560 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  'AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER 
December  17,  1903. 
In  sending:  my  contribution  on  National  Economics,  I  depre¬ 
cated  alterations.  Yon  liave  confused  tlie  issues  in  relation  to 
the  1.000  and  30,000  acres.  No  young  fruit  trees  should  ever  be 
planted  in  place  of  old  ones,  nothing  short  of  fresh  acreages  con¬ 
verted  from  arable  or  grass  will  suffice.  Your  editorial  inter¬ 
jection  as  to  Nature  Study  being  taught  liberallv  in  Germany  is  not 
to  the  point.  I  do  not  aim  at  conventionalism  merely,  but  let 
the  young  begin  to  learn  to  know  their  environment  from  a 
couple  of  years  before  that  other  strait-waistcoat — the  three  R’s — 
are  applied.  These  would  be  assimilated  as  in  play  after  the 
preparation  of  their  minds.  In  these  lines  I  prophesy,  Huxley’s 
lines  are  my  lines. — H.  H.  Rasc’hen. 
County  Council  Instructors  in  Horticulture. 
I  see  by  last  week’s  Journal  that  ihe  list  of  the  counties  in 
Ireland  that  liave  instructors  is  not  complete,  as  Kildare  and  one 
or  two  other  counties  have  them.  The  Kildare  Agricultural 
Committee  was  the  first  in  Ireland  to  appoint  an  instructor  (De¬ 
cember,  1901).  Last  year  there  were  five  demonstration  gardens  in 
different  parts  of  county  Kildare,  to  show  the  best  methods  of 
vegetable  and  fruit  growing,  and  these  worked  so  well  that  all 
the  counties  having  instructors  have  such  plots  this  jmar.  Again, 
last  year  the  Kildare  committee  bought  fruit  and  other  trees  in 
large  quantities,  to  dispose  of  to  persons  in  the  county  at  cost  price. 
This,  again,  has  been  taken  up  by  other  counties  this  year.  The 
('ounty  instructors  show  the  people  the  proper  methods  of  plant¬ 
ing  and  pruning,  and  suggest  the  best  varieties  of  fruits  to  grow. 
During  the  winter  (from  October  to  March)  lectures  are  held  on 
five  evenings  each  week,  in  national  schools  and  other  places, 
on  fruit  and  vegetable  growing,  the  attendance  averaging  about 
100  at  each  meeting.  Prizes  are  offered  to  the  value  of  £126  for 
the  best  kept  cottages  and  gardens  in  the  county  in  1904  by  the 
Committee  of  Acriculture.  Prizes  have  also  been  given  for' the 
past  two  years.  There  are  also  in  the  county  thre^  cottage  garden 
societies  holding  shows  about  the  month  of  July  each  year,  for 
vegetables,  _  fruits,  flowers,  poultry,  butter,  eggs,  and  cottage 
industries,  in  Naas,  Athy  and  Celbridge, — Hortus.,  Co.  Kildare. 
Making  a  Garden. 
There  is  much  that  is  interesting  in  Mr.  W.  Rowles’s  remarks 
on  “  Making  a  Garden  ”  in  your  recent  issues,  but,  as  one  of  the 
young  men,  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  too  much  importance 
should  not  be  given  to  garden  plans.  True,  when  a  garden  is 
already  made,  a  considerable  amount  of  interest  can  be  obtained 
from  drawing  a  plan  of  it,  but  the  custom  of  drawing  designs  of 
proposed  gardeirs  are,  to  my  mind,  not  wholly  satisfactory. 
There  are  many  who  make  a  living  at  gai’den  design  draAving, 
chiefly  ladies,  and  some  of  their  works  are  utterly  ridiculous, 
although  looking  pretty  on  paper.  Moreover,  many  experts 
admit  that  it  is  folly  tO'  depend  entirely  on  designs  Avhen  making 
a  garden,  as  many  things  are  bound  to  crop  up  Avhich  the 
designer  cannot  have  foreseen.  To  my  mind,  a  man  Avho  has  no 
artistic  taste  cannot  hope  to  make  a  really  pretty  garden,  plan 
or  no  plan,  Avhilst  to  insist  that  all  persons  can  draAv  one  is  quite 
fallacious.  Draughtsmanship  is  inborn ;  teaching  and  practice 
only  improve,  and  bring  out  the  latent  instinct.  Were  it  not 
so  Ave  might  all  be  a  Seymour  Lucas,  or  some  other  great  artist. 
Being  noAv  employed,  together  Avith  an  expert,  in  reconstruct¬ 
ing  a  crude  and  badly  designed  garden  of  some  age,  I  may  say 
that  not  a  single  item  has  been  put  upon  paper.  Our  sj^stem  is 
siinply  to  take  a  general  aspect  of  each  point,  and  conjure  up  a 
vision  of  Avhat  the  effect  Avould  be  Avere  certain  trees  taken  away 
or  a  hedge  demolished,  and  a  shubbery,  borders,  or  banks,  <fec., 
put  in  their  places.  Having  got  the  idea,  Ave  tackle  the  Avork 
personally,  for  aao  are  our  OAvn  Avorkmen,  and  as  each  item  is 
completed  another  idea  crops  up.  Under  this  system  a  portion 
of  a  large  laAA  ii  has  been  seized  and  converted  into  a  shrubbery  ; 
a  forest  of  Birch,  Elders  and  Imurels,  xinder  a  huge  Poplar,  has 
become  a  little  Avild  gai’den,  enclosed  bj’  rustic  fences.  A  piece 
cf  sloping  ground  has  become  a  sunken  bed,  the  earth  taken 
cut  being  used  for  making  up  high  banks  fronted  by  stones.  A 
dirty,  Aveed-groAvn  puddle,  hedged  in  by  rubbishy,  neglected 
trees,  is  already  becoming  an  ornamental  pond  AA’ith  slightly 
sloping  banks,  AA’hich  Avill  be  filled  Avith  plants  that  Avill  flourish 
under  the  huge  trees  overhanging  them.  By  our  united  efforts 
it  Avill  take  three  or  four  years  to  complete  the  Avhole  alterations 
thought  of,  but  paper  gardening  is  not  resorted  to  until  each 
section  is  complete,  and  then  each  border,  Ac.,  is  sketched  out 
and  the  various  plants  marked  off  in  detail,  so  that  should  a 
label  get  astray  Ave  know  exactly  AA'here  to  look  for  the  name. 
— CTpid. 
["We  should  be  exceedingly  sorry  if  Mr.  RoAvles’s  admirable  in¬ 
structions  and  advice  Avere  to  be  left  unheeded,  on  the 
grounds  that  alterations  can  bo  successfully  completed  Avithout 
the  aid  of  draAvn  plans.  The  case  cited  by  “  Cupid  ”  may  AVork 
ccnAmniently  Avell  Avhere  the  operations  are  not  undertaken  by 
contract,  but  on  large  estates  it  is  imperatively  necessary  to 
lay  the  plan  primarily  upon  paper,  to  a  scale,  as  Avith 
estimates. — En.] 
Red  Spider. 
Like  your  correspondent,  on  page  535,  I,  too,  have  something 
to  add  respecting  the  behaAuour  of  XL  All  as  a  Vine  fumigator. 
This  autumn,  spider  insinuated  itself  in  our  late  vinerjn  As 
the  fruit  Avas  all  but  ripe,  the  application  of  AAater  in  any  form 
AA’as  not  advisable.  Thinking  that,  on  account  of  the  advanced 
state  of  the  foliage,  any  danger  Avould  be  trifling,  I  essayed  to 
try  a  dose  of  XL  All.  The  vinery  Avas  planted  AA’ith  Muscats, 
Colmaiis,  and  Alicantes.  To  be  on  the  safe  side,  I  only  applied  a 
little  more  than  half  quantity,  on -the  assumption  that  if  it  did 
not  cure,  it  would  do  no  harm.  I  Avas  fully  aAvare  of  the  sensitive, 
nature  of  Muscat  foliage  to  the  fumes  of  nicotine,  but  buoyed  up 
by  the  belief  that  the  coriaceous  texture  Avhich  it  noAv  possessed 
Avould  make  it  immune,  I  Avas  perfectly  fearless  of  damage.  That 
the  fumes  Avonld  attack  the  'stout  foliage  of  the  Gros  Colmans 
never  entered  into  my  calculations  at  all. 
-  Tavo  days  aftei’Avards,  imagine  my  horror  to  find  the  leaves 
of  the  Colmans  beginning  to  curl  up  round  the  margins.  Next 
day  the  Muscats  began  to  givm  unmistakeable  CAudence  also  of 
disaster,  and  in  about  ten  or  tweKe  days,  one  Avould  think  that 
vinery  Avas  scorched  Avith  the  sun  or  noisoned  by  sulphurous  gas. 
I  lost  at  least  a  fourth  part  of  the  foliage,  and  Avere  it  not  that 
the  Vines  Avere  in  a  vigorous  condition,  and  that  I  alloAved  every 
particle  of  lateral  groAvth  to  remain  attached,  I  Avould  not  chance 
very  much  on  the  value  of  next  year’s  crop. 
The  same  means  saAmd  the  growing  crop,  and  with  the  exception 
of  a  little  had  colouring  in  the  Colmans,  AA’hich,  perhaps,  Avas  duo 
to  a  Avet  season  as  much  as  to  the  little  disaster,  there  was  not- 
much  to  complain  of,  after  all.  Still  there  Avas  a  decided  dis¬ 
turbance  of  the  natural  health  of  the  plants,  and  though  not  very 
apparent,  may,  hoAvever,  show  itself  in  some  form  next  year. 
HoAvever,  I  am  sincerely  thankful  that  it  was  not  Avorse,  as  it 
might  have  been.  In  its  proper  sphere  XL  All  is  a  very  A’alu able 
gardener’s  friend,  hoAvever.  The  spiders  in  the  above  instance 
did  not  appear  to  have  been  the  least  inconvenienced. — 
Hoeti. 
P.S. — XL  All  must  be  used  Avith  caution  in  the  early  Peach 
liouse. 
The  Uncut  R.H.S.  “Journal.” 
Kindly  alloAv  still  another  “Scottish  FelloAV  ”  to  add  his 
grumble  anent  the  uncut  edges  of  the  splendid  “  Journal  ”  of  tho 
R.H.S.  With  every  Avord  in  favour  of  the  cut  edges  said  by  your 
other  correspondents  I  emphatically  concur,  even  at  the  risk  of 
.being  considered  “  a  barbarian.”  There'are  many  of  us  avIio  have 
little  spare  time,  and  Avho  take  no  delight  in  cutting  the  pages 
of  a  book,  thus  taking  up  the  time  Avhich  Avould  be  better  deA’oted 
to  reading  the  valuable  fare  provided  Avithin.  I  hope  the  poAvers 
that  be,  Avill  take  intO'  consideration  the  suggestion  made,  and 
that  they  Avill  supply  those  Avho  Avish  the  “Journal”  Avith  its 
pages  cut  Avith  copies  in  that  form.  The  concession  Avould  be  a 
been  to  many,  and  among  them  to — Another  Scottish  Felloav. 
I  cannot  resist  supporting  the  plea,  of  “  Chelsonian,”  page  510, 
regarding  the  uncut  pages  of  the  “  R.H.S.  Journal.”  The  contents 
are  for  the  greater  part  most  valuable,  and  are  intended  for  the 
perusal  and  edification  of  the  FelloAvs  of  the  Society.  There  are 
many,  I  am  aAvare,  Avho  Avould  Avelcome  its  arriA’al  Avith  infinitely 
more  pleasure  if  they  could  open  its  pages  at  once  and  diA’e  into 
it :  but  are  obliged,  through  lack  of  time,  to  delav  it  on  account 
of  the  pages  being  uncut.  The  “  Journal  ”  is  then  often  cast  on  one 
side  until  a  convenient  time,  Avhich  very  often  means  Aveeks,  or 
not  at  all.  One  can  scarcely  see  that  it  Avould  add  but  little  to 
the  expense  if  it  Avas  done  before  it  left  the  printer’s  hands.  It 
Avould  be  a  boon  to  many  besides — A  Southern  Felloav. 
I  am  glad  to.  s:eG  the  references  to  the  trouble  of  having  to 
cut  the  multitudinous  pages  of  the  “Journal  of  the  Royal  Horti¬ 
cultural  Society.”  I'o  a  busy  revieAver  this  is  a  perfect  nuisance, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  prevents  many  notices  of  articles 
that  AAould  be  given  if  the  nublicaticii  could  be  glanced  through 
Avithout  spending  a  A’aluable  half-hour  in  cutting  it.  For  my 
OAvn  part,  I  cut  the  Journal  only  Avhere  -some  heading  attracts 
me,  and  probably  the  great  majority  of  the  readers  do  the  sasne. 
