JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 19, 1882, ] 
19th 
Tn 
Koyal Society at 4.30 P.M. Linnean Society at 8 p.M. 
20th 
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21st 
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22nd 
Sun 
3rd Sunday after Epiphany. 
23rd 
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24th 
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25th 
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Society of Arts at 8 P.M. 
ECONOMY OF TIME AND MATERIAL IN GARDENS. 
ARDENERS have much to exercise their minds 
on if they would make sure of success, and 
work to perform for which they receive little 
credit, as the nature of much garden work is 
not seen. Indeed the great difference between 
successful men and those who are not is that 
the former have a keener appreciation than the 
latter of the necessity for the hidden, yet none the 
less important, operations. To the eye of one not in 
the secret double-dug ground involves no more time or 
labour than land plainly dug, and pointing over soil to the 
depth of 6 inches costs as much as that trenched 3 feet deep ! 
Pruning and nailing wall trees is work that is seen and appre¬ 
ciated by those little skilled in gardening ; hut, what is even 
more necessary on many soils, the operation of root-lifting and 
root-pruning, although costing much more in time and labour, 
and contributing even more to successful results, is unseen and 
too often unthought of. He who kills no caterpillars and 
molests no red spiders may have more leisure for hoeing and 
raking than he who with much labour produces better Goose¬ 
berries and Grapes by keeping such pests down, fie who 
prunes only in winter may have less fruit, and what he has 
may be inferior to that produced by the laborious and intelli¬ 
gent man who pinches and thins carefully in summer time, but 
he will have more time. He who allows thrips, scale, and 
mealy bug to work havoc among his house plants may have 
less assistance and yet be less hard-worked than he who fights 
a successful battle against them ; but we doubt if what is 
saved in labour will balance what is spent on new plants ; and 
even though it did, the results are never equal. Gardeners 
have need to study economy, but so have the owners of gardens, 
and the above we submit to their attention. The following we 
submit to gardeners, more especially those who are just enter¬ 
ing on a gardener’s career. 
The exercise of economy is a virtue when there is plenty, 
and a necessity when there is not. Like knowledge it is a 
power, and like money it represents wealth. “ A penny saved 
is a penny gained.” Wanting economy we fail to realise to 
the full our resources, and when straitened we may altogether 
fail. It has been said that “Time is money,” and certainly 
the proper economy of time may to some extent take its place. 
The commercial, but more especially .the agricultural depres¬ 
sion, has made money scarce among the possessors of gardens 
and the employers of gardeners, and the result is that the 
labour bills have in many places been reduced, even when not 
enough was before afforded, so making the necessity greater 
45 
for gardeners exercising a more stringent economy of time and 
material. 
Those who value time will take care to have a place for 
everything and everything in its place. Those workmen who 
ignore this golden rule often lose much time looking for tools 
which have been mislaid. In gardening much time is wasted 
by work being done in unsuitable weather. Not long since we 
visited a fine establishment on a drizzly day, and found the 
men busy hoeing up weeds on gravel walks. Such work we 
need scarcely say was labour thrown away, for the small 
weeds would not be harmed in the least. A week after we 
found the men trying hard to cut short grass on the terraces 
when it was as dry as a hot sun and a dry wind could make it. 
On a damp day the work would have been done much better, 
easier, and quicker. In both cases time was thrown away just 
by doing both things at the wrong time. Hoeing in wet 
weather is nearly useless ; then is the time to mow grass when 
scythes are used. Cutting grass in dry weather costs more 
labour than when it is wet ; wet grass is easily cut; but when 
the sun shines and dry winds blow, then is the time to use the 
hoe economically. We doubt if the hoeing of ground or gravel 
in wet localities or seasons when the surface of the ground is 
never thoroughly dry, is an economical way of keeping down 
weeds. We know two gardens which are very near together, 
and are almost counterparts of each other. Much more assist¬ 
ance is given in one than the other, and there much more labour 
is spent in eradicating the weeds, yet fewer weeds are found 
where the lesser labour is bestowed. There the gravel is re¬ 
markably free from weeds, but by no means so in the other. 
In one the gravel is carefully hand-weeded every time the 
grass edges are cut ; no weed ever seeds, so the hand-weeding 
is a light task. In the other case much labour is spent with 
hoe and rake, but owing to the dripping climate numbers per¬ 
fect their seeds, which in their turn cause great labour. Cir¬ 
cumstances alter cases, and what may be an economical method 
in one instance may be quite the opposite under different cir¬ 
cumstances. 
Speaking of the eradication of weeds brings to mind two bad 
cases with which we had to deal not long ago. At the back of 
the house here there is a broad path never exposed to the sun, 
and which is very damp—so much so that it had become almost 
completely covered with Spleenworts. Hosing, and turning 
and renewal of gravel had been tried in vain. The first time 
the family was away we mixed paraffin oil and water at the 
rate of 1 of oil to 40 of water, and distributed this uni¬ 
formly over the surface. In a short time the gravel was bright 
and clean, and this repeated yearly has kept it so at small ex¬ 
pense and with little labour. In the other case we had taken 
in a piece of ground completely overrun with Twitch Grass and 
Coltsfoot. The turf was turned to the bottom of a very shallow 
trench, for the soil is very thin, and a good layer of manure 
placed near the surface. No time was available to fork out 
any of the weeds, but in spring we planted Magnum Bonum 
Potatoes, 3 feet between the rows and 15 inches between the 
plants in the row, and these, besides furnishing us with a large 
crop of Potatoes, completely destroyed the weeds. Few things 
will eradicate weeds so well as luxuriant crops. 
It should always be borne in mind that the task of prevent¬ 
ing weeds growing is a small one compared with destroying 
them when grown. Wherever the climate will admit of it, 
every inch of garden ground should be thoroughly hoed once 
No. 82.—V-ou IV., Third Eerier 
No. 1738.—Von. LXYII., Old Series. 
