298 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



r October 10, 18C5. 



higher on the heath the banks of Gorse were coTered with Cus- 

 cuta epithvmum in full bloom, the crimson tendrils spreading 

 far and near in matted confusion. 



Polypodium phegopteris has been given to Becky Fall ; but I 

 searched there for it in vain, nor did I think the locality gave 

 a good promise of it ; I cannot help thinking that the very 

 small L. dilatata, var. collina, I have mentioned before, has 

 been mistaken for phegopteris. From the dripping rocks 

 about the waterfall I procured specimens of both Hvmenophyl- 

 lum tunbridgense and unilaterale. I have oftentimes been 

 puzzled about distinguishing these delicate little Ferns when 

 apart ; but when you bring the two together all difficulty 

 vanishes. Tunbridgense is erect, and the fronds flat; uni- 

 laterale is drooping, with convex fronds ; there are several 

 other botanical distinctions, but I think these simple ones 

 would always be sufficient. It is in dissecting the minute parts 

 of these small Ferns that a Coddington or other lens becomes 

 so invaluable and indeed so necessary. 



Do not be content with only searching about the waterfall, 

 but follow the higher path to the right and you will presently 

 emerge on a sunny upland slope, not far from Lustleigh Cleave ; 

 here, within reach of the music of the waterfall, j'ou will find 

 a bank covered with Asplenium trichomanes and small A. adi- 

 antum nigrum, shaded by the drooping branches of the trees 

 through which the sunlight winks and gleams. 



In a hedge-bank close to Manaton I found several verj- 

 curious forms of Lastrea Filix-mas, one of which I hope may 

 turn out to be cristata ; nearly every pinn« is divided, and the 

 apex of the frond is slightly crested. I should have thought 

 this Fern a simple sport had there not been a little fructi- 

 fication. I found many varieties of Lastrea dilatata, and three 

 plants of L. spinulcsa. Polypodium dryopteris is said to grow 

 near Chagford, but I have yet to find it. I hope shortly to 

 have many moor successes to relate, for the entire district 

 abounds in Ferns and wild flowers. — Feks-Hcxtkess. 



THIRD CROP OF FIGS. 



Me. Aeeey (page 280), says that he had asked your readers 

 about a third crop of Figs, but met with no response. In an 

 orchard-house, wanned during the colder days of spring, but 

 not tiU the beginning of March, the first crop of Early Violet 

 ripened this year ou tfce 4th of July, the second on the 8th of 

 Augusl, the third in September. 



The rationale of a third crop is very simple. When four or 

 five leaves are made the point is pinched out, and the second 

 crop is formed in the lower axils, but a wood shoot proceeds 

 from the terminal one. If this is stopped again, the same 

 results ensue, and a so-caUed third crop is formed. The ripen- 

 ing of this third crop depends — 1st, on the earliness of the 

 variety operated upon ; 2ndly, on the shoots being stopped be- 

 fore they have made many leaves ; 3rdly, on the variety being 

 proUfic, so as to insure fruit being formed on shoots however 

 short ; and -tthly, on there being sufficient heat to carry out 

 the ripening. I have never found any variety so ready to pro- 

 duce a third crop as the Early Violet, which is, I believe, 

 synonymous with the Malta ; but I doubt not the White Mar- 

 seilles would do the same. This last-named variety, side by 

 side with the Early Violet, a-ipened its fij-st crop this year on 

 the 23rd of June, and the second on the 12th of August. — G. S. 



the leaves were fully expanded. In Japan, the tree's native 

 country, it acquires a height of 40 feet ; but even in that country 

 it only flourishes in the valleys and southern hill slopes of the 

 southern districts. The flowers are very pale bluish purple, 

 with a sUght violet-hke odour.] 



PAULO^^■^■IA emperlilis. 



Ten- years ago I wrote to ask you about the Paulownia. Ton 

 did not give me much hopes of success ; however, I planted 

 one. It is now a large tree, measuring (nearly 3 feet from the 

 ground, before any branches begin) 3 feet 6 inches in circum- 

 ference. I enclose a piece ^vith flower-buds. The tree is 

 thickly covered with them ; but I fear they will not open so 

 late in the season. It is the first year it has had any flower- 

 buds. I should be glad to know if there is any hope of the 

 flowers opening, or of its flowering another year. The tree is 

 at Mrs. Egerton's, in the Vale of Gresford. near Wrexham, very 

 much sheltered, near the river Alyn, which runs at one side of 

 the garden. It is a very handsome tree ; the leaves are beauti- 

 ful.— M. E. G. 



[Tour experience hitherto is in accordance with our warning. 

 The flower-buds wiU not open this year. In 18.52 this tree 

 flowered freely in the Bishop of Exeter's almost tropical grounds 

 at Bishopstowe, near Torquay ; but it was in April, and before 



le\t:lling a sloping bank. 



We have been asked by a correspondent "D. V.," for direc- 

 tions how to level a sloping bank, and as it is an operation not 

 generally conducted on sound principles, we wiU replyto th e 

 inquiry rather fully. 



Our correspondent does not say whether the slope is to be 

 made into a level piece of ground, or still kept on the slope 

 with the surface made even or regularlv sloping. If the 

 ground is to be made level (as, for instance, that represented 

 between the points a and B,jiy. 1), fix a stake, a, at one comer 



Fig. 1. 



of the ground, and at the lowest point of the base of the slope, 

 B. In line, at a right angle with b, along the base of the slope, 

 drive in another stake, and then place a spirit level by a, first 

 driving in a peg at right angles with the first stake a, up the 

 slope at half its height, b. Now, the spirit level being held 

 against the stake a, at the bottom of the slope, at such a height 

 that in looking along the level (quite level), you see the peg half 

 way up the slope, i, moving up or down until the peg is seen 

 over the spirit level, cut off the stake at that height ; then make 

 the other stake, at the other end of the base line, level with the 

 first (a), not by looking over the stake first sawn off but with 

 the spirit level, its upper side being placed level with the top 

 of the stake, and not upon it, having some one to mark the 

 level on the other stake which is to be sawn off at that. The 

 spirit level being brought to this stake your looking along 

 it up the slope will show where a peg is to be driven in, which, 

 of course, will be equal to that at the other end of the slope, 

 and how far, so that its head may be level with the other or 

 stake at which you stand. Turning your eye along the base 

 and looking over the stakes, have one driven in at the middle 

 equal in height to the two end stakes. Repeat the same with 

 those pegs half way up the slope, and you are ready for re- 

 moving the turf. 



Take the turf off evenly, roll it up, grass side inwards, lay it 

 on one side, and clear of the ground to be levelled. If the 

 ground is not deep in soil, then from 9 inches to 1 foot of the 

 whole surface should be taken off and placed on one side to 

 surface the levelled ground afresh. If soil can be had for this 

 purpose, or the soU is all good, then this is not necessary, but 

 yon must not expect to bring bad soil to the surface, and, turfing 

 upon it, expect the turf to do well when relaid. Tou will bring 

 the soil above the pegs down, and raise the ground around the 

 stakes even with the tops, and by looking over the top of the 

 bottom stake a, and peg b, up the slope, find the ground above 

 level with them ; if not so it must be brought level, driving 

 in pegs, as at c, to show it at both ends and in the middle 

 likewise.' Tou wiU now have nine pegs, and looking from every 

 comer the tops are of an equal height. If so, the ground 

 inside them can be made level by a line stretched over the tops 

 of the pegs, from peg to peg all round, and from comer to 

 comer crosswise, putting in more pegs if the line (as it will) be 

 not tight, to preserve the level between the stakes or pegs. Tou 

 will now have a terrace, as shown by the dotted lines between 



