April 30, 1876. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



301 



indisoriminately planted in the natnral soil of the nnraery, 

 bnt the compost is specially prepared, and is evidently Biich as 

 Azaleas delight in. It is composed principally of leaf soil and 

 sand — a compost which possesses unusual properties of grow- 

 ing these and other plants remarkably quickly. The Azalea 

 beds are about 4 feet in width, the bottom of each sloping 

 gently to the centre, where drain pipes are laid having outlets 

 to a drain running aorosa the lower side of the ground. The 

 soil is placed in the beds about a foot deep, fresh soil being 

 used every year, and the plants are planted out towards the 

 end of May and are removed in September. They are duly 

 attended to by watering, and they grow more healthy and 

 cleanly than do plants having the best attention in pot cul- 

 ture. The plants are potted in the same soil in which they 

 have grown in the beds, and in three weeks fresh rootlets per- 

 meate the mass of soil in the pots and the plants are quickly 

 established. Some plants which I turned out of the pots 

 within a month of their having been potted showed a compact 

 mass of active healthy roots, and the plants were in perfect 

 order for flowering. 



Now, we have not that wonderful leaf soil in England, and 

 our climate may be somewhat different to that of Belgium, 

 yet if we made the most of our means, and bestowed the same 

 oare on the preparation of the soil and the after-cultivation of 

 the plants as our neighbours do " over the water," we might 

 restore the lost vigour of many plants more quickly by plant- 

 ing them out than by potting them ; and that Azaleas are 

 amenable to this treatment is a subject worthy of more con- 

 sideration than it has yet received. 



Bnt while admitting the healthiness of the Belgian Azaleas 

 which are grown as above described, and acknowledging their 

 usefulness for immediate decorative effect, I am nevertheless 

 convinced that where permanent plants are required for speci- 

 men?, the plants which have become established, even if not 

 raised in English nurseries, are far more reliable and in the 

 end cheaper than are the Belgian plants. These latter plants 

 miss their leaf soil, or something else that would seem to be 

 necessary to their prolonged vigour, and many of them after 

 flowering either die outright or become unhealthy and un- 

 sightly. The plants, however, are cheap enough to kill, each 

 costing little, if any, more than a Hyacinth, and the first 

 display alone is worth the cost incurred. 



I have tried to restore these plants after flowering ; and the 

 plan that I have found to be the best was to treat them as 

 nearly as possible as they had been treated before — by plant- 

 ing them out in light soil in summer, syringing and watering 

 them regularly, and potting them again in the autumn. By 

 that primitive plan I have restored to good health many a 

 sickly Azalea and Camellia, as well as other greenhouse plants 

 which I cannot now enumerate. — F. H. S. 



TWO-DAY EOSE SHOWS. 



Until quite lately a Rose show extending over more than a 

 single day was a rare event ; but there seems now a consider- 

 able danger of this objectionable practice becoming common. 

 Now, I think that it will be conceded that the proper objects 

 of a Rose show are (1) the encouragement of the cultivation 

 of that flower, and (2) the entertainment and instruction of 

 the public. A show established as a speculation, and having 

 for its object simply the financial success of the promoters, 

 cannot, I think, be considered worthy of support. The persons, 

 therefore, who ought principally to be consulted are the ex- 

 hibitors, who are necessarily the backbone of the concern, and 

 the public who support it. 



I think that I can show that it is the interest neither of the 

 exhibitors nor of the public that a Rose show should be pro- 

 longed beyond the first day. From an exhibitor's point of 

 view I object that it is a considerable increase of expense, for 

 the exhibitor has, like Mr. Gladstone, only "three courses" 

 open to him : Either he must himself stop over the two days, 

 or he must leave his man, both expensive; or he must trust to 

 his boxes coming as best they can. In the last case he has 

 the pleasure of paying the carriage, perhaps from some distant 

 place, and including a journey aoross London ; and he has no 

 remedy if his boxes are injured or his tubes lost, as happened 

 to me last year. The other very important objection is that 

 ha is debarred from other shows from want of his boxes. Not 

 many can afford to follow the example of a friend of mine, 

 who, on finding last year that the second day of the Alexandra 

 Show interfered with the Crystal Palace, merely ordered a 

 eecond set of boxes to be made. AU the great shows are 



usually and quite rightly included within a period of fifteen 

 days. This year tbey are — I think unwisely — extended to 

 twenty days, and by the two-day system they are sure to clash 

 with each other. 



As regards the public, it is not fair to advertise the second 

 day of a Rose show as if it were really worth seeing. Most of 

 the Roses when presented to the judges at 10 a.m. on the first 

 day of the show have been cut about thirty hours, and it is 

 not reasonable to expect that they can last beyond that day. 

 Let ns enjoy them in their prime, but faded blooms are a sorry 

 Bight. 



*' Aa«nBtuB was a chubby latl, 

 Fat rosy cheeks Augustus had." 



But we all remember that their rosinesa was bnt shortlived. 

 Roses on the second day of a show are not worth looking at. 

 Even at the close of the first day and in the best boxes the 

 blooms present a very different appearance from that of tho 

 morning. The heat of the exhibition room has been too much 

 for them. A tent is more trying still. 



Last year the Alexandra Park started a two-day show, and 

 this year I regret to see that the Crystal Palace have followed 

 in the track. The new show at tho Westminster Aquarium 

 is on the same principle. Now I want all exhibitors to take 

 this matter into their serious consideration, and, if the matter 

 appears to them as it appears to me, to unite in putting a stop 

 to these two-day shows. What a union or general agreement 

 among the exhibitors can do, the parody of a Rose show called 

 the National held at South Kensington last year BufSciently 

 proves.— T. H. G. 



SOIL FOR VINE BORDERS. 



Pkoeaely no subject connected with the gardener's duties 

 haa received more attention than the nature of the soil best 

 suited for the production of Grapes. If any point in practice 

 can be said to be " thrashed out " surely it must be the matter 

 now alluded to. Turfy loam in connection with this subject 

 has become a hackneyed threadbare term. Perhaps nine out 

 of every ten gardeners, if solicited to name the soil best suited 

 for the growth of Vines, would name "light turfy loam" as 

 the staple. Bat the word " light " is a relative term which is 

 apt to be misinterpreted ; and it is to be feared that, by select- 

 ing loam described in the above indefinite terms from the 

 pastures in light and dry districts, the crops of Grapes have 

 been "light " as well as the soil producing them. 



In clay and strong-land districts the term " light " cannot 

 easily mislead. The light loam from such a district is regarded 

 as " strong soil " by the dwellers in sandy or light-land locali- 

 ties. An example will make the matter plain. A few years 

 ago a gentleman residing in a light-soil or " barley " district 

 was making new Vine borders. He sought for " light " turfy 

 loam according to the usual recipe. It was represented to him 

 that the heaviest loam that he could find in the parish would 

 be light as applied to the Vines. That was an assertion which 

 he could not understand, but the correctness of which he was 

 disposed to test. He had selected his light turfy loam and 

 carted it home for his borders ; but decided notwithstanding 

 to make only one border with it, and seek the heaviest loam 

 that could be obtained in his district for the other border. 

 He did so. The borders were made, one of light, the other of 

 heavy soil. For the first year or two the Vines in the light 

 border grew the most freely, but they were overtaken by the 

 Vines in the stronger soil, and the crops from the latter have 

 been much better, and will continue to be so, than the crops 

 produced by the lighter soil. 



Light turfy loam from sandy districts may safely be regarded 

 as too light for Vines. It grows them freely for a year or two 

 until the vegetable matter — the herbage and roots — has de- 

 cayed, and then the Vines lose their early vigour. The soil is 

 then deficient in nourithment as well as in "holding" pro- 

 perties, and the roots strike through it in search of that which 

 they cannot find. Preferable to soil of that character, which 

 fosters a premature pampered growth, is non-turfy sound 

 garden soil with a liberal admixture of bones and rich surface- 

 dressings of manure. In such soil, if the early growth of the 

 Vines is not so rapid as in the light turfy loam, they will 

 eventually and over a longer period of time produce larger 

 crops of superior quality than the Vines in the above-named 

 popular and dainty compost. I fear that light tnrfy loam as 

 applied to Vines is delusive. The term is deceiving to the 

 many Grape-growers who have not a thorough appreciation of 

 the nature of soils both chemically and mechanically. Many 



