436 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTDBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jane 11, 1877. 



weather the better they expand, and conBegnentl; become more 

 showy. 



Son, AND Makuking. — ^The soil best suited to their require- 

 ments is a compost of light sandy loam, well-decayed manure, 

 and wood ashes thoroughly incorporated. At the appearance 

 of their flower spikes a casual watering with a weak solution 

 of guano or Standen's manure will prove beneficial. 



Planting. — They should be planted 4 inches deep on raised 

 beds about 3 feet across, or in clumps on a south border, in 

 zigzag rows 2 inches apart, any time from the commencement 

 of October to the end of November, choosing a day when the 

 ground is in a good working condition. It is well to take the 

 bulbs up every year when dried oil, which will be about August. 

 By leaving them in the ground they commence growing earlier, 

 and are more liable to be injured by the late frosts. 



Pbotection. — This is a portion of their culture which must 

 be very carefully attended to. The beds should be hooped 

 over, so that in the event of severe weather they may be 

 quickly covered with mats or any available material suitable 

 for covering, but by no means should this protection be allowed 

 to remain on longer than is absolutely necessary, or it will 

 cause the plants to blanch, and then it does not require much 

 of frost to injure them. This is but reasonable. 1 have from 

 time to time heard amateurs say, " Oh, it is no use my trying 

 to grow these beautiful Ixias. I am very sorry. I did all in my 

 power. I covered them with mats almost directly after plant- 

 ing ; they came up well. I took off the mats in AprU, and we 

 had rather a sharp frost from which they suffered severely. 

 They are really too tender for my garden." Now is there any- 

 thing to wonder at in their being "severely injured" under 

 such treatment as this ? The happy medium is what they 

 require — protection when protection is needed, and plenty of 

 air at all other times. In the northern counties it would be 

 advisable to grow them under a frame, but keep this also 

 thoroughly well ventilated, merely guarding against inclement 

 weather. I have often seen them when unprotected stand 

 several degrees of frost uninjured. 



CuLTDBE IN Pots. — I know of no better practice than that re- 

 commended by your correspondent " J)., Deal," in the Journal 

 for January 13th, 1876, page 26, which I take the liberty of re- 

 peating, being guided by the old adage, " Leave well alone." — 

 " After potting them in the autumn place them in a cold frame, 

 and keep them there nntil the spring, then bring them into 

 the greenhouse for blooming." — H. C. Smith, jun., Caledonia 

 Nursery, Guernsey. 



[Accompanying this communication were spikes of upwards 

 of fifty named varieties of Ixias, which for size and variety of 

 colour we have seldom seen equalled and never surpassed. 

 Many of the spikes contain upwards of twenty flowers, many 

 of which exceed 2 inches in diameter. They expand freely in 

 water and continue fresh for a long time, but they are beau- 

 tiful even in their unexpanded state, the stripes on the back 

 of the petals being very attractive. It is a splendid collection. 

 — Eds.I 



LATE PEAS. 



It is curious how almost every person places so much value 

 on early and so little on late vegetables. For instance : Why 

 should not a dish of fresh green Peas be as much relished in 

 the middle of November as they are the first week in June ? 

 Speaking personally, late Peas are far more required from me 

 than early Peas ; and one dish in November, or even at the 

 end of October, is more valued than six dishes in June or July, 

 and I fancy they would be quite as much appreciated by others 

 if they could have tbem. Some may think that late Peas will 

 be liable to be cut off by the frost before coming to maturity, 

 but there are just the same chances that they may escape, and 

 as a rule the weather until November is as fine as it is in 

 March and early in April. When the seed is sown properly 

 and in a selected place I never consider it thrown away or the 

 chance of a crop hopeless. 



In order to make these notes as practical as possible I will 

 deal with Peas, which if sown from now onwards will come 

 into bearing from September until the end of the season. The 

 weather in June and July is often very dry — it may be so this 

 year. Peas never germinate very quickly or healthily in dry 

 Boil. For this reason means must be taken to sow them in a 

 cool moist soil. Sandy soils near the surface are never cool, 

 and heavy loam becomes hard and dry under a continuance 

 of drought, and to escape the evils that invariably attend such 

 a state of matters the seed should be sown in trenches. Select 



the part where the row is to be, then dig-out a trench as for 

 Celery, 18 inches wide and about 1 foot deep. Make the 

 bottom level, and then spread decayed manure and leaves all 

 over it to the depth of 6 inches. Dig this in, and in doing bo be 

 very particular to mix the manure and the BoU well together, 

 and always keep the dung nearer the bottom than the top. 

 After digging-in the manure take a draw-hoe and make a 

 broad drill 3 inches deep along the centre of the trench. The 

 seed may then be sown and covered over. Previous to the 

 12th of May I sowed all my Peas on level ground, but then 

 and since I have sown them in trenches, and those put in on 

 that day are looking better so far than any which have come 

 through the ground this season. In very dry weather after 

 the Peas have been staked the trench may be fiUed-up on both 

 sides with dung as a mulching, and they can be very con- 

 veniently watered in the trench ; but it is seldom they need 

 this, as they do not readily become dry when treated in this 

 manner. 



Three different sowings may be made at equal intervals in 

 June, and the last may be made in the second week in July. 

 Some recommend sowing early varieties for the latest crop. I 

 do not think these are the best. The Pea I prefer before all 

 others for late use is Ne Plus Ultra. It is a grand Pea. It 

 grows 5 feet high, produces pods in great abundance, and 

 seldom fails to fill them even in cold autumns, and it is very 

 hardy and not subject to mildew. Omega, one of Mr. Lax- 

 ton's productions, is also of some importance as a late Pea, 

 but it does not grow over 3 feet in height. Ne Plus Ultra 

 requires tall stakes, and the rows should not be closer, especi- 

 ally the latest, than 7 feet apart. Late Peas should always have 

 plenty of room between the rows, as it is a great advantage 

 to expose them to abundance of light and air. — Pkacticaust. 



ANOTHER CHAT ABOUT ROSES— 

 DETERIORATION. 



I QUITE agree with the writer of a very suggestive " Chat 

 about Roses" on page 87.5, that the love of the queen of 

 flowers is not dying out. Why ? The dullest observer, taking 

 a mere constitutional in almost any country enclosure called a 

 garden, would have the question answer itself. It could not 

 fail to be forced on his notice how the Rose is gradually ex- 

 tending the hem of its border, and gratefully, beyond all 

 flowers, repaying a hundredfold the care and love bestowed 

 upon it, even if that individual was not privileged, as I am, to 

 take an occasional peep over my neighbour's vast nursery 

 grounds and to hear him make the astounding statement with 

 justifiable pride, that directly or indirectly he last year supplied 

 gardens with a quarter of a million of Roses. Will the gentle 

 writer forgive me if I disagree in tolo from the reason he goes 

 on to give, explanatory and deprecatory, of such friendly chats 

 as his (although freely welcomed in our Journal), being so few 

 and far between ? 



Such unfortunate reticence is solely owing in his opinion to 

 the fear of unamiable retort and anonymous satire. Now, as 

 a constant reader I confess never to have once seen this com- 

 plaint substantiated. No, I look for the reason from an en- 

 tirely different source, and find it (as a very integral part of 

 my own imperfect humanity) in the dread of trouble in the 

 effort required to make up one's mind, the vice 2}ar excellence 

 of the present age with men of culture, even in the case of 

 those who stoutly ride their hobbies, as all leal snccessfnl 

 rosarians must do. 



I will now notice another complaint of your correspondent. 

 He says he has often heard remarks made about certain old 

 favourite Roses degenerating, and pertinently asks, " May not 

 this arise from the insertion of bad buds to begin with?" On 

 this point I do not suppose there would be any difference 

 of opinion; but on a kindred subject — i.e., whether Roses do 

 not deteriorate from continual budding, the answer would, 

 from my point of view at least, stUl be in the affirmative, 

 though from what reasons may not be quite so self-evident. 

 As a matter of fact, H.P.'s Charles Lefebvre, John Hopper 

 (with their marvellous constitutions), GOivnt des Batailles, &a., 

 are not such grand flowers as they were years back, and if not, 

 why not ? In the forcible logic of Jack Bunsby to Capt. Cuttle, 

 " The bearings of this observation lays in the application." 

 My application is this : — Assuming « la Darwin as a principle 

 that cross fertilisation between the individuals of a species is 

 the standard law of nature, and practically, with very few ex- 

 ceptions, is universal; so it may infereutially be laid down 



