360 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
twenty miles from Battersea, or, it may be, the warm 
county of Kent, or the precincts of Wimbledon Common— 
were to be duly packed and transferred in the character 
ot head gardener to some nobleman, in either of the 
northern districts above alluded to, how astounding— 
as say our great writers—would bo the change. Adieu 
to all successful fruit culture, if lie began his Bat¬ 
tersea tricks of planting fruit-trees on the ordinary 
ground level! And the evil would bo still farther 
aggravated if he had a Battersea market gardener’s 
manure-heap to go to. Within a couple of years wc 
should hear of peaches making shoots six feet long, four 
feet of which would go black in October, to the great 
dismay ot the Battersea man, who would of course talk 
of peculiar conditions of the atmosphere, electrical cur¬ 
rents, &c., &c.; having imbibed Such notions in his early 
training, and being persuaded that such doctrine was a 
mere “ march of intellect” affair. 
But, to turn the tables, suppose that this metropolitan 
prodigy had a gardening neighbour, who at once took a 
bold and common-sense view of such matters; and who, 
believing that the ripening of the wood, through the 
conjoint influences ot light and heat acting on a pro¬ 
portionate amount of the “raw material” (if we may 
be permitted so to use common-place phrases), had 
great influence in this affair; suppose, we say, that this 
man was content with a much loss amotintof luxuriance, 
and what would bo the consequence ? Why, the wood 
of his trees would become better ripened, and the fruit- 
buds better perfected; need wo say that superior success 
would iollow ? How then, it will be said, is all this to 
be accomplished ? Why by eschewing all deep borders 
or beds ot earth, especially if below the ground level; 
and herein lies the real gist of the affair. 
Had wo to act in a position of the kind, we should 
plant the majority of our trained trees on or above the 
ordinary surface. No man should dig a hole for a tree 
in such climes for us. There can be no doubt, there¬ 
fore, that most ot our superior fruits could be very well 
cultivated in such climates, if those entrusted with their 
management could but be brought to believe, that 
shoots of moderate growth ripen both better and earlier 
in the season than free growing trees; and that the 
fruit in all its stages partakes of this precocity, to say 
nothing of the much greater certainty of a crop, through 
more perfect blossoms. 
So that we may see it is not a question of mere depth 
alone; for a bod of earth, a foot or so above the ordinary 
ground level, is a very different thing from one a foot 
below such level; and those who will try the experiment 
in our more northerly counties will soon have demon¬ 
stration enough. Indeed, it will be at once obvious, 
that if long-continued underground damp is an evil— 
destroying or preventing that mellowing of the soil 
which renders it easily permeable to the atmosphere— 
that an elevated border is one of the surest safeguards. 
There is, however, no necessity to elevate a whole 
border thus much above tho ordinary ground level; 
stations may bo made on what we term the platform 
mode; only taking care that tho platforms are gradually 
widened as tho trees become well established; or, indeed, 
as soon as they show symptoms of receiving an overcheck 
from the drought of hot summers. This is easily 
managed, for if the stations be about fivo or six feot 
square, little more would be necessary in such cases 
than to apply a coating of half-rotten leaves, or vege¬ 
table inattors—even grass mowings would do—over and 
round tho exterior of tho platlorm ; merely to ward off 
extreme drought. Such might be applied in June, and 
might, if requisite, be removed and dug in for vegetables 
j in the end of August, in order to let the solar rays fairly 
penetrate the soil. Such remarks equally apply to 
stations connected with walls, and to those in the open 
garden, in all cases where stagnant moisture is sus¬ 
[September 5. 
pended; and, in conclusion, we again repeat our advice, 
that this work be proceeded with as soon as possible: 
first cutting round trees to be removed, and then pro¬ 
ceeding with the preparation of the stations, the drain¬ 
ing, and the preparation or procuration of soils. 
In cutting round specimens for removal, the distance 
may bo ruled by the size of the tree; indeed, a trench 
may at once be excavated in the position it would be, if 
the tree was to be removed forthwith. This trench may 
be left out, and thus there will bo extra inducement to 
the tree to produce fibres in the interior of the ball of 
earth. It. Errington. 
THE I'LO WEE-GARDEN. 
Planting Evergreens, and other Planting Matters. 
—Last week I promised to say how the large plants were 
taken up, and how planted ; this part will only be useful 
to very young planters. The operation was conducted 
nearly in the way recommended by the Editor, in a lead¬ 
ing article, last spring; but as a good tale is never the 
worse for being twice told, l shall keep to my promise, 
and say how the first plant was removed. We selected 
such plants as spread a great way; not the tallest that 
we could find, because the hedge was not required to be 
more than eight feet high ; the first plant was about 
ten feet through it at the bottom ; and with such plants 
as yews and hollies it would have been safe gardening to 
open a trench at the outside of this circumference, that 
is, at fivo feet distance from the stem ; but box-trees do 
not run their roots far away, but produce them in great 
abundance nearer home; so the first thing we did was 
to tie up the lower branches, by running a strong cord 
all round the plant, by which the branches were well 
pulled in, broom-fashion. We had thus a command of 
the space covered by the branches; and at four feet 
from the stem a ring was marked on the ground, ami on 
the outside of this ring the men set to work to open a 
trench all round, and about 18 inches wide; the depth 
was regulated by the depth of tho roots. They went no 
farther down than 18 inches, as the soil was very hard 
and poor; but the trench was made two feet deep, in case 
wo should find tap-roots under the centre part. Now, 
here was a ball of earth eight feet in diameter, with a 
huge bush stuck iu the middle of it; and if we could 
remove it, bush and all, to the site of the hedge, half 
the gardening world would think we had done wisely ; 
but the truth is, if wc had done so tho chances arc that 
not one plant in ten would have lived out the month of 
June, then in its infancy; and this is the most curious 
part of the whole concern, and on it lay the foundation 
of our success ; indeed, some would say, that a principle 
was involved here; but I never could make out what | 
that word meant; and if they will allow the word in our 
forthcoming Dictionary, we must have a consultation as 
to how we can best explain it for gardening language; 
and as that consultation might cause all of us to meet 1 
in London for discussion, I shall save myself the journey 1 
by giving my definition of it now, which is this— any- I 
tinny to suit your ideas or convenience. Well, here then | 
is a set of men at work on a principle; and it must be | 
plain enough that it would not suit our convenience to j 
remove such a large lump of earth on so hot a day. I 
Then, as to our ideas —-if we had any at all on tho sub- | 
ject—they must have been very confused, if they could 
not lead us to perceive that if this ball of very hard 
earth, and which then was as dry as Welch snutf, wore | 
removed and placed in the midst of a newly prepared 
border of moist loose oartb, it could only be a repetition, 
but on a large scale, of potting a geranium with a hard 
dry ball into a “ one shift” large pot; and all the gar¬ 
deners would say that is a bad plan; because, water as 
you may, the dry ball in the centre of the pot could not : 
