February 12, IS71. 1 



JOUBNAIi OF HOailCOLTUKE AND C3TTAGB GARDENER. 



137 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Month 



12 

 13 

 11 

 15 

 16 

 17 

 18 



DaT 



oj 

 Week. 



FEBEUAET 13—18, 1874. 



Average Tempera- Hain in Snn 

 tore Dear London. 15 jreara. Rises. 



Snn 

 Seta. 



Th Meeting of Bojal Society, aSO p.Jl. 

 V Twilight ends, 7.3 p.m. 



8 1 Valentine's Daj. 

 Sen ' QuTXQCiGBsnti SinnJAT. 

 M Meeting of Entomological Society. 7 P.M. 



To Sleeting of Zoological Society. 8.80 p.m. 

 W Ash Wednesday, Boyal Horticoltnra! Society, 

 I [Fruit, Floral, and General Meeting. 



m. h. 

 22 at 7 

 20 7 



m. b. 

 7af5 

 9 5 



Moon 

 Biaea. 



Moon 

 Seta. 



Moon'a 

 Age. 



Clock 



b«{''jre 

 Snn. 



Day 



of 



Tear. 



h. m. 



4 Si 11 



5 af'.er, 



6 41 



40 

 14 

 45 



14 29 



14 27 



14 25 



14 23 



14 19 



14 15 



14 10 



43 

 44 

 45 

 46 

 47 

 48 



From observations taken near London daring forty-three years, the average day t«?PH«'™ "'J^" »~* "f „f ;J = "* "' ^S.' ''"I*"*"" 

 80 J . The greatest heat was 67", on the 16th, 1867 ; and the lowest cold lero on the 13th, 1&.^. The greatest fall of ram was 0. oO mch. 



LEAF MOULD, COMPOSTS, AND WATER. 



OME time ago the titOity of leaf monld as 

 an agent in plant-culture was called in 

 question in a manner that at one time would 

 have sounded very much like heresy ; for 

 of the mixtures recommended by writers on 

 plant-culture ten years ago or more, there 

 is scarcely one in which leaf mould is not 

 a constituent part. Writers of even a later 

 date are equally favourable to its use ; 

 while quite recently, in an article by that 

 eminent horticulturist, Mr. Pearson, it is mentioned that 

 in Belgium Camellias are grown entirely in leaf mould, 

 a fact which is confirmed by Mr. Wright. There are 

 others, however, whose opinion on leaf mould is as widely 

 at variance from the practice of our continental brethren 

 as it is possible to be — in fact, it wiU be remembered 

 that in the short discussion which followed the intro- 

 duction of this subject, one or two writers made a fierce 

 attack on leaf mould, not only doubting its utiUty, but 

 considering it actually pernicious, and I have on more 

 than one occasion heard it described as little better than 

 poison to some crops. These are hard words, harder 

 than ought to be used ; and the writer who stigmatised it 

 as poison was, perhaps, overburdened with leaf mould, 

 had to substitute it for dung to most, if not aU, of his 

 kitchen-garden crops, and his soil being light, the result 

 was not satisfactory. Let us, by way of contrast, turn 

 to the case of the nurseryman or suburban gardener with 

 a great extent of glass structures all filled with potted 

 plants, and we shall find that he envies the country gar- 

 dener the heaps of leaf mould which a weU-wooded 

 domain furnishes. 



Instead, then, of dismissing leaf mould summarily, let 

 ns take a calm and fair survey of its merits or otherwise 

 as an agent in supporting vegetable hfe, and in doing this 

 it is only necessary to look to Nature for examples, and 

 we shall see that in a great degree like produces like, or, 

 in other words, the decayed foliage of a tree supports 

 the growth of that tree, falling and decaying, as it does, 

 underneath it. In a similar way other vegetation does 

 the same when there are no disturbing causes, which 

 certainly often come into action in the case of herbaceous 

 and low-growing plants. It is not difficult to meet with 

 fine old trees occupying sites innocent of cultivation, 

 ■where the tree has been supported by those natural 

 means of which the decay of some of its parts form an 

 important item. Here, then, we have leaf mould in its 

 truest sense acting a useful and important part. Or 

 suppose we take a glance at what emigrants are doing 

 in the back woods of America ; we shall there see that a 

 primitive mode of cultivation results in very good crops. 

 Trees of all heights and sizes are cut-off at about 2 feet 

 from the ground, and the tops having been burnt, a little 

 scratching of the decayed leafy matter covering the ground 

 forms a sufficient bed for the seed, and a good crop 

 follows. In this case again we have leaf mould in its 

 pure and unadulterated form serving all the purposes of 

 Ko. 672,— Vol. XXVI., Kitt Series. 



a staple soil and manure, for a crop, too, from which the 

 inaterial had not been produced. I will take another 



' example nearer home — our woods of many years" growth, 

 and we shall find that the annual growth there met with 

 is in a great measure supported by the decaying vegetation 

 of former years by which the ground is covered. I will 

 now direct attention to the way in which leaf mould 

 assists vegetation, more especially that of the choicer 

 fruit trees and ornamental plants. 



To those who recommend the preparation of vegetable 

 compounds, with instructions so minute, and the fractional 

 parts as carefully laid down as if they were of the choicer 

 metals, I have but little to say. Neither do I find fault 

 with those who insist on the leaf mould being the pro- 

 duce of one particular class of trees, for such niceties are 

 rarely practicable ; but I may, nevertheless, say that where 

 it is possible to make a distinction in the leaves when 

 collected in the autumn, their utility for heating purposes 

 is of more importance generally than the material they 



I produce when decayed ; so that for the former purpose 

 the leaves of the Beech, Oak, Sweet Chestnut, TuUp 

 Tree, kc, which do not decay fast, are unquestionably 

 the best ; while those of the Lime, Poplar, Elm, Syca- 

 more, and Horse Chestnut, more quickly decay, and con- 

 sequently are not so well fitted to maintain a steady 

 heat. I am not sure that as regards their value on the 

 potting-bench they stand in the same order, and indeed 

 it would be difiacult to determine the matter from our 

 imperfect data. Oak leaves are held in high estimation 



; as compared to those of other trees, but for heating pur- 

 poses I give the preference to the Beech. We have as 



, many opportunities of collecting leaves as occur at most 

 places, for every autumn there is an extent of twenty 

 acres to rake over, and the ground is moderately thickly 

 planted with deciduous trees of large size, while there is 

 at least an equal area more thinly wooded, so that the 

 accumulation of leaves by the middle of December is a 

 formidable affair. We have no lack of leaf mould at any 

 time, but beyond saving the Beech, Oak, and Chestnut 

 leaves for the sake of the heat which they afford, I have 

 not paid much attention to the comparative values of the 

 decayed matter which is left after their fermentation. 

 In general soft leaves decompose the most rapidly, and 

 if we reckon their value on the same principle that is 

 adopted with turf we would not place them so high in the 

 scale as the more durable leaves ; but it is so difficult to 

 arrive at a just conclusion in this that I am unwilling to 

 give an opinion. I may, however, remark that a long 

 exposure to atmospheric" air would seem necessary after 

 decomposition had done its work; for I am far from 

 certain that the confinement to which leaves are often 

 subjected is beneficial in a cultural sense, but exposure to 

 the air wiU sweeten almost anything, even some of onr 

 mineral poisons. I do not affirm that decayed vegetable 

 matter, unless in a very unusual form, is at any time 

 deleterious to vegetation" as has been sometimes asserted ; 

 and to those who doubt the fertile quahties of leaf mould, 

 just let them examine a heap that may have been lying 

 some time near the roots of a vigorous-growing timber 



Ko. 1324.— Vol- LL, OlJJ Sebibb. 



