368 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



I June 3, 1869. 



cbaiCDiuR undulations, and the rich woodland seen flbout Glen 

 Eyre. Yet it has great natural advantages. It cotumands a 

 fine vieiv of the Southsmpton Water and tho New Foiest, that 

 " stands drees'd in living green " beyond the line of the silvery 

 waters ; and in the distance can be caught the hills of the Isle 

 of Wight, forming a lofty grey backgrcund to the whole. Such 

 is the position of Crabwood. Within the last few yeava con- 

 siderable imiiroTements have been made in the grounds by 

 Mr. Driver, for modern horticulture finds here a home, and 

 flourishes under the intelligent supervision of the gardener, 

 Mr. vT. c. Higgs. Particularly does spring gardening form a 

 pleasant feature during the early mouths of the year, Mr. 

 Higgs having been one of the first in the locality to talie it up. 



The flower garden is on the south-east side of the dwelling- 

 house, and occupies a good space on a somewliat extensive 

 greensward. On the north this is bounded by a fine bank of 

 Ehododeudrons, on the other side of which is the carriage-drive 

 sweeping by a gentle curve towards tho house. It is here that 

 Mr. Higgs's early spring arrangement starts into floral life, as 

 adjoining the Khododendrons next the carriage-way there can 

 be seen clumps of the common Primrose, Cowslips, the com- 

 mon Bluebell, and other early-blooming spring flowers that do 

 good service " by softening the harfh face " of surroundings 

 otherwise dreary and uninviting. Eastward cf the flower garden 

 are seen some large beds, the centres of which are filled with 

 Kalmias and Belgian Azaleas, and allowing of a broad border 

 next the turf. In these beds Mr. Higgs plants, early in the 

 antumn, some of the biighlest and most striking foims of the 

 variegated Kale, and among them places a few dwarf Laurels, 

 Aucubas, &c., to secure a little shade, and to break the mono- 

 tony cf their otherwise formal appearance. Seen from the 

 windows of the dwelling, these beds have a very pleasing ap- 

 pearance during the winter months. As coon as tho Kale 

 commences to decay, in the early part cf the year, it and the 

 shrubs are removed to the spare garden, tho one to produce 

 seed, the other for use another season ; and a broad baud of 

 Polyanthus of the showy gold-laced type is placed round tho 

 Kalmias and Azaleas, and this is edged with the silvery Gna- 

 phalium lanatum. The Polyanthuses are removed at bedding- 

 out time; the Gnaphalium does good service during tho sum- 

 mer. Eaised rustic beds also have Kale as occupants, inter- 

 mingled with the common Periwinkle, which blooms very 

 early in such a locality. Inside the Rhododendron hedge, 

 and sloping towards the lawn, was a long border, which Mr. 

 Higgs has made an old-fashioned mixed border for biennials, 

 perennials, itc. This was extremely gay with many plants, 

 such as Alyssum saxatile, Arabis albida, Iberis aempervirens, 

 dwarf Phloxes, Pansies, Primroses, &c., many others coming up 

 to take their place. A border of this kind need never be with- 

 out flowers, while hardy herbaceous plants with variegated or 

 gay self-coloured foliage can always be introduced with excel- 

 lent etiect. 



Following this border the dwelling-house is reached, and 

 here a grand display of colour presents itself, so striking that 

 it needs to be seen to be appreciated, considering that what 

 may be termed common things were the agents employed to 

 produce so charming a floral picture. The beds forming the 

 garden represent in thoir disposition an oblong, divided into 

 two squares by a large circular bed, in the midst of which was 

 a specimen of Cupressus macrocarpa ; under this tree was a 

 circular carpet of Stachys lanata, round this a broad baud of 

 Silene pendula — a gloiious mass of colour, end this again was 

 edged with a band cf the Stach3'S. In the centre of each of 

 the squares was a large diamond-shaped bed, having a centre 

 of the extremely showy and dense-blooming double white 

 Saxifraga granutata, planted in the shape of the bed, and mar- 

 gined with the Silene pendula. Four triangular-shaped beds 

 formed the outline c£ the squares, making eight beds ia all. 

 Of these one-half were filled entirely by the blue Myosotis 

 sylvatica, tho other four had in the centre a triangle of the 

 pink Silene, and an edging of the yellow-flowering Limnanthes 

 Douglasii. This last combination made a fine display. The 

 Limnanthes is one of the most valuable of spring-blooming 

 plants; it is perfectly hardy, and during tlie winter mouths its 

 bright greeu foliage does essential service in the flower garden, 

 as it grows in compact tufts, and affords a marked contrast to 

 the dark hue of the greensward. 



Along the front of the dwelling-house was a border composed 

 of a line of t he Hue Forget-me-not, edged with the Limnanthes. 

 By the side of tho conservatory was a broad border, having as 

 a background two lines of the double white Saxifrage, in front 

 of this a line of Silene pendula, then a band of Yiola cornuta, 



the whole edged with Cerastium tomentosum. On the left 

 hand of a walk running from the conservatory in a south-west 

 direction, was a series cf small oblong beds; these also were 

 charming masses of colour, being filled alternately with Saxi- 

 fraga granulata flore-pleno, edged with the pink Silene pendula ; 

 and with the blue I''orget-me-not, edged with Limnanthes 

 Douglasii. 



The reserve garden is an indispensable adjunct of all spring 

 gardens. To this it is necessary to transfer Daisies, the Saxi- 

 frage, Polyauthus, Primroses, and many other things propa- 

 gated by division of the roots. Here, too, should be beds 

 available for r lising from seed the Silene pendula, Limnanthes, 

 Forget-me-not, &c. In all places of any pretensions to size, 

 there are always odd corners available for this purpose, and at 

 all seasons the gardener will find such an admirable refuge for 

 many plants to gain new life and vigour for another season's 

 service. Here, too, can be tested on a small scale the merits of 

 any new agent that challenges attention previous to its being 

 introduced to tho flower garden. This leads to the assertion 

 that spring gardening need not bo subject to the charge some- 

 times brought against it, that an inevitable sameness is its 

 annual heritage ; this is not a necessary consequence, for new 

 subjects are constantly being produced : and these, allied to skill 

 and facility of design on the part of the gardener, cannot fail to 

 yield him new floral pictures, each of which shall be to him a 

 new charm, and a fresh revelation of the infinite resource the 

 bountiful heart of Nature places at his command. — Via, 



POTATO FAILURES. 



There is considerable anxiety iu this neighbourhood regard- 

 ing the Potato crop, aiising from a very large per-centage oJ 

 the tubers not having appeared above ground, though they 

 have been planted ten weeks. Upon examination, very many 

 of the tubers are quite decayed, and where they are sound 

 they have thrown out numerous small and ill-shaped tubers 

 without the least signs of any leaf growth, and where they did 

 produce leaves it was in a very weak and uneven way. I might 

 remark that this peculiarity is quite confined to the earlier 

 sorts, such as the Eoyal Ashleaf, Coldstream Early, Racehorse, 

 Milky White, and Myatt's Prolific. All tho later sorts have 

 come up as strongly and evenly as usual. Vv'ill some of our great 

 Potato growers give ns their opiuion as to the cause of this 

 absence of above-ground growth, and whether the crop from 

 the tubers produced is likely to be serviceable ? Opinions in 

 this locality are divided ou the subject, for while some attribate 

 the evil to the unpropitious state of the weather during March 

 and April, others say that it aiiscs through weakness from the 

 premature ripening of the Potato in consequence of the hot 

 weather of last year. 



Now, according to my experience with the Potato, I am in- 

 clined to the belief that it is a little of both combined, with the 

 injurious efiect of a long season of rest. I have found tho 

 Potatoes more inclined to sprout this winter during their 

 confinement than I have ever before known. The continual 

 moving and rubbing-off shoots to keep the tubers plump must 

 tend to weaken the eyes, and, consequently, exhaust the tuber, 

 and if prematurely ripened, this will add weakness to weakness, 

 and render the tuber quite incapable of resisting the effects ol 

 the bad weather we have lately had. Though the Potato is 

 very tenacious of life, it is also very susceptible of injury from 

 adverse circumstances, and last season was an exceptional one. 

 In this locality many bad sets were stored which did not keep 

 well, consequently inferior sets were planted. 



I have arrived at the above conclusions partly through the 

 following facts : — On the 14th of last August I planted one hun- 

 dred tubers, selected from the early crop of Eivers's Royal Ash- 

 leaf, which were taken up in the last week of the previous May; 

 they were planted on a south border, where they grew very fast ; 

 just two calendar months afterwards (11th of October), I dug 

 them up with a produce of five hundred and ten tubers, or about 

 five to one. I ripened them on the front shelf of a vinery. In 

 the beginning of last Februaiy I planted two hundred of the 

 best of these tubers, and not one failed to push above ground 

 both healthy and strong ; tho produce was stored with that of 

 other early sorts, and uevtr showed a sign of growth until 

 planting-time, while the sprouted eyes of the other tubers re- 

 quired rubbing ofi every week. 



I perceived in your report cf the General Meeting of the Boyal 

 Horticultural Society that the Eev. M. J. Berkeley considers 

 the cause of failure to be probably owing to the starch, of which 



