Mwoh aC, 187-L ) 



JOUBNAL OP HOBTIOULTDKB AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



259 



October ia better, in a well-manured bed, prepared as for Ae- 

 paragas ; in the middle of September plant the seedlings 

 during rainy weather in a similar bed, in rows a foot apart 

 each way. Hoe frequently, and use the shoots or tops as re- 

 quired. Dress the beds with manure the same as for As- 

 paragus ; they will continue in production many years. This 

 must not be mistakon for Mercurialis, or Mercury, one of our 

 common hedge weeds; for this is poisonous. Mercurialis is a 

 diosoious plant, and belongs to the natural order Spurgeworts ; 

 but the Chenopodium belongs to the natural order Chouopods, 

 and to the Linn:uan class and order Pentandria Monogynia." 

 " Stobt " need have no fear in this point ; his roots are not 

 those of MercuriaUa, but Chenopodium. — J. Witiani. 



POTTING, DEAINAGE, &c., FOR VINES. 



Potting, drainage, watering, and au'-giving or ventilation — 

 these operations may be reckoned the four chief corner-stones 

 of the successful cultivation of fruits and flowers in pots. If 

 they are not attentively and properly performed, no other 

 points of culture can work-out a successful issue. Indeed, if 

 we include temperature and cleanliness, there are not many 

 points of great importance left out of this catalogue of the suc- 

 cessful fruitist or florist. They may be considered the six points 

 of a horticulturist's charter : and they all hang together like a 

 perfect law; if one is violated, the fulfilment of all the rest 

 avails but little, and failure must be the issue. To be success- 

 ful in the growth of fruits and flowers in pots, there must be 

 what we shall term a perfect symmetry of practice maintained 

 without the least reservation or neglect. Hence a successful 

 gardener's life must be one of promptitude and punctuality. A 

 plant in a pot never prospers under the care of an attendant 

 who is not both punctual and prompt in attending to its wants. 

 A day's neglect or violation of certain laws often results in 

 disasters which can never be completely repaired. 



We have to day (February 13th) passed through our hands a 

 considerable number of fruiting pot Vines that were struck 

 from eyes last year. Before filling a span-roofed house 80 feet 

 long with these, each plant was turned out of its pot and the 

 drainage examined. The majority of these Vines were potted 

 in very fibry but rather strong loam, packed very firmly into 

 the pots. The drainage was ample and very carefully per- 

 formed : first a layer of larger crocks was put into the bottom 

 of the pots, and it was finished off to the depth of 2J inches 

 with finely-broken crocks free from dust. All the plants thus 

 potted and crocked were a perfect mass of fine healthy fibrous 

 roots ; so fresh and nice were they that one of our assistants 

 remarked that the roots had begun to grow. The fact is, that the 

 roots are just now in the same fresh state as when they ceased 

 growing last autumn. It was not necessary to turn them up- 

 side down to get the balls out of the pots ; they are such a mass 

 of fibrous roots that all that was necessary was to take hold of 

 the Vine stem and lift the whole out of the pot e)i. masse. 



The remaining number were grown in a more sandy loam, 

 and potted much less firmly. The drainage, by some over- 

 sight, consisted of just a piece of broken pot over the holes in 

 the bottom of the pot. W'e tried to lift these out of their pots 

 in the same way, but found that instead of a lift of ball and 

 roots from the bottom of the pot, they were only liftablo little 

 more than half-way. The layer of soil at the bottom of the 

 pots was soured and pasty-like, and with next to no roots in it. 

 As a whole, there is not half the amount of roots in the same 

 sized pot, and the young fibre there is not so healthy and 

 sound. 



Here, then, we have the result of the violation of one point 

 of our charter making the attention of the practitioner to the 

 other points of no avail. We have no hesitation in saying that 

 the difference of these two sets of roots arose from the differ- 

 ence of drainage chiefly, and of potting partly, and, as a con- 

 tingent consequence, the difference of watering. The want of 

 sufficient drainage prevented the water from passing away suf- 

 ficiently freely, and the loose potting held more in suspension 

 than the pot full of firmly-packed soil did. And wherever 

 these conditions exist, we have in all our practice found fewer 

 rootlets or feeders, and these few of a diS'ereut order. In the 

 case of Vines this is especially the case ; the roots are few in 

 number, dropsical-like, and never ripen or survive the winter 

 or period of rest in proper condition. Not only so, but a pot 

 firmly filled with soil holds more soil, and as a consequence 

 ruore nourishment. It also holds less water, for a pot with a 

 given quantity of soil has room for a less quantity of water 

 than another with less and looser soil ia it. Nor is this the only 



[ advantage. As our correspondent Mr. .J. Simpson pointed out 

 some time ago, the very resistance oft'ered to the roots of a 

 plant by a firm body of soil causes it to make more roots and 

 of a better quaUty than takes place in a loose soil. It is a fact, 

 too, that a soil holding less water in suspension induces plants 

 to multiply its feeders, and take more complete possession of 

 the feeding ground afforded it. A plant in the open ground 

 wUl make more twiggy roots in a season of drought than in 

 one of wet. The same holds good of plants in a pot. This is 

 a point in plant-culture generally that must be regarded as of 

 great importance. 



Now for the deceptive part of the business in regard to Vines. 

 A Vine in the circumstances as to potting and watering pointed 

 out above as undesirable and injurious, may, and often does, 

 make a stronger cane than does another Vine under the con- 

 trary and better conditions. But I need not tell the expert 

 that the cane or growth is of a different character. It is longer- 

 jointed, there is more pith in the wood, there are less compact 

 and less symmetrical bunches formed in embryo in its buds ; 

 its roots do not come so rapidly into action as do those of the 

 fine fresh fibry character. 



A word as to our mode of placing such Vines in their fruiting 

 quarters. We have no objection to turning them entirely out 

 of their pots into a border of soil, but think it desirable that 

 the feeders should have more scope than is afforded in an 11 or 

 12-inch pot. We transfer the ball entire into Orchid pots of 

 the same size, with three tiers of large boles in them, and 

 plunge them in the borders ; the roots, of course, get out freely 

 all round the balls into the fresh soil — and for midsummer 

 fruiters this is a great advantage. 



Too much water at the roots is a great evil in the case of 

 young growing Vines, but is one that is scarcely possible with 

 perfect drainage and thoroughly firm potting. To some extent 

 this same rule applies more or less to all plants in pots.— (T/ie 

 Gardener.) 



The weather here was very severe on March 10th and the 

 two following days, accompanied with snow. The Apricot 

 bloom was nearly all destroyed ; that not fully out very much 

 injured, and I fear entirely destroyed. Peaches and Nectarines 

 were not in bloom, and Apples are quite safe. The trees have 

 been protected some time with tiffany. Lilacs appear to have 

 suffered very much, as they were just putting forth their bloom 

 buds ; in some instances the branch is entirely destroyed. — • 

 G. HoLLiDAY, Castle Hill Gardens, Blechinfjleij, Surrey. 



LAYING OUT A LAWN. 



The arrangement of a lawn with its walks, groups of shrubs, 

 trees, and other accessories is not a diflicult operation, and yet 

 it frequently proves very puzzling when first taken in haiid, 

 more, I am inclined to think, from a feeling of diffidence com- 

 bined perhaps with a dread of adverse criticism and an igno- 

 rance of certain fundamental laws than from a want of taste. 

 Simplicity of design, unity of expression, sufficient expanse to 

 impart an air of dignity and repose, and a pleasing variety, 

 are the general principles which should most influence our 

 measures, and which I have striven to embody in the accom- 

 panying plan, designed for the guidance of " A Novice." It 

 has been repeatedly stated in former papers bearing upon this 

 subject, that however clearly general principles may be ex- 

 plained, yet each case invariably presents its own peculiarities 

 requiring special treatment, and the present example appears 

 to afford an opportunity for the explanation of certain details 

 which may be applicable to similar cases. 



We have here a piece of ground in the form of an irregular 

 semicircle, enclosed on three sides by a belt of shrubs, with 

 sheltering trees behind, and a grass terrace on the remaining 

 or front side. There are already about a dozen trees irregu- 

 larly dispersed about the surface. The positions of the croquet 

 ground n and a seat at o are given, and it is required that an 

 approach shall be made to the croquet ground. The lawn is 

 intersected by other walks, and the positions of groups and beds 

 of shrubs are shown. Now, although the rough sketch and 

 descriptive note communicated by " A Novice " were as clear 

 and explicit as could be wished, yet, as every irregularity of 

 the surface, every object or feature upon or near it, exercises a 

 certain effect on the whole, it is impossible to prepare a plan 

 quite accurately without actually seeing the ground itself. It 

 frequently happens that a design which appears to be perfectly 

 correct on paper has to undergo considerable modificatioa 

 whan it is wrought out. More shrubs, or an entire group or 



