158 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



[ August 28, 18V3. 



modation, and an unlimited supply of water both hard and soft. 

 We may remark that an accurate meteorological joui-ual is kept 

 at the gardens, and before closing this notice we will simply add 

 that the pleasure of Mr. Cramb's intelligent converse, and the 

 knowledge to be gained fi-om his long experience which he 

 freely communicates, would alone repay for a visit to Tortworth. 



STEAWBEKET OULTUEE. 



It is altogether superfluous for Mr. Peach to state that he is 

 an unbehever in recognised theories, when the whole of the 

 paragraphs preceding this statement plainly show that not 

 only is he so, but that he has theories of his own which are 

 totally at variance with the teachings of one's esperience, and 

 which are calculated to mislead those who are ignorant of the 

 real requirements of this useful plant. 



My standard of excellence is a high one, and I very strongly 

 question if what Mr. Peach considers to be fine fruit would at 

 all approach it. The statements to which he takes exception 

 ai'e no mere theories, but are deduced from considerable ex- 

 perience, and are therefore thoroughly practical, for I follow no 

 beaten track if I can find a better one, and, like Mr. Peach, 

 have tried old Strawberry beds side by side with new ones, 

 always getting a plentiful supply of fruit, but with very few 

 really fine berries, and that is why the term paltry is applied 

 to it ; for when the pristine vigour of a plant becomes so ex- 

 hausted that its produce deteriorates in size if not in riuality, 

 it cannot fairly be said to continue in full bearing. Consider- 

 ing that the mode of culture requisite to produce .Strawberries 

 of the highest excellence is so simple, it is surprising enoiigh 

 that old and exhausted beds are still so prevalent, but it is far 

 more extraordinary that anyone should be found to advocate 

 aach a state of things. 



All Strawberry plants make fresh growth immediately after 

 the fruiting season, whether manure is applied or not, and the 

 ripening of the crowns follows this growth and does not pre- 

 cede it. It appears to me, therefore, that the best time to 

 apply manure must be when growth is in full activity, and 

 by forking the manure into the surface soil a store of rich 

 nutriment is in readiness for the young roots, which seize upon 

 it with avidity, hence the autumnal growth is so vigorous that 

 the stout robust foliage passes through the severest winter al- 

 most unscathed. The application of mulching at so late a 

 period of the year as October or November, confers no im- 

 mediate benefit upon the plants, and can serve only to enrich 

 the sou for a subsequent period of growth. Let both plans be 

 compared, and I think conviction must follow that the period of 

 active growth is the time to apply manure, and not when the 

 plants are at rest, and I should certainly include such treatment 

 under the category of untimely culture. — Edwakd Ldciuiubst. 



A MONUMENT OP TEEES. 



^ A SKETCH of the history of Thomas Hamilton, Earl of Had- 

 dington, recounts his love of tree-planting, and the fact of the 

 publication of a book " On Forest Trees," composed mainly of 

 letters from his pen to his grandson. He is shown to be one 

 of the most sagacious and enterprising of rural gentlemen, in 

 the improvement of his domain, but loved the pleasure of the 

 hunt too well. His wife took upon herself the fancy that trees 

 •could be planted and made to grow, and the author thus re- 

 counts the way she came to carry out her will : 



"When I came," he says, " to live here (Tynninghame), there 

 were not above fourteen acres set with trees. I believe that it 

 was a received notion that no tree would grow here on account 

 of the sea air and the north-east wind ; so that the rest of our 

 family, who had lived here, either believed the common 

 opinion or did not delight in planting. I had no pleasure in 

 planting, but delighted in horses and dogs and the sports of 

 the fields ; but my wife did what she could to engage me to it, 

 but in vain. At last she asked leave to go about it herself, 

 which she did, and I was much pleased with some little things 

 which were well laid out and executed. These attracted my 

 notice, and the Earl of Mar, the Marquis of Tweedale and 

 others, admued the beauty of the work and the enterprise of 

 the lady." 



After her ladyship had succeeded in rearing several orna- 

 mental clumps, she proposed to enclose and plant the moor of 

 Tynninghame, a waste common of about three hundred Scotch 



acres. The Earl agreed to her making the experiment, and, to 

 the surprise of everyone, the moor was speedily covered with 

 a thriving plantation, that received the name of Eiuuiugwood. 



His lordship was tempted, by the success of these trials, to 

 enter himself with great eagerness into the plan of sheltering 

 and enriching the family estate by plantations. He planted 

 several other pieces of waste land, enclosed and divided his 

 cultivated fields with strips of wood, and even made a tract 

 along the seashore called the East Links, which had always 

 been regarded as a ban-en sand, productive of the finest Firs. 



" And thus," says Mr. Mc William, in his ingenious and use- 

 ful " Essay on the Dry Eot and Cultivation of Forest Trees," 

 " did her ladyship, to the honour of her sex and benefit of 

 her lord and her country, overcome the prejudices- of the sea 

 and the barren moor being pernicious, and of horses and dogs 

 being the best amusement for a nobleman ; converting a dash- 

 ing sou of Ninu-od into an industrious planter, a thoughtless 

 spendthrift into a frugal patriot." 



Thus cau good wives in ev'ry station 



Ou man work mii-acles of reformation ; 



And were sucli wives more common, their husbands would endure it ; 



However gr-eat the malady, a living wife can cui-e it. 



And much their aid is wanted ; we hope they'll use it faii-ish, 



^NTiile barren ground, where wood should be, appeal's in every parish. 



— [Horticulturist). 



AEALIA SPINOSA. 



Uninviting as this tree assuredly is in winter, there are few 

 whci look upon it when well clothed with foliage but are im- 

 pressed with its beauty and remarkable appearance. The ex- 

 traordinary length of its finely-pinnated leaves, which are 

 produced in sufficient number to give the tree a light, airy, 

 and yet graceful appearance, seldom fails to attract attention ; 

 added to which are fine heads of bloom, frequently at a time 

 when comparatively few trees present us with such a sight. 

 The tree is also very hardy, and I do not think it at all par- 

 ticular as to the ground it is planted in ; only, in consequence 

 of the extreme size of its foliage, shelter from the highest 

 winds seems advisable, for we occasionally find branches broken 

 in summer from this cause, the wood being very brittle and 

 the growth somewhat loose and straggling. 



The tree would not be much of a favourite were it not for 

 its magnificent foliage. A specimen we have been growing on a 

 site not at all favoured, and which I have frequently measured, 

 has foliage exceeding 5 feet in length up the stalk and leaflets 

 together, and upwards of 4 feet in breadth, while the individual 

 leaflets are not much larger than those of the common Ash. 

 The leaf-stem is furnished with prickles here and there, which 

 tend to protect it, for, unlike those on the woody stem, 

 which are thickly set and stand out straight at right angles to 

 the branch they are inserted on, those on the leafstalk are 

 hooked inversely, but the latter are not very numerous, and 

 present no impediments to the handling of the leaf by anyone 

 exercising ordinary care. A full-grown leaf is generally ad- 

 mired by all to whom remarkable foliage has a charm, and 

 having some sUght resemblance to the fronds of some of our 

 largest Ferns, it covers the greater iiortion of a good-sized 

 table when spread out upon it. In general contour it is also 

 flat, or rather with a graceful bend in the main leafstalk only ; 

 when laid down upon a flat surface its outlines are seen at a 

 moment. The flower-heads form an ii-regnlar umbel of con- 

 siderable dimensions, and are also elegant, usually making 

 then- appearance at the end of August or in September. 



Taken as a whole, the tree is well worthy of a place in 

 some sheltered corner, where its foliage has a chance of being 

 fully developed. I believe the tree will withstand any amount 

 of frost, but the wood is brittle, and the merest twig as thick 

 as the human thumb. As it has but few branches, the tree 

 when denuded of its foliage in autumn has not an inviting 

 appearance ; in summer, however, it cannot fail to please. I 

 believe it is sometimes called Aralia japonica, a name by-the-by 

 occasionally also bestowed ou A. Sieboldii, which bears no 

 resemblance whatever to the tree in question ; but as they both 

 come from Japan, the misapplication of the name is easUy 

 accounted for. Amongst deciduous trees having ornamental 

 fohage Aralia spinosa may take a prominent place, and where 

 a suitable position exists, the planter who wishes for novelty 

 cannot well find anything more likely to fit his purpose, and I 

 heartily recommend it.— J. Eobson. 



PEOTECTION OF POLLEN. 

 Dr. a. Kerner reprints from the "Proceedings of the 

 Medical and Scientific Society of Innsbruck " an interesting 

 memoir on this subject. Pollen is of two kinds, powdery and 



