THE JOURNAL OF THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
347 
descent of roots, Such has been my practice 
— such the plan advocated by one of our most 
skilful gardeners, Mr. Errington,. gardener to 
Sir Philip de Grey Egerton, Bart. M.P. By 
such means, in almost all situations, fruit- 
trees may be made to flourish and yield fruit 
"after their kind." 
There is another advantage which these 
impervious bottoms secure to us, viz. the most 
perfect command of the roots ; and I think 
there are few who in this age would hold this 
to be unimportant. For my own part, I con- 
ceive that the roots of every fruit-tree should 
be as much under control as the branches. 
Of late years there has been practised, by 
several very intelligent men, a system of 
covering the surfaces of borders with con- 
crete, thereby excluding the rain-water from 
percolating, and preventing, to a great extent, 
the admission of air. I am quite willing to 
admit, that in certain places, where the situa- 
tion is low, the soil tenacious, and the locality 
subject to an amount of rain exceeding the 
average, it may have been wise to make pro- 
vision to prevent the saturation of the border 
by excess of rain ; but as a general rule, on 
light soils, or those of a medium quality, it- 
does not appear to me that such a proceeding 
is either warranted by practice or supported 
by scientific theory. 
If it be true that "the water which plants 
obtain from the soil contains those saline and 
gaseous matters which plants want," surely it 
cannot be in accordance with the established 
data on which the universally recognised im- 
provements of modern horticulture and agri- 
culture are founded, to exclude the rain-water 
from penetrating the soil. The advantages 
derived from drainage (the basis of all culti- 
vation) are due to the removal of the excess 
of water, thereby admitting the air — " Be- 
cause," says Mr. Solly, " plants cannot derive 
the elements of organic matter from the earthy 
constituents of the soil, nor from the organic 
matters which it may contain, unless there is 
air present." Again, the same high authority 
says — " The most abundant constituent of 
soils is commonly silica, which frequently 
forms nearly nine- tenths of their whole weight. 
Silica, or natural compounds containing silica, 
in combination with several earthy and alka- 
line bases, are quite insoluble in water, and 
are scarcely act^d on by the strongest acids, 
nevertheless they gradually decompose when 
exposed to the air." 
Seeing, then, the very important functions 
which rain-water is ordained to perform in 
percolating through the soil — water itself 
being a large constituent of plants, containing 
also in its own body a quantity of air, and in 
its course leaving cavities through which the 
air of the atmosphere penetrates, rendering 
into soluble food for plants those organic sub- 
stances which without such agency would be 
insoluble — I cannot but doubt the propriety 
of covering the surfaces of borders with an 
impervious substance like concrete. 
Dr. Lindley says, that " hardy trees, on 
whose roots earth had been heaped, or paving 
laid, are found to suffer much, or even to die. 
In such cases, the earth in which the roots are 
growing is constantly much cooler than the 
atmosphere, instead of warmer." Is there not 
on this account another great objection to 
concrete surfaces ? 
I have paid much attention to the manage- 
ment of fruit-tree borders, and feel convinced 
that the great object which we should have in 
view is to secure a shallow stratum of sound 
pure loam on a dry and impervious bottom, to 
avoid mutilating the surface-roots by cropping 
with vegetables, not to apply rank and stimu- 
lating manures, and to endeavour to keep the 
mass of soil always open, healthy, and per- 
meable to the sun, the atmosphere, and the 
rain, using especial precaution that excess of 
the latter is not permitted to saturate the soil. 
Nothing in my opinion is more injurious to 
wall-trees than the heavy cropping of the 
borders in which they are planted. I would 
not do this if I w r ere not obliged. My opinion 
is, that in first-rate gardens the fruit-borders 
should be set apart solely for the trees. If 
paled fences were erected, running east and 
west over a division of such gardens, north- 
ern and southern exposures for early and late 
cropping would be secured, offering the advan- 
tages of shade and exposure to the fullest 
extent, while the trifling additional expense 
would be amply repaid by the permanently- 
improved condition of the trees, and more 
abundant and highly-flavoured fruit. 
NEW PLANTS, ETC.. FROM THE SOCIETY'S 
GARDEN. 
Wistaria Sinensis : alba. (Mr. Fortune 
sent this from China) — According to Siebold, 
the Chinese have many varieties of the Wis- 
taria (or Glycine) Sinensis. Of these a pure 
white one has flowered in the garden. It 
differs in no other respect from the lilac kind, 
and is much less handsome ; but when plenti- 
ful it may produce a pretty effect by being 
inarched upon the branches of the latter. 
Ccelogyhe asperata. (Received in flower 
from T. Twisden Hodges, Esq., May 30, 1 849.) 
—This, which is much the finest of all the 
Coelogynes, is a native of Borneo, and flow- 
ered in the garden of Hemsted Park in such 
profusion that not few T er than eight spikes 
were produced at the same time. Each of 
these spikes is nearly a foot long, and hanging 
downwards bears twelve or fourteen mag- 
nificent white flowers, full three inches in 
