84 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 1, 1866. 



with garden sights, here is the man to whom Alexander might 

 have given his prize, for he has invented a new pleasure for 

 gardeners, the surprises of which are not exhausted, but, on the 

 contrary, ivill every day he increasing as new plants are brought 

 into notice and experimented upon for out-of-door purposes. 

 I had travelled all night from Dublin, and having a few hom-s 

 to spare before going south, I bethought me of Battersea ; and 

 taking a boat up to Chelsea was enabled, through the kindness 

 of Mr. Bull (to whom and to Mr. Veitch I paid a flying idsit 

 and saw, as one always does, much in both places of novelty 

 and interest), to spend a short time there. As I drove along 

 through the Park I could see that the ordinary bedding-out 

 Style was carefully attended to, and hundreds of thousands of 

 plants arranged in the most effective manner ; but it was to 

 the sub-tropical garden I was bound, and these were, therefore, 

 but sUghtly noticed, and, indeed, so hiu-ried was my visit, that 

 I can only briefly tell of what I saw. And I would here say 

 that, beautiful as this now is, in a very short time another 

 and a larger piece, including some water, will be added to 

 it— a portion I did not see, but which I hope some day to ask 

 Mr. Gibson to show me. 



On first entering there was before me a long oblong bed of 

 Mrs. PoUock, winch effectually answers the question often put 

 as to whether it is a good bedtUug plant or not. Here it was 

 most beautiful. It was arranged in bands lengthwise in the 

 bed w-ith Lithospermum frutieosum. This latter, I think, 

 might be improved upon. It was, I dare say, when in full 

 flower a beautiful contrast ; but that was over, and I have no 

 doubt something will be found by Mr. Gibson, if his opinion 

 agrees with mine, to take its place. On the other side of the 

 walk was a bed of the variegated-leaved Vine, edged mth a 

 basketwork in which the golden-leaved Japan Honeysuckle 

 (Lomeera), was trained. Then one came to beds and borders 

 of Cannas of various sorts ; of Caladiiuns, especially the fine 

 large-leaved esculentum ; Solanums looking bristly and for- 

 midable, especially citrullifoUum and robustum, but producing 

 a grand effect. But wliat is that bed in the distance shining 

 with the most resplendent fiery crimson, almost dazzling one's 

 eyes— a bed which I hesitate not to say it is worth going a 

 hundred miles to see ? Coleus Verschaff'elti, about which many 

 have doubted as to whether it was of any use at all. Here it 

 is the finest thing one can imagine. How it ia done I know 

 not ; but I looked over the whole bed, and chd not see one 

 green spot on any of the leaves. Entering into conversation 

 with one of the gardeners, he told me that it was watered care- 

 fully every night overiiead, but I rather opine it must have 

 some other treatment to come out as it does here. The bed 

 was e Iged with Centaurea gymnocarpa. The contrast between 

 the brUhant crimson of the Colens and the pure white of the 

 Centaurea was admirable. There was another bed of it on the 

 other side equally good, but the effect of which had been, I 

 think, spoiled by placing a row of Coleus atropuqiurea, a 

 coppery-looking one, between the centre and the edging. Pas- 

 sing along, one came to a large border in which were plants 

 of various kinds — Senecio Ghiesbreghtii, Cannas, Wigandia 

 caracasana, edged \vith a border of the Louicera mentioned 

 above. Here again was another bed with a long row of the 

 Indiarubber tree, Ficus elastiea, ivith its bright glossy leaves 

 and the purplish red of its young growth. Now one came on 

 a, row of Canna purpurea, very striking : and I would remark 

 of these and other large-foliaged plants growTi here that the 

 shelter for them has been so admirably" managed that they 

 have not that torn and tattered appearance they sometimes 

 have even abroad, but are all beautifully fresh and green. 

 The border was edged with along row of'iresiue Herbstii, a 

 plant which I think will be found effective, and indeed is more 

 so in another part of the Park than here, as it seems to do 

 better in the shade, and in a bed, than in the sunny aspect it 

 had here. Another small bed was filled with Centaurea in the 

 (OJntre, edged with Mrs. PoUock Geranium; in fact there was 

 no end to the combinations, while single plants of Dracasnas, 

 Wigandia, and other plants of a similar character were intro- 

 duced wherever practicable to produce effect. 



My object in givuig this short notice ia not to describe the 

 sub-tropical garden, for I should be ashamed to attempt that 

 after so short a visit to it, but just to give my impressions of 

 it as one of the most successful pieces of modem gardening 

 that I know, and to induce any of the country subscribers to 

 The Journal of Hokticulture who feel an interest in such 

 things to lay out for one of their davs of sight-seeing Battersea 

 Park; and I am sure that they will, when they see in the 

 estimates a roimd sum for Battersea Park, say, " And never 



was money better laid out than it is there. Vote it by all 

 means, and add another hundred if you can to increase Mr. 

 Gibson's stipend." — D., Deal. 



STOCKS, AND THEIR INFLUENCE. 



(Ccmtimied from page 45.) 



Stocks of slow and small growth, also those of a different 

 species or genus from the kind which is to be worked on them, 

 furnish richer saj) than a stock of the same kind as the scion, 

 and in such cases a swelling is formed at the point of union, 

 which arrests the sap, and this is then exjjended in an in- 

 creased production of blossom and fruit. Thus the scion 

 receives a greater amount of sap than would be supplied by 

 its own roots. Moreover, we may safely conclude that the 

 deposition of cambium ia also gixater, and this secures the 

 ripening of the wood : hence we find such trees have a ten- 

 dency to make little wood, the sap being expended in the 

 production of blossom and fruit. 



Whilst stocks of restricted and slow gi-owth, and those of a 

 different species or genus, add to the production of blossom and 

 the size of the fruit, as well as its qiiality, it is certain that the 

 increased productiveness is permanent; indeed, the crops 

 annually increase, the greatest care being needed to prevent 

 overcropping, and hastening the death of the trees. 'The in- 

 creased productiveness is so permanent, indeed, that when the 

 tree ceases to be productive it dies. It has been contended 

 that trees so worked are short-lived ; this is, undoubtedly, the 

 case when they are compared with those on stocks of their 

 own kind, still I think that in most cases they wiU be found 

 equally durable as fruit-bearing trees, if we consider that they 

 arrive at a fruiting state earlier, and continue in bearing whilst 

 those worked on stocks of their own kind are only undergoing 

 a preparatory process. We may conclude that such trees are 

 only short-lived when the stock grows in rich soil, and the 

 priming is too severe. An excessive use of the primirig-knife, 

 especially for the reduction of parts not wanted to produce 

 fruit, generally causes disease, which is one of the greatest ob- 

 jections raised against stocks of slow or less gi'owth, and of a 

 different species from that worked on them. I shall not con- 

 test the point that they debilitate, but will admit the sound- 

 ness of this view of Mr. Knight and all physiologists since his 

 time. Granted that such unions do debilitate, we have to 

 inquire into the cause of the debility or premature decay of the 

 tree, or a part of it. Now, the ascending sap being richer, and 

 the descending cmTent arrested, it follows that there will, to a 

 marked degree, be a greater de])osition of matter in the scion 

 than in tlie stock. This matter, from the increased quantity of 

 blossom and fruit, is certainly cambium, which will be either 

 gummy or mucilaginous ; gummy in stone fniits, as the 

 Apricot, Peach, l^lum, and Cherry ; and mucilaginous in the 

 Pear and Apple. Any addition to the natural deposition of 

 this matter must necessarily lead to a closing of the ascending 

 and descending channels of the sap. Hence the sap will flow 

 less abundantly into the old shoots than in new wood, and they 

 will in time have the sap-vessels so small as to cause the total 

 exclusion of the sap from that part, resulting in its death, or 

 becoming so weak as to be incapable of jiroducing fruit of^ the 

 usual size and flavour. Of fruits exhibiting this disease in a 

 marked degree, the Apricot affords an example ; tlie Peach 

 also, but to a less extent ; and they are on stocks of another 

 genus. Next in order come the Cherry on the common Cherry 

 stock, and the Plum on its Brussels stock. With the Apricot 

 there is an exudation, sometimes also in the case of the Peach, 

 but in the latter it is more confined to the wearing out of the 

 shoots, and on this account we have the bearing-wood of Peach 

 trees annually replaced, though this is by no means necessaiy 

 to obtain fruit, as such is readily produced on spurs. The 

 Plum and Cherry occasionally lose their branches, and those ot 

 the first remain weak and unfruitful in consequence of a de- 

 ficiency of food, rather than from any debility of 'he tree 

 arising from the stock. There seems to be no pormanent re- 

 medy for this evil other than working the Pium on a stock of 

 its own i^eculiar kind. 



From some experience, I am led to draw the following con- 

 clusions in respect to stocks of smaller and slower growth than 

 the trees grafted or budded upon them. 1st, They are de- 

 sirable for eariy-producing trees, and when the space for their 

 heads is limited. 2nd, The trees grow more freely on them 

 than on stocks of their own kind, but such growth is of short 



