THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



73 



by the loosened soil, will greatly help 

 the plants during drouglit. But the 

 cultiviicor must never injure the 

 roots, or dig the soil at all near the 

 plants. Another help against drought 

 is a general mulching of the ground. 

 Mr. Cuthill has a very summary 

 method ot' mulching and manuring. 

 Early in the spring, before the crowns 

 have l)egun to move, he covers the 

 whole ot the ground, plants and all, 

 •with half rotten dung four inches 

 deep. The crowns soon push through, 

 the old leaves perish, and surface 

 roots are formed in the dung, and the 

 crop is heavy and clean. There are 

 two cheap and clean materials avail- 

 able for surfacing, old tan and cocoa- 

 nut -waste. Tiiese keep the fruit 

 clean, prevent exhaustion by drought, 

 and discourage the depredations of 

 snails and slugs. Nest to these ma- 

 terials, the next best is long dung, 

 with plenty of stravv in it, or straw 

 alone ; short grass from mowing suits 

 admirably as to keeping the roots 

 cool and moist, but slugs and snails 

 are so fond of it, that there is often 

 more harm than good by its use. 



When the crop is off the ground, 

 the spaces between the rows should 

 be lightly forked over and manured 



with sheep, pigeon, or rabbit dung, 

 but no string manure should ever be 

 placed very near the plants. It mat- 

 ters not how rank the manure is, if 

 it is forked in not nearer to the stools 

 than nine inches. This manure dress- 

 ing is of great importance, because, 

 after the gathering of the fruit, the 

 plants have to repair their wasted 

 energies, and grow their fruit germs 

 for the next year. Lastly, on this 

 subject, remove all runners except 

 such as are wanted for increase of 

 stock, and those the strongest and ear- 

 liest runners. At the end of the fourth 

 gathering, destroy the plants and 

 begin again. Of course the thoughtful 

 cultivator will plant new runners 

 annuallj'-, so as to have new plants 

 always coming into bearing, so as to 

 clear off the whole plantation piece 

 by piece in the course of four years, 

 after which the old stools are of no 

 value. In case of frost, when the 

 plants are in bloom, a little clean 

 straw shaken lightly over them will 

 be a great help ; better still, stretch 

 hexagon netting over the beds on 

 short stakes, the netting to be fifteen 

 to eighteen inches from the ground, 

 and on no account anywhere to touch 

 the plants. 



OENAiNIENTAL POTTEET. 



Wb have for some time past been 

 employing some new examples of or- 

 namental pottery for the decoration 

 -of our windows and entrance-halls, 

 etc. First in the series, we received 

 in the autumn from JMessrs. Barr & 

 Sugden, of 12, Eing Street, Covent 

 Garden, a queer-looking production, 

 called the " Eustic Kobin." This is 

 ■made in a hard ware, in imitation of 

 a block of gnai'led oak, and consists 

 of a hollow water-tight receptacle 

 fitted with a perforated lid. It came 

 to us well filled with hyacinths, cro- 

 ■cuses, and snowdrops; the flowers 

 and leaves rising through the per- 

 forations of the lid, and the bulbs 

 •requiring only occasional supplies of 

 water. -This has proved one of the 

 beat ornaments of the kind we have 

 ever had in use. The bulbs have 

 bloomed in it superbly. We have 



great pleasure in recommending it 

 with other wares of similar character 

 sent out by the same house. The 

 " rustic robin " will be useful at all 

 seasons ; when the bulbs are re- 

 moved it may be filled with cut 

 flowers, grasses, anything, in fact, 

 that can be kept alive for a time in 

 water. 



Some articles of quite another 

 character have been sent us by 

 Messrs. Hooper, of the Central 

 Avenue, Covent Garden. These are 

 ru-tic pots and flower-stands very 

 tastefully designed and coloured in 

 imitation of walnut, oak, ash, maple, 

 and other woods. These are not all 

 good alike ; some that ought to re- 

 ceive 48 sized pots will only take 

 60's, owing to the thickness of the 

 sides, and this additional and un- 

 necessary thickness makes them very 



