386 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 19, 1868. 



The shoots of the difierent winter-growing Tropteolums will 

 also require attention to training, otherwise they are very liable 

 to become confused, if not broken altogether. Tropaeolum pen- 

 taphyllum is hardy enough to stand outside without any pro- 

 tection. As soon as the Chrysanthemums begin to fade cut 

 them down, and protect the stools from frost. It is now time 

 to prune all the young shoots of Mandevilla suaveolens, and 

 you may strip off the remaining leaves, but the long slender 

 branches had better be left on until spring. If it is closely 

 pruned now, it may begin to grow too soon for any useful pur- 

 pose, and stopping the young shoots does not answer well. 

 Ipomfea Learii and ficifolia, should be pruned in the same 

 way as soon as the leaves begin to turn yellow ; the latter 

 cannot be made to flower before the end of September when 

 planted out in the border, therefore April is time enough to 

 give the final pruning. The former, on the other hand, will 

 flower by the middle or end of May, if closely pruned now ; 

 when pruned in February it flowers about midsummer, and if 

 cut in April, about a month later. Both these useful climbers 

 sncoeed better in a large conservatory with a fixed roof, than in 

 a stove or intermediate house. Passion-flowers, imless they 

 are much crowded, need not be pruned or thinned till January. 

 Few climbers repay one's care better than Passion-flowers, but 

 they are often left so crowded as to completely destroy their 

 native gracefulness. 



riTS. 

 This has been a dull, unfavourable month for forcing plants, 

 and many things will be later than they were last season ; but 

 to make up for this, hardy plants, such as Lilacs and Rhodo- 

 dendrons, are in better bud than usual. We have had no nse 

 for strong fires yet, and in this cloudy weather much less 

 watering and syringing are necessary. It is a dangerous prac- 

 tice to force hard till after the end of December. 65° with 

 fireheat is high enough for any useful purpose until that time. 

 — \f. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



In many respects, in planting, cleaning, washing, glazing, 

 potting, gathering leaves, &c., the work has been chiefly a con- 

 tinuation of that of previous weeks. Other matters that have 

 come under our consideration we will briefly allude to, without 

 much arrangement, under different departments. 



^iilili>i'J ill Winter. — This is chiefly useful in dressed grounds, 

 and in very shallow soils, where it would be of little use going 

 deeper than the good staple ; but in all gardens v.-here some- 

 thing is generally added in the way of manure, rotten weeds 

 from the rubbish-heap, or charred material, the staple, however 

 thin, will always become deeper, more especially if the bottom, 

 however hard or unkind, be loosened every year, and at times a 

 very little of it, whether of strong gravel or stiff clay, incor- 

 porated with the thin but more fertile surface soil. Bringing 

 much of the subsoil up under such circumstances is a great 

 mistake, but a sprinkling often does good, and loosening and 

 leaving it, never fails to do so, as, ere long, the loosened sub- 

 soil will become like the good soil above it. 



Trenching. — There are some gardens where this can be done 

 to a depth of three spades, without encroaching more on the sub- 

 soil than just loosening and leaving it, and where such a practice 

 can be followed, there will never be surplus or standing water, 

 as the hard pan will be sufficiently broken. The soil of most 

 gardens, except when made artificially, will not r.dmit of trench- 

 ing more than two spits deep, and loosening the bottom. The 

 trenching can be more varied according to the depth of the 

 soil, but the chief use of the operation in gardens, is to furnish 

 to the young plants of a fresh crop, fresh soil in which to grow. 

 All soils are ameliorated by exposure to the atmosphere, but in 

 many cases, too, a soil that has become comparatively inert, 

 from the surface being hard-cropped, will be greatly improved 

 by a comparative rest at the bottom of the trench for a year or 

 two. In trenching, as already alluded to, though moved, hut 

 little of the subsoil should be raised, and what is raised this 

 year to mix with the other soil, would be all the better if well 

 stirred in the bottom of the trench a year or two before. 



In old-established gardens, the merely moving the top spit 

 to the bottom, and bringing the lower xjortion of the soil up, 

 will be all that is required, as a change of the layers of soil, 

 and giving more depth for the roots, are the chief objects ; 

 but in trenching for the first time, and for particular purposes, 

 it is often best to beep a good opening, and mix the various 

 strata as the work proceeds. We are just doing away with a 

 group of Rose beds, and forming another, and as, fortunately, 



the position chosen is all turf, part unbroken for at least a 

 score of years, and covering thus a virgin loam, and part which 

 had been under cultivation only a few years ago, the mixing of 

 the different soils will be all the better for the Roses, and they 

 will grow more equally in strength, than if the different soils 

 had been kept quite distinct. We intended to go down, whera 

 the beds were marked out, nearly 2 feet, and remove clay if 

 necessary, but we dug to that depth, and loosened the bottom 

 without meeting the clay. Knowing that the layer of clay was 

 there above the chalk, we would have had some of it up, if our 

 soil had been loose and sandy ; but it is sulficiently loamy, 

 without any admixture of clay. 



When the object of trenching is chiefly to change the surface 

 in loose sandy soils there is little necessity tor breaking up the 

 soil much when trenching, as the air will penetrate sulficienfly 

 without much pulverisation, and a flat surface, even if it be- 

 comes a little firm, will be as good as a looser one; but in 

 trenching a stiff tenacious soil, the more broken and the looser 

 and opener it is left the more will it be benefited by the frosty 

 air of winter. In fact, in all such soils, unless when to be used 

 at once for planting, &c., the trenching to change the surface soil 

 should be turned into ridijiny-up, and as roughly and openly as 

 possible, that the frost and the cold air may alike act in break- 

 ing and pulverising the soil. We have no doubt, though this is 

 the best for loamy tenacious soils, that rough digging or flat- 

 surface trenching are better for light lands, simply because they 

 often need compression as much as stiff soils need lightening. 



Such trifles may appear of little value to some of our greatly 

 advanced cultivators, but we have seen lands not only subsoiled, 

 but the suhsoU raised and mixed with the staple to such an 

 extent, that the field required years before it returned to the 

 same fertile condition as it exhibited before the additional 

 expense was incurred ; and twice or thrice we have known 

 ground deeply trenched in which nothing could be made to 

 thrive until the barren subsoil was moved back to its original 

 position, and the good soil, well rested, brought back to day- 

 light again. Then the deep stirring did tell advantageously, 

 hut at what a loss of labour and time ! The deep stirring, 

 without bringing the barren subsoil to the surface, we always 

 imagine — though it may merely be imagination — renders crops 

 more independent of the seasons ; for in a wet year the rains 

 pass away more freely, and in a dry year the roots have more 

 free access to the moisture stored up beneath them. When- 

 ever practicable, chalk, lime, and sandy soil will ameliorate 

 tenacious land, and stiff clayey loam will help to make light 

 chalky and sandy soils more retentive of moisture. Lime in 

 its quick state is most serviceable when there is plenty, or 

 rather an excess, of organic material, vegetable or animal: 

 hence the wondrous effects it often produces on peaty soils, 

 rendering what was astringent and insoluble, soluble and sweet 

 to the roots of plants. In very poor soils we would not use 

 lime, except for the effects it would produce as a mere me- 

 chanical agent. 



In all trenching by piecework it matters less, as stated above, 

 how light lands are turned over ; but it should be seen that in 

 stiff lands the surface spit is not undermined and turned over 

 in large unbroken pieces, for in such soil one of the uses of 

 trenching is thus neutralised. 



Ndiinre. — As a general rule, when the manure of animals is 

 applied for vegetable culture, it is best to have the manure 

 covered up at once, and at such a depth as the young roots 

 will be most benefited by it. In long-standing crops, as As- 

 paragus, Globe Artichokes, Sea-kale, &c., it is well to mix some 

 manure in the process of trenching and mixing the soil, and 

 then add a little more on the surface when digging, preparatory 

 to planting. For all deep tuberous roots, as Carrots, Parsnips, 

 Beet, Salsafy, &c., the best plan is to have the bulk of the 

 manure in the lower strata, or near the bottom of the trench, 

 and the poorer and to some extent firmer the top strata are, 

 the finer and straighter will be the roots. Hence, often the 

 dilEculty of finding in old kitchen gardens soil fresh and poor 

 enough for Carrots. When well stored with humus, or the 

 remuTns of organised vegetable matter, to a good depth, the 

 dressing with Ume early in winter, and turning several times, 

 will he attended with good effects. In such cases we have, 

 taken up crops in stiff soil, with the particles of chalk adhering 

 to the fibres. 



In preparing for fruit trees, by trenching or otherwise, unless 

 the soil is very thin and poor, we would keep the manure near 

 the surface, so as to encourage fruitfulness rather than too 

 much growth, by keeping the roots more under atmospheric 

 influences. .Where quick growth of fruit or forest trees is the 



