August 8, 1372. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



119 



lieeping the plants healthy and clean when stuck everywhere 

 on moveable shelves. In a lean-to Peach house, for instance, 

 we had four' lines of Strawberry pots, but it would be true 

 economy to have a Strawberry house, lean-to or span-roofed, 

 with shelves some 18 inches from the glass, and then when 

 not wanted for Strawberries it would do for many other bushy 

 dwarf plants. We know full well that the temporary crops of 

 Strawberries in forcing houses often pretty well pay the ex- 

 penses of managing the main crop of Peaches, Grapes, Figs, 

 cfcc, but the greater trouble required for keeping down insects 

 acts as a counterbalance, so that in the end a separate house 

 would be the truest economy. We may rest assured that this 

 last word will be more than ever considered in gardening and all 

 estate management, and we feel certain that often more ground 

 and more glass room would be true economy, instead of 

 attempting so much and the necessary crowding in little room. 

 The inevitable moving often in the latter case involves a great 

 amount of what to the uninitiated is unseen labour. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



Walks. — The simplest hints are sometimes valuable. Some 

 of our walks were not so neat as usual, the season has been so 

 favourable to the growth of weeds. We durst not use salt, as 

 numerous visitors might have taken the salt on their boots 

 and left dark traces on the lawn. We therefore resorted to a 

 process similar to what our mothers and grandmothers would 

 have termed " a lazy blacking " — that is, giving our boots and 

 shoes a clean without taking them off our feet. Now this, 

 though not to be commended, was just as in the case of the 

 walks better than doing nothing at all. As respects the walks, 

 those which were a little dirty had the weeds from 1 to 

 2 inches high pulled out ; the smaller weeds were scraped with 

 a hoe lightly, and were swept up with a broom, and then a 

 little sandy gravel from which the stones were riddled was 

 sprinkled very thinly over, so that a single load did a great 

 length of yards. The broom being passed over, and then the 

 roller, the walks looked as fresh and neat as could be to every- 

 one who did not know that beneath this light surfacing there 

 might be numerous little" dots of weeds though not more than 

 an eighth of an inch in height. In emergencies it is well to 

 know what will suit the best, and give at the smallest labour 

 and outlay a fresh, clean, finished appearance. Duty walks 

 will ever spoil the finest pleasure grounds. 



Ere long we shall salt the worst of these walks, and fresh 

 sprinkle, and then until next summer we shall have no more 

 trouble with them. We object to salt on smooth walks, unless 

 this spr inklin g with fine sandy gravel is given, as otherwise 

 the walks are apt to be too damp all the winter through. We 

 prefer salting when the weather is likely to be dry. It then 

 acts slowly but surely on the weeds, and the slight sprinkling 

 of fine sandy gravel hides it, and binds up with it. We find it 

 best to sift this sandy material before putting it on, as it 

 saves raking off any stones afterwards. We did one of our 

 main walks thus two years ago, and with the exception of 

 some little Daisies and other weeds for 6 inches in width at 

 each side, we have not seen a weed on the main central part 

 of the walk since. Of course, we shall let well alone, and 

 merely salt and fresh surface a few inches along each side, 

 and roll it down along with the rest of the walk. Smooth 

 walks have their advantages, but they are apt to stick in damp 

 weather. Roughish gravel walks are unpleasant to walk on, 

 hut in all weathers the walking will be clean. Salt without 

 surface-dressing afterwards will make the smooth walk soft in 

 wet weather. Salt applied to the rough walk will make it 

 gradually soft and fine, as nothing will more effectually break 

 up the little stones and pebbles than salt. Let it be remem- 

 bered, however, that it will soon corrode the finest stonework 

 if it touch it. We know of one fine stone-pillared balustrade 

 that is now mouldering away, because salt had been liberally 

 used on gravel at its base. The salt rose through the wall and 

 balustrading. 



Transplanted Trees and Shrubs. — The frequent showers 

 have saved much trouble with these. In the spring we men- 

 tioned removing some large Chestnuts with anything but the 

 most suitable machinery, as our two-wheeled timber gig was 

 not wide enough between the wheels to admit the ball and 

 roots conveniently. These trees have had nothing done to 

 them since they were replanted and fastened in the mode 

 described, as several times, when we thought we should have 

 to water them, a heavy shower came, and in the multiplicity 

 of matters we felt glad to let them alone. One tree looks as 

 if it would have a little struggle ; all the others have done 

 well, and that though we did very little in the way of top- 



pruning. We hope that even the worst-looking tree will do 

 well. But if opportunity had offered we should have liked to 

 have given each of these trees some eight or ten gallons of 

 water in the hottest days of July. The right time to give a 

 soaking at the roots is when the weather becomes so warm as 

 to heat the soil, and that heat encourages fresh and free root- 

 ing. If we should have a moist August it will hardly be 

 necessary to water these transplanted trees at all ; but we ex- 

 pect that ere long we shall have to give them one watering. 

 The trees were thinned-out where they would have soon en- 

 croached on each other if left standing. Some of the largest 

 required four horses to pull them on the timber gig to then' 

 destination, so we must not let them suffer from want of a 

 little water if necessary. We should, however, be pleased if 

 they would do with what the skies give them. Such trans- 

 planting is only valuable for giving a present effect, and where 

 the trees are to be had at no great distance. We can say 

 little as to the economy of the mode, as whatever plan is 

 adopted, labour and painstaking are essential to success. 



Cleaning Flower-beds. — The heavy rains made this essen- 

 tial, in order to keep up a good display. Trusses of Calceo- 

 larias and Scarlet Geraniums, if done flowering, cannot be re- 

 moved too soon. It frequently happens, however, that the 

 flowers in the centre have gone, whilst there are plenty of 

 fresh blooms at the side of the truss, and plenty of flowers 

 beneath waiting their chance for expanding. In such a case, 

 the best plan is to nip out the exhausted flowers either with 

 the fingers or the point of a small knife. Some kinds of 

 Pelargoniums want the knife for this nipping process ; other 

 kinds are so manageable that the faded flowers fall into your 

 hand as soon as touched. However done, this nipping-out 

 of decayed flowers makes a vast difference in the appearance, 

 lighting up the row or bed remarkably. We have several long 

 rows of the white Madame Vaucher Pelargonium ; the con- 

 tinued rains acted on the centre of a great many fine trusses 

 just as if a crock or a piece of wet cloth had been left on each 

 of them for two or three days. When that discoloured and 

 dirty part was nipped out, it was amazing how bright the rows 

 looked for several days afterwards. 



The best time to do this nipping is just before rain comes, 

 or is expected. The rains, if not excessive, do little harm to 

 fresh-opened blooms. It is the older ones they tell upon, and 

 the colour washed from them often injures the fresher blooms. 

 Beds may thus be picked at any time ; but for the above reason 

 it is best every way that it should take place before instead of 

 after heavy rains. 



Even amid the rage and craze for cut flowers in rooms, 

 which we prophesy will ere long be as damaging as bad drain- 

 age and bad ventilation, if we had our way this nipping-out 

 of decayed blooms would be all that should be taken from the 

 beds in a neatly-kept flower garden which it is desired should 

 look well. All cut flowers we would take from a reserve ground. 

 We can well understand how depressing it is to a gardener 

 to find that his favourite bed has been almost spoiled by the 

 flowers having been gathered. We say nothing of the right, 

 that is undisputed. A lady or a gentleman may cut to pieces 

 the most valuable plant in the garden, or cut off every truss of 

 bloom in a prominent flower-bed ; but we may be allowed to 

 question the prudence of the proceeding, and to question still 

 more if such a practice is not one of the most effectual that 

 could be adopted for destroying everything like enthusiasm in 

 a gardener ; and without something like earnest enthusiasm 

 no man will ever strive to do much in any department of life. 

 Now is a good time for a little regulation of the plants in 

 beds, and the rains have rendered it necessary in all cases of 

 free growth; a peg here, and a concealed stick there, will do 

 much to fill gaps, and present a uniform outline and appear- 

 ance. We know all about the satirical remark, " Just so many 

 neat pincushions." Well, we would rather have the neat 

 uniform pincushion than plants of all heights, some thick and 

 others thin, just as it may happen. Depend upon it that the 

 neat and formal will ever triumph over the scattered, the thin, 

 and the untidy. Of course, where the plants are grown in 

 beds on the gardenesque plan, with much ground to be seen, 

 and the plants individually small, so as to be seen separately, 

 the treatment may be different from what it ought to be when 

 every bed is a vigorous mass, showing no earth, but healthy 

 blooms and foliage. 



Owing to the rains we find many of our different Pelar- 

 goniums have grown unusually strong, and produced larger 

 leaves than we liked. So we thinned out a good many of 

 these larger leaves, taking them clean off, when removing some 



