RESERVE-GROUND. 241 RESERVE-GROUND. 



glowing accounts had been received 

 of the splendour of the flowers of the 

 Renanthera in China, it did not ap- 

 pear likely to realise these descrip- 

 tions in England ; and it was culti- 

 vated in this country for above ten 

 years, before it formed a single spike 

 of flowers. At last the ingenious 

 expedient was devised of wrapping the 

 long flexible roots round with moss, 

 and keeping this moss constantly 

 moist ; and the result was, that the 

 plant grew ten feet long, and pro- 

 duced several spikes, varying from 

 two feet to three feet in length, of 

 brilliant scarlet flowers. It is now ge- 

 nerally grown on pieces of wood with 

 the bark on, hung from the rafters 

 near a column of the stove, or orchi- 

 deous house, round which the long 

 roots are suffered to entwine them- 

 selves, care being taken to wrap them 

 in moist moss as they elongate them- 

 selves ; and it is found that the plant 

 flowers as freely as any other Orchi- 

 deous Epiphyte grown in Britain. 



Reseda. — Resedacece. — There are 

 many species of this genus, most of 

 which are natives of the South of 

 Europe and Egypt; but those best 

 known in England are, Reseda 

 lutebla, the dyer's- weed, which is a 

 British plant ; and R. odorata, for the 

 culture of which see Mignionette. 



Reserve-Ground. — In every gar- 

 den accidents, diseases, and many 

 other causes, occasion blanks or defor- 

 mities in beds and borders, and the 

 use of a reserve-ground is to contain 

 a number of growing plants that at a 

 moment's notice can be taken up and 

 planted in the place of those which 

 have ceased to be ornamental or de- 

 sirable. Wherever there is a green- 

 house it can hardly be kept in high 

 order without a pit or frame in the 

 reserve-ground for striking cuttings, 

 and bringing forward plants to supply 

 the place of those which are no 

 loDger ornamental in the greenhouse ; 



and, particularly, for forcing bulbs 

 and bringing forward annuals, such as 

 Balsams, Schizantbus, &c, which 

 are exceedingly ornamental when in 

 flower, but without showy foliage at 

 every other season. The reserve- 

 ground, therefore, in point of extent, 

 must bear some relation to the extent 

 and the character of the garden which 

 it is intended to supply. The smallest 

 residence should have a few square 

 yards of reserve-ground, including a 

 pit, in an open airy situation, but 

 concealed from the ornamental parts 

 of the grounds ; and residences of 

 twenty or thirty acres in extent will 

 require several pits, and the sixth or 

 fourth part of an acre as reserve- 

 ground. Where there is a walled 

 kitchen-garden, the reserve-ground 

 may very conveniently be placed ad- 

 joining the frame or forcing- ground, or 

 form part of it ; and in places so 

 small as to have no kitchen-garden, a 

 concealed glade, open to the south, 

 with or without a small pit or frame, 

 will still be necessary. The grand 

 points respecting a reserve - ground 

 which it is desirable to impress on an 

 amateur gardener are, first, that a re- 

 serve-ground, including a pit, how- 

 ever small it may be, is essential to the 

 keeping in high order of every plot of 

 garden-ground, even those in front of 

 street-houses, and of every garden of 

 plants in pots, even those kept in 

 window-sills and balconies ; secondly , 

 that the reserve-ground must be in an 

 open airy situation, not shaded by 

 trees ; thirdly, that the herbaceous 

 plants planted in the open ground in 

 the reserve-garden must be taken up 

 with balls*of earth, and replanted twice 

 or thrice a year, and the shrubs once 

 a year ; and fourthly, that where there 

 is a choice of soil that of the reserve- 

 ground should be of a loamy nature, 

 such as will adhere to the roots of the 

 plants, and never of sand, which will 

 drop away from them. Where there 

 R 



