94 
DEATH OF THE EARL OE AUCKLAND. 
Perhaps the best improvement would be to 
substitute closely-woven wire for the glass, 
because this would admit light and air and 
still exclude the vermin, which in an hour 
would destroy a bloom ; and closely-wove wire 
would also keep off the tarnishing heat of the 
sun. But there are several considerations lost 
sight of by some of the best, or at least, the 
most popular growers. By excluding the air 
and light, the colours of edged flowers are 
almost destroyed. This changes a blush white 
to a clear white, and may so far induce a 
change they require ; but such flowers as 
Hudson's Princess Royal are so altered for the 
worse by the exclusion of light and air, that a 
flower that is absolutely beautiful in its natural 
colours, becomes an undefined and anything 
but pretty specimen under the present treat- 
ment. Yellows become paler, whites become 
purer, and all the brilliant colours lose a por- 
tion of their brightness. To young beginners, 
we would advise the constant and unremitting 
destruction of the earwig from the moment 
the plants are put out ; it is worth all the 
trouble to be able to have the flowers more 
exposed. Flowers which have the air and 
light are brighter, and thrive a great deal 
better. It may be well, also, to cut some 
dahlias a little to their branches that are too 
ci'owded ; but beyond this, all that is required 
is to pick off superfluous buds, and to stop the 
growing portions that are beyond the blooms 
selected for growth. 
the box against it would cause it to give way 
in some places and not in others, and so spoil 
the figure altogether. 
BOX EDGINGS. 
Unless the figure of the edging is first 
formed with a hard bank of earth, perfectly 
true, of a like hardness, and level on the top, 
it is quite impossible to plant the box pro- 
perly. The preparation of the box is import- 
ant. All the plants should be of a size, and 
the tops cut off square. It may then be laid 
mathematically true half an inch above the 
edge of the level ground, and the soil should 
be drawn up against it, so that a thin covering 
of gravel shall bring it level with the soil in- 
side. Now if the bank be not true and hard, 
and the toj) properly levelled, the pressing of 
ON PLANTING OUT POTTED PLANTS. 
The common practice of putting out the 
Coniferfe, and many other plants usually kept 
potted in nursery stock, with the ball whole 
just as they turn out from the pots, has been 
often mischievous, and sometimes fatal. In- 
deed, soon or late potted plants put out with 
the balls entire, grow weakly, or completely 
choke themselves. The roots, as may be seen 
when confined in a small pot, turn round and 
round inside the pot, and having once taken 
this direction, the portions of root that are so 
turned round the collar of the plant swell very 
much, and so completely confine the collar 
that they prevent its enlarging, while the 
roots spread around and furnish their thicker 
bases with the nourishment sufficient for the 
growth of both themselves and the tree ; and 
until the roots grow thick enough to pinch on 
the trunk and prevent its enlarging, all goes 
well ; but so soon as that is confined by the 
still swelling but tangled and entwined root 
the tree becomes weakly, and at length fairly 
blows down, fractured at the collar, round 
which the roots have formed a confining ring, 
as obdurate as iron, and the trunk of a few 
inches diameter is seen to have been held by 
a collar of a fourth of the thickness. Avoid, 
therefore, all pot-bound plants if you can ; 
but if you are obliged to use such, soak 
the ball in watei*, wash out the soil, disentangle 
the roots with as little fracture as possible, 
spread them out all round, as near the sui-face 
as you well can to be covered at all, and after 
treading in firmly, put stakes to them, that 
they may not be disturbed. All the expensive 
kinds of Coniferge should be attended to espe- 
cially, or they cannot succeed long together ; 
and prefer those from the open ground to any 
that have been long in pots, for unless they 
are shifted often enough to prevent the roots 
from curling round and entangling themselves 
round the collar, they want all the care we 
have mentioned to make them succeed. 
DEAl'H OF THE EAEL OF AUCKLAND.* 
The demise of this much revered nobleman 
has suddenly deprived the world of a good 
and great man, the Government of an en- 
lightened statesman, the Horticultural Society 
* On the 30th of December, while shooting at Lord 
Ashburton's, Lord Auckland was seized w^ith a paralytic 
attack. Though four miles from the house when the 
attack came on, he was very speedily conveyed thither, 
of a noble vice-president, and ourselves of a, 
most valued patron. 
Of all the great and good men who have 
devoted their lives to the service of the state, 
and every remedy that human skill could suggest was 
Immediately administered ; but, unhappily, without 
effect. — Times Newspaper, January 1, 1849. 
