December 16, 1905. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“ Creeping where no life is seen 
A rare old plant is the Ivy Green.” — Dickens. 
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AN AMATEUR’S LETTER 
TO AMATEURS 
By the Author of “ The Garden Decorative 
etc ., etc. 
XIX. 
Simple Methods of Winter Protection. 
When- we hear the remark, “ Oh, that plant 
will not stand our English winters,” it is just 
as well to ask ourselves, “ If not, why not ? ” 
A large proportion of plants thus charac¬ 
terised do not fall victims to the cold, for this 
is often far greater in their natural habitats, 
but to the excessive damp. It is this, in 
nine cases out of ten, that proves fatal, and 
therefor© any protection we may give certain 
of our hardy plants should be far more with 
the idea of keeping them dry than in keep¬ 
ing the cold from them. Nowhere is the 
dampness more apparent than in the small 
enclosed town garden in which at the same 
time the soil inclines to heaviness. These 
get water-logged, and water-logged they re¬ 
main for weeks, sometimes months, at this 
season. What is to be done? Well, there is 
nothing so beneficial as a free use of ashes 
round about plants that are inclined to rot 
off at the collar. One often hears of ashes as 
a protection against frost. I must say I look 
upon them as even more valuable to protect 
from damp. Then, again, if any planting is 
being done at this late season (as far too 
often it is), it is good to mix quite a consider¬ 
able supply of old mortar rubble with the 
soil, and even to plant on the slightest pos¬ 
sible mound. I have often done this when 
planting dwarf things in a damp, level bor¬ 
der, and always with success, for planted 
in this manner, a charming front-row edging 
of many interesting alpine .and other dwarf 
subjects can be grown without a single piece 
of rock. The secret of success, I am assured, 
lies quit© as much in the plentiful use of the 
bits of old mortar as in the slight elevation. 
I would add that the rubble about the size 
of filberts, with a sprinkling of larger or 
smaller pieces, is what should be used. 
Winter Attention. 
When a border has been dug and freshly 
planted during the autumn, it is quite neces¬ 
sary to go occasionally over the plants to see 
how they fare. The soil will have settled, 
the heavy rains will have washed^it from the 
plants, and in many instances these will have 
become thoroughly loosened and unsettled, 
and will need the soil to be firmly pressed 
about them again and again during the win¬ 
ter. I had this matter brought before me very 
forcibly yesterday. In early October I 
planted a dozen Or more' Linum alpinum ; 
they were seedling plants, and small at that. 
I was away from home for nearly eight weeks, 
and on my return immediately looked over 
the little plants. I knew by experience what 
difficult things they were to get established. 
Now, though I had gone so far as to press 
the soil hard down round them with the 
handle of the trowel at the time of planting, 
. I found many of them loose, and one or two 
had worked themselves entirely out of the 
soil. Without attention, there would not 
have been more than a plant or two to sur¬ 
vive until the spring ; but now, with the soil 
well pressed home and a generous supply of 
ashes about them, they will go on bravely, 
whatever weather may be in store for them. 
Ashes are especially valuable about plants 
where the soil has been lately dug. 
The Lawn. 
Many amateurs are continually complain¬ 
ing as to the condition of their lawns, and 
yet do little or nothing to improve them. 
They, are full of weeds, or even of liverwort, 
or they are mossy, and their owners covet, 
the velvety green swards of others. A small 
amount of attention goes a long way to betfer- 
ing this condition of a lawn. At the present 
time a top-dressing of “ lawn sand,” say to the 
extent of half a pound or less to the square 
yard, will work wonders, especially in rid¬ 
ding it of moss. Another method, and every 
whit as effectual, is to give a top-dressing of 
slaked lime, and over it to put a sprinkling 
of soil or soot to disguise its unsightliness. 
Top-dressings such as these are distinctly 
beneficial to the grass, though fatal to weeds 
and moss. It may generally be- taken for 
granted that where moss becomes very ram¬ 
pant the place is badly drained, and, if the 
whole can be taken up, the place properly 
drained, and the turf relaid, the better. The 
amateur need not think this an impossible 
task, and quite briefly and simply I am going 
to describe the work that even a busy worker 
could overtake during the winter season. 
Weedy Lawns. 
If the old turves are much infested with, 
weeds or moss, the best thing that can be done 
with them is to stack them neatly, and to 
allow them to become mould—they will make 
an excellent potting compost—and either new 
turves must be procured, or, when completed, 
the whole may be sown with grass seed, put¬ 
ting in t-lie seed about the end of March, as 
the season has now so far advanced. The old 
turves lifted, the whole site may be deeply 
dug, and, if moss has been the evil, the drain¬ 
ing operations must be effected. The addition 
of a proportion of fresh, good soil will be an 
advantage, and sufficient time must be 
allowed for settling. A firm, even bed must 
be made, and a heavy rammer and plenty of 
heavy rolling should be given for some weeks. 
When it comes, at last, to the laying of the 
turves, they should be laid with the greatest 
care, and all interstices should be filled up 
with as much soil as can be pressed into 
them, and again rolling and rolling con¬ 
tinually may afford the ardent amateur ex¬ 
cellent exercise for many weeks. The result 
should be a capital lawn, as level as a billiard 
table. One final word I would add : It is 
that, if seed is to be sown, then must there 
be for it a sufficient bed of good soil, and not 
only must the soil be good in itself, but it 
should be good to the depth of a foot at 
least. The lack of this depth of soil is the 
fruitful cause of a poor and unsatisfactory 
sward. A lawn is a thing of such permanence 
that it is worth giving it a fair start. 
Dracaena His Majesty. 
This is a comparatively new variety, and 
certainly one of the best lately introduced, 
being a vast improvement on the old Cooperi. 
The leaves are not so wide, but much longer 
and recurve in a similar manner to the one just 
mentioned. It makes a capital plant when 
nicely coloured for the dinner-table, and it 
colours quite in a small state. Now is a good 
time to cut up old leggy plants into pieces 
about one inch in length, and place in pots or 
pans of sandy soil, laying the pieces on the 
surface and covering with an inch of silver 
sand. Place in the Cucumber house, plunging 
in a bottom heat of 70 degs., and affording but 
little.water until the eyes are pushing through. 
J. M. B. 
Iris Foetidissima. —The flowers of the 
Gladwyn Iris are not particularly showy, but 
the orange-coloured seeds are highly orna¬ 
mental for mixing with bended plants and 
autumn-tinted foliage in floral decorations. 
