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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October IS, 1864. 



should have them planted in groups so that visitors may 

 see and judge for themselves, and I am certain that if this 

 were done the taste for ornamental shrubs and trees would 

 be diffused, and a zest given to the study of foliage, and its 

 contrasts both in colour and outline., with a view to pro- 

 ducing an effective arrangement, which can only be achieved 

 by commencing on a preconceived design. I hope that we 

 shall yet see nurserymen arranging their plants for sale, so 

 that purchasers may at once select the most suitable for 

 their purpose, creating at the saiue time a taste for arbori- 

 culture, which is, perhaps, the most neglected of all branches 

 of horticultural science. 



Setinospora pisifera aurea, than which nothing can be more 

 lovely, and B. dbbusa, are plants that must find their way 

 everywhere; and when we have the dwarf Thujopsis Icete- 

 virens and Thuja pygmma at a price within the reach of all 

 we may consider that we have as fine a lot of shrubs suit- 

 able for planting in beds in autumn as can be wished. 



In addition to the above, I must name the beautiful Ligus- 

 trum glabrum aureo-variegatum, L. japonicum aureo-margina- 

 tum, two beautiful forms of Japanese Privet which may be 

 clipped into any shape and make; and Osmanthus ilicifolius 

 variegatus, and its dwarf form. 



Various kinds of Bos are excellent as edgings, for forming 

 even surfaces either all green, or silver or gold variegated. 

 They may also be employed as bushes and pyramids. Bums 

 rosmarinifolia, marginata, bolearica, and halepensis are admir- 

 able for decorative purposes. 



Ivies, plain and variegated-leaved, and the different Peri- 

 winkles, come in as edging plants of no mean order. 



The first step is to have a plan taken of the garden, num- 

 bering all the beds, and then to decide on those to be filled 

 with evergreens, which should be about one-third of the 

 whole. This will leave one-third for flowering shrubs, ever- 

 green or deciduous ; and one-third for dwarf flowering 

 plants and bulbs. When this is done and the arrangement 

 decided on, it is very easy to fill the beds satisfactorily from 

 the stock of most nurserymen, for there are thousands of 

 plants in every nursery that only need seeing to be called 

 into requisition. 



The nest procedure is forking over the beds deeply ; and 

 the shrubs, which should be taken up with balls, must be 

 planted at such distances as to cover the whole of the sur- 

 face, placing the tallest in the centre, and edging each with 

 some plant of dwarf habit^ distinct in colour of foliage and 

 character. After planting give a good watering, and if dry 

 weather continue give occasional waterings afterwards ; but 

 if wet none will be required. Beyond this the plants will 

 need no further care until spring, when they must not be 

 allowed to suffer from want of water, and when the time 

 for moving arrives, which may be the last week in May, take 

 them up with balls of earth and plant immediately in the 

 places assigned to them in any open yet sheltered situation, 

 placing them so that each will receive light and air from 

 all points, for no good comes of huddling them together. 

 "Water freely at planting and throughout the summer; a 

 mulching an inch or two thick will save much of the water- 

 ing by diminishing the evaporation from the surface. If 

 any trimming be needed it should be done when the shrubs 

 are growing, stopping the gross, and cutting-in the lanky 

 growths, so that even nicely balanced specimens may be ob- 

 tained. Further than this they need little attention, and 

 will move again to the beds in October and November as 

 freely as any other kind of plants, if care be taken to pre- 

 serve a ball of earth at the roots. 



To prevent any fear as to the liability to injury conse- 

 quent on the removal of the shrubs twice annually, all of 

 them may be grown in pots, using a rather stiff turfy loam, 

 and pots large enough to contain the roots comfortably. 

 Drain efficiently, pot rather firmly, and giving a good water- 

 ing plunge in the beds to a depth sufficient to hide the rims 

 of the pots. In dry weather they must be watered, and 

 after they are removed from the beds they should only be 

 plunged to a depth sufficient to hide the pots, leaving the 

 surface bare so that it may be known when any plant needs 

 watering without the foliage indicating its absence. They 

 should be annually freed of all roots that have penetrated 

 into the soil through the holes in the pot, and potted every 

 other year in October. — G. Abbey. 



(To le continued). 



OECHAED-HOUSE TEEES. 



I am quite sure I go with a large proportion of your readers 

 when I thank the " Poor Gentleiian " for his very agree- 

 able letter and gentle castigation. He has given us only 

 a portion of the rock on which he foundered by carrying 

 too much sail. I read in the " Orchard-House," in all the 

 editions from the 6th to the 11th — in the latter at page 50, 

 under "Apricot culture," as follows : "While in their young 

 state the fruit must be thinned, leaving at first upon a bush 

 that has been two years in a pot about three dozen, which, 

 when they attain the size of a small nutmeg, must be re- 

 duced to two dozen. The third year a tree, if it has pros- 

 pered, will be able to bring three dozen to maturity. It is, 

 however, better to have a few finely grown fruit than many 

 that are small." This should have acted as a corrective; 

 but I erred in trusting to the judgment of my readers, and 

 hoping for some discrimination in them. I have since for 

 some time found out that in describing modes of culture 

 every sentence must be well weighed, allowing of no deviation 

 from the prescribed mode ; if you do, you are, as the boys 

 say, "done." 



Now for my confession. I confess that all the time I was 

 writing the above paragraph I was thinking of a tree two 

 or three years old from the nursery, so that the second year 

 in the hands of the cultivator it would be from four to five 

 years old, and quite capable, if well fed, of bearing three 

 dozen of fair-sized fruit. I have just looked at a Peach tree 

 five years old, and bearing thirty-four fair-sized Peaches; 

 but the tree has had rich surface-dressings, and is a 

 sturdy fellow, its branches 3 feet across. Under ordinary 

 treatment two dozen would have been nearer the mark. 

 My caution is a salve to my conscience ; but I shall for the 

 future be more strict in giving rules for thinning. Mr. 

 Bergeris orchard-house I know to be a great success. The 

 unnecessary points in his culture are roof-ventilation and 

 repotting in autumn— a troublesome business. I have never 

 deviated from the easy and simple mode of culture I at 

 first pointed out — viz., top-dressing in October by taking 

 out the surface earth and effete masses of fibrous roots from 

 4 to 5 inches deep, and replacing with some rich compost 

 of loam and rotten dung in equal parts. This fresh food in 

 autumn, and surface-dressings in May, June, and July, of 

 horse-droppings and malt dust, equal quantities mixed and 

 saturated with strong liquid manure, seem, if we may judge 

 from the luxuriant health of every tree to which they have 

 been applied, to be perfect as tree food can be. It is indeed 

 quite interesting to observe the seeming instinct with which 

 the small feeding roots come to the surface for their rich 

 food : no turtle-eating alderman could select and eat green 

 fat with more avidity. On looking over my trees the other 

 day I was half inclined, in a flight of fancy, to endue them 

 with reasoning powers, and to conclude' that they must have 

 had a meeting, and passed a resolution to the effect that 

 while such rich surface food was comeatable they would not 

 go down for any cold, watery, flavourless eating and drink- 

 ing ; for on looking at many hundreds of Peach and Apricot 

 trees full of luxuriant health, I could not find any roots 

 making their way through the apertures at the bottoms of 

 the pots — all were at the surface. 



I observe that Mr. Fish plunges his pots. In the light 

 sandy soils of Bedfordshire I have seen pots plunged about 

 two-thirds of their depth with good effect. In stiff soils 

 they are better on the surface. The warm air of the house 

 is like a blanket round the pots, and the roots feel it and 

 enjoy it. I repeat, feed from above in preference to feeding 

 from below ; the food is warmer and more easily digested. 

 I have always thought this to a certain extent, but have 

 waited and watched, and now I know it. I also repeat — 

 referring to the trouble that Mr. Fish takes in repotting 

 his trees — that after a tree has grown in a thirteen-inch pot 

 (it is always better to give inches in naming the sizes of 

 pots rather than the pot-makers' terms, as 4's and 6's, to 

 designate sizes), for three or four years, it may be at once 

 transferred to an eighteen-inch pot (18 inches in diameter), 

 which, as far as I can see at present, is the maximum size 

 to be used in orchard-house culture. When established in 

 pots of that size the roots at bottom may remain undis- 

 turbed ; top-dressing in autumn, and surface-dressing in 

 spring and summer, will keep the tree in luxuriant health 



