76 
THE FLORIST. 
rich soil (not on lawns) ; place grass thickly over her roots, and squares 
of glass over the grass, and water her head and foot with a fine copper 
spout every day in hot weather, and keep her perfectly dry, head and 
foot, in wet weather ; when the sun returns the glass will drive her 
quickly into beautiful bloom. Cover your show Roses by day with 
green bunting, tie the blooms head downward during the day, cut your 
show Ptoses in the middle of the night, cover your show-box with a 
wet cloth, go to London on the 1st of July, and I will do my best to 
give you a good beating. 
Rus/iton, Blandford. W. F. Radclyffe. 
OLD GARDENS. 
There is no greater difficulty to contend with, in gardening matters, 
than to manage old gardens, where the soil has been dunged year after 
year until it has become a mass of black, pasty-looking earth, rich to a 
degree, but quite unmanageable for growing ordinary garden crops and 
fruit-trees. I have heard gardens of this kind described as worn out, 
or as having become sick of such and such crops—a vague definition, 
conveying no information beyond the fact that some kinds of vegetables 
refuse to thrive in them; and as for fruit-trees, they only run to wood. 
Peaches and Nectarines gum, canker, and die in a few years ; Plums 
refuse to bear; Apples are infested, beyond recovery, with American 
blight and canker; and Pears make wood only; while the smaller 
fruits—as Gooseberries and Currants—fail in the same way; and 
Strawberries produce luxuriant leaves, to be sure, but seldom produce 
fruit. 
The above string of complaints, which are more or less common to 
all old gardens, such as may be seen in nearly every village and town 
in the kingdom, are brought about by over-kindness and by want of 
attention to a few practical points in cultivation. I could easily carry 
on the description further, and show that the mildew in Peas, the 
maggot in the Onion and Carrot crop, and the clubbing which, in 
som,e old gardens, prevents the growth of Cabbages and Cauliflowers 
entirely, have their origin in the same cause. 
This unfortunate list of garden shortcomings, bad as it is in the 
country, is much aggravated when we get into the vicinity of large 
towns, where gardens are frequently surrounded by buildings or trees, 
which, by preventing the free access of light and air, make the cultiva¬ 
tion of fruit-trees and vegetables a very uncertain affair, so far as 
realising a produce is concerned. Having been called in times out of 
numrber to give advice on these subjects, it has occurred to me to bring 
the matter forward in the Florist, as the question must largely interest 
very many of your readers and may not be unwelcome to others. 
It was, I think, last September that I called on an old friend of 
mine, who lays claim to be considered an authority on all matters per¬ 
taining to Pinks, Hollyhocks, Roses, and Dahlias. I found him, with 
his man, very busily engaged covering over the roots of his Peach-trees 
