THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ March, 
56 
Take the old system of manuring Vine borders with dead cattle and deer, for example. 
This was commonly done forty or fifty years ago, and singularly enough, small grapes were 
then the rule rather than the exception. Compare the results with those now afforded by 
pure turfy loam, lime rubbish, and a few handfuls of bone-dust. Even supposing that our 
churchyards do produce fine fruit, do they not also exert a baneful influence on the water- 
supply of many districts ? Sensitive people would not care to be told that the luscious Bon 
Chretien or Marie Louise they were eating had derived its exquisite flavour from the rotting 
bones of a burial-ground. I said‘ exquisite flavour,’because Nature is too perfect in the art of 
chemistry to leave any traces of the source whence she derives her delicate flavours and 
balmy perfumes; and fruit grown in a churchyard is quite as free from any impurities as 
that grown in the purest virgin soil. It makes no matter how we apply manures, plants can 
only absorb them in watery solution or in a gaseous form; and whatever change takes place 
in the food and moisture after they enter the tissues of the plant, one thing is clear, namely, 
that the spongioles act much in the same way as the stomach in animals, since they exercise 
the power of selecting nothing but what the plant requires to complete its development. 
Cremation is a dreadful bogey to a certain class, but I believe Mr. Forsyth’s theory of 
utilising dead bodies as manure*would meet with a far greater amount of disapproval from 
all intelligent people. Had man remained in his natural state, cremation would scarcely 
have been required, but in large and densely populated places it has become almost a neces¬ 
sity—a necessary evil, if you will, and is in the opinion of many far preferable to the costly and 
morbid display which, in too many cases, attends our present mode of burial in densely 
crowded localities.—F. W. Burbidge. 
%* See on this subject, Mr. F. Seymour Haden’s letter in the Times , of January 12,1875, in 
which he argues that the remedy for the evils of our present system of Burial is a recogni¬ 
tion of, and a timely submission to, a well-defined law of nature; that the soil at our feet 
and everywhere at our disposal is the most potent antiseptic known, and the readiest of 
application; and by a combination of forces inherent in it, which might well appear contra¬ 
dictory, but for the wonderful purposes they are destined to effect, it is resolvent and refor¬ 
mative as well, so that what under the influence of the air was putrefaction, in the earth 
becomes resolution, what was offensive becomes inoffensive, and what was decay becomes a 
process of transmutation. “ To doubt that one of the purposes for which the earth was tlms 
endowed is the resolution and conversion of its dead, or its perfect competency to effect that 
purpose, would pass comprehension, if habit had not taught us to shut our eyes to it.”—E d. 
GARDEN WORK FOR MARCH. 
FLOWERS. 
@ HOUGH the thermometer approached zero during the closing days of the 
past year, it is remarkable how thoroughly even tender plants have escaped 
f injury. This is to be attributed solely to the persistent mantle of snow 
by which vegetation was enveloped. I have not observed that a single 
plant has been damaged ; the bands of Echeveria secundct glavca , a plant that 
has never stood here before in the open borders without protection, remain as 
fresh as ever, and the blossoms of the Laurustinus are not affected. Ornamental 
Shrubs upon lawns must now be pruned, so as to preserve their proportions, such 
kinds as Bags, Portugal Laurels , Hollies , Aucubas , &c., being cut. with the knife, 
so as not to lacerate the foliage. Lawns should be looked over at this season, 
grubbing up by the roots daisies, dandelions, plantains, and all the coarse weeds 
which are likely to become unsightly if not eradicated. 
Poses should now be pruned, thinning the shoots freely out, and preserving 
the strongest, which should be cut back in proportion to the vigour of the in¬ 
dividual kinds. The more robust should be left from 12 in. to 18 in. in length, 
whereas the weaker growers—for instance, Marie Baumann, Louis Van Houtte, 
&c.—are most satisfactory when cut in close. Make good all vacancies, and if 
not already done, slightly fork over the surface, avoiding deep digging. 
HollghocJcs should now be planted out upon ground that has been deeply 
trenched, and heavily enriched with decomposed manure; plant at about 3 ft. 
