JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  15,  1390. 
]4S 
Caladiunos.  During  the  growing  season  a  warm  moist  atmosphere, 
a  little  bottom  heat,  and  judicious  shade  are  cultural  conditions  to 
be  aimed  at. 
Curculigo  recurvata  variegata  is  an  extremely  handsome 
plant,  not  nearly  so  widely  grown  as  it  should  be.  It  thrives  well 
in  either  peat  or  loam,  or  an  admixture  of  both.  With  good 
drainage  abundance  of  water  at  the  root  is  required,  or  the  leaves 
will  become  browned  at  the  edges.  Exactly  the  same  remarks 
apply  to  Cyperus  alternifolius  variegatus.  It  is  best  propagated 
from  tops  inserted  in  candy  soil  placed  in  pans.  When  these  tops 
are  rooted  they  should  be  potted  into  thumb  pots,  as  they  then 
form  beautiful  plants  for  dinner-table  decorations  or  arranging  in 
jardinettes.  Increased  in  this  way  the  young  plants  are  much  more 
elegant  in  growth  than  when  propagation  is  effected  by  division. 
Dieffenbachias,  when  well  grown,  are  always  admired,  as  their 
peculiarly  marked  leaves  have  an  unique  appearance,  and  are 
valuable  for  arranging  singly  in  large  vases,  when  their  beauty  can 
be  displayed  to  advantage.  Three  of  the  best  varieties  are 
magnifica,  nobilis,  and  regina.  They  require  similar  culture  to 
Caladiums. 
Ficus  elastica  albo-variegata  is  a  plant  which  has  been  much 
used  for  decorative  purposes  during  recent  yeais.  It  should  be 
potted  firmly  in  soil  consisting  principally  of  sandy  loam  ;  if  a 
rich  compost  is  used  it  often  loses  much  of  its  variegation.  Though 
classed  as  a  stove  plant,  its  true  character  is  best  brought  out  when 
grown  in  the  intermediate  house.  Fittonias  argyroneura  and 
Pearcei  ought  to  be  grown  in  every  plant  stove,  as  their  bright 
clearly  veined  leaves  are  much  sought  after  for  dinner-table 
decorations.  For  supplying  leaves  for  this  purpose  it  is  a  good 
plan  to  root  a  number  of  young  shoots  for  planting  in  balloon  or 
pyramidal-shaped  trellises.  These,  if  fixed  securely  to  large  pots, 
may  be  lined  with  moss  and  filled  in  with  peat.  The  rooted  shoots 
can  then  be  dibbled  in  evenly  over  the  surface  of  the  moss,  and 
when  they  have  grown  a  few  inches  pegged  to  it.  Cuttings  may 
also  be  inserted  in  pots  of  various  sizes  for  placing  around  the 
sides  of  stages.  When  these  have  produced  trailing  shoots  a  few 
inches  in  length  they  are  of  great  value  for  edging  groups  and 
large  vases. — Flantsman. 
(To  be  continued.) 
THE  EVILS  OF  OVERCROWDING. 
The  overcrowding  of  plants,  trees,  and  crops  is,  perhaps,  the 
greatest  and  most  common  of  all  the  mistakes  that  are  made  in  the 
routine  of  gardening.  The  evils  of  this  practice  are  manifold. 
They  involve  a  waste  of  seed  and  of  plants,  also  undue  impoverish- 
mani  of  the  soi>,  and  in  the  end  a  waste  of  labour,  for  when  a 
garden  is  suffered  to  become  overgrown  with  what  cannot  be  used 
a  much  greater  expenditure  of  time  is  requisite  to  render  it 
presentable  than  if  a  better  considered  and  more  intelligent  system 
of  culture  had  been  puisued. 
Most  persons  agree  that  masses  of  weeds  flowering  in  gardens 
do  not  betoken  good  management.  They  are  objectionable  in 
spoiling  the  appearance  of  a  garden,  bat  more  so  because  they  are 
robbers  extracting  the  virtues  from  the  soil  that  might  support 
useful  or  enjoyable  crops.  What  better  are  waste  crops  and  super¬ 
fluous  growths  than  weeds  ?  They  are  no  better,  but  are  equally 
robbers,  more  or  less  unsightly,  indicating  a  great  want  somewhere. 
There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  it  is  absolutely  impossible  to 
prevent  the  growth  of  weeds  in  many  gardens,  because  of  the 
great  extent  of  surface  and  the  limited  means  allowed  for  keeping 
it  in  order.  Under  such  circumstances  the  overcrowding  of  certain 
crops  is,  perhaps,  in  some  degree  inevitable.  But  admitting  this, 
it  must  be  said  that  in  cases  innumerable  it  is  preventible. 
A  great  want  amongst  gardeners  is  a  capacity  for  estimating 
correctly  what  is  required.  The  result  of  this  is  that  they  raise  far 
more  than  is  needed,  forgetting  that  this  surplus  is  waste  or  use¬ 
less,  and  as  exhausting  as  weeds.  They  make  work  for  themselves 
and  for  others  that  might  have  been  avoided.  They  fritter  their 
resources  over  too  wide  a  field,  and  attempt  what  they  cannot 
possibly  carry  out  well.  Things  are  started  that  cannot  be 
finished,  and  there  is  driving  and  confusion  and  overcrowding  all 
round. 
Another  want  is  a  lack  of  promptitude.  A  man  cogitates, 
wavers,  procrastinates  hour  after  hour  and  day  after  day  until  the 
moment  passes  when  he  can  act  effectively.  That  is  one  of  the  most 
fruitful  of  all  sources  of  overcrowding  in  gardens,  which  has  often 
such  unfortunate,  not  to  say  disastrous,  results.  There  is  a  time 
for  doing  work  the  most  quickly,  easily,  and  in  the  best  manner. 
Bet  that  time  pass,  and  obstacles  accumulate  with  increasing  force 
every  day.  This  applies  to  work  of  all  kinds — mowing,  weeding, 
hoeing,  planting,  thinning,  pruning,  watering,  potting— everything. 
Every  gardener  of  a  quarter  of  a  century’s  experience  knows  the 
truth  of  this.  Mow  the  lawn  to-day,  and  it  will  not  take  half  the 
doing  that  it  will  a  week  hence,  and  the  more  quickly  it  is  done  the 
better  will  be  its  appearance.  tSeo  that  tinge  of  green  on  land  and 
walks  —  myriads  of  weeds  just  showing  themselves.  They  are 
small  jet.  Let  them  alone  to-day,  to-morrow,  and  so  on  till 
the  rain  comes  and  continues.  What  then  ?  This  :  it  will  take  a 
week  to  remove  the  weeds  that  at  first  might  have  been  destroyed 
in  an  hour. 
Look  at  those  upspringing  crops  of  Carrots  and  Turnips  and 
Beet  ;  they  are  ten  times  too  thick — a  mistake  in  sowing — but  will 
stand  another  day,  and  another,  but  next  they  are  spoiling.  No 
time  spent  in  thinning  now  can  make  the  crops  so  good  as  if  the 
right  moment  had  been  seized,  while  at  least  thrice  the  time  must 
be  spent  in  the  work  that  would  have  sufficed  then.  And  what  are 
all  these  plants  doing.  Broccoli,  and  the  like,  tall  and  crowded  in 
the  seed  beds  ?  No  land  ready  ?  Then  the  seed  was  sown  too 
soon — a  fault  in  calculation. 
But  too  often  the  land  is  ready  and  the  opportunity  for  planting 
allowed  to  slip  by  when  weeks  of  dry  weather  follow,  and  what 
might  by  prompt  action  and  an  hour  or  two’s  brisk  work  have  been 
done  well  can  scarcely  be  done  at  all.  It  is  so  with  everything. 
Peas,  if  left  to  fall  over  in  the  rows  before  staking,  never  succeed 
well,  while  much  time  is  spent  in  putting  them  straight  that  would 
not  have  been  wasted  had  the  work  of  staking  been  done  promptly 
at  the  right  time.  Then  there  is  waste  of  material  in  the  vegetable 
quarters,  and  further  waste  of  time  in  putting  them  right.  AVhy 
are  those  headless  Cauliflowers  and  running  Lettuces  left  to 
luxuriate  ?  Could  not  the  plants  of  the  former  have  been  pulled 
up  or  used  instead  of  being  beheaded  ?  and  could  not  the  super¬ 
fluous  rows  of  the  latter  have  been  more  quickly  removed  in  a 
small  than  a  large  state,  and  the  fertility  of  the  soil  conserved 
instead  of  uselessly  abstracted  ’? 
Then  we  have  Vines  in  the  spring  and  fruit  trees  bristling  with 
growths.  They  are  allowed  to  extend  day  by  day,  while  eventually 
it  is  imperative  that  something  must  be  done.  An  hour  with  the 
finger  and  thumb  in  disbudding  promptly  would  have  saved  ten 
hours  of  pruning  long  delayed,  while  the  earlier  and  quicker  work 
is  infinitely  more  satisfactory  than  the  later  and  slower.  Half  an 
hour’s  finger-and-thumb  work  among  Vines,  Peaches — indeed,  all 
kinds  of  fruit  trees,  also  Melons,  Cucumbers,  and  Tomatoes — in 
preventing  overcrowding  is  immeasurably  more  efficacious  than  any 
amount  of  after  cutting.  By  the  first  process  an  evil  is  averted, 
by  the  last  it  is  incited,  and  a  remedy  must  of  necessity  be  sought 
which  in  itself  is  often,  when  roughly  and  hurriedly  applied,  almost 
as  bad  as  the  evil  it  is  intended  to  cure. 
It  is  little  short  of  deplorable  to  see  the  overcrowding  that  is 
permitted,  and  which,  by  foresight  and  promptitude,  might  have  been 
prevented  in  gardens.  A  few  extra  hours  in  early  morning  and  in 
the  cool  of  the  evening  at  a  critical  time  may  make  all  the  dif¬ 
ference  between  confidence  and  distrust,  comfort  and  disappoint¬ 
ment,  success  and  failure.  “  It  is  easy  to  preach,”  does  someone 
whisper?  “  but  what  about  practising  ?  ”  Just  this  :  it  is  only  by 
years  of  practice  that  the  truth  of  what  is  stated  has  been  proved. 
It  is  the  outcome  of  long  experience  ;  of  years  of  labour,  early 
and  late  ;  the  lesson  taught  by  many  a  struggle  and  many  a  failure, 
but  at  last  success. — A.  G. 
HAM  FINCHES. 
I  AM  very  much  indebted  to  Mr.  James  Hiam  for  his  highly 
interesting  notes  (page  80)  on  the  habits  of  hawfinches,  and  I  have 
no  doubt  that  the  information  he  gives  will  be  instructive  and  ap¬ 
preciated  by  many  readers  beside  myself.  Mr.  Hiam  suggests  that  the 
birds’  attack  on  our  Cherries  was  for  the  purpose  of  getting  the  seeds 
or  kernel,  which  I  should  think  very  protably  was  the  case  to  some 
extent,  but  they  evidently  were  not  disposed  to  waste  the  pulp  in 
getting  to  the  stone,  for  these  were  left  hanging  on  the  trees  after 
the  fruit  had  been  stripped  off  them.  Possibly  moisture,  or  the  lack 
of  it,  might  have  tempted  them  to  take  Cherries,  the  drought  at  the  time 
being  very  severe.  Perhaps,  too,  an  explanation  to  the  stones  being  left 
hanging  on  the  trees  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  birds  were  frequently 
disturbed  by  workmen  about  the  garden,  thereby  not  allowing  them 
sufficient  time  to  deal  with  the  pulp  and  stone.  Not  having  any 
suspicion  that  they  were  bent  on  taking  Cherry  stones,  their  mode  of 
attack  was  not  closely  scrutinised,  but  nets  at  once  put  on  to  prevent 
any  further  loss. 
Evidently  it  is  not  a  common  occurrence  for  hawfinches  to  attack 
such  fruits,  or  it  would  certainly  have  come  under  the  notice  of  such 
a  keen  observer  as  Mr.  Hiam  ;  but  should  the  opportunity  occur  again 
I  shall  certainly  endeavour  to  ascertain  whether  their  visits  are  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  stones,  seeds,  or  fruit.  With  us  bullfinches  have 
been  unusually  scarce  this  season.  As  a  rule  they  pay  us  visits  during 
July  to  take  the  ripening  Easpberries,  and  although  we  are  so  closely 
surrounded  by  woods  we  have  not  seen  one  this  summer,  and  only  one 
pair  during  the  winter  among  the  Gooseberry  bushes. 
I  should  certainly  think  the  writer  of  the  sentence  quoted  by 
