40G 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



[ November 23, 1867. 



course, so much to drink, added to the feast of fat things pro- 

 vided by the soil. 



How the proliferous character is sustained, and for how 

 long a period it continues, I have no means of judging. At 

 present, all the thousand, I might say million, young plants of 

 WoUastoni and Holeauum show the same proliferous habit that 

 obtains in the parent plant. 



I have never heard of Ferns planted out of doors in the north 

 of England becoming proliferous, and on a specimen of Mr. 

 Choules's plant which I had in a Warwickshire fernery, I never 

 observed bulbs till it was removed to the more warm and damp 

 chmate of Devonshire. 



I think we may safely add to the list of thirteen proliferoais 

 varieties of Polystichum angulare, which I gave in a former 

 number. 



14, Polystichum angulare proliferum oxyphyllum. 



1-5, Polystichum angulare cristato-proliferum. 



16, Polystichum angulare interrupto-prolifernm. 



17, Polystichum angulare sub-tripinnato-proliferum. 

 Would ".J. E. M." kindly give a list of all the proliferous 



Ferns (Scolopendrium vulgare, and others) which have become 

 proliferous under cultivation ? — Filix-fcemina. 



STOPJNG ICE. 



As the season for storing ice is fast approaching, and as in 

 your answer to " A Poor Countp.ymax," you hinted that the 

 discussion of the subject would be appropriate at this time, I 

 have ventured to send you a rough sketch of a pit which I made 

 at this place last autumn, as a supplement to the ice-house. 

 It was filled in January, and has kept the ice up to the present 

 time, having supplied the wants of a large family during the 

 summer. 



Pear and the Peach. As far as I recollect, the writer of the 

 article seemed to be young in using his pen, for he Lad the 

 imprudence to say, after noticing the Peach trees at Montreuil, 

 that in England the ghost of a Peach might occasionally be 

 seen straggling over a wall, and that that straggling growth and 

 rude training were the normal state of our wall Peach trees as 

 compared with the perfect trees he saw at Montreuil. At the 

 time, this seemed to me a gross libel on English gardens and 

 gardeners ; but I believe now that the meaning of the sentence 

 was not comprehended by the writer, so that it may pass as 

 harmless but imprudent. 



When reading about these Montreuil Peach trees my memory 

 returned to those admirable reports on French horticulture 

 given a few years since by Mr. E. Thompson, the experienced 

 cultivator atjthe Horticultural Gardens, Ohiswick, who carefully 

 compared the systems of training followed in France and Eng- 

 land, giving to each the merit due. This report of Mr. Thomp- 

 son's ought to be republished, it is so replete with close obser- 

 vation and temperate reasoning, and, above all, he figured so 

 correctly any object requiring illustration. I have an idea that 

 its repubUcation would be useful as a guide to young writers, 

 who are apt to judge with haste and incompetency. 



My principal motive for writing this is to request that some 

 of your numerous professional readers will mention a few out 

 of our numerous English gardens in which wall Peach trees 

 I are otherwise than ghosts of trees, so that the Montreuil 

 ' trainers may come and see our English system, and help to 

 refute the libel of the writer of the article in the Times on 

 English wall Peach trees. — A Stay-at-home Gaedexee. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



Messes. Petee Lawson & Sons have sent us specimens of a 

 new sprouting Cabbage, which differs from anything of the kind 

 we have seen before, inasmuch as the sprouts unlike those o£ 

 Dalmeny Sprouts, are large, and more like young spring Cab- 

 bages than Sprouts. Of these there are several on a stock, 

 intermixed with some small ones like Dalmeny Sprouts. When 

 cooked they are very tender and excellent, with much of the 

 winter- Cabbage flavour of Couve Tronchuda. Their Curled 

 Kale, of which they also sent specimens, is a fine sample of that 

 useful vegetable ; Cut as it requires to have the frost upon it to 

 bring out the right flavour, we tasted it under circumstances 

 that did not conduce to give the best experience of its flavour. 



The ice-pit, o, was made under the shade of trees, and near | 

 the edge of a bank. For facility of drainage, the drain, h, ter- | 

 minates in a dumb well covered with soil to exclude air. The 

 soil that comes out in the process of excavation forms a bank 

 round the pit, and increases the depth. The ice is well broken, 

 piled up to a cone in the centre, and thatched with straw, which 

 should not be less than 2 feet in thickness, and over all there 

 IS a covering of Spruce branches. A little fresh straw should 

 he placed next the ice when the pit is opened for supply, as the 

 original covering decays towards autumn. The pit is 12 feet in 

 diameter at the ground line, c, and about 8 feet deep, but it 

 could be made either more or less, according to the quantity of 

 ace which would be wanted. — A. Keee, Gardener, Netherhy 

 Jlall, Cumherlajid. 



WALL PEACH TREES. 



Some time in September last a letter by some means got into 

 the columns of the Times, reminding its readers that odd things 

 are sometimes admitted to its columns : witness the stir made 

 in the agricultural world by Jlr. HuUett when he described his 

 "new cereal" in the Times, and by which some few profited 

 largely at the expense of too many honest people. The letter 

 I allude to professed to give an account of French gardening, 

 contrasting it with English methods of cultivation, more par- 

 ticularly that followed by both nations in the culture of the i! 



WORK FOE THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GAEDEX. 



Peepaee ground for new plantations if such are to be made. 

 Trench well, and apply manure liberally, for it is found better 

 to enrich the ground well at first than to trust to subsequent 

 top-dressings. Celery that is finally earthed-up should be pro- 

 tected by straw or dry turf laid close to the tops ; or, still better, 

 thatched hurdles might be prepared and placed so as to slope 

 over the tops of the plants. Endire, take up with a good ball 

 of earth and plant in frames. Lettuce, the proper preservation 

 of salads is one of the most important winter duties of a gar- 

 dener, and great dili'erences exist in practice in this matter. The 

 old Dutch mode of procuring good Lettuce throughout the 

 winter is weU known — indeed, many are acquainted with it who 

 are not able to practise it, owing to the want of spare frames 

 or pits. Those who desire to have good Lettuce in this way 

 need be under no apprehension of the difticulty, provided they 

 are willing to incur the expense of frames. However, for 

 ordinary purposes, the best way is to grow a considerable 

 breadth of Lettuces from the early August sowings. The plants 

 being tied and blanched in October, may be taken iTp, laid in 

 by the roots close together, and covered with straw mats. The 

 same may be said of Eridiee. Two points are very necessary 

 — -viz., to promote the circulation of dry air or winds through 

 the plants at all times, and to keep out frost. 



FECIT GARDEN. 



WTiilst the weather continues mild pruning and nailing may 

 be continued. It is rarely the case that Peach trees are in any 

 degree injured by being pruned before winter, for injury can 

 only happen when the wood is immature and the frost very 

 severe. On the other hand pruning in spring, when the sap 

 is flowing, has invariably a weakening effect on the trees. 

 In heading-back trees recently planted, or in shortening vigor- 

 ous shoots, it is advisable not to cut too close to a bud from 



