144 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ August 22, 1872. 



increases liis wort, and so long as he can master it, even by 

 extra exertion, he does not complain, but as soon as he finds 

 he has overreached himself — when he finds he cannot keep 

 things to his mind, he applies to his employer for more assist- 

 ance and is refused, and thinks himself hardly dealt with, 

 when, at the same time, independently of the question of ex- 

 pense, the master would greatly prefer his plan as it was before 

 the " improvements." This is a very common order of things, 

 ending too often in much discomfort, and by the master being 

 regarded as a churl and the man as a grumbler — appellations 

 unjust to both. 



In determining on a particular style of flower-garden decora- 

 tion a few conditions must be attended to — conditions de- 

 pendent on position and surroundings, circumstances and con- 

 veniences, and the particular time at which the greatest display 

 is most desired by owners. The last condition is very important, 

 yet how commonly it is ignored ! It is surely disappointing to 

 both master and man that after months of preparation and 

 attention, and just when results are approaching the height of 

 beauty, the time has arrived when those for whom all is pro- 

 vided must leave for their annual autumnal tour. " I must 

 go, but so regret leaving my garden, the full beauty of which 

 I never see and enjoy," is the parting lament of many. 



Under such circumstances the bedding-out systemis wrongly 

 selected to give the greatest amount of pleasure. Under 

 different circumstances, as when the summer months are 

 selected for travelling, and the return home is in autumn, 

 then by no other plan than bedding-out can such a rich floral 

 welcome be provided for family and guests. A style may be 

 perfectly right in one place, and perfectly wrong in another. 



So much for time and circumstances ; and now for position 

 and surroundings independent of time, but not of circum- 

 stances. Perhaps the greatest number of proprietors of 

 flower gardens are those who have no stated period of leaving 

 home for any length of time. They are always at hand to 

 enjoy whatever is provided for enjoyment at whatever time. 

 Well, such have a perfect right to indulge in then- own per- 

 sonal tastes, and if they prefer to go without flowers for three 

 months in summer for the sake of two grand months in 

 autumn, no one has any right to interfere, especially if they 

 provide proportionate means and conveniences, and do not 

 press unduly on any poor dependant, and expect him to get 

 blood out of stone. But, putting aside personal tastes ss 

 subservient to broad principles, I am satisfied that in half the 

 places where bedding-out is attempted, a system less formal, 

 more easy, and less costly, would be more suitable and satis- 

 factory. 



Without elaborate reasoning I will submit as my notion, 

 that the places which in themselves are best adapted for the 

 bedding-out plan are those in which a considerable amount of 

 labour has been expended in their formation ; where Nature 

 has as much as possible been shuffled out of the way by art ; 

 where everything is done by mathematical lines, and symme 

 try reigns supreme. The severe formality of such places seems 

 to require a style of decoration correspondingly formal, and it 

 can be had in perfection in some type of the art of bedding ; 

 and in such places special provision is generally made to carry 

 out a system well. 



But there is the other class of places — -plain, unassuming 

 British homes, large and small, where only the gentlest 

 touches of art ought to be seen, and these ever subservient to 

 the boldness and ease of Nature ; where the knolls have not 

 been levelled, and the little undulations raised to one smooth 

 straight line : where old trees, irregularly yet tastefully dis- 

 posed, form a feature in the home ; where there is nothing ornate 

 in the architecture, and only one idea prominent, and that 

 suggestive of a comfortable unpretending residence. Our 

 island is favoured in having very numerous mansions of this 

 class dotted over its surface. In such places I cannot but 

 think that, of all the styles of flower gardening, that most 

 suitable and pleasing is the mixed system, for there should be 

 some system even in mixture. 



This plan, when well carried out, is enjoyable, enduring, 

 easy, and inexpensive, and better adapted for hundreds of 

 places, because easy to carry out, than attempts at florid bed- 

 ding which cannot be carried out well for want of adequate 

 means. 



It is at one of these plain old English homes embosomed 

 amid stately trees of noble growth, where mere show and arti- 

 ficialism in any form have no abiding place, that it is my 

 pleasurable duty to labour and live. As in many other very old 

 places, only a mere plot is set aside for flower gardening; but 



this has for many years, because in perfect harmony and 

 character, been principally conducted on the mixed system. It 

 has been found in practice also specially suitable, in that the 

 family generally leave home in August for a term of several 

 weeks, and would thus, had it been conducted on the bedding 

 system, miss the period of greatest display of this particular 

 and popular style. The plan laid down as right in theory is thus 

 proved sound in practice. Besides, however, there is, for com- 

 parison, a little bedding-out which if not well done is so from 

 want of ability, and not from want of care, attention, and 

 interest. Now, these are only two very small examples of flower 

 gardening, yet they are as sufficient for comparison as if they 

 were measured by the acre. They are simply divided by a wall 

 and door, and are convenient for comparative examination and ' 

 judgment. 



In the lapse of a few years the two styles have been inspected 

 and criticised by hundreds of nearly every rank — lords and 

 ladies, clerics, nurserymen, and gardeners, have compared and 

 weighed them in the balance. For myself I have a standing 

 self-imposed rule to which I inflexibly adhere, and that is, not 

 to offer any opinion at all, but to listen and gather the opinions 

 of others as to the relative amount of pleasure the two types of 

 gardening give. I note such most carefully, and find that the 

 palm is given to the mixed garden by an immense majority, 

 and am perfectly justified in saying that fully eight-tenths 

 prefer the mixed beds to the more artistic and formal mode of 

 planting. It is quite common to hear expressions such as this 

 — " What a nice design ! how complete and well filled ! It is 

 really very pretty, but, after all — yes, after all, there is a quiet 

 charm about the mixed beds that one likes to linger over, and 

 wishes to see again. I must say I like mixture the best, but 

 can scarcely tell why." Such expressions every year appear to 

 become more frequent, which seems to indicate that the time 

 is arriving when the old style of flower gardening can no longer 

 be laughed down. 



I must add that such comparisons are not frequent after the 

 middle of August, and, perhaps, for the following six weeks, 

 opinions might be more nearly equal. The mixed beds also 

 may show to special advantage because the situation is pecu- 

 liarly suitable. But are there not hundreds of other places 

 also suitable? 



Besides the consideration of season and position another 

 condition is necessary to good mixed flower gardening, and 

 that is large beds of plain outlines. Fanciful needle-pointed 

 paths are quite unsuited for the system. I should state that I 

 do not exclusively grow hardy herbaceous plants, but every- 

 thing that will add interest is laid under tribute to contribute 

 its mite. I hardly know whether it is worth while to enter on 

 the working of a plan so simple. The notes must either be 

 very short or rather lengthy, but I have said enough for the 

 present. — J. Weight, Gardener to Son. A. L. Melville. 



STEAWBEKB.IES ON A LIGHT SOIL. 



E veetbodt taking an interest in Strawberry-growing must feel 

 thankful to the Bev. C.P. Peach for his excellent and impartial 

 information, both as regards his mode of culture and the descrip- 

 tion of the sorts grown by him. I can fully endorse what Mr. 

 Peach says of cultivating Strawberries in a light soil, as I 

 happen to find myself here in exactly the same circumstances. 

 I had previously occasion to grow Strawberries in France under 

 similar circumstances during my long stay in that country, 

 near Fontainebleau, and in seasons where the cockchafer grub 

 was not too troublesome, obtaining very fair results in spite of 

 the continuous droughts but too frequently occurring in France. 

 I am glad to say that here I have not thus far met with my 

 old and. cruel enemy the grub, and consequently am fully satis- 

 fied with the mode of cultivation described by Mr. Peach. 



I am pleased to see Mr. Peach speaks so strongly in favour 

 of Sir Joseph Paxton, a Strawberry which I consider for all 

 purposes one of the best ever raised, and for which great credit 

 is due to Mr. Bradley. It will sooner or later become the very 

 Strawberry for market purposes ; fruit large, handsome, of 

 fine colour, and carrying well. The plant is, moreover, of a 

 very healthy constitution, and bears even in a young state 

 most abundantly. 



Asavery early kind, quite as early asVicomtesse Hericartde 

 Thury, I would" recommend Dr. Boden's Early Prolific, which 

 is much handsomer in shape, finer in colour, and unri vailed 

 as regards flavour. Frogmore Late Pine undoubtedly requires 

 a stiff soil to ripen off its noble fruit to perfection ; here my 

 young plants bore well, but soon afterwards suffered much 



