390 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 3 .1892. 
For heavy land strawy material is valuable, as it opens up and 
renders porous the soil, so that air, water, and warmth can enter 
freely. 
The quantity of farmyard manure varies widely according to 
the nature of the animals and the food supplied to them. If we 
take a ton of good stable manure it is only estimated to contain 
from “ 9 to 15 lbs. of nitrogen, the same of potash, and 4 to 9 lbs. 
of phosphoric acid,” that is 22 to 48 lbs. of plant food. Valuable 
crops can be obtained by the application of refuse of this nature, 
but it is by using natural and chemical manures in conjunction 
that the best results follow. We advise a liberal dressing of 
stable manure in the usual way, and 3 cwts. per acre of nitrate of 
soda and superphosphate, using two of the latter to one of the 
former. These may be mixed and applied just as the crop com¬ 
mences growth, being sown on the surface during showery weather. 
The nitrate of soda may be reserved until the crop is in full growth, 
while the superphosphate may be sown on the surface just before 
the crop is planted. It is advisable to hold back the nitrate of soda 
because it is so soluble that some of it might be washed through the 
soil and lost unless the crop is in a growing condition and could 
tike it up at once. 
The superphosphate can be obtained ready prepared, and may 
consist of such minerals as coprolites or slag, the refuse of iron 
furnaces, treated with sulphuric acid ; a good deal of superphos¬ 
phate is made from these materials. We prefer superphosphate 
made from bones after they have been ground to a powder. A 
ton of this should be treated with 50 gallons of sulphuric acid and 
100 gallons of water. The bones should be moistened by half the 
water, the other half being used to dilute the sulphuric acid. The 
whole should be well mixed, and in a short time the material will 
be dry enough for sowing. When a smaller'quantity is needed it 
can be made by using the materials advised in the right proportion.— 
Wm. Bardney. 
HARDY PERENNIAL HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 
Hardy perennial herbaceous plants are not so much grown now 
as they were some forty years ago. At that time no garden was con¬ 
sidered complete without a good collection, and there were few places 
which had not herbaceous grounds or borders entirely devoted to 
them. But fashion in gardening, as in most things, changes, and 
since then perennial herbaceous plants have been discarded in a 
general way to make room for the more gaudy half-hardy bedding 
plants which have to be propagated annually, and protected under 
glass for more than six months of the year, entailing a great 
amount of labour and expense for a brief display of colour for a 
few weeks during July, August, and September. 
Mr. F. L. Olmsted, the distinguished American landscape 
gardener, writing in one of the gardening papers last month on 
•“English Gardens,” says, “Since my last visit to England there has 
been a decided abatement of the bedding out Duisance, and of all 
the garish and childish fashions that came in with it. The 
gardeners and others with whom I have talked have been generally 
conceding—3ome with evident regret—that it was going out of 
fashion. Any who think with it their occupation will be gone had 
better come quickly to America, where all the beauty that I have 
been aiming to provide on various grounds is wholly put out of 
countenance by it. There has never been a square yard of bedding 
out on any ground under my direction ” 
I am quite in sympathy with what Mr. F. L. Olmsted has 
written on the subject. That there has been too much bedding- 
out in the gardens of this country no one will deny ; and, to say 
the least of it, carpet bedding, to my mind, is childish, garish in 
the extreme, and I have never failed, when an opportunity occurred, 
to express my disapproval of it verbally and in writing. I would 
not, however, advocate doing away with the bedding-out system 
altogether. A little of it in its place is very good, but there has 
been too much of it in the past in most places, to the detriment of 
hardy perennial plants, which, I am glad to say, are coming more 
to the front now. There seems to be some misunderstanding 
amongst gardeners and others as to the definition of herbaceons 
plants. We have seen Roses, Hydrangeas, shrubby Spiraeas, and 
other ligneous plants shown in competition at flower shows as 
herbaceous plants, and passed as such by judges who should have 
known better. Now, if I understand properly, herbaceous plants 
are those that have no woody fibre, and whose stems perish annually 
after flowering. The plants may be annual, biennial, or perennial; 
the foliage deciduous or evergreen ; and the roots fibrous, tuberous, 
or bulbous, according to the natural order to which they belong. 
Anyone with even a slight knowledge of botany should be able to 
distinguish the dilference between plants with woody fibre and 
those composed of herbage. 
Perennial herbaceous plants are easily propagated and cultivated. 
They may be increased by seeds, cuttings, and division of the 
roots, and grown in ordinary garden mould (with the exception of 
some Alpine and bog plants, that require peat soil) in borders by 
themselves, or in front of shrubberies and in beds on the lawn. 
Some of the large growing genera and species, with bold elegant 
foliage, have a noble appearance when planted in clumps in con¬ 
spicuous places. Anemone japonica, and many other kinds with 
strong creeping roots, should be planted in beds by themselves, as 
they soon spread and interfere with the growth of their neighbours. 
The plants should be lifted occasionally, divided, trimmed, and 
replanted. When doing this the ground must be deeply dug and 
well manured. Tall growing varieties ought to be properly staked 
and tied in good time to prevent them from being injured by 
storms. Some gardeners recommend cutting the tops off the plants 
(of some varieties) after they have grown a foot or more, in order 
to make them dwarf, and later in flowering. I have never practised 
this method, but I believe it does very well. 
I have been in places where they went in more for a large 
collection than a selection of the best flowering varieties. When 
this is the case, and the plants are properly labelled, and planted in 
groups according to their class and order, it reminds one of a 
public garden for teaching students, and, as a matter of fact, a 
great many of the plants, which are interesting from a botanical 
point of view, have no decorative effect in themselves, and their 
flowers, when cut, are of little service for the embellishment of 
rooms. Whereas if a good selection were made, and properly 
attended to, plants with red, white, yellow, blue, purple, and other 
colours, may be had in flower for at least ten months in the year. 
I do not wish to make a catalogue, but perhaps I should by way of 
a finish, name a few of the most important genera and species, and 
their time of flowering. 
Beginning with the year, there are few plants in bloom during 
January, but the following flower in February and March :— 
Hepatica triloba and its varieties, Arabis rosea, A. albida and 
many others, Helleborus lividus and H. niger, Tussilago fragrans 
(a plant growing wild in great abundance at Llandouch Church, 
and on the embankment of the Rhimney Railway at Cardiff), 
Potentilla alba and other varieties, Sanguinaria canadensis, Viola 
odorata, Anemone ranunculoides, A. apennina, Adonis vernalis, 
Primula Auricula, and others. 
April.—Several species of Phloxes, Aquilegia canadensis, 
Dodecatheon Meadia, Arabis alpina, and others. Several Saxifrages, 
Thalictrum anemonoides, Alyssum saxatile, Doronicum austriacum, 
and others, Anemone pratensis and pulsatilla, several of the 
Iris family, Polemonium reptans, Pulmonaria virginica, and other 
species. These are a few of the many beautiful plants that flower 
during this month, not to mention the native plants, some of which 
are charming, such as Chrysosplenium alternifolium, and many 
others I could name. 
May.—Anemone hortensis and other varieties, Aquilegias, 
several Dianthus, Geums, Phloxes, Geraniums, Veronicas, Armerias, 
Pasonia tenuifolia, and several other varieties, Polygonums, Sym- 
phyturns, Centranthus angustifolius, medius, and ruber, Hesperis 
matronalis and its varieties, Astragalus, several varieties, Dictamnus 
rubra and fraxinella, Phyteuma spicatum, Lupinus, several Tha- 
lictrums, many Monarda fistulosa, and hundreds of other genera 
and species of different colours, too tedious to nance in a paper 
like this. 
July, August, and September are rich in herbaceous plants, but 
it would be too monotonous to give even a small list of them here. 
I think I have said enough to show that there is no lack of useful 
hardy herbaceous plants to keep our grounds and borders gay during 
the greater part of the year. To me they are more interesting, and 
more useful for cutting flowers from than many of the plants that 
are bedded out, and they do not entail the labour and expense in 
potting and protecting them during the winter and spring months 
that the bedding out plants do.—A. Pettigrew— (Read at a 
meeting of the Cardiff Gardeners' Improvement Association.) 
FUNCTIONS (AND WEIGHT) OF VINE LEAVES. 
Vine culture has ever been a warm subject for discussion, and 
has lost none of its charms, especially to young men. Many like 
those here will be showing their practical interest in this discussion 
by no sooner having read the articles than they are out, lamp in 
hand, picking leaves for comparison with the weights and measures 
gWen in the Journal. From a handful of Hamburgh leaves five 
were picked weighing 3| ozs., and measuring from 12 to 14^ inches 
across. These aie from rods nineteen years old that have carried 
on an average 30 lbs. of fruit. We began cutting in the middle of 
August, so that the leaves are fast maturing for parting company 
with the wood, changing from the deep green to the brown and 
yellow which reminds of the passing season with bright prospects 
for the future. 
