126 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[February 12, 1885. 
a time they will branch into three more each, which will produce 
six good blooms on each plant. If extra large blooms are desired 
remove some of the shoots. About the end of March or early in 
April a shift into 32 or 24 sized pots will be necessary, this time 
using soil similar to the last, with the addition of some well- 
decayed cow or horse dung. Early in May the plants should be 
placed out of doors in some open but sheltered place, paying 
great attention to the supply of water. 
Towards the end of May or early in June they can be placed 
in their largest pots, these should be 9 or 10 inches in diameter. 
This time the soil may be made richer by the addition of more 
manure and bone du-t, and pot firmly. The plants may then be 
placed in an open position, one row on each side of a path is a 
good place for them ; attend carefully to them with water. When 
the pots are full of roots, liquid manure should be given them 
about four times a week. Many growers have their special 
manures for this purpose. Drainings from the dunghill of the 
farmyard answer well, with an occasional sprinkling on the 
surface of the soil of Clay’s Fertiliser, washed in with clear 
water during hot weather. Syringe the plants in the evening, and 
keep them carefully tied to prevent the wind breaking the shoots. 
Early in October the plants will require housing for fear of 
frost; they should be in a lighthouse, and as close to the glass 
as possible. Still continue giving liquid manure freely until the 
blooms are partly expanded, when it maybe discontinued. There 
are many other details in connection with Chrysanthemum 
culture that cannot be fully dealt with in a short article like 
this, but I hope at some time to give exhaustive details of the 
mode practised in producing exhibition blooms. Still I hope 
these few remarks may prove of service to a few readers, parti¬ 
cularly in the propagation of the plants.— E. M. Molyneux, 
Stconmore Park , Bishops Waltham. 
TRENCHING GROUND. 
When I read Mr. Iggulden’s first letter on this subject I failed to see 
how he seriously differed from the orthodox practice and teaching of the 
present and past generation of gardeners, neither did I anticipate that 
he would receive many severe raps on the knuckles, of which he feigned 
to be apprehensive, unless he were misunderstood by his readers, which 
unfortunately happens to be so. The fact is Mr. Iggulden does not object 
to trenching, except in those instances where a foot of clay is brought to 
the surface, or cultivators struggle with the pickaxe to move some other 
crude material so as to change its position with the top soil. Indeed 
beyond the sceptical heading of Mr. Iggulden’s first let*er I cannot trace 
in what way he is likely to interfere with old-established doctrines in 
relation to trenchiug. All the leading gardening operations are clearly 
defined in books written on the subject. The horticultural journals of the 
present day are equally explicit on all kinds of garden work. Now if 
there is one subject more than another upon which writers of the present 
and past generation are unanimous it is that of trenching. We may 
therefore reasonably conclude that the reading class of those engaged in 
cultivating the soil have continued to practise on the lines indicated in 
the literature of the subject. Now and then we meet with a novice of 
the amateur class who acts differently, but Mr. Iggulden may rest assured 
that by gardeners trenching is judiciously performed; what evils there 
may be are confined to his own imagination. Gardeners may differ as to 
the disposition of the first layer of manure, or even vary their practice, as 
we do here. Our subsoil is clayey sand, which is forked up and left in 
lumps. If we have any long half-decayed litter we place a few inches 
upon it, otherwise we throw on the top spit of soil and short manure cn 
that. 
I contend that no mischief can be done by bringing up a couple of 
inches of this subsoil each time the ground is trenched, and unless it is 
intended to sow small seeds it may remain on the surface, and when the 
particles lose their cohesion they get intermixed with the black mould. 
Any plants that may be inserted in it will have their roots just below the 
Taw material. Large seeds, such as Beans and Peas, are easily sown in it. 
I am here alluding to the best method of dealing with old gardens where 
only the top spit has been moved for a number of years, as was the case 
here, where I have had substantial proof of what trenching will do. I 
took charge in the month of June, and found all unoccupied ground either 
dug or ridged, which in due time was planted with winter vegetables. 
Much to my annoyance they were nearly all on their sides before the 
winter, so much had they clubbed that they had no hold of lhe soil. The 
family being absent only about six quarts of Peas were sown, and we did 
not gather a bushel from them, as some of the rows did not reach above 
the small sticks, but turned yellow and died. 
Bastard trench'ng and growing a great quantity of Celery was the 
method I adopted the following year. For this crop the ground was 
heavily manured and dug, the trenches thrown out the depth of the spade, 
and the bottom stirred with the fork. By the time the manure and soil 
had been put in the trenches were even with the surface, and the roots 
had all the best soil to run in, whilst if I had made the trenches deeper 
they would have been enclosed between two clay walls. To secure 
sufficient friable soil for earthing I allowed G feet between the trenches, 
and to complete the process we had to use clay for the outer side to bank 
up. After earthing was completed the spaces between the trenches were 
loosened, and again as the Celery was dug the clay used for banking was 
carefully replaced where it came from. I have now some trenches so 
served on a piece of ground not connected with the garden that are just 
4 feet from the top to the bottom, and this is the fourth season in suc¬ 
cession that it has been so cropped. The manuring for the following crop 
has been done by placing the manure in the spaces between before the 
Celery is lifted. The clay is much more tenacious than in the garden, and 
for four months water has been between the trenches. For this reason I 
use manure that has not been many weeks out of the stable ; in fact it is 
more like dirty straw than manure, and it serves for drainage as. well, 
being more agreeable to the feet when the Celery is dug than 2 or 3 inches 
depth of water would be. I maintain that by trenching I have not only 
secured a deeper root run, but I have increased the temperature of the top 
soil by drawing the water 18 inches lower down and giving it a chance to 
get into the drains. 
It is needless to supply proofs of the benefits derived from trenching, 
for Mr. Iggulden is already convinced of them, and we find at page 81 
that he has been busily engaged in trenching two quarters for Roses, and 
for aught we know at the very time when he penned his first communica¬ 
tion on the subject, and told us “ the whole business had been overdone.” 
I have not that number of the Journal by me, but I think he instanced 
several crops that did not require it. Though gardeners rarely make a 
practice of trenching expressly for them, as the ground has been so 
treated for some previous crop, and the growing of Celery also answers 
the purpose of trenching. However, I doubt if Mr. Iggulden or anyone 
else ever saw any of the crops he names refuse to thrive on heavy soil 
because it had been properly trenched 2 feet deep. Light soils such as 
some of the market gardens round London, where you can thrust a 
walking-stick down to the handle, need no trenching, and is seldom subject 
to any more than bastard trenching. 
How Mr. Iggulden has arrived at the conclusion that it is possible to 
have too deep a root run for vegetables I cannot understand, but probably 
he is no more serious over this than about trenching. It would be interest¬ 
ing to know what kind of plants object to a suitable root run of 2 feet. 
Roses it appears do not, but there are numbers of vegetables that send 
roots down to a greater depth than any Rose. Those of such a small 
plant as the Ouion are frequently found 2 feet down, and I have even 
found those of Endive at a similar depth. I therefore relate what a deep 
root run did for Peas. The ground was well manured and bastard 
trenched, and before we could sow the seed some alterations took place, 
and the best of soil from some foundations as well as a portion of an old 
Peach border was wheeled on to the depth of 2 feet, but before doing so 
manure, of which I bad an unlimited supply at that time, was spread on 
the surface. Three sorts of early Peas were sown, which grew 8 feet in 
height, and were supported by poles and strings. We gathered from them 
until some time in August, and when cleared away to make room for 
another crop they were then green three parts of their length, and would 
have supplied several boilings, whilst two crops sown after them had 
been cleared away some time previously.—W. P. R. 
I have read with interest the articles on trenching, and shall be glad 
to add a few notes from my own experience. The garden of which I now 
have charge was formed from a field some ten years ago. The top spit 
was a fairly good light friable loam, which only needed ordinary good 
management to produce good crops. The second spit consisted of the 
coldest and most unmanageable waterlogged mass I ever had to do with. 
It was drained about 4 feet deep and trenched 2 feet deep, so that the top 
spit is now a crude wet mass, in which nine-tenths of the seeds that are 
sown decay. Had this been drained 2 feet deep, and ihe second spit only 
loosened and left where it was, the garden woul 1 now be a pleasure and a 
profit to all concerned in it. I have known other instances where trenching 
has proved a disadvantage.—J. D. N. 
TWO GOOD FRUITS. 
Pear Bergamotte Esperen. —I have been enjoying this delicious 
Pear for the last three weeks, and have found it of better quality this year 
than ever before. The fruit is of medium size and the flesh very luscious. 
It is ripe when Pears are comparatively scarce, and I strongly recommend 
it to planters as a good and early bearer. It makes a very good pyramid. 
I find the fruit does not blow off, although bearing in large clusters. It 
was the only Pear in my garden that carried a full crop last season. 
ArPLE D’Arcy Spice.— This Apple is not very well known except in 
Essex, but it deserves wide cultivation. From Christmas to March it is 
fit for the table, and it is most delicious, with something of the Ribston 
flavour. I far prefer it to the latter. It is a fair-sized Apple, green, 
covered with russet, but turns yellow as it ripens ; but I have seen it 
in March quite green, though thoroughly ripe. I do not think from what 
I hear that it bears early, but I know it to be a good bearer when it 
attains some size. It is the favourite Apple hereabouts, and commands a 
price nearly double that of other good kinds.—H. S. Easty. 
NATIONAL AURICULA, NATIONAL CARNATION AND 
PICOTEE SOCIETIES (SOUTHERN SECTION). 
The schedules of the above Societies have been issued to all sub¬ 
scribers as far as their addresses could be ascertained. There may be 
members who subscribed for the first time in 1884 who have not yet 
received them. The treasurer, Mr. Rolt, of 170, Hartfield Road, New 
Wimbledon, has applied twice to Mr. Dodwell for an account of the funds 
