December 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENED. 
J 51 
Fig. 7. 
One of the inconveniences at¬ 
tendant upon pot-culture is the 
hardening of the surface soil by 
watering. This may be obvi¬ 
ated by having the rim of the 
pot (7) encompassed hy a gutter, 
a, a, communicating to the earth 
within the pot by numerous per¬ 
forations, h. Water poured into 
the gutter would thus gently 
percolate away into the earth. 
The last flower-pot (8) we 
shall describe is one that is 
very useful for facilitating the 
shifting of specimens in large 
pots. It was patented, we be¬ 
lieve, by Mr. G-. Fry, gardener 
at Lee Park, and named by him 
the “West Kent Garden Pot.” 
The drawing represents a sec¬ 
tion of it. The pot is without 
a bottom, the orifice b extending across its entire 
diameter, except a narrow ledge all round, on which 
rests the false bottom, c, perforated as usual with the 
drainage hole, d. The principal advantage of this 
form is that at shifting time, a block of wood of the 
size of the orifice b being pressed up, it moves the 
ball of earth bodily, thus disturbing the roots as 
little as possible .—Johnsons Gardener's Almanac. 
We have been favoured with the following from a 
vicarage near Bridgewater:— 
“ Having seen in the Cottage Gardener that it is 
recommended to cut down dahlias, as soon as touched 
by the frost, to within four or five inches of the 
ground, and then lightly to cover with coal-aslies or 
turf-dust, 1 followed the plan; and in a subsequent 
paper it is said that the roots might be left out in the 
ground in the winter without injury. I therefore 
intend to try it for this winter, and mean to cover 
them up a little more thickly before cold weather, 
as we often find it difficult to get leisure to put 
them in at the right time. In the last paper but 
one I see, among the answers to correspondents, 
that some one has stated, that their dahlias, cut 
down as you recommended, send out young shoots 
from the stems, or ask if they will not do so; and 
you, in reply, state it is not probable that they 
would shoot out. I therefore thought I would send 
a line, to let you know that nearly all my dahlias 
are sending out young shoots from the short stems 
since they were cut down.” 
Our correspondent misremembered what we said 
at p. 57, for we there recommended a part of the 
stems of the dahlias to be left, and the tubers to re¬ 
main in the ground to ripen ; and one of the reasons 
for so doing is here exemplified. Had the stems 
been cut close down last October, the tubers during 
such mild weather might break into growth; hut 
they never will do so as long as there is a joint or 
two alive above them. 
THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 
Planting Eruit Trees on Stations. — Many a 
time have we pointed to the benefits to be derived 
from planting fruit trees (under a dwarfing system) 
on prepared] soils, severely limited both in regard of 
depth and extension. This mode of planting, or 
rather the benefit accruing from its adoption, was, 
we believe, first systematised or made public by our¬ 
selves, under the title of “ Station Planting.” We 
hope it will not be deemed egotistic to lay claim to 
this much. We shall, however, respectfully give 
place to any one who can invalidate our claims, and 
establish one more genuine in its stead. Be this as 
it may, it is a fitting subject for the present period, 
and we may at once proceed. 
In former days our fruit catalogues were not so 
overcharged as at the present period, at least in the 
pear way, the great improvement in which, through 
our great Flemish breeders, has induced hundreds, 
nay thousands, of small gardeners or amateurs to 
indulge in the luxury of a melting winter and spring 
pear, whose dessert, in former days, scarcely extended 
beyond the bounds of the apple. As soon as the 
rage for these desirable pears prevailed, it became 
manifest, from the contradictory accounts which 
came to hand, that a variety of aspects would be 
requisite, and that many of the best of them would 
deserve and require a station on the wall, at least in 
our more northern counties. Subsequent practice 
has proved that a judicious selection of stocks, to¬ 
gether with shallow planting, and a perfect control 
over the amount of root action in every respect, quite 
alters the character of the pear, as well as of most 
other fruits; causing the wood to become much more 
solidified or ripened, and more short-jointed; and 
this much accomplished, earlier, and more perfectly- 
ripened, fruit must follow as a matter of course. 
Here, then, we have the means of escape from a di¬ 
lemma ; for, could nothing of the kind be effected, 
peach culture on our walls must have given way, or 
otherwise the finer Flemish pears must, in a great 
degree, have gone out of cultivation. 
Now, pruning (winter pruning) could by no means 
have accomplished these things; herein were gar¬ 
deners, and even so-called scientific men of former 
days, completely baffled. Hence, also, arose such a 
fuss about modes of pruning, some fifteen or twenty 
years since; when, as before observed, the pressure 
or demand for situations on walls for our improved 
pears led many persons to imagine that a spruce 
system of pruning would, by admitting more sun¬ 
light, enable them to grow such fruits as dwarf or 
trained espaliers. And so it would have done, but 
they were following a kind of “ will-o’-the-wisp.” The 
powerful root action of such trees, uncontrolled, 
smothered their embryo blossom buds annually, at 
the very period when the reverse was requisite, and 
when it became particularly desirable that trees thus 
circumstanced should have been so established that 
the ordinary disbudding (always necessary in June), 
should of itself have guaranteed the necessary con¬ 
ditions of light, &c., until August. Thus, then, 
stood the case ; and this brings us to the elucidation 
of our text, “Stations.” 
We have before, in The Cottage Gardener, 
alluded to the economic bearing of station-mak¬ 
ing when a new garden lias to be enclosed, and 
what is termed a collection of fruit trees planted. 
We have known many cases, within the last thirty 
years, in which it was deemed necessary, in “mak¬ 
ing a garden,” where “no expense was to be spared,” 
to trench the whole plot over, perhaps some three 
or four feet deep ; and to remove not only ordi¬ 
nary subsoil, but even much of the soil of the lo¬ 
cality, although peradventure no particular accu¬ 
sation existed against it. Indeed, in the case of 
I 
