298 



THE GARDENERS MONTHLY 



[October, 



proceeds the shoots must be regulated by prun- 

 ing and training, and it will soon cover a large 

 extended trellis or rafter. Towards the end of 

 the season, less moisture should be supplied in 

 order to render the wood more firm ; and to in- 

 sure success in flowering it, attention must be 

 given to keep it fiee from insects, as it is subject 

 to scale and thrip. 



MOSS rViULCHINC. 



BY PETER HENDERSON. 



For want of a better name we liave given this 

 to a practice that we have recently introduced 

 into our greenhouse department. Sometime about 

 the first of January of this year, one of our young 

 men suggested mulching with Moss (Sphag- 

 num) a lot of Roses, grown in 7-in. pots that had 

 become somewhat exhausted by being forced for 

 flowers for the holidays. Believing the idea to 

 be a good one I at once had a lot of nearly 3,000 

 plants so mulched, mixing, however, with the 

 moss a good portion of bone dust, perliaps one 

 part weight of bone dust to thirty parts of Moss. 

 In two weeks the effect began to be easily per- 

 ceived on all the Roses that had been so 

 mulched, and without shifting they were carried 

 through until May with the most satisfactory re- 

 sults, many of the plants having by that time 

 attained a height of four and five feet, and 

 though they had bloomed profusely during a 

 a period for nearly six months, were in the most 

 perfect health and vigor. Believing that if this 

 system proved so satisfactory in a plant refusing 

 such careful handling as the Rose, that doubtless 

 it would do well with many other plants, we at 

 once, almost without exception, adopted the 

 moss and bone mulch on nearly every plant cul- 

 tivated, whether planted out in borders or grown 

 in pots, and the result without a single exception 

 has been in the highest degree satisfactory. 

 Among the plants so treated are Azaleas. Begon- 

 ias, Caladiums, Carnations, Crotons, Dracenas, 

 Eucliaris, Gloxinias, Palms, Pandanus, Poin- 

 settas, Primulas, Roses, Hot house Grapevines, 

 and hundreds of other genera. All plants are 

 mulched as soon as we can reach them, from 

 3 inch pots upwards. In strong growing plants 

 the roots can be seen striking upwards into the 

 mulch in four or five days after it is put on, and | 

 in nearly all cases within two weeks. j 



One great advantage is that by this system | 

 plants can be grown as large and fine in a 4-inch j 

 pot as in a 6-inch pot without the mulch, for 



the reason that the plant is now fed by the Moss 

 and bone from the surface of the pot — the best 

 feeding point as most cultivators of experience 

 now believe Another advantage of the mulch- 

 ing system is its great saving of labor, for it just 

 takes about one fourth of the time to mulch the 

 surface of a pot as it does to shift it. Another, 

 its saving of watering — the Moss acts as a sponge, 

 retaining and giving out the moisture to the 

 plant just as it is wanted. Another that it crowds 

 down all weeds, and does away with the necessity 

 of stirring the soil in the pots or borders. Another 

 and most important advantage to us who are 

 shippers is, that it lightens the weight of our 

 goods by one-half, that is, we get as large a plant 

 with half the weight of soil. In my practice of 

 thirty years, I have never seen a method of cul- 

 ture that I believe to be of such importance ; hun- 

 dreds who have visited us this season have been 

 equally impressed with its value, for the "proof 

 of the pudding'' is most apparent in its results. 

 We have used alread}' over twenty team loads of 

 moss and about one ton of bone dust, but never 

 before have we made an investment that has 

 been so satisfactory. If any think we are too 

 sanguine in this matter, we cordially invite 

 them to come and examine. 



It may be that this moss and bone mulch- 

 ing is nothing new in the culture of plants, as it 

 is an idea, from its simplicity that may very 

 likely before have occurred to others, and may 

 have been long ago practiced ; but it is new with 

 us and new to us, and if any one has before done 

 so and withheld the knowledge from the public, 

 more shame to him, if the result with him has 

 been as gratifying as it has been to us. 



THE FRAGRANT OLIVE. 



BY C. E. PARNELL, QUEEN's, LONG ISLAND, N. Y. 



In the Gardener's Monthly for April, 1880, 

 page 106, Mrs. M. W. asks for information con- 

 cerning the treatment of the fragrant Olive. The 

 Olea fragrans, or Osmanthus fragrans of some 

 botanists, is a handsome evergreen greenhouse 

 shrub, attaining a height of ten or twelve feet, 

 with small wuite deliciously scented flowers, 

 which are produced at intervals during the en- 

 tire year. It is a plant of the easiest culture, re- 

 quiring a rather moist atmosphere, a cool house, 

 and a compost composed of two-thirds loam and 

 one-third leaf mould or well rotted stable ma- 

 nure. Good drainage is indispensable, as the 

 Olea soon suffers if water is allowed to stand 



