June 23, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



445 



Having three or four (not lees than three will do) thin boards \ 

 about 8 inches wide, on beginning to earth-up from one end, a 

 board is placed on edge at each side of the first row, and the 

 third board is fixed in the same manner against the side of the 

 second row. Each board is held in its place by pointed sticks 

 driven into the ground. The earth is thrown against the 

 boards after having been broken sufficiently fine, and when 

 enongh has been thrown in, the boards are withdrawn, together 

 with the sticks, and placed against other rows in a like manner. 

 Thus the proceBS of earthing-np resembles the filling of long 

 ' wooden troughs, a little working in by the hands against the 

 plants being all that is wanted, and not always this. The 

 boards, it will be understood, are of just the fame length as the 

 rows — namely, 5 feet. A man on each side will earth-up a 

 large quantity in a short time. Perhaps the plan may be 

 deemed too homely, but I have a liking for simple methods if 

 they attain the object required, in preference to more oomplex 

 ones, and as it answers very well, I see no advantage in chang- 

 ing it. 



With " J. W.'e" views on earthing-up Celery all, or nearly 

 so, at a time I would perfectly agree, if we had the ample rain- 

 fall in Kent which he probably has at the place whence he 

 writes ; but in periods of very dry weather, where artificial 

 watering is out of the question, I find an inch or two of earth 

 thrown against the plants assists to keep in (he moisture, 

 and probably this is repeated if the dry weather continues. I 

 may here remark that during dry, hot weather Celery makes 

 but little progress in Kent unless it is watered by hand, and it 

 is not until the autumn rain sets in that much growth takes 

 place. It is in consequence of this that better early Celery is 

 often met with in the midland and northern counties than with 

 ns, while, perhaps, for quality in the autumn, that grown in 

 the market gardens around London will be difficult to surpass. 

 We grow the variety originally called Seymour's nearly thirty 

 years ago ; in size it is dwarf, but blanches well the full length 

 of the stalk.— J. Robson. 



SONG BIRDS IN FRANCE. 



Your correspondent " C," in the last number of the Journal, 

 complains of the scarcity of song birds in France, and gives as 

 a reason that "the Frenchmen had eaten the songsters." I 

 should wish to ask how many singing birds a traveller would 

 hear on a journey from London to Edinburgh. Dusty high 

 roads and noisy railways are not exactly the resort of the 

 feathered tribes. My experience differs widely from that of 

 your correspondent, as I was delighted to hear, at a great many 

 railway stations at which the train stopped, during a journey I 

 made three years ago from Lyons to Marseilles, the note of the 

 nightingale. Frenchmen do eat robin redbreasts, and a very 

 delicate morsel they are when fat in autumn, quite equal to the 

 becaficos of Italy. There is no country in the west of Europe 

 where birds are more stringently protected by game laws than 

 France, as the shooting of even a sparrow after the closing of 

 the shooting season, which takes place about February, is pun- 

 ished by fine and confiscation of the gun ; so that if the three 

 chasseurs mentioned by " C," " equipped with double guns, 

 and fully armed to do death unto a breeding linnet," had fallen 

 in with a gendarme or a garde champctre, they would certainly 

 have been made amenabie to justice. The number of thrushes 

 in France must be something enormous, as thousands are 

 brought daily into Paris during the vintage (October), and fetch 

 at least a shilling each in the market. But these are all birds 

 of passage, nine-tenths of which are born in EDgland, and after 

 having fattened on the ripe Grapes in France, are killed to 

 supply the tables of the gourmets under the name of grilles, 

 which many of your readers have no doubt eaten at the re- 

 staurants of the Palais Royal in Paris. 



For my part I delight in hearing the song of the blackbird 

 and thrush in my garden, and do not allow their nests to be 

 molested, as I know that large quantities of insects are con- 

 sumed by these birds during the breeding season ; but when 

 they eat my Cherries the case is different, and I eat them, 

 knowing that in the ensuing spring there will be the same 

 number to charm me with their song, and be useful in ridding 

 my garden of vermin. — Tourist. 



Royal Agricultural Society of England, would work all day, hoe 

 in hand, with his labourers, and as hard as any of them. The 

 writer of thie paragraph has seen his nephew for hours, axe in 

 hand, thinning out his own plantations ; and once saw him with 

 the Duke of Wellington, both together with a crosscut saw, 

 cutting down a large Buttonwood. These reminiscences are 

 called up by an American correspondent who recently visited 

 Mr. Gladstone, the English Premier, at his home at Hawarden, 

 and who found him hacking away at a Beech 14 feet in circum- 

 ference. He takes great pride in his ability to do hard work, and 

 believes, the correspondent says, that physioal exercise induces 

 a good appetite, and that this again reaots on mental vigour. — 

 (American Gardener's Monthly.) 



GLOIRE DE DIJON AS A STOCK FOR 

 MARECHAL NIEL ROSE. 



In February, 1869, as an experiment I grafted in the ordi- 

 nary manner a few Marechal Niel Roses on Gloire de Dijon on 

 potted Manetti stocks. I may say they quite exceeded my 

 expectations, as from a small plant in a Cinch pot, and which 

 bloomed in March last, I had fourteen large and finely-developed 

 blooms of a much richer colour than I had ever before seen. 

 The growth of Maiechal Niel is much more compact on the 

 Gloire de Dijon stock, and I believe it will bloom more freely 

 and of a deeper golden yellow than on any other stock. — 

 William Lock, The Nurseries, Sutton, Surrey. 



[This stock was long sinoe recommended in our pages by the 

 gardener at Acklam Hall, and by Mr. Rivers. — Eds.] 



Noblemen at Work. — Few of us have any idea of the fond- 

 ness of the English aristocracy for real hard work in their 

 gardens and grounds. Earl Vernon, formerly President of the 



COVEN T GARDEN MARKET. 

 Covent Garden, formerly the Convent Garden, derives its 

 name from having been a garden attached to the convent of 

 the Abbots of Westminster. At the dissolution of the monas- 

 teries and religious houses, the Convent garden and its appur- 

 tenances were given to Edward, Duke of Somerset, the Pro- 

 tector, but on his attainder it reverted to the Crown, and in 

 1552 Edward VI. granted it to John, Earl of Bedford. The 

 names of several streets in the neighbourhood,— such as Russell 

 Street, Bedford Street, and Bedfordbury,— reminding one of 

 the same names employed in connection with fine streets and 

 squares not far distant, suggest the possession of most valu- 

 able property in the hands of the Bedford family, and that the 

 suggestion is correct need not be insisted on. For more 

 than three centuries the Bedford family has owned a large por- 

 tion of the ground in what, in these matter-of-fact days, we oaU 

 the W.C. district ; and no one can ramble in the neighbour- 

 hood of Covent Garden Market without every now and then 

 being reminded of the territorial rights of the ducal house of 

 Bedford. Francis, the fourth Earl, determined on inclosing 

 part of the Convent garden, and in 1034 engaged the renowned 

 Inigo Jones to superintend the alterations. The celebrated 

 architect built the handsome piazzsB on the north and east 

 sides, and these piazzas were originally continued aloDg the 

 south-eastern side, where the Hummums Hotel now stands ; 

 but this portion of the structure, a few years after its erection, 

 was so injured by fire in adjoining houses, that it was pulled 

 down and not rebuilt. The Italian piazza, the reader will re- 

 member, corresponds to the French plaoe or the English square, 

 but the Italian idea always includes a covered way or colonnade. 

 Everybody now regrets that Sir Christopher Wren was not 

 allowed to carry out his designs in relation to St. Paul's, and 

 in like manner it may be regretted that the plans of Inigo Jones 

 in regard to Covent Garden were not adopted. Had this been 

 done it would have become one of the finest places or squares 

 in London, instead of being, as now, an eyesore and a failure, 

 continually suggesting a painful contrast between what the 

 place might have been, and is ; and a still greater contrast 

 between what it is, and what it ought to be. Bat the fame of 

 Inigo Jones jet clings to the locality, and is connected especially 

 with St. Paul's church, in reference to the erection of which a 

 characteristic anecdote is related. In 1040 the Earl of Bedford 

 sent for Inigo Jones, to build a cbapel for the tenants living 

 on the estate. " I wish," said the Earl, " that the edifice be 

 as plain, as convenient, and as little expensive as possible ; m 

 fact, I would not have it much better than a barn." " Then, 

 my lord," said the architect, "you shall have the handsomest 

 bain in England." The dealers in the present day would often 



