224 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 



[ March 24, 1870 



covered some tree top, and connt its pnrple clusters hanging 

 in the deepest shade, where no straggling sunbeam ever had 

 leave to enter? And did you never notice, after your summer's 

 leaf-stripping, that the fruit you expose to the full glare of the 

 sun never would colour perfectly, no, nor ripen perfectly either ? 



THE CHISWICK GARDEN OF THE ROYAL 

 HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



It has been at last determined that the Chiswick garden of 

 the Rjyal Horticultural Society is to be preserved, at least 

 such a portion of it as will enable the Society to continue its 

 useful work in the way of experimental horticulture. Now that 

 there is at Kensington all that can be deiired to please the 

 senses, it is not so important that those portions of Chiswick 

 which are of a purely ornamental and dilettanti character 

 should be retained, but that a purely experimental garden be 

 kept to test novelties, of whatever kind, as they are presented 

 in practical horticulture. The present garden consists of 

 thirty acres, which are variously occupied. There is the 

 arboretum and the broad belts surrounding the garden, lately 

 termed "The Wilderness," besides that "knot in a flower 

 pot," playfully called " California," which was intended as a 

 specimen of landscape gardening ; all these are given up to 

 ornamental trees and shrubs. Then there are the three other 

 portions, variously used as orchard, kitchen garden, and glass 

 departments. 



At one period— the time when the garden was made, and 

 the Society began its work of usefulness — the practice of hor- 

 ticulture was in a dormant, if not a stagnant state. Kew in 

 those days was a place for the mere keeping of collections of 

 plants, and not for their culture ; and the skilled art in the 

 growing of exotics, as it is now familiar to us, was wholly un- 

 known. The knowledge that existed respecting fruits and 

 fruit trees before the Society took that subject in hand, was of 

 the most meagre and erroneous description ; and the oppor- 

 tunity for publicly proving and improving the merits of garden 

 Structures and appliance- did not exist. There was then a press- 

 ing need for such a public garden, and room for so extensive 

 an enterprise ; but time has worked changes in that direction, 

 as in all others, and it cannot be said that there is the same 

 necessity for a society of private individuals doing now that 

 which is done far better by a public department. The Kew 

 Garden of to-day is as far in advance of the Kew Garden of 

 forty years ago, as the Great Britain of Queen Victoria excels 

 the Less Britain of George the Third. In collections and in 

 culture no private establishment could rival the former or 

 excel the latter as they are at present found in the national 

 establishment, and therefore the Society need not now burden 

 its finances with endeavouring to do what can be done so much 

 better within a few minutes' distance of its own gates. 



Looking at the matter from thiB point of view, the Council 

 have wisely determined to reduce the present area of the 

 garden to limits adapted to the present altered condition of 

 horticulture. They have decided to abandon every part of the 

 ground which is now given up to purely ornamental garden- 

 ing, and to reserve a space of ten acres for an experimental 

 garden only. The space which is to be retained will be 

 bounded on the east by a line running north and south, about 

 150 yards to the east of the council room, and extending 

 from the conservative wall to the north wall of the orchard ; 

 thereby taking in the council room, the large conservatory, 

 and the fruit room. On the 6outh the boundary will run west- 

 ward in a straight line from the end of the north wall of the 

 orchard, cutting the kitchen garden and " California " in half, 

 and terminating at the present western boundary. The present 

 western and northern boundaries will be left undisturbed, so 

 that the whole of the glass houses will remain untouched. The 

 old orchard will be given up, but precautions had already been 

 taken to meet such an eventuality, and all the varieties of 

 fruits which there existed were propagated, and young trees 

 of every sort worth retaining have been secured on dwarfing 

 stocks, so that while the collection will not suffer from reduc- 

 tion, the space occupied will be very much less. Worthless 

 varieties, and such trees as have been proved to be synonymous 

 with others, will of course be discarded ; and the collections of 

 fruit trees will henceforth be grown as pyramids and bushes, 

 instead of in the large standard orchard forms as they were 

 originally. All spaces occupied by objects, whether trees or 

 buildings, that can easily be dispensed with will be cleared, 

 and the ground employed more profitably. In this way the ex- 

 tent of ten acres which has been secured will be amply sufficient 



for all the purposes of an experimental garden, and will enable 

 the Society to prosecute for many a day its wonted career of 

 usefulness unimpaired, especially as the renewal of the lease 

 for fifty years will ensure a strong incentive to vigorous action. 



By this reduction a large annual expenditure will be saved 

 to the Society, an expenditure amounting to not lesB than a 

 thousand a-year. At present the rent is £300 a-year, or at the 

 rate of £10 an acre. There is every reason to believe that at 

 least £200 a-year will be saved on this alone, as it is supposed 

 that the Duke of Devonshire, who, like all the members of that 

 noble house, has always been distinguished as a patron of arts, 

 science, and industry, will only require a rental j>ro rata on 

 that of the original lease, or £100 a-year. Rates and taxes 

 will of course be proportionally reduced. The labour, which 

 forms a very great item in all large gardening establishments, 

 will amount to very much less than heretofore, particularly as 

 the cultivation of house plants will be confined to those which 

 are either profitable — as Vines and other fruit trees — or those 

 which are new introductions, or are required for distribution 

 among the Fellows. 



It is evident, therefore, that the change the Council has de- 

 termined upon is a beneficial one ; and while it will be pro- 

 ductive of a great saving to the Society, it will in no way 

 detract from its usefulness. 



There are some who have for a long series of years known 

 the old garden, and have associated with it many pleasant 

 memories, to whom thia announcement of its dismemberment 

 will be read with regret. It is but natural it should be so ; but 

 when circumstances are so that the old conditions cannot be 

 preserved without serious injury to the Society, it is judgment 

 and not sentiment that must govern. 



MANURES— SOLID.— No. 1. 



Before applying manures to any soil it is necessary to ascer- 

 tain that soil's nature — if it is light or heavy, if its texture is 

 close or open, if it is thoroughly drained, if it is to be stirred 

 deeply — in a word to thoroughly examine it, so that any defect 

 likely to affect the health or vigour of the crop for which it 

 is in preparation may at once be remedied. 



One of the most important points to be observed is deep 

 culture. A person with whom I am well acquainted, on taking 

 charge of a garden which had been badly managed, seeing the 

 weak growth of the whole of the vegetables, at once asked for 

 the workmen's tools ; when they were brought he at once saw 

 what was the matter, for the whole of them were old and worn, 

 and on removing a few inches of the soil he came upon earth 

 that probably had not been stirred for many years, a close 

 compact mass, retaining a superabundance of moisture, and 

 almost impervious to the action of the air. Without going 

 into the whole subject of drainage and deep culture, it will be 

 well to inquire here what are the evils attendant upon this 

 Bhallow culture of the soil ? 



It is a well-established fact that an inert subsoil saturated 

 with water is always of a lower temperature than that which is 

 drained of its superabundant moisture, nor can it be at all 

 difficult to understand this, if it is remembered that water at rest 

 is a very bad conductor of heat, and therefore, when the warm 

 rays of the summer's sun have penetrated through the shallow 

 soil, they can impart very little warmth to a subsoil containing 

 such an excess of moisture. But the evil would not end here, 

 for the constant evaporation going on would also lower the tem- 

 perature of the surface, and thus have a detrimental effect on 

 the growing crops. And if vegetables rooting only in the 

 shallow surface soil are affected, fruit trees, the roots of which 

 have force enough to penetrate into the subsoil itself, must 

 suffer in a much greater degree, the evidences of which would be 

 visible in the Lichen-covered Btem, the stunted growth, the de- 

 caying branches, and the half-grown fruit falling. The remedy 

 for these evils is simple and effective ; the land must be 

 thoroughly drained, and broken up to a depth of 18 inches or 

 2 feet, and if it be thrown up in high ridges so much the better, 

 as it will be more exposed to the action of the air and become 

 thoroughly mellowed and sweetened by the combined action of 

 rain, wind, and frost. Moreover, as all soils contain inorganic 

 matters, which remain neutral till acted upon by air, these, 

 when set free by the air, and rendered soluble by water, become 

 in the highest degree beneficial to vegetation ; and consequently 

 soil treated as above, with, after it has been exposed to the air, 

 the addition of organic manure in proportion to the require- 

 ments of the intended crop, may fairly be calculated to afford 

 the best results. This brings us to the consideration of the 



