Ai'ril 6, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
271 
ne38. There seems to have been an idea amongst some of our 
ancestors that forced fruit was very frequently lacking in the 
proper flavour ; perhaps it might have been under some of the 
methods practised early in this century. By experiment and 
observation, however, our approved modern plans were slowly 
evolving themselves, and if the Georgian gardeners seemed some¬ 
times to waste effort in trying first one way and then another, 
it was because they had not the means of getting information as 
to results which we now possess, so had to work out problems for 
themselves. 
The forcing of Strawberries, when first attempted, was taken 
up energetically by several of the leading gardeners, such as 
M'Phail, Nicol, and Abercrombie. Commencing experiments were 
made by forcing the fruit in a pinery or Peach house ; afterwards 
it became the practice to devote pits specially to this object, the 
plants, of course, being in pots. M‘Phail advised that runners 
should be potted, in preparation, early in the season before, but 
many of the gardeners took up strong plants with their earth and 
then placed them at once in the forcing house or pit. Nicol 
advised a slow process, the heat being raised gradually, and 
Abercrombie preferred a rapid plan ; he brought the pots from 
a cool frame where they had wintered into a warm house about 
the middle of March. Morgan it was, however, who showed that 
a succession could be had from November to June by right 
management. He started by forcing Alpines raised from seed, 
then he had Scarlets, and finished off with Pines. All gardeners 
used a rich loam for potting the plants, and kept the soil moderately 
moist. 
There arose a good demand for early Kidney Beans towards the 
end of the reign of George III., and they were forced in Pine 
stoves or flued pits ; the latter were often divided into partitions, 
so as to contain a succession of crops. Occasionally they were sown 
in a hotbed, and then planted out under handglasses. Abercrombie 
advised plenty of air and free watering, sowing in shallow soil, to 
earth them up gradually, but keeping down any runners. Nicol 
followed a method rather similar in forcing Peas, only he advised 
they should always be transplanted, whether grown in pits, or in 
the vinery, or Peach house, as was sometimes the practice. It was 
one of his beliefs that Peas in the open ground would be more 
prolific if they were transplanted. 
Probably few gardeners now think it worth while to force 
Potatoes, but about 1812 much experimenting took place with the 
object of getting crops early in April ; some grew them in pots 
placed in hothouses, and others planted them in frames 6 inches 
apart. Hogg, a well known market gardener, at a somewhat later 
period advised the use of an old Cucumber or Melon bed that had 
lost much of its heat, and his favourite early variety, obtained 
from Foxe’s Yellow Potato, was called by his name. He raised a 
crop in seven weeks from the planting of the sets. One of his 
suggestions was, that “ if frosts were sharp a better covering for 
all frames than matting was a layer of short hay.” 
Mushroom culture began to attract a good deal of notice, improve¬ 
ments being made on the old plan of growing them upon ridges of 
warm manure ; also a sagacious gardener pointed out that as the plant 
was indigenous it might certainly be cultivated in ordinary soil 
during some part of the year and at the usual temperature, if 
desirable. 
An impetus to Mushroom cultivation was given by the discovery 
of various ways of getting or making spawn, which soon became an 
article of sale in all large towns, Nicol discovered a process by 
which a bed of any required size might be formed into a mass of 
spawn by laying “ courses ” of stable manure, with earth between. 
In this way he obtained a crop about ten or twelve weeks after the 
bed was commenced, and it yielded longer than the beds ordinarily 
made. Then the manufacture of artificial spawn led to the dis¬ 
covery that it could be prepared for keeping in the form of bricks, 
such bricks retaining vitality several years if moisture was excluded. 
M‘Phail advised growing Mushrooms in a lightly covered shed 
placed against the wall of a hothouse, and many put the spawn in 
boxes, pits, or baskets, which were used to fill up corners in pits or 
frames. A German method of culture was introduced by Oldacre. 
A peculiar compost was prepared, which was laid upon the shelves 
and bottom of a flued house constructed so as to afford a moderate 
steady heat, while but little light was admitted. Wales devised a 
plan for growing Mushrooms without manure, by warmth and 
moisture, and Williamson raised them economically in Cucumber 
and Melon beds. But the principal cultivators followed Aber¬ 
crombie’s advice, and watered moderately with tepid water, but did 
not grow them under a high and close temperature. 
Propagation by inarching was the subject of much experiment 
early in this century. The origin of the practice is doubtful, but it 
had been occasionally tried as a kind of layering, the part of the 
shoot which it was wished to propagate being inserted into wood, 
or between wood and bark. It was presumed to have special 
advantages in the case of plants which are reluctant to put forth 
roots. The two, whether in pots or in the open soil, were placed 
close together, and the layer or shoot which was to be bent or arched, 
was united to the stock, generally in the spring months. Having 
joined the parts they tied them closely, and then covered with clay 
or moss. It was customary to separate the shoot from the parent 
plant or tree in about five months, but twice or thrice that time 
was sometimes required. Professor Thouin, as the result of his 
inquiries about inarching, reported that gardeners knew thirty- 
seven different methods ; practically, however, they were all 
varieties of two—viz., crown inarching and side inarching. The 
first of these was proved to be the best plan with young, hardy 
trees ; the second was preferred for propagating delicate ones, or 
filling up blanks in branches. Knight made numerous experiments 
in inarching fruit trees, especially with the object of obtaining a 
supply of sap to enable a weak branch, by the help of a shoot from 
another part of the same tree, to swell and ripen its fruit. He 
thus got very fine fruit from Peaches and Nectarines where he 
would otherwise have had little or none. The Dutch tried in¬ 
arching upon hedges of Hawthorn and Hornbeam, joining the 
shrubs together in a diamond or lozenge form, and leaving them 
attached. A funny experiment was the inarching of herbaceous 
plants, such as were of kindred species, the Cucumber upon the 
Melon, or the Tomato upon the Potato. 
Possibly bulbous plants predominated in the gardens of seventy 
years ago, because some of this class were general favourites, and 
flowers now highly popular, the Rose, Dahlia, and Chrysanthemum 
for instance, only received a small share of notice. The Hyacinth 
rivalled the Tulip and the Narcissus, and even in the time of 
Miller there were reckoned to be 2000 kinds known in Holland, but 
a reduction took place, and a catalogue of 1820 enumerates about 
300 only. It was the endeavour of our gardeners to produce fine 
double flowers, pyramidal in form, with large petals, and quite half 
the length of the stem. Dark colours were preferred to pale tints, 
provided they were distinct. Our English stock of Hyacinths was 
largely increased by their propagation, either from seeds or offsets. 
Many an amateur gardener was proud to exhibit to his friends a 
bed of choice Hyacinths, the result of much care and labour on his 
part. These beds were formed with a south aspect slightly 
elevated, and the English gardeners mostly used a compost for 
planting of leaf mould, cow manure, and sand ; the Dutch added to 
this a little tanner’s bark. Beds were planted in October or 
November, sandy earth placed round and over them, afterwards 
protection was given by hoops and mats. Maddock was very 
successful in getting fine seedlings, sowing in October or March, 
the boxes having equal parts of garden mould and sand. He left 
the plants untouched for three years in a moderately warm spot, 
then took them up in July. The Crown Imperial or Fritillary was 
an allied plant that was a favourite from its early blooming, and 
mostly increased by offsets as a quicker mode, and the common 
Fritillary, now seldom seen, was another favourite. There were 
numerous varieties.—J, R. S. C, 
RHODODENDRONS. 
1 AGREE with “ H. D.,” (page 2o0) in the main respecting the 
culture of this useful evergreen shrub, but I would like to add a caution 
for the benefit of those persons who have not had experience in any par¬ 
ticular locality with the growth of Rhododendrons in the natural soil. 
I do not say they will not succeed in soil of a loamy character, but I 
know from experience that they will not exist here in the decayed turf 
obtainable on the place, which is generally termed loam. 
“ H. D.” advises what to avoid—thus, “ planting in soils containing 
a large percentage of lime or chalk.” If he had substituted the word 
small for large I should have equally agreed with him. I know that 
Rhododendrons object very strongly to the smallest particle of chalk in 
the soil, this mineral I understand contains 75 per cent, of lirne.^ The 
natural soil here is heavy and retentive of moisture, although it is not 
a wet soil in the sense of what a low-lying district would be ; it is also 
much mixed with flint stones, which provides abundant peicolating 
crevices for water in quantity. Chalk in its natural formation in inost 
parts of the garden is not found within 3 feet of the surface, certainly 
not in that part where the Rhododendrons are growing. Chalk has been 
used as a surface dressing both for agricultural and horticultural 
purposes for many years before Rhododendrons were attempted to be 
grown. Although but small quantities have been used at a time the 
soil has become so impregnated with lime as to render it totally unfit 
for the growth of Rhododendrons even where nothing but the turf is 
employed. ,, j 
As showing how small a quantity of chalk has been added to the 
soil in the form of a top-dressing, extending over so many years, it 
would be difficult to find any in solid form. When the beds for Rhodo¬ 
dendrons were made here fourteen years since, with a view to economise 
peat, which is an expensive item in this part, tome partly decayed turf 
that had been stripped off the old lawns was added to the extent of one- 
third. Where this came in contact with the roots of the Rhododendrons 
