142 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIGDLTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ February 21, 1867. 



with the saud, for the eye at tho base of the leaf is often in- 

 jured when this is the case, and the loss of two good shoots is 

 the consequence. The eye next to that part whence the cut- 

 ting was taken will be the first to break. In taking the next 

 crop of cuttings off care should bo taken not to cut them oH 

 close to the stem, but to leave one pair of leaves below the cut. 

 By this means the plant is extended in its growth, and the num- 

 ber of cuttings very much increased. The plant also matures 

 tho leaves that are left on it ; these prevent its suffering injury 

 by the constant cropping of its young fhoots, and regulate the 

 reciprocal action of root and branch, which enables the plant to 

 produce a vast number of cuttings without suffering any ill 

 effects. 



As soon as the plants have well filled their pots with roots 

 they may be watered with liquid manure three or four times 

 every week ; this will cause them to produce fine healthy cut- 

 tings. The same plants may be worked at this rate from 

 February to May, and will not show any signs of exhaustion if 

 they are liberally supplied with liquid manure ; this, however, 

 should be applied in a clear state. Guano I find the most 

 Euitablo for them. 



It will be seen by the .ibove that it is not necessary to keep 

 a large number of plants of each kind of Verbena through the 

 winter. Six good plants of a kind will be enough to work a 

 stock of two thousand plants from. It is a good plan to strike 

 in May a small cuttiug-potful of any choice kind that will not 

 strike readily in the autumn. If the plants are potted off in 

 small pots, plunged in some place partially shaded from the 

 sun, kept pinched in rather closely, and then shaken eut and 

 potted in large CO-pots towards the end of July, they will make 

 fine stock plants, and may be easily kept through the winter. 

 This is, perhaps, the safest way, for sometimes it is difficult to 

 obtain good cuttings in the autumn. — J. Wills. 



VINE AND OTHER WALL-TREE BORDERS. 



Having read the different articles, by Mr. Wills and others, 

 which have apipeared lately on making Vine borders, I have 

 been induced to offer a few remarks on the subject, and on 

 fruit-tree borders generally. 



I must confess I was somewhat surprised when I read Mr. 

 WOls's article, and found him advocating borders 5 feet deep 

 (that depth being so much greater than has been recommended 

 by some of our best Grape-growers, Mr. Thomson and others), 

 and at a time when there has been so much said in favour of 

 shallow borders for fruit trees generally. Now, I do not assert 

 that Mr. Wills is wrong, for I am one of those who believe 

 that good Grapes can be grown in many ways ,; but I cannot 

 see clearly the great use of supplying roots with food 5 feet 

 from the surface. I am in favour of borders of a medium 

 depth, say 2* or 3 feet for Vines, and 2 feet for mos.t other 

 wall trees. I quite agree with " Viiis " as regards tnp-dress- 

 ings; I have adopted them for many years, and I think they 

 cannot be too highly recommended. To attract roots to the sur- 

 face by feeding them cannot fail to produce the most favourable 

 results, and there will be but little danger of their going down 

 into bad soil. I am no great advocate for concrete at the bottom 

 of Vine or other borders ; there may be some cases where it 

 would be necessary, but I have never u«ed it. I think if there 

 is water below it should be carried off by deep draining; but 

 ■ in all cases I would use drainage for Vine borders, whether 

 inside or outside. ' 



The drainage I use for Vines is formed as follows : — 7 or 

 8 inches of broktn brick or other rubble, 1 inch of fine gravel, 

 vrith the dust taken out, and about li inch of coal ashes made 

 smooth and firm ; then the compost, consisting of such ma- 

 terials as often recommended — namely, good turfy loam, farm- 

 yard manure, lime rubbish, bones, lind charcoal. 



I will now make a few remarks about stratified borders. I 

 think Mr. Vfills's two-inch layers of bones, &c., likely to be 

 useful. I once made some borders on the stratified system, 

 not for Vines, but wall-fruit trees of all kinds excepting Pears. 

 In the year 18i8 I took charge of a garden where the walls had 

 to be refurnished as soon as possible. The soil of the garden 

 was very unfavourable to fruit trees generally, and having a 

 limited quantity of good loam at command I adopted a system 

 once recommended by Mr. Erriugton. Stations, 8 feet square, 

 were marked out for the trees, and the soil excavated to the 

 depth of 30 inches ; then the drainage, the same as described 

 for Vines, was put in, and the station filled in to within 

 6 inches of the top with loam and fresh stable-litter in alter- 



nate layers, three of each. The tree was then put in its posi- 

 tion, a layer of leaf mould 5 or 6 inches deep placed over the 

 roots, and over this a little loam. These stations were kept 

 covered with stable-litter during the summer, and received a 

 surface-dressing of old huthed manure or rotten leaves annually, 

 or when it was thought necesfary, and in the case of very dry 

 weather a little water was given. The trees grew very fast, and 

 as the roots were continually cut ou the outside of the 8 feet, 

 they soon became very fruitful. 



I attribute a great part of the success to the quantity of 

 rotten leaves put in with the trees and to the surface-dressings. 

 The object in using the stable-litter in layers with the loam 

 was to keep the latter a little more open, as nearly all the fibre 

 was decomposed, it having been cut from a pasture some years 

 previously. 



In the autumn of 18(51 all these fine trees had to be removed 

 to a new garden, and when tsken up their roots were in a most 

 healthy condition, and only in a few instances did we find any 

 roots through the drainage, but the great bulk of them was 

 near the surface. W'hen spread out on the new border their 

 appearance was excellent, especially in the case of the Cherries, 

 for we could lay them in almost as regulaily as the branches. 



The site of the new garden was an old pasture, and the 

 borders were formed as follows : — The sods were cut about 

 6 inches thick, and taken at once to form that portion of the 

 border intended to be entirely devoted to the trees, which was 

 6 feet wide and 2 feet deep, without artificial drainage, except- 

 ing for Peaches, the subsoil being chalk. The sods were built 

 up to the height of 18 inches or a little more ; the last layer 

 chopped and made smooth ; it was then ready for the trees, 

 which were planted with rotten leaves as before. I used one 

 cartload to each tree. In this way I planted about eighty trees 

 by the 20lh of December; then the whole of the six-feet border 

 was covered to the depth of 8 or 10 inches with stable-litter. 

 In the following season the greater part of the trees set plenty 

 of fruit ; I thinned them out to about half a crop, and they 

 were very fine, and of excellent flavour. The Peaches were the 

 finest I ever grew out of doors. — W. It. 



JUNIPERUS RECURVA. 



I OBSERVE in the Journal of the 25th of December, page 480, 

 that Mr. J. Sharp wishes for information respecting Juniperus 

 recurva. 



In cool soils it is not liable to the attacks of the red spider, 

 and there it is a very graceful and beautiful drooping plant ; 

 but it becomes so rusty and unhealthy in dry, warm soils, as to 

 be useless. For this I know of no remedy, as both it and Juni- 

 perus recurva densa require a cool, shady situation, owing to 

 their liability to red spider. I would replace it with Jimiperua 

 virginiana, virgiuiana pendula viridis, or with Juniperus phoe- 

 nicea. — F. Fliiton. 



HARDINESS OF FARFUGIUM GRANDE. 



I HAVTE long entertained the belief that this plant is perfectly 

 hardy. 



On the 23rd of February, 1857, a young plant of it was planted 

 in a south border in a garden in Warwickshire, in which I 

 was then engaged. There was some sharp weather afterwards, 

 but the plant was not injured. In 1865, having a specimen 

 under my charge that was growing rather too large for the 

 constriatory, I decided on placing it out of doors to test its 

 hardiness. The position assigned to it was an angle formed 

 by the end of the stove and a wall dividing the frame-ground 

 from the kitchen garden, the aspect of which was south. The 

 plant, in a pot 18 inches deep .and 21 inches in diameter, was 

 placed in this position, and remained there until last week. 

 The winter of 1865-6, was very mild here ; the lowest point 

 registered was 23', until the 1st of March, when the ther- 

 mometer stood at 11°, yet the Farfugium was uninjured al- 

 though quite exposed ; and in the summer of last year it was 

 a fine specimen both in size and colour, being nearly 5 feet in 

 diameter and beautifully blotched. 



This year we were destined to experience a more severe 

 winter. The year opened with the thermometer at 11". This 

 was fol'owcd by two days of similar intensity, one at 12° and 

 one at 9'. The Farfugium all this time was perfectly exposed 

 without covering of any kind, and must have been frozen 

 quite through the ball. I tliought this more than enough, and 

 that more unkindness would be wiUul murder, so after a slight 



