384 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
f May 10, 1888. 
or good guano applied as a surface dressing once a week. This 
advice was followed, and a very valuable crop of flowers was the result, 
though not so good as would have been secured had the liquid manure 
been stopped a month earlier, and the artificial manure applied. 
Now, 1 have no doubt many of your readers will, like my frien'’, feci 
a difficulty in appreciating starvation in a case of this sort. Shortly, 
.the solution is this. The plants had been growing well, the soil was 
well filled with roots, then came the liquid manure containing very 
imperfect plant food, and the plants simply starved in the midst of 
seeming plenty. My theory was that the food they required was not 
more of a so-called stimulating nature, such as nitrate of soda or 
sulphate of ammonia, for they had been getting plenty of food of that 
nature, but one of what may be called a more solid nature, and the 
superphosphate acted like a charm. 
At the same time it may be pointed out that plants may receive even 
too much food of that nature. A few of our own plants appeared to be 
standing still at the “ housing ” time last autumn ; but three doses of 
hot water washed the superfluous material away, and no harm was in 
the end done. If we consider the matter I think it is possible to pro¬ 
cure a perfect plant food. Any scientifically composed plant food is 
sufficient for any plant requiring help in that way. It is quite possible, 
no doubt, that there may be in the composition something which is not 
required for every plant. But that is a matter of no importance so long 
as what the plant does require is present in fair proportion. Growers 
who have not studied the matter, and who apply a dry manure, are apt 
to fly directly to either nitrate of soda or to sulphate of ammonia, either 
of which is valuable when properly used, but neither so useful as super¬ 
phosphate of lime and that again must yield to the best guano, which, 
however, is much more expensive. 
A very useful and fairly cheap manure for everyday use among 
softwooded plants is composed of three parts sulphate of ammonia to 
five parts superphosphate ; slight applications of this given to plants 
weekly directly the roots begin to work after potting, and increased in 
quantity as the roots increase in number, will give the very best results. 
I am not so particular about a potassic element in a manure as I once 
v.'.rs, as its utility in the case of short-lived plants is doubtful, and the 
others serve the purpose perfectly. Superphosphate is extremely 
v.rluable on account of its root-producing tendency. Plants which 
receive plenty of water and not allowed to become dry, pushing out 
roots and making away with every bit of the undissolved material, while 
in the inside of the pot, the process of root-production goes on 
unceasingly. Plants may be grown fairly well in almost any kind of 
soil if sufficiently fed, but it is a mistake to allow the plant to 
thoroughly obtain possession of every bit of soil in the pot before feeding 
from the outside begins. The sensible system is to conserve what food 
there may be in the .soil by beginning to apply the manure directly root- 
action is in a state of activity, and so continue the rooting medium in 
such a fertile condition as there may be a reaction betwixt the good soil 
and the applied manure. 
Apart from these manurial foods, there is an element so essential to 
the well-being of plants, and the effect of which seems to be so im¬ 
perfectly understood by young gardeners, that before closing these notes 
I may roughly point out its chief characteristic and the part it plays. 
The element I refer to is water. We know that water has so great an 
attraction for most things, that it is quite possible to grow some plants 
fairly well in water alone, the water in some manner having taken up 
as much of the other foods necessary to plant life as to sustain them in 
vigour. If we wish to strike cuttings lapidly and successfully we place 
them in a medium of sand and water, and one of the curiosities of plan; 
culture is to root a plant and grow it among sphagnum or common moss, 
keeping the material well saturated with water. In the same manner 
bulbs may be cultivated in sponges, all the care necessary being to soak 
these from time to time. I think, then, that the chief characteristic ot 
water in connection with plant culture is the all-important work it 
performs as a solvent of the food contained in soils, and along with that 
the absolute necessity of its pre.sence in quantity in the soil, in order to 
the uninterrupted production of roots. If the supply is stopped long 
enough for the soil to dry, the youngest and most important roots perish, 
and the plants go on “ short commons.” If sufficient water is given to 
again saturate the soil, the most active roots are absent, and the plant 
continues to suffer until a fresh crop of feeding roots are produced to 
attack the food waiting them. The difference, then, betwixt a carefully 
watered plant and one allowed to become dry occasionally is, that the 
former goes forward without check, and the latter has a series of stop- 
])ages to make up, losing perhaps in the process its healthy greenness 
of foliage, or lack of size in flower, if nothing else happens. In con¬ 
nection with the employment of artificial manures water becomes either 
a inedium of the greatest utility, or, if carelessly applied, the means of 
doing the plant much harm. A well watered plant is always ready for 
its slight application cf manure; a neglected plant with feeding roots 
dead may be poisoned with the same. It is therefore wise to allow a 
dried-up plant to recover somewhat before again applying manure.—B. 
FLOWER FARMING. 
Freqxjenteds of the Covent Garden Flower Market during 
the spring and early summer months can form something like an 
adequate idea of the extensive demand for cut flowers, and of the 
enormous supplies furnished by home and continental growers. 
Delicate indoor flowers are sent in from various places, and are pur¬ 
chased mainly for the finer bouquets, wreaths, and buttonholes, but 
it is in the supply of hardier though often equally beautiful flowers 
from outdoors that the increase has been so rapid in recent years. 
The market is now amply provided with the best of the hardy 
flowers as they come in season, and some very gay effects are pro¬ 
duced there during April, May, and June, the three chief months 
for floral trade. One of the most energetic workers in the exten¬ 
sion of this business is Mr. J. Walker of Whitton, who at this time 
of year may be found every morning at his stand in the market 
disposing of the choicest Daffodils, Tulips, and Anemones by 
thousands, or later on he is equally busy with Pseonies, Irises, 
Gladiolus, and Ranunculuses. During five or six months Mr. 
Walker furnishes some of the finest home-grown hardy flowers to 
be seen in the market, and it might be therefore supposed that his 
farms and system of management w'ould possess more than ordinary 
interest to anyone concerned in horticulture. Being favoured with 
an oppoi-tunitj' last Friday of inspecting these establishments, I 
FIG 49.-XAI.CISSUS TALI IDES F .ECOX. 
will endeavour to briefly describe what was 
seen and learnt during an extremely agree¬ 
able visit on a bright May day of the old- 
fashioned type. 
THE HAM FARM. 
Though Mr. AValker’s name is better known 
in association with the Whitton Farm, his 
more recent acquisition near Ham Common is 
much the larger, and is rapidly becoming the 
more important of the two. About 114 
acres of land have been obtained and are de¬ 
voted. to bulbs, fruit trees, and vegetables, the 
two former as permanent crops, the last- 
named being employed to alternate with the 
bulbs. The soil is deep, of a peculiarly light 
sandy loam, such as at first sight would be 
thought excessively dry, but which seems to 
possess a never-failing supply of moisture 
below, though free from any approach to 
stagnation. The situation is open to the 
sun, yet fairly sheltered from winds, although these occa'^ionally prove 
somewhat disastrous, as would be the case anywhere in our little 
island. Altogether, the soil and situation seem to be as favourable 
for the culture of bulbs as cq^d be wished, and it would be difficult 
to say in what particular our Duti^ friends on the other side of the 
German Ocean have the advantage. The land is readily worked 
with the plough, manure is liberal'y applied for the various vege¬ 
table crops, and then the bulbs are planted to remain one or two 
seasons, following again with vegetables, especially with Peas. A 
considerable space has been planted with Plum, Pear, and Apple 
trees, with Currants between the trees in the rows, and beds of 
Daffodils between the rows. This system will be carried out more 
extensively as soon as it has been found which varieties of fruits 
are likely to succeed best. The Pears are healthy vigorous trees 
from Sawbridgewmrth, on the Pear and Quince -stocks, the latter 
for early fruiting being planted alternately with the former. The 
Apples are similarly promising, all on the Paradise stock, and in two 
