380 



JOUKSAL OF HOHTIGULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



t October 28, 1876. 



Apricots are always thinned, and I do wish you would urge 

 the necessily of thinning the common fiaits, for it certainly 

 payf . — A PooK Lady. 



FITTONIA ARGTEONEUEA FOE COVERING 

 SCEFACES IN PLANT STOVES. 



Gesekally speaking there are of necessity unsightly surfaces 

 in all houses devoted to the culture of plants in pots, and the 

 pots themselves are au eyesore, and any arrangement which 

 can cover up these unsightly objects and transform them into 

 surfaces pleasing to the eye is desirable. There are few things 

 more harsh and unsightly than a lot of pots standing on a 

 stone bench, even when a layer of spar or gravel is placed over 

 it ; and so long as such a number of plants are required in a 

 moveable form for so many different purposes, as is the case 

 at the present time, plants in pots are a necessity. We have 

 tried many ways of hiding such surfaces, and the most pleas- 

 ing and effective that we have adopted is to put a margiu of 

 Portland cement about au iuch deep round the outer edge of 

 the stone shelves, and fill up to the level of this margin with 

 clean-washed gravel about the size that will pass through a 

 quarter-inch sieve. In this cuttings of the above-named 

 beautiful Fittonia are inserted, about <i or 8 inches apart, all 

 all over the surface, putting a row at the edge next the 

 passage considerably thicker. This is done early in spring, 

 and the cuttings soon root and cover up the whole space with 

 the most luxuriant and beautiful silver-veiued foliage, which 

 soon hides pots of ordinary dimensions, and forms a charming 

 undergrowth that sets off to the best advantage the plants 

 that are placed on it. A few cuttings of Panicum variegatum 

 are put in the front line, and this soon hangs down to the 

 pathway. On larger surfaces where it does not hide larger 

 pots, it is still a great improvement as a groundwork on dead 

 and often dirty surfaces. Plenty of moisture with an occasional 

 watering with guano water insures a most luxuriaut growth of 

 large leaves. When it is nece-sary to re-arrange the plants in 

 pots, the Fittonia sheds like a fleece, and an opening can be 

 mado anywhere for a pot. As a groundwork underneath 

 Pitcher-plants, which require bo much moi-ture, it forms a 

 beautiful arrangement, and it can be renewed yearly at very 

 littlo trouble, and is the means of saving much labour in 

 keeping dead surfaces in moist warm houses clean and tidy. — 

 D. Thomson (in The Gardener). 



A FEW WORDS ABOUT STRAWBERRIES. 



I INTENDED to havB Written a line in answer to " An Old 

 Subscriber" last week, but could not find time. As he has 

 appealed, however, to my judgment among others, I write to 

 Bay — First, Mr. Level was kind enough in the Journal of Hor- 

 ticulture to offer me some plants of La Grosse Sucroe ; he has 

 since more than fulfilled his promise by sending me plants of 

 eight or ten varieties, all this year's runners. Second, I have 

 no doubt whatever on seeing them that Mr. Lovel can accom- 

 plish under his system all that he says. I was in my stove 

 when the plants came, and my gardener came to tell me he 

 wished me at once to see the plants, as he never saw such fine 

 plants of one season's growth in his life. I can quite corro- 

 borate what he said, as they were as full in the crown and as 

 strong in the foliage (and especially stout iu the footstalk of 

 the leaf) as most plants you would find, under ordinary treat- 

 ment, at the end of the second summer. 



There is no royal road to gardening, nor is any one system 

 the only one to follow to produce good results. Mr. Level's 

 garden is on the chalk Wolds, but by high cultivation and 

 constant manuring ho has brought the laud where he grows his 

 Strawberries into splendid condition. Thus it must be from the 

 Bpecimeu of soil attached to the roots of the plants which he 

 sent me, which had, I believe, been lifted from his nursery 

 beds. Again, the chalk Wolds, though thin iu staple, are 

 more retentive of moisture than is generally supposed. The 

 crops of Turnips to be found iu many parts of the Yorkshire 

 Wolds, growing apparently out of brash or stony soil, is a sure 

 proof that, though the upper stratum soil is thin, the staple is 

 better than it appears. 



Though the constant renewal of Strawberry beds may be 

 necessary in some gardens and advisable in other?, yet I am 

 confident, from my own expei-icnco, that if more attention 

 were paid to keeping the ground clean and free from runners, 

 properly mulching with manure iu winter and with chopped 

 straw in summer, that Strawberry beds may be kept in good 



bearing condition for seven or eight years or upwards ; but 

 then neither fork nor spade should be allowed, and the roots 

 should be kept to the surface by feeding with top-dressing, 

 which — and there, I fancy, I differed from Mr. Luekhurst — 

 had better not be put on iu autumn, when it only induces to 

 leaf-growth, but in winter, after the crowns are ripened and 

 when the plant is storing up food in its roots, for future fruit- 

 ing. I do not believe that iu any good garden soil properly 

 drained the roots are inactive during winter, even when there 

 is no growth of foliage. Any person with experience in bulbs 

 will know that roots are formed in abundance before leaf- 

 growth, and to a less degree I am convinced that when the 

 leaf falls and the sap is said to descend, or, iu other words, 

 ceases to ascend, the roots of fruit trees are not inactive except 

 in heavy, undrained, uncongenial soils, when they will often 

 rot away. There must be a certain circulation of sap, even 

 iu deciduous trees, to keep the buds plump and the bark 

 healthy; but this is a digression. 



May I ask whether the Vine borders at Arkleton and Pot- 

 holm are concreted ? I have always maintained that Vine 

 roots are often injured by being kept too dry, and that so long 

 as the subsoil is good there is no necessity to concrete borders, 

 &c. If Vine roots are properly fed with top-dressings and 

 plenty of liquid manure, and have water enough in the winter, 

 they will not push their roots out of their prepared beds. If 

 cultivators are afraid of water to the roots, then, as the Vine 

 is a thirsty fellow with large leaves and rapid growth, it will 

 send its roots elsewhere out of the border to find its supply 

 of drink. I thought by this time the question of carrion need 

 not be raised again. I remember a man burying some dead 

 pigs in his Vine border, and wondered the Vines retrograded, 

 and I believe he wanted to bury some more had he not been 

 persuaded that Vine roots did not like a mass of corinption. 

 — C. P. P. 



I AU not an authority at all upon Strawberries, but still I 

 have had some experience, chiefly through the kindness of Mr. 

 Gloede, who is in such matters the most experienced person 

 I know, and certainly the best packer of Strawberries I ever 

 met with. His plants sent from Les Sablons, about nine miles 

 from Fontainebleau in France, arrived at Kushton as fresh as 

 when taken up. I cannot say the same of my countrymen. 



As "An Old Subscriber," page 359, has mentioned my 

 name, and appealed to me with others for an opinion, I cannot 

 do less than accede to his wishes. I must say, without doubt- 

 ing anyone's word, that I never succeeded in raising a pound 

 of Strawberries from plants set out in September. It is next 

 door to a miracle. Plants set out so late, unless they have 

 previously made their crowns, could not do so so late in the 

 year. When Sir Harry came out I had from Bath twenty-five 

 plants which Mr. Gloede, who was staying with me, at once 

 pronounced to be Hooper's Seedling, a sort that has an unerr- 

 ing mark — namely, before ripening it turns to a dark colour 

 of black or Prussian-blue colour. I sent some of the plants to 

 Mr. Nicholson of Eaglescliffe, Yorkshire, and he also said it 

 was Hooper's Seedling. He sent me the true Sir Harry, which 

 is exactly like its portrait iu Mr. Underbill's pamphlet. It did 

 not succeed at all with me ; but Hooper's Seedling, planted in 

 the spring and deprived of its flowers and runners, cast next 

 year from two hundred to three hundred berries per plant. It 

 is an excellent cropper and good famUy Strawberry. I regret 

 that I ever gave it up. The foliage and berry were in form 

 like Keens' Seedling. 



In the same year I tried La Grosse Sncree and Marquise de 

 la Tour Maubourg, alias Horicart de Thury, and others kindly 

 given to me by Mr. Gloede ; but neither %vere equal to another 

 of his gifts — namely. Rivers' Eliza, which for form of plant 

 (tufted I, cropping, flavour, and general good attributes is one 

 of the best Strawberries to have. 



As regards British Queen, she hates chalk and loves a ferru- 

 ginous soil, such as Sussex, its paradise. She loves rich clay 

 that requires a pickaxe to break up the ground ; but I believe 

 she may be grown successfully in light rich soil abounding in 

 potash, which is the grand constituent of Strawberries. For 

 this purpose night boU and cow manure liquid and solid are 

 best. 



Instead of Carolina Snperba, British Queen, and La Chalon- 

 naise, none of which like chalk, grow Dr. Hogg, and also try 

 Mr. Radelyffe. In my opinion Dr. Hogg for all lands is the 

 best representative of the British Queen. 



I conclude with a selection of a few good Strawberries. Duke 

 of Edinburgh (Dr. Roden), a well-formed Strawberry and of 



