THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 2, 1860. 
7 
some of the cottagers in the county of Lincoln ;^and the fact I 
am about to state may he useful to those who may object to the 
comparison between farm and market-garden produce. Many of 
these cottagers, by means of their pollard-fed pig and spade 
■culture, produce fourteen bushels of Wheat to the rood, or fifty- 
six bushels per acre, while our national corn-growing average 
hardly exceeds twenty bushels per acre.” 
Now, all this is perfectly correct, but the same was thus told 
1800 years since by Columella:— 
“ It is a saying worthy of the Carthaginians, a most acute 
people, that the land ought to be weaker than the husbandman; 
for since of necessity he must wrestle with it, if the ground 
prevail the owmer must be crushed to pieces; nor is it to be 
doubted but that land of a large extent not rightly cultivated 
will yield less than that of a narrow extent exceedingly well cul¬ 
tivated. Wherefore, after the expulsion of the kings, those seven 
jugera, which Licinius the tribune of the people distributed to 
each man, yielded a greater revenue to the ancients than our 
largest fields which lie fallow do now.” 
“ One Pavidius Veterensis had two daughters, and a piece of 
land planted with Tines; of which he gave a third part as a 
portion to his eldest daughter when she married ; and this 
notwithstanding, he used to gather an equal quantity of fruit 
out of the two-thirds of the same land. Afterwards he gave 
his second daughter in marriage, with the half of the land that 
remained; nor did he thereby suffer any diminution of his 
former income. What inference is to be drawn from this ? 
That the third part of liis farm was afterwards better cultivated 
than the whole of it had been formerly.” 
We have recently seen this anecdote of the Roman Pavidius 
told as having happened to a Norfolk farmer in the days of one 
of our Georges! 
Fully acknowledging the justice of the time-honoured maxim, 
that the cultivator should be master of his land, and not the land 
be master of its cultivator—in other words, that his capital and 
labour should be in excess, we next pass on to the chapters 
which descant on the habits and food of plants, manures, sus¬ 
tenance of cattle, &c., and in all we find the same combination of 
the useful and amusing ; but as we go along we note some mis¬ 
takes which deserve correction. 
The Fly Trap ( Dioncea ) is not “ another species of the same 
plant,” the Sensitive Plant ( Mimosa ), page 11. 
Oxygen and hydrogen unite when electrified in contact; they 
do not “ mutually decompose,” page 22. 
Acids can be formed without oxygen, though stated other¬ 
wise at page 21. Chlorine and hydrogen form muriatic acid. 
There are some minor errors, but we are not inclined to be 
very critical with a book which we consider calculated to be very 
useful; and to show that we are more desirous to quote what we 
approve than what we consider faulty, we will make one more 
extract with which we fully agree. 
“ I do not believe there is any specific manure for plants apart 
from that of farmyard dung,— i.e., no manure that could possibly 
supersede it, even though it could be manufactured at half the 
cost. This manure never fails on its own account, though it is 
more or less valuable accordingly as the cattle by which it is 
made have been well or ill fed. The stomach of the animal is 
Nature’s own laboratory, and chemical changes are there effected 
in a manner far superior to those produced by human ingenuity. 
The application of farmyard dung alone will bear constant re¬ 
petition—the land never tires, never grows sick of it. Formed 
by the acid fermentation of vegetable matter of almost every 
■description, it is by such process converted into one homoge¬ 
neous substance, suitable for every soil, and fitted for the 
nourishment of every known plant. Were it otherwise, Nature 
would have proved herself a bungler, and vegetation would, if 
not altogether, at least partially, have ceased to exist.” 
The Orchard-house.* —We have now before us the eighth 
edition of Mr. Rivers’ “ Orchard-house,” an evidence that the 
interest in this branch of fruit culture is not on the decline. In 
this edition there are several hints that were not to be found in 
former impressions—such as the discontinuing the syringing of 
Apricots, and extended remarks on the cultivation of Oranges 
for fruit. That this latter subject is one that will ere long engage 
the attention of fruit cultivators there cannot be a doubt. When 
the right sorts are obtained, it is no more difficult to grow our 
own Oranges than it is to grow our own Grapes. Formerly it 
was customary to import Orange trees from Italy and Spain for 
* The Orchard-house, or the Cultivation of Fruit Trees in Pots under 
Glass. By Thomas Rivers. Eighth Edition. London : Longmans. 
the mere purpose of decoration or amusement, and so long as 
they were Orange trees, that was sufficient, no matter how sour 
or worthless the fruit might be, or whether they ever pro¬ 
duced fruit or no. But that Orange trees may be grown ad¬ 
vantageously, and that we may have our desserts furnished with 
fresh fruit of this delicious description, is fully shown in this new 
edition of the “ Orchard-house.” 
TROPiEOLUM ELEGANS and STAMFORDIANUM 
AS BEDDERS. 
In The Cottage Gardener of the 11th of September, there 
is an opinion expressed to our friend Mr. Beaton that Tropseolum 
Stamfordianum is far superior to elegans as a bedder. My 
opinion is that it is not by any means its equal. I have them 
both in beds, and also in stripes on borders, and must certainly 
give the preference to elegans. It is decidedly a more distinct 
colour than Stamfordianum, and can take the place of a scarlet 
bed in the flower garden. Stamfordianum cannot take the place 
of any distinct colour. 
Elegans, also, throws its flowers just high enough above the 
foliage to show every blossom to perfection. The foliage of a 
plant is also—at least, generally so—of as nmch importance as 
its blossom; and with me the foliage of Stamfordianum soon 
turns yellow, and at no time is of that beautiful green that elegans 
is : and with me the flowers of Stamfordianum do not stand so 
erect and decidedlv in every situation that I have seen. It is of 
much coarser growth. 
In writing these few remarks I wish you to understand that I 
have no personal motive to serve; but as there are many that 
have not got either, and would necessarily be guided by the 
opinion of others, I have given mine as to the character of both. 
With me elegans is now (Sept. 16th), as beautiful as ever; and 
as it does not seed so freely a3 Stamfordianum, will, of course, to 
some extent account for that worn-out appearance the latter 
variety exhibits in most places that I have visited. 
I have also another variety, called Triomphe de Hyris—a 
yellow flower with dark spots; it will, no doubt, prove very 
valuable as a yellow bedder, but must not be planted in rich soil, 
or it will grow rather out of bounds. 
They are all very beautiful, and make excellent pot plants. Or, 
what is better, get pans ten inches wide and about five inches 
deep; put one plant into each ; stick in each pan two or three 
rough branches, so that the plant is in height about double the 
width of the pan ; you will very soon have one mass of blossom, 
not only for days or weeks, but months. Give them plenty of 
water, and once a-week get some warm soft water, and dissolve 
some of the Gishurst Compound ; so that, when yon have added 
it to the quantity you require, it is about an ounce to the gallon. 
You will then be rewarded with a complete mass of bloom and 
a beautiful green foliage the whole of the season—in fact, they 
continue to bloom all through the winter. i 
By-the-by, I have found that all soft-wooded plants that 
receive an occasional watering—say once a-week, of the Compound 
dissolved at the rate of about two ounces to the gallon (let it be 
rain water), do much better than those that have had other 
stimulants. If you give them a mixture of this kind now and 
then they will not disappoint you by what they give in return.— 
G. D., Hammersmith. 
STRIKING CUTTINGS. 
In one of our first numbers the secret came out that there was 
no more difficulty in striking eye3 of native than of foreign 
Grapes, provided, after they were cut ready for planting, they 
were suffered to lie mixed with damp moss for two weeks in a 
place secure from drying. Here they form a slight callosity, 
and, when planted, all grow. This hint, we have reason to know, 
has been extensively acted on, and thousands of dollars have 
been made through the information thus given. The hint, also, 
given by other of our correspondents, about leaving cuttings of 
such things as Cotoneasters, Prunuses, &c., in dark cellars in dry 
moss, where they would push roots freely; the accouuts of 
striking in sphagnum moss, and many other details of practice 
hnd observation, have all pointed conclusively to one great 
principle—namely, that “callus can be formed in any cutting 
before being put into the soil,” and where that is effected it can 
Teadily be made to root. 
It is, in fact, now become well known, to some, we may say 
many, and our most skilful propagators, that all cuttings can be 
