THE 



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January, 1859. 



LANTING is pursued on 

 a very different system, 

 noAV-a-days, to that which 

 obtained among the gar- 

 deners of half a century 

 ago. It is true that there 

 are plenty of old orchards 

 and shrubberies to be 

 found Avhere the most 

 critical jtidge of horticul- 

 tural practice would find it difficult to get 

 up a charge of carelessness or ignorance on 

 the part of those who planted them years 

 and years ago, but the frequent complaints 

 of .sorts dying out, of old trees eaten up by 

 blight and canker, of failures in the fruit 

 crop, of wall-trees that neither make wood 

 nor fruit-spurs, of grape-vines that cast 

 their bunches, or never carry a crop through without 

 shanking or mildew, and of conifers that cease to grow 

 for a season, and then perish without any apparent 

 cause — all these varied complaints suggest to the practi- 

 cal man one general cause — insufficient or diseased root- 

 action ; and, in nine cases out of every ten, when the 

 cause can be ascertained, it is found to be at the root, 

 and it becomes from that moment a fallacy to blame the atmosphere 

 the climate, or the meteorological vicissitudes of the season. Here 

 we have opened to us many interesting points, such as the folly of 

 deep planting, the necessity of drainage, the injurious effects of dry 

 travels and cold clays, but to enter into the many questions winch 

 the full discussion of this matter would call up, is not now our mtention. 

 We will content ourselves with pointing out to our readers one wide- 

 VOIi. II. — NO. T. ^ 



