506 THE GARDENER. [Nov. 



necessary, to do tliem justice. Crocuses are a favourite morsel of rats, 

 mice, and squirrels, and require looking after. Tar sprinkled over the 

 beds helps to keep these vermin off : rows and patches of distinct-col- 

 oured bulbs have a fine effect. With Crocuses we sometimes have had 

 rows of the following, admired : white, blue, yellow, and purple, in 

 long lines, round a flower-garden. All plants, such as Pinks, Cloves, 

 Picotees, Pansies, Auriculas, ikc, under cover, require to be kept very 

 dry. No damp or greenness should be allowed on the surface of pots. 

 Frequent stirring will do all plants good at this season. Give water 

 to moisten the balls of soil through, but not oftener than they require 

 it. Plants requiring greenhouse temperature may be kept at 40° to 45° 

 without sun. Crowding is very injurious to all kinds of plants ; naked 

 stems and decaying foliage are the result. All plants for forcing, how- 

 ever hardy, should be kept from frost. Rhododendron, Kalmias, Lilacs, 

 Roses, hardy Azaleas, Deutzias, can be brought into flower (if well pre- 

 pared previously) very easily with a little moist heat, and do well when 

 in flower in a cool dry temperature. Roman Hyacinths and Lily of 

 the Valley are among our earliest favourites. Slow forcing suits all 

 hardy plants best. Chrysanthemums now require plenty of manure- 

 water, fresh air, and plenty of light. M. T. 



CROPPING FRUIT-TREE BORDERS. 



"Cast down, torn up, cut asunder, they are not destroyed. In the 

 silence, in the darkness, exposed to freezing cold, benumbed with chill- 

 ing water, they work bravely on to recover their misfortune, resolved 

 to live, and not to die. But the warfare with our cruel culture is 

 unequal. Once a-year, sometimes much oftener, we attack them with 

 our spades. Hardly have they had time to gather up their ener- 

 gies and heal their wounds, than they are made to bleed afresh. And 

 so the unequal contest continues, until at last the energies of the 

 roots become paralysed, and their signals of distress are hoisted high 

 on to the top of the tree." Such, according to some who have as- 

 sumed no little importance as horticultural teachers, are the lamen- 

 table and destructive effects of cropping our fruit-tree borders with 

 vegetables. It is not very clear whether we are responsible for 

 compelling the roots to work "in the silence" and "in the darkness," 

 or whether this also is a weak feature of our practice, but it is a con- 

 dition of their existence which the writer evidently regards with deep 

 commiseration. Putting this question aside, however, for the present, 

 as altogether unintelligible and too dark for our apprehension, the 



