October 26, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



367 



at a loss, and found ootton wool answer only moderately well. 

 Wishing this year to send some fine Peaches by rail to a dis- 

 tance, it occurred to me that the spray of Asparagus might 

 answer my purpose. It did answer thoroughly, and I have 

 since sent Figs and Grapes by rail packed in the same way. 

 The recipient reported the Figs as fresh as if just gathered, 

 and the Grapes without the loss of a particle of bloom. The 

 spray of the Asparagus is of a dry nature and elastic, keeping 

 fresh, moreover, for some time. — C. A. B. 



The question of diseased Tomatoes raised by Mr. Boyle, 

 arising from Mr. Moorman's article on this most useful escu- 

 lent, induces me to give my experience with reference to the 

 matter. 



In 1845, the year the Potato blight first made its appear- 

 ance I saw many Tomatoes diseased, more especially on the 

 plants which were in shaded or damp situations. My father, 

 who was at that time a grower for market, remarked he had 

 never seen anything of the kind before, and, from its general 

 appearance and the affinity of the Tomato to the Potato, con- 

 sidered it one and the same disease. When there ought to 

 have been bushels there were hardly dozens of Tomatoes fit 

 for market. The following year they were again diseased, 

 but not to the same extent (the summer being drier) as in the 

 previous year. 



For many years I have observed the disease more or less, 

 and to insure immunity from it have endeavoured to have my 

 plants as forward as possible, so that the fruit perfected itself 

 before the dull and wet weather of autumn. If possible I like 

 to have the blossom set before planting out. When I had the 

 means I grew some in pots in the Pine stove or vineries, so as 

 to ripen in June when they were much appreciated. 



My experience tells me that Tomatoes are as liable to disease 

 when far removed from Potatoes as when in proximity to them, 

 as on the first appearance of the disease some of the plants 

 affected were far removed, no Potatoes being within 50 yards of 

 the Tomato plants, and this year I have some disease at the 

 east end of a south border, which is now partly shaded by a 

 plantation, and 60 yards from where any Potatoes were grown ; 

 while at the other end with a 12-feet border, and a 6-feet 

 path separating them from a plot of Potatoes taken up in 

 August, no disease is visible. Evidently the disease is one and 

 the same on the Potato and Tomato. 



While writing about Tomatoes I would say to those who 

 have never tried them, that small green Tomatoes are a good 

 substitute for green Gooseberries in either tarts or puddings, 

 and I say try them. — J. Gadd, Thorndon Hall. 



In the wet season of 1872 I had some Orangefield Tomatoes 

 planted in an open space in the garden and trained to stakes ; 

 not far from the Tomatoes was a large plot of Potatoes, and 

 both the Potatoes and the Tomatoes were ruined by the dis- 

 ease. During the same year I had other Tomatoes trained to 

 a south wall, the border in front of which had produced early 

 Potatoes, which were dug up before the murrain set in. The 

 Potatoes on this border were scarcely affected with the disease. 

 I do not, however, consider that the Orangefield Tomatoes in 

 the open garden "took" the disease from the Potatoes, or 

 that the Tomatoes on the south border escaped the disease 

 because of the early digging-up of the Potatoes from the same 

 border. The south wall had a broad coping, which sheltered 

 much wet from the Tomatoes, while those in the open were 

 exposed to the deluge. In my experience both Potatoes and 

 Tomatoes are liable to the same disease if long exposed to 

 heavy rains accompanied with a high temperature producing 

 what is known as " muggy " weather. The disease of one of 

 the Solanums named does not " take it " from the other, but 

 it is engendered in either of them separately under the con- 

 ditions named. — W. B. J. 



DECIDUOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. 

 Planiees for ornament make choice principally of Conifers 

 and evergreen shrubs. In most instances these have foliage 

 in various shades of green, though some are enlivened by 

 gold or silver variegation, and others are ornamental from the 

 profusion of their flowers. Evergreens have a sombre and 

 monotonous aspect, especially in winter, whilst at all times 

 they are dense and formal, and are suggestive of warmth, 

 shelter, and repose. Deciduous trees and shrubs have in 

 winter a dreary aspect, but even when leafless there ia so 



much lightness and graoe in the disposition of their twigs, 

 which, seen in conjunction with the noble trunks and mas- 

 sive arms, render them objects of admiration. Both ever- 

 greens and deciduous trees have claims upon the planter of 

 an associate character. It i3 in winter when the trees are 

 leafless that the Ivy encircling their stems and clothing their 

 branches with the deepest of green foliage is most conspicuous, 

 and that the Holly, covered with its scarlet berries, is most 

 attractive. Evergreens, varied as they are, have a greater 

 fixity of aspect than that presented by deciduous trees. If we 

 except a few of the most prominent flowering evergreen shrubs, 

 as Rhododendrons, Berberries, Lanrustinuses, &c, a garden 

 or pleasure ground mainly comprising evergreen trees and 

 shrubs is much more barren of interest than one inoluding 

 deciduous trees, exoepting during the winter, and even then 

 there is often more to be said in favour of the deciduous trees 

 than evergreens, for no grander sight is presented than a 

 deciduous tree hung with snow, the trunk, limbs, and twigs 

 supporting Nature's brightest crystals. Compare in mid- 

 winter the giant of the Sierra Nevada, the pride of the Andes, 

 and the Glory of Lebanon with the majestic Oak, the elegant 

 Birch, and graceful Willow. There is a beauty in all, but I 

 consider that evergreens in snowy weather are less attractive 

 than deciduous trees. 



As further elements of beauty in deciduous trees, the delicate 

 tint of the early leafage, the blossoming, the full summer 

 foliage, the rich autumn tints, and the fruit, are each in turn 

 pleasing, if from no other cause than variation — change — one 

 feature succeeding another, for scenery without variation must 

 fail to please for any lengthened time. Variety, however, is 

 not to be supposed as resulting from groups of trees or shrubs 

 arranged without design. When a plantation must necessarily 

 comprise but a few species it is preferable to form them into 

 masses rather than to seek variety by planting a group in 

 dots of one species ; nevertheless, by planting groups of five 

 trees we give distinctness, and by planting other groups at 

 intervals, increasing their Bize as the view recedes, we produce 

 a very agreeable effect. Distinct groups of trees have not the 

 monotonous aspect of plantations made to appear without 

 design by extremely diversified planting. 



The foliage in all masses of trees and shrubs being much 

 more abundant than the flowers, except in a few instances, 

 the arrangement ought to be guided more by the colour of the 

 foliage than by the colour of the flowers ; but in arrangements 

 of flowering shrubs or trees we must not oppose the pink of the 

 Crab to the white foliage of the Populus alba, or the gold of 

 the Furze to the Dogwood. They do not associate in colour, 

 nor are they allied. The Crab and Furze are found in nature 

 in a different kind of surface or soil to the White Poplar and 

 Dogwood. No greater mistake is committed than seeking for 

 beauty by planting trees in soils and situations altogether 

 unfit for them. Of this fancied beauty is the mixing of trees 

 and shrubs in shrubberies, and the scattering of them singly 

 on lawns, which only tends to produce intrioacy and variety 

 by anomalous forms. Intricacy when produced by objects of 

 the greatest simplicity is agreeable and satisfactory, but to 

 produce intricacy by an endless number of regular forms is 

 incongruous. Irregular and regular shapes mixed together 

 are generally unsatisfactory, and none more so than the 

 irregular planting of trees and shrubs on lawns without any 

 regard to relation or order. The mixing of flower beds with 

 groupB or isolated shrubs or trees on lawns is one of the most 

 common of errors in ornamental gardening. The one in- 

 jures the effect of the other, for however picturesque it may 

 be to see trees, shrubs, and flowers struggling together in 

 natural scenery, the object of collecting trees, shrubs, and 

 flowers is that they may be displayed to greater advantage, 

 and to do this they must have conditions favourable to their 

 production in the highest excellence. No shrub attains to 

 anything like the superiority under a tree as that of a similar 

 shrub in the open. No herbaceous plant shaded by trees or 

 shrubs, or the soil penetrated by their roots, will arrive at 

 the fullest beauty ; and in shrubberies or mixed clumps plants 

 of an herbaceous kind are kept from arriving at perfection. 

 Ligneous and herbaceous plants are of an entirely different 

 character. The beauty of an herbaceous plant is its habit 

 and the colour of its flowers. To enjoy it, it must be near 

 the eye. The expression of a tree is stateliness and dignity, 

 and to take it in its full proportions the eye must be at a 

 certain distance from it. By placing flowering plants in the 

 foreground of shrubberies we may be • said to derive the ex- 

 pression of both. Admitting this, it is still clear that the two 



