1870. ] 
ON PLANTING WALL-TEEE BOEDERS. 
135 
their roots and fibres choked up in fine close stuff. After sifting the earth in this 
way, spread it out in the open air for a day or two before using it, so as to clear it 
of mouldy matter (a very requisite precaution), at the same time keeping off the 
rain and wet, as it is best to have it rather dry, both for top-dressing and re-potting. 
With respect to the treatment of the plants through the different seasons of 
the year, I propose on a future occasion to give my own practical experience 
therein, and at the same time to add a list of the names of the choicest first- 
class varieties of the present time. This I will endeavour to do not later than 
July, which is the month I most recommend for performing the operation of 
repotting.—J. Hepworth, Huddersfield, April, 1870. 
ON PLANTING WALL-TKEE BOEDERS. 
year some of your correspondents wrote very freely both for and 
against the practice of planting the borders of wall trees with vegetables. 
Without discussing in detail what was then said, I would just observe 
that the practice, though bad, may be considered a necessary evil, for the 
sake of the shelter for early crops afforded by the walls. And with proper care, 
the injury*to the roots of the trees may be lessened, especially in the case of 
those the roots of Avhich extend beyond the borders. The latter are, in general, 
as "wide as the walls are high, that space being considered proportionate to the 
range of the roots, as the height of the walls is to the extension of the branches. 
But the growth of these latter, as well as that of the roots, depends much on 
how the trees are pruned, especially in summer, for the loss of the leaves by 
topping the tender shoots too much, checks the growth of the roots. After all, 
the chief evil of planting the borders is the loss of the fibres, or surface roots, by 
the operation of digging in making preparation for fresh crops. This is well 
exemplified in the roots of orchard trees, which spread near the surface, under the 
natural covering of grass, much as the wood does above. In such places, the roots 
derive more nutriment from the atmosphere than in those cases where they are 
deeper in the ground. They readily imbibe the ammonia which descends in 
rain, and also absorb dew from the grass. Without these two powerful agents 
and aids to vegetation, all kinds of manures must fail, however skilfully used by 
the cultivator of the soil. The loss of roots is mainly caused by the use of the 
spade, but if a fork is used, with care, even near the stems of young trees, they 
may be the more readily spared. Still, with the greatest care, trees often fail 
through ungenial seasons. In such seasons the leaves become blighted, and 
rendered unfit to fertilize the sap from the roots. Hence trees may die, though 
their roots may seem healthy, instances of which may be seen in the issue of 
strong plum-suckers from the stocks of dead peach and apricot trees. 
Ever since gardens were ‘Availed in,” the borders have been more or less 
planted with vegetables ; and formerljq with the seasons as variable as now, but 
with less efficient means of protecting the trees, fruit seems to have been equally 
