July 21, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OE HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



41 



are about the hardiest of bedding plants, and in our case were 

 transplanted direct with balls from the cold pit to the borders, 

 some before Easter Sunday, and soma the week after, the dry 

 weather at the time interrupting the operation. Next came 

 Verbena pulchella, a tolerably hardy kind, but still one that 

 likes warm weather better than cold, and I believe a better 

 result would have followed had we waited a fortnight, but the 

 plants had become stunted by confinement ia a crowded state 

 in the cutting pans and boxes, and required more room ; so, 

 trusting to the weather, we planted them out at once on 

 April 30th, excepting a few not sufficiently struck at the 

 time, which were put out a fortnight afterwards. Their pro- 

 gress wa9, of course, slow for a time — nay, I am not sure that 

 they did not retrograde ; still, none of them died, or but very 

 few, and they now (June 95b) promise soon to occupy their 

 allotted space. 



I now come to the Pelargoniums. The bulk of these are 

 wintered in wooden boxes 2 feet long by 1 foot wide and 

 3 inches deep for young plants, and 4 or 5 inches deep for 

 older taken-up plants. Now it often happens that these small 

 plants become very much drawn by the middle of April, so 

 that a fresh lot of cutting3 is often taken off; and in some 

 seasons we have shaken them out of the boxes, tied a little 

 moss and soil round hundreds of them, Rnd placed them on a 

 slight hotbed or in a sheltered position for two or three weeks 

 before planting ; but this season circamstauees prevented our 

 doing so, and there was no alternative but planting them out 

 directly from the cutting box. The question then arose, Was 

 it prudent to do that work early, or to wait till others were 

 planting out their potted plants ? This was the way to pat the 

 matter, and not, Which is the proper time to plant in general? 

 Observe, I am not advocating early planting where there exist 

 the means of keeping the plants in a suitable condition till a 

 more genial season arrive, yet the results of early planting 

 are not always so discouraging as to render it entirely unworthy 

 of support. I remember the best bed of Pelargoniums I had 

 one year was planted in April, but then the plants were covered 

 with Laurel boughs for a time, a practice I have often adopted 

 with early planted-out subjects, but which t had not the oppor- 

 tunity of practising this year. On the other hand, one season 

 we suffered much by a frost late in May, X think the 23rd or 

 24th, when a number of plants of Perilla were quite killed, and 

 the Pelargoniums and other bedding plants much hurt, while 

 those not planted till after that time succeeded much batter. 

 The air and plants at the time of that frost were both moist, 

 hence the injury. The thermometer on the morning of May 3rd 

 was lower than I have over registered it in May during the last 

 twenty years, being 27°, and that for many hours too ; but the 

 air was dry, and the morning dull, so that the injury done wa3 

 not so great as, from the severity of the frost, might be sup- 

 posed. In other frosts during the same month, the shoots of 

 Oak, Ash, and other trees were blackened. 



In connection with early planting, the state of the ground 

 must be set down as an essential condition of success, and it 

 has generally been one of our difficulties, as the soil of our 

 flower beds, though well adapted for sustaining a long sum- 

 mer's growth, is not the best to work early in the season, for 

 it is what is termed a stubborn soil, and in some seasons ia 

 much worse than in others. This year has been one of the 

 best, while 1869 was bad. So stiff is the ground sometimes 

 that we are obliged to obtain some fine soil from elsewhere to 

 plant in, or rather to cover the roots of the little plants con- 

 signed to such hard lumps. I well remember the expression 

 of a gardener of high standing whj visited me one season 

 when the soil was of the coarsest description, and the men 

 were fixing down the shoots of Verbenas, not with pegs, hair- 

 pins, or strips of matting, but with clods of the sun-dried 

 earth, about the size of a cricket ball, obtained on the spot in 

 any quantity. Such rude treatment amused my friend, who, 

 doubtless, expected more from his own neatly manipulated 

 beds, but a genial rain setting in soon after melted down these 

 weights, to the advantage of the plants I believe. A rather 

 long continuance of dry weather followed, and then it came to 

 my turn to visit my friend's garden, and the laugh was turned 

 against him ; his smooth ashy-looking soil had not been able, 

 with the aid of the water of a canal that flowed past it, to sup- 

 port his Verbenas in health, while mine were all that could be 

 desired. However, a certain degree of pulverisation is neces- 

 sary at planting, and I am in the habit of looking as much at 

 the Btate of the ground as at that of the atmosphere ; never- 

 theless, it must be acknowledged, that when the two are com- 

 bined the best result follows. The condition of the plants, 



however, has a great influence in hastening or delaying 

 planting out, for to wait till a plant falls into bad health from 

 crowding or lack of nourishment at the root, is often equiva- 

 lent to waiting till disease sets in. Calceolarias are espe- 

 cially liable to suffer from this cause. The Variegated and 

 Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums appear to bear such treatment as 

 well as any plant, but it cannot be said that they are im- 

 proved by it. 



Although I have mentioned some subjects which miy be 

 planted out early without dying, yet thore are others it would 

 not be prudent to try. Heliotropes, TropaDolums, Ageratums, 

 and even Lobelias are less hardy than the plants 1 have 

 named ; while Alternantheras, Ooleuses, Castor Oil plants, and 

 the like, are still more delicate, On the "other hand, Petunias 

 are tolerably hardy, so, too, are G.iz»nias, Nierembergiss, and 

 Centaureas. The last named, however, has suffered more with 

 me this past winter than it has ever done before. 



I would now invite the opinions of others on the subject, 

 whose practice, if recorded, may do much either to condemn 

 early planting, or to support it as not being so detrimental as 

 it is supposed to be ; for, be it remembered, if it can be proved 

 that a plant turned out, say on the 25th of April, is as good on 

 the 25th of Jane as one turned out on the 25th of May, the 

 advantages of getting the first- planted one out of the way are 

 such as to render the earlier planting preferable, the state of 

 the respective plants at turning-out time, and other conditions, 

 being the same. But I have already said enough, and I expect 

 our worthy mentor, " R. P.," will find many and cogent 

 reasons for delaying his planting so late, each of them im- 

 portant t'o the planter. Nevertheless, I advocate early plant- 

 ing where circumstances, as here, almost compel its adoption. 



— J. RoBSON. 



THE STBAWBERRY SEASON. 

 I heae on all sides, "I have no Strawberries ! " Here they 

 never were finer nor more plentiful. I like a West Indian 

 summer for fruits and flowers. AH that is wanted is sufficiency 

 of manure, and water equal, ia some measure, to exoessive 

 evaporation. I have had magnificent crops of Rivera's Eliza, 

 | Cockscomb, Wonderful, Br. Hogg, and Mr. RadeVyffe, of which 

 ; the last-named is the best in flavour. In constitution, setting 

 its fruits, and colour, it is superior to ths'British Queen; in 

 I other respects, and especially as regards flesh, flavour, and 

 i foliage, it is identical. I had some very fine early and highly- 

 flavoured berries of Lucas, which should be more known. I 

 think Mr. Radclyft'e and Dr. Hogg — the two finest in th3 Queen 

 line — succeed best by early annual (say July 1st) plantation. 

 I took on July 5th a noble lot of Strawberries, consisting of 

 Mr. Radclyife, Dr. Hogg, Wonderful, and Cockscomb, to Sir 

 William Marriott's criekat-match — a match between his eleven 

 and eleven of the 7th Fusiliers, quartered at Dorchester. Sir W. 

 Marriott and Capt. Glyn measured the largest Cockscomb with 

 tape marked wiih the inches, and it was Hi inches ia circum- 

 ference. I enclose Sir William's letter for the Editors' perusal. 

 This I do, because people who grow Strawberries the size of 

 " snogs," eannot.still believe thatl grew one last year 12 inches 

 round. Thoy do not appear to have measured the largest of 

 the Br. Hogg Strawberries, which, I believe, ranged from 7 to 

 9 ioehss. It is a noble Strawberry, but not equal to Mr. Rad- 

 clyffe in flesh, flavour, and colour. I should, however, be in- 

 clined to recommend it to careless people rather than Mr. 

 Radclyffe. They are both easy to cultivate, and neither are 

 particular as to soil. 



The British Queen hates chalk, but these, too, I have grown 

 successfully in the chalky soil of Rushton and in the sandy 

 loam of Okeford. The Bicton Pine and Frogmore Pine are not 

 in crop this yoar. The Alpines have been most abundant. 

 Galande i3 a splendid red Alpine. I wonder people do not 

 grow Alpines. With a little sugar, I think they are the finest 

 flavoured of all Strawberries. 



Last year my runners of all sorts were planted July 1st. 

 This year I made my new beds July 4th, 5th, and 6th. Early 

 establishment is a great matter, also firm ground. I plant after 

 Cabbages, which are kept constantly hoe^, and I do not dig the 

 ground at all. Holes, 19 iuches apart each way, are scooped 

 out, and filled with liquid manure, and in due time the runners 

 are put in with loam and decayed manure Bifted fine, and 

 trodden in as hard as it is possible to do. The runners are 

 then kept sufficiently watered. The hotter the weather is the 

 better it is for the new plantation. The July plants of last 

 year are now larger than some people's three-year-old plants. 



