150 



JO0BNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AN© COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ February 20, 1868. 



carefally giving air and early closing, and in nights when the 

 sky was clear, and radiation consequently rapid, a mat was 

 thrown over the glass. At this time, the bottom heat being all 

 gone, and the plants starting, evidently requiring warmer 

 quarters, they were transferred to a shelf near the glass in the 

 plant stove. But why not have brought them in here sooner ? 

 Simply because the shelf was occupied by a few late Gloxinias 

 and other plants of a like nature, which I could not dispense 

 with ; and herein is the necessity that gardeners should and 

 must at^ all times exercise their mental faculties in looking 

 ahead — it may be for months, in providing for, to the casual 

 observer, unseen wants, and in avoiding contingencies un- 

 known except to the initiated. 



But I am rambling again, and hasten back to say that with 

 the treatment here described the plants flourished, and are 

 now in fine bloom, conspicuous in their scarlet costume amongst 

 their more sober friends the Ferns, and giving an ample return 

 for the trouble bestowed on them in their somewhat chequered 

 career. I doubt not there are hundreds of people throughout 

 the country who have the beauties of this fine old plant 

 bronght before them ; on the other hand there are many plant 

 stoves into which it does not enter. To the owners of these I 

 say. Get it, and grow it by the dozen, or hundred if you 

 like ; grow it well, and then if you are not satisfied with it 

 Wame — J. W. 



EFFECTS OF LAYERING A VINE. 



Some time back I observed a remarK in the Journal by a 

 writer, to the effect that he would never allow a branch of a 

 Vine to be bent down so as to root itself into the border at a dis- 

 tance from the main root. What harm can this do ? J should 

 have supposed that so long as the branch was not severed from 

 the parent, it could not be injured by the additional new roots, 

 and that the parent could be as little injured by the extra 

 roots to feed the branch. — F. 



[This is a disputed point. Vfe have seen Vines layered in 

 all directions, until it was impossible to know which was the 

 original root or stem ; but as a general rule, the result of ex- 

 perience and observation, we have found that Vines do best when 

 all the roots proceed from one part. It is easy to obtain roots 

 from any part of a Vine stem, but in general they are long, and 

 not well furnished with fibres. Even Vines raised from layers 

 on this account are not so much hked as those raised from a 

 single bud, where stem and roots proceed from the same small 

 space. In particular cases the plan you allude to may be 

 adopted, when it is desired to keep on old Vines a little longer 

 without a fresh border and fresh planting.] 



THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY AND 

 ITS GARDENS. 



I AM a horticulturist in the sense of being always pleased 

 with pretty flower.^. I watch with interest the little groups 

 brought up week after week from Chiswick to Kensington for 

 the decoration of the conservatory or by way of a show. I ap- 

 preciate the good work which is done at Chiswick in the elimi- 

 nation of many supposed varieties of Peas and Beans with 

 high-sounding names ; I even read with interest striking phe- 

 nomena of vegetable physiology ; and yet I am heretic enough 

 to protest against Chiswick being kept up as a neat and trim 

 show garden, and to this end, as it appears to me, your remarks 

 of Thursday last on the Society's operations are directed. 



I think it would be a great mistake to " keep up " Chiswick 

 in any other sense than as an experimental garden, and as a 

 nursery for the decoration of Kensington, her " aristocratic 

 sister," as you are pleased to call it. South Kensington and 

 not Chiswick, as you state, is in fact the place where, as far as 

 possible, the results of the Society's agency are to be chiefly 

 oxhibited; and unless what you term the Society's "legitimate 

 work " is made to conduce to the amusement of the " miscel- 

 laneous multitude " you hold so lightly, the diminished amount 

 which will be forthcoming for horticultural pursuits will soon 

 make itself felt. 



People of Kensington and its neighbourhood find a large 

 proportion of the funds of the Society ; but whilst they praise 

 and neglect the scientific meetings, as we complacently term 

 our horticultural reunioni', and talk of, but never visit, our 

 horticultural treasures at Chiswick, they think with me, that 

 all the jewels •nhich will bear the translation should be b; ought 



np for the decoration of the aristocratic sister, especially when 

 she holds her Saturday " at home." 



Might it not serve the purpose of some more of our flower- 

 growers to show us their specialities occasionally, as Mr. W. 

 Paul does ? Could not the Council make it worth their while 

 to do so in some way ? I see that one of your contemporaries 

 thinks that the band is a suflicient attraction to bring visitors ; 

 but this is a mistake. People get tired of a band, and want 

 the eye gratified as well as the ear. — H. 



[Our correspondent has mistaken the object of our remarks, 

 which were intended to show that through the present excel- 

 lent management of the Society, horticulture, and especially 

 the horticultural garden at Chiswick, has received much 

 more aid and attention than formerly, and yet the garden at 

 Kensington looks none the worse, and the finances are very 

 much the better. We are far from depreciating the importance 

 of the garden at Kensington, which, doubtless, now forms au 

 important part of the constitution of the Society ; and while 

 we rejoice to see Chiswick maintained as the experimental 

 garden, we would deprecate the neglect of Kensington, which 

 must always be regarded as the show or promenade garden, 

 and which contributes so many enjoyments to a large body of 

 the Fellows.] 



EMIGRATION OF GARDENERS TO AJIERICA. 

 I HAVE been a subscriber to your Journal for some time past, 

 and hope to be so for a long time to come. It would be strange 

 indeed, if, in your many pages, I did not now and then find 

 something quite at variance with my ideas regarding various 

 matters, and about which I should like to say a word or two. 

 This desire is especially strong with me just now, since reading 

 " A Few Words Suitable for this Christmas," by " Wiltshire 

 Eector," in which, after speaking of the manful struggles of 

 some '• gardeners by profession," to make both ends meet, he 



says, " Nor is it a time for encouraging emigration 



Many have recently gone abroad with a little capital, and that 

 being soon spent, have become labourers in a land where a 

 labourer has fewer comforts and more hardships than he has 

 in England." 



I have lived where I now am for eleven years, and having 

 had during that time never less than twenty, and often more 

 than forty labouring men in my employ, I am competent to 

 speak of what comforts and what hardships a labouring man 

 usually finds in this country. 



This winter the times are especially hard, and so an account 

 of the workman's present condition cannot certainly be con- 

 sidered as putting it in a too favourable light. I have now 

 twenty-nine men employed, each of whom receives for his 

 day's work 1 dol. 00c. in our currency, or about 5s. sterling. 

 This makes the week's wages 30s. If a man has a family he 

 takes this money home and uses it as he may think best ; but 

 if he is a single man, he obtains good board and lodging for 

 5 dels, a-week, or a trifle more than 15s. sterling, thus having 

 half his wages left as clear profit, except such part as he may 

 need for clothing. 



Some people are in the habit of saying, that although the 

 wages are so much more in the United States than in Great 

 Britain, still the difference in the price of provisions more than 

 makes amends ; but this is entirely untrue. The chief articles 

 of food, although dear, are cheaper here at this very time than 

 they are in England. American flour, and American Wheat, 

 and Indian Corn, are being continually shipped to England, 

 and so are American butter and cheese, and hosts of other 

 American provisions. If, after paying freight and all other 

 expenses, these shipments did not generally prove profitable, 

 this exporting would soon come to an end. In addition to 

 these articles of food that are among our exports, beef, mutton, 

 and most other meats, are cheaper here ; indeed, so is almost 

 everything else that we use to maintain life. 



The enclosed slip of paper is cut from the New Tork Daily 

 Times of yesterday (January 27th). The freight engagements 

 to Liverpool for the previous day were, as this will show, 7,500 

 bushels of Wheat and Indian Corn, ■2'3,500 bushels of corn, 

 50 tons of provisions, 300 boxes of bacon, 2,500 boxes of 

 cheese, Sta. 



"Freights. — For Liverpool there were taken 2,150 bales of 

 cotton at 7-16(f. to id. by sail, and lil. to ^^ by steamer, per 

 lb. ; 7,500 bushels grain, by sail, at ^id. for corn, or <Jld. for 

 wheat; 22,500 bushels corn, by steamer, at 12ti. per bushel; 

 50 tons provisions, by sail, at 30s. to 33s. ; 300 boxes bacon. 



