March 12, 1868. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



203 



from the bottom. The jacks are about 8 or '.) feet high. A 

 chain passes over the grooved wheel on the top, the liook is 

 made fust to the weight to be raised, the hook nearest to the 

 upriglit on the handlo is liooked in one of the links of the 

 chain, and tlie luuullo is worked in the same manner as a pump 

 handlo. Wlitn tlio handle is down the chain is made fa.st to 

 the hook in tliu iiiniKlit until the handle is raised. The hook 

 farthest from the upright on the handle is for letting the weight 

 down. When these jacks are used two are required, one on 

 each side of the plant, and a strong staple is required in each 

 Bide of tlio sledge to fasten the hooks to. 



When the plant is lifted a suflicient height a low-wheeled 

 truck is backed under it by manual power. The bottom of the 

 truck is Hat, and is above the tops of the wheels. The trucks 

 used by masons will answer the purpose. Of course lifting 

 the plant off the truck is simply a repetition of lifting it on. 



With these few simple appliances a practical planter may 

 remove plants of any reasonable size with the minimum risk 

 of failure. I had forgot to state that the sledge should be 

 boarded to present a smooth surface, and to prevent the soil 

 falling from the ball. 



I would feel greatly obliged for any information on the sub- 

 ject of transplanting. — F. Flittox. 



[The latter part of the communication, that relating to lifting 

 by jacks, at least with their assistance, is the most important. 

 In practice we have generally found that all binding of balls 

 with chains and slabs is only a hindrance to a good workman. 

 A very good moving machine that would pass through narrow 

 gateways was shown and took a prize at the International 

 Horticultural Exhibition of 180C. We all know something of 

 large planting machines where great force is used to raise the 

 tree. Unless in particular cases, planting large trees never will 

 answer as a matter of pounds, .shillings, and pence. 



For all trees and shrubs too heavy to be carried and placed 

 in a barrow, or that are heavy enough for half a dozen to ten 

 men to move, nothing is better than a smooth-surfaced plat- 

 formed sledge, such as hjis been several times described. In 

 the case of trees from 2't to lij feet in height, nothing in general 

 practice suits better than a pair of low cart wheels connected 

 together by a stout axle, and a pole fixed in the centre of the 

 axle. When the tree has been nearly loosened all round, and 

 the axle is brought up to the stem, the pole is raised against it 

 and securely fastened, with mats or other materials between the 

 pole and the stem. When the pole and stem are alike pulled 

 down, ball and roots rise in the air, and may be tied round 

 with mats, cloths, i-c, if deemed necessary, and may be set 

 down in the new place without bruising or breaking the roots. 

 In removing trees even of such a size, two modes may be 

 resorted to and with much the same success. In the first 

 place a ball should be secured by cutting a trench all round 

 the tree at from 20 to 24 inches from the stem a year or two 

 before lifting; secondly, it this is not done, but the plants are 

 taken up and planted without any preparation, then the roots 

 must be searched for and saved up to their extremities. In 

 this case a little ball will be all the better, but a large ball is of 

 less consequence. In any case, unless previously prepared, 

 there are but few fibrous roots near the bole of the tree. The 

 ball when obtained helps to secure the tree in its new position. 

 The long traced-out roots do the same. In rather thick 

 plantations it is almost impossible to have these long roots 

 carried out without injuring thera. Unless for producing an 

 effect at once, it is seldom that planting large trees answers in 

 the long run. We have helped to plant trees 30 feet in height, 

 and to plant others 10 feet in height, and the latter ulti- 

 mately beat the older ones.] 



DESTROYING CRICKKTS. 



HwiNT, observed lately several inquiries respecting the ex- 

 termination of these pests, I write to state the means I have 

 employed with much success, although I am sorry to own I 

 never entirely got free of them. In small jars, such as are 

 used for preserves, I placed at the bottom a little treacle and 

 water, at about the consistency of limewash.and plunged them 

 to the brim, or placed them on something to assist the enemy to 

 his own destruction. The pots should be examined every 

 morning, and the crickets cleared out. If the weather, or 

 house, be hot, the mixture will need changing every third day. 

 When it begins to ferment the crickets will not enter. The 

 dead crickets must be cleared away, or they will only serve as 

 food for their more fortunate cannibal relations. I may add 



that in most cases these torments are brought with the cinders 

 from the haU.— A. S. K. 



POTATOES. 



There are some things, it seems, about which it is dangerous 

 to write. If you have the honesty to condemn certain flowers 

 or plants because you do not think them worthy of all the 

 high-flown characters that they have received, you are at once 

 supposed to be influenced by some sinister motives, and your 

 wisdom, and, it may be, your integrity are questioned. There are 

 other things which every gardener takes an interest in ; and if 

 you write about them there are some good people who fly in 

 the face of all injunctions to the contrary, and write you no 

 end of letters privately about them. Sucli has been my expe- 

 rience. I wrote a few weeks ago about Potatoes. It was a very 

 humble attempt to give my own experience of sorts which I 

 had tried ; but alas ! it involved me in consequences I had not 

 dreamt of. Letters came to me from all directions — France, 

 north and south of England, &c., some good people evidently 

 taking me for a market gardener, who wanted to make some- 

 thing out of my experience. Could I sell a few stones of this 

 kind ? a gallon or so of that ? while others, with the most in- 

 sinuating language, begged a few tubers of one kind or another. 

 Now I must protest against this on behalf of my fellow work- 

 men and myself, for it is most annoying. If one takes no 

 notice, it is looked upon as rude ; if you refuse, you are re- 

 garded as a churl ; whereas if you accede, your own stock would 

 be soon reduced to a minimum. I mention no names, because 

 I do not wish to put people in the pillory ; but I would beg my 

 correspondents, male and female, to rest assured that were it 

 possible I should most willingly oblige them, but that it would 

 entail an amount of labour and time for which I am totally 

 unprepared, and that it is neither rudeness nor churlishness 

 that has left their letters so long unanswered. 



With regard to your kindly disposed correspondent who 

 questioned my statement about Paterson's Victoria Potato, that 

 is quite another matter, and my reply to him is a matter of 

 pleasure as well as duty. Had he referred to my paper I think 

 that he would have found that I did state the soil and situation 

 in which the Potatoes were grown. I would now supply a few 

 facts about them which may help to make the matter clear for 

 him. My friend, Mr. Banks, sent me last year a number of Pota- 

 toes to try, simply numbering them, in order that I might test 

 them. From amongst them I selected one, which turned out 

 to he Paterson's Victoria, and obtained from him a few good- 

 sized tubers for planting. The situation chosen was light and 

 airy, the soil a rich friable loam. The produce was very good, 

 but not equal to Mr. Banks's in mealiness or in flavour. I 

 take it, then, that, like all Paterson's, it is a field Potato, and 

 not a garden one ; and from a great many concurrent testi- 

 monies I gather that it is the only one of his varieties that is 

 really worth anything. Yet what great things were said about 

 them ! His " brither Scots " gave the firm a grand dinner. 

 He was extolled as a benefactor of his species, and a large 

 quantity of the Potatoes no doubt was sold. It seems, then, 

 very ungracious to say you do not believe in what all the world 

 thinks good. 



And now for another little matter personal to myself. Like 

 my friend Mr. Radclyifo I am about to change my quarters, 

 and am moving into a more quiet country place than that which 

 I have for so many years occupied. I have so long, however, 

 contributed to your pages from my present place of residence, 

 that I must ask permission to retain the nom de pliuac I have 

 so long assumed, and still be as before — D., Deal. 



NEPETA TEUCRIIFOLIA FOE BEDDING. 

 Now that the tide of taste has fairly set-in 'n favour of hardy 

 plants suitable for bedding, it is curious that the merits of this 

 plant as a bedder have not been publicly recognised, so far as I 

 have seen. I have grown it in quantity for this purpose for 

 the last seven years, and every year it gains more favour here. 

 The individual flowers are certainly poor enough, but as a bedder 

 it has everything to recommend it, so far as my experience has 

 gone on a moist soil — colour, habit, and duration, when properly 

 managed ; and, moreover, it is hardy as a Willow. Its colour 

 is beautiful and chaste in lines or masses, being a warm lavender 

 or mauve colour, something like Viola cornuta, but with a shade 

 of crimson in it. Its habit is dense and spreading, upright in 

 the middle of the plant, and lying down on the soil all roimd 



