352 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
[ May 6, 1886. 
Editor has had as much as he could deal with. Perhaps he is in the same 
position now, and if so my jottings must wait their turn, a9 they have 
waited before—that is, it they are worth preserving for filling a blank 
that a few odds and ends may occupy. 
I think a gardening paper is very much like a garden, or it ought to 
be—that is, the space should be occupied much in the same way in both 
cases, the greater part devoted to that which is essentially useful, a due 
proportion being accorded to what is mainly ornamental (though there is 
often great use in ornament), with a few patches here and there, with 
something just a little better than nothing for the sake of variety. I am 
content to plant these patches, light work being more to my taste than 
heavy digging, and short spells than continuous labour at the same task, 
whether in the garden or that reflex of it, the gardeners’ paper, 
I HAVE, perhaps, done every kind of work that is found in gardens, 
“ single-handed ” and upwards, from digging drains to dressing dinner 
tables, sowing Onions to potting Orchids, planting Vines to earthing 
Celery ; and it is because of this that reading becomes enjoyable and 
writing pleasant. I never read an article without imagining the writer of 
it at work on the subject of which he is treating. I have in my mind’s 
eye such general practicali-ts as Messrs. Abbey, Bardney, Iggnlden, and 
men of that stamp (I think “men” is permissible) planning and working. 
I like to picture “ D , Deal," tending and noting the properties of his 
flowers ; Mr. Horner amongst his Auriculas, about which he writes so 
delightfully; Mr. Castle scrutinising the Orchids ; “D.” examining with 
painstaking care the tops of Primulas; and Dr. Masters, with philosophic 
instinct, dissecting their roots ; Mr. Wolley Dod among the Daffodils ; 
and Mr. Shirley Hibberd covered with dust in rummaging through ancient 
bosks in search of the life history of flowers. And when we further con¬ 
sider that such work and researches are to a large extent conducted for 
the benefit of the others, it is impossible to suppress a feeling of pity for 
those gardeners who do notread, and whose minds are necessarily swamped 
and stunted by want of exercise. 
I have been reading gardening literature for forty years, and am 
grateful to all who have given of their store of knowledge, and the more 
so because it is certain they have not become the poorer through the 
giving ; nay, they have grown richer, for in searching for information to 
impart to others they have found that which, but for the effort, would 
have been lost to themselves. I would like young gardeners to think 
of this, and in their endeavours towards self-improvement not to trust to 
reading alone, but test what they read, as far as their opportunities allow, 
and record their practice and its results. That is the sa'e way to acquire 
souni knowledge. But there is the dreaded criticism. Let no one fear 
it, but remember that it has, more than anything, made our greatest 
representative men very much what they are. But I must curb my 
thoughts, and may not inappropriately draw up at an example of the 
working of what I have tried to impress. 
Judging “A. L. G.” solely by his writings, I am strongly inclined 
to regard him as a youDg gardener, and the younger he is the more do 
his articles redound to his credit. He has, by opposing the supposed 
views of one of the best gardeners, and an experienced writer, won his 
respect. As Mr. Bardney observes on page 316, our excellent critic “ is 
not a mere imitator, but exercises his thinking powers, and strikes out a 
course for himself.” We want more of such thinkers and experimenters. 
“ A. L. G.’s ” experiment, as recorded on page 290, on the evolution of 
ammonia through the action of lime, is interesting. I think I pointed out 
last year that the presence of lime in soil could be detected by an acid, 
and this is now corroborated ; but I have used litmus paper instead of a 
feather dipped in vinegar to detect the escape of ammonia. May I 
venture a suggestion that ardent young scientists are sometimes apt to 
overlook the practical bearings of their experiments. The very evolution 
of ammonia that your correspondent regards as waste, I regard, in the 
case of manure-poisoned soil of either a Vine border or plot of ground 
under cropping, as a distinct gain. When Mr. Bardney found his Grapes 
improve so markedly after an application of lime; when the late Mr. 
Speed of Ghatswoith found exactly the same almost magical change; 
when Mr. Taylor of Longleat found lime of such service, they surely did 
not do wrong in applying it. The ammonia then liberated was absorbed 
by the crops ; it was sealed before. The Vines were in the condition of a 
hungry man who bad lost the key of his larder. The lime, in the instances 
referred to, was the key to the nutriment locked in the earth, and it was 
more, for it was food in itself that was needed by the Vines. Let growing 
crops be experimented with in rich soil, and a reasonable amount of 
salts of ammonia applied, and there will be no such waste as must follow 
when an excess is applied to bare soil. The crops will take care of that ; 
and further, if 10 per cent of lime and 1 of sulphate of ammonia, which 
is enough for good loam, be mixed with soil and covered with an inch or 
two of damp earth, there will not be the waste that was found in the 
cannister experiment, and even sensitive reddened litmus paper will 
scarcely be tinged with blue. The excess used by “A, L. G.” was waste, 
as it always is, Rnd must he under such circumstances. The practical 
point is this. If a lady wants a sniff of smelling salts to revive her in a 
heated room, is she to refrain from drawing the cork because a portion of 
the ammonia may escape into the air 1 
I think it is possible Mr. Bardney may have applied more lime to 
his Vine horders than was absolutely necessary. It is difficult to determine 
the exact minimum, and lime is cheap ; but it is certain he did not use too ■ 
much when he cured clubbing in the kitchen garden and made the land 
produce at the least fourfold that it did two years previously. Mr. 
Bardney has many visitors. I have been one of the units and seen the 
change effected in the Grapes and the Cabbages through the application of 
lime to limeless soil. I have examined Grapes in many gardens and from 
Vines grown in nearly all sorts of soil, but never found them stoned like 
the last I examined at Norris Green. I thought then rather too much 
lime had been used, though on that point I may be wrong, for the quality 
and flavour were superb. 
I FEEL sure “A. L. G.” will not object to my “treatment” of the 
case. I have certainly no wish to prove him wrong. That is not my 
object at all; but it is necessary to refer to the expression of his belief 
that “ in sandy soil where lime is deficient bones will furnish all the lime 
necessary.” They may, but at what cost ? The bones used at Longleat 
did not; nor would half-inch bones have doneso if four times the quantity 
had been used. Mr. Taylor gave the necessary lime in a ten times cheaper 
form than could possibly have been applied in half-inch bones. Let me 
here say I do not believe very much in the economy of bones in lumps. 
The proper mechanical condition of soil can be effected in a cheaper way ; 
for instance, with charcoal, lime rubble, and crushed bricks. The most 
economical and effective way to apply bones is in powder, and the finer 
this is the better, steamed bone flour having the advantage, because it can 
be ground finer than that from raw bones. I believe a great virtue (but 
not the only one) of Jensen’s Fish Potash manure consists in its fineness. 
I have not seen Mr. Thomson’s famed Vine manure nor heard its described, 
but I venture an opinion that it is not in such large particles as “ half-inch 
bones.” 
I must have just one more sentence about lime. Your correspondent 
in alluding to the per-centage of lime in fertile soil, asks if it does not 
occur to me that it is in its carbonate form ? Certainly. It could not 
very well be otherwise, and I am not aware that it is in the power of man 
to prevent lime that is slaked, spread on the ground, and lightly pointed 
in absorbing carbonic acid, and what is that but making chalk, which 
“ A. L. G.” prefers ? It is the only practical way in which chalk can be 
procured in many districts, and it is very certain that lime as prepared 
and applied in the manner indicated is not pure. There is not, in my 
opinion, nearly so much difference between the practical gardener as 
represented by Mr. Bardney, and the scientific gardener as represented by 
“ A. L G.”, as at first sight appears. I do not mean that the latter is not 
practical as well as scientific, and the former not scientific as well as 
practical, hut merely refer to the predominating characteristics. There 
has been a misunderstanding of circumstances and term», but no harm has 
resulted through that, and we are all, perhaps, just a little wiser than we 
were three months ago. 
As to manuring Vine borders until they become a mass of humus it is, 
I believe, a mistake, and if lime be not added such borders become practi¬ 
cally effete. Vine borders, in not a few instances, are buried with wet 
manure at the wrong time—namely, in winter, making them sodden then 
and keeping them cold in spring. A lighter and drier covering is better 
for excluding frost, and the rich dressing is the most effective as a conserver 
of moisture in hot weather, and as preventing the sun and consequent 
drought driving the roots downwards. Soil as wet as a puddle during 
the cold months and as dry as a lime basket in the hot ones is utterly 
wrong, yet that is the actual state of hundreds of Vine borders. Support 
can be given to Vines far more effectively than in the form of heavy winter 
dressings of rank farmyard manure—namely, by approved concentrated or 
so-called “ artificial ” fertilisers, and more of these will be used in the 
future than in the past in gardens and on farms alike. Of all the fields 
open for useful thought this is the widest one I know, so wide that I dare 
not even enter it at the present time ; and in leaving it let me express a 
hope that gardeners read attentively the farm articles in the Journal, for 
in them I often see most valuable information. Their underlying principle 
is this—good tilth, good seed, no weeds, and the greatest amount of 
immediately available nutriment applied in the smallest compass, and in 
proportions best adapted for respective crops. Let cultivators master that 
principle, and the so-called worn-out land of old England will yet be made 
young again, and its foud-yielding resources enormously increased. 
I WAS rather sorry to see that a “ Young Practicalist ” made a slight 
mistake on page 250 in his critique on science versus practice in horticul¬ 
ture. It appeared on the 1st of April. He had a very good case, but made 
a stronger one for opponents by accepting as facts certain statements 
which be believed authentic. There is perhaps a natural disposition to 
give credence to rumours that appear to sustain a preconceived theory. 
There is also a danger of young reformers using the sledge hammer too 
freely. At the same time I cannot help regretting that the “ Young 
Praeticalist’s ” “ position does not admit of his discussing the subject 
further.” Britishers ought to be the last persons in the world to fear com¬ 
petition. They penetrate everywhere and compete in all nations, in many 
instances with great success. It is as futile as it is discourteous to speak 
disdainfully of “ foreigners ” as a body. There are as great-minded 
and good-hearted amongst them as with us, and on both sides indi¬ 
viduals that cannot be regarded as patterns to follow. Let us excel the 
best of them if we can. International jealou-ies are dying by degrees, and 
the sooner they are all buried the better it will be for the world. At the 
same time I am emboldened to say that nowtiere is better all-round garden¬ 
ing to be seen than in this country as conducted by natives so wanting in 
“ accomplishments.” Let young men strive for higher acquirements. 
