476 



THE GABDENEBS' CHRONICLE. 



[October 27, 1888. 



Advertisers are specially requested to note, that, 

 under no circumstances whatever, can any 

 particular position in the paper be guaran- 

 teed for advertisements occupying less space 

 than an entire column. 



Now ready, in cloth, lis. 6d. 

 HTHE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE, 



APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK, 



WEDNESDAY, 

 THURSDAY, 



SHOWS. 



Oct. 31— Havant. 



jj oy , j Alverstoke and Gosport (two days). 

 „ „ ' I Southampton (two days). 



SALES- 



'Dutch Bulbs, at Stevens' Rooms. 



Azaleas, Lilies, Spiraeas, and Dutch 

 Bulbs, at Smail's Rooms. 



Dutch Bulbs, at Protheroe & Morris' 

 Rooms. 



Fruit Trees and Other NurseryStock, 



at the Osborn Nursery, Sunbury, 

 by Protheroe & Morris (two days). 



Freehold Estate (the Osborn Nur- 

 sery), Sunbury, on the Premises, 

 by Protheroe & Morris. 



{Dutch Bulbs, at Stevens* Rooms. 

 Orchids in Flower, at Protheroe & 

 Morris' Rooms. 

 I Named Roses and Dutch Bulbs, at 

 Stevens' Rooms. 

 Azaleas, Lilies, Spira?as, and Dutch 

 Bulbs, at Smail's Rooms. 

 6000 Lilian, auratum, and Other 

 \ Bulbs, at Protheroe & Morns 

 1 Rooms. 



I Nursery Stock, at the Abbey Wood 

 I Nurseries, by Protheroe & Morris 

 \ (two days). 



(Imported and Established Orchids, 

 at Stevens' Rooms. 

 Dutch Bulbs, at Protheroe & Morris' 

 Rooms. 

 Nursery Stock, at the American 

 Nurseries, Leytonstone, by Prc- 

 iheroe & Morris (two days). 



f Azaleas, Lilies, Spiraeas, and Dutcli 



I Bulbs, at Smail's Booms. 



J Imported and Established Orchids, 



Nov. 



(. at Protheroe & Morris' Rooms. 

 /Named Roses and Dutch Bulbs 

 o J Stevens' Rooms. 



at 



Nov. 3^ Dutch D u ii l9] at Protheroe & Morris' 

 (, Rooms. 



It is frequently a matter of sur- 

 Fertility of p r i sej especially to farmers, who 

 are apt to lament the exhaustion 

 of their soils, that gardens that have been 

 cropped for years are so much more fertile as a 

 rule than are their fields. There are many causes 

 for this, such as better drainage, more thorough 

 tillage, a more varied rotation, to say nothing of 

 better shelter. But the main reason why the 

 soil of old gardens is so fertile is, that there is 

 a vast accumulation of animal and vegetable 

 matter, containing organic nitrogen, that is to 

 say, nitrogen in combination with carbon. From 

 an analysis of the soil at Sir John Lawes' gar- 

 den at Rothamsted, it was found that such soil 

 contained neary four times as much nitrogen in 

 the first 9 inches as the average of the adjoining 

 arable soils, and nearly five times as much as the 

 first 9 inches of some exhausted Clover-land soil. 

 Such richness of soil has some disadvantages. 

 Many insects find their food and shelter in the 

 organic matter which is undergoing spontaneous 

 decomposition, and hence many good gardeners, 

 when there is a considerable extent of old garden 

 ground, fallow a portion of it, adding lime or 

 lime rubbish, and plant green crops, such as the 

 more hardy of the Cabbage tribe, which always 

 grow luxuriantly in such soils. After a year or 

 two the superfluous organic matter is converted 

 into nitrate of lime, and is used up by the grow- 

 ing plants. In all soils there exist very minute 

 forms of underground vegetation, invisible to the 

 eye, and the function of which is to separate the 



carbon and hydrogen from the nitrogen, and to 

 unite it with oxygen. But to effect this, lime as 

 a base must be present in the soil, and the com- 

 pound so formed is called nitrate of lime. Hence 

 the advisability of a dressing of lime or lime- 

 rubbish, which not only destroys many insects and 

 grubs in the soil, but helps the growing plants to 

 make use of the rich humus of the ground. 



Another advantage of this course of cropping 

 is that nitric acid as present in the soil contains 

 an immense amount of oxygen, and it is only 

 those particles of carbon which are close to the 

 surface of the soil that can have free access to 

 oxygen ; the constant stirring which the soil 

 receives during the early growth of the plants 

 we have mentioned is doubtless the means of 

 continually exposing fresh surfaces to the action 

 of the air. 



Here, then, comes in another element of suc- 

 cessful gardening, which materially affects the 

 quantity and quality of the produce grown — we 

 refer to the distance between the plants. A 

 frequent fault of many persons is to plant too 

 thickly; if allowed sufficient room the whole 

 crop would be uniform in height and strength, 

 producing a heavier and more equal sample. 

 The wide distances between the plants would 

 also allow of perfect stirring of the soil, and the 

 complete destruction of the weeds. 



All wet soils should be well drained, and all 

 loose soils clayed or marled if possible ; the first 

 should be rendered light by repeated stirring 

 and the addition of long fresh stable-dung, which 

 tends to keep the soil open and admits the 

 oxygen of the air ; the latter consolidated and 

 enriched with well-decomposed manure, and the 

 digging-in of refuse animal and vegetable matter. 

 The crops should be varied as much as pos- 

 sible, alternating Cabbage, Potatos, and such-like 

 gross feeders, with Onions, Carrots, Peas, &c, 

 increasing and economising every kind of 

 manure, and blending it intimately with the soil 

 by deep and constant stirring. 



Whatever may have been the character of the 

 original soil, it will in time become fertile, the 

 only difference being that the rich alluvial soils 

 require much less tillage and manuring to keep 

 up their fertility ; but if they are overcropped 

 and neglected they will soon become deteriorated, 

 and yield less than more inferior soils, which are 

 properly managed. Few men are aware of the 

 value of rich garden soil, compared to that of 

 the poorer classes of soil, until they reckon the 

 expense at which the crops are raised in either. 



It may sometimes be advantageous to buy poor 

 land, but it is so seldom to rent it, and our advice 

 to all young, inexperienced gardeners, who are 

 intending to raise produce for the market is, to 

 seek for land in the richest districts, and to 

 exercise skill and industry in keeping up its fer- 

 tility, rather than in producing it where it did not 

 exist before. 



This meeting terminated on 



The ru?tCoT k Saturda y last > the exhibition 

 feTence. " closing on the following day. We 

 reported last week the proceedings 

 up to Thursday, and gave a full report of the 

 show, the general excellence of which was a sur- 

 prise to most folk, considering the season. In 

 our present issue we resume the publication of 

 the papers read after we went to press last week, 

 and we give a list of the awards made. In study- 

 ing these awards, which show, first, the amount 

 of favour enjoyed throughout the country by each 

 of the best known varieties, and, secondly, the 

 degree of excellence of particular varieties as 

 shown on this occasion, the objects of the exhi- 

 bition and Conference must be borne in mind, 



Selection, and not indiscriminate representation 

 of varieties, still less quantity, was the main 

 object. In this way it is hoped that the culti- 

 vator's embarrassment as to what variety to plant 

 will be materially lessened, and that growers for 

 profit — market growers — may learn what is 

 most likely to answer their purpose. In this 

 latter point there is a good deal of whimsical 

 caprice, which is hard to account for. An Apple 

 may have all the qualities that may be desirable, 

 but if it is not in favour with the dealers or the 

 public, it is valueless as a market Apple. We 

 heard in the course of the week some curious 

 stories about really fine samples of Cellini Pippin 

 being unsaleable in the market. 



The general impression is that the Congress was 

 a success, the show excellent, the papers practical 

 and to the point, and at the end a resolution was 

 passed urging on the Royal Horticultural Society 

 the desirability of the appointment of a com- 

 mittee to deal with the economic and fiscal 

 questions raised, including railway rates ; and 

 another urging on the Council of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society the propriety of develop- 

 ing the resources of Chiswick to a greater extent 

 than at present. 



Great satisfaction was felt at the line of policy 

 followed by the present Council, and especially by 

 the holding of so important a Conference in so 

 appropriate a locality as Chiswick. Those inte- 

 rested in fruits and fruit-culture will have a good 

 deal to interest them during the next few weeks, 

 and the Chrysanthemums will be upon us before 

 they or we can digest the matter properly ; but 

 one and all will thankfully appreciate the good 

 efforts the Society has made to assert itself in so 

 good a cause. 



Messrs. Carter, showed a large 

 veiretaMo basket of the vegetable known in 



the Paris markets as " Crosnes," at 

 the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society on Tuesday ; and at the Crystal Palace 

 hardy fruit show Messrs. Sutton also showed 

 specimens. It really consists of the tuberous 

 rootstock of a species of Stachys known pro- 

 visionally as S. tuberifera, and closely allied 

 to the Woundwort of our hedges. Its culture 

 is of the easiest — in fact, nothing more is requi- 

 site than to place the tubers in the ground, as 

 we can testify. We placed some of ours in the 

 open border last autumn, whilst other tubers 

 were grown throughout the winter in a pot in a 

 cold frame, and planted out in spring. K either the 

 one nor the other received the slightest attention 

 on our parts, but in spite of that, our carelessness 

 was rewarded, as it ought not to have been, by an 

 abundant crop. In flavour, when boiled, it is 

 something between a Jerusalem Artichoke and 

 a boiled Chestnut. We have no doubt, that with 

 proper cultivation, we shall have a vegetable that 

 will be of great service in securing variety at the 

 dinner-table, though we cannot pretend to look 

 upon it as more than a delicacy, of relatively 

 little value as a food crop, though the profusion 

 with which its tubers are formed, and the ease 

 with which they may be multiplied by using each 

 joint as a " set," may possibly give it some value 

 in this respect. 



It requires only little experience of what a 

 French cook can do to foresee the variety of 

 ways in which such an artist would dish up 

 these dainty little tubers. We may expect, as 

 usual, some prejudice to arise at first sight, 

 indeed, we have heard of some people objecting 

 to them on the ground of their resemblance to 

 caterpillars ! The resemblance is not very close, 

 but we all know how obstructive such prejudices 



