May 16, 186^ ] 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



373 



they can then be planted out at any time, either that, or 

 transplanting with a ball, being: necessary to the success of 

 many kinds. A few will succeed without this care, but the 

 majority require attention in planting and watering until 

 established. 



After blooming the dead flower-stems and those seeding 

 •should be cut away, the clumps or patches reduced if too 

 lai-ge, thinned out, and weeded. In spring a little fresh soil 

 may be placed around those which from want of soil do not 

 •spread so much as desired. The whole should be gone over 

 twice a-year — in spring to add a little fresh soU. to such as 

 requii'e it, to see that none are suffering from want of room, 

 and to replace the dead with fresh plants ; and again in 

 autumn to remove, all decayed foliage and give the whole a 

 tidy appearance. At other times rock plants require but 

 little attention beyond an occasional weeding in summer, 

 watering in dry weather, and now and then a little regu- 

 lation to prevent those of less luxuriant growth being 

 smothered by their more vigorous neighbours. "Want of 

 attention, however, to these simple matters will seriously 

 affect them in time, and a goodly selection will dwindle down 

 to a very feiv kinds, and these, the commoner and more 

 hardy. Eook plants, are a very numerous class ; and to give 

 an account of all that we have at present in cultivation 

 "would be extremely tedious. I can only, therefore, note on a 

 future occasion some of the more conspicuous. — G. Abbey. 



IMPOETANCE OF AN ABmSTDANT WATEK 

 SUPPLY. 



We cannot command the sun — the fire queen; but water 

 •we can supply. We can, in some measure, obtain aitificial 

 lieat. T fancy that in time we shall geothermalise our gar- 

 dens with hot-water pipes, and also lay down tramways for 

 the easier transport of water. When we get an excess of 

 sun, vegetation languishes, and when we have an excess of 

 rain in a sunless summer, for want of heat and an equi- 

 valent evaporation, plants in our gardens put on sere and 

 yellow leaves. Our gardeners often fail, and are blamed for 

 faults not their own. How often do we see in large gardens 

 only one pump, and that one in an inconvenient place to 

 make the most of it. 



Three of the most necessary things to look to, in selecting 

 ground for a garden, are the capacity for free drainage, 

 access to the sun's rays, and an adequate supply of water. 

 A garden should be flat, and in the case of one pump, tram- 

 ways should be laid down, and the water should be conveyed 

 'by water-carts drawn by a donkey or by a man. In either 

 case much water may be conveyed with proportionately little 

 effort. There is, however, another way still easier. Water- 

 ■tanks on raised brickwork may be established near the 

 pump. By a forcing-pump the water from the pump may 

 be lifted into the tanks, hose of sufficient length to reach 

 all parts of the garden, may be attached to the tanks and 

 without further effort, by turning the screw, a man may 

 " stand at ease," and water copiously the languishing plants. 

 At a large establishment near here this is done. By ma- 

 chinery turned by a horse the water is forced up to the 

 reservoir on the top of the stables, which are above the 

 garden. It descends thence by a pipe, to which a hose is 

 attached. I have myself watered with it the bedding plants 

 effectually on a broiling summer's da^. Nor is water less 

 essential for culinary plants in eVich a summer as the last. 

 There is, however, one plant to which I am more attached 

 than to anw o'cner, which needs for ths clsansing of its 

 lonage, and also for other purposes, a deal of water in a 

 burning summer — namely, the Kose. 



_ The sun's power of exhausting moisture is beyond concep- 

 tion. Strong lands for a while supply the plant with moisture 

 by capillary attraction ; but as soon as the moisture is ex- 

 hausted the sun bakes the land into a concrete, and burns 

 up the rootlets. The plant, of course, will do no more that 

 year, even if it do not die. Nor is this the case with 

 Eoses only. Were Beans and Peas invested with a voice, 

 they would tell you of the necessity last summer for rain, or 

 " aqua pumpaginis." What multitudes of things are burned 

 up, or so checked before rain comes, that they are spoiled 

 «very torrid summer. 



To show bow much we owe to Providence for the supply 



of rain, I copied (when I -wrote this article, some months 

 back), the following from the Evening Mail : — 



" The deficiency of rainfall." " Few people have an ade- 

 quate idea of what is really implied, when the Kegistrar- 

 General reports, that the deficiency of rainfall at Greenwich 

 in the last two years has amounted to nearly 14 inches. If 

 that is an average instance, respecting deficiency in the 

 country generally, then the quantity of rain in England and 

 Wales in 1863 and 1884, has been below the usual quantity by 

 at least 52,000,000,000 tons of weight of water, or 500,000,000 

 tons per week." 



In my small place I have three pumps. Nothing that I 

 care for ever lacks water. I love a dry summer and a West 

 Indian sun. As the sun burns so I pump. Owing to this, 

 last summer I had fruits in perfection, and a daily exhibition 

 of Eoses. The earth was as hot as a frying-pan. For lack 

 of water no doubt many people's Eoses suffered in their 

 roots, and have been finished up by zero ; but I have lost 

 hardly any, and from summer-watering and winter-strawing 

 I never had them in such splendid condition as they are 

 now. The same may be said of the Strawberry plants and 

 other things, all of which were kept well supplied with 

 water. 



It is to be hoped that proprietors of gardens, especially of 

 large ones, will place at the head gardener's disposal suffi- 

 cient water power. Without this, in such a summer as the 

 last, he must be signally defeated. When the gardeners of 

 England read this attempt to aid them, I have no doubt 

 they will cry loudly, " hear, hear ! " — W. F. Eadolttfe, 

 Tarrant Btishton, Blandford. 



FEUIT TEEES EST CULTIVATED AND OTHEE 

 GEOUND. 



Some time ago Mr. Fish called attention to the fact that 

 fruit trees are occasionally to be met with in a highly pro- 

 ductive condition, although, so far as tillage of the ground 

 is concerned, their roots are sealed up from the external air. 

 Examples of this often present themselves, and now and 

 then cases of an extreme character appear. It is not un- 

 usual to see a Pear tree occupying, perhaps, 400 or 500 square 

 feet of wall, although its roots are under a stone or brick 

 pavement, or, it may be, a macadamised road, and yet the 

 health and fruit-bearing properties of the tree are all that 

 can be desired. And why should it not be so ? Nature 

 presents us with examples of other kinds : an old Oak, 

 around whose venerable stem the children of several gene- 

 rations may have gathered acorns, continues to put forth 

 green leaves, and to bear its accustomed crop, with no more 

 breaking up of the soil than that which arises from the 

 action of frost ; and probably Nature requires no more — at 

 all events we see her work effectually performed without 

 our assistance in the case of the Oak. The Hawthorn, 

 Tew, and, in fact, timber trees of all kinds, carry on their 

 growth in a manner which we cannot well improve upon — 

 and all without the spade. Hence it becomes necessary to 

 pause ere we too confidently affirm its utility in the case of 

 fruit trees that have attained a fair bearing size. At the 

 same time there are some considerations which ought to have 

 due weight in arriving at a decision in their case. 



In general great rapidity of growth is rarely wanted in 

 any fruit tree except it be the Vine, or when, in some special 

 case, a tree is wanted to occupy a given space as quickly as 

 possible. More generally, however, a moderate growth and 

 lirm weil-l-ipened shoots are desirable, and to obtain the 

 latter, deep rich soil ia, perhaps, not the best medium, un- 

 less it should happen that the summer, more especially the 

 latter part of it, be dry and warm, so as to ripen instead of 

 prolonging the growth of the young shoots. Mr. Fish justly 

 observes, that ground having a hard firm surface is some- 

 what warmer than it would be if it had the loose texture 

 given it by tillage, and we may give the warmer and drier 

 medium the credit of ripening insceag o: piolonging the 

 growth of whatever it may be cropped with. Now, in the 

 case of fruit trees, early growth and its proper ripening are 

 of the greatest importance, while wUll kitchen-garden crops, 

 especially of certain kinds, the reverse state of things is 

 wanted ; and to combine the CuUure of the two, as is often 

 dQHe, mftst, of conrge, entail a iomewhat intermediate course. 



