352 



JOUENAX, OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ November 3, 1863. 



possesses gi-eat atti-action ; but there is not, and cannot be, 

 that striking display of beauty which the bedding-out 

 system presents. In this latter system tlie effect is sudden ; 

 it breaks full on the eye from the first, but if weU managed 

 the eye does not weary, for every bed, or part of a bed, 

 will bear a sepai-ate inspection. There is much more in it 

 than the mere gratification of the organs of sight, for the taste 

 of the designer ui handling the materials, the quality of the 

 -workmanship, &c., may all be discussed, and form as much 

 a subject for comment as a painting or a piece of sculijture. 



Now one of the chief objections to the bedding-out system 

 put forward by its opponents is the sense of di'eariness that 

 is produced at the close of the yeai', when the shortening days 

 show their natm-al eft'ects on the masses of plants, or when 

 an autumn frost changes- the whole scene in a single night 

 and necessitates then- hasty removal, suddenly converting 

 what were rich beds of flowering plants into a bai'ren waste. 

 I, for one, do not agree that this natural process, which has 

 many analogies, ought to produce any such feeUng. No 

 sense of dreai'iness is produced at the approach of night 

 after enjoying the hght of the sun during the allotted time, 

 Neitlier do we di-ead the approach of the time of rest after a 

 day of toU. Nor do I see why the falling of the leaf should 

 be suggestive of melancholy thouglits. AVhen the trees 

 have been clothed with verdiu'e their allotted time winter 

 itself cones and changes the whole aspect of natui'e, and by 

 the contrast we are enabled to see tenfold the beauties that 

 the summer brings forth — not that the Avinter leaves 

 the garden entir-ely devoid of attractions. If it has been 

 laid out and furnished v/ith a view to winter as well as 

 summer decor.ition, the change of seasons merely produces 

 a relief, and leaves no cause for depression. 



If we cannot have the gay flower-beds in winter, what can 

 be more really beautiful than the habit and style of growth 

 of many of the Coniferous trees ? A judicious jilanting of 

 these alone will give an interest to any garden. Evergreens 

 of any descrij)tion wUl make a garden look lively during the 

 winter — that is, when they are well arranged ; and the 

 aiTaugement is, perhaps, the main point, for this alone wiU 

 make all the difi'erence between a mere mass or collection of 

 shi-ubs and a scene calculated to excite interest. Again : I 

 consider that, supposing the flower-beds to form the principal 

 featm-e of the garden, and that they are duly proportioned and 

 neatly made either on grass or on gravel, if kept neat and 

 tidy when otherwise bai'e, there is nothing about them sug- 

 gestive of barrenness, for they must always be associated 

 with then- summer occupants. In fact, an old gardener 

 once told me that it was his decided opinion that at no time 

 of the year did the garden look so well as when put in order 

 for the winter. With the edges trimmed, the beds and 

 borders turned up, the grass and gravel in the best possible 

 order, not even the gaieties of summer made it more 

 attractive. Without going quite so far as that, we may 

 satisfy our minds that each season brings its own peculiar 

 aspects, none of which need be dreary or unattractive, 

 unless we are determined that one or the other shall be so. 

 In this case the faidt does not rest with the gai-den or the 

 season. Then, again, there arc ways and means of clothing 

 the flower-beds with verdure during the winter, and of 

 having spring flowers on the same gi'ound that we expect 

 to have summer and autumn gaiety. The method I have 

 myself adopted has been eff'ec'ual in secm-ing this object. 

 The process, I believe, is well known among gardeners, and 

 has been objected to on account of the extra time and 

 labour requu-ed, and the fact of few being able to appro- 

 priate a piece of reserve ground sufEcient for the purpose. 

 But as regards the time and labour, these are much less 

 than ai-e required by the bedding plants themselves ; and as 

 to the reserve ground, no garden ought to be laid out 

 without some provision of the kind. It is as necessary to 

 the garden as the scuBery is to the dwelling-house, and 

 quite as useful in the small garden as the large one. 

 Besides, I happen to think that in gardening, as in other 

 things, for every efTect there must be an adequate cause. I 

 would have oiu- flower-beds as attractive in winter and 

 spring as in summer and autumn. The labour and neces- 

 sary appurtenances must be proportionate. There is tlus 

 much to be said, however, that plants used for winter and 

 spring decoration must be hardy, consequently they do not 

 require to be protected in. expensive structures. 



But to the method referred to. Some spring-floweriag 

 evergreen herbaceous plants — as the white and yellow 

 Alyssum, Cheiranthus SlarshaUi, Evergreen Candytuft, and 

 above all Primroses and Polyanthuses — are divided or pro- 

 pagated in Aug:ust. They establish themselves before 

 whiter, and would flower the following spring, but are pre- 

 vented. They are planted in the reserve ground a foot 

 apart each way ; and having one clear season and plenty 

 of room to gi'ow, they make tine large tults for planting in 

 the following October or November, having been in nursery 

 quarters about fifteen months. When the bedding plants 

 come off, the gx'ound is dug and manured, and these herb- 

 aceous plants put in. Being lai-ge a few make a good show, 

 and they may be placed 2 feet apart, so that a few dozen 

 plants wOl crop a large space. Gardeners who understand 

 these matters wDl see that this is very different to putting 

 in little plants that must bo set inches apart to jiroduce 

 any efl'ect. Plants raised in this way wUl often flower all 

 the winter and most abundantly, even closing together with 

 the quantity of bloom in April and May ; after which they 

 may be taken up and kept for stock, the ground being again 

 manured for the summer bedders. It will be necessary to 

 have two stocks of these plants — one for the current year's 

 planting, and one to follow in its place. Cheiranthus Mar- 

 shalli and Candytuft should )je struck fiom cuttings early 

 in the summer, to be ready to plant out in August. The 

 others may be divided at that time, and planted for good 

 until fit for bedding-out. By this process, which I will 

 not deny takes up much time, the flower-borders and beds 

 may be kept gay winter and summer ; and those who- 

 are in a position to try it, need no longer complain of the 

 dreariness brought on by the loss of the summer flov/ers. — 

 P. Chittt. 



REVIEW. 



i The Srarclty of Homc-groivn Fruits in Great Britain. 

 Charles Eoach Smith, Hon. Mem. E.S.L., &c. 



By 



We do not know whether this suggestive pamphlet has 

 been published; but it was read liefore the Historic Society 

 of Lancashu'e and Chesliii'e, and the author has obliged us 

 with a copy. 



Tliere ai-e no two truths more certain than that " Nature 

 intended that fruit and vegetables should constitute the 

 chief support of man," and that in the British Islands 

 " There is a great scai'city of fruit, and consequently it is 

 high-priced." 



That man was intended to be cliiefly a vegetarian is 

 demonstrated not only by his physical construction, but by 

 the results to him of long deprivation fioui vegetable food. 

 Scui-vy among long-voyaging sailors is well known to be 

 only preventible by a liberal supply of vegetable substances, 

 either li'esh or preserved, and Mr. Smith thus records 

 another evidence : — 



'■ Some yeai's since the boys in Christ's Hospital were so 

 infected with cutaneous diseases that they were compelled 

 to be sent home ; and so general and bad was the malady 

 that a medical inquu-y was instituted. The evil was proved 

 to have resulted from the want of fi-uit and vegetable diet. 

 Now, if a school such as this, richly endowed and watched 

 over, is liable to be infected with loathsome disease from 

 the absence of natural food, can we be surprised that 

 millions of our fellow creatures, steejjed in poverty and 

 ignorance, and of impro\'ident ha'uits, ar'e the victims of a 

 neglect or misunderstanding of one of Natm-e's primary 

 laws ;■'" 



That fi-uit and vegetables are scarce in our islands needs 

 no further proof than a visit to and noting of the prices in 

 the mai'kets of London and other large towns. But go to 

 the pettiest huckster and purchase the commonest of 

 garden produce, and you will have to jjay 2ri. per lb. for 

 Apples, and 8d. per dozen for Cabbages. This is a price 

 which places them among luxuries seldom to be indulged in 

 by the labouring classes, and these high prices are main- 

 tained despite the very large importations from France, 

 Spain, and elsewhere by increased steam na-idgation. It 

 is difficult, now that fruit is imported fi-ee of duty, to 

 ascertain the quantities brought from abroad ; but we ui'e 

 qmte sui-e that those quantities are quadrupled since 1844 ; . 



