248 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 21, 1889. 
FLO^idi/iiTi/f^. 
Very heartily I congratulate you, Mr. Editor, on the 
glorious groat’s-worth of fruitful matter your last four 
issues have given to the Auricula and Carnation- 
loving world. Whether an accidental or a designed 
coincidence I know not, but I regard it as a specially 
fortunate circumstance that you give to us on the same 
page papers from the two unquestioned foremost men 
of the day in their respective flowers —Mr. Horner, 
primate of all the Primulas, and Mr. Dodwell, the hoary 
headed champion of the Carnation. Who that reads the 
genial glowing fancy of Mr. Horner, with its rich, 
broad, underlying depth of philosophy, will not, like 
Oliver Twist, be calling for more ; and who that notes 
the weighty words of the grand old champion—his call 
to the study of “form, with its infinite expression ; colour, 
with its glorious harmonies ; contrast, in its masculine 
force; and combination, in its enchanting results”— 
will not b3 proud of the floriculture of his day ? And the 
lieutenants ! Who is there who did not feel the highest 
admiration for the lucid, simple, but most telling in¬ 
terpretation of the teachings and simplicities of nature 
portrayed in Mr. Henwood's most practical paper ; and 
who that noted the thoughtful imagery of Mr. Rowan 
but will, with me, thank God we have such men and 
minds amongst us ? How grandly the men combine in 
the closing chapter ! Mr. Horner, with the far-reaching 
vision of gifted genius, hai said “only of the super¬ 
excellence of the future we present labourers may not 
write,” and our fine old Maestro bids us halt, note the 
unfolding of that super-excellence, its form and feature, 
and calls t pon us to remember the “ideal alone is per¬ 
manent.” It is very good. Mr. Dean may well be 
thanked for initiating such a discussion, though, per¬ 
haps, it may have gone in a direction somewhat 
contrary to his anticipations. —A Gratified Reader. 
-- 
WINTER PROTECTION. 
We have had a taste of the winter: a season of keen 
frost followed sharp upon the heels of a time remark¬ 
ably mild for the period of the year— 
“ Gaunt winter flinging flakes of snow, 
Deep burdening wood, and wold and hill; 
Drear days, dark nights, slow trailing fogs, 
And blackened air severe and chill.” 
The autumn time is past, and nothing of the vegetable 
kingdom—unless by reason of its hardy nature, enabled 
to come unharmed through the winter—can exist in the 
open now. 
It is not uncommon for villa gardeners with forecourt 
gardens to grow a few things in pots for the purpose of 
supplying some plant life in summer, so that the 
forecourt garden may look bright and pleasant to the 
eye. There are a number of subjects that are employed 
for the purpose, such as the thick fleshy-leaved 
American Agaves, both green and variegated; the 
Mexican A. striata, Agapanthus umbellatus, Yucca 
recurva, Aralia Sieboldii, Olearia Haastii and many 
other things can be employed for this purpose, also 
Pyrus japonica and its white variety. Some of the 
large-leaved Saxifrages, Prunus Pissardii, male and 
female Aucubas, &c., can all be grown in pots and 
made useful for the purpose, but those employing the 
foregoing in this way need a cold house in which to 
preserve them during the winter. All the hardiest of 
the foregoing would live through the winter in the 
open, but they would be certain to become terribly dis¬ 
figured, and, therefore, it is the best plan to give them 
shelter from the end of November until the beginning 
of April. 
All that I have named I grow for this purpose, but 
they were all carefully housed previous to the wintry 
weather. Not one that I have named needs fire- 
heat, excepting in a case of excessive frost. If they 
can be kept through the winter dry—dry in the sense of 
the branches being kept free from damp ; and the soil 
about the roots only sufficiently moist to preserve life, 
these plants can be brought through a great deal of 
frost without taking any serious harm. It is damp and 
undue moisture at the roots that enables frost to so 
seriously affect tender plants. By dryness, I do not 
mean dust-dry, as the roots would shrivel, and even 
when they do become so dry as to be in danger of 
shrivelling, the plants can be watered at the first break 
in the frosty weather and allowed to thoroughly drain 
before they are placed back upon the shelves of the 
house. 
I do not allow the pot of any plant to be in contact 
with the floor of the house. Every one is raised a 
little above it on inverted pans or flower pots, with 
the result that there is no moisture gathered below 
the pot on the floor. The tenderest things are in 
the warmest part of the house on shelves against the 
back wall, where the first gleams of the winter’s 
sun fall, and when the weather is sharp they are covered 
up with old newspapers as an additional protection. 
Only this evening I uncovered a few subjects that had 
been protected in this way during the recent sharp 
weather, and they looked as fresh and healthy as one 
could well desire. 
TVhen the weather is open, the plants should be 
gone through, and all decaying foliage that can attract 
and hold damp should be removed. This is all the more 
important in my own case, because I reside in a neigh¬ 
bourhood that feels the effects of the London fogs. As 
soon as a mild drying day comes, side lights are opened, 
and a free circulation of air takes place among the 
plants. I have quite abandoned the use of oil lamps 
for cold houses ; they were of little value, but expensive, 
and the best ones always emitted a disagreeable smell. 
—R. D. 
-->X-c-- 
WINTER BEDDING. 
Few who have gardens care to see the beds which are 
filled with summer flowers lying fallow in the winter, 
although a change is naturally very grateful. A few 
months of a brilliant mass of bloom suffices, and by 
the autumn most of us are rather glad that the end has 
come for a time, when something else takes the place 
of the summer bedding. There are several courses 
open to those who have such beds to deal with. 
They may dig up the soil, neatly touch it up, and 
leave it to rest for the winter. They may fill it with 
bulbs, for these are so cheap now that a rich show of 
bloom from them in the spring costs very little. They 
may fill the beds with hardy perennials of an early- 
blooming character, and a very charming display of 
colour is often thus obtained in the spring, whilst the 
beds are fairly well occupied in the winter. There is 
the further variation by filling the beds with both 
bulbs and dwarf hardy plants—a capital arrangement, 
and productive of charming results ; or there is the 
somewhat more sombre, if more immediate in effect, 
method of filling the beds with dwarf shrubs, green 
and variegated Coniferee, &c., though this latter plan is 
somewhat costly. 
Perhaps the very best, as well as most varied results, 
are found when some beds are filled by means of the 
various methods suggested ; but anything is better than 
absolute bareness, or, indeed, better than shrubs or 
Conifers only, as these wear at the best a monotonous 
aspect. We certainly have a right to look for flowers 
in our garden beds from March onward, and nothing 
seems better than an arrangement 'which combines 
bulbs with dwarf hardy carpet plants. 
-- 
FLOWER LAND.* 
Under this title, an introduction to the study of 
botany was issued last year by the Bev. Robert Fisher, 
M.A., vicar of Sowerby, Yorkshire. This has now 
been revised, and illustrations have been added, together 
with a part of a more advanced character, and the new 
edition is before us in the form of a neatly-bound 
post octavo volume of 240 pages. It is couched in the 
simplest language compatible with the requirements of 
the science, and the first part seems intended as a series 
of object lessons, with the view of gradually teaching 
the young mind to distinguish between one plant and 
another of different kinds, and to form correct habits of 
observation. The various parts of the flower, such as 
the corolla, calyx, stamens, and pistil, are dealt with ; 
then the various kinds of stems, roots, leaves, &c. 
The new and second part of the book treats of 
morphology and physiology, and may be described as 
going over the same ground again with regard to the 
different forms of stems and leaves, going more into 
detail, and simplifying the work by the use of numerous 
illustrations. The technical terms are much more 
numerous, but it is difficult to avoid them, while at the 
same time enabling children to prepare themselves for 
studying more advanced works in after life, if so in¬ 
clined. The anatomy of plants in connection with 
physiology is illustrated, to obviate the necessity of a 
microscope ; but this branch of botany can never be 
well understood unless the student makes preparations 
for himself, and sees them under the microscope. The 
illustrations will, however, engender a liking for further 
insight, and young people, as a rule, are more in¬ 
quisitive than older ones. 
* Flower Land, an Introduction to Botanv. By the 
Rev. R. Fisher, M. A. London : Bemrose & Sons, 23, Old 
Bailey, E.C. 
SOME CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS. 
The revolving year has once more brought ns to the 
eve of the Christmas season, and it is, perhaps, of all 
the seasons of the year, that most looked forward to 
with intermingling hopes ; so much of human interest 
gathers about this festival of the Church. Although 
it is not now m irked by that fervid hospitality which 
characterised its observance amongst our forefathers, 
yet many remnants of the old customs sti'l linger 
amongst ns. Probably we have now less feasting, but 
more in the way of festive decoration, and the garden 
is heavily drawn upon for evergreens. Of late years 
the decoration of our churches at the Christmas season 
has become much more followed than formerly, and the 
strict puritanism which restrained Nonconformists from 
beautifying their places of worship, as well as observing 
religious festivals generally, has given way before the 
growth of a custom that has now become almost 
universal. 
The customs connected with the Christmas Tree are 
prevalent all through Europe. In Sweden, Denmark, 
Germany, France, England, and Russia, the Christian 
population gather their little ones on Christmas around 
a tree, usually a Fir, which is illuminated with wax 
tapers and candles, decked out with flowers and 
ribbons, loaded with gilded fruit, sugar-plums, and 
various kinds of presents. In Italy, the Christmas 
Tree is no longer popular or general, its place being 
taken up by the maypole and its accompanying floral 
festivities, of which, according to competent authorities, 
the symbolism is exactly the same as that associated 
with the Christmas Tree. The custom of employing 
the Fir as the Christmas Tree was in use in Denmark, 
Sweden, Russia and Germany before, it would appear, 
it became an English custom also. Now, in this 
country, thousands of the Common Spruce Fir are 
employed for the purpose. It is an evergreen, well 
furnished, and its foliage is persistent and dense, while 
its somewhat horizontal growth lends itself to the 
purposes of the Christmas Tree. 
The Fir is a tree of great antiquity, about which a 
great deal of tradition has clustered. The Fir is the 
Fire-tree, the most inflammable of woods. Gerarde 
writes of Firs in Cheshire, Staffordshire, and Lancashire, 
“ where they grew in great plenty, as is reputed before 
Noah’s flood, but being then overturned and over¬ 
whelmed, have lien since in the woods and waterie 
moorish grounds, very fresh and sound untill this day : 
and so full of resinous substance, that they burn like a 
torch or linke, and the inhabitants of those countries 
do call it Fir Wood and Fire Wood untill this day.” 
In the traditions of the northern countries, the Fir is 
the king of the forest ; and so in Switzerland and the 
Tyrol, the Geni of the forest is always represented 
with an uprooted Fir tree in his hand. This Geni 
dwells by preference in the Fir, and especially loves 
old trees. 
Our Christmas ceremonies usually begin on Christmas 
Eve, when the Yule log is burned. This old custom is 
fast dying out, but in Devonshire it is still observed. 
Often, in the place of a log, a faggot is employed, and 
in the west of England the Ashen faggot is a regular 
institution. The men-servants come in on Christmas Eve 
and sit around the Ashen faggot, drinking the cider the 
master has put out for them. The Ashen faggot was 
bound round with a number of bands or willows, and as 
each willow was burned as under, a new jug of cider was 
expected, the men who made up the faggot taking 
care to put as many bands around it as possible to 
ensure a good supply of drink. The custom is still 
largely observed in many Devonshire villages and 
hamlets. 
The decking of churches as well as houses with 
evergreens at Christmas is a custom of great antiquity, 
and was observed in many countries hundreds of years 
ago, just as we still find a similar custom observed in 
the East in New Year, showing us that the origin of 
the observances is the same in each case. It was on 
account of the heathen practices being so general, that 
the early Councils condemned the use of Holly 
and other evergreens and flowers for Christmas 
decoration. The Mistleto has long been popular for 
hanging in the house at this season of the year. “ It 
is not a matter of surprise,” says a recent writer, “ that 
a plant of such peculiar aspect, which occurs in such a 
remarkable position as the Mistleto, should have 
awakened the attention of various races, and exerted 
influence over their religious ideas. It played an 
especially important part amongst the Gauls. A 
remnant of this seems to exist still in France, for the 
peasant boys use the expression, ‘Au qui l’au neuf,’ 
as a new year’s greeting. Perhaps the Mistleto was 
taken as a symbol of the New Year on account of its 
