296 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 7, 1888. 
We think that what may be fairly called the mixed 
style of flower-gardening is destined to become the 
most popular, and more generally followed where there 
is space enough at command ; for it has advantages 
over the purely hardy herbaceous border, because it 
admits of the introduction of summer and autumn¬ 
flowering plants which are not hardy enough to with¬ 
stand our winters, although, at the same time, serve to 
brighten up the garden when the prominent occupants 
of the borders are flowering but indifferently. Many 
hardy plants have done their work for the season by 
the time that Dahlias and summer-flowering Chrysan¬ 
themums arrive at full growth. 
We are familiar with a garden very successfully 
managed on this principle. Its most prominent 
feature during the spring, summer and autumn is a 
piece of ground, roughly speaking, some 40 spans in 
breadth by 60 spans in length, the centre of which 
was, some years ago, planted with standard Apples, 
which are now fine thrifty trees, generally laden with 
good crops of fine fruit. Under them is a reserve 
garden and space for soils and manures, while skirting 
the outer circumference Rhododendrons have been 
planted, but do not at present form a complete belt. 
Here and there a few of the better kinds of deciduous 
flowering shrubs are introduced nearly in a line with 
them, and a little farther forward plants of Azalea 
mollis. 
These plants make a fine feature when in floiver, 
surrounded with the young foliage of the herbaceous 
plants. The taller-growing of them are, of course, 
placed at the back, those of medium growth in the 
centre, and the dwarf and trailing ones in front. 
Bulbous plants, more particularly Narcissus, Lilies 
and Iris, figure largely here. The planting is so 
arranged, that when the bulbs die down space is 
allowed for the introduction of Dahlias, such as the 
Cactus and other decorative varieties. 
Near the margins space is found for the planting of 
Ivy-leaf and other Pelargoniums, Paris Daisy, Helio¬ 
trope, Petunias, and a few of the best dwarf annuals. On 
one side of this ground, flanked by a belt of tall shrubs, 
advantage is taken of the shade thus afforded to intro¬ 
duce a bank of hardy Ferns or groups of Cyclamen, 
while Helleborus, Trillium grandiflorum, and the varie¬ 
gated Funkias find a congenial home. The collection of 
herbaceous plants is very good, and from the early 
spring months to the advent of severe frost, there is a 
ceaseless and ever-varying succession of floral beauty 
to be seen ; and when “Jack Frost” has done his worst 
and the growth of summer cleared off, a reserve of shrubs 
in pots, consisting of small Cupressus, Thuya, Retinos- 
poras, &c., are plunged into t"he vacant spaces made by 
the removal of the Dahlias. These mitigate the barren 
aspect of the borders, and blend well ivith the earlier- 
flowering spring plants, helping to set them off to the 
best advantage. 
Gardening like this has many important advantages 
over the bedding-out system ; but if well done it entails 
as much or possibly more labour ; while to do it well 
an intimate knowledge of the habits and require¬ 
ments of the plants under cultivation, and a wise 
discrimination in planting and keeping them in proper 
limits, and a vigilant attention to proper labelling is 
essential, or confusion and frequent loss from the 
carelessness or ignorance of workmen will happen. In 
dry seasons ample supplies of water are essential to the 
well-being of many plants. Slugs and other insect 
pests must be kept down at all cost, and slight pro¬ 
tection to some of the chosen kinds against late spring 
frosts will be amply repaid. A good dressing of decayed 
manure during the winter months should be given, as 
many things are gross feeders, and the starving system 
will not do. "Where lime and water are scarce articles, a 
mulching of cocoa fibre or half-decayed leaf-soil will 
be of great service. — IF. B. G. 
->3K-- 
EARLY PEAS, 
How and when to sow early Peas, and which sorts 
are best, are questions yearly asked by amateurs and 
cottagers, both personally and in the gardening press ; 
and in doing so they are perfectly justified. If we 
could draw a line from Boston, in Lincolnshire, on one 
hand, to Merioneth, North "Wales, on the other, and 
again from Scarborough to Kendal, from the line above 
that to the Orkneys, dividing each into south, middle 
and north sections, they would then have something 
to go by. Unfortunately this cannot be done ; the 
variability of soils, sites, and elevations, in any one of 
these sections, is so great, that one must not attempt 
to sow, even in the same section, although another 
can, simply because soils and sites do not warrant it. 
Yet in every one of these sections, I venture to assert 
that there are early Peas already sown and bursting 
into life. 
Peas sown in the open border in November, December, 
and January are hazardous, and entail much anxiety 
and trouble, the dangers receding as the months pass. 
They are, in fact, for six months onwards exposed 
to weather, mice, birds, snails, &c., and fortunate is 
he who can show regular rows in April. Thus the 
later into spring the sowings are made, by so much 
are the dangers reduced. Early sorts then must needs 
have good seed coats and be hardy in constitution. 
They should not exceed 3 ft. in height, as the higher 
they are the longer they will be in arrear; still, if 
we get them much dwarfer, their cropping qualities, 
with few exceptions, are more or less curtailed. Some 
early sorts may have a better colour and be of better 
quality than others, but the moment we favour these 
we must not be unmindful of the fact that they contain, 
more or less, the blood of wrinkled varieties, and possess 
a constitutional weakness, thereby rendering them 
unfit for early sowing, compared with genuine white 
or blue round varieties, which are noted for their 
hardiness. 
It is sometimes astonishing to notice how certain 
early varieties are flattered, when, in reality, it is the 
weather and position that ought to be taken into 
account. If we could get Peas to go ahead through hail, 
rain, wind or snow, then we should be justified in con¬ 
sidering them hardy. We must have time for the 
plant to grow and flower, in order to fill the pods ; and, 
while doing this, they must be favoured with a certain 
amount of warmth. 
In the spring of last year the snow left us on the 
20th March, and the following sorts, both new and 
old, were sown on March 28th, with the following 
abridged results, which tell their own tale. Earliest 
of All was ready for use on July 4 th ; Dickson’s First 
and Best, Gem of the Season, Lightning, and Early 
Kenilworth were all ready on July 5th ; and William 
the Conqueror on July 12th. These are white and 
blue round varieties, and embrace some of the best 
possible early and hardy sorts we have, although some 
are very similar, yet distinct in name. William Hurst 
was full July 9 th, Early Bird on July 8th, and Chelsea 
Gem on July 6th. The first and last-named are from 12 
ins. to 18 ins. high, and are two of the most valuable 
dwarf wrinkled Peas ; they are also grand additions to 
the Little Gem section, and for cottagers and small 
gardeners are really gems. Early Bird grows over 3 
ft. high, but it is a good and distinct green marrow 
Pea.— B. L. __ 
THE MILFORD NURSERY, 
GODALMING. 
On the opposite page, by means of an engraving, 
prepared from a photograph, we have the pleasure of 
introducing to the notice of our readers a very remark¬ 
able group of ornamental Conifers, to be seen in Mr. 
Maurice Young’s nursery, at Milford, near Godaiming. 
The central specimen is the finest we have seen of 
Cupressus Lawsoniana Fraseri, measuring 12 ft. in 
height. Its handsome, narrowly pyramidal and erect 
habit is well displayed in the illustration. Owing to 
the short and robust character of the lateral branches, 
a specimen tree is not liable to be disfigured by the 
loss of a branch, an occurrence which is in itself unlikely 
to happen. While the variety is one of the finest of 
the numerous forms of C. Lawsoniana in cultivation, 
we may safely predict that the specimen figured is the 
finest in the country. On the extreme right is a tree 
of Abies polita, 10 ft. in height, and one of the most 
ornamental and select of the Spruces. It comes from 
Japan, -where it grows on the mountains of Nippon, and 
since its introduction in 1861, has proved perfectly 
hardy and accommodating to our climate. When 
the tree gets old, the leader and side branches 
assume a drooping habit, as in the Himalayan A. 
Smithii. 
Abies polita is matched on the left hand side 
of the group by another equally choice species of 
Spruce, namely, A. ajanensis, 8 ft. or 9 ft. in height, 
introduced at the same date as the last, and 
from the same country, but with a much wider dis¬ 
tribution. The tree is pyramidal in habit, and has 
dark green foliage suffused with a glaucous bloom. 
Immediately on the right of Cupressus Lawsoniana 
Fraseri is a grand specimen of Siebold’s Hemlock Spruce 
(Tsuga Sieboldi) 12 ft. in height, and also hailing from 
Japan. It is more compact in habit, with larger and 
darker green leaves than the Common Hemlock Spruce 
and its allied species. Its counterpart in the group is a 
handsome specimen of Retinospora plumosa aurea, 10 
ft. in height. The effect of the golden plumes of such, 
a mass, either in the shrubbery or isolated on the lawn 
by itself, may be better imagined than described. 
Mr. Young’s nursery is rich in useful and ornamental 
trees and shrubs of all kinds, and at any season of the 
year is well worthy of a visit from tree lovers. When 
we called in the autumn the 
Ornamental Trees 
were in beautiful foliage, and among them the Maples 
figured largely, yet in modern times their beauty seems, 
in great part, overlooked, either through negligence or 
indifference. What could be more striking than 
Sir G. Wager’s Maple (Acer eriocarpum) when ruffled 
by the wind, the silvery or snowy white under¬ 
surface being turned up in masses, contrasting finely 
with the dark green upper surface, or with the leaves 
of associated trees ? The red foliage of A. colchicum 
rubrum, A. tartaricum rubrum, and the abundant 
red flowers of A. rubrum, succeeded by the red and 
yellow-tinted foliage as they fade, are singularly 
attractive to the admirers of hardy trees as they pass 
through all the varying changes, from the opening bud 
to the falling leaf, when the different species are singu¬ 
larly attractive and beautiful. The common or silver- 
barked Birch (Betula alba) is well known as a handsome 
and picturesque landscape tree, and requires no descrip¬ 
tion ; but there are several distinct and very ornamental 
forms in cultivation, such as B. a. foliis purpureis, a 
new purple-leaved kind, and B. a. pendula Youngii, or 
Young’s New Weeping Birch, of which there are fine 
pyramidal and standard forms in the nursery. This 
weeping Birch differs from the ordinary type, and was 
discovered a few years ago in the neighbourhood of 
Milford trailing on the ground, with long, slender, 
whip-like shoots. The Paper Birch (B. papyracea) is 
quite distinct from the white Birch, and has leaves 
several times larger. Castanea vesca marginata, or 
Young’s Silver-striped Chestnut, has a silvery margin 
to the large deeply-serrated leaves. Young’s Cut-leaved 
Chestnut (C. v. laciniata) has much more deeply-cut 
foliage than the type, and is very ornamental. 
The Oaks might be utilised to better advantage than 
they are at present, as few seem to be aware of the 
value of Quercus conferta (or Q. pannonica), the Hun¬ 
garian Oak, for lawn and park scenery. The leaves are 
of great size and finely cut, differing in a marked 
degree from the English or almost any other Oak. 
Q. austriaca sempervirens, Q. laurifolia (a broad-leaved 
form of the Willow Oak), Q. coccinea, and Q. fastigiata 
viridis are all very distinct and useful in their way. 
The last-named is a fastigiate or singularly upright 
form of the English Oak ; while the splendour of the 
scarlet and red leaves of Q. coccinea, when fading in 
autumn, is simply magnificent. 
The foliage of the Horse Chestnuts (iEsculus) is in 
itself of great decorative value, but the flowers of the 
Buck’s-eye Chestnut (i£. rubicunda) are simply grand, 
as those know who have seen a good specimen of it in 
flower. The yellow-flowered species, HI. flava, is a 
valuable tree by way of contrast, having pale yellow 
flowers, but very free. Pavia macrostachya may 
be included here on account of its floriferous nature, 
and being of bush form, is very suitable for small 
gardens, or as a specimen on the lawn. The flowers 
are white. 
Dimorphanthus mandshuricus, frequently sold under 
the name of Aralia, deserves cultivation for the 
handsome much-divided foliage alone, being suitable 
for sub-tropical planting. Specimens from 6 ft. to 10 
ft. in height throw up large panicles of white flowers in 
autumn. The feathery branches and leaves of the 
deciduous Cypress (Taxodium distichum), when 
planted by or near water where its roots can draw a 
supply of moisture, forms a most effective landscape 
tree. Yirgilia lutea is a Leguminous tree of great beauty, 
and is sometimes cut hard back in winter to induce 
rampant growth and fine foliage. 
Pictorial Trees. 
The Cedars are very characteristic and magnificent 
trees, especially when they become aged, with massive 
limbs, and figure in many a landscape scene. Hero 
there are fine specimens of Cedrus Libani 3 ft. 
to 4 ft. high, and the Deodara (C. Deodara) 2 ft. to 
7 ft. high. C. atlantica (C. africana) may also be 
obtained. The Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum) is 
notable for its orbicular leaves, rosy purple flowers, 
and red pods. The Limes, Elms, Liquidambar 
styraciflua, and Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) are 
grown in quantity, and also in variety. There are 
three fine varieties of "Weeping Elms, namely, the 
Scampston (Ulmus americana pendula), the English 
