244 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[November, 
sented in our figure. A young tree in the Waltham Cross Nursery fully accords 
as to habit with the subjoined figure. The tree was, it appears, at once put into 
commerce, and when 'M'. Transon went the following year to obtain more grafts, 
he found that the original tree had been accidentally broken down, and that the 
proprietor had uprooted it. 
Irrespective of its remarkable habit, and its consequent value as a pictorial 
tree, this Pyramidal Acacia is further interesting on account of its strongly marked 
deviation from the natural habit of the species. How it originated can, under 
the circumstances, only be inferred, but it was most probably a seedling, and if 
so, only furnishes another example of the power to develop new forms which 
seems to be inherent in plants.—T. Moore. 
COVERING VINE-BORDERS. 
lERHAPS there is no class of men having a daily occupation who are more 
completely obliged to take “ thought for to-morrow ” than gardeners. They 
have to look ahead for months, nay, for years, in nearly all that is done in 
the garden ; and this brings me to my subject—that of how the early Vine- 
borders are to be protected during winter. 
Some twenty years ago, many writers recommended the chambering and heat¬ 
ing of the Vine-borders. Now, there is a reaction, and many cultivators recommend 
that six inches or a foot of litter should be thrown over the surface of the border, 
and believe that all will then be well. I do not quite agree with the former, and 
certainly not with the latter. Nothing, surely, can be more unnatural than that 
a Vine started, say, in November, should in the following February, when in full 
vigour of growth, be exposed to a downfall of snow or cold rain, which, finding its 
way into the border, would effectually chill the roots—these, it must be supposed, 
being then in a state of active growth. In localities where the rainfall is usually 
low, and the subsoil is porous, the non-covering principle may succeed ; but not 
in wet localities, for under such circumstances, the Vine-border would be in a 
miserable plight during the dark cold days of winter. 
Various plans are resorted to for the purpose of keeping the Vine-border 
dry—and I believe that is all which is necessary. When the border has sufficient 
fall, a good covering of one or two feet of litter or fern, and the whole thatched, 
answers very well. The plan which I adopted here some ten years ago was to 
cover the border about the middle of October, and then to cover that again all 
over with wooden shutters made for the purpose. These, when taken off, are 
truly invaluable in hardening off the bedding plants, some six or eight weeks 
previous to their being turned out in the flower garden. 
More than twice ten years ago, I became a head-gardener near London, and 
as litter and wood were both very scarce in the locality where I was placed, I covered 
the border of the early house with a lot of roof-tiles, of which we happened to 
have plenty ; this was to keep the border dry. On the top of the tiles I put a 
foot of stable-manure. The result was satisfactoiy, for on the 1st of April I cut 
