M.vhch 10. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
437 
an oRlinaiy frame. When a gardener ha.s more on liis 
hands than can be well done, it is surely evident that 
something must be delayed, or must be omitted altoge¬ 
ther; and do not wo all know that the proprietor's inte¬ 
rest and the gardener’s feelings both suii'er at once ? 
'i'his shows how important it is to simplify all garden 
plans : both economy and success are concerned in this 
simplification. 
However, as to Pot Pines, I must beg to ofter some 
practical advice applicable to the season. The old tan- 
bed, after resting undisturbed, or nearly so, since the 
end of October, will require renewal; this is the first 
thing to be thought of, and hence the great defect in 
: bottom-heats of fermenting materials; it is impossible 
thorougbly to renew them without removing the plants; 
and it is assuredly impossible to effect the latter without 
; rupturing numberless sap vessels. Every practical man 
i will confess how grieved he has felt to hear crack, crack, 
I among the noble and unblemished leaves of his strong 
successions, when in the act of tying them, if compelled 
i so to do, preparatory to removal. He can no longer feel 
I the same pride in the plants; hitherto he has seen them 
1 daily without a deformity ; now he is, of course, antici- 
i patiug decayed points, leaves rotting off in the centre, 
I others half crushed ; so that he is puzzled to know, sub- 
I sequently, whether to entirely amputate them. These 
I are tiic kind of evils to be faced by the Pine shifter, who 
I generally sets about the work of disturbance with a 
heavy lieart if the plants be very robust. 
Mr. Hamilton, however, in his useful book, suggests 
a plan by wbiob, under some circumstances, tins crack¬ 
ing and crushing may be avoided. It is to remove one 
row at front, and to renew the materials beneath to the 
very bottom, making a lively heat in this part, which, of 
course, acts as a lining to the rest, in exciting it to fresh 
action. 
This is by no means a bad plan, although it does not 
go the whole length of the evil; inasmuch as that por¬ 
tion of the pit farthest from the point of operation bene¬ 
fits but very moderately by the removal. If a pit con¬ 
tains four or five rows, a back row might be removed 
and treated in like manner ; and thus the pit would be 
renovated, and the removal of a row or two saved. 
Put for tliese evils there is no radical cure but a per¬ 
manent and unfailing source of bottom-heat by hot- 
water piping. It has cost so much, however, in num¬ 
berless cases, to fit up such sources of bottom-heat with 
chambers, tanks, and other superfluous apparatus, that 
' I fear it will take some time to persuade the public that 
■ a much simpler plan will succeed—simply, piping buried 
in stones, as detailed in the papers on the Hamiltonian 
system. 
The early part of March is the favourite period with 
: most for a general rearrangement of their stock of 
Pines. Early-fruiters in “show” will require the in- 
■ troduction of more tan, and if the body of the bed has 
become busky it should be watered with tepid water, 
■ and stirred deep with a strong stake. Where the tan or 
' other material is getting rather hard-worn, and the 
plants may not be disturbed, I should advise laying on 
about four inches of new tan on the heels of the water¬ 
ing ; and the operator may now stir so deep and so 
carefully as to take care that much of this new tan 
i sinks deeply down; this will add new life at a lower 
; level. After this, ha may add plenty more new tan on 
the surface; even covering over the surface of the pots, 
if necessary, to the depth of three inches. This, well 
- carried out, will produce a genial warmth, which will 
I endure for a long period as the season is advancing. 
I Ry-the-by, this stirring deep with a stake is excellent 
j practice, and cannot bo done too often; it both renews 
and purifies ; those who practice this, and often syringe 
between the stems of the Pines on the fermenting 
surface, will not be troubled with nauseous fungi, at 
once the produce and the producers of a vitiated atmo¬ 
sphere. 
Succession Pines, in pots, heated with fermenting 
materials, will require a thorough renewal of their heat, 
if they are to continue through the summer in these 
structures. Here there is much less difficulty than 
with fruiting-plants, as the plants are by far less bulky, 
and, moreover, they must be repotted, if not in their 
final shift. Those who have other pits at liberty 
generally prepare one anew for their reception before¬ 
hand, and this is the very best plan, as there is time to 
prove the heat before introducing the Pines. 
I may here refer to the repotting process, a thing of 
the utmost importance; indeed, if this be badly done, all 
other advantages will be sadly negatived. Jn former 
days, some of our readers may remember, that even 
many of the first gardeners of the day insisted on what 
was termed disrooting them ; that is to say, tumbling 
them out of their pots, shaking away every particle of 
soil, and cutting away about three-fourths of their 
roots. This was a strange juece of infatuation, showing 
plainly the tyranny of mere rule even with first-rate 
professors; but gardening is not the only art liable 
to such misconception. Disrooting by system is now 
entirely refndiated; I doubt if it has one solitary 
champion left. ilr. Hamilton did much in breaking up 
this silly procedure, by forcing attention to tbe great 
longevity of the Pine-roots, although such, to all ap¬ 
pearance, are discoloured and apparently worn-out. It 
was this singular discolouration through age, I suppose, 
which misled our venerable predecessors; but a clear 
observation, coupled with common sense, would surely 
have shown them the fallacy of disrooting. In those 
days, however, potting principles, such as the consti¬ 
tution of soils, the importance of thorough drainage, 
&c., were but imperfectly understood; the riddle was 
too much in vogue; and in addition, jieople used to 
water their Pines in an unnecessary degree in the 
dormant season. Hence the soil became soured, and 
roots did, indeed, perish. 
Such things do now occasionally happen, and where 
the roots are in this perished state, no alternative 
remains but to shake the soil away, trim their roots, 
and ro[)ot them. As to size of shift, there is much less 
“ fiddle faddle ” in these days than formerly, when 
folks were scarcely contented with a Pine plant, unless 
it had made acquaintance with nearly every sized-pot in 
the shed, from a five-inch up to a fifteen. What is 
termed the “one-shift” system, or something closely 
approaching it, is now very generally praetised. A 
sucker potted in a seven-inch now, will deserve a nine- 
inch pot before Midsummer, and its final shift in the 
end of August. 
And now, as to soils, or what are termed composts. 
I do not think anything can excel one of three-parts 
turfy loam, and the other portion an old cucumber-bed, 
which had been composed of about equal parts dung 
and leaves. A little of some charred rubbish yard- 
materials may be added, to ensure porosity. It is 
not so much any particular virtue in the soil, or its 
texture, that concerns most highly the Pine. In point 
of texture, it should eontain the elements of durability, 
or of keeping long mellow, as gardeners express it; 
hence the materials should not be too highly decayed. 
Turfy loam from a very old pasture, in character inter¬ 
mediate between the adhesive and the friable, stacked in 
a sharp ridge when dry, for six or eight months, is 
almost complete in itself for their highest culture, in¬ 
asmuch as extra fertility may be imparted through the 
medium of liquid-manure. Some of the noblest Pines 
that I have lately met with, I had the pleasure of seeing 
in Septemher last, at Alnwick Castle gardens, belonging 
to His Grace the Duke of Northumberland. Mr. Pillans, 
his veiy excellent gardener, takes a just pride in his 
