the gardening world 
278 
December 29 , 1900 . 
fusion of beds, borders, lawns, specimen trees, 
shrubs, and sbrubberies. The mansion within the 
park, with its fifty-six rooms, is utiltarian as well as 
ornamental. Within its walls quite a grand list of 
technical and scientific classes are held, such as 
chemistry, physiography, botany, plumbing, agri¬ 
culture (principles of), besides women's classes in 
cooking, laundry work, &c. In all respects, Christ¬ 
church Park and Christchurch Mansion are sources 
of gain and much satisfaction to the corporation and 
inhabitants of smart and pretty Ipswich. 
^— - ■ — 
TREE ROOTS AND FAGGOTS. 
The rugged roots or stumps of Oak and other trees 
that have either been blown down or felled might 
much more frequently be used as objects of orna¬ 
ment in garden grounds. Here and there we find 
them and when they are covered or partly covered 
with the Gclden Honeysuckle, Brambles, Ivies, or 
Virginian Creepers they are a distinct source of 
interest and pleasure. Smaller sized stumps could 
be arranged in a little group or knot at the point 
where paths diverge or they might be arranged so as 
to allow a curve to be introduced in the course of a 
walk. It is one of the laws of landscape designing 
never to introduce a curve without a reason, and 
when there is no reison save that of affording 
pleasure to the eye, you can overcome the simplicity 
of the ground you are dealing with by placing down 
an obstacle and then take the walk around it. Thus 
if one had a broad stretch of flat ground, it would 
be puerile to zig-zag or curve a path about, simply 
because English garden design advocates curves 
and irregularities rather than formal lines. 
Here the other part of the business or art comes 
in, and the designer plans an intervening group of 
ornamental shrubs or a bed of this or that. He may 
even elaborate a Rose dell, a rockery or a rootery. 
Not to go so far, he can at least arrange a minor 
rootery and make it a feature of beauty too, and he 
may then take his path curvingly around the root- 
knoll and the detour is naturally accounted for by the 
presence of the said knoll. 
Even without walks, in “ tame” grounds the intro¬ 
duction of tree root arrangements on a scale pro¬ 
portionate to the needs of the case, would do much to 
bring them into better garden form ; they would be 
more attractive and more inducive, and conducive 
to the tastes and deligh:s of the owner of the garden. 
They are made in the same fashion as rockeries, 
having pockets for small plants, and larger areas for 
the roots of such trailing or climbing plants as I 
have named. If vigorous and bright-leaved varieties 
of these trailing plants are chosen, the effect is indeed 
as picturesque as need be desired. Forsythia 
suspensa might be included among the suitable 
plants; Hops and Jasminum nudiflorum are also 
worthy; Clematis of sorts, Honeysuckle; Ever¬ 
lasting Swset Pea, and Tropaeolum speciosum, serve 
further to indicate the class of plants that are used 
when planting a rootery or faggot knoll.— J. H. D. 
- -a* . - 
THE ART OF GARDENING 
Is in many casts an improvement on Nature; and 
the gardener has it in his power to produce many 
beautiful pictures in the landscape by selecting trees 
and shrubs of varied colours, suited to his soil and 
calculated to produce permanent beauty. A few 
days since I saw a semi-circle of tall Acers.the hand 
that planted must be still— bounding to landward a 
level carpet of soft green grass. Between this and 
where I stood was a broad lake with a silvery, 
rippling surface, which yielded a pleasant foreground 
to the sward and the majestic Acers in their glorious 
tint of autumn, a tint between gold and brown, 
nameless and beautiful, thrown against a sky of soft 
clear blue, showing infinite atmosphere. Another 
picture of rock work and water—which a few months 
ago was a wild mountain stream—had waterfalls, 
made of and margined with moss covered stones, 
placed informally to produce a natural appearance, 
from which the water rolled like glass by a curvi¬ 
linear course of varied breadth, soon to tumble over 
a double waterfall, and foaming rush on to feed 
an automatic fountain with many jets, flinging the 
water above and about in many shapes. The sides 
had been made of good soil, covered with stones and 
Ivy-clad tree stumps, many Ferns taking to their 
new home Rushes and hardy Irises, with Ranun¬ 
culuses and Aponogetons found a home Above this 
arrangement bywashes were made to carry the flood 
waters in another course.— Henry H. Gibson, The 
Garden, Glencairn, Belfast. 
ACANTHUSES. 
These classic plants are not so commonly grown as 
they should be. Yet besides their beauty of form, 
they are of great interest. The most common 
species, Acanthus mollis, is the plant which is 
supposed to have served the Greek and Roman 
sculptors as a model for the embellishment of the 
Corinthian column. Most of the species are natives 
of South Europe. They will grow in almost any 
soil or situation, even doing fairly well in the shade, 
though to have them flower well, they should have 
a warm sunny spot. The best soil for them is a deep 
and open oce. Propagation is easy, either by 
division of the roots in autumn or early spring, or by 
seeds. Acanthus mollis latifolius (A. lusitanicus), is 
the best of the genus. This stately plant makes a 
fine picture with its mass of rich green lobed leaves. 
In mild seasons, it may be seen in perfection even in 
December. It is alike suited for the sub-tropical 
bed, the border, the rockery or as an isolated speci¬ 
men in the wild garden. Other species well worth 
growing are A longifolius, A. niger, and A. spinos- 
issimus. There is another, not so well known, and 
it needs a stove temperature. It is A. montanus, 
a shrubby species from tropical Africa. The leaf is 
a dark green with a white mid-rib ; in shape it is 
much like a thistle, and tapers to a point very grace¬ 
fully, making a pleasing contrast with the other stove 
plants. — L.F. 
ROOT PRUNING. 
Having read carefully Mr. Mayne's article on the 
above subject, which appeared in your issue of the 
Sth December, would it be asking too much of the 
many readers of The Gardening World, for one or 
two of them to give a few details of their methods 
on this important work ? The most important item, 
in my estimation, in Mr. Mayne’s article was the 
replacing of the same cold soil about the raots after 
the operation had been accomplished, as it seemingly 
is the former’s method of doing. Well, in my views 
of the matter, I would consider it a waste of time 
and injury to the tree, as it is only remedying the 
evil for a very short period. There being nothing 
about the roots, as a matter of food, they work away 
into cold subsoil, seeking nourishment, and long bare 
roots without fibres are the result. 
In a great many gardens the fruit trees are 
rendered practically useless, through want of atten¬ 
tion to this all important matter, sometimes through 
neglect, but oftener through false ideas of economy. 
Deep planting is one of the greatest mistakes in fruit 
growing, it having a tendency to create bare fibreless 
roots at the very start. Rather plant a little above 
the level, and mound up round the roots, than place 
them down,into the cold, wet, unwrought soil. I 
have seen trees planted in private gardens, under a 
system which was a disgrace to all connected with 
the gardening profession, by simply digging a hole 
large enough to admit the roots, after which the tree 
was planted, a look given to see if it was straight to 
the eye, if so, it was all right. No thought was 
given about the future, as regards roots or nourish¬ 
ment to support them, but a good crop of fruit was 
expected the following season. None but the most 
ignorant would do so ; still it is done on a large 
scale throughout the country. 
It stands to reason that if fruit trees are not given 
a little nourishment to entice fibrous roots, through 
which fruit buds are formed, they will not make 
them in tough, clayey soil, My method would be to 
place some good fibrous loam, clean leaf mould, 
some inch bones, or rough lime rubble, mixed into 
a compost, carefully placing the same firmly about 
the roots, which would both encourage root growth, 
much finer and shorter jointed wood, instead of long 
unripened wood, caused by long fibreless roots. The 
roots of fruit trees are very impatient of too much 
water, so drainage should be an important matter 
too. Avoid, if possible, the addition of rank dung 
for fruit trees when planting, as it only excites them 
to grow luxuriantly, to imbibe nourishment too 
strong for their constitution, and ultimately brings 
on the many forms of disease, which attack fruit 
trees. 
In conclusion, mulching in autumn round the 
roots is very beneficial to all fruit trees, either stan¬ 
dard or wall trees It encourages the young roots to 
come to the surface, where they derive some advan¬ 
tage from the rays of the sun acting on the surface, 
which is the more necessary, to be observed in 
cold, late situations and where the soil is naturally 
cold and clayey.— Walter Hogarth, Norton Gardens, 
■ Ratlio, Midlothian. 
■ 
LAPAGERIAS. 
Among the many beautiful climbing plants with 
which we can adorn our greenhouses, there are few 
which can rival the Lapagerias, and at least one of the 
two well known varieties, rosea and alba, should be 
grown In even the smallest collections. The former 
is the best where one only can be grown. They do 
best if planted in a border in a mixture of peat and 
loam, or if grown in pots make splendid objects if 
trained on a balloon wire. They require plenty of 
water, but good drainage, as they dislike anything 
stagnant about their roots. Choose a shady part of 
the house, as they will not flourish if exposed to the 
direct rays of the sun. The flowering period extends 
over several months, but the best display is usually 
during September and October. They may be in¬ 
creased by layers in the following manner:—Procure 
a long narrow box, put in good drainage, and fill up 
with a mixture of peat and sand. Take a piece of 
half ripened wood, and cut just through the bark at 
the base of each leaf, and peg down, slightly cover¬ 
ing with soil. They will take five or six months to 
root. The best time is May or June, but they can 
be successfully rooted at almost any time. They 
may also, be grown from seed, which the plants 
sometimes produce, and which ripens under ordinary 
conditions.— G. Robins, The Gardens, Dudley House, 
Springrove, Isleworth. 
PRUNING OF ROSES. 
The majority of people do not consider nor do 
they study the object aimed at in pruning. 
It is painful to see some plants pruned with no 
more care or thought than if the operator 
were pruning a hedge—all the shoots cropped over 
big and little, all alike. The result is, the few strong 
shoots give a few flowers, probably only wood ; the 
small shoots, a few sickly yellowish leaves. The 
first object should be to select a few shoots (the 
number depending upon the size and age of the 
plant) capable of producing good flowers. These 
shoots should be well ripened, short-jointed, not too 
strong, and the nearer the ground (for dwarfs) the 
better. All the soft prematurely ripened wood, and 
all the old and weakly shoots, should be cut clean 
away, leaving only those described. These should 
be cut back, according to the strength of shoots or 
variety, as a rule from 4 in. to 12 in.; the stronger 
they are the longer they should be left. By this 
method the plants should grow vigorously, flower in 
profusion, and be kept young and healthy for years. 
Pruning should be done in March, but if they have 
been planted late in spring, the tops should be 
left on to encourage root action. The middle of 
April is not too late under the circumstances. Keep 
clean by syringing later on with a mixture of soft 
soap dissolved in water.— T. S. Dick, Castlemilk 
Gardens, Lockerbie. 
SAVING THE RAIN. 
Mr. Peter Kay, V.M.H., delivered a few remarks 
on the subject of saving the rain for use in gardens, 
at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society 
held on September 25th. He opened his remarks by 
referring to the depths of rainfall in various parts of 
the world, the amounts which fall in India, Australia, 
Central Africa, and dealt particularly with the rain¬ 
fall of the British Isles. In parts of Patagonia it 
rains every day in the year. In the Sahara Desert and 
the Desert of Gobi rain scarcely every falls. How 
necessary rain is to the existence of all conditions of 
living things, it is not necessary to recount. India 
has been a glaring example for some years past. 
But thanks to the works for conserving the rain, 
which have been undertaken by Col. S. S. Jacobs, 
there is a probability that the future may hold greater 
prosperity for India than the past has done. The 
practice of saving the rain was more in vogue twenty 
or thirty years ago, but with the increase of glass¬ 
houses the labour of pumping and carting the water 
