January 2, 1897. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
281 
Poinsettias are propagated by cuttings, B. D. 
After the plants have finished blooming, they are cut 
down, allowed to rest awhile, and then placed in 
heat. The cuttings are taken off when about 4 in. in 
length. You will require a brisk bottom heat and an 
atmospheric temperature of at least 60° Fahr. to root 
them with any freedom, and even then they are often 
captious subjects to handle, as whole batches of 
cuttings will damp off for apparently no reason at 
all. 
-- 
VIEW IN THE GARDENS, FALKLAND 
PARK. 
The accompanying illustration represents a portion 
of the garden of T. McMeekin, Esq., Falkland Park, 
South Norwood Hill, who has been carrying out 
many improvements on the estate during a number 
of years past. The portion represented may be 
described as a corner of the ornamental grounds 
rustic bridge and the arbour in the foreground are 
gradually becoming covered with varieties of 
Clematis, which were in bloom at the time the 
photograph was taken. From the top of this rustic 
structure, fine views are obtained over a wide 
stretch of country, in some directions ; while from 
other points of the ground, which is situated on a 
hill, .Windsor Castle can be descried on a clear day, 
and easily picked out by means of a telescope or field 
glass. 
In the immediate vicinity of the rustic arbour are 
peat beds, in which many American and other peat- 
loving subjects, such as Kalmias, Heaths, and 
Pieris are planted. They flower profusely. It may 
here be remarked that the Heaths consist largely of 
varieties of Calluna vulgaris, and Erica cinerea. 
Rock Roses (Helianthemum) thrive in the vicinity of 
the rocky banks. Various deciduous and evergreen, 
alpine or rock plants form bright patches of colour 
during their respective seasons of flowering. 
INTENSE CULTURE.* 
In almost every garden connected with a gentleman's 
residence, thekitcbengardenissolimitedin size, com¬ 
pared with the requirements of the establishment, 
that ordinary cultivation is quite out of the question, 
if a constant supply of different kinds of vegetables is 
required all the year round ; and the highest credit 
is due to any gardener who produces extraordinary 
crops of first-class vegetables from a limited area. 
To secure such results the culture must of necessity 
be intense, otherwise it would be impossible for the 
soil to grow double or treble the weight of food of 
that simply managed in the manner agricultural land 
is. The kitchen garden and its cultivation is one of 
the best tests of a gardener's ability; not only so, but 
it reflects the highest credit, or otherwise on his 
training and intelligence; consequently, every young 
man who is ambitious to rise in his profession should 
make kitchen garden work one of his most intense 
studies. Many a gardener has come to grief through 
rather than the garden proper. A portion of the 
mansion may be seen over the top of the glass¬ 
houses. What is seen of the latter is a small portion 
of a range of seven houses, connected by a corridor 
behind joining the ends of all together. The balus¬ 
trade in front of the houses marks the boundary of 
the terrace garden, which is devoted to spring and 
summer bedding of the prevailing style, the spring 
bedding consisting of hardy plants, and the summer 
bedding of tender ones. 
The water seen in the foreground,and passing under 
the rustic bridge at a distance on the right, is com¬ 
pletely connected, so that only isolated portions of it 
are seen in the picture. Water Lilies may be seen in 
the water under the bridge on the left; they are now 
well established and keep up a succession of bloom 
all through the summer. Several of the recent 
hybrids and varieties are included amongst them. 
Other aquatics find suitable conditions at various 
places along the margins and in the water. The 
View in the Gardens, Falkland Park, 
On the sloping banks of the upper portion of the 
ornamental water are various Irises in large patches 
which reach down to the water’s edge, and are 
thereby benefited in dry seasons, particularly the 
water-loving-kinds. Primula japonica and P. rosea 
are treated in the same way on the opposite bank. 
Beyond these are large, informal beds cut in the 
grass, and equally informally planted with large 
masses of various showy and popular herbaceous 
plants of many kinds, which keep up an ever varying 
display all the summer, of a kind that could not be 
produced by the formal beds of the summer flower 
garden. Away on the right, and scarcely visible in 
the picture is a considerable amount of rootwork and 
rockwork, on which a great variety of subjects is 
planted. In the spring time the grass in this 
neighbourhood is enlivened with Daffodils in great 
variety, planted on the grass by Mr. A. Wright, who 
has had charge of the place, and these improve¬ 
ments, for some years past. 
inadequate supplies of vegetables for his employer's 
table, but I have never known one yet who was a 
first-class vegetable grower, who did not get on and 
make his mark in the horticultural world. 
However, it may possibly be advisable to state 
what, in my opinion, is intense culture in the kitchen 
garden. It may be summed up in a few words, viz., 
deep and thorough cultivation of the soil. Deep 
cultivation has a most beneficial influence in many 
ways. Amongst which may be mentioned the 
following:—good drainage, warmer soil in winter, 
and cooler in summer, a vastly improved rooting 
medium, followed by fine crops, also a more 
uniformly moist condition of the soil. All cultivators 
of the soil, who have had much experience, are well 
aware that if the ground is dug only one spit deep for 
a number of years that a hard pan or bottom is 
formed, through which it is difficult for water to 
* A paper read at a meeting of the Chiswick Gardeners’ 
Mutual Improvement Association on November zgth. 
