September 24, 1898- 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



62 



3 



h plants had immense pseudo-bulbs, and these are bound to 

 a : huee spikes of bloom. The greenhouse was bright with such 

 produce i n * *j fuchsias, petunias, and other flowers, mixed with 

 thing* as h > c jii s> At the bottom of the staging was a fine row 



fe /Kntum capillus-veneris. On the roof there were trained several 

 1 tVof Thunbergia alata, in three varieties, and Lygodium scandens, 

 u hole having a very pretty effect. This former plant has become 

 llised in Hong Kong, and it may be seen in flower in one particular 

 i^alitv covering at least a quarter of an acre of ground. Tomatos were 

 exceptionally heavy crop, both inside and out. After looking through 

 flower garden, pleasure grounds, and houses, I paid a visit to the 

 ] ce Mr. Pettigrew had selected for the vegetable garden. There I 

 found erowing peas, beans, turnips, beetroot, cauliflowers, &c, for, as 

 one of the best known British gardeners said to me a few days ago, a 

 man who can grow plants and flowers is no use as a gardener unless he 

 ran in addition, grow good vegetables as well. 



W W. J. TUTCHER. 



PRESERVING SURFACE ROOTS. 



accidental 



' Lux" must have been just recovering from an 

 dose of some narcotic when he penned his notes on 

 tion of peach roots (page 571), and I think "Mrs. Lux" 



the 



over- 

 destruc- 

 will do 



cut off a quantity of growths we shall give the balance to the roots, and 

 shoots of a stronger nature will follow the next year. By continuing 

 the practice for years the wood would soon arrive at such a strength 

 that our ordinary summers would not ripen it, and fruit crops from 

 such would be out of the question. This evil can, however, be remedied 

 to a certain extent by crops, once the trees are in a bearing condition. 

 The more vigorous the plant, the heavier the crop should be, and vice 

 versa rhus, by regulating the crop according to the strength of the 

 tree, the evil effect of pruning is overcome, and a balance maintained 

 between the two parts of the plant. On the other hand, if we prune the 

 roots of a healthy, fruitful tree, we diminish its powers of supplying food 

 to the stem and branches, and consequently minimise its ability in 

 yielding crops. The equilibrium being thus upset, the plants 7 energy 

 will be more feeble, the wood smaller, fruit inferior, and the crops thin 

 ones. If the pruning of the roots be of a severe nature, and carried on 

 annually, the plant will soon exhibit signs of a miserable existence, 

 becoming worthless as a source of fruit supply, and be an eyesore in the 

 garden, and a testimony to lack of skill of the cultivator, or circum- 

 stances to enable him to do otherwise. 



It has often been remarked that " so long as the roots of a plant are 

 all right it is surprising the amount of bad treatment it will submit to 

 with impunity but " Lux," I think, can lay claim to being the first 

 to state that maltreatment of the roots can be compensated with food. 



,iun ui . ; N l ° Li 1 7 , . ~. T — . "V 7 «««"v»m«wji ui iuc luuis can uc ^umpciibciieu. Willi IUOU. 



wisely in seeing that her noble lord does not, in his hurry or zeal, The soil, of course, is the storehouse and cooking department of plant 



TERRACE GARDEN, ST. FAGAN'S CASTLE. 



From photograph by Bedford,^ Lem ere, and Co, 



2i£5 ri i2 a ri - sk in future - 



ftivin, ^ h s staking the 



In his dazed state we can easily 

 . - « „, mnco f ^ %_ . shadow for the substance, and 

 of a hhS i he hallucinations which haunted his pillow in 



* adc into ce erv Ij-u* ? f P ractice and resuIts - Vine borders 



16 fe «l the vinZ JS V. Ve S etabl es grown on peach borders ? Yes, 



Jdditi °n of thirwi PeacheS ! Peter ' s must be twinkling over the 

 ^ luscious f„,;7c f° Und t0 - his v ^ eta . bIe quarters, and the huge 



>t taxes oSS? a*v Ca " - piCtUre m his mind ' s e y e in the near 

 nappy re "u C c red " ht y to lts utmost limits to arrive at a conviction 

 *te ar ea, co4rin„" ' • ? we c ? m P a re practice and its effect over a 



food, and the better this larder is filled, and the more complete the 

 machinery for breaking up crude organic and inorganic components with 

 substances acceptable to the roots of plants, the more valuable it is 

 regarded. Its depth, too, has a bearing on crops, but the surface portion 

 will, under ordinary circumstances, always remain the most fertile. Even 

 if we place a layer of manure, say, at three feet from the top, its decom- 

 position will lead to gases being evolved which will find their way through 

 the particles of soil upwards. The mineral matter, too, is brought to the 

 surface by capillarity, as note the deposit of lime on the top of our 

 calcareous formations, and nitrate of potash in some parts of India after 

 !in " Lux's ""ennt^r 5 " 00 0t ttllrty y ears - Theor y, too, is at~variance a period of warm dry weather. The gases of the atmosphere also come 

 t*^ a rendering of and these facts favour the supposition that it most in contact with the outer crust, dissolving, feeding, and enriching 



to publish ft! rau tilated remains of a nocturnal vision he has it, and thereby moulding its condition to suit the requirements of plant 



Ijf e> Besides these we have the sun's influence, the principal factor in 

 plant growth, warming the particles, aiding chemical changes, and foster- 

 ing life in the surface soil. Knowing all this, we cannot be ignorant of 

 the fact that the substratum, be it loam, gravel, or clay, is in no wise 

 equal in any respect to supporting plant growth like that which rests upon 

 it and this apart from the tillage operations which the surface receives. 

 Therefore if the roots of fruit trees are annually destroyed in the first 

 nine inches of surface soil, and the plants have to be fed from the cold, 

 "—■<=« can onl k ~ «» r «u>. vigour hungry, under layer, with its crude compounds, could we expect healthy, 



Rrt °f the pi ant K J 7 De a ttained by securing a balance between vigorous, fruitful wood in them i Certainly not anything approaching 



□eiow ground and that which is above it. If we that produced by trees whose roots are left undisturbed nearer the surface, 



a retrograde' Hi^T eai J catI ° n or amusement. Although it is a 



£ ,^er it^ 0 r nol e ? 10n ' that shouId be no reason why 5e should 

 Si?* of the* , a K t Tu ays / on , e ? f the new -' a ngled ideas are, to say 

 Roughly, 55tf £g? f f r fetch ^- . In order to deal with the question^ 

 A.r ur ain > is o l? 7 nts and solls separately. H 



SitS 1 C *°VS of The fiSJS ^ U Lt^! :1° j£ r ™ P™ duce . 



of 



also to 

 Vigour 



