GARDENING TERMS EXPLAINED 521 



Thrum Eye Pin Eye. It is necessary to place those terms 

 together ; they are, however, seldom used except by the " florist." 

 Certain flowers, Auriculas and Polyanthuses, in particular, are assumed 

 to possess certain properties or requirements to enable them to pass the 

 judges at exhibitions, and whilst a primary requirement is found in 

 " thrum " eyes, pin eyes are grave faults. By " thrum " is meant the 

 cluster of stamens or pollen-cases in the mouth of certain flowers. 

 Wherever these are prominent, that is to say, fill the cap or centre of a 

 flower, the style or pistil, which is in other words the //, does not 

 project but is low down in the throat. This thrum invariably proves a 

 most pleasing and attractive feature in any of these flowers. When, 

 however, as often happens in seedlings, the anthers, or thrum, or cluster 

 of pollen-cases is low down in the throat, then the point of the style 

 projects and is called a " pin eye." This is of little consequence in a 

 border flower, but is a grave fault in one for show. 



Top Spit. Many beginners in gardening are puzzled by the use of 

 strange terms. The term " top spit " is simple enough, but to the 

 beginner in gardening needs explanation. It applies to the soil or 

 ground when it is being dug or trenched. Thus when a spade or fork 

 is forced its full depth into the ground and all the soil it can lift is so 

 treated, that is called the top spit ; for by spit is meant that depth of 

 soil a spade or fork lifts when used in digging, trenching, &c. But the 

 term is commonly applied to soil, whether loam or peat, that may be 

 dug and stored for the potting of plants. Thus if loam, the part advised 

 to be so stored is the " top spit," or first or surface depth of from 6 to 

 12 inches as it may be thin or deep, poor or good, including the turfy 

 surface if the soil be taken from an old pasture or meadow. That or a 

 top spit, if peat, should be stacked with the herbage downwards in 

 a good heap for several months to enable the grass to decay before it 

 is used. 



Trellis. Almost any open structure to which trees or plants are 

 tied or trained may be called a trellis. Some are composed of wood, 

 especially such as have diamond-shaped openings, a favourite way to 

 make screens or sides of summer-houses. For fruit trees, such as 

 Raspberries, Gooseberries, Currants, Apples, Pears, the trellises are 

 often made of stout wire. It is necessary to fix at either end straight 

 oak posts firmly in the ground, to which the ends of the lengths of 

 wire are fixed by means of screws, so that they can be drawn up tightly. 

 Such trellises may consist of from three to six wires, and reach to heights 

 of from 4 to 6 feet, according to the purposes to which they are put. 

 Supports have to be placed to the wires, about 10 feet apart. To these 

 wires the trees or bushes are tied. Similar trellises may be made of 

 strips of wood, but they are less enduring. Garden walls are often 

 trellised with small wire fixed close together, to which the trees are tied 

 rather than nailed to the walls. 



Trenching. Whilst no term can well be more familiar to all than 

 digging, for to dig in some fashion seems to come to us by nature, 

 to trench is a more laborious and practical matter. It means double 



