JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
214 
[ September 2, 1880. 
Hoopwood ; for medicinal bark, Crab Tree, Fever Tree, and Cas- 
carilla; for cabinetwork, Yellow-wood, Queensland Nut., native 
Lime, Tulipwood, Broad-leaved Cherry tree, Scrub Lignum Vitae, 
Weeping Myall, Ironwood, and Mountain Cherry. But the Apple, 
Cherry, Plum, Beech, and Oak are misleading names, not being 
like the English trees. 
The Eucalypts, including the varieties of Gum, are valuable 
for more than timber. As anti-miasmatics the Gum products are 
most important. The great secret of the healthiness of Australia, 
even of the tropical portions of Queensland, is the exhalation from 
the forest. The aroma is not more pleasant than it is fever¬ 
chasing. The great febrifugal property of the Gum Tree family 
is supposed to lie in the eucalyptin, which is yellow in colour, 
without smell, but having a bitter taste. The leaves yield that 
substance in addition to fruit sugar and several distinct acids 
useful in the arts. The medicinal kino is obtained from the resin, 
though the kino differs according to the species. Gum leaves have 
been used there for the extraction of illuminating gas. From 
dried Red Gum bark per cent, of kino tannin has been obtained, 
and 16^ of kino red. The double oxide of hydrogen, got from 
Grey Gum, is a valuable antiseptic for hygienic use. 
The Queensland Cedar is red, white, or pencil, prevailing in 
scrubs near the sea. The Moreton Bay Pine rises 200 feet. The 
Moreton Bay Fig throws down roots from the branches after the 
Banyan character. Some Figs are 40 feet round, having great 
wall-like abutments of the root aboveground. The Beech has a 
very hard wood. The Leichhardt tree is soft, but takes a good 
polish. The Kauri Pine is fine-grained. The Cypress is fragrant 
and useful. The Yellow-wood takes a capital polish, as does the 
Satinwood. The Chestnut has a dark walnut-like wood and mag¬ 
nificent foliage. The Silky Oak (a Grevillea) is admired by 
cabinet-workers and coopers. The mahogany of Rockhampton is 
hard and tough, red in colour, with a soft bark used for illumi¬ 
nating purposes. The Myall is a violet-scented Acacia, the wood 
of which is extensively used for tobacco pipes.—J. B. 
DRAINAGE AND CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. 
No. 3. 
Assuming the drains which have been previously referred to 
are all quite clear, we hare made the first step on the road to 
success. The next important point is the cultivation of the soil. 
As the crops are cleared off the ground it should be trenched. 
Great care is necessary in the execution of this work. The nature 
of the soil and the depth to which it has previously been worked 
must be studied. If this is neglected a grievous error is soon 
committed, and instead of improving the soil it would, if trenched 
injudiciously, be in a far worse condition than before. 
The proper way to set about the work is to line off a portion 
from 2 to 3 feet wide of the narrow end of the piece to be trenched, 
and wheel the soil from this to the end at which the work is to 
terminate. The depth of the first trench must be regulated ac¬ 
cording to the nature of the subsoil; if clayey, only a small 
quantity must brought near the surface at present, but the bottom 
must be well dug up and some good strong manure and lime, if at 
command, well incorporated with it. Then mark off the next 
trench and place the top soil of this on the bottom of the first, 
adding more lime and manure as the work proceeds ; but the 
dung in this case should be in a more decomposed state than that 
placed in the bottom of the trench, for the reason that it will be 
used by the next crop planted on it. This being done early in 
autumn or winter the surface soil should be left as rough as 
possible, so that frosts may act freely upon it, which will create 
a great change in any clayey portions that come within its reach. 
The winter’s frost having acted thus beneficially on the soil, 
and with the addition of charred rubbish, this portion will be 
capable of producing first-class vegetables next season. After 
two seasons the soil broken up at the bottom of the trench will 
be in a fit condition to be brought to the surface and be treated 
as above directed ; but the bottom should again be dug up, lime 
and manure being added as before. By persevering in this matter 
for a few years an unfertile soil may be changed into a most pro¬ 
ductive garden. In the case of light soils, instead of mixing lime 
with them the addition of a little clay broken up rather finely would 
be most beneficial. In the case of very shallow soils, and where 
it is impossible to dig to any great depth, the only means that can 
be adopted is to cart or wheel any spare soil and manure on to the 
land and double-dig the ground. I have seen sifted coal ashes 
used as a means of rendering heavy soils of a more friable nature. 
This certainly makes the soil work more freely, but as I find no 
nutritive properties in it I would not recommend its use. Again, 
old tan has been employed for the above purpose, but it would do 
far more good on a meadow. 
Having thus secured good drainage, and carried out the first 
year’s trenching in a proper manner, we are prepared either for a 
wet or a dry season. For instance, in a wet season the drains are 
ready to take away superfluous moisture, and at the same time a 
current of air is passing through them, thereby keeping the soil 
sweet. In a very dry season the whole garden could not well be 
supplied artificially with water. Here, then, we have the ad¬ 
vantage of the trenching, for if the roots of the plants cannot find 
sufficient for their requirements near the surface they will pene¬ 
trate the earth until they find what they need. 
I intend in another issue to pass a few remarks on the pre¬ 
paration of manure, and of creating the rubbish heap into one of 
the most valuable of manures for the gardener.—R obt. D. Long. 
IRISES.—No. 11. 
Turning now to the last of the Apogon groups we have three 
or four handsome and interesting species that can scarcely be 
rivalled. The first and most important of these is the one repre¬ 
sented in the accompanying engraving—viz., I. Ktempferi or 
I. lmvigata, the latter being the name accepted by Mr. Baker and 
other botanists on the grounds of priority, but by the former it is 
best known in gardens. This exceptionally handsome Iris is a 
native of Siberia and Japan, and in the last-named country it has 
been cultivated for many years. It is remarkable that while the 
Europeans have been occupied in increasing the forms of the 
“English” and “Spanish” Irises, the Japanese appear to have 
given equal attention to I. Ksempferi, and they now possess a large 
number of magnificent varieties of which many have been intro¬ 
duced to this country during recent years. The graphic descrip¬ 
tion of the Iris gardens at Hori Kiri, Japan, which appeared in 
the Journal for March 20th, 1879, was especially interesting, and 
I cannot forbear quoting the following passage which has special 
reference to the Irises:—“At last we arrive at the gardens, and 
then we obtained a full view of Iris in all her virgin glory, her 
head bright with rainbow hues as in classic legend of old. I had 
expected to see a grand sight, but I was completely astounded 
with that which now met my eyes. Thousands and thousands of 
plants are arranged in sunken beds flooded during the summer 
months with pure fresh water, and cut out with due regard to 
effect with grassy raised paths between, and hedged in by grass- 
clad knolls. Of course gorgeous bedding-out is no novelty to an 
Englishman who has seen the London parks, but this sight in 
early June was so thoroughly unique, so absolutely astounding, 
that I could only look on in wonder and amazement. Semi¬ 
double Irids there are here in abundance, some looking more like 
immense double Petunias impaled on long stalks than anything else, 
and many others having six immense outer petals, forming an 
almost perfect circle with an inner row beautifully reticulated and 
shaded with a great variety of colour from light rose and lavender 
to the deepest crimson and cobalt.” From the beautiful varie¬ 
ties of this handsome species now in cultivation we can readily 
imagine what a grand effect would be produced by massing the 
plants as described above. 
The typical form represented in the engraving has been digni¬ 
fied as “the finest of the genus” by several good authorities, and 
it undoubtedly has just claim to that honour. The figure fairly 
indicates the character of the flower, but the falls are occasionally 
more horizontally placed. They are of a deep rich purple hue, 
marked and relieved by a streak of gold at the upper portion, 
while the standards have a tinge of blue. Such is the type which, 
handsome though it be, has been far surpassed by the grand 
varieties introduced within the last seven or eight years. Messrs. 
E. G. Henderson & Son, Pine Apple Nurseries, Maida Yale, exhi¬ 
bited the first variety shown in this country—viz., the one 
named Edward George Henderson, which was submitted to the 
Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society in July, 
1874. It had large regular flowers, the standards and falls being 
nearly of equal size and spreading horizontally, of a deep purple 
tint marked with gold. It attracted considerable attention, and 
a first-class certificate was awarded for it by the Committee. 
Since then numerous varieties have been sent out by Messrs. 
Ware, Barr & Sugden, Bull, and Yeitch, and those recently 
exhibited by the last-named firm at Kensington would very 
favourably compare with others previously in commerce. There 
is now a great diversity of colours from the purest white to the 
richest blue and purple tints imaginable, and this combined with 
the regularity of form and great size of the blooms render the 
progeny of Iris Krempferi unsurpassed in its family. They 
have been frequently and not inaptly compared to Clematis 
flowers, to which in the great size and glowing tints of the perianth 
division they certainly bear some resemblance. It is difficult to 
select a few from so many of sterling merit, but the following are 
