ISG 



JOURNAL OF HOETICITLTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ March 7, 1865. 



the tree. If to this be added iDJudicious pruning and cold 

 undrained borders, what possible chance of success cai) be 

 expected ? 



Let U3, then, be very careful to secure such an aspect as 

 shall best ripen the wood ; then shelter from cold currents 

 of wind mingled with rain must be obtained. Generally 

 speaking such shelter should be perpendicular, facing the wall. 

 Air is elastic and readily turned aside. Openings, however 

 small, must increase the violence of the blast. Plunging 

 winds without outlet, as in the case of small gardens en- 

 closed by high walls, are extremely unfavourable. Imagine 

 fach a rush of air for hours together, and directed against 

 unsheltered trees, and this dui'ing a period of low tempera- 

 ture, and then you wiU feel no surprise at their being un- 

 productive and diseased. 



Every advantage, then, must be taken of neighbouring 

 shelter in laying out a gai'den. On the western coasts the 

 general exposure of the whole garden should bo sheltered 

 from the south-west quarter. In the Channel Islands, 

 exposed as they are to the force of the Atlantic gales, this 

 is cai-efuUy studied. Each year brings disasters to our 

 gardens, and we do not so much dread winds from an eastern 

 quarter as from a western. In tlie eastern counties of Eng- 

 land, however, all testimony goes to prove how fearfully 

 destructive to the tender leaves and shoots of the Peach are 

 the cold evaporating effects of a continuous east wind. Above 

 all, let the amateur du'cet bis attention to securing this 

 shelter without losing unnecessarily one precious raj' of sun- 

 shine in our cloudy regions : therefore the protection must 

 be somewhat distant from the trees and yet not too iar. 

 On very long walls temporary screens placed across the 

 borders so as to deflect the scud of the wind are advantage- 

 ous, but buttresses to the walls throw a dangerous shade, 

 and are not to be recommended. 



The material of which the wall is constructed is not very 

 important. Brick seems on the whole the best materia), 

 and wh-e trellisses are, no doubt, by far the best to use for 

 training purposes and for obtaining beautiful forms ; still 

 the old shreds of cloth have many advantages, as have also 

 studs fixed in the wall for training to them with soft wire. 

 The great object is to secure the radiated heat of the wall. 

 It is astonishing what a difference an inch makes in this 

 ■way. Some have even recommended obtaining a succession 

 of crops by varying the space between the branches and the 

 waU, but modern practice relies more on the numerous 

 varieties of fruit now known. 



The " Modern Peach-pruner " has no faith in the practical 

 utility of heated walls. What are glazed coverings for Peach 

 walls but narrow and stifling contrivances to eUect what 

 wide and commodious orchard-houses do so much better 'i 

 "When once we desert the time-honoured open v.all, now so 

 elaborately furnished with Poach appliances, why should we 

 adopt half-measures and middle courses 'i not to speak of 

 the great advantage of combining the two methods so as to 

 secure the best of each. I mean that in a combination of a 

 good Peach wall, with a properlj'-managed orchard-house, 

 the amateur will find everything he can reasonably desire. 

 This, at least, is within the reach of many, whilst the more 

 expensive heated Peach-house can still be added by such as 

 wish an earlier produce. — T. C. Brkhaut, Richmond House, 

 Guernsey. 



SOIL SUITABLE FOE THE IIHODODENDEOK. 

 Some years ago the Eoyal Agricultural Society offered a 

 prize for the best essay on the causes of fertility in soils, 

 but the different writers were far from unanimous in the con- 

 flnsions to which they came. One fact, however, was adduced, 

 or rather an old idea was confirmed, that certain classes of 

 plants require food of a widely different character from 

 others— hence the different plants found wild in different 

 localities — and that if the soil is of an extreme character 

 the presence or absence of these plants affords a tolerably 

 good indication of what cultivated plants will thrive on the 

 spot. On tlie other hand, there are intermediate soils which 

 are much more difficult to understand than those of an ex- 

 treme character, and now and then failures take place witli 

 them of a kind neither looked for nor easily explained; but 

 until chemistry aagistg us with some easy mode of testing 

 soihi we must be coutc-nt wUh occasionally stumbling in 



the dark ; and as one of the errors alluded to occurred here 

 with plants under my own management, I deem it quite as 

 much a matter of propriety to make it known as if unex- 

 pected success had followed the operation. The case was 

 this. 



About three years ago it was determined to take into the 

 dressed grounds a piece of pasture land that was well 

 sheltered on all windy sides by high and thriving trees. 

 The soil was what would be considered by a farmer all that 

 he could wish for, being deep, mellow, and sufficiently dry 

 to require no artificial draining, yet not so hot as to suffer too 

 much fi-om long-continued drought in summer. The soU 

 at 21 feet down looked almost as good as at the top, and the 

 stony subsoil below that was so favourable to the roots of 

 trees, that I expect some have made their way for 10 or 

 12 feet downwards ; for in sinking a well some distance from 

 the place, but in soil of a similar description, roots of trees 

 were found 22 feet below the surface. This I merely mention 

 to prove the healthy character of the subsoil, or, at least, to 

 show that it favoured the growth of certain trees, while the 

 surface produced us the heaviest crops of hay we had any- 

 where. I may also add, that most forest trees throve well. 

 Elms particularly so; while not very many yards off were 

 some old Apple trees with boles approaching the size of mode- 

 rately large timber trees, and although these patriarchs had 

 ceased to be depended on for producing a crop, now and 

 then they did furnish us with a few bushels of kinds that 

 seemed to have passed out of cultivation, but which are, 

 nevertheless, not without merit. I might also add, that most 

 shrubs and Conifers seemed to do well in this soil, Piuus 

 Douglasii excepted, and that probably from some cause that 

 might be accounted for in another way. It was thought ad- 

 visable to try Rhododendrons on this newly-enclosed plot, 

 and as these have not prospered as well as could be wished, 

 some description of the mode adopted may, perhaps, pre- 

 vent others falling into a like ei-ror. At all events it will 

 show, that a soil so good in many respects was, nevertheless, 

 deficient in some of the qualities required by the llhododen- 

 dron ; while the common Laurel, Laurustinus, and several 

 species of Cupressus, Pinus, and Welliugtonia flourished, 

 the Rhododendrons dragged on a wretched existence, some, 

 though not many, dying, and the most of them merely 

 growing 2 or 3 inches, and having naked stems. 



Now, though I attribute the non-success of the Rhododen- 

 drons in a great measure to the natural soil of the place, I 

 am not certain that it is entirely due to that cause, and have 

 sometimes had doubis whether the mode I took to promote 

 their well-doing might not have had a contrary tendency. I 

 may state, that we have no good black heath mould in this 

 neighbourhood, and have to bring it ten or a dozen miles, 

 consequently, it cannot be had for out-door purposes so 

 freely as desirable. A cartload or two of boggy peat was 

 sent me from a shorter distance, this I soon found out 

 would not do for potted plants, but anxious to turn it to 

 account, I mixed it with other ingredients — as leaf mould, 

 sand, and the refuse of a timber-yard, making the whole 

 into a large heap. The beds for Rhododendrons having 

 been prepared by trenching, about half a barrowload of this 

 mixture was used around the ball of each jjlant. The 

 weather at the time was favourable to planting, and although 

 the spring was somewhat dry, I expected better results than 

 what followed, or, at least, that the plants would have done 

 better the following year, but such has not been the case. I 

 have, tlierefore, come to the conclusion, that there is some- 

 thing radically wrong, and although I may possibly be 

 wrong in my surmise as to the cause of the non-success of 

 the Khododendi'on, I wiU, nevertheless, state what I con- 

 ceive it to be, and will afterwaids record an instance of 

 failure in the cultivation of this plant in a widely different 

 case. 



I have said that a portion of tho mixture applied imme- 

 diately around the bull f.f tho newly-planted shrubs was a 

 black boggy peat, which evidently contained mineral sub- 

 stances pernicious to tlie Rhododendron, at least it was so 

 to Heaths and Azaleas, and excepting tho coarse marsh 

 plants which it supported in its natural bog, I should think 

 it was ill-adapted lor anything else ; but I expected that by 

 mixing the peat with five or six times its bulk of other sub- 

 stances, its injurious qualities might have been modified, or, 

 perhaps, neutralised. I have also stated that some refuse 



