668 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
August 20, 1904. 
Bruised or twisted roots; must be cut back to where they are 
sound, and as; much soil as possible kept about the ball. . A 
good soaking of water before lifting is necessary if the soil is 
iat all dry. 
II a,ve a strong mat or large bag ready spread out upon a, 
hand-barrow to take; the tree, and pull this up afterwards, tying 
it around, the stem to keep' the ball of soil intact. Have the 
holes a foot larger every way than! the size of the ball. After 
spreading out the roots carefully, cover them with a little fine, 
moderately dry soil before filling in, laying each tier out 
separately. The upper tiers ought not to be more than, 2 in. 
under the surface. When all is; finished and firmly trodden 
in, give a, thorough soaking of water to settle the soil round 
the small roots. If the weather is; very hot and sunny, shading 
should be given. Damp the trees overhead daily in dull 
weather, and twice daily if bright, this serving to keep the 
foliage fresh to the last, and ensuring plumpness of the wood. 
With regard to pruning either of young or old trees, no greater 
mistake: is made in, fruit-growing than cutting hard back, 
always provided that the trees have been, carefully lifted and 
planting not unduly delayed. All that, is, needed is to remove 
weak or badly-ripened ends of shoots, and when the time for' 
disbudding comes round in spring, if anything unsuitable to 
produce fruitful wood lias; been left, the shoots may be rubbed 
off, and the faulty wood removed. When the shoots have fin¬ 
ished up naturally with good triple buds at, the end, it- is ruinous 
to cut them back. These few details carefully carried out, 
the lifting of large trees may be safely attempted, and in, most 
cases it may be done without loss of crops. J. W. J. 
Our Rock Garden, and Some of its Gems. 
II. 
In a, former article I endeavoured to interest readers, in some 
of the rarer, or, at least, most effective and useful Alpines that 
succeed here. I might have said a, few words on the actual 
building of a, rock garden, but tastes differ so much, as do posi¬ 
tions for .such a garden, and many other things, that I will 
only try to give a general idea, of how to, go to work. 
In the first place, I may say that far too often we see 
rockeries that seem to, ha,vei been built, by a, “ mason,” so' 
straight are the lines of stones, and so, carefully placed upright, 
or at a certain angle. In, these so-called rockeries the plants 
seem to be only a secondary consideration. Now, this is 
altogether wrong. In using stones alt all, we only wish to, 
give shelter or support to our rare and beautiful plants. In 
short, we should try to place the stones, so. a® to, make the posi¬ 
tions as near as possible to that in which the plants; grow 
naturally. I once heard a gentleman who is well versed in all 
that pertain,si_to rockwork say that the proper way to build a 
rookery wa,s, to load the stones on a cart, take it to the, place 
you meant to make your garden, tip. up, the cart, and leave 
the stones where they fell. This, may be a, little extreme, but 
the idea is not ®o, far out. What one should aim a,t is to, have 
the rockwork asi informal and inconspicuous a® possible. Of 
course, a few bold, massive stones for the rampant growers 
to clamber over is very desirable, but the main, object is to 
form a suitable place in which to grow some of the loveliest 
flowers God h,as given us. I find that the majority of Alpines 
like fairly rich, light soil. Of course, no rank new manure 
must be used 1 , but a, fair proportion o(f well-rotted old stable 
or cow manure seiemsi to, suit most of them. Some few, of 
course, require special soils for themselves, hut, as a general 
rule fair 1-oam, leaf-mould, rotten manure, and sharp sand is 
what is wanted. In dry weather watering is rather a serious 
affair, but to ensure success must never be neglected. I must 
now hurry on with a few more of the names of our gems. 
Achillea rupestris, with beautiful silvery foliage and pure 
white flowers, is very effective planted near mossy Saxifrages, 
or others with dark green leaves. 
Aienaria, caespitosa aurea is much admired for its golden, 
fine-cut foliage. A. montana has pure white flowers. Amebia 
ecliioides (Prophet Flower) is very bright in May. Dryas 
Drurnmondi is rather rare', a hardy trailer with yellow 
flowers. 
Of the Erodiums we have E. alpinum and E. Manescavi. 
Geum monta,n,um is well worth a place; its large yellow flowers 
are very effective. Hemiaria glabra soon covers the ground, 
and is a beautiful green all through the year. Hepaticas are 
most welcome when, other flowersi are scarce in, the rock garden. 
We have all the varieties 1 , including the rare single pink. 
Horminum alpinum is pretty with its dense spikes of blue. 
The golden-leaved Cheeping Jenny (Lysimachia Nummularia 
aurea) is lovely if planted in the sun. Of course, it does not 
grow fast- in that position, but the colour is, much improved. 
Morisia hypogaea is, a, real gem with it-s bright yellow flowers. 
Lithospermum graminifolium. (See p. 665.) 
Onosnia, ta,uricurn isiveiy choice with its, lemon-yellow drooping 
flowers. Silene ma'ritima 11. pi. is grand for any diy, hot bank. 
Of the mountain Thymes we have Thymus lanuginosus, T. 
Serpyllum, T. S. albus, and a, very good variety with large 
purple flowers, which - think is named T. S. atro-purpureus. 
Tins by no means exhausts our collection, but I may have 
exhausted the patience of readers, not interested in our 
“ hobby.” C. Blair. 
Preston, Linlithgow. 
Potatos ALL the Year Round. —With the above object in view 
some growers ini France have been making experiments in the 
production of new Potatos. Tubers of any given quantity are 
buried in sand in a cellar, and give a return of something like 
half a pound of new Potatos per lb. of the old ones. Magnum 
Bomun is on© of the varieties used for this purpose, and when 
planted in boxes filled with damp soil and placed in some dark 
and warm place give a return in the course of six months. Mr. 
G. Stanton, of Park Place, Berks, also obtains new Potatos by a 
similar method, so that the plan is not new. 
