Vol. X.-No. 35. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



275 



bet'ii llie case generally, I may almost say univer- 

 sally, where they have been cultivated to any ex- 

 tent in the neighborhood of Boston. I beg to 

 remark, this observation does not include grapes 

 grown in the city or in small and completely shel- 

 tered gardens. I could produce a great many 

 more facts from practical observation, but I tliink 

 that quite enough has been said to convince every 

 horticulturist, that my former remarks were cor- 

 rect, notwithstanding the variance of opinion 

 which your correspondent was pleased so politely 

 to regret. 



His arguments to substatitiate his remarks upon 

 the premiums for flowers, are equally chimerical, 

 and evince a greater paucity of knowledge than 

 he appeai-8 to possess, or is willing to shew, on the 

 subject of grapes. He observes that I " have told 

 him what every body knows, viz. how to pot and 

 water chrysanthemums, but have said very little 

 on the particular point where we differ." It may 

 be recollected, that he spoke of the time and pre- 

 paration of compost. I believe in his former com- 

 munication he asks, if the compost for growing 

 chrysanthemums required to be mixed, at least, a 

 year? and replies, with emphatic decision, " cer- 

 tainly rot." I think every grower must have felt 

 very much obliged to him for the information. 

 But further — he says, "now any one can have 

 them in great perfection with no other care and 

 trouble, than to put them in good loam and veget- 

 able mould." I would ask him, if he possesses 

 the art of decomposing vegetable matter, in one 

 minute, to a proper consistency for the growth of 

 plants .' as he says, that "he never thinks of pre- 

 paring the compost until the moment the chrysan- 

 themums are ready to pot oft'." If he has, I be- 

 lieve that cultivators generally, would be exceed- 

 ingly gratified for the information ; for my part, it 

 takes me nearly a year. The watering I recom- 

 mended, he says is unnecessary, twice or thrice a 

 week being sufficient, unless you want them as 

 big as barberry-bushes. This remark betrays his 

 perfect ignorance of the cultivation of this jilant, 

 for frequent watering obviates the very fault which 

 he asserts it causes. When the plants are |)lung- 

 ed, they are in very small pots and will in a short 

 time fill them with roots, which, if they are well 

 watered, will confine themselves to the pots and 

 cause the plant to grow dwarf, and cover itself 

 with foliage ; but whenever they want moisture, 

 they will strike their roots through, into the soil 

 they are plunged in, run up tall ; atid the conse- 

 quence is, when they are re[>otted, these roots are 

 from necessity broken off — the plant wilts, loses 

 its leaves ; and this or similar causes is the reason 

 why we see so many tall naked chrysanthAnums, 

 with a few half-grown flowers on the top. My 

 previous remarks on the growth of chrysanthe- 

 mums and tulips, arose from my own practice 

 without reference to any author. Maddock, I have 

 ' never read ; but Hogg has not mentioned the cid- 

 ture of chrysanthemums at all. Speaking of the 

 tulip, he says, " It was introduced into England 

 in the year 1577, where it has been found to in- 

 crease freely and grow in the open ground, with- 

 out any extraordinary degree of care ;" and this 

 is undoubtedly the reason that the tulip ha-! pos- 

 sessed more of the attention of early writers, than 

 I tlie chrysanthemum sinensis, which was not 

 I brought into England until the year 1790 ; and 

 I then only the " old purple " — making a difference 

 of two centuries in their respective claims on the 

 Student. I also know that in 1821, there were not 



more than ten varieties that had flowered in Eng- 

 land, and those in the hands of a few nursery 

 men in the vicinity of London. A little before 

 this time, the London Horticultural Society be- 

 came interested not only in the cidtivation, but in 

 the introduction of new varieties. Their success 

 was so great that in 1826, they had forty eight va- 

 rieties in flower in their own garden ; since that 

 time I have had no means of obtaining an accu- 

 rate account of the new varieties, but I have heard 

 of five. If your correspondent will be at the 

 trouble to examine the horticultural transactions, 

 he will find that they spared no pains or expense 

 in introducing it into general culture ; and he will 

 then, perhaps, condescend to acknowledge thyt it 

 has been estimated to deserve the same approba- 

 tion, and that it has been as nuich and as ably 

 written upon, as the tulip, their different ages 

 considered. 



He also hopes, I have had sufficient observation 

 of animal life, to know that what is life to one is 

 death to another, and that the same may be sai<l 

 of vegetables and plants — for what is life to most 

 I)lanls, is deadly poison to bulbs. This remark 

 will convince the reader that Mr Rusticus is no 

 great cultivator or that his experience in the art is 

 miserably limited, for with the exception of a very 

 few natural orders of plants, such as the Apuntia- 

 cesee and Ericea;e, whose native soil is on the tops 

 of rocks, in dry sand or in heaths, or as the Nyin- 

 phfEcete tribes or other aquatics that grow in mud, 

 immersed in water, there are few other plants, but 

 the same soil that grows tulips, hyacinths, and 

 other bulbs will also grow. It is true that some 

 plants want more of one particular part of soil 

 than others, to grow them well ; for instance, a 

 China rose wants a richer soil than an amaryllis ; 

 and a geranium and chrysanthemum want a more 

 retentive soil than a tulip ; but still the soil is 

 composed of the same substances, only differently 

 distributed. Rusticus also asks how many have 

 tried to cultivate tulips, and how few have suc- 

 ceeded, whilst almost every individual in the prac 

 tice of rearing flowers, has chrysanthemums. He 

 could not surely have visited the horticidtural ex- 

 hibitionp last season or read the report of the com- 

 mittee, or he would have found the exact reverse 

 to be the case. The Society's glasses were filled 

 every exhibition day, during the season of tuli])s, 

 and there were several competitors for premiums ; 

 and if I mistake not, there was only one person 

 showed for the prize on chrysanthemums. Now, 

 judging from this, if he says every lover of flowers 

 has chrysanthemums, it must be imagined that 

 they either grow them so badly that they are asham- 

 ed to exhibit them, or that they would rather 

 show tulips for three dollars than chrysanthe- 

 mums for five. Again, he asks, how many ranun- 

 culuses, are purchased every year and come to 

 nought ? The reason is obvious to every person 

 acquainted with plants — the " many thousands," 

 he mentions, are no doubt bought at auction ; sent 

 out from Holland to be disposed of in that way — 

 they are generally the weakest and poorest roots 

 left in the florist's hands, and after having supplied 

 his orders, he sends the refuse to bring any price 

 in foreign markets, they can command. He takes 

 no more trouble in packing them, than merely per- 

 haps to prevent them from actually rotting on the 

 passage. Many of them decay, and a dampness 

 spreads from those over the whole case, so much 

 as frequently to rot the paper in which they are 

 packed. The ranunculuses being the smallest roots 



and very tender, are the first killed. This is the 

 cause that so very few ever start after planting, 

 and what Rusticus terms the epidemic disease to 

 the stronger bulbs, tulips, narcissus, &c, is nine 

 times out often contracted in crossing the Atlan- 

 tic and not to any cause he adduces. I think all 

 florists ought to be governed by the information 

 he received, through the medium of his friend 

 from New York, as to ])lanting the ranunculuses 

 with the "claws upward." He is really taking us 

 back into the lOlh century at once, when conser- 

 vatories were heated by making large holes in the 

 ground and filling them with peat or ashes, and 

 when the soil^n Holland to grow a bulb, was kept 

 a profound secret. He hopes, in conclusion, that 

 he has said enough to prove that chrysanthemums, 

 instead of being ten times the trouble of tulips 

 they are a hundred the reverse. Now I almost 

 fancy that my faculties are somewhat more obtuse 

 than formerly, for I cannot perceive that he has 

 shown any proof that either of them are difficult 

 or troublesome to grow, unless we are to rely upon 

 his mere assertion, that " everybody has succeed- 

 ed in chrysanthemums, and nobody in tulips, hy- 

 acinths, &c. 



I will point out the compost that I have used 

 for the above jjlants. The original soil of my 

 tulip bed, is rather a strong and rich loam ; to ev- 

 ery square yard I api)lied a good large wheel-bar- 

 row full of well rotted leaf mould ; half a barrow 

 full of well rotted manure, and half a barrow full 

 of coarse sand. This must be well mixed, eigh- 

 teen inches or two feet deep, by turning it two or 

 three times before the bulbs are planted. In 

 planting, I take off' the soil all over the bed four 

 inches deep, make it perfectly level, mark the "ia- 

 tance of the bulbs from each other, (the rows 

 eight inches apart and seven inches in the row.) 

 1 then put a small handful of sand on the place 

 where I intend each bulb to stand; place on it the 

 root, the bulb in an erect position, and cover it 

 with another handful of sand. I then replace the 

 soil carefidly so as not to move the roots, and fin- 

 ish oft" the bed perfectly level. Where the soil is 

 light and not very rich, I would add half a barrow 

 full of rotted manure, and not put any sand, only 

 round the bulb. This is necessary in any soil to 

 keep them dry in winter. For hyacinths, the 

 compost will be better made lighter by adding 

 more sand, but must be equally rich. I plant 

 them the same depth, the distance eight inches 

 apart each way, and in the same manner. I man- 

 age them, after they are planted, in the same way 

 as recommended for tulips in my former commu- 

 nication. Ranunculuses, I have never grown in 

 America, but the same preparation for tidips will 

 grow them well. The method to plant them is, 

 after making your bed perfectly level, to draw 

 drills six inches apart and exactly two inches deep; 

 plant the roots, claws downward, in the drill four or 

 five inches apart ; cover them with a little sand, 

 like the others, and level your bed neatly. It is 

 necessary to protect them during winter, with a 

 hot bed frame, from the severe cold, and look at 

 them occasionally to see that they do not start and 

 draw up weak. Give them air in fine weather ; 

 in spring move away the frame, and when they 

 are coming into flower, shade them from the hot 

 sun and supply them plentifully with water — 

 care must be taken not to wet the flowers, or it 

 will immediately spoil their colors. One thing I 

 ))articularly recommend, viz. to be very cautious 

 and certain that the manure you apply to all bulbs, 



