498 
April 4, 1896. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
this is correct I do not pretend to say ; at any rate 
it is very rare in cultivation in this country, and 
certainly justly merits a place amongst dwarf-grow¬ 
ing Conifers. — A. D. Webster. 
-- 
LANDSCAPE WORK. 
(Concluded from p. 482). 
Burning of clayey soils I have done, and the results 
have been far beyond my expectation. It is certainly 
a rather expensive method ; but considering the 
benefits and practical results derived, it is by far the 
best system ; and I may say that if plenty of spare 
wood is about, the expenses are materially decreased. 
The method of burning may be of interest to young 
members. It consists in building a stack of wood 
in the form of a cone 12 ft. high or so, after which the 
clay is built around it; then in adding a circle of 
wood, and so on, leaving, of course, an opening for 
setting it on fire, and one at the top. If you ever 
have to do such work on a large scale have a number 
of such kilns always going ; and on the ground you 
are improving, do not allow them to burn rapidly. 
With a little experience you will be able to gauge them 
by the amount of smoke emitted ; if the pile is burn- 
ning too rapidly throw on some more clay, or beat 
with the back of a spade where smoke is coming 
out. If done correctly this will stop it. Progress 
will appear somewhat slow, but with men and 
carts and by keeping building kilns, you are sure 
to march forward. Of course, it is not a very nice 
and pleasant job to be marching through clay holes 
and winding through kilns, but if you have an 
interest in the work and desire to do your duty you 
will take pleasure in it. 
Gravelly soils are the more easily improved than 
clayey, if a sufficient body of heavy loam is added to 
them. They allow the rain to descend rapidly, and 
lack the power of retaining sufficient moisture ; 
hence a lawn made on such soils is liable to be burnt 
up in summer ; and it is clear that it is absolutely 
necessary to make the addition of heavier material. 
The soil best adapted for a lawn is a medium one, 
of good tilth and an equal distribution of that tilth 
over the entire surface. The texture or friability 
should never in wet weather be liable to get sodden 
with the ground operations. 
Another item to consider is drainage. This 
naturally depends upon the soils, for we arrive at 
width and depth of lay ing the drainage in accordance 
with the nature of the soil. In some cases one is 
compelled to consider the levelling of the ground 
before draining, but not always. In the drainage of 
stiff, and retentive soil I have put the drains as near 
as 10 feet apart ; the more adhesive the soil is the 
more drainage is necessary, bearing in mind that it 
is possible to drain certain lands too much. If so, a 
great amount of the fertilising elements in the soil 
’ will pass away in silt down these drains. The same 
rules, that are adopted and suitable for draining 
meadows, ought not to be followed and adopted for 
lawns. In the drainage of meadows it is the aim that 
rain should not disappear rapidly ; and that the 
texture of the soil should retain dampness and 
moisture. These conditions are vital agents that 
feed and sustain the varieties of grasses suitable for 
meadow ; while the contrary conditions are that rain 
percolates freely and rapidly away and the texture 
of the soil has the power of retaining a certain 
percentage of moisture beneficial to the development 
of the small roots of lawn grasses. 1 know such 
conditions cannot always be obtained by the layer 
out. Circumstances and materials debar him, but 
so long as these circumstances and materials are so 
moulded after such an ideal as I have been speaking 
about, the greater are the practical results obtained. 
I have only time to mention a few details further 
on drainage. It is of vital importance to find an 
outlet for the main drain All secondary drains 
should enter the main drain at an easy angle. Other 
important items are deciding on the width, depth, 
and in always taking the levels so as to give a good 
fall. One has also to consider for a lawn on a slope 
whether it will not be an advantage to drain it 
obliquely or at right angles. Care should be taken 
in laying the tiles and covering them over. Some 
use turf, straw, stones, etc. I always prefer to open 
a long tract before putting in tiles. I know objections 
are made against it, but I consider the reasons 
against are not equal to the benefits gained by it 
The size of the pipes is also important when we take 
into account that it is calculated that an inch drain 
can discharge half a ton of water in an hour, and that 
the average of a heavy rainfall in twenty-four hours is 
about an inch. This cn an acre of land weighs about 
100 tons. From facts such as these and others we see 
that drainage is an important item in laying out 
grounds. After draining the ground it has to be 
levelled. Levelling is not simply throwing the soil 
here and there in slip-shod fashion, but consists in 
selecting the place from which you are to take the 
level. One requires a straight-edge with level, three 
borning rods, and a number of stakes to drive into 
the ground. 
These are the simple and common appliances, 
sufficient in most cases to ascertain the inequalities 
of surface or a fall over in any ordinary lawn. 
Levelling on a large scale is a branch of civil 
engineering, and requires expensive instruments. 
Of course one might add to the aforesaid appliances 
a quadrant, triangle, level, and rods, and with these 
appliances we may either make the lawns on a slope, 
level, undulating or wavy. The main points of 
importance are to take a good level at starting, so 
that the least amount of labour is required to attain 
the desired plan, also that after it is levelled an 
equal distribution of the good tilth is over the entire 
surface. The reasons for this are evident. 
The next item that one has to consider after 
levelling is the preparing the ground for sowing, and 
as I have taken up very much time already I will say 
very little here, and also on the remaining items yet 
to be dealt with. On preparing the ground it is well 
to enrich it, if poor, with manures. Whether turf or 
seed is the best has also to be considered. The 
former is valuable if good and free from weeds, and 
for a small lawn is the best in many cases. The 
latter for a lawn of some size is by far the cheapest 
and best. But on no account should cheap seeds be 
got, the very best are the most satisfactory, and do 
not spare the seed. Cover the ground so that you 
do not require spectacles to distinguish between the 
sown and unsown parts. A lawn sown with seed 
under favourable conditions as to heat and moisture, 
ought to be ready' for cutting with the scythe in 
seven or nine weeks. I have made them with certain 
materials so that they were ready to cut in less time 
than the aforesaid. 
It is sometimes advisable to add a little Clover 
amongst the lawn seeds, but only in the case of 
sloping ground or a soil that is very porous. Clover 
has the power of retaining a greater amount of 
moisture than fine grasses, and is beneficial on this 
account. It rapidly increases under certain condi¬ 
tions, and if a liberal use of it is adopted it may 
exterminate the grass in a less or greater degree. On 
the after management I will say a few words. I 
would recommend judicious rolling and cutting, 
while the manures most suitable for maintaining its 
fertility are various. I consider that bone meal is 
amoDgst the best manures for lawns that are made 
on the practical basis that I have been speaking 
about. This means that bones are not recommended 
for stiff, clayey, and wet soils, for on these soils bones 
do very little good, if any. Bone meal is not a 
forcer, its actions are not instantaneous ; on the 
contrary, its fertilising properties are gradually and 
slowly incorporated by the soil, hence its sustaining 
power is its most valuable recommendation for its 
use. I am no believer in a manure for short grass, 
that produces instantaneous results without lasting 
and sustaining benefits, for it thereby produces evils 
instead of doing good. My aim has always been to 
select a manure that will be sustaining, and reject 
those that produce rank and vigorous growth. With 
bone meal I have often used charcoal dust. Its 
points of recommendation are that it gives out its 
fertilising elements slowly, and acts as a corrective 
agent of the utmost importance in many soils. Soot 
and other manures I have used, but I have not time 
to speak of them, and will close my paper by a word 
on lime This is not a manure, but a corrective and 
aggressive agent. To illustrate this we assume that 
the elements of fertility are in the soil, and that these 
are not in proportion. They are too slowly assimilated 
by the plants, or, in other words, the soil is retaining 
the elements and not giving them up. By applying 
lime we put in operation a corrective and aggressive 
power that forces these elements to be given up, 
either by entering into combination with certain of 
these elements or by giving them a correct arrange¬ 
ment, which makes them easier for plants to 
assimilate.— J Cameron, The Gardens, Byethorn, 
Corbridge-on-Tytte. 
SMILAX CROSSING THE ATLANTIC. 
When flowers of Roses and Chrysanthemums may 
be brought from America to Great Britain in pre¬ 
sentable condition for exhibition it occasions little or 
no surprise that Srnilax (better known to British 
gardeners as Myrsiphyllum asparagoides, and to 
botanists as Asparagus medeoloides) should carry 
equally well if not better, considering the evergreen 
and somewhat leathery character of the leaves. This 
transportation is now an accomplished fact, and was 
made purely for the sake of experiment by Mr. E. 
Koffman, Sunny Side Greenhouses, Walden, Orange 
Co., New York. Mr. Koffman is known all over the 
United States as "The Smilax King," and we have 
no doubt many of our readers will recognise him 
under the same title. 
Smilax, Ferns and Cypripediums are his three 
leading articles. With regard to the first named, we 
have no doubt whatever that he does the climber as 
well as anyone, and probably more extensively than 
any other grower. He sent us three strings or 
wreaths of Smilax, each 7 ft. in length and consisting 
of half-a-dozen leading stems, furnished with short, 
lateral twigs from base to apex. The leaves were of 
a rich dark green, shining as fresh as if the sprays 
had been cut the day of their arrival. Only a few 
of the oldest leaves were changed in colour, and 
probably that was the case before they were cut. A 
profusion of buds and fully expanded flowers along 
the entire length of the sprays, was also fresh as if 
newly cut. Then, the experiment has been entirely 
successful. 
The three wreaths or sprays were coiled round the 
inside of a box, about 11 in. square (inside measure¬ 
ment) and 8 in. deep. The wooden box was lined 
with ordinary paper and then with oiled silk paper 
which constituted the immediate wrappings of the 
Smilax. In the centre of the coil was a handful of 
cotton wool which had been wetted in the manner 
of a sponge so as to retain moisture amongst the 
foliage, and this it had effected admirably for it was 
still saturated, and the foliage of the Smilax was 
moist and fresh in appearance. Mr. Koffman wrote 
us on March 17th, and the box duly reached us on 
the 27th of the same month. 
--J-- 
WAYSIDE GOLDEN DAFFODILS. 
'Tis years long since when life was young, 
By stream or glen I longed to roam 
And bend o’er bank, or grope among 
The weed-clad stones with spear alone 
In search for trout that frisked about, 
Then splash or dash, and give a shout, 
With prong in what was one no doubt : 
Then jump right out, a fish to kill 
Upon the grass, near busy mill 
'• Where danced the golden Daffodil — 
Trout, busy mill, and Daffodil I 
Then in the woods to stray and muse, 
And list the wooing of cooing dove, 
Life’s joys with boys, 'mid no abuse ; 
That age now gone, where others rove 
To gather wild flowers by the way ; 
Or stay from school, as Wills do still, 
And rob birds’ nests, put books astray, 
And while youth’s lazy hours away 
Then ambling home by stream or rills. 
To strew the path with Daffodils— 
Lone, wayside, golden Daffodils ! 
At twenty-one, towards manhood’s time, 
More joy was still by river's brim, 
With rod or gun, rough fence to climb, 
And joyous, too, to have a swim, 
Then Walton-like to cast the fly, 
l"hough salmon hook yet trout to try— 
And land ten pound against its will, 
From brink through narrows of a rill 
To kill when bailiffs left the hills. 
Then tell, then tell, what must be told, 
To hide bright silver with bright gold. 
The green and gold of Daffodils— 
Evade the law with Daffodils. 
Lapsed fifty years ! with thoughts to rove 
And ramble o'er the same old scene, 
By river's bank and shady grove, 
With one called wife, the queen 1 the queen ! 
When swims black Carlo 'cross the stream, 
And wild duck rise from off its nest. 
Love's dream I love’s dream ! all, all between. 
Till now. What’s next, soon tells the rest— 
Fond children gambol down the hills 
