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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 12, 1876. 



time. Say a border has to be planted with four rows, and the 

 plants are to be put in 3 feet apart — it must not be Isbs than 

 this — a line shonld be stretched 18 ineheB from the edge, the 

 sticks should then be driven well into the ground where it is 

 intended to plant the Dahlias, and the front-row sticks should 

 be about 3 feet out of the ground, the next row may be 9 inches 

 higher, and so on, which will make the back or fourth row 

 5 feet 3 inches. A fair-sized hole should be taken out in front 

 of each stick, and a compost of turfy loam, a little decayed 

 manure, and leaf soil mixed together should be placed in the 

 holes, and in this the Dahlias must be planted, fastening each 

 securely to its stick with a stout strip of matting. As the 

 plants progress in growth, which they will do rapidly if no 

 check is received from cold, the side growths must be thinned 

 out, and when those that remain are grown sufficiently sticks 

 must be put in to support them. The Dahlia grows at a very 

 rapid rate, and in this stage it takes up a large supply of strong 

 food. The surface of the ground should be covered with short 

 manure, and when the dry season sets in the plants require 

 plenty of water. It is necessary to shade the flowers if they 

 are intended for exhibition, and a very watchful eye must be 

 given for earwigs, which are remarkably fond of the petals. 

 This pest must be constantly trapped, either by placing small 

 pots inverted with a little moss in them on the top of the 

 sticks, or some bean-stalks cut in 6-inoh lengths ought to be 

 placed about the plants ; into these the insects crawl at night, 

 and can be destroyed next day. 



The following is a list of stage and fancy sorts adapted 

 either for decorative purposes at home or for cutting for 

 exhibition : — 



Slww Dahlias. — Acme of Perfection, Alexander Cramond, 

 Arbitrator, Barmaid, Charles- Leicester, Cremorne, Flag of 

 Truce (Goodall), Herbert Turner, James Cooker, James Service, 

 John Dunnington, John Standish, Julia Wyatt, Lady Gladys 

 Herbert, Leah, Mr. Sinclair, Mrs. Boston, Mrs. Henshaw, 

 Ovid, John Bennett, Prince Arthur, Royal Purple, Samuel 

 Plimsoll, Thomas Goodwin, Toison d'Or, William Keynes, 

 William Pringle Laird, Yellow Standard, and Willie Austin. 



Fancy Dahlias. — Dolly Varden, Ebor, Egyptian Prince, 

 Flora Wyatt, Flossie Williams, Grand Sultan, Laura Haslam, 

 Miss Lillie Large, Mrs. Sounders, Mrs. Standish, Parrot, 

 Pauline, Prospero, Remarkable, Rev. J. B. M. Camm, Richard 

 Dean, and Viceroy. — J. Douglas. 



FRUIT TREES FOR SMALL GARDENS.— No. 2. 



The selection of one, two, or half a dozen sorts of Pears 

 and Apples is, I think, much more difficult than the choice of 

 other fruits, from the fact of the great number of kinds of 

 real excellence which we have of both these useful fruits. ' If 

 I am asked to name one sort I reply to my querist by asking at 

 what time ripe Pears are most wanted, as the period during 

 which they may be had extends over two-thirds of the year. In 

 August one of the best Pears is Citron des Cannes, in Septem- 

 ber Williams' Bon Chretien, in October Comte de Lamy, in 

 November Doyenn§ du Cornice and Dana's Hovey, in Decem- 

 ber Winter Nelis and Knight's Monarch, which last affords a 

 supply of ripe fruit from December to March. Dana's Hovey, 

 from its sturdy compact growth and great fertility, is specially 

 adapted for Bmall gardens. Its delicious little fruit, whioh 

 ripens in November, keeps good quite six weeks after it is ripe. 



Au Apple which ripens in autumn and keeps good for two or 

 three months is of more general use than other sorts of more 

 brief duration and coming to maturity very early or very late. 

 The variety which I may therefore select as a good autumn 

 and winter dessert fruit is Cox's Orange Pippin. Irish Peach 

 and Kerry Pippin are the best earlier sorts, and Margil is in 

 season with and keeps good a month longer than Orange 

 Pippin. All four are prime sorts admirably adapted for small 

 gardens, Margil being especially remarkable for the productive- 

 ness of young trees of it upon the Paradise stock. For a 

 supply of kitchen Apples from August onwards through the 

 nine following months take Keswick Codliu, Duchess of Olden- 

 burg, Cox's Pomona, Alfriston, Hanwell Souring, and Goose- 

 berry Apple. The great productiveness of Keswick Codlin in 

 all stages of growth, from the smallest newly planted pyramid 

 up to the hoary old standard, its earliness, and compact yet 

 free growth, combine to make it an especial favourite in all 

 gardens. All the other kinds are of the highest order of ex- 

 cellence in their respective seasons. I have long ago sung the 

 praises of Hanwell Souring, which is good long after spring 

 flowers make their appearance, and I would now strongly com- 



mend Gooseberry Apple to general notice as a fine old sort of 

 much excellence for tarts in May and June when other fruit is 

 scarce. Its fruit keeps best when suffered to hang long upon 

 the trees — late in October, a few frosts doing it no harm. 



The very limited area of wall space in a Bmall garden should 

 be exclusively devoted to the Peach, Nectarine, Apricot, Fig, 

 Cherry, and Plum ; the south, or west, or intermediate aspects 

 answering best for Peaches and Nectarines, taking the south- 

 west for choioe, the east for Apricots, and the north for late 

 Cherries and PlumB. Figs answer well in any warm tolerably 

 sheltered sunny position. By late Cherries I, of course, mean 

 Morellos, so useful late in autumn, and with them I would 

 always associate the two fine late Plums Ickworth Imperatrice 

 and the old Blue Imperatrice, both valuable October desBert 

 fruits, keeping good long after most other sorts. 



I may usefully conclude these notes with a word of advice, 

 or rather of caution, upon the evils of crowding young trees 

 together and overcropping. However small your garden may 

 be, never crowd the trees or anything else ; far better is it to 

 grow a few trees really well than several more than you have 

 room for very badly. Eschew ,; riders " on walls, plant dwarf- 

 trained trees 20 feet apart, plant well, and let nothing tempt 

 you to put other trees temporarily between them. If you do, 

 an impoverished border, confused, crowded, often diseased 

 growth, will follow. The removal of the interlopers will very 

 likely be put off year by year till the whole of the trees are 

 irretrievably ruined ; and by the time you would have had the 

 wall completely clothed with fine healthy trees in full bearing, 

 and with every prospect of their continuing so for a lifetime, 

 you will have a state of things leading to total failure — stunted 

 growth, which, if not barren, bears fruit that is so small and 

 poor- flavoured as to be comparatively worthless. 



In or around the quarters of the garden plant either cone- 

 shaped trees termed " pyramids," or those which are trained 

 on wires or a wooden trellis, and termed •' espaliers," the first 

 kind to be 10 feet apart, and the last 20 feet. Plant no 

 " standards," as those trees are called which have their 

 branches elevated on long bare stems. They are unsightly 

 objects, affording no pleasure in their culture, they shade a 

 large portion of valuable ground, and what iB, perhaps, most 

 important, are very subject to have much of the fruit battered 

 by the wind or shaken off prematurely. 



Whatever may be the form which you may impart to your 

 trees, keep the branches sufficiently far apart to allow light 

 and air to penetrate freely to the base of every one of them, 

 striving to render every part of a fruit tree available for the 

 production of good fruit. — Edward Luckhubst. 



TEA ROSES FOR A COLD VINERY. 



In answer to " H. L." First I must congratulate him on 

 possessing such a desirable structure as a glass house 36 feet 

 long by 18 wide. I cannot imagine anything more delight- 

 ful than planting such a space with Tea Roses. As to 

 sorts, I will give him the selection that I should plant. I 

 apprehend that he could plant eighteen in each row, and that 

 the space would admit of nine rows, which would therefore 

 give him 162 Tea Roses. What a glorious privilege 160 Teas, 

 where winter's frost will not injure, and the summer's heat is 

 tempered to these delicate plants by a protecting but not ob- 

 structing screen of Vine leaves ! 



I should recommend him to have about twenty-six sorts and 

 six of each. Of course if he has climbers he must plant them 

 againBt the back wall ; but if his house is a span-roofed one he 

 must dispense with climbers. 



I cannot make out what his house is ; but presuming it is 

 a lean-to one I should recommend him to plant about six 

 climbers, which would leave a space of 6 feet to each. TheBe 

 should be selected from the following sorts — Cloth of Gold, 

 Solfaterre, and Marechal Niel, Noisettes ; Climbing Devoni- 

 enBis, Madame Berard, and Belle Lyonnaise, Teas. The last- 

 named is infinitely inferior to Gloire de Dijon : in fact thia 

 variety is surpassed by three of her children. 



Next as to the remainder of the space. I should plant six 

 of each of the following — Catherine Mermet, Marie Van Houtte, 

 Souvenir d'Elise, Souvenir d'un Ami, Souvenir de Paul Neron, 

 Comtesse de Nadaillac, Rubens, Homere, Reine du Portugal 

 (this lovely variety is too tender for outdoor culture, but will 

 do splendidly in a house), Anna Ollivier, Perle de Lyon, Marie 

 Arnaud, Jean Ducher, Perle des Jardins, Mons. Furtado, 

 Adam, Alba Rosea, Celina Noirey, David Pradel, La Boule 

 d'Or,Niphetos, Madame Willermoz, Madame Charles, Madame 



