October 18, 1877. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



311 



moved. The tree being hardy, remains there winter and 

 summer; indeed the tubs have probably no bottom, and the 

 Laurels are really growing in the ground. Yet these neatly- 

 painted tubs with globes on the four upper corners give all the 

 grandeur of the Versailles Orange trees ; and what is of more 

 consequence to an Amerioan and an Englishman, at very little 

 cost for all ! The piece of landscape gardening connected with 

 this tub-Laurel-lined avenue is a masterpiece of good art. 

 There appear to be only two or three acres on each side of 

 the avenue, but while one is kept flat and smooth, and relieved 

 only by the groups of Conifers and other artistic trees, the 

 other side has a rolling contour of surface, and has massive 

 groups of deciduous trees to match with the heavy swells of 

 ground surface. Yet so well is the long straight walk carried 

 through that no inoongruity between the scenery on his right 

 and his left strikes even the most critical. 



Here, as everywhere, the aim in bedding is to have some 

 carpeting unique, and not a copy of someone else's work. One 

 might write a volume of what he sees in this respect, but it 

 would be out of date by another year, as the object is to have 

 new styles, as our ladies have new bonnets. In these grounds, 

 coming to a place where some roads cross, there are beds in 

 the angles in which the plants are arranged as playing cards. 

 The hearts, clubs, and diamonds are outlined chiefly with a 

 sort of Golden Stellaria, or perhaps it may be a Cerastium and 

 Alternantheras. I remember, however, that the diamond was 

 made of Echeveria for the outline of the character, and the 

 filling-in was of Golden Pyrethrum. 



The vegetable garden is not large, the Queen having most of 

 the kitchen wants supplied from Windsor. What is grown, 

 however, has to be of the very best character, and everything 

 looked well. Those who think that pruning injures trees 

 would especially be struck by the healthy appearance of the 

 wall fruits, whioh are here of immense age, having been grown 

 here before the Queen bought the place. A pruned plant, of 

 course, never has a large stem. The Osage Orange in our 

 country, unpruned, makes a large stout tree in a few years — in 

 hedges, cut back, in twenty years is no stouter than one's 

 wrist. So here in this garden we have Pear trees trained to 

 the walls and pruned annually that were yet of very large size. I 

 measured the stem of a Glou Morcaau which was 3| feet round. 



OUR BORDER FLOWERS— COMPOSITES. 



The family is an extensive one, and though not possessed of 

 the attractive properties that many of our favourites are, yet 

 there is something about them that claims our attention. In 

 the estimation of some they may be termed coarse. We admit 

 that, but we think they ought not to be cast to one side be- 

 cause some will persist in saying they are ugly. They may 

 not now be in such estimation as some of them have been in 

 days long past. Some of them belong to our own land, there- 

 fore we note them the more pleasantly. 



Elecampane (Inula (Corvisartia) Helenium) is a large Bhowy 

 British plant, in possession of medioinal properties esteemed as 

 a tonic, and still retained in materia medica ; it is also said that 

 from this plant theVin d'Auln(J9 of the French is supplied. Its 

 virtues have been extolled by the older naturalists, as Dioscorides 

 and Pliny, but in modern days it has fallen into disuse ; but 

 the plant still retains its aromatic and stimulating properties 

 useful in case of indigestion and nervous disorders, yielding its 

 qualities to spirits more readily than to water. Few of this 

 plant are seen in cultivation, being uncouth. Any out-of-the- 

 way corner seems good enough for them when met with ; they 

 are at home in most situations, but they like light, air, and 

 sunshine. They are not particular as to soil. Any ordinary 

 free garden soil will meet their requirements ; stagnant places 

 are injurious. Some of them are strong growers and are the 

 better for being staked, or they get blown about with the wind 

 and become unsightly. They are easily increased by division 

 in the spring or autumn. 



Inula Oculus-Christi is very desirable, and with a little 

 care may be made a very attractive plant. In a choice 

 border its large, deep orange yellow, Aster-like flowers always 

 attract attention when well grown. It is a capital plant 

 for exhibition. Inula crithmifolia (Samphire-leaved Inula), 

 is frequently vended for Samphire, to whioh it bears a very 

 striking resemblance. Inula dysenterica is often met with by 

 onr waysides in out-of-the-way places, often in large quan- 

 tities, cheering us in autumn. I. saxatile is a dwarf kind, 

 and is desirable as a rock plant where variety is sought after, 

 useful alike for pot and indoors. I. suaveolens is a little coarse, 



but worthy of cultivation for the pleasing perfume it emits. 

 I. graudiflora is from the Caucasus, and ought to have a place 

 in all shrubberies. Many others of this extensive family might 

 be enumerated, but their being so little known, and I fear less 

 cared for, they remain amongBt the neglected ones. — Veritas. 



PROTECTION FOR FORCED PLANTS. 



[This subject, on which " J. A., Birmingham," seeks infor- 

 mation, is an important one, and is judiciously discussed as 

 follows by Mr. W. Hinds in " The Gardener."] 



It would be difficult to name any other subject connected 

 with forcing houses that is more in need of general reform 

 than the one which gives the title to this article. The value 

 of proper means of protection before and after plants are forced 

 cannot be over-estimated from either a cultural or a pecuniary 

 point of view, because we cannot expect plants or shrubs of 

 any sort that are exposed to sudden fluctuations of temperature 

 to remain long in good health aud vigour unless they are care- 

 fully tended and nursed for some considerable time after it has 

 been necessary to remove them from the conservatory or show 

 house. This being so, I should think that if the matter were 

 intelligibly laid before any reasonable employer, little objection 

 could be taken to a small outlay in providing such inexpensive 

 places as would prove valuable auxiliaries to forcing houses. 

 Both sides of the question should be stated clearly, in order 

 that the idea might assume the character of a profit-and-loss 

 account, which I think would tend to remove any misconcep- 

 tion as to lavish expenditure. In the first place it would be 

 necessary to run up the annual expenditure on plants for 

 forcing, taking into account the length of time that intervenes 

 between the date of forcing and the time when the same plants 

 would have sufficiently recruited themselves to undergo another 

 Bimilar ordeal without the means referred to. It is generally 

 supposed that forced plants and Bhrubs hive reinvigorated them- 

 selves after a season's rest, so as to make them eligible subjects 

 for a like purpose the following year ; but I doubt the general 

 accuracy of Buch a statement. True, there may be cases 

 where this rule applies, but they are few and far between, and 

 are only to be found where suitable structures are provided 

 for completing and hardening the growth that is made under 

 the cloudy Bkies of an ordinary English winter before they 

 are turned out of doors. When proper pits, or temporary 

 erections of some sort, are not obtainable, there is no other 

 alternative left but to place Buch things in a warm sheltered 

 corner out of doors, which is a poor substitute for a glass 

 structure. It is here the comparison can be made, and it 

 requires no expert at arithmetic to calculate the difference in 

 value between two sets of plants treated respectively in the way 

 I have described. Look at those early-forced Rhododendrons, 

 Azaleas, Prunuses, Deutzias, &o., crammed together like so 

 many oxen in a truck, with siokness depicted in every limb, 

 and half-developed leaves scorched or starved into premature 

 decay, or, at all events, rest ; for we know that " sudden chills " 

 impede the feeding or supplying power of plants, and once 

 healthy action between root and branch ceases to exist we can 

 no longer expect healthy development for a future day. Thus 

 it is that a premature cessation of growth is forced upon plants, 

 only to be removed when the weather becomes genial enough 

 to excite the growing power which was not exhausted by 

 natural means, but had been suddenly checked by the un- 

 natural agency of cold. This is what is called second growth, 

 which means a disorganised system of plant-growing, a system 

 which is fraught with danger to the plants themselves as well 

 as to those in charge of them. 



Now, it is not wide of the mark to contend that those who 

 build forcing houses in quantity have plenty of means to build 

 auxiliaries to them ; and I think I may further suggest that 

 no more profitable investment can be made than in securing 

 proper provision for the maintenance of health and durability in 

 plants. Looking at the matter in a purely commercial light the 

 question resolves itself into one of money either way. If there 

 are no plant-protectors there are more plants required each year, 

 in proportion to the inadequacy of the protection, and vice 

 versa ; so that in reality the employer who sanctions a small 

 expense in this way is the gainer in a few years. Assuming 

 for a moment that anyone was desirous of erecting one or two 

 convenient places for this purpose, the following is a very good 

 plan : After selecting a suitable piece of ground in some out- 

 of-the-way place which is warm and well sheltered from winds, 

 a foundation of bricks, level with the surface of the ground 

 should be laid for say one, two, or three span-roofed pits, the 



