600 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



July 31, 1909. 



the plant has not so much reserve to draw 

 upon. Some plants that are accustomed 

 to a dry climate, such as the zonal pelar- 

 gonium and the calceolaria, notably run 

 more to leaf than blossom in such circum- 

 stances. 



The effect of the fine surface of the soil 

 running together, so that it cakes when 

 dry, is that air is excluded from the soil — 

 air which is necessary for keeping the 

 living substance of the growing root tips in 

 a state of health, keeping the soil sweet, 

 and enabling those processes of the soil 

 which result in the production of valuable 

 plant food to be carried on. Lastly, by 

 keeping the surface in a close, or caked, 

 condition, frequent watering may often 

 result in the deeper portion of the soil 

 being drier than if no watering \^ as done 

 at all, the compact state of the surface 

 facilitating the rise of moisture from 

 below to the surface, where it is fast 

 evaporated by the great heat of the 

 midsummer sun. It has been assumed in 

 this case that the watering, though unduly 

 frequent, does not go down into the sub- 

 soil. If, however, by reason of the pecu- 

 liar tetxure, or other peculiarity of the 

 soil or its position, such is the case, then 

 the excessive watering washes the soluble 

 plant food out of the reach of the roots, 

 besides, by reason of the more or less excess 

 of water, keeping out the all-important 

 air. Excessive and improper watering, 

 then, causes a weak and watery growth, 

 lessens the amount of blossom, prevents the 

 proper aeration of the soil, and may even 

 cause the moisture in the subsoil to be less 

 than it otherwise woidd be ; or, in a diffe- 

 rent soil, permanently lessen the available 

 supply of plant food. 



Now as to the watering which is neces- 

 sary, with due regard to economy of both 

 water and labour. In the first place, we 

 should do what we can to conserve the 

 moisture that is in the soil in the spring 

 by keeping the surface loose directly it 

 begins to get dry, and loosening it again 

 after every heavy rain, as by tliis means 

 the channels conducting water to the sur- 

 face from below by capillary attraction will 

 be cut off. By a rigorous observance of 

 this principle, one may often pass through 

 a whole summer with very little watering 

 of establishe<l plants, as was the case in 

 1907 and 1908 in my garden on the London 

 clay, though things were different on some 

 light soils. In the latter year, beautiful 

 though most of the summer was, there 

 came a good deal of rain early in July, after 

 the dry June, just in time to prevent the 

 need of watering where the soil had been 

 properly treated, both by deep cultivation 

 and surface working, and then, again, in 

 late August, when the soil was just getting 

 dry to a good depth. Many people were 

 watering for all they were worth the latter 

 half of June, even with heavy soils. One 

 enthusiastic amateur told me he gave the 

 whole garden a thorough ducking every 

 evening ! ! ! 



So much for the negative aspect of the 

 subject. The fact remains that some water- 

 ing is necessary in most summers, and in 

 some years a good deal. The principle of 

 economy in watering is to see that as 

 much as possible of the water which is 

 applied goes well into the soil, so that it is 

 not dried up by the sun the next day, 

 giving such a quantity as will go down 

 as faj as the roots extend, and then it may 

 be left for at lea.st a fortnight, even in the 

 hottest weather. A help to this end is tl.e 

 loosening of the surface soil and the appli- 

 cation of a niuk'li of manure before 

 watering, or the lightly turning in of some 

 short, rotted niiinure to facilitate the entry 

 of the water and |)r<'\<'nt t}i(» .-urtaci' soil 



running together. This method may be 

 applied to all beds and borders. 



If a hose is used, it is better to discard 

 the sprinkler, and let the water run into 

 the soil with as little washing of the sur- 

 face as possible, so as to saturate the soil 

 to a depth of a couple of feet, only domg 

 this, of course, when it is becoming very dry, 

 and not repeating it for at least a fort- 

 night. Where it is desired to v^ater big 

 things, like shrubs, roses, and climbers 

 against the house or other walls, it is a 

 good plan to sink a flower-pot in the 

 ground up to the rim, previously putting 

 a few pieces of broken pot underneath it, 

 and then pour the water into the pot, 

 which can be done a pailful at a time. A 

 piece of tile or slate should be l-aid over 

 the top of the pot to prevent evaporation 

 afterwards. Alger Petts. 



JAPANESE OR RUGOSA 

 ROSES. 



These form undoubtedly one of, if not the 

 hardiest class of roses we have. I have 

 never known frost to harm these during a 

 dormant condition, and scarcely any effect 

 is made upon the earliest growth in spring. 

 They are also remarkably free from in- 

 .sects, if we except green-fly, and even this 

 does not infest them so much as in most 

 other classes. Nor have I ever seen them 

 harmed by red rust in the autumn. What 

 has apparently looked like this disease has 

 turned out to bo the peculiar way of ripen- 

 ing their foliage. They are early in flower- 

 ing, and continue in bloom a considerable 

 part of the summer, and end by supplying 

 an enormous quantity of hips that are in 

 themselves ample justification for cultivat- 

 ing these roses, as they produce a very 

 attractive avitumnal display. It is tiie 

 singles that produce these seed pods or 

 hips in greatest profusion. The fruits of 

 atropurpurea are a glowing purplish-crim- 

 son, while those of Rugosa alba are a pale 

 primrose yellow. Several shades and sizes 

 of fruits are produced between these. 



There are few subjects better suited for 

 game coverts than these roses, affording, 

 as they do, excellent cover, as well as food 

 in autumn, and abundance of shade during 

 summer. Partridges and pheasants are 

 very partial to these fruits, and often in- 

 vade our nursery grounds in search of 

 them. 



Rugosa roses are very freely raised from 

 seedlings, and in a couple of years make 

 good bushes. As their use for covert plant- 

 ing becomes more generally recognised they 

 will no doubt be freely used. The one 

 drawback in this connection is the useless- 

 ness nf the wood for cutting. 



In the garden ample use can be found 

 for the varieties forming the section. The}' 

 can be pruned or not, at will, and we now 

 have a good selection of colours. In 

 Rugosa alba we have a grand pure paper- 

 white rose, some twe and a-half inches in 

 diameter, while R. rubra (sometimes called 

 Rogeliana or Ramanas rose) affords us a 

 deep rose with slight shadinjrs of violet of 

 the same size. One of the vcrv best 

 is atropurpurea, a very free flowering 

 variety, with large bunches of blossoms 

 that are blackivsh-orimson jn the bud stage 

 and maroon-crimson as they expand. Calo- 

 carpa has a smaller flower, but it is verv 

 sweet-scented, and produces immense clusl 

 ters of small rich scarlet-coloured fruits 

 P'imbriata is almost white, except for a 

 blush tint during verv sunny weather, and 

 sweetly scented. The margins of the 

 petals are beautifully fimbriated, and Deli- 

 cata and Be!!o Pditevine give semi-doubles 



of soft rose colour. Souvenir de Pierre 

 Leperdrieux is a double form of bright 

 vinous red, and that, unlike most of the 

 other doubles, throws a large number of 

 fruits. We obtain some hips from almost 

 all roses at various seasons, but these more 

 particularly under notice are remarkable 

 for the size and quantity they produce. 



Conrad Ferdinand Meyer belongs to this 

 section but, like some others to be men- 

 tiontxl,' ought more properly to be styled 

 a hybrid rugosa. Conrad F. Meyer is a 

 wonderfully strong grower, and has all 

 the other good qualities of the section. 

 It is good enough for exhibition, being of 

 similar form to La France, of equal size, 

 and quite as sweetly scented. This is a 

 clear silvery-rose, and there is now a white 

 sport of this named Nova Zembla>. Mrs. 

 Georges Bruant is another white, a little 

 more than semi-double, and an exceptionally 

 free bloomer, but a little too pendent in 

 habit to appear to the best advantage. An- 

 other semi-double white is Blanc Double de 

 Coubert ; this is much larger than the pre- 

 vious variety, but it does not continue to 

 flower so freely throughout the season. 



The first of the rugosas were introduced 

 from Japan so long ago as 1802, and it is 

 during the last ten or fifteen years that 

 they have been so much improved. 



A. PiPEH. 



THE DEEP WELL WATERS 

 OF HARPENDEN. 



Harpenden, Herts, lies toward the edge 

 of the chalk basin in the middle of which 

 London is situated. The water supply of 

 Harpenden is derived entirely from wells 

 sunk in the chalk, which chalk in some 

 places comes to the surface, and is probably 

 never more than 25ft. beneath it. The 

 water in the wells is, in the valley, about 

 60ft., and on the hills about 120-145ft., be- 

 low the surface. The water level of the 

 district exhibits a rather steep gradient, 

 the underground flow of water being appa- 

 rently from north-west to south-west. This 

 flow of underground water consists of the 

 mixed drainage of a large area of agricul- 

 tural land. 



In the uncontaminated wells at Harpen- 

 den, the proportion of chlorine in the water 

 is practically constant. Eleven per million 

 may be taken as the average proportion of 

 chlorine in the uncontaminated wells of the 

 district. From whence does this chlorine 

 come ? The chlorine present in the rain has 

 been determined for many years at Roth- 

 amsted. The average proportion is two 

 parts per million. When rain falls upon 

 the unmanured soil of the Rothamsted 

 drain gauges about one-half of the water 

 is evaporated ; we should expect, therefore, 

 that the drainage water which passes 

 through the soil would contain four parts 

 of chlorine per million, and this is actually 

 the case. 



In the Rothamsted experimental wheat 

 field, where the evaporation is increased by 

 the growth of a crop, the drainage water 

 from the unmanured land contains about 

 six parts of chlorine per million. The pro- 

 portion of chlorine may be still further in- 

 creased in the smaller quantity of drainage 

 water obtained from pasture land. It is 

 difficult, however, to see how the mixed 

 drainage of arable and pasture land, from 

 which the well water is derived, can con- 

 tain a quantity of chlorine approaching 

 eleven parts per million, unless we assume 

 that the chalk still contains in its deeper 

 strata some of the common salt, which was 

 undoubtedly among its constituents when 

 it first emerged from the sea. The com- 

 parative poverty in chlorides of the chalk 



