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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 20, 1864. 



i.e., they refused this nursing process. But then it is said, 

 How can you supply their place at the exhibitions ? I 

 believe that a far larger number of exhibitors would come 

 forward if they were not frightened by the recollection of 

 -the huge things they have to compete with, and then we 

 should all gain by the greater variety of plants exhibited. 

 One can now tolerably well name what plants will be shown 

 before the day of exhibition comes; but were suitable plants 

 required this would not be the case. Then, as to Azaleas, 

 while one cannot but admire the skill displayed in producing 

 .such huge pyramids of bloom, I believe that half-specimen 

 plants, allowed to grow more naturally, would be more 

 pleasing to the general public. One remembers, in old 

 Chiswick days, the plants shown by Mrs. Lawrence and 

 others ; they were not crinolines or hoops, and yet how 

 beautiful they were ! Therefore, I say, offer prizes for un- 

 trained greenhouse plants in ten-inch pots. The enormous 

 pots for Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, and, I hope, Roses, are now 

 for ever gone. Why not try what can be done with those 

 plants which seem to be more intractable ? There must, 

 however, be one sine qua non — viz., that the size of the pots 

 be unalterable — not to be changed at the whim and caprice 

 of the governing powers ; for these plants are not such as 

 -can be trifled with ; and, as to training, I am aware that 

 no plants can be grown without a certain amount of this, 

 but I would consider that as little as possible should be 

 intended by the term. 



All cut flowers should be separated from those grown in 

 pots. The plan of placing them in a long tent as adopted 

 at the Regent's Park might be easily followed, and free 

 access obtained by all who wished to see them. And might 

 not something be done by offering prizes for herbaceous 

 plants ? There are many beautiful things in that class 

 which we never see, but which are certain to please when 

 well done. I remember with much pleasure in former days 

 •tastefully arranged baskets of these as shown at the Royal 

 Horticultural Society's shows in Dublin. 



I know of nothing more that in the present state of the 

 matter can be done, and am convinced that these are sound 

 views. Let us hope that something may yet be attempted 

 to remedy defects where they exist ; but let not the blun- 

 dering and bad taste of one society be taken as a proof that 

 reform is needed in all. — D., Deal. 



PICEA AMABILIS NOT THRIVING. 



About twelve years ago I purchased a Picea amabilis, 

 which proved to be grafted near the collar. It is now about 

 7 feet high, and has been removed twice, the last time about 

 four years ago. Last year it grew 9 inches, and this year it 

 has grown about 3. During the dry weather the leader has 

 dropped its leaves and withered. The stem has become 

 nearly covered the whole length by something bike the 

 American blight, and whieh appears on the branches, and 

 near the ends of them, and they are drooping. The ground 

 is rocky below, and no water can remain near." The situa- 

 tion is quite open, and other plants have grown very well, 

 though not fast. — J. G. 



[We fear the fact of your tree being grafted has some- 

 thing to do with its want of success ; added to whieh, most 

 likely the situation is too dry, or the present season has 

 been too much so for a plant not yet well established. Our 

 own experience with this species is limited, but those to 

 which it is allied mostly like a moister soil. The Silver 

 Fir is found luxuriating on slopes and in dells where water 

 is not far distant ; and the finest Douglas Pine that we know 

 is also in such a situation, and we know it fails to thrive in 

 very dry places. We therefore think your tree requires a little 

 more moisture than it has had this season, and probably 

 another year it may do better. We have seen Picea nobilis 

 thriving admirably by the side of water, and we believe 

 P. amabilis was in the same neighboivrhood. The former, 

 however, also thrives well in the dry grounds at Linton. 

 A specimen which had accidentally lost its leader many 

 years ago remained several years without one ; but it even- 

 tually produced a fresh leader, which has rushed up with all 

 the symmetry and uprightness of a well-formed tree, and 

 the growth for the last six years has averaged about 3 feet 

 ■each year. The subsoil, though dry, is admirably adapted 



to most forest trees. If, on the contrary, the subsoil of 

 your garden is of an unfavourable character and the surface 

 soil not deep, the result cannot be so satisfactory. The 

 oozing out of white resin which you mention is a proof that 

 something is wrong, but it is too late to remedy this season. 

 Another year it would be better to supply the tree with 

 water during the growing season if dry weather should pre- 

 vail. We do not think any useful result will follow taking 

 up and replanting unless you have reason to believe the 

 soil bad and unsuitable. Another season the tree may do 

 better.] 



OLD AND NEW MELON SEED. 



Do you consider old Melon seed to be preferable to new ? 

 If so, please state your reasons. Do you consider it more 

 productive than new ? If so, be so good as to state the 

 reason why it should be so. A full explanation of this 

 subject will much oblige — An Old Suescbieek. 



[Practically among good gardeners we consider there is 

 little difference between the seeds of last year and seeds 

 from three to six years old. Generally, when placed under 

 similar circumstances the new seeds will produce the more 

 vigorous plants, with the greater tendency to grow and 

 make wood instead of setting the fruit quickly; whilst old 

 seeds will yield plants of more sturdy growth, and be inclined 

 to show and set fruit more quickly, because they are old, 

 and it is a universal law in vegetable nature, that what- 

 ever tends to lessen vigour of growth will also tend to pro - 

 mote the production of seeds, the extra production of leaf 

 buds and fruit-buds being in an inverse ratio to each other 

 — a fact which, thoroughly understood, has led to many 

 improvements in modern gardening. Practically, however, 

 the age of the seeds of a Melon, provided they vegetate 

 freely, is of less importance, as extra vigour may be neu- 

 tralised by frequent pinching and disbudding (for the Melon 

 does not relish much cutting with the knife), and more 

 dryness, especially at the surface of the soil, when the plants 

 show bloom. If much cutting is resorted to, the plants 

 when very vigorous will be apt to gangrene if the wounds 

 are not well dried or daubed with charcoal and lime. The 

 luxuriance, when disbudding is well attended to, will often 

 cause the fruit to swell very rapidly after they are set. 



Plants from old seeds will generally grow much more 

 slowly at first, and have a tendency in similar circumstances 

 to be of a more short-jointed growth, and will, as a general 

 rule, give less trouble in disbudding and setting. Though, 

 therefore, if we suit our practice to circumstances there will 

 be little ultimate practical difference, we can see the wisdom 

 of our old gardeners in carrying new Melon and Cucumber 

 seeds in their pockets some time before sowing, and thus, by 

 the heat of the body drying the seeds, placing them in 

 much the same position as older seeds as respects their 

 growth. 



The chief advantages of seeds one or two years old, there- 

 fore, over new ones are the less vigorous growth and the 

 greater tendency to show fruit early. If the seeds are too 

 old, so as to vegetate very slowly, and vigour cannot be 

 imparted by rich nourishment, or the plants are too delicate 

 to receive it, we arrive at the extreme of weakness — just as 

 new seeds, if treated with rich compost, are apt to give ns 

 the extreme of luxuriance. Whatever checks the luxuriant 

 production of stems and roots will insure earlier maturity. 

 In old seeds the drying consolidates the carbon, and the 

 starchy matter becomes to a certain extent converted into 

 albumen ; and this is less easily changed by moisture and 

 the oxygen of the air into a sugary liquid than a starchy 

 substance in the seed. On the amount of the sugary matter 

 which the germinating seed can obtain will depend, in a 

 great measure, the vigour of the young plant. 



The matter may be simplified if we recollect that as a 

 seed ripens the sugar, gum, and albumen are changed into 

 starch ; and then when we wish that seed to germinate we 

 must reverse the process, and by the chemical agencies 

 brought naturally into operation get the starch and the 

 albumen converted again into sugar. As a familiar instance, 

 look at a fine Marrowfat Pea, soft, and sweet, and fit for the 

 table — how sweet it is ! Taste it when ripe, and tasteless 

 starch along with nitrogenous matters are its chief compo- 

 nents. Make that seed germinate, and you again obtain 



