78 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 26, 1877. 



enjoyable of mouths of all the year, in their bright green 

 splendour, but when autumn comes there they still are — clad 

 in another garb of beauty, more gorgeous though not so glad ; 

 and even in winter, who would wish to be without their tree 

 neighbours ? The perfect symmetry of a tree isnever better seen 

 than in winter, and the dullest eye and heart recognise their 

 vernal beauty ; also, there are trees which openly show no 

 change in their leaves, and so gladden us all along the dreary 

 season by their greenness. Moreover, in those that Bhed their 

 leafy garb see the fantastic forms of beauty whioh they become 

 when decked by a hoar frost or a snow storm, especially by the 

 former. I would say that nothing takes off the dreary feeling 

 of winter so much as the presence around us of fine-grown 

 trees. When all that out of doors formerly cheered us is gone ; 

 when flowers, corn fields, and green grass are no more ; when 

 hedges have become mere dark lines or intersected branchlets, 

 yet the trees are there around us Btill, and present with us to 

 comfort us. 



Perhaps no one can so thoroughly appreciate the value of 

 fruit trees as one born or having lived many years among 

 them. The treeless plains, like prairies, are akin to the ocean's 

 calm, and on them companionship seems lost. We read of 

 one where the architeot wished to cut away a noble old tree, 

 who said, " No ! move the house, but you cannot grow such a 

 tree in my lifetime. Oh ! the hours of pleasure I have taken 

 under its shade, and the sweet memories of youth and its 

 associates they bring are beyond all of art's splendours." 



Let trees have their meed of praise. They are the constant 

 abiding friends to us. They vary indeed according to season, 

 but each variation is a separate beauty; bud, leaf, lighter at 

 first, then darker; then come the richly autumnal tints, and 

 then the grand visible branches stretching far and wide during 

 the winter months ; long, low-hanging limbs lying above and 

 not far above the backs of animalB that minister to our daily 

 comforts, and when the heavy frosts come the whole tree is 

 standing jewel-decked. 



But let flowers have their meed of praise. They are the 

 loveliest of all things while they laBt ; bright visitors whose 

 coming is looked forward to with longing — bright visitors that 

 leave behind them pleasant memories, who are talked of after 

 they have left us. 



I liken perennials to old friends that come and stay with us 

 a few days each year — old, old friends, whom we have known 

 so many years that we cannot tell exactly where our friendship 

 began. Then as flowers differ in appearance, I liken them 

 to different friends. Some I compare to quiet maiden aunts, 

 whom all the children gather round and love, whom the 

 youngest — that little impatient youngeBt one— obeys readily 

 and feels happy in so doing. Other flowers, not a bit like 

 these, so my fancy runs, are so bright and good-looking that I 

 compare their visit to that of some bright-eyed merry girl — 

 merry, so merry that she makes the house ring with laughter 

 — merry, so merry that she even " makes a sunshine in a 

 shady place," and her visit has made such a difference to the 

 quiet-home routine that when she is gone you wonder and 

 mark the change, and sigh to think that in a few years the 

 world's heavy weight will subdue to a quieter tone even that 

 merry laugh. And so of other and other flowers. 



Lastly, of trees and flowers : the former we wish to have, 

 the latter we must have, as the child will pluck the Daisies. 

 Happily our craving can be readily satisfied, for flowers are 

 easily carried into the heart of great cities, placed by sick beds, 

 found or taken everywhere. No need of choice sorts for these 

 purposes. The noBegay of common flowers from a common 

 garden, the Lilac or Spiraea, or those from the woods are 

 sufficient unto the sick, are welcome and give untold happi- 

 ness.— F. R. Ellioet, Cleveland, Ohio. 



THEEE TEAES' EXPERIENCE in a GREENHOUSE. 



PROLOGUE. 

 Having as an amateur been very successful in raising a 

 rather large family of plants and flowers — for I always call 

 them my children, and perhaps tend them with as much loving 

 care as though they were endowed with human instead of 

 plant life — I have for some time past thought of giving my 

 experience for the benefit of those whose tastes are akin to 

 my own but fail to attain the results. I muBt first say that 

 my knowledge of plants and flowers is so exceedingly limited 

 that I am really not certain when I raise a good thing, having 

 had so few opportunities of comparison, and it is of course 

 only by comparing that one can judge ; so it suggested itself 



to me to write to the Editors of our Journal, sending at the 

 same time a few specimens of the flowers I raised, and ask 

 them if they were really worthy of commendation. I did so, 

 and received a most satisfactory answer ; hence this attempt 

 to give my fellow workers a few simple results. 



I began with a frame, and would advise others to do so, for 

 a frame is but a greenhouse in miniature, and we certainly 

 ought to master our letters before we attempt to read. A 

 frame — well, what is a frame ? Mine was an old box 24 inches 

 by 12, cut off on a slant and covered with a single sheet of 

 glass simply laid on the top. In March I sowed half with 

 Tagetes and the other half with Phlox Drummondi. When 

 about 2 inches in height I transplanted the best of the seed- 

 lings to another frame about 2 inches apart, let them grow, 

 pinched out the tops in about a fortnight, then at bedding-out 

 time (May 20th) planted them out. Well, you will say perhaps, 

 "What then? We have grown the same things without all 

 that trouble." Ah ! but how about results ? The Tagetes were 

 enormous, and though I planted them 18 inches apart their 

 frond-like leaves overlapped ; and as to the Phlox, my friends 

 told me they had never seen their like though they grew them 

 — and why ? Simply because they had never taken the trouble. 

 I remember reading in our Journal how to protect Peas from 

 birds by stretching black threads across and across the rows. I 

 tried it, found it thoroughly effectual, told my friends who 

 complained bitterly of the birds eating half their Peas. What 

 did they do ? Used white thread instead of black, though I 

 had given them the reason for using the latter — viz., that the 

 birds seeing the white threads avoid them, but the black being 

 invisible scare them on coming in contact, the birds evidently 

 suspecting a trap. However, they who used white thread lost 

 their Peas, which is a grim satisfaction to those who gave 

 tested and practical advice. 



I trust my readers will not be impatient to get to the green- 

 house. In my next paper I will relate how I constructed my 

 greenhouse for £12 15s., including a thoroughly efficient heat- 

 ing apparatus, not only to grow Geraniums, but such plants 

 as Gardenia, Stephanotis, Gloxinia, &c. — Respice Finem. 



EOYAL BOTANIC GAEDENS, KEW. 



[The Report for the year 1876 has been issued. We extract 

 the following.] 



The number of visitors exhibits a considerable falling-off as 

 compared with last year, being just below 600,000 (596,865). 

 This is the smallest number since 1872. A comparison of the 

 figures given in the appendix will show that the diminution in 

 the whole attendance is largely accounted for by the diminution 

 in the months of May and June, during the former of which 

 cold and easterly winds prevailed. On the 7th of August the 

 Royal Gardens were visited by 64,163 persons, the largest 

 number which has ever been recorded for any one day. 



In the Palm house a great improvement has been obtained 

 in the general effect. It has been found necessary to cut down 

 nearly all the large Palms on the north side of the transept, 

 and plant out others in their place. The following are the 

 more important changes : 



Arenga saccharifera cut down and replaced by Sabal glau- 

 ceecens. Livistona inermis (L. australis), " Bot. Mag." 6274, 

 cut down and replaced by Phcenix dactylifera. Sabal glau- 

 cescens transplanted and replaced by Astrocaryum roetratum. 

 Acrocomia sclerooarpa cut down and replaced by Thrinax 

 aculeata. Sabal umbraculifera cut down and replaced by 

 Livistona chinensis. Veitchia canterburyana transplanted and 

 replaced by Ceroxylon andicola. Phytelephas macrocarpa re- 

 moved and replaced by Attalea Cohune. Areca alba cut down 

 and replaced by " Euterpe pisifera." 



The number of species and varieties of Ferns in the Royal 

 Gardens is now upwards of one thousand. 



India Rubber. — On the 14th of June of last year Mr. H. A. 

 Wickham, a resident on the Amazons, who had been com- 

 missioned by the India office to collect seeds of the Hevea 

 brasiliensis, arrived in England with 70,000, obtained on the 

 Rio Tapajos. In consequence of their retaining vitality for 

 but a very short period they were all sown the day after 

 arrival, and, although not contained in pans, covered a space 

 of over 300 equare feet closely packed together. About 3| per 

 cent, germinated, some as early as the fourth day after sowing, 

 and many in a few days reached a height of 18 inches. Up- 

 wards of 1900 plants were transmitted August 12th in thirty- 

 eight Wardian cases made specially to accommodate the rapid 

 growth of the seedlings, to Ceylon under charge of a gardener. 



