October 20, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
119 
still it does not follow that they will much longer 
defer their visit ; besides long continued wet will 
do this class of plants more harm than a few degrees 
of frost. 
Dahlia tubers, too, must be taken up before 
many days have passed. This is an operation that 
requires a considerable amount of care, for the 
tubers are easily broken. After lifting, they should 
be placed in a shed or outhouse, and plenty of air 
allowed to get to them to dry and ripen the tubers, 
after which they may be packed away upon the store 
house shelves until spring. The planting or shift¬ 
ing of evergreen shrubs may still be actively carried 
on ; deciduous subjects must, however, wait until 
they have shed their leaves before they are dis¬ 
turbed. 
Roses. —Vacancies in the Rose beds may now be 
made good; and where the ground has been pre¬ 
pared planting may be vigorously prosecuted. 
Briars budded during the past season may be re¬ 
moved to their permanent flowering quarters as soon 
as desired. With the China and Tea Roses it is, 
however, advisable to wait until spring before plant¬ 
ing is thought about, as they are frequently injured 
by frost when autumn planting is practised. In 
many places in the north of England, where the 
winters are as a rule severe, the tender varieties have 
to be protected during winter, or great damage is 
done. Straw or bracken is used—the latter prefer¬ 
ably, as straw always presents a more or less untidy 
appearance, and when blown about, as it often is 
during dry, windy weather, gives the best-kept garden 
the appearance of a farm-yard. 
With very few exceptions the ruit crop will by this 
time have been safely housed, and in many instances 
the earlier trees will be pretty well destitute of 
leaves. A careful survey should be made of the 
fruit trees in general, and decisions should be made 
as to what trees (if any) are to be shifted ; also to 
what extent planting of new ones is to be performed. 
Material in the way of loam, manure, etc., may be 
prepared for the replenishing of old borders or the 
making of new ones. Although in the case of trees 
that have dropped their leaves it will be quite safe 
to shift, there is plenty of time yet, and it is not a 
good practice to commence too soon. 
Raspberries. —Existing plantations of these 
should be pruned as soon as possible. The two 
year old canes should be cut entirely out and a 
selection made of three or four of the strongest and 
best young ones to bear fruit next season, also cutting 
the rest out. Tie these canes neatly and securely 
to a stake driven into the ground, and give the whole 
plantation a liberal dressing of stable manure, forking 
it well in. This is the only time of the year at which 
it is perfectly safe to fork amongst the plants, as their 
roots are never very far from the surface of the soil. 
Cuttings of Currants and Gooseberries may be 
inserted at any time for the production of young 
plants. Strong well-ripened young shoots should be 
used, and a position outside, sheltered by a wall or 
hedge, will suit them admirably. 
Vines. —Where it is intended to make new borders 
no time should be lost in making a start. The soil 
should have been previously prepared, good turfy 
loam being the principal constituent, enriched with 
a liberal addition of stable manure and a quantity of 
half-inch bones. A little lime, rubble, chalk, etc., is 
of the utmost service, adding, as it does, porosity to 
the soil. Much discussion has been raised as to the 
depth a vine border should be, and various and con¬ 
flicting are the ideas promulgated. But as a general 
rule three feet of soil upon a layer of drainage from 
nine inches to a foot in depth is to be recommended. 
Where very early Grapes are in request prepara¬ 
tions should be made without delay for forcing. 
The earliest crops are, as a rule, furnished by pot 
vines. If the plants are outside they should be 
brought in, pruned, and a top-dressing of rich turfy 
loam given them. After the house in which they 
are to be grown has received a thorough cleansing 
the pots should be plunged in a gentle bottom heat, 
the mean atmospheric temperature necessary to 
start them being about 52? Fahr., gradually rising as 
growth advances. Vines started in this manner 
about the beginning of November may be expected 
to produce ripe fruit in April of the coming year. 
Figs in Pots from which the fruit has been 
gathered should be kept drier at the root and the 
temperature of the house lowered considerably. 
Peaches and Nectarines should be freely exposed to 
the air and weather if the structure of the house 
permit. During very wet weather, however, the 
lights should be pulled up to keep off heavy rains, 
which would notimprovetheconditionofthe borders- 
-- 
Autumn Vegetables. 
It seems strange to some people that at places only 
a short distance from each other there should be 
such a difference in the supplies and in the way the 
various kinds of vegetables grow. At one the Peas 
are still in full bearing, while at the other they have 
long since been passed, though they were sown at 
the same date, thus showing that not only do some 
gardens produce things earlier than others, but they 
are also capable of maintaining them fresh till a 
much later date. Peas for a late autumn supply do 
best where the soil is of a free working nature and 
the situation is not subject to dense fogs. In some 
low-lying districts where the ground is heavy, there 
is a great tendency to such, and where this is the 
case some of the more hardy varieties should be 
sown for [the latest supplies. I saw a fine row the 
other day in full bloom, from which not a pod had 
been picked, while the same variety sown on a 
similar date last year were all over by the end of 
September. No two seasons are the same, neither 
are situations exactly alike, therefore the cultivator 
must find out for himself. Not for the last sixteen 
years have we been favoured with such a mild 
autumn, having only registered two degrees of frost 
up to the present time, October 15th, though in 
some places I am told as many as seven have been 
registered. 
Both Peas and Beans are still fresh, thus pro¬ 
longing the supply of summer vegetables till quite 
late in the autumn. Vegetable Marrows are still 
green, though owing to the damp weather they make 
but slow progress in the way of swelling their fruit; 
still occasional ones are to be cut, which gives a 
change in the kitchen. Cauliflowers are good and 
plentiful, likewise Brussels Sprouts and all kinds of 
root crops, so that considering all things there is 
still a plentiful supply. The first sharp frost, how¬ 
ever, will put an end to most of them, so that pro¬ 
vision will have to be made for forcing. 
Owing to such a mild time Seakaleis still growing, 
therefore it will be some time before the crowns are 
sufficiently ripened for them to be lifted. Asparagus 
having matured its growth, may now be lifted and 
transferred to either a slight hot bed or to a pit 
heated with hot water. The former, however, is 
preferable at this time of the year, as it is a more 
natural heat, and the growth made is far more 
tender. Care must be taken or the heat may injure 
the roots, particularly if too many fresh leaves be 
put together. The material used should be turned 
over a couple of times before being made up into 
the bed so as to cause some of the steam to pass off. 
Put about six inches of soil on when the bed is made, 
then give a watering and allow it to stand a day or 
two before putting in the roots, by which time it will 
be seen whether the bed is likely to get too hot. If 
there are any signs of this, allow another day or two 
to elapse before putting in the roots. 
All kinds of salading are still good, therefore re¬ 
course need not be had to forcing or blanching under 
glass, or in the Mushroom house at present; prepa¬ 
rations, however, should be made in order that 
there may be no delay should an emergency arise. 
It will be necessary to sow Mustard and Cress under 
glass, and if much is required a slight hot bed may 
be used, but if only a small quantity, then a pan on 
the greenhouse shelf will suffice. Attend to protect¬ 
ing Parsley by transplanting a portion either in a 
cold frame or where it may be covered with mats in 
case of sharp frost. Cauliflower plants that were 
raised from seed sown in the open should now b e 
pricked out into a cold frame, the lights must not be 
put on at present, as this would cause them to be 
too tender to withstand the winter .—Kitchen Gar¬ 
dener. 
©leanings front the IDurffi 
of Science 
Plants as Colonists. —It seldom happens that the 
naturalist gets an object lesson placed before him 
like that of the island of Krakatoa, which was over¬ 
whelmed with a volcanic eruption some few years 
ago, when every living thing as far as could be seen 
was destroyed by a deep layer of debris from the 
volcano. Three years after the eruption the island 
was visited by Dr. Treub, who found Ferns already 
growing everywhere over the island, but the few 
flowering plants that had got a footing were still 
hugging the shore and arguing that in most or all 
cases they had been carried by the sea, and deposited 
on or near the shore. The lower tribes of plants 
had been the first to establish themselves, and form 
a layer of green matter which would in time, by the 
decay of successive generations, form a bed on 
which the higher orders of plants could establish 
themselves and prosper. The spores of Ferns and 
the germs of the lower organisms had in all 
probability been carried by the wind and by 
migrating birds from neighbouring islands or 
continents. 
Woodlands and Vegetation. —Those who have 
noted the cutting down of a dense old wood have 
often been surprised by the wealth and variety of the 
vegetation that has sprung up in the course of a few 
years. In many places it may have been that the 
dense canopy of leafage overhead before the cutting 
of the wood had prevented the growth of any vegeta¬ 
tion whatever ; yet such places get clothed almost 
as quickly as the rest with a new vegetation. It is 
true that in certain places the failure of a tree or two 
allowed of the growth of colonies of plants contem¬ 
poraneously with the wood, but the predominating 
plants of those patches very frequently are not 
identical with those a short distance off. It would 
seem as if the seeds of certain trees, such as the 
Birch, Mountain Ash, Willows, and other subjects, 
but particularly the first two, had the power of laying 
dormant in the soil till some convenient period, that 
is, till the removal of the tall and shade producing 
trees, for light is the all-important factor in the 
healthy development of vegetation. In the case of 
copsewood that has been cut down there is less 
occasion for surprise if a rich and varied vegetation 
springs up, because many plants, particularly the 
tuberous and bulbous kinds, have the power of laying 
in the ground in a semi-dormant condition, just 
making a few feeble leaves every year, and perhaps 
not flowering at all. The cutting down of the copse- 
wood enables them to spring into vigorous vegetation 
during the first or second succeeding summer. Rare 
or interesting plants frequently turn up in this way 
in places where they had not previously been known 
to exist. 
Waste Ground and Neglected Gardens.— 
Gardens may frequently be noted about London and 
other populous places, where the walls have been 
pulled down and the ground let for building pur¬ 
poses. Such gardens get covered with a rank 
vegetation during the first summer they are left un¬ 
tilled, even although for many years previously they 
had been kept in good tilth and respectable order. 
What is more surprising, a piece of ground from 
which a house has been pulled down, may some¬ 
times be noted in a populous district from which all 
vegetation has been excluded for many years, yet 
such ground gets covered with a vegetation which 
would be a credit to a wild garden. Such a place 
might have been seen last year in Whitehall, West¬ 
minster. The Rose-Bay (Epilobium angustifolium) 
was the most dominant plant, doubtless because its 
long, underground stems enabled it to get the 
mastery over the other subjects that had primarily 
established themselves. This reminds us of the 
London Rocket (Sisymbrium Irio) which sprang up 
in great abundance all over London, after the great 
fire of 1666. At the present day the plant in ques¬ 
tion is not considered to be truly a native south of 
Berwick-on-Tweed. The species of Goosefoot 
(Chenopodium) and their allies, seem to accompany 
man, and live on the rubbish heaps on the borders of 
towns, so that wherever a garden or piece of ground 
is allowed to run to waste, a plentiful crop of these 
subjects springs up during the first year. The refuse 
from towns also shows a large number of plants 
that are aliens so far as British plants are con¬ 
cerned. 
