THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 19, 1858. 
33 
He can also mate tlio Shrubland Park style of nosegays, 
and pack them so as to go fresh to any part of the three 
kingdoms ; and I could mention a lady who has a fresh 
nosegay every morning, to come down to breakfast with, 
from her own garden, no matter what the distance may 
be. The rise or fall of a Cabinet, or the flight of a comet, 
is nothing to such people, in comparison with the marked 
style of their nosegays; therefore, all young gardeners 
should learn the art and mystery of making them. Some 
of the most practised hands at this art will be surprised, 
when they hear that Mr. Kidd makes all his nosegays 
with one single tie, any size, from six to eighteen inches 
across, and as flat as the crown of my hat, all in rings of 
“ simultaneous contrasts,” as the great French dyer, 
Chevreul, has it. 
Air. Kidd, like Mr. Donald, his next-door neighbonr at 
Hampton Court, wonders how any one accustomed to 
flowers could think they could be arranged effectally in 
flower gardens according to Chevreul’s diagrams ; but he 
thinks some of the examples of Chevreul are excellent 
studies for the bouquet-makers ; and so do I. I have 
read every word of that book since my last communica¬ 
tion, and I find that Chevreul was not wi’ong at all about 
flower gardens. “Our people” were wrong in putting 
the blame on his shoulders, laying the weight of their 
own want of knowledge of colour to the account of the 
most distinguished colourist in Europe, who even warns 
them against doing so in this remarkable passage :—“ In 
the preceding remarks the colours, including white, black, 
and grey, are supposed to occupy an equal extent of sur¬ 
face, and to be placed at equal distances apart; for, with¬ 
out these conditions, the results will be different. The 
ground (colour), as well as the interval between the 
colours, having influence upon their effect, all my observa¬ 
tions were made with white, black, and grey.” As 
ground colours, then, it follows that, until our flowers 
can be placed on white grass, black or grey grass, or 
gravel, and with no green leaves to them, we must not 
expect the same “ results.” A blanket of Tom Thumb, 
another blanket of Calceolaria rugosa, and a blue blanket 
of Lobelia, on a white pavement, would give the three 
primitive colours of painters, if the three blankets were of 
the same size and three feet apart each way. Verily, it is 
humiliating to our pride of far-sightedness to think that 
any of us with half an eye, and the other right out, could 
not see the total absurdity of applying Chevreul’s rules 
to the planting of flower gardens. But the blind have 
been leading the blind to their mutual satisfaction for 
years, and why should we disturb their feelings P They 
will come round, like Dr. Lindley, when they see the 
light. 
“ Method of Packing Fruits, of ale kinds, for long 
Distances. 
“ I may here state, that I have found no better method in all 
my experience, which has extended over a period of twenty years, 
with all kinds of fruits, varying iu distance from fifty to five 
hundred miles. It simply is—box, soft paper, and sweet bran. A 
box is chosen, in size, according to the quantity to be sent. A 
layer of bran is put at the bottom; then each bunch of Grapes is 
held by the hand over the centre of a sheet of paper; the four 
corners of the paper are brought up to the stalk, and nicely 
secured ; then laid on its side in the box, and so on, until the first 
layer is finished. Then fill the whole over with bran, and givo the 
box a gentle shake as you proceed. Begin the second layer a3 the 
first, and so on, until the box is completed. Thus, with neat 
hands, the bloom is preserved, and may be sent to any distance; 
but, with clumsy hands, quite the contrary, and often an entire 
failure, as the putting in and the taking out of the box arc the 
most important points to be observed. I have, invariably, packed 
sixty or eighty bunches of Grapes, and fifty or sixty dozens of 
Peaches or Apricots in one box, and received letters from em¬ 
ployers, to say that they have arrived as safe as if they had been 
taken from the trees that morning.” 
I asked Air. Kidd to give a concise description of bis 
plan for packing our finest fruits for long distances, and 
there it is in his own words. D. Beaton. 
THE BEST AIODE OF TREATING SOILS IN- 
OLD GARDENS. 
Everybody knows that old gardens are not similar in 
their produce to new ones. This is a strange affair, but 
not more strange than true. If any person, perfectly un¬ 
knowing in the mysteries of gardening, yet of most philo¬ 
sophic character, were to be asked his opinion as to what 
the effect would be of manuring a plot of ground an¬ 
nually for a century, his answer would probably be, that 
the soil would accumulate a vast amount of manurial 
matters, and would produce vegetables over coarse and 
unproductive, in the true sense of the word. But, behold 
a Cabbage plot in many such gardens, devoured, or rather 
paralysed, by the club ! Apply what amount of mere 
manure you please, where the tendency exists, and it is 
of no avail: there is evidently too much, or too little, of 
something. Atmospheric influences are of no considera¬ 
tion here ; for two plots, enjoying the same conditions of 
atmosphere to a fraction, may grow side by side,—the 
one a prey to the club, the other all perfection. But dig 
up a portion of an old field, which has lain dormant for a 
score of years; manure it well; and ’tis odds but you 
have first-rate Cabbages, or at least free from club. And 
the same with many other vegetables. In old soils, the 
Parsley cankers, the Lettuces shank, the Turnips are 
fingers and toes, the Strawberries run to leaf too much, 
the Peas are all straw, and the Onions all necks, besides 
a host of other evils, which newly broken-up soil by no 
means emulates. 
These old soils are full of what is called humus,—the 
debris, shall we say, of many a load of manure : to this 
the newly broken-up soils lays not a claim. As to the 
mere humus, possibly, it may partly be in consequence of 
excess of this : humic acid, 1 believe, is considered pre¬ 
judicial to vegetable life. But, then, what about inor¬ 
ganic properties P About these, practical men, in general, 
care very little; for there prevails in the main but ono 
idea,—“ plenty of muck,” and a good thing too. 
But, to come to the point, how is it that deep trenching 
in old kitchen gardens performs such wonders P Those 
who have tried this, as I have for years, can give ample 
proofs of its efficacy. Let us refer to the Carrot, the 
Onion, Parsley, Celery, Peas, &c., and examine into their 
failure, in order, if possible, to approach the cause. The 
Carrot is notorious for the grub in old kitchen gardens, 
but proves different under field culture. I know a village, 
not far from here (Tarporley), adjoining many fields 
of old rest land, which has been, in the main, appro¬ 
priated to cheese-making for centuries. The land all 
round this district, for some two or three square miles, i3 
perfectly identical in character with the village gardens : 
the cottagers on old plots are as loud about the ravages 
of the grub as other folks ; whilst there is now growing, 
on freshly broken-up fields adjoining, as splendid crops 
of Carrots as ever eye rested on. We find it the same in 
our gardens : I have sown Carrots here for thirty years, 
and, as far as my memory serves, I have never had three 
crops of sound, clear, and keeping Carrots, at least of the 
larger kinds. I have, however, had many good crops of 
the early Horn kind. The only good Carrots I ever had, 
of the large kinds, were obtained by deep trenching, 
bringing up some of the subsoil. As to the Horn Carrot 
succeeding so well in general, I confess to being 
unable thoroughly to account for it. One thing I may 
observe, and that is, the most successful crops of them 
are those sown very early : if the grub is produced only 
at a given period, and that a later one, such may account 
for it. 
Then there is the Onion grub, another puzzler: deep 
digging is the only remedy I could ever find for this. 
All the manure in our stable-yard tv ill not secure a crop 
of Onions ; indeed, it is quite averse to their production 
on these old, hard-worn soils. Here. I find hard-rolling 
to be the main point iu producing Onions. How this 
