290 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 1,1891. 
A QUAINT GARDEN. 
I know of no better adjective to use in describing the garden of my 
friend, Mr. J. S. Cousens, at Grove Eoad, Wanstead. It is not what we 
call an old-fashioned garden, for that implies Yew hedges, Box edgings, 
grassy walks, and such like, which do not exist here, but a quaint 
garden it is ; and I do not wonder now that when subjects for discussion 
arise at our Horticultural Club meetings Mr. Cousens has something to 
say or show. There are no Orchids, few stove or greenhouse plants, but 
with those exceptions there is something of everything — trees and 
shrubs, fruit trees, herbaceous plants, and above all Ferns are to be met 
with in all directions. There is no order or regularity any more than 
there is in my own garden—fruits, flowers, vegetables, shrubs jostle 
one another, and you are continually meeting with surprises where you 
least expect them. The garden or gardens, for there are two or three of 
them, are of some extent for a suburban garden, being about an acre 
and a half in extent, the outer one being, however, mainly occupied 
with grass and a border running round it. In one of these is one of 
those old-fashioned greenhouses which were in vogue in former days, 
with a curious constructed roof in the centre and two wings, the one 
containing a Vine, and the other used for all sorts of plants. The 
centre is paved with flagstones, as they used to do in those days, and 
could only be utilised for standing plants on to flower, or plants in large 
pots or tubs. It was an expensive one I have no doubt, and is equally 
so to keep up, requiring a good deal of heating, glazing, and painting ; 
in fact, I should imagine it must be to my friend rather a sort of white 
elephant. As to the gardens themselves it would be vain to attempt 
their description ; in fact they would resent it. Take my own. When 
people say to me, “ You must have a beautiful garden,” my reply always 
is, “ No ; but I have a garden with beautiful things in it,” and so I must 
just try and jot down a few things which struck me in my wandering 
round Mr. Cousens’ garden. 
Mr. Cousens is a great admirer of British Ferns, and being a neigh¬ 
bour and intimate friend of one of our foremost pteridologists (save the 
mark), Mr. C. T. Druery, it is no wonder that the Fern fever is strong 
upon him, and consequently in going about the gardens you meet with 
Ferns in all directions—in frames, on rockeries, in houses, and in glass 
cases ; Ferns of all sorts, tasselled, crested, frilled, and I know not what, 
precious in the eyes of experts, but to many an outsider only monstrosi¬ 
ties. It may be very interesting, and I do not deny it, to see the 
beautiful Lady Fern turned into that curious form A. F.-f. Frizelliae, but 
I cannot for a moment admit that it is to be compared in beauty to the 
normal form. Then there are dwarf forms which suggest a stoppage of 
growth somewhere or at some time, and of course these giant ones are in 
favour here. Many are the varieties of the crispum varieties of 
Scolopendrium, amongst them one found by Mr. Cousens, and named after 
him Cousensi. Here, again, are pans of seedling Ferns raised from 
spores, many, strange to say, coming true. Here, again, is a case of 
Filmy Ferns in which the Killarney Fern is flourishing, as is also the 
Tunbridge Wells Fern and several others of the Filmies ; and here, as if 
to exemplify my title, is a pot containing no less than four varieties of 
Fern gathered in one clump from the top of Lyons Cathedral. Then 
here is the crested variety of the Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis), doing 
well and flowering freely, and so one might linger over these treasures 
which would be so dear to a real Fern lover. But even here there is a 
Mordecai at the gate, in the shape of the Fern beetle, one of those pests 
for which there seems neither prevention or cure. In one of the 
rockeries it was abundant, the leaves were riddled with it, and Mr. 
Cousens said the roots were thoroughly infested. There seemed to be 
no remedy but taking up the plants, washing the roots, and replanting, 
when, perhaps, they would return again in a couple of years. 
But this is not the only pest to which the garden has been subjected, 
the caterpillar of the goat moth (Cossus ligniperda) seems in some 
seasons to be abundant in this neighbourhood, and it attacked some 
small bush Apples which were obtained from Mr. Bunyard of Maidstone. 
There were two short rows of them on either side of a walk. Down one 
side the moth seems to have made her journey, and deposited an egg on 
each tree. The places of entrance and exit were clearly seen, but, 
strange to say, the trees had shot out from lower down than the point 
of entrance, and had a very abundant crop of good and large fruit on 
them. I do not think that it is usual for this caterpillar to attack such 
small trees as these, preferring larger fruit trees, and some of our forest 
trees, especially the Elm. It remains for two years in the larva state, 
and I should have been inclined to think that these ravages were due to 
one of the clearwings, but I fear the Cossus must be credited with it. 
The Black Currant bushes were attacked here in a very curious manner, 
and I shall be anxious to find out what is the cause. The pith in all the 
branches, great and small, had turned completely black and dried up ; 
the leaves of the bushes were shrivelled, and all of them looked doomed. 
I have never met with anything of the kind before. 
But these are not the only destructive pests Mr. Cousens has to cope 
with. A discharged gardener is worse than a Fern beetle or a Cossus 
if he be a vindictive man. One such he had, and after he left he found 
that various pieces of spite and malice had been committed, amongst 
which was the barking just under the ground of a small tree of Salis- 
buria adiantifolia, which was much prized. In order to kill it, the 
bark had been taken off right round the stem. In order to preserve it 
Mr. Cousens tried an unusual remedy : he cut off one of the branches, 
peeled off the bark, and applied it to the place where the damage had 
been done, much in the way in which surgeons nowadays repair a man’s 
nose, plastered it, and bound it up. The adhesion took place, and the 
tree survives—a memory not so much of vindictiveness as of the in¬ 
genuity of the owner. 
In walking round we come to a clump of Aucuba raised from a 
packet of seed from Lee of Hammersmith, near whose nursery Mr. 
Cousens in his early days lived. The plants exhibit that wonderful 
variety which we find in Nature everywhere, no two being alike, and 
several of them beiDg beautiful; and this is one interesting thing in this 
garden that its owner is able to tell some little history connected with so 
many of its inmates. On an arched trellis over one of the side walks is 
trailing shrub, which, although common enough, and introduced here 
about two centuries ago, I had never before seen—Lycium barbarum. It 
is a rapid grower, bearing small violet flowers, which are surrounded 
by a bright red soft fruit, of which birds are very fond. It makes an 
ornamental creeper for such a position. As the plant gets older and 
stronger the stems with which it is furnished become fewer. Close by 
this is some of that queer Japan vegetable about which so much noise 
was made some time ago—the Crosnes de Japon or Stachys. I notice it 
because it seemed to be coming into flower, and it would therefore be 
interesting, as I understand that was the difficulty in determining its 
true position. Another curious thing is a large Cape bulb, round in 
shape and having enormously fleshy roots. The leaves are very long, 
and when broken across there are long filaments, very fine, which can be 
drawn out to a considerable length, and under the microscope give the 
appearance of twisted cables. Although Mr. Cousens had had this for 
seven or eight years, and although it has increased much, and he 
has tried it in various ways, in pots large and small, and on the 
open ground, but he has never yet been able to get it to flower. I 
have suggested his sending it to Kew, where he would no doubt 
learn all about it. There was a very pretty white trailing Campanula. 
Whether it was turbinata or not I am not quite sure, but it was 
appearing in all sorts of places, evidently at home, and making a 
home for itself. Here, again, were a number of seedling plants of 
Eucalyptus, the seed of which had come from Mr. Wilks. Here was a 
plant of variegated or golden Box, which Mr. Wildsmith had given 
him on one of our Horticultural Club excursions. In the greenhouse 
there were some plants of a very pretty and useful double white Petunia, 
useful for those who use double flowers for decorations. Here, again, 
was a quarter containing the best varieties of Cactus and other 
Dahlias, and against a wall were two trees of Peaches and Nectarines 
literally laden with fruits. In other places were clumps of Salpiglossis ; 
here a fine plant of Diplacus full of blossom, and so all through the 
garden. You ask Mr. Cousens about a plant. “ Oh, yes ; here it is.” 
And so in this quaint garden you may find a great deal to interest, but 
I need hardly say that to enter fully into it you must be a Fern lover. 
I hope that these brief notes will show that a good deal of pleasure 
may be had out of a limited space, and that when Mr. Cousens asked 
me to visit him and said, “ I think that you can show you something 
that may interest you,” lie was as good as his word. As we might suppose, 
he has other curios of a different character, but my concern has been 
simply to show that there are things in this quaint garden worth looking 
at.—D., Deal . 
THE PRINCIPLES OF PRUNING. 
The brief digest of Mr. Wright’s lecture at the Conference of the 
British Fruit Growers’ Association at the Crystal Palace recently 
contains many interesting points in connection with the proper manage¬ 
ment of fruit trees under the head of pruning. I have long since found 
the advantage of maintaining a thin centre in various kinds of fruit trees, 
any trouble spent in this way during the summer is laying the foundation 
for future heavy crops of fruit. 
Nothing could be more strongly in favour of this practice as a row of Red 
Currant trees growing here. Each tree is restricted to six to ten branches, 
the trees standing on a clear stem ; every one of them reach 5 to 6 feet 
high, each branch is thickly clustered with fine fruits every year, not a 
few here and a gap there, but a continuous string from top to bottom. 
This I attribute to attention to removal of the bu'.k of the shoots during 
the month of June, so that the spurs and the buds about them may 
under the influence of the sun and air mature thoroughly, which is the 
all-important secret in the production of next year’s crop of fruit. Some 
persons may say, “ Oh 1 but Red Currants will grow and fruit well 
without the trouble of summer pruning.” They may do, but in our 
case the end justifies the aim, and what holds good in this case does so 
in others. No more striking instance of the advisability of maintaining 
a thin centre by attention during the summer could be found than in 
the case of some Apple trees, especially three of Warner’s King and the 
same number of Cox’s Orange Pippin, standards as well as bushes. A 
system of extension training has been practised. Shoots from 2 to 3 feet 
long have simply had the points removed, but the branches have been 
kept thin ; and although the trees have grown vigorously they have 
never needed root-pruning, and have not once failed to give us a full 
crop of good fruit for the last ten years. With such strong growing 
sorts as Warner’s King, which succeeds so well in a retentive soil like 
ours, it is a good plan to tie the branches downwards to the soil, 
not below a horizontal position of course. This plan not only gives 
shape to the trees, but admits light and air to the leaves and buds in 
the centre of the trees, which in return will scarcely ever fail to give a 
full crop of fruit. Trees so managed are much better able to withstand 
adverse weather. Even frost will not injure the blossoms of trees that 
mature every portion of their growth annually under a rational system 
of pruning and training. The latter, no doubt, is of great assistance 
to the former. It often happens that branches are far too close together 
