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MARCH. 73 
Ktna (Turner), Empress Eugenie (Story), *Euphemia (Hoyle), Flora 
(Foster), Festus (Hoyle), Fairest of the Fair (Beck), Golden Hue 
(Foster), Glow-worm (Foster), Hesperus (Beck), * Lord Clyde (Foster), 
Mars (Beck), Hyperion (Dobson), Prince of Wales (Hoyle), Rosalie 
(Dobson), Koseleaf (Dobson), Rose Celestial (Turner), Sir C. Campbell 
(Turner), Sappho (Beck), Sunset (Beck), Symmetry (Foster), The 
Bride (Beck), The Belle (Turner), Unique (Foster), and Vestal (Beck). 
The following are the best selection of the spotted varieties, most of 
which are very large and strong, and all of them raised by Mr. Turner, 
of Slough:—King of Purples, Mammoth, Magpie, Bracelet, Mr. 
Marnock, Beadsman, Excelsior, Jung Bahadoor, Peacock, Guido, 
Mazeppa, and Sanspareil. There are a few Pelargoniums that will 
bloom early in April with the assistance of a little firing, viz. :—Bride 
(very good), Larkfield Rival, Fairest of the Fair, Desdemona, Rose 
Celestial, and Fair Ellen. And now cannot the Fancy Pelargonium 
raisers furnish us with information like the above ? 
Joun WIGGINS, 
Gardener to Mr. EF. Beck, Worton Cottage, Isleworth, W. 
ARE WE RIGHT IN MAKING OUR FRUIT-TREE 
BORDERS POROUS? 
THIs question was put at page 97 of your volume for 1858, and I was 
compelled to forego noticing it at the time ; other circumstances have, 
however, occurred since then to enable me to more fully endorse all that 
the writer there advanced. This is a subject that has for.a long time been 
under my notice, and I am only sorry that some of my brother gardeners 
have not taken up the matter, and recorded their opinions and experience 
upon it. But to the point. I will first of all record what circumstance 
first led me to suppose ‘‘all was not gospel that was preached” upon 
this vital point of fruit-tree border management. I was brought up in 
Suffolk, under one of the ‘old school,’’ whose yearly crops I never yet 
saw surpassed, either in-doors or out; and as to his wall of Peaches 
and Nectarines, why they were worth a day’s journey to see, and what 
is more, I never knew them to have the slightest protection or covering 
of any kind; a space of about eight feet was allowed from the walls as 
a border for the trees to grow in, and over this space was a constant 
traffic to and fro for pedestrians, and even carts were taken over it, till 
the surface had become as hard as a common road. I well remember 
‘the old gentleman’s remark to me, when one day, after reading some ob- 
servations upon the policy of having fruit-tree borders open and porous, 
from one of the leading magazines of that day, I took upon me to hint 
that, from what I could gather from the books I had perused, he was not 
quite right in the management of his border: ‘‘ Ah, my boy,” said he, 
«don’t you pay heed to all the new-fangled schemes that you hear of, 
but use your eyes and brains, and draw your opinions from what you 
see passing around you. Make nature your principal study, and gather 
