THE COTTAGE GA11DENER. 
173 
I September 11.] 
| matprials of all kinds long after that; even on the Friday 
! morning there were boxes still to unpack. Now this, 
j although awkward, is not so very surprising when we con- 
| sider the novelty of a four days’ continued exhibition in a 
j purely agricultural district. 
Mr. Chivas, of Chester, had a most extensive collection 
j of Wheats, amongst which were some singular lands, and 
! others of importance; Oats, also, and Barley, he had in 
I great variety, all in the straw. Besides these, a very ex- 
i tensive collection of Grasses in pots, all named, and dried 
hunches of most of the kinds. Messrs. Dickson, of Chester, 
had a very interesting screen covered with specimens of 
Grasses, from the common Poa up to the Arundo donax, in 
all about 300, and shewing a great variety of habit. Besides 
these, there were many specimens of the Corn samples, some 
from Fentonbarns, in Scotland, &c., of a little novelty. 
Mr. Batin, of Stapleford, had some superior Wheats, Che¬ 
valier Barley, &c. The roots were very abundant, and of 
high character in many instances; and it would be in¬ 
vidious to point to particular samples, so many being 
nearly equal. The yellow and red Mangold, and the 
Swedes, were in the utmost profusion, and there were some 
respectable Carrots, Parsnips, Drumhead Cabbages, &c. Spe¬ 
cimens, also, of Beans in the haulm, and samples of various 
agricultural seeds. The Potatoes were exceedingly interest¬ 
ing, and in great variety; and numbers of seedlings of much 
interest and promise were to be seen on the tables. Flax, 
also, in its various stages of dressing ; and Medicinal Herbs, 
as the Valeriana sylvestris, the Inula hclenium, &c., came 
from Mr. G. Liddall, farmer, near Alfreton. Hops, also, and 
Apples of the cider kinds, from Hereford, with various other 
agricultural matters too numerous for detail. The garden 
vegetables were chiefly confined to the cottagers, and con¬ 
sisted of Cabbages, Carrots, Parsnips, huge Onions, Ac .; 
Fruits were tolerably abundant. There were some fine 
Providence and black Jamaica Pines, good Hambro’ Grapes, 
Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, Currants, Gooseberries, Plums, 
Cherries , &c.; and abundance of garden Apples, with some 
Pears. On the whole there was an immense quantity of 
stuff produced ; indeed, had the quantity been confined to 
the usual extent of tables, the bulk would have appeared 
enormous. As to flowers, there was a disproportionate 
amount; and had it not been for the extensive collections of 
the Coniferm by Messrs. Dicksons and Skirving, and some 
very new and valuable shrubs from the north of China, as 
also the Rhododendrons of the Sikkim Himalaya, by Messrs. 
Standish and Noble, of Bagshot, the plants would have been 
scarcely worth pointing to. I ought to mention that there 
were various agricultural implements by Messrs. C. J. Young 
and Co.; as, also, by Messrs. Harkes, of Ivnutsford, an abun¬ 
dance of field-gates, rotary flower stands, and other orna¬ 
mental wire-work. Minton’s encaustic tiles, and Neighbour’s 
beehives, also were on the tables. Want of space precludes 
any further extension of the report, and I must conclude 
by observing that further reference may be made to the 
catalogue about to be published by Mr. Archer, to whom 
the task is assigned, as, also, that of making known the 
awards. E. Errington. 
The Florists’ Flowers were exhibited in good condition, but 
not numerously. There were collections of cut Roses from 
Messrs Lane and Son, Berkhampstead, and Messrs. Paul of 
Cheshunt. The fame of these growers is so well known, 
, that it is superfluous to state that on this occasion the 
j flowers were fine, and did them great credit. 
Mr. Wilmer of Sunbury, was there with two or three good 
stands of cut Carnations and Dahlias, and Messrs. Paul had 
two stands of splendid Hollyhocks. The cottagers had also 
some good flowers of different kinds, which did credit to 
them, and that part of Cheshire. There was a stand of 
Pansies, which had been good flowers, but the rain and storm 
of Tuesday completely destroyed them. The most remark¬ 
able feature of the exhibition was a splendid collection of 
cut specimens, correctly named of hardy evergreen and de¬ 
ciduous ornamental Trees and Shrubs grouped in their natural 
orders. The collection extended nearly the whole length of 
j one tent, measuring nearly 120 feet. T. Appleby. 
PLANTING. 
{Continued from page 301.) 
Now we have prepared and taken up the tree properly, 
let us further set to work and plant it; of course the roots 
are kept moist by some wet straw bound round them, or 
they have otherwise been plunged in a puddle, made of 
earth and water to the consistency of paint. 
How preposterous it is (whatever the diameter of a hole 
or fruit border may be) to dig four or five feet deep, in j 
order again to fill up with rich stimulating dung and mould, | 
for the object in view, namely, a fruitful tree. Posterity is 
certainly the beauty of creation, so, if you plant a fruit-tree j 
after this fashion, it is very kind of you, and a sacrifice, for, ; 
unless you are a young man, depend upon it your heirs, or 
other posterity, will reap the harvest. 
We are now arrived at a very important stage of the pro¬ 
ceedings, when surface-soil, subsoil, and drainage claim atten¬ 
tion. Before you attempt to plant out fruit-trees, you must 
consider whether the soil is ungenial or the situation unna- j 
tural, as both these disagreeables may, in a great measure, be 
combated against. If the soil is open, free, and sound (like 
an honest man’s heart), of average depth, and lying upon a 
dry subsoil, nothing further is required but to plant the 
trees after a manner I will presently show. I have had to 
do with this quality of soil, and very very much worse, both 
as regards earth and hearts into the bargain; and so far 
as my experience goes, I find that however hungry, mean, 
and worthless a soil may at first sight appear, it is much 
more capable of improvement, and inclined to be honest 
toward the cultivator, through “ honourable ” treatment and 
“faithful” reliance upon it, than some hearts I could men- | 
tion, albeit glossed over with distinctions and thin surface- 
soil, fascinating and pleasant to look upon. 
It is now seven years ago, and I resided in a cider district, 
where there were apples enow and I thought some to 
spare. A cider apple, generally speaking, is anything but 
agreeable to the palate, and I confess to a feeling coupling 
the useful with the ornamental,—a potato is a most useful 
vegetable, and an almost indispensable tuber to our dinner- 
tables all the year round, still a cauliflower, a dish of 
peas, sea-kale, or asparagus, in their season, as adjuncts, 
who should despise ? The same with the apple; in a 
district where the cider apple, as a system of economy, 
very naturally perhaps, should take the lead, still, in a 
comfortable ordering of things, I thought a few good 
dessert apples introduced could do no harm. Now, this 
very idea, a spur to a beginning, has caused me to dabble 
in fruit-tree culture ever since, and, probably, will do so, 
so long as opportunity continues to offer. About the 
time that these thoughts began to work for themselves a j 
place in my pate, I happened to visit a district where only 
kitchen and dessert fruits are cultivated, and cider, accord- j 
ingly, is unknown. This was the time; a bundle of grafts 
was speedily transferred to my carpet-bag, which, about a 
month after my return (beginning of MarchJ, were whip- 
grafted on some young crab stocks. (I intended these trees 
to be dwarfs, Paradise stocks would have answered better, 
but there was none near at hand, and under my own eye.) 
Every graft took and did well. 
I lived close to a man well versed in grafting (who had 
been much employed for this purpose, in his time, by the 
late A. Knight, Esq., President of the Horticultural Society). 
Saddle and cleft-grafting were his chief modes; but cleft, 
more particularly, he was a proficient in. I will not tediously 
describe these processes, but I will mention that he always 
used two-year old wood, as scions for large trees in cleft¬ 
grafting. Poor old J. H., as well as grafter, was village 
carpenter to boot, and also a man of taste; for, upon my 
questioning him, some years ago, the reason why he left off | 
joining the singing choir at church, with an habitual shrug 
of the shoulders, and a peculiarly nasal and inharmonious 
delivery of speech, he exclaimed with all the force of a 
walrus—“ If we are to sing, let’s sing; but if we are to 
shout, let’s shout! ” 
I have no soldiers under me, and am under the neces¬ 
sity, generally speaking, of doing and acting for myself. 
Now, in planting a tree, this is rather difficult, though 
not so difficult but that it can be surmounted; some¬ 
body or something animate or inanimate, there must be 
to keep the tree in its proper position at the time of plant- 
