February 6.J 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
289 
fibres might he spread in a horizontal position, or 
nearly so. The use of organic matter of any kind 
is sure to occasion a settling of a few inches, and this, 
of course, must be anticipated by high planting. It 
is well to use a more generous soil in contact with 
the roots at planting time, for it promotes a speedy 
revival of the exhausted powers of the tree; and 1 have 
many a time known a twelvemonth gained in this way, 
which is no despicable affair in these days of quick 
return. Nothing can exceed the surface of an old 
melon, cucumber, or mushroom bed for this purpose, 
combining, as such generally do, loamy soil with tho¬ 
roughly decomposed manure. And while on this 
branch of the subject, we may be permitted to tell our 
more unknowing friends why we sometimes appear to 
“ blow hot and cold,”—sometimes revelling amongst 
half-decayed manure, sometimes among that which 
through age, fermentation, and a consequent amount of 
decomposition, has well-nigh attained the character of 
soil. 
Highly decomposed manurial matters, whether vege¬ 
table or animal, being capable of furnishing food to the 
roots from the moment they are applied ; they are, as a 
consequence, the sooner exhausted. Not so, however, 
raw or fresh organic matter, such as tree leaves, straw, 
litter, &c. Thus, whilst the old manure from a cucum¬ 
ber bed of the previous year will by some scourging 
crops be all but exhausted within a couple of years, 
leaves, especially from hard-wooded trees, will endure as 
a slowly acting manure for at least half a dozen years ; 
at least, we have repeatedly turned flakes of them up 
with the spade from the bottom of huge shrubs which 
had been planted that time. 
Now, through the mass of the soil such slowly acting 
materials not only prove a service as a constant source 
of food to the plant, but they, in conjunction with littery 
materials, preserve elasticity in the mass, which elasticity 
is well known by our fancy pot-plant growers to indicate 
the presence of organic matter in any compost, and of 
course of nutritive powers also, as well as endurance of 
texture. 
Such points, then, established, it may be observed, that 
it is well to cause most fruit-trees to make a somewhat 
vigorous start during the first two years, which decom¬ 
posed matters in contact with the root enables them 
to do. 
To return to our subject. The trees being thus planted, 
a coating of mulch, composed of half decayed manures, 
was immediately applied, two inches in thickness, and 
the work was considered complete. 
We hope our more experienced readers submit to these 
little details for the sake of those who want to begin at 
the beginning; for we are assured by the character of 
many queries transmitted to The Cottage Gardener, 
that a considerable portion of its readers desire to be 
reminded of mere rudimentary matters. 
- It must not be understood that the procedures here 
detailed are precisely fitted for all soils under all circum¬ 
stances : we have no such presumption. So much 
depends on the character of the surface soil, and the 
nature of the locality, that modifications of some kind 
will become necessary in most situations. In some 
places the surface soil will be of a harsh and clayey 
character; here our loam receipt will scarcely be needed, 
and sandy materials, old lime rubbish, the refuse of 
the brick bank, the rubbish from old buildings, &c., 
must be called in to the aid of the planter. 
Stubborn soils require much move time to get them in 
order; and those who have such plots to deal with 
should, by all means, mark out and excavate their plat¬ 
form stations in the end of October, suffering the soil 
intended for use in filling the holes, to remain spread for 
the action of frost during the whole winter. They may in 
the meantime procure materials ready to blend with it, 
and seize the first dry period in the end of February or 
beginning of March for filling in the holes, taking care 
not to do so until the whole becomes very dry; for on 
this proceeding will depend, in a great degree, the charac¬ 
ter of the soil as to its free reception anil equalisation of 
moisture so long as the tree remains in it. 
In all cases it is w r ell to use raw organic materials 
liberally in the soil; there is no danger of their pro¬ 
ducing that pernicious excess of luxuriance which 
animal manures are but too apt to engender. 
It has been much the fasliion of late to recommend 
concrete for the bottom of borders or tree boles; but of 
this we frankly confess to no very sanguine opinion. 
Wo would neither arrest the ascent and interchange of 
the ground warmth, nor the descent and free escape of 
accumulating moisture, knowing that any imperishable 
material placed below the trees in a fragmentary manner 
will suffice. If our soil was in danger from springs or 
bottom waters, we would just elevate the mass that 
much higher. To be fair in the argument, we must 
confess to inexperience in the use of concrete for such 
purposes. This subject is by no means exhausted, and 
we must hope for another chance in due time of taking 
a broader view of it. R. Errington. 
THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 
Garden Plans—Planting Flowers in Masses. —A 
large proportion of those plants we grow in stoves, or 
hothouses, come from places where the days and nights 
are of about equal length all the year round; and we arc 
taught to believe that plants go through a very different 
process in the dark, or during the night, from that which 
is natural for them to do in open day. Now, if that be 
true—and there seems to be no great reason to doubt it— 
how is it, that instead of twelve hours one way and 
twelve hours a contrary way, these plants, having in our 
country only six boui's, or say eight hours on the average, 
all the time they make their yearly growth with us, can 
do so in a proper way under such altered conditions 
from what is natural to them ? Here, then, is a new 
question for the philosophers, which I believe has not 
yet been treated of in the English language, it in any 
other. But my word for it, this subject deserves to be 
handled by those who can do it in the right way ; and I 
often wish I was one of them ; but the subject is too 
deep for me. I do not know if it is so in the animal 
kingdom, generally, or not, but I know there are animals 
which work very differently by the light of the lamp 
from what is their part to do when the sun shines, and 
even when he does not shine at all for days and weeks 
together; and when the nights begin to get out of all 
proportion to what they are where many of our stove 
plants come from, these kinds of animals cannot possibly 
do so much of the lamp work as they are expected to do 
in open day. Hence the reason why the plans of flower¬ 
beds have been postponed till the day and night come 
to an equilibrium, or equinoctial proportions in favour 
of the lamp, as was intimated at page 201. Before the 
subject is dismissed, however, for this part of the season, 
1 want to record some of the impressions received from a 
perusal of a great number of plans, in various styles, 
which were sent for criticism. 
In the first place, I was very much struck with the 
progress the system of planting flower-beds in masses of 
one colour has made, and that, I may almost say, with¬ 
out much aid from garden literature. With the excep¬ 
tion of three or four writers, of whom I have been the 
last to enter the field, nothing that could assist the ama¬ 
teur—except in very general terms—could be met with ; 
and yet I am now in a position to assert, with all con¬ 
fidence, that the system is so fully established, that 
supposing the whole of us were to turn round and write 
