6S 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENE11. 



[ July 27, 1876. 



nation, nor to guard the stigma from fertilisation by insects, 

 though it may not be undesirable to do so. 



I know not but everybody is aware of the chasteness of Pan- 

 sies in a eat state. Done up in little bunches of half a dozen, 

 and surrounded with leaves of Viola pedata or the Pheasant's 

 Foot Pelargonium (P. dentioulatum), they are really charming, 

 at being astonishing what a quantity and continuance of flowers 

 these plants afford when the flowers are picked as they expand 

 and the plants kept from seeding. 



I certainly advise everyone with but a few square yards of 

 ground to invest in a packet of seed of show and another of 

 fancy (Belgian or French) Pansy, oonvinced that no plants will 

 for a similar expenditure afford such a profusion of bloom for 

 so lengthened a period in so much variety, and of enjoyment 

 to the purchaser. — G. Abbey. 



PROTECTING FRUIT. 



•In the spring time there is generally a great deal of labour 

 and expense devoted to the protection of fruit blossom from 

 frost and oold winds, but in many instances there is quite as 

 much attention required to protect the fruit when ripe and 

 ripening from birds and other destroyers. About this time, 

 and farther on in the season as fruit becomes ripe, it is surpris- 

 ing how very quickly a large quantity will be destroyed if not 

 securely protected. Market gardeners do not generally suffer 

 so much loss in this way as their private friends do. The pro- 

 ductions of the former are never allowed to hang long after 

 they are fit for eating ; and as most market gardens are in the 

 neighbourhood of towns, birds and other fruit pests are not so 

 plentiful as they are in well-wooded country localities. Small 

 outdoor fruits, such as Strawberries, Currants, and Goose- 

 berries, are much eaten by birds when they have the slightest 

 access to them. 



As protection for these nothing better can be used than 

 herring nets. In well-arranged gardens permanent provision 

 is made for putting on these when required. This generally 

 consists in driving stubs 4 or 5 feet long into the ground about 

 10 or 12 feet apart, and fixing long rails on the top so as to 

 reach from post to post. When the fruit is gaining maturity 

 the nets are stretched over the top of these rafters and fixed 

 aroand the edge with wooden pegs. When any fruit is 

 wanted it is only necessary to pull out a few of the pegs, 

 lift the net, and walk underneath. In many instances the 

 nets are allowed to rest on the tops of the bushes ; but this 

 is a bad plan, as the point shoots are not only injured, but 

 with such as Red Currants the birds can often sit on the net 

 and pick the fruit through. Besides, when fruit has to be 

 gathered the whole net has to be removed and again replaced. 

 Strawberries are often protected in the same way, the net 

 being allowed to lie on the top of the leaves when it has to be 

 •dragged about before any fruit oan be obtained. Fixing rails 

 may Beem rather expensive at first, but it is the most satis- 

 factory way in the end. If the rails are put up when a young 

 plantation of suoh as Gooseberries or Currants are made they 

 will last as long as the bushes remain in a prime-bearing state, 

 and do not interfere in the least with the growth or anything 

 which may require doing about the bushes. " Herding," or 

 scaring the birds from small fruits, is a very tedious operation, 

 •of which we had a good deal of experience at one time ; but it 

 is only where there are plenty of "hands" that this can be 

 done, and then it is not so efficient as the nets. 



Cherries are generally very subject to the attack of birds, and 

 as this fruit is mostly grown on walls netting must again be 

 [resorted to. The net should be of sufficient width to reach 

 from the top to the bottom of the wall. In fixing it should 

 be nailed along the top of the wall, and allowed to hang 

 over. There are two very good ways of holding the net a 

 distance from the tree. The one is to drive long stakes into 

 ihe ground 4 or 5 feet apart and about 1J foot from the wall, 

 and peg the net down the outside of these ; the other, but not 

 such a convenient way, is to fix pieoes of stick here and there 

 in the face of the wall with a forked projecting end about a foot 

 from the wall, and let the net reBt against this. 



Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, Plums, and the finer kinds 

 -of Pears are not only eaten by birds, but wasps and large 

 flies do much harm to the ripe fruit. To prevent this very 

 ■closely meshed netting has to be used. This should be put 

 ■on in the same way as the other nets on the walls ; but this 

 &ind of netting should never be used until the fruit is all 

 bat ripe, as it shades from the sun very much, and to do this 

 while the fruit is not nearly ripe the flavour is very liable 



to be deficient. Wasps are often more destructive on stone 

 fruits than any other kind of pest. Like birds, they are only 

 plentiful where there are many woods. Any trees on which 

 there are only a few fruits may have them proteoted by placing 

 a small piece of netting over each fruit. Isolated standard 

 trees should be surrounded with a few stakes and wrapped 

 round with netting. In all cases where permanent supports 

 can be fixed this should be done, as they are not only con- 

 venient and useful when the fruit is ripening, but in spring 

 when the blossom requires to be sheltered they are of great 

 assistance. 



Tender indoor fruits, especially Grapes and Peaches, are 

 greedily devoured by wasps, and sometimes by birds. The very 

 line-meshed netting or tiffany should be nailed over all the 

 ventilators which are opened, as in the outside. This is the 

 best plan which can be adopted. Bunches of Grapes are some- 

 times tied in paper bags. In this the fruit oannot be seen, and 

 unless the bag is taken off every other day, which spoils the 

 bloom, decay may take place before it is noticed. 



Bottles of sour beer are often hung up amongst Grapes. A 

 few waspa and flies may find their way into them, but when 

 once they are admitted into the vinery the most of them seem 

 to prefer the fruit. — J. Mtjib. 



IVY. 



Ivy is one of the most common, yet certainly the most useful, 

 of all climbing plants. Its hardiness, its evergreen character, 

 its free growth, its close dense habit, its glossy foliage, its 

 chaste venation, and the effective variegation of some of the 

 varieties being recommendatory qualities of the highest order. 

 Ivy is applicable for many purposes of shelter and modes of 

 decoration. Used as a covering for screens and rustic fences it 

 affords perfect shelter againBt cuttiDg winds, and also from sun ; 

 and as screens for the drawing-room it breaks alike draughts 

 of heat or cold without any material injury accruing to itself. 

 For covering walls, buildings, or ruins it is well known to be 

 the best of all plants, and instead of making such walls and 

 buildings wet it has really the opposite effect of making them 

 more dry than before. 



In the garden Ivy is more extensively used than formerly — 

 the green free-growing kinds as edgings to walks; the closer- 

 growing kinds as coverings for banks, rockeries, and rooteries ; 

 and the choicer sorts for staircase, hall, corridor, and even 

 conservatory decoration. For all these purposes Ivy is par- 

 ticularly worthy of being employed, while for covering low walls 

 in almost all sorts of positions and with all aspects a collec- 

 tion of the choice variegated kinds are extremely ornamental. 



As pot plants for associating with groups of flowering plants 

 well-trained specimens of Ivy are not only amongst the fineBt, 

 but are the most easily preserved and permanent of plants. 

 How effective are pyramids of Ivy was strikingly exemplified 

 at the great Show at South Kensington last year, when the 

 nurserymen made the grand and spontaneous offering of the 

 best of their collections, producing an exhibition which has not 

 been equalled in London for many years. Fine aB were all the 

 collections then exhibited — rich, valuable, and rare as were 

 many of the plants composing the groups — yet no bank was 

 more strikingly ornamental and won higher encomiums of 

 praise than the group of specimen Ivies associated with Lilinm 

 auratum from Mr. Turner of Slough. 



Ivies in a small state are also admirable for the furnishing 

 of window boxes, balconies, hanging baskets for indoors and 

 out, and the variegated kinds for lively edgings for flower beds 

 in winter. The uses of this plant in its several varieties are 

 so manifold that there is no wonder that the demand for 

 plants is increasing year by year, and very large supplies have 

 to be provided to meet the evergrowing requirements for this 

 now popular plant. I was so struck with the effect of the fine 

 plants noted above that I obtained a few, and nothing in my 

 garden has afforded me more pleasure than my collection of 

 Ivies, and few plants are more admired by my friends and 

 visitors. I have the satisfaction, too, of feeling that they are so 

 safely established that no weather will injure them, but that 

 they will improve year by year with a minimum share of at- 

 tention being bestowed on them. Some eortB are slow growers, 

 but that is an advantage for many purposeB of decoration, ad- 

 mitting the plants to places where luxuriant growers would be 

 quite unsuitable. 



To those having much decoration to provide for special occa- 

 sions, and are in an atmosphere unsuitable for the majority 

 of plants, I can imagine no store more useful than a reeerva 



