366 



JODBNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ November 19, 1870. 



it to all. E. ibaguense is a plant of somewhat recent intro- 

 duction, and may be grown either upon a block or in a pot. If 

 the latter method be adopted drain well, and use sphagnum 

 moss and peat in equal parts, with some pieces of charcoal in- 

 termixed. It requires cool treatment; indeed, it thrives ad- 

 mimbly in a temperature of from 35° to 40° in winter. It is 

 found about Loxa, also at Ibague, growing at elevations of 

 4000 feet and upwards. — Expeeto Ceede. 



TRIAL OF PEAS AT SEAHAM HALL GARDENS, 

 SUNDERLAND. 



All the varieties were sown on February 23rd, 1870. 



Ne Plus Ultra (11 



Harrison's Glory 



Improved Green Mammoth. . . 



Dwarf Sugarloaf 



Forty fold 



Veiteh's Perfection (2) 



Blue Sciinetar (3) 



Prizetaker 



Champion of England 



Dickson's First and Best (4) . 



Laxton's Supremo (5) 



Tom Thumb 



McLean's Prolific 



Nonpareil 



Laxton's Prolific 



Advancer 



British Queen 



Waterloo 



Dwarf Mammoth (6) 



Little Gem |7) 



Premier (8i 



Princess Royal (9) 



Auvergne 



Wondeiful 



Elej 's Essex Rival 



Tuber's Perfection (10) 



Sutton's Rinyleader (11) 



Dickson's Favourite 



Bishop's Lonepod 



Paradise Marrow 



Sutton's Early Champion (12) 



Surpris-e 



Nelson's Vanguard 



Hundredfold (13) 



Sangster's No. 1 



Eugenio 



Multum-in-Parvo (11) 



Epicurean 



Priuce ... 



Knight's Tall Marrow 



When in 

 flower. 



7 



3 



4-5 



2 



5 

 3-5 

 3-4 



6 



3" 



5 

 1-2 



2 



4 



5 



2 

 4-7 



7 

 2-8 

 1— li 



3 

 3-4 



5 

 4—6 



4 



f 



5 

 2A 



4" 



u 



g 



1-1J 



1—2' 

 5 



-Tune 

 May 

 June 



May 

 June 



May 

 June 



May 



June 

 May 

 June 

 May 

 June 

 May 

 June 

 May 



June 



Ready. 



July 8 



Tune 

 July 



li 

 27 

 12 

 2 

 l 1 

 15 



15 ;; 



8, „ 

 10 June 

 23| „ 

 J 2, July 



2 " 

 12'June 

 13|July 



ia| „ 



lOiJune 

 12 .July 



16 „ 



iel „ 



21 'June 

 10 July 

 13 

 13 

 15 

 4 

 30 

 21 

 U 

 30 



u ,. 

 25'june 

 12|.Iuly 

 27 1 June 



9| » 

 26 „ 

 30|-Tuly 

 10, June 

 10 „ 

 10 July 

 16 „ 



Crop. 



good 



good 



very good 



good 



very good 

 good 



good 



June 



July 



16 very good 

 12 good 

 9, very good 

 good 



very good 

 good 



6 



6 

 4—5 

 4-6 

 5-6 

 5-6 

 6—8 

 4-6 

 5-6 

 8-9 



5 

 5-6 



6 

 6-9 



8 

 6-9 

 6-7 



4 



5 



6 

 6-8 

 4-6 

 5-6 

 5-6 



7 



5-6 

 4—7 

 4-6 

 6-8 

 5-6 



5 



6 



6 

 6-7 

 6-7 



Remarks. 



1-— Good for general crops. 



2. — Gfod for general use : fine flavour. 



3. — This Pea is the best of all the varieties to grow in dry weather, for 

 after all (he other kinds were ripe this keijt green. 



4. — One of the earliest varieties, and best. 



5.— Quite a distinct variety; foliage light green ; the pods are large, but 

 well filled. I ihink in a favourahle season it will be the best Pea out. 



6. — Straw strong, and a good cropper. 



7. — Res' for early use, requires no stakes, and good flavour. 



8. — One of the best for general use. 



9.— A first class variety ; distinct and broad pods. 

 10. — A very good useful Pea. 



11— Much the same as Dickson's First and Best. A very useful variety. 

 12.— Much the same as Dickson's and Ringleader. 

 13.— A first-class Pea, worth a place. The pods are of a dark green. 

 14. — A very nice useful kind. 



The seed was principally supplied by Messrs. Veiteh & Son?, 

 and I found it very good and true to name. I had the assist- 

 ance of several gardeners to judge, and those remarked upon 

 were thought superior to the others. — B. Deapee. 



VvEEDS. 



(Continued from page 206.) 

 Second only in importance to draining is trenching, for the 

 ground's freedom from weeds and its fertility are in a great 

 measure dependent on the latter operation. It is quite as neces- 

 sary for new ground as for that which has been Borne time under 

 crop. For vegetables, fruits, and flowers, for shrubs and trees, 

 the ground should be trenched — 1st, Because it at least doubles 



the depth of soil whioh can be easily penetrated by their roots, 

 and consequently renders available for the plantB' support a 

 much larger amount of nourishment than would otherwise be 

 the case ; 2nd, It gives a free passage to rain, the decomposing 

 matters in the soil are more equably distributed, and it admits 

 air; 3rd, As the roots penetrate to a great depth before hot 

 dry weather sets in, the plants in trenched ground withstand 

 the drought and heat of summer much better than those in 

 ground only surface-dug ; 4th, It destroys weeds, especially 

 those of annual or biennial duration, and, indeed, there are 

 but few weeds that it will not kill. Exception must, however, 

 be made of Thistles, Couch Grass, Bindweed, Docks, and a few 

 others. The weeds being trenched down, instead of impover- 

 ishing the soil, contribute to its fertility. 



Not only new ground is the better of trenching, but also that 

 which has been several years under crop. The vegetable matter 

 in the surface soil, owing to frequent manuring and the decay 

 of the roots of weeds, and of the plants forming the crops, is 

 considerably augmented every year, and this acts as a great 

 stimulant to growth whilst the plants are young and their roots 

 near the surface, but when the roots have passed down some 

 depth the growth is weak, and unless watering be resorted to 

 the produce is not equal to that of the plants in a young state. 

 Another reason for trenching is, that in many cases the Burface 

 soil is little else than a mass of decayed and decaying vegetable 

 matter. Little but leaves is produced, and though these are all 

 we desire in the case of Spinach and some other crops, we re- 

 quire very different results when the produce we seek is the pod, 

 the root, or the head. This excessive vigour of top causes the 

 plants to be tender, and the growths are incapable of resisting 

 extremes of heat and cold. "What, then? Is poor soil best? By 

 no means; but it is possible to present the food in such a 

 manner that, whilst it gives early vigour, it will in the end 

 prove injurious to the health and productiveness of the plants. 

 The advantage of all digging consists in rendering the soil 

 more open, and intermixing its parts. But how can this be 

 effected when the soil is merely turned over ? The surface 

 is, no doubt, made all that could be wished for, but what of 

 the soil lower down than 9 incheB from the surface ? There we 

 have a solid mass not easily penetrated by the roots, and it 

 receives none of the enriching matter given at the top, except 

 that reaching it in a soluble state, and its constituents are prin- 

 cipally inorganic matter. 



Surface-digging, whilst it tends to make the soil for a few 

 inches deep a mass of vegetable matter, is apt to cause disease 

 in plants by producing that gross unhealthy development 

 which is often attacked by the worst forms of disease, such as 

 rust, mildew, &c. The richness of the surface often serves to 

 encourage insect pests, which for their existence require soil 

 long worked, or, in other words, full of decaying and decayed 

 vegetable substances. It is well known to all cultivators that 

 plants in old soil are more subject to the attacks of some kinds 

 of grubs, or the larva of insects, beetles, &c, than those in 

 fresh soil. 



The action, then, of trenching, is threefold : it brings to the 

 surface inorganic matter, it buries the seeds of weeds to such a 

 depth that they will not germinate, and it destroys the larvae 

 of many insects injurious to plant life, or prevents their in- 

 crease. 



Some persons oonsider that whatever manure is applied 

 should be given at the surface, and think that to bury it at a 

 greater depth than a foot is to place it beyond the reach of the 

 plants. This is a great absurdity, for plants, as a rule, root 

 deeply ; but in cultivation they do not so root, because their 

 food is given on the surface, and the roots cannot descend if 

 they would. We know that when plants have an opportunity 

 they do root deeply, and are often difficult to restrain. Fruit 

 trees exhibit this tendency, yet no one thinks of planting them 

 without giving them a good depth of soil by trenching, or 

 making borders of considerable depth, being at great labour 

 to remove the bad soil, &c. Strange that persons doing this 

 should advocate manuring on the surface ! They tell us it 

 keeps the roots there, which is also an error, for the roots go 

 down, no, and sideways, wLerever their food is and the way 

 open. But if we do not keep the roots of Pears on the Quince 

 stock, Apples on the Paradise stock, and of all bush fruit near 

 the surface, they will be unfruitful from the roots going down. 

 If there are no roots near the surface, there are none of any 

 consequence anywhere, for the stocks are surface-rooting, and 

 supplying them with food on the surface is Bimply feeding them 

 in the only available place ; but even that is of no avail, unless 

 the roots in part have a depth of soil to draw their supplies 



