August 11, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



105 



each plan being so far equal. The planting, too, in lines or 

 rows is also of equal merit. It is when we come to the ridge 

 that the merits of the bed and ridge plans diverge. The ridge 

 plan forms parallel mounds, with the soil drawn or sloped up- 

 wards, the plants sitting on the summit and drooping into the 

 intervening trenches or open drains. Have any of your readers 

 observed that the plants are thus occasionally blanched like 

 Celery, and that sometimes the ridges drop or fall, and the 

 plants perish from exposure to drought, or frost and cold 

 winds ? And has it been noticed that the trenches carry off, 

 like drainage, tbe moisture so essential to the Strawberry in its 

 period of swelling before ripening fruit? And has it been 

 seen that ridges cannot bo easily mulched or top-dressed, the 

 manure tumbling into the trenches, and having its virtues 

 washed away as sewage ? Such features in ridge planting have 

 occurred under my own observation, and I place them before 

 your contributors for comment. 



The bed is my choice. Beds 4 feet wide, to reach across 

 from each side in weeding, &c, with two rows of Strawberry 

 plants, all equidistant, say 12 inches, the ground trenched and 

 underlaid with manure, are my system. Thus the plants sit 

 firm and hard beneath the wind, the ground retains its natural 

 moisture, and the mulching with short litter and manure by 

 hand or weeding-fork is little trouble, the mulching being also 

 allowed to remain as a winter protection, and to sink into the 

 beds. It neither blows nor washes away. Weeding is all that 

 is needed, and that is easy across 4-feet beds with 12-inch path- 

 ways between. Thus I plant, grow on two to three years, and 

 trench, manure the soil, and plant and mulch successively the 

 same beds (no rotation of crops) satisfactorily. 



Many growers use straw for protection from dirt in the fruit- 

 ing season. Straw has the worse property of enticing birds 

 and slugs, as well as damping and moulding the fruit in damp 

 weather; besides, straw confines the heat of the earth, and 

 makes the under sides of the Strawberries soft and watery in 

 flavour, at least I think so, and I use nothing except, for a choice 

 stool here and there, a few broken flower pots or tile layers and 

 reflectors. Netting for bird-scaring, and vegetable charcoal dust 

 and sharp sand, hand-scattered, for slug protection ! 



As regards the sorts of Strawberries fancied, we may differ 

 as we are located. My choice is Lucas, President, Eclipse, 

 Rivers's Eliza, John Powell, Fairy Queen, Filbert Pine, Dr. 

 Hogg, Frogmore Pine (though Erogmore Pine ripens badly in 

 dull weather), and Wonderful ; and taken all in all — flavour, 

 size, and productiveness, I think them the cream. Of La Con- 

 stants, La Chalonnaise, Marguerite (washy), Sir Harry, and 

 Cockscomb I can make little but a few far-apart fruit not worth 

 the room of the plants. However, " tastes differ." — Beaded. 



GARDENING AS A RECREATION. 



I would recommend every man in the autumn of his life to 

 take to gardening, if he has not already experienced its plea- 

 sures. Of all occupations in the world it is the one which best 

 combines repose and activity. It is rest-in-work or work-in-rest. 

 It is not idleness ; it is not stagnation — and yet it is perfeot 

 quietude. Like all things mortal it has its failures and its 

 disappointments, and there are some things hard to under- 

 stand. But it is never without its rewards. And perhaps if 

 there were nothing but successful cultivation, the aggregate 

 enjoyment would be less. It is better for the occasional 

 shadows that come over the scene. The discipline, too, is 

 more salutary. It tries one's patience, and it tries one's faith. 

 The perpetual warfare that seems ever to be going on between 

 the animal and the vegetable world is something strange and 

 perplexing. It is hard to understand why the beautiful tender 

 blossoms and the delicate fresh leaflets of my Rose trees should 

 be covered with green flies and destroyed as soon as they are 

 born. It is a mystery which I cannot solve ; but I know that 

 there is a meaning in it, and that it is all decreed for good, only 

 that I am too ignorant to fathom it. And even in the worst of 

 seasons there is far more to reward and encourage than to dis- 

 hearten and to disappoint. 



There is no day of the year without something to afford 

 tranquil pleasure to the cultivator of flowers, something on 

 which the mind may rest (using the word in its double sense) 

 with profit and delight. If there is no new surprise, no fresh 

 discovery for you, there is always something to be done. " The 

 garden is a constant source of amusement to us both," wrote 

 Dr. Arnold in one of his delightful letters — he was writing of 

 himself and wife; "there are always some little alterations to 

 be made, some few spots where an additional shrub or two 



would be ornamental, something coming into blossom; so that 

 I can always delight to go round and see how things are going 

 on." In the spring and summer there iB some pleasure-giving 

 change visible every morning, something to fulfil and some- 

 thing to excite expectation. And even in the winter, flower cul- 

 ture has its delights. If you have a greenhouse or conserva- 

 tory, no matter how small, you have an in-doors garden, in 

 which you may watch the same changes and enjoy the same 

 delights. And if you have not, you may still do something to 

 preserve your nurslings during the rigours of the hybernal 

 season. Indeed, there are few states of life in wbieh floricul- 

 ture is not an available enjoyment. To rich and to poor it is a 

 blessing equally accessible. " is gardening," it was observed 

 by Sir William Temple, who has had a new lease of life in one 

 of the best of Macaulay's " Essays," " has been the inclination 

 of kings and the choice of philosophers, so it has been the com- 

 mon favourite of public and private men, a pleasure of the 

 greatest, and the care of the meanest; and, indeed, an employ- 

 ment and a possession for which no man is too high or too low." 

 I am disposed, indeed, to think that to men of low estate it 

 yields greater joy than to those who hail from high places. — 

 (Comhill Magazine.) 



VIOLA CORNUTA. 



Allow me to inform Mr. Robson, that although my Viola 

 cornuta and Yellow Pansies were not planted until June, I 

 have never seen them do better. They have been, and will 

 yet continue for some time, a perfect mass of blossoms. They 

 are both new introductions here, and have been the admiration 

 of thousands. Indeed, the bedding has been very much ad- 

 mired, more especially the mixed and tricolor beds. The old 

 style of bedding solid masses of colour has to a great extent 

 been abandoned this season for the first time, much to the 

 gratification of all who visit these grounds — Edward Bennett, 

 The Gardens, Enville. 



DOUBLE-FLOWERED PELARGONIUMS AS 

 BEDDERS. 



I have to thank "D., Deal," for his article on this subject 

 at page 78. I agree with his remarks as to the suitability of 

 double-flowered Pelargoniums for bedding purposes. As " D,, 

 Deal," says, there are no seed pods — undoubtedly a great ad- 

 vantage of double-flowered varieties as compared with some of 

 the single-flowered sorts, of which Christine and most of the 

 Nosegays require almost daily attention to keep up a decent 

 appearance during dry hot weather. In rainy weather the 

 flowers of the double kinds, though much more compact in the 

 truss than the single-flowered, are not so soon destroyed by 

 wind and rain ; indeed, a heavy rain spoils the beauty of the 

 single-flowered sorts for a time, until, in blighter drier weather, 

 more flowers open. The double-flowered kinds are not in the 

 least the worse of a heavy rain, but should the weather con- 

 tinue dull, as it often does for several days together, the trusses, 

 from being so close, are "matted together;" the whole truss, 

 from the decay of a few flowers in the centre, is then soon a 

 mass of white mould. During bright hot weather is when they 

 shine, as do all kinds coming up to the florists' standard of 

 excellence — those with good trusses of well-formed flowers, as 

 Lord Derby, Editor, and others, which " D.,Deal," grows, and 

 which more of us would grow if they flowered profusely and 

 recovered more speedily after wet and cold. The double and 

 large-flowered kinds suffer less from wet and cold than the 

 smaller-flowered, but during a continuance of wet they damp 

 to a pitiable extent, and are very slow of recovery. 



However, like " D., Deal," I am so well satisfied with my 

 experience of them out of doors that I intend to give them a 

 more extended trial, and would advise others to do the same. 

 All seasons are not wet ; in a dry bright summer they greatly 

 outvie those we should not keep except for their free continuous 

 blooming. But why discard kinds whose only fault is a free 

 vigorous habit ? Are there no large beds to fill, or back lines 

 in borders where height is an advantage rather than otherwise ? 

 Gloire de Nancy has rosy scarlet trusses very effective for large 

 beds ; Madame Lemoine is of course to be preferred for smaller 

 beds and where low growth is desired, but the idea that all our 

 plants ought to be pigmies if they are to have a place in our 

 gardens seems ridioulous. We might as well lay down a carpet 

 at once as fill our beds with dwarf plants only. Height is as 

 necessary for effect as colour, and quite as essential in pro- 

 ducing harmonious pleasing arrangements. The great evil of 



