April It, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



291 



added to keep it porous, in now prepared. The plant is taken 

 out of the pot, and the old soil shaken clean away ; any oEfaets 

 are taken off with a sharp llat knife, and the cut parts rubbed 

 over with a little powdered charcoal to stop the bleeding. All 

 decayed parts are cut off, and any long roots shortened. A 

 clean pot is taken, an oyster shell with the hollow inverted is 

 placed over the hole in the bottom, a little moss is then put 

 over it, and above the moss a handful of the rough riddlings of 

 the leaf mould. The soil is then put in, and around the roots, 

 and the plant pressed in firmly with the Land, but so as to keep 

 all the leaves clear of the soil. A good watering is then given, 

 and if the weather is hot a Blight damping with the syringe, 

 and the frame is kept close for eight days till the plants begin 

 to root. After that they should have all the |air possible, and 

 water when necessary till frost comes. 



During the winter months the plants go to rest, and should 

 have no more water than is sufficient to keep them from flag- 

 ging. A yellow leaf should never be allowed to remain for a 

 day on any plant, but must be immediately picked off. 



There are some very fine varieties which are not yet sent out, 

 but the cream of those generally grown in my opinion, say six 

 of each, is as follows : — 



Gi-iy Ed(]cs. — Chapman's Maria, Chapman's Sophia, Head- 

 ley's George Lightbody, Headley's Charles Edward Brown, 

 Lightbody's llobert Trail, Cheetham's Lancashire Hero. 

 Green Edges. — Beeston's Apollo, Dickson's Duke of Cambridge, 

 Dickson's Duke of Wellington, Leigh's Colonel Taylor, Light- 

 body's Sir .John Moore, Smith's Lycurgus. White Edges. — Hep- 

 worth's True Briton, Lee's Bright Venus, Trail's White Rival, 

 Campbell's Robert IJums, Lightbody's Countess of Dunmore, 

 Lowe's Maggie Lander. Selfs. — Lightbody's Lord Clyde, 

 Lightbody's Meteor Flag, Smith's Formosa, Smith's Mrs. 

 Smith, Martin's Eclipse, Martin's Mrs. Sturrock. 



There are many others equally good, but a great step has of 

 late years been made in some of the new plants, which will be 

 let out by-and-by, and are exquisitely beautiful.^J. M. 



BUSH FRUIT TREES. 



I HAVE much pleasure in giving the information which Mr. 

 Rivers is pleased to consider will " add much to the value of 

 my communication," (see page 198). 



I live two miles south of Lincoln, on a gentle slope at the 

 foot of the Cross Cliff Hills. The soil in my orchard varies 

 from 2 to 4 feet deep, and from a light sandy loam to a stiff 

 clay, the greater portion being a moderately strong loam, just 

 what one would desire for fruit trees. But this land has been 

 artificially prepared in various portions, by clay and finely 

 aomminuted chalkstone (containing 93 per cent, of carbonate 

 of lime), scrapings of limestone roads, &e., to suit the various 

 fruits it is intended to produce. It has, moreover, been 

 enriched, though all newly-trenched grass land, with good 

 manure at the rate of 45 tons per acre, and 11 cwt. of half-inch 

 bones. A long strip thus treated has been divided into nine 

 parts and top-dressed with different chemicals. 



The subsoil is gravel and clay well drained, although, being 

 on a slope there is never any stagnant water, which, no matter 

 how great the rainfall, percolates rapidly to the river. Taking 

 advantage of the fall, I have made in the upper part a small 

 pond, always full, whence the water is conducted in pipes into 

 large oak casks sunk deep in the ground and covered over. 

 Communicating with each is a 3-inch pipe through which the 

 snction-hose is dropped down, and a Californian forcing-engine 

 rapidly! clears the aphides from the trees and waters them 

 effectually as well. The supply from the pond is regulated 

 by a screw sluice-gate. Thus, nearly all my trees can be easily 

 syringed and watered. 



Reverting to the subject of lifting trees. I must first thank 

 Mr. Rivers for his explanation, and assure him that I never for 

 a moment considered him capable of intentional " misrepresen- 

 tation ;" but that his bare statement, that "an active man can 

 lift one hundred in a day," is calculated to mislead without ex- 

 planation. Now, let us look at it and see how far we can agree. 

 Mr. Rivers's man with a " treddle " spade and unlimited op- 

 portunity for back-stretching, can lift 120 per day : but Mr. 

 Rivers is confident that a man with such a spade would do 

 three times the work that the same man could do with an 

 ordinary garden spade. Hence a man with a garden spade 

 would lift forty per day. Now, my two men thus armed lifted 

 one hundred per day between them, and, consequently, did 

 half a day's work more than, according to Mr. Rivers, I had a 



right to expect ; but I am satisfied that, no matter what spade 

 be used, two men can do such work proportionately quicker 

 than one. Trees must bo replaced at measured distances in 

 straight lines, one holds the tree whilst the other cuts the 

 roots, for at the first lifting of any tree this must be done, 

 though it may not be necessary afterwards, and having a man 

 on each side of the tree there is less moving about and less 

 liability of damaging the neighbouring plants. 



Mr. Rivers's explanation hinges altogether on the kind of 

 spade, of which, I trust, he will kindly send me a specimen, as 

 requested in a private note, for it will well pay its expenses. 

 Mr. Rivers does not mention the kind of soil on which he ex- 

 perimented. It could hardly be more easy to work than mine, 

 which required no scraping of the spade — an item that must 

 much increase the time expended; and, moreover, he appears 

 to have timed his man on one tree only, whereas I timed my 

 two men by the hundred ; first when they did not know, and 

 the next day when they did, the result being the same. After 

 all was over I read the passage from the " Miniature Fruit 

 Garden," and they expressed a desire to see one of Mr. Rivers's 

 men, and now they have heard hia explanation they are as 

 anxious to see his spade. 



I urn obliged to Mr. Rivers for an account of his plantations, 

 and the gleam of comfort (V) he inspires by an account of the 

 failure of his crops. Certainly it is a melancholy sort of satis- 

 faction when one has no crop, to know that even Mr. Rivers 

 himself has failed, and been beaten by our common enemy — 

 frost ; but I really do not require any comfort, f eeUng confident 

 that bush fruit trees are " the best thing out," and must prove a 

 success one year with another. But surely Mr. Rivers's planta- 

 tion of Cox's Orange Pippins, which will stand eight years 3 feet 

 apart every way, is more curious than desirable, taking quaUty, 

 quantity, and early productiveness as the desiderata. I con- 

 ceive that as long as a tree bears plenty of good fruit, and 

 makes short-jointed wood full of fruit spurs, that the bigger 

 one grows the tree the better. A well-managed bush 6 o 

 7 feet high produces something worth gathering, and I cannot 

 help thinking, had Mr. Rivers allowed his trees to make more 

 wood and thinned them out, that he would have realised more 

 fruit in the same time off the same ground, and planted a 

 similar piece as well ; and I hope he will kindly tell us whether 

 he advocates dwarfing to such an extent, as a means of obtain- 

 ing the most good fruit on a given space, or whether it is 

 merely a horticultural triumph, and an illustration of what can 

 be done in the way of a miniature fruit garden. — G. C. E. 



NEPETA TEUCRIIFOLIA, VIOLA CORNUTA, .-ySTD 

 LOBELIA ERINUS SPECIOSA. 



WuETHEn Nepeta teueriifolia become a rival to Viola comuta 

 or not, as suggested in page 203, will remain to be proved, but 

 it is well worthy of attention on its own account, and probably 

 if we have a very dry summer, and beginning, as appears 

 likely, early in the season, I fear many who have so strongly 

 advocated the claims of Viola comuta will be willing to tarn 

 round and admit themselves mistaken about its qualifications 

 for withstanding dry weather. I do not wish to try to dis- 

 hearten those who intend pliintiug this useful bedder, but 

 would advise their adopting a plan I noticed attended with the 

 best possible results — namely, this Viola was planted alternately 

 with Lobelia erinus speciosa; and as this mixture was all that 

 could be desired last year, in which there was no lack of mois- 

 ture during the early summer months, it is more likely to be 

 of service in a season when, perhaps, we may be suffering 

 from a contrary state of things ; for in a dry warm season the 

 Lobelia will prosper, but I have little hopes of the Viola doing 

 so. In the well-kept garden at Preston Hall the mixture of the 

 two was well carried out last year by Mr. Bradley, the gardener 

 there, and very effective the lines of it were, and their beauty 

 was long maintained. 



The Nepeta will, I think, hardly come into competition with 

 the above, being of taller growth, and in colour more of a 

 lavender ; it is, however, a plant of much merit, and its not 

 being particular as to situation is a great point in its favour. 

 It is also quite hardy, or nearly so, and is possibly capable of 

 improvement. It would be a great boon to many, who are at 

 a los? how to provide the numerous bedding plants which 

 they require, to be able to press a goodly number of hardy ones 

 into their service. I hope to see this done in time, and trust 

 that many plants not yet thought of may be so much improved 

 in the hybiidiser's hands as to meet the requirements of the 



