126 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



May, 1913 



The Bowmanville Post Office 



Notice the window boxes. These were provided 



by the members of the Bowmanville 



Horticultural Society. 



nianv beautiful borders planted with 

 quite another purpose. For simplicity 

 1 suggest but two classes, based on their 

 purpose. In' the first class I suggest 

 putting all borders which resemble an 

 ideal f)erennial border. It must contain 

 therefore all "ideal types. Class tw'o 

 must contain all other typves, or nearly 

 all the others. For want of a better 

 term let these be called "the attractive 

 types. ' ' 



The borders in class one,' ideal types," 

 should always possess certain charac- 

 teristics, which may not be required in 

 borders placed in class two. Two such 

 characteristics are continuity of bloom 

 and good arrangement. And the.se two 

 characteristics are required as outstand- 

 ing features in all borders which are 

 placed in conspicuous positions, for the 

 purpo.se of giving color or landscape 

 effect. 



In class two, the "attractive types," 

 I would place a large number of bor- 

 ders which are planted with no such 

 purpose in view. The first type in this 

 class is that found in the gardens of 

 many amateurs. It is generally made 

 by those who have certain flowers and 

 wish to have them growing in their 

 gardens. Such borders can hardly be 

 placed in class one, but they are often 

 effective, pleasing, and most attractive 

 and ideal in their class. A second type 

 is that made to strengthen architectural 

 features and often found in the formal 

 garden, or at the base of a terrace, or 

 in front of a bare wall. 



The dividing line between these two 

 classey is "continuity of blooming sea- 



son," vvhiili depend;, ol loui sc, upon 

 ihf niimlx'r .md choice ,fif the plants 

 used. If, therefore, we wish to plant 

 perennial flowers in our garden we 

 should ask oiir.selves, "What do we want 

 them for?" For their own sake? To 

 emphasize the architectural features of 

 the house? To give landscape effect? 

 or w^hat? For what purpose do we 

 want them? This question of purpose 

 must be kept in mind. We shall then 

 get better effects in our gardens, and 

 the satisfaction arising from definite 

 achicxcment will l)e far greater. 



DEFINITE INTENTION 



Miss Gertrude Jekyll has a good para- 

 graph on color effects which I will quote, 

 as it gives the same advice put in a Bet- 

 ter way. It deals with color, a question 

 I have not touched on, but shows that 

 "definite intention" or a realization of 

 "purpose" is the one important thing 

 in our work with the flowers. She says 

 in her most recent book, "I am strongly 

 of opinion that the pos.session of a quan- 

 tity of plants, however good the plants 

 may l>e themselves, and however ample 

 their nuinber, does not make a garden ; 

 it only makes a collection. Having got 

 the plants, the great thing is to use them 

 with careful selection and definite inten- 

 tion. .Merely having them or having 

 them planted unassorted in garden 

 space?!, is only like having a lot of paints 

 from the best colorman, or, to go one 

 step further, it is like having portions 

 of these paints set out on a pallette. 

 This does not constitute a picture; and 

 it seems to me that the duty we owe to 

 our gardens and to our own bettering 

 in our gardens is so to use the plants 

 that they shall form beautiful pictures." 



C^ Making a Compost Pile 



Wm. Hunt, O.A.C., Guelph, Ont. 



To make a compost pile proceed as 

 follows : Place a layer of sod with the 

 grass side downward over about a 

 square yard of level ground, then a se- 

 cond and third layer in the same way. 

 On these place four inches in depth of 

 either of the fertilizers named. Con- 

 tinue these successive layers of sod and 

 fertilizer until the pile is three or four 

 feet in height, finishing up with a layer 

 of sod or soil on top. Fall or early 

 spring is the best time to do this. Place 

 wire netting over the pile to keep off 

 chickens and animals. Throw a few 

 pails of water on the pile in summer to 

 hasten decomposition. Cut down with 

 a sharp spade a portion of this from top 

 to bottom of pile when ready for u.se, 

 so as to get equal quantities of soil and 

 fertilizer. It should then be passed 

 through a coar.se, three-quarter inch 

 mesh sieve, or the material chopped or 

 pulled to pieces before using, so as to 

 retain all the fibry and organic part of 

 the soil possible. 



Preparing the Rose Bed 



F. £. Buck, C.E.F., Ottawo. Ont. 



What is thf be«t method of pr<n)arine a rose- 

 bed on gravel with four to six inches of loam 

 on top? I have l)cen told that clay makets a 

 good bottom. With plenty of clay clow; at hand, 

 also plenty of cow or horse ma mire. 1 w^)uld like 

 to know how to proceed.— T. 



Ro.ses belonging to the hybrid per- 

 petual class, as a rule, do best on soils 

 of a heavy type, such as the clays, while 

 roses belonging to the hybrid tea class 

 do best on soils of a sandy type. If you 

 w^h to grow roses from both these 

 classes, if you will proceed as follows, 

 you shoiild have equal success with both 

 classes on your type of soil. However, 

 if clay is easy to procure, no harm would 

 follow if some were added to the part 

 intended for the hybrid p)erpeluals. 



^\"ith both kinds of manure available, 

 it would be best to use a liljeral quantity 

 of both kinds mixed in about equal pro- 

 portions. This should be worked into the 

 soil by trenching. Trenching is a term 

 used to describe the best method of 

 thoroughly preparing any kind of .soil 

 that the effects of such preparation may 

 be beneficial over a period of years dur- 

 ing which it is almost impossible to apply 

 manure to any extent because the plants 

 in possession should not be disturljed. 

 It is thus described: "Trenching consists 

 of digging the soil to a depth of from 

 two to three feet. Commence by tak- 

 ing out a trench two feet deep across 

 one end of the plot. The soil from the 

 trench is wheeled to the opposite end and 

 placed there in readiness for filling the 

 open trench that will be left when the 

 worker reaches the end. When the two 

 feet deep trench is made the bottom spit 

 of soil is simply dug over, not removed. 

 Then the top spit (about twelve inches) 

 from the plot of ground immediately be- 

 hind the 0{>en trench is thrown in the 

 bottom of the latter together with four 

 or six inches of well-rotted manure. The 

 second spit is placed on that, filling the 

 open trench to its original level and leav- 

 ing a .second open trench two spits (or 

 two feet) deep. The soil at the bottom 

 of this is dug over, but remains in its 

 place?. If the whole of the bed or border 

 is treated in this way an empty trench 

 will remain at the end of the plot ; this 

 of course is filled with the soil wheeled 

 alongside from the first trench." 



If it is intended to plant roses in the 

 bed this spring it will be well to save a 

 good sized heap of the surface loam be- 

 fore starting the preparation and use it 

 to fill in round the roots of the young 

 ro.ses at the time of planting, as it is 

 never wise at any time to let roots come 

 into contact with manure at the time of 

 planting. A better way might be to pre- 

 pare the beds this spring, grow flowers 

 in them, or leave vacant, this summer, 

 and plant the ro.ses in the autumn. 



