628 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
June 5, 1886. 
copied nearly the whole"of Messrs. Dobbie’s catalogue, 
including some of the articles on gardening matters, 
which embody the results of their many years of prac¬ 
tical experience. The only difference between them 
that we can see is the size, a slightly altered arrange¬ 
ment of the matter, and the substitution of the name 
of “ Knight ” for that of “Dobbie.” Such barefaced 
plagiarism as this requires no comment—it carries with 
it its own condemnation. 
Messrs. John Laing & Go. have issued a 
general invitation to all interested in Begonias to view 
their grand collection, which is now in full bloom. 
The Evening Fete of the Royal Botanic Society 
will be held on the 30th inst., when besides prizes for 
floral decorations of various kinds, medals are offered 
for arrangements of flowers, leaves, &c., for personal 
adornment, such as wreaths, chaplets, and the like, 
and also for use in dress trimming and ornament ; for 
lamps or illuminants for ornamental outdoor or con¬ 
servatory use ; and for self-contained garden and con¬ 
servatory fountains. 
Mr. John Garrett, formerly of the Royal Hor¬ 
ticultural Society’s Garden, Chiswick, and for the last 
four years foreman of the Greenhouse and Ornamental 
Department at Kew, has been engaged as gardener to 
A. B. Mitford, Esq., C.B., Batsford Park, Moreton-in- 
the-Marsh, Gloucestershire. 
“Gardening for Amateurs.” — The Rev. 
F. D. Horner, M.A., and Mr. G. Kidson, Principal of 
Lansdowne School, Hull, have under this title issued a 
little work, at the popular price of Is., which is worthy 
of a place in every amateur’s library. The names and 
well-known floral proclivities of the authors are a 
guarantee in themselves of the pleasantly-written cha¬ 
racter of their contributions, and the soundness of the 
information they have to impart. Commencing with 
the Chrysanthemum, we are treated to chapters on the 
Rose and Dahlia, the Carnation and Picotee, the Pansy, 
the Hollyhock, the Tulip and the Auricula, annuals and 
perennials, bulbs, garden pests, &c., and finally to the 
description of a simple method of growing Mushrooms. 
Mr. Chas. Boatwright has been engaged as 
gardener to J. T. La Trobe Bateman, Esq., J.P., D.L., 
Moor Park, Farnham, through Messrs. John Laing & 
Co. 
Princess Beatrice has consented to open the 
combined Exhibition of the Royal Southampton Horti¬ 
cultural Society and the Hants and Isle of Wight Bee¬ 
keepers’ Association, to be held in Westwood Park, 
Southampton, on Saturday, the 31st of July. 
Mr. Heard, lias been engaged as gardener to M. J. 
Freeman, Esq., The Grange, Exmouth, Devon, through 
Messrs. John Laing & Co. 
--**<•- 
“MY GARDEN.” 
To many readers the garden at the Grange, Walling- 
ton, the residence of A. H. Smee, Esq., is well known, 
for it has been admirably described by the father of the 
present proprietor, in his interesting work bearing the 
title given above. Since that widely read book was 
published, numerous improvements have been effected 
in the garden, both by father and son ; a handsome 
house has been erected by the latter, with a lodge at 
the entrance in a similar style, and the collection of 
plants and fruit trees have been greatly extended. The 
ground now occupied by one of the most picturesque 
gardens in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, was at 
one time little better than a swamp, and it affords a 
capital example of what skill and taste can effect under 
great disadvantages. The river Wandle passes through 
the grounds as a broad clear stream, from which 
numerous smaller streamlets are taken through ferny, 
shaded glades and dells in other parts of the garden, 
forming at intervals delightful little cascades and 
waterfalls with rivulets, where the dainty trout is seen 
sporting in hundreds, and offering an almost irresistable 
temptation to disciples of Izaak Walton. There is no 
formality anywhere, and a visitor who is tired of the 
monotonous gardens too frequently seen around large 
cities, is greatly refreshed by the absence of “ spic and 
span dressiness,” which is apparently considered by 
many as the great attraction of a garden. Here in a 
comparatively small space we have a model garden, 
where fruit, flowers, and vegetables are accorded skilful 
culture, where the most costly Orchids and the simplest 
Lardy flowers are equally prized, and where one is free 
from all stereotyped methods of garden design. The 
Ferns, from the" stately Ostrich Ferns, Struthiopteris 
Germanica and Pennsylvanica, to the more lowly 
Adiantum pedatum and the common Bracken thrive 
vigorously, adorning many cool secluded walks, over¬ 
hung by choice collections of ornamental trees and 
shrubs, amongst which the scarlet and white thorns are 
very beautiful just now, with Rhododendrons, Labur¬ 
nums and many others. Upon stages erected over the 
streamlets in the shade of these trees, Mr. Smee has 
grown large numbers of his Orchids most successfully 
during the summer months, and we can easily imagine 
that the conditions are such as are likely to suit the 
majority of those plants during the warmer portion of 
the year, better, indeed, than houses, when all the 
cooler species are often in danger of being too much 
dried in summer. 
The fruit garden is a very remarkable one, the col¬ 
lection of varieties of Apples and Pears being one of the 
largest in private establishments. The trees are 
standards, mostly of moderate size, but very healthy 
and fruitful, although the position is so low that they 
would scarcely be expected to prove successful. In 
almost any portion of the garden water can be obtained 
at 3 ft. from the surface, and this has necessitated tire 
lifting of the trees every three or four years, to prevent 
the roots passing into the wet and cold subsoil. It is 
very probable that this frequent lifting has had some 
effect on the fruitfulness of the trees, as they often 
yield good crops when elsewhere in the district the 
supplies are scanty. Of the small fruits, Gooseberries 
and Currants are largely grown, the former bearing 
large quantities of fruits upon the non-pruning system, 
all the attention the trees receive in this way being 
confined to shortening the unduly long shoots or re¬ 
moving some where they are too crowded. 
Seven or eight glass-houses are devoted to plants, 
amongst which Orchids form the great speciality. A 
large collection of these is grown, representing over 700 
species, varieties, and hybrids ; but as numbers of these 
are in duplicate, it can be seen that to accommodate so 
many, very large specimens cannot be admitted. The 
principal genera are well represented, and at the present 
time Cattleyas, Odontoglossums, Dendrobiums, and 
Masdevallias are the chief features. They are excel¬ 
lently-treated, healthy plants, and arranged as they 
are in a long house with Ferns, they form a beautiful 
exhibition. 
Last Saturday Mr. Smee opened his garden to the 
public, and he has extended the privilege throughout 
the past week, many hundreds of visitors having taken 
the opportunity of inspecting this charming and in¬ 
structive establishment, the fame of which has been 
ably maintained under the superintendence of the 
gardener, Mr. Cummins. 
-- 
TILLAGE OPERATIONS OP THE 
GARDEN. 
Alt. cultivators of the soil—the gardener no less than 
the farmer—find in the preparation of the ground for 
the reception of seed their most laborious duty, and one 
which demands the greatest amount of judgment and 
skill on the part of the operator. When the soil has 
been prepared, and the seed committed to the ground, 
the gardener has, comparatively speaking, little else to 
do but to watch and wait, leaving the work he has 
carried thus far to be completed by the secret operations 
of nature ; reminding us very forcibly of the fact that 
we are to a very considerable extent at the mercy of the 
weather for our reward. At the same time we may call 
to mind the gardeners’ good old maxim— 
“Work on, hope on, and be ye sure 
Self help is noble’schooling ; 
You do your best, and leave the rest 
To God Almighty’s ruling.” 
In spring-time our arable fields and gardens are 
generally in a state quite unadapted for sowing seed or 
setting out plants. The soil is so compact at the sur¬ 
face that we cannot bury or cover the seed we wish to 
sow easily and uniformly ; and even if we fairly begin 
the young plants will not be able to perform the earlier 
functions devolving upon them, and the crops will not 
thrive as we desire. 
In good and well-matured seed the powers of veget¬ 
able life lie dormant until aroused by the conditions of 
light, heat and moisture, favourable for their develop¬ 
ment, but when these are present the seed forthwith 
germinates, and starts into activity and growth, It is 
to supply these conditions that the mechanical working 
or tillage of the soil has to be performed. 
The soil of our gardens, however well it was loosened 
up in the previous year, or for the previous crops, again 
settles down, so that the particles of earth are in the 
closest contact with each other, which is the more 
apparent in very stiff clays. It is rain falling upon 
newly loosened ground, which especially aids in com¬ 
pacting it. For not only does the falling weight of 
the rain-drops actually beat down the surface of the 
land but the filling of the-pores of the soil by copious 
rains, partly or fully floats the smaller particles of fine 
silt and clay, and then as the water descends below, 
the whole mass sinks and contracts, by a nearer 
fitting together of the light mobile parts among each 
other, and among the heavier less disturbed portions 
of the ground. 
The finest grains of sand and silt fill up the chinks 
and crevices between the larger clods, and the micro¬ 
scopic rock-dust and the almost invisible clay particles 
run like cement into the smallest cavities. Each heavy 
rain produces to some extent, a closer re-adjustment of 
the particles of soil, and increases its compactness and 
solidity. The kind of compactness that ensues when 
rain falls upon the land, depends largely upon the kind 
of particles which compose the mass of soil. 
Sand is an accumulation of more or less minute 
granules of stones, exhibiting no adherence to each 
other, but lying unattached, loose, and unconnected 
beside and upon one another, leaving an abundance of 
interstices. Pure sand is insoluble in water, it can 
only absorb and retain small quantities of moisture, an 
excessive quantity of water filters through it as through 
a sieve. Grains of sand will, however, stick together 
with slight energy if moist, for the water which 
adheres to them acts as a weak cement. When the 
water dries out, the grains of sand again fall apart; 
they do not settle down either by being rammed or 
trampled upon. 
Connected with this is the fact that very sandy soils 
allow absorbed water to evaporate freely again, and 
when dry they become extremely pulverulent. 
These properties are seen clearly enough in so-called 
“ light soils ” ; they have a hot, dry nature, since in 
long continued drought or under imperfect watering 
they give up all their moisture, and are accordingly 
greatly heated by the sun’s rays. These kind of soils 
display a rapid activity when rains abound or with 
careful watering, since the humus and manuring con¬ 
stituents are urged to a quicker decomposition by the 
atmospheric air, which has free access through theporous 
soil. This activity, however, not being permanent, 
easily leads to the exhaustion of the fertility of the 
land since the nutrient constituents are not retained by 
the sand, and hence may pass off both by evaporation 
and by washing away in the drainage water. 
It is clearly apparent from this that manures of slow 
decomposition are especially suited to soils of this 
character, and that easily soluble artificial manures 
should only be applied in very small quantities at a 
time ; say, one-half at seed-time, and the other half as 
a top-dressing later on in the season according as the 
plants may require it. 
If the sand exists in a very fine mealy state of divi¬ 
sion, as for example in many kinds of river or marshy 
soils formed by alluvial deposits, it approaches clay in 
many of its properties ; it absorbs more water than 
pure sand, and shows something of the adhesiveness 
so striking in common clay. 
Clay is a substance which is insoluble in water, but 
is capable of absorbing mechanically a large quantity 
of water, and retaining it for a long time, forming a 
sticky, compact, tough paste through which water will 
not easily penetrate. If when the clay is in this soft 
state it be pressed by the hand, a firm adhesion of the 
particles takes place. 
Hence soils containing much clay are known as 
“ heavy,” and are difficult to work, and when once 
saturated with moisture remain a long time wet, and, 
therefore, cold and inactive. Sudden showers cake 
such soils—that is, the rain produces a layer of clay- 
paste on the surface which prevents the further pene¬ 
tration of water or air, consequently very stiff clays are 
sluggish in regard to their action upon vegetable growth, 
and should be supplied with readily decomposable and 
completely fermented manuring substances. 
Clay cannot be considered as a food of plants, it 
derives its high importance for the growth and nourish¬ 
ment of vegetation solely from its physical properties, 
