2 g6 
THE GARDENING WORLD , 
April 27, 1907. 
period of summer a fair amount of ven¬ 
tilation will be advantageous both top and 
bottom, while a little will be highly bene¬ 
ficial to the plants even at night. 
D. W. 
-- 
Choosing 
a Site 
For the Vegetable 
and Fruit Garden. 
What the object was centuries ago of 
building the mansions in the valleys of an 
estate 1 cannot think, except that it was 
to hide them from view. Worse still, we 
often find the fruit and vegetable gardens 
laid out in similar situations, so that 
neither soil, subsoil or aspect had been 
considered is evident. But now in these 
modern times where fresh air and land¬ 
scape views are more fully appreciated 
higher situations are usually chosen for 
the mansion, while we also find more care 
and consideration bestowed on the sites 
selected for the fruit and vegetable 
gardens. 
The Soil and Drainage. 
In selecting a site, soil, subsoil, and 
aspect and a convenient distance from the 
mansion should be considered ; also shelter 
and water supply. The situation should, 
if possible, be slightly undulating and 
facing some point between west and east. 
In dry districts, or where the subsoil is 
of a gravelly nature, it would be better if 
the ground were nearly flat, providing effi¬ 
cient drainage could be secured without 
going very deep at any point. The 
character of the soil should be considered 
as to the depth and quality of the top spit 
and also the nature of the subsoil, the 
amount of artificial drainage necessary 
depending on the porosity of the soil 
beneath the surface. In some cases it may 
only be necessary to drain the walks. 
Land of a retentive clayey nature may 
require draining throughout, or in dis¬ 
tricts where the rainfall is heavy in order 
to remove the superabundant moisture 
that would otherwise collect. 
Shelter. 
This is an important matter for con¬ 
sideration in connection with the fruit and 
vegetable garden. The most destructive 
winds are those from the north-west, north¬ 
east and east. If natural shelter from 
these quarters can be secured so much 
the better, otherwise a screen must be pre¬ 
pared by forming a plantation of quick¬ 
growing trees, such as Poplars, Larches, 
Elms, etc., or those that are known to 
succeed best in the locality. These 
screens should be about 20 or 30 yards 
from the garden boundarv. 
Water Supply. 
If this can be procured from a stream 
or open reservoir exposed to sun and air 
it will be found to be warmer, softer and 
better than that drawn from a well or 
spring. If a natural source higher than 
the garden is not available, then the 
method may be employed of pumping by 
gas or oil engine or hydraulic rams, into 
large tanks high enough to supply any 
part of the garden. ' 
Boundary Walls. 
When the form and size of the garden 
has been decided upon the ground should 
be surrounded by a wall of brick if pos¬ 
sible, with a good foundation ; see well to 
the damp course, for if the latter be 
neglected the damp arising from the 
ground, together with the frost, will soon 
sholw their destructive powers. This wall 
should, if expense be no object, be carried 
to a height of 12 feet with a good coping 
placed on the top. Wires are now 
stretched along for the training of fruit 
trees, etc. Walls of this height have many 
advantages; they afford shelter to early 
and late borders’, and fruit trees trained 
along them develop better. If possible 
both sides of the wall should be utilised 
for the growing of fruit. 
Middlese'x. H. Ross. 
-- 
Violets. 
and 
Their Culture. 
Violets! The very name seems to bring 
with it a sweet perfume, and what more 
delicious fragrance than from a bunch of 
English violets? Yet they are little grown 
by amateurs, and generally very badly, 
being left in some neglected corner year 
after year, where they gradually become a 
crowded mass, with little or no blooms. 
Their cultivation is really quite simple, 
and with a little trouble, good results can 
be obtained. 
The best position to grow them in is an 
open one, where they have a full supply of 
light, air and sunshine. The ground 
should be prepared some months before 
being needed, when it should be 
deeply dug and well manured, arid 
then left to the action of the weather 
to do its work on it, when as early in April 
as the weather permits, it should be forked 
lightly over, and the planting be begun, 
having procured well rooted runners or 
single crowns from some good nursery, 
where one can be sure to start with they 
will be quite healthy and free from red 
spider, which is their chief enemy. They 
should be planted in beds, in lines 1 ft. 
apart, and 12 ins. from plant to plant, 
firmly and yet not too deeply; and if it 
•shoiuld 'be real April weather, with its 
gentle showers, they will soon establish 
themselves and do well. 
Their chief cultivation is in the pinching 
off of all runners directlv they appear and 
all dead leaves, and also keeping the soil 
free from weeds and stirring it by frequent 
hoeing. Then as each spring comes round 
new beds should be made by taking up the 
old plants, dividing them, and planting 
afresh the best of the crowns and runners. 
Towards the end of May a mulching of 
manure should be given, and during very 
hot weather they should be sprayed with 
water night and morning. By September 
they will be ready to be lifted to their 
winter quarters, a cold frame, situated in 
a sunny sheltered position. The bed 
should consist of a good loamy soil, with 
plenty of well-decayed leaf-moluld, but no 
manure, and must be well drained, and of 
such a height that the plants will not be 
far from the glass. They should be 
planted not too closely, and lifted from 
the ground with a good ball of soil, and 
afterwards watered and kept rather close 
for a few days, till well established, when 
as much air should be admitted regularly 
as possible. During severe frosts the lights 
at night should be covered by mats, and 
should not be taken off in the day time till 
the frost is quite thawed, when no harm 
should come to the plants. 
Amongst the 'best single Violets are 
Princess of Wales, very large and fra¬ 
grant, a lovely shade of blue-violet, La 
France, Kaiser Wilhelm, Amiral Avellan, 
purplish-red, and the best single white one 
White Czar. The finest double ones are 
Comte de Brazza, best double white, and 
Marie Louise, a rich deep blue, very free 
and a great favourite, but now being 
rather eclipsed by a new one, Mrs. Arthur, 
a rather darker blue. 
Sussex. G. B. Glanville. 
How to Obtain the Highest 
Results in the Garden. 
The development of all plants depends 
upon the amount and quality of the food 
they obtain from the soil. In many cases 
the soil is deficient in one or the other of 
the essential elements of Plant Life. 
FERTILO supplies that deficiency. It 
imparts to the soil those exact properties 
on which the plant thrives and acting as a 
Fertilizer through the soil it strengthens 
and develops all plants. Note its inex¬ 
pensiveness : 41b., 1/4 ; 71b., 2/-; 141b., 3/- - 
281b., 4/6; 561b., 8/-; icwt., 15/-, all car; 
riage paid. Useful Pocket Diary, free.— 
J. P. Harvey & Co., Dept. 6, Kidderminster. 
This Insurance is not confined to Railway 
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Passenger Vehicle Accidents. 
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Limited, will pay to the legal representative 
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Address.... . 
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