October 28, 1875. ] 



JOUBNAIi OF HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAUDENEB. 



377 



Let not beginners be misled by my details of planting given 

 on page 355, and imagine such an elaborate and costly method 

 of preparing the stations to be always necessary. Happily, 

 such difficulties are the exception and not the rale. In the 

 majority of gardens no special preparation is requisite. Where 

 other trees flourish and vegetables grow luxuriantly fruit trees 

 may also be expected to answer thoroughly well. Tho fortu- 

 nate owners of such soil can well afford a meed of pity for 

 those of m whose lines have not fallen in such pleasant places. 



Never suffer a freshly planted tree to ba rocked by the wind ; 

 if you do there is great risk of loosening it. The top, acting like 

 a lever, loosens the roots from that firm pressure of the soil 

 which is of such vital importance. I attribute much of my 

 success with young fruit trees to a strict attention to securing 

 every tree with wires or stakes as it is planted, making that a 

 part of the process of planting to be done before leaving the 

 tree. 



I append a short list of the best kinds of fruit, and hope to 

 describe them at length in some future papers. 



PEACHES. NECTARINKS. 



Early Beatrice, Lord Napier, 



Rivers' Early York, Pitmaston Oraugp, 



Dr. Hnr;tl, Downton, 



<iro3 IVIi^Qoane, Balgowaa, 



Belle Beauce, Rivers' White, 



Walburton Admirable. Pine Apple. 



CHERRIES. 

 Early Purple Guiffne, 



PLUMS. 

 Denaistou's Superb, 

 Transparent Gage, 

 Bryanston Gaje, 

 Purple Gage, 

 JefferiiOD, 

 Blue Imperatrice. 



FIGS. 

 Wbite MarseiUeB, 

 Bmoawick, 

 Brown Turkey, 

 ■Grizzly Bourjassott3. 



APPLES, dessert. 

 Irish Peach, 

 Kerry Pippin, 

 Cox's Oraoge Pippin, 

 Margil, 



■Golden Pippin, 

 Sturmer Pippin. 



DAMSONS. 

 Bivers' Early, 

 Cluster. 



— ^Edwakd Luckhurst. 



Imperatrice Eugenie, 



Reine Hortense, 



Transparent, 



Governor Wood, 



Kentish, 



Morello. 



PEARS. 

 Williams' Bon Chretien, 

 Fondante d'Autumne, 

 Doyennt!^ Boussoch, 

 Knight's Monarch. 

 Winter Nelis, 

 Zephirin Gregoire. 



APPLES, kitchen. 

 Keswick Codliu, 

 Lord Snffield, 

 Cellini, 



Warner's King, 

 AlMston, 

 Hanwell Souring. 

 NUTS. 

 Red Filbert, 

 Peardon'a Prolific, 

 Cob. 



HERBACEOUS PLANTS FOR BEDDING. 



If anyone thinks that the herbaceous plants mentioned by 

 " M. H." — pretty and useful as they are — can last under any 

 treatment so as to bsd with Geraniums, they will be disap- 

 j)ointed. Perennials are very well in borders specially pre- 

 pared, and every garden of any size ought to have a perennial 

 or hardy herbaceous mixed border ; but, do what one may, it is 

 difficult, or impossible, to obtain a sufficient succession of bloom 

 to make any continuous display. Amongst the best plants 

 are Phloxes and Pentstemons, and where the position admits 

 of it recourse must be had to subtropical-foliaged plants, as 

 Cauna, variegated Maize, Ricinus, Giant Hemp, &a. These 

 four I name have done well with me this year. Gladioli do 

 well too in mixed borders. I can especially recommend them 

 to be used in Rose beds, where plants are grown on the 

 Manetti and where the soil is not too strong. 



While on the subject of Gladiolus I am ready to back out 

 " D., Deal," if my opinion is worth anything. I do not think 

 the Gladiolus will degenerate under proper cultivation in good 

 soil. We must remember a fresh corra is made every year, and 

 when the soil suits, over-blooming will not affect the next corm. 



Those bulbs I left in the ground all last winter gave me far 

 finer spikes than those taken up, or than a hundred named sorts 

 sent me by Mr. Kelway. — P. 



Frost in Aberdeenshire. — In looking over the " Doings " 

 in the Journal I was surprised to read, " The thermometer (at 

 Ilford) has not yet fallen below ir> at night." We cannot say 

 the same here (in Aberdeenshire), for on the nights of the 11th 

 and l'2th we had 6' and 7" of frost. Dahlias, Marigolds, &c, are 

 completely destroyed. Mr. Douglas also states that soot pre- 

 vents worms going into pots, being obnoxious to them. That 

 is worth knowing ; but I think worms are often introduced 



unawares with the compost in the operation of potting. Then 

 when their effects become visible, the question is, What is the 

 best -way to got rid of them ? I shall be obliged by an answer 

 to this query in your correspondents' column. — J. H., Logie 

 Mar, Tarland, Aberdeenshire. 



INDELIBLE "WRITING ON TALLIES. 



TuEHE are few things more annoying to anyone who cares 

 for the names of his plants and fruits than to find these 

 obliterated by the weather, when, unless he be familiar with 

 their faces, he is left to the only alternative of having to 

 endeavour to rediscover their identities, which is often a matter 

 of no slight difficulty, as well as uncertainty in the end. 



Many years ago, for the double purpose of recreation and 

 health by having a half-hour's fresh air once or twice in the 

 day, and for obtaining cut flowers for the house, I purchased 

 a small garden just outside the city walls, and about six minutes' 

 walk from where I reside ; but on looking over its contents I 

 was very much disappointed in finding that in most instances 

 the names were absent. In many eases the nurseryman's 

 wooden label remained, although all trace of the names had 

 ceased to exist, and it immediately suggested itself that had 

 these been varnished while they were recent, in all probability 

 the writing would be as permanent as the wooden tally itself. 



la the re-arrangement of planting it was decided to put in 

 several dozens more of fruit trees and bushes, and to have 

 recourse to a plan of putting the above idea into practice ; and 

 I herewith enclose one of the varnished labels which has been 

 out in all weathers for over a dozen years, and so far as its legi- 

 bility is concerned there is little doubt but that it would have 

 lasted as many more years, or even longer. I enclose also 

 another which appears to have escaped the varnishing process, 

 and in which the name is only just decipherable by close in- 

 spection. These, being cut out of sheet zinc, presented some 

 difficulty as to the safest means of suspension, for neither 

 iron nor copper wire were admissible on account of the galvanic 

 corrosion, which would soon have caused them to fall ; hence 

 lead being contained in zinc as an alloy to render it capable of 

 being rolled out, this was fiist adopted; but on the first high 

 wind they were broken, or rather cut from their moorings and 

 seittered far and wide from their places. Then, as the least 

 of the evils, galvanised wire was employed, and its galvanic 

 effects may be seen on the labels now sent. 



Unglazed earthenware labels were next tried, but it seemed 

 to be impossible to find any means of preventing the writing 

 being washed off by the rain, and these, therefore, were soon 

 discarded, going back to the old wooden strips fastened with 

 thin copper wire as the most reliable after all. In preparing 

 these labels, however, there are ways and ways, and it is not 

 paint that should be used, but white lead of which paint is 

 made. The easiest way of proceeding will be found to be as 

 follows. Have a pennyworth of the best ground white lead 

 tied up tightly into a ball in a piece of damp bladder or gut- 

 skin ; then insert a tintack or very small flat-headed nail, 

 which is to be replaced again as a stopper, into the shoulder 

 by the side of the neck, and this, when drawn out, suffers a 

 little of the lead to ooze out after it, which may be rubbed on 

 to the prepared side of the tally with the end of the finger or 

 a piece of dry sponge or lint, finishing it by writing the name 

 with a soft black or BB twopenny drawing pencil into the wet 

 surface. It is best to wire the labels first, and they may then 

 be attached at once so as to dry on the plant. The most con- 

 venient arrangement, however, where a little more cost is not 

 an object, is to procure a fourpenny tube of " flake white" as 

 said by stationers and artists' colourmen, as thi s is both clearer 

 and a much better colour, and which is less liable to discolour 

 by age, and is really but a mere trifle more expensive than the 

 former plan. With respect to tho varnishing this need not be 

 attended to at once, but may be done any time within the next 

 few months, choosing a dry season and a still day for the 

 operation. Having provided two 1-oz., long, wide-mouthed 

 phials with good corks, let one be half filled with copal, carriage, 

 or quick-drying oak varnish, or such as may be obtained of 

 almost any house painter, and the other with spirits of tur- 

 pentine. Next procure a small hog's-hair brush that will go 

 freely into the mouth of these bottles, or an artist's flat hog's- 

 hair if it can be obtained. By having the phials only half 

 full they may be suspended to the coat button with little fear 

 of spilling, and will be easy to get at. If the brush become 

 clogged it may be rinsed in the turpentine, otherwise the latter 

 will only be wanted to wash the brush in after neing, so as to 



