^December 24, 1&98. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
267 
CROPPING PRIVATE KITCHEN 
GARDENS. 
When one comes to look back forty years one can 
see great changes, and old Father Time leaves his 
mark on many things. This applies to gardens as 
much as it does to other things, and those who are 
successful see the advantage of moving with the 
times and coming up-to-date, moulding themselves 
either to the place or the changes that are forced 
upon them. 
Those who have had opportunities of seeing 
private gardens in country places, and especially 
where the owner derives his income from land, are 
conversant with the great reduction in hands and 
other expenses of late years. In some places I know 
there is not more than a third of the hands. But 
for all this the gardens have not diminished in size, 
there being just as much land to go over in some 
fashion. 
Added to this there is another evil, namely, a 
great reduction in food for the land. What is to be 
the result of these two evils? Starving land and 
large crops of weeds. It may be said there is no 
remedy. There may not be so far as being able to 
do as formerly, as owners cannot keep up a place, in 
some instances, with not more than a third of their 
income, neither can the gardener keep up the place 
without manure or hands to do the work. Conse¬ 
quently it is a struggle for existence, as are often 
the gardener's endeavours to make the place look 
tidy. I often wonder why these gardens have not 
been let on a fresh footing. In many instances they 
are good land, and do, and would still produce good 
crops—providing they were properly cultivated. I 
fail to see any advantage in trying to cultivate 
double as much land as they either have manure or 
labour to do well. I am convinced as much produce 
could be got out of half the land if it had the present 
labour and manure the whole has. 
Starving soil can be seen on many a broad acre of 
land, where good results might be had if properly 
cultivated, and this applies largely to farms and 
gardens. 
During the last few months I have seen several 
large private kitchen gardens where this reduction 
has taken place and with the results above described. 
In one garden I saw many a perch of land that had 
grown nothing but weeds, and these had to be kept 
from seeding (this could not be profitable gardening). 
The wall and other fruit trees showed only too well 
how they wanted the manure cart. The leaves were 
small and yellow, and the fruits only about half their 
proper size. Had this fruit to be put on the market 
the returns would discourage the owner and grower. 
In many instances the trees were well shaped and in 
good bearing condition. Had these been well fed the 
fruit would have been large and good in colour. Now 
it costs just as much to keep the trees to the wall in 
one condition as in the other, and as much for land. 
Some two years ago I saw a place in Kent with a 
fine kitchen garden and land of the best quality 
growing fine crops of nettles in a good portion of it, 
and these had to be cut down. I fancy I hear some 
one asking what the remedy is. To this I must give 
the same answer as I have often given, namely, keep 
under cultivation, as a kitchen garden, just as much 
as you have labour and manure to do really well. 
The remainder either sow down to grass, or culti¬ 
vate it to crops for cattle. I am aware there are 
many private gardens where much of the stuff is 
marketed. It is open to question whether this is the. 
best remedy, all points considered. Some of us 
know only too well what this means in country 
places, where the garden is far from a railway 
station, and where there is little or no demand in 
local towns. Add to this the disadvantage of not 
having a regular supply and no good reliable outlet, 
and many other disadvantages connected with a 
private garden. Undoubtedly, in many places it 
would answer far better to grow produce to feed 
cattle than dabble with the marketing of vegetables. 
Recently, I was looking over a garden in a country 
place where this reduction had taken place many 
years ago. The demands of the family have been 
reduced very considerably, and I suggested to my 
friend to grow Carrots, Parsnips, Mangel, Potatos > 
and feed animals with them. By so doing in his 
case he can keep a lot more pigs, and in this way he 
can manure the land, keeping it clean, with the same 
expense. Surely land can be made to pay its way 
and kept tidy, seeing the rent has not to be taken in¬ 
to consideration in such places; and by doing this it 
would relieve the gardener, so far as his staff is con¬ 
cerned, from a lot of unnecessary work. As he 
could keep a man for this work it would pay, and 
leave a balance. 
I know a 4-acre garden where the mansion was let 
for five years, and during that time only Jialf of the 
land was wanted to supply the family with 
vegetables. The other two acres were laid down to 
seed grass for feeding cows. Their manure was 
returned to this land. The results were most satis¬ 
factory, both to the wall trees and to the land for 
vegetable crops, when it had to be broken up again. 
It is clear to all who are acquainted with market 
gardens near large towns, that these men do not 
have a lot of land more than they can manure. The 
high rents and other charges forbid their doing this. 
No; their motto is deep working, high feeding, 
close cropping, and keeping the land clean, and this 
makes a paying industry. 
If our private gardens were made more of a com¬ 
mercial enterprise it would be better for all con¬ 
cerned. We should teach our young men there is 
something in the land by moving it about and 
manuring it.—/. C., Chard. 
'■ - g »- 
CHRISTMAS FLOWERS, FRUIT AND 
FINERY. 
The average Britisher is a very practical indi¬ 
vidual, and at Christmas time his practicality causes 
him to lay in a great store of good things to eat. 
His aesthetic nature, his love for the beautiful, are 
subordinated to the requirements of the inner man, 
and yet at Christmas he proceeds to fall down and 
worship the custom which rules that the house is to 
be decorated in some sort of fashion. He asks then 
for evergreens, grasses, flowers of all descriptions, 
and attempts to make his home beautiful because his 
neighbour does it, and yet the custom shows no signs 
of dying out all the same. 
This year there has been the usual demand for 
evergreens of all descriptions—Ivy, Box, Laurel, 
Holly, Mistleto, etc., and it is at once a most instruc¬ 
tive and suggestive spectacle to see the huge crates 
and waggons full of this finery that find their way to 
the various centres of distribution. Mistleto seems 
to be more than usually well berried this year, and 
there is no falling off in the supply ; the orchards of 
Kent and Hereford see to that. Surely this Mistleto 
crop must be a fairly paying one nowadays, and 
bring a welcome addition to the fruit grower's 
banking account. Holly is not so well berried as we 
have seen it. The crop of berries was good, it is 
true, but the feathered songsters have for some reason 
or other made a dead set at the coral fruits during 
the last fortnight, and have cleared many a tree of 
its load. This is all the more curious when we 
consider that there has been no hard weather to 
diminish the birds' food supply. 
The would-be improvers upon Nature have, as 
usual, been hard at work dyeing and “ improving ” 
various subjects which their perverted ideas have 
suggested as suitable for this maltreatment. 
Mahonia Aquifolium is now very commonly dyed to 
a dull purple-red, by some preparation of logwood 
probably, and in this state it is very sticky and very 
nasty. Such grasses as Gynerium argenteum, G. 
saccharatum, Agrostis nebulosa, Briza minor, and B. 
maxima all form fair game for the dyeing fiend, and 
appear in such colours as would put the rainbow 
itself to blush. That terribly obstrusive, green-dyed 
moss is also to be seen in quantity, and the ubiqui¬ 
tous " Immortelles ” are to be seen in the window of 
nearly every florist's shop. 
Sprays of silvery t Honesty, wreaths of Clematis 
Vitalba, and bunches of grasses in their natural 
colours, form legitimate and very effective decorative 
material, and the uses to which they may be put are 
so many and various that there is no wonder they 
are in considerable demand. 
Foliage Plants. —There are numbers of plants 
that lend themselves well to decorative purposes, 
and all these are drawn upon at this season of the 
year. Small Spruce Firs in pots find plenty of cus¬ 
tomers, and the larger ones are, of course, elevated 
to the rank of “ Christmas Trees,” in which guise 
they form the most interesting of all trees to the 
youngsters. Other Conifers that are especial 
favourites for pot work are Cupressus lawsoniana, in 
some of its many forms. C. macrocarpa, C. goveni- 
ana, Retinospora plumosa, and R. filifera. Aucuba 
japonica as a pot plant is a great success, and Tree 
Ivies form a host in themselves, so hardy and beau, 
tiful are they withal. Ferns are ever popular, and, 
although the season of the year is against the pretty 
but delicate Maidenhair, Pteris cretica and serrulata 
in their numerous varieties step in and fill up the 
gap. These Pterises may be seen in all sizes from 
the little thumb pot containing a plant with only two 
or three tiny fronds to the bushy specimen in the 48 
and the 32. Pteris tremula seems to take best as a 
good-sized plant, and finds its way in this stage into 
the market in considerable numbers. Ficus repens, 
when grown in pots or baskets and suspended, forms 
a very handsome subject, and it is a wonder that it 
is not more frequently to be seen treated in this 
way. 
Berried Plants are amongst the most popular of 
subjects, for berries somehow seem to be very closely 
associated with Christmas. Small Holly trees in 
pots are occasionally to be seen, but the berried 
Solanums are the most important item. These are 
easily grown, berry pretty freely as a rule, and sell 
well as a consequence, so that there are not wanting 
plenty of growers who take the plants up and flood 
the market with them. Skimmia japonica is occa¬ 
sionally to be seen, but it does not appear to have 
become a great favourite as yet. Pernettya mucron- 
ata in several varieties forms a useful adjunct, and 
comes in very handily where decorations are required 
to be of a comparatively lasting character. 
Flowering Plants are represented by such 
things as Erica hyemalis, E. h. alba, E. gracilis, 
Cyclamen, Lilies of the Valley in a variety of recep¬ 
tacles from the tiny ornamental vase to large, im¬ 
posing pyramids, Roman Hyacinths, Due Van Thol 
Tulips in a variety of colours, red being apparently 
the favourite, Azalea Deutsche Perle, and Mar¬ 
guerites. These are all available, and constitute a fair 
amount of variety. 
Cot Flowers. —It is in this section that the 
greatest wealth of variety is manifest. White 
flowers are always prized, but at no period of the 
year more than at Christmas. Thus we see snowy 
Lilies of the Valley, Lilium Harrisii, double 
Camellias, Azaleas, Eucharis amazonica, Richardia 
africana, Freesias, Roman Hyacinths, and Paper 
White Narcissus are all to be had in apparently un¬ 
limited quantity. A little colour is furnished by 
double and single Violets, pink Tea Roses, of which 
there have been unusually large consignments this 
season, owing probably to the prevailing mildness, 
Polyanthus Narcissi, yellow and bronze Chrysanth¬ 
emums, Bouvardia President Neuner, B. Vreelandii, 
B. Priory Beauty, and scarlet zonal Pelargoniums. 
The flower heads of Poinsettia pulcherrima, with 
their large and brilliant scarlet bracts never go 
begging, as is not wonderful when we consider their 
great decorative value ; Poinsettias should be a pay¬ 
ing '■ line ” with florists. 
Orchids are chiefly represented by Cypripedium 
insigne, of which there seems to be great store, and 
a few stray pieces of Odontoglossum Alexandrae. 
Cut Foliage. —For buttonhole and spray work 
leaves of Ivy are largely used, and very pretty they 
look, whilst huge bunches of the long trails of Ivy are 
to be seen in the markets, the said trails beiDg put to 
a variety of uses. Asparagus medeoloides, popularly 
known as Smilax, comes to market in large bundles 
of trails which have been grown upon strings express¬ 
ly for cutting. Asparagus Sprengeri is being used to 
some extent in the same way as Smilax, but of 
course it is not nearly souseful. Fronds of Asparagus 
plumosus nanus, and A. tenuissimus are in great 
demand for making up with cut flowers, for they are 
more elegant and last much longer than Maidenhair 
Fern. 
Fruit. —In no respect is the effect of improved 
international communication displayed more unmis¬ 
takably than in the vast supplies of fruit that are 
day by day poured into Covent Garden and other 
market centres. Had we to depend upon homegrown 
produce alone for our Christmas dessert the variety 
would be very much smaller than it is now. 
English grown fruit is represented by grand Gros 
Colman and Muscat of Alexandria Grapes that are re¬ 
tailed at wonderfully low prices considering the high 
quality, Apples, Pears, Medlars, and Filberts. New¬ 
town Pippin is the favourite Apple just now and 
even medium-sized fruits are being retailed at ijd. 
each. Gascoigne’s Scarlet Seedling is also fetching 
good prices, which is not surprising when we 
consider what a showy Apple it is. The only Pear 
that seems to find a place in the market just now is 
Glou Morceau. 
