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JOXJENAL OP HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 14, 187B. 



following season. The Vines had been bearinK' fairly well, but 

 each year were losing Tigour, and the time of their complete 

 failure was evidently not far distant. I was in a fix ; I dare 

 not sacrifice a crop, yet to defer operations of renewing the 

 border was simply waiting for the dreaded year when the 

 Vines would be barren. I resolved to act. I bad the new soil 

 ready. It was fresh loam without any admixture. I coveted 

 bones, but they were not to be had ; so in their stead I made 

 charcoal by burning all the rubbish I could collect, including 

 the (I may as well confess it) surreptitioua use of my employer's 

 firewood. 



I then took out the border, and kept the old bare roots 

 moist by syringing them, brought in the fresh soil, and lifted 

 them from their bed of cold clay into one of warmer drier 

 loam. I did not cut them — at least I allowed the point of the 

 main root of each Vine to remain deep down I know not where, 

 still lifting the other part of it as near to the surface as it 

 could be bent. The smaller roots I cut. The main roots I 

 notched at 2-feet intervals, and severed them more than halt 

 through at the extremity of the border where they entered the 

 bed of the gravel walk. Each of these roots I surrounded with 

 charcoal, enveloping them 2 inches in thickness on all sides. 

 I covered them with 4 inches of soil and C inches of manure, 

 and the work was done. The foliage was on the Vines, and 

 I wished to keep it there to induce the emission of fresh 

 roots. I therefore syringed — autumn though it was — and kept 

 the house somewhat close. The Vines were eventually pruned, 

 and in the spring they broke with their usual weakness; they, 

 however, gathered strength daily, and ripened a finer crop of 

 Grapes than they had done for ten years before, although 

 every particle of soil was taken out of the border in the pre- 

 vious autumn. 



In the summer the roots were examined, and bristling from 

 their surface both at the notches and between them were 

 thousands of fat-looking epongioles. I have proved the value 

 of charcoal in many ways, but I never saw such a satisfactory 

 instance of its virtues as in drawing feeders from these fibre- 

 less roots. The extremities of the main roots were then severed, 

 and a network of feeding roots permeated the border. These 

 are tear the surface, and I intend them to be kept there by 

 annual dressings of manure. 



The change was magical. Young canes were trained up, and 

 a new lease of life was given to the old Vines. They had been 

 planted thirty years when their renewal was effected, and cer- 

 tainly they have never been in such a good and satisfactory 

 condition as they are now. My employer is especially proud 

 of them, perhaps more so than I am. He is sensible enough to 

 be satisfied with a great number of one-pound-weight bunches 

 having large black berries, while I nm vain enough to covet a 

 few monsters such as we read about. He has ever been firm 

 in refusing me permission to train thinly, crop lightly, and 

 create a sensation, and perhaps he is right, for perhaps I 

 should fail. — A Noriheen Gaedenek. 



PENTSTEMONS: THEIR PBOPAGATION AND 

 CULTURE. 

 Pentstemons are amongst the most beautiful of border 

 plants, and the present is a good time to propagate them. It 

 may not be generally known that the treatment which is 

 usually given to the bedding Calceolarias is almost exactly 

 applicable to Pentstemons. It is preferable, however, to put 

 in the cuttings of Pentstemons a little earlier than those of 

 Calceolarias, although they will flourish fairly well if inserted 

 at the same time and under precisely the same treatment. I 

 have been uniformly successful in raising Pentstemons by in- 

 serting the cuttings early in October by the aid of cold frames 

 alone, and these of the rudest description. These have merely 

 consisted of inch boards set on edge and made firm by stakes, 

 and covered with spare lights. Such boards a foot in height 

 at the back and 6 inches in the front alford a sufficient fall for 

 carrying off the water from the lights, and these rough en- 

 closures are useful for many protective purposes. They are 

 easily covered in the winter with straw, and the plants or 

 cuttings in them are always near to the glass. They are, how- 

 ever, at the best only makeshifts, and only permissible in the 

 frame ground — the back kitchen of the garden — and for ap- 

 pearance sake and general efficiency the low structures manu- 

 factured by the advertisers in the Journal are in all points 

 preferable, and should have a place in all gardens. 

 In striking Pentstemons in these rude enclosures my practice 



has been to take out about 4 inches of the soil and replace 

 with a compost of loam and leaf mould in equal parts, and 

 surfaced with sand. Before putting in the soil, however, a 

 layer of soot should be spread, which prevents the worms 

 working upwards, and also affords a stimulant for the plants 

 when they become rooted. The cuttings selected must not be 

 those which are soft and such as would strike in heat readily, 

 but short-jointed semi-woody side shoots, which will flag but 

 little and damp-off scarcely at all after they are inserted. The 

 cuttings inserted 3 inches asunder will neither need repotting 

 nor transplanting before transferring them to their blooming 

 places in April. After being put in it is necessary to shade 

 them during bright weather, and sprinkle them occasionally — 

 in fact they must be kept close and not be permitted to flag. 

 If properly selected and carefully tended very few fail to strike 

 and make fine blooming plants during the summer and autumn 

 months. 



In order to grow the plants well the soil must be rich and 

 deep, and the plants need copious supplies of water during 

 dry weather. They are moisture-loving plants, and are gene- 

 rally finer in Scotland than in England owing to the heavier 

 rainfall and cooler temperature of the north. For large beds 

 or rows, as well as for isolated plants in mixed borders, they 

 are beautiful and effective, their glossy foliage, agreeable habit, 

 elegant spikes, and fine Gloxinia-like flowers, being a combina- 

 tion of claims which few plants possess. 



Great improvements have recently been made In Pentste- 

 mons, and each year new varieties are being added to our col- 

 lections. They are offered in almost all colours, and named 

 collections should be included in all gardens. The present is 

 a good time to secure plants from the nurseries, where they 

 are now rooted and established in thumb pots. These, if 

 shifted into pots two sizes larger and plunged in ashes, and 

 kept safe from frost, will make handsome blooming plants in 

 the forthcoming season. 



As plants which can he kept from year to year without the 

 aid of artificial heat, they are adapted to those with moderate 

 conveniences, and cannot fail to be enjoyed by all when seen 

 under good cultivation. They have been much admired in 

 Battersea Park this year, and doubtless we shall see them em- 

 ployed at the Crystal Palace, where plants of every rank and 

 degree appear to be embraced in Mr. Thompson's comprehensive 

 and able management. The more general cultivation of Pent- 

 stemons is cordially recommended. — A Surrey Gaedeneb. 



PEAS. 



Me. Laxton's name will be indelibly written on the page of 

 horticultural history as the raiser of many varieties of Peas of 

 great excellence. 



In spring I had sent me for trial four small packages of 

 Peas, and I now somewhat tardily acknowledge their receipt 

 by recording my experience of them in the columns of this 

 .Journal. They were sown and treated the same as other older 

 kinds, and adjoining them for facility of comparison. Pam- 

 pering and giving special culture may bring out merit, but I 

 prefer that a new vegetable be proved under ordinary treat- 

 ment, and to stand or fall by that treatment to which they 

 will be eventually subjected. The Peas were Unique, Dr. Hogg, 

 Snpplanter, and Connoisseur. I sowed them all on May 4th, 

 and all came up strong. 



Unique.— This was stifi in growth, and commenced flower- 

 ing when only a few inches high, podding near the ground, 

 growing to a height of 18 inches, being a dwarf grower, very 

 prolific, larger in pod and pfa, also better filled as well as 

 earlier than Little Gem. The pods were of a bright green 

 colour ; the peas about eight in a pod, of a deep green colour 

 and of excellent flavour. The crop comes in all at once and 

 not sneeessionally, which is a consideration in growing dwarf 

 Peas, as the ground can be cleared at once and planted with 

 other crops. Unique is unquestionably the best dwarf Pea in 

 cultivation, more prolific than Little Gem, and of superior 

 quality to any of the dwarf kinds. It will be found an acqui- 

 sition for small gardens, for growing in pots or forcing, and in 

 front of wi 11< for early crops. 



Dr. Hnrjfi. — Tbis hiid pods fit to gather at the same time as 

 Unique, but a very different fitness to that of that variety ; 

 for whilst Unique was over in ten days. Dr. Hogg had pods fit 

 for use after thirty days. It and Unique had pods fit to gather 

 on the Kith .July. Dr. Hogg is therefore an early kind, and 

 possesses the continuity of bearing of Ne Plus Ultra. The 

 pods were 5 inches long, of a dark or blue green, slightly curved 



