April 14, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



277 



in the autumn, and another — or eay two— in the spring, are the 

 attendance it will require. Ho cannot know less about fruit 

 trees than I did when I began ; and if he fails, some people are 

 very clever at failing, let him not come to me for sympathy, as 

 I shall certainly tell him it is his own fault. 



It is foreign from the main object of an orchard-house to 

 enlarge on its convenience as a harbour for plants not quite 

 hardy — Rhododendron ciliatum, Vallota purpurea, Tea-scented 

 Roses, Fuchsias, &c. ; but I have found it exceedingly useful for 

 such purposes. 



My trees — with one exception, overdosed with GishurBt and 

 not likely to Bet more than a score of fruit — are now masses of 

 blossom, and the Apricots setting better than they have done. — 

 Dr/CKWING, Rectory. 



EATING NUESEEY GEOTJJSTDS. 



In No. 104 you very kindly gave us some valuable informa- 

 tion as to the liability, or, rather, non-liability of nurserymen's 

 greenhouses and hothouses to be rated. Will you now give us 

 a few words as to ground employed for raising trees ? 



My case is as follows : — I have some land planted with young 

 nursery stock without buildings of any kind on it. It is bounded 

 on the north by arable land, and on the west by land of the same 

 description, divided by the usnal fences of the country hedge 

 and ditch. This arable land is occupied by farmers, and is 

 assessed at — -say, in round numbers, 30s. per acre. The Assess- 

 ment Committee of the parish, much impressed with the value 

 of my stock, wish to assess my land at £4 10s. per acre, or 

 200 per cent, more than the land adjoining. This I resist, 

 and say, I think, justly, that although my land has been im- 

 proved by deep digging so as to be worth to any ordinary tenant 

 10s. per acre more than the adjoining land under the plough, it 

 ought not to be assessed at the high rate they name, the neigh- 

 bouring land being of exactly the same nature as mine, both in 

 surface and subsoil. I am well aware they have no business 

 with my stock, but it seems they are impressed with the idea 

 that I get a much larger profit from my land, and that, con- 

 sequently, it ought to pay more to the poor's rate. 



With respect to the land on which my glass houses stand, one 

 acute reasoner suggested that a greenhouse or hothouse should 

 be considered as a manufactory ; and that as a manufacturer, on 

 building a factory and placing in it a steam-engine to be em- 

 ployed in his business, would be at once rated for it, so in like 

 manner a nurseryman building a propagating-house and using 

 hot water to propagate plants, was a manufacturer, and his 

 house or houses should be rated as factories. This is a new 

 idea not likely to hold water, but ingenious, and worthy of one 

 of " the wise men of the east." 



The gentleman who ushered it into the world ignored entirely 

 the precedents you quote in No. 104. A few words from your 

 experienced pen will at the present moment be of great service 

 to many of your readers. — A Nubsebtman . 



[No mistake is more commonly made by parish officials than 

 concluding because A makes more profit from an acre than is 

 made by B from an acre of the same land, that therefore B 

 should not pay so much as A ; the absurdity of which is at once 

 further shown by the consideration that if such were the law, 

 then a man's skill and industry would be the measure of rating. 

 Such, we think, is not the law, and we further think that 

 " A Nubserthan's" ground, as described, can only be legally 

 rated at what it would let for to a neighbouring farmer after all 

 the nursery stock was removed. 



The rule for rating manufactories and town trades is not at 

 all applicable to cultivators of the Boil, and has long since been 

 so determined. — Eds, 3. or H.] 



A FEW DAYS IN IRELAND. 



(Continued, from page 263.) 

 HAVING felt much interested in the state of the first vinery 

 we entered, we obtained the following details, which show that 

 often much may be well done, and yet the good be neutralised 

 by some trifling misconception or error of judgment. The strong 

 character ot the wood showed there was plenty of nourishment. 



The tendency to luxuriance, rather than extra fruitfulness, and 

 the liability to shanking and imperfect colouring, led to the 

 conclusion that the roots were too deep, or in stagnant moisture 

 move frequently than was good for them ; and yet almost 

 everything had been done, and done very well, to prevent such 

 a thing. A drain 7 or 8 feet deep went along beneath a walk in 

 the front of that border ; and at a depth of from 30 to 33 inches 

 the bottom of the border had been securely flagged to prevent 

 the roots going down into ungenial soil, but with no open 

 rubble between the soil and the flagstone. To make matters 

 more sure, and, as if flagsttnes were of no cost, there were some 

 9 inches of stiff soil beneath that flagstone, then another flag- 

 stone bottom, then a good depth of open rubble beneath that, 

 and most likely other floors of flagstone — enough to have done 

 many borders, if flagstones were deemed essential ; and we have 

 nothing to say against them if on a elope, and rubble above 

 them, so as to prevent water lodging on them. Well, how 

 was it possible that the Vine roots should be exposed to extra 

 moisture in such an expensively-made border ? From several 

 trivial causes. The drain had been securely built with mortar, and 

 the better the mortar the less free access would the moisture of 

 the border have to it. Then, again, as if to secure this closeness 

 properly, a bank of rather stiff clay had been packed between the 

 drain and the border, and no direct openings whatever existed 

 between the border and the drain. The bulk of the roots 

 were close to the flags, and many had penetrated the wall of 

 clay, and had descended and run along the surface of the close 

 drain. 



The roots being carefully lifted, we might have been satisfied 

 with placing small drain-tilee ou the flagged bottom, communi- 

 cating directly with the close drain, and covered these and the 

 flags wit£ from 6 to 9 inches of rubble ; but Mr. Lind did more 

 than this — he broke through the bottoms of flags every 4 feet or 

 bo, took four-inch drain-tiles right across into the main drain by 

 openings, covered these cross drain-tilea with 2 feet of open 

 rubble, covered the flags with 9 inches more, and put a good 

 thickness of stones over the main drain, so as to let moisture 

 down freely to the openings. He then, iu partly fresh soil, 

 replanted his Vines nearer the surface, the border being from 

 18 to 21 infhes deep, as forming fresh roots quickly was a chief 

 object. The soil used was without manure ; but with such drain- 

 age manure water may be used to any extent in summer. The 

 results in handsome fruit, well coloured and free from shanking, 

 and good firm short-jointed wood, are everything that can be de- 

 sired. The earlier such lifting and replanting are done in autumn 

 the better, even if shading and syringing should be resorted to, to 

 prevent the leaves flagging. The heat of the soil should also be 

 kept in by covering early with litter ; and in the following season 

 Mr. Lind farther encouraged root-action by stopping several 

 joints beyond the fruit, and encouraging more laterals than usual, 

 until the balance between roots and branches was thoroughly 

 restored. 



We might detail other more simple modes of bettering the 

 condition of Vine roots, such as making openings in such a close 

 drain, and filling up with rough stones to near the surface after 

 moving tha clay bank ; or we might describe another case, where 

 Vines were planted in the front of the house inside, where little 

 or no attention had been given to drainage, and where, from the 

 tops of the arches for letting the roots out being 18 inches 

 below the outside surface, the roots had chosen to march right 

 down instead of going outside at all ; and how these Vines were 

 wonderfully improved by lifting these deep perpendicular roots, 

 removing the sour soil in the arches, raising the openings so as 

 not to have the arch more than 6 inches below the surface of the 

 border, and taking the roots through at the top of the heightened 

 arch and packing them in fresh soil. But we pass these with less 

 regret, as there has been no end to reiterated advice on such 

 matters, and great stress laid when planting inside, not only 

 that the openings for the roots should be near the surface, but 

 that the inside border be higher than the outside one. 



Although it was getting dark, the impression of the glass 

 houses conveyed to our mind was, that the same care was not 

 bestowed upon their external appearance and condition aB was 

 observable in other departments of the demesne that came 

 under our notice. This, however, is far from being uncommon 

 in many large places, where, if a glass house is put up, it is 

 supposed to need no more looking-after for a generation ; and 

 if we blue aprons do say anything about drippings and inun- 

 dations from worn-out or imperfect glazing, we are Bet down 

 as a grumbling lot that nothing will satisfy ; and in truth we 





