426 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
March 2, 1895. 
best time for planting is about the first week in 
April. The plants should be taken from three-year- 
old seed-beds as carefully as possible, and not before 
all is ready to plant, as they should be exposed as 
short a time as possible to the air. 
Different people have different ways of planting, 
but I like to have a stout stake at each corner of the 
beds, then measure off the four drills, take out a 
trench about 6 in. deep, put the plants in about a 
foot apart with all rootlets straightened out, cover 
those and take out the next drill, and so on. When 
the planting is completed the beds should be raked 
over and edged down to have a neat appearance. 
Care should be taken never to tread on the bed; 
the paths between the beds should be 2 ft. wide. 
Some people sow Lettuce or Radish between the 
rows the first season ; this might be done, but it 
often happens that new Asparagus beds are ruined 
by being pestered with other crops. The beds 
should be kept clear of weeds through the summer ; 
in November the stalks should be cut down and the 
beds covered with manure. Most people fork and 
clear the alleys between the beds in autumn, and put 
manure on the top; this I never do, but defer it 
until spring. I cover the alleys as well as the beds, 
as may be seen now at Pynes, as I believe you put 
the manure on the beds to keep the frost out and 
open the alleys to let it in. I believe the best plan 
is to sow the seed where it is intended to stand, 
although this is not usually done. The best time to 
sow is in March; drills should be taken out i ft. 
apart and about 2 in. deep. When the seedlings are 
up moderately they should be thinned to about 9 in. 
apart, taking out all the weakly plants ; the ones left 
should have occasional soakings of liquid manure. 
If well attended to good Asparagus may be cut the 
fourth year. 
Asparagus is easily forced, and is very productive 
when well managed. It may be forced in various 
ways, but those who have the command of hot-water 
have the least trouble. In forcing houses it may be 
put in pots or boxes and covered with a few inches 
of leaf-soil; Melon or Cucumber frames may be 
used. Make a nice hot-bed and cover with about 
6 in. of leaf-soil. This may be done any time 
through the winter months ; keep the crowns a foot 
from the glass. As soon as started the crowns 
should be covered with about 4 in. of leaf-soil. 
When growing freely give the bed a little tepid 
liquid manure, adding a little salt. The plants 
should be taken from an old bed, and great care 
should be taken in removing the plants not to bruise 
the crowns in any way. To obtain strong shoots it 
depends much upon the way the plants are handled. 
Mushrooms. 
I cannot pass over Mushrooms' without a few 
remarks, although at some future date I hope to 
hear an essay on them, as a good evening might be 
spent on their cultivation, as they form one of our 
best dishes at any season. Mushrooms are easily 
grown where you have the materials to do it with. 
In any dark shed or cellar a bed may be made, but 
in any case it must have a dry bottom. For early 
spring use a bed should be made in October and 
another in February, and should consist cf horse 
droppings which should be saved for the purpose. 
The quantity depends on the size of bed required. 
About one-third of road scrapings or turfy loam 
should be well mixed with it and turned several 
times to sweeten in some dry place. A little dry 
husky dung may also be mixed with it before making 
the bed ; if it gets too dry sprinkle with a little tepid 
water. 
All being well mixed and in good condition, proceed 
to make the bed as solid and firm as possible, about 
15 in. to 18 in. thick. In about eleven days after the 
bed is made it should be fit for spawning, but if the 
heat is too great defer it for a day or two, the heat 
should be about 6o° to 65°. Have the beds firm and 
smooth before spawning, then open the holes with 
the hand about an inch below the surface, and 6 in. 
to 8 in. apart every way, and place in them a piece 
of spawn about 2 in. square. If there is no fear of 
the bed being too hot it may be covered the same 
time with about 2 in. of good turfy loam rather dry 
and run through an inch sieve. When covered 
sprinkle with a little tepid water through a fine hose, 
then pat the whole down firm and smooth and cover 
with light litter. In about a fortnight take the litter 
off and examine if the spawn is running ; if it is cover 
up again, if not pack a little fresh dung against the 
bed as it would be too colid, unless you have hot- 
water pipes, in this case you could put a little heat 
on. I forgot to say that if hot-water is at command 
the beds need not be more than from g in. to 12 in. 
thick. In gathering Mushrooms the knife must not 
be used, for the stumps left on the beds become a 
nursery for maggots which are liable to affect the 
succeeding crops. I believe there are various books 
and writings on Mushrooms, although I have never 
seen one, but I will defer saying more at present. 
French Beans. 
There are several varieties, but those which I consider 
best are Ne Plus Ultra and Canadian Wonder. I 
like the former for indoor work as it is very produc¬ 
tive, as is the latter for warm borders outdoors. 
As regards forcing very early, unless you have 
plenty of fuel and good places to do it, it is not 
worth the trouble. Of course French Beans may 
be had at all seasons, and in some places they have 
to be. I generally make my first sowing in January 
in pots, about three plants in a 10-in. pot, then they 
are ready for gathering in the latter part of March 
and continue on for some time. Sowings should be 
made every three weeks or month. The chief 
requisites for success are to have them near the 
glass, well watered, a moist atmosphere, and 
ventilated as much as the season permits. To get 
them early out of doors with a little trouble they can 
be helped several weeks if sown in pots during the 
latter part of March, say three Beans in a 4-in. pot 
in a warm house. When about 3 in. or 4 in. high 
they may be stood in a cold frame with plenty of air, 
the lights taken off on fine days until the middle of 
May, when they will commence flowering. Then 
they may be planted out on a sheltered border, and 
in three weeks or a month you will be able to gather 
from them, so by taking this amount of trouble 
Beans may be easily got by the 28th of June. 
Peas. 
As Peas may be helped on in different ways, a good 
plan for the first crop is to sow them in small pots, 
about six in a pot. About the middle of January is 
a good time to commence. Another very good plan 
is to cut some narrow strips of turf, say about 4 in. 
wide and 3 in. thick and about 2 ft. in length. 
Turn them grass side downwards and scoop out a 
little groove with the trowel, place the Peas in this 
and cover with a little fine soil. Put them in a warm 
frame, and as soon as up give plenty of air, and on 
all fine days take the sashes off. At this period of 
growth, they do not require a large quantity of 
water, just keep them moist. In March they should 
be planted out on a warm border on deep, well- 
manured ground, and sheltered on each side with a 
few fir branches. The quantity to sow, of course, 
depends on the quantity required. There are 
numerous varieties, some of the round seeded sorts 
are a few days earlier than the wrinkled, but where 
quality is a consideration the latter is certainly the 
sort to grow. The one I grow is William Hurst, or, 
at least, I bought it for that some four years ago, 
although there is some doubt about the variety as it 
grows about 2J ft. to 3 ft. high, some people say it is 
not William Hurst, yet cannot say what else it can 
be. This, I know, is a good early wrinkled Marrow 
and of excellent quality. Veitch’s Exonion is also a 
good early Marrow in some soils. Of the round 
seeded varieties I like William I., which is a good 
cropper, of good quality, and only a few days later 
than the so-called very early sorts. To get a good 
dish of Peas by the 2Sth of June for exhibition I 
should recommend Telephone, to be sown about the 
end of February. 
(To be continued). 
-- 
TREE PLANTING, ALLOTMENTS, AND 
FRUIT CULTURE IN WALES. 
The Welsh Land Commissioners, under the presi¬ 
dency of Mr. Brynmor Jones, Q.C., M.P., resumed 
their duties at the early hour of ten on Saturday 
morning, the 23rd ult., in their board-room, Trafalgar 
Buildings, London. After several speakers had dealt 
with questions in hand, Mr. J. Muir gave the follow¬ 
ing evidence:— 
State-aided Planting. 
Mr. J. Muir, estate superintendent of Margam Abbey, 
Port Talbot, put forth an ingenious and interesting 
scheme of State-aided tree planting, which attracted 
the Commissioners’ keenest attention. Commencing, 
he said that forestry was a subject of National im¬ 
portance much neglected in Wales. There was an 
abundance of waste land everywhere, especially in 
Glamorganshire, where coal measures abounded that 
would be vastly more profitable under a tree crop 
than in the present condition. In his opinion it 
would be unnecessary to go to the expense of drain¬ 
ing or cultivating the soil previous to planting. He 
spoke from experience, as he planted 100,000 trees 
annually at Margam. Many parts of Wales, which 
were exceedingly bleak and wet, would be improved 
by the planting of trees, as they would afford shelter 
for stock and crops, and absorb much of the super¬ 
fluous moisture that now ran from the hills and 
injured the low-lying and fertile soils. He thought 
the best kind of tree to plant was Larch, where not 
affected with disease. Where the land was unsuit¬ 
able for Larch, he recommended Ash. whilst Alder 
was best for very wet land. The main drawback to 
planting in the case of small and poor landowners 
was the want of capital and their inability to allow 
the land to remain unremunerative till the timber 
was of marketable value. To remedy this he would 
make the plantation a security for a loan to be 
advanced by the Government in order to conduct 
planting and other preliminary expenses and pay the 
annual rent till the corps afforded a return to the 
landowner. 
Interesting Statistics. 
Dealing with 100 acres worked under those con¬ 
ditions, Mr. Muir put in the statistics mentioned 
below, with the observation that the ultimate results 
gave the utmost confidence, and absolutely warranted 
the spirited adoption of this system. Barren, 
healthy soils, worth not more than 2s. 6d. per acre, 
if planted with Scotch Larch only, and judiciously 
thinned and well managed in other respects, will, at 
the expiry of fifty years, when the whole of the 
trees are cleared off and sold, have yielded above £2 
as yearly rent per acre from date of planting. The 
following example gives the thinnings per acre sold 
from time to time during fifty years in a district 
where there was little demand owing to distance 
from railways, &c. :— 
Age. £ s. 
15 400 trees thinned out at 3s od per 100.. 012 
19 
23 
27 
32 
37 
42 
50 
300 
250 
150 
200 
250 
200 
200 
7s 6d 
10s od 
2d 
6d 
is od 
3s od 
8s od 
each 
1 
1 
1 
5 
12 
30 
80 
2 
5 
5 
o 
10 
o 
o 
d. 
o 
6 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
£131 14 6 
This example is given to show landed proprietors 
the best way to increase the rental of their poorest 
lands, and, at the same time, raise the value of their 
estates by the ameliorating influence of plantations 
upon the climate. 
Receipts from ioo Acres. 
The following table shows the amount of money 
that would be realised by the sale of timber grown 
upon 100 acres properly thinned during a period of 
50 years :— 
Years. 
s. d. 
£ 
s. 
d- : £ 
s. 
d. 
1—15(13) 400 at 30 per 100 
O 
12 
0 60 
0 
0 
16—19 (4) 300 at 7 6 
I 
2 
6 112 
10 
0 
20—23 (4) 250 atio 0 
I 
5 
.O 125 
0 
0 
24—27 (4) 150 at 02 each 
I 
5 
0 125 
0 
0 
28—32 (5) 200 at 0 6 ,, 
5 
0 
0 1 500 
0 
0 
33—37 (5) 250 at 1 0 „ 
12 
10 
0 1,250 
0 
0 
38—42 (5) 200 at 3 0 
30 
0 
0 3,000 
0 
0 
43—50 (8) 200 at 8 0 ,, 
80 
0 
0 ' 8,000 
0 
0 
Amount of State Aid Required. 
If needy landlords in these times of severe agricul¬ 
tural depression are to be induced to plant consider¬ 
able areas of land, it will be necessary that they 
should have the opportunity of borrowing at a cheap 
rate, not only the capital necessary to plant and 
enclose the land to be devoted to tree culture, but 
also an amount of money sufficient to recoup them 
the rent of which they would otherwise be deprived 
during the early unproductive years of the wood¬ 
land growth. I have framed the following scheme 
of State-aid on the basis of the landowner being 
placed in no worse position than he occupies at 
present during the first fourteen years of the trees' 
development. During the next twenty-two years 
the landowner will derive a small advantage from 
the application of the scheme to his property. It 
will be during the last fourteen years of the fifty- 
year term that the bulk of the receipts will come in 
upon which the Government must depend for the 
re-payment of its advances to the landowner, and 
upon which the latter must depend for the great 
