JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
350 
towards the end of November. The following varieties are 
arranged in the order they flower:—Lady Londesborough, 
Standishii, Miss Bateman, Albert Victor, Lord Londesborough, 
The Queen, Sir Garnet Wolseley, Fair Rosamond, and Sophie 
flore-pleno ; the two last are not very free with me, but distinct 
and worth growing. 
The Florida section Contains many that succeed well in pots, 
but are not so free as those mentioned above, except Fortunei, 
a double white sweet-scented variety, John Gould Veitch, and 
Lucy Lemoine. 
The Lanuginosa varieties — some of which produce enor¬ 
mous flowers (for instance, Henryi and Lawsoniana)—would 
do well in pots for later blooming, and the size of their in¬ 
dividual flowers compensate for them not being produced in 
such numbers as the others. 
The Jackmanni forms are, in my estimation, best adapted 
for outdoor planting or late autumn work in pots, and should 
be subject to pruning, whether in pots or planted out.— 
Wm. Bardney. 
A DEEP RICH LOAM. 
What is a deep rich loam ? It is a soil of great fertility, con¬ 
sisting largely of clay with smaller quantities of quartz and sand, 
and a considerable proportion of decomposed vegetable matter. 
It has been defined as “ a soil compounded of various earths and 
the definition is a good one, eminently calculated to encourage 
those who are struggling with the difficulties arising from a poor 
soil which they hope to improve by repeated dressings of manure, 
and whatever else may be available that is calculated to impart 
fertility and a sufficiently close resemblance to a rich if not a 
deep loam. This is an arduous undertaking, but without the 
slightest uncertainty, for the condition of the crops and the 
general results obtained yearly afford the clearest indication of 
the condition of the soil; and if the work of improvement be 
rightly carried on, each year should witness a distinct and marked 
advance. 
In the selection of the site for a kitchen garden the nature and 
condition of the soil are almost as important as the situation. The 
appearance of anything found growing upon the land generally 
affords some indication of its state of fertility, but in all doubtful 
cases we ought not to rest content with anything short of actual 
analysis. In proof of this I may give an instance of one of my 
own blunders. Some years ago, having to make a Vine border 
and stations for fruit trees in a poor thin soil, I had to look about 
for the best soil within a reasonable distance. In a valley hard 
by a stream of water I found a large deep bed of dark red soil— 
so deep that a pole could be thrust down into it some 15 feet, 
and a strong rank growth of grass seemed to show ample proof 
of its richness. No hesitation was felt, therefore, in using this soil 
for the required purpose, in full confidence of successful results ; 
and certainly for a time all went well, both Vines and trees grow¬ 
ing with remarkable vigour and freedom in the broken sods of 
the turfy top spit mingled with some of the red ferruginous soil 
taken from the deep bed beneath it. But in due course the fic¬ 
titious fertility imparted by the decaying turf became exhausted, 
and then the poverty of the soil became apparent, for despite 
liberal top-dressings of rich manure there was an annual falling- 
off in the condition of the Grape Vines, except in one border 
originally made very shallow by way of experiment, so that the 
roots were able to reach and spread freely in the top-dressing of 
manure. In the deep borders the root action was weak and 
sluggish ; for despite an abundant admixture of bones, the soil 
contained the elements of fertility in so trifling a degree that the 
roots first attracted into it by the turf gradually perished, only a 
few being found alive when it was eventually removed. 
The compost used to renovate the deep Vine borders is a sin¬ 
gular one, consisting of anthills chopped up and mixed with 
some old well-decayed dung, bones, and mortar rubbish. Such 
fine anthills I have never before seen ; they had probably been 
sixty or seventy years in construction, many of them being a yard 
in diameter and nearly 2 feet high. Talk of upland loam ! what 
soil was ever so admirably aerated and sweetened as this ? It 
was a spongy mass abounding with grass roots, and the colonies 
of ants might be numbered by tens of thousands, forming in 
themselves no mean addition to its enrichment. Sufficient soil 
was taken up and mixed with the anthills to correct any undue 
tendency to lightness, and I anticipate excellent results from it. 
Reverting to the original soil of the border, I very well remember 
two gentlemen calling upon me while it was being carted from the 
valley—one of them famous for the quantity and quality of his 
Roses, and the other almost equally so for his Pine Apples. Both 
[ May 5, 1881. 
exclaimed that they should like to have such a soil for their 
favourites, and both may be assured that they have no reason to 
regret that their wish remains ungratified ; for it was subsequently 
discovered that this soil of so tempting an appearance and so soft 
in texture that it crumbled lightly at a touch, consisted absolutely 
of silt brought down during storms by the flooded waters of the 
stream from the uplands and deposited in the hollows and flat 
spaces of the valleys. It had probably laid there for hundreds of 
years, and had gradually acquired its dark red hue from an 
ochreous deposit of spring water slowly percolating through it 
from an adjacent bog. I am aware that alluvial soils formed in 
this way are generally very fertile, but in order to be so they 
must consist very largely of particles of rich soil or vegetable 
matter, but in this instance the principal element was the poof 
silicious soil of Ashdown Forest. 
A deep rich loam is generally to be found in perfection in very 
old kitchen gardens rich from the culture and care of several 
generations of gardeners. To would-be improvers of such a soil— 
and there are such—one may well inquire, What are you going to 
do ? and how do you propose doing it 1 Take away some of the 
old soil and replace it with upland loam, as I once heard gravely 
suggested ? Why you might as well offer gold for silver, or old 
lamps for new ones ! Rather, much rather, guard and keep every 
particle of the old soil; stir it deeply, throw it up roughly in 
ridges early in autumn, so that as much of it as possible may be 
exposed to the influence of winter ; dress it freely with lime fresh 
from the kiln if it prove at all sour or inert, and bountiful crops 
will be obtained.— Edward Luckhurst. 
BRIEF NOTES ON PLANTS. 
Cool Orchids have only one fault, and it is a serious one with 
the great majority of gardeners—they cannot be readily propa¬ 
gated ; consequently they are too expensive even at the cheap 
rates for which many can now be purchased. Many owners of 
gardens object to paying more than a few shillings for a single 
plant, and some gardeners have the same feeling. A fixed sum is 
paid every autumn for spring-flowering bulbs, which are as regu¬ 
larly thrown away after they have borne a crop of flowers. Why 
should not an equal amount also be spent annually on Orchids, 
which, if expensive at first, are always increasing in value and 
usefulness? 
Mr. Taylor’s method of striking cuttings of softwooded plants 
is a very good one. I have employed a similar system for the 
last two or three years, the only difference being that I do not take 
any trouble to exclude air. Ordinary boxes are employed, and 
after the cuttings are inserted as thickly as possible two large 
panes of glass are placed over each box. The boxes are placed on 
the pipe in a forcing house, and thus Lobelias and Iresines strike 
in three or four days without any loss. It is, however, necessary 
that the plants from which the cuttings have been taken should 
have been grown in heat. 
Our Alternantheras did not pass the winter well, and in order 
to raise a stock of healthy plants for propagating later on all the 
cuttings which could be had were taken and inserted. They died 
in scores, and it was not until others were inserted, and which 
damped off at the soil level in the same manner, that the cause 
was discovered. The sand, used, instead of having been laid up 
for two or three years, was fresh from the seashore, and directly 
the plants and cuttings were transferred into other sand the 
losses were stopped. 
A note on Pteris tremula was inserted in a late number of the 
Journal. I find it one of our best “cutting” Ferns. P. serrulata 
and its crested forms are also of great service for cutting from, 
while one of the best decorative Ferns is to be had in P. longi- 
folia. Another useful species is Polystichum proliferum, of which 
small plants are sold extensively in the Edinburgh markets. 
These are all common, easily grown, and of the greatest value 
from a decorative point of view. 
This spring our plants of Richardia mthiopica were placed on a 
vinery border, as being the only suitable position which could be 
found at the time. To protect the border from the water escaping 
from the bottom of the pots a large saucer was placed under each, 
and as a consequence we have secured from two to three times as 
many spathes as we did when saucers were not used. The diffe¬ 
rence is quite astonishing. The plants are regularly supplied 
with chemical manures, and the saucers may have been useful in 
retaining these.—R. P. B. 
Birds and Fruits. —The benevolent notion that wild fruits 
are always provided in increased quantities as a provision for 
the small birds in a hard coming winter, has this past season been 
