278 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 2, 1886. 
Clematises may be planted at any time between Sep¬ 
tember and April. The Clematis puts forth a great 
number of feeding roots, and a great deal of manure 
must be applied at the time of planting in addition to 
that worked in with the soil. The crown of the plants 
should be put just below the surface, and the soil 
troddeQ firmly about the roots. During the summer a 
good surface mulching of manure should be applied, 
and plenty of water administered during dry weather. 
Pruning the summer flowering varieties is a matter 
of so much importance, especially with a view of 
securing successional blooming, that I venture to make 
a quotation from Messrs. Moore &, Jackman’s book on 
the Clematis. “ These (the summer flowering) forms 
of Clematis flower on the vigorous summer shoots, 
which caluminate in floriferous ramification forming 
O 
dense masses of blossoms. The object, therefore, in 
pruning should be that of favouring to the utmost the 
development of these vigorous young shoots, and this 
is done by cutting the summer growth back early in 
the season, as soon as the frosts have disfigured the 
plants, say about November, to within about 6 ins. of 
the soil. The mulching, which is then to be applied 
wiath liberal hand, serves to prevent the soil becoming 
severely frost bound, and should, about the middle or 
end of February, be neatly forked in along with, in 
some cases, an additional supply of rotten dung, the 
latter being regulated by the manurial qualities of the 
original mulching, and by the natural strength of 
the land. Thus treated, the plants will commence 
flowering about the first week in July, and they will 
go on yielding flowers as long as their strength will 
enable them to throw out lateral growths.” 
But little remains to be stated ; at this time of the 
year the old wood of the summer flowering varieties 
should be cut away, if not already done, and the 
shoots that are allowed to remain, trained nicely into 
position. The decaying wood of the spring blooming 
Clematises should also be cut away, and the remaining 
shoots shortened back to what appears to be blooming 
wood. Now is the time to make things neat and snug 
for the new year ; for the garden should be kept as nice 
in winter as in summer, as far as neatness is concerned. 
To the observant eye there is much in winter that 
awakens the interest of the intelligent gardener.— R. D. 
--XTc—- 
GARDENERS AND GARDENING. 
This is a large subject, one which has been much 
discussed during the past few years, and about which 
it is difficult to say much that is new, and yet it is a 
matter of absorbing interest when looked at as affecting 
the social status and ability of the gardener. There 
are degrees of gardeners—let us not forget that. In 
the very front rank are found such men as William 
Ingram, D. T. Fish, David Thomson, William Miller, 
and others, who exalt the profession by their great 
ability and high intelligence. We name certain persons 
because they may be fairly taken as representatives of 
their class, but there are a large number of men who 
are highly esteemed in the profession, who are near 
the front rank, and doing good work for horticulture 
by means of practical work, and through the medium 
of the horticultural press. What a dearth of informa¬ 
tion there would be in the gardening papers were the 
gardeners as a class to altogether withhold their con¬ 
tributions. 
There is a very large number of gardeners, so-called, 
who may be regarded as constituting a third stratum 
in the body, men who are unfortunately deficient in 
education and much in the way of social status, filling 
small places in many instances with great credit, and 
in their way doing worthy work, and that in a 
quiet and unassuming but not less valuable way. 
These are the men who to a large extent have made 
country shows what they are—sources of pleasure and 
profit in the neighbourhood, and thereby have greatly 
popularised horticulture. Many of them live lives of 
unremitting toil, working early and late, but bringing 
to bear upon their work considerable intelligence and 
industry. To many of these, we fear, there is little 
chance of bettering their condition, but there are many 
careful ones among them who are able to lay by some¬ 
thing for a rainy day. 
There is yet the lowest group—and a very large one— 
embracing those who, in addition to the work of the 
garden, add that of the stable, the cow-yard, and not 
infrequently that of the dwelling-house. Many of 
these are industrious and steady, but they are wanting 
in general intelligence and a knowledge of gardening 
work. Add to these the army of jobbing gardeners 
about the country -a very large number—who include 
the waifs and strays of the body, men who, having 
failed in almost everything else, have turned to the 
garden as a last resource. We could wish we were quit 
of many of these, but it cannot be helped. Many of 
them are very ignorant, indolent, and intemperate, and 
they degrade gardening by their association with it. 
The labour market is overcrowded, and so long as 
that is so gardeners can scarcely look for any improve¬ 
ment in their social condition, except such as they are 
able to work out for themselves. By honesty of 
purpose, sober habits, by reading and reflection, they 
can make their lives bearable and even pleasant ; and 
by educating their children to the best of their ability 
they can do something in the way of giving them a 
better start in life. In their offspring they can see 
remedied the defects of their own bringing up. That 
is surely something gained. A man of resource can 
also find some way of supplementing his income, if 
only in a small way. But while the general depression 
lasts let no one look for any great improvement in the 
position and emoluments of gardening through circum¬ 
stances outside of himself; but he could do something 
for himself to make his condition more endurable if he 
will seriously set about it. Voltaire puts one view of 
the case in his unrivalled dialogue between Bashaw 
Tuctan and Karpos, the gardener. Bashaw Tuctan 
remarks, “You are a reasoner, I see, and have your 
principles of action.” Karpos answers, “Yes, such as 
they are. They are but few, but they serve me; and, 
perhaps, if I had more they would only puzzle me.” 
The Bashaw then says, “ I should much like to know 
your principles’’; whereupon Karpos replies, “They 
are to be a good husband, a good father, a good neigh¬ 
bour, and a good gardener. I go no farther, and I 
hope for the rest that God will take everything in good 
part, and have mercy upon me.”— X. 
-->K<--- 
WINTER BERRIES. 
So intimately associated with legendary lore is our 
English winter greenery, that its natural interest is apt 
to be obscured by the traditions surrounding it and 
the merely decorative uses to which it is put. But 
only a slight burst of frost is necessary to show that 
winter vegetation fills a vital place in the economy of 
the seasons. No inconsiderable number of our most 
effective evergreens then bear fruit ; which, mostly in 
the form of an insipid or (to us) perhaps injurious berry, 
is not generally recognised as oi this character. Take 
the pervading but never vulgarised Ivy. From the 
late autumn when the drowsy bees linger over its 
aromatic blossoms, until the appearance of its grey- 
green berries, it grows daily more interesting ; while 
of all verdure proof against the “winter's flaw,” the 
painter could least spare it from his canvas or the poet 
from his idyll. But not on such terms may the Ivy 
be dismissed. Bacchus and his crew notwithstanding, 
the Ivy is in reality dedicated to the birds. Its 
Currant-like fruit grows all through the winter, and 
furnishes an abundant food supply for thrushes, black¬ 
birds, and even pigeons. The smooth black-skinned 
berries are not fully ripe until the spring, and their 
appearance at all times is little suggestive of the 
nourishing food they contain, and which does not 
appear to be injured by the hardest frosts. On the 
other hand, the “haws” of the various thorn trees 
are occasionally quite destroyed by the rigours of a 
sustained frost, and the popular idea that an abundant 
autumn crop is indicative of an approaching hard 
winter, is, of course, a simple superstition. Cowper has 
said that 
The berry-bearing thorns 
That feed the thrush (whatever some suppose) 
Afford the smaller minstrels no supply ; 
but “haws” are, in fact, resorted to by widely different 
families, both of soft and hard-billed birds. When 
ripe the fruit is of a “mealy” character, and it has 
sometimes been used with advantage for fattening pigs. 
Besides the common Hawthorn, numerous other varie¬ 
ties retain their berries throughout the winter. The 
“ yellow-berried ” and “ cockspur ” thorns are among 
these ; the latter, as well as the “plum-leaved” tree, 
often keeping their foliage until the winter is far 
advanced. Of quite another description is the “ hip,” 
the fruit-berry of the brier or common dog-rose. • 
The supply of hips is generally much smaller than 
that of the haws ; but the two are invariably coupled 
in considering the natural food of birds when pressed 
in winter by frost or drought. The berries of the Holly, 
as of the Mistleto and Laurel, add to the winter’s pro¬ 
vision, and are perhaps oftener called upon than is 
commonly imagined. That some birds suffer great 
hardships when the earth is sealed by frost cannot 
of course be doubted. No quantity of berries or even 
of grain can compensate for the temporary loss of the 
endless forms of insect life. But their sufferings are 
as much due to thirst as to hunger ; and as long as the 
stores of winter berries remain unexhausted they find a 
fair amount of sustenance. The glutinous berry of the 
Mistleto yields support to the whole family of the 
thrushes, and is enjoyed long after the brighter fruitage 
of the mountain ash has been consumed. The purple 
berries of the Berberis which endure very severe 
weather, are also greedily eaten by birds, pheasants 
especially having a well-known liking for these dainties. 
As the Laureate reminds us in one of his latest poems 
—“ The Flight 
The Blackthorn blossom fades and falls, 
And leaves the bitter sloe. 
But although this fruit requires a touch of frost to ripen 
it, it cannot be relied upon by the birds after November. 
Many other edible berries fall into the same category. 
They ripen when the autumn tints are at their brightest, 
but “fade and fall" with lingering flower and leaf. 
A cheerful little plant, bearing cherry-like berries, is 
to be seen just now on' every side. It is popularly 
known as the “ winter cherry,” but this is a misnomer. 
The true winter cherry (Physalis Alkehengi) belongs 
to the great Solanum family, and produces a berry 
somewhat similar to those of its namesake, but in an 
entirely different way, the fruit being at first enclosed 
in a kind of calyx or envelope, which falls off as it 
ripens. These berries may be eaten with safety ; and 
the Germans, who never tire of cherry sauces, have 
found a special place for them in their rude cuisine. Of 
all these berries, as of many others, great use was made 
by the physicians of old. Ivy berries were esteemed 
“ sovereign ” for the plague ; while those of the Mistle¬ 
to constituted ‘ ‘ a singular good remedy of most subtle 
parts for a wide range of disorders. Flaws were 
“ absolute ” for gouty and dropsical affections, and our 
robust ancestors were asked to prove the “strong 
faculty ” of Holly-berries by swallowing a dozen before 
breakfast.— St. James's Gazette. 
-—- 
Scotti sh Gar dening. 
Annual Conversazione of the Aberdeen 
Seed Trade. —This was held on December 24th, and 
proved a decided success. Among the large company 
present (over 300) were Mr. A. Kobson (of Smith and 
Sons), who presided, Mr. Bruce, Mr. Gordon, Broad 
Street ; Dir. Darling (of Cardno & Darling), Dir. 
Anderson (of Keid & Co.), Dir. Smith, Dir. Cassel (of 
Cross & Sons, Glasgow), Dir. Bell (of Cross & Donaldson, 
Leith), Dir. Harper (of Harper & Co., Aberdeen), &c. 
After tea had been served, the chairman delivered a brief 
address. It was difficult, he said, to find anything either 
pleasing or discouraging to say about the trade at the 
present time. All kinds of trade had been so much 
ot late depressed that many people had been thrown 
out of work ; but it was pleasing to see how the people 
of Aberdeen, of all classes of the community, had put 
their hands in their pockets to help those poor persons 
who stood in need of help. Let them hope that the 
handsome fund collected for these people would be justly 
and equitably distributed, so as to enable every one to 
enjoy as happy and pleasant a Christmas Eve as they were 
enjoying that evening. DYe were all looking forward 
to a revival of trade. He saw it reported the other 
day that the improvement had begun in America, and 
that a great wave of prosperity might be expected to 
strike British shores in a very short time. He hoped 
that this would be as true as the American weather 
predictions usually were, and that we were on the eve 
of a great revival in trade. Notwithstanding the bad 
times we had experienced, the seed trade of Aberdeen 
had been progressing wonderfully well. During the 
last few years it had been increasing, he might say, by 
leaps and bounds ; and at the present moment it was 
in a better position than perhaps it had ever been 
before. This, in the first place, was very much owing 
to the fact that the seed trade was well established in 
times gone by, and was well-built up by such men as 
