482 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



t Deaember 18, 1873. 



seed, in a shrubbery much too dry for theii- favourable growth. 

 Amoug the plants there was one which I thought good enough 

 to be transplanted into the flower garden. It soon felt the 

 difference, grew vigorously, and gave piu-eyed flowers, for 

 which offence it was forthwith remitted to prison diet in the 

 shrubbery. My impression is, though after this lapse of time 

 I do not feel positive on the subject, that the discarded flowers 

 again showed the thrum. — G. S. 



ABOUT LEAVES AND LEAF SOIL. 



Mr. Peakson has recently related his experience of the use 

 of leaf soil in your pages, and has expressed an opinion ad- 

 verse to its value as an ingredient in composts for potting, and 

 thinks very little of it as a fertilising agent applied to land. 

 Advancing his views in regard to this material with character- 

 istic candour, he is still unwilling to dogmatise, knowing 

 pretty weU that in horticultural matters instances of failure or 

 success restricted to one localitj- must be more or less incon- 

 clusive, and therefore he invites your correspondents to follow 

 his example, and give a full and fair opinion of the utility of 

 decomposed leaves and leaf soO applied to garden soils and 

 composts for plant-culture. I am quite of opinion with your 

 correspondent, that a discussion that will expose the objection- 

 able quaUties belonging to it under certain circumstances, and 

 show in what way it may be most advantageously employed, is 

 calculated to establish facts in relation to its use that will 

 relieve the doubts of many of your amateur readers, and help 

 to warn all who incautiously employ it. 



In suggesting the possibility that the leaves of certain trees, 

 notably the Oak, owing to certain undefined properties, do 

 not produce by their decomposition a soil so congenial to 

 plants as others, Hke the Lime or Poplar, Mr. Pearson opens 

 up an interesting question, which I do not remember to have 

 seen fairly worked-out. Leaves, undoubtedly, possess some- 

 thing of the character and quaUties of the trees that produce 

 them. The hardness, toughness, and durabUity of Oak leaves 

 are thoroughly characteristic of the tree. The astringent 

 character of the bark of the tree is well known, and this is 

 shared in a certain degree by the leaves. Oak leaves are espe- 

 cially liable to the attacks of the gall flies, and the resulting 

 galls, particularly the common form of spangle, in some seasons 

 completely cover the under side of the leaves, and secreting 

 tannic acid may produce a definite effect, when they are largely 

 mixed-up with the fallen leaves. The durability of Oak leaves 

 when thrown together may give fungi an opportunity of 

 spreading through the mass ; the mycelium of several kinds 

 of fungi find suitable pabulum in rotting wood and leaves, 

 and leave it like an exhausted Mushroom bed with little that 

 is fertilising in it. 



These are possible causes which may help to explain the 

 negative value of decayed Oak leaves or the injurious effects 

 resulting from their use ; but as some of the instances ad- 

 duced are of partial and irregular occurrence, they may be 

 regarded as insufficient to base a general conclusion upon. The 

 suggestion of then- existence may be of use. I am disposed 

 to give much more importance to the manner and condition 

 in which the leaves are stacked than is generally assigned to 

 the operation ; if in a wet state, bruised, or intermixed with 

 snow when thrown together, putrefactive decomposition goes 

 slowly on, rottenness utimately ensues, and the result is a 

 sour unwholesome soil, in which it would be dangerous to 

 place any plant but a nettle. But leaves collected in a com- 

 paratively dry state, as they may have been this year, and 

 placed together in a considerable body, undergo a wholesome 

 fermentative action, which promotes the decay of the fibre of 

 the leaves, and in two years a mass thus treated, after being 

 turned over and exposed to atmospheric action, may be em- 

 ployed m almost any potting compost. 



It may be remarked that the character of leaf soil is in- 

 fluenced in some degree by the soil on which the leaves fall, and 

 from which they are collected. In raking them together there 

 is always more or less adhering soU after the leaves have 

 rested for awhile on the ground, and when rolled down this 

 will be seen. Leaf mould from clay soil always shows a resi- 

 duum of strong soU, and calcareous soil has a similai' influence. 

 Ferruginous laud again marks its leaves even more particularly. 

 Leaf soil for American plants is best prepared by spreading 

 leaves on the smface of the ground about a foot in thickness, 

 but not in a mass suflicient to induce fermentation. The 

 decay of Lime, Horse Chestnut, and Poplar leaves is much 

 more rapid than in the case of the harder leaves of Oak, 



Beech, or Spanish Chestnut, and I am disposed to think that 

 the softer leaves produce the best soil for garden purposes. 

 I do not value or employ leaf soil as a dressing for any kitchen- 

 garden crop, except Asparagus ; in fact, with the exception I 

 have named, I rather avoid its use in vegetable and fruit- 

 culture. As an ingredient in a compost for trees, shrubs, and 

 herbaceous plants it is often eminently useful, and it is an ex- 

 cellent thing to apply to newly-planted shrubs. Properly pre- 

 pared and sweetened, I have found it useful in nearly all 

 mixtures prepared for softwooded plants. The leaves I use 

 are of Oak, Beech, Lime, Elm, and Spanish Chestnut, and a 

 mingled mass of leaves makes the best soU, though not so 

 enduring a hotbed as Oak leaves exclusively. — W. Ingkam, 

 Eclvoir. 



"EOSES WILL BLOOM, NOE WANT 

 BEHOLDEES." 



" I GRANT indeed it hath not appeared, and your suspicion 

 is not without wit and judgment." 



To Mr. George F. Barrell's accusation (see page 417), I plead 

 guilty ; and when I read it I felt 



" That in mine ear I durst not stick a Rose, 



Lest men should say. Look where three-farthinga goes.'* 



I did enter to show at Spalding, fully intending to show; 

 but He Who rules the storm willed it otherwise, for on the eve 

 of the Show 



" Loud roared the dreadful thunder. 

 The rain in deluge showers ;" 



and down, down to the bottom of my boots went all my heart's 

 hopes for the morrow ! Yet, in spite of all, I was up in the 

 " grey of dawn " next morning, and cut part of a stand of 

 blooms. The dark Roses would have passed muster, but where 

 were my light Eoses ? Echo, in the shape of spuits damped 

 and hopes deferred, answered, " There they are ! " But heart, 

 and body, and soul ahve ! what a plight they were in ! — bruised, 

 stained, streaked, and utterly spoiled ! — the sight of which sent 

 me to bed again in a state of mind not to be envied. Who 

 was to blame ? Surely not I. True, I might have telegraphed, 

 as the letter I wrote no doubt reached its destination too late 

 to be of service ; but I always thought it was an understood 

 thing, that when one made an entry it was with the provision 

 that weather and other uncontrollable matters should be con- 

 siderations and exceptions. I have entered thus fuUy into the 

 matter, in hopes that we may get some sort of understanding 

 as to how we stand in regai'd to obligations when we make an 

 entry to show on a certain day ; and I am yet inclined to think 

 it must stand as it is, with the proviso " If lean," for who can 

 tell what the morrow may bring forth ? 



Now there are but two things I don't quite like when show- 

 ing. One is, that although I don't mind paying — mark you 

 well — parcels rate for the carriage of my boxes of blooms when 

 going to a show, it " kinder raises my bile " when I am charged 

 the same rate for my empty boxes on my return home. When 

 I am so charged I grant it is an exception, and " my don't 

 likes " in my previous letter are, I am proud to say, exceptions ; 

 and although we cannot possibly do away with exceptions, yet 

 let us do what we can to alleviate the evil thereof. My other 

 and last grumble is, that the tickets of admission given us at 

 flower shows as, I presume, a sort of encouragement to come 

 and come again, are almost always of no use ! Take the Rose 

 Show at the Palace for instance, although it is the same with 

 the other large shows. On showing for such a prize one is 

 entitled to and receives so many tickets ; and unless one is 

 quite certain (impossible) of showing-up and taking one's 

 friends with one, the tickets are of no use. I have posted tickets 

 at 8 A.M. at the Palace, and they have reached their destination 

 in London on the evening of the same day. 



Now, if it could be done, I would suggest that when an exhi- 

 bitor enters to show, that he be allowed, if he wish, to have 

 the tickets he is entitled to some time before the day of the 

 Show, on depositing the money value of such tickets with the 

 Secretary of the Society, such money to be returned if the 

 exhibitor keep his engagement or do not use the tickets — ■ 

 easily arranged, I think, and much benefit and convenience 

 ensured. Please do not conceive that 1 regard present arrange- 

 ments as evUs — no such thing. I merely wish to draw the 

 attention of committees of management to things that might 

 be made better and more agreeable to all parties. I should be 

 sorry indeed to hurt the feelings of anyone ; and should I in 

 this or my previous letter have trodden on the tender part of 



