266 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND C011AGE GARDENER. 
[ April 2,1885. 
Cocculus tiibe, to which the narcotic berry tnown as Cocculus indicus 
belongs, but are now classed apart, their many-seeded berries dis¬ 
tinguishing them from the plants just referred to. 
The order Lardizabalacem commemorates the services to natural 
lrstory of Michael Lardizala, of Uribe.—W. T. I. 
TRENCHING GROUND. 
In reply to Mr. Iggulden’s letter (see page 208), I may state that I 
was not oblivious of the use and value of lime and the other numerous, 
but to me unobtainable, articles which he enumerates, and I would have 
been glad of them to give me temporary assistance, but certainly not as 
a substitute for trenching, as Mr. Iggulden suggests. I am perfectly 
satisfied with the results of my proceedings, and I believe I did what 
ninety-nine out of every hundred practical men would have done. 
As I hinted in my previous communication, I grow Celery largely com¬ 
pared with other vegetables, as it is much used in the kitchen for culinary 
purposes as well as an adjunct to the cheese. Now, to grow Celery of 
5 or 6 lbs. weight involves moving a quantity of soil for earthing up, 
especially if the distance between the rows is confined to 5 feet, and that is 
about the space we allow for each row, which we plant anywhere, pro¬ 
viding we can secure 2^ feet on each side. This arrangement answers as 
well as trenching, and by distributing them all over the garden. The 
ridges are most convenient for sowing Peas on, as they do not shade each 
other or interfere with the other crops when so widely separated. I 
ought, perhaps, to state that my predecessor, who was here forty years, 
for the last fifteen years of his service failed to] produce Celery that was 
fit to place before company, but whether he did so before I have no 
evidence. But it was of no consequence, as so little was needed, and 
his length of service indicated that he had given satisfaction. My engage¬ 
ment was with a new owner, and from three acres of ground it has de¬ 
volved upon me to supply eighteen persons daily with fruit and vegetables, 
excepting Potatoes, for a portion of the year. The work has had to be 
performed by two mill hands, totally inexperienced but most willing 
workers. The seed supply would astonish Mr. Iggulden, but as it would 
be productive of no good to publish the amount I give it to the Editor, 
who, I am sure, will pronounce it a small sum in a locality where a 
gardener cannot save many seeds of his own growing. The arrangements 
of the family are such that, excepting twelve nights at most in any year, 
there is a dining-room dinner. No going abroad for a few weeks, nor yet 
to London for the season, when part of the supply is usually derived 
from the greengrocer. This is nothing more than hundreds of my brethren 
would have performed equally as well, but as Mr. Iggulden has intro¬ 
duced a little ostentation as to his doings I may be pardoned for drifting 
into a similar vein. 
Mr. Iggulden tells us he can grow three roots where Mr. Temple 
grows one. I do not doubt this. My experience of small vegetables is 
that they are oftener in the pig-tub than on the table, and I never had 
any complaints made of such as Onions, Parsnips, Carrots, and Celery 
being too large. 
In reference to Broccoli surviving the winter in market gardens whilst 
those in private gardens are destroyed, may be thus explained: 
Gardeners, as a rule, have to plant that vegetable between Potatoes, Peas, 
or some other crop. Many gardens have fruit trees in them, and are 
surrounded by walls or buildings, all of which favour a soft succulent 
growth, whilst those in the open are subject to conditions that harden the 
tissue as growth is being made. 
I deem it unfair to make a comparison between a market grower’s 
success and that of those who practise in private gardens. The former 
select their ground and cultivate those vegetables they find to succeed 
best and yield the most profit. Gentlemen’s gardeners have to take to their 
garden in any hole or hillside where they may happen to find it, and 
they have to produce as many varieties of vegetables as two or three 
market gardeners combined. I never observed the market gardeners of 
I ulham grow any Broccoli, Onions, Carrots, Peas, and many others. 
1 here are noted market gardeners four miles from here, and I believe 
none of them attempt Broccoli. Whpther it is because it is too hazardous 
a crop, or that it is not sufficiently profitable for the high rent (£10 to 
£14 per acre) which they have to pay, I am not in a position to say. All 
around this colony of market gardeners there is plenty of land let to 
farmers from £2 to £4 per acre, and some of it within a mile. But the 
maruet growers have fixed their boundary, and there they are, and no one 
else can compete with them, I might say, the other side of the fence. I 
never saw such samples of Veitch’s Autumn Giant since that famous 
vegetable has been introduced as are produced by those market growers. 
Who would taunt a Fulham market gardener because he could not show 
similar results ? , 
% ® uccess man y growers is due to circumstances as much as 
s'i , anc gardeners who have been noted for their productions in one 
place are very little heard of if they are moved to another part of the 
country. The Essex market gardeners and others'who are fairly suc- 
cess ul with the few varieties they grow have sufficient depth of suitable 
S °-7i tbe '^ P ur P cse without recourse to trenching. It is not a question 
with them whether trenching is necessary, but whether it will give com¬ 
pensatory returns. The expeditious way in which the ground can be 
prepared with the plough and harrow thrust the spade on one side 
altogether. 
I purposely avoided any reference to fruit tree=>, as I did not wish to 
discuss the matter speculatively, and as I have had no experience of the 
culture of fruit trees in a foot or so of soil. I had, therefore, no alterna¬ 
tive but to accept Mr. Iggulden’s teaching as being probably correct. 
The report of the Apple Congress, which I have not yet perused, should 
decide that as far as that fruit is concerned. Here the fruit trees, 
especially on walls, have been judiciously dealt with, and have about 
2 feet depth of soil, and each tree is flagged underneath for a few feet 
from the wall. The former proprietor took much interest in the wall 
trees, and sought the best advice he could have at the time—sixty years 
ago. The bankrupt market gardener and his fruit trees alluded to by 
Mr. Iggulden reminds me of another incident of a gardener who bought 
£100 worth of fruit trees, of which not a dozen existed twelve months 
after. In this case the failure could not be due to trenching, as soil had 
to be carted to increase the depth. Anyone unacquainted with the details 
of both cases will he puzzled to account for the trees dying. Mr. 
Iggulden, it will be remembered, informed us that the market gardener 
lost his trees through trenching the ground. Your readers will form 
their own opinions.—W. P. R. 
[The amount expended in seeds referred to above is a moderate one, 
and proves that our correspondent works economically as well as 
effectively.] 
GLADIOLI CULTURE. 
I AM sure all your readers look forward with pleasure for the “ Notes 
from my Garden,” contributed by “ D., Deal," from time to time. Being 
written from experience and close observation, they possess an interest 
that plausible theories can never have for practical gardeners or amateurs. 
Yet, with this admission, I am very muchof “ Thinker’s ” opinion that “ D., 
Deal," is by no means a sanguine man. Gladioli—I mean the hybrids of 
Gandavensis—have been partial failures with him, and he would have 
given up the culture long since only for his interest in and memory of 
former successes with this grandest of all autumn outdoor flowers. Yet I 
am inclined to think never was the Gladiolus more grown, and never did 
it more deserve to be, than in the present year. One of the reasons is that 
within my recollection never had it a finer season to grow and ripen than 
last year. To a friend in Dumfries, and another in the Co. Down, neither 
having so good a climate as I have, who hitherto had very much the same 
story of “ partial failure ” to tell, I felt warranted in tendering tho same 
advice—viz., though on former occasions you have not succeeded to your 
satisfation I feel justified in recommending you to try again this season ; 
one of the great reasons I had confidence in in saying so being that the 
corms were never finer or better ripened. Proper ripening is the corner 
stone of success. For years 1 have been using Kelway’s and my own seed¬ 
lings and cormlets, and cannot at all agree with your correspondent in his 
preference for Souchet’s or those of French introduction. Within the next 
fortnight is a capital time for beginners (though my earliest are above the 
ground) to plant. Having so frequently described my method in your 
columns I need not repeat it, but I may name a dozen magnificent sorts I 
had out of 300 named varieties last year—Duchess of Edinburgh, largest 
and latest ; Calliphon, James McIntosh, Jessica, James Douglas, Dr. 
Benson, Marquis of Lothian, La Fiancee, Mrs. J. Eyton, A. F. Barron, 
Lamarck, and Pictus.—W. J. M., Clonmel. 
HEATING AND HOT-WATER PIPES. 
I AM much obliged to your two correspondents for their commen¬ 
datory remarks upon my article on the above subject. Your correspondent 
“ A Working Gardener,” is perhaps aware of the difficulty of getting 
things altered after they have once been completed, however bad the 
arrangement may be. The house to which I alluded, with its open 
lattice stage and pipes beneath, was referred to for the purpose of pointing 
out the evils arising from massing a number of pipes below the stage. 
This has been the condition of the house in question for at least twenty- 
five years—and is only one case from amongst others with which I am 
familiar—and the present gardener, who would alter this state of things 
if he could, is not to be blamed for the mistake that has been made. The 
plants referred to have to be arranged upon this stage, and so the person 
in charge has no choice in the matter. 
I have about fifty valves in use, and I believe there is only one that 
will hold back the water, and this is one of the old plug valves that will 
try the strength and patience of any man to turn it. Although this 
valve will effectually stop the water, I do not care for valves of this 
stamp, for they prove, even when turned full on, too great a check, and 
thus prevent the water in circulation from entering freely. Several of 
the valves in question held hack the water well when they were first 
placed in, and for a time afterwards, but fail to do so now. The valves 
referred to have brass facings, and sediment may be the cause of their 
not proving effectual in holding back the water, but of this I have no 
proof. I have seen valves very good in this respect for a time when the 
valve has closed upon indiarubber facings, but this perishes in a few years, 
and I am not aware that the indiarubber can be replaced. Perhaps 
some of your correspondents will be able to inform me. 
I have no doubt that joints packed with oakum and red lead or putty 
will last for many years on pipes where the strain is not great, but on 
the mains they need repacking in seven or eight years. The whole of the 
mains here were packed after this fashion, and they were nearly all 
leaking, or soon would have done, for the rope was thoroughly decayed, and 
could be picked out easily with a knife. I have recently had to repack 
the joints of 2000 feet of mains that were placed in new a little over eight 
years ago. Upon this I based my remarks respecting oakum and putty. 
Indiarubber rings afford a quick and easy mode of making joints, but 
