248 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 31, 1870. 



material we shall make a small bed in a shed out of doors, 

 which will enable ua to get the Mushroom house repaired. 

 Divided and planted herbs, as Mint, Sage, and Thyme, and 

 kept up successions of Sea-kale and Rhubarb. Tbe weather 

 has hurt the Winter Greens but little, as fortunately the most 

 severe frosts were preceded by a sprinkling of snow. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



But for other matters pressing we would like to finish prun- 

 ing, washing, and nailing, as soon as possible. Our beds out 

 of doors are not very forward as yet, and the severe frosts do 

 not seem to have injured them. Planted a few fruit trees, 

 though we would rather have done it in the autumn, but other 

 matters prevented our doing so then. But for the root action 

 many things do well planted in spring, just before, or when 

 fresh growth is commencing. Orchard houses now have plenty 

 of air, especially the latest, in which some Peach blooms are 

 opening, and Plum buds merely swelling. The earlier house 

 is shut up in the afternoon, so that there may be a succession. 

 Strawberries want a little more sun to give them firmness and 

 high flavour. A row of Black Prince at the back of a narrow 

 Cucumber pit heated by hot water, swelled and ripened fruit 

 fast, though the heat was quite enough for them ; but a little 

 air had to be left by tilting the sash fully a quarter of an inch 

 to give them firmness. Black Prince is still a fine early fruit, 

 though not equal in flavour or size to KeenB' Seedling, but it 

 will do well in a low temperature of from 50° to GO , with a 

 rise from sunshine. If the foliage be kept vigorous, the size of 

 the berry is also very fair, and when firm and becoming black 

 not by any means to be despised. Regulated and stopped Vines 

 in the earliest houses, and changed the plants beneath them, 

 placing many of them in cooler quarters. The stages beneath 

 have been useful for flowering plants of Roses, Pelargoniums, 

 cfec. Just as a proof of the superiority of a house to a pit, we 

 may state that Roses that stood still in much the same tem- 

 perature in a pit, without any seeming tendency to open 

 kindly, at once swelled and opentd freely when set on a stage 

 in such a house, even though the Vines began to shade them. 

 The abundance of air in a large house, and the more direct 

 light from the upruht front sashes, are great advantages over 

 a flat-roofed pit. Such pits are most useful for keeping plants 

 in winter, and growing them in summer, when the sun is 

 higher in the heavens, and the rays of light approach nearer 

 the perpendicular. In a flat-roofed pit, placed in alow position, 

 very few direct rays pass through the glass except close to the 

 back wall. Hence, though a very white wall in such a pit might 

 be dangerous in summer, as promoting burning and scalding, 

 the lighter the wall in winter, if a little air be given early 

 in bright days, the better will the plants thiive, as in a sunny 

 day the light, and, not to be forgotten, the heat likewise, will 

 be reflected. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



The work has been much the same as in previous weeks. 

 We have been busy in trying as soon as possible to finish plant ■ 

 ing for plantations and covers. It is much in our favour that 

 few forest trees have as yet made much progress. Spruce, &a., 

 are standing quite still, so that we must hope that when the 

 terminal buds move the roots will also begin to move. There 

 is more excuse for planting now than in most seasons, as last 

 autumn the ground was so dry, though warm, that the plants 

 could neither be taken up without injuring their roots, nor 

 could the roots be prompted to grow at once in the dry soil. 

 Large trees could not be removed at all without injuring the 

 roots, and large or small could not be well planted in the 

 autumn without the help of the water cart, and that in many 

 places could not be thought about owing to the scarcity of 

 water. During last summer we scarcely lost a Spruce that was 

 planted tbe previous autumn and early in winter, but many 

 Larches died after they budded in spring. This was partly 

 because the ground in one place was hardly suitable for Larch, 

 being rather damp and swampy, whilst the Larch is most in 

 its element on elevated ground, or along the sides of a hill. 

 But there was another reason — the Spruce were nice, short, 

 stubby plants, and could be well fastened without planting 

 them too deeply. The Larches were taller and more slender 

 plants, from standing more thickly in the nursery rows, and 

 many of them, we believed, were planted too deeply, in order 

 that the wind should have less power to sway them. Simple 

 though the matter looks, nothing is of more importance than 

 taking care that the collar of the plant, that point whence the 

 roots descend and the stem ascends, should not be buried, or 

 at most but very little. Sinking the stem of a tree 3 or more 

 inches will often kill the young plant. Less than an inch is of 



less consequence. We recollect a case in which 12 or 15 inches 

 of soil were placed round young Oaks of some 4 or 5 inches 

 in diameter, and it very nearly killed them. We are sure they 

 looked badly for years afterwards. 



In planting some young Oaks in an exposed place, and far 

 apart, the trees — say 14 inch in diameter at the base and 

 about 10 feet in height, and taken from where they stood 

 rather thickly — were each wrapped round from base to top 

 with a band made of rough hay and straw, having spaces, how- 

 ever, between the rounds of tbe band, and we gave each tree a 

 stout stick to keep it from moving with the wind. The stick 

 was fastened a little distance from the tree in firm ground, and 

 then brought in a bend to the stem, and secured. In staking 

 fresh-planted trees it is always important to put the stakes in 

 firm ground. In planting large trees, it does away with all 

 necessity for pointing the stakes, as the larger and rougher the 

 base the more firmly will they hold. 



Some years ago it became necessary to thin the trees in a 

 young Oak wood, where, after the nurses of Larch, Use., had 

 been removed, the Oaks stood very thickly together. It was 

 deemed desirable to try and move some of these Oaks to an 

 exposed place, where they would have the chance of growing 

 into goodly trees. These young tree3 would average from 20 

 to 25 feet in height, and the boles would range from 3 to 

 4} inches in diameter. As the trees stood rather thickly, any- 

 thing like a ball was out of the question, and even justice could 

 not be given to tracing the roots. That, however, was done as 

 far as possible, and as these Oaks had been planted when 5 feet 

 in height, not sown on the spot, or planted when smaller, they 

 took up better than could have been expected, and without 

 much of a ball were carried to the place where they were to be 

 planted. A little good fresh soil was added to each hole, and 

 instead of burying the collar of the plant, it stood, if anything, 

 a little higher than it did before, so that the tree should have a 

 natural mound, as the pedestal to its shaft or column. When 

 the trees were secured in their places in a temporary way, 

 before the roots were finally packed, and the soil beaten about 

 them, the smaller trees had two stakes, and the larger three, 

 with the base ends placed in the firm soil beyond the moved 

 ground, and the tops bent so as to come to the stem and be 

 secured there with a band of moss or hay, to char the stem, 

 and securely tied with rope yarn. We do not think that one of 

 these trees so swayed with the wind as to make the smallest 

 opening at the base of the trunk. An established tree unless 

 broken never suffers from the wind ; but a fresh-planted tree, 

 if the base moves, and openings are there made in the soil in 

 consequence, cracks and destroys the fresh-forming roots. 

 Hence the importance of firmness. We do not think one of 

 these trees failed, and no one would suppose now that they had 

 been transplanted and staked, as all traces of theee operations 

 have long been gone, and we do not recollect of any extra care 

 they had, except two or three waterings the first summer, and 

 a good syringing overhead in two warm days in April and 

 May, by taking some large barrels of water, and using the 

 garden engine. Now, we might tell all this with perfect truth, 

 and still leave a most important part omitted, one of the chief 

 essentials to success. These trees had smooth bark from 

 being drawn up thickly, the one thus protecting the other. 

 Taking such trees to stand exposed in an open position, would 

 be like taking plants out of a hothouse to stand in the open air, 

 without any previous hardening off. The trunks were there- 

 fore wrapped in straw bands, leaving a little space between the 

 rounds, which the out-jutting straws partly covered, but yet 

 admitting air, these bands being carried into the head, and 

 round some of the principal branches. Besides at the base and 

 top, a small cord was placed round the bands here and there 

 to keep them secure. The bands were never looked after more. 

 Pieces of them would be seen on the trees three or more years 

 after planting, but the winds carried them off just as the bark 

 became rougher, and capable of giving suitable protection. It 

 was often a matter of regret that many more such trees were 

 not transplanted. Whilst giving due prominence to other 

 matters detailed, we think the hay and straw bands formed 

 not the least of the elements of success. 



The general work of potting, cutting-making, <fec, was much 

 the same as last week. — R. F. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



J. Houpe, Eastgate Nursery, and 0, Church Street, Peterborough. - 

 Descriptive Cataloqup of Vegetable t Farm y and Flower Seeds. 

 George Kawliogs, Old Church, Itomford. — Catalogue of Daidias. 



