300 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
| anuary-5, 189a, 
side of the path. These should always be formed 
under either the grass or borders, because if at any 
time they require attention, the labour will be less 
and the damage done will be sooner put right than if 
the surface of the pathway is disturbed in order to 
clear out or repair the drains. 
This question of surface water drains is seldom 
attended to so well as it might be with advantage, 
the consequence often being that during heavy rains 
much of the gravel is displaced and the walks 
disfigured. The drain pipes used ought not to be 
less than two-inch, and with sockets, these, if laid 
straight from gully to gully can, if not allowed to get 
too much choked up before being seen to, may be 
cleaned out by bamboo rods, this will be but seldom 
if proper attention is given to clearing out the gullies 
after heavy rains. On wet spongy soils after 
excavating them to the depth determined upon, a 
good layer of ling, furze or bushes of whitethorn 
should be placed, shavings may possibly answer as 
well, but we prefer ling. Tread these as level as can 
be done and place the rubble upon it, finishing off 
with a layer of fine gravel. On neither sandy, clay, 
nor spongy soils do we advocate a great thickness of 
gravel, for paths, but roadways, and carriage drives, 
which have to bear heavy cartage upon them, must 
be made of much greater thickness in order to 
bear the traffic. 
Where paths have to be made on a steep decline, 
and are subject to being.disturbed and washed down 
during heavy storms, it will often be advantageous 
to. construct them of concrete. This we have done 
by first forming a layer of rubble 4 in. thick with no 
large pieces among it; on this put in 3 in. of chalk, 
well watered and rotted till quite firm, and give a 
little rise in the centre. Then we put a layer of 
half an inch of fine chalk and gravel well mixed and 
rolled it till quite hard and cased it over with fine 
gravel and rolled again till quite hard . We may 
state in reference to this piece of work that, making 
inquiries respecting it some twenty years afterwards 
when it was broken up, that it was a serviceable 
path till the last, and could be washed and scrubbed 
down the same as a brick pavement. At the same 
time we would never introduce a length of it only, 
where from steepness of an incline, any ordinary 
pathway would be damaged every time during heavy 
rains. Paths when kept well rolled and free from 
weeds by the use of weed destroying compounds, the 
use of which are now pretty widely known, when 
well made in the first instance will seldom require 
fresh gravel, and then only a slight coating. The 
repeated rollings on all suitable occasions, and the 
application of the weed killer, will preserve a hard, 
close surface, which, under the old plan of hand- 
weeding, it whs impossible to preserve, owing to the 
frequent disturbance of the gravel and the gradual 
loss oTmuch of it in sweeping after the weeding.— 
W. B. G. 
-- 
BRITISH BOTANY. 
The question has often been asked “ Of what use is; 
the study of British Botany to the average 
gardener?” There is a certain class of what we 
may term the. " rule of thumb” section of the 
horticultural community who are inclined-to take 
exception to the idea of young men following.up any. 
st.udy if .it appears to be on the face of it somewhat 
outside what they are pleased to consider the legal 
sphere of a gardener’s occupation. They are 
perhaps inclined to look upon a man who can claim 
a fair acquaintance with members of. the British 
Flora as a curious sort of personage who has wasted 
his time to an alarming extent in following up a 
course of study that can never be of the slightest 
use to him. Such men will say that no long names 
that were ever invented could make them, think of 
"Groundsel” as anything else than “Groundsel,” 
or to regard it in any other light than that of. a weed, 
and as for your " Latin,” they will tell you they do noL 
care a rush whether it be " dog ” or " classical.” 
Of course the idea that a knowledge of our native 
plants is an essential for a gardener to possess would 
be both a foolish statement to make and an untenable 
position to take up. There are scores of good men 
in all parts of the country who have proved themselves 
to be efficient and successful cultivators and 
managers of gardens, who know nothing at all:of. 
botany as a science, or of the names and peculiari¬ 
ties of British plants ; to whom the common subjects 
that are scattered profusely around them by Nature's 
beneficent hand are unknown quantities. These 
men look at everything with the eye that appraises 
the cultural value of the objects that meet their 
gaze, and treat everythirg from a strictly practical 
and matter-of-fact standpoint. True! it may be 
urged that this is an essentially matter-of-fact age, in 
which only the calculating business man, possessed 
of neither soul nor sentiment, can hope to excel. 
Surely such purely sordid lives are scarcely worth 
the living. Nature has strewn her children around us 
in the greatest profusion, she has surrounded us with 
flowers until, from extreme familiarity with them, we 
have ceased to take the delight in them that we 
should, if indeed we have not ceased to notice them 
altogether. To the eye of the true gardener all 
plants are beautiful, although some possess a greater 
amount of attractiveness than others. But then we 
must by no means forget that beauty and attractive¬ 
ness are but comparative terms after all. 
We term some plants beautiful because they exhibit 
a greater amount of floral excellence than do others. 
They are beautiful in comparison with their humbler 
sisters because they overshade them with their 
gorgeous profusion of colours. Perchance in our 
rambles our feet light upon a bed of soft green moss 
covering the face of the earth as with a carpet, and 
we say, ah ! " this is beautiful.” Again, in looking 
round the domain of some princely establishment, 
where the gay children of more genial climes are 
carefully nurtured, we feast our eyes upon the con¬ 
spicuous brilliancy of these delicate exotics, and 
once more exclaim, ah ! " this is beautiful.” But 
what a difference is there between the tiny fronds of 
the Cryptogam and the blaze of colour afforded by 
the children of the sun, and yet both are beautiful, 
each section in its own particular way. 
It must be a manifest advantage to a gardener who 
has to grow plants to find out all he can about them, 
their general wants as well as their individual re¬ 
quirements, and the best way to find this out is to 
Study plants and their doings in their native habitats. 
It is granted to but comparatively few to see tropical 
plants growing in all their wild luxuriance, and it 
is very certain that the average gardener is not 
included among the number. The would-be student 
of plant life is therefore obliged to turn his attention 
to those plants which are within his reach, and to 
cull his specimens from the hedges and ditches of 
his native land. 
But this may give rise to the question “of what 
use is it to attempt to understand the freaks and 
fancies of tropical plants by studying those of a less 
genial climate ? ” To this we would answer, that, 
as the generality of human beings possess some 
features in common with each other, although they 
may be widely different in other ways, so it is with 
the vegetable kingdom. "Plant life” is plant life 
all the world over, and the man who studies the 
behaviour of members of a Temperate Flora under 
adverse and trying conditions is in a far better way 
to meet the requirements of any tropical subjects 
that may be placed under his charge than the man 
who has never had his mind educated and prepared 
in the study of wildings and their habits. 
But apart from the educational value of this 
fascinating science, there is the recreative side of the 
question to be considered. The study of British 
Plants possesses peculiar attractions of its own, 
which while they are difficult to describe none the 
less really exist. We have known men who have 
taken up the idea from various motives—perhaps 
they have been persuaded by some other zealous 
disciple, or it may be from sheer feeling of curiosity 
-—in some few instances because it has been well 
nigh compulsory, as part of the curriculum in a 
Horticultural Training School, and yet whatever 
motive has been instrumental in causing them to 
turn their attention to it, they have before long 
become interested and absorbed in its pursuit for its 
own sake. 
We have known men who have usually been con¬ 
sidered as being particularly level-headed individuals 
to walk miles in search of a rare, or an interesting 
plant that, when found, would scarcely receive the 
notice of. a gardener, or in fact of anyone but an 
ardent and zealous plant collector. These tramps 
and journeyings are not without advantages of their 
own, for the body is drinking in health at quite as 
rapid a rate as the mind is being stored with know¬ 
ledge. There are very many men to-day, who possess 
pleasant memories of the time spent by them in 
searching for wild plants, of hours passed in culti¬ 
vating an acquaintance with Nature, from which 
they could scarce fail to reap considerable and 
lasting benefit. 
Altogether the study of British Botany has much 
to recommend it to the favourable notice of any 
young gardeners who are looking for a healthful; 
recreative, and instructive hobby with which to 
beguile—but certainly not to waste spare time, 
This is all the more apparent when we take into 
consideration the comparative ease with which it 
may be prosecuted. In following up many other 
sciences, as for instance that of Geology, the student 
finds very many difficulties in the way, not the least 
of them being the trouble and expense involved in 
the procuring of suitable material with which to 
work. Here the would-be " British Botanist ” 
finds it all plain sailing. All the material he requires 
is present in abundance in every field and hedgerow, 
only waiting to be gathered and used as required— 
a most important consideration in the prosecution' 
of any branch of research.— G. 
-- 
A LITTLE-KNOWN 
HARDY FRUIT. 
Recently in the Gartenflora, M. Graebener of 
Carlsruhe speaks of Actinidia Kolomikta in very 
eulogistic terms. The real name of the plant is A. 
callosa, under which name it was described by Lindley 
many years ago. In 1880 a plant was introduced 
and named A. Kolomikta, but that has since been 
determined to be identical with A. callosa, or not 
specifically distinct. It is a native of the Himalayas, 
China, and Manchuria. M. Graebener relates to 
the specimens in the orangerie of the new garden at 
Potsdam, and we cannot understand why it has not 
spread more in the gardens of Europe, considering 
the number of years that have elapsed since it was 
first introduced, especially when we look at it from 
an economical point of view. 
It is a climber of rapid growth, with beautiful 
foliage, perfectly bardy on the Continent, and belongs 
to the same order as the Tea-tree family. The 
panicles of white flowers are not very conspicuous, 
but the fruits recall those of a spring Gooseberry, in 
size, colour, and taste. They ripen when they have 
been touched with frost, and then they possess an 
extraordinary sweetness, an excellent taste, and an 
aroma like that of the Pineapple. The writer 
continues that having wished to preserve the small 
seeds for propagation, he could not put the flesh to 
sufficient trial; nevertheless he is thoroughly con¬ 
vinced that the fruits are perfectly suitable for pre¬ 
serving, for ice cream and wine, as well as, if not 
better than Gooseberries and other analagous fruits. 
The plant is of extraordinary fertility, and the writer 
thinks that it will make its way in central and 
southern Europe in proportion as it gets known. 
There are about eight species of Actinidia, but few 
of them are ever seen in cultivation in this country; 
though if they succeed there is no reason why they 
should be neglected. 
--*•- 
ERANTHEMUM NERVOSUM. 
THrs beautiful plant needs only to be more w'idely 
known to be much more extensively cultivated than 
it is at present. Now and again we may come 
across stray plants of it in some odd, out-of-the-way 
corner in private establishments, but as a rule they 
are exceedingly poor specimens of their class and 
do not give one a fair idea of the true merit the 
plant possesses. Eranthemum nervosum was at 
one time known as E. pulchellum, after bearing fcr 
a considerable period the name of Daedalacanthus 
nervosus. The genus comprises some thirty species, 
but E. nervosum is without doubt the most dis¬ 
tinguished member of the group, ft hails from the 
East Indies, from whence it was introduced in or 
about the year 1796. 
As a winter-flowering subject it is a great success, 
and its profusion of bright blue flowers are exceed¬ 
ingly conspicuous at a time when there is an especial 
scarcity of blue flowers. The leaves are petiolate, 
broadly ovate in shape, and dark green in colour, 
the surfaces being prettily wrinkled. Cuttings 
inserted in late spring or early summer root readily. 
A. peaty compost should be used and the pots 
plunged in a propagating frame having a tempera¬ 
ture of not less than 70° Fahr. As soon as rooted 
they should be potted off singly into suitably sized 
