8 r4 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



December 17, 1898 



tecomas, bignonias, ipomaeas, &c, and a visit to such a land of sunshine 

 and flowers marks an event in the life of any gardener whose experience 

 previously had been confined to more northern latitudes. 



The famous gardens of Thomas Hanbury, Esq., at La Mortola are 

 alone worth a visit to the Riviera ; in this spot are grown upwards of 

 three thousand species of plants, and in a recently published work by an 

 anonymous author Mr. Hanbury adds a footnote to the chapter on 

 "Springtide" : "lam disappointed if I have fewer than 450 species in 

 flower in the open border at La Mortola in the month of January." The 

 views of Nice and Monte Carlo, with the gardens of the villas Monte- 

 hello, Montery, and Lefevre, from photographs taken by Henry Little, 

 Esq., serve to show in an admirable way the beautiful vegetation that 

 provides such a tropical effect in Riviera gardens at a time when our 

 gardens at home are almost bare of flowers. 



Kew. G. Nicholson, A.L.S. 



GARDENER'S EXPERIENCES 



HONG KONG. 



IN 



Plant Roots and Plant Food. 



I was much interested in Mr. J. J. Willis's able contribution on plant 



roots and plant food on page 716. He, however, is mistaken in assuming 



that I deny the possibility of food-creating roots. I merely questioned 



the accuracy of " Lux's " statement, and pointed out the food-creating 



power of roots — a fact doubted by him. Of course, we all know that it is 

 not the largest or heaviest roots that contribute most to the plant's well- 

 being, but rather the number of these organs. The more mouths, so to 

 speak, the better are the means afforded the plant of securing adequate 

 supplies of food. The character of roots, large or small, will determine 

 to a great extent the kind of food abstracted from the soil, and conse- 

 quently the growth of the plant. Again, the food materials within the 

 soil will influence the growth of roots. If nitrogen be in excess there will 



ON my arrival in Hong Rons 

 in the middle of Decern 



very 

 would 



ber, 1 89 1, I found 

 different from 



have been 



such 



things 

 what they 

 in the oM 

 country at that time. Instead of 

 everything being bare and leaf- 

 less, there was the appearance of 

 summer everywhere. What a 

 sight ! The harbour was filled 

 with dozens of merchant ships 

 and hundreds of junks, and what 

 a sight the town, built on the side 

 of the hill, with the hilltops as a 

 background. As a Frenchman 

 once remarked, no one but the 

 British could have built a town in 



fast 



Immediately, or rather before, our steamer was made 

 she was surrounded by a very large number of 



a place, 

 to her buoy 



Ch inese rowing boats, or sampans as they are called, and there were 

 frantic cries from the boatmen to know if anyone was going ashore • 

 this thev did by calling out "wanchee sampan?" Naturally, we 



did 



and as soon as we had made 



" wanchee sampan 

 known there was a tremendous competition as 



We finally decided on one and 

 fifteen feet long and five feet wide, and 



our patronage, 

 boats are about 



our want 

 to who should receive 

 i went ashore. These 



often as not, "manned" by women. 



wide, ana are, as 

 The whole family live in them, 



jkjii »rni iiiiiuLin-v. uiv giuniu yji i uulj. 11 imiwgtn ill CALCDO uicic Will ' — ~ J " " — " *- ujv.hi, 



be a tendency to large roots, and soft, succulent, unfruitful wood in fruit men > wom en> and children, and then have enough room for keeping fowls 



« « • m .m • m _ r-w ■■ ■■ ■ I A. _ _ _ 1 — . il. 1 .1 • i* 1 * , 



trees, whereas a deficiency of that constituent and a preponderance of 

 inorganic elements will result in firmer and more fruitful growths. The 

 number of roots in this poorer soil will be greater, and they will also be 

 smaller, more fibrous, and with more root-hairs than those 



thick. 



§ ' / ' " ' — O — ------ - ~ - * w *o 



as well. It is marvellous how they manage to cook their food and sleep 

 in such tiny craft, but a great number of things which the Chinese do are 

 marvellous to European eyes. I believe that I am right in stating that 



i ' ^ x Chinese live in this 



thirty thousand (I have not the numbers with me 

 succulent productions promoted by the presence of an undue quantity of m .^ nn ^ r in Hong Kong. They are a peculiar people and seldom mix 



nitrogen. Knowing this, we are able to regulate fruit tree growth by 

 judicious applications of manures. The natural kind of roots of a plant 



with the people on shore, 

 the Botanic Gardens. 



Well 



juuiLiuua appiiLaiiuua ui manures. ± lie Iia.lUIiil Kind OI TOOLS OI d. plan I 



is usually demonstrated in its method of branching. If they are few and The entrance, or at least the approach, to the Hong Kong Gardens is 



strong the roots will be the same, but should the branches be twiggy and 

 dense, then mats of fibrous roots will almost invariably be found. This 

 teaches us another lesson, viz., that bushy plants with naturally fibrous 

 roots require a greater proportion of potash, phosphorus, lime, and the 

 other inorganic elements of plant food than do plants of more strong, 

 straggling growths and corresponding roots. I must qualify this state- 

 ment and say that there are exceptions, but the exceptions are rare. 



Looking at " plant roots and plant food " with these facts before us, 

 we can easily see the error of destroying fibrous roots within the first nine 

 inches of surface soil. Mr. J. J. Willis seems to regard " plant roots and 

 plant food " as the chief source of contention between " Lux '* and myself. 

 He is also mistaken in this conclusion. " Lux * feeds his fruit trees, and 

 so do I ; but there is a material difference in the manner in which it is 

 done, and it is over this that we cannot come to an agreement or com- 

 promise, "Lux "treats the roots of his trees to a surgical operation 

 every time he supplies them with food, whereas I preserve every feeder 

 'ntact. He manures and digs the ground occupied by the roots of his 

 trees, thereby destroying them within nine inches of the surface, and 

 mutilating others immediately below that. I surface feed, and only dis- 

 turb the surface to the depth of two inches when the ground is under 

 bush and tree fruits, and simply top-dress when the orchard is a grass one. 

 By this system of treatment and cropping I obtain heavy yields from 

 the land, secure healthy, fruitful trees and bushes, and a dense carpet of 

 grass in the grass orchard. In reference to grass orchards I see a note 

 in the Magazine, page 713, saying that the trees did not do so well this 

 last season as trees growing where the ground was dug. As this state- 

 ment is at variance with results that have come under my observation, it 

 would be interesting to know the kind of the two soils, their situation as 

 to securing moisture, and whether the trees in the grass orchard were 

 surface fed. The small orchard mentioned in my former notes at Castle 

 Howard has borne overwhelming testimony to the contrary, and con- 

 clusively proved that a grass orchard, judiciously fed and otherwise cared 

 for, was the right place and the right way to cultivate hardy fruit trees. 

 In Breconshire 1 have been looking for "Lux's" grand orchard, but find 

 nothing but miserable specimens of fruit trees, where the surface roots to 

 the depth of nine inches have been destroyed by manuring and digging. 

 1 he few trees I have come across in grass land are much superior to 



_ , _ w . u Kr u«vii, ^ ua«« xxwxi 8 xwug IJ 



only about two minutes' walk from the landing-stage, up a winding shady 

 glen planted with cycads, alpinias, alsophilas, bamboos, and many other 

 tropical plants. It was a glorious sight, and one not to be easily 

 forgotten. No wonder that when a little girl was going up there with 

 her mother she inquired if it were the way to heaven. On arriving at 

 the gardens, my future sphere of work, plants and beds were gay with 

 flowers. Geraniums and poinsettias were growing side by side in full 

 splendour, and the tea roses were simply charming, not to mention other 

 things. Surely winter had been turned into summer. This was a kind 

 of thing that I had not been accustomed to, but the same may be said of 

 everyone who goes to the tropics for the first time. You have plenty of 

 flowers under glass at home during the winter, but it is quite a different 

 thing to see a wealth of bloom outside. An Englishman, however, soon 

 adapts himself to circumstances, but it is quite a different thing getting 

 the Chinese to adapt themselves to European ways. You might argue 

 with them until you were black in the face, and then you would be just 

 as far off convincing them of a thing as when you started. The only way 

 to do with them is to tell them that you want a thing done in a certain 

 manner, and then see that they do it. 



The language was a thing that bothered me a great deal at first, but 



I soon found out that it would be much better to get along with a 



This lingo is 



mixture of English and Chinese called "pidgin English." *uia »- 

 easily acquired, and is used by both English and Chinese in the daily 

 routine of affairs. Pidgin is a corruption of business, and has been 

 handed down to us from the early traders with China. Of course, ... 

 the various offices now, English is written and spoken by the Chinese 

 as it should be. ^ n *i**«w* u — tn v»mt one sav to 



in 



cut it 

 downstairs 



No doubt it appears very strange to hear one say to 

 a Chinaman, 41 Put that piecee plant more largee pot," instead of " put 

 that plant into a larger pot," but when one is using such phrases 

 every day the ludicrousness of it becomes lost. Again, I should never 

 think of telling a man to prune a tree, I should say "cut that piecee tree 

 more short," and if I wanted it closely pruned I should say ' ri 

 plenty more short." Upstairs is called "topside," and do w 

 "bottomside." I had a rather amusing experience with one of the garden 

 men in connection with the use of the word upstairs. A coolie was 

 lopping a large tree in the gardens, and I inquired for him from the fore- 

 man, and this was his answer " He have 'go upstairs makee cut tnat 

 them "even"althnno>; SET w^l In gr * S ? Ian ? . are . muc11 ^ " P iece e tree more short" Evidently he thought that he was getting on 

 3 r^If «^r2E hS bCen n t glc ? C ^ ? th w W *? SlE With his English - 0n an °*er occasion I sent a man to go and purchase 

 to 5 Wm M mn real Y believes in what he is teaching I would like some pipeclay for cleaning mv sun helmet; imagine my surprise when 



°i tr , eeS gr0Wn under both ^sterns. I feel con- he returned with two short cfat Dioes After I had been out there 



and 1 therefore d ° n0t takC hiS short time a wS^SSL 22 Cf™,!? "stonish me by showing 1 



♦fc." L * UX ' S " pen is ' 1 think > to the scrib e very much what the spur is to 

 hr^ So if the discussion has been the means of 



bringing irrational methods of fruit culture more vividly before the 



a 



***** "5 111 -* iXJ i ne — in a "you nave uui seen — - — . 



way "—inquired if we had such a thing in England, and he appeared to 



be 



have a "? """ l' ad ,0 bett « ones bei og adopted, " Lux "will 



SS Sffr^' Hardy fruit « «°° ">ocil under stereo- 



the couotryt Ml te* ^11^^ % ^ "^ ST 



quite disappo.nted when I told him that we had. To tb».a»7 J» u *3 

 coming in from out of the country places, may be seen during tne coiu 

 weather attempting to warm their hands at the street gas lamp-poso 

 when the gas is burning. . t 



It is a great mistake to suppose that the Chinese are fond of WOnj,« 

 least my experience does not support such a supposition. It is true i 



at anv ulare in Thino „~ :« j c n f men. women, and cnuu'cn 



e case there 



wo, and provoking but stiil SSfeSS 

 ihe f.ont and expose fallacious notions ' 



in order to bring facts to 



J. RlDDELL. 



just passing through any of these places goes away with fhe 'mp«s s ' 

 that the natives are a very industrious people. Residents in these ^ace J 

 however, know that the Chinan.an only works until he has obta.nea 



