November  i),  lfc99. 
•JOURNAL  OP  BO RTlCtTL TORE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
397 
GARDENERS’  TALKS. 
Musing  over  many  things  in  the  quiet  evenings,  I  have  often 
thought  what  a  quantity  of  really  good  practical  ideas  are — well,  not 
lost  generall}',  as  1  was  going  to  write,  but  lost  to  the  very  people 
they  would  interest  and  benefit,  by  the  neglect  of  that  celebrated 
admonition  of  Captain  Cuttle  to  “  make  a  note  of  it.”  We  have,  let 
us  say,  a  cosy  chat  with  some  brother  gardener;  we  interchange  our 
ideas  about  the  multitude  of  things  — little  things  they  may  be — 
which  fill  our  minds  concerning  our  work.  And  how  we  can  talk  when 
we  get  on  these  subjects  !  In  this  talk  we  are  sensible,  on  both  sides, 
that  we  have  learnt  many  sound  truths;  these  truths  sink  into  our 
minds,  and  we  feel  that  we  can  never  forget  them,  but  that  they  will 
become  incorporated  in  our  everyday  duties  as  occasion  arises  to  put 
them  to  use.  All  this  is  good  and  profitable,  and  the  mental  discipline 
of  remembering  and  putting  the  ideas  in  order  for  future  use  will 
have  a  broadening,  steadying  influence  on  our  minds. 
Or,  say  again,  we  have  a  leisurely  saunter  with  our  brother  round 
his  place,  and  as  we  go  along  we  prattle  about  this  and  about  that, 
about  how  well  such  fruits  and  vegetables  and  flowers  do,  and  how  he 
has  lound  out  that  to  get  such  splendid  results  as  he  can  show,  he  has 
adopted  such  and  such  a  way  of  preparing  the  ground,  of  saving  the 
seed,  of  manuring,  training  the  plants,  and  all  the  rest. 
Here  let  me  emphasise  the  “  leisurely  saunter,”  because  it  is  only 
in  this  calm,  unhasty,  thoughtful,  contemplative  state  that  the 
receptive  faculties  can  have  fair  play,  and  be  able  to  take  in  the  time 
aud  scene  and  talk  to  be  an  after  benefit.  We  need  this  to  let  the 
surrounding  influences  soak  into  our  minds  and  make  their  impress  a 
lasting  one.  That  impetuous,  gasping,  “  having-to-catch-a-train  ” 
look  round  any  garden  is  utterly  worthless  in  an  educational  point  of 
view,  and  as  that  is  the  only  reason  for  justification  of  the  visit,  it  is 
time  and  money  thrown  away.  I  say,  to  my  young  friends  especially, 
keep  yourselves  from  this  style  of  visiting;  if  you  cannot  do  a  visit 
profitably  why  do  it  at  all  ? 
Another  thing  I  may  notice,  incidentally  to  my  junior  brethren, 
Avoid  as  much  as  you  can  that  very  demonstrative  display  of  note¬ 
taking  with  reporter's  notebook  and  pencil,  which  many  very  anxious, 
aspiring,  well-meaning  young  men  adopt.  It  looks  no  doubt  fine  and 
large  and  imposing,  as  if  we  were  Somebody  (with  a  large  S),  and  doing 
great  things,  whereas  we  ourselves  privately  know  we  are  not,  and  it 
does  not  deceive  the  old  hands  in  gardening  one  bit.  I  know  what  I 
am  speaking  about,  as  I  have  been  there,  and  I  am,  as  countiy  folks 
say,  onl}  “  messunn  a  peck  out  o’  my  own  seek.”  Have  a  small  note¬ 
book  handy  by  all  means,  just  to  put  down  particular  names  of  special 
plants,  addresses  of  people,  recipes,  and  other  items  of  positive  infor¬ 
mation  ;  but  strive  earnestly  to  quicken  your  powers  of  observation,  to 
be  able  to  photograph,  as  it  were,  on  your  mind  the  different  scenes 
and  conversations  at  the  time,  and  then,  to  make  everything  secure, 
when  you  get  home  write  it  all  out  in  your  commonplace  book  ;  it  will 
be  useful  in  many  ways  in  after  days.  1  am  quite  sure  that  the  Editor 
will  back  up  this  piece  of  advice,  ami,  as  1  happ.cn  to  know,  he  can 
assure  you,  from  h’s  own  experience,  that  there  is  “something  in  it.” 
I  was  myself  much  impressed  on  this  point  by  what  was  said  by 
the  biographer  of  the  first  and  great  Thomas  Brassey,  the  contractor, 
He  said  Mr.  Brassey  never  made  a  note  about  any  of  his  great  works, 
but  that  he  had  so  educat(d  his  powers  of  observation,  and  so 
quickened  bis  mental  perceptions,  that  as  he  passed  along  overlooking 
his  men  he  would  note  the  work  being  done,  rightly  or  wrongly,  take 
in  the  situation,  make  a  brief  comment  at  the  time,  and,  at  the  end  of 
the  day  or  visit,  d'seuss  with  his  foremen  and  managers  the  whole 
situation.  This  is  the  sort  of  note-taking  I  earnestly  press  upon  my 
youuger  brethren,  and  I  may  say  that  the  late  Shirley  llibberd  told 
me,  in  an  interview  I  once  had  with  him,  that  this  was  his  invariable 
rule.  He  would  visit  a  place,  or  attend  a  meeting,  without  making  a 
note  in  writing,  and  then  come  home  and  write  it  all  out. 
Well,  my  first  “  talk  ”  was  on  this  wise.  I  was  walking,  at  the 
end  of  summer,  with  an  old  friend  round  his  place,  the  garden  of  a 
nobleman  of  our  county.  Though  a  nobleman  his  means  would  not 
permit  of  any  very  lavish  expenditure,  and  therefore  his  gardener — an 
old  family  servant — devoted  himself  to  working  the  garden  as 
economically  as  possible.  He  worked  himself  with  both  hands  and 
brain.  In  our  walk  we  can  e  upon  as  fine  a  bed  of  Vegetable  Marrows 
as  it  had  ever  beeu  my  lot  to  see.  I  said,  “  What  a  splendid  bed  of 
Marrows  you  have  !  ”  “  Yes,”  he  replied  ;  “  but  you  have  not  seen  all, 
come  closer.”  I  did  so,  apd  the  whole  bed  was  filled  in  patches  with 
fine  fat,  white-topped  Mushrooms.  I  said,  “Splendid  !  How  do  you 
get  these  results  together — a  tine  crop  of  Marrows  and  an  equally  fine 
crop  of  Mushrooms  ?  ”  “  Well,”  he  said,  “you  see  it  is  in  this  way.  I 
want  Marrows  and  I  want  Mushrooms,  and  I  want  a  bed  to  plant  every 
year  with  two  or  three-year-old  Asparagus  plants,  so  as  to  keep  tip 
my  plot  of  Asparagus,  as  I  take  up  one  bed  every  year  for  forcing 
purposes,  and  therefore  I  have  to  plant  a  fresh  bed  each  season.  You 
koow,  also,  that  though  my  soil  is  good,  it  is  rather  shallow ;  that  is, 
I  am  soon  on  the  gravel,  and  so  every  spring  I  get  out  a  4  feet  bed, 
say  2  feet  6  to  a  yard  deep.  I  put  in  the  bottom  of  it  all  the  Broccoli 
and  Cabbage  stumps,  sweepings  of  leaves  and  other  garden  “rumiuel  ” 
until  1  am  about  6  or  9  inches  from  the  ground  level ;  then  I  put  in 
littery  manure  from  the  stables  with  all  the  horse  droppings  in  it  and 
tread  it  all  well  down,  afterwards  returning  the  soil  and  leaving  it  on 
a  ridge  all  down  the  centre.  Here  it  stands  to  sweeten  until  the 
Marrow  plants  are  ready  to  go  out  in  the  last  week  in  May  or  first 
week  in  June,  as  the  season  is.  I  level  down  the  ridge  a  bit  and  put 
the  plants  out,  then  I  break  up  a  few  bricks  of  Mushroom  spawn  and 
put  them  all  over  and  wait  developments,  with  on  the  average  as  good 
results  as  you  see  now.  I  admit  I  do  not  always  get  the  same  satis¬ 
fying  results  with  Mushrooms,  because,  as  you  know  ” — and  here  a 
curious  twinkle  came  into  his  eyes  and  a  smile  over  his  face — “Mush¬ 
rooms  are  like  women,  a  bit  flighty.” 
Here  it  may  be  interpolated,  my  friend  is  not  a  bachelor,  but  one 
of  the  happiest  married  men  in  the  world.  It  only  appears  that  the 
best  of  us  like  to  poke  a  bit  of  fun  at  our  womenkind,  and  (happy 
thought !)  they  understand  and  enjoy  it. 
“Next  spring,  then,  you  see  I  plant  my  Asparagus,  and  so  I  go  on  ; 
it  ’ll  do,  won’t  it  ?  ”  said  he,  and  I  admitted  it  would,  and  that  is  my 
first  gardener’s  talk. 
My  second  is,  A  Grape-growing  neighbour  and  I  were  talking  of 
what  a  few  wasps  we  had  been  troubled  with  this  this  year,  and  he 
said,  “  But  then  you  need  not  fear  wasps  to  your  Grapes  if  you’ll 
grow  Tomatoes  in  your  vineries.”  I  said,  “  How  do  you  make  that 
out  ?  ”  “  Well,  he  said,  “  last  year  we  had  a  wasps’  nest  in  a  hole 
in  the  wall  at  the  top  end  of  our  vinery,  just  outside  the  lights.  I 
could  not  cover  the  places  where  I  gave  air  very  well,  and  I  said  to 
my  man,  Dick,  ‘  We’re  in  for  it  with  wasps  this  year,’  and  pointed  to 
the  nest  hole,  and  the  active  wasps,  ‘what  are  we  to  do?’  ‘We 
must  watch  it  and  see,’  said  Dick,  and,  strange  to  say,  though  a  few 
wasps  came  into  the  vinery,  and  the  Grapes  were  quite  ripe,  no 
damage  was  done ;  they  seemed  to  buzz  about  in  a  disturbed  state, 
and  then  get  out  of  the  place  as  quick  as  they  could.  I  said  to 
myself,  it’s  the  Tomatoes,  for  we  had  them  growing  in  every  part  of 
the  vinery  we  could  find  room  for  a  plant,  and  do  you  know,  I  am 
sure  of  fit;  what  do  you  think  ?  ’  I  could  not  say  anything,  I  had 
no  experience,  and  I  give  this  talk  so  that  others  may  either  agree  or 
disagree  with  my  neighbour’s  conclusion.  If  Tomatoes  will  do  this, 
(hey  add  another  attraction  to  their  many  other  merits  and  good 
qualities.  The  question  is,  Is  it  so  ?  or  is  this  particular  gardener’s 
experience  only  “gardeners’  talk.”-  -Dislky. 
[As  to  the  note-taking,  “  yes;  ”  thire  are  bookfuls  of  notes  unused, 
while  the  memory  is  not  strengthened  by  excessive  indulgence  in  the 
practice.  As  to  Tomatoes  being  scare-wasps,  some  gardeners  say 
“Yes,”  and  others  say  “No,”  which  suggests  differences  either  in 
wasps,  Tomatoes,  or  gardeners.  Mrs.  Disley  can  get  tli6  pen  and  ink 
ready  again  when  she  wishes  for  a  quiet  evening  hour  by  her  ain 
fireside.] 
ASPARAGUS  VERTICILLATUS. 
Although  by  no  means  a  new  plant,  specimens  of  this  Asiatic 
species  are  rarely  seen  in  gardens.  In  several  continental  catalogues 
seeds  are  advertised  under  this  name,  but  it  is  rarely  that  seeds  of  the 
true  plant  can  be  met  with,  as  many  of  these  turn  out  to  be 
some  other  species,  usually  one  of  the  least  ornamental.  Where  the 
true  plant  is  in  cultivation  it  wins  favour  from  all  who  see  it,  as  it 
makes  a  very  handsome  specimen,  and  readily  adapts  itself  to  almost 
any  place  or  condition.  In  the  more  favoured  counties  it  can  be  grown 
outside,  but  in  most  places  the  shelter  of  a  cool  greenhouse  is 
necessary. 
To  most  of  the  other  species  it  makes  a  striking  contrast,  for, 
whilst  nearly  all  have  light  green  foliage  and  rather  insignificant 
flowers,  this  has  leaves  of  the  deepest  holly  green  and  pure  white 
blossoms  a  quarter  of  an  inch  across.  The  flowers  are  produced  during 
late  autumn  in  profusion,  and  look  charming  dotted  about  on  the 
shnder,  graceful  branches  among  the  dark  foliage.  It  can  be  grown 
under  various  methods,  as  a  pot  plant  trained  on  a  balloon,  as  a  border 
plant  trained  on  a  triangle  of  rough  posts,  or  as  a  pillar  plant.  Either 
of  the  two  last  methods  give  it  a  more  natural  appearance,  and  are 
preferable  to  the  former ;  but  where  space  is  limited,  by  careful  training 
nice  plants  can  be  had  under  the  first-named  method. 
When  planted  out  plenty  of  space  should  be  given,  as  it  grows 
very  quickly,  making  shoots  15  feet  or  more  in  length,  and  as  thick  as 
a  lead  pencil  in  a  single  season.  Whichever  way  it  is  grown  rich  soil 
should  be  given,  as,  like  most  of  the  other  species,  it  is  a  gross 
feeder. — W. 
