THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ May, 
102 
instead of being turned out, after all tlie other plants were put in their 
summer quarters. On the first week in June, 1867, I filled two raised beds 
as follows : In the centre of each was a standard Heliotrope 4 feet high; 
around this, nearly filling the bed, was the Coleus plunged in pots; and 
for an edging I planted the white Ivy-leaved Pelargonium to hang down 
over the stones with which the beds were raised. Thus treated, the Coleus 
was everything that could be desired, maintaining that beautiful velvety 
appearance that I had previously seen in the London gardens until de¬ 
stroyed by frost at the end of October. 
The It 'esine Herbstii has pleased me very much as a bedder. I selected 
rather a favourable bed for it, in the coolest part of the garden, and filled 
the centre with variegated Veronica, which was surrounded by a double row 
of the Iresine for an edging. As both the Veronica and the Iresine are 
thirsty subjects, they got a good watering about twice a-week, which made 
them grow freely. The foliage was very striking. The light variegation 
of the Veronica added very much to the effect of the rich crimson of the 
Iresine, which is of quite a distinct colour from the Coleus. 
The Amaranthus melancholicus ruber I have quite given up. Last season 
I tried A. bicolor and A. tricolor , as well as melancholicus; but I find them 
all very impatient of wet, and they are the first plants in the garden to be 
cut down by the autumn frosts. 
The Golden-leaved Honeysuckle (Lonicera aureo-reticulata ), I find a very 
pleasing and striking plant for an edging around a bed filled with the Pelar¬ 
gonium named Brilliant. With us it is quite hardy ; it has been planted 
in the same bed about four years, and is trained on wires about 6 inches 
high and kept stopped. It requires a little management to keep it neat, 
but it is then telling throughout the summer months. 
Elsenham Hall Gardens . William Plester. 
ROOT CULTURE OF FRUIT TREES. 
UITE agreeing with Mr. Fish that it is of the greatest importance 
that we secure a healthy root action in our fruit trees, I yet differ 
@/(c> from him entirely in thinking it necessary that we should give up 
w our wall borders wholly for that purpose. No : the sacrifice is far 
too great, and such as would, I think, make most persons pause before 
building garden walls to enclose ground of which, in some cases, the twelfth 
part, and that, too, the most valuable for the purpose, would not be avail¬ 
able for the growing of vegetables. Let the healthy medium be increased 
in depth, and all other circumstances being equal, I question much if a 
perceptible difference could be seen in a cropped and uncropped border, 
provided that too long an interval is not allowed to elapse between diggings, 
that the roots may not at any time be liable to receive too great a check. 
