178 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTOEE AND OOT'^AGE G.^BbENEB. 



[ Mavth 11, 18«9. 



or nnaccnstbtned ' eye most' tjoendtirable' and unmanageable, 

 often proves to be the most enjojable if we apply experience 

 and preparation to meet tbe case. It is only tbose who permit 

 themselves to be driven by circumstaiices who suffer. Gar- 

 deners, more tbun most men, feel the mjily of man's rnle and 

 lordship over all that lives upon the earth, and no one finds 

 greater triumph in victories over the trials with which vre are 

 trained in Ibis our Echool life of probation. The gardener 

 yields only to the inexorable, no more. Under new skies, if 

 he set himself to cultivating the subjects that are admitted to 

 favour by Iho geniu.t loci, be will contrive to find corners for 

 many an old favourite of other dimes, where it is safely hidden 

 from Boreas and his crew, whose ways our gardener is not long 

 jn finding out, nor much longer in discovering how far they 

 may be obviated, or flanked, or won upon by a masterly defe- 

 rence and compliance. Thus he will have with him, even 

 under a sky of brass, some of bis pets from among the little 

 Daisies, Sweet Violets, gay Calceolaria?, luscious Sweetwaters, 

 Hamburgh?, and Crown Bobs, to brighten his own looks by the 

 kindliness of theirs, " So as doth the countenance of a friend." 

 — Pennsvlvania. 



GRAFTING STANDARD ROSES. 

 Last year the season for budding Roses on the Briar for 

 standards being excessively hot and dry, I hear from several 

 of my Rose-growing friends that their efforts in that direction 

 were, in many cases, unsuccessful, owing to the budi intro- 

 duced being scorched up, and the difficulty of getting the bark 

 to rise when the buds were ready. I therefore think it well 

 to make known, or rather to call attention to a plan adopted 

 here — that of grafting instead of budding for standard Roses 

 on the Briar. 



The Briar stock, is cut over perfectly horizontal, and then a 

 wide cleft is made completely through the top, abotit one- 

 qnarter of an inch in width, and about 1 inch in depth. The 

 seions. cut iu the form of a wedge, are introduced, one on each 

 side (see accompanying figurt) if tbo stock is thick, or if it is 

 thin one only is used ; the buds on the scions are turned outwards 

 (I prefer two buda to each scion), and the scions are then tied- 

 ioand clay putronnd. They begin 

 to grow almost directly, and soon 

 till up the spuce between them in 

 the stock. When the shoots ha^ve 

 made three or four eyes they 

 should be stopped. The eyes then 

 break, when stopping may be 

 again resorted to if needful, and 

 by the autumn the standard will 

 have a good head, neatly and 

 (irmly fixed on the stock, and the 

 Rose, if a Perpetual, will also 

 produce some fine bloom. 



One Rose was tried in this way 

 during the hot weather of last 

 Jane, and, instead ol clay, moss 

 ■was wi'appod thickly round and kept moist. late in the 

 antnmn it had a compact though small head, and 1 had the 

 pleasure of gathering a couple of fair-sized B)se3 from it. 



I find the advantages of grafting the Briar over budding to 

 be these — the standards may be made all exactly of the same 

 height ; being grafted on the wedge principle tbo scions are not 

 80 likely to blow out as buds ; they are more vigorous ; they are 

 neater in their appearance ; they rapidly cover the top of the 

 stock with their own wood, thereby preventing iuseols from 

 eating downwards into the pith of the stock, as is often the 

 case with those budded ; and, finally, you obtain a well-formed 

 and tolerably large head, nhich flowers the first year. 



I do not bring this process forward as anything new, but 

 only as a gentle reminder to those wliose buds failed last year, 

 that it is not too late to make their loss good by grafting, and 

 that by this means they may obtain even better heads on 

 their stocks by the autumn, than if their buds had taken 

 Buccessfnlly. 



As regards myself, I mean in future to graft most of my 

 standards, and shall shortly saw off the tops cf some that are too 

 tall, and rework them at a height oorresoonding more nearly 

 with that of most of my others, and I have no doubt by the 

 close of the year they will match well with many of those 

 budded, and of older growth. 



I may add that the growth and form of the beads can be 

 belter regulated if the plants be not allowed to bloom the fiist 



year, and they win w6U repay the eelf-^enial.— ^bbisok Wbiii, 



vGARDENING IN TOWNS. 



I WISH it to be understood that my notes on town gardening 

 aro confined to places within a mile of the Ueneral Post-ofiice, 

 for by adding another mile to the radius it would touch the 

 Parks, whero vegetation is far better, many plants that will 

 grow and tlourish there scarcely existing in the City. I simply 

 wish to give my experience cf what can with perseverance be 

 grown and made Ornamental iu crowded and close localities. 



Grass plots are veiy pleasing features where there is room 

 for them. To form one, in February fork up the soil about 

 3 inches deep, and level the euiface; then procure some of 

 Pacej's Rye Grass mixed with a little Poa annua. This 

 mixture should be sown moderately thickly and trodden in, a 

 slight covering of finely-sifted mould put on, and a woodeu 

 rnke parsed over the surface. When diy roll once. The grass 

 will be up in three weeks, and if properly rolled and mown will 

 continue green til! October, but it will always die in winter if 

 the place is very confined. Where there is more air and the 

 site is open, as in Finsbury Square, the Temple Gardens, the 

 Tower, and similar places, the grass remains green all winter, 

 but much attention is necessary in watching the bare places and 

 sowing them with a mixture cf the Rye Giass and annual Poa. 



It is useless to try the fine lawn grasses in large towns ; I 

 hove tried a great number cf different Poas, but have never 

 succeeded. Returfing is of no use, as the turf dies off ia winter, 

 bntif small pieces of grass can be pulled up from the borders and 

 planted, they will be suie to survive and succeed well. I am 

 promised a Une collection of Poas with the names ; to these I 

 shall give a fair trial by sowing them on the Thames Embank- 

 ment, and if I succeed I will state their names. 



I find th'it late mowing is not advisable when a sharp winter 

 sets in. Town grass suffers very much from frost and snow; 

 but if it is kept long, the herbage is a good protection to the 

 roots. Seed sown in February has a better chance of vegetating 

 than that sown when the March winds set in, as they dry the 

 surface, and the seed remains doimant till rain falls. The 

 sparrows, too, are very destructive by eating the seed, which 

 must, therefore?, be sown thickly. — Samuel Broome, 'Trmpir 

 Gardetm. 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



KIICHEN OAKDEN. 



Those who have fully attended to former directions respect- 

 ing the manuring, trenching, and pulverisation of the soil, will 

 now leap the benefit of their past labour ; they will have a 

 greater depth of soil in proper condition for nourishing the 

 roots of platts, at the same time the ground may be worked 

 with much greater ease. This has been, and still is, a most 

 extraordinary season, and in the event of our being visited with 

 a sharp frost either this or next mouth the result will be cala- 

 mitous. Sowings may now be made of all vegetables of the 

 Caiiagc tribe ; also of BatH, Marjoram, and Summer Saicri/ on 

 a slight hotbed, or in boxes to be placed iu heat, and trans- 

 plant in May to a piece of well-prepared soil with a south 

 aspect. Beet, sow a small quantity for an early crop. Lnreroli, 

 when the weather permitsj sow Snow's Early sort for autumn 

 use. Caulijlvwen, wait till the weather becomes more mild 

 before pulling those out that have been wintered under glass, 

 but in the meantime harden them well by giving all the air 

 possible without damaging them by direct exposure to frost. 

 Celery, look after the forward seed bed. Seedlings in boxes 

 will soon want pricking-out. The old plan is very good — 

 namely, putting some very rotten and mellow dung on a sound 

 bottom, and the plants being pricked out 3 inches apart will pro- 

 duce many fi'ores, and may be removed with the trowel iu batls 

 with a very tiiSing check. Onions, sow the principal crop 

 without delay. Make also sowings of Carrots and Fargnipf. 

 Peas, follow up the sowings of these, as also of Broad Beans. 

 Parsley, sow a little. Potatoes, plant the main crop. Turnips, 

 BOW the Early Six-weeks sort. Lettuces, Badislies, and similar 

 vegetables in season but a short time, should be sown fort- 

 nightly en light soils. Sea-kale, sow seed; the beds for this 

 should be deeply trenched, and have plenty of rich manure 

 and ashes, in which the plant delights. Nc:r Zealand Spinach, 

 sow in gentle heat, and afterwards prick out and transplant. 



FBtllT GAEDEN. 



The season for disbudding fruit trees is fast approaching. 



