it up into ridges. In the spring trench it two spades deep, turning in a little rich manure of any kind with the bottom spit only.

GOLDEN CHAIN GERANIUM (C. E.).-We do not know whether you can obtain this variety of the florists. Its leaves have a beautiful broad edging of yellow; its flowers are scarlet and small; it requires a very poor soil; one part sand, one part peat, and one part of very small pieces of soft brick, suit it best.

SOWING GRASS (Rev. H. S.).-If the winter proves unusually mild, grass sown on a lawn even now, as recommended by Mr. Beaton at page 107, might be the best practice; and the loss of the seed, even if it failed, would not be much. But on newly enclosed and broken up ground, such as your old gooseberry plantation, we recommend you to defer sowing your grass-seed until February. Read again what Mr. Beaton says.

ROSES (A. T. B.)—We would not advise cutting back to the bud, now, the roses budded last summer, and for this reason, that if mild weather ensued, the buds might be started into growth; and then, if a severe frost came, the labour of budding might be lost. We should prefer cutting back when the sap was fairly in motion in the spring. Those intended for pillars and walls treat in a similar manner. Dwarfs and standards prune either close or rather long afterwards, just as you prefer few but fine flowers, or large masses, though not individually large. Climbers for pillars, &c., should be managed differently; the older shoots should be cut out, and the new ones left for nearly their whole length: and, if the wood is well ripened, you will thus obtain a bunch of flowers from every bud.

MULCHING WALL-TREES (Ibid).-Do this now with good rotten manure, if your trees require strength; defer it until the commencement of summer if you merely wish to exclude the drought. Use then a little light litter, if your trees are strong enough; do the same now if your roots are near the surface, and you do not wish frost to reach them.

TYRO's question will be taken into consideration before long. ELTON PINE STRAWBERRY (Delta).-You cannot succeed in cultivating this strawberry. "The plants die off just when the fruit is beginning to ripen; the leaves droop as if wanting rain, and in four-and-twenty hours the plant is dead, and turned perfectly brown. For five successive years this has been the case, the first instances always occurring about the time the fruit is beginning to ripen; and the plants continue to drop off in this way till the end of September or so. Young plants (this year's runners) and old ones seem alike affected. I fancy I have observed this discase, if I may so term it, to attack the plants in the worst form, on a hot sunny day after rain has fallen; but it continues through the summer, and in all weathers. It cannot be for want of moisture, for the plants die in wet weather as much almost as in dry. I have lost above half my plants this year, and for the last four years. I have examined scores of roots when first attacked, and can find no wire-worm or other insect likely to be the cause of injury. Two years since I removed the plants, or rather made a fresh bed, in another part of the garden, but they dropped off worse than ever. The locality is near a large sheet of water, and quite in a valley, liable to cold fogs, the soil cold and wet. In precisely the same locality, and adjoining the bed of Elton pines, the following succeed admirably-British Queen, Deptford pine, Prince Albert, Eliza, and Myatt's pine. The most remarkable thing is, I have never lost a single plant of any of these varieties from this complaint. I can only imagine that the climate will not suit the Eltons. Those plants of the Elton which escape, fruit as beautifully as can be wished. This is, in my opinion, the most remarkable part of the case, and makes me imagine it cannot be an insect that does the mischief; for if it were, why are not other sorts attacked in like manner?"-Are you assured that your Eltons are not devoured by a grub? We many years ago suffered much in this way, and our strawberries would die off at the precise period you name. There are two distinct grubs which attack the strawberry, eating the stem through just below the surface. The one is the wellknown cockchafer grub; the other is a brown, tough, and leatherylooking creature. If not the grub, it is possible that your "cold and wet soil," together with your very damp atmosphere, may induce a disease in the stem known among gardeners as "shanking." We would clear away the soil round the stems, and drop some charred materials round them. It is plain the soil is not bad, for those which remain succeed well, as also other kinds. It is a puzzling case. would thoroughly drain the garden.

We

PLANTING WALL FRUIT-TREES (Stupid).-You should have stated the character of your turf (of a lighter character than your soil, we hope). Your course seems judicious, but, unless your turf is very rich in fibre, some vegetable matter, or coarse manure, should have been mixed with it. We would rather dispense with the stones placed on the top: there is, at least, no occasion for them. Pinch your gross shoots in summer by all means. An explanation of the effects of pinching will be found in our back numbers.

OLD BARREN PEAR-TREES (R. H.).-If your pears are worth saving, commence tying or nailing down a regular series of young shoots, clothing the old stems with them, and removing totally all the most barren-looking old spurs, or portions of them, as may be deemed necessary. Make use of all that appear short-jointed in this way, and cut the others clean away, not even leaving the base for spurs. If your trees, however, are worn out, our advice is, plant fresh ones according to our advice about "Stations." Prune your apricots back to about one foot in the beginning of February.

BULBOCODIUM VERNUM (A Country Vicar).-It is soon for your specimens of this pretty little hardy spring bulb to be shooting at the end of November, but the fine weather in October and November will account for it. It is not over-particular as to soil, provided it is light -sandy peat or very light loam will suit it-and it grows as freely as a crocus; and, like the crocus and all our winter-growing hardy bulbs, requires very little water.

CAPE JASMINE (A Suffolk Clergyman's Wife).-This may go for years without any. pruning, but will not flower well without a little

forcing in the spring, and not at all unless it is grown in peat, and kept clean from insects.

IXIA SEEDS (P. G.).—We cannot say how long these will retain their vitality, but we have grown them from seeds three years old. The samples of peat you enclosed will do both for heaths and ixias. PLANTS FOR S.W. ANGLE OF WALL (J. T. L.). We have known a ripe plant of Habrothamnus fasciculatus endure 7° of frost without protection, and we have no doubt but it might be grown as a halfhardy plant against a wall, with plenty of winter covering, but a south aspect is not good to flower it on, as the sun is too much for the flowers; plant it on the west aspect of the angle, and the large blue Clematis will do on the south part.

WEIGELA ROSEA (Ibid). This will easily transplant, any mild day from October to March-the sooner the better.

YELLOW BANKSIAN ROSE (Ibid).-This will not do as a pillarrose in the open ground, unless the situation is very favourable, in the southern counties.

SHRUBS FOR NORTH BORDER (Carrig Cathol). - Your north border would make a capital bed for a good selection of rhododendrons, which would require less peat there than in a more open place. The common laurels we would endeavour to get rid of by degrees, and substitute such hardy climbing roses as are nearly evergreen; they would take up no room from the border, would soon cover the wall, and their roots would run under the rhododendron bed, and the whole would make a rich group from the windows. The following roses will best suit you :-Princesse Louise, Princesse Marie, Felicite Perpetuelle, Myrianthes, and Rampant. Half a dozen of the Gloire de Rosamene rose planted between these, to keep the bottom full, would flower all the autumn and look most splendid, although nearly a single rose. We hope Mr. Beaton will not lose sight of this brilliant flower-garden plant.

DORKING FOWLS.-Parties requiring these may apply to Mr. H. W. Harris, not a dealer, residing at 14, Florence Road, New Cross Road, London.

RYLOTT'S FLOWER-BALL POTATO (R. P., Montgomery).-Write to Mr. Turner, Neepsend, Sheffield.

WEEPING WILLOWS (T. M. W.)-There will be no difficulty in removing this. You may remove it at once, without any precaution for preventing its deep rooting.

WATERING BULBS IN MOSS (A Hampshire Curate).-Keep the moss not merely damp but wet, by giving water to it every day, growing, as they do, in a room where there is a fire constantly. Sphagnum from a wet peat soil will do for this purpose as well as moss from woods, but it will require less water. It is essential to have a hole at the bottom of the pot in which you cultivate your bulbs

in moss.

CLIMBING ROSES (C. Jacomb). — Unfortunately there are no such plants as you want-perpetual flowering climbing roses. Noisettes are the nearest to what you require, but they are too much alike to suit you in contrasted groups. Let us know where you intend to plant them, and the space each will have to cover, and we shall make the best selection we can for you with pleasure.

CAMELLIA PROPAGATING (Constant Render). To propagate from your large Camellias, you must buy small single ones, or stocks, to graft or inarch them on next season. The process, and proper time to perform it, may be seen by refering to our index.

ARAUCARIA CUNNINGHAMII (Ibid)—The two araucarias in pots will not stand the winter in the open garden. A strong plant of the A. Cunninghamii, planted out in the spring in light soil, and protected for two or three winters, would stand an ordinary winter; but the soil about Willesden, in Middlesex, is altogether too heavy for them.

ARBOR VITE TURNED BROWN (Subscriber).-Thousands of shrubs and trees planted last spring look as poorly as your arbor vitæ, owing to the very cold weather up to near midsummer, which was succeeded by six weeks of tropical heat and excessive dryness in the air. If it is still green, or if half the green parts remain, it will recover, and do well in another season or two. Did you mulch it thickly, and give it water twice a week during the dry weather?

BEES (T. Marcer).-Last May you opened a hole, half an inch wide, in the top of a common hive, and put over it a new hive, with an entrance cut in it, and stopped up the entrance in the old hive! No wonder that this made a commotion among the bees, and that they swarmed. You fumigated them, and in August put the bees of the old stock into one of Mr. Payne's hives; and no wonder that they soon were flying about in all directions, that many perished, and that now they are found not to have collected much honey. You had better purchase another colony of bees, and manage them as Mr. Payne has directed in his monthy calendar. You may feed yours as therein directed, but there is very little chance of their surviving the winter with all the pains you can take. The half-inch hole at the top of your hive was not large enough. Bees will always swarm rather than work upward through so small an aperture. It should have been four inches in diameter. Fumigating and cutting up the hive has been its ruin. Read the calendar for May, page 42, vol. 2, of THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Had the aperture in your hive been four inches wide, and had there been no "door" cut in the hive you placed upon it, nor the door of the stock stopped up, your upper hive would soon have been filled with honey, provided it would not hold more than from 10lbs. to 15lbs. of honey.

NAMES OF PLANTS (Lucubratory). Your specimen is Sedum glaucum. (W. Savage.)-We think a Statice, but cannot tell until it blooms.

LONDON: Printed by HARRY WOOLDRIDGE, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand; and Winchester High-street, in the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by WILLIAM SOMERVILLE ORR, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.-December 13th, 1849.

Some of

PURSUING our observations upon FLOWER-POTS, We we will next observe, that gardeners are very far from unanimous in their opinion as to the material of which they are made most beneficially. them, perhaps a majority, go the length of declaring that they are best made of clay, burnt lightly, and consequently very porous; and there can be no doubt that this material has three powerful effects— it drains the soil in the pot rapidly, tends to reduce its temperature, and the burnt clay of its sides is grateful to the young roots, for these, almost universally, delight to attach themselves to, and to ramify over, its surface. Highly glazed, hard-burnt, slate, and painted pots have these effects all more or less diminished; and to avoid one of the disadvantages-draining, or drying, too rapidly-more than one form of pot will be mentioned presently. Many practical men are vociferously in favour of particular forms and materials; and one, in a letter now before us, goes the length of saying, that " no gardener can grow in any other pot a plant so well as it can be grown in one that is more or less porous." Now, this is a very great mistake; for, although one kind of pot may require more attention to the plant grown in it than a specimen grown in a pot made of some other material, yet with that extra care they will flourish equally. For instance, we have seen geraniums grown, almost side by side, in common pots, in slate troughs, in wooden boxes, and in cast-iron vases, and we could see no disparity in their vigour and beauty. Again, we know that Mr. Beaton-one of the best cultivators of these flowers-grows them, and has done so for a long time, in zinc pans. The more porous the material, the more frequent and abundant must be the watering; and the better conductor of heat the material may be-such as iron or zinc-the more attention is necessary to keep the roots from being either over-heated or excessively chilled. So that we verily believe, that almost every material of which a flower-pot can be made has some especial merit and disadvantage; but, at present, we are not in possession of comparative experiments sufficiently comprehensive to enable us to give a decided opinion in favour of any. The following have been employed to avoid various inconveniences attendant upon flower-pots of the usual form :—

To facilitate draining, and yet to retain the tidiness secured by the saucer, Mr. Hunt has had flower-pots made with elevations, on which the pots are placed. But this is not the only advantage derivable from them. They prevent the entry of worms, may be employed with common stands, allow a current of air to pass beneath them, and their form is elegant.

Fig. 1.

Mr. Brown (2) has proposed a pot with hollow sides, the vacuity to be filled with water through a hole in the rim, or left empty, as occasion requires. The water, he considers, will prevent the

Fig. 3.

Saul's Fountain Flower-pot (3) seems open to the same objections, with the additional disadvantages of not being easily drained, and being more expensive and cumbersome. The water is also forced in at the bottom of the pot, contrary to the course of nature in applying moisture to plants. "An outer basin is made on the bottom of the pot, to which the water enters at a, and is carried round the pot in the basin, there being two or three holes through the pot's bottom, b b b. By these means the water is drawn up from the basin by the roots of the plants (!), or, if it should be desirable to prevent it from being drawn up, the exterior orifices of the holes, which open into the basin or saucer, may be closed (!). The fountain is supplied with water by taking out the stopper c, the entrance into the basin at a being at that moment closed; and as soon as the water runs over at c, the cork or stopper is put in, and the stopper at a removed."-Gard. Mag., March, 1843, 136.

Mr. Stephens's flower-pot (4) is intended to supply water to the plant where it is most wanted, and to protect it at the same time from slugs and other creeping insects, which will not pass over the water between the two rims.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

Mr. Rendle, the intelligent proprietor of the Plymouth Nursery, proposed to improve the drainage of pots by elevating and piercing their bottoms. This, and Mr. Brown's, suggested to us that of which Fig. 5 is a section. It is merely two pots, one fitting within another, having its bottom indented and pierced as proposed by Mr. Rendle, but not touching the outer pot by half an inch all round. This is a most effectual form to secure drainage, and to prevent the evaporation from the

sides of the inner pot, the intervening stratum of confined air being a bad conductor of heat. the merit, too, of cheapness.

Another pot (6), adopted by T. C. Palmer, Esq., of Bromley, Kent, has been found by him to have the advantages that it induced worms to pass out, yet prevented their return; was very effectual to keep out ants, slugs, &c., as it stood in a saucer of water without any excess of moisture

It has

Fig. 6.

reaching the soil; and from this quality might be particularly suitable for heaths.

One of the inconveniences attendant upon pot-culture is the hardening of the surface soil by watering. This may be obviated by having the rim of the pot (7) encompassed by a gutter, a, a, communicating to the earth within the pot by numerous perforations, b. Water poured into the gutter would thus gently percolate away into the earth.

The last flower-pot (8) we shall describe is one that is very useful for facilitating the shifting of specimens in large pots. It was patented, we believe, by Mr. G. Fry, gardener at Lee Park, and named by him the "West Kent Garden Pot." The drawing represents a section of it. The pot is without

Fig. 7. b

Fig. 8.

с

a bottom, the orifice b extending across its entire diameter, except a narrow ledge all round, on which rests the false bottom, c, perforated as usual with the drainage hole, d. The principal advantage of this form is that at shifting time, à block of wood of the size of the orifice b being pressed up, it moves the ball of earth bodily, thus disturbing the roots as little as possible.-Johnson's Gardener's Almanac.

We have been favoured with the following from a vicarage near Bridgewater:

"Having seen in the COTTAGE GARDENER that it is recommended to cut down dahlias, as soon as touched by the frost, to within four or five inches of the ground, and then lightly to cover with coal-ashes or turf-dust, I followed the plan; and in a subsequent paper it is said that the roots might be left out in the ground in the winter without injury. I therefore intend to try it for this winter, and mean to cover them up a little more thickly before cold weather, as we often find it difficult to get leisure to put them in at the right time. In the last paper but one I see, among the answers to correspondents, that some one has stated, that their dablias, cut down as you recommended, send out young shoots from the stems, or ask if they will not do so; and you, in reply, state it is not probable that they would shoot out. I therefore thought I would send a line, to let you know that nearly all my dahlias are sending out young shoots from the short stems since they were cut down."

Our correspondent misremembered what we said at p. 57, for we there recommended a part of the stems of the dahlias to be left, and the tubers to remain in the ground to ripen; and one of the reasons for so doing is here exemplified. Had the stems been cut close down last October, the tubers during such mild weather might break into growth; but they never will do so as long as there is a joint or two alive above them.

THE FRUIT-GARDEN.

PLANTING FRUIT TREES ON STATIONS. Many a time have we pointed to the benefits to be derived from planting fruit trees (under a dwarfing system)

on prepared soils, severely limited both in regard of depth and extension. This mode of planting, or rather the benefit accruing from its adoption, was, we believe, first systematised or made public by ourselves, under the title of "Station Planting." We hope it will not be deemed egotistic to lay claim to this much. We shall, however, respectfully give place to any one who can invalidate our claims, and establish one more genuine in its stead. Be this as it may, it is a fitting subject for the present period, and we may at once proceed.

In former days our fruit catalogues were not so overcharged as at the present period, at least in the pear way, the great improvement in which, through our great Flemish breeders, has induced hundreds, nay thousands, of small gardeners or amateurs to indulge in the luxury of a melting winter and spring pear, whose dessert, in former days, scarcely extended beyond the bounds of the apple. As soon as the rage for these desirable pears prevailed, it became manifest, from the contradictory accounts which came to hand, that a variety of aspects would be requisite, and that many of the best of them would deserve and require a station on the wall, at least in our more northern counties. Subsequent practice has proved that a judicious selection of stocks, together with shallow planting, and a perfect control over the amount of root action in every respect, quite alters the character of the pear, as well as of most other fruits; causing the wood to become much more solidified or ripened, and more short-jointed; and this much accomplished, earlier, and more perfectlyripened, fruit must follow as a matter of course. Here, then, we have the means of escape from a dilemma; for, could nothing of the kind be effected, peach culture on our walls must have given way, or otherwise the finer Flemish pears must, in a great degree, have gone out of cultivation.

Now, pruning (winter pruning) could by no means have accomplished these things; herein were gardeners, and even so-called scientific men of former days, completely baffled. Hence, also, arose such a fuss about modes of pruning, some fifteen or twenty years since; when, as before observed, the pressure or demand for situations on walls for our improved pears led many persons to imagine that a spruce system of pruning would, by admitting more sunlight, enable them to grow such fruits as dwarf or trained espaliers. And so it would have done, but they were following a kind of “will-o'-the-wisp." The powerful root action of such trees, uncontrolled, smothered their embryo blossom buds annually, at the very period when the reverse was requisite, and when it became particularly desirable that trees thus circumstanced should have been so established that the ordinary disbudding (always necessary in June), should of itself have guaranteed the necessary conditions of light, &c., until August. Thus, then, stood the case; and this brings us to the elucidation of our text, "Stations."

We have before, in THE COTTAGE GARDENER, alluded to the economic bearing of station-making when a new garden has to be enclosed, and what is termed a collection of fruit trees planted. We have known many cases, within the last thirty years, in which it was deemed necessary, in “making a garden," where "no expense was to be spared," to trench the whole plot over, perhaps some three or four feet deep; and to remove not only ordinary subsoil, but even much of the soil of the locality, although peradventure no particular accusation existed against it. Indeed, in the case of

a rich proprietor taking his first steps in gardening, of course something of an extra character must be carried out-something out of the beaten track. Well, then, some old pasture must be robbed to fill the gap, and thus matters were too often carried out; the proprietor finding, after a few years, that gardening was a very expensive affair, and that success must rather be sought in first principles, and a correct appreciation of them, than in unwarrantable outlays of money. Let us not be understood here as repudiating the use of turfy or rested soils, rich in organic materials: by no means. We merely protest against a profligate waste of such things, especially when tender fruit trees, such as our Flemish pears, are to be made companions of the celery trench, the cauliflower, and other gross-feeding vegetables, which may be considered the swine of the horticulturist.

66

SOILS.-We think it necessary, before detailing "station making," to indulge in a few remarks on the soils, or, as some term them, composts adapted to fruit-tree culture. Almost every possessor of a garden has heard of "loam;" not every one, however, has a distinct idea of what constitutes a loam. In its application to gardening purposes, then, loam means neither more nor less than an admixture of clay with sand. Other matters there may be, and are, but the proportions in which these two main ingredients are combined determines, in gardening matters in general, its aptitude for certain purposes. Hence we hear of "a sandy loam," a clayey loam," "a stiff loam,” "a free loam," &c. It is very lamentable to think that such ill-defined terms have crept into gardening matters in so stealthy a way. Other professions, however, have their technicalities; and as we are all-as our witty political writers say-in a transition state (which state has been some centuries pending), we may as well make the best of it, and grope our way as well as we can. We cannot here advert to all the characters of "loam," as to their bearing on pot plants, pines, melons, &c., and neither is it necessary. Our excellent coadjutors, Messrs. Beaton and Fish, will no doubt show its bearings on the floral kingdom in due time; in the meanwhile let us consider its bearing on fruit-trees. Now, we must candidly confess that, after an experience of some thirty years at the least, we would undertake to cultivate all the fruits at present known, with but three ingredients in the compost. Such should be, a loam of a proper texture (that is to say, exactly intermediate with a stiff loam and a sandy loam), more or less of the ordinary soil of the locality, and some half rotten vegetable manure. In making stations, then, the first thing-after determining the proper site for the tree, or trees-is to excavate the whole of the soil, or subsoil, to a given depth, and of a given area. Six feet square, duly prepared, will suffice for any fruit-tree at present cultivated; that is to say, under a dwarfing system adapted to small gardeners. Indeed, we plant many of our fruit-trees, which we know as not of difficult culture, on stations of little more than four feet square. In this, as in other matters, common sense alone may dictate. If the tree is required to attain some size, or to rise somewhat into the character of a standard, a broader basis must be allowed; if, on the contrary," much within a small space" is the motto, why then limitation must be proportionately severe. Next as to depth like draining affairs, we should be sorry fetter the operator with one depth alone for all soils, and in all situations. We are scarcely dogmatical enough to attempt to lay down "cut and dried" rules on this point. Nevertheless, we may

be permitted to record our practice, carried out principally on a free soil, with a substratum, in the main, of red sand. We make no distinction in this case between wall-trees and pears, &c., under a dwarfing system; not because some trifling difference might not be practised with perhaps a slight advantage, but for the sake of simplification. So much mystery and nicety of operation has hitherto oppressed the fruit question, that we are willing to compound for any amount of non-essentials, in order to make the way plain, and to introduce a system of economy. As we have no bottoin waters, of any signification, to contend with, we are satisfied to have the principal volume of the soil (prepared as a station" for the three) below the ground level. We, therefore, excavate about two feet, and in filling up again we throw about four or five inches of broken bricks or stone in the bottom, supposing it to be tolerably sound and dry; and on that we strew some riddled cinders, from which the portion fit for burning and the mere dust have been rejected. Material of this character being angular, falls into, and wedges, every crevice; besides which, its imperishable character guarantees durability. The next thing we do is to spread a layer of tree leaves-recently fallen, if possible-or, in lieu of this, new straw of any kind, or even heather, or fern if at hand, would answer well. This material decays slowly, and does not become too absorbent suddenly. The fibres descend and mat themselves horizontally through it in all directions, and thus have little inducement to penetrate the cinders and bricks, or stones; and this stratum eventually proves a decoy, and a source of fertilising properties. As for soil, all depends on the native staple. If this is too light and hungry, a little clayey or stiff loam must be obtained. If too adhesive, some free, upland, sandy soil should be sought to blend with it. In all cases, whatever is introduced should contain much organic matter; that is to say, soils containing much vegetable fibre, whether of root or leaf; and thus it is that so many old pastures have been robbed to make borders, as they are termed. If such valuable material cannot be obtained, means should be taken to introduce, in a regular way, leaves, straw, &c., as the filling proceeds. In making our stations, we seldom introduce more than some six or eight barrows of new soil; the amount, however, depends on the richness of the native staple. R. ERRINGTON.

THE FLOWER-GARDEN.

THE ROOTS OF TREES AND SHRUBS.-About thirty or five and thirty years since, the late Sir W. Middleton had two very large old holly trees removed from a distant estate, and had them planted here near the mansion; but, before they had time to recover, the present possessor-my worthy employer-had the grounds about the house much altered, and it so happened, as we often see in other cases, that these large hollies were just planted in the wrong place; but there they were, and they must take their chance; and they did take their chance, sure enough, for their stems were buried nearly four feet, and for the next sixteen years they neither advanced nor looked the worse; and when I first saw them, ten years back, they looked as if they had been removed two or three years before; and when I learned their history I longed for an opportunity of trying an experiment with them, but I had too many irons in the fire then to set about them immediately, and it was the winter of