556 THE GARDEN ER. [Dec. 



Somebody, and must be kept. Thus the dying are crowded among their more 

 healthy brethren, each is deprived of the space necessary for existence, and all 

 become more or less unhealthy. This is in plain English the secret of the failures 

 of three-fourths of the gardeners in the countr}', practical as well as amateur. 

 They convert their plant-houses comparatively into mere Black Holes of Calcutta, 

 where plants are crowded together until the weaker ones become fairly suffocated. 

 Of this we require no stronger evidence than the sight of the long, lean, lanky 

 things which crowd many plant-houses in the country, and which when taken out 

 are too weak and attenuated to stand aloue. To regard such things as plants in 

 the proper cultural sense of the word requires a stretch of imagination and cred- 

 ulity only to be attained by the profoundly ignorant. Our rule, directly a plant 

 becomes unsightly in itself, is to commit it to the rubbish heap ; flowers at the 

 cost of an unsightly plant have no charm for us. The first consideration before 

 removing plants into their winter quarters is to take care that those quarters are 

 thoroughly cleansed, the glass and woodwork washed with soap and water — the 

 latter painted if necessary — and the stone or brick work washed with hot lime, to 

 which a handful or two, according to the size of the house, of sulphur may be 

 added. The advantage of this washing is, first, the routing or destruction of in- 

 sects and their ova ; secondly, more light ; and thirdly, as the consequence of 

 cleanliness, a sweet and wholesome atmosphere. This cleanliness must extend to 

 the plants and the pots which they are growing in. The latter must be divested 

 of every particle of dirt by means of the scrubbing-brush, and, if necessary, sand. 

 Sometimes pots, if not properly baked, have a soddened, heavy appearance, quickly 

 become green, and in these the soil dries but slowly. A plant so situated may be 

 compared to one growing in ill-drained land ; the water does not pass away with 

 sufficient rapidity, and consequently there is not that free circulation of air 

 through the soil which is indispensable to perfect growth. Such pots should 

 always be removed — in fact, destroyed — and be replaced by clean pots of the 

 proper size. At the same time clear any wet soil from the surface of the pots, 

 not necessarily digging down so as to disturb the roots, but just taking away that 

 surface-skin upon which confervse or other water weeds may have collected. 

 Always replace the soil with compost of the same quality, and do not, because 

 you have peat at hand, use it when you ought to apply loam. At the time of 

 surface-dressing it will be wise, should the earth in any of the pots appear sod- 

 dened, to turn the plant out and wash the inside of the pot, or, what will be 

 better, put the plant into a clean, dry pot of the same size. At the same time, 

 make two or three holes vertically through the soil with a thin pointed stick, and, 

 with cautious watering for a short time after the top-dressing is applied, the soil will 

 soon regain its wonted porosity. These may appear trifling details, but it is upon 

 such that perfect success in plant cultivation depends ; in fact, they form the main 

 portion of that cleanliness without which perfect success is impossible. If you visit 

 the establishments of any of our great plant growers, as Baines, Cole, "Ward, Turner, 

 "Williams, Paul, &c. &c. , you will find their plants and plant-houses as clean as a 

 drawing-room and its furniture, with persons washing the leaves of the plants, and 

 removing every speck of dirt with as much care as it would be removed from the 

 most beautiful painting or piece of statuary. This may be called the refinement 

 of cultivation, but it never yet has been carried too far. Plants live by a respira- 

 tory process, just^the same as animals; they are influenced by good or injured 

 by bad air, precisely in the same manner. W T hat Professor Tyndall regards as 

 the dust of the world, or the "stirabout" of our atmosphere, chokes the breath- 

 ing pores in the plant just as it does ours ; and if they are not washed, the plants 

 are affected just as we should be under the same circumstances — their natural 



