December 12, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



473 



thus t alki ng about Madeira, and are getting sights of its pretty 

 shores on both its sides. The end of two hours or thereabouts 

 lands us at Parramatta, or as near to it as the tide will serve. 

 The rest is done upon a stage coach — two or three miles — into 

 the red brick township. Parramatta has one attraction — its 

 Domain, a sort of botanical garden that almost rivals that of 

 Sydney, and surpasses anything of the sort to be seen elsewhere 

 in the southern hemisphere. An old English-looking town is 

 Parramatta, with old English sort of inns, at one of which we 

 get dinner, and then progress on our journey. Three miles or 

 so onwards we approach Pye's Orange grove, an Orange planta- 

 tion twenty-five years or more in age, covering acres upon acres 

 of sterile soil on both sides of the bed of a creek. The Orange, 

 like to the Vine and the Olive, gathers its nourishment best 

 from where we can least see sustenance. How such rich fruits 

 can come of such miserable soils, if we may call rocks and 

 pebbles and shingles by the name of soil, is beyond a limited 

 comprehension, and is a perfect negative to the theories about 

 cause and effect, and of like producing like. If such were good 

 reasoning, the Oranges we saw should have been dry as the 

 Apples of Sodom, and have eaten like to a handful of gravel 

 and triturated rock, instead of tasting like to lumps of spiritu- 

 alised jelly soaked in heavenly champagne, and perfumed by 

 the goddess Flora herself. 



The number of these Orange bushes was quite bewildering. 

 Hardy shrubs about 15 feet high, with dark green leaves and 

 spreading branches from the ground upwards, quite hiding 

 the stem of the bush. Each one was loaded with its golden 

 globes, well set-off by the dense background of green leaf. It 

 seemed a sort of wrong-doing to pull the fruit, but the sense 

 of sacrilege and desecration got blunted after the crime had 

 been perpetrated half a dozen times. "We never thought our 

 capacity for eating Oranges was half so great. Perhaps it was 

 that we knew not what we can do until we try. Perhaps it 

 was that the walk and the fresh air had sharpened our appetite, 

 but most likely it was that the Oranges had a freshness and 

 flavour to which since the days of Madeira our taste had been 

 a stranger. We think that was what was the matter. 



As oysters lose then' flavour hour by hour, frosn the time 

 they cease to dra.v the nourishment of their native feeding 

 grounds, so do Oranges from the time that they are taken 

 from the tree. We noticed once a racehorse christened " Old 

 Orange Girl." It was, and still is a question with us, whether 

 the term " old " applied to the girl or to the Oranges, and 

 whether it was intended to imply that the female or the fruit 

 was at all bettered by the process of time. An " old girl " may 

 still be a very good one, but we can answer definitely in the 

 negative about Oranges. To- sit as we sat upon the rocks on 

 the shelving sides of the creek, and to suck Oranges under the 

 shade of the trees that produced them, was not a bad way of 

 getting through an afternoon in New South Wales. We became 

 quite posted-up about Oranges that day, and found that like 

 to horses, no part of them but was useful for some purpose. 

 The pulp, the peel, and the pips, all did good service, and that 

 for half a dozen things. We had thought of Orange peel in 

 connection with its sugared state only for Christmas-pudding 

 purposes. If we had another thought thereon it was only as 

 to the slippings-down it had brought us to upon the pavement. 

 We understand that slipping T down now. It is but a silent pro- 

 test on the part of the peel against its being thrown away and 

 wasted. It calls out to us, in that way, of its value, and bids 

 us not to tread upon that which we should carefully pick up 

 and preserve. Of Orange peel only are made two chemicals, 

 two preserves, Orange bitters, Orange mai-malade, and another 

 thing of commercial value — seven valuable things of that 

 which we throw away, and which throws us down for so doing ! 

 What fortunes lay at our feet, and what simpletons we are ! — 

 J. Htngston (in New Zealand Illustrated Press). 



PERMANENCY OP CONCRETE WALLS. 

 It is very encouraging to those who have built, and those 

 who contemplate building, concrete walls, to know that such a 

 high authority upon that sort of work as Mr. Pulham, of 

 Broxbourne, should express himself so favourably of their 

 durability (see page 426). There is a vast amount of truth in 

 what is stated with regard to the need of good materials and 

 skillful workmanship, and the copings should be more parti- 

 cularly well laid, so that no cracking may afterwards take 

 place; and if made of brick, as were those at Hatfield, the 

 joints should be of the best material and well filled up, for if 

 the wet should find its way in it will most likely do damage, 



and, perhaps, at no distant period a portion of the wall will 

 give way. Considering the great extent of concrete wall built 

 at Hatfield, and the peculiar situation of the ground, it is 

 gratifying that there were so few defects, and these principally 

 arose through the settling of the concrete ; the cement facings 

 also in some few places scaled off through imperfect adhesion , 

 otherwise all was well. That portion which was finished before 

 the severe frost in the winter of 1870, and, in fact, all the 

 others, have borne the test of the weather remarkably well, and 

 I should say is not likely now to give way. In laying-on the 

 cement facings, which is generally done in lengths of from 

 20 to 40 feet, each length should be joined to the other in the 

 most careful manner, otherwise every length can be distinctly 

 seen by the cement cracking from the top of the wall to the 

 bottom at the imperfectly-made joints. Again, in mixing the 

 cement, which generally has a portion of sand along with it, 

 the greatest care should be observed that each mixture should 

 be of exactly the same proportions as the other, otherwise 

 some part of the wall will be lighter than the others, and 

 thereby produce an effect not at all agreeable to the eye, nor 

 will the work be so capable of withstanding the weather at all 

 places alike. — Thomas Becord. 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Draining, trenching, and ridging should now receive at- 

 tention. A winter's fallow is almost equal to a coat of manure, 

 especially in hard-tilled soil. The keeping roots should be ex- 

 amined, especially where soiled-over. Potatoes are rotting in 

 several parts of the kingdom. I should probably be correct in 

 saying that one-sixth of them have decayed since their removal 

 from the ground. They cannot under present circumstances 

 endure fermentation ; this being their greatest bane, seems to 

 point to it as probably the most active agent in originally bring- 

 ing on the disease. Keep a sharp eye to the protection of tender 

 crops, and cover some Parsley in beds in order to exclude snow. 

 Old half-worn-out lights will do. 



fruit garden. 



I looked over a garden not many weeks ago in which the out- 

 lay during the last ten years in what are called improvements 

 had been immense, and yet, strange to say, it was still un- 

 drained, and almost every crop bore evidence to the fact. The 

 soil is dark and adhesive, and slopes to the north — a most un- 

 favourable site, and the Vine borders were actually below the 

 ordinary ground, level. As might be expected, the Grapes were 

 very bad, and the fruit trees in general very slender and shabby 

 in appearance. There are still many badly drained gardens in 

 various parts of the kingdom, and at this period attention 

 should be paid to remedying the neglect. If deep drainage is 

 considered necessary to the agriculturist, it surely is at least 

 equally important to the gardener ; and believing the theory of 

 deep drainage to be perfectly correct as to its ameliorating 

 power in gradually deepening the soil, I would make garden 

 drains at least a yard in depth. It ought to be remembered 

 that the old mode of covering the drains with brushwood, straw, 

 turf, or, in fact, any decomposable matter, is now repudiated by 

 first-rate practitioners, as tending ultimately to choke-up the in- 

 terstices of the drains with silt. Two-inch pipes are in most 

 cases very suitable. These might be covered with a few inches 

 of cinders or pounded stones froin which the finer particles had 

 been riddled ; on these place a layer of turf from the common 

 or roadside, and finally the soil. The benefits of good drainage 

 in damp or retentive garden soils will soon be manifest in the 

 improved condition of the fruit trees, to say nothing of the 

 vegetables, and last, not least, in driving away a host of snails 

 and slugs, which will be found to diminish as soon as the soil 

 is in a mellow condition. 



flower garden. 



Now that the leaves are off the trees let lawns and shrubberies 

 have a thorough cleaning. Examine pillar and trellis Roses, 

 and if the weather is favourable see if it is necessary to renew 

 the soil or the kinds. For choice sorts roomy holes should be 

 made capable of containing three or four barrowloads of well- 

 prepared soil. Turfy loam of good quality is the chief material ; 

 to this add a portion of rich rotten manure, and, if at hand, 

 a little sandy peat or leaf mould. Proceed with whatever al- 

 terations are necessary, delay nothing until spring which can be 

 as well done now. It is a point of great importance to the florist 

 to be not only acquainted with the nature of soils, but likewise 

 with their action on the various flowers he cultivates. I am 

 certain, from long experience, that Tulips, in particular, vary in 

 purity of cup and intensity of colour according to the compost 

 in which they are grown. I have grown a large and valuable 

 collection of these fine flowers in a compost, the major part of 

 which is decayed turf taken from pasture fields whose sub- 

 stratum is red sandstone, and which appeared more or less im- 

 pregnated with iron. In this soil the flowers were apt to be 



