May 9, 1865, ] 



JOITENAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



361 



scarcely possible to givo them sufficient moisture, so tliat 

 they might retain their vitality, unless some means had been 

 adopted of shading them. As the weather has been you 

 might have syringed them every half-hour overhead, and 

 then found that you could not have kept them moist 

 enough. For the purpose of causing the sap to circulate 

 between the roots and branches in seasons like the pre- 

 sent, it is always advisable to stick branches of Spruce 

 or Laurel thickly round newly-planted trees, so that the 

 trees may be protected from the direct rays of the sun. 

 They also help to retain the moistm-e about the ti'ees for 

 a much longer time after these have been syringed. We 

 remember seeing some years ago a large number of trees 

 of Cedar of Lebanon, Araucaria, Deodar-, Evergreen Oak, 

 &c., planted late in the spring in a very similar season 

 to this. They were planted in very elevated positions in 

 the neighbourhood of Dorking, and were constantly watered 

 with nothing but hard water, but similar precautions were 

 taken to those mentioned above with regard to shading, 

 and not a plant was lost. Some of the finest Grapes have 

 been grown in the neighbom-hood of Dorking, though the 

 Vines have been watered with nothing but hard water. There 

 is no doubt but that haa-d water if pumped out of the well 

 and left for several hours exposed to the action of the air 

 would lose a very large portion of its injurious proper- 

 ties. We should, therefore, mainly attribute the loss of 

 your trees to the want of sufficient atmospheric moisture, 

 or there may not have been proper care taken in planting 

 them, they may have travelled a long distance by rail, or 

 delays may have taken place in their transit, so that their 

 roots may have perished before they reached you. All these 

 things should be duly considered before we can arrive at 

 any definite cause of their death. 



We have often seen trees planted so carelessly that we 

 are not siu-prised to hear of their not doing well. Many 

 people win dig a deep hole for them, the tree is placed in 

 the bottom of the hole, care is not taken to spread out the 

 roots, the soil is thrown in carelessly, and the tree is, of 

 course, expected to live. These are two of the rocks on 

 which many split in planting trees. One of the very worst 

 things that can be done is to plant trees deep ; the upper or 

 collar reots should be as nearly level with the surface as pos- 

 sible, so that water in any quantity may not lodge about 

 the roots, and a little hiUoek should be thrown up around 

 the collar of the tree to encourage root-action near the 

 surface. The ripening influence of the sun and air can 

 then have proper effect on the roots, thereby causing the 

 tree to grow less luxuriantly, but helping it the better 

 to mature its growth, and enabling it to withstand severe 

 weather and strong gales of wind, and, if it is a fruit 

 tree, to furnish itself with fmit buds instead of rank wood 

 buds. The next evil to be avoided in planting trees is the 

 cramping and doubling-back of their roots under the bole of 

 the tree, and care should be always taken to have tlie centre 

 of the hole the highest. When the tree is placed in the 

 hole all the roots should be nicely straightened out, small 

 quantities of fine soil should then be sprinkled amongst 

 them. After the bottom layer of roots has been made fast 

 with soil, which is done by shaking them up with a fork 

 whilst the soil is being thrown about them, they should have 

 a good soaking of water to consolidate the soil about 

 them. This should be carried on until the hole is filled 

 up, taking care that the roots shall be as nearly as possible 

 in the same position after the tree is planted as they were in 

 before it was moved. In giving this explanation of our 

 mode of planting a tree we do not say that your trees were 

 not planted properly, we are only citing instances that have 

 come under our notice, and describing our experience for 

 the benefit of those who may not be acquainted with these 

 important facts. — J. Wills.] 



Gourd, and when they have attained a growth of 12 or 

 15 inches cut off the head about 4 inches above the seed- 

 leaves, then take a young shoot fi-om a Melon plant that is 

 approaching to a fruiting state, graft it on the Gourd in the 

 way that is called herbaceous grafting, the most simple of 

 all modes of grafting, as it is merely cutting off a slice fi:om 

 the graft and ditto from the stock, fitting the surfaces of 

 each accurately, and binding the graft to the stock gently 

 with a piece of worsted. When the operation is completed 

 the grafted stock should be placed under a bell-glass in 

 moist heat or in any confined place tUl a union has taken 

 place, which ought to be in a few days. They should then be 

 cautiously exposed to the growing atmosphere they require, 

 and cultivated as Melons usually are. One caution I must 

 give, the graft or scion must always be kept above the soil, 

 so that it cannot put forth roots — all its food must come 

 from the stock. The effects of grafting are so remarkable 

 in fruit tree culture that I am inclined to think this simple 

 experiment worth trying. — Ctrcums Melo. 



GEAFTING MELONS. 



Allow me to point out to your numerous readers a very 

 interesting experiment which may or may not be new, that 

 of grafting Melons on Vegetable Marrow plants. Pumpkins, 

 or, in fact, on any strong-growing sort of Gourd. 



The way and the time to do it should be as follows : — 

 Raise from seed some plants of a vigorous-growing sort of 



POETEAITS OF PLAJNTTS, FLOV^EES, AND 

 FEUITS. 



BiLLEEEGLi OLBNS (Stinting Billbergia). Nat. ord.. Bro- 

 meliaceae. Linn., Hexandria Monogynia. — Probably a native 

 of Tropical America. Floral leaves crimson ; corolla purple. 

 Only the old decaying flowers emit the stench which sug- 

 gested the specific name. — (Bot. Mag., t. 5502.) 



AsTELiA SoLANDEi (Dr. Solauder's AsteUa). Nat ord., 

 Liliaoete. Linn., Diceoia Hexandria. — ^Native of New Zealand, 

 where it grows commonly on the trunks of trees. Flowers 

 yellow, in a very crowded panicle. — {Ibid., t. 5503.) 



Cattleta qtjadeicolob (Four-coloured Cattleya). Nat. 

 ord., Orchidacese. Linn., Gynandria Blonandria. — Native of 

 the banks of the Rio Magdalena, New Grenada. Lip purple, 

 yellow, white, and lilac. — {Ihid., i. 5504.) 



Masdevallia tovakensis (The Tovar MasdevaUia). Nat. 

 ord., Orchidaceffi. Linn., Gynandria Monandria. — Native of 

 Tovar, in Columbia, at an elevation of several thousand 

 feet. One of the genus that flourishes in a lower tempera- 

 ture than almost any other genus of Orchids. Flowers 

 white, partially tinged with pink. — (Ibid., t. 5505.) 



MoNOCH^TUM dickananthebuii (Dicranantherous Mono- 

 ehajtum). Nat. ord., Melastomacefe. Linn., Ootandria Mo- 

 nogynia. — Native of the lofty Andes. Flowers pink, " an 

 excessively pretty plaut, deserving a place in every warm 

 greenhouse, where it flowers in October." — (Ibid., t. 5506.) 



AKIS.EMA WiGHTii (Dr. Wight's Ai-isoema). Nat. ord., 

 AroideaB. Linn., Monoecia Monandria. — Native of Ceylon. 

 Spathe and spadix uniform pale yellowish green. — (I6id., 

 t. 5507.) 



Tea Rose, Marechal Niel. — Raised in the south of Prance. 

 Lemon-coloured. — (Floral Mig., pi. 237.) 



HovEA pungens majok. — Native of Swan River. Flowers 

 purple.— (ifcicZ., pi. 238.) 



Vakiegated Chrtsanthemxtm, Sensation. Flowers white, 

 ranunculus-shaped. Leaves margined regularly with yel- 

 lowish white.— (IfcicZ., pi. 239.) 



Vekeejjas.— George Tye, purple with lemon-coloured eye. 

 Charles Turner, French white, with rosy crimson centre. 

 Queen of Pinlcs, bright pink with yellow eye. AU raised by 

 Mr. Perry, and on sale at Mr. Turner's. — (Ibid., i. 239.) 



Atjcuea japonica. — Female plant with its ripe fruit. 

 " The reason we have been so long ignorant of the full merit 

 of the Aucuba japonica arises out of the fact that tlie plant 

 is dicecious — ^producing its stamen-bearing flowers on one 

 plant, and its pistil-bearing flowers on another. AU the 

 Aucubas we possessed in this country, tiU quite recently, 

 were of the latter kind, all, doubtless, the progeny of one 

 originally-imported individual : and hence, as we had no 

 fertilising pollen, om- poor Aucuba blossomed uselessly so 

 far as concerned the production of its ornamental berries. 

 To Mr. Fortune belongs the credit of giving- us the fh-st 

 male Aucuba; and the spring of 1S63 wiU be famous in the 

 annals of horticulture as that in which English gardeners 

 first saw, through the agency of these male plants of Mr. 

 Fortune's, the first berry-laden bush produced in Europe. 



" This plant is that which our plate represents, as grown 

 by Mr. Standish, of the Ascot Nui-series. It also — that is to 



