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 'GLENN Y'S. MANUAL 
 
 OP 
 
 '''^^ 
 
 PRACTICAL GARDENlisTG; 
 
 r 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 PLAIN AND AMPLE INSTRUCTIONS 
 FOR EVERY OPERATION CONNECTED WITH THE CULTURE 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
 
 BY GEORGE GLENNY, F.H.S.^ \'V 
 
 "* EDITOB OF THE " GABDENEE'S GAZETTE," AUTHOR OF "THE PEOPEETIES OF FLOWERS AX«> 
 PLANTS," "THE HAKDY BOOK ON GABDENING," " GLE>'iri''S CULTTJRE OF FLOWERS.- 
 'GLENJfY'S CULTURE OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES," *' GLEKNY'S GAEDEKEE'S 
 EVEBT-DAY BOOK," ETC. ETC. , 
 
 LONDON: 
 HOULSTON AND WRIGHT, 
 
 65. PATERNOSTER ROW. j , 
 
 1868.
 
 R. CUv, Son, and Taylor, Printerf, 
 Bread Street Hill, London.
 
 Q=>6%o^ 
 
 a^t 
 
 \r\ 
 
 P R E P A C E. 
 
 The success whicli has distinguished the "Hand-Book to 
 the Flower-Garden and Greenhouse," and the " Hand-Book 
 to the Kitchen-Garden and Orchard," both of which are being 
 revised for further editions, suggested the propriety of providing 
 a Manual of Practical Gardening, comprising plain instructions 
 for all the operations necessary in the culture of the ground, 
 commencing with draining, digging, and trenching, and going 
 through all the branches and departments of the art or 
 profession. Not that there was any scarcity of books on the 
 subject, but that the books we possessed already were not 
 plainly written, — that they were adapted for the reading of 
 those who knew a good deal already, instead of being written 
 down to the understandings of the million. 
 
 The intention of the following pages is, that they should 
 convey to all classes, in language they can understand, the 
 most simple method of accomplishing any task in gardening, 
 pruning, grafting, budding, propagating, sowing, planting, 
 training, &c. ; in short, every operation that is performed is 
 explained so as to instruct the tyro who has to begin to learn. 
 "We have, perhaps, been prolix in some things, but we have 
 determined to be understood by persons who have never held 
 a spade. How far we have succeeded will be seen on a careftd 
 
 a2 
 
 S lO^
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 perusal ; and we are not without hope that there is something 
 to be learned even by the professed gardener. In this work, 
 as ia others that have been successful beyond our expectations, 
 we have confined our instructions to what we have practised. 
 We have ventured no speculative theories, we have borrowed 
 nothing from others ; we have succeeded in the cultivation of 
 nearly every tribe of plants in British gardens, and we have 
 recommended throughout this little book precisely what we 
 have ourselves practised. The laying out of gardens forms an 
 important feature, and landscape gardening, reduced almost to 
 rules which everyone can understand, occupies a considerable 
 portion. We have endeavoured to condense the matter as 
 much as possible, to give full effect to the instructions; — there 
 are certainly no more words than are necessary to convey our 
 meaning. As a branch of gardening especially belonging to 
 young beginners, we have given some highly useful hints upon 
 the operations which more particularly belong to florists' 
 flowers, the principal of which are treated of in a plain and 
 practical manner, so as to enable even a youth to undertake 
 their cultivation.
 
 IHTKUBHICTIOHo 
 
 —'de^S)^^— 
 
 It is too common a practice to introduce new works to thp 
 notice of the public with observations upon the deficiencies 
 of those already pubhshed. We shall not follow the example ; 
 because we confess that, having originally learned a good deal 
 from other authors, and founded the practice which we after- 
 wards improved, upon the information given us by Miller, 
 Abercrombie, and others who have been so often plundered 
 and abused at the same time, by the writers of very sorry 
 imitations, we are too thankful for all they taught us, to 
 employ ourselves in pointing out their deficiencies. Leaving 
 other works, ancient and modern, to their fate, we propose so 
 to arrange the lessons derived from our predecessors as to 
 form a part of the complete system carried out by ourselves, 
 and so to convey the entire lesson as to be understood by the 
 million. The practical lessons of Miller and Abercrombie 
 were sound and good, so far as they went ; but no one can 
 deny that the great facilities afforded us by modern inventions, 
 — the vast improvements in particular races of flowers and 
 plants, — the advantages of modern science, and other charac- 
 teristics of the age, have enabled us to carry out many opera- 
 tions with much less trouble than our forefathers ; and that 
 if they were living and writing in our times, they would give 
 us a very different series of instructions to those which have, 
 nevertheless, been so useful. Our object -will be to give, as 
 concisely as possible, such instructions as may be profitably 
 learned by all classes, as part of their scholastic acquii'ements : 
 we do not propose to elaborate upon all the modes of grafting; 
 for many that help to fill up modern treatises are mere whims 
 and fancies, — which, like difficult pieces of music without 
 melody, by astonisliing instead of pleasing the hearer, serve
 
 6 PRACTICAL GAEDENING. 
 
 only to siiow the skill of the performer, which nobody wishes 
 to dispute. Our object will be to give the easiest and most 
 efficient instructions for all the necessary operations in gar- 
 dening ; not to introduce the novelties which have nothing to 
 recommend them but their novelty. 
 
 Gardening is one of those arts which enable us to make 
 the most of nature's gifts. It has been said, over and over 
 again, "He that makes two ears of corn grow where only one 
 used to grow, is a public benefactor." In other words, who- 
 ever can increase the produce of the land, does a real service 
 to the country. Gardening, however, takes a higher stand. 
 Its object is not only to increase, but to improve the produce. 
 It is for the gardener to learn from nature what a plant re- 
 quires, and to supply that in greater or lesser abundance as 
 experiments may dictate ; he is not to conclude that if a plant 
 grows naturally in a damp place, he is to try it in water, nor 
 the other extreme. But there is no small advantage in the 
 present day, that this has been done for the younger branches, 
 by men who have patiently tried experiments, and learned 
 by their failures, as well as by success, what is the best means 
 of accomplishing an object; and that nearly all that can be 
 known, and quite all that need be known, can be learned 
 from carefully reading the information transmitted from father 
 to son, and handed onwards with the gradual but certain 
 improvements of the age. But it is gaining an object if we can, 
 from experience arising out of actual practice, give in one 
 small volume that which could otherwise only be obtained by 
 reading many works, and especially when we can omit all 
 that is useless, speculative, or whimsical, i^obody can defend 
 those writers who put twenty lessons before a pupil, all dif- 
 ferent, all professing to acconiphsh the same end, and without 
 once informing him which are the safest and best, the easiest 
 and most economical. Young gardeners, of all others, should 
 have no puzzling matters ; their path ought to be as straight 
 as circumstances will admit of We should think our work 
 but half done, or very iU done, were we to record the useless 
 variety of methods adopted by as many different authors, and 
 leave our less experienced friends to discover which is the 
 best. Yet such has been the character of some of our most 
 popular works on gardening : perhaps twenty authors are 
 quoted, and all of them persons of some note in their pro- 
 fession; but with all these quotations, the person wholly
 
 INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 inexperienced would be bewildered, while the moderately 
 well-informed gardener would be actually misled. A man's 
 system of pruning may be adapted to the locality, his system 
 of pine-growing may be dictated by peculiar circumstances ; 
 cucumber-culture, vine-training, and other very leading fea- 
 tures of his vocation may be very complete for liim and the 
 means at his command ; but take from his system any one 
 department, and give it without fully stating the circumstances 
 under which he does it and advises it, and it only tends to 
 mystify the general practice. The very means adopted under 
 some circumstances successfully, may be fatal under others. 
 'Whether the subject be the soil or compost employed, — the 
 time of planting, or potting, — the grafting, layering, top- 
 dressing, or any other distinct operation, — the man's different 
 ways and periods of doing these things may depend on facts 
 which we are not informed o:^ and should not be brought 
 forward. 
 
 It is therefore necessary to caution all beginners against 
 adopting any plan, upon however good an authority, without 
 first being made acquainted with all the circumstances under 
 which such plan was successful. When a man is once 
 master of a sound, practical, and easy mode of management 
 for any subject, he may read all that has been vn-itten, and 
 use his own judgment as to any deviation. He is able then 
 to try a hundred experiments, on a small scale, without en- 
 dangering the general success of his gardening operations ; 
 but until he has, under some general system, accomplished 
 his objects up to a certain degree of success, he ought not to 
 be bewildered by twenty opinions, all widely different, upon 
 some main feature, only because the parties who have suc- 
 ceeded with it have had some correspondingly different mode 
 of doing the rest of the business connected with it. In the 
 simple operation of planting potatoes, practical men differ 
 exceedingly. Everything here depends upon the sort of 
 potatoes grown ; and the man who says he plants a yard 
 apart, and he who informs us that he plants only two feet, 
 may be both equally right ; but suppose a young beginner is 
 only told that Mr. A., a very large grower, plants a yard 
 apart, Mr. B., a grower of equal celebrity, plants two feet 
 apart — the main facts which dictate these different distances 
 are, that one of the parties is wiiting of dwarf, and the 
 other of a tall-growing kind ; now simple as this may be, it
 
 8 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 is illustrative of the impropriety of quoting different authors 
 without being able to do justice to their motives. 
 
 The great object of all teachers should be to inform men 
 how to accomphsh the most with the least trouble and ex- 
 pense ; to inculcate as much as possible simple rules, and 
 general principles, and, so far as may be necessary, to explain 
 why certain operations produce certain results ; but we have 
 no notion that persons entirely unacquainted with botany and 
 the physiology of plants, but desirous of cultivating a garden, 
 should be forced to study the former before they are per- 
 mitted to grow their own cabbages, or furnish a garden out 
 with a few flowers. Much as may be said in behalf of botany, 
 and of science in general as connected with gardening, facts 
 indisputable prove that it has flourished greatly among the 
 most ignorant and humble classes, who were not only without 
 information, but were so destitute of means, that they pursued 
 their fancy under numerous disadvantages, which called forth 
 their inventive faculties to make all sorts of shifts, to accom- 
 plish what professional gardeners have done to their hands. 
 In the department of gardening devoted to florists' flowers, 
 which has advanced much more rapidly than any other branch, 
 nearly all the extraordinary advances in the quality of flowers 
 have been made by poor men, uninformed men, men who did 
 not even know the meaning of botany, and were as strange to 
 the physiology of plants as to the "south-west passage" or the 
 north pole. In such hands the most extraordinary improve- 
 ments have been made in the races of flowers ; and, to this 
 day, the best raisers and cultivators may be found among men 
 who have the utmost contempt for science, however useful 
 and amusing, and even profitable it may be to those who have 
 sufficient garden to make it worth studying, and time to study 
 it. It is not our object to make the study of botany or 
 chemistry the only road to gardening ; it would be for the 
 most part useless to a poor man, and a round-about way to 
 the object in a rich one. Learn, in as easy a way as may be, 
 to manage your garden ; this can be done in a short time ; 
 botany, chemistry, the physiology of plants, and such-like 
 studies, have but little to do with the general operations, as 
 we have already shown. Kature gives us all the lessons that 
 are rec|uii"ed beyond those that may be conveyed in a very 
 plain system of gardening. 
 
 The cultivator of a first-rate collection of plants may render
 
 INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 his occupation doubly gratifying by adding the study of botany 
 and physiology ; but he can do his duty without ; and experi- 
 ence has taught many employers, to their cost, that reading and 
 studying gardeners are the most expensive, the most useless, 
 and most annoying of all men, and merely receive their salaries 
 for amusiag themselves, while the foremen and under-gar- 
 deners do the work. It is all very well, if a man shall have 
 studied the scientific part of his busiaess in his youth ; but 
 the parrot-like acquirements of a great majority of even the 
 reputed first-rate men, who lecture here and write there, and 
 talk everywhere, give one a sad distaste for learned gardeners. 
 The mere book-knowledge which enables a man to pass an 
 examination conducted by theorists, is so easily acquired, and 
 is so utterly irrespective of practical knowledge, that it is 
 quite possible to find such men totally unfit for head-managers ; 
 nevertheless, such men do fill places, and, where the employer 
 is ignorant, and the under-gardeners sound practical men, all 
 goes on well, without its being suspected that the good order 
 is owing to the unpretending working-gardener, and that no 
 benefit is derived from the superintendence of the chief. Be 
 this as it may, the advantages of gardening are manifold, and 
 open to all classes ; the most ignorant may profitably employ 
 themselves, without losing time over their studies ; their 
 cabbages avlU eat as well, their mignonette smell as sweet, 
 their flowers be as bright, and their fruit-trees yield as plenti- 
 fully, in their ignorance of science, as though they were pro- 
 fessors of the highest grade. In this fact it is that we find 
 80 much real benefit ; it is this fact that throws open the 
 enjojTnent of gardening to the poor industrious classes. It 
 is not necessary that we should find fault mth those authors 
 who surround the knowledge they impart v,'iih. a barrier that 
 shuts out millions ; it is enough that w^e throw abroad all we 
 know for everybody who wishes to pick up. We will not 
 complain that others make the road to enjoyment through 
 thorns and briers impervious to the multitude ; it is enough 
 that we open an easier and a better way, through which the 
 urchin at school, and the poorest, weakest, and least informed 
 of oui" fellow-men, may walk pleasantly, and not have to walk 
 far. 
 
 Abercrombie, whose admii^ablc worli:, called "Every Man 
 his own Gardener," has stood the test of years, and is even 
 now the best of its kind, never made the study of botany the
 
 10 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 road to gardening ; and lie has made more practical gardeners, 
 amateur and professional, than all the other authors put 
 together. Later editions contain evidence that the means of 
 carrying out certain garden operations alter the practice in 
 the higher departments ; but still there is no labour necessary 
 to learn the ordinary duties of a gardener; and we have 
 abundance of reasons for our opinion that all men should be 
 gardeners. Gardening should be taught to boys as part of 
 their education. It will be found not only the most useful, 
 but the most safe branch of early education ; and whatever 
 may be the business to which a boy may be brought up, no 
 man can answer for his future situation; and, whether at 
 home or abroad, he may find a knowledge of gardening the 
 means of good employment if poor, and of endless gratification 
 if rich. It may be objected, that youth cannot be taught 
 without ample ground to work upon, and practically this is 
 true • but he who is made familiar with the seasons, the 
 terms, the system, and ordinary processes, by means of early 
 reading, rapidly learns the rest, the mere mechanical work ; 
 and there can be no question that, if there were the means of 
 teaching this also while a boy was at school, it would be of 
 the greatest benefit to the great mass of the people. 
 
 Lea^ong the usefuhiess of garden knowledge out of the 
 question for a moment, let us look at gardening as a recreatioiL 
 Is there any one pursuit equally inviting? Does not the 
 produce reared in a home-garden eat sweeter than any we can 
 buy? Is not a nosegay plucked from our o^vn beds and 
 borders more valued than twenty times the quantity would 
 be derived from another source? Xo matter whether the 
 superiority be real or imaginary. Half our pleasures are ideal ; 
 and it is a happy feeling to esteem that which we have, more 
 than that which we have not. But there is one fact which 
 cannot be disputed: the vegetable that is fresh from the 
 garden is immeasurably superior to that which has been loaded 
 to market, and knocked about four-and-twenty or more hours 
 before use ; and although some suffer less than others, such 
 articles as peas, asparagus, sea-kale, spinach, Brussels-sprouts, 
 and aU soft cabbages, do suffer very materially every hour they 
 are kept between cutting or gathering and eating. Although, 
 therefore, it is a pardonable vanity to esteem our own growth 
 before any other in all cases, there is a luxury in getting 
 vegetables from the garden immediately before use, which
 
 INTRODUCTION. I 1 
 
 none but those who have experienced it can know an}i;hing 
 about. All soft fruits are the same ; and, therefore, setting 
 all whims and fancies aside, while it is true there is a good 
 deal of ideal pleasure derived from a garden, there is infinitely 
 more real, substantial, unalloyed enjoyment. Our most himible 
 friends may be as proud of a bed of stocks as those a httle 
 better off are of a bed of tulips, or the aristocrats of horti- 
 culture are of a princely establishment. Our object will 
 be to put the most inexperienced youth into the readiest way 
 of performing all the operations, and thereby pursuing a 
 rational and profitable recreation, or of furnisliing the means 
 of earning his li^'ing, according as he may have occasion to 
 api^ly his knowledge.
 
 IFIRACflCAIL ©AI^ID)IEHIIH(&. 
 
 We propose now to confine ourselves to the operations 
 applicable to all parts of the science of gardening, but not 
 connected with any particular crop — the actual working of the 
 soil, and the manual labour attending the produce of every- 
 thing, but treated of independently of the things to be grown. 
 Under these operations we must rank digging, trenching, 
 draining, dunging or dressing, hoeing, raking, sowing, plant- 
 ing, training, pruning, budding, grafting, striking cuttings, 
 layering, &c. 
 
 The general apphcation of these operations to peculiar 
 crops must be treated of hereafter ; but there can be no doubt 
 of the propriety of teaching everybody the principles which 
 must guide the gardener, and they should apply to all cases 
 and all kinds of produce. First, then, we shall take in their 
 proper order the operations which relate to the general manage- 
 ment of the soil, such as digging, trenching, di-aining, dunging 
 or dressing, hoeing, raking, drilling ; next, such as relate to 
 the crops, such as sowing, planting, training, pruning, budding, 
 grafting, propagation by (mttings, layering, &c.; lastly, we 
 shall endeavour to apply these instructions to the leading 
 crops of a family garden. 
 
 THE GROUra) Am) ITS TREAT]\IENT. 
 
 As we rarely have a choice of ground, but have to make the 
 best of what we can get, the first thing to be done is to drain 
 it properly, for if this be not done, half our manure and labour 
 will be lost. First, then,' seek an outlet for the water, which 
 should be at the lowest part of the ground, and four feet below 
 the surface ; let there be a proper drain or an open ditch at
 
 14 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 that depth along the lowest end ; and whether it be one or 
 the other, all the other drains, which should be three feet six 
 inches deep, should be in parallel lines leading down to and 
 opening into this main ditch or drain. If the ditch is to be 
 open, it ought to be four feet wide at the top, and six inches 
 wide at the bottom ; but if you can have it covered in, — which 
 Tvill depend on whether you have a good outlet, — let this 
 main drain be made with bricks, three bricks wide laid flat, a 
 brick on edge to form each side, and bricks laid flat across the 
 whole length, but no mortar ; of course, if it be an open ditch 
 there will be no bricks required. At distances one pole, or 
 sixteen and a-half feet from one to the other, open trenches 
 the shape of a V, eighteen inches wide at top, and tapering 
 down to a point, all having a gradual fall to the ditch or 
 main drain. At the bottom of these trenches or drains, round 
 common pipes are to be laid end to end, and if you have any 
 coarse stones or cuttings of hedges or brushwood, lay a foot of 
 one or the other over the pipes, and then return the soil to 
 the trench, which Avill not hold all of it : the rest must lie in 
 a ridge above the other ground until it settles down. This 
 drain will effectually relieve the ground from all stagnant 
 water, and greatly promote the efficacy of dressing and dung- 
 ing, and the growth of crops ; but we have given a separate 
 paper on this subject. As soon as you have completed the 
 drains, set to work at trenching the ground all over two spits 
 deep ; that is to say, dig out the earth one spade deep first, 
 and then another spit at the bottom ; and if the second or 
 lower spit of earth be good, let the top be put to the bottom 
 and the bottom to the top. This may be done as follows : — 
 
 TRENCHING. 
 
 Mark the space of ground for operation two feet wide along 
 the end or across the end of the piece to be trenched ; dig out 
 the soil with a spade, the whole depth of a spade, and wheel 
 the earth to the other end of the work ; then dig a second 
 spit of earth out all over, and wheel that also to the end, but 
 keep it separate from the other. ISTow mark another space of 
 two feet, and dig it out one spit deep, throwing the soil into 
 the bottom of the first trench, and when that is done, dig out 
 the second spit from the bottom and throw it on the top of 
 the other, so that the first trench will be filled up level, and
 
 DIGGING. 15 
 
 the second trench, of the same size that the first was, will be 
 empty. Mark the same distance for opening another trench, 
 and go on putting the first spit at the bottom, and the second 
 to the top till you come to the last empty trench, which is to 
 be filled with the stuff you took out first, putting the first 
 that came off into the bottom, and the second to the top, and 
 thus may a very large piece be trenched without difficulty by 
 a very inexperienced hand. But if it should prove, which 
 sometimes it does, that the second spit of earth is not so good 
 as the first, instead of digging out the second spit, dig it up 
 merely, and leave it in the bottom j the loosening of the soil 
 does an immense good, and the top, being the best, retains 
 its place, being merely turned over in throwing it out of the 
 new trench into the old one. All the way we go on this sort 
 of work the soil has to be levelled and the lumps broken, if 
 there be any. Whatever be the nature of the soil, the remov- 
 ing it and turning it over, to the depth of two spades, is highly 
 beneficial, as it lets the atmosphere into the soil, and promotes 
 the percolation of the rain to a considerable depth. 
 
 DIGGING. 
 
 This is not generally so beneficial as trenching, simply 
 because in digging we only go one spit deep ; but after 
 being trenched, the cropping time only wants it disturbed 
 one spit deep. For this operation a trench is dug one spit 
 deep, and the stuff removed to the other end of the piece ; a 
 second trench is made by throwing the stuff taken out into 
 the first ; a third made to fill up the second, and so on until 
 all but the last is filled, and this is to be done with the soil 
 first taken out. Digging is required every time we have to 
 plant, to sow, or crop in any way, and the ground requires 
 dunging or dressing according to the state of the soil, and the 
 nature of the crop that is to go in. Digging is the most 
 simple operation in gardening. The spade is thrust into the 
 soil in a sloping direction ; the handle is pushed towards the 
 ground, and the blade or flat part of the spade, acting as a 
 lever, loosens the soil, which is lifted and thrown wherever it 
 is to go ; the spade is thrust in again a little more backward, 
 according to the soil you wish to lift, and in the course of this 
 digging all the lumps of earth are to be knocked to pieces and 
 the surface levelled.
 
 16 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 HOEING. 
 
 Hoeing generally comprises several distinct operations. 
 With the hoe we stir the ground, draw drills to sow seed in, 
 cut up the weeds, thin out crops, and earth up all sorts of 
 things that require it. The hoe is a sort of cutting blade, put 
 on a wooden handle, the cross way of the wood- work, and is 
 used by pressing it hard on the earth, and drawing towards 
 you, by which means the surface of the soil is disturbed, and 
 the air let into it ; whereas, when rains have run the surface 
 all together, nothing penetrates, the soil is soon heated, and 
 the wet evaporates more freely. Hoeing, therefore, means 
 moving the earth by means of a hoe ; but there are many 
 ways of hoeing, according to the state of the ground to be 
 hoed. If the groimd contains nothing but weeds, the hoe can 
 do good by preventing them from seeding, and save fature 
 labour; but stirring the earth among crops, weeds or no 
 weeds, does an immense deal of good ; and besides keeping 
 the weeds down, which it must by disturbing them, it makes 
 a loose surface, which does not absorb so much heat, nor let 
 out so much damp. The hoe is used to make gutters or drills, 
 in which to sow seeds ; and here we have to call in the aid 
 of a line, because, by first stretching a line the length and in 
 the place you want the drill, there is at once a perfect guide. 
 You have simply to draw the corner of the hoe along by the 
 side of the line, drawing out earth to the depth you want the 
 gutter or di'ill ; and when you have done this, shift your line 
 as far as you want the di'ills to be distant from each other, 
 and draw a second, third, and fourth, up to as many as you 
 want. The depth of these drills is regulated by the crop you 
 want to sow ; but the process is the same, although large or 
 small hoes may be used for large or small drills. With regard 
 to weeding with the hoe, there is nothing more efficacious. 
 Tlie hoe is thrust in the ground, or rather chopped in the 
 ground, and the surface cut off, with the weeds at the same 
 time ; and the most difficult part of hoeing is when you have 
 to weed small crops with but httle room between. Hoeing 
 the weeds up is work for dry weather, because you leave them 
 on the ground to dry up. If, however, it happens that rain 
 comes after they are hoed up, they should be removed from 
 the bed altogether, to prevent their rooting fresh in the soil, 
 v/hich many would. Occasionally this weeding is done at
 
 RIDGING. 17 
 
 the same time as thinning out crops, by one and the same 
 operation. Turnips, carrots, parsnips, spinach, and some others, 
 are so^ti broadcast, as it is called — from cast abroad, perhaps, 
 for the seed is cast or throAm all over the space — and raked 
 in, so that when it comes up with a good many weeds among 
 it, as is always the case, you have to hoe out the weeds, and 
 as many of the young plants as will leave the rest a certain 
 distance apart. Perhaps this is the most difficult operation 
 with the hoe ; and there should be hoes to use according to 
 the distance of the crop. For thinning onions, hoes are very 
 small ; turnip hoes longer. The last operation we shall men- 
 tion for the hoe is, to earth up crops ; that is, to first loosen 
 the earth to freshen it up, and then draw a ridge of it on each 
 side of a row of whatever vegetable it may be, and so form a 
 bank, as it were, up the stem.s of the plants. Peas, beans, 
 cabbages, cauliflowers, and almost every description of vege- 
 table, are the better for drawing earth up to their stems, when 
 they have begun to grow well, whether from seed or after 
 planting out ; and the hoe will perform this office for anything 
 but celery, which, after the hoe has done all it can, must, for 
 the last few weeks, be regularly banked up by a spade ; for 
 it grows often a full yard, and requires earth as far as it is to 
 be blanched. 
 
 RAKING. 
 
 Eaking is performed with an instrument or tool which 
 may be described as a coarse iron comb, set crosswise at the 
 end of a handle, in the same way as the hoe. It consists of 
 a strong iron bar, with iron teeth set from one to two inches 
 apart, and of various sizes, according to the rough or smooth 
 work it has to perform — small ones, with half a dozen or 
 eight teeth, for raking borders between the flowers and plants ; 
 larger ones, made stronger, and with eight, ten, or even a 
 dozen teeth, are for heavier work. The rake in a garden is 
 to do the work of a harrow in the field, — level the ground, 
 break the lumps, leave it even, draw off the weeds and stones, 
 rake in and cover seed. It is generally used after the hoe. 
 When the weeds are chopped off, they should be raked into 
 heaps or drawn off altogether. The rake is dra^vn towards 
 us, and we may be said to work backwards, whereas in hoeing 
 we go forwards, chopping up the weeds as we advance, that 
 the earth we loosen may be left behind us. When ground 
 
 B
 
 18 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 is dug, and laid as level as we can dig it with the spade, it 
 would be too rough, to sow garden-crops on. It is then that 
 the rake becomes necessary, to lay it tolerably level, and break 
 all the lumps, which is done by turning the teeth upwards, 
 and hitting the lumps with the back. The rake on the bor- 
 ders is as useful as the broom on the paths ; for nothing looks 
 worse than dead weeds, decayed leaves, large stones and lumps, 
 which can only be cleared off with the rake. 
 
 RIDGING. 
 
 This operation is generally adopted when ground is intended 
 to lie idle during part of the winter months. It is merely to 
 leave the ground in ridges instead of filling up level as we go 
 on, while digging it. It is done sometimes to give the frost of 
 winter more hold upon the soil, and to work through it sooner 
 by freezing a larger surface ; but unless the ground be stiff, 
 and idle too, it is of less service than cropping it, and on light 
 lands ought not to be done. There was a time when a notion 
 prevailed in favour of leaving ground fallow, but a rotation of 
 crops answers much better, and, rather than let a piece of 
 ground lie idle, it is now the practice to sow it with a crop, 
 and dig or plough the crop into the soil as a dressing. In 
 low grounds, ridging is practised for the purpose of groAving 
 things on the top of the ridge, with a view to keeping it drier; 
 the term is also applied to cucumber-growing, when they 
 insert the plant in the open ground ; the old gardeners 
 called it ridging-out, although they were planted on the flat 
 ground, but they have been grown on slopes, which were 
 perhaps called ridges. 
 
 DUIs^GING AJ^B DEESSmG THE GEOUIs^D. 
 
 This depends much upon the soil. If stiff and clayey, one 
 of the best dressings is to burn a portion of the soil and spread 
 it over the surface, to be forked in with any stable or other 
 dung you intend to use. The best way to dung the ground 
 is to spread the quantity evenly over the surface, and turn it 
 to the bottom in digging ; or, if it be dunged or dressed while 
 trenching, let the dressing be put at the bottom of the top 
 spit, and not deeper. 
 
 The most judicious way of dunging or dressing garden 
 ground is, the instant a crop is off, to spread it over the sur-
 
 MANURES. 19 
 
 face, and dig it in one spit deep, there to leave it until the 
 ground is wanted for cropping again, when it will only require 
 levelling or drilling, as the case may be, to receive the plants 
 or seeds without again disturbing it. There is yet another 
 mode of partially applying manure, which is by spreading it 
 over the surface, and allo^ving it to wash in by the rains. 
 But this mode of apjDlication is more adapted to other and 
 more powerful manures, such as bone-dust, wood-ashes, poulti-y 
 dung, guano and its substitutes, and, generally speaking, all 
 those dressings which require but little in bulk to be given. 
 All sorts of dung intended to be used for manuring the garden 
 should be laid in heaps to rot ; for, among other reasons, it 
 lies in a smaller compass, and there is not so much labour in 
 wheeling it on to the ground. 
 
 In solving, it is a practice to use powerful manures in small 
 quantities at the same time — that is, manures prepared on 
 purpose. There are now many preparations to be used as 
 substitutes for natural dungs. Nightsoil disinfected may be 
 purchased in a granular state fit for sowing. This and many 
 other substances have been prepared with a view to being 
 drilled into the ground with or under turnip or other seeds. 
 
 MA^UEES. 
 
 Ground, in a state of nature, may be rich and require 
 nothing, or poor and want everything that can be done for it ; 
 but there are certain manures that cannot injure by excess, 
 while others may be useless or mischievous. Among the 
 most certain and useful may be reckoned — 
 
 Vegetable Mould, or Decayed Vegetables. — This com- 
 prises all the waste of a garden, the leaves swept up by the 
 road-side, and from under all the trees on the estate, or any 
 neighbouring forest. This and other vegetable matter, laid 
 in heaps to rot, may be laid on the ground, or dug in with 
 impunitj'-, for it is simply returning to the earth what has 
 been taken from it, with certain perfectly innocent or useful 
 adflitions, taken from the atmosphere — for it would be idle to 
 suppose that the plants, from a daisy to an oak, lived entirely 
 on what has been withdrawn from the soil. Vegetable manure, 
 therefore, is decidedly a safe and useful dressing, and it would 
 be difficult to apply too much. Many dig into the ground all 
 the waste of the crop they are taking off. There is but one 
 
 b2
 
 20 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 olDJection to tMs inunediate application, the certainty that all 
 manner of insect-eggs must be abundant in the waste leaves, 
 and that many may be thus committed to the soil, to become 
 very shortly enormous plagues. By laying the waste together 
 to rot with or without the aid of lime or other means to hasten 
 decomposition, the great mass of these eggs is destroyed, and 
 the result is a far cleaner and better compost to add to the 
 soil. But there are some estates whereon the leaves and waste 
 form an enormous bulk ; and in such case, the burning of it, 
 and the spreading of the ashes, will be found equally advan- 
 tageous. Leaves laid up, and allowed to rot into mould, 
 become valuable ; they ought, therefore, to be collected and laid 
 by, year after year. They make fine mould for potting. 
 Cabbage-leaves, and the trimmings and waste of all vegetables, 
 should be thrown in a hole ; and if they become at all offen- 
 sive, throw some lime over them, and water it. The heap will 
 be rendered perfectly harmless, and that forms a manure that 
 may be used in any quantity, for decaying vegetable returns 
 to the earth just what the eaiih has given. The next useful 
 and harmless manure is — 
 
 IVf.ats' and Sheep-dung. — These animals hving exclusively 
 on vegetable food, their manure is of the highest importance, 
 and cannot be applied in excess ; for the worst that comes of 
 it may be set down as unnecessary trouble, where such 
 dressing is plentiful. In the apphcation, this may be green 
 or rotted, but the latter is the most easily used. INeats'-dung, 
 collected dry from the forests, commons, and pastures, forms 
 a valuable manure for particular subjects, and should be sought 
 and procured, every opportunity. Sheep-dung forms an ex- 
 cellent liquid manure ; by putting a barrowful into about a 
 hogshead of water, you are enabled to give a good dressing to 
 plants that could not be reached in any other way ; this may 
 be picked up on commons and wastes. 
 
 Horse or Stable Dung is valuable : no manure gives 
 more solid advantage ; that is to say, no manure gives better 
 heart to ground for general purposes, whether ploughed or 
 dug in, as it comes from the stable, or allowed to rot first. 
 The application of manure of this kind may be by digging it 
 in, a spit deep, after spreading it evenly on the surface ; or 
 by forking it in, which will mix it with the top spit more 
 equally. The dung from hot-beds, used for melons, cucum- 
 bers, and other early productions, makes excellent manure at
 
 MANURES. 21 
 
 the end of the season ; and those who consider the expense 
 of hot stable-dung, for this purpose, should recollect that the 
 value of it after the heat is gone, and the dung rotted, is as 
 great as it was while hot and in order for the beds. 
 
 Pigs-dung. — The coarsest and least valuable dung is that 
 of Pigs, which should be well decomposed before using, 
 although it is more often taken from the sty to the ground, 
 and dug in raw. The best mode of applying this strong and 
 offensive dressing is to throw it to a heap, and then spread it 
 out half-a-foot thick, and throw over it a layer of peat-earth, 
 road-sand, or common soil, as thick as it can be afforded, — 
 say three inches. Wlien the sties and pig-yard are again 
 cleaned out, throw another layer of pig-dung, and on that 
 another layer of soil, so repeating this every time, and 
 leaving the heap as long as possible, for the more it is rotted 
 the better. The whole heap then becomes an excellent 
 compost, or dressing, for any ground. 
 
 Droppings of Animals from the road are collected by 
 children in many parts of the country, and may be had 
 cheajD. The value of this, as a fertihzer, is unquestionable, 
 and a heap of it is a great acquisition. The cleaner it is pre- 
 served the better. It forms excellent top-dressings for many 
 things. 
 
 KiGHT-soiL is a most remarkable manure, although httle 
 used until of late years in England, compared with its appli- 
 cation in other countries. This should, however, be as care- 
 fully used as guano ; for, if apphed in too large a quantity, 
 and unmixed, it is dangerous. 
 
 Soot is highly valuable. It is not only nutritious, but 
 very destructive to many kinds of vermin. This is generally 
 apphed by sowing on the surface, and letting it wash in with 
 the rain. "Wood-ashes, also, should be applied m the same 
 way. These two are excellent torments, if not exterminators, 
 of the numerous tribes of bots, or grubs, that so damage a crop, 
 and especially obnoxious to the grub which causes clubbing 
 in the cabbage tribe. 
 
 Bones should be collected by all available means, and 
 broken well before use ; nothing does more good to land. 
 They should be bruised with a hammer into small pieces. 
 They may be mixed with any compost, but should be pretty 
 evenly distributed ; because whatever comes in contact with 
 them will show the superiority of growth in a very short
 
 22 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 time. Bones cruslied or ground to powder are a favourite 
 manure. K tlie effect is to be immediate, the powder is the 
 better, because it more rapidly amalgamates with the soil; 
 but if permanent, the bruising or using them coarse makes 
 them last much lonejer. Bones are now such an article of 
 commerce for farming and gardening purposes, that they are 
 ground at mills for the purj)ose, and shamefully adulterated ; 
 but they may be purchased broken or ground to any size, for 
 by means of sieves they are easily separated ; and we prefer 
 very much to have them with the fine powder taken out. 
 'V\'Tien, however, they are broken by ourselves, we know 
 there is nothing wrong about them, and the size may be just 
 what we please. "We do not like lumps larger than horse- 
 beans ; and all that come smaller give instant effect. Yery 
 little of this dress goes a great way, and there is nothing per- 
 Tiicious in it. They should either be mixed with something 
 that is to be spread all over, or sown by hand all over the 
 surface, to be forked in a very little way. 
 
 Chalk is a good dressing to poor lands, and therefore 
 should, if possible, be provided among other subjects, to be 
 handy in the manure ground. This may be spread over the 
 surface, and be mixed with the soil pretty evenly, but it may 
 lie on the surface for a time. Burning it, to make lime of it, 
 is well worth the trouble, for the benefits are sooner felt, and 
 it is sooner mixed, because it falls into a povvder "with the 
 mere action of the atmosphere. Lime, in moderate quantity, 
 LS of great »use in the destruction or discouragement of vermin, 
 especially slugs, snails, and grubs underground. 
 
 Soap- ASH is a very common dressing for land, especially if 
 poor and foul. It is destructive of the grub, and has rarely 
 any bad effect on any soil, though of less use on some than 
 other land. It consists of the refase of the soap-boilers, and 
 is a strong alkali, used a good deal in some districts. We 
 believe there is hardly any refase of any kind that might not 
 be made available, if applied moderately and properly. Al- 
 kalis generally have the best possible effect in destroying 
 vermin ; but they must be moderately used, or they may be 
 too strong for the well-being of vegetable as well as animal 
 life .' and Wood-ashes are of great service, spiead on the 
 ground and dug in. 
 
 Guano is so much an article of commerce, that all we need 
 say of that part which relates to its real or supposed origin is
 
 MANURES. 23 
 
 that it is the dung of sea-fowl, accumulated during ages, and 
 that it is imported at a cost varying from nine to eleven 
 pounds per ton. It possesses high fertilizing qualities, is 
 applied to the ground many ditferent ways, and is best 
 applied when a shower of rain is not far of^ that it may be 
 washed into the land. Of the different methods of applying 
 it, there are two that we recommend before all others for a 
 garden. The first is, to mix it with four or five times its 
 quantity of road-sand, or sifted peat, or other very light soil, 
 and sow it evenly all over the surface. The other is, to 
 dissolve it in water, and water the whole surface. The best 
 way to mix it is to lay four or five inches of the soil level on 
 a stone floor or pavement, and, on this, put about half or 
 three quarters of an inch of Guano, then another layer of soil, 
 like the first, and another three quarters of an inch of Guano, 
 tni you have put the quantity you mean to sow ; putting 
 four or five inches of soil on the top. Let this lie together 
 till it is wanted. With regard to quantity, two pounds 
 weight to a sq'iare rod of ground ; that is to say, sixteen feet 
 and a half each way ; therefore, Sow the quantity of composi- 
 tion that contains two pounds of guano. But we need hardly 
 say that when these layers of guano and soil have lain 
 together a few weeks chop it dovni in thin slices, and turn it 
 well, to thoroughly mix it all together. Take advantage of 
 showery weather, if you can, that it may not lie and dry on 
 the surface, and in a day or two sow your crops. AVhen you 
 dissolve it in water, you can tell the quantity of water it will 
 take to water all the space and dissolve the quantity of guano 
 required in it ; stirring it every day for three days, and 
 water the ground with it. These two are the mosf^ easy 
 methods we know of applying guano. Farmers use the same 
 means, but, instead of sowing the mixture broadcast, they 
 drill it into the ground when they are going to sow. They 
 mix it with other dressings, and do not rely on that alone. 
 They occasionally top dress with it in a mixture of some 
 sorts : but we do not use it ourselves in a garden ; we prefer 
 the rotted dung from stable-dung hotbeds, which is half 
 rotted the first year, and is ready for all sorts of use at the 
 end of two. Guano is one of those uncertain things that we 
 should not like to depend on. The quantity put on farming 
 lands, when it is used without other fertilizers, appears to be 
 from two to three hundredweight per acre ; but some things
 
 24 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 would bear more. Onions, for instance, if the ground be 
 well prepared, and two pounds weight of guano, or two and a 
 half, be watered in a few days before sowing, and once or 
 twice with plain water afterwards, would thrive wonderfully, 
 if the guano be good. Guano ought to be always mixed with 
 twice or thrice its weight of peat-mould, or sand, or other 
 soil. 
 
 Mael is a fattish loam, of use in light lands. It is a sort 
 of half-way stuff between ordinary loam and clay, and of 
 great use in impro^dng sandy soils. It would be of little use 
 to speak of the quantity required for a dressing : it would be 
 extremely difficult to give too much ; but " every little helps." 
 The benefit of a very light dressing is felt ; and liberal 
 dressing repeated would convert a desert into a garden. As 
 in all other soils, there are many qualities, but the sandy 
 soil of many commons, such as Wokiiig, and all the waste 
 lands south of London will be found good. 
 
 Salt is useful to kill vermin when they are out of the way 
 of plants. It is used on gravel walks to kill weeds. The 
 danger is in allowing it to reach the verges or edgings, which, 
 unless you are careful, it will. Some dissolve it in water, 
 and distribute it with a water-pot ; and it often runs too far. 
 "Wlien Salting is resorted to, a dress ought to be dra^vn the 
 whole length of the walk, on both sides, two or three inches 
 from the edge, becauta that stops the salt water from reaching 
 the side. Others sow it, and leave the rain to wash it in ; 
 but there is more danger in this than in watering, because it 
 gets blown about. Salt is also used on as]Daragus beds, for 
 that is a marine plant. You may sow as much as will make 
 the beds white, and not risk hurting the plant, while it is 
 known to be a good and profitable dressing. 
 
 Chemical Manures generally are now much used in farm- 
 ing ; and some particular experiments with them will form 
 the subject of an Appendix, because they are too varied to be 
 the groundwork of general instructions. The various chemical 
 agents which are now employed in thousands of experiments, 
 by rich farmers, will lead to some general rules for their use. 
 
 The Sewage of Large Towns ^vill be turned to account. 
 It is worthy of remark, that we have in the United Kingdom 
 sent millions of loads of filth into the various rivers, thus 
 polluting our streams, while we have paid milhons for manure 
 of foreign produce, to impoverish us on the one hand, and
 
 MANURES. 25 
 
 only half-dressed the land, and thus lessened our crops, on the 
 other. Our business, however, is not to seek the agency of 
 more than we can obtain among ourselves. The Chinese 
 waste nothing : they submit to offensive smells, to menial 
 emplo}Tnents, to incessant disagreeable occupations, in carrying 
 from house to house the very worst refuse, and apply it to 
 their land. And be it remembered, that there was a time 
 when we paid to have our cesspools emptied, and the contents 
 carried away, without our knowing the value, while those so 
 employed removed it to uninhabited places, to convert it to 
 manure and money. Our advancing civilization and cleanli- 
 ness, so called, led to what people denominated improvements, 
 and sent the filth down the common sewers, to contaminate 
 the waters Ave were obliged to drink, and poison the fish in 
 our finest streams. In London, the very Thames, which vied 
 AAdth thousands of rivers in the abundance of fish, and the 
 purity of its waters, has become a reeking, moving mass of 
 filth, hardly surpassed by the very sewers which for miles are 
 emptying their disgusting contents, labelled or numbered all 
 along its banks, and render putrid and foul the whole mass of 
 waters, on which a thousand boats are carrying their living 
 freights dailj'', to enjoy the convenience, at the expense of 
 breathing a pestilential atmosphere, not many degrees better 
 than those very nuisances which on a much smaller scale are 
 supposed or pretended to be the cause «jf a mysterious but 
 fatal malady. Such are our present notions of cleanliness, 
 that we gape at a gnat and swallow a camel. We grumble at 
 every little open gutter that gives off its effluvia to compara- 
 tively endless space, and pollute a whole river by directing 
 the filth and offal of two milhons of people to three or four 
 miles of the only river we can drink from. Connected with 
 this subject, we can only recommend everybody that has a 
 rod of ground to use it, to appropriate the waste of his own 
 house. Contrive all the means at hand to abate the nuisance, 
 but bury it in his own land, that he may reap the benefit of it. 
 Let not a basin of soapsuds, or of dirty water, go for nothing, 
 but remember that it is all convertible to dressing for the 
 ground, and will confer a real benefit on the garden or the field. 
 Liquid ^Manures are made of all the animal dungs ; but 
 those which live exclusively on vegetation are the best for 
 general purposes, — cows and oxen, sheej), rabbits, deer, and 
 horses ; and all these are the better when the vegetable that
 
 26 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 it contains is decomposed, because then the whole dissolves. 
 A quarter of a peck of either, when rotted into mould, will 
 render ten gallons of water far better than ordinary water for 
 all garden crops ; and when applied to onions, makes an 
 astonishing difference, as may be seen in a very short time, by 
 watering one portion with plain water, and the other with 
 such as we have described. 
 
 Manure Tanks. — Everybody should have a tank which 
 would receive all the drainings of manure heaps, and the 
 rains will always occasion a waste of the best juices if this be 
 not done. A tank may be bricked, and in the lowest part of 
 the space occupied by dung-heaps and decaying vegetable 
 matter. These drainings, well diluted, can be used with the 
 greatest possible advantage in dry hot weather j a soaking of 
 the entire ground, not the mere watering of the plants, being 
 the proper mode of applying it. But wherever this is done, 
 it should be, whether little or much, used with as much water 
 as will moisten the whole space to be watered, so that all may 
 fare alike. If there be but little, the ground has the benefit 
 of all there is, and by using enough water all the space is 
 served alike. In all cases where the liquid manure is used, 
 select the crop which is the most in want of it, — that is, the 
 crop on the poorest ground, or that requires the greatest 
 assistance, and give it all without helping any neighbouring 
 subject. If you are so situate as not to be able to use liquid 
 manure to crops, it is just as efficacious to soak a piece of 
 vacant ground with it, because the strength is there ready for 
 the first thing that is placed there ; and it is an excellent 
 plan to soak a space of ground the day previous to sowing 
 anytliing, especially turnips ; for, the ground being in good 
 order, the seed vegetates immediately, and having good hold 
 rarely fails to turn out well. There is nothing better in the 
 summer months than a good soaking of the ground previous 
 to planting or solving ; a plain watering is useful, but hquid 
 manure is better, and when you have none it is worth while 
 to make it, by putting a barrowful of horse droppings, cows' 
 dung, or sheep dung, into a hogshead of water the day before 
 it is wanted, and stirring it up two or three times. The 
 application should be all over the surface, not hasty enough 
 to let it run away, but gentle enough to let it soak down three 
 or four inches into the ground. Many things are calculated 
 to form a good dressing, but we may in one word say that
 
 MANURES. 27 
 
 nothing animal or vegetable should be lost, because everything 
 is serviceable to the ground : old rags, paper, woollen cloth, 
 tanners' waste, gas-tar water, ammoniacal liquor from the gas 
 works, the waste Hme from the gasworks, all and everything 
 capable of decomposing is a dressing for land. In some of 
 these things there must be a little care, in others it matters 
 little how much is put on ; of vegetable waste, for instance, 
 you cannot have too much. Pigs' -dung and poultry-dung 
 ought to be used carefully ; they are strong, and might be 
 used miscliievously, but they should be mixed with as much 
 as their own bulk of some useful soil, and be laid together 
 for a time to rot or amalgamate. In this way the strongest 
 manure may be used. 
 
 The Muck-heap is made up of all sorts of waste, and it is 
 impossible to calculate on the strength of the manure it forms, 
 but one thing may be always done to moderate the strength, 
 so as to prevent mischief. The slops from the house and 
 night-soil are always too strong for use, in any quantity, like 
 other manures ; and the best way to keep them of moderate 
 strength is to mix with something at the time ; road-sand is 
 in general easily obtained, and it would be desirable always to 
 get as much as j^ossible on the premises. Strong slops should 
 always be mixed with as much sand as would absorb it all 
 and lie solid. Soap-suds, vegetable liquor, and ordinary 
 house drainings, might always be thrown into a tub, to be 
 used as common water in watering plants, while strong slops 
 would require ten times the bulk of plain water to render it 
 useful for immediate application to crops ; but those to whom 
 economy is an object must bear in mind that there is not an 
 atom nor a drop of refuse of any kind to be wasted. The 
 better the ground is manured, the better will it yield, and it 
 behoves us to treasure up everything. If w^e are near to the 
 neighbourhood of lime, it is a treasure, because by a little 
 mixture of lime the most offensive of all is immediately ren- 
 dered harmless, and this is so important that it should never 
 be lost sight of. Charcoal has the same effect, and is a good 
 fertilizer. 
 
 EoAD-SAND AND ScRAPiNGS OF DiTCHES. — Eoad-saud, as it 
 is called, being the scrapings of the roads, and which are 
 readily given up in most places, and sold cheap in others, is 
 invaluable in every kind of soil, no matter how light or heavy ; 
 though it is perhaps of the most real service in heavy soils.
 
 28 PRACTICAL GAEDENING. 
 
 The scrapings of banks and ditclies, althougli often foul as 
 regards the seeds of weeds they contain, are rich and valuable, 
 and should lie by themselves, to be apphed to such crops as 
 will give opportunity of weeding easily. The richness of this 
 generally compensates for the extra trouble it gives. To this 
 heap may be added all the weedings of your garden, because 
 the heap "v\ill always be known as a foul one, and the use of 
 it may be confined to such particular quarters as may be con- 
 v^eniently cropped with strong growing subjects, that ynW 
 admit of hoeing repeatedly ; for instance, beet-root, potatoes, 
 savoys, brocoli, and cabbage, being properly grown wide 
 enough apart to keep the hoe at work at aU good opportu- 
 nities, the ground may be a little foul without hurting them ; 
 whereas with small crops, such as onions, weeds would be very 
 troublesome. Besides, the crops we have mentioned do well 
 on strong ground, and are not easily discommoded with a few 
 intruders, and -u'eeds are easily removed without disturbing 
 the plants. 
 
 Application op Dressing. — In dressing ground generally, 
 you have first to consider the state it is in ; next, the nature 
 of the crop to go on ; lastly, the sorts of dressing you have at 
 command. If you have any light soil, and you could obtain 
 Marl, or rich Loam, a Httle of that mixed with your manure 
 would be of the greatest service ; if you can get no marl, dress 
 it with the compost that you have been mixing with lime. 
 The quantity also must be dependent upon your requirements 
 from the land ; you may dress land with the strongest of 
 manure if you are going to sow onions, plant asparagus, or 
 grow beet-root, sea-kale, or pickling cabbages : they are all 
 very hungry, and not very particular. Lay the quantity you 
 intend to put in all over the surface, and let it be tui-ned in 
 nearly a spit deep, or if it be well decomposed, let it be 
 forked in and mixed with the top spit of earth ; but where 
 attention is paid to the general conditions of ground, the 
 dunging or dressing is supplied periodically, without any 
 regard to the particular crop to follow immediately ; and so it 
 is buiied to do its part towards fertilizing the soil for the 
 future, while the dressing previously buried is supplying the 
 immediate wants of the crop ; and the difference between 
 putting it a spit deep and mixing it altogether directly is 
 simply called for by the state of the ground : if poor, mix it; 
 if in good heart, we have only to keep it so, and therefore
 
 MANURES. 29 
 
 bury the dressing. Ea\r dung is not always good for small 
 crops, and is therefore buried, that the roots may not come in 
 contact with it until the plant is pretty strong ; but the 
 mould from decayed vegetable leaves in particular may be 
 laid on in any quantity, and be dug in or mixed up with the 
 soil ; it is perfectly innoxious, and will hurt nothing, while it 
 is a first-rate fertilizer. 
 
 Peat Earth, or Egg Earth, which is full of dead fibres of 
 roots, and is naturally sandy, is one of the best mediums in 
 which rank strong manures can be mixed to increase the bulk 
 and lower the strength. This, which is the top spit of 
 millions of acres of common, is nevertheless dear wherever it 
 is distant, but to those in the vicinity, who can procui^e it 
 with httle trouble, a great acquisition. Guano is mixed with 
 it in preference to anything, when used on a small scale, but 
 when applied in large quantities, it is mixed with coarser 
 earth, or earth easier procured. If it is to be applied by 
 sowing, sand is better. Peat earth is very light ana spongy, 
 excellent for any tender-rooted tilings, and almost always 
 used for American plants and heaths, and many subjects from 
 the Cape of Good Hope. Peat earth should be laid in a heap 
 by itself, and when used has to be broken to pieces and 
 rubbed through a veiy coarse sieve ; otherwise peat would 
 remain in the very lumps that the spade cut up for almost an 
 indefinite period. The characteristic of regular peat is that 
 it is a mass of half-decomposed fibre, but it seems never to 
 decompose the whole ; and this renders it porous and spongy, 
 two points highly essential to the well-being of some plants, 
 and highly beneficial to heavy and adhesive soils. Of course 
 the complete amalgamation cannot be effected on a large scale ; 
 but in potted plants, and the soil necessary for them, it can 
 be made available. Indeed it is very largely transported from 
 commons to flower gardens, for the purpose of growing plants 
 that require it ; but the nurseries that succeed best with the 
 plants which require such soil are established on the spots 
 where peat soil is natural. The great nurseries at Bagshott 
 and Knap Hill, the most famous in England for American 
 plants, and many others in the vicinity of peat commons, 
 only beat others of less importance because the soil without 
 any dressing or preparation, brings forward the various peat 
 plants in a way that no artificially-made beds of peat can 
 produce them, ^ow there would be as much trouble to make
 
 30 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 such land produce heavy crops of subjects requiring strength 
 of soil, as there is to make any of the many great changes 
 that land requires. The nature of the soil may be appreciated 
 when we say, that if a tree twenty feet high had to be re- 
 moved from peat soil land, and a lump of half a ton were cut 
 round and cut under so as to release it from the rest, the 
 lifting of the tree would bring all the lump of soil with it, 
 even if it were a solid lump three feet all round it ; the small 
 wandering roots of the plant reachina perhaps two-thirds of 
 the way through it, and the mass of fibres holding it together. 
 This quality is not only invaluable for growing such plants, 
 but also for its tenacity in holding together enough to sustain 
 them on their removal, even if they were not replanted for a 
 considerable time, and also to support them occasionally, 
 a season or two when turned out into very unfavourable soil 
 
 Turfs to form Compost. — Turfs cut from a pasture not 
 more than two or three inches thick, and laid together to rot 
 a year or two, form the best compost for flowers or vegetables 
 that can be found ; and although extravagant to use for com- 
 mon purposes, should always be provided if possible. If they 
 are cut from a waste, or from the road side, or from hungry 
 commons, they should be cut thinner for the sake of keeping 
 up their quahty ; but the best rule is to cut thick enough to 
 take in all the roots and fibres, which, on good land, perhaps 
 go down three inches, but in bad hungry soil perhaps do not 
 reach two. Xo opportunity should be lost ; whenever they 
 can be had they should be obtained. It is an unequalled 
 dressing for poor land that wants heart. The difference as to 
 the thickness of cutting must be settled by the hold the grass 
 has of the land ; gravelly soils suggest a very thin cutting 
 under any circumstances. These have only to be piled in 
 heaps, and allowed to stand tiU the grass and fibre have rotted 
 into mould. 
 
 The top Spit op a Pasture is generally good loam, and 
 ranks next to the turf cut as we have proposed. The larger 
 proportions of loam, if taken deep, lessen the value in this 
 respect only, — there cannot be so much of the turf and fibre 
 rotted in the quantity, and therefore it is so much the worse 
 in point of richness. Always get some of this if you can ; it 
 is really useful soil with good heart in it, and wiU improve 
 any land ; for as the thicker the cultivable soil on any place 
 is, the better it is ; therefore it may be taken as a general rule.
 
 MANURES. 31 
 
 that whatever can be added that is good in itself is useful 
 even if no better than the rest of the available soil. 
 
 Dressing for Cottagers. — One of the causes of the 
 superior productions of cottagers is the pains they take to 
 collect all kinds of manures, and waste nothing. Many keep 
 pigs, and in such case all the vegetable waste is thrown to 
 them, there to be partly devoured and converted to dung as 
 far as the waste is eatable, and the remainder gets trampled 
 upon and mixed with the filth, and, when cleared out and 
 laid in a heap, forms an excellent, but very strong compost. 
 This requires putting in the ground a good spit deep. It 
 would be too strong to come in contact with the young fibres 
 of seedling plants ; but lying in the ground until the next 
 turning up of the soil, it would give heart to it, and have the 
 best effect ; but pig-dung should always be mixed with some 
 kind of soil even while l}dng in the heap. 
 
 Dressing for INIarket Gardeners. — Market gardeners very 
 frequently dig in the dung just as it is brought down warm 
 from the stables of London, and that in tolerable quantity ; 
 not less for the sake of the warmth there is in it, than for the 
 dressing it gives for the next crop ; for it is said by them that 
 all the ammonia that would fly off during the whole time it 
 lies above ground is retained in the soil. There is no doubt 
 that each plan has its advantages, and it is unwise to lay down 
 any positive rule when we see, as we may every week of our 
 lives, a dozen market gardeners and gentlemen's gardeners 
 producing first-rate crops, and of the finest qualities, and not 
 two of them acting on the same plan in the dressing of their 
 soil. We have seen the finest strawberry plants that coidd 
 be grown, with no other dressing than the digging in of all 
 their own waste ; but there is no recommending this as a 
 general rule, because, perhaps, there was no occasion for any 
 dressing. Many soils are so strong, and so well adapted for 
 peculiar crops, that they would be fertile without dressing for 
 a long time ; but certaiij it is that self-manuring would go a 
 long way if we really took no more from the earth than was 
 exactly necessary. We have heard of vines abroad which did 
 well for years with nothing but the digging in of their own 
 cuttings ; and there never was a more silly habit than sending 
 to market so much unprofitable stuff as we every day see, in- 
 creasing the bulk to carry, and impoverishing the soil. Look 
 at cabbages the greater part of the season sent to market with
 
 32 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 a greater "weight of outside leaves tlian there is in the heart, 
 — the enormous weight which porters have to bear, the ad- 
 ditional load the horses have to draw, the rubbish which the 
 retailers or the cooks have to get rid of, and which, while it 
 lies, is a nuisance ; and we think it might suggest a much 
 closer trimming than is usually given, and the use of the 
 trimmings on the soil. This, however, is matter for the 
 grower. The more there is of the crop returned to the earth, 
 the less has to be supplied in the way of manure. 
 
 Waste of Fertilizing ]\Iaterial. — ^AYaste is no uncom- 
 mon thing ; large heaps of dung receive all the rain, washing 
 its juices through, and the moisture running down the gutters 
 and ditches as black as treacle, not only from the dung-yards 
 of market and gentlemen's gardens, but even those of large 
 farmers ; whereas this liquid, if suffered to diain into a tank, 
 would be invaluable. It would often bear ten times its quan- 
 tity of plain water, and form an excellent liquid manure, 
 although, if applied in its original state, it would be destruc- 
 tive on account of its extraordinary strength. All composts 
 should, on account of this operation of rain, be placed in 
 heaps, sloping enough to throw off the wet ; and manures of 
 all kinds that quickly absorb, and as rapidly give out moisture 
 — in short, everything that has any fertilizing qualities to 
 wash away, should be on a paved space, with drains running 
 to a common tank ; and a pump, or some other contrivance, 
 should be placed there to obtain the liquid as it is wanted. 
 
 Experiments in Dressing Ground. — We are quite aware 
 that chemicals have been found useful, and that the scarcity 
 of ordinary dung has made farmers and gardeners look about 
 them for substitutes ; but chemicals should be used with great 
 caution, and never, if we can get that kind of manure which 
 suits all lands, and in particular what we know agrees with 
 that we are cultivating. All experiments should be tried on 
 a small scale, if at all. It is better, in general, to wait while 
 those who have plenty try new fancies, and see the result, 
 before we commit ourselves to any new practice. It may be 
 said, we are loitering on the road to science ; but it is better 
 to do that than to go too far, and havo to retrace our steps. 
 All we have to do is to follow in the distance — to keep those 
 who are advancing so rapidly within sight, if possible ; but 
 by no means to go with them until there is a beaten track, or 
 we have directions that we can depend on. Certain it is that
 
 MANURES. 33 
 
 tens of thousands of pounds have been thrown away on expe- 
 riments that have only been useful by showing us their 
 failure. Of the multiplicity of manures, chemical and mineral, 
 tried by the gentlemen who would reproach us for not going 
 with them, only a few have led to anything like conclusive 
 results, and a still less number have been really worthy of the 
 importance attached to them. Let any one take up a book on 
 agriculture, Avritten by our forefathers, and how much will 
 they find that has actually passed for new discoveries by more 
 modern writers ! The improvements, of which it is fashion- 
 able for scientific men to boast, are few and far between. We 
 know that farmers and gardeners who were both careless 
 and extravagant have been plentiful ; but there have been 
 many grand exceptions in the same neighbourhoods ; and it 
 is hardly fair to denounce farmers and gardeners as a body 
 for the carelessness and extravagance of the few. All we 
 would urge is, that not a particle of animal or vegetable waste 
 be lost sight of. The most offensive can be buried until it is 
 fit for use ; and, according to its strength, it may be applied 
 to the land in a lesser or greater quantity. The more it is 
 decomposed, the more instantaneous its effects on the crop ; 
 and it may be taken as a general hint, that the soil is the 
 better for the dung or dressing lying in it some time before 
 the crop is sown or planted, whenever it is not thoroughly 
 decomposed before using. When it is well decomposed before 
 it is appUed, it may be forked in and mixed with the top 
 spit ; and when not so, it is better to dig it in a spit deep. 
 When crops are sown in drills, all decomposed manure may 
 be sown on or with the seeds ; and it is now a common prac- 
 tice to do so by way of saving the quantity. We prefer, in all 
 cases, di-essing the whole of the soil alike ; for, if it does cost 
 more, it v/ill, in the end, turn out more profitable. 
 
 Mulching. — If there be no insects about a garden, no 
 earwigs, there would be a good deal more mulching than 
 there now is ; but it harbours the vermin so much, that few 
 gardeners apply it. We have a settled objection to it in hot 
 weather, when people are most anxious to do it. The effect of 
 it is, first, to draw the roots of the plant to the surface, and, 
 unless the mulching is kept moist, the plant flags ; that is 
 one of our principal objections : another is, that earv.igs seem 
 to form a colony thert-, and often nearl}^ destro}^ the plant as 
 well as the flowers. In winter time, it is another affiiir alto- 
 
 c
 
 34 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 gether : mnlching keeps off the frost, and is of great service 
 to some fruit-trees, many herbaceous plants, and to vines that 
 are to be forced. Mulching is best done with stable-dung ; 
 and every time a thing is watered, the effect is seen, because 
 it is simply laying dung round the stem on the roots of any- 
 thing, and every time it is washed by the rains or the water- 
 pot, the dung feeds the plant. It is often done with holly- 
 hocks, when they are coming into bloom, and to dahhas, 
 much to their disadvantage ; for we have seen them half- 
 devoured by the colony they have invited. However, one 
 watering with lime-water will disturb the inhabitants, and 
 perhaps destroy them altogether. 
 
 THE LAYrN"G-OUT OF THE aAEDEiS". 
 
 The laying-out of a garden must depend a little upon the 
 use that is to be made of it. A garden of any extent requires 
 three main walks from end to end ; one in the centre, and one 
 on each side within a border-width of the extreme boundary, 
 one across the bottom within border-width of the fence or 
 wall^ and one across the upper, and about the same distance 
 from the extreme. Borders on all four sides are handy : we 
 are not supposed to command the situation of the garden, but 
 it is quite certain that such portions of this border as face the 
 south and west will be warm, and those which face the north 
 and east will be cool. If the boundary happens to be some- 
 where about the points of the compass, one side and one end 
 wiU be warm, and the other side and end cool ; but this is of 
 small consequence — one-half the border will be each way. 
 
 Paths. — The paths ought not to be less than five feet : if 
 ground is scarce, a barrow can be pushed along a walk of 
 three feet, but there is nothing like room. If we have paths 
 too narrow, two barrows could not pass, and there would be 
 fifty inconveniences that we hardly contemplate, and could 
 not foresee, perhaps. These paths are not to be mere spaces 
 marked out, and trodden down hard; although many gardens 
 have no other, and in such case they are useless in wet 
 weather. J^o ; they should be the first space that is dug all 
 over a piece of ground to be converted to garden purposes. 
 Mark them out with a line, and dig out a good spade deep all 
 along, the width you intend the path to be, sloping your spade 
 outwards, while you cut the two sides, to form a bank as even
 
 LATING-OUT OF THE GARDEN. 35 
 
 as a board. If you are likely to want the mould, wheel all of 
 it to a heap at the most convenient part of the premises. If 
 the garden happens to be a great length, say a hundred yards 
 or near it, it would be as well to have a cross-walk or path 
 also, about half-way down, instead of having to go the whole 
 round when you are at work on the middle ; but this is a 
 mere question of convenience. When you come to trench and 
 dig the whole space, throw all sorts of stones and rubbish, 
 brickbats, tiles, oyster-shells, broken glass and crockery^, brick 
 lubbish, and everything else that is hard and durable into 
 these paths ; and when you have thrown all that you meet 
 with in digging and trenching, procure enough of any kind of 
 rough stuff to fill them nearly up with, so tliat there may be, 
 say, three inches left for road-sand or gravel, to make a facing 
 good and dry to walk on, or wheel a barrow on. 
 
 Compartments and their Management. — You may now, 
 with stakes of wood driven down here and there, mark your 
 ground out into compartments, that you may number as you 
 please, say from one up to twenty or more ; this facilitates a 
 system which every gardener, professional or amateur, ought 
 to adopt — that is, make memorandums of his garden opera- 
 tions, taking especial account of the times he sows and gathers, 
 what department it is in, how he manui-ed or dressed (if at 
 all), and the general state, if not actual quantities of the crop ; 
 and, if he sells, what they brought him. By this he may 
 always avoid sowing or planting the same thing twice on the 
 same spot, until he has sown the whole ground in turn. For 
 instance, say he plants jJ^o. 1 with potatoes in November 1849, 
 he need jiot plant No. 1 with potatoes again until all the 
 other departments have been planted with them ; or, perhaps, 
 he may plant No. 1 with potatoes in November, No. 6 with 
 the same vegetable in December, and No. 10 and No. 12 in 
 February. Here are four compartments engaged in potatoes 
 the same season. He can avoid planting these four -with 
 potatoes for four or five years again, only by looking at his 
 book. It is the same with all the rest of the crops : carrots, 
 beetroot, parsnips, turnips, or cabbages of all kinds, may be 
 regulated in the same way ; for crops ought to be varied as 
 much as possible, and the ground should be dunged or other- 
 wise at every cropping, according to the. plants that have 
 come off, as well as those that go on. ^Yhe^l the garden is so 
 marked out, the alleys should be made at the marks ; and the 
 
 g2
 
 36 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 best "way is never to disturb tbe earth, for eighteen inches' 
 width from mark to mark, but let the hard undisturbed ground 
 form a sort of path, to divide all these compartments; by 
 leaving them hard and undug, they will always keep drier 
 than if they were disturbed at the digging time; besides 
 which, they would be useful to wheel on, as the barrow-wheel 
 would not sink in it. V.licn the ground is all dug, and the 
 alleys are merely unplantcd spaces, the place is never so tidy. 
 A-N^enever the ground is dug, the line has to be stretched 
 along the edge of those paths, and the soil dug sloping 
 inwards, so that the path is not broken at the edges ; and 
 great care should be taken not to encroach upon the width of 
 the paths, nor to make them rotten by omitting to chop or cut 
 the side down low enough to prevent the lifting of the soil in 
 the digging, from cracking or disturbing it. Paths formed of 
 the ground itself are never too good ; and if they are dis- 
 turbed at all, they are often impassable, or, at least, unpleasant. 
 The digging of these compartments, or the trenching of them, 
 as the case may be, is to be regulated by what they are re- 
 Cjuired to produce ; and the dressing of them may safely be 
 done before they are dug, that the manure or compost may be 
 buried. If the first crop does not get much the better for it, 
 tlie second will. It may be, that the ground is not square, 
 and does not approximate to a square ; when this is the case, 
 it is better to have the paths straight notwithstanding : they 
 need not be parallel. The middle and two side walks will do 
 very well for long square pieces of ground, but odd-shaped 
 ground requires a different disposition of the main walks. 
 There should, however, be one decided rule — that of having 
 a main path all round the ground about a reasonable distance 
 for a good border, something between six and ten feet ; and 
 it is convenient that the walk or path next this border should 
 be four or five feet wide, and perfectly straight from angle to 
 angle, however many angles there may be ; and the com- 
 partments of the garden should be well-defined in straight 
 lines or angles, for the convenience of regulating the lines of 
 the crop. If you feel that ground is a great object, you may 
 do away with the paths or alleys that are to permanently 
 divide the compartments, and merely keep marks, from which 
 at all times you can stretch a line, to show the extent of the 
 compartments, and only leave the crops themselves to settle 
 or show the boundaries of such compartments. A notice of
 
 GENERAL GARDENING DIFFERENT FROM LANDSCAPE. 37 
 
 examples of odd-shaped gardens may be useful to give hints 
 to those "who are laying out grounds for plain gardens at pre- 
 sent. The principal feature is, that the outer walk is "within 
 as near as may be the "vvidth of a border from the extreme 
 boundary ; and that, consistent with this, the path is in angles 
 to meet the inequalities of the boundary, the border being 
 liere and there narrower or wider, as the straight line of the 
 path happens to differ from the boundary line. 
 
 GENEEAL GARDENING DIFEEEENT EEOM 
 LANDSCAPE. 
 
 Straight walks, as far as they are practicable, are the most 
 convenient in general gardening, which is every way different 
 from landscape gardening. The one is a market garden or 
 nursery for plants, and right lines are the most profitable ; 
 the other, a dress garden, or an imitation of nature in her best 
 features, and must exhibit no trace of art except in perfecting 
 such features as are natural. The la"wn may be kept up as 
 smooth as velvet, or imitation of some pastures ; the clumjis 
 may be like those of the forest, which are more beautiful than 
 the rest ; the artificial river, or brook, or lake, m.ay imitate the 
 finest spot in nature, but the artist's entire aim must be to 
 conceal art in the production of natural features. He may 
 imitate nature's softest scenes, or her most rugged beauties, 
 but he must not expose the artist's work. Consistency must 
 characterise every inch of the space he covers or appropriates ; 
 every tree or shrub he plants must be in nature's strict rules 
 of propriety — not only so, he must only follow nature as far 
 as she is correct. He must not run after lusus naturce. An 
 artist would be as mad to paint a picture with one of those ex- 
 traordinary and unnatural-looking skies of mottled, streaked, 
 and fantastically-marked clouds of gold and green and silver, 
 as a gardener who would put bulrushes and Avater-lilies on 
 a hill, or firs in a swamp. There have been such things seen 
 in nature, but they are the mere sports of nature. But in 
 artificial, or, as we might call it, manufacturing gardening, — 
 that is, gardening for production only instead of for ornament, 
 — not an inch should be lost for the sake of appearance. The 
 crops are in roAvs as straight as the line can mark them, for 
 the sake of giving the exact room required, and no more; and 
 the paths should be the same. Even the boundary, which we
 
 38 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 cannot control, must be rendered subservient to straight rows, 
 as far as we can place tliem, and the inequalities alone mark 
 Avhere the planting is to stop. 
 
 Kitchen Gardening. — The advantage of marking the com- 
 partments is, that they may be dressed in different ways : 
 one may be dressed with one compost, another mth a different 
 one ; and the record of how they are dressed will enable us 
 to tell how each has answered its purpose for the several 
 crops. But we might go further than this ; we might change 
 the entire nature of the soil in one compartment for any 
 particular purpose, by removing some of its own soil and 
 substituting other. We might attempt to point out or indi- 
 cate where the compartments might be divided ; but this may 
 be always a matter of fancy. They ought not to be too large, 
 in proportion to the space occupied by the whole ; nor ought 
 they to be too numerous. They should approximate a little 
 to the nature of the crops intended to be produced. If a great 
 variety be required, the compartments may be numerous. 
 If, on the contrary, the crops are to be confined to a few, the 
 compartments need not be so small, nor so many in number. 
 But enough ought to be done in this way for the purpose of 
 recording what each compartment is done ^vith — the sowing 
 or cropping of them, the removal and character of the crop, 
 the following dressings, and successive operations, and results, 
 costs, produce, and such other particulars as may be worth 
 notice. The garden, so far as we have gxDne, may be said to 
 be drained, trenched, laid-out, the paths made, and divided 
 into compartments. 
 
 Sowing. — The various modes of cropping the ground are, 
 sowing broadcast, which is spreading the seeds over the whole 
 surface thick enough to cover the ground properly, but not 
 so thick as to waste it ; sowing in driUs, Avhich is done by 
 hand ^yiih a hoe, or by machines, which make the drills, and 
 drop the seeds in the drills they make ; and so-\\Tng by dibble, 
 wliich is making holes the depth the seed ought to be buiied, 
 and dropping the seeds in the holes so made. There are many 
 advocates for all tnree modes, but for some particular crops 
 one may be preferred to the other occasionally. There are, 
 however, machines now for sowing broadcast, and also in drills 
 of any depth or distance ; though broadcast was doubtless so 
 called from the fact that men threw the seed abroad from a 
 basket before them, and, strewing it right and left, made a
 
 DRILLING. 39 
 
 fair distribution over the whole surface to be soivn. When 
 seed is sown broadcast, it is generally raked or harrowed into 
 the ground, and afterwards rolled ; when sown in drills, the-^ 
 may be made by hand, and the seed may be covered in by 
 hand with a hoe, or the machine which makes drills, and 
 deposits the seeds, is contrived so as to cover it over at the 
 same time. Dibbling in seeds is frequently resorted to ir 
 gardens ; and of late years, even the sowing or dibbling in ot 
 wheat upon a large scale has been advocated with some 
 energy by those who affect to have succeeded. Machines 
 have been constructed so as to make small holes in the ground, 
 and leave their seeds in the holes, so that, with comj)aratively 
 little trouble or labour, a large extent of land can be sown 
 with an immense saving of seed, and a uniformity that could 
 never be secured by hand. 
 
 Drilling. — The efficacy of these several modes of getting 
 seed into the ground is much the same ; there are some general 
 rules to attend to, and there ends all that concerns the germi- 
 nation, so far as the sowing goes. In all garden matters, the 
 sowing by hand is generally reported to, and it is simply a 
 question, often settled by what a man has been used to, 
 whether he will soav broadcast or in drills, turnips, carrots, 
 parsnips, beetroot, parsley, spinach, and various other crops, 
 that require to be left at certain distances apart to complete 
 their growth. When sown in drills, we require to have the 
 drills at just the distance apart that the plants are to be left, 
 because then we have only to thin the plants in the row to 
 the same distance as the drills are apart, and we have the 
 work done. Young gardeners are recommended to adopt the 
 diill system, because it is such a capital guide to them in the 
 thinning out of the crops ; but experienced gardeners sow 
 broadcast, because it is the quickest operation, and they can 
 chop out the plants to the proper distances from habit. We 
 recommend drill culture for young gardeners, because, although 
 it takes longer time to sow, it takes much less time to thin out, 
 and the straight lines are such a guide to the unpractised 
 hand. Beans and peas are cultivated in rows, consequently 
 are always sown in drills, and there are other subjects which 
 are for the most part dibbled in. Potatoes, for instance, are 
 dibbled in, one man going along the rows making holes of a 
 right depth, into which his follower drops the sets as he ad- 
 vances ; but we prefer even potatoes planted in di'ills of a
 
 40 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 proper depth ; and on a large scale it is very generally adopted. 
 Even the plough is set to work to make a furrow, into which 
 the seed is dropped at proper distances, and the next furrow 
 made fills up the one which has received the seed. 
 
 The depth which seeds ought to be placed in the earth 
 depends greatly on the size of them ; small seeds ought only 
 to be fairly covered, but covering is absolutely necessary for 
 protection, or it would be devoured by bii^ds and also vermin, 
 even were it not necessary for its proj^er germination. How- 
 ever, so long as all small seeds are fairly covered, they will 
 take no harm ; the potato requires to be covered four inches 
 at the least in summer time, and six if planted in winter or 
 autumn ; scarlet beans should be covered a good inch and a 
 half, and French beans half that depth. 
 
 The great art of sowing is, to be able to spread the seed so 
 thinly and evenly as to waste very little : even the advocate 
 of broadcast sowing concedes this, that where there is one that 
 can sow well, there are hundreds who waste seed, and yet do 
 not sow all the ground. Many seeds are sown on beds very 
 thick, for the sake of taking but httle room at first, and when 
 they are grown large enough to handle, pricked out three or 
 four inches apart to grow strong, and lastly j^lanted out at the 
 proper distances to make their full growth ; such, for instance, 
 as cabbages of all kiuds, Brussels sprouts, brocoh, cauliflowers, 
 Scoth kale, and even scarlet beans, are often, for the sake of 
 forwarding them, grown in a patch under slight protection, 
 and planted out in ]\Iay. 
 
 The seasons of sowing have a good deal to do with the 
 mode of sowing ; and the length of time a crop has to be iu 
 the ground is another circumstance which weighs a little in 
 the determining as to the mode of sowing ; but, upon the 
 whole, in garden-crops, for the sake of appearance, we should 
 always recommend drill-sowing, in preference to broadcast. 
 
 There are some permanent subjects which may be either 
 sown where they are to remain, or sown in patches, and be 
 planted out. Of the most particular, there are asparagus, 
 rhubarb, and sea-kale. IMany make asparagus-beds with roots 
 one or two years old, and sea-kale with plants which have 
 gro\A'n one complete season and died down. Rhubarb is fre- 
 quently formed into regular plantations from roots, offsets, 
 and seeds, as the case may be. In these cases, when the seed 
 is to form the bed, rhubarb Avould be dibbled in at the propeif
 
 SOWING OR CROPPING. 4l 
 
 distances, the precaution against failure being the dropping 
 of two seeds in instead of one, and when up removing the 
 weakest. Sea-kale may be also dibbled in, two or three seeds 
 in a hole, for the mere opportunity of removing the least 
 likely plant to succeed. Asparagus, in the same ^vay, may be 
 dibbled in ; but there is the objection, which applies to all 
 tlu-ee alike, the ground is occupied unnecessarily for a con- 
 siderable time, w^hereas, if these seeds are sown thickly in a 
 smaller space of ground, and planted at proper distances when 
 they are strong enough, there is no ground lost. We are not 
 inclined to admit that which the advocates for sowing on the 
 permanent beds claim ; they say that the plants are stronger 
 and better for never being removed : stronger they may be, 
 better they cannot ; the check the plants or roots receive is 
 of the greatest service ; it keeps them from growing so rank, 
 and sweetens their flavour, and generally improves their habit. 
 The Avhole routine of sowing and cropping a new kitchen 
 garden may be learned from the Calendars, but a few words 
 may be useful here. There is a double argument upon the 
 subject of seasons, but the side to be taken will depend on 
 a person's object and wants. One man may be anxious to 
 have things as early and as late as possible ; and he may 
 consider that losing half-a-dozen sowings by means of bad 
 weather is of no consequence as compared with the chance of 
 a dish of peas a fortnight earUer or later than the regular 
 seasons ; such a person may begin sowing peas in I^ovembci-, 
 and continue every three weeks all through the winter, spring, 
 and summer. Another may care nothing about things out of 
 season, and therefore depend entirely upon main crops, which 
 he will sow at the particular season most hkely to yield him 
 the best return. Here are two managements, then, entirely 
 dilFerent, one quite as proper as the other for their respective 
 advocates, but all persons of humble means should study main 
 crops, and run no risk ; that is to say, none but the risk 
 attendant on all cultivation, after we have done our best as to 
 the season. Again, one may sow radishes in the autumn, 
 with a foreknowledge that he must obtain litter, and cover up 
 nightly, until May ; while another would not give a farthing 
 to have radishes before he can get them from the open ground 
 without care or trouble, and consequently will not sow a seed 
 until the ordinary time for unprotected crops. These very 
 opposite motives give rise to two very diil'erent systems of
 
 42 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 cultivation, both, equally proper in their way, but the one 
 comprising all the arts required to bring things before their 
 time, the other trusting to the proper season only, and hus- 
 banding both time and money: the former adapted to the 
 enthusiastic gardener, who aims to beat the seasons, and often 
 succeeds ; the other is the wiser course for the cottage gar- 
 dener, who works for profitable crops, and will risk nothing 
 for the speculative gratification of either ambition or appetite. 
 But the plan of operations is the same both ways ; the dif- 
 ference is, that one sows half-a-dozen crops of peas, radishes, 
 and other vegetables, before the other sows at all. Let us, 
 then, look at the general directions for the proper season, and 
 the only difference will be, that one must use a hand-glass, a 
 frame, litter, hoops and mats, or some other protection, while 
 the other lets everything take its chance. 
 
 Cropping. — Every one of the cabbage tribe — savoys, 
 picklers, Brussels sprouts, Scotch kale, cauliflowers, and bro- 
 coli, of all the kinds — should be sown on a seed-bed. Let 
 the beds for this purpose be four feet '\\'ide, with eighteen- 
 inch alleys between ; let them be well dug and dressed, and 
 the earth well pulverized. Divide these beds into as many 
 compartments as you intend to sow varieties ; and, laying 
 down a couple of old sacks, so as to leave only the part to be 
 sown exposed, sow the sorts of seed thinly, but evenly, to fill 
 up the allotted space, either raking it in, or sifting enough 
 fiiie soil over it to cover the seed ; by removing one sack close 
 up to the other, you will cover the sown part as far as you 
 have gone, and then remove the other sack from the place 
 unsown to the distance you want to occupy with the next sort 
 of seed. Li this way you may fill up your beds, and yet keep 
 each sort of seed very distinct. "\Yhen this sowing is done, 
 you may occupy other spaces in the garden with carrots, 
 spinach, onions, leeks, and other vegetables that have not to 
 be moved ; and at a later season the beet and parsnips ; beans 
 and peas may be sown any time, French beans rather late, 
 scarlet beans last ; also radishes and small salad, herbs, let- 
 tuces, and other subjects likely to be wanted. But we have 
 more to do with the practical part of the work than we have 
 with the seasons, which we have shown may be adapted to 
 please others. 
 
 Pricking out. — When all the cabbage tribe, brocoli, kale, 
 and other things for planting out, have come up, and are
 
 SOWING OR CROPPING. 43 
 
 getting four rough leaves, they must be carefully hand- weeded ; 
 and you must prepare other four-feet-wide beds, well dressed, 
 into which all the young seedlings are to be pricked — that is, 
 they are to be put in the new beds, four to six inches apart, 
 by taking them carefully from the seed-bed, without breaking 
 their hbres, and by making a hole large enough to take in 
 theii* roots ; the plants are to be held with the left hand at 
 the height they are to be kept, and with the dibble put the 
 earth to the roots. The whole of the plants from the seed- 
 bed may be thus disposed of, recollecting that each sort is to 
 be kept separate, the same as they were in the seed-bed, and 
 that they will require ten times the room in the store-bed 
 that they had in the seed-bed. Many plants left in the seed- 
 beds will be too small ; but if they are thinned out enough, 
 they will grow stronger there, as well as in the store-bed ; for 
 where they are pricked out a few inches apart, to grow larger, 
 is in fact the store-bed, from which they will be taken at the 
 proper season for planting out. During the first few weeks 
 they will require hand-weeding, for in their young state a few 
 rank weeds would faiiiy destroy them altogether ; after they 
 have had a month or six weeks' growth, they will in turn be 
 too strong to let the weeds grow. 
 
 Thinning the Crops. — While, however, these crops are 
 getting ready for pricking out, the spinach and onions, carrots 
 and other matters have been growing fast, and will require 
 hoeing out and thinning ; for if they were left as thick as 
 they were sown, there would be no crop at all ; the plants 
 would destroy each other. If they have been sown in drills, 
 at proper distances, you have only to hoe away the plants in 
 the row till they are the same distance from each other one 
 way as they are the other ; and the distance, being already so 
 well defined between the rows, assists a young hand very 
 much in the regulation of his crop. In market-gardens and 
 tolerably large establisliments, and indeed most places where 
 there are regular gardeners, the broadcast is preferred, as the 
 experienced hand mil rather see a Uttle irregularity than hoe 
 up strong plants ; so that you A\ill always observe irregularities 
 in a broad piece. With onions, it is abnost universal to sow 
 broadcast ; and there are not many who allow more than four 
 inches between the plants, so that in heavy crops, on good 
 land, they touch each other in many places, and are very close 
 in all. The great art in sowing is, to distribute the seed
 
 44 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 equally all over a given space ; that is, whether the seed is 
 to be an inch apart or three inches apart, to have no more on 
 one spot than on another ; but there are many things that 
 operate against this. In the first place, some seed is so full 
 of dead, that scarcely one in twenty-five seeds will come up ; 
 in other cases, fifty per cent, may germinate ; and we once 
 gave a man some onion-seed of our own saving, and when he 
 sowed it he was puzzled at the result ; he had not sown it 
 thicker than usual with his former seed, but here they actually 
 choked one another. He had been used to have seed sent down 
 from London, which never came up too thick, and probably 
 not a fourth was alive ; but here every seed told, and it was 
 as tliick as small salading. Falling later into the season, we 
 have beet-root, a very principal crop, to look after, and it 
 may be sown in drills, six or eight inches apart, and be 
 dropped in, a seed or two every six or eight inches in the 
 row; or it may be dibbled in at those distances; or it may 
 be sown as thinly as possible broadcast, to be hoed as turnips 
 are, clearing away all but plants enough to stand eight inches 
 apart all over the bed. The clearing them of weeds at the 
 same time as they are thinned out, and keeping them so, are 
 matters of course ; and crops of all sorts want the same at- 
 tention. 
 
 Transplanting. — By the time beans and peas are earthed 
 up, and the former staked, to keep them off the ground, the 
 plants which were pricked out in the store-beds are getting 
 large, and vacant ground may be filled with them ; the cab- 
 bages may be the first that are put out in rows, a foot apart, 
 and the rows eighteen inches from each other. Larger sorts 
 of cabbage may be still more distant ; but this is far enough 
 for all the moderate-sized ones, because as soon as they have 
 grown enough to be worth pulling, every other plant may be 
 removed, and then the distances of the plants will be eighteen 
 inches by two feet. The savoys, Brussels sprouts, pickling 
 cabbages, brocoli, kale, and other winter crops, may wait 
 somewhat later; and when planted out, advantage must be 
 taken of heavy showers, so as to plant them out when the 
 ground is moist. The planting out of these winter greens 
 may be done at many different times ; generally speaking, 
 they wait for the ground, and many fill it up as last as other 
 crops are got rid of. 
 
 All the various kinds of crops so plantec' out must be
 
 SOWING AND CROPPING. 46 
 
 earthed up ; tluit is to say, the hoe must be set to work be- 
 tween the rows, aud the loose earth drawn up to the stems of 
 the plants, forming a little bank next to their stalks, the 
 whole length of the row, and this should always be done in a 
 dry day. Peas and beans are also the better for this ; and we 
 may consider that, this fairly done, the spinach, turnips, car- 
 rots, onions thinned out, the beet-root well up, the stock-beds 
 not empty, and all things clean, the garden may be properly 
 called cropped ; not that we are to overlook that, once regular 
 in her productions, the garden will be as regular in her failures, 
 and the decline of a crop is as certain as its arrival at perfec- 
 tion. Sowing, pricking out, and transplanting, constitutes 
 the cropping of a kitchen-garden; but there are certain things 
 which, as we have liinted before, may be sown again and 
 again. Thus spinach, turnips, carrots, beans, peas, potatoes, 
 cabbages, lettuces, and salads generally, may be sown a score 
 times in a summer ; and successive crops of many things are 
 desirable ; but the work is the same ; the sowing, pricking 
 out, transplanting, which last is the same as pricking out, 
 only on a larger scale, are precisely the same for one season 
 as another. The distances of all the tribe, cabbage, cauli- 
 flower, brocoli, and savoy, two feet by eighteen inches will 
 always answer the purpose ; and there is no more difficulty 
 in doing this six times a summer than once. The winter 
 greens are, in fact, generally subservient to other crops ; till 
 they are gone ofi", the others cannot go in ; and when every- 
 tliing else suits, the weatlier is dry and parching, and therefore 
 they must wait for wet. 
 
 But the mere vegetable portion of a garden is but little 
 towards the general stock. It has to be planted with the 
 usual bushes and trees, if it be a kitchen-garden ; with shrubs 
 and plants if it be a pleasure-garden ; and with flowers, if it 
 be intended for such a department at all. Yet we are not to 
 forget that flowers, and especially the whole race of perennials, 
 require precisely the same management as a common cabbage. 
 The sowing is the same ; the pricking out into store-beds, the 
 same ; the planting ultimately in the places where they are 
 to bloom and perfect themselves, all come to the same end, as 
 well as begin at the same beginning. The mere difference of 
 the size or growth of the plants is nothing. The sweet-pea in 
 the flower-garden wants the same attention as the eatable pea 
 of the kitchen -garden. The onlv difference between the flower
 
 46 PRACTICAL GARDEXING. 
 
 and kitchen gardens is, the great extent of varieties in the 
 one as compared with the other ; but the great variety of 
 flowers does not require a great variety of treatment ; what is 
 good for the wallflower and sweetwilHam, both perennial 
 flowers, is also good for the polyanthus, the pink, the stock, 
 columbine, carnation, and all other hardy or moderately hardy 
 plants. The sowiug is the same, the pricking out the same, 
 the transplanting the same ; and, in fact, all other operations, 
 until we come to the growing any of them in pots, of which 
 we intend to speak in another place. There are, however, 
 dehcate plants which require different treatment ; for the 
 tomato, chili, and capsicum of the kitchen-garden are as tender 
 as the balsam, coxcomb, and egg-plant of the flower-garden ; 
 and up to a certain point, that is to say, until the warm wea- 
 ther of June, they may not be trusted out. 
 
 Flower and Kitchen Gardening Compared. — The sowing 
 of delicate seeds requires great care, and, generally speaking, 
 even if the plant be hardy, valuable seeds are sown in pans, 
 pots, or boxes ; not for the sake of being protected, so much 
 as for the sake of preventing waste. The princi^Dle, however, 
 of sowing is the same : the seed has to be sown and covered, 
 which covering is always best done with a small sieve and 
 some fine compost. Some flower-seeds are exceedingly deli- 
 cate, but scarcely any can be more so than celery, nor are 
 there many that come up weaker. These undergo fully as 
 tender a treatment as flowers ; they are pricked out, two or 
 three inches apaii;, while the plants are very young. They 
 are even begun for the earliest season by sowing the seeds in 
 a pot, and placing it in heat. ^Tien they are pricked out, it 
 is generally under a frame, and it is not until they are tole- 
 rably strong that they are ever put into their final place of 
 abode. The only diiference with flowers is tliis, their final 
 destination : a hundred or two cauliflowers, or celery, or 
 brocoli, are placed in a formal manner, as a crop ; and a hun- 
 dred or two flowers get pushed about into every part of the 
 borders and beds, and are mixed with a hundred other kinds 
 of plants. 
 
 Sowing Flower-seeds. — The sowing of flower-seeds in 
 borders is common enough, although it is far better to sow in 
 pots, and turn them out into borders. Flower-seeds are sown 
 in patches, and when they come up, the number of plants to 
 be left is often not so much as a tenth of the number that
 
 SOWING AND CROPPING. 47 
 
 have come up. Generally speaking, those sown in the borders 
 are stronger and more rampant than those sown in pots and 
 turned out ; but they are not the better for their strength ; 
 the check plants meet with in the pot, and when turned out, 
 moderates the growth and hastens the bloom ; and, as a 
 general rule, this holds good with other things. Erocoli left 
 in the seed-bed, and with plenty of room and good soil, will 
 not make so good a head as that which has been moved twice ; 
 there will be more green, perhaps, but less flower. Peas 
 sown in boxes, and then put out in rows, come to flower in a 
 more dwarf state, and have a good deal more flower, in pro- 
 portion to their size, than those sown where they ^re to grow. 
 Scarlet beans, partly starved in a pot, and then planted out, 
 will have mostly more flowers and pods than those sown in 
 the row at once, though they will not have so much rampant 
 growth. 
 
 Sowing Tree-seeds. — The sowing of seeds extends, how- 
 ever, from small salading to the sturdy oak ; and as much, 
 perhaps, has been ^Tittcn upon one subject as we are taking 
 for the whole. In the sowing of haAvs and hips for thorns 
 and briers, acorns for the oak, pips for apples and pears, stones 
 for plums and cherries, and all things do\\ii to the little seeds 
 of strawberries and raspberries, to produce those plants and 
 canes, all require only to be placed in the earth, to be covered 
 enough to conceal them from the vermin, and shield them 
 from the heating rays of the sun, and time will do the rest. 
 Tliey must all be kept clear of weeds, for these drain the earth 
 of its moisture, where moisture is most wanted, that is, near 
 the surface. The whole management of any or all these con- 
 sists in keeping them clean and giving them water when they 
 would be parched and perhaps killed without it. When they 
 have had a year's grow^th, — and it is to be noticed that some 
 of them will be a year coming up, or a great portion of it, — 
 they will remove at the proper time, and are bedded out, that 
 is, placed in the easiest way a few inches apart, and then 
 provided with good nourishment and better room ; but the 
 sowing part is as simple with on^^a^' pf plnit t as another. 
 
 Treatment after SowiN^^^^^S^eM rule should be 
 observed, which is, that l»c s^^^Micn 'once i/ginriipg to 
 swell, should never be all^^ed to get ck>5CSgain. In theX^pen 
 ground it seldom does, bimin potsTtlip^ipla fclii^c^'of neglect; 
 the seeds can draw notlfiag fror4-t)tKvtVi§^ii\lIe case t^ith 
 
 -^^^>v- ,.. 
 
 ^{^LlNOr-^'
 
 48 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 those in the open air, and therefore require constant watching ; 
 nor must young seedlings be allowed to want water at any 
 time, because they soon feel it and flag, and if they flag too 
 long they do not recover. It is, too, with the exception of 
 slight annuals, almost invariably the case, that as soon as we 
 can handle them, they derive advantage from removing from 
 the seedling-pot or bed^ and being pricked out into fresh soil, 
 which of course must be appro23riate, even if only an inch 
 apart, but the distance must depend on the probable growth. 
 Choice of Seed. — As the sooner the seed is sown after it 
 is ripe, the more certain it is of germiuating, most people 
 choose the seed of the previous season; but there are many 
 kinds of seeds that will last some years, and be good, and 
 there are others that are considered all the better if some of 
 their powers are reduced by keeping. The cucumber and 
 melon are considered the better for keeping ; that is, they do 
 not grow so vigorously, but they bear sooner and better. All 
 the seeds which are imported should be sown immediately, 
 because we do not know how old they may be. Stove and 
 greenhouse plants, at least many of them, seed freely in the 
 keeping of a good gardener; and these should be sown as 
 soon as they are ripe, because they are more certam of coming 
 up, and, being in a climate that suits them, it matters but 
 little when they appear. They can be grown as well through 
 the winter, with proper care, as they would in summer. 
 Those who prefer the spring often find it more difficult to rear 
 the young plants through a hot summer, than they ever find 
 it to bring them through the winter, because they have no 
 business to suffer from cold, and it is bad management if they 
 suffer from damp. But if seeds arrive from abroad, at the 
 very worst period for sowing, they should nevertheless be 
 sown, because many are on arrival at the last stage of vitality, 
 and a very short time would deprive us of the chance of their 
 germinating at all. 
 
 pLANTma 
 
 There has been no little pains taken to teach the rising 
 generation how to plant, if we judge by the number and 
 extent of the works on the subject; but their number and 
 extent have alone perhaps deterred many from attempting to 
 learn by those means. We propose to reduce planting to a 
 very simple operation, governed by the most unerring prin-
 
 PLANTING. 49 
 
 ciples, and we do not allow ourselves to find any difficulty in 
 an operation so simple. There is nothing more common than 
 to see in anything like a new plantation of various trees and 
 shrubs, many that have suffered considerably, some that are 
 almost dead, and others that have altogether failed. This is 
 the result of downright bad management. There is nothing 
 in the age of the trees or in the nature of them to render such 
 a result likely, and it can only have happened by removing 
 them when all their roots were active and the other organs 
 correspondingly at work, or by a careless sacrifice of parts of 
 their roots in taking up ; or by the ground being in bad order 
 when they were planted, or by improper planting. 
 
 Proper Season for Planting. — The essentials in planting 
 are — to choose the period when all the organs of the plant are 
 dormant ; that is, after the season's growth is completed, and 
 the foliage has attained its size, and before there is any move- 
 ment towards the new growth. Deciduous trees speak for 
 themselves ; when their leaves have fallen, they are at rest, 
 and the moving ought to take place before the new buds have 
 begun to swell ; not that there is much mischief in a little 
 delay, but the proper time is before there is any swelling of 
 the buds ; — next, to take up the tree with every fibre un- 
 damaged ; and more pains is required to accomplish this than 
 many people tliink proper to take ; thirdly, whatever damage 
 the root sustains must be compensated for by a correspond- 
 ing reduction of the tree ; — fourthly, the planting must be 
 conducted so that no violence is done to the parts in the 
 ground ; the earth must be made to fill up the interstice!^ 
 between the roots ; there must be no hollow places. When 
 a tree has suffered much, it is worth the trouble of making 
 the hole full of mud ; that is, pour two or three pails of water 
 into the hole, and throw in a cone of loose earth on which the 
 root may be placed, and fill up with loose earth all round by 
 moving the tree sideways, backward and forward, and lifting 
 it a little, and continuing to fill it with the earth as fast as the 
 water will allow. The tree may be made a fixture in the 
 middle of this soft and tractable soil at a proper height, and 
 a little patience mil enable us to hold it moderately firm, and 
 put stakes to hold it while everything subsides. We do not 
 recommend this to trees removed as they ought to be ; we 
 prefer dry planting when the soil is in good order, and if the 
 earth is bruised fine, we can always get it in among the roots 
 
 D
 
 50 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 well enr^ugh to stand without suiFering. Our first iDusiness, 
 then, is to take the plants up weU. Dig round them in a 
 circle as far from the stem as where the ends of the fibres 
 reach ; release them as well as they can be released without 
 breaking, — at any rate break them as little as possible ; then 
 with a sharp knife cut off every bruised end and every ragged 
 place where, in spite of the care in taking up, there may have 
 been pieces broken or chopped off; and, having estimated in 
 your own mind the quantity of root lost, make ample amends 
 by reducing the head. Cut out all weak shoots close to the 
 stem ; cut out any that grow upwards or crosswise in the 
 centre ; keep only the best branches that grow in the best 
 direction, and if any of them are too long, shorten them also. 
 Then dig your hole deep enough to take in all the root, and 
 if there be any tap root, — that is, root growing downwards, — 
 sacrifice it at once by cutting it close up to the bottom of the 
 main stem. Having made the hole large enough and deep 
 enough to take in the root, fiU in some soft well-worked soil 
 to press the roots into without bruising ; then, holding the 
 tree upright while the hole is filled in, move the head of the 
 tree downwards one side and then the other, and backwards 
 and forwards, to work the soil in between the roots, and if it 
 be any too deep, lift it up until it is pretty nearly as you want 
 it, when they may till up the rest of the hole, and you may 
 tread it in well, not by pressing the soil close to the stem, but 
 by treading on it all round where the points of the roots are, 
 and when you have it pretty firm, drive three sloping stakes 
 to meet at the stem, and fasten it with straw bands, so that 
 the wind cannot rock it or disturb it. In this way, whether 
 it is an oak or a walnut-tree, a gooseberry-bush or a laurel, 
 you may always secure the well-being of any plant mth ordi- 
 nary care. 
 
 But though the deciduous trees show us so well when in 
 their proper season of rest, it is not so palpable at first sight 
 with evergreens. It wants nice observation to know their 
 season of rest. In some it is midsummer, in others later ; but 
 the cause of so many failures in evergreens is the removing of 
 them when they are active, and have not completed their 
 work. If the fohage has attained its full size and its proper 
 colour — if the last growth has assumed the same colour as the 
 rest of the tree, you may pretty safely remove it. But we 
 have seen firs moved and planted when the new push of
 
 PLANTING. 5 1 
 
 growth was commenced, and we have seen them die. We 
 have seen them removed after they had made their growth, 
 but it had not ripened, and the shoots had not assumed theii 
 permanent position, and the natural consequence followed — 
 they were perhaps two seasons dying, but they commenced 
 their decay from the moment their roots were taken from the 
 ground. If the ground, when trees are planted, is too dry, 
 water must be administered, and in no small quantity, because, 
 when we have done our best in taking up a plant, there has 
 always been some sacrifice. There is an exception, perhaps, 
 in plants taken out of peat ; for it has been often seen that a 
 piece of the earth larger than the entire root is chopped out 
 whole, and these plants cannot even feel their removal ; they 
 do not lose a fibre, and so completely are they taken up by 
 good nurserymen, that if they are in l3loom they do not even 
 fade. Planting, after all, then, consists — first, in removing a 
 plant from the place in wliich it grows without disturbing so 
 as to lose any of its roots, and that, too, at the period when 
 its roots are of least use to it ; secondl}'^, in counteracting the 
 mischief, if we have lost any roots, by lessening the work the 
 root has to do — that is, by cutting away a sufficient portion of 
 the tree to make up for the loss of roots ; thirdly, in placing 
 it again in the ground, where it is wanted, as solidly, and 
 with the roots as near as we can place them in the position 
 they were in their old situation ; fourthly, in supplying 
 moisture, if it be deficient, and so fostering it in its place that 
 it shall not afterwards be disturbed. So much for planting 
 trees and shrubs. 
 
 In planting largely, as in timbering estates, the trees are 
 generally used so small that little pains are taken to keep the 
 roots whole, (except with the coniferae, which will not bear 
 l)runing,) oaks, elms, beech, alder, ash, plane, and in fact all 
 deciduous trees, being taken up and root-pruned, as well as 
 head-pruned, with the greatest advantage ; and if the soil be 
 at all congenial to the work, they are very carelessly planted. 
 A man will drive his spade, which is a strong one, sloping 
 into the soil, and lift it a little, not by pressing down the 
 handle, but by raising it up ; the young tree is tucked into 
 the vacancy, and the sloping clod pressed back upon it, and 
 there ends the operation ; but it is far the best way to get 
 plants a year or two old, dig the ground properly, and to ] ilant 
 it solidly and well ; for if this be well managed, the true is
 
 52 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 none tlie worse for its moving, and if it be good soil it soon 
 makes a goodly show. Much of course depends on the extent 
 of planting ; but, in a general way, half the quantity done 
 well is more profitable than a great extent managed slovenly. 
 It is the planting that settles the fate of a tree in a great 
 measure ; for if the trees be taken up well, judiciously pruned, 
 and well planted, it well repays the owner for all the extra 
 cost. 
 
 The planting in gardens consists chiefly of fruit and orna- 
 mental trees, and shrubs. One of the most important points 
 to look to is often neglected — the placing of the plant at a 
 proper depth. Plant some trees too deep, and it is of httle 
 consequence, because they will strike new roots near the sur- 
 face ; but serve others so, and especially the coniferse, and 
 they will begin to get less healthy the first season, and 
 gradually dwindle, until they go right off. Gooseberry 
 and currant trees planted too deep will take no immediate 
 harm, but the chances are that they yield annually a plentiful 
 crop of suckers, and continue troublesome as long as they 
 live. 
 
 Planting in Bad Soil. — There are many stratagems used, 
 when the soil is bad, to prevent the roots of trees from going 
 down to it ; some make a flooring of brick rubbish, others 
 actually put a pavement under the roots ; but the best way is to 
 give each tree a fair supply of good soil, by removing the bad 
 to make way for it, and filling it up with the top sjDit ; then to 
 plant high enough, and, before the tree is put in the ground, 
 cut every bit of the root that shoots downwards close off; 
 when this is done, the tree will do well for years, because 
 roots do not seek an uncongenial soil wliile there is any they 
 like to get hold of ; it is only when they have exhausted the 
 good within reach that they feel the effects of the bad, and 
 the pavement is as bad as anything. Deep planting ought 
 always to be avoided — it never can be good ; and it is only 
 those trees which will strilie root all the way up the trunk, if 
 there be soil to strike, that can prosper under the circum- 
 stances. The mulberry is one of these ; many have raised 
 mounds half way up the trunk, and the tree has been none 
 the worse ; but others are damaged greatly by being put even 
 a little below the collar. We remember a rose nurseryman 
 who planted a clump of standards, half standards, and dwarf 
 standards, to give a fine rounding effect to the mass of bloom.
 
 DRAINING IN GENERAL. 53 
 
 and the first season it was very beautiful, but towards the 
 close of the season, some looked very poorly and others went 
 dead, the stock itself having died before the head. The mar 
 was paid for his clump ; and though he was to do great things 
 the next year, he did not make his appearance ; eight or ten 
 lia^nng become blemishes, they were taken up, and, to our 
 astonishment, they had been sunk to keep their heads uniform, 
 some six inches, some a foot, and one nearly eighteen inches. 
 This led to a general trial of all the sickly ones, and they had 
 been sunk in the same way, but not so deep. From this time 
 we never trusted anybody that we bought of to plant roses. 
 We ought, however, to state, that the rose nurserpnan was 
 not an EngHsli nurseryman, and that we never heard of this 
 trick being tried before or since ; but we can imagine that 
 there may have been others who, to make a pair match better, 
 may have put one deeper without dreaming of the conse- 
 quences ; and we know, from long experience, that many trees 
 are much the worse for it, although they have not actually 
 died under the inliiction. 
 
 DEAIXI^^G m GENEEAL, 
 
 AND THE MODES OF EXECUTING IT. 
 
 Although we have touched on this subject in the early 
 occupation of a garden and laying it out, it is so essential to 
 the well-being of everything, and the want of it has defeated 
 so many excellent florists and amateurs in their attempts to 
 cultivate florists' flowers and plants, that we propose to take 
 up the subject in all its bearings, and provide something like a 
 remedy for stagnant water under every possible disadvantage. 
 The Fens of Lincolnshire present us with a lesson that ought 
 to be deeply engraven on the mind of every occupant of 
 ground — a low and swampy level, below the bed of every 
 adjacent river, often covered entirely with water, and always 
 soddened, at one time worthless, and not only uncultivated, 
 but uncultivable, presented no very great temptation to owner- 
 ship. Common observers had considered it for years useless, 
 because, as they thought, it could not be drained. It was not 
 difficult to make a hole for the water to drain into, but the 
 hole would immediately fill without any drains running into 
 it, and there ended the hopes. However, men who thought a 
 little beyond their neighbours could see that, if by any means
 
 54 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 the water could be pumped from the hole up to a course that 
 would take it away, all difficulties would cease ; and this was 
 at length accomphshed, without any run off, or any possibihty 
 of making one. The land was good for notliingj but by 
 setting pumps to w^ork and raising the water from the hole to 
 a channel far above the ground, and which would take it away 
 as fast as it was pumped thence, the land was capable of being 
 effectually drained by the constant apphcation of mechanical 
 power, and from being worthless became worth forty shillings 
 an acre. Those who traverse the Fens now will see the 
 mighty power of steam always at work, channels of running 
 water, far above the level, made the receptacle of that pumped 
 up from the reservoirs deep enough to receive the drainage 
 from the lowest lands ; and the immense space which once 
 produced coarse water-grass, and rushes, flags, and other 
 aquatic weeds, now bearing six quarters of wheat per acre. 
 
 Draining where there is no Outlet. — AVe do not sup- 
 pose there are many gardens situated so unfavourably as this ; 
 but there are thousands of plots of ground occupied as gardens 
 which are not only undrained, but which have no outlet for 
 water, if the draining operation were performed. This is the 
 worst position that a garden can be in ; and, do as we may, 
 they cannot be drained effectually. However, much good 
 may be done, and by no very costly means. Select the lowest 
 part of the ground, if there be any difference, where to sinl?: a 
 reservoir, or what may be termed a pond. If the land be 
 clay, it will only need to have the sides a little sloping. If it 
 be hght, sandy, or peat}^, the sides must slope much more. 
 The time for the operation must be when the land- water is 
 lowest, the work being continued till you come to water each 
 tune you set at it ; and when that has gone off, to leave it 
 dry, or comparatively dry, commence again, until you get it as 
 deep as you require it — not less than four feet, and five would 
 be better. Make a drain along the lowest part of the ground, 
 three feet six inches deep, leading into this reservoir ; or, if 
 the ground be such as to warrant it, let the reservoir be a 
 proper ditch, the length of the lower end. Let there now be 
 other drains made from the further part of the ground to this 
 main drain, or ditch, whichever you have adopted ; these to 
 be three feet six inches deep at the lower ends that come into 
 the main drain, and to rise no more than is actually necessary 
 to make a run of water, the shallowest not being less than
 
 DRAINING. 55 
 
 two feet, or two feet six, if it can be had ; these drains should 
 run parallel, and one rod apart. All these drains should be 
 made tapered to a point, thus V- -Tlie drains may be made 
 with pipes of two-inch bore, laid end to end ; or, if these can- 
 not be had, with large stones to hll uj) eight or ten inches of 
 the drain, leaving, as they will, a run for water at the point, 
 and forming, as they will, a run through the stones above. If 
 neither large stones nor pipes can be had, get faggots, clip- 
 pings of hedges, and such like open stuff, to occupy the drain 
 as high up as we have mentioned ; or, if none of these can be 
 had, cut the earth where it is stiffest into large lumps, so that 
 when they are put in, they will not go to the bottom, but 
 leave a vacancy. 
 
 When the best has been done that can be done under the 
 circumstances for the presei-vation of a run of water, let all 
 the drains be filled up to the surface, and a little above, to 
 allow for settling doA\Ti a little. But diaining would seem 
 labour in vain, if, in spite of all this, the reservoir gets choked 
 up nearly to the top with water, and all the drains are full, 
 which, of, course, they must be, w^henever the only outlet they 
 have is choked up. Yet now comes the question of the good 
 that is done by even this apology for draining. 
 
 All the water that is used for watering the garden may be 
 taken out of this reservoir, and, if there be labour at com- 
 mand, this may be done rather copiously ; and although yoii 
 cannot- remove the liquid fast enough to make a serious dif- 
 ference in the height in the pond, the water in the drains 
 continuing to supply it as fast as you take it away, the water 
 is not stagnant altogether, and every gallon that they are 
 relieved of is immediately supplied by the circumjacent 
 moisture ; and this little movement, slight though it be, is of 
 the greatest service. Again, as the land-water decreases, 
 which at some portions of the year it aatLII, even to the almost 
 emptying of the pond, the land is actually relieved for a time, 
 and the air, which does so much service to the ground, will 
 find its way up the drains ; and, imperfect as this partial 
 drainage may be, the produce of the ground, as compared 
 with what it was before it was done, will amply repay for all 
 the labour bestowed upon it. Of course, if there be an outlet 
 of only the top few inches of the water, it is still better ; but 
 we wish it to be understood, that if there can be no other 
 relief than what is given by the constant use of the water for
 
 56 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 irrigation, some essential service is rendered. How manj 
 tiiousand plots of ground, however, are there, where there is 
 every convenience for draining, but where it is nevertheless 
 neglected ! And yet florists, professional as well as amateur, 
 complain that their ranunculuses fail ; that their tuhps do 
 not succeed as they could wish ; that they cannot grow poly- 
 anthuses ; that their puiks make no grass, and are often lost ; 
 that their roses do not bloom finely; and so on, ad infinitum^ 
 through the whole range of flowers that grow iu beds and 
 borders. In nine cases out of every ten, the fault is in the 
 stagnant water beneath. How necessary it is, then, to drain 
 their ground in the best way that circumstances will permit ; 
 and yet how difficult it is to move them to that very neces- 
 sary operation. 
 
 Neglect of Draining. — Volumes have been written, news- 
 papers have been stuffed, essays upon essays have been pub- 
 lished, with, the best information upon the subject of draining, 
 without, or nearly without, effect as regards farms, and almost 
 entirely without any corresponding benefit among gardens. 
 It is true, there are many productions of the garden which 
 flourish in ill-draiued ground. The tuberous iris and flag 
 tribe grow healthy and robust, but they would do the same in 
 a swamp ; so that it must not be imagined that, because they 
 do well, the bulbous iris is to flourish also. The finest col- 
 lections of the English iris — so called because they have 
 seeded freely and been raised abundantly in this country — 
 have been known to dwindle away to nothiug ; while the 
 sword-leaved, tuberous family have increased beyond all ma- 
 nagement. Nor must it be supposed that where the large 
 and coarse varieties of the ranunculaceae grow vigorously, the 
 garden ranunculus must necessarily succeed. There is no 
 affinity between the florists' improved and necessarily more 
 tender kinds and their coarser predecessors or relations. The 
 brier will flourish where the more splendid varieties of rose 
 would die ; and although many will flourish when grafted or 
 budded on the dog-rose, there are many that will not succeed 
 at all. In short, if we were to write for a week, we could not 
 too strongly impress on the minds of gardeners the vast 
 advantages derived from draining. We have known a lawn 
 to be studded ^vith fine shrubs, that have, after a while, stood 
 almost still, and, after a little longer interval, begun to dwindle. 
 "We have seen the same lawn drained, without disturbing the
 
 DRAINING IN GENERAL. 57 
 
 shrubs, and witnessed more growth in a single season than 
 they had made the three previous years. We have seen that 
 lawn in summer time as brown as the dead leaves that fall 
 about in autumn, for want of draining, although it was a 
 swamp in winter, and after rain ; and, after the operation, it 
 was never wet, nor was it ever off its fine green colour. But 
 the same thing may be witnessed in a hundred places, if the 
 same means be used. 
 
 Having shown how undrained and ajDparently undrainable 
 land can be im]3roved, under the most adverse circumstances, 
 we shall touch upon the various modes adopted for the opera- 
 tion of draining under more advantageous features. The 
 more complete and the deeper an outlet can be made for the 
 superabundant water, the more complete will be the drainage; 
 but something can always be done to help land. 
 
 Errors in Draining. — One of the evils into which many 
 fall is draining too near the surface. A stiff clay field of eight 
 acres, on the side of a hill, and a lawn of two acres adjoining, 
 but lower down, were some months in the year so wet as to 
 be almost impassable on foot, and the feet of the cattle at 
 these times would sink eight or nine inches deep. A man 
 who had been employed in the neighbourhood to drain, was 
 set to work at this; and finding an easy and j^leasant descent, 
 and the water so near the surface, he undertook to cure the 
 evil by drains made diagonally from corner to corner, there 
 being a capital outlet at both sides to a ditch of almost any 
 capacity. The drains were two rods apart, and twenty inches 
 deep, formed with flat sole-tiles, and an arch-tile on them. 
 There happened a dry winter, and there was not much incon- 
 venience ; but under the scorching summer's sun, the earth 
 (tracked as heretofore ; and the next being an ordinary season, 
 there was not the least difference perceived. We v>'ere applied 
 to for advice ; ordered drains straight down the hill, to a 
 cross-drain, large enough to take all the water ; and, as ex- 
 pense was an object, we proposed trying the drains at two 
 rods apart first, because there would be no expense lost, even 
 if we had ultimately to make one between every two. The 
 drains were made three feet six inches deep, and, before a tile 
 was put down, every drain had a complete and co2)ious run of 
 water. Two-inch round tiles were laid at the bottom, and, as 
 there happened to be on the field tlie clippings of the hedge 
 which had been neglected, some of the bushes were put at
 
 58 PRACTICAL GARDENING, 
 
 top, and then covered in with, the whole of the soil, the turf 
 relaid, forming for a time a complete bank along the surface 
 of each drain. The run of water was complete ; the drains 
 ran as freely now as they did when made, some years ago, 
 and the ground seems of an entirely different nature : there is 
 no cracking in hot weather, or softening in wet ; the cattle 
 make no marks, although, as it belongs to a private family, 
 the season for feeding it is very little studied ; and the 
 drainage at two rods apart is sufficient. The men who made 
 the drains sadly remonstrated against our orders for straight 
 drains down the hill : they had been always used to diagonal 
 drains on the side of hills. Common sense, however, ought 
 to inform men that the more rapidly the water runs away, the 
 more room is made for other water to fill the pipes, and that 
 the greater the slope, the more rapid the fall. Some of the 
 most antiquated notions regarding draining prevail in some 
 places. The idea of our ordering tlu-ee-feet-six drains, to 
 which the labourers said it was impossible for the water to 
 sink ! They forgot, or had never considered, that if a pipe 
 was a mile high, and the bottom half-inch cut off, the top 
 half-inch would evidently fall half an inch as well as the bot- 
 tom one ; and so it is in draining. Eun off a two-inch bore 
 full of water from the bottom : it is immediately supplied by 
 the nearest, whose place is filled by the next, and so on. The 
 top must follow, and fiU up the vacuum formed by the absence 
 of any below ; so that the effect is more instantaneous than 
 many people imagine. Again, water mU fall much more 
 rapidly than it ^vill travel sideways. If, then, a di-ain is made 
 near the surface, it has very Httle to receive from above, and 
 it can only take beyond this some of the side water in its 
 immediate vicinity ; but if drainage be deep, aU immediately 
 above falls perpendicularly, while right and left it comes in 
 a sloping direction from a distance commensurate mth the 
 depth it has to come. 
 
 Many fall into an error which cannot be too speedily got 
 rid of — that, if ground is on a hill, there can be no good in 
 artificial draining, because there is a natural drainage. No- 
 thing can be more erroneous than this opinion. Springs rise, 
 on the side, and often on the top, or near the top, of a hill, 
 and form swamps where you would think it almost impossible 
 to retain water ; and there is, in fact, no getting rid of it 
 without properly draining it. Xor is it enough to make
 
 DRAINING IN GENERAL. 59 
 
 ditches, ponds, and such Uke, to cure the land of its malady; 
 thorough draining at a proper distance from the surface must 
 be adopted ; and according to the depth of the di-ains, so 
 should be the extent of the bore in the pipe, and the distance 
 from drain to ch-ain. As to the direction in which the pipes 
 and cbains should be laid, all depends on the direction of the 
 main drain, which should be along* the lowest part of the 
 land, whether that be at the end, the side, or along a hollow 
 in the middle. This always saves labour, though it frequently 
 happens that the only outlet we can get is not at the lowest 
 part of the ground ; and where such is the case, we must 
 work down, so that even the shallowest of the draining shall 
 be far enough from the surface to allow of all the operations 
 in working above, without damage. 
 
 Draining becomes expensive according to the depth we 
 have to go. In stiff clay-ground, near London, heavy con- 
 tracts for the labour have been taken for three feet six inches 
 depth, and exceedingly well made, at one shilhng per rod, 
 which includes making the drain, saving the tojD turf to lay 
 on again, laying the pipes, filling up, and relaying the turf ; 
 and the men worked hard to make anything like good wages. 
 In many parts of the country, where the wages are half the 
 amount that is usually paid in the metropohs, contracts have 
 been taken at less than half. But it may be taken as a rule, 
 that the first cost in a garden should be in draining, for 
 economy. To say notliing of the disappointment, the losses 
 occasioned by cultivating upon undrained ground are incal- 
 culable. As we have before observed, thousands, finding their 
 favourite flowers decline ^vith them, attribute it to bad luck, 
 want of attention, unhealthy plants or roots, — in short, to 
 every cause but the right. 
 
 Drain-tiles. — In all draining, the principle is the same. 
 There are many kinds of tiles — the flat tile, with an arched 
 one like half a pipe laid on it ; the two half-pipes laid one on 
 another; ordinary pipes, with holes in them, to let in the 
 water ; and some with an oval bore : but there is nothing to 
 beat the plain pipe : the holes do neither harm nor good ; the 
 water will find its way into the pipes at every join. The 
 principal thing to look to is, that the drain is opened do^vn to 
 a proper depth, with a proper fall the whole distance ; and 
 that the bottom is firm enough to hold the pipes end to end, 
 without danger of slipping up or down, or sideways, so that
 
 60 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 the bores properly meet wlieii put down, and cannot move 
 afterwards. It must be remembered, too, that, however well 
 ground may be naturally drained, it is always improved by 
 artificial drainage. It lets air into the soil, and, as it were, 
 keeps it alive. It aids greatly in the amelioration of " the 
 ground, and in almost every case improves the quahty or the 
 quantity of the crops, and generally both. To grow florists' 
 flowers in undrained ground is a perpetual sacrifice. A man 
 who does so had need be always buying, and yet will never 
 be complete in his collections. Fruit-trees and kitchen-garden 
 crops would in many cases be nearly doubled in produce, and 
 improved in health ; yet not one garden in a hundred is 
 drained, unless the soil had been unworkable without it, and 
 the operation had been forced on the occupier. 
 
 Nothing is more common than to hear people say of old 
 gardens, that they are worn out ; whereas the soil has been 
 soured for jesiis with stagnant water, which has been fed by 
 the washings of whatever manure was applied, until all 
 attempts to find appropriate dressings have failed to make any 
 distinct improvement. The cause has been ineflicient drain- 
 age, or none at all. The remedy is simple. In like manner, 
 wall-fruit trees have, perhaf)S, been dwindling for years ; the 
 roots have got into sour soil, and cannot be healthy. The old 
 soil is occasionally taken out, and new put to the borders ; but 
 if the ground be not drained, it is all labour m vain ; the trees 
 will continue unhealthy, the good soil will soon be as sour as 
 that which has been removed, the trees condemned, new ones 
 planted, and that only to decline, like the old ones, if the 
 ground be not efficiently drained. In short, draining and 
 trenching will cure the most sour and unproductive garden, if 
 it be centuries old. 
 
 Furrow and Surface. — In fields and farmlands, meadows, 
 and the like, the farmers often resort to furrows, ditches, and 
 what is called surface-draining. The objections to furrows and 
 top-drains for arable land are not only the same as apply to aU 
 shallow drains, but the loss of ground is very great ; and those 
 who are content with this make-shift mode of getting rid of 
 only a portion of the evil by the sacrifice of a considerable 
 portion of good, may be called penny wise and pound foolish. 
 Deep furrows between all the lands are a very temporary make- 
 shift. There is nothing more annoying to a good farmer than 
 to see, as he passes, the water lying in the furrows of a field,
 
 FENCING, WALLING, HEDGING. 61 
 
 and those furrows the only means of lessening the evil of non- 
 drainage. If shallow drains, with proper drain-tiJes, or pipes, 
 are less ejBfective than drains at a proper depth, how much less 
 effectiye must be the furrows which are not even so deep ! The 
 water may be so high, or rather the ground may be so low, as 
 to baffle all ordinary attempts to drain effectually ; but there 
 can always be something done ; and be it remembered, that if 
 a furrow only wastes a surface of a foot, and these are a rod 
 apart, it is a sixteenth, or ten rods in every acre, — a quantity 
 of land that would soon pay for draining most efficiently. 
 Our business, however, is not so much with fields as gardens, 
 orchards, and pleasure-grounds ; and where the gardener sees 
 trees unhealthy, shrubs of particular kinds d"\\indling, his 
 choice flowers dying off, and things in general worse than his 
 neighbours', let him seriously think of the panacea for nine evils 
 out of ten that we suffer in a garden, — sound, effective, and 
 efiicient drainage. Then let him trench as low down as the 
 soil is workable, replanting all the unhealthy shrubs and trees 
 that are young enough to bear it, in the fresh-turned ground, 
 and he will be rewarded the first season. 
 
 FENCmG, WALLING, HEDGING. 
 
 The fencing of a piece of ground for the purposes of a 
 garden, is a matter of some consideration, because — the 
 difference in the cost of the various modes is one point ; the 
 intention as to shutting out the pubhc, or allowing them to 
 see over it, is another ; the uses to which a fence may be put, 
 is a third ; and, fourthly, the general character of the neigh- 
 bourhood, as to the disposition to trespass and thieve, is im- 
 portant. Fences of all kinds are costly. The post and rail is 
 cheapest, but in this there is nothing to prevent animals, two- 
 footed as well as four-footed of some kinds, from straying into 
 the place. A boarded fence will not only keep out intruders, 
 but it will be found useful for fruit-trees, although inferior to 
 a wall. Pear-trees, morello cherries, currants and gooseberries, 
 some kinds of plums, and, indeed, every fruit that will grow 
 on a standard, Avill grow a little better, if not a great deal 
 better, on a wood fence. 
 
 Wood Fences. — Of boarded fences, there are two : the 
 park-paling, as it is called, made with ripped oak, of the 
 height required, which is very good, but trees always suffer a
 
 62 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 good deal from the wind bloA^^Ilg between the boards, some- 
 times sharp enoiigli to bhght all the fruit witliin its range ; 
 yellow deal weather-boarding is a favourite fence, but the 
 boards soon spring and discover the vacancies between them ; 
 and these vacancies are as large as those between ripped oak- 
 palings. We have seen boards made of inch stufi^ edge to 
 edge, and ploughed and tongued ; but this comes expensive, 
 and one might almost as well pay a trifle more, and have a 
 brick wall. We have seen walls of four-inch brick-work, with 
 a nine-inch pier every five feet ; and for an internal wall 
 within other premises of our own this might do. In fact, 
 many orchards have such walls built in several places, for the 
 sake of naihng trees to them, and for protecting a few warm 
 borders. The best and cheapest, but not the most durable, is 
 deal weather-boarding, as it is called ; that is to say, boards 
 an inch thick, perhaps, one side, and the eighth of an inch the 
 other edge, and called feather-edged. This closely and properly 
 nailed, so as to lap over each other a little, and well fastened 
 to top, bottom, and middle rails, with strong posts every rod, 
 and sHght ones halfway between them, will, if well tarred or 
 paiuted, and kept so, last many years. Eipped oak-palings 
 would last a lifetime, or, perhaps, half-a-dozen lives, if but 
 well soaked ^vith tar once in three 3^ears ; and though it is 
 dear at first, it will be many years before it requires a nail to 
 be driven, or any other kiud of repair. A favourite paling in 
 some neighbourhoods, on account of its strength, is formed 
 with slabs, which are the first pieces cut off the trunks of 
 trees, and are consequently flat on the sawed side, but have the 
 roundness of the tree on the other. If these be straightened 
 at the edges, and be naUed to correspondingly strong posts and 
 rails, they form a first-rate fence, powerful against cattle, and 
 tolerably lasting ; in fact, if kept well painted, oded, or tarred, 
 the wear is endless. Open palisades are for the most part 
 adapted for ornament, but there is no saving. Certainly, 
 they admit more air to the borders, and let the public view 
 the interior ; but they are not advisable, unless it be for an 
 internal fence, merely to part one portion of our ground from 
 another. The making is as costly as a soHd fence ; the paint- 
 ing or tarring is quite as expensive, and nothing is gained by 
 it, except it be appearance, which is a matter of taste. 
 
 There are other modes of making a fence, which may be 
 cheaper where the wood can be had ; tliis is, dri^dng stakes
 
 FENCING, WALLING, HEDGING. G3 
 
 down a foot apart, along the boundary line, and twisting willow 
 sticks between them, after the fasliion of nmking\a basket, but 
 in a coarser "way. This kind of fence is rather perishable, 
 and is often adopted when a hedge is planted ; so that it is 
 calculated the hedge will be ready to resist intruders by the 
 time the wicker fence has worn out. 
 
 Another method of fencing is. to drive stakes sloping into 
 the earth six inches or rather more apart, and then to drive a 
 second row sloping the other w^ay, and nailing or tying these, 
 at the places "where they cross, at least at some of them, to 
 keep them firm and strong. These, how^ever, are fences that 
 will not last manj years ; they would endure W'hile a brier or 
 thorn hedge is growing, and that is as much as they would. 
 They take as little room as anything can, and so far they are 
 better adapted for enclosures than banks and ditches ; for if 
 there be any cattle loose near ditch and bank, they soon 
 tread down the sides of the ditch into the bottom, and are 
 not long, if neglected, before they make their way into the 
 enclosure. 
 
 It is always a great point achieved if we can adapt the fence 
 to the growth of trees, because it seems then to be of value. 
 A close fence, too, is always a great protection to the borders 
 on two sides of a garden ; and w^arm borders are always 
 valuable. The question of whether you will have a ditch 
 outside your fence or not, is also a question of whether you 
 will waste a certain quantity of ground or not. If, however, 
 it be desirable, for the sake of draining, it is another ; because, 
 as you must have the ditch, it is better outside your fence than 
 inside ; for your border is of far more value when backed by 
 a close fence than at the edge of a ditch ; and no one w^ould 
 think of a ditch inside a fence. Then, however, comes 
 another question. If there be no ditch, your fence should be 
 four or five feet high at the least ; but if there be a ditch on 
 the other side, a three-feet fence vrould be as effective as the 
 five-feet one would be without the ditch, though it would be 
 less useful for trees ; in fact, it would be of no use at all in 
 that respect. 
 
 As an internal fence, merely to preserve a portion of ground 
 from the intrusion of cattle, nothing is so cheap as fir poles 
 and posts, which can be had very reasonably. Cut the fir- 
 poles into any given lengths, that there may be some uni- 
 formity, and drive, or rather plant, strong posts in the ground
 
 64 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 at sucli intervals as suit the poles. Two poles, one a foot and 
 a half from the ground, and one thi-ee feet, or somewhere 
 thereabouts, will make a fence sufficiently strong to keep off 
 cows, bullocks, or horses ; and nothing is so cheap in the way 
 of a fence against large cattle. If sheep have to be kept out, 
 there must be a third rail. This kind of fencing is often used 
 when a border of kitchen garden is made in a paddock, or 
 cattle have to be kept from plantations ; but the most elegant 
 fence is the iron hurdle, which may be calculated at a shilling 
 a foot, and which is a completely invisible fence at a little 
 distance. 
 
 Brick Walls. — As, however, an external boundary to a 
 garden, there is nothing so good, so clean, so effective, so 
 useful, and so durable, as a brick wall. It is of immeasurable 
 value for fruit-trees. It should not, however, be less than ten 
 feet high to be of the full value and use. Eight will do, nine 
 is better, but ten best. In building a brick wall it 
 is best to build to the extreme edge of the property. There 
 are exceptions ; and many old estates exhibit the ditch outside 
 the wall, although next the pubKc highway. This is in- 
 evitable when the adjoining land has the ditch on the 
 premises, while you also have it on yours ; the only way to 
 avoid building within then, would be to arch it over, which, 
 if there were any length, would cost more than the value of 
 the ground recovered ; and, if short, would not be worth 
 touching. It is the builder's business to regulate the founda- 
 tion according to the soil ; but, if he has to go deep, you may 
 lessen the intended height, or even lower the ground con- 
 siderably on the inside, for the sake of gaining as much 
 height as you can for the trees there. I^evertheless, if you 
 lower the border next the wall, you must still slope it lower 
 for ten feet from the wall ; and the path must be made lower 
 yet. The ground may be raised here and there with the soil 
 you may have removed, as you may make in any part of the 
 ground a bank for endive, or for strawberries. An external 
 wall must not be less than nine inches in thickness ; but, 
 as we have already observed, where they are built within the 
 premises, merely to part off a place, and are for fruit, we have 
 known them to be built six feet high with single brick, or 
 four-inch work, with nine-inch piers at distances of five or 
 six feet, and such walls have answered every purpose for many 
 years. We should not like to trust to such frail concerns ; for
 
 FENCING, WALLING, HEDGING. 65 
 
 we should be afraid, while naihng the trees, that the whole 
 concern would rattle about our ears, and destroy our fruit as 
 well as the fragile fabric we were using. 
 
 Hedging and Ditching. — We come now to the common 
 way of taking in a jDiece of ground — hedging and ditching; 
 the first step towards which is banking and ditching. If we 
 make a taper ditch two feet wide at top and one foot wide at 
 bottom, and throw the stuff out on one side, it will form a 
 bank fru^o feet "wide at bottom and one foot wide at top, as high 
 as the ditch is deep, that is, supposing we could make the 
 bank as solid as the earth we disturbed ; but, as it would — 
 being loose — occupy a good deal more room, the bank would 
 be much larger than the hole we had made. If there were 
 any means of keeping intruders from damaging the ditch and 
 bank, we would at once plant a double row of quicksets, that 
 is to sa}", of thorns two years old ; these cut down to six 
 inches, or even three inches, would be a formidable finish to 
 the top of the bank, and make a capital fence. But if there 
 were any beasts in the neighbourhood, hedge, bank, and ditch 
 would be soon destroyed altogether. We should, therefore, 
 resort to some means of protecting the thing for three years ; 
 and the cheapest remedy is a railing of fir-poles, to keep cattle 
 and horses from treading into the ditch. The quickset ought 
 to be planted sloping outwards, about six inches up the bank ; 
 and, by making a kind of ledge there, that the water might 
 all run away from the young plants when it rains, the hedge 
 will very soon form an impenetrable barrier. All the quicks 
 may be shortened to from three to six inches, according to 
 their strength. At the end of the first year's growth, cut it 
 down again to within a couple of inches of the first cut, and 
 the consequence will be tliree or four shoots for every one cut 
 off, and the hedge will be very thick and strong. At the end 
 of the second year it may be cut back agaia either to a foot 
 or fifteen inches, and from that time be trimmed into the form 
 of a hog's back. Every weed that grows among the quick 
 must be cleared out ; for it is of the greatest consequence that 
 it be kept clear. The bank may be lowered from time to 
 time on the inside, and the ditch must always be kept clean ; 
 and the side of the ditch, forming of itself a bank, must be 
 kept in good order. Every year the hedge must be trimmed 
 in close, that it may thicken ; and if it be wcU managed, 
 '^^carcely a mouse can be got through it ; whereas a hedge 
 
 E
 
 66 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 neglected at first can never be made good, and if neglected at 
 any time it soon gets bad. 
 
 Quickset Hedge, — Quickset or thorn is not the only plant 
 to form a good hedge ; few things beat holly. It can be grown 
 as close as anything ; bears trimming and clipping to any 
 form ; and when well managed in. a hedge, is impervious to 
 almost any vermin or animal. Holly, to form a good hedge, 
 should be planted a foot apart in one row, and a second row 
 six inches from it should have the plants also a foot apart ; 
 but be alternated, so as to come, as it were, between the 
 others. The cleaning of this while young is as essential as it 
 is with thorns, but they will not require shortening. They 
 must be allowed to grow into one another, the top not on any 
 account shortened, but year after year allowed to grow up, 
 until the hedge begins to close well, when the tops may be 
 made even by cutting down any of the plants that get the 
 start of the rest. The face, too, may be cut a little in, so as 
 to check the outward growth of any inclined that way ; and 
 both sides of the holly may be brought to a little more even 
 face. As they thicken so must the face inside and out be 
 clipped even ; and the mo:be it is cut in, the better and thicker 
 the surface becomes. The holly naturally feathers, as it is 
 called, down to the ground ; but if weeds are allowed to choke 
 the bottom part, the leaves would fall and the stems become 
 bare ; but the holly will not bear cutting down while young. 
 The leading branch has to make its way, and should not be 
 shortened until it has attained the height required of it ; after 
 which it may be clipped and turned into every imaginable 
 form, and will show a surface so close as to defy any ordinary 
 animal to penetrate it. 
 
 Yew Hedge. — Hedges of yew are as close and useful as 
 any in a garden. As a shade, it is the very best of all plants ; 
 but, as it is at all times poisonous to animals, it should never 
 be in parks or next the public highway, or anywhere within 
 the reach of sheep, cattle, or horses. Therefore, as a boundary 
 hedge it is objectionable, though as a garden hedge it is neat, 
 may be cut into any form, grows exceedingly thick at bottom, 
 very close on the surface, and the best for a thin hedge, — that 
 is to say, shallow ; for if it were only a foot through, it would 
 be thick as we call anything close ; and, in many gardens 
 there are yew hedges as straight up as a wall, and as close and 
 solid to all appearance ; for there is hardly vacancy enough
 
 FENCING, WALLING, HEDGING. 67 
 
 anywhere for a mouse. The yews may be jjlanted a foot 
 apart, and be allowed to grow into one another ; which they 
 soon will, cutting only the surface back and front to keep it 
 all even. At first, of course, the clipping will be but slight, 
 because they will not have grown much ; but in three or four 
 years they may be cut u]3right both at the front and at the 
 back. The growth will soon be sufficient to enable you to 
 form a flat green wall ; and when it is high enough you may 
 cut doA\Ti the tops to the height you intend the hedge to be 
 permanently. 
 
 Peivet Hedge. — The privet is a rapid growing shrub, and 
 is greatly used for hedges where a quick growth is required. 
 This is planted a foot apart, and cut down to six inches if a 
 good bottom is wanted. In a single season it will go to almost 
 any length ; but cutting back is necessary to thicken it. A 
 well managed privet hedge is a formidable barrier ; but as it 
 is nearly deciduous, it is not a favourite inside boundary ; and 
 until it is pretty old, and well managed all the time, it would 
 be rather a weak afiair to keep out cattle. 
 
 Hornbeam Hedge. — Hornbeam is a strong bush for a 
 hedge. It will grow thick, and bear training to anything. We 
 have, in our time, had to grub up a hornbeam hedge that had 
 been well managed for years, after it had become a wooden 
 wall of twelve feet high ; but it had been then allowed to 
 grow just at it pleased, and there was no doing anjiihing with 
 it but grub it up. This shrub or tree, for it is just what we 
 like to make of it, soon grows into a hedge size ; and from the 
 instant it has attained the height you want, and you begin to 
 trim it in, it forms timber, and its smallest branches get stiff; 
 and it presents, in winter, a stack of hardened shoots that 
 nobody could attempt to pass. As an exterior hedge it is, 
 perhaps, as strong a one as you can adopt, and in time becomes 
 almost a w^ooden wall ; which looks solid in summer ; and 
 when the leaves haA'-e fallen, which is only just before the new 
 ones come on, the wood itself seems to defy the passage of 
 anything, however small. 
 
 Other Hedges. — Many other plants make hedges for 
 gardens. INIessrs. Brown of Slough had, when they occupied 
 the Eoyal Nursery, now Turner's, a hedge formed of the 
 Pyrus japonica. Sweetbrier hedges are great favourites, for 
 the exquisite perfume of the foliage, while they become 
 strong barriers as they get matured. The hedge-nut, or nut 
 
 e2
 
 68 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 generally, has been used as a hedge; but when constantly cut 
 in it never bears, so that when used as a hedge it is inferior 
 to most others ; while, most likely, the object with which 
 they were first planted as a hedge was the bearing, which the 
 clipping prevents. We need not go to the cactus or agave 
 hedges of South America, our object being more immediately 
 at home. 
 
 Management of Hedges. — "Whatever may be the material 
 of which the hedge is composed, regard must always be had 
 to its branching near the ground. It is not necessary to have 
 a ditch for the success of a hedge ; but hedges are adopted as 
 appropriate finishes. Nothing can look more desolate than a 
 single ditch and bank ; therefore it is natural that there 
 should be something ; but, as the ditch is only useful when it 
 acts as a drain, it does not follow that there shall be either 
 bank or ditch made. Where these are unnecessary, the only 
 things requisite for the welfare of the hedge are, that the 
 plants shall be young, the roots good, the ground prepared by 
 good manuring and trenching, good watering, following good 
 planting, and the whole protected against the least disturbance 
 by animals of any kind. The cutting back may be good for 
 privet, hornbeam, thorn or quickset, sweetbrier, and such like ; 
 and four inches above-ground enough for either of them ; but 
 the yew and the holly must not be cut back, nor must they be 
 touched with the knife, except to cut off all the bruised ends 
 of the roots and the broken pieces. They must not be touched 
 till they have grown larger than you want them ; and then 
 they must only be cut within the bounds that they are in- 
 tended to be gro^m. If the hedge is to be a foot and a half 
 thick at the bottom, do not take off a leaf within that thick- 
 ness ; wait patiently until the growth exceeds those bounds, 
 and then cut them merely to the right place. By the same 
 rule, if you want the hedge to be four feet high, do not touch 
 a leaf that has not passed that boundary ; because you want 
 every leaf till that space is filled, and should touch none but 
 those which exceed these limits. In the best gardens horn- 
 beam, yew, holly, and other hedges, enclosing three sides 
 perhaps, and sometimes nearly the fourth, of a square, afford 
 shelter for the greenhouse plants and heaths turned out of the 
 houses j keeping off the violent heat of the sun, yet not de- 
 priving them of air ; and, at the same time, shielding them 
 from the Tnnds. These hedges are found to be of the greatest
 
 FENCING, WALLING, HEDGING. 69 
 
 sendee in general nurseries ; for many of the tender plants 
 that have to be turned out of the houses would be destroyed 
 if exposed to the sun and wiad, however carefully and fre- 
 quently they might be attended to. 
 
 Hedges, when grown old and open at bottom, long upon 
 their stems and straggling, can only be renewed by what is 
 called plashing. The thorn, if cut half-way through and laid 
 along the bottom, will live just as well as if it had been left 
 towering aloft. Therefore, those who go in earnest to mend 
 a hedge will first clear out all the w^eeds and intruders from 
 the bottom, and then cut away the uncouth pollard-like 
 heads that have been formed by old and repeated headings, 
 and save all the shoots that go up from the bottom of any 
 manageable si^e ; then, by cutting these pretty nearly half- 
 way through, and bending them down, they can be backed in 
 among the stumps at the bottom and pretty close down j and 
 independently of their forming a sort of rail, they break out 
 into shoots the whole length, and erect a new hedge. It is 
 not one shoot, but all the strong shoots that are of the least 
 use that are served this way ; so that a new hedge is formed 
 as thick as we would wish in a single season ; and the 
 vigorous growing shoots only require to be cut in to continue 
 thickening. The hedge is thus completely renewed. But 
 the yew, holly, and others will not bear this. If they get 
 out of condition, hollow, or bare, it is of no use trying to 
 remedy the evil; other plants must be placed to make up 
 vacancies, if the place be clear enough, but, in a general way, 
 it is better to level everything ; grub up all that are not per- 
 fectly healthy, trench and dress the ground all along, and 
 plant, at the right season, new trees or other shrubs to 
 complete the hedge — new in all parts but where the beauty 
 of an old specimen may have tempted us to spare it. It is 
 but labour in vain to half mend a hedge, or to plant new 
 young plants without thoroughly trenching, dressing, and 
 preparing the ground, taking out all the old stumps and 
 roots, and commencing anew. One might be tempted, if we 
 could get them, to use larger stuff than a new hedge is gene- 
 rally planted with, but that is aU we should do.
 
 70 PRACTICAL GAEDENING. 
 
 THE OECHAED. 
 
 The true orchard should be laid down in grass, except 
 only a border round the outside, which should be walled for 
 trees of the more tender kind, as vines. It is not always 
 that we can have everything we desire ; but we are speaking 
 of a proper orchard. The walls should be from eight to ten 
 feet high at the least, and appropriate trees should be 
 planted according to the aspect. IS'ectarines, peaches, apri- 
 cots, and plums should be on the sides most exposed to the 
 sun; cherries, especially morellos, on the walls which have 
 the least ; not that they would not all be better for a warm 
 aspect, but that some will do well on the north-east, against 
 which others would not succeed at all. It would be necessary 
 to hurdle off the borders, if it were contemplated to turn 
 sheep out for the grass ; but the grass might be always cut 
 and made into hay, or carried to be consumed green. It is 
 common, however, to use the ground for garden or field- 
 crops, the first three or four years after planting, until the 
 trees grow up a little, and to lay it doAvn in grass when they 
 have become robust enough to sustain no damage from sheep. 
 Choice op Trees. — Much of the labour in forming an 
 orchard depends on the soil ; for if it be not appropriate, — 
 that is to say, if the soil be not good, and of tolerable depth, — 
 sufficient must be removed for every tree, and proper soil be 
 provided. The standard trees ought to consist of the best 
 pears, apples, cherries, the rougher kind of plmns, damsons, 
 medlars, a quince or two ; and the proportion must be ac- 
 cording to the probable wants of a family. Suppose an 
 orchard to comprise an acre, make a ten-feet border all round, 
 and plant no tree more than ten feet from the edge of the 
 border. As room is an object, let the trees be planted in 
 rows from east to west, not less than a rod apart in the rows, 
 nor less than two rods from row to row. The walls may not 
 be even, but the planting should be, though it may be dia- 
 gonally. It will be obvious that the fruit wiU derive more 
 advant^e from the sun in such an arrangement than by any 
 other ; and it will be found that when they are becoming 
 full-grown, they will almost touch each other in the rows, 
 while the double distances between the rows will give them 
 great advantages. It wiU be found, generally, that there may
 
 THE ORCHARD. 71 
 
 be two gatherings, the fruit on the south side being ready 
 before that on the north. Of course we do not allude to the 
 young state of the trees, because the sun will go through 
 them ; but when they become matured, and of a size to bear 
 largely, however well they may be pruned and trained, there 
 will be a difference. 
 
 Preparing the Ground. — If there be from twenty inches 
 to two feet thickness of good loam, the only preparation re- 
 quired will be to trench the ground well before planting. If 
 there be but one foot or less, there must be a removal of the 
 soil for each tree. Dig the good soil out four feet in dia- 
 meter, and throw it in a heap on one side ; then remove the 
 bad, to make the hole two feet deep, and lay it in another 
 heap ; throw in the good soil, and from between the lines of 
 trees, dig the top spit off, and fill up the hole more than full, 
 to allow for settling. The bad soil may be placed where the 
 top spit came off"; and this should be done all over the 
 ground, — that is to say, the holes should be made all over the 
 space at the distances mentioned, and thus filled up ; the line 
 for the trees need not be distributed more than four feet 
 wide, which, considering how few things do any good under 
 trees, will cause but small sacrifice. The borders must be 
 prepared in the same way as the smgle holes ; that is to say, 
 the best, or top spit, removed, to get at the bad soil, and 
 throw it out ; and the easiest way to do this will be, to 
 devote the ten feet next the border, to furnish the top spit, 
 and to take the bad. 
 
 Draining in the orchard is absolutely necessary. It is im- 
 possible without that fruit-trees can do well long together. 
 It is therefore essential to see that the ground be well drained 
 before planting. The first concern is to find an outlet for 
 the water, and make it as deep as will take the running from 
 a three-feet-six drain. Let a drain be made along the lowest 
 portion of the ground, fom* feet deep, and into this bring 
 down drains three feet six from the surface, eighteen inches 
 to two feet wide at the top, and sloped to a mere point at 
 the bottom. The drains should be opened one rod apart, in 
 parallel lines, from the highest to the lowest part of the 
 ground. This will be found sufficient for the stiffest and 
 wettest land ; but inasmuch as, unless there be a natural 
 drainage perfectly effective in itself, all ground requires 
 draining, or is at the least the better for it, this rather
 
 72 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 belongs to the very first operations after we get possession 
 than to any of the after details ; and the entire space, what- 
 ever be its destination, should undergo the process, before we 
 even begin to lay it out. 
 
 The draiaage of the fruit-borders is so essential, that it is 
 frequently done when no other part of the ground is drained ; 
 and the bottoms are often formed of hard, dry substances, 
 such as flints, stones, brick-rubbish, or other material imper- 
 vious to the roots of the trees; and a good drain carried 
 along under the path, with large draioing-tiles, or, for want 
 of such material, with boulders, or stones, to half fill it ; or, 
 in the absence of this, with bushes, through which the water 
 can percolate at all titnes to a regular outlet somewhere : but 
 we have gone more at length into this matter under the head 
 of " General Draining of Land." 
 
 The fruit-borders require two feet of good strong loam. It 
 is the practice of many to make up these borders of compost, 
 frequently procured at great expense; but, generally speak- 
 ing, the top spit of any ordinary land is good enough ; and if 
 not, may be enriched a httle with ordinary dung. In grapes, 
 many persons are extravagant, and employ all sorts of animal 
 manures, to an extent scarcely credible. Sufficient, however, 
 for aU ordinary purposes, will be the top spit of a pasture, 
 with after applications. It is quite certain that vines are the 
 most petted and ill-used plants in the world. They are pam- 
 pered up with every rich ingredient that fancy can contem- 
 plate, or they are thoroughly neglected; and thousands of 
 excellent vines, in fine bearing for as many years back as 
 "the oldest inhabitant" can recollect, have had nothing 
 applied but the pruning-knife ; and perhaps it would be 
 difficult to find their roots, even if the owners wished to 
 dress them. 
 
 Fruit-Borders. — For a newly-formed fruit-border we 
 should be content with two feet of the best soil the orchard 
 could produce, robbing the surface where there were no trees, 
 to make up the necessary thickness of good soil where the 
 trees were to be planted. With a ten-feet wide border thus 
 formed and drained, and even without taking the slightest 
 trouble about the bottom of the border, we should set about 
 planting the wall-trees. 
 
 Trees to Choose. — If we were impatient, we should get 
 aU the trees trained to our hand; but there must be the
 
 THE ORCHARD. 73 
 
 greatest care used in selecting good healthy specimens, that 
 have not made too much wood the last year ; nor should we 
 be over anxious to purchase where they were grown with re- 
 markable vigour, for the change very frequently throws them 
 back so much, that we should be actually forwarder with 
 maiden trees, or at the most with a second year's growth on 
 them. A few rules may be attended to with great advantage : 
 — first, on no account remove a tree until the wood is well 
 ripened, and every leaf has fallen ; . secondly, remove them as 
 soon as possible after they have fairly ripened ; thirdly, take 
 up every fibre of the root, if possible, without bruising or 
 breaking ; fourthly, if, despite of all our care, the roots have 
 been broken or bruised, cut off every damaged, every bruised 
 end, and every broken part, with a clean sharp knife, for 
 every bruise on a root will generally canker, and this com- 
 mences a slow but generally sure decay; fifthly, if by this 
 operation the root has lost much, let the head be pruned in 
 proportion, by shortening the vigorous branches, and cutting 
 out altogether all weak and superfluous shoots. 
 
 If you obtain maiden trees, use the same care in taking up 
 the roots whole ; but as maiden trees have but one year's 
 growth upon them from the bud, or graft, they are cut back to 
 three eyes, and no more. Take care to compensate for lost 
 roots, if they are damaged, to the greatest extent, or you lose 
 growth in proportion. 
 
 Planting the Trees. — The planting of the wall- fruit trees 
 is simple enough. They should be put a foot from the wall, 
 and be sloped to it ; and on no account should they be put 
 in the ground lower than the collar of the root. The roots 
 should be spread outwards, and, when well trodden in, so fixed 
 in the jDlace as to be undisturbed by winds. "With regard to 
 the border, it need not be wasted ; but whatever crop may be 
 placed in it, there should be room for the sun to reach the 
 earth. An.y crop that shades the whole surface will be in- 
 jurious ; and the best management is, perhaps, to use it for 
 strawberries, for a time at least, but to allow every plant a 
 yard. It may not be of much importance the first two or 
 three years, because the roots have not time to spread ; but 
 when they reach all across the border, which they will in time, 
 the sun must not be kept off by anything. "Whatever is put 
 on the border must be dwarf and distant, and the top-dressing 
 must be ample, to compensate for the requirements of the crop.
 
 74 PRACTICAL GARDENING 
 
 It may do well to get up all the small early spring crops on y 
 that is, turn it into culinary purposes. Eadishes, onions, 
 lettuces, are protected all winter by straw or litter. These 
 cannot hurt, for while the crops have all the sun, they are not 
 large enough to keep the heat from the border. For the sorts 
 of fruit best adapted for the orchard, and the proportions of 
 each, see the Appendix. Much depends upon the fancy of 
 the owner. There are, however, some fruits of which it is 
 almost impossible to have too many. Green-gage plums are 
 not only the finest luxury in the world, as a fruit, weU ripened, 
 but are unrivalled as a preserve, and good in all their stages 
 as a tart-fruit. Morello cherries not only hang a long while 
 on a tree, but they are also excellent as a preserve, and make 
 a splendid wine ; whereas, the more delicate kinds of fruit, 
 such as the peach, apricot, and nectarine, though delicious 
 when in perfection, are not so useful as cherries and green- 
 gage plums when abundant. 
 
 Preparing Poor Ground. — Supposing the space devoted 
 to an orchard is poor all over, and requires the holes and 
 borders to be prepared as we have directed, the work will be 
 simplified by driving Hues, and marking spaces four feet wide 
 the whole line of the trees, and at once digging off the good 
 soil the whole length, and throwing the stuff outside. Then, 
 as you dig the holes, a rod apart, and four feet in diameter, 
 you can throw out all the bad stuff on to the line you have 
 cleared the good from, and fill up the holes with the good soil 
 on the sides to the height of the old surface, and as much 
 higher as will aUow of its setthng down to the original height 
 of the surface. When all the bad soil has been equally dis- 
 tributed along the hue which has been denuded of the good 
 soil, the remainder of the good may be equally distributed 
 over the surface, and thus form an excellent top for solving 
 grass. If the orchard is to be used for crops while the trees 
 are grooving robust, it is obvious there need be nothing placed 
 on the four-feet width on which the trees are planted. But in 
 the width of one rod taken from the centre between two rows of 
 trees, there may be gooseberries, currants, raspberries in their 
 best varieties, giving them ample room, — gooseberries and 
 currants six feet apart, raspberries in rows six feet asunder, 
 and four feet from plant to plant in the row. These three 
 fruits are always useful, in whatever abundance they may be 
 grown : as tart-fruit, preserves, or for wme they are equally
 
 THE ORCHARD. 75 
 
 valuable ; while in the dessert, when in fine condition, they are 
 especial favourites. Under the trees, and for six feet on each 
 side, the impoverished under soil may be at once sown with 
 grass seeds, to be cut for packing, or to be consumed green. 
 Grass under trees is a great protection to fruit that fall, as 
 they take much less damage than they would from the hard 
 ground, or the earth and stones where dug up ; and the prin- 
 cipal thing to attend to is, the frequent cutting of the grass, 
 to prevent it from seeding, and the seeds from blowing over 
 the dug parts. The devotion of the whole enclosure to orchard 
 purposes will be found advantageous. Even the gooseberries, 
 currants, and raspberries, usually grown in the kitchen-garden, 
 are better grown here ; and if you will but give room enough 
 to the strawberries to prevent them covering the surface, they 
 will do well on the warm borders, mthout doing much harm 
 to the roots of the wall-trees. 
 
 If the orchard were laid out and planted in this way, the 
 trees would be in rows upon grass slips one rod wide ; 
 the gooseberries, currants, and raspberries would be on slips 
 one rod wide between the trees, and a border all round may 
 be turned to some accoimt at all times. 
 
 JSText to having an orchard as we like, we must have it as 
 we can get it ; and in very many cases the orchard -will be 
 confined to standard trees, and the boundaries mere hedges 
 and ditches, instead of walls ; in which case the fruit -^oLl be 
 confined to the more hardy kinds. Green-gages will do on 
 standards, also all the kinds of plums and cherries ; but it is 
 a waste of time, money, and patience, to try peaches, apricots, 
 and nectarines, on standard trees ; they will not ripen one 
 season in ten, and, therefore, only lead to disappointment 
 The best chance we have of ripening such fruit without walls, 
 is, to grow the trees very dwarf on espahers, so that the earth 
 shall perform some of the part which the wall does — that is, 
 reflect the heat a Httle ; but it is all mere make-sliift, and it 
 is as well to do \\ithout the fruit always, as to be disappointed 
 even twice out of three seasons, wliicli we assuredly should bo 
 in this country. Again, there are some who would be at the 
 expense of building a wall on the warm side of a plot of 
 ground destined for an orchard, who would not think the use 
 of a wall on the cold side any fair compensation for the cost ; 
 and there may be some reason in this ; because, however we 
 may use a north-east aspect for certain fruits that "will stand
 
 76 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 it, there is no comparison between tlie fruit so produced and 
 that groA^Ti on a south-west aspect. We have seen frequently 
 a morello cherry on the north side of a wall, and as the 
 branches reached the top, and continued growing, trained 
 down on the south side. The fruit on the warm side has 
 been more than twice the weight, and a month earlier, as 
 compared with that on the north side, though of course the 
 fruit, was from the same tree. We can, however, hardly 
 imagine a- prettier sight than a neat orchard, walled in, with 
 the trees planted on slij)s of grass stretching from east to west, 
 and the smaller trees, or bushes, on other shps of ground 
 turned up, and neatly planted and pruned. 
 
 If the soil of a place destined for an orchard be moderately 
 good, it is desirable to do nothing but properly drain it, and 
 trench it two feet deep, planting at the distances before 
 mentioned. If trees can be got cj^uite healthy, of not too 
 vigorous a growth, and that have been planted out not more 
 than two years, they will come into bearing early, and repay 
 for all the trouble of taking up very carefully ; but if there be 
 any check given to trees so forward, it is great odds that 
 younger ones, only two years grafted, will overtake them, and 
 pass them both in growth and bearing. 
 
 Selecting Fruit. — In selecting fruit, set the highest value 
 upon the sorts which keep well. There are many which do 
 not ; and of these one or two trees will be enough, because 
 they will perish before the cro^D of two trees corild be con- 
 sumed in the ordinary way. What pear is more beautiful or 
 more luscious than the Jargonelle in fine order ? Yet, when 
 they are once fit to eat, they are almost immediately gone by. 
 Three weeks, at any rate, would comprise the first and the 
 last keeping, and sometimes a fortnight. There are apples 
 quite as fine to eat, and as rapid in their decay ; and these 
 should be avoided, except so far as one or two trees are con- 
 cerned. But there are sorts of apples and pears that remain 
 good a long time ; and to these we may devote a much larger 
 space. Take, for example, the ribstone-pippin, for an apple. 
 This will keep in fine eating condition for months, and is 
 almost without a rival in flavour, in texture, and in usefulness, 
 as a culinary, as well as a dessert apple. In pears, there is no 
 difficulty in choosing sorts equally weU adapted for the dessert, 
 and possessing the great recommendation of keeping a con- 
 siderable time. There are, however, many pears which,
 
 THE ORCHARD. 77 
 
 being gathered before they ripen, keep some months in the 
 fruit-room ; but when they become ripe must be consumed 
 rather rapidly, because they decay soon after they are ripe. 
 In growing fruit, therefore, all these things ought to be con- 
 sidered while we are settling in our minds the proportion we 
 should grow of each sort, always bearing in mind that the 
 less a fruit will bear keeping, the less we ought to grow, and 
 vice versd. 
 
 The Fruit-Eoom. — Connected with the orchard is, or ought 
 to be, the fruit-room. This should be as cool as j)ossible, and 
 as close as possible, free from damj) and draught, and capable 
 of being thoroughly protected from frost. The shelves should 
 be open bars, and on the edges projDer ledges four inches high, 
 to prevent any from rolling off. On these shelves should be 
 evenly spread clean straw, an inch in thickness ; and on this 
 straw may the fruit be laid, the more delicate sorts singly ; 
 the robust may be one on another, and even heaped as high 
 as they will lay well. Many pack fruit in barrels and boxes, 
 some in sand, some in bran ; but we have been quite satisfied 
 w^ith the degree of keeping that we could secure on the shelves 
 we have described. Fruit should be gathered when thoroughly 
 dry, and carefully laid in the basket into which it is gathered. 
 Letting them fall into the basket, or thromng them in, is too 
 frequently practised ; but wherever there is a bruise, the decay 
 will begin, and seasons very often get blamed for decay which 
 originates in careless gathering. When they have been placed 
 in the fruit-room a few days, they will have become quite wet, 
 they should then be wij)ed dry, and be replaced. We have 
 never found much inconvenience in this mode of preserving 
 fruit ; and if there be abundance of shelves, it is quite impos- 
 sible to improve upon it for being convenient and easy of 
 reference, because all the fruit may be in sight at once. The 
 best time to gather apples and pears of the keeping kinds is, 
 when the pips have begun to tinge with colour. If gathered 
 before this, the fruit will not attain its proper flavour ; if after 
 this, they will not keep so long. It is therefore requisite that, 
 when we think a crop is ready, we should open one, to see 
 if the pips have begun to tinge with yellow or brown, as if 
 commencing their ripening. If they have, gather in the 
 middle of the day, as soon as you can, and store them, placing 
 all the sorts that do not keep long in the partitions handy for 
 frequent examination ; and those which \vill keep, in the mosi
 
 78 
 
 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 remote ones, where they need not be disturbed. As soon as 
 there is the least symptom of decay in any lot of fruit, ex- 
 amine every one of that sort, and remove those that are 
 affected, as the decay frequently spreads by mere contact, and 
 if neglected, might prematurely destroy a whole stock. 
 
 THE FOECma GEOUKD. 
 
 The setting off a portion of the garden to conduct all the 
 forcing, is a very desirable step ; because, for the most part, 
 it must be occasionally in a litter with hot dung and other 
 fermenting materials ; and where the spits and houses are 
 heated with hot water or flues, there must be the usual quan- 
 tity of stoke-holes and fuel. The forcing-houses, frames, and 
 pits, should all be built with a south aspect. 
 
 Heating. — The heating should be in some degree on the 
 principle laid down by the late IsLv. Penn, of Lewisham, who, 
 however unfortunate in the early applications of his invention, 
 unquestionably hit upon one of the most valuable features in 
 the structure of hothouses. The principle is this : we all 
 should know that warm air ascends from any heated surface ; 
 that as it cools, it descends again, comes to the heated surface, 
 and, when heated, goes away. So that, so far as obstructions 
 do not prevent it, the air in a heated house constantly circu- 
 lates ; and if the heated pipes Avere placed on the low side of 
 a house, and there was a flat flooring, the heated air would go 
 up to the roof ; as it cooled, it would descend the back wall, 
 and, crossing the floor, it would supply the place of the heated 
 air going off, be heated itself in turn, and so constantly circu- 
 late. A pit built in the middle of a house would seriously 
 impede and interrupt this circulation ; the air could not cross 
 the floor, but muso go round the pit to get at the hot pipes 
 again. IS'ow ]Mr. Penn got over all this difficulty, and greatly 
 increased the raj)idity of the circulation, by first of all build- 
 ing the houses with, a false, or raised floor, -with a grating all 
 along under the pipes in front, and another grating all along 
 the back, so that the air, as it cooled, descended to the back 
 grating, rushed, as it were, under the floor, and came up 
 again to supply the j^ipes with air to warm as fast as that 
 which was v>^armed went off. Mr. Penn partially closed the 
 pipes in a chamber, as it were, oj)en at bottom to the grating 
 through which the air came to be heated, and also at top, to
 
 THE FORCING GROUND. 79 
 
 let off the air as fast as it was heated ; and the rapidity of the 
 circulation actually kept some of the leaves of the plants in 
 motion. Among details, we may mention, that if fresh air 
 was required in the house, apertures could be opened to admit 
 it under the pipes, that it might bo heated as it passed. The 
 principle can be used in a pit, as well as in a stove ; but it 
 answers no purpose for any houses that are not kept tolerably 
 hot. It is of no use in greenhouses ; for, as we never heat 
 them at all, if we can help it, and there is no circulation 
 created without, the whole extra expense would be lost. 
 
 The most economical mode of forcing, upon the whole, is a 
 judicious application of hot water ; whether apjDlied by tank 
 or pipes, it requires less attention than any other mode. For 
 grapes and pines in the same house, nothing, perhaps, is more 
 general than a good tan-pit in the middle of the house, and 
 hot-water-pipes, in less quantity than would otherwise be re- 
 quired, along the lowest part of the house. 
 
 The forcing-ground should contain sufficient building to do 
 all the work required. No place should be crowded. A peach 
 and nectarine house should be required to do nothing else. 
 Many excellent gardeners will have nothing of any conse- 
 quence with their vines, although for the most part they 
 occupy the roof only. Where there are pines, the vines 
 should only occupy the rafters, so that the sun may not be 
 taken from the pines. Melon frames or pits, and the same 
 for cucumbers, may be constructed on fifty dilferent plans, 
 and heated by half as many ; but the good gardener shows 
 his skill by the simple means which he requires, and the 
 ability to accomplish Ms object at the least expense. 
 
 Forcing Pits. — It is not uncommon in gentlemen's estab- 
 lishments to find every variety of costly erections, all man- 
 ner of whimsical constructions, adopted for the purposes of 
 forcing ; and it is creditable to the profession that we may at 
 the same time find a man capable of competing, in every 
 respect, with the most fortunate of these well-appointed 
 places, with nothing but a common dung-bed for his cucum- 
 bers and melons, an old-fiishioned brick flue for his pines, 
 grapes, peach-houses, and even cherries in pots. We are 
 perfectly aware that certain plans save a good deal of trouble 
 and anxiety ; and, as such, recommend everybody who can 
 afford it to have convenient erections and hot- water apparatus ; 
 the most simple, the most economical and effective of which
 
 80 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 is a conuiion conical boiler, of a proper size, with pipes in 
 proportion to the work tliey have to do ; and as they require 
 very little attention, it is better to let there be several of 
 these than it is to have too many tilings heated by the same 
 boiler, be the construction what it may. The less compli- 
 cated everything is, and the less expensive it is, in the con- 
 struction as well as in use, the better. A range of pits — say 
 four feet high in front, twelve feet from back to front, ten 
 feet high at the back, with a good shelf within two feet of the 
 roof, alan-pit along the centre, three feet from the front and 
 the like from the back, three feet six inches high in front, 
 and five feet at back — ^will be found as useful, for nearly 
 every kind of forcing in pots, as any other that can be adopted. 
 The whole of these should be built ^\dth the bottoms off the 
 ground, which can be accomplished by single courses of bricks 
 on edge, every three feet, from back to front, and stones or 
 slates laid on of proper width, a grating of iron being along 
 the front next the wall, one foot wide, and the back path to 
 have a grating about twice the width. These gratings form a 
 direct communication with the hollow below the false bottom 
 of the house. A good shelf may be placed along the front of 
 the house, one foot, or even eighteen inches wide, and some- 
 thmg between them; because these forcing-houses, or pits, 
 are not made to walk about in ; and the fewer people go in 
 and out, except those engaged, the better; so that con- 
 venience, by means of wide paths and abundance of walking- 
 room, is not to be studied for an instant. The iron piping 
 required for this building, in addition to the ordinary heat of 
 the tan, will be two four-inch pipes the whole length of the 
 front, the one close to the wall, the other a little below, but 
 occupjung a second width, for the purpose of covering, as it 
 were, as nearly as may be, the width of the grating ; and the 
 heating will be still more complete, if there be a row of 
 paving-tiles along the path, to confine the air that comes 
 through the grating, and force it to pass close to the pipes. 
 One of these pipes ought to be nearly close to the ground, 
 and the other six inches from it. All the air that comes 
 through the grating will be heated as it passes the pipes ; 
 and when it has traversed the upper part of the house, and 
 cooled a httle, it will natui-ally descend through the grating 
 behind, and be drawn to the front, to be heated again. The 
 shelf in front should be formed of bars, that it may not inter-
 
 THE FORCING GROUND. Si 
 
 nipt the progress of the heated air ; and that at the back 
 should be similar, that the descent may not be checked. By 
 this simple contrivance, which is by no means expensive, the 
 circulation of air in the house will be pretty nearly as com- 
 plete as it is in the open ground ; and as a proof that it is 
 healthy for plants, if you shut yourself up in the house, you 
 feel all the warmth, but none of the oppression, which we all 
 experience in a close stove. 
 
 The admission of air may be at the back of the house near 
 the ground as well as anywhere, for it will make for the pipes 
 through the floor, and be warmed before it reaches the plants ; 
 but if you desire to cool the house, the opening of a top-light 
 a little, to let off the heated atmosphere, will be desirable. 
 A very small opening and a corresponding admission of fresh 
 air below will be found sufficient ; but when the doors are 
 frequently opened, the lights will seldom require to be re- 
 moved. This, however, depends much on what is to be done. 
 
 In a pit like this, fruit-trees in pots, pine-apples, straw- 
 berries, and French beans may be forced in perfection ; grapes 
 or cucumbers can be forced upon the rafters ; and it will be 
 found more easily managed and controlled, as it were, than 
 any other construction that can be made ; nor is there any- 
 thing expensive about it. The glass of the roof may be six 
 inches wide, and any size from four inches upwards ; the top 
 light, or every alternate light, may be made to shde down : 
 everything about it is of the plainest work. The cheapest 
 of all boilers to buy, to fix, and to supply with fuel, is a com- 
 mon conical boiler, and the size must be in proportion to the 
 length of the pit, (which may be fifty or five hundred feet, 
 according to the work required to be done,) and whoever 
 supplies it will make it of a proper size according to the 
 length of pipe it has to heat. Whatever a house may be 
 destined for, the only difference we should make would be in 
 the internal arrangements. If for peaches, nectarines, or figs, 
 or apricots planted in the ground, the interior must form a 
 trellis on which the trees should be trained. If for vines, 
 especially, and to be brought in a season that admits of no 
 other forcing, the interior must have no stage, nor pit ; but 
 even then, mushrooms may be forced on the ground without 
 the least detriment to the fruit of the vines, the bed being 
 made on the floor of the house, and merely covered with 
 straw to keep the sun off. Many, however, get a stage, and 
 
 F
 
 82 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 grow cTiilies and capsicums under tlie vine ; but whatever it 
 be, it sbould be capable of bearing all tlie treatment tbe vine 
 requires at whatever season it may be forced, because every- 
 thing must give way to the proper management of that ; and 
 things that will not bear it have no business there. 
 
 Forcing Vegetables. — Many things may be forced in a 
 common dung hot-bed with a garden-frame and light. Straw- 
 berries and French beans planted in the bed with a proper 
 thickness of soil — say eight or ten inches — may be managed 
 to a nicety; for it is easy for a practised hand to regulate 
 the heat of a dung-bed, as others may regulate the more 
 elaborately perfect contrivances. Potatoes are well forced 
 ill common garden-frames and hghts. We have known Mr. 
 Chapman, of Brentford End, to force one thousand lights 
 in a season, so that there is very httle difficulty in the matter. 
 Ehubarb and sea-kale should be forced in the proper forcing- 
 ground, for it is very littery and ugly in the ordinary kitchen- 
 garden ; and the plan generally adopted now is to sacrifice 
 the plants, which are grown in the open air, as asparagus- 
 plants are, until three years old, and then put as close 
 together in frames as they can be packed, covered with six 
 inches to eight inches of ashes, sand, or common light soil, 
 and set to work until they break through the surface, when 
 they are known to be ready. Asparagus has long been forced 
 in common hot-beds in the same way, the roots placed side by 
 side as thick as they can be packed, and covered with three 
 to six inches of soil. Those who, like ourselves, are content 
 with short but eatable "grass," as it is called, cover with 
 three inches, allow it to grow four inches above the surface, 
 and cut two inches below ; others, who want three or four 
 times as much white tough stick, to an inch of eatable stuf^ 
 put six inches of soil on the crown of the root, and cut four 
 or five below the surface ; but it is to be considered that at 
 market people expect a great show, and that the white portion, 
 though useless, is necessary for sale. The ordinary way of 
 forcing kale, by covering the plants with a pot, and surround- 
 ing it with hot stable-dung, will do where the plantations are 
 permanent ; but growing the roots up for forcing, and making 
 one hot-bed hold many plants, is far the best plan when a 
 large supply is required. 
 
 The forcing-ground should contain sufficient space to take in 
 a considerable number of common hot-beds, made under frames
 
 THE FORCIXG GROUND. 83 
 
 and glasses, for there are few things that may not be forced by 
 such means, and they may always be increased by adding them 
 when the demand for an}i;hing justifies it. Stoves, pineries, 
 forcing-pits, &c., should be for the winter months, seventy to 
 seventy-five degrees by day, sixty to sixty-five degrees by 
 night ; for the summer, eighty-five to ninety degrees by day, 
 and sixty-five to seventy degrees by night. 
 
 Tanner's Bark. — One of the most useful materials in the 
 forcing-ground. Pits are filled with it to produce a genial 
 bottom heat, and pine-apples are rarely groAvn without it. 
 There is no material that holds a moderate warmth so long, 
 and M^hen it has rotted it is a good fertilizer of the ground. 
 As a proof that it is highly nourishing, if a plant be plunged 
 in it and the roots get through the bottom of the pot, the 
 plant — it matters not what plant — grows more vigorously than 
 ever, and the more decayed the tan may be, the more robust 
 the growth. We have had cucumbers plunged in tan to grow 
 on the roof of the hot-house, and have calculated on renew- 
 ing the plants as the old ones get lazy, but all at once they have 
 become stronger, put out new shoots, and gone on till the end of 
 the season, when we were obliged to change the tan, and found 
 the roots of the cucmnber rambling among it in all directions. 
 PassiJloraBonapartia and other flowers have exhibited the same 
 propensity for luxuriating in the decayed bark, and on one 
 occasion we put in the proportion of nine barrows to a bed 
 four feet wide and thirty-six feet long, spreading it equally 
 and digging it in, and the same of dung from an old melon 
 bed. Half a dozen beds were done each way. We think those 
 mth the dung had the advantage the first season, if there 
 was a difierence ; but the second, those dressed with the tan 
 far outdid the others, and there was a bed each of half a 
 dozen subjects, and a fair trial. After the first year the tan 
 had it, and we could come to no other conclusion than that 
 the decayed tan was a first-rate dressing for flowers. The pits 
 made within houses should be as much higher behind than 
 they are in front as the roof is ; in other words, it should be 
 the same slope as the glass, that things may be at the same 
 distance, whether they are plunged in the front or at the back. 
 For convenience the pit should be so built that there shall be 
 room to go round it ; and that it may be as large as the house 
 will admit, the path should not be more than eighteen inches 
 to two feet wide. The pit is merely a receptacle to hold tlio 
 
 f2
 
 84 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 tan. It may be a foot deeper than the floor of the house, to 
 hold the greater body of tanner's bark ; it may be three feet 
 six inches above the pavement or path in front, and the rise 
 up to the back to be dictated by the slope of the roof. Four- 
 inch brickwork is thick enough, and room is an object. 
 This should be filled with tan rather heaped up, for it settles 
 down very considerably. Thrust a stake down sloping to 
 reach the middle, that by pulling it out you may feel the 
 heat of the bed. This bed will supply bottom heat for pines, 
 cuttings of all sorts, plants that want to be pushed on a little, 
 tropical seeds and flowers that are to be forced. In all these 
 cases, the pots or pans are plunged to the rims, and they must 
 be liberally watered, but not tiU the surface of the soil they 
 are in is dry. But it is necessary to keep the atmosphere 
 moist; this is easiest done by frequently sprinkling the floor of 
 the stove and the hot- water pipes. This raises a steam which 
 is beneficial to all kinds of plants, even if any are in bloom 
 it does not disturb them, it merely settles down something 
 like the finest dew. Tan requires to be partly renewed every 
 year ; this is generally done by sifting all the decayed stufl" out, 
 using the large over again, mixed with enough new tan to fill 
 up the place. 
 
 THE FORMATION OF PLEASUEE GEOUJSTDS. 
 
 Tliere is nothing less understood among ordinary gardeners 
 than the disposal of ground to advantage by the laying-out of 
 those portions which are nearest the house with a view to orna- 
 ment. Men generally apportion their walks and groups of 
 shrubs and trees according to the size of the ground, as if the 
 persons who walk about could change their size to fit a narrow 
 way. It cannot be in good taste to attempt more than can 
 be accomplished well. All large estates, even forests them- 
 selves, have beautiful spots, and we cannot do bettor than 
 imitate by. art, in style at least, whatever is beautiful in 
 nature. If we attempt in an acre of ground to produce too 
 many features, we spoil them all ; for inasmuch as none ought 
 to be insignificantly small, many would so crowd the place as 
 to leave no expanse for lawn ; and if the features are imitated 
 on a small scale, ever}i:hing looks poor and babylike. 
 
 If you want a simimer-house, let it be of a size that a party 
 can enjoy themselves in ; not a pimping cupboard of a place,
 
 FORMATIOX OP PLEASURE GROUNDS. 85 
 
 with scarcely room for a table and chairs. Choose an appro- 
 priate place for it, generally a spot that commands fine views. 
 Let it be raised a step or two, or even more, if there be any 
 object in it. Place it close to the boundary, that the space 
 before it may be as large as is practicable. If you can find 
 pillars of any architectural beauty, and a portico-like top, it 
 will be the most effective model you can take. 1£ you have 
 to build it new, pilasters will be cheaper, and, if not quite so 
 effective, at least neat and elegant. 
 
 Paths. — The next object is to form the path round the gar- 
 den, as near the boundary as you can well bring it, so that you 
 do not prevent the ordinary means used to conceal the extent. 
 The outer portion of the ground always requires to be planted 
 well, but so form these borders of shrubs as to give variety to 
 the scene. If the garden be square and much confined it will 
 cause some trouble ; but let not the path be conducted in sharp 
 corners or elbows ; a graceful turn at all points, and nowhere 
 abrupt. The borders must not be carried in the same line as 
 the path ; the verges should be of turf, a foot wide at least ; 
 the border unequal in width, and the path sometimes approach- 
 ing it, at other places receding from it ; the border sometimes 
 showing a projecting breastwork of fine shrubs, up close to the 
 path, at other places leaving a wide space of green turf, hke 
 the middle portion of the lawn. The path should not be less 
 than six or eight feet wide, and the centre of the lawn should 
 be clear of all specimens or beds, for there is no means of 
 showing space off to so much advantage as the keeping as 
 much of it within the range of the eye as possible. It is 
 almost impossible to set do^^Ti any rule, because scarcely two 
 places present the same objects, the same means, and the same 
 features. Clumps should never be fiirther from the edge of 
 the path than the width of the verge which is left any where. 
 "Whatever size you have your bed or clump, whatever form it 
 is to assume, the portion next the path is to be cut to within 
 the foot verge, and never should there be more or less width 
 of verge ; consequently, all the fancy form must be away from 
 the path, that is, the side opposite the path. 
 
 Clumps. — Clumps may be of any odd form, any whimsical 
 shape, without destroying the general effect, if attention be 
 paid to the narrow verge, and it be kept the same width 
 wherever the bed or clump joins the path. The corners or 
 breaks in the outline of the beds suggest good places for
 
 86 PRACTICAL GARDEXING. 
 
 specimen plants and shrubs, wliicli should only be sufficiently 
 removed from the path to secure room for their proper growth. 
 Trees in the centre, or far away from the path, are blemishes ; 
 and if there be no other reason, specimen plants should be 
 seen well without going out of the gravel walk. 
 
 On the side of the path next the boundary, breaks may be 
 formed with clumps of roses, or American plants, or even 
 flowers, that the outer border may not be so formal. By a 
 receding of the clump towards the corner, the real boundary 
 may be so concealed that it is impossible to tell whether there 
 are ten yards or ten acres round the corner ; and these contri- 
 vances, varied a little, but to the same effect, give an appear- 
 ance of far greater extent than there really is. It is perfectly 
 immaterial whether this leads to a statue or a seat, though we 
 always prefer the latter ; it is more useful and appropriate 
 than any statue. Small beds or clumps cut in the grass, 
 between the path and the border, help to break the line still 
 more. We need hardly say that the boundary border of 
 shrubs ought to be higher than the fence, whatever that fence 
 may be, because the appearance of a fence or wall completely 
 upsets all attempts to conceal the real extent. The greatest 
 evil that most men fall into is the cutting up of a lawn by 
 planting trees and making beds away from the gravel walk, 
 and this makes us the more desirous to press upon the mind 
 the impropriety of all such work. It may be permitted^ to 
 put a circular basket occasionally near the mansion, and form 
 beds to imitate baskets of flovv^ers ; but even these should be 
 carefully and sparingly adopted. 
 
 A flower garden may be formed as mechanically as you 
 please, of any pattern that a pair of compasses, twirled about 
 twenty ways, will suggest ; but they should always be adopted 
 in isolated places, out of the general landscape — in some 
 favoured nook that we may find. 
 
 So far as it can be accomplished, all ugly or formal buildings 
 should be planted out. Greenhouses, and other horticultural 
 buildings, often form no exception ; for they are occasionally 
 great obstructions to a fine bit of landscape. 
 
 The road being kept wide, and the borders planted in pro- 
 portion, the clumps that join the path at intervals on the in- 
 side or outside — that is, towards the border or towards the 
 centre of the lawn — must be made large in proportion ; so that, 
 when the shrubs grow up to a reasonable size, the proportion
 
 FORMATION OF PLEASURE GROUNDS. 87 
 
 shall be in accordance with all the rest of :he plan. Nothing 
 looks so pimping and ridiculous as small clumps ; and, except 
 here and there in a favourable position for a few flowers, none 
 ought to be made less than from ten to twenty feet across ; 
 because then you can form a rich clump of shrubs, and have 
 flowering deciduous trees in the centre. 
 
 EVEEGEEENS DESIEABLE. 
 
 All pleasure-grounds should be planted with evergreens ; 
 the entire features should be evergreen — as much varied as 
 you please, but still evergreen. Deciduous trees should only be 
 at the back of the others, or surrounded with them, so that in 
 winter time the place should look as well clothed as in summer. 
 It is possible, by these precautions, to make an acre of ground 
 look as if it were part of a large domain instead of a limited 
 space ; whereas, if the path were four feet instead of six, or 
 eight, or even ten, everything would strongly betoken the 
 smaller space. We have seen in an acre of ground, a httle 
 cottage, a very small conservatory, a greenhouse of the same 
 diminutive kind, the imitation of a small chapel, stables, 
 picture gallery, rock-work, fountain, and half-a-score other 
 things, all cramped and inconvenient, and every way worthy 
 of children instead of grown persons ; plenty of taste in 
 miniature, but unworthy of anybody of expansive mind, and 
 perfectly unnatural ; whereas, if the contriver, "odio was so 
 ambitious to imitate everything, had been content to make all 
 his space match some pleasant portion of a larger estate, there 
 had been something to admire and think of afterwards — 
 something that w^ould bear looking at. It is quite possible to 
 adopt some other feature, but nothing should be attempted 
 upon a small scale ; it only destroys the grand features of the 
 landscape. For instance, if there be any appropriate place, 
 there might be rock-work ; or if there be facihties for water, 
 there is nothing to prevent its being done ; but unless it be 
 done upon a large scale, it is labour wasted to spoil the scene. 
 
 Straight paths ought under any circumstances to be avoided 
 in the pleasure grounds if tlie landscape plan be adopted; and 
 portions of the house should be planted out as well as any 
 ugly object ; that is, the shrubs planted near the house in 
 clumps should be so placed as to break the straight line. If 
 the house happen to be on an eminence, a terrace walk is not
 
 88 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 uncommon nor inelegant ; but the planting of the front below 
 it should be so contrived as to hide all the formality, and this 
 can only be done by forming large clumps at appropriate 
 points. The main path, too, should be carried round quite 
 independent of the terrace walk, and removed far enough to 
 allow of planting between them, so as to conceal all the stiff 
 outline of the terrace walk, and keep up the landscape 
 character of the principal lawn and shrubbery. 
 
 Of.^ course, every place has its peculiar capabilities and dis- 
 advantages, and we must always be guided a little by circum- 
 stances ; but the main object, that of making the place appear 
 as large as possible, or, in other words, to make the most of a 
 small space, must be kept in view. 
 
 The principle on which landscape gardens is conducted 
 properly is, that which pervades the most beautiful spots in 
 nature. Landscape gardening is the art of imitating as many 
 natural beauties as possible in a garden, and following nature 
 strictly as a teacher ; hence, we have no straight walks, no 
 square-sided canals. But, inasmuch as nature furnishes us 
 with a reason for crooked roads and winding streams, we 
 must take care and imitate the cause of the deviation, as well 
 as the deviation itself The paths pointed out for us on 
 swampy ground are the highest portions ; the road marked 
 out for us in a mountainous country is round a hill, rather 
 than straight across it. Nature, therefore, always furnishes 
 us with the cause of deviation : we cannot go straight through 
 a forest, nor straight over a mountain ; we cannot, or rather, 
 we will not, go through water while by walking further round 
 it we can keep dry. Water itself winds a de^dous course, 
 because it will keep to the lowest ground. Pour a jug of 
 water gently on the gTOund, even where you think it level, 
 and you will soon see that the shghtest inequality will cause 
 it to turn aside. In this way have rivers been formed ; and 
 there is hardly anytliing more picturesque than the winding of 
 a river, where there is also grass and wood to help the scenery. 
 Now, there is nothing here but what can be imitated ; but it 
 is better let alone than attempted on a small scale. 
 
 We may be told that we cannot imitate the sturdy oak of a 
 century ; then let it not be attempted : but there is generally 
 timber in the place, or in the neighbourhood ; and the art of 
 planting is so to dispose your own trees as to conceal the 
 boundary where your estate ends and somebody else's begins.
 
 FOEMATION OF PLEAS UEE GROUNDS. 89 
 
 It is the very acme of good management to appropriate the 
 surrounding trees to your own purpose ; that is, make them 
 features in your own landscape. Plant your own as if there 
 were no fence or wall between you and them; and this, 
 remember, is to be done by a judicious management of the 
 planting at the fence and the clumps that are nearest. In 
 some places barely top the fence by the shrubs, in others get 
 in the very tallest you can find ; have a clump between the 
 lowest and the walk, with shrubs considerably taller than 
 those at the fence. These features are calculated to break the 
 appearance of a boundary, and, by widening the boundary 
 planting considerably in some parts, you again destroy the 
 monotony, and give an appearance of extent. 
 
 Choice of Shrubs, and Planting. — The shrubs used in 
 planting should be chosen rather with regard to the wood 
 around you. If you are surrounded vnth firs and cedars, let 
 some of your plants be the same ; not the same sorts, but the 
 same famdy. If the nearest trees are chestnut, or lime, or 
 elm, or any other distinct character, do as much towards 
 imitating it as the nature of your planting will allow. You 
 are not to use all deciduous plants, because they do ; but you 
 may have enough of them as near the boundary as may be. 
 The most efiective kind of planting away from the house is 
 to keep each clump distinct as to family ; hollies in one or 
 more, pines and cedars, laui-el, bay, each and every interesting 
 family may be provided with its place at the most distant 
 clumps. Nearer the house, the Magnolia tribe, in all its hardy 
 varieties, may form one or more of the conspicuous groups. 
 The various American flow^ering slirubs may either form 
 dwarf clumps in appropriate places, or foremost objects in 
 the larger ones ; and the border or belt plantation should be 
 a mixture of everything lively and varied. The dark green of 
 the holly and yew will contrast well with the brighter greens 
 of the laurel, or the lighter hues of the Aucuha japonica, and 
 other variegated shrubs. Eegard, however, must be had to 
 the rate at which the difi'erent trees grow, or you may have 
 your front shrubs in a few seasons topping the back ones, and 
 destroying the gracefulness of the groups formed here and 
 there in the border, and spoiling the effect altogether. 
 
 The borders and clumps should be all made large enough 
 to leave two feet for the summer additions of flowers, and to 
 accommodate always, at particular distances, a few of the best
 
 90 PRACTICAL GAEDENING. 
 
 flowering dwarf Americans, whicL. show their "blooms only in 
 spring, and enliven the scene when it ^fould otherwise be 
 sombre. The Pyrus japonica, with its scarlet flowers, begins 
 in the autumn, and continues, if mild, all the mnter. The 
 dwarf ahnond is almost the first to show the approach of 
 spring ; and numerous other plants, unimportant in them- 
 selves, contribute to the beauty of a well-j)lanted border. The 
 path once laid down, the turves soon carpet the space, and 
 nothing so soon puts a finish on the landscape garden. 
 
 "We have here only spoken of the most simple style of 
 gardening ; we say nothing of water or rock-work, of hill or 
 dale, nor of flower-gardens : all those require separate notice, 
 and will have it ; we have merely recommended that, as a 
 summer-house is the first thing everybody thinks of, it should 
 be on a good large scale, in imitation of a temple ; that the 
 ground, if it be but an acre, should be laid out in landscape 
 fashion, and that the rules of landscape gardening be observed 
 in every movement ; — a formal shrubbery is a frightful ob- 
 ject. The botanical garden at White Knights, abounding w^th 
 noble specimens, is altogether spoiled by its formality; the 
 trees are in straight lines, or parallel beds ; and though their 
 different gro"\vths have spoiled the uniformity a little, there 
 never was a better proof of the impropriety of straight lines 
 in a garden than that collection of splendid trees and shrubs 
 affords. 
 
 Edgings. — Of the many subjects that make edgings for 
 beds and borders, the first and foremost is box ; for it can be 
 kept neater and cleaner than anything else, and there can be 
 nothing in the vegetable world that is kept so easily within 
 moderate bounds. The formation of box edgings, too, may 
 be accomplished with an exactness that cannot be preserved 
 with any other subject. It may be made an inch above the 
 ground, and half an inch thick, and laid to any figiu'e with 
 the exactness of a line. The whole art of making a good box 
 edging consists in first trimming the box, tearing it to pieces 
 not thicker than the line is wanted, cutting the tops square, 
 and adjusting the roots so that they will not go too far down ; 
 next, levelling the edge of the bed or border, and treading it 
 hard, putting soil on where it sinks too much, and paring it 
 off where it is too high ; having with a rake made the surface 
 smooth, stretch the line tight exactly where the edging is to 
 go ; pat it doAvn with the spade, so as to make a mark with
 
 THE FLOWER GARDEN. 91 
 
 the line : third, you with a smooth spade cut and pat a sloping 
 banlv, of which the line mark is 'the top ; against this sloping 
 bank you place the box, with its square top haK an inch above 
 the line mark, and push the loose stuff up against it, to hold 
 it there, and continue it till finished ; you may then put the 
 rest of the stuff close up to a level of the linfe, and it- is ready 
 for the gravel outside. So much for the straight line : when 
 any figTires are to be done, the bank must be made in the 
 same way, but you must find other modes of marking it. 
 Tlie next best edging, to our fancy, is Arahis alba, — very hke 
 white alyssum ; the only difference is, that as this should be 
 planted two or three inches apart, when you have made the 
 line as for box, dibble the single plants of arabis in with an 
 iron-shod dibble. Gentiana, thrift, daisies, perennial candy- 
 tuft, are all used ; but we like the arabis best, because it 
 blooms white, and with abundance of flowers, from February 
 to the beginning of May. If planted in the autumn, it "«aLl 
 be three or four inches wide by blooming-time, and its glaucous 
 leaves are lively all the winter. It should be replanted every 
 second year, or it gets too wide. We have more than once or 
 twice, in various papers, strongly recommended the glass- 
 bottle-makers to get up an edging of the same coarse glass 
 that wine bottles are made of ; but hitherto without effect, 
 although we pubhshed simple patterns, that they might get 
 moulds for easily. It would be far better for the flowers than 
 even a box edging would be, for it would not harbour the 
 slugs, snails, and other vermin, as box, and indeed everything 
 else does, where there is any place to conceal them. Vitrified 
 ware, nearly the form of bricks, have been used with advan- 
 tage ; but they are unsightly, and, not being mechanically 
 true, they cannot be set in a correct line, nor worked with 
 certainty to any given figiu-e. 
 
 THE FLO WEE GAEDEK 
 
 Geometrical or Dutch gardens are very beautiful, when 
 made in appropriate places, and upon good principles ; but 
 the diversity of form is endless, and there is hardly a prettier 
 feature in a garden establishment, if it be well managed. 
 They ought to be formed wdth gravel walks and beds, and the 
 designs should be very different to those flower-gardens which 
 are formed by cutting particular figures in grass, though both
 
 92 PKACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 should be done in sucli uniform figures as to make up a pretty 
 whole. In marking tlie garden for gravel walks, the figure 
 must be so managed as that the gravel walks shall be of 
 equal width all through the figure ; whereas in grass borders, 
 which allow much more intermediate space, there is no need 
 of confining the portion between the beds in any way. In 
 fact, the portions to walk on may be of a particular figure, as 
 well as the beds themselves ; but there should, nevertheless, 
 be a complete uniformity throughout, because when the eye 
 rests on anything manifestly artificial, it should always be in 
 order and regularity. 
 
 Geometrical Gardens. — It may, however, be said, that 
 pieces of ground generally selected out of the general land- 
 scape — that is to say, in a recess of some kind, or a nook of 
 the garden — are not always of a uniform figure ; and in such 
 case, the figure cannot be made uniform ; but where such is 
 the case, a square, or oblong, or circle, must be taken as large 
 as the ground will admit, to contain the figure, and the 
 remainder laid out independently, without spoiling the figure. 
 For instance, say the plot of ground is neither round, square, 
 nor any regular figure whatever, begin by making a positive 
 geometrical figure, as large as it will allow, and let the outer 
 path be made first ; all that is outside the path may be 
 planted with shrubs, or made into a rosary, mth dwarf plants 
 nearest the path, and all behind gradually rising ; or it may, 
 if there be much of it, be put into grass. The inner portion, 
 or figure, whether it be square, round, oblong, or triangle, is 
 then to be laid out. We confess that, to us, there is nothing 
 so eff'ective as a circle ; it admits of endless variety, and you 
 may form a hundred designs, if you only play with a pair of 
 compasses, as a boy does when he makes stars for his kite. 
 Set your compasses with a double line, so that they form the 
 path ; get some paper ruled with hnes to form squares of an 
 eighth of an inch, and set the double point of your compasses 
 to that width, and reckon this eighth of an inch either two 
 feet or three feet, whichever you intend your paths to be ; set 
 your compasses so that you take in the exact size you intend 
 the ground to be occupied ; first draw your circle, but as the 
 outer path is to be any width you please, make proper allow- 
 ance for it. Having made your circle, without altering your 
 compasses, stick the point on the outer line, and make the 
 double point commence at one side, and draw it over to the
 
 THE FLOWER SARDEN. 93 
 
 onter edge on the other side ; put the point in again on the 
 outer line, where the other left off, and continue to do this 
 until you have perfected the figure, as far as it can be per- 
 fected, by putting the point of the compasses into the marks 
 where the other or moving points come home. If the point 
 is now put exactly half way, and another series of circles or 
 portions similar to those already made are worked out, the 
 divisions will be more numerous, and the shapes may be more 
 diversified. But, in order to get a greater variety of forms, 
 and to get some practice, it is better, perhaps, to use the 
 single points only, and, without altering the compasses at all, 
 make a circle ; then wdth the point on the line draw a second ; 
 place the point on the line of the first circle where the second 
 crosses it, and make a third ; the point where this crosses 
 make a fourth ; and keep on until six circles round the first 
 complete a figure. By commencing another series with the 
 point half way between the points used for the six, you make 
 twelve. The whole circles being filled wdth squares already 
 ruled, you will be able to mark out beds of the most extraor- 
 dinary shapes, but perfectly uniform. These may be still 
 more diversified by drawing from the centre point one circle 
 half-way between the line of the first circle and the centre 
 point, by altering the compasses to half the width. 
 
 A man inclined to form plans for flower gardens will derive 
 infinite amusement from the numerous forms that can be made 
 with geometrical precision by merely plajTiig with a pair of 
 compasses. When we come to reduce this to actual practice, 
 the compasses must have a double point for the paths, for 
 these must be of one uniform breadth all through the bed, 
 and in no case should the width come double. Those, how- 
 ever, who have not the double point, may produce the 
 necessary lines by opening the compasses as much as the path 
 is to occupy. 
 
 It would be scarcely worth while to give examples, because 
 the instant any working man begins mth the compasses, he 
 will see there is no difficulty in jDroducing endless variety. 
 
 The plans of beds to be cut on grass merely require that 
 the portions to be planted should be wider apart ; grass must 
 not be too narrow ; tlie grass must form the carpet, and the 
 beds the pattern ; taste, with the aid of ruled paper and the 
 compasses, will suggest a thousand modes to please the eye. 
 
 Furnishing the Beds. — But when the garden is made,
 
 04 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 there is mucli to be considered in the planting. I^ot one 
 flower garden in a hundred is ever decently filled ; uniformity 
 and s}Tiimetry are lost sight of in the endeavour to use as 
 many kinds of flowers as possible ; and not one have we seen 
 that has not been spoiled by the mode of planting. Generally 
 speaking, it is desirable to have twenty-four beds— three, or 
 six, or twelve, of one form, besides a centre one — though to 
 see one of these geometrical gardens in perfection, the centre 
 should be gravel, that the proper efi'ect may be seen from the 
 middle, whereas a centre bed deprives us of this view. If, 
 as is usual, there be six beds of a form, it is throwing all the 
 advantage away to aim at too many colours. Every alternate 
 bed may be of one subject, which, being uniform, gives a good 
 effect ; but we prefer all six alike. Another six may be all 
 alike, and of another colour. So also may be a third and 
 a fourth six. Annuals are great favourites in geometrical 
 gardens, but there is nothing comes up to the verbena for 
 iength and steadiness of bloom, unless it is the scarlet geranium. 
 Let the outside of the figure be planted with anj^thing you 
 please, but have the figure itself planted with subjects that 
 require no changing. The more intricate the figure, the more 
 the necessity for dwarf plants and for permanent subjects. 
 Those beds which form the outside cbcles cannot be better 
 planted than with various scarlet geraniums ; they are striking 
 and lasting. The diversity of colours in the verbena, and the 
 exceedingly dwarf habit of the creeping varieties, afford great 
 facilities for completing the inner beds — there are purple, 
 white, pink, lilac, salmon colour, crimson, and indeed almost 
 every shade but yellow may be secured from May until the 
 frost cuts them off. The only colour we seem to want is 
 yellow, and these are for the most part temporary. Calceo- 
 larias are the best subjects. 
 
 If, however, changes are to be made, we have abundance of 
 colours among the annuals and perennials of other kinds, so 
 that we need not cross our fancy for colours. Tlie nemo- 
 philas, convolvulus, and Lupinus nanus, give us blue ; the 
 eschscholtzia and erysimums, orange ; the mimulus and yellow 
 pansies are bright "^and beautiful ; but to see a geometrical 
 garden stuffed with hehotropes, which are nothing to look at, 
 or mignonette, or any of the usual straggling and ineffective 
 subjects, is aggravating to every man of taste. 
 
 Everything in one of these flower gardens should be striking
 
 THE FLOWER GARDEN. 95 
 
 and dwarf ; they must never overrun the box edging, because 
 the figure is at once destroyed. There is a vast difference 
 between the management of these and mere chimps on lawns 
 or beds in any other place. It is of the highest consequence 
 to keep everything within the figure, w^herever that figure 
 is valued. 
 
 Formation of Geometrical Gardens. — The formation of 
 these gardens on paper, in the manner we have liinted, renders 
 it very easy on the ground, because it will occur to any prac- 
 tical man that by placing a stake on the spot where the point 
 of the compasses are placed on the paper, a cord doubled and 
 tied the exact length you want will be your compasses ; put one 
 end of the loop over the stake, and put a stick to the other 
 end, and you may mark your circle as well on the ground as 
 your compasses do on the paper. You therefore dig and 
 trench the wdiole plot, level it and roll it to an even surface, 
 then mark it by means of your line and stakes until you have 
 your figure on the ground ; when you have all your marks 
 made, rub out with the foot all those you do not intend to 
 use ; leave none but your beds and the paths between them 
 to divide your attention. You then commence operations by 
 throwing out the earth a spit deep along the middle of your 
 paths to make room for chopping the sides down like a bank, 
 carefully pressing the back of the spade in a sloping direction, 
 so as to make the beds all perfect and standing in relief ; the 
 earth you have thrown out of the paths is as well on the beds 
 as anyw^here. This being all perfected, and the loose earth 
 chopped from the sides being in the path, trim all your box 
 of a length, with the tops cut square, and thin it out almost 
 into single stems ; the box when planted ought not to be 
 more than an inch wide in any part, and unless it be torn 
 into small plants, you cannot manage to make it even. The 
 surface of the ground being perfectly level wdien you begin, 
 and the earth thrown on to the beds lying on the middle, and 
 not interrupting the line of plan, take your box in sufficient 
 quantity, and lay it against the bank you have formed, with 
 the tops just half an inch above the surface, and this being 
 cut square can be so w^ell adjusted that when finished it ■will 
 be as level and even in thickness as it can be made. As you 
 lay it, bring the loose earth in the path up against it to hold 
 it in its place, forming a bank outside it to keep it firm. We 
 need hardly say that if this be all properly done the figures
 
 96 PRACTICAL "tARDENIXG. 
 
 will be perfect, and the box all alike the whole length. You 
 have then only to wheel the gravel in, and, with a narrow 
 roller, press it into its place without disturbing the box, the 
 figure of which, if kept properly preserved, will last unim- 
 paired many years. 
 
 The principal points to attend to are — first, to roll all the 
 ground smooth, and see that it is level ; next, so mark your 
 figure as that you can see well what you are about, jDutting 
 out those marks which are mere surplusage, — that is, not 
 wanted ; all the marks that cross the walks and confuse the 
 figure, but which, nevertheless, like the crosses and marks on 
 the paper, come on the development of the figure, — so as to 
 leave the figure perfect and easy to decipher. Then clear out 
 a good spit deep all the centres of the paths, and throAv the 
 stuff on the centre of the beds if they are large ; but if they 
 are numerous and small, it may be necessary to get rid of it 
 by wheeling it away altogether ; generally, however, the beds 
 are large enough to take it, and only rise a little for it in the 
 middle. 
 
 TVe have said nothing here about draining, because we pre- 
 sume upon that having been performed on every part of the 
 garden before you commence. The chopping out of the figure 
 is rendered very simple and easy, by removing the earth from 
 the middle of the paths ; but there is some ingenuity in press- 
 ing the soil of the sloping bank you form, so as to make it 
 firm. Gardeners who are used to the work press the back of 
 the spade against the part they leave, at the same time that 
 they take the other away ; on the correctness with which you 
 attend to the lines of the figure depends the entire beauty of 
 the flower garden up to the planting, which if ill-managed, will 
 destroy the best figure in the world, or at least mar the effect. 
 
 It is necessary, first, to choose dwarf subjects that bloom as 
 close to the ground as possible ; secondly, to put the colours 
 in uniform, — that is, if six equal beds are round a centre, only 
 to attempt two colours or two mixtures, one each for the 
 alternate beds ; then three scarlets at triangles, and three 
 purples, yellows, whites, or blues at the points of the other 
 triangle. Some would think they met all the necessary uni- 
 formity by three different colours, one opposite the other, but 
 the magic of a well-balanced geometrical fig-ure is destroyed at 
 once, as will be seen in an instant by trying it on paper. 
 Thirdly, for the sake of saving trouble, use such subjects sls
 
 THE FLOWER GARDEN, 97 
 
 will not require changing ; for thoiigli we admit there is a 
 charm in change, it is very difficult to manage it without 
 losing bloom for a considerable time, or occupying many 
 hundreds, if not thousands of pots to bring on things that 
 may be got to bloom for such changes. 
 
 The Pot-growing System, — It is possible to manage thus 
 for a succession of bloom with abundance of trouble and means. 
 See how many pots will fill all the beds at six inches apart, 
 and that the earliest advantage may be taken of the opening 
 spring, let so many pots be used for spring bulbs, three 
 colours of crocuses, yellow, blue, and white ; the same of 
 hyaciuths, confining the latter to the dwarf kinds ; then there 
 are snowdrops, Scilla sibirica, and the dwarf daffodil ; these 
 latter are even before the crocuses. The pots of everything 
 should be one size, what is called large sixty, or four inches 
 at top but much smaller at bottom. To folloAV these, which 
 will last from February till May, the verbenas in every 
 variety may be brought forward ; but there is a choice of fifty 
 things that may be in bloom in May. The beauty of this pot 
 system is, that all the pots being of one size, they have merely 
 to be lifted out when done blooming, and those in flower 
 dropped into the same holes. An hour, with proper assistance, 
 would do thousands of pots, and the whole face would be 
 changed before breakfast any morning, and the old pots 
 wheeled away. Generally speaking, flower gardens are not 
 made up till May, and then there is abundant choice. 
 
 In very small places, always in sight, the pot supply is 
 good ; and it is carried out with great advantage in villa 
 gardens, where everybody who passes can see the place. 
 
 There is but little taate exhibited in bedding out plants 
 generally. Those subjects which belong only to the backs of 
 wide borders are frequently thrust into pretty small clumps, 
 the form of which is destroyed before the plants are half 
 grown. Tall fuchsias, salvias, and other similar tall plants 
 are totally unfitted for any given figure ; they are only fit to 
 be placed in the background. If they are to grace a clump, 
 it should be on a large scale, and without any particular 
 outline or figure. 
 
 The prettiest way of showing off anything ennobling or 
 tall, is in clumps with basket or rustic borders, that they may 
 appear hke baskets set on the lawn. Eoses look better so 
 than any other way; and if the basket border be well 
 
 G
 
 98 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 adapted, there is hardly a prettier device. Heliotropes, 
 mignonette, violets, and aromatic plants generally, wliich are 
 really wanted for their perfume, and are nothing to look at, 
 should be always placed in the nooks and corners. They form 
 no feature in flower-beds, and the perfume is quite as pleasant 
 when they are not seen as when they are. 
 
 Flower Beds on Lawns. — There may, however, be great 
 liberties taken with isolated beds cut on lawns ; it is only 
 when they form part of a figure that we are bound under any 
 circumstance to preserve that figure, and more particularly if 
 it be at all dependent on angles or intricate windings. Many 
 consider the figui-es cut in grass to be superior in effect to 
 those formed with gravel paths and box : we do not. Grass 
 is such a finish in itself when well kept, that we would not 
 consent for a moment to impair the expense of the centre by 
 cutting up any part of it for flowers. If there needs must be 
 flowers on grass, let the beds be at the side parallel ^viih. the 
 main path ; let there be a verge of green a foot wide ; the 
 bed cut close up to that, and whatever diversity of figure 
 may be required, let it be inside. Vary the figure as much as 
 you please inwardly, so that it reach a mere verge of grass 
 next the path ; but to cut a lawn into holes, beds, clumps, or 
 whatever else you may call them, is to destroy the beautiful 
 expanse wliich is the very charm of a lawn. ^N'evertheless, it 
 is the whim and fancy of some to cut even geometrical figures 
 in grass, and although we have an insuperable objection, 
 there are some points to attend to where it must be done, to 
 make it even tolerable. For instance, as the flower-beds are 
 useless unless they are attractive, \isitors always frequent 
 their vicinity, and if there be not ample room, the grass is 
 soon destroyed by merely walking over the same spot re- 
 peatedly. On this account the beds must always be smaller 
 in proportion than they are on gravel, where a path may be 
 trampled on from morning till night, any day in the yea,r, 
 without damage ; but if the grass be ever so expansive in 
 proportion to the beds, it is soon damaged if there be many 
 visitors. This is our grand objection; for when grass is 
 worn a little it cannot be brought up again without pro- 
 hibiting a footstep altogether, or laying down fresh turf, and 
 either of these done at the very season a place is most 
 frequented, is a serious objection. 
 
 It is not uncommon to see figures cut in the grass on both
 
 THE FLOWER GARDEN. 99 
 
 ^ides of a long straight walk ; we have instances of it in the 
 Horticultural Gardens at Chiswick, and the Eoyal Gardens at 
 Kew — in both cases, as we think, in bad taste. However, it 
 is one of the penalties we pay for straight walks ; whoever 
 adopts a straight walk as a feature finds something is required 
 to take ofi" the monotony and divert the eye, -and this leads 
 to something perfectly obnoxious to good taste. There is 
 nothing elevated in the detail, because there is a common 
 mechanical notion in the path itself. There may be mathe- 
 matical precision, but there is no grace in a straight road ; 
 and the form of clumps or flower-beds on the sides of the 
 straight road is necessarily mechanical also, and subject to 
 everybody's objection; for if once we descend to mere 
 frivohty and make uniform half-moons, or horseshoes, or 
 diamonds, or circles on each side of a straight path, we might 
 just as well have a row of posts, and chains hung on festoons 
 for the children to smng upon. K a piece of lawn is to be 
 devoted to a flower garden, and the geometrical figure is to 
 be adopted, let it be so made that the eye may look down 
 upon it from an eminence. Eosherville Gardens aff'orded 
 this opportunity. There is nothing in the figure but what 
 the compasses and a ruler would accomplish ; and what will 
 they not ? But when the fancy beds were nearly filled and 
 in bloom, we could look down from the chalky heights and 
 fancy the lawn a green carpet and the beds a gaudy pattern, 
 standing up in bold relief. Eut, as we have already said, the 
 grass must form the principal quantity, and contain a space 
 large enough to prevent wearing in any one track. 
 
 The figures necessary for grass are as easily contrived as 
 those intended for gravel walks. The identical figure with 
 its thousand circles, and crosses, and angles, that will give us 
 fifty varieties of form for a Dutch garden with gravel walks, 
 will give equally as many for a grass carpet. To look at one 
 of these practice papers, as we may call them, is like pleasing 
 one's fancy in a coal fire. We may fancy a thousand forms 
 by Looking on one, two, or more of the minute divisions, in 
 what shape you please, and these are sure comparisons. 
 There is not a division nor half a dozen joined to make a 
 form, but five more can be found to match it. We feel more 
 than half inclined to give an instance of a paper scratched 
 all over with circles of diff'erent sizes on a groundwork of 
 squares ; it would give an idea of the diversity to be worked 
 
 g2
 
 100 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 out ; but it is so simple an operation to provide it, that it 
 would almost imply a deficiency of intellect to publisli one, 
 and we would rather have the young gardener try. 
 
 But it may be said that everybody does not like a figure 
 formed within a given square or circle ; that the ground may 
 be more favourable for an oblong : granted, — then work 
 your figure with two circles, and it will be twice as long as it 
 is wide, or a circle and a half, which will make an oblong 
 not so divided ; but you must mark out the ground you 
 intend to lay out, and always keep your eye upon uniformity. 
 Draw circles without number from various points, only keep 
 up uniformity, — that is, if you place the point of your com- 
 passes on a spot nearer one side or end than the other, do 
 the same on the other side or end, that there may be corre- 
 sponding circles. The ruled paper, be it remembered, already 
 gives you the advantage of paths crossing in various directions, 
 and saves many speculative rulings during the process of 
 designing. 
 
 In the transfer of any design from the paper to the ground, 
 you have only to remember that the stake placed firm on any 
 part of the bed or figure forms the equivalent to one point of 
 your compass, and the loop of any dimensions you please put 
 over it, and the pouit you mark with the other end of the 
 loop, is the workiig poiat of your compass ; the shortening 
 or lengthening of the loop opens or closes your compass, 
 while the squares on your paper enable you to do everything 
 by scale ; the eighth of an inch may be the representative of 
 one foot, two feet, or three feet j you cannot go wrong. 
 
 With these remarks, and a few evenings' practice with the 
 rule and compasses, you will produce an endless variety of 
 plans, all tending to illustrate the beauties of geometrical 
 gardening. But they must be made in places which do not 
 interfere with the general features of the establishment. If 
 there be no natural recess or nook calculated for the place, you 
 must take the most eligible, and plant it out as if it did not 
 belong to the concern. It is not generally desirable to make 
 a place smaller, but better anything than introduce formality 
 in a landscape. It is not difficult to shut out a space. It is 
 true that the first year, and before the shrubs have a little 
 growth upon them, the design will be seen through, but as 
 soon as the planting fills up a little, the object is concealed. 
 The most desirable place perhaps is a corner, and that because
 
 THE FLOWER GARDEN. 101 
 
 the concealment is not so conspicuous. By bringing out a 
 belt of slirubs far enoiigli to enclose the necessary space, you 
 may either conceal the entrance, by planting one belt to 
 overlap the other, or by erecting a small temple or covered 
 seat as an object in the landscape. The flower garden may 
 be placed at the back. Flower gardens, straight walks, 
 terraces, statues, and all manner of architectural contrivances, 
 may be made in front or at the back of greenhouses, con- 
 servatories, or other ornamental buildings, and beds laid out 
 in appropriate style. The plan of the buildings will suggest 
 the most eligible plan for the garden, but w^hatever is formal 
 should be planted out from the general landscape, even when 
 the formahty is forced upon us. 
 
 Terraces are raised walks ; they belong to the formal style 
 of gardening, and are generally next or near the mansion. 
 The architect has more to do with these than the gardener, 
 who has merely to shape his Avork to the adjoining subjects. 
 Terraces may be formed in different parts of the garden, and 
 particularly on the side of a hill, or in front of a conser- 
 vatory ; certainly it does not belong to a landscape style of 
 gardening. There are some noble examples at the Crystal 
 Palace, in comparison with which most others would look 
 poor. Terraces are generally ornamented with balconies, 
 statues, and vases. It is not uncommon to have fountains at 
 each end of a terrace, and there is usually a double flight of 
 steps in the centre, or one flight at the extremities ; the prin- 
 cipal care of the gardener, then, is to keep his vases full of 
 choice blooming plants. 
 
 EosARiES. — Apart from the general instructions on the 
 treatment of the Eose, it is now made such a distinguishing 
 feature in all well-appointed gardens, that it may be worth 
 considering how it can be best displayed to advantage. The 
 most simple and effective way that we know of is three or 
 four rows on each side of a path, standards, half standards, 
 and dwarf, each row a foot lower or higher than the next ; 
 say tlie front row is dwarf, the second worked one foot 'high, 
 the third at two feet, the fourth three feet, and, if another, 
 the fifth four feet. When we say worked a foot high, it must 
 be remembered that the dwarfs, though only a foot from the 
 ground to the top, hide the foot stems of the next row, and 
 the heads of these hide the stems of the third, for the heads 
 may be well calculated at one foot : when the whole are in
 
 102 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 flower it is a bank of Roses ; and we have never seen, among 
 all the rose gardens and rosaries in the country, anything 
 more effective. We have seen scores of elaborately worked 
 arches, pillars, and fancy frames on which to grow roses, 
 from the gigantic circular u'onwork like a gasometer frame, at 
 the Crystal Palace to the doorway of a summer house, but never 
 saw anytliing half so effective as a ten-feet border of roses, 
 whose heads nearly touched each other, and formed, as it 
 were, a solid bank of that beautiful family, in endless variety 
 and full bloom, and this on the left hand as well as the right. 
 There are plants that require ornament, plants whose merit is 
 in the form they can be made to assume ; but the Rose is one 
 of the plants which is perfect in itself; it is profanation to 
 make it look artificial ; if it be a climber, let it go up a wall, 
 or a cottage front, or over some inartificial, rudely constructed 
 supports, and cover an avenue ; but it certainly never looks 
 so bad, so out of place, as when constrained to help hide 
 a mechanical arcli, or stick up hke a pole. Let it cMng to the 
 trunk of a tree, or trail on the ground, but save it, oh, save it 
 from being bound hand and foot to the iron birdcage, or the 
 wiry sides of a cockney rosary. 'No matter how the rose is 
 disposed of, in beds, borders, grass plots, or on walls, on the 
 house front, or the gate-post, or climbing the roof of a thatched 
 cottage, it is a gem, and needs no ornamental nor mechanical 
 assistance. All we shall impress on the mind of the rose- 
 grower is, to buy none but continuous blooming varieties ; 
 have a dozen of a sort rather than admit such as bloom a month, 
 and cumber the garden eleven months without showing a 
 flower ; go to a good man, tell him what you want, and take 
 what he recommends ; put the responsibility of a continuous 
 bloom upon him, and tell him you would sooner have a score 
 of one sort than see the head of his rose-trees without a 
 bloom. 
 
 American Gardens. — Those plants which are called 
 American, many of them very improperly, grow best in peat 
 earth, and although a good deal may be done for them by 
 surrounding each with a spade full or two, they will only do 
 well until the roots get through it. The first symptoms of 
 decline are weak shoots, little bloom, and slow growth; in 
 time the ends of the leaves appear as if they were burned, 
 many fall off, the plant gets bare, and they merely exist, or 
 perhaps not that. Rhododendrons, azaleas, andromedas,
 
 THE FLOWER GARDEN. 103 
 
 kalmias, and such like, should have a Led to themselves, and 
 that bed should he peat. The bed ought to be dug out 
 eighteen inches deep, and filled mtli tui'fy peat, chopped 
 up tolerably small. The plants should then be j laced at 
 proper distances, allowing them room to grow, keeping the 
 collar of the root as high as it had been in its former place 
 of growth. They require moisture, and this must be given 
 with the watering pot. When their flower buds begin to 
 swell they must never be dry, and after the blooms have 
 begun to decay, and the plants begun to grow, they must be 
 copiously supplied until their growth is complete and flower 
 buds are formed. They may then be considered at rest, and 
 water may be withheld, unless the weather proves extremely 
 dry. Generally, however, they may be left to the weather, 
 which will supply them well enough. In forming American 
 beds we must avoid the unnatural fashion of heaping up the 
 soil into a mound ; the soil should in no part be raised higher 
 than the verge, and were it not for the appearance the plants 
 would do better if it v/ere considerably lower, because water 
 would then remain and soak where it fell, but if the ground 
 rises in the middle the plants on the highest part lose a good 
 deal, while the side plants get more than their share. All 
 these plants will, if not well supplied with water while making 
 their growth, fall short of completing it, and not form their 
 terminal bloom bud, and it is very common for them to fail 
 alternate years. They will flower abundantly one year, and 
 this so delays the after growth that they have hardly time to 
 complete it before the cold weather pinches them. The next 
 year, as there is no bloom, the growth commences earlier, and 
 they complete it all over. However, this want of flower may 
 be prevented by removing the decaying blooms doAvn to the 
 buds below, for the swelling of the pods of seed delays the 
 growth, whereas by removing them as soon as they fade the 
 buds push directly, and if the plants are kept moist they 
 will make all their growth and set their buds before the cold 
 weather afiects them at all. 
 
 Nursery Gardens, — Nurseries are departments in which 
 trees and shrubs are raised to make and mend plantations and 
 keep up the timber of large estates. In these departments 
 tree-seeds, nuts, and berries of all sorts are sown, and when 
 the plants are large enough they are put out in nursery rows. 
 In time they want to be removed to give them more room,
 
 104 PRACTICAL GARDENmO. 
 
 and when arrived at tlie stage in whicli they may be planted, 
 they are drawn as they are wanted. Here also they keep 
 stocks of those plants which are raised by layering, bud and 
 graft stocks, with the more valuable species, the different 
 familes, whether fruit trees, shrubs, or ornamental timber. 
 The pubhc nurseries are those where all these things are done 
 for sale, but the different establishments give most room to 
 things for which the owners have become noted, as Eivers, of 
 Sawbridgeworth, and Lane, of Berkhampsted, for fruit trees 
 and roses in pots and open ground ; Chater, of Saffron 
 Waldon, and Bircham, of Bungay, for Hollyhocks ; Low, of 
 Clapton, and EolUsson, of Tooting, for Orcliids and stove- 
 plants ; Pince, of Exeter, and Jackson, of Kingston, for 
 Heaths and Camellias ; Dobson and Son, of Isleworth, for 
 Geraniums and Cinerarias ; Holland, of Middleton, for florists' 
 flowers ; Holmes, of Hackney and the Versailles Xursery, for 
 Chrysanthemums ; Harrison, of Darlington, Barnes, of Stow- 
 market, and Salter, of Hammersmith, for Dahlias ; and others, 
 who, taking pains to push particular branches of the trade, 
 give more attention to it, and perhaps serve the other members 
 of the trade. But all these that we have mentioned are 
 general nurserymen, and execute orders for everything in the 
 nursery trade. The business in the nursery trade goes on 
 just the same as in private nursery gardens, ordy that as 
 hundreds are operated upon at a commercial nursery, where 
 not half-a-dozen may be done in a gentleman's garden, there 
 is more system, a greater division of labour, and many addi- 
 tional facilities required. As to the management of a nursery 
 garden, there is nothing more than will be found in reading 
 the various directions for the propagation and cultivation of 
 the subjects in private establishments. A volume devoted to 
 the subject would only be repetitions of instructions to amateurs 
 and gardeners. No two nurseries are laid out alike ; nothing 
 is attempted but straight lines, parallel beds, plants at the 
 same distances as other people have, and a larger quantity. 
 
 WnSTTER-FUEIS^SHLN'C FLOWER BEDS. 
 
 Perhaps there is nothing more common in the very best 
 estabhshments than to see the flower gardens pretty nearly 
 abandoned to their fate after the first destructive frost. If 
 the families are present, the dead plants may be cleared
 
 WINTER-FUKNISHING FLOWER BEDS. 105 
 
 away, and the space left for weeds until the time comes 
 round for filling them again ; but there is nothing more 
 easy to avoid than this appearance of desolation, nor, in- 
 deed, is there any period of the year when there is so much 
 need of doing all that can be done for the sake of neatness. 
 At no period of the season ought the flower beds and borders 
 to be unfurnished for a week together ; once set a gardener 
 up, with the means, and he will be unworthy of his place if 
 he do not keep them up himself. We admit, that when the 
 annuals die off, however well the garden may have been 
 furnished before, there is a miserable paucity of flowers ; the 
 close as it were of autumn locks up the pride of the gardener, 
 for one day all his beds and borders may be brilliant with 
 flowers, and the next, all black with rotting foliage and stems. 
 The miserable plight in which everytliing appears, the 
 seeming hopelessness of doing anything to make the place 
 cheerful, the utter dreariness of the flower garden and borders^ 
 look which way he will, may be enough to dishearten some 
 men and to damp the ardour of all. What then is to be 
 done? 
 
 First and foremost, set every hand in the place clearing 
 away the wrecks of flowers and plants ; let nothing like decay 
 be found in any single spot. Of course, this pretty nearly 
 empties the flower beds that are aj)propriated to annuals. 
 Some people plant an odd shrub in the centre of each, as a 
 kind of fixture ; many will have a rose in every clump or bed ; 
 but let us imagine the beautiful geometrical figure which 
 blazed with half-a-dozen colours yesterday, desolate and empty 
 to-day. Let w^hatever number is uniform be planted at once 
 with potted dwarf evergreens, raised and kept in pots for that 
 purpose. Let a large share — that is to say, the most con- 
 spicuous beds in the figiire — be studded with laurustinus, 
 which supply flowers as well as foliage. Let another uniform 
 set of beds in the figure be set with dwarf dark green Arbor- 
 vitse ; as a thii-d set may be planted with variegated holly ; a 
 fourth with Aucuba japonica; a fifth with Berberis Aqui- 
 folium ; a sixth, if there be so many, with small firs, and of 
 these there is such endless variety, that other sets of beds 
 might be furnished with different sorts, varied in form and 
 colour. By mentioning the number that is uniform, we mean 
 this : — if the figure consists of twenty-four beds in. geom^^t^ical 
 order, forming a circle, and radiating, as it were, from the
 
 106 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 centre, there may be six beds of one form, six of another, six 
 of a third, and six of a fourth ; or as the circle enlarges, tlie 
 outer beds may be divided into twelve. AVhat we mean by 
 the uniform number is, that if there were six of a like shape 
 round the centre, three of them should be planted alike, and 
 then the alternate three, or that all six should be planted 
 ahke, because uniformity must be kept up, or the whole charm 
 of a geometrical garden is destroyed. A single day would 
 STifiS.ce, with proper help, to dress out this garden with ever- 
 greens, grown dwarf in pots for the purpose, and planted at 
 convenient distances, not crowded, for they would not look so 
 well. We need hardly lay do^vn any other rule than to choose 
 such as have different coloured foliage, so as to contrast the 
 beds as well as possible. The flower garden judiciously planted 
 in this way, as soon as the frost destroys the flowers, looks as 
 highly finished and as neat as when it is covered with bloom, 
 although certainly not quite so gay. 
 
 All the beds on a lawn should be served much in the same 
 way. All the conspicuous parts of the parterre, which would 
 look very ill when empty, may be thus made to contribute in 
 winter to the warmth and comfort of a place in appearance, as 
 the flowers do in summer ; for it cannot be denied that there 
 is a coldness and di-eariness in empty beds and clumps which 
 nothing can compensate for. These dwarf shrubs should be 
 plunged in pots for the convenience of quickly changing 
 them again for sometliing else. All the bare places near the 
 house and in the dressed ground should undergo the metamor- 
 phosis of winter-dressing, and the laurustinus must always 
 form a conspicuous figure, because it is in flower all the 
 autumn and winter. In arranging the height of the various 
 shrubs, those farthest from the centre should be the highest, 
 if there be a difference, but they cannot be too low. If bushy 
 little plants, of one foot at the most, could be had, wherever 
 there is a figure to preserve, it should be restricted to that if 
 possible ; anytliing taller conceals the figure, and takes from 
 the geometrical plan more than half its beauty. The variation 
 of foliage has the most pleasing effect. The box, both the 
 green and the variegated, can be kept for years from getting 
 too large, because it bears pruning to anything, and grows 
 closer and better for it, and pot culture will stint the hoUy, 
 and almost every description of evergreen. 
 
 Gentlemen who take a pride in the winter-dressing of the
 
 WINTER-FURNISHING FLOWER BEDS. 107 
 
 garden, should furnisli their gardeners with some hundreds of 
 these potted evergreens from a nursery ; they may be had 
 reasonably at any time of the year — Arborvitae, red cedar, six- 
 inch firs, hollies, berberries, striped alaternus, yews, laurus- 
 tinus, box, green and variegated — any, or all may be had, but 
 they must be planted uniformly, that the fig-uxe may be always 
 correctly balanced, as it were, and complete order preserved. 
 
 In borders, and large beds not uniform, the shrubs may be 
 larger, and they may be mixed without offending the eye, be- 
 cause there is no order to preserve; but if there be many 
 beds, they will look better with different coloured foliage from 
 one another, but all of a sort in the bed ; this gives a much 
 better contrast than mixing them ; but if a bed stand by 
 itseb^ the mixture is desirable. Of course there must be plants 
 of different sizes, and the pots must be adapted to the plants, 
 and the mode of keeping them and pruning them must be 
 regularly attended to. As stunted growth, so that it be 
 healthy, is desbable in these plants, and as they make theil* 
 growth about the time they are removed from the beds, let 
 those that wUl bear it be pruned in close before they make 
 their shoots at all, for when the new growth is made on the 
 tree or shrub it is too late. Of course, the fii^s, cedars, and 
 Arborviti3es ^ill not bear the knife ; but when small and 
 potted, they do not make much growth, and therefore may do 
 several years before they grow too large. All the summer 
 months these potted plants should be plunged in a bed not 
 too much exposed to the sun, and some attention must be 
 paid to the watering in the absence of rain, and when they 
 are large enough to fill the pots they will actually require 
 watering even iii wet weather. 
 
 We have hitherto only mentioned the cheapest description 
 of plants, but there might be plants of Andromeda floribunda 
 introduced to some of the smaller beds that would not require 
 too many, and they look very chaste and beautiful the whole 
 ■winter : their dark green foliage contrasting well with their 
 branching spikes of pearly bloom, which look ornamental 
 from the time they set their buds until they are out of flower 
 again. 
 
 This almost leads, us to the general system of pot culture 
 for geometrical gardens, which plan is a little more trouble- 
 some, but far superior to any other for gardens of this class, 
 and all ornamental and fancy beds, on account of the great
 
 108 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 facilities it affords for cliaiiging tilings as soon as they are 
 shabby. The cultivation of all sorts of flowers in uniforni 
 sized pots, enables one to take up the set done with, and 
 drop those coining iato their prime into the same holes in a 
 very short time, and to effect constant changes. Tor iastance, 
 how early may we have stocks of all colours — pansies, wall- 
 flowers, and the various kinds of annuals ready to take the 
 places of the winter evergreens ; and it is worthy of con- 
 sideration, that only one sort need be removed from their 
 uniform beds to give place to any one sort of flowers that may 
 be ready; and when something else is in proper condition, 
 another sort may be removed from their uniform beds, so that 
 through all the changes their order and uniformity may be 
 preserved. The grand object is to keep all the beds dressed 
 with evergreens iu winter. 
 
 Flowers for Pot Culture to furnish Beds. — Of the 
 flowers that can be forwarded in pots, there are none better 
 than ten-week and intermediate stocks, mignonette, ISTemo- 
 phila insignis, and varieties, double wall-flowers, both the 
 golden yellow and the blood-colour, two or three sorts of 
 dwarf lupiae, Erysimum Peroffskianum, convolvulus minor, 
 eschscholtzia, and several other annuals that may be sown in 
 the autumn and kept in frames, so that lq very early spring 
 they will come in flower : all these should be grown in the 
 large forty-eight sized pots, those with wide mouths and taper 
 or narrow bottoms, because these lift out of the ground so 
 much better than upright ones, without distui-biag the grounci, 
 and others with plants already blooming will drop into their 
 places almost without deranging even the surface of the bed. 
 Flowers grown in pots have a more stunted growth and more 
 abundant bloom, although they are somewhat short-lived as 
 compared with seeds sown in the ground ; but if it be desirable 
 to keep a place always well furnished, there is no other way of 
 doing it properly with so much ease. 
 
 There is no reason why the verbena, scarlet and fancy gera 
 nium, and other bedding-out plants should not be forwarded 
 so as to bloom early lq May, when they may be turned out, 
 although frosts in May have made gardeners very shy of too 
 early a turn out. Annuals that have been kept in cold frames 
 will stand a little frost, but geraniums and verbenas are more 
 susceptible of damage. 
 
 One of the best and most useful perennials to be kept in
 
 WINTEE-FURNISHING FLOWER BEDS. 109 
 
 pots during the winter to furnish flower beds early in spring, 
 is the pansy, which will flower in March and April, and may 
 be very early turned out, for the frost hardly interrupts its 
 flower, and injures only those which are open. If these be 
 used to furnish uniform flower beds, there may be a great 
 command of colours, — white, blue, and yellow, in perfection, 
 may be supplied by slips, and there should not be two colours 
 in one bed, or one range of beds. If there be six beds, every 
 second one may be blue, and alternate yellow, the white may 
 go into other uniform beds, and there may be beds made of 
 those varieties which have white or yellow ground, and dark 
 borders or markings. 
 
 Another source of great variety and early blooming may be 
 found in bulbs, wliich are admirably adapted to pot culture — 
 the beautiful Scilla sibirica, blooming as early as the snow- 
 drop, and of the splendid bright blue almost peculiar to itself, 
 should be grown half-a-dozen in a pot ; snowdrops the same ; 
 then come hyacinths, crocuses, early tulips, and some of the 
 tuberous irises will be found as useful as bulbs. All these 
 are forwarded a good deal by frame culture, and come in at 
 seasons Avhich "will enable us to command two or three months 
 flowering, those in frames and greenhouses arriving in six 
 weeks before those in the open ground, and they may even be 
 retarded beyond tliis. 
 
 It forms almost the study of an apprenticeship to take ad- 
 vantage of all the opportunities afibrded by pot culture for the 
 furnishing of beds and borders, and there must be a quantity 
 of glass for all the early subjects. But it is not merely the 
 early ones that want pot culture, all the common annuals that 
 would be sown in the borders have to be groAvn in pots, but 
 without protection, for the sake of working changes during 
 the Slimmer, and removing things directly they are past their 
 prime and begin to look shabby and untidy. The advantage 
 of Ufting one set of pots and dropping another set into their 
 places may be imagined, but cannot be fally appreciated 
 without actual practice ; but once fairly past the spring 
 months, the verbena and geranium furnish us with a very 
 lasting season of flowers, scarcely lessening in quantity until 
 the frost cuts them off, which in some seasons is not until a 
 late period. 
 
 Eoses also form an endless source of bloom, particularly a 
 variety which we consider the first and best of all the China
 
 110 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 kinds, tlie JS'oisette Fellenburg, blooming in June, continuing 
 all tlie summer and autumn ; and althougli the autumnal 
 frost will sometimes destroy the flowers that are fully deve- 
 loped, it does not kill the buds ; and we have known a very 
 close approach to Christmas to exhibit this beautiful variety 
 in full s|)lendour. It is worthy of notice, that so persevering 
 does it seem in growth and blooming, that when the severe 
 frost comes to cut everything down, the l!^oisette Fellenburg 
 rose is cut off with hundreds of buds and flowers upon it. 
 "We have never gro^Ti it in a house or under protection, but 
 we should expect that it would continue to grow and bloom 
 the entire winter. We have in vain searched among the 
 roses for any one so constant ; the old Cliina and the crimson 
 China are the nearest to it in that particular, but both are 
 inferior in every respect. There are some dwarf varieties 
 which are pretty constantly in bloom ; and we have done 
 much towards keeping up the flowering of beds by the assist- 
 ance of roses, for it is only by the severe frosts that they are 
 cut off, and then is the time to remove them and put other 
 subjects in their places. 
 
 In villa gardens, where the space in sight is limited, we 
 must resort to pot culture for the beds and borders, if we 
 desire a constant succession of bloom ; for plant here as we 
 will, and sow as we please, a great many periods will occur 
 when there is hardly a flower to be seen, or we must so in- 
 crease the number of species that there can be only two or 
 three of a kind ; and though we should never be without 
 flowers, we should never have much of a kind. The j)rin- 
 cipal care required while the pots are out of doors, but pre- 
 paring as it were for use, is as respects the watering, for 
 they soon dry ; and with all our care things are stunted quite 
 enough in pots without any starving for want of moisture. 
 The watering, however, is easily enough managed where the 
 pots are kept well together ; and when the plants of any one 
 sort are coming into flower, it is time to look to the beds and 
 borders, to see what looks the most untidy, for not a day 
 should be lost A\T.th anji^hing in its prime ; it should be at 
 once put in the most conspicuous places, and something of 
 less consequence removed. The diversity of colour is the 
 great charm of a flower-garden ; and if the place occupied by 
 a yellow to-day is furnished with scarlet or blue to-morrow, 
 it makes it almost like another garden.
 
 WINTER-FURMSHING FLOWER BEDS. Ill 
 
 Among American plants, rhododendrons, azaleas, and kal- 
 mias, all of wliicli may be got to bloom at from six to twelve 
 inches high in pots, are most beautiful, and so varied in 
 colour and habit that they are of the greatest service in 
 beds and borders ; and although, in the larger space of lawn 
 and ornamental ground, there may be clumps devoted to 
 groups of these objects, dwarf plants in pots may be used 
 to precede or succeed other objects not less beautiful in 
 their prime. 
 
 In the beds of a large garden, and in borders which are 
 kept up with a variety of flowers, there may be a good deal 
 done with perennials ; but they must not be planted close 
 enough to prevent the frequent changes and introductions of 
 more temporary, but often more beautiful plants. 
 
 In places where the rose is to constitute a feature, regard 
 must be had to those varieties which are the most permanent 
 and constant in their bloom, and which, like the old China 
 and the Fellenburg, already mentioned, will keep up a succes- 
 sion of flowering aU the season ; for a rose-tree without 
 flowers is no very attractive object ; and all those summer 
 kinds which bloom in Jime or July, and then cease, should 
 be avoided. The cultivation of roses in pots, to exhibit, has 
 become quite the rage ; and there is no good reason why they 
 should not be cultivated in pots to furnish the more con- 
 spicuous parts of a garden from time to time, when they are 
 in good order, and other floral subjects fail. 
 
 Plants gro^^Ti in pots to furnish miscellaneous borders need 
 not be confined to height nor size. Any bold, striking object 
 that can be made to occupy a conspicuous place, wliile in good 
 order, and be removed when done flowering to make room for 
 another, cannot fail to render the border more attractive, and 
 therefore are we favourable to pot culture for flower gardens, 
 beds, and borders. 
 
 Flower Borders. — The management of borders upon a 
 large scale requires a few remarks, inasmuch as many estab- 
 lishments have borders all along the approaches to the 
 mansion, or round the boundary plantation. All borders 
 upon an extensive scale must depend for their general appear- 
 ance on perennials, and these, chiefly, the hardy ones ; and 
 it wants some care in the choice, and some little ingenuity in 
 the planting, to manage them, without immense labour, and 
 yet keep up as much inflorescence as possible. The width of
 
 112 PRACTICAL GAKDENING. 
 
 such, a border, "wMch. reaches perhaps many himdred yards, 
 must be several feet, the back of it being a plantation of 
 shrubs ; and here, generally, some aid must be had from a 
 good choice of these. Flowering shrubs should be liberally 
 supplied in a border of this kind, and even the trees ought to 
 consist of almond, double-flowering cherries, syringas, gueldres 
 roses, laburnums, acacias in variety, especially the rose and 
 white, scarlet horse-chestnuts, mountain ash, gleditschia, 
 sumach, the tulip-tree, salisburia, and all the leading varieties 
 of Crataegus or thorns. These of themselves make the borders 
 look gay all spring and part of the summer. The more dwarf 
 shrubs must come forwarder in the border, and must be placed 
 here and there the whole length, one rank forwarder than the 
 trees we have mentioned. The dwarf flowering shrubs are 
 numerous, but they are less trouble than any flowers that 
 are merely herbaceous. The rhododendron and azalea, the 
 Magnolia conspicua and purpiu^ea, roses of the China kinds 
 which flower all the summer, honeysuckle of the dwarf kinds 
 grown independently of support, laurustinus, lilacs, Pyrus 
 japonica, Kalmia latifolia, the gum cistus, and others, all 
 contribute their flowers in abundance, and if very judiciously 
 planted along a considerable space, almost furnish the March, 
 April, May, June, and July months ; but the number of 
 hardy perennials that aid in the general effect and continue 
 flowering till IS'ovember is almost endless. All the hardy 
 bulbous kinds are remarkable for their beauty. The lilies, 
 the hollyhocks, Lupinus polyphyllus and varieties, Aconiturn 
 variegatum, antirrhinums, especially the species pictum, all 
 the hardy irises ; the old golden or Aaron's rod ; all the 
 phloxes ; and as a finisher, the chrysanthemums and ]Michael- 
 mas daisies. There are many others that actually require no 
 trouble after once planting, unless it be once in two or three 
 years to regulate the size. The tuberous-rooted spread enor- 
 mously, and may be reduced by chopping off pieces till the 
 shape and size are adapted for the place ; the bulbous-rooted 
 may be reduced by taking up once in three or four years, and 
 replanting fewer, and those of the best, while the smaller and 
 weaker may be condemned to nursery-beds, or transportation 
 somewhere else ; the fibrous-rooted may be chopped less, or 
 the roots may be parted ; but in very large borders very large 
 patches of flowers are allowable, and in general the effect is 
 the more grand and imposing.
 
 WINTER-FURNISHING OF FLOWER BEDS. 113 
 
 "With regard to giving a little extra brilliance by a little 
 extra trouble, there are many things that might be employed 
 to help out the effect ; but still where the grounds are ex- 
 tensive it will certainly increase labour, otherwise some 
 annuals might be sown all round the place, and be left pretty 
 nearly to themselves ; such, for instance, as nemophila, core- 
 opsis, convolvulus minor, eschscholtzia, and Zinnia coccinea; 
 and if a little further trouble be not begrudged, dahhas may 
 be planted at intervals, and China-asters, ten-week stocks, 
 wallflowers, sweetwilliams, may at a proper time be planted 
 out. However, all this must be adopted or otherwise, according 
 to the labour at command. Perennials will not occupy a day, 
 where the system of annuals and bedding-out plants would 
 occupy a week ; or in other w^ords, one man may manage an 
 immense border, where nothing but permanent perennial 
 flowers are used, while seven would not be able to do the 
 work for a highly kept border of the same extent, made up 
 with the addition of annuals, biennials, and bedding-out 
 plants. If the latter be adopted, the verbena and scarlet 
 geranium should be propagated in great numbers, because 
 they are never worth taking up after flowering ; it is far 
 better to propagate them in time, and leave them to bloom in 
 the borders until the frost cuts them up altogether. 
 
 It will occur to the reader, that an extensive border, kept 
 up in the style of those neat little borders and beds in the 
 flower garden, would require constant laboui-, and a good 
 supply of the needful seeds and plants ; but that a border of 
 perennials requires only to be kept clean, and the principal 
 work is to cut do^vri and clear away all the upper growth of 
 whatever has decayed, and to prop any of those plants which 
 are weakly in themselves, or hable to be broken by the wind. 
 The chrysanthemums, perhaps, want more of this than any- 
 thing else ; but they are so useful when most other things 
 have gone, that one willingly undertakes the task, only to 
 secure a late bloom. There are seasons when we are denied 
 this — when some envious frost cuts off the flowers almost 
 before they appear, and we lose them ; this we cannot help : 
 it frequently happens, however, that while they are cut off in 
 open places, they escape under plantations, and in particular 
 situations ; so that they are always worth the little trouble 
 they give. Dahlias also require stakes to protect them, or 
 rather strengthen them against the wind, which would other- 
 
 H
 
 114 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 wise break them all down. The worst part of the whole year 
 for a border is when the last remnant of flowering plants is 
 cut down ; then there is nothing left us but to clear the 
 ground of all decaying vegetation, and hving weeds, and to 
 fly for help to our potted shrubs, or be content with what is 
 already there, until the spring agaia brings forth the early 
 flowers to brighten up the landscaj^e. But the period from 
 I^^Tovember till February is not very long, and if the place be 
 studded with a Christmas rose here and there, the laurustinus 
 will bear it company, and flower during the most dreary 
 months ; and the almond will soon take up the subject, and 
 commence a brilliant season among the trees and flowering 
 shrubs. The crocus and snowdrop in respectable patches, and 
 not often disturbed, will soon commence their show, and early 
 tulips, which are more hardy than the late ones, will assert 
 their privilege of exhibiting their brilliant coats soon after. 
 
 One of the principal duties is to gently fork over the border 
 between the plants as soon as they have all come through the 
 ground ; if done before, there would be great danger of injury 
 to some of the bulbs and roots. Another is, to use the knife 
 pretty freely to the shrubs, to keep them within bounds, to 
 cut away any too luxuriant shoots, and to keep their roots 
 clear of other subjects, by removing anything that seems to 
 encroach too much. All the suckers should be removed from 
 roses and other shrubs, and be either planted in nursery-beds 
 or taken elsewhere, to become in their turns principal j)lants. 
 All shrubs that are worked on common stocks should be 
 especially looked after; such as variegated hoUies, which, 
 if the stock was allowed to grow, or to throw up suckers, 
 would, in a year or two, totally destroy the worked or varie- 
 gated portion, and become a rank-growing wild bush. The 
 magnolias of a choice kind may have been worked on common 
 stocks ; and if so, the stronger sort would prevail. In short, 
 the stock on which a finer sort is grafted or worked, will, if 
 permitted to grow, soon deprive the worked portion of all 
 nourishment, to its ultimate destruction. The various cyti- 
 suses are worked on the common laburnum, which in a single 
 season would, if let grow its own way, overpower the worked 
 part, and become a simple laburnum again. Azaleas of a 
 scarce kind are frequently worked on the A. ponticum. Eho- 
 dodendrons of fine sorts are frequently worked on common 
 stocks, and roses of the more valuable varieties always. These
 
 WINTER- FURNISHING OF FLOWER BEDS. 115 
 
 facts require that the gardener should always be on the alert, 
 and be jealous of even a live bud on the stock part of any- 
 thing, and still more so of a very strong sucker from the root. 
 It is never good for a plant, even if the plant be on its own 
 bottom, as it is called ; that is, rooted of itself, and growing 
 on its owm. root, instead of being grafted or budded. 
 
 The larger flowering trees should, while yoimg and manage- 
 able, be pruned to some reasonable form, not clipped into 
 a ball, nor trimmed into a sugar-loaf ; but vigorous branches, 
 rambling out of place, so as to overbalance the tree, as it were, 
 or make it one-sided, should be shortened ; branches arising 
 where they are not wanted should be taken away altogether ; 
 a head that it is desirable to see broad should, if it show an in- 
 clination to run up, be shortened down to excite side growth ; 
 and a Kttle attention of this kind would be easily bestowed, 
 and well bestowed, after the trees have bloomed, so that the 
 new growth of all the trees shall be well directed. 
 
 All flowering shrubs and trees are best pruned before the 
 spring growth commences, but after the bloOm is off, because 
 when a tree has completed its growth, we cannot touch it 
 without taking away bloom ; and it is as well to get all the 
 flower we can, and, when that is over, to use the knife. 
 
 As it frequently happens that the borders and boundary 
 plantations are overrun with ill-grown trees and shrubs before 
 a gardener gets to them, he must do what he can towards 
 renovating them ; he must use the billhook freely, and cut 
 his way into them a little. K, as is often the case, some well 
 planted and well chosen selection of trees and shrubs have 
 iDeen neglected for years, the scarlet horse-chestnut may have 
 become a common one; the scarlet and double white and 
 scarlet cratsegiis may have turned to a common white or black 
 thorn ; the hybrid rhododendrons and azaleas become common 
 ponticums ; fine daphnes may have been matamorphosed by 
 time and neglect to the common spurge-laurel ; and the most 
 beautiful varieties of holly are merged into the commonest of 
 all the green ones ; and all this simply by the means we have 
 mentioned : the stock has grown, and being infinitely more 
 vigorous than the more delicate varieties worked on it, the 
 neglected growth has prevailed, and starved the worked por- 
 tion to death. Such is the constant struggle that nature 
 makes to assert her rights ; and she is only to be controlled 
 bv the constant remedy which we should all apply to growing 
 
 h2
 
 116 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 evils — " nip tliem in the bud." In a quantity of roses budded 
 upon common briers, a man may every third day be employed 
 rubbing off the buds of the stock where it is going to shoot ; 
 and if they are neglected a week, the shoots from the stock 
 will sometimes be a foot long. 
 
 To return to our border, which has become a mere thicket 
 of aboriginal trees and shrubs of no value, the first thing that 
 suggests itself is to clear away a little, and get everythiag to 
 some shape, or remove it ; and let the first job be to graft all 
 the worthless stocks with good sorts of what they have lost. 
 Except here and there a handsome green holly, which may be 
 left, graft all the others with variegated kinds. So with the 
 rhododendrons and azaleas, unless you choose to spare any 
 that have grown into handsome form, let everything be 
 worked over again with the sorts most desirable ; and as the 
 stock will make greater efforts than ever to regain the mas- 
 tery, they must all be constantly watched, and every bud that 
 appears on the stock portion of the plant must be rubbed off 
 as fast as it comes. By these means, you will in a season or 
 two restore some of the best things ; because the stock being 
 exceedingly vigorous, through being cut back, the newly 
 worked sorts will grow rapidly, and make quite a show in a 
 couple of seasons. The height at which all the stocks should 
 be worked depends on what you want them for : you may 
 make standards of any height you like, or cut them down low 
 enough to make a bush; but, generally speaking, the tree 
 should speak for itself : they should be worked as high as 
 you want the head to be ; and if the plants be wanted as 
 bushes, the nearer the ground you work them the better. But 
 this rather belongs to the chapters on budding and grafting 
 than to this ; and the whole feature rather belongs to " The 
 Improvement of Estates " than to the management of borders. 
 
 THE GEEEXHOUSE 
 
 The greenhouse is always, after a pit or frame, the first 
 glass structure that anybody erects, and the only one that a 
 builder who wants a tenant in the country thinks of building 
 to go with his house. Wherever there is a glass house of any 
 kind, it is called a greenhouse : it is one remove from the 
 garden-frame, or pit; and when there is no other horticidturaJ
 
 THE GREENHOUSE. 117 
 
 building, it is invariably used for a mixture of plants of all 
 families. But there are certain appropriate plants which will 
 so far accommodate each other as to wants and sufferings, that 
 where one will live another will be doing w^ell, and by a Httle 
 care a goodly show of plants may be maintained. 
 
 The ordinary form, and the best, for a greenhouse of this 
 kind, is a " lean-to," as it is called ; that is, a wall of the 
 proper height forms the back ; the front is two feet six of 
 brickwork, or thereabouts, and two feet of glass ; a table or 
 shelf, two feet wide, or, if the house be roomy, perhaps two 
 feet six inches, next the window, and a stage sloping like the 
 roo^ the front shelf the same height as the front table, and 
 rising, shelf above shelf, to the top. The width of the house 
 from front to back is generally according to the room ; it 
 should not be less than twelve feet ; but a roof made of two 
 eight-feet lights, and at an angle of forty-five degrees, would 
 be advisable. The heating required in common of a green- 
 house is only enough to keep out frost, and a degree or two 
 of frost out of doors will hardly penetrate in a night ; so that 
 many people prefer the common flue to hot- water pipes, as 
 the heating is more permanent, except in a hard and con- 
 tinued frost. 
 
 The greenhouse, in places where there is no other glass 
 building, requires a careful selection of plants, first to keep 
 up a diversity, and second to mind that there be none but 
 ■will agree with each other in treatment, and do well with the 
 like attention. Camellias are the most important, because they 
 are noble plants in or out of bloom, and in themselves afibrd 
 considerable variety ; the red, white, blush, pink, and striped 
 form prett}'' contrasts ; and this family is by no means tender, 
 or difficult of management. Azalea indica, quite as hardy, 
 follows with its gorgeous flowers before the camellia has left 
 us, and of this we have scarlet, crimson, pink, light-rose, 
 purple, white, and striped. Hoveas give us a rich deep blue 
 pea-flower early in the spring, and are as hardy as either of 
 the above. Cytisus racemosus yields a rich perfume, and is 
 a perfect mass of golden-coloured flowers. It is impossible to 
 overlook geraniums, which are such general favourites, and 
 while we attend to some of the showy novelties, we must not 
 forget to provide half-a-dozen of the dwarf scarlets to stand 
 here and there in the house, for they give a brilliance which 
 hardly anything else will to the miscellaneous collection.
 
 118 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 Cinerarias, from their gaiety and early blooming habit, ought 
 not to be omitted, and for the winter, Chinese primroses afford 
 some variety and are very beautiful. So also some heaths 
 may be selected for the sake of their bloom in the winter 
 months, and because they will stand among the other plants 
 we have mentioned. The acacias are an interesting tribe, 
 nearly all yellow or straw-coloured flowers, but for the most 
 part very abundant blooms, and as hardy as anything we 
 have mentioned. Chorozema varium and others make a 
 variety of foliage as well as flowers, and are adapted for green- 
 house culture. There are many other plants that would take 
 people's fancy, but a house well filled with these would be 
 highly gratifying, whether there were a few of the best kinds, 
 or a more general collection of each. 
 
 The greenhouse may be built cheaper than any other ; the 
 glass need not be more than six inches by four all over the 
 house ; it wants no puttied laps, no particularly expensive 
 wood- work, and the brick-work quite plain ; the top-lights 
 may slide down, the front-lights swing with hinges from the 
 top, and opening outwards, to be propped out by common 
 fastenings, or they may be made to shde, in which case, how- 
 ever, the front can but be half opened at any time, because 
 one window or sash must be placed behind another. In the 
 former plan the whole range can be propped out, and if it 
 were at all desirable, they could be made to push out square 
 with the top, to admit the whole space of air. The front table 
 or shelf should be generally used for small choice plants that 
 require most attention, because they can be easily got at, and 
 best seen ; the stage beliind will hold all the larger ones, the 
 more gaudy being the most distant ; a camelHa, for instance, 
 could be seen from the most remote corner. 
 
 The greenhouse, however, besides holding all such plants 
 as we have mentioned, would forward hyacinths considerably, 
 and produce the flowers of all bulbs a month or six weeks 
 earlier than the open ground, and perhaps nothing would 
 contribute more to the beauty of a greenhouse cultivation 
 than a few well-chosen hyacinths, narcissuses, &c., to inter- 
 sperse among the other plants. The greenhouse, in large 
 establishments, is employed to assist in supplying the conser- 
 vatory ; so that as soon as camellias, or azaleas, or any other 
 plants, are found enough in bloom to be interesting, they are 
 removed to the conservatory, and their places filled by such
 
 THE GEEENHOUSK 119 
 
 plants as may be brought forwarder by their removal from 
 the open ground, Eoses, for instance, are forwarded by re- 
 moval to the greenhouse, and if they are intended for forcing 
 in a warmer temperature, they should always be commenced 
 by a change from no protection at all to that afforded by the 
 greenhouse ; and when inured to this, they may be placed in 
 the forcing-house, kept at first do^vn to a low temperature 
 and gradually increased ; but roses bloom well in a green- 
 house without any other aid than the mere absence of fi'ost 
 and chilling winds. 
 
 In large establishments there are several greenliouses, 
 honoured, it is true, by the names of the plants to which 
 they are devoted, but all requiring sometliing like similar 
 treatment, — that is to say, to be kept dry, cool, and free from 
 frost. The camellia-house, the heath-house, the Botany Bay- 
 house, and the azalea-house, are only so many greenhouses 
 devoted to camellias, heaths. Botany Bay plants, and azaleas ; 
 but as a proof that these will do well with pretty nearly the 
 same treatment, we have seen a larger greenhouse devoted to 
 specimen plants, and containing noble plants of all we have 
 mentioned, luxuriating in the same atmosphere, and subjected 
 to the same good or ill usage. The great object is to keep out 
 frost without getting up the temperature too high ; the one is 
 necessary, but all that the house is heated above forty-five by 
 day or forty by night during winter, draws up the plants and 
 renders them weakly. The geranium-house, where these 
 plants are grown upon the system of propping up every shoot, 
 will not do with the common treatment of a greenhouse, for 
 it has to perform the part of a forcing-house as well ; the 
 house is frequently syringed all over, and shut up ^ith the 
 plants at a temperature of 55 to 60 degrees ; then, being 
 in this excited state subject to the green-fly, the plants re- 
 quire to be frequently fumigated, — an operation which, since 
 the invention of Brown's patent fumigator, is not half the 
 trouble, nor a quarter of the expense incurred by the use of 
 the fumigating bellows, or any of the other means usually 
 resorted to. Thus, therefore, although the geranium does 
 admirably in a common greenhouse, and without any other 
 treatment than will do for camelHas, and heaths, and Botany 
 Bay plants genei-ally, it is the fashion to force them for May 
 and June exliibitions, to draw them up weakly, and tie them 
 up to scores of sticks to hold them in their places ; but if we
 
 120 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 desire to see geraniums in perfection, we must go where they 
 are grown without heat, and with plenty of room, light, and 
 air ; where they support themselves instead of requiring 
 props, and where the colour and texture of the flowers are as 
 superior as the growth of the plants. Treat the geranium 
 like the camelha and the heath, the epacris and the azalea, 
 and you will have colour, health, size, and fine foliage ; force 
 it, and you impair all ; but as forced plants have only to be 
 compared with forced plants, the distinction is not seen ; in 
 short, the greenhouse, the single house for the assemblage of 
 all moderately hardy things, or rather, moderately tender 
 things, is the most interesting of the horticultural buildings : 
 it is the cottage conservatory, the pet house of lady gardeners. 
 It stands always open in mild weather ; there is always some- 
 thing inviting in it, and it can be always made to supply 
 a few violets, a bit of mignonette, or a camellia bloom, any 
 time in the winter. 
 
 THE CO¥SEEYATOEY. 
 
 This may be called the show-room of the garden, and should 
 be attached to the house, because it will be visited in all 
 weathers ; generally speaking, it adjoins and opens out of a 
 principal room ; and as it should be a kind of winter garden, 
 it should be large enough to walk in. Of the form and plan, 
 which depend on a diversity of tastes among builders and 
 owners, we must say but little, nor describe at great length. 
 There are some essential points to attend to, and so that these 
 are noticed, we may leave the external style to the artist and 
 his employer. 
 
 First, the larger it is, the more convenient and effective ; 
 on this account we begrudge every pound laid out in orna- 
 ment at the expense of size. It would cost as much to build 
 a trumpery thing of ten feet square after some fashions, as 
 it would to erect a plain house of fifteen feet by thirty ; and 
 this is the smallest we should care to possess, for it merely 
 allows of an eighteen-inch border all round a three-feet path, 
 and a slab, or, if preferred, a bed of six feet in the middle, 
 and this is as little as can be made subservient to an effective 
 display. 
 
 The conservatory borders may be kept furnished with 
 potted plants, whether bulbs, annuals, or perennial shrubs,
 
 THE CONSERVATORY. 121 
 
 and as they decb'ne in beauty they can be lifted, and others, 
 in the same sized pots, dropped into the same hole?. The 
 centre, if there be on the establishment store greenhouses, 
 pits, and other nurseries for plants, should be a slab or table, 
 because the plants will be the better for changing, while by 
 this means the conservatory may always be kept filled with 
 flowers. The temperature of the conservatory, in which stove 
 as well as greenhouse plants are arranged, and where forced 
 flowers, which are more tender than either in their actual 
 bloom, contribute to the show, should not be under 50 degrees, 
 because a lower temperature would damage the forced flowers 
 and stove plants, and that atmosphere is not too warm for 
 greenhouse plants ; but the greatest care should be taken to 
 keep it down as nearly to that as possible, otherwise the hard- 
 wooded greenhouse plants would suffer, and the bloom of 
 many others would be shortened. In setting out the centre 
 table, the taller plants should be in the centre, and the shorter 
 ones on each side, the shorter of all being on the outside, so 
 that the plants would form a fine bank sloping on both sides. 
 The table should be a foot narrower than the space left for a 
 bed, for the double purpose of giving room to walk and having 
 room for a row of potted plants at the foot of the table all 
 round. The stove and forced plants to be from time to time 
 brought into the conservatory, should be removed a day or 
 two before to the coolest part of the forcing house or stove, to 
 make the change less sudden ; because if, as the stove gene- 
 rally is, a plant is in a temperature of sixty-five, the sudden 
 removal to fifty will hurt the flowers that are out ; and if the 
 forcing house is above sixty, the same precaution is necessary, 
 as a hardy plant, forced into flower by high temperature, 
 would, by a sudden change of fifteen degrees, be drooping 
 directly. Another precaution necessary is, to remove them as 
 they come into flower, and not wait until the blooms are 
 opened ; a bud even forward will not feel a change that would 
 actually destroy a perfect blossom. 
 
 We need hardly say that it is quite possible to keep a con- 
 servatory well supplied with flowering plants the entire year 
 round. Camellias may be commanded from ISTovember to 
 April ; rhododendrons, and both Indian and American azaleas, 
 January till July ; kalmias, and other Americans, can be 
 made to help out a great part of this time also. Many stove 
 and orchideous plants can be had all winter ; bulbs, from
 
 122 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 Ckristmas onwards ; Chinese primroses all winter. In the 
 spring, the greenhouse will furnish cinerarias, heaths, epacrises, 
 hoveas, all the hard-wooded plants, geraniums, &c., which 
 hterally form a blaze of bloom. The stove yields a full share 
 of flower ; but the difficulty, if there be any difficulty in 
 keeping up the show, is, when the out-of-door beauties pre- 
 dominate ; but pot-culture of out-door subjects must make 
 ujp for any deficiency of exotics. The passifloras of the stove 
 will see us through June and July. The hoveas contribute to 
 the good efiect. Ealsams come at an excellent time to 
 brighten the scene ; and many autumnal roses, grown out of 
 doors, but in pots, may be removed to the conservatory, to aid 
 and assist. Annuals of the better kind, in pots, are of great 
 use, as are late-flowering geraniums, and dahlias in pots. 
 Many climbing plants, and, almost every month in the year, 
 some orchids, enable us to keep up a good show in the con- 
 servatory. There is rarely a month in the year without 
 several heaths in flower, and these always last a good while. 
 In short, what with retarding some things, and forcing others, 
 flowers may always be had in moderate quantity and variety. 
 
 Heating. — To maintain a proper heat in the conservatory, 
 some consideration must be given as to the means. The 
 height and size must always be considered. The most com- 
 plete way, as regards neatness, is, to put the heating apparatus 
 under the path ; but as it is not always the most economical, 
 there must be pipe enough to command the necessary tempe- 
 rature with boiling water, as this requires less attention than 
 any other mode of heating, and is in general more steady. If 
 the pipes are above ground, they are unsightly, but they are 
 more effective ; and where a six-inch pipe and return would 
 be wanted under the path, a four-inch pipe and return would 
 do, and more than do, above. The nearer the pipe runs to 
 the walls at the lowest part of the roof, the better : because, 
 as the heated air ascends, it then takes the whole slope of the 
 roof, and falls in the centre as it cools ; and it is a good plan 
 to have the table formed with a sort of open work or wooden 
 shelves, of half-board mdth, with half-inch vacancies between 
 them, because it gives less obstruction to the circulation 
 of air, which is always going on when one part of a house 
 is heated. 
 
 The glass of the sides should be within twelve or eighteen 
 inches of the ground, that all parts of the building may be
 
 THE CONSERVATORY. 123 
 
 perfectly light ; and if we determine to have the pipes above 
 ground, they must be close to the twelve or eighteen inches 
 of brick-work which forms the base under the glass. The 
 two four-inch pipes, one above another, will just occupy the 
 space of the brick- work ; and if it be desirable to have them, 
 let there be a back made to the border as high as the pipes, 
 and an open iron shelf upon it, so that a chamber will be 
 formed, and the circulation of air will be increased, if from 
 the bottom of the chamber there be openings here and there 
 conveyed under the border to gratings in the path. We have 
 in all cases preferred the conical boiler, and we do in this ; 
 but as there is frequently a difhculty in finding a place for the 
 firing without being an eyesore to the conservatory, it may be 
 necessary to carry the pipes some distance under ground. In 
 this case make a trough under ground to hold the pipes, and 
 fill it up all round the pipes with bruised or pounded pum- 
 mice-stone (a complete non-conductor of heat), in which the 
 pipes will lose no heat, — at least, suffer no perceptible loss of 
 heat, in twenty or thii'ty yards of underground transit. 
 
 Conservatories without Heat. — Of late, conservatories 
 have been constructed upon such plans as reduce them to 
 mere covered gardens, without any means of heating, but 
 with all the necessary neatness and closeness required to shut 
 out the external air. Such conservatories would be formed, 
 perhaps, in much the same way as others are for heating ; 
 but they are supplied with none but hardy and half-hardy 
 plants. With great care and attention to the shutting-up in 
 time, and not opening till the temperature of the external 
 atmosphere has been raised a little, these conservatories are 
 kept well furnished Avith camelHas, hoveas, azaleas, many kinds 
 of heaths, and others that may be called hardy greenhouse- 
 plants. Numerous climbing plants mil even stand all winter ; 
 but, with the same management that we have already de- 
 scribed, a good deal may be done with plants just got ready 
 to flower, and brought into the conservatory to bloom. The 
 study, however, of a conservatory without heat is peculiar. 
 There is abimdance of very hardy and very early things — 
 bulbs in particular — which only require absence of actual 
 frost to bring them exceedingly early ; and such as these will 
 give us flowers at Christmas, after a mild autumn. There is 
 no difficulty, then, in relying more on these than on any 
 kind of forcing for spring flowers. The great object is to
 
 124 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 watch, tlie gardens for a year, and make notes of all the 
 antnnm and very early spring-blooming flowers. By planting 
 these in the borders, or growing them separately in pots, we 
 may command them a little earlier, or a little later. Yiolets 
 may be had aU the winter. N"oissette Fellenberg, and the 
 common China rose, may be kept in bloom in pits and 
 houses ; and therefore a succession may be kept up in pots, 
 to change such as go out of bloom. The Magnoha purpurea 
 and conspicuea, may be planted out. Ehododendrons and 
 azaleas of the American kinds, and some fine hybrids, wiU 
 stand a moderate degree of frost, and therefore become very 
 useful. As a climber. Clematis azurea grandiflora is the 
 most showy and beautiful of the whole family, and would 
 grow out of doors, to say nothing of under glass. Those, 
 therefore, who object to a fire near the house, or who have 
 no convenience for it, may have their winter-garden under 
 glass, and always have something growing, and blooming, 
 while frost and snow forbids a walk in the open grounds. 
 
 Form of Conservatory. — The most economical form for 
 a conservatory is a ridged roof. The side upright from the 
 ground to the lowest part of the roof should be not less than 
 eight feet, and ten would look more noble. The roof should 
 rise seven feet six inches, the lights should be five feet nine 
 inches wide, with a tie from plate to plate at every rafter, 
 the nearer the better; and of iron, that it may be hght. 
 Climbing plants should be directed to these, so as to form a 
 pleasing feature when covered ; and there is great choice for 
 the purpose among the passifloras, clematises, and other 
 robust and showy families. The top-lights should let down, 
 the side-lights, or upright glass sides, as they may be called, 
 should aU open ; and as the more convenient and elegant, as 
 well as useful plan, they should be sashes like dwelling- 
 house windows, the lower ones to push up, and the upper 
 ones to puU down. The glazing of the sides may be of large 
 glass panes, but for the roof six inch width is enough, and 
 the length may be anything; but, for economy, six by four is 
 large enough, and by far the cheapest. If the conservatory 
 be planned thus, without any extra ornament, due regard 
 being had to neatness, good workmanship, and clear glass, 
 you may build such of a much -greater extent for the same 
 money, than you could any of the more fanciful kinds, which 
 cannot but get out of fashion as taste changes ; but as this
 
 THE CONSERVATORY. 125 
 
 form is the best for use, the best for plants, the most con- 
 venient, and the most economical, it will never get out of 
 fashion. The interior will be all that can be wanted. The 
 outside will be the form of a thousand others ; the least 
 likely to take from, or spoil the beauty of the house; the 
 best adapted to show off the plants, and the easiest managed. 
 
 The luxury, for such it is, of a winter garden under glass, 
 may be imagined better than described, when we speak of 
 one under our owti management. The wind w^as east ; the 
 front park of the mansion covered with snow, which was 
 drifting in our face, and almost blinding us and the horse 
 w^e were driving ; the thermometer down at 22 degrees. 
 IsTothing could be more dreary. A few steps across the haU 
 of the mansion to the drawing-room on the ground floor 
 brought us to another climate. The large glass doors of the 
 conservatory were thrown open ; there was a good fire in the 
 room, but the conservatory ranged 50 degrees, and the centre 
 table had a superb bank of flowers, as gaudy as can be 
 imagined — splendid cameUias, rhododendrons, Hovea Celsi, 
 Azalea indica alba, Epacris grandiflora, three or four heaths, 
 some fine orchideas, especially Oncidimn papilio, numerous 
 bulbs, \iolets and mignonette, a few China and forced roses, 
 formed a mass of beauty so utterly out of season, and contrary 
 to the season out of doors, that, notwitstanding w^e had seen 
 the contrast over and over again, it was so striking after a 
 month's absence that we hardly know whether we felt till 
 then the real charm of a conservatory. 
 
 But we have had occasion ere now to caution those ^vho 
 have conservatories opening into the house. Every day the 
 many gallons of water given to the plants evaporates and rises 
 into vapour to settle on the various objects within reach. 
 Therefore in the drawing-room, or the room adjoining the 
 conservatory, there should be nothing that will take injury 
 from damp, because it will settle in pure water on the walls, 
 and sink into tapestry curtains, the backs of paintings, the 
 covers of sofas and chairs ; in short, it will he or hang in drops 
 on whatever will not absorb it, and sink into all that will. 
 Besides, therefore, having nothing that will take injury in the 
 room adjoining, there should be great care taken to keep the 
 conservatory doors shut, except when really required open, 
 and when open to keep all the communications that go from 
 the room to the house closed. The conservatory should
 
 126 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 always be kept as open as the weather will permit, to give air 
 to the plants and let off the wet, which may be seen, when the 
 house is closed, running down the windows and walls in 
 copious streams. There is no good without its evil, no en- 
 joyment mthout some corresponding trouble to maintain it. 
 The conservatory, so great an ornament, so exquisite a luxury, 
 may, ^\T.thout care, be the means of producing sickness in the 
 house, destroying the furniture and ornaments, and doing 
 endless mischie:^ unless it be counteracted by attention. Let 
 the throwing open of the doors be the exception and not the 
 rule. Keep the damp air from the house as you would a pesti- 
 lence. It is delightful to smell the perfume, but it carries 
 poison with it if allowed to make its way all over the house. 
 
 The same argument tells against keeping too many plants 
 confined in dwelling houses ; remember that if you pour a few 
 quarts of water once a day into the pots in which they grow, 
 it will be all gone in a short time in vapour, and settled by 
 condensation in your curtains, looking-glasses, pictures, the 
 paper on the walls, and into your own lungs. If you must 
 have plants, let the windows be open in summer and moderate 
 the number in winter. It is not that plants are unwholesome, 
 or the perfume injurious ; it is simply the dampness which 
 arises from the soil, and which you charge ready to go off 
 again every time you put water to them. If the same quantity 
 of water were sprinkled all over the floor of a bed-room, as is 
 frequently given to the plants in the same room, the occupant 
 would fancy the damp would almost kill her ; but gallons are 
 distributed among the plants, which give it off again in vapour 
 as surely, if not so quickly, as the floor would. Where, there- 
 fore, you keep plants, let them have aU the air all the day ; and 
 that you may suffer as little as possible from dampness, water 
 them the first thing in the morning, and open the windows. 
 In winter this can only be done on fine days ; but, fortunately, 
 in v/inter plants want but little moisture, because it evapo- 
 rates so slowly as to be of no consequence. 
 
 THE IMAKmG OF HOT-BEDS : 
 
 THEIR USES AND THEIR GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 
 
 The common acceptation of the word hot-bed is, a garden 
 frame and glass heated by dung, though there are many now 
 heated by tanks and hot water ; and, instead of the wooden
 
 THE MAKING OF HOT-BEDS. 127 
 
 tianie, they are built with brick in many different ways, and 
 are called pits. The common dung-bed -wiR always be used ; 
 for, notwithstanding the great facilities afforded by means of 
 hot-water apparatus, there are many advantages attached to the 
 ordinary frames and lights heated by means of stable-dung, 
 leaves, and other fermenting matter. In the first place, the 
 dung, after it has performed its office, is, at the end of the 
 season, almost invaluable as manure, and especially for mixing 
 vnih. pot compost for plants. 
 
 In almost all the instructions for growing potted plants, we 
 find among the principal ingredients mentioned for the compost 
 a portion of well-rotted dung from an old melon or cucumber 
 frame, and in most cases it is found to be sufficiently decom- 
 posed at the end of one season to answer the purpose well ; 
 in fact, it is dung rotted into mould. In the next place, the 
 cucumber and melon can be grown well enough in such frames 
 to compete with any that are grown with the more expensive 
 pit. The dung-bed may require more attention to keep up 
 the heat, but it seems to repay us well for all the extra 
 attention that we have to pay. And, thirdly, we have 
 all the advantages of beginning when we please, and of 
 placing the beds where we please ; moreover, frames and 
 glasses are always useful, as the means of protecting many 
 potted plants through the winter, even when used without 
 the dung. The only difficulty we have to contend with is 
 to keep up the heat pretty regularly in the forcing season, 
 and our object is to show the correct method of accom- 
 plishing this. 
 
 FoRMATioisr. — Let us ffrst, then, choose for the situation a 
 place well open to the south to catch the benefit of the sun 
 as soon as it is well up, and retain it until it goes down. 
 Here we place the frame on the ground, and drive into the 
 ground, at one foot distance from each of the four corners, a 
 stout upright stake, leaving three or four feet out of the 
 ground. We may then remove the frame and build our dung 
 up to the height of the four stakes, and even a little higher. 
 But that we may have a regular heat, and plenty of it, the 
 dung must be well prepared for the work before we use it. 
 This is done by shaking the heap out with the fork every 
 four or five days, changing the place of the heap each time, 
 and, if the dung appears at all too dry, it must be sprinkled 
 with water every now and then, — say every foot that we add
 
 128 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 to the heap ; and when we have removed the entire heap, it 
 may lie together until it steams a good deal, and is fresh 
 heated as it were. In turning it back again to its old place, it 
 must be well shaken out and lightened up ; for on the man- 
 ner in which this part of the work is performed depends a 
 good deal of the regularity which we desire to preserve in the 
 heat of the bed hereafter. Sometimes two or three turnings 
 over are enough, at other times the dung is so hot as to 
 require more frequent turning and sjDrinkhng. With this 
 hot dung so prepared, we spread the ground all over evenly 
 between the stakes, keeping the outside square and even, and 
 patting it down with the dung-fork to make it equally sohd 
 as well as equally thick all over. By continuing this until it 
 is even with the tops of the stakes, we may consider the heat 
 nearly provided ; but the next day we shall find our work 
 sunk down a little, and we may then add to the height a 
 little to ensure four feet thickness in front, and we may raise 
 it six inches higher behind, but the centre must be as sohd as 
 the sides ; it must therefore be patted down even, and dung 
 added wherever the surface has sunk. The frame, which 
 should be well cleaned, may then be set on the top, perfectly 
 square with the dung, which will project one foot all round. 
 In a day or two the heat will be perceptible, and we must 
 ascertain the temperature of the centre by plunging a thick 
 smooth stake into it from the outside, and making it reach to the 
 centre, then withdrawing it, and feeling the heat of the end 
 of the stick, which of course wiR be the same as the centre 
 of the dung. If it be too hot, and the dung is drying and 
 burning, we must undo a part of the work, or it may be so 
 hot as to require it all to be undone. This, however, is 
 seldom the case ; and we believe we may say never, if the 
 dung be properly prepared beforehand. In two or three days 
 the heat will come up, when about three inches of good loam, 
 not too stiff, may be put all over the dung inside the frame. 
 This keeps the air sweet within the frame, and the bed is 
 ready for anything. It will do to raise seeds in pots, and to 
 bring up plants after they are potted until they are too large 
 for the frame. It will do to grow cucumbers or melons, or 
 for anything that heat is required for. Supposing, however, 
 that it be for cucumbers or melons, we recommend the plants 
 to be all got ready in pots before the principal bed is made ; 
 and, as these are but three or four weeks raising, most people
 
 THE MAKING OF HOT-BEDS. 129 
 
 make a small hot-bed with about two feet thickness of dung 
 and a small frame and glass, and the cucumbers and melons 
 may be sown, the former three, the latter two seeds in a pot ; 
 these are soon up, and as soon as there are two rough leaves, 
 the eye should be pinched out. This makes them grow strong 
 and stocky instead of running away, and the plants will cover 
 the pots in a month. 
 
 The preparation of the dung for the permanent bed may be 
 begun when the seeds have come up, and by the time the 
 plants are large enough to bed out, this principal bed, made 
 up as we have directed, will be ready to receive them. 
 
 We have said nothing about the number of lights to be 
 provided for, because, whether we prepare for a one, two, or a 
 three-light box it is the same ; and if there be a range of 
 twenty lights, they are put close to each other, and the dung 
 projects only behind and before, and at the two ends ; the 
 operation is precisely the same, but merely extended. Pre- 
 suming the pots t)f plants to be ready, and the beds made up 
 as we have dhected, a barrow of loam should be put in the 
 centre of each light, heaped up like a cone ; then with the 
 hand form a hollow in the centre of each heap, and take the 
 ball of earth whole, with the plants undisturbed, by tapping 
 the pot on the edge with the hand placed so as to receive it 
 plants downwards ; turn the ball up and make the hollow in 
 the centre of the heap, as it were, low enough to let the ball 
 rest upon the three inches of loam, and adjust the loose loam 
 round the ball, but still keep the form of a basin, because, in 
 giving water to settle the earth to the ball, it will not run 
 away. Cover up the frame, and give air by tilting the glass 
 up behind a little. The roots will in a few days make their 
 way through the sides of the heap, when more loam must be 
 put round, and the edge of the basin may be levelled down ; 
 by adding loam every day a little, or perhaps even alternate 
 days, you fill the frame up, so that there is a good nine inches 
 of loam in the middle, but not quite so much towards the 
 frame. The plants will soon begin to grow fast ; and, as the 
 object is to distribute the shoots all round, so as to cover the 
 surface, you have merely to regulate them as they grow; and 
 if all the vigour of a plant seems to go into one shoot, stop it 
 back to two pair of leaves, to induce side shoots; and if 
 all the main shoots seem to give no signs of fruit, stop them 
 back a little. The heat will keep up for weeks if the glass 
 
 I
 
 130 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 be well covered at niglit, and shaded through the strong heat 
 of the sun. 
 
 When the fruit is coming, let but two or three swell at a 
 tinie upon any one vine, and even these should be in different 
 stages of growth, so that one may be cut when another is half- 
 grown. In melons, the same should be observed, for if too 
 many fruit be allowed to swell at once, about the same age on 
 one vine, they will not be so fine, either in growth or flavour. 
 Watering occasionally, and giving air to keep the temperature 
 moderate, are the principal things required ; but melons must 
 not be watered too often, and as they ripen no water should 
 be given until they begin to flag. Thus much for the hot-bed, 
 as far as we have gone ; but we must now suppose the hot- 
 bed begins to cool a Httle and some fresh supply of heat is 
 required; if so, remove all the projecting portion of the 
 dung, and even rather undermine the bed than otherwise, by 
 takmg away even more than the projecting dung, and replace 
 all of it with hot prepared dung, fully as much projectiag as 
 there was at first ; this will give new vigour to the bed, and 
 raise the temperature equal to what it was at first, and this 
 may be repeated every time the heat declines. It will there- 
 fore be seen that the preparation of stable-dung for use is an 
 essential duty, and keeping plenty on hand to supply new 
 turnings is a matter of necessity. N^ow whether this hot-bed 
 is made in any month in the year, the process is the same, 
 and ih-Q production of cucumbers in January is no more diffi- 
 cult than in June. We do not say but that they may want 
 more attention, but there is no more uncertainty nor diffi- 
 culty. Hot-beds are useful even when we have had aU the 
 cucumbers off and done with the vines, because nothiug can 
 be more favourable for sowing salads, radishes, onions, or 
 anything else out of season, or for planting potatoes, for 
 they require less heat, and progress well under glass. In a 
 good establishment hot-beds are made to succeed each other, 
 and the old ones are turned to account ; some are planted with 
 violets to bloom through the autumn and winter ; in fact, they 
 are at aU times useful, for a slight heat lasts a very long time. 
 
 Brick Pits. — There are many ways of constructing beds to 
 be heated by dung ; many brick pits are so constructed that 
 hot dung can be placed round the iimer brick-work, the 
 lower part of which is made with holes, above which ruside 
 there is a false bottom to hold the soil, and an empty chamber
 
 THE MAKING OF HOT-BEDS. 131 
 
 underneath ; about two feet from this inner brick-work there 
 is a four-inch wall, as it were, leaving an eighteen-inch 
 vacancy between that and the inner one all round. In this 
 vacancy is placed hot dung pressed dowTi close, the heat of 
 which goes through the holes in the sides of the chamber, 
 which is thus raised to a considerable temperature and forms 
 bottom heat, while the dung being heaped up outside to nearly 
 the top, adds to the temperature of the air w^ithin the pit. 
 This kind of pit or brick frame is built two feet under the 
 ground and two above ground, the outer wall being only built 
 up to the surface of the ground, and the dung being heaped 
 up to pretty near the top of the inner wall. The advantage 
 of these pits is, that the dung can be changed when it cools, 
 and new hot dung be put in its place as often or fast as we 
 please, without the risk of disturbing anything that is gTowing. 
 Another kind of dung-pit is constructed on pieces of brick- 
 work, to be hollow underneath, with only a bottom of thin 
 boards, and the hot dung is put between these brick piers, 
 filled in quite sohd, and with a goodly quantity of dung also 
 outside. This can be changed in the same way as often as the 
 temperature declines ; but although we have practised with 
 all these, there is nothing for simpUcity and economy that 
 beats the ordinary wooden frame and glass, as described at 
 first. In nurseries, where these are used in great plenty, the 
 ordinary size of the frame is, with lights, five feet six inches 
 from back to front, and three feet six inches wide, the back 
 of the frame being from twelve to eighteen inches high, and 
 the front from six to ten inches high, so that there is a little 
 slope naturally, if laid on a flat surface of dung, and the dung 
 may be laid sloping, so that there would be a still greater 
 slope, in fact, more or less, according to our fancy. In 
 private gardens, eighteen inches for the back and nine inches 
 for the front, is a good proportion, or as the cutting of the 
 boards to make them is generally managed to avoid waste, one 
 board high in front and two boards high behind is a very 
 good proportion. But according to the shallowness or the 
 height of the frame, so the wood is set down on the dung, or 
 set on part of the thickness of soil, because there ought 
 to be six inches of soil in the shallowest parts, and nine 
 inches in the centre, and if this were all inside the wood- 
 work, there would not be sufficient room between the soil 
 and the glass in a shallow frame. 
 
 i2
 
 132 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 Some gardeners have a portion of the ground excavated for 
 tvfo or three feet, and a brick pit of foiu'-inch ^york built, so 
 as to reach t\YO feet aboveground, and till this with dung or 
 leaves, or tan, or a mixture of all, pressed as closely as possible 
 together, within a little of the top, so as to just leave room for 
 the soil above and the growth of the plants ; this will give a 
 gentle heat some time, but the objection to tliis for plants to 
 grow in the soil is, that it sinks as the fermentation goes on ; 
 but for pots to be grown in, the sinking is not of so much 
 consequence, as it does not disturb any roots, and generally 
 the plants grow quite as fast as the mass sinks. This kind of 
 hot-bed, made of tan only, is very useful, as the tan is natu- 
 rally sweet and requires no soil at the top ; the pit can be 
 filled, and pots can be sunk in the tan just as they are in a 
 stove ; such a bed will do to force almost anything in pots, 
 and a general heat will last much longer than dung or leaves. 
 ;Many plants grow better in a dung-bed of the ordinary kind, 
 than in any kind of house. The Gardenia radicans, which 
 blooms in very small pots, is grown by thousands in common 
 dung-beds for the market, and in no other way will it grow 
 so fast or so free from the red spider, which is almost sure to 
 attack it if long at rest. Probably there is no means of grow- 
 ing plants more rapidly than in dung-beds, from the moist 
 atmosphere with a high temperature ; and the plants, being 
 necessarily close to the glass, everything grows fast, without 
 drawing half so much as they would iu a stove of the same 
 temperature. On>tliis account many small things are forced in 
 hot-beds; roses in large quantities, especially of the small 
 kinds, are easily bloomed in sixty-sized pots, and a single 
 frame holds a vast number ; besides which, the uses of hot- 
 beds in bringing forward chilies, tomatoes, capsicums, and 
 other things to plant out, can hardly be rated too highly. 
 Nor, with aU the contrivances that different people have 
 made, is there anything so good for the propagation of dahlias, 
 and various other plants from eyes and slips. We have seen 
 the pine-apple grown by hundreds, ^\ith nothing but dung 
 heat, and have ourselves grown one from a crown to fruiting 
 with dung heat, and a wooden frame only ; not but it was ten 
 times more trouble than it would have been gvown properly, 
 but it was nevertheless done. Then for balsams, and cocks- 
 combs, Ehodanthe Manglesii, gloxinias, achimenes, all dwarf 
 stove-plants, they will grow cleaner and with less trouble in a
 
 THE MAKING OF HOT-BEDS. 133 
 
 hot-bed than any other -^ay ; but these are make-shifts, not 
 recommended to people who have other conveniences, but 
 mentioned to show that the common dung hot-bed is capable 
 of being made subservient to many uses. 
 
 Many large establishments with stoves and forcing-houses 
 make, nevertheless, great use of dung-beds, and small estab- 
 lishments where there are no stoves make the hot-beds do all 
 the forcing they are obhged to have ; thus, herbs of many 
 kinds are potted up to force as they are wanted ; fennel and 
 mint, among the rest, being in request weeks before they can 
 be had in the open air. The uses of the dung-bed can there- 
 fore be hardly over-rated, and there is a good deal to be done 
 with them for flowers generally; small American plants, 
 Persian lilacs, azaleas, cyclamens, all the spring bulbs, and 
 many other flowers may be forced in a frame as well, and 
 from its convenience of growing things close to the glass, 
 often better than they can be done in the ordinary forcing- 
 houses. But one of the uses to which they are almost 
 universally applied is, the growing of cucumbers and melons. 
 Wherever hot duns'-beds are used, there is occasion for creat 
 neatness and order ; the dung ought to be piled as square and 
 as straight as possible, and the place around the bed kept 
 clear, that any one may walk round to look at their contents ; 
 generally the beds are made in a place set apart on purpose, 
 and dignified with the name of the melon-ground, and it is 
 possible to have this as tidy as the rest of the ground. The 
 ordinary material for covering at night is bass-matting, but of 
 late there are so many cheap fabrics in the cloth way, that 
 many persons adopt waterproof material, not so thick as to 
 exclude light, and yet generally of quite substance enough to 
 keep the heat from escaping. Many cover with litter, with a 
 notion that the thicker the covering, the more warm a thincj 
 IS kept; but the operation of a covering is merely to prevent 
 heat from escaping, and any non-conducting medium is pre- 
 ferred ; woollen would therefore be warmer than cahco, inde- 
 pendent of its thickness, but waterproof cloth is found to 
 answer all purposes, and to keep the frames much warmer 
 than any matting or litter. The dung of the frames when 
 done with should be divided into two heaps, one of which is 
 ready for use for potting, and must be placed by itself ; the 
 other, which is the outside lining and loose stuft", is not decom- 
 posed, and may be laid in a heap to rot, or be used for the
 
 134 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 gi-ound, for wliich it is better adapted than that wliicli has 
 rotted to mould, because, not being decomposed, it w\R lighten 
 the gTOund more, and let the air in ; but all the dung that is 
 immediately under the bed has fairly decomposed into mould 
 that can be run through a sieve, and may be mixed "with any- 
 thing or everything for immediate appropriation. 
 
 According to the different purposes to which a hot-bed is to 
 be appropriated, so must the wood-work be adapted by its 
 make and dimensions. In raising the seeds of annuals and 
 of cucumbers and melons, and for growing them afterwards, 
 the ordinary box and light is sufficient, and whether single 
 light, two, or even three-light, will make no difference ; but 
 when a box and light is made for forcing flowers or forwarding 
 plants, or anything requiring height, the back should be two 
 feet six inches high, and the front one foot six, and the width 
 should be four feet. In growing small plants up from seed, 
 such as balsams and cockscombs, or other tender annuals, they 
 wiU do very well in the ordinary box until they pretty nearly 
 touch the glass ; they may then be transferred to the deep 
 box, and set on pots reversed to keep them tolerably well up ; 
 for no plant does well far from the glass ; nothing can prevent 
 their drawing up long and weakly in comparison to those 
 grown near. As these plants advance, the pots they stand on 
 must be changed to shorter ones, till at length they may stand 
 on the bed itself, and perhaps even then soon touch the glass ; 
 there is only the alternative then of sinking the pots in the 
 bed, or raising the woodwork of the frame on pots or bricks, 
 and piling soil up against the sides to keep in the heat, and 
 keep out the air. 
 
 One of the nicest of the operations in the management of 
 hot-beds is the giving of air, and letting out of the steam ; 
 generally the hot-bed may, when at the height of its warmth, 
 be kept a little tilted behind, and when the sun is out very 
 hot and bright they require shading ; but the use of a glass is 
 almost indispensable. The temperature must be managed 
 according to the work it is doing ; cucumbers and melons will 
 bear eighty to ninety degrees well, but the lowest should be 
 sixty-five, and the highest seventy-five, so that when you find 
 the heat up to that, increase the admission of aii*. 
 
 Cucumbers. — One of the unalterable rules in the manage- 
 ment of hot-beds is, to water everything Tvith water that has 
 stood in the frame tin it is of the same temperature. A vessel
 
 THE MAKING OF HOT-BEDS. 135 
 
 with water should always be in the frames ; nothing does 
 plants in general more harm than watering them ^yit]l the 
 water at a lower temperature than the atmosphere they are 
 growing in, and this applies more especially to cucumbers 
 and melons, which are very susceptible of chill ; and where 
 the quantity of frames renders it difficult to keep a sufficient 
 quantity of water of a right temperature, get hot water from 
 the house, to put in among the cold, that it may be raised to 
 the proper temperature ; lukewarm water, even when of a 
 higher temperatiu'e than the frames, greatly accelerates the 
 gro^vth of plants. We might as well here correct a popular 
 error, which even ^Abercrombie has promulgated. He says, 
 truly enough, that there are the male and female blossoms on 
 the same j)lant, but he says the male blossoms are absolutely 
 necessary, by the dispersion of their farina, to imj)regnate the 
 female, without which the fruit will not swell, so that he 
 actually directs the farina of the male flower to be applied to 
 the female artificially. " At the time of fructification," he 
 says, " watch the plants daily, and as soon as a female flower 
 and some male blossoms are fully expanded, proceed to set 
 the fruit the same day, or next morning at furthest. Take off 
 a male blossom, detaching it with part of the footstalk ; hold 
 this between the finger and thumb, pull away the flower-leaf 
 close to the stamens and anthers, or central part, which apply 
 close to the stigma or bosom of the female flower, t^^^rling it 
 about a little to discharge thereon some particles of the ferti- 
 lizing powder. Proceed thus to set every fruit as the flowers 
 of both sorts open, while a lively full expansion," &c. &c. ; 
 and then he says, " in consequence, the young fruit will soon 
 be observed to swell freely." 
 
 All this has been acted on from sire to son for centuries, 
 and yet, for the purposes of eating, it has been found that 
 nobody considers the seeds in a cucumber at all desirable, and 
 that the fruit is fortunately better when not impregnated than 
 when it is. In fact, it is a question whether, by way of pre- 
 vention, it may not be worth while (for we have acted on it) 
 to pull off all the male blossoms before they expand, and thus 
 secure the non-impregnation of the fruit ; if, however, we 
 desire to save seed, the fertilization of the fruit intended to 
 be saved must be secured, and the sooner the better, first, 
 because it secures the truth of the variety, which might be 
 endangered if left to chance impregnation by the bees or
 
 136 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 other insects, wlio are as likely to bring pollen from another 
 kind as not ; but nothing can be more erroneous than to sup- 
 pose impregnation necessary to the perfection of the fruit for 
 the table. The artificial impregnation has been always recom- 
 mended for the winter and spring months, before there were 
 bees and flies to perform the work ; but it is perfectly unne- 
 cessary : the only difference between a cucumber impregnated, 
 and one not so, is, that in one the seeds will be better deve- 
 loped in early days, and be fertile when ripe ; while in the 
 other, the seeds are never fully developed at all, and never 
 swell to their size, nor germinate. It is the same all through 
 nature in the vegetable world : the nut wiU grow though it 
 have no kernel — apples and pears will grow even when they 
 have no pips ; the pods or seed-vessels of everything will 
 grow, and the seeds haK-grow, without any impregnation, 
 natural or artificial,— the only difference is that the seeds will 
 not germinate. Cucumbers and melons, when we are anxious 
 about the correctness of the sort, should be propagated from 
 cuttings ; young shoots, with one joint above ground and one 
 below, will strike freely in a bottom heat, in an atmosphere 
 of 70 degrees, and plenty of air when the temperature rises 
 above that ; put them round the edge of a pot, and water 
 them with water at the temperature of the bed ; pick off any 
 bloom that may make its appearance, and pinch the heart out 
 as soon as it makes a fair start ; but it is of no use trjdng to 
 strike them with a low temperature, nor depending on old 
 shoots. 
 
 Layering is also a favourite mode of propagation ; for we 
 are sure of the individual sorts by that means, as well as by 
 cuttings ; but, when pegged down with a sharpish bend, the 
 shoot will continue growing ; and, as soon as it has rooted, 
 cut back the shoot to one joint above ground, and cut the 
 connexion with the parent plant ; and after it has been alone 
 three or four days, pot it up with all the fibres. These cut- 
 tings, or layers, fruit much quicker than seedlings : perhaps 
 the fruit is not quite so large, but there will be more of them 
 that we should let grow ; for they begin to bear as soon as 
 they begin to grow, and continue till they are exhausted. 
 The thorough dependence that can be placed on the sort is 
 worth a sacrifice ; and we have been astonished that nursery- 
 men have not made a point of keeping melon and cucumber 
 plants in stock, the same as any other bedding-out plants ;
 
 MUSHROOM BEDS. 137 
 
 for good plants of a good sort would fetch a liberal price, that 
 would pay auy one for the care and trouble, only it would be 
 necessary to let every one know where such plants could 
 be had. 
 
 One more use to which hot-beds can be especially applied 
 Avith advantage is, for the close-gi-afting of camellias, rhodo- 
 dendrons, azaleas, and the orange tribe ; the genial moist heat 
 so necessary for these operations cannot be supplied so well 
 by any other means as the common hot-bed will produce it. 
 We have seen, at the late Mr. Eonald's, a hundred and eighty 
 grafts of the Ehododendron campanulatum growing beautifully 
 in a dimg-bed heat of 70 degrees, with the back tilted at the 
 time to admit air and let out steam, and not a single miss 
 among the whole ; and, at another place, as many inarched 
 camellias not cut off as a three-light box would hold ; and, at 
 another time, above a huncbed grafts, with only a single leaf 
 on each, put on mthin fru^o inches of the pot, every one taken, 
 and growing well, at a temperature of 0)6 degrees. Commend 
 us, then, to the common dung hot-bed, as one of the most 
 useful adjuncts to a moderate garden. 
 
 MUSHROOM BEDS. 
 
 We have already given a long account of the best way to 
 make hot-beds, and with it their general management. Per- 
 haps there is not a more valuable department in a garden 
 where the produce is esteemed, than the mushroom bed, be 
 that where it may. Some require such a constant supply of 
 that excellent fungus, that considerable expense is incurred in 
 the erection of a mushroom-house, and various contrivances 
 are resorted to for the purpose of producing them in perfec- 
 tion and abundance. The production of the mushroom is so 
 unhke any other operation in gardening, that a man may be 
 well acquainted ^\ith all the rest of his duties, and be ignorant 
 of this, although the supplying of a considerable family, or 
 even of the market, is now reduced to the most simple rules. 
 While all other garden productions are the result of sowing, 
 or propagating by ordinary means, transplanting, and the 
 like, the mushroom, though unquestionably from seeds which 
 are too small to be preserved or collected, but which are eaten 
 by animals with their food — when all other substances are 
 decomposed, these seeds are left unaltered in their nature and
 
 138 PRACTICAIi GARDENING. 
 
 all their vitality preserved. Hence tlie droppings of horses 
 laid together, under peculiar circumstances, will encourage 
 the growth of the seeds which have been preserved, and only 
 want favourable circumstances to germinate. It is found that 
 the droppings of horses which have been fed on corn and hay, 
 are more productive of the mushroom than that of horses fed 
 on grass, or other animals fed any how. It is therefore con- 
 cluded that the seeds abound in harvest or hay time, and that 
 corn and hay are favourable mediimis for collecting and pre- 
 serving them, and it is known that, by laying the droppings 
 close together in heaps, mushroom spawn has germinated so 
 rapidly, when it once commenced, that the whole heap has 
 become a mass of spawn. But it is also found that in places 
 where cows, horses, and sheep congregate, mushrooms abound, 
 whereas in woods, and fields, not fi-equented by such animals, 
 the mushroom is rarely produced ; but on the contrary, what- 
 ever fungi are found are poisonous, or at least unwholesome. 
 From this it would appear that it is necessary the seed should 
 pass through the intestines of cattle, horses, or sheep, to secure 
 its germination. But the seeds may be found in ether matter, 
 remaining in a dormant state for any length of time, until a 
 proper degree of heat and moisture brings it into life. Mcol, 
 a celebrated writer on this subject, says he has produced 
 safer, better, and more lasting beds by the following simple 
 means, than he ever could by any other process. He gathered 
 up horse droppings, of which he made a layer on dry ground 
 of six inches thick, then let them get dry, and when beyond 
 the danger of fermenting, covered with two inches of light 
 earth ; then got another layer of horse droppings, whole and 
 dry ones are better than others, and when the second layer has 
 dried, put two inches more earth. A third course is desir- 
 able, but two may do ; a two-inch covering at top finishes the 
 bed. The bed can be finished in five or six weeks, and if 
 under cover, in a moderately warm shed, it will produce in as 
 much more time. The beds so made are, according to the 
 authority we have mentioned, far more certain and more 
 lasting than those made any other way. It is mentioned that 
 the higher the keep of the horses, the better, and that grass- 
 fed horses would yield but few, if any, and not yield any 
 sometimes. These beds become a complete mass of spawn, 
 and last a long time. The old practitioners, in our young 
 days, used to prefer the sweepings of a mill track, when horse-
 
 MUSHROOM BEDS. 139 
 
 power was more common than even steam-power is now, and 
 these sweepings, which of course were composed of the drop- 
 pings of the horses employed, were certain to become mush- 
 room spawn. Dunghills Avhich have lain a long time T^dthout 
 turning, are frequently found full of spawn. In fact, the 
 dung of horses, cows, and sheep, may be considered to have 
 the seeds within it, and to want only the proper conditions to 
 set them gro^\ing. For the convenience of transporting, a 
 vast quantity of mushroom spa^vn is manufactured every 
 year, for it has the capacity of keeping unimpaired for years, 
 and of being set growing at any time. By mixing the various 
 droppings of sheep, cows, and horses, together with rotten 
 tan or rotten wood, that has become fine dust, into the con- 
 sistency of clay, and forcing it into square lumps to dry in 
 the sun, every brick or lump can be made into spawn. When 
 in a certain state of dryness to bear it, three or four holes are 
 made in the middle with a blunt dibble, and when they are 
 quite dry, a little spawn is put into these holes, and they are 
 built into a kind of stack, not quite close to each other, and 
 the temperature raised to sixty or seventy degrees, and the 
 whole mass will become spawn. Some build this stack in sheds, 
 and cover it with hot clung for a time. In three weeks, you 
 may uncover and try one of the bricks, which, on breaking, 
 should be fidly charged with whitish thready-looking stuff; 
 then they maybe thoroughly dried, and will keep good for years. 
 This spaMTi may be made twenty different ways, and lumps of 
 it put into a heap of horse droppings would change the whole 
 mass. Upon this principle, mushroom beds are made in every 
 possible form and place, and under any conceivable circum- 
 stances. It is scarce worth while, in a gentleman's place, to 
 attempt the working of spawn ; it is so cheap at the nurseries 
 that we can get all we want for a trifle, and thus avoid all 
 the mess and trouble. The formation of a mushroom bed is 
 a very simple affair. It may be made a sort of bank with 
 two sloping sides, or against a wall with only one sloping side, 
 at an angle of forty-five degrees, if out of doors, but anything 
 we please if under shelter. There must be a sujB&cient body 
 to generate a gentle heat; for an effective bed to last some 
 time, heated with horse droppings or any short dung, a bank 
 four feet wide at the bottom, and sloping to a point, say three 
 feet high in the middle. When all settled, thrust a stick into 
 the mass that you may know when there is a genial heat ;
 
 140 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 break the cakes of spawn into pieces the size of a hen's egg, 
 and tuck them into the sloping side, only put far enough to 
 hold in while you put two inches of mould over them. Some 
 pretend that a portion of the top should be left unmoulded 
 until all danger of too much heat has passed over ; but the 
 fact is, that the bed should not be spawned or moulded at all 
 until all danger of over-heating has gone by. Straw may be 
 placed over the whole, and it must be left to time to get into 
 working. Another way of making a bed is to lay the mate- 
 rial against the wall under a temporary roof, or under a shed, 
 or in a barn, or at the back of a greenhouse, or vinery, or 
 stove, making -one sloping side only ; but the process is to be 
 the same. 
 
 We have, before this, seen mushroom beds on the floors of 
 all the vineries of an estabhshment, where the droppings, or 
 short dung, have been laid along the ground in a tolerable 
 heap, and merely patted down with a fork to something like 
 a flat bank. Here they were spawned and covered, and very 
 shortly jDroduced heavy crops ; but the theory may be reduced 
 to a rule that is unerring as to the production of mushrooms, 
 in numerous ways. First ; horse droppings, or short-dung, 
 with body enough to generate heat, and two inches of mould 
 at the top, will always produce the crop if the spawn be 
 inserted. Consequently, so that it be kept dry, no matter 
 where it is made. Second ; horse droppings, or short dung, 
 in too small a quantity to generate heat of itself, Avill never- 
 theless produce the mushrooms when spawned, if the tem- 
 perature of the house be kept up. Consequently, a large pot 
 filled all but two inches with horse-droppings, a lump of 
 spawn put in, and two inches of mould at the top, will yield 
 mushrooms in great plenty if put in a stove. Shelves two 
 feet wide, with a two-inch ledge in front, may be filled as full 
 as possible on a slope with droppings, or short dung, by 
 which means the waU of a shed, or out building, capable of 
 being closed from the weather, may be made to hold several, 
 one above another, two feet distance being enough from one 
 shelf to the other, the moulding and spawning being similar 
 to all other beds ; but the temperature ought to be steady, 
 and no draught admitted. This mode of culture in a cellar 
 is very desirable, light being not at all requisite to the pro- 
 duction of the mushroom. The principal attention required 
 is, to have the dung of a good genial warmth at the time the
 
 PROTECTION OP PLANTS IN THE OPEN GROUND. 141 
 
 spawn is inserted. After it has begnn to work well, aU that 
 is necessary is to keep off frost, cold winds, and draught. A 
 covering of clean straw is of great service, and it must not be 
 forgotten that moisture is necessary, though too much of it is 
 mischievous. It has been often attempted to spawn a pasture, 
 and it has occasionally answered in part ; but on an occasion 
 when an old and barren mushroom-bed was used as manure 
 on a quarter of a kitchen garden, the production of this 
 valuable esculent was so great as to siu-prise everybody, It 
 continued productive until the severe weather checked it, and 
 for two years it continued to resume its autumnal crop iu 
 perfection. A thick coating of the collected droppings along 
 a few rods by the side of a pasture produced notliing the first 
 season, but yielded fine mushrooms the second year, and con- 
 tinued to do so for years, perhaps till now, for we lost sight 
 of it altogether. Mr. Upright, a gardener in the habit of 
 exliibiting fine vegetables, once exliibited mushrooms in pots, 
 cultivated as we have described, and most extraordinary and 
 crowded specimens some of them were. The fashion of grow- 
 ing on shelves against a waU should always be adopted at the 
 back of a stove, or in any other house that would create a 
 temperature of 55 or 60 degrees, for they would be produced 
 in great plenty at seasons when they woidd be invaluable. 
 Mushroom-houses have been erected on various plans ; but as 
 almost every kind of structure, from a cellar to an attic, from 
 a stove to a shed, can be made available, we should never 
 think of constructing a house on purpose. There is not a 
 cupboard or a corner that may not be appropriated to the 
 culture of this valuable esculent, and it is a shame that any 
 hole or corner should be unproductive. 
 
 PROTECTION OF PLANTS IN THE OPEN GEOUND. 
 
 There are in our English gardens many plants that will, 
 \vith a httle care, brave our EngHsh winters ; but which, if 
 left to the chances of the weather, altogether perish. Some 
 of the roses which are most beautiful are too tender to stand 
 unprotected ; many require the fostering warmth of a south 
 wall, and some even require a distinct covering of some warm 
 kind that shall keep off the severity of some of our frosts. 
 Not a few are tender while young; but when well established 
 will stand tolerably well, although we have had winters and
 
 142 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 succeeding springs that have killed our hardy laurels, laurus- 
 tinus, bay, and aucubas, to the ground. The assistance that 
 can be given while young cannot be afforded to large trees ; 
 and therefore it is fortunate that they require less care as 
 they grow larger, and older, and better estabHshed. Eoses 
 growing on their own bottoms, and forming beds, are for the 
 most part tender, and are among the most interesting of our 
 garden beauties. Mr. Greenus, of Rickmansworth, once re- 
 <commended to us his method of protecting these dwarf tender 
 roses j and we published it in the Garden Almanack. After 
 planting out his roses in the order they are to remain in, he 
 filled up the interstices between the plants with rough white 
 flints, through which the roses made a very pretty feature ; 
 during the winter months he tucked moss between the 
 plants ; and for the season it looked like a bed of moss and 
 flints. In the sprrag the roses were cut down close, and soon 
 resumed all their wonted beauty. Nothing could be more 
 simple than this. It was evident that the flints and moss 
 together bid defiance to the frost, and that roses which would 
 not have stood the open weather were preserved in good 
 health and strength. The same tender varieties budded on 
 stocks would inevitably perish, if not protected in some way ; 
 and moss is the best medium : let the moss be tucked between 
 the branches, and some be wrapped round the outside, and 
 all be papered or matted over until May, when they may be 
 released, all the weak branches cut away, and the strong ones 
 shortened ; and the bed will be as fine as ever. But there is 
 another way of managing tender roses on stocks : they may 
 be taken up carefully, and be planted in by the heels, in any 
 sheltered spot where litter and a mat may cover a dozen or 
 two heads, and be planted as carefully in the spring ; when 
 they may be staked and pruned, and will be as strong and 
 healthy as if they had never been removed. But they must 
 not be replanted until the spring frosts are done with, because 
 they will grow directly, and the young wood, in such case, 
 must suffer considerably, even if the frost be not sharp enough 
 to kiQ them altogether. The magnolias, while small, will 
 often suffer ; and if they are grown in pots till they are a 
 tolerable size, they will be two years before the roots lay fairly 
 hold of the new ground ; but it is better to plant them out 
 small, and to cover them with a straw cap, like a beehive, 
 made after a similar plan, but rougher and lighter, because
 
 PROTECTION OF PLANTS IN THE OPEN GROUND. 143 
 
 they look tidy when taker off and placed by their side. This 
 
 same cover, which can be made to suit any plant of two feet 
 
 high and under, is the best that can be used for araucarias, 
 
 choice pinuses, and all other young plants that are tender 
 
 while young ; for the covers are easily packed away one in 
 
 another, when not wanted. There are many of the hybrid 
 
 rhododendrons perfectly hardy, sufficiently so to stand any 
 
 degree of frost ; but they bloom so early, that the flowers, 
 
 which are always tender, are cut off by the spring frosts, and 
 
 the entire beauty spoiled in a single day. The covers we 
 
 have mentioned ^vill effectually preserve the flowers ; they 
 
 should, therefore, be put on every night, and may be also 
 
 used in the heat of the sun, and be kept on in windy or 
 
 frosty weather. By this means the beauty of the plant may 
 
 be enjoyed in all but frosty or windy weather; and the 
 
 covers, if obliged to be left on the ground, only appear like so 
 
 many beehives. These covers, of all sizes, might be brought 
 
 into very general use, not only to protect plants from frosts, 
 
 but also to preserve the flowers of many choice plants on the 
 
 borders or on lawns, when the bloom is of a nature to be 
 
 damaged by rough weather, or too much wet ; for they are as 
 
 good a shield from rain as they are from sun and frost and 
 
 wind. A great number of plants flower well against open 
 
 walls, and people are generally very careful to mat them, as 
 
 a preservation from frost ; but they make a sad mistake in 
 
 omitting to mat them when the sun shines hot and bright. 
 
 It is not the frost that does one half the injury that these 
 
 plants suffer in winter and spring. The Camellia japonica 
 
 will do admirably against a wall out-of-doors, and will stand 
 
 even without a covering ; but often all the flowers are seen 
 
 killed in a single night of hard frost — at least all the blooms 
 
 that are exjDanded ; whereas a mat would have saved them. 
 
 But two things should be provided for that are seldom 
 
 noticed : in the first place, a ledge or coping should be so 
 
 placed that the covering may be fastened under it, so that no 
 
 vacancy shall appear at top, but all wet shall run off; and, 
 
 next, that pegs or stops should stick out from the wall, a few 
 
 inches, to keep the covering from touching the plant. Then, 
 
 again, there is another point to be attended to ; the mat must 
 
 be placed over them in the hot sun as well as in the cold 
 
 frost ; and the same must be observed in heavy showers, and 
 
 cold winds, all alike inimical to flowers, and to the young
 
 144 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 growth, of plants. The Magnolia purpurea, conspicua, and 
 some others show their flowers very early in the spring, and 
 very frequently have all the expanded blooms killed off by 
 cold winds or frosts. In the open air, and when the plants 
 have attained considerable magnitude, we are obliged to put 
 up with all tliis ; but when trained against a wall, they may 
 be saved and the plant preserved in all its beauty for many 
 weeks ; and all by means of a covering to put up and take 
 down as requbed, according to the state of the weather ; but 
 always at evening, because it is impossible to calculate on a 
 single night in March and April mthout frost. It is a very 
 common thing to plant fuchsias out of doors in beds and 
 patches or in single plants. The winter generally kills them 
 wliile young, but by covering the roots and part of the stems 
 with moss, they break out early the next year and grow very 
 strong, much more so than if they were new plants put out. 
 This simple covering of moss is one of the gTcatest protections 
 that can be given to any tender perennial that dies down 
 naturally, or is usually killed down to the ground. Tender 
 bulbs that grow stronger the second or third year of planting, 
 but which are in danger of suffering from frost, may be effec- 
 tually covered with about two inches of moss ; for no frost 
 will penetrate it ; and, that the wind may not displace it, a 
 few pegs run through the lumps or tufts will be found of the 
 greatest use. 
 
 Moss is not so good a protection for small plants, that is to 
 say, in practice j for, although it is effectual as to cold, it is 
 such a harbour for vermin that the chances are sadly against 
 the plants. They wiU escape the frost only to be devoured 
 by slugs, snails, and other enemies. A lighter sort of litter, 
 such as well-dried peas haulm, or new straw, well broken, will 
 be found better ; or if there be beds, a few hoops put across, 
 with two or three straight laths along them, to prevent the 
 cover from falling through, enables us to throw a cloth of 
 some kind, or some matting over them. This is particularly 
 applicable to pinks, carnations, pansies, choice autumn sown 
 stocks, and the better kind of annuals and perennials raised 
 from seed at the end of the summer. Choice bulbs of all 
 kinds grown in collections are worth their trouble and ex- 
 pense. Choice anemones and ranunculuses, when sown in 
 autumn, want this protection in spring, and we have suc- 
 ceeded in saviQg a bed of verbenas by mattiag them in bad
 
 PRESERVATION OF PLANTS IN THE OPEN GROUND. 14<5 
 
 weather through the wiiiter, which, however, was a mild 
 one. 
 
 For larger shrubs and trees than we have yet mentioned, 
 the best kind of protection is wicker basket work, made in 
 two halves, to be brought together by putting half on each 
 side the plant, and fastened together with hooks : although 
 it does not keep in all the heat or repel all the cold winds, it 
 is a great preservation, and if it be anything very tender, 
 matting can be put round the \\4cker work to render it still 
 more close, though we have found it equal to saving the 
 Agave americana, which is very succulent and susceptible of 
 injuiy without any very intense frost. The wicker work can 
 be wove as close and as impervious to weather, or nearly so, 
 as any matting can be found. Cui'tis, of Moorend, Bristol, 
 recommends his patrons to protect the heads of roses with a 
 kind of cap made of oiled calico, stretched on a vdve shape, 
 and to be put on like a man's nightcap, not at going to bed, 
 but for the whole A^dnter season, during which period in fact 
 the tree is at rest. There is no doubt but this is an effectual 
 preservative, but the appearance is against them ; although, 
 as he justly observes, they might be painted of a dark colour, 
 that they may not look so conspicuous ; others merely tie uj) 
 the heads pretty close together, and mat them round. Any 
 way they look ugly, therefore we prefer taking them up alto- 
 gether and putting them in by the heels, where one mat can 
 cover all their heads at once, or tying them up in a mass with 
 bass matting as neatly as possible, and letting them remain in 
 their places. "We have been in a garden where the rose stocks 
 were all boimd up with hay-bands, but the common brier is 
 one of the most hardy things we have, and can take no harm ; 
 it is the budded part only that can be injui-ed by cold. If, 
 however, we are determined to grow the tender roses as 
 standards, they should be in a group that we could accommo- 
 date with some kind of covermg, in form of a tent, or as 
 dwarfs, where we could protect them with moss ; for it does 
 appear ugly to see in a garden a number of standard roses 
 •wdth their heads tied up, and it appears an act of great 
 violence to take them up and replant them every year. It is 
 no uncommon thing to see the front of a house matted up for 
 the sake of something that is under it ; but we seriously re- 
 commend all tender things to be placed in a compartment 
 by themselves (on a wall, for instance, devoted to such 
 
 K
 
 146 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 things), and never to grow them in a conspicuous place like 
 the front of a house. It is generally too much of a job to 
 remove it often, and the consequence is that the poor plant is 
 smothered ; for the putting up is generally managed early, 
 and the taking down late, and the plant has then to bear the 
 vicissitudes of the spring, which are often more trying than 
 the whole winter season. 
 
 PEOTECXmG POTTED PLAIS^TS. 
 
 We are not under this head going to treat of those tender 
 plants wliich belong to the greenhouse or stove, but simply 
 those which may be called half-hardy, — that require some pro- 
 tection in very severe weather, but not much. But many 
 hardy plants in the ordinary ground would be but half-hardy 
 in pots, unless some means were taken to protect the roots. 
 The reason may be made obvious by a little explanation : — 
 frost which would not penetrate one inch into the earth will 
 go through the side of a pot ; consequently the roots of a 
 plant would be frozen, and the most tender parts of a root 
 are the points next the side of the pot. It is therefore a 
 common practice to plunge them in the ground, or in some 
 other medium that shall preserve the sides from the frost. 
 Thus we see in nurseries thousands of plants plunged in their 
 pots and merely protected by a temporary roofing, which 
 plants would ineAdtably perish if the pots were exposed to 
 the weather, for the temporary covering is of httle avail to 
 change the cold of the atmosphere, but it keej^s off the wind, 
 and so far saves the foKage, although the frost would assuredly 
 penetrate the sides of the pot, and damage if not kill the 
 plants i| they were not plunged in something to their rims, 
 ^lany plants are only tender while young, and become very 
 hardy when once established in the ground. The magnoHas, 
 for instance, may be seen flourishing as standard trees, and of • 
 a large size, which are nevertheless kept in pots for stock, 
 and are carefully plunged and covered up while young. Some 
 of our hardiest trees, which stand any degree of frost so far 
 as li"vang and growing well goes, if the spring happens to be 
 forward, and the young growth excited early, are cut off, and 
 the tree has to break forth again with a new set of buds. TVe 
 frequently see the walnut pushing forth its young branches 
 and its fruit in the spring of the year, and the whole of the
 
 PROTECTING POTTED PLANTS. 147 
 
 new growth cut off by a spring frost, and the crop destroyed. 
 The phinging of young plants therefore in the common ground 
 keeps the plant from too early a growth, because a few sunny 
 days will not take half the effect while the roots are no 
 warmer than the soil ; but if the sun were giving its influence 
 on the sides of the pot, the roots would be excited, and the 
 plant commence its growth so much the sooner. The first 
 thing therefore to attend to with all potted plants is to plunge 
 them to the rims. This will do a good deal towards pro- 
 tecting them. If, in addition to this, they are shielded from 
 the north-east winds, and hooped or roofed so that they can 
 have mats in severe weather tlirown over them, it will be 
 found sufficient protection for camellias, azalea indica, the 
 half-hardy rhododendrons, heaths, epacrises, and hard- wooded 
 Botany Bay plants generally. It is true that these things 
 are mostly put into the greenhouse, but there is no occasion 
 for it; they simply require to be protected against the 
 cutting winds and very severe frosts, and are in most good 
 places preserved in cold brick pits, or plunged as we have 
 described. 
 
 Almost all greenhouse plants, if not very succulent, may 
 be protected in brick pits, but pits built with turves are even 
 warmer than brick-work, and one of these would in ordinary 
 weather protect geraniums until the spring, when the great 
 trial of all plants commences, because of their young growth, 
 which is easily damaged by wind and sun. K therefore great 
 attention is paid at this time, that they are exposed to neither 
 when extreme, they will go right through the bad season 
 safely. 
 
 Few amateurs are aware that the warm sun of the spring 
 — which we are apt to view with great complacency, and let 
 the plants, as may be thought at the time, enjoy it — does so 
 much mischief as it does, but the effect is to excite plants into 
 growth that are too tender to bear the changes that follow : 
 whereas, if they were as carefully protected from the hot sun 
 as they are from the cold wind, they would be far better. It 
 is a common thing to see j^lants stand well under a north 
 wall, while those under a south aspect are cut materially. 
 The former do not make an effort to grow, and are safe, while 
 those in the warmer aspect are early upon the move, and 
 suffer severely from the trilling spring frosts. It is the same 
 with plants in pots, and hence the advantage of the roofing, 
 
 k2
 
 148 PEACTICAL GAKDENING. 
 
 whicli can "be made to shade them from the sun as well as it 
 protects them from the wind and sKght frosts. 
 
 The different modes of protecting potted plants are, there- 
 fore, first, to plunge their pots to the rim, and let them take 
 their chance of the open weather — this will do for most 
 things that are nearly hardy, and that would be safe, planted 
 in the open ground. Secondly, to do this, and provide hoops 
 and mats to cover them in hard weather, and shade them 
 from the burning sun, which is often felt in the early spring 
 months — this will do for plants yet more tender. Thirdly, 
 to place them in cold pits, built up with turves, to form the 
 walls, and glass lights to cover them — this, with proper 
 attention, will do for many greenhouse plants. Fourthly, to 
 place them in regularly-built brick pits, but with no provision 
 for artificial heat in the event of hard weather, it being quite 
 sufficient to shut out the frost, and shade them from the hot 
 sun. These pits are of various constructions, according to 
 the height of the plants to be protected : camellias, azalea 
 indica, epacris, heaths, and many other plants, are sheltered 
 there by thousands, and except covering with mats, or cloths, 
 have none but the natural warmth, or, rather, the warmth of 
 the earth, which is kept in by means of proper covering, 
 increased in thickness during the hardest weather ; and no 
 method that has been devised answers better. Fifthly, we 
 come to pits warmed by artificial means when necessary, and 
 greenhouses, which are only on a large scale ; but even these 
 should be rarely heated for ordinary greenhouse plants, for 
 the plants thrive much better without fire than with it. The 
 less excitement a plant has in winter time, the better. Most 
 exotics are used to more uniform climates than our own; they 
 may have even a longer winter than ours to contend with, 
 but when the fine weather comes, they have not the alterna- 
 tions of heat and cold peculiar to our climate, and, therefore, 
 it is these changes that we have to guard against. But, 
 although we have mentioned some of the most common 
 means of protecting potted plants, we must not omit to notice 
 a more rude way of treating them resorted to by those who 
 have not the means to provide a better method. "We have 
 seen a hole dug in the highest part of the ground, two feet 
 deep, three feet wide, and as long as the plants would occupy, 
 the plants set in the bottom of this hole, and hurdles placed 
 over them, upon which some sort of covering was put at
 
 PROTECTING POTTED PLANTS. 149 
 
 night, and taken off in the morning, unless it happened to be 
 frosty, when, of course, it would be kept on ; and we have 
 known even geraniums, which we consider among the most 
 troublesome things to manage, go through the winter well. 
 We could not say much for the colour of the foliage after a 
 hard winter, but they have been cut back pretty freely, and 
 started into growth in the spring, and very soon recovered all 
 the health and vigour of better used plants. Myrtles have 
 hardly suffered at all ; azaleas have lost the most part of 
 their foliage, but a month in the open air and proper atten- 
 tion have restored them a good deal, and one would scarcely 
 think they were the same. Plants in dwelling-houses are 
 generally kept at the windows, and, except in very hard 
 winters, suffer but little ; these will be greatly assisted by 
 removing them to a stand in the middle of the room at 
 night, and keeping them there, if there be much of a frost, 
 as that would be more felt at the windows than in the middle 
 of an apartment. 
 
 One great point to be attended to in all cases, whether in 
 the dwelling-house, in pits, covered, plunged, or exposed 
 more, is to give no more water than is absolutely necessary 
 to keep them ahve. We do not mean that they are to have 
 but little at a time, for that will destroy the most hardy 
 plants in existence ; but that they are not to be watered 
 oftener than they require it ; and that, when plants are at 
 rest, is very seldom indeed : when they do want it, wet all 
 the soil in the pot, but never give it them a day before they 
 require it. We would rather see a plant flag, as an indication 
 of its wants, than give it a drop a day beforehand ; for when 
 a plant is at rest, it will stand a much greater degree of cold 
 than when growing, and the tendency of watering too much 
 is to excite growth, or, failing in that, to rot the roots, there- 
 fore it ought to be avoided ; and the same applies to plants 
 in a greenhouse. When a plant will grow, we must afford 
 proper nourishment, but when at rest, we should encourage 
 the rest rather than excite it to grow. The principal thing 
 to guard against in protecting plants in winter, is damp. A 
 dry atmosphere is not easily provided when we have so much 
 humid weather, but a good deal may be done by covering 
 close on damp cloudy days, and by not crowding too many 
 plants into a small space. Where we have artificial heat, as 
 in a greenhouse, we can occasionally make fires, and by
 
 150 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 opening the liglits to let the damp exhale, keep a place 
 tolerably dry ; but when we have, as often happens for a long 
 time together, wet and cloudy weather, and hardly any sun, 
 we can only shut it out ; even this must be carefully done, 
 for if plants are shut up too much, they will be forced into 
 growth, and that will cause them to be drawn. Nothing is 
 more conducive to health than plenty of room ; half the 
 j)lants that are spoiled in a greenhouse, more than half of the 
 long-legged, ugly, uncouth specimens that we see about, are 
 the result of over-crowding. It causes the leaves to fall from 
 the lower jDart of the plants, the under branches to decay, 
 and the tops to draw up into an ungainly form ; and it is 
 not easy to recover a specimen that has once gone "WTong in 
 this direction. Avoid over-crowding them above all things ; 
 rather throve half the plants away, and take care of the rest, 
 than, by cramming too many into a place, spoil all. When it 
 is done, and the forms of the plants destroyed, the only way 
 to recover them is to cut them down very close for the chance 
 of their breaking out at the bottom, or to cut off the side 
 branches, and see if they can be made into well-formed 
 standards ; but it is only a few kinds of j)lants that make 
 good standards, and we should not be tempted to try the 
 experiment "with subjects that will not form good heads. 
 Sometimes, in spite of all our efforts, the frost will lay hold 
 of plants ; when this is the case, syringe them well all over 
 the foliage, and cover them up close, so that the sun shall on 
 no account reach thenu In most cases this will thaw them 
 gently and save them, and nothing else can. We have seen 
 a whole pit full of heaths frozen through leaving off the 
 covering, and hanging their j'oung shoots down as if they 
 wanted water. They have been syringed all over their 
 foliage, the lights all closed and closely matted up till the 
 next day, and have been perfectly recovered. Now, although 
 the frost would not have kiUed them, every shoot would have 
 been lost, if they had been thawed by the sun, or the warm 
 wind. We have seen a bed of tulips that have been frosted 
 not long before they bloomed, and every stalk was doubled 
 over, and the buds hung down ; we have seen them syringed 
 in the same way, and matted up close, and the next day they 
 appeared none the worse for the freezing. We might mention 
 twenty other instances of the efficacy of syringing or watering 
 frozen plants all over the foUage, and covering up close from
 
 MAKING AND MANAGEMENT OF LAWNS. 151 
 
 wind and sun, and it is the only thing we can recommend 
 when anj-thing has become frosted. The best rules, then, for 
 the preservation of plants in pots are, first, to abstain from 
 watering as much as possible ; second, to give plenty of room ; 
 tliird, to cover from the hot spring sun as carefully as from 
 the vdntev frosts ; fourth, to plunge all pots that have to be 
 exposed to the open air, or to slight covering ; fifth, to avoid 
 opening all houses, pits, and frames, on wet and gloomy days, 
 and generally to take pains to keep all plants as much as 
 possible at rest. A little attention to these rules vnU assist 
 greatly in the preservation of half-hardy and greenliouse 
 plants through very formidable -ranters, and keep them 
 healthy and ready for a sound spring and summer growth. 
 
 MAKIXG AND MANAGEJNiENT OF LAWKS. 
 
 Making a Lawn.— This operation in a garden is very like 
 laying domi a carpet in the house. The space must be dug 
 all over, trodden hard, raked even, and rolled. The turves, if 
 properly cut, should be all of a thickness and all of a size, 
 three feet long, one foot broad, and cut as level and as square 
 as possible, otherwise your work will be trebled. You then 
 unroll your turves and begin by laying the first row end to 
 end, to form the outer edge, and continue the next row by 
 pushmg the tui'ves close up to the first. If you find any very 
 great inequality in a turf, throw it on one side ; you may make 
 yourself a good deal more work by trying to adjust a bad one, 
 for all youi- others must follow. \Vhen the turves are all laid 
 down, you must get a turf-beater to knock down any inequah- 
 ties and make the roots press into the soil. If it be very 
 dry weather, use the water-pot freely after beating, so as to 
 fairly saturate the turves, and when the surface has dried 
 enough to let the roller go over it, give it a good rolling with 
 the heaviest iron roller you have, and if the weather contmues 
 hot, give the grass a second or third watering, for unless this 
 work be done weU, a hot sun might cuiI every turf How- 
 ever, the best season for this work is the autumn ; ever}i;liing 
 works well then ; turf has the benefit of a cooler temperature, 
 and before the winter is over it is firmly rooted and ready for 
 the scythe. 
 
 There is no i)art of the garden that requires more attention 
 than tlie lawn, because there is no department that sooner
 
 152 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 shows the consequences of neglect, or that retains them longer. 
 Let the f^rass be in every way good, all that we could wish, 
 and let it°go a fortnight too long in growing weather unmown, 
 and the roughness may last the greater part of the summer. 
 We need hardly say here that the mower should be one of the 
 best of the workmen, that he should be able to cut very close 
 and very even, leaving no marks of the sc}i;he. To do his 
 work properly, it should be all done while the dew is on the 
 o-rass, nor should he allow the grass in the growing season to 
 go long together without cutting. As fast as he mows, some- 
 body else should sweep up the cuttings, and remove them, for 
 in hot weather it would change the colour of the grass beneath 
 in a very short time. Before the morning of cutting, the 
 o-rass should be rolled, and if there be many worm-casts, it 
 should be bush-harrowed or swept with a coarse broom, to 
 spread them about before rolling. If the lawn be inclined to 
 produce moss, solving wood ashes before the dew is off in the 
 mornincT three or four times during the season will be of great 
 service and nothing must be omitted in the way of close 
 cutting, for nothing but that will keep a good bottom. If a 
 lawn has been neglected, and got into hollows and bare places, 
 a coatin^^ of road-drift all over it, so as to make the surface 
 perfectly level, will be the only good and quick remedy. Let 
 there be new grass-seeds on all the bare places before the road- 
 drift is put on, because in the raking, rolling, and levelling 
 the coating, the seeds will be sufficiently disturbed to bring 
 plenty near the surface, and in a short time will produce a 
 fine coat of grass of the old and new together, and the surface, 
 being rolled from time to time, will be so levelled, that the 
 grass all over can be cut even and close ; in fact, it can be made 
 far better than it ever has been, in consequence of the better 
 level and thinner growth. To keep a lawn in first-rate order, 
 there must be a hea^^ roller, one equal to the strength of two 
 men, and this should be used after the ground is a httle 
 softened by rain, and the grass has got dry again; not that it 
 is necessary the grass should be dry, but that after rain, there 
 should be some twelve or twenty-four hours to let the wet 
 soak down a little. 
 
 Worms. — If worms are too troublesome, give them lime- 
 water, pretty strong; it is better almost to discolour the 
 grass a little while, than to be pestered with worm-casts, for 
 it renders the lawn useless. No ladies can walk where worm-
 
 MANAGEMENT OF LAWNS. 153 
 
 casts abound mnch, for they are exceedingly dirty, and stick 
 to the shoes worse than mud. In mowing the operator must 
 not only look to the quality of his scythe and its keen edge, 
 but he must especially see to the setting of the blade : it 
 ought to be so put to the handle that he could, if necessary, 
 rub the back all along the sweep he takes, and the sharp edge 
 be half an inch from the ground the whole sweep, the point 
 being well up — for if that be too near the ground it will now 
 and then, by almost the turn of a straw, stick into it, and at 
 any rate show its marks all the way the man mows. We need 
 hardly say that mowing for lawn work is almost as clean and 
 as exact a job as shaving a beard ; there must not be a shade of 
 difference in the length of the grass, the edge must not go 
 nearer to the ground in one place than another, for it will 
 show in different shades, if it be not conspicuous enough to 
 make the false cuts apparent. 
 
 Mowing Machines. — Of late years, an ingenious mowing 
 machine has been patented, and having worked it ourselves, 
 we can speak favourably of it iu use under some circumstances, 
 but there are two or three conditions that must be observed : 
 first, the surface of the ground must be very even; we do not 
 mean that it may not undulate, or that up or down hill makes 
 any great difference, but the operation is performed by revolv- 
 ing knives in a half cylinder, the edge of which is presented 
 to the grass at a given height by means of a roller which goes 
 on the ground and rolls at the same time, another roller being 
 placed some distance before.* It only remains to be mentioned, 
 that for very light work, one man can push the machine before 
 him, and that for up-hill work, or rather heavy jobs, one 
 should pull in front, and the other guide, as in the case of 
 ploughing. The grass is shaved off evenly as far as the 
 roUers and cutters reach, and by continuing this, the opera- 
 tion can be carried on over a great extent of laT^Ti ; but we 
 have heard it objected, that when people turn round and cut 
 their way back, it makes the lawn look all striped, every 
 straight cut being distinctly exposed by the back cut laying 
 the grass one way, and the forward cut the other. This 
 trumpery objection is one of the gardener's own coining ; for 
 instance, what business has he to cut both ways ? why not 
 roll the machine back without cutting 1 We have worked the 
 
 * Mr. Bayd has in his patent removed all objections.
 
 154 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 macliine many a time ourselves, and there is one advantage 
 which, we have not in mo's^ong, — the grass may be wet or dry 
 for the machine, therefore we have the whole day to work in, 
 instead of the first hour or two of daylight. The managers 
 of the Sheffield Botanical Gardens boasted in their report of 
 the saving they should make, and had begun to make, by 
 adopting the use of a mowing machine, so that it has had the 
 test of some years, and unless it were efficacious, a pubhc 
 body managing a garden would certainly not adopt it and 
 boast of its economy. 
 
 OF THE treativieot: oe differext soils. 
 
 "We are not prepared to recommend the analysing chemist 
 to test a few sods of ground before we begin to cultivate it, 
 because we hold that for the most part a practical man can 
 estimate the soil as well, by turning it over, and handling it 
 and smelling it, as is at all necessary for the ordinary pur- 
 poses of farming and gardening. It is as easy to discover 
 whether earth is light and sandy, or heavy and clayey — 
 whether it is fat and rich, or peaty or poor, — as it is to decide 
 on a growing crop ; and generally speaking, the productions 
 will show us what the land is without turning it over. The 
 most hungry of all soil is that which is light and sandy, and 
 at the top of a subsoil of gravel. It would seem that all the 
 dung we can put on such land is gone in a season. With land 
 like this, one load of good loam or marl will do more good 
 than two loads of dung ; but in preparing dung for such land, 
 the mixture will be beneficial. Let there be, if it be possible 
 to get it, a load of loam under the dimg-heap, and when there 
 is a load of dung upon it, another load of loam, and so on 
 alternately. This mixture will be far more eniiching than 
 dung alone. A dressing of lime in the autumn will also help 
 it, but as it is the loam or marl that is really wanted to render 
 the earth fertile and profitable, it must be kept in mind that 
 the sooner we can put a quantity in the land, the better ; for 
 until it has this, the dung dissolves and washes through the 
 soil, so that one-half is totally lost. In such lands as this, 
 top-dressing is better than digging in, for it has then to wash 
 all through, and the roots get more of it in passing than they 
 would in having to go down after it. 
 
 Clay Soils. — Clay soils are most troublesome; they are,
 
 OF THE TREATMENT OF DIFFERENT SOILS. 155 
 
 in a manner, unmanageable at certain seasons ; generally 
 speaking, they are hard in dry weather, and swampy in wet. 
 Xo garden roots can do well in clay, without it is ameliorated 
 in a great measure. The best application to clay lands is a 
 mixture of peat-earth and dung. Let the heap be composed 
 of load for load of the peat-earth that is full of half-decom- 
 posed vegetable matter, consisting of the strong fibrous roots, 
 and sand and dung ; and this heap, when chopped down and 
 mixed, will be found an excellent dressing. Bat it will have 
 to be perseveringly applied in considerable quantity to make 
 a clay soil fit for a good kitchen garden or fiower garden. 
 We are presuming, too, that there has already been performed 
 on the ground all the draining that is necessary, for the clay 
 land would be altogether unmanageable if it also lay wet. 
 These stifi" lands cannot be knocked about and stirred too 
 often, and if any portion is vacant in winter time, it should 
 be left in good high ridges, that the surface may be increased 
 for the frost to act upon. It is also necessary in the manage- 
 ment of clay soil to watch for its particular condition for 
 working. If too wet, you can do nothing with it, and if too 
 dry, the lumps can hardly be broken. It is only a short 
 time between wet and dry weather that the soil is at all 
 workable with advantage, in its transition from wet to dry. 
 Such ground cannot be too often forked. Eoad sand is next 
 in usefulness to peat, if mixed with dung; but merely 
 adding sand to clay without dung will scarcely render it less 
 adhesive. Generally speaking, the oftener it is dug and 
 forked, or, if in large quantity, ploughed, the better ; for the 
 separation of its particles is absolutely required, and the 
 dung, and sand, and peat, and any lighter medium mixed 
 with it, keep the mass open, instead of allowing it to run 
 together again. On an estate where there were a lew acres of 
 common heath soil, as well as some very stiff clay land, carts 
 were kept removing loads of the peaty heath mould to the 
 clay spot, and returning with clay, and the labourers were 
 kept mixing and bruising the clay and peat together for 
 the top eighteen inches, by which means the two other"\nse 
 useless, or nearly useless, fields were brought into first-rate 
 cultivation. And although such an operation would be 
 costly, the first cost was the best, because instead of half- 
 crops and no crops at all, some of the finest crops on the 
 estate were the immediate result. There are some applica-
 
 156 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 tions good to land of all sorts ; such as all vegetable mould, 
 and even green vegetables, wood ashes, or ashes of the burnt 
 weeds and waste of a garden ; cow, horse, sheep, and rabbits' 
 dung. These matters are rarely given in excess, for it is 
 natural to the earth to receive the dung of animals, and it is 
 almost impossible to hurt anything by excess ; whereas of 
 unnatural or artificial manure it would be very easy to do 
 mischief. It may, however, be concluded that the ground 
 must be got to a proper texture before we can do much good 
 with it. If stiff, by lightening it ; if light and sandy, by 
 marling it ; if wet and swampy, by draining it ; for inde- 
 pendently of the nourishment it may contain, in soil too 
 light it washes away, in soil too heaA^y the plants cannot take 
 all the advantage of it ; besides which, the unpleasantness of 
 digging, hoeing, trenching, raking, planting, and indeed every 
 operation connected with its culture, renders all the labour 
 double, and the benefit derived from it only half what it 
 should be. These general directions for light and stiff lands 
 will do aU that is wanted for ordinary gardens. 
 
 geowi:n"g plajn-ts in pots. 
 
 It would be an endless task to point out the numerous 
 advantages of growing certain plants in pots ; but some of 
 the chief may be mentioned, because they affect so much of 
 our design in practical gardening. 
 
 First, then, we may mention the opportunity it gives us to 
 remove them at pleasure from one place to another, whether 
 it be to change the temperature or treatment, or to exhibit 
 them at a distance, or to place them in situations to bloom, 
 or to exchange those past their prime for others just coming 
 to perfection, or to rest them when not wanted to grow, or 
 urge them when we desire to force them on. 
 
 Secondly, it enables us to imitate any kind of soil adapted 
 to their different natures, although they may be growing all 
 in one place. 
 
 Thirdly, it gives us the option of starving them, to check 
 their exuberance, by giving them less water and stinting them 
 for room, or exciting them by giving plenty of both soil and 
 moisture. 
 
 Fourthly, it affords every facility for examining the roots.
 
 GROWING PLANTS IN POTS. 157 
 
 when there is anything in their appearance that excites our 
 curiosity or demands a remedy. 
 
 We might go on ad infinitum with the list of advantages 
 which pot-culture confers on the gardener, to say nothing of 
 the milHons that are grown for sale in their pots, and could 
 not be sold without them ; nor of the increased value of even 
 hardy plants that are kept in pots for the express purpose of 
 planting out at almost any age, without detriment to their 
 future progress. The proper study of plant-growing in pots 
 is therefore necessary to everybody who desires to be master 
 of his business or profession. The various departments for 
 plants in pots are, the cold-frame, the greenhouse, the forcing- 
 house, the stove, the conservatory ; and in all these there are 
 certain rules common to everything, as well as other rules 
 pecuhar to the department to which each may belong ; and 
 we shah devote our remarks first to those common to all. The 
 most important, then, is — 
 
 Drainage. — This is the most important of all matters con- 
 nected with pot-culture. All pots have holes to let off the 
 superabundant moisture ; but if we contented ourselves with 
 filling a pot wdth soil, it would constantly wash through these 
 holes, and thus leave the roots hollow and unsupported; or if 
 it could not get away, by reason of the shelf or bottom on 
 which it was placed, it would stop the holes altogether, and 
 convert the wholesome soil into a hard impervious cake, or, 
 while wet, a muddy mass. Therefore there should be, first, 
 a piece of broken pot over the hole, not fitting close, and 
 above this a quantity of other broken pieces of pot, or char- 
 coal, or some other coarse rough stuff, filling one-fourth of the 
 pot in height, the top portion of these broken pots being 
 smaller than the others. The soil would then give out its 
 moisture all over alike, instead of being w^ashed to the single 
 outlet, and this moisture could run through the drainage, as 
 it is called, without taking any of the soil with it. Thus the 
 soil may be kept compact for a long period, and never be 
 soddened, as would be the case if the hole were stojDjDcd. 
 
 Now those tens of thousands of pots in which ten-week 
 stocks, mignonette, and other plants, merely grown a few 
 months, to be marketed, are kept, do not require so much 
 precaution ; nor do any plants intended for bedding out before 
 they attain any age or size in their confinement. For instance, 
 all struck cuttings, merely potted for storing, only require a
 
 158 PRACTICAL GARDEXINQ. 
 
 piece of " crock," as these broken pieces of pot are called, 
 placed over the hole, and the rest of the pot may be filled 
 with the soil. They are perhaps struck by thousands in the 
 autumn, and potted when struck, merely to store them through 
 the bad weather. In the spring they are turned out into beds, 
 or sold to those who prefer buying to the trouble and incon- 
 venience of propagating. But if plants are to be grown to 
 perfection in pots, drainage is the most important part of the 
 operation, and if it be not well attended to, a majority of the 
 plants will soon become unhealthy, whether they be hardy, 
 half-hardy, greenhouse, or stove kinds. 
 
 Soil and Composts. — This is necessarily varied according 
 to the plants ; but there are some points even in the manage- 
 ment of this that require attention to all. It must not be 
 adhesive, but whether rich or poor, it must be sufficiently 
 open — that is to say, porous — to let water pass freely through 
 it ; otherwise it will be impossible to moisten it all alike, and 
 therefore the nourishment would not be equally afforded to 
 all the fine roots that require to be fed. A soil which is 
 naturally sufficiently porous to allow the moisture to go freely 
 through it, may, by sifting it through a fine sieve, to deprive 
 it of the stones and fibrous matter it contained, become much 
 too binding for plants ; sifting, therefore, is never advantageous, 
 unless there be too many large stones, and when there are 
 too many, the sieve should be large enough to let everything 
 through that is as large as a marble, for small pots, and as 
 large as a walnut for those of a greater size. Sifted earth will 
 run close together like mud, and will become so compact that 
 roots can hardly penetrate it after a time ; and when this is 
 the case, the plant dwindles and often dies. We may, indeed, 
 mix up a compost that would let wet through, however fine 
 it was sifted, but this would not have sufficient heart in it. 
 Sand, for instance, would allow water to pass freely, when 
 once damped all through, but it has no heart at all; conse- 
 quently, the more sand we mix with soil the poorer it will 
 become ; but natural soil, with its proper portion of stones, 
 half decomposed fibres, and bits of half rotted Avood, may 
 require no sand or weakening mixture, and yet allow the 
 moisture a free passage, while if the same were sifted through 
 a moderately fine sieve, it would run into a cake, excluding 
 the air, which is so essential to the roots of plants as well as 
 the plant itself, and thus deprive it of the very element of all
 
 GROWING PLANTS IN POTS. 159 
 
 others to promote its free and healthy development. It may 
 be, therefore, set do-^n as a most important rule, that nothing 
 so small as a good sized filbert-niit should be stopped by a 
 sieve, and that even the lumps of various kinds and fibres, 
 left in such a sieve as ^^ill let the size of a nut through, 
 should be rubbed on the bottom so long as any could be 
 pushed through. Many only pick out the larger stones, and 
 do not sift at all; but the operation of sifting is good, for if 
 we watch the stuff, almost every grub is exjDosed, so that it 
 may be picked out ; and there is always some kind of rubbish 
 that would interrupt us in potting, when pots up to six inches 
 diameter are used. For pots of a large size, nothing so 
 small as a walnut should be stopped — we mean a walnut of 
 the ordinary kind, with the green shell off. The coarse stuff 
 stopped by the sieve makes a very good upper surface for the 
 drainage, and is therefore always of use. The rubbing of it 
 through the sieve breaks adhesive lumps, and drives through 
 fibrous matter that will be always valuable in the soil, tliouL;h 
 if in matted lumps it would be in the way. 
 
 The most valuable soil, as a general stock, is that from the 
 surface of a good pasture, cut not more than three inches 
 thick, and piled up to rot. After a year or two, this kind of 
 soil is invaluable ; it is at least half vegetable matter, which 
 affords the best of nourishment, and, generally speaking, the 
 other is a wholesome friable loam. 'No soil requires sifting 
 more than this, to break the matted lumps and expose the 
 grubs — with which it too often abounds — as each sieve-full is 
 spread in the operation on the heap. It is always worth 
 while to set three at this job, if there is much of it ; one to 
 chop the heap down in thin slices, as it were, and fill the 
 sieve ; a second to sift and rub it through ; and a third to 
 pick out wire-worms, grubs and insects of any kind, as they 
 fall from the sieve. 
 
 Another valuable soil is the top spit from a peat common, 
 a soil naturally poor and porous, matted together firmly, com- 
 posed of half-decayed vegetable fibre and sand, excellent to 
 mix in compost for all plants with extremely fine fibrous* 
 roots, such as heaths, Botany Bay or Cape plants, and all 
 others requiring open light soil. This should also be chopped 
 small and rubbed through a sieve. If the lumps of fibrous 
 matter be only chopped small enough to go through the 
 proper sieve, it would not matter if it were no smaller.
 
 160 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 Heaths will thrive on this almost alone, and as a poor soil 
 which absorbs a great deal of moisture, it is adapted for every- 
 thing that does not want luxurious growth, but we only 
 mention it as an ingredient in almost all composts. 
 
 iS^eat's dung, dried and rotted into mould, horse-dung, 
 poultry dung, deer, sheep, rabbits', and even pigs' dung, kept 
 free from extraneous matter and rubbish, are all valuable, and 
 should be saved distmct and separate from each other ; and 
 the rotting and preparation of all these will be promoted 
 greatly by frequent turning, so that a new siuface is exposed 
 to the weather each time. Sand also should be provided, — 
 clear river sand fi^ee from salts of any kind, or silver sand ; it 
 is useful to temper any kind of compost, and though not to be 
 used as a matter of course, will often be valuable. 
 
 Broken pots are of great ser^dce in pot culture, and if every 
 soil we use had a fourth or a fifth portion of small lumps in it, 
 they would do no harm, but in many cases would be highly 
 beneficial ; therefore these should be broken into all sorts of 
 pieces with a hammer and sifted into their various sizes, the 
 smallest of all for mixing, the size of nuts for small draining, 
 and two other larger sizes for other larger pots. The potsherds 
 or crocks thus prepared take less room, look more tidy, and 
 are ready for immediate use when they are wanted. Charcoal 
 is also a most useful ingredient. It is one of those materials 
 which cannot do mischief even in excess. It is an excellent 
 thing for drainage, broken into various sizes ; and the small is 
 good in every kind of compost, though not absolutely neces- 
 sary. Brick rubbish is not -without its uses, especially for 
 some kinds of rock plants ; but we shall treat of the mixtures 
 more generally when we come to the management of different 
 kinds of plants. It may, however, be taken as a general 
 rule, that nothing flowers so well in a finely sifted soil as in 
 a moderately coarse one ; and that but for the inconvenience 
 of large lumps in small pots, sifting would be a superfluous 
 labour. 
 
 Watering. — Plants in pots are in danger from the extremes 
 of a want of moisture and excess of it. The former starves 
 them ; the latter kills them as surely, but not so quickly. 
 Some persons assimilate the treatment of plants in pots as 
 nearly as they can to that of plants in the open ground ; but 
 this is wrong, inasmuch as the circumstances very materially 
 differ. In the first place, the spongioles, or the ends of the
 
 GHOWING PLANTS IN POTS. 161 
 
 fibres, are protected in the earth by the surrounding soil, and 
 the sun and Tmid cannot affect them unless they can bake the 
 soil do\vn as low as they reach ; whereas in a pot, both sun 
 and wind affect the sides of the pot, where all the ends of the 
 fibres He. Xext, the roots in the open ground can and do 
 travel do^^Ti after moisture, which, by capillary attraction, is 
 brought up to meet them, and in fact comes past them to the 
 very surface, and is constantly going off by evaporation ; con- 
 sequently, every sprinkle of rain that wets the surface sup- 
 plies the evaporation, if it does nothing else, and the moisture 
 below is spared to a certain degree, and the plant is benefited 
 even by the slightest shower. Now the plant in a pot has no 
 moisture to meet, no capillary attraction can supply it from 
 below ; so that if the soil be sprinkled in imitation of a slight 
 shower, which goes half an inch down the soil, it is not bene- 
 fited at all. The pots repeatedly sprinkled will be gradually 
 sinkuig for want of moisture below, while the top half-inch or 
 inch may be kept constantly damp. 
 
 We have seen — and it was a practical lesson to us which 
 we shall never forget — a whole collection of heaths that had 
 been starved into bad health by constant and attentive slight 
 waterings ; and on turning out plant after plant, showed the 
 astonished amateur that he had only watered the top half-inch 
 or inch of soil, while all below it was perfectly dry, and a 
 great part of the fibres perished. Let it never be forgotten, 
 therefore, that when a plant in a pot is to be watered, the 
 entire soil in the pot must be moistened, and that it is not to 
 be watered again while the soil is damp enough to feed the 
 roots. In winter time, therefore, plants in a cold frame may 
 go a month sometimes without watering, and not be in so 
 much distress as they would be in summer time in four-and- 
 twenty hours after they had been attended to. It ought, there- 
 fore, to be borne in mind, that when the directions for culti- 
 vating anything in a pot enjoin the grower to " give but little 
 water," to " be sparint^ of water," — or we are warned that a 
 plant must have " slight waterings," all these directions must 
 be taken in a very different sense to that in which most 
 amateurs receive them. Slight waterings are destructive ; be 
 cautious that plants are not watered too often ; but when 
 they are watered , every grain of soil in the pot is to be wetted, 
 for they have no aid from the soil of the garden ; their roots 
 cannot feed themselves unless they protrude through the 
 
 L
 
 162 PKACTICAL GAKDENIXG. 
 
 drainage hole of the pot ; and such, is the disposition of the 
 root to feed itself, that they wdl do this at all times whenever 
 they have a chance and the supply within the pot is at all 
 limited. They will grow to the ground long before the pot is 
 full of roots, if they are stinted of water above. 
 
 We hardly know any one operation so generally misunder- 
 stood among people who really love flowers for their o\vn 
 sakes, and expend large sums to gratify their taste ; they in- 
 dulge in " slight waterings " until their favourites decay, and 
 the owner wonders how it is they will not thrive. jSTo matter, 
 therefore, whether pots are in a dwelling-house, a greenhouse, 
 a common frame, a stove, or a conservatory, they must never 
 have shght or half waterings ; better leave them alone until 
 they, by flagging at the points of the shoots, indicate thirst, 
 and then water them thoroughly, than continue dabbling with 
 them with such drops as will only wet the top of the soil, 
 and leave them actually perishing below the deceptive wet 
 surlace. We cannot, in fact, tell whether a plant requires 
 water by the moisture at top, unless when it was last refreshed 
 the entire soU was moistened 
 
 The Room eequired for a Plant. — One more rule is 
 apphcable to pots of all kinds and in all situations. If we 
 require a plant to grow fast, it must always have plenty of 
 room : if we desire to starve or check it, we must keep it con- 
 fined. This enables us to regulate the growth of anything ; 
 all we have to study is the kind of progress we require. 
 There is no difficulty in growing plants rapidly; but we have 
 to study the nature and habits we have to deal with. Those 
 who grow for sale try to grow everything fast ; others, who 
 grow for beauty, must recollect that the faster a plant grows 
 the longer are the joints, the further apart are the leaves and 
 branches, the more bare are the stems, and at the greater dis- 
 tance will the flowers be placed. 
 
 Fuchsias are very badly grown by nine cultivators of 
 every ten ; and the public exhibitions are sadly disfigured by 
 long gawky plants, hardly able to sustain themselves, with a 
 succession of bare stems and flowers wide apart, and no more 
 richness of foliage than a badly forced Hlac ; and all this 
 because in books and papers they have been taught to grow 
 them fast. We have even seen large plants exhibited with 
 an assurance placed on them that they were cuttings at a 
 given date. But the fuchsia is a plant which should be grown
 
 GROWING PLANTS IN POTS. 163 
 
 as slowly as possible to be kept in good health ; it should be 
 kept in constant check, for it is naturally of rapid growth. 
 However, this is not the place to teach the mode of culti- 
 vating ; but it is one of those points by which we wished to 
 exemplify the advantage of growing in pots, and especially cf 
 the power it gives us to check the advance of anything. 
 
 AVhen we desire to retard a plant, it should be confined in 
 a small pot, independently of any difference we make in the 
 soil. When we wish to excite a plant, we should change the 
 pot as soon as the fibres reach the side and they begin to run 
 round it, because every fresh supply of the soil gives fresh 
 vigour. The rule therefore is unerring, independent of every- 
 thing else, although we have also the means of giving in- 
 creased effect by poorer or richer soil. 
 
 Potting. — The various states in which plants come to hand 
 require that we should be prepared with plans to meet all 
 circumstances ; but in this particular place we only provide 
 for potting those which have not been in pots before ; and 
 these will comprise, — first, cuttings which have struck root ; 
 second, seedlings ; and, third, plants of a larger kind, which 
 are potted of all sizes required for forcing, or blooming in pots 
 without forcing, for the convenience of moving about. 
 
 First, then, cuttings which have struck. These are neces- 
 sarily put first of all into small-sized pots, say two-and-a-half 
 to three inches over at the top. If these are not to remain 
 very long in their first pots, a bit of moss at the bottom "will 
 do for drainage as well as a piece of broken pot, but as the 
 latter is often to be had, it is more generally used. Let the 
 mould or compost be filled in highest in the middle, like a 
 cone, the top of which may be even Avith the top edge of the 
 pot ; raise the cuttings with a fiat piece of wood formed like 
 the blade of a knife, but thinner, raising them clean out of the 
 ground, the pot, or the pan, a few at a time. They have to be 
 carefully treated, so that the roots, which are always tender, be 
 not broken by the operation ; hold the root on the top of the 
 cone, so as to spread the fibres ; put a little soil on the root, 
 and press the plant down to its place, wliich is so that the 
 upper part of the root is but just covered, for many plants are 
 all the worse for being placed ^^uth the root much below the 
 surface. The tender roots must not be pressed hard, as they 
 would be injured, and the watering settles the roots and the 
 soil together very well This treatment will suit any plant, 
 
 l2
 
 164 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 but there are some wMcIl will strike all the way up the stems 
 if they are planted deep, such as geraniums, which woijld root 
 at every joint, and many other subjects which strike freely. 
 But all hard-wooded plants, such as heaths and many of the 
 Cape shrubs, would be seriously damaged, and perhaps 
 speedily killed, were they what is called planted deep. 
 
 With regard to growing geraniums, which are struck from 
 cuttings of aU sizes, and wood of aU ages ; they are frequently 
 propagated from such waste pieces that they perhaps break, 
 or shoot at the top of a long ugly piece of wood, and it is a 
 common practice to pot these as deep as possible, to bring 
 down the growing part of the plant to the surface of the soil, 
 which, when the pot is completed with its plant, should be as 
 much below the top of the pot as the rim of the pot comes 
 down outside. But geraniums, and other freely-rooting plants 
 which strike at every point, are the exceptions ; and even they 
 ought to be cut and struck so that they may be potted like 
 anything else, with the top of the roots just below the surface 
 of the soil 
 
 The next we consider will be the seedling plants. Now, 
 whether these be hardy or otherwise, the potting must be done 
 the same. Fill the pots in the same way like a cone ; spread 
 the roots round the sides, put soil on the top and press it down 
 to the right height, for then you have only to thrust the soil 
 down a little round the sides, and not press the plant any 
 lower ; but the earth must not be rammed hard, for the young 
 roots must be able to penetrate without difficulty. These, like 
 the rooted cuttings, will require to be watered to settle the 
 soil among the roots. We need hardly say, that whether these 
 be greenhouse plants or hardy annuals, whether they are to 
 be raised or grown in a frame, or in the open air, or in either 
 the greenhouses or other houses, the plan of potting must in 
 all cases be the same. 
 
 We now come to larger plants that are to be potted up 
 from the ground — American plants, roses, flowering shrubs of 
 aU kinds, perennials, or other large plants. The first point is, 
 the proper size of the pot. It should be large enough to 
 allow of the root being well imbedded in, and surrounded by 
 the compost it is to grow in. The removal of the plant from 
 the ground must be accomplished without breaking the fibres. 
 The drainage of the pot must be attended to as we have 
 directed ; there must be as much soil put on as the root will
 
 GROWING PLANTS IN POTS. 165 
 
 reach down to, bearing in mind that when the fibres are 
 spread, and the plant rests on the soil before filling up, the 
 collar of the specimen, whatever it be, should be just even 
 with the top of the pot, so that when the earth is filled in, 
 the plant pressed down, and the surface regiilated, the roots 
 may be just covered at the collar of the plant; the fibres wiU 
 be of coui'se further down the pot in a sloping direction. If 
 these plants are cramped for room, they cannot thrive ; they 
 may bloom, they may live afterwards, but they cannot possibly 
 keep up any healthy growth, unless they have room and soil 
 to spread tlieir roots in. Many American shrubs come out of 
 peat soil with a great lump or ball of the earth to them. 
 There must be room for this when it is reduced to a moderate 
 size and form ; but it must not be so far lessened as to trench 
 upon the ends of the roots, for if these be damaged, they will 
 just carry the flower perhaps, and then go back instead of ad- 
 vance. It requires great care to fill up the vacancies betw^een 
 these balls of earth and a pot, which is very dij05cult if the 
 ball be too large for the pot ; and there are many other evils 
 which result from the imperfect potting of these peat plants. 
 The peat earth which should be used to fill up these pots 
 should be pushed in close all round, every crevice should be 
 filled up, and that pretty tightly, or the water given to them 
 would run tlirough the new peat and not penetrate the old ball. 
 
 Potting Bulbs. — The immense variety of bulbs which are 
 annually imported to this country from Holland and the 
 Cape, render it necessary to offer a few words on potting 
 them. For although many are grown every year in pots, few 
 are grown as they should be. All the sorts which require 
 planting in the ground with a good covering of soil, want the 
 same usage in a pot. The bulb should be covered, the pot 
 should be deep without being wide in proportion ; for 
 although it is possible to grow hyacinths in a two-and-a-half 
 inch pot, it is not to be compared to the same flower when 
 grown in a pot of six inches. 
 
 Pots have been made at some potteries on purpose for 
 bulbs, and when the bulbs are first inserted, they should be 
 covered three inches wdth the soil they are to grow in. !N'ar- 
 cissus, tulips, and many other hardy bulbs, are always the 
 better for covering up, and it may be taken as a general rule 
 that all hardy bulbs are so. 
 
 Those which are cultivated in stoves are frequently left
 
 166 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 above ttie soil. Cyclamen, gloxinia, achimenes, amaryllis, and 
 some others, are habitually grown on the surface, or at least 
 partly exposed ; but it is by no means determined that they 
 are the better for exposure ; though, to look at some of their 
 growths, it would be hazardous to say they are worse for it. 
 The principal thing to attend to is the size of the pot and the 
 quality of the soil, which, in a general way, is always used 
 rich and light. The bulbs must be buried, all but just the 
 upper surface, which may be even with the soil. 
 
 Shifting from one Pot to another. — This should always 
 be done with great care and circumspection. The roots should 
 not be allowed to get matted before they are shifted, unless it 
 is absolutely required that the plants should be checked. 
 Supposing plants to have been in small pots until they are 
 nearly filled with roots, and you choose the plants to be 
 grown well, get pots just so much larger as will enable you to 
 fill the vacancy between the ball and the side of the pot with 
 the same compost it is grown in, and without any more siftuig 
 than it has had already ; consequently you must have room 
 enough to drop in a nut all round, otherwise the small lumps 
 on the soil would not go down, and the sides would be hollow. 
 This would leave the fibres that are outside the ball without 
 any nourishment, and throw the plant into bad health, if it 
 did not altogether spoO. it. The ball should then be gently 
 tapped out of the old pot, and the drainage of the new one 
 having been pro^dded, put in so much soil, highest in the 
 middle, as will sustain the ball so that it may be pressed down 
 to the proper height, which is easily done when the soil in the 
 pot is conical, because it gives way to the pressure : and when 
 the plant is at its proper height in the pot, which must not be 
 any deeper than it was in the lesser one, put on the soil all 
 round so as to fill up to the surface, poking it down carefully 
 with the finger-ends, or a piece of wood selected or cut on 
 purpose ; not ramming it down hard, but pressing it as much 
 as the origuial is pressed, that it may all resist or absorb 
 water alike ; for be it remembered that it is impossible to 
 grow a plant well if the ball be hard and the soil put round 
 be soft, or the ball be soft and the soil round it hard. In the 
 one case the ball obtains no wet, because it runs through the 
 surrounding soil too quickly ; in the other, the ball is within 
 walls, as it were, that resist the wet, and the water that is 
 given to it cannot get away. /
 
 GROWING PLAJNTS IN P0T8. 167 
 
 If the old draining breaks away when the ball comes out of 
 the pot, it is of no consequence ; but if it comes all a^v^^ay 
 together, do not j^ourself disturb it ; great care must therefore 
 be taken to make, as nearly as it may be, the new soil about 
 as haixi as the old, and not more so. Again, it is absolutely 
 necessary that the new soil be the same as the old, unless it is 
 Intended to wash out the old soil altogether, and grow a plant 
 in new. 
 
 The shifting of a plant that has been neglected and become 
 pot-bound, and the roots matted into a hard mass, is attended 
 with some difficulty. It has first to be soaked in water until 
 the whole of the soil can be washed out, and the roots must 
 be disentangled as weU as possible, and whatever are damaged 
 in the attempt must be removed. If the damage is to any 
 extent, the plant must be pruned in accordingly, to dimi- 
 nish the demand made upon the roots. The plant should 
 then be potted like any of those which are potted for the first 
 time ; that is, the roots should be spread all round, as well 
 as they can be, in a much larger space than they occupied 
 before; and, if this be well managed, the plant will go on 
 with fresh vigour and make healthy growth ; but if we leave 
 this shifting until the plant looks sickly, it may be too far 
 gone to bear the operation. The principal object, however, is 
 to get rid of the sour soil by washing it out, to remove all the 
 roots that have perished, to open out the healthy ones, if 
 there be any, and let them occupy twice the space in a new 
 pot, with good soil between them all, so that any healthy 
 portions may send out new fibres to supply the deficiencies of 
 those lost. 
 
 General Management. — One of the most prolific sources 
 of mischief is the crowding of too many plants into a given 
 space ; yet thousands (though this is saying a good deal) fall 
 into the error. We rarely go into a private greenhouse vdtln- 
 out seeing twice as many plants as ought to be there, and 
 never without seeing those most formidable enemies, the damp 
 and mildew, at work upon some one or more plants. We 
 need not say that the more moist earth there is in a confined 
 place, the more damp must prevail. Remember that every 
 time you distribute a few pails full of water, you are giving 
 so much to the atmosphere within the house, because the 
 work of evaporation begins dii-ectly ; and if the space be not 
 Large enough to hold it in harmless vapour, it must condense
 
 168 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 on everytliing that will not absorb, whence it always keeps 
 the atmosphere saturated, a state of things perfectly dangerous 
 to human beings, and highly detrimental to plants. One of 
 our constant cares has been to give plenty of room. We 
 do not, perhaps, put one half as many plants into a given 
 space as the majority of growers, but we are not plagued with 
 damp. 
 
 Another point worthy of great attention, is to keep all 
 plant houses very clean ; and leaves and htter of any kind are 
 bad ; they engender vermin, and canker, and mildew ; they 
 exhale noxious gases, and send poison through the air. This 
 is bad enough out of doors, but, confined, it is beyond measure 
 mischievous. The floors of pits and houses should be paved 
 or slated ; for, when the superabundant water from the pots 
 soaks into the common earth, which is the bottom of too many 
 houses, pits, frames, and other constructions, it is constantly 
 filling the confined air with all the moisture it can hold. "We 
 are quite aware that all this may seem more cautious than 
 necessary, because all the summer time it works no mischief; 
 but it is because the place is open to the common atmosphere 
 and if there were a flood at the bottom it would go off without 
 damage ; but look at the difference when doors and windows 
 are shut to keep out frost and cold winds : — let us now only 
 talk of the effects. 
 
 Air and Ventilation. — How many people can look 
 around their crowded houses and find, on examination, plant 
 after plant mildewing in some parts, and losing their beauty 
 as specimens ! The only antidote to damp is air and plenty 
 of it, with all the light we can get. There should be as much 
 room between every two plants as would allow of another 
 being placed there ; then the air can get at them all ; there is 
 only one half the damp created, and that will not saturate 
 the surrounding atmosphere. Perhaps some may think we 
 are depriving them of half the advantages of a greenhouse by 
 requiring them to grow half their plants ; and they may also 
 say they have grown them as thick as they could stick them, 
 and yet not suffered This may be true ; some winters are so 
 open that the houses have not to be closed four-and-twenty 
 hours together ; but a different result would be seen if they 
 were closed for a week or ten days at a time, as in many 
 winters they are compelled to be. We have seen whole pits 
 of bedding plants, well struck, very strong, and in the best
 
 GROWING PLANTS lii r'OTS. 169 
 
 nealth, damp off in a week ; but we have knowTi the same 
 pits, micler the same gardener, without a failure among them 
 all. There is no controverting the fact, that damj) is for the 
 most part caused by excessive numbers confined in a given 
 space, when haK the quantity would often escape free. 
 
 All potted plants should receive as much air as the nature 
 of their constitution will acbnit. They must not be subjected 
 to a colder climate than they want, for there is always mis- 
 chief in that ; but we are more apt to be deceived with hardy 
 plants in pots than we are with those requiring shelter. 
 Hardy plants, so called, become only half-hardy when in pots, 
 unless the pots are plunged ; for though frost, even a hard 
 one, will have no effect on many border perennials in the 
 ground, simply on account of the plant above standing it well, 
 and the under points of its roots being out of its reach, yet 
 the same plant in a pot would have the points of its roots 
 within the full operation of the enemy — in fact, the most 
 tender points are close to the side of the pot, which is frozen 
 through in a very short time. On this account, therefore, 
 some of our most hardy perennials, wliich stand any kind of 
 weather in the open ground, must, when potted, be preserved 
 in frames, or be plunged to the rim in the ground. Hundreds 
 of plants that will bear any ordinary cold above ground, can- 
 not stand the freezing of their tender roots. Again, all potted 
 plants in summer time want a good deal of care when the 
 pots are exposed to the wind and sun and rain ; and, though 
 it is going away from the subject to offer a word on watering, 
 we ought to caution everybody against the neglect of a par- 
 ticular, though often overlooked, fact. In a long rainy season, 
 nobody thmks of watering plants standing out of doors ; and 
 yet there will be found many so bushy as to throw off any 
 quantity of rain, and thereby starve themselves ; so that we 
 cannot be too careful in frequent examinations, whenever we 
 have many plants in pots. ^Vherever we place them in 
 summer time, the bottom should be hard ; whether of tiles, 
 slates, stones, or bricks, concrete, or any other material, it 
 should be impervious to worms and roots, otherwise the one 
 will fill the pot, much to the detriment of the plant, and the 
 roots will penetrate so, that, when the plants have to be re- 
 moved, they will lose all the youngest and best portion of 
 their roots. Many form a hard foundation of ashes ; but this 
 is only a partial remedy, and for only a short time ; as soon
 
 170 PRACTICAL GAEDENING. 
 
 as they get saturated ^\'itli wet, the worms pass through with 
 impunity, and roots will take hold as freely as in earth. 
 
 The bottoms of frames should also be impervious to wet, as 
 well as to worms and roots ; and all extra moisture which 
 runs through the pots should run off in gutters, or by means 
 of the bottom being on a slope. If the bottom be gravel, or 
 ashes, or earth, or even brick-rubbish, it will absorb the 
 moisture, which, when confined, will saturate the air within, 
 and bring mildew on the plants. It has been said that this 
 is catching, and if two or three plants show it, they should be 
 removed at once. This is all a mistake; the mildew will 
 attack and show itseK first on the weakest plants, but it wiU 
 affect them all if they are aU left to the cause, and the cause 
 remains undiminished. It often happens, however, that open 
 weather removes the cause before the strongest are attacked ; 
 and therefore the plague is not in such cases quite fatal. This 
 will give a tolerable general outline of the system of growing 
 plants in pots. 
 
 FORCING FLOWERS AJS^D PLAJ^TS. 
 
 All plants intended to be forced must be first well esta- 
 blished in pots. AVhether it be a shrub or a pink, the prin- 
 ciple is the same ; unless the roots feel at home, and are, in 
 fact, used to the soil they are in before they develop their 
 bloom-stems, weakness if*^ not blindness must follow. The 
 first thing, therefore, to look after and secure is, to pot what- 
 ever is intended for forcing at the earliest possible period that 
 it is practicable. Pinks, for instance, as soon as they are 
 rooted in the piping-bed; all other flowers produced annually 
 from cuttings, as soon as such cuttings are rooted. Pansies 
 are like pinks in respect to wanting annual renewing by cut- 
 tings ; for the old plants degenerate : so would carnations and 
 picotees. Flowers that are produced annually from seed 
 should be sown at such time as will produce the plant at 
 maturity about the time that the flowers are wanted. Most 
 annuals should be sown about August, to be forced into bloom 
 at Christmas, or any reasonable time after; because, when 
 once up and strong, they are to be kept from frost and no 
 more, until they are wanted to flower; and the same sowing 
 may, by this means, be available for two or three months, by 
 putting in a few at a time into the forcing-house at the
 
 FORCING FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 171 
 
 season suitable for our purpose. Stocks, convolvulus, coreop- 
 sis, nemopHla, sweet-peas, mignonette, and such like, when 
 once up and thinned in their several pots, can be kept in a 
 cold frame aU the autumn, and removed, a few at a time, into 
 the warmth ; by which means, for the purpose of decorating 
 a conservatory, they could be provided in flower before 
 Christmas, and be continued in succession for many weeks 
 afterwards. 
 
 American plants, such as rhododendrons, azaleas, andro- 
 medas, kahnias, and such like, Persian and Siberian hlacs, 
 Deutzia scabra, Gueldres rose, almonds, double-flowering 
 cherries and peaches, Pyrus spectabilis, honeysuckles, and 
 many other subjects that bloom in a dwarf state, should always 
 be potted the season before, if possible, and be plunged during 
 the first season ; but Americans can be taken up with such a 
 ball of peat to them that they might actually be forced without 
 a pot at all ; and we are not to lose sight of another fact, that 
 it is possible to remove many things without damaging a fibre ; 
 and therefore these things should with great care be taken 
 up the same autumn that they are to be forced. We only 
 speak of ordinary removing, when we say that the flowers 
 will be weaker if they are potted the same season they 
 are forced. Roses cannot be so well managed in a single 
 season ; they -^^ill not force so well the first season as the 
 second, however well they may be managed ; and they ought 
 to go through the ordeal of forcing the first season, and all the 
 buds, as they appear, be taken off; the wood also should be 
 ripened in the forcing-house, or at least kept there until the 
 natural climate out of doors is as forward as that in the house. 
 
 Suppose us, then, in possession of dwarf and other plants, 
 flowers, and all the subjects intended to be forced, they should 
 be all placed in a brick pit, or frames capable of being well 
 protected against frost, as early as the beginning of September. 
 The flowers Mill take no more harm than the shrubs ; all they 
 require is to be kept from damp and frost, and to have all the 
 air they can when it is fine weather. From these stores we 
 have to draw from time to time such as we desii-e to forward. 
 The forcing-house should have a command of heat from forty- 
 five to sixty, and it should always be from five to ten degrees 
 lower at night than by day. Ten degrees of difference is 
 better than five, because the great evil to contend with in 
 forcing plants and flowers is their growth in the dark ; all
 
 172 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 they grow in the dark, grows without thickening the stem, 
 and this evil is so completely one of degree, that ever}i;hing 
 grows weaker even in cloudy weather than it does in bright. 
 The necessity then of keeping down the temperature at night 
 must be obvious ; yet, in fifty out of sixty forcing-houses that 
 we have been in, the register has actually been higher at night 
 than it has been by dayhght. What is the consequence? 
 That all the forced plants and flowers brought into market are 
 weakly, and many could not, without unnatural supports, 
 maintain themselves in a sightly condition. This particular 
 point has never been half enforced in the treating of nurse- 
 ries, nor has it been well stated in the numerous publications 
 that profes? to guide us in the science of gardening. We, 
 therefore, repeat the lesson, that it may be well remembered. 
 We do not want plants in a forcing-house to grow in the dark, 
 because the stems grow longer without enlarging; and the 
 only way to prevent this is, to keep down the temperature at 
 night. In cloudy weather, too, it is desirable to keep the 
 house much cooler than in bright weather, because the evil is 
 felt in a less degree ; but still it is felt in the working of the 
 plants, flower stems, and general habit. Eoses are more forced 
 now than ever they were, from the fact of the societies giving 
 prizes for roses in pots in the May and June meetings ; but we 
 see many of them so ridiculously weak, that as many as twenty 
 or thirty sticks are necessarily employed to keep the branches 
 from dropping all over the pots. It would be well, therefore, 
 if people who have much to do with forcing would bear in 
 mind, that if they could altogether check the growth of a 
 plant by night, it would be well. Those who are in the habit 
 of shading theirs in bloom can testify that even this partial 
 abstraction of light draws the plant ; and as this is only when 
 the sun is out and very bright, unfortunately they cannot 
 keep down the temperature even if they would, except so far 
 as the shading keeps off the direct heat-rays of the sun. 
 
 Some forcing-houses are constructed, or rather heated, on a 
 principle which makes one end warmer than the other ; but 
 those who lay themselves open to the forcing business should 
 have two houses, one like a greenhouse, the other warmed up 
 to the temperature necessary; aU things should go into the 
 greenhouse first for a few days, and then be taken into the 
 forcing-house. Eoses, which have always been considered 
 the most difficult, should be potted in the autumn, be placed
 
 FORCING FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 173 
 
 in the cold frame till October, be removed to the gieenhouse 
 temperature tiU !N'ovember, and then removed to the forcing- 
 house, being at a temperature of forty-five by night, or even 
 fifty; and fifty-five to sixty, or, with sun, sixty-five in the 
 day, — beyond this it ought not to be allowed to get. "When 
 the roses put forth their branches, remove all but those 
 growing in a good direction for the head of the following 
 year; and as soon as the buds are seen anywhere, let them 
 be taken off, as they only retard the growth of the wood. 
 Continue them in the house to make all their growth, and 
 keep taking off their buds. The wood will perfect itself in 
 the course of the winter ; and when the warm spring months 
 come, they may be taken away, be re-potted in larger-sized pots 
 and plunged into the ground, with a proper support to keep 
 them from injury by winds. These plants will have ripened 
 their wood much earlier than the roses bloomed out of doors, 
 and will, therefore, be so much the sooner ready to start again. 
 When, therefore, they are put into the greenhouse in the 
 early part of September, they will be half inclined to start 
 without heat ; because they will have had their full period of 
 rest, and will naturally want to grow. Thus the growth 
 which required a good deal of forcing, and a long period of 
 heat the previous year, will be almost spontaneous the second, 
 and a much less heat will do, or if the same heat, not of so 
 long continuance. We have, however, besides the advantage 
 of easier forcing, better forcing ; the plants will not want so 
 much heat nor want it so long, so that the growth will be 
 stronger. 
 
 Before, however, we place the roses in the greenhouse, we 
 have to prune them, as we would out-of-door roses in the 
 early spring ; regard must be had to the shape of the head, 
 the number of branches we require, and where we want 
 them. Cutting back to one, two, or, three eyes, according to 
 the number of branches we want, must be attended to at 
 once, before they are allowed to shoot at all ; because the 
 vigour of the plant would be wasted in the buds we intended 
 to remove. This second year, therefore, the roses will be a 
 better form, as well as stronger in their growth. As soon as 
 the roses indicate the presence of the aphis, let the house be 
 closed and fumigated with tobacco ; there is nothing else that 
 will effectually remove or destroy them. And when the buds 
 are bursting, the plants may be removed to the conservatory,
 
 174 PKACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 thougli if the conservatory be not a warm one, roses taken 
 from the forcing-house will be fonncl as tender as exotics. 
 If, therefore, the conservatory be really a cold one, let the 
 roses be removed first to the greenhouse as an intermediate 
 seasoning. By removing them from the forcing-honse before 
 the buds actually open into bloom, they will last much better, 
 and suffer less than they would if removed in full flower. 
 
 We have here only mentioned or referred to the leading 
 summer and hybrid roses ; but many of the China kind may 
 be kept in bloom pretty well all the year without any forcing. 
 We have been more particular about roses, because there is 
 scarcely a shrub, or flower, or plant, that will not do without 
 any trouble beyond removing from the pots into the green- 
 house at the proper time, and thence into the same house 
 that roses are forced in. 
 
 The forcing of flowers and shrubs may begin in September, 
 because the frosts in that month do mischief if anything at 
 all tender is left out of doors. Therefore, the preparation by 
 getting everything into frames in the early part of September 
 is necessary, and some of each or all the sorts may be re- 
 moved once a fortnight, according to the number wanted, and 
 these will keep up a succession of flowers, as far as flowers 
 and shrubs of the ordinary kind are concerned ; but there is 
 a great source of flowers among bulbs, which will of them- 
 selves keep up a bloom all the winter, or nearly so, beginning 
 with the scillas, snowdrops, early tulips, hyacinths, and con- 
 tinuing with the iris, narcissus, jonquils, amaryllis, and 
 liliums. Many others may be worth cultivating too, but all 
 these will force. The whole of these may be potted as soon 
 as the bulbs and tubers can be got into good condition ; and 
 the whole of them may be potted and put into the dark in 
 August, in a shady place where coolness is an object, and in 
 all these cases the soil above the crown of the bulbs should 
 be exactly as thick as the height of the bulb : say, a tulip 
 two inches high as it stands on a flat place, let the soil be 
 two inches higher than the top part of it ; the scilla is half 
 an inch high on a flat place, let there be half an inch of soil 
 above the top point of it. There can be no mistake about 
 them if this be attended to. Let the soil be half light good 
 loam, friable and clean, and haK cow-dung rotted into mould. 
 In tliis soil everything will grow in the first style and condi- 
 tion. When these have been a month in the dark, — a dark
 
 PLANTS FOR HOME DECOEATION OR EXHIBITION. 175 
 
 frame, say, or where there is not convenience, covered with 
 ashes, — they may be drawn from in such numbers as you are 
 likely to want in flower at a time, and they may be taken 
 into the forcing-house at once. ^Tien they have been in the 
 dark six weeks, let them be removed from the dark frame or 
 from the stuif they are covered up in, the pots cleaned and 
 placed all in a cold frame, but a light one, and every fortnight 
 there may be some of them put into the forcing-house to keep 
 up a succession. The same rule must be observed as to cool 
 night temperature as we mentioned for roses ; but, as the 
 rose-house is the best for them, or rather, as the treatment of 
 roses is alike good for anything that ought not to be drawn 
 up weakly, the same houses will do for all sorts of flowers, 
 bulbs included. As by the time the first bulbs are out of 
 bloom the open ground is too cold for turning out, let the 
 pots be placed together on the floor of the greenliouse, under 
 the stage, or anywhere secure from the frost, and not damp. 
 Those which come after, and indeed all bulbs in May, should 
 be turned out into the open ground; where they will fre- 
 quently ripen their seed if wanted, and in some measure 
 improve their bulbs. But, if the foliage turn yellow in the 
 pots before they are turned out, let them dry off at once, and 
 save them for another year, bagging them for the rest of the 
 year till planting time. 
 
 GROWmO PLAINTS FOR HOME DECOEATION AND 
 EOE EXHIBITION. 
 
 The great difference between these two occupations will 
 hardly be anticipated. There was always an opposite mode 
 of treatment required in many particulars ; but the system of 
 showing has become so widely opposed to judicious manage- 
 ment at home, that gardening for "the home" and "the 
 foreign department," as we may call it, affect us like two 
 different sciences. The necessary preparation for transmission 
 from one place to another, and constant jumbling about, has 
 converted all our natural plants to artificial ones. Not one 
 production in a hundred is shown in its natural form. We 
 can excuse this, when we remember that plants have to be 
 taken for miles, jumbHng up hill and down dale, over rough 
 roads and stone streets, before they get to their destination,
 
 176 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 and tlien have to be got into tliese vans and brouglit lionie 
 again, the same day or night, as the case may be ; for if the 
 branches were in their natural state, playing freely in the air, 
 they would be frayed to destruction by the mere action of 
 rubbing against each other. But we must own, at the same 
 time, that a plant mth every branch and bloom constrained 
 in its place, and bound mechanically to some formal sup- 
 port, is no more fit to compare T\ith one fairly grown and 
 unconstrained, than an artificial plant would be with a real 
 one. It is to the ambition of growers to produce enormous 
 plants that we trace the great change that has taken place in 
 pubhc exhibitions. 
 
 There is as much difference in a plant grown properly, and 
 standing undisturbed in its place at home, and one gi-o^vn 
 artificially in an iron cage, as it were, and all the branches 
 and blooms bent about so as to come to the outside surface, as 
 there is between the sham flower and the real one ; and he 
 who for one moment gives himself the trouble to think of the 
 formal, stiff, and unnatural shape of the plants at a show, and 
 the beautiful free growth of the specimens in a private col- 
 lection, or a nursery where there is no showing, will not 
 hesitate to pronounce those at a show altogether spoiled for 
 the lovers of plants. JSTevertheless, those at a show form 
 masses of flowers, which in some measure compensate for 
 multitudes of wooden legs and iron bird-cages. We have seen 
 this for years getting worse. Hill, of Hammersmith, used to 
 exhibit geraniums without sticks, and they were beautiful, far 
 before anytliing we have in the present day as specimens of 
 growth, though the prodigies of the present period rank far 
 higher as specimens of mechanical ingenuity and skill. The 
 system is altered ; ^Ir. Hill, if he were showing now, would 
 stand no chance against wooden legs : he would not show half 
 the number of flowers without dramng his plants, as they are 
 always drawn now, and putting legs to them because the 
 drawn plants cannot support themselves. We never approved 
 of this perversion of garden craft, but we must take things as 
 we find them. The best showers we have, acknowledge that 
 props are objectionable, but necessary while size remains so 
 captivating as it is at present; and he is the best artist, we 
 cannot say gardener, who can make his props the least con- 
 spicuous. 
 
 ITie cultivation of plants for show, then, involves an early
 
 PLANTS FOR HOME DECORATION OR EXHIBITION. 177 
 
 and intimate acquaintance Avith the use of supports, and in 
 proportion as a man acquires this, he becomes careless as to 
 whether his plants are di-awn or not. He stops his plants 
 back that they may make more shoots than usual, or than is 
 graceful, because he wants all the branches he can to make a 
 surface of flowers, and as soon as the plant assumes anything 
 like a moderate size, twigs are placed to guide them outwards 
 or upwards, and at equal distances ; for all the harm it could 
 do, he might almost roll the plants about the floor, without 
 displacing a shoot or a leaf. As the plant advances beyond 
 the distance already provided for by the sticks or twigs that 
 support them, others must be placed there to answer for as 
 much more growth as they well may, or as the sjDecunen is 
 likely to attain. This applies to all kinds of plants shown 
 according to the present system of propping with wooden 
 supports ; roses in pots, fuchsias, geraniums, too many of the 
 hard-wooded plants, verbenas, petunias, and many others. 
 But there is yet a more idle and more obnoxious mode ot 
 growing plants for show. We have seen complete iron frame- 
 works or cages, and inside these, the plants, such as rondeletia, 
 hovea, eriostemon, chorozema, and many other plants of great 
 merit crowded, the stems distorted all manner of ways, totally 
 destroying the nature of the plant, concealing its habit, and 
 contriving to just bring the shoots tlirough upon the surface. 
 It is true that these cages are made of a cone form, or like a 
 pyramid, and with gardeners of taste, as near the natural 
 form of the shrub or plant as may be, and that some allow 
 the shoots to protrude as far as they safely can, to break some 
 of the stiffness which too many have not the ability to con- 
 ceal ; but constraint seems to be the prevailing appearance, 
 and some of the most graceful of our favourite plants are 
 thereby rendered artificial. The judges at shows ought, in 
 our opinion, -without any reference to the size of plants, always 
 to decide favourably for those which are the least constrained, 
 and therefore the most natural. 
 
 The growing of plants for exhibition, is, under these circum- 
 stances, almost a science of itself, and the chief e^dl to avoid 
 is that of allowing the specimens to get ahead of the training, 
 whatever that may be. Strong supports for the centre 
 branch, and very little else will do, if they are all to remain 
 at home ; but for exhibition, the several branches must be 
 supported independently, with upright props of wood, untO 
 
 M
 
 178 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 the specimens have attained, within a season or two, the 
 requisite si^e ; then they ought to have their principal shift, 
 and their cages — we can hardly help calling the wire frame- 
 work so — must he put to the pot or tub, whichever it may be, 
 and the branches trained to the outer wires instead of to 
 uprights. By keeping this frame well within the rim of the 
 pots, mth regard to size, and allowing for a growth a few 
 inches outside, the plants will soon conceal what to us is the 
 obnoxious appearance of the frame, because in many kinds of 
 plants even these shoots may be stopped back, and the laterals 
 make all their growth outside. It is at this time, when we 
 may at least either prune back irregularly, or leave the uneven 
 growth to make its own way, that a good deal of the stiffness 
 may be got rid of, and some approximation to nature be made. 
 Epacris, hovea, chorozema, rondeletia, eriostemon, and many 
 other plants which are naturally weak in their branches or 
 straggling in their growth, being assisted up to a certain point, 
 and then allowed to push naturally, may be produced much 
 better than we have seen them, even in the constrained growth 
 for exliibition, and to unobservant spectators may appear like 
 a fine natural cultivation. 
 
 The more robust heaths, Eriostemon buxifolium, ixoras, 
 and some other hard-wooded plants, can be grown Anthout 
 much support, if not grown too fast, but if we excite them 
 too much, they also will be weakly and want some kind 
 of stay in profusion, instead of here and there an occasional 
 
 prop. 
 
 The fuchsia, which is a favourite exhibition plant, may be 
 grown very rapidly, but always at the expense of quality, first 
 perhaps, because prizes are offered for them in May and June, 
 whereas the earliest they ought to be shown, for their own 
 sake, is July and August, or September is better than even 
 that. We are aU anxious generally to show new plants at the 
 earliest period, and as a plant may be grown ten feet high 
 from a cutting in a single season, we constantly see the 
 varieties let out in autumn shown the next spring, much to 
 the disparagement of the variety and the exhibitor, except that 
 he gets the promised prize. The fuchsia, for style and appear- 
 ance, as well as the full development of the capabilities of a 
 variety, should be grown in a pyramidal form, and full of 
 branches. To do this effectually, the plant should not be 
 hurried. It should be strong in the main shoot, and not
 
 PLANTS FOR HOME DECORATION OR EXHIBITION. 
 
 179 
 
 want a protection, or rather, not be weak enongh to require a 
 prop. It should, at the end of the season, be allowed to rest ; 
 as soon as it indicates new growth, it should be repotted, not 
 in too rich a compost, and be pruned with short branches at 
 the bottom, shorter as we go upwards, till they are mere spurs 
 when we get half way up, and tolerably close at the top. , By 
 growing the plant gently in the greenhouse and without any. 
 heat, the branches of the season will be multiplied •greatly, 
 and with a very little checking, form a very beautiful close 
 pyramid, full of foliage and bloom, and the colours in perfect, 
 tion. Besides this, the plant will bear carriage without 
 propping, and whatever support it wants for travelling, if 
 any, may be all taken away at its destinatk«ic- -(!r^py^'J^][iaa, 
 however, will bear growing as a bush or as a^-^^paW&t^ 
 plant. In the former we have to stop a cutting before it is 
 two inches high, and to continue stopping all growth that is 
 too vigorous, and all early growth, directly two eyes can be 
 left, so that by inducing lateral shoots, we secure a bush in 
 miniature at an early stage, and need only shorten such 
 branches as are getting on too fast for the remainder. All 
 very weakly shoots should be cut away close home, for they 
 only weaken the rest and confuse the order; branches should 
 not cross each other, nor should the plant get confused by 
 reason of the number of branches allowed to remain. The 
 habit of the variety under cultivation should be studied a 
 little, but there are too many grown that deserve only throw- 
 ing away, and a bad habit is rarely compensated for by a good 
 flower, because the fuchsia depends for its value a good deal 
 on the habit. Formosa elegans and Eiccartoni are of fine 
 habit ; few can equal them in tliis respect, while both may 
 claim some credit for their early approach to the requisites 
 for a good flower. Set both of them in pots, in modairate 
 soil (not rich), and after this, give them only water when they 
 want it, and all the air you can. They will scarcely require a 
 shoot to be lopped ; so fine is their general pyramidal habit, 
 that unless accident blighted their leader, they would be com- 
 pact, and at their season full of bloom. At the end of the 
 year, when they had done their work, as it were, they would 
 lose their leaves, and would only require to be kept from the 
 frost : they would want larger pots at the beginning of the 
 year, all their side branches shortened, and, if the leaders 
 chance to be injured, they should be shortened to a strong 
 
 m2
 
 180 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 shoot, and that trained upwards by a temporary support ; but 
 it is far better to save the original leaders. The next year's 
 growth would be better than the first. It would be necessary 
 to thin out many of the shoots, because they would be too 
 thick otherwise, and confused^ but there would be as much 
 difference between these plants and those usually shown as 
 between two several families. They would be one mass of 
 bloom from top to bottom, and models of what fuchsias should 
 be ; but they must be groTVTi without heat the second year as 
 well as the first, and as a general rule, without any exception, 
 fuchsias should have no artificial heat ; they would grow as 
 well out of doors as in doors, if not better than under any 
 covering, but they would not come in for May and June 
 shows, and therefore, the giving of prizes at these shows for 
 fuchsias is bad in principle. 
 
 Stove Plants. — Stove plants generally are of easy culture, 
 and many of them would be better ^vithout any other attention 
 than providing them with heat, moisture, and hght. There is 
 very little merit in bringing things out of season, unless some 
 object is to be gained, yet we constantly see injudicious prizes 
 awarded for flowers out of season, much to the detriment of 
 the plants in general appearance. One precaution should 
 always be taken with forced flowers and stove plants wherever 
 they are to be exhibited, and that is to remove them, a day or 
 two before they are shown, from the forcing-house or stove to 
 the greenhouse, to season them gradually to the cooler element, 
 before they encounter the draughts in a tent or the changes 
 of removal. It is no uncommon circumstance to see stove 
 plants actually drooping from the sudden changes to which 
 they have been subjected, when a day or two in a cooler 
 house would have prevented it. Avoid, as much as possible, 
 on all occasions, a confused growth ; it is as bad as a scanty 
 one. 
 
 There is not a handsomer stove plant scarcely the year round 
 than the Euphorbia splendens, well grown, but the majority of 
 those we have seen have been a confused and ugly mass of 
 branches crossing each other in every possible direction, pre- 
 senting flowers half their proper size, and branches scarcely 
 able to support themselves ; and yet, under proper culture, 
 nothing can be more robust. JS'othing more is required in the 
 culture of this plant than to thin out and regulate the number 
 of branches, shortening them when growing, but when they
 
 PLANTS FOR HOME DECORATION OR EXHIBITION. 181 
 
 push out laterals, to take off all that will not add to the beauty 
 of the plant, which should form an open but pyramidal object, 
 blooming constantly at the ends of the shoots, and constituting 
 a very beautiful object ; but, Like all other plants, when neg- 
 lected, rambling about with twice the number or more of the 
 shoots it ought to have, and these in the worst places for 
 effect. 
 
 "We could instance many plants that are never grown in 
 perfection, and that are rarely fit to be seen at home or abroad. 
 Many of these may be classed among neglected plants, for 
 they may be found in many establishments allowed to ramble 
 their own way, perhaps yielding a cut flower now and then, 
 and never thought of as an object of ornament. 
 
 Greenhouse Plants. — To grow plants for home gratifica- 
 tion alone, we need not be at half the trouble, and certainly 
 produce twice the effect. We may allow them to grow without 
 extraordinary support. They have at most to be removed on 
 a hand-barrow from the stove or greenhouse to the conserva- 
 tory, and the natural play of the branches for that short 
 distance damages nothing. The shortening of branches, the 
 training and general management, have reference only to their 
 intended situations, and the principal thing to guard against 
 is not to excite anything too much. Very few things bear 
 growing fast ; it always makes a greater distance between the 
 leaves, and consequently the plant looks poorer : and this 
 poverty is of the greatest consequence, because more conspi- 
 cuous when the plants come iiito flower, for blooms depend on 
 the number of branches in a given space, and if the branches 
 and leaves are more distant, the blooms must be so likewise. 
 This is shown very conspicuously in plants which bloom at 
 the base of all the leaves, as in fuchsias, epacris, and others of 
 the same habit. Besides, compactness is a great point in all 
 plants ; not when carried to confusion, which should always 
 be avoided, but when induced by moderate growth and judi- 
 cious pruning, or stopping. 
 
 The Hovea is one of the most ill-used plants in cultivation ; 
 it naturally grows fast in excitable compost, but it can scarcely 
 be grown with too little dung, or soil too simple, so it be 
 healthy and clean. The earliest stopping, even when first 
 struck as a cutting, is necessary : not more than the pair of 
 leaves next the soil should be left, and this throwing out two 
 lateral shoots gives us an opportunity of stopping both at the
 
 182 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 first joint, and thus obtaining from each, two more lateral 
 shoots, to be stopped in turn for the same number again, and 
 so continuing until there is a perfect bush ; but the plant 
 cannot be neglected many days. This constant stopping until 
 we have branches enough AviU j)roduce an excellent plant ; 
 it is then by taking off all that are in the way, and leaving 
 only such as will help to make a handsome plant, we may 
 allow the growth to go on till they bloom ; but after bloom 
 the plant requires pruning as regularly as a wall-fruit tree, 
 and the new shoots must be watched and regulated, and the 
 same pro"\T.sion made for the beauty and symmetry of the 
 shrub as was made in the first instance. Were the flower 
 left to itseK and planted in rich soil, it could be made to grow 
 six or eight feet in a single season, and be altogether un- 
 manageable in a season or two, because the bloom only comes 
 at the ends of branches, and the long under portions are 
 always leafless as well as flowerless. 
 
 Heaths require great care, as well as some study of their 
 habit. Some, like epacris, run away to great length of 
 branches ; therefore, before we allow them to shoot their full 
 length, we must, by stopping, secure plenty of them. Others 
 are naturally of a bushy habit, and require thinning out 
 rather than stopping ; but in all plants we have to look well 
 to the growing state when they are manageable, for a very 
 brief neglect, only for a single season, will give us bare stems, 
 naked undergrowth, iU shapes, and often unhealthy constitu- 
 tions, and the best thing we can do then is to strike the tops 
 of the plant for young stock, and to cut down the stems to 
 A^dthin a few inches of the pot, for the mere chance of their 
 breaking and making fresh growth. 
 
 There is, however, one method by which we may occasionally 
 convert an ugly gawky plant with naked long stems into a 
 handsome standard, but it is only a few plants that will look 
 well under such a change. The Azalea iadica is one of these. 
 If there be one straight stem among them, cut all the others 
 close down, and cut the branches of the single stem off up to 
 the part where the head is to begin ; cut it do^^Ti a little at 
 top to make side growth, and the head will soon form well, 
 but until the head is large enough for the height of the stem, 
 it will look very poor. Fuchsias of some kinds, particularly 
 corymbiSora and its varieties, naturally carry krge bunches 
 of blossoms, tassel-like, at the ends of the branches. The
 
 PLAKTS FOB HOME DECORATION OR EXHIBITION. 183 
 
 best tiling we can do is to take off aU side growth, to th« 
 height we wish the head to begin, to stop all the other 
 branches to two joints until we get a sufficient number oi 
 branches to hang gracefully all round, and then to let them 
 grow to bloom. The pendulous habit of the plant is greatly 
 favourable to this, and the blooms fairly weigh down the most 
 obstinate of the shoots, so that the plant really forms a pretty 
 object. These things we can do for plants to be kept at 
 home, but there would be the greatest difficulty in transplant- 
 ing such plants to a distant show. The exhibitions are 
 therefore very detrimental to the garden at home, and besides 
 this, they give a very poor representation of an estabhshment 
 which may possess much more beautiful plants than the 
 owners choose to send out. In winter, the temperature of 
 the greenhouse, 40 degrees by night, and not more if you 
 can help it, and 50 degrees by day ; ia summer the cooler 
 the better. 
 
 Show Flowers. — Even the plants from which we are to 
 cut blooms to show, are but sorry objects in a garden, and 
 unless there be a plot laid out on purpose for the flowers to 
 cut, the gardens cannot be kept clean and tidy : shades here, 
 glasses there, props to keep flowers in a particular position in 
 one place, and all sorts of ugly contrivances in another ; 
 plants cut up to a skeleton to give vigour to particular blooms, 
 and stripped of all but the few promising flowers. A truly 
 enthusiastic exhibitor is never fit to be seen at home except 
 by his ecjuals, who of course take a similar uiterest in all the 
 paraphernalia attendant on growing for show. The pink 
 stripped of all but forward blooms, with a glass over one, a 
 shade over another ; cabbage leaves upon glasses during the 
 heat of the sun, paper caps over others, render it an eye-sore 
 instead of a beauty ; dahlias mth tables on the side, for the 
 convenience of tjmg up a flower to be covered by a pot, the 
 branches cut away, not more than a sohtary bloom here and 
 there allowed to be seen; — all tend to set the lovers of a 
 garden who have not been bitten with the exhibiting mania 
 against competition, because the beauty at home is destroyed 
 for the fame abroad. 
 
 But show flowers are the flowers to grow at home, and 
 those who delight in them can put up with a rose or a dahHa 
 half an inch smaller for the sake of the abundance, and are 
 unwilling to sacrifice half their pinks and carnations for the
 
 184 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 sake of a little size. We recommend for home use that all 
 the means be taken except thinning the flo'wers and shading 
 them, and that all the best varieties be grown ; but when a 
 man can afford to lay out a piece of ground from which to 
 show, and to leave his other portions in perfection as a flower 
 garden, he should io so. We do not know that we should tie 
 up a pink or a carnation to keep the pod from splitting if we 
 were not going to show, though we might limit a pink, a car- 
 nation, and picotee to three blooms each, because it gives 
 them room to grow in perfection. But picotees, carnations, 
 and tulips, may be grown for show without destroying the 
 general appearance, because they are grown under an awning 
 in a pleasant summer retreat, as it were, and certainly have a 
 noble appearance in collections. 
 
 It is with flowers and plants as it is with farm stock. 
 !N^one but those who take an interest in exhibiting would care 
 to go into the oil-cake and stall-feeding apartments to see 
 over-gorged beasts ; they would delight in seeing the sheep 
 and cattle in the fields. So in flowers, none would care to go 
 among the florist's Httering apparatus and nursed isolated 
 blooms, but those who could appreciate every mark that made 
 a bloom better or worse ; the rest would rather go into the 
 highly kept parterre where roses, dab lias, pinks, ranunculuses, 
 and other beauties were rivalling each other in the natural 
 ground, with no covering but the heavens. 
 
 The chief difference in the culture for our own enjoyment 
 in the garden and the management necessary for exhibitions, 
 is in exciting the show flowers and plants to what we call 
 perfection, by restraint for the convenience of carrying, to 
 size by limiting the numbers, to colour by unnatural means, 
 to compactness by vicious training ; while the natural beauty 
 and habit looks more effective for domestic gratification, and 
 answers every purpose for local enjoyment. It must not, how- 
 ever, be forgotten with regard to out-of-door culture, that the 
 sun shortens the season of bloom : the rain often destroys the 
 beauty. It is only such things as can be grown wholesale 
 under cover that we fairly enjoy in both capacities. The 
 superb bed of tulips under its canvas roof would be an orna- 
 ment to the finest establisliment in the land ; and the house 
 is not less interestingly occupied when the bulbs are in their 
 boxes, and the carnations and picotees occupy their placea 
 under the canvas roo:^ because the same shade and covering
 
 PRUNING AND TRAINING IN GENERAL. 185 
 
 that preserves the flower from sun and rain is equally agree- 
 able to ourselves when inspecting their gorgeous colours and 
 exquisite forms. 
 
 PRUisrmG AND TRAmi^a m gei^eral. 
 
 Wallfruit-trees and Espaliers. — Many gardeners have 
 said that great evils arise from being afraid of using the 
 knife ; but it is possible to be too fond of it, and certain it is, 
 that by too free a use of it much time is lost ; and the study 
 of this branch is almost the principal, and at any rate one of 
 the principal, objects of a good practitioner. The knife is, 
 perhaps, most freely used in cutting back fruit-trees. When 
 grafted or budded, and grown one year, we have generally 
 a long straight shoot. See two men, equally clever in their 
 vocation, treating one of these maiden trees — for such they 
 are called at one year old : one cuts it down to three eyes, the 
 other bends it down to as near a horizontal jDosition as he 
 can, and does not cut at all ; he lets all the buds that he 
 wants grow, and rubs the others off before they fairly start, 
 consequently he has half a tree almost immediately ; but as 
 he wants the other half, he allows the bud nearest the bend 
 or trunk of the tree, as it were, to grow up, and rubs the 
 others off all along for some distance, to give the leading one 
 more vigour ; at the end of the second year he has a tall well- 
 gro"wn rod to bend down horizontally on the other side. He 
 holds this doctrine : — it is reasonable to suppose that the less 
 wood you lose, the more vigour there must be in the branches 
 you save, and that disbudding is a much more natural way of 
 preventing useless branches than letting them grow first and 
 cutting them off afterwards. 
 
 The two trees, under different treatment, exhibit this pecu- 
 liarity. The one which was cut back has three branches, 
 moderately strong ; but, for regular training, it requires to be 
 cut back once more all the branches to three eyes, which will 
 produce nine branches for the next year, of nearly equal 
 strength, but not so strong as before, on account of the greater 
 number. In the one merely bent down, and all the useless 
 buds rubbed off before they took anything from the tree, the 
 vigour of the tree is only expended on the portion required 
 to be grown ; and this treatment will have many advocates, 
 because, among other objects, with the amateur gardener
 
 186 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 especially, early fruiting is one, and the cutting back twice 
 must delay three years at any rate, while we have known the 
 first laid branch actually bear fruit the second. PerhajDs a 
 mixture of the two practices is the best. We should bear in 
 mind, that whenever a useless shoot is allowed to grow, it 
 helps to weaken all the useful ones, and therefore that by dis- 
 budding we save the tree from making wood merely to be 
 pruned off. Again, we might profitably bear in mind that 
 every cut is a wound that may bring disease, and that the 
 more snags there are about a tree, the more subject it is to 
 damage ; and it may always be found that peaches and nec- 
 tarines grow finer in those portions of the tree least maimed 
 by the knife. We have, when grafted or budded trees have 
 been in the places they were to remain in, very successfully 
 conducted them through the first year's growth by judiciously 
 stojDping a main shoot at an early stage, and disbudding every 
 useless beginning — leaving, in fact, no shoots but those we 
 really wanted, and thereby throwing the whole of the growth 
 into proper branches. There is a vast difference between not 
 using the knife as a rule, and not using it because you take 
 care that it is not wanted. Suppose a peach or a nectarine 
 budded, and in the place it is to remain in against the wall : 
 by the time the bud had shot to three or four pau' of leaves, 
 the top is pinched out ; laterals immediately break out on 
 both sides, and you have a little tree the first year, every 
 branch of which may be nailed into its place, beginning with 
 the two lower ones quite horizontal, the next and next rather 
 fan-fashion, but still keeping them well down, and the knife 
 not used at all, unless to cut out here and there a stray wir}^ 
 shoot that is not wanted, but has been overlooked. The next 
 year, as soon as the buds move, go over the tree, and cut off 
 every one that aylQ be useless, if grown. This disbudding 
 system wonderfully helps the growth of the useful branches, 
 and helps to nurture the tree ; for it stands to reason that if 
 an enormous quantity of growth has to be cut away after- 
 v.^ards, it was wrong to let useful portions of the tree suffer to 
 make wood only to be cut away; besides which, all stone 
 fruit-trees are more or less healthy according as they have 
 been more or less carefully managed ; those which have been 
 wounded most being the most liable to gum and canker : and, 
 moreover, the operation is so easily performed. So, also, if 
 we want lateral shoots to fill any particular place on a wall,
 
 PRUNING WALLFRUIT-TREES AND ESPALIERS. 187 
 
 or, in other words, want three or four shoots where only one 
 is coming, instead of waiting till the autumn, to cut back 
 such a branch, pinch the top out as soon as it has advanced 
 as many leaves as you want shoots ; for you may stop it at 
 the fii'st j)air of leaves, or after it has made three or four, 
 according to what you require. 
 
 It is a safe conclusion, that pruning retards fruit-bearing. 
 The argTiment on behalf of the knife is, that it prepares the 
 tree to fill up its given space in a proper manner, and perma- 
 nently benefits it ; but the knife will do nothing that cannot 
 be done with disbudding and pinching out, only that the latter 
 mode requires constant watching, until the growth for the 
 season is adjusted or fairly set in, and even then an occasional 
 examination is required, to see that no fresh growth has started 
 where it is not wanted. Every time a tree is pruned, a more 
 vigorous growth of the remaining parts is a natural conse- 
 quence, and vigorous growth is always against bearing. We 
 adopt the disbudding system, and rarely shorten the branches, 
 for at the ends are the most fruit-bearing shoots; and, instead 
 of allowing hundreds of httle branches to form so much brush- 
 wood all over the tree, we rub off the buds before thy make 
 any progress, and only leave them to grow where we want 
 shoots. These remarks apply chiefly to wall and espalier 
 trees ; but the same general principles apply to standards, so 
 far as we can carry them out. It would be a work of time to 
 go over a standard tree to disbud it, but it would be all the 
 better for the process, and save after pruning. 
 
 There has been a good deal written upon the subject of 
 pruning, and if an unpractised man reads it all, he will leave 
 off" perfectl}^ satisfied that authors contradict each other ; that 
 they hardly agree upon general principles, and that he is 
 none the wiser for all he has read. One is all for the knife, 
 another for no knife where it can any how be done without ; 
 one for horizontal training, another for the fan-shape ; and in 
 Abercrombie's " Every Man his own Gardener " may be seen 
 more than a score shapes into which a tree may be tortured, 
 all very seriously recommended by somebody. It seems to 
 us that we can never err much in following nature's general 
 rules, and beginning with the lowest branches horizontal, 
 proceed with the other branches a little sloping upwards, and 
 completing with the fan ; but we do not hold with any set 
 figure; the great object is to fill the walls weU, because as
 
 188 PK ACTIO AL GARDENING. 
 
 trees on a wall have not half the branches, these branches will 
 reach a much longer way, and the filhng of all the spaces is a 
 far more important consideration than the exact figure which 
 is proposed to be accomphshed by training. Some authors 
 are partial to the serpentine, or undulating form, ia which to 
 train the branches of wall-trees, and it is founded on this 
 fact, — if a branch be bent doA\Tiwards, and so fixed, the 
 strongest shoots will come out nearest its base where it joins 
 the tree, in other words at the highest part of it ; whereas if 
 it be placed sloping upwards, as it would naturally grow, the 
 strongest shoots would come at the end furthest from the 
 trunk. It is therefore concluded, that by distorting the 
 branches, and thus interrupting the free passage of the sap, 
 the development of branches and fruit may be more equalized. 
 Hence, we see one author recommending the branches of a 
 vine to be bent like a snake in motion, another advocating 
 the branches of wallfruit-trees, especially the peach and nec- 
 tarine, to be bent serpentine-fashion ; but when we have 
 constantly before us examples of plain simple management 
 producing first-rate fruit, and plenty of it, all this fanciful 
 stuff seems mere child's play. The truth is, that gardeners 
 too often begin by putting fruit-trees into extraordinary rich 
 borders, exciting an unnaturally vigorous growth, and then 
 have to employ their wits to counteract mischief of their own 
 creation. Fruit-trees want nothing more than good natural 
 loam ; all the made-up borders will, perhaps, when the gar- 
 dener has brought his trees into proper subjection, give larger 
 fruit, with invariably a weaker flavour ; for it is one of those 
 laws which cannot be abrogated, that the more vigorous the 
 growth the milder the flavour, and, so that it be healthy 
 growth, the slower it is the stronger the flavour; so that, how- 
 ever desirable splendid-looking fruit may be, size is always 
 attained at the expense of flavour, as if a certain quantity 
 were assigned to each fruit, and the increased size weakened 
 it. It is this which makes size so desirable in vegetables, 
 which are the milder for it, but beyond a reasonable specimen, 
 not desirable in fruit, because we desire richness instead of 
 mildness, when the flavour is desirable at all. The more 
 aromatic and rich the juice of a pear, the better; but the 
 milder the cabbage, or the turnip, or the onion, the more it is 
 esteemed. But unfortunately, the taste, we mean the intel- 
 lectual taste, is a good deal perverted in the growth and
 
 PRUNING WALLFRUIT-TREES AND ESPALIERS. 189 
 
 appreciation of fruit : so that the grape be a good colour, the 
 larger the bunch or the berry, the better the judges seem to 
 hke it; a position, however, that we invariably oppose, and 
 will, wherever we have a voice, settle by flavour. We have 
 often said there is no merit in exciting an unnatural growth; 
 nothing is much more easy than to grow for si^e only, but it 
 is one of those propensities which we do not approve, where 
 it can only be had at the expense of a better quality. We 
 are convinced that in the long run natural growth, in natural 
 soil, if it be at all congenial, will always best suit the amateur; 
 and natural training, with no more knifework than is abso- 
 lutely necessary, will be found the most easy to understand, 
 and least difficult to manage. We have in another place given 
 our notions upon fruit-borders ; and if we could command all 
 the exciting soils and manures in the kingdom, we should use 
 none of them in an ordinary border for fruit-trees. 
 
 The proper training and management — for, as we have be- 
 fore explained, the less pruning the better — may be reduced 
 *o general principles, which may be, we think, easily under- 
 stood. Our first object is to cover the wall with bearing, 
 healthy wood ; therefore, whether we begin with a tree that 
 has been on the wall and neglected, or a new one, it is safe 
 practice to train dovra. the lowest branches horizontally, or, if 
 they start at some distance from the ground, bring the ends 
 as near the bottom of the wall as a few inches, and bring 
 do^vn the next as near to them as will only allow of the 
 bearing-shoots to grow between, and so on with other useful 
 and available branches, for as there is no fear of the upper 
 part being filled by ulterior growth, we have to furnish the 
 wall as low as we can, because branches will not grow down- 
 wards to fill that out, though there will be no difficulty in 
 furnishing all above. Our next business is to watch the bud- 
 drug, and wherever the wall has room for a shoot, let the best 
 bud for the purpose be allowed to grow, but rub all others 
 off. It is of no use letting shoots grow for the purpose of cut- 
 ting them off hereafter. If in any part of the wall there is 
 room for two or three shoots, and there is only one bud, take 
 the top out of the shoot it makes, as soon as there are two pair 
 of leaves, and from the four shoots thus produced use what 
 you require, but stop the one you do not require as soon as 
 you can after it starts ; but if you want only two or three 
 shoots out of four or five, it may be worth while to give time
 
 190 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 to see wMcli will grow best, and stop the other or others. 
 We do not like shortening branches at all ; the bearing-wood 
 on standards is always at the ends of the branches, and in 
 wall-trees there is much the same tendency, although from 
 the very trunk itseK being exposed to the" light, bearing-wood 
 may be encouraged pretty nearly all over the surface. 
 
 By attending to these few general principles, which are 
 exceedingly simple, the amateur may secure a pretty good 
 supply of peaches, nectarines, and apricots, —that is to say, 
 by allowing the buds to grow where you require wood to fill 
 the wall, and by rubbing them all off where the wall is 
 already full. Pruning is then only required to repair over- 
 sight, and occasionally to cut out old wood where young 
 bearing-wood can be made to fill its place ; in short, the 
 actual cutting away is the exception instead of the rule. In 
 very rich borders, where the growth of the trees is unna- 
 turally strong, the gardener is obliged to let all the young 
 wood grow, and then at the winter pruning make choice of 
 the best wood, and slaughter the rest ; but we prefer from 
 the beginning growing them in ordinary loam, which induces 
 a sound healthy growth, of sufficient strength to produce a 
 good crop of fruit, which may be thinned to the number 
 that the tree should bear. If we have a maiden-tree newly 
 planted, we may cut it back to three eyes, and while the 
 three branches are growing, it is likely that the two lower 
 ones will be unequal; in this case fasten the one which is grow- 
 ing strongest horizontally as it goes on, and let the other be 
 fastened nearly upright, because it will grow much stronger, 
 and before the season is out overtake the other, for the hori- 
 zontal position certainly checks the growth, while the vertical, 
 or anything approaching the perpendicular, encourages it. 
 At the end of the summer, when they have done growing, 
 both may be trained horizontally, or, if they start far from the 
 ground, they may be bent down lower at the ends than they 
 commence growing from. The centre branch may then be 
 bent doT\Ti to make a second shoot or branch on one side, 
 and have all the buds but the end one and the one nearest 
 the base rubbed off ; this bud nearest the base T\dll grow as 
 strong as the one laid horizontal, and be fit to form its match 
 on the other side. This branch may be served the same as 
 the other, aU the buds be rubbed off but the end one, and 
 the one nearest its base, so that alternately the branches wiU
 
 PRUNING WALLFRUIT-TREES AND ESPALIERS. 191 
 
 be made to fill the deficient space until the wall is full of 
 main branches, and you have only to regulate the bearing- 
 wood, by rubjjing off the buds where the shoots are not 
 wanted, and leaving them to grow where they are required. 
 But there is certainly an alternative that many prefer to the 
 laying dowTi of one branch a-year, and that is when the first 
 year the two lower branches are laid in as low as we can, to 
 cut down the centre to three eyes, by which two more 
 branches can be made instead of one, by sacrificing the centre 
 branch instead of using it for. one side. It is true that we 
 only get a pair of horizontal branches a-year by this plan, but 
 it is also true that the tree is matured as we go on, and there 
 is nothing to prevent us from enjoying the fruit in perfection, 
 though there may be less of it. Pruning is always necessary 
 at planting, but, as we have explained in the article planting, 
 this is to compensate for the loss of roots in the taking up of 
 the trees ; as, however, in the bustle of a nursery business 
 the growth of young trees is not always attended to as it 
 should be, pruning may be required to get the tree into a 
 proper form of growth at its first starting. This may apply 
 more to standards than to wallfruit-trees, because at most 
 nurseries the breaking buds are watched ; and although at 
 some they care for nothing but the single rod or shoot that 
 the bud naturally throws, there is some ground that will form 
 a moderate head the very first year, by the bud being stopped 
 when there are two pair of leaves, and the best three of the 
 four branches being allowed to grow. 
 
 These general remarks wiU suffice to give a pretty good 
 idea of the pruning and training of the better kind of wall- 
 fruit-trees, and one point may be very generally kept in view 
 with advantage : wallfruit-trees growing wild, that is, un- 
 checked, and therefore too full of wood, may bear more fruit 
 in respect to numbers, but it mil be of inferior quality ; but of 
 the two evils, a tree had better have too little than too much 
 pruning, for we have known (and that where one might expect 
 better things) many trees pruned and trained year after year, 
 the branches shortened, and the trees kept neat by jobbing 
 gardeners, and the bearing of fruit was the exception instead 
 of the rule, and at the best but few were ever seen at all. 
 Our advice was once asked for in a case of the sort, and we 
 recommended the owner to let them go a year without using 
 the knife at all, but to lay in and fasten all the young wood
 
 192 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 as well as lie could himself, or stand over Ms jobbing gar- 
 dener while he did it, and to pay no attention to any remon- 
 strance on the part of the gardener. The consequence was an 
 abundant crop, requiring three-fourths to be thinned out; of 
 course this was going from one extreme to the other, but it 
 was a lesson even to an ignorant man, that he had to steer 
 a middle course, and not to cut away all the bearing wood. 
 The difference between the peach and nectarine, and pears and 
 cherries, is that the former bears upon the last year's wood, 
 and the latter upon spurs of two years standing. In those 
 trees which should be trained horizontally at bottom, and in- 
 deed may be so trained from bottom to top, the centre, or 
 main stem, must be only shortened at such places as will 
 enable us to keep the branches at proper distances from those 
 beneath. Pear-trees, for instance, require eight or nine inches 
 between them, to give room for the fruit ; therefore the first 
 two branches being laid down, the centre must be shortened 
 so as to give two branches to lay in at a proper distance 
 above them, and when we have seen which two are the best 
 for that purpose, we disbud all but the top leader, which 
 must go on for the next pair of branches ; so that we in fact 
 get one pair of branches each year, and no more. The 
 position of branches has a good deal of influence over their 
 growth. When they are once brought down to the horizontal, 
 they grow very slowly ; this induces some to keep them grow- 
 ing in a sloping direction till they are as long as they are 
 wanted, or nearly so ; but it should be recollected, that a 
 branch one year old is much more tractable than one of two 
 years old, so that we recommend them to be laid down at one 
 year old, or that, at least, they be constrained sufficiently to 
 enable ns to complete their proper position the second year, at 
 most. The three branches that are growing for the next pair 
 of branches, and the leader, may grow upright, if they will, 
 because they unquestionably progress most according to their 
 elevation. It was on this ground that we recommended the 
 shorter one always to be kept more upright than the longer 
 one, that they might at least be more uniform ; but we should 
 be content with the progress of the horizontal branches after 
 the first year, or, at the most, after the second, whether they 
 extended as far at first as we desired, or not ; for it is im- 
 possible to ensure any uniformity if the branches are allowed 
 to mature themselves into stubborn wood. By continuing
 
 PRUNING WALLFRUIT-TREES AND ESPALIERS. 193 
 
 this system, the branches will, in time, occupy the whole 
 neight of the wall, and by avoiding that stimulating soil 
 which is too frequently prepared for fruit-borders, the trees 
 Avill be found much more manageable, and much sooner 
 prolific. 
 
 It is a very common practice, and we have seen it a good 
 deal in market gardens, to let the trees grow pretty nearly as 
 they will, to lay in the branches as close to each other as they 
 will do well, but as they all start from one common centre, as 
 it were, they necessarily form iuto a fan shape. There is 
 nothing to condemn in this, because every day's practice 
 shows good crops. The only rule that seems to be observed 
 is, to lay in every winter as much bearing wood as can be 
 accommodated, and to cut away weakly shoots, and all others 
 that are not wanted, or, in other words, that there is no room 
 for. Certainly, if any class of men have to find out the least 
 troublesome and the most profitable mode of culture, it is the 
 market gardener, and, therefore, however careless they may 
 seem, there is the strongest motive for doing everything with 
 the least trouble, and making everything produce the best 
 crop. However, in private gardens, where this is not so much 
 studied as neatness and moderate returns, we may be allowed 
 to be more particular, though there has always been a good 
 deal too much importance attached to certain details, and the 
 works which have treated of pruning and training have, one 
 and all, so far as we have read, laid down rules as if no other 
 would answer, and made simple operations appear so formid- 
 able, that many a man has been deterred from undertaking 
 what, after all that can be said and done, is but a simple 
 affair. The general rules for pruning and training will take 
 us through nearly all the waUfruit-trees and espaliers, for the 
 only difference between the one and the other is, that the 
 espalier is in a frame instead of a wall ; but there are some 
 Uttle differences in the detail with fig-trees and grape-vines ; 
 the former we shall notice here. The vine out of doors, and 
 under glass, will be a separate article. 
 
 Figs. — The fig produces its fruit at the ends of branches, 
 and has generally two crops a-year ; though, in this country, 
 the tree requires a wall, and unless protected through the 
 winter, the crop, which is always on when the leaves fall, will 
 perish. There are two or three very simple rules for pruning 
 and training the fig. There must be no shortening of
 
 194 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 branches ; what is taken away, must be taken away altogether. 
 There should not be too many branches ; where they come 
 too near, sacrifice the worst, and leave the most vigorous. The 
 fruit which is preserved through the "banter will ripen early 
 in the summer ; that which comes with the spring shoots 
 will ripen, while the midsummer shoots will produce a young 
 crop, which will be on the tree when the leaf faUs. The fig, 
 and especially some of the large-growing kinds, is a rambling 
 grower, and there is no help for it ; we have only to do the 
 best we can with a tree which only likes the knife at the base 
 of a shoot, — that is, it does not fiourish mth shortened 
 branches ; and many who have complained that they get no 
 perfect fruit, may frequently attribute it to pruning. Some- 
 times, however, it is from being too much excited ; the fig is 
 a succulent plant, and where it is in rich soil, it is beyond 
 control. When a branch is shortened, it will be found some- 
 times to die back, or cause every bud to grow ; the best plan 
 is to let it, to a certain extent, have its way ; but where it gets 
 too thick, to cut away some of the weaker branches close to 
 the wood from which it springs, and on no account to cut back 
 a branch, for it is on the ends that our greatest hopes of fruit 
 depend. If you are going to commence fig culture, obtain 
 the most dwarf kinds ; first , because they are the easiest 
 managed ; and next, because, for the space they occupy, they 
 are the most prolific That the fig does best without too 
 much excitement, is proved by the success attending its 
 culture in pots ; for we have had them not two feet high, 
 with a dozen ripe fruit on them, and in twelve-inch pots. To 
 return, however, to the pruning. There is no tree that is 
 more apt to throw up suckers, and if these are not removed 
 very close to the root, the cutting of one down will cause half a 
 dozen to appear, and there will, if the plant be neglected, be 
 a complete thicket round the stem of the tree. Laying on 
 the lower branches as near horizontal as possible, will gene- 
 rally cause every bud along the whole branch to grow ; and 
 the best way to manage these, is to rub ofiT all that are not 
 wanted — perhaps, every alternate bud can be well spared, for 
 the benefit of the remainder. We have seen some of the 
 dwarf kinds grown like bushes, and others like dwarf standards, 
 in a sheltered place, bearing well in their season ; and, if we 
 mistake not, they may be seen now in many old places ; but 
 the same treatment must be observed. One thing should be
 
 PRUNING STANDARD TREES. . 195 
 
 kept in mind in pruning the fig ; it bears large foliage, and 
 consequently the branches require a larger space than those of 
 most other trained fruit-trees. But this space cannot be provided 
 by the mere cutting away of supernumerary branches ; such 
 treatment would have a directly contrary tendency, and if the 
 trees manifest any disposition to produce too many branches 
 for the space, there is no alternative but checking them by 
 pruning the roots. 
 
 Standard Trees. — This part of the gardener's duty is too 
 often neglected. The orchard is mowed at a proper time, 
 because it is the business of the farm ; but as to the trees, in 
 too many instances, the gardener only looks at them when in 
 bloom to see what prospect there is of a crop ; and, occasion- 
 ally, as the crops advance, to see how far his hopes are likely 
 to be realized ; this is all the attention that many orchards get, 
 except the gathering of the fruit. As in the case of wall- 
 fruit-trees, the son the trees are in settles the question about 
 the quantity and the nature of the attention required. A 
 newly-planted orchard requires pruning to compensate for the 
 loss of roots ; and if tliis is judiciously done, the heads of the 
 trees form as they ought, and an examination in the autumn 
 will show us how far the knife may be authorized to remove 
 useless, weakly, and unprofitable shoots that tend to damage 
 better ones, fill up the head, and exclude the light and air. 
 But if this can be done profitably with a young orchard, how 
 necessary does it become in an old one, which may have been 
 neglected for years, until scarcely a tree can do justice to the 
 fruit it produces. In many of these old orchards the trees 
 have so degenerated that the sorts of ' fruit can scarcely be 
 recognised. The pruning in this case is a laborious task, for 
 nothing will do but reducing the heads considerably. The 
 first object is to remove all the branches that are most 
 decayed or cankered ; next, all those which are most straggling, 
 and in the way of those who have to walk about the ground ; 
 then we may look to those which cross one another, or crowd 
 one another, and of these remove the worst, or the one that 
 can be best spared, so as to leave the remainder of the tree in 
 the best form and order. If, after this, we can head down 
 some of the tallest, we may hope for better growth and crops. 
 If the heads are choked up, as we often find them, with little 
 brush-wood, that is to say, their weakly shoots, clear them all 
 away, so that you leave the heads free and open. But standard 
 
 n2
 
 196 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 trees in general only require the removal of weakly shoots, 
 the occasional checking of over luxuriant branches, and of 
 such as are growing into an inconvenient or ugly form ; yet 
 this should be done once a-year, and the trees might be kept 
 as much in order, though in a different way, as the neatest 
 trained wallfruit-trees. Of the many whims and fancies that 
 writers have promulgated for the form of standard trees, we 
 shall say but little. They may be profitably trained hollow, 
 the branches all round forming almost a basket, with no 
 shoots inside to intercept the air or sun; or they may be 
 trained with a centre shoot, and branches all round it, point- 
 ing outwards ; or they may be grown almost like an umbrella, 
 that is, with the branches pendulous all round ; but in the two 
 latter forms, the branches must be sujBficiently distant to admit 
 plenty of light and air on all sides, and the style must be 
 dependent on the habit of the plant. One way is only better 
 than another, according to the habit of the plant it is applied 
 to ; some naturally throw up their branches, and, therefore, 
 are best adapted to merely have their centre thinned a little, 
 and form themselves ; others grow naturally pyramidal, and 
 only want their branches thinned ; others, again, are naturally 
 of a weeping habit, and regard must be had to these character- 
 istics before we decide how we shall prune and train. It is, 
 perhaps, an old, but certainly a bad fault, to let trees run up 
 to heights which defy the gathering of the fruit without more 
 trouble than it is worth ; for no ladders can rest against th® 
 branches so as to place the gatherer within reach of the best 
 fruit, which is always at the top, — so it would be if the tree 
 were half the height. It is the fact of its being at the top, 
 and not of its being so high up that makes it finest ; and 
 it would be a wise and a profitable step to cut all the high 
 trees down to half their present elevation ; for it is doubtful 
 if the crop would be lessened after the first year, because, at 
 present, the lower half is almost barren, and then it would be 
 fruitful, and within reach for gathering, which is more than a 
 good deal of the fruit is now. 
 
 Dwarfs. — Dwarfs are to be treated as standards ; for it is 
 merely having the head on the ground instead of at the top of 
 a trunk. 
 
 Standard Eose-trees, Climbers, and Bushes. — This is a 
 very different operation to the pruning of fruit-trees, because, 
 unlike fruit-trees, the roses bear their flowers on the present
 
 PRUNING STANDARD ROSE-TREES, CLIMBERS, ETC. 197 
 
 year's wood ; every bud that grows forms a branch, and upon 
 that branch grows the rose. The first object, therefore, of the 
 rose-grower is to attain for his tree, or climber, or bush, the 
 form and size he requires, and when this is done, he merely 
 has to prune back all the summer's growth to a single eye, or 
 to two at the most ; indeed, it is always found that the fewer 
 the branches, the stronger they grow, and the larger the 
 blooms j but until the head of a standard is the size and form 
 required, the cutting must be close where it has extended 
 enough, and otherwise where it is not grown sufficiently. 
 The head of a rose standard should be as large across as the 
 stem is high ; a dwarf standard, therefore, ought not to be so 
 large as a tall one ; and the height of the stem is the best 
 guide. If the stock, or stem, be three feet high from the 
 ground to the under side of the head, the head ought to be 
 three feet across ; and the same rule should be observed for 
 any other greater or lesser height. In selecting the branches 
 which are to form a head, care should be taken they point 
 outwards all round ; and as we begin with a plant, perhaps, 
 with only one or two stems, our first business is to cut it 
 dowTi within two or three eyes ; as soon as the new shoots 
 which come out have got four leaves each, pinch out their tops, 
 and you wiU find the rose grow rapidly, with a thick small 
 head. Now is the time to remove all but those which point 
 the right way, and to let none cross each other ; let only such 
 be left as will grow directly outwards, and from time to time 
 take away all but these ; you may thus achieve the greater 
 part of your object the first season. It may be that one side 
 of the head is worse than the other ; be not afraid of spoiling 
 its appearance, but cut it in well to the eyes that you wish to 
 grow, and bear in mind that the single eye grows very con- 
 siderably in a year. In selecting the branches that are to 
 remain a tolerable length, for the purpose of forming the per- 
 manent head, we have to be careful not to select weak ones : 
 for, although they may hold their form pretty well at pruning 
 time, they may be totally inadequate to bear the weight of 
 the year's growth ; none but the strongest should be kept, all 
 weakly ones should be cut off close home. There are many 
 kinds of roses used as standards merely because they grow 
 and bloom best on briars, but which are totally unfit to form 
 handsome heads. Their growth is perfectly upright, or about 
 as much sloped as the twigs in a birch broom ; these are only
 
 198 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 fit for grouping and forming the inner plants of a close border ; 
 no pruning nor management that we can suggest will make 
 them fit speciniei-is to stand alone. Yet they are superb roses, 
 and fit to plant among a clump of shrubs, so as not to show 
 the stock, or upon such dwarf stems, as shall not even indicate 
 that they are worked at all. We are not so nice about what 
 appears planted in the ground, as we are when roses are to 
 form ornamental standards ; and be it remembered, that those 
 who give orders for roses should always inform the nursery- 
 man exactly what they want their roses for. If they require 
 standards to grow in permanent situations, and to form grace- 
 ful heads, they should not fail to say so. If they require very 
 large or remarkably fine specimens for exhibition in bunches, 
 or in single specimens, it is quite requisite the dealer should 
 be made acquainted with the fact ; and, moreover, if they 
 want roses to group in such a manner that they only show 
 their growing parts, the upright grooving ones are the very 
 best, for they bear aU. their bloom on the top, and are, in fact, 
 only adapted to stand in groups where their stems are hidden, 
 or to be close to the ground, that their blooms may be under 
 the eye. There is a good deal of tact required in pruning, 
 but some kinds are of such graceful habit that they look better 
 under even bad management than some others would with all 
 we can do for them ; for, unless the branches are inclined 
 to grow outwards instead of upwards, all we can do wiU not 
 help them much. If you already have weU-established plants 
 of the kind which grows upright, and where, therefore, you 
 cannot form a good head, choose whether you will remove 
 them to form a hill, or clump of roses, somewhere else, or plant 
 half-a-dozen round each, to make smaller groups on the spot 
 occupied by the standard ; but you will assuredly never make 
 good-looking, or even tolerable heads of them. We have seen 
 the branches weighed down into their places, but when the 
 new growth comes, that goes bolt upright again, and the side 
 is as straight, and as bare of flowers, and as ugly, as when the 
 branches all spring from the cent:te, only larger. We have 
 seen many fine collections spoiled by this sad fault — perhaps 
 a hundred or two standard roses about the place in appropriate 
 and prominent situations, and one half of them of that ugly 
 growth which only exhibit the side to us, and, contrasted with 
 others which form a graceful head, they spoil the whole con- 
 cern. Lose no time in trying to change the nat^jre of these
 
 PRUNING STANDARD ROSE-TREES, CLIMBERS, ETC. 199 
 
 heads, for it is useless. The year's gi'owtli upon the top of 
 which the roses come is eighteen inches or two feet long, 
 therefore, all that pruning can do stands for nothing ; plant 
 half-a-dozen handsome standards round them, of graceful 
 hahit, so that the tops of the ugly one, with all the roses, may 
 just ri^e above the handsome ones. If we begin with a dor- 
 mant bud, that is, a rose budded last season, but to start the 
 present one, we should, as soon as it had grown to the third 
 leaf, take off the top beyond it. With a kmdly-growing sort, 
 a branch will start from each leaf, and grow outwards, two on 
 one side the original shoot, and one on the other ; when these 
 had made three good leaves each, we should pinch off their 
 tops also, and three shoots will be produced from each ; by 
 looking to the directions these take, we shaU observe what to 
 do with them. We want them, of course, to point outwards, 
 and at equal distances ; but we may remove altogether any 
 one that grows awkwardly, or does not help our form, and 
 only retain such as answer our notions of what the head 
 should be. During the whole season of growth, we should 
 watch the progress occasionally ; because, if well managed, 
 there will be a good strong growth before the end of the 
 summer. In the next pruning, we may pretty well shorten 
 every branch to two eyes ; and when these start, observe 
 which will make the branch best suited to the intended form 
 of the head, and only retain that ; or if both seem required, 
 keep both. This second year's growth will enable us to form 
 a good head, because the wood will be stronger; and on 
 pruning this second year's growth, we may leave the limbs or 
 branches somewhat longer, so as to form a good head. Instead 
 of cutting back all the branches to any particular number of 
 eyes, we may look more to the length and situation they are 
 to occupy, to help out our plan of the head, than to any 
 number of eyes. Generally speaking, the eyes nearest the 
 end grow strongest ; but when aU the buds begin to grow, 
 every one that grows inside, or points inside, and aU that are 
 not wanted, must be rubbed off before they advance, that all 
 the vigour of the tree may go to the branches allowed to 
 grow. 
 
 Nothing is worse for a rose than a confused mass of branches 
 crossing each other. The inside of the head should be as clear 
 as possible — no branches crossing each other, no small weakly 
 shoots filling up the space. Watch, also, the stock ; for if a
 
 200 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 shoot of the stock begins to grow, and if it has a weelc or two 
 to thrive, it injures the head beyond all calculation and 
 belief ; and whenever you have to remove a shoot from the 
 stock, take it off so close as to leave no buds to shoot again. 
 Wlien a rose-tree has got over its second year's growth, and 
 got into a pretty good form, it only wants the usual annual 
 growth for a short time to make it as large as we desire. But 
 this can be achieved the third year well by only leaving the 
 under branches rather longer than we might if it had arrived 
 at the size we wish it to attain ; because, that once reached, 
 the pruning of a rose becomes a straightforward affair. We 
 have simply to cut out all weak shoots clean to their shooting- 
 place ; then cut close every snag that may have died back 
 past the last eye ; to remove all branches that grow under the 
 head, and tend to thicken it, or make it confused ; and to cut 
 clean out, instead of shorten, every branch that is not wanted ; 
 for, inasmuch as many new shoots will start every year from 
 the old wood, the head would soon be choked up, if they 
 were not all cleared out ; and it is of the greatest importance 
 that the cut should be clean and close. Nothing has tended 
 to kill a great many roses, and damage more, so much as 
 leaving snags and spurs, which, constantly die back ; and the 
 mischief goes sometimes further : so that, at each yearly 
 pruning, every roughness, spur, snag, and dead branch should 
 be taken as clean away as if it had never been there. The 
 form we should aim at in the head of a standard, should be a 
 globe, with the lower third cut off ; and a figure of this kind 
 would shame three-fourths of the standard roses, which are 
 pruned, year after year, to the form of small mops, or birch 
 brooms, stuck up all over a ground, and more or less unsightly 
 rri every respect, according as there are a greater number or 
 fewer of them. 
 
 Eose-bushes are, for tbe most part, roses on their own roots, 
 and not worked, or they are roses worked so near the ground 
 as to be the same in effect. The pruning of these consists in 
 keeping them down ; for bushes would be more unruly than 
 standards, if neglected. The wood below soon gets bare and 
 unsightly, chiefly because the branches are, if let alone, soon 
 too thick, and rob one another of air and light. We should 
 begin a rose-bush by cutting away everjiihiag but two or 
 three eyes ; or if there be already two or three healthy shoots 
 come from near the ground, cut away all but them, and shorten
 
 PRUNING CURRANTS, GOOSEBERRIES, ETC. 201 
 
 them to three or four inches. When they begin to shoot at 
 their eyes, rub off all but two each, and choose two that will 
 grow in the best direction to form a good bush : do not let 
 them cross each other, nor grow inwards. The growth they 
 wiR make the first year will astonish any one strange to the 
 subject ; but the second year, these branches must all be cut 
 down to two eyes each : and as some of the branches from 
 these would be in the way, it may be found necessary to rub 
 off one of these ; for the same rule must be observed as to 
 crossing each other, or growing inwards. The only exception 
 to this close pruning must be where you wish the bushes to 
 fill up any particular space ; but as they are left their full 
 height all the winter, and after spring-pruning soon make 
 rapid progress to get to their full growth and bloom, it is 
 generally advisable to keep them down as much as possible 
 in the pruning, more especially as it greatly strengthens the 
 shoots, and increases the size of the blooms. 
 
 Climbing-roses require peculiar management. They will 
 frequently appear to stand almost still for a time, and all at 
 once a shoot will make its way to the full length of the space 
 the plant is to occupy. The old plant may be cut down to 
 pretty near the ground, as soon as a healthy shoot from the 
 bottom appears, because the long shoot takes the principal 
 strength, and ought to have it all, for the bush could not 
 move. Let other shoots go up as they will ; but as soon as 
 any one gets the full length it is wanted to go, take off the 
 top, and induce side-shoots. From year to year these pillar, 
 or climbing-roses, require the same clearing of dead wood, the 
 same removal of weakly branches ; and every spring, when 
 the buds move, they should be thinned by rubbing off aU 
 that are in the way, or useless. All side-shoots should be 
 cut to the length they are required to hang or stand out ; 
 and much may be done according to the habit. If it may 
 take up considerable room, lessen the number of shoots, 
 instead of shortening them ; because the object in chmbing- 
 roses is not so much size of bloom, as quantity and succession 
 of flowers. But we may always conclude, that if we buy 
 climbing-roses in pots, and plant them, hardy young shoots 
 will soon beat the old ones, and then the old ones may be all 
 cut back. 
 
 Currants, Gooseberries, &c. — The pruning and training 
 of currant and gooseberry-bushes is a very simple affair, if set
 
 202 PRACTICAL GAEDENING. 
 
 about the righ.t way when youiig. It has to be kept in view 
 that the main object is fine fruit ; and this can only be pro- 
 duced by abundance of hght, sun, and air. Consequently, 
 when the trees are young, they should be cut back, to make 
 them form a sufficient number of branches, pointing outwards 
 all round ; these should not be in each other's w^ay, nor cross, 
 and the centre should be kept free of wood. Currant-trees 
 naturally grow outwards and upwards ; many gooseberry- 
 bushes grow outwards and downwards. The former would 
 form the skeleton of a basket, the latter the skeleton of an 
 umbrella. '\\Tien you have once shaped your skeleton, as it 
 were, to your mind, your winter-pruning is only cutting back 
 all the lateral shoots to a spur or stump, with one growing 
 bud ; so that, after pruning, your tree or bush is the same 
 kind of skeleton ; but the ends of the branches are allowed 
 to grow and remain longer every year, until they occupy all 
 the room you can spare, when these may be shortened, or 
 topped, as it is called, to your mind. When the end of a 
 braiich is not healthy, you may cut that branch back to the 
 first healthy shoot, which will become the growing end of 
 your branch. If, during the formation of your bush, you 
 find two branches too far off", while the rest are pretty well 
 formed, allow one of the lateral shoots that grow onwards to 
 form a new branch to occupy the vacant place between them ; 
 and when a branch becomes unhealthy, cut it back to a 
 healthy part, even if it be close to the base ; and from the 
 new wood that breaks out, select the strongest, and take 
 away the others, before they make any growth worth notice, 
 so that all the strength may be thro\vn into the one shoot 
 selected. By cutting back branches that are getting old or 
 decayed, we may always renew the buph ; but in such case 
 there would be a forest of new shoots, and they should all be 
 removed but those wanted to form the new branches. At 
 the first planting of currant and gooseberry bushes, we 
 should take care to remove all the shoots but those which are 
 in a right direction ; and if they, are not well-formed, cut 
 back so freely that the next year's shoots shall give you aU 
 you want ; for every eye will give a shoot, and some shoots 
 will come from parts where the eyes are not even perceptible. 
 Perhaps the best way to form handsome bushes is to cut 
 away all but the branches which grow outwards ; and if 
 there be only three oi four of those, take the ends off to
 
 PRUNING AND TRAINING THE VINE. 203 
 
 ■witliiu a foot of the base. From each of these many branches 
 will shoot; but you have to rub off, while young, all but 
 those you desire to form your bush, and throw all the 
 strength into these. Perhaps two from some, and three from 
 others, may enable you to form a good head that year ; if so, 
 you cut off all side-shoots to a single eye, leave the ends to 
 grow longer, and repeat this pruning every winter. Goose- 
 berry may be trained as standards, by encouraging the upright 
 growth of the first shoot, and cutting off all side-shoots close 
 to the wood, until the main stem is as tall as wanted, when, 
 by pinching out the top, a head will be formed in two 
 seasons, the same rules being observed as to pruning as if it 
 were on the ground. The stems have to be supported by 
 sticks. Both gooseberry and currant-trees may be trained as 
 espaliers, and also on walls, the pruning being precisely the 
 same ; but in the training, the lower branches must be hori- 
 zontal, as nearly as possible, and the sooner tliis can be 
 followed up with the rest of the tree the better. In this 
 case, only three shoots are wanted on the young tree, one to 
 grow each way, in a horizontal line, the other upwards, to 
 produce other branches. The upright shoot may be cut back 
 to eight or ten inches. The upper eye will do for the next 
 year's upper shoot ; the next eye on each side will form two 
 more branches to train next year, and all below ought to be 
 rubbed off. K the branches are thus laid horizontally, seven 
 or eight inches from each other, they will bear fruit the 
 whole length that they are trained, all but on the present 
 year's wood, which does not bear till a year old. On walls 
 the training is the same ; but as the fan form is much easier 
 to some people, and covers a wall quicker, you have only to 
 lay the branches of your skeleton tree so as to cover well, but 
 out of each other's way ; and every winter, or early in spring, 
 cut every side-shoot back to a single eye. 
 
 The Vine. — The vine bears its fruit on the last year's wood; 
 and the great object of the cultivator is to get that wood well 
 ripened, for on that depends a good deal, if not everything. 
 The quantity of ripened wood of the last year to be left on a 
 vine should be so regulated, that it may be distributed over 
 the surface of the wall, roof, or house occupied by the vine, 
 at such distances as will insure a good scope ; and this may 
 be done two different ways : it may be by leaving shoots to 
 go up the whole length of the front, or space, at proper dis-
 
 204 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 tances, — say eigliteen inclies apart, and so to clothe the space, 
 as it were, with new wood every year, with new branches for 
 the next year's crop, and to cut back to the bottom, or nearly 
 so, all the wood that has borne tliis year ; or, when the space 
 is once clothed with branches, to let shoots come all over the 
 vine as near to each other as branches may be wanted, and to 
 cut them back to a single eye all over the vine, which is called 
 spurring it. The former method keeps a vine the most clean, 
 because, as the old wood is cut away every year, and the space 
 clothed with new, the training may always be done to the 
 greatest nicety. In the spurring system, the great object is, 
 to cover the space as soon as possible with strong wood. This 
 may be done after the fan form, or the horizontal form, in the 
 upright plant ; and although much has been written and said 
 upon this subject, there is not enough difference in the result 
 to justify a preference on the score of bearing. Generally 
 speaking, with this, as well as all other fruit-trees on walls, 
 some pains ought to be taken to furnish the space well at 
 bottom; because, if that be neglected, we have much more 
 trouble to accomplish it at an aftertime. 
 
 The vine grows so freely, that it is desirable, at even an 
 early period of its growth, to take away, before they waste 
 its strength, all the shoots that are not wanted, and all that 
 are weak, so that no more branches are allowed to grow than 
 those best adapted for covering the space, though an extremely 
 vigorous shoot should always be retained, even if in an awk- 
 ward place ; because strong wood is desirable, and the vine is 
 sufficiently flexible to bear a good deal of bending. It is 
 always desirable to preserve a very strong shoot, because it 
 enables us to cut away all that is above of the old wood it 
 grows out of, and substitute the young wood for it. Taking 
 care, then, that we encourage no weakly shoots, and certainly 
 retain none, we have to divide the growing vine, and so 
 arrange the branches as to cover the space, at proper distances, 
 as far as it will go, from season to season ; and while we are 
 anxious for growth, we ought not to allow any fruit to swell. 
 We begin a vine with a single bud, or shoot, when we have 
 it for planting. As the remove always tries a plant a good 
 deal, the rod should be cut within three eyes of the ground ; 
 and this will throw out three shoots, one to be trained to the 
 right, one to the left, and one straight up. Those right and 
 left "must be loosely supported as they grow; the upright
 
 PRUNING AND TRAINING THE VINE. 205 
 
 shoot may be allowed to grow upward, slightly assisted, and 
 be retained and ripened, to be cut back as the first was, or it 
 may be stopped as soon as there are three or four joints, and 
 be allowed to throw out side-branches, which will ripen, and 
 be fit to lay in their places, right and left, fan-fashion ; and iii 
 this way the third year will have made wood enough to cover 
 a large space. Let all the new wood, except that wanted to fiJl 
 a vacant space, be cut back yearly to one eye, or two if the 
 vine be weakly ; that when the eyes break, the stronger may 
 be saved, and the other rubbed off. When shoots come much 
 closer together than ej^es can be wanted for next year's bear- 
 ing, let them be removed young, because all the growth made 
 by branches intended to be taken away altogether, is so much 
 vigour lost to the other branches. A vine can only do a 
 certain quantity of work well : all beyond this distresses it, 
 or at least weakens it. It is as requisite, therefore, to take 
 away some of the fruit, as some of the branches. Every eye 
 that breaks well will put forth a shoot with one, two, or even 
 three bunches of grapes : on no occasion should more than 
 one of these three be allowed to swell. The instant the one 
 bunch is fairly developed, the shoot on which it grows should 
 be stopped at the joint beyond, and the shoot made fast by a 
 piece of list, in such position that it may be sustained properly 
 during the time of its swelling and ripening. Those who are 
 particular about appearances, and wish the vine to be very 
 uniformly trained, may, upon planting the young one, cut back 
 to three or four eyes ; and when they break, and commence 
 their growth, save the best on each side to go right and left, 
 and rub the others off. If there be any fruit, let it be picked 
 off at once. These right and left stems, or shoots, are to be 
 trained within a foot of the ground the whole length of the 
 front they are to occupy, and no others are to grow. The next 
 year these two shoots will break at every eye, and you have 
 to rub off all but those which are wanted, which should be at 
 equal distances the whole length of the branches, every alter- 
 nate, or every third, or every foiu'th eye, so that they are 
 about eighteen inches or two feet apart, and eyes breaking at 
 the top of the branches. These may be allowed to grow, and 
 be well supported, but with room to swell. If the vine has 
 been well rooted, and in good soil, this second season will fill 
 aU the space required Tvdth upright branches, or the greater 
 part of it with serpentine branches, according to the fancy of
 
 206 PRACTICAL GAUDENING. 
 
 the grower. These branches will all bear the next year ; and 
 while they bear, others will grow up between them, to ripen 
 for the year after. In the spring, therefore, when the vine 
 breaks, preserve one shoot between the others, to grow up for 
 the next year's bearing, and rub off all others. By this 
 plan, new wood is grown every year. While it is growing, it 
 is merely fastened, or rather supported, in a temporary way; 
 but at the end of the season, when the old wood is cut away, 
 the new wood is trained into its proper place, and made fast. 
 This part of the business may be executed with some taste 
 and regularity ; but the young wood that is growing all the 
 while the old wood is bearing, need not be too tightly fas- 
 tened, nor is it of any consequence what direction they are 
 trained, or rather supported in, while growing, the only object 
 being to keep them secure from the effect of wind, and out of 
 the way of the fruit. Generally, they may be grown upright, 
 between the bearing branches. If, instead of renewing the 
 branches every year, we desire to fix them permanently, and 
 prune upon the spur system, the difference we have to make 
 is this : instead of having the buds rubbed off to two feet dis- 
 tance, we make fifteen or eighteen inches the distance ; and 
 the breaking of the vine has to be watched quite as carefully ; 
 because, instead of alternate growth for long branches, we 
 have to merely regulate the new shoots, taking off the fruit 
 from such as are too close to other bearing shoots : to rub off 
 aU the shoots except those we want for the next year's spurs, 
 and to allow but one bunch to grow on each fruit-bearing 
 shoot. In the course of the summer, we have constantly to 
 break off those innumerable shoots which come almost all over 
 a vine, leaving none on but those growing into good strong 
 wood, and no more of them than are actually wanted. In 
 training the vine in the house, the system is the same, al- 
 though the space to occupy, and the forms into which a vine 
 is trained, may be different. 
 
 In training and pruning vines for out-of-door culture, after 
 the fasliion of vineyards, the treatment assimilates very much 
 to the raspberry. Five or six canes come up, and are grown 
 to any length they please to ramble ; but they are cut back 
 to about six-feet lengths, and supported all round Hke the 
 branches of a currant-bush ; all the old wood of last year cut 
 down, and, when it breaks, the bunches are reduced to one 
 on a shoot, which is stopped or shortened at the first joint
 
 RINGING AND ROOT-PRUNING. 207 
 
 beyond tlie bunch. This is the renewing system. The other 
 way, the vine is formed as you please, and properly supported, 
 but all the new wood shortened to a single eye. The grape- 
 vine is, in fact, the most manageable of all exotic fruits. So 
 that you do not allow too many branches to grow, and too 
 many bunches to swell, it will always do well ; but all cuts 
 must be made clean and with a sharp knife. All fastenings 
 must be strong. The wood must not be too crowded, and 
 the practice of baring the grapes, by taking off the leaves of 
 the plant, is a bad one. Grapes will ripen and get to a good 
 colour behind the leaves : and to deprive a plant of its leaves 
 is to rob it of nourishment. 
 
 EINGmG AND EOOT-PEUNII^G. 
 
 Einging is one of the barbarisms practised by some of our 
 ancestors to promote fruit-bearing, to stop the sap from being 
 supplied in such quantities as to drive the tree to growth. 
 The operation was easily performed. Two cuts have to be 
 made round the bark of the branch to be wrung, at whatever 
 distance you please, and the bark between the two cuts was 
 removed ; thus the communication between the severed bark 
 was supposed to be cut off, and it was said the branch bore 
 much better. We condemn the practice altogether. K the 
 tree goes to wood instead of fruit, dig down to the roots see 
 whether they are small, and keep at home ; then, if there 
 be any large portions rambUng, cut off one or two with 
 a fine saw ; you need not trouble yourself to take out the 
 piece — leave it there : it is enough to have separated the 
 parts, and cut off some of the supply; it will have a far 
 better effect than ringing. If the root, on digging down to 
 it, looks healthy and moderate in quantity, make up your 
 miud there is a tap-root at bottom. In this, case you must 
 dig till you can feel under the tree, and cut off the tap, not 
 too close up to the tree or it may be distressed too much. 
 Eoot-pruning, when done judiciously, is alwa3^s beneficial to 
 trees. People may call all these things uimatural. They 
 forget that the trees are grown unnaturally ; that all our 
 varieties are unnatural ; that they are not even on their own 
 roots, but grafted or budded on a stock of too vigorous a 
 habit, and that the stock must be reduced to a sort of balance 
 with the head or bearing part of the tree; and the easiest
 
 908 PRACTICAL GAKDENING 
 
 UKxio o( doing this is to drive at tho roots, oxamino tiieiu, and 
 Avheivver thoiv aj^poars to be a liiub too n iu\ '"ous, shorten it. 
 There is no oec;ision to do too much at lirst ; but we have 
 been sucoesstul on several occasions, \vhere, after yeai-s of 
 painstaking, ti*ees would cover tho side or end of a house 
 -without yielding half-a-dozen heads of bkunu or any fruit. 
 On one occasion, we found one limb of the ivot go under a 
 gravel walk, and wo followed it nearly six feet, but we ran 
 a saw thixnigh it about four feet from the tive, and coveixxi 
 it all up agiiin. How much further than six feet the i*oot 
 ^\-{^ndert>d we do not know : but it settled the business of 
 bearing ; the next year it did nothing but pi\xluee many 
 short joints of bearing-wood and spurs, and the year after 
 the crop was enormous, but we pei"suaded the owner to thin 
 them to less than half, and it has borne ever smce. There- 
 fore have we decided in our o\^'n mind that root-pruning is 
 far better tluui ringing, which can only be temp^n-ary. if it be 
 good at all. 
 
 DESTIU'CTIOX OF YERMIN. 
 
 The gardeners enemies are nor to be numbered : they are 
 like the dust of the ivads or th. ' ' ' his whole 
 
 work is destrv\ved in a short .: . A dilieivnt 
 
 metins, if he be not on the alert at tho 'uie to prevent 
 
 or avoid the mischief His cabbages and .auliflowei*s may 
 be eaten into holes and ivudeivd worthless on the eve of per- 
 fection by caterpLUai-s, or they may be destroyed at the onset 
 by club ' ^ ', . X ' . ' ' V the mice 
 
 before t;i Is when at 
 
 matimty; his ro>os r.iv bo bli^! n-fly ; his 
 
 onions s- ' 'V ' .erries may be 
 
 cleai-ed ■ .0 ^ ''^ .• ^^ grapes, 
 
 peaches, and nectarines distigiured by wasps ; his phnits in 
 the hon> ~ v be cut up by the bug. the scale, the tlmp, the 
 green-il} . d- spider. Tnrn which way he will, there are 
 
 thoustmds of hi- - ' :^ . :iimence their ra\'ages the 
 instant he negk\is ur a day or two any single depvrtmeiit of 
 his business ; and he has no smaXL difficulty in pursuing his 
 oixli s \vhen some one or more of these 
 
 pests LULi. u^ ii ^ ^.'s choice productions, and he is 
 
 obhged to turn ose remedies which experience
 
 DE8TRUCTI0N OK V/;j(M/.\. 209 
 
 hjiH taii(.^}it liiin will hoo/iohI ri'i Ijji/j of Uj<;ir pr';Hfa)<<'. Nor 
 in it Huni';i'fil t^^ uhc any t<;i/ij»or;iry in<;ajjM ; liin Jjl<;, all the 
 BumriKjr wjuhoii, Ih a lif« of wal/olirnhjrjHH ; ilmra Ih no 'luiy ho 
 fAi]iHUiui, no ail/<;niion ho iinr'-miUin;.^, aw lli<i p^ar(|<'n<'j''H, and 
 if lie n';;4l';';t IjhI an hour, lie f<;<;lH fli<; <;/f<;(;tH for an n'^rfi. 
 [f hJH weeds bo ne^l(5<;t(id awliile, i|jr!y drop tli<;ir HocjiH, and 
 he liaH work eijf> out f'H* the next year; and anionj.; hJH 
 nunierouH <;neniieH in thin r<'>;peet, Ije njay re(;kon a eareleHM 
 nei^dihour, or a ro.'wl-nide dikli hiH worHt, for they will «ow 
 Hee'dh all over hJH p^'ound in Hj>it<j of hiH eare. J>ut our 
 preHent ohjeet in U) eonnider the bent njeann of ^^etting rid of 
 thoHe p<;KtH of aninjat<jd natunj whieh i;poil, and oiU'Jt aIUj- 
 gether devour and deHtroy IjiH ero[>H — earwi;.^H, wood-lif;<i, antH, 
 HnailH, h1u;.m, wireworni, ;.;njhi-i, living ereatureH without end, 
 any of whielj, l(;ft alone for a time, prove endleHK plaguen. 
 i\rnongthe niont UH'-.ful inipleme-ntH U) aid liinj in }ii« r;ruH/irJe, 
 we reckon the nyringe, the frerjuent UKe of which ih of irn- 
 inenHe benf.'fit; for it in ojje of tlie greateHt dirlurl^erH of 
 inHer;tH, whether on fruit-treeH out of doorn, or potterl plantn 
 under ghiKH, 'J'he tinjely uHe of the nyringe wanheH thenj oiI| 
 and by perHeveranee will go a long way iowsiniH preventing 
 the inealeulalWe fni>>.thief that Ih done by the gn^'-.n-fly that 
 infentH all t<;nder HhootH of faMt growing jJantH, Jlow ij)jn- 
 nionly do we Hee a roHcAnni rdean anrl i'jvji from any living 
 [)eHt, arifl tlie next day a/;tually covered with the aph/i/Jfint 
 and if they are allowed! U) remain, }iow Hoon do tljey Huck the 
 juiccH from the t^jnder Ht<;mH, and kill the budn that are on 
 them ! We know of no r<;medy for thcKe prolific gentry but 
 U^bacco. Out of doorH U)\)SiJjj)-w.iii;r will kill them ; in- 
 doorH, Bmoking them in the framcH will cut whort their vMTanv. 
 Some adoj;t a paper or caliw covering for any favourit^j tree 
 or buHh, and fumigat^j them underneath it; for if we can but 
 fill the caj) or covering with the Hmoke, whiclj alwayH riweK, 
 and keep it full for a i'^'.'w minut^;fl, the flien will all die, and 
 may be immediately waHhed off with the nyringe. In Ijoukch, 
 or framcH, or jjitH, thr;re \h no (Jifficulty ; two oujicmh of 
 U)])iu-jj), in one of Jirown'H fumigat^jrH, will fill a UJerably- 
 Hiz<;d greenhouHe ; but if one of thene be not at hand, una 
 a ({WirUtr of a poun^L Make Korne charcoal red-hot and }>ut 
 it in a flower-j>ot, then j^ut the UAj'mijj damjx^l on it, and it 
 will burn and Kinother till the houHC ih full of the cloudH 
 of VAjiuxo smoke. We need not nay the howm should be 
 
 o
 
 210 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 closed lip so that none can escape, and it is as well to do it 
 m the evening, that it may be closed all night. You will 
 see the dead flies by wholesale lying on the pots, or hanging 
 about the leaves, but not a living one among the whole 
 number, however much they abounded before fumigation. 
 For the red spider a damp moist heat and syringing wiU 
 do something ; but it is a good plan to strew sulphur on 
 the flues or hot-water pipes ; the sulphurous vapour that 
 arises settles the account with this pest very quickly ; but 
 plants must be watched for this, because if the leaf actually 
 shows the attack by the colour, they have already sustained 
 considerable damage, and by looking often at the under side 
 of those leaves, which are susceptible of attack, a straggling 
 spider or two may be seen, that would become the founder of 
 a colony not so easily routed. Frequently washing the walls 
 of stoves with hme-white, in which a little flour of brimstone 
 has been mixed, is an excellent thing to prevent the red 
 spider, and if a plant has it very bad, it must be discarded 
 from the house, or all the rest "will become infected. The 
 mealy bug is one of the foulest looking insects that ever got 
 hold of a plant, and so difficult is it to get rid of, that houses 
 once troubled vdih them can hardly be cleared by tiny known 
 means. To clear a plant of it, a good tub-full of tobacco- water 
 should be prepared, strong enough to enable you to taste it, — 
 in fact, about the strength of weak tea. By putting two bars 
 across the top of the tub, and inverting the pot, with its arms 
 resting on the bars, the entire plant will be immersed in the 
 tobacco-water, and in twenty minutes or half an hour the 
 whole will be killed ; but if the plant be too large for this, 
 it must be washed with tobacco-water, and a long hand-brush, 
 li]-e a shaving-brush, and this must be performed very care- 
 f-iLLy or the young shoots will be damaged. Many stove plants 
 are subject to this, and a foul plant put among fifty clean 
 ones, and neglected, will give it to them aU. Whether in a 
 very young state they blow about like so much down, and 
 locate wherever they ahght, or not, we can hardly teU, but 
 they propagate very fast somehow, and if a foul plant be at 
 one end, some of the cleanest at the other end will soon have 
 them. In fact, this and the red spider are formidable plagues 
 in the stoves and forcing-houses, and if neglected, the plants 
 suffer rapidly. The bug will locate on the most tender shoots 
 and bloom buds, and so get among the tender flower-stems, that
 
 DESTRUCnON OP VERMIN. 211 
 
 ixoras, clerodendrons, and other plants blooming in bunches 
 will not be able to flower at all, unless the bugs be eradicated 
 before they have time to do mischief. Another mode of 
 getting rid of these creatures is to wash all the infested parts 
 with yellow soap-suds, and a new shaving-brush has always 
 appeared to us to be the best adapted for the purpose. The 
 bristles are just stiff enough to drive them out, and they 
 cannot stand soap if they are disturbed j but even syringing 
 will scarcely move them when they have once taken full pos- 
 session of all the corners and interstices of a plant. Care must 
 be taken that the suds are not too strong nor too hot, but 
 they are the more effectual for being a little warm. We need 
 hardly say that the plants must be handled very carefully, for 
 it is easy to bruise and damage the young shoots and bloom- 
 buds with rough handling, and in this respect it is impossible 
 to be too tender. The hand must support the leaves and 
 young shoots, which should He in it, or lean against it, while 
 the other hand plies the brush. By this means the stalks of 
 the leaves are not bent or broken. Some lukewarm water 
 should be handy at the time to clean away the soap, or, which 
 is better, to syringe the plant with after it is cleared of the 
 bug. The scale infests hard-wooded plants, generally, more 
 than anything succulent in its nature, and this scale has to be 
 removed with some gentle violence, for it adheres generally 
 pretty close, and all the syringing the plant could have would 
 not stir it. A stiff Inrush and warm soap-suds may ; but it 
 will frec[uently be found necessary to scrajDC it off ; some gar- 
 deners, as a preventive to this, rmV up a wash of clay, thick 
 enough to dry on a thin coating, and it has been fouud that 
 the scale cannot settle or breed on this ; but it has its disad- 
 vantages. In the first place, it does not help the appearance 
 of the plant ; in the next, it is questionable whether the 
 ordinary organs of the plant can work so freely, when there is 
 a close coating of any kind over the surface ; but when a plant 
 has had the scale badly, it may not be amiss to give it a wash 
 of this sort to remain on a few days, while there is a chance 
 of any of the young brood hanging about, and then to syringe 
 it off by degrees, for it will be some time before it is all 
 washed off. Ants are very awkward things in a house ; for 
 they will, if in any quantity, often make their colony in a pot, 
 which they work into a thousand hollow ways all among the 
 roots, and the plant is almost destroyed before the mischief is 
 
 o2
 
 212 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 discovered Generally, the best way of thinning these in- 
 truders is to coax them into one spot, and pour boiling water 
 on them, or to wet their places of rendezvous with strong lime- 
 water ; or lay a few hollow bones about, if they frequent parts 
 where this hot-water and lime-water cannot be used, and, 
 having a pail of boiling water handy, throw these bones into 
 it quickly, and thus destroy hundreds at a time. These may 
 be cb:ied again and placed as before, or in any place where 
 they most abound. Where these industrious little creatures 
 can fairly locate themselves, it requires a good deal of perse- 
 verance to dislodge theuL Of course by pursuing any of these 
 methods earnestly, their numbers lessen very much, and when 
 ' you find but few, stir the tan or soil, or whatever they harbour 
 in, to disturb them still more, and by this means you will 
 finally dislodge them all, or render them so scarce as to be of 
 no importance. The wood-louse is another ugly tenant of a 
 house, and those among the tan can only be trapped and 
 destroyed. One of the most effective traps is half a large 
 potato scooped out and dried, with a notch cut in the edge. 
 This laid hollow downwards will sometimes trap twenty or 
 thirty at a time ; and of course by increasing the number, and 
 laying them about, a larger number will be taken every day. The 
 pail of scalding water to shake them into, is the readiest way 
 of destroying them ; but you must not wet the potato. Turnips 
 are much about the same ; but neither will entice them till 
 the juicy surface is dried. Toads kept in the house will pretty 
 well keep them under where they can reach ; but a toad is 
 not comfortable in warm tan, and it will contrive to get up 
 into one of the pots and bury itself in the soil, so that they 
 are only useful on the floor, where they also make free with 
 any small vermin which invade their territory. Slugs and 
 snails are the most destructive things that can harbour in a 
 house ; they are occasionally brought in among the pots that 
 have stood out of doors, for they get into the draining holes, 
 and make a habitation, whence they sally forth at dusk, after 
 the houses are closed, and commence their meals upon the 
 fii'st, and sometimes the best plants that they can get hold of. 
 Many an hour have we lost in endeavouring to find them, 
 often in vain, although we have traced them a long way by 
 the slimy tracks they left behind, and resorted to night work 
 before we could detect them. On this account, every pot that 
 is brought into the greenliouse or stove for the ^vinter, should
 
 DESTRUCTION OF VERMIN. 213 
 
 be closely examined, and if there be the least sign of any one 
 having been about, and it cannot be seen, the ball should be 
 turned out into the hand for examination, rather than risk 
 the introduction of so dangerous a visitor. 
 
 If, notwithstanding all our care, we see a trace of snail or 
 slug on the ground, the walls, brick stages, or shelves, we 
 ought not to rest until we have found the offender ; for in a 
 single night it may eat off the best shoot of a valuable plant. 
 Potsherds may be placed about here and there, with the 
 hollow part towards the ground, for the chance of their har- 
 bouring them ; and if there be any danger of a colony among 
 the pipes, or under the stages or flues, it is a good plan to 
 sprinkle fresh lime rather thickly about ; for if it touches 
 them they will be destroyed, and it will prevent them from 
 coming abroad, even if they are not killed by the first apph- 
 cation. A fumigation of houses once a month, without wait- 
 ing for any excessive attack from aphids, is not money thrown 
 away. The smoke is a great enemy to all animal, or rather 
 insect, life ; and it has the effect of ridding us of too many 
 Sies, moths, maggots, and other living things, that do us no 
 good, and often do harm. Butterflies and moths, in summer- 
 time, often take the liberty of laying their eggs on a plant, 
 and, if the family be not disturbed by some of the washings 
 instituted for other purposes, yield us a goodly race of grubs, 
 which we may not detect until they have done a good deal of 
 mischief. This could often be prevented by periodical fumi- 
 gations ; and although this is not done without expense, it is 
 worth all it costs to be assured of an empty house, and there- 
 fore no bad tenants, or at least the extermination of all that 
 cannot live in tobacco smoke ; though the mealy bug and red 
 spider are not to be dislodged without other means. 
 
 AH we have said of houses applies with equal force to hot- 
 beds, pits, frames, and other receptacles for plants ; there is 
 no difference in the remedies — all the means of extermination 
 practised in the stove and greenliouse will be equally effica- 
 cious in other horticultural buildings ; but in conservatories 
 we cannot apply them : all we can do there is to keep the 
 shelves, walls, windows, and all sorts of corners and ledges, 
 well cleaned, and to remove infected plants to the other 
 houses for fumigation ; for tobacco smoke will not agree with 
 the company who frequent the conservatory, even if it does 
 not communicate with the house.
 
 214 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 "With respect to the gardener's enemies out of doors, and 
 their name is legion, we have very different customers to deal 
 with, and much greater difficulties to contend with. So far 
 as ants and wood-lice are concerned, the same means in all 
 respects must he resorted to ; hut instead of a stray snaO. or 
 sing, we have them in large quantities. There is no such 
 thing as traciag a solitary marauder hy its shining train — if 
 they plague us at all, they do it wholesale ; and if we do not 
 protect our young peas and salads hy some means, they are 
 occasionally lost altogether. A liheral use of lime is of great 
 service, as a preventive of mischief to the j)lace actually 
 guarded ; hut we ought to aim at once at their destruction. 
 The hest traps for slugs and snails are tiles, with the hollow 
 part downwards, and cahbage leaves ; examine these every 
 morning, and the under sides will give us plenty to kill. 
 These should he laid down again directly, and the next morn- 
 ing be examined again. In a garden neglected two years, 
 where weeds had been left to grow, and all living creatures 
 held undisturbed possession through two whole seasons of 
 growth, we once had to contend with two ripe harvests of 
 weed-seeds, and all the slugs and snails that had congregated 
 and multiphed during the whole time. 'We burned all the 
 weeds, and buried all the surface soil, roots, snails, slugs, hots, 
 earwigs, and other Hving pests, two feet deep, and fancied we 
 had at least got rid of all but a few stragglers ; but no sooner 
 did a green leaf appear than it was fairly riddled or gone. 
 We resorted to cabbage leaves, which we procured in the 
 neighbourhood, and laid them thickly about the ground. The 
 first morning the undersides were covered with hundreds of 
 slugs, scarcely thicker than a small straw, besides a few goodly 
 parents : day after day, the numbers seemed scarcely lessened ; 
 and when the leaves became too much withered for use, we 
 procured fresh ones. It would be incredible to speak of the 
 numbers destroyed on half an acre of ground between four 
 brick walls ; and although the cabbage leaves were evidently 
 the tempting food, and we had destroyed tens of thousands 
 by our daily crusade, not a crop could we raise without an 
 embankment of lime, and constantly picking off those that 
 seemed. to come up through the ground between the two rows 
 of lime — for cross them they could not, this was a certainty. 
 Perseverance, however, at length reduced the number so 
 much^ that we seemed to have no more than the usual share;
 
 DESTRUCTION OF VERMIN. 215 
 
 and our cabbage-leaf warfare ceased, for we took up hundreds 
 at last without finding an enemy. We cannot help thinking 
 that these creatures had the power of working their way 
 through a good deal of earth, and that our burpng system 
 was of little use. We have since seen tiles used \\ith good 
 effect, but must prefer cabbage-leaves; for they are more 
 attractive, although more troublesome ; and they must save 
 the crops, because they are greatly eaten from the first to the 
 last, while the tiles simply tempt those that are near, as a 
 shelter. 
 
 If a ditch and hedge form a boundary to a garden, it is one 
 of the worst we can have ; for they form a harbour for snails 
 and slugs that it is almost impossible to counteract : the only 
 effectual stop to their intrusion is a sunk or raised trough, the 
 whole length, kept full of water. A ridge of lime is only 
 effective for a short period ; it soon loses its caustic quahty — 
 and this once gone, a snail could crawl on it as well as over a 
 ridge of common earth ; but they cannot get through water. 
 The kind of slug, too, that inhabits the banks of ditches is 
 enormous, as may have been seen of a cloudy evening, when 
 those black monsters intercept our path. One of these could 
 gnaw through a cabbage in a night, or lay a whole row of 
 peas or lettuces under contribution. Costly, therefore, as it 
 might be to make a gutter fuU of water, by means of a wooden 
 or a zinc trough, it would be the only way to prevent their 
 depredations ; for vain would be the task of trapping them, 
 though perhaps a row of cabbage-leaves might tempt them to 
 stop short of any other crop. 
 
 Old walls are too often liarbours for slugs at the lower part, 
 and snails higher up. Often, too, does the other side harbour 
 them, and they have merely to come down to their feast. 
 This is perplexing, for there is hardly any means of prevent- 
 ing them : a trough full of water at top would have the 
 effect ; but if it were not bedded in mortar, and closed on 
 both sides, it would form an additional protection for them, 
 and they would locate underneath it, in a space that would be 
 altogether incredible. Lime here would only prevent them 
 while it retained its caustic quality; and we have been a 
 most unwilling victim to the colonies of these creatures, in- 
 habiting a hundred yards of overgrown ivy, which sheltered 
 them by day, and our peaches and nectarines served them for 
 a feast at night. At length we nailed a horse-hair rope just
 
 216 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 under the top of the "wall on our otsti side, and it was an 
 effectual bar to their depredations. This, however, would not 
 stop them on the ground, as slugs would burrow under it, and 
 defy it altogether. It will be seen from this, that unless you 
 can stop their importation from your neighbour's grounds, 
 your work will be endless, and almost fruitless. Your whole 
 mind, therefore, must be set to stop their ingress from parts 
 where you have no control, and then exterminate those already 
 on the premises, by the means we have mentioned. 
 
 Earwigs have baffled the exertions of many gardeners ; but 
 it has been chiefly because they were careless until the insects 
 began to be numerous : as a proof of this, we have known 
 dahlia growers to plant out in jMay, to begin hunting for 
 earwigs as soon as the blooms were attacked in July and 
 August, ^ow, nothing could be more thoughtless than this, 
 although some of the pretended teachers of the cultivation of 
 that flower actually tell us, that as they advance towards 
 flowering, we must begin to stop the earwigs. It is a thousand 
 to one if they can be got rid of at all, if neglected till that 
 season. Earwigs should be always trapped and killed. Eor 
 this purpose, hollow bean-stalks, properly dried, and cut into 
 six or eight-inch lengths, should be placed thickly about the 
 borders, close to or in any plants that may be there ; these 
 should be thrown into a pail or pan full of strong salt and 
 water every day, so long as one is to be found in the entire 
 round of the garden. When the dahlias are planted out, or 
 any other plant that they attack, one of these traps should be 
 placed to each ; and, as the insect prefers a snug place above 
 ground to burrowing under ground, and especially in wet 
 weather, they will be almost exterminated during the spring 
 months. The old gardeners used to put lobster-claws on the 
 top of small sticks, and the younger ones put small flower- 
 pots, with some moss in the bottom : all these things are good 
 if examined daily, and all that are caught are killed ; but if 
 they are merely put there, and not examined, they form the 
 very harbouring material which enables the insect to mul- 
 tiply. Better leave even dahlias to their fate, than put pots 
 of moss on their sticks, and not daily examine them, and kill 
 all that are caught. We have, even in the dahlia ground, put 
 the pots we have taken them out of, on the top of the short 
 sticks from the pots close to the plant ; and, although we have 
 not caught one in half a dozen pots, we always felt that we
 
 DESTRUCTION OP VERMIN. 217 
 
 were destroying a brood ; and, long before blooming time came, 
 we have not seen such a thing in the whole round of pots. But 
 this is not the time to leave off examining, because earwigs 
 fly ; and, as a proof of this, we have seen them actually stuck 
 upon newly-tarred palings and fences, with their beautifully 
 delicate wings fast to the tar, and they unable to release them ; 
 so that we must not relax a single day, if we desire to keep 
 clear of them. A swarm of these on their travels might be 
 tempted to ahght where there was anything very attractive ; 
 and if we allowed them a few days' uninterrupted hberty, we 
 might find them increased by numerous families. 
 
 In the open ground, there is one very simple means of 
 trapping innumerable enemies. By using a smooth and rather 
 taper rod of iron or hard wood, and making holes in the 
 ground two or three feet deep, we form so many pitfalls, into 
 which earwigs, ants, small grubs, and various insects tumble, 
 and the vast majority cannot get up again. We have known 
 some of these to get half filled with ants and earwigs, for the 
 perpendicular side forms too long a journey for vast numbers, 
 even if any ever reach the top ; and near an ant-colony, it is 
 almost enough to exterminate the whole community, if we 
 make a few clean-sided holes near their haunts. The earwig 
 is not merely an enemy to flowers ; it is destructive among 
 fruits, and it is impossible to be too persevering in the 
 endeavours to get rid of the enemy. Grubs and caterpillars, 
 the larva state of butterflies and moths, are among the most 
 mischievous and formidable of all the gardener's enemies, and 
 this should be thought of while the winged insects are sporting 
 about among the flowers, trees, and bushes, for these lay their 
 eggs in gTcat numbers on the plant that is to sustain the 
 caterpillar or grub, and when hatched, we know the conse- 
 quences. Some flies lay their eggs all in one place, especially 
 those that take possession of the apple, pear, and plum-trees, 
 where we may occasionally see a web full of the creatures, 
 ready to prey upon the first green leaves ; others, infinitely 
 more mischievous, lay their eggs all over the place, — one fly, 
 perhaps, placing a future caterpillar upon a hundred cabbages. 
 How often has the gardener, to his great mortification, seen a 
 large quarter of cabbages or cauliflowers with scarcely one 
 plant untouched ! and there is nothing so disgusting as either 
 of these productions eaten into and dirtied by these filthy 
 creatures. The quickest remedy is to kill the butterflies and
 
 218 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 moths. If one is seen, catcli and destroy it at any cost. It 
 would be worth while for a gardener to pay a boy to go round 
 the premises with a regular fly net, with orders to catch and 
 destroy an}i:hing that he could get hold o:^ in the way of 
 wasps, butterflies, or moths, and this at the earliest season, as 
 soon as a white butterfly can be seen on the wing. It is also 
 well worth while to get an intelligent young lad, who could 
 be depended on, to gather up the numerous chrysahses from 
 the wall fruit-trees, gooseberry and currant bushes, walls, and 
 other places of refuge during the winter months, when there 
 are no leaves to intercept a perfect examination, and when, 
 with a quick eye, a lad might almost ensure the taking of 
 every one. Those chrysahses would become so many flies or 
 moths, whose whole business would be to fly about awhile, to 
 lay eggs upon the trees most appropriate for fostering the 
 young grubs, ready for their work of destruction. AYe may 
 easily conclude, that the extermination of these chrysalises is 
 of the greatest consequence ; but this will not prevent those 
 from other places coming into your own garden, and there de- 
 positing eggs, leaving you, as it were, a legacy of maggots ; and 
 therefore it is necessary to use the fly-nets, and catch every 
 one that comes. Maggots cannot travel far, and if the parent 
 cannot find a resting place, but is caught or hunted away, 
 you escape all the grubs that she might otherwise have left 
 behind. 
 
 Wasps are very destructive among fruit ; they must be 
 caught and killed ; and be it remembered, that the time for 
 this is at the beginning of the spring, when every one represents 
 almost a swarm. T\Tien they over-aboimd, it is almost endless 
 work to catch and kill. Bottles of inviting poison may await 
 them at every place, but however many may turn aside and 
 sip their last sip, the fruit is so much more attractive, that 
 most of them will "pass the bottle" without doing honour 
 to it, and feast upon the next grape, or peach, or plum that 
 offers itself. So common is it to " shut the stable door after 
 the horse has gone," that we ought not to wonder, perhaps, at 
 being told by the teachers of gardening, that when the fruit 
 begins to ripen, we should hang phials of sugar and water, or 
 some other tempting draught, to draw off the attention of 
 wasps, and to catch them. How much more sensible the 
 advice would be to pro\dde these traps when they would enjoy 
 the monopoly of temptation, when in fact every wasp that
 
 DESTRUCTION OF VERMIN. 219 
 
 arrived within the smell would inevitably be tempted to 
 drink ! Why, by the time the fruit was becoming ripe, three- 
 fourths of the depredators would be disposed of The truth 
 is, almost every body waits for the inconvenience, and then 
 tries to get rid of it, instead of using half the trouble to keep 
 the evil off altogether. Bottles of sugar and water, or sugar 
 and beer, with tolerably wide mouths, might with great ad- 
 vantage be hanging about all the year, for while food that is 
 agreeable is scarce, wasps fly a long way in search of it, and 
 this is the time when, by destroying one, we "kill many 
 birds with one stone." We have no notion of waiting for the 
 enemy to do mischief before we try to get rid of him ; we 
 would rather battle with him while we had nothing to lose, 
 and when our traps would be doubly and trebly inviting. 
 Destroying wasps' nests is rather a dangerous sport, but 
 wherever wasps at all abound, good premiums should be offered 
 for their destruction. There would be plenty ready to hunt 
 them out and smother the whole community ; the great danger 
 is in leaving some hole open that communicates with the nest, 
 and that we have not seen. The usual way is to stop all but 
 the principal hole up, and to burn sulphur within that hole, 
 all that come are then burned to death, and all that remain in 
 are smothered. 
 
 We now come to the grubs, and other enemies underground, 
 the wire-worm, cockchafer grub, the bot, centipede, and an 
 endless variety of maggots. The wire-worm may be thinned 
 a good deal by planting old carrots, and drawing them every 
 morning, when these creatures will be found to have eaten 
 their way half into the carrot, and may be pulled out and 
 killed; this will soon clear a place of the wire-worm ; but most 
 of the underground pests are annoyed by a good dressing of 
 wood-ashes ; if this be forked in a few inches into the soil, it 
 drives them away for the time, but if on digging a piece of 
 ground any of these things be seen, it is well to set somebody 
 at once to fork it about and pick them out, and then give the 
 dressing of wood-ashes. 
 
 Birds. — AYith respect to birds, whose destructive "\TOrk at 
 seed-time will often lose the gardener a valuable crop, httle can 
 be done but some constant means of frightening them, or the best 
 of all possible securities, net-work. There is a great variety of 
 cheap netting manufactured now for the purpose of protecting 
 fruit and seeds against birds, and the use of these will be found
 
 220 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 better tliaii anytliing else : by sticking up a few upright props 
 in tbe ground about a foot liigli, and laying the net- work over, 
 the net is kept from the surface ; it does not obstruct the light, 
 nor can any bird approach the seed. Some, however, put a 
 rod of willow, or some slight taper wood, sloping in the 
 ground, and long pieces of paper to flap about with the wind ; 
 some put threads of worsted across and across the bed ; some 
 tie pieces of paper to string, forming something like the tail 
 of a boy's kite, and hang tliis from one end of the bed to the 
 other, so as almost to reach the surface. But we believe almost 
 everything in time loses its efi'ect : see, for instance, a bird 
 perched on a scarecrow; what does that say for the efi&cacy of 
 a stuffed suit of old clothes'? Yet the scarecrow may be seen 
 in many country gardens, and the birds hard at work all 
 round it. We beUeve that nothing but netting, so placed as 
 to keep birds off, can be depended on ; other remedies 
 may be used sometimes with success, but occasionally, without 
 the netting, they fail, whether in preserving seed or fruit : 
 netting keeps the intruders at a distance. There is now a 
 sort made, called hexagonal netting, so fine as to stop a fly, 
 and yet light and lasting : this may be used against walls, or 
 thrown over trees, or in any situation where flies and wasps 
 are troublesome, because it is only a little coarser than a lady's 
 veil, and the same make. This forms a most impenetrable 
 barrier against the smallest insect that flies, and if it be 
 fastened so that nothing get behind it, we are quite sure 
 nothing will ever get through it. 
 
 We have said nothing of hares, rabbits, and other larger 
 animals that plague the gardener, for there are only two ways 
 of managing them ; the one is to keep them out with a wire 
 fencing, the other is to trap and shoot, or otherwise kill, any 
 one that can be sacrificed. If rabbits burrow under the wire- 
 work, their holes are soon detected, and they are easily 
 trapped ; and unless the garden is in the neighbourhood of a 
 warren, we have generally found that a dog and a gun would 
 keep them tolerably well under. 
 
 Mice must be caught or poisoned, and the most effective 
 is plaister of Paris and oatmeal ; they eat it greedily : the 
 plaister sets sohd inside them, and they trouble us no more. 
 -Vlany poisons would answer the same purpose, but scarcely 
 any animal will touch the plaister but rats and mice, so there 
 is DO danger of poisoning dogs and cats. 'No wet must
 
 PROPAGATION. 221 
 
 touch it, and it must be renewed every day till the work is 
 done. 
 
 We believe we have gone through our list of the principal 
 pests to which the gardener is subject, or at least such as 
 require remedies that will apply to aU ; and when it is con- 
 sidered that these are constantly at work, to the detriment of 
 something, and that the gardener, besides all his ordinary 
 labour, has to counteract their mischief, the subject, ex- 
 tensively as it has been noticed, is scarcely second in importance 
 to any of the subjects which have come under consideration. 
 
 PROPAGATION. 
 
 There is not a more important branch in the whole science 
 of gardening than that which comprises the various means 
 of propagating plants. It is true that vast numbers are 
 raised from seed, our culinary vegetables especially, and the 
 great mass of plants, carefully raised, — that is to say, raised 
 from seeds carefully saved, — come near enough to the original 
 to be considered the same for all useful purposes ; but it is 
 necessary to keep in mind that though in such matters as 
 culinary vegetables, which are grown by acres, and also in 
 the case of ordinary annuals, wliich are lost every season, we 
 find carefully raising the seed from the best plants keeps up 
 a supply close enough for all useful purposes, there is no de- 
 pendence on seed producing the individual kind from which 
 it is saved; the produce wiU not be the same in every 
 respect, and this is best known by those who save the seed of 
 a variegated holly, which will produce the original green 
 sort ; or the pips of an apple, which wiU produce the original 
 crab, or something very like it. Then, many plants will not 
 seed freely; accordingly, to propagate the identical novelty 
 which we may have obtained from seed, and which differs 
 fi^om aU we have already, or to increase any plant that we 
 have procured, we must resort to some of the many different 
 plans for propagating from the buds, or wood, or shoots of 
 the individual plant. In the case of annuals, which come 
 from seed, bloom perfect, then seed and die, we have no 
 alternative ; and therefore all we can do is to save the seed 
 constantly from the best, where there is no other of the same 
 family, but of a different kind, blooming, and so keep our 
 seed as good and as true as possible ; but with perennial
 
 222 PEACTICAL GAKDENING. 
 
 plants, shrubs, trees, and bulbs, where there is any peculiarity 
 or excellence to perpetuate, we cannot depend on seed pro- 
 ducing the same, even if we can procure it, but must resort to 
 other means. These means are, first, layering, which is 
 inducing side branches to root in the ground, independent of 
 the parent, and then cutting them ofi" ; offsets, which are side- 
 root shoots, which in time separate themselves, as in the case 
 of bulbs, tubers, and suckers, which make an effort of them- 
 selves to increase ; grafting, which is attaching a piece of a 
 branch to a stock, or wild tree of the same family, or some- 
 thing allied to it, but more plentiful; budding, which is 
 attaching a bud of the tree to be propagated to a wild plant 
 or stock that it will grow on ; by cuttings, which is inducing 
 a piece of the tree or plant to be propagated to form roots for 
 itself; parting the roots, which in some plants continue to 
 spread out so that pieces may be detached with part of the 
 plant ; by eyes, which are small pieces of the wood of 
 the plant mth buds on each, &c. — all of which plans woidd 
 have to be adopted in the increase and perpetuation of the 
 various races of plants cultivated in even a moderate-sized 
 garden. 
 
 Layering. — One of the most natural means of propagating 
 almost all kinds of trees, shrubs, bushes, and hard-wooded 
 plants, is that of layering, which may be easily understood, 
 when we notice that on taking up an old shrub, that has been 
 growing for years on the spot, the bottoms of many of the 
 branches that happen to have been covered have emitted 
 roots, and that, by cutting off close to the old one all such as 
 have rooted, we make so many new plants. This merely 
 shows that if the branches of many different trees be bent 
 down under the surface of the soil, they will in time throw 
 out roots, and when they have done so, they are capable of 
 supporting themselves if cut off from the parent plant. 
 Seeing then that time will accomplish the object without any 
 means being used beyond fastening them under the surface, 
 and that without taking any pains whatever the shrubs and 
 bushes will of themselves furnish young plants by the mere 
 operation of self-rooting where accident has covered the 
 bottoms of them, all we have to consider in the process of 
 layering is to use means that will hasten the emission of 
 roots, and take pains to subject as many branches as possible 
 to the operation.
 
 PROPAGATION. 223 
 
 Layering is used in propagating very many clioice shrubs. 
 Ehododendrons, azaleas, andromedas, magnolias, and other 
 valuable ornamental subjects, are for the most part propagated 
 by layering, some striking roots into the ground more readily 
 than others, but all rooting fit to be taken off in a single 
 season. Let autumn be fixed upon for the layering, and the 
 next autumn the rooted portions may come off; according to 
 the nature of the shrub, whether it be free-rooting or other- 
 wise, so pains must be taken or otherwise, to promote the 
 desired end. Let us suppose that a currant-bush, with four 
 or five long branches to it, were to be layered, we should 
 require to get a long peg with a hook to it, like a small 
 hooked walking-stick, say six inches long ; bind the branches 
 down to the ground, and at the part that it can be made 
 touch, but as near as may be to the old tree, make a portion 
 of the soil loose, so as to let the part of the branch down 
 an inch under the surface, and with the peg fasten it by 
 thrusting it into the ground low enough to make the hook 
 hold the branch firmly down, the end being above the surface, 
 and if it cannot be made to stand out of the ground well with- 
 out, let there be a stone or something to hold it out : the 
 proper method of layering being to make the branch dip, as 
 it were, under the surface two or three inches in length and 
 come out of the soil again. In this simple way the branch will 
 be induced to root strongly at the place where it is pegged 
 down, and the more sudden the bend, the sooner will the 
 branches emit their roots. We have mentioned the currant- 
 tree because it roots freely, but there are others which require 
 something more ; and generally speaking, those which will 
 root so freely by merely pegging down the branches under 
 ground, would also strike freely if cut off and planted ; but 
 it serves to show the nature of layering, because many that, so 
 served, could not root under two or three years, may be made 
 to strike root earlier by various means. 
 
 The principle upon which earlier rooting is promoted is 
 that of lessening the nourishment which the branch receives 
 from the parent shrub. Li some cases, as in very tough sub- 
 jects, such as the vine, a twist betu^een the parent and the 
 place pegged down, but as near it as possible, is sufiicient to 
 hasten the striking, because the course of the sap is inter- 
 rupted, and the branch is left more to its own resources ; and 
 nature is always struggling to supply deficiencies, consequently
 
 224 PRACTICAL GAEDENING. 
 
 the branch, being curtailed of its usual nourishment, will make 
 an effort to supply the deficiency. But there are many ways 
 of intercepting the course of the sap ; in some cases, by 
 cutting the wood or branch half through by a notch ; but 
 this would often lead to the fracture of the other half when 
 we attempted to bend it, so that it is generally made a work 
 of some nicety. The best way, perhaps, is to find, by bending 
 down the branch, where it will best dip into the soil ; and at 
 this place, with a sharp knife cut a sloping cut into the wood, 
 and gently incline the knife, so that in a cut of an inch and 
 a half we may get nearly, but not quit-e, to the centre of the 
 wood, and this should reach a joint, or place where there is a 
 leaf ; but the knife must go a little further, say an inch past 
 the joint, and the wood shaved up below the joint must be 
 cut off close to the under part of the joint. When the earth 
 is loosened, and a peg put' in to hold the branch down, the 
 joint naturally opens out a little way, and the branch, de- 
 prived of one half its nourishment, but not of all, will live, 
 but not flourish much, until it shall, by emitting roots at the 
 joint, make up for the deficiency of its natui'al stimulant. It 
 is the practice to layer many hard-wooded plants. Eoses also, 
 when growing on their own roots, may be layered. Moss-roses 
 are commonly layered for propagation ; and every shrub or 
 tree that throws up suckers from the root will always root 
 quickly on being layered. Climbing plants root in general so 
 rapidly at the joints that layering is done without any cutting. 
 There may be a complete lengtli, or shoot, laid along the 
 ground, and a stone laid on every joint, or the joints all 
 pegged down ; for they will, for the most part, root even on 
 the surface. The proper mode of treatment, for a preparation 
 for layering, is to plant out the subject, whatever it may be, 
 in a place convenient for the operation. Cut back the shrub 
 pretty close to the ground if it be very young, but if it be an 
 established plant, and the branches can be layered the first 
 year, be it so ; but all the branches that cannot be layered 
 must be cut back close ; then layer the branches, in the way 
 we have described, all round. AYhile the old branches are 
 growing and taking root, fresh branches are springing up for 
 layering next season. When the branches are layered they 
 ought not to be more than three or four inches out of the 
 ground ; therefore, in rhododendrons, azaleas, andromedas, 
 deutzias, laui-ustinus, hardy heaths, lilacs, ribes, and any
 
 PROPAGATION. 225 
 
 other shrubs which have a neat head at the end of the branch, 
 layering should be done as near the end as will allow of the 
 head forming the plant at once ; and this especially apphes 
 to rhododendrons, and all others that bloom at the ends of the 
 joints. 
 
 Many ornamental fruit-trees are propagated by layering. 
 Any plant that emits fibrous roots in abundance can be always 
 layered, although this habit greatly facilitates the striking 
 of cuttings ; but the advantage of layers over cuttings is that 
 we can make a much larger plant in a season ; and indeed 
 in many cases a plant is fit to put out, where it is perma- 
 nently to stand, at the end of the first season, where a cutting 
 would be almost insignificant although firmly rooted. Many 
 plants will root when layered, that would not, with ordinary 
 means, strike freely as cuttings ; and some will not strike at 
 all. Layering is therefore a desirable operation with a very 
 large portion of nursery stock ; and those who have choice 
 shrubs in plantations should always turn to account any 
 branches that come near the bottom, by layering them in the 
 autumn ; for they would be able to take up the next autumn 
 duplicates of many of their best plants. Where shrubs have 
 been growing for a considerable time among others, and there 
 has been a great fall of the leaf, many of the branches will be 
 found completely earthed up, as it were, with the accumula- 
 tions of leaf-mould ; and it is these branches that will in 
 many cases be found already rooted, especially laurustinus, 
 Pyrus japonica, azaleas, hardy heaths, and such like ; and 
 in taking one of these old plants up to remove, it will be 
 found that we can take off numerous rooted plants, which 
 have only to be pruned and planted out. By jiruning we 
 mean, cut back pretty well to the ground, because it is clear 
 that, although they have rooted, they have always had the 
 assistance of the parent plant, and therefore, when entirely 
 separated at once, they would not be capable of supporting 
 all the growth that they had made while on the old plant ; and 
 that, with such a sudden check, the less they have to support, 
 the better they will succeed. The self-made layers are gene- 
 rally good plants ; but the spontaneous rooting of branches 
 which grow from under the surface, or by their own weight 
 press down to the ground, could not be depended on for a 
 supply ; and the j^lantation of stools, as the parents are called, 
 for the purpose of layering all the available branches year 
 
 p
 
 226 PRACTICAL GARDEN IXG. 
 
 after year, is quite necessary where a supply is wanted. E^ery 
 season then furnislies the rooted plants layered the year before, 
 and a new set of branches to be layered for the following year's 
 supply. But layering is not confined to shrubs : carnations, 
 picotees, and even pinks are propagated to a considerable 
 extent by layers ; and there are very few plants which have 
 sound stems, that keep alive through the winter, but what 
 could be propagated the same way. The operation is similar : 
 at a proper distance from the top of the branch, say three or 
 four joints down, or even more if the joints are close, the 
 incision is to be made on the under part, half an inch below 
 a joint, and the knife is made to approach very near to the 
 centre of the stem, and to pass the joint upwards ; the portion 
 severed below the joint is then cut close up, the earth stirred 
 an inch or two below the surface, and mixed wuth a little sand ; 
 the branch is then pegged down so that the cut portion is 
 half an inch below the surface, and well watered immediately. 
 The plant, in fact, must be kept moderately moist until the 
 layers begin to grow and root weU. In a few weeks it may 
 be tried whether the layers have rooted, by withdrawing the 
 peg and trying gently to raise the layer. This must be done 
 by a delicate hand, because, if roughly tried, young fibres just 
 starting might be broken. But many of the bottom shoots 
 of the pink, picotee, and carnation, are found too short to 
 layer at all. These then have to be cut off and struck under 
 a hand-glass. There is much difference of opinion as to 
 whether a layer or a cutting is the best for growing and 
 blooming ; but practice among the best growers has long de- 
 cided that all the shoots that are long enough should be layered, 
 and all those that are not long enough should be cut off and 
 struck. The same principle that rules with regard to shrubs 
 rules with these hardy perennials ; it is by lessening the 
 nourishment from the plant that we drive the layer to supply 
 the deficiency by making new roots ; and the principal care 
 that we have in layering is, not to leave the portion attached 
 to the plant less than half the thickness at any one place, 
 because it would endanger the supply ; at the same time, it 
 ought to be cut very near to half the thickness, or the plant 
 would not miss the supply, and consequently not make any 
 effort to support itseK. 
 
 !Many plants form their own increase by striking root 
 wherever they touch the earth ; the strawberry, for instance.
 
 PROPAGATION. 227 
 
 sends out its own runners, which at once strike root into the 
 earth, and every joint becomes a new plant ; while the 
 verbena, at least many of the varieties, trails along the ground, 
 and at every joint strikes fresh roots. This habit is aided by 
 pegging down, because it prevents the wind from blo"udng the 
 branches about, and tearing out the young fibres before they 
 are strong enough to resist the violence. Some florists layer 
 pansies, others will layer the chr^T^santhemum ; but whatever 
 will strike freely as cuttings ought not to be layered ; first, 
 because they are no addition or improvement to the appear- 
 ance of a plant, but the contrary; and secondly, because 
 cuttings are to be taken from plants without injuring them, 
 and be struck under a glass, where they will be no detriment 
 to the appearance of a garden. The principles of layering are 
 the same, be they applied to what they may. The sweet- 
 william, although so easily raised from seed, can only be 
 perpetuated by layers or cuttings ; and layers are by far the 
 safest and best. The sweetwilliam, if double, or more than 
 usually fine, always supplies a suflicient number of bottom 
 shoots to enable us to propagate that particular kind ; and the 
 operation is to be conducted just like the layering of carnations 
 and pinks ; and by this means we might, at any time, multiply 
 a favourite variety to any extent. A mule dianthus, twice 
 the size of a sweetwiUiam, but with much of its habit, is so 
 increased ; and we have no doubt that much might be done if 
 we simply selected the best out of a batch of sweetwilhams 
 and layered them, to perpetuate the sort, while we as carefully 
 saved their seeds to improve on them, that we may go on 
 layering the best again ; instead of which most people rely 
 entirely on seed, and allow the best after blooming to perish, 
 as they would an annual. Layering, in fact, enables us to 
 propagate many plants which it is very dijOScult to strike as 
 cuttings, and which, being easily obtained from seed, are 
 seldom improved. But a great majority of valuable trees 
 and shrubs are propagated by grafting, budding, and other 
 means. 
 
 Offsets and Parting the Eoots. — All kinds of bulbs, as 
 the tulip, hyacinth, crocus, shallot, and such like, and many 
 sorts of tubers, as the ranunculus, anemone, potato, Jerusalem 
 artichoke, rhubarb, and similar plants, and many fibrous- 
 rooted plants, like herbaceous perennials generally, will, if left 
 in the ground long enough, spread themselves to a great 
 
 p2
 
 228 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 extent, and on being dug up will almost shake to pieces. 
 Many sorts of bulbs and tubers separate into perfect bulbs 
 ond tubers for other plants ; with many tuberous and fibrous 
 roots there are numerous complete plants, but adhering to the 
 roots or tubers by trifling pieces, which only require to be 
 parted with the knife, or perhaps pulled apart by the hand. 
 All these rooted side-shoots, and bulbs, and tubers, which 
 have increased of themselves, and only require separating, are 
 called offsets ; but there are other plants whose roots spread, 
 or whose tubers increase in size, without the least effort to 
 separate ; and it is in such cases that we, by the knife, separate 
 the increased size of the roots, or pieces that contain eyes or 
 crowns, which form separate plants on being grown after this 
 separation. 
 
 We have already said that time will separate most of these ; 
 but we cannot, in the work of propagation, wait for time. In 
 seven years a plant may spread, and the part which attaches 
 the outside shoots to the main plant might separate of itseK, 
 In fact, we have seen, by the process of time, all the interior of 
 a spreading herbaceous plant decayed, and a ring of several 
 spreading plants stretching its way outwards, and when the 
 mass was taken up it would naturally separate into several 
 pieces, but each piece might contain a dozen crowns or hearts 
 of plants, and with a sharp knife each might be separated 
 with a piece of root attached to it, and so form the new plant. 
 But when the object is to propagate the plant rapidly, this 
 separation should take place every season, as soon as the plant 
 is at rest. Polyanthuses, primroses, phloxes, paeonies, rhubarb, 
 many kinds of iris, perennial lupines, hollyhocks, &c., should 
 be parted as soon as the leaves begin to decay, by digging up 
 the plants, shaking all the soil from the roots, and then with 
 a sharp knife cutting through the fleshy parts of the root, so 
 as to keep a piece of the root to every crown ; and these should 
 be unmediately planted in nursery beds, to grow into strength 
 for planting out, or they may at once be placed where they 
 are to remain. But as some will occasionally die off" instead 
 of growing, it is better to make plantations of plants a year 
 old from planting ; or if the permanent place must be occu- 
 pied at once, we must separate into several small pieces, but 
 leave two or three crowns to each piece of tuber or root. In 
 resjDect to bulbs and tubers, such as crocuses, tulips, hyacinths, 
 shallots, and such like, or anemones and ranunculuses, they
 
 PROPAGATION. 229 
 
 have only to be taken up every season wlien tlie leaves decay, 
 and the offsets, which form perfect and complete plants in all 
 but size, have only to be cleaned and separated ; the larger 
 ones being sorted for replanting or sale, and the smaller ones 
 being kept separate, to be grown into size another year. 
 
 Some herbaceous plants spread so rapidly, and the roots 
 meet together so closely, that the patch may be dug up and 
 chopped to pieces with the spade; that is to say, a large 
 patch may be chopped across to make two, or crossed again 
 to make four, or each of these divided to make eight or 
 sixteen, according to the size they are at first, and the size 
 they are required. However the roots may be injured by 
 such rough usage, there is sure to be enough sound to grow 
 again ; and therefore, clumsy as the mode may seem, it 
 is very commonly done with rapidly-spreading herbaceous 
 plants. Those roots or tubers of which the plants actually 
 die down every season, such as anemones, pseonies, rhubarb, 
 and the like, may generally be separated into the smallest 
 si^es. They are full of eyes or crowns, which may be easily 
 seen, and the smallest eye forms a plant ; but unless it be to 
 propagate a new variety as fast as possible, they are generally 
 only separated into pieces of sufficient size to form a good 
 plant the first year. There are other roots or tubers, which 
 do not show the least appearance of an eye or growing place 
 until the spring actually sets them growing. These are 
 capable of being propagated by parting the roots or tubers, 
 but the work cannot be done with any certainty until the 
 eyes shoot out into growth. The dahlia is of this description ; 
 but the eyes may be excited earlier by throwing the tubers 
 into a hot-bed, without even potting. When the eyes start, 
 the tuber may be cut into any number of pieces, so that 
 there be an eye to each ; and each piece may be potted and 
 grown in heat until the planting-out time. Corms, as the 
 solid bulbs of the cyclamen and similarly habited plants are 
 called, do not throw offsets like tuhps and hyacinths, but are 
 propagated by cutting the bulbs into pieces, which must have 
 part of the hving crown to each to grow from ; but it is far 
 more profitable to grow these from seed, which being saved 
 from the plant, and not in company with any other plants of 
 the same family, may be pretty well depended on. JS'ever- 
 theless, if it must be the same individual propagated, the 
 bulb may be allowed to start a little, to show how much of it
 
 230 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 will emit leaves, and then separate the bulb into as many 
 pieces as have growing parts to them ; put these pieces in 
 heat directly, in good rich soil, and you will soon have 
 plants. A bulb wiU generally divide into four or five pieces 
 when it has attained three years of age; and, if it grows 
 freely, perhaps sooner. Some plants, to be fine, really 
 require to be confined to one heart. The hollyhock ought to 
 be separated so that only one stem shall grow ; the auricula 
 is separated so that but one heart shall grow, and if more 
 than one appears, the weaker should be rubbed off or taken 
 off, for two trusses of fiowers could not be thrown from one 
 plant, in good condition and strength. The polyanthus also 
 should have but one heart and truss of bloom, and is not 
 allowed to be exhibited with more than one. 
 
 Suckers. — Suckers which come from roots are of the same 
 nature as oflscts ; some, however, separate themselves, others 
 require the knife to part them ; but, strictly speaking, perhaps 
 all underground shoots of plants that emanate from the roots, 
 and form roots for themselves, may be called offsets ; but we 
 have treated such shoots when on hard-wooded trees and 
 shrubs, among layers and suckers ; for there are some trees 
 that so abound ^vith suckers that they may be cut off with 
 roots to them every season. Of this the nut, lilac, wild 
 plum, rose, and laurustinus form examples. The only reason, 
 perhaps, for not calling them offsets is, that they want 
 cutting or tearing away from the parent root, whether they 
 are one year or two years old ; whereas most of those called 
 offsets separate of themselves in time. Some tuberous roots 
 will propagate themselves by offsets, and may also be propa- 
 gated by parting ; for example, the potato : we take up a dozen 
 tubers, and each of these tubers is capable of being separated 
 into two or more pieces, according to the size of the tuber, or 
 rather the number of eyes it has got ; for every piece with 
 an eye to it may be grown, and form a separate plant, to 
 produce the next year a new crop, perhaps as large as the 
 one it came from. The next mode of propagating that we 
 shall notice is grafting. 
 
 Grafting. — If a man desired to be a good workman at 
 grafting, he might be apprenticed to a whip maker, a fishing- 
 rod maker, or a fancy-stick maker, and learn all that he need 
 know in the actual manipulation of the art of grafting. It is 
 the art of joining two pieces of wood together neatly, and
 
 PROPAGATION. 231 
 
 in such a way as in dead wood bound together would 
 be strong. The difference is in this particular ; that, in 
 grafting, it is joining two hving pieces of wood, one of which 
 is a branch or the trunk of a plant growing, and the other 
 is a hving piece cut from another plant. Whatever join, 
 therefore, is intended, whether a sloping cut merely to both 
 pieces, so that they join neatly and hold together with 
 moderately firm tying, or cutting each piece half through to a 
 certain distance, and forming shoulders to fit each other, or 
 one cut into a wedge shape and the other having a cleft cut 
 like a clothes-peg to receive it, no matter what form or plan 
 is adopted so that it be done neatly and quickly, and if 
 bound up before the sap has time to dry, all and every kind 
 of splice is ejQ&cacious. It has only to be done with a sharp 
 knife and a dexterous hand, so that no part of either wound 
 be bruised or damaged, and the barks of each actually join 
 the other. So far as we have yet noticed, we contemplate 
 the graft and the stock, which is the plant the graft is put 
 on, as being of the same size ; but there is a mode of meeting 
 every circumstance under which grafting is performed. 
 
 The objects in graftmg are various. One is, to give to a 
 weakly variety of any plant the benefit of a strong-growing 
 root and stem, and thus giving it a three or four years old 
 stem and root ; while, if it were a cutting, or layer upon its 
 own root, the plant would be actually older than the root, 
 and, consequently, the supply of sap limited for a considerable 
 time. Another object is, to multiply a new plant which is 
 valuable, by cutting off as many grafts as it will afford, and 
 putting them on stocks of a kind that is plentiful and cheap. 
 A third object is, to change a plant already growing well in 
 its place, from a variety we dislike to a variety we require ; by 
 which means we can change an entire orchard, if necessary, 
 from worthless to valuable, or from old to new fruit. Of 
 the many varieties of grafting that have been recommended 
 by different authors, many are whimsical, troublesome, and 
 occupy more time and attention than are at all necessary. 
 The more simple a graft is, the quicker it is done, and the 
 more certain of success ; for the sole aim in grafting is to 
 unite the two parts so that the piece grafted on shall imme- 
 diately be sustained by the plant it is joined to, and that this 
 may be the more readily accomplished, the air is kept away 
 from the join by means of a lump of grafting clay close fitted
 
 232 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 on all round the place of union. There are conditions that 
 must be attended to by the operator in grafting : — 
 
 First, — The wood of both stock and graft must be so cut 
 as to fit each other closely. 
 
 Secondly, — The bark of the graft must actually touch or 
 join the bark of the stock on one side of the join, if not on 
 both. 
 
 Thirdly, — The operation must be done so quickly, that the 
 sap shall not have time to dry up before it is tied and 
 covered. 
 
 Fourthly, — The graft and the stock must be of similar 
 families or orders, as plants strange in their natures will not 
 join. Generally, the wild and natural kinds of anything 
 make the best stocks ; as the wild plum for all the cultivated 
 plums, the crab for apples, the wild cherry for the improved 
 ones ; but there are many stocks that have been found appro- 
 priate, though to all appearance different in their natures. 
 
 Fifthly, — The state of the stock and graft should be that 
 of active progress ; the buds should be swelling preparatory 
 to the new growth, but not too far advanced towards bursting. 
 
 Lastly, — The air must be kept from the join, or the bark 
 would shiivel ; and if barks were not absolutely close to each 
 other, no union would take place. 
 
 We have already said that if the stock and graft are of the 
 same size, which is not generally the case, a sloping cut would 
 be enough, the same as a broken stick would be spliced ; but 
 nine times out of ten the stock is much thicker than the graft, 
 and then some other method must be adopted ; one mode is 
 to cut the graft to an angle, forming almost a triangle, except 
 that the bark of the graft must form, as it were, one of the 
 three sides ; then cut an angle iato the stock to fit the graft, 
 and bind it, so that the bark of the graft exactly touches the 
 bark of the stock, and in fact fills up the angle. Another 
 way is, to cut a flat side, sloping a little, perhaps, near the top 
 of the stock, and then cut a flat side to the graft, by shaving 
 half away for three or four inches up. Xow, as the flat part 
 of the stock wiU be three or four times as wide as the graft, 
 the graft must be firmly tied to one side of the flat in the 
 stock, so that the bark of the graft shall touch and join the 
 bark of the stock ; for, though it may appear strange, the graft 
 will grow and fill up all the flat part in time, and be as firm 
 as if it had been originally as large as the stock itself ; but if
 
 PROPAGATION. 233 
 
 the graft slioiild be shifted in the binding but a hair's-breadth 
 away from the bark, so that the two barks do not meet, faihire 
 is certain, for it will not join to the plain wood of the stock. 
 Very small grafts may be put on to very large trunks, and do 
 well, by splitting out a knife-shaped slit just through the bark, 
 and cutting out a knife-shaped wedge in the stock ; only keep 
 in mind the touching of the barks, or you fail to a certainty. 
 It is only in grafting old trees to change the sorts that this 
 plan is necessary. By attending to the conditions before 
 given, there will be no difi&culty in succeeding with a graft, 
 and the advantage of grafting may be estimated, when it is 
 considered that a pear or an apple-tree found to be good, might 
 be grafted on a hundred crab stocks, and in one year become 
 a hundred trees, identically the same as the one the grafts 
 were taken from. But grafting is not confined to fruit-trees. 
 Every kind of shrub, stove, greenhouse, or hardy, may be 
 grafted. The newest and best rhododendrons may be grafted 
 on the common ponticum, which, if abeady established in the 
 ground, and doing well, would cause the new sort to grow 
 most vigorously. All the fancy thorns could be grafted on a 
 common hedge. The finest azaleas may be put on the oldest 
 and worst, if the proper conditions be attended to. The vines 
 in a hot-house may be changed in a season, for the entire 
 vigour of the established plant would be throTVTi into the graft, 
 by which means the Black Hamburgh gi^ape of the last season 
 may be converted into the Muscat or Frontignac of the pre- 
 sent, or the Sweetwater of the present be changed to the Black 
 Prince of the next. There have been recommended far too 
 many ways of grafting, as if the more ways there could be 
 found of doing the same thing, the better instead of the worse 
 for the learner. The most simple are the best and the most 
 certain. 
 
 Inarching. — Grafting by approach, or, as it is also called, 
 inarching, is the art of uniting the branch of one tree to the 
 stock of another before either are separated, for the graft is 
 half supported by the parent plant while it unites, and there- 
 fore, there is no risk of losing the graft. In this operation, 
 we have simply to cut, or rather shave half way through the 
 branch intended to be grafted on the stock, and to shave the 
 stock in like manner to a flat place wide enough to receive it ; 
 the tAvo are then brought together and bound fii-mly, taking 
 especial care that the barks meet : by bending the two a little,
 
 234 PRACTICAL GAEDEXIXG. 
 
 the flat parts come togetlier quite close. The manner in which 
 this is accomplished, is by bringing the two pots containing 
 the plants close together, and so fixing them that they may be 
 tied, and remain undisturbed until they unite. By this means 
 a much longer branch may be put on a stock than could be 
 put if separated from the parent stem, because when separated 
 the graft much depends on the very limited supply of nourish- 
 ment that could be derived from the stock, and, unless very 
 email, would perish for want of sustenance ; whereas, when on 
 the parent plant, although a portion of the branch is shaved 
 half way through, a sufficiency of nourishment to prevent its 
 even flagging, comes from the parent root, while the stock 
 supplies the rest that may be snfficient to cause the union. 
 When this union has taken place, the portion of stock above 
 the graft is cut off, and the portion of the plant from which 
 the graft is taken is separated below the graft, which graft, 
 being now on the stock, forms a new plant of the variety 
 wanted. This operation is mostly performed on camellias, 
 every branch of a plant wanted to be propagated being inarched 
 on a separate stock, so that half-a-dozen plants are made of 
 one, and the plant, in another year's growth, is the handsomer 
 for being cut back; but grafting with the grafts separated 
 from the plant makes the same quantity of wood do for many 
 more stocks, because a small piece of wood and a single bud 
 will be sufiicient for the graft. This is frequently done with 
 choice kinds, and the easiest way of doing this is to cut a 
 stock down pretty close to the bottom, to cleave it in the 
 middle, cutting out some inwardly on both sides, so as to form 
 a sht the shape of a V? then to cut the wood of the graft the 
 shape of a wedge to go into it, with the bud just above, and 
 this being neatly tied with bass or worsted, and covered with 
 grafting-wax or clay, as high as the bud, will make a good 
 shoot in one season. By inarching, therefore, we get a toler- 
 able plant in one season, but by cutting the branch so inarched 
 into as many pieces as there are buds, we should' get so many 
 more, but smaller plants. This appHes to all hard-wooded 
 shrubs, rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, correas, and many 
 other choice subjects, and the practice is regulated by the 
 value of the subjects to be increased. In grafting fruit-trees, 
 the stocks are prepared according to the kind of tree required ; 
 dwarfs for the wall, for espaliers, or for bushes, are cut close 
 to the ground, that is, within six inches or a foot of the root^
 
 PROPAGATION. 235 
 
 because they are required to brancli out close to the ground, 
 and in some kind of standards the trunk is required to be of 
 the new wood, and these must be grafted equally low. In 
 other kinds, the stock is made the height of the intended 
 trunk, and the gi-aft is put on the top. Where the new plant 
 is scaroe, and of weaker growth than the stock, they are al- 
 ways grafted at the height that the head is required, as roses 
 on briers, c}i;isus on laburnmn. So also when fnie heads are 
 required soon, as in thorns, mespilus, or double-flowering 
 cherries, peaches, and almonds, the stocks of all these being 
 the commonest and most ^vild and natural sorts, and the heads 
 making themselves at once. In all grafted subjects the stocks 
 must be prevented from shooting, for a very few wreeks' growth 
 of the vigorous stock would so rob the graft of its nourish- 
 ment that it would cease to grow, and finally cease to live. 
 All grafted trees and shrubs, therefore, require to be examined 
 once a-week at the least, and every shoot from the stock cut 
 off so close to the trunk as to prevent them from shooting 
 again in the same place. In the same manner, all growths 
 from the root must be cut off below the surface, not merely 
 cut down, for suckers will come up in greater plenty if they 
 are only cut off at the surface of the ground. AVhen the 
 union has taken place, which may be known by the growth, 
 the ties and the wax or clay should be removed, and the 
 growth regulated. If it be naturally in branches, remove any 
 that are too close and in each other's way, so that only such 
 as are in a right direction to form a head be left. Any 
 vigorous shoot that seems to take aU the growth to itself may 
 be shortened back to three or four leaves ; and if, as is very 
 frequently the case, the graft makes one leading shoot, let it be 
 shortened to thi'ee or four leaves or eyes, that it may be forced 
 into lateral shoots, for the first season's growth ought to be in 
 a right direction. 
 
 RooT-GRAFTixG. — Grafting, however, does not necessarily 
 confine itself to operations above-ground. Tuberous-rooted 
 plants are often grafted on the root, or tuber. The dahlia 
 will graft easily by taking a cutting from a choice kind, and 
 first cutting a slope or a notch in a blind tuber, then forming 
 the cutting so as to fit it, gently binding it in its place, and 
 planting or potting it below the surface. The cutting will, if 
 well done, continue to grow as if it were on the parent plant. 
 The ipomea, also a tuberous root, will readily graft. A choice
 
 236 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 kind lias tlius frequently been propagated rapidly. Root- 
 grafting is also practised on roses and many other subjects, 
 the only diiference in the operation being the cutting of the 
 stock off below the surface, and the cutting of the rose being 
 grafted to the root. In the autumn or winter, or very early 
 spring, when we dig among the roses, we find abundance of 
 suckers, and we may get them up with plenty of root attached. 
 Cut off the sucker, and take the roots while they are moist ; 
 either sht the root, and put the rose-cutting in like a wedge, 
 or cut a long slope to the root, and a similar slope on the 
 ripened wood of the cutting. Make them fit properly; tie 
 them together, and plant the graft below the surface. All 
 this must be done before the root has time to grow ; and very 
 few, if any, wall miss. 
 
 Cleft-grafting. — The best graft for the vine is a cleft- 
 graft, as it IS called ; that is, the stock of the vine is split, 
 and the inside shaved out to admit the graft, which is to be 
 cut in form of a wedge, to go into it, the binding and claying, 
 or waxing over the place of union being the same as for other 
 subjects. But another method has been practised with suc- 
 cess, even while the vines are growing. Select a vigorous 
 shoot of the vine near the bottom; get a vine of the sort 
 required groAving in a pot ; shave out a piece to make a flat 
 side, pretty nearly half-way through the new shoot, which 
 should be about the same size as the shoot of the old vine, 
 which must be cut or shaved away to a flat side, so that the 
 two may fit when brought together. This done, the pot 
 should be so fixed as to enable us to bring the two flat 
 sides in contact, and let them be neatly bound together with 
 worsted. The end of the old vine-shoot must be pinched 
 off, and the new one will take up the growth. After a 
 while, it will be seen they are united, and then the pot may 
 be dispensed with, the graft being cut from it, and left on 
 the old plant, which should now be cut back as much as 
 it can be with safety, to throw all the strength into the 
 new shoot. Mr. Towers, we believe it was, who averred that 
 he had known a .growth of ten or twelve feet. The new shoot 
 has to be carefully supported, that it may not be damaged by 
 its own weight. To show how certain an operation grafting 
 is, when properly done, it is not uncommon for trees to graft 
 themselves. That is to say, it is a very familiar occurrence to 
 see, in a tree which has been blown about by the wind, two
 
 PROPAGATION. 237 
 
 branches whicli have chafed each other till the hark has been 
 rubbed off, actually united in a firm graft. When both the 
 stock and the graft are just in good order, that is, almost ready 
 to bui'st their buds, there is very little trouble and uncertainty 
 in the operation ; but a wrong stock, a perished graft, a bad 
 fit, a slow workman, or the omission of any one of the neces- 
 sary conditions, destroys the chance of success, and must end 
 in disappointment. It is well worth while to see a man at 
 work at grafting, if it be only to get a practical lesson, for 
 seeing the operation well performed once will be of great 
 service, although if our directions are attended to, there will 
 be little difficulty. 
 
 The grafting of roses is not so certain an operation as many 
 other subjects, because there is a soft pith in the middle of the 
 wood, and the brier partakes of the evil. The French people, 
 however, do perform the operation occasionally under parti- 
 cular circumstances. Established briers, which have been 
 budded the season before, and the buds of which have failed, 
 tempt us to try the experiment ; and the wood to be pruned 
 off choice varieties, offers us the opportunity. The best chance 
 of success will be under the following plan of operation : — 
 First, cut do"svn the brier to the top live shoot, in a sloping 
 direction, the bud, or branch of the brier being at the top of 
 the slope, l^ext, as there is pith in the centre, split down the 
 lowest side of the stock an inch or two, and, with a very sharp 
 knife, slice out a small piece in an angular direction, leaving 
 an angular vacancy. Cut the wood of the graft, which should 
 be strong and well-ripened, to fit on the place cut in the 
 stock, so as to bring the bark of the graft and the bark of the 
 stock together. Biud this well in, and cover with grafting 
 wax, to keep away the air and the weather. In cutting the 
 graft, let there be one eye below the top of the brier, and one 
 or two above it. At the season of growth, the top eye or 
 branch of the stock will grow, and draw the sap past the 
 graft, because it is in the highest side of the sloping cut, and 
 the graft wlQ, probably, shoot at aU the eyes, though we have 
 more than once had the graft taken and the top killed, while 
 the obj ect had been accomphshed by the eye below the top of 
 the stock being saved. We have mentioned the advantage of 
 sharp knives in grafting ; but in rose-grafting it is so abso- 
 lutely necessary, that nearly all the failures may be attributed 
 to the bruising of the wood, which with even a moderate
 
 238 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 knife is inevitable, so soft and spongy is the wood of the 
 grafts, and so difficult is it to make a clean incision in the 
 brier. 
 
 Stocks. — ^The stocks for grafting may be always raised from 
 the seed of the wildest and most vigorous kinds of the plant 
 that is improved. Apple-pips will produce apple-stocks ; 
 pear-pips will produce pear-stocks ; and although the finest 
 varieties of our fruits of all kinds have been procured from 
 the same means, we may always see, among a quantity of 
 seedlings, which are the wild and which are deviations that 
 afford a chance of a new and good variety. But, strange as it 
 may appear, nature will assert her right, and the tendency of 
 seedlings to go back to the wild sorts is almost universal. 
 Hence, thousands of subjects may be raised from seed, and 
 scarcely any one be an improvement ; wliile the great majo- 
 rity, perhaps nine out of ten, go back to the original, or there- 
 about. Sow seeds from the Eibstone pippin, and you have 
 crabs ; sow pips of the Gansel's Bergamot, and you have a 
 wild and scarcely eatable pear. Peach, nectarine, and plum- 
 stones will make the best stocks for their several purposes. 
 Cherry-stones will give us plenty of wild cherries : any im- 
 provement, any deviation, is the exception, not the rule. But 
 frord the seed-bed we may fairly watch the growth ; and if 
 there be anything in the habit or foliage of particular plants 
 to justify the expectation of better things, you need not use 
 them for stocks, but let them grow till they speak for them- 
 selves. If, indeed, there be anything very remarkable, it may 
 be worth grafting a piece on a strong stock, to hasten the 
 result. All the variegated holly-berries go back, or rather 
 produce the common green one. Even the yellow berries of 
 that favourite variety produce nothing but the common red- 
 berried one that we may see in the woods. And it is upon 
 these wild stocks that the choice varieties are worked ; and 
 perhaps it is a right conclusion of some authors, that most of 
 the variegations in the holly are the result of sporting 
 branches, which have been perpetuated by cuttings, grafts, 
 or by budding, which is the subject of our next observations, 
 because nearly allied to that of grafting, having the same 
 object, and answering the same purpose, of propagation. 
 
 Budding. — As grafting is the transfer of a branch from one 
 tree, shrub, or plant to another, so this operation is the trans- 
 ferring of a single bud from one to another. By this operation
 
 PROPAGATION. 239 
 
 we propagate a scarce plant to a great extent in a single 
 season, and form a much stronger and more vigorous tree, or 
 bush, or shrub in a year than we could by any other means 
 in a long period. At the base of every leaf when fully grown 
 there is a bud which is an embryo plant. This would become 
 a branch, and if cut off and struck, as it is called, — that is, 
 made to form a root, — it would be another plant, but it would 
 take years to become such a matured plant as we can, by the 
 operation of budding, make in a season. 
 
 Budding is performed very generally on plums, peaches, 
 nectarines, and apricots, among fruit-trees, and many hard- 
 wooded plants, and roses are almost invariably propagated by 
 this means. To perform budding well, the bark of the stock 
 should admit of being easily detached from the wood, for it 
 consists of removing a bit of the bark of one subject with 
 the leaf and bud on it, and by slitting and raising the bark 
 of another, and tucking the piece mth the bud under it and 
 binding it in, making it form part of the plant it is put on, 
 which it ^tlU do in a few weeks. By cutting the other plant 
 all away but the portion which holds this bud, a new indi- 
 vidual is formed, and the old one, except as a stem for the 
 new one, is destroyed. The opportunity this gives to propa- 
 gate new and valuable varieties is almost inconceivable, for 
 the bud forms a head or a perfect tree in every respect like 
 the one it Avas taken from ; and however coarse the stock may 
 be, the delicacy, the colour, the habit, the properties generally, 
 are alike unaltered in the new plant. Perhaps, so far as 
 amateur gardeners are concerned, the most extensive operation 
 in budding is with the rose. It is a delicate proceeding, and 
 adapted for ladies. Every one who is fond of the rose can 
 obtain a few briers in autumn at any of the nurseries, or of 
 the numerous vendors who constantly employ themselves at 
 that time of the year in obtaining them from the highways 
 and hedges and in hawking them about. They are generally to 
 be had at from seven to twelve shillings per hundred. These 
 should be carefully pruned at the roots, to take off all bruised 
 ends and damaged parts, and also to bring them into a reason- 
 able compass, for they are generally taken out of the ground 
 carelessly, and have often long straggling shoots. These 
 should be planted about eighteen inches apart in the row, 
 and three feet from row to row, and planted with as much care 
 as if they Avere standard roses, with roots only just below the 
 surface 3 an upright stake about every fifth rose, and a shght
 
 240 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 rail from stake to stake, to tie all the briers firmly to, so as to 
 stand against the wind, Tvill be sufficient. As these briers 
 grow, all but the top two or three shoots should be rubbed of^ 
 that all the strength may go into the useful bunches. These 
 briers require frequent examination, to cut away all extra 
 shoots, which they would be constantly pushing out all the sea- 
 son. In July they will be ready to bud, which however will 
 be easily ascertained by cutting a slit in the bark and trying 
 whether it runs well, — that is, if it is easily lifted from the 
 wood. Then the buds should be sought; those on well- 
 grown shoots of the favourite rose, where the leaves are fully 
 grown, are the only ones that should be used. With a very 
 sharp budding-knife, a slit should be made an inch and a 
 quarter long just through the bark to the wood, within a very- 
 short distance of the bottom of the brier shoot, and on the 
 upper side ; a cross cut should then be made three-quarters 
 of an inch from the bottom of the slit, and with the thin 
 handle of the budding-knife the bark should be lifted a little 
 both sides all along the slit ; then, with the budding-knife, 
 which is kept very sharp, the leaf should be shaved off, be- 
 ginning half an inch below the leaf with a sort of diving 
 cut, which would make the piece thickest just by the leaf, 
 and the knife should come out again half an inch above the 
 leaf. It win be found that with the bark there has also come 
 a small piece of the solid wood : by holding the leaf between 
 the thumb and finger of the left hand, and lifting the wood 
 at the end that grows upwards with the point of the knife, it 
 can be held by the knife and the thumb and be drawn out. 
 The bark with the bud and leaf can be then carefully tucked 
 under the bark at the cross mark and be pushed down to the 
 bottom of the slit, wliich will open to let the stem of the leaf 
 pass just below the cross cut, while that part of the piece of 
 bark which is beyond the cross cut, can be cut off there, or 
 else tucked under the bark that is above the cross cut, the 
 bark of the stock being folded over and tied down upon the 
 bark of the bud which will be thus circled, with a piece of 
 bass matting, or worsted, wliich seems to be the favourite tie 
 now. The shoots of the stock may now be shortened to the 
 lowest side shoot, to check the too heavy di^aw upon the sap 
 of the stock. Whether one, two, or three shoots are budded, 
 and whether all with the same rose or different ones, is a 
 matter of taste ; but the operation with each and aU is precisely 
 the same, and so it is aU through the rows.
 
 PROPAGATION. 241 
 
 In binding down the bark, the tie must not be too strong, 
 the stem and the leaf must remain outside undamaged, and 
 the work be gone through as quickly as possible, for on that 
 much depends. Damp weather is better for budding than 
 bright sunny days, but if the sun shines hot, let each bud as 
 it is put in be covered with some wet moss losely laid on 
 over the bud, and while the weather continues hot, let the 
 moss be kept damp by wetting it every morning before the 
 sun is up, at least for a week or two. From the time the 
 budding is done, the stock must be examined, first to rub off 
 all the new shoots, and second, to see that notliing is dis- 
 turbed ; for the shortening of the main branches will induce 
 the stock to send out new shoots, and if this were permitted, 
 the sap would be diverted from its regular course past the 
 bud to the side shoot beyond it, and delay, if not prevent, the 
 union of the bud and the stock. In a few days the mass 
 may be removed, and in a few weeks the ties may be undone 
 to examine the buds, and tied rather more loosely ; if the 
 buds seem to have taken, which will be indicated by the 
 plumpness and greenness of them, the growth of the stock 
 beyond the bud may be checked again by shortening the side 
 shoot, and in time, taking it away altogether ; but still the 
 stocks may be treacherous, and send out shoots between the 
 root and the bud, which, if neglected, would soon take up all 
 the sap, and deprive the bud of the nourishment it requires. 
 It is not imlikely that the buds, or at least many of them, 
 will push and make considerable growth, and in that case 
 they must be supported, by tying a stick to reach a foot 
 above the stock, and to this the new shoot may be loosely 
 tied, that it may not be blown out by the wind, and all the 
 growing part of the stock must be cut clean away, that the 
 entire strength may be thrown into the new shoot of the bud ; 
 but many of the buds will be found perfectly united, and yet 
 make no growth. They are none the worse for this, but the 
 stock must be prevented from growing anyivhere, and the bud 
 must wait till the next season. 
 
 We have, as yet, only mentioned the brier as a stock ; but 
 there are many roses which grow even more vigorously than 
 the brier, and which are therefore used for stocks. All the 
 smooth- wooded lands of rose, or nearly all, will bud well 
 upon the common China, and it is one of the prettiest experi- 
 ments in rose growing to bud an old established China rose, 
 
 Q
 
 242 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 that perhaps fills up the front of a house, with several of 
 these roses. To do this properly, very strong shoots must be 
 selected of the present season's growth, and the buds should 
 be taken from roses of a continuous blooming habit, and of 
 various colours. The dark crimson China is a pretty habit. 
 Some of the hghter varieties of hybrid China may be used. 
 The yellow Noisette will grow beautifully and open freely on 
 the common China, and for the most part, all the small roses 
 on smooth-barked plants will succeed, but the old wood of 
 the China must be cut away as much as possible, excepting 
 the strong shoots that will do for budding at different 
 heights up the house. The common China, which becomes 
 the stock, must be prevented from growing. Budding the 
 small sorts of smooth-barked roses on China stocks is a 
 common practice, and it can be done at all seasons, the 
 China stocks being grown in pots for the purpose, and well 
 established. Many roses which are difficult to grow on their 
 own roots, will grow robustly on Chma stocks, but they are 
 never used for standards ; they are budded as near the sur- 
 face of the soil as possible, and the China thenceforth must 
 be prevented from growing, either out of the old wood or 
 from the root, for it would overpoAver any other. The bud- 
 ding of roses is almost a universal practice among those who 
 love the flower, for a bud or two is so easily procured from 
 a friend, and so rapidly becomes a tree or plant, as to reward 
 us for our pains. 
 
 The budding of fruit-trees, or shrubs, or plants of any kind, 
 is quite as simple, but there is not the same excitement; 
 nobody cares to keep stock by them, and we are so long 
 before we obtaia the result, that it is of a secondary conse- 
 quence. Shrubs or plants that flower are more tempting, but 
 these we know to be done by the trade, and especially on 
 the contiaent. With curious evergreens the grafting is far 
 more general. TVe have by us some curious evergreen oaks 
 preserved for their singular and beautifal foliage, which have 
 been budded on the common oak, and so neatly done that 
 now they have been growing two or three years, the working 
 hardly shows ; indeed, if we had not seen them when the 
 budding was more conspicuous, we should hardly have dis- 
 covered it now. But there is a kind of budding which should 
 be called bud grafting, much more generally in operation 
 with choice plants than either budding or grafting ; this con-
 
 PROPAGATION. 243 
 
 sists of taking the smallest bit of wood with the bud on it, 
 and fitting it in the stock : here it joins and grows, and is 
 as firm and effective as ordinary budding. Another way of 
 budding has been practised successfully, but we cannot see 
 the object, except to show the ingenuity of it. It consists 
 in cutting through the bark all round a branch just under 
 a bud, and making a second cut all round just above it, then, 
 opjDosite the bud make a perpendicular slit, so that the ring 
 of bark is detached from the plant with the bud and leaf 
 on it, a similar cut is made on the stock, and the bark is 
 removed. The bark with the bud is then placed in the space 
 made for it, and tied carefully in its place : the join has to 
 be made very neat at the top and bottom, but whether the 
 stock is larger, and there is a gap at the upright join, or 
 smaller, and a piece has to be cut out, is perfectly immaterial. 
 We, however, always recommend the plainest and simplest 
 method, and in all cases it will not only be found the easiest 
 but the best. In all newly budded trees the new shoot must 
 be steadied by some kind of support, for the wind wiU very 
 easily blow the bud out of its place if the shoot is long 
 enough to give it a purchase, and nothing can be more vexing 
 than to see our labours, which result in a fine growth that we 
 have been watching for months, destroyed in a single day. 
 
 Cuttings. — There is nothing more difficult in the whole art 
 of gardening than propagation by cuttings ; yet, to a certain 
 extent, a young beginner will succeed ; and there is hardly 
 a cottager who grows a few window-plants, who is not quite 
 au fait at raising plants from slips. The fact is, that some 
 plants are so readily struck, that we are apt to fancy every- 
 thing is to be equally obedient to our wishes ; and yet a man 
 may expend half his life in learning this branch of propaga- 
 tion. Many plants will shoot out branches from the hard 
 wood, and old-fashioned amateur cultivators of a few green- 
 house plants actually wait for such shoots, and consider them 
 lucky opportunities of obtaining new plants : their custom is, 
 when their favourite slip, as they call it, is large enough, to 
 tear it down by the heel, and, without any kind of prepara- 
 tion, to put it in the centre of a small pot, and treat it forth- 
 with as a young plant — and many things require no more 
 persuasion to root, but immediately supply themselves with 
 fibres, and constitute themselves plants. This is no isolated 
 race of amateur gardeners, but iucludes nine of every ten whc 
 
 o2
 
 244 PEACTICAL GARDENIlSi,. 
 
 are choice of their few plants, and contrive, by attention to 
 the main points of watering and shiftiQg, to grow them 
 healthy for many years, but whose collections are, of course, 
 limited. 'No lady would be without her mjT-tle, and slips of 
 this will root anywhere and anyhow. Then there are the 
 old-fashioned geraniums — the oak-leaf, the peppermint, the 
 horse-shoe, the ivy-leaf, and others prized for the scent of 
 their foliage, — which strike instantly from slips ; and, of 
 course, anything that would root easily so, would be a very 
 short time rooting from prepared cuttiags. The old Acacia 
 armata, another cottage favourite, and the fuchsia, when there 
 were but two or three known, — and that a fuchsia was a 
 fuchsia was all that any moderate amateur comprehended, — 
 was quite a star. Messembryanthemums, and two or three 
 other succulents, formed a portion of the better and more 
 extensive collections ; but all these readily struck root, if a 
 shoot was taken near the bottom, and this was the extent of 
 the general knowledge on the subject of propagation. Such 
 people never dreamed of the wholesale propagation that is 
 goLQg on at nurseries, nor did they think of using a knife to 
 prepare the base of a cutting. If there were branches broken 
 by the wind, they were stuck in a pot, and as the fracture was 
 generally where the branch joined the old wood, it rooted 
 much oftener than it failed ; but all this, simple as it seemed, 
 gave very little notion of cuttings. The most easily-rooted 
 subjects are greatly hastened by applying proper means ; and 
 although many of them will strike in a common border, if 
 properly prepared, they would root much sooner if covered 
 with a hand-glass, and still more readily if hastened by a 
 httle bottom heat. One of the first objects is to get proper 
 cuttings — that is to say, cuttings of wood, as it is called, in a 
 proper state. Some things strike best with the wood in 
 a young growing state ; others require that the wood should 
 have done its growth for the season, and become nearly ripe ; 
 some strike from the hard wood only; some will only root in 
 sand, others in wet moss ; but there are certain rules which 
 apply to all, and, if not absolutely a necessary condition, tend 
 to hasten the rooting of the most free strikers. Every morsel 
 of some plants seems to bear the rudiments of roots : the 
 gloxinia ^ill strike and form plants from leaves only; the 
 chppings of carnation leaves will often strike root as they lie 
 on the surface of the soil, although we never knew one to
 
 PKOPAGATION. 245 
 
 foriL a plant. Many succulents are so free to root, that when 
 pieces Lave been accidently left on the tan-bed, or carelessly 
 left on the soil on a pot, they push roots from their sides or 
 ends directly into the earth, and would, if left, soon become 
 perfect plants ; other things emit roots at their joints, with- 
 out any other encouragement than the damp the atmosphere 
 affords. The vine frequently does this, the balsam commonly ; 
 the verbena will trail along the ground, rooting at the base of 
 every leaf, and a single elongated shoot may often be cut up 
 into many plants. But there are other plants so obstinate, 
 that they require all the skill of an experienced propagator, 
 who could tell us of his many failures before he succeeded to 
 his mind. It is, in fact, so important a branch of the pro- 
 fession, that scores of good gardeners would be totally inca- 
 pable of undertaking a place ; and "Wanted : a propagator" 
 is as distinct from " Wanted : a gardener," at the head of an 
 advertisement for a man in that capacity, as " Wanted : a 
 bookkeeper." The first lessons in propagating hj cuttings 
 would be well given upon simple and freely-rooting plants. 
 To increase such plants, let the operator be shown first that 
 every leaf is at what is called a joint, and that as roots 
 emanate from joints, the first step after the cuttings are off 
 the plant is to cut the lower end clean up to the base of 
 a leaf Next, as the lower leaf would be inconvenient for 
 setting in the soil, the leaf should be cut off ; not that this is 
 a necessary condition, except for the convenience, because 
 many think the leaf would assist the rooting ; and it is quite 
 certain that, but for the inconvenience, it would be just as 
 well on. The leaf however, is always in the way, especially 
 if a number are to be placed in the same pot ; the cutting of 
 the lower leaves off, therefore, as high up as the stem is to be 
 set in the soil, is a matter of course. 
 
 The next point to attend to is, to have the cutting made of 
 the right length. One joint above the soil, and one below it, 
 are sufiicient in many things ; a branch of geranium, for in- 
 stance, may have half-a-dozen joints ; these might be divided 
 into three proper cuttings, each ^vith its joint at the base 
 under the soil, and one joint above the soil. Cuttings of 
 subjects with closer leaves, — such as pinks, heaths, acacias, 
 diosmos, and many others, — require several joints below, and 
 the same above ; and if the leaves were not, for a certain dis- 
 tance, to be taken off, such cuttings could never be properly
 
 246 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 planted in the pot, so as to liave tlie soil or sand close all the 
 way up to the stem — and without this, cuttings cannot well 
 root; the leaves would in some cases, prevent their being 
 made firm, or by spreading out, would actually lift up the 
 cuttings. 
 
 Among the most efficacious plans that we have adopted, we 
 think the following practice has been successful in the greatest 
 number of cases — that is to say, it has answered with the 
 greatest number of plants ; not that so much trouble or such 
 nice management is absolutely required in a half or a c[uarter 
 of the subjects, but while it is necessary, or at least efficacious, 
 ^vith a great number of plants, it certainly hastens the rooting 
 of even the most common and free-rooting subjects. 
 
 ISTo matter whether it be the epacris, acacia, heath, correa, 
 cameUia, gardenia, ixora, azalea, — in short, no matter whether 
 stove, greenhouse, frame, or hardy subject, let a pot be filled 
 one-third full of common drainage crocks, or nearly so : a bit 
 of moss covering the drainage, though not absolutely neces- 
 sary, prevents the soil from running down among it, and 
 makes the water run freely through, without washing do^vn 
 the compost. On this put the soil, which should be half loam 
 from rotted turves, and half sandy peat with the fibre in it, 
 well mixed, and rubbed through a very coarse sieve ; the pot 
 should be filled within half an inch of the top, and then it 
 should be struck on the table, so as to settle it down a little ; 
 but more should be put in, to make it at the finish level, and 
 half an inch below the rim : this half inch is to be filled to 
 the top, perfectly level with the edge of the pot, and then 
 saturated with water, till it runs through the soil, and out 
 at the bottom. Silver sand is the only proper material for 
 this, and it should be perfectly clean. The pot is then fit 
 for the reception of your cuttings, the size of it ha^dng been 
 selected as appropriate as possible for the cuttings it is to 
 receive. 
 
 Whatever be the nature of the cuttings, the preparation 
 must be similar in many respects. First, consider that you 
 want as little above the soil as will conveniently form the 
 plant, — that is, ensure a growth. Generally speaking, two 
 joints with the growing heart is sufficient in long-leaved sub- 
 jects, such as dahlias, gardenias, ixoras, camellias, neriums, 
 and such like ; and for small-leaved subjects, such as heaths, 
 half an inch above and half an inch below is sufficient. Let
 
 PROPAGATION. 247 
 
 the bottoms of these cuttings be taken off close under a joint 
 or leaf, and with a sharp knife take off the leaves full half an 
 inch high ; these cuttings should be sorted, so that each pot 
 may be filled with but one family of plants, and, when you 
 have enough, only one variety. 
 
 Next take a bell-glass that goes well inside the rim, and 
 make a mark with it in the sand ; then, the sand being satu- 
 rated with water, you may take the cuttings one by one and 
 press into the sand to the bottom of it, so as just to press but 
 not to enter the compost beneath it. ^^Tien you have put 
 all in that you intend, let the surface of the sand be watered 
 with a fine rose, to settle it well about the stems, and cover 
 with the glass, which must be gently pressed into the sand, so 
 that it shuts out the external air. If the pot be now plunged 
 into a tan-bed, or any other medium that yields a moderate 
 bottom heat, and the whole be shaded from the sun, and if 
 the glasses are removed in the morning, and the inside of the 
 glass dried, many kinds of cuttings will be rooted in a few 
 days. But water must be administered freely, and the glasses 
 must not be kept off long together for the first few days, and 
 the general warmth of the bed must not be allowed to decline. 
 If any of the cuttings should damp off from any oversight 
 in the preparation, let such as damp off or fail be at once 
 removed, that the infection may not reach the others. 
 
 In this way some of the most delicate and difficult things 
 to propagate by cuttings may be rooted with a tolerable degree 
 of certainty; but if we were propagating camellias in large 
 quantities, we should not cover them with glasses, but put the 
 pots with the cuttings, as thick as we could stick them in, 
 under the glass of a common hot- bed, and take especial care 
 that the soil in the pots did not get too dry. Very few of them 
 would miss if they were cut properly, and as they began to 
 grow we should give more air, until we could remove them to 
 a cold frame, and soon after pot them off in small pots, one 
 plant in each. The more hardy the plant, the less bottom 
 heat should there be ; but it is certain that by keeping the 
 roots warmer than the tops, the growth there is encouraged. 
 Geraniums and many other plants -^-ill strike in a common 
 border under a hand-glass, but the plan we have mentioned 
 will generally succeed with the most dehcate and the most 
 obstmate of hard-wooded exotics, as well as with the ordinary 
 free-growing plants. Eapid growmg climbers of the perennial
 
 248 PKACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 or hard- wooded kinds will generally strike very freely with 
 one joint under ground and one ahove; vines especially strike 
 so easily without any other management than merely cutting 
 them at a joint, that on one occasion we remember to have 
 used the cuttings of a vine to mark the spots where we had 
 sown annuals, and at the growing time found ourselves 
 possessed of an immense quantity of healthy plants, which 
 had we cared for them would have been of consequence, from 
 their great number. The willow is just as free, for it was 
 once a common practice in country cottage gardens, to get 
 willow stakes, and bend them by sticking both ends into 
 the ground, and although there was no pains even taken iu 
 cutting them at joints, both ends would root, and the growth 
 at every joint formed a complete willow hedge ; this was a 
 very usual fence between two gardens. Currant and gooseberry 
 bushes "will strike by merely cutting the bottom up to the 
 joint, and with six or eight-inch lengths, half being inserted 
 in the ground, and half exposed, scarcely one in fifty would 
 miss if the ground were kept moist. Eoses of the smooth- 
 barked kinds strike very freely ; but in all these apparently 
 simple processes there is some care required in the preparation 
 of the cuttings. For instance, we must cut close up to the 
 joint, so as just to reach the sohd part, if it be anything with 
 pith in the centre, but we must not go beyond it. If there 
 be any of the hollow or spongy wood left on, or the joint itself 
 is cut into, there is great danger of failure, for the roots ema- 
 nate from the joint, and nowhere else, and by exposing that 
 to immediate contact with the soil, and leaving no useless 
 wood below it, the process is greatly aided. As to vines, roses, 
 currants, gooseberries, camellias, geraniums, and indeed, most 
 free-growing shrubs, trees, and plants, the whole length of the 
 last year's wood may be cut into lengths, with a joint or more 
 below and one above, and will do well, and in ahnost all cases 
 the last year's shoot will strike with care, though with many 
 more difficult subjects the cutting must be taken ofi" at the 
 heel as soon as it is long enough. The common cabbage, 
 after the main head has been cut off, will send out shoots, 
 and these, if taken off and planted as soon as there is stem 
 enough to insert in the ground, and it has begun to form a 
 heel, will strike, and form as good cabbages as the parents, 
 but smaller ; these, however, woidd be required to be taken 
 off at the heel, and almost with a bit of the stump, but cer-
 
 PROPAGATION. 249 
 
 tainly the whole of the shoot ; we mention this rather to show 
 the nature of plants than to recommend it as a practice. 
 
 The process of rooting is much longer in some plants than 
 others, and the difficulty therefore consists in maintaining the 
 shoot or cutting alive while it is going on, until it is able to 
 support itself, and it is in the length of time a thing takes to 
 root, that all the difficulty consists. In some cases the diffi- 
 culty amounts almost to prohibition, and it is in these that 
 we resort to layering, that by continuing just enough of the 
 parent support to prevent the part from dying, we may give 
 the intended new plant a year, or at least a season, to do its 
 work in, whereas it would require the utmost ingenuity, skill, 
 and attention, so to preserve the life of a cutting as to enable 
 it to root. It is said of the mulberry-tree, that if a healthy 
 branch be cut off at the heel, and be planted two or three 
 feet in the ground, it will root, and become a tree ; and there 
 are records of such being used for posts, or some other pur- 
 pose, having become fine bearing trees ; but ' these are excep- 
 tions to the general rule, because we have tried this, as well 
 as many other experiments, and have failed; though we have 
 not the least reason to doubt that where the soil has been 
 congenial, the wood healthy, and circumstances of moisture, 
 station, and perhaps climate favourable, these large branches 
 or limbs have been known to strike root, and to flourish 
 afterwards. AYe do not recommend the experiment, because 
 we think it may cause a loss of time if depended on for a 
 tree, and if not depended on, it may as well be let alone. 
 We certainly have known a limb of the mulberry that was 
 lying on the ground grow all along the upper surface, and 
 when removed, it was found to have struck root in many 
 places on the under side. It appears to us as a general prin- 
 ciple, that the rooting of cuttings is invariably promoted by 
 the soil they are in being of a higher temperature than the air 
 above ; hence, autumn is always the best time to insert out- 
 of-door cuttings, — the earth has had all the warmth of sum- 
 mer, and is of a higher temperature than the atmosphere in 
 general. The same cuttings that do well in autumn will not 
 do so well in spring, for then the earth has the chill of winter 
 in it, and the general atmosphere is for a long time warmer 
 than the soil. The cuttings first form a sort of callus, which 
 is like a spongy swelling at the base, and they take nourish- 
 ment from this before the spongioles or fibres appear. It is
 
 250 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 this first process that is hastened by autumnal insertion, while 
 the plant above is totally at rest, and when the upper portion 
 is excited, the roots grow as fast as the spring buds and leaves 
 require their aid. When cuttings of hard- wooded plants are 
 apparently at rest above the soil, we may frequently observe 
 in the slowly rooting kinds, that the bottom has swelled into 
 a lump ; a sure sign that it is doing well, although it may 
 even then take months to root : indeed, the cuttings will fre- 
 quently grow with only this callus to support them for a time, 
 and if they are neglected at this critical period, they will 
 assuredly perish. 
 
 As soon as cuttings, which are generally put too close 
 together in pots to grow long in health, are fairly rooted, 
 they should be carefully potted into single pots, and treated 
 until they are established in their new abode with more than 
 ordinary care ; they should not be exposed to the air or sun 
 at first, and above all things, they should be well supplied 
 with moisture. Out of door subjects, and especially of the 
 deciduous kind, should be treated as the parent plants are. 
 They must not, for instance, be removed until the leaves fall, 
 and they may then be planted out at larger distances, to 
 grow into strength, or be placed where they are to remain. 
 China roses — with which we class, by the way, all the 
 shiooth-barked kinds, for they all strike freely — may, towards 
 the autumn, be put very thicldy into a pot or pan, and 
 plunged in an old hot-bed "without covering except from 
 actual frost ; or they may be inserted very close together in 
 beds in the oj)en ground, and have no other care than being 
 covered with litter in very severe weather, and they avlU for 
 the most part succeed — presuming that the rule for catting 
 up carefully to a joint, but not into it, and having one joint 
 above the soil, has been attended to. 'No matter how long a 
 shoot may be, every two joints will make a good cutting. 
 These, when rooted, must be planted out with plenty of 
 room to grow; but they must be well rooted and growing 
 before they are moved. If this has been delayed till the 
 spring, they must have a little gentle bottom heat to excite 
 early rooting ; because the plant is in a more active state, 
 and would grow and exhaust the sap within it, before the 
 base became callused and produced any supply. The growth, 
 therefore, should be checked above and excited below, that 
 the process may be hastened. In roses, however, as in many
 
 PROPAGATION. 251 
 
 or most otlier deciduous and half- deciduous subjects, the 
 plant soon roots so completely that there is no waste or 
 exhaustion of the sap, and there is time given for the forma- 
 tion, first of the callus, and secondly of the roots. We have 
 tried a hand-glass full of rose-cuttings of various kinds stuck 
 into the soil in the open garden in November, and we have 
 tried a like number of the same kinds similarly treated in 
 February; we took all the necessary pains to give proper 
 moisture in both instances; in April our spring cuttings 
 were all growing fast, and the autumn ones had not stirred. 
 Some of our friends, seeing them at this time, tried hard to 
 persuade us that we had mistaken the seasons and reversed 
 them. Another month, and the buds of the autumn glass- 
 full began to grow, and the shoots of the spring ones had 
 died. This explained in itself the cause of failure; the 
 spring shoots exhausted the cuttings before they could move 
 at the bottom, and though they lived awhile upon the sap 
 within them, they lived, as a nosegay Hves in water, simply 
 on their own means, which water prevents from drying up, 
 as the moist earth did that of the cuttings ; but the growth 
 exhausted it. The cuttings of every succulent subject, such 
 as the green wood of the geranium, many of the cactus, 
 euphorbia, and cereus families, and all juicy plants in general, 
 are the better for drying a day before they are inserted. 
 The gloxinia and achimenes, the gesnera, and some others, 
 are capable of propagation in a singular manner ; the cuttings 
 of these are merely a leaf with a bit of its foot-stalk ; there 
 is no joint required. Every part of the plant appears vital ; 
 but they require bottom heat. The Hoya carnosa, a hard 
 fleshy-leaved plant, very common in greenhouses, is equally 
 curious ; a leaf is the cutting, and we have known the bits of 
 leaves, after the training and trimming of a plant, carelessly 
 left in the pot, to be all struck into the soil ; but these are 
 all exceptions to the thousands of plants that require for 
 healthy propagation a joint for the base and a joint above the 
 soil for the growth. 
 
 Much discussion was raised some time since, in the periodi- 
 cals, about the possibihty of general propagation by leaves. 
 It was assumed, that the Camellia japonica and the orange 
 tribe had been so propagated ; and, therefore, the only thing 
 to learn was how to accomplish it. We dissent, however, 
 from admitting the propriety of these speculative operations ;
 
 252 PRACTICAL GAEDENING. 
 
 unless changes can be rendered profitable or advantageous, 
 they are of little value. Every leaf of the orange and camellia 
 covers a bud, and we know we can form a plant of a bud and 
 a leaf. Leaves are only used as the means of propagation in 
 such plants as are of a different structure, and which afford 
 no readier means. Upon the whole, then, we may conclude, 
 that there are several conditions which apply generally to the 
 propagation of plants by cuttings : — 
 
 First. — The more tender the fibres and the more delicate 
 the plant, the more light and free must be the soil to strike 
 them in. 
 
 Second. — Hence, silver sand is one of the best mediums 
 with which to surround the stem, and exclude the atmosphere 
 from the base. 
 
 Third. — But as there is no sustenance to be derived from 
 sand, there should be a proper soil into which a cutting can 
 immediately send its roots in search of the food it requires. 
 
 Fourth. — That the base should in every case be excited 
 more than the portion above the soil. 
 
 Fifth. — Therefore, bottom heat in a moderate or a large 
 degree, according to the temperature above, should be supplied. 
 
 Sixth. — That where cuttings have leaves, as in evergreens, 
 evaporation tends to exhaust the sap, and should be prevented 
 as much as possible. 
 
 Seventh. — Therefore, hand or bell glasses are necessary to 
 cover all such cuttings as are taken from growing or evergreen 
 plants. 
 
 Eighth. — And, as the sun would greatly accelerate evapora- 
 tion, cuttings should invariably be shaded. 
 
 Mnth. — That as deciduous plants have a period of rest, 
 and that is of some months' duration, the fall of the leaf, 
 which indicates the commencement of this rest, is the proper 
 time to take cuttings. 
 
 Tenth. — And that, besides, the autumn finds the ground in 
 the best state to give the advantage of a higher temperature 
 for its base than the top experiences, and this condition pre- 
 ponderates through the whole winter months, so that the base 
 of the cutting is prepared to support the spring buds as soon 
 as the genial weather excites to growth. 
 
 Of course, we have presumed that the cuttings have been 
 prepared with proper care as directed ; and though we have 
 stated the conditions req^uired by the most dehcate, the more
 
 PROPAGATIOlv. 253 
 
 robust will root in cominon soil, and succeed •VN'ith much 
 rougher treatment. 
 
 Eyes or Buds. — This is perhaps the most rapid of all pro- 
 pagation, so far as the mere number of plants produced is 
 concerned ; because, though it only appUes to plants to be 
 groTHi on their own roots, such plants are more valued than 
 worked ones. The raiser of a new vine, we will suppose, has 
 n dozen feet of good ripe wood, and is anxious to make the 
 most of it. Kobody would thank him for a budded plant ; 
 that is, a plant T\dth his new one worked on it. If he cuts up 
 his wood to make ordinary cuttings, every cutting must have 
 two eyes or joints ; but if he propagates by eyes, he makes a 
 plant of every one, thus doubling his number. The raising of 
 plants, therefore, from eyes is a nice and important operation. 
 What applies to a vine will apply to many other plants. The 
 datura, now called Brugmansia, sheds its leaves, and the wood 
 is soft, spongy, and a good deal of it green ; this plant is 
 especially propagated by eyes. Many other plants of a pithy 
 nature — the large kinds of fuchsia, such as fulgens, and even 
 larger, can be grown from eyes ; and if we really desire it, we 
 believe the camellia, the orange, and many other plants could 
 be as easily multiplied that way as any. But all hard-wooded 
 valuable plants, like the camellia and orange, can be propa- 
 gated most rapidly by budding ; in which case, every bud, 
 being put on a strong and vigorous growing stock, can be 
 grown into a head before it would on its own bottom be six 
 inches high. In preparing the buds of vines for propagation, 
 cut half an inch of wood above the eye and half an inch 
 below it. "Let the wood be cut in the autumn, and the 
 cuttings be kept with one end in the ground," say our fore- 
 fathers, " until the spring, when the eyes are to be cut with a 
 portion of wood to them." One author says, " Cut three 
 inches of wood below the eye and a quarter of an inch above 
 it ; " another says, " Cut as much wood above as below : " and 
 a third says, " Cut close up to the eye below and three inches 
 above." The latter is safe, and if such were placed in the 
 open ground as soon as the wood is thoroughly ripe, and 
 planted two inches below, they would come up, and root well 
 at the same time. But the ordinary way of propagating is, 
 to cut the eye with about half an inch of wood above and 
 below it ; get a quantity of pots of the size forty-eight, with 
 good rich soil, half loam from rotted turves, one-fourth <50W-
 
 2-34 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 dung, and one-foiirtli good sandy peat soil, well mixed. Put 
 a third of the pot full of drainage and fill with the soiL 
 thrust the eye down in the centre with the wood do-uTiwards, 
 and the bud of course upwards. Let the pots be levelled at 
 top, and they may be set aside, while you prepare, about 
 Christmas, a good hot-bed, and when the heat is pretty even 
 and regular, jDut the whole of the pots in and cover partially, 
 leaving plenty of air. The pots should be sunk about half- 
 way, so that the soil will be warmer than the atmosphere ; 
 and this difference may be kept up by allowing the heat to 
 escape from time to time sufficiently, but not to cool the bed. 
 As the heat of the bed declines, thrust the pots down lower. 
 These eyes will start into growth, when they must be refreshed 
 with moisture at the same temperature as the bed. When 
 these have made a growth of a few inches, turn out one of the 
 pots and see if it is filled with roots ; at which time they 
 must be shifted to pots a size larger, say size thirty-two, and 
 be removed to the stove, where they may be trained up the 
 back wall, or they may be turned out in a south border in 
 June, and there allowed to grow, with some means of support 
 to prevent the wind from damaging them ; and at one year 
 old these A^nes will be strong enough to send out or to plant 
 wherever they are to remain and fruit. Instead of the hot-bed 
 they may be plunged into a tan-pit in the stove, and there 
 made the best of until turning-out time ; but, if quantity of 
 wood be desirable, they ought to be allowed to complete their 
 growth in the stove, and not to be turned out at all. To 
 grow from eyes in the open air, it is the best way to cut the 
 wood close up to the bottom of the eye, and leave three inches 
 of wood above it ; this is thrust into the ground so as to leave 
 an inch above the surface ; but the time to insert these is 
 November. In the spring many if not all will come up and 
 grow into good strength the first year. Many prefer the ^dne 
 raised from eyes, and if this be the case, the largest and most 
 plump buds should be selected on the last year's wood ; and 
 a pretty general notion prevails that the nearer the eye has 
 been taken from the lowest part of the branch, the better will 
 be the plant. There is nothing in experience to justify this, 
 but the shorter the joints in the last year's wood, the better ; 
 therefore, when there is a choice, select a branch of well- 
 ripened short-jointed wood for the purpose, and only use the 
 full sized eyes. The other plants to be raised from eyes are
 
 HYBRIDIZING. 255 
 
 to be treated in a similar way for the most part ; but we have 
 had occasion to propagate the dahlia rapidly, and on receiving 
 the plants from the nursery, "we found three pairs of lea^TS and 
 the top to spare above the two lower ones, and we determined 
 on trying the eye system. The leaves of the dahlia being op- 
 posite each other, we began by cutting off the top as close ito 
 the joint as possible, and prepared that for striking, by taking 
 off the two bottom leaves ; we then took off the next cutting 
 close at the under part of the joint and split it into two, each 
 having a leaf with its bud or eye at the base and the split 
 part of the stem. We treated the next two pairs of leaves the 
 same, and left the stump of the dahlia with only two leaves. 
 "We then prepared a pot as for cuttings, with soil u.]) to half 
 an inch and sand the rest ; and we put the eyes in close to 
 the pot, just reaching down to the soil, and with the leaf in- 
 wards, and the split stem upright close to the side. These 
 were put into a fresh hot-bed with other dahlias, and, like 
 them, kept warm and moist. Every eye grew well, the top 
 ones — that is, the two that were smallest — being the weakest ; 
 but they were rooted and potted off in four weeks ; and we 
 have adopted this plan ever since when we had any great 
 desire to propagate and make the most of a plant. We have 
 raised the scarlet geranium, the fuchsia, and many other 
 plants in a similar way from single eyes with a little bit of 
 the last year's wood ; but we thought more of the dahlia than 
 anything else, because it is very juicy, and was therefore very 
 likely to fog off ; this, however, it will not do if the cutting 
 close up to the joint be attended to, and the heat well kept 
 up — one of the most essential things in the striking of the 
 dahlia, and in all other subjects where the cuttings are more 
 than usually juicy and green. The EuiDhorbia jacquiniflora 
 will come from eyes, which sometimes make better plants 
 than those from cuttings. The datura or Brugmansia arborea 
 will from an eye grow to a six-feet plant in a single season, 
 and flower profusely. B. lutea and B. sanguinea will do well, 
 but not grow half the height the first year, 
 
 UYBBIDIZING. 
 
 Nobody seems astonished at the immense improvement that 
 has been made in the breed of cattle by the crossing of dif- 
 ferent races. Scarcely anything in its natural state is witliout
 
 256 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 some important blemish.. One race of animals is strong, bony, 
 and long-legged ; another is plump, small-boned, weakly, and 
 of diminutive stature ; a third is light, active, carries no flesh, 
 and of delicate constitution ; and more ad infinitum, have 
 peculiar characteristics. There is the strength of one, the 
 beauty of another, the strong constitution of a third ; and some 
 desirable property may be found in each and all. The judi- 
 cious mixing of these qualities has produced the splendid races 
 of animals which this country breeds. In horses, sheep, cattle, 
 dogs, poultry, and even rabbits, the most extraordinary im- 
 provements have been made, but it excites no wonder. We 
 see them, admire them ; we hear that this is one breed, and 
 that is another, and there our admiration is at its height, 
 without moving our curiosity or wonder. Few, however, think 
 what very similar means are used to produce improvement in 
 flowers and plants ; few know that there are various races of 
 vegetables with just such difierences ; that branches, as it were, 
 of the same families have their peculiarities, some very desi- 
 rable, others the reverse, and that by crossing the breeds of 
 these different subjects, we effect improvements that are most 
 important. We are not going into the discussion of whether 
 or not the term " hybridizing " is properly descriptive of the 
 process by which plants are improved, because it wouM be 
 out of place here. The word is commonly used to express a 
 mixing of the breed of plants; but strictly speaking, it should 
 be applied only to that kind of cross which, like the horse and 
 the ass, produce a mule, — ^where in fact the breed stops, nature 
 permitting no further deviation. It is well known that the 
 mule, which is a complete cross between the fleetest and the 
 most enduring of animals, is a most valuable beast. But hy- 
 bridizing is accepted too generally in flowers and plants, and is 
 applied to the mere crossing of two plants of the same family, 
 as a scarlet and a white azalea or geranium, or other plant, 
 differing perhaps in colour or habit. For our own part, we 
 have always regarded the easy crossing of two differently 
 habited plants, and the produce of which in turn bore seed, 
 as a proof that they were of the same family ; and there is 
 no stronger proof that those who classed the rhododendron 
 and azalea together, were right, than the fact that a plant like 
 neither, and yet bordering on both, is produced, and it seeds 
 as freely as the parents. However, we accept for the present 
 the word hybridizing to mean the crossing of races, whether
 
 HYBRIDIZING. 257 
 
 of the same family or not, and proceed to notice tlie benefits 
 arising from sncli process. Perhaps the greatest advantage 
 that has been experienced has been in those instances Avhere 
 a hardy plant of little or no beauty has been crossed with 
 a tender one of great brilliance, and the produce has shown 
 great increase of beauty on a hardy race. Let us look at 
 once to a very faniihar cross. The Nepal mountaias pro- 
 duce rhododendrons with exceedingly briUiant crimson-scarlet 
 flowers ; the American rhododendrons are very hardy, and 
 have white or dirty purple flowers, or various shades of lilac, 
 violet, or puce. The E. ponticum is a very poor flower ; the 
 R. catawbiense has many shades, from nearly white to deep 
 purple ; the E. maximum is white or dingy purple. Now, 
 the eff'ect of crossing these with the brilliant varieties from 
 the East, has been the produce of hardy varieties with greatly 
 improved colours, such as the alta-clerense, whose bloom is a 
 briUiant crimson. Here, then, we have a decided advantage, 
 enriching our shrubberies with new varieties, and really 
 adding great interest to the cultivation of that family. jVIt. 
 Burns, of Tottenham Park, has raised many very beautiful 
 varieties called hybrids, on account of their being the produce 
 of similar crosses. ^Ir. Smith, of Norbiton, Surrey, has been 
 equally successful in crossing rhododendrons with the yellow 
 azaleas, and has thereby produced yellow rhododendrons, and, 
 in fact, every shade from yellow into bronze of various hues ; 
 and at this moment there is going on a series of experiments 
 in crossing this flower that must result in the production of 
 many extraordinary novelties. Crossing difi'erent races and 
 varieties has produced many of our most valuable kinds of 
 vegetable, especially in brocolies, some of which are nearly as 
 fine as cauliflowers, and perfectly hardy, — that is, will stand 
 all ordinary English mnters. In plants, the novelties pro- 
 duced by crossing are almost endless, though many of the 
 most strildng varieties have been produced by accidental in- 
 oculation, and not by any organized system. In correas, the 
 well-known species (so called) in conmion cultivation were 
 speciosa, pulchella, alba, viridis, and rufa ; but ]\Ir. Milner of 
 Clapham crossed these with one another in. various ways, and 
 the result was all the new varieties let out within the last 
 twenty years : Milnerii, first, then Cavendishii, longiflora, 
 rosea, bicolor, grandiflora, by Low, Groom, Pince, Gaines, and 
 others, partaking of the qualities of the various species in all 
 
 R
 
 258 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 manner of combinations. Then we have a large family of the 
 fuchsias, of which very few were known until the importation 
 of Fuchsia fulgens, which was at first doubted, but proved to 
 be a fuchsia by the readiness ^vith which it crossed the old 
 varieties, and produced modifications, as varied as could be 
 wished. It was by crossing two species of calceolaria that 
 Mr. Green obtained his enormous flowers on the herbaceous 
 kind of plants, and seeding again from these varieties, crossed 
 as Mature crosses them, is annually introducing still greater 
 removes from the originals, until the difference in colour, 
 habit, form of flower and fohage, to be found in every batch 
 of seedlings, is giving rise to an endless catalogue of arbitrary 
 names with which these numerous varieties are dignified. 
 It is the first remove that deserves the credit ; the seed saved 
 afterwards continues to produce novelties, and such as are 
 worth naming and propagating are advertised and sold out 
 from year to year ; we wish we could not add, " and a good 
 many "^ that are worthless." We might go through many 
 famihes, in all of which changes have been made by a mix- 
 ture of breeds, in the greater part of which, however, l^ature 
 has been her own director, although people have taken credit 
 for artificial fertihzation. Time after time we have been 
 favoured with several supposed species, as in the dahlia, for 
 instance, when the white, the dirty yellow, and the purple, 
 were honoured with such distinction because of some trumpery 
 difference which ordinary observers could not see, except the 
 colour of the bloom, which we have had reason to know is 
 not constant. A new colour imported from abroad was a 
 botanical wonder, a new species. Now, had these species been 
 really weU named, — that is, had they been really species,— 
 there might have been some credit in hybridizing, as it is 
 called, and the thousand of varieties we have produced had 
 been creditable hybrids ; but the fact is, that I^ature has her 
 seedling varieties as well as her species, and it is time we 
 imported things by their proper classification, and avoid giving 
 merely seedling varieties the dignity of distinct species. The 
 English florists, however, very soon settle the fate of so-caUed 
 species, and knock about botanical distinctions very sadly. 
 The Fuchsia fulgens was like a species ; it difi'ered so much 
 in fohage, habit, and flower, that there were those who doubted 
 its being a fuchsia at all. This was soon settled by our inde- 
 fatigable raisers of new varieties — some of whom take un-
 
 HYBRIDIZING. 259 
 
 common pains in crossing two plants of a different nature, to 
 produce a race between them ; while others content them- 
 selves with placing the plants together, and leaving I»[ature, 
 and her little assistants — bees, flies, and other insects — to 
 convey the pollen of the one to the pistil of the other ; and 
 each will in many cases be successful. The fuchsia mixed 
 directly; every conceivable variety of form, from the two 
 or three inch tube fulgens and its varieties, to the smallest of 
 our diminutive kinds, has been produced, and the fuchsia 
 now presents us with a dozen, or perhaps rather more, beau- 
 tiful varieties, which would be enhanced in value by the 
 entire destruction of the thousands which differ so little from 
 one another as to become mere weeds. 
 
 Eut let it be borne in miad that the real object of this 
 artificial impregnation, so generally called hybridizing, is to 
 produce something between trv^o extremes, and that this is 
 the more profitably employed among the useful fruits and 
 vegetables. If, for in'stance, we could procure a Eussian 
 cauliflower that would stand all weathers, but a coarse one, 
 and perhaps too strong for English palates, it would be an 
 object worthy of our labour to cross the hardy coarse sort 
 with our more dehcately flavoured, tender, and handsome 
 varieties : the chances are that we might be rewarded with 
 a hardy race of good vegetables, and various grades between, 
 because so far as hardiness is concerned, the parent, or seed- 
 bearing plant, takes the lead. We might, in such a case, find 
 nineteen out of twenty as coarse as the kind the seed was 
 saved from, and the improvement but small and confined to 
 few ; but as all such work requires time, the improvement, 
 however small, must be regarded, and the work persevered in 
 another season. The best of the plants, though only a little 
 better, must be seeded from, or impregnated again with the 
 best cauliflower, and the produce tried again.. This is the 
 way to benefit by what is called hybridizing. Very few per^ 
 sons trouble themselves to raise grape vines, but if there was 
 a determination to obtain new kinds of grapes, the best way 
 would be to grow in pots such kinds as would, if mixed well 
 in any proportion, make new and better kinds, partaking of 
 the best qualities of two. For instance, the muscat of Alex- 
 andria is large and dehcious ; its only drawbacks are its 
 lateness and its colour ; the black Hamburgh is a sj)lendid 
 colour, but, beyond sweetness, it has little to recommend it j 
 
 b2
 
 260 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 by growing these in pots, so that eacli might be retarded oi 
 advanced by the heat to which it is subjected, both might be 
 brought into bloom at the same time, and if crossed, the 
 result might be a black grape with the muscat size and 
 flavour, or some approach to it ; for a better chance of success 
 might be added half a dozen of the best grapes. The sweet- 
 water, which is early, might by pot-culture, be made to in- 
 r'.rease the chances by showing its bloom with the otliers ; it 
 IS quite certain that if the grapes were all planted in one 
 house they would not all bloom at one time, and that to 
 accomplish this the sweetwater must be necessarily kept back 
 in the open air, while the black Hamburgh may be pushed 
 on a little, and some late ones actually forced j for unless 
 they are all flowering together, they cannot fertilize each 
 other. It would give a fairer chance of a good variety to 
 let all be put into one house when in bloom, than it would, 
 perhaps, to actually fertilize one with another artificially. 
 
 If a grape* could be obtained with the colour of the Ham- 
 burgh, the earliness of the sweetwater, and the flavour of the 
 muscat, it would be beyond all price valuable. There is no 
 doubt that the raisers of stocks for grafting pick up their 
 seeds anywhere, and, therefore, raise nothing but common 
 wild fruit-trees, which are the result of ninety-nine stones 
 and pips out of a hundred ; but if, like the late Mr. Knight, 
 peo|)le would fertilize one sort with another, of such qualities 
 as may, when amalgamated, be an improvement, much better 
 chances of success would be given. If, among a large quan- 
 tity of stocks come up from pips and stones, we could, by 
 carefully going over them, find any strange foliage or habit, 
 — anytliing, in fact, that looked different from a wild stock, — 
 our business would be to mark such, not to be used for stocks, 
 but to stand and fruit, and show what they were ; for the 
 chances are, that, as the habit is different, the fruit will be 
 different ; and it is only by such means that new varieties 
 have been from time to time produced; and no man can guess 
 what splendid varieties of plums, apples, pears, and cherries, 
 may be buried, as it were, in stocks : for many have treated 
 tens of thousands of seedling-plants as if they were all wild, 
 without once taking the trouble to examine the foliage, to 
 see if there were any that had wandered from the ordinary 
 
 * Since this was written in 1850, the muscat Hamburgh has beeu 
 produced, and a valuable grape it is.
 
 HYBRIDIZING. 261 
 
 course. It may not be known to every one, tliat if the pips 
 and stones of the finest fruit be sown, the great bulk of the 
 produce ^vill have run back to the wild state ; and acres have 
 been sown and planted for nothing but to work as stocks 
 with the good fruits ; but as every good variety we possess 
 must have been raised from seed, it is impossible to form an 
 idea of the new and good varieties that might have been 
 among the stocks doomed to support other known kinds. 
 This is the fault we have to find with everybody who raises 
 anything from seed ; they do not examine their crops at 
 different times, to see if there be anything new among them. 
 In a field of peas, there may be some a week sooner in bloom, 
 — a most desirable quahty ; some immense bearers, — another 
 desirable point; others last longer green, and in yielding 
 condition, — an advantage by no means unimportant; how- 
 ever, they are all usually served alike — aU condemned to the 
 sack and the market. 
 
 It is to be kept in mind, that some of our very best im- 
 provements in fruit, flowers, plants, and vegetables, have been 
 accidental ; that is, there was no merit belonging to the raiser, 
 who has sown seed as other people sowed it, and has dis- 
 covered among the produce a something new, and has made 
 the best of it. But how much the chances of obtaining these 
 things might be increased by proper means ! We may, with- 
 out difficulty, attribute all these changes to the crosses of 
 breeds ; and it is no bad study to consider, first, the good and 
 bad qualities of plants, flowers, vegetables, and fruits ; and in 
 the second place, to promote those crosses which are likely to 
 improve the new varieties. If, for instance, we have a gold- 
 pippin apple, which is, for a small apple, almost faultless, and 
 a ribstone-pippin, which is a fine large apple, equally faultless, 
 the natural conclusion is, that if we could effect a cross between 
 these two, we might obtain new ones, unUke either, but par- 
 taking of both, and combining two exquisite flavours in a 
 middle-si2;ed apple, or get the flavour of the ribstone in a small 
 table-apple, or the flavour of the golden-pippin with a larger- 
 sized, but equally handsome fruit. Again ; if we have an 
 apple of delicious flavour, and handsome appearance, like the 
 nonsuch, which will not keep, and a fine keeping apple, like 
 the russet, or the French crab, a cross here might produce a 
 handsome and high-flavoured apple, that would keep. In 
 short, we might obtain the good but opposite qualities of any
 
 262 PRACTICAL GARDENING, 
 
 two fruits combined in one ; and this is tlie object of all 
 gardeners who profess to raise new varieties. There are two 
 ways of attempting this ; the one by direct artificial impreg- 
 nation; the other by planting, or bringing plants so close 
 together, that, when in bloom they will impregnate each other. 
 Xatnre vdR do then, what the gardener must do artificially; 
 but by directing the reader how to perform this, we may open 
 a field for his ingenuity to work in, and provide at least a 
 never-failing fund of amusement and gratification from the 
 culture of a few choice plants. 
 
 Directions for Hybridizing. — In artificial crossing, the 
 sorts to be crossed must be in perfection of bloom at the same 
 period. The pistil of the one must be ready to receive the 
 pollen or farina of the other, just as the pollen or farina 
 is ready to perform its work. The pistil and farina are, in 
 most plants, provided in the same flower, the pistil leading to, 
 or forming part of the seed-vessel, and the farina being pro- 
 \dded in the anthers, which, when ripe, burst and show the 
 farina in coloured dust, which, if left to itself will attach itself 
 to its own pistil, and actually grow there ; for each grain of 
 dust that performs its office strikes down a thread so fine as 
 to be imperceptible, even if it could be exposed ; and this 
 thread actually reaches the seed, which thereby receives its 
 vitality. JS'ow the cross impregnation, by artificial means, is, 
 to take away the anthers, which contain the pollen, from the 
 flower to be impreg-nated, to prevent its performing that office 
 itself, and to take from the flower of the sort we wish to cross 
 with, the anthers with the poUen, the instant it bursts, and 
 to apply it to the pistil of the flower we have prepared to 
 receive it. If this be properly done, when both parts are in 
 a proper state, there is no doubt of the result. 
 
 In nature, we find insects of aU kinds are busy in per- 
 forraing this office. Eees may be seen, with the pollen which 
 they have been revelling among hanging to their limbs, and 
 almost covering their bodies, leaving particles of it on every 
 flower they visit. N^Tien plants and trees of one kind only 
 are together, it is only the same variety that is produced 
 generally, because, whether the pollen w^hich is left on the 
 pistil is from its own flower or a neighbouring blossom, the 
 result is the same ; but if two or more kinds are close to each 
 other, it is as likely to be a cross as otherwise ; and this is 
 what we should call a natural cross, because no artificial means
 
 HYBRIDIZING. 263 
 
 are employed. The visits of flies and other insects to many 
 different flowers in a day, occasion very many crosses that a 
 man could not even think of. But we are naturally impatient, 
 and therefore use the means which are at hand, by performing 
 the work ourselves, whenever we have a distinct object in view. 
 Let us suppose that our object is to obtain a yellow moss-rose. 
 The most natural conclusion we should come to would be this : 
 that the parent, or seed-bearing plant should be a moss-rose 
 that is not too double ; and that we should procure all the 
 yellow roses that yield pollen, and with these impregnate the 
 moss — some with the yellow briers, some with the yellow 
 China, or tea kinds, — in fact, some with every yellow rose we 
 could render subservient to our purpose, and so multiply our 
 chances of success. Impregnate all these yellows with the 
 pollen of the moss. If this were well done, the chances would 
 be in favour of producing something very new, one way or 
 the other. But there would be every probability of the moss- 
 rose seeds producing more mosses than the seed of the yellow 
 kinds, because the parent will produce mostly plants of its 
 own habit; and that the chinas, briers, and other yellow roses, 
 would produce similar families to their own, but various 
 modifications of the moss colours. The blooms are not so 
 numerous on the rose but that we might carry on this arti* 
 ficial impregnation easily; but if we desired to fertilize any- 
 thing on which flowers were very numerous, as the cauliflower 
 or brocoli, our plan would be to grow the plants that we desired 
 to cross close together, and leave tlie work of impregnation to 
 the bees, flies, and other insects, and to the wind, which is a 
 mighty agent in these operations. 
 
 In lilies, amaryllis, tulips, and many other subjects where 
 the fl.owers are of a manageable size, artificial imjDregnation 
 has been carried on to a considerable extent ; and we have 
 now a very extensive collection of very beautiful hybrids — so 
 called — but which bear seed, and therefore are not such crosses 
 as in animals are called hybrid. However, in flowers and 
 plants, the result of a cross between two of the same family is 
 60 called, and we are to be understood as meaning such, when 
 we use the term. It is only when these hybrids become so 
 varied and so numerous as to be kno^vn as seedling varieties, 
 that the term is dropped. 
 
 Just now florists are anxious to obtain a fine race of yellow 
 picotees, although none but white-grounds are esteemed at
 
 264: PKACTICAL GAKDENING. 
 
 present. Those, however, who see that we have bright yellow 
 grounds to very rough and bad flowers, are crossing them with 
 the finest of the white-ground flowers, to see if they cannot 
 impart to them the fine forms and distinct markings which 
 we possess in whites. 
 
 We might pursue this subject to any length, because there 
 is scarcely a fruit, flower, plant, or vegetable, that has not 
 some fault, very few in cultivation that have not some excel- 
 lent quality. But there are certain rules that should always 
 guide us in our attempts at improvement : — 
 
 Firstly, we should bear in mind that the plant we save the 
 seed from should be that which has the best habit ; for that 
 ^^oLL be the prevailing habit of all the seedlings. 
 
 Secondly, that if they are plants not usually in bloom 
 together, one or both must be grown in pots, so that one may 
 be retarded, or the other advanced, or forced, as it were, to 
 bring both in flower together. 
 
 Thirdly, that the pistil is only a short time in a proper 
 state to receive the pollen; and that is, when there is a mois- 
 ture on the top ; but, 
 
 Fourtlily, that the pollen will keep a short time, if gathered 
 and kept from the air ; and, therefore, should be taken when 
 it is ready, and saved till the pistil of the other plant is ready 
 to receive it. 
 
 Lastly, that all flowers impregnated should have a piece of 
 matting tied round them ; and, if you think it worth while, 
 and are not likely to remember it, a small label, with a memo- 
 randum of what it is fertilized with, and when it was done. 
 
 In so^\dng the seeds, or pips, or stones, of plants which 
 have been crossed, take all fair means of hastening the result. 
 In fruit-trees, look at the foliage, and if there be any that have 
 no trace of the wild stock, it is fair to conclude you have 
 something worth trying. Therefore, as soon as the wood is 
 in a fit state, work a piece on a strong three or four-year old 
 stock, which mU greatly hasten fruiting. Among roses, if 
 you see any of the plants likely, from their appearance, to 
 differ much from the parent, or otherwise look promising, bud 
 it the instant you can, upon a strong brier, for that will 
 perhaps produce a flower a whole season before the plant on 
 its own bottom ; and, in fact, take every advantage to hasten 
 the blooming, that you may be the sooner in a position to 
 multiply it, if good, or throw it away, if good for nothing.
 
 ACCLIMATING AN EEROR. 265 
 
 Wlien you see the result, be not tempted to adopt it, unless 
 it is a strikingly good thing. Let no mediocre claims tempt 
 you to add one to the thousands of middling things already 
 in cultivation. Better to count the time lost altogether, and 
 begin again, than to be the avowed raiser of any unworthy 
 novelty. We have a thousand more varieties of roses in 
 cultivation than are worth the trouble. Pansies, fuchsias, 
 calceolarias, cinerarias, verbenas, apples, pears, plums, and 
 other things, have been multiphed until there wants a general 
 sweep out ; and it is bad taste to add anything to our garden- 
 catalogue that is of secondary quality. If it be not entirely 
 novel and good, or a complete advance over anything in the 
 same way, have nothing to do with it. Better raise one good 
 thing a-year, than twenty middling ones ; for named flowers 
 multiply, until people are deterred from selecting by the 
 number they have to select from ; and the fruit-catalogues 
 perplex every man who wishes to plant, by the vast numbers 
 of varieties, all said to be good, but three-fourths of which are 
 inferior, and not worth growing in a small garden. Were it 
 not that select hsts are from time to time published for the 
 guidance of amateurs, the t-ask of selection would be hopeless. 
 
 ACCLIMATIN'G— AN EEEOR 
 
 Much has been written on the subject of acclimating plants. 
 Many great names have been associated with papers on the 
 mode of accomplishing so desirable an object; and how far 
 have we unproved the constitution of any one plant, flower, or 
 vegetable ? Is the original potato more hardy than it was 
 the day it was imported? Will the dahlia, though it has 
 been obtained from seed year after year for half a century, or 
 near it, stand a single degree of frost ? We confess our faith 
 in the possibility of obtaining from seed a hardier race of any- 
 thing than we now possess. We believe we may say, that we 
 have found some trifling difierence in. the capacity of some 
 varieties to bear rough usage and some exposure ; but this is 
 not acclimating, this is improving the breed, a very different 
 thing from acclimating. Those who advocate the possibility 
 of changing the constitution of a tender plant make a great 
 mistake. They give us instructions how to do certain things 
 in a certain way, and say that this, or that, or the othei
 
 266 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 tender plant so treated will stand our climate ; but, indepen- 
 dently of their failing the fii'st trying winter, of which they 
 never inform us, they never in their iustructions tell us any 
 one thing that changes the plant. They tell us, first, to drain 
 the ground, for that naturally warms it ; next, to use certaiu 
 compost naturally warmer in itself than the common ground 
 of a damp cold site. Then it must be in a particular situation, 
 sheltered from the north and east winds, and when we have 
 done all this, we are to iusert our plant. This is all very 
 well, but what have they done in all this? Why, they have 
 prepared a warmer situation, and more genial treatment, to 
 prevent the plant from feeUng the usual climate ; they can 
 no more change the natui-e of the plant itself than they can 
 change the leopard's spots. They tell us there was a "time 
 when the Aucuba japonica was a stove plant, then a green- 
 house plant, and now a hardy plant, that is, — that it has been 
 acclimated ; but there is a grand mistake in this. The Aucuba 
 japonica never was a stove plant ; it was always as hardy as it 
 is in the present day. It was totally unknown as to consti- 
 tution ; it was ignorantly placed in a stove ; some gardener, 
 more fond of experiment, found it was not tender, and tried 
 the greenhouse ; there it did better ; and some other, or, 
 perhaps, the same, then tried it out of doors, and found it 
 flourished better still, and that it stood a very hard frost j but 
 whoever did this, took the credit of a discovery, that of having 
 changed the constitution of the plant. Then, again, some of 
 the writers on the subject generally tell us that the myrtle 
 has been acclimated in the Isle of Wight, on the Hampshire 
 coast, and in Devonshire, because it may be seen growing on 
 the fronts of houses, and on walls, as freely as we grow the 
 common jasmine or the China rose ; but the mistake here is, 
 that the climate in these places is. not so trying to the plants 
 as the climate inland. The situation is warmer in the winter 
 months ; the changes are not so great : it is not that the 
 plants are a jot more hardy than they were when imported. 
 Acclimating plants, therefore, is a palpable fallacy; and we 
 are half inclined to be angry with men professing to be 
 gardeners, who write such nonsense. But changes are inimical 
 to plants. If there were no frost at all, and a plant were 
 removed from the stove at 80° of heat, to the open air at 35°, 
 it would greatly suffer. The British oak, sown in the stove, 
 brought up in the stove, and at one year old brought into the
 
 ACCLIMATING AN ERROR. 267 
 
 open air in a frost of only one degree, would suffer exceed- 
 ingly, if it were not killed outright ; so that, if any one 
 possesses a plant usually in a stove, and has reason to think 
 it hardy, it ought not to be brought out at once ; but it 
 should be first removed to the greenhouse, and if it did well 
 there for a reasonable time, it might in the summer be turned 
 out into the open air, and it would be let down by degrees to 
 the ordinary chmate, and the winter ^vould fairly decide its 
 fate ; whereas, if brought at once from 80° to 36°, not to 
 say frost, it would, like our hardy British oak, suffer, if not 
 die, though really a hardy subject. Again, there are some 
 rhododendrons said to be hardy ; but how should they be 
 treated? If we buy the R campanulatum in a pot, and 
 keep it in a greenhouse it will make new wood, and set off in 
 growth long before it would move in the open air. Let it be 
 turned out in March for experiment^ and if there were a 
 smart frost, every young shoot would be killed, and then, 
 forsooth, it would be set down as tender ; but turn it out in 
 the autumn, when at rest, and then it would not move untU 
 it was capable of bearing the seasonable weather : not but 
 that the effects of a mild winter and spring might be a 
 premature growth, and that it might suffer from the April 
 and May frosts, which are often fatal to our fruit-trees. How 
 many times have we known the walnut-tree, of the hardiness 
 of which no one doubts, lose all its first shoots and the crop 
 by a late frost? yet it would not on that account be set down 
 as tender ; but if the winter were to be ever so severe, and 
 last long beyond its usual period, without any change from 
 hard frost until it broke up altogether, the walnut would be 
 safe, and that simply because it had not been excited into 
 premature groAvth. 
 
 In our remarks on the protection of subjects out of doors, 
 we have .shown how fatal sudden changes are to many plants ; 
 and, moreover, we have suggested the best means of prevent^ 
 ing mischief by keeping off the sun from frozen plants ; for 
 bad as is the change from warmth to frost, it is not so fatal as 
 from frost to heat, a sudden thaw being far more fatal than 
 a sudden frost. All we can admit, therefore, in the way of 
 acclimating, is this : it is possible to change the climate of a 
 place to suit a plant, but it is impossible to change the con- 
 stitution of a plant to suit a place ; and all the instructions, 
 even from Sir Joseph Paxton, who is upon some matters
 
 268 PRACTICAL GAEDENING. 
 
 regarded as an autTiority, tend to tliat one point. A spot 
 sheltered from tlie north, and east winds, is recommended ; 
 this must be warmer than an open space where a plant would 
 be exposed to them. High and dry ground is also recom- 
 mended ; this must be warmer than cold and damp. Then, 
 again, complete draining is enjoined; — all tending to give 
 warmth. And, lastly, a light compost, with good heart, but 
 not highly manured — everything calculated to make a warm 
 snug berth for a plant. The proper caution on all occasions 
 is to avoid sudden changes, and therefore to inure the plant by 
 degrees to its altered situation j and there ends the art and 
 mystery of acclimation, which means changing the nature of 
 the plant to suit the climate, but which in practice, according 
 to their own showdng, is finding and making a climate to suit 
 the plant. 
 
 Let us follow up these remarks on the attempt to do impos- 
 sible things, by a few observations on what is possible. 
 
 If we take a hint from the chapter op hybridizing, we may 
 contemplate the possibility of obtaining hardy varieties of 
 very tender families. Whatever we set our minds to do in 
 the way of improving plants, or flo^^^ers, or vegetables, our 
 progress may be slow, but with assiduity and perseverance we 
 may be successful. 
 
 We long ago set out for the florists of England what ap- 
 peared at the time some very hard tasks : we required them 
 to produce the heartsease round; the cineraria rounds; the 
 phlox round; the dahlia two-thirds of a hall; and many 
 other equally difficult things : and some that appeared to 
 them, but not to us, impossible, have been nearly accom- 
 plished — some, we might say, quite. Suppose we were now 
 to say the cultivators of plants and vegetables must produce 
 them hardy ! We will begin with the pea. Let all growers 
 of peas which are seedling plants, sow at many seasons, and 
 especially soav all the kinds they can in autumn ; let them 
 take, no pains whatever to protect them, but sow six inches 
 apart, and only one in a place or hole ; watch every frost, and 
 examine, after a thaw, the effect of it. If they see one pea or 
 plant stand better than another, prize it ; and from that plant, 
 and any others that stand equally well, save the entire seed. 
 The next year, sow the produce in the same way ; and, as 
 nature differs a little in seedlings, watch every frost, and do 
 the same again. If a man were bent on this, he might — we
 
 ACCLIMATING AN ERROR. 269 
 
 do not say lie would — but lie miglit in a few generations 
 obtain a liaidier sort of pea. 
 
 Let us look at brocoli. Many sorts stand ordinary winters, 
 and in poor soil nearly every sort will ; but we once went 
 over a piece of brocoli after a frost that had killed and rotted 
 acres, and observed two or three plants that seemed almost 
 unaffected. We advised the gardener to save the seed from 
 these, as they were evidently more hardy than all the rest ; 
 but he would not promise, for vegetables were so scarce, that 
 he feared he should be obliged to send them to table. 
 Whether he did or not, we never heard ; but if he did not, a 
 valuable acquisition to this class of vegetable was lost ; for it 
 is by taking advantage of these sports of nature that we 
 obtain new varieties ; and those who set themselves to work 
 in good earnest for anything, must be on the look-out for 
 whatever is new, and particularly if an advance upon the road 
 Ave wish to go. iN'ature will do for us what we cannot do for 
 ourselves, but we must be always ready to profit by it ; but, 
 in the way of procuring hardy races of plants, we can only 
 succeed by taking advantage of the smallest difference, and 
 saving carefully the seed from any plant that makes the 
 smallest approach. Every step we advance gives new hope 
 for a further progTess, and it is impossible to set bounds to an 
 advance of any kind. It was by saving seed from the pansies 
 with the broadest petals that the florists approached by 
 degrees the circular form required; although it was, at the 
 time it was first attempted, a seeming impossibility, from the 
 natural form of the flower, to even make a step towards it. 
 So it is with attempts to obtain more hardy kinds of any 
 tender plant. It will not be done by sowing things in a 
 season that will not try them, but by trying them in un- 
 toward seasons. Solving peas in the spring will never show 
 us whether they will stand the frost, but sowing in the 
 autumn. We should do the same by cauliflowers : get the 
 plants forward as if they were to be under hand-glasses, 
 plant them out in open situations, make up your mind to 
 sacrifice them, and if there be but a shade of difference in any 
 one plant, seize upon it as a step in advance, and having seen 
 it stand the first frost which killed others, risk not the loss of 
 it by a more severe one, but save the seed, raise the produce 
 the next season to undergo the same trial, and perform the 
 same penance over again ; never mind sacrificing the bulk to
 
 270 PRACTICAL GARDENIXG. 
 
 find another that is more hardy than the rest. "We need not 
 risk all the seed in one season, lest the first frost he severe 
 enough to kill all ; but plant enough to give us a fair chance, 
 and if we lose a year, it cannot be helped ; but this is the 
 only way to acquire that which is so desirable — a hardier race 
 than we have already obtained. One step that we are told 
 belongs rather to hybridizing than to this department, has 
 been decidedly made, bordering on a hardy race of cauli- 
 flowers, — a kmd of brocoli that so nearly resembles the 
 cauliflower, as to be frec[uently sold for it ; but those who are 
 at all acquainted with plants can see the diff'erence at once. 
 It was said to be a hybrid between the cauliflower and the 
 brocoli, but whether it is so, or a sport of nature in the first 
 instance, is immaterial In looking to those plants that are 
 every year raised from seed, such as the dahlia, it has never 
 been an object to obtain them hardy. The form of the flower 
 being the only point in which raisers are interested, they 
 never look among the seedhngs to observe whether one stands 
 more frost than another ; perhaps, if they did, they would 
 find here and there one which was not so much affected as 
 the rest, and by saving seed from them, it is possible they 
 might get others still more able to stand the cold ; but as 
 those are prized most which stray the furthest from their 
 single original, and those which are furthest removed being 
 generally the most tender, we need hardly wonder that among 
 the thousands which have been cultivated for their beauty and 
 doubleness, there is no perceptible difference in their capacity 
 to stand frost. The potato is now being raised from seed in 
 large quantities, and new varieties are offered to our notice 
 every year : let those who raise seedlings plant some of each 
 in autumn, and take their chance ; they are sure to come up 
 before the spring frosts are all gone, if the winter be at aU 
 mild. Instead of earthing them up, or giving them the least 
 protection, let them show how they can stand the spring frosts, 
 and if one sort suffers less than the rest, be assured it is an 
 advance ; and that, whether it be good or bad in other respects, 
 it is the one from which seed should be saved to pursue the 
 object of attaining a more hardy kind. In short, no matter 
 what we desire to attain, every trifling advance must be taken 
 advantage of and improved. As to attempting to change the 
 nature of a plant which is propagated from its own wood, that 
 is, from cuttings, layers, buds, or grafting, it is an idle fancy,
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 271 
 
 grounded on nothing, contradicted by experience every day of 
 our Kves that we search among the operations in a garden ; 
 and those who pretend to instruct us show, if we carefully 
 read their les&ons, that the plant cannot be altered, by their 
 changing the conditions to suit it. They might as well 
 try to keep water from freezing at 32°, by putting it where 
 the temperature never reaches that point. Whatever changes 
 are to be made in races, must be made by raising new vari- 
 eties from seed, watching them closely, and trying them at 
 seasons that will show if they advance a single step. This 
 may be profitably tried with many vegetables, with many 
 flowers, but most of all with such subjects as are inclined to 
 sport. All kinds of annuals may be sown in the autumn 
 instead of spring, and if among those that the winter kills a 
 solitary plant escapes, that plant is the one to cherish and to 
 seed from ; and it is only by such means that we can hope to 
 attain any real approaches to hardy varieties of naturally ten- 
 tender races. Many subjects that are now killed by winter 
 frosts might be the parents of better, or rather more hardy 
 varieties ; and it applies to every thing that bears seed, and 
 is now inconveniently tender. 
 
 LAJS'DSCAPE GAEDEJN'mG. 
 
 It has been observed by some writers, that it is impossible 
 to reduce this to rule ; that it must be governed by the taste 
 of the architect, and cannot be taught. We will concede the 
 point that no set of rules can apply equally to all places, and 
 that the features of the ground, the nature of the views, the 
 extent of the area, the presence or absence of water, trees, 
 hills, dales, rocks, swamps, and other features, must dictate 
 to a landscape gardener a good deal of his work ; but there 
 are certain rules which can hardly be departed from under 
 any circumstances, and a good deal of useful instruction may 
 be imparted in writing. JSTature is our great teacher in this 
 branch of the profession. When we see a beautiful landscape, 
 and are smitten with the harmony of the picture, we may 
 safely study it as a lesson. Is there a straight road 1 JS'o. 
 Is there anything formal 1 ]N"o. Is there a square pond, or 
 lake, or river ^ No. If there be one of these, the eye is 
 offended ; if it be not the artificial work of man's hands, it 
 may be wonderful, but certainly not pleasing; the charm
 
 272 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 would be broken. We find in all pleasing landscapes a total 
 absence of formality; and tbe gardener's task is to imitate 
 the beauties, and to bring into his work as many of the best 
 features as the nature of the ground he has to work on will 
 admit. If the ground be undulating or flat, there must be 
 no sharp turns. A road must be laid down in graceful 
 sweeps ; hard lines are always unpleasant to the eye, and 
 must be avoided. Abrupt turnings and elbows are equally 
 objectionable. The same appKes to rivers or rivulets which 
 run through grounds. Anything like a straight margin is a 
 complete eyesore : angles are as bad ; and whenever such occur, 
 and cannot be altered, they must be concealed. Eoads, too, 
 should be, as far as it can be contrived, level, and in un- 
 dulating ground ; the rising, unless very gentle, must be 
 lowered, and each side eased off to a gentle slope on the parts 
 next the cuttiQg. All these things are to be attended to 
 as so many rules ; all deviations must be exceptions forced 
 on the gardener ; and his study must then be how they can 
 best be hidden by plantiag, or reconciled by other schemes. 
 It is rarely that the landscape gardener has to deal with 
 barren ground ; there is usually a quantity of trees of various 
 heights and kinds. It must be his study to appropriate 
 these to his design, or, at least, some of them. If, however, 
 there be any formality or stiffness in their situations, which 
 is frequently the case if he has to take in fields that have 
 been hedged and timbered, a sufficient number must be 
 taken down to break the line ; and on grubbing of hedges, 
 all the common stuff must be destroyed first, leaving any 
 portions that have grown up at all ornamental until a later 
 period of his work ; then he may, if he feels inclined, work 
 to them ; for it must not be forgotten, that it takes many 
 years to equal tilings that have grown up well. Not that he 
 is to sacrifice his plan to such an object, but that he must not 
 hastily destroy what may be found highly useful. If a man 
 has an unconditional instruction to form a garden upon his 
 own plan, and to pay no regard to anything that is standing, 
 he win be less inclined to sacrifice any rule than to sacrifice 
 whatever may be there ; but there is, nevertheless, as much 
 art in adapting a plan to circumstances, as in carrying out a 
 perfect design, and perhaps more ; but, as a matter of cost, 
 some hundreds of pounds may often be saved without sacri- 
 ficing any general principle ; and it is the reckless inattention
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 273 
 
 to tliis, in too many artists, that deters gentlemen from under- 
 taking or authorizing extensive works. All landscape gar- 
 dening should be conducted with some regard to economy; 
 and we mention this because two men may produce results 
 equally good, one having done it at half the cost of the other. 
 Loudon, who advocates a mixture of principles, says : — 
 "There appear to be two principles which enter into the 
 composition of gardening ; those which regard it as a mixed 
 art, or an art of design, and which we call the principles of 
 relative beauty, and those which regard it as an imitative art, 
 and are called the principles of natural or universal beauty. 
 The ancient or geometric gardening is guided wholly by the 
 former principles ; landscape gardening as an imitative art, 
 wholly by the latter ;" but he says, " as the art of forming a 
 country residence, its arrangements are guided or influenced 
 by both prmciples." We will not deny that in most domains 
 there will be ample opportunities of indulging both tastes ; 
 but the one should be so entirely independent of the other, 
 as not to be even seen at the same time ; for the one is per- 
 fectly inconsistent with the other, and we consider they may 
 be treated as two distinct subjects. The architect may scratch 
 on paper all he wants of geometric gardening, he will do it 
 to suit his building and his taste ; and having done this, the 
 gardener may work to line and rule, and follow his instruc- 
 tions ; but let us not compare the one with the other, or 
 mention them as belonging to each other, or having any 
 relation to one another. Pope says, "The principles of 
 landscape gardening consist of, first, the study and display of 
 natural beauties ; second, the concealment of defects ; third, 
 never to lose sight of common sense." AVheatly says, " The 
 business of a gardener is to discover and show all the advan- 
 tages of the place upon which he is employed, to supply 
 deficiencies, to correct its faults, and improve its beauties." 
 Another takes truth and nature for his guide, and all his 
 rules are comprised in "the unity of the whole and the con- 
 nexion of the parts." And Marshall wraps all his up in 
 three words, "nature, utility, and taste." We confess our 
 notions of landscape gardening to be imitating the beautiea 
 of nature, and bringing as many of them together as is con- 
 sistent with the means employed, and the site we are at work 
 upon ; but we do not by imitation mean the mimicry. We 
 have no notion of little waterfalls and puny rocks ; no doll's- 
 
 s
 
 274 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 house arbours, and diminutive lakes ; for, above all things, 
 we should lay it down as a rule, that nothing more should be 
 attempted than can be carried out upon a scale sufficiently 
 large to avoid any appearance of art. ]^othing can be more 
 contemptible than doing things on a small scale for the sake 
 of crowding more features into a landscape. We do not 
 mean to say that we are to have no rock smaller than Gibral- 
 tar ; and no lake less than Haarlem ; that our temples are to 
 be as gigantic as the Coliseum, or our rivers like the ]\Iis- 
 sissippi; but they are not to be less than nature supphes in 
 those scenes which excite our admii'ation within reach of our 
 ordinary sight ; and if there be only room for a plain land- 
 scape, it is folly to attempt more. We have seen on one acre 
 of ground three or four trumpery fountains ; one broad path 
 with a sweep quite landscape fashion ; some very trumpery 
 rock work, as if somebody had accidentally upset a cart-load of 
 stones ; a pond which would have been crowded by a dozen 
 or two of ducks ; a mound about as large as a good sized 
 dunghill, and on the top a temple, so called, which appeared 
 as if the children had left some of their playthings there ; we 
 had a shallow canal for the purpose of putting over it a rustic 
 bridge,- and at a remote corner — that is, as reuiote as it could 
 be in a place of eighty yards long — a summer-house ten feet 
 by six. But certainly the mansion and its appurtenances 
 were of a piece with the liliputian garden, which, by the way, 
 we had nearly said comprised all the styles — the geometric, 
 the Italian, the old English, and the landscape — and all in 
 sight at once ; reminding us of a tailor's pattern card, or the 
 shutters of a colour warehouse. The mansion was but one 
 story high ; and it had a conservatory, an observatory, a 
 picture gallery, coach-house, stables, servants' apartments over 
 the latter, even with the hay-loft, which held four trusses. 
 Then there was a farm-yard, with its little barn, cow-house, 
 hen-roost, hayrick — this was the produce of the lawn, and 
 might have filled a one-horse cart — a dairy, quite fanciful 
 with coloured glass windows to match the conservatory; a 
 kitchen-garden, which would have been twenty yards by 
 twenty feet, but a melon ground was cut off it at the eud 
 nearest the stable. Some of the boundary was hedged, some 
 walled, some oak palings, and a small portion rustic fence. 
 
 !N'ow all this may be thought beside the mark, but it is a 
 general, if not universal failing among owners to cram in all 
 
 '-S
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 275 
 
 sorts of objects, and as no landscape gardener who has a name 
 to damage will undertake such work, the merest pretenders 
 are employed, and the place spoiled by attempting everything 
 and failing in all that is attempted. Within three miles of 
 this incongruous mass of things we have mentioned, there was 
 a house with just three-quarters of an acre, of an angular 
 form ; a twelve-feet road pretty nearly skirted it, except to 
 allow of a plantation of shrubs and trees in which there were 
 openings that led no one knew where from appearances, 
 though in fact they were to conceal the real boundary, and 
 led nowhere ; there were a few judicious clumps to account 
 for the necessary turns in the road, and at the most remote 
 angle from the house there was a temple composed of a facade 
 and four Ionic pillars on a floor raised by three or four steps, 
 and forming an apartment fifteen feet square with an open 
 front. However, all but the front was concealed by trees, and 
 although the eye commanded the whole real space, everything 
 was upon such a scale, that it appeared like a very beautiful 
 part of a large domain, instead of a three-cornered bit of ground 
 under an acre. We mention these two circumstances to ijiow 
 our contempt for the one, and our admiration of^.tibjg, other. 
 And we maintain, notwithstanding all that may be*«,ji(i about 
 mixed styles, that the landscape garden should hjp' entirely 
 free from anything artificial ; and as we approach a mansion, 
 or conservatory, or other architectural'*^bject where straight 
 lines are forced upon us, let the planting conceal it all till we 
 are upon it. Let us step out of natural scenery to the arti- 
 ficial, but not be able to view both at once. !N^obody can 
 admire artificial gardening, or rather formal gardening, more 
 than we do in its place ; but what can be worse than the 
 mixture now so common in public establishments,— a long 
 straight road, patched on each side with flower-beds, and a 
 miserable attempt at a landscape within sight 1 We hold 
 that one or the other shoidd be adopted in earnest. Let the 
 eye fall on nothing but landscape through all the main space, 
 and let the parterres, the conservatories, statues, fountains, 
 Dutch or geometrical flower-beds, vases, orange-trees and 
 general display be shut ofi', so as to form no part of the general 
 scenery. But according to our definition, the adoption of one 
 style lor the flower-garden, and another for the general 
 features, does not warrant the application of , the term mixed 
 style. There is no mixture in it. The landscape is to itself : 
 
 s2
 
 276 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 the parterre is alone. In one we have none but geometrical 
 figures ; in the other we have not a straight line. For even 
 if the boundary be straight, the planting should always con- 
 ceal it. We have no notion, like Alison, that the landscape 
 gardener is " to create a scenery more pure, more harmonious, 
 and more expressive than any that is to be found in nature 
 herself^" for it is impossible. There are rough, and even 
 uncouth scenes in nature ; she has her rugged places, her 
 barren mountains, moss-covered craigs, and ugly, cold, and 
 cheerless spots ; but she has features which are inimitable, 
 and he who can approach them in beauty, and harmony, and 
 expression, must be a master of his art. Let the landscape 
 gardener do his best to copy some of the most lovely spots on 
 this earth, and he will find himself at a very humble distance 
 from his task-mistress. But he has one advantage on his side ; 
 he may bring together features which are rarely combined, 
 and therefore produce an imitation, however it may fall short, 
 of scenes which few have witnessed. The bend, of a river 
 which is grand in one place, and the style of wood which is 
 beautiful in another, a bridge which is picturesque in a third, 
 a summer-house that is unexceptionable in a fourth, rocky 
 broken ground that gives great effect may be copied from a 
 fifth, and then comes the gardener's art into play. He has so 
 to contrive his scene, that the whole shall harmonize, and 
 although at every step we take, new beauties still break in 
 upon our view, they shall all be in good keeping. Let us novv^ 
 treat of the work under the several heads of groundwork, 
 parks, roads, trees, mounds, valleys, rock-work, lakes, rivers, 
 waterfalls, &c. 
 
 THE FIRST STEPS IN FORMING A LANDSCAPE GARDEN. 
 
 We must first contrive to get a complete view of the ground 
 we are to appropriate, and the adjoining lands, and see to the 
 boundary. This may be of various kinds in different parts, 
 and the sufficiency must first be attended to. If there be a 
 large space of ground, so that we need be under no difficulty 
 as to scope for our operations, we need not trouble ourselves 
 much about the timber on the boundary line ; but whether it 
 be marked by banks and ditches, hedges, or palings, these 
 must be all made perfect. 
 
 Our next operation is clearing the ground. Here we may 
 have to grub up hedges so as to break all the internal lines.
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 277 
 
 Rows of timber must be so broken as to remove everything 
 like stiffness. There must not be a single line cross the eye. 
 Throw all the worst trees. Save in groups or single trees all 
 that are in themselves ornamental, and that may perchance 
 be worked into the scene. If hedges have been neglected, 
 there may be good clumps of thorn and other wood usually 
 found in hedges, and grown up to a considerable height, and 
 what the gardeners call well furnished — that is, branches 
 reaching to the ground, clumps of trees formed as it were by 
 neglect, but nevertheless rich in themselves. They can at 
 any time be grubbed up, but in the mean time let them remain 
 wherever they are sufficiently handsome. Let this clearance 
 go on all over the site intended to be brought into the land- 
 scape. We may then consider where the entrances are to be, 
 from one or more roads ; and we have also to consider what 
 foot-paths or roads there may be of a public nature that may 
 not be shut up ; and while there may be parts left open to the 
 view, large parts must be shut out by mound, planting or 
 other contrivances, and the whole secured to its own track 
 only by sunk fencing where the view is required across it. 
 
 Our next consideration is, whether we can with advantage 
 to the estate, and without detriment to the public, turn the 
 course of such paths or roads, for they are nuisances at the 
 best of times, and the further they are removed from the 
 mansion, the better. To obtain a good view of the whole, we 
 must contrive to see it from the highest places, and with such 
 heljDS as are at hand. The top windows or roof of the house, 
 or on a high tree, or, if necessary, a temporary scaffolding, 
 must be placed in the best situation. Our plan must be 
 formed then, though not reduced to paper. If the ground be 
 much diversified with hill and dale, the levels must be taken. 
 Undulating ground is very picturesque, but the roads must 
 be cut level, and the sides where the cuttings go through must 
 be formed into sloping banks ; but if the ground be a regular 
 slope, or up a long hill and down again, you must consider 
 first whether the expense of so long a cutting would be ad- 
 visable, and second, whether it will forward or derange your 
 picture. Sloping banks for part of the length of a road are 
 very effective. There is nothing prettier than to emerge from 
 such a cutting ; but the banks must be judiciously planted 
 here and there, and they must be neatly contrived to make 
 them picturesque. According as you mean to use or destroy
 
 278 PRACTICAL GARDENING. « 
 
 the uneven surface, so must your preparation be made ; if the 
 ground is to be levelled, all this must be done before you 
 mark out your roads. In short, before you lay down one foot 
 of your plan, all that must be removed must be cleared away, 
 before you begin anything else. 
 
 If in looking over your work there happened to be enough 
 cleared to begin, you must endeavour so to shape your course 
 as to appropriate as much of the really ornamental timber 
 and bushes as possible, but you must not be tempted to sacri- 
 fice any principle to save a tree. In forming a main road, it 
 is always desirable to bring it moderately near the outside of 
 the premises, and if there be much ornamental wood, the road 
 may be so formed as to command the best view of it. No 
 matter how many windings there are in a road if the sweeps 
 are very graceful, and not in any place abrupt, for convenience 
 must not be sacrificed under any circumstances. The pre- 
 sence of a river or lake must not turn your road out of the 
 way you desire to take if it can be crossed by a bridge ; and 
 here is the great danger of inconsistency. If the scene is to 
 be rural, the bridge should be rustic ; if the presence of art 
 must be manifested, here is room for the taste of the architect 
 to be displayed, but the charm of rural scenery is destroyed 
 at once. A rustic bridge can be made as strong as a fine 
 architectural pile, and the less formality there is, the better. 
 However, we will begin by clearing the ground of all that 
 must come away ; let all the ditches and hollows peculiar to 
 the old partitions of fields, paddocks, and enclosures be filled 
 up ; the ground not levelled perhaps, because that may be 
 contrary to the intended plan, but smoothed on the surface, 
 which may be nevertheless uneven. In landscape gardening, 
 there is not generally any more required of the levelling or 
 smoothing than can be done by the eye and a common level, 
 and even the latter is in few cases wanted. Tliis preparation 
 of the groundwork may be followed by forming 
 
 The Eoads and Paths. — From the chief entrance to the 
 mansion there must be a carriage -drive, and this must be 
 continued all round the premises, not exactly on the skirts, 
 but so that the full extent of the premises devoted to the 
 landscape may be seen ; and it must, though it may lead to 
 other entrances, be continued to the main entrance also. As 
 the ground immediately adjoining the mansion is generally in 
 high keeping, and sometimes laid out to correspond with the
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 279 
 
 architectural lines of the house itself, such as a terrace the 
 entire length of the front, with statues, vases, and the like, 
 the landscape gardener's study should be to conceal all this 
 till you come upon it, and the landscape is shut out. But if 
 the landscape style is to be kept up throughout, so far as aU 
 in front of the main entrance is concerned, the more formal 
 portions may be still more isolated. In laying down the road, 
 therefore, use stakes which can be seen at a distance, and 
 mark out the plan by placing them in the centre of your 
 proposed road ; let it take a gentle sweep to the right and 
 left of the entrance, not abruptly, but by an easy turn on 
 each side, as soon as the road can be made to do it without 
 inconveniencing the drive of a carriage. When we say that 
 this road is to skirt the premises, we mean that it shall go in 
 some places within twenty yards, and in others thirty or forty, 
 but the object is to give a large space of green. Where the 
 roads part at the entrance, there must be a tolerably heavy 
 plantation, both to prevent the view of the house and to form 
 a reason for the roads diverging ; for let it be remembered, 
 that as nature always gives a reason for the absence of straight 
 lines, the landscape gardener must do the same. There must 
 be an apparently natural cause for every turn. It must be 
 because trees, mounds, or water, or some other natural obstacle, 
 prevents us from going straight, and the gardener has to 
 create these natural obstacles. It must always be sho^Ti that 
 the road cannot go straight : climips of shrubs here, a mound 
 there, water in the other place, are in the way of a straight 
 line ; and keeping this in view, the road may not only be 
 sweeping round the estate on the dressed part of it, but it 
 may also go here and there in a serpentine figure, the hollow 
 sides being occupied by some proper obstacle, which however 
 may give harmony and grace to the view. Where the road 
 forms, as it must in all of its turns, part of the segment of a 
 circle, the inner side of the circle may be planted with shrubs, 
 forming a clump close up to the road ; but in any clump or 
 figure that we may choose to adopt inside, to render the scene 
 broken and yet harmonious, it is that we make a road ser- 
 pentine, independent of its general direction, which would be 
 round the estate, that we may plant on both sides occasionally ; 
 and as we propose from the first, to have a good space to 
 spare on the outside between the road and the boundary 
 planting, this plan of serpentining it affords great opportunity
 
 280 PRACTICAL GAEDENING. 
 
 of varying the planting. There is nothing cuts up a ground 
 so much and detracts from its grandeur of effect more than a 
 number of roads or paths crossing each other. A specimen 
 of this, done too by a London landscape gardener, was the 
 dearest and worst we have seen. A piece of ground which 
 would have afforded a fine bold design had the worst and 
 meanest effect imaginable. Beyond the main road which we 
 have mentioned, and which should be twelve or fourteen feet 
 wide at the very least, and would be better if sixteen, leave 
 all the inside space of park or park-like ground in view ; and 
 if this be cut up by cross paths and other roads, without any 
 excuse for them, the whole charm of the landscape is destroyed. 
 
 If there must be other roads, and the space is sufficiently 
 large to warrant it, let there be some temptation to use them. 
 A lake is an object : so if there be a woody glen, a shepherd's 
 hut in the rustic style of building, a boat-house after the style 
 of a fisherman's hut, or any other attractive object, a road 
 may lead to it or past it ; but plain roads, merely passing 
 across plain pasture, are intolerable. There should, for good 
 effect, be a spacious green lawn or pasturage, for expanse is a 
 great object, and although a noble specimen of wood may be 
 tolerated, it is as unwise to cut up the space with specimens 
 as with roads. If we must have other roads, let the same 
 rule be obeyed ; the road must not be straight, and there 
 must be obstacles to cause its deviation : it would look silly 
 to see a road in half a dozen different directions over plain 
 grass, without any reason for not going straight, because 
 common sense would teach everybody, not only to wonder 
 why it went winding, but to give a practical lesson in his own 
 person by going over the grass the shortest way. 
 
 To set about making the road, when we have pegged out 
 the direction we mean to carry it, or rather cut it, let six or 
 eight feet be measured on each side, according to the width 
 it is to be, and let the turf, or the ground, be marked with 
 stakes on both sides the row of pegs put down ; and, in 
 measuring this, be exceedingly careful to measure at right 
 angles ; for if the rods used were sloped one way or the other, 
 there would be a less width marked. A very easy way of 
 marking it would be to take a line the exact length that wiU 
 reach across the road, and let one man go on each side, and 
 having a knot in the middle of the line, place it against the 
 pegs ; stretch the line exactly across at right angles with the
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 281 
 
 line of pegs, and each set down a stake or peg at the right 
 place as to width, and tolerably close. The gardener should 
 then survey his road before a turf is disturbed ; and if he, 
 upon looking and walking along it carefully, sees no awkward 
 bends, but easy sweeps and graceful though varied curves, 
 he may take up his centre row of pegs and have it dug out 
 one good spit deep all over, and thrown out ; and the cart, 
 which must bring stones or gravel, to fill up, may take off the 
 loam or top spit to fill up hollow places, or to replace the holes 
 that are made in digging gravel, or to improve mounds, or, 
 if there be no use for it, let it form an artificial mound any- 
 where, to be removed when required. "We are supposing the 
 ground to be well drained, and especially the road part ; for 
 unless land is properly drained, half the labour and money 
 expended on it is thrown away. This is the most laborious 
 of all the garden work, but unless there be a good foundation, 
 and the road hard and dry, it is the worst nuisance there can 
 be on an estate. 
 
 Rolling. — After the rough stones and hard materials have 
 settled in their place, a coating of finer gravel must be used, 
 and the whole well rolled down after every shower of rain. 
 The road should be cut level, or nearly so, through all in- 
 equalities ; and if it ascend or descend a little all the way, 
 the slope should be kept uniform. With regard to the form 
 which the road should be left, it should be rising in the 
 middle so as to throw the wet off to the edges. If the grass 
 already on the land be good enough to represent lawn, or 
 pretty even pasture for park-like grounds, such parts as may 
 have been necessarily disturbed may be sown with grass seeds 
 after levelling ; but if the herbage has been for the most part 
 disturbed, each side of the road should be levelled to it at the 
 edge, and new turf edgings a foot wide should be laid along 
 at the whole distance, and the rest be made good. 
 
 Paths are like roads upon a smaller scale ; but in the larger 
 features of the landscape they should never be less than six 
 feet wide, that three people may comfortably walk abreast ; 
 and as the road is more especially for carriages, we may be 
 excused for making a path go a nearer way to the mansion ; 
 but even in the necessary deviations to make it take graceful 
 sweeps, we must not omit the obstacles which should be 
 formed by planting, by mounds or other contrivances, and in 
 places it must go through, or between clumps of slirubs, close
 
 282 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 to the verges, so that there is good reason for carriages not 
 going the same way; for this purpose the entrance to the 
 path should be between plantations, that it may seem to be 
 what it really is. 
 
 If there be a lake, or a rivulet, or a river, it is well to mako 
 the path for some distance traverse its margin : or if there be 
 any other object worth a nearer inspection, the path, or a 
 branch from it, should lead to or past it ; and if the grounds 
 about the house be shut out from the general landscape, the 
 path should enter it without interfering with the road ; and 
 the planting at the outlet, which in fact forms the entrance 
 near the house, should bo as plainly indicative of its nature 
 and purpose, and so contrived as to be ornamental, and not 
 so formed as to admit of any lengthened view. 
 
 These principles can be carried out on a small scale, or 
 rather on a hmited space, as well as on a large one, so that 
 there be enough room to give the desired width ; but, if the 
 space be too limited, the path is better omitted ; for however 
 small a place may be, roads and paths should seem part of a 
 large one, instead of being reduced in projDortions. 
 
 Trees, Shrubs, and Planting. — We have already sup- 
 posed that there are in places some trees, bushes, and orna- 
 niental wood standing, and we now come to their appropriation. 
 On the outside of the road, we have already provided various 
 widths of space which have to be furnished, or to stand as 
 lawn or parterre, as the case may be ; and, first, we have to 
 see that palings, or any other fence, be C[uite concealed by 
 shrubs as high as the object they are to hide ; this must be 
 done with shrubs obedient to the knife — common and Portugal 
 laurels, yews and box, alaternus, aucuba japonica, and holly, 
 are among the most usefal, because they can be allowed to 
 grow up, or be kept down just as well, and answer the general 
 purpose by aiding us in appropriating or shutting out the 
 neighbouring premises. These shrubs, too, form a diversified 
 and highly effective foliage. These are not to be planted close 
 to the fence, but with room to grow. But this would be a stiff 
 formal border if confined to a row that would just conceal the 
 fence or palings ; we have therefore to form an irregular belt. 
 The planting may be brought out twenty, thirty, or even 
 forty feet in some places, in a bold clump, with ornamental 
 deciduous trees at the back and in the centre, consisting of 
 laburnums, thorns of different kinds, guelder roses, chestnuts,
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 283 
 
 sumaclis, acacias, and various otiier flowering subjects, the 
 purple beech, and various kinds of oak, planes and other 
 ornamental timber ; some of these in one clump and some 
 in another. They should be so planned in the planting as 
 to widen gradually in a graceful curve, and then swelling into 
 a bold breast-work, form a circle of noble trees and shrubs, 
 but fronted with evergreens and returning inwards a con- 
 siderable way back ; so that by commencing another curve 
 twenty feet further on, which should be sharper or shorter, 
 the planting being brought out nearly as far as the first, and 
 returning towards the boundary and, as it were, dying off to 
 nothing, there would appear a twenty feet opening, which 
 would not show its termination ; it would seem to lead to 
 other and more extensive space than really exists, and as the 
 back would be only fence high, and kept so, there would be 
 no boundary seen. 
 
 These little contrivances in planting a belt are too effective 
 to be neglected, and the entire stiffness of a boundary would 
 be lost altogether. We are great advocates for evergreens to 
 form the feature of a plantation ; and therefore, in the fore- 
 ground of these swellings, as we may call them, we should be 
 lavish in the use of the arbutus, various firs, arbor-vitses, 
 cedars, rhododendrons, berberries, hollies plain and variegated, 
 in all their varieties, and other choice subjects ; as we tra- 
 versed the road then, we should be able to diversify the 
 planting, while winter would be as inviting as summer, be- 
 cause the leading feature, evergreens, would hide the trunks 
 of the deciduous trees, which would merely tower above them, 
 and thus lighten the scene. In the curves on one or other 
 side of the road we should recommend clumps, to be occupied 
 by a selection of one family of shrubs. The rhododendron 
 would form a fine clump, magnolias a second, the arbutus a 
 third, evergreen berries a fourth, hollies a fifth, and so on 
 through whole families. Thus the foliage would be diver- 
 sified in the different assemblages, while in the very large 
 clumps we might indulge in a mixture with the decid- 
 uous trees in the centre, and various evergreens form the 
 foreground. We need hardly say that these things must be 
 planted with due regard to their probable growth, and not be 
 planted too thickly ; for such gardens are not formed for two 
 or three years, but for future ages. This is the reason for 
 choosing subjects that will grow down to the ground as well
 
 284 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 as high, up, for the front, otherwise a few years would leave 
 us their bare legs or stumps, which would by no means be 
 acceptable. The planting therefore requires, first, that we 
 should know the nature and habit of all the things we plant; 
 and secondly, that we should use this knowledge in planting 
 the tallest in the places where they would be most appropriate. 
 
 In some of our public parks and gardens this has not been 
 attended to. In the ornamental part of the park of St. James's 
 there is the worst choice of plants, and the worst planting, 
 that can be found perhaps in England ; and we fear that in 
 too many of the pubHc jobs, the planting has been dictated 
 rather by the stock of a nursery, or the cheapness of things at 
 a pubUc sale, than by any regard to the taste which should 
 guide all things. The idea of planting things that grow fast 
 in the foreground, and others that grow slowly in the middle, 
 is preposterous, though a good deal too common a practice. 
 Some of our cemeteries exhibit this blunder in an extraor- 
 dinary manner; but perhaps there is nothing to be seen 
 much worse than may be found in our royal parks and gardens. 
 
 As we approach nearer the mansion, our choice of shrubs 
 and trees may be more select; we may add azaleas, pyrus 
 japonica, andromedas, and other choice subjects, because more 
 in sight, and more likely to be appreciated ; and along every 
 footpath we should be doubly careful to have nothing coarse 
 or common ; not that we condemn things for being common, 
 but coarseness is not to be tolerated. Is or should we indulge 
 much in deciduous plants, unless they were rich in foliage, for 
 the bloom of all of them is of short duration, if we except a 
 few of the deciduous magnolias. We have said nothing of 
 roses, but they would undoubtedly be comprised in the shrubs 
 and trees, as we come nearer to the house, and by the sides 
 of the path ; and of these we should have but few varieties, 
 and they continuous bloomers. There might be a dozen kinds 
 perhaps that would almost always be in flower, and these 
 we should multiply instead of seeking for a large collection. 
 If twenty white roses and twenty red were always in flower, 
 in a place that would only accommodate forty, it would be 
 infinitely better than forty varieties, of which thirty would be 
 out of bloom from July to the end of the year. It is one of the 
 most injudicious things that can be done, to aim at possessing 
 numerous kinds of anything that gives us flowers for a short 
 season, instead of aiming to keep up a feature as long as we
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 28o 
 
 can. We hardly know a more discouraging fact connected 
 with, collections of roses, than the common result of there 
 being at no time, but a month of summer, haK a dozen to be 
 seen in flower ; yet we find people sending for twenty or fifty 
 varieties of this beautiful flower, instead of haK a dozen each 
 of those always in bloom — for there is hardly anything more 
 ugly than a rose out of bloom,— neither the foHage nor the 
 habit is desirable. We would rather see fifty each of Noisette 
 Fellenburg, the Crimson China, and the pale one, Madame 
 Hardy, Mrs. Bosanquet, and two or three others that are always 
 in flower, than the best collections in the world. The garden 
 would always be striking, and the rosery always beautiful, 
 though there were no other divefsity than would be afforded 
 by the few that are growing and blooming two-thirds of the 
 summer. 
 
 Hills and Mounds. — These features are sad blots unless 
 very judiciously placed, or, if on the spot abeady, very well 
 appropriated. Still they are wanted for the deposit of the 
 soil taken from the excavations, if there be any ornamental 
 water, and as a receptacle for the accumulated rubbish that 
 cannot be used elsewhere. ;N"atural mounds may be consider- 
 ably improved, but all must depend on their extent. There 
 are many such mounds that only require planting, and some 
 object among the trees to excite attention, and give efiect. 
 But in forming a mound, there must be an easy, graceful rise, 
 corresponding with a hollow forming part of the same outline ; 
 and, as has well been observed by old writers, lands under the 
 plough for many years may be found with the hollows greatly 
 changed by filling up, and the mounds lowered by the loss of 
 what has been in the course of time ploughed into the 
 hollows. The greatest care ^YiB. be required in this nice opera- 
 tion, which also involves large cost of labour. Let there be no 
 attempt at a mound that appears insignificant. The impression 
 that a lot of earth has been left that should have been cleared 
 away, is very awkward. There must be no abrupt rising from 
 a flat surface, as is very often the case in manufactured 
 mounds, as they are called in the dignifying language of 
 guide-books. Advantage must be taken of all that nature 
 has done ; and it may frequently be improved by additions 
 and changes ; that is, by raising it in one place with all the 
 spare soil, and what may be taken from other parts. 
 
 Temples, Euins, Antiquities. — The top of a mound of
 
 286 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 sufficient extent affords, generally, a fine view of the domain 
 all round, and of the adjoining property sometimes. In 
 planting such a mound, care should be taken, as the path 
 winds round, to stop out from, the view any object that is 
 conimon-j)lace or disagreeable, so that the best, and only the 
 best, can be seen. On such an eminence is the place for 
 some building, which should be a resting-place at all times, 
 and an agreeable apartment to spend a few hours in at any 
 time. A temple of some kind is the most appropriate. It 
 maybe an imitation of a ruined building; but there is nothing 
 looks more beautiful, when half concealed by trees, than 
 pillars supporting a classic fagade, or dome, or some well- 
 executed imitation of ruins, but not upon a small scale. K 
 the walls are not three feet or more thick, and all things in 
 proportion, better leave it for trees alone ; for there is nothing 
 more contemptible than the ruins of nine-inch brick wall ; 
 and yet it is by no means uncommon. The least appearance 
 of diminutiveness is intolerable : better have a square lump of 
 sohd ruin, Avithout any attempt at elevation, than lath and 
 plaster castles that will hardly stand a puff of air. Let 
 everything that is not modern be on a gigantic scale, if there 
 be but little of it. A temple, if the fi-ont only were standing, 
 composed of four pillars and a fascia ; and supposing it to be 
 a ruin, the remainder only represented by corresponding brick 
 columns and stones, would be effective, if partly concealed by 
 thick trees. 
 
 The planting of a mound requires some taste and judgment. 
 We must treat the whole as an antique. It must be supposed 
 to have been on the ground, and to have been preserved. 
 Modern planting of rich beauties would not do for such a 
 scene. Oak would be an appropriate subject for a Druid's 
 temple ; but it is scarcely inappropriate for anything supposed 
 to originate in a country where it is indigenous. Still, there 
 ^re many trees that would be more in keeping with many 
 others. All this has to be kept in mind when we are making 
 an object from other models. It would seem greatly out of 
 keeping to plant modern slirubs as the adjuncts to an antique 
 building ; and it should be recollected, that if we could make 
 a feature like this in all respects consistent, a great point 
 would be gained ; and in the absence of this, in attemptmg 
 anything great, we had better adopt at once the model of a 
 rustic cottage, the real or supposed residence of a ranger, or
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 287 
 
 other domestic, and especially if the place be extensive. The 
 principal aini must always be, not to attempt more than can 
 be accomplished well. If a mound be simply planted, and no 
 object beyond trees be attempted, the wood should be so 
 mixed as that the varied colours of the foHage, whether in 
 perfection or in its decline, shall blend well ; or, it may be, 
 that the holly, cedar, the spreading kind of pines, the yew, 
 and other subjects that acquire beauty and interest by age, 
 may lend their united aid in forming a picturesque object 
 from all parts of the ground. 
 
 Ornamental "Water. — But if we have to excavate for a 
 lake, we may dispose of the earth to advantage, in creating 
 a rising ground at one end of it, or for a certain distance along 
 its margin — and no place so fitting for rock- work. And if 
 this be attempted, much depends on the material to be 
 obtained for its execution. It is to be borne in mind, that 
 hillocks, or small mounds, in different parts of a landscape, 
 cannot be approved ; and if this be the natural state of the 
 ground to any evil extent, we have at once to determine 
 whether all shall be levelled, and the excess of soil taken to 
 the place where one upon a more enlarged scale shall be 
 formed, or the superabundant earth should be taken to the 
 hoUows, to fiU up and assist in forming something lilce an 
 even surface. If the former, there must be some taste exer- 
 cised in choosing the site ; and if the latter, some care taken 
 to lessen the work as much as possible, by judicious disposi- 
 tion of the power at hand, to avoid going over the ground 
 twice where once will do, and by carrying the superfluous soil 
 of a hillock to the nearest place that may be available. Some- 
 thing vriR depend upon the nature of the sub-soil. It may be 
 discovered that it consists of gravel ; in which case, all the 
 top-soil must be saved for the surface : no good surface-soil 
 should be buried. It may be stone boulders, or mixed with 
 large stones. It may be rocky; in such case, there is a 
 temptation to form rock-work on a large scale ; and the 
 material being on the spot, it would be comparatively less 
 expensive. 
 
 It is from this importance of the sub-soil that we direct 
 levelling before road-making, because, if the sub-soil be gravel, 
 or stones of large size, the material for the road is ready ; and 
 if the stones be too large, they must be broken. Nobody, in 
 fact, should attempt to move in any of the operations without
 
 288 PRACTICAL GAEDEXING. 
 
 boring or digging, to see where, or how, lie is to find material 
 for the roads, and enable bim to determine what features 
 of the ground he will preserve, and what destroy. All those 
 authors who treat of landscape gardening, more or less liken 
 it to the art of the painter, who can bring upon his canvas 
 the beauties of half a dozen different spots, and yet make 
 them all harmonize. But the material difference is in the 
 execution. The painter can represent a mountain, a river, a 
 waterfall, a cascade, trees of five hundred years' growth, and 
 rocks immovable ; but the landscape gardener is limited by 
 want of means, and cannot perform miracles. There is as 
 much difference between the painting and the reality, as 
 between a book of travels and the journey. The painter has 
 no limit : his poetical imagination may run riot in great 
 works. He can bring the Ganges, where only the Thames 
 runs, to water the meadow of Sion House, and the pyramids 
 of Egypt to SaHsbury Plain, as companions to the Druidical 
 remains. If he make his scenery harmonize, and form a good 
 landscape, it is all that is required ; and the landscape gar- 
 dener would do just such wonders on paper. But in practice 
 he must be guided by the scenery he has to begin upon, and 
 the improvements which are practicable. His mountains may 
 require to be erected by cartloads ; and for every hogshead of 
 water that his lake is to contain, he must remove a corre- 
 sponding quantity of solid earth. Loudon recommends the 
 study of landscape in paintings ; but we consider nature will 
 do enough for the gardener. He can form in his mind a 
 tolerably correct idea of what he can imitate, when he look? 
 on the reality ; but if he once allows himself to be beguiled 
 by the pencil of the artist, he may be deceived. 
 
 It is almost impossible to walk: out in the woods and forests 
 of our own country, without learning something practicable. 
 The groupings of trees, the effect of broken ground, the com- 
 manding views from hills, and the rising ground from valleys, 
 — the tui-ns of a river, now gm-gling over a broad bed of rough 
 stones, anon rushing, in a rapid narrow stream, between high 
 banks, and then swelling out into a broad and comparatively 
 smooth lake, — are all so many lessons in the art of landscape 
 gardening. But in nothing do we find more instructive hints 
 than in the various groups of trees, and the wooding of various 
 mounds ; some of which are covered, others only patched, but 
 aU more or less ornamented with foliage and verdure. From
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 289 
 
 every one of these groups and mounds we may take a useful 
 lesson. We may expand our ideas of variety and propriety 
 according as the scene pleases or annoys us. It is by visiting 
 established gardens, with a view to criticise them, that we can 
 learn what to avoid. A man determined to learn, will, in his 
 visits, see many of the extravagances which we have pointed 
 out as objectionable, and will at once see the justice of our 
 condemnation. 
 
 Although a valley is almost always the companion of 
 a mound, or something more, we must treat of them 
 separately. 
 
 Valleys and Low Grounds. — The management of valleys 
 is just the converse of mounds ; but we have to aim at great 
 ones, for mere hollows, as if the earth had been robbed of its 
 soil, are eyesores, and must be got rid of. If, as is not un- 
 common, there is a hollow or vaUey running across an estate, 
 it may be questioned whether it could be improved or should 
 be destroyed. These are often wet in the M^nter, and almost 
 a river of water ; and if so, some means must be provided for 
 getting rid of tliis, by constructing drainage before we can 
 either fill up or break the stiffness of the line, if it be so. If 
 it be a decided hollow, with rising ground all round it, the 
 bottom must be the receptacle for all the rains and draining 
 of the surroimding ground, and part of the year, at least, par- 
 tially filled with water. This must be unproved or got rid of ; 
 an unmeaning swamp at the bottom of a hoUow is not to be 
 tolerated : make it water, if it cannot be drained ; and if 
 neither can be done, fill up, as far as it is practicable, with 
 stones and any other rough material, as far as you can, and 
 lessen the hollow as much as possible, by raising it in the 
 middle, and at least forming a shallower basin, which will be 
 dry, because it will drain into the rough stuff as fast as it runs 
 down. But, presuming it to be of any bold and formidable 
 extent, at once make a piece of water there, by puddling it 
 well as far as the water is to reach, then drain all the sur- 
 rounding land into it, and otherwise keep up the supply ; 
 give some consistency of form, plant the sides appropriately, 
 construct a small boat-house which shall be ornamental, and 
 plant with water-lilies and other aquatic plants ; convert the 
 banks, or sides at least, along a portion of its margin, into 
 rock-work, or adopt any means to render it a feature. But 
 all small hollows must be filled up ; there is nothing more 
 
 T
 
 290 PRACTICAL GaRDEXING. 
 
 objectionable to the eye than holes and lumps ; and if the 
 former have been made by excavating for gravel, or soil, or 
 chalk, and present, by their extent and number, direct ob- 
 stacles to the filling up, there is nothing left for ns but to 
 plant and conceal them ; whereas very extensive hollows, 
 large enough to be turned to good account, may be made very 
 interesting features : by breaking their perpendicular sides 
 into fragmental ledges and rocky projections, by supplying 
 them with appropriate plants, by reducing the bottom to 
 some picturesque form, that which would otherwise be a most 
 exceptionable blemish may be converted to one of the most 
 interesting features. It is impossible to convey lessons to 
 meet such a case, because there are no two such places aUke 
 in anything. The design would depend altogether upon the 
 depth, the extent, the nature of the material, and the situa- 
 tion : all such places have roads sloping to the bottom, which 
 have been used to draw out the material, and this road must 
 be rendered picturesque, by the breaking of the sides and 
 plantmg them, — by turning it if straight, by widening if too 
 narrow.^ There must be some object when we get there— a 
 gipsy hut, a hermit's cave, a grotto, a fountain, or some other 
 object, if it be but a garden-seat, or the tomb of a favourite 
 dog, or, as Pope had, in his underground passage which com- 
 municated between the premises on either side the road, the 
 busts of literary and bosom friends. Such a place might be 
 devoted to some such purpose, and embrace memorials of 
 departed great men. But all this is fancy; if the places are 
 of noble size, and the banks or sides capable of forming 
 extensively picturesque features, there would be no occasion 
 for any half so gloomy. At Eosher^dlle, the premises are 
 nearly all excavation — the high portions are in the minority, 
 and are the exceptions ; but there are portions from which 
 useful lessons may be taken as to the best means of treatment, 
 from upright rocky sides, to deep and extensive hollows. 
 Notliing could be more appropriate than to turn^ the sides of 
 such a place into a Eockery, which would beat in effect any- 
 thing that could be attempted in an artificial way alone. The 
 breaking down of the sides must be judiciously managed; 
 but this belongs rather to another section of our work. 
 
 Gravel pits are of the same nature as chalk or marl pits, 
 cr stone or slate quarries ; the sides are frequently as perpen- 
 dicular, but not nearly so easy to manage, for they can onl)'
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 291 
 
 be made into regular shelves or an even slope, whereas marl 
 can be formed into anything, and slate or stone is as con- 
 vertible as chalk, though perhaps not so easily worked. The 
 planting round such places, to conceal them, often leads to 
 accident to man or beast, and if the soil be very dry, it is a 
 question whether it would not be better to work away the 
 sides into the bottom, and thus convert a dangerous hole into 
 a valley, the more extended the better, although attended 
 with great labour ; all these things must, however, be taken 
 into consideration before we commence, for indecision is fatal. 
 Until we have made up our minds what to do, we must do 
 nothing ; and when we have determined, no ordinary circum- 
 stance should turn us from our object ; not but our coming 
 upon springs, or any other undiscovered change of character 
 in our work, may induce, nay, force us to alter our design ; 
 but we must then reconsider, with the new cii'cumstances in 
 our mind, and not move again till we have again decided. 
 We may have to form a lake, or a rivulet, or fall, where we 
 did not intend, but we should never go on upon speculation 
 as to what we should do next. 
 
 Rock- WORK. — We have already mentioned this subject, 
 and pointed out some cases where its adoption would be 
 judicious. If we could command it, we would have water at 
 the foot, that there may be a seeming consistency in the 
 picture, but, as this may not always be, and the work may in 
 some cases be almost done to our hand, we must not lay 
 down rules too arbitrary. The first thing to impress upon the 
 mind is the necessity of boldness, roughness, extent ; for the 
 idea of rocks which a man can see over, and almost stride 
 over, — and this may be seen at public nurseries, — seems to us 
 to be the height of absurdity : a rock should be noble ; if a 
 man of taste has not to look up at it, he will indeed look 
 down on it ; it is as contemptible as a doll's house, or a child's 
 plaything ; too diminutive to show what it is meant for, it 
 looks like what it is not meant for, and nothing can be more 
 paltry. We have said, ere now, that rock- work may be made 
 of any size, from a barrow-full of stones thrown down on a 
 heap, to the rock of St. Elba, but this was in allusion to its 
 adaptation to plants ; a rock made" of two bricks will do to 
 nourish, and yet to supply the necessary drainage to a plant, 
 as well as if they were heaped mountains high ; but in refer- 
 ence to landscape gardening, rock-work should be twenty feet 
 
 t2
 
 292 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 high or nothing ; the only excuse for anything lower would 
 be to cover a mound with fragments of brick, flints, stones, 
 and slates, and each appear like the rock merely protruding 
 through, which, when covered with plants, would do better 
 than any paltiy elevation. But rock-work is one of those 
 features which are not necessarily part of a landscape garden, 
 and unless very judiciously managed, and of a respectable 
 extent and elevation, is far better omitted. 
 
 The temptations to construct rock- work are, first, the pre- 
 sence of abundance of appropriate material, which would be 
 iu the way if not so appropriated ; second, the presence of 
 water, which is one of the most important adjuncts ; thirdly, 
 portions of high broken mounds, easily convertible to rocks, 
 so far as the surface is concerned ; fourthly, the presence of 
 excavations of any kind not easily convertible, nor without 
 immense labour filled up ; lastly, the presence of a deep valley 
 which is to be retained. Any, or all these circumstances, 
 naturally tempt one to introduce rock-work ; and in construct- 
 ing this, the evils to be avoided are, first, diminutiveness, than 
 which nothing is so destructive to the harmon}'- of the picture ; 
 second, smoothness, which detracts from the grandeur, if not 
 absolutely from the natural appearance of rock ; thirdly, 
 choosing a bad place ; fourthly, not attending to the sur- 
 rounding, or at least the adjoining scenery. A rock built up 
 in the middle of a lawn or park would look exceedingly 
 ridiculous alone, but a rocky scenery on the margin of a lake 
 might be perfectly natural ; the place should be a gradual 
 hollow slope from near the ground upwards, the outer surface 
 being made with chiefly very large fragments of stone, or 
 material in imitation of it, so as to form a bold rugged face ; 
 and here let it be above all things remembered, that rocks are 
 not in nature formed of lumps of glass, bits of carved stone, 
 broken ornaments, and such like, as one would fancy they 
 were from looking at scores of garden establishments ; they 
 are either chalk, or granite, or quartz, or sandstone, or some 
 other distinct material, and their fragments are all of the like 
 character, although not two may be of the same size or like- 
 ness. We have seen a very disting-uished amateur rock-work, 
 which has been so managed as to evade the responsibilities 
 heaped on us by the second commandment ; it is like nothing 
 " on the earth beneath, nor in the waters under the earth," 
 patched up as children make grottoes — not those with oyster-
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING 293 
 
 shells, for they are at least all alike, but like those which in- 
 genious youthful architects make with glass and beads, bits of 
 coral, and so forth, as if — and perhaps it is so — the value of 
 the building were to be estimated by the variety of materials 
 on the face of it ; and when we expressed surprise, we were 
 directed to a dozen more in the metropolis, some in houses, 
 some out of doors, but all looking excessively small, and very 
 ridiculous. This, therefore, above all things, should be 
 avoided ; and we earnestly beg some of our most distmguished 
 amateurs to blow up their rock-work as soon as they wish to 
 get rid of the responsibility of enforcing by example a very 
 bad taste shown under the auspices of very fine plants and 
 very good establishments. The plan of your rock requires as 
 much architectural taste as the plan of your house : let the 
 crags and interstices preserve a character as if the rock Avere 
 real ; beauty, as some people would call it, must be sacrificed 
 to propriety. We would rather see rock-plants growmg upon 
 the imitative ruins of a broken do^vn castle than upon some 
 of the kinds of so-called rock-work that grace very high 
 places. There must be no one-sided contrivances, no back 
 that is not fit to be seen, no blemishes to be hidden by 
 plantation ; what is proper in one place is proper in another, 
 and the only varieties that should be seen in the different 
 faces of the rock should be only such as could be seen in 
 nature. 
 
 The Isle of Wight affords many fine specimens of inland 
 rocks, which might be studied with advantage ; and both 
 Wales and Scotland, as well as Derbyshire and Devonshire, 
 give us splendid examples. We may fiLnd rocks of all sizes, 
 and fragments of rock on one another, but nothing so con- 
 temptible as the affectation of rock-work in modern gardens. 
 Avoid, then, this puny work ; countenance nothing but such 
 as will be creditable as to size and character. In excavations, 
 where the sides of chalk-pits, or stone, or slate-quarries, are 
 almost perpendicular, these sides must in part be broken 
 down to a slope of crags, leaving a portion upright just where 
 it may seem to aid best the general eifect, and the falling of 
 the sides as they are disturbed will alniost form the work 
 without the labour of the mason or the architect ; at all 
 events, the work ^vill be greatly facilitated. 
 
 When rock- work is constructed by the side of water, a path 
 must be made at the foot, or there must be «ome standing-
 
 294 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 place, unless it happens that the water is so constructed as to 
 enable it to be well seen from the opposite path. On this 
 account it is better to carry out a sort of bay, round two- 
 thirds of which the rocks can be so constructed as to form 
 a kind of rough amphitheatre, so that those standing at the 
 entrance, or near it, may see pretty nearly all without going 
 nearer. There must be no uniformity in the construction of 
 the rocks, and the plants selected for them must not be the 
 diminutive little alpines that you must be close to before you 
 can see them, but for the most part the bolder kinds, which 
 are a feature in themselves, and such of the smaller ones as 
 are covered with bloom ; and as there will be great fissures 
 provided, as well as dry and shallow receptacles for soil, 
 even shrubs and trees of ajDpropriate kinds may be planted 
 and grown to advantage. The tops of the rock-work must 
 be composed of bold crags, here and there, and the outhne 
 must be broken by gaps ; some of the pieces should be broad 
 on the upper part, and form wide shelves, and in all parts the 
 features, as it were, should be large. On the land side great 
 attention should be paid to the natural construction, and the 
 lower part, near the ground, may be strewed with fragments, 
 among wliich plants of various sorts should be growing. The 
 crags may be also bold on the land side, and the plants from 
 top to bottom equally choice and varied. If a mound forms 
 part of the height on the land side, it is perfectly natural, 
 as in mountainous places the rocks protrude sometimes half- 
 way up, and generally in patches, up the whole face of 
 the mountain ; and so also with smaller hills and rising 
 grounds; but all this will be very trumpery if done on a 
 small scale. 
 
 With these general remarks, our friends who are desirous 
 of making rock-work will be able to set about their work 
 with right notions ; and many who think they have rock- 
 work, because they have a few clinkers and flint stones piled 
 one above the other, will be as anxious to destroy the ves- 
 tiges of some party's simplicity. If we have not the means 
 of forming proper rock- work upon a scale of sufficient extent, 
 the next best plan is to have it built with bricks, but stiU to 
 adopt a style of some kind ; but always — for we cannot im- 
 press this upon the mind too deeply nor too often — make it 
 large enough, or not at all. An artist of some celebrity in 
 imitation has recently completed a jumble of something be-
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 2' -"• 
 
 tween ruins and rock-work, and we hardly know what to call 
 it : we cannot call it rock-work, because there is nothing like 
 rock about it ; if a nine-inch brick building had been melting 
 away instead of tunibhng down, and when it was half melted 
 had suddenly congealed again, we might, by a stretch of fancy, 
 consider the work in question a representation, but it has 
 melted holes in the walls, and these are furnished witli little 
 white heads that seem looking out with astonishment at the 
 change which has been wrought. A shell or two here and 
 there looks as if somebody had been pelting the inmates 
 while the walls were in a state of fusion, and they had stuck 
 there. And this, be it mentioned, has been executed by an 
 artist in rock-work for a gentleman who held him to no price, 
 but wanted good rock-work. The heads and shells do not 
 match each other : if the head of old Nej)tune had been 
 looking out of one hole, and a mermaid's head, with her comb 
 and glass, had figured at another, they might seem at home 
 among the shells, but to see Mercury and Milton at the holes 
 in the wall seems perfectly outre. AYe hare digressed, because 
 to show up prevaihng faults is no bad road to improvement ; 
 and we have not told people what we dislike without also 
 telling them what we approve. TVe may, however, be wrong 
 after all, and particularly if, as we are told by some, land- 
 scape gardening is subject to no rules, and cannot be recon- 
 ciled to any principles, but depends entirely on the taste of 
 the gardener ; for if so, all we have done yet is to show that 
 our taste differs very materially from tliat of many other 
 persons. 
 
 ROCK-WORK AND RUINS TO PLANT. 
 
 These two constructions are the same kind of receptacle for 
 plants, and what thrives in one will thrive in the other. 
 The most effective things are ferns, and these should occupy 
 most of the prominent places ; but now and then a yucca 
 will look well ; it is a noble looking plant, and its fohage, 
 though equally graceful in its way, forms an excellent con- 
 trast to the finely divided leaves of the ferns. As a com- 
 mencement of furnishing these buildings, mix up a paste of 
 loam, about as thick as the paste used by paperhangers, into 
 this put seeds of hardy ferns if you can get them, antirr- 
 hinum, wallflower, catananche, alyssom, veronica, i>rimrose 
 and any other flower you ever saw grown on a wall ; mix
 
 206 PKACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 this altogether, and beginning at the very top, by means of a 
 ladder, paint every ledge, and fill every little crevice with 
 tills mixture ; as you come down, paint the top of every ledge 
 and roughness where a plant could lodge if it grew, do not 
 leave a single lodgement \vithout its share of pudding. Some 
 of your work will go for nothing, because the sun and wind 
 may burn up or dry anything that germinates, but your 
 labour will not be without its fruit. As you come to pockets, 
 as the holes left for plants are called, fill them with soil, 
 which must be handed up to you, and put in your fern ; 
 when you procure them you will learn what situations they 
 want, to what size they grow, and other particulars. As you 
 come near the bottom, some pockets are left larger for more 
 conspicuous plants, and near the ground you will have room 
 to put Httle blooming plants in front of the ferns, such as 
 lobelias, calceolarias, scarlet geraniums, verbenas, anything 
 dwarf, for it matters little how it is finished off. For the 
 summer months you may find several very important subj-ects, 
 that are conspicuous to put in the neighbourhood of the rock- 
 work or ruins, such as brugmansia, which may be put out in 
 May, fuchsias, which may be in conspicuous situations, and put 
 out already in bloom ; some of the saxifrages may be put on 
 broad ledges, and against upright walls, pillars, or columns ; 
 ivy must be proved to clhnb and cover. In a few months 
 you "svill see the effect of your pudding; some one or other of 
 the seeds will germinate in every place where the wet can 
 lodge, and where nothing else will grow, you will find moss. 
 The soil in all the pockets of rock-work and ruins should bB 
 rich in vegetable mould, because everything will grow in it ; 
 in fact, all the soil you find on places where it has not been 
 put, is vegetable, mosses begin and decay, grow up again and 
 decay, larger things spring up, and in turn decay, until it will 
 carry ferns ; therefore the mould used for the pockets should 
 be half loam and haK leaf-mould. 
 
 Water, and its appropriation or adoption. — If the 
 ugliest and poorest stream of water runs through grounds 
 that are to be laid out or improved, it is certainly convertible 
 to ornamental purposes. It is not necessary that water should 
 be deep because it is wide, or that the supply should be bad 
 because the stream is narrow ; but the plan of boring for 
 water is now reduced to such a system, that it is only a 
 question of expense, and where a supply of water is short ox
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 297 
 
 doulDtfiil, it is better at once to provide it. But many streams, 
 however small, may be made ornamental by first opening the 
 bed of the water, or rather the channel, to a proper orna- 
 mental figure, widening it where desirable, and so adapting 
 the outline to the place and plan of the work, as to secure a 
 picturesque and natural appearance. 
 
 Waterfalls. — But it may be, and generally is the case 
 with streams that are insignificant in appearance, that it arises 
 from the too rapid descent of the channel. In this case begin 
 by damming up the lower part, where it leaves the ground, 
 high enough to fill up to the banks there, and as they may 
 not fill it, a long way back other dams must be placed across 
 higher up, to fill it there, and so on, that it may form a series 
 of smooth water and falls, entirely through the ground. All 
 these falls may be made ornamental ; that is, a bed of stones 
 on the lower side of the dam may be piled up against it, and 
 made perfectly solid, that the water, little as it may be, shall 
 run over the surface, and not be lost to appearance by sinking 
 into them. They can also be made rugged, and portions of 
 them reach above the dam to drive the little water there is 
 through less openings. Nor need the stones be in a line 
 across the river ; they may imitate a natural barrier ; but it 
 need not be mentioned, perhaps, that whatever width the bed 
 of the river be made, so that the bottom be puddled and the 
 sides made to retain water, the stream will fill it, and then 
 allowing for increased evaporation and waste, the supjDly will 
 go over at the bottom ; so that a very inconsiderable rivulet 
 will be readily converted to a respectable river, and perhaps 
 may be aided very much by tile drains from the higher 
 grounds run diagonally into the stream ; or if more water be 
 absolutely necessary, we must resort to boring. 
 
 All rivers are capable of improvement, or the grounds that 
 immediately join may be so managed as to greatly improve 
 the appearance. The most awkward to manage are those 
 whose bed lies very much lower than the banks. Here we 
 must resort to damming up the water as before mentioned, 
 but presuming there is a good supply, it wall make a respect- 
 able cascade at some — the best adapted — part of the ground 
 towards the lower end of the stream. But it may be that the 
 river turns some mills, and that there are other obstacles to 
 the damming up of the water ; in this case the ground jnust 
 be lowered near the sides of the river to the water's edge,
 
 298 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 and be gi'a dually sloped off to make an easy sweep down 
 to the water, that the view may not be hidden by the 
 banks, which would naturally conceal the river from sight 
 at a very small distance. In this case the slope ought to 
 be carried to a considerable distance, say twenty yards, so 
 as to be able to avoid all appearance of abruptness, and 
 show the Avhole width of the stream a long way before we 
 arrive at it. 
 
 It is quite reasonable to suppose, that water is too great 
 a treasure in a good domain to be lost for want of some care 
 and expense, and that all the means of preservation would be 
 used that could well be applied. !N^ow, presuming the water, 
 as in the first instance, be scanty, every httle that could be 
 returned to the head of the river would be au object. By 
 applying the water-ram, (an ancient implement, but now 
 rapidly coming into use,) at the outer fall, a considerable 
 quantity could be sent back through pipes some hundred feet, 
 and as the instrument is self-acting, the only expense is the 
 first, and the greater the fall at the lower end of the stream, 
 the more powerful and effective will be the ram. We have 
 seen this simple instrument the means of forcing water to the 
 toj) of a house to supply cisterns for all purposes of the 
 establishment. 
 
 Formation of Lakes. — But it may be that there is no 
 water, and that we have to form an ornamental lake. Let the 
 size be in proportion to the work all around it, not a mere 
 duck pond, but more rather than less than can be afforded for 
 the space under management, for nothing can be more orna- 
 mental. TVe remember once being betrayed into making a 
 mere pond for gold fish, and unfortunately instead of its being 
 among the avowedly formal part of the garden, it was placed 
 on the la^^ai, which was laid out ^yiih its roads and plantations 
 in true landscape style. As it was a brick and cement affair, 
 thirty feet by fifteen, there was no moving it ; but we were 
 soon determined to plant it out as a nuisance, instead of 
 pointing it out as a beauty. Such things are not for landscape 
 gardens ; they are for parterres in the neighbourhood of archi- 
 tectural beauties, and not for rural gardening. Xothing could 
 be more paltry, nor was there anything about the place of 
 which we were so much ashamed. Let your lake be of any 
 odd shape, or no shape, if you please, not with angles and 
 corners, but such outlines as nature gives us in her ordinary
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 299 
 
 works. Study to avoid formality, and make the excavation 
 from two feet on the sides to six, or say five feet in the middk^. 
 If you come upon soft places, go deeper there, in the reason- 
 able hope of coming to springs, for a supply of water is a 
 most important part of the affair. According to the nature 
 of the ground, so must you determine to puddle the bottom 
 and sides, or otherwise. If you are digging in clay it will 
 retain the water, but if in gravel or sand, or loose soil the 
 entire bottom as well as sides will have to be puddled, unless 
 springs come up through the sand, and fill your pond. But it 
 frequently happens that springs will fill your pond up to a 
 certain part, and that the loose ground takes it off there, — in 
 short, that no supply vriM keep it above that mark, which may 
 be a good deal too low for appearance or use. Nothing but 
 puddling can avail us in that case ; and puddling may be 
 explained to be the making of a lining -with well-kneaded 
 clay. If we are obliged to supply the water from other means, 
 it is but to confine the depth to about four or five feet at the 
 deepest part, and two feet on the sides, but of the saucer form 
 of hollow, and then putting well-kneaded clay all over it, and 
 setting men with rammers to beat it, or rather run it out into 
 an equal bottom of about nine inches to a foot in thickness — 
 for well-worked clay is as impervious to Avater as if it were 
 baked — this puddhng is to be worked up the side to the very 
 edge, and it will then retain all the water that is put into it, 
 except what goes off" by evaporation. As, however, lakes 
 must be made at the lowest part of a domain, and all the land 
 around may be drained into it, we are seldom compelled to 
 puddle any more than the sides for a few feet in all round. 
 We should never choose an estate without water, and we 
 should lay out the whole of it, even choosing the site for the 
 house with some reference to a good view of a part, if not the 
 whole of it, though it would enter into our plan to conceal it 
 here and there by planting, to break the line of the edges 
 of it ; for we can conceive notliing more naked than water 
 without wood. 
 
 Fountains. — These belong to the formal portion of garden- 
 ing, but the making of them may be treated of in this place 
 as part of the management of water. We need hardly inform 
 the amateur gardener, that neither fountains nor falls can be 
 produced without a head of water ; and this must be either 
 supplied by the nature of the place, or by force -piunps. If we
 
 300 PBACTIGAL GAEDENING. 
 
 possess the head of water by means of springs on high ground, 
 the construction of the fountain is simply by means of a pipe 
 to convey the water to the lower ground, where the jet of the 
 fountain is placed ; and here it may be necessary to hint, that 
 the lower the design is formed — that is, the nearer it is to the 
 water — the higher it will play. But if we have to fomi the 
 head for the purpose of the fountain, the nearer it is to thq 
 work it has to do, the better it will be done. Generally, it 
 is by means of a large tank ; and the water is pumped up 
 by horse, or manual, or steam-power, from this tank, which 
 should be concealed, or be placed on the top of some of the 
 offices, so as to be a part as it were of the building; the 
 same head of water may be made to supply the mansion. 
 Where the water is supplied by power, the fountains need not 
 always be j^laying ; but with a natural head of water it is of 
 Httle or no consequence. Fountains are as various in their 
 designs, as any other object in a garden. They may be made 
 to play in a circular basin where gold and silver fish are 
 sporting, as at Hampton Court ; or they may be made to spirt 
 or run from grotesque figures, as they once did at Moor Park, 
 where one figure was a washerwoman wringing out clothes 
 which the water was running from, and a drunken man was 
 in the agonies of extreme sickness, with the water gurgling 
 from his mouth ! Strange as this fancy may appear, we saw 
 the leaden figures at Rickmansworth, not ten years since, 
 and they were specimens of extraordinary talent in modelhng. 
 We mention these to show there is no limit to the fancy, even 
 to the indulgence of the most costly and artistical excellence, 
 to carry out a vulgar taste for which even the extraordinary 
 merit of the artist hardly compensates. We do not mention 
 this for imitation, but to show that almost anything may be 
 adopted for a fountain, so it does not outrage nature and taste. 
 Lions' heads vomiting water are common ; but the most un- 
 meaning and senseless subjects are as common as anything ; 
 thus, a figure spouting up the water from a horn — one would 
 think the imagination poor indeed that could not find a better 
 subject. A dolphin, or any other water monster, spouting up 
 water after the fashion of a whale, and whose figure would be 
 haK out and half in the water, would seem more natural, and 
 it would have the advantage of being closer to the power. 
 For be it remembered, that if water will rise ten feet, every 
 foot that is taken away by the pedestal and figure has to be
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 301 
 
 deducted from the jet ; therefore anything close to the water's 
 surface will give us all the power in the jet. 
 
 Artesian Wells. — Where the springs are favourable and 
 the water will rise above the surface, these are of the greatest 
 value and importance ; because tubes may be put on the outlet 
 and carried up as high as the water will go, and may be con- 
 veyed to any ]3art of the premises below its upper level. 
 The Artesian well is a hole bored in the soil, not more than 
 a few inches wide, and is adopted where a good supply is 
 wanted and water lies very low. Many wells in this country 
 have been sunk 300 feet deep, and even then there have not 
 been many feet of water. If the main spring had been pene- 
 trated in those cases by the boring system, it is just possible 
 the water might actually have risen to the surface. Now, the 
 boring for Avater is a very common practice, and although the 
 spring may not rise to the surface, or within a certain distance 
 of it, the well has only to be sunk deep enough to hold the 
 necessary supply. The depth of the bore, to reach the main 
 spring at any particular spot, is a lottery ; the land-sprmgs 
 may be reached in a few feet, but a suppl}^ from this source is 
 uncertain, and is always affected by the weather — sometimes, 
 indeed, the land-springs are all dried up, and great loss of 
 labour, time, and money is the result. The jDrofessional borers 
 for water can frequently tell at what depth they will reach 
 the main spring so nearly, that they will contract to do it at 
 a price. The certainty of a supply from this source, and the 
 known superior quahty of the water, render it an important 
 feature in an establishment. We know that at the Duke of 
 Buccleugh's seat, Eichmond, water was once supplied to the 
 first, and, we think, the second floor, from an Artesian well ; 
 and that the main spring is affected to a great distance by 
 every new intrusion of the borers' apparatus is certain, for we 
 know the Duke's was lowered several feet by a new well bored 
 on the opposite side of the river Thames. One of the first 
 inquiries on looking at an estate should be about water. We 
 remember being called on to give our opinion as to the eligi- 
 bility of an estate in Surrey, and on entering the farmyard Ave 
 saw what to us was enough for us, and " won't do " escaped us 
 before we had gone ten yards into the premises. AVe ad- 
 dressed a labouring man Avho Avas in charge of the place : 
 " Who do those two water carts belong to 1 " " They go Avith 
 the premises." " AVhat use are they 1 " " We have to fetch
 
 302 PRACTICAL GARDEXING. 
 
 water for the lionse and the cattle with one, and the other 
 is to bring it for the garden." " Is there work for both ? " 
 " Yes, very often they are at work all day." " Where, then, 
 is the abundance of water mentioned in the particulars 1 " 
 " There's a pond and pumps, but the gardener says it kills 
 the plants, and it won't do to drink." We merely turned to 
 our employer and reminded him that such a place would not 
 be cheap at any price. It turned out that water for the gar- 
 den had to be fetched a mile up hill from a pond at the foot, 
 and that for the house had to be brought two miles. The 
 gentleman for whom we acted then told us that he had bought 
 the place at an auction, and paid a deposit ; but we held that 
 abundance of water woidd be taken to mean abundance of 
 water that could be drunk, and that the property was mis- 
 described ; and upon that a compromise was effected. This 
 was many years ago, and we knew very little of boring for 
 water ; but the price of an Artesian well might make such a 
 property very desirable. The idea of keeping two carts, two 
 horses, and two men always on an establishment, to supply 
 the water is preposterous ; and yet when rain supplied it 
 they coidd not get rid of the horses, carts, and men. These 
 wells cost something considerable when they have to pierce 
 deep ; but, where there is a scarcity of water, they are 
 valuable. 
 
 Boring for water in some places forms a powerful fountain. 
 At the Tooting Xurseries, Messrs. Eollison have' had a boring 
 which carries the water a considerable height with no sort of 
 confinement but the tube, and the supply is immense. In 
 other places, however, it has been found difficult to bring it 
 up to the surface. The fountains in Trafalgar Square are sup- 
 plied from a considerable head of water obtained by steam- 
 engines from an Artesian well ; and although there has been 
 much difference of opinion as to their claims on the score of 
 beauty, there is water enough and power enough to form any 
 kind of jet. The intention of the artist seems to have been 
 to limit the height to which the water is thrown very much, 
 and they never look better than when the jet is at half-height 
 and spread a httle, for the figure is then consistent ; when 
 plaj'ing at the full height, the basin is not large enough to 
 look as if it belonged to the jet, and the least ^vind destroys 
 the effect altogether. 
 
 AQUARIU3IS. — Although ornamental waters of any kind may
 
 LANDSCAPE GAEDENING. 303 
 
 be called Aquariums, it is only applied to those in which 
 plants and watex animals are professedly kept. If we passed 
 a pond full of water plants and fish, we should only call 
 it a pond or canal ; but in proper aquariums, to show off 
 plants, fish, and reptiles, some attention should be paid to 
 the construction. In ordering ponds and canals, many choice 
 specimens requiring shallow water would be lost ; but it is 
 possible to render them capable of growing everything in 
 perfection by constructing steps, as it were, at the sides. In 
 some places it may be filled up to leave a depth of six inches 
 in for a certain distance, and the next shelf, as we may call 
 it, may be eighteen, or it may go shelving off to that depth, 
 and plants may be sunk in pots or baskets of proper soil ; 
 but in no case should the water be very deep. In construct- 
 ing an aquarium which may be adapted for all the interesting 
 plants, it is best to make the bottom like a flight of steps, to 
 accommodate all the species intended to be grown ; whether 
 it be under glass or otherwise the construction may be the 
 same. The supply of water should be gentle, but constant ; 
 and where it is abundant it might be in the form of a fall, 
 and reach pretty nearly the whole breadth at one end ; a pipe 
 drilled full of small holes may be made to supply a range of 
 artificial rock and trickle down it in twenty places, and the 
 pipe be nevertheless concealed from view: but fancy may 
 originate fifty different contrivances to convey the water 
 without its entrance being in sight, though it greatly increases 
 the interest of the scene if the supply be made a feature. In 
 aquariums out of doors, we strongly recommend the addition 
 of rock- work, particularly if the work is to be on a large scale. 
 The construction of an aquarium with rock-work at one end, 
 or partly surrounding it, gives an opportunity of growing a 
 fine collection of ferns, some of the most beautiful of which 
 thrive best where there is a supply of moisture ; but it would 
 be difficult to lay down any rules except so far as provision 
 is to be made for holding the water. If it be necessary to 
 excavate for it, we have to choose between puddling it all 
 over the bottom and sides with clay, or building the interior 
 with brick and cement. If it be on a large scale, puddling 
 wiU be necessary ; if on a small scale, it is better to resort to 
 brickwork. As we have intimated, provision must be made 
 for various depths of water, and the excavation must allow 
 for six inches of puddled clay; and imless the clay be
 
 304 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 kneaded until every particle of air is excluded, it ■will not 
 permanently hold water. Wlien the excavation is made, tlie 
 clay must be put all over the bottom, and beaten or rammed 
 do'svn with round-ended rammers, about four inches through, 
 and smooth, until the whole is a sohd coating all over the 
 bottom and sides. It must be moistened while it is rammed, 
 and gone over n.any times. There are men used to this sort 
 of work, who may be profitably employed, instead of its 
 being attempted by men not used to the business : and when 
 we have a puddled bottom, it is better to have a gradual 
 slope from very shallow edges to the requu^ed depth in the 
 middle. It is desirable to have a rise in the middle, to form- 
 a sort of island, where amphibious subjects can rest. The 
 method of planting these waters is simple enough : — All the 
 various aquatic plants may be sunk in pots, pans, or baskets 
 of soil, in deep or shallow water, as required for their growth 
 and proper development ; and the rockwork should be built 
 with pockets for sufficient earth to sustain ferns, yuccas, and 
 such plants as exhibit their foliage to advantage. It is a 
 mistaken notion to depend on the favourite httle Alpine 
 plants which we too often see almost exclusively grown on 
 such places ; and, moreover, there are many water plants that 
 are but little use. All the hardy water lilies are worth a 
 place : some of the flags and rushes are interesting, because 
 they make a feature ; but inasmuch as there are many really 
 fine subjects, striking to the eye, as well as interesting, 
 a good tiling had better be grown in plenty than the space 
 filled up with insignificant subjects only interesting to the 
 botanist. AVhatever water may be on the premises may be 
 converted into interesting scenery, and adapted for water 
 plants by simply filling up portions that are too deep, 
 changing the outhne, and adding rock where the water is 
 already standing. There will be no puddling required ; and 
 if it be not high enough, lower the ground aU round to slope 
 down to its edge, or sink the surrounding soil to a flat path, 
 only a little above the water, and form a sloping bank all 
 round the path, portions of which may be covered with rock- 
 work, sloping down to the water occupying the space that 
 would be devoted to path if it went all round ; because if the 
 rock occupied the space half round the edge, it would be of 
 no consequence. The so-called aquarium out of doors is a 
 most indefinite afiair so far as extent is concerned, for we
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 305 
 
 have seen almost every hardy aquatic worth cultivating in a 
 canal a hiindi-ed yards long, and certainly the water abounded 
 with almost all kinds of fishes : but we take it that water 
 beyond a certain limit belongs not to the received notions of 
 aquariums. Under glass, where there is something like taste 
 in the construction, and we may see to the bottom and 
 witness the motion of the animals the water contains, there 
 is something more deserving of notice. For an example, we 
 will mention the aquariums at the Crystal Palace, where the 
 higher temperature enables the directors to cultivate some of 
 the most beautiful subjects, and keep alive many extraordinary 
 examples of natural history. The splendour of some of the 
 flowering water plants is far beyond anything we can grow 
 in the open air. But we may mention Yietche's, in the 
 King's Eoad, where most of the rare aquatics are cultivated 
 for sale. Those at Sion House, Kew, the Manchester Botanic 
 Gardens, and others, whi<;h were constructed for the pur- 
 pose of growing the Victoria Regia, are examples that have 
 been since followed by many. Aquariums on a small scale — 
 merely vessels of glass, in which plants, fishes, reptiles, 
 beetles, spiders, and other hving things are kept — have 
 become almost as fashionable as Wardian cases ; and one 
 dealer in the subjects for furnishing them — Brigdon, of the 
 Railway Arcade, London Bridge — actually keeps thousands of 
 plants and animals always on sale ; and we have seen, in his 
 glass cistern, turtles, lizards, fishes of all kinds, little ugly 
 monsters, that one hardly fancied were in creation, sporting 
 about as lively as if they were at home, and that, with some 
 of them, was thousands of miles off. 
 
 The aquarium formed with glass sides should not be more 
 than twelve or fifteen inches from side to side, and two feet 
 deep, but from end to end may be any length that will fill a 
 window. Clean gravel and sand should cover the bottom ; 
 and a few shells may be added in artificial rock. The best 
 mode of inserting plants is to put them in shells, with proper 
 earth, and sink them to the bottom ; some, however, will 
 root in sand : and as some very interesting subjects among 
 the beetle tribe and others will destroy or worry fishes and 
 equally interesting animals, it is better to trust to those who 
 furnish aquariums, for a set of appropriate subjects, than to 
 pick up things at random. All fishes are interesting when 
 small, but come will not thrive ; and it has only been ex- 
 
 • u
 
 306 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 perience that has taught which does : and it is better to leave 
 the choice of plants also to the dealers in these things. We 
 have seen, at the depot already mentioned, aquariums com- 
 pletely furnished ; small eels, bull-heads, flounders, gudgeons, 
 and loaches, moving about the bottom among the roots of the 
 plants, which were growing out of artificial rocks, shells, and 
 the sand itself, or swimming on the surface with their roots 
 descending almost to the bottom ; gold-fish, roach, and dace, 
 sporting about in the middle ; lizards of many colours, water- 
 spiders with bellies of burnished silver, and beetles, lying on 
 the surface, and anon descending to the bottom and re- 
 turning; the whole scene animated, and when the body o1 
 water is only twelve or fifteen inches through, they can be 
 seen well if they are on the opposite side. We need hardly 
 say that the choice of plants for these miniature structures is 
 very limited, because many very fine things grow too large. 
 It is obvious, too, that numerous small things, which are 
 interesting when they cannot get out of sight, would be lost 
 in larger aquariums out of doors : but as house-gardening in 
 Wardian cases is becoming fashionable, aquariums are made 
 to match them in all but the roof, and the water plants are 
 as interesting in their way in the latter as ferns and lycopods 
 are in the former. The only subject we have once more to 
 touch upon is the necessity of a constant supply of fresh 
 wator. In out of door works this may be by fountains, or 
 falls, or any other fanciful contrivance. Indoors, it is by a 
 tap with water laid on, or, by drawing off a portion by means 
 of a syphon, and filling up with the common water-pot, or 
 any other vessel ; and the suj)ply must be by river or rain- 
 water, for the water from a well, though much clearer, would 
 be fatal. 
 
 Arbours. — There are so many ways of forming arbours, and 
 so much depends on the facilities at hand, that we must 
 describe a few, and leave the operator to choose that which 
 best accords with the surrounding circumstances. The most 
 complete are those made over a frame. The most simple 
 are formed with trees brought to meet overhead by tying 
 the branches together. The iron-workers have frames of all 
 sizes worked in wire, and we have only to grow proper 
 climbing subjects to cover them ; but, although it may not 
 be quite so durable, give us wood frames for choice. It is 
 useless to say much about size, because that is arbitrary. If
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 307 
 
 people want a space large enough to accommodate a tea-party, 
 or a dozen convi"snal friends in an arbonr, they must build 
 accordingly ; but the majority will prefer one that would 
 merely contain seats for three, four, or half-a-dozen; and 
 there is this distinction between arbours and sununer-houses, 
 the arbour has no roof but the branches of trees, the summer- 
 house has a solid roof The use of a frame for the former 
 is to keep the branches which shelter us from coming down 
 too low, and to restrain the growth of everything within 
 bounds. However pretty an iron or wood frame may be to 
 look at unfurnished, it is the gardener's place to conceal it as 
 soon as possible. A homely but useful kind of frame may be 
 made with long wooden rods stuck in the ground a foot apart 
 for the sides, with cross rods of straight wood tied at two feet 
 from the ground and at five feet, the rods tied across at 
 the top, and a cross-piece fastened where they meet and cross 
 each other ; the spare ends may then be shortened : these 
 may be furnished with tropeolums, convolvolus major, hops, 
 Virginian creepers, honeysuckles, climbing roses, jasmines, 
 vines, ivj, or with any close-groAving trees ; but those sulyects 
 which will, after growing, keep in their places are the best, 
 because the old frame may rot and the arbour remain as good 
 ds ever. A\Tien two trees are close enough together, we may 
 form a good and improving roof by tying them into each 
 other. Yew-trees will make excellent arbours, for they can be 
 cut into any form ; but as these things are merely intended 
 as summer retreats for the sake of the shade, few people care 
 for evergreen coverings ; deciduous trees and plants answer 
 all the purposes, so that there is a great choice of subjects ; 
 but those which make their wood and only have to open each 
 leaf are better than climbers which have to make all their 
 growth from the ground like hops. 
 
 SuMMER-HousES, Gardbn ARCHITECTURE. — Summcr-houses 
 — and winter-houses would be quite as good a name — are 
 roofed to keep out rain, snow, sleet, and hail, and may be of 
 any form that harmonizes with the surrounding scenery, or, 
 if secluded, of any shape we please. Temples are great 
 favourites, and when constructed with taste are highly orna- 
 mental. These should be closed on three sides, if open in 
 front, but the open front should face the south-west as near 
 as may be ; and should be entered by a flight of steps. It will 
 then be high, dry, and useful ; and, where the surrounding 
 
 u2
 
 308 PRACTICAL GARDEXING. 
 
 plautations are cMefly evergreens, tliey enable ns to enjoy the 
 garden in winter. It would occup}" a Tolume to describe the 
 variety of forms that may be adopted for buildings of this 
 kind. The plantations of each side should be carefully 
 arranged : the main features should be evergreen ; the back- 
 ground may be varied with deciduous trees. The evergreens 
 should be diversified, in habit and foliage ; the conifers 
 should be conspicuous ; for nothing is more graceful, nothing 
 more varied. If there be any portion of the ground more 
 elevated than the rest, that should be the chosen spot ; and 
 if not, a mound should be formed, if possible, in the best part 
 of the ground for an extensive, or at least an interesting view; 
 and regard should be had to making the temple a fine object 
 from the mansion. Well imitated ruins are noble orna- 
 ments in a garden if properly carried out, — not as we have 
 seen, mimic castles, the size of an old watch-box, but portions 
 of something at least the size of something real. There is no 
 occasion to construct anything very gigantic, but if it be only 
 the remains of an old wall, let it be the proper tldckness of an 
 old wall. iN'o thing is more contemptible than the imitation 
 of a large castle on a small scale ; whatever there is standing 
 of the elevation should be as large as would make it useful 
 It may be impossible to construct ruins on the scale of an old 
 Xorman castle, but the remains of an old wall tower would be 
 as interesting, and altogether in keeping. The principal 
 object is to impress the mind with a notion of reality. Per- 
 haps there are few things generally constructed more ugly 
 than ice-houses ; yet, as the nsefal portion is under ground, 
 and the only object is to keep off the sun, there is no good 
 reason why the portion above ground should not be orna- 
 mental : we do not mean that there should be a toy-like 
 elevation ; but we hardly know a more appropriate object 
 than a ruin. JN^o thing could be cooler than a mass of brick- 
 work above the ice-well. The architect might indulge his 
 fancy to any extent, so that he provided a doorway, and took 
 care that his general superstructure completely intercepted 
 the heat of the sun. There is no reason why it should not 
 be shaded with trees ; while the object, instead of being so 
 ugly that it is necessarily planted out and hidden, might be 
 made an object of interest instead of an ugly brick and thatch 
 hovel. A ruin is not the less effective when secluded ; in 
 fact, if more attention were paid to garden architecture, there
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 309 
 
 need not be an ugly feature in the place : a common tool- 
 house may be made picturesque. Connected with garden 
 architecture may be reckoned all the constructions for pre- 
 serving plants ; but as these are generally shut off from the 
 landscape, there is rarely anything but the conservatory that 
 forms a feature in the garden ; and here there is often too 
 much display, and that too without harmonizing with any- 
 thing, not even with the mansion. A pattern is chosen as a 
 man would select a pattern for his carriage, without the least 
 consideration of its fitness for the place it is to occupy. He 
 forgets that his conservatory is stationary, and that it does 
 not accord with his house ; and the builder of the one cares 
 very little how much it is too good for the place. We are no 
 great advocates for the frippery that is too often attached to 
 conservatories. Stained glass window^s are great drawbacks 
 to plants ; for it may fairly be said of flowers, in general, 
 that — 
 
 '•' Beauty, when unadorned, '3 adorned the most." 
 
 Whatever distracts the attention from the plants themselves 
 is detrimental to the general effect. Externally, the con- 
 servatory may be what anybody likes best, but internally 
 all should be plain and neat. Conservatories are generally 
 attached to the mansion, and we can hardly imagine a greater 
 luxury than to walk out of the house in the depth of winter 
 into one well furnished with blooming plants : we do not 
 mean a crowded jungle like that at Chiswick was and that at 
 Chatsworth is (unless it has been altered since the late duke 
 died). We cannot admire a jumble of plants with no interest 
 attached to them but their rarity, but one furnished with 
 attractive subjects to be admired for their beauty. A national 
 botanic garden must have in it much that is instructive with- 
 out being beautiful, but the conservatory of a mansion ought 
 to be the show-house, as it were, for all the beautiful objects 
 brought forward in the other houses, to be removed when 
 past their beauty to give place for others coming in ; and the 
 skill of the architect will be as much taxed for the finish of 
 the interior as for the elevation. 
 
 Bridges. — In laying out a landscape garden, and providing 
 the necessary ornaments, few greater blunders are committed 
 than in the construction of bridges, for the architect must gene- 
 rally exhibit his taste in a costly modern, erection, where
 
 310 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 everything should be rustic. How many splendid examples 
 of landscape are defaced by this palpable error ! JN'ever- 
 theless, we are not to condemn handsome bridges in their 
 proper places, where the bridge can be seen from the man- 
 sion, and the mansion from the bridge, and more especially 
 when both can be seen from one spot ; the bridge may be, 
 without inconsistency, a noble architectural pile, but the 
 order should match. It does not seem well to have an 
 Italian bridge to an Elizabethan mansion, but we have seen 
 such things, and to us they appear a palpable absurdity. But 
 it should be borne in mind that a rustic bridge, however 
 roughly designed, is never out of place ; a man may stick up 
 Ms English mansion in the midst of rural scenery, but his 
 garden ornaments should be in keeping. If his house be 
 Itahan, his bridges must be Itahan, or rustic ; so, also, if his 
 mansion be Swiss, or ISTorman, or Grecian, or anything else 
 European, the rustic, whether rough hewn timber or slabs, 
 with limbs of trees for a hand-rail, or more elaborate, cannot 
 be wrong ; but what can be worse than a mixture of styles 
 in sight at the same time ; a chain bridge, for instance, a 
 Swiss cottage, a thatched hut for a lodge ; and yet such things 
 are done ; when a bridge is in an isolated situation away 
 from the house, on a little world of its own, make it what 
 you please, but have everything in sight to match, even to 
 the trees and shrubs that you plant. "We are partial to rustic 
 bridges, except where all the garden erections match the 
 mansion, and the plantations are made in accordance. 
 
 Entrances. — Few features about a gentleman's domain are 
 less attended to than the entrance ; we could mention a great 
 many very princely estates, the entrances to which are by no 
 means worthy of the place ; all the drive that is in sight is 
 bad — neglected plantations, bad road, the outhne of the car- 
 riage-way lost or worn out, every yard of the drive bounded 
 by worn-out trees or none, neither rule nor order observed 
 inside the gate, and weeds and waste ground outside. As we 
 approach the mansion things look a little more humanized, 
 but nothing in good keeping tiU we get to the ground in the 
 immediate vicinity of the house. This is not a very flattering 
 picture of a nobleman's place, but it is quite true of some, and 
 very nearly true of a good many. Whose fault is it 1 gene- 
 rally the owner's, sometimes the bailiff's, but oftener the 
 gardener's. People roll in and out of their gates in carriages,
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 311 
 
 and rarely trouble tliemselves to look one way or tlie other. 
 But every labouring man out of work, who passes such a 
 place, opens his eyes and sometimes his mouth, and thinks, 
 and says perhaps, " It is a great shame that a rich man should 
 let his place remain in that state, while he could employ men 
 in the neighbouring village to set it all straight, and keep it 
 all creditable." Gentlemen should recollect that a thousand 
 people see the entrance for one that reaches the inside, and 
 that the portion which every passer-by sees is that which 
 stamps the liberality or the parsimony of the OAvner, We do 
 not quarrel with the gate, whether it be a five-barred one of 
 wood, or an elaborate pair of iron like those at Hampton 
 Court, it is a matter of taste — or want of taste — but the state 
 of the road and trees and shrubs at the entrance, so far as th» 
 eye reaches, is a matter of cleanliness or slovenliness, and 
 when neglected impressas the passers-by with a notion that 
 the owner is naturally careless, or poor, or grudges the 
 labourers in his neighbourhood the means of working for 
 their bread. It is this seeming indifference to the appearance 
 of liis domain, and to the interests of the poorer classes, that 
 creates an ill-feeling, puts all manner of mischief into their 
 heads, and to a certainty costs the stingy master more in 
 the loss of game, and things not game, than he need sj^end 
 among them to make them honest and happy, and his place 
 tidy. 
 
 General Observations. — We have shown, we believe, 
 pretty clearly, that without questioning whether formal or land- 
 scape gardening is the better, we cannot tolerate a mixture. In 
 landscape gardening there must be no straight lines. Whether 
 it be water, or grass, or roads, or paths, there must be nothing 
 in rows or straight lines ; whatever is to be formal or contrary 
 to nature must be isolated, and not make part of the general 
 scene. We have no objections to urge against geometrical 
 figures, and fancy uniform flower beds, but they must be in a 
 garden shut out from the landscape ; and indeed, so far do we 
 approve of them in their places, that we think nothing so good 
 in a proper flower garden, of which we have yet to speak, or 
 rather write. The conservatory should, if possible, be so con- 
 trived as to be entered from the house, and have its outlet in 
 the flower garden ; but we would have neither seen from the 
 landscape. Let private walks, into which the passer-by on the 
 landscape cannot see more than a few feet, lead to the beds of
 
 31 2 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 flowers and fanciful gravel walks. Let there be terraces, 
 statues, vases, and all kinds of garden ornaments, if you will, 
 to be seen when we arrive, but let it burst on our view as we 
 emerge from our branch Avalk. Let there be circular, oval, 
 square, octagon, or oblong houses ; fountains, and fancy 
 flower-pots, all very delightful in their places, but keep them 
 in their places. ISTo mixture can be consistent with good 
 taste ; at least, such is the impression which we have, and are 
 likely to keep. We only want things called by their right 
 names. A landscape cannot be a geometrical figure ; and for 
 an avowedly artificial garden, order and uniformity can alone 
 be tolerated. 
 
 Beauty in Scenery. — Tliis is touched upon in our direc- 
 tions for laying out ground for landscape gardenmg, but a few 
 remarks on those features which make up a beautiful scene 
 \viU lead to a consideration of what should be preserved as 
 well as things to be introduced. Beauty in scenery may be 
 made up of wood only, wood and water, wood, water, hill and 
 dale, and that too without any feature being better than may 
 be found in hundreds of j)laces. Of the latter, one of the 
 finest examjjles is the view from the to^) of Richmond Hill. 
 But there are features that could enliance the beauty of that 
 splendid scene. Imagine a clump of rocks from the Trent 
 by the Thames, a rustic watermill in the distance, the ruins 
 of Chepstow Castle in sight ! All these would be superb 
 additions to the grandeur of a scene already beautiful. It 
 is in the power of the landscape gardener to introduce all 
 these features in one harmonious scene, and at far less expense 
 than has been incurred in some of our noblemen's domains. 
 The great fault we have to find ^vith many costly places is 
 that the beauties are detached, that there is no regard f)aid 
 to the whole scenery harmonizing. Chatsworth is a mag- 
 nificent place, and many of the noble objects are, by them- 
 selves, faultless, but Chatsworth is not a whole. We admire 
 the rocks here, the waterfalls there, and the fountains some- 
 where else ; but is there any one comprehensive view like 
 that from Eichmond Hill ? And let it be borne in mind 
 that the real beauty of that scene does not take in a vast 
 tract of country — the beauty is in its harmony. It is a 
 whole, no matter whose land the eye rambles over, it is 
 all one scene, and might be, for all the spectator knows 
 or can see, all one man's laying out ; nor could the addi-
 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 313 
 
 tions we suggest infringe upon the harmony of the view, the 
 objects have only to be properly placed. Xow Chatsworth, 
 viewed from an elevation as high as a balloon would carry us, 
 would present a whole ; we could see at once the whole estate, 
 but there would be no harmony. Yet what advantages did 
 that comprise'? Wood, rock, water, mountain scenery, mate- 
 rials for every feature the eye could covet, as it were, on the 
 spot ; yet there is not one point from which a view like the 
 quiet beauty of Richmond Hill could be found. Everything, 
 however, in landscape gardening should be in harmony, and it 
 can always be accomplished if there were all the features that 
 make a scene beautiful. We do not mean that there can be 
 a pagoda here, and a mosque there, or that we are to drag- 
 features from all the quarters of the globe ; that is not natural, 
 and therefore cannot be beautiful. But we mean that all the best 
 features in natural scenery can be brought together without 
 destroying the harmony. Take a turn the whole length of the 
 Wye — we do not want to have one little island and its im- 
 mediate dependencies for scenes — and how many times should 
 we stop to admire the mountains and ruins on its banks and 
 within sight 1 Eamble among the mountains in Scotland and 
 Wales, and how many times should we stop to admire scenes 
 grand and beautiful, because harmonious 1 What we find 
 beautiful in nature we can imitate in style, if not in magnitude. 
 Hence we say the landscape gardener can make a scene beau- 
 tiful^ because he can bring together in harmony subjects which 
 may not be often found together. But without " stepping 
 from the sublime to the ridiculous," let us glance at what we 
 may call formal gardening. We have seen this very beautiful ; 
 every path, bed, clump, tree, shrub, and plant uniform, straight, 
 circular, angular, and geometrically accurate. The Italian 
 Gardens at Chatsworth are beautiful. The fountains are 
 beautifid. ; we have no objection to these formal gardens when 
 well kept, but it is beauty of a dilFent kind to natural beauty. 
 When all is architectural in the neighbourhood, and natural 
 scenery is altogether shut out, we can see beauty in geometri- 
 cal gardens. The American Garden at Cremorne, laid out as 
 it was by Milner, and planted with the most choice rhododen- 
 drons and azalias, closed in with canvas, the scene was com- 
 plete, and unquestionably beautiful. We seemed in another 
 world, or at least in another country. But it is very rare that 
 formal gardening is sufiiciently excluded from natural scenery
 
 314 PRACTICAL GARDEXING. 
 
 to be appreciated, and the finest garden that was ever laid out 
 geometrically, suffers by comparison if there be any natural 
 landscape in sight. 
 
 FOEMAL GAEDE:N'ma. 
 
 This, in contradistinction to landscape gardening, is every 
 way artificial. Every bed, border, clump, or gravel-walk, is 
 formed according to some order or regularity of figure, and all 
 is uniform. It applies to those parts of a garden which are 
 devoted to flowers, be they where they may, and in most 
 places some portion near the mansion, or the conservatory, or 
 the summer-house ; and is thoroughly distinct from the land- 
 scape, if there be one : or it may be that the whole of a 
 domain is thus artificially planned — straight avenues of trees, 
 straight roads, straight canals, all are in keeping with each 
 other, and order and regularity, and even uniformity, pre- 
 served throughout. The leading features in formal gardening 
 are terraces, statues, fountains, avenues of trees, bold but 
 straight walks and roads, and canals with straight banks ; and 
 circular pieces of water, formal cascades, as if the water were 
 running down a flight of steps, — angles, circles, squares, and 
 straight lines, — proclaim, at every step Ave take, that the hand 
 of man has done the work. All natural scenery is avoided 
 as much as possible; and it has been carried so far as to trim 
 the trees up into unnatural shapes, as if it were determined 
 that every plant should bear the stamp of interference. 
 
 Design. — We have abundant examples of formal gardening 
 in Hampton Court Gardens and Bushy Park. There is, how- 
 ever, quite as much art in designing a garden, and managing 
 the plan of a domain, in the formal style, as there is in the 
 landscape ; but there is less difficulty in carrying it out. The 
 ordinary architect would succeed in laying doAvu a plan quite 
 as well as the gardener ; and there is no doubt but the 
 builder of a mansion would carry out ideas suited to the 
 elevation as well as any professional designer of garden plans. 
 All things appertaining to the plan must be adopted according 
 to the architectural taste displayed on the building. Terrace- 
 walks should be parallel to the front or sides. Here expanse 
 is exhibited by the length of walks, roads, and avenues ; and 
 these must be upon a scale suited to the elevation of the 
 building The ornaments to terrace-walks must be in keeping
 
 FORMAL GARDENING. 315 
 
 with the style of architecture. Where there is an immense, 
 long walk, and space on each side, there should be circles 
 every forty, or fifty, or eighty yards, the segments of which, 
 on both sides, should be ornamented with seats, and the 
 centre may be a basin for gold-fish, a fountain, a temple, or 
 some other device, not sufficient to interrupt a Yiew of the 
 entire length, but enough to break the monotony. The plant- 
 ing on either side should be perfectly uniform ; whatever 
 shaped bed, whatever kind of tree or shrub, may be placed on 
 one side, should be also placed on the other ; and there is no 
 rule for the construction of the edging. In formal gardening, 
 it may be stone, or box, or grass ; so that it be uniform, it 
 matters not what. Eock-work, in this kind of gardening, may 
 be as formal as a rough cone or pyramid, so it be in uniform 
 situation. Here it would be as bad taste to see water of irre- 
 gular shape, as it would to see a straight line in a landscape ; 
 therefore, unless a piece of water be of too large a space to see 
 the extent, or observe the figure, it must be altered to round, 
 or oval, or square, or half-circle, or some regular figure corre- 
 sponding with the scenery adjoining. 
 
 Gates. — Walks and roads should lead to some object. The 
 most simple and appropriate, perhaps, is a gate or entrance ; 
 and so necessary is this, that we have abundant instances of 
 costly but useless gates at the ends of avenues, which gates are 
 necessary as ornaments, though they may never be opened. 
 But there is a good reason for the adoption of gates — they 
 afi'ord an opportunity of displacing architectural taste ; and 
 we may find another good reason in the idea they convey of 
 space. If the gates had a solid brick wall behind them, or 
 were not even made to open, they give one an idea that there 
 is something beyond, whereas a temple appears to be a finish. 
 In Bushy Park, we have a straight road, with a rich avenue 
 of chestnuts on both sides, a circular pond near the end, with 
 what should be a fountain, if it were not out of order, and 
 beyond this the noble gates, which lead out into the road 
 opposite the equally beautiful gates of Hampton Court Palace ; 
 and we have straight walks in these gardens, which lead to 
 another gate seldom opened, but they make a finish. 
 
 Principles of Design. — It is impossible to set bounds to 
 the fancy in working out figures for beds on each side a walk 
 or road ; two or three points must, however, be kept in view. 
 Angles must not be too small : the great fault of many formal
 
 316 PK ACTIO AL GARDENING. 
 
 gardens is tliat figures are attempted on too elaborate a scale ; 
 they look well enough in theory, very pretty when empty, 
 because we can see every little tm-n and corner in the figure ; 
 but put plants in only six inches high, and the figure is lost. 
 Let all figures be bold, simple, and easily seen when planted. 
 There is no mistake in a cii'cle, or half-circle, or square, or 
 oblong -. but what sense would there be in an octagon ?— the 
 straight angles would be lost when the plants grew, or when 
 we were at a httle distance. In like manner, any very sharp 
 angle would be lost as soon as plants grew up a httle. What- 
 ever, therefore, be the design, some care must be taken to use 
 no figure that could not be seen to advantage, and always to 
 adapt it to the height of the plants to be groAvn there. The 
 road up to the entrance of a mansion should be the segment 
 of a circle, for the sake of convenience ; or the entire road 
 from the entrance might be a whole cuxle : but the back-front 
 of the house is the place to display taste in the terrace-walk. 
 The garden at the back may have an enth-e walk of four 
 straight sides going completely about the space, or at least so 
 nearly as brings us -within sight of the boundaries ; or there 
 may be a square space enclosed, as it were, by four straight 
 walks ; or the entire space may be compressed by a terrace- 
 walk the whole width parallel with the back-front, and other 
 walks uniformly diverging to the extent of length, ^uth 
 avenues of trees or shrubs, and terminating with some object; 
 and in these avenues there may be statues, fountains, sun- 
 dials, or whatever other device may please the taste. There 
 should, however, be grass or flower borders, or both, on each 
 side these walks, planned uniformly and planted uniformly. 
 There can be no set rules for the laying out of a formal 
 garden, but there are some points worth considering. If, for 
 isistance, we have an avenue of trees in a garden, it would be 
 most desirable if we could make an opening through all the 
 wood in the adjoining premises, because then the eflect would 
 be so much more grand. 
 
 Whenever a walk is very long, there should be breaks 
 where seats could be placed. If we have to put a gate at the 
 end of a walk, to give an idea of space, let the walk ter- 
 minate twenty yards before we reach the end of the grounds, 
 and let a cross-walk appear on the other side of the gate ; or, 
 if it be preferred, let ad beyond the gate be lawn or grass, and 
 planting conceal the boundary, whether it be palings or waU.
 
 FORMAL GARDENING. 317 
 
 Boundary "Walls. — In formal gai'dening tliere is fre- 
 quently used what is called a lia-ha fence, the object of which 
 is to prevent a view from being interrupted by a wall or 
 c<jmmon fence ; this is made by digging a trench five or six 
 feet deep, and building a wall up to the surface only, and 
 outside the wall the earth is removed altogether in a sloping 
 direction ; so that on the outside any one may walk clown the 
 slope to the foot of the wall, and there he is as far off getting 
 in as he would be if the wall were on the surface, and as 
 much above him. By means of this ha-ha fence we are 
 enabled to appropriate the land beyond the fence to cattle, or 
 to any other purpose, without having the space confined, or 
 the view interrupted, by a wall above the surface. 
 
 In planting these formal gardens, the greatest care must be 
 taken to plant such trees and shrubs as are adapted to keep 
 up a uniform gTOwth ; because, unlike the landscape, where 
 the difference of growth and foUage, however uncouth that 
 growth may be, in some cases rather heightens the natural 
 beauties of wood, the formal garden wants uniform growth — 
 a mixture of wood, imless it be a uniform mixture, would 
 destroy the harmony and keeping of the place ; a clump of 
 shrubs on one side must be opposed by a like clump on the 
 other ; rhododendrons should not only be put opposite rhodo- 
 dendrons, but the like kind of rhododendrons ; and in the 
 management of these uniform clumps the knife must restrain 
 the too vigorous growth of any that, by exuberant shoots, bid 
 fair to spoil the uniformity. After things have attained a 
 tolerable size, and got well hold of the ground, these will not 
 vary much. The clumps of flowers, or rather the flower-beds, 
 must not only be uniform, but they must be furnished in a 
 uniform manner. If there be a round bed on each side, they 
 must be filled with flowers of the same kind and colour. 
 Nine-tenths of the geometrical gardens are spoiled in the 
 planting; for, even in the instructions which some flower 
 gardeners have published, tliere is a direction what to grow in 
 each compartment, mthout the slightest attention to uni- 
 formity of colour ; and we have recently been through a 
 garden where the beds are uniform and not even the colours 
 alike. This borders upon downright ignorance of princijDle, 
 because if we desire uniformity — which we show we do by 
 making the beds uniform — it should be carried out by plant- 
 ing the same things in all corresponding beds. If, for in-
 
 318 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 stance, we have a round bed on each side of a path, and all 
 other things are in nniform order, what sense is there in 
 putting a patch of blue flowers on one side and white on 
 the other 1 
 
 In planning geometrical gardens, the compasses wiU do all 
 we want, but in uniform gardens we may make all sorts of 
 strange figures. We have seen ideas taken for patterns by- 
 first doubling a piece of writing paper, then mth a pen scribble 
 any kind of figure on one half the paper, and when it is wet 
 close the other half on it — the fig-ure will be doubled, and of 
 course must be perfectly uniform. Tliis is a very simple 
 thing, but well worth the attention of everybody who has to 
 do with uniform patterns. But formal gardening is not con- 
 fined to great places ; there is scarcely a suburb of a toA^^l in 
 England but contains houses with gardens on too small a scale 
 to be anything but uniform. A square space in front, with a 
 half-circle for a carriage sweep, is the proper description of 
 thousands of viUa gardens. 
 
 Florists' Gardens. — But formal gardens especially belong 
 to the whole race of florists, that is to say, the cultivators of 
 florists' flowers ; and as this concerns thousands, we will take 
 from the first the laying out of a florist's garden, and the 
 gardening required to keep up a good stock of florists' flowers, 
 for there'^is not anything in the whole routine of gardening 
 that requii-es more care, or that, until very recently, was so 
 little understood. Formal gardening especially applies to the 
 cultivation of those subjects which have been improved on, 
 those breeds which are grown in collection under name. And 
 first let us look to the requirement of the florist. He must 
 grow everything in beds or pots. Every individual plant has 
 its name, and is known when in flower, to the true florist as 
 well as a man would be. Most of these favourites are culti- 
 vated in beds. Pinks, pansies, tulips, ranunculuses, anemones, 
 verbenas, and many others, are uniformly cultivated in beds 
 four feet wide. A true florist's garden, therefore, is best laid 
 out in beds right and left of a centre walk; and if he wishes 
 to be neat, he will have two-feet wide paths between, so that 
 he can turn right and left anywhere, and work among his 
 favourites without treading on borders. The centre walk 
 ought to be six feet wide, and the beds, which should be laid 
 out at right angles on both sides, must be four, the paths be- 
 tween, eighteen inches at the least, but two feet if the ground
 
 FORMAL GARDENING. 319 
 
 can be spared. The length of the beds should be about 
 twenty-five to thirty feet in the clear. Now, as four feet on 
 the path end of the bed should be devoted to the path, that 
 is to say, to plants which should form a border of flowers on 
 each side, although in reality intersected by the narrow side- 
 paths, they would require to be four feet longer on that 
 account, but the length is necessarily governed by space. It 
 may be that there is not enough ground to make such length 
 of beds, therefore the length we have mentioned has reference 
 rather to large than small gardens ; for we follow up the 
 subject by mentioning, that if the width of the ground is con- 
 siderably greater than will make such beds as we mention, we 
 would have other paths parallel with the middle one, so as to 
 make two beds in width on each side instead of one. Suppose 
 the ground to be anything under eighty feet wide, we would 
 have a three-foot wide path down each side, within three feet 
 of the boundary, so as to form a three-feet wide border all 
 round the garden ; then a centre walk of four to six feet, and 
 paths of eighteen inches two feet right and left, so as to lay 
 the whole out into four-feet beds, the length which the ground 
 would allow. For instance, if the ground be eighty feet wide, 
 the six feet for the middle path, the six feet for the borders, 
 and the eight feet for the two four-feet side-paths would oc- 
 cupy twenty feet of the width, and leave all the beds thirty 
 feet long ; and by occupying the four, or say five feet, with 
 plants, to give effect to both sides of the centre path, twenty- 
 five feet length of bed would be left for florists' flowers. 
 
 If the ground were considerably less than this, the beds 
 would be proj)ortionably shorter, and one would feel inclined 
 to lessen the width of the paths to make the most of the 
 ground. In these beds most of the subjects would be planted 
 six inches apart, and therefore seven rows in a bed taken 
 lengthways — although florists count the rows the other way 
 always, and say so many rows, seven in a row. This is the 
 most compact width for all kinds of operations. We can reach 
 two feet across without inconvenience, to weed, plant, prune, 
 or do anything else to whatever the bed contains. These 
 beds are equally convenient for all things, even dahlias and 
 hollyhocks, the two largest and most unwieldy things we 
 have to do with, would be at proper distances one row down 
 each bed, or of hollyhocks perhaps two rows, as they do not 
 spread so much. But the very formality of the florist's
 
 320 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 c^arden, which should be neatness itself, should be kept up in 
 the planting. A pink-bed on one side the path should not 
 be 023posed by a pansy-bed on the other ; nothing would look 
 worse, althousrh Ave have often observed the florist to be too 
 much taken up with the flowers, individually, to look at his 
 garden as a whole, and therefore in too many instances he is 
 neat only in the beds which occupy his attention for the time 
 being. His pinks, pansies, tulips, and other flowers occupy- 
 ing the beds, may be neat and clean, but the beds unoccupied 
 with flowers are too often neglected and overrun with weeds, 
 whereas they should be the cleanest part of the garden, on 
 account of their being empty and having nothing to set them 
 off. A space must be cut ofij and put, as it were, out of sight, 
 by planting, or by some other means ; for the florist must 
 have his heaps of composts and manures, his shades, glasses, 
 and pots somewhere out of sight. All the formality and uni- 
 formity in the world mil not serve him, unless he can put 
 what may be fairly called his rubbish out of sight. 
 
 We would now instal the florist in his ample garden, 
 formal though it be, with a tolerable collection of all the 
 principal florists' flowers ; and as there are hundreds of pro- 
 fessional gardeners who do not know how to cultivate florists' 
 flowers, and thousands who desire to know more than they do, 
 we cannot do better than follow up our formal gardening with 
 some instructions upon that most formal of all gardening, the 
 cultivation of florists' flowers ; and we begin by answering 
 the question of what are florists' flowers ? 
 
 FLOWEES A^D PLAJS'TS. 
 
 Florists' Flowers are those which have by high culture and 
 careful seeding yielded new varieties of better character than 
 they were originally produced from, and which have been multi- 
 plied when improved, whereby any distinct variety has been 
 perpetuated under a name. Flowers of which the raisers of new 
 and better varieties have thrown away the worst until they 
 have approached a liigh standard. Flowers which are con- 
 stantly improved upon and abandoned for the better, until 
 they have strayed entirely away from their original form and 
 character, and can be distinguished by name, and recognised 
 by the florist, in any part of the world, though in some cases 
 there are many hundred varieties. Therefore it follows, that
 
 FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 321 
 
 a florist's flower must be a perennial, and capable of multipli- 
 cation by some one or more of the ordinary means of propaga- 
 tion, or by their own spontaneous efforts. For many years 
 the florists' of England, and perhaps of the whole world, 
 prized novelty without having any standard by which they 
 could prize other excellence. Hence a new thing, whether 
 better or worse than was possessed already, was coveted by all 
 who pretended to collect and cultivate collections, and bore a 
 large price, although soon thrown aside to make room for 
 better. Of later years, there were writers who professed to 
 give the criterions of excellence, but as these were founded on 
 no principle, floriculture, as it was called, progressed slowly. 
 A man might, among a thousand seedlings, see many varia- 
 tions ; but as the criterion of perfection, so called, was not 
 well defined, but on the contrary, was calculated to puzzle 
 him still more, the selection of those remarkable for some 
 change in the colour, instead of those with good properties, 
 made the progress towards excellence very slow. At length, 
 however, a standard was laid down which, although perfectly 
 ideal, was founded on principles which everybody could under- 
 stand ; and admitting the fact that it was almost impossible 
 to realize this standard, the floral world at once saw and 
 understood what to aim at in their selection, and the science 
 rapidly advanced. 
 
 The principal florists' flowers for many years were the tulip, 
 the hyacinth, the ranunculus, the anemone, the auricula, the 
 polyanthus, the pink and carnation. But we have seen added 
 the geranium, the rose, tlie verbena, the dahlia, the hollyhock, 
 the cineraria, the fuchsia, the calceolaria, the picotee, the 
 pansy, and many others ; for whatever is capable of improve- 
 ment, and is once taken in hand by florists, has been and 
 will continue to be improved by enthusiasts who are content 
 to grow thousands for the chance of getting one really good 
 novelty. 
 
 Annuals. — These are plants which come from seed, grow 
 and bloom, perfect their seed, and die the same season ; they 
 are great favourites, because they are very soon in flower, and 
 they are esteemed ia proportion to the time their beauty lasts, 
 some of them are in perfection but a short time, others con- 
 tinue blooming for a long time, because they continue growing 
 and each shoot brings its bloom — as examples of the former 
 we may mention the larkspur, and of the latter, the French 
 
 X
 
 322 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 marigold, the one is grand for a week, but the seed-pods swell 
 directly, and as soon as they are ripe the plants die ; the other 
 grows and blooms more and more profusely the longer the 
 cold weather keeps off, and is generally covered with flowers 
 when the frost cuts it off. If some of these so called annuals 
 were treated as perennials, there is no doubt they might be 
 perpetuated. Small cuttings struck towards the end of autumn 
 would go through the winter, and flower early in spring. 
 Stocks we know will do this, and balsams we have so treated 
 many times, but as no object is to be gained by it, the thing 
 is not worth the trouble. The distinction between hardy and 
 tender annuals is not strictly correct, for some of the so called 
 hardy are cut off by the first frost, and, strictly speaking, a 
 thing caimot be hardy that will not bear our climate. In 
 many cases it only means that they are able to perfect their 
 blooms in our short summers, or at least to make a great show 
 in a short time. For instance, the nasturtium is catalogued 
 as a hardy annual, because you may sow it, and it soon comes 
 into full bloom ; but there is not a more tender thing grown, 
 the very first frost cuts it off while in full growth and flower ; 
 however, the terms hardy and half-hardy, as well as tender, 
 are pretty well understood. Our summers are long enough to 
 bring the first into bloom, and even the second, whatever 
 may become of them afterwards, and the third are sown under 
 glass, early enough to be forwarded a month or six weeks, so 
 that they may be planted out as soon as the winter and spring 
 frosts are gone, and begin their out-of-door life when six 
 weeks or two months old. The haK-hardy and tender annuals 
 may be sown in shght hot beds, or within the greenhouse, or 
 stove, and as soon as they are large enough, prick them out 
 round the edges of pots, keep them near the Hght, and the 
 greenhouse, or a cold frame is the right place for them till the 
 middle of May, when they may be planted out where they 
 are to bloom. There are some very tender, requiring hot- 
 bed or stove culture all through the summer — such as cocks- 
 combs, these can hardly have too much heat, light, moisture, 
 and air. The only way we can prevent them from drawing 
 up too much, is to place them as near the glass as possible, 
 and give them air as they advance. The best of all means for 
 sucn things is the common dung-bed, for they can be placed 
 close to the light, and air can be given Hberally on warm days, 
 and sufficiently for their health on most days by tilting the glass.
 
 FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 323 
 
 BIENNIALS AND PERENNIALS. 
 
 Biennials, generally speaking, are sown one summer, and 
 bloom and die the next, as soon as they have ripened their 
 seeds. Most of them are hardy enough to stand our winters, 
 for one summer is not long enough to complete their growth, 
 even with the help of the hothouse, greenhouse, or frame. 
 Many stocks are biennial. The Canterbury bell is a biennial ; 
 and if sown about June, planted out when large enough, will 
 flower about the same time next year. Perennials are plants 
 which do not die at any given period, but would live on, 
 like an oak or vine, if the necessary conditions could be 
 supplied j and the great family of plants comprises most of 
 this kind. 
 
 Hardy Perennials will grow many years on the same spot 
 and spread into large masses. Bulbs increase in number. 
 Fibrous and tuberous rooted subjects spread out into many 
 plants all round, and only want to be separated from the 
 parent. Many of them separate themselves, and when they 
 degenerate it is fi'om remaining too long on the same spot of 
 soil, which they in time exhaust. 
 
 Stove Perennials, cultivated in pots, are from time to time 
 shifted from one sized pot to another, and new soil is filled 
 up all round the old ball of earth, and the plant continues to 
 grow so long as this can be done. Bulbs, such as amarylles, 
 propagate themselves. Corms, such as gloxineas, gesneras, 
 &c., do not multiply much by the roots, but strike freely 
 from cuttings, as wall all fibrous rooted plants. Tuberous 
 rooted subjects, like many of the iris tribe, can be raised 
 from bits of the tuber with shoots to them, but the old plants 
 will live as long as we give them good pot room. The bulbs 
 and corms, when the bloom is over and the seeds are ripe, 
 want rest, and it is only necessary, w^hen the stems or leaves 
 die down, to leave off watering until they start again ; they 
 may then be cleared of the old soil, repotted, and grown on 
 as before. Achimenes, which has become a large family, com- 
 prising many varieties, multiply very fast by their tuberous 
 roots ; and when they have died down and rested about six 
 weeks, the ball of earth may be broken, and the tubers care- 
 fully sorted, — the largest potted again, two, three, or more 
 in a pot, an inch below the surface, and be set to work and 
 watered. To raise the plants of various sorts from cuttings, 
 
 x2
 
 324 PEACTICAL GARDENING 
 
 new shoots may be taken — "when they are an inch, or from 
 that to two inches long — close to their base, and be placed 
 in bottom heat, in the shade, or be artificially shaded with 
 paper ; and the most convenient way is to cover them with 
 a bell-glass that may touch the soil all round, to shut out the 
 air and draughts, and lay paper over them to form the shade. 
 In this case, the soil must be kept moist, and the glasses 
 wiped dry every morning, and occasionally, on dull days they 
 may be left off for an hour. In our own place we have a 
 table or shelf at the lowest part of the roof, with a hot water 
 tank under it, and we place the cutting-pots and pans on it, 
 throw a mat on that part of the roof, and use no glasses at 
 all ; they strike as freely as they would with the greatest 
 pains. The mass is only put in while the sun is out, and 
 the cuttings have the benefit of full daylight both before the 
 sun is up and after it has set. Most things root in a few 
 days, and we use the same means all the winter to strike all 
 our greenhouse and frame cuttings, and afterwards gradually 
 inure them to a cooler climate. When cuttings are rooted 
 they should be potted single into small pots, and as they are 
 filled -with, roots change them to larger ones. This operation 
 has to be repeated as long as we desire the growth to con- 
 tinue, for even the largest specimens must be shifted into 
 larger pots so long as we desire to grow them in health and 
 strength. The only rule for this is the filling of the present 
 pots with roots ; and if they happen to be near blooming, so 
 that it would be unwise to disturb them for a time, give them 
 a watering with liquid manure, made by dissolving a spadeful 
 of rotten manure in about six gallons of water, well stirred 
 three or four times during two days, and use the clear water 
 after settling. This will give a fresh impetus to the soil 
 already there, and let them bear the shift afterwards. 
 
 Greenhouse Perennials only differ from those of the 
 stove in the temperature they require. The same modes of 
 propagating will answer in both cases, but in the greenhouse 
 we have many plants that are propagated by grafting, such as 
 camellias, corraeas, and the ID^e. The single or worthless 
 sorts being more robust, form excellent stocks on which to 
 graft the better and weaker sorts, which derive far more 
 nourishment from the strong stock than they would from 
 their own roots if struck as cuttings. The reason is this, — 
 the stock may be two years old in strong growth, and any
 
 FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 325 
 
 graft put on this has all the vigour of a two years' old root, 
 because the stock is cut down, and all the strength that would 
 go into the two years' old plant cut off is thrown into the graft 
 just put on ; this, of course, promotes stronger growth. In 
 consequence of this advantage, many subjects are grafted on 
 the strongest-growing species of the same genus, or one nearly 
 allied to it, as the quickest mode of propagation. But all the 
 other modes of propagation are occasionally adopted, and 
 especially by cuttings, which are the least troublesome and most 
 effective when a plant will strike root readily. Propagating 
 from seed is often resorted to for the sake of obtaining new 
 varieties, and the seed may always be sown as soon as it is 
 ripe, but it is frequently kept back till the spring, that the 
 young plants may have less hardship to go through than 
 they would if nursed in a young state through the winter. 
 Half-hardy, or frame plants, want just the same treatment ; 
 and most greenhouse plants would do as well in pits, which 
 are for the most part mere substitutes for greenhouses, and 
 only differ in not having hot-water pipes. Yet, when they 
 are covered up well, the frost rarely enters them. They are 
 used for azaleas, camellias, and other robust but not quite 
 hardy things. If the seeds of greenhouse plants are raised, 
 or the cuttings struck, in the stove or propagating house, they 
 should be brought into their own house as soon as possible ; 
 for heat, although it may promote growth, certainly does also 
 induce weakness, so that they should be gradually brought into 
 the greenhouse as soon as they are large enough to bear 
 the change. 
 
 Many plants may be carried over from one season to 
 another by cuttings struck from time to time ; even mignonette 
 can be kept growing, but it is hardly fair to caU anything 
 a perennial that will not stand from season to season without 
 propagation. The Canterbury-bell is a true biennial, for it 
 must be sown one summer and bloom the next, and when 
 the seed ripens it dies. The Sweetwilliam and wallflower 
 are treated by most people as biennials, but the cuttings of 
 both will root and do well, and it is the only way the double 
 ones can be obtained. 
 
 BULBS. 
 
 It is much to be regretted, we think, that more attention 
 is not paid to this extensive and varied family in gardens of
 
 326 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 great capacity. It is true that miUions are imported and 
 grovTn because there are nLiHions of people to grow them ; 
 and all have a few of some kind if they have a garden, or 
 even a place for flower-pots or glasses ; but considering that a 
 vast number of the best are perfectly hardy, and will con- 
 tinue from year to year growing, if undisturbed, in our English 
 climate, they ought to be grown in large collections in all 
 good estabhshments. 
 
 The Hardy Bulbs comprise many families : the snow- 
 drop, crocus, hyacinth, tulip, narcissus, lily, fritillaria, crown 
 imperial, give us thousands of varieties of form, size, colour, 
 and habit, and might be left in the gTound to grow wild, but, 
 if cultivated with care, form a magnificent border of flowers 
 for several months in the year. 
 
 The snowdrop and crocus may be planted three inches 
 deep, and be taken up every third year. 
 
 The lily, fritillaria, and crown imperial may be planted in 
 the same way, and taken up every second year, and replanted 
 as soon as convenient after dressing the ground, because 
 scaly bulbs do not like to get dry. 
 
 Tulips may be mentioned by themselves; for, indepen- 
 dently of the great diversity of colour, they bloom at dif- 
 ferent seasons : some as early as March or late in February, 
 and others come in succession until the end of May, and 
 half-way through June. Plant three inches deep, and take 
 up yearly. 
 
 Hyacinths form a glorious family to grow in pots, glasses, 
 or the open ground, giving every variety of shade and colour, 
 and being calculated for the house as well as the garden. 
 These are to be planted three inches deep, and taken up when 
 the leaves turn yellow. If potted, they must be covered an 
 inch, and if glassed, they are to be put in the ground as soon 
 as the flower fades, and left there till the leaves fade also. 
 The narcissus only wants planting like a tulip, and taking up 
 when the foliage dies down. 
 
 Bulbs, while out of the ground, must be kept dry and cool, 
 and not be frosted. 
 
 Stove Bulbs in cultivation in this country are not very 
 numerous. By far the most interesting is the amaryUis, of 
 which there are many species and varieties. The only differ- 
 ence in their culture is the heat they require. They may 
 take their place among other stove plants, and when the
 
 FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 327 
 
 leaves turn yellow, they want no more water till they start 
 again. 
 
 Greenhouse Bulbs are not very numerous. Crinums, 
 pancratiums, some of the lilies, ixias, sparaxis, and their con- 
 geners, will not bear oui' winter out of doors, and therefore 
 are called greenhouse bulbs, but there is nothing particular 
 required in their cultivation. 
 
 All bulbs will do well in loam, leaf-mould, dung from an 
 old hotbed, and peat earth in equal quantities ; and if 
 nothing else tempted those who can afford to cultivate bulbs 
 extensively, the little trouble attending their growth and 
 their increase, without the least care or labour, ought to 
 insure for them a much more extensive patronage. 
 
 Climbing Plants. — Of these there are many species, and 
 whether they are stove, greenhouse, or hardy, they only want 
 the same ti^atment as other stove, greenliouse, or hardy plants, 
 with the exception of the training ; the honeysuckle, the jas- 
 mine, Virginian creeper, passion-flower, and any other hardy 
 subject that grows up a pole, or on a wall, or over a verandah, 
 or on the front of a house, should be constantly fastened as 
 it grows, for if it once get into disorder by the neglect of the 
 cultivator, it is difficult, if not impossible, to get it as perfect 
 as if it had been fastened as it grew. In conservatories, and 
 houses where it is planted on the border, the same care must 
 be taken to " train it up," like a child, " the way it should 
 go." But when climbing plants are grown in pots, they want 
 some more careful management than plants in beds and bor- 
 ders. They are very difficult to shift when they get large, 
 but shifted they must be when they get pot-bound. The kind 
 of support to be given is varied according to taste. Some 
 have iron trellises, some large branches of trees — a very effec- 
 tive plan — cut into the form of a fine-grown beech ; some are 
 made to fill a large flat sliield of iron- wire ; others have 
 wooden stakes put all round the edge of the pot, and wind the 
 plant round close as it grows ; but in all these cases there 
 must be no neglect in fastening the plants as they grow, or 
 they will get tangled, confused^ and, in the effort to set them 
 right, materially damaged. 
 
 Room-plants. — There are no plants, or class of plants, that 
 go by this name, but what is understood by the term is, 
 plants that will grow in a room. Now, all greenhouse-plants 
 will do so in summer-time, as will also all hardy plants that will
 
 328 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 grow in a pot. The directions for the culture of hardy and 
 greenhouse plants should be followed as nearly as possible. 
 In the dwelHng-house we cannot give so much air, nor can 
 we give a damp atmosphere. The next to this in efficacy is, 
 to water the plants overhead in the evening, and shade them 
 from the morning sun. The geranium appears to be the best 
 of all plants adapted for a house, for we have known one to 
 live and do well for more than ten years, and cover a window 
 with its branches and leaves. The old oak-leaf, the horseshoe, 
 and a dozen others of the old sorts, celebrated for the peculi- 
 arity of their foliage, and the scent of it, seem quite at home 
 in a dwelling-house, if they are regularly attended to. But 
 the show pelargoniums are so much gayer, that people are no 
 longer satisfied with their old friends. The new ones are not, 
 however, so permanent in their bloom, nor so free in their 
 growth. The scarlet geraniums are nearly all calculated for 
 house culture. The air of a room is too dry for the fuchsia. 
 The blooms often fall off. Again, no plant will stand the 
 fumes of gas, and many a plant has disappointed the purchaser 
 on that account alone. If the temperature of a room be pretty 
 even, and there is no fire lighted, the camellia japonica may 
 do pretty well. Acacias generally will do ; but heaths, the 
 Botany Bay varieties, ought to do weU in ahnost any room 
 without fire. Many of them are nearly hardy ; that is to say, 
 they will bear several degrees of frost ; but the sun must not 
 reach them to thaw them rapidly. We are now writing of 
 dwelling-houses in the country. In manufacturing towns, 
 there is more difficulty. But the scarlet geranium, and aU the 
 old-fashioned sorts, ^vill do almost anywhere ; and bulbs may 
 be made to keep up a succession of flowers, from the time the 
 snowdrop begins in January, right tlirough February, March, 
 April, and May ; for if the roots are sound when purchased, 
 and are potted in good stuff, or glassed mth good river water 
 — but the most convenient for glassing are hyacinths and nar- 
 cissus ; and by begiiming to pot in September or October, and 
 keeping them down in the cold cellar, you may bring up the 
 first half-dozen in a month, and the next half-dozen in two 
 months, you will have a succession of flowers even with the 
 same sorts. Every plant that will thrive in a greenhouse 
 may be taken to the dwelling-house before blooming, be allowed 
 to flower there, and then be brought back again, without suf- 
 fering more than it wiU recover when put back again.
 
 FLOWERS AND PLANXo. 329 
 
 Seedlings, Seed Saving, and Pruning. — All new varieties 
 must be had from the seed. You may propagate for ever from 
 the old plant of anything, and the young ones will be like the 
 old one ; but if we propagate from seed we may find among 
 the seedlings something new. It is thus that we have im- 
 proved races — it was by these means that all the improvements 
 in fruit, flowers, plants, and vegetables have been made. In 
 our notice of hybridizing we have given a good idea of what 
 has been and can be done by cross breeding. We cannot 
 alter the character of seed once saved, but we can direct the 
 course it will take a httle while we are saving it. For 
 instance, we can put some of the very best of the sorts of 
 plants together, save the seed from them, and thus do some- 
 thing towards insuring good, and some may be new varieties ; 
 but some plants sport so much, that perhaps out of the seed 
 from a white dahlia we may get all colours hut white, and there 
 are other flowers as much inclined to roam. In any attempt 
 then to save seed for the improvement of the flower, or 
 vegetable, or fruit, select the very best that you can procure, 
 half a dozen sorts if you can, place them together, and there is 
 a chance of their impregnating one another, and giving some 
 crop for the better as well as for the worse. When any sub- 
 ject is seeding, watch that you may gather it when ripe, or 
 you may lose it by the bursting of the pods. When seed has 
 well ripened, it only requires to be kept dry and from the air. 
 If it once get damp, or be put away before it is thoroughly 
 dry, mildew and death are sure to follow. If you send it 
 abroad, it should be sealed up in bottles soldered in tin 
 canisters, for seed will last many years when kept from the 
 air. 
 
 Beauty in Plants and Flowers. — Beauty is not very 
 easily defined, for it may be seen in every tribe of plants, and 
 nearly every family of flowers. Whatever has too many or 
 too few leaves carmot be beautifal as a whole, but its flowers 
 may be all that can be desired ; on the other hand, a plant 
 may be very splendid in habit, have very little flower, and 
 that little ugly. A plant to be beautiful must have a fine 
 proportion of bloom, graceful foliage, and be of graceful form ; 
 generally speaking the public is a good judge in the long run 
 of what is beautiful ; witness the plants which are fovourite? 
 among the middle and even humble classes, as well as among 
 plantsmen. The camellia, the geranium, fuchsia, calceolaria,
 
 MU PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 cineraria, auricula, polyanthus, azalea, rhododendron, rose, 
 pink, carnation, dahlia, hollyhock, balsam, and a score other 
 popular subjects. What can supersede them 1 They all 
 possess great properties, but there are ugly plants and flowers 
 of all these, that is to say, ugly by comparison. PJace a 
 single rose, pink, dahlia, hollyhock, or balsam by the side of 
 double ones, and though we are told there is nothing ugly in 
 nature, we should dispute the point. There is, we are free 
 to admit, much to admire in the most simple weed, but by 
 comparison with improved varieties, even of the same weed, 
 they are ugly. In our volume of " The Properties of Flowers" 
 we have given thirty standards of perfection for as many 
 flowers and plants ; of course our own notions of beauty are 
 given there for the objects stated, and they are all stamped 
 with the public approval long since; but a coarse and vulgar 
 taste has sprung up through the encouragement given by the 
 Horticultural Society to coarse, vulgar, and unnatural growth, 
 necessarily supported by hundreds of sticks, and by the 
 employment of people of coarse minds, who, instead of dis- 
 qualifying things unnaturally supported and trained, gave 
 them prizes without remonstrance or objection. We cannot 
 call a geranium with two hundred sticks to hold up the 
 blooms beautiful, although there may be a glare of flowers. 
 We cannot call a rose which is bent down, curled round, 
 and turned up again, beautiful. The torturing of the branches 
 of a rose to make it go into the compass of a dwarf after the 
 fashion of Paul, is absolutely discreditable to the gardener 
 who stoops to such means, the judges who award prizes to 
 such things, and the society that permits it. It may be said 
 that the effect is as good at a distance as if the plants were 
 honestly grown. If so, pay such botchers for the use of their 
 sham dwarf roses, and let them be distant decorations, while 
 creditably grown plants, which exhibit real merit, compete 
 for the prizes. If there must be great plants sustained by 
 so many miniature scaffold-poles, let them be hired, and let 
 objects reaUy natural and beautiful compete for the prizes. 
 It is hard in the face of this perverted taste, but we have a 
 right, nevertheless, to point out objects that we think beau- 
 tiful in contradistinction to the stage monsters at horticultural 
 shows. A rose bush grown naturally without support, able 
 to sustain its flowers in their places, and clean and healthy in 
 the fohage, would be beautiful if it were not eighteen inches
 
 FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 331 
 
 higL An azalea like Lane's grown as a standard, well 
 bloomed and of graceful form, Avitliout any sticks and ties 
 to hold the branches in their places, is a beautiful object, 
 while the monster beehive-looking plants, whose branches 
 are curled and twisted down and up again, to bring its flowers 
 to the surface of a cage, is comparatively ugly with all its 
 flowers, because it is unnatural. The plants usually exhibited 
 at shows would, if grown of their natural form, be very beau- 
 tiful, because the distinct habit of every plant would be seen, 
 and the many varieties of fohage appreciated ; but shown as 
 they are, merely monstrous cones of flower, not a branch nor 
 a twig left at liberty ; broad and narrow foliage, tall pyramidal 
 species and trailers, all tortured into one shape, are very dis- 
 gusting. The only chance we have now of seeing stove and 
 greenhouse plants in their natural form is at those private 
 collections which are not intended for public shows, and are 
 therefore growing undisturbed, developing their natural habits, 
 exhibiting their diflerent foliages, and opening their varied 
 flowers unconstraiued, and this is a beautiful sight. In a 
 general way a plant is not considered beautiful unless it shows 
 an abundance of flowers evenly disposed over the surface of 
 green; graceful compact habit, whether bushy, pyramidal, or 
 standard ; colours of flowers not necessarily brilliant, but 
 dense; blooms large in proportion to the plant, or in racemes, 
 trusses, umbels, or bunches, to form a sufficiently large fea- 
 ture; foliage shining like a camellia, dense like a rose, or 
 velvety like a gesnera. These are qualities indispensable to 
 make a plant beautiful. Kevertheless, there are plants with 
 ugly foliage and beautiful flowers, like the cactus ; and there 
 are others the reverse, like the endless variegated species 
 which fashion tolerates, and horticultural societies have 
 rendered popular by giving prizes. The very best of these 
 can only be called interesting. As to florists^ flowers we can 
 have no difiiculty in pronouncing on their beauty. But many 
 of these have insignificant plants ; witness the carnation and 
 picotee, some of whose flowers are beautiful beyond all 
 praise, while the plant is a mere tuft of grass, and a long 
 gawky stem unable to support itself. But many of the 
 florists'' plants, such as the fuchsia, cineraria, calceolaria, and 
 geranium, are beautiful objects when properly and naturally 
 grown. In our time there have been some thousands of new 
 plants introduced described as beautiful. The strongest
 
 332 PEACTICAL GAEDENING. 
 
 proof that they were not so is foimd in tlie decision of the 
 public, for tliat many-headed gentleman is never wrong long 
 together, and if a plant be good it is never lost sight of. A 
 really beautiful subject never fails to become popular. 
 
 SPECBIEN" pla:n'ts. 
 
 The perfection of gardening is to produce plants grown in 
 the way best calculated to set off their natural beauties ; and 
 perhaps there is nothing upon which the gardener is more 
 likely to fall into error than in the form of his specimens. 
 We are justified in this opinion by the unnatural way in 
 which plants are shown at the exhibitions. Man is an 
 imitative animal ; and, because one shows a great mass of 
 bloom, and is lucky enough to obtain the distinction of a 
 prize, which, it is universally admitted, is too frequently 
 awarded to novelty, aU. the others follow in his wake, and try 
 to outdo him in that feature which in their eyes obtained him 
 the prize. But we do hope the thirst for artificially grown 
 plants is passing away ; that there may be some grace and 
 elegance studied where mechanism now reigns, and that, in- 
 stead of the formality and stiffness which characterize our 
 public shows, we may see an approach to nature. Thus, 
 instead of having climbing plants covering a balloon-shaped 
 wire-work, or a flat shield, or a formal pyramid, or a cone, we 
 may see them trained on something like the skeleton of a tree. 
 It is quite certain that a branch of a tree, trimmed into the 
 form of a good shrub, makes the most elegant and eff'ective 
 trellis, if it must be called so, for the support of a cHmbing 
 plant ; and, if wire- work is to take the place of this, let it be 
 in some such form. We have often expressed our disgust at 
 the manner in which geraniums are exhibited ; they are 
 drawn so that they cannot even support their own flowers, 
 every stem is tied to a stick, and sticks are put in all over 
 the pot pointed outwards to spread the flowers mechanically 
 over a head that looks artificial, and to the utter destruction 
 of every appearance of a plant. We see nothing so like it as 
 artificial fiowers stuck all over a large cushion to show them 
 off for sale. We see roses shown in pots with stakes standing 
 on a slope all round like the wires of an lunbrella, and the 
 plants tortured to show their fiowers at particular distances ; 
 plants drawn so that they could not sustain the weight of
 
 SPECIMEN PLANTS. 333 
 
 their own blooms without these supports, than which nothing 
 can be more displeasing to a person of any taste. Stove and 
 greenhouse plants, pent up in wire cages, and their shoots 
 drawn through the wires that their blooms may be exhibited 
 on the surface ; in fact, the most graceful and elegant natural 
 objects, are tortured into lumps which bear no affinity to the 
 proper habit of the plant; and judges, which for such displays 
 might be as well chosen from the class of milliners, haber- 
 dashers, and artificial florists, actually recognise a seeming 
 propriety in this perversion of gardening, and give premiums, 
 as it were, to encourage unnatural cultivation. We earnestly 
 beseech gardeners of independent principles and sufficient 
 skill, to repudiate all this monstrosity, to grow their plants 
 naturally, and exhibit some taste as well as talent ; for they 
 may rest assured that in the long run the public will recog- 
 nise the beauty of nature, and the knowledge and taste of the 
 gardener, beyond the cunning of the mechanic and the trickery 
 of second-rate cultivation. It must be plain to persons who 
 take the trouble to think, that no deficiency of skill ought to 
 be hidden or aided by mechanical contrivance ; the man who 
 cannot grow a rose in a pot without supporters is deficient in 
 his business ; the plant that wants no assistance out of doors 
 ought to have none under glass ; we do not mean that a 
 main stem may not be supported, because the root cannot 
 spread out beyond the edge of the pot, and therefore cannot 
 have the power of resistance which it would in the open 
 ground ; but when the plant is drawn, and the branches are 
 too weak to hold themselves up in their places, there is 
 bungling somewhere. 
 
 K we were to individualize plants that are discreditably 
 shown, because artificially supported, we might mention one 
 that is as robust as a box-tree, and yet there are specimens 
 exhibited that ought to make the exhibitor ashamed of him- 
 self — we mean Eriostemon buxifolius, a hard- wooded, elegant, 
 pyramidally growing plant, as handsome as a fir, capable of 
 sustaining itself if well grown up to any height and size ; yet 
 even this is, by some highly lauded and lavishly rewarded 
 gardeners, shown with all manner of supports, and propped 
 and wired into a form as unnatural and ungraceful as can well 
 be imagined. And we are sorry to say that, whether it be the 
 employer's taste or the gardener's, there are many other plants 
 equally distorted and spoiled among the collections, that take
 
 334 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 off, as it were by prescription, the first prizes. In short, our 
 exhibitions now, particularly near the metropolis, have every 
 appearance of an assembly of artificial plants instead of real 
 ones. If a man exhibits the Oncidium Papilio, the perfec- 
 tion of which is in its moving on its long wiry stem with every 
 breath of air, as if it were a real fly hovering over the other 
 flowers, you will see it pinned to a tall stick, perhaps with a 
 bunch of cotton lint behind it, and as stiff as if the butterfly 
 were pinned to the stick ; they have not the common sense to 
 release it from its bondage ; but we suppose, by its freedom, 
 it would form too great a contrast to the stiff and formal 
 specimens composing the rest of the group. We regret this 
 perverted taste, or want of taste, because it is derogatory, if 
 not downright disgraceful to British gardening. Profuse 
 bloom, and every flower dragged to the surface, seem to be 
 the chief objects now ; and the great mistake is, that when 
 the bloom is disproportionably great it is as much a fault 
 as being deficient. Then again, in blooming a plant pro- 
 fusely, the bloom and the foliage must take their proper 
 places, but if the appearance of profuse bloom is to be given 
 to a thing, by dragging every flower to the outer surface and 
 tying it to the wires of a cage, we should like to see judges 
 employed who know their business, and the exhibitor of such 
 abominations disqualified. 
 
 We do not quarrel with trifles — we are not so squeamish 
 about a bit of bass-matting or a prop as to cavil with it, but 
 let any gardener who is not a prize hunter upon any terms 
 that will get them — any man who loves his profession, and is 
 master of it, examine the plants at the Eegenf s Park, or at 
 Chiswick, and count the props, wires, and ties, and ask him- 
 self whether he would condescend to degrade gardening by 
 adopting such means to -^^in aU that could be got by it ? We 
 are quite aware this is an unpopular subject. Propriety has 
 no chance against bad habits, and taste is but a poor opponent 
 to gold medals ; unless the societies or the judges correct the 
 evil, there is no extravagance or trickery, no depth of degra- 
 dation, that would not be resorted to by regular prize hunters. 
 It is only the withholding of the prizes for unnatural training, 
 as IVIr. Loddiges did in 1833 or 4, when he was acting as a 
 judge at Lord's Cricket-ground, that wiU bring gardeners back 
 to sound taste and natural cultivation. 
 
 It has been long observed that geraniums are propped in a
 
 SPECIMEN PLANTS. 335 
 
 most discreditable manner, and some of the publications of 
 the day have at length joined in the complaint ; but although 
 geraniums are, from their habit, more conspicuous under their 
 torture, other plants are, in many cases, as much deteriorated, 
 and by similar, or worse means. It is, as we have before ob- 
 served, the perfection of gardening to produce finely grown 
 specimens of plants in their most elegant and graceful habit ; 
 but it is a prostitution of the science to produce them as too 
 many are shown at our metropolitan exhibitions, and we hope 
 those who happen to be judges will, out of pure regard to the 
 skill of the gardener who can grow specimens naturally, reject 
 at once all those collections in which plants are unnaturally 
 trained. If the gardeners will not of themselves cure the 
 evil, the owners ought to interfere, unless they wish to be iden- 
 tified with such ungardener-like practices. How would it read 
 in a report of a show — First Prize for collections, Mr. A. B., 
 or Mr. C. D., with Eriostemon buxifolius on a frame, with 
 forty yards of iron wire and eighty-one props, the plant being 
 too weak to stand without them? Pimelia decussata, with 
 seventy-six props and ninety ties, and so on through the list 
 of plants, showing that a prize had been awarded to a collec- 
 tion of plants that, without these props and wire-work, dared 
 not have been shown at all 1 It is quite time to interfere with 
 this matter before British gardening is utterly disgraced. It 
 is quite time the owners forbade it for the sake of their own 
 taste : it is quite time the judges and societies repudiated it 
 for the sake of the interests of Horticulture and Floriculture, 
 which they profess, and are bound to encourage. Half the 
 gardeners who grow these drawn up plants are incapable of 
 growing them properly ; some of those who grow geraniums, 
 others who grow roses, and still more who grow general collec- 
 tions, would, if they were forbidden to use these unnatural 
 auxiliaries, be at the bottom instead of the top of the prize lists. 
 Young and skilful gardeners, who have never degraded their 
 own scientific acquirements by condescending to such tricks, 
 would beat them until they learned their business, for they 
 have to learn it before they earn reward. 
 
 The growing of specimen plants requires first that we should 
 study the habit of the subject, and to aid in producing it in 
 the best possible style. If a plant is naturally of pyramidal 
 growth, it needs little else than rubbing off the buds wherever 
 Jiey are going to shoot and are not wanted, to throw the
 
 336 PRACTICAL GAEDENING. 
 
 vigour of the plant into branches that are necessary. The 
 repotting from time to time as the old pot fills with roots, to 
 stop back any branch that is growing too vigorously for the 
 rest of the plant. If the plant is an irregular, bushy grower, 
 always take out useless shoots as soon as they appear, and stop 
 any that appear to take too much of a lead. If the plant is a 
 straggling grower with long shoots, continually stop the ends 
 of the branches. Stop even the cutting as soon as it is rooted, 
 leaving only two pair of leaves, which in most plants cause 
 four shoots, and when these four have made two good leaves 
 and are going on, take off the ends just above the two leaves, 
 and there will be two shoots for each. The stopping may 
 then be omitted while the plant grows into the form you 
 want it, but if any shoots are in the way of each other, take 
 them out, you may stop the joints then as they may seem to 
 require it ; there must be no long growth. TVe have gro^vn 
 Plumbago capensis three feet high, three feet across, and 
 without using or requiring a single support, and the same 
 with others of straggling growth, and we confess that if we 
 cannot show at exhibitions till we disgrace a plant with fifty 
 props, we will never exhibit. There are some plants naturally 
 pendulous, with branches too weak to stand out without, props, 
 but what does this suggest? Why that they are to hang 
 down. "We might as well prop up a weeping ash or willow as 
 prop up any other weeping plant. The Eriostemon cuspidatus 
 is a weakly, pendulous, or half pendulous shrub. Make it a 
 standard : let its branches hang down all round. We can tell 
 those gardeners who grow it in a cage, and drag its branches 
 through the wires, that it is beautiful as a standard, and one 
 of the most graceful of our greenhouse plants. It is half the 
 battle to understand the natural growth of a plant ; it is the 
 other half to make the best use of that habit when you 
 cultivate it. Some fuchsias are best as standards, some azaleas 
 are best as standards, and the great care required in the 
 management of these must be directed to the formation of the 
 head. There ought not to be too many branches, but those 
 which there are must be well divided to point outwards all 
 round the head. 
 
 The formation of a standard is simple enough, no matter 
 what it is. The stem that is to lead must have the lower 
 side branches constantly removed until the stem has gone up 
 as tall as we require it, but we must not while it is growing
 
 SPECIMEN PLANTS. 337 
 
 take off the branches too high up. When we have seen the 
 stem as high as we want it, the top may be stopped, to induce 
 the side shoots of the head to grow, and the side branches 
 may be stopped back to the second joint from the stem, to 
 throw out each four more shoots. From these select those 
 you mean to grow, and remove those which are useless. The 
 pendulous habit will be shown to admiration. In short, no 
 matter what the habit of a plant is, the gardener has to grow 
 it to the greatest advantage ; and he may as well hold the 
 branches of a poplar down with cords, or prop the willow up 
 with long sticks, as to constrain many of the plants that are 
 tortui-ed into an unnatural shape to show at exhibitions. 
 The danger is, that while prizes are given for such distortions, 
 the young gardeners, in places where owners will put up 
 with it, will be brought up to the same kind of mismanage- 
 ment ; and we cannot too earnestly beg the conductors of the 
 press to condemn it before the mischief has gone too far ; 
 for believing, as we do, that the press will have pubhc 
 opinion with it, the evil will by this means be checked. 
 Although there are many who speak with great disdain of 
 the idea that the press can influence them, we happen to 
 know, that with our single pen we brought down the Govern- 
 ment itself, whose servants were at first very lavish of their 
 abuse, to a sense of their subservience to public opinion, and 
 at length forced them to adopt effective measures for the re- 
 generation of Kew Gardens, which are now, what they never 
 were until we took up the subject, a credit instead of a 
 disgrace to the country; and we hope, by the same means, 
 to see our exhibitions a credit iastead of disgrace to British 
 gardening. Many will tell us that they are forced to do as 
 others do, or give up exhibiting, because encouragement is 
 given to the production of unnatural growth ; and this is to 
 a great extent true : but we strongly recommend even those 
 gardeners who feel obliged to do wrong, to grow some of 
 their plants right; for it will come to this at last, if the 
 judges and the societies do their duty, and the way to hasten 
 this is for the conductors of the press to do theirs ; for if 
 there be no other objection to the mechanical torture which 
 plants undergo, the horrible sameness displayed at exliibitions 
 will tire the public ; shows will be comparatively deserted 
 unless variety can be given ; variety can only be secured by 
 natural growth, in w^hich each plant will assume its own cha- 
 
 Y
 
 338 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 racter instead of being all forced into the same general form, 
 and the only variation to be discerned is the colour of the 
 surface. We hope we have said enough upon this important 
 branch of practice to induce a general improvement. 
 
 THE GEl^EEAL I^IAISTAGEVIENT OF HAEDY 
 SHRUBS AXD EVERGEEEN-S. 
 
 Mr. Loudon used to say that specimen trees should be 
 allowed to make their natural growth, and if we remember 
 rightly, this was the management recommended at the Derby 
 Arboretum. To some extent we subscribe to the propriety of 
 preserving natural growth ; but some shrubs and trees when 
 left to themselves grow distorted, and others would grow of an 
 ugly form ; some would grow one-sided ; others would have 
 some "Vigorous suckers grow from the bottom, and take away 
 the richer nourishment from the rest of the shrub, which 
 would be stunted, and at length dwindle away, while the 
 strong sucker would, if neglected, become the only portion in 
 health. We are no advocates for trimming shrubs after the 
 manner of our forefathers ; we want no sugar-loaves and 
 pyramids in box, no peacocks and dates cut out in yew ] but 
 there must be some attention paid to the growth of anything 
 that is to become a specimen. It is a common practice among 
 some gardeners to trim up their box-trees to an even surface. 
 Is this nature 1 It is the very destruction of nature. Hollies 
 are cut into aU mianner of forms : a sort of head, one above 
 smaller, and bare stem between. Can anything be more 
 artificial in appearance? Our opinion is that an evergreen 
 should have as httle of the knife as possible, and that it is the 
 destruction of aU the beauty of a tree to cut it to an even 
 surface, or to distort it in any way. But there are exceptions. 
 You may want a plantation to hide a fence, and aU it tres- 
 passed above that might be spoiling a view. In such a case 
 as this the knife must always check the growth. Two or 
 three points have to be considered even here. The shrubs 
 must be adapted for cutting, to begin with, and the cutting 
 must be as much like nature as possible, not a carving and 
 chpping out a formal shape, nor to a smooth surface, but cut 
 out whole branches close to the main stem, to keep an open 
 though not a naked, appearance. The top must not be square, 
 like the fence it is to hide ; here and there the branches must
 
 GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF HARDY SHRUBS, ETC. 339 
 
 stray above, and some upright shoots be permitted. In groups 
 of trees and plantations generally there must be a constant 
 overlooking, to see that no one subject shall overrun another ; 
 for, however much we may study the habits of shrubs, and 
 Circulate upon the difiference between fast and slow growth, 
 there will now and then be a different result from that which 
 is expected, and the knife must go freely to work, to prevent 
 one encroaching upon another, and to keep all in their proper 
 proportions. It is in all plantations necessary, but especially 
 in mixed ones. Again, in all variegated and worked speci- 
 mens, the stock upon which the more delicate are worked will 
 occasionally shoot, and, as we have observed already, in 
 another part of the work, if they were permitted to grow, 
 they would soon destroy and overgrow the worked portion. 
 The stock of a variegated holly is the common green one ; 
 let this grow even from the bottom, and in time it will 
 deprive the variegated portion of all nourishment, overrun it 
 and kill it. All worked subjects are alike. The portion 
 worked on the stock is always weaker than the stock itseK; 
 therefore the same fate will attend them all if their stocks are 
 allowed to grow. Every bud should be rubbed off as it ap- 
 pears, but, as they will get overlooked, and do very frequently 
 escape us, until they have made some growth, all worked 
 plants should be periodically examined, to see that all shoots 
 of the stocks are removed. With regard to the pruning of 
 specimen plants, it should never be resorted to unless some 
 vigorous sucker or shoot takes up the growing for the whole 
 plant. In many shrubs this will be found occasionally, and if 
 such a shoot were not shortened back, or cut right away, it 
 would grow rapidly, while the rest of the plant would be 
 actually stationary ; but any attempt to constrain the form too 
 much, to alter the character or thicken the surface, would be 
 unnatural. In growing the different members of a whole family, 
 the very distiaction may be in the habit of growth, and to de- 
 stroy this by artificial means would be to take away the interest. 
 If a vigorous shoot be only cut back, it will throw out its lateral 
 shoots, and make a close and ugly growth on one side of the 
 specimen, and therefore it should be cut back to where the great 
 strength begins, that the sap or the strength may be divided 
 equally over the rest of the plant. The common laurel is an 
 extraordinary growing plant. In groimd that suits it, and a 
 good situation, it v/ill sometimes make four-feet shoots in a 
 
 y2
 
 340 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 season. If these, therefore, are wanted of a particular size, the 
 new growth mnst be constantly cut away clean. There is no 
 tauipering with it, because it will grow out of all bounds. The 
 Portugal laurel is not so outrageous ; this does not make any 
 long shoots. The laurustinus is apt to grow straggling unless 
 checked ; but the time to check it is while it is young. When 
 they begin to start off, they should be examined weekly, and 
 any shoot that has taken the lead should be cut back to within 
 two pair of leaves of where the branch starts from, and so all 
 thi'ough its young growth. The instant you observe a shoot 
 seeming to run away from the others, cut it back directly. 
 Magnolias are plants that we are all anxious to see bloom, and 
 therefore they are never stopped; but they, as well as all 
 other shrubs, should be, while quite young, stopped back 
 when any shoot leads off, so as to form a bushy plant, unless 
 it be intended for a standard, when the one upright stem is 
 to be encouraged until it is as long as we wish the stem or 
 trunk to be ; but, generally speaking, all who desire bloom let 
 a plant grow as it hkes, that it may be the sooner in flower. 
 All the pinus, cedrus, abies, and coniferse in general, must 
 grow as they will; the knife would be fatal Their natural 
 growth is pyramidical, whether the branches be pendulous or 
 horizontal^ and, if they lose their leading shoot, the plant is 
 spoiled. It is no longer perfect, although we have seen a 
 side-shoot nearest the top tied up to form another leader. 
 There can be no question that the plant is for ever after im- 
 perfect. The lower branches are all we have to take care of; 
 and, if we ^vish to preserve them, no weeds, nor grass, nor 
 plant of any kind must be allowed to grow underneath. If 
 it be grass under, it must be kept short as a bowling-green, 
 whereas we too often see the grass left to grow rank, and work 
 its way among the lowest feathery branches of a handsome 
 specimen, so as to destroy the entire beauty of the lowest arms 
 of the tree, l^othing will bear crowding. Three-fourths of 
 the timber in hedgerows, and evergreens in plantations, are 
 destroyed for want of room. Specimens on lawns should be 
 planted in the middle of beds made the size the trees cover, 
 and, as they spread, the grass may be removed further all 
 round, to increase the size of the bed, for the roots are the 
 better for the occasional stirring of the surface, on which not 
 a blade of grass should be allowed to grow. In the Derby 
 Arboretum there was a system adopted sufficiently absurd to
 
 GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF HARDY SHRUBS, ETC. 341 
 
 account for a large number of dead plants, and a still greater 
 number of unhealthy ones. The mowings of the grass were 
 swept to the beds on which the plants were growing, and left 
 all round them to heat and rot there, under the silly notion 
 that rotting grass would act as a manure, and nourish the 
 plants. Of course it had destroj^ed many, and we left our 
 opinion in a book which was handed to visitors for the 
 purpose of noting their opinions and advice. Whether the 
 destructive system was abandoned or not, we have had no 
 means of kno"\Adng ; but it appeared to us to be akin to insanity 
 to constantly keep a dank heap of rotting grass round the roots 
 of tender young shrubs, completely shutting out the air, and 
 keeping them wet ; but the result was palpable. A great 
 quantity of labels told us what had been on the spot, and we 
 suggested to an attendant that somebody should go round and 
 paint on the labels "In Memory of" whatever plant was 
 named thereon. Most likely many of the departed have been 
 renewed, but nothing could be more destructive of the erica 
 family, of which, however, very few remained ahve, and not 
 one in good health. Standard specimens may have the grass 
 made good to their stems ; first for appearance, and next 
 because they do just as well as they would in beds, perhaps 
 better. It may be well enough to leave a circle of uncovered 
 soil while the tree gets estabhshed, because strong stakes must 
 be driven down to keep it in its place ; but as soon as trees 
 are estabhshed, they may have the grass made good. Where 
 evergreens are planted in families, and a regular group has to 
 be formed, they do best in an uncovered clump, which must 
 be kept constantly weeded : a foul bottom does more harm in 
 a month than years will undo, if, indeed, it is ever undone. 
 American plants only want the knife when some branch is 
 taking a liberty with the rest of the shrub ; but to be bushy, 
 they must be checked when any part of them wants to wander 
 abroad. Rhododendrons and azaleas are very apt to do this ; 
 a branch takes the lead, grows rapidly, quite beyond the 
 general surface of the plant, and, if neglected, makes it down- 
 right ugly ; but the check should be given before the growth 
 has progressed much, so that, when stopped, the new growth 
 w^ithin bounds may be completed. Perhaps the best time to 
 prune all shmbs of the kind is directly you have had the 
 bloom perfected and it has decayed, and before the young 
 growth has made any progress, because the growth is then
 
 342 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 equalized. It is made all at once, and, as you can see every 
 branch that will grow, you can rub off the shoots that will be 
 in the way, or of no use, that the strength of the plant may 
 be confined to those we require, and that will add to the beauty 
 of the specimen, always keeping the plant down, to prevent 
 the bottoms from becoming bare, than which nothing looks 
 worse. One of the most essential points towards this is plenty 
 of room. Plants never grow well crowded. If they have not 
 plenty of air and light below, the leaves fall, and the stems 
 get bare, the lower branches die — these are invariable results 
 of crowding. It is the room that is given to specimens that 
 enables them to grow so perfect, whereas it is the want of 
 light and air that renders so many plants in groups and bor- 
 ders so unsightly; and, unless it be to hide something, there 
 is no occasion to crowd plants anywhere. Generally speaking, 
 a belt is planted on purpose to form a tolerably close mass of 
 foliage. In such case, the principal object is to prevent, by 
 timely pruning, one plant from smothering another. The 
 strongest growers are planted further back, to prevent this ; 
 but, unless constrained, there will always be a disposition in 
 some to encroach upon others. As a general rule, the most 
 common must be sacrihced to keep the best in permanent 
 good order. As in good planting of mixed clumps and borders 
 — the immediate effect being wanted — there is an abundance 
 of common things intermixed with better, you are enabled to 
 remove many altogether as the more valuable grow; some 
 attention must be paid to this from year to year, because it is 
 necessary to remove them before instead of after they do mis- 
 chief Again, as in good planting the evergreens ought always 
 to form the main feature, some care must be taken not to 
 destroy this very desirable character, because, if we remove 
 even common evergreens, to make room for the deciduous 
 plants, we spoil the -^vinter scene altogether, by showing the 
 bare stumps of leafless, though perhaps good, deciduous plants. 
 It is to be borne in mind, that evergreens drop their leaves as 
 well as others, but they do not drop them all at once, and 
 never until the succession of new ones has clothed the plant. 
 In newly-planted evergreens of a large size, or that have suf- 
 fered a little by their removal, the entire foliage will often 
 drop as the buds swell for new ones. Xext to retaining all 
 their foliage in health, which is the perfection of removing, it 
 is good to see all the leaves drop, as a sign that the injury is
 
 THE MANAGEMENT OF VILLA GARDENS. 343 
 
 only temporary, and the plant safe ; but if the leaves dry on, 
 it is a sign of dissolution. The plant may be given up for 
 lost, if the foliage shrivels and holds on. Whenever, there- 
 fore, the roots have suffered much in the removal, the branches 
 should be unsparingly cut in, many branches entirely removed, 
 and the plant reduced to half its size. If an evergreen looks 
 weakly, the only chance for it is heavy pruning ; retain but a 
 skeleton, but let it be of a right form, so that when it does 
 make growtli, it may be of the proper character. It is no use 
 to compromise the thing by half cutting it, in the hope of 
 saving too much. Evergreens, as standards, should have all 
 weakly branches growing inwards always cut away ; and ever- 
 green standards are always exceedingly ornamental. The 
 magnolia tribe make fine standards, rhododendrons are very 
 show)'-, and even the Portugal laurel, the arbutus, and many 
 other evergreens, though they may have no flowers to recom- 
 mend them, look well as standards. The principal thing to 
 avoid is formality, and there is a good deal too much of this 
 among evergreens. Some of them are formal enough of them- 
 selves. The box, some of the arbor vitse, and many of the 
 firs, are almost mechanically formed, and can scarcely be 
 touched without being injured. The knife, in j^ct, among 
 evergreens, is only to keep them a little Adthin boimds ; and 
 when they are planted too close, this task is a little more 
 difficult, because more frequently imposed on us ; but whole 
 branches should be cut out ; clipping, or merely shortening, 
 makes a hard, close surface, which is not desirable, for it gives 
 everything a stiff and formal appearance. 
 
 THE MANAGEISIENT OF VILLA GAEDEISTS, 
 
 WITH MIXED PLANTS AND POT CULTURE, 
 
 Those who lay themselves out for a continual supply of 
 flowers in a limited garden, must have recourse to the 
 nimierous ways of providing one thing under another to 
 supply the places of declining plants, and so keep at all times 
 ready the furniture which is to be displayed from time to 
 time in the garden drawing-room as it were, the place always 
 in sight. This may be done in two ways ; by keeping store- 
 beds, from which things are to be taken up in perfection 
 very carefully, and replaced where they are to expand their
 
 344 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 beauties ; or it may be managed yet better by pot culture. 
 In the one case you must remove things under a disadvantage, 
 and sacrifice the health and strength of half-perfected roots 
 and bulbs, or wait while they complete their growth, in which 
 case the garden must be occupied by things out of bloom, 
 and therefore untidy, or without flower ; in the other, no 
 sooner is a thing past perfection than it is replaced. Pot 
 culture restricts us, in some measure, to the size of a plant, 
 because, if we constantly shifted them as soon as they required 
 it, so as to spread to a noble size, the pots would be of a most 
 unmanageable size. It is therefore necessary to restrain all 
 the plants to a moderate growth. The stock of plants for the 
 garden may consist of all the best of the perennials, and a few 
 of the best of the biennials and annuals. The bulbs for 
 spring blooming are necessarily a considerable time decaying, 
 and if they are potted and plunged into the soil, they can be 
 removed and replaced the instant the bloom decays. There 
 are, however, some plants that are useless as soon as they 
 have done blooming, and may be pulled up and thrown away 
 directly. The principal plants for furnishing a constant suc- 
 cession of flowers may be thus classed : — 
 
 Mignonette ; insignificant flower, but very odorous ; six to 
 twelve inches. 
 
 French Marigold ; brown, purple, and gold, various shades ; 
 one foot to a foot and a half. 
 
 Dwarf Larkspurs ; blue, white, and pink, of several shades ; 
 nine inches to a foot. 
 
 Collinsia bicolor; pretty spike of blue, white, and yellowish 
 flowers ; nine inches to a foot. 
 
 Convolvulus minor; brilliant blue-purple; straggling 
 growth ; nine inches to a foot. 
 
 Nemophila insignis ; bright blue and white, small flower ; 
 six to nine inches. 
 
 Erysimum Peroffskianum ; bright orange ; small pretty 
 plant ; six to nine inches. 
 
 Double Balsams ; scarlet, crimson, purple, and white ; one 
 foot to eighteen inches. 
 
 Sweet Peas ; various purples, and whites, and pinks ; two 
 to three feet. 
 
 Calliopsis bicolor ; orange and brown ; one and a half to 
 two feet. 
 
 Lupinus nanus ; purple, spikes of flower ; six to twelve 
 inches.
 
 THE MANAGEMENT OF VILLA GARDENS. 345 
 
 Phlox Drummondii ; dwarf red, purple, and all the shades 
 of them ; one foot. 
 
 Ten-week Stocks ; many colours, from Germany, all but 
 yellow ; six to twelve inches. 
 
 China or German Asters j many colours, all but yellow ; 
 one foot. 
 
 Now these annuals are the most showy in patches, about 
 the size of a thirty-two-sized pot, and therefore, if not sown 
 actually on the borders where they are to flower, should be 
 so sown elsewhere as to be easily removed in patches. But 
 the plants, or rather the annuals we have mentioned, are of 
 two classes ; one ought to be sown and thinned out, and 
 allowed to stand where they are to flower ; the others ought 
 to be sown, and, when large enough, planted out where they 
 are to flower. Of the former we have the dwarf larkspur, 
 Collinsia bicolor, convolvulus minor, lupinus nanus, sweet 
 peas, erysimum Peroffskianum, and calliopsis bicolor ; of the 
 latter, French marigold, nemophila insignis, phlox Drum- 
 mondii, ten-week stock, China aster, and balsam, are the 
 better for the check they receive in planting out. But where 
 there is not room to sow all these things where they are to 
 occupy room all the while they are growing without detri- 
 ment to the garden, the management is as follows : — Sow as 
 many patches of each as you anticipate you will want, in a 
 bed in the back garden or nursery ; treat them just the same 
 as you would if they were going to bloom there ; thin them 
 properly, not allowing more than sufficient to be together, so 
 as to weaken or draw one another up. Let them all be 
 within the circle marked by a thirty-two-sized pot, and about 
 six strong plants, or from that to eight, even of the smallest 
 subject, is enough. These may be in the nursery bed until 
 they are far advanced towards showing bloom; when the 
 subjects which they are to succeed are quite exhausted, and 
 begin to look untidy, get a box barrow, and as you wheel it 
 round, take your spade and lift out the whole spadeful of 
 earth A\dth the roots of the plants undisturbed, and lift it into 
 the barrow ; do this with all you are removing, whether they 
 are exhausted subjects, dead and done with, or perennials, or 
 bulbs which have not completed their growth. Then, having 
 left in each place the vacancy occasioned by removing a whole 
 spit of earth, carefully water, so as to soak the ground all 
 through below the roots, all the patches in the nursery bed
 
 34:6 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 designed for removal to where they are to bloom, and take up 
 each patch with a full spit of earth, so as not to disturb their 
 roots, and remove them to the vacancies you have left in the 
 garden. They may, with very little dexterity, be so well 
 removed as not in the least to feel the change. The instant 
 they are placed in their positions, give the earth all round a 
 complete soakiag, and then settle them in their new places. 
 By these means pots are saved, and there is only a Uttle more 
 trouble. The sowing of those subjects which are to be planted 
 out may be on a slight hot-bed. Hot stable-dung, a foot high, 
 well pressed down, and six inches of good loam at top, will give 
 heat enough for the purpose ; and you may either put on a 
 garden-frame and light, or hand-glasses ; but, in either case, a 
 mat should be thrown over all at night to keep in the heat 
 a little. The seeds may be sown in March on this, not too 
 thickly, otherwise it is a waste. If hand-glasses are used, 
 take care that the seeds are sown within compass of the 
 glasses. If a frame is used, the simplest way of sowing is in 
 drills from front to back, and about six inches from one 
 to the other. The seeds of all the sorts only require to be 
 well covered, and the soil kept rather moist. As soon as 
 they are up, they must have air by tilting the sash or Hght 
 behind. Moisture must not be forgotten; and the lights 
 must be tilted so as to give abundance of fresh air as the 
 seedlings advance, otherwise they would be drawn up. As 
 soon as they are large enough to handle, thin them out a 
 little, and put the plants that you pull out in by the side of 
 the row, instead of throwing them away. A few of the 
 balsams may be potted, if you have convenience for them, as 
 they make very pretty pot-plants. Here you may give air all 
 mild days, and shut up at night. In a couple of months, if 
 they have had plenty of air to keep them from drawing, they 
 will be in excellent order to plant out into the nursery-bed 
 or the show-garden at once ; only recollect the places they 
 are to occupy, the height they are to grow, and the time they 
 are getting into blooming order. By careful observation you 
 can plant many between others that are coming off before 
 the newly planted ones flower. For instance, in May your 
 tulips are in bloom, late Narcissus, and other things that 
 have to come away soon. The nemophila should be close to 
 the front, but the calliopsis, or coreopsis, is a taller subject, 
 and must be placed behind. The erysimum Peroffskianum
 
 THE MANAGEMENT OF VILLA GARDENS. 347 
 
 is as short nearly as tlie nemopliila. Ten-week stocks, and 
 German or China asters, must not be far back. But, in 
 a general way, mignonette, larkspur, Collinsia, nemophila, 
 lupinus, phlox, and Ten-week stocks, may be said to belong 
 to the front row, and follow crocuses, hyacinths, hepaticas, 
 polyanthus, primroses, and similar dwarf things ; while 
 the sweet peas, calUopsis, China aster, convolvulus, French 
 Marigolds, &c. may be placed a step behind, because they 
 grow taller; and there should also be some other subjects 
 there of a more permanent nature. The annuals, in fact, 
 ought to be an addition only to the perennials, that should 
 always occupy a considerable space. In managing a garden 
 this way, a flower ought not to remain an hour after the 
 bloom decays, but it should be removed with a spit of earth, 
 and something else be placed there with a similar quantity 
 of mould ; or if the place is to be filled with transplanted 
 seedlings, why, they need only be pulled up, and the place 
 forked about a little, and dunged, perhaps, before the new 
 ones can be transplanted. On this ground we prefer, even if 
 we have no pots, to plant everything in nursery-beds in 
 patches, so far apart as that we can take them up with a 
 spadeful of earth without disturbing their roots ; consequently, 
 keep the show-garden well supplied, not with things that 
 require growing, but with things ready grown, and all but 
 blooming ; the garden then never looks unfurnished. There 
 are no flagging young plants ; when one is past its beauty, it 
 gives place to another ready to burst. Let the garden be 
 laid out the same as for the work of a single month. 
 Let there be abundance of all the early-blooming flowers. 
 Let April see all the colours of the rainbow. Whatever has 
 declined in May, turn out to make way for an abundance of 
 May-blooming subjects. Let all that are turned out be taken 
 up with a spit of earth, and all that take their places be re- 
 moved in the same way. The nursery-bed that gives up the 
 new subjects can receive the old, and the half-perfected bulbs 
 may complete their growth as well as in the original place ; 
 meanwhile, in successive nursery-beds bring forward a suc- 
 cession of subjects. The gay tulip, the China and Damask 
 Cliina roses, the pyrus spectabilis and japonica, pansies, 
 Wallflowers, double gold-colour and dark blood-colour ; and 
 at such times there must be enough of those in flower to 
 make a good show. In June, the difficulty is to select, for
 
 348 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 there is a blaze of flower, and all the annuals are rapidly 
 aiding the general bloom. All the colours are plentiful, and 
 if the place were extended to thrice its size, we feel that 
 we could lin it. JS'or does the next month find us in any 
 difficulty for subjects in flower. The perennials take the 
 ascendant as to beauty, the carnation and picotee, forming, 
 themselves, a most gorgeous and most delicate subject. The 
 Balsams, among the annuals, are now in perfection ; the 
 China aster, and many other subjects, being gay. The 
 Delphinium grandiflora, •\\T.th its dazzling rich blue flower, 
 towers above the ordinary annuals, and is, for its time, the 
 most striking subject in the place. The hollyhock plays its 
 part for two months nearly, and before that is done with, the 
 dahlia begins. And we know of no better way of regulating 
 a garden to be thus supplied, than by cultivating all things 
 in the nursery-garden at their proper season, and, when they 
 will bear it, in successive seasons ; and as soon as one set of 
 subjects in the show-garden becomes shabby, to replace it 
 with another, carefully removing the defunct, with a spit of 
 earth, to the place where the new subject is to be obtained. 
 If the defunct plant be worth keeping, let it take the place ; 
 if it is an annual or biennial, and is useless, let the earth 
 only be placed there, and the plants be thrown to the dung- 
 hilL We have given a hst of the annuals to be depended on 
 as the chief ; we have been guided by their properties ; they 
 are the best in cultivation, although there are many more 
 which bear a seed-shop reputation. But, in estimating all 
 annuals, perennials, or other plants, in the open air, we have 
 some guiding properties, without which we value them not. 
 First, we want quantity of bloom ; next, length of bloom ; 
 lastly, brilHance or denseness of colour. The only exception 
 to these quahties is the mignonette, which we take for its 
 fragrance. The perennials most valued must have some one 
 of these qualities, though there is one which " covereth a 
 multitude " of faults — the season of bloom. If we could find 
 subjects fuh of blemishes which bloom in December and 
 January, we should make room for them, however we require 
 a choice from the following : — 
 
 Crocus ; white, blue, and yellow ; six inches. 
 
 Hyacinths ; white, blue, red, and straw-colour ; nine to 
 twelve inches. 
 
 Jonquils ; yellow ; nine to twelve inches.
 
 THE MANAGEMENT OF VILLA GARDENS. 340 
 
 Daffodils ; yellow ; nine to twelve inches. 
 
 ISTarcissus ; white, yellow and white, orange ; twelve to 
 eighteen inches. 
 
 Crown ImjDerials ; pale straw yellow, and orange ; two feet 
 
 Lupinus pol}3)hyllus ; dark and light blue, white, blue and 
 white ; eighteen to twenty-four inches. 
 
 Delphinium grandiflora ; grand dazzling blue ; three feet. 
 
 Hollyhock ; black, red, purple, lilac, mottled, yellow, white, 
 &c.; six to ten feet. 
 
 Dahlia ; shades of red, purple, rose, lilac, yellow, mottled, 
 tipped ; three to six feet. 
 
 Columbine ; blue, red, white, and mottled ; two to three 
 feet. 
 
 Pinks j white, and laced with rose, purple, dark, &c. ; twelve 
 inches. 
 
 Carnations ; white, striped with rose, pui'ple, dark, &c. ; 
 two to three feet. 
 
 Picotees ; white, laced with rose, purple, lilac, dark, &c. ; 
 two to three feet. 
 
 Polyanthus ; yellow ground, blotched with dark-brown, 
 crimson, &c. ; six inches. 
 
 Primrose ; double purple, double crimson, double white, 
 double straw-colour ; six inches. 
 
 Hepatica ; red, double and single, white, ditto, double blue; 
 six inches. 
 
 Yellow Alyssum ; bright yellow ; six iuches. 
 
 Anemone ; single blue, red, rose, white, and mottled ; six 
 to nine inches. 
 
 Eanunculus ; turban scarlet, six to nine inches. ' 
 
 Scarlet Lychnis ; bright scarlet ; double, two feet. 
 
 These are all excellent subjects, and may be placed where 
 there is a desire not to disturb ; but as they all figure in their 
 season, and some are not in flower more than a month or two 
 in the twelve, it may be a question whether any are permitted 
 to hold a permanent place in the garden. I^or is it at all 
 necessary that they should be all cultivated ; but there is this 
 advantage in keeping up a garden of succession, — you have, 
 independently of all the ordinary seasons, the chances of some 
 being later than usual, and others being earlier than usual, so 
 that you may always improve. There is scarcely a plant, 
 whether it be bulbous, tul^erous, or fibrous, Avhich may not 
 be well removed, if you take a full spit of earth with it, and
 
 350 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 first soak the ground all round it, so that the earth adheres 
 to the roots, and again soak it when it is put in its place, so 
 that the earth may be settled down close to it. The trees 
 and shrubs are necessarily the same, however the rest of the 
 garden may be maintained ; and it is not to be forgotten that 
 biennials, such as are worth the culture, may be depended 
 on ; but many biennials may be treated like perennials, and 
 be perpetuated by cuttings, and these, perhaps, are the prin- 
 cipal useful ones. For instance, the blood and golden double 
 wallflowers are splendid subjects ; and flowering early, as 
 they do, and yielding the most beautiful aroma, they are in 
 all respects grateful to the sight and smell. There are, how- 
 ever, others, such as the scabious, the Canterbury bell, blue 
 and white rocket; but for the most part they flower when 
 there are so many better things in bloom, that, excejDt in very 
 extensive places, they are not very useful. The sweetwilliam 
 is an exception, perhaps, but it is almost a perennial, and 
 is now being produced very double and beautiful, and can 
 always be perpetuated by cuttings, or layers, so that we hardly 
 place it among the useless, but it must depend on the quality 
 of the individual variety as to whether it be w^orth a place. 
 All the subjects we have mentioned may be grown as we have 
 directed in a nursery-garden, in patches not larger than a 
 thirty-two sized flower-pot would cover ; and the time to 
 remove them is, when they are about to throw out their bloom- 
 buds, or before, if there be room to fill up, and nothing for- 
 warder to place there. 
 
 GAEDEl^S UITDER GLASS. 
 
 These, in all probability, will become general, for it is clear 
 that the mere protection of glass, without artificial heat of 
 any kind, will enable us to grow many hard-wooded plants 
 hitherto confined to the greenhouse or warm pits ; and it is 
 also obvious that hardy plants will be hastened in their bloom 
 and preserved in their foliage by no greater protection than 
 a well-built house with thick sheet-glass windows or sashes. 
 There are a few rules to be observed in managing these gar- 
 dens under glass, for this appears to be the proper name, 
 where the only difference between the covered and the open 
 portion of the garden is the glass which covers a part. A 
 few rules may suffice. First, for instance, all the plants
 
 GARDENS UNDER GLASS. 351 
 
 should be turned out in the bed or border, or the pot itself 
 plunged, because frost cannot so well go dowTi after roots as 
 it can get through the sides of a pot ; next, the greatest pos- 
 sible care must be taken that the Tvindows and doors shut 
 close and admit no draught; third, that the windoTvs and 
 doors be always shut at sunset in winter time, so that the 
 heat which has been absorbed all day shall be shut in all 
 night ; fourthly, that whenever the sun is warm, even in the 
 depth of the winter, all the air that can be given should be 
 given. It is impossible, indeed, to give a common greenhouse 
 too much air in mild weather. If there are many top and 
 bottom windows, open half of each, so that there is a thorough 
 good air admitted. In dry weather especially, the house 
 should be as open as possible, for the sake of drying it. There 
 are many plants that will succeed better under glass than in 
 the open air, although they are hardy enough to stand ex- 
 posure — the daphnes, rhododendrons, azaleas (Indian and 
 American), andromedas, camellias, many heaths, acacia, 
 arbutus procera, deutzda scabra, all the liliums, most of the 
 early bulbs ; but suppose it to be planted out exactly the 
 same as a bit of fancy garden out of doors, the plants under 
 glass will be forwarder a good deal, so that tliis would create 
 two distinct seasons if they were plant for plant alike. The 
 hard- wooded Botany Bay plants will often stand a few degrees 
 of frost, but under any circumstances, all the spring bulbs 
 would be in bloom in February, instead of later; and we 
 might walk out of the drawing-room into the garden, under 
 glass, without the least difficulty, and see but the thickness 
 of the glass between us and the most cheerless frost and 
 snow, with the flowers blooming at our feet. The principal 
 attention required is to the soil wdth which the beds and 
 borders are filled, and the manner in which the drainage 
 is carried out. There ought to be a clear run of water 
 established, or rather the means of forming one — two or three 
 ordinary drains, with drain pipes at the bottom, and stones 
 or bushes to cover them six inches ; and these pipes should 
 communicate with an outlet capable of draining away any 
 moisture that may filter into these pipes from the beds and 
 paths, so that however freely you may water the plants or 
 saturate the beds they will be free of stagnant water. The 
 soil should be loam from rotted turves one half, and good 
 chopped peat earth the other half. That this may be weU
 
 352 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 mixed, it ouglit to be placed in a lieap and chopped down 
 and thrown to another heap, and then chopped down again ; 
 but however it be done, mixed it must be, and well. The 
 plants should be placed in the soil the same as if it were the 
 open garden, a box edging or a board edging, and smart 
 gravel walks should characterise the ground work. The most 
 effective way of planning the ground work, is a path of two 
 feet six inches round a bed of six feet wide in the middle, 
 and borders to occupy the space from the path to the walls, 
 or rather the sides and ends, whatever they may be. There 
 will be no great effect the first year without enormous ex- 
 pense, but the second you will have all the advantage of your 
 own growth. If the balls of potted plants are very hard, it 
 may be worth while to soak them and loosen all the fibres ; 
 for you may in vain try to wet a hard ball : the water will 
 run away and soak away without penetrating the surface, and 
 the plant will become discoloured, weakly, and perhaps de- 
 funct. The syringe should be used freely, with a fine rose 
 on, and by pumping sharply all over and among the foHage, 
 and especially of the creepers, you will keep the green-fly 
 completely under. Confine your plants as much as you can 
 to evergreens, for you want it cheerful in the winter. Eoses, 
 however, you must have, and they will occasionally drop 
 their leaves ; still there are some that must be had, and there 
 is nothing more likely to give you a few fugitive flowers at 
 Christmas. We have abeady said, water freely, but not 
 often ; a good sousing with the syringe-pump once a week 
 is better than a garden-pot watering once a day, and besides 
 this, it keeps the plants clean and healthy, and saves labour. 
 The plants may be cut in pretty close for effect at first, but 
 some may be easily withdrawn when they begin to crowd 
 each other ; unless, which is very desirable, you use your 
 knife freely, and keep all things in a proper shape, and per- 
 fectly quiet. 
 
 A CHAPTER 01^ GJJAJ^O. 
 
 The importance of every inquiry connected mth guano, 
 that very suigular substance, cannot be questioned, and there- 
 fore it may be proper to take a cursory glance at its history 
 before the investigation of its quahties. Yery few years have 
 elapsed since it was first applied, as a manure, by the English
 
 A CHAPTER ON GUANO. 353 
 
 farmer ; and, thongli we find a slight mention of it in one of 
 the late Sir Humphrey Davy's lectures before the Board of 
 Agriculture, no practical use was made of it upon the farm. 
 Fortunately, we possess ample and correct sources of informa- 
 tion in the valuable article written by a Mr. Walton, and 
 recently piiblished in the "Edinburgh Journal of Agriculture." 
 To this, and to an Essay by Dr. Ancbew Ure, reference will 
 be made, and thus some effects will be obtained which caimot 
 fail to gratify those persons who like to acquaint themselves 
 with every particular that can lead to a correct understanding 
 of the material they make use of ^Ir. Walton tells us that 
 the early \mters of Peru^^an annals mention the value of 
 o-uano as a fertilizer — and adds, in a note, that Robertson, in 
 his "America," has this passage, — "They enriched the soil 
 by manuring it with the dung of sea-fowls, of which they 
 found an inexhaustible store in all the islands situated along 
 their coasts. The Spaniards have adopted the custom from 
 the ancient Peruvians, and continue to use the guano, or the 
 the dung of sea-fowls, as a manure." Dr. William Robertson 
 first published his celebrated "History of America" in 1777, 
 and thus we are certain that guano, as a fertilizer, was at least 
 alluded to, by an eminent writer, fully seventy years ago. 
 
 Baron Humboldt brought, perhaps, the first specimen to 
 Europe in 1804, and transmitted a sample to the Erench 
 chemists, Eourcroy and Vauquelin, with a short report of his 
 own, stating that " the fertility of the coast of Pern is founded 
 upon guano, which is a great object of commerce. For maize, 
 or Indian com, it is, above all, an excellent enriching manure." 
 In 1806, the above mentioned chemists analysed the sample, 
 and found it to contain " one fourth of its weight of uric acid, 
 partly saturated with ammonia ; small quantities of sulphate 
 and muriate of potash, phosphates of ammonia, magnesia, 
 and lime ; also some flinty and ferruginous sand." But the 
 exact analysis quoted by Dr. Ure shall be given in its place, 
 in order that a due comparison may be obtained. At present, 
 our attention is confined to general facts connected ^vith the 
 history of guano. Mr. Walton favours us Avith the following, 
 while he regrets the " backwardness, the distrust wth which, 
 in an enhghtened country like ours, we refrain from adopting 
 any new project, any untried expedient opposed to our old 
 habits and customs." He says also "that he himself had 
 mentioned the subject of guano to persons of influence ; among 
 
 z
 
 354 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 whom were Sir Joseph Banks, and the late Lord Sheffield, in 
 1810. Sir Joseph Hstened with attention, as the conversation 
 at the time seemed to call back to his memory circumstances 
 connected Avith the use of guano, respecting which he no 
 doubt obtained his first notions while visiting the Pacific with 
 Captain Cook." Mr. Walton also describes a process of 
 manuring, by means of which he himself raised to high per- 
 fection a plantation of many thousand coffee-trees, while 
 residincf in the Island of St. Domingo. The material was the 
 dimg of parrots, — "the accumulated masses of hundreds of 
 generations of those birds which congregated, at a certain spot, 
 in countless numbers, and had never before been molested." 
 The reader is referred to the original article. 
 
 The highly fertilizing quahties of manure so obtained, in 
 common with that of pigeons, doves, and even common 
 poultry, depend, in a great degree, upon the circumstance 
 that urinous secretions of birds are combined with the faeces 
 of the bowels ; but, although the excreta of land-birds thus 
 generally surpass the fseces of animals, they cannot compete 
 with those of sea-fowl, which feed upon fish, and are thus 
 peculiarly rich in ammoniacal and earthy phosphates. 
 
 Walton cites a variety of authors, ancient and modern, who 
 afi'ord evidence of the surprising prolificity that results from 
 the proper application of guano. One of these, Dr. Hipohto 
 Unanuer, a Peruvian, pubhshed " Observations on the Climate 
 of Peru," in 1806. Humboldt has been already mentioned ', 
 but the highest authority on any subject connected with Peru, 
 is that of the distinguished naturahst, M. Alcides D'Orbigny, 
 who, in 1826, was sent, by the Directors of the Paris Museum, 
 to explore the upper division and western coast of South 
 America, where he remained till 1833. From consentient 
 evidence, it is beyond doubt proved that "true" guano is a 
 vast accumulation of the faecal matter from sea-birds ; and 
 these birds, according to M. D'Orbigny, consist chiefly of the 
 gull, gannet, pehcan, cormorant, and phseten families, in flocks 
 so vast " that, at certaia seasons, their various tribes actually 
 darken the air as they move along. All these marine birds, 
 in consequence of their invariably reposing in large societies 
 on the same points, and there passing the night, unceasingly 
 augment the strata of guano ; and as it does not rain in that 
 part of the country, the surface is never washed by those 
 heavy showers to which we are accustomed in Europe ; these
 
 A CHAPTER ON GUANO. 355 
 
 masses, therefore, cannot be removed unless it be with the 
 help of man." 
 
 Solidity, and a dry condition, ought to be considered indis- 
 pensable — hence the guano of Peru becomes the only excellent 
 and pure type. In the analysis of various specimens, sand, 
 to a greater or less extent, is discovered. In those of the 
 best, and alone valuable specimens, its proportion is very 
 small — say from one and a half to three per cent. In cli- 
 mates where storms of rain and tempests are prevalent, the 
 quantity of sand must superabound ; therefore all the varieties 
 are rejected, with the exception of those obtained from Peru 
 and Bohvia. 
 
 As to the exact period of the introduction of guano to 
 Britain it is impossible to speak; but, as Walton says, "Al- 
 though several parcels had, by interested persons, been brought 
 over for trial, its utility as a new fertilizer w^as not introduced 
 to the notice of the public, upon any good authority, till the 
 year 1841, w^hen it Avas brought forward by the Eoyal English 
 Agricultural Society. 
 
 ]^ot quite ten years have yet elapsed since a manui^e of 
 such importance became in any degree known to the farmer ; 
 it then sold from 22s. to 28s. 6d. per cwt. It is now brought 
 in by thousands of tons annually, and the best is purchaseable 
 at from 10s. to 12s. 6d. per cwt., according to the quantity. 
 
 But guano, true as it may be, yet varies in quality ; and 
 Walton, though he brings forward, as we have seen, autho- 
 rities sanctioning the belief that the localities which furnish 
 it are rarely visited by rain, yet states that there are accidental 
 changes of weather which produce disastrous consequences. 
 
 When, however, in peculiar localities, storms of rain occur, 
 the guano suffers ; and Walton tells us " that he is convinced 
 the guano formations, which are left unsheltered on the surface, 
 and often in a liquid state, have frequently, if not- annually, 
 been washed down by heavy rains, on one side, into the sea, 
 and on the other, along declivities into the hollows below, to 
 spots where the birds never think of roosting." 
 
 The uncertain condition of this most compound produce 
 is not, therefore, to be wondered at, if we admit that it is 
 exposed to rain, salt water, or to admixture with sea-sand. 
 These causes of deterioration are natural, and occur on the 
 spot ; but, when we take into account the venal dishonesty of 
 traders, the all-prevailing love of money, and the facility with 
 
 z2
 
 30b PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 which a substance hke guano can be adulterated by aid of 
 loams of a corresponding brown tint, we perceive that the 
 utmost caution is required. 
 
 PERUVIAN MODES OP APPLYING GUANO. 
 
 This is a consideration of great moment, and demands the 
 testimonial of a genuine authority. Such is ]\Ir. "Walton. 
 He says : " Their green crops, such as maize, millet, culinary 
 vegetables, and esculent roots, were dibbled, and a small 
 quantity of guano thrown into the bottom of each hole, which 
 was sprinkled with light earth before the seeds and tubers 
 were dropped, and then covered. As the growth of the plant 
 developed itself, more guano was diffused, as near to the roots 
 as possible ; but in each operation the essential requieite of 
 watering was never omitted. 
 
 " With the aid of guano, and acting upon these principles, 
 on a limited surface, the Peruvians were enabled to raise 
 sufficient subsistence for a large community ; and in conse- 
 quence of the slow and gradual solubility in the soil of those 
 essential salts contained in the natural manure when not 
 exposed to the air, and which give to its effects a durability 
 possessed by no other compound, — as previously stated, the}^ 
 permanently cultivated the same lands without any variation 
 of crops. Potatoes, maize, and millet constituted the principal 
 food of the Andes tribes, and these they raised to the greatest 
 perfection. Europe is, in fact, indebted to them for these 
 three valuable articles of food." 
 
 linear Arica, according to M. D'Orbigny, the grounds are 
 fertilized by small irrigating canals, which give to the sand 
 mixed with guano the moisture requisite to increase the pro- 
 duce a hundred fold. He says : " I was astonished to see so 
 beautiful and permanent a crop of maize, and more especially 
 of the red pepper, which constitutes the principal commerce 
 carried on in these valleys, whence the growers send it off to 
 all parts in the interior of Bolivia." 
 
 Enough has now been advanced to prove the excellence of 
 guano in its own chmate. Its animal origin and immensely 
 fertilising qualities are credibly affirmed : and it therefore 
 remains to investigate its qualities in the condition wherein 
 we receive it, when in the state of the utmost attainable 
 purity. 
 
 Dr. ITre's analysis is very good authority so far as it goes.
 
 A CHAPTER ON GUANO. 357 
 
 Tlie young analyst could not, however, proceed with sufficient 
 accuracy from directions so general, and which are deficient 
 in all the details of manipulation. Yet, general as it may be, 
 it comprises ample comparisons of results as obtained by 
 various eminent chemists, all tending to show what every one 
 who undertakes an analysis of this substance must soon dis- 
 cover, that there are no two samples of guano which perfectly 
 agree in their constituents. 
 
 Dr. Ure gives — first, the tabular catalogue of the consti- 
 tuents found by the French chemists in the sample presented 
 by Humboldt," estimated in hundredth parts and decimals. 
 We assume the grain of apothecaries' weight, as being the 
 simplest integer, and thus in 100 grs. are found — 
 
 Urate of ammonia 9.0 
 
 Oxalate of ammonia 10.6 
 
 Oxalate of lime 7.0 
 
 Phosphate of ammonia 6.0 
 
 Phosphates of ammonia and magnesia . 2.6 
 
 Sulphate of potash 5.5 
 
 „ of soda 3.3 
 
 Sal-ammoniac 4.2 
 
 Phosphate of lime 14.3 
 
 Clay and sand 4.7 
 
 Clay and organic matters .... . 32.3 
 
 Loss 5 
 
 ~lMo 
 
 This might be reckoned as a fair sample of fertilising guano ; 
 but the last named items, 32.3, are loosely given, because 
 they do not particularise the proportion of water and organic 
 matters. 
 
 The analysis of Professor Johnston is far less satisfactory. 
 Thus— 
 
 Ammonia 7.0 
 
 Uric acid 0.8 
 
 Water, carbonic acid, and oxalic acids, | p^-. p^ 
 
 &c. expelled by a red heat . . . j 
 Common salt, -with a little sulphate \ -. -. i 
 and phosphate of soda . . . . j 
 
 Phosphate of lime, &c 29.3 
 
 100.0
 
 358 
 
 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 This guano must, as Dr. Ure remarks, have been mnch decom- 
 posed, and perhaps originally a debased sample. It leads to 
 no particular knowledge, and therefore little can be gathered 
 from it. 
 
 Dr. Ure has exposed a fraudulent analysis, by which many 
 hundred tons were sold at a public sale, and at a high price. 
 He found the guano nearly rotten and effete. The false and 
 real constituents are given side by side as below. 
 
 -Urate of ammonia, ammo- ) 
 
 niacal salts, aud decayed > 17.4 
 animal matters . . . . ) 
 
 Phosphate of lime, of mag- 
 nesia, and oxalate of lime 
 
 Fixed alkaline salts . . . 
 
 Earthy and stony matter 
 
 48.1 
 
 10.8 
 1.4 
 
 Moisture 22.3 
 
 100.0 
 
 2. — Ammonia .... 2.5 
 
 Urate of ammonia . 0.5 
 
 Earthy phosphates . 45.5 
 
 Sea-salt 9.0 
 
 Water 24.0 
 
 81.5 
 
 Here the deficiency in Dr. lire's result must be supplied by 
 the items, sand, dirt, and rotten organic matter, of no more 
 value than so much very old dung reduced to dust. This 
 was, however, an excellent specimen when compared with the 
 adulterated rubbish which has been palmed upon agricultural 
 credulity. Every one who has minutely inspected genuine 
 samples must know that they are all brown in colour, the 
 tint varying from that of Scotch snuff, interspersed with 
 lumpy and white particles, to a deeper hue, according to the 
 quantity of existing moisture. Hence there is no difficulty 
 in substituting loams of various shades and temperaments. 
 These, with a portion of decaying sawdust and a few pounds 
 of fine guano (perhaps not one-twentieth part), to confer 
 odour, would pass muster, so far, at least, as the unpractised 
 eye might decide. In short, no one ought to attempt the 
 use of this potent manure as pure without full assurance of 
 the quality. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF VAEIOUS IMANUEES. 
 
 Notwithstanding all that has been written and said of the 
 various manures which are used in the dressing of land, and 
 their effects upon crops, scarcely two chemists give the same 
 analysis of any compound body, and this chiefly because they 
 give the result in different states, some intelligible, some not,
 
 ANALYSItJ OF MANURES. 359 
 
 but all various. We can hardly illustrate this better than by 
 quotinc^- Dr. Ure's analysis of Guano, and Voelckel's. The 
 former is as follows : — 
 
 DR. ure's. 
 
 Azotized organic matter, including urate 
 of ammonia, and capable of affording 
 from 8 to 17 (a pretty large difference) 
 per cent, of ammonia by slow decom- 
 position in the soil 50 
 
 Water 11 
 
 Phosphate of lime 25 
 
 Ammonia, phosphate of magnesia, phos- 
 phate of ammonia and oxalate of am- 
 monia, containing from 4 to 9 (another 
 trifling difference) per cent, of ammonia 1 3 
 Siliceous matter from the crops of bii'ds . 1 
 
 100 
 
 VOELCKELS. 
 
 Urate of ammonia 9 "0 
 
 Oxalate of ammonia 10*6 
 
 Oxalate of lime 7*0 
 
 Phosphate of ammonia 6*0 
 
 Phosphate of magnesia and ammonia . . 2*6 
 
 Sulphate of potash 5'5 
 
 Sulphate of soda 3-8 
 
 Muriate of ammonia 4*2 
 
 Phosphate of lime 14*3 
 
 Clay and sand 4*7 
 
 Animal substances, mth a small quantity 
 
 of salts of iron and water 32*3 
 
 100-0 
 
 We are not now going to allude to the discrepancy of the 
 quantities, because that does not affect the question, but of 
 the discrepancies of the terms and the nature of the results. 
 Why are not the same tests applied and the same items men- 
 tioned 1 How can any farmer or person in any other class 
 not versed in chemical af3finities and the nature of them,
 
 360 PRACTICAL GAEDENING. 
 
 imagine that these two results are of the same article ? It is 
 as if scientific men were determined that common people 
 should never understand them. One of these chemists pro- 
 duces no less than eleven different items or materials ; the 
 other sums up the qualities of guano in five. Can this be 
 right 1 that is to say, can it be right for the guidance of in- 
 experience ? One more illustration of this and we have done : 
 take the subject of cow-dung. Three analyses of this animal 
 manure by three different chemists are thus given : — 
 
 The author of the " Muck Manual " says, the proportions of 
 organic matter, water, and salts, in lOOlbs. of cow-dung, 
 are — 
 
 Water 83-600 
 
 Organic matter — 
 
 Hay 14-600 
 
 Bile and resinous biliary matter . 1*275 
 
 Albumen '175 
 
 Sihca -140 
 
 Sulphate of potash '050 
 
 Geate of potash "070 
 
 Muriate of soda -080 
 
 Phosphate of lime '230 
 
 Sulphate of lime '120 
 
 Carbonate of lime '120 
 
 *99^86Q 
 
 14 
 
 100-00 
 
 Morin's analysis consists of — 
 
 Water 70-00 
 
 Vegetable fibre 24-08 
 
 Green resin and fat acids 1 '52 
 
 Undecomposed biliary matter . . . "60 
 
 Peculiar extractive matter . . . . 1-60 
 
 Albumen '40 
 
 Bihary resin 1*80 
 
 * This is -wrong in the addition, because the sum should be 100-46, 
 consequently there is 46 over instead of a loss of 14. However, this is 
 not material, except that it shows carelessness somewhere, but does not 
 affect our object, which is to show that hardly two chemists agree in 
 their terms, to say nothing of proportions.
 
 ANALYSIS OF MANURES. 361 
 
 M. PERROT'S. 
 
 Water ^^'^S 
 
 Bitter matter '74 
 
 Sweet substance '93 
 
 Chrophyle '^f 
 
 Albumen '"3 
 
 Muriate of soda *08 
 
 Sulphate of potash '05 
 
 Sulphate of lime '25 
 
 Carbonate of lime '24 
 
 Phosphate of lime '^^ 
 
 Carbonate of iron *09 
 
 Woody fibre 26-39 
 
 Silica -14 
 
 Loss '14 
 
 *100-00 
 
 With these discrepancies before us, how can it be expected 
 that we, the uninitiated in the mysteries of chemistry, can 
 arrive at any conclusion as to the value of cow-dung as ma- 
 nure ? The amount of water in cow-dung is very large, and it 
 is said to be the least valuable of animal manures, although 
 used as a standard, much in the same way as copper coin 
 might be used as a standard for the value of the better metals ; 
 but nothing could be more uncertain than cow-dung, in conse- 
 quence of its large quantity of water, because, if exposed, it 
 would not be of the same value two days together. The water 
 would evaporate; consequently dried cow-dung, having lost 
 the greater part of its water, would become a much more 
 valuable manure. The author of the " Muck Manual " says, 
 that, without violence to chemistry, the composition of cow- 
 dung may be stated as follows : — 
 
 Geine 15-45 
 
 Salts -95 
 
 Water 83-60 
 
 100-00 
 
 * This is as it appears in prink ; but it is wrongly added, because the 
 sum is 99-80. However, this affects not our objection to the strange 
 want of uniformity in the terms of the vai'ious results.
 
 362 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 Proceeding in the same chemical expression and classification 
 of contents, the following are the results of several other 
 manures : — 
 
 HORSE-DUNG. 
 
 Geine 27*00 
 
 Salts '96 
 
 Water 71-20 
 
 99-16 
 
 It is not so stated, but doubtless the deficiency in the hun- 
 dred parts is loss ; but the value of manure consists in its 
 capacity to produce ammonia, of which we shall offer a notice 
 presently. Mght-soil, by analysis, yields — 
 
 Geine 23-5 
 
 Salts 1-2 
 
 Water 753 
 
 ~100-0 
 
 We are informed, then, by Mr. Falkner, that the following 
 are the ultimate results of the three manures : — 1001b. cow- 
 dung will yield of carbonate of ammonia about 2 lb. 2 oz. ; 
 horse-dung, 31b. and nearly a quarter; and night-soil, 151b. 
 and nearly a third. The presence of nitrogen, which regulates 
 the capacity of a manure to produce ammonia, determines the 
 true value of the article, inasmuch, as by unitiug ^vith hydro- 
 gen, it produces pure ammonia. As a passing remark, we 
 may observe that pig-dung is supposed to be upon an equality 
 with night-soil ; but it must always be recollected, that a 
 difference of food makes a dijBference in the relative qualities 
 of the dung of all animals. The experiments undertaken by 
 the Prussian authorities, to ascertain whether the contents of 
 the sewers of Berlin and Dresden could be applied to ferti- 
 lizing the adjacent land, seems to prove that, if land unma- 
 nured produced three bushels for one sown, then — 
 
 Cow-dung would produce 7 
 
 Horse-dung 10 
 
 And night-sod. 14 
 
 But it is not in sewers, which are receptacles for everything, 
 that night-soil could be had in its unmixed state, and conse- 
 quently we may consider that as underrated in value. 
 
 Poudret, which is a preparation of night-sod, good or bad
 
 ANALYSIS OF MANURES. 363 
 
 according to the honesty of the manufacturer, is ranked with 
 guano, but next to night-soil. The value of poudret depends 
 on whether the ammonia is lost or saved. " K night-soil be 
 mixed with sulphate or muriate of lime before drying, the 
 volatile carbonate of ammonia will be changed into sulphate 
 of ammonia and sal ammoniac. Thus, not only the most 
 valuable portion of night-soil will be retained, but the salts 
 of lime will be much increased. The mixture will be per- 
 fectly inoffensive, and allowing ground-peat and plastic, with 
 the other salts, to form one-half of the dry mixture, there is 
 then in every 100 lbs. fertilizing proportions equal to 200 lbs. 
 of the moist hiunan excrement ; and the value of good poudret 
 is, as compared with cow-dung, as 14 to 1. Another kind of 
 poudret is prepared in France by boiling the offal of the 
 slaughter-house by steam into a thick soup, and mixing the 
 whole into a stiff paste "uith sifted coal-ashes, and cbying it. 
 But perhaps soot is the most powerful of all manures. Its 
 analysis is as under : — 
 
 Geine 30-70 
 
 :Mtrogen 20-00 
 
 Salts of lime, mostly chalk . . . . 25-31 
 
 Bone-dust 1*50 
 
 Salts of potash and soda, and ammonia 6-14 
 
 Carbon 3-85 
 
 Water 12-50 
 
 100-00 
 
 The salts, therefore, in 100 lbs. of soot, are equal to a ton 
 of cow-dung. But among the subjects of regret to all who 
 give themselves the trouble of thinking about such matters, 
 that of wasting the liquid evacuations of animals is perhaps 
 the most remarkable. The salts therein contained are beyond 
 measure valuable ; yet how rarely are they appropriated ! how 
 common is it for this and the drainings of the dung-yard to 
 run to waste ! Let us look a little to their composition and 
 to their fertilizing qualities, and compare them with the ana- 
 lyses we have already quoted. We shall still keep to the 
 authority of the " Muck ISIanual," the most useful work that 
 has emanated from the press on the subject. 
 
 That of the cow contains —
 
 364 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 Water 65 
 
 Urea 5 
 
 Bone-dust 5 
 
 Sal ammoniac and muriate of potash . . 15 
 
 Sulphate of potash 6 
 
 Carbonate of potash and ammonia ... 4 
 
 100 
 
 Compare this ^vith the dung of the cow. It appears already 
 that 100 lbs. of dung afford 2 lbs. 2 oz. of carbonate of am- 
 monia, while this gives 5 lbs. of ammonia in its urea, and 
 nearly three times 5 lbs. in its other ammoniacal salts ; in 
 short, 100 lbs. afford 35 lbs. of the most powerful salts ever 
 used by farmers. 
 
 The liquid evacuation of the horse contains — 
 
 Water 94-0 
 
 Urea '7 
 
 Chalk 1-1 
 
 Carbonato: of soda '9 
 
 Hippurate of soda 2*4 
 
 ■ Muriate of potash '9 
 
 100-0 
 
 It is thus equal in value to cow-dung, pound for pound ; 
 but when we come to the subject of waste, the author of the 
 "Muck Manual" tells us that every man wastes annually 
 enough salts to manure an acre of ground. The liquid evacu- 
 ations are equal in value to that of the cow : the analysis is 
 not in all respects the same, but the value is. According to 
 Dr. Thompson's analysis, the contents of 1,000 lbs. are more 
 than 42 lbs. of salts, for there is not an ingredient that is not 
 essential to plants. The analysis is as follows : 
 
 Sal ammoniac '459 
 
 Sulphate of potash 2*112 
 
 Muriate of potash 3*674 
 
 Common salt 5'060 
 
 Phosphate of soda 4*267 
 
 Bone-dust, phosphate of lime . . '209 
 
 Acetate of soda 2*770 
 
 Urate of ammonia '298 
 
 Urea, with colouring matter . . . 23*640 
 
 Water 967*511 
 
 1,000*000
 
 CHEMICAL AND OTHER MANURES. 365 
 
 Wrong cast, because these make up 1,010 instead of 1,000 ; 
 but we suspect that the contents are right in all the essentials, 
 and that the error is in putting down the deficiency as water, 
 which is probably in the original not stated other than in 
 ^ords — "rest water." It is not, therefore, of any conse- 
 quence as regards the value as a fertilizing matter. 54 
 bushels of soot and 6 lbs. of salt produced larger crops of 
 both the Altringham and Belgian white carrots than 24 tons 
 of stable manure and 24 bushels of bones, though at half the 
 cost. We cannot help wishing that there were some uni- 
 formity in the mode of recording the contents of anything 
 analysed, that we might be better able by comparison to 
 judge the value, and have more confidence in the gentlemen 
 who undertake such tasks. It is greatly to be regretted that 
 persons affording information cannot understand why one 
 man should produce one set of combinations, and another 
 chemist bring out another, when the two articles are the 
 same ; but so it is, and we have seen nothing yet to reconcile 
 us to the discrepancies which we have shown in the various 
 analyses of guano and of cow manure. There is nothing like 
 uniformity of terms, nor anji^hing reconcileable to common 
 people, in the fact of one giving a greater number of parti- 
 culars thon another; and we take leave to remind these 
 gentlemen chemists that notliing tends to advance science so 
 much as uniformity among the teachers and professors, and 
 their published opinions. Different tenns may in some 
 ^instances mean the same thing, but analyses made and pub- 
 lished for general information ought to be all reported in the 
 same language and terms, and the particulars given under the 
 same heads. If professors would but remember that they are 
 writing for the public, and not exclusively for one another, it 
 would be useful to them, and lead them to be intelHgible in 
 their lessons, that the public might learn with facility, and 
 study with profit and advantage. 
 
 CHEMICAL AND OTHER MANURES. 
 
 There are so many ways of applying manure, that the 
 quantity to be given is very problematical. He who sows 
 the manure with the seeds does not use the quantity which 
 is necessary when the whole ground is to be fertilized. 
 Chemical manures, and those which are rapidly soluble, 
 should not be put in much below the surface, because the
 
 3G6 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 rains wash, it down quite low enough. : and if we might ad- 
 vise, we should recommend all manures to be generally instead 
 of partially applied, because you can better calculate the heart 
 in the ground than when the crop is made to clear off all the 
 fertilising qualities in the first season. We dislike all tem- 
 porarj" applications of permanent manures. T\Tien the ground 
 is all aUke, there is some calculation of what it can do, and 
 what it requires ; but when the fertilizer is confined to the 
 ridge which is soAvn, and the other portions of the ground go 
 without, there is no drawing a fair conclusion. We know 
 the doctrine preached is that of putting on only what the 
 crop will take off, and then the ground is alike after the crop is 
 gone. Experience does not justify tliis. Try the experiment ; 
 plant or sow on the drill, and between the diill and see if they 
 grow alike. J^ot a bit of it. Let the gardener apply his manure 
 alike all over the piece, as if he were going to sow broadcast ; 
 he can then always judge what it mil require, or if it will 
 require anything, for the next crop, much better than if he 
 partially dressed just where his plants are to grow. Salts of 
 all kinds and chemical manures should always be mixed with 
 three, four, or five times their weight of sand or light earth, 
 and then laid evenly over the surface. He may then fork it 
 in with the top three or four inches ; and having given it a 
 good soaking with water, it may be prepared at any time for 
 sowing by merely raking the surface, and it is ready for 
 planting without raking. 
 
 All ground ought to be dug well before any of the chemical 
 or easily soluble manures are applied, because it does not 
 answer to put them in so deep as dung is usually put. But 
 the most even way of applying soluble dressings is in water, 
 sufficiently diluted that the soil may be equally wetted three 
 or four inches de°p. 
 
 Among the popular manures of the present day there are 
 many which are efi&cacious or mischievous according to the 
 quantity. Salt, for instance, may be applied at the rate of 
 3 cwt. per acre T\T.th advantage ; but Mr. Johnson sajs it 
 may be given at the rate of 12 cwt. We know that crops 
 have been killed with less, but that says nothing. Alum, by 
 the same authority, must only be given at the rate of 40 lbs. 
 per acre. Bone dust, or calcined bones, a ton and a half as 
 the maximum, half the qj.iantity as a minimum. Carbonate 
 of ammonia 160 lbs. ; carbonate of soda, from 160 to 640 lbs.
 
 CHEMICAL AND OTHER MANURES. 367 
 
 (a wide difference) ; Daniel's Bristol manure, half a ton : 
 graves, half a ton ; gypsum, 40 lbs. ; Hunt's new fertilizer, 
 320 lbs. ; Liverpool animalized manuring powder, 27 cwt. ; 
 muriate of ammonia, a pound to a rod ; muriate of lime, 
 2 lbs. ; nitrate of soda, 1 60 lbs. to the acre ; pearl ash, 
 320 lbs.; phosphate of ammonia, 160 lbs.; rags, 3 cwt. to 
 12 cwt. ; rape cake and rape dust, 6 cwt. ; saltpetre, 160 lbs.; 
 sulphate of ammonia, the most useful of all perhaps in gar- 
 dens, 1 lb. to the square rod ; sulphate of magnesia, 1 lb. ; 
 sulphate of potash, 2 lbs. ; sulphate of soda, 2 lbs. ; super- 
 phosphate of lime, 80 lbs. per acre ; urate of London Manure 
 Company, 320 lbs. 
 
 These are, in general, the quantities published on the 
 authority of the dealers, and adopted by Mr. Johnson in 
 1844 ; but the improved methods of applying them, and the 
 facilities with which the best article can be procured, instead 
 of the spurious, enable the cultivator to save from the quan- 
 tities named, except when the article is distinct and alone, as 
 sulphate of ammonia or sulphate of magnesia. The mixtures 
 sold by individuals and companies must be used according to 
 the dealers' directions, because they alone know the strength. 
 They are interested in telling us the best quantities, because 
 manuring being the most costly part of cultivation, drives 
 men to the best and cheapest market. Poittevin's disinfected 
 manure. Potter's guano. Hunt's guano. Lane's carbon. Lane's 
 humus, Law's patent manure, and some others, can only be 
 appreciated after being used as directed by the vendors. They 
 know the quantity most efficacious, taking price and useful- 
 ness into account. Many of these prepared manures are from 
 night soil, the most valuable of all if properly apphed ; and 
 it is to be regretted that a single shilling sliould be expended 
 in imported manures while millions of pounds' worth of the 
 soil in this country are washed away in rivers, to the detri- 
 ment of the water and the loss of the state. As, however, 
 nine-tenths of the community do not know how to apply it, 
 we will give a hint upon the subject. 
 
 It is easily disinfected with sulphate or muriate of lime ; 
 and if mixed with its bulk of peat earth and dried, it will be 
 fit to transport anywhere, and will be found foui-teen to one 
 stronger than cow-dung.
 
 3^68 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 IMPLEMEN^TS AKD MATERIALS. 
 
 It has been said over and over again tliat a good workman 
 can do Ms work better with a few ordinary tools and imple- 
 ments, than some who fancy themselves gardeners can with 
 all the fashionable instruments. If a gardener could not do 
 without all that Loudon recommends in his Encyclopaedia, he 
 must absolutely be a man of some capital even to buy his 
 tools, and require a cart to carry them about. Ko less than 
 eighty-eight implements are described and figured, and others 
 described only. If the gardener goes into a tool shop, he 
 may take his choice of fifty different varieties of hoe, but he 
 would not want more than three or four, and the next that 
 goes in may choose them all different. It would be useless, 
 therefore, to mention more than three or four. Again, with 
 respect to spades and forks, a man might desire a broad spade 
 for digging, and a smaller one for planting ; and forks would 
 offer him a choice of three, four, or five prongs, but he would 
 only want one fork. We propose to give a list of the tools 
 a man Avould require, and also to add in this chapter the 
 machines and implements, such as barrows, engines, mowing 
 machines, &c. We shall first mention the ordinary tools that 
 every gardener must have. 
 
 1. The Spade. — We recommend two, one as large as the 
 man can handle well with ease to himself for hard digging, 
 and a narrower tool for planting. 
 
 2. The Eork.— Of late years it has been found that digging 
 in many cases can be done easier and better with a five- 
 pronged fork than by a spade, and, moreover, that it tears 
 the ground to pieces better. These forks are made of well- 
 tempered steel by Dray, of Swan Lane, Thames Street ; and 
 it is astonishing how much more ground can be gone over in 
 a day, and that too with half the labour that it could be done 
 with the spade first, because the fork is some pounds lighter, 
 and secondly, because it is easier thrust into the ground. 
 
 3. The Dung-fork, used for turning over dung, making 
 hot-beds, &c. 
 
 4. The Dibber. — This is an instrument to make holes 
 mth for planting. It has a handle like a spade, is from 
 twelve to eighteen inches long, and is iron shod, so that it 
 does not cling to the soil, and makes a smooth round hole. 
 
 5. The Trowel. — This is a sort of scoop shape, and is used
 
 IMPLEMENTS AND MATERIALS. 369 
 
 to plant small subjects with, and making holes for bedding 
 out potted plants ; they are of various sizes, but one size is 
 sufficient ; it is also used to take up plants with, so as to save 
 all the fibres. 
 
 6. The Hoe. — Of these there are several sizes ; one sort 
 has the blade fixed across the end of the handle, and is used 
 for chopping up weeds, loosening the earth on the surface, 
 dra^ving the soil up to the stems of plants, drawing drills, 
 thinning out crops ; the -svidest may be six to nine inches, 
 the narrowest may be one and a half to two inches, and one 
 between them. The Dutch or thrust hoe has a sort of horse- 
 shoe form, a blade being fixed across the two points, and the 
 handle fixed to the centre of the bend ; this is used to chop 
 weeds by thrusting it forward, just below the surface ; some 
 have two sizes, one for rough work, where there is plenty of 
 room to move, and the other to use in flower beds and 
 borders. 
 
 7. The Rake. — This, which is only a coarse comb set across 
 the end of a long handle, is used to level and regulate the 
 surface after digging or hoeing, to clear off loose weeds, stones, 
 and rubbish, and to rake in seed after sowing. These also 
 should be of two sizes, one of eight or ten teeth and one 
 of five or six. A large wooden rake is also necessary to clean 
 up the lawn after mowing. 
 
 8. The Edging-knife is in the form of a cheese-knife at the 
 end of a handle like a spade handle. This is to cut the edges 
 of the la^vn when the grass encroaches on the beds or paths. 
 It is also used to cut out clumps upon the lawn. 
 
 9. Turf Cutter, or Turf Iron as it is called, is used to 
 take up turfs for laying do^vn as a lawn, and is only required 
 in places where there is turfing to do. In establishments 
 where there is much lawn it may be required for occasional 
 mending ; some use what is called a turf racer, to cut the turf 
 a proper width, and the turfing iron is then thrust under 
 sideways, and is made to reach from the outer edge to the 
 cut made by the racer. Where there is not a great deal to 
 cut, the edging knife will do it quite as well. 
 
 10. Brooms. — These are required to keep the walks clean^ 
 and sweep the la"v\Ti after mowing and raking. Tiie birch- 
 broom is best adapted for this. Some have a different broom 
 for the inside of the houses. 
 
 11. Garden-knives. — A large and small pruning-lmife and 
 
 A A
 
 370 PRACTICAL GARDEXIXG. 
 
 a budding-knife : these are of various forms and sizes. The 
 asparagus knife is in fact a saw, about four inches long, at 
 the end of an iron shank, wliich is thrust into a wooden 
 handle. 
 
 1 2. The Bill-hook is to use for chopping off limbs of trees 
 and slirubs too heavy for the pruning-knife. 
 
 13. Saws are useful for removing branches that are too 
 large for the bill-hook, and smaller saws are used for pruning 
 and cutting back branches which require to be shortened. 
 
 14. Prunixg-shears. —These are made of various forms 
 and sizes ; but the one called the rose-pruner is the most 
 useful by means of a lever at the joint ; the wood is separated 
 by a complete draw cut. Some are made of a much larger size, 
 and with long wooden handles to reach a considerable height 
 and remove tolerably large branches. 
 
 15. Edging-shears are used for cHpping the edges of 
 grass after mowing, and hedge or ordinary garden-shears are 
 used to trim box edging, clip shrubs and hedges. 
 
 16. Scythes for mowing are of several kinds, but all drop 
 now into two principal ones in general use : Boyd's Patent 
 Vulcan Scythe, which is plain and sharp, and the blade so 
 hilted that an old one is removed and a new one fixed in less 
 time than it takes us to write it ; the other is Boyd's Self- 
 adjusting Scythe, which can be set at any angle, and changed 
 from long to short grass, and adapted for tall or short mowers 
 by only turning a screw or two. 
 
 17. A Mowing IMachine is of great service where there is 
 much lawn : these implements are much in use in good 
 establishments. Several different patents have been granted, 
 and four have been publicly tried at Chiswick : Dray's, 
 Green's, Shanks' s, and Farrabee's. We have had Dray's in 
 use, and find it answer every purpose, mowing very clean and 
 even. They cost about six pounds — less than any of the 
 others the same size. 
 
 18. Garden Exgixes are made of many sizes and different 
 powers. One of these is very useful to water things over- 
 head after the sun is down, or to water crops. 
 
 19. The Syringe. — Xothincr can be well cultivated under 
 glass without the use of the spinge. 
 
 20. Watering-pots, large, middling, and small : it is well 
 to have an extra length of spout to one of them, to reach 
 some distance. There is a new one called Glenn/s.
 
 IMPLEMENTS AND MATERIALS. 371 
 
 21. The Wheelbarrow, — An implement constantly in use 
 to fetch and carry ; and the Water-barrow, to take a quantity 
 for supplying the water-pots. 
 
 22. Hand-glasses and Bell-glasses, for protection and 
 propagation. 
 
 23. Steps and Ladders, for pruning fruit-trees and getting 
 fruit : these must be according to your wants and of several 
 sizes. 
 
 24. Nails of all sorts, and shreds for nailing fruit-trees and 
 climbers on walls or house fronts. 
 
 25. Garden Eollers, broad ; and, if there be any geo- 
 metrical garden with gravel walks, you must have one narrow, 
 
 26. Bass ]\Iatting is one of the most useful materials in the 
 garden. It is used for all sorts of ties when plants are sup- 
 ported by sticks. Pink and carnation buds are tied up with 
 it. Gardeners use it for blanching lettuce, early cabbage, 
 and endive ; for tying on the grafts of trees and buds of 
 roses and the plum tribe ; for covering the frames and lights 
 of cucumbers and melons ; in short, it is used for shade in 
 summer and warmth in winter. AYlien a mat is wanted to be 
 used for ties, it should be at once unravelled, the finer 
 portions put in one place for light tying, such as hot and 
 greenhouse plants, buds, (fee. ; the coarser sort for heavy 
 tying, such as dahlias, hollyhocks, &c. to their stakes. These 
 bass mats come from Eussia, and are sold at all the 
 nurseries. 
 
 27. Fumigating-bellows. — These are made several differ- 
 ent ways. A Mr. Bro"\\Ti, of the Customs, we believe, patented 
 one which had a circular box, in which a wheel was rapidly 
 turned to create the wind ; and a new one upon a still better 
 
 priuciple has recently been invented by a Mr. which is 
 
 more effective : the old bellows for fumigation is rarely seen. 
 The tobacco in all cases is lighted within an iron case, and 
 the wind goes through it. 
 
 28. Garden Line. — This is essential for all kinds of plant- 
 ing : being stretched tight, you may walk along it and leave 
 the mark on the ground, then stretch it as far off as your 
 rows are to be apart and make a second, and so continue 
 until you have marked all the piece with lines one way ; you 
 may then cross them at proper distances, so that a plant goes 
 in at every place where the lines cross. 
 
 29. Labels for Plants. — Practice has long decided that 
 
 A A 2
 
 372 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 the best label for plants in private collections is zinc, 
 painted, and written on while wet ; we know they are not 
 impaired in twenty years. The next best, for all practical 
 purposes, is wood ; especially for all the nurseries, because, 
 painted, and written on while wet, they will last till the 
 plants are got rid of, and are very inexpensive. 
 
 30. Sieves, of various sizes, to sift compost. 
 
 31. Screens or Shades, generally of calico or canvas, on 
 wooden frames, to use for sheltering plants from wind, or 
 shading them from the sun. 
 
 32. Baskets, of various shapes and sizes, for packing fruit, 
 gathering marketing, &c., as presents ; half-sieves, sieves, 
 bushels, loads, and barges, — technical terms for the different 
 sizes. 
 
 33. Turf-Beater. — A good heavy slab of wood, two feet 
 long and a foot broad, and three inches thick on the middle 
 of the back, which is rounding; a hole is made sloping in 
 the centre of the wood, and of such a slope that it may be 
 lifted up and fall flat every time, by which two feet of the 
 turf is flattened at once. 
 
 34. Lever. — An iron like a crowbar, spread out a little 
 and bent rather rounding, so that the end, which is made 
 like the claw of a hammer, can be put under a heavy weight 
 of any kind, and be lifted up by merely bending the thing 
 down ; but every stick or stake may be called a lever, when 
 used for the long end to give a great purchase : a spade or 
 fork is a lever when you are bending it down to raise a spit 
 of earth. 
 
 HmTS TO AMATEUES. 
 
 Eain-water is the best for watering plants of every descrip- 
 tion, and not a drop should be wasted ; every drain from a 
 house-top ought to be received in tanks or tubs, for pump- 
 water is to a certain extent injurious, and in some places very 
 much so ; nor is it the clearness of the water that bespeaks 
 its purity. IText to raiu, river-water is best, but by no means 
 so good. 
 
 Mildew. — Black sulphur, sulphur vivum, flour of brim- 
 stone ; these are of use in a fine powder, for there is nothing 
 else that we know of to touch the mildew, and that wHL. We 
 have never paid much attention to the kind of sulphur we
 
 HINTS TO AMATEURS. 373 
 
 used, except that it was finely powdered. With this tied up 
 in a muslin bag, sufficiently open, or a pepper or dredging-box 
 is better than either one of the old-fashioned powder-puffs, 
 it is shaken or puffed on the leaves and fruit, some of it is also 
 put on the pipes, if the vine be in the house, which is then to 
 be shut up close for twenty-four hours ; it may then all be 
 syringed off, and if the mildew has not disappeared, do it a 
 second time. Out of doors you cannot shut up the vine, but 
 in other respects do just the same. If the sun happen to be 
 very hot it may be all cured the first time, but it is better to 
 give it a second time. 
 
 Blanching is shutting up a vegetable, or a portion of it, 
 from the daylight, by which it is turned white. It applies to 
 the eartliing of celery, the covering of sea-kale, the tying up 
 of cabbages or lettuces, and also the covering or tying up of 
 endive. It whitens whatever portion is covered, hence the 
 term blanching. Plants grown in the dark would be nearly 
 white, and very weak, altogether unable to sustain their own 
 weight. If plants are too crowded they get pale and weak, for 
 they have not the full light ; without light the green cannot 
 appear in the leaf, nor the colour in the flower, and whatever 
 deprives a plant of the light in a greater or lesser degree affects 
 the strength and colour of it. 
 
 Grafting- Wax is made of bees' -wax and resin in equal 
 parts, and lowered with tallow till it will melt at a tempera- 
 ture that will not damage the trees, but harden on cooling 
 sufficient to stand the ordinary heat of the sun. Some gar- 
 deners paint one side of strips of calico, and bind them round 
 the graft ; often a single tie fixes it in its place. Grafting-clay, 
 or clay kneaded till all the air is squeezed out of it, after mix- 
 ing one-fourth of neats' dung with it, is more frequently used. 
 
 Horticulture may be applied to the cultivation of fruit 
 and vegetables for man; Floriculture, to the culture of 
 flowers and flowering plants ; Arboriculture, to the growing 
 of trees ; and Agriculture, to the whole system of farming. 
 These are, at all events, the common acceptations of the words, 
 and well understood. It would be difficult, perhaps, to find 
 where one leaves off and the other begins, but such is the 
 understood meaning of the words as now applied. Perhaps 
 horticulture is the most popular ; for people who have hardly 
 the capacity to think, yet will have sense enough to appreciate 
 eating. Many a man would leave a hundred other flowers for
 
 374 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 a caulifl-OTver. But floriculture is not to be despised, for a 
 flower-garden pleases nine out of ten, and many will go a long 
 distance for a stroll at Kew or Hampton Court. 
 
 Pruning the Black Currant. — The Black Currant does 
 not like the knife, yet without some little management the 
 bush would be a jumble of weak shoots. It must not have 
 the strong branches cut back, but whatever branches, or 
 rather twigs, grow inwards, must be cut clean away at 
 the base ; strong branches, therefore, should be allowed 
 to grow, except those which grow inwards, and weakly 
 shoots be altogether removed. They must in no case be 
 spurred, as other currant-bushes and gooseberries are. If, 
 however, any branch grows right away from the rest, and 
 appears to run out of bounds, it must be shortened do^wn to a 
 strong eye or shoot, which may take its place as it grows. The 
 Black Currant, therefore, becomes a large dwarf tree, and if 
 kept clean and in good order, and free from the little spindling 
 shoots which would otherwise choke up the head, it bears the 
 better for age, and it is not an uncommon thing to see them 
 six feet across. They, therefore, soon grow into each other, 
 unless planted a considerable distance apart ; eight feet is not 
 too much room, for there will then be space to go round each 
 bush to gather the fruit. AATien the bushes are young, they 
 must be cut back enough to form a good bush, that is to start 
 branches enough to grow out all round, and this must be 
 done while small and before they begin to bear fruit ; the 
 next year remove aU the shoots that do not assist in forming 
 a good round bush. We have nothing to do afterwards but 
 remove weak and useless shoots, or, which is still better, rub 
 off the buds that would produce them, and so throw all the 
 strength of the plant into the useful gro^i:h. AYhen grown on 
 a wall they may be trained fan-fashion, and be allowed to cover 
 every inch of it as far as it grows, but even then nothing 
 must be shortened ; cut weak twigs away altogether, or leave 
 them on, for cutting back only creates a good deal of small 
 wood too weakly to bear. They must be fastened like other 
 wall-fruit trees, and regulated as to the number of branches 
 while quite young. 
 
 Climate. — As our climate is beyond our control, those 
 things which will not bear it must be supplied with an arti- 
 ficial one that will suit them. For this purpose we provide 
 frames and glasses for such as want a little help, — that is to
 
 HINTS TO AMATEURS. 375 
 
 say, subjects that vdW bear anything short of hard frost, — 
 pots and greenhouses for those that will bear none, and 
 stoves and warmed buildings for plants belonging to the 
 tropics and warm countries. In supplying artificial climate, 
 there are several points to be attended to. One is, that in 
 all parts of the world the darkness is colder than light, night 
 colder than day, — even where it is light all night, shade is 
 colder than sun. We think we can hear our readers exclaim, 
 "Well, any fool knows that." Be it so ; but many gardeners, 
 in giving artificial climate, act as if they did not know it, — 
 they make up their fires at night, and reverse the order of 
 nature, their plants are shut up and the house heated more 
 than it has been all day. The more they know what we have 
 told them, namely, that night is colder than the day every- 
 where, the more they are to blame for reversing it when they 
 pretend to imitate the climate of foreign countries. 
 
 EooT Preserving and Storing. — The great points to aim 
 at in the preservation of roots, are coolness and dryness, and 
 not to admit frost. Potatoes, parsnips, carrots, turnips, beet- 
 root, mangel-wurzel, horse-radish, dahlias, asparagus, and 
 tubers and bulbs of all kinds, must be kept from heat, wet, 
 and frost. l^o matter how cool short of frost, no conse- 
 quence how dry if cool. Cellars underground, when dry, are 
 excellent places ; but when there is no proper place, parsnips, 
 carrots, mangel-wurzel, beet-root, and even dahlia tubers, may 
 be pitted in the same way as potatoes, — that is, piled in a bank 
 covered with straw, and six inches of earth over all of it. 
 By choosing a diy shady place, these may be as safe as they 
 would be in a dry cellar. But where there are proper apart- 
 ments, outhouses, and cellars, there is this advantage, — they 
 can be used from day to day, whereas a pit opened daily 
 would soon spoil the remaining stock. Bear in mind, then, 
 that all you have to do is to keep any or all roots and tubers 
 from frost, heat, and damp, and they will be safe. 
 
 Glass is a very important item in a garden establishment. 
 It is all over the place, — occasionally and often gets broken, 
 when nobody did it. We chiefly mention the subject here to 
 recommend that some be had of all the sizes of the panes in 
 use, that when an accident happens it may be immediately 
 repaired. The heat that escapes through a broken pane in 
 the roof can only be appreciated when the house is fumigated 
 with tobacco ; to stand outside and see the smoke issuing
 
 376 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 forth will enable any one to form an idea of the waste of 
 heat. Glass can always be had cut to any shape and size, 
 and in new establishments we always reconmiend as much 
 as possible of the framing and roofing glass to be the 
 same size. 
 
 Flo WEE-POTS. — The flower-pots are the most ancient of all 
 patterns of garden apparatus, unless we go to the tools, which 
 are now much the same as when the oldest book on gardening 
 was printed. Many attempts have been made to introduce 
 new fashions, and some of them were well enough if only 
 half a dozen instead of haK a thousand were wanted : but 
 there is nothing half so good as the old-fashioned pots, wider 
 at the mouth than at the bottom. These are made in sizes 
 called thumbs, which we may call two-inch pots, and sixties, 
 which are three-inch, and these are sold in casts, sixty to 
 the cast ; four-inch pots are forty-eight to the cast ; five-inch 
 are thirty-two to the cast ; six-inch, twenty-four to the cast ; 
 eight-inch, sixteen ; ten-inch, twelve ; and so on ; increasing 
 in size as they diminish in number to the cast, up to twenty- 
 fours. They are all of a price, retailed at about half-a-crown 
 to three shillings per cast : beyond that size, the price is 
 rather arbitrary. The pottery at Phillips's, Weston-super- 
 Mare, is conducted on another principle. His smallest are 
 No. 1, and he goes on with ISTos. 2, 3, 4, up to No. 20, which, 
 we believe, is twenty-two inches in diameter. These pots are 
 the best that can be made, and after years of usage will wash 
 and look Kke new. Even the great distance from the metro- 
 polis does not prevent many from using them in preference 
 to any other. Some of the splendid specimens at Kew are 
 growing in the Weston-super-Mare pots. Some pots have 
 been made with feet to stand in saucers, to keep the bottom 
 drain-hole out of the water that runs through ; for to stand 
 in water is death to many plants. Others have been made 
 with hollow sides, to be filled with water, that the sun may 
 not burn the young fibres next the side. Some are made 
 with gutters all round the top rim, that a glass shade may 
 cover the plant ; and the edge being in this gutter filled with 
 water, and so excludes the air, these are admirably adapted 
 for fern-growing in dwelling-houses ; each being, so far as 
 the plants are concerned, a small Wardian case : they are also 
 adapted for covers ; made of the same material as the pot, 
 they are to exclude the light : with these covers, sea-kail can
 
 HINTS TO AMATEURS. 377 
 
 be forced, because the pot can be removed into a dung-bed, 
 or, for that matter, to a dung-heap : with glass covers, they 
 will do to strike cuttings in : and upon the whole, they are a 
 useful pot. Phillips has recently made us some pots for 
 growing verbenas : the body of the pot is like another, but 
 the upper part, occupying one-third of the whole height, they 
 turn outwards and form a broad dish, giving us a surface 
 twelve or fourteen inches in diameter, on which we can spread 
 and peg do-svn the plant to cover the whole. It has been 
 usual to grow them in large pots, and have a round wire 
 trellis, about two inches above the pot, and so tie the plant 
 down upon it to cover it. These pots will, doubtless, become 
 popular for that purpose ; they are light, compared with a 
 fourteen-inch pot, and yet possess all the advantages of one 
 that size ; and we must admit that the appearance is greatly 
 before a platform of wire- work. Many pots are made orna- 
 mental ; to describe these would be an endless task : they 
 should be used to set other pots in, that they may be 
 changed as often as the owner pleases ; not to grow them in 
 on any consideration. 
 
 Seed-pans. — These, in the usual way, are only half or a 
 third the height of a pot; for, as they are only used for a 
 short time, half the depth of soil is sufficient ; but recently, 
 Mr. Ball, of the Pottery at Deptford, Sunderland, has intro- 
 duced square pans, so that there is not an inch of room wasted, 
 and this is of immense advantage. We have a few dozen in 
 use, and the saving of room is very great. A crate of these 
 is about eight dozen, and the carriage about ten shillings 
 within three or four miles of London. The pots from Dept- 
 ford are very superior, probably in consequence of the quality 
 of the clay. 
 
 Ivy and other Underwood. — Ivy may be considered a 
 very curious kind of underwood, seeing that it is a most 
 vigorous climber, but it is also one of the best possible carpets 
 for the ground under large trees. We recommended it years 
 ago, but saw its failure more complete than any other failure 
 that we ever witnessed, and that entirely through the worst 
 mismanagement All gardeners should know, that close to 
 the stump of a tree there can be no nourishment for anything, 
 yet a score vigorous plants were placed as near the stem of a 
 large tree as depth of soil to hide the roots could be got, and 
 then were trailed along the ground, but in some years had
 
 378 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 made no progress worth mentioning. The only way to make 
 ivy a good carpet is to plant it outside, instead of inside, and 
 train it along the ground in^vards towards the stiunp. Say 
 a cedar has neither grass nor any other vegetation under it 
 for a circumference of thirty feet distance, or one hundred and 
 eighty feet. Thirty plants of ivy would reach all round at 
 six feet apart, hut as the sooner the ground is covered the 
 better, use sixty plants three feet apart, and let these plants 
 be well grown, with six feet of gTOwth already. Plant the 
 Ivy all round at these distances, and peg the branches inwards 
 towards the tree, but spreading them wide enough apart to 
 cover the ground as well as you can so far as they go. These 
 plants derive their nourishment from a part of the ground 
 where the rain and air reach them partially, and where the 
 influence of the roots of the tree does not reach them. Their 
 growth is rapid, and is to be constantly directed inwards, and 
 will reach, in an incredibly short time, the stump of the tree 
 itself, the ground being closely covered with Ivy, as if it were 
 a mat of it. IS'othing is so sure as its growth, for no matter 
 how barren the ground under the tree, it will progress so that 
 the roots are but well provided for. 
 
 It has another good effect ; it kills all sorts of weeds and 
 other vegetation wherever it assumes the lead, and when 
 thoroughly established, begins to grow upwards, that is, 
 assumes a shrubby habit at the joints. It has this great 
 advantage over other underwood, it derives its chief nourish- 
 ment far from the barren place which it covers, and other 
 underwood has to live on the place it has to cover. The 
 Berberis Aquifoliiun and varieties wiU live almost on nothing, 
 and under the most impenetrable shade. The St. John's 
 Wort, common Laurel, and some other subjects, will exist in 
 bad soil, but the Ivy grows vigorously and healthily even if 
 the ground it has to pass along and cover were solid stone. 
 It is worth anybody's while to try the experunent in any 
 barren place ; but let the root be at the edge of the starvation 
 space, and so get the nourishment it requires, while its 
 branches will fare as well on a surface of hard gravel as it 
 would on a brick wall ; and we have aU seen Ivy many feet 
 from its ground root, wandering over all sorts of surfaces, 
 from the rough bark of a tree, to the hard smooth surface of 
 a stone wall. There is not a more obedient servant than I^^', 
 but he is a brid master ; he wiU conquer whatever he lays
 
 HINTS TO AMATEURS. 379 
 
 hold of, if it be an oak or a stone wall ; nothing can resist 
 his grasp. The roots will insinuate themselves into cre^dces 
 of stone, and raise a ton weight by the mere operation of 
 swelling ; but nothing was ever more completely under 
 control. It may be directed anywhere, and be made to cling 
 to anything. It may be grown up a stump, to form its own 
 head like a tree, or be made to cover a wall like a curtain, or 
 the earth like a carpet. In short, it is a magnificent ever- 
 green, adapted for a thousand purposes, trainable in any shape, 
 and not half valued, because its worth is not half known. 
 Ilfothing was ever more true than the line of the song, — 
 
 " A rare old plant is the Ivy green." 
 
 Pruning the Dahlia. — A little practice is worth a good 
 deal of theory ; and while we leave to others the details as to 
 tlie probable why and wherefore, we shall simply give a few 
 hints as to the mode we have successfully adopted in the 
 pruning and training of the Dahlia. We believe the practice 
 of many, who cut their plants into mere skeletons, with a 
 notion that the less the root has to do the larger the flowers 
 come, is subsiding a good deal ; we have always reprobated 
 it. We have always felt confident that the flowers derive 
 great nourishment from the leaves as well as from the roots, 
 and have always acted on that supposition. We have in- 
 variably abstained from cutting off a single branch, unless 
 two were in each other's way, in which case we removed 
 the weakest, or it was coming too weak to bear a strong 
 bloom, in which case it would do no good. It may be taken 
 safely enough as a proved fact, that the less flowers there are 
 permitted to perfect themselves on a branch the stronger the 
 flowers will come, and the more there are the weaker they 
 come, consequently there could be no mistake in thinning 
 the buds ; but the Dahlia is monstrously uncertain, and if 
 we reduced the buds as soon as they appeared we might 
 remove those that would come perfect and leave those that 
 would not. 
 
 It is necessary, therefore, to allow the buds to advance far 
 enough to promise a perfect bloom before we select those we 
 mean to leave, and having made up our minds which afford 
 the best chance of perfection, we may remove all those in the 
 immediate neighbourhood. The benefit of this will be easily 
 seen in the increased size and perfection of those left on the
 
 380 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
 
 plant. And it is equally important tliat the instant we find 
 a bloom is coming bad or unfit to show, or the instant it be 
 gone by its perfect state, it should be taken ofi", because it is 
 weakening the powers of the plant as long as it remains on. 
 The first side shoots from the main stem will all yield large 
 showable flowers, and therefore stakes should be driven to 
 fasten them to as they grow, and they should be fastened so 
 as not to be in each other's way. But when these side shoots 
 throw out their lateral branches they would be too numerous 
 for all to remain on the plant, and therefore such of them as 
 come weakly or can be spared without detriment to the plant, 
 should be taken away while young, and so should all those 
 that sprout out again near the place they are taken from. As 
 a general rule, besides all these, there is one that should be 
 observed Avhenever a flower is coming fine ; it is, to take off 
 the end of the branch it is on, to prevent any growth beyond 
 it, for that would weaken the flower a good deal. Besides 
 this mode of treatment being good for the flowers coming on, 
 it strengthens the plant for succeedLag blooms. The only 
 difference to make in case of the plant being wanted for a 
 garden ornament, is to leave on more flower buds, but let them 
 be all placed at equal distances. 
 
 Dahlias Grown Dwarf. — The Dahlia varies so much in 
 its habit, that w^hat would do well for one sort would be im- 
 practicable vnth another. The Dahlia, to be kept dwarf, should 
 be selected of a short-jointed habit, with short footstalks to 
 the flowers. Take the plant young, plant it at one end of the 
 bed it is to fill, or, if a large bed, plant the proper number of 
 dahlias at one end, or one side, and always in the lowest 
 part, if there be any difference ; lay it into the ground sloping, 
 and cover the root well ; then peg the stem to the ground : 
 if there be any side-shoots already, peg them right and left of 
 the centre or main stem, and as straight out as they can be 
 forced without breaking. As the plants proceed, continue to 
 peg down, and in this way cover the bed. You will find no 
 difficulty in doing this with a Httle gentle coercion, using at 
 first pegs that will hold them a little down, and by increasing 
 the force. Cut away all that are too stubborn and cannot be 
 laid down. When the Dahlia is well laid, the bloom does not 
 come half the height that the plant would have grown if un- 
 constrained, and this kind of treatment is capital on slopes or 
 banks that wajit covering in the most effective manner
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Artesian wells, 301. 
 Aquariums, 303. . 
 Arbours, 306. 
 American gardens, 103, 
 Air and ventilation, 168. 
 Acclimating, 265. 
 Annuals, 321. 
 
 Application of dressings, 28. 
 Analysis of guano, 357. 
 
 Ditto, manures, 359. 
 Amateur gardeners, hints to, 372. 
 Animal manures, 21. 
 
 Beauty in scenery, 312. 
 
 liitto, plants and flowers, 329. 
 Bark tanners, 83. 
 Bridges, 309. 
 Bog earth, 29. 
 Brick pits, 130. 
 Brick walls, 64. 
 Boundary walls, 317. 
 Bones, 21. 
 Buds or eyes to propagate from, 
 
 253. 
 Budding, 238. 
 Bulbs, 325. 
 
 Ditto, potting, 165. 
 
 Ditto, hardy,^326. 
 
 Ditto, stove, 326. 
 
 Ditto, greenhouse, 327- 
 Biennials, 323. 
 Birds, to destroy, 219. 
 Blanching, 373. 
 Black currants, pruning of, 374. 
 
 Cropping, 42. 
 Clay soils, 154. 
 Cleft, grafting, 236. 
 Compartments, theirmanagement, 
 35. 
 
 Currants, pruning of, 201. 
 Cuttings, 243. 
 Clumps, 85. 
 Conservatory, 120. 
 
 Ditto, without heat, 123. 
 
 Ditto, form of, 124. 
 Cucumbers, 134. 
 Climbing plants, 327. 
 Chemical manures, 365. 
 Climate, 374. 
 Currants, Black, pruning of, 374. 
 
 Digging, 15. 
 
 Dunging and dressing, 18. 
 
 Dung, ncats' and sheep's, 20. 
 
 Ditto, horse or stable, 20. 
 
 Ditto, pigs', 21. 
 Droppings of animals, 21. 
 Ditches, scrapings of, 27. 
 Dressings, application of, 28. 
 
 Ditto, for cottagers, 31. 
 
 Ditto, for market gardeners, 
 31. 
 Drilling, 39. 
 Draining in general, 53. 
 
 Ditto, where there is no out- 
 let, 54. 
 
 Ditto, neglect of, 56. 
 
 Ditto, errors in, 57- 
 Drain tiles, 59. 
 
 Draining, furrow and surface, 60. 
 Ditching and hedging, 65. 
 Destruction of vermin, 208. 
 Drainage of potted plants, 157. 
 Dwarf trees, pruning of, 196. 
 Design, 314. 
 
 Ditto, principles of, 315. 
 
 Experiments in dressing ground, 
 32.
 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Evergreens desirable in pleasure 
 
 grounds, 87. 
 Edgings, 90. 
 
 Eyes or buds, propagation by, 253. 
 Entrances, 310. 
 Espalliers and wall trees, 185. 
 Evergreens, management of, 338. 
 
 Fountains, 299. 
 
 Formal gardening, 314. 
 
 Fruit borders, 72. 
 
 Florists' gardens, 318. 
 
 Florists' flowers, 320. 
 
 Fencing, walling, and hedging, 61. 
 
 Fruit selecting, 76. 
 
 Fruit room, 77. 
 
 Fruit trees, choice of, 70, 72. 
 
 Forcing ground, 78. 
 
 Ditto, pits, 79. 
 
 Ditto, vegetables, 82. 
 
 Ditto, flowers and plants, 170. 
 Form of conservatory, 124. 
 Figs, pruning of, 193. 
 Flower gardens, 91. 
 
 Ditto, geometrical, 92. 
 
 Ditto, formation of, 95. 
 Flower beds, furnishing, 93. 
 
 Ditto, on lawns, 98. 
 
 Ditto, winter furnishing of, 
 104. 
 Flowers for pot culture, for bed- 
 ding out, 108. 
 Flower borders. 111. 
 Flower-pots, 375. 
 
 Flower and kitchen garden com- 
 pared, 46. 
 Furrow and surface draining, 60. 
 
 Ground, its treatment, 13. 
 
 Ditto, experiments in dress- 
 ing, 32. 
 Ditto, preparing for orchards, 
 
 71. 
 Ditto, poor, to improve, 74. 
 Ditto, forcing, 78. 
 Grounds, pleasure, formation of, 
 
 8'±. 
 Gardening, Practical, 13. 
 Ditto, Kitchen, 38. 
 Ditto, flower and kitchen, 
 
 compared, 46. 
 Ditto, landscape, 271. 
 
 Garden, laying out a, 34. 
 
 Ditto, flower, 91. 
 
 Ditto, geometrical, 92. 
 
 Ditto, formation of, 95. 
 
 Ditto, furnishing beds for, 93. 
 Gardens, American, 103. 
 
 Ditto, nursery, 103. 
 
 Ditto, florists', 318. 
 Gooseberries, pruning, 201. 
 Grafting, 230. 
 
 Ditto, root, 235. 
 
 Ditto, clift, 236. 
 
 Ditto, stocks for, 238. 
 
 Ditto, wax, 373. 
 Greenhouse, the, 117. 
 
 Ditto, plants, 181. 
 Gardens, villa, management of, 
 
 343 
 Gardens under glass, 359. 
 Growing plants in pots, 156. 
 
 Ditto, for home decoration 
 and for exhibition, 175. 
 General gardening diff^erent from 
 
 landscape, 37. 
 Gates, 315. 
 Guano, a chapter on, 342. 
 
 Ditto, analysis of, 357. 
 Glass, 375. 
 Guano, 22. 
 
 Hoeing, 16. 
 Hedging, &c. 61, 65. 
 Hedges, quickset, 66. 
 
 Ditto, yew, 66. 
 
 Ditto, privet, 67. 
 
 Ditto, hornbeam, &c. 67. 
 
 Ditto, management of, 68. 
 Heating, 78. 
 
 Ditto, conservatories, 122. 
 Hot-beds, uses of, 126. 
 
 Ditto, formation of, 127. 
 Hybridizing, 255. 
 
 Ditto, directions for, 255. 
 Horse and stable dung, 20. 
 Hornbeam hedge, 67. 
 Hills and mounds, 285. 
 Hardy shrubs and evergreens, 
 
 management of, 343. 
 Hints to amateurs, 372. 
 Horticulture, 373. 
 
 Inarching, 233.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 383 
 
 Introduction, 5. 
 
 Implements and materials for gar- 
 dening, 368. 
 
 Kitchen gardening, 38. 
 Kitchen and flower gardening com- 
 pared, 46. 
 
 Liquid manure, 25. 
 
 Laying out a garden, 34. 
 
 Layering, 222. 
 
 Landscape gardening, 271. 
 Ditto, first steps in, 276. 
 
 Low grounds and valleys, 289. 
 
 Lakes, formation of, 298. 
 
 Lawns, making and management 
 of, 151. 
 
 Landscape gardening, general ob- 
 servations on, 311. 
 
 Manures, 19. 
 
 Ditto, chemical, 365. 
 
 Ditto, liquid, 25. 
 Marl, 24. 
 
 ^Mould, vegetable, 19. 
 Mulching. 33. 
 Manure-tanks, 26. 
 Muck-heap, 27. 
 Mushroom-beds, 137. 
 Mowing machines, 153. 
 Mounds and hills, 285. 
 Mildew, 372. 
 Mice, destruction of, 220. 
 
 Night-soil, 21. 
 
 Neats' and sheep's dung, 20. 
 
 Nursery gardens, 103. 
 
 Ornamental water, 287. 
 Orchard, laying out and manage- 
 ment of, 70. 
 
 Ditto, choice of trees for and 
 planting, 71. 
 
 Practical gardening, 13. 
 Pigs' dung, 21. 
 Peat or bog earth, 29. 
 Pasture, top spit of, 30. 
 Pricking out, 42. 
 Planting, 48. 
 
 Ditto, proper season for, 49. 
 
 Ditto, in bad soil, 62. 
 Privet hedge, 67. 
 
 Planting fruit-trees, 73. 
 Poor ground preparing, 74. 
 Paths, 85. 
 
 Pot growing system, 97. 
 Pot culture to furnish beds, 108. 
 Pits, brick, 130. 
 
 Plants, protection of in open 
 ground, 141. 
 
 Ditto, ditto, in pots, 146. 
 Ditto, groAving in pots, 156. 
 Potting soil and composts for, 158. 
 Plants in pots, watering, 160. 
 Plants, room required for, 162. 
 Potting plants, 163. 
 
 Ditto bulbs, 165. 
 Pots, shifting, 166. 
 Potted plants, general manage- 
 ment of, 167. 
 
 Ditto, air and ventilation for, 
 168. 
 Plants and flowers, forcing, 170. 
 Plants for rooms, 327. 
 Plants, growing, for home decora- 
 tion and for exhibition, 175. 
 Ditto, stove, 180. 
 Ditto, greenhouse, 181. 
 Pruning and training in general, 
 185. 
 
 Ditto, figs, 193. 
 Ditto, standard trees, 195. 
 Ditto, dwarf trees, 196. 
 Ditto, standard roses, climbers, 
 
 and bushes, 196. 
 Ditto, currants and goose- 
 berries, 201. 
 Ditto, the vine, 203. 
 Ditto, root, 207. 
 Propagation, 221. 
 
 Ditto, layering, 222. 
 Ditto, suckers, 230, 
 Ditto, grafting, 230. 
 Ditto, inarching, 233. 
 Ditto, root grafting, 235. 
 Ditto, cleft grafting, 236. 
 Ditto, budding, 238. 
 Ditto, cuttings, 243. 
 Ditto, eyes or buds, 253. 
 Perennials, hardy, 323. 
 Ditto, stove, 323. 
 Ditto, greenhouse, 323. 
 Pruning black currants, 374. 
 Pleasure grounds, formation of, 84.
 
 384 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Quickset hedges, 66. 
 
 Eoads and paths, 278. 
 Rolling, 281. 
 Ruins, temples, &c., 285, 
 Rockwork, 291. 
 
 Ditto, to plant, 295. 
 Ruins to plant, 295. 
 Ridging, 18. 
 Rakina-, 17. 
 Road-sand, 27. 
 
 Room required for a plant, 162. 
 Ringing and root pruning, 207. 
 Rosaries, 101. 
 Root grafting, 235. 
 Room plants, 327. 
 Rain n'ater, 372. 
 Root preserving and storing, 375. 
 
 Soot, 21. 
 Soap-ash, 22. 
 Salt, 24. 
 
 Sewage of towns, 24. 
 Sowing, 38. 
 
 Sowing flower-seeds, 46. 
 Ditto, tree-seeds, 47. 
 Seeds, choice of, 48. 
 Shrubs, choice of and planting, 89. 
 Soils, different treatment of, 154. 
 Soil clay, 154. 
 
 Soil and composts for potting, 158. 
 Shifting pots, 166. 
 Stove plants, 180. 
 Show flowers, 183. 
 Standard trees, pruning of, 195. 
 Standard roses, pruning of, 196. 
 Suckers, propagated by, 230. 
 Stocks for grafting, 238. 
 Summer-houses, 307. 
 
 Seedlings and seed saving, 329. 
 Specimen plants, 332. 
 
 Trenching, 14. 
 Thinning crops, 43. 
 Transplanting, 44. 
 Treatment of seeds, 47. 
 Tanner.s' bark, 83. 
 TeiTaces, 101. 
 Treatment of soils, 154. 
 Training and pruning, 185. 
 Tanks, manure, 26. 
 Temples, ruins, &c., 285. 
 Tree-seeds, sowing of, 47. 
 Trees and shrubs, planting, 282. 
 Turves to form compost, 30. 
 
 Waste of fertilizing material, 32. 
 Wood fences, 61. 
 Watering plants in pots, 160. 
 Wallfruit-trees, 185. 
 Water, ornamental, 287. 
 Water, its appropriation or adop- 
 tion, 296. 
 Waterfalls, 297. 
 Wells, Artesian, 301. 
 Worms, 152. 
 
 Winter furnishing flower beds, 93. 
 Walls, 64. 
 
 Vegetables, forcing of, 82. 
 Ventilation and air, 168. 
 Vine pruning, &c.. 203. 
 Vegetable mould, 19. 
 Valleys and low grounds, 289. 
 Villa gardens, management of, 343. 
 Vermin, destruction of, 208. 
 
 Tew hedges, 66. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON: K. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILl.
 
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