

THE GARDENERS 



CHRONICLE 



245 



-^ « cur— ^ *» next ; and M on till the 

 *fS rf thrfr infant progeny 



<£S tflCSSteW have shared 

 — 1* foond tairn ^ ^ M ^ llt i es inseparable 



bation. 

 in must we caret' 



And let me here re- 



to — - .V •fM*L**5 



Sy of the parents 



te^«°°? 



„eaning''mit;andthis« m eanmg 



'#« niriTSeir cradles until called lortn to s*e u.c 

 Then are they carefully fed, protected and 



«S the?" come of age." Here Nature halts. 

 ^^tieUut they should see about getung tkar 

 It * *>*. , Another lesson for us ! 



designer executed the stereotyped curve from mutation . 

 only ami not from an appreciation of the principle of I 

 arran»ement. To avoid some disagreeable prospects, 

 to gam an interesting view, to reach some pleasing 

 object in the grounds, are some of the reasons for curves 

 in a line of walk. Curve after curve of walk on an open 

 space of lawn, without purpose or object, cannot be too 



severely deprecated. ..-._, . i 



The junction of walks should be at as great an angle 

 as possible. Thin strips of Grass between diverging 

 walks, like narrow points in a shrubbery, are highly 

 objectionable, and should ever be obviated, if practicable. 

 To avoid the narrow strip of Grass, in the case of walks, 

 *n expedient, as represented in the sketch A, is often 



VI 



lihooA Anotne 

 — ,;«it vnur bird 



chooam 

 happiness 

 are 



they not 



eoroparativi 



The pro 

 Ufewf 



in Mahogany 



«3&aM» ~^"^ttfJT£2tt 



2fcn7 of strV tin ^re. Three or four perches 

 * e rin acSthe cage, and a little chamber or 



o™ large chamber divided into two, should be 

 «^ immediately under the top of the cage, to hold the 

 hlxes In the front of these compartments should 

 * Jrcular holes, sufficiently large to give the birds 

 jL^Tand egreSs to their nests. In these divisions 

 STwul build, and also rear their young To enable 

 ZS when occasion requires, to get access to these nest 

 Ci have square dools made in the side of the cage, 

 ^ ' You can then quietly make your 



dered visible, the practice is not to be recommended. 

 Lar^e surfaces of gravel thus made prominent are 

 offensive to the eye, and tend to curtail in appearance 

 the extent of a garden ; and besides, each walk should 

 be definite in its direction, which in such arrangements 

 as that sketched is not the case. One is as much a 

 main walk as the other. Rather, as at B, indicate that 



■ •.-» 



utward 

 ofcerratioD*, and avoid disturbing your Diras. wj™ 

 SSTof the cage, there should be two large tin pans 

 i mm oi uicw*5 j * A uu T i 1ft cp^a •. also a 



inserted 

 circu 1 ar 



their labours will then be considerably lightened, 

 hen will soon model a nest to her mind. 



HUM 



-while drinking. A receptacle of tin should be provided 

 to hold the water, suspended by bent wires. To enable 

 T our birds to get at their food the more readily, a long 

 narrow perch should run immediately behind these 

 tins, from one end of the cage to the other. Let the 

 nside be painted thrice in oil, white. 



Some people assist their birds in the construction of 

 their nests ; and I see no objection to it. Let the two 

 boxes be half filled with the building material ; 



The 



The nest bags 



must be well scalded previous to use, as I have before 

 ~™»rked, in order to kill the indwelling vermin. Hang 

 in front of the cage, outside ; and carefully collect 

 any building material that may be found dropped inside 

 the cage. Extreme cleanliness must be observed, and 

 in the tray there must be kept an abundant supply of 

 snail, red gravel, mixed with a little powdered chalk. 



Before turning your birds into a breeding cage, see that 

 they be well " paired." When you have selected such 

 colours as you approve, put the male into one^ cage, 

 and the hen into another. Hang them up dos a dos ; 

 just so as the eye of each can come into contact, through 

 the hole made to admit the nail. This, while it effectually 

 works out the intended purpose, will keep you in 

 a constant state of merriment. The antics of the birds, 

 and the vain schemes they concoct to break out of prison, 

 jure exceedingly diverting. You will often perceive 

 their heads, or one-half of their heads, protruded through 

 the hole ; their one, unceasing aim, being that of " cast- 

 ing sheeps'-eyes " at each other. Then, listen to their 

 voices ! What persuasive eloquence falls from the oily 

 tongue of the male ! What affectionate tenderness lies 

 in the languishing responsive 1-i-s-t-h-p of the bride 

 elect ! Thus are reciprocated vows of eternal fidelity ; 

 which it gives us pleasure to record, are, for the most 

 part, preserved inviolate. A week's dalliance brings 

 matters to a crisis. An explanation is asked, and given. 

 The question is popped ; the lover accepted ; romantic 

 sentimentality gives way to the sterner realities of every- 

 day life ; and the " sublime * sinks at once into the 

 H ridiculous. " It is said to be but "one step." In 

 «ober truth— may I say it ? — it is a steep one ! William 

 Kidd* New Road. Hammersmith* 



one path diverges from the other, merely taking off the 

 1 - * * Kv the Juncture. The effect 



«x, 5 ^«, w ... formed . „ w 



of the first example is bad on paper, but infinitely 1 

 on a garden lawn. Of course in a carriage drive or 

 other road more? relative scope for turning must be 

 allowed than is permitted in a garden walk. 



More than one curve should not be seen from the 

 same point, looking in the same direction, as such an 

 arrangement is not pleasing, and you see too much ot 

 the garden at once. It detracts from the interest. 

 Of course, as a general rule, no pleasure-ground w*U 

 should be perfectly straight, but exceptions will some- 

 times occur. Supposing them unavoidable or necessary, 

 good taste will furnish the necessary and appropriate 



accessories. r 



Curved walks, by a straight line of building, as at 1,, 

 are in bad taste, as likewise is a walk following each 

 outline of a building, as at D. Examples of both are 

 abundant. 



Home Correspondence. 



Forcing Asparagtu.-The increased demand for force* 

 Asparagus, that has taken place of late years, has 

 -1 ndered it necessary on the part of gardeners to pro- 

 vide means for the production of the additional supply ; 

 and this can only be accomplished, either by having m 

 large stock of plants, to take up for forcing, or bj 

 making permanent beds, with means of heating then. 

 Now, Liceiving it to be the duty of e 77 «»*■" 

 produce his crops at the smallest cost, I think it worth 

 inquiry which of the methods usu ally . P™^ » ™* 

 economical, and produces the largest quan^ Uly at tta 

 least possible expense and labour, ^f 18 *^ 

 view I adopted the taking-up system at Stoke RocluW, 

 my calculation being that I would have to take up about 

 80 superficial vards annually, and that the beds would 

 have to stand 10 or 12 years, from the Ume of making 

 to that of taking them up for forcing ; Uierefore 1 

 made, four years ago, an extra quantity of bedsto 

 enable me to have a sufficiency of plants each succeed- 

 ing year for the purpose of forcing, and I have now 

 only to make good the quantity of ground that is tmkea 

 up each year. I am not aware that my system <X 

 forcing differs much from that employed by other 

 crardeners, but I will venture to describe it, together 

 with the quantity and quality of the produce ob- 

 tained, which will enable your readers, who are 

 Asparagus growers, to judge of the merits and 

 utility of the taking-up system, by comparing it 

 with the results obtained by other methods. My 

 forcing pit is similar to that of MThaUV-pigrcn 

 holed, and heated entirely with dung linings. 1 do ret 

 put any fermenting material in the interior of the pit, 

 but chamber it over with any old boards, so as to form • 

 vault underneath. The pit is 20 feet long by 5 f«* 

 wide, inside measure, and it is divided into nve h R h£ 

 About 2 inches of soil are laid on the boards, on whicfc 

 the Asparagus roots are closely set, and a little sod 

 thrown amongst them as the work proceeds, and finally 

 the crowns are covered with about :i inches moreol 

 soil, which is all they receive. I plant at different t.mca, 



in order to regulate the ^VV^^^^^Si 

 cattiB* this season was on the 16th Dec., 185^«dl 



have been cutting regularly since that time 

 the lights that were first cut have ^ n .^ to JfJ"J 

 from these I am cutting at the present time. The fir* 

 five lights produced -500 heads of Asparagus, or 5W 

 Ver light weighing 2 lbs. per 100, which is the average 

 KSry'^weilht per light I have had during , 0* 

 Lt four years. The weight does not appear ^unusuJ, 

 , ... :* L u* ™™mhprpcl that the stalks are all green, 



«' . 





FLOWER-GARDEN WALKS. 

 Is no part of the arrangement of ordinary flower- 

 •gardens is there greater violation of good taste than in 

 the disposition and formation of the walks. Graceless 

 and unmeaning curves, fine lawns spoiled with strips of 

 fiery gravel,* and unsightly junctures, and surfaces in- 

 conveniently convex, are amongst the incongruities one 

 -constantly meets with, especially in the gardens of villa 



•residences* 



If a good lawn is the pride of an English garden, a 

 tastefully disposed and well-formed walk is only second 

 in importance. The beauty of the one only exhibits 

 more glaringly the defects of the other. In the ma- 

 jority of instances walks are too narrow. If you have 

 * walk, let it be at once convenient and in keeping with 

 *the other parts of the garden. However well arranged 

 the lawn and shrubberies may be, a narrow, paltry walk 

 £ives an air of meanness to the whole garden. 



Every deviation in a line of walk should result from 



b visible cause. The contortions so often seen are 



in the worst possible taste, or rather in no taste at all. 



They spe ak as plainly as possible to the fact that the 



• Whj do bo many pcrbons deem a rtd gravel walk an 



^eraameatl 



The surface of walks should be only slightly elevated, 

 and not, as is often seen, perfectly convex— so much so, 

 as to render them inconvenient for walking -on ; merely 

 raised in the centre is all that is necessary The depres- 

 sion below the Grass margin should be but slight, and 

 the elevation only in a corresponding ratio. A couple 

 of inches of bare earth at the sides of a walk constantly 

 kept bare with the edging-iron, cannot be said to add to 

 its beauty. I would banish the edging-iron from the 

 flower-garden walk, and never allow a "raw -edge to 

 be seen! The beauty of a walk so treated is not to be 

 compared with one otherwise dealt with. At the sketch 

 E is represented the section of a walk to be avoided ; at 



forced 

 as we never cut any www «o r - b -v, -- - „ *„„ 4 i.. 



from the open ground. I generally cut ,ust imte the 

 surface, wLn the shoots are about 5 or 6 mches « 

 length/believing it to be a better practice than cut 

 deep in the ground, by which a long, white , usetaa 

 stalk is obtained, very frequently to the injury of the 

 remaining buds, and of no use whatever at table. J. r. 9 

 Stoke Rochford. t 



in Kent, 4} inches ; at Japping, »w« » — > v 



L beek eV»y g£* * proportion throughout Lg 

 land. The average quantity lor the inonth « <****> 

 nearlv the driest month in the year, is U 1 inches , u*» 

 ^anK 'then, has been 2* inches in ? ^ 

 excess. The number of days on which it rained was 

 IsTand on Saturday, the 15th, nearly U inch fcUm 

 15 hours-a circumstance quite unprecedented at Aa 

 season ofAe year. March of 1 8 1 8 was next m wetnea* 

 Sen 3 45 inches in depth fell ; the spring altogether 

 as cold, stormy, and very late, and was followed by » 

 veTy ho , dry summer, which was however, on the 

 Ihole very unproductive. /. Henry Belvxlle, Hyde Vale, 



Greenwich, April 14. ----.. 



The Deodar.- Although it is a duty more befitting 

 the vegetable physiologist than the uncultivated sawyer 

 yet I venture to suggest a reason different from that 

 already given as to the cause of deformity in so many 

 specimens of this otherwise graceful tree. Your com- 

 plainant's case of an obstinately crooked growth is not 

 a solitary|one ; I have seen a great many ^trees m ^ that 

 condition, and at the place Irom which I write .there 

 are several of that distorted class— 10 or 12 feet 



E 



F 



F, one to retain. The effect of the two in reality will 

 not bear comparison, to say nothing of the comfort in 

 walking on the flatter surface, the primary object in the 

 formation of a walk. O.L. 



TRADE MEMORANDA. 

 Mr. George Bodejj, of Peel-place, Hulme, near Man- 

 chester, orders two tons of bone-dust, &c, to be sent 



■ ■ As the bankers to 



his ac- 



from Plymouth to Manchester. 



whom he refers have not the honour of 



know 

 man. 



,„. jmarled crooked parts in their stems, where 



they have been apparently urged into an upright position 

 against their will ; while, at the same time, we have 

 some as beautifully formed as it is possible for them to 

 be, with stems clean and straight, with the exception of 

 the graceful bend at the top, like that of a waggoner a 

 whip. Now I am convinced by experience, that neither 

 soil, situation, nor treatment has made this difference, 

 these being all alike here ; my theory of the cause is 

 this, (and I offer it but as a theory) that the trees com- 

 plained of, and which have given rise to so ranch da- 

 appointment, are cuttings, or have been grafts from 

 others, or have in some way been produced under 

 different circumstances from their more upright growing 

 and better shaped brethren. With me the form is 

 altogether different in what I call the true seedling, 

 from what it is in the spuriously produced specimea. 

 The disposition of the branches is not nearly so uniform 

 in the latter as in the former, and instead of the conical 



ch the most upright trees usually assume 



so close and thick as to hide the ground 



ir as it stretches; the grafted plant, or that 



ttting, generally bears its branches in m 



