264 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
f September 25, X89P. 
unless it be the thumbing of soil in a damp state round the roots of 
a plant in a pot, forgetting altogether that the action of the air in 
the soil is most necessary. 
“ It is of great importance that nothing should be added to the 
soil of a Vine border which, after the plant-food it contains has 
been absorbed, leaves a residuum of inert humus, which shuts up 
the pores of the soil, hinders the healthy action of the atmosphere, 
and retains an excess of water like a sponge, in time rendering the 
border what gardeners justly term sour. This, farmyard manure 
at its best does. There is the additional danger of horse dung 
breeding fungi. 
“ If Yine roots are not confined by bricks and mortar to such a 
border as I have indicated, they escape from it to soil that was not 
prepared for them, and sometimes thrive better in the latter than 
in the former. 
“ Another mistake that, up to the present date, is not uncommon, 
is that of mixing half-inch bones in Yine borders. They are of 
little or no value. I have seen them as whole as when mixed with 
the soil, after being thirty years in it, and not a root near them. 
Bones are an excellent element in a manure for Vines or any other 
fruit-bearing plant, but they should be ground as fine as possible. 
In this state they form a considerable portion of the manure I feel 
bound to recommend. 
“ For good reasons it is best not to make up the whole width of 
the outside border when the Vines are planted, especially if it is 
to be a wide one ; 6 feet in width outside the arches will be ample 
for two years. This has more than one advantage. It gives time 
to procure soil, not always an easy matter, and roots enter new soil 
with greater rapidity than they do soil that has been lying soaked 
with wet for two years, by which time the chance is it has become 
sour ; rich soil is much more liable to do this when unoccupied by 
roots than when it is. 
“ While on the subject of borders I must enter a protest against 
the extreme folly of planting flowers or growing vegetables on 
Yine borders. The roots rob the soil of the food intended for the 
Vines, and, even worse than this, keep off the genial heat of the 
sun. I called at a fine garden down the Clyde last autumn. The 
gardener took me into a range of vineries, and remarked that of 
late years the Vines had yielded very inferior Grapes. I replied 
that little else could be expected, seeing the enormous crop of 
plants on the borders up to the vinery front sashes. First a row 
of single Dahlias 3 feet high ; then came Perilla nankinensis, 
Stocks, Geraniums, &c. The gardener said his view was the same 
as mine with regard to the cause of the injury to the Vines, and he 
had often pointed it out to Mrs.-; but she said she could not 
bear to see naked borders, at the same time she expected good 
Grapes. This is one of the many difficulties gardeners have to 
contend with.” 
The citations show the thoroughly useful nature of this 
treatise. Both it and Mr. Barron’s book should be possessed by 
every gardener and amateur who desires to grow Grapes of the 
first quality, either for home use or for sale, as only the best 
crops of the best fruit can be satisfactory or profitable. 
Passing to the Chiswick Conference, at which representative 
exhibits of Grapes and Dahlias were invited, and writing some days 
before the event, we suspect that Dahlia growers will make the 
greatest response. Collections of all or most of the different types 
of Grapes are grown in comparatively few establishments, and we 
anticipate no sueh imposing display of fruit as is forthcoming at 
great competitive shows of the popular varieties. The attention 
that is devoted to those which are exclusively grown in the 
majority of gardens, is causing many Grapes of distinct charac¬ 
teristics, and possessing special qualities, to be overlooked, if not 
forgotten, and it was a happy idea, on the part of the Royal 
Horticultural Society to afford an opportunity for bringing such 
less known varieties together for purposes of comparison and 
instruction. 
AMONGST THE TREES AT ST. JOHN’S 
NURSERY, WORCESTER. 
While the trees are still in the full glory of summer foliage, 
and the tinge of autumnal beauty is only just perceptible, is an 
excellent time to see and compare one sort with another, and to 
obtain a sufficiently clear idea of growth, foliage, and habit, and of 
the relative value of sorts, new and old, to enable one to make a 
judicious selection for the planting season, which will soon be with 
us once more. Such was partly my object. I went to Worcester 
to select trees for planting in Leicestershire, where I am engaged 
in the very interesting work of the restoration and improve¬ 
ment of an old family seat, one of several which once belonged to 
the family of its present owner who has recently acquired it, and 
with whom, therefore, it is a labour of love to restore and make 
beautiful an estate which was the inheritance of a long line of 
ancestors, who lost it, and many another fair domain, for the sake 
of that “ trouthe and honour ” which was the guiding star of olid 
Chaucer’s “ Verray perfight gentil knight.” 
Down in a valley stands the fine old Tudor mansion, and from 
it ascend gently swelling uplands, which rise and fall in picturesque 
contours, and which it is intended to clothe sufficiently with timber 
trees to impart to it the beauty and dignity of a true English park,, 
with its avenues, glades, clustering trees, specimens—detached, yet 
so entirely a part of the whole, so contributing to the general 
effect as to be indispensable to its completeness and entirety. 
With such an object in view went I to the famous Worcester 
nurseries, and certainly I was well rewarded for my journey. I 
never saw so fine and healthy a collection of young trees, remark¬ 
able alike collectively and individually, for though most sorts are 
grown here by the acre, yet every one of them—aye, even amongst 
the forest trees—is a perfect specimen: clean, symmetrical, in 
robust health, and full of growth, which is so free and vigorous 
that it was not till I saw one of the largest trees lifted with its 
densely clustering fibrous roots that I realised how fully, how 
thorough, is the system of transplantation at St. John’s, and why 
the trees from this nursery are removed with such safety and 
answer so well. 
Turning now to the trees, the Elm must have the first place 
because it is the pride of Worcestershire, where it is seen in all the 
majesty of full development, and is certainly a most stately tree, 
whose noble proportions rival those of the Oak, and whose effect 
as a timber tree is entirely satisfactory. One old giant which I 
saw on Lord Beauchamp’s property near St. Cloud, the residence 
of R. Smith-Carington, Esq., was probably fully 30 feet in circum¬ 
ference ; and in Mr. Berkeley’s park near Worcester I saw an 
avenue of Elms about 200 years old, the trees of which are equally 
remarkable for size as well as for uniformity of growth. But fine 
Elms abound in Worcestershire, and there are trees at the nursery 
50 feet high that were planted well within living memory, and are 
regarded as somewhat remarkable from the free manner in which 
they have continued to grow, notwithstanding the frequent dis¬ 
turbance of the soil right up to the stems. This is the true Ulmus 
campestris, or English Field Elm, and there is a large stock of it 
at the nursery, from which enough will be selected to plant an 
avenue a mile and a half in length on the Leicestershire property. 
The large stock of Wych Elm and the Huntingdon or Chichester 
Elm showed that both sorts are much in demand, and of other 
highly ornamental sorts there are campestris aurea, plumosa, pyra- 
midalis, Dampieri aurea, the Wheatley Elm, and the silver varie¬ 
gated variety of campestris. 
Of Oaks, I saw a very interesting collection of upwards of forty 
varieties, several of which are highly desirable for mixed clumps. 
Fine tree as the common English Oak undoubtedly is, we can have 
too much of it. A park with the timber principally of fine old 
Oaks is certainly a remarkable sight, but the effect of even such 
trees is tame and insipid in comparison with that evolved by taste¬ 
ful mixed planting. Take, for example, Whittlebury Park in 
Northamptonshire, where there are hundreds of old Oaks, every 
tree a fine specimen, yet it was with a delightful sense of restful 
relief that one turned from them to gaze through a vista of th® 
tapering forms and soft feathery foliage of Douglas Firs to the 
lofty clustering groves of stately Stow in the distance. 
The Turkey Oak is a tree one would like to see more frequently, 
for it has a singularly elegant and refined appearance, to which its 
habit of growth, foliage, bole, and even the bark all contribute. It 
grows freely in a deep loam, and soon tells in effect, especially as 
a detached specimen. There are cut-leaved and variegated forms 
of it at St. John’s, both worthy of a place in belts and clumps. 
Most beautiful is the Scarlet Oak, as the leaves change from sum¬ 
mer greenery to the brilliant hue of autumn whence it derives its 
distinctive title. A mass of it will now soon be all ablaze with 
colour. How wonderfully effective it is on a hillside among 
feathery Larches or the deeper hues of Scotch and Austrian Pines. 
It is deservedly popular, as the fine stock of it at the nursery showed^ 
but its position must be chosen with due regard to effect at this 
season of the year. Of the other sorts which attracted my attention 
by the size or form of their foliage, I select as especially worthy 
of planting macrophylla, pectinata, americana discolor, latifolia 
dentata, tinctoria, villosa, Prinos, Louetti and olivseformis 
Hampteri. 
Most tempting was the appearance of the Maples, with their 
handsome foliage and luxuriant growth. The entire collection well 
repays one for close inspection, most of the varieties being worthy 
of a place, and especially so are Acers macrophyllum, Schwedleri, 
