220 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, December 30, 1850. 
sheltered place; and that it would flower there till it was 
killed by the frost, after ripening abundance of seeds. 
I said that I had a quantity of herbaceous Calceolaria 
seedlings which proved very useful for planting out between 
bedding-plants in May, by keeping up a show till the bed- 
ders were in full field. Well, this time last year three seed¬ 
lings of this Microsperma came up among the little Cal¬ 
ceolarias, which received the same treatment throughout, 
and were planted out at the same time — towards the 
end of May—at least two of them; the third died in 
February. The place was most favourable, and they did 
not want from inattention; but still the return they made 
me would hardly cover the cost. In 1855 my plants of it 
in pots were not much behind those of Mr. Walton; but 
this year Mrs. Walton, who excels in the more delicate 
handling of such practical difficulties, undertook the sole 
management of this department, and it is from a leaf out of 
her book that I am enabled to say decidedly what this new 
plant really is. Mrs. Walton had whole masses of it in pots 
in the greenhouse all the summer without the least appear¬ 
ance of being drawn up, and yet some of the plants were 
nearly two feet high, when they seemed to want a shift; and 
I have no hesitation to assert my belief that this plant may 
be grown so as to be a full yard in diameter and nearly as 
much in height, and that it would be one of the very finest 
things for a large conservatory from the beginning of 
August to the end of September; but little plants could be 
had in bloom in June, and it would be about Midsummer 
that such young-established plants would be fit to plant out 
for a bed.—D. Beaton. 
FORMATION OF BORDERS FOR WALL FRUIT. 
Soon after my arrival here mildew, green fly, and red spider 
made sad havoc among our Peach and Nectarine-trees. The 
mildew was the most calamitous, doing its work quickly; the 
leaves for the most part curled, became thick and fleshy, and 
many branches cankered and died. 
This occurred on a wall two hundred feet long. The 
border, which is sixteen feet wide, had not been examined 
for the last fourteen years. At that time it was planted with 
Strawberries at a cost of £25. 
After much pains in applying the ordinary means of repel¬ 
ling the enemies with which the trees were attacked without 
doing much good, I was obliged to leave the trees to their 
fate, and I was told that all Peach and Nectarine-trees in 
this country (Ireland) suffered much from blight, and, judg¬ 
ing from the mutilated appearance of the trees, I was so far 
led to credit the story. 
There were, however, on each tree enough fruit to let me 
know what sorts they were, and I found, with the exception 
of one Royal George, and one Late Admirable, all the varie¬ 
ties on this fine wall were a parcel of clingstone Nectarine 
rubbish. I had thought of endeavouring to renovate the old 
trees ; but on this discovery I resolved to have them grubbed 
up every one. 
On examining their roots I found them long, and pene¬ 
trating deeply into the subsoil, which is a stiff, yellow clay, 
fit only for making bricks. The roots were all warted and 
throwing up suckers; the hearts of the trees were dead; 
life seemed only to be preserved by the bark and a thin rincl 
of fresh wood. I did not wonder now at the people telling 
me of the trees in this country suffering so much from 
blight. If their roots were in the same state in which I found 
them here, the finest climate in the world, united with the 
fingers and thumbs of all the gardeners in Scotland, would 
not save them. 
I had a new plantation made of the best runners of this 
■£25 Strawberry-bed. They were held in high estimation, 
although we could not gather more than forty quarts through¬ 
out the season; and probably, if I had not begun the job, 
I should not have been allowed to disturb them. 
I began at one end of the border, and opened a trench 
eight feet wide, three feet deep, and parallel with the wall, 
laying the soil on the front of the border, and all bad stuff 
carted directly off. I then filled in eighteen inches of rough 
lime-rubbish, over that a foot of turf packed edgeways, and 
over that a preparation of decayed turf, leaf-soil, a little dung, 
and sand. In this I planted my young Peach-trees. 
Other new works equally important going on prevented 
me from coating the entire breadth of border with drainage. ! 
I had, however, a drain brought from every tree to the front 
of the border, which emptied into a main drain common to 
all. This was, perhaps, overdoing it; but I was determined to 
have no damp lodge about their roots, and that when artificial 
watering became necessary it might pass freely off. Com¬ 
municating with the drainage under the wall, and with the 
offsets to the front of the border, I had air-drains placed, 
coming a few inches above the level of the soil, with the 
intention that, when water was not passing, air might travel, 
which is, perhaps, as useful an irrigator for heavy soils as we 
can apply. 
When the front part of the border was done, and all finished, 
it had a pleasing slope ; the border, previously to this dress¬ 
ing, was a dead fiat. I had now the fullest approbation of 
all who lamented the Strawberry-bed, and with impatience 
we wait to watch the progress of the trees. 
Another length of border I served in the same way, which 
was planted with Apricots, Figs, Cherries, and Pears. The 
Apricots and Figs were good; some of the Cherries were 
already dead; the Pears were out of all bearing, were 
making a profusion of wood ; their spurs, or snags, were 
enormous. I had them attacked with a saw and carpenter’s 
chisel. This is rather different from the,finger and thumb, but 
in this case it calls for no apology. Their roots, I need not 
say, wero very strong and deep. I cut them back, raised 
them, and fed them with turf, &c. Under some of the trees I 
found precaution had been used to prevent their roots going 
down by means of about a yard of flag. However well it 
might suit that purpose, it is, in my opinion, a thing alto- ■ 
gether out of place under a fruit-tree. The mere area of a ! 
yard would not long serve as a preventive to the roots going ; 
down; and, even supposing the whole border to be flagged j 
on a clay bottom, it is not natural. When water is applied, 
which is sometimes necessary, it only serves to retain the 
water stagnant round the roots, which, in my opinion, is 
about equal to the clay bottom itself. Even admitting the 
flags to have a fall towards the front of the border, the water 
does not pass off so naturally as down through the lime-rub¬ 
bish, neither is there so much heat imparted as by means of 
perfect drainage.— William Miller, Gowran Castle Gardens, 
County of Kilkenny. 
GENERAL NOTES FOR JANUARY. 
Our wishes are presentiments of the capabilities which 
lie within us, and harbingers of that which we shall be in 
a condition to perform. Whatever we are able and would 
like to do presents itself to our imagination as without us, 
and in the future; we feel a longing after that which we 
already possess mentally. It is by such wishes that we 
make progress in gardening operations, and, therefore, with 
the new year, when Nature is preparing to unfold her 
beauties afresh, it behoves us to take a retrospective view of 
the past twelve months, both to warn us by our failures, 
and to cheer us on the right path of knowledge by the 
experience of our successes. A memorandum-book of the 
time of sowing, transplanting, flowering, and gathering of 
fruits and vegetables, and the particulars of the treatment 
given to them will be a useful annual of garden operations. 
A sowing of the Daniel O'Rourke Pea may now be made 
on a dry, warm situation. Prince Albert is also an early 
Pea, but more susceptible of injury from frosts than other 
sorts; therefore it is advisable to sow it in pots, to be trans¬ 
planted at the beginning of March ; also, a sowing of Early 
Mazagan or Marshall's Early Prolific Broad Beans in the 
open ground. A small sowing of Lettuces, Cauliflowers, and 
Cabbages in boxes, to be forwarded in heat, will be a useful 
succession or early substitute for the autumn sowings, if 
they had been injured or destroyed by very severe weather, 
or by slugs. 
To procure good sticks of Horse-radish it is now a good 
time to trench the ground two feet deep, with dung at the 
bottom; holes to be made with a long dibble two feet from 
row to row, and six inches apart in the row; and a single 
crown, with an inch or two of the root, to be dropped into 
each hole, to be filled up with any light soil. 
Where there is the convenience of a two or three-light 
