November 16, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



377 



was bom in 150S, remarks in bis treatise on husbandry, " Because 

 there is a natural friendship and love between certain trees, you must 

 Bet them the nearer together, as the Yiue and the Olive, the Pome- 

 granate and the Myi'tle ; others," he continues, " have a natural 

 hatred, as the Vine with the Filbert and the Bay." 



Modern cultivators have noticed other facts of a similar hind, as 

 how vigorously the plants of Wheat and Eye Hourish amid the 

 tares. These observations have, within the last year or t\vo, led in a 

 few places to some very practical and successful trials with our root 

 crops. These experiments are hardly so well known to the cultivators 

 of our islands as is desirable. They are not only valuable in them- 

 selves, but they appear to open a field of research, which in all proba- 

 bility will lead to other important results. I allude to the growth 

 together in the same rows of the Swede Turnip and the Mangold. 

 "We are aware of the dithculty with which for some time back the 

 Swede has been cultivated in many portions of our island, and this to 

 such an estent that in considerable districts its cultivation has been 

 abandoned. It is therefore most important that it has been found 

 again to flourish on many soils when sown in conjunction with the 

 Mangold, and this not in only the best Tarnip soils but on the poor 

 exhausted gravels of Bedfordshire — a county where the rainfall cer- 

 tainly does not aid the dryness of the soil, for the average annual fall 

 of rain is there the least of all the English counties, being only 

 about 20 inches — it was only about 15 inches in 1870. The mode of 

 cultivation they adopt has been so well described to me by my friend 

 Mr. John Purser, of WUlington. near Bedford, that I need hardly 

 attempt to give it in any other language, it was in a letter with 

 ■which he favoured me in June of the present year that he observed, 

 *' I have grown now for six or seven years Mangolds and Swedes (not 

 white Turnips) together, and with great success — not a failure have 

 I yet known. Upon our hot gravelly soil we sow all upon the flat : it 

 is far better than on the ridge. My plan is this : I driU early in April 

 4 lbs. of Mangolds per acre, and another drill follows running one hole 

 only, which is about a pint of Swedes, in the same rows. When we 

 set them out we leave as nearly as we can three, some only two. Man- 

 golds to one Turnip. The Swedes grow very large, and very sound 

 and healthy. Before we adopted this plan our land refused for years 

 to grow a Turnip at all. We put them into pits or clamps by the 

 second or third week in October, and they come out in the spring as 

 sound and healthy as the Mangolds. Very many other farmers near 

 here are doing the same, and with equal success. We certainly grow 

 a greater weight per acre than we ever have done with Turnips only." 

 It being then established that the growth of certain plants is accele- 

 rated by having particular neighbours, we naturally inquire into the 

 jeason for this interesting fact. It is probable that it arises from 

 ■some emanation either from the roots or the leaves of a plant which is 

 grateful to its neighbour. It has been supposed by some Eose oulti- 

 Tators that its fragrance is increased by having a Leek or an Onion 

 for its neighbour. Phillips, who died in 1708, in his " Cyder," alludes 

 to this opinion. 



" The Pcegtan Eose unfolds 



Her bud more lovely near the foetid Leek 

 (Crest of stout Britons), and enhances thence 

 The price of her celestial scent." 



— (Farmers' MiKjaxine, vol. Ixx., p. 172.) 



To aeoouut, then, for these phenomena it has been Buppoaed 

 that plants excrete by their roots certain matters which are 

 either nutritious or noxious to their neighbours. The experi- 

 ments which have led to this conclusion are most of them col- 

 lected by my brother, Mr. G. W. Johnson, in his work on 

 " The Science and Practice of Gardening," page 49. — Cuihbeet 

 W. Johnson. 



EDGINGS AND WALKS. 

 In the kitchen garden there is still the old-fashioned Box- 

 edging to the principal walks. I do not consider it equal to an 

 edging of slate, or even of well-laid tiles, though I prefer the 

 slate as being more suitable in colour. Box-edging, if neatly 

 kept, is very good, and, as a live edging, is superior to all 

 others. I wanted to look over ours at the beginning of the 

 sammer, but owing to a pressure of work, clipping and making- 

 np could not be attended to. I took up a bit of a cross walk 

 not much traversed, lifted the Box, made the edgings all level 

 and smooth, planted the piece afresh, and obtained more Box 

 than was sufficient to fill up all vacancies. 



The sweeping-up of the cuttings of Box left the walks a 

 little more dingy than I like to see them, even in a kitchen 

 garden. Most of the gravel here has enough of clay in it to 

 - make it bind well in sammer, but as it is placed too shallow 

 for frequent turning, its very smoothness in winter is apt to 

 make it adhere to the feet in moist weather. A fresh appear- 

 ance was given to the walks, and they were made pleasant to 

 the feet for the winter, by a sprinkling of rather sharp red pit 

 sand. I should be almost afraid to say how many yards I can 

 make a small load of sand go over, but all looks fresh after- 

 wards, and the main walks in a kitchen garden ought to be 

 frash in winter, whatever they may be at any other season. 



A gardener from a great place said, " How clean and fresh 

 your walks looks ! But do you prefer or approve of cutting all 

 your Box-edging at this season ?" I answered. No ; I should 

 prefer to cut Box-edging early in summer or early in autumn, 

 so that in the latter case the cut parts might push afresh and 

 become green before the frost oame. 



The pleasure-ground walks I could not at the time make 

 deeper, and it would be of little use to attempt to turn the 

 most of those under my care, yet I have seldom met with 

 walks more enjoyable from year's end to year's end. Those 

 with grass verges are out every year with an edging-iron, gene- 

 rally about May, so that the scissors may clip freely afterwards. 

 All the cuttings are removed carefully and put in a heap to 

 form a rich compost, the walks are then hard-brushed with a 

 scrubby broom, a little salt put on, especially at the sides to 

 keep worms away, and a slight covering of sand thrown overi 

 Afterwards we seldom see a weed for the season, and the walks 

 are comfortable and do not cling to the feet in wet or frosty 

 weather. This treatment does not cost a tithe of what turn- 

 ing, levelling, and rolling would do. Of course even sanding 

 must be thin, or it would soon puddle, but very little wiU 

 suffice to give a fresh appearance and yet prevent such a result. 

 No salt should be used now, except, perhaps, a very little at 

 the sides, say for 3 or 4 inches, in order to keep worms under. 

 I never like to use salt much after June, for if applied in 

 autumn there is a danger of the walk being rendered damp for 

 the winter. 



I have seen walks made so deep that a yard of gravel would 

 barely suffice for a half-yard run of a 7-feet walk. Some time ago 

 I saw a place where from 24 to 30 inches of firm soil had been 

 taken out in order to make a suitable approach to a mansion, 

 all of which depth had to be filled with stones and gravel. 

 In the majority of cases, where a firm bottom can be obtained 

 a few inches from the surface, it is a perfect waste of labour 

 and material to sink a great hole merely for the pleasure of 

 filling it up with costly material. In such circumstances 

 people forget that it is the firm earth beneath that carries the 

 roadway, and that the dryness of the roadway on the surface 

 is of far more importance than the depth of the material. I 

 can recollect two instances in point. A roadway had to be 

 formed through a park that had not been stirred for years, and 

 through fields ploughed to the depth of but half a foot. The 

 road was taken out 6 inches at the side, and much less in the 

 centre, where the ground was hard ; a layer of broken stones 

 and flints was placed over in a somewhat semicircular form, 

 and then a layer of gravel ; this was rolled and the gravel raked 

 in, as the wheels made a little depression. The road soon be- 

 came firm on the surface, and stood much traffic uninjured; in 

 fact, I have no hesitation in saying that it is much better for 

 wheels than some other roads where faUy four times the 

 amount of material has been used. 



The other case has reference to one of those damp, low 

 places, where any quantity of stone or gravel disappeared, 

 and then up would come the wet and mud to clog the wheels. 

 The old level was disregarded, a lot of Black and White Thorn 

 hedges were cut in the neighbourhood, and the cuttings brought 

 and placed thickly in the spongy roadway. Clay, likewise, 

 had to be removed for another purpose, and to get rid of it 

 a layer of that clay, about 3 inches thick, was put over the 

 thorns, trodden, and rolled, then a layer of stones, and lastly 

 a layer of gravel, each from 4 to 6 inches deep. For more 

 than fifteen years that roadway never required to be mended. 

 Huge timber-gigs with heavy loads, drawn by four horses, 

 passed over it, and the wheels scarcely left a track, the 

 road being depressed as they passed, but afterwards returning 

 to its original level. At eighteen years it was found that the 

 thorn covered by the clay showed little signs of decay ; and now 

 the road, after having been made thirty years, is not quite so 

 springy, but it has had nothing done to it, with the exception 

 of a little rough gravel placed here and there in the wheel-ruts. 

 In a place naturally damp, instead of sinking a walk I would 

 at once raise it ; and faggot wood, especially thorn, if kept 

 from air, makes an excellent foundation. There can be no 

 doubt that in the case referred to the clay preserved the thorns 

 fresh for years by keeping them from the air. 



Of all seasons of the year it is important that walks and 

 roads on a gentleman's property should be clean and fresh 

 in winter. Even tree-leaves lying about will not have the 

 same melancholy efiect if a good wide strip on each side of 

 them is kept clean. The beauty of a walk will more particu- 

 larly be found in its fitness for use without inconveniencing 

 the feet. All drainage pools should be examined before winter, 



