May 19. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
119 
adhere, if squeezed in the hand, and will as readily fall 
to pieces, if dropped from about live feet in height on 
hard ground. This, if the loam is neither dry nor wet, 
will at once prove its character. As to colour, it is not 
so very material; but, of whatever colour, it ought to be 
the same throughout, if possible. A loam with a variety 
of shades is to be avoided, such not unfrequently con¬ 
taining oxide of iron (rust), which is understood to be 
prejudicial to some kinds of trees. 
The making of stations, then, is a matter of economy, 
as well as of principle ; they combine the following 
advantages which cannot be secured by the ordinary 
border. What good soil or loam can be spared is 
secured in the immediate vicinity of the roots, which, by 
this mode, are ever kept more at home than by ordinary 
planting; a little of good loam, therefore, is made to go 
a long way, and loam is to most persons a costly article. 
Stations also prevent the descent of the roots to an | 
inconvenient depth ; and they furnish a boundary-line 
for the root-pruner, who may generally carry his opera- j 
tions to the very foot of them. 
I consider, that if the soil is rightly constituted, two 
feet in depth is not only sufficient for any kitchen- 
garden fruit-tree, but by far better than a greater depth. 
Everybody knows that persons who possess a vegetable 
garden within walls desires to have dwarf fruit-trees also. 
Let not our readers suppose that by the term dwarf, I 
would fain persuade them to have a garden of cripples. 
I merely mean that it is exceedingly desirable that the 
trees should be perfectly compatible with vegetable 
culture, and with a fair and easy survey of all the 
garden, as well as convenience of access to its respective i 
portions. On such a foundation, then, 1 trust that my 
future advice may be judged. If I prove faulty, it will 
be in the aim I have taken, rather than in the details. ! 
My practice, for more, than twenty years, has been to ! 
mark out six feet square as the site of the station, and 
this is excavated twenty-eight inches in depth, viz., two 
feet for soil, and the extra four inches for a hard bottom 
to the station. In throwing out the soil a due regard is 
paid to its character. It not unfrequently happens that 
three samples may be met with and classed. Thus, a 
plot may possess layers of gravel, coarse sand, with true 
soil on the surface, and it is most desirable that they 
should be kept separate. However, there are generally 
two classes, and according to their quality, so may they 
be used up, with the addition of a little loam. When 
the subsoil is but little inferior to the surface soil, I have 
frequently exchanged it for some of the good surface 
soil of the garden nigh at hand, and this with consider¬ 
able benefit to the vegetable crops, as containing much 
fresh inorganic matter for their sustenance—indeed, this 
plan may ever be practised where practicable. As for 
clay, sand, and such materials, they may he wheeled 
away altogether, unless any alterations at hand may 
need such materials. This will generally make way for 
the addition of a little good loam. 
One caution is here requisite to the uninformed, and 
that is as concerns the depth. We before stated that 
two feet is a very proper depth, but the question still 
remains, whether any portion of that be above the | 
ordinary ground level ? And here it will be necessary j 
to point to the injurious effects resulting from exca- 
vating fruit-tree holes so low as to form what is termed 
“ a pot.” 
In order to make the matter more clear, we will sup¬ 
pose a soil in its native condition only eighteen inches 
deep, and resting on a substratum of clay. Now, to 
sink a hole for the station two feet in depth, will, of 
course, carry the operator six inches into the clay. And 
what would be the consequence '? Why, the roots would 
either be imprisoned when they reached the sides of 
the hole, or must penetrate an uugenial subsoil. To 
avoid this, give the extra six inches above the ground 
level, and, by consequence, plant the tree higher. Let 
no one fear for the late of his trees thus elevated. Such 
elevation will cause them to tend more to fruiting habits, 
and to dwarf and compact growth. It is well, however, 
in such cases, to use a stiffer loam, in order to obviate 
the effects of long continued drought. In our more 
northern parts, indeed, especially in such climates as 
the north of Ireland and some parts of Scotland, 1 
would advise that the elevated platform be adopted irre¬ 
spective of subsoils; there can be little doubt as to the 
soundness of the policy. 
Having thus cleared the way by handling a few col¬ 
lateral points, we will proceed to the mode of filling the 
stations with a proper compost. In a majority of cases, 
one-half of the excavated soil may be worked up with 
the new compost; another fourth may be the exchanged 
soil of the kitchen-garden before alluded to; there re¬ 
mains, then, a demand for one-fourth of sound loamy 
soil. Now, if the natural soil be very poor and loose in 
texture, of course more loam should be applied, if ob¬ 
tainable. Previously to filling, our practice is to form 
the surface of the subsoil into a convex shape, especially 
if a retentive bottom; we then place brickbats, or pieces 
of stone, all over the surface, as close as possible, and 
then sweep a little very fine gravel or cinder-ashes into 
every crevice. We have found, by experience, tliat few 
fibres penetrate this. Next, we have been in the habit 
of strewing a couple of barrows of half-rotten leaves over 
the surface of the brick, and in this stratum we have 
generally found abundance of fibres nestling with little 
desire to escape, the leafy material enduring many years. 
And now the soil may be filled in regularly, frequently 
strewing a little from each heap, so that the whole may 
he uniform in texture. 
11 is necessary at this point to observe, that it is of 
much importance to the permanent welfare of the trees 
that the compost contain a liberal amount of organic 
matter, and if the loam is not turfy, something should 
be added to represent the fibre of the turf. Nothing is 
better, perhaps, than half-decayed leaves; but as every 
one does not possess such materials, it is w r ell to know 
that any coarse straw or herbage will much assist; and 
the longer it endures in the soil the better. Anything, 
in fact, that has once been a living vegetable body will 
be beneficial, and this may be strewed constantly over 
the soil in the act of filling. 
It must not be supposed that this mode of preparing 
stations is very laborious, or expensive, because its de¬ 
scription occupies a good deal of paper; there can, we 
assure our readers, be no simpler plan, if any prepa¬ 
ration may be made. If any plan be really expensive, 
it is one which involves failure in the end. We are 
quite aware that there are soils in which there is no 
need to take these precautions, but we fear such plots 
are in a minority. 
And now for distance of planting, whether walls or 
marginal borders, on the dwarfing system. Our practice 
is, on ten-feet walls, to place the trees six yards apart, 
as a general rule; and this, by our mode of planting, 
will be sufficient for any height. On the marginal 
borders, the ordinary untrained dwarf standard is allowed 
about five yards ; this, however, deserves a separate 
consideration, as many special matters will have to be 
referred to; it must, therefore, pass on to another 
chapter. R. Errinoton. 
CAMELLIAS—THE LION OF SURREY—BANK 
GROVE. 
After being on the London boards for more than 
twenty years, and after seeing the chief of our exhi¬ 
bitions there during the time, and taking part officially 
at many of these gatherings, so that I may truly say 
I 
