August 21, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
166 
this, the plant sends its roots out foraging to a more distant locality if 
its ordinary domain be exhausted; but there is a distance beyond which 
the plant fails to extend its roots, and a more diminutive growth is the 
result. It is not, however, below the surface only that the plant seeks 
for nourishment, the humidity of the atmosphere and the night dews are 
alike grateful; and when these are less plentiful and there is less moisture 
in the soil, the less robust class of vegetation unquestionably suffers. 
Now, how to remedy this state of things has been for years a problem to 
the gardening world, but to say that it is solved in the present day would 
be wrong; for although something has been done, and very often indeed 
overdone (observe, I lay particular stress on this word), the result is not 
in any case so satisfactory as where Nature does the work in her own way. 
At the time at which I write (the middle of August), the appearance 
of vegetation and that of the atmosphere seem to point to a drier summer 
than we have had for several years. In many places where water would 
be an acceptable boon to vegetation it can scarcely be had in sufficient 
quantity to meet the everyday requirements of domestic use. Water, 
then, being so scarce, it behoves us to make the most we can of it ; and. 
unfortunately, where it is administered artificially in the way of supplying 
moisture to tne roots of plants, it is often given in too great a quantity at 
one time or the reverse. It rarely happens that anybody watering a given 
plot of ground applies anything like the quantity that Nature would 
supply in the shape of rain; besides which, the advantages which a good 
watering gives are often lost from the soil being exposed to the sun, when 
that caking and hardening of the surface takes place which is alike 
injurious to vegetation and unsightly to the eye. All newly-planted sur¬ 
faces should be covered, to prevent this caking and to retain the moisture ; 
but it is my intention to advert rather to the quality of the water used 
than to the treatment of the soil after it has been applied. 
Whatever may be tbe class of plants to which it may be necessary to 
give water, there cannot be a question that the moisture which Nature 
supplies in the shape of rain is most beneficial in every respect; passing 
through the air more or less rapidly, it absorbs certain gases, which are 
evidently essential to the well-being of the plants on which it falls, and 
the matters with which it is charged are alike grateful to the foliage of 
the plant and to its roots. Next to rain is water of a similar kind which 
has recently fallen and not been polluted by admixture with other sub¬ 
stances, which rain water not unusually is when the roof on which it falls 
or the vessel receiving it presents anything which it can hold in solution. 
I have known a newly made tank turn water exceedingly hard and render 
it unfit for domestic use, and, of course, unfit for the requirements of 
plants also ; while sometimes the roofs of certain buildings contain 
matters equally obnoxious. Mere soot arising from coals is not by any 
means the worst substance with which it comes in contact, although, 
except in certain cases, I am not aware of any good it does. Roofs and 
tanks are not the only causes of contamination in rain water, for some¬ 
times in ponds when formed in clay containing a pernicious substance, 
this is imparted to the water. Clay is not by any means of so pure and 
innoxious a nature as is sometimes supposed ; neither is sand, for I have 
seen a kind of coarse gritty substance that had nothing particularly 
poisonous in its appearance, and yet it would kill deep-rooted weeds when 
laid on a pavement or other place where they were. Of course, no one 
would think of using water coming in contact with a substance like this. 
Certain salts also abound in some soils, which render the water falling on 
them far from beneficial to vegetation. Therefore, taking all cases into 
consideration, it is perhaps more seldom than most people are aware that 
rain water is preserved in store in anything like its natural purity. 
Although water from tanks, reservoirs, or ponds is sometimes impure, 
it is nevertheless most grateful when Nature denies us the refreshing in¬ 
fluence of rain. Next to rain water is that from streams and brooks that 
has been duly exposed to the air, and which does not injure the vegetation 
among which it passes. River water is often turned to good account in 
irrigation ; and happy are they who. in the dry scorching weather of the 
present season, have a stream sufficiently elevated above them to insure 
a supply for more urgent purposes. River water is, however, not always 
innoxious. Sometimes it is charged to an undue extent with iron, in 
which case the bed on which it runs is red with rust, and such water can 
only be safely administered to such plants as delight in a soil in which 
iron is found in abundance—as to Rhododendrons, for instance; but for 
domestic uses, I believe such water is by no means improper, and it is, 
perhaps, more wholesome than that containing chalky matter. It should, 
however, be more sparingly used amongst plants than water of another 
kind, if such can be had; although, perhaps, it is as good as the gene¬ 
rality of well water, and much less hurtful than some of it is when used 
direct from its source. 
Well water ought to be used very sparingly, and not at all for watering 
delicate plants, until it has been exposed to the atmosphere for a few days 
in any open vessel, the more shallow the better. It not unfrequently 
happens, however, as in the present season, that well or spring water is 
the only kind to be had, and that even that is far from plentiful; hence it 
becomes necessary to soften it by exposure before using, which, as above 
stated, is best done in shallow vessels, or, if in deeper and larger, then 
longer time wUl be required. In whichever way water is exposed, it is 
hardly necessary to remark that in periods like the present, with the dry 
arid atmosphere acting upon it, a considerable loss in quantity will take 
place ; but this cannot be avoided, and as water must be had for the pur¬ 
pose of furnishing newly planted things with moisture to start with, every 
care should be taken to economise as much as can be what supply there is. 
A careless labourer, thinking that excess is liberality, will pour more water 
into the heart of a newly planted Broccoli than would serve a dozen, and 
repeat the same dose in a day or two, never thinking that the roots of the 
plants he is operating on are thus placed in a temperature like that of 
February, while the top is enduring tropical heat. It would certainly be 
better where practicable to use warm water. If well water must be used 
let it be heated to the temperature of the atmosphere, and, after watering 
a plant with it once, let the latter be surrounded with dead moss, leaf 
mould, or very short dung for a time to keep in the moistmre, which ought 
not to be allowed to escape. 
I may add, in conclusion, that although water is an essential element 
for vegetation, yet when applied by other than natural means it loses half 
its value. It is best to imitate Nature, and when it appears that a good 
watering is required, let it be done when rain is falling, assuming, of 
course, that the quantity of the latter is not likely to be sufficient. 
Shading the ground by some artificial means is also beneficial, and at the 
same time not allowing any crops that are at all likely to withdraw 
nourishment from the ground to remain on it a day longer than necessary. 
The same rule holds good with regard to thinning crops ; and in fact any¬ 
thing and everything that will tend to retain moisture in the ground and 
obviate the necessity of watering ought to be taken advantage of, so that 
the latter need only be resorted to when it can no longer be done 
without.—J. R. 
NON-PRUNED APPLE TREES. 
Fruit trees appear to indulge in queer vagaries about Grange-over- 
Sands. It takes other people three or four years at least to judge of the 
effect of the non-pruning of Apple trees, but Mr. Waiting can settle the 
matter in as many months. In spring he told us he proposed leaving 
his trees unpruned, and July is hardly out before he sends the results. 
Wonderful! But this is not aU. His fruit trees are as sharp as their 
master. Mark—“ The unpruned last summer’s shoots commenced to- 
swell at the tip, many showing blossom. Now, of course, they are 
bearing fine fruits where I have not removed them by pruning.” Now 
everyone who has pruned an Apple tree knows, or ought to know, that 
the Apple never does bear on the last summer’s shoots, except, as Dr, 
Bindley says, “ accidentally.” In other words, the shoots which grew 
in 1883 cannot produce fruit till 1885 ; but Mr. Waiting says “ all ” the 
varieties he names are bearing fine fruits on the last year’s shoots ! The 
first year leaf buds only are produced on the young Apple shoot, the 
second year fruit buds, and the third year fruit. It is true that some 
Apples which produce long annual growths do not always furnish their 
whole length, though they wRl produce sufficient buds, and in orchard 
trees which have room these bare places are of no consequence; but those 
who advocate the very least pruning advise such long shoots to be short¬ 
ened to from a half to one-third of their length. Non-pruners do not 
advocate letting trees grow wild, which seems to be the idea of some who 
have half grasped the subject. Waiting to hear an explauadon of the 
unnatural tendencies of Mr. Waiting’s Apple trees, I subscribe myself, very 
properly, I think, in such a case— Non-Believer. 
THE GREAT WELSH DAFFODIL SIR WATKIN. 
Some discussion having arisen concerning this fine Daffodil, which, it 
will be remembered, was first shown at Kensington under the name of James 
Dickson, and certificated by the Floral Committee, Mr. Brockbank has given 
the following account of its origin in the Manchester City News. “ It belongs 
to the N. inoomparabilis group—another division of the Narcissi from that of 
Horssfieldii—having the crown much shorter than the perianth segments. 
It is, however, a giant, being quite twice the size of any other of the group. 
In colour it resembles the grandest of the yellow Daffodils, N, lorifolius 
Emperor, and it might easily be mistaken for it at first sight, the chief differ¬ 
ences being in its having a shorter tube, and that its chalice is held aloft 
without drooping. The size of the corolla and the colours of both tube and 
perianth segments exactly resemble those of N. Emperor. It is a singular 
fact that for sixteen years this grand Daffodil was grown in quiet gardens 
without any knowledge of its great valueand it comes upon us now as a 
novelty when there are at least 10,000 bulbs available. 
“ For this Daffodil we are again indebted to a Whitefield man, Mr. William 
Pickstone, who, I believe, was born at Whitefaeld, and was for some years a 
resident there, and he is still chairman of a manufacturing company in the 
neighbourhood. Some sixteen years ago Mr. Pickstone was engaged in 
mining operations in Wales, and purchased property in Merionethshire with 
this object. When he entered upon his property there, this Daffodil was 
growing in the garden; a chance seedling indeed, for no one knew how it 
came there or what was its parentage. 'This is very different from what 
your correspondent considers the parallel case in N. Horsefieldii, which was 
no chance, but a carefully raised seedling, as we have seen in your columns. 
Mr. Pickstone saw its merit, and carefully nursed the foundling, and when he 
shortly afterwards removed to London he took the bulbs with him and grew 
them in his garden there. Some six years ago he bought an estate at Maes- 
mynan, near Caerwys, in North Wales, and to this place the bulbs were 
removed. Caerwys is a high-lying valley between Moel Yamma and the sea, 
and here the Daffodil spread and grew amazingly. The soil was a strong 
loam and was full of pebbles, and in it the Daffodils appeared to be quite at 
home. They were to be found in thousands, almost in a wild state, amongst 
the Rhododendron bushes, and even in the woods. The villagers also got 
odd bulbs, so that the cottage gardens at Caerwys also contained them. It 
was the same at the place of their origin, so that in Merionethshire they 
abounded ; and yet neither Mr. Peter Barr, the high priest of Daffodils, 
nor Mr. Burbidge, the great writer upon them, knew anything about this 
Daffodil. j . . 
“ Two years ago a dealer in flowers from Shudehill Market was driving 
past the Maesmynan gardens when he saw the hosts of Daffodils in bloom. 
Having an eye to business he sought out the gardener and bought lOii. worth 
of the blooms, and these shortly appeared in our florists’ windows. They 
proved saleable, and were dealt in during the season. I remember seeing 
