Jnly 80. 187-J. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



91 



THE DROUGHT, AND ITS LESSONS. 



LL of us have had some lessons to learn this 

 season, aud some of us have had to pay 

 rather dearly for the instruoliou given. One 

 thing that has been taught more clearly than 

 most others is the comparative inutiUty of 

 superficial watering. Even the rain we had 

 a few weeks ago, which merely damped 2 or 

 3 inches of the surface, proved this more 

 clearly to my mind than artificial watering 

 has ever done. 

 During ^Marcli and the first week of April we had nice 

 rains which thoroughly satisfied most plants, and started 

 them growing freely till they were checked by the frost. 

 "When the rain ceased we suddenlj' had hot weather, 

 which lasted about a fortnight, and which caused a small 

 portion of the surface soil to become dust-dry. A close 

 observer would see that, although the soil appeared very 

 dry, plants grew very freely without any watering or any 

 special care. The fact is that the soil had dried quickly 

 on the surface, and had become a perfect nonconductor 

 of moisture ; and although the atmosphere was very much 

 drier than usual, the soil below the surface was astonish- 

 ingly moist, and was quite capable of supplying the wants 

 of all but the shallowest-rooting plants. But everybody 

 wanted rain, and after ten or eleven weeks tlie rain came, 

 enough to satisfy most people — some, in fact, began to be 

 afraid it was too much, but it merely damped the surface- 

 soil 2 or 3 inches deep, and the result was that when the 

 sun shone again away went the recently-received water 

 into the air, and it took with it a large portion of that 

 which was previously locked-up in the earth ; and in my 

 humble opinion we were ten times worse off after the 

 rain th.an before it. And so it is with all superficial 

 watering : if enough is not given to thoroughly wet the 

 soil where the principal roots are, it will always do more 

 harm than good, for, besides the reason I liave given, 

 the roots will be attracted to the moistened soil, and will 

 be burned up the first hot day. 



Of course it has been found impossible in most gardens 

 to water everything ttiat was thought to require it, and 

 many schemes have been put to the test for economising 

 the water, while some things have of necessity been left 

 to take their chance. It is surprising in some cases what 

 a small amount of difference there is between tlie health 

 of those plants which have been left to take their chance 

 and that of those which have been carefully tended, and 

 there are cases in which tiie neglected ones have come 

 off victorious. 



Everybody, I suppose, knows that after watering plants, 

 sprinkling a little dry earth over the wet surface prevents 

 evaporation to a wonderful extent. I have had this plan 

 and many others in practice, but the best of all, to my 

 mind, has been covering the surface thinly with chopped 

 wheat straw. I have had most of my flower beds covered 

 in this way for the last month, and they have never 

 required any water since. The plants are growing more 

 luxuriantly than I ever knew them do before. It cer- 

 No. 696.-V0I,. XXVII., New Series. 



fainly looks a little unsightly, but it will soon be all 

 concealed by foliage, and it;migbt if necessary be covered 

 with soil. The grass, loo, which was beginning to burn 

 sadly, has been top-dressed with fine soil, which prevents 

 its getting pa:ched, and the first good shower will wash 

 it out of sight. There has been little mowing to do this 

 season. 



Eostirians, ioo, have had something to learn. I hear 

 there are many thousands of plants that will die altogether, 

 and many I have seen look exti-emely sick. I am not a 

 rosarian, but I grow a few thousand plants on Briars and 

 on their own roots to cut from, and I am thoroughly 

 convinced that Boses on Briars like clay quite as well 

 as they do dung. I have about three hundred, budded 

 last year, and grown in little else than yellow clay, that 

 have not been mulched or watered, and they are the best 

 one-year-old plants I have ever seen. The Briar grows 

 in the stiffest clay in the hedgerows, why should it require 

 light soil and a lot of manure as soon as its roots arc 

 chopped-off, and it is brought into the garden ? 



Speaking of Briars, the seedling Briar is the best, aud 

 naturally enough it should be so; it can be planted with- 

 out much injury to its roots. Flowers cut from the 

 seedling Briar have much greater substance, and last 

 longer after being cut, than those grown in the ordinary 

 way. — WiLLLUi Taylor. 



FLOWER GARDENS IN WINTER AND SPRING. 



No. 4. 



Bright and fresh and pure is every budding tree and 

 plant in spring-time, when Nature covers the bare-limbed 

 trees with her universal mantle of delicate greenery, when 

 every fertile valley and wooded bank grows daily in 

 beauty, acquiring a fulness and softness of aspect which 

 more than atones for the harsh aisperities of the winter, 

 and the pretty simple wild flowers twinkle among the 

 springing grass and dense undergrowth, imparting a finish 

 and charm such as flowers can only do — when every- 

 thing in animated Nature appears so lovely that one feels 

 the full force and beauty of the poet's exclamation — ■ 

 " earth ! is heaven more fair ?" 



It is then that a really good collection of shrubs skil- 

 fully arranged exhibits its rich and varied beauty in per- 

 fection. The fulness and warmth which passed from the 

 wild woodlands with the winds of autumn has never been 

 wanting here : hence it might first of all appear that a 

 shrubbery would be most admired in winter, and it was 

 probably owing to this that old shrubberies are so fre- 

 quently found to contain such a superabundance of ever- 

 green forms as to present a tame monotonous appearance. 

 Very little enjoyment is to be derived from long stretclies 

 of Laurel, Bay, Box, Yew, and shrubs of a similar cha- 

 racter. Shelter and seclusion are, doubtless, more cared 

 for by some peculiarly constituted minds than tasteful 

 forms and pleasing variety; but then this may always 

 be obtained without rendering a scene unpleasantly dull 

 and flat, and wherever shrubs are introduced the fiiie- 

 i flowering kinds should certainly be as conspicuous and 



No. 1348 —Vol. I II., Old Sbsies. 



