minute fibres; thus 

 causing- a sturdy growth, and, after three 

 or fonr fine days, a mass of bloom. If, on 



the contrary, a dry season, the holding 

 quality of the loam supplies their small 

 fibres with sufficient nourishment, so as to 

 cause plenty of growth, also an abundance 

 of bloom. 



Such, then, are the results of practical 

 observation and the experience of several 

 years. For pot-culture, compost of three- 

 fourths good holding loam, and one-fourth 

 of leaf-mould, with a good sprinkling of 

 silver-sand, and cool treatment, they grow 

 fine, and are sure to repay for extra care 

 and labour to the ardent admirer of natxire 

 and its flowers. James Holland, 



Gardener to R, W.Peahey Esq., Isleworth. 



WOEK AMONG- THE EOSES. 



Glorious suusliine and dashing rains ; what 

 can be better for the gardener, if the sun- 

 shine is subdned where needful, and the top 

 of the soil kept loo-^e to let the rain in, in- 

 stead of compelling it to run ofl". The storm 

 of the 20th broke over the north side of 

 London with absolute fai"y and the water 

 chased down my garden like a mountain 

 torrent ; it overflowed the three wells that 

 receive the drainage, made the pavement of 

 a lean-to house now occupied with melons, 

 cucumbers, and tomatoes in pots, into a 

 ditch, and in order to shut up, my garden 

 boy had to get bricks and throw them for- 

 ward one at a time to make a dry footing ; 

 and how he grinned, it was delightful to 

 behold. Next morning the water was all 

 gone, and the wells were full only to within 

 two feet of the surface, such was the capa- 

 bility of the ground to absorb it after a long 

 continuance of burning sun. I saw that 

 morning that the barometer had fallen the 

 third of an inch, and the first thing I did 

 was to mix a pailful of Parmenteir's pre- 

 paration to wash some plum trees that had 

 suddenly broken oirt into a state of fly such 

 as I never saw in my life before. My 

 bush trees are rarely troubled with vermin, 

 and this was the fir.st outbreak of fly I had 

 seen this season. My object in hurrying to 

 dress the trees was that the approaching 

 storm might wash them clean again, better 

 than could be done with the syringe, and 

 save the labour of syringing at the same 

 time. The next thing was to put a few 

 stakes to some bush roses that were toppling 

 over with a mass of bloom altogether un- 

 usual, even with the free blooming sorts, 

 and such a display of General Jacqueminot, 

 Jules Margottin, Madame Vidot, Vicom- 

 tesse d'Avesne (N.), Geant des Batailles, 

 and Baronne Prevost, I never had before. 



But my rosery has been thinned a little. 

 The winter killed off" the centre bed de- 

 scribed last year, in which all the plants 

 were on briars in regular heights from cir- 

 cumference to centre. It also killed every 

 one of the shoots on briars woi'ked last 

 season, and I had no stock in the place to 

 make that bed good, and found it impossible 

 to buy the sorts and quantities I wanted 

 for it. So I cleared the bed out, filled it 

 with peat from Wanstead, and planted it 

 with rhododendrons and kalmias, and as 

 far as mere eff'ect goes, the dense mass 

 of evergreens for a centrepiece is prefer- 

 able to roses. Tlie frost also killed all my 

 tall standard Xoisettes, with the exception 

 of Triomphe de la Duchere, and Vicomtesse 

 d'Avesne ; these were on briars too, and 

 most of the briars perished with the roses. 

 They might every one have been saved; and 

 there was sufiicient warning in the exces- 

 sive wet state of the ground ; so whatever 

 other folk think about the " cruel winter" 

 in regard to the thinning of their roses, I 

 am prepared to adopt the verdict of the 

 jury in Joe Miller's stale anecdote, " serve 

 him right." Let us take an example for 

 the sake of instruction. My standard 

 Aimee Viberts were as green as grass and 

 in full bloom till the frost literally melted 

 tlieni at the tips of all the branches, and 

 the flowers then had the appearance of 

 having been boiled. A splendid pair of 

 Ophirie with heads bigger, and the same 

 shape as a. chaise umbrella, were making 

 new [wood and blooming profuselj' far into 

 December. These were warnings that the 

 wood was not ripened ; that the trees were 

 not ready to rest, and that they ought to 

 have been lifted^. If served as we serve 

 Teas ; that is, if taken up and packed to- 

 gether by the heels in a place of shelter, 



