52' 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January IG, 1868. 



The copings represented are for 14-incli walls, having a two- 

 inch projection on each side beyond the surface of the wall, 

 which will be ample. Greater widths are unsightly, and prevent 

 the trees receiving the benefit of rains and dews in summer. 



Next to stone copings those of fire clay are good. They 

 should be 3 inches thick, have a groove on one side, and be set 

 80 as to incline to the side on which the groove is situated, 

 which should be the north side of a south-aspect wall, or the 

 east of an east or west wall. The copings, of whatever kind 

 they are, ought to be put on when the wall is built, so as to 

 protect the latter from the weather, and the joints should be 

 made good with cement, so that water cannot enter the wall by 

 the joints of the coping. 



For particulars as to the construction of fined walls, see 

 Vol. X., New Series, pages 429, 430, and 431, where I have 

 stated all 1 know about them. — G. Abbey. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



It was only last week that one of our correspondents, in 

 writing of Dracajnas, entered into some particulars respecting 

 the great Dr,\gon tree (Dracsna draco), at Oratava, in the 

 island of Teneriffe. The news has just reached this country that 

 its immense head, which has withstood the tempests of many 

 hundreds of years, was levelled to the ground by a storm which 

 occurred last autumn. The gentleman who reports this loss 

 states that when he saw the tree in February last it was in 

 excellent health, and its immense crown was covered with 

 innumerable panicles of scarlet fruit, though the trunk was 

 completely decayed in the interior. A solid wall had been 

 built under a portion of the trunk where the ground is sloping, 

 and some of the branches were propped, but, it would seem, 

 very inefficiently ; and it must be a subject of regret to the 

 scientific world, and more particularly all interested in remark- 

 able specimens of the vegetable kingdom, that measures better 

 calculated to secure as long as possible the preservation of a 

 tree so extraordinary by its age and dimensions, should not 

 have been taken by the authorities of the island. According 

 to the latest accounts its circumference was about 78 feet, and 

 its total height about 3 feet less. 



The following circular, which has been promulgated at 



Aldershot, will prove of incalculable advantage to the troops in 

 the division, as there is a large quantity of ground that can be 

 easily cultivated, in addition to that already in the hands of 

 the soldiers : — " Soldiers' Gardens. — The Secretary of State 

 has decided to allow the issue, at the public expense, of tools 

 for the cultivation of garden ground allotted to the troops under 

 War Office Circular dated 2d March, 1865. The tools will not 

 be issued to individual soldiers permitted to cultivate gardens ; 

 but each company cultivating a garden will, on application to 

 the barrackmaster, through the General or other officer com- 

 manding, be supplied with one set, consisting of one of each of 

 the following articles : — Spade, digging fork, large and small 

 rake, large and small hoe, trowel, dibble, line and reel, pickaxe, 

 mattock, grubbing hoe, large and small waterpot, wheelbarrow. 

 Barrackmasters will have in store one set of tools for each com- 

 pany the barracks where garden ground exists will contain. — 

 Edwam) Lugard." 



Among nurserymen the last of the old race of Scotch 



Dicksons has passed away in the person of Mr. Jasies H. 

 Dickson, of Chester, who expired on the 28th ult. at his house, 

 Newton Villa, Chester, in the 72nd year of his age. Mr. Dick- 

 son and his cousin, the late Mr. Francis Dickson, established 

 the Chester nurseries in the early part of this century, and 

 through their enterprise their nurseries became among the 

 most extensive in the kingdom. A few years ago the partners 

 separated, and formed independent establishments, which are 

 now conducted by their respective famihes. 



WORK FOB THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Asparagus, to keep up a succession fresh beds will require to 

 be started every three weeks. A temperature at the roots of 

 65° is sufficient. When fresh beds are made, and there is 

 danger of overheating, it is advisable to have some rows of 

 drain pipes across the bed, by opening the ends of which the 

 superabundant heat will escape. They will also be useful in 

 diffusing the heat of a lining when necessary. Cress, sow this 

 and Mustard once a-week in a little heat ; the soil can scarcely 

 be too dry. For all these purposes much fermenting material 



is necessary, but there is always a quantity of refuse from'the 

 fiower garden as well as the kitchen garden, which, instead of 

 being taken to the rubbish heap, would be made available in 

 the frame ground. Carrots, a sUght hotbed should be prepared 

 for Horn Carrots and Radishes, to succeed the crops now 

 coming into use. Itlmbarb and Sea-kale will be most economi- 

 cally obtained at this period by taking them up and planting 

 them thickly in a sUght hotbed. Fresh plants will be required 

 every season. 



frcit gaeden. 

 Gooseberries and Currants, if pruned, may now be washed 

 over with a mixture of cow dung, clay, soot, and lime, brought 

 with water to the consistency of thick paint. Plums and 

 Cherries will be benefited by washing with a similar mixture, 

 adding to it, if thought necessary, tobacco water and flowers 

 of sulphur. Where the planting of fruit trees is not yet 

 finished, it should be deferred a month or six weeks longer ; 

 meantime prepare the ground for their reception. It often' 

 occurs that in attempting to obtain a very early crop of Straw- 

 berries, the plants are subjected to too much heat and kept too 

 close, and failure is the consequence. They should be kept 

 cool at first, and have plenty of air daily, except during frost 

 or cutting winds. They should on no account be snijected, as 

 is often done, to the same treatment with regard t ■ heat and 

 air, as Vines and Peaches, till after the fruit is set, when they 

 will do well on the vinery or Peach-house shelves. 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



Where any of the beds require the soil to be renewed, frosty 

 mornings offer the opportunity of doing the work cleanly and 

 expeditiously. By far too little attention is paid to trenching 

 and draining flower beds ; it is surprising how much better 

 tender plants support the summer drought in beds that have 

 been trenched than in those which have been merely dug. 

 Any of the annuals that have been injured by the late frosts 

 had better be cleared away ; and if the ground between the 

 plants can be stirred-up on a dry day with a small hoe, it will 

 do them good. Wallflowers, Sweet Williams, Hollyhocks, and 

 any of the more hardy bieimials, may be removed to the 

 flower borders. Wallflowers, if for their fragrance only, should 

 be planted abundantly in all gardens. Mice will often attack 

 Polyanthuses at this time of the year, especially when in 

 frames, and commit serious ravages by eating out the hearts, 

 and it will require some vigilance on the part of the grower to 

 prevent this. Snails and slugs are great pests both to Auri- 

 culas and Polyanthuses. A little fresh bran placed under a 

 flat tile, raised at each corner by small pebbles, is found to be 

 the best trap amongst the many reoommended. 



GKEENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



The grand point to attend to in the greenhouse is to keep 

 the plants from growing till as late in the spring as possible ; 

 such plants as show a disposition to grow early should be re- 

 moved to the coldest part of the house or to cold frames in 

 mild weather — anything rather than an early spring growth, 

 unless for some special purpose. As fires are seldom wanted 

 for drying-up the house after this time, as little fire heat as 

 possible should be used, and any covering at hand to throw 

 over the glass in frosty weather will lessen the necessity for 

 strong fires. Besides saving coals, this will be much better 

 for the health of the plants. Pelargoniums and Cinerarias 

 require more heat than the woody greenhouse plants, and are 

 kept in houses by themselves in nurseries and large establish- 

 ments ; but where there is only one house for the whole, they 

 may be kept in the warmest end. Orange trees that have 

 been forced last spring, and kept in-doors all summer, will now 

 begin to grow ; and if they are in good condition they will 

 flower freely on the young wood and little side spurs. In order 

 to bring them into regular shapes, the strongest shoots ought 

 to be stopped occasionally with the finger and thumb, not, 

 however, until after the flowering is over. March is time 

 enough to repot established plants of these : but young ones 

 in small pots may be shifted now and turned into bottom heat 

 in the forcing pit. No plant delights in bottom heat more 

 than the Orange, and few plants which will live over the winter 

 in a low temperature like it will stand more stove heat at all 

 times when treated as a stove plant. Another peculiarity 

 noticed in the Orange is, that it requires less earth to grow in 

 to produce heavy crops of fruit than any other plant of the 

 same size. Bad drainage and too large a pot will soon injure 

 it. Ayoid as much as possible letting into the conservatory 

 strong currents of cold air at any time, even when going in or 

 out by the door ; but in mild weather you may give air for 



