516 GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



features. Either they are retentive or they are porous. By retentive 

 is meant capacity to retain moisture. This feature is common to soils 

 that are chiefly composed of clay, or, in other words, an excess of 

 loam with little or no sand in it. Retentive soils are not all so in the 

 summer as a rule, for the ground which holds the moisture most closely 

 in the winter most readily parts with it and becomes hard and baked 

 in the summer. The best correctives are draining by means of deep 

 pipe drains, which carry off superfluous moisture, or by adding to the 

 soil a good proportion of gritty material, such as road trimmings, street 

 sweepings, burnt clay, called ballast ; straw manure, leaf soil, or any 

 decayed vegetable matter, as such substances greatly help to keep the 

 soil open and thus enable the moisture contained in it to pass away. 

 Wet soils are invariably sour and not fitted to carry crops. 



Rhizome. Many plants extend themselves by long fleshy root-like 

 stems which run under or partially on the ground, then stop and throw 

 up a bud or crown, from which new growth and leafage takes place. Such 

 stems are called "rhizomes." Some plants through such an agency 

 become a nuisance in gardens, as shoots come up in all directions. 

 That is the case with some of the single-flowered perennial Sunflowers, 

 for they will send out such roots to a length of from 3 feet to 4 feet, 

 which is inconvenient. German Irises have very thick rhizomatous stems 

 that run partly on the surface of the ground, but these do not ramble 

 much. Of the Primula family, P. cortusoides and P. Sieboldi have 

 rhizome stems, also Solomon's Seal. It is Nature's method of increase 

 or propagation, and as from each new crown or shoots roots are formed, 

 separate plants can thus be obtained. 



Rod and Lateral. Whilst these terms have diverse applications 

 they are more generally used in gardening matters in relation to Vines 

 than to any other things. A Vine rod is the main stem which is carried 

 up under the roof of a vinery, and may be represented singly or several 

 together. Sometimes the rod is carried lengthwise of the houses. 

 Practically the rod is the main stem of the Vine, and from it breaks 

 out yearly certain side shoots which are called " laterals." By that term 

 is implied a horizontal shoot, or sideways, to the stem or rod. Lateral 

 is a convenient term for gardeners to apply to these side shoots or 

 branches. When a Vine is properly pruned these side shoots are cut 

 back hard each winter, and from the base bud near the rod another 

 shoot or lateral breaks out in the spring. It is these laterals which 

 carry bunches of fruit later in the season, but practically any side shoots 

 which break out from climbing plants in houses become laterals. 



Root-Pruning. Whilst anxious to induce trees to grow, we 

 should yet adopt the practice of pruning, and sometimes severe root- 

 pruning. This is something novices find difficult to understand. 

 But the practice is limited to fruit trees, and to those only which show 

 a tendency to produce shoots or growths freely but seldom produce 

 fruit. But as the object in planting fruit trees is to obtain fruit, the 

 only possible correction of this unfruitful habit consistent with keeping 

 the trees within due bounds is found in pruning the roots, as, when 



