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JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



C July 4, 1866. 



The road in many places is hewn ou the face of the living 

 lock, which stands in grand defiance, fro-sniing on steep preci- 

 pices going down, down, oh ! so very far down into the surging 

 billows beneath. For a great part of the way there is no pro- 

 tection — literally none ; and eveiy now and then you are 

 greeted with pleasant remarks from the outside, such as — " Dear 

 me ! we were all but over when that carriage passed ; the horses 

 jibbed, or swei-ved, or something, and we were just over." Or, 

 perhaps, it would be, " We had better wait a few minutes ; they 

 are blasting the rock ahead, and if a thundering piece came 

 down the horses might take fright." Whatever the courage of 

 the horses might be, I knew of one trembUng passenger who [ 

 was ever and anon reduced to study the geology of the steep ! 

 rook rather than the botany of the precipice. Yet what a : 

 glorious sight it was ! as we wound along our perilous way. | 

 On one side the blasting of the rocks showed all their gi-and 

 colouring and veining, and the sunlight seemed to glint them 

 with a thousand rich and varied hues. Beneath lay the deep 

 blue Mediterranean, with white and red-sailed vessels here and 

 there ; wliile, stretching far away, before us and behind, lay 

 ioH blue distances with picturesque villages ; now high upon 

 some momitaiu side, now peacefully lining the shore, where 

 fishermen in red caps and jackets stood about mending their 

 nets, and little childj-en played in and out amongst the boats. 

 ■Every few miles we made perilous descents into these sea-side 

 towns, and while the horses were rested we walked, gathering 

 wild flowers, about the neighbouring poilerr, the contadino, 

 priming the Olives or Vines, only looking up to give a friendly 

 glance at the stranger. On March 1, beneath the Olives or by 

 the wayside, we gathered Daisies, Thyme, Wood Buttercups, 

 'Pellitory, Wood MercuriaUa, purple and scarlet Anemones, 

 Narcissus tazetta, Hawkweed, Rosemary, and Celandine ; also 

 very fine specimens of Polygala vulgaris, much finer than the 

 Engli.sh Milkworts. The weather was so genial we required no 

 fire, and at San Eemo we sat with windows open to the sea. 



To engineers, the Cornice is just now specially interesting, 

 fi-om the magnificent line of railway they are making from Nice 

 to Genoa. It seems almost too gi-and to be a himian under- 

 taking, chasms of such a tremendous depth have to be spanned 

 over with giant viaducts, and rocks of such enormous pro- 

 portions have to be bored through, rocks ending in precipices, 

 ■A-ith rocks again beyond. Everything seems to fall before the 

 magic of the railway, or rather before the vast intelligence it 

 embodies ; old customs, old prejudices, old faiths are uprooted 

 with the uprooted trees, and pass onwards and away with the 

 sdvancing line. It is a strange thing to note the change a rail- 

 way mSikes in an old Italian town. Life, energ;^-, and purpose, 

 side by side with inertness and decay, vast heaps of iron rails 

 lying on beds of Myrtle and Lavender, causing the crushed and 

 broken boughs to give out a delicious perfume ; groups of 

 peaceful-looking nuns passing quickly by where rough-looking 

 and rougher-spoken "navvies" are at work. A mass of blasted 

 rock lying by the roadside with Maideu-hair Fern trailing over 

 it ; smart Parisian bonnets, worn by the smart wives of the 

 railway contractors passing down narrow streets, with none but 

 Italian peasants in their fanciful costume to look upon and 

 envy (?) them ! Everything has a disjointed, out-of-place look, 

 and it will be many years before the graceful pleasure-loving 

 Italy of old will be able to adapt herself to the requirements of 

 her more active and useful step-children, for born Italians the 

 new generation does not seem to be. 



Ou March 3rd, I found between Savona and (ieuoa, what I 

 believed to be the Dunraven variety of Adiantum capillus- 

 Veneris ; the rachis is of stiffer growth, and the pinnules smaller 

 tlian they are in the ordinary form. I also found what I believe 

 to be a variety of Aspleuium adiantum-nigrum, the form of 

 fronds is more obtuse than in acutum, and the pinnas more di- 

 vided than in simple nigrum ; but I grieve to own tliat one of our 

 best Fern authorities has only dubbed it with the name A. adi- 

 antum-nigrum. I, however, venture to enter a trembling pro- 

 test against this ignominious treatment. We were detained at 

 Genoa by snow, and this on the 7th of March. It came steal- 

 LTig on the earth at nightfall, and, lo ! in the morning every 

 laonntain lay ghttering like diamonds beneath the rising sun, 

 every vessel, every house, each bye-way, and marble path wore 

 alike the same pure covering, beneath wliich poor Italy trembled 

 aud shivered as we never shiver in England. At night there 

 was a sunset ! our room looked over the noble white marble 

 terrace, upon the harbour of Genoa, bristling with a thousand 

 masts, a resting-place for vessels of every nation upon earth ; 

 the setting sun glorified the mountain tops, and hght, fleecy 

 clouds hung like lamps of fire above the gorgeous scene. Yet, 



like all of earth, how fleeting was the glory ! A moment and 

 the fading light fell like a meteor on the lower banks of cloud 

 another instant and the tall masts rise hke gloomy spectres 

 against the clouds, the waters lie calm and silvery beneath, 

 and here and there a quiet star looks down.— Filix-f(emina. 



LIQUID MANURES. 



Liquid manure enters largely into the art of plant and fruit- 

 tree culture in pots and borders where the amount of root- 

 action is limited to a small space. That which I have chiefly 

 used has been the drainings of a dunghill, not necessarily 

 what might accimiulate from the washing of the manure heap 

 by the ordinary rainfall, but it was our practice to have the 

 fresh litter, during the siunmer particularly, thrown up every 

 ten days or fortnight, either preparatory to the formation of 

 hotbeds or for manure, into a square heap, which was after- 

 wards well satmated with water and covered with a layer of soil 

 or road-scrapings, if not wanted for hotbeds. In this way the 

 litter was more readily converted into manure, and the manure 

 tank was never long empty. 



These washings, whether artificial or natural, were the kind 

 used, being the washings of horse, cow, and pig's dung in about 

 equal quantities, for the horse droppings were mostly collected 

 for Mushroom-growing. This liquid being used up, is made 

 fresh every fortnight ; it never had a noxious smell, aud never, 

 to my knowledge, fermented, consequently it was never very 

 putrescent. The liquid was used for watering, and sprinkling 

 the waUs, paths, ic, of the houses ; for watering, it was 

 diluted with an equal volume of hot water, so as to make the 

 temperature of the liquid equal to 90°. It was given to aU 

 plants after growth recommenced, always making sure that 

 the drainage was good, and that there was an abundance of 

 roots to absorb the food thus furnished. No plant was watered 

 with the Uquid unless the soil was full of healthy roots, nor 

 whilst in a state of rest ; and if fresh potted or top-dressed it 

 was not watered until new and healthy roots and new growth 

 had been made and were a little advanced. For instance : 

 Calceolarias and Cinerarias, were not watered so long as they 

 remained out of their blooming-pots, and not then imtil the 

 roots reached the sides of the pots, but aftenvards at every 

 alternate watering n\> to the time of their blooming. Geraniums 

 were treated in like manner. Pelargoniums were not watered 

 so long as they grew sufficiently strong, for ajiplications before 

 the bloom shows or trusses form have a tendeucy to encourage 

 growth at the expense of the bloom. On the other hand, when 

 the growth was weak, the plants still having healthy roots, they 

 were watered with the liquid diluted with four times its volume 

 of water. After the trusses were visible, the plants were 

 watered at every alternate watering with liquid manure up to 

 the time of their coming into bloom generally. This was the 

 treatment pursued with aU kinds of soft-wooded plants, no 

 liquid being given so long as they grew sufficiently well without 

 it, for I am persuaded that soils are, or ought to be, made 

 sufficiently rich to maintain the plant uj) to its showing its 

 trusses or bloom-stems ; the liquid given after this goes to 

 strengthen the flower-stalks, contributing to the size, not 

 number, of the blooms of the flower-head ; whereas, when it is 

 given at an earlier stage gross or strong growths are often 

 formed, and these are often produced at the expense of the 

 bloom, for a gross plant is seldom prolific of flowers. I make 

 it a rule to water no soft-wooded plant miti! it has been long 

 enough in its blooming-pot to fill it with roots, that being the 

 only time when I have found watering with manure water of 

 any advantage. To all bulbs after the spike appears or the 

 foliage attains its full size, it is given to strengthen the truss, 

 aud increase the size of the flower. Such, however, as have 

 the pots full of roots may be watered whilst the foliage is 

 forming, which will improve in size, and then it is only 

 reasonable to hope for finer flowers, to say nothing of the bulb 

 becoming stronger by higher feeding. It verj- often happens 

 that highly fed plants, and those of a bulbous nature are no 

 exception, do not flower so finely as those not so strong ; but 

 this is only due to the extra feeding retarding the ripening 

 process. Bulbs that are highly fed must be very well 

 ripeued, otherwise they will not flower satisfactorily. I may 

 note in passing that plants highly fed require more light, at 

 least a longer continuance of light and heat, to perfect or ripen 

 the growth made, whether it be eyes or buda on a plant or the 

 concentration of the current year's growth in a bulb for 

 another year. 



