May 12, 1861. ] 



JO0S.NAL OF HORTICfJLTUSE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



33S 



items in the herb-border or gardes. Their treatment, is all much 

 the s&mo; they are all propagate;! by cuttings, which, if put in 

 during; damp weather in early summer, strike root freely. 



Sage is, perhaps, the most delicate of this class, and requires to 

 be grown on dry ground, hi very cnld and exposed situations 

 in the fur north it is liable to be cut off in winter. Dry, gravelly, 

 or stony ground seems to suit it best ; and whether it be sheltered 

 O'.' not, it is always advisable to mal;e new plantations every 

 year, as the old plants are liable to die-off at the collar. Hyssop 

 is more hardy, but tess used, as likewise is winter Savory. La- 

 vender may last four or fire years perhaps, but seldom longer. 

 This, loo, likes a dry gravelly soil, as passengers travelling on 

 the Great Northern Railway may have inferred from observing 

 the fields of it near Biggleswade and elsewhere, and which when 

 in flower seent the neighbourhood with the odour, and rival the 

 best flower-bed in the parterre far colour. Thyme also possesses 

 a hard woody stem, which lasts as long as the plant lives, which 

 may be regarded as three years, perhaps — certainly not more in 

 general. This plant, however, seeds and reproduces itself 

 abundantly, and is very accommodating as to situation ; never- 

 theless, it prefers a dry one, and when grown in such its aromatic 

 principle is no doubt stronger, and, in fact, this is the case in 

 almost everything so grown. 



Differing from the above in the woody pvinoiple is Fennel, 

 whioh I believe thrives best, on the rocky promontories by the 

 seashore. Its absence in early spring is scarcely less regretted 

 than that of Parsley when a hard winter has told upon it. 

 It is, however, a true herbaceous perennial ; and but for the 

 severities of a long winter, and the unsuitableness of certain 

 situations, its duration may extend for very many years. On 

 stiff wet soils it is, nevertheless, liable to die-off after seeding, in 

 which case I have known some wild place amongst the shrubs 

 had to be sought over for some plant that had accidentally been 

 carried there, and nestled itself amongst the claws of the tree 

 it had taken shelter under, and which had braved the winter by 

 being less gluttonously fed. Tansy is also a herb of somewhat 

 similar habit, only requiring a stiffer soil and moister place ; and 

 while mentioning these two plants, I may point them out as 

 possessing foliage of as great beauty as any Fern we know of. 



Angelica also likes a stiff soil, while Tarragon must be 

 humoured with one of a contrary description, or there is a 

 chance of losing it, although it is far from being a tender plant. 

 Rue attains the character of a shrub ; and some cottagers, 

 anxious to cultivate it for sale, have grown it advantageously 

 against a wall to the height of a dozen feet or more, cutting off 

 the front breastwood every year. Rosemary, before alluded to, 

 may be treated in like manner, dry situations suiting them both. 

 Opposed to both these in habit, and in general utility second to 

 none, is Mint, which delights in a rich damp situation, but 

 requires replanting every two or three years at farthest. A slight 

 covering of fresh soil or leaf mould in winter is good practice, 

 lemon Thyme is of much longer duration, but require a drier 

 place. I am far from certain whether Pennyroyal likes a dry 

 or damp situation ; most likely a medium one suits it best, as 

 also Camomile, which, however, requires replanting every second 

 year, or even every year, and that, too, upon fresh ground, as, 

 in fact, all herbs ought to be planted. The flowers of double 

 Camomile have been in great repute for some purposes for a long 

 time, but whether the double contains the useful principle in 

 greater abundance than the single is more than I can learn. A 

 bed of Camomile, however, is always an interesting object. 



There are several other plants occasionally included in the 

 herb-bed, as Burnet, Chives, Vervain, Garden Balm, and Balm 

 of Gilead. The last-named is scarcely hardy. Garden Balm will 

 speedily run over everything else, and is more robust than 

 useful. One or two kinds of Sorrel are also cultivated there 

 occasionally, but they are more in the character of salad plants 

 than herbs in the usual sense. Some collections also contain 

 wild plants, as Agrimony and Betony, and one or two poisonous 

 plants not unfrequently find a place here; but as the most 

 useful and common ones have been enumerated, it remains only 

 to describe in general terms the position the herb garden ought 

 to have, when taken in conjunction with the positions of other 

 plants cultivated in the kitchen garden and elsewhere. 



It is too much the fashion now, when recording the usefulness 

 of a plant, to insist on its having the best place in the ground, 

 and by-and-by something else ib brought forward with the same 

 claim to pre-eminence. Thus, indifferent positions are rarely 

 recommended at all, although we all know places of that kind 

 abound alike in the garden of the prince and in that of the 



peasant, and it would be wrong to assign everything the first 

 place in the garden. Useful as are the greater number of herbs 

 mentioned in the above list, it is nevertheless true that, other 

 things in the list of every-day necessaries are of more conse- 

 quence, so that the herbs must give place to their more useful 

 brethren. A-> outside border in many gardens, called the slip, 

 will in general do for the herbs ; taking care, wherever they arc 

 planted, that those in most esteem have the best place, that the 

 proportion of those most wanted be the largest, and that those 

 kept merely to meet any sudden demand may be in such small 

 quantities and in the least favourable situations that their sup- 

 posed claims to notice may entitle them to. As regards those 

 occupying the more prominent position, some little regard might 

 be had so as to give them as nearly as possible the different soils 

 they require in order to succeed well. 



Generally speaking, a medium soil suits all, but some require 

 a little more sun than others; and some, as Mint and Penny- 

 royal, do tolerably well in the shade ; while Sage deserves one of 

 the best places at command, as likewise does Turragon. 



The rotation of cropping is also as necessary here as elsewhere ; 

 and a due regard to propagating at the right season such plants 

 as want it, will do much to maintain the uniform neatness of 

 the cropping that is advisable everywhere. Though the herb 

 department is less really useful in supplying the table with the 

 materials necessary to fill the dishes, it is to the botanist and 

 lover of plants a place of more interest, the number of species 

 cultivated being greater; and differing as they do in many 

 respects from each other, and from those cultivated elsewhere, 

 who, then, can say that the "garden of herbs" is not deserv- 

 ing of more attention than it often receives? And when neatly 

 arranged it may be kept in a manner that would render it a fit 

 connecting link between the kitchen garden and dressed grounds, 

 and an interesting feature in an establishment, to which company 

 might be invited in order to study the various purposes in social 

 economy to which the many interesting plants there collected 

 are applied. J. Robsok-, 



ORCHARD-HOUSE TREES. 



" I do not like thee. 'K., of S.,' 

 The reason why I cannot guess, 

 But yet I reatly must confess 

 I do not like thee, ' R., of S.,' 

 I like thte better ' D.,' of Deal, 

 And think you are a clever ' chiel.' " 



As the controversy on orchard-h^use trees has now reached 

 a new phase by the introduction of both poetry, prose, and 

 doggrel by the combatants on each side, will you kindly allow 

 an old gardener to give in your pages his notions on the 

 subject ? I believe that both Mr. Robson and Mr. Keane are 

 right in all they advance respecting the cultivation of orchard- 

 house trees, and that it is not possible to have fruit so large and 

 fine in pots as on planted-out trees in the borders of houses or 

 walls. At the same time, Mr. Rivers and Mr. Pearson deserve 

 credit for the fairness and pertinacity they show in defending 

 their hobby when attacked. Orchard-houses when understood 

 and well managed are, useful structures in such a variable 

 climate as ours, and to the amateur and gardener who have only 

 limited means, they are a source of great satisfaction if not of 

 profit. On this precious morning (the 1st of May), the ther- 

 mometer denoted 6° of frost in the locality from which I 

 write, and Apricots on the walls where unprotected are frozen as 

 black as one's hat, although they are nearly as large as black- 

 bird's eggs. Now, the orchard-house pot-tree-grower knows 

 that his fruit is safe in such seasons, and so far he has a great 

 advantage. Some ill-natured cultivators may insinuate that it 

 is greatly to the interest of Mr. Rivers and Mr. Pearson, who 

 are growers for sale of fruit trees in pots, to puff up their pro- 

 ductions ; but as they invite all interested to see them and taste 

 and try, I do not see what they can do more. One thing I do 

 know is, that until the management of orchard-houses is better 

 understood, the sale of pot-fruit trees will be greatly increased, 

 for the murder of these by bad ventilation and houses wrongly 

 constructed as to the heating, is greatly on the increase. 



I now mean to try and break a lance with the "brave and 

 faithful knight, ' R., of S.,' of orchard-house celebrity." In his 

 earnest endeavour to cry up all the uses and advantages of 

 orchard-houses, I think he tries to prove too much, and is like 

 the great man in the play — 



" I am Sir Oracle, 

 Let no dog bark at me.' 



