492 



JOURNAL OF HOKTIOOLTUEB AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ Juae 18, 1874. 



by 30, seemed to be good. It was well filled witb Pines, while 

 trellises round contained Cucumbers and Melons, and Straw- 

 berries were overhead. Trentham Hybrid seemed to be the 

 favourite amongst Melons, and Telegraph amongst Cucumbers. 

 The Strawberries used were Black Prince, President, Prince of 

 Wales, Dr. Hogg, Wonderful, Oscar, Sir C. Napier, and Hay- 

 ward's Prolific. The last-named is a kind I have never seen 

 nor heard of before. It is not a very shapeable one, but cer- 

 tainly bears out its name. It is of the Sir Charles Napier type, 

 as to flavour somewhat acid, but apparently a very useful 

 fruit. I do not see it in Dr. Hogg's " Fruit Manual." Figs 

 are here made a prominent fruit, and in the Fig house were a 

 good number of trees which had produced then- fruit, the kinds 

 used being Brown Turkey, Lee's Perfection, Castle Kennedy, 

 and Grand Florentine. The Vines were all recovering from 

 their former treatment, and many of them were in most excel- 

 lent condition. Child of Hale, Golden Champion grafted on 

 Mrs. Pinoe, Black Alicante, Lady Downe's, Black Hamburgh, 

 and Madresfield Court were all very fine. The Peach trees in 

 the houses had produced a wonderful crop, and so had the 

 Cherries, but both of these fruits were nearly past, successions 

 were coming on ; and then there was the orchard house. In 

 one house where Mr. Harrison is getting together some good 

 Orchids is the largest, and I should think the oldest, plant of 

 Stephauotis I have ever seen. The stem was as thick as one's 

 fore arm, and it ran the entire length of the house. 



Out of doors the fruit and vegetable culture was of the first 

 order. By-the-by I did see one vegetable forced here I never 

 saw before — viz., the Watercress. It is a favourite of the 

 Countess, and is cultivated here in boxes, and had all through 

 the winter. It is a somewhat curious instance of the capri- 

 ciousness with which frost deals with us, that nothing appeared 

 injured by it, oven although the soil is loam, the situation 

 northerly, and the place surrounded by foliage. 



Knowing how much the Earls of Derby have always been 

 beloved by their immediate followers, who were ready at a 

 moment's notice in more troublous times to follow their for- 

 tunes in the field, whether at home or abroad, one was not sur- 

 prised to find that the arrangements for the comfort of those 

 employed on the estate, and especially in the garden, was amply 

 provided for. The accompanying is a copy from a photograph 

 of a house on the grounds occupied by one of the garden 

 labourers who is past work and has been pensioned off, while 

 I have never seen more comfortable bothies than those pro- 

 vided for the men. The foreman has a sitting-room and bed- 

 room to himself. There is a most comfortable kitchen, where 

 the men can both cook their food and sit. Each man has a 

 separate bed, and only two beds in each room. AU is lighted 

 with gas, and there is ready access to water for washing. They 

 are kept supplied with the principal gardening publications, 

 and I could only notice one defect — viz., the want of a com- 

 mon reading-room, where they might have a small hbrary, and 

 where it would be more comfortable for them to enjoy their 

 papers. 



I hope my notice will not bo considered too scant, but I 

 really do not see the value of recording what can be of little 

 interest, and have only noted those points which ought to in- 

 terest all aUke. I can only add that every faciUty was given 

 me by Lord Derby and Mr. Hale his agent, and that I much 

 enjoyed my visit, the only drawback being the absence of Mr. 

 Harrison. — D., Deal. 



THOUGHTS ON WATERING. 



The season of heat and drought is again upon us — the sea- 

 son that brings to many gardeners a restlessness that is only 

 allayed by a faU of rain, or by seeing the irrigating apparatus, 

 of whatever desciiption, at work. Taxing as it does, in many 

 cases, the working strength of the gardener to a great and often 

 unnecessary extent, a discussion of this subject may not be 

 unprofitable. Apart from, and yet having a direct influence 

 on the necessity for, and reaping the best advantages from, 

 artificial irrigation, high cultivation of the soil is of the greatest 

 consequence. Physiologists have long proved that the reason 

 why plants send roots into subsoils is merely for the moisture 

 that is to be found there ; gardeners have arrived at the same 

 conclusion, though by different means : therefore, where high 

 cultivation is carried out, the subsoil is treated in the most 

 liberal manner, till, in process of time, one deep rich mass 

 of soil is formed for the benefit of crops, and the roots of 

 those estabhshed can revel deep down out of reach, compara- 

 tively, of the drought that withers up the shallow roots. This 



same principle under another aspect is seen in the treatment 

 of fruit trees, of which we instance the practice of inducing 

 the roots to keep to the surface, mulchings being given to 

 conserve the moisture and keep the roots at home. 



Another point of great importance for the conservation of 

 moisture, and one which the writer of " Hints to Amateurs " 

 enforces, is the free use of the hoe : ground of good body kept 

 well hoed will stand a wonderful amount of drying-up. Mulch- 

 ing should be done whenever circumstances admit ; it is of 

 especial advantage in the case of fresh-shifted shrubs or fruit 

 trees, but it need not be hmited to these. Wlien aU means 

 have been taken to make the most of natural moisture, water- 

 ing, especially in light soils, is often a necessity. We are of 

 opinion that much labour in watering newly-planted crops in 

 dry weather might be saved were they planted when compara- 

 tively small ; not only so, but the system of transplanting 

 seedhngs into their permanent quarters, when in a small state, 

 is more likely to fjive the best results than when left to a larger 

 size. But in any case, a watering that moistens well round 

 the roots and beneath them, succeeded by a hoeing, is far- 

 better than dribblings given every evening to be licked up by 

 the sun the next day. Anyone can prove this for himself by 

 trying the two ways on beds of young pricked-out Cabbages, 

 Celery, Ac. The healthiest plants will be those that have few 

 waterings, if kept well surface-stirred. 



The flower garden generally comes in for the largest share of 

 attention in this respect, and we have noticed that the different 

 modes of watering the plants have been somewhat as foUows : — 

 A, directly the plants are into the ground, gives each one in- 

 dividually a watering. Any number of waterings that succeed 

 this are all done after the same fashion. This strikes us as 

 having a tendency to keep the roots from spreading freely. 

 B imitates Nature's way of applying water all over the bed or 

 border ; but, unfortunately for the poor plants, it is in imitation 

 of April showers, which do Uttle more than wet the buds and 

 foliage. Where the means of applying water necessitate a 

 large amount of hard work, as is the case when water has to 

 be carried some distance, workmen are very apt to put the 

 plants oft' with a surface-sprinkhng. The evils of this mode 

 are evident, but, through a Uttle want of thought, it is not un- 

 common. If the weather is not excessively drying, a surface- 

 sprinkling two or three times a- week keeps the plants in a fresh 

 state. C is an " out-and-outer " for water. Celery is a ditch- 

 plant — ergo, it must be kept in wet-ditch order, to the no small 

 detriment of the crop. Flower beds come iu for a daily flood- 

 ing, or one as often as circumstances will permit. Now this 

 continual on-pouring is quite opposed to what Nature teaches, 

 save in the case of bogs or marshes, which are out of the gar- 

 dener's sphere. Though it is not the wisest thing a gardener 

 can do to blindly follow Nature's mode of working, for reasons 

 which are obvious ; still, when circumstances arising from cul- 

 tivation and other causes are allowed for, we can have no better 

 guide to follow. 



We find that the rainfall in this country ranges, roughly, 

 from under 2 inches to about 4 inches monthly ; some seasons 

 dry districts are, of course, under the lowest average, whilst 

 the highest may be largely exceeded. Now, if there be any 

 force in Mr. Simpson's theoi-y with respect to the mean iu 

 temperature being misleading, in this case of mean rainfalls it 

 would lose none of its force ; in fact, it is patent to everyone, 

 for seasons occur when scarcely any rain falls for long periods, 

 when drought consumes the nation's home resources in the 

 way of vegetable food and fodder. In such cases of continued 

 drought over a long period, or of no rain for comparatively 

 short periods, the question, with the data of average rainfalls, 

 which is now-a-days accessible to everyone, and the quantity 

 of water required to water a known surface, resolves itself 

 into a merely arithmetical one. For instance, if we take the 

 average rainfall throughout the country at the monthly mean 

 of H inches, it would not be out of the way to allow for a 

 border, say 80 feet long by 10 wide, 1250 gallons of water — 

 practically, one thhty-gaUon water-cart emptied on every 

 2-feet run. We do not imagine such a quantity too much 

 where the tilth is a good depth. There is no fear, after such a 

 soaking, of the roots being short of moisture for some time ; 

 and after thoroughly stirring the surface as soon as it gets dry 

 enough to be workable, one may safely rest at ease through 

 some weeks of drought. We believe this is the only sensible 

 system of supplying water to borders, beds, quarters of 

 kitchen-garden crops, (ie. A " good soaking " may vai'y from 

 a sprinlding, which may not pass deeper than the surface of 

 dust-dry soil, up to a really "good soaking," according to the 



