CHAP. IV VILLA GARDENING 163 



firmly with something soft — worsted or cotton yarn will do. The 

 head of the stock should be reduced to check the flow of sap, 

 but the stock should not be headed down till the graft has 

 taken and is prepared to assume the leadership. To the experi- 

 enced propagator, surrounded by the necessary materials and con- 

 ditions, the increase of hard-wooded plants presents no difiicul- 

 ties — it is usually made a mere matter of certainty. But those 

 who have had no experience, and have not the patience to master 

 minutite in other matters, will find it better to buy their young 

 stock instead of propagating it. Still, as I know many gardeners 

 and amateurs do propagate such things, or have at least a wish to 

 do so, I thought a brief outline would not be out of place. 



CHAPTER IV 



The Orangery. — The culture of oranges, in its old-fashioned sense 

 for ornament merely, seems of late years to have become unfashion- 

 able. This has led to their neglect, and newer favomites have 

 usurped their places. I know many old gardens, now Orangeless, 

 if I may use such a term, in which, thirty years ago, the Orange 

 trees used to be a special feature. I do not know that this is a 

 subject for regret, but somehow one misses their delightful perfume, 

 as one specimen or another was nearly always in flower, accom- 

 panied at the same time by both green and golden fruit. It is 

 true the fruits were not, as a rule, usable, except for flavouring 

 purposes ; but the golden fruit, clustering thickly amid bright green 

 handsome foliage, had a value in winter for decorating the hall or 

 the ballroom ; and a few of these old plants, which I remember 

 so well, laden with fruit to mix with the Palms and other greenery, 

 would brighten up the scene immensely. Some of the small-leaved 

 kinds trained as standards are very efi'ective, and may be grown 

 in small pots for table or room decoration. In the summer large 

 Orange trees are striking objects for the formal garden, placed at 

 intervals on the terrace, or in prominent situations anywhere. 

 The old-fashioned Orangery was a dark dreary place, often having 

 an opaque roof, and only sufficiently heated to keep out frost. 

 It was simply a sheltering place for the trees in winter, the 

 summer being passed in the open air. Of course all the Orangeries 

 were not of this character. In some places Oranges were well 

 done, and there is no question that good Oranges could be grown 

 in England if it were worth while to do so, but the trees must 

 have a higher temperature than that merely required to produce 

 fruit and flowers for ornamental purposes. In the former case. 



