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30—1846.] 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE, 
501 
teur should; remember they ought to be placed in a 
finished state in the spots they are intended to occupy. 
Budding is the work of a nursery, and the briars should 
not be seen until the finer production gives a softened 
character to their wildness. It will be proper, there- 
fore, to consider which course is to be preferred—the 
Purchasing a few standard Roses ab once, so that 
their beauty may adorn the garden the first season ; 
9r the dilatory and uncertain process of budding for 
one’s self. 
So much in reference to standards. But budding 
has other objects, and higher claims upon our notice, 
It confers a hardiness upon Roses otherwise tender, so 
that many which would not endure our winters on their 
9wn roots, become acclimatised, when receiving into 
their structure the more vigorous juices of the Briar. 
Then a more rapid attainment of the flowering state is 
in this way secured. For example, a friend gave me a 
Small cutting of thé beautiful Bourbon Rose, Paul Joseph, 
inthemonth of August last year, [had onlya choice of two 
Courses to pursue with regard toit ; one was, to endeavour 
tomake it produce roots as a cutting, the other to bud it 
Upon a stock. Had I taken the first course, it probably 
Would have perished, as cuttings of fine Roses demand 
Much skill for successful striking; or if it had 
lived, it would scarcely have been strong enough to 
Produce flowers in 12 months. I adopted the second 
course, and inserted the only two buds I had into a 
climbing Rose which I cut down for the purpose. In 
June, these buds were half a yard high, have produced 
lowers, and supplied me with buds enough to insert in 
about a dozen Briars. Expedition and certainty are, 
therefore, attained by budding, and on these accounts 
pe art is highly important to all amateur gardeners.— 
nL Be 
Home Correspondence. 
Fruit-tree Borders.— Although we know that the 
top spit of an old pasture duly pulverised and prepared 
is by far the best material with which we are ac- 
quainted for fruit-tree borders, yet to obtain that is 
Someti: almost impossible. Now, under such cir- 
cumstances, I adopted the following plan :—Having to 
form a Vine border, about 70 feet in length and of pro- 
Portionate width, on ground in cultivation as a part of 
the outskirts of a kitchen garden, I directed the soil to 
e removed as far down as any traces of cultivation 
Could be discovered, and placed in long ridges on a 
Spare piece of ground during the past winter ; to this T 
added a liberal portion of rotten dung, a sprinkling of 
old mortar, and bricklayer’s rubbish. In another ridge 
ad a portion of the “top spit of an old pasture,” 
about one-third of what I should require for the whole 
border when finished, to which was added some rotten 
Manure, and the whole frequently turned over and 
broken to pieces with a spade. When the Vineries are 
finished and the bottom of the border well drained, I 
Shall have the whole carted to the border, and the 
Vines planted next season, previously giving the whole 
Several successive turnings, and I have no fear of suc- 
Cess, I should have said, however, that the subsoil to 
the requisite depth was entirely removed and carted 
away. With Peach-borders I should deal in a similar 
Way, retaining all the old soil I considered worthy in 
long narrow ridges, giving it frequent turnings, till next 
Planting season. Then I should add a portion of new 
Soil, never mind aboutits being the top spit, introducing 
Some fibrous matter to obviate it, together with a liberal 
Quantity of well rotted dung, old bones, pieces of soft 
roken brick or free stone, old mortar rubbish or 
Similar material, amalgamating the whole, and effectu- 
ally draining the border. I should next plant the trees, 
Planting them well, and the result I will guarantee to 
€ all that could be wished.—G. L. 
Autumn Planting Potatoes.—Potatoes to be taken 
UP early should undoubtedly be planted early; and, if 
What are called in the Isle of Thanet *Sage-leaf Kid- 
neys,” are planted in October, and eseape the frosts of 
Winter, it is probable they will nearly attain their matu- 
tity by the 24th of the following June. Those planted 
a January will of course be later ; and those planted 
March will not have had, by that period, sufficient 
ime. to produce anything like a crop. “J, M." has 
Published a table at p. 479, purporting to show the 
ioDiparativo results of autumn and spring planted Po- 
atoes ; but he will, I hope, forgive me if I say that, 
or genera] practical purposes, it is totally valueless. I 
QNS bad 20 years’ experience both in early and late 
Planting, When my object is to obtain Potatoes for 
Re M market, and to secure the first prices, T plant 
es When I have been growing them for winter 
I maumption, and quantity and bulk have been desired, 
be, ave always found the latter end of March and the 
CEDE of April the best time for planting ; and then 
ben 3 sorts that are likely to live and receive the full 
after of autumnal showers. It may be no wonder, 
= what happened last year, that many have ex- 
the red: opinions favourable to early planting : as then, 
loan Potatoes escaped almost unhurt in many 
that the, 3 but, as it has been (and still is) my opinion 
quent y premature death of the plants, and the conse- 
to th ecay of the tubers last year, was entirely owing 
Year j sudden change of the weather, I planted this 
the 2 n April and March : had I procured six roots on 
ee 4th. June, in comparison with those of “J. M.," 
3 MES have cut a sorry figure ; still, nothing more 
pont ) us proved (and who ever had a doubt on this 
: at if Potatoes are to be dug on the 24th of 
ae 
ho id Should be planted earlier than either April 
e If*J. M.” will repeat his experiment with 
the remainder of his crop on the 24th October next, 
and communicate the results, I shall be obliged. B 
that time I hope to have many single roots that will 
weigh more than the six heaviest recorded in his table; 
nor shall I be surprised if his report turns the tables in 
favour of those planted in March.—J. Smeed, Brom- 
ston, St. Peter's, Thanet. 
Tropical House at Kew.—The folowing will give 
some idea of the way in which this house is 
and dogs by eating the savoury slices of cork, there 
can be no doubt. I have known a dog killed by gnaw- 
ing and eating a cork in play with it. But in this, as 
well as any other ‘poison for destroying rats or mice, 
the same precautions must be used. With arsenie 
mixed in Barley-meal, a neighbour of mine killed all 
his fowls a few weeks since ; and another neighbour 
last year did the same by applying it carelessly. In 
all such applicati caution must be used. The simple 
B 
6 RC] 18 
ent i 24. 
—A represents the ground plan and B the section ; c are 
walls; e hot-water pipes, which are united into one at 
the corners of the house, and pass under the paths /; 
F is a pipe to supply the tanks (d) ; this and the return- 
pipe are entirely out of sight; the latter being under- 
neath the flow-pipe is not shown in the plan; g are heated 
air chambers, which have a communication with the 
tanks by means of an aperture in the walls ; the cham- 
bers hh at the ends of the pits have a communication 
with the bottom, as well as the top of the tanks, the 
water passing through them. The chambers are con- 
tained in the walls surrounding the pits i; j represents 
spaces at the foot of the iron pillars &. The following 
climbers are planted in these spaces, and trained up the 
pillars to cover the roof, viz. :— Passiflora alata and 
edulis, Allamanda cathartica, Echites hirsuta, Poivrea 
coccinea and Roxburghii, Jolliffia africana, Petræa 
volubilis, Beaumontia grandiflora, and Ipomoea Hors- 
falis. Atm are iron gratings, through which heated 
air escapes from a space underneath the tanks ; under- 
neath the grating m 2, is an opening into the cistern n; 
and by means of a leather pipe being inserted into this 
opening the cistern is filled in very dry weather from a 
pump at a distance from the house ; at o is shown the 
situations of two small brass pumps, by which water 
is drawn out of the cistern n ; this cistern extends the 
length of both pits, and receives the water from the 
roof of the house, through pipes, 7. The pumps are 
kept firm by brass rods attached to the pillars & (2), in 
the centre of the house ; there are four of these pillars, 
three sashes intervening between them ; at r are stone 
benches, supported by the iron pillars p ; these pillars 
are 2 inches in diameter, and 3 feet 3 ins. 
apart. The tanks are covered with large 
slates ; the pit above is filled with tan, & 
and the plants are placed upon the tan, ; 
not plunged in it; the walls round the 
pits are covered with blue slates. Over 
the chambers ventilators are placed for 
the escape of heated air at pleasure, the 
situations of the ventilators being repre- 
sented in the plan by the mark 4- ; the 
entrances are at s,and at the entrance s(2) 
the roof is raised 1 foot in front, to make room for 
| the door: scrapers are placed in small recesses in the 
wall i.—C. Walton. 
Fried Cork to Kill Rats and Mice.—Your query in 
last Number I reply to with pleasure. Asto the injury 
remedy of old corks sliced as thin as possible, and then 
fried in the fat, butter, or gravy left in the pan after 
meat has been cooked in it, was recommended to me 
by an able chemist, who assured me that when he was 
infested with numerous rats once, he tried all the poisons 
he could think of without getting rid of these pests, 
when the fried cork did it effectually, and he saw no 
more of them. I am applying the corks at this moment 
in my farm-buildings to destroy mice, and they dimi- 
nish daily. I discovered the other day a curious in- 
stance of the liking these vermin have for them. Ob- 
serving that all I planted had disappeared, I resorted 
to a plate full of them, which I bad placed in reserve, 
and in seeurity I fancied, on two iron rods, supported 
upon four others 14 inehes high, which are at the head 
of a desk for aecompt books, when to my surprise I 
found all the corks gone and the plate empty. There 
was a large paper bag with some Swede seed in it on 
the same rods, and observing a hole in it, I opened the 
bag, when a great portion of the corks were there found 
deposited. The mice had managed to ascend the iron 
rods, had taken the corks from the plate along the hori- 
zontal ones, more than 18 inches, to the paper bag. 
The bag had never been touched by them before.—Delta, 
“A Subseriber? may fry coarse brown paper in- 
stead of cork, and neither pigs, pet dogs, or poultry, 
will suffer.— Probatum. 
Old Pastures.—l have made many mixtures of 
soils, but none which are so good as that taken from 
old pastures. It is known to many that if an old pas- 
ture is made into a garden, everything will grow in it 
so as to surprise any one not acquainted with the fact 
of what old pastures will do in this way. When worn 
out, no manure will afterwards restore the ground, that 
I know of, to its former state. have been very suc- 
cessful on a small scale with liquid manure on Grass. 
I mowed some Grass ground this year three times be- 
fore the 1st of May, to give as green food to my horses. 
I would propose that a portion of every garden be laid 
down to Grass, and then liberally supplied from time to 
time with liquid manure, mowing the Grass as often as 
required. It must be known ‘by experiment how long 
a portion should remain in Grass before it be broken 
up. The process of making Grass ground would be 
hastened by this plan, as much more liquid manure 
would be given than what falls on grazing pastures, and 
more evenly. All soils ought to be found to have in 
them, on analysis, 16 of the simple substances. These 
are best supplied to Grass land by liquid manure.— 
C. A. A. L., Whittington. 
Potato Disease.—At Genoa I was informed that in 
the season of 1845, nearly all the crop raised from 
English and American sets was affected by the disease 
but none of their own old waxy sorts ; at Naples, the 
crop was sound (thanks, perhaps, to the warmth and 
dryness of the climate) ; at Munieh (the countzy around 
being generally a very poor sand) the crop was un- 
injured. The Potatoes I ate there were excellent. 
E 
Young Oaks.—The method of cutting in situ the 
tap roots of young Oaks, notieed in the leading article 
last week, is in constant use in nurseries, and may be 
found (and perhaps elsewhere) fully described in Nicol’s 
* Planters’ Kalendar,” pp. 134—5. Your doubt, inci- 
dentally mentioned, of the propriety of cutting the tap 
root at all, is well founded, but the practice of using 
large Oaks of 4, 5, or 6 years in forming plantations, 
renders it necessary for convenience in ordinary soils, 
There is little doubt that, in similar circumstances, an 
Oak plantation raised (as is sometimes done) by sowing 
the Acorns in pits at once in the fields, will outstrip one 
formed in the usual way, especially when large plants 
are used.— W. S. 
Hedgehogs.—In the beginning of June I procured a 
hedgehog, which I placed in my. garden, with a view to 
its destroying insects, &e., which abounded there ; it 
proved with young, and about a month ago produced 
three, having made itself a very snug nest amongst 
the Artichokes. Last week I observed the young ones 
in different parts of the garden in a very weak state, 
and one morning I found the skin of one in the nest, 
the mother having eaten the body. In two days, I 
found another nearly eaten up, and two mornings ago 
the third was found dead, but untouched, except one 
hind leg, which had been bitten off a day or two before. 
Since this, it has eaten a kitten every night, which I 
had placed for its repast. It has eaten three of these. 
It also eats a good lump of bullock’s lights, and I have 
several times put 20 or 30 shell snails near its abode ; 
these are devoured, as I find the shells left strewed about. 
I offered one of the young ones both snails and lights, 
both which it attacked eagerly ; and I have repeatedly 
seen a half-grown hedgehog crack the shell of a large 
snail, and deyour the body with great relish. Though 
the hedgehog eats flesh when it can get it, itis too slug- 
gish in its motion to be able to procure a subsistence by 
hunting. I believe it to subsist chiefly on snails and 
insects, and perhaps earth-worms.— Lusor. 
Ink for Labels.—In the report of the meeting of the 
Horticultural Society (p. 239), mention is made of a 
to poultry (ducks I should fancy is meant), pigs, | newly invented ink for writing on zine labels, sold by 
