January 21, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
59 
the farm or stables. Naturally the roots have the instinct, if the 
term may be applied, of going where they get most to feed upon; 
and planted in a border thus enriched, with the surface of it left 
uncovered, the roots go down in search of the more moist and 
consequently more available elements of nutrition at a distance 
from the exposed drier surface. If at first no such manure is 
mixed in the soil, but instead of it bones and other appropriate 
manures, and immediately the Vines are planted the farmyard 
manure be placed on the surface as a mulching, and it be kept 
moist all through the season of the growth of the Vines, the 
moisture and elements of nutrition in the surface dressing will 
attract the roots. It is not necessary nor desirable—should the 
first summer be dry and hot—that more water should be applied 
than will keep the surface third of the border moist by artificial 
waterings. The bottom will take care of itself, and if the upper 
portion is thus kept moist the roots will keep to it as sure as 
water runs downhill. 
Some time late in autumn or in winter when the Vines are at 
rest the mulching should be removed, and also the surface soil 
till the roots are reached, and immediately over them should be 
laid 3 or 4 inches of fresh loam and horse droppings in the pro¬ 
portion of four parts to the former to one part of the latter, and 
also a few barrowfuls of old mortar or charcoal rather finely 
pounded,J then over the whole throw as much rough stable 
litter as will keep the frost out. After the Vines have begun 
growing m spring remove the litter and prick into the surfacing 
of loam artificial manures in the proportions directed by their 
vendors. Then, or some time before there is any chance of drought 
affecting the surface of the border, carefully lay on the 3 or 
4 inches of good farmyard manure, and keep it moist as formerly 
described. If this process is repeated every season it wfill keep 
the roots at the surface in the greatest health and activity, and 
it is an operation that does not involve much labour. This is 
what I would term “ root-cultivation,” and when it is neglected 
the roots go down in search of moisture and nourishment because 
they cannot get such at the surface when these operations are not 
systematically attended to. 
The whole of our borders here are so treated annually a 
regularly as the pruning is done, and when the mulchiner is 
removed the roots are found swarming close underneath it. No 
ordinary dung was put into the borders at first, and the surface 
of the borders has never been dry. I hope these remarks may 
be useful to some of your numerous readers who may perhaps 
be wondering why the Vine roots are so deep down instead of 
being very near the surface.—D. Thomson, Drumlanrig- 
“ SINGLE-HANDED A SAD CASE. 
" “Where is that excellent man ‘Single-handed?’ Can he not join 
usefully in the interesting discussion on Vines P ” is the inquiry in a letter 
before me, and not by any means the only one that has been written of 
the same purport. 
The time has arrived when the readers of the Journal should be made 
acquainted with one of the saddest episodes in the life of a gardener that 
I trust it will ever he my lot to chronicle. Only on two occasions have I 
had the painful pleasure of visiting this truly excellent man, accomplished 
gardener, and earnest temperance advocate—once in his bed in a Scottish 
cottage, from which he was not expected to rise, and again, and recently, 
similarly prostrate, hovering between life and d»ath, with a group of 
children and sorrowing wife around him, in a strange place 400 miles from 
his Scottish home. 
That distance he had travelled to enter on an appointment, but before 
he could take charge he was stricken down. 'When the skill of the best 
medical men was exhausted and their patient was regarded as sinking, he 
asked for Grapes, since everything, even water, caused blood-vomiting. 
These were given tremblingly, and to the astonishment of all were retained. 
It was then my great privilege, through the generous kindness of private 
friends, whose valuable aid I now gratefully record, to maintain a steady 
supply of Grapes, and in a fortnight such was their healing power that 
nourishing liquid food could be taken. It wa3 given under medical 
supervision, and for three weeks, and again by the kindness of friends, 
with apparent benefit; but a sudden and serious relapse has occurred, and 
now, should our friend recover, the case must he a protracted one. 
Grapes are the sheet-anchor. If any persons who may be able to send 
a bunch, or would otherwise like to assist one of the worthiest of men, 
will communicate with me, I shall he glad to reply to their letters. 
“ Single-handed ” has now been prostrate for nine weeks and is solely 
dependent on his resources, necessarily vanishing, since he has not been able 
to follow his occupation regularly for some eighteen months, and his illness 
has prevented him joining the Gardeners’ Benefit Society 7 . Although he is 
not likely to want, still, as there must be many who would be glad to 
share in his restoration (if that blessing is vouchsafed), I now accede to 
the strenuous wishes that have been pressed during the past month by 
those who know the case, and make the painful circumstances known. 
I may add that his illness has been the direct result of laborious work, 
and that the vital organs are quite sound ; on that account there is hope 
that if he survives the present serious affliction he may with great care and 
a long rest from exhausting physical labour eventually regain his lost 
strength, and practise successfully and teach effectively in the calling that 
he loves so well. 
With the object of assisting in a small way I have undertaken to dis¬ 
tribute seeds from his beautiful hybridised Alp'ne Auriculas, of which so 
many applicants on a previous occasion failed to obtain a supply. 
Packets will be sent for 2s. 6 d. each in rotation to those applicants who 
remit the requisite amount and enclose a stamped directed envelope, and 
if desired the money will be returned should the stock be inadequate to 
meet all demands. The seed now at disposal was gathered last summer 
and kindly given to the raiser of the plants to help him in his unfortunate 
position by his late employer.—J. Wmght, 171, Fleet Street, London, E. C. 
WALDSTEINIAS. 
Next to Geums none of the Rosacese compare favourably in point of 
compact habit and floriferous character with the Waldsteinias. This 
genus, like many more, has undergone some changes, and at one time 
between Dalibardia, Comaropsis, and Waldsteinia numbered over half a 
dozen species. In the “ Genera Plantarum,” the first has been sunk 
under Rubus, the second under Waldsteinia. This changing naturally 
resulted in a reduction of species also, and now only two or three at the 
most really good and distinct garden plants compose the genus. 
Waldsteinia trifolia, Koch (W. sibirica, DO .; Comaropsis sibirica, 
Tratt ).—The plant shown in the accompanying fig. 9 is a native of 
southern Europe, and although long introduced to this country its merits 
do not seem to be appreciated as they deserve to be. For planting in 
all sorts of positions, either in exposed places on the rockery or in the 
deep shade of woods, it will be found very useful, as it grows in both 
with equal success. It is also a very desirable plant for a place near the 
front of a mixed flower border. Dwarf in habit, it seldom attains a foot 
in height, and the loose corymbs of Buttercup-like flowers are really very 
attractive, and are developed profusely. The leaves, which are divided 
into three leaflets, are borne on creeping, chiefly underground stems ; 
they are slightly hairy, and serrated at the margins. This plant seems 
to run into the W. fragarioides of DC., which is a native of America, 
and is only distinguished from W. trifolia by its oblong petals and 
glabrous capsules. In W. trifolia the petals are round, the capsules hairy. 
They are much alike in habit and profuseness of flowers. 
W. gcoides .—A native of Hungary, and an old and much-admired 
