JOURNAL OF HORTICDLTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



L November 23, 1871. 



I have just laid down about thirty score of BrocsoU. I chose 

 the time because the weather was fine and dry. Had I been 

 certain of the same weather ten days later, I should have pre- 

 ferred it. Some were carted from the open field, and some 

 brought from other parts of the garden. A piece of ground 

 intended for next year's Scarlet Banners and late Peas was 

 manured as for winter-digging. On this the plants are laid as 

 close as possible without absolutely overcrowding. In trenohing- 

 in the plants, the manure — old vegetable refuse — is put round 

 the roots. They soon begin to grow, but not soon enough to 

 lift up their heads before Christmas. The plants are kept out 

 of the ground until they begin to wither a little, and are then 

 laid-in almost over the hearts. The flaccid leaves of one plant 

 overlap the other, and never again become upright. This 

 affords great protection. The plants soon recover the check 

 caused by late removal, in consequence of the fresh stuff put into 

 the trenches assisting them to form nice heads instead of large 

 leaves. It is important that the plants should be put in per- 

 fectly dry or they may rot. As it is, a few will no doubt perish 

 f fom this cause, but it is better that a score or two ehonld die 

 from excess of moisture than that the whole crop should perish 

 through excess of frost. This plan has enabled me to obtain a 

 supply of Broccoli for many years past, and I do not suppose 

 it will fail me in the ensuing spring, even if the winter should 

 be, as the Eev. W. F. Eadclyffe predicts, hyperborean. It is also 

 K.dvantageous in saving ground, as the plants go into much less 

 than half the space they before occupied, and are cleared in 

 time for the above-named crops, which are put in trenches after 

 (he manner of Celery. All this certainly does involve labour, 

 and I myself have had to work hard at it. Best, however, is 

 all the sweeter when a man feels confident that his labour will 

 bring him the reward he anticipates. This plan, be it re- 

 membered, will not give gigantic heads, but I care not for that ; 

 30 long as I get plenty of serviceable plants I do all that is ex- 

 pected, and am satisfied. 



I may state that I always sow a little salt amongst the plants 

 once or twice in the growing season, having an idea that it 

 assists them to resist frost. Should the winter prove severe, 

 Sroccoli will again be dear, as the plants are more succulent 

 and tender than usual, owing to heavy rains. I advise laying 

 9ven now. If the winter be mild, it will have some advantage 

 by retarding a portion of the stock and prolonging the season 

 jf cutting.— J. W., Lincoln. 



ALPINE PLANTS. 



LovEB of the Rose though I am, there was an account in the 

 advertising columns of the Journal a few weeks since that I 

 hailed with pleasure — one announcing the sale of the collection 

 of Eoses in pots belonging to Mr. Ware, of the Hale Farm Nurse- 

 ries, as the houses in which they used to be grown were wanted 

 for his increased stock of succulents and herbaceous plants. It 

 was one of the surest indications of the rising tide that I had yet 

 seen, if I except that when I was at Caunton at the time of the 

 Nottingham show, our great Eose champion showed me the old 

 Eose garden, which was going to be turned into an herbaceous 

 garden for the especial delectation of " my lady," and as a 

 repertoire from whence she might gather flowers for her rooms. 

 Tes, a rising tide, which 1 believe all the Mrs. Partingtons 

 will not be able to keep out with all their mops made of Cal- 

 ceolarias, Pelargoniums, and other bedding stuff. I do not 

 advocate a complete exclusion of the present system, but a 

 moderating of its extravagance. I deplore especially its influ- 

 ence on our cottage gardens, where in so many places bedding 

 plants are taking the place of the old-fashioned flowers that 

 had always something in them to gladden one's eyes ; while 

 their utter want of fragrance makes them a poor substitute for 

 the sweet- smelling Stocks, Wallflowers, and Cloves which they 

 have ousted. 



It is now some time ago that I paid a visit to Mr. Ware's 

 nurseries, and was then astonished at the vast number of 

 herbaceous and alpine plants that he had in cultivation ; but 

 I have now before me his catalogue of ninety pages, and on an 

 average about sixty species in a page, so if here is not variety 

 enough where is it to be found ? At the time of my visit the 

 earlier spring flowers were making their appearance ; and here is 

 the great value of the alpine rock garden— flowers that are perfect 

 gems, with colours of a brilliancy we rarely see in other flowers — 

 (for what can vie with the glorious blue of Gentiana acaulis or 

 Gentiana verna ? or what pink more lovely than that cf Silene 

 Jieaulis ?) — open their beauties for us in early spring time ; and 

 from the time that the Snowdrop and Siberian Squill are is 



bloom, all through the summer a succession of beauties is to 

 be had, with Campanulas, Androsaces, Dianthus, &e. 



I do not think that there is much difficulty in making an alpine 

 garden anywhere. I am about as badly situated for it as most 

 people, stone being so very scarce, and, in fact, I have been 

 obliged to content myself with large flints obtained from the 

 chalk formation. They are happily yellowish on the surface 

 instead of white, and so even at first do not look very glaring, 

 while in a little while I hope some of my pets will soon hide 

 them from view. It must be remembered that the garden 

 ought to face the full sun, and not be shaded by trees. I have 

 made mine on the border of a shrubbery going up to my house ; 

 this is about 4 feet wide, and I have raised it somewhat, getting 

 it out of the way of the roots of the trees, and taking care that 

 none of them overshadow it. My plan was to arrange the 

 stones (I wish I could call them rocks, but I cannot), on the 

 border, which is made of the common soil of the garden ; in 

 this I planted such kinds as are not particular as to their soil 

 — Sedums, Sempervivums, Campanulas, &a. When I came to 

 plant those which are particular as to their food I made a 

 good-sized hole in the spot required, took out the earth, and 

 then filled it in with the compost required, being careful that 

 even for small plants the hole should not be less than 1 foot 

 or IS inches deep. I had by me a supply of road grit, sand, peat, 

 good loam, and leaf mould, and according to the requirements 

 of each plant used them. " Dear me ! what a trouble!" says 

 some enthusiastic bedder-out ; " why, I have nothing to do but 

 dig over my beds in autumn, stir them up a little in spring, 

 and they are ready." Exactly so ; and is not this one reason 

 why bedding-out is so much favoured ? But to a man who has 

 been growing Auriculas, Carnations, and other fiorists' flowers 

 all his life such particularity is nothing. Care must be taken 

 as to weeding, for soma of the Alpines are so small in their 

 growth that coarse weeds soon destroy them, and some of them 

 also will require careful watering in summer. 



As to choice of sorts, I believe the best plan for anyone would 

 be to put himself in the hands of men who, like Messrs. Ware, 

 of Tottenham, or Messrs. Bickhouse, of York, have made these 

 things a speciality, assured that he will meet with fair and liberal 

 treatment, telling them the size of the rock garden, and asking 

 them to give a list of plants and estimate for it ; while those 

 who have already formed one can cull at their will from such col- 

 lections. I know this taste is inexplicable to some. My good 

 brother-in-law, seeing me looking over the Alpines at Glasnevin, 

 accosted me with a polite offer to lend me a magnifying-glass, 

 as he could see nothing, yet to me they are a source of much 

 pleasure, and I would commend them to all interested in gar- 

 dening. — D., Deal. 



MORE ROSE GOSSIP. 



MiEiE Baumaxn was wretched with me all this summer ; it 

 had scarcely one good blossom, and now fully half the plant 

 has died off. It has been growing in a large bed with the fol- 

 lowing Eoses — Charles Lse, Madame Margottin, Vioomtesse de 

 Yesins, Alba Eosea, Duke of Edinburgh, Louis Peyronny, La 

 France, Sombreuil, Souvenir de Dr. Jamain, John Hopper, 

 Anna de Diesbach, Madame Rothschild, Josephine Beauharnais, 

 Princess Mary of Cambridge, and Camille Bernardin. Some 

 of these are delicate Eoses, but, with the exception of Marie 

 Baumann, all bloomed through the summer continually, and 

 presented a beautiful combination of colour for a couple of 

 years. Madame Margottin was very poor with me. Mr. Ead- 

 clyffe lauded it so highly that I did not give it up. I had it 

 potted last winter, kept in a cold frame, and planted out on the 

 15th of May, and it well repaid the trouble. Only two days 

 ago I cut off the last of its grand flowers. 



Could Marie Baumann be improved by the like treatment ? 

 I often ask myself. But then the growth is so dift'erent that 

 I doubt the success of the experiment. Besides, I had it gene- 

 rally covered with glass during the spring months, and with no 

 good result. 



I have been much surprised that none of your correspondents 

 has noticed Miss Ingram, which, though only a summer Eose, 

 I think in shape and colour is unsurpassed. When fresh ex- 

 panded this year in the beginning of July it was perfectly exqui- 

 site. The frost and rain in June spoiled many of the blossoms. 

 For the time (about one month) which it lasts it is a great 

 bloomer. Shall we ever see a white Eose on its model ? Wa 

 really want such. 



Alfred Colomb I prize above all varieties of the bright-co- 

 loured section ; I have never seen its superior. Charles Yerdier 



