580 HORTICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 



kind often occupy several men for weeks at a time. The 

 material usually employed with us is bass matting, and in 

 most large gardens a number of bass mats are annually cut 

 up and used for this purpose. Of late years they have 

 trebled in price. There is the labour of cutting them into 

 shreds, and of selecting the best strings for tying, but after 

 all the trouble a perfect and a cheap material is not the 

 result. 



This expense may be done away with, and a much better 

 material secured, by simply planting a few tufts of the 

 common glaucous Rush (Juncus glaucus) in some moist 

 spot, or, where much tying is to be done, a few dozen tufts. 

 The stems of this plant are smooth and ready for use at 

 any moment, and are suited for tying everything except 

 the strong or " mother branches " of fruit trees (for which 

 twigs of the yellow osier are best fitted) and the finest 

 and youngest shoots of hothouse plants. The Rush may be 

 cut green and used out of hand, or it may be cut soon after 

 flowering for winter use in a dried state. "When wanted 

 in winter it is desirable to steep it in water a couple of 

 hours before it is used, so as to insure the requisite flexi- 

 bility. It forms a neat and lasting tie, and is not knotted 

 like the matting, but simply twisted, then pinched off with 

 the nail or cut with the knife, and one of the ends turned 

 back a little. For tying the young shoots of fruit trees 

 to an espalier it is admirable, as it is for most other pur- 

 poses of training. When men are accustomed to it, they 

 work with greater facility with it than with anything 

 else. When green it is a matter of no trouble for a horny 

 hand to pinch it instead of cutting it off; thus the work- 

 man has not the trouble of employing a knife, and has both 

 hands free. 



The dried grass of Lygeum Spartum is also used in 

 France to a great extent for gardening purposes. It is a 

 Spanish grass which I have grown pretty freely on cold 

 soils in England, and which will do well on warm ones 

 everywhere with us. It is suitable for very strong and 

 durable tying. Thus the two best materials for this purpose 

 may be grown in any. garden without cost. If the expensive 



