268 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ AprU 13, 1871. 



the panes there on white lead, fill the space between the cuts 

 of the glass with it, and cover the joint outside with leaf lead ; 

 glass '26-oz. to the foot, and thirds quality. Each rafter to 

 have three wires for climbers, one immediately under the rafter, 

 and the others on each side 7 inches distant, and 9 inches from 

 the glass. 



Provision should be made to retain the water from the roof ; 

 a brick tank cemented is good. As to its size, that depends on 

 the size of the house, but I find one with a content of a cubic 

 foot for every 6 square feet covered will be snfiicient for all but 

 very dry periods. 



As regards heating, that will depend on circumstances — some 

 heat with hot-air flues, some use a stove, but most now adopt 

 hot water. For houses not over 15 feet wide a 4-inoh flow-and- 

 return pipe along the front and one end will be sufficient for a 

 lean-to, or for a span of that width two 4-inch pipes along both 

 sides, adding two for every 9 feet of width. This wiU main- 

 tain a sufSeiently high temperature. — G. Aeeet. 



TAP ROOTS. 



"And what about them ? The less we hear or see of them the 

 better," many will say ; but everyone is not of that opinion, 

 and I am one of them ; for, where the subsoil, as well as the 

 surface soil, is suitable, and the plant sends down tap roots, 

 it is only obeying one of those laws of Nature which we 

 cannot amend, excepting, perhaps, in the case of some of the 

 tenderest fruits. That these may or may not suffer injury by 

 a single root or two descending perpendicularly from the collar, 

 I am not prepared to give a decided opinion ; but all our orna- 

 mental and forest trees must be benefited by it, otherwise 

 Nature would not prompt them to do so. I am not sure that 

 some of our failures in transplanting certain subjects do not 

 arise from the fact of their tap roots having been ruthlessly 

 severed, and thus more injury is, perhaps, inflicted on a plant 

 than is ever appai-ent the first year. 



Let us take, for instance, some of the Cypress tribe, whose 

 dense heavy tops present an obstacle to the wind, but cannot 

 always withstand it, and a blow-down is the result. Now, are 

 we sure the same efiect would have been produced had there 

 been a good hold of mother earth by means of a formidable tap 

 root ? Most assuredly this would have oft'ered a resistance to 

 the wind, which otherwise the tree was unable to give. Let us 

 look at trees that are blown down, and we shall generally find 

 the tap roots have decayed, or there has not been any. Cer- 

 tainly there are some trees not prone to produce tap roots, as 

 the Ash and Sycamore, but many do make this growth when 

 not thwarted by anything in their way, and most likely if the 

 best examples of trees we have were examined, a great pro- 

 portion of them would be found with this essential fastening to 

 their position. 



Considering how beneficial a part a tap root has on the well- 

 being of single plants, and how desirable it is in removing 

 them to another place to take care and place it in a similar 

 position again, there are certainly eases where this rule must 

 be accepted with some modification, as in the case of seedlings 

 crowded together. We all know that the first instinct of a 

 plant just bursting from its seed vessel is to send its root 

 downwards in search of food and maintenance ; and if that seed 

 be thickly surrounded by others like it, each must do the same, 

 and, further, continue to do so for the very reason that there 

 is not space for the roots to travel laterally, the ground being 

 fully occupied with these ; consequently the root becomes more 

 elongated than it would be where there is more space for each 

 specimen. In removing these seedlings a portion of the root 

 is almost, as a matter of necessity, cut ofi, so as to induce the 

 formation of laterals. This cutting off, however, is only to be 

 recommended as making amends for the injuries caused by the 

 former artificial mode in which the plant has been treated, for 

 assuming a case of Nature's sowing, we there have the seeds 

 wide apart, and no check to the production of lateral roots any 

 more than there is to these becoming vertical, and the plant, 

 suiting itself to circumstances, makes both as the nature of the 

 ground and other conditions permit. Our noblest trees have 

 all, doubtless, had such an origin, and what can exceed them 

 in beauty and interest? In the greater number of cases, there- 

 fore, I say let tap roots alone, for if the ground be suitable for 

 them they will do good service, and if not, they will cease to 

 act ; but in the latter case there is much doubt of the specimen 

 doing weU. Perhaps those having most reason to find fault 

 with tap roots are those who have large trees to grub up ; they 

 Snd a good tap root more troublesome than they would wish, 



and even in their case the tree, maintains an upright position 

 longer than it otherwise would.^J. Eoeson. 



THE GOLDEN PYEETHEUM. 



I BELIEVE that fewer plants among the many novelties which 

 have been recently introduced for summer fiower- gardening 

 have obtained a greater notoriety, or obtained a wider circulation 

 than the Golden Pyrethrum. This I consider very good evidence 

 of its general adaptability for the purpose. Still there are 

 situations in which if planted it will fail to give satisfaction, 

 and this will, I think, account in some measure for the too 

 sweeping condemnation it has received from some of your cor- 

 respondents. 



For instance : if planted on an inclined surface, where in all 

 probability it will receive little water during the summer, I 

 know of no plant so ill-adapted for such a potition. It would 

 be an eyesore all the season. Again, when unevenly matched 

 with a larger and a grosser-feeding plant, it is never seen in 

 its true character, its bigger neighbour appropriating to itself 

 the lion's share of the ground's fertility. But the case is 

 different when this Pyrethrum is planted in ordinary soU that 

 has been well worked and moderately manured during the 

 winter. With a modest grower like itself for a companion, 

 and the necessary attention paid it during the summer, in 

 picking all fiower buds ofi as they appear — a process which 

 involves very little labour, as a man can easily go over a 

 thousand plants in a couple of hours — if a fair trial be given 

 I venture to say that this plant would establish itself in the 

 estimation of those who now despise it. My object in noticing 

 it is, however, not so much to advocate its summer cultivation 

 as to draw the attention of your readers to its excellence as a 

 spring bedder. I have grown it extensively as such for the 

 last two seasons, and can unreservedly recommend it as one of 

 the easiest-grown and most effective plants for that purpose. 



To procure plants for the spring I allow the summer ones to 

 remain in the ground all the winter, until about the middle of 

 March, when I take them up and divide them, retaining as 

 many roots attached to the ofisets as possible. — OwEX TEOiiiS. 



CULTURE OF STRAWBERRIES IN POTS. 



A coekesponde:;t complains, that though he has fine plants, 

 he obtains little fruit, and these no better than water. He 

 places bis pots on a stage under the shade of climbers and 

 Yines. Even with abundance of air, the bloom wUl set imper- 

 fectly, and though the fruit will swell when set it can have 

 little flavour without unobstructed light. 



Another correspondent has tried a narrow hot-water pit with 

 a temporary stage, so that the pots may be 1^ or 18 inches from 

 the glass ; but here, though the plants grow well and show fine 

 flower trusses, these often set badly in dull weather, as the leaves 

 and flowers are covered with condensed moisture. In this re- 

 spect low flat-roofed pits are greatly inferior to a steep-roofed 

 house for early forcing. Later in the season such pits answer 

 very well. For early work I have found every corner of the 

 green leaf and every notch in the bloom, as well as the parts of 

 fructification, glistening in the morning with large bright dew- 

 drops. A little of this is all very well, but too much of it 

 makes the fertilising pollen as much inert paste. In such 

 places a whole day with air on, and a little additional heat 

 when the weather is heavy and muggy, will hardly be suflicient 

 to dry the plants, and especially the parts of fructification. If 

 the pit is sunk below the ground level this will be all the more 

 likely in early forcing, however the pots be placed on a stage. 

 The best remedy in such oases is to give a little more dry heat, 

 leave air on, if only a quarter of an inch at the top and bottom, 

 all night, and cover the glass at night with mats, saUco, or any 

 thin covering. This covering, however thin, as it arrests the 

 radiation of heat, will greatly prevent the condensation of 

 vapour and the deposition of dew freely on all parts of the 

 plants. For early forcing I prefer to a pit a larger steeper- 

 roofed house. 



Though using saucers for Strawberry pots when on shelves 

 over other plants that would be injured by the drip, I do not 

 approve of them when they can be dispensed with, and when 

 used, the water, after watering, should not be allowed to stand 

 in them. Hence I have used thin turf reversed for setting the 

 pots on, which answers very well if one can fruil the plants 

 where thus set, but it does not answer well when the plants 

 have to be moved from place to place. Moss covsisd with a 



