100 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ February 10, lb"d. 



permanent bush. AH the other shoots should be cut-in to 

 within an inch of their base, where the fruit will be borne iu 

 clusters. Tiic following season in pruning pursue exactly the 

 same practice, cutting all the shoots back, excepting those 

 forming the framework of the bush (ind these to 6 or 7 inches), 

 to within an inch or so of their base ; no matter how many or how 

 strong and Cue they may be, off they must come, the height 

 which Currant bushes are allowed to attain being about -1 feet. 

 This pruning, cutting, and slashing in a field of Red Currants 

 seems sad havoc and destruction to the uninitiated ; the ground 

 is Btrewn with wood and shoots, more than half of the plants 

 being cut away— all the fine young shoots, indeed — and nothing 

 left but four or five gnarled, knotty, and very ugly stems from 

 which to obtain fruit, and to get which would seem impossible ; 

 yet when the warm showers of spriug descend, the plauts are 

 soon draped with a thick garniture of the ir pretty simple flowers, 

 and then with the fruit. So thickly does the fruit hang on 

 these ugly sticks, when well cultivated, that it may literally be 

 gathered by handfuls. On no account must the bushes be 

 deprived of their leaves in summer. In some gardens iu the 

 country I have observed a practice of cutting back the shoot3 

 with hedge-shears, on the plea of admitting light and air to 

 the fruit. It is altogether a bad practice, and severely to be 

 condemned. To attain the utmost success in Currant culture, 

 follow the practice of our great cultivators, who make it a pay- 

 ing matter — that practice which I have just described. Be 

 not afraid of making the plauts grow too strongly, for the more 

 strongly they grow, the greater the crop they will bear. Apply 

 plenty of manure, and prune them hard back, and the result 

 will be astonishing. 



I shall have something mora to say on a future occasion 

 respecting the selection o: varieties. — Arceajibaud. 



HYACINTHS IN GLASSES. 



I have now a dozen Hyacinths ia water, all in superb con- 

 dition, and, though they have not been in any way forced into 

 growth, every plant is now from 2 to 3 inches in height; the 

 foliage short, stout, and very robust, with a fine spike of beads 

 rising up through the midst of it. From the time that the 

 bulbs were placed in water, at the beginning of November last, 

 up to the present moment, the water has been changed in hut 

 one of the glasses, and that because it had become tainted from 

 some cause. In that case the roots of the Hyacinth, which 

 were 8 inches in length, were carefully cleansed in some tepid 

 water, the interior of the glass was cleansed also, and some 

 fresh water added, and now the plant is as healthy as can be 

 desired. The glasses occupy the window-sill and a small tabic 

 by it, and are thus fully exposed to the light. All that I find 

 it necessary to do is to keep the glasses supplied with water as 

 the quantity decreases by evaporation; and I now fill the 

 glasses to the brim, even though the bulb becomes nearly or 

 quite submerged. If the foliage becomes drawn to the light the 

 simple act of turning the glass round soon sets it right. 



I have been led to state this much, because I have within 

 the past two or three weeks met with cultivators of the Hya- 

 cinth in glasses who have complained of failures and have de- 

 plored their disappointments. Perhaps some cultivators err 

 through too much attention, and injure the plants by overmuch 

 kindness ; at any rate, I am decidedly opposed to the advice 

 that recommends a constant changing of the water unless 

 urgently needed. I have known some in-door gardeners who 

 have been in the habit — once a-week at least, and in some 

 instances more frequently — of changing the water, entirely re- 

 moving tLe bulb from the glass in the act, and attempting to 

 cleanse the delicate rootlets, I fear in many instances doing 

 fheni material injury in the act. This is neither called for nor 

 to be commended. I believq many failures result from two 

 things — 1st, that cultivators «ill not place a few small pieces 

 of charcoal iu each glass to purify the water ; and 2ndly 

 and I much fear too frequently, from sheer neglect. I never 

 think of growing Hyacinths in water without employing the 

 aid of chaicoal, and I always advise its employment. Iu the 

 case of nearly ail my Hyacinths the rootlets have so encircled, 

 and, as it were, embraced tl It mps of charcoal, that it would 

 be impossible to remove them iro;u the glasses without break- 

 ing the vessels, and the development of the foliage and spike 

 is all that could be desired. Neglect, is a sad destroyer of 

 plants. I have frequently seen on a bright sunny day in the 

 early part of March a row of Hyacinth glasses in a window, 

 with the full f jrce of the sun playing on them, and the glasses 



only half filled with water ; or else, neither is the window open 

 to give ventilation, nor the blind pulled down to screen the 

 plants irom the roasting influence of the sun. In many of 

 these cases the first love has cooled, and with inattention will 

 come certain disappointment and decay. 



If ladies especially could only come to realise in some degree 

 the sweet pleasuro of cultivating with average success some 

 Hyacinths in glasses — to daily watch for the development of 

 the leaves, and then the flower spike, buds, and blossoms, lam 

 certain that many, very many, more would be induced to make 

 an attempt ; and I am also well assured that where neglect 

 now destroys the pleasurable harvest there would surely be 

 seen loving care and its fitting reward. — Via. 



EUOXYMUSES. 



Of the recent introductions from Japan, for which wo are 

 mainly indebted to Mr. Fortune and Messrs. Veitch, amongst 

 shrubs of low growth none are finer, from the distinct and 

 beautiful silver or golden variegation of their foliage, than some 

 of the Euonymus family. They may bo divided into two sections 

 — the deciduous and the evergreen. 



Deciduous Euonymuses, though the more hardy of the two, 

 are not, as a rulo, included in shrubberies. Why they should 

 not be so I do not know ; but many of them are beautiful in 

 autumn from tho opening of the capsules, which at that time 

 make them conspicuous, while most of the commoner shrubs 

 are fast putting on the dreary frowning garb of winter. Apart 

 from their merit as ornamental-fruited shrubs, their distinct 

 habit and free growth ought to secure fir them a place in 

 every shrubbery, especially as tho varieties of E. europains, as 

 well as the species, are proof against rabbits. The fruit, it 

 ought to be known, are fatal to sheep. Tue flowers, though 

 curious, are not particularly conspicuous ; the foliage and fruit 

 are the principal attractions of the deciduous kinds. 



E. euro; sens and its varieties are the best for general plant- 

 ing, succeeding in most soils and situations. The white- 

 fruited (S. europaeus frnctu-albo),and red-berried (E. europama 

 fmctu-rubro), are the most remarkable for their fruit. E. enro- 

 ia.> as latifolius, with broader leaves thin the species, and 

 E. europrons pumilus or nanus, of less growth than the other 

 varieties, are both desirable. All except the last-named attain 

 a height of from 12 to 15 feet, and have whitish flowers at 

 the end of May or beginning of June. E. verrucosus, or the 

 waited kind, I have seen but little of; it seems to be of mode- 

 rate growth, and curious. E. obovatus, with singular reversed 

 egg-shaped leaves ; E. angustifolius, having narrow shining 

 leaves, sub-evergreen ; and E. atropnrpureus, dark-purpla 

 flowered, are North American species, and succeed best in 

 damp soils and situations, and are useful for shrubberies skirt- 

 ing American grounds. 



The deciduous species and varieties aro propagated from 

 cuttings of the ripe young shoots, inserted in autumn in a 

 shady sheltered border, in sandy soil. Th: cuttings should be 

 9 or 10 inches long, aud put two-thirds of their length in the 

 soil. They will be well 'rooted by the autumn following. 

 Plants from cuttings flower and fruit at an earlier stage than 

 those raised from seed, but tho latter furnish the most vigorous 

 plants. Seeds may be sown in autumn, or kept in sand until 

 spring, and then sown in fine soil, covering them about half an 

 inch deep. They are slow in germination. K^.ep the plants 

 clear of weeds, water them in dry weather, and when a year old 

 transplant them, not allowing them to become drawn up in 

 the seed bed. 



It is the Evergreen Euonymuses, or rather those with 

 variegated leaves, that I think most worthy of attention, and 

 I wish to make a few remarks on their suitability for decora- 

 live purposes in the flower garden and tho fronts of shrub- 

 beries. 



In respect to the flower garden, any shrub or plant that will 

 stand our ordinary winters uninjured, and be equally effective 

 at all seasons, must be more suitable than plants or shrubs, 

 which require artificial protection for fully half the year. There 

 is tho dreary aspect of the beds in winter, the labour and cost 

 of wintering tender plauts, propagation, taking up, potting and 

 repotting, watering, and looking after, then the planting-out 

 when other things itlso require attention, and many other con- 

 siderations which must always militate against making too 

 lavish a display in the flower garden by means of tender plants. 

 The comparatively small amount of trouble given by hardy 

 plants, and the greater dependence to be placed on their afford- 



