General Notices. 405 



old system having been over-excitement, through deep and rich borders, it 

 becomes a duty for a wiiile, I conceive, to point to an opposite course. By 

 the systematic application of such, I merely mean that the application of 

 an annual top-dressing, however slight, is anticipated by this system. 



Our fifth point refers to the facility afforded by this mode of cultivation 

 for checking undue luxuriance. This will seldom occur where top-dress- 

 ings are resorted to in a systematic way. Still, in the event of trees thus 

 circumstanced becoming too gross in the young shoots, the mere removal of 

 the top-dressing in early summer will go far towards taming the tree, un- 

 less it has formed some tap-roots of most inveterate character. 



Having now disposed of the five main points, which form, as I conceive, 

 the principal features in a system of top-dressing, as applied to somewhat 

 shallower borders than were originally in use, I would now beg to offer a 

 few remarks on the propriety of securing a permanency of moisture at the 

 root to certain plants. Every body must be aware that many plants of this 

 habit cannot be successfully cultivated without securing a certain amount of 

 moisture at the root, of a permanent character. The most prominent 

 amongst these are the black currant, the raspberry, and, I may add, the 

 quince, amongst fruit bearing shrubs ; and celery and lettuce amongst our 

 culinary vegetables. It so happens that this latter question is interwoven 

 in some degree with the top-dressing affair, at least under my mode of cul- 

 tivation. Last year, the black currants in this part of the kingdom were 

 subjected to the most severe blight I ever remember ; they were devoured 

 by aphides ; the leaves were almost entirely stripped from the trees, and 

 the fruit were of course either cast to the ground or withered prematurely. 

 Drought at a certa'n period was, I am persuaded, the cause of all this ; for 

 it ought to be generally known that the black currant has a greater ten- 

 dency to produce surface roots than any other fruit tree ; this of course 

 renders it very susceptible of atmospheric changes, and points at once to a 

 special mode of culture. However, I considered that there could not pos- 

 sibly be a crop in the next season. Having some alterations this spring 

 which brought to hand a surplus of soil, I covered the surface of the black 

 currant roots, five inches in thickness, with this soil. We have had a very 

 fine crop, and the soil is now filled with fibres. The black currant should, 

 I think, be planted in sunken trenches or panels at least nine inches below 

 the ground level ; in fact, similar to celery, and in that event would bear a 

 top-dressing of mere leaves or litter of any kind every year, applied imme- 

 diately after a wet period in the spring. Raspberries are so fond of a per- 

 manency of moisture that they thrive to admiration in a bog under some 

 trees, within a short distance of where I write. Indeed, our soil being 

 sandy, I could not obtain full crops until I adopted an annual system of top- 

 dressings. In applying this, my practice is to remove a couple of inches of 

 the surface soil with a draw hoe in December ; then to apply a couple of 

 inches of compost, and finally a coating of soil, to prevent loss by desicca- 

 tion. I never dig over the surface of these things, but use the spade full 

 depth to within a reasonable distance, generally cutting a little off the ex- 

 treme points of the roots annually ; this encourages the surface roots, and 



