THE FLORAL WOELD ANB GARDEN GUIDE. 313 



subjects can be procured, to be thinned out, or where clumps are to be found 

 to draw from, the practice of removing large trees may be adopted with benefit 

 and success at no very extravagant expense ; and thus enhanced value may be 

 given s,t once to bare pasture lands ; but the art must ever bo limited, and it is not 

 in the case of largo trees applicable to the general purposes of utility. It may be 

 argued in favour of economy of the practice of removing largo specimens, that 

 e.T tensive tracts of ground usually occupied by young trees and nurses may be saved 

 for other purposes, that the expenses of fencing and of maintaining plantations 

 during years of unpro6tableaess, and of cleaning, thinning, and pruning, may be 

 avoided, if trees of large giowth were more generally transplanted than those 

 usually employed, and that the difficulty of raising in some unsuitable localities and 

 soils several of the slow-growing varieties during their tender years would be 

 avoided ; but in opposition to such specious arguments we can only remark that, 

 ■whiU for immediate landscape effect, and for that only, the larger the tree removed 

 the better, provided it be done successfully, and be not transplanted to its new site 

 in a mutilated condition to pine and decay, and such means must be employed by 

 those who desire to anticipate years of growth and progress to attain theii- object — 

 still their pleasure must he dearly bought at the price it costs, and the risks of 

 falures they incur for a few years of merely temporary advantage. On the othtr 

 hand, those who are satisfied with transplanting for the pvu'pose of immediate effect, 

 specimens of from 3 to 8 feet high, will be more amply rewarded, for at much less 

 cost and trouble, and with prospects of greater certainty of success, they obtain a 

 far more rapid and healthy growth of young wood, as well as a more enduring 

 superiority of timber ; and they consequently bequeath to their posterity a richer 

 and more valuable gift, in the more permanently improved and enhanced value of 

 their property. 



BCJLBOUS FLOWERS IN THE GARDENS, SQUARES, AND 

 PUBLIC WALKS IN LARGE TOWNS. 



BY SAMUEL BECOME, E.R.n.S., 



Gardener to the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, London. 



SlAYIXG made up my mind to attempt a spring garden in the heart of 

 London, trusting that if successful it would, by examjile, induce a better 

 system — or perhaps I ought to saj', to encourage some attempt at a 

 system — of floral display in our dingy London squares and churchyards, 

 I selected the hyacinth, tulip, and crocus, as siibjects with which I 

 should have the best chance of success. Having procured a good supply of each, 

 my first step was to decide where to plant them. After some consideration, I chose 

 the ten circular beds on the slope at the south side of the north walk, and the six 

 larger oval beds lower down on the same slope, also the small oval beds on the 

 west and east sides of the lawn. But here a grave difficulty presented itself. All 

 the beds were at this time filled with chrysanthemums coming fast on towards the 

 flowering season ; to pot and plunge all the bulbs would have taken some thousands 

 of pots, which I did not possess, to say nothing of the labour. However, I hit 

 upon a plan. I commenced the first week in October to plant them temporarily 

 under some trct's in a sheltered west border. I first placed on the soil thtee inches 

 of cocoa-nut fibre, and on this planted my bulbs, the hyacinths about four inches 

 apart, the crocuses about three inches. I then covered them with three inches more 

 cocoa-nut fibre, putting on the top of all a thin layer of brushwood to prevent the^ 

 cats from scratching them up. At Christmas I took the chrysanthemums out of 

 their beds, and placed them in their winter quarters. I then dug up the beds for 

 the hyacinths, say eighteen inches to two feet deep, and incorporated a good dress- 

 ing of well-rotted dung. I should have liked to have added some good, light, 

 maiden loam from the country, but, with the exception of a few loads for potting 

 purposes, very little of this comes to my share ; consequently it must be borne in 



