232 . THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. [October, 



as this is the best season in the whole year. But to ensure successful results in 

 planting fruit trees, the soil should be well drained if the subsoil is of a retentive 

 character, and the soil of the border must also be improved, if of a clayey nature, 

 by the admixture of substances that will improve its physical properties. 

 When the soil is clayey, the borders should not be made too deep. When the 

 soil is of a sandy nature, and the subsoil porous and gravelly, then little or no 

 drainage is necessary ; generally such soils are naturally sufficiently drained, and 

 are improved by the addition of clay, marl, or any other retentive substance. In 

 soils of this description the borders should be made tolerably deep, and plenty of 

 good rotten manure may be put into them with advantage. Whatever the nature 

 of the soil, it should be made fit for the reception of fruit trees before any are 

 planted, otherwise the result will be failure. In amateurs' gardens dwarf trees 

 only, as a rule, should be planted, unless the ground be of a considerable extent. 

 In light sandy soils, Pear trees on the Quince stock do not always succeed very 

 well, therefore, in planting Pears in soil of this description some earth of a clayey 

 retentive nature should be put into the holes about the roots of the trees. The 

 old canes of Easpberries that have produced fruit should be cut away, the 

 young ones thinned, and tied up to the espalier wires, and the ground between 

 should be well manured and dug ; new plantations may now be made. 



Stourton. M. Saul. 



CHEAP AND BEAUTIFUL LACINGS, 



FOE GEAVEL WALKS, TURF VERGES, AND THE FOEEGROUNDS OF SHEUBBEEIES. 



H yes ! these are just what we want! something that will last, and that 

 won't be killed every winter, and that will bring us a glow of beauty 

 every spring or summertide, and whose leaves will be pretty when the 

 flowers are faded, — plants that will stand as edgings in single file, or form 

 charming lines in broad or narrow ribbons, — things of rare beauty, — gems ! . . . 

 Stop, stop ! We were to write of cheap things. Well, why not ? The cheaper 

 the better. 



Just look at that glowing line of Thrift, that fringes the light gravel with 

 an aurora so bright that it even illumines the common-place potato-tops on the 

 other side, and raises its purple shadow nearly to the top of the espalier apple 

 trees eight feet behind it. What could be more beautiful ? It forms a fringe about 

 a foot wide of the most exquisite colours, and the form is that of the most 

 artistically poised knots of purple, placed exactly the right distance from its 

 lovely green base. And the price ? Why, you may buy enough for a shilling 

 to plant a hundred yards the year after. The plants will bear being taken to 

 pieces like a bundle of needles tied together, and every separate piece may be 

 converted into a plant, and become the prolific centre of other plants to infinity. 

 Thus by persistent subdivision any quantity may be manufactured. About four 

 years ago I bought a patch out of a cottage garden, and now I believe I could 



