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JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB, 



I Maioli 27, 167S. 



of another. Be this as it may, Victoria Regiua Violet is a very 

 queen among Violets, and as it has already produced several 

 seedlings varying much from the parent, we know not whither 

 these variations may lead ; hut if the advance in size be as 

 great on the parent as the latter is on the ordinary Violet, 

 " we may," as we previously remarked, "expect to see varie- 

 ties rivalling in size the florists' Pansy." 



With regard to Violet culture, Mr. Lee remarks, " The soil, 

 I think, cannot be made too rich, provided it is light and 

 porous ; with this there is no lack as to quantity or quality 

 of bloom. Soil is, I think, much more important than aspect, 

 although aspect must not be overlooked. A position to the 

 north of high trees, and not subject to the drip from them, I 

 find the best ; many of my plants are to the north of such 

 trees with naked stems, so that the sun shines underneath in 

 winter, but they are shaded in summer. If, however, the soil 

 is deep, light, and rich, they will bear a considerable amount 

 of sunshine. 



" I must not quite omit the time of planting. If the plants 

 you procure are not in pots I think September the best time ; 

 but if you plant in winter, or in spring after growth commences, 

 it is necessary to cut off all the young leaves. I find the plants 

 do very well planted in any open weather from September till 

 April. 



" I plant my Violets at 18 inches apart in beds of three rows 

 each ; this affords room for hoeing the intervals between the 

 rows while the plants are growing. I sometimes plant them 

 at 6 inches apart, sometimes at 1 foot apart in the rows, just as 

 I have a large stock of plants or otherwise. They soon spread 

 and fill the beds ; but they ought not to remain more than 

 three years in the same place, unless you take off the runners 

 and add manure liberally, otherwise you get the flowers small 

 and short-stemmed. The outside rows of the opposite beds 

 ought to be 2 feet C inches apai-t ; this gives room for a 1-foot 

 path between the beds, which, if the plants do well, will not 

 be too much." 



EVENING MUSINGS FOE PLAIN PEOPLE.— No. 3. 



Not Vines alone are the subject of these papers, which are 

 intended, not for professional gardeners and their exalted 

 employers, but for the great middle class with gardening pro- 

 clirities, who hesitate in their plans from want of assurance 

 on given points. The point in question is, What can be grown 

 with Vines ? — not grown to a pitch of absolute perfection for 

 exhibition purposes, but cultivated as a pleasure and recreation 

 to contribute to the attractions and happiness of home. 



As has been noticed, bedding plants and spring-flowering 

 subjects generally are at home with Vines, and Camelhas as a 

 special class have been mentioned as peculiarly adaptable for 

 vinery occupation. In themselves few things are more beau- 

 tiful than a collection of Camellias. They are at any time 

 worthy of a house to themselves, erected specially to meet 

 their cultural requirements. These stnjctural conditions are 

 simple, and resolve themselves into shade and moderate heat- 

 ing appliances, sufficient to exclude frost in winter and im- 

 part a more genial warmth in spring. These conditions are 

 provided exactly by an ordinary vinery, the Vines themselves 

 affording the shade. A vinery, therefore, is a Camellia house 

 as good as need be. I lately saw a vinery nearly the size 

 of that at Hampton Court ; the roof was covered with foU- 

 age, but there were not more than 100 lbs. of Grapes in the 

 house. What was to me a blank disappointment was not so 

 to the owner, who remarked that the A'ines did their duty well 

 by shading the Camellias. What a grand sight must be that 

 huge house of Camellias when in full bloom ! and what a rich 

 appearance has even a small house of healthy Camellias ! But 

 that large structure would have grown the Camellias equally 

 well had the roof been covered with fruitful instead of unfruit- 

 ful Vines. If my visit should result in this I shall be glad, 

 and the owner surely can enjoy his Camellias none the less if 

 rich clusters of Grapes hang above them. 



It is, I am quite aware, the desire of many to put up a 

 vinery for a few home-grown Grapes, although they cannot 

 endure the thought of emjity stages in the summer. They see 

 a neighbour's house with greenhouse plants and Vines. The 

 latter are very well, but look at the plants — Pelargoniums as 

 if attempting (which they are) to push through into the open 

 air, and most likely sustaining a live stock of ten thousand fat 

 (and lean) aphides ; Fuchsias with shoots blanched and attenu- 

 ated, crawling, and hanging, and writhing in misery, with a 

 little paltry bloom squeezed out here and there, of course 



carrying the live stock ; Balsams long, lanky, languishing, and 

 leanmg for support on then- feeble friends in distress, attempt- 

 ing to derive a modicum of comfort in a prison of misfortune. 

 That is a too-common picture of an amateur's vinery in summer, 

 and serves as a text to unpractical visitors that plants and 

 Vines will not associate together, and has often decided the 

 fate of a projected building, as well it may. Empty benches 

 are infinitely preferable to such a miserable mass of unsuitable 

 plants driven wild in their desperate attempts to get out of it. 



" Come and look at our vinery," said a gentleman and his 

 daughters, " and tell us what to do ; we cannot get a plant 

 for the drawing-room worth looking at," with a special sup- 

 plementary grumble from paterfamilias of, " I hate the place ! 

 Thought I should have everything, and have nothing. I can 

 do in winter and spring with bulbs. Primulas, and the like, 

 but now I hate to look at it ; it is a wilderness of desolation." 

 He was not far oft' the mark. They did not expect a great 

 deal, but the house to be " decent." My first advice was to 

 have some Camellias, especially white ones; in the spring they 

 will charm the ladies, and in summer, only keep them clean, 

 and they will be healthy and glossy. The rejoinder to this 

 was, " You gardeners are all alike. That is just what my man 

 wants ; but if he cannot grow easy things Uke these, how can 

 he grow Camellias ?" I am afraid that against such logic many 

 an industrious man has to battle. But pressing the Camellias 

 and demolishing the logic at the same time, and pledging my 

 little reputation that with fan- treatment not only Camellias 

 but a few Azaleas, after the beauty of bloom was over, would 

 keep the place neat and themselves within bounds under the 

 Vines ; that hardy and greenhouse Ferns would do admirably 

 in the house and look well in the rooms ; and that Palms — 

 healthy young plants of the hardiest kinds were the very things 

 they requu-ed — would do well in the vinery, and look charming 

 for in-door decoration. At the sound of Camellias, Ferns, 

 and Palms the daughters' eyes brightened with deUght as 

 just what they hoped and longed for. They pressed their 

 claims in their own way, and the owner's opposition com- 

 pletely collapsed. What a pleasing and enjoyable change 

 was the result by just putting the right things into the right 

 place ! The Grapes above were as good as ever — yea, better, 

 as the plants, being more valued, received more regular and 

 constant attention in watering and syringing, and created an 

 atmosphere more suited to the Vines. 



Vines and plants will only not flourish together when wrong 

 plants are put under the Vines. Select the right ones — plants 

 requiring, or at least tolerating shade, and amongst these are 

 to be found the most beautiful and interesting genera, and a 

 house may be always attractive without counting the value of 

 the Grapes. 



There is yet one more great order of plants to which shade 

 is indispensable in summer, and which with good attention 

 will attain a high state of perfection under Vines. These are 

 perhaps the most singularly beautiful, interesting, and valuable 

 of all plants — viz.. Orchids. That a judicious selection of 

 this order will flourish admirably in conjunction with Vines 

 has been clearly demonstrated, amongst others by my former 

 fellow pupil. Temple, late of Headingley, whose practice hag 

 been detailed in this Journal. The temperature required by 

 many varieties of Orchids is the same as required by the Vines. 

 Atmospheric moisture is in the same degree necessary to the 

 summer growth of both, and the period of rest required is 

 sufficiently identical for practical purposes. Any or all the 

 plants which have been named will, with proper attention, 

 afford a return commensurate with the skill and attention given 

 to cultural points of detail, and at the same time will not inter- 

 fere with the Grapes, which may certainly be produced above 

 them. A main condition necessary for success is not to attempt 

 too much by overcrowding. A few plants grown well will ever 

 be more satisfactory than many in an indifferent state. In 

 the matter of overcrowding, amateurs do not err alone. In 

 this respect there are sinners amongst professional gardeners, 

 who, in their anxiety to get the utmost with small conveni- 

 ences, occasionally overstep the mark and defeat their object. 

 This is not to be wondered at, considering the diflioulty at 

 times of deciding when and where to stop. The wonder is 

 that so much is produced under crippled circumstances by able 

 and thoughtful men. But what the professional man can do, 

 the amateur may do also in a less degree, by cool calculation 

 beforehand and steady regular action afterwards, provided — 

 and this is a main element of success — he has a real love for 

 his object and a will to work, not by fits and starts, but just 

 when the work is needed, and not simply when his fancy die- 



