316 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 4, 1871. 



surface should be dotted with shrubs selected for the elegance 

 of their growth and foliage, coniferous plants being best adapted 

 for such a purpose. These single sipecimeas dispersed thinly, 

 yet in graceful order, so as to avoid all tendency to the formality 

 of straight lines, should serve to lead ns onward to mixed 

 groups of flowering shrubs, and others grown for the beauty of 

 their foliage. Here the work acquires an additional interest; 

 colour, always important, and without which the most elegant 

 form would appear tame and spiritless, now for a time stands 

 first, and yet while we strive to produce pleasing combinations 

 of colour, the inflaence of form is never absent from our minds. 

 In selecting flowering shrubs, amongst the most eligible are 

 Daphnes, Azaleas, Lilacs, Berterises, and many others which 

 ■with their gay flowers tend so much to brighten the months of 

 spring ; but cone of them can compare with the Rhododendron 

 for producing bold gorgeous masses of colour, to which a back- 

 ground of sombre-bued Pinuses serves to impart an air of 

 grandeur and richness. Here, too, the Rose most worthily 

 claims a place as pre-eminently combitiiug in its lovely flowers 

 form and colour in the highest, degree of escellocce. The pliant 

 nature of its growth also admits of each plant being trained 

 to most perfect symmetry. 



It is queslionable whether such groups are best iiked when 

 introduced to relieve the sameneps of a wide expanse of lawn, 

 the very introduction of them there proclaiming the general 

 fondness of variety, and the dislike to the lameness of unbroken 

 flat eurfices : therefore, in designing a shrubbery, an undulating 

 surface is to bo preferred, because it gives greater scope for the 

 exercise of taste; it affords many more facilities for producing 

 a series of beautiful scenes, thoroughly diversified, and which, 

 if well contrived, are quite certain to be more generally appre- 

 ciated, for the very reason that all naturally most admire un- 

 dulating surfaces and graceful flowing lines : hence the im- 

 portance of a thorough knowledge of the power of graceful forms 

 when seen under diiierent aspects. 



In considering this power in its relation to the vegetable king- 

 dom, I have given precedence to trees and shrubs, because of 

 the dignity, strength, and grandeur of many of them. Nor ate 

 these properties usually developed at the expense of symmetry, 

 for whether we look upon the huge growth and massive strength 

 of the trees flourishing in our own climate, or upon the more 

 slender yet elegant growth of tropical vegetation, the fitness of 

 each for tho position assigned it in Nature, the air of dignity 

 on the one ho.ud and of elfgance on the other, must always 

 impreas the mind favourably. — Edwakd Luckhukst. 



FRUIT PROSPECTS. 



The late severe weather has been most unpropitious for the 

 fruit crop. Blossom of all kinds is most profuse, but fruit of 

 ttnoy kinds will be scanty. For three consecutive nights the 

 thermometer registered 12° below freezing, each night being 

 succeeded by a day of unclouded brilliancy. The crop of Peaches 

 and Apricots, where unprotected, is nearly destroyed ; Pears 

 have suffered considerably. The present appearance of the 

 trees is very fine, but very deceptive. Many blossoms have 

 expanded since more favourable weather set in, but on exami- 

 nation the pistils and ovaries are black and decayed. Some of 

 the later blosHoms, however, are sound and healthy, and a fair 

 sprinkling of fruit is expected. Apples, Plams, and Cherries 

 do not appear to be extensively injured ; but Gooseberries and 

 Currant? are terribly shattered. The weather at the time of 

 writing ia by no means genial — wind easterly ; barometer, 

 falling, 29.70. A great deal of rain is due, the fall from the 

 beginning of the year to the prssent date being only 4.30 inches, 

 and halt of this was from melted siiiaw. 



Since writing the above I have inspected the fruit garden of 

 " C. C. E." Itisjastnow a maguificeot sight. Could some 

 of the pariectly-formed bloom-laden specimens of fruit trees 

 be transferred to and intermixed with the shrubs in pleasure 

 grounds, how tbey would brighten up the spectacle of the some- 

 what sombre masses, and addcheerfnlness, and life, and pleasure 

 to the general effect. The Apple blossom is not quite expanded, 

 but the Plums, Pears, and Cherries are glorious in their lovely- 

 tinted mantle of blossom ; and not only is the general eiiect 

 of the long lines of beauty striking to witness, but an individual 

 examination of the several trees telle one how thoroughly good 

 they are. Ever improving by CiirofuUy eliminating varieties 

 which do not come up to a hi^h standard of excellence, and 

 largely increasing the number of kinds of special merit and 

 usefiilnesa, the able and energetic owner will soon be in a 

 position to show what a fruit garden should be, and to give 



accurate and valuable information of the returns derivable from 

 large quantities of trees, founded not only on the multiplication 

 table, but on actual practice and the incontrovertible process 

 of weighing the fruit. A characteristic, and a valuable one, of 

 the trees in thi.i garden is their sturdy habit and rigid limb- 

 like branches. These, from their base to their extremities, are 

 crowded with blossom, and if crowded with fruit the frame- 

 work of the trees is strong enough to carry it without the 

 bending of branches, so common and so objectionable. The 

 early-expanded Pear blossom is injured, but more than enongli 

 has escaped the frost to insure heavy crops. The Plums 

 and Cherries are not hurt at all. The few trees of Peaches and 

 Apricots are crowded with fruit, having been protected by can- 

 vas blinds worked by rollers and pulleys and other efiectual 

 contrivances. The wind has at last shifted from the east, 

 refreshing showers have fallen, and the weather is more genial 

 and spring-like. — J. W., Lincolnshire. 



THE GOLDEN PYRETHRUM. 



I CAN testify to the truth of what your correspondent, Mr. 

 Thomas, says concerning the above-named plant, and especially 

 when he states that it is one of the most effective plants for the 

 spring flower garden. I know it has been condemned and dis- 

 carded by many people, and I think too hastily, for beyond its 

 summer attractions, if the plants can be so arranged in summer 

 as to come in without much interruption for spring bedding they 

 give a cheerful and bright appearance to the flower garden such 

 as no other plant can excel. In many parts of the country, 

 however, it does not pass the winter without considerable loss, 

 particularly when the natural soil is heavy and badly drained ; 

 for I consider that it is from wet more than frost that the 

 plants die. In a deeply cultivated gravelly soil it has, as I have 

 seen in many places this spring, withstood the severe winter 

 without injury, has been the most attractive and highly-praised 

 plant of any for spring decoration, and is increasing in beauty 

 daily. Its effect is increased, too, by the healthy green the 

 lawn has lately assumed through the growing showers of April. 



I think that a dry autumn and a slow growth are as favourable 

 to this Pyrethrum as any other hardy plant for passing success- 

 fully through a severe winter. The plants to which I allude 

 as being so beautiful now were little else than naked stumps 

 last January. Some plants when commencing to grow in March 

 will break more weakly than others, so that a little re-arrange- 

 ment is necessary, otherwise I advise as little interference as 

 possible. — Thomas Eecobo. 



HOP CULTIVATION FOR ORNAMENT AND USE. 



No. 5. 



Red Spider seldom attacks the Hop, yet it did so rather 

 severely in 1868. Sulphur seems to have little effect on it, but 

 this remedy has been but little tried. 



A more destructive enemy is a sort of flea or weevil, which 

 eats into the Hop itself, causing it to turn black, and doing a 

 great deal of damage. There seems to be no remedy for this but 

 picking the crop as soon as possible, as the operations of the 

 insect are beyond the reach of anything that may be applied. 

 Tho other insects which injure the Hop are not important. 

 Two or three kinds of caterpillars appear to give this plant a 

 preference, but they are not numerous enough to create alarm. 



Hop. PICKING AND Dkying. — I now como to the picking and 

 drying — very important processes, the former requiting the aid 

 of a great number of workpeople ; and the employment being 

 of a kind that anyone may engage in, great numbers of the 

 lower class of London poor come down every year to assist in 

 the operation, bringing their little ones with them. They are 

 generally lodged in sheds often built on purpose away from the 

 farm buildings, on account of the danger from fire, as the occu- 

 pants of such places are not always the most careful, and 

 "Hopping time" requires a more than ordinary outlook for 

 dangers of that kind. I will pass over the hubbubs which some- 

 times occur at beershops at this season, as well as the crowding 

 of provision shops on Saturday nights, and at once proceed to 

 Hop gardens, where we shall see the pickers have commenced 

 operations. A man called the pole- puller or binman cuts the 

 bines of a number of poles about 2 feet or more from the 

 ground, and with the aid of a tool made for the purpose of 

 drawing the poles out of the ground, clears a place where the 

 bins are put down. These bins are a sort of skeleton frame on 

 which a cloth is fixed, so as to make a trongh about 6 feet long 

 by 2 feet wide, and the same in depth. Into these the Hops 



