351: 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
September 2. 
herself teaches this doctrine in all parts of the glohe. 
Our readers may rest assured, that the same reasons 
which apply to a cutting, are applicable to a transplanted 
tree; indeed, the latter is a cutting, and something 
! more. The fact is, th at the “ callosity ” which precedes 
i rooting in many cases, termed hy our botanists the 
granular process, and which is said to he simply a 
development, or extension, of the horizontal cellular sys¬ 
tem, is much facilitated by a little extra assistance this 
way. Now, as a tree is perhaps more at rest soon after 
it has shed its leaves than at any other time, we would 
[ fain steal a march on this crisis, in order to gain a longer 
period of ground warmth for the granular or rooting 
purpose. To attempt arguments to prove that the 
sooner a transplanted tree is rooted the better, would be 
surely a work of supererogation; it is self-evident. 
After such arguments, founded on well known prin¬ 
ciples, we do hope to persuade some of our readers to 
try early autumn planting; planting even before the 
last leaves have fallen. 
It has been repeatedly stated in these columns, that a 
good sound loam is the chief article in the compost yard 
j for general purposes, and that it is eminently adapted 
for high culture in fruit trees. Manures, powerful 
as they may be, cannot accomplish what loam can; 
neither can ordinary soils, although the latter, when 
of sound quality, answer exceedingly well for ordinary 
purposes. Now, seeing that the platform mode of plant¬ 
ing—which we claim as our own—is the mode best 
adapted for a dwarfing system, as proved in thousands 
of cases; and that such mode has been a great econo¬ 
miser in gardening expenses, as opposed to the old plan 
of wholesale border making; surely it will not be thought 
too much labour or expense, by our friends, to procure 
as much loam as will allow from three to four barrowsful 
to a tree. This, with an admixture of the ordinary 
soil, weeds, litter, &c., will make a capital station for 
any fruit tree. And this brings us to the character of 
the loam. Many have expressed themselves puzzled to 
know what is meant by the term “ loam," which seems 
strange to an old practitioner. Surely, most of our 
readers have, in their day, gone over a ley newly 
ploughed; one which, after a shower, will daub the 
shoes so as to render it a task for “Boots" to clean 
them. This soil is a loam; it may be a very adhesive 
one, within a shade of clay; or a lighter one, containing 
more sand; or what is better, one of neither extreme. 
Such soils have what is termed an argillaceous or 
clayey tendency, and the chief property they possess, 
as bearing on fruit tree culture, is the power of parting 
with moisture in a somewhat slow way; or to use the 
countryman's language for a moment, “ they cannot be 
snatched.” A steady and continuous root action is the 
point to be aimed at in general fruit culture ; and what 
we of the blue apron term “loam,” happons to be the 
very best medium whereby to accomplish it. Of course, 
it is not a mere question of clay, although such may pre¬ 
dominate in a given soil; it may possess properties 
of a specific character, which may mar the benefits de¬ 
rivable from it on the score of texture. The irony-clay 
loams, containing iron, would seem to be most prejudi¬ 
cial. However, we hope enough has been said to advise 
the uninitiated, and to persuade as to the expediency of 
j autumn planting. Let us watch Sir Joseph Paxton 
with his new Crystal Palace, and see whether he plants 
1 most in autumn or in spring. If our memory is correct, 
we think that in going over the grounds of that splendid 
“Palace of the Peak,” Chatsworth, about three years 
since, they were planting Deodars of five feet high, in 
j various eligible situations in the Park, in the beginning 
ot September. There is, indeed, nothing like pushing 
these thing on in early autumn, both on the score of priu- 
| ciple and expediency. And verily spring comes laden with 
cares enough of a peculiar character. R. Errington. 
AUTUMN-SOWN ANNUALS. 
This is about the best time of the autumn to sow a 
collection of annuals, also some biennials, as the many 
varieties of Indian Pinks, Spanish Pinks (Dianthus 
latifolius), and many others; and having been asked for 
the names of a selection of these oftener than once, I 
take the market of the day, and go over this beaten 
ground once more, with all the earnestness of a new 
subject. 
What is the best kind of this or that family of plants? 
is a most difficult question to answer honestly. None 
of us would have any difficulty in saying which of all 
the Queens is the best, but who can say which is the 
best point of the British Constitution? the best institu¬ 
tion in the country ? the best family in the parish ? or 
the best shop in the village? Then, if I were to say 
that the queen of spades was the best, cheap books the 
next best, the family of The Cottage Gardener after 
that, and the shop at Amen-Corner the best in the great 
village, I should expect to find as many followers as I 
am sure I shall have to-day for my selections of annuals 
and other things that require our attention at this par¬ 
ticular season. From the middle of April to the middle 
of June is always our worst time in the flower-garden, 
whether its ornaments be planted in masses, or only 
in the mixed way. Annuals are uncertain things in 
summer, as we all know, and few people like to trust to 
more than a very few sorts of them for keeping the beds 
full for any length of time, hence the reason why 
annuals are now so much out of fashion, and hence, 
too, the first difficulty a new beginner meets with. He 
is no gardener, but he wants flowers, and would like to 
try his hand at something cheap to get experience. No 
plants are cheaper than annuals, but none of his friends 
know much about them; they are not fashionable, he 
will be told, yet he must have some, and The Cottage 
Gardener must do the rest,—must tell him when to 
sow, how to sow, and where to sow,—their after-treat¬ 
ment, when they will bloom, and all about them. 
When the beds and borders of a mixed flower-garden 
are dressed-up in the spring, and all the established 
plants have sticks or labels set to mark the places, all 
the spare ground ought to be immediately filled with 
the different kinds of annuals that were sown in the 
autumn, for they are as easily removed and replanted 
as cabbages, and coming into llower just at the time we 
are most in need of their aid, it is our own fault if we 
do not come up to the mark six weeks earlier every year 
than most of us are now in the habit of doing. Besides 
all this, one need hardly buy seeds of any annual, except 
once in a lifetime, and a few shillings spent on them 
every year would soon furnish more kinds than we 
should have room for; they all seed as freely as poppies, 
and a few plants of each kind left on the seed-bed would 
furnish as many seeds as one could desire. At all events, 
it is a vulgar prejudice that has been at the bottom of 
the present neglect of so useful and so gay an assem¬ 
blage of pretty flowers. 
Like all other crops, annuals sown in the autumn 
are liable to be injured by the weather. A very mild 
and late autumn is much against them, becauso they 
grow too rank, and are very liable to be cut off by a 
very severe winter. Experience has proved that two 
sowings ought to be made to meet this case; the first 
• early, or in the first week of September, and the second 
sowing from the 20th to the 25th. The soil should be 
light and poor, and the situation an open airy spot, 
away from where fallen leaves are likely to gather in 
heaps by the wind. This gathering together is the very | 
worst thing I know of for any seedlings; for if such j 
quantities of leaves rest on the seed-bed for a week, the \ 
little seedlings are either smothered, or made so tender j 
and blanched, that the first dry wind or cold night 
