aiBy 29, 1873. ] 



JOOBNAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



429 



watering in the beds will ever compensate for this. The water 

 runs away from the dry soil and fibres just as the rain passes 

 from the back of a healthy fowl. Be the plants in pots or 

 planted out in beds to harden-off, one essential to success is 

 liaTLug them well and thoroughly watered before moving them. 



Another cause of a want of complete success is planting 

 from pots when the roots are matted in a ball, and doing 

 nothing to gently disentangle the roots at the sides of the 

 ball, that they may enter freely into the fresh soU. Partly 

 on this account, and partly to save labour, the great bulk of 

 our plants are planted out in preparatory beds, and when 

 lifted with less or more of good balls, they have the fresh 

 roots bristling all round hke a wig, ready to take hold of the 

 soil at once. Unless in an extreme ease, no fibrous-rooted 

 plants ever have a pot with us, but sometimes we must act 

 according as circumstances compel us. When I have brought 

 plants forward in small pots I found it of advantage, say in 

 the case of the finer Geraniums, to turn them out in a rich 

 earth bed, with a little protection, before the outside of the 

 ball became too matted, and then, after standing there for a 

 fortnight or three weeks, the plants would rise with the ball 

 entu-e, but with fine fresh fibres coming from it all round, 

 each of which was ready at once to enter into the well-aired 

 soil of the fiower beds and borders. Those who have plants 

 with balls matted with roots, and as firm as a cheese, will find 

 it an advantage if, before planting, they gently with the fingers 

 or a pointed stick break the mould-like form of the outside of 

 the baUs. 



To two more common errors I will just aUude. The first is 

 planting when it is raining and the soil is wet. In stiff soils, 

 •especially, this will be a great drawback. The soil cannot be 

 nicely worked about the fibres, and a hard-baked uncongenial 

 surface is likely to be the result. With plants prepared as 

 above I would much rather plant when the soil was somewhat 

 dry and the sun shining brightly. 



Much damage is often done, and especially when plants are 

 turned out as early as the middle of May, by frequent sar- 

 face-watering. At that season it wUl be found that the wetter 

 the soil the colder will the roots be. On the other hand, the 

 ■drier the surface soil the warmer will be the roots beneath. In 

 planting, therefore, in rather dry soil, and with plants pre- 

 viously watered, I would merely secure the roots, supply them 

 with water exposed to the sun previously, and when that has 

 soaked in, cover all over neatly with the dry soU. In general 

 it will be some time before more watering is required at the 

 roots. In very bright days the foliage may flag a Uttle, but a 

 skiff from the syringe over the top would be more appropriate 

 than a deluging from the surface to the roots, that were quite 

 wet enough before. — B. Fish. 



MOVING LAKGE TREES. 

 I oxcE met a man who when anyone made a joke did not 

 appear to see it, but some time afterwards would burst out laugh- 

 ing to the surprise of everyone. I was strongly reminded of 

 this individual ou reading Mr. Barron's paper in answer to one I 

 wrote last October. If anyone read my paper he has probably 

 forgotten it by this time. Mr. Barron quotes a single para- 

 graph of it, and intimates that my whole argument, or, at any 

 .rate, the gist of it, is contained in the words he quotes. Now, 

 I think this hardly fail'. Again, he says I have no knowledge 

 on the subject, and yet is surprised that I, living within seven 

 miles of him, and having seen so much of what has been done 

 at Elvaston and elsewhere ever since I commenced business, 

 should have forgotten aU he has done. What time he wishes 

 to indicate as the time I commenced business I do not know ; 

 belonging to the third generation who have owned these nur- 

 series, it follows that my connection with the business has 

 been from the time I left school, so I think my recollection of 

 him dates as far back as the time he commenced to move 

 large trees. Here let me say, if I ever move large trees there 

 is no one whose assistance I should value more than Mr. 

 Barron's, because no one can understand it better. If I had 

 not lived so near to the cleverest man who ever undertook to 

 move timber trees, I might never have written the article in 

 question, because I might have attributed any failure in results 

 to want of skiU. I remember well the Cedar Mr. Barron moved 

 at Elvaston and many other trees, particularly lai'ge Yews, 

 which did remarkably well ; and I think no one would gather 

 from what I wrote that I wished to convey the idea that no 

 large tree could be removed, or that Mr. BaiTon, whose name 

 I never mentioned, could not move it. Being in .the habit of 



saying and writing just what comes into my mind, there is a 

 danger of annoying those who differ from me, and even iu 

 some cases of raising the cry of " Great is Diana of the Ephe- 

 siaus!" It is as much my interest as that of any other 

 nurseryman to sell the largest trees I have on hand, but I 

 always say if anyone wants good specimens of any kind of 

 tree or shrub he cannot easily plant too small. It is not worth 

 while repeating what I wrote in October, but my own expe- 

 rience fully bears out what I then wrote, and my obseiTatiou 

 likewise. 



It is a very common thing to hear persons say, " At my 

 time of life I cannot afford to wait till small trees grow." 

 These persons always buy fine specimen plants, and, as a rule, 

 I contend that in a few years young trees would have beaten 

 them both in size and appearance. Twenty-one years ago part 

 of my garden was an orchard; I planted it with Pines, Junipers, 

 Cypresses, WeUingtonias, &c., selecting by choice to plant 

 seedlings only a few inches to 2 feet high ; and when I com- 

 pare them with others, I think I have every reason to be satis- 

 fied. I am quite aware trees of large size can be removed, 

 and those with spreading roots, such as Yews and Scotch Firs, 

 may do well, but I have seen large Hollies and many other 

 trees after looking well for some time gradually die-off and 

 take years to do it in. I have no wish to hinder anyone, who 

 likes to pay the cost, from removing large trees if he has a 

 Mr. Barron to do it for him ; but I still say I should not trust 

 to such trees for a permanent effect, but would plant young 

 ones amongst them at the same time. — J. E. Peaesox, Chilwell. 



P.S. — I have just measured three trees on my grass plat all 

 planted as small plants since the time named. Pinus macro- 

 carpa is 20 feet high, branches lying on the ground in a cu'cle 

 of 22 feet diameter ; Cupressus Lawsoniana, 18 feet high, 

 7 feet through ; Wellingtonia, 28 feet high, branches lying on 

 the ground 14 feet wide ; this last was turned out of a quart 

 pot in the spring of 1861. I merely give these as examples, 

 and would ask. Would they have been better trees by this 

 time if they had been large when planted '? — J. E. P. 



THE BUFFALO BEERY. 



Ir Mr. W. Muir wishes his Shepherdia seed to vegetate 

 readily, he should sow it iu the open ground soon after it is 

 ripe or during the months of October and November, but first 

 rub or mash the pulp and wash it from the seed. On the 

 approach of winter cover the bed an inch deep or more with 

 dry fine muck or some light material, to prevent the earth from 

 becoming hard and dry ; this should be removed in the spring 

 as soon as the seed begins to come through the ground. If 

 the seed has been kept dry through the winter it will not 

 likely vegetate until the spring of 187i. 



When the young plants are a year or two old they should be 

 planted in nursery rows from 12 to 15 inches apart, and in the 

 course of from three to five years they will show their sex by 

 the flower buds of the male plants being double the size of the 

 female, when they can be transplanted in pairs from i to 6 feet 

 apart for fruiting, otherwise they will not bear fruit. 



My experiment as a hedge of a trial of 100 feet of the Buffalo 

 Berry was not successful although well cared for, but it may 

 be that it was not managed rightly. The plants were set in a 

 single row 12 inches asunder, and when eight or ten years of age 

 it would not keep its form, and the plants would fall out of 

 line from one side or the other and become uneven and un- 

 sightly. — Chakles Downing, Newburgh, Neu^ York. 



WATERING CONTRIVANCES. 



The acknowledged importance of water for all cultivated 

 plants has, I hope, induced every interested person to provide 

 means whereby an ample supply may be conveyed to one or 

 more parts of the garden, there to be stored uji in quantity in 

 underground tanks or open reservoirs. To economise labour 

 in watering, as well as to secure the timely and proper execu- 

 tion of the work, it is very requisite to have a handy contri- 

 vance for the conveyance of water where most wanted, com- 

 bining means for its application to crops, syringing plants, and 

 for general cleansing purposes. I therefore purpose giving a 

 few illustrations of the most substantial and useful apparatus 

 for the purpose. 



IVarner's Lift and Force Pump [fig. 1). — I worked one of 

 these years ago, and my opinion of it is, that for its particular 

 purpose (watering), it is one of the most useful imjjlements 

 ever invented, and not, to my thinking, sui'passed by modem 



