62 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEIf GUIDE. 



time of year; for tliongli tlie vine is hardy, it is quite contrary to its nature to be so 

 wet and cold at the roots as vines must be in this country during such weather as 

 ■we liave had lately. In making a vine border, take six parts good lop.m — if rather 

 stiff no matter — and one part each of sand, broken bones, old plaster, and charred 

 rubbish. It must be borne in mind, that such directions as these are given in order 

 that beginners may have a rule sufficii-^ntly definite to prevent any outrageous 

 mistake ; practical men never wt-igh and measure the ingredients for composts. A 

 vine would tlirlve in half clean lime rubbish and half loam ; or in half sand and 

 half loam; or in four parts loam, one of sand, one of rotten dung, and one of broken 

 bones. We have a tremendously robust Chasselas Musque growing in a walk wliich 

 consists of clay trodden hard like a pavement, over which there is about a foot of 

 coal ashes. Mr. Glendinning used to grow good grapes in a border which consisted 

 in great part of coal ashes. To be in tlie full sun, and to be tolerably dry at the 

 root, are the two golden rules for the growth of vines. Mr. Hewlett was right in 

 cautioning readers about lime rubbish, saying that it tends to consolidate the soil. 

 If it is very fine, and consisting chiefly of dust, such will be the case ; but if really^ 

 consisting of nodules of mortar and nodules of brick and stone, of the size of a 

 walntrt to the size of the fist, it will be the very best stuff to incorporate with loam 

 for vines or any other fruits. Very glad indeed to hear from you again as of old. 



Lists of Plant.s. — Amatevr. — No one would more lieartily rejoice than tlie 

 Editor of the Floral Would if he could at all times nse homely English instead of 

 compounds of Greek and Latin, that are always unfamiliar, and sometimes more 

 barbarous than their English equivalents. But it is much easier to object and 

 deplore than to find a remedy. Take, for example, the list of ferns at page 5 of the 

 last issue of this journal. Only some half dozen of all those have English names ; 

 and to translate the names by which they are there announced would neither afford 

 information to the reader, nor assist him in identifying the plants. The numerous 

 advantaofes of deriving the names of plants and animals from tlie dead languages arc 

 so many, that as compared with them the disadvantages are as nothing. The fact that 

 the roots of the terms are in dead languages preserves the terms from colloquial cor- 

 ruptions, and they remain for ages in their entirety, and serve as permanent insignia. 

 Another advantage is, that the same names are adopted in all countries; the language 

 of science is the same everywhere; so that a Frenchman, German, or Spaniard 

 requiring a list of ferns for a cool-liou>e, and not able to read a word of that article, 

 would be as well informed as to the ferns themselves as any English reader. On the 

 other hand, if described in the vernacnlar, and named according to the fancy of the 

 writer and not according to the rules obsen-ed by botanists, the names would be 

 useless to English readers as much as to foreign readers, for it is only an old eda- 

 hlished name of a plant that can ever be used for purposes of identification. This 

 brino-s us to the lists under the heading of "Garden Guide," where undoubtedly a 

 few well-known names-might be used. But if you were as well aware as the writer 

 of this, of the confusion and blundering that arise in plant buying and plant grow- 

 ing through using colloquial names, you would prefer to see entered in such a list 

 Helleborus niger rather than Christinas rose ; for the latter would be understood by 

 many as a rose proper, and so on all through the list. There are many other 

 reasons for the adoption of the scientific method, even in so unpretending a book as 

 this : one of these is that it saves space. At page 30 of last month's number, you 

 have an amount of information that would occupy a couple of pages on your plan 

 all compressed into the compass of a third of a page on the plan that experience 

 sanctions. Another reason is, that there are very few persons interested in plants 

 who are not also cultivated in mind, and well able to perceive the importance of 

 names that are fixed by scientific rules, as better than names formed according to 

 no rule, and which are liable at any time to change their meaning, and which for 

 that reason are dangerous. 



Bone W aste.— Couniri/ Curate.— It will improve the growth of almost any 

 plant, but it must be used in very small quantities for fuchsias and geraniums, 

 say not more than a handful to a 6-inch pot. For potted vines one-sixtli part may 

 be" added to the turf and loam. In the kitchen garden we should sow it in the drills 

 or over the drills, with peas, beans, cabbage, etc., at the rate of lib. to every three 

 square yards. For onion beds mix it with half its weight of cliarccal dust, and use 

 the mixture at the rate of nine pounds to the square rod. Your plan of starting 

 gloxinias and achimencs will never answer. 



Aquatics.— C. 31. W.—Mt. Loudon used to grow aquatic grasses and other 



