March 14, 1867. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOaTIOUIiTDBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



189 



TOWN GARDENING. 



KNERALLY gardens in towns 

 present but an uusiglitly and 

 Icirliidding aspect — a i'ew 

 plants, the niajuritr of which 

 appear to be dwindling and 

 unliealthy ; evergreens lor 

 rather eyer-blucks) in galloping consumption, reminding 

 one of the inmates of an hospital, rather than of vegetable 

 life and vigour ; tlie whole more calculated to excite feel- 

 ings of melancholy than of pleasure and satisfaction. 

 Sometimes, owing to repeated but abortive attempts to 

 coax plants to grow, the entire contents of the garden are 

 grubbed up and discarded, and the area which tliey occu- 

 pied is paved or giMvelled over, a few garden-pots, perhaps, 

 and a few green sticlcs remaining for some time in a corner 

 as memorials of the blighted hopes of the owjier. 



Having had an experience of twenty ycai's in the ma- 

 nagement of a town garden, a few remarks, tlie result of 

 that experience, may prove acceptable to tliose of your 

 readers who may he struggling with the same diiriculties 

 with which I liad to contend at the first : for during the 

 earlier portion of that period I had many failures ar.d dis- 

 appointments to lament, but as I became acquainted with 

 what, under proper treatment, would succeed and what 

 would not, things gi-adually assumed a ditferent appear- 

 ance, and my garden became like an oilsis in the desert, 

 and was uniformly admired by friends and neighbours, 

 some of whom were encouraged b}- the hints I gave them 

 to strive for a similar success. 



I must, however, describe tho general circumstances of 

 the garden, first presuming that what I mean by " Town 

 Gardens " are not such as are situate on the skii'ts and 

 suburbs of a town, which commonly possess most of the 

 advantages of the country, but such as are foTind in the 

 midst of a town, and that a smoky town. Miu{^ was in the 

 heart of a large manufacturing town, containing with its 

 suburbs (all of the same character), a population of l-in,OflO. 

 It was on the brow of a clitf of red sandstone, about 

 80 feet above the ground level of the streets below, the 

 soil being not more than 2 feet deep on the avei'age, and 

 consisting chiefly of comminuted particles of the rock be- 

 neath. Its length was only 100 feet and its breadth 00, 

 forming a parallelogram, the base of which was to the 

 north, and bounded by the house ; a considerable portion of 

 the western side was flanked by lofty buildings, and the 

 remainder of it by a wall about 7 feet in height : almost 

 the whole of the eastern side had a similar wall, but there 

 was against it in the adjoining garden a row of stately 

 Elms, which had arrived at maturity before steam was 

 introduced into the town to any extent. The south end. 

 on the edge of the clifl'. was enclosed with a dwarf wall 

 and iron railings, through which, when standing near them. 

 No. 311 —Vol. XII., New Sebieb. 



the spectator had a view of rows of smoldng chimnies 

 bristling throughout witli larger and more aspiring co- 

 lumns, from wliich volumes of black cloud were occasionally 

 Itelched forth. I had not only to contend, therefore, with 

 the soot which fell from similar chimnies round about me, 

 but sometimes witli a horizontal stream of smoke, which 

 flowed in from the soutli, filling us with smuts, though I 

 am happy to say that the wind prevailed less from tlic 

 south direct than from any other quarter. 



These were diificulties to encounter of a sufiiciently 

 formidable character. I found the garden when I suc- 

 ceeded to it consisting almost entirely of gravel, with a 

 decapitated Sycamore near the end, a stunted Abele Pop- 

 lar in a corner, and little else. I observed that the attempts 

 at grass plots in the neighbouring gardens consisted of 

 tufts only here and there, patches of the bare soil being 

 chiefly prevalent. Nevertheless. I determined to try one. 

 I had a quantity of ricli soil introduced into the garden, 

 and formed beds for flowers along the western and eastern 

 walls, a narrow one also at the south end, and three or 

 four small parterres in the centre, which were surrounded 

 with fresh turves from a neiglibouring meadow. A broad 

 gravel walk sku'ted tlio beds along the eastern and western 

 side and end. with a bend or sweep from it dividing — the 

 lawn shall I say ? — no, but more modestly, the gi'ass plot, 

 into two unequal portions, the smaller one, containing the 

 Sycamore, being in the south. 



Let me here observe, for the benefit of country amateurs 

 as well as those of a town, that a gravel walk should always 

 be wide enough to allow three persons abreast comfort- 

 abh" to perambulate upon it. If there be four persons 

 strolling about they can easily go in couples : but if there 

 be three, and the walk is only wide enough for two, one 

 must trudge before or follow behind in solitude, which is 

 anything but agreeable. 



The garden being thus laid out, the next thhig was to 

 stock it, wliich I did with plants of various descriptions, 

 and a few slirubs and evergreens ; but now commenced 

 my trials. The first arose from the turves introduced, 

 which, besides containing many troublesome weeds, were 

 thicklj' sown with the laiwie of the crane fly, or daddy 

 long-legs, the grub of wliich is voracious, and most inju- 

 rious to the soft and succulent roots of grass and of all 

 herbaceous plants. Everything drooped that was attacked 

 by them. I was not then acquainted with a simple mode 

 of destroj'ing them, which is bj' watering tliem in the 

 spring season, when they are in the grub state, with a 

 weak solution of ammonia, or they should have had 

 (jKiiiituin siifi'. ; but I kept them under l)y watching and 

 destroying them as they I'ame out of their holes, which 

 they do in the twilight of the morning and evening (chiefly 

 at the latter time), during the last days of August and 

 throughout September. The fresh-emerged flies are also 

 easily taken early in the morning, before they have laid 

 their eggs, by hand-picldug : for they are a dull fly if the 

 weather is frosty or damp, but if it is diy and hot tliey 

 are brisk and lively, and will not suffer you to approach. 

 I was much assisted, also, throughout the spring and sum- 

 mer by the starlings, which appeared to know instinctively 

 No. 503.— Vol. XXXVII., OLn Series, 



