276 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



care is requisite to get the gradual 

 fall from back to front. I have no 

 faith in wide borders ; ten feet is 

 ample, as it is far better to have a 

 narrow border well done than one 

 twice the desired width imperfectly 

 completed. The earth being taken 

 out, the border is then fit for con- 

 creting. It is best to employ brick- 

 layers for the purpose, as they are 

 more fit for the work, and a couple 

 of men will do a good space in a day 

 if the materials are close at hand. If 

 the weather is fine, the part they do 

 one day will be fit for the gardener's 

 use the next. A small drain-pipe 

 should then be laid along the front, 

 with a proper outlet ; and if a four- 

 inch wall is run along the front so as 

 to completely confine the roots, so 

 much the better. A covering of five 

 or six inches of stones or brickbats is 

 the next essential to secure a good 

 drainage ; upon this place a covering 

 of rough turves, or any other loose 

 material, and the border is then fit 

 for the soil, and the best soil is un- 

 doubtedly a good mellow loam from 

 the top spit of a pasture field turned 

 up into moderate sized heaps during 

 summer for a month or two. Divide 

 the spits into two before they are 



placed in the border. If the loam 

 should be the least stiff, mix with it 

 old mortar and brick rubbish, or any 

 other coarse material. Rather than 

 omit this, I would use very coarse 

 cinder-ashes, or indeed anything that 

 would help to keep the soil open and 

 porous, for it is surprising after a few 

 years how close and impenetrable to 

 root action soils of this description 

 will sometimes become. But for the 

 peach and nectarine avoid the use of 

 strong manure, as it creates a gross 

 succulent growth. It is better to 

 supply this as a mulching if at any 

 time the trees are found to be weak. 

 A little coarse leaf-mould may be 

 mixed with the soil at the time of 

 making the border, if thought desir- 

 able, but it is not necessary. The 

 border should be raised a few inches 

 above the ground level, and should 

 incline gently to the front. Avoid if 

 possible all future cropping of the 

 border with vegetables, or indeed 

 anything, as it robs the wall trees of 

 their rightful sustenance, and no 

 amount of manuring will make up 

 for loss to the trees of the nourish- 

 ment they should obtain from the 

 unmanured soil. J. C. C. 



OLD GERANIUMS. 



A Plant measuring twenty inches 

 across is of course worth as much 

 more than one that will measure 

 only six inches when put out in 

 May next, as the difference in their 

 respective circumferences, which is 

 not as the difference between six and 

 twenty, but by another measure alto- 

 gether. But, omitting from the 

 reckoning superficial measurement — 

 that is to say, leafage and trusses to 

 cover the ground — you have in an 

 old geranium a hard, ripe, robust 

 base, capable of throwing out abun- 

 dance of roots one way, and of shoots 

 the other way, and, in addition, a 

 harder constitution, so that old plants 

 may be put out sooner than young 



ones, and go away at once to bloom, 

 because the ripe wood which pro- 

 duces bloom is already formed in 

 plenty, and perfected by the growth 

 of previous seasons. What would 

 the exhibitors of scarlets do without 

 their fine old stumps, that, like good 

 wine, improve by keeping? How 

 should we get up pyramids of gera- 

 niums — which may be better seen at 

 Regent's Park Botanic Gardens than 

 anywhere else near London — without 

 ripe stools of seven to twenty years' 

 growth ? How should we ever get 

 up grand beds of scarlets without a 

 due proportion of aged giants for the 

 centres, and younger stuff to fill in 

 rouud them ? 



