November 22, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
443 
After turf is cut it requires to be kept till it is more or less 
decayed, and for this purpose it is stacked in ridges so formed 
ns to shed most of the rain that falls on the heap. For perma¬ 
nent plants it is best if the fibre is little more than dead; for 
small plants it must be so decayed as to be easily broken in 
pieces—must be far on the way to mould, in fact. In the case 
■of small plants it is almost invariably mixed with manure and 
leaf mould at potting time. A better way is to build the 
manure along with the turf at stacking time. For this purpose 
cowdung should have the preference over that from horses, as 
horse manure is apt to cause a growth of fungus, which is 
frequently very injurious, especially in light soil. Put up with 
the soil, cowdung in a few months becomes fine sweet mould— 
much sweeter and better than the same decayed in a heap by 
itself would; indeed, it is in no way behind the best leaf mould, 
and is richer. In the case of rich loam a good di’essing of this 
manure may make the soil quite rich enough ; but if it is poor, 
rather than overdo the proper quantity of mould it is far better 
to be at some trouble to get urine from stables and to give that. 
Weight for weight this will enrich the loam more than the 
•solids; but, unlike them, will make no mechanical alteration. 
Many gardeners stack and rot their materials separately, and 
for some purposes it may be necessai-y to have the loam pure; 
b»ut for nearly all purposes the plan of preparing them all 
together is very much to be preferred. It is only in the soil 
that plant foods are properly cooked and digested, so to speak, 
and if those who have hitherto held to the older method will try 
the plan advocated here they will be convinced. 
Failing turf, as we have said, much may be done—indeed, the 
best success secured—with loam in which no fibre forms a part, 
at least with plants the existence of which is short. The only 
peculiar care necessary with such is to rather under than over¬ 
pot, and to use more gritty opening material than when fibre 
performs this office. In the case of very heavy loam a little hot 
lime may be sprinkled over and thoroughly incorporated with 
ihe whole some time before using; but wood ashes, especially 
when much small charcoal is present, is decidedly better, and 
may be applied when the soil is used. Failing wood ashes 
burnt clay soil is a capital substitute, and, indeed, both may be 
used together. For opening purposes charcoal is very valuable, 
.as it sweetens soils and holds stores of nutriment, gradually 
yielding them up. Even pieces of sandstone are by no means 
to be despised, and the use of sand is well known as an opener, 
although it is, not unseldom, too plentifully applied, especially 
by those who are in the habit of giving lai’ge shifts. For a very 
large number of plants an addition at potting time of phos¬ 
phates is advisable, and no better way of giving them exists than 
as very fine bonemeal for small plants, and crushed bones for 
large. Light soil will be improved if mixed with soil which by 
itself would be much too heavy. Mr. Thomson of Drumlanrig 
recommends watering-in clay into sandy soils in order to con¬ 
cert them into loam. We commend the idea. 
In preparing peat it is not usual to put up manure of any 
kind with it, but for some plants, Azaleas and Camellias for 
instance, when really good leaf mould cannot very well be had, 
it certainly improves it and secui'es much finer growth. For 
the majority of plants grown in pure peat, however, anything 
beyond sand, charcoal, sandstone, and, in certain cases, good 
leaf mould, would be an evil rather than otherwise. When very 
fresh it requires a long time to prepare, and when allowed to 
become too dry it does not prepare very rapidly. As a con¬ 
sequence it may often require to be turned over and damped, 
but it will be ruined if kept wet. 
In taking soil for making borders it is far better to take a 
■good few inches, unless the under soil is very unsuitable, than 
merely to skim the surface turf off, if the turf, that is, really is 
turf. The habit of making up borders of clean turf has lei 
many astray; besides, it is frequently easy to find enough 
material when 6 inches are taken, and the opposite when only 
the merest surface is skimmed. Then, when only turf is taken, 
at requires much chopping and turning and mixing, and even 
then the borders are hollow and sink much, carrying the roots 
found downwards as they sink. If soil be taken as well as turf 
the borders may be made at once, and made firm and un- 
sinkable too. Into this subject we cannot go in detail here, but 
must refer the reader to the books treating of different subjects 
for the details; but we ought to warn against the very wide and 
very deep borders recommended by many. Gardeners are now in 
favour of very much more restricted borders for all sorts of trees 
than they were only a decade ago; and there can be no doubt 
that as gardeners get impressed with the idea that it is better 
to have small shallow borders filled well with roots, than large 
deep ones unfilled, the borders of the future will be shallower 
and narrower still, for in narrow borders when the roots are near 
the surface, exactly what is wanted can be plentifully supplied 
exactly when it is needed. Big borders were perhaps the proper 
thing before men had learned exactly what to supply and when 
to supply it. Now the case is altogether altered. 
In the making up of borders the same rules apply for the 
lightening of heavy clays as in the case of potting soils, but 
lime rubbish and burnt clay are of more value in Yine and other 
borders than even charcoal, and are much cheaper, unless when 
it can be made at home from brush or other otherwise useless 
wood. Wood ashes, which have been produced by smother¬ 
burning, are also of extreme value for such purposes. Even 
broken stones and brickbats are of value. It is not so easy 
dealing with very light soils, but roadside turf, and even well- 
sweetened scrapings from off public roads, materials which are 
generally of a heavy nature, the writer has employed with great 
advantage. Mixing-in very heavy clay loam, if thoroughly done, 
is also of advantage, but the evil influence of light gravelly or 
sandy soil may be best combated by the plentiful use of water, 
proper feeding, mulching, and other mitigative treatment. 
Keeping the soils well firmed is also a very good plan. As 
all roots of all kinds of fruit trees are best when very near the 
surface, in order to keep them thei’e all manurial applications 
should be over the surface; and as much humus is not conducive 
to fruitfulness, the use of artificials rather than ordinary manure 
may be advised. The digging of all such borders is, of course, a 
blunder. Digging borders often does no harm, because matters 
are so bad neither digging nor anything else could make them 
worse. 
In the matter of potting soils, and even in those with which 
Yine, Peach, and other fruit-tree borders are made, there is 
generally a choice, and that which is considered unsuitable may 
be rejected. It is quite different with the soil of gardens which 
have been formed. Even with most which are not formed no 
choice of soils exist. The garden must be on a given spot, no 
matter whether the soil or site be good or bad. Even when a 
choice has been afforded, by some strange fatality the worst site 
and soil have often been chosen. A very large number of gardens 
have been made on the lowest spot, where spring frosts linger and 
winter ones are hardest; where the soil was wettest, most clayey, 
and most difficult to drain; where the beams of the early sun 
ever will be utilised, not in warming the soil, but in evaporating 
dampness; and where heavy mists shut the sun out altogether 
at times, and breed and nourish mildews against which labour 
fights nearly in vain. But no matter what or where the soil is, 
if it is too heavy or too light, too thin or too poor, it can be 
improved if not made very good. In some respects clay soils 
are worst to deal with, especially when the rainfall is great. 
Light soils, especially when thin, are worst when the rainfall is 
small.— Single-handed. 
ROSE CUTTINGS—TEA ROSES. 
“ A. F. M.” and Mr. W. Boyes are agreed that Rose cuttings do not 
bloom as freely as the budded plants. “ A. F. M. ” recalls how he was 
“ sat upon ” some weeks back for venturing such an opinion by “A Judge ” 
and Mr. Sanders. Perhaps we are all disposed, and not unnaturally, to 
value our own experience beyond that of other observers ; yet it seems 
to me that in this matter both the contending parties may he right, and 
season and locality may explain why one observer sees no difference 
between budded plants and cuttings, whilst another pins his faith for 
blooming purposes entirely on the former. What Rose exhibitors would 
rather learn is, whether, other thingsbeing equal, the blooms are as good 
from plants raised from cuttings as those established on stocks. I scarcely 
think they are. Probably here I am in error, as to make a just com¬ 
parison a certain number of the same varieties need to be tried under 
similar conditions. Certainly, from cuttings I have had very satisfactory 
blooms, and when I reflect that my cuttings are in proportion but as 
1 to 15 or 20 I am content still to strike cuttings. Personally I am 
now forced to depend on cuttings, for whether flies have the same 
predilection for me as for “A. F. M.,” or the reverse, my back now 
positively refuses the doubled-up position requisite for budding dwarfs. 
My old plan used to be standing over the stock and stooping down to 
place the bud. This position entails a tightening of neck collar, which 
is not advisable as years increase. I confess that there is a greater pleasure 
in the success of a bud than of a cutting, at least to myself. I think the 
bud requires more attention, “ A. F. M.” calls it “ toil,” but with such a 
queen to serve, attention, toil, or whatever it may be called, becomes a 
pleasure. 
In any comparison between the two sets of plants, those raised from 
cuttings and those from buds, it strikes me that their first season is not 
the date for comparison. The budded plant is perhaps at its best, at 
least with the great number of varieties, as far as “ exhibition ” blooms 
are concerned ; while many of the cuttings, not being placed in circum¬ 
stances calculated to bring them to perfection, being probably in very 
close quarters, would not be fit to enter the lists until well settled 
in their proper site, with room both to breathe and grow. If, therefore, 
the following season after budding or_striking is taken as the test period, 
