344 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Oe'ober 20, 1887. 
observed that, however people might elbow each other, there was 
ever lots of room overhead. And so with fruit trees and their 
roots. If you have not depth enough below, or that depth is of an 
improper character, why then go upwards—above the ordinary 
ground level. Some good gardeners have affirmed that the best 
way to plant fruit trees in general is to set them on the surface of 
the soil and to pile the proper compost over them ; and, in good 
truth, if we must thus lump and generalise things, better advice 
can scarcely be given. 
One thing here I would name, or rather suggest, that, what 
gardeners term a sound or adhesive loam, should enter into what 
little compost is considered requisite ; I care not if it be only two 
barrowfuls. I do not, by any means, say that good fruits cannot 
be produced without this loam of the practical gardener ; but this 
I will fearlessly affirm, that if we were to convene a jury of gar¬ 
deners—genuine ones, I mean—as to the benefits derivable from the 
use of a little loam, as to fruit trees, that jury, if composed of a 
score of those bronzy-looking gentlemen, would not possess three 
dissentients. I have found three barrows of loam, if pretty adhe¬ 
sive, sufficient for any fruit tree, on a dwarfing system, providing 
the ordinary soil is what may be termed good garden soil. 
I am of opinion, however, that if a more liberal amount of 
strong loam could be given, that fruit trees in general would benefit 
much by being planted on the surface of the soil without any 
excavations, provided that occasional surface-dressings were given, 
and the spade was never used over their roots. If such practices 
were well carried out we should hear much less fuss about 
stocks. 
Let me here warn the amateurs against planting trees in the 
same soil, unimproved, that decayed trees have been removed from. 
They will seldom succeed. Whether it be on account of the exuviae 
of the former tree, or that certain qualities have been abstracted, I 
know not, probably from the two combined ; but certain it is that 
the practice is bad. It is very easy to exchange such exhausted soil 
for that of some bed or border contiguous. Where soil is very hot 
and loose, I have several times used, and recommended, lumps of 
marl and clay to be placed on the impervious material which forms 
the base of the station. This serves to retain moisture during 
the summer droughts ; and I have ever found, that under such 
circumstances, they cling to the fatty material with the utmost 
tenacity. 
As before observed, surface-dressings are most important. I 
collect a huge heap of materials for this purpose every season, and 
half-rotten leaves and shrubbery rakings form more than half this 
mixture. The best way is to collect, the moment the leaves fall, 
all rakings, garden clearings, and rubbish of any kind, and at once 
place it in some sheltered spot to ferment. All coarse grass, lawn 
mowings, &c., which can be come at may be blended with the mass, 
and the whole thrown into a high state of fermentation ; and as 
soon as a fair amount has been got together, say by the beginning 
of December, my practice is to coat the whole over a foot thick 
with old hotbed linings, which had originally been about two parts 
leaves and one part dung, but which, having been used for the 
above purpose in the last spring, have become nearly rotten. This- 
shuts in the fermentation, and the heap may thus lay, with any 
additions, until March, when it is turned and mixed thoroughly, 
and well broken by forks. 
Such a surface-dressing I would give every second year to alt 
choice fruits planted above the level as here described. If such 
practice is carried out, and no spade or hoe work is permitted over 
the stations, it will be found that trees will come into bearing 
earlier, will continue bearing more steadily, will make little surplus 
spray, and at all times ripen well both blossom buds and fruits. 
—N. R. E. 
FLOWER FARMING IN SOUTHERN FRANCE. 
Consul Mason of Marseilles, in a recent report upon flower farm¬ 
ing in Southern France, says that the conditions of industrial success in 
flower growing can be best studied by a specific example, and he quotes 
the case of a plantation at Seillans in the department of the Var. This 
farm is about twenty-three acres in extent, and is situated on the 
southern slope of the hills, about 2000 feet above the level of the 
Mediterranean, and at a distance of twenty miles from the coast. The 
calcareous soil was originally naturally poor and thin, and the Olive 
trees which had occupied the ground for a century or more prior to 1881, 
yielded but scanty and unnecessary returns. The slope of the surface 
was so steep that the water of a spring which flows from the rocks above 
the track could be but imperfectly utilised for irrigation, and the land 
was regarded as practically worthless. In 1881 the proprietor caused 
the Olive trees to be removed and the land prepared for flower culture. 
The ground was dug up to the depth of 4 feet, the larger stones re¬ 
moved, and built into sustaining walls for the terraces into which the 
surface was divided and levelled. Along the upper margin of each 
terrace a shallow ditch was cut, connecting with transverse channels 
which supply the spring water for irrigation. The abruptness of the 
slope will be indicated by the fact that, on the tract of eighteen acres, 
the terrace walls required to produce a series of level or gently sloping 
surfaces are over 2000 yards in length. Thus terraced, the tract yielded 
