1884.] 
TFjE use op loam in the cultuee of plants. 
151 
the last week of April, they would have been 
in flower a full month earlier. And from that 
early period till September, most of them 
have gone on blooming. The general Eose 
season has hardly lasted more than a month 
this year, and but for its being preceded and 
succeeded by a rich harvest of Teas, the Eose 
season of 1884 would have been poor indeed ; 
and now when the autumnal harvest of per¬ 
petual and other Eoses is more scanty than it 
has been for years, we are chiefly dependent 
on Teas to lighten up the garden with beauty 
and fill it with fragrance, as well as to furnish 
the best material for decorative purposes. 
So useful, and in fact so indispensable, have 
Teas proved themselves this season, that doubt¬ 
less more will be grown in the future than 
have been in the past. Teas on their own roots 
are virtually indestructible by frost, provided 
ordinary care is taken to protect their root¬ 
stocks. One of the simplest and most effective 
ways of doing this is by earthing up the base 
of the stems to a height of eight, ten, or more 
inches—this will make the most valuable part 
of the Eose weather-proof. The top beyond 
this artificial ground line is of little value or 
consequence. Should it survive the winter 
well and good. It may be pruned back in the 
spring so far as suits the purpose of the 
cultivator. The longer the tops are left the 
earlier and more numerous the first crop of 
blooms ; but should the tops be cut down to the 
surface of the artificial mounds the Eose itself 
will suffer no harm, but will break into fresh 
growth with extraordinary vigour so soon as 
the earth is levelled down from the stems in 
the spring. This new and simple practice of 
earthing up Teas also enables them to be planted 
at almost any season throughout the year. 
Until it was discovered and practised. Tea 
Eoses were mostly planted in the late spring 
or early summer months, but now they may 
be planted with’ equal success in the early 
autumn, and the sooner the better. 
Of course, too, the root-stocks of Eoses 
may be made safe with other substances and 
materials as well as earth. Spent tan, cocoa 
fibre refuse, coal ashes, litter or dung of any 
kind, tree leaves—retained in position with 
boughs, answer admirably. Anything, in fact, 
that will moderate the killing severity of the 
frost, such as tree boughs alone where nothing 
else can be had, the tying up the tops in 
bundles and surrounding them with a little 
litter or straw, answer very well. In all cases, 
too, the tops of the Eoses should be left intact 
till the cold weather is over and gone. These 
alone exert a powerful protective influence over 
the root-stock, and render other means of pro- 
tection more potent, stable, and effective.— 
D. T. Fish, Hanlwick. 
THE USE OF LOAM 
IN THE CULTUEE OF PLANTS. 
a fllE value of Loam for agricultural pur- 
1 poses is beyond doubt; and it is quite 
as valuable in the pot-culture of garden 
^ plants. Loam which has been stacked 
up is to be preferred ; this freely mixed with 
rotten horse-dung and often turned over, yields 
a very superior kind of mould, which may 
f|idvantageously be applied to soil-mixtures for 
Lmirus nobilis, Viburnum Tinus, Pomegranates, 
Oleanders, Oranges, Palms, Conifers, Myrtles, 
Pelargoniums, and many other plants. An ad¬ 
mixture of loam gives to the plant-mould a 
certain strength, a marrow, which remains a 
long while nutritious. The loam also has the 
quality of not allowing the organic matters 
to decay too quickly. Moreover, when loam 
is used in composts smaller pots suffice for the 
plants. 
In the Van Houtte establishment, they had, 
at least in my time, two kinds of mould 
chiefly in use : the one the noted Belgian 
leaf-mould from the beech-groves ; the other 
the so-called strong earth, which was equivalent 
to the loam here referred to. With these two 
ingredients the various earth-mixtures for the 
various plants were produced ; decayed dung, 
and well dried pulverised cow-dung being 
added when necessary. 
In former times loam found manifold appli¬ 
cations in plant-culture, especially in propaga¬ 
tion. It is known that loam tends to foulness 
or putrefaction much less quickly than other 
soils, even including sand. Thus, to prevent 
decay, many gardeners formerly adopted the 
plan of surrounding the base or the incised part 
of a cutting or layer with a little pat of loam 
before planting it in sand. In my appren¬ 
tice days I have experimented in this way 
in the case of a still rare plant. Pelargonium 
tricolor, which, from shoots treated in this 
