232 



fOUENAL OF HOBTIOULTXJRB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I March 23, 1876. 



Few who have not seen them can imagine the extreme beanty 

 of a coUeotion of Phloxes grown in pots. 



Out of doors the plants will live and flower under the very 

 worst of treatment ; bat to grow them well they must be 

 liberally treated. The soil must be well trenched and rich 

 in manure, and abundant supplies of water must be given 

 dnriug dry weather when they are in active growth. The 

 shoots should be thinned to about four of the etroDgest, which 

 concentrates the energies of the plant into those left. A 

 mulching of manure over the roots is very beneficial to them, 

 quite as much or more aa it is to any other plant, seeing that 

 the Fhlox spreads its roots near the surface. Due care must 

 be taken that they are not injured by deep hoeing close to the 

 plant, while attention must be regularly given to keep them 

 tied to stout stakes. 



The most effective way I have ever used Phloxes out of doors 

 was planted in lines 3 feet apart with a Pentstemon planted 

 alternately, the dwarfer habit of the Pentstemon filling-in the 

 bottom of the taller-growing Phloxes. 



I name a few varieties that are well worth growing, but see- 

 ing there are snoh a legion of these it is difficult to make a 

 Bhoit selection. 



Early-flowering Varieties. 



Dnchees of Satherland 



Eclipse 



George Qoodall 



John BattiB 



Lady Lucy DaudeiB 



Lady.Napier 



Mis3 Bailie 

 Rosy Circle 

 The Shah 

 Waverley 

 ThM Deacon 

 William Slnton. 



A, F. Barron 



Bryan Ulyrne 



Dr. Masters 



Eclair 



L'Avenir 



LiervaUl 



Loihair 



Madame Domaga 



Madame Le Comtosae de Tareuno 



Mftdame Maria Saisoa 



Late-flowering Varieties. 



Montienr Conrad 



Mousiear de la Devanscuff 



Montitur Andry 



Mrs. Dorabrain 



Memuon 



Premicea de Bonheur 



B. B. Laird 



Boi des Rosea 



Hoi des Blanches. 



—J. B. S. 



ABOUT POTATOES. 



Under tbis heading Mr. Fenn has contribattd an entertain- 

 ing and instructive chapter. There are two points in his notes 

 which I wieh to refer to — points which relate to the disease. 

 Mr. Fenn has exploded two popular errors — theories of disease 

 which have been persistently advanced by certain growers. 

 Mr. Fenn proves by examples that it is not electricity that 

 might have cauEed, but a few "loads of night soil shot a 

 few years previously," that has caused the disease in his 

 Potatoes. For " about a dozeu square yards " where the 

 manure had been " shot " in heaps there was the disease 

 rampant amongst his seedlingB, whilst beyond the highly 

 manured radms he was " agreeably surprised to find the Pota- 

 toes nearly free fiom the murrain." 'J he fact points out that 

 heavy applications ol highly stimulating manures should not 

 be applied to the Potato ground. 



Ttie next notion which for a length of time was widely pre- 

 valent, that the " laud was tired of Potatoes," and hence the 

 mnirain was generally worse in old gardens than the more 

 lightly cropped fields. Potatoes are usually worse in old 

 gardens than la fields, and especially if tbe rows and sets are 

 too closely togethtr, because the soil is lioh in humus and 

 moist. But that does not prove that "fresh ground" is 

 disease-proof, nor yet "poor" ground, for Mr. Fenn narrates 

 that he planted tubers in grouud that was a " poor stonebraBh " 

 and not known to have produced a crop of Potatoes before. 

 Oa such ground he thought bij crop safe, but it proved to be 

 as seriously stricken as any in the garden. Hero, then, is 

 another fact— ;that safety does not lie in starvation of soil. 



I can confirm that fact. Some years ago some old build- 

 ings were removed that had occupied the ground for centuries. 

 The site was planted with Potatoes, and no manure of any 

 kind was used, and I never dug np a crop more seriously 

 diseased ; and to make the matter more strange, some sets that 

 had been planted at the apex of a heap of manure, and not 

 10 yards distant from the diseased crop, turned out healthy 

 and clean. 



Sound and well-prepared soil, sound and well-prepared seed, 

 and planting at wide distances, have enabled Mr. Fenn to ob- 

 tain cUan and superior crops. Those are rational modes of 

 averting the murrain, and, what is more, they are the only 

 rational modes that can be adopted. 

 Sehct and prepare the seed both aa to Eortg and character 



of the sets. Do not plant trash, for trash produces trash. Do 

 not plant sets which have been weakened by " sproutings," for 

 weak seta produce weakly plants, and these are the first to 

 succumb to adverse influences. Do not "smother" the 

 ground or crowd the foliage of the plants so that it cannot 

 perfectly perform its duties. Do not increase moisture by 

 highly manuring, or by, what is practically the same, planting 

 closely in naturally damp soils. Excess of moisture will pre- 

 cipitate the attacks of the enemy. Planting thinly on ridges 

 in rich soil is a practice far more safe and profitable than 

 planting thickly in hollows in poor soil. And be it understood 

 that planting " on the level " so closely as to produce a level 

 thicket of rampant haulm is tantamount to planting in hollows, 

 for in effect the smothered level becomes for all practical pur- 

 poses one great hollow. 



Another point may be noticed, and that is that a large tnber 

 cut into two sets, each having few eyes, but these stout and 

 prominent, will produce a crop of greater value than will two 

 whole tubers each having many eyes, and these small and 

 obscure. — A Northern Gardener. 



NOTES FROM MY GABDEN IN 1876. 



CARNATIONS AND PICOTEES. 

 Amonost the florists' flowers for which I have ever had a 

 " sneaking fondness " are these fragrant and lovely, but at the 

 same time very troublesome flowers. Asking a brother florist 

 once if he grew them, " I have given them up," was his reply; 

 " for it was eleven months and a week's trouble for three weeks' 

 enjoyment." And although thia has en element of truth in 

 it, yet as it is impos.sible to grow any flowers with satisfaction 

 unless trouble is taken, I have been contented to enjoy this 

 brief pleasure at the expense of so much trouble : and when 

 I say with satisfaction I would repeat what I have said more 

 than once in the controversy which my remarks have caused 

 — that I have never grown them for exhibition, and I never 

 sent a box to a show nn-til last year, when I ventured to put 

 np one of undressed flowers, which cut, I know, a very sorry 

 figure, but it was siir.ply an experiment which I shall not be 

 likely to repeat nnle.'s to settle a controverted point. 



To grow the Carnation and Picotee successfully (and I would 

 premise I am not writing for exhibitors), the plants must be 

 grown in pots. In no other way can one so well protect their 

 delicate blooms or have the enjoyment of their fragrance ; and, 

 moreover, for the purpose of layering no plan can compare 

 with this. It is breakback work to layer Ihim when grown in 

 beds ; and although yon cannot by blooming them in a house 

 secure them from the attacks of earwigs, which are deadly 

 enemies to the blooms, yet where there is that convenience it is 

 much better than placing them under an awning out of doors. 



I am not very particular as to the size of pots, not endea- 

 vouring to ariive at uniformity, and growing sometimes one 

 plant in an 8 inch pot, two in a 12-incb, or three in a larger 

 pot, just as I may have pots ready, and giving more room 

 according to the vigour of growth of the different varieties. 

 I last year grew them in one hundred pots, and probably had 

 about 150 plants. They were potted in March, the compost 

 which I ufed being turfy loam and old hollxd manure and 

 some sharp gritty sand, and in general in tbf proportion of 

 two barrowfnla of loam to one of manuie, which I find in 

 the pure fresh air of the country to be enfficitntly slimulating. 

 I use even less manure with the higher-coloured Carnations, 

 as it is, I believe, generally supposed that the manure causes 

 that horrible nuisance — " running." It may be so, but I noticed 

 last year in a few that I had over and planted in annnmannred 

 bed that thf-y also ran. Many of the older florists, such as 

 Hogg, who was a most successful grower, uaed a much richer 

 compost ; but then they exposed it for a long time to the action 

 of the weather, which took a good deal of the strength out of 

 it, and I am inclined to think that the plan adopted of growing 

 them in poorer stuff and giving them a good top-dressing will 

 answer quite as well. 



When the plants showed for bloom I removed them, aa the 

 Geraniums were over, to my greenhouse ; and although I dis- 

 budded and tied up some of the pods to prevent them from 

 bursting, and added cards to several, yet as I did not go in for 

 exhibiting I did not give the individual blooms that special 

 care which perhaps more enthusiastic growers might have done. 

 But there was nevertheless a very pretty bloom, and the plants 

 grew well, so that I bad a large surplus stock of layers— t.e , 

 of Picotees, for it is odd how much more difficult it is to obtain 

 grass from Carnations. I received from tbe north some dozen 



