JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. c December si, mss. 
pied by a vigorous crop these are mostly utilised ; but when, 
ns in autumn, the land is bare they accumulate in the soil. 
These are very easily lost. Because of their solubility the soil 
cannot hold them, and in order to dispose of them the best 
plan is to dig early, and so secure the passage of rain through 
ilie body of the soil instead of by the surface and otherwise. 
'Iliese nitrates are very valuable, and supposing digging soil 
in autumn really was the best way of liberating plant food, 
■which it is not, it would still be a great mistake. 
r i ho reasons given are surely enough to convince anyone 
that autumn tillage, unless in districts where the rainfall is 
limited, is wrong ; but there is yet another. In digging, ma¬ 
nure is generally added. Now, the most valuable part of 
really well-prepared manure is subject to waste when thus 
applied. Far better apply it later ; indeed, manure to be ap¬ 
plied profitably should be given at cropping time, or as shortly 
before as possible. In order to have the manure fit for this it 
must, of course, be well decayed ; but, unless it is wasted in 
preparing, there is apt to be a loss in the use of any other. 
I resh manure applied in spring does not give out its best 
qualities at the time it is wanted, but continues decaying all 
summer and autumn, and so a residue of nitrogen is left over 
that is apt to be lost. On the other hand, when manure is well 
made and forked or lightly dug into the soil the plants receive 
the benefit of it in their infancy, which is important, for a good 
start is a great advantage. 
In many gardens crops might be raised profitably and the 
land improved by using no ordinary manure for a time, but 
only nitrogenous ones. As Liebig puts it, the strength of the 
chain depends on the weakest link. The weakest link in the 
fertility of soils long manured is certain to be nitrogen, because 
while the rest of the necessary elements are not liable to loss 
by drainage this is. The consequence is that there may be an 
actual surplus of everything else, there may be and often is a 
deficiency of nitrogen. Those, therefore, who are short of 
manure need not hesitate under such circumstances to give no 
manure at all to many things except a slight dressing of sul¬ 
phate of ammonia or nitrate of soda during the growing season. 
Ihis treatment often works wonders on “worn-out” flower 
beds. Such manures are also of much value in the vegetable 
garden, and greatly help the growth of many vegetables. For 
fruit trees they are not so suitable, chiefly because they are apt 
to cause too much growth of not a satisfactory character. 
Much manure might be saved in gardens if “ green manuring " 
were resorted to. If vacant plots w T ero sown in autumn with 
Mustard or Rape thickly the nitrogen, otherwise lost, might be 
saved by being reorganised. As such green crops would save 
what would be otherwise largely lost, digging them down 
would be quite equal to an application of extraneous manure, 
and as they decay readily would become speedily available for 
immediate crops. Such have been proved of much value on 
the farm, but as the richer soil of the garden is much more 
liable to loss because of its richness, they would likely prove 
of even more value in the garden. Be this as it may, autumn 
disgiDg certainly contributes to the loss of what we should all 
try to save.— Single handed. 
CHRISTMAS. 
CHURCH AND HOUSE DECORATION. 
Christmas is coming; and it will he welcomed more heartily 
than any other festival of the whole twelve months, not because it 
is the last of them, hut because it is the recognised season of social 
gatherings and family reunions throughout the land. More true 
geniality, kindly greetings, and friendly intercourse prevail just 
now than at any other time ; and though Christmas and its doings 
are like an oft-told tale, yet the heart warms to this subject, for at 
the very mention of it a host of pleasant memories crowd upon the 
mind, and the writing of a Christmas note once more is certainly no 
unpleasant duty. 
Evergreens, symbolical of the perennial freshness of true friend¬ 
ship and sincere affection, ought always to predominate in Christmas 
t' inch decoration. So abundant are they, and so varied in form, 
that combined with the dried flowers of “Everlastings ” they suffice 
for all the requirements of good taste for such a purpose. A quiet 
tone of refinement should pervade < ur embellishment of such a 
luikling, and I must own to a feeling of antipathy for scriptural 
tixts in large white letters on crimson cloth and all such theatrical 
display. In the little church which I help to decorate the reading 
desk, lectern, pulpit, and seats are left untouched ; a fringe of Moss 
and Ferns runs along at bottom of the front of the chancel seats ; a 
richer fringe of clusters of Holly berries in circles alternating with 
broad strij es of Laurustinus flowers in sand is made from each side 
of the chancel steps to the pulpit and reading desk. The broad 
window sills are carpeted with Moss, upon which are crosses, 
double triangles, circles, and monograms of Golden Queen Holly, 
berried Holly, variegated Ivy and Box, Osmanthus, variegated 
Vinca, Diplopappus, and flowers of Laurustinus. The font alone is 
an exception, and has bunches of Violets upon Moss around its 
base, and the basin covered with Moss, upon which stands a floral 
cross of white flowers, Camellias or Marguerites, with a few flowers 
at intervals in the Moss around the base of the cross. 
There are many large churches with pillars and wide bare spaces 
in the nave where a more liberal use of evergreens is called for. 
Wreaths for the pillars and trails around the doors are never more 
chaste ihan when done well with Ivy. Mixed wreaths are often 
very handsome, and may safely be employed when there are plenty 
of young people to make them. Groups of Palms springing out of 
mossy mounds give beauty and warmth to any bare spaces where 
they can be conveniently arranged, but other plants in pots are 
uncalled for at this season of the year. 
In house decoration a much more florid style may prevail. Plants 
in pots cannot be too abundant in all the accustomed places. Violets 
and Mignonette should “scent the air with sweet perfume;” cut 
flowers, renewed frequently so as always to be fresh and bright 
in vases. To these the evergreens form our Christmas addition in 
the guise of sprays, wreaths, trails and festoons, just as may appear 
best in keeping with the furniture and permanent decorations. As 
a rule very little is required to be done in this direction, except in 
old baronial halls where armour and trophies of the chase give 
mutual facilities for evergreen decoration. 
Berried Holly is abundant this Christmas; so, too, are the bright 
scarlet berries of Iris foetidissima, and the equally beautiful clusters 
of Skimmia japonica berries. Cotoneaster ISimonsii has been very 
gay, but the birds are so fond of its scarlet berries that most of them 
disappear before Christmas. Moss, sometimes difficult to procure, is 
not so this season, as might be expected after so wet a year. Some 
old lodges thatched with Heather have the whole of it clothed wi h 
a soft bright green mossy carpet.— Edward Lucichuhst. 
DEW IN HOTHOUSES. 
Allow me to assure “ Casual ” and all whom it may concern 
that I have never knowingly made an offer in this Journal to 
answer queries privately, and that letters asking for information 
privately on subjects which appear in its pages are not answered. 
Any letter sent to the Editor breathing a genuine spirit of inquiry 
is sure to be duly attended to by the men best qualified for the 
subject which he has at command, but certainly will not be 
answered privately, as that is against all the rules of public jour¬ 
nalism, and notice to that effect is printed every week at the 
head of the first column containing answers to correspondents. 
It is well it should be so. All questions have two sides to them, 
and when queries are answered publicly there is a chance for 
errors (which the best of us are liable to fall into) to be corrected. 
The answers to correspondents is a very strong point in this 
journal. They do more, perhaps, in an educational point of view 
than all the rest of its pages together, and I for one seldom fail to 
gain a lesson from their perusal, for I invariably read most of 
them through, and if I find anything I disagree with or cannot 
understand I make a note of it. 
Once more, then, I have failed to make myself intelligible to 
“ Casual,” and if I have been as unintelligible to other readers I 
must of late have become less clear than I formerly had the credit 
for being. Allow me to say now as clearly as I can that there 
is no dispute as to the real cause of dew. It is always caused 
by the condensation of vapour on surfaces which are colder than 
the air containing that vapour. It is produced naturally in un¬ 
heated houses as well as in the open air during certain conditions 
of the atmosphere, which are well understood. In our heated 
houses we can produce it at will almost independently of outside 
weather, and some of the lessons a young gardener has to learn 
are when this dew would be beneficial and when it would be in¬ 
jurious, as well as how to make it or prevent it. Your corre¬ 
spondent is perfectly right in following Dr. Wells as to the cause 
of dew-formation ; for although there is much to be learned yet on 
the question of dew as to its chemistry and its effects on vegeta¬ 
tion, the theory of its formation is clear enough, and cannot be 
materially altered ; but when he quotes Dr. Lindley as an authority 
on horticulture he is not on such safe ground, for in matters horti¬ 
cultural we have been travelling fast. Lindley's time, like our 
