THE GARDENING WORLD. 
391 
Feb. 21st, 1885. 
inch where the grass is barest; rake well in with a fine 
rake, and then roll firmly. The new grasses will 
bear cutting once or twice by midsummer, but must 
not be worked at too much with the lawn-mower the 
first year. Keep the roller going in preference.— 
A Rustic. 
AN ELECTION OF VEGETABLES. 
In accordance with the Editor’s request, I now send 
my detailed proposal for an Election of Vegetables, 
and earnestly ask our best cultivators to send in lists 
of those they consider the very best for quality and 
crop. The object is to ascertain by a majority of votes 
what kind of Beans, Peas, etc., are regarded with most 
favour by amateur and professional gardeners in 
various parts of the country. No kind should be 
included which has not been grown for at least two 
years; and, to make the list as useful as possible, 
quality and crop should each count. The present 
election is intended to ascertain by the suffrages of 
the voters what varieties of the various vegetables 
named are considered the best for culinary purposes. 
On another occasion the best for exhibition may be 
dealt with. The kinds to be voted for are— 
Beans—Broad, best early kind. 
„ ,, best main crop. 
,, Dwarf or French. 
,, Kidney or Eunner. 
Beet. 
Brussels Sprouts. 
Borecole or Kale. 
Broccoli for cutting from September to December. 
,, for cutting in December and January. 
,, for cutting from January to April. 
,, for cutting from April to July. 
Cabbage for early crop. 
,, for general crop. 
Carrots for forcing. 
„ early out-of-door crop. 
,, late crop. 
Cauliflower for early crop. 
,, for late crop. 
Celery, best white. 
,, best red. 
Cucumber, best for frame culture. 
,, best outdoor ridge variety. 
Endive. 
Leek. 
Lettuce, best Cos. 
,, best Cabbage. 
,, best to stand the winter. 
Onion, best for spring sowing. 
„ best for autumn sowing. 
„ best for pickling. 
Parsnip. 
Parsley, best for general purposes. 
,, best for garnishing. 
Peas, best early. 
,, best second early. 
,, best main crop. 
,, best late kind. 
Potatos, best early. 
,, best main crop 
Savoy and Chou de Milan, best dwarf kind. 
,, ,, best large kind. 
Spinach, best for summer. 
,, best to stand the winter. 
Tomato, best for indoor cultivation. 
,, best for outdoor cultivation. 
Turnip, best early. 
,, best for summer. 
,, best for main crop. 
The returns should be made in the following 
form:— 
Quality. Crop. 
Beans—Broad 
Early—Mazagan . , 1 1 
Main crop—Windsor. . 1 1 
Here it will be seen it is assumed, for the purpose of 
illustration, that Mazagan is regarded as- first in 
quality for an early crop, and also first in quantity for 
an early crop ; and that the Windsor Broad Bean is 
first for quality and quantity ;for the main crop. 
Similar returns should be made for each of the other 
vegetables named. It is, however, not necessary that 
each elector should vote for every vegetable. The 
lists will be all the more valuable if no vote is 
recorded except for the kinds of which the voter has 
full knowledge in comparison with other well-known 
kinds grown side by side and under similar conditions 
with the selected varieties. 
Each list must be signed by the name of the elector, 
and his address in full appended; and it must also 
be stated if the elector is a gardener or an amateur, as 
under. 
Name ___ 
Address in full ___ 
Gardener or Amateur _ 
These lists should be sent in to the Editor of 
The Gahdening World as early as possible.— 
Amateur. 
— 
THE SPRING GARDEN. 
At no season of the year does the flower-garden 
create greater interest than it does at the present one, 
when the cold, cheerless winter months are past, and 
the early spring flowers begin to unfold and change 
the scene from dreariness to life and beauty. One of 
the first to make its appearance is the old favourite 
Helleborus niger, which, with its new and greatly 
improved varieties, makes a charming bed even at the 
commencement of the year. The position in which it 
seems most at home is on the rockery, where, if 
planted in large masses amongst the dwarf evergreen 
alpines, it has a very bright and pleasing effect. The 
soil in which it thrives best is three-fourths sandy 
peat and one-fourth turfy loam, with the addition of a 
little well decayed leaf-mould. 
The partial absence of foliage during the period of 
blooming detracts somewhat from its effect; but if the 
bare soil underneath it be covered with nice fresh 
moss, the purity of the flowers is preserved from dirt 
in wet weather, and the pleasing contrast thus pro¬ 
duced by the surrounding alpines with the moss and 
chaste white flowers is perfectly charming at mid¬ 
winter, and should be seen before it can be fully 
realized. The tiny golden or Winter Aconite (Eranthis 
hyemalis) is the next welcome visitor, and this is 
quickly succeeded by the old-fashioned, ever-modest, 
ever-graeeful, and beautiful Snowdrop, which may be 
said to be the true herald of spring. In consequence 
of the unusually mild winter, not only those I have 
enumerated but the Crocus also as well as the Poly¬ 
anthus, Early Primroses, Violas, and others are 
already in bloom in warm sheltered nooks ; and if we 
may judge from present appearances the spring garden 
will this year be unusually early and particularly 
bright. 
V T e must not, however, be too sanguine, lest the 
weather should even yet be such as to disappoint our 
hopes. Former experience should teach us to be fully 
prepared for every emergency, and in the event of 
severe weather occurring to well protect beforehand, 
for the simple reason that after such a lengthened 
spell of mild weather the plants become so tender, 
that it is often the first pinch that does the greatest 
mischief. Where expense is not a special object, the 
best method of protection, at least for the smaller beds 
as well as for the most delicate and beautiful plants, 
is woollen nets, supported on light wire hoops about a 
foot or 18 ins. above the plants. 
These woollen protectors are much superior to garden 
mats, not only because they form better screens from 
the weather, but also because they are so light and 
convenient as to be fixed or removed with the greatest 
ease ; and as the wind has not much effect upon them, 
the plants are not so liable to be broken as they are 
when heavy coverings are used. 
For larger beds and for the protection of the more 
hardy plants, branches of evergreens may be stuck in 
the ground between them, at intervals of a few inches, 
taking care to let the tops of the branches lean from 
the direction of the prevailing winds. At this season 
of the year, when severe weather has 3et in, I have 
frequently preserved the beauty of the beds from 
complete destruction by these means. As the different 
kinds of bulbs, such as Narcissus, Tulips, and 
Hyacinths, will soon be pushing up their flower stems, 
it will be necessary to protect them either with leaf- 
mould, cocoa-nut fibre, or other similar materials, 
otherwise they frequently suffer severely during frosty 
weather; and as the stems continue to grow they 
should receive timely attention by being secured to 
small stakes, otherwise they will be much injured 
during wet or windy weather. 
No labour or pains should now be spared in keeping 
every part of the garden neat, trim, and tidy in every 
respect; for while a well kept garden is always, even 
at mid-winter and in the absence of flowers, pleasant 
to look on, a badly kept or untidy one, although full 
of flowers, is at all times disappointing.— Scribo. 
GRAFTING ROSES. 
This is one of the simplest and easiest methods of 
perpetuating any kind of Rose that we may be short 
of, especially the Tea varieties, and such of the hybrid 
perpetuals as A. K. Williams, which has proved such 
a bad “doer” in so many places, when transplanted 
from nursery to garden. I am well aware that many 
practical men object to any other means of propaga¬ 
tion than cuttings, but by means of a foster stock such 
as the seedling Briar or Manetti, one may get six 
times as many plants from the same number of shoots, 
every one of which will be better plants at the end of 
three months than the cuttings would be at the end of 
six or eight months. 
Grafting is seldom practised except by nurserymen 
when introducing new varieties and for increasing the 
stocks of those that are scarce, but it is very interest¬ 
ing work, and I would recommend anyone who 
attempts to grow Roses to give the plan a trial, and 
there is little doubt but that they will be rewarded 
with success, for I know no kind of plant that effects 
a union under so simple a process as does the Rose on 
a suitable stock. I see in your advertisment columns 
the words “Bud your own Roses,” and I would add 
here, graft some too. Before commencing to graft, it 
is necessary to have a suitable place to put them in, 
as that will add not a little to the success of the 
operation. The position ours occupy is a nicely 
tempered hotbed, that is, one which has been prepared 
by frequent turnings, and from which the rank steam 
has passed off. 
The stocks, either Manetti or Briar cuttings, should 
be carefully dressed, removing all eyes from the stems 
below the points where they are to be grafted, but 
seedling Briars can be cut down to the root, below 
all the eyes. Shoots of the varieties of the Rose it is 
intended to increase should then be got, head the 
stock down to where there is a nice clean and smooth 
bark, then cut a slice off one side of the stock from 
half-an-inch to an inch in length, according to the 
size and strength of the scion. Next take one bud of 
the scion with the piece of wood attached between it 
and the next bud, holding the bud between the finger 
and thumb. Cut a long slice off the side of the scion 
on the opposite side to that of the bud, and, so as to 
correspond as near as possible with that of the stock. 
Fit it on the stock so that the heel and at least one 
edge of the stock and scion meet, bind it up with 
matting, but not too closely ; four or five times round 
will be sufficient. 
After the operation has been performed, pot them 
up and give a gentle watering, after which they 
should be laid on their sides on the hotbed before 
mentioned, with the bud facing upwards. It is a 
good plan to cover them over with a sheet or two of 
glass to help to keep them close, which is very 
necessary until a union is effected. When they 
commence to grow they should be gradually enured 
to more air and be stood up on then- sides, and in a 
very short time they will be fit for the treatment 
usually given to any Roses in a growing state.— 
W. C. C. 
Cultivating the Nettle. —A considerable impetus 
has been given in Germany to the artificial growth of 
the Nettle (TJrtica dioica) by a German lady living 
at Langenschwalbach, who has been studying and 
systematically experimenting upon it, for the sake of 
the fibre, which ranks high for tenacity. Not content 
with cultivating it in the ordinary forest or waste land, 
she has persuaded several landowners to plant an acre 
of first-class Wheat land with Nettles, in order to see 
how far the qualities of the fibre would be improved. 
