CARTER ILLITSTRA' "FARME3 CARTER'S COLLECTIONS OF VEGETABLE SEEDS. (Packing and carriage fret To produce a constant supply of the best vegetables all the year round. 6S" All the varieties included in these Collections are of the choicest description, and are -such as h: proved by us to be the best flavoured and most prolific kinds. They were saved on our own Seed Farms. w fore can vouch for their superior excellence of quality. .ION, suitable for a cottage garden ... 12 6 i'OLLI-X'TION, suitable for a small garden 21 0 (63 o 30 0 . :>ecial) CARTER'S SELECTIONS OF FLOWER SEEDS. (Free by post or rail.) : ON A s. d. lo (> 15 0 21 0 COLLECTION D COLLECTION E ..IMVG Collections (which arc subject to variations) may be had on ap; ed CALCEOLARIA, CINERARIA, AND PRIMULA. s, d. s. d. rnational Prize, per packet ... ... ... ... 2 6 Hybrid, small packet 16 2 <; ... packet 16 2 u ;re, and from one of the largest collections in tli< i, saved from a splendid collection of named varieties, small pa <•;. 16 2 PRIMULA, CHOICEST FRINGED VARIETIES. n with the utmost confidence, as they arc sitv rains in cultivation. . small Primula, rose, fringed i G 2 (> „ choicest white, fringed Primula, dark carm i ; 26,, Fern-leaved carmine „ white PRIMULA FIMBRIATA, FERN-LEAVED (New Scarlet). ' p scarlet colour, per packet, 2s. 6d. AHKi -r particulars, s- "Car • Vade Mecum." VK'TKK N CO., THE ROYAL SEEDS! 237 dt 238, HIGH KOX.BORN, LONDON, W.C. THE ROYAL SEEDSMEN. PRIZE MEDAL FARM SEE THE ROYAL SEEDSMEN. CARTER'S PRIZE SWEDE. DEB'S PEIZE MANGEL. • • • •>v,a superior CARTER'S PRIZE TURNIP. 0 9 1 •* CATTLE CABBAGE. • »t price per Cwt. on application. ALL PRIZE MEDAL GRASS SEEDS, , -IPPLIBD TO H.M. the it e Imper;^ aria Exhibiti-: r Permanent Pastur Carefully arranged to suit the various conditions of soils. OR LIG i \ arter's Renovating mixture for Renewing j and Improving Old Grass Lands. - Carter's Grass Seeds at Alder shot Camp. • • - . heat. : . Vbruary lat, CARTER'S ILLUSTRATED FARMERS' CALENDAR. : by all who GRATIS TO PURCHASERS. - JAMES < ARTER & CO., THK ROYAL SI 'I SMEN, 237 &. 238, HIGH HOLEORN, LONDON, W.C. THE HORTICULTURIST THE HORTICULTURIST. THE HORTICULTURIST: OB, THE CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF THE KITCHEN, FRUIT, & FORCING GARDEN, BY J. C. LOUDON, F.L.S., H.S., &c. EDITED AND REVISED BY WILLIAM ROBINSON, AUTHOR OP "ALPINE FLOWERS," "HARDY FLOWERS," "MUSHROOM CULTURE," ETC. ETC. ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS. LONDON : FREDERICK WARNE AND CO. BEDFORD STREET, COVENT GARDEN. NEW YORK : SCRIBNER, WELFOED AND CO. LONDON : 8AV1LL, EDWARDS AND CO., PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET, COVENT GARDEN. PREFACE. AMONG the various standard books of the late Mr. Loudon others are more expensive, elaborately illustrated, and com- prehensive in aim, but none are so worthy of a re-issue as this volume. The excellent original plan has not been deviated from, but a good many sections treating of matters of but slight importance in connexion with practical gardening have been omitted ; such as the " analogy between plants and animals," the " classification of plants with a view to Horticulture," the "nomenclature of plants with reference to Horticulture," &c., &c. The undue prominence, indeed, given to such matters might be considered the only faults in a book before its time in most other respects. A great number of the old illustrations, and a good deal of the more technical portions of the old matter, have also been omitted, and such alterations made in all parts as, it is hoped, bring it down to the present time, and within the reach of a much wider circle of readers. The changes made have mostly been in matters of detail. In consequence of the considerable variation in the practice of the culture of the Grape Vine and Pine Apple since the first appearance of the book, it was considered desirable to entirely re- write these chapters. The book was very rich in illustrations originally, so M372J.03 vi PREFACE. that it required little improvement in this way, but new ones have been added wherever necessary. The article on Pine culture was written by Mr. D. T. Fish, who also furnished valuable assistance in reading a considerable part of the book, and we have to thank Mr. Barnes, late of Bicton, for looking over several chapters in the culinary department. To Mr. Pearson, of the Chilwell Nurseries, we are indebted for some of the cuts illustrating his little book on the Orchard' house. W. R. July, 1871. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGB Soils considered with reference to Horticulture 1 Origin and kind* of soils 1 The improvement of soils 7 CHAPTER II. Manures considered with reference to Horticulture 13 Organic manures 13 Inorganic manures 18 Mixed manures 22 CHAPTER III. The Atmosphere considered with reference to Horticulture .... 25 Heat 26 Atmospheric moisture 33 Circulation of the atmosphere 38 Light 42 CHAPTER IV. Worms, Snails, Slugs, Insects, Reptiles, Birds, &c., considered with reference to Horticulture 46 The Earthworm . ' 46 Snails and Slugs 50 Insects A .... 52 Birds 68 Animals injurious to gardens 70 CHAPTER V. The Diseases and Accidents of Plants 74 viii TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. PAGE Implements of Horticulture 78 Tools used in Horticulture 81 Instruments 90 Utensils 98 Machines ' Ill Miscellaneous articles 115 CHAPTER VII. Structures and edifices of Horticulture 130 Portable, temporary, and moveable structures 130 Fixed structures 137 Walls, espalier-rails, and trelliswork 137 Fixed structures with glass roofs 151 Various accessory garden structures 193 CHAPTER VIII. Operations of Horticulture 196 Labours on the soil 196 Garden labours with plants 202 Operations of Culture 205 Propagation 205 by seed 206 „ by cuttings 214 „ by leaves 228 by layers 233 „ by sucker, slips, offsets, runners, and simple division 239 „ by grafting 241 by budding 265 Transplanting and planting 274 Potting and repotting 294 Pruning 299 Thinning 310 Training 313 Weeding 348 Watering 351 Manuring * 356 Blanching 357 Sheltering 357 Accelerating vegetation 359 Retarding „ 363 Besting „ 364 Operations of gathering, preserving, keeping, and packing . . 368 Selecting and improving plants in culture ....... 371 Operations of order and keeping 376 TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. PA.O1 Operations of Horticultural Design and Taste 379 CHAPTER X. Operations of General Management 379 CHAPTER XI. The Culture of the Kitchen and Fruit Garden 383 Laying out the kitchen-garden 383 Distribution of fruit trees in a kitchen-garden 388 Fruit trees for espaliers and dwarfs 392 Fruit shrubs 400 Selection of fruit trees adapted for an orchard 402 CHAPTER XII. Cropping and General Management of a Kitchen-garden .... 406 Rotation of crops 408 Planting, sowing, cultivating, and managing 413 CHAPTER XIIL • The Forcing Department 416 Culture of the Pine-apple 416 CHAPTER XIV. Culture of the Grape Vine 440 CHAPTER XV. Culture of the Peach, Nectarine, &c., under glass 476 „ Cherry under glass 483 „ Fig under glass 488 „ Plum, Apricot, &c., and other fruit trees and shrubs under glass 492 x TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVI. PAGE Culture of the Melon, Cucumber, &c 492 „ Melon 49-2 „ Cucumber 498 „ Banana 511 „ Strawberry 513 „ Asparagus 516 Sea-kale 517 „ Bhubarb and Chicory 517 Forcing the Potato 518 „ Kidney -beans and Peas 519 „ Salads, Pot-herbs, Sweet-herbs, and other culinary plants 521 the Mushroom ...... 522 CHAPTER XVII. Catalogue of Fruits, with Summary of Culture, &c. HARDY OR ORCHARD FRUITS: — The Apple 526 The Pear 542 The Quince 548 The Medlar 549 The True Service - 549 The Cherry 550 The Plum 554 The Gooseberry 557 » The Currant 562 The Raspberry 563 The Strawberry 566 The Cranberry 570 The Mulberry 571 The Walnut 571 The Sweet Chestnut 572 . The Filbert . 572 The Barberry, Elder-berry, and Cornelian Cherry . . . 573 HALT-HARDY AND WALL FRUITS:— The Grape 574 The Peach and Nectarine 576 The Almond 583 The Apricot 584 The Fig 585 The Pomegranate 586 The Peruvian Cherry 587 TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi TROPICAL OR SUB-TROPICAL FRUITS: — PAQK The Pine-apple 587 The Banana 588 The Melon 588 The Cucumber 589 The Pumpkin and Gourd 589 The Tomato, Egg-plant, and Capsicum 591 The Orange Family 593 The Guava, Loqnat, Granadilla, and other Fruits little known in British Gardens 597 Remarks applicable to Fruit-trees and Fruit-bearing Plants generally 599 CHAPTER XVIII. Catalogue of Culinary Vegetables 602 The Cabbage Tribe 605 The Pea 613 The Bean 618 The Kidney-bean 619 The Potato • 623 The Jerusalem Artichoke 631 The Turnip 631 The Carrot 633 The Parsnip 635 The Red Beet 635 The Skirret, Scorzonera, Salsify, and CEnothera 636 The Hamburgh Parsley 6£7 The Radish 637 Oxalis Deppei, O. crenata, and Tropaeolum tuberosum . . . 639 The Common Spinach 640 The Orache or French Spinach 641 New Zealand Spinach 641 Perennial Spinach 642 Spinach Beet and Chard Beet 642 Patience Spinach 642 The Sorrel 643 The Onion 643 The Leek 649 The Shallot 649 The Garlic 650 The Chive 650 The Rocambole 650 The Asparagus 651 The Sea-kale 655 xii TABLE OF CONTENTS. Culinary Vegetables :— The French Artichoke 657 The Cardoon 658 TheEampion 660 Substitutes for Asparagus 660 The Lettuce 661 The Endive 664 The Succory and Chicory 665 The Celery 667 The Lamb's Lettuce, Burnet, Garden Cress, Winter Cress, American Cress, and Water Cress 670 Small Salads 672 The Parsley 672 The Chervil, Coriander, Dill, Fennel, Tarragon, and Purslane 673 The Indian Cress, Borage, and Marigold 675 The Horse-radish 675 The Rhubarb 677 The Angelica, Elecampane, Samphire, and Caper 677 Aromatic Esculents 679 Fungaceous Esculents • 681 Odoraceous Herbs 682 Medicinal Herbs 683 Poisonous Herbs ..... . 684 Monthly Calendar of Operations 687 Index 697 THE HORTICULTURIST. CHAPTER I. SOILS CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. THE term soil is applied to that thin stratum on the surface of the ground which is occupied by the roots of the smaller herbaceous vege- tables ; on uncultivated surfaces it varies in depth with its nature and the character of the plants growing on it ; but on lands in cultivation, the soil extends to the depth usually penetrated by the implements of culture. The principal materials of which soils are composed are earths formed of the debris of different kinds of rocks, combined with organic matter derived from decomposed vegetables or animals. Earths without organic matter will only support plants of the lowest grade, such as Lichens and Mosses ; and where soils are found supporting the higher classes of plants, endogens and exogens, the vigour of these will generally be found to be greater or less according to the proportion of organic matter which the soil contains. This organic matter, when supplied by art, is called manure. The subject of manures will be most conveniently treated in our next chapter. Here we shall confine ourselves to the consideration of soils, and treat, first, of their origin and kinds, and secondly, of their improvement. Origin and Kinds of Soils. The earthy part of all soils must necessarily have been derived from the debris of rocks, and the organic part from the intermixture of decayed vegetable or animal matter. The earthy mass so produced varies in colour, but, from containing humus and mould, it is always darker in a greater or less degree than subsoils, which in general are without organic matter. Soils also contain mineral salts and metallic oxides, some of which are beneficial, others harmless, and some few injurious, to plants. The chemical constitution of a soil can only be known by analysis, which cannot, in general, be depended on, unless performed by professional or experienced chemists.* The me- * It is now becoming a general custom for landed proprietors to send a pound or more of soil to an experienced chemist, to obtain an analysis of it, so as to know what mineral manures it may be best to use, in order to supply the constituents the laud may stand in need of. B 2 ORIGIN AND KINDS OF SOILS, CONSIDERED chanical state or texture of a soil is ascertained by digging up a portion of it ; and its actual fitness for plants, by examining the species growing on its surface. The rock, or geological formation, the earth of which forms the basis of any soil, will frequently be found to constitute the substratum on which that soil rests ; but this is frequently not the case, because the earths of many soils have been held in suspension by water in a state of motion, and by that means have been transported to a great distance from the rocks of which they are the debris. From this suspension of the earths of soils in water, and their transportation to a distance, we are able to account for the circumstance of several different kinds of earths being almost always found in the same soil. Thus in alluvial deposits on the banks of rivers, we find the earth of various rocks of the country through which the river has taken its course ; and as such soils are always the most fertile, we may conclude that a mixture of various earths in a soil is to be preferred to any one kind of earth alone. From the earth of the alluvial deposits of every country being formed of the d6bris of the various rocks of that country, and from every country containing nearly the same kinds of rocks, the alluvial deposits on the banks of all the large rivers of the world con- sist nearly of the same earths. But as the rocks or geological forma- tions from which the earths of soils are washed away still remain in their places, and are of many different kinds, it follows that there must be as great a variety in the upland soils of a country as there is uni- formity in those of the lowlands, and of the banks of rivers. Thus there are between twenty and thirty geological formations in England, which form the substrata or bases of soils, and each of which must consequently be more or less different in its composition.* For all practical purposes, however, soils may be characterized by their prevail- ing primitive earths ; and, hence, they are reduced to sands and gravels, clays, chalky and limestone soils, alluvial soils, and peatbogs. Sandy Soil. — Silica, which is the basis of sandy soils, is, perhaps, the most universal of all earths : and there is scarcely a species or variety of rock in which it does not abound more or less. Silica is found per- fectly pure in rock crystal, and tolerably so in what is called silver sand, and also in the sand of some rivers and of the sea. The prac- tical test of this soil, when tolerably pure, is, that when moistened, it cannot be formed into a plastic mass, or consolidated by pressure, whether in a moist or dry state, so as to form a compact solid body. Hence all sandy soils are loose, never present a firm surface, and are seldom covered with a compact clothing of grass or other herbaceous plants. Such soils, from being without cohesion, are incapable of re- taining moisture, and, as they are readily permeable by both moisture and air, they powerfully promote the putrefaction of organic matter, whilst they as readily permit it to be washed away from them by rains, or to escape in the form of gas. Hence, in manuring sandy soils, no more should be applied at once than can be consumed by the crop * See Morton 'On Soils,' 4th edit. 8vo, 1843. WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 3 of the current year ; and hence, also, they should be cultivated to a greater depth than other soils, in order that there may be a greater ma-* of material for retaining moisture. One great advantage of a sandy soil over all others is its natural warmth. This arises from its greater looseness and porosity, in consequence of which the atmosphere penetrates into it more rapidly, and to a greater depth, than in the case of any other soil. Hence, in the absence of sunshine, a sandy soil will l)i' raised to the temperature of the atmosphere, to the depth of several inches, by the mere penetration of the air among its particles ; while a firm, compact soil, the earthy basis of which is clay or chalk, could not be heated to the same depth without the direct influence of the sun's rays. Sandy soils are also more easily penetrated by water than any others, and hence they are sooner raised or lowered to the temperature of the rains which fall on them than a clayey or calcareous soil. As the water never rests on sandy soils, they are never cooled down by evaporation ; the reverse of which is the case with clayey and calca- reous surfaces. Sandy soils being%much less cohesive than soils in which clay or lime prevails, they are much more easily laboured ; and being always loose and friable on the surface, they are better adapted for the germination of seeds. Sandy soils may be made to approach alluvial soils by the addition of clay and calcareous earth, either taken from clayey or calcareous surfaces, or from subsoils in which these earths abound; but the former source is greatly preferable, from the earths being already in combination with organic matter. Whatever has been said of sandy soils is applicable to gravelly soils ; in some particulars in a greater, and in some in a less degree. The small stones of which the greater part of gravel consists being better conductors of heat than the particles of sand, it follows that gravels are both more easily heated and more easily cooled than sands ; they are also more readily penetrated by rain, and more readily dried by filtra- tion and evaporation. Like sands, they are improved by the addition of clay and chalk, or by alluvial soil ; and they require also to be culti- vated to a greater depth than clays or chalks. A gravelly soil, isolated so as not to be supplied with water from higher grounds, is of all others the most suitable for a suburban villa (* Sub. Arch, and Landscape Gard.,' p. 16); and therefore, though not so suitable for a kitchen- garden as a sandy or loamy soil, yet as a sufficient portion of soil, what- ever may be its earths, may always be improved so as to render it fit for the cultivation of vegetables, a gravelly or sandy soil for building on should never be rejected. Clayey Soil. — Alumina, which is the basis of clayey soil, is the most frequent of earths next to sand. It is found nearly pure in the ruby and sapphire, tolerably so in the blue or London clay, but more so in the white plastic clay which is found between the London clay and the upper chalk, and which is used for making tobacco pipes. This soil, relatively to water, is the very reverse of sand ; for while in nature sand and water are never found chemically combined, in clay they are never found chemically sepa- rate. Hence, though clay when prepared by the chemist, and kept apart from water, appears as a light dry powder, scarcely different to the B2 4 ORIGIN AND KINDS OF SOILS, CONSIDERED eye from pure sand or pure lime, yet in soils it forms an adhesive mass, the particles of which cannot be permanently separated except by burning to expel the water held in fixation. When clay is burnt and reduced to powder, it becomes for all practical purposes sand, and in that state it may be employed to great advantage for reducing the cohesive properties of stiff clay. Relatively to heat, clays do not admit the atmosphere between their particles, and an unimproved clayey soil is generally a cold one ; partly because the heat penetrates with difficulty into it, and partly from the evaporation which during great part of the year is going on from its moist surface. The obvious way to improve clays is by the addition of sand or gravel ; and when the clay does not contain lime, by the addition of that material, either in a caustic or a mild state, or as chalk. Lime, or the basis of chalk and limestone rock, is much less common as a soil than either clay or sand ; though there are scarcely any soils which are naturally fertile that are absolutely without it. Lime is found in a state of carbonate in whfte or statuary marble, and more or less so in chalk-rock and in some limestone-rocks. Lime is never found pure in a state of nature, but always combined with carbonic or sulphu- ric acid and water, which are driven off from it by burning, leaving the earth in the caustic state called quicklime. In this state lime rapidly reabsorbs water and carbonic acid from the atmosphere, or from any other material which comes in contact with it containing these elements. Hence its use in a caustic state in promoting the putre- faction of imperfectly decomposed organic matter in soils, and in attracting carbonic acid and moisture from the atmosphere. Relatively to the retention of water, a limy or chalky soil may be considered as intermediate between a sandy and a clayey soiL, without becoming so tenacious as clay on the one hand, or parting with water so readily as sand on the other. Hence the use of lime or chalk in reducing the tenacity of stiff clays, and increasing the absorbent powers of sandy soils, and improving their texture. A calcareous soil is improved by sand and clay, especially if laid on in sufficient quantity to destroy the tenacity and compactness of its texture. Magnesia is not very common in soils, and is said to be inimical to vegetation, under some circumstances. Magnesian limestone, when burned as lime, should not be used for manuring purposes. The iron of soils is mostly in a state of rust, or oxide. There is scarcely any soil without it ; but it is never very abundant in soils naturally fertile. In a dry state the oxide of iron is insoluble in water, and not injurious to vegetation ; but when, in consequence of saline substances in the soil or applied to it, a salt of iron is produced, the iron becomes soluble in water, is taken up by the roots of plants, and is very injurious to them. Iron in this state is termed hydrate, and its evil effects are to be counteracted by caustic lime, with which it forms an insoluble compound. Alluvial soils have been already described as composed of very fine particles of the debris of several kinds of rocks, which have been WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 5 held in suspension by water, and deposited in plains, or along the hanks of rivers, along with organic matter also held in suspension. The earthy character of this soil must necessarily always partake of the character of the rocks of the country in which it is found. Peat or bog is composed of partially decayed vegetable matter, soft, light, and spongy to the touch ; and is the very reverse of sand with respect to water, holding that element like a sponge, so as, in its natural state, to be totally unfit for the growth of vegetables, except those of a very low grade. The organic matter in soils in its solid state may be considered as carbon, which is found pure in the diamond, and tolerably so in the charcoal of wood. In soils it is found in various states of decompo- sition, from recent woody fibre to humus, which is woody fibre in a state of decay. The proportion of organic matter varies exceedingly in different soils. In barren sands there is scarcely a trace of it, while in fertile soils it varies from 10 to 30 per cent. ; and peat- bogs which have been drained and cultivated contain often 80 or 90 per cent. Humus, according to Professor Liebig, exercises its influence on vegetation " by being a continued source of carbonic acid, which it emits slowly. An atmosphere of carbonic acid, formed at the expense of the oxygen of the air, surrounds every particle of decaying humus. The cultivation of land, by stirring and loosening the soil, causes a free and unob- structed access of air. An atmosphere of carbonic acid is, therefore, contained in every fertile soil, and is the first and most important food for the young plants which grow in it. The property of humus, or woody fibre, to attract from the surrounding air its carbonic acid, diminishes in proportion as its decay advances ; and at last a certain quantity of a brown coaly-looking substance remains, in which this property is entirely wanting. This substance is called mould ; it is the product of the complete decay of woody fibre, and constitutes the principal part of brown coal and peat." (* Organic Chemistry,' p. 47.) For practical purposes, all the soils ordinarily met with may be reduced to the following : — Loose naked sands or gravels, without either clay or calcareous matter, and almost destitute of vegetation on the surface ; exemplified on some parts of the sea-shore, and on Hounslow and other extensive heaths. Calcareous soils or gravels, containing little or no clay or organic matter, and almost without vegetation on the surface ; found on the sea-shore in some places, and on the surface of chalky districts. Loams. — Rich sandy loams consist of sand, clay, and more or less of calcareous soil, with organic matter ; they never become hard on the surface after rains followed by drought, and never retain water to such an extent as to prove injurious to vegetation. Vegetation commences M»me weeks earlier in sandy loams than in clayey loams, in the same climate, or even in the same garden ; and during summer, plants on such soils will be in advance of those on clays; so much so, as Mr. Lymburn has observed, as to attain maturity a month earlier. Clayey 6 ORIGIN AND KINDS OF SOILS, CONSIDERED loams consist of clay with a proportion of sand and organic matter ; they produce large crops, but become hard and baked on the surface after heavy rains followed by drought. Stiff adhesive clays contain in their composition little or no sand or lime, and are almost without organic matter. All clayey loams are later than sandy loams. Loams are the best soils, and are characterized according to the earths which prevail in them, as a sandy loam, &c. ; according to their degree of friability, as a free loam, a stiff loam, &c. ; or according to both, as a free calcareous loam, &c. These soils, with reference to geology, are generally found on the sides of valleys, along the bases of hills or mountains, or on the banks of upland rivers. Mechanically, they are of a texture easily penetrated by all the implements of culture, and not liable to become hard on the surface, and crack after heavy rains followed by drought ; chemically, they contain clay, sand, calcareous matter, and humus ; and with reference to vegetation, produce abundant crops in all ordinary seasons, with moderate supplies of manure. In general, much more depends on the texture of a soil and its capacity for retaining or parting with water and heat, than on its chemical composition. Soils have been found consisting chiefly of clay, others chiefly of calcareous earths ; some in America, without calcareous earths; and all producing good crops for a series of years. Nevertheless, it has been found that no soil will remain fertile for many years that does not contain lime in some form naturally, or is not liberally supplied with manure containing animal matter, one ingredient of which is lime in a state of phosphate. Subsoils. — Next in importance to the texture of a soil, is the nature of the subsoil or substratum on which it rests ; because on the texture and other circumstances of this subsoil depends, in a great measure, the capacity of the surface-soil for retaining or parting with water or heat. The worst subsoils are those of clay kept moist by subterraneous water; and the best, those of clay resting on gravel or porous rock; because these retain a useful degree of moisture, and admit of in- creasing the surface- soil to any depth which may be required for culture. Sandy and gravelly subsoils, with but a thin coating of sur- face-soil over them, are not sufficiently retentive of moisture ; and chalky subsoils are generally cold. The surface of soils has, perhaps, as powerful an influence on their natural fertility as the subsoil ; because on the inclination of the sur- face depends, in a considerable degree, the moisture retained by the soil, and consequently its fitness for the growth of plants. Too steep a slope throws off the rain with too great rapidity, and thus deprives the soil of a sufficient supply of water during dry seasons ; while a flat surface will retard its drainage and occasion loss of heat by evaporation. These natural results of a steep incline and a flat surface may be greatly modified by the depth of the soil and surface stirring, the colours, &c. The colour of the surface of a soil exercises some influence on its heat. A dark- coloured soil will be sooner heated by the rays of the sun than a light-coloured soil ; but it will also part with its heat more rapidly WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 7 when the sun does not shine. A white soil, such as we sometimes find on chalky or marly subsoils, is the longest of all soils in being warmed, because by all white surfaces the rays of light and heat are reflected, while by all black surfaces they are absorbed. Hence, taking into consideration colour, texture, and aspect, a dark sandy soil, on a sur- face exposed to the south or south-east, must be the warmest of all soils; and a moist white clay of compact texture, similarly exposed, the coolest. The aspect is not only of importance with reference to the influence of the sun in warming or cooling the soil, but also as to its effects in maturing the produce which grows on it. The plants which grow on a soil are the surest indications, to a prac- tical botanist and cultivator, of the actual state of that soil with refe- rence to culture j though they do not always indicate the improvement of which the soil is susceptible. Marshy soils are indicated with con- siderable certainty both by herbaceous and ligneous plants, as are also very dry soils ; but the earths of fertile soils cannot be so readily inferred from the plants growing on them. Thus thorn hedges will be found growing vigorously alike on clays, sands, and chalks ; though never on these soils, or on any other, when they are either very dry, or saturated with water. Some few plants, when found in their native stations in considerable quantities, may be considered absolute in respect to the earths of the soil in which they grow ; such as the Tussilago Farfara, which always indicates clayey soil ; Clematis Vitalba, calcareous soil ; Arenaria rubra, sandy soil ; Rumex Acetosa, ferru- ginous soil; Vaccinium uliginosum, peaty soil; Salicornia herbacea, saline soil ; Caltha palustris, marshy soil, &c. : but by far the greater number of plants only indicate the state of a soil relatively to water and organic matter. In short, nature may be said to have only three kinds of soil relatively to plants ; the dry, the moist, and the fertile. The Improvement of Soils, with a View to Horticulture. Having seen, in the preceding section, that the permanent fertility of a soil depends mainly on its condition relatively to water and heat, it follows that the improvement of soils must be principally directed to increase their capacity for absorbing and retaining these elements in the degree most suitable for vegetation. The principal operations for this purpose are : draining, to withdraw superfluous water from soils ; and mixture and pulverization for improving their texture, in order to admit more readily the moisture and heat of the atmosphere. Draining is the principal means for altering the condition of a soil with reference to water. Soils are affected by rains from above and springs from below ; the former are carried off" by open gutters, and the latter by covered channels. All draining is founded on the well- known hydrostatic law by which all fluids have a constant tendency to arrange themselves in a horizontal position. Hence, to carry off water, either from a surface or a subsoil, it is only necessary to form channels above or under ground in an inclined position. The kind of drains, and the number employed in any given case, will depend on the 8 IMPROVEMENT OF SOILS, CONSIDERED texture of the soil and the inclination of the surface. Flat surfaces and retentive clays require the greatest number of drains, and inclined surfaces and porous soils the smallest number. There are very few soils that may not be improved by draining ; and it is almost unneces- sary to observe, that, where draining is requisite and not performed, the application of other modes of improvement will be made in vain. Altering the texture and composition of soil by the addition of other soils is the improvement next in importance to that of draining, and requires only to be mentioned to be understood. Too sandy soils will be improved by the addition of clay, and the contrary ; and both clay and sand by the addition of lime ; because without alkaline matter no soil can be permanently fertile. Though on a large scale the expense of this kind of improvement is too great to be generally adopted, yet in the case of the grounds of small country residences it is practicable at a moderate expense. The proportion of any particular soil that must be added to any other soil so as to perfect its texture, can only be determined by experiment. The first thing to fix on is the depth to which the soil is to be cultivated. In kitchen gardens this may be between two and three feet ; but in pleasure-grounds, where the surface is to be chiefly in grass, nine inches or one foot in depth will suffice. " It is astonishing," Mr. Kham observes, " how small a portion of pure alumina will consolidate a loose sand, and convert it into a good loam, the parts of which, when moistened, will adhere and form a clod in drying." (' Jour. Agr. Soc.,' vol. ii. p. 51.) If we take an extreme case, and suppose that any given soil is so sandy as to require the addition of one-sixth its bulk of clay, or so clayey as to require one-sixth its bulk of sand, then, in the case of kitchen gardens where the soil is three feet deep, every square foot of the clayey surface will require the addition of half a cubic foot of sand ; and in the case of a lawn where the soil is a foot in depth, every square foot of sand will require the sixth of a cubic foot of clay. To cover a statute acre with soil to the depth of one inch requires 121 cubic yards. Hence, to add two inches to the soil of a garden of one acre, exclusive of the space occupied by the walks, would require 242 cubic yards or cart- loads, which, at 2s. each, amount to 24/. 4s. The cost, however, will depend chiefly on the distance from which the soil is to be brought. A case is mentioned in the ' Journal of the Agricultural Society of Eng- land,' vol. ii. p. 67, in which a white sand varying in depth from one to four feet, and so barren that it never had been cultivated to profit, had the surface improved to the usual depth penetrated by the plough (nine to twelve inches), by laying on clay at the rate of 150 cubic yards to the acre. The clay being dug from the subsoil, the expense was not more than 5/. 10s. per acre. It frequently happens that a sandy or gravelly soil is incumbent on a bed of clay, and the contrary ; in either of which cases the supply of the required soil may be obtained by digging pits, or sometimes even by deep trenching. The earth thus obtained will generally be without organic matter, but that can be supplied afterwards by manuring. Where the soil required for the improvement of another soil can be obtained in the state of surface WITH A VIEW TO HORTICULTURE. 9 soil, the effects produced will be more immediate from the organic matter which such soil contains ; but even when it is obtained from the subsoil, the change in the condition of the soil to which the new soil is applied will soon be rendered obvious ; though not so much so the first year, as it will be in two or three years afterwards, when the amalgamation of the two soils is more complete. Much of the effect of adding one soil to another will depend on ttair intimate mixture ; and this can be best effected by repeated trenchings or diggings in dry ^-rather, when both soils are as nearly as possible in a state of dry powder. This point is of great importance, particularly when the soils mixed together contain a good deal of organic matter, because if a very intimate mixture of both soils is not effected, they will, from the difference in their specific gravities, in a few years separate into two different strata. There is, indeed, a constant tendency to do this in all soils under culture, and more especially in all such as have been improved by admixture. This takes place in consequence of the softening of the soil by rains, by which the particles are in a manner held for a time in suspension, and the heaviest gradually take a lower place than those which are lighter. Hence the necessity of digging or trenching such soils frequently to the depth to which they have originally been improved. This is required even in artificial soils laid down in grass ; for supposing a clayey soil to have received a con- siderable admixture of lime or chalk, and sand, with rotted stable- dung, and the whole to have been incorporated in a state of fallow, and afterwards sown with grass seeds, then in seven years the black mat- ter or mould remaining from the dung will be found among the roots of the grass at the surface, the sand in a stratum three or four inches below the surface, and the lime at the bottom of the artificial soil. By placing the same mixture in a flower-pot, and watering it frequently during a year, the pot being plunged in the soil, the same result will take place sooner, and be more conspicuous. If the pot be kept con- stantly immersed in water to within an inch of the brim, the result will take place in the course of a few days. These facts ought to be kept constantly in mind by whoever would improve soils by admixture ; if they are not, disappointment is very likely to ensue. When soils mixed together are comparatively without organic matter, and when the par- ticles of which they are composed are very small, the mixture becomes more intimate; the particles of the one soil filling up the interstices among the particles of the other, and the amalgamation as it may be termed is then so complete that the earths will never afterwards sepa- rate. In this way pure sands may be improved by the admixture of pure clays, or by marls or chalks. The words pure and amalgamated are here used, not in a chemical, but in a popular sense. Changing the inclination of the surface of soils is a mode of improve- ment that may frequently be adopted on a small scale, by arranging a steep slope into narrow terraces, and a broad slope into level plat- forms. The former, mode has been practised from time immemorial in the Land of Canaan, and in other countries of the East, and the hitter is common in France and Italy, in order to admit of surface 10 IMPROVEMENT OF SOILS, CONSIDERED irrigation without waste of water. By this last mode, a field or garden is arranged into different platforms, which may either be on the same or on different levels. In the former case, the water is let into one platform after another ; or, if there is an abundant supply, into several at the same time ; in the latter case the supply of water is conducted to the highest platform, which is first watered, and the others follow in the order of their elevation. Arrangements of this kind are not so important in British gardens as they are in those of warmer climates ; but still they might in many cases be advantageously introduced with a view to watering summer crops. Burning of soils has been resorted to as a means of altering their texture, destroying injurious substances, and changing or forming others which may act as a manure. Burning is useless on siliceous sands containing little or no vegetable matter ; but on all soils contain- ing chalk, lime, or clay, it may be practised with advantage. By burning calcareous or chalky soils, the same effect is produced as if quicklime had been procured and added to the soil ; and by burning clayey soils the same result is obtained as if sand had been procured and mixed with them. The effect of burning clay is totally different from that of burning sand or lime. On sands and gravels burning can have no effect, except that in some cases it renders the particles smaller. Burning lime drives off the carbonic acid and the water, and renders the lime caustic and well adapted for decomposing organic matter; but the lime has no sooner lost its water than it begins to attract it again, and after a certain period will be found in the same state of combination with water and carbonic acid as it was before. Clay, on the other hand, when once the water is driven off by burning, will never regain it, but remains for ever afterwards in a state which, with reference to its mechanical effect on a soil, is exactly the same as that of sand. This is a fact, the great importance of which in the improvement of clayey soils, and indeed of all soils which are of too compact a texture, is not duly appreciated. It is evident that, by means of draining and burning, any clayey soil may have its texture as much improved as can be desired ; and though the expense of this may, in many cases, be too great for application on an extensive scale, yet it may always be adopted in kitchen gardens ; and often over the entire surface of the grounds of small villas. It is indeed only by this kind of improvement that the heavy clayey soils of many of the small villas in the neighbourhood of London can be at all rendered comfortable to walk on after rains in summer, and throughout the. whole of the other seasons, or suitable and agreeable for the cultivation of culinary vege- tables and flowers. Clayey soils often contain iron, and the operation of burning them, by forming an insoluble compound of iron and alumina, lessens the risk of the iron ever becoming noxious to the plants. Burning also destroys the inert vegetable fibre; and thus it at once produces ashes containing vegetable alkali, and supplies the soil with a portion of humus ; without both of which, according to Liebig, no soil can bring plants to maturity. Where a strong clayey soil is covered with a healthy vegetation, as of pasture or wood, it may not WITH A VIEW TO HORTICULTURE. 11 be desirable to burn the surface soil, on account of the quantity of organic matter which it contains ; but it may still be very desirable to burn such a portion of the clayey subsoil as may be sufficient, when reduced to a sandy powder, to render the surface soil of a proper texture. In this case the surface soil should be removed to the depth to which it has been cultivated, and a portion of that below taken up in lumps, and dried and burned. The burning is performed on the spot by the aid of faggot-wood, or any description of cheap fuel. The burned lumps being reduced to a powder, and scattered equally over the soil when also in a dry and powdery state, the whole should then be intimately mixed together by repeated diggings and trenchings. As an example of the strong clayey soil of a garden having been improved by burning, we may refer to that of Willersley Castle, near Matlock, which the gardener there, Mr. Stafford, has rendered equal in friability and fertility to any garden soil in the country. " When I first came to this place," says Mr. Stafford, " the garden was for the most part a strong clay, and within nine inches of the surface ; even the most common article would not live upon it ; no weather appeared to suit it — at one time being covered by water, at another time rendered impenetrable by being too dry. Having previously witnessed the good effects of burning clods, I commenced the process, and produced in a few days a composition three feet deep, and equal, if not superior, to any soil in the country." (' Hort. Reg.,' vol. i. p. 210.) The success was here greater than can be expected in every case, because the clay contained a large proportion of calcareous matter. Pulverizing soils comes next in the order of improvement, and is effected by trenching, digging, and other modes of reversing the surface and mixing and transposing all the different parts. By changing the surface,, fresh soil is exposed to the action of the weather ; by changing the position of all the parts, new facilities for chemical changes are produced ; and by loosening the whole mass of the soil, air and rain are more readily admitted, and greater freedom is given to the growth of the roots. By loosening soil the air is admitted among its particles and confined there, and hence it becomes a non-conductor of heat, and is consequently warmer in winter and cooler in summer than if it were in one firm mass. By the confine- ment of air in the soil, the heat imparted to it by the sun during the day is retained, and accumulates in all free open soils to such a degree as sensibly to raise their temperature over that of the air, especially during night. From thermometrical observations made at different places, it appears that the mean temperature of the soil, at about one foot below the surface, is somewhat higher naturally than the mean temperature of the atmosphere on the same spot ; and hence we may reasonably suppose that, by draining and pulverization, the temperature of the soil may be permanently increased as well as that of the atmosphere. From experiments made by Mr. Thompson, in the garden of the Horticultural Society of London, it appears, that " in the valley of the Thames, the maximum mean of terrestrial tempera- ture, at one foot below the surface, has been found to be 64'81° in 12 IMPROVEMENT OF SOILS. July, which is the hottest month in the year : but that the greatest difference between the mean temperature of the earth and atmosphere is in the month of October, when it amounted, in the two years during which the observations were made, to between three and four degrees ; and that, in general, the mean temperature of the earth, a foot below the surface^ is at least one degree, and more commonly a degree and a half, above the mean of the atmosphere. In these cases, if the terrestrial temperatures be compared with those of the atmosphere, it will be found that in the spring, when vegetation is first generally set in motion, the temperature of the earth not only rises monthly, but retains a mean temperature higher than that of the atmosphere by from one to two degrees ; and that in the autumn, when woody and perennial plants require that their tissue should be solidified and their secretions condensed, in order to meet the approach of inclement weather, the terrestrial temperature remains higher in proportion than that of the atmosphere, the earth parting with its heat very slowly." (Lindley's * Theory of Hort.,' p. 97.) In hot countries the sun often heats the soil to such a degree as to be injurious to the roots of culti- vated plants, and pulverization is there resorted to to diminish the force of its rays, which, as it is well known, are less effective on a porous and spongy than on a solid substance. This, as Chaptal informs us, is one of the uses of pulverization even in the south of France. The free admission of atmospheric air to soil is also necessary for the nourishment of the plants ; as it is now found that plants derive a great portion of their carbon and nitrogen from the air penetrating into the soil in which they grow, and being taken up by the spongioles of the roots. The soil also, when loosened, becomes a rapid conductor of water; and, supposing the texture of the soil to be suitable for culture, it will retain a sufficient quantity of moisture for the purpose of vegetation, and allow the escape of what is superfluous by filtration into the subsoil, or into the underground drains which have been formed as a substitute for a porous substratum. The mere act of pulverizing any soil has a tendency to improve its texture, more especially if the operation be frequently repeated. In summer, by exposure of a soil to the air, the particles are separated by the evapo- ration of the water in their interstices by heat ; and by exposing a soil to the frosts of winter, the particles are separated by the expansion of the water in the form of ice. Clayey soils containing iron are in an especial manner improved by exposure to the atmosphere ; the iron being still farther oxidized, and thus acting like sand in sepa- rating the particles, as well as being less likely to be rendered soluble by the addition of saline matters. Soils are improved by the modes in which they are cultivated ; as for example, by the order in which crops are made to succeed each other, by fallowing, by resting, and by the manner in which water is applied to growing crops ; but these subjects will come under notice when we are treating of the practice of Horticulture. 13 CHAPTER II. MANURES CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. THE improvement of the composition and the texture of a soil, and of its condition with reference to water and heat, will have but little effect on the plants cultivated in it, without the addition of manure. In order to determine what substances are suitable for becoming manures, it is useful to know what are the constituent elements of plants. Of these we shall find that some elements are common to all plants whatever, such as carbon, with oxygen and hydrogen in the proper relative proportions for forming water, and nitrogen ; while some elements are only found in particular plants, such as certain salts, earths, and metallic oxides. Every plant, therefore, may be said to have its general or common food, and its specific or particular food ; and hence, in this point of view, manures may be classed as common and specific. The most perfect manure for any plant would therefore seem to be, that plant itself in a state of decomposition ; but as the purpose for which plants are cultivated is to supply food, clothing, and various other necessaries for men and animals, hence, in a state of civilization, it is among these, and from animals themselves, that we must seek for the most suitable manure for plants. The various substances which have been used for manures may be classed, with reference to their effect on plants, as general and specific ; and with reference to the soil, as improving, enriching, and stimulating. Im- proving manures are such as, while they afford positive nourishment or stimulus, add some permanent matter to the soil ; such as lime, chalk, marl, bones, &c. Enriching manures are such as supply only nourishment to plants ; such as stable manure, and every description of organic matter ; and stimulating manures are such as serve to aid in the decomposition of, or otherwise operate on, the organic matter. As some manures, however, partake in an equal degree of more than one of these properties, such as lime, which is both a stimulating and improving manure, the most convenient arrangement of manures will be organic, inorganic, and mixed. Organic Manures. Organic manures must obviously be either of animal or vegetable origin. Purely vegetable manure is exemplified in leaf-mould, malt- dust, rape-cake, spent tanner's bark, some kinds of peat, and green vegetables when they are buried in the soil in a living state. Leaf-mould is perhaps the most universal manure for garden plants, because, when thoroughly decomposed, the most tender kinds will live in it, and all the more vigorous-growing vegetables will grow in it most luxuriantly if it be mixed with fine sand. The sand seems 14 ORGANIC MANURES, CONSIDERED essential, not only for growing many of the Cape and Australian shrubs, but also for general use. Fresh and tender vegetables dug into the soil, produce an immediate effect, from the facility with which they undergo fermentation, and thus supply soluble matter for the spongioles. Sea-weed is still more readily decomposed than recent land or garden plants, in consequence of the mineral alkali which it contains ; and hence this manure is stimulating as well as enriching. Malt-dust is valuable for the sac- charine matter which it contains, and rape-cake for its albumen and oil ; but these manures are only occasionally to be met with. Straw, haulm, and in general all the stems and leaves of herbaceous plants, and the shoots, with their leaves on, of trees and shrubs, form valuable manure when decayed ; more especially if, from the saccharine matter which they contain, or the addition of stable manure or of animal matter, they can be made to heat and promote fermentation. Never- theless, without fermentation, they form useful garden manures, or moulds, which, like leaf-mould, may often be substituted for heath- soil. The least valuable truly vegetable manure is spent tanner's bark, which, consisting entirely of woody fibre impregnated with tannin, not only contains no soluble matter, but the tannin, in as far as it can be taken up by the spongioles, seems to prove injurious. Nevertheless, even spent tanner's bark may be rendered fertile, by mixing it with sand, clay, lime, or some other earthy substance which will supply the plants grown in it with the necessary salts, and also keep its particles sufficiently open to admit the air. From the porosity and lightness of tanner's bark, it is an excellent non-conductor of heat ; and hence, when laid on the surface of the ground as a covering to the roots of tender plants, it protects them better from the frost than a more com- pact covering, such as coarse sand, or than coverings which are great absorbents of moisture, such as leaves or half-rotten litter, or any other covering of this kind which does not act as thatch. Rotten tan, how- ever, being peculiarly favourable to the growth of fungi, should be used with great caution when applied about young trees, and more es- pecially Coniferae. Peat soil is of two kinds, that formed in peat bogs by the growth of mosses, and that found in valleys, or other low tracts of country, which, being formed of overthrown and buried forests, consists of decayed wood. The latter being the remains of a much higher class of plants than the former, must contain a greater variety of the constituent elements of plants, and must consequently be a better manure. Peat from bogs cannot be used till it has been reduced, either by time or fermentation, to a fine mould or a saponaceous mass ; the former result is obtained by exposure to the air, and repeated turnings during several years, and the latter by fermentation with stable dung. A load of this material, mixed with two loads of partially dried peat, will commence the putrefactive process, in the same manner as yeast com- mences fermentation in dough ; and, in the one case as in the other, additions of any quantity may be made by degrees, so that two loads WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 15 of stable-dung may be made to produce twenty, a hundred, or in short an unlimited number of loads of fermented peat. The peat of decayed wood is commonly reduced to mould by exposure and turning, and then applied to the soil, with or without lime. Both kinds of peat are frequently burned for the sake of their ashes. The ashes of the peat of wood are always found richer in alkaline matters than those of the peat of moss, and on this account they form an article of commerce in the neighbourhood of Newbury in Berkshire, and in Holland. A third kind of peat, more properly called heath-soil, is much used in the culture of all fine hair-rooted plants, such as heaths. It is the result of the decay of vegetation and the decomposition of rocks, and is generally sweet and ready for present use, because found only on upland districts, where there is no standing water. We associate peat with the morass ; this heath-soil, with the upland moor or heath. The principal vegetable manures which are formed in suburban villas are : the mould of collected leaves swept up in autumn, and in all seasons when they fall ; the mould of grass mown from lawns, and either rotted by itself, or on dung-casings to forcing-pits ; and the mould from the common vegetable rubbish heap ; that is from a heap on which all decaying or refuse vegetable matters are thrown as taken from the garden, and sometimes, also, including the leaves of trees and short grass. This heap is, or should be, placed in the reserve ground of all gardens. The grass mown from lawns, however, is most economically added to casings of dung to aid in producing heat by fermentation, as it is laid on dug surfaces round the roots of plants during summer to retain moisture. The leaves also are generally best kept by themselves, for the purpose of decaying into leaf-mould. In whatever way these vegetable materials are made use of, the gardener ought to have a vigilant eye to see that none of them are lost ; and one of the simplest and best means of doing so, is to cover all such rubbish heaps fre- quently with thin layers of soil, to prevent the escape of the nutritive gases. Animal manures require much less preparation than those derived from plants, from their greater tendency to the putrefactive process. The kinds of animal manures are chiefly excrement ; urine ; coverings of animals, such as skins, wool, feathers ; entrails of animals ; entire animals of small size and not otherwise useful, such as fish, vermin, &c. ; parts of animals, such as skins, bones, Arc. ; or articles manufactured from parts of animals, such as woollen rags, old leather ; or any article manufactured from skins, hair, wool, feathers, horn, bone, &c. Of all these manures by far the most valuable is nightsoil, the next urine, and thirdly bones. The different excrements and urines of animals rank in value according to the kind of food with which the animal is nourished, and within this limit according to its grade ; and hence the most valuable animal manure is that of man, the next that of horses as abounding with ammonia and nitrogen. The manure of the horse ranks before that of the cow or the sheep ; and the manure of highly- fed animals before that of those which are lean. 16 ORGANIC MANURES, CONSIDERED Excrementitious manures, including urine, should never be applied to crops in a recent state, because from the abundance of ammoniacal salts which they contain, or perhaps from some other reason not under- stood, they are found in that state injurious to vegetation ; but when these manures are fermented they are the most powerful of all, pro- ducing an immediate effect on the plants. It is a remarkable fact that the recent urine of sheep is not injurious to grass lands, while that of horses and cows commonly injures the grass on the spot where it falls, which however recovers and becomes of a darker green than before in the year following. The loss of excrementitious manures in the large towns in England is immense, and while they are lost to the soil, they are poisonous to the fishes of our rivers, and injurious to those who drink their water. The great advantage of urine or other liquid manure is, that its nutritive elements are consumed by the plants in a few months, and hence an immediate return is made on the capital employed ; whereas, when solid excrementitious manures are employed, a period of two or three years must elapse before complete decomposition ensues. (See Sprengel * On Animal Manures,' in * Jour. Eng. Agr. Soc.,' vol. i. p. 473.) Liquid manure, also, from the am- monia which it contains, when poured on the soil destroys worms, snails, &c., as effectually as lime-water. In every suburban villa, arrangements should be made for collecting all the liquid manure into two adjoining tanks, and mixing it there with water ; one tank to be kept filling and mixing, while the other is fermenting and being emptied. Where urine cannot be got, excre- ment and water form the best substitute. The fermented liquid may either be poured direct on the soil of the garden, among growing crops, at the roots of fruit trees, or on the naked soil, with or without other manure, and more especially with straw, or other vegetable matters, for the purpose both of enriching them and promoting fermentation. Fresh liquid manure may however be used at once, if sufficiently weakened, as by adding to pure urine five times its quantity of water. By this means are saved the nutritive properties thrown off by fermentation. The liquid manure tank that is supplied from a house, where water is used in cleaning and washing, will seldom be too strong to apply to strong growing plants in the open air at once. Hair, wool, feathers, leather, horn, rags, &c., decompose much more slowly than excrementitious or vegetable manures; but they are ex- ceedingly rich in gelatine and albumen, and are therefore very desira- ble where the object is duration of effect, as well as luxuriance. Dead animals of every kind, including fish, make excellent manure ; and when there is any danger anticipated from the effluvia which arises during decomposition, it is readily prevented by covering or mixing the putrid mass with quicklime. In this way nightsoil and the refuse of the slaughter-houses in Paris, Lyons, and other continental towns, are not only disinfected, but dried under the name of poudrette, and com- pressed in casks, so as to form an article of commerce. Sugar-bakers' scum, which is obtained from sugar refineries, consists of the blood of cattle and lime ; it can be sent in a dried and compressed state to any WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 17 distance, and forms a manure next in richness to bones. In gardens it may be used as a top-dressing to culinary vegetables, and as an in- gredient in the composition of vine borders. Animalized carbon con- sists of nightsoil of great age; it is sent to different parts of Europe from Copenhagen, where it has accumulated during ages in immense pits and heaps, which some years ago were purchased from the city by an Englishman. It is an exceedingly rich manure. Dry earth is the cheapest and most effectual disinfectant and de- odorizer. Bones, though a manure of animal origin, depend for their effects a good deal on their mineral constituents. Next to nightsoil, bones are perhaps the most valuable of all manures. Chemically they consist of gelatine, albumen, animal oils, and fat, in all about 38 per cent. ; and of earthy matters, such as phosphate of lime, carbonate of lime, fluate of lime, magnesia, carbonate of soda, and a small quantity of common salt. In consequence of the animal matters which they contain, crushed bones when laid in heaps very soon begin to ferment, and when buried in the soil previously to being fermented in heaps, the putrescent fermentation goes on with great rapidity. In gardens they should seldom be used without being broken small and fermented in heaps for several months. Bones are valuable as a specific manure, because they contain phosphate of lime, which is an ingredient common to a great many cultivated plants both of the field and of the garden. Bone manure, if used on the same soil for a number of years, is found to lose its effect ; the reason of which is inferred from one cause of its excellence, viz., that the animal matter which it contains acts as a ferment or stimulus to the organic matter already in the soil, by which means this organic matter becomes sooner exhausted than otherwise would be the case. A dressing of bone manure every fourth or fifth year will suffice for most soils. Vegeto-animal manures consist of a mixture of animal and vegetable substances, such as the straw used as litter in stables or farmyards, and the excrements and urine of the animals which are kept in them. It may be classed according to the kind of animal to which the litter is supplied ; and hence we have horse-dung, cow-dung, the dung of swine, sheep, rabbits, poultry, &c. All these manures require to be brought into a state of active fermentation, and reduced to a soft, easily separated mass, before being applied to the soil. This is effected by throwing them into heaps, and occasionally turning these heaps till the manure becomes of a proper consistence. When it is de- sirable that these manures should act as mechanical as well as enriching agents, then they should be applied before they are much de- composed. In horticulture, advantage is generally taken of the heat produced by manures of this kind, in forming hotbeds, and in supplying heat to forcing-pits by what are called linings, but which are properly casings, of dung placed round a bed of dung, tan, or soil, supported by walls of open brickwork. The dung so placed can be taken away at pleasure, and applied to the soil when it has undergone a proper degree of fermenta- 0 18 INORGANIC MANURES, CONSIDERED tion ; whereas, the dung of which a hotbed is formed cannot be removed without destroying the bed and the crop on it ; and hence it is gene- rally kept till the fermenting process is carried much further than is necessary, and often so far as to be injurious. Hence, in gardens, wherever economy of manure is an object, common hotbeds ought never to be made use of, but recourse should be had to exterior casings, such as those already mentioned, or to other modes of heating. In many suburban villas, almost as much manure is lost as would suffice for enriching the kitchen-garden, and producing vegetables for the whole family. To save every particle of fluid or solid matter capable of becoming manure, the first step is to construct two or more large tanks for the liquid manure, and to form a system of tubes or gutters for conveying to these tanks all the soapsuds and other liquid refuse matters furnished by the mansion and offices, includ- ing the stables, unless they are at a distance. Similar tanks should be formed adjoining every cottage and dwelling belonging to the villa ; such as the gardener's house, gatekeeper's lodge, and also in the back- sheds and in the frame and reserve ground of the kitchen-garden. In short, no water ought to be allowed to escape from the manure tanks but such as is perfectly pure ; for all dirty water is more or less valu- able as a manure, and will ferment in a degree of heat not much greater than that of the subsoil, even in winter ; and all fermented liquids contain one or more of the constituent elements of plants. The second step to be taken with a view to saving manure is, to form a vegetable rubbish heap, on which all waste parts of plants and the re- mains of all crops, including mown grass when not otherwise used, clip- pings of hedges, summer prunings of trees, &c., are to be thrown as col- lected, left to ferment, and turned over occasionally. To this heap, lime, dung, sewage, or rich earth may be added, and the whole frequently turned over and well mixed. The third step is, to collect the cleanings of ponds, wells, ditches, hedge-banks, and similar earthy matters, and mix them with quicklime, turning the heap occasionally, as directed in the next section. Inorganic Manures. Inorganic or mineral manures are chiefly : lime in a state of chalk or carbonate, gypsum or sulphate, marl in which carbonate of lime is mixed with clay, saltpetre, kelp, mineral alkali, and common salt. The organic manures, as we have seen, act by supplying plants with the elements of which they are constituted, viz., carbon, oxygen, hydro- gen, and azote or nitrogen ; but the mineral manures contain none of these elements, and hence, according to most agricultural chemists, they must act beneficially on some other principle. This principle may be stated to be the rendering more soluble of the organic matters already in the soil in most instances, and in some cases rendering soluble matters insoluble, so as to diminish excessive fertility, and pre- pare a reserve of the fertilizing principle for future use. Quicklime, for example, effects the first of these objects, and slaked lime the WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 19 second. According to some writers, inorganic manures also act spe- cifically ; alkaline matters being found in all, and some sorts in many plants. Lime. — This is by far the most important of all the mineral manures. It is applied to soil in the form of quick or hot lime, mild or slaked lime, and chalk or carbonate. Quicklime is procured by burning chalkstone or lime rock till the water and the carbonic acid gas are driven off. Immediately after burning, it forms what is called quick- lime ; and in this state, when laid on the soil, having a powerful attraction for water, it assists in the conversion of woody fibre and other organic matters into the substance called humus, forming humate of liine, which again is rendered soluble and fit for supplying the food of plants by the action of the carbonic acid gas in the soil, or supplied to it by water or the atmosphere. Mild lime. — When water is thrown on quicklime, it becomes what is called slaked, falls down into a fine white powder, and re-absorbing great part of the water which had been driven off by burning, it becomes what chemists call hydrate of lime ; and soon after, from the absorption of carbonic acid gas, it becomes what is called mild lime. The use of lime in this state is partly the same as that of caustic or quicklime ; and partly, also, when there is a superabundance of soluble manure, which would cause crops to become too rank, to lessen the putrescence of organic matter by the formation with it of humate of lime. In short, quicklime may be said to increase the solubility of inert organic matter, and mild lime to render less soluble organic matter already in a state of solubility. The application of lime to soil may also be useful in cases where there is not already a sufficient portion of that earth ; but, to ascertain this, a chemical analysis of the soil should be previously made. A small quantity of quicklime added to a soil in which little or none previously existed, will effect a great permanent improvement ; and the same may be said of a small quantity of clay added to a soil in which that ingredient did not previously exist. Carbonate of lime, or chalk, in its native state, differs from un- burnt limestone in being of a much softer texture, and more easily acted on either mechanically or by the weather. When burned, it of course becomes lime, and may be used either in a caustic or mild state ; but in chalky countries it is most commonly laid on land in its natural state, and left to pulverize by the influence of the weather. It is supposed to have no effect upon inert vegetable fibre, and to be incapable of generally uniting with humic acid; so that it appears to be destitute of the two properties of caustic and mild lime, viz., that of rendering insoluble matter soluble, and the contrary. Its beneficial effects are attributed to its altering the texture of soil, and to its pro- perty of retaining water without at the same time becoming adhe- sive. Hence it may be used both on sands and clays, to render the latter more friable without diminishing its retentive powers, and the former more absorbent without adding to its tenacity. Chalk, also, may be considered as a specific manure, since carbonate of lime is an c2 20 INORGANIC MANURES, CONSIDERED ingredient in almost all the plants which have hitherto been analysed by chemists. Marl is carbonate of lime mixed with clay at the rate of from twenty to eighty per cent, of carbonate, with alumina, silica, and more or less of the oxide of iron. Its action on the whole is similar to that of chalk, though it is more adapted for sandy and peaty soils than for clays. It is found from experience that it is injurious when spread on soil before being exposed for some months to the action of the atmosphere ; though the reason of this has not yet been explained. Gypsum, which is sulphate of lime, is a calcareous compound which occasionally produces extraordinary effects as a manure, though the rationale of its action does not appear to be thoroughly understood. All animal manures contain more or less of sulphate of lime as one of their constituents ; and this mineral compound has also been found in wheat, in clover, saintfoin, lucern, and many other leguminous plants, and in various pasture grasses. Hence it may in part be considered as a specific manure, and it has been so treated by Grisenthwaite in his very ingenious ' Essay,' who contends that no manure that does not contain gypsum is fit for wheat. It is said to have little effect except upon light sandy, gravelly, or chalky soils. Sea shells are very abundant on some shores, and may be either burned into lime or laid on without burning. Immense quantities are collected on the shore at Whitstable in Kent, and are laid on the soil without burning between Canterbury and Dover, where the soil is chiefly clayey. They are so much preferred to chalk or lime that they are fetched three times the distance. The rationale of the action of lime in its different states is thus given by Sir Humphry Davy : "When lime, whether freshly burned or slaked, is mixed with any moist fibrous vegetable matter, there is a strong action between the lime and the vegetable matter, and they form a kind of compost together, of which a part is usually soluble in water. By this kind of operation, lime renders matter which was before comparatively inert nutritive ; and as charcoal and oxygen abound in all vegetable matters, it becomes at the same time converted into carbonate of lime. Mild lime, powdered limestone, marls or chalks, have no action of this kind upon vegetable matter ; by their action they prevent the too rapid decomposition of substances already dissolved ; but they have no tendency to form soluble matters. It is obvious from these circumstances that the operation of quicklime, and marl or chalk, depends upon principles altogether different. Quick- lime, in being applied to land, tends to bring any hard vegetable matter that it contains into a state of more rapid decomposition and solution, so as to render it a proper food for plants. Chalk, and marl, or carbonate of lime, will only improve the texture of the soil, or its relation to absorption, acting merely as one of its earthy ingredients. Quicklime, wrhen it becomes mild, operates in the same manner as chalk ; but in the act of becoming mild, it prepares soluble out of in- Boluble matter. It is upon this circumstance that the operation of WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 21 lime in the preparation for wheat crops depends ; and its efficacy in fertilizing peats, and in bringing into a state of cultivation all soils abounding in hard roots, or dry fibres, or inert vegetable matter. The solution of the question, whether quicklime ought to be applied to a soil, depends upon the quantity of inert vegetable matter that it con- tains. The solution of the question, whether marl, mild lime, or pow- dered limestone, ought to be applied, depends upon the quantity of calcareous matter already in the soil. All soils are improved by mild lime, and ultimately by quicklime, which do not effervesce with acids ; and sands more than clays." (' Agricultural Chemistry,' 6th edit., p. 304.) In the case of suburban villas, the most important uses of lime are, first, the formation of lime-water for the destruction of insects, snails, worms, &c.; and secondly, the formation of lime composts to be used as manure. For both these purposes lime must be obtained in its caustic state. In preparing lime-water, a very small quantity of lime in powder will be found to saturate many gallons of water ; and, by letting this settle a few minutes till it becomes clear, the plants or the soil may be watered with it without leaving any coating of lime, which only takes place when the lime is applied in a state of mixture and solution. The causticity of the liquid, owing to the alkali which it contains, destroys the tender skins of caterpillars, earth-worms, snails, and slugs. Lime compost is formed of caustic lime, at the rate of from sixteen to twenty-four bushels of lime to three times that quantity of earth taken from hedge -banks, cleanings of ditches or ponds, scrapings of roads, or even from the surface of any soil which is somewhat different in its nature or texture from the soil on which the compost is to be laid. Even the substratum of any soil, where good, may be used, and afterwards laid on the surface soil. The compost should lie from nine to twelve months, and be turned over in that time twice or thrice. In every part of Britain this manure may be formed at a moderate expense ; and though it is better adapted for fields than gardens, yet in many cases, and particularly where manure is scarce, it will be found a valuable resource, and one to be recommended from the readiness and simplicity of its composition. Saltpetre, or nitrate of potash, when analysed, consists of oxygen, nitrogen, and potassium. Saltpetre is found, in almost all plants, and especially those which are cultivated in rich soils. As a manure it sometimes produces extraordinary effects on grass lands and corn crops ; but its action is not understood, and it has been but little used in horticulture. Nitrate of soda produces nearly the same results as saltpetre. From some experiments with this salt lately detailed in. the 'Journal of the English Agricultural Society,' vol. i. pp. 418 and 423, it appears to have increased the produce of corn crops, but not more so than saltpetre. In general both salts tell more on growth than on seeds. In many soils they make the straw of grain crops too luxuriant, and liable to fall before the grain is ripe. Common Salt, or the chloride of sodium, consists of nearly equal 22 MIXED MANURES, CONSIDERED parts of chlorine and sodium ; but when dissolved in water a portion of the water is decomposed, its hydrogen unites with the chlorine to form muriatic acid, and its oxygen with the sodium to produce soda. Hence salt in a dry state is chlorate of soda, and dissolved in water it becomes muriate of soda. Its action in the soil depends on the effect which the muriate of soda has on the carbonate of lime ; the latter, as we have before observed, being found in almost all soils. By the contact of these two salts, their acids and bases are interchanged, and the compounds which are the result are carbonate of soda and muriate of lime. Hence, as chalky soils abound more in carbonate of soda than any others, salt is supposed to be most beneficial to them. Salt applied in large quantities, it is well known, destroys plants ; and hence it has been used in gardening, both in a dry and liquid state, to kill weeds and worms in gravel-walks, which it does most effectually. It has been used also for washing salads and other vegetables when gathered for the kitchen, when they are supposed to contain snails, worms, or insects. It forms a direct constituent of some marine plants, and plants of saline marshes or steppes ; and, applied in small quantities, it appears to hasten the decomposition of organized matter in the soil. As a manure, however, it requires to be applied with very great caution ; and, in gardens, is perhaps safest when used in walks for the purpose of killing weeds and worms — unless when given as a top dressing to asparagus and seakale, or other plants that are found by the sea shore. In suburban villas calcareous manures are often required for the improvement of lawns and other grass lands ; and a stock of quicklime, unslaked, should always be kept in a cask, or other closed vessel, to be ready for use with water. Where lime is not at hand, common potash or American pearlash dissolved in water, or urine — especially that of cows — will have the same effect on insects as lime-water ; but potash and pearlash are more expensive. Mixed Manures. Mixed Manures include coal ashes, vegetable ashes, street manure, soot, and vegetable or vegeto-animal composts. Coal Ashes are of very different natures in different parts of the country ; the constituents of coal varying in the quantity of clay and lime, and. also of sulphur and iron, which it contains. Many persons object entirely to coal ashes as a manure, considering them poisonous rather than beneficial. The portions of coal which contain iron or other metallic ores are converted by burning into hard porous masses, which, when buried in the soil, absorb moisture, and consequently soluble organic matter : and as the spongioles of the roots cannot be supposed to penetrate into cinders or scoria3, that soluble matter must remain there till it is washed out by rains or set free by the disinte- gration of the cinder. Supposing this to be the case, the principal benefit to be derived from coal ashes would appear to be that of increasing the friability of stiff clayey soils. Vegetable Ashes are obtained by burning weeds, leaves, prunings, or roots of woody plants, and in general all kinds of vegetable matter WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 23 not readily decomposed by fermentation. The burning of vegetable substances must necessarily dissipate the whole of the oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen which they contain, together with more or less of the carbon, according to the degree in which the burning mass is exposed to the action of the atmosphere. Hence in burning wood for charcoal, the pile of logs is covered with earth or mud to prevent the production of flame, and consequent decomposition of the carbon, by the action of the oxygen of the atmosphere. The burning of vegetables, however, does not destroy the fixed saline ingredients which they contain ; and hence vegetable ashes, as manure, will be valuable as containing salts which are either of general or specific use to plants, and also as containing more or less carbon. If one kind of plant only were burnt at a time, then the ashes of that plant would form a specific manure for plants of the same kind ; but as a number of kinds are generally burned together, their ashes must contain salts of various kinds, and they may be considered as being useful to plants generally. Among these ashes there is always a large proportion of vegetable alkali (carbonate of potass) ; and this, when mixed with soil, combines with insoluble organic matter and renders it soluble; and hence vegetable ashes form a useful manure for all soils, since potass is of almost universal existence in plants. It is therefore not only a general manure by its action on organic matter, but a specific constituent of plants. Soda, which exists but in few plants, differs from potass in not being a specific manure, its action being limited to increasing the solubility of organic matter already in the soil ; and in performing this office, it is found to be more efficient than potass. Soot is composed of the various volatile matters derived from the burning of coal or wood, together with carbon, and earths which have been mechanically carried up the chimney with water in the form of smoke. From experiment it appears that soot owes its value as a manure to the saline substances which it contains ; and these are chiefly the carbonate and sulphate of ammonia, together with a small quantity of bituminous matter. The fact of carbonate of soda proving useful as a manure is undoubted, though it is difficult to explain in what manner it acts, unless, like saltpetre, it stimulates the roots. Soot when applied in gardens is generally strewed on the sur- face, and it is considered offensive to snails, slugs, and worms; though by no means killing them, as is frequently supposed. Its effects are rarely perceptible after the crop to which it is applied : and therefore, like liquid manures, soot affords a quick return for the capital em- ployed in it. Street manure, or that which is swept up in the streets of towns, consists of a great variety of matters, animal, vegetable, and mineral. In the manner towns are now kept, it is smaller in quantity and of less value than formerly, when it was among the richest of all manures. When collected in quantities, even though containing a large proportion of earth and coal ashes, it ferments powerfully, and will continue giving out heat throughout a whole summer. For this purpose it has been u>t-d in forcing-gardens as a substitute for tanners' bark and stable- 24 MIXED MANURES, CONSIDERED dung ; and it has the advantage of not subsiding so much as those materials. Wherever it can be obtained, it may be applied to all soils ; and when obtained from towns still under the old system, it may rank next to nightsoil and bones. Composts of vegetable or vegeto-animal matter and earth are of various kinds. The most common in gardens is that produced by rotten leaves or vegetable refuse mixed with sand or with some other earth, or with stable-dung : composts of bones are likewise formed in this manner, and also of peat, where that material abounds. Peat composts have been already mentioned. Mixed manure in a liquid state consists of the urine of animals, soap-suds, the foul water of kitchens and other offices, waste surface or rain water, and drainings of dunghills. The most advantageous way of employing it is by applying it, after being properly diluted and fermented, directly to growing crops. It may also be profitably em- ployed by throwing it on heaps of vegetable matter, such as moss, leaves, straw, or any vegetable refuse matter whatever not containing woody matter of several years' growth. In this way, Jauffret, a French agriculturist, proposed to create immense quantities of manure by fer- menting weeds and other refuse collected by hedge- sides, or on com- mons or wastes. The fermentation of such matters does not take place without the aid of animal manure or stable-dung ; but, when once commenced, it can be continued for an indefinite period by adding to the heap. If the liquid manure and the excrementitious matter accu- mulated in every large establishment, independently altogether of the stable manure, were collected and fermented, we have little doubt it would suffice for all the kitchen-garden crops ; the refuse of these crops and the weeds of the garden being added and fermented. It is highly probable that every individual animal produces as much manure as would raise the vegetables necessary for its support, because in the nourishment of animals, as of plants, nothing is annihilated, but merely changed : what escapes into the atmosphere is counterbalanced by what is absorbed from it ; and what is embodied in the animal during life, is restored to the soil at its death. Application of Manures. — Too much manure is injurious to all crops whatever, by increasing the proportion of watery matter, and by pro- ducing such an exuberance of growth as to prevent the maturation of the parts, the formation of blossom-buds, and the setting of fruit. It is particularly injurious to corn-crops ; producing more sap than can be properly elaborated in the leaves, and hence disease. In this case the evil is counteracted by the application of lime or common salt. All mineral manures ought to be employed in a dry and powdery state, and if possible, when the soil is equally dry and powdery ; and all moist manures, when the soil is somewhat drier than the manure. Other circumstances being the same, spring is better than autumn for applying manures, because the rains of winter might wash them away, &c. ; but, as a rule, the proper time is immediately before sowing or planting the crop. Calm weather is better than windy weather, and bulky manure ought no sooner to be laid on than buried in the soil. WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 25 Exhausting land of the manure which it contains by over-cropping, is like depriving a commercial man of his capital. In consequence of the great value of manures in increasing the amount of the produce of land, many ingenious persons have contrived mixtures, which, in small bulk, they allege will produce extraordinary effects ; and this idea seems to have been long since indulged by some writers. Lord Kaimes, nearly a century ago, thought the time might come when the quantity of manure requisite for an acre might be carried in a man's coat-pocket ; a recent author speaks of " a quart of spirit sufficient to manure an acre ;" and even Liebig says, that " a time will come when fields will be manured with a solution of glass (silicate of potash), with the ashes of burned straw, and with salts of phosphoric acid prepared in chemical manufactories, exactly as at present medicines are given for fever and goitre." (' Organic Che- mistry,' p. 188.) To those who believe in the homeopathic hypothesis of medicine such speculations will not appear unreasonable ; and there may be some truth in them, on the supposition that these small doses of spirit, or of silicate of potash, are to act as stimulants to the organic matter already in the soil ; but to ordinary apprehensions it seems difficult to conceive how bulk and weight of produce can be raised without the application of a certain degree of bulk of manure. Since the introduction of guano, and the more general manufacture of artificial manures, in the shapes of phos- phates, sulphates, &c., we have daily proofs, however, of what can be eilV-cted by small quantities of concentrated manures. With the exception of such manufactured manures, easily applied as to their bulk, but to be used careftilly and sparingly owing to their strength, all the manures mentioned in this section are easily obtained by the possessors of suburban gardens. Soot and ashes are produced on their own premises ; compost may be formed by the mixture of various articles collected or procured ; liquids abound, and have only to be collected and properly fermented ; and street manure may in general be purchased from the nearest town. It cannot be too strongly im- pressed on the possessor of a country residence who wishes to make the most of it, that no particle of organic matter, whether animal or vegetable, and no drop of water, with whatever it may be discoloured, ought to be left uncoliected or allowed to run to waste. CHAPTER III. THE ATMOSPHERE, CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. THE atmosphere on every part of the globe consists of the same consti- tuent parts, to wit, nitrogen 78 parts, oxygen 21 parts, and carbonic acid gas and vapours of water about 2 parts. It likewise contains slight traces of ammonia and other gases. Its main constituents are always 26 HEAT, CONSIDERED WITH the same, but the percentage of aqueous vapour and carbonic acid gas varies, and certain modifications take place in the air' as it is affected by heat, moisture, motion, and perhaps light. Heat. Heat, like light, is found to be capable of radiation, reflection, trans- mission through transparent media, and refraction ; but it is radiated, reflected, transmitted, and refracted, in a different manner and degree from light. Thus it appears that both light and heat can be trans- mitted through either gaseous, fluid, or solid media, provided they are transparent. Any opaque body is to light, however, an impenetrable barrier ; but to heat, or to its conduction, neither opaqueness nor solidity affords resistance. On the contrary, heat is conducted more rapidly by solid than by fluid or gaseous bodies ; a fact which will be noticed in treating of artificial coverings for protecting plants. A solid body will obstruct the radiation of heat, as is familiarly exem- plified in the case of the common fire-screen. The diffusion of heat by conduction and radiation is what chiefly concerns the horticulturist. The conduction of heat is effected by the contact of bodies heated in different degrees, when the tendency to equal diffusion immediately raises the temperature of the one body and lowers that of the other. This takes place with different degrees of rapidity, according to the nature of the bodies in contact. If thermometers be placed on metal, stone, glass, ivory, and earth, all heated from the same source, we shall find that the thermometer placed on the metal will rise soonest ; next, that placed on the stone ; next, that on the glass ; theu that on the wood ; and lastly, that on the earth. The conducting power of bodies is generally as their density. The greatest of all con- ductors of heat are metals ; and the least so, spongy and light fila- mentous bodies. Silk, cotton, wool, hare's fur, and eider-down, are extremely bad conductors of heat, and hence their value as clothing. They give us a sensation of warmth, not by communicating heat to the skin, but by preventing its escape into the air, in consequence of their non-conducting properties. The power which these bodies have of stopping the transmission of heat depends on the air which is stag- nated in their vacuities; for- when the air is expelled by compression, their conducting power is increased. Hence, in covering plants or plant structures with leaves, litter straw, mats, or other light, porous bodies, the less they are compressed the more effective will they be found in preventing the escape of heat by conduction. All tight cover- ings, whether of animals or plants, retain very little heat, when com- pared with loose coverings ; and hence mats, when drawn tightly round bushes, or nailed closely against trees on walls, are much less effective than when fastened over them loosely, and do not retain nearly so much heat as a covering of straw. Coverings of sand, ashes, or rotten tan, applied to the ground, or to the roots of herbaceous plants, are, for the same reason, much less effective than coverings of leaves so applied ; and these, again, are much less so than coverings of REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 27 litter or long straw. The heat of the trunks of trees is prevented from escaping to the extent it otherwise would do by their bark, which is a powerful non-conductor, and the heat of the ground by a covering of snow, which, by its spongy, porous nature, contains a great deal of air. Without this covering, the herbaceous plants of the northern regions could not exist ; nor would spring flowers, such as the aconite, snow-drop, crocus, daffodil, &c., in the climate of Scot- land, come nearly so early into bloom. Heat is diffused amongst bodies not in contact by the process called radiation, in consequence of which property a person standing near any body heated to a higher temperature than himself will experience a sensation of warmth. The radiation of heat from any body proceeds from its surface in every direction in straight lines, in the same manner as the divergent rays of light from an illuminated body, as for example, a lighted candle ; and rays of heat, like rays of light, may be reflected from polished surfaces, and transmitted and refracted through trans- parent substances, and even polarized. But though it be true that heat, in proceeding from a body, begins by radiating from it at right angles and in straight lines, yet this can only be strictly said of heat which is radiated perpendicularly into the atmosphere. Thus, from a pipe of water equally heated, the heat tends to radiate at right angles from its surface in all directions ; yet none but those rays which pro- ceed from the uppermost part of the convex surface of the pipe will preserve their perpendicularity. All the other rays, from their first contact with the air, will be deflected upwards, being in fact carried in that direction by the heating effect which those rays themselves produce upon the particles of air on which they impinge. The pro- perty of radiation, however, is that which chiefly concerns the horti- culturist ; and the following description of this phenomenon is given by Mr. Daniell, the author of by far the best essay which has yet appeared on climate, as connected with horticulture. Radiation of heat is the " power of emitting it in straight lines in every direction, independently of contact, and may be regarded as a property common to all matter. Co-existing with it, in the same degrees, may be regarded the power of absorbing heat so emitted from other bodies. Polished metals, and the fibres of vegetables, may be considered as placed at the two extremities of the scale upon which these properties in different substances may be measured. If a body be so situated that it may receive just as much radiant heat as itself projects, its temperature remains the same ; if the surrounding bodies emit heat of greater intensity than the same body, its temperature rises, till the quantity which it receives exactly balances its expendi- ture, at which point it again becomes stationary ; and if the power of radiation be exerted under circumstances which prevent a return, the temperature of the body declines. Thus, if a thermometer be placed in the focus of a concave metallic mirror, and turned towards any clear portion of the sky, at any period of the day, it will fall many degrees below the temperature of another thermometer placed near it out of the mirror ; the power of radiation is exerted in both thermometers, 28 HEAT, CONSIDERED WITIf but to the first all return of radiant heat is cut off, while the other receives as much from the surrounding bodies as itself projects. This interchange amongst bodies takes place in transparent media as well as in vacua ; but in the former case the effect is modified by the equalizing power of the medium." This description is clear and satis- factory ; but it must not be supposed, that though the balance of tem- perature will not be disturbed irom the effects of radiation when the body is completely enclosed, yet that it may not be so by the other law of heat, conduction. " Any portion of the surface of the globe which is fully turned to- wards the sun receives more radiant heat than it projects, and becomes heated ; but when, by the revolution of the earth on its axis, this por- tion is turned from the source of heat, the radiation into space still continues, and, being uncompensated, the temperature declines. In consequence of the different degrees in which different bodies possess this power of radiation, two contiguous portions of the earth will become of different temperatures, and if on a clear night we place a thermometer upon a grass plat, and another upon a gravel walk or the bare soil, we shall find the temperature of the former many degrees below that of the latter. The fibrous texture of the grass is favourable to the emission of the heat, but the dense surface of the gravel seems to retain and fix it. But this unequal effect will only be perceived when the atmosphere is unclouded, and a free passage is open into space ; for even a light mist will arrest the radiant matter in its course, and return as much to the radiating body as it emits. The intervention of more substantial obstacles will of course still more prevent radiation, and the balance of temperature will not be dis- turbed in any substance which is not placed in the clear aspect of the sky. A portion of a grass plat under the protection of a tree or hedge will generally be found, on a clear night, to be eight or ten degrees warmer than surrounding unsheltered parts ; and it is well known to gardeners that less dew and frost are to be found in such situations than in those which are wholly exposed. There are many independent circumstances which modify the effects of this action, such as the state of the radiating body, its power of conducting heat, &c. If, for instance, the body be in a liquid or aeriform state, although the process may go on freely, as in water, the cold produced by it will not accumulate upon the surface, but will be dispersed by known laws throughout the mass ; and if a solid mass be a good radiator but a bad conductor of heat, the frigorific effect will be condensed upon the face which is exposed. So upon the surface of the earth absolute stillness of the atmosphere is necessary for the accumulation of cold upon the radiating body ; for if the air be in motion, it disperses and equalizes the effect with a rapidity proportioned to its velocity." (' Hort. Trans.,' vol. vi. p. 10.) All the phenomena connected with dew or hoarfrost have been ex- plained by Dr. Wells on these principles. The deposition of moisture is owing to the cold produced in bodies by radiation, which condenses the atmospheric vapour on their surfaces. The deposition of dew takes REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 29 place upon vegetables, but not upon the naked soil, because the latter is a bad radiator as well as, a bad conductor of heat. The fibres of short grass are particularly favourable to the formation of dew. Moisture, including that modification of it called dew, is deposited more or less on all bodies in absolute contact with the air, whenever the temperature of the air is higher than that of the body with which it is in contact. " The formation of dew is one of the circumstances which modify and check the refrigerating effect of radiation ; for, as the vapour is condensed, it gives out the latent heat with which it was combined in its elastic form, and thus, no doubt, prevents an excess of depression which might in many cases prove injurious to vegetation." " The vegetation of this country is liable to be affected at night from the influence of radiation, by a temperature below the freezing point of water, ten months in the year ; and even in the two months, July and August, which are the only exceptions, a thermometer covered with wool will sometimes fall to 35°. It is, however, only low vege- tation upon the ground which is exposed to the full rigour of this effect. In such a situation, the air which is evolved by the process lies upon the surface of the plants, and from its weight cannot make its escape ; but from the foliage of a tree or shrub it glides off and settles upon the ground." " Anything which obstructs the free aspect of the sky arrests in proportion the progress of this refrigeration, and the slighest cover- ing of cloth or matting annihilates it altogether. Trees trained upon a wall or paling, or plants sown under their protection are sheltered from a large portion of this evil, and are still further pro- tected if within a moderate distance of another opposing screen." Almost all the modes in practice of protecting plants are designed to check radiation, and hence the gardener should keep constantly in his mind the fact, that all bodies placed in a medium colder than themselves are continually giving out their heat in straight lines, and that these straight lines, when the body is surrounded by air, may always be reflected back on the body from which they emanate by the slightest covering placed at a short distance from them, while, on the other hand, if this slight covering is applied close to the body, instead of reflecting back the heat, it will carry it off by conduction : that is, the heat will pass through the thin covering closely applied, and be radiated from its surface. Hence in covering sashes with mats, a great advan- tage is obtained by laying straw between the mats and the glass, or by any other means of keeping the mat a few inches above the frame. Hence also when the branches of trees are to be protected by mats, they will be rendered much more secure if first surrounded by straw, fern, or some other light body which contains in its interstices a good deal of air. " It should be borne in mind," Mr. Daniell observes, " that the radiation is only transferred from the tree to the mat, and the cold of the latter will be conducted to the former in every point where it touches. Contact should therefore be prevented by hoops or other means properly applied, and the stratum of air which is enclosed will, 30 HEAT, CONSIDERED WITH by its low conducting power, effectually secure the plant. With their foliage thus protected, and the roots well covered with litter, many evergreens might doubtless be brought to survive the rigour of our winters which are now confined to the greenhouse and conservatory." " A very slight motion of the air suffices to break or check the force of radiation. The mere act of walking through a mist in a meadow has often been found sufficient to dissolve and dissipate it. A valley sur- rounded by low hills is more liable to the effects of radiation than the tops and sides of the hills themselves; and it is a well-known fact that dew and hoarfrost are always more abundant in the former than in the latter situations. It is not meant to include in this observation places surrounded by lofty and precipitous hills which obstruct the aspect of the sky, for in such the contrary effect would be produced. Gentle slopes, which break the undulations of the air without naturally circum- scribing the heavens, are most efficient in promoting this action ; and it is worthy of remark and consideration, that by walls and other fences, we may artificially combine circumstances which may produce the same injurious effect. " But the influence of hills upon the nightly temperature of the valleys which they surround is not confined to this insulation ; radiation goes on upon their declivities, and the air which is condensed by the cold, rolls down and lodges at their feet. Their sides are thus protected from the chill, and a double portion falls upon what many are apt to consider the more sheltered situation. Experience amply confirms these theoretical considerations. It is a very old remark, that the in- jurious effect of cold occurs chiefly in hollow places, and that frosts are less severe upon hills than in neighbouring plains. The leaves of the Vine, the Walnut-tree, and the succulent shoots of Dahlias and Pota- toes, are often destroyed by frost in sheltered valleys, on nights when they are perfectly untouched upon the surrounding eminences ; and the difference, on the same night, between two thermometers placed in the two situations, in favour of the latter, has amounted to thirty degrees. 11 The horticulturist can effect but little in the way of raising the temperature of the climate in the open air, except by the choice of a sunny elevated situation, thorough drainage, the concentration of the sun's rays upon walls, and furnishing shelter. The natural reverbe- ration of heat from walls and the earth itself is, however, very great, and generally effective in enabling the plants to resist the exhaustive force of radiation. Few of the productions of the tropical regions are ex- posed to a greater heat than a well-trained tree upon a wall in summer. It has been proved by experiment that the power of radiation from the sun, like that of radiation from the earth, increases with the distance from the equator ; and there is a greater difference between a ther- mometer placed in the shade and another in the solar rays in this country, than in Sierra Leone or Jamaica. This energy of the sun is at times so great, that it often becomes necessary to shade delicate flowers from its influence ; and it would at times be desirable to try the same precaution with the early blossoms of certain fruit trees. The REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 31 greatest power is put forth in this country in June, while the greatest temperature of the air does not take place till July." The construction of houses for growing the plants of warm climates, or for forcing, is founded chiefly on the doctrine of radiation, as well as on that of producing heat by combustion or fermentation. The roof and sides of a frame or a hothouse serve the purpose of reflecting back the heat of the bodies within, whether that heat is only such as the soil enclosed naturally affords, or whether it is generated artificially . But though the roofs of hothouses reflect back great part of the heat which is radiated to them, yet a great part also is conducted through the glass to its outer surface, and thence radiated into the free air. To prevent this waste of heat, without diminishing the quantity of light transmitted through the glass, is a desideratum in hothouse building. In Russia, double sashes are used, and might be more generally adopted in this country. A thin opaque screen of bunting or matting thrown over the transparent face of the glass would likewise reduce the loss by radiation to a minimum. The power of man over the heat of the free atmosphere is compara- tively limited. Nevertheless, as heat is carried off from the surface of the ground, and from all other objects, by wind, by radiation, and by evaporation, it follows that heat may be saved by shelter from the wind, and from being radiated into the air by a partial covering of the ground, on a large scale, by scattered standard trees, or, on a smaller scale, by covering beds or borders with straw ; and it may be saved from being carried off by evaporation by under-draining, surface- draining, and by such a composition of the soil as will readily admit the infiltration of water, so as to render it at all times, except during rains, tolerably dry. The drier the earth the less water will be evapo- rated from its surface. The evaporation of water simply means its being lifted up by the agency of heat or wind. For every drop removed' a certain measure of warmth is lost. It takes above 200° of heat to convert water into steam ; and though vapour does not require so much, part of the vapour being chemically attracted by the atmosphere, still the consumption is great. From these causes the earth and plants by degrees get so cold, from having parted with their heat, that their temperature descends below the freezing point. In spring and autumn the air is comparatively warm, and the nights not so long ; and hence spring and autumn frosts seldom take place till near sunrise : and if a cloud happens to settle above any portion of the earth about that time, before the earth has been cooled down to the freezing point, it prevents the farther radiation of the heat upwards ; and hence we often find places lying contiguous and below the cloud to be saved from frost at one time, while at another they will be much hurt. Where plants partially cover one another, they help to prevent radiation ; and when one plant is more covered with moisture than another, more full of watery sap, and the bark more tender, from these and other causes it is often, to all appearance un- accountably, killed, while another is left unhurt. In order to protect plants from frost, we should study to have the 32 HEAT, CONSIDERED WITH plants themselves and the earth around them as dry as possible to- wards the evening. The situation for plants liable to be hurt by spring and autumn frosts should be as much elevated as possible, in order to have the benefit of the wind in dispersing the cold heavy air and bringing forward the warmer. Wherever it is possible, when the clear- ness and coldness of the air indicate a tendency to frost, plants that are worth the expense should be carefully covered with the best non- conducting substances, such as straw, dry fern, mats, &c. Whatever covering is used, whether straw mats, bast mats, cloth, wool, or wood, it should be elevated above the surface to be covered, so as to contain as much confined air as possible. Confined air is one of the worst conductors of heat ; the covering will not radiate or give out heat till the confined air and covering are both heated above the state of the atmosphere ; and the transmission of heat will take place more slowly through the confined air than anything else. Thus, with very little trouble, by elevating our coverings, we surround our plants or plant-structures with a substance which is very retentive of heat, and increases the protection of the covering in an immense degree. In doing so, however, the sides will have to be blocked up, or the heat will rapidly escape at the vacuum between the cover and the glass covered, both by radiation and conduction. Wall-trees should have a broad coping of wood on the wall, to pre- vent the ascent of heat ; and woollen nets or canvas, drawn down before tender peaches, &c., in cold nights, and carefully removed in good weather through the day, are a great help, when not left on in all weathers. The wall, for tender fruit-trees, or other tender plants, is best built of porous materials, as bricks, which retain the heat from the confined air better than stone ; and they should be built with hollow chambers for the same purpose. Where painting is needed, white is the best colour. To prevent the bad effects of cold east winds in the spring, causing the sap to descend in standard fruit-trees, and destroy- ing the blossom when expanded by the check it gives to the ascent of the sap that should nourish it, the stems and branches should be bound with straw ropes, and the ground mulched. Various situations should be chosen to protect tender shrubs and trees, according to the nature of the plant. For those that grow early, and are apt to be nipped by spring frosts, a north border and cold soil are best to retard their time of starting till the danger from frost is less: for those that suffer from want of the wood being ripened suffi- ciently, as many American plants which have a warmer summer in their native situation to ripen the wood, as also for those that suffer by autumn frosts before the wood is ripened, a south exposure, and warm dry early soil are best : in dry soils there is not so much wood made, but that which is made is more easily ripened ; and the more sun, the more likelihood that the wood will be ripened before frost sets in. In some late wet autumns, some of the hardiest of our trees have been killed : transplanted Birch, after being some years transplanted ; Oaks, that were apparently sound, dying down half their length in the ensuing spring; and seedling American Oaks dying off in the en- REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 33 suing summer, after having begun to grow ; thus showing that even the hardiest of our trees may be affected, from their wood not being suffi- ciently ripened in a cold wet autumn. The presence of a stream or river increases the tendency to slight frosts in spring and autumn. The surface of the water, as it condenses by cold, descends to the bottom, and a warm stratum succeeds to the surface ; and so far the tendency is towards heating rather than cool- ing the air : but the great evaporation that takes place through the day, and early in the evening, robs the air of so much caloric, that fields situated near shallow rivers, streams, or bogs, have generally been found most liable to frost ; near the sea, or near great bodies of deep water, the first -mentioned effect of a succession of warmer strata to the surface prevails, and we have less tendency to freezing. Cold water applied to frozen plants early in the morning, before the sun touches them, by gradually thawing them, will frequently restore them, especially if they are shaded from the sun until the process of thawing is complete. But no power on earth can recover the plant if the juices have been exposed to freeze till the vessels are burst, which may be known by the change of colour in the leaves caused by the suffusion of the sap. If some of the most tender leaves only are hurt on the young growths, the plant may survive ; if the wood is chiefly young and succulent, as in seedlings, Dahlias, &c., the whole plant generally perishes, unless where there is an old ripened root or wood to renew vegetation. It appears from these various considerations that the best mode of increasing or preserving the heat of the earth and of the atmosphere is to check the loss of heat from evaporation by drainage, and from radia- tion by coverings or shelter. Atmospheric Moisture, considered with reference to Horticulture. The existence of water in air, even when the latter is in its driest, coldest, and purest state, is easily proved ; and the quantity of aqueous vapour which it holds in suspension has been ascertained by experi- ment, It varies with the temperature, increasing as the heat is greater, in something like a geometrical ratio. "At 50° Fahr. air contains about 1-50 of its volume of vapour; and as the specific gravity ot vapour is to that of air nearly as 10 to 15, this is about 1-75 of its weight. At 100°, and supposing that there is a free communication with water, it contains about 1-14 part in volume, or 1-21 in weight." Water is also held in the atmosphere in a grosser form than that of elastic vapour; for example, as mist, fog, or clouds, which three forms only differ in their appearances, and not in their nature. It will be found afterwards that it is of some importance to bear in mind the dis- tinction between water held in suspension in the atmosphere in the state of invisible elastic vapour, and water held in suspension in the state of steam, mist, or fog. The simplest mode of measuring the amount of vapour in the air is by means of the wet and dry bulb thermometer, which is the best hygrometer for horticultural purposes. 34 ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE, CONSIDERED Having denoted the means which may be resorted to in order to ascertain the hygrometric state of the atmosphere, we shall now give an example of the utility of that knowledge for horticultural purposes. We shall suppose that the grape is to be forced in a vinery ; and we shall first imagine the plant growing under the most favourable cir- cumstances in its native country, at the time of its floAvering, and enjoy- ing a temperature of 70° or 80° through the day, with 8° or 10° of dryness, according to the hygrometer of Mason or Daniell. At night, whilst the air has still a genial warmth, it is also charged with a re- freshing moisture, or, in other words, it is in a state of saturation. The leaves expand, and the shoots become rapidly extended. The con-, ditions under which this takes place, in the native country of the grape, we would wish to imitate in its artificial culture in our vineries. In a vinery we can, even in cold weather, command heat, and the degree of dryness through the day will not be much in excess ; but when night comes, although we can still keep up the heat, the moisture is dimi- nished instead of being increased. More fire-heat being required, the air in contact with the hot flues, or hot-water pipes, ascends upwards in consequence of its increasing elasticity, till it reaches the cold glass; the latter condenses the vapour which the air contains, just as the refrigerator of a still condenses, by its coldness, the spirituous or other vapour contained in the worm ; and the condensed vapour may be seen trickling down the glass roof. The portions of air thus successively drained of moisture being also cooled by contact with the glass, become specifically heavier, sink and give place to a fresh supply of warmer air, which in its turn descends, likewise deprived of its moisture. Herein we have discovered the source of an evil, the amount of which may be accurately ascertained by means of the hygrometer ; and it will sometimes, under such circumstances as are stated, indicate as much as 20° of dryness, or double what the vine naturally had in the day, instead of being in the natural state of saturation at night. Over the state of saturation the horticulturist has little or no control in the open air ; but over its velocity he has some command. He can break the force of the blast by artificial means, such as walls, palings, hedges, or other screens ; or he may find natural shelter in situations upon the acclivities of hills. Excessive exhalation is very injurious to many of the processes of vegetation, and no small proportion of what is commonly called blight may be attributed to this cause. Dr. McNab, of Cirencester, has proved by numerous experiments that "in the sun plants transpire most in a saturated atmosphere ; in the shade transpi- ration ceases when the atmosphere is loaded with watery vapour," so that " plants in the warm moist air of a hothouse will give off very large quantities of fluid by transpiration, unless this is modified and regulated by proper shading." Evaporation increases in a prodigi- ously rapid ratio with the velocity of the wind, and anything which retards the motion of the latter is very efficacious in diminishing the amount of the former : the same surface which, in a calm state of the air, would exhale 100 parts of moisture, would yield 125 in a mode- rate breeze, and 150 in a high wind. Under pressure, moreover, it WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 35 has been established that absorption is greater than evaporation, but when the pressure is diminished, the rate of evaporation exceeds that of absorption. When trees are trained upon a wall with a southern aspect, they have the advantage of a greatly increased temperature ; but this tempe- rature, in spring, differs from the warmth of a more advanced period of the year, or of a more southern climate, in not being accompanied by an increase of moisture. In this country the sun is frequently sufficiently powerful in summer to raise the thermometer in the free air, at a distance from the wall, to 101°, whilst the heat in the shade may, perhaps, be only 60°, and the dew-point 50°. In early spring, with an east wind, a warm sun, and a parched air, it is often useful, and ensures a crop of tender fruit on walls, to check the loss of sap from tender leaves and flowers by a temporary shade. Under such circumstances the degree of dryness would be 20°. Over the absolute state of vapour in the air we are almost power- less ; and by no system of watering can we affect the dew-point in the free atmosphere. This is determined in the upper regions of the air, and it is only by temporary expedients, such as shelter and shade, that we can modify the effects of excessive exhalations. Over rain we may be said to have little influence, though the planting of trees often causes it to fall, and the denudation of forests prevents it from doing so. We can likewise prevent it from falling upon particular plants or objects. By copings we can protect fruit- trees against walls from perpendicular rain, and thus preserve the bloom on the surface of fruit which would otherwise be washed off. The roofs of plant-structures of every kind, and even the surface of the ground, may be protected from rain by thatching or covering with any body that will carry off the rain at particular points, or channels, whence it may be conveyed away in underground drains. By these and other means the soil of a garden in a wet climate may be kept much drier, and consequently warmer, than it otherwise would be. Some situations are more liable to rain than others, such as the vicinity of woods and hills, and places exposed to the Western Ocean generally. Those, on the other hand, which are exposed to the Eastern Ocean have rains less frequently ; but these rains have a better effect on vegetation, because the soil, from the less frequency of rain, being generally drier, is warmer to receive them. Though we have little or no power over the moisture of the free atmosphere, we may be said to have the perfect command of the atmo- spheric moisture of hothouses. Till within the last twenty or thirty years the principal points attended to in the atmosphere of hothouses were heat and light ; but meteorological and chemical researches having proved that with every increase of temperature in the open air there is always an increase of aqueous vapour, this condition began to be imitated in hothouses in which tropical plants were cultivated. " Capt. Sabine, in his meteorological researches between the tropics, rarely found, at the hottest period of the day, so great a difference as 10 D2 36 ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE, CONSIDERED degrees between the temperature of the air and the dew-point ; making the degree of saturation about 730, but most frequently 5 degrees, or 850 ; and the mean saturation of the air could not have exceeded 910." In our hothouses as commonly managed, he observes, " it would be no uncommon thing to find in them a difference of 20° between the point of condensation and the air, or a degree of moisture falling short of 500." The causes of this unnatural dryness in our artificial climates are the condensation of moisture on the glass, and the escape of heated and damp air through the crevices of the building, the space which it occupied being constantly supplied by dry external air. A third drain of moisture formerly existed in the absorbing surfaces of brick flues, which drank up the moisture of the air in contact with them, and carried it off with the smoke into the outer air. The very general use of hot water in iron pipes has removed this nuisance, and we have now only to contend with the other two robbers of moisture. Some idea of the drain of moisture by the escape of heated air may be formed from the following considerations. The capacity of air for moisture, that is to say, the quantity of water which a cubic foot of air will hold in invisible suspension, depends upon its temperature, and increases with it in a rapid ratio. It is doubled between 44° and 60°. The consequence is, that every cubic foot of air which escapes at the latter temperature carries off with it twice as much moisture as it brought in. Where the difference of temperature is greater, the drain becomes greater also : air entering at 44°, and escaping at 80°, carries off three times as much as it brought in ; escaping at 90°, four times. The amount of moisture thus abstracted cannot be very easily esti- mated, as it varies exceedingly according to the height and construction of the building heated, and the disparity between the temperature of the external and internal atmospheres. There exists, however, another drain of moisture, constantly affect- ing all hothouses, however perfectly constructed, and however cau- tiously ventilated : viz., the condensation on the glass. In this case the expenditure is capable of pretty accurate calculation. It has been ascertained by experiment, that each square foot of glass will cool 1 J cubic feet of air as many degrees per minute as the temperature of inner air exceeds that of outer air ; that is to say, if the temperature of the outer air be 44°, and of the house 66°, for every square foot of glass 1^ cubic feet of air will be cooled 22° per minute; and the moisture which this air held in suspension, in virtue of its 22° of heat, will be deposited on the glass, and will either drain away out of the house or fall in drip. In a parched atmosphere the roots of plants are apt to suffer, a? well as the tops, from rapid evaporation through the sides of the pots, and over active exhalations through the leaves. The custom of lowering the temperature of fluids in hot climates, by placing them in coolers of wet porous earthenware, is well known, and the common garden pot is as good a cooler for this purpose as can be made. Under the common circumstances of the atmosphere of a WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE, 37 hothouse, a depression of temperature, amounting to fifteen or twenty degrees, may easily be produced upon such an evaporating surface. But the greatest mischief will arise from the increased exhalations of the plants so circumstanced, and the consequent exhaustion of the powers of vegetation. Some idea may be formed of the prodigiously increased drain upon the functions of a plant, arising from an increase of dryness in the air, from the following consideration. If we suppose the amount of its perspiration, in a given time, to be 57 grains, the temperature of the air being 75°, and the dew-point 70°, or the satu- ration of the air being 849, the amount would be increased to 120 grains in the same time if the dew-point were to remain stationary and the temperature were to rise to 80° ; or, in other words, if the saturation of the air were to fall to 726. Such facts explain why plants in living rooms do not thrive so well as those which are kept in plant structures, the dry air of the living room constantly draining root and top alike of moisture. Hence the fibres in the inside of the pots are alternately moistened and dried, and cooled and heated, and the leaves are deprived of their water by evaporation faster than it can be renewed. Excessive dryness of the air likewise interferes with the absorbing and transforming functions of plants, by which new matter is added to them, growth promoted, and all their secretions formed. Plants vary in their power of resisting the evil effects of a dry atmosphere. As a rule, it may be stated that the thinner their leaves the less their ability to withstand it, and vice versd ; hence the great fitness of leathery-leaved plants such as palms, orchids and ficuses, for the decoration of living rooms. It is equally or more important to imitate the natural atmosphere of tropical or temperate climes in our hothouses, in regard to moisture than in reference to heat, and with care and attention the one is as easy as the other. The simplest means are generally the best. Tt is specially so in this matter. By sprinkling the leaves and stems of the plants, the floor, sides, and roof of the house, and placing evaporating pans on the heating apparatus, and covering the roof during severe ^v«-ather, sufficient moisture may generally be preserved in the air. In vineries these means are often supplemented by the introduction of some sweet fermenting dung, which distils moisture and distributes food at the same time. This, however, would prove fatal in plant houses, and needs skill and caution in using it. An extra dose of ammonia is death to tender plants or young leaves, and there is no difficulty in supplying the air with moisture apart from fermenting ma- terials. To give an idea of the amount required, it may be well to remember that the heat of the glass of a hothouse at night cannot ex- ceed the mean of the external and internal air, and taking these at 80° and 40°, 20° of dryness are kept up in the interior, or a degree of saturation not exceeding 528. To this, in a clear night, we may add at least 6° for the effects of radiation, to which the glass is more or less exposed, which would reduce the saturation to 434°, and this is a degree of drought which must be nearly destructive. No kind of 33 CIRCULATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE, CONSIDERED protection would be so effective as double glass, including a stratum of air. When it is considered that a temperature at night of 20° is of no very unfrequent occurrence in this country, the saturation of the air may, upon such occasions, fall to 120°; and such an evil can only at present be guarded against by diminishing the interior heat in pro- portion. But, by materially lowering the temperature, we communi- cate a check which is totally inconsistent with the welfare of tropical vegetation. It is, however, more natural, and consequently better for the health of the plants, to maintain a night temperature of from 10° to 15° lower than the day. This checks the loss of heat, and conse- quently of moisture, and brings down a natural dew on the leaves. " The skilful balancing of the temperature and moisture of the air," said the late Dr. Lindley, " in cultivating different kinds of plants, and the just adaptation of them to the various seasons of growth, constitute the most complicated and difficult part of a gardener's art. There is some danger in laying down any general rules with respect to this sub- ject, so much depends upon the peculiar habits of species, of which the modifications are endless. It may, however, I think, be safely stated that the following rules deserve special attention : — (1.) Most moisture in the air is demanded by plants when they first begin to grow, and least when their periodical growth is completed. (2.) The quantity of atmospheric moisture required by plants is, cateris paribus, in inverse proportion to the distance of the countries which they naturally inhabit from the equator. (3.) Plants with annual stems require more than those with ligneous stems. (4.) The amount of moisture in the air, most suitable to plants at rest, is in inverse proportion to the quantity of aqueous matter they at that time contain. Hence the dryness of the air required by succulent plants when at rest." (' Theory of Hort.,' p. 153.) The Circulation of the Atmosphere, considered in its relation to Horticulture. The motion of the air is essential to life. It is the great carrier of the world's food and drink, the great remover of its filth and poison. It brings the food of plants from afar, and places it within reach of the open mouths of roots and leaves. Many have thought that by the motion it imparts it likewise helps plants to digest or assimilate their food, while the mechanical force of moving air is supposed to give strength and stability to their closely packed fibres and tissues. Moving air likewise sucks up the watery matter of plants, and increases the power and activity of their perspiring and absorbing functions. The wind dries and moves all bodies exposed to it, and doubtless each of these in moderation is essential to the full development of the life and beauty of plants. But, while exposure to air in motion is beneficial, the air very often moves faster, and the wind proves stronger, than desired. For this reason shelter may often be needed to break the force or change the direction of large volumes of air in motion. The most IN ITS RELA TION TO HORTICULTURE. 39 effectual mode of sheltering any surface of ground, whether level or hilly, is by planting groups or belts of trees. In this way a park or pleasure-ground in the most exposed situation may be sheltered in every part of its surface. In the same way, an orchard or plan- tation of fruit-trees, the trees being equally distributed over the ground, produces its own shelter ; but as a kitchen-garden, if planted with standard fruit-trees so as to produce shelter, would be unfit for the cul- ture of culinary vegetables, the best mode of sheltering it is by crossing it with walls and hedges at such distances as may produce the de- sired shelter in the given situations. The renewal and agitation of the air in plant-houses is a subject which is still but imperfectly understood. It has been long known in practice that plants cannot be kept in a healthy and growing state in any houses that are not supplied with ample means of venti- lation; and yet, admitting the external air into houses for tropical plants, and for forcing fruits, is often found to be decidedly injurious. The injuries sustained by the admission of the external air into a hothouse are greater or less according to the difference of temperature, and, consequently, of moisture. When the external air enters a hothouse in which the air is at a high temperature, it rushes in with con- siderable velocity, driving out by the pressure of the atmosphere the hot and vaporous air by which the plants are surrounded, and becoming heated and charged with moisture, at the expense of the enclosed air, the earth in the pots, and the foliage of the plants. The best remedy for this evil is to heat the air, and to saturate it with moisture, before it is admitted among the plants ; and this has been done first by Mr. Penn's mode of heating, and since by the Polmaise system and other modes of heating and ventilating. Both systems are founded on the well-known principle that hot air is lighter than cold air ; and the object sought to be obtained by both is to make air circulate in the atmosphere of a plant house as water does in hot-water pipes. This is done by admitting hot air at one end of the house, and having an underground drain to draw off the cold air at the other. Mr. Penn's plan is shown in fig. 1, in which a is a chamber containing hot- water pipes, b a small opening for occasionally admitting fresh air, and c a drain or tunnel under the house, the bottom of which is kept covered with water. The principal objec- tion to this plan is the great expenditure of fuel which is required to heat the air suffi- ciently; and this objection is so serious in the eyes of most g cultivators that Penn's mode *lg. 1. ^C= ->-•' x? — *• ^^> *-^^, 5f 1M \d v y ~-~ < ^ tion of a hothouse heated by hot water, ar.r.nrft.j.'nst t.n Aft* Pf>n.n?a vn.nd.f. of heating is now scarcely ever heard of. The Polmaise system, on the contrary, is very generally 40 CIRCULATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE, CONSIDERED known. There are several modifications of this system, but the best appears to be that by which a constant stream of fresh air is admitted to a chamber outside the hothouse, where it is heated by passing over the iron plate of a stove, and afterwards charged with moisture by passing over a tank of hot water. It then enters the house, through which its heat makes it rise and diffuse itself; but as it becomes cold it sinks, and is finally conveyed by a cold-air drain to feed the fire of the stove, the smoke being carried off by a chimney or flue. A similar, though not so perfect a circulation is established in most hot- houses— without a drain at all. The roof and the floor are both con- verted into drains for the circulation from or return to the pipes or other sources of heat of the hot or cold air. Improved modes of admitting fresh air below the heating apparatus in front or at the back of houses are also general. The great point connected with the admission of cold air to hothouses in cold weather is to charge it with moisture before it comes into direct contact with the plants. The sketch, fig. 2, is the section of a house heated by pipes in the ordinary manner, under the front shelves. The arrows (numbered) indicate the course of the current of air. At No. 1 the air comes heated from the pipes p, and ex- tremely thirsty; at No. 2 it finds moisture among the plants, and rising from the damp and warm shelf (slate, of Section of a hothouse, heated by hot water in CQurs^ ftt NQ> 3 it hag the ordinary manner. „ . , parted with some 01 its heat ; it is now supersaturated, and is parting with the moisture deposited on the glass ; at No. 4 it is in the same state ; at No. 5 it has ceased to lose heat or moisture ; at Nos. 6 and 7 the same ; at No. 8 it again comes within the influence of the pipes, and is heated, becoming again very dry. Now the air which descends to the floor (8) in the first place, is a small and feeble current, and secondly, is nearly saturated, so that it can take up little moisture ; and what little it does get is because the floor, being slightly warmed by the radiation of the pipes, warms, and at the same time moistens, the air ; but, nevertheless, the air at No. 1 is anything rather than saturated. By placing evapora- ting pans on the top of the pipes, to be filled or emptied at pleasure, the air would start from above it, nearly saturated with water, and provide the plants with a moist instead of an arid atmosphere. If fresh air were admitted on the ground lines under the pipes at 8, it would be warmed and watered at the same time, and intermixed with ascend- ing currents of heated air. While, however, plant structures kept at high temperatures require such expedients for charging the air with moisturej they would prove simply mischievous in greenhouses. LV ITS RELATION TO HORTICULTURE. 41 pits, or other cool structures for the storage of half-hardy plants. In all such structures it is more desirable to introduce dry air than moist. Some of the great uses of fire heat in such structures is to cause a motion or circulation of the air, to expel damp, and prevent the growth of fungi, &c. Pits and cucumber frames, which are kept at a high temperature during winter, frequently have the air within surcharged with moisture to such a degree at that season as to endanger the health of the plants. The ordinary remedy for this evil is to admit a portion of the external air during bright sunshine ; but a safer mode, if it can be adopted, is to admit the external air through tubes heated by being bedded in dung or tan, or by being placed in contact with the flues or hot- water pipes by which the pit is heated. By this means, the admitted air has its capacity for moisture greatly increased, and it will absorb and change the steam contained in the atmosphere of the pit, and the dew- drops on the glass and framework, into elastic invisible vapour. In all plant structures change of air and ventilation are least neces- sary when the plants are at rest, and most so when they are in full growth. The more leaves there are upon a plant, or rather the wider the area they occupy, the more air is required to enable them to perform their respiratory functions. It is also found that increased ventilation and a drier air are of great advantage to the maturation of the fruit ; but by dry ness of the air must be here understood, not so much the absence of invisible elastic vapour, as of steam, or watery exhalations not held in a state of combination. " When grapes begin to colour, it is of as much importance to obtain a dry atmosphere, as it was, pre- viously, to have a moist one ; because the change effected in grapes while ripening is produced under the full influence of light, heat, and dryness : and it is well known that grapes grown in dry heat, in pro- perly managed houses, acquire a flavour superior to those grown in plant-houses where the air is kept moist for the sake of the plants." It is certain that, in all countries, the climate during the growing season is moist, and at the ripening season comparatively dry ; and hence the practice of withholding water from fruit-bearing plants under glass, when the fruit is ripening, is in direct imitation of nature. It is also natural to suppose, that in the ripening season in the open air, when the surface of the soil is dry, the atmosphere over it will be less saturated with vapour than when the soil is moist ; and, hence, the recommendation of dry air for the maturation of fruits is also natural. The effect of this air must be greatly to increase the perspira- tion of the leaves, which is probably auxiliary to the increased action of solar light, in the production of the saccharine matter and the pecu- liar odoriferous properties of fruits. While, therefore, a free circulation of air is desirable at all times, it is essential to the ripening of wood and finishing of fruit. Cold draughts must, however, be avoided. Indeed, cultivators may lay it down as a general principle, that neither water nor air ought to be D to plants at a much lower temperature than that of the soil in which they grow, or the air by which they are surrounded. 42 LIGHT, CONSIDERED WITH Light, considered with reference to Horticulture. Light is one of the most important agents in the growth of plants. It strengthens the colour and matures the growth of both wood and fruit. When plants are grown in the dark they are blanched white, and become an inodorous, insipid mass that can yield no flame when burned. Plants suffer most at a distance from light, when the light is only from the top, or one-sided. This has been called the attraction of light, but is no explanation. In the one-sided light it may be the greater solidifying of the side next the light which draws. In the top-light of frames, the want of direct light at the sides may cause partly the greater elongation of the top ; but plants elongate below glass, even though surrounded by light. The want of motion is a great cause of this : plants uniformly elongate more in a sheltered than in an exposed place. If there is any such thing as attraction between light and plants, like that which determines roots to follow the direction of their food, it will be, like the attraction of gravitation, more easily perceivable in its effects than capable of explanation. Refraction will disperse the light : it is difficult to understand how it should weaken what does pass through. The chemical power of light, however, is so much con- nected with electricity, that it may be weakened in a way we cannot account for. The chemical power of light is greatest in the least luminous part of the rays ; and yet, as the quantity of light is equal, that at the equator must have most power. There is a connexion between heat, light, and electricity, not yet explained. The optical qualities of light have been much more attended to than the chemical. The red rays are less refracted than the blue ; thus causing the red of the rising and setting sun, and the grey blue of the dawn. Per- haps more of the blue or chemical portion of the sun's rays may thus be lost in refraction. The carbon contained in all plants, and which of course is in greatest abundance in such as have woody stems, is entirely the result of the action of light on the leaves, by which plants are enabled to decompose carbonic acid, liberate oxygen and appro- priate the carbon of the atmosphere to themselves. Fruits before they are ripe are acid ; that is, their hydrogen and carbon are combined with an excess of oxygen ; but they are rendered saccharine by the action of light, which occasions the evolution of the oxygen, and the fixation of carbon, by which the vegetable acid is converted into sugar. In a word, no plant, nor any part of a plant, can be brought to perfection without light ; but it deserves also to be remarked that, in the cultivation of plants for the use of man, it is sometimes not desirable to bring all the parts of a plant to perfection ; and, in these cases, the absence of light is as necessary as its presence is in others. For example, in the case of the Celery and other plants, the stalks of these, when rendered green by light, are disagreeable to the taste and even poisonous, but by excluding the light, they are rendered wholesome and agreeable : the same may be said of the tubers of the Potato, and of the stalks and leaves of Cardoons, Endive, &c, REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 43 Light, to a certain extent, follows the same laws as heat. It is re- ceived by radiation from the sun, reflected by smooth surfaces, trans- mitted and refracted by transparent bodies, such as water and glass ; concentrated by reflection from concave surfaces, and dispersed by re- flection from surfaces which are convex. All these properties of light are rendered more or less available in horticulture. Light, however, differs from heat in the impossibility of retaining it after the absence of the sun ; whereas heat can be retained by enclosing heated bodies in non-conducting mediums, and by reflecting it back to the surfaces troiu which it is radiated. The reflection of light is most direct when the impinging rays strike the surface at a right angle, and least so when the angle is most oblique : because, in the former case, the rays are reflected straight back, and consequently the objects in front are illuminated proportionately ; but in the latter case the greater number of rays pass off at one side, and illuminate less effectively the objects in front. The reflected rays are always returned from the surface on which they fall, at an angle equal to the angle of incidence ; if the reflecting surface be ti plane, the reflected rays will be parallel to each other : if the surface be convex, they will be divergent, and consequently dispersed ; and, if it is concave, they will be convergent, and hence concentrated. Smooth and shining surfaces reflect most light, and rough and dark surfaces least ; and, with respect to colour, white reflects almost all the rays of light which fall on it, and black absorbs them all. When light falls on a transparent medium, a portion of the rays is transmitted through it, and a portion is reflected from its surface. The latter portion follows the same laws as the light which is reflected from opaque surfaces ; and the portion which passes through it is re- fracted— that is, it leaves the transparent medium at a different angle from that at which it fell upon it ; and by this change the light is also weakened, so as at a very short distance from the surface of the trans- mitting medium, as of glass for example, to be dispersed and trans- fused in the atmosphere, in which state, in hothouses, it has no longer the same power on the vital energies of plants. We are not aware that the cause of the inefficiency of light, after it has passed through glass and reached a certain distance, has been fully explained ; but the fact is well known to gardeners, who, in hothouses, invariably place the plants which they wish to thrive best at the shortest distance from the glass. As the quantity of light which passes through glass at the roof of hothouses is, all other circumstances being the same, greatest when the plane of the roof is at right angles to the plane of the sun's rays ; hence, the slope of the roof is, or ought to be, adjusted to the direction of the sun's rays at that season of the year when its light is most wanted. As in houses for early forcing, the greatest deficiency of solar light is in the winter season, when the sun is low, so the roois of such houses are made steep, in order that the sun's rays may be re- ceived at a smaller angle. Summer forcing-houses, on the other hand, have less steep roofs, so as to receive most benefit from the sun in April, May, and June, when forced fruits are ripening. A greenhouse, 44 LIGHT, CONSIDERED WITH in which no fruit is ripened, but in which abundance of light is re- quired all the year, has commonly perpendicular glass to receive a maximum of light during winter ; and a sloping roof of glass at an angle of 45° ; which is found favourable for the admission of light at every season, as well as for throwing off rain, &c. This subject, how- ever, will be more fully discussed when we treat of the construction of hothouses. The light of the sun, after it has passed through the clouds, is re- fracted, to a certain extent, in the same manner as when it passes through glass or water ; and if plants were kept constantly under a cloud, but at some distance from it, and if the space in which they grew were enclosed by clouds on every side, we believe the effect on the plants thus enclosed would not be materially different from that produced by an enclosure of glass. In the open air, however, clouds are not stationary ; and even where a succession of clouds covers growing plants for several days together, the space on which the plants grow is open on every side for the access of reflected and transfused light. This prevents the etiolation and want of colour which are found in plants in the back parts of hothouses having shed-roofs ; but which are never found in nature, even on the north side of walls, except to a very small extent. Hence plant structures which are enclosed by glass on every side, and which are circular in the plan, are more likely to produce an equalization in the growth and appearance of the plants within, than such as have glass on one side, and a wall or opaque body on the other. As an isolated body, such as a cone or small hill, disperses light most extensively when the sun shines, so when the sun is obscured by clouds the cone or hill receives most of the reflected light transfused in the atmosphere, because it is exposed to the atmosphere on every side. For the same reason the summits of all bodies in the free atmosphere receive more light than their sides ; and hence the trees in dense forests, and the thickly-standing corn plants in cultivated fields, continue to grow and thrive though they receive little benefit from light, except i'rom that which strikes on the tops of the plants. Hence the great importance of perpendicular light to plants under glass, and the ad- vantages of conical, dome-like, angular, or ridge-and-furrow roofs to plant-structures ; because they receive from the atmosphere the trans- fused light on every side. Though art is quite powerless to increase the sum total of solar light, whether direct from the sun or transfused in the atmosphere, yet it possesses a considerable degree of power in increasing the effi- ciency on plants of such light as may be transfused in the atmosphere. Thus, by spreading out the branches of a tree against a wall exposed to the south, much more light as well as heat is brought to act upon the leaves, than if the tree were a standard in the free air ; because, in the latter case, there would be neither the benefit of the reflection of the wall, nor that resulting from the circumstance of every leaf being exposed to the direct influence of the sun's rays when it shone. In like manner, herbaceous plants or shrubs may be planted or trained REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 45 on surfaces sloping to the south ; and on surfaces elevated and freely exposed, rather than in low and confined situations, in which light is obscured by surrounding objects or by aqueous vapour. The light thrown on the leaves of a plant in the open air may be increased by surrounding it on the north, and part of the east and west sides, by a wall or other upright surface painted white, or covered with glazed tiles or tinned iron. Practically, however, the grand means of increas- ing the efficiency on plants of such light as there may be in any given situation, is by training them against walls, espaliers, or on the surface of the ground ; or, for those that cannot be conveniently so trained, by removing all other plants and objects which are so near them as either to obstruct the sun's rays or to interfere with reflection. To insure the full effect of the reflection of transfused light upon a plant, it ought to have a free space around it, in width on every side at least equal to its own height. No timber tree which has not at least this space can receive from light the full influence which it ought to have on its hori- zontal branches; and hence the trees in dense forests must necessarily produce timber inferior in bulk to those of the same kinds, in the same climate and soil, which are grown as single trees in parks, or in hedge- rows. In plant-structures a due proportion between light and heat ought, as much as possible, to be preserved, because this is always the case in nature, where both depend on the sun. It is not in our power to increase the natural light of the atmosphere, for the great disadvantage to which horticulture is subject in this climate is the uncertainty of clear weather ; but artificial warmth can be supplied or withheld at pleasure. The absence of light, as we have before mentioned, is necessary to render certain bitter or unwholesome parts of plants fit for culinary purposes ; and the diminution of light is frequently had recourse to, when the habitation of plants which grow in shady places is to be imitated, and when the perspiration from the leaves of plants is to be diminished. In all cases of rooting plants from cuttings which have the leaves on, the diminution of perspiration, by shading them from the direct rays of the sun, is necessary, till the cuttings have taken root ; and this is also more or less the case with all rooted plants which are removed with the leaves on, for some days after transplant- ing. \Vhen plants are in a dormant state, and without leaves, no light is requisite to maintain them in a healthy state ; and even such evergreens as are in a state of comparative rest require very little. Hence orange-trees and other greenhouse evergreens, may be kept through the winter in an opaque-roof conservatory ; and deciduous plants, which have lost their leaves, may be kept through winter in nouses or in cellars into which no light is admitted. In the absence of light, however, a low temperature must be maintained: with the clear glass and light roofs of the present day, more shading is needed. There are many plants cultivated that cannot bear the fierce glare of the sun, and a subdued light is essential to the prolongation of the blooming period of most plants. 46 CHAPTER IV. WORMS, SNAILS, SLUGS, INSECTS, REPTILES, BIRDS, &C., CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. THE natural uses of plants are for the support of animals, and hence every plant, whether in a wild state or in cultivation, is more or less liable to their attacks. The most universal enemies to plants in British gardens are insects, snails, slugs, and earth-worms ; but they are also subject to be devoured or injured by reptiles, birds, and some quadrupeds. Tn consequence of the introduction of new species and varieties of plants, the refinements of garden cultivation in forcing- houses, and the cultivation of tropical plants in stoves, the attacks of ordinary insects have been more severely felt, and several new species have been introduced. Hence, to prevent the increase of insects and other garden vermin, or to destroy them after they have commenced their attacks, has become an important element in garden-culture. Till about the end of the last century very little attention was paid to garden vermin by horticultural writers. Birds were considered to be the chief enemies of gardeners, and they were directed to be scared away or shot at, on account of the injury they did to the rising seeds, or the ripe fruit which they aite or destroyed. The injuries done by insects of whatever kind then passed under the general term of blight. The scientific study of insects had made little or no progress in this country ; and it does not appear to have been then known that birds, though injurious to gardens to a limited extent, are yet on the whole, by living in great part on insects, slugs, worms, &c., the gardener's best friends. Neither does the use of certain reptiles, such as the frog and toad, and even of quadrupeds, such as the weasel, appear to have been understood in gardens by the gardeners of the past generation. In the present day, however, this branch of garden management, like every other, has been subjected to scientific inquiry, and the object of this chapter is to generalize the results ; leaving details relative to particular species of garden vermin till we come to treat of the plants by which they are chiefly affected. The order which we shall follow will be that of worms, slugs, snails, insects, reptiles, birds, and quadrupeds. The Earth- Worm, considered with reference to Horticulture. The common earth-worm (lumbricus terrestris L.) has a long cylin- drical contractile body, without eyes, teiitacula, or any external appen- dages ; the head being only distinguishable from the posterior ex- tremities by being more narrow and pointed. The mouth is a small orifice at one extremity, formed by two lips, of which the upper one is the larger and more projecting. The alimentary canal extends from the mouth to the opposite extremity, where it ends in the vent. The EA RTH- WORM, IN REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 47 stomach is composed of two pouches, of which the first is membranous, and may be compared to a crop ; while the second is muscular, and is analogous to a gizzard. At about one-third of its length from the mouth there is a sort of belt (clitellum) encircling the body, consisting of from six to nine rings, which are more prominent and fleshy than the others, and which indicate the position of the organs required for the reproduction of the species. The worm being hermaphrodite, it fol- lows that every individual is furnished with a similar belt. The earth-worm has a well-developed ganglionated nervous system, but it appears that it has only the senses of taste and touch ; the latter it possesses to an exquisite degree, as every one must have ob- served when approaching a worm half-extended from its hole. The worm is sensibly alive to every influence of the season and of the atmosphere ; burrowing in winter to the depth of three or four feet when the cold is at the greatest, and equally deep during the greatest heats of summer. On the approach of rain or of thaw, it conies up close to the surface ; moderate rains being agreeable to the worms, but standing pools of water over their holes drowning them. The taste of the worm is probably much less acute than its touch, since it is doomed to feed upon the soil in which it burrows, swallowing the earth mixed with all its decaying organized remains, from which its nutriment is extracted. Worms often draw into their holes blades of grass, straws, fallen leaves, and young seedling plants of various kinds ; but these are scarcely for the purpose of food, though they have been found occasionally in the stomach, as well as small stones or gravel. Whether worms breed oftener than once a year is uncertain. They either produce their young already hatched, or lay eggs. The eggs are placed at a considerable depth in the soil, and in clusters ; they are produced at every season of the year, but chiefly pig. 3. in spring ; and those laid at this season are hatched in June and July. The eggs, when of full size, are as large as a pea, elliptical, with a tubular aperture at one end, through which the young escape, there being more than one worm produced by each egg. In fig. 3, a is an egg before the embryo is visible ; b the same egg with the embryo coiled up ; and c the Eggs of the common embryo worm in the act of escaping. When worms earth-worm in dif- are newly hatched from the egg, they are about an ferent stages. inch in length ; but when they are produced alive, their length is not more than four lines, and they do not attain the size of those that are born from the egg for four months. Young worms do not gain their full size till after a year. The popular belief, that if the earth-worm is cut into a number of pieces, every portion will in time become a perfect individual, is only true to a limited extent. The worm has the power of repro- ducing any part of the body cut off behind the belt ; but if it is cut through in the middle of the belt, or between the belt and the mouth, the worm is killed. If the body is divided into two halves, the anterior containing the belt will reproduce a new tail ; but from the posterior 48 THE EARTH-WORM, CONSIDERED portion a perfect worm is never evolved, although it continues to live for a month or two, and groAvs in some degree. If the division is made into three parts, the middle and hinder ones die after some weeks' struggle for existence and some efforts at reparation. The mouth and lips are perfectly reproduced, provided the cerebral gan- glions have not been included in the section. The natural uses of the worm appear to be to serve as nourishment to moles, hedgehogs, frogs, toads, snakes, lizards, birds, fishes, and some kinds of insects. It is also said by naturalists that worms are useful to plants by penetrating the soil, loosening it, rendering it per- meable to air and water, and even adding to the depth of the soil by bringing up their worm-casts to the surface. Soil is not loosened by boring through it, but rather rendered firmer in the parts not bored through ; and so far from the surface soil being rendered permeable by water in consequence of the bores of worms, it is rendered less so, the worm-casts deposited on the orifices of the bores always being water-tight ; so much so, indeed, that when lawns where worms abound are to be watered by lime-water in order to destroy them, the first step is to brush away the worm- casts with a long flexible rod, or remove them by a rake or stubby broom, in order to let the water enter the bores ; it having been found from experience, that, when this operation is neglected, the lime-water sinks into the soil without producing much effect. With impervious loamy sub-soils, resting on gravel, the case is otherwise ; and under such circumstances worms may be useful, by permitting the escape of water where it would otherwise be retained. The surface orifices of some burrows may also be left open, or perhaps partially closed ; but this is not the case, as far as we are aware, except during those periods in the night, or in dull moist weather, when the worms have partially left their holes. With respect to worms adding to the depth of the soil (an opinion first promulgated, we believe, by Mr. Darwin, before the Geological Society in 1837, see page 505 of the Journal for that year, and still adhered to by him), it is extremely doubtful whether it takes place to any appreciable extent. According to this distinguished naturalist, how- ever, the surface soil is raised by the agency of worms about the seventh part of an inch annually. This theory may well be ques- tioned, and we may perhaps better attribute the undoubted growth of the thickness of siirface soil, as proved by top dressings that had previously been applied to the surface, being found from six to twelve inches below it, to the action of gravitation, the decompo- sition of roots, and the deposit of an annual layer of carbon from the atmosphere. The injury done by worms in gardens is much more apparent than their soil-deepening powers. By their casts they disfigure walks and lawns, and by cutting through the roots they injure more or less all plants whatever, and particularly those which are weak (to which worms always attach themselves more than to healthy plants), and plants in pots. Seedlings of all kinds are much injured by them, be- cause when the point of the taproot is cut through, the seedling has WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 49 no other resource, and, unless it be vigorous enough to throw out lateral roots, it dies. To destroy worms is fortunately a very simple process ; for such is the tenderness of their skin, that watering them with any caustic or bitter liquid deprives them of life in a few minutes. The cheapest caustic liquid is lime-water, which is made by dissolving quicklime, at the rate of half a pound of lime to twelve pints of water, and letting it stand a few minutes to clear. Before pouring it on the soil from a watering-pot with a rose on, the worm-casts ought to be removed, and the effects of the water will soon become obvious by the worms rising to the surface, writhing about there, and in a few minutes dying. To hasten their death, some more lime-water should be poured on them after they come to the surface. The quantity of lime-water required will depend partly on the depth of the soil and the number of worm- casts in a given space, and partly on the state of the weather. Least will be required in shallow soils moderately dry, and most in deep soils either very wet or very dry. Where lime is not at hand, corro- sive sublimate, ammoniacal liquors, potash, soda, or urine, may be used; and a decoction of the leaves of Walnut-trees, of those of Hemp, To- bacco, or Potatoes, after being partially dried and fermented, will have the same effect. Hand-picking may also be resorted to ; but this requires to be performed in the night-time, when the worms are on the surface of the ground, or immediately after rain. Rolling early in the morning — especially with a hollow iron roller weighted with hot water — speedily crushes the worms to death, as they lie in a sluggish state on the surface of grass or gravel. Worms in pots may either be removed by striking the sides of the pots, which will disturb the worms and cause them to rise above the surface; or by turning out the ball on one hand, and picking off the worms, which seldom fail to come to the outside. To prevent worms from entering pots, a small cap (fig. 4, drawn to rull size) has been invented by Mr. Barron, which, when placed over the hole in the bottom of the pot, Fig. 4. will permit the escape of water and effec- tually prevent the entrance of worms. It has been in use in the gardens at Elvaston Castle for several years. All soil used for potting should be carefully prepared and examined, as prevention in this case is much better than cure. Cap for covering the holes in Among tropical plants another species of tfie bottoms of pot*. worm is sometimes found. The eel worm (Megascolex diffringes) has all the bad qualities of the common worm in an exaggerated form, and is much more difficult to catch or destroy. It resembles an eel in its rapidity and mode of motion, and when disturbed it rushes to the centre and not the extremity of the ball of the plants. It is most difficult to exterminate, and the soil must be entirely removed, and the roots washed clean, in collections where it has established itself. It is of tropical origin, and cannot live out of doors in this country, where, 50 SNAILS AND SLUGS, CONSIDERED fortunately, it is hot often met with, as the damage inflicted by it on pot-plants is tenfold greater than that caused by the common worm. Snails and Slugs, considered with reference to Horticulture. The only snail which interests the gardener is the Helix aspersa of naturalists ; for that which they have named the garden snail (H. hortensis) is rather a field than a garden species. The former is much the larger of the two, and has a dull shell marked with three faint mottled brownish bands, and a white rim round the aperture ; while the shell of the latter is glossy, distinctly banded with vivid colours, and the oral rim is brown. The slugs which frequent the garden are the Lirnax agrestis, L. cinereus, and L. ater. The L. agrestis, the commonest, is of a greyish colour, and from one to two inches long ; the L. cinereus is, on the contrary, from three to five inches in length, of a greyish or dusky colour, with darker spots and stripes ; and the L. ater is easily known by the jet black and wrinkled skin of its back. Both snails and slugs are furnished with tentacula placed in front of the head, and which, by a singular process, can be drawn entirely within it. The mouth is armed above with a semi-lunar horny jaw, having its outer or cutting edge furnished with one or several serratures. On the right side or neck of the snail and slug there are three aper- tiires, that nearest the head being the respiratory orifice, the next the anus, and the third the exit for the organs of generation. Snails and slugs crawl on the flat sole which constitutes their foot and belly, and which is very muscular ; but progression is principally performed by a pair of muscles which extend from the tail to the fore part of the belly, running along the middle of the foot. Snails and slugs are hermaphrodite and oviparous. They deposit their eggs under clods of earth, loose stones, or in the ground, in which the parent digs, with its foot, a circular hole about an inch deep. The eggs vary from twelve to thirty in number ; they are white, oval or round, about the size of a common shot, with a smooth soft skin, which is entirely membranous in the slug, but in the snail contains innume- rable minute calcareous grains, always in a crystalline state, and usually of a rhomboid figure. They are, in ordinary seasons, hatched in about three weeks after being laid ; but the time is regulated much by temperature, so that in cold seasons it is greatly retarded. The young issue from the egg in the likeness of their parents, active and furnished with every organ ; and the young snails have even then a shell fitting their size and strength. The length of life of the snail or slug cannot be determined. The shell of the snail is usually com- pleted before the termination of the second year, when the animal may have been said to have reached maturity. The snail and the slug are very patient of injury, often recovering from severe wounds ; repairing their broken shells, and reproducing such parts of their bodies, pos- terior to the neck, as may have been cut away. In winter, snails and slugs retire under stones, clods, or into the crevices of walls : the slugs WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 51 become merely less active than usual, but the snails hybernate ; and to protect them from annoyance during this dead sleep of a winter's con- tinuance, they seal up the apertures of their shells with a horny membrane. The natural uses of the snail appear to be to serve as food for rep- tiles, birds, and the smaller quadrupeds, such as foxes, badgers, weasels, hedgehogs, &c. The blackbird and thrush are remarkably fond of them, and may be seen flying off with snails in their bills, and after- wards lighting on trees, and breaking the shells against the branches, or cracking them against stones on the ground. The snail retires under the cover of foliage or some other protection from the sun and dry air during the day, and comes abroad to feed during the night, after rain, or when the weather is cloudy. It selects in preference tender seedling plants, or the leaves of maturer plants which have become tender and somewhat sweet by incipient decay. Snails are very fond of greasy matter ; and where a snail has been killed by crushing, its remains are preyed on by living snails, which crowd to it in numbers. About the end of autumn, when the weather begins to grow cold, the snail retires into sheltered places, where it will be protected from the weather during winter. Where there are evergreens, such as the Box or the Ivy, it resorts to them ; or if these be wanting, it will retire under loose stones, or rubbish of any kind, such as branches, spray, leaves, or litter ; and if no other covering is at hand, it has a power of burying itself in any soil not too hard on the surface. Whatever has been said of the habits of the snail will apply to those of the slug ; and the uses and the natural enemies of the two animals are exactly the same. To destroy snails in gardens, the only effectual mode is hand-picking, either in the evening, early in the morning, or immediately after rain. Empty flower-pots reversed and distributed over the surface, if an opening under the rim is left on one side by making a small depression in the soil, will attract a great number of snails ; and the more so if some greased cabbage -leaves or slices of turnip, carrot, &c., be placed under the pots. In the course of the autumn, winter, and early in spring, all their hiding-places should be searched, and the animals taken out and destroyed by crushing, or by giving them to swine, which are said to be very fond of them. Hedgehogs and weasels, being their natural enemies, may be kept in gardens, and poultry which do not scratch, such as the turkey, duck, &c., may be admitted occa- sionally. Blackbirds and thrushes likewise devour immense quantities. But all these natural means of reduction should be supplemented by hand-picking. To destroy slugs in gardens, less labour is required than in de- stroying snails ; because, their bodies being comparatively unprotected, they are liable to be operated on by any caustic or bitter liquid as readily as, worms. Cabbage-leaves in a state of incipient decay, with the side which is to be placed next the soil rubbed over with greasy matter of any kind, or even with the bruised bodies of recently-killed slugs, distributed over any surface, will attract them in great numbers E2 52 TRANSFORMATION OF INSECTS. during the night : and if the leaves are examined every morning, and the slugs which are found destroyed, the piece of ground so treated •will soon be freed from them. Pea-haulm being very sweet when in a state of incipient decay, forms a powerful attraction to slugs ; and if handfuls of it are distributed over a piece of ground in the same man- ner as the cabbage-leaves, the little heaps of haulm may be examined every morning, and the slugs shaken from them and then destroyed by watering with lime-water. Thin slices of turnip or potato placed under inverted empty flower -pots form an excellent attraction, as do the dead bodies of slugs themselves, some parts or the whole of which are greedily devoured by the living animals. Where slugs are very abundant in a soil not covered with plants so large as to shelter them, as for example with rising seedlings, the slugs may be destroyed by watering the soil thoroughly with lime-water, or tobacco -water, late in the evening or early in the morning. Abundance of water should be applied, in order that it may sink into the soil, which the slugs penetrate a foot or more in depth, according to its state of pulveriza- tion. Quicklime has been laid round plants to protect them from snails and slugs ; but it soon becomes mild and of no use as a protec- tion. Coal-ashes, sawdust, and barley chaff annoy slugs by sticking to their foot, but they will not be deterred by this annoyance so effectually as to starve for want of food. Soot is also a great annoy- ance to slugs ; but to keep them from a plant, it requires to be fre- quently and liberally renewed. Thorough drainage — trenching — and frequently dusting the surface of infected ground, with caustic lime, hot burnt earth, or ashes, will break up their haunts and exterminate them, and such radical measures are the cheapest in the end. Insects, considered with reference to Horticulture. The number of species of insects in the world greatly exceeds that of all other animals and plants put together, and the power which some insects have of multiplying themselves, such as the plant lice for example, is almost incredible. As by far the greater number of insects live on plants, some on several species, and others on only one, the importance of some knowledge of the natural history of insects to the gardener is sufficiently obvious. Transformation of Insects. — The greater number of insects properly so called, with the exception of some without wings, change their form several times during their life in so striking a manner, that a person unacquainted with entomology would be inclined to consider one and the same insect, in different periods of its existence, as entirely different animals. Insects, in general, are produced from eggs ; a few species alone, in which the eggs are developed in the body of the mother, are vivi- parous ; for example, the aphis. Shortly after pairing, the female lays her eggs, which are often stuck on, and covered with a sort of glue, to preserve them from the weather, in the place best adapted to their development, and which offers the proper food to the forthcoming TR A NSFORMA TION OF INSECTS. 5 3 brood. The white-thorn butterfly and the goi den-tail moth lay their eggs on the leaves of fruit-trees or other leafy trees, and the latter covers them over with a gold-coloured covering of silk. The common lackey-moth (Bombyxneustria) fastens them in the form of continuous rings round the stems of fruit-trees ; and the gipsy-moth (Bombyx dispar) fastens them in a broad patch on the stems of trees or on palings, and covers them with a thick coating of hair. The winter- moth (Geometra brumata) lays them singly on the buds of the leaves and nowers; the printer-beetle (Bostrichus typographus) introduces them between the bark and the albumen, &c. Most insects are developed from the eggs in the shape of worms, which are called larvae. The larvae of butterflies, which are always provided with feet, are called caterpillars ; those of beetles and other insects, grubs ; and, when they have no feet, maggots. In this state, as their bodies increase, the insects often cast their skin, and not un- frequently change their colour. Many winged insects (e.g., cimices, cicadas, grasshoppers, and dragon- flies), in their larva state, very much resemble the perfect insect ; they only want the wings, which are not developed till after the last change of the skin. The larva state is the period of feeding, and at this period insects are usually the destructive enemies of other productions of nature, and objects of persecution to farmers, -gardeners, and foresters. The nympha or pupa state succeeds that of larva. In this state insects for the most part take no nourishment (with the exception of the Orthopterous, Hemipterous, and part of the Neuropterous species, which vary but little in form from the larva), and repose in a death- like slumber. The body is covered with a skin more or less trans- parent, through which the limbs of the perfect insect are more or less apparent. To be safe from their enemies, or from the weather, the larvae of many insects, particularly moths, prepare for themselves a covering of a silky or cottony texture ; many burrow in the soil, or form themselves a nest of moss, leaves, grass, haulm, or foliage ; many even go deep into the earth, or bury themselves in decayed wood, or conceal themselves under the bark of trees, &c. After a certain period, which is fixed in every species of insects, and which can either be hastened or retarded according to circumstances, the perfect insect appears from the pupa. It is usually furnished in tliis state with other organs for the performance of its appointed func- tions. It is incumbent on the perfect insect to propagate its species, therefore the organs for this purpose are only perfected at this period of their lives. The male insect seeks the female, and the female the most suitable place for laying her eggs ; hence most insects are fur- nished with wings. Food is now a secondary consideration, conse- quently, in many, the feeding organs are now less perfectly developed than in the larva state, or very much modified and suited for finer food, as for example in butterflies, which, instead of the leaves of plants, only consume the honey of their flowers. Food of Insects. Insects, like other animals, derive their nourishment from the vege- table and animal kingdoms ; but a glance is sufficient to show, that they possess a much wider field of operations than the others. While the other animals make use for their subsistence of only a small portion of the inexhaustible treasures of the vegetable kingdom, and reject the rest as insipid or noxious, the insects leave perhaps no vegetable pro- duction untouched. From the majestic oak to the invisible fungus, or the insignificant wall-moss, the whole race of plants is a stupendous meal, to which the insects sit down as guests. Even those plants which are highly poisonous and nauseating to other animals are not refused by them. But this is not yet all. The larger plant-consuming animals are usually limited to leaves, seeds, and stalks : not so insects, to the various families of which every part of a plant yields suitable pro- vender. Some which live under the earth attack roots, others choose the stem and branches, a third division lives on the leaves, a fourth prefers the flowers, while a fifth selects the fruit or seed. Even here a still further selection takes place. Of those which feed on the roots, stem, and branches, some species only eat the rind, like the bee-hawkmoth (Sphinx apiformis) ; others the inner bark and the alburnum, like the Tortrix Wceberiana, and the injurious bark-beetle ; and a third division penetrates into the heart of the solid wood, like the goat-moth (Cossus ligniperda), and the family of the long-horned beetles (Cerambycidas). Of those which prefer foliage, some take nothing but the juice out of the veins (aphides, in all their states) ; others devour only the sub- stance of the leaves, without touching the epidermis (mining caterpillars); others only the upper or under surface of the leaves (many leaf-rollers, Tortrices) ; while a fourth division devours the whole substance of the leaf (the larvae of many Lepidopterous insects). Of those which feed on flowers, there are some which eat the petals (the larvaB of Noctua verbasci, the mullein-moth, N. Iinaria3, &c.) ; others choose the farina in a perfect state (bees, the rose-chafer, Ce- tonia, the Lepturidas, &c., &c.) ; and a still greater number the honey from the nectaries (most perfect Lepidopterous insects, wasps, and flies). There are also insects which, not satisfied with any existing part of the plants as such, cause injury to one part or another, by occasioning a peculiar body or excrescence in which their young live, as the various sorts of gall insects and other sorts of flies. But insects are not confined to plants alone in their living and unused state. The death-watch, or ticking-beetle (Anobium), feeds on wood which for years has been used in our dwellings in various articles of furniture and utensils. From what has been said it will appear, that a single plant can sup- port a host of various sorts of insects on its different parts ; whence it also appears, that the number of insects greatly exceeds that of plants. FOOD OF INSECTS. 55 An equal variety in the food of those insects which live on animal matter may also be pointed out. Some live as parasites on the skins of other animals, not excepting even insects themselves, suck their blood, and are a burdensome torment to the animals: to these belong the different sorts of lice (bird and sheep lice), ticks, and mites. Others attack man and the larger animals for only a short time, and draw blood — gnats, midges, autumn- flies, breeze-flies, bugs, and fleas. Some breeze-flies (CEstridae) penetrate through the skin into the flesh of the red deer and horned cattle, others live in the stomachs of horses and asses, and one sort in the frontal sinus of sheep. The Ichneu- nionidae feed on the flesh of the larvae of other insects, and often greatly contribute to the extirpation of noxious insects. The Carabidae and other carnivorous beetles devour their prey en- tire, immediately after killing it ; while the Cimices and Hemerobii only suck out the juices. The larvse of the stinging-gnat and other flies which live in water devour whole swarms of infusoria alone. A great number live on carrion and the excrements of animals, and thus diminish and destroy the corruption proceeding from such matter : to these belong chiefly the blue-bottle fly, horse-beetle, carcase-beetle, and dung-beetle. Many feed upon prepared animal matter, and become very prejudicial to household economy. Many moths live entirely on hair, leather, wool, and feathers. With the various transformations of insects their economy is changed, and consequently their abode is also varied : the caterpillar requires very different food from the butterfly ; the maggot, from the beetle and fly. The larva of Sirex gigas feeds on wood, while the perfect insect preys on flies. The larva of the May-bug or cockchafer lives on roots and tubers ; the beetle, on leaves. Many insects are very gluttonous, and often consume more food in a day than is equal to the weight of their bodies. Thus the maggot of the flesh-fly, according to Redi, becomes 200 times heavier in the course of twenty-four hours. Caterpillars digest in one day from one third to one fourth of their weight ; and hence it is apparent that a comparatively small number of caterpillars can entirely strip a tree in a few days. Opposed to this gluttony of caterpillars, some insects in their perfect state appear to take no nourishment, such as the day-flies (Ephe- meridse), and the breeze-flies (GEstridae) ; the latter of which, in their larva state, as maggots, feed on the flesh of horned cattle and red deer. Even among the Lepidoptera, many of those which spin cocoons, especially Bombycidse, seem to take no nourishment in the perfect state. Many insects only eat in the day, others in the evening, and a third division, such as the caterpillars of the night-moths, only in the night. Most of them seek their own food ; but a few — namely, the larvae of bees, which live in communities, humble bees, wasps, and ants, are fed by the perfect insect. Many stow away their food ; others, indeed tjie greater number, live without making any previous supply of food. The larvse of the caterpillar-killing kinds of wasps (Sphegidse), of wild 56 DISTRIBUTION AND HABITS OF INSECTS. bees, and of a few other insects, are provided by their parents with a stock of provisions sufficient for their nourishment in the larva state. Distribution and Habits of Insects. The distribution of insects is in exact proportion to the diffusion of plants ; the richer any country is in plants, the richer it is also in insects. The polar regions, which produce but few plants, have also but few insects ; whereas the luxuriant vegetation of the tropical countries feed a numerous host of them. With respect to their habitation, insects are divided into those which live upon land or water. Those which live in the water either never leave that element, or are able to live at will either in the water or on the earth, at least for a short time ; for example, many water-beetles. Many live at certain periods of their development in water : at others, on land ; such as many sorts of flies, and all the dragon-flies, which as larvae and pupse live in water, but as perfect insects on land, or in the air. Land insects live in the earth, under stones, in decayed wood, in putrid animal substances, &c. Of these some pass their whole lives in these places, others only during a particular period of their develop- ment. The larvae of the dung-beetle live deep under the ground, while the perfect insect inhabits the excrement of animals ; many of the larvae of flies live in carrion or excrement, while the perfect insect flies about in the open air. A very great number choose the different parts of plants for their abode, as the roots, bark, inner bark, alburnum, wood, pith, buds, flowers, leaves, and fruit. They change their abode in every new stage of development. Thus the bark-beetle, which in the larva state lived under the bark, swarms in its perfect state upon the trees; the curculio of the apple-tree, the larva of which infests the bottom of the apple-blossom, crawls on the trees, or on the surrounding ground ; the mining-moth, which as a larva lives under the cuticle of the leaves, flutters in its winged state about the flowers and leaves. A small number live upon other animals, on the skin, such as lice, or inside of the body, as the larvae of ox and horse breeze-flies (GEstridae). The two latter leave their first abode before entering the pupa state, which they effect in the earth, and hover as flies round the animals to deposit their eggs iipon them. Most insects live solitarily, either without any definite dwelling, or they construct for themselves a house composed of various kinds of vegetable or animal matter ; for example, many caterpillars. A few species live in society, such as bees, ants, wasps, &c. By obtaining a general knowledge of the abodes of insects, it is evident that the observer of the economy of insects will be able more satisfactorily to combat many that are injurious to him ; as thus he can, with little trouble, greatly diminish or entirely annihilate those which he has ascertained to live in society, or in places of easy access* Uses of Insects. There are among insects no very inconsiderable number from which man derives, in many respects, immediate and important uses. We need here only to mention the bees and the silkworm. The different sorts of gall-nuts, ingredients so essential to dyeing and the manu- facture of leather, are the productions of several insects, namely, the gall-flies, which wound with their ovipositor various parts of oaks, &c., in order to deposit their eggs in the cavity, and which produce these useful excrescences. The most durable and most beautiful red (cochineal) we owe to a small insect, the Coccus cacti. Another, nearly allied to the above-named insect, Coccus manniparus, is sup- posed to have saved the lives of the Israelites in their journey out of Egypt, for they would have died of hunger if they had not been pro- vided with manna, — a sweet nutritive substance, which is regarded as identical with the material which, in consequence of a wound caused by this insect on the Tamarix gallica mannifera, trickles on the ground. The Cantharides, or Spanish blister-flies, are an essential article of medicine. Many insects accomplish the fructification of different plants. (See the interesting and instructive work on the fertilization of orchids by Mr. Darwin.) Whole nations in other quarters of the globe live on locusts. Many mammalia, a number of birds, amphi- bious animals, and fishes, live entirely on insects. A great number of these creatures even live upon other species of insects, and destroy them : thus preventing the hurtful from pre- ponderating, and disturbing the balance in the economy of nature. To these belong chiefly the Ichneumonidse and spiders. Lastly, how many diseases are obviated, particularly in warm climates, by insects speedily consuming dead animal substances, and thereby preventing the generation of noxious gases ! Means contrived by Nature to Limit the Multiplication of Insects. Many appearances in nature, even such as at first cause anxiety and care, on account of their injurious consequences, are found to be in many respects highly beneficial and salutary, although we may not always understand them. Thus continued rain, which in many respects is extremely hurtful, contributes greatly to diminish the number of noxious insects, and for a series of years renders them entirely innocuous. Thus in the spring of 1832, after incessant rain, Kollar saw the caterpillars of the white-thorn butterfly (Papilio crataegi), which for many years had not only stripped all the hedges, but also done considerable injury to the fruit-trees, dying by thousands, as if of a dropsy. The caterpillars swelled, became weak, and died. If they did attain the pupa state, they suffered from the ^anie evil, and the perfect insect was very rarely developed, on which account the gardens in the following years were uninjured. 58 MEANS CONTRIVED BY NATURE TO LIMIT Late frosts are also very beneficial, as they entirely destroy many insects in their larva state. Kollar had an opportunity early in the summer of 1833 of observing great devastations on the fir-trees in the neighbourhood of Vienna, by a species of saw-fly (Tenthredo rufa, Klug). The larvae of this insect had attacked certain parts of a young forest of Scotch pine, and the question was how their ravages were to be prevented from increasing next year. Fortunately, in the month of May, a moderate frost set in, and thousands of these larvae were seen hanging to the twigs, as if scorched. In this manner their increase was limited for the time. A multitude of insects are also destroyed by inundations, particu- larly such as undergo their transformations in the earth, or live upon it in all their stages, more especially if the inundation happens when they are near their final transformation. In meadows the different species of May bugs (Melolonthidae) suffer by this means ; in kitchen gardens, the mole- cricket; in orchards, the pupa of the small winter-moth (Geometra brumata), when the water overflows the gardens late in the autumn, at the time when the moth is usually developed from the pupa lying in the earth. Besides the means of preserving an equilibrium by storms, and the effects of the elements, nature employs a multitude of others, although not so speedy and efficient, to the same end. To these belong the enemies of the destructive insects, which we meet with in all classes of the animal kingdom. Among the mammi- ferous animals the bats hold a conspicuous place for their destruction of insects. We only see them flying about in the twilight, precisely at the time when many moths leave their hiding-places and hover round the flowers. As they live almost entirely on insects, they no doubt devour great numbers of the hurtful sorts ; and perhaps it is to be ascribed to this circumstance that fruit-trees standing near houses, churches, barns, &c., suffer less from insects than isolated trees. Bats do not confine themselves to moths, but eat the beetles which fly about in the evening ; and, among others, some of the weevils inju- rious to the flowers and buds of fruit-trees, as the Curculio (Antho- nomus) pomorum, and pyri. These creatures, as they do no injury, should therefore be carefully preserved. To the insectivorous mammalia also belong various sorts of mice, the mole, badger, hedgehog, squirrel, fox, and wild swine. Birds contribute much more than the mammiferous animals to the destruction of injurious insects. Many caterpillars know instinctively how to conceal themselves from the birds which prey on them ; in many their covering of stiff hair acts as a protection against their enemies ; others remain all day between rolled-up or flatly-united leaves, and only go out to feed at night ; others find sufficient protec- tion in the buds, into which they soon penetrate. Gregarious cater- pillars live while they are changing their skin, and when they are going into the pupa state, in webs, in which they are inaccessible to birds. Others live under the bark of trees, and even deep in the wood. Notwithstanding these and other obstacles, a great number are yearly devoured by the birds, particularly during the breeding THE MULTIPLICA TION OF INSECTS. 59 season. In winter a multitude of birds, urged by hunger, diligently search the branches of trees for the eggs of many sorts of moths that are glued to them, and which yield a scanty sustenance to many of these animals. Keaumur states that the greenfinch tears open the strong nest of the yellowtail-moths (Bombyx chrysorrhcea), and consumes the young caterpillars. Among the birds of the woodpecker race, the green and red wood- peckers (Picus viridis and major), the nut-hatch (Sitta csesia), and the tree-creeper (Certhia familiaris), may be considered the most use- ful. Although these birds seek beetles chiefly, and consequently con- tribute to the diminution of the long-horned and weevil tribes ot beetles, they also consume a number of caterpillars. Among birds of the sparrow tribe, the starling deserves particular notice. It lives in summer chiefly in pastures, but comes in spring and autumn in large flocks to the meadows and orchards, where it devours a great number of insects, pupa3, and larvae. The chaffinch is a deter- mined consumer of caterpillars' and moths' eggs. The titmice are particularly useful — viz., the oxeye and tomtit ; then the redbreast and redstart, and also the wagtails. The cuckoo also particularly deserves to be spared ; it not only devours many of the smaller smooth-skinned Iarva3, but even con- sumes the hairy caterpillars of many moths, particularly of the Bomby- cida?. On examining the intestines of a cuckoo, in the month of Sep- tember, Kollar found therein, besides the remains of various insects, a great quantity of the skins of the caterpillar of the large Bombyx pini, which is one of the largest European species, and has very stiff hair. The inner coat of the stomach was entirely covered with hair, but a close inspection with the magnifying glass showed that the hair was not the hair of the stomach of the cuckoo, as some ornithologists sup- pose, but only the hair of the caterpillars. This bird may therefore be of very essential service when there is a superfluity of the caterpillars of the lackey or processionary moths (Bombyx neustria or proces- sionea). It is sufficiently known that great service is rendered by the whole race of crows to meadows and fields. Their favourite food consists of the larvae of the cockchafer, which are thrown up by the plough, and which they also draw out of the earth with their strong beaks. It is a wonderful provision of nature, that exactly at the time that the insects injurious from their great numbers appear, the greatest number of the insectivorous birds have hatched their broods, and their voracious young are ready to be fed upon them. Insectivorous birds are also sometimes granivorous, and feast readily on our fruit, particularly cherries ; but the injury they cause in this respect is not to be compared to the use they are of in destroy- ing insects. Among amphibious animals which destroy insects, lizards hold a conspicuous place. Grasshoppers are the favourite food of many species. Frogs and toads also devour many insects. Besides mammalia, birds, and amphibious animals, Nature, to 60 MEANS FOR ARRESTING THE PROGRESS OF restore the equilibrium among her creatures, and particularly to pre- vent the preponderance of some sorts of insects, makes use chiefly of insects themselves, namely — those which feed upon others, and which by degrees obtain a superiority over those that are hurtful to us. Thus many sorts of beetles, particularly of the family of ground- beetles (Carabidae), destroy a multitude of the pupae of moths lying in the earth. Many flies, allied to our house-fly, but much larger, lay their eggs in living caterpillars and destroy them. But the most useful are the Ichneumonidae. The females of this numerous family, 1300 species of which Professor Gravenhorst has assigned to Europe alone, lay their eggs entirely in the bodies of other insects. The manner in which these Ichneumonidae accomplish their work of destruction is highly curious and interesting. All the species are fur- nished at the end of the body with an ovipositor, composed of several bristles attached together, with which they pierce the larvae of other insects, and introduce their eggs into the flesh of the wounded animals. In some this sting is longer than the whole body, sometimes more than an inch long — namely, in those species which seek the objects of their requirements in the interior of trees or wood that has been much and deeply perforated by the insects which reside within. They perceive, either by their sense of smell or by their antennae, that their prey is at hand, and introduce their eggs, not without difficulty, into the bodies of the larvae living in the wood. Some attack caterpillars feeding openly on plants, others perforate the various excrescences, or gall-nuts, which also contain larvae : there are even many species, scarcely visible to the naked eye, which lay their eggs in the eggs of other insects, such as butterflies, and thus anticipate their destruction. The eggs are hatched within the body of the living insect, and the young para- sites, in the most literal sense, fatten on the entrails of their prey. At last the wounded caterpillar sinks, the enemies escape through the skin and become pupae ; or the caterpillar, notwithstanding its internal parasites, enters the pupa state, but instead of a butterfly, one or more Ichneumonidae appear. To these wonderful animals we often owe the preservation of our orchards, woods, and grain. Besides the above-mentioned Ichneumonidae, ants, field or tree bugs, and many sorts of spiders, contribute greatly to the extirpation of various insects. Means devised by Art for Arresting the Progress of Insects in Gardens, or of Destroying them there. Insects may be destroyed in all their different stages ; in some, how- ever, with greater ease than in others. Some can only be taken or killed when in the perfect state, from the difficulty of discovering their eggs, or from their small size, or from the short period which elapses between the hatching of the insect and its maturity ; for example, the aphides. Others can only be destroyed in the perfect state, with great difficulty ; such as the different butterflies. A great number of the insects which infest British gardens are only to be destroyed in the larva state ; while some, such as the gooseberry-moths, may be INSECTS, OR DESTROYING THEM. 61 destroyed in every stage. We shall briefly indicate the different prac- tices which may be had recourse to in different stages, for deterring or destroying insects, by the gardener ; leaving particular details till particular insects come to be mentioned, when treating on the culture of the plants which they attack. We shall commence with operations connected with the perfect insect, and take in succession the eggs, the larva?, and the pupae. Deterring the Perfect Insect. — The perfect-winged insect may, in some cases be deterred from approaching plants by covering them with netting or gauze, the meshes of which are sufficiently small to exclude the insect, but not too small to prove injurious to the plant by exclud- ing light and air. Wasps and flies are in this manner excluded from vineries and peach-houses while the fruit is ripening. Bunches of grapes against the open wall are also protected by putting them in bags of woollen netting or gauze. Choice plants in pots are sometimes protected from wingless insects by placing the pot containing the plant in the midst of a saucer which surrounds the pot with water which it is found the insect will not cross. The stems of plants, such as dahlias and gooseberries, are sometimes protected by a zone of glutinous matter on wool, tow, or paper, over which the insect will not venture. A remarkable mode of deterring some insects from entering houses by the windows is described in the ' Architectural Magazine,' vol. ii., as practised in Italy, and known even in the time of Herodotus. This is simply to place before the openings of the window a net of white or light-coloured thread, the meshes of which may be an inch or more in diameter. The flies seem to be deterred from entering through the meshes by some inexplicable dread of passing through them. If small nails be fixed all round the window-frame at the distance of about an inch from each other, and thread be then stretched across both verti- cally and horizontally, the network so produced will be equally effec- tual in excluding the flies. It is essential, however, that the light should enter the room on one side of it only ; for if there be a thorough light either from an opposite or side window, the flies pass through the net without scruple. (W. Spence in 'Transact. Entomol. Society,' vol. i.) It would appear to be a general principle, that winged insects may be deterred by meshes of such a size as will not admit them with their wings expanded, and also that insects will not enter from bright light into darkness, more especially if deterred by the slightest obstacle, such as the threads just spoken of. Preventing the Perfect Insect from laying its Eggs. — Insects may be prevented from laying their eggs on plants within reach by sur- rounding them with a netting or other screen ; or, in some cases, by sprinkling the plant with some liquid containing a very offensive odour. Thus moths are prevented from laying their eggs on goose- berry-bushes by hanging among them rags dipped in gunpowder and tar ; and the watering of such plants as cabbages, peas, etc., overhead with lime or soot-water, weak sewage, and manure water, may deter butterflies from depositing their ova. A fine sprinkling of dry guano will cause ants to forsake their nests and prevent them from coming 62 MEANS FOR ARRESTING THE PROGRESS OF near ground so covered. Insects which deposit their eggs in the soil cannot easily do so when the soil is very hard, and may therefore be enticed to deposit them in portions of soil made soft on purpose. Thus boxes or large pots filled with rotten tan, sunk in the soil, form an ex- cellent nidus for the eggs of the cockchafer, and will prevent that insect from laying them in the common soil of a garden. Hoeing or digging patches of soil here and there throughout the garden or plan- tation will have a similar effect, to a certain extent ; and after some weeks, when the larvae are some lines in length, the soil may be sifted, and the insects taken out and destroyed. While loosening the naked soil serves as a trap for the cockchafer, covering that soil with straw is found to act as a defence against them ; and hence one of the principal uses of mulching rose-gardens, tree-nurseries, and other cultivated grounds. Catching the Perfect Insect, so as to Prevent it from Depositing its Eggs. — Though this cannot be done to any great extent with winged insects, such as the butterfly, moth, and some flies, yet it may be em- ployed in the case of the cockchafer, the rose-beetle, &c., which may be collected by children ; and in the case of wingless insects, such as wood-lice, ants, and earwigs, which may be enticed into hiding-places by food, or by other means. A piece of boiled potato placed in a pot and covered with dry moss, is a capital trap for wood-lice, or earwigs. A piece of fruit similarly covered entices ants. Earwigs may also be caught by placing hollow bean-stalks in their haunts, to which they will retire in the day-time, when they can be shaken out of the stalks into a vessel of water. A simple and effectual trap for both wood-lice and earwigs is composed of two pieces of the bark of any soft rough-barked tree, such as the elm, placed inside to inside, so as to leave in the space between them a very slight separation, tying the two pieces of bark together by a piece of twig, part of which is left as a handle, and laying the trap where the insects abound. They will retire in the day-time between the pieces, which can be quickly lifted up by the twig and shaken over a vessel of water. No bait is required for this trap, the more tender part of the bark being eaten by the wood-lice and the earwigs. The same bark- trap will also serve for millipedes, beetles, and, to a certain extent, for ants. The most effective mode of destroying ants in frames or hothouses is by placing toads in them. One toad will be sufficient for a frame or a hothouse. The toad places himself by the side of an ant-path, and by stretching out his tongue as the insects pass him, draws them in and devours them. He is even fonder of wood-lice than of ants. Other such in- sects may likewise be destroyed wholesale by boiling water, crushing them with the back of the spade, &c. Destroying the Perfect Insect. — This is effected in the open air by <£he use of washes or decoctions in the case of the aphides ; or, in the case of the wasp, by hot water being poured into its nest, or sulphur or gunpowder being burnt in it, or by inserting a rag dipped in tur- pentine, or pouring tar into the hole, and digging the nest out ; or by pouring salt and water into ants' nests ; or by lighting a fire over the INSECTS, OR DESTROYING THEM. 63 holes of burrowing insects, &c. In plant-houses, the perfect insect, such as the red spider, the green fly, &c., is destroyed by fumigation with tobacco smoke ; dusting with tobacco dust, snuff, or other insect killer; syringing with tobacco juice, Gishurst's compound, a solu- tion of smelling-salt, soot, &c., &c. The perfect insect is also de- stroyed in hothouses by the sublimation of sulphur, which may be mixed with lime or loam, and washed over the heating-flues and pipes, or placed on a hot stone or plate, or in a chafing-dish. Dusting the leaves of plants under glass with sulphur, in a state of powder, is found to destroy the red spider. Beetles, wood-lice, and other crawling wingless insects, are also destroyed by tempting them with food con- taining poison. A remarkable but very efficient mode of destroying the vine-moth in France has been discovered by Victor Audoin, which might in many cases, we have no doubt, be adopted in British gardens. This mode is founded on the practice of lighting fires during the night in vineyards, to which the moths are attracted, and burn them- selves. M. Audoin has modified this practice in a very ingenious manner, which has been attended with the most effective results. He places a flat vessel with a light on the ground, and covers it with a bell-glass besmeared with oil. The pyralis, attracted by the light, flies towards it ; and, in the midst of the circle which it describes in flying, it is caught and retained by the glutinous sides of the bell-glass, where it instantly perishes by suffocation. Two hundred of these lights were established in a part of the vineyard of M. Delahante, of about four acres in extent, and they were placed about twenty-five feet from each other. The fires lasted about two hours ; and scarcely had they been lighted, when a great number of moths came flying around, which were speedily destroyed by the oil. The next day the deaths were counted. Each of the 200 vessels contained, on an average, 150 moths. This sum multiplied by the first number gives a total of 30,000 moths destroyed. Of these 30,000 insects, we may reckon one fifth females, having the abdomen full of eggs, which would speedily have laid, on an average, 150 eggs each. This last number, multi- plied by the fifth of 30,000, that is to say, by 6000, would give for the final result of this first destruction the sum of 900,000. On the 7th of August, 180 lamps were lighted in the same place, each of which on an average destroyed 80 moths, or a total of ] 4,400. In these 14,400 moths there was reckoned to be, not only one sixth, but three fourths, females : but, admitting that there was only one half females, or 7200; and, multiplying this by 150 (the number of eggs that each would have laid), we have a total of 1,080,000 eggs de- stroyed. Two other experiments were made on the 8th and 10th of August, which caused the destruction of 9260 moths. (' Gard. Mag.,' vol. xiii. p. 487.) Luring away the Perfect Insect. — Attracting the perfect insect from the plant or fruit by some other kind of food to which they give the prefer- ence and which is of less value to the gardener, may perhaps some- times be effected. Wasps, hornets, and flies are easily entrapped in bottles filled with beer or honeyed water. The best bottles are so formed MEANS FOR ARRESTING THE PROGRESS OF that the insect, once in, cannot get out again. The opening at the top is below the level of the sides (fig. 5), and not one insect in a thousand has sense enough to fly up in a perpendicular line : they con- stantly struggle to the highest point, and after a few attempts get their wings wetted, and perish. The bottle should be emptied daily, the liquor being passed through a sieve and saved, and the insects burned. The side-opening is for emptying the con- tents, and is kept corked, unless when the bottle is emptied. The bottle is fixed to the wall or tree with wire. The top-opening is 1J inches below the level of the top of the curved side, and is regularly bevelled down to the hole through which the wasps, flies, &c., enter. The body of the bottle is made of clear glass. Though these bottles are the best traps, the hand-light trap is like- wise very efficient. It is made as follows : — Take a common hand- W asp-trap bottle. Fig. 6. Hand-glasses prepared for making a fly-trap. glass, — the hexagonal or any other form will do (fig. 6) ; re- move in the apex the whole or part of three of the panes, «, £>, c. Then take a second hand-glass, which must be of the same form as the first, and place it on the roof of the first, so that the sides of the one may coincide with the sides of Fig. 8. the other ; next stop all the interstices between the bottom of the one and the eaves of the other, at £, /, #, with moss, wool, or any suitable substance, which will prevent the entrance or exit of flies. The bottom hand-glass must rest on three pieces of bricks (fig. 8), to form an opening underneath. The appearance of the trap when completed is simply that of one hand- Fig. 7. glass above another (fig. 7). Fragments of waste fruit are laid on the ground, under the bottom hand-glass, to attract the flies, which, having once entered, never descend Plan of a fly-trap. again to get out, but . rise into the upper glass, and buzz about under its roof, till, fatigued and exhausted, they drop down, and are seen lying dead on the roof of the under glass. One of these traps, placed conspicuously on the Hand-glasses ar- ground before a fruit-wall or hothouse, acts as a ranged as a fly-trap, decoy to all kinds of winged insects. I. \ SECTS, OR DESTROYING THEM. 65 Collecting the Eggs of Insects. — The eggs of insects, after being deposited on the bark or leaves of plants, may sometimes be collected by hand ; for example, when they are laid in clusters or patches, so as to form a belt round the twig, as in the lackey-moth ; or when they are covered with fibrous matter, as in the Bombyx dispar, which lays its eggs in large circular or oval groups, containing 300 or more each, on the bark of trees or hedges, and covers them with a yellow wool. The eggs of the yellow-tail moth are laid on the leaves of fruit-trees, in a long narrow heap, and covered with gold-coloured hair, whence the scientific name Bombyx chrysorrhoea, which makes them very con- spicuous ; but the leaves may easily be collected, and the eggs de- stroyed. The satin-moth, Bombyx salicis, which, in its larva state, feeds on the leaves of willows and poplars, often stripping entire trees, when it becomes a perfect insect, lays its eggs in July, in small spots like mother-of-pearl, on the bark of the tree ; and as they are con- spicuous, they may easily be scraped off. Practical men in general a iv too apt to undervalue the effects of hand-picking, whether of the eggs or larvae of insects ; not reflecting that every insect destroyed by this means, is not only an immediate riddance of an evil, but prevents the generation of a great number of other evils of the same kind. Cir- cumstances have forced this on the attention of the French cultivator, and the following facts will place the advantage of hand-picking in a strong light. In 1837, M. V. Audouin, already mentioned, was charged by a commission of the Academic des Sciences, to investigate the habits of a small moth, whose larva is found to be exceedingly in- jurious in vineyards in France. During the month of August, women and children were employed during four clays in collecting the patches of eggs upon the leaves, during which period 186,900 patches were collected, which was equal to the destruction of 11,214,000 eggs. In twelve days from twenty to thirty workers destroyed 482,000 eggs, which would have been hatched in the course of twelve or fifteen days. The number of perfect insects destroyed in a previous experi- ment, by an expensive process, was only 30,000. (' Gard. Mag.,' vol. xiii. p. 486.) Many insects, however, deposit their eggs singly or in very small quantities, or in concealed places; and the eggs being in these cases very small, they are not easily found. Preventing Eggs from being Hatched. — Eggs, aiter being deposited, may sometimes be destroyed, or prevented from hatching, by the ap- plication of washes, or a coating of glutinous adhesive matter, such as gum, glue, paste, soil soap, sulphur and clay, or in some cases clay alone. A mixture of lime and water will not always have the effect of preventing the hatching of the eggs ; because, when the egg boprins to vivify and swell with the heat of the spring, the lime ;s and drops off. This, however, is not the case when the lime is mixed with soft soap and cow-dung, which render it adhesive and elastic. Water raised to the temperature of 200° will destroy the eggs of most insects ; and when these are deposited on the bark of the trunk of an old tree, or the well-ripened branches of a young hardy tree, water at this temperature may be applied freely. For young 66 MEANS FOR ARRESTING THE PROGRESS OF shoots in general the temperature should not exceed 130° or 150°. It should be remembered that insects, in depositing their eggs, always instinctively make choice of places where the newly-hatched insect will find food without going far in search of it. Hence they seldom lay them on walls, stones, glass, boards, or similar substances ; and therefore the attention of gardeners, when searching for ova, should be directed much more to the plants which nourish the insects, than to the walls or structures which shelter the plants, though it is im- possible to have the latter too clean. Collecting or destroying Larvae. — Insects in their larva state are much more injurious to plants than they are in any other ; because, as we have already seen, it is in this stage of their transformations that they chiefly feed. With the exception, however, of several of the wingless or crawling insects, and certain bugs and beetles, larvae are in general not difficult to discover, because, for the most part, they live on those parts of plants that are above ground ; but some live on the roots of plants, and these are among the most insidious enemies both of the gardener and the farmer. The ver blanc, or larva of the cockchafer, in France, and that of the wire- worm, in England, are perhaps the most injurious of all underground larvae, and those over which the cultivator has least power. Underground larvae may be partially collected, but not without much care and labour, by placing tempting baits for them in the soil. As they live upon roots, slices of such as are sweeter and more tender may be deposited at different depths and at certain distances, and the places marked ; then, the soil being dug up once a day, the insects may be picked off and the baits re- placed. Slices of carrot, turnip, potato, and apple, form excellent baits for most underground larvae. Such as attack leaves — as, for example, those of the gooseberry — may be destroyed in immense quantities by gathering the leaves infested by them, as soon as the larvae become distinguishable from the leaf by the naked eye, and sprinklings of hellebore powder will likewise destroy the gooseberry caterpillar. Instead of this being done, however, it too frequently happens that the larvae escape the notice of the gardener till they are nearly full grown, and have done most of the mischief of Avhich they are capable. Hand-picking has been found most serviceable in preventing the injury caused by the black caterpillar on the turnip leaves, which, in certain seasons, has proved destructive of the entire crop. It may also be applied to the destruction of the cabbage cater- pillars. Here, also, we may notice the beneficial effects of picking out and destroying young onion plants infested by the grub of the onion-fly. This ought to be done as soon as the plants appear sickly, because the grubs arrive at maturity in a very short time ; and, by destroying the plant, future generations of the fly are prevented. Grub-eaten fruit ought also to be picked up as soon as it falls to the ground, before the enclosed grub has time to make its escape into the earth, and which it would do in a very short time, the fruit not falling until the grub has arrived at its full size. The larvae of some kinds of saw-flies envelop themselves in a kind of web in the day-time, and INSECTS, OR DESTROYING THEM. 67 only go abroad to feed during the night. Webs of this sort may be seen in great numbers, in the early part of summer, on thorn hedges, fruit-trees, spindle-trees, and a great many others ; and they might readily be collected by children or infirm persons, and thus myriads of insects destroyed. The larva may be destroyed, both in its infant and adult state, by dashing against it water in which some caustic sub- stance has been dissolved, such as quicklime or potass ; or a bitter or poisonous infusion may be made, such as quassia or tobacco- water. While the larvae are not numerous, or the plants infested by them are tender and highly valued, they ought to be collected by hand ; and in the case of the larvae of mining insects, in which the larva is concealed within the epidermis of the leaf, there is no way of destroy- ing them but by gathering the leaves, or crushing the insects between the finger and thumb. Collecting the Pupcs or Chrysalids. — Insects may be destroyed in the pupa state by collecting their chrysalids or cocoons, when these are placed above ground, as is most commonly the case with those of moths and butterflies. These are commonly deposited in crevices in the old bark of trees, or in sheltered parts of walls or buildings ; rarely on young shoots or in the tender parts of plants, because, when the perfect insect comes forth, it no longer requires such food. Often the larva descends into the soil, there to pass through its pupa state ; and in some cases it may be destroyed by watering the soil with boiling water, or by deep trenching ; the surface soil, containing the insects, being placed in the bottom of the trench. As the eggs and chrysalids require the presence of air for their vivification and maturity no less than the seeds of vegetables, they are consequently, when deposited in the soil, always placed near the surface ; and hence they may be destroyed either by heaping earth on the surface, or by trenching or digging down the surface soil, so that the eggs or pupae may be covered at least to the depth of six inches. How long vitality will be retained under such circumstances is uncertain. In destroying the cocoons of insects, care should be taken not to destroy those of the insect's enemies, such as the cocoons of the spider, or those of the ichneumon flies. These are sometimes deposited in heaps on the bark of trees, and are individually not larger than the egg of a butter- fly. The gardener ought to be able to recognise them, because they are his best friends. This general outline will be sufficient to show the necessity of every gardener, who would be a master of his profession, studying the natural history of insects, and more especially of those which are known to be injurious or useful to him, whether in the open garden or in plant-structures. It is only by such a study that he can be pre- pared to encounter an insect which he has never heard of before, and that he will be able to devise new modes of counteracting the progress of, or destroying, insects already known. F2 68 BIRDS, CONSIDERED WITH Amphibious Animals, considered with reference to Horticulture. The frog, Rana temporaria, L., and the toad, Bufo vulgaris, Flem., are found useful in gardens, because they live upon worms, snails, slugs, and terrestrial insects. The toad being less active than the frog, and being capable of living a longer period without food, is better adapted for being shut up in frames, or kept in stoves. Both prefer a damp and shady situation ; and where they are intended to breed, they should have access to a shallow pond, or shady ditch. The ova of the frog is deposited in clusters in ditches and shallow ponds, about the middle of March; and the young, or tadpoles, are hatched a month or five weeks afterwards, according to the season : by the 18th of June they are nearly full-sized, and begin to acquire their fore feet; towards the end of that month, or the beginning of the next, the young frogs come on land, but the tail is still preserved for a short time afterwards. The common toad is a few days later in spawning than the frog. Its ova are deposited in long necklace-like chains in shallow water in shady ponds or ditches. There is one species, B. Calamita, Laurent, the Natter-Jack, which inhabits dry localities, and is a much more active animal than the toad, but much less common. Birds, considered with reference to Horticulture. Birds are, upon the whole, much more beneficial than injurious to gardens ; and being also larger animals and more familiar to every person living in the country than insects, we shall only briefly notice the commoner kinds. To give an idea of their usefulness to the horticulturist, it may be well to advert to the vigilance and voraciousness of the white or barn- owl (Strix flammea, L.), which feeds principally upon mice, snails, and slugs, and occasionally picks up rats, &c. Mr. Waterton points out, in his l Essays on Natural History,' that when it has young it will bring a mouse to its nest about every fifteen minutes. But in order to have a proper idea of the number of mice which this bird destroys, we must examine the pellets which it ejects from its stomach in the place of its retreat. Every pellet contains from four to seven skeletons of mice. In sixteen months from the time that the retreat of the owl on the old gateway at Walton Hall was cleaned out, there had been a deposit of about a bushel of pellets. All the owls, hawks, ravens, crows, magpies, jays, and rooks are equally useful in their respective spheres, while the thrushes, blackbirds, &c., repay the value of the fruit they destroy by the great multitude of small worms and slugs they consume. The hedge-sparrow is about as useful in gardens as the house-sparrow is destructive ; while the martins, swallows, wrens, and fly-catchers live wholly upon insects. In destroying or reducing the number of birds, those that are wholly or chiefly insect-eaters must be spared, while such as bullfinches, chaf- finches, and sparrows, that devour buds and seeds, should be thinned. REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 69 But most birds will eat fruit at certain seasons of the year, and it is therefore necessary to adopt various means of deterring or debarring them from their favourite fruits. Scarecrows of men or animals are of little use. The birds get accustomed to them, and will come and perch on them after a time. Wind and clapper-mills are better, as the noise and motion have a deterrent effect. Two bright pieces of tin, tied with a long string to the end of a pole, six feet or more high, and placed in a slanting direction, are effective. Rows of peas, crocuses in bloom, and other seeds and flowers, are preserved by having worsted, cotton, or linen threads run along singly or in pairs about six inches above them. No sooner does the bird alight for a meal than he looks up to see that the course is safe and clear. The string awakes sus- picion, and he is off at once. The same remedy has been recommended to be used with fruit-trees on walls, a few inches in front of the leaves. The birds alight upon this, the thread turns round with the grasp of their feet, and pitches them suddenly to the ground. This plan is much recommended, as it is said that a few tumbles are sufficient to keep off the birds. Young cats, owls, and hawks are likewise occa- sionally tied up to guard particular crops, and if they are placed in sufficient numbers among the crops, they are effective, but not other- wise. The different modes of deterring birds may be reduced to the following : — Excluding by netting, or other coverings, supported at a few inches* distance from the rising seedlings, fruit, flower, or plants to be protected ; setting up scares, of different kinds, such as mock men or cats, mock hawks or other birds of prey, miniature wind-mills or clapper-mills ; lines with feathers tied at regular distances, placed at a few inches' distance above the rows of newly-sown peas, or other seeds sown in drills ; over rows of crocuses or other dwarf spring flowers, or over beds or entire compartments. A system of dark worsted threads, placed in front of wall trees at a few inches' distance from the leaves, will scare away most birds ; because, taking the worsted string for a twig, and lighting on it, it turns round by the grasp, and sinking at the same time by the weight, the bird falls, and if this happens to him on a second attempt, he will be deterred for the future. The following scare is founded on an idea given by Mr. Swainson in the ' Encyclo- pedia of Agricul.,' 2nd edit., p. 1112 : — Let poles, ten or twelve feet high, be firmly fixed in the ground, in conspicuous parts of the garden, each pole terminating in an iron spike six or eight inches long ; pass this spike through the body of a dead hawk in the direction of the back-bone : it will thus be firmly secured, and give the bird an erect position ; the wings being free, will be moved by every breeze, and their unnatural motion will prove the best scarecrow either for ravenous or granivorous birds, more particularly the latter. Cats are found useful in walled gardens as scares to birds, as well as for other purposes. R. Brook, Esq., of Melton Lodge, near Woodbridge, in Suffolk, had four or five cats, each with a collar and light chain and swivel, about a yard long, with a large iron ring at the end. As soon as the gooseberries, currants, and raspberries began to ripen, a small 70 THE SMALLER QUADRUPEDS, CONSIDERED stake was driven into the ground, or bed, near the trees to be protected, leaving about a yard and a half of the stake above ground ; the ring was slipped over the head of the stake, and the cat being thus tethered in sight of the trees, no birds approached them. Cherry trees and wall-fruit trees were protected in the same manner as they successively ripened. Each cat, by way of a shed, had one of the largest sized flower- pot laid on its side, within reach of its chain, with a little hay or straw in bad weather, and her food and water placed near her. A wall of vines between 200 and 300 yards long, in Kirke's Nursery, Brompton, the fruit of which, in all previous seasons, had been very much injured by birds, was one year completely protected from them, in consequence of a .cat having constantly posted herself in the vicinity. ('Hort. Trans./ 2nd series, and ' Gar d. Mag.,' vol. xii. p. 429.) A stuffed cat has also been found efficacious. Crows and rooks are, in some parts of the country, deterred from lighting on sown wheat by pieces of rag dipped in a mixture of bruised gunpowder and tar, and stuck on rods, which are placed here and there over the field, and the rags renewed every three or four days. Of course this scare only operates where the birds have been previously accustomed to be shot at. The most certain mode of scaring birds, however, is to set boys or other persons to watch and sound a wooden clapper all round the fruit, or seeds, which may be ripening or germinating. Protection with wire or twine netting, bunting, or cheese-cloth is, however, the cheapest and most effective barrier to the ravages of birds. Unless where wire-netting is used, a framework of wood should always be employed, to keep perishable materials off the ground. This frame- work should be raised so high as to enable a man or boy to get under- neath to gather the fruit as wanted. Such an arrangement will re- quire more material in the first instance, but it will last treble the time, and add immensely to comfort and despatch in its use. The destruction of birds is most judiciously effected by traps, or by poisoning, because neither of these modes operates like the gun in scaring away others. " The report of fire-arms is terrible to birds ; and, indeed, it ought never to be heard in places in which you wish to encourage the presence of animated nature. Where the discharge of fire-arms is strictly prohibited, you will find that the shiest species of birds will soon forget their wariness, and assume habits which perse- cution prevents them from putting in practice. Thus the cautious heron will take up its abode in the immediate vicinity of your mansion ; the barn-owl will hunt for mice under the blazing sun of noon, even in the very meadow where the haymakers are at work ; and the widgeons will mix, in conscious security, with the geese, as they pluck the sweet herbage on your verdant lawn." The smaller Quadrupeds, considered with reference to Horticulture. A few of these deserve notice, partly as the enemies of gardens, and partly as the subduers of other garden enemies ; and in order that none deserving notice may escape, we shall take them in scientific order. WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 71 Ferts (Wild Beasts). — The badger (Meles, Cuv.) burrows in the ground and conies abroad in the night to feed, devouring indiscrimi- nately animal and vegetable substances. The marten (Mustela Foina, L.) inhabits the vicinity of houses, and preys on poultry, game, rats, moles, &c. It breeds in hollow trees. The polecat (M. putorius, L.) is a common inhabitant of woods and plantations in all parts of the country, and preys on guine, poultry, eggs, and all the smaller quadrupeds, amphibiae, snails, slugs, and worms. The ferret (M. Furo, L.), considered by some as the polecat in a domesticated state, is employed to destroy rabbits and rats. The weasel (M. vulgaris, Gmel.) is common in the vicinity of barns and outhouses. It devours young birds, rats, mice, moles, frogs, toads, lizards, snakes, snails, slugs, &c. Mr. Waterton, after recommending this animal to farmers, says : " But of all people in the land, our gardeners have most reason to protect the weasel. They have not one single word of complaint against it — not even for disturbing the soil of the flower-beds. Having no game to encourage, nor fowls to fatten, they may safely say to it, l Come hither, little benefactor, and take up thy abode amongst us. We will give shelter to thy young ones, and protection to thyself, and we shall be always glad to see thee.' And fortunate, indeed, are those horticul- tural enclosures which can boast the presence of a weasel ; for neither mouse, nor rat, nor mole, can carry on their usual depredations whilst the weasel stands sentinel over the garden. Ordinary, and of little cost, is the accommodation required for it. A cart-load of rough stones, or of damaged bricks, heaped up in some sequestered corner, free from dogs, will be all that it wants for safe retreat and a pleasant dwelling. Although the weasel generally hunts for food during the night, still it is by no means indolent in the daytime, if not harassed by dogs or terrified with the report of guns." (' Essays,' &c., p. 302.) The fox and the wild cat prey on birds and small quadrupeds. The domestic cat is too well known and too useful where rats, mice, or birds are to be deterred or destroyed, to require furtner notice. The mole (Talpa europaea, L.) burrows beneath the surface, but never to a great depth, throwing up hillocks at intervals. It feeds on worms and the larvae of insects, and, according to some, on roots. It breeds twice a year, in spring and autumn ; and as it carries on its operations chiefly in the night-time, the runs and -p. g hills may be watched early in the morning, and the animals dug out wherever they give signs of move- ment. They may also be taken by traps, of which there are several kinds. They may also be caught by sinking in their runs narrow- mouthed vessels of water, into which the animals will descend to drink without being able to get out again ; ^verted fiower.pot for C(Uching mice. or these vessels may have false covers similar to those set in the runs of rats. The shrew (Sorex, L, 72 THE SMALLER QUADRUPEDS, CONSIDERED of which there are three species, inhabits gardens, fields, and hedge- rows, and lives on insects, and also on vegetable substances. It may be caught by a water-trap in the same manner as the mole, or by an inverted flower -pot sunk in the soil, and slightly covered with litter or leaves, fig. 9, or checked by employing some of its natural enemies. The hedgehog is found in hedges, thickets, &c., remaining concealed in the daytime, but coming abroad at night in quest of worms, snails, slugs, and even frogs and snakes. It also lives on roots and fruits. Hedgehogs are occasionally kept in gardens for destroying frogs, toads, lizards, snails, slugs, and worms ; and in kitchens,, for devouring beetles, cockroaches, woodlice, and other ter- restrial insects. Care is requisite, however, that they are not annoyed by cats, which, though they cannot devour them, will, if not pre- vented, soon force them to quit a habitation which is not natural to them. The spines of the hedgehog are soft at its birth, and all in- clining backwards ; but they become hard and sharp in twenty-four hours. The bat, of which there are several species indigenous, lives entirely on insects caught on the wing. It forms the natural food of the owl. The dog, which belongs to this order, is too well known and useful to be classed with such vermin. As the enemy of rats, rabbits, and other vermin, and by his faithful watchfulness, he renders im- portant services to horticulture. Glires (Dormice). — The common squirrel feeds on birds, acorns, nuts, and other fruits ; and though he is very ornamental in woods, he should be but sparingly admitted into pleasure-grounds. The dor- mouse lives on similar fruits and roots, and builds his nest in the hollows of trees. The field-mouse may be caught and checked in the same manner as the shrew. The field-mouse in the Forest of Dean had become so destructive in 1813, that after trying traps, baits with poison, dogs, cats, &c. with little success, at last the plan of catching it in holes was hit upon. These holes were made from eighteen inches to two feet long, sixteen or eighteen inches deep, about the width of a spade at the top, fourteen or fifteen inches wide at the bottom, and three or four inches longer at the bottom than at the top. The object was to get the bottom of the hole three or four inches wider every way than the top, and the sides firm, otherwise the mice would run up the sides and get out again. The holes were made at twenty yards apart each way, over a surface of about 3200 acres : 30,000 mice were very soon caught, and the ground was freed from them for two or three years. As many as fifteen have been found in a hole in one night ; when not taken out soon, they fell on and -ate each other. These mice, we are informed, used not only to eat the acorns when newly planted, but to eat through the stems of trees seven and eight feet high and an inch and a half in diameter : the part eaten through was the collar or neck of the tree. (Billington's ' Facts on Oaks and Trees, &c.,' p. 43.) One of the simplest traps for mice is made of three bits of lath, sup- porting a brick or slate, with the bait just above the ground (fig. 10). No sooner do the mice nibble the bait than down conies the WITS REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 73 Fig. 10. •>late or brick and crushes them ; the same trap of larger dimensions is almost equally effective for rats. It must be set lightly, the weight resting on the projecting part of the upper part of the trap ; otherwise the perpendicular part of the trap will prevent the weight from falling. The black and the brown rat are omnivorous, and the latter takes occasionally to water and swims readily. Both are extremely difficult to extir- pate, and the various modes of entrapping them are too nume- rous and well known to require description here. The hare feeds entirely on vegetables, and is very injurious when it finds its way into gardens and young plantations. It eats the bark of several trees, and is particularly fond of that of the Laburnum. Various mixtures have been recommended for rendering the bark of young trees obnoxious to the hare, and an ointment composed of powdered sloes and hogs' lard is said to prove effectual. Stale urine of any kind, mixed up with any glutinous matter that will retain it on the bark, has also been recommended. The rabbit is more injurious to gardens than the hare, because it is much less shy, and much more prolific. It may be deterred from injuring the bark of trees by the same means as the hare, and from eating pinks, carnations, and other evergreen herbaceous plants, by surrounding them with a tarred thread, supported by sticks Fig. 11. 1. Upright support. 2. Diagonal liner. 3- Bait stick, cut into to catch 1, and notched at the end to hold 2 fast. 4. Slate, brick, or stone crusher. J Triple fence : a, for excluding cattle ; b, sheep fence : c, hare and rabbit fence. dipped in sulphur, at the height of six or eight inches from the ground. The only effective barrier, however, is a strained wire fence, closely 74 THE DISEASES AND ACCIDENTS OF PLANTS, woven or set together, from 24 to 36 inches in height. To present a straight or wall-like boundary, three fences two or three yards apart are sometimes placed parallel to each other. The outer fence may consist of iron posts and rods, no closer together than is necessary to exclude horses, cattle, and deer ; the second fence should be such as will exclude sheep ; and between this fence and the outer one there may be several large bushes, or low trees, with branches reaching to within the height of a sheep from the ground. The third fence need not be more than two feet high, with an iron wire about a foot higher along the top, and with the wires sufficiently close together to exclude hares and rabbits ; and between this fence and the sheep-fence there may be several shrubs with their branches resting on the ground. Thus, by the distribution into three fences of the materials which commonly form one fence, the outer margin of the plantation may be made to appear as free and irregular as if there were no fence at all. See fig. 11. The chief objection to such a mode of breaking up a straight boundary line with picturesque beauty is the expensiveness of the fencing. The same object may often be gained by planting groups of trees and shrubs inside a single line of fence, or where a distant view is desired, a sort of ha-ha may be dug out the depth of the fence, which renders the boundary invisible. CHAPTER V. THE DISEASES AND ACCIDENTS OF PLANTS, IN THEIR RELATION TO HORTICULTURE. THERE are various diseases and accidents to which plants are liable, some of which are beyond the control of the gardener, and others he can avert or subdue. The principal diseases which affect garden plants are the canker, mildew, gum, honey dew, and flux of juices. The canker chiefly affects apple and pear trees, and of these some varieties of apples are constitutionally more liable to this disease than others — for example, the Rlbston Pippin. The canker exhibits itself in small brown blotches, which afterwards become ulcerous wounds, on the surface of the bark, and soon extend on every side, eating into the wood, and sooner or later becoming so large as ultimately to kill the tree. The causes generally assigned are, the unsuitableness of the soil, the unpropitiovisness of the climate, and the unfavourableness of the seasons ; and here the matter generally rests. But soil and climate alike may be improved, and even the severity of the season modified, by drainage and proper cultivation. The chief causes of canker are a wet bottom, deep planting, and the use of rank manure. To prevent canker all these conditions should be reversed. The soil should be a good friable loam, two feet or more in depth, resting on a dry bottom. Care must also be taken to keep the collar of the IN THEIR RELATION TO HORTICULTURE. 75 plant level with the surface, and to give the roots a horizontal direc- tion. In cases where the good soil is only of very moderate thickness, and where the subsoil is a ferruginous gravel, or a stiff cold clay, it is not only necessary to drain the ground and plant upon the surface, but the trees should be set on the top of mounds from six inches to a yard above the surrounding level, and from four to eight feet in diameter ; the bottom of these mounds being covered with some hard substance, such as stone, slate, &c., to prevent the roots descending, and to lead them out as it were in a horizontal direction. No manure whatever should be incorporated with the soil, unless it should be very poor indeed : but it may be applied as a mulching round the mound, which will tend to keep the roots sufgciently moist and also near the surface. If these points were attended to, we should hear little of canker, unless in places naturally very damp, where more than a fair average of rain falls ; or where, from the prevalence of clouds, there is a deficiency of sunshine. In such places the shoots grow so luxu- riantly during summer, that they are yet soft and spongy, and filled with crude juices in the end of autumn. The frost sets in, freezes these juices, bursts the sap- vessels, and the decay of the shoots, or brown blotches, and ultimate canker, are the consequence. The only preventive in such cases is to plant on hillocks, and in soil made light and poor : the wood will then be less luxuriant and better ripened. What has been said respecting the prevention of canker will also apply to its cure. No scrubbing, scraping, or anointing will be of the least use. Cutting down the trees and allowing them to shoot afresh may be of benefit, if the canker has been produced by one very un- favourable season ; grafting them with hardier sorts will succeed, if the evil arises from unfavourableness of climate ; but neither of these methods will be of permanent benefit, when the evil proceeds from bad soil or planting. In such cases, where the trees are very bad, the best method is to destroy them gradually, and plant young ones in a proper manner, leaving some of the old trees until the young ones commence bearing. If the trees are not very old, nor yet too far gone, it will be advisable to take them up carefully, cut away all the cankered wood, plaster up all the wounds with a compound of clay and cow- dung, plant them in fresh soil on hillocks, and give no manure unless what is supplied for mulching, Such trees will generally become quite free of disease and bear splendid crops. A number of years ago, in a large kitchen-garden in the neighbourhood of London, a great number of fruit-trees were found in the different quarters in a miserable state from canker. The gardener appropriated a quarter in the garden for the reception of these trees; had the ground thrown up into wide and high ridges : on the top of these ridges the trees were planted, and in a short time they presented a fine healthy appearance, and were well stocked with good fruit. The soil was a stiff clayey loam. Such radical measures are not only the best antidote to canker, but a certain cure for sterility. The gum, by which is meant an extraordinary exudation of that secretion, takes place chiefly in stone-fruit trees, such as the Peach, 76 THE DISEASES AND ACCIDENTS OF PLANTS, Cherry, Plum, &c., from a cut, bruise, bend, or other violent disrup- tion of the tissue, or by injudicious pruning; often, however, without any visible cause. The gum on the young shoots of Peach-trees is analogous to the canker on Apple-trees, and seems to be caused by a cold wet soil, or a cold wet climate. Trees subject to this disease will live many years, and bear abundantly, though sometimes they are destroyed by it. For the gum we know of no remedy. Mildew appears in the form of a whitish coating on the surface of leaves, chiefly on those of herbaceous plants and seedling trees. De- ficiency of nutriment is favourable to the production of mildew ; it seems also to prefer glaucous-leaved plants, as the Swedish Turnip, Rape, and Peas, which are particularly subject to it in dry weather. Some varieties of fruit-trees ar^ more liable to mildew than others ; for instance, the Royal George and the Royal Charlotte Peaches are often attacked, when other sorts, growing close by them, are free from the disease. Peaches with glands are mostly exempt from mildew, and ought to be planted where the disease is prevalent. The mildew is supposed to be produced by innumerable plants of a minute fungus, the seeds of which, floating in the air, find a suitable nidus in the state of the surface of the leaf, and root into its stomata. This favour- able state for the appearance of the disease seems to be promoted by various circumstances. It sometimes proceeds from a tenderness in plants, produced from sowing or planting too thick. It exhibits itself in a season of dry weather, when the leaves become in a languid state, produced often by the roots being prevented, by injudicious surface watering, from drawing moisture from below. It also shows itself after a season of wet weather, if the drainage is defective, and the leaves have become surcharged with crude juices. More especially does it present itself in either of these circumstances, when the roots and branches of a plant are placed very differently relatively to moisture and temperature. For instance, it is very apt to make its appearance in a peach-house, if the border should be cold and wet, and the top of the tree in a warm arid atmosphere. The same effect will be produced when the atmosphere is genial and moist, and the border allowed to become too dry. Cucumbers grown in pine stoves, will often become much infested with mildew in the winter months ; because unless the pines should be in fruit, they will neither enjoy the requisite tempera- ture, nor a sufficiently moist atmosphere. In many cases also the disease proceeds from the soil being exhausted ; from containing too much inert carbonaceous matter, or becoming soured or sodden from want of drainage. In such cases trees are often completely cured by replanting properly in fresh soil. The best temporary specific for arresting the disease, is washing the affected parts Avith a composition of water and flowers of sulphur. If the plants are tender, it will be advisable to shake the sulphur in a state of powder on the affected parts when dry. In both cases it will be necessary to guard against bright sunshine by partial shading. In some cases the labour of sulphuring may be dispensed with, by at once cutting off the affected leaves and shoots. Where the mildew is liable to be produced by IN THEIR RELATION TO HORTICULTURE. 77 drought, it may frequently be prevented by copiously watering the soil, by which means Mr. Knight prevented this disease from attack- ing his late crops of Peas. The rust in corn crops is produced by a fungus in the same manner as the mildew ; but as it chiefly concerns the agriculturist, we refer the reader to Professor Henslow's Report on the Diseases of Wheat, ' Jour. Agr. Soc. Eng.,' vol. ii. p. 1, and the Rev. Edwin Sidney's little work, ' The Smut of the Wheat.' Hoiiey-dew is a sweet and clammy exudation from the surface of the leaves of plants during hot weather, and it is supposed to be occa- sioned by the thickening of the circulating fluids in the leaf, which being unable to flow back into the bark with their accustomed rapidity, the sugary parts find their way to the surface. The disease is common in the Oak, Beech, Thorn, and in many other plants. Hitherto no remedy has been applied to it in general cases, as, though it weakens plants, it seldom kills them. When, however, it appears on plants in a state of high cultivation, for instance, in a peach-house, or on a peach-wall, no time ought to be lost in applying the syringe or garden-engine, and even rubbing it off the leaves if necessary, otherwise the shoots or branches affected will be apt to be destroyed. Some persons suppose the honey-dew to be occasioned by the aphides, as the exuvia? of those insects are often found on leaves affected with this disease. This view of the case has recently been confirmed by writers in the ' Gardeners' Chronicle ' for the year 1869. It has also been proved that ants are useful as antidotes to honey-dew. They eat both the honey -dew and the aphides, and in this way consume cause and effect together. Blight is a term which is very generally applied to plants when under the influence of disease, or when attacked by minute fungi or insects. Any sudden disease or death of a plant, or part of a plant, is likewise termed a blight. Blight is often atmospherical or electrical ; in some cases the continued action of dried air, and cold frosty winds, preventing the flow of the sap, may bring on a disease which might be called blight, exclusive of either the action of insects or of fungi or of electricity ; but by far the greater number of instances of what is called blight are produced by these three causes. In general the fungi may be destroyed by the application of powdered sulphur, and the insects by some of the different means that have been already pointed out ; but we have no panoply against the lightning, nor security against sudden changes of temperature. Flux of Juices. — Under this term are comprehended the bleeding, or flow of the juices of the vine and other plants, when accidentally wounded, or pruned too early in autumn, or too late in spring ; and the discharge of the descending sap, or the cambium, in a putrid state between the bark and the wood, which frequently happens in elm- trees, and is incurable. The flux of the rising juices seldom does much injury, and may generally be prevented by pruning before the sap is in motion, or after the leaf is fully expanded. The accidents to which plants are liable are chiefly confined to the plants being broken ur bruised, and the general remedy is amputation 73 IMPLEMENTS OF HORTICULTURE. ef the parts. When the section of amputation is large, it is best to cover the wound with some adhesive composition, which will exclude the weather, and not impede the growth of the bark over the wound ; but this subject will be noticed more in detail when we come to treat of pruning. Some plants likewise require strong stakes to prevent their branches or stems from being broken, or their roots from being blown out of the ground by the wind. A number of other plant diseases have been described and named by writers on Botany, but they are of very little interest to the prac- tical gardener, because they rarely occur when plants are properly treated, or occur only in old age, or in a state of natural decay ; or because, when they do occur, they seldom admit of any remedy. Those diseases to which some plants are more liable than others, will be mentioned when these plants are treated of; for example, the rot in the Hyacinth, the dropsy in Succulents, the blistering of the leaves in the Peach, the shanking of Grapes, fungi on the roots, etc., etc. CHAPTEE VI. IMPLEMENTS OF HORTICULTURE. WITH the progress of gardening a great many tools, instruments, utensils, machines, and other articles, have been invented and recom- mended : and some of these are without doubt considerable improve- ments on those previously in use ; while, on the other hand, many would be rather impediments than otherwise in the hands of an expert workman. The truth is, that for all gardening in the open air, and without the use of pots for growing plants, or walls or espaliers for training trees, the only essential instrument is the spade. There is no mode of stirring the soil, whether by picks, forks, or hoes, which may not be performed with this implement. It may be used as a sub- stitute for the dibber, or trowel, or perforator (in planting or inserting stakes) ; instead of the rake and the roller in smoothing a surface and rendering it fit for the reception of the smallest seeds ; and after these are sown, the spade may be employed to sprinkle fine earth over them as a covering, in which way indeed that operation may be per- formed more perfectly than by " raking in." The only garden operation on the soil which cannot be performed with the spade, is that of freeing a dug surface from stones, roots, and other smaller obstructions, which are commonly " raked off;" but as the removal of small stones from the soil is of very doubtful utility, and as at all events these and other obstructions can be hand-picked, the rake cannot be considered an essential garden implement. The pruning-knife might in general be dispensed with in the training of young trees, by disbudding with the finger and thumb; but as the branches of grown-up trees frequently die or become diseased, and require cutting off, the pruning-knife may be considered the most essential implement next OBSERVATIONS ON THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND USES. 79 to the spade ; and with these two implements the settler in a new country might cultivate ground already cleared so as to produce in abundance every vegetable which was found suitable to the climate and soil. But though a garden of the simplest kind may be cultivated with no other implements than a spade and a knife, yet for a garden con- taining the improvements and refinements common to those of modern times, a considerable variety of implements is necessary or advanta- geous. Some of these are chiefly adapted for operating on the soil, and they may be designated as tools ; others are used chiefly in pruning and training plants, and may be called instruments ; some are for containing plants or other roots, or for conveying materials used in cultivation, and are properly utensils ; while some are machines calcu- lated to abridge the labour of effecting one or more of these different purposes, or reduce the cost of keeping ground in good order, such as the mowing machine. General Observations on the Construction and Uses of the Implements used in Horticulture. Implements may be considered with reference to the mechanical principles on which they act, the materials of which they are con- structed, the saving of labour which they effect, their preservation and their repairs. All tools and instruments, considered with reference to the mecha- nical principles on which they act, may be reduced to the lever and the wedge ; the latter serving as the penetrating, separating, or cutting, and sometimes the carrying part ; and the former, as the medium through which, by motion, force is communicated to the latter. All the different kinds of spades, shovels, and forks have their wedges in the same plane as the levers ; all the different kinds of picks, hoes, and rakes have their wedges fixed at right angles to the levers. The blades of knives and saws are no less wedges than the blades of spades or rakes, only their actions are somewhat more complex ; every tooth of the saw acting as a wedge, and the sharp edge of a knife consisting of a series of teeth so small as not to be visible to the naked eye, but in reality separating a branch by being drawn across it, on exactly the same principle as the saw. The series of combinations which constitute machines, when analysed, may be reduced to levers, fulcrums, and inclined planes ; and utensils depend partly on mechanical construction, and partly on chemical cohesion. It is only by understanding the principles on which an implement is constructed that that part can be discovered where it is most vulnerable when used, or most liable to decay from age. In all tools and instruments the vulnerable point is the fulcrum of the lever, or the point where the handle is connected with the blade or head. Another reason why failure generally takes place in that part is, that the handle is there generally pierced with a nail or rivet, which necessarily weakens the wood by breaking off or sepa- 80 IMPLEMENTS OF HORTICULTURE. rating a number of the fibres. In general, the power or efficiency of any tool or instrument, supposing it to be properly constructed, is as its weight taken in connexion with the motion which is given to it by the operator. Hence strongly-made implements of every kind are to be preferred to light ones, rotatory motion to any other kind ; and this preference will be found to be given by all good workmen. In the construction of implements, the levers or handles are for the most part made of wood, and the wedges or operating parts of iron or steel. The wood in most general use for handles in Britain is ash ; and next to the ash, oak : but for lighter tools, such as the hoe, rake, the scraper, besom, &c., pine or fir deal is sufficient. Handles to implements are of four kinds : first, cylindrical and smooth from one extremity to the other, as in the hoe, rake, &c. ; second, cylin- drical, or nearly so, but dilated at one or at both extremities, as in the pick, hatchet, &c., such handles being called helves ; third, cylin- drical and smooth, but with a grasping piece at one end, as in the spade, shovel, &c. ; and fourth, angular or rough throughout, as in the pruning-knife, hammer, hedgebill, &c. The reasons for these forms of handles are to be found in the manner of using the imple- ments : one hand of the operator is run rapidly along cylindrical handles, as in the hoe and rake ; in the dilated handles, one hand slides along between two extremities till it reaches the dilated part of the head, which wedges firmly into the hand ; and, this dilated part being in the direction of the operating part of the tool, adds consider- ably to its strength. This is the case in the pick, and in the hatchet, in which implements, without the dilatations at both extremities of the handle, as well as in some degree in the middle part, it would be diffi- cult for the operator to bring down an oblique blow with sufficient accuracy. Without the cross-piece or perforated handle of the spade, the operator could not easily lift a spitful or turn it over ; and hence we find, that in using the Flemish and other Continental spades, that have no grasping piece at one end, the operator never attempts to turn over the spitful, but merely throws it from him in such a manner that the surface falls towards the bottom of the furrow. No pruning-knife or hedgebill could be grasped firmly in the hand if it were cylindrical ; and unless these instruments are held firmly, it is impossible to cut obliquely with sufficient precision. The iron of all instruments should be of the best quality, and the cutting edges of blades, and sharp perforating points, should be of steel for greater hardness and dura- bility. Next to the importance of having implements properly constructed, is that of keeping them constantly in good repair. For this purpose the iron or steel parts require to be occasionally sharpened on a grind- stone or by other means, or to have additions of iron or steel welded to them by the blacksmith or cutler. All implements, when not in use, should be kept under cover in an open airy shed or tool-house ; some, as the spade, pick, &c., may rest on the ground; others, as the scythe, rake, &c., should be suspended on hooks or pins ; and smaller articles, such as trowels, dibbers, &c., placed in a holster rail. This is TOOLS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 81 a rail or narrow board fixed to the wall in a horizontal direction, an inch or two apart from it at the lower edge, and somewhat farther apart at the upper edge. Other small articles maybe laid on shelves, and priming-knives kept in drawers. No implement ought to be placed in the tool-house without being previously thoroughly cleaned ; and all sharp-edged implements, such as the mowing-machine, scythe, hedgebill, &o., when laid by and not to be used for some time, should have the blades or knives coated over with grease or bees-wax, and powdered over with lime or chalk to prevent the grease being eaten off by mice, as well as by combining with it to render it more tenacious, of a firmer consistence, and less easily rubbed off". In coating the blades of a mowing-machine, scythe, or hedgebill, or the plate of a saw, with wax or grease, it should be first gently heated by holding it before a fire ; and afterwards the wax or grease should be rubbed equally over every part of it, and the powdered chalk or lime dusted on before the grease cools. When the instruments are again to be brought into use, the blades should be held before the fire, and after- wards wiped clean with a dry cloth. The same operation of greasing should also be applied to watering-pots laid by for the winter, when these have not been kept thoroughly painted. Every implement ought to have its proper place in the tool-house, to which it should be returned every day when work is left off. In well-ordered establish- ments fines are agreed on between the master and his men, to be im- posed on all who do not return the tools to their proper places in due time, and properly cleaned. Tools used in Horticulture. By tools are to be understood implements for performing the com- moner manual operations of horticulture, and they may be included under levers, picks, hoes, spades, forks, rakes, and a few others of less consequence. The common lever, fig. 12, is a straight bar of wood shod with iron, or of iron only, and is used for the removal of stones or large roots, which rest on, or are embedded in the soil. The advantage gained is as the distance from the power applied at a, -p. to the fulcrum b ; and the force of the power is greatest when it is applied at right angles to the direction of the lever. The handspoke, or carrying lever, belongs to this species of tool, and is simply a pole, tapering from the two extremities to the middle, by means of one or two of which, tubs or boxes, or other objects, furnished with bearing hooks, can be removed from one place to another. Two of these poles, joined in the middle by cross-bars or boards, form what is called the hand-barrow — a carrying implement generally useful in gardening. Sometimes, to lender a detached fulcrum unnecessary, the operating end of the lever is bent up, so that the elbow or angle, fig. 13, c, serves as a fulcrum. When the operating end terminates in claws, G 82 TOOLS USED IN HORTICULTURE. like those of a common hammer, it is termed a crowbar, d, and is ex- tremely useful for forcing up stakes or props which have been firmly fixed in the ground. Sometimes the upper extremity of the bent lever and crowbar are made pointed and sharp, so as to serve at the same time as per- forators, as shown in both the kneed lever and crowbar. Every garden ought to have one of these tools ; and perhaps 25> pleasure-grounds, laying grass- edgings, collecting turf for form- ing composts for plants, and for other purposes. One form, A, frequently called a breast-plough, from the handle being pressed on by the breast, has the edge of the Turf-spades. blade turne(j up so as to separate the strip of turf to be raised from the firm turf: another form, a, is used after the turf has been cut or lined off into ribbons or bands, by the tool called a turf-racer. Turf-racers, or verge-cutters, fig. 26, are tools used either for cutting grassy surfaces into narrow strips to be afterwards raised up by the turf spade, or for trimming the grass edgings or verges of walks. The Fig. 26. commonverge-cutter, k, has a sharp reni- form, or crescent- shaped blade ; and the wheel verge-cut- ter, /, is a thin cir- cular plate of steel, with a sharp-edged Verge-cutters or turf-racers. circumference, fixed to a handle by an axle, and operating by being pushed along before the workman. It is well adapted for cutting off the spreading shoots or leaves of grass edgings which extend over the gravel, without paring away any part of the soil. As the edges of these tools are very easily blunted, they require to be made of steel, and frequently sharpened. »M'Intosh's wheel verge-cutter, fig. 27, is designed for cutting grass- verges on the sides of walks. With this instrument a man may cut as much in one day as he would cut in four or five days with the common verge-cutter without wheels. Bell's verge-cutter, instead of a wheel, TOOLS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 87 plate of iron, through the middle of which ,re inserted, and fixed and adjusted by the screws. Fig. 27. M'IntoslCs wheel verge- cutter. has a broad bent cutting coulters a It is described and figured in * Gard. Mag.,' vol. xiv. p. 177. In cutting turfs from a piece of grass land, the line is first stretched in order that the cutting may be performed in a perfectly straight direction. This is also the case in cutting the verges of straight walks, but in cutting those of curved walks the eye alone serves as a guide. In gardens and pleasure-grounds of moderate extent the common verge-cutter is the most useful, and it is also the most generally used in large establishments. The trowel and the spud, the latter of which is also used as a spade- cleaner, belong to this group of tools. Though the spud, j 28. fig. 28, can hardly be considered as a fit tool for a profes- sional gardener, yet with a suitable handle, it forms a most convenient walking-stick for the amateur gardener ; because by it he may root out a weed, or thin out a plant, wherever he sees it necessary. The transplanting trowel, fig. 29, a, is a very useful tool wherever careful and neat gardening is practised ; because by two of these, one in each hand, growing plants can be taken up with balls, put temporarily Garden-spud. into pots, and carried from the reserve ground to the flower beds and borders, where they can be turned out into the free soil, without sustaining any injury. The trowel, ft, is used for taking up plants and as a substitute for the hand to lift soil in potting plants. The best of all trowels for planting bedding or any other small plants, is not the concave garden trowel, but a rather small and flat steel trowel. The best I have had are those marked with a Crown and W. H. Much more work can be done in a given time than with the concave garden trowel, and with much greater pleasure and ease to the operator. A trowel with a flat blade and a forked point is sometimes used for raising up weeds from gravel or grass, and is called a weeding-trowel. The weeding-hook, which is a narrow strap of iron forked at the lower extremity, with a wooden handle at the other, is also used for raising weeds. There is a variety of this, with a fulcrum, for rooting daisies and other broad-leaved j^. 30. weeds out of lawns, fig. 30. The use of the fulcrum is to admit of a long handle which renders it un- necessary for the operator to stoop. Some of these tools have short handles, to adapt them for infirm d/ persons and children. ^ Transplanters, figs. 31 and 32 (see also " Machines V™*!/'™* used in Horticulture"). — These tools are used as substitutes for the transplanting trowel. In Saul's implement, fig. 31, the blades are opened by pressure on the lever, a; and in the spade trans- Fig. 29. 88 TOOLS USED IN HORTICULTURE. Fig. 31. SauFs planter, fig. 32, the blades are pressed together by moving the sliding-piece, b, downwards ; and when the plant is carried to its place of destination, they are opened by moving it upwards. Both these transplanters are more adapted for amateurs than for professional gardeners, and the manner in which they are to be used is sufficiently obvious from the figures. Transplanters of this kind are gene- rally supposed to be of French origin, but we are informed that the instrument of which fig. 31 is an improvement was an invention of the Rev. Mr. Thornhill, vicar of Staindrop, in the county of Durham, about 1820, who used it extensively on his farm for transplanting turnips. The forks used in gardening are of two kinds; broad-pronged forks, for stirring the soil Fig. 32. transplanter among growing plants, and as a substitute for Transplanting the spade in all cases where that implement spade. would be liable to cut or injure roots; and round-pronged forks, fig. 33, for working with littery dung, a, or for turning over tan, Fig. 33. b. There are hand-forks of both kinds for working in glass frames, hotbeds, or pits. The digging-fork is almost as es- sential to every garden as the spade ; and, wherever there are hotbeds, dung linings, or tan, the dung-fork with three prongs, fig. 33, a, and the tan-fork with five prongs, 6, cannot be dispensed with. The three-pronged digging-fork is used for shallow digging, or pointing fruit-tree borders, and also for taking up potatoes. Parks' s steel digging and manure forks are a great improvement on the old kinds, and one of the best aids to culture. After using them nobody would think of using the old forks. The American four-tined digging-fork, fig. 34, is perhaps the best known, and far superior to the kinds here figured. Eakes, figs. 35 and 36, are used for freeing the surface soil from stones and other obstacles, for raking off weeds, or mown grass, or fallen leaves, and for covering in seeds. The common garden rakes, used for raking soil and gravel, differ chiefly in size. See fig. 36. The daisy-rake, fig. 35, a, has broad teeth, lancet-pointed, sharp at the edges, and set close together ; and it is used for tearing off the heads or flowers of daisies, plantains, dandelions, and other broad-leaved plants, which appear in grass lawns, in the early part of the season ; and thus it renders the necessity of mowing less frequent. The short grass-rake, fig. 35, b, is formed of a thin piece of sheet-iron, cut along Dung and tan forks- TOOLS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 89 Garden-rakes. the edge so as to form a sort of comb, and riveted between two strips of wood, as shown in the figure. It serves for raking off cut grass, and also, to a cer- Fi 36> tain extent, as a daisy-rake. Besoms are used in horticulture for sweeping up mown grass, fallen leaves, and for a variety of purposes. The head or sweeping part is formed of a bundle of the spray of birch, broom, or heath, and lately the suckers of the snow- berry, fibres of the cocoa-nut, strips of gutta-percha, &c., have come into use Datiy and gra* rale,. ^ ^p,^ ^ handle ;3 formed of any light wood, such as willow, poplar, or deal. A number of besoms are essential to every garden, though the general use of mow- ing machines has reduced their number and importance. For lifting matters collected together by the broom or grass-rake, two pieces of board are used by the operator, one in each hand, by which the smallest heap of leaves or grass can be quickly and neatly lifted up, and dropped into a basket or wheelbarrow. The pieces of board may be about 18 in. long, from 6 in. to 9 in. broad, and f in. thick. Beetles and rammers, fig. 37, are useful tools even in small gardens, for beating down newly-laid turf-edgings ; for ramming and consoli dating the soil about posts and foundations, Fig< 37. and for a variety of other purposes. For example, where part of a gravel-walk is taken up and relaid, unless the newly- moved soil and gravel are consolidated, or rammed down, to the same degree as the old part, there will be a depression in that part of the walk, which will increase after the sinking in of rain, and thus require continual additions. In fig. 37, a is the common turf beater or beetle, the head or beating part of which is commonly made of a block of wood, though it would be better if it were a plate of cast iron, because that would be heavier ; b is the common wooden beater, which is also used as a rammer, the whole of which is formed of wood ; c and d are two ram- mers, in which the heads are formed of cast iron, and which are very superior tools, invented by Anthony Strutt, Esq. To retain the handle in the socket, a slit is made in the handle, and a small wedge en- tered in it, and afterwards it is driven home till it assumes the appear- ance shown in the section at e. The great art in consolidating turf or 90 INSTRUMENTS USED IN HORTICULTURE. gravel with the beetle or rammer, is to bring down the tool in such a manner that the face of the head may be perfectly parallel to the surface to be acted upon. When the operator does not succeed in this, he will be warned of it by the jar which the tool will transmit through his hands. The mallet, fig. 38, a, is formed of a piece of any tough wood, such as elm, or oak, or beech, and in any case it might have a -pj 38 ring at each end to prevent its splitting. It is used for driving posts, and there is a smaller or hand-mallet for using with the pruning chisel, and as a substitute for a ham- mer in driving in short stakes. In using a mallet, as in using the beetles, the centre of Wooden mallet and garden- the striki t of the head should always be hammer. , , ,° , ., , r brought down on the centre 01 the stake or other object to be struck ; otherwise the full power of the tool will not be obtained, and a jar on the hands of the operator will be pro- duced. The garden-hammer, fig. 38, £, is used for nailing wall-trees, and for a great variety of purposes, and it differs from the common carpenter's hammer in having a projecting knob, c, in the head, to serve as a ful- crum in drawing out nails from walls, without injuring the young shoots. Since the wiring of walls or the covering them with wide- meshed netting for the training of wall-trees, the hammer is of less consequence ; still it is an indispensable requisite in the garden. Con- sidered by itself, the common hammer may seem an insignificant tool ; but viewing it as including all the different kinds of hammers used in rendering metals malleable, and in joining constructions and machines of various kinds together, by means of nails and pins, it appears one of the most important of all implements. See Moseley's ' Illustrations of Mechanics,' p. 238. The garden-pincers, fig. 39, besides the pincing part, Fig. 39. have a clawed handle for wrenching out nails, and are *=™=-=-5^s^ useful in gardens for this and a variety of other pur- « -V-^ poses. Some have a knob, which enables them to be Garden-pincers. usecl also as a hammer. Instruments used in Horticulture. Instruments are distinguished from tools by having sharp-cutting edges, and being adapted for operating on plants rather than on the soil ; and they are also generally smaller than tools, and have for the most part handles adapted for grasping. Those used in horticulture are chiefly knives, bills, shears, and scythes. Various kinds of knives are required in gardening operations : large long-handled knives for cutting and trimming vegetables, pruning, budding, and grafting-knives, and long curved ones, with teeth like a saw at the end, for cutting asparagus. Three kinds of knives are required in every garden — the cabbage -knife, a INSTRUMENTS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 91 large rough-handled instrument, with a hooked blade, for cut- ting and trimming cabbages, cauliflowers, turnips, and other large succulent vegetables, when gathered for the kitchen; the pruning - knife, fig. 40, a, for cutting the branches and twigs -pig. 40. off trees and shrubs, forming cuttings, &c. ; the budding- knife, b, and the grafting-knife, c, used in per- forming the operations of budding and grafting, and also in making smaller cuttings. Where heaths and 6 other small-leaved plants are propagated by cuttings Garden-knives. of the points of the shoots, a common penknife is requisite, as well as a pair of small scissors for clipping off the leaves ; but these instru- ments are so familiar to every one that it is unnecessary to describe them. Formerly garden-knives were distinguished from those in com- mon use by having blades hooked at the points, for more conveniently hooking or tearing off shoots or leaves ; but this mode of separating shoots or branches being found to crush that part of the shoot which was left on the living plant, and by that means render it liable to be injured by drought or by the absorption of water, a clean draw-cut has been re- sorted to as not liable to these objections; and this requires a blade with a straight edge like those of the prun ing-knives now in general use. There are folding pruning-knifes combining in the same handle a saw, a chisel, a file, a screw-driver, &c., but these are for the most part more curious than useful. The asparagus-knife, -p. fig. 41, has a blade about eighteen inches long, hooked and serrated, and is used for cutting the young shoots of asparagus when in a fit state for the table. It is thrust into Asparagus the soil so as, when drawing it out, to cut the shoot from two to five inches under the surface, according to the looseness of the soil, and the taste of the consumer for asparagus more or less coloured at the points. Where green asparagus is preferred to what is thoroughly blanched, such a knife is hardly requisite, as the buds may be cut off at the surface with a common cabbage-knife. The asparagus-knife is less used now than formerly, as it was found to destroy many of the young shoots below the surface. A common knife or one shaped like a small chisel is a much safer, as well as a handier tool. Ivory-handled budding-knives are now much used by gardeners for many kinds of light work as well as for budding. On the Continent, where the training of trees is so well understood, the use of the knife is not at all common with cultivators. It has been given up in favour of the secateurs, described further on. Bill-knives or hedge-bills are large blades fixed to the ends of long handles for cutting off branches from young trees, and for cutting up the sides of hedges instead of shears. The advantage in using them in preference to shears is, that they have a clean smooth section instead of a rough one, which, as already observed, admits drought and moisture, and also stimulates the extremities of the branches to throw out numerous small shoots, and these, by thickening the surface of the hedge, exclude the air from the interior, in which, ultimately, INSTRUMENTS USED IN HORTICULTURE. the smaller shoots die, and the hedge becomes thin and naked. The most complete set of instruments of the bill kind is that used in North- umberland, and described by Blaikie in his ' Essay on Hedge-row Timber.' One of these instruments, fig. 42, ought to be in every Fig. 42. The scimitar bill-knife. garden tool-house. The handle of this bill-knife, or scimitar, as it is called, is four feet in length, and the blade eighteen inches in length, the former deviating from the direction of the latter to the extent of six inches, as shown by the dotted line in the figure ; this deviation is made in order to admit the free action of the operator's arm, while he is standing; i_ ^ • i /• i T • • by the side of a hedge, and cutting it . 43. Dress-bill knife. upwards. Fig. 43 is what is called a dress-bill, for cutting the sides of very small hedges, or such as are quite young. Pruning-saws are of different kinds, but they may be all reduced to draw-saws, fig. 44, #, and thrust or common saws, such as those in Fig. 44. common use by carpenters. Draw- saws have the teeth formed so as to point to the operator, fig. 44, b, and only to cut when the blade is drawn towards him. Thrust- saws have the teeth or serratures formed I ?at right angles to the edge of the blade, so Fig. 45. from the operator, but partly also when Garden-saws. drawn towards him. The draw-saw is always used with a long handle, and is very convenient for sawing off branches which are at a distance from the operator. In both these saws the line of the teeth is inclined about half the thick- ness of the blade to each side, as shown at d ; the advan- tage of which is, that the blade passes readily through the branch without the friction which would otherwise be produced by the two sides of the section. Draw-saws being subjected to only a pulling-strain, do not require so thick a blade as thrust-saws ; and, for that reason, they are also much less liable to have the blades broken or twisted, and are less expensive. Pruning-chisels are chisels differing little in some cases, fig. 45, e, from those of the common carpenter, fixed to the end of a long handle, for the purpose of cutting Pruning- off small branches from the stems of trees at a considerable chisels. height above the operator. The branch should not be larger than 1J in. in diameter at the part to be amputated, otherwise it cannot be so readily struck off at one blow. In performing the INSTRUMENTS USED IN HORTICULTURE. operation two persons are requisite : one places the chisel in the proper position and holds it there, while the other, with a hand-mallet, gives the end of the handle a smart blow, sufficient to produce the separa- tion of the branch. If properly performed, the section does not require any dressing ; but sometimes there are lacerations of the bark, which require to be trimmed off with the hooked part, g, of the chisel, /. The raidisseur is the ingenious " little wire-straining imple- ment which plays such a very important part in the wiring of garden- walls, or erecting of trellises for fruit-growing in France. It is an implement which, though insignificant in itself, is calculated to make a vast improvement in our gardens and on our walls. It will save labour, time, and expense, and make walls and permanent trellises for fruit-growing infinitely more agreeable to the eye and useful to the cultivator than ever they were before. " There are various forms, which I need hardly describe, as theyare so well shown in the accom-* Fig. 46. panying cuts. The first (fig. 46) is a reduced figure of one about three inches long, ^fms^r^r^^ ^w and of which I brought some specimens from Paris. The en- graver has placed it in the best position to show its structure. The wire that passes in through one end is slipped through a hole in the axle ; the other end is attached to the tongue, as shown in the engraving, and then by the aid of a key, Fig. 47. Key of raidisseur. fig. 47, placed on the square end of the axle, the whole is wound much as a guitar-string is wound round its peg. The first form figured is very much used in the best gardens, and always seemed to me to do its work effectively. " The next figure is that of the raidisseur invented by Collignon and recommended by Du Breuil. It does not Fi- 48' differ much from the preceding. D shows the point of insertion of the wire that has to be tightened ; B the fas tening of the other end Collignon's raidisseur. of the wire ; and A the head on which the key is placed. Fig. 49 is a side view of the same 94 INSTRUMENTS USED IN HORTICULTURE. implement. The foregoing kinds are galvanized, just like the wire. That shown by fig. 50 is a very simple one, not galvanized, which _,. was much used in the fruit garden of the Paris Exhibition. This last form is so simple that it can be readily and Side view of Collignon's raidisseur. cheaP^ Produced in any of our manufactur- ing tcwns. The best of these tighteners cost but a few pence ; and if it \\ ere not so, it would still be profitable to employ them, in consequence of the great saving they effect, by enabling us to Fig. 50. Raidisseur used in the garden of the Exhibition q/"1867. use a very thin wire, which is quite as efficient and infinitely neater than the ponderous ones now generally employed by us, wherever the nail and shred have given way to some costly system of wiring. " Since writing the foregoing, I have found a much-improved and very simple raidisseur in use at Thomery. Fig. 51 represents its actual size. It is simply a little piece of cast-iron costing little more than a garden nail — so small that its presence on wall or trellis does not look awkward, as in the case of some of the larger kinds — and very effective. I never met with it except in the garden of M. Rose-Char- meux at Thomery. The walls there are very neatly wired by its help, and it is equally useful for espaliers. I have indeed never visited a garden in which the walls and trellises were so neatly done, and all by means of this simple strainer and the galvanized wire. Fig. 51 shows the wire strained tight, and is a little more than half the size I recommend. Messrs. J. B. Brown and Co., of 90, Cannon-street, have at my request cast a great number of these, and can supply them in any quantity and at a very low rate. They are made of malleable cast-iron, and are galvanized. The edges of the division in the head of this little implement being sharp, those of the specimen I brought from France were filed to prevent them cutting the wire in the strain- ing ; but any danger from this source is quite obviated by allowing the wire to be loose enough to permit of one coil being wound INSTRUMENTS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 95 round the neck of the raidisseur before the real strain is applied. It is almost needless to add that the wire is simply placed in the groove in the head of the raidisseur, which is then turned, and finally g* tightened with a key like that for the other forms." (« The Parks, Promenades, and Gar- dens of Paris.') Shears, in regard to their mode of cutting, are of two kinds : those which separate by a crushing cut, as in the common hedge-shears, fig. 52, the grass-shears, and verge-shears ; and those which separate by a draw or saw cut, as in the pruning-shears, fig. 53. The common hedge-shears is used in gardens for topiary work, lg' cutting hedges of privet, and other small - leaved, slender - twigged hedge- plants, which do not cut so readily with the hedge- bill ; and it is more espe- The simplest and best form of raidisseur. Shears for clipping hedges and box-edgings. Fig. 53. cially used for clipping box-edgings. The pruning-shears, fig. 53, have one blade, which, by means of a rivet, moves in a groove, by which means this blade is drawn across the branch in the manner of a saw, and produces a clean or draw-cut : that is, a cut which leaves the section on the tree as smooth as if it had been cut off by a knife. There are instruments of this kind of various sizes, from that of a pair of common scissors, for pruning roses or gooseberry bushes, to such as have blades as large as those of common hedge-shears, with handles four feet long, which will cut off branches from two to three inches in diameter. All of them may be economically used in gardens, on account of their great power and the rapidity and accuracy with which opera- tions are performed by them. Fig. 53 shows two instru- ments commonly known as Wilkinson's shears, which are well adapted for pruning shrubs, and for the use of amateurs. Roses are better pruned by instruments of this kind than by knives, as unless the latter are kept very sharp, the soft- ness of the wood and the large quantity of pith it contains, yield to the knife, and occasion too oblique a section, in consequence of which the shoot dies back much farther than if the section were made directly across. The secateur is a French instrument that every gardener should possess himself of. I know well the prejudice that exists in England among horticulturists against things of this kind, and their almost superstitious regard for a good knife. I also believed in the knife, but Pruning- shears. INSTRUMENTS USED IN HORTICULTURE. when I saw how useful the secateur is to the fruit-growers of France, and how easily and effectively they cut with it exactly as desired, I became at once converted. A secateur is seen in the hands of every French fruit-grower, and by its means he cuts as clean as the best knife-man with the best knife ever whetted. They cut stakes with them almost as fast as one could count them ; they have recently made some large ones for cutting stronger plants — such as the strong awkward roots of the briars collected by the rose-growers. Of these secateurs there are many forms, two of the best being figured here. First we have the secateur Vauthier, a strong and handy instru- ment. Its sloping, semi-cylindrical handles have their outer side rough, which gives a firm hold ; the springs, though strong, resist the action of the hand gently ; the curvature of the blade and the ad- justment are perfect; and lastly, the principal thing, the action is so easy as never to hurt the hand. "During the many years of my ex- perience," observes M. Lachaume, a fruit-grower, who describes this implement in the ' Eevue Horticole,' " I have used tools of all kinds, and the tools have also used me a little ; but I have never met with anything which gave me so much satisfaction as the secateur Vauthier. Every desirable quality is combined in it, and I recommend it with perfect confidence. The strongest branch will not resist its cutting, nor a single branch, however well concealed, be inaccessible to it. Moreover, the double notch on the back of the blade and hook will enable the operator when employed at his trellises to cut every wire without using the pincers." The secateur Lecointe (fig. 54) is another variety recommended by the leading French horticultural journal. The inventor was led to devise this kind of spring in order to avoid the annoyance arising from the frequent breakage of the form usually employed. It is said that this form of spring secures an easy and gentle action of the instrument, and has the advantage of lasting longer than others, from not being so liable to break, while it secures a firmness and evenness in working which is not otherwise attained. A further improvement is pointed out in the fas- tening, which consists of a stop which catches when the two handles are drawn together, a projecting portion on the outside acting as a spring which is to be Fig. 54. Fig. 55. The secateur Lecointe. The common secateur. INSTRUMENTS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 97 pressed when the instrument is required to be opened. M. Lecointe of Laigle is the inventor. Fig. 55 represents the secateur of older date than the preceding, and one more generally used. It is much employed at Montreuil. There can be no doubt that where much pruning of any kind is done, and particularly pruning of a rather rough nature, the secateur is a valuable implement. For pruning, in which great -p- 56 nicety of cutting is required, a good and properly- shaped knife is best. The secateur was first in- vented by M. Bertrand of Molleville. The axe, fig. 56, can scarcely be dispensed with in gardens, for the purpose of sharpening props or other sticks for peas, &c. ; and a larger axe, as well as a common carpenter's saw, may be required where branches are to be broken up for fuel for the hothouse furnace, or other fires. The best axe is the American. Verge-shears, fig. 57, are shears of the crushing kind used for clipping the edges of grass-verges, which they do without cutting the soil, as is commonly the case when any of the different de- scriptions of verge-cutters already de- scribed are used. The blades of these shears operate in a vertical plane, the handles being held edgewise. The short grass scythe, fig. 58, c, is now but little used in gardens ; mowing- machines of all sorts and sizes have usurped its place, to the immense economy Verge, ) for blanching them, having a move- able top, which can be taken off at pleasure, to admit light or to gather the produce. Boxes of boards, however, are found more economical. There are also square-made pots, which, it is al- leged, by filling up the angles left by round pots, allow of a greater quantity of room being obtained in a given space in beds or shelves under glass; and pots with one side flattened, and with a pierced ear or handle, to admit of hang- „, .. . , f ' Pot with pierced nms ing the pot against a wall or a trunk or a tree ; and ja7M/5 y^ in. and pots for orchids, for succulents, and hanging troducing vnre-work. plants, made of all shapes and designs, and pierced with holes all over for the escape of the roots or shoots into the air. Many other fanciful pots might have been figured and de- scribed ; but in the general practice of gardening all these peculiar pots may be dispensed with ; and, in truth, with the exception of the last forms, they are only found in the gardens of some amateurs. It is useful, however, to know what has been done or attempted in this way, in order to prevent a waste of time in repeating similar contri- vances. For ornamental purposes, pans of terra cotta, stone, marble, china, or iron are rapidly superseding common pots. And for common pur- poses, such as the storage of the thousands of plants required in the flower-garden, wooden boxes a foot wide, two feet long, and four inches deep, are largely used. 102 UTENSILS USED IN HORTICULTURE. From the porosity of the material of which common earthenware plant-pots are made, it is evident that when the soil within the pot is moist, and the pot placed in a warm dry atmosphere, the evaporation and transpiration through the sides must be considerable ; and as evaporation always takes place at the expense of heat, this must tend greatly to cool the mass of soil and fibrous roots within. This may be prevented by glazing the exterior surface of the pot ; but as this would add to the expense, and be chiefly useful in the case of plants in pots kept in rooms, it is seldom incurred. In many instances it has, like- wise, been found that plants have not grown so well in glazed as in unglazed pots. To prevent evaporation in rooms the double pot is sometimes used, or single pots are surrounded by moss, or cased in woollen cloth or bark of trees : in plant-houses, the atmosphere is, or ought to be, so nearly saturated with moisture by other means, as to reduce the evaporation from the pots to a degree that cannot prove in- jurious. The advantage which earthenware pots have over boxes is, that they can be made round, by which means shifting is effected with much greater ease than it can be with any rectangular utensil. Earthenware saucers for pots are made and sold on the some prin- ciple as pots — viz., in casts ; a cast of saucers for sixties or thumbs costing as much as a cast for thirty-twos or sixes. Saucers are chiefly used in living rooms, or in other situations where the water which escapes from the hole in the bottom of the pot would prove injurious ; and to prevent this water from oozing through the porous material of the saucer, it is sometimes glazed on the inside. There are also sau- cers, or flats, as they are called, made with raised platforms in the centre, for the pots containing the plants to stand in ; in some cases, in order that they may stand dry and not be liable to be entered by earth- worms ; and in others, in order to surround them with water, and thus insulate them from the attacks of creeping insects, such as wood- Fig. 67. Fig. 68. Isolating- saucer. lice, ants, &c. Uten- sils of this kind are also used for support- ing boards in the open garden, so as to isolate them, and of course the pots which stand on them, from wingless insects, snails, worms, &c. Fig. 67 shows one of these utensils, which might easily be substituted for a common saucer and inverted pot. An an- nular saucer, fig. 68, for containing water, is used either for protecting plants in pots or plants in the open ground ; and if lime-water or salt- water is used, it will prove a very effectual protection from snails, slugs, wood-lice, ants, and other creep- ing wingless insects. A very ingenious substitute for this utensil has Annular water-saucer. UTEXSILS USED L\ HORTICULTURE. 103 lately been invented by Mr. Walker, of Hull It is founded on the galvanic principle of alternate plates of zinc and copper producing an electric shock, and is therefore called the Galvanic Protector. Take slips of zinc four or five inches in breadth, in order to enclose the plant or bed to be protected, as with a hoop ; but in addition to the mere rim or frame of zinc, rivet to it, near the upper edge, a strip of sheet- copper one inch broad, turning down the zinc over this so as to form a rim, composed of zinc, copper, and zinc. The deterring effect is pro- duced by the galvanic action of the two metals ; and thus, when the snail or slug creeps up the rim of zinc, it receives a galvanic shock as soon as its horns or head touch the part where the copper is enclosed, causing it to recoil or turn back. A more beautiful application of science in the case of deterring insects is rarely to be met with, and it will not cost more than 6d. a linear foot. (* Gard. Chron.,' vol. i. pp. 115 and 165 ; and 4 Gard. Mag.,' 1841.) Rectangular boxes for growing plants are commonly formed of wood, but sometimes slate is substituted. Wood, however, as a better non- conductor both of heat and moisture, deserves the preference. A neat and most convenient plant-box was invented by Mr. M'Intosh, fig. 69, and used by him for growing orange-trees. It differs from the orange-boxes used in the gardens about Paris in having the sides tapered a little, and also in having all the sides moveable. Two of the sides are attached to the bottom of the box by hinges, and are kept in their places by iron bars hooked at each end, which slip into hasps fixed in the sides, as shown in the figure ; the other sides, which are not hinged, lift out at leisure, being kept in their Plant-box. places at bottom by two iron studs, which drop into holes in the bottom. These boxes afford greater facilities than the French orange-boxes for the gardener to take them to pieces, without disturbing the trees, whenever he wishes to examine or prune their roots, to see whether they are in a proper state as regards moisture, or to remove the old, and put in fresh soil. The inside of these boxes can also be painted, or covered with pitch, as often as may be judged necessary ; which will of course make them much more durable, and the trees may be removed from one box to another with greater facility. Wooden tubs are very commonly made use of on the Continent to grow orange-trees, and they are made of different heights and diame- ters from one to two or three feet. When the roots of the trees are to be examined, or old soil to be removed and fresh soil added, the cooper is sent for, who separates the staves, and after the gardener has finished his operations, replaces them again and fixes the hoops. In the warm 104 UTENSILS USED IN HORTICULTURE. summers of France and Italy, it is found much better to grow plants in wooden boxes or tubs, than in any description of earthenware vessel. Eound tubs, however, are neither so convenient nor so orna- mental as the square plant-box. Watering-pots are made of tinned iron, zinc, and sometimes of copper. There are a variety of sizes and shapes in use in British gardens : for plants under glass, which are placed at a distance from the operator, pots with long spouts are required ; and for pots on shelves over the head of the operator and close under the glass, flat pots with spouts proceeding from the bottom, and in the same plane with it, are found necessary. Watering-pots have been contrived Math close covers, containing valves to regulate the escape of the water through the spout, by the admission or exclusion of the atmosphere at pleasure ; but these are only required for particular situations and circumstances, and are seldom or never used. The watering-pot very generally fails at the point where the spout joins the body of the pot, and the two parts ought therefore to be firmly attached together, either by separate tie-pieces, or by one continuous body, which may be so contrived as to hold the roses of the pot when not in use, as exempli- fied in Money's pot. The rose is generally moveable ; but as, after much use, it becomes leaky, it is better, in many cases, to have it fixed, with a pierced grating in the inside of the pot over the orifice of the spout, as in metal tea-pots. This grating, Mr. Beaton suggested, should be moveable, by being made to slide into a groove like a sluice, in order that it may be taken out and cleaned occasionally. Fig. 70, rt, represents a watering-pot with a kneed-spout, for water- ing plants, without spilling any water be- tween pot and pot ; because, by means of the knee or right angle made at the extremity of the spout, the run- SwXcr, kneed-spouted, and overhead watering-pots. ^ Q{ ^ water .g instantly stopped by quickly elevating it, which is by no means the case when the spout is straight throughout its whole length : b shows the face, and c the edge of a very fine rose of copper for screwing on the end of the kneed-spout, for watering seedlings. Fig. 70, d, shows a sucker watering-pot, by which the objects effected by the kneed-pot are attained more completely. There is a sucker or valve in the lid, by which the air is perfectly excluded ; and when this valve is shut, not a particle of water can escape ; but when it is slightly raised by the pressure qf the thumb of the hand WLENSILS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 106 by which the operator holds the pot, the water instantly escapes, and can be stopped in a moment : /, an overhead watering-pot, for watering plants close under a glass roof, and above the head of the operator. The best kinds of watering-pots for general use are those with tall and narrow bodies and large spouts, the -p. -^ roses having a great number of perfora- tions. A very good type of watering-pot is that used by the market-gardeners of Paris. The pipe being very wide, and the rose broad and freely perforated with large holes, the water is discharged almost in an instant, and the workman again proceeds to his barrel close at hand, and always kept filled from the pump. Thorough watering is thus effected, but it Watering.pot ^ed bythemarket- involves a considerable expenditure for gardeners of Paris. labour, one or two men being nearly al- ways employed at it in each little garden during the summer months. In gardens where a force of water is at command, watering-pots are but little used. With a few lengths of gutta-percha tubing attached to the supply-pipe, a stream of water may be directed to each pot or plant with unerring certainty and great despatch. By the use of a rose on the end of the pipe, or a skilful employment of the finger, an over- head shower can likewise be given of the gentlest or heaviest character at will. Sieves for sifting soil, and screens ot wire for separating the larger stones and roots from soil to be used in potting, are required in most gardens, though much less used than formerly, as all soil is used much rougher for horticultural purposes. It has now become a common practice to screen or sift out the fine soil and use only the coarse. The screen, fig. 72, is not only used for mould, but also for gravel, and sometimes for tan. It consists of a wooden frame filled in with parallel wires half an inch apart, surrounded by a rim of three or four inches in breadth, and supported by hinged props, which admit of placing the ^ screen at any required angle. The soil to be screened must be dry and well broken by ^ire-screen, for soil, old tan, •>_ f - - i J or gravel. the spade before it is thrown on the screen. For gravel two screens are sometimes required ; one with the wires half an inch apart, to separate the sand and small gravel from the stones \ and another with the wires one inch apart, to separate the larger stones from the smaller ones ; those which pass through the screen being of the fittest size for approach-roads and carriage-drives ; while the largest stones which do not pass through are adapted for common cart-roads. A barrel revolving-screen is likewise used for these purposes, as well as for separating cinders from ashes, &c. In small 106 UTENSILS USED IN HORTICULTURE. gardens sieves may be substituted for screens. The smallest may have the meshes a fourth of an inch in diameter, and the larger half an inch. The wire of the smaller sieves should always be of copper, but of the larger sieves and of screens it may be of iron. Carrying utensils are sometimes wanted in gardens, though flower- pots, baskets, and wheelbarrows form very good lg* ' substitutes. The mould-scuttle is a box of any convenient shape of wood or iron, with a hoop- formed handle, for carrying it ; sometimes it is formed like the common coal-scuttle, but rect- angular. The pot-carrier, fig. 73, is a flat ==========^ board about eighteen inches wide and two feet p . l°ng> with a hooped handle, by means of which, with one in each hand, a man may carry three or four dozen of small pots at once, which is very convenient in private gardens where there are many alpines in pots, and in nurseries where there are many seedlings or small cuttings. But the hand-barrows carried by two men, or a wide frame mounted on wheels, are the carriers mostly used in large gardens. For light plants and short distances, sieves are likewise much used for carrying purposes. The spring-barrow should, where possible, be used instead of the hand-barrow for carrying plants. Several different kinds of baskets are used in gardens. They are woven or worked of the young shoots of willow, hazel, or other plants, or of split deal or willow, or of twigs ; but by far the greater number of baskets are made of the one year's shoots or wands of the common willow, Salix viminalis. They are for the most part used for carrying articles from one point to another, though some are employed as a substitute for a garden-wallet; others are used for growing plants ; some for protecting plants from the sun or the weather, and o.thers as utensils for measuring by bulk. Details of basket-making will be found in the 4 Arboretum Britanni- cum,' vol. iii. p. 1471, and the instructions will be sufficient to enable any person of ordinary ingenuity to construct every kind of wicker- work, whether baskets or hurdles, that can be required for a garden. Carrying-baskets of different sizes are required in gardens for carrying plants for being transplanted, seeds, sets or roots for planting, vegetables or fruits from the garden to the kitchen, and for a variety of other purposes. A basket for hanging before the operator when pruning or nailing wall-trees, is sometimes made of wands, and occa- sionally of split wood ; but a leathern wallet, to be hereafter de- scribed, is greatly preferable. Larger and coarser baskets than any of these are used for carrying soil, manures, tanner's bark, weeds, &c., and are commonly called scuttles, creels, &c. Measuring-baskets are formed of particular dimensions, the largest seldom containing more than a bushel, and others half-bushels, pecks, and half-pecks. There are also pint baskets, punnets, pottles, and thumbs, which are utensils in use in the London fruit and vegetable markets for containing the more valuable vegetables, such as mush- UTENSILS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 107 rooms, early potatoes, forced kidney-beans, and the more choice fruits. The bushel basket is generally made of peeled wands, but the others of split willow wood, or split deal. Fig. 74 represents a punnet manufactured in the latter manner, -r,. - . the construction of which will be understood by any person who understands the English mode of basket-making. Baskets for growing plants were a long time in use in the open garden, being plunged in spring, and taken up in the following autumn ; the object being to take up fruit-trees or other tender shrubs with a ball, and with most of the fibres. At present baskets for growing plants are chiefly used in orchid-houses, the basket being filled with moss ; but as they are found to be of very short duration, wire baskets are substituted, earthenware pots with perforated sides, or a sort of open box formed of short rods laid over one another at the angles, somewhat in the manner of a log-house. Portable glass utensils for plants are chiefly of two kinds : the bell- glass, fig. 75, and the hand-glass, fig. 76. Another kind of hand-glass -P. .. is now in use in Messrs. Veitch's •„,. «fl 1 lig. 75. _. . ,._- , rig. 76. nursery, at Coombe Wood — one quite conical, and with a small piece of zinc forming one of its upperpanes; inthis there is ahole which enables the workmen to handle them conveniently. This answers its purpose perfectly. Cast-iron hand-glass -- 3 Bell-glasses vary in dimensions parts, the Bell- Glasses /•_ J ™of and sides. from the large green bell-glass, eighteen inches in diameter and twenty inches in height, used in the open garden for protecting cauliflowers in winter and cucumbers in summer, to the small crystal bell, three inches in diameter and two inches high, for covering newly-planted cuttings. Whenever the pro- pagation of tender plants by cuttings, or by the greffe etouffe, is attempted, bell-glasses are essential. The French use large bell- glasses or cloches most extensively in the open ground. They are used by the thousand in most French gardens, and are capable of effecting great improvements in our kitchen gardens, while they are of much use indoors. The following description and figures are from the 4 Parks, Promenades, and Gardens of Paris.' " The Cloche. — This is simply a large and cheap bell-glass, which is used in every French garden that I have seen. It is the cloche which enables the French market-gardeners to excel all others in the pro- duction of winter and spring salads. Acres of them may be seen round Paris, and private places have them in proportion to their extent — from the small garden of the amateur with a few dozen or 108 UTENSILS USED IN HORTICULTURE. score, to the large one where they require several hundreds or thousands of them, They are about sixteen inches high, and the same in diameter at the base, and cost in France about a franc apiece, or a penny or two less if bought in quantity. " The advantages of the cloches are — they never require any repairs ; they are easy of carriage when carefully packed ; with ordinary care they are seldom broken ; they are easily cleaned— a swill in a water- Fig. 77. Fig. 78. The cloche as used in winter- lettuce culture. The cloche as used in the raising of seedling plants. tank and a wipe with a brush every autumn clear and prepare them for their winter work. They are useful for many purposes besides salad-growing; for example, in advancing various crops in spring, raising seedlings, and striking cuttings ; and finally, they are very cheap when bought in quantity. But of course it is only in market- gardens that they will be required in numbers ; in some small gardens not more than a few dozen will be wanted. Every garden should be furnished with them according to its size ; and when we get used to them and learn how very useful they are for many things, from the full developing of a Christmas Rose to the forwarding of early crops in spring, I have no doubt they will be much in demand. It is not only in winter that they are useful, but at all seasons, both in indoor and outdoor propagation and seed-sowing. In France seedlings of garden-crops likely to be destroyed by birds or insects are frequently raised under the cloche, and the same prac- Fig. 79. t^ce w'n occasionally be found advantageous in this country. " Usually the cloche is made without a knob, as that appendage renders their package a much greater difficulty and increases the cost, so that practical men use only the one without the knob, like the specimens first figured. One with a knob may, however, be had, but it is not to be recommended. " In the Parisian propagating-houses may be seen small bell-glasses with openings at the top. It would be a great improvement if some cloches were made in like manner, and this particularly for propaga- tion in tan-beds and hot-pits. The opening would afford very slight Cloche with knob. UTENSILS USED IX HORTICULTURE. 109 though beneficial ventilation, and give a means of carrying or shifting the cloche with one hand only. I am informed that there will be no difficulty in making them thus without additional trouble or expense, as soon as the firm who will undertake their manufacture in England have full preparations made. When not in use the careful cultivator puts his cloches in some bye-place, in little piles of half a dozen in each, a piece of wood not more than half an inch thick and an inch and a half square being placed between each, so as to prevent them from settling down on each other. Workmen used to them carry two or three in each hand in conveying them from place to place, by putting a finger between each. In commencing to use them in our gardens it would be well to see that they are placed in some spot where they will not be in danger of breakage. The cloche must not be confounded with the dark and very large bell-glass that was in common use many years ago in our market-gardens, and which may yet be seen here and there. These were even dearer than the hand- Fig. 80. The cloche as used in the propagating -house. glasses by which they were driven out of use. The French cloche does not cost one-fourth so much as a hand-light — and moreover does not require both painter, glazier, and plumber for keeping it in repair. It will prove a distinct improvement in every class of garden. " How to procure these cloches has hitherto been the great difficulty. Many have been deterred from employing them by the trouble, expense, and loss consequent on ordering them from France, and I have always despaired of their becoming useful to cultivators generally till they are produced in England at a cheap rate. Even if the carriage was not as heavy as it is, the risk of conveying such very fragile articles across the Channel is such as would prevent iis from getting them in a satisfactory way. " I am pleased to announce that Messrs. E. Breffit and Co., pro- prietors of the Aire and Calder Glass Bottle Company's Works in Yorkshire, well known for its productions, are making preparations for their manufacture on an extensive scale. They will be able to supply them soon, and will have an abundant stock by the time it is 110 UTENSILS USED IN HORTICULTURE. necessary to employ them over next winter's crops of salads and other vegetables requiring their protection. They propose to sell them at from lOd. to Is. each, according to the quantities required, and a small addition for package and carriage will put them down in every part of the kingdom. Messrs. Breffit and Co. have offices at 83, Upper Thames-street, E.C. ; stores at Free Trade Wharf, Broad-street, Ratcliff, E., and 120, Duke-street, Liverpool — the seat of manufacture being at Castleford, near Normanton, Yorkshire." The common hand-glass is formed either square, or of five or more sides of equal length and height, the latter commonly not more than eight or twelve inches. The framework is of lead, cast-iron, tinned wrought-iron, copper, or zinc ; the last is much the cheapest, and also the lightest, and when kept well painted, it will last as long as cast-iron, which with the moisture of the soil soon becomes rusty at the lower edge. Cast-iron hand-glasses being very heavy, are commonly formed in two pieces ; and when the form is square, air is very conveniently given by changing the position of the cover-part, so that its angles may project over the sides of the lower part. The following substitute for bell-glasses may be readily adopted by any gardener who can get pieces of broken window-glass from his frames or hothouses, and who has a glazier's patent diamond, which Pig. 81. Substitutes for bell-glasses. differs from the common diamond in this, that any person can cut with it. Having procured the diamond, and several pieces of broken window-glass, cut the latter into figures corresponding in size and form to the sides of four or six-sided prisms, as shown in fig. 81. When the pieces of glass are properly cut out by a wooden or card pattern, join them together with strips of tape, about three-eighths of an inch wide, made to adhere to the glass with india-rubber varnish. After the glass is formed, varnish over the tape, and the whole will be found firm and durable. A loop may be formed at top either of the tape or of wire, so as to lift them by. Glasses of this sort may be made from six inches to a foot in diameter, and will at all events be found useful for striking cuttings or protecting rising seeds. The cheapness of glass renders such expedients almost unnecessary. Even hand-glasses are being rapidly superseded by the use of Rendle's Fruit-tree and Plant Protectors. These have a base of tile, and a smooth glass top, and are thus endowed with a greater power of resisting cold than common MACHINES USED IN HORTICULTURE. Ill bell-glasses. The tile base absorbs and stores up the sun's heat in the daytime, to be liberated during the night. The protectors are likewise made to lie closely to the ground, and are readily covered over in very severe weather. An excellent substitute for hand-glasses will be de- scribed under the section on structures. Powdering-boxes for plants are required for dusting them with powdered lime, sulphur, coarse snuff, powdered charcoal, fine sand, &c. One of the most convenient forms is that of the common dredge- box, but for the light powders an appendage to be hereafter described may be added to the common bellows. All powders intended to rest on the leaves of plants should be dusted over them when they are moist with dew, or by having been previously watered. We have omitted to mention some other utensils used in very extensive gardens, botanic gardens, and nurseries ; such as the glazed packing-box ; the earthenware shelter, which may be described as an inverted flower-pot, with the sides perforated with holes, or with a large opening on one side ; plant-shades of various kinds ; bulb- glasses ; cast-iron pots for burning tobacco ; and a few other articles not in general use, or readily substituted by others of a more simple and economical kind. Machines used in Horticulture. Machines differ from other horticultural implements in being less simple in their construction, and in their action enabling the operator to abridge labour. The principal gardening machines are the mowing- machine, water-carts, wheelbarrow, roller, watering-engines, garden- bellows, and transporting or transplanting machines. The mowing-machine is indispensable in every garden. There are many kinds, but most of them are made on the same principle, and only differ in form and their mode of motion and delivery. The machine was originally modelled on the plan of the engine for shearing woollen cloth down to the required closeness of nap. By imparting rapid motion to 4, 6, or 8 bent knives, set at the proper angle on a round spindle, and bringing them into close contact with a steel plate that is carried close to the turf, the rapid revolution of these knives clips off all the grass between them and the plate, and lifts it into a receiving-box at the same instant, leaving the lawn short and smooth as a carpet. These machines have almost banished scythes from the garden, and are to be found everywhere. They are made of all sizes, from 10 inches to 4 feet in width, and are used by ladies as healthy exercise, while the larger ones are hard work for a full-sized horse. On their first introduction it was supposed that they could only cut the grass when it was dry, and where the surface was per- fectly level. But they are now used in all weathers, and on all kinds of surfaces, with tolerable efficiency, though the smoother the ground the more perfectly they do their work. The chief makers are the Messrs. Shanks of Arbroath, Messrs, liansome, Green, Brown, Milburn and Williams. 112 MACHINES USED IN HORTICULTURE. To do their work well they must be kept in good repair, geared with the utmost exactness, and the knives kept sharp and clean. They are readily and efficiently sharpened by simply reversing the motion against the bottom plate, and placing ebony-powder and oil between the two. One of the best mowing-machines is the Archimedean, recently introduced from America. Wheelbarrows for gardens are of two kinds : one of large dimen- sions for wheeling littery dung, tan, short grass, leaves, haulm, or weeds ; and another of moderate size (fig. 82), for wheeling soil and gravel. They are generally g> ' constructed of wood, with the wheel also of wood, and shod with iron ; but some wheelbarrows are formed entirely of cast and wrought iron ; they are, however, too heavy for wheeling any- thing excepting littery dung Garden wheelbarrow. °t £ , ,c or other light matters, and they are far from being so durable as a wooden barrow, when the latter is kept well painted. Some dung and tan barrows have the body or box attached to the handles or levers (commonly called trams) by moveable iron bolts, so that it can be readily taken off and carried by two men into places where the entire barrow with its wheel could not be admitted ; for example, in filling the bark pit of a stove with tan or leaves. There is a third kind of barrow, used by engineers in deep cuttings, which has shallow sides of an equal height on every side of the bottom of the barrow ; it is well suited for carrying heavy subsoil, or stony materials, but is not required in gardens. For general purposes, a middle-sized barrow, between the dung-barrow and the mould-barrow, like that of which we have given a figure, is sufficient. Rollers are essential in even the smallest garden, for compressing and smoothing gravel walks and lawns. They are formed of solid cylinders of stone, or hollow cylinders of cast iron, and a very convenient width is four feet. Cast-iron rollers are always easiest to draw, from the greater diameter of the cylinder. The operation of rolling is most effective after the soil or gravel has been softened by recent rains, but is at the same time sufficiently dry on the surface not to adhere to the roller. A roller has recently been invented in which the hollow cylinder can be filled with water, and reduced at pleasure. Thus it can be weighted or lightened according to the work required to be done. The mobilitv of the weighting fluid also throws the entire weight used upon the crushing portion of the roller, which increases to the utmost its crushing power. By filling the inside with hot water, this roller is one of the most efficient means of destroying slugs and worms on walks, lawns, roads, &c. The watering engines used in gardens are the syringe, the hand- engine, and the barrow-engine. There are several kinds of syringe, but the best at present in use is decidedly that of Read (fig. 83). Its MACHINES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 113 two points of superiority are, a ball-valve, c?, which can never get out of repair, and an air-tube, e, which allows the air above the piston to escape during the operation of drawing in water, by which means the labour of syringing is greatly diminished. There is a cap, a, for Fig. 83. Read's garden-syringe. washing away insects from wall-trees, and throwing lime-water on gooseberry-bushes and other standards in the open garden, and for watering pines overhead ; a cap, £, for sprinkling plants in forcing- houses, which throws the fluid in a light and gentle moisture almost like dew, and which is also used for washing the leaves of trees and plants when frost-nipped in the cold nights that often prevail during the spring, and which operation should, of course, be performed before sunrise. There is also a cap, c, d, which is used when great force is required, more particularly in washing trees against walls ; and this cap is also used in dwelling-houses for extinguishing fires. Trees against walls are frequently covered with netting, and when it becomes necessary to syringe these, the netting, when the cap, 6, is used, requires to be removed, but with the cap c d, it may be kept on. For all small gardens this syringe will serve as a substitute for every other description of watering-engine. The barrow-engine, fig. 84, is an oval copper vessel, containing about twenty-six gallons, particularly adapted for large conservatories and forcing-houses. It will pass through a doorway two feet wide, and is so portable that it may be carried up or down stairs by two men. The great power of this engine depends on the air-vessel, indicated by a dotted circular line, in the body of the engine, in which all superfluous force is employed in condensing air, so as to form a reservoir of power ; and in the proximity of the bent fulcrum, a, to the handle or lever, 5, by which the weight c, being brought near to the fulcrum, the power applied at b is proportionably in- creased. In most engines of this kind there is no pneumatic reservoir, and the distance between the weight, c, and the Fig. 84. Barrow -engine. fulcrum, a, is much greater. The construction of the piston-valves, &c., i 114 MACHINES USED IN HORTICULTURE. Fig. 85. Garden water -barrow. Fig. 86. is on the simple ball-valve principle, so that this barrow-engine is not only a machine of great power, but not liable to get out of repair. The hydronette is an instrument recently invented, which is very useful in syringing in glass-houses. Water-carts or barrows (see illus- tration) are likewise much used in gardens for the conveyance of water on a large scale; gutta-percha tubing and other piping are, however, being rapidly substituted for these, and are of the highest value as labour- saving expedients. Nevertheless, there E. are few gardens where a number of two-wheeled hand water-carts are not ^T^ necessary, and it is of great moment to the full enjoyment of a garden in dry weather that some of them should be furnished with spreaders for the watering of gravel walks, roads, &c. When a large house is to be fumigated with tobacco or other smoke, a fumigating pot, such as fig. 86, may be used. It is made of sheet- iron, holds about three pounds of tobacco, and is placed on the out- side of the house, with the smoke- tube entering it through a hole made on purpose in the front wall or front glass. In the figure a is the handle by which the pot is carried, b the pipe by which this smoke is introduced to the house, and which is attached to a move- able lid, and c, a tube to which the bellows is applied, and which enters the pot immediately under a perforated moveable bottom. A substitute for a pot of this kind is often formed by two flower-pots, a smaller one being placed upside down within a larger, and the tobacco placed in the former. Messrs. Dean and Appleby have re- cently invented a very simple and efficient fumi- gator. In fumigating plant- houses, the air should be as dry as possible, otherwise the aphides conceal them- selves in the globules of Iron fumigating-pot. Powdering and fumigating bellows. water, and so escape destruction. A pair of common bellows may be rendered fit either for powdering plants or fumigating them, by sub- stituting a piece of tinned iron, fig. 87, a, resembling in shape those tin scales used in the retail of meal, in the flat end of which, #, are two small valves 1J inch in diameter, with a hole between them, to MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 115 which a screw-cap is fitted for introducing the dust or the tobacco to be burnt. It is evident that the air which enters through the valves by the upstroke of the bellows, raises the dust or smoke in the interior, which is ejected by the down-stroke ; and, by repetition, all the powder introduced, or the whole of the smoke produced by the igni- tion of the tobacco-leaves, will be thrown out. The best contrivances for distributing sulphur are the very simple distributors made of a ball of iudia-rubber with a nozzle, which unscrews and permits the supply to be replenished. In the ' Encyclopaedia of Gardening' will be found described various machines for transporting large boxes or tubs containing plants, such as orange -trees ; machines for transporting and for trans- planting large trees, for regulating temperature, for entrapping or detecting the enemies of gardens, and for some other purposes ; but lew of these are adapted for the present work. It may be stated here, that the principle of all the best machines for transporting plants in large boxes or tubs, or transplanting large trees with balls to their roots, is the same — viz., two windlass axles are supported on four props, which rise out of two horizontal beams, and the box or tree being raised by means of the windlasses, is retained in that position till it is conveyed to its destination, either by means of two horizontal beams, by manual labour, as if they were the levers of a hand-barrow ; or by placing wheels under them, in the manner of a cart or waggon. Mr. Barron, of the Borrowwash Nurseries, near Derby, is the inventor of an excellent transplanting machine, by which he has moved trees of almost any size hundreds of miles with unfailing success. The French have had much experience in the removal of trees, and under- stand it well ; their best machines are described and illustrated in the ' Parks, Promenades, and Gardens of Paris.' A good machine of this kind for removing orange-trees in boxes, was that used at St. Mar- garet's, near London, and described in the ' Gardener's Magazine,' vol. x. p. 136. From the description of this machine it is obvious that it will answer either for transporting trees in boxes, or trees or shrubs with large balls ; though, to convey the latter to any distance over rough roads, larger wheels would be requisite than those which belong to the machine referred to. Miscellaneous Articles used in Horticulture. In complete gardens, containing all the varieties of plant-structures, a number of articles are required for the purposes of cu tivation and high keeping which can neither be classed as implements nor struc- tures. Even in the smallest gardens, mats for protection, props for support, nails and ties for fastenings, and tallies for naming and number- ing plants, are essential. Bast mats, woven from ribands or strands of the inner bark of the lime and other trees, and imported from the Baltic and the West Indies, are in general use, both to protect from the cold by counteracting radia- tion, and to shade from the sun. Canvas, bunting, and netting of dif- i 2 116 MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. {ectors™ P™' ferent kinds, and oiled-paper frames, are used for the same purposes, Netting of straw-ropes, formed by first stretching ropes as weft afe regular distances, and then crossing them by others as woof, are some- times used to protect wall-trees. Another mode of protecting trees by straw-ropes, is by placing poles against the wall, in Fig. 88. front of the trees, at from four to six feet asunder : thrusting their lower ends into the earth about eighteen inches or two feet from the wall, and making them fast at top to the coping, or to the wall immediately under it ; straw or hay ropes are then passed from pole to pole, taking a turn round each, and leaving a distance of about eighteen inches between each horizontal line of ropes. Straw ropes may also be used to protect early rows of peas or other plants, by first hooping over each row, and afterwards passing three or four ropes from hoop to hoop. Of course they act by checking radiation, and their in- fluence will be greatest when they are placed between a foot and eighteen inches from the wall, the amount of heat reflected back diminishing in a geometrical ratio Wisps of straw according to the distance of the covering from the body t0 be Protected' Wisps of straw tied to a string, fig. 88, and hung in lines one above another in front of a wall, are also used for the same purpose as straw ropes, and in sheltered places are perhaps better. Mats of straw or reeds are used for protecting plants in the open garden, and also for covering glazed sashes, whether of pits, frames, or hothouses. Every gardener ought to know how to construct these, in order to be able to employ his men within-doors in severe weather. The following directions are given by P. Lindegaard, late gardener to the King of Denmark, who used them extensively, and who states that they produce a considerable saving of fuel, afford a great security from accidents, such as breaking glass, and not only retain heat much better than bast mats, but, from their greater porosity, allow the steam of moist hotbeds to pass off more readily. When a heavy fall of snow takes place during the night, bast mats are not so easy to get cleaned and dried the next morning as straw mats, because they retain the moisture, and get frozen and stiff by the frost pene- trating through them ; and hence the next evening they cannot be put on again without the risk of breaking the glass. Mr. Linde- gaard found four hundred straw mats sufficient to cover four hun- dred lights, for which if he had used bast mats, about twelve hundred would have been required. These mats are made of rye or wheat straw, or of reeds, and only in the winter time, when the weather is unfit for working out of doors. They are made in frames in the following manner: — An oblong frame (fig, 89) is formed of four laths, along the two ends of which, a, a, are driven as many nails as you wish to have binding cords, 5, 6, of which the usual number is six to a width of four feet, as the strength of the mat depends chiefly on the number of these cords. The cords are of tarred rope-yarn ; MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 117 on these the straw, or reeds, is laid in handfuls, and bound to each longitudinal cord by other cords, which, for greater convenience, are Fig. 89. Mode of making straw mats. made up in little balls, c, c. These cords are also of tarred rope-yarn. When a mat is finished, the cords are tied together at the top or finishing end, the mat is then detached from the frame, and its sides chopped straight with an axe. These mats are more conveniently made by two men than by one man ; and by placing the frame upon a raised plank or bench, than by placing it on the ground, and obliging the men to stoop. When straw is used, that of rye is the best, and will last, even in Denmark, three years : reeds last longer. In the most severe weather these mats are rolled on the glass lengthways ; that is, from top to bottom of the mat; by which the direction of the straw is at right angles to that of the sash-bar, which prevents the glass from being broken ; and over this covering, in very severe weather, reed mats may be laid with the reeds in the same direction as the sash-bar, so that the water may run off them as it does off the thatch of a house, and keep the mats below quite dry. Where reeds cannot be got, mats of rye or wheat straw may be substituted ; because it is evident that having the straws or reeds laid in the direction of the slope of the glass must be attended with great advantages by throwing off the rain instead of absorbing it. (' Gardener's Magazine,' vol. v. p. 416.) The usual dimensions of these mats are six feet by four feet, because that size answers for covering frames and pits of the ordinary dimensions ; but when they are to be used for covering the sloping glass of hothouses, they should be made of sufficient length to reach from the coping to the ground, covering the front glass or front parapet. A ring of twisted wire should be placed exactly in the centre of the upper end of each mat, and to this ring a cord should be attached, for the purpose of being passed over a pulley to be fixed on the coping-board, or on the back 1 1 8 M ISC EL LA NEO US A RTICLES USED IN HOR T I CULTURE. wall immediately under it, or on the top rail of the uppermost sash of the roof. This cord must be at least twice the length of the mat, in order that, when the mat is drawn down and rolled up, the end of the cord may be within reach of the operator on the ground at the front of the house. Another ring ought to be fixed to the centre of the lower end of the mat, for the purpose of fastening it to the front sill when it is drawn over the roof. When the mats are removed from the roof, and rolled up during the day, the cord is loosened from the ring, and lies on the roof, ready to be re-fastened to it, to draw the mats up the next evening. A second layer of mats might be drawn up over the former, in a direction across the sashes, so as to throw off the rain in the manner of thatch, by attaching a cord to one corner of each end of the mat, passing these cords over two pulleys, and laying the mats on like tiles on a roof. Drawing up two mats, however, the one immediately over the other, would be much less trouble, and would, excepting in the cases of heavy rains or thawing snows, keep out the cold sufficiently well. Where the roof is divided by wooden rafters, the mats should be exactly the width of the sash, so as to tit in between them : but where it is not so divided, the mats should over- lap one another in the manner of slates — that is, one-half the number of mats should first be drawn up, leaving half the width of a mat between each, and afterwards the remaining half should be drawn up so as to caver the intervening spaces, and overlap a foot over the mat at each side. It is much to be regretted that mats of this kind are so little used in England, especially in country places, where straw is abun- dant and cheap ; for being made at a time when little other work can be done, and of a material of very little value, and retaining heat much better than any other covering, they would prove a great saving of fuel and of the labour of attending on fires, as well as ensure the safety of plants. Mr. Shennan, a gardener of great experience, who used these mats extensively, observes, in the * Gardener's Magazine' for 1827, that he considers the revival of the old system of covering with straw or reeds, and the system of heating by water, as the greatest improvements that have been introduced into the forcing department in his time. Such mats are now in general use in many gardens. They are frequently made with the aid of wooden frames the size of the lights and space to be covered. Such reed, or straw, or felt coverings, are readily lifted off or on by two boys or men — one at top, and the other at bottom — and they form most efficient and durable bar- riers against cold. Neat straw mats are universally employed about Paris for covering frames, pits, and low houses; they are cheaper, neater, and in every way better than the bast mats used in England. Wooden shutters form an excellent covering for the sashes of pits and frames ; and though they are the most expensive at first, yet from their great durability when kept well painted, they are found by market-gardeners to be the cheapest of all coverings in the end. Boards do not retain heat so effectively as reeds or straw, but they exclude rain and wind better than those materials ; and by being kept an inch or two above the glass by the cross-bars which bin.d the MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 119 boards together, a space is left sufficient to check radiation, and to prevent the escape of heat by conduction. If boarded shutters could be kept about six inches from the glass, and air excluded from entering at top and bottom and at the sides, radiation would be effec- tually checked, and less risk of the escape of heat by conduction in- curred than when the boards touch the sash-bar ; but this would require great care in excluding the air from the sides and ends. All the frames and pits in the gardens at Syon are covered by boarded shutters, as are all those in the extensive forcing-ground of Mr. Wilmot of Isleworth. Narrow shutters of this kind might be contrived for hothouse roofs, so as to produce a great saving of heat. Canvas would, in many instances, repel wet and check radiation as well as deal boards, and might be put on much quicker ; but the great objection to it is its liability to be disturbed by high winds — unless, indeed, it is attached to wooden frames, which occupy as much time in taking off and putting on as wooden shutters, and are much less durable. Wicker-work hurdles are useful in gardens for sheltering low plants from high winds, for placing horizontally over seedlings to pro- tect them from birds, and, in various positions, for shading plants. They are constructed of upright stakes fixed in the ground, or in holes in a board, at regular distances of from four inches to eight inches, according to the size of the materials and the dimensions of the hurdle, and these stakes are filled in or wattled with small rods, wands, or spray. When kept dry, they will last three or four years, if the stakes are made of willow, or of any of the soft woods ; and from four to six or seven years, if they are made of hazel, oak, ash, or any of the hard woods. Fig. 90. Props for plants vary in form, dimension, and material, from the small wires used for supporting hyacinths in water-glasses, and the sticks of six inches in length used for supporting plants in pots, to cast-iron rods of six or eight feet in length, and pillars, arches, or houses for roses and other climbers, formed of the stems of young fir-trees, of from ten to twenty feet in length, as in fig. 90. All the varieties of wooden props may be re- duced to four kinds : — 1. Straight rods with the bark on, but with all the side branches cut off, varying in size from the shoot of one year to the stem of a fir of twenty years' growth. These are used for every purpose, from the tying up of plants in pots to the support of lofty climbers, including between these extremes tying up dahlias and stan- props for climbers. dard roses. 2. Branches or stems, with all the side branches and branchlets retained, used for the support of climbing annual stems, such as peas, kidney-beans, tropseolums, &c., but only suitable when these plants are grown in the open ground ; 120 MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. when grown in pots, wire frames, or a regular framework of laths, are more in accordance with the artificial state in which the plants are placed. 3. Wooden rods, formed out of laths or deal by the gardener or carpenter, regularly tapered and pointed, and in some cases painted. These are chiefly used for choice plants in pots, but partly also in the open garden. 4. Iron rods, from short pieces of wire to rods of cast or wrought iron, for supporting dahlias, standard roses, and other plants, and with or without spreading heads for climbers. Fig. 91 shows a variety of these rods, which may be had of the principal London ironmongers. All iron work, before being used in the open Fig. 91. Cast and wrought iron props for supporting climbers. air in gardens, would be rendered more durable if thoroughly heated and painted over with oil, the effect of which is, by carbonizing it, to prevent the action of the atmosphere on the surface of the iron. After this operation painting may be dispensed with, excepting for ornament. It is in general, however, better to paint them, and the colour should be some shade of green. All glaring and conspicuous colours had better be avoided ; they are quite out of place here, and do not harmonize with the simple verdure of the foliage which the props support. The object should rather be to conceal the props as much as possible. The durability of wooden props may, perhaps, be increased by soak- ing them in Burnett's anti-dry-rot composition ; or if they are made of MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 121 deal, by first kiln-drying them, and afterwards soaking them in linseed oil. After the oil is thoroughly dried, which will require two or three weeks, the sticks may be painted. Sticks of red deal, treated in this manner, will remain good for upwards of twenty-five years. (' Hort. Keg.,' i. p. 301.) Mr. Masters is of opinion (* G-ard. Mag.,'xv. p. 321) that the duration of hop-poles may be doubled by kyanizing them ; but little benefit has been yet derived from it in the case of props for garden plants. Mr. W. H. Baxter found kyanizing of little or no use. Garden tallies and labels are articles by which names or numbers are attached to plants, and they are of many different kinds. The ma- terials are wood, iron, zinc, lead, or earthenware, and the forms are still more various than the materials. The most durable are those of lead, with the name or number stamped with a steel punch or type, and rendered conspicuous by having the letters filled in with white lead paint. The most common are made of wood, with the numbers, in imitation of the Roman numerals, cut with a knife. To form tallies to receive numbers of this description, take firm ash-rods, about an inch or an inch and a half in diameter ; saw them into lengths of ten or twelve inches ; point the lower end rather abruptly, and either plane or cut with a knife a surface sufficient to receive the number required on the upper half. This kind of tally may be made during winter and wet weather, when little else can be done, and a stock kept on hand for use, if required. They are found to last eight or ten years, according to the situation in which they are placed. Sometimes the number is written or painted, and the writing is in ordinary cases done with a black-lead pencil on a smooth surface, on which a little white lead has been previously rubbed in with the finger, which, when written on in a moist state, is found greatly to increase Fi the durability of the impression. Sometimes Indian ink is used on a white painted ground, and, being a body colour, presents a more conspicuous and durable impres- sion than common ink, which is only a stain. The most durable letters, next to impressions stamped in lead, are those in black oil-paint on a white ground. For plants in pots, a label formed of wood, cut with a common knife from thin laths, rubbed with white lead, and written on with a black-lead pencil, is one of the most convenient and economical forms and materials. Fig. 92 shows one with a shank of wood ; if wire is used it ought to be fixed to the rim of the pot, as the wire would injure the roots by corrosion. The plate is 2J inches long and 1 £ inch broad, and about a quarter of an inch thick ; the wooden or wire shank is about three-sixteenths of an w , inch thick, and is painted black, while the wooden plate w^ a is painted white. These tallies are very conspicuous and of iron wire very durable. For herbaceous plants, or low shrubs or or wood. trees in the open air, the tally, fig. 93, is very neat and durable, and much more economical than would at first sight appear. It is formed of cast-iron, with a head of the same metal, in which is a sunk panel, 122 MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. into which the label with the name is placed, and afterwards covered with a piece of glass neatly fitted in, and puttied like the pane of a window. The label should be a slip of wood, lead, pewter, or earthen- -p- 93 ware, as not being liable to rust, shrink, or warp, from drought or moisture. Previously to putting in the labels, the tally should be carbonized by heating it nearly red-hot and immersing it in oil, as is practised with gun-barrels to render them impervious to the action of the atmosphere. This being done, a coat of paint may be dispensed with, or the iron- work may be painted black, and the part on which the name is written white ; or the label may be simply rubbed over with a little white lead, and the name written with a black-lead pencil. In the Glasgow Botanic Gardens this kind of label, with the slip of wood, has been extensively used for many years. For plants in greenhouses or stoves, very neat porcelain tallies are made at the potteries, and they are perhaps the handsomest of all. They cost from 2d. to Sd. each, and readily receive black paint, Indian ink, or common ink, without previous preparation : in the open air, how- ever, they are very liable to be Cast-iron tally, with the label of wood broken. Terra-cotta labels are, placed in a sunk panel, and covered however, more durable, and the fol- lowing are ugeful either for potg with a piece of glass secured by putty. out of doors. For alpine or other herbaceous plants in pots in the open air, no tally is better than strips of sheet lead, about an eighth of an inch thick, with the name at length stamped in with steel type — an operation which the gardener may perform in inclement weather. For large tallies for trees, bricks, moulded with a sloping face and a sunk panel to contain a label of lead, zinc, or wood, may be used ; or tallies of heart-of-oak, previously steamed to draw out the sap, and after- wards boiled in linseed oil, painted black, with the name in white. The simplest of all labels for large trees are formed of pieces of zinc four or five inches long by about three deep, half an inch of the upper side being turned down to act as a small coping. This may be very conveniently fastened to the bole of the tree, at about six feet from the ground, by passing a wire through two holes formed immediately be- MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 123 neath the coping. The letters are best painted white on a black ground. Perhaps the most economical and durable tally for plants in pots is a small strip of zinc, about three-quarters of an inch broad and six inches long, on which the name may be written with a black-lead pencil, after rubbing on a little white-lead paint, or with Indian ink on dried white paint, or on the naked metal with prepared ink which is sold on purpose. The neatest, least obtrusive, and most durable tallies for this description of plants are undoubtedly strips of sheet lead, with the names stamped in, and the letters distinguished by being filled with white lead. Temporary labels for plants are written on strips of parchment, or narrow slips of wood, and tied to them with twine, or sometimes, when the plants are to be sent to a distance, with copper or metallic wire. In all cases of writing or painting names or numbers on permanent tallies, the words or figures may be rendered more con- spicuous and durable by painting them over when dry with mastic varnish, or with boiled oil. Instead of painting tallies black, Mr. Nesfield prefers a very dark lead colour, composed of ivory black (not lamp black) and flake white, mixed with boiled linseed oil. His reason for disapproving of a pure black ground is founded on the fact that certain colours, having a greater affinity for water than for oil (such as blacks, umbers, and ochres), are liable to be affected by damp, unless they are held together by a powerfully oleaginous vehicle, with a small portion of white lead. The lettering Mr. Nesfield recommends to be done with Paris white, mixed with nearly equal parts of copal varnish and nut oil, avoiding turpentine, because it soon evaporates, and causes the colour to look dead and chalky. The white should be used as thick as it will flow from the pencil, because the letters in that case will be so much more opaque ; and the varnish should be mixed with only a small quantity at a time, on account of its setting very rapidly. Tur- pentine must be entirely avoided, except for cleansing pencils, as it soon evaporates, while the varnish remains and hardens as it becomes older. Nails, lists, and ties are wanted in every walled-in garden, though the wiring of walls with copper, zinc, or galvanized iron, or the cover- ing of them with wide-meshed netting, has reduced the original im- portance of these requisites. Cast-iron nails, about an inch and a half in length, and the lists from the selvages of woollen cloth, are in general use for fastening the branches of trees to walls. Various preparations of canvas, warranted proof against insects of all kinds, are now offered instead of lists, which often prove harbours for them. Kope-twine is also frequently used in the place of shreds on the same principle of affording no hiding-place to insect pests. The nails, pre- viously to being used, are heated nearly to redness, and thrown into oil, for the reason before mentioned ; and old lists, before they are used a second time, are boiled in water, to destroy any eggs of insects that may be deposited on them. The most common material in use for ties are strands of bast matting, and these are rendered much more durable when previously steeped in soft soap and water. For large branches, ties of the smaller shoots of willows or of clematis are sometimes used ; and on the Continent, the smaller branches are tied 124 MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES UStiD IN BO&TlCULTURE. with rushes or the twigs of broom collected in the winter season, and preserved in bundles so as to retain a certain degree of moisture to prevent them from becoming brittle, and at the same time not to rot them. In this country tarred twine of different degrees of thickness, and bast matting procured by unravelling a mat, are almost the only ties in use. Metallic wire and small copper wire have been recom- mended, but they are only fit for tying labels to trees sent out of nurseries to a distance. A leathern wallet, fig. 94, is found of great use in pruning and nailing wall-trees, when the Fig. 94. operator is standing on a ladder. It is suspended from his shoulder by straps, and contains a large fig. 95. Wallet for putting on when nailing wall- trees from a ladder. for a line. garden- pocket for the shreds, nails, and hammer, and two small pockets over it for a knife and sharpen- ing-stone. The garden-line, fig. 95, consisting of an iron reel, a, knob for winding it up, #, iron pin, c, and a hempen cord of any convenient length, is an essential article ; as is a measur- ing-rod, marked with feet and fron reei ana pin inches, for laying off dimensions, and a Gunter's measuring-chain, for use on a large scale. A pocket foot-rule and a measuring-tape are also useful. Ladders of different kinds and lengths are required for use in the open garden and in hothouses. Figs. 96 and 97 represent a light folding ladder, the sides of which may be constructed of yellow deal, and the rounds or treads of oak. It is used in hothouses, and also in the open garden, and may be of any length, from fifteen to thirty feet. When the ladder is open for use, it has the appearance shown in fig. 97, d] when half shut, of e\ and when entirely shut, of fig. 96. The section of each of the sides, or styles, is a semi-oval ; their junc- tion, when the ladder is shut up, forms an entire oval in the section, as shown in fig. 96. The rounds, or treads, are cylindrical; and, when the ladder is shut up, they fall into grooves, hollowed out, of the same form ; half of the groove of each round being in one style, and half in the other, as indicated by the dotted lines a 6, in fig. 96. The ends of each of the rounds turn on iron pins ; one end rests on a shoulder, as at «, while the other end is suspended from below the shoulder, and turns on an iron or brass pin, as indicated by b. The ends of the iron pins which pass through the styles are slightly riveted. In every description of plant-houses, vineries, verandahs, conserva- tories, aviaries, &c., a folding-ladder of this kind is a most con- venient article ; because, when shut up, it may be carried through a house much easier than a common ladder. For working among climbing plants under glass, it is found to be particularly useful, as it may be introduced in places where there is not room for a common MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 125 ladder. For pruning standard trees out of doors, it is particularly convenient, because it can be thrust though the branches like a round Fig. 96. Fig. 97. Portable ladder shut. r \ \ _^^—_ ^— — - \ e Portable ladder open. Fig. 98. Fig. 99. pole, so as not to injure them ; and when once it has got to the desired place or position, it can be opened, when the styles will press the branches on one side without injuring them. Orchard ladders for pruning standard fruit-trees, or gathering their fruit, are of various kinds — some with two legs to give them stability, and others forming a triangle, with horizontal pegs in each leg for supporting planks, which cross from one leg to the other, and on which the operators stand. Fig. 98 is what is called a rule- joint ladder, for painting and re- pairing curvilinear glass roofs. The ladder fig. 99 is in com- mon use in the south of France and Switzerland, for gathering cherries. Rule-joint ladder. Orchard ladder. 126 MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. A levelling instrument of some kind is occapionally required in gardens; for example, when box-edgings are to be taken up and re- Fig 100 planted, it is necessary to have the ground of exactly the same level on both sides of the walk, and this can only be done by levelling across. The use of the level implies also the use of poles, borning-pieces, and other articles belonging to surveying, which, as every one who can take levels must necessarily be familiar with, we do not stop to describe. Fig. 100 is a more con- venient form for a garden level than that used by bricklayers ; be- cause, by the curvature on the under-side, the operator can more readily level across raised gravel- walks. Thermometers are requisite, more especially where there are plant structures of any description ; and it will be very desirable to have terrestrial thermometers for ascertaining the temperature of the soil in the open garden, as well as of the soil, and of tan or dung beds, under glass. It is true that a knowledge of the temperature of the soil in the open garden will not often enable us to increase that tem- perature, but it will assist us in accounting for particular effects : and sometimes, as in the case of coldness produced from the want of drainage, or from a non-conducting covering repelling the rays of the sun, we have it in our power, by removing the cause, to remedy the evil. To ascertain the temperature of the soil with reference to plants growing in it, the bulb of the thermometer should be sunk to such a depth as may correspond with the great mass of the roots, or between eight inches and a foot. For plant-houses, a registering thermometer is a very desirable instrument, as a check upon the attendants in the absence of the master, and more especially in the night-time. Those of Six used to be considered the best ; they are now, however, largely superseded by Negretti's, and other makers. For experimental purposes no thermometer should be used but those tested by the authorities at some of the Meteorological Observatories. For common garden use most of those sold by re- spectable makers are exact enough. An hygrometer of some kind is almost as necessary as a thermo- meter, more especially now, when the importance of keeping the atmosphere of plant structures saturated with moisture to a certain degree is beginning to be understood. Perhaps Daniell's hygro- meter is as good as any for garden purposes. It denotes the degree of moisture in the air with sufficient accuracy, and exhibits the amount in temperature of the dew-point, thus enabling the moisture to be read off as easily as an ordinary thermometer. Regnault's hygrometer is said to possess several advantages over Daniell's, but both of them are somewhat too sensitive and delicate for common use in hothouses. We are indebted to James Glaisher, Esq., for a much simpler mode of measuring the amount of vapour in the air. For this purpose a wet and a dry bulb thermometer are simply placed side by side, and it is MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 127 most satisfactory to learn that Mr. Glaisher's mode of calculating the dew point from their two readings of temperature, has been found substantially to agree with the best hygrometers, up to balloon eleva- tions of 20,000 feet above the level of the sea. The bulb of one thermometer is kept wet by being covered with thin muslin, round the neck of which is twisted a conducting thread of common darning-cotton, floss-silk, or lamp-wick ; this passes into a vessel of water, with a conducting thread of about three inches long. The cup or glass should be placed on one side or a little beneath, so that the water may not be placed so close to the dry bulb as to affect its reading. The following minute instructions, and the position and precautions for using the wet and dry bulb thermometer, are taken from Mr. Glaisher's Tables. " The instrument should be mounted in an open space with the bulb raised about four feet above the soil, in the shade, at some little distance from walls, trees, &c. The water-vessel or reservoir should always be supplied with rain or distilled water. If the temperature of the air be below 32°, it will frequently happen that the wet bulb thermometer will for a time read higher than the dry bulb ; such observations must not be recorded ; when the water surrounding the wet bulb has begun to freeze, the proper readings will take place. In frosty weather the water in the reservoir will be frozen, but this is no reason for sus- pending observations ; if the water upon the muslin be frozen at the same time, the readings are perfectly available. If the muslin be dry it is necessary that it be wetted by means of a sponge or brush by the observer, who should leave it a sufficient time to allow the water to become frozen, and who (having satisfied himself of the fact) will proceed to take the reading in the usual way ; unless this caution be attended to, the wet bulb will read higher than the dry. When the weather is frosty, the muslin should be wetted a sufficient time before the appointed hour of observation, and as a rule in frosty weather it is desirable to immerse the bulb and conducting thread in water after every observation. If the temperature of the air should have ascended above 32°, immerse the wet bulb thermometer for a short time in warm water, so as to melt any ice which may remain ; unless this be attended to, the wet bulb will read 32° so long as any ice is in contact with it. Before use the cotton lamp-wick should be washed in a solution of carbonate of soda, and pressed while under water throughout its length. In use it should be of such extent that the water conveyed be sufficient in quantity to keep the muslin on the bulb as moist as when the air is saturated with vapour. The amount of water supplied can be increased or diminished by increasing or decreasing the extent of the conducting thread. " In observing, the eye should be placed on a level with the top of the mercury in the tube ; and the observer should be careful to abstain from breathing while taking the observation." Temperature of the air and of evaporation are given by the readings of the two thermometers. 128 MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. Temperature of the Dew-point. — If a mass of air be gradually cooled it will descend to a degree of temperature at which it will be satu- rated by the quantity of vapour then mixed with it. This tempe- rature is called the dew-point. It can be found directly from observa- tion, by the use of either Daniell's or Regnault's hygrometer. For cal- culating the dew-point from observations of the dry and wet bulb thermometers, we subjoin the following table of factors by which it is necessary to multiply the excess of the reading of the dry thermometer over that of the wet, to give the excess of the temperature of the air above that of the dew-point, for every degree of temperature from 10° to 100°. Reading of Dry Bulb Thermometer. Factors. Beading of Dry Bulb Thermometer. Factors. Reading of Dry Bulb Thermometer Factors. 10° 8-78 41° 2-26 71° 1-76 11 8-78 42 2-23 72 1-75 12 8-78 43 2'20 73 1-74 13 877 44 2-18 74 1-73 14 8-76 45 2-16 75 1-72 15 8-75 46 2-14 76 1-71 16 8-70 47 2-12 77 1-70 17 8-62 48 2-10 78 1-69 18 8-50 49 2-08 79 1-69 19 8-34 50 2-06 80 1-68 20 8-14 51 2-04 81 1-68 21 7-88 52 2-02 82 1-67 22 7-60 53 2-00 83 1-67 23 7-28 54 1-98 84 1-66 24 6-92 55 1-96 85 1-65 25 6-53 5t> 1-94 86 1-65 26 6-08 57 1-92 87 1-64 27 5-62 58 1-90 88 1-64 28 5-12 59 1-89 89 1-63 29 4-63 60 1-88 90 1-63 30 4-15 61 1-87 91 1-62 31 3-70 62 1-86 92 1-62 32 3-32 63 1-85 93 1-60 33 3-01 64 1-83 94 1-60 34 2-77 65 1-82 95 1-59 35 2-60 66 1.81 96 1-59 36 2-50 07 1-80 97 1-59 37 2-42 68 1-79 98 1-58 38 2-36 69 178 99 1-58 39 2-32 70 1-77 100 1-57 40 2-29 The numbers in this table have been found from the combination of all the simultaneous observations of the dry and wet bulb thermo- meters with Daniell's hygrometer, taken at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, from the year 1841 to 1854, with some observations taken at high temperature in India, and others at low and medium tem- peratures at Toronto. The results at the same temperature were found to be alike at these different places, and therefore the factors may be considered as of general application. MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 129 By the numbers in this table the temperature of the dew-point in the general tables has been calculated, and these have been constantly checked by direct comparison with Daniell s hygrometer at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, up to the year 1868, and found correct. Other most useful tables follow of the expansion of air by heat — the elastic force of aqueous vapour — the weight and enlargement of a cubic foot of air and vapour, at different temperatures and different degrees of humidity, and a series of readings of the dry and wet bulb thermometers in relation to these and other points from 10° to 100°, and these tables are indispensable to all who would thoroughly master the subject. But it may be stated in general terms here that the nearer the reading of the wet and dry bulb thermometer approximate to each other, the more moist the air is, and the greater the disparity the drier the air. For instance, in a plant stove at a temperature of 70°, a genial atmosphere for the growth of plants would be secured by the wet bulb thermometer reading 62° or 64°. See ' Glaisher's Tables.' Other articles of various kinds are required in gardens, of which it will be sufficient to enumerate those which are most important. A grindstone is essential in every garden ; because, unless tools and instruments are kept at all times sharp, it is impossible that operations Fig. 101. can either be Pr°Perl7 Per- Pi- 102 formed, or a sufficiency of work done. Whetstones are also necessary for scythes and knives. Portable shoe- Zridge-plank Jor wheeling scrapers of cast-iron, for across boa: or other edgings. u^g when coming off dug ground in wet weather on the gravel walks. One or more bridge-planks, fig. 101, for wheeling across box- edgings. Common planks for wheeling on when the soil is soft, or when injury would be done by the sinking of the wheels; and trestles for raising them as scaffolding. Some hundreds of bricks and flat tiles for forming traps for birds or mice, and for a variety of purposes. A pair of leather bearing-straps for re- lieving the arms in wheeling or in carrying hand- barrows, fig. 102. Old fishermen's-netting, for pro- tecting rising seeds from birds, and for covering currant or cherry-trees for the same purpose, or for protecting wall-trees, or for shelter. Finely-meshed wire frames are likewise much used for protecting pur- poses against birds, mice, &c. Live moss (commonly Leather bearing sphagnum) for packing plants and for other purposes. f**op«. Lime unburned, but broken into small pieces, in order to be burnt in the hothouse fires, to supply quicklime as wanted for making lime- water : quicklime will answer, if kept compressed in a cask or box, so as to exclude the air. Potash, for using as a substitute for quicklime, in preparing a caustic fluid for destroying worms, snails, &c. Refuse K 130 PORTABLE, TEMPORARY, AND MOVEABLE STRUCTURES. tobacco, tobacco paper, or tobacco liquor, from the tobacconist's, or tobacco of home growth, for destroying insects. Quassia chips for the same purposes. Sulphur in a state of powder, for destroying the mildew, and for sublimation to destroy the red spider. Soft soap, tar, gum, glue, &c., for suffocating the scale, and for coating over the eggs of insects to prevent their hatching. Gunpowder, for bruising and mixing with tar to deter insects by its smell. Bird-lime, for entrapping birds. Baskets, hampers, boxes, and cases of various kinds, for pack- ing vegetables and fruits, and sending them to a distance. A cabinet or case for the office, or for the seed-room, for containing seeds; another for bulbs, if collection of tulips, &c., are grown. Canvas for bags, which may be used as a substitute for boxes for containing seeds. Paper of different kinds, twine and cord, cotton, wool, hay, fern-leaves, the male catkins of the beech, or sweet chestnut, hair, charcoal, dust, and the chaff of buck-wheat, to aid in packing, fruit. Straw, reeds, tan, common sand, pure white or silver sand, oyster- shells as coverings to the holes in bottoms of pots ; pieces of freestone, for mixing with peat soil used in growing heaths ; leaves and leaf- mould, grafting- wax, grafting-clay, common paint, and probably various other articles which we cannot recall to mind, might be enumerated under this head But it is scarcely necessary to observe, that no gar- dener ought to confine himself to those implements of his art which have hitherto been in use, whether as regards the construction of par- ticular instruments or utensils, or their number and kinds, for par- ticular operations. Let him at all times think for himself; and if he can devise any tool, instrument, or utensil for performing any opera- tion better than those hitherto in use, let him not fail to do so. Such is the variety of operations required in extensive gardens, where a great many different kinds of culture are carried on, that this power ol invention in the gardener becomes essentially requisite, and is, in fact, called forth by the circumstances in which he is placed. CHAPTER VII. STRUCTURES AND EDIFICES OF HORTICULTURE. STRUCTURES and edifices are required in horticulture for the more per- fect cultivation of hardy plants, or for bringing them earlier to perfec- tion; for the protection of exotics that will not endure our winters in the open air ; for preserving and keeping horticultural articles ; for the enclosure and defence of gardens, and for gardeners' dwellings. Portable, Temporary, and Movealle Structures. Portable structures are such as can be readily moved about by hand, such as the common hand-glass, cloches, wicker-work, pro- Fig. 103. PORTABLE, TEMPORARY, AND MOVEABLE STRUCTURES. 131 tectors, &c. ; temporary structures are such as are taken to pieces every time they are removed from place to place, such as tem- porary copings, canvas or glass screens, &c. ; and moveable structures are those which can be removed entire, such as the common hotbed frame. Wicker-work structures for protecting plants may be of any convenient form. Fig. 103 consists of a rim about two feet high, and a semicircular cover for taking off during fine days ; it has been used at Britton Hall to protect half-hardy Rhodo- dendrons. Fig. 104 shows various forms which have been used for protecting tender plants during winter, at Abbotsbury, in Dorsetshire : a is a semicircular hurdle, to protect plants trained against a wall, especially if newly planted and exposed Wicker-work protector for low shrubs. to a sunny or windy quarter ; b is a double semicircular hurdle or split cylinder, with loops on each side forming hinges or clasps. This is useful to put round the stems of young trees, whose branches are too spreading to allow of a circular hurdle being passed over them from above. It is used as a protection against hares and rabbits in a shrubbery ; c is a large cylindrical basket to cover tall shrubs, with a vizor, or window, to be turned towards the sun or away from the wind, but to admit air. These three forms are chiefly adapted for permanent defences in the winter season. The following are for use in spring : d is the simple form of basket or circular hurdle, closed on every side and at top, intended to protect low bushes, or growing her- baceous plants coming into flower ; e is a bell-shaped wicker case with a handle, for covering during the Fig. 104. Wicker-work protectors of various kinds. night plants that shoot early in spring. All these forms are con- structed of stakes of hazel, oak, or other wood, strong and pointed so as to be firmly fixed in the ground, and the wattled work is of willow wands or young shoots of hazel, snowberry, or whatever can be most conveniently got from the woods. For newly planted conifers, square branches stuck round within a foot of the branches, and as high as, or higher than, the top of the trees, is an excellent protection. It is a good practice to leave these rustic protectors for one or two whole years, as K 2 132 PORTABLE, TEMPORARY, AND MOVE ABLE STRUCTURES. such trees often suffer as much from the glare of the sun and the force of driving winds as from frosts. Those structures used for the more tender plants may be filled with straw or hay, provided the plants are on a lawn where grass seeds dropping from the hay will not prove in- jurious ; or they may be covered with mats or canvas. Besides these forms, which may be made of any size, according to that of the plants to be protected, small semi-globular, close- woven chip baskets, not above a foot high, are used at Abbotsbury as shades for delicate Alpine plants in sunny or windy weather. Where baskets of this kind cannot be conveniently procured, very good substitutes may be found in bast mats, canvas, or oil-cloth, supported by rods forming skeletons of suitable sizes and shapes. As hand-glasses, from their great liability to breakage and the quantity of the glass they contain compared with the ground they cover, become very expensive articles, cheaper substitutes may be men- tioned. A common square hand-glass, it has been shown by Mr. Forsyth, * Gard. Mag.' 1841, contains seven square feet of glass to light or shelter two and a quarter square feet of ground, being a little more than three times as much as is really necessary for the plants usually cultivated under them : hence he proposes to substitute boards well painted, pitched or tarred, to increase their durability, in place of upright glazed sides to the hand-glass ; and instead of a conical or pyramidal roof, to employ a square cast-iron sash, twenty-four inches on the side. Fig. 106 shows the sash glazed with small panes, say Fig. 105. Fig. 106. Fig. 107. Hand-box, as a substitute for a hand-glass. Sash, as a substitute for a hand-glass. Side view of hand- box. four inches and a half wide, on account of their cheapness and greater strength than larger- sized panes. The frame, fig. 105, may be six to nine inches high in front, and from fifteen to eighteen inches high at back. These small sashes, when not wanted for hand- glasses, or rather hand-frame coverings, Mr. Forsyth proposes to use as roofing to peach-houses, vineries, &c., and for various other pur- poses ; and he anticipates, and we think with reason, great economy from their adoption in gardens. Fig. 107 is an end view of the box, showing the uprights at the angles for supporting the sash, either close over the box, or raised to different heights to admit more or less air. By means of the notched uprights, the sash may either be PORTABLE, TEMPORARY, AND MOVEABLE STRUCTURES. 133 raised six inches above the box at top and bottom, or it may be raised three or six inches at the back, and not raised, or raised only three inches in front, so as to admit more or less air at pleasure, and yet throw off the rain ; the sash being in any of these cases held firm in its place, so as not to be liable to be disturbed by wind. The pivots which fit into the notches are square, in order to admit of their being mounted on rafters of different kinds, so as to form coverings to frames, pits, or even forcing-houses. Supposing, says Mr. Forsyth, a bed of violets, running east and west, in the open air, twelve feet long and three feet six inches wide ; drive seven notched pegs two feet apart down the centre of the bed to stand one foot above ground, and seven down each side at the same distance apart, but only four inches out of the ground ; then, to make the sides and gable ends, take a piece of turf four feet by four feet, shaped out with the edging- iron, and taken up with the turfing or floating spade, an inch and a half thick, of the proper shape, so that it may be set on edge and kept so by a peg on each side, and having the green side out ; when th« lights are put on with every alternate one higher than and embracing the iron edges of the two under it, you will have a very elegant little flower-house, which a labourer might erect in an hour with sixpenny- worth of building materials, and the finished structure would have thus every other light hinged and ready to admit air or allow of water- ing and gathering flowers IIKC a complete forcing-house. We regard tnis as promising to be one of the most useful and economical inven- tions that have been introduced in horticulture for some time. This box may be used in the open ground for forcing sea-kale, rhubarb, and for a variety of other purposes. The most efficient of all substi- tutes for hand-glasses are the common barless ground vinery and the cloche. The various " protectors" recently invented are decidedly inferior to these. Canvas coverings for glazed structures or detached plants require for the most part to be in framed panels, as well to keep them tight as to throw off the rain, and to prevent them from being blown and beat about by the wind. To render the canvas more durable, it may btf oiled, tanned, or soaked in an anti-dry-rot composition. When applied to cover the glass sashes of frames or pits, it should be in panels in wooden frames of the size of the sashes ; and this is also a convenient and safe mode of forming temporary structures for protecting standard plants or trees; but by suitable arrangements, to be hereafter described, canvas or netting for protecting walls may be hooked on and fastened without wooden frames. This is done in a very efficient manner in the garden of the Horticultural Society of London, to pro- tect a peach- wall. The stone coping of this wall projects over it about an inch and a half, with a groove or throating underneath. Coping-boards nine inches broad, fitted to join at their ends by means of plates of iron, are supported on iron brackets built into the wall. Fig. 108 shows one of these brackets, in which a is an iron which is built into the wall, the thickness of a board below the stone coping ; and b, the hole for the iron pin which secures the wooden coping. To 134 PORTABLE, TEMPORARY, AND MOVEABLE STRUCTURES. these brackets the coping-boards are secured by broad-headed iron pins, passing through corresponding holes, £, in the board and bracket, Fig. 108. a slip °f iron> or " spare-nail," being then introduced through an eye in the lower end of the pin. The upper edge of the board is slightly bevelled, so as to fit as closely as possible to the under side of the coping of the wall, in order effectually to obstruct the radiation of heat, and the ascent of warm air. Iron bracket for supporting a From this coping, woollen netting of vari- temporary wooden coding. ^ ^^ common netting> such as fisher_ men use, bunting, and thin canvas, have been let down, and tried experimentally, in the course of the last fifteen years ; and we are informed by Mr. Thompson, that after repeated trials, the thin canvas was found the preferable article for utility, appearance, and duration. This description of fabric costs about 4J. per yard, pro- cured direct from the makers. It requires to be joined into convenient lengths, or into the whole length of the wall to be covered, and bound with tape at top and bottom, and to have loops or rings sewed to it at top, by which it is secured to small hooks screwed to the upper side of the coping-boards. These hooks serve also for attaching the ends of pieces of twine, which are stretched down to pegs driven in a line four feet from the bottom of the wall. These twine -rafters are stretched at intervals of twelve feet, and support the canvas at a uniform slope, the appearance being that of an elegant light roof, reaching to within three feet of the ground. The coping-boards are put up before the blossom-buds of the peach-trees have swelled so much as to exhibit the tips of the petals ; and before the most forward buds open, the thin canvas (or netting, if that should be preferred) should be attached to the hooks. The covering is generally put up about the beginning of March, and it remains on without being opened or altered, till all danger from frost is over, which is generally, in the climate of London , about the middle of May. The coping is entirely removed at the same time as the canvas, because the trees are found to thrive much better when exposed to perpendicular rains and dews. The canvas is found to be of great utility in bright sunny weather, when the trees are in full blossom; for the peach and other stone fruit, which in their native country blossom at an early period of the season, whilst the air is yet cool, do not succeed so well in setting when the blossoms are exposed to as much as 100°, which they frequently are, against a south wall. The thin canvas admits also plenty of air ; while woollen net- ting, which it might be thought would admit still more air, was found to render the leaves too tender, in which case they suffer from the intensity of the light when the netting is removed. Common thread netting is not liable to produce this effect, being much more airy ; and this netting has the advantage, when not placed farther than a foot from the wall, of admitting of the trees being syringed through it. Very little syringing, however, is required till the trees are out of blossom, and none while they are in blossom ; and when the space PORTABLE, TEMPORARY, AND MOVEABLE STRUCTURES. 135 between the canvas and the wall is nine inches wide at top, and four feet wide at the bottom, as in the Horticultural Society's garden, the syringing can be very well performed in the space within. (A broader coping would be far better. No temporary coping should be less than two feet in diameter, and it should always be inserted beneath a short permanent one. This is by far the best way of pro- tecting fruit-trees, and the coping is so wide that it is seldom anything is required in front of the wall.) A very simple and efficient apparatus for rolling up and letting down canvas shades over the roofs of hothouses was brought into use in the kitchen-garden at Syon by Mr. Forrest ; and as it is equally well adapted for covering awnings for tulip-beds or other florists' flowers, and for a variety of other garden purposes, we shall here give Fig. 109. Apparatus for rolling up and letting down canvas shades. such details as will enable any intelligent blacksmith or carpenter to construct the apparatus. The canvas is fixed to a roller of wood, fifty or sixty feet in length, the length depending on the diameter of the pole or rod, fig. 109, a, and the toughness of the timber employed, as well as the dimensions and strength of all the other parts. On one end of this rod, and not on both, as is usual, a ratchet wheel, 6, is fixed, with a plate against it, c, so as to form a pulley-groove, e?, between, to which a cord is fastened ; and about three inches further on the rod is fixed a third iron wheel, about six inches in diameter and half an inch thick, e. This last wheel runs in an iron groove,/, which extends along the end rafter or end wall of the roof to be covered. The canvas or netting being sewed together of a sufficient size to cover the roof, 136 PORTABLE, TEMPORARY, AND MOVE ABLE STRUCTURES. one side of it is nailed to a slip of wood placed against the back wall — that is, along the upper end of the sashes ; the other side is nailed to the rod, a When the canvas is rolled up, it is held in its place under a coping, #, by a ratchet, h • and when it is to be let down, the cord, t, of the roll is loosened with one hand, and the ratchet cord, &, pulled with the other, when the canvas unrolls with its own weight. The process of pulling it up again need not be described. The most valu- able part of the plan is, that the roll of canvas, throughout its whole length, winds up and lets down without a single wrinkle, notwith- standing the pulley-wheel is only on one end. This is owing to the weight of the rod, and its equal diameter throughout. A very simple mode of placing canvas on roofs is to have it on rollers in the usual way. Then divide the roller space into three equal parts, nail a strong cord on to the top of the roof at each of these points, and bring the cord down under the roller to the front of the house. Then carry the cord back over the canvas, run it through a pulley at the point where it is fixed at top, return the two ends to the bottom, and join them together. The roller will bring the blind down the roof by its own momentum. All that is needed to roll it up is to pull the cord in front and hook the slacks on to a pin. To bring it down, unloose the cord, and give the blind a sudden jerk. This plan gets rid of all rack wheels, &c., and cannot fail to keep the canvas square. The common hotbed frame is a bottomless box, commonly six feet wide, and three, six, or eighteen feet in length, formed of boards from one to two inches in thickness. The height at the back may be two feet, and in front one foot. The bottom should be level, so that the sides and the sashes laid on the frame may slope from back to front. A three- light or three-sashed frame is divided by two cross bars or rafters, so as to leave a space between them from two feet nine inches to three feet for the width of the sash. It is placed either on the open ground, or on a mass of heating material, according to the purpose for which it is wanted, and, excepting for particular purposes, facing the sun. As the great object of frames is to increase temperature without excluding light, the soil on which they are placed, or the dung-bed or other means of heating which they cover, ought to be as dry as possible, either naturally or by artificial drainage ; and the glass ought to be clear, and so glazed as to permit as little air as possible to escape be- tween the laps. When common crown glass is used, small panes are found to be less liable to breakage than large ones of this kind of glass ; but when the sheet window-glass is used, from its greater thickness, the panes may be two or three feet in length, without much danger of breakage. The boards used for the frame should be of the best red deal ; and if, after being prepared for fitting together, they are thoroughly dried on a kiln, and afterwards soaked with train-oil in the manner which we have before described for preparing wooden props, the duration of the frame will be greatly increased. All frames and sashes, when not in use, should be kept in an open airy shed, and there raised from the ground a few inches by supports of bricks or other suitable materials. In gardens where cucumbers and melons are grown WALLS, ESPALIER-RAILS, AND TRELLIS-WORK. 137 extensively, there are commonly one or more small frames with single lights for raising seedlings, and others of two or three lights for winter or early spring crops ; the smallness of the frame allowing a greater command of the heating material beneath it, by the application of out- side casings of warm dung. The back, front, and ends of frames are generally permanently fixed together by tenons and mortices, and by being nailed to posts in the four inner angles ; but in some cases the buck and sides are fastened together by keyed iron bolts, which readily admit of separating the frame into pieces, and laying these away under cover, and in little space, when not required for use. From the short duration of frames, and from the great quantity of dung required to heat them, as well as from the waste of heat incurred in preparing the dung, frames are now, in most British gardens, being replaced by pits, which may be called fixed frames, with brickwork substituted for wood. Fixed Structures used in Horticulture. The fixed structures required in gardens are chiefly walls, espalier- rails, trellis and lattice-work, and structures for containing growing plants. Walls, Espalier-rails, and Trellis-work. Walls are used for the protection of gardens, and also as furnishing surfaces on which fruit-trees and ornamental plants may be trained, with a view to producing increase of temperature and protection from high winds : they may be considered in regard to direction, material, height, foundation, coping, and general construction. Walls constructed merely for boundaries take the direction indicated by the form of the ground to be enclosed; but those built pur- posely for training trees, in the interior of a garden, are varied in direction according to the aspects which are considered most desirable. A wall in the direction of east and west, gives one side of the wall fully exposed to the sun for the finer fruits, or for fixing against it glass structures : while the north side of the wall may be employed for inferior fruits, for retarding crops, as well of fruit against the wall, as, in some cases, of vegetables on the border. A wall in the direction of north and south furnishes two good aspects for the secon- dary fruits, such as apricots, plums, and the finer pears. Walls have been built in a curvilinear direction, but no advantage has been found from them excepting a saving of material, in proportion to the length of the wall, the curves having the same effect in resisting lateral pressure as buttresses ; but walls in situations exposed to high winds, built with projections at right angles, of the height of the wall and the width of the border, but somewhat sloped down from back to front, have been found beneficial in checking the course of the wind when in a direction parallel to the wall. Screen walls of this kind are fre- quently built at the exterior angles of the walls of kitchen-gardens ; and sometimes they occur at distances of from 100 to 200 feet along walls having a south aspect ; and in the case of east and west winds they are found very beneficial. Walls with piers at regular distances, 138 WALLS, ESPALIER-RAILS, AND TRELLIS-WORK. allowing room for one trained tree between every two piers, have also been found beneficial from the shelter afforded by the piers, which at the same time greatly strengthen the wall, and admit of its being built thinner. In general, however, a straight wall, without projections of any kind, is most convenient, most suitable for training, and for pro- tecting by temporary copings, and most agreeable to the eye. The materials of walls are brick, stone, mud, earth, concrete, and wood; but the first is by far the best. Brick retains warmth, in consequence of its much greater porosity than stone ; forms a very strong wall with comparatively little substance, from the rectangular shape of the bricks, and the firmness with which mortar adheres to them ; and it is the best of all walls for training on, from the small size of the bricks and the numerous joints between them. Add also, that from the porosity of the bricks, nails may even be driven suffi- ciently far into them to hold branches, as securely as nails driven into the joints. Stone walls are good in proportion as they approach to brick walls. For this reason, if the stone is not naturally porous and a bad conductor of heat, the walls should be built of extra thickness, and the stones should not be large, nor so rough as to make coarse joints. The warmest walls of this kind are such as are of sufficient thickness to allow of the interior of the wall being built without mortar, in consequence of which much air is retained, and heat is not readily conducted from the warm side of the wall to the cold side. A stone wall, with a facing of bricks on the warm side, forms the next best wall to one entirely of brick ; and, next to this, a stone wall stuccoed or plastered over with a mixture of stone lime and sharp sand, or coated over with Roman cement of good quality. Walls formed of earth or mud are still better non-conductors than brick walls ; but though they are warm, yet as surfaces for training trees on they are attended with several disadvantages. They cannot conveniently be built high, and whatever may be their height, they require the coping to project farther than is beneficial to the plants trained on them at any other season than in early spring ; and they require a trellis on which to fasten the plants. Nevertheless the vine and the peach have been successfully grown against such walls at various places in the neigh- bourhood of Paris, though they are now rapidly giving way to stone walls. These walls are commonly built without mortar, excepting to close the outside joints, or to plaster over the surface of the wall as a substitute for a trellis, which is always used when this is not done. The grapes at Thomery, near Fontainebleau, are chiefly grown on trellised walls of this kind ; and the peaches at Montreuil, near Paris, are chiefly on stone walls stuccoed. Concrete walls are likewise used in different parts of France. Walls formed of boards are frequent in the north of Europe, where timber is abundant ; but, except when the boards are five or six inches in thickness, they are very cold. In Holland, and more particularly in Sweden, when such walls form the backs to hothouses, they are thatched from top to bottom. In Britain, were it not for the expense of the material, boarded walls might, in many cases, be adopted instead of brick ; more especially in the case, WALLS, ESPALIER-RAILS, AND TRELLIS-WORK. 139 of walls built in the direction of north and south, because in them the air is of nearly the same temperature on both sides ; whereas in an east and west wall, the heat produced by the sun on the south side is being continually given out to the much colder north side. Boarded walls two or three centuries ago afforded the only means, in the neighbourhood of London, of forcing the cherry, the only fruit which at that time was attempted to be produced out of season. The boarded wall or fence was placed in the direction of east and west, the cherries planted against it on the south side, and casings of hot dung placed on the north, close to the boards. To derive the full advantage from the south side of an east and west wall, it ought to be of greater thickness than a south and north wall under the same circumstances ; because, from the much greater cold of the north side, the south side is con- tinually liable to have the heat abstracted from it in that direction. A south and north wall, on the other hand, can never become so hot on either side as an east and west wall does on the south side; and as it receives its heat equally on both sides, so it loses it equally. Where an east and west wall is thin, and consequently cold, it might become worth while, when it was desirable to retain as much heat on the south side as possible, to thatch it on the north side during the winter and spring months. The great advantage of covering with some pro- tecting material the north sides of walls in spring, when trees are in blossom, may be inferred from the case of trees trained against dwelling-houses, which invariably set their blossoms better than trees against unprotected garden-walls. The height of garden-walls may vary according to the object in view, but it is rarely necessary to be more than twelve or fifteen feet, or less than six feet. In kitchen-gardens the highest wall is generally placed on the north side, as well to protect the garden from north winds as to admit of a greater surface for training on exposed to the full sun, and to form, if necessary, a back sufficiently high for forcing- houses. The east and west boundary walls are commonly made two or three feet lower than the north wall, and the south wall somewhat lower still. The usual proportions in a garden of three acres are 17, 14, and 12 ; for gardens of one acre, 14, 12, and 10; that part of the north wall against which the forcing-houses are placed being in small gardens raised somewhat higher than the rest. Twelve feet is found to be a sufficient height for peach and apricot trees ; but for pears and vines it may be one-half more ; and indeed for vines there is scarcely any limit. An attempt has been recently made to introduce walls of glass, which the projectors conceived to possess such advantages as would cause them to supersede ordinary walls. This, however, they are not likely to do, as they reflect much less heat than a common brick- wall, or one of any kind of cement and with its surface whitewashed. We now proceed to give the following instructions for the erection of walls : — The foundations of garden-walls should be at least as deep as the ground is originally dug or trenched. The wall is sometimes sup- ported on arches ; but this is not in general desirable, more especially 110 WALLS, ESPALIER-RAILS, AND TRELLIS- WORK. in walls built in the direction of east and west, because the roots of the trees planted on the one side of the wall are liable to extend themselves to the border on the opposite side, which not being ex- posed to the same temperature as that on the other side, the excite- ment which they receive from atmospheric temperature must neces- sarily be different, and consequently unfavourable to growth and the ripening of fruit and wood. The permanent copings of walls should not, as a rule, project more than two or three inches, because a greater projection would deprive the leaves of the trees of perpendicular rains in the summer season ; and in spring the trees can be protected from the frost by temporary wooden copings, as already mentioned. In order to admit of fixing these wooden copings securely, iron brackets should be built into the wall immediately under the coping, and these should in all cases be at least 2 ft. long, so as to support a wide temporary coping : or, where temporary rafters are to be fixed to the wall for supporting sashes, stones, such as fig. 110, may be built in, to which the rafters may be fitted and fixed by a tenon and pin, as indicated in fig. 111. Along the front border, a row of stone or iron posts, not rising higher than the surface, may be perma- nently fixed, on which a temporary front wall or plate, for the lower ends of the rafters, may be placed. Fig. 110. Stone for fixing temporary rafters. Fig. 111. The garden-walls for arrangements of this kind should be flued. Stones for fixing rafters can only be wanted on the south side of east and west walls, because glass is seldom placed before walls with any but a south aspect. The permanent coping is generally formed of flagstone, slate, artificial stone, tiles or bricks, and raised in the middle so as to throw the rain-water equally to each side ; and in the case of stone, a groove or throating is formed underneath, an inch within the edge, to prevent the water from running down and rot- ting the mortar. Where the coping is very broad, and formed of flagstone, it is some- Mode ofjtong temporary rafters. timeg hollow&ed QU't along ^ middle, so as to collect the rain-water, from which it is conveyed to a drain along the foundation of the wall by pipes ; but this mode is WALLS, ESPALIER-RAILS, AND TRELLIS-WORK. 141 only necessary in the case of conservatory walls. Where no trees are planted on the north side of an east and west wall, the coping is sometimes bevelled, so as to throw the rain-water to the north side as in fig. Ill ; but this can never be advisable when trees are trained there. In the construction of walls they are generally built solid ; but when the wall is formed entirely of brick, a saving of material is obtained, as well as a warmer wall produced, by building them hollow. There are various modes of effecting this, but one of the simplest is that shown by the plan fig. 112, in which a wall fourteen inches wide, Fig. 112. with a vacuity of five inches and a half, may be built ten or twelve feet high with little more than the materials requi- site for a solid wall nine inches wide. Such walls may be carried to the height of ten or Plan of a hollow brick wall 14 inches wide twelve feet without any piers, and 12 feet high. and one advantage attending them is that they can be built with a smooth face on both sides, whereas a solid nine-inch wall can only be worked fair on one side. A still more economical wall may be formed by placing the bricks on edge, which will give a width of twelve inches that may be carried to the height of ten feet without piers. Walls of both kinds have been employed in the construction of cottage buildings, as well as in gardens. (See ' Encyc. of Cottage Archi- tecture,' where several kinds of hollow walls are described.) A very strong wall, only seven and a half inches in thickness, may be formed of bricks of the common size, and of bricks of the same length and thickness, but of only half the width of the common bricks, by which means the wall can be worked fair on both sides. The bricks are laid side by side, as in fig. 113, in which a represents the first course, and F 113 & the second course. The bond, or ty- ing together of both sides of the wall, is not obtained by laying bricks across (technically, headers), but by the full breadth bricks covering half the breadth of the Fig. 114. c±xdt Plan of a brick wall 74 inches thick. broad bricks when laid over the narrow ones, as shown in the dissected horizontal section, fig. 113, at 6, and in the vertical section, fig. 114. Besides the advantage of being built fair on both sides, there being no headers, or through and through bricks, in these walls, when they are used as outside walls the rain is never conducted through the wall, and the inside of the wall is conse- quently drier than the inside of a wall nine inches in thickness. These walls are adapted for a variety of purposes in foic]c wall 142 WALLS, ESPALIER-SAILS, AND TRELLIS-WORK. house-building and gardening, in the latter art more especially. The only drawback that we know against them is, that the narrow or half-breadth bricks must be made on purpose. For the division walls of a large garden, or for the boundary wall of a small one, such walls with piers projecting eighteen inches or two feet, to enable the walls to be carried to the height of ten or twelve feet, might be economically adopted : the space between the piers ought not to be greater than can be covered by a single tree. The piers are an admirable position for growing cordons upon, which add greatly to the effect, and increase the produce. Conservatory walls may likewise be turned to good account, both as assisting in supporting the temporary copings or glass, and as heightening archi- tectural effect. Walls are almost always built perpendicularly to the horizon, but they have been tried at different degrees of inclination to it, in order to receive the sun's rays at right angles when he is highest in the firmament during summer ; but though some advantage may probably have been obtained from such walls at that season, yet the great loss of heat by radiation during spring and autumn would probably be found greatly to overbalance the gain during summer. Nicol informs us that he constructed many hundred feet of boarded walls which reclined considerably towards the north, in order to pre- sent a better angle to the sun, but he does not inform us of the result ; a German gardener, however, has found advantage from them. (See 'Nicol's KaL,' p. 149, and ' Hort. Trans.' vol. iv. p. 140.) Upon the whole, however, walls are better upright. An inclined surface is easily formed by raised banks of earth, which are cheaper and often warmer than walls. Wherever the surface of a garden wall is found to be too rough, or is formed of too large stones to admit of conveniently attaching the branches of trees to it by nails and shreds, it becomes necessary to fix to the wall trellis- work of wood or of wire. The laths or wires are generally placed perpendicularly six or eight inches apart, because the branches are generally trained horizontally, or at some angle between horizontal and perpendicular. Wires stretched horizontally, however, and screwed tight, form the most economical description of trellis ; and if occasionally painted, they will last a number of years. Trellis- work of wood is more architectural, and the branches are more readily fixed to them by ties, which are apt to slide along the small wire unless the double operation is performed of first attaching the tie to the wire, and then tying it to the shoot of the tree. The colour both of the wire and woodwork should not differ much from that of the stone of the wall, otherwise it will become too conspicuous. Un- doubtedly the best kind of trellises for walls are those of galvanized wire. " If there be any one practice of French horticulturists more worthy of special recommendation to the English fruit-grower than another, it is their improved way of placing wires on walls, or in any position in which it may be desired to neatly train fruit trees. So many have been the failures in British gardens as regards the placing of the wire WALLS, ESPALIER-RAILS, AND TRELLIS-WORK. 148 to which to affix the trees, that the system has been given up as use- less and too expensive, and many have said that the old-fashioned shred and nail are yet the best. But there is a very much better and sounder way, and I am completely converted as to the value of the French mode of wiring here illustrated. In the first instance, several strong iron spikes are driven into the brickwork at the ends — in the right angle formed by two walls — nails with eyes in them being driven in in straight lines, exactly in the line of direction in which the wire is wanted to pass. The wires are placed at about ten inches apart on the walls, and the little hooks for their support, also galvanized, are fixed at about ten feet apart along each wire. The exact distance between the wires must, however, be determined by the kind of tree and the form to be given to it. If horizontal training of the branches be adopted, the wires had better be placed to form the lines which we wish the branches to follow ; if the branches are vertical, as in fig. 115, we need not be so exact, The wire — about as thick as strong Fig. 115. j- I I I at those seasons when he is low in the heavens, and shines only for a short time. For summer forcing the angle of the roof may be larger, and of course its slope less steep ; for greenhouses and plant stoves, in which plants are to be grown all the year, there should be a portion of the roof with the glass very steep, or upright front glass, for admitting the sun's rays in winter. The roofs of such houses may be at a large angle, say from 35° to 45° with the horizon, which is more favourable for throwing off rain, and also for resisting hail, than a flatter surface/ For growing herbaceous plants and young plants, and for the general purposes of propagation, whether by seeds, cuttings, or layers, a low flat house, in which the glass shall be near to all the plants, as in pits and frames, is the most Fig. 125. convenient form ; though when fruits are to be ripened in such houses in the winter season, the flatness of the glass, and consequent obliquity of the sun's rays to it, is a great disadvantage. Hence, when such plants can be conveniently grown in pots, as in the case of strawberries, or bulbous or other flowers, it is desirable to have very steep glass, and to place the plants on shelves immediately within it, as practised by Mr. Wilmot, and other market-gardeners, in such structures as fig. 125 -, or, when the plants are climbers, as the cucumber and melon, to train them up trellises parallel to the glass, and at a short distance within it, as in Ayres' cucumber- house. Steep-roofed house for Curvilinear roofs. — The ordinary form of the winter forcing of plants roofs of plant-houses is that of a right-lined fapot*- plane, like the roof of any other building, but they have been also formed with curvilinear roofs, which, as compared PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 155 with roofs having upright glass with standards and wall-plates, more especially when the sash-bar is of iron, admit much more light. The ends of plant-houses are generally vertical planes, but in curvilinear houses they are sometimes of the same curvature as the front, which adds greatly to their beauty, as well as being favourable to the ad- mission of the sun's rays, morning and evening, and to the transmis- sion of diffused light when the sun does not shine. The only disad- vantages attending curvilinear ends to plant-houses is, that the doors cannot be placed in these ends without some intricacy of construc- tion ; but when such houses are placed against walls, as in fig. 126, Fig. 126. ^ Curvilinear glass roofs. they may be entered through a door made in the wall to a recess taken from the back shed, as shown by fig. 127, in which a, a, repre- sent the plans of portions of two curvilinear houses ; b, 6, back sheds to these houses ; and c, lobby common to both. These houses may be ventilated by openings in the upper part of the back wall, the orifice within being covered with pierced zinc, and wooden shutters moving Fig. 127. Ground plan of a curvilinear plant-house, with the entrance through a lobby in the back wall. in grooves simultaneously. Where a lobby cannot conveniently be made in the back shed, one door may be made in the centre of the front of each house, as at Messrs. Loddiges' ; and where the end is semicircular, a door might be made in it in a similar manner, or with a projection brought forward so as to form a porch ; the mode repre- sented in fig. 127 is, however, greatly preferable, as occasioning no obstruction to light. Roofs of greenhouses, &c., formed in the ridge and furrow manner, and even glass sashes so formed for pits, were tried by us many years ago (' Encyc. of Gard.,' 1st edit.) : and the idea has been 156 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING improved on, and applied in the happiest manner, by Sir Joseph Paxton, at Chatsworth ; and adopted by Mr. Marnock, in the Sheffield Botanic Garden; Jedediah Strutt, Esq., at Belper ; William Harrison, Esq., Cheshunt ; John Allcard, Esq., Stratford Green ; and at various other places. The advantages of this description of roof are : — 1. That the roof does not require to be raised so high behind, in proportion to its width, as in flat roofs ; because the descent of the water does not depend on the general slope of the roof, but on the slope of the ridges towards the furrows ; and the water in these furrows, being confined to a narrow deep channel, and in a larger body than it ever can be on the glass, passes along with proportionate rapidity. 2. That the morning and afternoon sun, by passing through the glass at right angles, produces more light and heat at these times of the day, when they are, of course, more wanted than at mid-day. 3. The rays of the sun striking on the house at an oblique angle at mid-day, the heat produced in the house at that time is less intense than in houses of the ordinary kind, in which it is often injurious, by rendering it necessary to admit large quantities of the external air to lower the temperature. 4. More light is admitted at all seasons, on the principle that a bow window always admits more light to a room than a straight window of the same width. 5. The panes of glass, if crown-glass be employed, may be smaller than in houses the roofs of which are in one plane, and yet, from there being a greater number of them, admit an equal quantity of light ; from their smallness also, they will cost less, and be less liable to be broken by the freezing of water between the laps. 6. By the employment of sheet window-glass, which is much thicker than crown-glass, panes of three or four feet in length may be used, so that only one pane need be required for each division, and consequently no lap being required, no breakage by frost can take place, and no heated air can escape. And 7. That wind will have much less influence in cooling the roof, because the sides of the ridges -,. will be sheltered by their summits. Fjg> 129. Sir J. Paxton, to whom the merit of this mode of roofing is entirely due, has also adopted an improvement in the construction of the sash-bar — viz., having grooves for the panes instead of rebates (see figs. 128 and 129) ; the advantages of which grooves are, that less putty is required, and that what is used does not so readily Section of an iron separate from the wood, and thus •bar with admit the wet between the wood and grooves for trie •> ,,,-. „ „ . , ala** the putty. The roofs of such houses are en/rely fixed, and ventilation effected either by having the perpendicular ends of grooves for the the ridges moveable on hinges, or by the front glass glass. and ventilators in the back wall. The expense of this mode of roofing is doubtless greater than that of the common flat mode, but not so much PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 157 so as might be expected, because the sash-bar can be formed lighter, and where crown-glass is used the panes may be much smaller. For plant-houses the advantage of admitting the sun's rays perpendicu- larly, early in the morning and late in the afternoon, will much more than compensate for any additional expense. In an architectural point of view the merits of this mode of roofing are perhaps as great as they are with reference to culture : the roofs being lower, are less conspicuous, and the common shed-like appearance is taken away by the pediments which form the ends of the ridges, and appear in a range as a crowning parapet to the front glass. Indeed, if it were desirable, the tops of the ridges might be made perfectly horizontal, and all the slope that is necessary for carrying the water from back to front, or to both the sides, given in the gutters between the ridges, as is done in roofing common buildings of great width. Fig. 130 is a Fig. 130. Perspective view of the original ridge and furrow house at Chateworth. perspective view of a house erected by Sir J. Paxton, at Chatsworth, and fig. 131 a vertical profile of part of two ridges of the roof. It will be observed that the sash-bar is not in a direction parallel to the pedi- ments, but oblique to it. This is done to prevent the water from running down on one side of the glass, which it would do in conse- quence of the general slope of the ridge from the back to the front if the bars were placed at right angles to the ridge. The angle at which the bars are fixed will vary with that formed by the slope of the ridge, and the mode of determining it is to place the bars so that the lap of the glass, which is in square panes, may form, when the panes are fitted in their places, lines truly horizontal. There are many persons, however, who attach no great importance to causing the water to run down the middle of the glass instead of one side ; and they will, of 153 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING course, place the bars for holding the glass, parallel to the pediments, in order to avoid the short bars at the ends of the ridges, as seen in fig. 131. For more minute details respecting this mode of construc- Fig. 131. Vertical profile of part of a ridge and furrow roof. tion, we refer to ' Paxton's Magazine of Botany,' vol. ii. p. 30 ; and * Gard. Mag.,' vol. xv. p. 452, and also for 1841. The Great Exhi- bition Building of 1851 in Hyde Park, with the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, furnish magnificent examples of this mode of glazing. The materials used in the construction of plant-houses differ in nothing from those used in other buildings, except that where as much light as possible is required to be admitted, the framework for con- taining the glass is formed of iron or other metal, as supplying the requisite strength with less bulk than wood. The proportion of opaque surface of an iron roof may be estimated at not more than 7 or 8 per cent., while in a wooden roof it is upwards of 20 per cent. ; both roofs being in one plane and of the ordinary construction. Where sheet- glass is employed, and the panes made of more than ordinary length and width, as in the large conservatory erected in the Eoyal Horticultural Society's garden, the proportion of light admitted in the case of iron roofs will be found still greater. Ridge and furrow roofs, if we take the area of the bases of the ridges as the total area of the roof, and then deduct from it the space occupied by the bars forming the sides of the ridges, and the ridge-pieces and gutters, will not appear to admit the same proportion of light as a roof in one plane ; but the practical result will be different, in conse- quence of the sun's rays being twice in the day perpendicular to one- half of the roof, the advantage of which to the plants will far more than compensate for the obscuration produced by the greater propor- tion of sash-bars, which, operating chiefly at mid-day and in very hot weather, is rather a.n advantage than otherwise. To prove this, it is necessary first to know the law of the reflection of light from glass. The law of the reflection of light from glass was calculated by Bouguer, a French philosopher, in 1729, and is exhibited by the following figures ; the first line representing the angles of incidence, and the second the number of rays reflected, exclusive of decimal parts : — Angle of incidence . . . 85°, 80°, 70°, 60°, 50°, 40°, 30°, 20, 10°, 1°. Percentage of rays reflected 50, 41, 22, 11, 5, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2. PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 159 Now, if we suppose a roof in one plane with the sun shining on it at six o'clock in the morning, and at six o'clock in the afternoon, at an angle of 85°, which would be the case in March and September, fully one-half the rays which fell on the roof would be reflected ; while, in the case of a ridge and furrow roof, if he shone on half the roof, that is on one-half of each of the ridges, at any angle with a per- pendicular not exceeding 30°, at the same periods, only two per cent, of the rays would be reflected. Suppose, then, the area of the entire roof, taken as one plane, to be 100 square yards, and, to facilitate calculation, that only 100 rays fell on each yard, then the total number which would enter through the roof in one plane would be 50,000, while those which would enter through the ridge and furrow roof would be 99,000, or very nearly double the number. If we compare a roof in one plane with the framework of wood, with a similar one with the framework of iron, and take the space rendered opaque by the wood at twenty-one per cent., and by the iron at seven per cent., then the greater number of rays admitted at all times by the iron roof over the wooden one will be as three to one. Iron roofs have been objected to from their somewhat greater original expense, from their supposed liability to break glass by con- traction and expansion, and from the iron being liable to conduct away heat in winter, and to become hot to such a degree as to be injurious to the plants in summer. With regard to expense, that is, we believe, now considered the chief objection ; but though it may be heavier at first, yet it is amply compensated for by the great durability of iron houses, when properly constructed, and when the iron is never allowed to become rusty for want of paint. As a proof of the dura- bility of iron houses, we may refer to the iron camellia-house, at Messrs. Loddiges', erected in 1818, and the iron houses in the Horticul- tural Society's garden, which were erected, we believe, in 1823. The breakage of glass supposed to result from the contraction or expansion of the metal was at one time considered a very weighty objection ; but the severe winter of 1837-8 did not occasion so much broken glass in iron as it did in wooden houses. A bar of malleable iron, 819 inches in length, at a temperature of 32°, only increases in length one inch, when heated to 212°; but this difference of 180° of temperature is more than plant-houses are liable to ; indeed 50° or 60° are as much as is necessary to be taken into account. If we suppose the iron-work is fitted at a period of the season when the temperature is 55°, then 50° lower would be within 5° of 'zero, and 50° higher would be 105°; extremes which the iron roof of a hothouse will seldom exceed. Now, according to the above data, a bar ten feet in length would extend or contract, by the addition or reduction of 50° of heat, l-25th of an inch as nearly as possible. An iron sash-bar, half an inch thick between the two edges of the glass, would not expand in thickness, from 50° of heat, much more than one six- thousandth part of an inch. It may easily be conceived, therefore, that the lateral expansion of sash-bars, which are in general not quite half an inch in thickness, by any heat which they can receive on the roof of a hothouse, will never 160 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING have any effect on the glass between them. To guard against all risk of breakage from this cause, however, it is only necessary not to fit in the panes too tightly. Indeed, the objection may now be considered as given up by all experienced hothouse-builders. The liability of iron to conduct away heat in winter, and to attract too much in summer, is also found to be an objection more imaginary than real. It is true that iron, from its being a powerful conductor, is liable to undergo sudden changes of temperature, which must, doubtless, render it less congenial to plants that come in contact with it than wood or brick ; though plants do not appear to suffer when the iron is in small quantities, such as the rods to which vines are attached under rafters, wire trellis-work, &c. ; but when the rafters are of iron, and when plants are trained round the iron pillars used in supporting hothouse roofs, it may readily be conceived that they will be injured by them. This will also be the ca.se, more or less, when tender plants are grown close under the glass in hotbeds or pits covered with iron sashes. Indeed, when we consider the much greater weight of iron sashes than wooden ones, and the constant occasion that there is for moving the sashes of pits and hotbeds, we would recommend them in most cases to be made of wood. The injury done to plants in the open air by iron coming in contact with them, can only take place when the iron is of considerable thickness ; because we do not find it in the case of cast-iron espalier rails, or of dahlias, roses, and other open-air plants tied to iron stakes. In plant-houses it probably takes place after the iron has been highly heated by the sun, and then watered, when the chill produced by evaporation will contract the vessels and chill the juices. The greatest objections that we know to iron roofs are the expense and the difficulty of forming them with sliding sashes which shall not rust in the grooves in which they slide ; but this last objection can be obviated, either by forming the styles and rails, or outer frame of the sash, of wood, and the rafters of iron, or the reverse. In the greater proportion of plant-houses, however, sliding sashes in the roof may be dispensed with, air being admitted during winter through apertures in the upper angle of the house in the back wall, or by rais- ing a hinged sash in the upper part of the roof; and in the hottest weather in summer, by these and the sliding sashes or other openings in front. The whole of the objections to iron roofs are now abolished by an improved mode of glazing, that dispenses with the use of putty, and improved methods of ventilation that supersede the necessity of moveable sashes. The following description and illustration of Beard's patent metallic hothouses and sash-bars will exhibit most of the latest improvements in metallic hothouses. The foundation of the whole is the patent sash-bar (fig. 132), for which a is the bar; 6, the covering bars ; c, a white metal cap-nut ; and d, the felt that acts as a buffer at all points between the iron and the glass. Under this arrangement no glass can possibly be broken by the contraction or expansion of the iron, and the iron bar becomes almost as narrow as a wooden one. Air is admitted at top and bottom in the most simple manner, by PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 161 means of a mechanical contrivance that opens or shuts a part or the whole of the ventilating space at once with the utmost ease. These houses, as will be seen, admit a maximum amount of light, as those slim but strong rafters produce scarcely any shade. Num- bers of them have recently been erected throughout the country, and cultiva- tors speak highly of their cultural merits. The ma- terials used in the interior of plant-houses, such as shelves for supporting pots of plants, pathways for walking on, walls for enclosing tan or other fer- menting matter in pits, are bricks, flagstones, slates, wood, and cast iron. The paths are sometimes co- Fig. 132. Patent sash-bar. vered with open gratings of cast iron, which admit of the soil under Fig. 133. Lean-to house (Beard's patent}. 162 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING them being occupied with the roots of vines, climbers, or other plants. Sir J. Paxton preferred a flooring formed of loose pieces of board laid across the path, each piece as long as the path is wide, and about four inches broad, with a one-inch space between. One advantage of this plan is, that the dust and other matters lying on the paths when they are swept descend immediately without raising a dust in the house to disfigure the leaves of the plants, and encourage the red spider, which dust deposited on the leaves is always apt to do. Heat. — The natural heat of the locality is retained in plant-struc- tures by the roof and sides forming a covering which checks radiation from the ground; and it is increased in them at pleasure, by fer- menting substances applied within or externally, by the consumption of fuel, and the conveyance of the heat so produced in smoke and hot- air flues, by steam, or by hot water in pipes or cisterns. In every mode of supplying heat artificially, the following desiderata ought to be kept constantly in view : — 1. To maintain a reservoir of heat which shall keep up a sufficient temperature for at least twelve hours, under ordinary circumstances, in the event of the supply of heat from the consumption of fuel, or the action of the sun, being discontinued through neglect or accident, or through cloudy weather. 2. To pro- vide means of speedily increasing the supply of heat, when the sud- den lowering of the external temperature, or the action of high cold winds, or a cold humid atmosphere among the plants, requires it. 3. To provide the means, by an adequate surface of flue, or steam, or hot- water pipes, of supplying a sufficiency of heat in every house, according to the temperature required, not merely under the ordinary external temperature, but when that temperature shall fall as low as 10°, or in situations exposed to very high cold winds, to zero. 4. To make arrangements for supplying atmospheric moisture in proportion to tlie supply of heat, and for withdrawing this moisture at pleasure. 5. Where no means can be provided for supplying extra heat on extraordinary occasions, to provide the means of conveniently applying extra external coverings for the same purpose. It is proper to remark that in every plant-structure there is a reservoir of heat and .of moisture, to a certain extent, in the soil in Avhich the plants are grown, whether that soil is in pots or in a bed ; and that all the paths, shelves, and other objects within the structure, being heated to the proper degree, part with their heat whenever the air of the house falls below the temperature of these objects. This source of heat might be con- siderably increased in houses where there is abundance of room : for example, below a greenhouse stage, by placing objects there of mode- rate dimensions and separated from each other — such as parallel walls of four-inch brickwork, flagstones set on edge two or three inches apart, or slabs of slate set on edge one inch apart. These, by present- ing a great extent of surface, would absorb a powerful reserve of heat, and give it out whenever the other sources of heat were defective. Fermenting substances, such as stable-dung, tanner's bark, leaves, &c., are either applied in masses or beds under the soil containing the plants, as in the common hotbed ; or in casings or linings exterior to PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 163 the soil or structure to be heated, as in M'PhaiPs and other pits. A steady reservoir of heat is thus provided, and instead of an extra supply for unexpected cold nights, extra coverings of bast mats or mats of straw are provided, for retaining heat that would escape through the ordinary covering. An additional supply of heat for extra cold weather may also be obtained by different means. Where exterior casings of dung are employed, if the heat of the dung is admitted through a pigeon-holed wall to an inside flue with thin covers ; or if the dung is brought into close contact with thin plates of stone or slate, instead of the pigeon-holed wall, which, like the flues, are made to enclose the soil containing the plants ; then, by keeping a part of these warm surfaces generally covered with soil, or with boards, or with any other material which shall operate as a non- conductor, when extra heat is wanted unexpectedly, all that is neces- sary is to take off the non-conducting covers. Even in the case of a common hotbed, heated only by the bed of dung beneath the plants, extra heat may be provided for by bedding a plate of stone, slate, zinc, or cast iron, on the dung, in one or more places of the interior of the frame, according to its size, and covering these with boards, supported at the height of two or three inches above them, so as to enclose a stratum of air, to act as a non-conductor ; the sides being closed by a rim previously formed of cement, or brick-on-edge, on the stone or slate, or by a rim two or three inches deep, cast on the edges of the iron. By taking off the wooden covers, an extra supply of dry heat will immediately be obtained, which may be rendered moist at pleasure by pouring on water. Another mode of obtaining an imme- diate extra supply of heat from a dung-bed is, by bedding in it, when first made, an iron pipe of three or four inches in diameter, with the two extremities turned up, and covered by flower-pot saucers. The length of the tube may b? nearly equal to that of the bed, and the one end must be sunk a few inches deeper than the other, as in fig. 134. It is evident that by taking off the covers of this pipe there will be a Section of a dung-bed, with a tube for supplying hot air. draught created in it, in consequence of its sides being heated by the dung; and an extra degree of heat will by this means be brought into the atmosphere of the bed. This plan might also be adopted for put- ting the air of a plant-bed in motion, without the admission of the external air. Fermenting Materials and Fire-Heat Combined. — In pits and low forcing-houses heated chiefly by dung, provision is frequently made for the supply of extra heat, by the addition of smoke-flues or hot-water pipes. Fig. 135 is a perspective elevation and section of a house, in M2 164 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING which a bed of leaves within is heated by a dung-lining placed on the outside of a pigeon-holed wall, and extra heat is provided for by three turns of a flue, one above the other, in the back path : a is the pit in which the dung-lining is placed and covered with a hinged shutter ; Fig. 135. Fig. 136. Pinery heated by dung-linings. b, the surface of the bed of leaves, in which pine-apples, or cucumbers, or melons may be grown, or strawberry -plants or flowers forced ; c, door; d, flues; e, front pigeon-holed wall; and/, end pigeon-holed wall. Fig. 136 shows a mode of applying dung under a bed of soil without coming in immediate contact with it, and by which no heat what- ever produced by the dung is lost : a is the bed of soil in which the vines are planted, and which is supported by cast-iron joints and Welsh slates ; and b shows the open- ings furnished with shutters by which the dung is intro- duced. Beds on the same plan, but wider, have been used for growing pine-apples and melons, and for various similar purposes. An extra supply of heat from the dung may be obtained bv having panels of slate in the inside wall, c, to be kept covered by wooden shutters, except when extra heat is wanted ; or by tubes, as in fig. 134 ; or it may be rendered unnecessary by extra coverings. The first forcing which we read of in the history of British gardening was effected, as Switzer informs us, by placing casings of hot dung against the north side of walls of boards, against the south side of which cherries were trained. Heating from Vaults, or from Stacks of Flues. — The oldest and sim- plest mode of applying fire-heat to hothouses was by means of a pit in the floor, or a vault under it. In the ' Gardener's Chronicle ' of Oct. 2, 1869, a full account of hypocaust heating is given. The Section of a vinery heated by dung. PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 165 plan has been successfully carried out by C. W. Martin, Esq., at Leeds Castle, Kent, to heat a range of glass-houses through the floor, as well as a large piece of ground in the kitchen garden. The vault was of the same length and breadth as the floor, with the chimney at one end ; or it occupied a smaller space in the centre of the floor, with a stack of flues rising over it, and forming a mass of heated material in the body of the house. The fire was of wood and made on the floor ; or of charcoal or coal, and made in an open, portable iron cage, like that used by plumbers when soldering joints in the open air, with a plate of iron over it to act as a reverberator, and prevent the heat from rising directly to the roof. The flue by which the smoke escaped had its lower orifice on a level with the floor of the vault, so that the air and smoke did not enter it until they had parted with most of their heat. These modes are capable of great improvement, and in various cases would perhaps be found more eligible and economical than any other, by a gardener who is aware of the importance of connecting with them an efficient means of supplying atmospheric moisture : by placing cisterns of water over the hottest part of the floor, or by having drip- ping fountains formed on the siphon principle, by inserting the ends of strips of woollen cloth in open vessels of water, and placing these in different parts of the house. The danger, however, from the escape of gas into the house is very great, and such modes of heating are but seldom resorted to for the growth of early vegetables, &c. One of the houses was devoted to pine-growing, and the heat was sufficient to maintain them in perfect health, planted out in a bed of soil on the floor. Fives. — As the mode of heating by vaults could only be adopted when the plants were to be grown in pots or boxes, as soon as the practice of forcing fruit-trees trained against walls, and having their roots in the border or floor of the house, was introduced, flues in the wall against which the trees were trained, and afterwards detached flues along the front of the house, became necessary ; and when these last are properly constructed, and the dry heat which they produce is rendered moist by placing water over them, they form a convenient and economical mode of heating. The flue is always most efficient when carried along the front and ends of the house, because the air imme- diately within these is more liable to be cooled by the external air than that next the back of the house, the back being generally a wall of brick or stone. Where the house is glass on every side, as well as on the roof, the flues will be most efficient if carried round it, for obvious reasons ; while the air immediately under the roof, in every case, will be kept sufficiently warm by the natural ascent of the heated air from the flue, in whatever part it may be placed ; though when the flues are placed in the lower part of the house there will be a greater circulation than when they are elevated; and this arises from the greater number of particles which must be put in motion by the ascent of warm and the descent of cold air. The quantity of flue requisite for heating a house to any required temperature has not been determined. One fire with a flue in front, and a return in the back, is generally found suffi- cient for a greenhouse of thirty feet or forty feet in length, and from 166 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING twelve feet to fifteen feet in width, and two fires, one entering at each end, for a stove or forcing-house of similar dimensions ; the flues in both cases being twenty inches high and twelve inches wide, outside measure. Perhaps one square foot of ilue for every two feet in length of iron hot- water pipes, found according to the rule given on page 174, would be a near approximation to the quantity wanted, reckoning the top and sides of the flue, but not the bottom. The furnace or fireplace from which the flue proceeds should be one or two feet lower than the level of the bottom of the flue, in order to assist in creating a draught, as that depends on the length and keight of the space allowed for the heated air to ascend before it is permitted to escape into the atmo- sphere ; and the flue generally terminates on the top of the back wall, for the same reason. The fireplace is generally formed behind the back wall for the sake of concealment : but when this is not an object, the best situation is at one end of the house, in a sunken area, which can be covered with shutters ; because, the smoke and heat not receiv- ing the check given by a turn in the flue made so near the furnace as it must necessarily be when it enters from behind the house, the heat Fig. 137. is more equally diffused along the front. A very desirable arrangement for flues, where it is practi- cable, is to have two from \ the same furnace, with the power of throwing the whole or any part of the smoke and heated air into either flue at pleasure, which is easily effected by a damper at the throat of the flue, close to the furnace, as shown in fig. 137, in which a is the upper or extra heat flue ; &, the under or reserve flue : c, the damper ; <:/, the Section of a furnace and flue. furnace; «, the cover to the feeding hopper; and /is the ash-pit. One of the flues should be conducted through a solid mass of brickwork or masonry, or through a box or bed of sand, in order to produce a reservoir of heat ; and the other flue should have thin covers and sides, and be quite detached, in order to furnish an extra supply of heat, when the external air sud- denly became much colder than usual, or at particular times to dispel damp, &c. Both flues ought to be near the front of the house, and, in most cases, the one might be over the other. Wherever flues are sunk below the level of the floor, they will be found to give out their heat very slowly ; or, if given out, to lose it in the adjoining ground, from the want of a current of air to carry it off. But this may generally be supplied by underground cross drains, as in fig. 138, in which g is PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 167 the floor of the house; A, the reservoir flue, three feet broad, which is sunk so that its top is on a level with the floor ; e', an air-drain from the back of the house ; &, an upper flue for additional heat; /, front path; TO, front shelf; «, stage ; and o, path on the upper part of the stage for watering the plants. The best materials for building flues are bricks and paving tiles, the latter for the bottom and top, and the former for the sides. The advantages of bricks over stone are, their greater adhesion to the mortar; their narrow- ness, by which little space is occupied ; and their Fig. 138. Section of a greenhouse, with reserve Jlue and common flue. being better non-conductors than stone, by which means the heat is more equalized throughout the length of the flue than it would be by the use of that material. Stones are likewise very liable to split and burst into fragments when overheated. A slight disadvantage attending the use of bricks and tiles arises from the earth of which they are made ; clay absorbing and entering into chemical combination with the mois- ture of the atmosphere, especially when the latter is at a high tempe- rature. This evil, however, can always be counteracted by placing water over the flues, or in some other hot part of the house. For this purpose, the covers of flues, whether of tiles or stone, ought to be made with sunk panels to contain water ; or, what is much better, a shallow cistern of iron, lead, or zinc, as in fig. 139, may be placed over them for the same purpose. In Germany the flues are sometimes entirely covered with plates of cast-iron; and if these were formed with turned- up edges, they would serve at once as covers and cisterns. Flues are always detached from the ground, by being built on piers, either con- nected by low flat arches, or so close together as to be joined by the square tiles which form the floor of the flue. Neither the inside of the flue nor its outside ought to be plastered, when it is desired that they should give out a maximum of heat at a minimum of distance from the furnace; but when the flue is to be of great length, plastering either in the inside or outside, or both, by rendering the walls of the flue greater non-conductors, tends to equalize the heat given out. Plastering is also useful to prevent the escape of smoke from the joints, which is liable to take place where the materials and workmanship are not of the best quality, and to prevent the absorption of moisture by the bricks. Narrow flues are preferable to broad ones, as occupying less horizontal space in the house, and also because as flues part with their heat chiefly from their upper surface, it is better equalized by a 168 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING Fig. 139. narrow flue than a broad one. Hence also narrow deep flues are found to " draw" better than broad shallow ones. The ordinary dimensions of narrow flues are eight inches in width and fifteen inches in depth ; and they are formed by tiles one foot square for the bottom, and ten inches square for the covers, and three paving-bricks, which are only two inches thick, on edge, for each of the sides, as in fig. 139. The joints of the sides and covers are formed by lime putty, and the bottom tiles are set on bricks on edge. In fig. 139, a is the brick on edge, which supports the one-foot tile 5, which forms the bottom of the flue ; c is the smoke cham- ber, and d the zinc cistern over the ten-inch tile cover. The inside plastering should be of the best mortar, mixed with lime, but without sand, as being less liable to crack. The furnace, when built in the usual manner, should have double iron doors to prevent the escape of heat ; and the fuel-chamber should be about double the area of that portion of it which is occupied by the bar or grate, in order that the fuel not immediately over the grate may burn slowly. A damper in some accessible part of the flue, and as close to the furnace as is practicable, affords a convenient means of regulating the draught ; and there ought always to be a register valve in the Section of a common ash-pit door for the same purpose. Where cinders, brick flue, with a co],e or anthracite coal only are burnt, no horizontal zinc cistern over , J . . -, /. i • iL opening to the grate containing the fuel is ne- cessary. It may be put in by an opening at the top, as in fig. 137, which will contain a supply for any length of time, according to the heat arid width of the opening, and the bars of the grate can be freed from ashes with a hooked poker applied from the ash-pit. By this kind of construction less heat is lost than by any other. Indeed, this kind of fireplace, with a reserve flue, will be found by far the most economical mode of heating hothouses ; but it will not answer where the practice is to depend on the sudden action of the flue, which is produced by stirring up the fuel: in lieu of this, the damper must be drawn so as to admit the heated current into the extra heat flue. Whatever may be the construction of the furnace, no air ought ever to be admitted to the fire, except through the grating below it ; because air admitted over the fuel can serve no purpose but that of cooling the flue ; unless in very rare instances, where it might assist in consuming the smoke. Where this object is a desideratum, Witty's smoke-con- suming furnace, described in l Gard. Mag.,' vol. vii. p. 483,. which roasts or cokes the coal before it is put on the fire, may be had recourse to. This and various other details, however, must be left to the bricklayer or mason employed. All flues ought to have flag-stones of the width and height of the interior of the flue, or iron doors built into them at the extremities of each straight-lined portion, which may PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 169 readily be taken out or opened in order to free the flue from soot ; an operation which will require to be performed at least once a year in all houses, and in stoves twice a year, or oflener, according to the kind of fuel used. As substitutes for smoke-flues, earthenware pipes or can-flues, as they are called, have long been in use in Holland and France ; and as the fuel used in those countries is almost always wood, which produces little soot in comparison with coal, they are found to answer as per- fectly as brick flues. When they are occasionally employed, the entire surface of the pipes is exposed ;. but when they are used constantly, as in houses for tropical plants, they are embedded in a casing of dry sand, which forms a reservoir of heat capable of being increased to any extent, even to that of the entire floor of the house, over which a floor- ing for plants may be placed. Pipes of this kind might also be con- ducted through a bed of small stones, so as to form a very effective mass of heated material as a reservoir, while a portion of naked pipe might serve for raising the temperature on occasions of extraordinary cold. Iron pipes would, however, be the safest for burying under- ground. In country situations, where wood for burning is not very dear, or where coke from coal could be readily obtained, such flues might be economically employed for drying up the cold damp of greenhouses, and for a variety of purposes. We have said more on the subject of smoke-flues than may be thought necessary at the present time, when they are being so generally relinquished for hot- water pipes ; but our object is to prevent our readers from being so completely prejudiced against flues as not to have recourse to them in particular situations and circumstances. The principal reason why so much has been said against smoke-flues is, that gardeners till lately were not fully aware of the importance of supplying moisture to the atmosphere of plant- houses in proportion to the supply of heat, and of having reserve flues, in consequence of which excessive heat would not become so fre- quently requisite, and noxious gases would have less chance of being driven through the top and sides of the flue into the atmosphere of the house. Flues may also still be combined with boilers to utilize much of that heat which is otherwise wasted up the chimney. Steam was the first substitute for flues employed in this country ; and, under some circumstances, it may deserve a preference to either flues or hot water. For example, where the heating apparatus must necessarily be at a great distance from the structure to be heated, steam can be conducted to it in a tube not more than an inch or two in diameter, which may be so encased in non-conducting matter as to occasion far less loss of heat than if either smoke or hot water were employed. The disadvantages attending the use of steam in ordinary cases are, the necessity of heating the water to the boiling-point, by which more heat is driven up the chimney and lost than if the water were raised to only half that temperature, and the want of a reservoir of heat when the steam is not in action. The last disadvantage has been supplied by passing the steam-pipes through brick flues filled with stones, through pits, or through other large masses of stones, or through 170 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING tubes, cisterns, or tanks of water. By arrangements of this kind, steam can be made both to supply heat permanently and expeditiously. Waste steam from mills and factories might often be turned to excel- lent account by turning it into hot-water pipes. It forms a better cir- culating force than most boilers, the motion of the water being well- nigh instantaneous. The rate of the circulation and the degree of heat generated can be regulated at will by stop-cocks. Hot water is the medium of heating plant-structures now generally adopted, and it is without dispute far preferable to any of the pre- ceding modes. Water is such an excellent carrier of heat, that a house warmed by hot-water pipes is not hotter at one end than at the other, which is almost always the case when smoke-flues are employed : none of the heat which the water derives from the fuel is lost, as in the case of flues, which when coated internally with soot convey a great part of the heat out at the chimney-top ; no sulphureous or other disagree- able effluvium is ever given out by hot-water pipes when they become leaky, as is the case with flues when they are not air-tight ; and the hot water in the pipes serves as a reservoir of heat when the fire goes out ; but smoke-flues, when the fire goes out, are rapidly cooled from within by the current of cold air which necessarily rushes through them till it has reduced the temperature of their tops and sides to that of the open air. Whether heating by hot-water is more economical than heating by smoke-flues, will depend chiefly on the kind of appa- ratus employed ; but in general we should say that it is not attended with any advantages of this kind. Mr. Rogers is of opinion that with a well-constructed. and well-managed apparatus, the saving of fuel may amount to twenty-five per cent, over well-constructed and well- managed flues ; but he allows that in a large proportion of the hot- water apparatus now in use the consumption of fuel greatly exceeds that of common furnaces. The cause of the circulation of water in pipes is the same as that which produces the ascent of the air in flues — viz., difference of specific gravity produced by heat. In water, the particles at the bottom of the boiler being heated become lighter and rise to the surface, while their place is taken by cold particles from the water in the boiler itself, or in the pipes that communicate with it, which are heated in their turn, and ascend to the surface of the water in the boiler and the surface of that in the upper pipe. In like manner, the air heated by the consumption of the fuel in the furnace becomes lighter, and ascends along the flue, while its place among the fuel is supplied by cool air, which enters through the grating beneath it to supply combustion. Neither air nor water will move along readily in very small flues or pipes : for smoke-flues seven inches by ten inches are the smallest dimensions, and hot water does not circulate so rapidly in pipes under two inches in diameter as to give out heat equally throughout their whole length. The modes of heating by hot water are very numerous, and it would occupy too much room in this work to enter into a detailed descrip- tion of them, which, however, is the less necessary as the best modes are sufficiently known for all ordinary purposes by most ironmongers ; PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 171 and those who wish to make themselves masters of 'the subject will have recourse to Hood's ' Practical Treatise on Warming Buildings by Hot Water.' The simplest form of applying this mode of heating is by having one boiler to each house in a recess in the back wall, or in some other situation where it will be out of the way, and an upper or flow-pipe proceeding from it on a level, with an under or return-pipe, also on a level. Fig. 140 will give an idea of this mode of circulation, a representing the Fi H0 boiler, b a cistern at j^, the extreme end of i|S|»pii8»wi8H^^ the house to serve as jjji|^_ h \ a reservoir, and c the flue and return-pipes. A kot-^ter apparatus for circulation on a level. When the water is to be circulated in pipes or on different levels and above the level of the boiler, or on different levels but never below the level of the bottom of the boiler, then a closed boiler is requisite ; or one open, but carried to a height equal to that of the highest point in the line of the pipes, as in fig. 141 ; and when water is to be circulated below the level of the boiler, a closed boiler with particular arrange- ments (see Hood's Treatise, figs. 10 and 11, pp. 44, 45) may be em- Fig. 141. Fig. H2. Boihr and furnace for heating by hot water in rising and falling pipes. Apparatus for circulating water below and above the level of the boiler. ployed, or the form of open boiler shown in fig. 142 may be resorted to. All depression below the level of the boiler should be avoided if pos- sible. They involve a great loss of force, and frequently stop the cir- culation. In this figure, a represents the boiler, b an open cistern at its top, in which the orifice of the heating-pipe terminates. Now it is obvious that when the water passes from the orifice of the boiler into the orifice of the pipe, the circulation must go on from the difference in the specific gravity between the water in the pipe at c, and that at J, provided that a small open pipe be placed at e, to admit of the escape of the air which will accumulate in that part of the pipe. Hot water 172 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING has also been circulated on the siphon principle with great success by Mr. Kewley ; the advantage of which mode is, the rapid communica- tion of heat along the whole length of the pipe, in consequence 01 which it is never necessary to raise the water in the boiler to so high a temperature as by any of the other modes ; and hence this mode of heat- ing is the most economical of all in the consumption of fuel. Fig. 143 Fig. 143. • ™" g>™ a correct & idea ot the system : ^D) ace represent the two lea;s of the si- phon ; the upper Siphon mode of circulating hot water. °' , & at c, being that through which the heated water ascends, and the lower leg being that by which it returns. The disadvantage of this system is, that after the pipes have been some time in use they become leaky, and the slightest leak, by admitting the air, instantly empties the siphon ; nor is the leak easily discovered afterwards. The siphon mode of heating, were it not for this disadvantage, would deserve the preference over most others. Hot water has also been circulated in hermetically-sealed pipes by Perkins ; but this mode is attended with great danger from the high temperature of the water. All these, and other modes of heating, will be found impartially examined in Hood's Treatise. A reservoir of heat is very readily formed in heating by hot water, whatever may be the kind of apparatus adopted, by placing a cistern or series of cisterns at different parts of the house, either close to or at any convenient distance from the water-pipes, and connected with them by smaller pipes, having stop-cocks to interrupt the con- nexion at pleasure. When it is desired to heat the house with as little loss of time as possible, all connexion between the pipes and the reservoirs should be cut off by turning the stop-cocks ; and as the house becomes sufficiently heated, the connexion ought to be restored by opening the upper and under stop-cock of one cistern at a time. In some cases, the cistern might be a long trough about the bulk of a common flue, placed parallel with and close to the q£te.u3 Fig- '"• a is the pipe, b the cistern, and c the con- b necting pipes ( H H H 3 with stop- « ffot-water pipe, and reserve cistern of hot water. cocks. Fig. 145 is a cross section of the pipes and reserve cistern, which requires no explanation. Where the circulating pipes are below the level of the floor of the house, and where there is to be a raised pit for con- taining plants, a tank or cistern might be formed under it of the length and width of the pit, and of a depth equal to the distance between the upper and lower heating-pipes ; and with this tank the pipes might PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 173 communicate by means of stop-oocks ; so that whenever there was more heat in the pipes than was wanted for heating the air of the house, it could be transferred to the reservoir tank. To F. 14g save the expense of stop-cocks where the cisterns could be wholly or partially uncovered, the orifices of the con- necting pipes might be stopped by plugs ; and when the reservoir tank is above the level of the heating-pipes, the connexion between them might be made by means of j siphons with stop- cocks. The pipes employed are generally of cast-iron, and Section of re- round, as being more conveniently cast; but any other nerve cust*™ , ~ ° ... 11 i • ana tiot-wa- metal and form will answer; and when there is no ter pip&r. great pressure on the pipes, earthenware may be used, the joints being made good with cement ; and at the angles, where elbow-joints would be necessary, small cisterns could be employed, or elbows of earthenware might be made on purpose. For ob- taining a large heating surface, flat cast-iron pipes have been used, placed vertically in some cases, and in others horizontally; but round pipes of four inches in diameter are in most general use. When the object is to obtain a supply of heat in the shortest time, then the boiler and pipes should be of small capacity ; and this is generally desirable in the case of greenhouses, where heat is occasionally wanted for a few hours in damp weather, not for the sake of raising the tem- perature, but for drying up cold damp : nevertheless, even in green- houses it is desirable to have a reservoir of heat for supplies in very severe weather. In stoves in which fire heat is employed the greater part of the year, both boiler and pipes may be of large capacity ; and this should also be the case in early forcing-houses. Whatever mode of heating or kind of pipes may be adopted, the pipes should always have a gradual ascent from the place where they enter the house, or are intended first to give out heat, towards the farther extremity ; otherwise, the circulation will be less rapid, and conse- quently the heat less equally distributed. The quantity of pipe required to heat any house depends on various circumstances ; such as the form and construction of the house, the temperature that is to be kept up in it, and the temperature of the external air. Various calculations have been made on the subject by different engineers, and more especially by Mr. Hood, who says : " It may be taken as an inva- riable rule, that in no case should pipes of a greater diameter than four inches be used, because, when they are of a larger size than this, the quantity of water they contain is so considerable, that it makes a great difference in the cost of fuel, in consequence of the increased length of time it will require to heat them, which is four and a half hours for four-inch pipes, three and a quarter hours for three-inch pipes, and two and a quarter hours for two-inch pipes, supposing the water to be at 40° before lighting the fire, and the temperature to which the water was raised 200°. Pipes of two or three inches diameter therefore are to be preferred for greenhouses and conserva- tories which only require fire-heat to be applied occasionally." After 174 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING calculating the loss of heat from exposed surfaces of glass under dif- ferent circumstances and situations, Mr. Hood gives the following rules for determining the quantity of pipe as a sufficient approxima- tion for ordinary purposes : — " In churches and very large public rooms, which have only about an average number of doors and windows, and moderate ventilation, by taking the cubic measurement of the room, and dividing the number thus obtained by 200, the quotient will be the number of feet in length of pipe, four inches in diameter, which will be required to obtain a temperature of about 55° to 58°. For smaller rooms, dwelling-houses, &c., the cubic measurement should be divided by 150, which will give the number of feet of four-inch pipe. For greenhouses, conservatories, and such- like buildings, where the temperature is required to be kept at about 60°, dividing the cubic measurement of the building by 30 will give the required quantity of pipe : and for forcing-houses, where it is desired to keep the temperature at 70° to 75°, we must divide the cubic measurement of the house by 20 ; but if the temperature be required as high as 75° to 80°, then we must divide by 18 to obtain the number of feet of four-inch pipe. If the pipes are to be three inches diameter, then we must add one-third to the quantity thus obtained ; and if two-inch pipes are to be used, we must take double the length of four-inch pipe. "The quantity of pipe estimated in this way will only suit for such places as are built quite on the usual plan/' (' Treatise,' &c., p. 125.) The above calculations for heating are made on the supposition that the lowest external temperature will be 10° ; but in situations " exposed to high winds, it will be prudent," Mr. Hood observes, " to calculate the external temperature from zero, or even below that, according to circumstances ; and in very warm and sheltered situa- tions, a less range in the temperature will be sufficient." Local cir- cumstances, therefore, may require from 5 to 10 per cent, to be added to, or deducted from, the length of pipe found according to the foregoing rules. As a proof of the soundness of Mr. Hood's calculation, we may state that the great stove at Chatsworth is heated at the rate of one superficial foot of heated pipe to thirty cubic feet of air ; and the temperature kept up during the severest weather of the winter of 1840-41 was 60°, though there were fre- quently from 20° to 35° of frost during the night. This house is sixty feet high, with glass on all sides, exposing a surface of 60,000 feet, and enclosing 1,050,000 cubic feet of air. The quantity of coal consumed was about two tons per night. (' Gard. Chron.,' April 17, 1841, p. 243.) The situation in which the pipes are placed is, in general, what we have stated to be the most suitable for smoke-flues (p. 165) — viz., along the front and ends of houses placed against a back wall, and entirely round detached or span-roofed houses. In the case of pits or frames with flat roofs, the pipes may be either placed in front or in the middle, always bearing in mind that heated air ascends, and that the quantity heated in a given time will, all other circumstances being alike, depend on a regular supply to the heating body, by a current distinct from PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 175 that by which the heated air escapes. Such a current is formed by the cross drains adopted by Mr. Penn, and exhibited in various sections of plant-structures given in this work. For the same reason it is desirable, when practicable, and under certain circumstances, to confine the pipes on each side, so that the air which passes up among them may not escape without being heated. To illustrate the effect of this arrangement, we may take Perkins' double boiler, and com- pare it with the common boiler. It would not occur to any person who had not reflected on the subject, that water could be boiled any sooner in one boiler than another, both boilers being of the same dimensions, made of the same material, set in the same manner, and with a fire beneath them of the same power. Yet such is the case ; and this exactly on the same principle that we recommend confining the sides of hot-water pipes, and supplying the air to be heated from a distinct channel. Suppose we have a common boiler, such as is used in common wash-houses, then place another boiler within it, of such a size as to leave only a few inches between the inner boiler and the outer boiler all round, and support it in this position by stays, as shown in fig. 146 ; let this inner boiler have a hole in y its bottom about one-third of its diameter, and let its rim be two inches below the level of the water to be heated. These arrangements being made, and the heat applied below, a circulation instantly takes place and continues, the water coming into contact with the heated bottom and sides of the outer boiler, rising rapidly to the surface, and descending through the inner ^^s double bo tler. boiler, which thus necessarily contains the coldest portion of the liquid. (* Gard. Mag.,' vol. xvi. p 325.) The heat communicated by the fire to the bottom and sides of the outer boiler is rapidly carried off by the current that is created, exactly on the same principle that wind, which is a current of air, cools any body exposed to it more rapidly than air at the same temperature but quite still. The underground drains should either have vacuities at the sides and over the top to prevent them from absorbing much heat, or they may be carried through the bottom of the tan-pit, where there is one. In general, we would not cover the heating-pipes, nor would we adopt the upright tubes which Mr. Penn originally used, but has since dispensed with. There may be situations and circumstances where it would be more desirable to have the heat of the pipes or flues carried off by radiation with the usual degree of slowness rather than by conduction ; such, for example, as when the attendant on the hothouse was likely be a long time absent, or when some danger from overheating was anticipated ; and this can always be attained by covering the orifices by which the air enters to the cross-drains. It is proper to state, that at the present time the opinions of a number of persons are against the use of air as a carrier of heat in hothouses, on account, they say, of the difficulty of maintain- ing it in exactly the proper state of moisture. This, however, can be effected without difficulty, by keeping the bottoms of the cross-drains 176 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING covered with water, or by having cisterns of water over the pipes, or both. A few years' experience is probably required to set the matter at rest ; in the meantime, the reader who wishes to examine both sides of the question, may consult the * Gard. Mag.' for 1840-41, and the 4 Gard Chron.,' more especially an article by Mr. Ainger, April 3rd, page 212. Our opinion is, that the power of producing motion in the air, even though it should be only wanted occasionally, and obtainable at an extra expense of heat, is of so much value for setting blossoms, equalizing heat and moisture in some cases, drying up damp in others, or producing a feeling of coolness, that no plant-structure of large dimensions, and where fire heat is employed, ought to be without it. To explain the manner in which the motion of heated air in hothouses produces a sensation of coolness, without being altered in its tempera- ture, we make the following quotation from Lardner's * Cyclopaedia' : " The air which surrounds us is generally at a lower temperature than that of the body. If the air be calm and still, the particles which are in immediate contact with the skin acquire the temperature of the skin itself, and having a sort of molecular attraction, they adhere to the skin in the same manner as particles of air are found to adhere to the surface of glass in philosophical experiments. Thus sticking to the skin, they form a sort of warm covering for it, and speedily acquire its temperature." Agitation of the air, however, "continually expels the particles thus in contact with the skin, and brings new par- ticles into that situation. Each particle of air, as it strikes the skin, takes heat from it by contact, and being driven off, carries that heat with it, thus producing a constant sensation of refreshing cool- ness." Less importance is attributed to confining the pipes and under- ground drains than formerly. If the source of heat is placed mostly in one part — viz., the front of the house, the roof and cooler portion of the house will induce a rapid circulation of air, apart from drains or other expedients. A boiler of small capacity, and with a large superficies for the fire to act on, will be the most economical in first cost and also in fuel. " The extent of surface which a boiler ought to expose to the fire should be proportional to the quantity of pipe that is required to be heated by it ;" and Mr. Hood has calculated a table, which, like various others in his excellent work, will be referred to by the intelligent inquirer, or by the gardener who intends to direct the construction and putting up of his own heating apparatus. By this table it appears — That 3j square feet of surface of boiler exposed to the fire will heat 200 feet of 4-inch pipe, or 266 feet of 3-inch pipe, or 400 feet of 2-inch pipe. That 7 square feet of surface of boiler will heat 400 feet of 4 -inch pipe, 533 feet of 3-inch pipe, and 800 feet of 2-inch pipe, and so on in the same ratio. u A small apparatus," Mr. Hood observes, " ought perhaps to have rather more surface of boiler, in proportion to the length of pipe, than a larger one, as the fire is less intense, and burns to less advantage, in a small than in a large furnace " (p. 71). PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 177 The furnace for a hot-water apparatus has also been subjected to calculation by Mr. Hood. For generating steam, an extremely brisk fire and rapid draught are required; but a very moderate draught will suffice for heating a boiler where the temperature of the water is rarely required to be above 180°, or at most 200°. The following observations on the construction and management of furnaces are valuable both with respect to a hot-water apparatus and the furnaces to common smoke-flues. a The heat should be confined within the furnace as much as possible, by contracting the farther end of it, at the part called the throat, so as to allow only a small space for the smoke and inflamed gases to pass out. The only entrance for the air should be through the bars of the grate, and the heated gaseous matter will then pass directly upward to the bottom of the boiler, which will act as a reverberator, and cause a more perfect combustion of the fuel than would otherwise take place. The lightness of the heated gaseous matter causes it to ascend the flue, forcing its passage through the throat of the furnace with a velocity proportional to the smallness of the passage, the vertical height of the chimney, and the levity of the gases, arising from their expansion by the heat of the furnace " (p. 77). After giving a table of the area of bars required for pipes of different dimensions and lengths, Mr. Hood observes : " In order to make the fire burn for a long time without attention, the furnace should extend beyond the bars both in length and breadth ; and the coals which are placed on this blank part of the furnace, in conse- quence of receiving no air from below, will burn very slowly, and will only enter into complete combustion when the coal which lies directly on the bars has burnt away." The kinds of boilers are very numerous, and few things are more bewildering to the amateur than making a selection from them ; it is nearly equally so to the gardener, as no proper trials have as yet been made to ascertain the best kind of boilers. For a small house or a single house of any kind there is no better than the upright oval tubular boiler made by Mr. Gray, Danvers Street, Chelsea, which is the best where there is sufficient depth of stoke-hole. Where this is not the case, a very flat saddle-boiler, made by Mr. Lynch White of Blackfriars, is excellent. For large conservatories and extensive ranges of glass, Weeks's system has unquestionably been proved to be of great excellence, and very recently it has been much improved. Ormson, Green, and many other makers have also good boilers. The one-boiler system, by which the whole of the glass of the largest gardens is heated by one fire, is often adopted, and there is doubtless a saving of both labour and fuel by this arrangement. A supplemen- tary boiler should always form part of the one-boiler system, to guard against the tremendous risk of being wholly at the mercy of one boiler for the safety of an entire establishment. The patent duplex improve- ments of Weeks's, however, will probably go far to do away with the necessity for having two boilers. Kain- water should, as we have just seen, always be used in hot- N 178 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING water apparatus ; for hard water deposits a sediment or incrustation, which if not removed, will form a coating of several inches in thick- ness, which coating acting as a powerful non-conductor, will allow the bottom of the boiler to become red-hot without sufficiently heating the water it contains ; and ultimately, from the cracking of the deposit in consequence of the greater expansion of the red-hot iron, the water comes in contact with the red-hot metal, and an explosion takes place. (See ' Gard. Mag.,' vol. ix. p. 206.) Hence the necessity of having all boilers where hard water is to be used constructed so as to admit of Fig. 147. Weeks s patent duplex 'boiler. being readily cleaned out. As the deposit consists of calcareous matter, it may be removed by a weak solution of muriatic acid aided with a slight mechanical agitation : but it is much better to prevent its taking place by using only soft water. To prevent the water in the apparatus from freezing, salt may be added to it ; but this may be rendered unnecessary in the case of hori- zontal pipes by drawing off a portion of the water, so that they shall not be quite full, because in that case the water has room for that ex- pansion which takes place when it passes into ice. The quantity of salt put into water to keep it from freezing, Mr. Hood observes, may PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 179 vary from 3£ per cent, the quantity contained in sea-water, which will not freeze when it is above 28°, to 35 per cent, the greatest amount of common salt which water will hold in solution. With 4*3 per cent of salt, water freezes at 27|°; with 6'6 per cent of salt, at 25|°; and with ll'l per cent, at 21 J°. The effect which would be produced on cast- iron pipes and boilers by any of these quantities of salt, Mr. Hood states, would not be of much importance. As salt does not evaporate, when a sufficient quantity is once added for the purpose required, the waste which takes place can be supplied by fresh water. (* Hood's Treatise,' p. 167.) In severe weather it is much safer to empty the pipes or put on a little fire. All boilers should have a waste-pipe at their lowest part, to empty them thoroughly at pleasure. Retaining Heat by Coverings. — Whatever mode of heating plant- structures may be adopted, it should be constantly borne in mind that it is incomparably better for the health of the plants to prevent heat from escaping by non-conducting coverings during the night, than to allow it to be continually given off into the atmosphere, and as con- tinually supplied by fire-flues or hot-water pipes. Where coverings cannot be applied, and a high temperature must be kept up, reserve sources of heat, and abundant supplies of water to maintain atmo- spheric moisture, are the only means by which the plants can be kept healthy. " A weakly growth," Sir J. Paxton observed, " is the sure consequence of a high temperature maintained by fire-heat, whatever plan of artificial heating be adopted." He therefore recommends, in all cases where practicable, the use of external coverings, by which, at Chatsworth, a difference of from 10° to 15° is gained, and two-thirds of the fuel that would otherwise be necessary are saved. Atmospher-ic Moisture. — The necessity of proportioning moisture to temperature, and the causes which render the climates of our plant- structures unnaturally dry, have already been pointed out. To give an idea of the quantity of moisture requisite for an atmosphere at a high temperature, Mr. Kogers has shown that a vinery twenty-five feet long by thirteen feet six inches wide in the roof, maintained at 65° when the outer air is 35°, will condense on the glass, in twenty-four hours, 35^ gallons of water. (* Gard. Mag.,' 1840, p. 282.) In de- vising the best method of procuring a constant supply of moisture for the air of a hothouse proportionable to the expenditure, Mr. Rogers finds the end may be most effectually attained by placing cisterns on the heating-pipes. As the temperature of the water in these cisterns would vary with that of the pipes, the evaporation from tljem would be greatest when the pipes were hottest; when the greatest degree of artificial temperature was being obtained, and consequently the greatest drain upon it by condensation. The cisterns may be made of zinc, with their bottoms fitted to the curvature of the pipes, at least six inches deep to the top of the pipes, and of the same length as the space between the rings by which the pipes are joined. Where two pipes are placed side by side on the same level, the form shown in fig. 148 may be adopted, and a single pipe may have cisterns fitted to it in the same manner, or it may be made to embrace the sides of the pipe and cover N 2 180 FIXED STRUCTURES FOP GROWING it entirely with water, as in fig. 149. In some cases shallow cisterns are cast on the pipes, but their Fig. 148. power is insufficient, and in general zinc cisterns may be considered the best. Cisterns so placed on pipes heated to 200° will contain water at 145° to 150°; but this will not be Fig. 149 Zinc cistern for double pipes. Zinc cistern for a single pipe. the case unless they are properly fitted, and luted on the pipes with wet sand ; for the smallest interstice is found to make a great difference in the heat transmitted. Mr. Rogers finds that cisterns fixed in this manner, with water at a temperature of from 120° to 145°, evaporate about three-quarters of a gallon per square foot of surface in twenty- four hours. The proportion which he employs in an orchidaceous stove is about one square foot of evaporating surface to ten square feet of glass ; and, in stoves and forcing-houses, he is of opinion (' Proceedings of the Horticultural Society,' 1840, p. 149) that there ought to be one square foot of water for every fifteen square feet of glass. If houses heated by flues had this proportion of cistern placed over the flues, we should no longer hear so much of the dry disagreeable atmosphere produced by this, mode of heating. It is almost unnecessary to observe that the cisterns will be most effective where the flues are most effec- tive ; or that, as the covers of flues have not interruptions like the joints of pipes, the cisterns may be made of any length. Slate cisterns placed above the pipes may be advantageously used for increasing the moisture, serving at the same time as a reservoir of heat, and of water for watering the plants, and also for growing aquatics ; but as the water in such cisterns will seldom exceed the temperature of 80° to 85°, a much larger surface is required than in the case of zinc cisterns accurately fitted to the curvature of the pipes. On smoke-flues the water in such cisterns will rise to a much higher temperature than on pipes, because the slate bottoms will come in close contact with the entire surface of the covers of the flue. Much may be done towards keeping a wholesome degree of moisture in houses by covering the shelves, beds, and in fact every surface, with an inch of gravel or broken spar, which should be kept well moistened. Ventilation and Aeration. — Till lately the subject of giving air to plant-houses has been very imperfectly understood ; and, indeed, as it was generally supposed that a very small supply of air was sufficient for the growth of plants, ventilation was principally employed to lower the temperature of a hothouse when the heat was too great, or to let off sulphurous or other noxious gases which might be generated by PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 181 the modes of heating employed. Now, however, that it begins to be •well known that plants derive a great proportion of their carbon from the air, another and the most important use of ventilation has been discovered ; and gardeners are become aware that a constant supply of fresh air is almost as necessary to plants as water, and, consequently, that without fresh air no plants can be kept in a perfectly healthy and vigorous state. The admission of air for the purpose of nourishing plants has been very properly distinguished by Dr. Lindley under the name of Aeration, from ordinary ventilation, and it requires to be regulated in quite a different manner. It has been already observed that if the sashes of a hothouse are opened in front and in the upper part of the roof at the same time, so as to create a thorough draught, Avlien the atmosphere is colder than the temperature of the house, a great injury is done to vegetation, not only by the sudden chill, which the admission of a current of cool air produces, but by the quantity of moisture which it carries off. Hence, aeration should be effected by the circulation of a constant supply of warm moist air ; and hence it is that plants grown in houses heated by the Polmaise system are generally in a state of vigorous health. Ventilation is, however, frequently necessary as well as aeration. In greenhouses, pits, and frames, where there is a large proportion of earthy and moist surface to a small volume of air, the latter may become too moist, and fresh air may be required to dry it ; and in every description of plant- structure it may be required to lower the temperature. Hence, for houses heated by smoke-flues, and for pits and frames heated by fer- menting dung, a greater power of ventilation becomes requisite than for houses heated by hot water, in which noxious vapours can rarely be produced, or the temperature raised much above 80° or 90°. For lowering the temperature of a hothouse, air is best admitted by opening sashes or ventilators in the upper part of the roof. In roofs with sliding sashes, the upper sashes along the whole line of roof may be let down uniformly, if the house be at an equal temperature throughout, and rather more at the hottest part, if it is of unequal temperature. The width opened need seldom exceed half an inch or an inch in the winter time ; but in summer it may be much greater, according to the temperature to be kept up in the house, and other circumstances. If the roof should be a fixed one, then a narrow opening might be made in the upper angle of the roof along the whole length of the house, and the cover to this opening might be raised simultaneously and uniformly by simple mechanical means. A portion of the heated air of the house will escape by this opening, while a portion of the outer air will enter to take its place, mixed, as it descends, with the heated air, and becoming by this means heated to a oTtain extent before it reaches the plants. The great object in venti- lating houses which are kept at a high temperature is to avoid thorough draughts, which are always produced when ventilators in the front and back are opened at the same time. Even in houses kept at a low temperature, such as greenhouses and conservatories, it is desirable in the winter season to admit the air from the roof only, and not from J82 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING the sides. In summer, when the temperature of the outer air is as high as that of the house ought to be, openings may be made in every direction at pleasure. In stoves, the precaution of covering the openings of the upper part of the roof, by which air is given, with wire netting might be taken, which, while it excludes wasps and flies in summer, would in winter act like Jeffrey's Eespirator in abstracting the heat from the heated air which escaped, and imparting it to the cold air which entered, or the double tube, recommended by Dr. Arnott in his ' Treatise on Warming and Ventilating,' might be adopted. The external air may be heated in the winter season before it is allowed to enter the house, by enclosing a part of the pipes or smoke-flues in a trunk or box, with a communication at the lower part of one end with the open air, and at the upper part of the other with the air of the house. So long as the pipes are kept at a tempera- ture considerably above that of the house, fresh air will flow in, and a corresponding quantity will be displaced by the accidental crevices of the roof. In hotbeds it is customary to leave openings for the escape of moist vapour during the whole of the night ; this is generally done by raising the sashes behind ; but, as by this mode the steam from the dung is sometimes driven in, some gardeners have a narrow opening in the upper part of the sash, with a lid to fit to it, hinged along the upper edge. Light is one of the elements of culture as essential as heat. The health, strength, and beauty of plants, depend very much upon the amount of light to which they are subjected ; hence the immense importance of cheap and good glass to horticulture. With heavy roofs of wood, and panes of glass five inches by three, all lapped, nearly a half of the old frames and roofs were opaque. With the abolition of the duty, these panes gave place to others a yard long by nearly half a yard wide. The results at first appeared somewhat disappointing. The plants were tender and the glass was uneven. Each inequality became a lens to burn the emaciated foliage, and large panes were for a time in bad repute ; but again they are in the ascendant. It is found that with an even surface and healthy plants, burning is reduced to a minimum. The glare of the sun is broken by temporary shading or by the use of tinted glass, as in the great conservatory and new palm-house at Kew. Crown or sheet glass in large squares is the most generally used. This is occasionally butted, or placed end to end, on steep roofs, but it is more generally lapped. The laps should not exceed one-eighth of an inch. The broader the lap, the more liable is the glass to breakage, when the water so retained becomes frozen. This lap is sometimes entirely, and sometimes partially, rendered air and water tight by putty. In the former case it prevents the water which condenses on the inside of the glass from escaping to the outside ; and in the latter, while it allows the condensed water to escape, it also retains, by the attraction of cohesion, as much as fills the space between the lap ; and this water, in severe weather, is apt to freeze, and by its expansion when undergoing that operation, the glass is broken. By having the laps unputtied, not only is there great danger PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 188 rom breakage by frost, but much heated air escapes during cold weather, and rain is apt to be blown into the house during high winds in certain directions. It is better, therefore, in the opinion of most scientific gardeners, to putty the laps and render them waterproof; to accomplish which in an efficient and economical manner, Mr. Forsyth proposes a lap three-eighths of an inch broad (in our opinion a greater breadth than is necessary), with the space between filled in with soft putty in the usual manner, and then carefully to paint the join- ings of the glass, both the under lap and the over lap, and also the putty between, in the following manner : — Let the upper edge of the paint on both sides of the lap run in the direction of d, c, in fig. 150, thus directing all the water which condenses on the inside or falls on the outside down the centre of the squares. The only dis- advantage attending close-puttying the lap is, that the condensed water, when the roof is very flat, sometimes drops on the plants ; but Fig. 150. Lap of glass panes puttied and painted. if the house is kept at a proper temperature, the water that drops in this manner will do little injury, and will be speedily taken up by the dry air which has just parted from it. In particular cases, where the drip falls on a plant, it may be directed to a point where it will do no injury, by a simple process pointed out by Mr. Kogers — viz., to fix at places where the drip will do no injury, small pieces of cobblers' wax or putty, which, by interrupting the descending current, will cause it to drop down. The drip, however, is much more common from the bars between the glass than from the glass itself, and to these Mi*. Rogers's plan is peculiarly applicable. One great argument for puttying the laps is, that the moisture of the atmosphere, though it may be condensed on the glass, is not, if proper means are taken to retain it at the bottom of the sloping glass, allowed to escape from the house, but must be re-absorbed by the air which deposited it, some- what in the same manner that takes place in growing plants in close glass cases. These cases being air-tight, when the temperature within is greater than that without, moisture is deposited on the glass, and after some time runs down and settles along the inside of the rim ; whence, when the temperature within is raised to the same height as before, it is again taken up and held in suspension in the form of elastic vapour. In the case of air-tight stoves, nearly the same process must be constantly going on; but few have hitherto been built sufficiently air-tight for this purpose. One of the greatest improve- ments that have taken place in the glazing of plant-structures of every 184 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING description, is the introduction of sheet-window-glass, which, while it is nearly as thick and strong as plate-glass, is not much dearer than crown-glass. The thickness of this glass varies from one-eighth of an inch to something more than one-sixteenth, and either thickness may be used in lengths of from two to five feet. In the grand conservatory at Chatsworth, the panes are three feet nine inches in length, that being the length of the side of the ridge, and they are six inches in width, so that there is no occasion for a lap. Ridge and furrow houses, when this kind of glass is used, may be made nearly air-tight. In the grand conservatory in the Horticultural Society's garden, the same kind of glass is used, and the panes are sixteen inches by twelve inches. This house is remarkably well glazed, and the laps are all puttied. Indeed, if this were not the case, it would be almost impos- sible to heat such a lofty structure with glass on all sides ; but this glass being very even, as well as thick and strong, the laps are not more than three-sixteenths of an inch, and do not retain any water, which, indeed, from the temperature within being seldom greater than that without, is not often deposited on it. Most of the evils of drip and breakage, described in this chapter, are wholly avoided by cutting the glass, and the abolition of putty -glazing, as in Beard's system. Water is commonly supplied to plants in hothouses by hand ; but pipes, pierced with small holes, have been arranged under the roof, which, on turning on water from a cistern above the level, will throw down a shower at pleasure. For lofty houses, such as the palm-stoves of Messrs. Loddiges, the inventors of this system, this mode of watering is very eligible, and it might also frequently be adopted in conserva- tories attached to dwelling-houses, the cistern being in the upper part of the house. As a luxury, the noise of the artificial shower, like that of drops of rain in a warm summer's evening when all is arid without, will more than compensate for the expense. The evils incident to such modes of watering are, that all the plants, dry or not dry, get the same quantity. Such expedients are, therefore, not to be recommended, unless for watering the foliage nicely. A much better, because dis- criminate mode of root- watering is to screw a length or two of gutta- percha or india-rubber hose on to a water-pipe or tank, and then, with a conductor, direct a stream of water to any pot or root that requires it. A dexterous use of the finger to stop or regulate the flow, and an exact aim, renders this the most expeditious and efficient mode of watering. As water should never be applied to plants at a lower temperature than the mean of the atmosphere in which they grow, there should be a cistern in every house, of sufficient capacity to supply all the water which can be wanted at any one time, placed over the flues or hot-water pipes in such a manner as soon to be heated by them. In plant-houses these cisterns may be used to a certain extent for growing aquatics ; but in this case only a small portion of water should be taken from the cisterns at a time, so that the addition of cold water may not chill the plants. To prevent the rose of the watering-pot from being choked by the leaves or other matters in such PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 185 water, watering-pots with the grating described by Mr. Beaton (p. 104) should be used. The different kinds of fixed structures for plants, are — the pit, the greenhouse, the orangery, the conservatory, the plant stove, the pine stove, the forcing-house, the orchid-house, and the orchard-house. We shall conclude by shortly noticing the characteristic features of these, and their varieties. Pits are low buildings with glass roofs, but without glass in the sides or ends. The angle of the roof is between 15° and 25° with the horizon, and the surrounding walls are generally built of brick, and hollow, or in some kinds of pits they are pigeon-holed, or with thin panels to admit the heat of exterior casings. The provision for heating varies from the mere power of retaining natural heat by coverings of glass or other materials, to the obtaining of 70° or 80° or upwards of artificial heat, which may be supplied either by fermenting materials or fire-heat, or by both combined. The cold-pit is without any artificial source of heating, and in some its walls are of turf or earth ; and instead of glass sashes, frames of reeds, or boards, or thatched hurdles, or other coverings, are substituted. The cold pit is used for protecting plants in pots not in a growing state, or for preserving culinary vegetables from the frost. In warm situations and dry soil, it has a thick mound of earth, or thick wall of turf, which in either case should be coped so as to be kept as dry as possible. Even in the case of brick pits, an outer casing of dry turf prevents to a very great extent the effects of frost and sudden changes of temperature. The casing may also be made of boards, where great neatness is an object, leaving a cavity to be filled with coal-ashes, charcoal, dry sand, or other non-conducting materials. In pits of this kind, with glass sashes instead of opaque covers, many hard-wooded greenhouse plants, such as camellias, rnyrtaceae, heaths, &c., may be preserved through the winter without any artificial heat, care being taken to adapt the nightly coverings to the weather. The usual width of such pits is from six to eight feet ; height of the back wall, three to five feet ; and of the front wall, two to three feet. A pit to be heated by a bed of tan within, and exterior cases of dung, may be of the same or larger dimensions, with the back and front wall pigeon-holed or panelled (p. 164), and with boarded covers to protect the linings from rain and wind, hinged to the wall-plate. Instead of exterior linings for supplying extra heat, flues or hot-water pipes may be introduced along the front and ends, or entirely round the pit ; sometimes with a platform of boards over them for plants in pots, or even for a bed of soil, but more frequently separated from the bed of tan by a narrow wall, or by a partition of slates or flacr-stones. The width of the bark-bed in such pits is seldom less than five or six feet, and eighteen inches of additional width is necessary for the front flue, or four-inch pipes 5 and double these widths if the flues or pipes are carried round the house. For the more convenient management of pits, they are sometimes constructed sufficiently high behind to admit of walking upright there ; and a passage for that purppse is left at the back, of three or four feet in 186 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING width, and a door made in one end. The roof over the passage i8 generally opaque and sloping to the north, as in fig. 151. To the pos- sessor of a small garden, and an amateur, this is a very desirable description of pit, as in it he may grow almost everything, provided he -p. - _, does not attempt too many kinds of culture at once. The form is very economi- cal, from there being as much surface of pit as there is covering of glass ; and the interior is very comfortable to work in, as the operator need not stoop. If the ends were made of glass, it Pit. with the roof over the path opaque. ,-, , would be an improvement, by admitting the morning and evening sun : it would then, however, be entitled to be called a small house, instead of a pit. The sashes of all pits used to be made to slide between rafters which are fixed to the plates of wood, which form, partially or wholly, the copings to the walls. Such pits as shown in fig. 151 are now often made with fixed roofs, ventilated above, and in the front and back walls. There should be a bolt to each sash for fixing it when shut, and also when let down for giving air, in order that there may be no risk of its being blown off by high winds ; and all the sashes ought to admit of being readily taken off, for the purpose of taking out, and putting in dung, tan, or other materials. When the pit is ten or twelve feet in width the sashes may be in two lengths, the one sliding over the other ; the upper sash sliding on ledges formed in the rafters, so as to render it indepen- dent of the lower sash. In general, short sashes for pits last much longer, and occasion much less breakage of the glass than long ones, from their leverage being so much less. The roofs of all pits ought to have coverings, and the best material, in our opinion, is boards, as, where glass is so flat as it generally is in pits and frames, it is apt to get dirtied by straw mats, unless these are put over a covering of bast mats. Fig. 152 is an excellent plan of a pit or small house, with a Fig. 152. Ground plan of a pit to be heated in Mr. Corbett's a, Back path. 6, Bark pit, 50 ft. long in the clear, C, Exterior pit for dung casing, to revive the heat. d, d, Gratings to drains. e, Stink-trap to drain. manner. span-roof all of glass, designed by Mr. Glendinning, for general pur- poses, and heated by Corbett's hot-water apparatus. Mr. Corbett's system appears to be better adapted for pits than for larger and longer houses, where its heating power would probably not be sufficient, or PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 187 be unequal for the slowness of the circulation in consequence of the water-troughs being necessarily on a dead level. Mr. Glendinning's pit, however, may be heated by any mode, not even excepting a smoke- flue. Fig. 153 is a section of this pit, showing : — Fig. 153. Cross section of a pit to be heated on Corbetfk system, or by smoke-flues. f, f, Glass roof, g, Bark pit. h, Back path. I, Pit for dung casing, fc, Drain. Hinged cover of ledged boards to protect the dung from the rain and wind. m, Ground line. TO, Suspended shelf for straw- berry pots. o. Slate shelf for pots. P, Stink-trap communicating with the cross-drain (3), which leads to the main or barrel-built drain (Jfc). r, Corbett's hot- water appa- ratus. s, Hollow wall of bricks on edge. Pits or low houses have been formed with glass on all sides, and span roofs (see ' Gard. Mag.,' vol. vii. p. 290) ; but from the great quantity of glass in proportion to the surface of floor enclosed, they become too expensive for general purposes, and, unless furnished with a warm covering, the extensive surface of glass occasions an injurious degree of radiation. The greenhouse is a light, airy structure, with a glass roof at an angle of 35° or 40° with the horizon, and upright glass in front and at the ends ; and with the means of heating sufficient to keep out frost and in humid weather to dry up damp. The plants are grown in pots placed on a stage, or range of shelves rising one above another from a path in front, to within six or seven feet of the upper angle of the back wall. Between the front path and the upright glass, there is a broad shelf on a level with the lowest shelf of the stage, for small plants that require to be near the light. All the front and roof sashes are made to move, because it is frequently necessary to admit a free circulation of the external atmosphere ; and coverings are seldom applied, because a very little fire-heat is found to exclude the frost. This is the common or normal form of the greenhouse, when it is placed against a wall, or the side or end of a dwelling-house, and lacing the south or some point between south-east and south-west ; but much more elegant forms, of the curvilinear or ridge and furrow kind, may be adopted, and where the expense of fire-heat is not an object, it may face the east or west, or be constructed of glass on all sides. For placing against a wall in a flower-garden, we should prefer a curvilinear structure, with ends of the same kind, and an architectural entrance, either in the back wall, as in fig. 127, p. 155, or in front ; but against a dwelling-house, and on a small 188 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING scale, we should recommend the ridge and furrow construction, a3 from the ease with which the roof may be partially or wholly con- cealed, it is the most easily rendered architectural. Fig. 154. Lean-to cool-house. The orangery is an architectural building, more like a living- room than a plant-structure, with large windows and narrow piers in front and at the ends, and with an opaque roof. It is used for pre- serving orange-trees and other large plants which are in a dormant state during winter ; and the power of heating is about the same as that for the greenhouse ; but, from the roof being opaque, less extent of flue or hot- water pipe is required. Plant-structures of this descrip- tion are chiefly wanted in large establishments 5 but as architectural appendages to a house they may sometimes be advantageously intro- duced in small villas, the area of the orangery being used in the summer time, when the orange-trees and other plants usually kept in it are set in the open garden, as a place for prolonging the beauty of plants in bloom, and for other purposes. Such houses are now but little used, as it is found that the perfect development of the orange requires all the light that can be secured for it in our climate. Still, where large orange-trees are grown in boxes out of doors in summer, as at Holland House, Kensington, and other places, such houses may prove useful winter dormitories — the object in such cases being simply to keep the plants at rest till the following season. The conservatory differs from the orangery and the greenhouse PLANTS, WITH GLASS ROOFS. 189 in being more lofty and architectural, and in having the plants grow- ing in a bed of soil which forms the floor of the house. As the plants in a conservatory are generally kept growing through the winter, a power of heating is required greater than that of the orangery ; and when it is joined to a dwelling-house, and is to be frequently walked in by the inmates, greater than that of a greenhouse. The tempera- ture during the night should not be under 45°, nor need it be raised higher during bright sunshine than 55° or 60°. The forms, and other particulars relative to the construction and adaptation of conservato- ries, have already been given in the ' Suburban Architect and Land- scape Gardener.' Botanic stoves are of various kinds ; but with respect to tem- perature and moisture they may be reduced to the dry stove, the damp stove, and the intermediate or bark stove. The first requires abundance of light and a power of heating from zero to 60° in the winter season, and is chiefly used for growing succulents ; the second requires less intensity of light, but a power of heating equal to 80° in the winter season above the external air ; for although such will seldom be required, yet it is better to have too much than too little heating power. In the damp stove there must also be a power of saturating the atmosphere with moisture at all seasons ; as it is chiefly used for growing orchidaceous plants and ferns. The intermediate or common botanic stove requires the same power of heating as the last, but more light and much more space, as it is used for growing the trees and shrubs of tropical climates. These are com- monly kept in pots, and very frequently plunged in a bark-bed, whence this kind of house, before the use of damp-stoves, was called the bark- stove, to distinguish it from the dry-stove. The pine stove used to be a low structure, and with a bark or other bed in which the pots were plunged, and differing little from a large pit, excepting that it was generally arranged so as to admit of growing crops of grapes as well as pines. The glass roof was gene- rally placed at some angle between 25° and 35°, and the power of heating should be equal to 70° during winter. Now, however, any good span roof or lean-to house is used for pines. In growing the suc- cession plants, it is best to keep their tops within a foot or eighteen inches of the glass. But they are often fruited at a distance of one, or even two yards from it. The clear glass of the present day prevents them drawing. It is also common now to plant out the fruiting pines in a bed of soil, so that more head-room is needed. A power of com- municating atmospheric moisture should be at command as in the common botanic stove. Forcing-houses are chiefly employed for bringing forward early crops of grapes, peaches, cherries, or other fruits, and for producing early culinary vegetables of different kinds, or flowers. The power of heating varies with the season of forcing, and the kind of fruit to be forced ; but it should not be less than 70°, with a command of atmo- spheric moisture. Sometimes the trees are trained on trellises one or two feet within the glass; and sometimes they are partly trained 190 FIXED STRUCTURES FOR GROWING under the glass, and partly on the back wall. In either case, the nar- rower the house the more readily is it heated either by fire or the sun. As these details vary with the kind of trees and plants to be forced, they belong more properly to the following part of this work. See ' Practice of Horticulture, Forcing-Garden.' Fig. 155. Half -span forcing-house. A Plant-structure for all or any of the above Purposes. — The pit, fig. 151, or that shown in figs. 153 and 154, will answer for any one of the purposes for which orangeries, greenhouses, and stoves are erected. Orange-trees and similar plants, in a dormant state, may be preserved through the winter in such pits with ample coverings, and scarcely any artificial heat ; greenhouse plants, with very little heat ; dry stove-plants, with a little more heat ; damp-stove plants, with increased temperature and moisture ; other stove plants, till they attain a certain size ; pine-apples, to the highest degree of perfection ; and the fruit-trees trained to trellises under the glass may be forced, as may be also every description of culinary vegetable, not excepting mushrooms, which may be grown in a portion of the bark -bed, or in shelves against the back wall or in arched recesses, or cellars, or vaults under the tan of the pit. In short, there is nothing in the way of culture that may not be carried on to the highest degree of perfection in these pits, provided that all the large-growing plants are trained on trellises close under the glass ; but the airy elegance of the greenhouse, the gran- deur and picturesque luxuriousness of the conservatory, and the tropical PLANTS, WITH GLASS EOOFS. 191 aspect of the lofty botanic stove, are not to be expected from them. The low span-roofed house, with a sunk passage in the centre, com- bines the advantage of the best type of houses and pits for plant- growing purposes. Fig. 156. Low span-roofed house, with sunk-path. The Orchard House. — This is a comparatively modern structure, first suggested by Mr. Rivers, and now a favourite with many amateurs. Those about constructing one would do well to provide themselves with Mr. Rivers's book, and also with Mr. Pearson's, both on the orchard house. The best orchard houses in England are un- doubtedly those in Mr. Pearson's nursery at Chilwell, near Notting- ham. Mr. Pearson's advice on the subject of building orchard houses is valuable. " Having had eighteen houses erected within the last few years, each being an improvement on the former ones — and seeing that Mr. Foster, who built them, and is largely engaged in their manufacture, is constantly making improvements in their construc- tion— I have arrived at the conclusion that amateur building is a mistake. It appears advisable to take advantage of experience acquired at other people's expense rather than make mistakes at our own cost. The houses built by Mr. Foster, of Beeston, near Nottingham, are by far the best I have hitherto met with. They are constructed of all sizes, adapted to the requirements of the smallest or the largest estab- lishments, and they are not only of an ornamental, but a durable character. The mode by which Mr. Foster ties the span of his houses, and renders them firm in their construction, is particularly merito- rious, and far superior to anything I have yet seen for strength and elegance. It is perfectly novel in design, and has been secured by a 192 FIXED STRUCTURES WITH GLASS ROOFS patent. A conservatory or orchard house ought to be constructed so that ladies may enjoy a walk there with no more feeling of con- straint than in an open garden ; to be able to cut a flower, reach a peach, or water a plant without difficulty, is essential to the enjoyment of such houses. It is not sufficient to be able to get inside, exclaim, ' How beautiful !' and wish to be out again as soon as possible. Similar objections may be urged against covering peach- walls with glass ; a covered wall is no place for enjoyment : but for the production of fruit, irrespective of all other considerations, no one can take exception to such houses as those erected at Dalkeith, which though they may be called covered walls, are wide enough for a row of dwarf trees in front, and a path down the middle. Having often heard the remark, 'If I were living on my own property I would have an orchard house inmie- Fig. 157. Section of Forster's orchard house. diately,' I have great pleasure in calling attention to Foster's patent moveable house on iron supports. It is as strong as any house can be built, and yet may be taken in pieces and removed without difficulty. The feet, pillar, and bracket are all cast in one piece. The roof is made in separate lights, and also the ends and sides, so that there is no occasion to break a pane of glass in removing the whole structure. I have a house erected on this principle, 60 feet by 24, heated by six rows of pipes. It is used as a conservatory, and is a beautiful building. Many persons will remember a storm of wind from the west which occurred on the 3rd of December, 1863. In the neighbourhood of Nottingham it did a great amount of damage, blowing down timber trees and unroofing houses. By that storm many greenhouses were much injured, some having their sides blown quite in, others being partially unroofed. This moveable house proved so much stronger than any house merely resting on brickwork that, excepting the noise, no one could tell a storm was blowing. It will be easily understood that a house having iron pillars every 10 feet, forming part of its sides, must be of immense strength ; and when we take into con- EDIFICES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 193 sideration the great pressure of wind on a house 90 to 100 feet long, stability is a matter of great importance." I can, from personal ex- amination, testify to the great merit in every way of these houses recommended by Mr. Pearson. They are described in detail in Mr. Pearson's little book. Edifices used in Horticulture. The edifices required in horticulture are chiefly the head gardener's house, the journeyman gardener's lodge, the fruit-room, the seed and herb-room, the root-cellar, the tool-house, and the potting and work- ing sheds. The gardener's house, wherever there are many plant structures, should be as near the garden as possible ; but it should by no means form an object in the scenery of the garden. Like what the house of every man ought to be, the occupant should possess it as his castle for the time being. It may be wholly or partially veiled by trees ; but within whatever boundary it is placed perfect liberty should prevail ; and this cannot be the case where the inmates are either constrained to remain in-doors, or when they go out are forced into contact with their superiors, to the annoyance of both parties. Besides a kitchen and sleeping-rooms, the gardener's house should contain at least one good parlour. All the fixtures and principal articles of furniture should be the property of the proprietor of the garden, and valued to the gardener on his entering on the situation, and again valued on his leaving it ; he paying any difference in value which may have been occasioned by use. This is not the general practice, though it is fast spreading, and deservedly so, because it must occasion less pain to a considerate master to part with a married servant under such circumstances, and less inconvenience to the gardener when he leaves his place, without perhaps knowing where he shall find another. The journeyman gardener's lodge, and all the other edifices men- tioned, are generally included in the sheds behind the different plant- structures ; because they tend to keep the latter warm, and because the high back wall of the hothouses existing at any rate, they can be erected there more economically than anywhere else. It has been observed, however, by a number of gardeners, both in England and Scotland, that living-rooms at the back of hothouses are not healthy ; and that those that are situated at the back of stoves are still more unhealthy than those at the back of greenhouses or other plant-struc- tures where less heat is required. Damp and want of ventilation are the probable causes; for which reason we should recommend the journeyman-gardener's rooms to be separated from the back wall of the plant-house against which they are built by a vacuity, commu- nicating above and below with the open air. The floor should be raised at least a foot above the general surface, and should have an ample vacuity below it, which on the one side may communicate with the vacuity between the walls, and on the other with the open air. This will insure a current of air through both these vacuities, which o 194 EDIFICES USED IN HORTICULTURE. will be sufficient to carry off damp, and to prevent the ill effects of the excessive heat from the plant-structure. Another point which ought to be attended to in the construction of living-rooms behind hothouses is, to have larger windows and more of them than is usual ; and always to have them carried up to within a few inches of the ceil- ing, in order that air may be admitted from the top as well as from the bottom of the window. It would generally be better to build a cottage for the young men wholly detached from the back wall, and to have a good separate bedroom for each man. The sitting-room arrange- ments for cooking, cleaning, &c., should likewise be made comfortable and convenient. The fruit-room should have a double roof, or roof with a ceiling, a hollow front wall, and double doors and windows, so as to maintain an equable temperature. It should be divided into at least two apart- ments, so completely separated from each other as to prevent the air of that in which the early ripening fruits are placed from contami- nating that in which the late ripening sorts are deposited. Both apart- ments should be fitted up with broad shelves of open work of white deal, or of some wood without resin or other qualities that would give a flavour to the fruit ; and there ought to be bins or portable boxes for preserving fruit packed in sand, fern, hay, bran, kiln-dried straw, leaves or blossoms of the beech or chestnut, or other materials. The fronts of the shelves should have a narrow ledge, on which temporary labels can be pasted, indicating the names of the fruits, and when they ought to be fit for use, &c. Where fruit is to be frequently packed for sending to a distance, there should be a third apartment for containing the packing materials, and for packing in. Where there is danger from damp or heat, the back wall and floor can have vacuities as in the journeyman's room, with stoppers to the outlets, to be used in severe weather. The seed-room should adjoin the fruit-room at one end, and the tool-house at the other. It should contain a cabinet fitted up with drawers for seeds ; an open airy case, with drawers for bulbs ; shelves for catalogues, a book-case, partitioned off, because moths are apt to be introduced along with some kinds of seeds, for a garden library, unless this is kept in the head gardener's house as a part of his furni- ture ; a press for compressing dried herbs into cakes, to be afterwards wrapped up so as to be air-tight in paper, and kept in drawers to be taken out as wanted for the kitchen ; and a variety of minor articles, some of which have been mentioned (p. 80), and others will occur in practice. Root-cellar and other Conveniences. — Underneath the fruit or seed- room, if the soil is dry, there may be a cellar for preserving dahlia- roots, bulbs, potatoes, &c. ; though, on a small scale, the seed-room and some part of the sheds may serve as substitutes. A mushroom- house, and a house for forcing rhubarb and succory, and for producing early potatoes by a particular process which may be carried on in the dark, may also form part of the back sheds ; and a supply of water by a pump or well, or by a large cistern, supplied by an hydraulic ram or EDIFICES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 195 other means; and conveniences for liquid manure, lime-water, &c., &c., must not be forgotten. In short, whatever is wanting for the cultiva- tion and management of a garden, exclusive of plant-structures and the gardener's house, should be provided for in the back sheds ; and, as a general principle, it may be laid down that every plant-structure that has a back shed should have a direct confoiunication with it by means of a door in the back wall. By means of this communication much time is saved in conveying articles from the shed to the house, and the contrary ; fires can be more promptly attended to, and above all, plants in pots can be taken into the shed and examined or shifted, without exposing them to the open air. The tool-house should adjoin the seed-room, and should be fitted up as before indicated. The potting-shed should contain, facing the windows, benches for potting on, and ample space for pots, crocks, potting trowels, stakes, ties, tallies, bell-glasses, and a variety of other articles. It should, however, be well lighted alike from the front and the roof; sashes should likewise be placed here. Soils are in general fresher, and in a better state, when kept in the open air; but still there ought to be bins for sand, peat, leaf-mould, and some other kinds in constant use. Open Sheds. — A portion of the sheds open in front ought to be set apart for tanner's bark, and other portions for hotbed-frames and such like portable structures, or articles that would be injured by exposure to the weather when not in use ; one for sticks for peas, props for plants, mats, coal or wood for fuel, and for other purposes. In short, there can hardly be too much shed-room ; for besides all the ordinary purposes mentioned, a portion of it may be sometimes required for preserving deciduous greenhouse plants through the winter for which there is not room in the plant-structures, such as large Fuchsias, Brugmansias, Pomegranates, and many other plants which are turned out into the open garden during summer. If there is no regular mushroom-house, that vegetable may be grown in the open shed, on dung ridges covered with hay and mats. Tart rhubarb and sea-kale may be forced there, protected by mats supported on hoops ; peas and beans for early crops may be germinated before being transplanted into the open garden ; and indeed there is no end to the objects that may be effected within open sheds, while on their roofs onions may be dried in wet seasons — a practice very general in Scotland and in the north of England. o2 196 CHAPTER VIII. OPERATIONS OF HORTICULTURE. Ldboufs on the Soil. THE objects for which the soil is worked, are pulverization, to render it more readily penetrated by the roots of plants, and by heat, air, moisture, and sometimes by frost ; to allow superfluous moisture to escape into the subsoil ; to mix the upper and lower parts of the upper stratum of soil together ; to deepen the tilth ; to mix the coarser and finer parts together ; to add or mix in earths or manure ; to free the soil from roots or perennial weeds, stones, or other objects unfavour- able to culture ; and to destroy surface or annual weeds. The grand sources of heat to the soil are the sun and the atmosphere, including rain at a higher temperature than the soil ; and the sources of cold, or of the abstraction of heat are, rain at a lower temperature than the soil, frost, snow, ice, and where drainage has been neglected, subterraneous water and evaporation from the surface. The greatest degree of cold produced by these causes, excepting the last, will always be found on the surface of the soil, and the best mode of supplying the heat that has been abstracted will be by leaving the surface to the action of the sun and of the air. By digging or trenching down a cold surface such as ice, or a substance such as snow, heat is abstracted from the soil, the natural temperature of which will in that case be lowered ; and thus a plant grown in a soil so treated, will be, in so far as bottom heat is concerned, worse than if it were in a state of nature, in which heat abstracted by the air is always restored by it. The average tempera- ture :of the surface soil in most countries is believed to be nearly the same #s that of the atmosphere ; but by considering all the causes that contribute to the warmth of a soil, there can be little doubt but in many cases its average temperature might be increased. The colour and texture of some soils is better adapted for absorbing heat than others, and the inclination of the surface of the soil is of as much im- portance in deriving heat from the direct action of the sun's rays as the angles -of glass roofs. Hence the advantage of laying up soil in narrow ridges, which, when in the direction of east and west, very soon become much 'drier and warmer on one side than on the other. Rain, though in the cold season it abstracts heat from the soil, yet in spring and summer, being of the temperature of the atmosphere, it communicates heat more effectually than air, because, under ordinary circumstances, it penetrates deeper, in consequence of its greater specific gravity ; and as it requires two hundred and eighty-nine times as much coal to heat one cubic foot of water as would be required to heat the same bulk of air to the game degree, so is the quantity of heat which water of a given bulk will give out to soil greater than what will be communi- cated by the same bulk of air. Water, in a frozen state, though injurious as abstracting heat, is in many cases favourable by contributing LABOURS ON THE SOIL. 197 to the pulverization of stiff soils, which are laid up in a rough state, in order to expose as large a surface as possible to be cooled and frozen during winter, and to be thawed and heated during spring. The retention of moisture by pulverization is an important object of working the soil. All properly cultivated soils hold water like a sponge, while in untilJed soils the rains either never penetrate the sur- face, or they sink into the subsoil and are lost, or are retained by it and prove injurious. Wind, like rain, will communicate heat or ab- stract it from soil, according to its temperature and the rapidity of its motion ; but as in either case it carries off moisture in proportion to its dryness and velocity, it is in general in cold climates much more favourable than hurtful for soils, considered apart from the plants which grow in them. If possible no operation should be performed on the soil excepting when it is in a dry state, and when the weather is also dry. Moist soil cannot be dug without first treading on it, and thus making it into a kind of paste or mortar, which renders it unfit for being pierced by the fibres of plants, and prevents it from being penetrated either by moisture or air ; and water in the form of ice or snow, if dug in, abstracts that heat from the soil which it ought to derive direct from the atmosphere. " A pound of snow (newly fallen) requires an equal weight of water heated to 172° to melt it, and then the dissolved mixture is only of the temperature of 32°. Ice requires the water to be a few degrees warmer to produce the same result. When the ice or snow is allowed to remain on the surface, the quantity of heat necessary to reduce it to a fluid state is obtained chiefly from the atmosphere ; but when buried so that the atmospheric heat cannot act directly upon it, the thawing must be very slowly effected by the abstraction of heat from the soil by which the frozen mass is surrounded. Instances have occurred of frozen soil not being com- pletely thawed at midsummer when so buried. Digging. — The use of the lever and the pick, the former in moving large obstacles, such as stones, and the latter for perforating and raising up hard soils or subsoils, may be considered as preparatory operations for the more perfect pulverization and mixture of the soil by diggiog. Previous to performing this operation, if the surface is uneven, it should be levelled ; but as we are treating of garden digging, we shall suppose that the surface is already in a tit state to be dug. The first step is to fix on those parts of the plot where the operation is to com- mence and finish ; which being done, a trench is to be opened at the former place, and the earth wheeled or carried to the latter. In most gardens where there is to be a regular course of cropping, the com- partments are rectangular, and these are easily divided into smaller figures of the same kind for temporary purposes, the number of which divisions, with a view to digging or trenching, for reasons which will presently appear, must always be even. For example, a piece of ground of a square form, fig. 158, a, £>, c, d, may be thrown into two parallelograms, a, f, and £, rf, and the soil taken from the trench opened from a to e can be laid down from e to 6, where the operation will be finished. Had the plot been divided into three parallelograms, as in 198 LABOURS ON THE SOIL. fig. 159, the soil must have been removed from g to h, which would have more than doubled the labour of wheeling. A fourfold division would not, however, have been liable to the same objection, which con- Fig. 158. Fig. 159. T A plot of ground properly marked off for digging or trenching. A plot of ground disadvan- tageously marked off for digging or trenching. firms the rule, that the division ought always to be into equal numbers. "Where a plot is circular or oval it may be divided into zones, and an irregular plot may be thrown into figures approaching as near as may be to regularity. In digging for pulverization and mixture, the surface is reversed by the operator, and left as rough as possible. When a crop is to be sown or planted, this surface is broken more or less fine according to the kind of crop. When the ground is not to be imme- diately cropped, it is commonly " rough dug," that is, laid up in broken spitfuls, so as to present as large a surface as possible to the action of the weather; and afterwards, when a crop is to be introduced on ground which has been "rough dug," it is "pointed," or slightly dug and smoothed on the surface with a rake. "Double digging," or trenching, is in horticulture what subsoil ploughing is in agriculture ; the surface soil is kept on the surface, but the bottom of the trench is dug over as the work proceeds, and the soil turned over, a small portion of the subsoil being mixed with the top spit, the major portion of it being kept in the bottom of the trench. " Baulk digging " is an operation for rapidly exposing a large surface to the atmosphere, and consists in taking out a line of spitfuls and laying them on a line of firm ground, so that only half the ground is moved. It is only used where economy is a main object, and where the soil, being tenacious, will be much benefited by exposing a large surface to the frost. When soil, compost, or manure is to be dug in, it is previously distributed over the ground in heaps, by the aid of the wheelbarrow, and spread over the surface in moderate portions at a time, if loss will be sustained by evaporation ; but if soil, such as sand or burnt clay, or a compost of lime and earth, is to be dug in, the whole may be spread over the soil at once ; as the drier it becomes before being dug in, the better it will mix with the soil. In every description of digging the trench should be in a straight direction, from, one side of the plot to the other, and equally wide throughout ; or if curved, the same curvature should be maintained throughout ; for if the trench is increased in length, it LABOURS ON THE SOIL. 199 becomes lessened in capacity, and the soil can neither be moved to the proper depth nor sufficiently mixed. All roots of trees or bushes ought to be carefully picked out as the work proceeds, as they become fruitful centres for generating fungi. But small stones, brickbats, &c. should be left, as they tend to make heavy soils porous, and to consolidate those that are too light. Trenching. — The object of deep trenching is to increase the depth of soil fit for plants, by which means it becomes a larger reservoir of air, moisture, and manure ; and in the case of plants which do not per- manently occupy the soil, it admits of entirely changing the surface, so as to bring up fresh soil every time the ground is trenched. The plot to be trenched is marked out by a line, exactly in the same manner as in digging ; but instead of a narrow furrow, which suffices for that operation, a trench at least as broad as the depth to which the ground is to be moved, say from two to three feet, is marked off and opened, the soil being wheeled to the place of finishing, as in digging. The next point to determine is, whether the whole of the soil to be moved is to be equally mixed together ; whether the subsoil only is to be mixed, and the surface soil still kept on the surface ; or whether the surface is to be laid in the bottom of the trench, and the subsoil laid on the top. In trenching ground that is to be cropped with culinary vegetables for the first time, the whole of the soil turned over should be equally mixed together, manure or compost being added and incorporated at the same time. When the ground of a kitchen-garden has been originally trenched in this manner to the depth of three feet, a fresh surface may be exposed for cropping every year, by trenching one year two spits, and the next three. Top and bottom and middle will thus exchange places in rotation. In the operation of trenching, when the object is to reverse the surface, the firm soil is loosened, lifted, and thrown into the trench in strata, which, when completed, will hold exactly the reverse positions which they did in the firm ground ; but when the object is to mix the soil throughout, or when the surface soil is to be kept uppermost, the face of the surface of the moved ground must be kept in a sloping position, in order that every spitful thrown on it may be deposited in the proper place, with a view to mixture. To secure space enough for the thorough admixture on the slope, a trench four feet wide will be used, as the soil should be bodily removed from one side and laid at the opposite side, ready to fill up the last trench. " Ridge trench- ing" is the term applied when the surface of the moved soil, instead of being smoothed and levelled, is laid up in the form of a ridge, in order to benefit by exposure to the atmosphere. Whatever mode of trenching may be adopted, it is of great importance that the bottom of the trenches should either be level, or form one or more regularly inclined planes, in order to carry off the superfluous water of the surface soil. In a very retentive subsoil, if the bottom is trenched irregularly, the places marked a, b1 c, in fig. 160, would retain stagnant water 200 LABOURS ON THE SOIL. injurious to the roots of trees, &c. ; but if the bottom were loosened so as to form a regular slope, as from d to e, the water would gradually follow that direction. Fig. 160. Section illustrative of good and bad trenching. Forking soil is simply stirring the surface with the broad-pronged fork, which is greatly preferable to the spade for working among the roots of growing crops. For working with litter or dung, the forks with round, pointed prongs are used ; the rotundity of the prongs diminishing friction, both in inserting the fork in the dung, and in dis- charging the forkful. Hoeing is a mode of stirring the soil on the surface, and at the same time cutting up weeds or thinning out crops ; and it is effected either by the draw-hoe or the thrust-hoe. Soil is also drawn up to, or taken away from, plants ; and drills, or narrow furrows, are drawn by the former tool, of which there are several kinds, more or less adapted for these different purposes. In Fig. 161. no kind of draw-hoe should I1 a the plane of the blade form a right angle with the handle, ________________________________ as at a, in fig. 161 ; but it \ A should always be within a * right angle, more or less, as ^ — at b or c. If the ground be \ soft the angle should be more Diagrams showing the angle which the blades of acute than when it; is har(?' draw-hoes ought to make with the handles. or when its surface is much matted with weeds. This variable angle should be provided for, partly in the formation of the eye or socket of the hoe, and partly by the application of a small wedge, the heel of which should be turned up, like those used for scythe-handles, in order that it may be driven out at pleasure. In short, the angle which the handle forms with the blade should be such, that when the latter is inserted in the soil to the required depth, the blade, in being drawn towards the operator, may retain that depth with the least possible exertion to his muscles in guiding it ; for whatever muscular exertion is required in this way, beyond what is necessary for overcoming the resistance of the soil, is a waste of power. For the purpose of cutting weeds, or thinning out crops in light sandy soil, a hoe with a broad blade may be used ; and of these the best that we know is the Leices- tershire or shifting-blade hoe, the blades of which are pieces of the blade of an old scythe. This hoe is shown in fig. 162, in which d is the head, consisting of a socket for the blade, and a tubular socket or hose for the handle, without the blade ; b, one of the blades not in- serted in the socket; c, the socket with the kind of blade inserted LABOURS ON THE SOIL. 201 Fig. 162. which is used for general purposes, and more especially for hoeing between rows of drilled crops; and a, a socket with the blade, 6, inserted, which is used chiefly for thinning turnips. For working in strong soil, a hoe with a narrow stout blade is required ; and for very stiff soil, the Spanish hoe is the best tool. Some of these hoes are made with a small three-tined fork on the back, and are useful implements. For hoeing, with a view to cut weeds, the different descriptions of thrust-hoes are the most effective tools, especially among tall plants, but they are not calculated for stirring the soil to any depth. A thrust- hoe with a shifting blade, like the The Leicestershire or shifting- blade draw-hoe. Fig. 163. Leicestershire draw-hoe, would doubtless be a valuable implement. Kaking is an operation used for separating the surface of soil from stones, roots, and other extraneous matters ; for rendering even dug surfaces or gravel ; for covering seeds ; for collecting weeds, leaves, or mown grass ; and, in general, for smoothing, covering, collecting, and finishing off surfaces. The teeth of the rake are placed at nearly a right angle to the bar to which they are riveted, and somewhat bent towards the handle, so that when the operator keeps the handle at an angle of 45°, the teeth will pass through the soil at nearly that angle, and consequently penetrate to nearly the whole length. The teeth of the iron rakes should be made with a small shoulder, neatly formed, so as to rest flatly against the under side of the bar in which they are riveted. The holes made ia this bar for their reception should be widened below to admit a thickening next the shoulder of the tooth, as shown in fig. 163, for there the stress lies, and there, in nine cases out of ten, the break- age occurs in the teeth. The rest of the perforation should be narrow, in order not to weaken the head-bar, a slight countersink only being required for the rivet or clench on the upper side. The neck of the tooth is ex- posed to a force, tending to bend or fracture it across ; but when once the neck is secured, the remaining part which passes through the head-bar has only a longitudinal ten- sion. One. of the most common purposes to which . raking is applied, is covering small seeds sown broad- s*ctl<™' °f the , i . . ° . , , .,, neaa of a, cast ; and this operation requires more care and skill garden - rake, in the operator than any other which is performed shouting ftow with the rake. If the ground has been raked pre- the teeth should viously to sowing the seeds, its surface will be ribbed *£ ^serted in or covered with very small furrows left by the teeth of the rake, at regular distances and of uniform depth : the seed being scattered evenly over the surface, will fall one-half in the furrows, and one -half on the small ridges between them : if in 202 GARDEN LABOURS WITH PLANTS. raking afterwards the teeth of the rake could be made to split the ridges between the furrows and do nothing more, the seed would be perfectly and equally covered ; but owing to various causes, and principally to the unavoidable treading of the soil by the feet of the operator, it is next to impossible to effect this ; and in consequence of more raking being required in the hard and depressed places than in the soft ones, as well to loosen the soil as to raise it to the proper level, the seed there becomes too deeply covered ; and a part being drawn from the places from which the extra covering is taken, the seedling plants rise very irregularly. The best antidote to such evils is to sow all seeds either in narrow beds or drills. Rolling is applied to walks to render their surface smooth, firm, and impervious to rain, and it is always most effective when the gravel is moist below and moderately dry above. When dry gravel is laid over the bottom of a walk that is in a very wet or puddled state, rolling should not be attempted till the whole is uniformly saturated, either by rain, which is preferable, or artificially ; otherwise it will long remain un- consolidated. Grass lawns are also rolled to render the surface of the soil smooth and even, for which purpose they are previously raked or swept to destroy such inequalities as are produced by worm casts, or other accumulations that would interfere with the scythe, the uniform pressure of the roller, or the uniform smoothness and colour of the lawn. The general use of mowing-machines has superseded the use of the roller on grass, unless during winter and early spring. Screening or lifting soil or gravel is best performed when these materials are dry ; but excepting for sowing seeds, or planting very small or tender plants or cuttings, sifted soil is seldom wanted, it being found that pieces of turf, roots, and stones in soil are useful to plants, as forming vacuities for air, or for accumulations of decaying vegetable matter; or, more especially in the case of freestone, as sources of moisture. Other labours on the soil consist in forming and cutting the edges of alleys or earth-walks, beating down, or rolling in seeds that require pressure, such as onions, moulding up celery, &c. &c. Garden Labours with Plants. Garden labours with plants may be reduced to sowing, cutting, clipping, mowing, and weeding ; all of which may be performed at most seasons, and during moist weather as well as dry. In the first three of these labours, it must be borne in mind that growing trees and large shrubs should not be deprived of their branches when the sap is rising in spring, on account of the loss of the vital fluid which would be sustained at that season ; that wounds can only be healed over when made close to a bud or shoot ; and that the healing process proceeds from the alburnum and cambium, and not from the bark. For the operations of weeding and mowing with the scythe, wet weather is preferable to dry; but the grass cuts best if dry when the mow- ing-machine is employed. Clipping may be performed in wet weather. GARDEN LABOURS WITH PLANTS. 203 Sawing is the most convenient mode of separating large branches, because it effects the separation with less labour than cutting with the axe or the bill, and also with less waste of wood. In sawing off large branches, whether close to the trunk or at a distance from it, it is ad- visable to cut a notch in the under side of the branch, or to enter the saw for a few inches in depth there, and in the same plane with the proposed saw-cut, in order to prevent the bark from being torn down when the branch is sawn through and drops off. It is also advisable to smooth over the section with a chisel or knife, in order that it may not retain moisture ; and to cover the entire wound with a cataplasm of some sort, or with putty, or with paint, in order to exclude the air, and by that means to facilitate the process of healing. Cutting and sawing are essentially the same operation ; for the com- mon saw is formed of a series of wedges cut in the edge of a thin plate of steel, and the knife only differs in having these wedges so small and so close together as not to be perceptible to the naked eye. In cutting living plants a smooth unbruised section will be more easily healed over than a rough one ; hence, in all cutting or amputating, the rough or fractured section ought to be on the part amputated. In separating a branch, or cutting through a stem, with an axe, bill, or chisel, this result is effected by the obliquity of the strokes of the instrument to the direction of the body to be cut through, and with a knife by draw- ing it more or less obliquely across the shoot ; but principally by the non-resistance offered by the part of the shoot to be cut off. Hence all shoots cut from living plants ought to have the cut made in an out- ward direction from the stem or root of the plant ; because if the reverse of this practice were adopted, as is sometimes done in plashing" hedges, the fractured section would be left on the plant. Every cut made in a living plant ought to be sufficiently near a bud or a shoot to be healed over by its influence, and the section made should never be more oblique than is necessary to secure its soundness and smoothness. In general, therefore, the separation of all branches from living plants ought to be made by cutting or sawing across at very nearly a right angle to the direction of the stem, or branch, in order that it may be the more rapidly healed over. When due attention is not paid to this rule, and the cut is made very obliquely to the line of the shoot, a wedge-like stump is left protruding beyond the bud or branch, as in fig. 164, a, which never can be healed over, and which, consequently, soon decays, and disfigures and injures the tree, by retaining water and bringing on the rot ; but when the cut is made not more than the thickness of the branch above the bud or shoot, and nearly directly across, as at b, the wound is healed over completely and in the shortest possible time. It must be observed, a, a shoot impro- however, that the distance of the cut above the bud Pfty cut; b» a must depend in a great measure on the porosity of the ™£ ' pro wood of the shoot, and the proportion of its diameter which is occupied by the pith ; for if the raspberry and the vine 204 GARDEN LABOURS WITH PLANTS. were cut close above the bud, the shoot would dry up beyond the bud, and prevent it from developing itself. Hence, in all such cases, and even sometimes in common fruit-trees, it is customary to make the first cut an inch or more above the bud ; and when the shoot has grown and produced two or three perfect leaves, to cut off the remaining stump. This would be the best mode in every case, but as it occasions double labour, the risk of its not being attended to in- duces most persons to cut near to the bud at once. Clipping in gardening is chiefly applied to hedges, and to the edgings of walks or beds, when composed of dwarf box or under shrubs. The common hedge shears differ from the pruning shears in crushing the shoot which is clipped on both sides of the section, and hence clipping is not a desirable mode of pruning plants in general ; nor from the want of mechanical power are the common hedge shears applicable to any shoots, except those of one, or at most two years' growth. In clipping box or other edgings which are in a straight direction, a line is generally stretched close alongside the box at the height to which it is to be clipped. The top of the edging is then clipped down to the proper height, after which the line is taken up, and stretched along the centre of the top of the edging ; and the width of the top being deter- mined on, the sides are cut accordingly, leaving the edging somewhat wider at the bottom than at the top. The height and width of edgings vary according to the width of the walks, or beds, and the taste of the gardener ; two inches wide and three inches high are ordi- nary proportions; but some gardeners prefer having their edgings smaller, as less likely to harbour vermin. The ordinary time, for clipping edgings is the spring, before the shoots of the season are made ; but many gardeners prefer waiting till the shoots have been completed, and clip in June, after which the plants put out one or two leaves at the points of most of the shoots, which thus obliterate the marks of the shears on the other leaves. With box this appears to be decidedly the best mode. Where lines of edgings are not straight, they are of course clipped by the eye without the application of the line ; a matter of no difficulty to an expert operator. Clipping hedges is generally performed by the eye, without the aid of the line ; but in the case of architectural hedges in gardens laid out in the geometrical style, both the line and the plummet are occasion- ally resorted to, to prove the exactness of the work. Hedges are generally clipped in the summer season, immediately after the growth of the year has been completed. Hedges are better cut with the hedge- bill than shears, as it leaves a clean cut that is soon healed. The width of a hedge at the base need seldom exceed two feet in gardens ; but where a strong fence is required, or where the height exceeds twelve or fifteen feet, three feet in width at least will be required at the base, for the closest and best clothed hedges are found to be those whose section forms the sides and base of a pyramid. If the sides are perpendicular, the hedge sometimes gets naked at the bottom ; but if it is wider at top than at bottom, no art will prevent it from getting every year more naked, till at last plashing, or otherwise securing the PROPAGATION. 205 gaps, must he resorted to, and then its beauty as a live fence is gone. Another advantage is gained by sloping the sides of hedges, and that is in respect of keeping them clean ; for when so cut, the twigs at bottom, sharing in the dews and light, thrive and grow so close to the ground, that few weeds can rise below them. Again, in fields, the uniformity of surface which can be maintained with ease in hedges cut on the sloping principle, prevents animals from readily attempting to leap or make a breach in them. Mowing, as done by machines, is so well understood in garden- ing, that it is useless to dwell upon it. All lawns and garden grass should be cut weekly, to keep them in the highest condition of beauty, verdure, and cleanliness. Weeding by hand is now almost unknown in gardens. Nearly all crops being sown in drills, and the hoe destroying the weeds with far greater despatch, no weed, except in seed-beds, or patches of seed, should ever be allowed to grow large enough in gardens to permit of the hand laying hold of it. The moment weeds are seen, the hoe should be driven through them. Other labours with plants, such as tying and training, might be enumerated, but these belong more properly to garden operations, and will be fully dealt with in their proper place. Operations of Culture. Garden culture may be arranged under the heads of Propagation, Rearing, Preservation, and Amelioration. Propagation. Plants are propagated either by seed, or by division. The latter mode, including cuttings, joints, leaves, layers, suckers, slips, budding, grafting, and inarching. All the modes of propagation by division are founded on the principle that a bud, whether visible or latent, is essentially the same as a seed, and will consequently produce a plant ; and that, as there is a bud, either visible or in an embryo state, in the axil of every leaf, it follows that for every leaf a plant contains, a young plant may be originated by art. This, however, is not done with equal ease in every species, and perhaps with some it may be almost impracticable ; but it holds good with the great majority of plants, and may therefore safely be laid down and acted on as a general principle. There is an important difference between propagating by seed and propagating by any of the other modes known to gardeners — viz., that in propagating by seed, the species in the abstract is propa- gated, while in propagating by any of the other modes, the species is continued with the habits of the individual parent. Thus, a shoot taken from a weeping-ash, and grafted on a common ash, will produce a tree like the parent ; while a seed taken from the weeping-ash will not in general produce a weeping plant, but an upright growing one like the species. Nevertheless this does not always hold good, even in such trees as the weeping-ash and the weeping-oak ; and it does not 206 ON PROPAGATION BY SEED. hold good at all in the case of trees in a high state of culture, such as fruit trees ; or in the case of herbaceous plants in a highly artificial state, such as the culinary vegetables of our gardens, and the principal agricultural plants of our farms. The weeping-ash was an accidental sport ; but notwithstanding this, out of many hundred plants raised from seed collected from a weeping tree by a nurseryman at Berlin, one or two were found to exhibit the weeping characters of the parent ; and when we consider that all the common weeping-ash trees in Europe have been propagated from one tree, that at Gamblingay, in Cam- bridgeshire, and that this tree is a female, so that the blossoms, when fertile seeds have been produced, must have been fecundated by the male blossoms of some adjoining common ash, the small proportion of weeping plants raised is not surprising. The acorns produced by a celebrated weeping-oak at Moccas Court, in Herefordshire, produce plants almost all of which have the branches drooping, though this tree is not farther removed from nature than the weeping-ash, both having been found accidentally in a wild state. The stones of a green- gage plum, and the seeds of a golden-pippin apple, will unquestionably produce plants, many of which will bear varieties of the greengage and golden pippin ; and though these may vary from the fruit of their parents, yet they will not vary more than the produce of a wilding, such as a crab-apple, or a wild plum, will sometimes do from its parent. The seeds of the cultivated varieties of cabbage, peas, wheat, oats, &c., it is well known, produce plants in all respects like their parents, or, in horticultural language, ** come true." The seeds of trees, however, are not so much to be depended on as those of herbaceous plants, and especially of annuals, in a high state of culture ; for a kernel out of the same apple which produced the Ribston pippin produced another tree, the fruit of which proved little better than a crab. From these facts we consider it safe for the gardener to adopt it as a principle, that the seeds of trees, as well as of herbaceous plants, will not only repro- duce the species, but, to a considerable extent, also the variety ; though we cannot depend on this mode for reproducing the variety with the same certainty as we can on propagation by division. On Propagation by Seed. The seed is of a mucilaginous consistency when young, and it becomes more or less solid when matured. Before germination can take place, the solid part of the seed must be rendered again muci- laginous, and soluble in water ; and this is effected by the moisture and heat of the soil, and the oxygen of the atmosphere. The absence of light, or at least of much light, is also favourable to germination, but not essential to it ; for though when seeds are sown they are generally covered in proportion to their size, in order to maintain an equal degree of moisture and to keep them in darkness, we also sow the smaller seeds, such as those of ferns and heaths, on the surface, and maintain the requisite moisture by means of a close covering of glass, only moderating the light by placing them in the shade. That the want of ON PROPAGATION BY SEED. 207 moisture prevents the germination of seeds, though every other requi- site should be present, is known to every gardener ; and indeed, were it otherwise, it would be next to impossible to preserve seeds from one season to another, since, though it is in our power to keep them dry, it is scarcely practicable to prevent the access of air and heat. The presence of air and warmth are likewise necessary to the growth of seeds. That the want of air has an effect in preventing the germina- tion of seeds is proved by the following experiment. If a number of seeds be put in a bottle with from ten to twenty times their bulk of water, and all communication with the surrounding atmosphere be cut off, so that the water may not absorb any oxygen from it, the seeds will not germinate, though placed in a temperature suitable for germination ; but if the same experiment be repeated with a propor- tionately larger quantity of water, the seeds will find in the air which it contains sufficient oxygen to enable them to germinate. (' Gard. Mag.' for 1841, p. 482.) That seeds will not germinate without the presence of a certain degree of heat, is rendered evident by the fact of self-sown seeds lying in the soil all the winter, and only vegetating when the temperature becomes sufficiently high in the spring. Process of Germination. — If the husks are hard or impenetrable, germination proceeds slowly. Various means have been adopted to hasten the growth of acacias and other hard seeds. Steeping in hot or boiling water has hastened the process ; but it is safer to cut or file through the hard shell at one spot. From this spot the seed imbibes the requisite quantity of air and moisture, the radicle is quickly developed, and, with the help of the swollen tissue within it, bursts the sutures of the husk. In this way many hard- shelled seeds of monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants, such as canna, paeonia, acacia, abrus, erythrina, cassia, schotia, guilandina, adenanthera, bauhinia, and caesalpinia, have been made to ger- minate in a short time, mostly in from ten to twenty days. If the seeds be old, they should, after cutting, be laid for a few days in luke- warm rain-water, and, if they have any life remaining, this will stimu- late it. Something similar also takes place with seeds which, besides the testa, or husk, are also enclosed in a pericarpium, or outer-cover- ing. They lie either in fours, at the bottom of a dry hollow cup, as in the labiatae and boragineae ; or they are single, or several, surrounded with a thick fleshy cup, as in many species of the rosaceae ; or single, or in twos, covered with a dry cup, as in compositae, umbelliferae, and their allied species. Lastly, in the gramineae, we find them only surrounded with the pericarpium, as true caryopses. Many of these germinate as easily as naked seeds ; but this depends, in some measure, on the capacity or incapacity of the husk to absorb water in a natural state. We find seeds hard and stony only among the rosaceae, as in rosa, prunus, cotoneaster, mespilus, crataegus, &c., and these require cutting or filing, if intended to germinate quickly. The remainder are divided, according to their formation, into two groups ; those pos- sessing albumen, in which the embryo lies, and those that do not. This division is useful, for the cotyledons always imbibe the water first 203 ON PROPAGATION BY SEED. and easiest, whereas the albumen is less capable of doing so; and hence the germination of those seeds which have none, but whose interior is entirely filled with the embryo and its cotyledons, as in the boragineae, labiatae, composite, &c., will be more easily effected. The gramineae and umbelliferae, on the contrary, possess albumen : in the former, the embryo lies outside of the albumen, on which account they easily germinate ; whereas, in the latter, the embryo is entirely sur- rounded by the albumen, for which reason, with the exception of most of the annual or biennial sorts, they are more difficult to vege- tate. As these seeds cannot be cut with advantage, it is usual to sow them late in autumn, with other difficult-growing sorts ; so that when the universal period of germination comes, in the spring, they may be sufficiently permeated with moisture. This method is very well suited for sowing on a large scale ; but as the seed often perishes during the winter, and the earth becomes soddened, or thickly covered with moss, the preferable way for valuable seeds which are to be raised in the open air, is to sow them in the spring, after they have been soaked for some days previously in warm water. Seeds that are to be raised under glass, with the aid of artificial heat, may be sown at any time. The period necessary to complete the process of germination varies in different seeds, though all attendant circumstances may be alike. The grasses generally vegetate most rapidly, and they are quickly followed by some of the cruciferous and leguminous plants ; umbelli- ferous plants are generally slower, and rosaceous plants still more so. Adanson gives the following table of the period of germination in several seeds tried by himself in France : — Days. Wheat, millet 1 Strawberry blite, beans, mustard, kidney-beans, turnips, radishes, and rocket 3 Lettuce, and aniseed 4 Melon, cucumber, gourd, and cress . 5 Horse-radish, leek 6 Barley 7 Orache , . 8 Days. Purslane 9 Cabbage 10 Hyssop 30 Parsley 40 or 50 Cow- wheat, almond, chestnut, peach, and peony One year Rose, hawthorn, hazel-nut, and cornel Two years (' Fam. des Plantes,' vol. i, p. 84.) The same author found that the seeds which germinated in twelve hours in an ordinary degree of heat, might be made to germinate in three hours by exposing them to a greater degree of heat ; and that seeds transported from the climate of Paris to that of Senegal, have their periods of germination accelerated from one to three days. On the same principle seeds transported from a warmer to a colder climate have their period of germination pro- tracted till the temperature of the latter is raised to that of the former. The seeds of annuals generally germinate quicker and with more cer- tainty than those of perennial plants ; and they generally retain their power of germination much longer. The quantity of moisture most favourable to germination must depend on various circumstances, such as the degree of heat with which ON PROP A GA TION B T SEED. 209 it is accompanied, the vital power of the seed, and the nature of the species. The seeds of aquatic plants vegetate when immersed in water, and the plants live and attain maturity in that element ; but those of land plants, though they will vegetate in water, yet if the plants be not removed immediately after germination, they will become putrid and die. In general, the most favourable degree of moisture for newly- sown seeds, is that which a free soil holds in its interstices. Clayey soil will retain too much moisture for delicate seeds, and sand too little ; but an open, free loam will attract and retain the proper quan- tity for all seeds, excepting those which are very small and very deli- cate ; and for these a mixture of peat loam and fine sand will retain just moisture enough, and no more. With all delicate seeds it is better rather to have too little moisture than too much ; and with all seeds whatever, it is of great importance to preserve the degree of moisture uniform. For this purpose, in the open garden, newly-sown delicate seeds are shaded or covered by different means, such as sowing them on the north sides of hedges or walls, interposing hurdles placed upright or horizontally between the sown seeds and the sun, covering with mats, or branches, or litter, or, in the case of very small seeds, with moss. The more tender kinds are also sown in frames, or under hand or bell-glasses, by which evaporation is prevented or checked, and a steady degree of moisture effectually maintained. The water requisite to cause old seeds to germinate should be more gradually given to them than that given to vigorous young seeds ; because the power of absorbing water in old seeds is not diminished in the same proportion as their power of decomposing it. When old seeds are placed in moist soil, they are consequently very liable to rot; more especially if the temperature be not somewhat higher than new seeds of the same species usually require. Hence, old seeds should be sown in a much drier soil than new seeds, and should be supplied with water much more sparingly, or left to absorb it from the atmosphere. The depth to which a seed is buried in the soil has, for its chief object, the maintenance of a due degree of moisture, but another pur- pose is to exclude the light, and to give the future plant a better hold of the ground ; though there is no seed whatever that will not vege- tate on the surface, if that surface be kept uniformly moist and shaded. It may be assumed that every seed will vegetate and establish itself in the soil, if buried to its own thickness ; but the experience of gar- deners proves, that some large seeds, such as leguminous seeds, nuts, &c., make better plants when buried much deeper. The degree of heat most favourable for the germination of seeds may be considered as that best adapted for the growth of the parent plants ; and hence if the native country of any plant is known, it may be assumed that its seeds will germinate best in the temperature of the spring, or growing season of that country. Some seeds of cold climates, such as those of the * common annual grass, chickweed, groundsel, &c., will germinate in a temperature little above the freez- ing point ; but, in general, few northern plants will germinate under 210 ON PROP A GA TION B T SEED. 40°, and the most favourable temperature for germinating, Dr. Lindley states to be — for the seeds of cold countries, from 50° to 55° ; for seeds of greenhouse-plants, from 60° to 65°; and for seeds of the plants of the torrid zone, 70° to 80°. ('Theory of Hort.,' p. 166.) It may be remarked that though the seeds of warm countries will not vegetate in the temperature of cold countries, yet that the reverse of this does not hold true, as may be observed in the germination of British weeds in our stoves ; but the plants thus produced, unless im- mediately removed to the open air, remain weak and sickly. The degree of heat which the seeds of plants will endure has already been slightly noticed. Certain leguminous seeds, as those of some aca- cias, may be subjected to the boiling point for a few minutes without injury ; others may be allowed to steep and cool for twenty -four hours in water heated to 200°. The seeds of Acacia Lophantha were sub- jected to boiling water for five minutes, and the plants raised from them were exhibited before the Horticultural Society, some years ago, by Mr. Palmer of Bromley, Kent. Messrs. Edwards and Colin found that wheat, barley, and rye could germinate between 44° and 45° ; that they were killed by remaining three days in water at the temperature of 95°; that in sand and earth, at 104°, they lived for a, considerable time; but that at 113° most of them perished; and that at 122° all of them perished ; but it was found that a higher temperature could be borne by these and other seeds for a shorter time. At 143°, in vapour, wheat, barley, kidney-beans, and flax retained their vitality for a quarter of an hour; in dry air these seeds sustained no injury at 167°; but in vapour, at this temperature, they all perished. Dr. Lindley mentions the very remarkable case of the germination of the seeds of a raspberry, which had been picked from a jar of jam, and which, consequently, must have been subjected to the temperature of the boiling point of the syrup, which is 230°. The degree of cold which seeds will endure differs according to the species, their native country, and their condition in respect to moisture. Dry seeds stand so high a degree of cold, that even the lowest tempera- ture of the frigid zone does not injure them ; but if they have imbibed any moisture they freeze according to the degree of growth which may have been excited, and the degree of cold to which they had been accustomed in their native zone. Atmospheric air is as necessary to the germination of seeds as moisture and heat ; and this is the principal cause why seeds buried to a certain depth in the soil do not vegetate. It also affords a reason for having the surface of the soil, in which seeds are sown, porous, and exposed to the action of the atmosphere, and to rain-water, which contains more air than the water of wells. Hence the rapidity with which seeds spring up in the open ground after the first warm spring showers. Hence, also, the propriety of giving fresh air to hotbeds, and to hand and bell-glasses covering sown seeds, even though they have not come up. Bright light is found to be universally unfavourable ; because it has a tendency to decompose carbonic acid, and fix carbon ; whereas, the ON PROP A QA Tl ON B Y SEED. 21 1 first step in the progress of germination is to render carbon mucilaginous and soluble in water, and so to cause the evolution of carbonic acid gas. Accelerating the Germination of Seeds. — In ordinary practice this is chiefly effected by the application of a higher degree of heat, as by placing pots of sown seeds in hotbeds, or by immersing seeds in tepid water, or by cutting or paring nuts, or gently fermenting them in heaps of sawdust, as is frequently done with chestnuts, walnuts, acorns, almonds, &c. On a large scale, both in the field and the garden, the most common resource is steeping in warm water for a few hours, which is found to bring up the seeds of barley, turnips, beets, parsnips, onions, &c., when the soil in which they are sown is very dry, much sooner than would otherwise be the case ; this is found to prevent them from becoming a prey to insects or birds. The sowing of some seeds before they are perfectly ripe has also been found to promote their early vegetation. Various experiments have been made to accelerate germination with different degrees of success. These all proceed on the principle that germination cannot take place until the carbon of the seed is changed into carbonic acid ; and as this can only be done by extraordinary supplies of oxygen, the agents employed are such as have the power of supplying that substance in greater abundance than water or air, from which, under ordinary circumstances, the plant obtains it by decom- position. Humboldt was the first to observe that watering with chlo- rine induced speedy germination ; and as, according to the observa- tions of Gb'ppert, iodine and bromine, in conjunction with hydrogen, produce a similar effect, it appears that both these matters, as well as the oxalic and other acids frequently applied for that purpose, hasten the process of assimilation. It cannot be denied that all these sub- stances accelerate germination ; but to the practical gardener they must be considered as experiments unfit for general practice, for the young plants thus called into existence most frequently become sickly through the excitement, and die off, which cannot surprise us, as the same effect is seen when plants of cold climates are reared too warmly, and are not placed in a cooler situation after germination. Electricity and Alkalies as Stimulants to Vegetation. — It is conjectured that electricity causes or accelerates chemical decomposition. In experi- ments made some years since by M. Maltuen, it was found that seeds germinated sooner at the negative or alkaline pole of a galvanic battery than at the positive or acid pole, and following up these discoveries by enclosing seeds in phials of alkalies and acids, he found they ger- minated quickly in the former, and with difficulty, and sometimes not at all, in the latter. Connected with the same subject are the experiments of Dr. Horner and Mr. Hunt, on the differently coloured rays of the spectrum ; the violet or deoxidizing end produces a chemical effect, similar to the negative or alkaline pole, and the red end produces the opposite or acid effect, by the retention of the oxygen. To test the nature of these theories, some very old spruce- fir-seed was treated as follows : It had been three years out of the cones, and some of it sown the year before this experiment only yielded 212 ON PROP A GA TION B Y SEED. one-sixth part of a crop. After damping the seeds they were sprinkled with quicklime, which, besides furnishing an alkaline, has a great affinity for carbonic acid, which is necessary to be extracted from the starch before it can be made soluble, and which produces heat by con- centration of the oxygen and carbon when being extracted. The seed was thoroughly damped and sprinkled with powder of lime for ten or twelve days ; at the end of which time it had swelled off plump, and had all the sweet smell of the sugar formed in healthy seed when malted in this way : and, when deposited in the ground, it was not long in pushing up its seed leaves, as healthy, upright, and dark green in the colour, as the first year it was sown ; and the seedling plants were strong and healthy. The reasons why I preferred lime were its cheapness, and the affinity of quicklime for carbonic acid : as to its alkaline properties, soda is much more powerful, but lime seemed to be that which had produced most effect in other experiments on the same subject. The seed must be carefully kept damp till sown, as the dry powder is apt to corrode it ; and seeds should never have their dormant powers brought into action without being sustained and carried for- ward. Lime has likewise been applied to magnolias and other weak- growing seeds difficult to start, and made them germinate sooner, and make stronger plants than usual. The length of time during which seeds retain their vitality varies exceedingly in different species ; and the difference in this respect, even in the plants in common cultivation, as every seedsman knows, is very considerable. It is remarkable that the seeds of annual plants not only germinate in general sooner and with more certainty than those of perennials, but also that they retain their power of germination much longer. The greater part of the seeds of perennial plants and trees, when well kept, preserve their germinating powers for a long time ; while certain oily seeds, like those of dictamnus, magnolia, and myristica, &c., decay soon after ripening. Melon-seeds have been known to retain their vitality for nearly half a century, kidney-beans for a century, and the seeds of the sensitive-plant upwards of sixty years. The length of time that seeds will lie in the ground without grow- ing, is not less remarkable than the difference in their retention of vitality. Many seeds which, when sown in spring, come up soon after- wards, will not come up the same year if sown in autumn. This is the case with many common annuals, which when sown immediately after ripening either do not come up at all that year, or come up sparingly and sickly. On the other hand, the seeds of the greater portion of biennial plants, if sown immediately after ripening, come up freely, become strong plants before winter, and flower the following year. This is also the case with a great number of annual plants, especially those of California, which in their native country spring up before winter, and are preserved through that season by a covering of snow. The seeds of crataegus, mespilus, ilex, prunus, cerasus, and some others, if sown immediately after being gathered, will in part come up the following spring, but chiefly in the second spring, though some will not ON PROP A GA TION BY SEED. 213 germinate till the third or fourth season. If these seeds, instead of being sown immediately after gathering, are dried and sown the same autumn, none will come up till the spring of the second year. This holds good also with the seeds of a number of trees and shrubs, among which may be mentioned daphne, ribes, rubus, rosa, potentilla, berberis, pseonia, &c. De Candolle mentions a sowing of tobacco which con- tinued to send up plants in sufficient numbers to form a crop every year for ten years. It is a common occurrence to find plants, espe- cially annuals, springing up in ground newly brought into cultivation, alter it had been used many years for other purposes. Thus, a field of grass that was ploughed up near Dunkeld in Scotland, after a period of fourteen years in turf, yielded a considerable crop of black oats with- out sowing. Mustard-seed has sprung up in the fern lands, which must have lain there upwards of a century ; and white clover, it is well known to every agriculturist, springs up, on the application of lime in soils, where it had not been before seen in the memory of man. In pulling down old buildings, seeds capable of germinating have been found in the clay used as mortar. The seed of Veronica hederaefolia, L., after heavy rains, has been known to spring up on the surface of fields where previously no trace of that plant was to be found. The season for sowing seeds is, in nature, when they are ripe, but in artificial culture it varies according to the object in view. The spring, however, is the most favourable period for germination, because at this season the warmth daily increases, and the vegetable kingdom awakens from the sleep of nature. Seeds removed from foreign countries, and also the seeds of any rare indigenous plant, should be sown as soon as they are removed or gathered, in a soil and situation favourable for germination and growth. For a succession of crops of annual culinary plants, or annual flowers, the gardener sows at different periods ; and in the case of biennial plants, he sows in the autumn. The time of sowing is very much determined by the time that it is desired to reap. It should be noted that all seeds, of whatever kind, should be sown in dry soil, and not watered till they begin to vegetate ; in the case of old or sickly seeds, to water them at the time of sowing is to insure their destruction by rotting ; that shading is to be preferred to watering ; finally, that all seedlings, except bulbs, should be potted or transplanted as soon as they will bear handling. The mechanical process of sowing is very simple ; whether the seeds are sown broad-cast, that is, distributed equally over an even surface, or deposited in drills or regular furrows, they are delivered from the hand, or from small hand drills. Some rough seeds, such as those of the carrot, are mixed with sand, to separate them so that they may drop singly ; and other very small seeds, such as those of rhododen- drons, and other ericacese, are mixed with fine sand to prevent them from falling too thickly. The smallest seeds of all, such as those of the ferns, and of some of the hardy orchidese, are sown on the surface of pots or pans filled with well-drained peat and sand, and placed in a shady place and covered with glass. American tree seeds of small size are generally sown in pans or boxes as soon as received, and kept 21 4 ON PROP A GA T10N B Y CUTTINGS. under glass in a cold pit, and shaded during sunshine till they vege- tate. Cape and Australian seeds, and in general all seeds from warm climates, are sown as soon as received, in a mixture of loam, peat, and sand, and placed in a temperature similar to that of the growing season in the country they came from. Sowing seeds in powdered charcoal has been tried in the Botanic Garden at Munich with extraordinary success. Seeds of cucumbers and melons sown in it germinated one day sooner than others sown in soil, and plunged in the same hotbed ; becoming strong plants, while the others remained comparatively stationary. Ferns sown on the surface of finely-sifted charcoal, germinate quickly and vigorously ; and it seems not improbable, that this material may be found as useful in exciting seeds difficult to germinate, as it is in rooting cuttings difficult to strike. Ferns also do well sown on the surface of porous pots or stone, and on the dark sides of damp brick walls. On Propagation by Cuttings. A cutting is a portion of a shoot containing either leaf-buds, or •eaves in the axils of which buds may be produced. It must at least be of sufficient length to have two buds or two joints — -one at the lower extremity to produce roots, and another at the upper end to produce a shoot. A portion of a stem with only one bud is not con- sidered a cutting, but is technically an eye or joint. It is almost unnecessary to state that the cause of success is to be found in the analogy between a cutting and a seed ; the bud being the embryo plant, and the alburnum of the cutting containing the nutriment which is to support the development of the bud, till it has formed roots sufficient to absorb nutriment from the soil. The roots formed by the cuttings are protruded from the section at its lower extremity, and are, in fact, a continuation of the alburnous process, which, had the cutting not been separated from the plant, would have been employed in adding to its young wood and inner bark. Every cutting must either contain a stock of alimentary matter in its alburnum, as in the case of cuttings of ripened wood without leaves, or it must contain .healthy leaves, capable of elaborating alimentary matter from the moisture absorbed from the soil joined to the alburnous matter already in the cutting. All cuttings may be divided into two kinds — deciduous, as the common gooseberry or willow ; or evergreen, as most greenhouse plants, such as the camellia, the geranium, the fuchsia, heaths, &c. In both cases the cutting, after being planted, is excited by heat, and supported by the moisture absorbed from the soil. In the case of the leafless cutting the buds expand, and preceding, or simultaneous with, their develop- ment, roots are formed ; while the leaves of evergreen cuttings con- tinue to perform their function, and thus send down fresh supplies of organizable matter for the formation of new roots. In most species this organizable matter is first developed as a swelling or callosity between the bark and the wood, or over the whole base of the cutting. When this is fairly formed, roots are certain to follow. While possibly OJV PROP A GA TION B T CUTTINGS. 21 5 all leaf-bearing stems may be rooted, there are great differences as to the time and skill needed for their conversion into plants. Selecting Plants from which the Cuttings are to be Taken. — Every plant from which cuttings are taken ought to be healthy, otherwise it will probably lack the power of forming roots, and will become a diseased plant. It is found from experience that cuttings taken from the lower branches of plants which are near the soil, root more readily than such as are near the summit of the plant and are surrounded by drier air ; doubtless because the tissue of the wood which contains the nutriment is in a more concentrated and hardened state in the latter case than in the former. Hence the practice of putting plants which are difficult to strike into a warm moist atmosphere, and keeping them there till they have produced shoots sufficiently soft in texture to insure their rooting. Hence cuttings of evergreens, such as the holly and laurel, strike more readily after a wet season than after a dry one, and better in the Irish nurseries than in those of England or France. Hard-wooded plants, such as heaths, should make their young wood in a warm, close, moist atmosphere, ami the propagating-house should have the same moist, still, unchanging atmosphere, as if it were under a bell-glass. The following are some of the expedients adopted by Mr. Cunningham, of the Comely Bank Nursery, Edinburgh, one of the most successful propagators. The more rare plants which are to be propagated are planted in a bed of sandy peat and leaf-mould, or of some such soil, where they are found to grow much more freely than in pots, and speedily to produce shoots, which are taken off in a young and tender state, and struck in sand. Various modes are adopted to induce the plants which are to be propagated from to protrude young shoots, such as when they have small leaves, like heaths, &c., by bending down, twisting them, &c. ; and in the case of plants having larger leaves, such as the Statice arborea, or some of the more rare fuchsias, by cutting a notch in the stem above every bud, and inserting a wooden wedge in the notch to keep it open, in consequence of which the as- cending sap being checked, every bud protrudes a shoot, which is taken off in a tender state, with or without the base of old wood from which it sprang, according to circumstances. In some cases the shoot is taken off, and the base left to produce other shoots from the latent buds ; in other cases, the shoot and its base are taken off together, and occasion- ally, before taking off the shoot and its base, a notch is made below the bud as well as above it, and the lower notch as well as the upper one is kept open by a wedge, till a callosity is formed on the upper edges of the lower notch, from which roots are very readily protruded, after the cutting (with its base attached) has been taken off and planted in sand. Selecting the Shoot. — The wood of the present or of the past year is almost invariably chosen for cuttings. In the case of plants which are not difficult to strike, a portion of the young shoot is cut off at any convenient distance from the branch from which it proceeded, and of such a length as may be considered most convenient for forming a plant. Thus in the case of willows, gooseberries, currants, &c., from 216 O.V PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. nine to eighteen inches is considered a suitable length ; and the points of the shoots of these and other kinds of easily-rooting plants are cut off, as not being sufficiently ripened to have strong buds, or as contain- ing too many small buds. In plants somewhat difficult to strike, lateral shoots are chosen, and these are often drawn or "slipped" out of the wood, so as to carry with them the axillary formation of the bud and the vessels of the leaf. The plexus of vessels at the heel of the shoot or insertion of the branch in the stem, causes a peculiar activity of life there ; and both buds and roots are much more easily formed and in greater quantity there than in any other part of the shoot. The in- sertion of the branch resembles in this respect the collar of the stem. If the heel of the gooseberry or currant- cutting is taken out completely by breaking off, not cutting, it is better than taking off a piece of the old wood. This is the only way in which shoots covered with a woolly tissue, such as several gnaphaliums and helichrysums, can be made to root. This method is also very successful with plants that are difficult to root, and that have leaves surrounded with prickles, such as Mutisia ilicifolia, Berkleya grandiflora, Logania floribunda, latifolia, &c. ; also with those the leaves of which have stalks with very strong veins, or their circumference very strongly defined, such as Banksia grandis, Berkleya ciliaris, the different species of Daviesia, Chorozema ovata, &c. ; or those that have winged steins, such as Acacia alata. The reason of the success is, that the heel being formed by the first growth of the lateral, consists of wood more or less ripened ; and consequently, when it is planted, it is less likely to be damped off by the moisture of the soil than younger wood. When the heel is too ripe, the cutting will not strike. Shoots which have formed blossom buds ought in general to be avoided ; because it frequently happens that all the assimilated nourishing matter has been laid up for their future support, and no root formation can take place. As general rules, it may be stated that cuttings made of the ripened wood of deciduous plants that have a large pith, succeed best when taken off with a portion of the preceding year's wood, such as the gooseberry, currant, vine, fig, honeysuckle, elder, hydrangea, spirasa, syringa, philadelphus, &c. Cuttings of hard-wooded plants, difficult to strike, such as Erica, Epacris, Burtonia, are best made from points of the shoots cut off where the wood is beginning to ripen, as in Erica pinguis, aristata, ferruginea, Hartnelli, cerinthoides, empetrifolia, picta, fasciculata, vernix, &c. ; or from lateral shoots made from wood of the same year, as in almost all the more easily growing species of Erica ; such are Erica uiargaritacea, rubens, ramentacea, mucosa, tenera, tenella, scabriuscula, persoluta, pellucida, and all those of a similar growth. Cuttings of soft-wooded plants, or of plants with woolly bark, such as Manulea, Mutisia, Gnaphalium, &c., are best made of lateral shoots beginning to ripen at the lower end, and drawn out from the main shoot with a heel. Cuttings of soft-stemmed plants which are easily rooted, such as Dahlia, Petunia, Geranium, &c., may be cut off from any growing shoots where the tissue is somewhat firm, but ON PROP A GA T10N B Y CUTTINGS. 217 moderately strong shoots will be found the best. Cuttings of growing succulent wood have most active vitality, and strike root most quickly ; but, from the unripened state of the wood, are most apt to die, and re- quire to be kept more close and moist. There is danger in both extremes, and both must be guarded against in such as are difficult to strike. The time of taking off cuttings depends much on the nature of the plant to be propagated. In the case of hardy deciduous trees and shrubs, such as the gooseberry, poplar, &c., any period between the tailing of the leaf in autumn and the swelling of the buds in spring, will answer, but the autumn is preferable, because more time is given for the cutting to accommodate itself to its new situation and circum- stances before the growing season. This it does by cicatrizing the wounded section, and thus preventing it from absorbing moisture in excess when the growing season commences. If the cutting be not taken off till spring, the buds on it will have been supplied with moisture from the root, and the sudden cutting off of this supply will materially check the growth of the buds. Cuttings of hardy evergreens not difficult to strike, such as those of the box, laurel, &c., may be taken off in the ripened wood in the autumn rather than in spring, for the same reason as given in the case of deciduous cuttings of ripened wood. Cuttings of house plants, whether deciduous or evergreen, such as Fuchsia, Aloysia, Camellia, &c., may be taken off at whatever season the wood ripens. The length of cuttings is not material to their rooting. One eye in the ground and one out constitutes a cutting, and their length beyond this is determined by the height and form of plant desired. The number of leaves which are left upon the cutting should be determined by its character and treatment. If the cutting is succulent, and has large leaves, one may suffice ; otherwise the whole of the leaves may be left. The more that can be sustained without nagging, the sooner will roots be formed ; hence the number of leaves left will depend mostly upon the atmosphere in which the cuttings are placed. Flagging must not be allowed, as the drooping leaves will drain the sap out of the cutting, instead of nourishing it with fresh supplies of food. The lower leaves of a cutting, when they can be kept on, have more influence on the formation of roots than the upper ones, because they expose a larger • surface to the action of light; and hence, when from their long petioles, or any other cause, they are not likely to rot, they should always be kept on. The leaf on a level with the base of the cutting is the most valuable of all, as it excites life at the very point where all its energies are needed to iorm roots ; but small and closely-set leaves, such as those of Erica, Brunia, &c., when covered with soil, soon begin to rot, and endanger the cutting, and they ought therefore to be taken off. This ought always to be done with a very sharp-pointed pair of scissors, and the greatest possible care should be taken not to lacerate the bark by the operation, or to bruise the end of the cutting in cutting it across with a knife. The cuttings of Pelargoniums, on the other hand, may be of any length, 218 ON PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. and covered with leaves. Pelargoniums, and most soft-wooded plants, strike freest full in the sun, out of doors. The danger to them is from damp, not exhaustion. The temporary fading of the leaves supplies the needed nutrition, and saves them from rottenness ; but short cut- tings make the handsomest plants. When the season is dry and warm, and little time can be spared to attend to keeping them moist, succulent cuttings, such as pinks, are most certain to strike by paring them close below the uppermost joint, and cutting them off above close to the joint, removing all the leaves, except those beginning to develop. Such a cutting is a mere joint in a vital, active, not ripened state, and will stand a great deal of heat; if covered with a hand-glass in sunny weather, or in a hotbed frame in cold weather, they seldom . or never fail. The excitement of heat is all that is wanted. In taking off a cutting, regard should be had to the healing of the section left on the plant, and therefore the cut ought to be made Fig. 165. upwards or outwards, so as to leave a smooth unfractured section that will speedily heal over. The cut on the lower end of the cutting should be made with a very sharp knife, so as not to crush in any degree the vessels of the shoots, and thereby prevent them from cicatrizing and forming a callosity. The cut should not be made through the joint, because the roots seldom proceed from the joint itself, but rather from its base, beneath the point of insertion of the petiole of the leaf. Shoots that have opposite leaves should be taken off by cutting across at a right angle with the direction of the shoot, either immediately under the base of the petiole, or where its combined vessels distinctly reach the stem. Shoots that have alternate leaves should have the knife inserted on the opposite side of the bud, under the node, and the cut should be per- formed in a slanting upward direction from the base, or under that of the Prepared cutting of a shaddock. ^^ Qf ^ insertion of the leal; so as to convey away its combined vessels in as perfect a state as possible, which produces the same effect as when a lateral shoot is torn off and then cut clean. This practice is found very successful with many cut- tings, such as those of Camellias, Banksias, and similar plants. The lower ends of stout cuttings of plants somewhat difficult to strike, such as the Orange, are sometimes cut direct across, so as to rest on the bottom of the pot, and sometimes they are in addition split up for an inch or two, and the wound kept open with a wedge. This has been ON PROP A GA TION B Y CUTTINGS. 219 found by long experience greatly to facilitate the rooting of such cut- tings, probably by increasing the surface by which absorption of moisture takes place, and at the same time ensuring only a moderate supply of moisture, and perhaps creating a greater demand for the action of the leaves to cicatrize the wound with granular matter. When cuttings are tardy to strike, and have callosities formed, heat has a power- ful effect in causing them to root. Those that have stood months, with- out any appearance of rooting, will strike in a few days in a strong heat. Treatment of Cuttings from the time they are made till they are planted. — In general, cuttings are no sooner made than they are inserted in the soil where they are to remain till they strike root. If cuttings of Dryandra, some Banksias (B. integrifolia, B. Baueri, B. media, B. Caleyi, &c.), most of the long-leaved Acacias (A. longissima, A. pen- dula, A. brevifolia, A. glaucescens, A. longifolia, A. micracantha, &c.), and some sorts of Diosma (D. dioica, formosa, and umbellata), be stuck in the earth immediately after being taken from the parent plant, the inner bark will become black in from fourteen days to four weeks, and the cutting will perish. This phenomenon appears to be in close con- nexion with the form of the leaves of these plants, as those of the Acacias have very small stomata, while those of the Dryandras have none at all In their stead, on the under side of the leaves of the latter plants are small dimples, lined with short hairs, which the Diosmas also possess. Now, as the crude nourishing matter is drawn up through the open wood in its existing state, and received by the cutting, while the spongioles of the roots only imbibe it in a very thin solution, it appears that the above-named plants, on account of the peculiar formation of their leaves, cannot elaborate in any great quantity this gross nourishing matter ; and hence arise stagnation of the juices, and the before-mentioned appearances. The good effect of leaving these cuttings lying, and thus interrupting the growing process, appears to be the prevention of the superabundant rise of the crude nourishing matter ; and this is the more probable, as it is usual, for the same purpose, to rub over the section with a piece of clay. Cuttings of succulent, or fleshy, plants must also lie for a time before planting, and on no account in a moist atmosphere, that the surface of the cut may be sufficiently dried. The species of the families Melo- cactus, Echinocactus, Mammillaria, Opuntia, Cereus, &c., have an ex- tremely thick bark, and a fine epidermis, with very few stomata ; on which account the process of evaporation is so slow, that they remain alive for a long time without receiving external nourishment. The dried cuttings of these plants, therefore, are generally planted in dry earth, and set in a bed or house filled with warm air, and are not watered till they have formed roots from the nourishing matter accumulated in themselves. The roots are generally produced on the section between the wood and the bark. The other succulent and fleshy plants, such as the Aloe, Haworthia, Seinpervivum, Mesembryanthemum, Crassula, Plu- mieria, and its congeners, as well as all the Cacti, which form side roots, may be watered as soon as they are planted. Lastly, plants with milky juice require similar treatment, as they are equally liable to damp off. 220 ON PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. The kind of soil in which cuttings are planted depends on the greater or less facility with which they emit roots. Cuttings of hardy trees and shrubs that root easily are planted in common garden soil ; those that ar£ somewhat difficult, in sand or sandy loam on a base of garden soil; and those which are most difficult in sand or charcoal covered with a hand or bell-glass. Cuttings of house plants are almost always planted iii pots or boxes well drained, and the drainage covered, first, with a layer of good soil, or leaf 166. mould, or peat, according Fig. 167. to the soil which the plants to be propagated naturally prefer ; next , with a stratum of sand, in which the cuttings are * _„ A cutting of a Cape Heath, planted. The sand ex- prepared and planted ; the eludes the air and retains dotted line in this and the as much moisture as is following figures of cut- necessary for tne existence A ™tting °f a™ Epa~ tings represents the surface f .-, J ^ . . cris prepared and of the soil in the pot. of the cutting, and no pianted. more, so that its lower end is not likely to rot ; and the stratum of soil below the sand supplies nourishment to the roots as soon as .they penetrate through the sand. The cuttings of Cape Heaths, and almost all plants whatever which are difficult to root, are planted in pure white sand, which is quite free from soil, metallic oxides, or salts. The depth to which cuttings are planted varies according to the length and thickness of the cutting, but in general it should not be Fig. 168. more than from half an inch to four inches. Willows maybe inserted a foot deep ; gooseberries and currants six inches ; common trees and shrubs nine or ten inches. In planting cuttings it is of importance to make them quite firm at their lower ends, by pressing the sand or soil about them with the dibber used in planting them ; or in the case of large cuttings, such as those of common laurel, which are planted in trenches, by pressure with the foot. In the case of Cape Heaths and similar cuttings planted in sand, the dibber or pricker, which fe^ need not be larger than a knitting needle, is taken in the right hand, while the cutting is held in the left, and, the hole being made, the cutting is inserted nearly as deep as the leaves have been clipped off', and the pricker is again applied to close the sand round it, as closely and compactly as possible, without bruising the cutting. Large cuttings are planted in precisely the same manner, young wood of but with a larger dibber. Large cuttings of kinds which Acacia alata, are somewhat difficult to strike, when not planted in pure prepared and sand, are made to touch and press against the bottom or planted. sides of the pot, which is thought to facilitate their rooting. The distance at which cuttings are planted varies according to the OX PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 221 size of the cutting, its leaves (either on the cutting, or to be produced from its buds), the season of the year, the length of time they require to root, and other circumstances. The object is to root as many cut- tings as possible in a limited space, and consequently to plant them as close together as can be done without incurring the risk of rotting or damping them off. All cuttings whatever that are planted with the leaves on, require to be immediately well watered, in order to settle the soil about them; and all those that are in a growing succulent state, and are at all difficult to strike, should be immediately covered with a hand-glass or bell-glass ; for, though the cutting receives as much moisture through the face of the cut as it loses in ordinary cir- cumstances by evaporation, yet no sooner is it placed in very dry air or in a draught, or exposed to the sun's rays, than a disproportion takes place between the demand and supply. After Treatment of Cuttings.' — The hardiest sorts in the open garden, such as gooseberries, &c., require no particular treatment whatever, and need not even be placed in a shady situation ; but those which root less freely, such as box, holly, juniper, &c., succeed best when planted in a shady border in a sandy soil. Cuttings planted in pots or boxes require to be placed not only in a shady situation, but for the most part under glass, in order to diminish evaporation from the soil as well as from the cuttings. All the more delicate sorts of cuttings, such as heaths, and most house plants, require to be covered with a bell-glass, and shaded during bright sunshine. All cuttings with the leaves on, require to be looked over frequently, supplied with water when it is required, and such leaves as decay taken off, as well as any dead or dying cuttings removed. The most proper form of bell-glass for covering cuttings is that which gradually tapers from the base to the top, as from glasses of this shape the moisture, which adheres to the inside in the form of drops, runs gradually off, without the dropping so injurious to cuttings. This dis- advantage is found in all other forms more or less, such as those that are round at the top, or cylindrical, with the top bluntly truncated. The enclosed air under the glasses will soon lose its oxygen through the respiring process of the plants within, and also be vitiated by other exhalations, and if it is not changed, it generates mouldiness, and the cuttings lose their fresh appearance. For this reason the glasses, if possible, should be daily ventilated and wiped ; or, what is still better, as it will entirely renew the air, dipped in a vessel of cold water, and well shaken before being put on again, so that too many drops of water may not remain on the glass. The cloche, or large bell-glass, of the French market-gardeners, is very much used indoors by the Con- tinental propagators, and might be advantageously used in this country. Watering cuttings is an operation requiring great care and judg- ment. The object is, to maintain as uniform a degree of moisture in the soil as possible, without occasioning mouldiness on its surface, or rotting the leaves, hence the water is in some cases poured on the soil in such a manner as not to touch the leaves of the cuttings ; and in others a reservoir of water is formed by placing a small pot in the centre 222 ON PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. Fig. 169. of a larger one, the water being left to ooze slowly through the porous sides of the pot, as shown in fig. 169, in which a d is a No. 60 pot, with the bottom closed up with clay, put into one of larger size; £, the drainage in the larger pot ; c, the sand or soil in which the cuttings are inserted ; and d, the water in the inner pot, which is pre- vented from escaping through the bottom by the clay stopping at a. Mr. Forsyth, the inventor of this mode of striking cut- tings, proposes it to be used with hardy plants, such as pinks and wallflowers, under hand-glasses or frames, in the open air, as well as for all kinds of house- plants. The advantages, he says, are the regularity of the supply of moisture, without any chance of saturation ; the power of examining the state of the cut- tings at any time without injuring them, Forsyth' s mode of striking cuttings. Fig. 170. by lifting out the inner pot ; the superior drainage, so essential in propa- gating, by having such a thin layer of soil ; the roots being placed so near the sides of both pots ; and the facility with which the plants, when rooted, can be parted for potting off, by taking out the inner pot, and with a knife cutting out every plant with its ball, without the awk- ward but often necessary process of turning the pot upside down to get out the cuttings. No water but rain - water should ever be used, either for seeds or young cuttings. The temperature most suitable for cuttings may reasonably be expected to be that which is most suitable- for the parent plants, when in the same state as to growth as the cuttings, or rather in advance of it. Hence, for all hardy plants the tem- A cutting of Rosa sempcrflorens prepared and planted, perature of the open air will generally be found sufficient, though when they begin to grow a somewhat higher tem- perature than what is natural to them will be advantageous. This, however, will be of no use, but rather injurious, when cuttings are ON PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 223 planted without leaves, or when evergreens with ripened wood are put in ; for a certain time is required for every cutting to accom- modate itself to its new situation. The bottom heat should slightly exceed that of the atmosphere. If the shoot has, however, been much excited into growth by heat, in order to obtain the cutting, the latter must have that heat kept up in its new situation, otherwise its vegetation will be checked. For cuttings of all the difficult- rooting greenhouse plants, the best heat for the soil is from 55° to 60° Fah. ; for those of hothouse plants, from 65° to 75° Fah., which should be as regular as possible. This regularity is of great moment to ensure the success of the cuttings. Where the propagation of house- plants by cuttings is carried on extensively, a pit or house should be formed on purpose, in which there should be a bed of gently ferment- ing matter, such as tan or leaves, or, what will in general be found preferable, of sand, or coarsely -powdered charcoal, heated by the vapour of hot water from below. Where dung-beds are employed, great care is necessary to prevent the exhalations rising from the dung from entering into the house, as they would destroy most cuttings. Cuttings put in without leaves, or with leaves, but with ripened wood, will be much longer in rooting than those put in with leaves, and in a growing state, such as geraniums, petunias, dahlias, and even heaths. Cuttings of the plants in common cultivation in British gardens may be classed as under : — Cuttings of hardy deciduous trees, and shrubs, such as the goose- berry, currant, willow, poplar, &c., are easily rooted in the open garden, and the same may be said of the vine and fig. As it is desirable that the gooseberry and currant should not throw up suckers, and should have a clean stem, all the buds are cut clean out, except three, or at most four, at the upper end of the cutting. The cuttings are planted erect, with the dibber, or dug in with the spade, about six inches deep, and made quite firm at their lower extremity. Cuttings of honeysuckles, syringas, ampelopsis, artemisia, atragene, atriplex, baccharis, berchemia, bignonia, calycanthus, ceanothus, chenopodjum, clematis, China roses, and the like, are rather more difficult to root, and succeed best in a shady border and a sandy soil. Cuttings of hardy evergreens, such as the common laurel, Portugal laurel, laurustinus, arborvita?, evergreen privet, and a few others, may be rooted in common soil in the open garden ; being put in in autumn, and remaining there a year. Cuttings of buxus, juniperus, rhamnus, holly, sweet bay, aucuba, &c., require a shady border and a sandy soil. They are put in in autumn, the wood being well ripened ; but young wood of these, and all the kinds mentioned in this and the preceding para- graph will root freely, if taken off in the beginning of summer when the lower end of the cutting is beginning to ripen, and planted in sand, and covered with a hand-glass. Cuttings of all the Coniferae and Taxaceae may be taken off when the lower end of the cutting is beginning to ripen, and planted in sand, with a layer of leaf-mould beneath, in pots well drained, in the month 224 ON PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. of August or September, and kept in a cold frame, from which the frost is completely excluded, till the growing" season in spring, when they may be put into a gentle heat. It is not in general necessary to cover these cuttings with bell-glasses. The taxodium roots best in water. Cuttings of hardy or half-hardy herbaceous plants, such as pinks, carnations, sweet-williams, wallflowers, stocks, dahlias, petunias, verbenas, rockets, and in general all herbaceous plants that have stems bearing leaves, root readily in sand under a hand-glass, placed in a Fig. 171. and planted. shady border, or in a gentle heat, if greater expedition is required. All the cuttings must be cut through close under a joint, or in the case of pinks, carnations, or sweet-williams, the operation of piping may be performed. Some plants, such as pinks, carnations, picotees, &c., are increased by pipings or layers. The operation is performed when the plant has flowered, or soon afterwards, when it has nearly completed its growth for the season. The shoot chosen is held firm by the left hand, to prevent the root of the plant from being injured, while with the right the upper portion of the shoot is pulled asunder at the joint above the part held by the left hand. A portion of the shoot is thus separated at the socket formed by the axils of the leaves, and the appearance A piping of a pink prepared ig ag in fig m gome propagators shorten the leaves before planting, but others leave them as in the figure. The soil in which the pipings are to be planted being rendered very fine, mixed with sand and then well watered, the pipings are stuck in without the use of a dibber or pricker, and the operation is completed by a second watering, which settles and renders firm the soil at the lower end of the piping. Cuttings of soft- wooded greenhouse plants, such as pelargoniums, fig. 172, fuchsias, fig. 173, brug- mansias, maurandyas, and all other soft - wooded plants, being cut off where the wood is beginning to Fig. 172. A cutting of the rose- scented pelargonium, prepared and planted. ON PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 225 Fig. 173. ripen, and planted in sand or sandy loam, or sand and peat, root readily in the greenhouse or covered frame. Cuttings of these and all other soft- wooded plants may be divided into one or more lengths; it being only essential that there should be two joints, one for burying in the soil to emit roots, and the other kept above the soil to produce a shoot. The cuttings of soft-wooded plants which root best are laterals which are of average strength. Cuttings of hard-wooded green- house plants, such as camellias, myrtles, evergreen acacias, and most Cape and Australian shrubs with comparatively broad leaves, are more difficult to root than soft-wooded greenhouse plants. c a fuMa d ^ planted. The cuttings are made from the points of the shoots after the spring growth has been completed, and before the young wood is thoroughly ripened. If put in in February or March, such cuttings will be fit to transplant in July or August. Sometimes they are put in in autumn, or the beginning of winter, in which case they will not root till the following spring, Fig. 174. and must be kept cool till that season. In either case, all the leaves must be kept on, except one, or at most two, on the lower end of the cutting, which need not be planted more than an inch in depth, and should in general be covered with a bell-glass. Cuttings of the Underground Stems and Roots. — A great many plants, both ligneous and herbaceous, may be propagated by cuttings of the underground stems, as in the liquorice ; and of the roots, as in the common thorn, and most of the Rosacese. The roots may be cut into lengths of from three to six or nine inches, and planted in free soil, with the tops just above the surface. Care must be taken that the upper end of the cutting, or that which was next the stem before it was separated from the plant, be kept uppermost, for if that is not done, the cutting will not grow so well. This is the case even with cuttings of the horse-radish and sea- kale ; but if cuttings of the roots of these and similar plants are laid down horizontally, and but slightly covered with soil, they will protrude buds from what was the upper end before removal, and send out roots from the lower end. All roses may be propagated by cuttings, and all fruit-trees which are seedlings, Q A cutting of the young wood of a camellia, prepared and planted. 226 ON PROP A OA TION B Y CUTTINGS. or have been raised by cuttings or layers. The Eobinia, Acacia, Gleditschia, Coronilla, Gymnocladus, and many other leguminosae ; Ailantus, Catalpa, the balsam Ontario and Lombardy poplars, the English elm, the mulberry, the Maclura, various other ligneous plants, and all plants whatever that throw up suckers, may be increased by cuttings of the roots ; as may a great number of herbaceous peren- nials. The best mark for such as strike most readily by pieces of the root is an abundance of thick viscid juice, as in the genera Rhus, Papaver, Ailantus, Gymnocladus, &c., which strike more freely than Cydonia, roses, thorns, &c., which have less. The best time of taking them off is when the plants are in a dormant state, and all that is required is a clean cut at both ends. Striking Cuttings in Water or Moist Moss. — All marsh plants having leafy stems, whether ligneous or herbaceous, will strike root in water, and still better in vessels containing moss kept thoroughly moist. Besides marsh plants, a great many others will root in this way, which, indeed, seems the most ancient mode of artificial propagation. Cuttings of narcissus, vines, figs, &c.,have often been rooted in phials of water. The chief difficulty attending this mode of propagation is the trans- ference of the rooted cuttings from the water to the soil, which can hardly be done without a severe check. Propagation by Joints and Nodules. — This mode of propagation is founded on the principle, that every bud, whether visible or adven- titious, is capable of being made to produce a plant ; and it only differs from propagating by cuttings, in the buds or joints being taken off the plant with a smaller quantity of nutritive matter attached to them. Plants are also propagated by inserting the buds under the bark of other plants ; but this mode, which is called budding, will form the subject of a separate notice. As bulbs are only buds, nature may be said to employ this mode of propagation in the case of some species of bulb-bearing plants, such as Allium and Lilium, in which the buds frequently drop from the stems on the soil, and root into it. All the offsets of bulbs are of course buds, and may be employed in propaga- tion ; the nutriment to the young plant being supplied from the scales, which eventually elongate into leaves, and the roots proceeding from the plate or base to which these scales are attached. The buds, with the exception of bulbs, which are taken from the stems, branches, or roots of plants, for the purpose of being rooted in the soil, always con- tain a portion of the stem or root, to supply them with nourishment till they are able, by the roots they form, to abstract it from the soil. In the cuse of the vine, a joint is commonly taken ; but in that of the potato, a single bud, with a portion of the underground stem or tuber attached, is found sufficient. There are very few plants, besides the vine and the potato, which are at present propagated by rooting buds or joints in the soil, though there can be no doubt that this mode is applicable to a great number of plants with which it has not yet been tried. The late Mr. Brown, of the Hampstead Nursery, was very suc- cessful in striking camellias in this way. Plunged in a strong bottom- heat covered with bell-glasses, every leaf with its embryo distinct, ON PROP A GA TION £ Y CUTTINGS. 227 produced a well-rooted plant. The advantage of propagating by buds or joints is, that a plant is produced from every bud or joint ; whereas, in propagating by cuttings, at least two buds, and commonly several, are required. A nodule is a concretion of embryo buds, such as may be frequently seen in the matter extra vasated from the joints of pelargoniums and the stumps of old elms and poplars, olives and mulberries, occasioned by the returning sap not flowing freely to the root. These nodules are seldom used for the purpose of propagation, except in the case of the olive ; but there can be no doubt that they might be employed for this purpose, and would answer, were it not that the plants which produce them are in general very readily propagated by cuttings. The only remarkable instance of propagation by this mode that is on record is practised in Italy with the olive. The old trees are commonly found to contain swellings or nodules in the trunk, called lt uovole," and these being separated, are planted in the soil in the manner of bulbs, and produce plants. In propagating by joints of the vine it is reasonable to suppose that the larger the portion of wood attached to the joint the stronger will be the plants produced. Mr. Knight found that the buds of the vine, wholly detached from the alburnum, were incapable of retaining life ; but that a very few grains of alburnum were sufficient to enable a bud to form minute leaves and roots, such as would have been produced by plants raised from seeds. By increasing the quantity of alburnum, the shoots produced from the buds increased in the same proportion ; and when the bud had a piece of two years old wood, a foot long, attached to it, the growth was nearly as strong as it would have been if the bud had remained on the parent tree. In preparing joints of the vine, about half an inch of the wood is left above and below the bud, as in fig. 175; but this and all Fig. 175. other plants that are so pro- FiS- 176- pagated are found to root better when the shoot is cut through, so as to separate about one-third part of the A joint of a vine pre- pith, as shown in fig. 17 Q. A joint of a vine, in which pared in the com- B thj j ^ mode f treat_ two-thirds of the shoot mon manner, and J . , and pith are removed planted. ment Plants have been raised previous to planting. from buds and half-joints of camellia, poinsettia, euphorbia, brugmansia, and other species. Propagation by bulbs, and entire tubers and tubercles, is effected simply by separating them from the parent plant, and inserting them in the soil about the same depth at which they are found on the parent plant, or a little deeper in very light soil, and not quite so deep if in very heavy soil. A. phenomenon, De Candolle observes, common to all tubers is this : that while in the seed the radicle or descending part pushes first, in the tuber, on the contrary, the ascending part or plumule is first developed, and the roots appear a short time after- wards. 228 PROP A GA TION B Y LEA VES. Propagating by Bulb-bearing Leaves. — The leaves of malaxis paludosa bear little bulbs at their extremities ; several sorts of allium originate bulbs in the axils of the bracts ; and in some ferns, such as asplenium bulbiferum, and Woodwardia radicans, bulbs are found at the extre- mities of the leaves, which when these touch the soil, grow, throw down roots, and produce young plants. Propagation by Leaves. This mode of propagation is of considerable antiquity. It is said by Agricola ('L'Agriculteur Parfait, &c.,' ed. 1732) to be the invention of Frederick, a celebrated gardener at Augsburg, and to have been first described by Mirandola, in his ' Manuale di Giardinieri,' published in 1652. Subsequent experiments by C. Bonnet, of Geneva; Noisette, Thouin, Neuman, and Pepin, of Paris ; Knight, Herbert, and others, in England and Germany, have proved that there is probably no class of plants which might not be propagated by leaves. It has been tried with success with cryptogainous plants, with endogens and exo- gens ; with the popular divisions of ligneous and herbaceous plants, annuals, biennials, and perennials, and with the leaves of bulbous plants and palms. The conditions generally required for rooting leaves are, that the leaf be nearly full grown ; that it be taken off with the petiole entire ; that the petiole be inserted from an eighth to half an inch, according to its length, thickness, and texture, in sandy loam, or in pure sand on a stratum of rich soil ; and that both the soil and the atmosphere be kept uniformly moist, and at a higher temperature than is required for rooted plants of the same species. The leaves cf such succulents as cacalia, crassula, cotyledon, kalankoe, portulaca, sedum, sempervivum, cactus, gloxinias, begonias, and similar plants, root when laid on the surface of soil, with the upper side to the light, the soil and atmo- sphere being kept sufficiently close, moist, and warm. The first change that takes place is the formation of a callosity at the base of the petiole; after which, at the end of a period which varies greatly in different plants, roots are produced, and eventually, at an equally varying period, a bud from which a leafy axis is developed. Rooting Portions of Leaves. — In 1839, M. Neuman, of the Paris Garden, saw the theophrasta latifolia (Clavija ornata, D. Don) growing so well from cuttings of leaves, that he conceived the idea of cutting several of them in two, and treating them in the same manner as entire leaves. Accordingly, he cut a leaf in two, and planted both parts in the same pot, treating them exactly alike. In about three months, the lower half of the leaf had made roots, but the upper half had none ; though, some time afterwards, when it became necessary to separate the cuttings, M. Neuman found that the upper part of the leaf had also made roots, but that these roots were much shorter than those of the lower half. The rooting of the two halves of a leaf of the theophrasta, so hard and dry as every one knows these leaves to be, appearing to him an interesting circumstance, he continued to pay attention to them for six months. PROPAQA TION BY LEA VES. 229 He wished to ascertain if they would produce buds as in other cases, lor he was in hopes they would, as he remarked that the roots in- creased in the pot. At last in the seventh month, for the first time, he saw at the extremity of his two half leaves, buds appearing, as well formed as those proceeding from the base of the petiole of an entire leaf. In June, 1840, these two cuttings had become beautiful and healthy plants, which it was impossible to distinguish from others pro- duced from entire leaves, We see from this experiment that it requires double the time to produce a bud from the upper part of some leaves, that it requires for the lower half to produce one ; and that, in propagations by leaves, it Fig. 177. is not always necessary to take the heel or lower Fig. 178. end of the petiole with the leaf, which sometimes injures and deforms the shoots. M. Neu- man's experiment proves fur- ther, that wherever cambium can be formed, there are at the same time a number of utricules or germs of buds formed, from which a new plant will be de- veloped when the parent is placed in favourable circum- stances. From this circum- stance, in short, we may con- elude that all the veins may serve for the reproduction of The upper half of The lower half of ike leaf plants. The dots in fig. 178 theophrasta rooted of theophrasta rooted ghow the ^ of the and sending up a and sending up a shoot. , ,,. , ,. f . , E.r. shoot. half-leaf which were cut off to allow of its being put into a small pot ; and this proves that it is only the middle rib (or prolongation of the petiole), which is required for reproduction. The smallest portion of such plants as begonias, gloxinias, &c. will form an independent plant. Leaves of the orange, the hoya, the aucuba, ficus elasticus, the clianthus, the common laurel, and a few more, have been occasionally rooted, but more as matter of curiosity than for the purpose of increase. Propagation by the leaves of bulbs has been successfully effected by the Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert, who first tried it, in 1809, by setting a cutting of a leaf of a Cape Ornithogalum. " The leaf was cut off just below the surface of the earth in an early stage of its growth, before the flower-stalk had begun to rise ; and it was set in the earth, near the edge of the pot in which the mother plant was growing, and so left to its fate. The leaf continued quite fresh, and on examination (while the bulb was flowering) a number of young bulbs and radical fibres were found adhering to it. They appeared to have been formed by the return of the sap which had nourished the leaf. Thereupon two or three more leaves were taken off and placed in like situations ; but they turned yellow, and died without producing any bulbs. It 230 PROP A OA TION B Y LEA VES. appeared to me then, and it was confirmed by subsequent experience, that in order to obtain a satisfactory result the leaf must be taken off while the plant is advancing in its growth. I found it easy thus to multiply some bulbs that did not willingly produce offsets. I after- wards tried, without cutting the leaf off, to make an oblique incision in it under ground, and in some cases just above ground, attempting, in fact, to raise bulbs by layering the leaf. This attempt was also successful, and some young bulbs were formed on the edge of the cut above ground as well as below. I tried cuttings of the stems of some species of Lilium, and obtained bulbs at the axil of the leaf, as well as from the scales of the bulb ; and that practice has been since much resorted to by gardeners, though I believe it originated with me. I raised a great number of the bulbs of the little plant which has been successively called massonia, scilla, and hyacinthus corymbosus, by setting a pot full of its leaves, and placing a bell-glass over them for a short time. A bulb was obtained with equal facility from a leaf of a rare species of Eucomis ; and experiments with the leaves of Lache- nalias were equally successful. I apprehend that all liliaceous bulbs may be thus propagated ; but the more fleshy the leaf, the more easily the object will be attained." (< Gard. Chron.' for 1841, p. 381.) Rooting Leaves and Parts of Leaves in Powdered Charcoal. — Most cuttings will root as freely, and even more so, in this than in sand. Mr. Jas. Barnes, late of Bicton, used to mix charcoal with the soil in which he grew every kind of plant, from the cabbage and the onion to heaths, pine-apples, and orchideae, and with extraordinary success. The charcoal was generally broken into small pieces, say an inch or more in length, and seldom thicker than a quill ; but he also used it of a larger size, along with drainage materials, and, when sown along with seeds, in a state of powder. Leaves with the buds in the axils root freely in the case of many species. The buds and leaves are cut out with a small portion of the bark and alburnum to each, and planted in sandy loam, so deep as just to cover the bud ; the soil being pressed firmly against it, and the back of the leaf resting on the surface of the soil. Covered with a bell-glass and placed on heat, in a short time the buds break through the surface of the soil, and elongate into shoots. The late Mr. Knight tried this mode with double camellias, magnolias, metrosideros, acacias, neriums, rhododendrons, and many others, some of which rooted and made shoots the same season, and others not till the following spring. Immature fruits have even been made to produce plants. M. Thouin planted fruits of the Opuntia Tuna, which were about three-fourths ripe, with their peduncles entire, in pots of sand almost dry, and covered them with a bell-glass, placing the pot on a hotbed. In eighteen days, callosities appeared at the base of the peduncles, which soon became roots, and a few days afterwards little protuberances appeared on the summits of the fruit, which, at the end of two months, became shoots. The same result took place in the case of the fruits of Opuntia polyanthos, and Mammillaria simplex. (' Cours de Culture,' &c., tome ii. p. 551.) Some or the whole of the parts of the flower PROP A GA TION BY LEA VES. 231 are frequently metamorphosed into leaves, and even shoots, in warm, moist seasons, and from these there can be no doubt plants could, in many cases, be raised by taking them off and treating them as cuttings. The essence of all the different modes of forming plants from cut- tings may thus be stated. Wherever a joint of the ripened wood of a plant, or of the unripened wood, with a leaf or leaves, can be procured, it is probable that a rooted plant may be produced by proper treat- ment ; that in many cases, especially where the leaves are large, a bud Fig. 179. with a leaf attached will produce a plant ; that in a number of cases plants may be produced from leaves alone, and that in some cases they may be even produced from parts of leaves, from the calyxes, and other parts of flowers, and from imma- ture fruits. That to render more certain the rooting of a cutting or a bud, or even a leaf, it is advisable partially to separate it from the parent plant some days, weeks, or, in some cases, months, before it is en- tirely taken off, by cutting a shoot half through immediately under a joint or Wedges inserted above and below leaf, and keeping the wound open, if necessary, with a wedge, as in fig. 179, £, or by ringing under each bud, as in fig. 180, r,. That, in regard to soil, the safe mode is to plant in pure sand, with a layer of the soil in which the plant delights below ; and, in regard to light, that the cuttings should in all cases, when they are under glass, be placed as close to it as pos- sible. Finally, that in regard to woody plants, those with the leaves on, and the wood half- matured at the lower end of the shoot, will root more readily than shoots of ripened wood with- out the leaves. Camellia shoots of the season, put in in July or August, will be rooted by December, while those not put in till Sep- tember, will not root till the following spring. That the rooting of cuttings with the leaves on depends very much on the action of light, is proved by the following experiment made by M. Caie : — A pot of cuttings of Monsoa incisi- folia was placed in a close pit, at two feet from the glass; another at two feet three inches; and a third at two feet six inches. The cut- tings in the first pot were rooted, but very little advanced in growth ; those in the second were elongated in the tops, but had only callosities at the lower ends of the cuttings; and those of the third pot were grown as high or higher than those bud* to check the flow of the sap, and excite them to produce shoots. 180. late sap at the base of the buds, and prepare them for thromng out roots when they are taken of and planted. 232 PROP A GA TION B Y LEA VES. of the second, but without either callosities or roots. (' Gard. Chron.,' vol. i. p. 782.) To induce stems or shoots to produce leaves or growths from which cuttings may be formed, various modes have been adopted, the object of all of which is to stimulate the normal or latent buds. The most common mode with plants in pots or under glass, is by an increase of temperature and atmospheric moisture ; but there are modes which are applicable to all plants whatever, the object of which is to inter- rupt the ascending or descending sap. When the ascending sap is accumulated by art at a joint, and can no longer pass freely onwards, it stimulates the buds which exist there, either normal or adventitious, to develope themselves, and the sap thus escapes organized into the form of leaves or shoots ; while the interruption of the descending sap, more especially under a joint or bud, produces an accumulation or callosity there, which, sooner or later, is organized into roots. To Fig. 181. accumulate the ascending sap at any point, the shoot may be bent to one side from that point ; and it may be bent back again from a second point, and if the shoot is long, the operation may be repeated, so as to leave it in a serpentine or zigzag form from every exterior angle in which, as at a, a, in fig. 181, a bud will be developed. Where the shoot cannot conveniently be bent, a notch may be made in it immediately above a bud, so deep as to penetrate the alburnum ; or in the case of more slender shoots, the knife may be merely inserted above the bud, or above several buds, so as to penetrate into the albur- num, and the wound kept open by inserting A shoot lent to cause the wedges in them, as in fig. 179, a. Some days or buds at the angles to weeks afterwards, according to the nature of the pro plant, a notch or cut may be made under the bud, in order to interrupt the sap returned by the leaf, and thus form a cal- losity there for the production of roots. In this way all the buds or joints on a tree or shrub of almost any size maybe prepared ; and if a tree so treated could be covered with moss kept moist, leaving only the buds, or the joints, or points from which buds were expected, exposed to the light ; or if it could be laid down on the surface of soil kept moist, and very slightly covered with soil, or laid down flat on the surface of water, so as just to touch it, a rooted plant, or at least a shoot, would be produced from every bud or joint. In pre- paring buds in this manner, however, it must always be borne in mind, either that the plants require to be kept in a close, moist atmo- sphere, or to have the wounds covered with moss or soil ; for if they are exposed to dry air, they will frequently neither cicatrize, nor emit roots, in consequence of the excessive evaporation which will neces- sarily take place. Even the petioles of large leaves may be prepared before they are taken off, by being cut half through near the base, by which means PROP A GATION BY LA YERS. 233 they will form a callosity there, and root more rapidly when planted. The roots of plants which contain latent buds may be stimulated to develop them by the exposure of portions of them to the light, or by bending, or twisting, or cutting notches in them, in the same manner as in stems. Piercing the stems or roots by a longitudinal cut through a joint, and keeping the wound open with a wedge or splinter, or driving pegs or nails through them, will facilitate both the formation of roots and the development of buds ; and various other modes of exciting buds, and causing the protrusion of roots, will occur to the gardener who understands what has been already said on the subject. It is only necessary to bear in mind that when the ascending sap is to be interrupted by cutting, the knife must penetrate into the alburnum, and that when roots only are the object in view, it is only necessary to penetrate the bark. Propagation by Layers. The theory of layering is founded on the following facts : — The sap absorbed from the soil by the roots rises to the buds and leaves chiefly through the alburnum ; for though it has been proved, by the trans- mission of coloured fluids from the roots upwards, that a communica- tion is maintained throughout the whole stem, yet the greatest flow of sap, whether ascending or descending, takes place through the youngest layers, whether of wood in ascending, or inner bark in descending. A decortication may therefore be made with little or no interruption resulting to the ascent of the sap. The elaborated fluid, in returning from the leaves, descends by the inner bark, depositing in its progress an organized layer of alburnum, a portion of this extending to the extremities of the roots, where it protrudes in the form of spongioles. From these facts it will appear evident that although ringing does not interrupt the upward flow of sap, because the incision does not reach the vessels in which it proceeds, yet that the descent is prevented by the chasm formed by the operation ; on the brink of this chasm it accumulates, and under favourable circumstances a callosity is formed, or mass of cellular substance protruded, which by degrees assumes a granulated form, and these granulations ultimately elongate into spon- gioles ; or the teguments above the incision, being rendered soft by the earth or other suitable moist covering, are ruptured, and afford egress to the nascent roots. From this the principle of the operation of ringing, applying ligatures, twisting, tonguing, or splitting the parts about to be laid, will be easily understood. The operation of layering, like that of forming cuttings, is chiefly applicable to plants having leaf-bearing stems ; and the advantage which a layer has over a cutting is that it is nourished, while roots are being formed, by the parent plant ; whereas the cutting has no other resource than the nutritive matter laid up in it, or that produced by the functions of the leaves. Hence, layering is one of the most certain modes of propagation by division, though it is in general slower than any other mode. In whatever way layering is performed it consists in the interruption of the descending sap at a joint of a stem, 234 PROP A GA TION BY LA YERS. or shoot, and placing it under circumstances favourable for the pro- duction of roots. The interruption is most successful when it takes place immediately under a bud or joint, when the shoot is more or less matured, and when it penetrates into the alburnum ; though, if the alburnum is penetrated too far, the ascent of the sap will be inter- rupted, and the supply to the buds or leaves will be insufficient to develop them, or keep them from flagging. The descending sap may be interrupted either wholly by cutting off a ring of bark, or partially by a cut or notch, by driving a peg or nail through it, by a slit kept open, by twisting the stem at a joint, by strangling it there with a wire, by bending it so as to form an angle, by the pressure of a stone laid on it, or by attracting it by heat and moisture. The latter mode of causing a branch to protrude roots may often be observed in nature, in the case of the lowest branches of trees and shrubs that rest on the soil, and by their shade keep it moist, and, after some time, root into it. Whatever mode of interrupting the sap be adopted, the wounded part of the layer from which roots are expected to proceed must be covered with soil, moss, or some other suitable material kept moist, or it must be partially or wholly immersed in water. Layer- ing, from the certainty which attends it, was formerly much more ex- tensively employed as a mode of propagation than it is at present ; the art of rooting cuttings being now much better understood, and being chiefly adopted in house and in herbaceous plants; and layering being confined in a great measure to hardy trees and shrubs, of which it is desired to multiply plants that will speedily produce flowers, or that cannot otherwise be so readily propagated. The state of the plant most favourable for layering is the same as that most suitable for propagation by cuttings. The wood and bark should be soft and not over ripe, and this is most likely to be the case with lateral shoots produced near the surface of the soil or in a moist atmosphere. Layers, like cuttings, may be made either of ripe wood in the autumn or spring, or of growing wood any time in the course of the summer ; the only condition, in the latter case, being that the part of the shoot where the sap is interrupted be somewhat mature, or firm in texture. Hardy trees and shrubs, with reference to layering, may be divided into two kinds, those which, when cut down, throw up shoots from the collar, that is, technically, which stole, such as most kinds of deciduous trees and shrubs ; and those which do not stole, such as all the coni- ferae. The former are planted and cut down, and layers made of the young shoots which proceed from the collar ; while the latter are either laid entirely down, and their branches extended along the surface of the soil, and the extremities of all the shoots layered, or such side branches as can be bent down to the soil are made fast there by hooked pegs, and their shoots layered. When the shoots to be layered are small, they are frequently twisted or slit through at the point where the roots are to be produced ; but when they are strong the knife is entered beneath a joint, and the shoot cut half through, and the knife afterwards turned up half an inch or more, so as to form PROPAGATION BY LA YERS. 235 what is technically called a tongue (fig. 182, a), and the shoot being bent down and its point turned up, the wound is kept open as at b ; the shoot being kept down by a hooked peg, or by a portion of a twig, first twisted to render it tough, and next doubled, as at c ; one or more buds being left on the layer, d ; and the wound being kept open by the bent position of the shoot. When the shoots are small or brittle, in order Fig. 182. Fig. 183. Layering with the tongue made in the under-side of the shoot. Layering with the tongue made in the upper side of the shoot. Fig. 184. to lessen the risk of breaking them by tonguing below, the incision is made above, and the tongue kept from uniting by giving the layer a twist when pegging it down, as shown in fig. 183, in which e is the tongue made in the shoot before being laid down, /the position taken by the tongue after the layer is fixed in its place, and g the peg which keeps the layer down. The dotted line in this and the preceding figure indicates the surface of the soil. Layers are always buried in the soil, and se- cured there, and the soil pressed firmly against them. The plant furnishing the shoots which are layered is called a stool, and as it generally furnishes a number of shoots, these are laid down radiating all round it, as in fig. 184, and the soil formed into a circular basin, the better to retain water about the rooted parts of the layers. Layers that are difficult to root are laid into pure sand with good soil beneath, as is done with cuttings difficult to strike ; and the shoots laid down and layered are commonly shortened to one eye above the soil, in order that there may be only one stem to the plant to be produced. (See figs. 182 and 183.) A stool with several of tfte shoots layered. 236 PROPAGATION BY LAYERS. In former times, when few trees were propagated in nurseries, ex- cepting limes and elms, the shoots produced from the stools were not laid down, but after two years' growth the shoots were earthed up, and after remaining on two years longer, they were slipped off and found to have a sufficient supply of roots to ensure their independent existence, after, however, being cut in and headed down. Shrubs with very long shoots, such as clematis, tecoma, vitis, wis- taria, honeysuckle, &c., are stretched along the surface, and every joint, or every alternate joint, prepared for rooting; so that one shoot produces half as many plants as it contains joints, or even a plant for every joint. The joint in this case is not tongued, but bruised, pierced, or slit, or simply pressed down to the moist soil by a hook, peg, or small stone — the latter having the advantage of retaining moisture, as well as checking the return of the sap. Shoots which continue grow- ing all the summer, such as those of the wistaria, are laid as they extend in length ; and when the parent plant is placed on moist heat, under glass, and near it, it is incredible the number of rooted layers that may thus be obtained in one season. Layering by Insertion of the Growing Point. — Shoots of the bramble will emit roots by the usual mode of twisting and pegging down ; but if the growing point of the shoot is merely inserted in the soil to the depth of an inch, an astonishing quantity of roots will be produced in the same season, more, in fact, than in two years by the other mode. The gooseberry, the Aristolochia, and the common nightshade, treated in the same way, succeed equally well; and doubtless many other species might in like manner be easily and quickly propagated. Plum and Paradise stocks for fruit trees are raised in large quanti- ties, by a somewhat similar mode. The shoots of the stool are pegged down flat on the surface, and covered entirely over, to the depth of half an inch, with loamy 185- soil. This is done early in spring, and in the course of the summer every bud sends up a shoot which roots at its base, and at the end of autumn is fit to be taken off as a separate plant. The tree peony is some- times propagated in this manner, but with this difference, that a ring of bark is taken off between each bud. Roses, though mostly increased by budding, grafting, and cuttings, are also readily rooted by layers, which in the nurseries are made both in spring and autumn, A petunia layered. PROPAGATION BY LAYERS. 237 and sometimes at both seasons, on the same stool. The shoots being brittle are generally twisted, or slit through, and the slit kept open with a fragment of stick or stone. When they are tongued the tongue is generally made on the upper side of the shoot, fig. 183, which greatly lessens the risk of breaking the shoot when bending it down. Hardy herbaceous plants, such as the chrysanthemum and the car- nation, are frequently layered. The shoots are chosen when of suffi- cient length, the lower leaves cut off, and the shoot pegged down and covered with sandy loam, or sand and leaf-mould. Fig. 186. A carnation layered. Shrubby plants in pots kept under glass may either be layered by laying down the entire plant on its side, or by placing pots under it, or raising pots among its branches, and layering the shoots into these. The shoot may either be laid down into the pot, or brought up through a hole in its bottom, or in its side ; a tin case filled with soil or moss may be suspended from the plants, and the shoots ringed, as indicated in figs. 188 and 189, or a ring of bark Layering a cutting. being taken off, the wounded part may be enveloped in a mass of loam covered with moss, a mode practised by the Chinese. The moss, in either case, may be kept moist by suspending near it, and somewhat higher, a vessel of water with some worsted threads, con- necting the water with the moss, and acting as a siphon. The soil in which plants are layered should, in general, be that in which the parent plants naturally thrive best, but with a mixture of sand, or with the wounded part entirely enveloped in sand or powdered charcoal, to prevent it from retaining too much water, which would prevent the wound from protruding granular matter, and cause it to rot. Plants which grow in heath soil, such as most of the Ericaceae, 238 PROPAGATION BY LAYERS. and all other hair-rooted plants, must be layered in sand or in heath soil, but almost all others will root freely in sandy loam. Where the soil and the season are not naturally moist, layers, even in the open gardens, require watering, or, at least, are much benefited by it. Mulching may also be advantageously employed in order to retain moisture. Fig. 188. A branch ringed and prepared to be rooted in a tin case without separating it from the tree. A branch layered in a tin case. Hooked pegs were formerly considered as essential articles for fixing down the layers, but the general practice at present is to take a piece of the shoot from the stool, or any waste piece of shoot about a foot in length, or longer if the soil be very loose, and twisting it in the middle so as to prevent it from breaking when bent, to double it like a lady's hair-pin over the shoot, as shown at c, in fig. 182. The time which layers require to produce roots varies in different plants, from one to two, and even, in some cases, three or four years. The process of rooting is facilitated by increased heat and moisture, and by ringing below the tongue, or wounded or bent part from which the roots are expected to protrude ; but this operation can only be safely performed where the parent plant is in vigorous health, because, otherwise, it would weaken the root, and prevent it from sending up sap to nourish the layer. In taking off layers which are difficult to root, it is a safe mode not to cut through the layer at once, but by degrees, at intervals of several weeks. In the case of stools in the open air the butt ends of. the shoots from which the layers have been taken PROPAGATION BY SUCKERS, SLIPS, ETC. 239 are cut off close to the stool, to make room for a second succession of layers, which are made annually from the upright shoots produced during the preceding season. In the case of layers taken from plants in pots, the stumps left after the layer is taken off should be cut to a leaf-bud, in order that a shoot may be produced to supply the vacancy made in the head of the plant by the removal of the layer. Propagation by Suckers, Slips, Offsets, Runners, and Simple Division. A sucker is properly a shoot sent up from the underground part of the stem, from a latent bud there existing, or from an adventitious bud on that part of the stem, or on the horizontal roots. Many herbaceous plants are propagated by root-suckers ; a number of shrubs, such as the lilac, the spiraea, the raspberry, &c., and some trees are occasionally so propagated, such as the white, trembling, and balsam poplars, the English elm, &c. The suckers of herbaceous plants are chiefly taken off in spring and autumn, when they are in a growing state, and those of ligneous plants late in autumn, when the sap is dormant ; but suckers of both kinds may be taken off at any season, provided those which are in a growing state are put into a moist atmosphere and shaded. Stem- suckers or slips may be described as shoots which proceed from the collar, or above it from the lower part of the stem, and which have few or no roots, unless the stem has been earthed up. Heading down plants, or otherwise rendering the top inadequate for the due appropriation of the supply of sap furnished by the roots, favours the production of stem-suckers. The tendency is also induced in conse- quence of any sudden check given to the foliage, such as that arising from excessive drought, or the depredations of insects, more especially if the roots are at the same time growing in rich, moist soil. These shoots, being drawn or slipped off, are planted and treated as cuttings, and they are found to root more readily than shoots taken from the plant at a greater distance from the root. To produce slips on the lower parts of stems they may be cut down, and in the case of plants in pots stimulated by an extra supply of heat and moisture. The stumps of pine-apple plants are sometimes so stimulated after the fruit has been gathered, and slips or suckers are in that case produced by the buds which had remained dormant in the axils of the leaves. When the bases of such plants as the banana, are treated in a similar manner, similar results will follow; and by destroying the growing point or central bud of such plants as Yucca, Dracaena, and Zamia, and also of Mammillaria, and other Cactaceae, and of all bulbs, slips, suckers, or offsets will be produced from the latent buds in the axils of the leaves. By earthing up, these shoots may generally be made to emit roots before being separated from the parent plant ; or they may be slipped off without roots, and treated as cuttings. Cuttings or layers from the branches of coniferous plants sometimes continue growing a number of years before they throw up a leading shoot; but this result may be obtained much sooner than it otherwise would be by pegging 240 PROPAGATION BY SUCKERS, SLIPS, ETC. Fig. 190. Fig. 191. down the entire plants, when a stem-sucker will be produced, as in fig. 190, in consequence of the check given to the ascending sap by the acute angle formed by the bend, after which all the other branches of the plant may be cut off close to the stem-sucker. Cuttings of the side branches of Cunninghamia lanceolata have by this treatment made as good plants as seedlings ; and we believe it has also been successful with Araucaria excelsa. Offsets. — An offset is a term for the most part confined to the small bulbs, corms, tubers, or under- ground stems, which are formed The branches of a coniferous plant pegged at the gide of the bage of } down to force ^t to throw up a stem- j T_ r • i .1 i sucker as a leader. ones> and b7 whlch the Plailt producing them may be propa- gated. They are very readily observed in the hyacinth, tulip, and crocus, in which they afford the only means of propagation, excepting by seed. All offsets have a natural tendency to separate from the parent bulb, excepting when they are very small and young; in which case they are left adhering to the parent bulb or tuber for another growing season. When offsets are to be separated, the bulb, when it is in a dormant state, is taken up, and the offsets are removed and planted by themselves, at various depths, according to the size and nature of the offset ; and bearing in mind that all bulbs are buds, and consequently that they would all grow if placed on the surface of moist soil, and pressed firmly against it, without any covering of soil. Offsets may be produced from bulbs, by searing or otherwise destroying their central bud by mutilation, or by cutting them over a little above the plate from which the scales proceed, as in the hyacinth, and the concentric The buds in the axils of coats, or rudiments of tubular leaves, as in the the scales of a bulb de- onion the budg in both cases bein in the axilg veloped in consequence „ , , • ^-i /• of injuries sustained by of tlie members. Sometimes the frost destroying the scales from frost, the outer scales of a bulb will stimulate the buds in their axils to develop themselves (fig. 191) ; and sometimes, when the scales are very closely compressed at top, the buds in their axils will be developed, and will protrude below (fig. 192). A bulb of Crinum canaliculatum, cut over a little above the plate, was found by M. Syringe to throw out no fewer than forty offsets. Runners are long slender shoots, with joints at distant intervals, which are protruded from the collar of perennial herbaceous or sub- herbaceous plants, such as the strawberry, many grasses, some saxi- PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING, ETC. 241 frages, potentillas, &c. The joints of these plants rest naturally on the ground, send roots downwards, and leaves or shoots upwards; and being separated from the internodi of the stolones, constitute rooted plants. Very little assistance from art is required in this mode of propagation ; but the soil may be loosened and enriched, and the joint pressed firmly against the soil, by peg- ging it down with a hooked peg, or by laying a small stone on each side of the joint. The principal plant propagated in this manner in gardens is the strawberry. Simple division is an obvious mode of pro- pagating all herbaceous perennials, not bulb- bearing, and all shrubs which produce nume- rous suckers. The most common mode is to take up the entire plant, and separate it into Buds developed below in as many stems as have roots attached ; or if consequence of the scales if j ^ i being closely compressed only a few plants are wanted, these may be at t* taken off the sides of the plant without greatly disturbing the interior of the root stock. Propagation by Grafting, Inarching, and Budding. The term graft is in England generally confined to one mode of performing that operation — viz., grafting with detached scions ; but it is our intention in this article to use it, in the Continental sense, as a generic term, including also, inarching, or grafting with attached scions, and budding or grafting by means of a bud attached to a plate of bark. The principle on which all these operations are founded is the phenomenon of the union of newly- generated tissues when in the act of being generated. No union can take place between the parts of plants previously formed, but only when these parts are in the act of forming. Thus two shoots or branches may be selected, and by means of similar sections be most accurately joined, and placed under the most favourable circumstances for uniting, as in fig. 193, representing a stock and a scion ; yet when the two are bound together, though a union ultimately does take place, not one particle of the existing tissue at the time of grafting becomes united with similar tissue brought in contact with it. Close contact is all that takes place with regard to these surfaces of the scion and stock, for a vital union only occurs when nascent tissues meet. The parts a, a, which are alburnum of the preceding year, never unite. The vital union is formed solely by the coalition of newly-generated tissues, thrown out by such parts as have the power of generating them. This power does not exist in the heart-wood, nor in the outer bark, but only in the alburnum, or rather the substance embedded between it and the inner bark, con- stituting the cambium, represented by the lines 6, b. If the sections are placed against each other, so that the inner barks coincide, the scion may perhaps derive an immediate supply of moisture ; but it E 242 PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING, ETC. Fig. 193. does so only in a mechanical way, and a piece of dry sponge might as truly be said to have formed a connexion from its absorbing moisture, in consequence of being placed on the top of a stock, as the scion that only takes up moisture as above-mentioned. When, however, new tissue is formed by the parts, b, b, of the respective sections, and when the portions so formed protrude so as to meet, they immediately coalesce, forming a con- necting chain of vessels between the buds of the scion and the roots of the stock. If an old grafted tree is cut down, and all the wood cut away to the original portions which existed at the time of grafting, it will be found that the sections similar to a, a, made by the grafting-knife, are only mechani- cally pressed together, and may be easily taken asunder. Instances frequently occur of the inner bark of the scion being placed out of contact with that of the stock, and a union nevertheless ensues ; but this takes place in consequence of the cellular sub- stance protruding from the respective albur- nums over the surface of old wood, which Scion and stock, to illustrate . , L the principle on which they li Onl7 covers. As soon as the new-formed are united. tissue of stock and scion touch each other, a union is then formed. The origin of grafting is of the most remote antiquity, but whether it was suggested by the adhesions of the parts of two plants, frequently seen in a state of nature, or by the appearance of one plant growing on another, as in the case of the mistletoe, it is impossible to divine. Theophrastus and other Greek authors mention the graft ; and up- wards of twenty modifications of it have been given by the Roman Varro. The phenomena of grafting are thus explained by De Candolle : — The shoots springing from the buds of the scion are united to the stock by the young growing alburnum, and, once united, they deter- mine the ascent of the sap rising from tlje stock ; and they elaborate a true or proper juice, which appears evidently to re-descend in the inner bark. This sap appears to be sufficiently homogeneous in plants of the same family to be, in the course of its passage, absorbed by the growing cellules near which it passes, and each cellule elaborates it according to its nature. The cellules of the alburnum of the plum elaborate the coloured wood of the plum ; those of the alburnum of the almond the coloured wood of the almond. If the descending sap has only an incomplete analogy with the wants of the stock, the latter does not thrive, though the organic union between it and the scion may have taken place ; and if the analogy between the alburnum of the scion and that of the stock is wanting, the organic union does not PROP A GA Tl ON B Y GRA FT ING, ETC. 243 operate, and as the scion cannot absorb the sap of the stock, the grafl does not succeed. The conditions essential to the success of the graft are the exact coincidence of the alburnum and the inner bark of the scion with those of the stock. The graft is effected in two forms : that of a cutting or scion, which consists of wood and bark with buds (as in grafting and inarching), and that of a bud, which consists of a shield of bark, containing a bud or buds, but deprived of its wood, as in budding. In the case of the scion it is essential to success that its alburnum coincide exactly with that of the stock ; and in the case of the bud it is essential that the disk of bark to which it is attached should be inti- mately joined to the alburnum of the stock by being placed over it, and gently pressed against it by means of ligatures. The buds of the scion and of the shield are supplied with sap from the alburnum of the stock, and develop themselves in consequence. As a proof that it is the ascending sap which supplies the nourishment in both cases, the scion and the bud succeed best when the stock is cut over almost immediately above the graft ; and when the scion or the shield are placed immediately over a part of the stock which contained buds. The success of a scion or a bud placed in the intern odia of the stock where no normal buds can exist, will therefore be much less certain than if it were placed on the nodia ; because the vessels which con- ducted the descending sap to the original buds are ready to supply it to those which have taken their place. Hence, in the case of the graft, fig. 193, the stock is cut sloping, and so as to have a bud on or near the upper extremity of it, in order to prevent the stock from dying down behind the graft ; and the section a, against which the scion is to be placed, is made at the lower part of the sloping section, in order to insure abundance of sap at its upper extremity as well as at its lower ; for were there no bud to expend the sap, it would cease to be impelled through that part of the stock, which would consequently die. By the end of August the scion and stock will be united, and the sec- tion at the top of the latter healed over perhaps as far as e ; and if the heel, or part above c, is then cut off, the part will probably be completely healed over by the end of the season. Anatomical Analogy. — Plants can only be budded or grafted on one another within certain limits, and these depend on the anatomy or organic structure of the tissue, and the physiology or vital functions of the organs of the plant ; but the anatomy of the cellules and the structure of the vessels are so delicate and difficult to observe, that the differences between plants in these respects are not sufficient to enable us to arrive at any practical conclusion from examining their organization, and hence our only guide in this matter hitherto has been experience. From this it is found that as plants of the same natural family have an analogous organization, they alone can be grafted on one another with any prospect of success; though the success of the operation even within this limit will not always be complete, partly, perhaps, from some difference in organic structure, as in the case of the apple and pear, which can only be united for a few years, but chiefly on B2 244 PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING, ETC. account of the physiological differences which may and do frequently exist. As a proof that plants of the same natural family may be grafted on one another, De Candolle succeeded in grafting the lilac and the fringe-tree on the ash, the fringe-tree on the lilac, the lilac on the phillyrea, and the olive on the ash and the privet ; and though these grafts did not live a long time, on account of the physiological differences of the species, yet their having succeeded at all sufficiently proves the anatomical analogy of plants within the same natural order. This analogy is greater between plants of the same genus ; more so still between individuals of the same species, and most so between branches of the same individual. Physiological Analogy. — In a physiological point of view, the epochs of vegetation are the principal points to be attended to, and hence no plant can be grafted on another which does not thrive in the same temperature. Two plants in which the sap is not in motion cannot be successfully united, because it is only when cellular tissue is in a state in which it can form accretions that a vital union can be formed, and a reciprocal activity must exist both in the stock and scion. Hence evergreen trees seldom succeed for any length of time when grafted on deciduous kinds. The analogy of magnitude is also of some importance, for if a large growing tree is grafted on one naturally of small stature, the graft, by exhausting the stock, will ultimately deprive it of life ; and when a small or weakly growing species is grafted on a large vigorous one, it receives too much sap, and ultimately perishes from hypertrophy, as the other did from atrophy. The analogy of con- sistence also merits notice. Soft woods do not associate well with hard woods, nor ligneous plants with such as are herbaceous, nor annuals with perennials. An analogy in the nature of the sap is also requisite, experience having proved that plants with a milky sap will not unite for any length of time with plants the sap of which is watery. Thus the Acer platanoides — the only species of Acer which has milky sap — will not graft with the others ; and, numerous as are the species of tree on which the mistletoe grows, it is never found on those which have a milky sap. The modifications effected by the graft form a subject of great practical interest to the cultivator. The graft neither alters the species, nor the varieties, but it has some influence on their magnitude and habits, and on their flowers and fruit. The apple grafted on the paradise stock becomes a dwarf, and on the crab stock, or a seedling apple, a middle- sized tree. The size of the stock here seems to influence the size of the graft ; but in the case of the mountain ash, which is said to grow more quickly when grafted on the common thorn, than when on its own roots, the stock is naturally a smaller plant than the tree grafted on it. The habit of the plant is sometimes altered by grafting. Thus Acer eriocarpum, when grafted on the common sycamore, attains in Europe double the height which it does when raised from seed. Cerasus canadensis, which in a state of nature is a rambling shrub, assumes the habit of an upright shrub when grafted on the common plum. Various species of Cytisus become greatly invigorated when PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING, ETC. 245 grafted on the laburnum, as do the different varieties of Pyrus Aronia when grafted on the common thorn ; the common lilac attains a large size when grafted on the ash ; and Tecoma radicans, when grafted on the Catalpa, forms a round head with pendent branches, which are almost without tendrils. The hardiness of some species is also in- creased by grafting them, as in the case of the Eriobotrya japonica on the common thorn, and the Pistacia vera on the P. Terebinthus ; the Quercus virens is rendered hardier by being grafted on the ever- green oak ; but in other cases, the species are rendered more tender, as when the lilac is grafted on the phillyrea. Those species that are rendered hardier by grafting have probably tender roots, and by being placed on such as are hardier, they suffer only from the cold at top, instead of being injured by the effects of cold both at root and top ; or if they grow more stunted, they will also be less susceptible of cold. The period of flowering is well known to be accelerated by grafting ; and hence, both in the case of fruit-trees and ornamental trees and shrubs, the shoots of seedlings are frequently grafted on the extremi- ties of the branches of old trees ; in consequence of which they blossom several years sooner than if left on their own roots. The mountain- ash, and the different varieties of Pyrus Aria, produce double the number of fruits when grafted, to what they do on their own roots. The increase of the size of fruits, more especially of kernel fruits, is said by Thouin to be often from a fifth to a fourth part, but the number and size of seeds produced is diminished. The flavour as well as the size of fruit is said to be altered by the graft. Thus pears are said to become gritty on quince or thorn stocks ; and the greengage plum to vary in flavour, according to the kind of plum-stock on which it is grafted; producing insipid fruit on some stocks, and fruit of the most delicious flavour on others ; the cherry also, when grafted on the Cerasus Mahaleb, on the wild cherry, on the bird cherry, or on the common laurel, will produce fruit very different in flavour on each. The fertility or sterility of fruit-bearing trees is likewise greatly affected by grafting. The duration of trees is greatly altered in certain cases by the graft ; the apple on the paradise stock is generally shorter lived than on the crab-stock ; while the Pavia, grafted on the horse-chestnut, has its longevity increased. The period of leafing and flowering is also occasionally changed by the graft, the general effect of which is to produce a somewhat earlier vegetation ; because the graft, by arresting the descent of the sap, produces in some measure the effect of ringing. So much for the influence of the stock upon the scion. The influence of the scion on the stock is very limited, and as far as experience has hitherto gone, it consists only in communicating a change of colour ; buds of the variegated common jasmine having been inserted in a species without variegated leaves, and having communicated its variegation to the entire plant, both above and below the graft. The common alstonia has likewise become variegated by A. Thompsoni being grafted upon it. Similar facts 246 PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING, ETC. have been noticed in regard to other trees, such as the ash and the holly. The uses of grafting in addition to those of all the other modes of increasing plants by extension are — 1. The propagation of varieties or species, which are not increased freely by any other mode ; such as pears, apples, and other fruit-trees, oaks, and other forest-trees, and many species of shrubs. 2. The acceleration of the fructification of plants, more especially of trees and shrubs, which are naturally a number of years before they come into flower. For example, a seedling apple, if grafted the second year on the extremities of the branches of a full-grown apple-tree, or even on a stock or young tree of five or six years' growth, will show flowers the third or fourth year ; whereas, had it remained on its own root, it would probably not have come into flower for ten or even twenty years. To obtain the same result with climbers that flower only at their extremities, the tips of the shoots of seedlings are taken off and grafted near the root ; and when these have extended an in- convenient length, the tips are again taken off and regrafted ; and after the operation has been performed several times, the plant at last pro- duces flowers in a much shorter time than it otherwise would have done, and in a comparatively limited space. 3. To increase the vigour or the hardiness of delicate species or varieties, by grafting them on robust stocks, such as the Mexican oaks on the common oak, the China roses on the common dog-rose, the double yellow rose on the China or musk-rose, the Frontignan Muscat, Golden Champion, or other grapes, on the Syrian, Hamburg, Sweet- water, or Muscadine. 4. To dwarf or diminish the bulk of robust species, as in grafting the pear on the quince or medlar, the apple on the doucin or paradise stock, the cherry on the perfumed cherry, &c. 5. To increase the fruitfulness and precocity of trees. The effects produced upon the growth and produce of a tree by grafting, Knight observes, " are similar to those which occur when the descent of the sap is impeded by a ligature, or by the destruction of a circle of bark. The disposition in young trees to produce and nourish blossom-buds and fruit is increased by this apparent obstruction of the descending sap ; and the fruit of such young trees ripens, I think, somewhat earlier than upon other young trees of the same age which grow upon stocks of their own species ; but the growth and vigour of the tree, and its power to nourish a succession of heavy crops, are diminished, appa- rently by the stagnation in the branches and stock of a portion of that sap, which in a tree growing upon its own stem, or upon a stock of its own species, would descend to nourish and promote the extension of the roots." 6. To preserve varieties from degenerating, which are found to do so when propagated by cuttings or layers, such as certain kinds of roses and camellias. 7. By choosing a stock suitable to the soil, to produce trees in situa- tions where they could not be grown if on their own roots ; for example PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING, ETC. 247 the white beam-tree will grow in almost pure chalk, where no pear-tree would live ; but grafted on the white beam-tree, the pear, on a chalky soil, will thrive and produce fruit. 8. To introduce several kinds on one kind. Thus one apple or pear- tree may be made to produce many different kinds of apple or pear ; one camellia a great many varieties ; one British oak all the American oaks ; and even one dahlia several varieties of that flower. 9. To render dioecious trees monoecious — that is, when the tree consists of only one sex, as in Negundo, some maples, the poplar, willow, Maclura, Salisburia, &c., to graft on it the other sex, by which means fruit may be matured, a knowledge given of both forms of the species, both forms introduced into small arboretuins, and in the case of fruit-trees and ornamental shrubs, such as the pistacia and aucuba, the necessity of planting males rendered no longer requisite. 10. The last use which we shall mention is that of renewing the heads of trees. For example, if a forest or fruit-tree is cut down to the ground, or headed in to the height of ten or twelve feet, and left to itself, it will develop a great number of latent buds, each of which will be contending for the mastery ; and the strength of the tree, and the most favourable part of the season for growth, will be in some degree wasted, before a shoot is singled out to take the lead; but if a graft is inserted either in the collar or stool, or in the amputated head, it will give an immediate direction to the sap, the latent buds will not be excited, and the whole concentrated vigour of the tree will be exerted in the production of one grand shoot. The different kinds of grafting may be classed thus: — grafting by detached scions or cuttings, which is the most common mode ; grafting by attached scions, or, as it is commonly termed, by approach or inarching, in which the scion, when put on the stock, is not at all, or is only partially, separated from the parent plant; and grafting by buds, in which the scion consists of a plate of bark, containing one or more buds. The stock on which the scion is placed is, in every case, a rooted plant, generally standing in its place in the garden or nursery ; but sometimes, in the case of grafting by detached scions, taken up and kept under cover while the operation is being performed. The two first modes of grafting are performed when the sap is rising in spring ; and budding chiefly when it is descending in July and August. Under particular circumstances, however, and with care, grafting in every form may be performed at any period of the year. The materials used in grafting are the common knife for heading down stocks; the grafting-knife and budding-knife (fig. 194); ligatures of different kinds for tying on the scions, and grafting clay or grafting wax for covering them. The ligatures in common use are strands of bast matting, or of other flexible bark ; but sometimes coarse worsted thread is used, or occasionally shreds of coarse paper, or cotton cloth, covered with grafting wax. The dried stems of the common Sparganium ramosum, the Bur-reed, are now very generally used in France for grafting purposes — in fact, they are considered the best material for this purpose. When bast mat is used, it may be rendered waterproof, 248 PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING, ETC. by passing it first through a solution of white soap, and next through one of alum ; by which a neutral compound is formed insoluble in water. These prepared shreds, before being put on, are softened, by holding them over a small vessel of burning charcoal, which the Fig. 194. Grafting-knife, with the portion of the back of the blade from + to + ground to a cutting-edge, so as to make it serve also for a budding^knife. grafter carries with him ; and when grafting wax is employed instead of grafting clay, it is kept in an earthen pot, also placed over live charcoal, and the composition taken out and laid on with a brush. There are compositions, however, which become soft by the heat of the hand, or by breathing on them. Grafting clay is prepared by mixing clay of any kind, or clayey loam, fresh horse or cow-dung, free from litter, in the proportion of three parts in bulk of clay to one of dung ; and adding a small portion of hay, not, however, cut into too short lengths, its use being analogous to that of hair in plaster. The whole is thoroughly mixed together, and beaten up with water, so as to be of a suitable consistency and ductility for putting on with the hands, and for remaining on in wet weather, and also in dry weather without cracking. The beating is per- formed with a beetle or rammer, on a smooth hard floor under cover, turning over the mass, and adding water, and then beating afresh, till it becomes sufficiently softened and ductile. The process of beating must be repeated two or three times a day for several days ; and it should be completed from three weeks to a month before the clay is wanted ; care being taken to preserve it in a moist state, by covering it with mats or straw. The grafting clay used by the French gardeners is composed of equal parts of cow-dung, free from litter, and fresh loam, thoroughly beaten up and incorporated. Grafting wax is very generally used on the Continent, instead of grafting clay. There are various recipes for composing it, but they may all be reduced to two kinds: — 1. Those which", being melted, are laid on the graft in a fluid and hot state with a brush ; and 2, those which are previously spread on pieces of coarse cotton, or brown paper, and afterwards wrapped round the graft in the same manner as strands of matting. The common composition for the first kind is one pound of cow-dung, half a pound of pitch, and half a pound of bees-wax, boiled up together, and heated when wanted in a small earthen pot. For the second kind, equal parts of turpentine, bees-wax, and rosin are melted together. Both these are now nearly superseded by the use of the composition called " Mastic 1'Homme Lefort," which is fully described in Mr. Robinson's work on the "Parks, Pleasure-grounds, and Gardens of Paris," page 565. This substance can be bought in GRAFTING BY DETACHED SCIONS. 249 England of Messrs. Hooper and Co., of Central Row, Covent Garden, London. It is of the consistence of common white lead, somewhat resembling half-melted gutta percha, and has an agreeable perfume. It is spread over the parts with the blade of a knife or a flat piece of wood, like butter on bread. While in a box, away from the air, it will keep pliable and moist for many years. It very soon hardens on the outside after being exposed thinly on the graft, and, as it were, hermetically seals up the point of junction, and thus prevents all access of air to the cuts. It is at the same time elastic, and easily removed when required. It has been largely used and highly ap- proved by the late Mr. Thompson of Chiswick, and others. It is much more convenient than clay for tall trees, and is admirably adapted for vine-grafting. Clay and moss are objectionable, as the moist atmo- sphere of vineries causes the scion to root into them ; the use of this mastic checks the formation of such roots, and ensures success. It is equally useful in healing wounds and bruises quickly. A sixpenny box will suffice for a hundred grafts, and the work can be finished without soiling the fingers. Its great advantage over all other mastics is, that it can be used cold, while they require heating. Grafting by Detached Scions. Grafting by detached scions is the most common mode, and it is that generally used for kernel-fruits, and the hardier forest-trees. It is performed in a great many different ways, as may easily be con- ceived, when we consider that the only essential condition is the close connexion of the alburnum of the scion with that of the stock. Upwards of forty modes of grafting by detached ligneous scions have been de- scribed by Thouin ; but we shall confine ourselves to a few which we consider best adapted for general use. The time for grafting hardy trees and shrubs by detached scions in England is generally in spring, when the sap is rising ; but the vine, if grafted before it is in leaf, suffers from bleeding. In Germany and North America, grafting is frequently performed in the winter time on roots or stocks which have been preserved in sheds or cellars ; and the scion being put on and tied and clayed over, the grafted stock is kept till the spring, and then taken out and planted. Where scions are grafted on roots, this prac- tice is sometimes followed in British nurseries, as in the case of pears and roses. Plants under glass may be grafted at almost any period ; and herbaceous grafting, when and wherever performed, can, of course, only succeed when the shoots of the scion and stock are in a succulent or herbaceous state. In all the different modes of grafting by detached scions, success is rendered more certain, when the sap of the stock is in a more advanced and vigorous state than that of the scion ; for which purpose the scions are generally taken off in autumn, and their vege- tation retarded by keeping them in a shady place till spring ; and the stock is cut over a little above the part where the scion is to be put on, a week or two before grafting takes place. The manual precautions necessary to success are : to fit the scion to the stock in such a manner 250 GRAFTING BY DETACHED SCIONS. that the union of their inner barks, and consequently of their albur- nums, may be as close as possible ; to cut the scion in such a manner that there shall be a bud or joint at its lower extremity, and the stock so that there shall be a bud or joint at its upper extremity ; to maintain the scion and the stock in the proper position for growth, and in close contact, by a bandage of narrow shreds of matting or cloth ; to exclude the air by a covering of clay or grafting- wax j and, in addition, when the graft is close to the surface of the ground, by earthing it up with soil ; and when the scion is making its shoot, to tie it to a prop if necessary ; to remove the clay or grafting- wax, when the scion has made several leaves ; to remove the bandage by degrees, when it appears to be no longer necessary; and to cut off the heel on the upper part of the stock at the proper time, so as that it may, if possible, be healed over the same season. The modes of grafting detached scions adapted for general use, are : splice or whip-grafting, cleft- grafting, rind-grafting, saddle-grafting, side-grafting, root-grafting, and herbaceous-grafting. Splice -grafting, tongue-grafting, or whip-grafting, is the mode most commonly adopted in all gardens where the stocks are not much larger in diameter than the scion ; and it has the advantage of being more expeditiously performed than any of the other modes described in this work. The stock is first cut over at the height at which the scion is to be put on (fig. 195, a), and a thin slice of the bark and wood is Fig. 195. Splice-grafting in its different stages. then cut off with a very sharp knife, so as to leave a perfectly smooth, even surface (b) ; the scion, which should at least have three buds, and need never have more than five (the top one for a leading shoot, the next two for side shoots, in the case of fruit-trees, and the lower to aid in uniting the scion to the stock), is next cut, so as to fit the pre- pared part of the stock as accurately as possible, at least on one side ; then a slit or tongue, as it is technically termed, is made on the scion, and a corresponding one in the stock (c). All being thus prepared, the scion is applied to the stock, inserting the tongue of the one into GRAFTING BY DETACHED SCIONS. 251 the slit of the other (c) ; then the scion is tied on with matting ( d) ; and, lastly, it is clayed over (e) ; and sometimes, in addition, it is earthed up, or covered with moss, to serve as a non-conductor of heat and moisture. In earthing up the graft, the loose surface soil should be used at the grafting season, as being drier and warmer than that which is less under the immediate influence of the sun. When the scion is placed on the stock with the right hand, the ribbon of bast by which it is tied, is brought round the graft from right to left ; but when the scion is put on by the left hand, the bast is brought round from left to right; the object in both cases being to make sure of the exact coin- cidence of the inner bark of one side of the scion, with the inner bark of one side of the stock. The ball of clay which envelopes the graft should be about an inch thick on every side, and should extend for nearly an inch below the bottom of the graft, to more than an inch over the top of the stock, compressing and finishing the whole into a kind of oval or egg-shape form, closing it in every part, so as completely to exclude air, light, wet, or cold. The ball of clay will not be so apt to drop off, if the matting over which it is placed is rendered a fitting nucleus for solid clay, by previously smearing it over in a comparatively liquid state. This envelope of clay, with the earthing up, preserves the graft in a uniform temperature, and prevents the rising of the sap from being checked by cold days or nights ; and, therefore, earthing up ought always to be adopted in the case of grafts in the open garden which are difficult to succeed. The next best resource is a ball of moss over the clay, or of some dry material, such as hay, tied on from within an inch of the top of the scion to the surface of the ground, so as to act as thatch in excluding rain and wind, and retaining heat and moisture. When the scion and the stock are .p. . both of the same thickness, or when they are of kinds that do not unite freely, the tongue is sometimes omitted ; but in that case, more care is required in tying. In this, and also in other cases, the stock is not shortened down to the graft ; but an inch or two with a bud at its upper extremity is left to ensure the rising of the sap to the scion, as in fig. 193 ; and after the latter is firmly established, the part of the stock left is cut off close above the scion, as shown in fig. 196. When the stock is not headed down till the scion is about to be put on, it is essentially necessary to leave it longer than usual, in order to give vent to the rising sap, which might otherwise exude above the scion, and occasion its decay. In the case of shoots having much pith, such as those of the The scion with its young rose, the scion is often put on the stock without to°%J*^^ ™ °f being tongued into it, as in fig. 197, in which the scion in the one case, a, is without a bud on its lower extremity, and is therefore less likely to succeed than 6, which has a bud in that 252 GRAFTING BY DETA CHED SCIONS. Fig. 197. Fig. 198. Fig. 199. Fig. 200. position. Sometimes a notch is cut on the scion immediately under a bud, and this notch is made to rest on the top of the stock, as in fig. 198; and in such cases, when the scion and the stock are about the same diameter, the summit of the latter is certain of being healed over the first season. Splice-grafting the Peach. — In splice-grafting the shoots of peaches, nectarines, and apricots, and other tender shoots with large pith, it is found of advantage to have a quarter of an inch of two-year old wood at the lower extremity of the scion (fig. 199, a), and to have the stock cut with a dovetail notch (b). In the case of the fruit-trees mentioned, the buds of the scion on the back and front are removed, leaving two on each side, and a leader ; and when these have grown six or eight inches, their extremities are pinched off with the finger and thumb ; by which means each shoot will throw out two others, and thus produce in autumn a finely-shaped tree, with ten branches. Such trees will bear two or three fruits the second year from the Q graft. — ' Gard. Mag.,' vol. iii. p. 150. Cleft-grafting, fig. 200, requires less care than splice-grafting, and seems to have been the mode in most general use in former ages. It is now chiefly adopted when the scion is a good deal larger than the stock, and more especially when grafting stocks of considerable height, or heading down old trees. The head Cleft-grafting. of the stock being cut over horizontally with a saw (fig. 201), a cleft is made in it, from two to three inches in length, with a stout knife or chisel, or with the splitting-knife (fig. 202). The cleft being kept open by the knife or chisel, or the pick-end of the splitting-knife, one or two scions are inserted, ac- cording to the diameter of the stock ; the scions being cut into long wedge shapes, in a double sense, and inserted into the slit prepared for them, when the knife or chisel being withdrawn, the stock closes firmly upon the scions, and holds them fast. The graft is then tied and clayed in the usual manner, and the whole is frequently Splice-grafting Fig. 201. Bow-saw for cutting off branches of trees. GRAFTING BY DETACHED SCIONS. 253 covered with moss. When the stock is an inch or more in diameter, three or more scions are frequently put on at equal distances from Fig. 202. Rind-grafting. Splitting-knife and opening-pick for using in cleft-grafting. each other round the circumference, and this is called crown-grafting. Cleft-grafting with one scion is in general not a good mode, because if the split has been made right through the stock, it is in danger of being injured by the weather before it is covered with wood by the scion. If the cleft is made only on one side of the stock, the evil is miti- gated ; but there still remains the tendency of the scion in its growth to protrude the wood all on one side. In crown-grafting headed-down old trees, the scion is generally chosen of two-years old wood, and it is sometimes inserted between the inner bark and the alburnum, as in what is called rind-grafting (fig. 203). In rind-grafting, great care must be taken to open the bark of the stock without bruising it, which is done by the spatula- end of the grafting-knife. The scion is prepared without a tongue, and inserted so that its wood may be in contact with the alburnum of the stock. As in this case both edges of the alburnum of the scion come in close contact with the alburnum of the stock, the chances of success, other circumstances being alike, are increased. In cases of this kind also, a longitudinal notch is some- times cut out, instead of a slit, and the scion cut to correspond. Sometimes also the scion is prepared with a shoulder, more especially when it consists of two-years old wood, and this mode is called shoulder-grafting. Cleft-grafting the vine is shown in fig. 204, in which a is a bud on the scion, and b one on the stock, both in the most favourable positions for success. The graft is tied and clayed in the usual manner, excepting that only a small hole is left in the clay opposite the eye of the scion, for its development. In grafting the vine in this manner, when the bud, £, on the stock is developed, it is allowed to grow for ten or fourteen days, after which it is cut off; leaving only one bud and one leaf near its base to draw up sap to the scion till it be fairly united to the stock. The time of grafting is when the stock is cieft-m>aftinq about to break into leaf, or when it has made shoots the vine. 254 GRAFTING BY DETACHED SCIONS. with four or five leaves. By this time the sap has begun to flow freely, so that there is no danger of the stock suffering from bleeding ; though if vines are in good health and their wood thoroughly ripened, all the bleeding that usually takes place does little injury. The best mode of grafting the vine, however, is by inserting a single bud with a piece of wood an inch or thereabouts in length attached to it. Cut half the under portion of the wood away, and fit it into the stock exactly at each end, and closely to one or both sides of the stock. Leave an eye or two on the stock beyond the graft until the eyes break, when they may be cut off, and the bud will form a strong healthy shoot. Mr. Stevens, at Trentham, also buds growing vines with the current year's wood, as roses are budded. In Flanders the rose is frequently grafted in the cleft manner, the scion, if possible, being of the same diameter as the stock (fig. 205, #) ; or the cleft in the stock is made so near one side of the cross section that the bark of the wedge part of the scion may fit the bark of the stock on both sides (ft). Fig. 205. Fig. 206. Cleft- grafting the rose. Cleft-grafting the camellia. Fig. 207. Sometimes a shoulder is made to the scion (c), in order that it may rest with greater firmness on the stock ; and the wedge part of the scion, instead of being part of an internode, as at d, is, when prac- ticable, selected with a bud on it, as at e. The camellia is sometimes cleft-grafted, with only a single bud on the scion (fig. 206, a), which is inserted in the stock, ft, just when the sap is beginning to rise, and being tied, it is found to take freely without claying. Epiphyllum truncatum is frequently cleft-grafted on Pereskia aculeata, as shown in fig. 207. Saddle -grafting (fig. 208) is only applicable to stocks of moderate size, but it is well adapted for standard fruit-trees. The top of the stock is cut into a wedge shape, and the scion is split up the middle, and placed Pe- astr^e on **» tne inner barks being made to join on one rcskia aculeata. side of the stock as in cleft-grafting. The tying, claying, &c., GRAFTING BY DETACHED SCIONS. 255 Fig. 209. are of course performed in the usual manner. Fig. 209 represents a mode of grafting practised in Herefordshire after the usual season for grafting is over, and when the bark may be easily separated from the stock. The scion, which must be Fig. 208. smaller than the stock, is split up between two and three inches from its lower end, so as to have one side stronger than the other. This strong side is then prepared and introduced between the bark and wood, as in rind-grafting ; while the thinner division is fitted to the opposite side of the stock. Mr. Knight, who de- scribes this mode of grafting, says, that grafts of the apple and pear rarely ever fail by it, and that it may be practised with success either in spring, or with SaddU- grafting. -JiL Herefordshire sad- dle-grafting. young wood in July, as soon as that has become moderately firm and mature. Saddle-grafting, in whichever way per- formed, has the advantage over all others of presenting the largest surface of the alburnum of the scion to receive the ascending sap of the stock, and at the same time without causing it to deviate from its natural course, which it is made to do to a certain extent, when the scion is put on one side of the stock only, as in splice-grafting and side-grafting. Side-grafting is nothing more than splice-grafting performed on the side of a stock, the head of which is not cut off. It is sometimes practised on fruit-trees to supply a branch in a vacancy, or for the sake of having different kinds of fruits upon the same tree ; but it is better for the latter purpose to graft on the side branches, because, in consequence of the flow of the sap not being interrupted by being headed down, the success of this kind of grafting is more uncertain than almost any other mode. In grafting the lateral branches of fruit-trees, it is always desirable, in order to ensure success, to have corresponding buds in the scion and the stock, as in fig. 210. What the French call veneer-grafting, fig. 211, is a variety of side-grafting, in which the scion, e, is prepared to fit into the stock,/, which has a notch at the lower extremity of the incision, for the scion to rest on. This mode of grafting is practised with orange-trees, camellias, &c., in pots ; and after the operation is completed, the grafted plant is plunged in heat, and closely covered with a bell-glass. Fig. 212 is a peculiar mode of side-grafting the vine, which is performed in November, when both scion and stock are in a dormant state, and in which the scions, a and ft, being prepared, as in the figure, and inserted and bandaged Fig. 210. Grafting the lateral branches of fruit-trees. 256 GRAFTING BY DETACHED SCIONS. Fig. 211. instead of being clayed, are surrounded with a mass of mould. About a month afterwards the plant is plunged in a mild heat, and in about three weeks the buds from the scions will be seen emerging from the mould with which they are surrounded. This mode of grafting may also be adopted after the vine has started into full growth, and such grafts will take readily throughout the summer. Wedge-grafting (fig. 213), which is a modification of side-grafting, has been very successful in grafting Cedrus Deodara, on the cedar of Lebanon. The scions, c, are chosen of the preceding year's wood, from three to five inches in length, and they are in- serted in wood either one or two years old, as may be convenient, and as near the top of the stock as is practicable, in order to gain height. The slit in the stock is cut through the pith, and from 1 to 1-^ inches in length ; and the graft being tied, is coated over with grafting- wax, as being lighter than clay, and not so liable to bend down the shoot. Many cedars of Lebanon at Elvaston Castle have had the ex- tremities of their shoots grafted in this manner with Cedrus Deodara, by Mr. Barron, the in- Side-grafting the orange. vent°T of this mode- (See ' Gard- Mag->' voL xiv. p. 80.) Grafting the mistletoe has been successfully performed in the wedge manner by Mr. Pit, farmer and grafter, near Hatfield, in Herefordshire. To be attended with success, there must be a joint let into the soft wood of the stock, or a scion taken off with a heel, and the heel of the preceding year's wood inserted. Koot-grafting is merely the union of a scion to the root, instead of to a stem. It is sometimes practised in nur- series, by grafting the apple and the pear on the roots of thorns, tree peonies on her- baceous peonies (see herba- ceous grafting), stove passion-flowers, Japan clematises, &c., on the common sorts, and Side-grafting the vine. with various other stove and greenhouse plants, Fig. 212. Fig. 213. Wedg e -grafting. GRAFTING BY DETACHED SCIONS. 257 especially climbers. The greatest care is requisite to prevent any particles of soil from getting in between the scion and the stock, for which purpose the upper part of the latter is sometimes washed with water before the operation is performed. The roots of thorns, pears, and crabs, as already observed, are frequently grafted in- doors, and taken out and planted so deep, that only the upper part of the scion appears above ground. Another mode where a thorn hedge is taken up, or a row of seedling pear or crab stocks is transplanted, and a portion of the roots left in the soil, is to graft on them where they stand, and afterwards to earth-up the graft — a mode which would doubtless be very successful. Herbaceous-grafting is applicable either to the solid parts of her- baceous plants, or to the branches of ligneous plants when they are in a herbaceous state. By this method the melon has been grafted on the cucumber, the tomato on the common potato, the dwarf French bean on the scarlet-runner, potatoes on each other, the cauliflower on the broccoli and the borecole ; . and on the tender growing shoots of various forest trees, and of azaleas and other shrubs, hardy and tender, allied species have been successfully grafted. This mode has been extensively employed for many years past in the forest of Fontainebleau, in grafting the Pinus Laricio on the P. sylvestris ; and many hundreds of plants of pines and firs of different kinds, and of Indian azaleas, have been so propagated at Fromont. Many trees were thus grafted by Baron Tschoudy in the botanic garden at Metz, and on his own estate in the neighbourhood ; and these and the pines at Fontainebleau prove this mode of grafting to be particularly applicable to the Abietinae. Grafting the Pine and Fir Tribe. — The proper time for grafting pines is when the young shoots have made about three-quarters of their length, and are still so herbaceous as to break like a shoot of asparagus. The shoot of the stock is then broken off about two inches under its terminating bud, the leaves are cut or clipped off from twenty to twenty-four lines down from the ex- tremity, leaving, however, two pairs of leaves opposite- and close to the section of fracture, which leaves are of great importance to the success of the graft. The shoot is then split with a very thin knife between the two pairs of leaves (fig. 214), and to the depth of two inches ; the scion is then prepared (6), the lower part being stripped of its leaves to the length of two inches is cut and inserted in the usual manner of cleft-grafting. They may also be grafted in the la- teral manner (c). The graft is tied s Fig. 2U. Herbaceous-grafting the pine and fir tribe. 258 GRAFTING BY DETACHED SCIONS. with a coarse woollen thread, and a cap of paper is put over the whole to protect it from the sun and rain. At the end of fifteen days this cap is removed, and the ligature at the end of a month ; at that time also the two pairs of leaves («) which have served as nurses are removed. The scions of those sorts of pines which make two growths in a season, or, as the technical phrase is, have a second sap, produce a shoot of five or six inches the first year ; but those of only one sap, as the Corsican pine, Weymouth pine, &c., merely ripen the wood grown before grafting, and form a strong terminating bud, which in the following year produces a shoot of fifteen inches or two feet. We have described this mode of grafting at greater length than we otherwise should have done, because it is little known in this country, and because we think it ought to be adopted in a great many cases for the multiplication of plants now propagated with difficulty by cuttings, or reared, after being so propagated, so slowly as to exhaust the patience of the propagator or amateur. For example, though the pine and fir tribe may all be increased by cuttings, yet these cut- tings grow very slowly, and though they ultimately become good plants, — many kinds as much so as if they had been raised from seeds — yet if the kinds to be propagated had been grafted on the points of the bud- ding shoots of pines or firs of five or six years' growth, they would have grown with incomparably greater rapidity and vigour, and would have become trees of twenty feet in length, before cuttings had attained the height of three feet. Grafting the Tree-peony on the roots of the herbaceous species is performed from the middle of July to the middle of August, and will be easily understood from fig. 215, in which a represents a triangular space in the tuber or stock ; 5, the scion, the lower end of which is cut so as to fit the cavity in the stock ; and c, the scion fitted to the stock. It is not necessary that there should be more than one bud on the scion, for which reason the upper part of b might have The graft being tied with bast, Fig. 215. Grafting the Tree-peony on the tubers of tht herbaceous peony. been inserted in a, in the cleft manner. and covered with grafting-wax, the whole is inserted into a bed of tan, leaving only about half an inch of the scion above the surface. The tubers throw out roots by the end of September or the beginning of October, and are then taken up and potted, and placed in a cold frame, where they remain through the winter. GRAFTING BY DETACHED SCIONS. 259 Fig. 216. Cleft-grafting the dahlia on its own tubers. The following kinds of herbaceous-grafting are in use in France and Belgium : — Grafting on fleshy roots, as in the dahlia and peony, may be per- formed either with a growing shoot (fig. 216), or with a dormant eye, as in fig. 217. The former mode requires no explanation ; by the latter, on the neck of a barren tubercle a small hole is made, in which the bud is inserted, but in such a manner that its base shall be perfectly on a level with the surface of the tu- bercle, and the edges Peg-grafting the are covered with graft- dahlia o mi i own tubers. ing-wax. The tubercle is then planted in a pot, care being taken not to cover the bud, and the pot is plunged in heat under glass. When the plant has taken, it may, if hardy, be turned out into the open border. This mode of grafting, ap- plied to Dahlia imperialis, dwarfs the rampant habit of that plant and causes it to flower more freely. Herbaceous wedge-grafting (fig. 218) is effected by paring the scion into a wedge shape, and inserting it into a corresponding slip in the stock. It succeeds well both with trees and herbaceous plants, more especially when the plants are in pots so that they may be plunged in heat and covered with a bell-glass. Herbaceous-grafting for shoots with Opposite Leaves (fig. 219). — In the middle of the shoots, between two opposite eyes, an angular and longitudinal incision is made, and a small portion of the stem cut out from one side to the other. The scion is cut to fit this opening, and it is inserted as in the figure, and bandaged in the usual manner. Herbaceous-grafting — An- nual or Perennial Plants (fig. 220).— The period chosen for this mode of grafting is that of the greatest vigour of the plant, that is, some days before Herbaceous - grafting its going into flower. The stem of the stock is cut ™^ ."*?** having through above a leaf, as near as possible to its petiole, oppot ve*' and a slit downwards is made in the section. A shoot is then taken off s2 Fig. 218. Herbaceous wedge- grafting. 260 GRAFTING DETACHED SCIONS. Fig. 221. Fig. 222. near the root of the plant to be increased, the end of which is cut into a wedge shape, and is inserted in the slit made in the stock, taking great care of the leaf on the latter ; for it is that which must nourish the scion until it has taken thoroughly, by keeping up the circulation of the sap. A bandage is applied at the junction, lg> * covered with grafting wax as before. When the graft has taken, which is ascertained by its growth, the liga- ture is removed, and also the old leaf, and the shoots from the stock below the graft. Grafting Herbaceous Shoots of Succulents (fig. 221). — Take a young shoot, and cutting its base to a point or wedge, insert it in 'a hole or slit made in the stem or leaf of the stock. Grafting the Melon (fig. 222). — On the stem of a cucumber, or any other plant of the family of Cucur- Herbaceous -graft- bitacese, but having some analogy with the melon, choose ing annuals or a vigOrous part of a shoot having a well- developed leaf. per In the axil of this leaf an oblique cut is made, of half its thickness. The point of a melon shoot, so far developed as to have its fruit quite formed, is then cut off, and pointed at its end, two inches below the fruit. It is inserted in the cleft made in the stock, always taking care to spare the leaf until the scion has taken. The remaining part of the ope- ration is performed in the usual manner, with ligatures and grafting wax. This mode of grafting succeeds pretty well ; but it has not hitherto been applied to any useful end. The greffe e*touffee, or stifled graft, is so named, not from any particular mode of performing the operation, but because the plants so grafted are closely covered with a bell-glass, so as completely to ex- clude the surrounding air, and placed in moist heat, while the union between the scion and the stock is going on. It is only applicable to plants of small size, and in pots ; but for these, whether hardy, as in the case of pines, firs, and oaks, or tender, as in the case of orange- trees, camellias, rhododendrons, &c., it is the most expeditious of all modes of grafting. The operation is very commonly performed in the cleft mode, the stock being in a growing state with the leaves on, and being cut over close to a leaf which has a bud in its axil, and so as to slope away from it. Great care is taken not to injure the leaf and bud on the stock, as on these, in a great measure, depends the success of the operation. The stock is split to a depth equal to two-thirds of its thickness, and the scion prepared is inserted, made fast with a shred of mat, or with worsted threads ; and the upper part of the stock, not Herbaceous graft- ing succulents. Herbaceous- grafting the melon. GRAFTING BY APPROACH OR INARCHING. 261 covered by the scion, is coated over with grafting wax. The pot contain- ing the plant is then plunged in heat, and closely covered with a bell- glass, which must be taken off and wiped every second day, and left off an hour or two, if at any time the plants appear too moist. Side- grafting and inarching are also employed by those who practise the greffe £touffee, more especially in autumn. After the scion is inserted and bound close to the stock, the pot containing the stock is half buried in a horizontal position, on a bed of dry tan, or dry moss ; and the grafted part covered with a bell-glass, stuffed round the bottom with tan or moss, so as to prevent any change of air taking place within the bell-glass. The graft is kept thus closely covered for from two to four weeks, according to the season, when the scion will, in general, be found perfectly united to the stock. Air is now admitted by degrees ; and after a week or two more, the glass is removed altogether, the pot set upright in a gentle heat, and the upper part of the stock neatly cut off close above the scion. There is yet another species of grafting, which may be denominated bud-grafting, and is the best for most evergreens, such as daphnes, &c. When the stock has begun to grow vigorously, cut the head off, and, making an incision in the bark a few inches down, open it on both sides, in the same way as for budding ; prepare the graft without a tongue, and insert the lower part as you would a bud, leaving the herbaceous-growing top green above. Soft succulent evergreens, in which the bark opens freely, will do better in this way than any other. Grafting by Approach or Inarching. Grafting by approach differs from grafting by detached scions in the scion or shoot not being separated from the plant to which it belongs, and by which it is nourished, till a union takes place. For this purpose it is necessary that the two plants which are to form the scion and the stock be planted, or, if in pots, placed adjoining each other, so that a branch of the one may be easily brought into close contact with the stem, or with a branch of the other. A disk of bark and alburnum is then removed from each at the intended point of union, and the parts being properly fitted to each other, so that the inner barks of the respective subjects may coincide, as in the case of grafting by detached scions, they are bandaged and covered with clay or grafting wax. This being done, in a short time, in consequence of the development of cambium, the alburnum of the scion and that of the stock become united, and the scion may be cut off below the point where it is united with the stock, leaving the former to be nourished only by the latter. This kind of grafting is the only sort that takes place in nature, from the crossing of the branches of trees (more especi- ally where they are crowded together in hedges), when, by the friction between them, the alburnum is laid bare, and if a season of repose takes place when the sap is rising, the parts adhere and grow together. This is not uncommon in beech-trees, and in beech and hornbeam hedges ; and it is even occasionally imitated by art in young hedges of these, and of several other kinds of trees or shrubs, in order to make a 262 GRAFTING BY APPROACH OR INARCHING. Fig. 223. I very strong hedge. The principal use, however, of grafting by approach is to propagate plants of rarity and value, which it is found difficult to increase by any other means, and of which it is not desirable to risk the loss of any part by at- tempting an increase by means of detached scions or cuttings. It is also much employed in France for furnishing bare portions of fruit trees. Inarching may be performed with various organs of plants ; but in horticulture it is chiefly confined to stems, branches, and roots ; and all the different forms may be included under side-inarching, terminal inarching, and in- arching by partially-nourished scions. The season for performing the operation is principally in spring, when the sap is rising ; but it may be effected at every season, except during severe frost or extreme heat. No other instrument is necessary than the A scion and stock grafting-knife, and the graft may often be secured prepared for in- from the sun and air by bandages, without the aid of arching. -, /> • moss, clay, or grafting wax. Side-inarching may be effected either with or without tongueing. In the latter case, the incisions in the scion and the stock are of the simplest description (as shown in fig. 223 and in fig. 224 a), and the parts being bound together with matting, as at b, and covered by clay or moss, are left to form a union. Side-inarching with a tongue is represented in fig. 225, in which a is the stock prepared Fig. 224. Fig. 225. The scion inarched to the stock and bandaged with mat- ting. Inarching with the scion and stock tongued and united) but not ban- daged. with an under tongue, and b the scion, with an upper tongue for in- serting into a ; c is the scion and the stock united. One of the pur- poses, though perhaps more curious than useful, to which De Candolle and Thouin say that this kind of grafting may be applied, is to in- crease the number of roots to a tree. Thus, if a tree be planted in GRAFTING BY APPROACH OR INARCHING. the centre of a circle, and three or more of the same, or of allied species, be planted in the circumference, so that their tops may be at a suitable distance for inarching to the centre tree ; then, after the union has been effected, if the parts of the side trees be cut off above the graft, all the sap sent up by their roots will go to the nourishment of the tree in the centre. When the root of one tree is to be joined to another, with a view of strengthening the latter, this mode of inarching is the one generally adopted. Terminal inarching consists in heading down the stock, and joining the scion to it, either in the manner of splice-grafting, cleft-grafting, or by saddle-grafting, as exemplified in figs. 226 to 228. The stock Fig. 226. Fig. 227. Fig. 228. A stock prepared for saddle-inarching. A scion prepared A scion and stock united in for saddle-inarching, the manner of saddle-inarching. is cut off in the form of a wedge, as in fig. 226, and the scion is cut upwards, half way through, for a sufficient length, as in fig. 227 ; then the scion is placed upon the stock as in fig. 228, and bound on with bast and clay as usual, a ring of bark being taken Fi 229 off between the graft and the root, as in fig. 228, wz, which causes the returning sap to flow through the graft into the stock, n, instead of into its own root, o. This mode is recommended for grafting whenever the stock and the scion are of the same size, or very nearly so ; but when the stock is twice the size of the scion, the following modification of it is preferable : — the top of the stock is cut off slanting from one side only, as in fig. 229 ; then a long tongue is made to the scion, about one-third of its thickness, as in fig. 230, and as much of the bark and wood A stock cut over for is cut from the back and front of the stock as will inarching when it correspond with the width of the tongue on the ^^cion*1* "** °f scion ; when the stock is ready to receive the graft, it will appear like fig. 231, q ; there is also a piece cut off the bark of the stock at r, tig. 231, but it is not seen in the figure. Then the scion is placed across the middle of the stock, as in fig. 232, and bound 264 GRAFTING BY APPROACH OR INARCHING. with bast-mat and clay as usual ; after which a ring of bark is taken off at Sj in fig. 232, in the same manner as directed for fig. 228. Inarching with partially-nourished scions appears, at first sight, to belong to the preceding section, but it is placed here because the scion has an auxiliary support Fig. 230. from moist soil or water, till Fig. 231 . it adheres to the stock. This mode is applicable either to the side or crown manner of inarching, and it only differs from them in the inferior end of the scion being in- serted in a vessel of water, as in figs. 233 and 234, or in a pot of moist earth. The vessel of water must be removed from time to time, and the base of the sub- merged scion renewed by paring a slice off its extre- mity, and replacing it again , , . in the water. If the stock A stock prepared for A scion prepared for in- , , , j j , -, inarching when it arching when it is only be Beaded down, a bud ig fwice the size Qf half the size of the stock, must be left on it at its the scion. upper extremity, in order to attract the sap to the graft. The finer sorts of camellias are sometimes grafted in this manner, as indicated in fig. 234. In Fig. 232. A large stock and a small scion united by inarching. Inarching with a scion nou- rished by its lower extre- mity being inserted in a vessel of water. BUDDING OR GRAFTING BY DETACHED BUDS. 265 some cases, when it is desired to prevent evaporation, instead of claying or mossing, the graft is covered with a piece of paper tied on below and above the parts operated on, so as completely to enclose them. Some persons, instead of a vessel of water, insert j,. 234^ the lower part of the scion into a pot of soil kept moist, or into a potato or a turnip. A great many different kinds of inarching have been described by M. Thouin, which, if not useful, are at least curious : such, for example, as uniting a number of different stems of different species of the same genus, and afterwards allowing only one shoot to expend all the sap drawn up by the different stocks; the object being to ascertain whether the different saps supplied would make any difference in that of the scion, which, however, was found not to be the case. Budding or Grafting by Detached Buds,, Budding consists in transferring a portion of bark containing one or more buds, and forming the scion, to the wood of another plant forming the stock, a portion of the bark of the stock being raised up or taken off to receive the scion. The buds of trees are originated in the young shoots in the axils of ______ the leaves; and when the bud begins to grow, The camellia, inarched its connexion with the medullary sheath ceases; with a scion partially or, at all events, the bud if detached and pro- "yjjjjjf1 byaPhial perly placed on the alburnum of another plant, will become vitally united to it. On these facts the art of budding is founded. This mode of grafting is chiefly applicable to woody plants, and the scion may, in general, be secured to the stock, and sufficiently protected there, by bandages of bast-mat or thread, without the use of grafting clay or wax. The union between the scion and the stock takes place, in the first instance, in consequence of the exudation of organizable matter from the soft wood of the stock; and it is rendered permanent by the returning sap from the leaves of the stock, or from those of the shoot made by the bud. All the different modes of bud- ding may be reduced to two : — shield-budding, in which the scion is a piece of bark commonly in the shape of a shield, containing a single bud ; and flute-budding, in which the scion consists of a ring or tube of bark containing one or several buds. In both modes the bark of one year is chosen in preference ; and the operation is more certain of success when the bud of the scion is placed exactly over the situation of a bud on the stock. The shield may, however, be placed on the internodes, or a piece of bark without buds may be put on as a scion, and yet a vital union may take place between the parts, because the cambium is diffused everywhere under the bark, and it is by it, during the process of organization, that the layer of wood of one year in a growing 266 BUDDING OR GRAFTING BY DETACHED BUDS. state is joined to that of the year before. A disk or shield from which the visible bud has been removed will also succeed, and the latent buds may remain dormant for years, and yet be developed afterwards. In the year 1824 several buds were placed on the branches of a fig-tree, and, from some accidental cause, though the shield adhered in every case, yet most of the visible buds were destroyed, and only one of the latent buds was developed. Twelve years afterwards, when the fig-tree received a severe check, in the winter of 1837-8, the development of a second latent bud from one of the shields took place. When the bud is placed on the stock, its point is almost always made to turn upwards, as being its natural position; but in budding the olive, and other trees which are liable to gum, the bud is made to point downwards, and the success is said to be greater than when the common mode is adopted. There are two seasons at which budding is practised, viz.: — when the sap rises in spring, when the bud inserted is developed immediately, in the same manner as in detached ligneous scions ; and in the middle of summer, when the sap is descending, the operation being then per- formed with a bud formed during the same summer, which often forms a shoot at once and sometimes remains dormant till the following spring. The French often use the former method for inserting fruit- buds where they are scarce, and so skilfully is the operation per- formed, that the fruit generally comes to perfection. In budding, the stock is not generally cut over in the first instance, as in grafting by detached ligneous scions ; but a tight ligature is frequently placed above the graft, with the intention of forcing a part of the ascending sap to nourish the graft. The uses of budding, in addition to those of the other modes of grafting, are, to propagate some kinds with which the other modes of grafting are not so successful, as, for example, the rose, peach, plum, and all stone fruits. To perform the operation of grafting with greater rapidity than with detached scions, or inarching, as in the case of most fruit-trees and roses ; to unite early vegetating trees with late vegetating ones, as the apricot with the plum, they being both in the same state of vegetation during the budding season ; to graft without the risk of injuring the stock in case of want of success, as in side-budding, and in flute-budding without heading down ; to introduce a number of species or varieties on the same stem, which could not be done by any other mode of grafting without disfiguring the stock, in the event of the want of success ; to prove the blossoms or fruits of any tree, in which case blossom -buds are chosen instead of leaf-buds ; and, finally, as the easiest mode of distributing a great many kinds on the branches of a tree, as in the case of roses, camellias, and fruit-trees. In performing the operation, mild, cloudy weather should be chosen, because during hot, dry, windy weather, the viscous surfaces exposed to the air are speedily dried by evaporation, by which the healing process is retarded ; besides, the bark never rises so well in very dry, windy weather as it does in weather which is still, warm, and cloudy, but without rain. The first step is to ascertain that the bark of the scion and that of the stock will separate freely from the wood beneath BUDDING OR GRAFTING BY DETACHED BUDS. 267 them ; then procure the cutting from which the shields or tubes of bark are to be taken. If the budding is to be performed in spring, the cuttings from which the buds are to be taken should be cut from the tree the preceding autumn, and kept through the winter by burying their lower ends in the ground, in a cool, shady situation, as in the case of grafting by detached scions. When these cuttings are to be used, their lower ends should be placed in water, to keep them fresh, while the operation of cutting shields or rings from them is going on. If, on the other hand, the budding is to be performed in summer, which is almost always the case in Britain, then the cutting from which the buds are to be taken is not cut off the parent tree till just before the operation is to be performed. The cutting should be a shoot of the current year's wood, which has done growing, or nearly so, and its leaves should be cut off, to prevent the waste of sap by evaporation, as soon as it is taken from the tree ; the end of the cutting should then be put in water to keep it fresh, and the buds taken off as wanted. When the leaves are cut off care should be taken to leave part of the petiole of each, to handle the shield or ring by when putting it on the stock. A slit is next made in the stock, or a ring of bark taken off; and the shield or ring from the cutting, containing a bud or buds which are ripe or nearly so, is introduced in the manner which will be described in treating of the different modes of performing the operation. Tying the bud on the stock generally completes the operation, though some- times grafting wax is employed to cover the junction of the shield or ring. Prepared wax for budding may be composed of turpentine, beeswax, resin, and a little tallow melted together. It may be put on in the same manner as grafting clay, but should not be more than a quarter of an inch in thickness ; or it may be very thinly spread upon cotton cloth, and used in shreds, like sticking-plaster. In this last state it serves both as a ligature for retaining the shield of the scion in its place, and as a covering for excluding the air. In very delicate bud- ding and grafting, fine moss or cotton wool are frequently used as sub- stitutes for grafting clay or grafting wax, the moss or cotton being tied firmly on with coarse thread or with fine threads of bast matting. Plastic wax, or grafting wax, which the heat of the hand, or breathing on, will render sufficiently soft for use, is thus prepared : — Take com- mon sealing-wax, of any colour except green, one part ; mutton fat, one part ; white wax, one part ; and honey, one-eighth of a part. The white wax and the fat are to be first melted, and then the sealing-wax is to be added gradually in small pieces, the mixture being kept con- stantly stirred ; and lastly, the honey must be put in just before taking it off the fire. It should be poured hot into paper or tin moulds, and kept slightly agitated till it begins to congeal. Shield-budding in the end of summer is almost the only mode in use in British nurseries, where it is generally performed in July or August. A cross cut and slit are made in the stock, in the form of the letter T, and if possible through a bud (fig. 235, a). From a shoot of the present year deprived of its leaves, a slice of bark and wood, containing 268 BUDDING OR GRAFTING BY DETACHED BUDS. a bud, Z>, is then cut out, and the wood is removed from the slice by the point of the knife. This is done by holding the shield by the remains of the leaf with one hand, and entering the point of the knife at the tinder extremity of the shield, and between it and the thumb ; Fig. 235. The different steps in the process of shield-budding. and then raising and drawing out the wood by a double motion outwards from the bark, and upwards from the lower to the upper extremity of the shield. The bud being now prepared, as at c, the bark on each side of the slit in the stock is raised up by the spatula end of the budding-knife, and the shield inserted beneath it ; its upper part being cut straight across, as at c?, to admit of its joining accurately with the inner bark of the stock, as at e, so as to receive its descending sap. A bandage of soft matting is now applied, so as to exclude the air from the wounded parts, and to show only the bud and the petiole, as at /, and the operation is complete. At /, the bud is shown developing its leaves, and at g it has produced a shoot of some length, which is tied for a short time to the upper part of the stock ; but that part of the latter which is shown by dotted lines is cut off in July. The size of the shield or piece of bark attached to the bud is not a matter of very great importance ; it is generally however from an inch to an inch and a half in length, and the eye should be situated about a third from the top. Spines, prickles, and leaves should be carefully cut off and shortened. Sometimes in taking out the splinter of wood from the scion, which is done with a quick, jerking motion, the base of the bud which is woody is torn out also, leaving a small cavity, instead of an even surface ; the surface, when the bud is in a proper state, being either quite even, or only gently raised above the surrounding bark, in consequence of the woody base of the bud being left in. When the woody base of the bud has been torn out, so as to leave a cavity, it is safest not to use the bud, but to prepare another ; though when the cavity left is not very deep, and a small portion of wood is seen in it, the bud will sometimes grow. Only those buds BUDDING OR GRAFTING BY DETACHED BUDS. 269 Fig. 236. must be taken from the scion that are nearly mature ; which is readily known both by the size of the bud and by the full expansion and firm texture of the disk of the leaf, in the axis of which it grows. Shield-budding in June. — Roses of most kinds may be budded at almost any period from June to October. June is, however, the best month for budding ; the shoots from these buds will mostly flower in the autumn of the same year. Shield-budding in spring may be exemplified by the Belgian prac- tice with the rose. For this purpose, scions are cut before winter, and stuck into the ground till the moment in spring when the bark of the stock will rise, or, technically speaking, run. To prepare the bud, a transverse cut should be first made into the wood, a little below an eye (fig. 236, a), which incision is met by a longer cut downwards, commencing at a short distance above the eye (6), care being taken that a portion of wood is removed with the bark (c). The bud is then inserted into the bark of the stock which is cut like an inverted T (d), and the hori- zontal edges of the cut in the stock and of the bud must be brought into the most perfect contact with each other (e), and then bound with waterproof bast (/), without, however, applying grafting clay. Eight days after the insertion of the bud, the stock is pruned down to the branch above on the opposite side, and this branch is stopped by being cut down to two or three eyes ; all the side-wood is destroyed as it appears ; and when the bud has pushed its fifth leaf, the shoot it has made is compelled to branch, by pinching off its ex- tremity ; it will then flower in September of the same year. The rose may also be budded in spring, with- out waiting till the bark separates, by placing the bud with some wood on it in a niche made in the stock as at (#), similar to what would be formed by taking an eye off it, for budding in the manner above described ; the bud is fitted exactly in the niche, with a slight pressure, and then tied on as usual. The camellia may Shield-budding the also be budded in this manner in spring camellia in spring, by taking a bud with the wood in from Shield - ciraft- the scion, and substituting it for a corre- ™fj" "' spending piece cut out of the stock, as in fig. 237. Shield-grafting without a bud or eye (fig. 238) is used simply to Shield-budding the rose in spring. Fig. 237. Fig. 238. 270 BUDDING OR GRAFTING BY DETACHED BUDS. cover a wound or blemish in one tree by a portion of the live bark of another. Budding with a circular shield, with a portion of wood attached (fig. 239), is employed to equalize the flower-buds over a tree, by Fi 239 removing some from places where there ' are too many to other places in which CJr there are too few. With the point of a penknife, in spring, cut a small cone of bark and wood containing a bud, and insert it in an orifice made in the same manner, securing the edges with graft- ing wax. Budding with a shield stamped out by a punch (fig. 240) is considered excellent Budding with for budding old trees, the thick and rugged „ ,,. a circular , , f ? . , . .^ , , „ ,°9 Budding shield. bark of wmch is not suitable for being ^ Of c taken off with the budding-knife. With a mallet the punch (fig. 241) is driven through the bark of the scion, and then through that of the stock, and the piece which comes out of the former is inserted in the cavity formed by taking the piece out of the latter. Budding with the shield re- versed (fig. 242) is almost the only manner of budding used in the south of Europe, particu- larly at Genoa and Hieres, to propagate orange-trees. It is said also to be suitable for trees having abundant and gummy sap. Budding with the Eye turned Downwards. — By this method the buds are forced to grow in Fig. 241. Fig. 242. by the of a punch. Fig. 243. treeSt a direction opposite to that which Buddi with they would have taken naturally; the shield re- Punch used but tnev soon resume their usual versed. for punch- position ; and the desired end — ing out viz., that of increasing the size of the fruit by stagnating the shield-buds. returning sapj is thus by no means attained. De Candolle says, that this mode of budding is used advantageously in the case of the olive, and of trees which produce a great deal of gum, but that he sees no reason for attributing to it any superiority over the ordinary mode. Shield-budding for resinous trees (fig. 243) is said to succeed with the Abietineae, and with all trees that have a gummy and very abun- dant sap. Budding with the Shield Covered (fig. 244). — The shield being inserted in the usual manner, another with an orifice in it, to admit the bud of the first, is laid over it, and is bandaged in the usual manner, or BUDDING OR GRAFTING BY DETACHED BUDS. 27 L Budding with a square shield. covered with grafting wax. The object of the double shield is to lessen the effect of drying winds. Fig. 244. Budding with a square shield p^ 245. (tig. 245) is an old practice which has lately been revived with some modifications. When this mode is practised the bark raised up on the stock to make room for the shield is tied over it ; the shield being previously shortened, so as to reach only to the under side of Budding with the bud ; and between the two a double barks, the petiole of a leaf is in- dd' serted, the disk of which is in- tended to protect the bud from the sun. The strip of bark being peeled down from the stock, instead of being raised up from it by the spatula of the budding-knife, is found to lessen the risk of injuring the soft wood ; and this appears to be the Fig. 246. chief recommen- dation of this mode of budding. Shield-budding with a terminal bud (fig. 246) is supposed to pro- duce a more vi- gorous shoot than when a lateral eye is used ; and it is, therefore, recommended for supplying a leader to a shoot that has lost one. The stock is cut as at a, and the bud is prepared as at b, inserted as at c, and tied in the usual manner, as at d. Flute-budding, or Tube-budding. — There are several modifications of this mode of budding, which is a good deal used on the Continent for trees which are difficult to take, such as the walnut and the chestnut ; and for several oaks, as well as for the white mulberry. It is gene- rally performed in spring ; but it will also succeed in autumn. The shoot from which the buds are to be taken, and that on which they are to be placed, must be of the same diameter, or nearly so ; and a ring being removed from each, that from the stock is thrown away, and the one from the scion put on in its stead. Sometimes this is done without shortening the stock or branch, when it is called annular, or ring-budding ; and sometimes the stock is shortened, and the ring put on its upper extremity,' when it is called flute-budding, or ter- minal tube-budding. Budding with a terminal eye. 272 BUDDING OR GRAFTING BY DETACHED BUDS. Fig. 247. flute-budding in Spring. — The scions are taken off in autumn, or early in winter, and preserved through the winter in a cool shady situation, in the same manner as is done in grafting by detached scions, and in spring shield-budding. Fig. 247, which requires no description, shows the mode of spring terminal flute-budding the white mulberry, as it is practised in the royal nurseries at Munich. When the ring of the scion is too large, a portion is cut out of it longitudinally, so as to admit of its being pressed closely and firmly to the stock ; and when it is too small, it is slit up so as to admit of its being put round the stock. The tube is tied on with matting, and the summit of the stock is covered with grafting wax. Terminal Jlute-budding in the South of France (fig. 248). — The head of the stock being cut off, a ring of bark, two inches or three inches long, is removed. A shoot is then taken from the tree to be increased, of exactly the same thickness as the stock, and a ring or tube of bark is taken off the thick end (without being split longitudinally), not quite so long as the piece of bark taken off the stock, but provided with several good eyes. The tube thus formed is placed upon the stock in the room of the one removed, and care is taken to make the two edges of bark join below. The part of the stock which projects over the ring of the bark is next split into shreds, and brought down over it all round, in the same manner as when mulberry "in'spring. secured by grafting wax or clay. This mode of budding is chiefly employed in the South of France for propagating walnuts, chestnuts, figs, mulberries, and other trees with thick bark and abundant pith. Flute-budding with Strips of Bark (fig. 249).— The head of the stock is cut off, but instead of re- moving a ring of bark, as in the preceding mode, it is cut longitudinally into four or five strips, each two inches or three pjj XJ inches long, and turned down as in the figure, being left still |i attached to the tree. From a shoot of the tree to be pro- pagated, a tube of bark is LJS taken, furnished with four Terminal or five ey^s, rather shorter flute-budding than the strips, though longer in spring or than in tube-budding. When summer. the tube of the gcion ig Flute-budding the Fig. 248. Fig. 249. Flute-budding with strips of lark. 1 BUDDING OR GRAFTING BY DETACHED BUDS. 273 slipped on the stock, the strips of bark are raised over it, and fastened at the top by a ligature. Sometimes the end of the stock is cut obliquely, and the straps are brought up as at a, in which case the top of the stock is not cut into shreds, and turned down over the tube of bark, as in flute-budding in the South of France. A curious experiment by this mode of budding, consists in placing rings of the bark of different allied species, one above another, without allowing any of the buds to develop themselves. On cutting down the stem of a tree so treated, some years afterwards, it will be found that under each kind of bark is a portion of its proper wood, proving that the wood is deposited by the inner bark from the returning sap, and that the bark has the power of so modifying this sap, as to produce the particular kind of wood of the species to which it belongs, without the aid of any leaves of that species. . Annular budding (fig. 250) is performed either at the principal movement of the sap in spring, or at the end of its principal movement in August. In. either case the top of the stock is kept on ; and if the ring of bark containing a bud or buds taken Fig. 250. from the scion is larger than the space prepared for it on the stock, a piece must be taken from it longitudinally, so as to make it fit exactly. In Belgium this mode is considered particularly suitable for hard-wooded trees, which are difficult to increase by any other mode. The after-care of grafts by budding consists, in all cases, in removing the bandages or plasters as soon as it is ascer- tained that the buds or scions have adhered to the stock. This may generally be known in two or three weeks, by the ^nnuiar j^. healthy appearance of the bark and its bud or buds, and by ding. the dropping off of the petiole, which in the case of the death of the bud withers and adheres. It is also of the utmost im- portance to attach supports or stakes firmly to the stock, and to tie the grafts or buds as they grow tightly to them, otherwise they will often be broken off by wind. The next operation is to head-down the stock to within an inch or two of the bud, the stump being left for a week or two as a prop, to which the shoot produced by the bud of the scion may be tied, till it acquires vigour enough to support itself. The stump is then cut off in a sloping direction, close above the bud. In general, any buds which develop themselves on this stump should be rubbed off ; but in the case of very weak scions, one or more buds may be left on the stump to draw up the sap till the graft has taken. When budding is performed in spring, the stock should have been headed-down before the ascent of the sap ; but in autumn-budding, as no shoot is produced till the spring following, heading-down is deferred till that season, and takes place just before the sap is in motion. Where a number of grafts by buds are introduced on one stem or on one branch, heading-down can, of course, only take place above the upper- most bud ; and in terminal flute-budding, it is performed as a neces- sary part of the operation. Much of the success of budding depends on the stock and bud growing vigorously, to supply the juices or cam- 274 REARING. bium causing the union to take place ; and allowing the bark to sepa- rate easily from the wood, so as to prevent laceration and bruising of the vessels in separating them. If the bark does not rise freely from the stock when the handle of the knife is inserted, it is not likely the bud will succeed ; and the same if the shield of the bud does not part freely from its wood ; if either of them has commenced ripening, or if the sap has not begun to run or flow, the labour will be in vain. In order to ensure the cut being smooth, and no laceration of the bark of the shield taking place, the best of all methods (especially for such barks as the cherry and plum, which will not bear handling, and are very apt to spoil) is to mark the size of the shield intended, all round the bud with the point of the knife, cutting into the wood, and then intro- ducing the thumb at the side of the bud, and raising it off with a gentle squeeze. If the shoot is growing vigorously, it will spring out, without any difficulty, so clean and smooth on the edges, as greatly to facilitate the success of the operation. By the common method if the bark is much handled, the shield of the bud is apt to be spoiled at the edges before insertion. Rearing. The operations of rearing in horticulture are those which are required to bring plants to that particular state of bulk, succulence, colour, or flavour, for which they are cultivated in gardens and garden scenery. These operations may be included under transplanting, plant- ing, potting, pruning, training, thinning, weeding, watering, stirring the soil, blanching, shading, sheltering, and protecting. Transplanting and Planting. To transplant is to take up a plant with its roots, and to replant it again in such a manner that it shall continue to grow. In some cases the roots are taken up enveloped in soil and entire, as in transplanting plants in pots ; and in others they are divested of soil, and more or less mutilated, as is the case in all other modes. In whatever manner a plant has been originated, whether by seeds or by some modification of division, the first step in carrying on its cultivation is most commonly transplanting. The uses of transplanting are : — 1. To afford more room for the growth of the top, and for stirring and manuring the soil about the roots. 2. To produce immediate effect in scenery, by placing trees or shrubs in particular situations. 3. To supply deficiencies in planta- tions already made. 4. To limit the extent of the main roots, and to increase the number of fibrous roots, within a limited distance of the stem of the plant, and thus to fit it for being removed, with all its roots, when of a large size. 5. To retard the growth and flowering of certain plants, and by that means to increase the bulk and succulency of their foliage. 6. To inure plants to particular soils and situations, and to hasten and establish the fertility of fruit-bearing trees. The theory of transplanting is founded on the tenacity of life com- TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 275 mon to all plants, their powers of adaptation to altered conditions, and their ability to replace portions of their structure that have been removed by accident or design. When plants are in a state of active growth, a constant perspiration is taking place from their leaves, which is supplied by the absorption of the moisture in the soil by the spon- gioles of the roots ; and when this supply through the roots is cut off by the destruction of the spongioles, the leaves wither, and the plant dies or becomes greatly injured; but there is a period in the growth of every plant, in which the leaves either drop off, as in deciduous plants, or cease to be in a state of activity, as in evergreens ; and it is chiefly when in this state that the operation of transplanting can be success- fully undertaken with large plants. Even when trees are without their leaves, perspiration is going on to a certain extent through the bark, and absorption to supply this waste must necessarily be taking place at the same time through the spongioles ; for though the functions of most plants are annually in a dormant state, yet they are never wholly inactive ; and hence, even in transplanting trees without their leaves, the effects of more perspiration by the bark than the roots can supply must be guarded against. This is more especially the case in transplanting evergreens, in which the functions of the leaves, and, con- sequently, of the spongioles, are carried on through the winter. As the perspiration both of the leaves and bark is greatly dependent on the moisture or dryness of the atmosphere, it follows that on the state of the weather at and after transplanting, a good deal of the success of the operation must depend ; and as the kind of weather bears close relation to the season of the year, that also requires to be taken into consideration. All plants, considered with reference to transplanting, may be divided into three classes — viz., those which can be transplanted in a state of active growth, and with their leaves on, which are chiefly seedlings, and other small plants, and plants in pots ; those which can only be transplanted with success when without their leaves, as deciduous trees, and herbaceous perennials of more than a year's growth ; and those which are transplanted when their leaves are on, but in a com- paratively dormant state, as evergreens. Seedlings and such small plants as can be taken up with all their fibres and spongioles uninjured, and planted immediately, may be removed at any season which admits of the progress of vegetation ; though their success will be most certain when the atmosphere is warm and cloudy, and the soil moist rather than dry. The plants should be raised out of the soil with a spade, trowel, or flat-pointed stick, kept out of the earth as short a period as possible, firmly planted, and if the ground is dry, instantly watered overhead. Tender plants, when thus transplanted, are covered with a hand-glass or frame, to preserve a moist atmosphere around them ; or if in pots, they are plunged into a hotbed for the same purpose, and also to stimulate their roots. The hardier annuals, on the other hand, such as seedlings of the cabbage tribe, may be transplanted with less care, since when they flag or fade, the.r leaves soon recover again, in consequence of fresh spongioles being emitted by the main or tap root. During moist weather, or where T 2 276 TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. there is an opportunity, by means of coverings, of preserving a moist atmosphere round plants, and excluding the direct rays of the sun, herbaceous plants of considerable size, with the leaves on, may be transplanted ; but in ordinary weather, and without the aid of protec- tion, this is difficult in proportion to the number and size of the leaves, the thinness of their texture, and the number of their stomata. The evaporation, in cases of this kind, being greater than the absorption by the spongioles, it requires to be lessened by shading, by cutting off a portion of the leaves, by thinning them out, or by cutting them off alto- gether. In general, this latter treatment can only be practised with impunity in transplanting young plants that have fleshy roots, such as the Swedish turnip, the rhubarb, &c. In transplanting seedlings, the top or main perpendicular root is generally shortened to increase the number of lateral spongioles, more especially in the case of vigorous- growing plants. The object of this shortening is, in some cases, to cause the roots to derive their chief nourishment from the upper and richest part of the soil ; and in others, that the plant by having abun- dance of roots in a limited space may be the better adapted for being again transplanted. Deciduous trees and shrubs, and perennial herbaceous plants, can only be safely transplanted when in a dormant state. This dormant state is indicated by the fall of the leaf, at which period the roots, stem, and branches contain a greater accumulation of nutritive matter than they do at any other season of the year, and not being in a state of activity, they can exist in a great measure without the assistance of the spongioles. They are, therefore, in a fitter state for being transplanted than they can be at any other period, and the success will in general be in proportion to the number of roots that are taken up entire. From October to the middle of December is the best period of the year for the transplantation of all deciduous trees and shrubs. With suitable weather, and if the ground is not too dry, the earlier after the fall of the leaf the tree is moved, the sooner will its normal condition be restored by the formation of fresh roots. Some even prefer trans- planting before the whole of the leaves are shed, as "by the action of the mature leaves which remain, the injuries which the roots may have sustained will be speedily repaired ; new roots will be immediately produced, arid the plant will then become established before winter, and prepared to grow with nearly if not quite its usual vigour in the following spring. (' Gard. Chron.,' vol. i. p. 811.) In the neighbour- hood of London, wall-fruit trees are frequently transplanted in this manner. In transplanting deciduous trees before the leaves are fallen, it is found in practice that the shoots are not ripened, and die back often to a considerable distance, in the same manner as if the leaves had been destroyed by early frost. The young fibres, also, will pro- trude spongioles more quickly in the spring from the fibre that has been well ripened, than from that lifted before ripened. It can only be when the distance of removal is very short, and the plants very TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 277 • small, and lifted with the earth adhering to the roots, that the trans- planting of deciduous plants in autumn, before ripe, can be attended with any advantage. In the nurseries we have great experience of lifting and moving immense quantities of deciduous plants, and ex- perience must say that, unless during mild winters, little root-growth is made until the spring season has commenced. Unless the winter is more than ordinarily mild, the spongioles are never seen to protrude, nor the buds to swell, till the spring begins to advance. Different plants com- mence their season of growth at different periods. Gooseberries, cherries, thorns, birch, larch, &c. may begin to move in February or March; beech, oaks, apples, &c. are later, and seldom begin to show much before April or May. Even the mezereon, which often flowers in February, is seldom found to protrude new roots before that period. Of course the period will vary as to localities ; some soils and situations are more than a month earlier than others within very short distances. Autumn planting is preferable where the soil is dry, as it washes the soil closer to the root ; where the soil is clayey, and the weather soft at planting time, it gets into a state of puddle and rots the roots in winter ; and, unless the weather is dry at planting time in autumn, such soils had better be deferred till spring. A second argument in favour of autumn-planting is the dampness of the atmosphere which prevails at that season and during winter ; by which the perspiration through the bark is lessened, and the demand made on the roots to supply the waste is consequently diminished. In spring, not only is the sun more powerful, but drying winds generally prevail, which have a constant tendency to drain the young branches of a tree of their moisture. These drying winds are much more injurious to newly transplanted evergreens than to deci- duous trees, as will afterwards appear. Different Modes of Transplanting Large Trees and Shrubs. — To lessen the injuries which every large tree must receive in transplanting, from the mutilation of its roots, six different modes of performing the opera- tion have been adopted: viz., 1, by retaining large balls of earth attached to the roots ; 2, by previously preparing the roots, so as to furnish them with new fibres and spongioles; 3, by previously short- ening the roots, and treating them so as to heal over and granulate the wounds made in their extremities ; 4, by simply thinning and pruning the roots and the branches at the time of transplanting ; 5, by removal without previous preparation ; and 6, by shortening the roots and heading in the branches. Transplanting with Large Balls of Earth. — In this case the head of the tree is generally preserved entire, and the ball of solid soil is made so large as to include as many of the roots as possible. It is then carefully planted in fresh rich soil, consolidated by watering, and secured by stakes, by guy ropes, wires, iron rods, or by any other means that will render it immovable. This stability of the root is the first step to success, as, if the tree moves with every wind, the roots will undergo an alternate process of growth and destruction, and the tree must perish. A good deal likewise depends on climate, soil, and 278 TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. * situation, and probably as much or more upon the completeness of the ball and the number of roots that are safely removed with it. No large tree taken up from a moist soil will thrive if transferred to a dry one ; and, on the contrary, a tree taken up from a dry soil, that would do little good when transferred to another dry soil, will yet thrive if planted in a soil that is moist. This mode of moving trees entire, with the whole of their roots and branches complete, has been carried out with great success by Mr. Barron, of the Borrow-wash Nurseries, near Derby. With the assistance of his transplanting machines, and his skilful management, no tree can be pronounced too large to be safely removed. He has taken up trees from fifty to sixty feet high, transported them for hundreds of miles, and they have started into growth with full vigour and robust health. An illustra- tion of a transplanting machine, much and successfully used by the French, who have now become great adepts in the transplantation of large trees, is given at pp. 287 and 288 of this work. Transplanting by Shortening the Roots, so as to induce them to throw out Fibres. — This is effected by digging a circular trench round the tree, one or two, or even three or four years before transplanting, cutting off all the roots which extend as far as the trench, and filling it up with prepared soil, or with the surface soil and subsoil mixed. The distance of the trench from the stem of the tree may vary with its size, the kind of tree, and other circumstances ; but a good general rule would be, where the tree is to stand from two to four years, to make the diameter of the circle included within the trench of as many feet as the diameter of the trunk of the tree at the surface of the ground is in inches. Thus, for a tree with a stem six inches in diameter, the trench should be made at the distance of three feet from it on every side ; and for one of eighteen inches in diameter, the distance of the trench from the stem should be nine feet. The width and depth of the trench should also be proportionate to the size of the tree, and to the period which is to intervene between its preparation and removal. It is evident that where the tree is to stand three or four years after its roots are cut, more room should be left for the extension of the fibres, than when it is to stand only one year ; unless, indeed, the roots could be confined, as if in a pot, by the hardness of the outer side of the trench ; in which case they might after removal be spread out at length. It is evident also that when a tree is to stand only one year after making the trench, the trench should not only be made narrower, but at a greater distance from the stem, in order that a greater length of old root may be taken up to serve in lieu of the new roots made when the tree stands three or four years before removal. The width of the trench can never conveniently be made less than eighteen inches, and its depth should not be less than two feet, in order to cut through the lower roots ; since it is chiefly by the fibres that will be produced by these that the tree will be supplied by fluid nutriment to support the perspiration of its leaves the first year after transplanting. In making the trench, it is not, in general, desirable to undermine the ball of earth, so far as to cut through the tap-root, TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 279 because this main root is necessary as a source of nourishment, in the absence of so many lateral roots. In selecting ft^es to be transplanted in this manner, it is well, if possible, to take only those which have been exposed to the free air and weather on every side ; but as we cannot always get such trees, the next best are those which stand in the margins of plantations. Supposing one of these to be 25 feet high, a trench 30 inches wide should be opened round it at a distance of three and a half feet, if it is meant to stand for four years or upwards after the operation ; and at a distance of six or seven feet, if it is meant to stand only two years. If the tree is to stand four or more years, the trench should be cut to the full depth of the subsoil, in order to get somewhat underneath the roots. If the subsoil be wet, a drain should be made from the trench, and the soil, if good, returned, or if inferior, a compost should be sub- stituted for it. If the tree is to stand only two years, the same method may be followed, but with this difference — that on the sides most ex- posed to the wind, which in this island are generally the south-west, two or perhaps three of the strongest roots should be left uncut, and allowed to pass entire through the trench, to act as stays against the winds. In taking up the tree for removal, the greatest care must be taken to pre- serve the minutest fibres and the spongioles entire ; and to accomplish this a new trench should be made exterior to the old one, so as not to injure any of the new fibres which have been protruded into the prepared soil. A fork or sharp pick is the best instrument for this purpose, and the utmost care must be exercised when removing the earth, not to cut or bruise the roots. The picking away the soil from the roots may reach within three, four, or five feet of the stem, according to the size of the tree ; and a ball of earth, with two or three feet broad of the sward adhering to it, should be left undisturbed round the collar. The tree may now be pulled over, and raised out of the pit. The following was Sir Henry Steuart's mode of effecting these two operations : — Pulling Down the Tree and Raising it out of the Pit. — " A strong but soft rope, of perhaps four inches in girth, is fixed as near to the top of the tree as a man can safely climb, so as to furnish the longest possible lever to bear upon the roots ; taking care at the same time to interpose two or three folds of mat, in order to prevent the chafing of the bark. Eight or nine workmen are then set to draw the tree down on one side. Or it is a good way, if you have an old and steady-pulling horse, to employ him in this business. For it is plain that one stout horse, acting forcibly on the rope, will do more than twenty men, even if so great a number could get about it ; and, moreover, he will save some manual labour in excavating, by giving an effectual pull at a much earlier period of the work. Next to an old and steady horse, heavy oxen are to be preferred, for these have been known to drag timber out of plantations where horses were defeated, in consequence of the rugged nature of the surface. Horses make one very spirited pull, but rarely a second, if they have been checked by the first. Oxen, on the other hand, appear less sensitive, and bear steadily and slowly onward 280 TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. by the mere force of gravity, and without recoiling like horses. The tree being drawn down, it is next forcibly held in that position, until earth is raised to the height of a foot or more, on the opposite side of the pit, so that, as soon as it is liberated, it springs up and stops against the bank thus formed. On this the workmen proceed to lighten the mass of earth with the picker, laying bare the roots as little as possible, but still necessarily reducing the mass to manageable dimensions. The tree is then pulled down on the opposite side, and a foot of earth forced up, in a similar manner ; and the same thing being repeated once or twice, it is gradually raised to even a higher level than that of the adjoining surface. In this manner, by a method extremely simple, and not less expeditious, whatever it may appear in the narrative, it becomes quite an easy instead of a formidable undertaking to draw the tree from the pit." ('Planter's Guide,' 2nd ed., p. 243.) Transporting and Replanting the Tree. — The machine used by Sir Henry Steuart consisted of a pole and two wheels, with a smaller wheel occasionally used, which is fixed at the extremity of the pole, and turns on a pivot. The pole operates both as a powerful lever to bring down the tree to a horizontal position, and in conjunction with the wheels as a still more powerful conveyance to remove it to its new situation. The wheels of the machine are brought close up to the body of the tree, and the stem laid along the pole, with the largest branches uppermost, in order that no branch or root of considerable length should be suffered to sweep the ground during the time of transpor- tation. The tree thus attached to the pole is drawn to its destination by horses, and placed upright in a shallow pit, which is, if possible, opened and prepared a twelvemonth beforehand by trenching and mixing manure, and exposing the soil in the bottom of the pit to the influence of the weather. The transplanted tree, after being set upright, and the soil carefully rammed into all the cavities about the roots, is held in its position, either by posts or stakes above ground, by horizontal poles under it, or by forming a circular bank of earth on the extremities of the main roots. The great success which attended the operations of this distinguished planter may, we conceive, be chiefly owing to the care with which they were performed, to the circumstance that the trees were always prepared for three or four or more years beforehand, and the extraordinary moistness of the climate in that part of Scotland. It is a common practice in England to prepare the trees only one year before removal, in which case, as Sir Henry very justly observes, " the fresh fibres being nearly as tender as the roots of an onion or a cabbage, can neither be extricated nor handled without sensible in- jury." In the case of shrubs, however, one year will be found sufficient for many kinds that rapidly emit a great number of roots. The earth round a newly transplanted tree should always be consoli- dated by heavy waterings, and it is a good practice to cover the surface with a mulching four inches thick, for the double purpose of keeping the moisture in and the cold out. Transplanting by Shortening the Roots, without permitting them to throw out Fibres at their Extremities. — This mode has not been much practised, TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 281 but it is sound in theory, and has been successful. Take out a trench as before, at three, four, five, or six feet from the tree, and cut off any root that protrudes beyond the solid ball. Leave the trench unfilled for one or two years. Cover it over with board, slate, tile, branches, dung, or litter, to exclude light and air. The young roots, instead of being formed on the outside of the ball, will spread a network of fibres through it, which will bind the earth together, and enable the plant to be moved in safety. The cut roots will likewise be found to have callosed at their extremities, and Avill at once form roots into the fresh soil, as soon as the tree is transplanted. It is obvious that the growth of the tree must be greatly checked by this mode of preparation, which will consequently have the effect of rendering it capable of living on a limited quantity of food, and therefore much better adapted for removal. The only objection that occurs to us is, that in the case of previous preparation for two or three years, too many fibrous roots will be protruded into the ball, more, perhaps, than can be nourished in that limited bulk of soil, even after the tree is transplanted. If, however, the tree is prepared only one year pre- vious to removal, the objection will not apply to the same extent, if at all. Transplanting by thinning and pruning the roots and branches is the most common mode, and in a moist soil and climate it is generally attended with success. The trees are taken up by cutting a trench round the roots about the same distance as in preparing trees by the first mode ; the ends of the roots are cut smooth, and the top is thinned of its branches, and pruned more or less, according to the reduction of the roots, the size of the tree, and the soil, situation, and climate in which it is to be planted. When the tree is of considerable size, say nine inches or a foot in diameter, it must necessarily be deprived of the greater number of its effective roots ; and in this case, unless in a very moist climate and soil, the safest mode is to cut off at least half of the branches of the head, covering the sections left by amputation with grafting clay or grafting wax. In some cases large trees can be re- moved without preparing the roots, and without cutting off any, or at least very few, of the branches ; but in such cases it will be found that, from some cause or other, the roots are mostly near the surface, and the soil moist, and that a great proportion of the roots can be taken up along with the tree. When this mode of transplanting large trees with the branches on is adopted in a dry soil, the success will be very different, even though the ground should be mulched round the transplanted trees, and the stem and main branches closely wrapped round with straw ropes to lessen evaporation. The most suitable trees for planting out, with no other preparation than thinning or pruning the branches, are those whose roots and heads have been properly thinned and pruned by cultivation in a nursery. Transplanting by "Heading -in" that w, Cutting the Branches. — The trees, whether oak, ash, elm, poplar, or other leafy kinds, are taken from the nursery when they are fifteen feet or more in height, and about the thickness of a man's arm ; the lateral branches are all cut 282 TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. off close to the stem, to the height of six or seven feet from the collar ; the top is also cut off in a slanting direction, at about ten feet from the roots ; and the remaining branches are shortened to from three to six inches, the cut being made close above a bud. The trees are taken up in November or December. The first year they grow but little ; the second year they may be said to commence their growth, when the uppermost shoot is trained for the leader. As the tree progresses, it is pruned every year, if necessary, in winter or early in spring, cutting out all the cross and unequal branches, and thinning those that are or may become crowded. It may be thought that trees treated in this manner would all become round-headed, and that they would only have about ten feet of straight timber ; but this does not necessarily follow, unless that form be really desired. On the contrary, the straightest and most beautifully attenuated timber is obtained by training the upper shoot in time to a stick tied to the stem ; or if the uppermost shoot is emitted a few inches below the summit, which is sometimes the case, it may be tied to the dying point, till it is fixed in an unchangeable erect position. This is one of the cheapest and safest modes of transplanting trees in exposed, bleak situations in Britain, more especially on the sea- coast and in mountainous districts. The staking or supporting of newly-transplanted trees, and the pro- tection of their stems from cattle, require to be carefully attended to ; and we shall therefore shortly notice the different modes of doing both. Fig. 251 shows the common modes of protecting trees which are to have clear stems to the height of eight or ten feet, from deer, horses, or cattle, the main posts being made of oak or of larch, or of any other wood, charred on the part which is buried in the soil, and for nine inches or a foot above the surface of the ground. Circular cradles of iron, made in two semicircles, bolted together, are now mostly used instead of wood. They are lighter, more elegant and durable, and in the which grow with their lower branches Fig. 251. The most general modes of pro- tecting recently -planted &' trees from cattle and deer. end cheapest. For trees sweeping on the ground, such as cedars, pines, silver firs, &c., circles of iron hurdles fastened together with bolts and nuts should be em- ployed, enlarging the circle as the branches extend themselves, by introducing additional hurdles. These hurdles being always only a few feet from the branches, are scarcely perceptible at a very short dis- tance, and therefore are no deformity in the landscape. Small trees, with the branches on, may be tied to stakes with bands of hay, and their stems protected with thorns or furze tied on. Trees of thirty or forty feet in height may be supported by guy ropes ; or if the roots are strong and of some length, they may be kept in their places by horizontal poles placed over them, and tied to them, concealed under, or level with, or immediately above the surface of the ground ; the ends TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 283 Fig. 252. of those poles being made fast to stakes, so as to cross over the roots and hold them tightly down. Fig. 252 shows a plan and elevation of a newly-removed tree, the roots of which are fastened down in this manner by means of the rods, a, and stakes, b ; the latter being securely nailed to the former, and the whole covered with soil, as shown by the dotted line c. Trees of moderate size may also be secured against high winds by inserting a stout stake in the soil in the bottom of the pit in which the tree is to be .__.f _.A planted, of sufficient length to reach four or live feet above the surface, securing it firmly there before planting the tree, and afterwards placing the stem of the tree close to it, and fastening it by some soft tie. Three larch poles fixed in this manner, so as to form a triangle, converging at top to the thickness of the stem of the tree, the tree being planted in the centre, would serve at once as a firm prop, and as a pro- tection from cattle. Another mode is to cover the surface of the ground for four or more feet round the tree with a number of large rough stones. The stones are not built up high, but packed close to each other, and set on edge, so as to meet and form a continuous, but very rugged surface round the foot of the tree. The stones are placed in ordinary cases to the distance of four feet, which is sufficient to keep off cattle and horses. Horses and cattle are also kept at a distance from the trees by a series of horizontal rails, forming a tabular polygon round the tree fifteen or eighteen inches in height, and ten feet in diameter (see * Gard. Mag.,' vol. vi. p. 47). Fig. 253 shows the general appearance of a tree fenced round in this manner. Fig. 254 is a vertical profile of the horizontal frame-work ; and fig. 255 is a cross section. In this sec- tion the posts are shown, inclined a little outwards, the better to resist pressure from cattle or sheep in that direction. The advantage of this fence is its economy in requiring only short pieces of not very stout timber, and its inconspicuousness when seen at a distance. The machinery for moving large trees has been adverted to, to which it may be added that trucks or sledges, poles and ropes, require to be abundantly provided : though for ordinary purposes, a wood gin or a pair of high wheels and an axle for large trees without balls, and a sledge with an iron bottom, to be afterwards described, for shrubs with balls, is all that is essential. Transplanting Evergreens. — There is scarcely any residence in the country in which it is not frequently necessary to transplant evergreen shrubs, sometimes from changes or new arrangements, and sometimes winds by underground fasten- ings. 284 TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. on account of the plants crowding each other. Evergreen trees, such as those of the pine and fir tribe, are also occasionally transplanted, Fig. 253. Fig. 254. Isometrical view of the tabular tree-guard. Vertical profile of the tabular tree-guard. Fig. 255. though much less frequently than shrubs. The most readily transplanted evergreen trees of large size, are the spruce-fir and the yew ; the former having numerous fibrous roots near the surface, and the latter having also numerous fibrous roots growing, together, and consoli- dating the soil immediately round the tree into a compact mass. Spruce-firs, yews, and hollies of large size were, some years since, transplanted at Elvaston Castle by Mr. Barron, with scarcely a single failure, though the spruce-firs were from sixty to eighty feet in height, and many of the yews were above a hundred years old. Evergreen shrubs of all sizes have also been transplanted with the greatest suc- cess in the new botanic garden of Edin- burgh, by Mr. McNab. The best season for transplanting ever- greens is from April to June, or just be- fore the old leaves drop off and the new ones begin to be formed ; though with skill in their removal, and care in after treatment, evergreens may be moved with safety any day in the year. The reason why dull or moist weather is so essential a condition is, that the process of perspiration continues to go on in evergreens at all seasons, excepting, perhaps, in the most severe weather ; and that when the atmosphere is saturated with moisture, the perspiration is reduced to its minimum. Evaporation also proceeds in an increasing ratio with the temperature, all other circumstances being the same. Thus, when the temperature is 80°, the quantity evaporated from a given surface Cross section of the tabular tree-guard. TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 285 will be three times greater than when the temperature is only 40°, the degree of diyness in the air being the same in both cases. So long as the leaves remain on a plant in a healthy state, their functions are performed in a greater or less degree, and they draw upon the roots accordingly ; so that evergreens, as they never lose their leaves, may be said to be in a growing state all the year ; and were the growth not much slower in autumn and winter than it is in summer, it would be as difficult to transplant evergreen trees, even at that season, as it is to transplant deciduous trees in summer with the leaves on. The first effect of separating a plant from the soil, is to cut off the supply of sap to the leaves ; and as, notwithstanding this, perspiration and evaporation will still continue, it follows that these leaves must fade, unless the perspiration is either checked by a moist atmosphere, or supplied by watering the roots. That the atmosphere in Britain is nearly saturated with moisture from October to February inclusive, is satisfactorily proved by the tables drawn up by Mr. Robert Thompson, of the Horticultural Society's Garden. These tables show the atmo- spheric moisture for the different months of the year, as under : — 2 WIND. ,£ 4 £ N. East East. S.East. ! 8. West. West. N. West. $* So S3 January . 31-6 882 893 989 1000 982 1000 983 1000 966 February 39-0 815 657 992 1000 963 874 804 1000 888 March 39-0 815 688 752 1000 913 846 846 1000 857 April 53-2 747 778 870 775 711 846 752 902 797 May. 60-0 718 687 574 767 798 1000 752 651 743 June 57-5 721 572 574 767 798 664 707 673 684 July . 575 721 703 662 767 798 750 684 599 710 August 64-8 773 836 690 767 776 724 666 826 757 September 56-6 907 1000 723 767 813 853 761 905 841 October . 56-6 907 1000 1000 904 885 862 939 905 925 November 56-6 907 1000 1000 1000 980 938 940 938 962 December 39-0 971 920 1000 1000 980 939 986 1000 974 As evergreens can hardly be said to have a season of rest, it is of the utmost importance that their roots be not dried, nor exposed to the air during their removal. As soon as the plant has been put into its place, the earth should be filled in, leaving a sufficient hollow round the stem, and as far out as the roots extend, to hold water, which should then be poured in, in sufficient quantity to soak the ground down to the lowest part of the roots ; in short, the whole should be made like a kind of puddle. By this practice, which is particularly necessary in spring, summer, and autumn planting, the earth is carried down by the water, and every crevice among the roots is filled. Care must always be taken to have as much earth above the roots of the plants as will prevent them from being exposed when the water has subsided. After the first watering has dried up, the earth should be levelled round the stem of the plant, and as far out as the water has 286 TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. been put on ; if the plants are large, a second, or even a third watering is sometimes necessary ; but for ordinary-sized plants, one watering is quite sufficient, and after about twenty-four hours, more or less, according to the nature of the soil, the earth about the stem, and over the roots, should be levelled, smoothed, and made tolerably firm, and the surface mulched with littery dung, ferns, leaves, or cocoa-fibre refuse. Transplanting Evergreens with Balls. — In transplanting evergreens it is desirable to leave as much earth about the roots as possible ; but when treated in the way recommended, the greater part of the earth that may be about the roots is of importance, rather in preserving them from injury during the operation than for any value it may have after the plant has been put into the ground. With large plants it is a safe rule never to move them without keeping a large ball of earth about their roots, and keeping it as entire as possible. The machines and implements for transplanting large shrubs with balls need not be on such a large scale as those for transplanting large trees. A contrivance formed of sheet-iron, fig. 256, is of the greatest service ;- a, represents the upper side, #, the under side, and c, a longi- Contrivance for transplanting large shrubs with balls. tudinal section. A truck with low wheels, and a common hand- barrow, with wooden levers and planks, some strong hay-forks, a mattock to sever any roots that may cross our path, and the pick, d, will also be useful. A pointed crowbar is often of great service in prizing the ball over, in order to get under it. The sheet-iron hand- barrow would be useful in three or more sizes — viz., four feet, by two feet six inches ; three feet, by one foot nine inches ; and two feet two inches, by one foot three inches; they should be rounded at the corners, a little turned up at the ends, and strengthened by flat iron bars underneath, carried round near the edges. These iron bars are welded into handles at each end, and the handles are kept above the ground by the ends of the irons being turned up. The ground is opened at a distance from the stem, regulated by the size and nature of the plant intended to be removed, and the fibres are carefully tied up, TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 287 as they are met with, to the stem of the plant. By the use of the pick, WI/^ too heavy, be carried \^/ ^alr/ / V/ on a hand - barrow, v l rEl. J which admits of the application of the strength of six men, two between the han- dles, and the other four on the outside. Heavier plants, which are to be carried any distance, are lifted on a truck with low wheels, or a sledge, made strong for the purpose ; and if too j| heavy for this mode, as many boards as are wanted are laid down in succession, and the plant is hauled by the iron upon these boards to the place where it is to be planted. The plant is invariably hauled into the new hole on the iron, which is not removed till its proper position is ascertained ; this pre- vents the disturbance of the ball of earth or roots. The plant is then lifted a little on one side and the iron drawn out, earth is then filled in to the level of the fibres, which are untied and laid out straight, and the plant is earthed up. The heaviest plants, Portugal and other Small machine for lifting specimen shrubs and conifers. 288 TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. laurels, eight feet and nine feet high, and six feet or seven feet in diameter, which cannot be lifted by any strength that can be applied without injury to the ball of earth and roots, are thus moved with great ease and expedition, with large balls of earth, and without any disturbance of the roots; and, consequently, the plants invariably proceed in their growth, often without experiencing the slightest check. The fol- lowing mode of transplanting trees is much practised in Paris, and well worthy the attention of planters in this country. " Round each tree a cir- cular trench is opened large enough for a man to move about in it at his ease. The depth should be equal to that of the deepest large roots, and a ball of earth large enough to ensure the safe removal of the tree should be left. All the smaller roots found in the trench should be carefully preserved. The ball is shaped into the form of a truncated cone, with its smallest portion below. It is next surrounded with light deal boards, separated from each other by the distance of three-quarters of an inch or so, like the staves of a barrel. These are next secured temporarily by a suitable rope. A man then descends into the hole and fixes the rope by means of the screw apparatus shown in fig. 258, so as to press the planks firmly against the soil of the ball. The press Fig. 258. Screw used in preparing specimens for removal, as shown in the preceding figure. is then removed and the same thing done higher up, within say four inches of the top, an ordinary cask hoop being first nailed round the planks before the screw is unfixed. The ball being firmly fixed in its proper position, it is hove over so as to get to its underneath part. The bottom of a cask, having its boards fastened together with a circular piece of sheet-iron rather larger than itself, is passed under, the iron being pierced with two or three holes and turned up so that it may be nailed against the planks. In some cases the stem of the tree should be fixed by iron wire to the sides of the improvised cask. " When it reaches its destination it is gently inclined to one side, the bottom boards removed, and the roots carefully arranged in their natural position, some good earth being spread over them. The amount of success capable of being attained by tins method may be seen throughout the squares of Paris, hardly a single tree having been killed during the plantation of the myriads planted so successfully in the squares and public gardens of that city." TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 289 Packing Evergreens. — In removing evergreens, even of small size, and whether they are of the pine and fir tribe, or shrubs, the same care is requisite not to expose their roots to the air, and to plant them as soon as possible after they have been taken up. When evergreen shrubs are to be sent to a distance, they ought to be packed in such a way as to prevent the roots from becoming dry, by surrounding their balls or pots with moist sphagnum, and leaving their tops as loose as possible. The top of the hamper being formed with strong stakes into a roomy cover, and the whole enclosed with a mat. Methods of Planting Small Plants. — We have seen that in trans- planting all large plants, a pit is opened of dimensions proportionate to the size of their roots, and this is also the case in planting single plants of small size ; but when small plants are planted in large numbers, different modes are adopted for the sake of expedition, and to save labour. Such of these modes as are in general use, we shall shortly describe, premising that in almost every case when plants are planted in considerable numbers in gardens, they are placed in rows, but that in plantations and shrubberies they are generally planted irregularly or in groups. The rows should in almost every case be placed in the direction of north and south, for reasons easily understood, when we consider the influence of the sun on the soil between the rows and on the sides of the plants in this case, as compared with rows in the direction of east and west. No trees or shrubs should be inserted deeper in the soil than they were before being taken up. The burying up of the collar of the plant is a fruitful source of weakness, disease, and death. Planting with the Dibber is adapted for seedlings and very small plants. The soil ought to have been previously dug, or stirred by some other means, so that the fibres of the young plant may strike readily into it. In performing the operation, a hole is made with the dibber with one hand, then the root of the plant is inserted to the proper depth, and held there by the leaves, or stem, with the other hand, while, by a second movement, the dibber is inserted by the side of the hole in such a manner as to press in one of its sides to the root of the plant, taking care that the pressure on the roots shall be greatest at its lowest extremity, and that it should be such as to hold the plant so fast that when slightly pulled by one of its leaves it does not come up. Large seeds, bulbs, and cuttings of tubers, or of roots without leaves, as of the potato, Jerusalem artichoke, &c., are frequently planted with the dibber, which, in these cases, is furnished with a blunt point. Newly -rooted small-cuttings, on the other hand, are planted with small pointed sticks. All common seedlings, such as those of the cabbage tribe, are planted with the large dibber, and most small seedlings with the small one. Planting with the Trowel. — The trowel is entered in the soil per- pendicularly, so as to open a hole, against one side of which the plant is placed, and the soil returned and firmly pressed against it if the soil be dry, or gently if it be moist. The majority of plants in the flower- garden are planted in this manner. u 290 TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. Planting in Drills. — The drill is drawn with a draw-hoe, and large seeds, such as beans, or sets such as cuttings of the potato, are placed along the bottom at regular distances, pressing them against the soil, and drawing the soil over them with the hoe. Root-stocks such as those of the asparagus, and root-cuttings such as those of the sea-kale and horse-radish, are sometimes planted in this manner. Laying in by the heels is a temporary mode of planting, in which a notch or trench is made in the soil, sufficiently deep to cover the roots of the plants which are to be laid in it, but not their tops. An opening or trench is made, as if the land were to be dug, and the roots of the plants are laid in the furrow, with their tops standing out in a sloping direction ; after which the digging is continued till the roots are covered, and the soil is then pressed down with the foot, and another trench prepared. This mode of planting is employed wherever more plants are taken out of the ground than can be immediately planted, and it is founded on the necessity of avoiding the great injury which the fibres and spongioles of plants sustain by exposure to the air. Trench-planting is the most common mode, next to planting with the dibber. It is used in transplanting most kinds of trees in the nur- sery, and most kinds of edgings of single lines of plants. The spade is inserted perpendicularly along the line, and a trench is opened of the required depth, perpendicular on one side and sloping on the other ; and the plants are placed against the perpendicular side with one hand, while, with a spade in the other hand, or by the foot, some soil is drawn over their roots ; after which the trench is filled up by the spade, the surface levelled, and the line lifted and placed at a suitable distance, for a second trench. In general, this mode of plant- ing is carried on simultaneously with digging or trenching ; trenching being used for plants having very large roots, such as rhubarb, sea- kale, horse-radish, &c. In planting box and other edgings to walks in shallow trenches, the ground along the line of the intended edging is first dug to a iiniform depth and width, and the soil is well broken, so as to be of an equal degree of fineness ; it is then compressed by treading or beating, so as to be rendered uniformly firm along the in- tended line of plants. The line being now stretched, a notch or trench is made along it, generally on the side next the walk, perpendicular to the surface, and of the depth of the roots of the box or other plants. The box is now laid in against the perpendicular side of the trench, using both hands, while the roots are covered with soil by drawing it up against them, with a spade or the foot, so as to keep the plants in their place. The remaining quantity of soil necessary to support the plants, and to earth them up as high on the walk side as on the border side, is then brought forward with the spade, and the work is com- pleted by firmly treading the soil to the plants with the foot. Slit-planting is effected by inserting the trowel or the spade perpen- dicularly, moving it backwards and forwards an inch or two, and then withdrawing it. In the open slit thus left a plant is inserted, and the sides brought together, when the slit is not deep, by treading with the foot ; but, when it is deep, by inserting the trowel or spade on one TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 291 side, so as to press one side of the slit against the other throughout its whole depth. Young forest-trees are frequently planted in this manner on unprepared soil, and sometimes seedlings with long tap-roots in gardens. Hole-planting. — Two men, or a man and a boy, are required for this operation. The ground being dug or trenched, and the width of the rows and the distance between the plants in the rows fixed on, a hole is opened by the man, and the soil thrown aside ; a plant is then placed in the hole by the boy, and held there till its roots are covered by a spadeful of soil which is taken out in forming the second hole. The plant is held upright, while the soil is being thrown in over the roots, and it is afterwards fixed by pressure with the feet. A third hole is opened, and a second plant inserted in the same manner till the work is completed. Planting in Pits. — A pit is dug somewhat larger than the estimated size of the roots which are to be placed in it ; and, if in garden or trenched soil, it may be made immediately before planting ; but if in firm uncultivated soil, as is frequently the case in forest-planting, it should be made some months, or even a year or more before, in order that the soil in the bottom or sides of the pit, and that which has been taken out, and is to be returned to it, may receive the benefit of the weather. When the pit is dry, the soil in the bottom is loosened ; and before planting, a portion of the surface soil taken out is thrown in and mixed with it, and raised up so as to form a long slightly convex surface in the centre of the pit, the apex of which shall be nearly level witli the surface of the ground. On this cone the plant is placed, with its roots spread out regularly on every side ; the soil is then thrown in over them, and in doing this the soil should be made to fall either per- pendicularly, or spread so as not to reverse the direction of the fibres, as is too frequently done when the soil is thrown with force from the cir- cumference of the hole towards the stem. The plant being gently shaken, if necessary, to settle the soil among the fibres, the whole is finished in the form of a cone, rising a few inches above the adjoining surface, having been previously consolidated by treading with the feet. This is the most general mode of planting transplanted trees of from five feet to ten feet in height, whether in the garden, the orchard, the pleasure-ground, or a plantation of forest- trees. In all these departments great care is requisite that the collar of the plant, when the operation is finished, should stand somewhat above the general surface of the ground ; because, otherwise, the sinking of the soil, which must inevitably take place, would bury it underneath the surface. Hole-planting and fixing with Water. — Pits are prepared as in the last mode ; and while one man holds the tree in the proper position, the roots having been previously spread out, a second man throws in soil, and a third pours in water from the spout of a watering-pot, held as high above his head as his arms will reach, in order to add to its force in falling on the soil, and settling in about the roots of the tree. This is an admirable mode of planting those trees that have numerous u 2 292 TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. fibrous roots ; particularly if the trees be from ten feet to twenty feet, or twenty-five feet in height. Planting in Puddle. — The pit having been dug in the usual manner, water is poured into it, and soil stirred in till the pit is half full of mud, or puddle. The roots of the tree are then inserted, and worked about, so as to distribute them as equably as possible through the watery mass. More puddle, previously prepared, is then thrown in, the roots again shaken, and the whole finished with dry soil. This mode is well adapted for trees of from ten feet to twenty feet in height, when planted in a dry sandy soil ; but it is not suitable for a soil with a retentive bottom, as that would retain the water, and rot the roots. Planting out Plants which have been Grown in Pots. — In preparing the pit, regard should be had to the probable length of the roots coiled rouad the inside of the pot ; and a sufficient surface of soil should be prepared on which to stretch them out. Unless this is carefully done, the plant, if it has numerous roots matted together, will make little more progress in the free soil than what it did in the pot; because the check given to the descending sap by the numerous convolutions of the fibres, prevents them, so long as they remain in that state, from ac- quiring the strength of underground branches, which they would other- wise do. This attention to spreading out the roots of plants trans- planted from pots is more especially necessary in all those kinds which do not make vigorous tap-roots, such as the pine and fir tribe ; but it should not be neglected in any class of plants whatever. It frequently happens that the roots of pines and firs, which have been three or four years in pots, are six or eight feet in length when stretched out ; and these ought to be planted in a shallow pit, not less than from twelve to sixteen feet in diameter. Unless the roots are carefully removed, and thus spread out, the tree will either continue unhealthy and die, or it will by a great effort throw up the whole of the spiral roots above the level of the ground, and make a fresh start with new roots. No trees should ever have their roots confined long enough in pots to become matted. Watering, mulching, and staking newly-planted subjects should, in general, never be neglected where the plants are of large size ; not so much to supply moisture to the fibres as to consolidate the soil about the roots ; and in the case of evergreens, which are all the year in a growing state, it should be copiously supplied for both purposes. Where it is considered requisite to continue the watering after the plant has been planted, a pan or basin should be formed round it, of somewhat larger diameter than the pit in which the plant was placed, into which the water may be poured so as to ensure its descent to the roots. To lessen evaporation from this basin, or from the soil round newly-planted subjects, it may be mulched, that is, covered with any loose open material, such as litter, leaves, or spent tanners' bark ; or, in firm soil, with reversed turf, small stones, large gravel, or tiles. In watering box edgings, &c., newly planted in dry weather, it is of great moment, when the earth is trod firmly to the roots, and before levelling TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 293 the remainder of the earth, to saturate the soil completely all round the roots with water, with an unsparing hand, and then finish by spreading the dry soil above. When water is poured on the surface of the soil in dry weather, the deluge of water runs the surface of the soil into a paste, which again hardens by the sun into a cake, obstructing thus the free entrance of the atmosphere into the soil, without which no plant will thrive. When straw or moss, or any other kind of mulching is spread on the surface, it obviates this fault. Where this cannot be done, it is better to open holes in the soil, or pare up a portion of the surface, saturating the soil below, and then adding the dry soil when the moisture begins to subside. One such watering will be better than ten surface waterings, which often do more harm than good. Where none of these plans can be adopted, the direct beams of the sun should be kept from the surface by a covering of branches closely spread over it. Taking up previously to Planting. — It must be constantly borne in mind that the food of plants is taken up by the delicate extremities or spongioles of their fibres, which the slightest tear or bruise will destroy ; that these mouths will only act when the soil in which they are placed is in a moist state, and that they are easily rendered useless to the plant by being kept for any length of time exposed to dry air. Hence, in taking up trees, and particularly those of small size, such as are grown for sale in the nurseries, the roots should be separated from the soil with the greatest care, by previously loosening it at a distance from the stem, and never forcibly drawing the roots out of the soil till this has been done, as is too commonly practised in nurseries. It is true we cannot expect to remove all the fibres of a plant of any size uninjured, but by great care we may save the principal part of them. For this purpose a round-pronged blunt fork should generally be used for taking up trees instead of a spade, and the roots, as soon as they are out of the soil, should be covered with a mat, or some other protecting material, to prevent them from being dried by the air. Young trees in nurseries should be frequently and regularly transplanted ; this fits them for their final removal by keeping the roots near at home, and causing them to become fibrous. Care should be taken in spreading out the roots to allow none to cross another ; and if this cannot be avoided by any other means, recourse must be had to amputation. Cross roots do little harm when young, but, as in the case of branches, they gall one another as they get large. As a summary of general rules for planting, it may be stated that early in autumn, when the soil has not parted with its summer heat, is the best time for deciduous trees and shrubs, and open-air plants generally, but that evergreens are better planted late in spring or early in summer ; that roots should be placed by art as much as possible in the same position in which they would be by nature, that is, with the collar at the surface, and the points of the roots and fibres more or less under it, and in a descending rather than in an ascending direction, excepting for fruit trees, when these conditions should be reversed, as fruit and not wood is the object with these ; that the hole or pit in 294 POTTING AND REPOTTING OR SHIFTING. which plants are placed should always be made larger than the roots which it is to contain ; and in the case of large plants, convex at the bottom and not concave, that the plant being placed on the centre of this convexity, and the roots spread out in every direction, the soil, finely pulverized, ought to be gently thrown over them, either by dropping it perpendicularly, or throwing it in a direction from the centre to the circumference ; that the plant should not be pulled from side to side or up and down, in order to settle the earth about the roots, as was formerly practised with that view, but the effect of which was to break, bruise, or double the fibres ; and finally, that the soil should be settled about the roots by one thorough watering at the time of planting, and that this watering, in the case of deciduous trees at least, need not in general be repeated. Potting and Repotting or Shifting. To pot a plant is to sow or plant it in a pot, box, or tub ; and to repot or shift it, is to turn it out of one pot or box and replace it in the same or in another, with the addition of fresh soil. The mass of soil and roots which is to be shifted is termed a ball. If the object is to add fresh soil, without using a larger pot, then a proportionate quantity must be removed from the ball or mass containing the roots of the plant to be repotted; but if the object be to add fresh soil without disturbing the roots, the mass or ball of soil and roots is simply placed in a pot a size larger than that from which it was taken, and the vacant space between the ball and the pot filled up with soil. If the object should be to grow the plant in a smaller pot than that in which it was before, then the ball must be considerably reduced, so as to be somewhat smaller than the pot in which it is to be placed, in order to allow room for some fresh soil. The imple- ments, utensils, &c., necessary for potting are : a bench or table, either fixed or portable, and which must be perfectly level ; pots, tubs, or boxes; broken pots, oyster- shells, or other materials for drainage; proper soils, a trowel, a small dibber, a spade, and a watering-pot and water. Potting. — Plants are either sown in pots, planted in them when newly originated from seeds, cuttings, or other modes of propagation, or removed to them from the free soil when of considerable size. When a rooted plant, placed in a pot, has begun to grow, its fibres extending in every direction, soon reach the sides of the pot, where, being checked, they are compelled to follow its sides till, after a short time, they form a net-work between the pot and the earth which it contains, so firmly enveloping the latter, that when turned out, it remains entire as one solid body, or, as it is technically called, "ball." As the plants advance in growth, they are moved into larger pots, and thus derive the full benefit of the fresh soil. The same soil which is suitable for the open garden is not ahvays suitable for using in pots. — Every gardener must have observed that soil that will remain sufficiently open for the roots of plants in the POTTING AND REPOTTING OR SHIFTING. 295 quarters of a kitchen garden, or even when placed in a hotbed, becomes too compact when used in pots, even though it receives as much watering in the one case as in the other. The fact has been thus explained. When the nature of the soil is such as that the cohesion of its particles is greater than that which is formed between the soil and sides of the pot, it loses hold of the latter, and becomes con- centrated by every withdrawal of moisture, leaving an almost clear cavity between it and the sides of the pot, and this cavity being readily tilled with water, the soil is prevented from expanding in a degree proportionate to the force that would be necessary to displace the water. In addition to this, the fibres of the plant tend to bind it together, and it ultimately becomes so much solidified that it either refuses to take in sufficient moisture, or, if it does, it retains it so as to prevent the ingress of a fresh supply ; whilst, at the same time, the water so retained becomes impure, and consequently injurious to the health of the plant. A similar quantity of soil in the quarter from which the above soil is supposed to be taken will be found in a very different state ; for there it is kept from contracting on any central portion by its cohesion with the soil in the circumference. Hence the necessity of using such soil for plants in pots as is not too cohesive ; or, at all events, weakening its cohesive power by mixture with sand, peat, turf, or other substances that may be found to answer the pur- pose, and at the same time afford congenial nourishment to the plants. The evils arising from the cohesion of soil in pots, have been well nigh neutralized by the use of rough filling, composed of a mixture of charcoal, broken bones, freestone, &c. Bottom Drainage. — Whether plants are put in small or large pots, the first point which requires to be attended to is, to cover the hole in the bottom of the pot with some description of material which will readily allow of the escape of water, and if possible prevent the entrance of earth-worms. One crock, somewhat larger than the hole, is placed over it, and over that is placed a layer of smaller pieces, in depth more or less according to the size of the pot and the degree of drainage wanted j and to prevent the soil which is to be placed above from being washed down into this drainage, it is commonly covered with a layer of fibrous or turfy matter, obtained from turfy soil, or with live or dead moss, or cocoa-fibre refuse. In the case of small plants, requiring nothing more than ordinary care, a single crock, or in large pots a single oyster-shell, placed over the hole in the bottom of the pot, is generally found sufficient ; but in very deli- cate plants, a fourth, a third, or even half the pot is filled with drainage material. The mode of sowing or planting in a pot is so simple and well known as to require no description here. After crocking or draining the pot, a little soil is put in with the right hand, and the seedling or plant held in the left, the roots being spread out carefully while putting in the plant, if a seedling, and the soil applied till level with the rim. A gentle pressure with the hand, or tap on the bench, will lower the soil an inch. The plants should be carried at once to their place, 296 POTTING AND REPOTTING OR SHIFTING. carefully watered with a rose, and should be kept close and shaded for a few days. In transplanting from the free soil into a pot or box, the plant, if in leaf, is commonly taken up with a ball adjusted to the size of the pot ; and to fit such plants for removal, their main roots are frequently cut by the spade, a week or two before taking up, at a short distance from the stem, so that the wounded parts may be within the limits of the ball. This lessens the check to vegetation which would otherwise be given by taking up the plant, and may be usefully applied in the case of many plants which are removed from the open border to the green- house late in autumn. Care of Plants Newly Potted from the Open Ground, — As the absorp- tion of moisture by the spongioles is necessarily checked by the disturb- ance of the roots, occasioned by taking up the plants and replanting them, so must also be the perspiration of the leaves by the diminished supply of moisture. To lessen this perspiration, therefore, where there is danger of its proving injurious, the plants must be placed in a still humid atmosphere, by watering the surface on which the pots are set, and then covering them with mats, or by placing them in a close frame, and if necessary, shading them from the sun, and supplying extra heat. The more delicate kinds may be placed for a short time on a hot-bed, but the hardier plants will succeed very well if merely sheltered by being hooped over and shaded by any slight covering for a day or two, taking care to remove it at night, and during still, cloudy weather ; while the hardiest merely require the shade of a hedge or a wall. The most difficult plants to manage, after being potted, are large herbaceous plants, or large-leaved free-growing greenhouse plants, which have been grown during summer in the open garden, such as stocks, dahlias, brugmansias, &c. These are very apt to lose their leaves after being taken up and potted, whether kept in the open air or in a frame or pit. The best mode of preventing this evil is to check their growth by cutting their roots early in the autumn, as already described. Shifting or Repotting. — In repotting in the same pot, the ball or mass of soil and roots being turned cut of the pot, the soil is shaken away from the roots either wholly or in part, without, however, breaking or injuring the fibres and spongioles any more than can be helped. In shifting from a small pot into a larger one, the larger pot being drained and prepared, the ball is turned out of the smaller pot by turning it upside down, and while holding it in that position, with the ball resting on the palm of the left hand, with the stem of the plant between two of the fingers, striking it gently against the edge of the potting bench, so as to cause the ball to separate from the pot. The ball being now in the left hand, and turned upside down, remove the drainage from it with the right, then reverse it, and place it in the larger pot, filling in the vacant space all round with fresh soil, gently compressing it by working it in with the hands. In shifting from a large pot to a smaller, the ball being taken out of the large pot must either be reduced equally on every side and on the bottom, by picking off a portion of the roots and soil, including of course almost all the spon- POTTING AND REPOTTING OR SHIFTING. 297 gioles, or the soil must be shaken off from the roots entirely, the roots cut in, and the plants inserted in the smaller pot among fresh soil. In shifting plants from one pot to another, care should in general be taken not to place the collar of the stem deeper in the new pot than it was before in the old one, excepting in the case of plants which root readily from the stem, such as balsams and a few others ; but in general, in pots as in the open ground, the stem should rise from a gentle eminence, and the ramifications of the upper roots, where they depart from the stem, should be seen above the soil. Seasons and Times far Potting and Shifting. — Small plants may be potted at any growing season ; but the most favourable are spring and autumn, and the least so mid-winter, even under glass, owing to the absence of light. Shifting also may be performed at any season ; but the most suitable for established plants is just before they commence their annual growth, or just after completing it; while young rapidly-growing plants may be shifted from time to time as long as they continue growing. Slow-growing woody plants are seldom shifted oftener than once a year, unless it is desired to accelerate their growth; but rapid-growing plants, such as pelargoniums, and such annuals as the balsam, cocks- comb, &c., are shifted many times in a single season, beginning, more especially in the case of the balsam, with a pot of the smallest size, and gradually increasing the size as the plant advances in growth, till from being 2 inches high in a pot of the same height in April, it is 3 feet or 4 feet high in a pot 1 foot in diameter in June or July. By heat and frequent shifting for upwards of a year, pelargoniums are grown so as to form bushes 3 feet or more in diameter in pots of not more than 8 inches or 10 inches across. Pine-apples are grown to a large size in comparatively small pots, but the soil employed is rich and frequently supplied with liquid manure. The most difficult plants to manage in pots are the hair-rooted kinds, such as all the Ericaceae, and many Cape and Australian shrubs requiring sandy peat soil, which must be well drained, and kept uni- formly moderately moist, but never either soaked with water or very dry. The drainage must be so perfect as to prevent the possibility of water stagnating in the soil ; and while the nature of this soil, sand and peat, readily permits the water to pass through it to the drainage below, the porous sides of the pot incessantly carry off moisture by evaporation, and the more so as heaths require to be kept in a rather dry atmosphere. The roots of heaths, and indeed all hair-like roots, are as readily destroyed by over-dryness as by moisture, and hence the con- tinual risk of danger to this description of plants when grown in pots. To guard against the extremes of dryness and moisture, the pots when small are sometimes plunged in sand or moss, or placed in double pots ; or when the plants are large, shifted into wooden boxes or slate tubs. To provide against excess of moisture on the one hand, and the want of it on the other, two very ingenious and useful practices have been introduced into the culture of heaths and heath-like plants in pots, by Mr. M'Nab. The first is, always to keep the collar of the stem of the plant a few lines above the general surface of the pots, in conse- 298 POTTING AND REPOTTING OR SHIFTING. quence of which it is always dry, and not liable to be chilled by eva- poration, or rotted off by the stagnation of moisture ; and the second consists in mixing with the soil fragments of any coarse, porous stone, such as freestone, from one inch to three inches in diameter, which retaining more moisture than the soil, gives it out to the latter when it becomes too dry; and thus a temporary neglect of watering is not attended with the sudden destruction of the plant, which without these reservoirs of moisture it often is. Mr. Barnes, late of Bicton, has been in the habit of using rough, rooty, unsifted soil for upwards of twenty years, and of introducing a portion of charcoal among such soil for more than twelve years. He was led to use charcoal from observing, in a wood where charcoal had been burned, the great luxuriance of the weeds around the margins of the places where the charcoal heaps had been, and where a thin sprinkling of charcoal dust had got amongst the weeds. He got a basketful of this dust, and tried it first among cucumber soil. He found it im- proved the plants in strength and colour, and then began trying it with other soft-growing plants ; and he has continued trying it ever since with thousands of plants under pot-culture, and with most kitchen- garden crops. Mr. Barnes finds the following a good plan to make a rough sort of charcoal for use in the kitchen-garden. When made, it must be kept dry ; and when seed is sown in the open garden, the charcoal must be put into the drills along with it, at the rate of three or four pints of powdered charcoal to a drill of a hundred feet in length. Collect a quantity of rubbish together, such as trimmings of bushes, cabbage and broccoli stalks, old pine-apple stems, and such other parts of plants as will not readily rot; put these together, laying some straw beneath them, and set the straw on fire. The straw must be so laid, that the fire can run into the middle of the heap. When the heap is completed, cover it over with short, close, moist rubbish, such as short grass, weeds, and earth, from the rubbish-heap, in order to keep the flame from flaring through at any one place for any length of time. As soon as the fire breaks through in a blaze, throw on more short rubbish, so as to check the flames. It is necessary to thrust a stake or broom-handle into the heap in different places, in order to encourage the fire to burn regularly through it ; but as soon as the flames burst through these holes, stop them up, and make others where you think the heap is not burning. When it is all burned, collect the whole of the charred rubbish, ashes, &c., sift it through different- sized sieves, and put the sizes separately into old casks or boxes, keeping these boxes constantly in a dry place. In Mr. Barnes's potting-shed we observed four different sizes of charcoal (considering charcoal dust as one size); sods of heath-soil; different kinds of loam; leaf-mould; pots filled with four different sizes of pebbles, from the size of a grain of wheat to the width of the palm of the hand ; four different sizes of broken freestone ; four different sorts of sand ; two sizes of bone — one of half inch pieces, and the other of bone-dust ; four different sizes of broken pots for draining ; different sizes of shards for putting over the holes PRVNISG. 299 of pots, previously to laying on the drainage ; a basket of live moss, a box of soot, and one of rotten cow- dung. Growing hardy plants in pots, and especially the more rare kinds of trees and shrubs, for the purpose of transport, is one of the most useful purposes to which the practice of potting can be applied. Great care must, however, be taken not to keep the plants so long in the pots as to cause the roots to become matted. Pruning. Pruning consists in depriving a plant of a portion of its stem, branches, buds, leaves, bark, or roots, in order to produce particular effects on the part of the plant which remains. There are different kiuds of pruning, named after the manner, extent, and implement used, such as knife-pruning, lopping, clipping, disbudding, disleafing, dis- barking. pinching, &c. The instruments necessary for these operations are chiefly the pruning-knife, the bill, the saw, the cutting-shears, and the clipping-shears; but there are some other instruments, such as the pruning-chisel, the averruncator, the girdling-machine, &c., which are occasionally used. The specific principles on which pruning is founded, and its general effects, are these : — The nutriment of plants is absorbed from the soil by their roots, and formed into branches, flowers, and fruit, by their buds and leaves. If the stem and branches of a plant contain a hundred buds, by removing half of these the shoots or fruits produced by the remainder will be supplied with double their former supply of nourish- ment ; and if all the buds be removed but one, that one may be able to monopolize the major portion of the sap that has been distributed into a hundred channels, consequently the one bud must be developed into a very strong shoot. One of the specific principles of pruning is the stimulus given to vitality. When the leading branch of a small tree, which, perhaps, has not been growing well, but has got the roots fully established, is cut back to one bud, not only is the flow of sap which should have supplied all of the buds diverted into this one, and the shoot made thus more vigorous, but the vitality of the tree has acquired an impetus that it did not formerly possess. From a lazy slow-growing plant it has been converted into one of a quick, healthy, vigorous growth, a stimulus is given to the roots also to increase, and the tree is entirely renovated. The benefit is lasting, not temporary, and will continue, if circumstances are favourable, and no check of bad soil or bad weather ensues to counteract its vigour. It is thus that the forester cuts back his oak plants in the forest, after being a few years planted, and trains a single shoot from the bottom, knowing well that the vigour of this one shoot will be lasting ; that the impetus given to the growth of the tree will continue ; and that, in a few years, the cut-over tree will be many times larger than those allowed to stand uncut. It is thus that nurserymen increase the vigour of their young plants by pruning ; and that gardeners, when pruning for wood, cut farther back than when pruning for fruit. On the other hand, when the 300 PRUNING. whole of the buds of a tree are so abundantly supplied with sap from the roots as to produce chiefly leaves or shoots without blossoms, then by cutting off a portion of the roots the supply of sap is lessened, a moderate degree of vigour is produced, and instead of barren shoots, blossom-buds appear. By these means the growth of plants is controlled by pruning. We can lessen the size, control the form, and direct the energies of plants into either wood or flowers, by the use of the knife upon either root or branch. One of the most useful effects of pruning is to cause the development of dormant or adventitious buds, which is effected by amputating the shoot, branch, or stem, close above any point where visible buds are usually situated, though they may now be wanting there. For forest -trees pruning is of the greatest use in modifying the quantity of timber produced. Thus by commencing when the tree is quite young, and shortening the side branches and encouraging the leading shoot, the whole of the timber produced is thrown into a main stem ; whereas had no pruning been employed, great part of the wood might have been distributed in branches of little use, excepting as fuel. On the other hand, should crooked timber be desired, pruning by destroying the leading shoot, and encouraging those that have a suitable direction, tends to attain the end in view ; and by the aid of training this end can be completely effected. Trees which are stunted in their growth from being hide-bound (a disease which is brought on by the sudden exposure of trees to the weather after they have been drawn up by shelter, and in the case of young trees by being planted of too large a size in proportion to their roots), may in general be made to shoot vigorously by being cut down or headed-in. On the other hand, trees which are in particular situations, where it is feared they will grow too large, may be arrested in their growth, or stunted by amputating the larger roots. For ornamental trees pruning is chiefly employed to remove diseased branches, because much of the effect of these trees depends on the development of their natural form and character, which pruning with a view to timber has in general a tendency to counteract ; but for all ornamental trees, grown chiefly for their flowers or fruit, pruning can be as usefully applied as in the case of fruit trees ; and where orna- mental hedges and other verdant architectural structures are to be grown, pruning by the bill or the shears is essential. For ornamental shrubs pruning cannot be dispensed with, since many of them are grown for their flowers, which are produced much stronger and of brighter colours when the shoots are thinned out, or shortened, or both ; and when the plants are prevented from exhaust- ing themselves by the removal of decaying blossoms, so as to prevent them from maturing their seeds. Every one knows the value of pruning to the rose, and to all shrubs with double blossoms, and shrubs with large blossoms, such as the Magnolia or the Passion- flower. Fruit trees and shrubs are above all other plants benefited by pruning, which is indeed by far the most important part of their cul- PRUNING. 301 ture. The most general object of pruning is to create an abundant supply of sap during summer by the production of leaf-shoots, by which the general strength of the tree is augmented, and to limit the distribution of this sap when it ascends from the roots in the following spring, by diminishing the number of buds. The effect of this is to increase the vigour of the shoots or fruits produced by these buds ; and if this be done in such a manner as to obtain also the greatest advantages from light and air, the pruning will have answered its purpose. If a fruit tree were not deprived every year of a part of the wood or the buds which it produces, its shoots and fruits would gradually diminish in size, and though the fruit would be more nume- rous it would be deficient in succulence and flavour, as we find to be the case in old neglected orchard trees. The application of pruning to fruit trees differs so much according to the species of tree that the subject can only be properly treated by taking each class separately. Thus kernel fruits which are produced on wood of two or more years' growth, require to be pruned in a different manner from such fruits as the peach, which is produced from the shoots of the preceding year. To herbaceous plants pruning is applicable, not only when they are being transplanted, when both roots and top are frequently cut in, but also to fruit-bearing kinds, such as the melon tribe, the tomato, &c. The topping of beans, and the picking off of potato blossoms, are operations belonging to pruning ; as is the cutting off of withered flowers for the sake of neatness, or to prevent the production of seed. Having noticed the uses of pruning in culture, we shall next shortly describe the different kinds in use in British gardens and plantations. These may be included under close-pruning, shortening-in, fore- shortening, spurring-in, heading-in, lopping, snag-lopping, lopping-in, stopping, pinching cut, disbarking, disbudding, disleafing, slitting, bruising or tearing, root pruning, girdling, and felling. Close pruning consists in cutting off shoots close to the branch or stem from whence they spring, leaving as small a section as possible in order that it may be speedily healed over. In performing the operation care should be taken to make the wounded section no larger than the base of the shoot, in order that it may be healed over as quickly as possible ; and at the same time to make it no smaller, because this would leave latent buds which would be liable to be developed, and thus occasion the operation to be performed a second time. This mode of pruning is only adopted where the object is to produce stems or trunks clear of branches or of any kind of protuberance, as in the case of standard trees in gardens, especially fruit trees, and in the case of forest trees, grown for their timber. If the branch cut off is under an inch in diameter, the wound will generally heal over in two seasons, and in this case the timber sustains no practical injury ; but if it is larger, it will probably begin to decay in the centre, and thus occasion a blemish in the timber. Mr. Cree's mode of pruning forest trees grown with a view to the production of straight timber, which appears to us to be decidedly the best, is an application of this mode. £02 PRUNING. Mr. Cree commences his operations before the tree has been taken from the nursery, and continues them till he has obtained a clear trunk, of such a height as he thinks the kind of tree will produce of a useful timber size, in the climate and soil where it is planted. He cuts off no branches whatever till the tree has attained the height of from sixteen to twenty feet, with a stem from fifteen to eighteen inches in circumference at the surface of the ground ; but during the growth of the tree to that height he shortens in the side branches whenever they extend farther than between three and four feet from the trunk. In consequence of being thus shortened, these shoots do not, so long as they are allowed to remain on the tree, attain a greater diameter at their departure from the trunk than about an inch. The tree having attained its sixteenth, eighteenth, or twentieth year, its head forms a narrow cone, clothed with branches from the ground to the summit. Its pruning is now commenced by taking off one tier of branches annually, commencing with the lowest, cutting close to the stem, generally just before midsummer, that the wound may be partially healed over the same season, and continuing to do this annually till the stem has grown and been cleared to the required height. While the process of clearing the stem is going on below, that of shortening in the side branches is going on above, so as to preserve the narrow conical shape, and prevent any of the branches which are to be cut off from attaining a greater diameter than an inch. The trunk being at last cleared to the proper height, the head over the cleared part is left in the form of a cone, and no longer touched with the averruncator. The head now, by degrees, takes its natural form, and continues growing in that form till the tree is felled. The quantity of timber produced will not be so great as in the case of a tree standing alone, and throwing out its branches uncontrolled on every side, because the quantity of foliage produced, and properly exposed to the light, will not be nearly so great ; but it must be recollected, that the timber produced will be in a more useful form, and that more trees may be grown on the same area by this than by any other mode of training. Shortening-in is the term applied when shoots are shortened at the distance of from two to four or five feet from the stem, the cut being always made to a bud. Exceeding that distance it is called fore- shortening, and is chiefly applicable to timber trees in hedgerows ; and under that distance it is called spurring-in. We have seen the use of shortening-in in connexion with close pruning, in the case of forest trees, in the preceding paragraph. In the culture of fruit trees it is applied in connexion with spurring-in, to produce trees of conical forms with branches which, never being allowed to attain a timber size, are prolific in fruit-bearing spurs. Fore- shortening. — When the lateral branches of a standard tree extend farther than is desirable, a portion of their extremities is cut off, the cut being always made close above a branch of sufficient thickness to form a leader of sufficient strength to keep the branch alive and healthy, but not so strong as to cause it to produce much timber, or in any way to come into competition with the trunk of the PRUNING. 303 tree. The object is to prevent the lateral branches of the trees from injuriously shading the plants under them ; and hence it is chiefly used in the case of trees in hedgerows. Spurring-in. — The apple, the pear, the cherry, the plum, and other fruit trees, or fruit shrubs, produce what are called spurs, or very short shoots or knobs, covered with blossom-buds naturally, and the object of spurring-in pruning is to produce these knobs artificially. This can only be done with lateral shoots, to which the sap is not impelled with the same vigour as to the growing point, because the great object in producing spurs is to obtain blossom-buds, and these are never produced on the most vigorous shoots. A lateral shoot of the present year being produced, may be shortened to two or three visible buds, either in the beginning of summer after that shoot has grown a few inches in length, or the following winter ; but the former is in general the better season, because it is not desirable to encourage the production of wood, and consequently of sap, but rather to lessen their production, so as to produce stunted branches, which are in fact the spurs. In the second and third years the shoots produced are shortened in the same manner as they were in the first, and it will gene- rally be found that the leaf-buds left on the lower ends of the shoots when cut down will, the year after, become blossom- buds. As by the process of continually shortening the shoots, the spurs in a few years become inconveniently large, they are from time to time cut out and new spurs formed by the same process as before ; and finally, after a certain time, the entire branch bearing the spurs is cut out close to the main stem of the tree, and renewed, as spurs are, by a young shoot produced from its base. The laying-in of small shoots, in place of cutting back to naked branches and spurs, should be more encouraged. More distance than usual should be left between the leading branches, and plenty of young wood nailed in, after the manner of peach-trees. It diminishes the quantity of breast-wood, which is an evident practical anomaly and serves no good purpose, being annually renewed and annually cut out. The growth would be much better spent in producing young wood and fruit, which will not require so much slashing of wood. Heading-in is cutting off all the branches which form the head of a tree close to the top of the stem, leaving, however, their base to produce buds. This is done with what are called polled or pollard- trees periodically, for the sake of the branches produced as faggot or fence wood, and with fruit trees when they are to be re-grafted. Lopping. — This term is very generally applied to heading-in, but it is also as generally used to signify the cutting off large branches from the sides of stems, and in this sense we shall here treat of it. Lopping is performed by Ibresters in three manners, two of which are highly injurious to the timber of the trunk of the tree, and the other not so. The first injuriors practice is that of — Close lopping, by which a large wound is produced, the surface of which not only never can unite with the new wood which is formed over it, because, as we have seen, growing tissue can only unite, to 304 PRUNING. growing tissue, but the wood in the centre of the wound will, in all probability, begin to rot before it is covered over, and consequently the timber of the trunk will be more or less injured. The second injurious mode of lopping is, that of cutting off side branches at from six inches to a foot, or even two feet, from the trunk, which is called — Snag Lopping. — By this mode there can be no efficient source of returning sap, the wounds can never heal over, and are certain, in connexion with the stumps on which they are made, to rot and disfigure and deteriorate the timber much more than in the case of close lopping. Lopping-in. — The only mode of lopping large branches from the sides of the trunks of trees, without injuring the timber in these trunks, is to shorten them to a branch of sufficient size to heal the wound at its base, or at all events to maintain the growth of the whole of the part of the branch left, and prevent any decay from reaching the trunk. Clean timber, that is, timber free from knots, will not be pro- duced by this mode, but sound timber will be the result, which is much more valuable than the apparently clean and sound timber that would have been produced by close lopping, and letting the tree stand till the wounds were covered with new wood and bark. If the branch, had not been lopped, it would have continued to increase in diameter in as great a ratio as the stem ; but when lopped so as to produce only as much foliage as keeps the part left alive, such part will increase very little ; and as the stem increases, the proportion which the diverging sound knot bears to the straight timber of the stem will be less and less. Cutting down the stem or trunk of a tree to the ground is an important operation, because in some cases, such as that of resinous or needle-leaved trees, it kills the tree ; while in others, or what are called trees that stole, which is a property of most broad-leaved trees, it affords the means of renewing the tree. Thus coppice-woods, which consist of trees and shrubs cut down periodically, have their stems and branches repeatedly renewed from the same root or collar. Thorn hedges are also frequently renewed by cutting down to the ground ; but perhaps the most valuable application of the practice is to young stunted forest trees when finally planted out. The slow growth of a tree which is stunted appears to depend on the thinness of the albur- num, and consequent smallness of its sap channels, the result of which is, that the sap rises slowly and in smaller quantities than it otherwise would do ; and hence, that a proportionately smaller quantity is returned from the leaves through the bark. But by cutting over the stem just above the collar, the whole force of the sap accumulated in the roots will be employed in the development of some latent buds in the collar, and one of the shoots produced by these buds being selected, and the others slipped off, an erect stem will be produced of five or six feet the first season, and the sap vessels in this shoot being large, and abundantly supplied from the root, the plant will grow freely ever afterwards. A tree may be renovated though not cut back to the collar, and part of the old stem with its thin alburnum left. The vigour of the new growth will give a thicker coating of alburnum ; PRUNING. 305 though old hardened bark will not swell up so quickly as the new bark on a young shoot. Stopping and Pinching out. — When the point of a shoot is cut off or pinched out, while that shoot is in a growing state, it is said to be stopped ; that is, the shoot is prevented from extending in length, and the sap which was before impelled to its growing point, is now ex- pended in adding to the largeness or succulence of the leaves or fruits which may be on the shoot, or in swelling or developing the buds, or, in some cases, changing them from leaf-buds into flower-buds. The principal uses of stopping, however, are to promote the setting and swelling of fruit, either on the shoot of the current year, as in the case of the vine and the melon, or at its base, as in the case of the peach. By stopping the stem of the tobacco-plant, and of the basil, above the third or fourth leaf, the leaves acquire an extraordinary degree of magnitude and succulence, and the same result is sometimes produced with common spinach and the curled parsley. By stopping flower-bearing shoots after they have shown their flower-buds, and re- moving these, as in the case of annual flowers, the strawberry, the raspberry, the rose, &c., the blossoming and fruit-bearing seasons are retarded, as they are accelerated by stopping all the shoots on a plant that are not blossom-bearing. This stopping has been carried to great lengths in the cultivation of fruit trees in pots, or in the training of them as cordons. (See Training.) Much of the winter pruning of trees might be prevented by stopping the shoots early in summer, provided the state of the tree did not require that the shoots should be allowed to grow their full length in order to send down nutriment to the increase of the roots, in consequence of which greater vigour is in turn imparted to the stem and branches. Disbarking. — -Disbarking the living tree used to be practised for two purposes : one to clear the trees of moss, lichens, or insects, and permit more freedom of growth to the young bark and alburnum ; and the other to induce fruitfulness. The latter was effected by ringing or removing a band of bark, of more or less width, entirely, and thus checking the flow of the sap. This practice is now abolished, as fer- tility may readily be secured by skilful root-pruning. Disbarking for the tanner consists in removing the whole of the bark, and is best per- formed in spring, when in consequence of the abundance of ascending sap, the bark separates easily from the wood. Disbudding is the removal of buds early in spring, just when they are beginning to develop their leaves, and is commonly performed with the finger and thumb ; the object being to lessen the number of shoots or of blossom-buds to be produced. By lessening the number of blossom-buds, it will add to the strength and probability of setting of those which remain, and the same increase of strength will take place in respect to the shoots, whilst, at the same time, the number of these is reduced to an approximation of that which can ultimately be retained for training. By applying this mode of pruning judiciously to such trees as the peach, apricot, and plum, especially whtn trained against walls, the use of the knife may be in a great measure dispensed x 806 PRUNING. with, excepting for cutting out diseased or decaying shoots. Disbudding is one of the most important summer operations in the management of wall-trees. By disbudding in summer, we prevent the necessity of much shortening and thinning at the winter pruning. In removing the buds care should be taken not to injure the bark of the shoot. The buds ought not all to be disbudded at the same time ; the fore- right ones should be first removed, and the others successively, at intervals of several days, in order not to check the circulation of sap by a too great privation of foliage at once. Extent should likewise be given to the wrall-tree to exhaust itself by growth, and so bring on maturity. If the border is not too rich, this would be better than tearing off a great mass of breast-wood. More young shoots should be laid in, and they should be left longer at pruning-time in the strongest-growing sorts. Weak-growing sorts, apt to fruit, should be encouraged with manure, or we may have dry mealy, in place of large succulent fruit. Disleafing. — By taking the leaves off a growing shoot as fast as they are unfolded, no buds are matured in their axils ; and thus while the superfluous vigour of the tree is expended, no sap is returned to the root. The practice consequently rapidly reduces the strength of over- luxuriant trees. If trees are not very luxuriant indeed, one year of this treatment will reduce them to a moderate degree of strength. As buds are only formed in the axils of leaves, probably much disbudding and pruning might be saved by disleafing as soon as the leaves are developed ; but it must always be borne in mind that every leaf has not only the particular office to perform of nourishing the bud in its axil, but the general one of contributing to the nourishment of all that part of the tree which is between it and the farthest extremities of the roots. Hence, in particular cases, where it is desirable to give additional vigour to the roots, instead of disleafing or disbudding a weak tree, all the leaves and shoots which it produces, even the breast-wood and upright shoots, which the French call gourmands, ought to be encouraged within certain limits. Disleafing is therefore not to be generally commended. It may, however, be usefully applied in various instances to the destruction of perennial weeds, both on the ground and in water, by cutting their leaves off the moment they appear, and before they are even partially developed. Docks, thistles, rushes, horse-tails, and such weeds in pastures, might be destroyed in this mode at less expense than by any other. Even couch-grass, that pest of gardeners in a superlative degree, may be so destroyed, notwith- standing its creeping underground stems, if no green leaves are allowed to be formed ; as might the bulrushes, bur-reeds, common reeds, and other weeds which rise up from the bottom of ponds ; care being taken to repeat the operation as long as the weeds continue to grow, and never to let them exceed an inch or two in height. Slitting and splitting the bark of hide-bound trees may also be classed under a mode of pruning; it is now, however, but seldom done, the prac- tice being of doubtful utility. It consists of a number of longitudinal slits, right through the bark, from the branches to the bottom of the bole. Bruising, or breaking down the branches of trees, has sometimes PRUNING. 307 been adopted as a means of inducing their fmitfulness. The lowest wood of pear-trees on walls is frequently bent or broken down as in fig. 259, with good results, the buds at the base being developed into fruit, and with less risk of their breaking into leaf in the autumn than if they had been cut off at once. They are of course removed at the winter pruning. Clipping is a species of pruning that was formerly much in vogue when the antique style of gardening was general. Clipping is now mostly confined to the dressing of hedges and box-edgings. Fig. 259. A pear-tree with the young shoots twisted, broken, and fastened down, to cause them to produce blossom-buds. Root-pmning. — As the nourishment of a plant is absorbed from the soil by the roots, it is evident that the supply will be diminished by partially cutting off its source. The operation may be performed so as to effect a twofold result. Its immediate effect is to check the luxuriance of wood shoots, and induce the formation of fruit-buds. If judiciously performed, the operation will not be carried so far as to reduce too much the vigour of the tree, and prevent the second result, that of pushing a number of fibrous roots from those amputated ; for in defect of these the health of the tree must decline under the load of, in that case, imperfectly nourished fruit. With a view to the produc- tion of a greater number of fibrous roots, old trees may be subjected to a cautious root-pruning ; but it must not be performed on subjects unable to bear the shock, or on those in which the power of throwing out fresh roots is very weak. If, however, it is found that fresh roots have been emitted from one amputation, others may be performed as the roots resulting from each preceding operation come into action. Some, again, root-prune their trees annually or biennially. This operation should be performed with a sharp knife, and the cut be clean and slanting outwards. A whole network of fibres then proceeds from the wound, and no decay of the root takes place. x2 308 PRUNING. Though root-pruning is chiefly employed to check the luxuriance of young fruit trees, and throw them into blossom, yet it may be employed for these purposes with all trees and shrubs whatever, and even with some kinds of herbaceous plants. The dahlia may be ren- dered more productive in blossoms, either by ringing the stem just above the root -stock, or by cutting through some of the main roots just beneath it. The Chinese, it is well known, are celebrated for their dwarf or miniature trees, and these are formed of the extremities of the branches of very old trees, rooted by the process shown in fig. 189, and afterwards planted in shallow pots in very poor soil, and as the roots are produced, they are cut or burnt, so as to cramp the growth to any degree required. Girdling and Felling. — Girdling consists in the cutting out clean a ring of the bark, about four inches in width, close to the ground ; which, in larches, seems to cause the turpentine to be wholly incorpo- rated in the wood, instead of passing down to the roots, and, in fact, it so totally alters the condition of the trees, that the workmen complain of their being much more difficult to saw. Another result appears also very interesting. On February 9, 1831, a section was cut from a larch that had been girdled, as above mentioned, in the spring of 1830, and which then weighed 6540 grains. On March 21 it weighed 4990 grains, having lost 1550 grains. A similar section, cut at the same time from an ungirdled larch, weighed on February 9, 5610 grains, and, if it had lost by evaporation only in the same proportion as the other, should have shown, when weighed on March 21, a loss not greater than 1330 grains, instead of which, it then weighed only 3330 grains, thus showing a loss of 2280 grains, nearly double the propor- tion of the former. The effect of this process in establishing the straightness of the wood is, moreover, very beneficial. A ladder made from a larch so treated will be useful, whilst one not so seasoned will twist so as to be quite worthless. The testimony of a gentleman of great experience is : " Before I girdled, I never could have a ladder made of larch that would continue straight for a month ; but now I nave them made durably perfect." The common Scotch fir is equally improved by the girdling process. It prevents the wood from warping. A door made of home-grown pine has stood in a very exposed place as well as the best foreign deal. Girdling seems to change what would otherwise be mere alburnum into timber resembling heart- wond ; and this may be one reason why the boards made from such trees are found not to warp. The Girdling Machine. — Figure 260 will give some idea of the girdling machine, a is a piece of wood two feet long, four inches wide, and two inches thick, having two saws screwed on it, one on to the top, and the other at the bottom, so as to be perfectly parallel at the distance of six inches from each other, and projecting about three- _ quarters of an inch ; b shows the uppermost saw ; c is another piece of wood of the same dimensions, having four small rollers projecting opposite to the saws ; d d show the uppermost two of these rollers ; e is a slip of tempered steel, fixed to a at one end, and set to c at any PRUNING. 309 Fig. 260. requisite point, by a screw-nut fy passing through different holes made in «, at about one inch distance ; g is a c leather strap, fixed at one end to c, and fasten- ed to a by a button A, by suitable holes. Fig. 261 is a perspective view of this machine. The bark, after being girdled by the saws, may be taken off with any chisel about three or four inches broad. The seasons for pruning vary according to the object in view. "WTiere wood is to be cut out or buds removed, so as to throw strength into the remaining parts of the tree, the sooner the operation is per- formed after the fall of the leaf the better ; because as the sap is more or less in motion, and consequently impelled to all the buds Fig. 261. Side view of the girdling machine. Perspective view of the girdling machine. throughout the whole of the winter, that which would have been employed on the shoots and buds cut off is saved, and those which remain are invigorated by it. Next to autumn, winter is to be pre- ferred for the same reason ; but in this season mild weather should always be chosen, because the frost, if severe, will seize on the moisture of newly -made wounds, and rupture their surface. In pruning forest trees, large branches should never be cut off in autumn, because as they cannot heal over till the following summer, decay will commence on the surface of the wound. Spring, just before the rising of the sap, is a better season ; but better still, a fortnight before midsummer, at which period the returning sap will commence to deposit a coat of alburnum on the lips of the wound. The worst 310 THINNING. season in which any description of wood-pruning can be performed is the spring, just before the expansion of the leaves, when the sap is rising with the greatest vigour. The slightest wound made in many plants, either ligneous or herbaceous, at this season, especially young vigorous ones where the sap-vessels are large, occasions a great loss of sap, which must necessarily weaken the plant, unless speedily checked by the only effectual mode in which this can be done, the expansion of the leaves. For disbudding, spring is the most suitable season, though it should not be done all at once, but gradually at dif- ferent times up to the end of June. By this time the buds will have grown into shoots, and the practice might be called disbudding. Disleafing may be practised to a greater or less extent throughout the whole season of growth. It is not, however, a practice to be commended. The advantages of pruning just before midsummer are, that the wounds may be partially healed over the same season, and that the sap which would have been employed in maturing the snoots cut off is thrown into those which remain. The disadvantages are, that the sap which would have been elaborated by the leaves cut off, and which would have added to the strength of the tree and its roots, is lost. In the case of trees already sufficiently strong this is no dis- advantage, but in the case of those which are too weak it is a positive loss. The summer season is found better than any other for pruning trees which gum, such as the cherry and the plum, provided too much foliage is not thereby taken away ; and it is also considered favourable for resinous trees. The autumn, on the other hand, is considered the best time for trees that are apt to suffer from bleeding, such as the vine, the birch, and some species of maple. The best season for pruning evergreens is just before midsummer. Thinning. Thinning is an operation founded on a general knowledge of the laws of vegetation and on the habits and bulk of particular plants. Its object is to allow sufficient space to entire plants, or to the parts of plants, to attain certain required dimensions and particular pro- perties. When plants stand too close together for attaining those pur- poses, whether from want of nourishment at the root, or light and air at the top, they are thinned out ; and when branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit are too numerous on an individual plant to be properly nourished, and exposed to the sun and air, they also are thinned out. As this last operation is effected by pruning, it requires no farther notice in this article, which is confined to the thinning out of entire plants by uprooting them. Thinning by uprooting is performed by the hand alone, when the plants are small ; and when they are larger, by the aid of the trowel, spade, pick, or other implements. The sub- ject may be considered with reference to seedling crops in gardens, and transplanted crops in plantations. Transplanted crops in gardens, being generally of short duration, are placed at such distances at first as mostly to render future thinning unnecessary. One general rule sn in thinning is that the plants to be removed, when they cannot he taken away all round the plant to be left, should be taken from the east and west sides of it, in consequence of which it will receive the sun and air on two sides instead of on one, which would be the case if thinning took place only on the south side ; while if it were limited to the north side, air would be admitted, but no sun. Seedling Crops in Gardens. — To make sure of a sufficient number of plants, and of their distribution over every part of the surface, much more seed is sown than is required for the number of plants requisite for a crop. As soon as the plants from these seeds make their appearance, and are considered safe from accidents or insects, all or the greater part of those which are not judged necessary for pro- ducing a crop are pulled and thrown away> hoed up and left to die on the spot, or in some cases taken up by the trowel or spade and trans- planted elsewhere. The distance at which the remaining plants are left depends on their nature and habit, on the richness or poverty of the soil, and on the kind of crop required. For example, in thinning out an autumnal crop of turnips, the distance between the plants left will be much less than in thinning out a spring crop ; because in the latter case, the plants being destined to benefit by the warmth and light of summer, their roots will attain a much larger size than those of the autumn-sown crop. It will readily be conceived that crops that have few or narrow leaves and perpendicular roots, such as the onion, require less thinning than such as have broad -spreading leaves, such as the turnip ; and that those which have tap-roots, like the carrot, do not require so much surface soil as those which have spreading roots, and creeping or trailing shoots, such as the New Zealand spinach. Thinning seedling herbaceous plants may take place at any season ; but when they are to be cut out with the hoe and left to die on the spot, dry weather and a dry state of the soil are necessary ; and when they are to be pulled up by hand, or taken up by the roots with a tool for transplanting, a moist state of the soil and cloudy or rainy weather are essential, in order that the fibres may receive as little injury as possible in parting from the soil. Thinning Plantations. — Timber trees when planted in masses are placed much closer together than they are intended to be finally, partly to shelter one another, and partly to profit by the trees which are to be from time to time thinned out. By planting moderately thick, the nutriment contained in the soil is much sooner turned into wood than it would be. if only the few trees were planted which are finally to remain ; and by these trees standing near together they are drawn up with straight stems, so that the timber produced, even by young trees so treated, is of some use. By increasing the distance between these trees by thinning, the source of nourishment to the roots of the trees which remain is increased, and the space round the branches for light and air enlarged, so that by degrees, with every successive thinning, larger timber is produced. At what time the thinning of a plantation ought to commence, how long it ought to be continued, and at what distances the trees ought finally to stand, will depend on the sort of 312 THINNING. tree, the kind of plantation, the soil and situation, and the climate. In the case of a plantation where the object is to produce straight timber, the first point to determine is the probable height to which the kind of tree to be planted will attain in the given locality ; and then to obtain from the experience of others, or from observation of natural woods in similar localities, the distance required to enable a tree to attain that height. A tree in a sheltered valley and on deep rich soil not much above the level of the sea will attain double or triple the height which it will on a hill at a distance from the sea ; the tempera- ture in the latter situation being much lower, the soil generally poorer, and the wind stronger. The subject of timber plantations not forming a prominent feature in this volume, we shall only add that experienced planters have laid down certain rules for thinning timber plantations, and that the best of these we consider to be those of Mr. Cree, pub- lished in the ' Gardener's Magazine' for 1841, and applicable to every situation from the level of the sea to an altitude of 1800 feet. Sup- posing the height which the trees in a plantation of round-headed kinds are supposed to attain is 85 feet, and that they have been planted at the distance of about 4 feet, tree from tree; then the first thinning should commence when the trees are 13 feet 6 inches high, and the trees thinned so that those that remain may stand at twice the former distance from each other, or 8 feet apart each way. The second thinning should take place when they are about 24 or 25 feet high, when the trees should be left so as to be 16 feet apart each way, thus leaving 170 to the acre. The third thinning should take place when the trees are about 47 or 48 feet high, when only 42 trees should be left to the acre to attain the height of 85 feet ; and these must accordingly stand at the distance of 32 feet apart each way. It is not pretended that these rules should in all cases be exactly followed ; on the contrary, they are only given as approximations, the result of extensive experience and scientific reasoning, for round- headed trees; for poplars and coniferous trees, the final distance is much less. (See Mr. Cree's table in the * Gardener's Magazine' for 1841, p. 553, and also some excellent observations on the subject in the ' Gardener's Chronicle' for 1842, p. 19, and in various other parts of that journal and in the * Gardener's Magazine.') A forester should be well impressed with the importance of light, air, moisture, and shelter as regards vegetation; and he should closely observe the density which the various trees that are under his charge will bear. In all extensive plantations some trees will be seen suffering from being too close : he should learn from cases of the kind how to proceed to thin others that he can easily foresee are approaching a similar condition. As a guide to the time when to commence thinning, we should say — Always when the trees are about to touch, but not yet touching. Thinning Ornamental Plantations. — As the object of these is to dis- play the natural character of the trees, either of their heads at a distance, as in masses of groves or trees only, or singly, or in groups of trees among under growths, or on smooth turf, it is obvious that thinning is of as much importance to the desired result as in timber TRAINING. 813 plantations. It is equally so in plantations of shrubs, especially flower- ing shrubs, where the object is to show the individual character of the shrub, and also the beauty of its blossoms and fruit. Every tree and shrub has two characters, both of which are natural to it ; the one when it grows up in a mass of other trees or shrubs of the same kind, or of other kinds, and the other when it grows up singly. In the former case the stem or stems are always straight and comparatively free from branches to some height, while in the latter it is generally clothed with branches from the ground, or a short distance above it, upwards. The thinning, therefore, of an ornamental plantation will depend on the natural character to be imitated. An open grove where the trees have clear trunks to half or two-thirds of their height, affords a delightful retreat for walking in in the hottest weather of summer ; and this is also the case with an avenue where the trees have been properly thinned and pruned to the height of fifteen or twenty feet ; while a lawn studded with trees and shrubs singly or in small groups, and with their lower branches resting on the ground, affords views from a gravel-walk or a drawing-room window peculiarly charac- teristic of an English pleasure-ground. Training. To train a plant is to support or conduct its stem and branches in some form or position, either natural or artificial, for purposes of use or ornament. It is effected partly by pruning and thinning, but chiefly by pegging down to the ground, tying and fastening to rods, stakes, or trellises, or nailing to walls. The articles more imme- diately required are hooked pegs, ties, nails, and lists, wire-netting, with props of various kinds, arched espaliers, and ladders. The principles upon which training is founded vary according to the object in view, but they all depend more or less on these facts : — that the sap of a plant is always impelled with the greatest force to its highest point ; that, in general, whatever promotes this tendency en- courages the production of leaves and shoots, and whatever represses it, promotes the formation of blossom-buds. When a plant is to be trained over the surface of the ground, it must be borne in mind that, as the tendency of the sap is always to the highest bud, the shoots pegged down should be allowed to turn up at the points, in order to promote their extension. When the object is to induce blossoms or fruitfulness, a contrary practice should be followed, and the points of the shoots kept down, or in the case of upright-grown plants, trained horizontally, or even in a downward direction. This should also be done when the object is to restrain over -luxuriance, and a contrary practice when a weak or sickly plant or tree is to be invigorated. When the object is to economize space, the plants are trained against a trellis, as occupying length, but very little breadth ; and when it is to increase temperature, they are trained or spread out against a wall, which prevents the conduction of heat and moisture from the branches, by acting as a screen against winds ; and increases heat by 3U TRAINING. reflecting the rays of the sun during the day, and giving out heat during the night and whenever the atmosphere is at a lower tempe- rature than the wall. Manual Operations of Training. — The tie or the list, by which the shoots are fastened to the trellis or wall, should be placed in the internode, and always immediately behind a bud or joint ; because when tying or nailing takes place in the summer season, and near the points of the growing shoots, the latter sometimes elongate after being fastened, and if this elongation is prevented from taking place in a straight line by the fastening being made immediately before a bud or leaf, instead of being made immediately behind it, the shoot will be forced into a curved direction, and the bud and its leaf injured. Ties, which in this country are commonly of bast, or woollen, linen, or cotton, twine, osier, &c., are gently twisted before being tied into a knot, in order that it may be the firmer, and the tie not liable to be torn during the operation of tying. Osier-ties, which are sometimes used for espalier trees, are fastened by twisting together the two ends, and turning them down in a manner sooner and easier done than described. In fastening shoots with nails and shreds, when any restraint is required to retain the shoot in its position, the pressure must always be against the shred and never against the nail, as the latter would gall the shoot, and in stone-fruits generate gum. The shred ought never to be placed in the hollow of a bend in the branch to be attached ; for there it is worse than useless. On the contrary, the shreds should be put on so as to pull the external bends inwards towards the direct line, in which it is desirable the branch should be trained. In fig. 262, the straight direction in which it is desired to Fig. 262. Bringing a bent shoot into a straight direction by nails and shreds. train the shoot is indicated by the dotted lines ; a represents the shreds and nails put over the shoot to bring it to its place over the dotted lines, and b, dotted lines indicating the points which will be covered by the shreds and nails when the shoot has been rendered straight, by drawing both shoots from a to b. The nails used, whether of cast or wrought iron, should have round shanks and small "round heads, as being less likely to injure the branches than sharp-angled nails. Nails an inch in length are sufficient for ordinary branches, but twice that length is necessary for very large ones. Cast-iron nails are most generally employed, and they are so cheap, and, besides, not liable to bend in the points, that they are generally preferred to nails of wrought iron. They seldom break when being driven into TRAINING. 315 mortar joints ; and if they do so when drawing them out, it is perhaps cheaper to buy new cast-iron nails than to point and straighten wrought-iron ones. Boiling nails in linseed-oil prevents, or, at all events, greatly lessens their rusting. Nails should in general be driven into the joints, and not into the bricks, because the joints are easily repaired. They should* never be driven far in, and in summer training a much slighter hold of the wall will suffice than in winter- training, because in the latter case the shoots will not be moved for a year ; for if they hold at the time of nailing, they become faster as they begin to rust ; the oxide requiring an additional space to that required by the metal on which it is formed. Before a nail which has been some time in a wall is attempted to be drawn out, it should receive a tap with the hammer, by which it will be loosened, and be more likely to separate without breaking. Shreds of woollen are pre- ferred to those of any other cloth or to leather, as being softer and less influenced by the weather. Their length should be such as to contain a shoot double the size of that for which they are intended, in order that they may never compress the shoot so much as to impede the returning sap, and their breadth may be from a quarter to three- quarters of an inch. They should be folded up a little at each end, so that in driving the nail through the shred it will pierce four times its thickness, and be in no danger of tearing, as it often does when the nail passes through only twice its thickness. Medicated insect-proof shreds of various kinds of linen are now offered, which afford less harbour for insects, and are altogether neater and cleaner than woollen lists. When a shoot is merely to be nailed to the wall, without requiring constraint on either side, then the nails are placed alternately ; but when a crooked branch is to be nailed in, two or more nails in suc- cession will frequently be required on the same side. In driving the nails, they should incline with their heads downwards to prevent water as much as possible from hanging on them, as the rust produced is often injurious, especially to fruit. The branches should be 'fastened quite close to the wall, in order not to lose the benefit of its heat. Brown or grey lists are best, not being too conspicuous. Trained fruit trees are generally loosened from the wall at the time of winter or spring pruning, when the wall can be cleaned and coloured if necessary, and the tree washed with a composition for the destruction of insects. The re-nailing is in general performed immediately afterwards ; though some, in order to retard the blossoming of the tree next spring, tie the branches to stakes at some distance from the walls. This, however, can only be safely performed with the very hardiest kinds of trees, and even with them must be attended with danger during severe winters, unless in very sheltered situations. In re-fixing a trained tree, place all the leading branches in their proper positions first, beginning at the lower part of the tree, so as to make sure of covering the bottom of the wall. The main branches being placed, lay in the young wood, beginning also at the bottom of the wall, and at the further extremity of the branch, and working up to the main stem. We shall now describe the different kinds of training, commencing 316 TRAINING. with the simplest, and concluding with the different forms employed in training fruit trees. Training herbaceous plants in beds or borders is in some kinds effected by fastening them down to the surface of the ground, or to rock-work or a surface of pebbles, by means of pegs, loops of matting, hair-pins, or other material ; or by layrftg on the shoots small stones. Twining flowers, such as the common convolvulus, or twining escu- lents, such as the scarlet-runner, only require straight rods, or branches with upright shoots, such as those of the beech, placed close by the plants. Branches are in general to be preferred to straight branchless rods for herbaceous climbers, because by offering a number of inter- ruptions to the ascent of the climbing stem, they encourage it to divaricate, and consequently to produce a greater number of flowers and fruit within a limited space. Tendrilled climbers, such as sweet peas, and those with rambling stems, such as the nasturtium, are also supported by branches placed in a circle round each patch, or along each side of a row, of the height to which the plants are expected to grow ; or straight hazel rods are inserted in the soil obliquely so as to touch at top and bottom, and cross in the middle, so as to form lozenge- work; or wires may be supported by iron or wooden rods in any desired form. Tall-growing plants with stems having terminal flowers, and which do not branch, such as some asters, when they cannot sup- port themselves, require to be loosely enclosed by three or four rods placed close to the roots at bottom, and spreading outwards at top, and connected by twine ; or, in some cases, a slender rod may be placed to each stem. On no account should such clusters of stems be tied together in bunches, a common practice among slovenly gardeners, as the compression rots the leaves and lessens the size of the flowers. Plants having branchy stems, such as Lupines, should, if staked at all, have a stake to each stem, thinning them out where they are so numerous as to produce a crowded appearance. Florists' flowers, such as the carnation, the dahlia, &c., re- quire particular kinds of stakes, and the greatest care in tying. Herbaceous and shrubby plants in pots being in a highly artificial state, when they require training should have straight rods, or symmetrical frames of laths, or of wire-work. Pelargoniums when of large size are trained by means of straight terminal shoots of willow or hazel, so as to radiate their branches from the pot, and form a regular hemisphere of foliage and flowers, close but not crowded. Various training frames have been adopted for ornamental climbers in pots, which are Wire-frameworJc for climbing- formed of rods and ring3 of stout wire plants in pots. Fig. 263. TRAINING. 317 Fig. 264. Fig. 265. Fig. 266. the whole being painted green, or of the colour of bark, according to the taste of the gardener or his employer. Globular, balloon- shaped, half-spherical, flat, round, and square trainers of wire or iron are so common as to need no description. In training slender climbers or twiners, such as Kennedia rubicunda, nails may be driven into the wall near the ground (fig. 266, a), and three or four feet above it (b\ close to which the plant is placed ; strings are drawn from the Wire-rings shown lower nails to those above, and the in fig. 263. stems of the plant twined round them. Training Hardy-flowering Shrubs in the Open Ground. — Trailing and creeping shrubs seldom require any assistance from art, excepting when they are made to grow upright on posts, trellises, or walls. In general all creepers that are trained upright, and all climbers, whether by twining, tendrils, hooks, root- lets as the ivy, or mere elon- gation as in the Lyciuin and the climbing roses, when they are to form detached objects, should be trained umbrella fashion, see fig. 268, next page. Fig. 267 is a portrait of a climbing rose, trained down from a ring which forms the top to an iron rod. This is called the balloon manner of training, and was first applied to apple-trees. When the rod is fixed in the ground, the ring at the top should stand an inch or two higher than the graft at the top of the stock, or than the head formed on the stem of the plant, if it should not have been grafted. Six or eight of the strongest shoots are then to be selected, and tied to the ring with tarred twine ; and if, from their length, they are liable to blow about, their ends are attached to twine, continued from the wire to pegs stuck in the ground, as shown in the figure. When it is desired to cover the stem of a spreading-headed climber with the foliage and flowers of a different plant, the taste of which is questionable, as they never grow so freely in such a situation where they are shaded and the roots of the plants starved, fig. 268 may be used. Climbing roses may also be advantageously displayed on such props, and more slender climbers, as well as standard roses, and other shrubs, trained to single stems, may be tied to stakes of larch, oak, ash, or sweet chestnut, or to cast-iron stakes. When climbers or other flowering plants are trained on arched trellises covering walks, it must be borne in mind that if Wire standard for supporting rings, so as to form the frame- work shown in Jig. 2t>3. Mode of training herbaceous climbers on a brick wall. 318 TRAINING. the display of the flowers is an object, the trellis-work must not be continuous, but rather of arches springing from piers of trellis-work, or Tig. 267. Portrait of a Bizarre de la Chine rose, trained in the balloon manner. pilasters, at short distances from each other, so as to admit the light between. When this is neglected, the plants will only look well on Fig. 268. their outer surface. The laburnum, when trained over an arched trellis of this kind, has a splendid effect when in flower ; but when the trellis is continuous, the blossoms have a pale, sickly appearance, as we wit- nessed some years ago at a country seat, where the trellis of which fig. 269 is a section was covered with laburnum ; the low table trellis, a, a, being clothed with ivy. The contrast between the dark green ivy and the yellow blossoms would have been effective, had the latter enjoyed the benefit of light. Evergreen shrubs require very little training, excepting in the case of fasti- Propwithumbrella-topforspread- giate-growing species in situations exposed ing headed climbers, and for to high winds, or shrubs that are to be training other plants round shorn into artificial shapes. The evergreen their stems. TRAINING. 810 cypress, and the upright variety of arbor vitse, are apt to have the side-shoots displaced by high winds or heavy snows, for which reason these branches are frequently tied loosely to, or rather connected by tarred twine with the main stem. If, however, the side branches are carefully cut-in as the tree increases in growth, no such tying will be needed. When evergreen shrubs are to be shorn into common shapes, such as cones, pyramids, piers, pilasters, &c., little or no training is required ; but when they are to be grown into more artificial shapes, such as those of men or animals, the figure required is con- ^/^"////^///rf^^^ structed of wire or trellis-work, and being Section of a laburnum trellis placed over the plant, the shoots are confined "«* a walk> wi.tfi table trd' within it; and if the plants are healthy, and in a good soil and situation, the figure is speedily formed. The best shrubs for this kind of ornament are those which have narrow leaves, such as the yew, the juniper, the arbor vitse, and the spruce-fir. One of the figures, the most readily formed by any of these plants, is a hollow vase, which only requires a series of hoops tied to ribs, and the latter attached to a stake placed close by the main stem of the plant. In selecting plants for being trained into figures of men and women, it was usual to use variegated varieties to represent the female forms. The best examples of this kind of training are to be found at Elvaston, near Derby. It is now considered old-fashioned and barbarous. Training Fruit Trees. — By far the most important application of training is to fruit trees, whether for the purpose of rendering them more prolific, improving the quality of the fruit, growing fruit in the open air which could not otherwise be grown except under glass, or confining the trees within a limited space. Fruit trees are trained either as ordinary bushes or trees in the open garden, or spread out on flat surfaces against walls or espaliers, or trained to single branches on walls, espaliers, or within a few inches of the ground as cordons. In either case the operation is founded on the principle already mentioned — that of suppressing the direct flow of the sap, by which it is more equally distributed over the tree, the tendency to produce over-vigorous shoots from the highest part is diminished, and the production of flowers from every part increased. We find that trees in a state of nature always produce their first flowers from lateral branches, to which the sap flows less abundantly than to those which are vertical ; and the object of training may be said to be, to give all the parts of a tree the character of lateral branches. With a view to this, certain rules have been derived from the principle of the suppres- sion of the sap, which it may be useful to notice as of general applica- tion to every mode of training : — 1. Branches left loose, and capable of being put in motion by the wind, grow more vigorously than those which are attached ; and hence the rule to nail or tie-in the strongest shoots first, and to leave the S20 TRAINING. •weaker shoots to acquire more vigour. Hence also the advantage of training with fixed branches against walls, as compared with training with loose branches in the open garden, when greater fruitfulness is the object. 2. Upright shoots grow more freely than inclined shoots. There- fore when two shoots of unequal vigour are to be reduced to an equality, the weaker must be elevated and the stronger depressed. 3. The shoots on the upper side of an inclined branch will always be more luxuriant than those on the lower side ; therefore preserve, at the period of pruning or disbudding, only the strongest shoots below, and only the weakest above. Some have practised the system of only preserving the upper branches and removing the whole of the under ones, with a view of securing uniformity of growth and a maximum of strength. 4. The lower branches of every tree and shrub decay naturally before the upper branches ; therefore, bestow the principal care on them, whether in dwarf bushes in the open garden, or with trees trained on espaliers or walls. When they are weak, cut them out, and bring down others to supply their place, or turn up their extreme points, which will attract a larger portion of sap to every part of the branch. The different modes of training bushes and trees in the open garden are chiefly the conical for tall trees or standards, and some modification of the globe or cylinder for dwarfs. The flat, horizontal, or table form, and the cordon, have also been tried successfully. But it may be remarked that unless these and all other artificial forms are constantly watched to check the tendency to return to nature, they are much better dispensed with. By careful attention, some of these artificial forms will bring trees sooner into a bearing state, and a greater quan- tity of fruit will also be produced in a limited space ; but if the con- tinued care requisite for these objects is withdrawn for two or three years, the growth of the tree, while returning to its natural character, will produce a degree of confusion in the branches that will not be remedied till all the constrained branches have been cut away. Wherever, therefore, fruit is to be grown on a large scale, and in the most economical manner, in orchards or in the open garden, it is found best to let every tree take its natural shape, and confine the pruner and trainer to such operations as do not greatly interfere with it. These are chiefly keeping the tree erect with a straight stem, keeping the head well balanced, and thinning out the branches where they are crowded or cross each other, or become weak or diseased. The different modes of training fruit trees against walls or espaliers, may all be reduced to three forms or systems : — the fan or palmate form, which is the most natural mode, and that most generally appli- cable ; the horizontal system, which is adapted to trees with strong stems, and of long duration ; and the perpendicular system, which is chiefly adapted to climbers, such as the vine. Trees trained by any of the above modes, against a wall or espalier, are much more under the control of art than can ever be the case with trees or bushes in the TXAIXIXG. 321 open garden ; because, in the latter case, the whole tree, as well as its branches, are at all times more or less liable to be put in motion by the wind, whereas against a wall they are fixed, and have not the aid of motion to increase their thickness. For these reasons, and also because flat-training is applied to trees which, as ordinary bushes in the open garden, would scarcely produce fruit at all, flat-training cannot be dispensed with. In making choice of a mode of flat-training, the nature of the tree, the climate, soil, and the object in view, must be jointly taken into consideration. Trees of temporary duration, which naturally produce numerous divergent branches, such as the peach and the apricot, are best adapted for fan-training, where the climate is favourable; but in a cold climate, an approach to the horizontal manner may be preferable, by lessening the quantity of wood produced, and thus facilitating its ripening. The horizontal system of training produces the greatest constraint on nature, and is therefore adapted for fruit trees of the most vigorous growth, and of large size, such as the pear and apple, which are almost always trained in this manner, whether on walls or espaliers. For plants producing shoots having little or no tendency to ramify, and which are of short duration, such as the vine, climbing roses, &c., the perpendicular manner is the most natural and the easiest ; nevertheless, by disbud- ding and training, plants of this kind can be made to assume the fan form, and thus be rendered more productive in blossoms and fruit than if trained in a manner which is more natural to them ; and in the case of the vine, even the horizontal system may be adopted, because its shoots are of great duration. We shall first describe the methods of training dwarfs and standards in the open garden, and next the diffe- rent modes of flat-training on walls and espaliers. Dwarfs in the open "garden are trained in the form of hollow bushes, concave, or shaped like cups, urns, goblets, or barrels, the form being in every case produced by training the shoots to a frame-work of rods and hoops. Dwarfs are also trained in the form of globes, balloons, cylinders, low cones, pyramids, triangles, and sometimes with the branches in regular stages like a chandelier. Most of these forms are also capable of being varied by training the shoots which compose their form vertically, horizontally, obliquely, or spirally ; and also by tying down the current year's shoots as soon as they have ceased elongating, in the manner of quenouille training, to be afterwards described. All dwarfs, whether to be left to nature or trained artificially, are grafted on stocks naturally of humble growth, such as the quince or the mountain-ash for the pear, the doucin or the paradise for the apple, the Mahaleb for the cherry, the Myrobolan or the sloe for the plum, &c. Spiral Cylinders. — Of all these different modes of training dwarfs, that which best deserves adoption in a small garden is the spiral cylinder ^ the training of which is thus described by Mr. Hayward : — " Prune and manage the tree so that it shall form from three to six branches of as nearly equal size as possible, within about six or eight inches of the ground, as in fig. 270 ; and as soon as the branches are grown from three to five feet long, fix six rods or stakes ID to the earth T 322 TRAINING. Fig. 270. Fig. 271. Spiral training, plan. Spiral training^ first stage. Fig. 272. for supporting them, in a circle about the root, as in fig. 271, the centre dot marking the root, and the others the rods. Each branch is then to be brought down, and being fixed to the rod near its base, the branch is to be carried round in a spiral manner, on such an elevation as will form an inclination of about fifteen degrees, and each branch is to be fixed in the same manner, one after another ; thus all will move in the same direction, one above another, like so many cork- screws following in the same course, as shown in fig. 272. As from this position of the branches the point-bud of each leader will present the most vertical channel for the sap, the strongest shoot will form there, and thus afford the means of continuing the leaders to a great height and for a great length of time, without crossing or obstructing each other, or throwing out useless collaterals ; at the same time, by the depressed position of the leading branches, enough sap will be pushed out on their sides to form and maintain vigorous fruiting spurs1. As trees trained in this manner need never exceed the bounds allotted them on a border or bed, a greater number of trees may be planted, and a greater quantity of fruit produced, in a given space, than can be the case when they are trained in any other manner. But as pear and apple-trees on free stocks may be found to grow too rude and large after a few years, those best answer which are grafted on dwarf-growing stocks; that is, pears on quince stocks, and apples on paradise stocks. However, to keep dwarf trees from growing too luxuriant and rude, it is a good practice to take them up and root-prune them every three or four years. Standards in the open garden are, in France, sometimes trained with heads in similar shapes to those we have mentioned as adopted for dwarfs; but those in most general use, where the natural form is departed from, are the spurring-in system, the conical or pyramidal system, to either of which may be applied the quenouille system ; a term which is sometimes applied to the distaff or conical form of the tree, and sometimes to the mode of tying down the current year's shoots, like the fibres of flax on a distaff , so as to stagnate in them the returning sap. Trees trained in any of these manners are generally grafted on dwarfing stocks, so as to keep their growths within moderate bounds. The Spurring-in System. — Choose a tree that has a leading shoot in an upright direction, fig. 273, a ; having planted it, shorten the side shoot, leaving only two or three buds, and shorten also the leading shoot, according to its strength, so that no more buds may be left on Spiral training, elevation. TRAINING. 323 it than will produce shoots, as at b. The first summer the produce in shoots will be as at fig. 274, c ; and if before Midsummer the leading shoot be shortened as at d, it will probably throw out side shoots the same season, as at e. At the winter pruning all the side shoots may Fig. 273. Fig. 274. Spurring-in, first and second stage. Spurring-in, progressive stages. Fig. 275. Fig. 276. be shortened to two or three buds, and the leading shoot to such a number as it is believed will be developed. The tree will then appear as at /; and the pro- cess of shortening is to be repeated every year till the tree has the appearance of fig. 275 ; or until it has attained the height required, or which the kind of tree is calculated to attain. Conical Standards, or, as they are erro- s|. ' neously called, pyra- midal standards, may be produced from trees partially spurred-in ; but the most general mode is to cut in the side branches, as shown in fig. 276, which represents seve- ral successive stages ; while fig. 278 shows the tree brought to its regular shape ; and fig. 279, the same tree with the branches of the current year tied down in the quenouille manner. The best example of this mode of training, which we have seen in England, was in the Horticultural Society's garden in 1830 ; and in France, in the Koyal Kitchen Garden at Versailles, in 1840. There were in the latter garden, in that year, two hundred T 2 Spurring-in completed. Quenouille training, progressive stages. 324 TRAINING. trees trained in the conical manner with the current year's shoots tied down en quenouille. They had attained the height of from six to Fig. 278. Fig. 277. Quenouille or conical training completed. Fig. 279. Finished pyramidal pear-tree. Conical training, with the summer shoots tied down. TRAINING. 325 Fi 280 Fig. 281. twelve feet before the branches were bent down ; but the effect of this was to cover the shoots with blossom-buds, and to produce most extra- ordinary crops. From the experience of French gardeners, it would appear that trees trained in the conical manner and en quenouille do not ^ast longer than ten or twelve years. Copper wire is used for tying down the branches, and the lower ends of the wires are attached to the stouter branches, to the main stem, to hooked pegs stuck in the ground, or to a wooden frame fixed a few inches above its surface. Hayward's Quenouille Training. — Take a plant with four or five strong shoots of three feet or four feet long, on a stem of four feet or more high (fig. 280) ; let a small hoop be bent round Hayward's que- the bottom of the trunk, and all the branches brought regularly down and fixed to it, as in fig. 281. Several of the uppermost ffayward's que- buds on the base of each branch will probably throw fintsfa™™ ^ out strong W00(i shoots, one of them, that is placed in the best situation to admit of being bent down to supply the place of the parent branch when worn out, should be selected, and all the rest rubbed off close ; and as the shoot that is left will grow large and strong, in order that it may be better adapted for bending, it should, as soon as it is five inches or six inches long, be brought gently down and affixed to the old branch, as in fig. 282, a, a, marking the young shoot which has been tied down. Trained in this manner, whenever it may be found necessary to cut out the old branches, these, by a half- twist, may be brought down without danger of breaking, and the bend will be less abrupt and un- sightly. By the same rules, trees may be trained in the same manner, with two or more tiers, as in fig. 283. The ™s of this mode of training cessional shoots, depends upon due attention being paid to the disbudding or rubbing off useless shoots in the spring, and taking due care of those which are intended either to carry on and extend the tree, or to succeed and occupy the place of the old bearers. It, however, requires great attention, ffayward's double and is almost too formal to be generally adopted. quenouille train- Fan-training is chiefly adapted for trees trained inff- Fig. 282. Fig. 283. 326 TRAINING. against walls, and more especially for the peach, apricot, nectarine, plum, and cherry. There are several modifications of the fan form, and five different varieties may be pointed out. The first is the equal fan, in which there are a number of main branches all radiating from the graft of the tree ; in the case of dwarfs, all the branches radiate from the hori- zontal line upwards, but in the case of standards against walls, or what in Scotland are called riders, they radiate downwards as well as upwards ; and this forms the second, or what is called the stellate-fan manner of training. The third mode is called the open fan, or the Montreuil training, in which there are two main branches laid into the right and left of the centre, at an angle of 45°, and the wall is covered by subordinate branches from these and their laterals. The great advantage of this mode of training is, that whenever the wall gets naked below, it can be covered by bringing down the two main branches and their subordinates. An improvement on this mode of training as applied to the peach-tree was made by Dumoutier, and is described by Lelieur, in his ' Pomone Frangoise ;' another, by Sieulle (a cultivator at Montreuil, to whom we were introduced, in 1819, by M. Thouin), is described in Neill's ' Horticultural Tour,' and in the first edition of our ' Encyclopaedia of Gardening;' and a third improve- ment has been recently made in the Montreuil training, by F. Malot, a cultivator at Montreuil, which consists in first covering the lower part of the wall, by preventing any shoots from being produced from the upper sides of the two main branches till the part of the wall below them is covered. This mode is described in the ' Annales d'Horticulture de Paris' for 1841, and in the « Bon Jardinier' for 1842. A fourth mode of fan-training, is what is called Seymour's, which, on principle, appears to be the most perfect of all modes of training, and to which the nearest approach made by the French gardeners is that called the " Palmette a la Dumoutier," alluded to above. A fifth mode is the curvilinear fan-training of Mr. Hayward, which is good in principle, but which has not yet been much adopted, notwithstanding some excellent points which it exhibits. If we describe the common English mode of fan-training, Seymour's mode, and Hayward's mode, the other variations will be readily understood. In fact, there can be no difficulty with any mode of training, provided the operator possesses beforehand a clear conception of the form to be produced, and bears in mind the function of buds, and the influence of elevation and de- pression on their development. ,-,. OQ . Fan-training Fig. 285. F*'2M- in the com- mon English Manner. — The maiden plant is to be headed Fan-trammg, first down fo foup stage. , T . eyes, placed in such a manner as to throw out two Fan-training^second stage. snoots on each side, as shown in fig. 284. TRAINING. 327 The following season the two uppermost shoots are to be headed down to three eyes, placed in such a manner as to throw out one leading shoot, and one shoot on each side ; the two lowermost shoots are to be headed down to two eyes, so as to throw out one leading shoot, and one shoot on the uppermost side, as shown in fig. 285. We have now five leading shoots on each side, well placed, to form our future tree. Each of these shoots must be placed in the exact position in which it is to remain ; and as it is these shoots which are to form the leading cha- racter of the future tree, none of them are to be shortened. The tree should by no means be suffered to bear any fruit this year. Each shoot must now be suffered to produce, besides the leading shoot at the extremity, two other shoots on the uppermost side, one near to the bottom, and one about midway up the stem ; there must also be one shoot on the undermost side, placed about midway between the other two. All the other shoots must be pinched off in their infant state. The tree will then assume, at the end of the third year, the appearance shown in fig. 286. From this time it may be allowed to bear what crop of fruit the gardener thinks it able to carry ; in determining which he ought never to over- rate the vigour of the tree. All of these shoots, except the leading ones, must at the proper season be shortened, but to Fan-tmmng, third stage. what length must be left entirely to the judgment of the gardener, it, of course, depending upon the vigour of the tree. In shortening the shoot, care should be taken to cut back to a bud that will produce a shoot for the following year. Cut close to the bud, so that the wound may heal the following season. The following season each shoot at the extremities of the leading branches should produce, besides the leading shoot, one on the upper and two on the under part, more or less, according to the vigour of the tree ; whilst each of the secondary branches should produce, besides the leading shoot, one other, placed near to the bottom ; for the grand art of pruning, in all systems to which this class of trees are subjected, consists in preserving a sufficient quantity of young wood at the bottom of the tree ; and on no account must the gardener cut clean away any shoots so placed, without well considering if they will be wanted, not only for the pre- sent, but for the future good appearance of the tree. The quantity of young wood annually laid in must depend upon the vigour of the tree. It would be ridiculous to lay the same quantity of wood into a weakly tree as into a tree in full vigour. But if any of the leading shoots manifest a disposition to outstrip the others, a larger portion of young wood must be laid in, and a greater quantity of fruit than usual suffered to ripen on the over-vigorous branch. At the same time a smaller quantity of fruit than usual must be left to ripen on the weaker 328 TRAINING. branch. This will tend to restore the equilibrium better than any other method. Fig. 287 presents us with the figure of the tree in a more advanced state, well balanced, and well calculated for an equal distribution of sap all over its surface. Whenever any of the lower shoots have advanced so far as to incommode the others, they should be cut back to a yearling shoot : this will give them room, and keep the lower part of the tree in order. Whatever system of training is pursued, the leading branches should be laid in in the exact position they are to retain ; for whenever a large branch is brought down to fill the lower part of the wall, the free ascent of the sap is obstructed by the extension of the upper and contraction of the lower parts of the Fig. 287. Fan-training, complete. branch. It is thus robbed of part of its former vigour, whilst it seldom fails to throw out immediately behind the part most bent one or more vigorous shoots. To assist the young practitioner in laying in the leading branches of the tree, the following method may perhaps be acceptable : — Drive a nail into the wall, exactly where the centre of tree is to be, then with a string and chalk describe a semicircle of any diameter, divide the quadrant into 90° ; the lower branch will then take an elevation of about 12°, the second of about 27°, the third of about 43°, the fourth 58°, and the fifth about 74°. A nail should then be driven into each of these points, and the chalk rubbed off. — (' Gard. Mag.,' ii. p. 144.) Fan-training according to Seymour's Mode. — Head down the maiden plant to the three eyes, as shown in fig. 288, a. Three shoots being produced, the second year head down the centre one to three eyes, and leave the two side shoots at full length, as at b. Kub off all the buds on the lower side of the two side branches, and leave only on the upper side a series of buds from nine inches to twelve inches apart. When these buds have grown five inches or six inches, stop the shoots produced, but still allowing the leading shoot to extend itself. At the end of the summer of the second year, there will be TRAINING. 329 four side shoots, and six or more laterals, as at c. In the following spring, the laterals, d, which had been nailed to the wall, are loosened and tied to their main shoot, as at e, and the upright shoot or main leader shortened to three buds, as at /, or if the tree be very vigorous, to five buds. At the end of the third summer, the number of laterals Fig. 288. Seymour's fan-training, progressive stages, will be doubled on the two lower branches, as shown in fig. 289 : a new lateral having sprung from the base of the one tied in, as at y, and another from its extremity, as at A. In the pruning of the spring of the fourth year, the original laterals, now of two years' growth, which had borne fruit, are cut off close to the branch, and the young Fig. 289. Seymour's fan-training, third stage, in summer. laterals which had sprung from their base are loosened from the wall, and tied down to succeed them, as at fig. 290, t. The other laterals produced are tied in, as at &, and the upright shoots shortened, as at /, as beforg. This method of pruning and training the peach, its author, Mr. John Seymour, describes as truly systematical, as all the principal leading shoots are trained by a line stretched from the setting on or origin of the shoot to beyond its extreme length, and the distance of the leading shoots from one another is regulated by a semicircular line, at about ten feet from the stem, as shown in fig. 291. On this 330 TRAINING. line is marked off the distances between the shoots, which are ten inches each. The lateral shoots are laid in about a foot asunder, as at a, in this figure. In the third or fourth year, and sometimes in the second, instead of laying in all the side shoots at full length, some of Fig. 290. Seymour's fan-training, third stage after the winter pruning. them are shortened, so as to get two leading shoots from as many side shoots as may be necessary to fill the wall, as shown at £, b. If the double side shoots thus produced are strong, they may be laid in their Fig. 291. Seymour's fan-training) fifth year. whole length; but if weak, they must be cut short to give them strength. Occasionally a side shoot may be made to produce three TRAIN INO. 331 others, as at c ; so that there never can be any difficulty in producing a sufficient number of leading shoots to furnish the wall. Fig. 292 is a portrait of one-half of a Vanguard peach of six years' growth, taken Fig, 292, Seymour** fan-training, sixth year. in March, 1826. This tree, which very possibly still exists in Carlton Hall Gardens, covered nearly eight hundred square feet of wall, and was universally admired. For high walls it is recommended Fig. 293. \ Seymour** fan-training, in progress for a low wall. to train the tree in form of the fig. 293, till it reaches the top of the wall, and afterwards to change the position of the shoots in the manner 332 TRAINING. shown in fig. 294, encouraging the shoots produced from a, a, to throw out branches to fill the centre of the tree. There can be no doubt that this is a very systematic and beautiful mode of training, and its perfect symmetry ought strongly to recommend it to the amateur who has leisure. Fig. 294. Fig. 296. Seymour's fan-training, (suited to a low wall. Fan-training in the wavy or curvilinear manner is founded on the fact, that the sap will always flow in the greatest quantity to the most vertical buds ; so that on a branch bent like an inverted siphon, however low the centre may be, yet if the extreme point be turned upwards, the buds there will produce vigorous upright shoots, however distant they may be from the main stem. If a branch be fixed in a vertical position, the strongest Fig. 295. shoot will be produced at the point-bud a, in fig. 295, as it will also if the shoot should be bent, as shown at b and c in the same figure. Again, if a branch be fixed in a horizontal position, as in fig. 296, the strongest shoot will be produced from the most vertical bud near the base of the shoot, as at d, and the shoot produced from e will be the weakest; but by turning up the point of this horizontal shoot, as at fig. 297, /, nearly as strong a shoot will be produced as if the branch had been fixed in a vertical position, even though the bud at g should be at a considerable distance from the main stem of the plant. The bud at /, in this example, will also make a strong shoot. It is easy to conceive how these facts may be taken Illustrating the principles of wavy-training. Illustrative of wavy- training. TRAINING. 333 advantage of in training trees on flat surfaces. All the main branches, which in the common mode of fan-training, and also in Seymour's mode, are laid in at ' 297' an angle of 45°, are FK »«• . by Hayward's mode laid in much nearer the horizontal posi- tion, but always with Illustrative of wavy- thejr extreme points Wavy-training, first stage. turned up. Trees may be trained in this manner either without a main stem, with one main stem, or with two main stems. Wavy Fan-training with Two Stems. — Suppose that the object is " to cover a space of wall of sixteen feet in length and twelve feet high, we must obtain a plant with two equal stems, growing from the same base, of four feet each ; and in order to bring the fruiting part of the tree as near the earth as possible, and to fill the lower part of the wall or trellis, we must bend each of the stems down, as in fig. 298 ; and all the buds being removed, but three at each extremity, A, A, those will take the full quantity of sap sup- plied by the root, and form shoots of proportionate strength, and those shoots during the summer may be trained up- wards, as in fig. 299. The following Wavy-training, second stage. winter the side branches must be brought down to their proper position to the right and left, as in fig. 300. If the horizontal branches are four feet long, or of the full length required to fill the space of sixteen feet allowed, the points of those branches must be laid flat, as at i, on the right- Fig. 300. hand side of 300; but if they are required to grow longer, the points must be turned up, as on the left- hand side, k. The next object must be to man- age the centre shoots, or Wavy-training, third stage. stems, which are to fur- nish horizontals, so as to cover the upper part of the wall. There are two modes of effecting this : the one to bend the leading branch in a serpentine form, as represented at &, in fig. 300, and form the bends so that they may present a wood bud on the upper side of each, at from four inches to nine inches apart, which will place the horizontals from nine inches to eighteen inches apart on each side • all other buds but these being removed, they will be furnished with sufficient sap to form horizontals of due length the following year, and also a centre shoot to form the stem, to be managed in the same 334 TRAINING. manner to produce horizontals the following year ; and so on every year, Until the tree has attained the height of the wall. The other mode of proceeding with the stem is to train it in an upright direction, and to cut it off, or shorten it, as at «, in the last figure, from nine inches to eighteen inches every year ; rubbing off all the buds, except the three Which are best placed at the end to furnish two horizontals and a leader for the following year. This is not only the most simple, but perhaps the most certain, mode of providing horizontals of due strength, and at the distances wanted. Indeed this mode of shortening the centre branch must be adopted with all fruit trees, except the peach. The peach-tree, with care and attention, may be trained on the ser- pentine plan, so as to place the horizontals with great regularity. When it is thus trained, there is this advantage— the current of the sap being checked in the buds, a larger portion is sent into the hori- zontals, and the sap is more equally divided ; they are thus sustained in greater luxuriance at the lower part of the tree, and sometimes two tiers of horizontals may be obtained in one year. But as almost all other trees are prone to form their shoots at the ends of the last year's shoots, the bending will not always force out shoots where wanted. In order to secure this, therefore, the leading shoots must be shortened every year, down to the place where it is desired to form the hori- zontals ; and even in this mode of forcing out branches (by shortening) the upright flow of the F*801- sap may be checked by bending the leader •-•> each year from one side to another, on an in- clination of about 45°, as in fig. 301, which, as indicated by the num- bers 1 to 5, is of five years' growth. Pro- Wavy-training, fifth year. ceeding in this manner, a tree will advance in height only by a tier of horizontals each year, and hence it will appear to fill the upper part of the wall but slowly ; but it must be considered, that the time you lose in covering the upper part of the wall, you gain in width on the lower part. Moreover, by laying down the first branches to such lengths, you obtain a space sufficient, the second or third year, to dispose of every inch of wood the tree makes, without crowding it too closely together ; and indeed the means of appro- priating to a profitable purpose all the nutriment extracted from the soil by the tree. From a tree trained in this manner above seven hundred perfectly ripened peaches have been gathered the fifth year of training, all growing within six feet of the surface of the border. "When a tree is full grown, it will have the appearance of fig. 302. Particular attention must be paid to the rubbing off all or most of the " shoots, as soon as they appear in the spring, from the front and under sides of the horizontals, as well as from all other parts of the TRAINING. 335 Fig. 302. Wavy -training, completed. tree where young wood is not wanted." (Hayward, * On the Fruitful- ness and Barrenness of Plants and Trees, &c.,' 1834). Moreover, our own experience from the observations which we have made on some trees trained in this manner enables us to suggest, that a sufficient number of shoots and leaves should be left on the main stems, to strengthen them and the roots. This is an ap- proximation to the "Palmetto Verrier " of the French. (See M. Dubreuil's book. The stems, when bared of cover- ing leaves, are also liable to be scorched by the rays of the sun, unless they are protected, either by a covering or screen of some kind, or by training down some of the shoots, so that the foliage may overhang them. Wavy fan-training with a single stem will readily be understood. On planting, if the stem is without branches, cut it back to three buds ; but if it has already three shoots, shorten the centre one to nine inches or a foot, according to the kind of tree, and leave only three buds at its upper extremity, laying in the side shoots as in fig. 303. In like manner after next year's growth, shorten the centre shoot, and lay in the two side shoots as before, and proceed in this manner till the wall is filled, or till the tree has the appearance of fig. 304. It is necessary to observe, with reference to this figure, that the length of stem -is for the purpose of admitting a single shoot of a vine, to be trained horizontally below it. In wavy fan-training with a single stem which is short, Mr. Hayward observes, " It will be difficult to prevent the horizontal branches near the centre of the tree from becoming naked of bearing wood, because the sap cannot pass through a sufficient space of bark to prepare it for fructification, until it is a great distance from the trunk. But this defect may in a great measure be remedied, if, instead of being cut back to make it throw out branches from a short stem to form the tree, a stem of four or five feet be bent Fig. 303. Wavy -training with a single stem, first stage. 336 TRAINING. Fig. 304. \ down as in fig. 305 ; and if all the buds, as they push out, be rubbed off, except the three at the end, these may be trained up in the same manner as if the stem had been cut back or shortened, and afterwards the stem or centre may be treated in the same manner as the one that is cut back ; the difference will then be, that the centre of the tree will be formed four feet on one side of the root, instead of being immediately over it ; but as the sap will thus have a space of four feet of bark to pass, the tree will produce its bearing wood in greater abundance near the stem, and fill the wall more equally with fruit." This idea of fer- A half rider trained in the wavy manner. ti% is now exploded ; but root-pruning, &c., enables plants to fruit close down to root or stem. Horizontal training is in a. great measure confined to apples and pears. It is but little used for stone-fruit trees. It is compatible either with one or two stems, and with the upright stem either straight or in a zigzag direction, to stimulate the lateral buds to develop themselves. From this upright stem the branches proceed at right angles, generally at nine inches apart for apples, cherries, and plums, and from FiS- 306- ten inches to a foot or eighteen inches for pears. A maiden plant with three shoots having been procured, the two side ones are laid in horizontally, Illustrative of wavy- and the centre one upright, Horizontal training, traimng with a long ag in fig 30g . Fig. 305. | ~^M*iUM^ fifgt Fig. 307. all the budg being rubbed off the latter but three — viz., one next the top for a vertical leader, and one on each side as near the top as possible, for horizontal branches. In the course of the first summer after planting, the shoots may be allowed to grow without being stopped. In the autumn of the first year the two laterals produced are nailed in, and also the shoots produced from the extremities of the lower laterals ; the centre shoot being headed down as before, as shown in fig. 307. But in the second summer, when the main shoot has at- tained the length of ten inches, or twelve Horizontal training, second stage. TRAINING. 337 inches, it may be stopped, which, if the plant is in proper vigour, will cause it to throw out two horizontal branches, in addition to those which were thrown out from the wood of the preceding year. The tree will now be in its second summer, and will have four horizontal branches on each side of the up- right stem, as in fig. 308, and by persevering in this system four hori- zontal branches will be produced in each year, till the tree reaches the top of the wall, when the upright stem must terminate in two hori- zontal branches. In the Fig. 308. U Horizontal training, third stage. following autumn the tree will have the appearance of fig. 309. Fan-training and Horizontal-training combined. — In training trees horizontally, we have seen that a considerable period must elapse before the wall is filled. It is alleged also that heading-down does not always produce two lateral shoots, and also that it has a tendency to make the shoots already produced grow Fig. 309. more rank than is desirable. By the following method this in- convenience is avoided, and the wall is much sooner filled in height with shoots. Let us suppose the wall to be under twenty feet long, and that it is in- tended to train a pear-tree a- Horizontal training, fowrth year. gainst it ; plant the tree at one end of the wall, and then proceed as fol- lows : — Let the situation of the tree be at a, in fig. 310 ; stick a nail in the wall at £>, and another nail at c, and strike a line on the wall from b to c ; then train all the shoots to one side, after the fan manner, and bend the whole of the shoots into a horizontal position, as soon as they reach the line that is drawn from b to c; after which continue to train them horizon- tally. If the wall is from thirty to forty feet in length, plant the tree inihe middle of it, as at d, in fig. 311, and proceed as follows :— Stick a nail in the wall in the centre, near the top, at e ; stick another nail at f, and z 338 TRAINING. another at g ; then strike a line from e to/, another line from e to g ; train the tree in the fan manner until the shoots reach the lines drawn upon the wall, and then bend them horizontally. If the wall is higher than it is wide, proceed as follows : — Plant the tree in the middle of the wall as at A, in fig. 312 ; stick one nail at t, one at &, and one at / -, strike the lines as before ; but instead of spreading out the shoots horizontally, Fig. 310. Horizontal training and fan-training combined. train them perpendicularly. The chief objection to this mode of train- ing is that the centre of the tree will run away with the strength from the sides. To prevent this, the sides might be raised and the centre depressed. A similar mode of training has been adopted for the finer apples and best late pears : fig. 313 represents a tree one year from the graft, newly planted, and afterwards cut down to two buds on each Fig. 311. Horizontal and fan-training combined. shoot. Fig. 314 represents the same tree two years old, and fan- trained. Fig. 315, the same tree three years old, cut back and fan-trained. Fig. 316, the same tree six years old, fan-trained; the shoots brought down in a curvilinear form to the horizontal direction, and different years' growth marked one, two, three, four, five, six. The centre is still trained in the fan form, and the branches brought down yearly, until the tree reaches to the top of the wall, where the fan-training terminates, and the branches are trained forward horizontally. Perpendicular training is comparatively little used, excepting on espaliers and for climbing shrubs, such as roses, the vine, and the gooseberry and currant, when trained against a wall or espalier rail. TRAINING. Fig. 312. The principle is to have two horizontal main stems on the lowest part of the wall or trellis, and to train from these upright shoots at regular distances. Sometimes four horizontal main stems are used — two at the bottom, and the other two half way up the wall or espalier ; but this mode is chiefly adopted with the vine. With the exception of the latter plant and the fig, when trained in this way, the main horizontal branches are very short, seldom in the case of the rose, gooseberry, or currant, extending more than two feet or three feet from each side of the stem. A young plant with two shoots may have these shortened to one foot each in length, and tied to the lower bar or wire of the trellis, as in fig. 317. This being done in autumn, next year g> two upright shoots will be pro- \ duced, and an addition made to the horizontal shoots, as in fig. 318. The third year two other upright shoots, or if the plant is in a vigorous state, four will be produced, as in fig. 319 ; and this will generally be found suffi- cient horizontal extension for a gooseberry, currant, or rose. (See fig. 320.) The six upright shoots now established will advance at the rate of from nine inches to a foot \mm Horizontal and upright training combined. in a Fig. 314. yea: if Fig. 315. the plants are gooseberries or currants, but a great deal faster if they are climbers of any kind. This mode of train- ing is fre- quently com- bined with the fan manner, when vines, roses, Wis- tarias, or other luxuriant climbers, are to be trained against the gable- ends of houses, as shown in fig. 312. Perpendicular training is often beautifully done on the Continent. This mode, in the hands of a careful trainer, is very favourable to a regular distribution of the energy of the tree, so to say. A simple modification of this form leads to no little improvement in the training of ornamental climbers against walls. Much the best result from z 2 Half -fan training, second stage. Half-fan training, third stage. 340 TRAINING. climbers may be attained by allowing them to run wild over stumps, banks, common shrubs, &c. ; but when they are trained against walls, they should be Fig. 316. trained differently from what is usu- ally the case to secure a good re- sult. We fre- (juently see all the vigorous shoots allowed to start up from the base and rush towards the top of the wall , the only training given being an- nually to back away all these vi- gorous shoots. A space of wall that should be devoted to one tree is often occupied by half a dozen ; the walls are seldom well and regularly covered. Those, however, who first take a strong main shoot to each side, and from these train erect a Fig. 317. number of shoots, obviate the bad results we deprecate, TjT and perfectly cover the wall with foliage, flowers, and i uJkoc^ fruit. A contracted variety of the same form is admirable Perpendicular for the pear trained against walls, especially when grafted training, first on the pear-stock, and, therefore, less likely to remain stage. within fertile limits as a cordon. Four, five, or six shoots trained erect form a handsome and easily-trained tree. Fig. 318. Fi 319' FiS' 320' Half -fan training, sixth year. Perpendicular training, second stage. Perpendicular training, third stage. Cordon Training. — This system, about which so much has recently been written, is, in this country, chiefly valuable for the pro- duction of the finer apples and pears : the kinds that do not attain perfection in this country. The following account, which treats of it as applied to the apple, will serve to explain its merits. Perpendicular training, complete. Whatever may be the merits of this system applied to other fruits, TRAINING. 341 it is most certain that the cultivation of the apple as a horizontal cordon grafted on the true French paradise stock, is one of the most pleasant and profitable things that can occupy the attention of the amateur gardener. The following description of it is from the ' Parks, Promenades, and Gardens of Paris,' and the figures will serve to put it fairly before the reader. As it is purely a Continental plan, and has not up to the present time been much used in our gardens, cultivators should not be deterred from attempting it because they may not find examples of it in their immediate neighbourhood. Fig. 321. Peach-tree at Montreuil perpendicularly trained. " The first thing we have to settle is, What is a cordon ? There has been some little discussion on this point — discussion that was utterly needless, and even mischievous, as tending to prevent the public knowing exactly what the term is used for. It simply means a tree confined to a single stem ; that stem being furnished with spurs, or sometimes with little fruiting branches nailed in, as in the case of the peach when trained to one stem. Some contended that it meant any Fig. 322. The apple trained as a simple horizontal cordon, grafted on the French paradise stock, and in full bearing. form of branch closely spurred in ; but this is quite erroneous. The term is never applied to any form of tree but the small and simple- stemmed ones. The French have no more need of the word to express a tree trained on the spur system than we have, and they have trained trees on that system for ages without ever calling them by this name. " A simple galvanized wire is attached to a strong oak post or bit of iron, so firmly fixed that the strain of the wire may not disturb it. The wire is supported at a distance of one foot from the ground, and 342 TRAINING. tightened by one of the handy little implements known as raidisseurs. This raidisseur will tighten several hundred feet of the wire, which need not be thicker than strong twine, and of the same sort as that recommended for walls and espaliers. The galvanized wire known as No. 14 is the most suitable for general use. At intervals a support is placed under the wire in the form of a bit of slender iron with an eye in it, and on this the apple on the French paradise is trained, thus forming the simplest and best and commonest phase of the cordon system. This is the kind best suited for making edgings around the squares in kitchen gardens, &c. Fig. 323. Fig. 324. The simple horizontal cordon. " Cordons are trained against walls, espaliers, and in many ways, but the most popular form of all, and the best and most useful, is the little line of apple-trees acting as an edging to the quarters in the kitchen and fruit garden. By selecting good kinds and training them in this way, abundance of the finest apples may be grown without having any of the large apple-trees or those of any other form in the garden to shade or occupy its surface. The bilateral cordon is useful for the same purposes as the simple one, and especially adapted to the bottoms of walls, bare spaces between the fruit trees, the fronts of pits, or any low naked wall with a warm exposure. As in many cases the lower parts of walls in gardens are quite naked, this form of cordon offers an opportunity for covering them with what will yield a certain and valuable return. It is by this method that the finest- coloured and best French and American apples, sold in Covent Garden and in the Paris fruit shops at such high prices, are grown. I The cordon on low sunny wall of plant- house. nave seen tnem °ften in In this way Calville Blanc, Reinette du Canada, Covent Garden and in Re- the Lady Apple, the Melon, Mother, Newtown gent Street marked two and Pippin, and all the finer and tenderer French, ?u , vir v American, and British apples may be grown to ^ *^}1™S* <»&, and perfection. M. Lepere nls, of Montreuil, once told me that they have there obtained four francs each for the best fruit of the TRAINING. 843 Calville to send to St. Petersburg, where they are sold in winter for as much as eight francs each! Why should we have to buy these from the French at such a high rate ? Considering the enor- mous number of walled gardens there are in this country, there can be no doubt whatever that by merely covering, by means of this plan , the lower parts of walls now entirely naked and useless, we could supply half a dozen markets like Covent Garden with the very choice fruit referred to, and be entirely independent of the French. " Doubtless many think that these very fine fruit require a warmer climate than we have for them. But by treating them as the French do we may produce as good or a better result, and may, in addition, grow tender but fine apples, like the Calville Blanc, that do little good when grown as standards. The climate in most parts of England will be found to suit them quite as well as that of Paris, if not better, because the sun in France is in some parts a little too strong for the perfect development of the flesh and flavour of the apple. There is no part of the country in which the low cordon will not be found a most useful addition to the garden — that is, wherever first-rate and handsome dessert fruit is a want. So great is the demand in the markets for fruit of the highest quality that sometimes the little trees more than pay for themselves the first year after being planted. In any northern exposed and cold places where choice apples do not ripen well, it would be desirable to give the trees as warm and sunny a position as possible, while the form recommended for walls should be used extensively. In no case should the system be tried except as a garden one — an im- proved method of orcharding being what we want for kitchen fruit, and that for the supply of the markets at a cheap rate. " When lines of cordons are perfectly well furnished the whole line is a thick mass of bold spurs. Some keep them very closely pinched in to the rod, but the best I have ever seen were allowed a rather free development of spurs, care being taken that they were regularly and densely produced along the stem. If anybody will reflect that as a rule the best vigour of the ordinary espalier tree flows to its upper line of branches, he will have no difficulty in seeing at a glance the advantages of the horizontal cordon, particularly if he bears in mind that the system as generally applied to the apple is simply a bringing of one good branch near the earth, where it receives more heat, where it causes no injurious shade, and where it may be protected with the greatest efficiency and the least amount of trouble. It is just a carrying further of the best principles of grafting and pruning — a wise bending of the young tree to the conditions that best suit it in our northern climate. The fact that by its means we bring all the fruit and leaves to within ten inches or a foot of the ground, and thereby expose them to an increase of heat, which compensates to a great extent for a bad climate, will surely prove a strong argument in its favour to every in- telligent person. " The form is so definite and so simple that anybody may attend to it, and direct the energies of the little trees to a perfect end, with much less trouble than is requisite to form a presentable pyramid or bush. 344 TRAINING. It does not, like other forms, shade anything, and beneath the very line of cordons you may have a slight crop. They are less trouble to support than either pyramid or bush ; always under the eye for thin- ning, stopping, &c. ; easy of protection, if that be desired ; and very cheap in the first instance. " A few words are necessary as to the best method of planting and managing the apple trained and planted around the quarters or on borders. In a garden in which particular neatness is desirable it would be better to plant them within whatever edging was used for the walks, but in the rough kitchen or fruit garden they may be used as edgings. The reason of supporting the cordon at one foot from the surface is to prevent the fruit getting soiled by earthy splashings. By having something planted underneath which would prevent this, we Fig. 325. Edgings of cordons in French fruit- garden. These are three years old. When older, if well managed, they ought to regularly present a wider array of spurs. might bring the cordon lower down ; but, though I have thought of several things likely to do this, none of them are very satisfactory. Doubtless, however, we shall yet find something that may be cultivated with profit immediately under the cordon and prevent the splashings, and then be able to bring it within six inches of the earth. "As regards the planting and treatment of the apple trained in this form some remarks are necessary. In planting keep the union of stock and scion just above the surface of the ground, to prevent the apple grafted on the paradise emitting its own roots, and consequently be- coming useless for such a mode of training. The trees should never be affixed down to wire or wall immediately after being planted ; but allowed to grow erect during the winter months, and until the sap is moving in them, when they may be tied down. Some allow them to grow erect a year in position before tying them down. They should in all cases be allowed to settle well into the ground before being tied to anything. For general plantings the best and cheapest kinds of TRAINING. 345 plants to get are those known as " maidens" — i.e., erect growing trees about a year from the bud or graft. These can be readily trained down to the wire, or to the wall, in spring. In training the young tree the point with its growing young shoot of the current year should always be allowed to grow somewhat erect, so that the sap will flow equably through the plant, drawn on by the rising shoot at its end. To allow gross shoots to arise at any other parts of the tree is to spoil any prospect of success. If the tree does not break regularly into buds, it must be forced to improve by making incisions before dormant eyes. "A chief point is not to pinch too closely «.., •<: or too soon. The* first stopping of the year is the most important one, and the first shoots should not be cut in immediately ; but when the wood at their base is a little firm, so that the lower eyes at the bases of the leaves may not break when the shoot is checked. Pinch at five or six leaves, as the object is not to have a mere stick for the cordon, but a dense bushy array of fruit spurs quite a foot or more in diameter, when the leaves are on in summer. All the after pinching of the year may be shorter, and as the object is to regularly furnish the line, the observant trainer will vary his tactics to secure that end — in one place he will have to repress vigour, in another encourage it. About three general stoppings during the summer ^ will suffice, but at all times when a strong °? soft " water shoot1' shows itself well above g* the mass of fruitful ones, it should be pinched in, though not too closely. I have even in nurseries seen things called " cor- dons" with every shoot allowed to rise up like a willow wand — utterly neglected and on the wrong stock, and I have in other cases seen them so pinched in as to be worthless sticks. Of course success could not be expected under the circumstances, and I must caution the public against taking such things as examples, or the opinions of their managers as to the merits of the cordon system. "As the paradise keeps its roots quite near the surface of the ground, spreading an inch or two of half-decomposed manure over the garden, or in gardening language, mulching it, could not fail to be beneficial." 346 TRAINING. A full account of the cordon system as applied to other trees will be found in the * Parks, Promenades, and Gardens of Paris,' from which the above extract is taken. The wire and implements necessary for making the supports of these cordons, and also for erecting the neat, permanent, and cheap trellises shown in fig. 325 may be had from Messrs. J. B. Brown and Co., of 90, Cannon Street, E.G., and are described and figured in the catalogue of that firm." The varieties of apples to be grown on the cordon system should be most carefully chosen. As the system is chiefly valuable for the pro- duction of superb dessert fruit, only the finest kinds should be selected; but, as some apples are of high value both for kitchen and dessert, some of the finer kitchen apples are included in the following list. All the fol- lowing will be found very suitable : Reinette du Canada, Reinette du Canada Grise, Reinette Grise, Reinette de Caux, Reinette d'Espagne, Reinette tres Tardive, Belle Dubois, Pomme d'Api, Mela Carla, Cal- ville St. Sauveur, Coe's Golden Drop, Newtown Pippin, Calville Blanc, Northern Spy, The Melon, Cox's Orange Pippin, Duke of Devonshire, Kerry Pippin, Lodgemore Nonpareil, White Nonpareil, The Mother, Early Harvest, Lord Burleigh, Beauty of Kent, Bedford- shire Foundling, Lord Suffield, Cox's Pomona, Hawthornden, Tower of Glammis, Winter Hawthornden, Betty Geeson, and Small's Admi- rable. Some of the best of the above are valuable keeping apples. The Reinette Grise is in fine condition in the markets at Rouen in June, and Reinette tres Tardive is good in July. Those who wish to plant good early apples might try Borovitsky, and a few of the best early kinds ; but it is best to devote most of our horizontal cordons to the growth of the finer, later, and most valuable fruits. Of the above selection, Calville Blanc, Reinette du Canada, and Mela Carla must be grown on a warm wall; Newtown Pippin, The Mother, Melon, and several of the other later and finer apples will also be grateful for the same protection. Instruments and Materials. — In addition to those required for train- ing in general, we may add for training against walls and trellises — a pair of scissors for clipping the shreds; a hammer, with a shaft of sufficient length, that when hung on one round of the ladder by the head, the other may rest on the round below, so as not to fall Fig. 327. through ; a leather wallet or basket, fig. 327, about twelve inches long, six inches broad, and six inches deep, with loops to put a belt through on one side, that it may hang before the operator, having the side on which the loops are made bending, to rest the better against his body, and a Trainer's division in the middle for two different sorts of shreds ; basket. a deal plank to tread upon, with a strap at each end to drag it along either way, or to lift it with one hand ; a small pair of pincers for drawing out nails in places where the hammer cannot be so conveniently employed, and a pair of pliers, if wire is used as ties, the raidisseur, secateur, and sundry other instruments and materials already described; a narrow saw for taking off old branches; a mallet, and a chisel about two inches TRAINING. 347 broad at the mouth, for the same purpose ; to which we may add, a couple of step-ladders, on which a plank may be placed at diffe- rent heights, parallel to the wall, for the operator to stand on, by which he will do much more work, and with much greater ease to himself. In cutting branches of trees trained against walls, the cut or wounded section should always, if possible, be on the under side of the branches, or next the wall ; and in the case of espaliers, it ought to be on the under side. Comparative View of the Different Modes of Training. — It is well to understand the various methods of training detailed in the foregoing pages ; and, knowing them, any modification may be adopted which circumstances may require, provided the general principles are kept in view. Ornamental shrubs are easily managed, because they have not a tendency to rear themselves by forming a strong stem ; but with regard to fruit trees the case is otherwise. These, it is well known, if left to nature, form one strong stem, supporting a top which reaches the height of twenty, thirty, or forty feet, or more. In order to attain this, the sap rushes, whilst the tree is young and vigorous, towards the leading shoot ; and if lateral branches are occasionally produced, the flow of sap is not strongly directed towards them compared to that which is impelled towards the more upright part. At length, however, a ramification does take place, in comparison with which the leading shoot becomes less and less predominant, till it becomes ultimately lost amongst its compeers. A tolerably equal distribution of sap then results, and a conical or spherical top is formed bearing fruit, not generally in the concavity, where it would be greatly excluded from light, but at the external surface, where the fruit itself and the leaves immediately connected with the buds producing it can be fully exposed to light, air, and dews. It was remarked that lateral branches were occasionally produced on the stem in the progress of its ascent. When the top is formed, these are placed at great disadvantage, owing to their being overshaded, and they are then apt to decay, the tree assuming the character of a large elevated top, supported on a strong naked stem. This is the natural disposition of trees, and to this it is necessary to attend, in order that it may be counteracted where the natural form of the tree cannot be admitted. It should be borne in mind that the disposition to form an elevated naked stem is still strongly evinced in dwarf trees, in which, although subdivided, each branch possesses its share of the original disposition, and its lower and horizontal shoots are left to become weak in comparison with the upper ones and those that are vertical. A standard tree, from its being least restrained from attaining its natural habit, requires least management in regard to training, as has been already explained. When trained in any dwarf form, attention is in the first place required towards counteracting the disposition to form one large elevated stem by stopping the leading shoot. In this and other processes in pruning and training, it is necessary to be aware of the nature of the buds on different parts of the shoot, and the effect of cutting near or at a distance from the base. Where a shoot 348 WEEDING. is shortened, the remaining buds are stimulated, and those imme- diately below the section seldom fail to produce shoots, even although they would have otherwise remained dormant. The lowest buds on the base of a shoot do not generally become developed, unless the shoot is cut or broken above them. They remain endowed with all their innate vital power, although comparatively in a state of repose ; but should the shoot on the base of which these buds are situated be destroyed or amputated, very soon they are called into vigorous action, producing supplementary shoots quite as strong as could be obtained from any other buds more remote from the base. Were these buds as prone to development as others, a mass of shoots and foliage would be produced in the central parts, where the foliage could not have a due share of light, an arrangement that would prove bad. They must be looked upon as being placed in reserve for furnishing wood shoots, whenever the primer chooses to stimulate their development by amputating the portion of shoot above them. From this view of the properties belonging to the lowest-growing buds, it is evident they are the most unlikely to become fruit-buds. These are formed towards the extremities. In some cases they are terminal ; but generally about two-thirds from the base is the situation where fruit-buds are first formed, and in some kinds of fruit trees are developed into blossom the following season, while in others the basis of a spur is established. This spur sometimes continues slowly to elongate for years before it produces fruit. According to the prin- ciples of Seymour's training, the originating of the side branches from buds near the base of the vertical central shoot is well provided for, and this ought to be kept in view in every mode of training adopted. In order to furnish well the lower part of a tree, it is necessary to pro- cure strong branches, and these can be best obtained from the lower part of a strong central shoot ; and in order that this shoot may have sufficient strength, it must have a vertical position. Trees commenced to be trained in nurseries have often the objectionable form imposed upon them of an open centre, being deprived of an upright shoot and set off like a V ; and similarly objectionable are the Montreuil U's and other modes on- the same principle. With skilful management, these modes do succeed in France ; but in the rich soil and humid climate of Britain, the flow of sap cannot be equalized by any mode that admits of a competition between vertical and horizontal branches. Weeding. A weed is any plant which comes up in a situation where it is not wanted. It may be either an absolute weed, such as are all plants of no known use 5 or a relative one, such as a useful plant where it comes up and is not wanted among other useful plants, or on walks, walls, &c. Weeds are injurious by depriving the soil of the nutriment destined for other plants ; by depriving other plants of the space they occupy, as in the case of weeds in beds of seedlings, and of broad- leaved plants on lawns ; by their shade, when they are allowed to grow WEEDING. 349 large ; and by their mere existence, as when they appear on gravel- walks. In those parts of gardens where the soil is kept constantly pulverized on the surface, the most numerous weeds consist of annual plants ; but among the grass of lawns, and sometimes among crops which remain in one place for more than a year, perennial weeds also make their appearance. The seeds of weeds are brought into gardens by stable dung, by birds, by the wind, by fresh soil brought in for the renewal of borders, for compost, &c., and by some other sources ; and they are perpetuated there by being allowed to come to maturity and shed their seeds. The obvious mode of preventing the existence of all absolute weeds, whether annual or perennial, would be to prevent all weeds, whether in gardens or fields, from ripening seeds, by cutting them down before they come into flower ; and this, we think, ought to be made an object of national concern for the sake of the agriculture of the country, even more than for its gardening. Prices per peck or per bushel might be offered for the unopened flower-buds of different weeds, according to their bulk or frequency, to be paid by parish - officers to such children and infirm persons as might find it worth while to collect them, nothing being paid for those buds which have been suffered to expand. This practice, we are informed, exists in some parts of France and Bavaria ; but to be effective in any country it ought to be general. In the meantime, all that can be done is to destroy weeds as fast as they appear. Annual weeds among growing crops are readily destroyed in dry weather by hoeing, and leaving them to die where they have grown ; but if large, they may be raked off and wheeled to the compost ground, where mixed with soil or with other putrescent matters, they will be speedily decomposed and rendered fit for manure. Weeds among broadcast crops which stand thick on the ground, such as onions, spinach, &c., require to be pulled up by hand ; and for this purpose a moist state of the soil is preferable, but not so much as to occasion poaching by the feet of the weeder, unless indeed the plants should be in beds, where they may be weeded immediately after the heaviest rains. Perennial weeds, except when they are quite young and not far advanced beyond the seed-leaf, when they may be treated as annuals, require more care to eradicate than annual weeds. Their roots generally must be raised up by a fork, weeding hook, spade, trowel, or some other implement, which penetrates deeper than the hoe ; and great care must be taken with underground stems, such as those of the couch-grass, the small field convolvulus, the hedge-nettle, and others, to take up every joint, otherwise the result will merely be the pro- pagation of these weeds by division. Weeds in gravel-walks should be removed by weeding, or by hoe- ing and raking. Salt, either sprinkled on them, or better still applied as hot brine, likewise destroys all weeds, and so do sulphate of copper and other substances ; but these should commonly be used to walks that have no living edgings, such as box, &c., and they must not be applied very heavily in kitchen gardens where the roots of trees run under the 350 WEEDING. gravel-walks. In pleasure-ground walks there are no easier methods of keeping them clear of weeds than by the use of Fleming's salting- machine. Walks have likewise been made of concrete, which is so hard as to prevent the weeds laying hold of them. Asphalte, with a sprinkling of bright shingly gravel rolled into it before it has quite cooled down, makes one of the cleanest and brightest weed-proof walks. Weeds in lawns or grass-walks include all the broad-leaved plants which spring up among the proper grasses, not even excepting the clovers, commonly sown with them to give the grass a better hold of the scythe in mowing. All these broad-leaved plants, and even all broad-leaved grasses, such as the cocksfoot, ought to be weeded out if it is intended to have a perfect lawn, which to be so ought to resemble a piece of cloth in uniformity of texture and appearance. The worst weeds in lawns are those which have very broad and flat reclining leaves, which the scythe is apt to pass over, leaving them to feed the roots, such as a certain species of plantain, dandelion, &c. ; and these are the more difficult to eradicate, because they have tap-roots, fur- nished with adventitious buds which seldom fail to be developed, unless the roots are cut over two or three inches beneath the surface. The best remedy for plantains, dandelions, dock, thistles, &c., on lawns, is to pickle their crowns with a patch of salt, or scorch them with a drop of vitriol. The common daisy is very troublesome in lawns from the breadth of the tuft formed by its leaves ; but being a fibrous-rooted plant it is easily eradicated, and provided none are allowed to ripen seed, a lawn may soon be cleared of them. Weeds in Shrubberies and Plantations. — It used to be customary to dig shrubberies annually to destroy weeds, or hoe and rake them many times during the summer for the same purpose. But it is much better to smother them by the close planting of the shrubs and by covering all the earth beneath taller shrubs with a thick carpet of low ever- greens, such as ivy, berberis, periwinkle, laurel, &c. The shrubs should constantly come right down to the turf, and not show a raw edge of earth. Still, in their young state, shrubberies will need both hand- weeding and a vigorous use of the hoe to keep them clean. - Weeds in woods and park scenery are chiefly destroyed by mowing ; and it has been found that bruising and tearing oft: the stems often destroy the root more effectually than cutting with the scythe. In thick woods consisting of trees and under growths, the ground is generally so effectually covered with the bushes that no weeds can make their ap- pearance ; but in groves of trees, and in thin plantations, there will always be spaces more or less liable to throw up rampant weeds, which in merely useful plantations ought to be mowed and left to decay on the spot, for the sake of the manure which they will afford to the trees. In cultivated or smooth park scenery, all coarse weeds should be got rid of, so as to present a smooth turf; but in rough forest park scenery, all the plants which it produces should be allowed to grow as being appropriate : of these, the large fern or brake (pteris aquilina) is pecu- liarly characteristic. WA TER1NQ. 351 Weeding ponds, rivers, and artificial waters, in garden and park scenery, is often very expensive from its being necessary to empty and clean out the bottom and sides of the excavation. Much of this trouble and expense might be rendered unnecessary in many cases by mowing over the weeds in the bottom of the water, when they first make their appearance there in early spring, and repeating the opera- tion at short intervals till the roots are destroyed from the want of elaborated sap sent down by the leaves. Watering. Water, whether as a source of nutriment or as a medium of effecting various other objects, is one of the most important agents of culture. A certain degree of moisture in the soil is essential to the existence of plants ; because no food can be absorbed by the roots that is not held in solution by water, and because the decomposition of water, and its perspiration from the leaves and bark, are continually going forward. Plants require a certain degree of moisture at their roots, not only when in active growth, but when in a state of comparative rest, because even then perspiration is going on from those parts which are above the ground, and from the roots themselves when plants are taken up for transplanting. In the season of growth the demand for water is greatly increased, and it diminishes as the period of growth declines, and the power of decomposition and evaporation ceases. If water in excess is given at this period of the growth of a plant, its parts become distended in consequence of the absorption by the spongioles still going on, while the power of decomposition and perspiration by the leaves is diminished ; it becomes sickly, its leaves assume a yellow colour, and if the excess of water is not soon withdrawn from the soil, death ensues. By pulverizing soils and increasing their depth, their capacity for holding water is increased, while by underground drain- ing it cannot be retained in excess. By these means, and by the addi- tion of manure acting mechanically and keeping the soil open, a great facility is afforded to the extension of the roots, and the vigour of the plants is increased in proportion, but at the same time the power of the roots to exhaust the soil of water becomes greatly increased. If under such circumstances a proportionate supply of water is not afforded at the proper time, either by nature or art, the growth of the plant will fall much short of what it might be ; of which examples may be seen both in garden and field crops, by comparing the crops of a moderately wet summer with those of a very dry one. It may be concluded, therefore, that the full benefits of stirring the soil, draining, and manuring, cannot be obtained without a command of water. The specific purposes for which water is used in horticulture are numerous. In general it may be applied wherever a stimulus is wanted to growth, unless indeed the soil be already sufficiently moist. It is given to newly- sown seeds, or newly -plan ted plants ; for the pur- pose of setting blossoms, swelling fruits, increasing the number and 352 WATERING. succulency of the leaves ; conveying manure held in suspension ; con- veying matter for destroying insects, or parasitic fungi, such as the mildew ; or poisoning weeds on walls or gravel- walks ; for causing substances in powder to adhere to plants, as in applying sulphur and other articles ; for clearing the leaves and stems of plants from dust or other foreign matters ; for accelerating vegetation when the water is warmer than the soil ; for retarding it when it is cooler ; for thawing frozen plants ; for forming steam or dew in plant structures ; for rooting cuttings of some kinds of plants ; for growing aquatics ; for heating plant structures, and for supplying fountains and other aquatic ornaments. Water in the form of snow, forms a valuable protection to low plants when they can be covered by it, acting as a non-conductor of the heat of the soil, and preventing it from escaping into the atmosphere ; and water as ice is an object of the gardener's care, the filling of the ice-house being generally committed to him. The ordinary sources from which water is obtained in gardens are chiefly wells, and the collection of rain water in cisterns ; but it occa- sionally happens that a natural stream passes through or near the garden, or that water is conveyed to it by pipes or drains from some abundant source. In whatever way water is supplied, it ought always to be exposed in a pond or basin, so as to be warmed by the sun to the same temperature as the surface of the soil before being used ; unless indeed the object be to retard vegetation by its coldness, which can very seldom be the case. Some very interesting experi- ments were made by Mr. Gregor Drummond, in 1826, on the com- parative effects of spring water and pond water, in lowering or raising the temperature of the soil of a peach border, which it may be useful to quote : — 1. "The first experiment was made on the 10th of May. At the depth of 18 inches the temperature of the border was 64°, and that of the spring-water used 46°. In twenty-four hours after, the tempe rat-lire of the border was reduced to 52°, or had lost 12°. At the same time the temperature of the soil being 64° as above, and heat of the pond water 67°, the soil at the close of twenty-four hours was 66°, or instead of losing 12° had gained 2°. 2. " June 20th the second watering was given. The temperature of the border at the depth of 18 inches was now 74°, and that of the spring water 52°. In twenty-four hours the border was reduced to 58°, or had lost 16°. " At the station where the pond water was used the temperature of the border at the above-mentioned depth was 77°, and that of the water 82°. In twenty-four hours the temperature of the border was 80°, or had gained 3°. 3. " The third and last watering was performed on the 28th of July. The temperature of the border at 18 inches below the surface was 72°, and that of the spring water 57°. In twenty-four hours the border was reduced to 61°, or had lost 11° of temperature. At the pond water station the border at the depth of 18 inches was 78°, and the water itself 74°. In twenty-four hours the temperature of the WA TERINO. 353 border was still 78°, or had suffered no change of temperature from the watering it had undergone. " It is very clear from these facts, that whilst spring water greatly cooled the soil, that from the pond exerted no such influence, but on the contrary often raised the temperature." (' Hort. Trans.,' vol. ii. 2nd series, p. 57.) Hence in our opinion every complete kitchen garden, and every flower garden whatever, ought to have a basin, or basins of water in a central situation fully exposed to the sun. In every plant structure there ought to be a cistern to receive the rain water which falls on the roof; and if convenient, another for pond or well water, which should only be used when there is a deficiency of rain water. The distribution of water in gardens is in some cases effected by open surface gutters of hewn stone, running streams, lead or iron pipes, open basins, elevated lakes or reservoirs at a distance, flexible tubing fixed on town mains, portable engines, water-barrows, pails, water-pots, leather hose, &c. It is of the utmost importance to have the source of the water so high as to enable it to dis- tribute itself through any kind of pipe by the force of gravity, instead of having to raise, carry, and distribute it by steam, horse, or man power. In some gardens it is only needful to screw on a hose at any point, and with a rose or spreader pour a stream on any crop, or over the highest trees at will. The Parisians have displayed considerable ingenuity in arranging contrivances for watering their gardens. The chief feature of the system is that each length of perforated hose is supported upon two pairs of small wheels. The choicer gardens are, however, watered with watering-pots with wide spouts ; the operator using two pots at once, and the water being pumped up into tanks or barrels. A well is indispensable in French market gardens, as the dry climate renders copious waterings so essential. The ordinary mode of giving water to plants is by watering-pots of different sizes, and hand or horse barrows. On a large scale it is sometimes conveyed in barrels on carts, and distributed over lawns, and plantations of strawberries or other low plants in rows, by the same means as in watering roads. To such moveable barrels or other contrivances a length or lengths of gutta-percha tubing can be attached with a common spreader, which enables a man to water with great rapidity. When the leaves of plants are to be cleaned from dust or other matters that water alone will bring off; or when liquid compositions, such as lime-water, tobacco-water, soapy water, &c., are to be thrown on them, the syringe or engine is used, and when water is applied to small plants, or very small seeds newly sown, recourse is had to a small watering-pot with a very fine rose. When it is proper to water, and how much water to give, must be determined by the circumstances in which the plant is placed. In nature the atmosphere is very rarely otherwise than saturated with moisture, when it rains ; but as artificial watering is a substitute for rain, it mu^t not be withheld when the plant requires it, on account of atmospheric dry ness. As the nearest approach to the state of the A A 354 WATERING. atmosphere in which nature supplies water, the afternoon or evening may be chosen, when the air is both cooler and somewhat moister than during sunshine. As in soils that are stirred on the surface, the greater part of the roots are always at some depth, the quantity of water given should be such as will thoroughly moisten the interior of the soil, and reach all the roots. A slight watering on the surface, unless the soil is already moist below, will not reach the fibres, and will soon be lost by evaporation. Such driblets do more injury than good to plants ; for when in want of water the roots penetrate deep, and under such circumstances a small quantity of water on the surface checks the capillary attraction of moisture from below ; and thus the roots that are grown deep, which are those on which the plant is made to depend in times of great drought, are deprived of their supply of water, and the plant exerts its eiforts to throw out horizontal fibres ; by the time these fibres are formed, and the young shoots extended, the supply of water on the surface again fails, and they are again checked, and perhaps destroyed : thus the efforts of the plant being uselessly exhausted between the two extremes of a supply and a defi- ciency of water, it naturally declines in its growth, and hence arises the general opinion that watering in dry weather injures more than it benefits plants. Most water is required by plants that are in a vigorous state of growth and have a large breadth of foliage ; least by those which have nearly completed their growth ; and in general none by plants in a dormant state, excepting in such cases as that of watering grass lawns in summer to stimulate vegetation, or irrigating meadows after they have been mown for the same purpose. In the case, how- ever, of excessive dryness, some degree of moisture must be afforded to such plants as are liable to become desiccated even though dormant. Succulent plants, for example, will bear a great degree of dryness, through a protracted period ; whereas others that perspire more through the bark would be completely dried up if equally exposed to drought. An excess of water to plants in pots, and especially to those having suffruticose stems, such as the pelargonium, or to hair-rooted plants, such as heaths, and to many bulbs, is extremely injurious, and often destructive of life. In the first case more water is absorbed by the roots than can be decomposed by the leaves ; in the second case the roots are suffocated and rotted from their delicacy ; and in the third, rotting takes place from mere organic absorption ; for when the leaves of bulbs decay, their roots decay also, and consequently they cannot absorb water by their spongioles ; while absorption by the tissue still going on, the vessels become surcharged and burst, and the bulb rots. Hence in the case of bulbs, and similar plants in pots, the soil in which they are kept should contain no more moisture than what is necessary to keep the bulb, tuber, or corm, in a succulent state ; but in proportion to the dryness in which bulbs are kept at this season, should be the abundance of the supply of water when they begin to grow. All bulbs will be found to flower in their natural habitats, either during or immediately after a rainy or moist period of the year, its is the case with our wood hyacinths in spring, and with the colchi- WATERING. 355 cum in autumn; and much more strikingly so with the bulbs and corms of Africa, which grow and flower only in the rainy season. When plants are ripening their fruit, a diminished supply of water increases the flavour, because at that period of growth the power of decomposing it is diminished ; and if it is absorbed without being decomposed, the effect will be to render the fruit watery without flavour ; to crack it in some cases, to burst it in others, and in the case of all keeping fruits to shorten the period for which they may be kept. The same effects are produced by excess of water on bulbs, such as those of the onion ; on roots and tubers (underground stems), such as the turnip and the potato ; and even on leaves, such as those of the lettuce and the cabbage, which in wet cloudy seasons are never so highly flavoured as in seasons moderately moist, when succulency and flavour are combined. Whether plants should be watered over the leaves or only over the soil in which they grow depends on the state of the plant, the tempe rature in which it is placed, the time of the day, the season of the year, and other circumstances. Plants in a state of vigorous growth, in a suitable temperature in spring or summer, and in the afternoon or during cloudy weather, are better watered over the top, in order to make certain of clearing their foliage ; but late in autumn or during winter, when growth even in hothouses is or ought to be slow, owing to the deficiency of light, plants should be watered only at their roots. In general, all plants, whether in the open air or in plant structures, ought to be watered overhead during spring, summer, and the early part of autumn, unless they are in a dormant state, or in flower. On the other hand, all plants in houses not undergoing forcing, and all plants whatever in the open air during the latter part of autumn, during winter, and in the early part of spring, should be watered only at the root. Watering over the top should in general never be performed during bright sunshine. Watering in summer should be performed in the afternoon or evening, because at these periods less wUl be carried off by evaporation than during the day; while during winter and spring, watering ought to take place during the morning, that during the day the surface of the ground may be warmed and dried by evapo- ration and infiltration. One of the chief difficulties in watering plants in pots is to ascertain that the water given has penetrated the whole of the soil in the pot. The ball or mass of soil is frequently so filled with roots, or from its nature and treatment is so compact, as not to be readily permeable by water, which in that case, after merely moistening the surface, escapes between the ball and the pot; while the operator, seeing the water escaping from the bottom of the pot, concludes that the mass of soil has been thoroughly penetrated and saturated by it. To ascertain when the water has penetrated the mass of soil in a pot, it is common to thrust into it, not far from the stem of the plant, a round pointed stick, and to make sure of moistening the interior, to pour water into the hole so formed. In loamy soils, or soils containing a large pro- portion of sand, this mode will suffice for saturating the ball ; but in AA2 356 WATERING. the case of heath-soil, it becomes necessary to immerse the pot and the plant in a vessel of water, so that the soil shall be six inches or a foot under its surface, and thus receive a pressure sufficient to cause the escape of the contained air. Another class of evils in watering plants in pots arises from their not being sufficiently drained, which may follow either from the operation having been improperly performed in potting or shifting, or from the crevices among the drainage having become choked up by the washing down of the soil. The obvious manner of preventing this evil is, whenever there is the slightest suspicion of over-watering, to turn the plant out of the pot, examine the drainage, which will come out with the ball, and take it off and replace it with fresh materials. It would be well also, in the case of all plants that are likely to be over-watered, to use a larger proportion of sand in the soil, and to put extra drainage in the bottom of the pot, and also to introduce among the soil a considerable proportion of frag- ments of freestone. Aquatic and marsh plants form exceptions to the treatment required for plants in general ; but even these sometimes suffer through loose- ness of soil when kept in pots. Watering with liquid-manure is of the greatest importance to plants in pots and in the free earth. It provides them with food and drink by one and the same means, and the rule in applying it should be " Weak and often" It is most advantageous when given to plants in a growing state ; because, though at other seasons a portion of it would still be absorbed by the roots, yet the greater part would be washed into the subsoil. To economize the water given to plants, more especially in the open air, the surface is sometimes mulched with fibrous or littery matter, or even with small stones or pebbles. Both materials retain moisture and heat ; while stones or pebbles, by becoming soon dry, prevent surface-damp, and reflect much heat during sunshine. The strawberry is sometimes mulched with straw, and sometimes with tiles or slates, or pebbles, for the double purpose of retaining moisture and keeping the ripening fruit clean • and the surface of the ground in the rose nurseries about Paris and in different parts of England is sometimes mulched with straw or littery dung, to save watering, and prevent the rose-beetle from depositing her eggs in the soil. Stirring the Soil and Manuring. So much has already been said on these subjects that it is only necessary here to advert to them. Stirring the soil is advantageous as the means of admitting air, rain, and heat to the roots of plants, of promoting evaporation in moist soils, and of retaining moisture in such as are dry. In the latter case the dry loose soil on the surface acts as a mulching or non-conductor to the soil below ; and in the former it acts by exposing a greater number of moistened particles to the air than could be the case if these particles were consolidated. PROTECTION FROM ATMOSPHERICAL INJURIES. 357 Manuring. — Permanent manures, such as stable-dung and other solid substances, are for the most part incorporated with the soil when it is dug or trenched before being cropped, and it is generally thought that most advantage may be obtained from them when they are deposited near the surface. Temporary manures, such as soot, bone-dust, and other powders, waste yeast (one of the richest of manures), and liquid manures, such as drainings of dung, and solutions of salts of different kinds, and town sewage (which is one of the best fertilizers), are most advantageously applied on the surface of the ground, and to growing crops. The unusually heavy crops which have been raised from town sewage are proofs of its enormous force as a producer of food. Blanching. The operation of blanching, or depriving the leaves and stems of plants of their green colour, is effected by excluding light from the growing plant, in consequence of which it is produced without colour, and without that portion of its flavour which depends on colour. The tubers of potatoes are blanched naturally, because in general they are produced under the surface of the soil, or they are shaded by the foliage of the plant. Celery is blanched as it grows, or after it has grown, by draw- ing up earth so as to cover the petioles of the leaves. The leaves of the cardoon are blanched in a similar manner, and sometimes by tying them round with ropes of hay or straw. The interior leaves of the common cabbage, and of the cabbage-lettuce and endive, are blanched naturally, but the process is sometimes heightened by tying up the leaves, and sometimes by coverings. In general, perennial plants in which the nutriment for the leaves of the coming year has been deposited in the roots during the year preceding, such as the asparagus, sea-kale, chicory, &c., may be blanched by covering them entirely either with soil or some kind of utensil; while annual plants, the leaves and every part of which are the produce of the current year, require to have the operation performed by degrees as the leaves advance in size, whether by tying up, earthing up, or by both modes. By the opera- tion of tying up, two effects are produced : the inner leaves as they grow, being excluded from the light, are blanched ; and being com- pressed, in proportion to their number and the degree of growth which takes place after tying up, the head of leaves becomes at once tender and compact. Perennial and biennial plants with branching roots may be blanched on a large scale, by placing the roots in soil in a cellar or dark room ; but this cannot be done with annual plants, which must be grown in light, and blanched as they grow. Protection from Atmospherical Injuries. The great number of plants cultivated in this country, even in the open air, many of them from climates very different from ours, have given rise to a variety of contrivances to protect them from atmo- spherical injuries. The most effective of these is without doubt that of 858 PROTECTION FROM ATMOSPHERICAL INJURIES. forming for such plants artificial climates, as in the different kinds of hotbeds and hothouses ; but there are also various contrivances for protecting plants growing in the open air or against walls, and it is to these that we at present intend to confine our attention. They may be included under shading from the sun, sheltering from wind, and protecting from rain or from cold. The object of shading is to lessen evaporation from the soil or from plants, or to exclude light or heat. It is effected by interposing some opaque medium, or glass, the purest of which, as we have seen, excludes a certain portion of light, between the objects to be shaded and the direct rays of the sun, and this medium differs in its texture and other properties according as it is intended to be temporary or permanent. Mats and canvas are the common articles for temporary shading in the case of plants under glass ; but for plants in the open garden, hurdles of wickerwork, or frames filled in with beech or birch branches, or screens of reeds are used, or the plants are placed on the north, east, or west sides of walls or hedges. Sometimes also they are planted under trees : but as this kind of shade excludes rain and dew, it is only adopted in particular cases. A slight degree of shade is produced by form- ing the surface, of ground into narrow ridges in the direction of east and west, and sowing or planting the crop on the north side of the ridge. On the same principle, crops in rows in an advanced state are made to shade seedling crops sown between them, when shading them is desirable. Oil paper-caps, and other articles for shading individual plants have been figured and described, and also canvas shades for hot- house roofs. Some of the most severe injuries which plants trained against walls sustain in this country are from the powerful action of the sun in early spring, succeeded by extreme cold ; but by judicious shading such evils may be greatly mitigated or altogether avoided. Sheltering from wind, the principles of which have been pointed out, is effected on a large scale by plantations, and in gardens by walls, hedges, hurdles, wickerwork covers, hand-glasses, cloches, move- able frames, and other articles. The principles of protecting from cold have been described at length in our chapter on the atmosphere, and the different materials and con- trivances for this purpose have been enumerated. Coverings for the surface of the ground include dead leaves, litter, straw, sawdust, spent tan, rotten dung, coal ashes, coarse sand, spray and branches of trees or shrubs, &c. Coverings for standard plants in the open garden in- clude temporary roofs of thatch, boards, canvas, wickerwork, bark, or manufactured materials, such as pitched paper, asphalte sheeting, &c. Coverings for walks include glass, branches with the leaves on, such as those of the silver or spruce -fir, of the beech, birch, or hornbeam, cut before the wood is ripened, in consequence of which the leaves will adhere to the shoots, and being dead and without moisture, they are better non-conductors than green leaves, straw or hay ropes, rope- netting, canvas, bunting, woollen-netting, oiled paper-frames, wicker- work, hurdles, &c. ACCELERATING VEGETATION. 359 Protecting from rain requires the application of some description of temporary roofing impervious to water. For beds or borders in the open garden, frames, or hurdles, thatched with drawn wheat-straw or reeds, may be employed, and these will also protect standard plants ; or projected from the tops of walls, and supported by props in front, they will protect from rain both the trees and the border in which they are planted. Accelerating Vegetation. The acceleration of the growth of plants may be effected by the position in which they are placed relatively to the rays of the sun, by withdrawing moisture, by sheltering from cold winds and rains, by the choice of early varieties, by pruning, and by the application of artificial heat. For crops of herbaceous vegetables in the open garden, the most general modes of acceleration are to cover with hand-glasses, Rendle's Protectors, or other portable frames with glass roofs, and to sow or plant in borders on the south side of east-and-west walls, and as near to the wall as circumstances will permit. Next to walls, the south sides of hedges or espalier rails are selected ; or, in default of either of these, ridges in the open garden, in the direction of east and west, are thrown up, their sides forming an angle of 45°, and on the south side of these the crop is sown or planted. The growth of early peas and early potatoes is frequently accelerated in this manner, and also the ripening of strawberries, as well as the early production of spinach, lettuce, and other culinary plants ; and dry warm soil, culture in pots by which the plants are rendered portable, and the selection of the earliest sorts, are obvious adjuncts. Artificial heat, for the purpose of acceleration, is applied by means of fermenting substances, as in hotbeds ; the combustion of fuel, as in hotwalls and hothouses of various kinds, whether heated by flues, hot water, or steam. The different kinds of hothouses and pits, and their general management, have already been given, and we shall here con- fine ourselves to what concerns hotbeds and pits heated by fermenting materials. Hotbeds are chiefly made of stable-dung, but tanners' bark, cocoa fibre and cotton refuse, leaves of trees, and especially oak leaves, mown grass, weeds, clippings of hedges, and almost every other article capable of putrescent fermentation, may be used either alone or with stable- dung. Tanners' bark, cocoa fibre, or oak leaves, are found the prefer- able fermenting materials for hotbeds in hothouses, because they undergo less change in bulk, and retain their heat longer than dung or any other fermentable substance that can be readily obtained in equal quantities. Leaves do not produce such a powerful heat as bark, but they have this advantage, that when perfectly decayed, they form a rich mould, which is useful both as soil and as manure ; while rotten tanners' bark is found rather injurious than useful to vegetation, unless it be well mixed with lime or with earth, or left till it is thoroughly decayed into mould. When it ceases, therefore, to be used in the hothouse or 360 ACCELERATING VEGETATION. hotbed, it is employed in the open garden as a surface-mulching, to keep in heat or moisture. Preparation of Materials for Hotbeds. — The object being to get rid of the violent heat which is produced when the fermentation is most powerful, it is obvious that preparation, whether of leaves, tan, or stable-dung, must consist in facilitating the process. For this purpose a certain degree of moisture and air in the fermenting bodies are requisite ; and hence the business of the gardener is to turn them over frequently, and apply water when the process appears impeded for want of it, and exclude rain when it seems chilled and retarded by too much water. Recent stable-dung generally requires to lie a month in ridges or beds, and to be turned over in that time thrice before it is fit for cucumber-beds of the common construction ; but for linings or casings to any description of hotbed or pit, no time at all need in general be given, the dung being formed at once into linings. Tan and leaves require in general a month to bring them to a proper degree of heat ; but much depends on the state of the weather and the season of the year. Fermentation is always most rapid in summer ; and if the materials are spread abroad during frost, it is totally impeded. In winter, the process of preparation generally goes on under cover from the weather, in the back sheds, which situation is also the best in summer, as full exposure to the sun and wind dries the exterior surface too much ; but where sheds cannot be had, it will go on very well in the open air. M'Phail's hotbed or pit consists of two parts, the frame and lights of which are of wood, and not different from those used for growing cucumbers, or other ordinary purposes, and the basement on which the frame is placed, which is flues of brickwork, with the outer wall uni- formly perforated, or, as it is commonly called, pigeon-holed. Against these perforated flues, linings of dung are formed, the steam of which enters the flue, and heats the earth enclosed. The chief objections to this plan are the first cost and the greater consumption of dung which is required to keep up the proper heat. Its advantages are, that hot dung may be used without any preparation, by which much heat is gained ; and that in the winter months, when a powerful artificial heat is required, which (in the case of common hotbeds) is apt to burn the plants, they are here in the coldest part of the soil, and cannot possibly be injured by any degree of heat which can be communicated by dung. Fig. 328 is a section of a pit on this principle, with some improve- ments : a a is the surface of the ground ; b #, excavations for the dung- casings, 2J feet deep, 18 inches wide at bottom, and 2 feet wide at the ground's surface ; the greater width at top being to prevent the dung from shrinking from the sides of the excavation as it sinks ; c is the outer perforated wall, a brick in width ; d, the inner wall of brick set on edge, and tied to the outer wall with occasional cross bricks ; e is a layer of billet-wood, one foot in thickness, to admit of the heat penetrating from each side, or the same object may be effected by a layer of loose stones : f, a covering of faggot-wood, over which a layer of turf or litter is placed to prevent the soil from sinking into and choking up the ACCELERATING VEGETATION, 361 interstices in the layer of billet-wood ; ;> Cast-iron espalier-rail. blocks of stone, firmly fixed in the soil, as shown in fig. 334. Wooden espalier-rails are also formed in the same manner as cast-iron rails, and the standards let into iron sockets, which are fixed in stone blocks or supports. Espalier -rails of wrought-iron may be formed of hoop and wire iron of any height or degree of strength, and are neat, durable, and serviceable. Fig, 335 is a representation of an espalier of this description, erected in the kitchen garden at Carclew, and a full account of the manner of putting it up will be found in the 'Gardener's Magazine' for 1839. The total cost at Carclew was from Is. 6d. to 2s. per linear yard. Strained wire may be put up in this manner, either for espaliers or pleasure-ground fences, FRUIT TREES FOR ESPALIERS AND DWARFS. 395 not only in straight lines, but in curves of every description. This is effected by means of underground braces, or underground perpen- dicular posts, and these posts may be either of stone or of cast-iron, and they may be built into masses of masonry where the soil is soft, or has been moved several feet in depth. No brace need ever appear above ground, as at 6, in fig. 335 ; nor should the posts ever appear Fig. 335. Strained wire espalier -rail. to rise out of the naked soil, as do a, a, in the figure, but always out of a block of stone. Where the soil is on turf, this block, which may be six inches square, need not rise more than an inch above the surface ; but where the ground is to be dug as in a kitchen garden, the upper surface of the block may be nine inches, or a foot square, and may rise two inches or three inches above the surface of the soil. The reasons for a stone base are as follow : — All materials which have been prepared for the purposes of construction are considered as thus rendered subject to the laws of architecture ; and the first law is, that every superstructure must have an architectural base, on which it is placed. Thus, speaking with reference to design, every perpendicular line must rest upon a horizontal one ; and speaking with reference to materials, this horizontal line must be of the same, or of a kind analo- gous to that of the perpendicular ; of a kind which must at all events be equally, if not more, firm and durable than it is. Live wood, that is, growing trees, may rise out of soil, but never architectural wood, that is, squared posts, which ought always to rise out of stone. If this be true of wood, of course it must be much more so of iron, which, though harder than either wood or stone, yet is not nearly so durable as the latter material, which consequently forms a proper base for it to rest on. Some of the preceding remarks merely serve to show how rude and awkward is the system of trellising employed in British gardens. " The French are far before us in this respect. So satisfactory is the system adopted, that I am certain if English cultivators generally could get an idea of its excellence it would lead to a revolution in our fruit culture, and a great improvement in the appearance of our gardens. I know of no way whereby we may so highly improve the garden culture of the 396 FRUIT TREES FOR ESPALIERS AND DWARFS. pear than by paying more attention to it as an espalier tree. This is also the opinion of many of the best fruit-growers in Britain, who agree that there is no finer fruit than that gathered from well-managed espalier trees. It is well known that some pears lose quality by being grown against walls. It is equally certain that a fuller degree of sun and exposure than the shoots and fruit get on a pyramidal tree is very desirable in many parts of this country, especially for particular kinds. Many sorts grow beautifully as pyramids ; others, to be had in perfec- tion, must be grown upon walls ; but by means of the improved espalier system the majority of the finer kinds may be grown to the highest excellence. If the French can teach us nothing else they can certainly give us a lesson as to the improvement in appearance, cheapness, and utility of the espalier mode of growing fruit, especially as regards the finer varieties of pear-trees. " It should be borne in mind that the good opinion of espalier trees given by British cultivators has been won by them under great disad- vantages, for nothing can be uglier or more inefficient than the usual mode of supporting and training espaliers in our gardens. It is gene- rally so costly and disagreeable to the eye, that it has been done away with for these reasons alone in many gardens. I know some important ones near London, and indeed in many parts of Britain, where the espalier support is the most unworkmanlike and discreditable affair to be seen in the place. Great rough uprights of wood, which soon rot and wabble out of position, thick and costly bolt-like wire, cumbrous and expensive construction, and, in a word, so many disadvantages as would suffice to prevent the prudent cultivator from attempting any- thing of the kind. The form of tree used, too, is such that the lower branches become impoverished, and often nearly useless. " To support his espalier fruit trees the Emperor's gardener, M. Hardy, has largely adopted a system which is at once cheap, neat, and almost everlasting. Instead of employing ugly and perishable wooden supports he erects uprights of T-iron, and connects these with slender galvanized wire. These are tightened with the little raidisseurs before alluded to, and then there is an end of all trouble. He manages to erect this trellising nine feet high for less than a shilling a yard run ; but it could not be done so cheaply in smaller quantities. Then, instead of adopting the common form of espalier tree, with horizontal branches, he more frequently uses trees of which each branch ascends towards the top of the trellis, and thus secures an equable flow of sap through the tree. The accompanying figure (fig. 336) will give a better idea of both trellis and tree than any description. There is no more important matter connected with our fruit culture than this very point, and therefore I should be much obliged to all my readers, both amateur and professional, if they will give the subject attention, as I am sure that by doing so they will be led to adopt it largely, and will much improve their fruit culture. The finest stores of pears I have ever seen were in gardens with a good length of trees trained in this manner ; and I know few places in France where the espalier system is so extensively and so well carried out as here. The form here represented is much better FRUIT TREES FOR ESPALIERS AND DWARFS. 397 than the cordon or single-branched pear tree, because a more free and natural development is allowed to the tree, and at the same time the trellis is covered quickly, and a considerable variety of fruit may be ob- tained from a small space. It is very extensively adopted by M. Hardy, upon walls as well as on the neat and elegant trellis of which he has constructed so much. Of course the Palmette Verrier, the fan, or any other form, may be trained on these trellises, but decidedly the best are such as combine the advantages of quick covering and early pro- ductiveness claimed for the cordon, and the fuller development and more pleasing appearance of the larger forms. It should be borne in Fig. 336. Trellis for pear-trees, ten feet high. Uprights and stays of T-iron, horizontal lines, slender galvanized wire : vertical lines, pine-wood half an inch square and painted green ; to these the ascending branches are trained. mind that planting erect cordons close together, as they must be planted, involves a great expense, which is avoided by using trees of a fuller development. It takes a good many years to form the large style of tree usually adopted, and therefore I advise the general plant- ing of these intermediate forms. "Nothing can be neater alongside garden-walks than lines such as these trained on the trellis alluded to. There is no shaking about of rough irons or wooden beams, no falling down or loosening of the wires ; the fruit is firmly attached and safe from gales, the wood is fully exposed, and the trellis when well covered forms an elegant dividing-line in a garden. The best way to place them is at from 398 FRUIT TREES FOR ESPALIERS AND DWARFS. three to six feet from the edge of the walk, and if in the space between the espalier and the walk a line of the cordons elsewhere recommended be established, the effect and result will prove very good indeed. In some cases where large quantities of fruit are required, it may be desirable to run them across the squares at a distance of fifteen or eighteen feet apart. The principle is quite simple, the proof of which is that the trellises at Versailles were erected by the garden workmen. M. Hardy, the head gardener at Versailles, is the son of the celebrated writer on fruit trees of that name, and has had much experience in fruit-growing. ' These trellises,' says he, ' are the cheapest as well as the most ornamental that we have yet succeeded in making, and the trees which I plant against them are of the form that I prefer to all FRUIT TREES FOR ESPALIERS AND DWARFS. 399 others, for promptly furnishing walls and trellises, and for yielding a great number of varieties in a comparatively restricted space.' The mode of employing the uprights of pine wood painted green and reaching from the top of the trellis to within six inches of the ground, is not a common one, though very desirable where the erect way of training the shoots is practised. The reader will readily perceive that this system combines the advantages of the cordon and the large tree. Of course many other forms, or any form, may be used with this system of trellising, with slight modifications to suit different kinds of trees or different forms. The double trellis shown is simply a modifi- cation of the preceding, and is not only desirable where space is limited, but also for its economy, for one set of uprights supports the two sets of wires simply by using cross bits of iron about eighteen inches long, and at the desired distance apart. However, the engraving (fig. 337) shows this at a glance." (Robinson's ' Parks, Promenades, and Gar- dens of Paris.') Select list for espaliers, dwarfs, or standards trained conically or spurred in : — Dessert Apples. Oslin. King of the Pippins. Wormsley Pippin. Golden Reinette. Hughes' Golden Pippin. Court of Wick. Ribston Pippin. Adams's Pear main. Pearson's Plate. Golden Harvey. Court-pendu-plat. Reinette du Canada. Braddick's Nonpar eiL Old Nonpareil. Scarlet Nonpareil. Boston Russet. Downton Nonpareil. Reinette Grise. Reinette Golden. Scarlet Crofton. Belle Dubois. Pomme d'Api. Newtown Pippin. Melon Apple. Cox's Orange Pippin. American Mother. Early Harvest. Cockle Pippin. Clay gate Pearmain. Kitchen Apples. Dumelow's Seedling. Royal Russet. Alfriston. Brabant Bellefleur. Keswick Codlin. Calville Blanc. Lord Sufiield. New Hawthornden. Manks Codlin. "Waltham Abbey Seedling. Tower of Glammis. Bedfordshire Foundling. Pears. Dunmore. Seckle. Beurre de Capiaumont. Flemish Beauty. Duchesse d'Angouleme. Marie Louise. Beurre Superfine. Jean de Witte. Bern-re" d'Amanlis. Williams' Bon Chretien. Ligne de Naples. Suffolk Thorn. Van Mon's Leon le Clerc. Louise Bonne (of Jersey). 400 FRUIT-SHRUBS. Napoleon. Glou Morceau. Nelis d'Hiver. Beurre Clairgeau. Beurre Giffard. Passe Colmar. Ne plus Meuris. Beurre Diel. Easter Beurre. Beurre" Ranee. Huyshe's Prince of Wales. Cherries. May Duke. Morello. Kentish. Royal Duke. Elton. Knight's early Black. Bigarreau. Late Duke. Florence. Black Eagle. Black Heart. Plums. Royale Hative. Greengage. Orleans. F otheringh am . White Magnum Bonum. Blue Perdrigon. Purple Gage. Washington. Coe's Golden Drop. Kirke's. Denyer's Victoria. Jefferson. Other Fruit Trees, the mulberry, quince, medlar, service, and filbert, are sometimes introduced as espalier trees or dwarf standards, especially where there is no orchard; but all such trees do best trained in a more natural form. The plants may be procured either one year grafted or some years trained. All those to be planted on espaliers should be trained in the horizontal manner ; and in planting, the greatest care must be taken to place the plants on hills, so that when the ground has finally settled, their collars may be an inch or two above the surface. The distance at which they are placed from the espalier-rail may be from six inches to nine inches, and the distance from plant to plant may be from five to fifteen feet. All plants grown on espaliers should be on dwarfing stocks, and the thicker they are planted the sooner the space is covered. If large trees are preferred, it is very easy gradually to cut away those that are in the way, and allow the permanent plants to occupy the space of two or three temporary trees. Fruit-Shrubs. Gooseberries and Currants are frequently planted as espaliers or dwarfs along the margins of walks ; but to train these fruits on espaliers is to produce them at an unnecessary expense, unless the saving of room is a material object ; and as dwarfs they are in general too low to make an effective separation of the walk and its border from the interior of the compartment. They are, however, very effective as pyramids, either in rows by the sides of walks, or otherwise. They are, however, mostly cultivated in plantations by themselves. The distance may be ten feet between the rows, and six feet between the plants in the row. Goose- FRUIT SHRUBS. 401 berries and currants require an open airy situation, and a cool moist loamy soil. Raspberries prefer a situation somewhat shaded, as in a west or east border ; or, for a late crop, in a north border. The Cranberry, where it is grown as a fruit shrub, requires a peat soil kept somewhat moist, and with the bilberry and some other wild fruits may be conveniently placed in the slip. Gooseberries, Red Small Sorts. Red Champagne. Raspberry. Rough Red. Red Turkey. Small dark rough Red. Scotch Nutmeg. Ironmonger. Warrington. Wilmot's Early. Large Sorts. Boardman's British Crown. Mailing's Crown Bob. Conquering Hero. Clayton. King Cole. Hartshorn's Lancashire Lad. Leigh's Rifleman. Farrow's Roaring Lion. Slaughterman. London. Gooseberries, White, Small Sorts. White Crystal. White Champagne. Early White. White Damson. White Honey. Woodward's Whitesmith. Bright Venus. Snowdrift. Coppice Lass. White, Large Sorts. Snowdrop. King of Trumps. London City. Careless. Antagonist. Freedom. Hero of the Nile. Yellow, Small Sorts. Champagne. Golden Hero. Early Sulphur. Perfection. Glory. Yellow Ball. Goldfinder. Yellow, Large Sorts. Peru. Rodney. Trumpeter. Catherina. Broom Girl. Husbandman. Marigold. Sovereign. Leveller. Gooseberries, Green, Small Sorts. Early Green Hairy. Hepburn Green Prolific. Glenton Green, or York Seedling. Pitmaston Green Gage. Gascoigne. Green Walnut. Large Sorts. General. Queen Victoria. Thumper. Turn Out. Stock well. Hopley's Lord Crewe. Parkinson's Laurel. Collier's Jolly Angler. Briggs's Independent. Massey's Heart of Oak. Edwards's Jolly Tar. D D 402 SELECTION OF FRUIT TREES ADAPTED FOR AN ORCHARD. Currants, Red. Red Dutch. Champagne. Cherry. Jackson's Mammoth. Raby Castle, or Victoria. Knight's Early Red. Knight's Sweet Red. Currants, White. White Dutch. Cut-leaved variety Dutch. of White Currants, Black. Naples. Grape. Carter's Prolific. Raspberries. Early Prolific. Red Antwerp. Yellow Antwerp. Double Bearing, or Rivers's Vic- toria. Fastolf. October Red. October Yellow. Barnet. Plants of gooseberries and currants may be procured from the nur- series, of one, two, or three years' growth ; care should be taken not to plant them too deep ; if against espaliers, they are trained in the per- pendicular manner ; but if in compartments or long walks, as dwarfs, they are best left to take their natural shapes ; thinning out the branches so as to give free access of light and air to the interior of the bush. Raspberries being suffruticose plants, the wood formed in one year dying down the next, can only be procured of one year s growth, and they require little pruning except that of shortening the shoots. Selection of Fruit Trees adapted for an Orchard. Few kitchen-gardens can produce a sufficient supply of apples, pears, and nuts within the walls, and therefore it commonly happens that a plantation or orchard is formed either in the slip, or in some spot ad- joining the kitchen-garden. This plantation should always be sepa- rated from the culinary departments by some appropriate line of de- marcation. This may frequently be a dwarf wall, on which, if the aspect is suitable, young fruit trees may be trained for the purpose of removal, to fill up occasional blanks in the principal walls. In the plan, fig. 331, the semicircular plot at the south end of the garden might be separated from the walled garden by a dwarf wall, at the same distance from the main wall as the side fences are distant from the main side walls, and the space so walled-oif would form a very con- venient area for the orchard ; provided it were suitable in all other respects. Sometimes the trees are distributed in groups over a lawn or paddock, so as to constitute the main part of the woody scenery of a small villa. They are also occasionally mixed in with ornamental trees and shrubs ; a most incongruous assemblage in our opinion, and one which can never form an efficient substitute for an orchard. In whatever situation standard fruit trees are planted, the subsoil should be rendered dry, and the surface if very poor put into good heart by SELECTION OF FRUIT TREES ADAPTED FOR AN ORCHARD. 403 manure. This must, however, be applied in a rotten state, as rank manure is most injurious. It is better, when practicable, to select a rich loamy soil on a dry firm clayey, loamy, or rocky subsoil, and to give no manure. Sandy or gravelly subsoils should be kept especially for apples and cherries ; but pears or quinces will thrive on most dry and light soils, provided they be of good depth. Wherever the common hawthorn grows luxuriantly with a clear healthy bark, there orchard fruit trees will thrive. The plants may be dwarfs, if the plantation is to be exclusively devoted to fruit trees, and the ground neither cropped nor laid down in grass; but standards are preferable, as admitting more light and air. A very convenient and economical mode is to plant rows of standards and dwarfs alternately : the dwarfs, being on dwarfing- stocks, come first into bearing, and may be removed as the branches of the standards extend themselves. Gooseberries, currants, and rasp- berries may be planted in the intervals, and retained there for two or three years ; but they ought to be removed as soon as they are in the slightest degree shaded by the trees. As this is very generally neg- lected, we should prefer having no fruit shrubs at all, but leaving the surface naked, to be occupied entirely by the roots of the dwarfs and standards. All the plants ought to be set on little hills, more espe- cially if the subsoil is such as to be readily penetrated by the roots, or if the ground has been previously trenched ; the great object being to preserve the roots near the surface. The distances at which the trees may be planted are : — For standards, apples, and pears, from thirty feet to forty feet in a medium soil ; or in a thin soil and exposed situation, from twenty-five feet to thirty feet ; and in a rich soil, from forty feet to fifty feet. Cherries and plums, from twenty-five feet to thirty-five feet, according to soil and situation. For dwarfs on free stocks, one-half the above distances will suffice ; and where dwarfs on dwarfing-stocks are to be planted among standards, three dwarfs may be planted for every standard : that is, there may be a row of dwarfs between every two rows of standards, and a dwarf alternating with every standard in the row. The standards, if they have been two or three years grafted, will probably require to be supported by stakes, to which the stems a short distance below the head ought to be care- fully tied with haybands. Sheathing the stems of standard trees, especially when they have been planted late or have not abundance of roots, should not be neglected, for reasons already given. The sheath- ing, which may be of moss, fern, or straw, tied on with matting, or simply of straw or hay ropes wound round, may be left on till it drops off itself. Mulching is also of great use in keeping out the frost and keeping in the moisture. Select list of standard fruit trees, adapted for an orchard or planta- tion subsidiary to a kitchen garden : — Apples. — Early Red Margaret, Summer Golden Pippin, Oslin, Duchess of Oldenburgh, White Astrachan, Kerry Pippin, Dutch Codlin, Kilkenny Codlin, Manks Codlin, Keswick Codlin, Alexander, lLi\vthornden, Hollandbury, Wormsley Pippin, King of the Pippins, D D 2 404 SELECTION OF FRUIT TREES ADAPTED FOR AN ORCHARD. Blenheim Pippin, Golden Reinette, Fearn's Pippin, Hughes' Golden Pippin, Claygate Pearmain, Hicks's Fancy, Gravenstein, Court of Wick, Pearson's Plate, Beachamwell, Dutch Mignonne, Scarlet Pearmain, Ribston Pippin, Golden Pippin, Margil, Syke House Russet, Sam Young, Barcelona Pearmain, Maclean's Favourite, Pennington's Seed- ling, Adams's Pearmain, Hubbard's Pearmain, Herefordshire Pear- main, Golden Harvey, Coe's Golden Drop, Court Pendu Plat, Boston Russet, Lamb Abbey Pearmain, Reinette du Canada, London Pippin, Newtown Pippin, Braddick's Nonpareil, Downton Nonpareil, Old Non- pareil, Scarlet Nonpareil, Cornish Gilliflower, Dumelow's Seedling, Royal Russet, Alfriston, Bedfordshire Foundling, Brabant Bellefleur, Stunner Pippin, Rhode Island Greening, Gloria Mundi, Crofton Scarlet, Easter Pippin, Emperor Napoleon, Gravenstein, Kentish Fill Basket, King of Pippins, Lemon Pippin, Lord Burleigh, Lord Suffield, Nonesuch, Norfolk Beaufin, Cox's Orange Pippin, Russet, Watson's Dumpling, New Hawthornden, Tower of Glammis. Pears. — Citron des Carmes, Ambrosia, Dunmore, Althorp Crasanne, Summer St. Germain, Flemish Beauty, Marie Louise, Duchesse d'An- gouleme, Doyenne Blanc, Doyenne Gris, Beurre de Capiaumont, Fondante d'Automne, Autumn Colmar, Beurre" Diel, Bon Chretien Fondante, Louise Bonne (of Jersey), Beurre Bosc, Hacon's Incom- parable, Thompson's, Napoleon, Winter Nelis, Glou Morceau, Passe Colmar, Knight's Monarch, Ne Plus Meuris, Easter Beurre, Bern-re" de Ranz, Suffolk Thorn, Beurre de Malines, Croft Castle, Doyenne d'Ete, Swan's Egg, Comte de Lamy, Beurre" Superfm. Such varieties as Easter Beurre", Passe Colmar, Glou Morceau, and Winter Nelis should be planted in greater quantity than most of the others, as they keep well and come in at a time when good fruit are scarce. Cherries. — May Duke, Royal Duke, Knight's Early Black, Elton, Downton, Bigarreau, Black Eagle, Early Purple Guigne, Late Duke, Kentish, Morello, Belle Agathe, Black Circassian, Werder's Early Black, Belle d' Orleans, Biittner's Blackheart. Plums. — Royal Hative, Green Gage, Pond's Seedling, Gisborne's Victoria. Dessert Plums. — Purple Gage, Washington, Coe's Golden Drop, Ickworth Imperatrice, Kirke's, Coe's fine late Red, Drap d'Or, Diapree Rouge, Nectarine, Rivers's Early, Gisborne's Victoria, Prince Engle- bert, Perdrigon Violette Hative, Reine Claude de Bavay, Woolston Black Gage, Guthrie's late Green. Kitchen Plums. — Shropshire Damson, Orleans, Early Orleans, Mira- belle, Goliath, Diamond, Belle de Septembre, Pond's Seedling. Figs. — In many situations the following may be tried as bushes in the orchard : — The Black and Brown Ischia, Brown Turkey, Brunswick, and White Marseilles. Apricots. — The best for orchards are the Roman, Breda, Turkey, Moorpark, and Alsace. Medlars. — The Dutch and the Nottingham are the best ; the former large, and the latter small and better flavoured. Of Quinces, the Portugal is the most useful. SELECTION OP FRUIT TREES ADAPTED FOR AN ORCHARD. 40 5 Mulberries will likewise fruit well in sheltered localities. Only two varieties, the black and large white fruited, are grown. The Prolific is far superior to the common Walnut, inasmuch as it bears freely, even in a young state. There are a great many varieties of Cob-nuts and Filberts. Probably the following are among the best : — The red and white skinned Cob- nuts, Lambert Filbert (Kentish Cob), Purple Filbert, Prolific, or Northamptonshire, and the thin-skinned Cosford. Training. — All the trees may be allowed to take their natural shapes, taking care, by pruning them for some years after they are planted, to give their main branches an upright direction, diverging from the main stem at an angle not greater than 45°, that they may be the better able to support a load of fruit. With many kinds, however, such is the divergent or pendulous character of the branches that this direction cannot be given to them, in which case the object should be to increase the number of main branches so as to lessen the load to each. This is particularly necessary in the case of apples and pears. Culture of the Soil. — Where fruit is the main object, the soil ought never either to be cropped with vegetables or laid down in grass, because in both cases the trees are deprived of nourishment. In the case of grass, air is excluded ; and in orchards where culinary vege- tables are grown, the roots are prevented from coming up to the surface and, being forced into the subsoil, feed there on a more watery nutri- ment, which produces shoots of spongy wood without blossom-buds and in many cases infested with canker. Where the surface is kept in grass there is less danger from canker and spongy shoots, provided the trees have been planted on hillocks ; but in this case, from want of nourish- ment, the fruit will be smaller and less succulent. If, however, the soil is naturally good, and occasionally manured on the surface, more and better flavoured fruit will be produced in such an orchard than in one cropped with culinary vegetables. As no orchard can be pastured unless each separate tree is enclosed, which, where the ground is properly covered with trees, would probably cost more than the pasture is worth, it will in general be found better, where grass must be introduced, to mow it and supply manure, till the stems of the trees are so large as to be able to protect themselves. It is almost unnecessary to observe, that as soon as the branches of the trees ap- proach within two feet or three feet of each other, the branches of the temporary trees should be shortened in, and soon after removed by degrees, so as at all times to leave a clear space of five feet or six feet round the head of every tree. 406 CHAPTER XII. CROPPING, AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF A KITCHEN GARDEN. THE fruit trees and fruit shrubs being planted, the former against the walls and espalier -rails, and the latter in plantations by themselves in the compartments, or in rows between the fruit trees, or along the secondary walks, the remaining part of the garden is devoted to herba- ceous vegetables. The number of these required to be grown in every kitchen garden is considerable, and the soil ought to be managed and the crops sown or planted according to some preconceived system. With respect to the soil, this consists in changing the surface, in stir- ring and manuring it, weeding, watering, &c., on the principles already detailed ; and we shall now explain the system of cropping and rotations. Cropping. The herbaceous vegetables grown in kitchen gardens are of two kinds : perennials which remain several years in the ground, such as aspa- ragus, sea-kale, rhubarb, horse-radish, artichokes, perennial sweet herbs, and strawberries. The first of these crops remains on the same piece of ground from six to twelve years, and the others are renewed generally in about half that time or oftener. The other and by far the more numerous crops are annuals or biennials, and many of them only remain on the ground during a part of the year. The proportion of the perennials being fixed on, little more trouble is required with them ; but the annuals being numerous and of short duration, the propor- tionate quantities that require to be sown or planted to supply the demands of the kitchen, and yet to be in dne proportion to the extent of the ground to be cropped, and the kinds of crops which ought to succeed each other, require the constant exercise of the gardener's judgment. The first point is to determine the proportion of different crops, and the next is their succession : though the proportions will depend to a certain extent on the peculiar taste or wants of the family, and whether they reside on the spot or at a distance — whether they have a farm for growing the winter supply of potatoes, &c., yet some rules or hints may be devised which are generally applicable. General Pwportions of Crops. — The greatest breadth of surface in almost every garden requires to be sown with peas ; but as this crop only lasts at an average about six months, a second crop may be planted on the same ground in the same year. The cabbage tribe, including cauliflower, broccoli, savoys, Brussels sprouts and borecoles, occupy the next greatest space in most gardens, and they very generally suc- ceed the crops of peas. Turnips are perhaps the next most extensive crop, imless indeed the main summer crops of potatoes are grown in the kitchen garden, which is not desirable where they can be CROPPING. 407 grown on the farm ; the potato being a crop that, for some reason or other which we do not pretend to explain, is seldom found so mealy and high- flavoured when grown in a garden as when grown in a field. There are next several crops, each of which has nearly an equal claim for space, viz. — carrots, parsnips, onions, beans, kidney-beans, celery, and winter spinach. Jerusalem artichokes and red-beet crops may come next in the order of space required ; and then leeks, garlic and shallots, salsafy and scorzonera. In some gardens salading is a most important consideration, requiring almost more space and attention than all other crops. In others, such plants as lettuce, endive, radish, cress, mustard, chervil, parsley, and other summer salading, garnish- ings or herbs, may in general be grown among other crops, or a very small surface of ground suffices. In determining the extent of each crop, the nature of the produce must be taken as a guide. It would be of little use to have a less quantity of any crop than would not at a single gathering produce a dish sufficient for a family of several persons. This for such articles as asparagus and peas requires considerable breadth of ground ; but this breadth once planted and in bearing, will afford several or perhaps many gatherings during the time it is in season. On the other hand, where a succession of crops of turnips or carrots is wanted, if only two or three square yards were sown each time, that space would afford one or two dishes. For such articles as salsafy and scorzonera, which in most English families may perhaps not be asked for above two or three times in a season, a very small surface will be sufficient. When a gardener enters on a new place, before he determines on the extent of particular crops, he ought to consult the cook or housekeeper as to the style of cookery, the ordinary amount of company, and the seasons when extraordinary supplies are wanted, with the periods when vege- tables and fruits require to be sent to a distance, and other particulars bearing upon the kind of crops to be grown. Having formed general ideas on the extent of each crop, he will next be able to determine on a system of succession, or, as it is called, rotation. The quantity of seed for crops, proportioned as above described for a garden of an acre and a quarter, may be as follows: — Peas, from fifteen to twenty quarts ; white cabbage of different kinds, three oz. ; savoys, two oz. ; Brussels sprouts, two oz. ; cauliflowers, three oz. ; broccoli, seven oz.; borecoles, two oz.; red cabbage, one oz. ; kohlrabi, one oz.; turnips, white, six oz. ; yellow, two oz. ; early potatoes, from one bushel to four, according to demand ; carrots, five oz. ; onions, eight oz. ; beans, broad, four qts. ; kidney beans, three qts. ; scarlet runners, two qts. ; celery, one oz. ; Flanders spinach, one qt. ; summer spinach, two qts. ; Jerusalem artichoke, one peck ; red beet, four oz. ; parsnips, four oz. ; leeks, two oz. ; garlic, half Ib. ; shallots, three Ibs. ; salsafy. half oz. ; scorzonera, half oz. ; lettuce, Cos, three oz. ; cabbage do., two oz. ; endive, two oz. ; radish, three pts. ; cress, one pt. ; mustard, one qt. ; parsley, two oz. The following are the actual quantities used in Bicton, a first-class garden, by Mr. Barnes : — 408 ROTATION OF CROPS. Peas. — Carter's First Crop, four qts. ; Dillistones, one qt. ; Sangster's No. 1, two qts. ; Laxton's Prolific ; Maclean's Advancer, two qts. ; Auvergne, one qt. ; Maclean's Wonderful, one qt. ; Dixon's Favourite, one qt. ; Harrison's Glory, one qt. ; Nonpareil Wrinkled, one qt. ; Napoleon, one qt. ; Veitch's Perfection, six qts. ; Champion of England, one qt. ; Defiance, one qt. ; the Prince, one qt. ; British Queen, one qt. ; Ne Plus Ultra, one qt. ; Ringwood Marrow, one qt. ; Mammoth Tall Green Marrow, one qt. ; Knight's Tall Marrow, one qt. Beans. — Monarch (long-pod), two qts. ; Johnson's Wonderful, two qt?. ; Green Pod, two qts. ; Green Windsor, two qts. Broccoli. — Early Purple Cape Broccoli, one oz. ; Cornish White, one oz. ; Walcheren, one oz. ; Snow's Early, one oz. ; Knight's Protecting, one oz. ; Malta, half oz. ; Early Purple Sprouting, half oz. ; Wilcove's, half oz. ; Cattell's Eclipse, one oz. Garnishing Kale, one oz. ; Improved Brussels sprouts, one oz. ; Rose- bud ditto, half oz. ; best red beet, one qt. ; Nonpareil cabbage, four oz. ; Atkin's Matchless, four oz. ; Paragon, four oz. ; Little Pixie, one oz. ; Enfield, two oz. ; Shilling's Queen, two oz. ; dwarf red Dutch, one oz. ; Guernsey parsnips, two oz. ; Hollow Crown, two oz. ; Early Dutch carrot, four oz. ; Early Horn carrot, four oz. ; white mustard, two qts. ; common cress, one qt. ; Normandy curled cress, half pint ; American cress, half pint ; best curled endive, one oz. ; Batavian ditto, one oz. ; Victoria cabbage lettuce, two oz. ; Hardy Hammersmith, half oz. ; Deptford onion, four oz. ; Reading ditto, four oz. ; Brown Globe ditto, four oz. ; White Globe ditto, four oz. ; Prickly spinach, one qt. ; Round ditto, one qt. ; New Zealand ditto, one oz. ; Early Dutch turnip, one qt. ; Early Stone, one oz. ; Veitch's Early Red Globe, one qt. ; Early short-top radish, one qt. ; red turnip ditto, one qt. ; white turnip ditto, one qt. ; thyme, half oz. ; savory, half oz. ; sweet marjoram, half oz. ; sweet basil, half oz. Potatoes. — Myatt's Early Ash-leaved, one bushel ; Milky-White, two pecks ; Smith's Early Wandsworth, two pecks. Rotation of Crops. Crops in horticulture are made to follow each other according to two distinct plans or systems, which may be termed successional cropping and simultaneous cropping ; the former is generally followed in private gardens, and the latter in market gardens. Successional cropping is that in which the ground is wholly occu- pied with one crop at one time, to be succeeded by another crop, also wholly of one kind. For example, onions to .be followed by winter turnips, or potatoes to be followed by borecole. Simultaneous cropping is that in which several crops are all coming forward on the ground at the same time. For example, onions, lettuce, and radishes, sown broadcast ; or peas, potatoes, broccoli, and spinach, sown or planted in rows. The object to be attained by a system of cropping is that of procuring the greatest quantity and the best quality of the desired kind of pro- duce at the least possible expense of labour, time, and manure ; and in ROTATION OF CROPS. 409 order that this object may be effectually obtained, there are certain principles which ought to be adopted as guides. The chief of these is to be derived from a knowledge of what specific benefit or injury every culinary plant does to the soil, with reference to any other culinary plant. It ought to be known whether particular plants injure the soil by exhausting it of particular principles, or whether the soil is ren- dered unfit for the growth of the same, or any allied species, by excre- tions from the roots of plants, while the same excretions, acting in the way of manure, add to the fitness of the soil for the production of other species. The excretory theory is now generally abandoned, and it is believed that plants exhaust the soil generally of vegetable food, par- ticularly of that kind of food which is peculiar to the species growing on it for the time being. For example, both potatoes and onions exhaust the soil generally, while the potato deprives it of something that is necessary to ensure the reproduction of good crops of potatoes, and the onion of something which is necessary for the reproduction of large crops of onions. According to the theory of De Candolle, both crops exhaust the soil generally, and both render it unfit for the particular kind of crop ; but this injury, according to his hypothesis, is not effected by depriving the soil of the particular kind of nutri- ment necessary for the particular kind of species, but by excreting into it substances peculiar to the species with which it has been cropped, which substances render it unfit for having these crops repeated. Both these theories are attended with some difficulty in the case of plants which remain a great many years on the same soil, as, for example, perennial-rooted herbaceous plants and trees. The difficulty, however, is got over in both systems. By the first, or old theory, the annual dropping and decay of the foliage are said to supply at once general nourishment and particular nourish- ment; and by the second, or new theory, the same dropping of the leaves, by the general nourishment which it supplies, is said to neutralize the particular excretions. A wood of the pine or fir tribe standing so thick that their roots will form a network under the surface, will not poison each other ; but remove these trees, and place a new plan- tation on the same soil and they will not thrive, owing, as we think, to the principles most conducive to the growth of coniferous trees being exhausted, as is explained by Liebig. The practical inference from either theory is much the same — that is, a change of crops, the rules for which adopted by the best gardeners are as follows : — 1 . Crops of plants belonging to the same natural order or tribe, or to the natural order and tribe most nearly allied to them, should not follow each other. Thus, turnips should not follow any of the cabbage tribe, sea-kale, or horse-radish, nor should peas come after beans. 2. Plants which draw their nourishment chiefly from the surface of the soil should not follow each other, but should alternate with those which draw their nourishment in great part from the subsoil. Hence, carrots and beets should not follow each other: nor onions and potatoes. 410 ROTATION OF CROPS. 3. Plants which draw a great deal of nourishment from the soil should succeed, or be succeeded by, plants which draw less nourish- ment. Hence a crop grown for its fruit, such as the pea ; or for its roots or bulbs, such as the potato or the onion, should be followed by such as are grown solely for their leaves, such as the common borecole, the celery, the lettuce, &c. 4. Plants which remain for several years on the soil, such as straw- berries, rhubarb, asparagus, &c., should not be succeeded by other plants which remain a long time on the soil, but by crops of short duration ; and the soil should be continued under such crops for as long a period as it remained under a permanent crop. Hence, in judiciously cropped gardens, the strawberry compartment is changed every three or four years, till it has gone the circuit of all the com- partments ; and asparagus beds, sea-kale, &c., are renewed on the same principles. 5. Plants, the produce of which is collected during summer, should be succeeded by those of which the produce is chiefly gathered in winter or spring. The object of this rule is to prevent two exhausting crops from following each other in succession. 6. Plants in gardens are sometimes allowed to ripen their seeds, in which case two seed-bearing crops should not follow each other in succession. These rules, and others of a like kind, apply generally to both sys- tems of the successional crops, and they are independent altogether of other rules or principles which may be drawn from the nature of the plants themselves, such as some requiring an extraordinary proportion of air, light, shade, moisture, time, &c., or from the nature of the changes intended to be made on them by cultivation, such as blanch- ing, increase of succulency, magnitude, &c. We shall now notice the two systems separately. Successional Cropping. — The plants calculated for this mode of crop- ping are such as require, during almost every period of their growth, the fullest exposure to light and air, and remain a considerable time in the soil : these are, the turnip, the onion, the potato, the carrot, &c. If any of these crops are raised and brought forward under the shade of others, they will be materially injured both in quality and quantity; though at the same time, while they are merely germinating, shade will not injure them. Hence successional cropping may be carried on in breadths of twenty or thirty feet between rows of tall-growing plants without injury, thus approximating this manner of cropping to the simultaneous mode, which, wherever the soil is rich, is by far the most profitable. The simultaneous mode of cropping is founded on the principles that most plants, when germinating, and for some time afterwards, thrive best in the shade; and that tall-growing plants, which require to receive the light on each side, should be sown or planted at some dis- tance from each other. Hence, tall-growing peas are sown in rows ten, twelve, or twenty feet apart, and between them are planted rows of the cabbage tribe; and again, between these are sown rows of ROTATION OF CROPS. 411 spinach, lettuce, or radishes, &c. Hence, also, beans are planted in the same rows with cabbages (an old practice in the cottage gardens of Scotland), and so on. The great object in this kind of cropping is to have crops on the ground in different stages of growth, so that the moment the soil and the surface are released from one crop, another may be in an advanced state, and ready, as it were, to supply its place. For this purpose, whenever one crop is removed, its place ought to be instantly supplied by plants adapted for producing another crop of the proper nature to succeed it. For example, where rows of tall marrow- fat peas have rows of broccoli between them, then the moment the peas are removed, a trench for celery may be formed where each row of peas stood ; and between the rows of broccoli, in the places where lettuces were produced early in the season, may be sown drills of winter spinach. Of these two modes of cropping, the first is the one best calculated for poor soils, or for gardens where the supply of manure is limited ; the second cannot be prosecuted with success, except in soils which are light and extremely rich. It may be proper to observe here, that a system of cropping can be carried to a much higher degree of perfection in a commercial garden, on a large scale, than in a private one ; because in the former whenever one crop is in perfection, it is removed and sent to market at once ; whereas, in a private garden, it is removed by driblets. Hence in small gardens, where labour and manure are of less consequence than economizing the extent of surface, it will often be found desirable to have a small reserve garden, with several frames, pots, and other requisites. As soon as one plant, or a few plants of any crop in a condition for gathering, are removed, the soil should be stirred, and a plant or plants (which should have been some days before potted in preparation) should be turned out of the pot, its fibres being carefully spread out, and water supplied, so as to make it commence growing immediately. The use of potting is to prevent the plant from experiencing the slightest check in its removal ; and in autumn, as is well known, the loss of a single day, by the flag- ging of a plant, is of the utmost consequence. Successional and Simultaneous Cropping Combined. — The following is from an excellent article on cropping, published in the ' Gardener's Chronicle.' The writer divides kitchen-garden crops into (1) Peren- nial or stationary crops ; (2) Rotation crops, which include all the principal annual crops ; and (3) Secondary crops, such as salads, spinach, &c., which are usually sown in vacancies between rotation crops. Order of Rotation. — 1st year, peas and beans, succeeded by broccoli, savoys, winter-greens, coleworts, spring cabbage ; 2nd year, carrots, parsnips, beet, scorzonera, and salsafy ; 3rd year, onions, cauliflowers, turnips, succeeded by spinach, spring onions, and other secondary crops ; 4th year, savoys, broccoli, winter-greens, red cabbage, leeks ; 5th year, potatoes ; 6th year, turnips, cabbage, broccoli ; 7th year, celery; 8th, French beans, &c. ('Gard. Chron.,' 1841, p. 180, with additions.) 412 ROTATION OP CROPS. Secondary crops are those of the shortest duration, such as lettuce, radishes, small salads, annual herbs, and very early peas and beans (sown in November), very early cauliflowers, very early turnips, and early potatoes, all of which will require a warm south border, or sloping banks, or Plant Protectors. Times of Sowing and Planting. — Peas and beans should be sown from February to June ; the first crop of peas will be cleared for early broccoli in the end of June, and for the other seasons until September for later broccoli, savoys, borecole, Brussels sprouts, coleworts, and spring cabbage ; this crop should have a slight coat of manure. Broccoli ground will be cleared of early sorts by winter, and should be ridged up all winter for a crop of carrots, which should be sown as early as possible: the later broccoli, cole wort, sprouts, &c., will make way by April or the beginning of May for beet, parsnips, scorzonera, and salsafy. Carrots, beet, and parsnips, will be cleared in the beginning of November, when the ground must be again ridged up for winter, and have a good coat of dung, ready for cauliflowers, onions, garlic, and shallots ; the two latter being planted in November, and also the principal crops of turnips sown in the end of March and April. Cauliflowers, onions, and turnips will be cleared from July to September ; the cauliflowers and shallots, &c., in July for autumn spinach and endive ; the onions for winter spinach, and the turnips for spring onions, winter lettuce, and other secondary crops, Spinach, endive, and spring onions will be cleared by the end of May for savoys, winter-greens, red cabbage, cauliflowers, and leeks, all of which require a moderate coat of manure. Savoys, winter-greens, red cabbage, &c., will be ready for early potatoes in April and May. Potatoes will make way in July and August for turnips, spring cabbage, late broccoli, and such crops, if wanted. Turnips, cabbage, broccoli, may be cleared in May for celery and cardoon trenches — if all the ground is wanted ; but if not, the cabbage may be allowed to remain for sprouts during all the summer. The intermediate spaces between the trenches may be planted with lettuce, or any other secondary crops; dung must be given for celery, of course. Celery and similar crops will in part make way in autumn, when the ground should be ridged up for winter, and the remainder as soon as the entire crop is cleared ; the ground will then be ready for French beans, scarlet runners, cauliflowers, cucumbers, and tomatoes, in the end of April or beginning of May. French beans will be cleared by November, when the ground should be again ridged up all winter to be ready for peas and beans, as at first begun. This will make eight or ten years between the return of the principal crops to the same place; and by judicious management of the secondary crops among the rotation crops, every space of ground between one crop and another may be occupied to advantage during the intervals of cropping. (' Gard. Chron.' for 1841, p. 180.) This is doubtless a very good rotation, but in small gardens the ground is always under crop. The whole of the potato and early pea ground is planted with cauliflowers, and this is again succeeded by broccoli and other winter stuff when the potatoes and PLANTING, SOWING, AND CULTIVATING. 413 cauliflowers are both used. Winter cabbages again constantly succeed onions, and onions celery. Strawberries are dug down as soon as the fruit is gathered, and then a crop of winter broccoli taken. Then potatoes, followed by, or intermixed with, peas, and so on. All the secondary crops become catch crops on this hard system of cropping ; but deep tilths will bear it for years with plenty of feeding. Planting, Sowing, Cultivating, and Managing. In general all crops should be planted or sown in rows from south to north, in order, as already observed, that the sun may shine on every part of the soil between the rows, and equally on every side of the plants in the row. Beds, also, such as those of asparagus, should be made in the same direction and for the same reasons. When asparagus, sea-kale, and rhubarb are to be forced in the open garden by hot dung, the alleys or paths between the beds should be of double the usual width, and all the beds intended to be subjected to a course of forcing should be placed together. The secondary perennial crops, such as mint, thyme, sage, savory, perennial marjoram, rue, &c., should always be planted together, and in an open airy situation, forming a garden of herbs. This saves much time, and gives the charm of order in small matters. Management of the Dwarf or Pyramid Fruit-tree Borders. — The wall-borders in which the espaliers are planted, and the ground among plantations of fruit shrubs or fruit trees, should on no account be cropped or even deeply dug, for reasons which we need not repeat. The soil may be loosened on the surface in spring with a three-pronged fork, and in autumn a top-dressing of well rotted manure may be given and slightly turned in with the spade, or left on the surface till the spring -stirring. If the border is narrow, and the trees, after having filled it with their roots, appear to require additional nourishment, a trench may be cut along the front of the wall -border next the walk, three feet or four feet in width, and of such a depth as to cut through all the roots, not, however, deeper than eighteen inches. A part of the soil taken out of the trench may be removed altogether, and a rich compost of rotten dung and leaf- mould mixed with the remainder and filled in ; or, better still, with good turfy maiden loam, used in a rough fresh state. This is in imitation of a plan long followed with success by the Lancashire growers of prize gooseberries ; all the difference being that they use an excessively rich compost, which would not be suitable for fruit trees generally. It might be advisable to do this work by degrees rather than all at once, by taking out every third yard, in the case of wall and espalier borders, and the third part of a circle in the case of dwarfs and stan- dards. The second yard might be taken out in two years, the third in two years more, and at the end of the sixth year the operation might be recommenced, because the rich soil would very soon be filled with fibrous roots. In this operation, as in every other of the kind, the gardener or the amateur must exercise his own judgment, 414 PLANTING, SOW I NO, AND CULTIVATING. bearing in mind that the object is not to produce luxuriant branches, but blossom-buds. It is better, however, generally to renew the productive power of the soil with liquid manure, or town sewage, than with such dressings of composts. Management of the Culinary Crops. — All culture must necessarily consist in the application of general practices, or in the performance of such operations as are required by particular species or for particular objects. The former are already given, and the latter will be found when treating of the culture of each particular culinary plant in our catalogue of Culinary Vegetables. Gathering, Storing, and Keeping of Fruit. — " The chief require- ments of a good fruit-room are, darkness, a low and steady tempera- ture, dry ness to a certain point (for apples are found to keep best, as regards appearance, in a rather damp atmosphere, but for flavour a moderately dry air is preferable), and exclusion of the ex- ternal air. If the light of the sun strikes upon a plant, the latter immediately parts with its moisture by perspiration, in proportion to the force exercised on it by the sun, and independently of temperature. The greatest amount of perspiration takes place beneath the direct rays of the sun, and the smallest in those places to which daylight reaches with most difficulty. Now, the surface of a fruit perspires like that of a leaf, although not to the same amount. While growing on the tree, it is perpetually supplied by the stem with water enough to replace that which is all day long flying off from its surface ; but as soon as it is gathered, that source of supply is removed, and then, if the light strikes it ever so feebly, it loses weight, without being able to replace its loss It is thus that fruit becomes shrivelled and withered pre- maturely. Light should therefore have no access to a good fruit- room." " Temperature should be uniform. If it is high, the juices of the fruit will have a tendency to decompose, and thus decay will be accele- rated ; if, on the contrary, it is below 32°, decomposition of another kind is produced, in consequence of the chemical action and mechanical effects of freezing. In any case, fluctuations of temperature are pro- ductive of decay. A steady temperature of from 40° to 45°, with a dry atmosphere, will be found the best for most kinds of fruit. Some pears of the late kinds are better for being kept in a temperature as high as 60°, for this ripens them, renders them melting, and improves their quality very essentially. The general construction of the fruit-room ought not, however, to be altered on their account ; such fruits can readily be placed in a hothouse or hot closet. The air should be kept moderately dry, but ventilation should not be used except for the purpose of removing offensive smells, arising from the putrefaction of the fruit. Ventilation by continual currents of air carries off from fruit the moisture which it contains, and thus acts in the same way as light, in producing shrivelling, and destroying that plump appearance which gives its beauty to fruit." (* Gard. Chron.,' vol. i. pp. 611, 61.) Great care should be taken in gathering, handling, and storing the fruit, and placing each kind by itself. Gather in baskets, and place PLANTING, SOWING, AND CULTIVATING. 415 them on the shelves side by side with their eyes downwards. When gathering and stowing are completed, shut the room as close as pos- sible, and only open it when the fruit is wanted. The best modes of packing fruit which is to be sent to a distance have been already given. (See p. 370.) Gathering the Fruit and Management of the Fruit-room. — No fruit ought to be allowed to drop from the tree, nor should it be beaten down or shaken off. Except in wet or late seasons, it ought not to be gathered till it is quite ripe, which in stone fruits and berries is known by its softness and fragrance, in kernel fruit by the brown colour of the seeds, and in nuts by the opening of the husks. It ought in every case to be gathered by hand ; and in addition to ladders of different kinds, there is the orchardist's crook, fig. 338, the use of which is to Fig. 338. Orchardist's crook. * take hold of one branch with the hook, and draw it towards the operator; and then, by putting the sliding- piece, a, over another branch, that branch is held in that position by the obliqueness of the line of pressure, which prevents the sliding-piece from moving : thus leavm"" the operator free to use both hands in gathering the fruit. The fruit ought to be put into baskets, placing each kind in a basket by itself, and laying it in so gently as to run no risk of bruising it ; and not only keeping each kind of fruit by itself, but keeping wall fruit apart from standard fruit, because the former will be soonest fit for the table. The fruit laid on shelves should be placed with their eyes downwards, and so as not to touch each other ; but baking apples and pears may be spread on a cool floor. In whatever manner fruit is placed in the fruit-room or fruit-cellar, the doors and windows of the apartments should be kept closely shut, so as to keep the atmosphere of as uniform a temperature and moisture as possible. It should, as we have already observed, never be lower than 40°, nor higher than 45°, if possible in close mild weather to keep it so low, with the dew point indicating a very slight degree of dryness occasionally. There are, however, exceptions, such as in the case of ripening off, or keeping such kinds in that temperature which experience proves to be most conducive for producing fine consistence and flavour. This requires one or more separate compartments having a command of heat, wherein the temperature maybe graduated as circumstances may require. The external air ought only to be admitted when that within is rendered offensive by the decomposition of the fruit. If at any time the tem- perature should fall below 32°, still no artificial heat ought to be applied, but thawing allowed to take place in the dark, by which precaution injury will be avoided. Table apples and pears which 416 CULTURE OF THE PINE-APPLE. are expected to keep for some months, are kept on shelves singly, or in shallow drawers, or packed in boxes, jars, or pots, with dried fern or dry sand. New garden-pots are found to answer remark- ably well for keeping fruit, any damp being readily absorbed by the dry, porous, unglazed materials of which they are usually com- posed. Fruits which are thus packed do not require to be examined till the time when they are expected to be fit for the table, which should always be marked, along with the name, on the label attached to the jar or box; but fruits exposed to the air on the open shelves require to be examined almost every day, in order to remove those which exhibit symptoms of decay. Walnuts, sweet chestnuts, and filberts, may be kept in boxes or casks, placed in the fruit-cellar on account of its low but uniform temperature. Summer fruit, such as peaches, nectarines, plums, are seldom kept more than a day or two in the fruit-room, but they are sometimes kept in the ice-house for a week or more, which causes some loss of flavour. CHAPTER XIII. THE FORCING DEPARTMENT. THE principles of constructing houses for plants, together with their culture in artificial climates, having been already given, we proceed to show their applicatioA to the pinery, vinery, peach- house, fig-house, cherry-house, cucumber and melon pits and frames, and the forcing in frames and pits of such culinary vegetables as it is desired to have pro- duced out of season. We have already seen that artificial heat may be applied in plant-structures by dung or other fermenting substances, by hot water, by steam, or by smoke-flues; or by two or more of these modes of heating combined. Fermenting substances are almost always the safest, and hot water generally the best ; but the same result may be obtained by smoke-flues, and is still obtained in many parts of the country, though not without extra care on the part of the gardener. With respect to the form of house where low plants, such as pines, melons, cucumbers, strawberries, or kidney-beans are to be grown or forced, low structures, such as pits or frames, are most eligible ; but where trees, such as the vine, peach, fig, &c., are to be grown, houses of the ordinary height of garden-walls are preferred, at least for general crops. The reasons are obvious in both cases. Culture of the Pine-apple, and Management of the Pinery. — The pine-apple has long been considered the king of the dessert. It also makes an admirable sweet preserved in sugar, or made into a jam. In the East Indies it takes the place of our common apple or other fruits ; and pine-apple sauce and fritters are as common in Calcutta as apples are in England. Its fibre is made into thread, twisted into cordage, or woven into linen. CULTURE OF THE PINE-APPLE. 417 We shall first give the natural data on which the culture of this plant is founded, and next a thoroughly practical and original treatise founded on the best practice up to the year 1870. Natural Data on which the Culture of the Pine-apple is Founded. The pine-apple is an evergreen monocotyledonous plant, a native of countries tropical or bordering on the tropics, and found in low situations on or near the sea-shore, or near wide rivers. It grows almost always on sandy soil, dry on the surface, but moist at the depth of a foot or two beneath. It is indigenous or cultivated in various similar situations, as in South America, at Rio Janeiro ; in the West Indies, at Grenada ; and in Africa, at Sierra-Leone. As an evergreen monocotyledonous plant, it is without buds, and conse- quently not intended by nature to be long, if at all, in a state of repose ; as a native of the sea-shore, it is not calculated for enduring a great difference of temperature between summer and winter; and as a native of countries within the tropics, it is calculated for growing in a high temperature throughout the year. The temperature of various places at or near the equator, as given by Humboldt, exhibits an average of about 83° for the warmest month, and 72° for the coldest ; thus giving a difference between the summer and winter heat adapted for the pine-apple of only 11°. But in the small island of Grenada, in the West Indies, where the pine-apple luxuriates, the temperature in the shade never exceeds 85° and never falls below 80° ; thus giving a dif- ference of only 5°. It is clear therefore that there ought to be very little difference between the summer and winter .temperature of the pine- apple house. In practice, however, it is found that this difference may range from 15 to 20 degrees. The temperature of the soil in Grenada during summer, and at one foot beneath the surface, we are assured on good authority is 85°. With respect to the water of the atmosphere in the countries where the pine-apple thrives, there is generally a dry season and a rainy season — the latter much shorter than the former. In the dry season there are heavy nightly dews ; and the rainy season, which is like the spring of temperate climates, produces such an exuberance of growth as to throw the plants into fruit. In the neighbourhood of Rio, there are heavy rains at intervals from October to April; the suckers from the roots are taken off in April or May, which is about the end of their summer, and planted in the fields from one foot and a half to two feet from each other. The strongest of them produce fruit in the following year, which weigh between 3 Ibs. and 4 Ibs. each ; and those which do not fruit the second year, produce the third year, the fruit often weighing from 10 Ibs. to 12 Ibs. each. The conclusions to be drawn from these data, and which are at the same time confirmed by the experience of successful and unsuccess- ful growers in England, are, that the temperature of the pine-stove ought never to be more than a few degrees lower than 70° in summer, or a few degrees lower than 60° in winter. As our days are much shorter in winter than they are between the tropics, a lower tempera. £ £ 418 CULTURE OF THE PINE- APPLE. ture ought to be allowed for that season, because growth in the absence of light would be of no service to the plant, but rather the reverse. In winter, therefore, 65° may be adopted as the standard heat of the atmosphere, and in summer the temperature may vary between 70° and 80°, or ID the fruiting-house from 75° to 85°. With respect to the temperature of the soil, as the soil in all countries, at a short distance under the surface, is found to average 2° or 3° higher than the atmo- sphere, owing to earth having a greater capacity for heat than air, and parting with it more slowly, if we allow a bottom heat of between 70° and 75° in winter, and between 75° and 80° in summer, we shall probably be acting in accordance with what takes place in nature. With respect to soil, it is almost unnecessary to say that plants in a wild state are not always found in the soil that is best adapted for bring- ing them to a kigh degree of perfection, but rather in one that is best adapted for their propagation, or the continuance of the species. It has been found by experience that almost any porous soils will grow pines. In a growing state pines likewise require a liberal supply of water, which should always be applied at a temperature of 75° to 80°. Culture of the Pine-apple in British Gardens. From the earliest times the successful cultivation of the pine-apple has been looked upon as the highest manifestation of horticultural skill. It seems to have been known in England for more than two hundred years. There is a picture in Kensington Palace of Mr. John Rose, then gardener to the Duchess of Cleveland, presenting a pine-apple to Charles II. It is doubtful, however, whether this pine was grown in England. If so, the art of pine-growing does not seem to have taken root. The next authentic information comes from Flanders ; from thence, Miller observes, our gardens were furnished with plants. In 1718 the culture of the pine-apple was first successfully established in England, in the garden of Sir Matthew Decker, at Richmond, Surrey. In that year Bradley reports he saw forty plants in fruit. The suckers were planted in August, bloomed in April, and were ripe in Sep- tember. The pits were heated with bark, the plants watered with tepid water, a thermometer was used that he might be certain about the heat, and Bradley recommends at that early time that a hygrometer and barometer should be added as guides to the gardener. Mr. George M. Johnson, from whose compilation of the history of the pine most of these facts are collected, adds that in the Fitzwilliam Museiim at Cambridge, there is a Landscape painting, in which a pine-apple is introduced, and it is said to be the first pine grown in England at Sir Matthew Decker's. The pine is said to have been introduced into Ireland by Mr. Buller, in the reign of Queen Anne, 1712-1714, and into Scotland by James Justice, Esq., of Crichton, near Dalkeith. With the art of pine-growing the literature of this subject arose and spread. Everyone who could grow a pine-apple was fired with a noble ambition to tell all how it was done. Miller, Nicol, and McPhail had written before ; but their directions were short and imperfect. In CULTURE OP THE PINE-APPLE. 419 1769 Mr. John Giles, the gardener to Lady Boyd at Lewisham, in Kent, published the first formal treatise on the culture of the pine- apple in England, which also contained a plan of a pinery heated with tan and flues. This treatise was followed by another in 1769, by Mr. Adam Taylor, of Devizes. Pine-growing was reckoned of such im- portance that it was brought before the Royal Society by W. Bastard, Esq., of Shotley, Devon, in 1779. Speechley's treatise followed two years later. This was followed by another from Mr. W. Griffin in 1806, and by that of Mr. J. Baldwin in 1818. Loudon, with his usual industry, collected all that had been previously written upon this matter, and offered his contribution to pine culture in 1822, in the form of a volume on the different modes of cultivating the pine- apple. Mr. Knight about the same period treated the subject in the 1 Horticultural Transactions.' About twenty-five years later the modern authors, Glendinning, Hamilton, Mill, Barnes, Forsyth, and others appeared, ending with Mr. David Thomson, the last of the list of famous authors on this subject. With such a formidable list of authors the modern pine-grower is in some danger of foundering his cultural barque, boldly launched to reach the fair haven of success, and may be grateful to us for classifying and arranging the matter for him with a fulness and a distinctness that has probably not yet been reached by any single writer. The subject may be conveniently and perspicuously arranged and treated of in the following order : — Soils. Houses and pits. Modes of heating. Times and manner of potting. Watering of root and top. Manures. Shading. Temperature (day and night, sum- mer and winter). Propagation. Selection of varieties. Age of the fruiting-plants. Pot versus the open-bed system. The Hamiltonian system. Expedients for enlarging the size and improving the quality of the fruit. Making the plants show fruit. Retarding of the fruit. Preservation of ripe pines. What constitutes a good pine. Weight of the finest fruit. Insects — to prevent and destroy. Diseases and malformation, and their remedies. Monthly doings amongst pines throughout the year. Pine-growing in the open air. Selection of Soils. — Though the pine-apple is found in very sandy soils, it may not be always best to choose such soils for growing or fruiting the plants under cultivation. The plant will grow well in almost any soil, as is sufficiently proved by the fact that almost every grower and writer has recommended some particular mixture for it. Amid these endless nostrums, pure peat in France and pure fibrous loam in England have been the most popular and most generally used. The former is too light, and the latter too heavy. Between these two extremes everything has been tried. Hamilton used nothing but half- EE 2 420 CULTURE OF THE PINE-APPLE. decayed tan ; Oldacre grew pines in powdered bones ; Brown in pure peat and a mixture of sand and lime. Others have used half charcoal and loam, vegetable earth and powdered oyster-shells, moss mixed with earth and by itself. "White soils and red, black soils and grey — mingle, mingle, mingle ; let all mingle as they may who grow pines," seemed to be the motto of old cultivators. Hence after the current had fairly set in in favour of turfy loam, almost a generation had passed away before horticulturists learned the useful lesson of employing it pure and simple in a rough turfy state, made porous by the mixture of a liberal percentage of sharp sand and broken char- coal, and enrichedwith one-inch or half-inch bones. Speechley advises to take good turf of a strong, rich, loamy texture, turn it topsy turvy in a sheepfold to be trodden on for two or three months, until the quantity of sheep's dung equals about one-third that of the loam, and stack for six or twelve months, turn, and make fine with the spade. Then the receipt is : — three barrow-loads of this rich material, one of decayed leaf-mould, and half a barrow-load of coarse sand, for crowns, suckers, and young plants. For fruiting-plants three barrow- loads of the enriched turf, two ditto of vegetable mould, one ditto of coarse sand, and one-fourth of a barrow-load of soot. Mr. Griffin, another writer, recommends four barrow-loads of light- brown pasture loam, one barrow-load of sheep's dung, and two of swine's dung. This is to be thrown into a heap, and frequently turned for a year before being used. Mr. Baldwin recommended stripping a good old pasture meadow six inches deep, mixing it with one-half good rotten dung, leaving it to mellow a year before being used. Mr. Dodemeade's receipt for fruiting-pines was, one-half fine fibrous loam, and one half fowls' or sheep's dung, well incorporated. Mr. Hamilton recommended old pasture loam, stripped three inches deep, one-third well-decomposed stable or hotbed dung, and one-tenth of the whole mass wood-ashes. Coming down to more modern growers , we find Mr, Glendinning recommends two parts of turfy loam to one of fresh sheep's or deer's dung, and four of vegetable mould, the mixture to be three months old before use. Mr. Mills used three-fourths strong loam and heath mould in equal proportions, and one-fourth fresh horse- droppings — the whole used in a fresh state. Mr. Forsyth, a great authority in pine-growing, used six parts of turfy loam, chopped up into pieces about the size of walnuts, night soil one part, leaf-mould one part, silver- sand one part. Mr. James Barnes, late of Bicton, used turfy loam, pure and simple, with all the roots and natural vegetation upon it, mixed with a few lumps of charcoal, never breaking nor turning it till it came to the potting bench, and thrusting into the pots heath and grass altogether, with no kind of manure. The loam is taken off dry, about three inches thick, turned upside down, and left a few days to dry. It is then built up like a haycock on a rough foundation of wood, and thatched over to exclude the rain. Mr. David Thomson, of Drumlanrig, almost the latest authority upon the subject, likewise recommends turfy loam from a rocky crag. It is somewhat singular that all our best modern pine-growers should CULTURE OF THE PINE- APPLE. 421 have come back to what one of the first cultivators advocated as the best soil. Mr. Giles, one of the earliest writers on the pine in England, says, that " the soil should be a rich stiff loam, taken from a well- pastured common, or what is called virgin earth." And adds, notwith- standing the directions given by several authors to make compositions of various soils, " this answers much better, not only for pine-apple plants, but for most other vegetables." Thus after three or four gene- rations, we arrive, by an exhaustive method of trying all else, at the very point where Mr. Giles started in the olden times. Theory and practice alike declare that a rich, light, fibry, sandy loam, used in a fresh rough state, is the best possible soil for pine-growing. Pine-houses. — The heated pit, or house for pine-growing, is a subject that has received an exaggerated amount of attention for many years past. Most cultivators have had their favourite shapes and sizes. Some of the best, however, have cared but little about such matters. There is a general concurrence of opinion that the houses for Fig. 339. Section of the pine pit at Oakkitt, a, a, Pipes. 5, Bark-bed. d, Steam pipe for occasional use. e, Arches, supporting the pathway, oc- casionally filled with fermenting matter. /, /, Coping stones to the walls. g, Gutter to receive the water from ' the sashes. h, h, Ground line. pines should be small and low, rather than large and lofty. But there are also exceptions to this rule. Notably, Mr. Ward, of Bishop's Stort- ford, who grows his succession pine-plants close to the glass in lean-to houses, and then fruits them in a lofty span-roofed house, from four to six feet clear of the glass. It is necessary to have separate compart- 422 CULTURE OF THE PINE- APPLE. ments or houses for the growing and fruiting-plants. Many forward all the former in pits and only use houses for the fruiting-pines. Small houses or close pits are certainly best adapted for the rapid strong growth of the young stock. Fig. 339 shows the section of a pit very generally used for the growth of succession-plants, as well as the fruiting of pines. It is the same as those so successfully used at Oakhill many years ago. But any common pit about seven feet deep and six to nine feet wide will grow pines. . If the tank system or hot- water pipes Fig. 340, Large lean-to fruiting pine-house. a, a, Bed for planting or plunging the fruiting-plants in. b, Shelf for strawberries. C, c, Vapour troughs. dt d, Pipes for bottom-heating. Fig. 341. Section of large span-roof fruiting pine- house. a, Bed in which the fruiting-plants are either planted out or grown in pots, b, Caithness pavement forming bottom of bed. c, c, Shelves for French beans or pot- vines, d, d} Vapour troughs. are used for bottom heat, a less depth will be needed. A clear space of from three to four feet should be left from the surface of the plunging material to the glass. For fruiting-houses this distance must be greater, and may be regulated by the size of the plants. CULTURE OF THE PINE- APPLE. 423 Figs. 340, 341 are good forms of houses for fruiting-pines. But any other form, provided it is sufficiently lighted and heated, will probably answer equally well. Success does not depend upon the house, provided it is air-tight and water-proof, but upon the skill of the cultivator. The roofs of pineries are generally rather flat. In a house twelve feet across, a fall of four feet may be given. About 35° is a good pitch. Under a steep roof the plants are in more danger of being scorched by the sun. Modes of Heating. — Now that the flue is abolished, and steam given up, there are but three means of heating generally used — the tank, hot water, and fermenting materials. Each has its advocates, and success has been obtained by all. The commonest mode of applying fermenting material is illustrated by the accompanying woodcut. Or Fig. 342. the walls of the pit may be pigeon-holed, in the same way as melon and cucumber pits. Perhaps the most scientific mode of applying fermenting materials is that employed at Meudon, near Paris, fig. 343, in which it will be seen the bed of soil is heated by a mass of ferment- ing dung underneath, and provision is made for the escape of any excess of heat at the sides. Generally pine-growers prefer the heat from fermenting materials. It is kindly nourishing and moist, and the gases generated are cleansing and feeding. Perhaps no heat can be better for application outside. For a plunging medium it is all that can be desired, if it can but be moderated and kept from rising to excess. This is managed by a cautious introduction of fresh plunging ma- terials. Perhaps oak-leaves and tanner's bark are the best and safest fermenting material for growing the roots of pines in. The bed should be partially renewed at the spring potting in February or March. The best mode of proceeding is to turn over the whole bed, still keeping the leaves chiefly at the bottom and the tan at the top. Remove the most rotten part of the leaves by passing them through a rough sieve, then add a foot or two of fresh leaves, and incorporate them with the old ; or place the new layer wholly in the bottom of the pit. The tan should be thrown bodily out of the pit, run through a fine sieve, and only the finest rejected ; the coarse, with about six inches of fresh tan, to be returned and spread carefully over the leaves. In 424 CULTURE OF THE PINE- APPLE. arranging the tan, keep the bulk of the fresh towards the sides, as it is in the centre that the greatest danger of an excess of heat arises. Half-spent tan, or that which has previously heated, should likewise be employed if it can be had. Notwithstanding all these precautions, over- heating will sometimes occur. This renewal of the materials is a cause of great anxiety to the pine-grower, as an excess of bottom heat is fatal. It must never exceed 90°, 85° being better and safer. Great watch- fulness is needed for a few weeks. Thermometers should be plunged in the bed, and if the heat rises, the pot must be instantly shaken from side to side, and the tan drawn away from it. It is well only to half-plunge the pots at first where there is danger, or to insert another pot under the pine pot. When all danger of excess has passed over, re-arrange, and plunge the pots up to the rims. The pine bed may again be renewed, with even more caution and care, in October. These instructions, which are absolutely necessary, reveal the superiority of the tank or hot-water methods of heating the plunging-beds. With these, the bottom and top heat are equally under perfect control. The Meudon mode of applying the fermenting materials Fig. Meudon pine stove. a, a, Ground line. 6, Hot water-pipes for top-heat, c, Bed of peat soil in which the pine-apples are planted. * »i r n Aug. 11. „ „ „ 4,, 0 „ » ^*' »j >» >» 4 ,, 7 ,) „ 21. „ Enville „ 6 „ 2 „ „ 24. „ Queen „ 4 „ 8 „ ») *>!• » ?> »» 4 it 8 >» Sept. 26. „ Enville „ 6 „ 0 „ „ 4. „ Montserrat „ 4 „ 8 „ » & » »> n & v 0 „ Others were cut at intervals from 3 Ibs. to 4 Ibs. each. The method of procedure was as follows : — About the middle of May a place was prepared for the plants on a south border ; a trench was formed from five to six feet wide at top and about two feet at bottom, of sufficient depth to protect the plants from the wind. Three bricks on edge were then placed at regular distances in the trench in the form of a triangle for the pots to stand upon to ensure efficient drainage. Then the pine plants, which had finished blooming, and had been wintered in a pit heated with dung and leaves, at a temperature of from 50° to 60°, were brought out and placed on the bricks. The spaces between the pots and the sides of the trench were then filled up to the rims of the pots, with half-spent leaves. Owing to the cold rains, however, these leaves never heated. A layer of charred hay or grass was then spread over all to absorb and retain the solar heat. The plants received no other protection whatever. The weather con- tinued dark, stormy, and rainy. On the 1st of July ice was actually found at 6 A.M. Such plants as heliotropes, dahlias, French beans, and even pelargoniums, were blackened by frost in September ; but the pines received little check, and swelled well. The suckers also were clean and strong, and were potted in the first week of October ; several of them fruited in the open ground next year. Some of the fruit cut out of doors in 1848 were produced by suckers taken from the plants grown out of doors the previous year. All the out-of-door fruit had pretty little crowns, and the fruit was of good quality. Mr. Barnes continued the practice for many years with similar success. AVe do not advance it as a system that can be generally adopted; still it proves what can be done, and is interesting and instructive. Possibly even more could be accomplished by giving the plants a hot- bed to grow upon. This much seems certain, that the amateur or suburban gardener who can command a strong fruiting-plant to start with, a barrow-load of hot dung, and one of Kendle's Kound Plant Protectors, need never despair of enjoying a pine-apple. 440 CHAPTER XIV. THE GRAPE VINE. THE grape vine is a deciduous climber, indigenous or cultivated in a considerable portion of the temperate parts of the northern hemi- sphere. It is found wild in Greece, Turkey in Asia, Persia, the Morea, near the Black and Caspian Seas, and in many other places ; but the countries in which it is found in the highest degree of perfection are Armenia and Syria. In Armenia and Syria, judging from their latitudes, the mean temperature of the coldest winter month in the region of vine culture is probably between 45° and 50°, and the mean temperature of the warmest summer month between 75° and 80°. It is certain, however, that the vine will bear a much lower winter temperature than 45° ; for on the hills in Germany, where several kinds are cultivated with success, and the vines are every winter buried under the snow, the temperature for two or three months cannot be much above 32°. It is also found in our forcing-houses that the vine will bear a summer temperature of between 70° and 80°. It may, we think, be assumed that the vine is not calculated to sustain uninjured a winter temperature much below 40° ; and this is con- firmatory of the excellence of the practice of British gardeners, in wintering the shoots of vines grown under glass under some kind of protecting cover : such as between outer and inner front sashes, or tied loosely up in mats or in thatch, so as to keep them quite dry with- out excluding the air. What interests us most is the ground temperature of the countries where it nourishes best ; and taking the country of the Muscats, the kinds which require the most heat to bring them to maturity in this country, we find in Sicily the ground temperature to be 66° for the season of growth, 80° for the season of ripening, and 55° for the season of rest ; while in Paris, which may be considered the country of the more hardy varieties, such as Muscadines, Sweetwaters, Hamburgs, and the like, we find the ground temperature to be for the season of growth 58°, for the season of ripening 66°, and for the season of rest 41°. With such incontestable facts as these before us, it seems almost irreconcilable with fact that there should be gardeners in this country, and clever grape-growers too, who contend that ground heat is not only unnecessary for the early-forced vine in this country, but that artificially applied it is positively injurious to its well-being. Before any reliable opinion can be pronounced upon this subject, it is neces- sary that the ground temperature of the soil and subsoil in which and over which the plant is growing should be accurately ascertained, and then no doubt it will be discovered that some soils are much warmer than others, and hence, though artificial ground temperature may not be needed in one place, it may be indispensable in another. Now, the ascertained average ground temperature of London, as established THE GRAPE VINE. 441 by the careful experiments of the late Mr. R. Thomson, is for the season of growth 55°, for that of ripening 62°, and for the season of rest 42°. Compare these figures with the temperatures before given for Sicily and Paris, and we find that the natural conditions of the soil of this country, so far as temperature is concerned, are not suitable to the cultivation of the vine ; and hence the reason why it so rarely attains anything like maturity in the open air. If, then, the ground temperature of the soil of Britain is unsuitable to the growth of the vine in its natural season, when the solar influ- ences of light and heat are in its favour, it certainly seems unreason- able to expect, when we reverse the order of cultivation and force the vine into growth in the dead of winter rather than in the spring, that it will progress so satisfactorily as it would with a genial natural ground temperature. But we have bottled up in the body of the earth a constant source of heat. We know that beyond the influence of atmospheric changes the temperature of the ground generally increases, and that the deeper we go the greater the heat becomes ; hence the late Mr. Archibald Gorrie, a gentleman of no mean authority in horti- cultural matters in his day, utilized the head of a well by keeping greenhouse plants in glazed frames over the mouth of it ; and Mr. Loudon recommended that pits for the protection of half-hardy plants should be connected with a series of tunnels, through which the ground heat could be carried to protect them. Hence, upon the sandstone formation, the oolite, and even the worked coal measures, it is not un- reasonable to assume the ground temperature is naturally greater than upon the London clay or similar formations. Four years ago, a gentleman on the Peak of Derbyshire had a vinery erected, and, wishing to have grapes grown in the best possible manner, he called to his assistance Mr. Speed, now gardener at Chatsworth, to make the border and plant the vines; and the extraordinary progress which those vines have made is something to call for special remark by re- lating a circumstance which bears upon the subject of ground tempe- rature. In excavating for the border the workmen came upon the mouth of worked coal mines, which was taken advantage of to form a complete drain for the border. We, however, think it is something more than a drain, and that the latent heat, which is ever escaping from the shaft and permeating the drainage substratum of the border, plays a much more important part in promoting the complete luxu- riance of those vines than even the drainage itself. From these vines Muscat bunches 31b. to 51b. in weight are not an unusual occurrence ; while Barbarossas of 91b., and Hamburgs and black Alicantes of propor- tionate size are not unusual. These weights, be it observed, are the result of amateur cultivation, so that larger results might be fairly anticipated from skilled professional management. As has been before remarked, vine roots in the valley of the Thames, if not prevented by paving or concreting the bottom of the borders, go at once into the gravel beneath. There they find a con- genial temperature, free from atmospheric influences, and hence the vines may be forced year after year without sustaining much injury. 442 THE GRAPE VINE. Other vines, where the necessity for bottom heat is ignored, may be similarly situated — that is, with the roots deep in the earth — and hence beyond injury ; but make one of the modern fashionable borders eighteen inches to two feet deep, leave that unprotected through the winter or early forcing season, and blind and spindled bunches will probably be the result. However, the vine is a generous plant that will endure almost any amount of ill-treatment and yet produce fruit ; but if the best fruit is desired, why, then the best means to secure it — the means which deserve success — must be carried out. Now ground heat, in its application to the production of early grapes, is not a modern dis- covery. Perhaps the man who first thought of growing early grapes from plants established in pots was the first to give it practical applica- tion. He could not introduce the plant into a warmed atmosphere without something approaching the natural conditions being realized, and those who were the most successful growers of pot grapes soon ascertained that bottom heat, carefully applied, was the main hinge of success in their cultivation. Thus we progressed, until with thinking and advanced grape-growers the most economical means of applying bottom heat became the feat to be accomplished. The first step in this direction was the husbanding of the heat stored in the earth by the summer sun, by covering the vine border early in the autumn, so as to prevent its escape ; the second, by forcing the heat of the leaves, dung, and other fermenting material placed upon the border to travel contrary to its natural bent — viz., downwards ; and the third, by instituting artificial means, such as inside and covered borders, and sub-heated borders, to secure the means of obtaining the desired ground temperature. Here it is not necessary to detail the various ways which were resorted to. The Dutch gardeners, with their dung-heated pits, were not the least successful — of which ex- amples might be seen at Highlands, near Chelmsford, at Lord Hill's in Shropshire, and at Wolverstone Park, near Ipswich. Means to secure bottom heat, but of a rather secondary nature, were devised in connexion with Mr. Mearn's chambered borders at Wei- beck, nearly forty years ago. The first really grand scheme for sub- heating a vine border was that of Sylvester, as carried out for Edward Strutt, Esq., now Lord Belper, at Kingston Hall, in Nottinghamshire. Here the borders are formed entirely upon brick arches, heated by hot-w^ater pipes, the spaces underneath them being sufficient for a man to walk upright. The cost of this arrangement was something enormous, many thousands of pounds being expended ; but the results, though enormous crops of grapes have been produced, have not been so satisfactory as to the quality of the crop as could be desired. So convinced was Mr. George Westland, who had the charge of these vineries for about eight years, that the isolating of vine borders was not the best plan that could be adopted, that he has propounded a counter-scheme, which will be mentioned hereafter, and which appears to possess many elements of success. Then we have the plan adopted by Mr. William Thomson, and recommended in his ' Practical Treatise on the Grape Vine.' This consists of a vault some eighteen inches THE GRAPE VINE. 443 deep, covered in with paving stones supported by brick walls, and traversed by hot-water pipes about a yard apart, according to the width of the border. These are heated, when forcing commences, so as to raise the temperature of the soil of the border to about 60°, and at that it remains until such time as the vines are in bloom, when it is gradually increased, until during the ripening process it attains, ac- cording to the kind of grape grown, 70° to 80°, the latter temperature being necessary for the full maturation of the Muscats. Now, the objections to this kind of heating are threefold. First, unless the pavement be cemented and made perfectly impervious to the roots of the vines, they pass through into the chamber beneath, and so long as the moisture is kept up they increase and multiply to a great extent, and the vines grow vigorously ; but directly the moisture is withdrawn, a process necessary to the proper maturation of the crop, the grapes begin to " shank and spindle," and the crop never attains full maturity. Secondly, without very careful management, there is the danger of the border becoming over-heated, and the crop suffer- ing in that way. Thirdly, if the hot- water pipes get out of order, it is next to impossible to get to them for repairs. Under these circum- stances, Mr. Westland, who has had practical illustration of all that we have said against the plan of isolating and sub-heating, recommends that the heating pipes, instead of being placed beneath the border, should be placed in a trench in front of it, from which, at right angles, earthenware socket pipes properly jointed in cement shall be placed thirty inches apart, through which the heat will pass into the house, and thus keep up a constant circulation of warmed air into the house, and at the same time give the necessary heat to the border. An arrangement of this kind will admit of easy management at all times, and the heat of the border may be increased or decreased ac- cordingly as the valves connected with the pipes inside the house are opened, partly opened, or shut. It is also proposed that this arrange- ment shall act as a system of ventilation, by which a stream of warmed air shall at all times, night and day if necessary, be forced into the house. This system we consider as near perfection as possible, and by it an expensive apparatus is not used for a few months in the forcing season, but may be used throughout the year if considered expedient ; in iact, by this system the sub-heating of the border becomes a part, and a very important one, of the atmospheric heating of the house. Going to the practical application of the system, the bottom of the border space is supposed to be concreted ; the conduits are laid, and over them, in ridge-and-furrow style, the draining material of the border, through which the heat circulates and warms the overlying soil. Of course it is necessary that a border of this kind should be protected from cold rains through the winter, and for that purpose either glass frames, wood shutters, or thatch may be used, the first of course being the most desirable material, and perhaps the cheapest, inasmuch as it may be used to forward other crops when not required for the border. One other system of heating may be named, and, as it is practised 444 VINE SOILS AND VINE MANURES. by Mr. M. Henderson, of Coleorton, Leicestershire, the most success- ful exhibitor of early grapes in England, it is not without its merits, and it is of cheap and easy application where other systems could not be practised. The system presupposes the complete protection of the borders from cold rains, and then, at the time of commencing to force, it receives a thorough soaking of weak manure -water at the temperature of 80° : the first watering will raise the temperature to 60°, and the second and third, following some weeks afterwards, will increase it to 70° or more if necessary. In this way Mr. Henderson has succeeded in exhibiting grapes at the early metropolitan shows with almost undeviating success, and with the further advantage that few of his compeers have been able to bring their fruit to the table at that early season in such a state of complete finish. Of course this is not entirely attributable to the use of warm water for raising the temperature of the soil, though no doubt it played an important part. Vine Soils and Vine Manures. — Few plants in cultivation are more pliable than the vine ; for, whether perched upon the side of a mountain, or with its roots lying in the bed of a sewer, it will, so long as those roots are not in stagnant water or a cold ungenial soil, produce fruit. It may not be the best in the world, or, judged by a proper standard, any credit to the grower ; but still with the majority the produce may pass as grapes, to which too frequently the estimate of sour may be applied without any stretch of imagination. But for the production of grapes of the finest quality certain conditions must be complied with, and those are — first, that the soil in which the plants are growing, and if possible the subsoil also, shall be free from stagnant water; secondly, that mechanically its qualities shall be free and porous; and thirdly, if grapes of superior quality are desired, it shall be free from rich, raw, and stimulating manures, and yet contain sufficient stimulant of a permanent character, such as bones, charcoal, and burnt earth, to yield the food necessary for the proper and per- manent sustenance of the vine. Within the last quarter of a century various nostrums have been prescribed for the growth of this plant, some recommending one mix- ture, some another ; but, in plain truth, the more simple the compound — so long as the right ingredients are used — the more certain the suc- cess. If we go to the valley of the Thames or the Mersey, or if we procure the alluvial deposit of any of our great rivers, more especially where the " tidal wave " serves, and it is rich in vegetable matter, we may make sure the vine will grow in it. We mention the tidal wave, and we do so because we have a conviction that the vine does not object to, but rather luxuriates in, a " taste of the brine." Go to Brighton, to Garston, or, for a more recent example of success, to Glammis Castle near Forfar — where the grapes were grown which attracted so much attention at the last International Fruit Show (1869) at Edinburgh — or go to many places which we could name on the coast of England and Wales, and you will find good grapes, and VINE SOILS AND VINE MANURES. 445 that almost independently of any attention that may be devoted to them. It would be easy to name a place near Bangor, where grapes in the most extraordinary quantities are grown year after year, and where, too, at times we have seen them of very superior quality. And what are the conditions of their cultivation? Why, first, that the substratum of the border is a dried rivulet, from which the tiny mountain stream has been diverted for the purpose of building the vinery, though in storm times it overflows and floods the border, laying it under water two or three times in the season for a day or two together ; and secondly, that the drainage of the border is of the most complete description — not an ounce of superfluous water hanging for many hours in the soil after the storm has abated. Indeed, it may almost be laid down as a rule that you cannot over- water the vine, so long as the water is not cold and can have free egress from the border. In an indirect manner the evidence above cited shows the indis- pensable necessity of complete drainage for the vine border. You may make it on the bed of an occasional rivulet, so long as the water is not dammed back, so as to become stagnant ; but let the water once hang in the soil, and every chance of success in the cultivation of the grape is at an end. Now in the valley of the Thames — and in that term we include its course from Oxfordshire to the Nore — you may make vine borders as elaborately as you please, you may procure the finest soils and the best manures, and yet, if you do not confine the roots by con- creting the bottom and walling the sides of the border, they will immediately pass through it into the red sand and gravel beneath. So convinced was the late Mr. John Willmot of Isle worth of this fact, that for many years prior to his death he abandoned the making of vine borders altogether ; and, merely trenching the ground over and adding a barrow-load of fresh compost to each vine at the time of planting, he grew, if not " sensational " grapes, such as commanded the best price at all times in Covent Garden Market, which may be regarded as a complete proof of the success of his plan. Journey we now to the confines of Hertfordshire, to the hills adjoining Barnet, Finchley, and Colney Hatch ; and there nothing more is often necessary than to pro- vide proper drainage, trench the ground, dig out a hole, and plant the vine, and success is certain. These may be considered the natural conditions of the vine ; and yet there are other soils, to external appearance equally suitable, in which the vine will not grow at all, or so indifferently as to be almost worthless. The gardener of a nobleman in Gloucestershire, a person of considerable intelligence, at the recent (1869) Horticultural Congress at Manchester, endeavoured to account for this by attributing the failure to the presence of magnesian limestone in the soil ; but, unfortunately for this theory, the vine in its natural state delights in the calcareous rock, while some of the finest grapes in Britain are growing in the soil taken from the side of a limestone rock. In the face of such evidence of course the theory falls to the ground, as being altogether untenable. 446 VINE SOILS AND VINE MANURES. In the formation of the vine border, however, we cannot always procure the soil we would like, and therefore we must use what we can get. For choice, we should take the turfy loam of a sheep walk skinned not more than four inches thick from the face of the rock, and this so rich in fibrous matter as to form a complete mat of roots ; then next to that we would take old turf from any dry elevated spot, the conditions approaching those before described as nearly as possible; and thirdly, we would take old turf from the bank of a river, always premising that the fibre of the turf shall be thick and dense, and the spot from which it is taken is high and dry, except at flood tides. In point of quality, the loam should be what is called medium — that is, neither too light nor yet containing much clay, though the latter element may be corrected by an additional admixture of lime-rubbish and burnt earth at the time of forming the border. For a vine border to retain its active qualities for a long series of years, light sandy soil should never be used ; for, though the vines may maintain a strong and even luxuriant habit for seven or ten years, they will generally, at the expiration of that time, begin to fail ; while a border properly prepared from good sound loam will retain its in- vigorating properties for a century or more. The soil selected, the next thing is to cart it home, and that should be done either in the autumn before the rains set in, or otherwise during the dry weather of April or May. In either case, convey it to some convenient spot where it can be charred and laid up until it is desired to form the border. When we speak of charring, we do not mean that operation to be carried out in the full acceptation of the term ; but it is of the first importance that the soil of a vine border should be submitted to sufficient heat to destroy all insects and their ova that may be in it, and also the roots of all perennial weeds. This will be best effected by providing such garden refuse as old pea sticks, the prunings of trees, roots, weeds, &c., and forming them into a conical heap, with provision for lighting in the centre. These fire cones should be of considerable size, say, not less than 4ft. in diameter at the base, and as much in height, and they should also contain some large pieces of wood, that will burn for some time, and throw out a strong heat. These cones being provided, proceed to build up the turf over the wood to the thickness of a foot or fifteen inches, packing it close to- gether, but not breaking it any more than can be avoided. Then light the fire, making a hole somewhere near the top of the cone for a draught, and vents may be made in other parts of the heap with a crowbar or similar implement, so as to cause the fire to spread regularly through the mass. Let it, however, be thoroughly understood that nothing more than a thorough heating of the soil is necessary, and therefore the fire need not burn briskly, and fresh turf may be added so long as it can be heated to the proper temperature. "When the fire has subsided, pack the soil into a narrow ridge, so that it may be exposed to atmospheric influences, but at the same time be protected from heavy rain until such time as the border is to be formed. Then VINE SOILS AND VINE MANURES. 447 to every six cubic yards of the turf it will be necessary to add one load of dry horse-dung, two yards of brick or plaster-rubbish — the latter being the best— two quarters of oyster-shells, and one quarter of each of charcoal and inch bone. These ingredients should be intimately mixed together by turning twice or thrice for a fortnight before the time the vines are to be planted ; but at the same time let it be remembered it is not desirable to break the loam into pieces less than the size of the fist, neither should it be trampled upon during the operation any more than can be avoided. As a rule, the last turning should take place about a week before the vines are to be planted, and then, if it is April or May, and the soil is in proper condition, the mass will heat sufficiently to yield a very nice bottom heat, a circumstance upon which the vigorous growth of the vines when planted is in some measure dependent. A border thus prepared would be as good as could be desired, as it would not only be a suitable chemical combination of manures, but also a mechanical arrangement of parts which would secure perfect porosity for any series of years, and at the same time be in a slowly decomposing state. This is the great secret of forming the vine bor- der, and those materials are the best which for the longest period shall maintain a slow process of decomposition. So long as decomposition is going on, so long will the elements necessary for vegetable nutrition be formed, and so long will the vines prosper ; but directly decompo- sition ceases, the feeding properties of the soil are exhausted, and to the plant the natural consequences follow. To the component parts of the border which we have indicated, there is only one addition that we should like to make, and that is, after the soil has been charred, lay it six or nine inches thick in a covered shed, and let sheep be folded upon it for a fortnight or three weeks. This is going back to the days of Speechley, for he recom- mended that sheep should be folded upon the turf for some time before it was taken from the pasture, and he was not wrong in the recom- mendation. So far we have spoken of a vine border, such as we should prefer, and fortunately, all the parts except the turfy loam can be easily procured ; and if that cannot, why then the best that can be met with must be made use of. The sides of roads and old commons, building sites, and similar places, yield fair turfy loam, but rarely such as will come up to the quality we should select. If, however, the best that can bf procured is taken and prepared as we have directed, adding more lime-rubbish and charcoal if the soil is heavy, or less if it is light, a good approximation to our standard may be ensured. Of all things avoid a light sandy soil without fibres and rich stimulating manures. With such a border you may grow strong rampant vines for a few years, but their vigour will be of short duration, and the grapes of inferior quality. To produce grapes of really superior quality, a sound loam is indispensable, securing its porosity and mechanical action by such ingredients as we have recommended to be mixed with it. Propagating and Planting. — Having prepared the border, our next 448 VINE SOILS AND VINE MANURES. duty will be to get ready the young vines so as to have them in vigorous health at the most suitable time for planting. Some good cultivators plant strong two or three-year-old vines when they are in a dormant state, as at that time the roots may be shaken clean out of the soil, and spread in the most uniform manner in the newly-prepared border. This is a very good plan, especially if the border at the time of planting is of a genial temperature, say 70° to 80°, or if fermenting material can be so placed at the commencement of the growing season as to bring it to that temperature. Then the plants will start vigorously ; but if not, the check consequent upon the shaking is one which the vine in a cold border takes a long time to recover. Again, the vine may be cut down and started in the pot in which it had grown the previous season; and then when it has made a strong shoot, two or three feet long, it may be planted out, loosening so many of the roots as will enable you to distribute them in the new soil without subject- ing the plant to any very severe check. Still a check occurs, and though such a proceeding may be sanctioned by custom, it is much better for the present and permanent well-being of the plant that it should be avoided. Apart from these checks at the time of planting, we have the con- viction that a properly treated young vine makes a greater quantity of young roots the first season than at any subsequent period of its history ; and therefore, not to make use of them by the most careful nursing is as absurd as to shake the plant out of the soil, and thus destroy them. We have tried the experiment on many occasions, and have invariably found that a properly managed young vine in the first season's growth would make as strong a plant, and we believe an infinitely better rooted one than a yearling or two-year-old plant cut down and treated in the usual manner. Those who feel sceptical about the profuseness of the roots in the first season's growth, have only to take a yearling plant and a spring -rooted plant, and grow them on together, and if, when both have attained the height of three feet, the young plant has not the best and most vigorous roots, their experience will be different from our own. The fact then being established, it follows as a natural consequence, that it must be better to plant a vine the first season of its growth, than by keeping it to run the risk of losing that " wig" of roots which is so essential to its permanent suc- cess. Hence we say, take the young vine. This we know is contrary to received opinion. But never mind — we speak from experience extending over a practice of nearly forty years. The grape vine is propagated in several different ways : by eyes or cuttings, by layers, by grafting and budding, and also (for raising new varieties) by seed. The first step, however, towards complete success is to prepare a bed of fermenting material, such as properly sweetened dung, or dung and leaves, or in their absence, sweet tan. The bottom heat should not be less than 80°, nor should the atmospheric tempera- ture fall much below 70°, while it may rise to 85° or 90° with advan- tage with sun heat. As a rule, more plants are raised from eyes or cuttings than in any PLANTING THE VINE. 449 other manner, and they are thus prepared : selecting vigorous shoots, which should be of the previous season's growth, and thoroughly ma- tured, take the shoot in the left hand, and with a sharp knife make a' cut from the underside upwards, one inch above the bud, and then, holding the bud firmly between the thumb and finger, make another clean cut in the same direction, the same distance below the bud. In this manner, with a good knife, a quantity of eyes may soon be pre- pared. Then make ready a quantity of 3 -inch pots, placing in the bottom of each a piece of turf and a pinch of soot to check the worms, fill up the pot with rich sandy half-decayed loam, press in the eye half an inch below the finished surface of the soil, and the work is done. So proceed, of course naming or numbering the different varieties as you go on, until the requisite number of pots have been provided. Then take the pots to the hotbed, and placing them in a regular and systematic manner, cover them over an inch deep with cocoa-nut fibre, or in the absence of that, with fine ashes or leaf-mould. If the mould with which the pots are filled is in a proper state, no water, beyond a mere sprinkling on sunny days, will be required until the plants start into active growth, which will be in a month or six weeks, according to the time the eyes were started or the parent vines might have been forced the preceding season. When the young plants get into free growth, encourage them in every manner by maintaining the necessary bottom heat, and also a sweet brisk atmospheric temperature. Planting the Vines. — Supposing the cuttings to be started into growth in January, the best season, the plants by April should be in a vigorous healthy state, with roots filling six-inch pots. Then, if you wish to prepare plants for permanent planting, procure a quantity of oak or deal scantling, each piece being thirty inches long by an inch and a quarter square ; bore these at each end with a centre-bit suffi- ciently large to take a quarter-inch or three-eighths pin ; and procuring four of these for each basket, proceed to form them just the same as you would to receive orchids. Each of the pins should be a foot long, and formed with a head at one end and a screw and nut at the other, so that the baskets may be put together with strength and firmness. When the baskets are formed, line them with fresh turf, and fill up with properly-prepared loam and bone-dust, to which a handful of rotten manure or leaf-mould may be added. In each of these baskets place two plants, at about nine inches apart, and close to the side, so that when the vines are permanently planted out, the plants will fit close to their place without any need for shifting. These baskets should, if possible, be placed upon a bed of nice fermenting material, not necessarily for the bottom heat they may obtain, but so that the atmosphere surrounding the roots may be moist and genial. It is important that the roots should not pass through into the bed beneath ; and for that reason, after the roots begin to fill the baskets, it will be necessary that they be moved once or twice a week, or be raised upon bricks a few inches above the bed. So planted, with the roots regularly laid out and properly watered, the vines will grow with great vigour, so that the baskets in a few weeks G G 450 PLANTING THE VINE. will become a mass of fine healthy roots. Then prepare to plant them .out, either by making the border up quite fresh, so that it may ferment and give the necessary bottom heat, or by laying hot dung upon it to impart the required temperature. This obtained, clear away the soil to the proper depth, always planting shallow, so as to allow for the border sinking, and then carrying the baskets out, place them as they are to remain. Then removing the nuts from the pins, carefully with- draw the latter, so that the basket may fall to pieces and be removed almost without injuring a root. Here then we have a compact ball of earth, densely filled with roots ; and we have only to fill in round it with congenial soil, and to maintain the proper earth heat, to ensure vigorous growth, and have canes by the end of the season twenty to thirty feet long, and properly matured. And here let us remark, we are not advocates for extraordinary luxuriance in the vine, for a nice short-jointed, thoroughly-matured cane, three-quarters of an inch in diameter, or less, is better than a shoot double that size, with pith in the centre as large as a cedar-pencil. It is the moderately large, close, dense, thoroughly-matured wood, with compact, prominent, well-rounded buds, that gives compact, handsome, well-formed bunches, and large highly-coloured berries ; while, on the contrary, gross immature branches produce loose ill- shaped bunches, and too frequently berries defective in colour. Too much attention cannot be paid to these facts by those who require grapes of first-class excellence. It is easy to grow vines that may be wonders of luxuriance, but not so easy to establish good permanent vines. We recommended that two vines should be placed in each basket, but we did not say why. The object is that one plant may be allowed to produce a small crop of bunches the season after planting, and then be cut away, and that the other may be cut down and have a pair of branches taken from it to carry the crop in the third season. We have now carried the vine from its cutting state to the final planting, and must turn to other systems of propagation. Increase by layers is not much practised, at least not in this country, for the vine strikes very readily from cuttings, which are much less troublesome than layers. Still, if any person wishes to practise that system, it is only necessary to cut a tongue in the old wood, an inch or two below its junc- tion with the shoot of the previous season, and lay it in the earth or bend it into a pot of good soil, and, the season being congenial, it will quickly strike root. Layers should not be severed from the parent plant until the wood is ripe in the autumn, and then what have we ? A fine vigo- rous branch without a proportionate quantity of roots, and though possibly much stronger, not so suitable for planting as a well-grown plant from a cutting. Hence we say, avoid layers. The object of grafting the vine is to provide a vigorous-growing stock for those varieties which are constitutionally delicate, and hence do not grow properly upon their own roots. Among these may be mentioned the Black Muscat, or Muscat Hamburgh, as it is commonly called, a variety which sets irregularly upon its own roots, and pro- duces but very small berries, but grafted upon the Hamburgh, it grows PLANTING THE VINE. 451 vigorously, i8 not less prolific than that variety, and sets its fruit equally well. We have in the same border four vines of this variety growing upon its own roots, and four grafted upon the Hamburgh. The latter are remarkable for the size and finish of bunches and berries — the former for their shabby appearance, we might say uselessness. No proof could be clearer than this of the behaviour of this variety upon the new red sandstone formation, and .we believe many who con- demn this superb variety do so because it is growing upon its own roots. Grafted, it kept with us as well as the Hamburgh until Christ- mas, while upon its own roots, the berries were all damping before the end of October. Some keep it long in this way. Among the varieties which are improved by grafting we would mention the Frontignans, Chasselas Musque, and that fine new grape, the Golden Champion, for though it grows tolerably well upon its own roots, we find it does much better grafted upon a well-established stock. Of the kind of stock used, the Hamburgh is perhaps the best for the black varieties, and the Muscat of Alexandria for the white ones. Some have tried a stronger stock, such as the Barbarossa, Syrian, &c., but they are not so good as those which we have before mentioned. The stocks, which should be established plants in 6-inch pots, being selected, the stems not being less than half an inch in diameter at the base, select the grafts of nearly the same size, and put them on in the whip-fashion, fitting stock and scion neatly together, and tying them securely. Then immediately coat them round with the French cold grafting wax, sold by Messrs. Hooper in Covent Garden, and the work is done. The grafting may be performed while the plant is in a dormant state, cutting it down to the necessary height six inches to nine inches at the end, then placing it in a moderately close place where the temperature does not exceed 50° until such time as the buds of the graft begin to swell. Then the temperature may be gradually increased up to 70°, and if at the same time the pots can be placed in a nice gentle bottom heat, the progress of the plants will be much accelerated. Once fairly established with a young growth of six inches, loosen the bandages and let the plants have free scope, re- potting or preparing them for planting out as has been previously directed. Some people prefer to plant below the junction of the stock and graft. We do not, as, if the stock is of any use at all, it is im- portant that its influence should be kept intact. In grafting upon the old stock — that is, to put a new kind upon an established vine — it is usual to cut the old plant down to within two feet of its base, leaving at the winter pruning a certain number of buds to draw the sap until such time as the graft or grafts are established ; then, a fortnight or three weeks before the vines are to be started into growth, and while they are quite dormant, take some strong, well-ripened shoots of the previous season's growth, hold each quite firm, and an inch above and below the bud ; with a sharp knife cut from the upper side downwards, split the graft through the pith, paring the part quite smooth, and it will be fit for use. Cut a notch into the old vine of a size suitable to take the graft, making it fit G G 2 452 BUDDINQ THE VINE. most accurately ; tie it securely down, and then cover the bandage with grafting wax, so as to make the wound quite air-tight. No further attention will be necessary, except to protect the bud from injury. Tie the young shoot as it progresses, and gradually reduce the shoots upon the old vine until the whole resources of the plant are concentrated upon the young shoot. Sometimes this kind of grafting or budding is deferred until the sap begins to rise ; then the bark is raised in the same way as in budding, and the bud is inserted and tied down in the same manner. The only objection to the prac- tice is that the vines are frequently injured by bleeding ; and hence we prefer to graft in the dormant season, as being safer from injury, and we think more certain. Another kind of grafting or budding is now becoming fashionable. A new vine is sent out in the autumn, and you are anxious that you should fruit it in the following season. To do this, cut grafts of the half-ripened wood near the base of the plant, retaining the petiole or leaf-stalk, but removing the leaf. Then cut a corresponding incision in the established vine intended for a stock ; fit the graft accurately, making it quite secure, then cover with the grafting wax as before directed. It is best that the graft or bud should be placed close under a leaf, so that it may have the advantage of its nursing, and, if desired, a number may be placed upon each vine. To ensure success, the house should be kept close until such time as the grafts have taken, and they may be shaded for the first fortnight. Strong grafts thus carefully put on will generally produce fruit the following season ; indeed, they are much more sure of doing so than those worked in the spring. The scions grafted, or the eyes rooted, planted out, and in a vigorous- growing state, the next thing is the care of the young vines. These, in the earth-bed to which we have before referred, will progress with great rapidity; but it is essential that the growth should be strong and healthy, the joints strong and short, and the buds plump and well rounded up. To this end the temperature of the house should not exceed 70° by fire heat, but it may rise to 80° or 90° with sun heat and plenty of moisture in the atmosphere. Give a free circulation of air throughout the day, but avoid cold draughts, especially in dull weather. The vines will require to be syringed morning and evening in fine sunny weather, and in the evening on dull days, until such time as the full growth is made, and then the syringing may be gradually discontinued. Budding the vine has been most successfully practised by Mr. Z. Stevens, the able gardener at Trentham. The best time to perform the operation is in the end of August or beginning of September, when the wood of the vine to be worked will be in a half-ripe con- dition, that of the scion being also in a somewhat green and pliable state. The bud to be inserted is cut out as shown on a reduced scale in the engraving, the small layer of wood not being cut out as in the case of the rose. A corresponding piece is cut out of the stock, a small nick being made at the lower part of the incision, so that the bud may rest firmly in its position, as shown in the illustration. A small cor- BUDDING THE VINE. 453 responding cut is made in the bud. Care is of course taken that the surfaces of bud and stock fit as evenly as possible. Afterwards, a slender strand of bast mat is passed round both bud and stem ; then a bandage of cotton wool is closely and neatly wrapped round the stem, from an inch or so below to an inch above the ends of the incision, exposing the point of the bud, and allowing the leaf-stalk (which should not be removed from the bud) to project. This ban- dage should also be firmly bound with bast mat, and kept moist for Budding the vine : — The bud — Cut in scion — Bud in position — Bud enveloped in cotton wool. several weeks after the operation is performed. Managed in this way, Mr. Stevens finds that " every eye will take, and show fruit as freely as the natural buds of the vine." We have no doubt that the opera- tion would be simplified, and success rendered even more certain, by the application of a little of the French cold grafting mastic after the bud has been secured ; and with its aid there would be little necessity for any attention as regards moistening the outer covering. Apart altogether from the advantage it gives us in securing early bunches of a new variety, we believe this to be superior for general purposes to grafting the vine, inasmuch as, performed in early autumn, the union is effected before the winter, and thus time is gained as compared •with the practice of grafting in early spring. The union of the bud is also more complete than that of the graft. It is scarcely necessary to suggest how useful it is to the vine-grower in enabling him rapidly to test the merits of the various kinds of stocks, &c. It need hardly be added, that when a spur is successfully budded in this way, it will be necessary to remove all the other shoots and buds from it. The operation may be performed on main as well as lateral shoots. By mistake the engraver has not shown the leaf-stalk attached to the tied- up bud. It should not be removed. 454 PRUNING AND TRAINING THE VINE. Watering at the root will have to be governed by circumstances, such as the dryness of the situation and the influence of the sun. With a well-formed border properly mulched, watering twice in the season — say in the end of June and early part of August — will be quite suffi- cient; but let these be really waterings — that is, use water at the proper temperature, and give sufficient each time to saturate the soil wherever the roots have penetrated. After this last watering, and when the vines have reached the top of the house or the distance you intend them to fill the first season, begin gradually to ripen the wood by giving more air, so as to allow a free circulation both day and night. The laterals which have been stopped at the first or second joint may be allowed to ramble, and the plant must be encouraged to thoroughly mature its growth, so as to make the young shoot as firm and hard as possible. This accomplished by the end of August, leave the vines to themselves for the remainder of the season, merely pro- tecting them from early and severe frost. With a properly ripened vine, the leaves should hang on until they attain a golden yellow hue, and then it is a sign of maturity if the leaves drop leaving the petiole still adhering to the young shoot. Through the winter the young vines may be left to the care of nature ; but we do not like to expose them to atmospheric changes, and therefore we should protect them from rain, snow, or severe frost. A slight frost after the leaves have fallen will not injure the canes. In the second season pruning should take place not later than the middle of January, and then, if two vines have been planted in each space, the weakest may be cut down to the bottom of the rafter, and the other to half, or if very strong to two-thirds, of its length. This, according to its strength, will carry four to six, or if strong ten bunches of grapes; while the one that has been cut down will produce two shoots, which will be trained right and left of the fruiting plant. The vines should not be started in the second season earlier than from the end of February to the middle of March, and then as gradually as possible. Begin by giving sufficient heat to maintain a temperature of 45° to 50° for the first fortnight, and increase the temperature gradually two or three degrees weekly until it gets up to 60°, and at that, with an increase of 10° to 15° by sun heat, keep the temperature until the leaves begin to show. Then give the inside border a soaking of weak manure-water at 80° to 85°, and for this purpose water equal to a rainfall of three or four inches over the whole surface should be given. Less than that will be a mere driblet, and will not answer the purpose intended, that of ensuring moisture to the roots, and at the same time considerable warmth. After this the young shoots will progress with ^reat rapidity ; and when the earliest leaves are fairly developed, say two or three inches across, go over the plants and remove the super- fluous shoots, retaining such only as may be necessary to furnish the vine with fruit and make wood for a succeeding crop. As a rule, if for the spur system of pruning — of which we do not approve, for reasons which will be explained in the proper place — shoots left at a foot apart all up the vine will be enough for that purpose, of course leaving the PRUNING AND TRAINING THE VINE. 455 leader to again make its way to the top of the house, and perhaps a little further. As the side snoots progress from the fourth to the sixth joint, they will show the incipient bunches, and perhaps, according to the kind of grape grown, three or four bunches upon each shoot. These when fairly formed, so as to discriminate which is likely to make the most compact and handsome bunch, must be reduced to one bunch, and those retained may be allowed to grow on until the fruit is set, when another selection may be made, retaining, according to the strength of the vine., the bunches necessary to produce a fair crop. As the young shoots and bunches progress and the leaves develop them- selves, it will be necessary to stop them, so as to concentrate the force of the vine in the young bunch. The general rule is to stop up two joints beyond the bunch ; but if there is sufficient room between the main branches to allow the laterals to form themselves, stopping at the third joint will be near enough. With a broad development of foliage, which stopping at the third leaf enjoins, the stopping of the secondary lateral shoots may be performed regularly at the first leaf. Let it, how- ever, be always recollected that the stopping of the vine, or in fact of any tree, should never be performed in a rough and wholesale manner. It is better to remove a few shoots twice or thrice a week than to allow them to grow for a fortnight or three weeks, and then, as some do, cut them out by the barrow-load. Such treatment, though not unusual, is most injurious to the plant, as it necessitates a com- plete check to the system, and checks to the growing plant are always injurious. All the time until the flowers begin to open upon the young bunches continue to dew the vines over morning and evening with tepid water, and sprinkle the border and the floor of the house many times during the day. Some think it necessary to maintain a dry atmosphere during the time the vines are in bloom, fancying the fruit sets better in con- sequence. We have never found any decided advantage from so doing, and hence, though we cease to syringe the foliage from the time the bloom begins to open, we continue the sprinkling of the entire surface of the house until such time as the ripening process sets in and the berries begin to change colour. Then moisture is gradually withdrawn from the atmosphere, so that during the final maturation of the crop the house contains little more moisture than what is in the natural atmo- sphere. This complete ripening and high finish of colour depends upon a free circulation of air, night and day, from the time the berries begin to change until they are fully matured ; and therefore, if the weather should be dull or damp at the time, it is better to in- crease the fire heat to maintain the temperature than to decrease the circulation of air. In thinning the grapes, especially for the summer crop, we do not advocate the extreme measure of thinning for large berries only. On the contrary, we consider a handsome bunch, sufficiently compact to retain its form when placed upon the dessert dish, to be the standard of good grape-growing; so that loose bunches, however large the berries, have no charm for us. Therefore in thinning be guided by 456 PRUNING AND TRAINING THE VINE. this rule, and it will be better to take out a few berries later in the season than have a loose straggling bunch. All this time we have been devoting our attention to the crop, and now we must have a peep at the young vines that were cut down, and from which two shoots have been carried to the top of the house. These have had their lateral shoots regularly stopped, and are fine handsome canes, nearly an inch in diameter. Encourage the ripening process by every means in your power, and do not be satisfied until, on cutting the top of the vine, you find the pith in the centre has almost disap- peared. This is the true test of perfect ripening, and with such wood fine grapes are almost certain. If the season should be dry, twice or thrice during the brightest weather the outside border must receive a drenching of warm weak manure-water, and the inside border, according as the soil may be heavy or light, may receive at five or six separate waterings eighteen to twenty-four inches of water, always using it warm, and if manure- water, let it be weak. One of our vines has carried a crop of fruit, and the other made two shoots from the starting point to the top of the rafter ; and the next consideration is, what shall we do with them next year ? Now it is quite certain that if the young fruiting vine has been fairly used — that is, if it has not been overcropped, a fault not unusual — it will carry a second crop, perhaps not quite so good as in the preceding year, but still good enough for a reason why the permanent vines should not be allowed to bear a crop until the fourth season after planting. Thus, then, the fruiting vines may have their leading shoots shortened to about three feet, and the side branches may be cut to the best eye or bud, because, as the object is to obtain good bunches of fruit, and as the vines will be cut out altogether at the end of the season, systematic training is of no consequence. Hence the advantage of planting dupli- cate vines ; it enables you to leave the permanent ones until such time as they get thoroughly established — a point of great importance in their welfare. Those vines will have made two shoots, each reaching per- haps to the top of the house, and these will have to be shortened back so as to form the foundation of the permanent plants. For that purpose the branches will be laid down horizontally, parallel with the wall plate of the house, and each will be shortened to five feet in length. At the distance of eighteen inches from the centre on each side, a shoot will be taken up to form permanent rods, and at three feet from these two more rods will be taken up for the same purpose ; while the leading bud upon each branch may be permitted to grow to the length of six feet or more. The three shoots being secured upon each of the horizontal branches to form the permanent rods, the fruit bunches must be removed from them directly ; but if from the secondary shoots it is desired to take a few bunches, that may be done ; but certainly not more than six medium or four good-sized bunches should be taken ; and, to speak the truth, the vine will be much benefited if those are not taken. If such a determination should be arrived at, then remove the bunches as fast as they show, stopping these secondary PRUNING AND TRAINING THE VINE. 457 branches at the fifth or sixth leaf, while the permanent shoots will be allowed to grow to their fall length, or, at any rate, the length of the rafter, and may then be stopped, though if they go a yard or two beyond the length of the rafter there will be no harm in it, but rather an advantage. Through the growing season, the laterals upon these main shoots will be stopped weekly at the first leaf; and, beyond keeping the plants perfectly free from insects, with a moist, growing temperature, and a free admission of air upon all favourable occasions, no further care will be necessary. It is August, the vines have made fine rods, and it is important that they should be ripened thoroughly. Upon this point too much cannot be said, for it is the point upon which success in grape cultivation hinges. If the wood is not thoroughly ripened in the autumn, it is impossible that it can produce first-class fruit in the follow- ing season. To that end it will be necessary to withdraw the moisture from the atmosphere — that is, no more syringing or sprinkling of the house must be indulged, but, on the contrary, a fair amount of heat must be maintained in the house (say 60° by night and 70° during the day) by artificial means, at the same time admitting a free circulation of air through the house both day and night. When the wood is thoroughly ripe the bark will be of a reddish-brown, varying accord- ing to the vines grown, and the leaves should ripen off a golden yellow. If the wood is thoroughly ripened — which may be told by the almost entire absence of pith in the centre — the leaves should be allowed to hang on as long as they will, and it is a sign of complete maturity to see them drop from the leaf-stalk ; and a short time after, the latter will fall from the vine. Far too little importance is paid to the maturing of the wood, and frequently the crop of the following season is lost from the want of a little extra fire and trouble in the autumn. This is especially the case in late vineries and greenhouses, particularly in the latter, where the vines form a secondary object compared with the regular plants. Well, the growth has been completed, the leaves have fallen, and the vines are ready to be pruned ; so before we leave them we will perform that operation. If all has gone well, the fruiting vines will be removed entirely — that is, they will be cut out at the root — and the permanent vines will occupy the entire space. The rods at the end of the third season should be in every respect perfect in their growth, and, presuming that they are so, each may be cut back to half its length, while the leading horizontal shoot may be shortened to three or four eyes, and the secondary shoots cut out altogether. Trim off the laterals in a neat and workmanlike manner, always cutting close to the bud, and making the wound quite smooth. For the purpose of pruning, we prefer good clean-cutting shears to the knife — the spring shears that make the draw cut being the best. These do not bruise, but the common ones, unless very sharp, gene- rally do. From the fact that we have provided four main shoots to each vine, it will be perceived that we do not approve the restriction 458 PRUNING AND TRAINING THE VINE. or spur system of training the vine. We grant that tinder ordinary circumstances fine crops have been and may be grown in that way ; but at the same time we deny that it is either a natural or rational system of training the vine. To take a plant which, properly planted and unrestrained, would in a few years cover with vigorous branches an area of fifty to one hundred or more yards ; to prepare for it a rich and perfect border ; to confine it to a single rod of fifteen feet to twenty feet in length ; to thin out the grapes, and part of the side branches as fast as they are produced ; and ironi the time that those branches retained have each made half-a-dozen leaves to keep them regularly stopped ; and at the same time to expect that a plant so treated can take vigorous root-hold of the soil in which it is planted — is just as reasonable as it would be to tie a horse's tail to the rack or manger where the food is placed, and then blame him for not getting fat. Plants live and thrive and have their being by the reciprocal action of roots and branches. Without the latter roots cannot flourish, because there is no storehouse of orga- nizable matter from which they can draw the material necessary for their formation. We have therefore given each of our vines four branches to begin with, having three instead of twelve permanent vines in each house, supposing the houses to be forty feet long ; but we have also provided for the horizontal branches to extend themselves, so that, should it seem desirable, the centre or the two end vines shall, at the will of the culti- vator, fill the house. It will have been seen that we do not advocate the whip-stick or single-rod system of training the vine ; for, though we know that some wonderful examples of cultivation have been produced by that system, another fact must be noted, and that is that the remarkable bunches have been produced during the first seven or ten years of the vine's life, the produce afterwards sinking into comparative medio- crity, while at twenty, or twenty-five years of age, the vines are com- pletely " used up." Nor can it be otherwise ; no plant of free and vigorous growth like the vine can be unnaturally cramped into a very limited area, without in the course of years being enfeebled in consti- tution. The perpetual pinching of the orchard- house system of tortur- ing fruit trees into a bearing state is nothing more nor less than inducing premature old age. We induce fruitfulness by subverting the constitution of the plant ; and the more robust a plant is na- turally disposed to grow, the more must it suffer from the practice. The system of excessive restriction in the vine originated with the Crawshays of Norwich. Something like thirty years ago it was adopted almost without thought, because of its neatness and simplicity. By establishing our vines the four or more branches to each, we seek to lay a broader basis of constitutional vigour ; in fact, we wish to establish the plants upon something like a natural foundation, and not from infancy to old age keep them perpetually dwarfed. Assuming each rod to be twenty feet long, they will be at the top of the rafter by the end of the third year. We then divide each rod into five PRUNING AND TRAINING THE VINE. 459 equal portions of four feet each ; at the bottom two spurs will be formed, and two more at each four feet up to sixteen feet, and all the rest of the spurs or branches will be removed for the whole length of each stem. From these spurs on alternate sides shoots will have been made that will carry the crop this year, and from the spurs on the opposite sides shoots will be carried this year that will produce next year's crop. Thus these bearing branches are not allowed to bear any fruit in the first year of their growth, but they carry a full crop in the second year. In the autumn pruning the bearing branches are entirely cut away, merely leaving a spur or two at their base, from which the shoots of the next year will be made, while the other shoots are shortened to three feet each. Thus we have annually a con- tinuous series of young, vigorous, well-nurtured buds from the bottom to the top of each main rod — not the last and least bud upon a branch which has produced fruit the previous season, as in the spur or " whip-stick " system of pruning, but a young, vigorous branch, which throughout the year preceding has had nothing to do but take care of itself. If we needed any proof of the success of this system, we have only to appeal to the experience of Mr. Montgomery Henderson, gardener to Sir G. Beaumont, Bart., of Coleorton, Leicestershire, the veteran exhibitor of grapes at the London exhibitions for nearly thirty years ; and what does he say ? " The vines here are thirty-nine years old, and have been pruned upon the extension system for more than twenty years. I began to compete at Chiswick in 1841, and at the Royal Botanic Garden in 1848. I took the first prize the first time I exhibited at the latter place — the first time I showed black Hamburghs ; I took it on June 30, 1869, and have seldom missed the first prize during the whole time. I know I took it every show at the Botanic for three years without intermission, and, if I remember rightly, for twelve pounds as well as for the single dish. I have had four prizes for grapes in one day, and I exhibited Hamburghs eight times in one season, and was first each time. I have exhibited at the Crystal Palace and many local shows, but have no conception of the number of prizes I have taken altogether." Here then we have vines nearly forty years old, the produce of which has stood in the fore rank of the battle for thirty years, and still they stand, being very rarely beaten ; and yet during that time we could point to scores of exhibitors that have come out with a rush, discharged a volley of big bunches, and then have fallen into obscurity. To this rule there has been no exception. Exhibitors who have stood in the fore rank, and maintained their positions as grape- growers, are those who have had a succession of young vines to fall back upon. And so it ever will be upon the restrictive plan of management; while Mr. Henderson, without a single young vine to aid him, con- tinues the even tenor of his way for a lifetime, and is rarely beaten. We grant that much of this results from the matchless colour and exquisite finish of his productions ; but still the fact remains. 460 PRUNING AND TRAINING THE VINE. He has done that which no other man has done, and he has accom- plished it by the extension system of managing the vine. Now, upon this system of training the vine, it will be manifest that, after the apportioning of the crop and the management of the bunches — always bearing in mind that a thoroughly matured medium crop is preferable to an ill-ripened large one — the main care of the summer's treatment should be concentrated in attention to the branches which are to produce the following year's crop. These must have their leaves fully exposed to light ; each will be stopped at the length of four feet, and the lateral branches will be stopped at each leaf. The branches which are carrying the crop will be stopped at two or three leaves beyond the bunches, and their laterals regularly at one leaf; but in case of crowding and insufficient exposure to light, then all but the two leading laterals upon each branch may be removed, to make room for the principal leaves. This is a practice not to be generally recommended, but it is of less consequence upon branches that will be entirely cut away than it would be upon others from which a crop would be expected the following season. These laterals or secondary branchlets from the fruiting branch have their use, and that is to provide food for and mature the buds at the base of each. This they will do so long as the foliage is fully exposed to light ; but if not, then it is better to remove the laterals than to allow an amount of shade that must be detrimental to the plant and the