August 1, 1872. 1 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICTJLTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



95 



tsecond season. Larger pots -will then be required, but they 

 need not be larger than 9 inches in diameter unless very large 

 specimens are wanted, when 12-inch pots may be employed. 

 In other respects they require the treatment recommended for 

 young plants. — G. Abbey. 



GRAFTING.— No. 10. 

 Notch Graf ting .—The scion'A (fig. 1) is cut in the form a', 

 itaking care to have a bud, b, at the back of the slanting cuts. 

 'This bud, with the scion to which it belongs, is let into the 



his acknowledgments, and informed the deputation that he 

 hoped soon to have the pleasure of inviting the Court of the 

 Company to dinner. — (City Press.) 



Eg. 1. 

 •notch c, made in the stock b, as at c. The graft is then tied 

 and waxed. 

 Fig. 2 represents a modification of this mode of grafting, 



Fig. 2. 



■differing only in the scion a having a single bud, which is sunk 

 in the stock in the same manner as in the last example. The 

 scion A is cut slantingly, as at 6 ; b is the notch in the stock, 

 and c the scion when inserted in the stock. All that is now 

 to be done is to wax the graft, taking care in doing so not to 

 break off the bud a. According to the length of the notch, the 

 bud may be inserted level witu the top of the stock, as in fig. 2, 

 or lower down, as in fig. 1. By this mode of grafting, the 

 shoots of valuable or scarce kinds can be made to furnish as 

 many scions as there are buds. — Baltet, L' Art da Graff er. 



The Feutteeees' Company, represented by the senior 

 warden, Mr. E. Broadwater, and elerk, Mr. 0. C T. Eagleton, 

 lately made the customary presentation of choice fruit to the 

 Lord Mayor at the Mansion House. The Lord Mayor expressed 



AMONG THE MANX MEN.— No. 2. 

 It almost seems unbelievable that within the memory of 

 man Irishmen attached their horses to their ploughs by their 

 tails, yet so it was, and an Act of Parliament was required to 

 abolish the practice. Equally approaching the incredible is 

 the fact that in 1642 the Earl of Derby built here kilns to 

 burn lime to use as a manure, and the people flocked to see 

 how " the insane man " purposed to apply burnt stones to the 

 island's soil for its improvement. Seeing it was useful they 

 built " earth pots," as they called them, and burnt all kinds of 

 stones in them, and wondered that they were not as successful 

 as the Governor. The island's cultivators have grown wiser 

 since then, and now so fully appreciate the value of calcareous 

 manures that seven manufacturers of phosphate of lime and 

 other bone manures advertise and have agents here. 



Yet the House of Keys have thought it necessary to control 

 one agricultural practice of the Manxites by the institution of 

 what are called " Fodder Juries." If anyone informs the 

 Coroner that a named part}' keeps more oattie than his land 

 can support, four jurors are summoned, who inquire, and as 

 much stock as they report is excessive is sold, and the prices 

 paid to the owner. A part of that stock I think must be 

 peculiar to the island, for never before did I see brown-woolled 

 sheep. In most of the flocks are some, but one small flock 

 were all brown. The colour is a dark chocolate. The sheep 

 so coloured are called lugh-dlioan, from the Manx names high, 

 a mouse, and dhoan, brown. Woollen cloths made from their 

 fleece are exceptionally durable ; and a coat made of it and un- 

 dyed, called a glare clwoat, may be still seen on some of the 

 men at the southern extremity of the island. I must now pass 

 from its animals to its plants. 



First let me show a little critical botanical acumen by ob- 

 serving that there is no better illustration of the misguiding 

 liable to arise from taking the specific name of a plant from 

 the place where it was first found than is afforded by Brassica 

 monensis, for it is not found here only, but in various places 

 along our western coast. I am glad I^thought of this, because 

 it enables me to exhibit another little bit of learning — namely, 

 that Bresych is Welsh for a Cabbage, and Bresyclm for to 

 crumple, so tho old Britons may have had Savoys from time 

 immemorial. 



In every part of the island the Ash is the most prevailing tree, 

 and the oldest trees are Ash. I surmise that the reason for this 

 is the efficacy attributed to it as a safeguard against fairies and 

 witches. The herdsman carried an ashen staff as a safeguard 

 for his cattle ; scythe and sickle handles were of the same 

 wood, and lovers pledged themselves beneath an Ash's shade. 



The gardening of the island is anomalous. I have not seen 

 a cottage garden in any one distriet. If a plot of ground is 

 attached to a cottage, if planted at all, it is with Potatoes, but 

 nothing else. The towns are supplied with vegetables from 

 market gardens. Yet the love for flowers is nowhere more 

 universal. Every cottage has pots of Pelargoniums in one or 

 more of its windows — in very many every window is filled 

 with them. This is not confined to the better class of cottages, 

 but prevails in all ; even the loop-hole windows of what we 

 should call hovels are bright with this flower, and I use the 

 term bright purposely, for the plants are well grown, and the 

 blossoms abundant and varied. In very poor cottage windows 

 it is quite usual to see five or six varieties — white, pink, crim- 

 son, and scarlet. 



The absence of garden culture has not been overcome by 

 " The Isle of Man Floral and Horticultural Society." It has 

 desisted from offering prizes to cottagers, for no exhibitors 

 came from among them. This absence of cottage kitchen 

 gardening, I think, is traceable to the herring fishery. I am 

 not j oking nor employing a bewildering suggestion like that of 

 Kentish men, who say, " Tenterden church steeple caused the 

 Goodwin Sands." I think the herring fishery causes the 

 neglect of kitchen gardening, because the fish are the staple 

 food of the island. At all seasons of the year the herring, 

 either fresh or cured, forms a part of every meal of every 

 cottager, and its only accompaniments are bread and Potatoes. 

 Whilst I am writing is the height of the herring fishery, 

 and so essential is it to the subsistence of the islanders, that 

 an addition to the Litany is made to pray for the fishery's 

 success. Last Sunclav at St. Thomas's Chr.rch the clergyman 



