260 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
December 16, 1899. 
WORK FOR WINTER. 
When the morning light only breaks about eight 
o'clock a.m., and when the curtain of evening falls 
as early as half-past four in the afternoon it might 
be thought that the hours between would be tightly 
employed by employees in gardens. But no! These 
short days of winter are a great hang. The men 
find little to do, or rather there is plenty to do, only 
unpropitious weather detains them, and the outdoor 
labourer has even to find indoor occupation. If 
there is no work to do the next thing is that of kill¬ 
ing time, reflecting on the warm fireside at home 
while stowed away in some by-corner. Now the 
place that has not enough of indoor work to busy 
the hands employed, both outside and indoor 
workers, must be a prime one, an exception to the 
rule. 
An observant and energetic gardener will see that 
all his tanks are clean and properly plugged ; leaking 
valves will be examined and tightened, probably an 
alteration made. Where any radical change is 
required, as in shifting pipes, probably raising, or it 
may be lowering the fall either for the better econo¬ 
mising of heat or flow of the water, one good 
engineer assisted by the gardener and a couple of 
men can do the work. Then there is indoor glazing, 
alterations and improvements to pavements or to 
pathways. Houses are all to wash, some of them or 
parts of them may require to be painted or have 
slight additions made ; not absolutely additions, but 
erections such as shelves and trellises. After all 
such work has been seen to, there are plants to clean 
and cautious men from outdoors can always be 
trusted to do such work thoroughly. Labels and 
stakes of every size and for all purposes will take up 
somebody’s time in their preparation. Pots are to 
wash and boxes and baskets to make. Not many 
gardeners now make their own baskets but where 
anyone has a knowledge of the art the time is well 
spent in furnishing new samples. Besoms are 
always needed in every garden and if the precaution 
has previously been taken to hie out to the woods for 
Hazel bunches or for Birch, and if these have been 
dried this is very profitable work for the outdoor 
men. Tool houses require an occasional rearrange¬ 
ment and clean up ; and the implements themselves 
are none the worse for being burnished. Spades or 
forks may be in need of a handle, which work 
though is only for what may be termed the “ handy 
man,” the man who is indispensable about a place 
because he tries anything and generally succeeds 
with what he puts his talents to. It is marvellous 
how much a man can do when he tries, but it must 
be try. Then labels are to be written for the herba¬ 
ceous borders, &c., and the stored crops to look over. 
But the more one enumerates the further does the 
range of suitable and necessary work widen. There 
is practically no end to the improvements and the 
preparations which could be effected by the outdoor 
garden worker in the days of winter, at present 
often a bore from morning till night.— Worker. 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
City of Boston. Department of Parks. 
Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Board of 
Commissioners for the year ending January 
31st, 1899. Ptinted for the Depariment. 
This annual report runs to seventy-nine pages, and 
contains a great amount of information and statistics 
relating to the numerous parks, gardens and 
recreation grounds in and around the city of Boston, 
Massachusetts, U.S.A. Mr John A. Pettigrew is 
the superintendent of the Department of Parks, and 
he as well as some other heads of departments con¬ 
tribute to the report concerning their respective 
duties. Several beautiful photographic illustrations 
serve to render the book interesting, for it takes the 
form of a book, bound in cloth. The illustration of 
Jamaica ponrl shows a fine stretch of water, beauti¬ 
fully wooded on the farther shore. The playstead 
is the recreation ground for cricket, &c. Woodland 
brooks and many fine trees are also shown. Hem¬ 
lock woods in the arboretum show some very fine 
timber. 
The superintendent, Mr. J. A. Pettigrew, in his 
report gives some interesting information of the work 
being done under his charge in Franklin Park. He 
had been instructed by the Board of Commissioners 
to accentuate the New England woodland character 
of this park by the removal of exotic trees and 
shrubs for the benefit of native species. Berberis 
vulgaris, B. Thunbergii and the common Privet 
have been retained because they have so long been 
associated with the woods of New England that they 
now seem fit associates for the true natives. Much 
thinning of the other trees has been effected during 
the past three years, so that the remaining ones have 
greatly improved in health and growth, while the 
admission of light and air to the underwood has 
proved highly beneficial to the young and dwarf 
subjects that always add to the charm of woodland 
scenery. This hint might well apply to our own 
woodlands in the neighbourhood of populous places, 
including Putney Heath, Wimbledon Common and 
Epping Forest in the vicinity of London, where the 
so-called improvements of native scenery are not 
always appreciated. From 6 in. to 10 in. of soil 
were spread over The Glade and the woods on either 
side where the roots of trees were exposed owing to 
the deficiency in depth of soil. Several knolls and 
high pieces of ground were ploughed, subsoiled and 
then planted after a liberal quantity of fresh soil 
had been spread over the surface. Plantations have 
also been made round the park in several places to 
shut out the views of street trolley cars, telegraph 
poles, &c., which had been intruding upon the quiet 
retirement of the park. 
The whole of the report is taken up with interest¬ 
ing information of this kind relating to the numerous 
parks, ornamental and recreation grounds now 
enjoyed by Boston. Between the Public Garden 
and Franklin Park there are 26 2 miles of driveway, 
all of which have to be kept in proper order. This 
driveway connects the various places in a sort of 
system. The main park system includes some 
thirty-one pieces of ground, all of which are men¬ 
tioned in the financial statements. The second half 
of the book is taken up with statistics and data 
relating to the parks. 
The Century Book of Gardening. A Compre¬ 
hensive Work for every Lover of the Garden. 
Published at the offices of “ Country Life,” 20, 
Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, W.C.; and by 
George Newnes, Ltd., 7 to 12, Southampton 
Street, Strand, W.C. To be completed in 26 
weekly parts, price 6d. each. 
The illustrations of this book are the first thing to 
catch the eye of those who look inside the covers. 
The art of the photographer is here displayed to 
great perfection by the excellency of the paper and 
printing. In the first number are illustrations of the 
formal garden at Longford, the Rose garden at 
Downside, the famous clipped Yews at Elvaston 
Castle, the terrace garden at Heckfield Place, the 
Monk's Walk at Ashridge, the grass walk at Bul- 
wick, an old Walnut tree at Ven House, St. Cath¬ 
erine's Court, Bath, and other well known scenes. 
The introduction is followed by a chapter on 
shrub borders and hardy flowers by Mrs. Earle, in 
which is recommended the planting of a great 
variety of flowering subjects, exclusive of Lilacs, 
Laburnums, Rhododendrons, and Laurels. More 
favoured are such things as Pyrus, Almonds, 
Peaches, sundry species and varieties of Prunus, 
single and double, Kerrias, Spiraeas, Genistas, Cis- 
tus or Rock Roses in variety, the Snowdrop tree, 
Guelder Roses, Sea Buckthorn, Strawberry tree, 
Yuccas, Eucalyptus Gunoi, New Zealand Flax, and 
even the common Seakale. No Roses are to be per¬ 
mitted in such a border, and only a few of more ram¬ 
pant growth on neighbouring walls. In the way of 
climbers for the latter, the writer of the chapter 
advises the use of Figs, Vines, American Vines, 
Clematises, Wistarias, Laburnum, Judas tree, the 
pink False Acacia, the Fiery Thorn, the Japanese 
Hawthorn, Honeysuckle, Austrian Copper Briers, 
&c. 
At the end of Part I. and the beginning of Part II. 
is a chapter on hardy annuals, in which short des¬ 
criptions are given of all the more useful and popular 
species and varieties brought under notice. A 
short chapter is devoted to everlasting flowers, aod 
these again are followed b> half-hardy annuals, such 
as China Asters, Nemesias, Portulaca, Tobaccos, 
Zinnias, &c. Biennials are not overlooked. Wall 
plants and pergolas are treated under climbers, 
short descriptions beiDg given of Ampelopsis, Aris- 
tolochia Sipho, many species of Clematis,Crataegus, 
Pyracantha, Honeysuckles, and others. 
The subject of tender plants for the summer gar¬ 
den is tackled by Mr. F. W. Burbidge, M.A., of the 
Trinity Botanic Gardens, Dublin, who discourses 
pleasantly on a great variety of subjects.that maybe 
and are used in the summer flower garden to give 
sub-tropical effects. Some of the species effectively 
employed are hardy, others only so in favoured 
localities. Others mentioned by name require the 
protection of a greenhouse in winter, and so on till 
we come to those that require the aid of a stove heat 
in winter to insure their well-being. Very much of 
the modern sub-tropical gardening, so called, can be 
effected by means of subjects that are hardy, or 
nearly so, and only require the aid of a skilled gar¬ 
dener, who has tact and initiative to produce effects, 
at once novel and attractive, even when carried out 
with the most common materials or occupants of 
parks and gardens. 
Hardy flowers are of great importance in modern 
gardens, the subject beiDg here treated at great 
length, running through the greater portion of Part 
IV., and only reaching scarlet Lobelias at the end of 
Part V. Under the generic Dames in the margin the 
showiest and most useful of the hardy herbaceous 
subjects are recorded, with a brief description of 
their most prominent features. These subjects are, 
indeed, so numerous that they would usefully fill a 
very large book. The Fritillarias, for instance, num¬ 
ber something like fifty species, yet the more impor¬ 
tant of them are dealt with in one paragraph, our 
native species beiDg prominently brought to notice by 
a vase of cut flowers. Gentians occupy a little more 
space, but the few kinds recommended for general 
cultivation are described in a separate paragraph to 
each species, those enjoying this prominence being 
Gentiana acaulis, G. Andrewsi, G. asclepiadea, G. 
septemfida, and G. verna. Their special cultural re¬ 
quirements, or the conditions under which they suc¬ 
ceed best, should prove useful to readers who under¬ 
take their cultivation. 
THE NURSERIES, ROTHESAY. 
Visitors to Rothesay, if they are in any way horti- 
culturally inclined, sooner or later find their way to 
the nurseries of Messrs. Dobbie & Co., whose offices 
are situated about the centre of Rothesay, the 
Brighton of Scotland, so called from the thousands 
of visitors who frequent the queen of watering 
places for North Britain, at all periods of the year, 
but particularly in summer. The glass houses are 
situated in the Springfield Nursery, behind the 
offices, but the bulk of the hardy and other outdoor 
crops are grown at Bush Hill Farm, about half or 
three-quarters of a mile awav up the hill from the 
Bay of Rothesay. Bush Hill Farm is mostly upon 
the slope of the hill, but it also reaches the crown of 
the same, from where the visitor obtains splendid 
views of Rothesay Bay, the brown mountains on the 
shores of Argyle, the entrance to Loch Striven, Port 
Bannatyne, and up the Straits towards the K>les of 
Bute, all on the right hand. In the valley below and 
in front is the long, inland Loch Fad, lapping the 
base of the Barone Hill, the highest point in the 
Island of Bute. The lower reaches are wooded, but 
away amoDgst the bare moors on the top is the Dhu 
Loch, from whence the water that gives the highest 
pressure in Rothesay is obtained. Away to the left 
is the sister island of Arran, on which is Goat Fell, 
with an elevation of 2,866 ft , and appearing quite 
close to Bute, though the silver streak of water is 12 
miles across. 
Dahlias at Bush Hill Farm. 
Near the crown of the hill was a collection of some 
4.500 Dahlias, covering an acre of ground, and all 
grown simply for the sake of roots. They consisted 
of all the new varieties for 1898, and kept flowering 
till a late period last autumn, in spite of the bluster¬ 
ing wind and rain. Conspicuous amongst them was 
the blackish maroon variety named Night. 
Another acre was grown in the lower field, but, 
being planted 4 ft. by 4 ft. apart, there were only 
2.500 plants in all, including the novelties of 1898 
and 1899. 
Cactus Dahlias were of leading importance 
here, including Mary Service ('98), a salmon-red and 
pretty variety, with long, pointed petals. Of 
Keynes’ White 8,000 were distributed last spring and 
early summer. A huge scarlet flower was John 
Welch, of a showy character. The maroon-crimson. 
Harry Stredwick, does well here. Fusilier was 
scarlet, shaded with salmon, bushy, dwarf, and pro¬ 
fusely flowered. The rich crimson Chas. Wood- 
bridge was even finer, the long, straight, and sharply 
