HORTICULTURE is that branch of rural economy which consists in the formation and culture of Gardens. It is the science of the cultivation of culinary vegetables, fruits, and flowers. On one side it is allied to Agriculture, from which, however, it is distinguished by the nature of its products, and by the smaller extent and greater complexity of its operations; on the other side, in its processes of embellishment, it approaches the arts of the Landscape Gardener and the Forester. For these latter departments of rural art, considered as distinct from Horticulture, see Landscape Gardening.

Like other arts, Horticulture borrows its principles from the general sciences. To Botany it is indebted for the facts and theories of vegetable physiology; to Chemistry for assistance in reference to soils, manures, and artificial heat; and to Meteorology for a knowledge of many circumstances which very materially affect the labours of the gardener. On these subjects, with which the philosophical horticulturist will not fail to make himself familiar, we refer to the various scientific articles in this Encyclopedia. It is very desirable that such information should be extensively diffused among practical men; as it is only from this quarter that much improvement, in our present state of knowledge, can be expected. Gardening has, until lately, too generally been practised, and treated as an empirical art. Those who were minutely conversant with its numerous manipulations were generally deficient in that intellectual training necessary to enable them to wield general principles with effect. This useful art is based on the imitation of Nature; for although the processes of nature may be in some measure originated—as when a seed is inserted in the ground, or modified—as in the artificial training of fruit-trees, they can neither be entirely controlled nor counteracted. The principle of vegetable life will not suffer interference beyond a certain point, and our theoretical views should be so directed as to interfere with this principle as little as possible. Accordingly the rapid advancement of Horticulture in recent times may be traced to the strictly scientific basis on which it has been placed, and the close adherence to the laws of vegetable physiology which has supplanted the prejudices of former days. The writings of De Candolle, Dutrochet, Bonnet, Papin, Senebier, Duhamei, Mariotte, Liebig, Saussure; and those of our own countrymen, Keith, Knight, Priestley, Lindley, and Balfour, have greatly contributed to this result.

Gardening was undoubtedly among the first of the arts to which the attention of man was directed. If we would ascend into remote antiquity, we can have recourse only to conjecture, for although, in the Sacred Writings, and in the earliest profane authors, allusions to gardens occur, little is told us either of their productions or their culture. At the close of the Roman commonwealth, the catalogue of fruits had become considerable, the principles of grafting and pruning were understood and practised, and shortly afterwards, even artificial heat seems to have been partially employed. With the decline of the empire, horticulture also declined or became stationary; but at the revival of learning, it arose from the slumber of the dark ages, encumbered, it is true, by the dreams of the alchymists, the restrictions of unlucky days, and the imaginary effects of lunar influence. From these fetters it was ere long emancipated by the diffusion of knowledge, and it has hitherto kept pace with the general improvement of society. Modified by climate and other circumstances in different countries, its advancement has been various; but nowhere has it made greater progress than amongst ourselves. Introduced into England at an early period, gardening made great progress in the reign of Henry VIII. and his immediate successors, and met with considerable attention during the reigns of the Stuarts. In the first half of the eighteenth century, Miller, Switzer, and others, laboured with success in improving the operations, and unfolding the principles, of the art; and these were succeeded by Abercrombie, Speechly, and a host of writers, who added greatly to our stores of knowledge. In 1805 was established the Horticultural Society of London, which was soon followed by the institution of the Caledonian Horticultural Society at Edinburgh; and in their train have sprung up a multitude of provincial gardening societies, all of which have given an impulse to the public mind, and stimulated the exertions of individuals. Experimental gardens have been formed, in which, amongst other things, the important work of distinguishing and classifying the numerous varieties of our hardy fruits has been zealously prosecuted. The mass of information now collected is immense, and the labour expended in its diffusion unrewarded. Judging from the literature of the day, we shall scarcely find any art, however nationally important, which receives more attention, or on which the liberality of the wealthy is more abundantly bestowed. The public nursery-gardens, too, both at London and elsewhere, establishments intimately connected with our subject, and which, in a manufacturing nation, are not the least wonderful amongst the applications of skill and capital, prove the extent and perfection to which gardening has advanced.

We shall, in what follows, confine our attention almost exclusively to the horticulture of Great Britain, and endeavour to give such an exhibition of its practice as may suit the middle districts of the island. It would be unprofitable to describe all the methods of culture in practice; and we shall therefore notice such only as are deemed the best.

The subject naturally divides itself into the Fruit, the Kitchen, and the Flower Garden; but as the first two generally occupy the same locality, or are intermingled with each other, we shall, to some extent, take them together. Then will follow the Flower Garden; Conservatory and Plant-houses; and by way of conclusion to the whole, a short Calendar.

Before proceeding to these departments, it may prevent unnecessary repetitions, to offer a few brief remarks on the general principles of vegetable origin and existence.

The first principles of vegetation are those which regulate Propagation and Growth. All plants are propagated by Seed, Cuttings, Layering, Budding, or Grafting. Imported seeds should be sown as soon as they are received, unless in the case of those that vegetate speedily, which should be sown neither late in autumn, nor early in winter, as in the event of their vegetating during the dark months the young plants would likely perish. Hard seeds, and such as do not vegetate rapidly, may be committed to the soil at those periods when it is calculated their growth will commence. Propagation by Seed.—Germination, or the sprouting of the seed, depends on the presence of moisture and a due amount of heat and air. No seed will germinate at 32° Fahr., nor if enclosed in hermetically sealed vessels, nor even if too deeply covered with soil. A full account of the requisites for germination, and of the chemical changes which occur, is given under the article Botany, Part I. § iv. 2.

Propagation by Cuttings of the Wood, the mode next in importance and general use, consists in originating new individuals by means of portions of the parent plant. Sometimes pieces of the roots are employed, but more generally portions either of the young wood of the current season of growth, as in the case of Heaths; or portions of the ripened wood of the previous season, as in Currants and Gooseberries; or occasionally single eyes or buds, as in the Vine; or truncheons of the stem and older branches, as in the Willow and Mulberry; or the leaf, as in Gloxinia; or any part of the plant, as in the majority of Succulents.

The immediate cause of the formation of roots is as yet unknown, but the remote cause is conjectured by Lindley to be the elaboration of organisable matter by the leaves, for, as he observes, "there can be no doubt that the development of roots is much assisted by the descending sap." When a ring of bark is removed from a branch, if the wound is wrapped in damp moss, roots will invariably push from the upper lip of the wound, while the lower will produce none, a fact so well known, that it has been one of the causes of an opinion, that roots are bundles of wood liberated from the continual perpendicular system, and that the wood itself is nothing but a mass of roots formed by the leaves and buds." Roots, for the most part, are formed in the dark, and hence the seed, the cutting, and the layer, are buried more or less under ground.

Heat has a very considerable effect on the formation of roots in cuttings, and hence the most successful mode is to place the cuttings in a mild bottom heat. Many hardy plants which strike roots when their cuttings are planted in the open soil, would do so much sooner if placed in heat. Some hard-wooded trees, as the common White Thorn, refuse to root when their cuttings are planted in the natural soil, yet they will do so readily if placed in a bottom heat. We must first obtain roots to our cuttings before leaves need be looked for, and to obtain this the temperature of the soil in which the cuttings are placed, must be several degrees higher than that of the atmosphere. It is an invariable rule throughout plant culture that the root action shall be in advance of that of the leaves. Deciduous trees and shrubs succeed best when the cuttings are planted early in autumn, while the soil retains the solar heat absorbed during summer. Evergreens propagate by these means best, when the cuttings are planted during April or May, August or September. Greenhouse and stove plants are propagated in this way during the spring and summer months. The great object to be attained is to get them established with active roots before the approach of winter.

The following, from "Lindley's Theory of Horticulture," contains the main essentials required in this process of propagation. "What is demanded when cuttings or plants are to be struck, is a due adjustment of heat, light, and moisture. The first stimulates the vital processes, the second causes the formation of matter, out of which roots and leaves are to be organised; the third is at once a vehicle for the food required by the cutting, and a part of it. The great difficulty is to know how to adjust these agents.

"If the heat is too high, organs are formed faster than they can be solidified, if too low, decay comes on before the reproductive forces can be put in action. When light is too powerful, the fluid contents of the cutting are lost faster than they can be supplied; when too feeble there is not a sufficiently quick formation of organisable matter with which to construct the new roots and leaves. If water is deficient, the cutting is starved; if over-abundant, it rots. It is, then, the adjustment of these forces to the peculiar nature of the cutting to be acted upon that constitutes the art of propagation. It is this which theory cannot supply, but which depends upon skill and experience. If any part of the operations of cultivation can be called empirical, it is this. And yet the operator is not without rules to guide him in this adjustment; the misfortune is that they are too general. The softer the cutting, the quicker must be the excitement and the application of the formative process. The more hard and woody the cutting is, the slower will be the operation."

Light and moisture have also a considerable effect on the constitution of the cutting. When intense light is allowed to strike on a cutting before its roots are formed, and especially if the cutting be a soft-wooded one, undue transpiration is excited; this transpiration therefore must be modified by partial shading, and the loss of sap made up for by keeping the atmosphere and soil moist. These precautions must be continued until the roots are formed, when they will imbibe fluid from the soil as fast as the sun dries it off from the leaves. An artificial atmosphere, so to speak, is formed around the cutting when it is covered with a bell-glass. "Ignorant people," Dr. Lindley remarks, "believe that the use of the bell-glass is to keep out air, which is impracticable and useless. Bell-glasses act by keeping in moisture. From the surface of warm damp soil, water is perpetually escaping in the form of invisible vapour; if the soil is freely exposed that vapour is dispersed as fast as it is formed; but when it is confined beneath a bell-glass the air is unchanged, and the vapour remains in a state of suspension, bathing and invigorating the whole surface of the cuttings. When this is well managed, the whole of the injurious effects of sunlight are prevented, and all the advantages of it secured." Great care, however, must be taken to keep the temperature of the air which surrounds the bell-glass as warm as that which is enclosed, to prevent condensation within, which would induce rottenness, or what is practically termed damping off. Cutting off the leaves of cuttings, or even reducing them in size—a very common error—should be avoided. Many cuttings will strike root if their end be placed in water, and those plants do so most successfully which are termed hard-wooded, because the dense texture of the wood prevents their absorbing too much of the water, as is the case with soft-wooded plants.

This absorption in such cuttings is one if not the principal cause of their so often damping off. Mr. Low, with a view to prevent this, has proposed to dip their ends in Collodion, an adhesive substance, impenetrable by water. Its general application is not, however, recognized. There is a singular phenomenon, somewhat analogous to irritability in animals, known to exist in vegetables, the cause of which has not been discovered by physiologists. They have, however, applied the term Vegetable Excitability to it. Its effect is the well-known fact that the young cuttings taken from trees growing in the open air will not produce roots, whereas, if the same trees were taken up and placed in a forcing-house, cuttings from them would certainly succeed.

Cuttings taken from plants growing in a cool green- house will, in a like manner, not succeed if placed in a propagating pit at a high temperature, but if the same plants are set in a warm house for a few days, the cuttings from them are sure to succeed.

Propagation by Layering is practised in the case of roses and other shrubs which do not so readily strike by cuttings. It is somewhat analogous to Inarching, that is, forming an individual plant from the branch of another still adhering to it.

Propagation by Suckers is seldom adopted, except in the case of some hardy shrubs, and the Pine Apple. Plants originated by this process amongst the former are in general considered inferior. In the latter case it is otherwise. In good culture a sufficient stock is easily kept up for private supply by choosing the strongest suckers that are produced on the stem, which are more or less numerous according to the amount of check the plant may sustain by the formation of the fruit. Rare sorts may be wonderfully increased by retaining the stump, instead of throwing it away as is usually done after the fruit is ripened, and placing it in a damp pit, with a bottom temperature of 90°. Every latent eye would then spring, and a large amount of young plants be produced.

Propagation by Single Leaves.—The leaves of some plants produce adventitious buds upon their edges and upper surfaces, and some leaves like those of the Echeverias strike root soon after they fall on the soil. Some genera like Gloxinia, Cianthus, Gesnera, &c., require to have only the footstalk of their leaves planted in sandy soil in a proper temperature, to produce young plants. These leaf cuttings first form a callosity at their base, then roots, and lastly, a bud, from which last the future plant is organised. Some plants form this bud more freely than others, while a few seem unwilling to form it at all.

Propagation by Cuttings of the Root.—Some plants produce on their roots what are called adventitious buds, which are used for the purpose of propagation. It is a singular and beautiful arrangement in the vegetable economy that such plants as do not propagate freely by cuttings in the ordinary way, do so freely by substituting portions of the root for that of the branch. The Japan Quince, the Cydonia japonica, so common in our gardens, is a good example of this. It can scarcely be propagated in the usual manner, but the roots from \( \frac{1}{4} \) to \( \frac{1}{2} \) inch in diameter, if cut into pieces about 2 inches in length, and planted even in the open border, will take root freely. The Acacia pubescens, which is rarely if ever struck by cuttings of the wood, propagates freely by this method. But the most extraordinary instance within our knowledge is that of coniferous trees being so multiplied. This discovery is due to M. Neuman of the Jardin des Plantes de Paris, who, in his interesting work on propagation, states this fact in regard to the Arumaria Cunninghamii, and he believes that all conifers may be propagated in the same manner. His process is briefly this:—In spring the cuttings are made, being portions of the roots \( \frac{3}{4} \) of an inch in diameter, and from 2 to 3 inches in length; they are planted in pots in March, and placed in a moderate temperature; in April they are transferred to a warm tan bed, and in a month afterwards vegetation becomes excited.

Propagation by Single Eyes.—This is now almost universally practised in the case of the vine, the plants so produced being remarkable for the shortness of their joints, that is the multiplicity of their buds. It is believed, theoretically, that all plants may be so increased. In some cases the eyes disengage themselves spontaneously from the mother plant, fall down, and strike root; in others the propagator cuts out the eye, with a small portion of the wood. In some plants the eyes are more excitable than in others, and hence this mode of propagation is not of universal application in practice. The rationale of this is given by Mr. Knight, in the 2d vol. of the Hort. Trans. p. 115.

Analogous with this mode of propagation is that of originating plants from knots or excrencences, which are cut out of the bark, and called by the Italians novelli, in English, knaura. These embryo buds or concretions are spoken of by Dr. Lindley, as being found "in the bark of many, and probably of all trees, and are supposed to have been adventitious buds developed in the bark, and, by the pressure of the surrounding parts, forced into those spheroidal woody masses, in the shape of which we find them." These are found sometimes singly, as in the Beech, but often in groups or clusters, as in the Elm. They often remain dormant for years, at other times lengthen out into small branches. They have been seldom used for the purpose of propagation in this country, but have been so in Italy in the propagation of the Olive. The process is explained by Signor Manetti in the 7th vol. of the Gardener's Magazine.

Propagation by Budding and Grafting.—This operation is in some respects analogous to that of propagation by single eyes, buds, or cuttings. In the cases we have already treated of, the eye, bud, or scion, is transferred from the tree to the earth at once, whereas, in the present case, the bud or scion of one tree is transferred to another tree, or in other words planted into it. Grafting is so nearly akin to budding, that the French, who are great operators, do not distinguish them by separate words, but use the general term greffe for both. The theory has been very fully explained by De Candolle, in his "Physiologie Vegetale;" by D'Albret, Knight, and others. Mons. Thouin, in his "Monographie des Greffes," and also in "Nouveau Cours complet d'Agriculture," has described above 40 methods, while M. Louis Noisette published a description, with figures of 137 forms. The most valuable information on the subject, however, is to be found in Dr. Lindley's "Theory of Horticulture," new edition, 1855. Glancing only at the more important parts of our subject, we find that strong and healthy stocks increase the vigour of scions of weakly plants; hence delicate sorts of vines should be wrought upon plants of robust varieties. Delicate and shy-flowering roses, when wrought on strong growing sorts, produce and develop their flowers, which they would not do in our climate if upon their own roots; and, singular to say, the most delicate variegations are retained when budded, which would not happen if not so treated. Blossom buds of one tree may be transferred to the barren branches of another, and fruit thus produced. Buds of a variegated-leaved plant inserted into a branch of a plant of the same genus, having only green leaves, will, even should the inserted bud not push into growth, produce variegation in the leaves of the green-leaved plant. In this way, the curious Cytisus Adamii, produced apparently by grafting Cytisus purpureus in Cytisus Laburnum, exhibits both purple and yellow flowers. The stock has also a considerable influence over the scion, and therefore great care should be taken in its selection.

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1 That portion of the wood, whether old or young, intended for a cutting, must be furnished with buds upon its surface. Hence those parts denominated internodes, that is, the smooth parts between two joints, as exemplified in the Nat. Order Gramineae, need not be tried, but the same plants, cut transversely, close under a node or joint, root freely. In other plants, as in the Pelargonium, for example, internodes also intervene between leaf and leaf, hence cuttings of them must be made just under a leaf, because a bud is certain to exist in the axil of the leaf. Flower stalks seldom contain buds, and hence they are useless for the purpose of making cuttings. If mere multiplication of individuals were all that was to be expected of budding or grafting, then the stocks most easily procured, if sufficiently akin to the scion or bud, would be the best. But the operation is of far greater importance than this; it ennobles the tree by changing its character from a worse to an improved condition, as to its production either of flowers or fruits. To a certain extent it increases the hardiness of a tender sort, when wrought on a stock capable of better resisting cold, or one which is more suited to the low soil temperature of northern latitudes than that natural to the tree from which the bud or scion is taken. Mr Knight denied this fact, but Dr. Lindley supports it, and says, in his "Theory of Horticulture"—"Probably in Persia, the native country of the Peach, that species, or its wild type, the Almond, is the best stock for the former fruit; because the temperature of the earth is that in which it was created to grow. But in a climate like that of England, the summer temperature of whose soil is so much lower than that of Persia, the Plum, on which the Peach takes freely, is a hardy native, and suited to such soil, and its roots are aroused from their winter sleep by an amount of warmth insufficient for the Peach. Experience, in this case, completely confirms what theory teaches; for although there may be a few healthy trees in this country growing upon the Almond stock, it is certain that the greater part of those which have been planted have failed; while in the warm soil of France and Italy it is the stock upon which the old trees have in almost all cases been budded."

Stocks must also be chosen to suit the soil. From a careful series of experiments made in the Horticultural Society's Garden at Chiswick, we find that in loamy soils the Apple succeeds best on the Doucin stock, in chalky soils on the Crab, and in light soils, slightly enriched with decayed vegetable matter, on the Doucin. The Pear in loamy soil, or in light soils enriched with decayed vegetable matter, succeeds best on the Quince, while on chalky soils the wild Pear is preferable. The Plum succeeds best in loamy soils, when wrought on the Plum stock, while on chalky and light soils it does better on the Almond. The Cherry succeeds best in loamy, or in light rich soils, when wrought on the wild Cherry, and on chalk when on the Mahaleb stock.

The stock also has considerable influence on the fruit, as well as on the strength of the scion. This we find to be the case in regard to the Stanwick Nectarine, so apt to crack and not to ripen when wrought in the ordinary way. It is said to be cured by being first budded on a very strong growing Magnum Bonum Plum, wrought on a Brussels stock, and inserting the buds close to the ground, then the buds of the Nectarine on the Magnum Bonum Plum, about a foot from the ground. The quality of the fruit is in general also improved by the process. "This may be conceived," says Dr. Lindley, "to happen in two ways—either by the ascending sap carrying up with it into the scion a part of the secretions of the stock, or by the difference induced in the general health of a scion by the manner in which the flow of ascending and descending sap is promoted or retarded by the stock. In the Pear the fruit becomes higher coloured and smaller on the Quince stock than on the wild Pear; still more so on the Medlar. On the Mountain Ash the Pear becomes earlier; and in these instances the ascent and descent of sap is obstructed by the Quince more than by the wild Pear, and by the Medlar more than by the Quince. Similar effects are produced in the Apple by the Paradite and Siberian bitter and sweet stocks."

From these facts we learn that the quality of fruit must become deteriorated when wrought on stocks, the fruit of which is worthless. For example, Peaches would be so when wrought upon the Almond or Wild Plum; the Apple, when wrought on the Crab; and the Pear, when wrought on the White Thorn or Mountain Ash. Analogy would lead us to expect that using as stocks those trees whose fruits are of known excellence, still greater excellence would follow. This is asserted to be the case. In the same way double working or ennobling is said to improve the quality of fruits, an idea we have long entertained.

Planting.—Transplanting naturally follows propagation. We will now briefly glance at the leading features of this important part of our subject. Every plant when removed from one place to another sustains, to a greater or less degree, a check. It is for us to consider how this check can be obviated, or reduced. The season of the year, the state of the atmosphere, the condition of the plant, the soil, its age, size, and the disposition of its roots, are all matters to be duly considered.

As to season, as regards deciduous trees and shrubs, it is now admitted by those most competent to judge, that the earlier in autumn the operation is performed the better; although some extend it from the period when the leaves fall to the earliest part of spring, before the sap begins to move, and the cold dry winds to prevail. Were it possible, we would say, let the operation be completed by the end of November, because up to that period the soil has not parted with the solar heat absorbed during summer; heat being, as already shewn, so necessary for stimulating growth in the roots. We are aware that in large operations this cannot in all cases be effected, but in regard to rare and delicate plants it should not be lost sight of. Early autumn planting enables the wounded parts of the roots to be healed over, and to form spongiolos, which will be ready in spring to collect food for the plant, at the time it most requires it. Late winter and spring planting should, as far as possible, be avoided, for at that time the buds begin to become excited, and the draught upon the roots becomes great. Some believe that as the surface of the young leaves is small, the transpiration is feeble; but they should take into consideration that the newly formed tissue is unable to resist the drying action of the atmosphere, which is exceedingly great in spring, unless it is abundantly supplied with sap from the roots.

Not only is evaporation great in our climate at the period the buds begin to burst, but our temperature is also low, which prevents the free circulation of the sap. Indeed, as regards deciduous trees and shrubs, we are confident that the proper season for transplanting is during September, October, and November. Experience has taught us during forty years' practice, and in this we are fully borne out by our greatest physiological authority, who says, in his Theory of Horticulture, "As soon as a plant has shed its leaves it is as much at rest for the season as it will be at any subsequent period, unless it is frozen; its torpor is indeed greater at that time, because its excitability is completely exhausted by the season of growth, and it has had no time to recover it. If at that time a root is wounded, a process of granulation or cicatrization will commence, just as it does in cuttings; and from that granulation, which is a mere development of the cellular system, roots will eventually proceed. Now, as it is obvious, that since roots must be wounded in the process of removal, the sooner the wound is made the better, because it has the longer time in which to heal; and therefore, the earlier in the autumn transplanting is effected, the less injury will be sustained by the plant submitted to the process. Deciduous trees usually begin to assume their autumnal hue in September, and as soon as that has happened they may be transplanted with The humidity of the atmosphere also, as is well known, is much greater in our climate during the autumn and winter months than in spring, and hence this season is more favourable for the perspiration of plants which, although they are enfeebled by the loss of their leaves, is not entirely suspended. Besides, the functions of absorption and perspiration are going on through their bark, and therefore a saturated atmosphere is extremely favourable to this important action.

We only refer to one other circumstance in favour of autumnal planting, and that is the production of roots during the absence of leaves. Some physiologists support a theory, that roots are formed by the action of the leaves, and therefore that trees make no roots during winter. This theory is, however, unsupported by facts, for it is proved that roots do grow during that period.

Closely connected with the proper season is the best means of performing the operation of transplantation. This depends greatly on the size of the trees, the soil in which they grow, and the mechanical appliances made use of in lifting and transporting them. The smaller the tree, the more successfully can it be removed. The more argillaceous and the less silicious the soil, the more readily can balls of earth be retained about the roots. Most planters prefer balls, some, however, care less for this, so long as the roots are preserved to their greatest possible extent. Others lay great stress on the preservation of the spongiolas, while all admit them to be indispensable as absorbing points, destined to collect food for the plant, which derives nourishment from them by means of the roots. The point principally disputed is the necessity of preserving them during the process, or the practicability of allowing them to be cut off and replaced again. Their careful preservation has been strongly advocated by De Candolle, Dutrochet, Bonnet, Papin, Senebier, Keith, and Lindley; while Link, Ohlert, Rogers, and others, deny this to be a matter of consequence. Trees and shrubs removed from thick plantations, or from sheltered warm places, are ill fitted to be planted in bleak and cold places. During their removal it is important that the roots be in some way covered, if only to prevent their suffering from being dried up by the action of the air, so that they may retain nearly the same degree of humidity which they had when growing in the soil. Damp days are therefore the best for the operation, hence March, April, and May being our driest months, are the most unfavourable. Of mechanical appliances, there is no doubt that M-Glasen's tree-lifter, where the soil is free of stones and of sufficient depth, is the best at present in use, and that the common timber carriage or janker is comparatively a barbarous invention.

The best time for removing evergreens is during August and September, or during April and May. The month of September, however, should have the preference. But they may even be safely planted, if judiciously gone about, at any time from April till the end of October. Evergreens differ from deciduous trees, insomuch as they have no season of repose, that is to say, they are in a perpetual state of growth, their circulation, assimilation, transpiration, and process of root-making, being continually in operation. Much of the success in transplanting depends on the humidity of the atmosphere at the time the operation takes place; but the principal point of importance is warmth in the soil. Humidity can be supplied artificially, but heat cannot. It is upon this temperature of the soil that Mr Glendinning appears to found his arguments in favour of September planting, as described by him in an excellent paper in the "Journal of the Horticultural Society," and his opinion is one in which theory and practice completely coincide.

Pruning.—Lindley says "that if well directed, pruning is one of the most useful, and if ill directed, it is amongst the most mischievous operations that can take place upon a plant." The object of pruning is to regulate the number and bulk of the various parts of a plant, to modify the form of trees, to promote the growth of timber in forest trees, and the formation of blossom buds in fruit trees, to cure disease, proportion the head to the roots, or increase the size of the fruit. In fruit-bearing trees, it is performed on the roots to induce fruitfulness.

The season for pruning varies according to the nature of the tree, but in general it is performed at mid-winter or mid-summer, practically called winter and summer pruning. The latter should properly extend during the greater part of the growing season of the tree, beginning with disbudding or finger pruning, and ending by a reduction of points of the shoots where not specially required, to admit light and air to the ripening crop and young wood. Early autumn pruning has the effect of strengthening the shoots of the succeeding season, and by some is said to hasten the ripening of the crop, a fact we are unable to certify. The former is thus accounted for by Dr. Lindley, "During the season of rest (winter) a plant continues to absorb food solely from the earth by its roots; and if its branches are unpruned, the sap there and then introduced into the system will be distributed equally all through it. If late pruning is had recourse to, and the branches are removed, of course a large portion of the sap that has been accumulating during the winter will be thrown away. When, however, early or autumnal pruning is employed, and the branches removed before the sap has accumulated in them, then all the sap which the roots are capable of collecting during the period of repose will be deposited in the branches left, and they will necessarily push with increased vigour. As, however, pruning is by no means intended at all times to increase the vigour of a plant, late or spring pruning, if not deferred till the sap is in rapid motion, may be more judicious." Hardy trees and shrubs, with few exceptions, may be pruned during autumn and winter, the most tender should be left till spring, lest they suffer from frost while their wounds are unhealed. Besides many of them lose portions of their branches, and the extent of this loss cannot be determined till spring.

Pruning is an art which requires experience, and a knowledge of the character of the plant to be operated upon. Two important lessons require to be learned, namely, how to cut, and where to cut. The cut should be clean, and always in a sloping direction upwards, at about an angle of 45°, and this can only be performed with a very sharp and thin knife. The cut should commence at the back of the bud, and not on the opposite side of the shoot, as by this means the bark soon covers over the wound. When the cut is too low, leaving the bud exposed, it is faulty, because the bud is exposed to the drying air, and is liable to be broken off. Cutting too far above a bud is equally bad, as it leaves a dead portion of the branch which can never be covered with bark, and must either be cut away afterwards, or left, as it often is, a staring evidence of want of care or skill in the operator.

The question of pruning, or cutting back trees at planting, is a disputed point amongst horticulturists. The matter has been explained in "The Theory of Horticulture," of which the following is the substance:—In pruning plants, when transplanted, there can be no doubt that it is more frequently injurious than beneficial. The roots of a transplanted tree not being fully in action in consequence of the injuries sustained during its removal, they are capable of exercising but little influence on the branches, as compared with an established tree, and therefore heading back the branches will not cause the buds to break with more force than if the pruning had not been performed. The great point to be attained, in the first instance, is the renovation of the roots, and that will happen only in proportion to the healthy action of the leaves and buds; if, therefore, the branches are removed, a great obstacle is opposed to this renovation; but if they remain, new roots will be formed in proportion to the healthy action of the leaves. The danger to be feared is that the transpiration of the leaves may be so great as to exhaust the system of its fluid contents faster than the roots can restore them; and in such cases it is certainly requisite that some part of the branches should be pruned away. The shortening of the roots at the time of planting, although pretty universally practised in nurseries, can only be useful in cases where they have sustained injury in course of their removal. In all cases, therefore, where roots have been broken or bruised, it is proper to cut off the injured parts smoothly, in order to prevent decay and to promote the formation of granular matter along the edges of the wounds, from which new fibres or spongioles are certain to be produced. This operation, however, should take place in autumn, when the roots are comparatively devoid of fluid, and not in spring, when they are fully charged.

Summer pruning consists merely of a removal of all young wood not required for the extension of the tree or formation of fruit-buds. One species of summer pruning should be here adverted to, namely, a partial removal of the leaves. This is a dangerous operation in unskilful hands, as by means of the leaves the important functions of digestion and respiration are carried on. Strip a tree of its leaves during its growing season, and it dies; reduce their number, and a reduction of its energies is the consequence. Hence it is only with the greatest care that a few leaves may be removed towards the ripening season to admit light and air to assist in the ripening of the fruit and the maturation of the young wood.

Training.—The sap in all trees has a natural tendency to flow upwards, and hence the buds at the extreme points of the branches will be the strongest and most disposed to produce leaves and wood. Upright training is consequently the best when these results are desired, but the worst when fruit is desired; and hence a contrary direction, or some modification from the perpendicular, should be given to the branches. Again, weak growing trees should have their branches trained perpendicularly, or nearly so, while strong growing ones should be placed in a horizontal or even pendant position. We find trees trained between these extremes, and all that practice has exemplified in the various modifications is borne out by the soundest theory. It would be quite out of place here even to give an enumeration of the various forms. We will, however, give a few illustrations of the most popular forms in their respective places.

FRUIT AND KITCHEN GARDEN.

Although fruits and culinary vegetables are for the most part cultivated within the same enclosure, and even in many works on the subject of their management we find them treated as inseparable, yet it will be found best in practice, particularly where high culture is attempted, to keep the culinary garden and that dedicated to fruit-trees distinct. This systematic arrangement, however, applies more especially to large establishments, where order and system are considered leading features. Grave objections may be also raised against placing hot-houses, plant-houses, and often a large amount of flowers, in juxtaposition with cabbages and potatoes, and even with one another. In places of limited extent, this medley system can scarcely be avoided. The bear ideal, however, of a perfect garden establishment would be to have each department a perfect whole in itself; and these may be so arranged as to adjoin each other, or be separated, according to local circumstances. Long cherished associations (prejudices, may we call them?) will require much softening down, ere the promiscuous style be entirely abandoned. Unfortunately we have only few examples to adduce in favour of the systematic style; yet, when it has been adopted, an ample amount of satisfaction has been the result.

The first thing to be considered is the plan of the garden. This should be prepared before commencing operations, and in it should be laid down the most minute arrangement even of all the details. It does not, however, follow that the proprietor is to carry into effect the entire plan at once, or possibly, in many cases, at any future period. He can adopt such parts of it as suit his taste or circumstances at once, and when afterwards disposed, proceed from time to time with the remainder. The want of such an arrangement at the outset accounts for the confusion and want of unity displayed in many gardens of high standing. Indeed we have few instances to point to, in which the grossest incongruities are not to be found.

Size.—The size of a walled garden ought evidently to bear some proportion to the splendour of the mansion-house of which it is an appendage, and to the extent of the park. In style also, in its principal erections, it should harmonise with that of the proprietor's residence; and although the architectural details are not required to be carried out in all their minutiae, still so much of them is required as to show a connection between the one and the other. Such a garden should comprehend from four to six acres. In many places this extent will not afford an adequate supply of culinary vegetables, and therefore, as at Chatsworth, Petworth, Belvoir, Dalkeith, &c., the extent varies from twelve to twenty acres, and that of Her Majesty at Frogmore exceeds thirty acres. From an acre and a half to three acres may, however, be regarded as forming a good size for a garden, it being always better, in the first formation of a garden, to enclose too large a space than too small a one. Some, from mistaken notions of economy, attempt to procure a supply of the hardier vegetables from the farm; but, with the exception of the winter supply of potatoes, nothing can be so well or economically produced as in the garden.

Situation.—The position of the garden in relation to the mansion-house properly belongs to the province of Landscape-Gardening, as it obviously should be in keeping with the general features of the park scenery. As a place of interest to every well-informed proprietor, it should be so near as to be conveniently accessible on foot, probably within little more than a quarter of a mile; while it should be so distant as to avoid the possibility of offence arising from gardening operations and the resort of workmen. A position on either side of the house is to be preferred, unless a much better can be found behind it. Wherever it be placed, it should be so masked by evergreen shrubs and trees, as not to be visible from the principal lawns, nor from the walks in the shrubbery and flower-garden. If the surface of the domain be undulating, the garden is almost unavoidably seen from some point or other, and the coup d'œil of the enclosure walls, presenting the idea of a large box, is apt to produce an unpleasant impression, which should by all means be avoided or lessened by plantations judiciously placed. Where the irregular form of exterior enclosure is adopted, this great defect is obviated; and gardens in this form present many advantages over those of stiff and formal shapes; while, at the same time, space is secured in the surrounding slips for furnishing an abundant supply without the expense of high walls. Also much of the formality of regular figures is taken off when south walls are either dispensed with, as exemplified in the new gardens recently laid out by Mr. McIntosh at Braco Castle and Maulden; or where they are transformed into sunk terrace walls, as in the new gardens at Panmure House and elsewhere.

Ground possessing a gentle inclination toward the south is desirable for a garden. On such a slope efficient draining is easily accomplished, and the greatest possible benefit is derived from the sun's rays. The lower part of a gentle declivity is perhaps to be preferred; but a very low situation should never be chosen, as the subsoil is apt to be damp, fogs often brood over such spots, and frosts are more injurious there than on higher ground. It is beneficial to have an open exposure towards the south, the east, and west, so that the garden may enjoy the full benefit of the morning and evening sun.

Shelter is absolutely necessary; and that afforded by natural objects, such as rising grounds, is the best. Where this is wanting, its place should be supplied by masses of forest-trees, disposed at such a distance, however, as not to shade the wall-trees, perhaps not nearer than 150 feet. The purpose of such screens is to break the force of the winds; and as every situation is, in this respect, liable to some peculiarities occasioned by the general structure of the country, as for instance to aerial currents from adjacent eminences, these peculiarities should be carefully observed and obviated. The idea that crowded plantations increase the warmth of a place is fallacious; and, in the opinion of many, they do more harm than good, by producing an unhealthy atmosphere.

The trees employed may be various, but lime-tree, horse-chestnut, beech, sycamore, weeping birch, and the smooth-leaved wych elm, should prevail. There may also be a proportion of evergreen trees, such as holmies, Portugal and common laurels, and evergreen oaks. When these masses of wood are planted at the time the border is formed, poplars, and other fast-growing trees, should be thickly intermixed to act as temporary trees and nurses, which are afterwards to be weeded out, as the permanent trees more slowly advance to maturity.

"Experience," says Toweys, who has written most judiciously on this subject, "has proved the correctness of Forsyth's opinions on the prevalence of blights in situations surrounded by woods." "I believe," he says, "that prevalence to be dependent on the phenomena of conduction, effected by the proximity of innumerable vegetable points, by which the chemical constitution of the atmosphere is somewhat changed, so that the juices of the plants partake of the change, and acquire a saccharine quality. Insects are thereby enticed, but not produced; and in every case of blight, it appears much more probable that the altered or diseased juices invite the insect than that it is imported by this or that current of air, whether it blow from the east, or from any other point."

The points from which shelter from winds is most required, varies very much according to the geographical position of the place. Thus we find by the calculations of the Royal Society of London that the prevailing winds in England are as follows:—

S.W. 112 days, N.E. 58, N.W. 50, N. 16, S. 18, W. 53, E. 26, S.E. 32. And according to Dr. Meek, from observations taken during 7 years, the prevailing winds of Scotland are—S.W. 174 days, N.E. 104, S.E. 47, and N.W. 40 days. And it may be stated that the prevailing winds in Scotland are the same throughout Europe, namely S.W. and N.E.

Those prevailing in Ireland, from its geographical position, are W. and S.W.

Water is one of the most important elements in vegetation. It is, as Switzer remarks, "the life and soul of a garden."

Yet we do not find one garden in twenty, where even ordinary precautions have been taken to secure a competent supply. Rain water is the best, next to that, river or pond water, and last of all, that from springs. A chemical analysis, however, should be made of its varieties, before the expense of bringing it in is thought of. Many waters containing mineral ingredients are exceedingly injurious. Iron pipes are the best conductors, and they should lead to a spacious open reservoir placed without the garden, and at the highest convenient point of level, to secure sufficient pressure, so that not only the whole surface of the ground, but the wall trees also may be conveniently watered. Short flexible tubes should be made to fit on branches of the main pipes, so as to traverse the whole garden, and these of a calibre capable of conducting a supply even to the extent of irrigation in certain cases. They should also be placed under the walks for safety, as well as for being easily reached when repairs are required. Pipes should also be laid having a connection with an underground cistern and a communication with every hot-house, as well as with the various offices.

Notwithstanding the vast importance of water, it is far from expedient to admit of large basins or ponds, and far less of a running stream through a garden, unless they can be completely turned off during winter. Where water is introduced, whether by bringing it from a distance in pipes, or by raising it to the surface by means of artesian wells, the expenditure, be it what it may, will, in the long run, be far less than what attends the very imperfect means employed in most gardens.

There are many contrivances by which water can be procured in abundance in almost all situations. We may merely refer to Linex's self-acting force and lift-pump, the hydraulic ram, and other mechanical appliances.

Connected with the situation is the approach to the garden from without, a matter requiring some taste and contrivance. If possible, it should be from the south, when the range of glazed houses will be seen at once, and produce a pleasing effect. Sometimes a lateral entrance is very suitable, leading, it may be supposed, from the flower-garden through an intermediate shrubbery, and coming upon the hot-houses in flank. Such would be the case in passing from one garden to another, as we have previously suggested, and much more so, if the department in which the principal hot-houses are placed, be entered, so as to get the first coup d'oeil of them from a point nearly in a parallel line with their front.

The worst of all entrances is from the back or north.

Form.—The form of a garden, it is obvious, must chiefly be determined by the nature of the situation and the taste of the proprietor. In general, gardens are either squares or oblongs, chiefly, it is presumed, because walls of this configuration contain the greatest space within the least perimeter, a result of very questionable value. They may be of any form, with this limitation, that attention should be paid to facilitating the transport of manures and garden products, for when the grounds are straggling, or complicated in structure, the labour of cultivation is much increased. Straight lines of walls and geometrical forms are perfectly admissible when near a mansion of a high architectural character, but not when the mansion which may be considered as the datum point is so subordinate as to fall under the denomination of a cottage or picturesque structure. In this case a garden of an irregular form will be in much better keeping. Prejudice is strong against gardens of irregular form, but when well adapted to the conditions of the locality they are far from being objectionable, as they associate better with surrounding objects and forms.

Exterior Fences.—All gardens should be encircled by an outer boundary, formed by a sunk wall or ha-ha, surrounded by an invisible wire fence to exclude hares, or by a hedge and low wire fence on its inner side. Occasionally this sunk wall is placed on the exterior of the screen plantations, and walks leading out among the trees, to give favourable views of the adjacent country. Although the interior garden receives its form from the walls, the ring fence and plantations may be adapted to the shape and surface of the ground. The spaces between the outer fence and the walls are called Sides; and, where circumstances render it eligible, a considerable extent of ground is sometimes included, and appropriated to the culture of small fruits and vegetables. If possible, the gardener's house should be situate here, as being convenient for him, and as tending to secure depredators.

Walls.—For the production of the finer fruits, such as peaches, apricots, hardy grapes, and most of the delicate French and Flemish pears, the aid of walls is indispensable in our climate. Indeed in the northern and higher parts of the country, where there is no walled garden, the dessert can seldom consist of more than small fruits, and ill-ripened apples and pears. The north wall having, in the interior, a south aspect, is of course appropriated to the more tender kinds of fruit-trees; here, it is generally estimated, they enjoy an increased temperature equal to 7° of south latitude; that is to say, the mean temperature within a few inches of their surface is equal to the mean temperature of the open plain 7° farther south. The east and west walls are set apart for fruits of a somewhat hardier character.

The north wall is generally placed nearly perpendicular to the meridian, that is, so as to have the sun directly in front at 12 o'clock. Minute directions have indeed been given to make it face towards 11 or 11½ A.M., on the ground that thus it would sooner meet the rays of the morning sun; but it does not appear that this arrangement has been the subject of direct experiment, and certainly the arguments, by which the superiority of this aspect is supported, are far from being satisfactory. The east and west walls are commonly placed at right angles to that already mentioned, but they may follow the shape of the ground, and if this slope to the south, they descend with the declivity. This descent, however, should not be carried in a direct line parallel with the surface of the ground, but should be stepped or ramped, so that the cope may be level between each of the breaks. South walls are the most valuable in cold climates, and against them the hot-houses have generally been placed. This appropriation of them along the northern side of the garden, has led to the erection of a corresponding wall on the southern side also, and not unfrequently, when the garden is large, a cross wall is carried through the centre. To such walls there are objections, insomuch as they shade the ground behind them, and render it cold by the exclusion of solar heat. The only advantage gained by them is that of their southern side, the opposite being next to useless, as no fruit-trees trained against it derive any advantage above being planted as open standards. Such walls also give the garden a confined appearance, and practically render it cold and deficient in ventilation. It is better, therefore, to extend the length of the principal wall beyond the space covered with glass, or to place the hot-houses in the centre of the garden, or, still better, in a compartment by themselves, constructing them of glass on all sides to within two feet of the ground, in the span-roofed, ridge and furrow, or curvilinear fashions. Thus little or no shade would be occasioned by them, and the front or south side of the garden would be open to the sun and air. The fence surrounding the slips will afford sufficient protection, or if no such exterior fence exist, the ends of the east and west walls may be connected by a rabbit-proof wire fence. However, as walls with a southern exposure are of so much importance for the ripening of our superior fruits, these ends may be better secured by running sunk or terrace walls across the ground than by the lofty walls at present in use. Where the inclination of the ground is considerable, such walls may not only be readily constructed, but they give a character of design as well as of utility at the same time. Their top should in no case rise more than three feet above the level of the ground behind, and a gravel walk should run parallel to them. As dryness is favourable to an increase of heat, it is necessary that such walls be either built hollow, or that they be packed behind to the thickness of three or four feet with rubble stones, flints, brickbats, or similar material, thoroughly drained at bottom, and forming the foundation of the walk referred to. Where the inclination of the ground is not great, then sunk walls may be employed, and the ground in front of them sloped back, so that the rays of light and heat may not be intercepted. Walls so situated will be warmer and much more sheltered than such as are built entirely above the surface.

Regarding the height of walls, it is better to extend the surface by elongation than by carrying them to a great height. Twelve feet is in general taken as the average height, but this depends greatly on the extent enclosed. The largest garden should have its northern or principal wall 14 feet, and its side walls 12 feet in height. Spaces of an acre or so should have their principal walls 12 feet and side walls 10 feet in height. It is important to extend projecting wings to the extent of 12 feet, or the breadth of the exterior border at the four corners of the garden, as they break the force of the wind considerably. It is better, however, that these projections extend in a diagonal direction rather than in a straight line with the wall.

Material.—Bricks have almost universally been employed in England for this purpose, because brick is the material of the country. For a similar reason stone has, until within late years, been greatly used in Scotland. The manufacture of bricks has now reached as great perfection in the latter country as in the former, and the means of procuring them in all parts has led to their more general adoption. The principal advantage of brick walls is that they can be more readily built hollow than stone walls, which is of itself important. The cavity (about 9 inches) between the sides of the wall renders them dryer than any solid wall, as the capillary attraction of damp is arrested; and the more so as the cavity is charged with air admitted through small openings placed near the surface of the ground. Such walls also readily admit of having hot water pipes placed in them. A considerable economy in material is effected, and an equally strong wall is the result. Bricks cannot be too well burnt for garden walls; the harder they are the less moisture will they absorb. Their colour becomes softened down during the process from the harshness of brick colour to that of a dark stone colour, which is more in harmony with all surrounding objects. A prejudice, indeed, was long felt in favour of bricks, on account of the facility they afforded for training trees. That prejudice, however, is now set aside by the use of eyed cast-iron studs (vide fig. 1), which are placed in the wall during its erection, and pushed into the joints before the mortar becomes set. They are placed in straight lines, both vertically and horizontally, and are permanent. For Peaches, &c., they are 9 inches apart, and for Pears, &c., 15 inches. The trees are fastened to them by passing a piece of soft twine through the eye and round the branch.

Many excellent walls are, however, built of stone. The best is dark-colored whinstone (the greenstone and basalt of mineralogists), because it absorbs a very small amount of humidity. The heat, however, in Scotland would be Caithness pavement, 4 inches thick, which absorbs even less moisture than the celebrated Bangor slate. Walls of that material could be built in regular courses, and cut (in the quarries) to any required length.

Common rubble walls are the worst of all; and where necessity compels their erection, they should be covered with Portland cement, and drawn off in imitation of ashlar.

Coping is an important element in garden walls, both for their preservation, and for throwing the rain-water off their surfaces; for, whatever produces dryness, tends to increase heat. The extent to which the coping should project must be regulated by local circumstances. On the west coast of Britain, where a much greater amount of rain falls than in the midland, and more especially on the east coast, the projection should, for a 12 feet wall, be 5 inches. In the very driest districts 1½ inch, or merely as much as will throw the drip clear of the wall, but not of the trees, will be sufficient. A broader projection would deprive the trees of their natural supply of moisture by rain or dews. Of all material none is better than Caithness pavement.

As regards colour, no doubt black absorbs more and reflects less heat than any other colour; yet, although this is scientifically true, in practice little benefit is found to be derived from it.

Hot Walls.—Heating walls by means of smoke flues, as formerly practised, is worse than useless; and we may add, the application of the flues was just the reverse of what it ought to have been. The effect of a furnace on a smoke-flued wall is only to the extent of heating 400 superficial feet, or, in other words, 40 feet in length of a 10 feet wall; whereas the same furnace and the same consumption of fuel applied to a boiler and hot water pipes, will heat more efficiently 3000 superficial feet, that is, 300 feet in length of a 10 feet wall. In arrangement the boiler should be placed in the centre of the space to be heated, and the circulation made to flow right and left, on either side. The disadvantage of smoke flues is, that with them it is impossible to guard against extremes of heat at certain parts; that part nearest the furnace being too hot for the trees, while even towards its limited extremity little heat is perceptible. Also they discolour the wall by soot-stains which it is difficult to remove.

The advantage of heating by hot water consists in its greater economy and uniformity of operation, the wall deriving as much heat at 150 feet from the boiler as it does close to it. The first expense is doubtless somewhat greater, but it requires no expense afterwards. East and west walls are better adapted for heating than south ones, because in them the trees on both surfaces derive an equal heat, whereas, in the other case, much of the heat will be absorbed by the side from which no good is to be derived. The application of artificial heat to walls should on no account be practised in early spring; because the later the trees become excited and the blossom formed, the greater chance have they of escaping our spring frosts. The whole use of heated walls is to increase our summer temperature, and prolong it as late in autumn as will secure not only the ripening of our finest fruits, but also the ripening of the wood and maturation of the buds for the following season.

Espalier-Rails.—Subsidiary to walls as a means of training fruit-trees, espalier-rails were formerly much employed, and they still prevail in many parts of the country. In their simplest form, they are merely a row of slender stakes of larch, driven into the ground, and connected by a slight rod or fillet at top. Espalier-rails of wood, formed into panels, fixed between upright standards, set on (not in) stones, are also employed. Their expense has, however, in most cases, been found nearly as great as that of walls of the same dimensions, while the advantage to the trees has been comparatively little. Cast and malleable iron rails have also to some extent been erected, but the well known property in all metallic substances to act as powerful conductors of both heat and cold in equal extremes, has led to their almost entire disuse. Modern improvements in pomology have shown that dwarf standard trees produce as fine fruit, and at a vastly less expense than espaliers, whether set in a vertical or horizontal position.

Soils.—It is of great importance that the ground selected for a garden should be naturally of a good quality. A hazel-colored loam, of a light or sandy texture, is well adapted for most crops, whether of fruits or culinary vegetables. As it is more easy to render a light soil sufficiently retentive, than to make a tenacious clay sufficiently porous, a light soil is preferable to one which is excessively stiff and heavy. It is advantageous to possess a variety of soils; and if the garden be on a slope, it will often be practicable to render the upper part light and dry, while the lower remains of a heavier and damper nature. The soil should be good to the depth of three feet, and any necessary additional deepening by manures or otherwise, should not be neglected. The nature of the subsoil demands particular attention. If it be strongly impregnated with metallic substances, or composed of cold till, it will prove pernicious to the roots of fruit-trees, and will scarcely admit of a remedy. A decomposing rock, or a bed of sand, is preferable. Perhaps the best of all is a dry bed of clay, overlying sandstone, which crops out within the enclosure. If the inferior strata be retentive, and if water lodge in any part of the garden, draining should be carefully executed, so as to carry off the superfluous moisture.

Irrespective of the removal of water, drainage is of vast importance, by admitting air, and with it solar heat, to the roots of plants. Vegetable physiology teaches us that plants depend greatly on a supply of air to their roots, and if it be denied them they ultimately perish. (See Wall Borders.)

The thorough drainage, and even vaulting of fruit-tree borders cannot be too much insisted upon, nor should gardeners overlook the important fact that drained land is in summer from 10° to 20° warmer than water-logged land lying contiguous to it. Professor Schabler, long ago, came to the conclusion, that the loss of heat, caused by evaporation in undrained lands, amounted from 11¼° to 13¼° Fahr. Mr Park has also shewn, in his "Essay on the Philosophy of Drainage," that the thermometer in drained moss land rose in June, 1837, to 66° at 7 inches below the surface, while in the neighbouring water-logged land it would never rise above 47°. In the garden of the Hort. Soc., the mean temperature of the thoroughly drained soil at 1 foot below the surface, in the month of July, is 63° 49', so that, if we take that of water-logged land to be the same as spring water, or 47°, there is a gain of 16½°. The reason why drained land gains heat, consists in the well known fact that heat cannot be transmitted downwards through water. The experiments made on vaulted borders at Yester bear out these facts in a remarkable manner.

Preparatory to the distribution of the several parts of a garden, it is proper that the ground be trenched to the depth of three feet at least; but the deeper the better. In this operation all stones larger than a man's fist are taken out, and all roots of trees, and of perennial weeds, are carefully extracted and cleared away. When the soil is not tolerably good to the depth of three feet, it will often be proper to remove a portion of the subsoil; and its place should be made up by a proportional quantity of turf or fresh loam from the fields. If the subsoil be gravel, and the upper layer sandy, the additional earth should be clayey loam; but if the original body of soil be of a compact texture, the materials introduced should be mixed with sand, marl, and other light opening substances. When the whole ground has been thus treated, a moderate liming will, in general, be useful. After this, supposing the work to have occupied most of the summer, the whole may be laid up in ridges, to expose as great a surface as possible to the action of the winter's frost. The draining, trenching, and other operations here recommended, will unavoidably be attended with considerable expense, which will not immediately be followed by any perceptible beneficial result. The lapse of a few years, however, will develop the vast advantages of such a mode of procedure, which, if neglected at first, cannot be adopted at a subsequent period but with indifferent success, and a great increase of care and labour.

Manures.—In enumerating the general appendages of gardens, it may be proper to say something of manures. Where there are extensive melon grounds, an abundance of stable and other litter is required; and this substance, in its partially decomposed state, as afforded by exhausted hotbeds, supplies a manure well adapted to aid the processes of vegetation. Decayed leaves, which are plentiful where there are extensive pleasure-grounds, also form an excellent manure for many purposes. Some practical men prefer composts, or such substances as have undergone fermentation, to simple dungs. For fruit-trees, turf from rich pastures, mixed with vegetable earth, is the best stimulant which can be applied. No trees are permanently benefited by the application of crude manures to their roots; and it is certain that many have been irreparably injured by this practice. But whatever caution may be necessary in their use in the fruit-garden, the prudent horticulturist will find it expedient to pay particular attention to the collection of manures. He cannot go on long without them in the kitchen-garden; for ground which is exhausted by continual cropping, requires to be continually repaired.

Internal Arrangement of Gardens.—A considerable portion of the north wall is usually covered in front with glazed structures, called hothouses, or forcing houses. To this practice there are exceptions. (See Forcing Garden.) To these the houses for ornamental plants are sometimes attached; but the last are more appropriately situate in the flower garden, when that forms a separate department. It is well, however, that every thing else connected with the forcing, whether of fruits or flowers, should be concentrated in one place. The melonry and pine-pits should occupy some well-sheltered spot in the slips, or on one side of the garden. Adjoining to this may be found a suitable site for the compost ground, in which various kinds of soils may be kept in store, and composts prepared. To this department free access should be had, so that carts may be admitted, a precaution seldom thought of, until the inconvenience is discovered by the increased expense and labour of wheeling in and out material.

Extensive gardens, in exposed situations, are often divided into compartments by hedges so disposed as to break the force of winds. Where these are required to be lofty yet narrow, holly, yew, or beech is preferred; but if space be no object, common laurel-bay is one of the most beautiful plants that can be employed for this purpose. Smaller hedges may be formed of evergreen privet, or of tree-box. These subordinate divisions, though often neglected, are worthy of attention; for, in addition to shelter, they furnish shade, which, at certain seasons, is peculiarly valuable. Gardens upon a large scale, and especially those laid out in the irregular manner, may have narrow belts of shrubbery running through them, producing picturesque beauty, and affording, at the same time, shelter and shade. These should be planted on elevated borders several feet above the general surface, combining all the beauties of the shrubbery and the utility of the kitchen-garden. And this is the more necessary if these shrubberies be so broad as to admit of walks passing through them, with occasional openings or outlets to the culinary departments.

The distribution of the area of the garden in walks, fruit and borders, and compartments, may be regulated very much by the shape of the ground and the taste of the owner. In general, a gravel walk, six or eight feet broad, is led quite round the garden, both within and without the walls. A walk of similar dimensions is often constructed in the centre of the garden in the direction of the glazed houses, and this is sometimes crossed by another at right angles. Sometimes these walks are led diagonally from the corners. The space between the wall and the walk that skirts it, is called the wall-border, and is commonly from fifteen to twenty feet broad. On the interior of the walk there is usually another border five or six feet broad, which is generally occupied by fruit-trees trained to espalier-rails, or by dwarf standard trees. The middle part of the garden is divided into rectangular compartments for raising the various culinary crops. It is advantageous to have several small beds, in which to cultivate the less bulky articles, such as basil, sage, tarragon, &c., which, in large spaces, are apt to be overlooked or neglected.

Wall-Borders.—The preparation of borders for fruit-trees is a matter of the utmost importance, and no pains should be spared upon them. Where borders are not in good condition, the care and toil of the most experienced gardener will avail but little to the production of fruit. The most perfect wall-tree borders must be admitted to be those that are vaulted below, and have the soil for the roots placed upon a pavement flooring, which is supported by stone or brick piers, so constructed as to leave a cavity below of eighteen inches or two feet, into which air is admitted by small vertical eyes, placed along the edges of the walk and covered with open iron gratings. The next are those having earthenware tubular drains laid across the border, at distances of from eight to ten feet, with openings both at the side of the walk and also along the bottom of the wall, so as to introduce a circulation of air. Over these drains rubble stones, flints, brickbats, or similar material, are loosely laid, and these are again covered by a coating of coarse gravel, upon which the soil is to be placed. It is important, even beyond these precautions, that drains be placed so as to render the bottom perfectly dry. Formerly concrete and impervious bottoms were recommended, with a view of preventing the roots penetrating into the subsoil or descending too deep, and being beyond the reach of solar heat and air. Such bottoms were found defective, inasmuch as they retained water, and consequently excluded air. Good soil to the depth of two feet and a half is quite sufficient for any fruit-tree, it being better to extend the range of the roots horizontally than vertically, hence such borders should not be less than twelve feet in breadth. It is also well to give them a fall of six or eight inches from the wall. Three-fourths rich loam, and one-fourth light sandy earth, form a mixture congenial to the generality of fruit-trees.

Fruit-tree borders should never be cropped with culinary vegetables, the process of digging destroys the roots of the trees, which should, by every possible means, be induced to keep near the surface. In selecting the soil, regard may be had to the particular trees which are to cover different portions of the wall. Thus, a heavy soil may be allotted to pears and plums; loam of a medium character, inclining to be strong, to peaches, nectarines, and apricots; and a lighter earth to cherries and figs. Above all, care should be taken to render the borders sufficiently rich and substantial at their formation.

Standard Fruit-Trees should not be planted, if it can be avoided, in the borders of the kitchen-garden. Their roots are either mangled by digging about them, or their growth becomes too luxuriant, in consequence of the soil becoming too rich. They shade and injure other crops, and destroy that unity of expression which ought to exist in every highly kept kitchen-garden. They should be planted in the outer slips, where they may be allowed to attain a large size or be kept in a dwarfish state. Each sort of fruit should be planted by itself, to give an appearance of order and system, as well as to facilitate their protection by being covered with nets.

THE FRUIT GARDEN.

We shall first direct our attention to the culture of hardy fruits, or of such as, in our climate, do not require the assistance of much artificial heat. But before proceeding to a minute detail of the management of the different varieties, it may be proper to attend to some of the operations which are common to all.

The Preliminary Operations may be classed under the heads, Propagation, Planting, Training, and Protection of Blossom.

PROPAGATION.

Propagation of Fruit-Trees by Seed.—Although fruit-trees are furnished with all the natural means of reproduction, it is not in general expedient to attempt to propagate them by the sowing of seed. This method is found to be equally tedious and precarious, requiring the labour of many years; and after all, existing varieties of fruits can be propagated by seed, so as to resemble the parent tree upon which they grew, only to a very limited extent; and the chance of an improved variety being produced by their means is exceedingly rare. This is so far owing to the great change which took place in the individual at the period of its origin, when by some cause to us unknown it appeared possessed of properties superior in size, colour, and flavour, to its parent. In other words, a seed is capable of growing into a new individual of the same species, but not, in the case of our cultivated fruits, into the identical variety of that species. In the great majority of cases, while the new individual retains its specific characters, it will be very different from the variety, in general very inferior to it; for, following a natural law, it will recede towards its original type, e.g., the wild crab in the case of the apple, and the almond in the case of the peach. "But while it will with certainty become the same species as that in which it originated, it does not possess the power of reproducing any of the peculiarities which may have existed in its parent. For instance, the seed of a Green Gage Plum will grow into a new individual of the Plum species, but it will not produce the peculiar variety called the Green Gage. This latter property is confined to leaf-buds, and seems to be owing to the seed not being specially organized after the exact plan of the branch on which it grew, but merely possessing the first elements of such an organization, together with an invariable tendency towards a peculiar kind of development."—(Lindley's Theory of Hort.) All our present admired fruits are regarded as seminal varieties obtained from the wild inhabitants of the forests, which have been trained into an artificial condition; and when sown seem to have a tendency to resume their original constitution. In the peach-orchards of America, for instance, which are planted with the kernels of choice sorts, there are seldom more than a few trees affording fruit fit for the table; the produce of the majority being so worthless, that it is usually employed for feeding hogs. Notwithstanding this inconvenience, there are some considerations which render this mode of propagation at once interesting and important to horticulturists. It is the only way by which we can procure new kinds of superior qualities. The late Thos. And. Knight promulgated the theory that by rearing fruit-trees from seed he could produce a re-invigoration of our older varieties, which he believed to be hastening to decay, if not total extinction; and further, that new generations of fruits reared from seed would become hardier and better adapted to our climate, by what he denominated acclimation. Modern vegetable physiologists deny the truth of both these theories, and assert that no deterioration has taken place in even our oldest fruits, some of which have been in cultivation since, if not prior to, the days of Pliny.

The well known Pomme d'Apis or Lady Apple is historically asserted to have been brought to Rome from Peloponnesus by Appius Claudius. Dalechamps and Hardain are of opinion that it is the Petisia of Pliny, who describes it—"Odor est hic Cotonarium, magnitudo qua Claudianis, color rubens." This variety does not appear to have changed its character during this long succession of ages. In further corroboration of this, Mr Hogg, in "British Pomology," remarks, "the Pearmain, which is the oldest English apple on record, shows no symptoms of decay, neither does the Catshead, London Pippin, Winter Queening, nor any other variety—those only having been allowed to disappear from our orchards which were not worth perpetuating, and their places supplied by others infinitely superior." As regards acclimation, Mr Knight's theory is proved to be equally erroneous, as we have no evidence that plants long cultivated in this country are able to withstand our winter cold better than formerly. The Dahlia, Holiotrope, and the Potatoe, are affected in the same way by frost as when they were first introduced. Mr Knight entertained the opinion, deduced, we may presume, from experiment, that more is to be expected from hybrid varieties than from the mere reproduction of old kinds; he therefore had recourse to the nice operation of dusting the pollen of one kind on the pistil of another. He opened the unexpanded blossom of the variety destined to be the female parent of the expected progeny, and, with a pair of fine-pointed scissors, cut away all the stamens, while the anthers were yet unripe, taking care to leave the style and the stigma uninjured. When the female blossom, thus prepared, came naturally to expand, the blossoms of the other variety destined to be the male parent were applied. Mr Knight has often remarked in the progeny a strong prevalence of the constitution and habits of the female parent, a circumstance confirmed by subsequent experiments.

Although the expected results are not obtained, yet cross-pregnation or hybridization is followed by certain results of immense importance in the production of improved varieties. By this means the Strawberries of the present day are so much improved, in size at least, that many of them bear little resemblance to their original parents of several generations back. The Apple, the Pear, the Peach, and the Plum, have all been so improved, but no perceptible difference has been effected in rendering them hardier than their progenitors.

The success of crossing, or even raising from seed, should nevertheless be encouraged, as it is the only means by which improved sorts are to be procured.

In the case of cross-pregnation, every seed, though taken from the same fruit, produces a different variety; and these varieties, as might be anticipated, prove to be of very various merit. In general, those seeds are to be preferred which are plump and round. An estimate of the value of the seedlings may be formed, even during the first summer of their growth, from the resemblance

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1 Professor Mohl, a German physiologist of the highest repute, thus speaks of the fallacy of Mr Knight's theory—"Thousands of experiments have shown that the young shoots of old trees, when used as grafts, slips, &c., furnish as strong plants as the shoots of young trees. Not one single experiment speaks in favour of the opinion promulgated by Mr Knight, that all parts of a tree have a common end to their life, and that the different trees from which they have been raised from one and the same tree by grafts, decay about the same time as the parent plant." they bear to those of highly cultivated and approved trees. The leaves of promising seedlings improve in character, becoming thicker, rounder, and more downy every season. Those whose buds in the annual wood are full and prominent, generally prove more productive than those whose buds are small and shrunk into the bark. An early disposition to produce blossom buds, late flowering in spring, and the production of hardy blossoms, are desirable characteristics. It has been observed, that even after a seedling tree has commenced bearing, its fruit has a tendency to improve as the tree itself acquires vigour, so that, if, in the first season, there is any considerable promise, a great improvement may be expected in succeeding years.

The slowness with which seedlings reach the bearing state has been the subject of complaint among horticulturists, and indeed is the principal reason why this mode of propagation has not been more frequently practised. According to Mr Knight, the pear requires from twelve to eighteen years to reach the age of maturity; the apple from five to twelve or thirteen years; the plum and cherry four or five; the vine three or four; and the raspberry two years. The peach he found to bear in two, three, or four years. This period, however, must depend on the soil, situation, and mode of culture. In the warm and highly manured garden of M. Van Mons at Brussels (called "Pépinière de la Fidélité") seedling pear-trees produced fruit in considerable quantities in the sixth and seventh summers. The best means of accelerating the epoch of bearing seems to be to make the trees grow vigorously when young. Crude manures are to be avoided; but vegetable earth, and, above all, a liberal supply of rotted turf, are wholesome and excellent stimulants. The seed-bed, and the ground on which the seedlings are transplanted, should be extremely well worked and comminuted with the spade; and should not be too much exposed to the parching rays of the sun, or the action of the wind. Great care ought to be taken to prevent the young plant from becoming stunted. In pruning, the small twigs in the interior should be removed, so as to relieve the tree from the bushy appearance which it frequently assumes. It has been wisely recommended to transfer scions and buds of promising individuals into other trees in a bearing state. This is peculiarly advantageous with respect to the peach and other stone fruits, as it both hastens the period of maturity, and economises the space which must be occupied on the wall.

Propagation by Cuttings.—Gooseberries, currants, figs, vines, and some others, are increased by means of cuttings. An annual shoot is taken off, along with a thin slice, or heel, as it is called, of the former year's wood, which is found to facilitate the production of roots. The cuttings are placed firmly in the soil, at various depths, according to their length, the buds or eyes which would thus come beneath the surface having been previously removed. Vines should in all cases be propagated from small pieces of shoots having a single bud; a shoot of an inch in length may suffice. Most of the codlin apples may be increased by cuttings; and even large branches of those which produce burs, may be planted at once, with success. In all deciduous trees, the operation is most advantageously performed in winter.

Propagation by Layers.—This is not much resorted to in the fruit-garden. It is occasionally employed as the means of dwarfing trees. "Laying," says Mr George Lindley, "is nothing but striking from cuttings which are still allowed to maintain their connexion with the mother plant by means of a portion at least of their stem." The operation is performed by bending down a branch to the earth, and pinning it there with pegs. A notch or slit is cut upwards, generally from the insertion of a bud. Sometimes the shoot is pierced with a number of holes; a wire is bound round it; or even a ring of bark is removed. The object of these expedients is to retard the descending sap, and thus to promote the formation of radicles, or young roots. This is also aided by bending the branch upward from the point at which the roots are wanted; and the whole branch, except a few buds at the extremity, is covered with soil. The seasons best fitted for these operations are early spring and midsummer, that is, before the sap begins to flow, and after it has completely ascended. One whole summer, sometimes two summers, must elapse before the layers will be fully rooted.

Propagation of Fruit-Trees by Grafting.—By this method apple and pear trees, sometimes plum and cherry trees, are propagated. Our attention must be directed to the stocks into which the shoots or scions, as they are called, are inserted; to the scions themselves, and to the mechanical operations employed in grafting.

The following are the principal kinds of stocks, including, by anticipation, such as are used in budding. For apples, seedlings of the crab apple, layers of the doucin or paradise, and of the codlin, with cuttings of the burknot varieties. For pears, seedlings of the common and wilding pear; with seedlings or layers of quince. For plums, seedlings of any of the common sorts, particularly the muscle, the Brussels, and the Brompton; also the Bullace plum. For cherries, seedlings of the small black cherry or gean, Prunus Avium; and, for dwarfing, P. Mahaleb. For apricots, seedlings of the wilding apricot, with the muscle and Brussels plums. For peaches and nectarines, seedlings of the muscle, white pear-plum, and Damas noir plum, the almond, and the wilding peach.

Stocks for this purpose are commonly divided into two classes, viz., free-stocks and dwarfing-stocks. The former consist of seedling plants, chiefly of the same genus or species as the trees from which the scions are taken. The latter are plants of diminutive growth, either varieties of the same species, or species of the same genus as the scion, which have a tendency to lessen the expansion of the grafted tree. The Paradise or Doucin is the dwarfing stock for apples, the Quince for pears, the Bullace, and more recently the Sloe for plums, and Prunus Mahaleb for cherries. The nature of the soil in which the grafted trees are destined to grow, should also have weight in determining the choice of stocks. When the garden is naturally moist, it is proper to graft pears on the quince, because this plant agrees with a moist soil, and at the same time serves to check the luxuriance thereby produced. In France, peaches are commonly budded on almond stocks, to adapt them to the dry soils of that country. The seeds from which stocks are to be raised, are generally sown in beds in March; but the germination of some kinds is promoted by placing the seed, for a time, in moist sand in a greenhouse. Next season the seedlings are transplanted into nursery rows, in which they are allowed to reach the size necessary for the various forms of fruit-trees hereafter to be mentioned.

The scion is always a portion of the wood of the preceding year. As the diseases incident to fruit-trees are transmitted by this mode of propagation, it is desirable that the parent should be as healthy as possible. In the shy-bearing kind it has been found beneficial to select shoots from the fruitful branches. The scions should be taken off some weeks before they are wanted, and half-buried in the earth, as it is conducive to success that the stock should, in forwardness of vegetation, be somewhat in advance of the graft. During winter, grafts may be transferred from great distances, as from America, or any part of the Continent of Europe, if carefully wrapped in hygnum moss. If they have been six weeks or two months separated from the parent plant, they should be grafted low on the stock, and the earth should be ridged up around them, leaving only one bud of the scion above ground.

Success in grafting depends almost entirely on accurately applying the inner bark of the scion to the inner bark of the stock, so that the sap may pass freely from the one to the other. They are therefore fitted together, and held fast by a bandage of strips of bast matting. To lessen evaporation, a portion of ductile clay is moulded around the place of junction, and is retained until it appears, from the development of leaves, that the operation has succeeded. The best season for grafting is the month of March; but it may be commenced as soon as the sap in the stock is fairly in motion, and may be continued during the first half of April.

The most usual mode of grafting is called whip-grafting, or


tongue-grafting, a, b. The top of the stock and the base of the scion are cut off obliquely at corresponding angles, as nearly as can be guessed by the eye; the tip of the stock is then cut off horizontally; next a slit is made downwards in the centre of the sloping face of the stock, and a corresponding slit upwards in the corresponding face of the scion. The tongue or upper part of this sloping base is then inserted into the cleft of the scion, and so adjusted that the inner bark may unite neatly and exactly on one side. The junction is then tied up and covered with clay. Several other methods may be mentioned, such as Cleft-grafting, c, d, e, in which the scion is sloped at the base, and inserted like a wedge into a cleft in the stock; Side-grafting, f, g, which resembles whip-grafting, but is performed on the side of the stock without heading it down; Cross-grafting, in which the scions, m, p, are inserted between the bark and the wood of the stock; Grafting by approach orarching, resembling whip-grafting, except that the scion k remains attached to the parent plant, till its union at k and l with the new stock be complete; when that portion of the stock above the union may be headed down, and the scion at the same time detached from the parent plant.

Root-grafting is performed in the modes just described, except that the scion is placed on a piece of root (as a stalk), of proper thickness, and with fibres and fibrils attached to it. In the most unfavourable soils, some sorts of fruit-trees thrive better than others; and it has been suggested, that by using root-stocks of such flourishing trees, and grafting other desirable kinds on them, canker may often be avoided, and the better kinds of fruit produced.

Propagation by Budding.—Most kinds of fruit-trees may be propagated by budding; and there are some, such as peaches and apricots, which can scarcely be multiplied in any other manner. It consists in removing a bud with a portion of the bark from one tree, and inserting it in a slit of the bark of another tree. The season for performing this operation is in July or August, when the buds destined for the following year are completely formed in the axils of the leaves, and when the portion of bark parts freely from the wood beneath. The buds to be preferred are those on the middle of a young shoot. There are many forms of budding, but that which is simplest, and is generally practised in this country, called Shield-budding, may alone be described. The operator should be provided with a budding-knife, in which the cutting edge of the blade is rounded off at the point, and which has a thin ivory or bone handle, like a paper-folder, for raising the bark of the stock. A horizontal or transverse incision is made in the bark quite down to the wood, and from this incision a perpendicular slit is drawn downwards, to the extent of perhaps an inch. The slit has now a resemblance to the letter T as at q; a bud is then cut from the tree intended to be propagated, having a portion of the wood attached to it, so that the whole may be an inch and a half long, as at s. The bit of wood is then gently withdrawn, care being taken that the bud adhere wholly to the bark or shield, as it is called, as at r, which is the reverse of s. The bark on each side of the perpendicular slit being cautiously opened with the handle of the knife, the bud and shield are inserted, as at t. The upper tip of the shield is cut off horizontally, and brought nearly to fit the bark of the stock at the transverse incision. Slight ties of moist bast-matting are then applied. In about a month or six weeks the ligatures may be taken away, when, if the operation has been successful, the bud will be fresh and full, and the shield firmly united to the wood. Next spring a strong shoot is thrown out, and to this the stock is headed down in the course of the summer.

Planting Fruit-Trees.

In transferring the young trees to those places, whether in the open border or against the wall, where they are to remain, it is important that the situations should be carefully selected; adapting the trees to sites suitable in respect of soil, shelter, and aspect. The trees should be cautiously lifted from the nursery lines, all mutilation or bruising of the roots being carefully guarded against; and, to prevent the desiccation of the fibres, they should be planted as soon as possible after being lifted. When they have to be carried to a distance, the roots should be enveloped in damp hypnum-moss. In the ground, which is presumed to have been previously trenched or otherwise prepared, pits or holes are formed, and the soil is finely pulverized; and in these the trees are placed, their roots being spread out and intermingled with the earth. Shallow planting is strongly recommended, two or three inches of soil being in general a sufficient covering. The doucin or French paradise stocks are preferable for this reason, that they throw out delicate fibres which readily spread along the surface, instead of bundles of hard roots which generally characterize crab stocks. On filling up the hole, a surface of at least an equal size is matched, that is, covered with dung or litter, so as to restrain evaporation, and preserve moisture. In the case of wall-trees, a space of five or six inches is usually left between the stem at the insertion of the roots and the wall, to allow for the effects of growth. Young standard trees are tied to stakes, to prevent their roots being ruptured by the wind-waving of the stems. During the dry weather of the first summer, the trees should be watered from time to time as occasion may require.

The selection and distribution of the different kinds of fruit-trees is an important and interesting point in the formation of a garden. Regard must necessarily be had to local situation and climate, as the selection ought manifestly to be different for a garden in the south-west of England, and for one in Yorkshire or in Scotland; for one near the level of the sea, and for another elevated several hundred feet above it. The best walls, having a south or south-east aspect, are devoted to the grape-vine, the fig-tree, the peach and apricot. The finer varieties of French and Flemish pears require and deserve a good aspect, as also the early sorts of cherries. The later cherries, and the generality of plums, succeed very well either on an east or west aspect. In Scotland, the mulberry requires the protection of a wall, and several of the finer apples do not arrive at perfection without it.

The wall-trees intended to be permanent are called dwarfs, from their being grafted near the ground. Between each of these, trees with tall stems, called riders in Scotland, and standards in England, are planted as temporary occupants of the upper part of the wall. The riders should always be five or six years trained in the nursery, in order that when planted out they may come into bearing as speedily as possible. The distances at which the permanent trees are planted is to be regulated by the known growth of the different sorts, and by the height of the wall. When the walls are about twelve feet high, the following average distances have been recommended:—For vines, 10 or 12 feet; peach and nectarine trees, from 15 to 20 feet; fig-trees, 20 feet at least; apricots, from 15 to 24 feet; plums and cherries, from 15 to 20 feet; pear-trees, 20 feet if on quince stocks, and 30 feet on free stocks; apple-trees, 12 feet if on paradise stocks, and 15 to 25 feet on free stocks. Where the walls are only seven or eight feet high, the distance should be increased by nearly one-fourth, as in this case the want of height must be compensated by greater breadth.

Apples and pears make the best espalier-rail trees. These should be of the more robust sorts, and should be planted at the distance of 15 or 20 feet. Cherries and plums are sometimes introduced into the espalier-rail row, but succeed only where they would do equally well or better as standards.

In many small gardens, dwarf standards are preferred to espalier-rail trees. They are placed along the inner borders at 8 or 10 feet apart. When proper attention is paid to such trees, the effect is very pleasing, each being in itself a handsome object, and generally clothed with fine fruit. Where the situation is warm, and the climate favourable, a few of the finer pears which have hardy blossoms should be planted out in this form. Though they may fail to ripen in some seasons, they will often add greatly to the resources of the fruit-room, their produce being frequently superior in flavour to the fruit grown on walls.

Training.—Two functions belong to training,—that, namely, which modifies the form of the tree, and that which regulates the bearing wood, and consequently the supply of blossom. The latter, more accurately termed pruning, being of a varied character, will more properly fall to be considered when treating of the several fruits; at present we shall make a few remarks on the former. The essential properties of training are, that it should be simple, not requiring frequent amputation; that it should be appropriate to the growth of the tree; and that it should be such as to facilitate the production of fruit. The knife is the great instrument in training, and whoever can wield it skilfully, will have a perfect command over his trees; at the same time, it may be laid down as a maxim, that it should be used with some degree of reserve, as nothing is more prejudicial to the health and fruitfulness of all sorts of fruit-trees, than severe and injudicious cutting.

Training of Standards.—Orchard-trees are generally worked in the nurseries with stems five or six feet high. All that is necessary, in pruning trees of this sort, is merely to cut out the branches which cross or press upon one another. Bushy heads should be thinned out, and those which are too lax cut back. Three or four leading branches may be selected, to pass ere long into boughs, and form a handsome skeleton for the tree; but it is useless to be finical in this matter, as these branches will soon grow beyond the power of the pruner, and of any artificial system which he may adopt. Dwarf standards being more accessible, are more under the dominion of training. When worked on paradise stocks, they may be kept not much superior in size to gooseberry bushes, and in a state of abundant fruitfulness. The more fanciful Dutch modes of training apple-trees, in the cup-and-ball fashion, and after many other curious devices, have never been relished in Britain. In this country, they are generally allowed to grow en buisson, that is, as bushes. For pears, the French forms, en pyramide, fig. 2, and en quenouille, fig. 3, are in most esteem.

Training of Wall-Trees.—A fruit-tree planted against a wall is evidently in a constrained and artificial situation, from which it makes continual efforts to escape. Much attention is necessary to repress this tendency, which, were it permitted to act, would disfigure the tree, and neutralize the advantages of a wall, without imparting in their place the freedom of a standard in the open air. To be successful, the operator should be acquainted with the theory of vegetation, should study the mode of growth in different trees, and, above all, remember the purpose of all training, viz., the production of bearing wood.

One great difficulty is to preserve equilibrium in the growth of the several parts of the same tree; for the attainment of this object, excellent hints are to be found in the Pomone Française. A shoot will grow more vigorously whilst waving in the air than when nailed close to the wall; a weak shoot should therefore be left free, whilst its stronger antagonist should be restrained. A shoot diverging slightly from the perpendicular, will, other things being equal, obtain a more copious supply of sap than one that is laid out horizontally, or is deflected downwards. A luxuriant shoot may be retarded for some time by having its tender extremity pinched off, and may thus allow a weaker brother to overtake it. By these and other expedients, which will suggest themselves to an attentive horticulturist, and by the prudent use of the knife, it will be easy to execute the following forms, which, on account of their simplicity and general excellence, we select out of many to be found detailed in works on gardening.

The horizontal form (fig. 4) has long been a favourite in this country. There is one principal ascending stem, from which the branches depart at right-angles, at intervals of ten inches or a foot. In trees of ordinary vigour the vertical shoot is cut back every winter to within fourteen inches of the highest pair of branches: a number of shoots are produced in the beginning of each summer, out of which three are selected: one is trained in

![Fig. 4]

the original direction of the stem, and one on each side of it parallel to the base of the wall. By pinching off the point of the leading shoot about midsummer, another pair may be obtained in autumn. In luxuriant trees, the vertical shoot may be left two feet in length, by which means, and by summer pruning, four pairs of branches may sometimes be added in one season. The great object, at first, ought to be to draw the stem upwards: when it has reached the top of the wall, it is made to divaricate into two, and the tree, thus completed as to its height, is henceforth suffered to increase in breadth only. Horizontal training is best adapted to those trees which pro-

![Fig. 5]

duce strong shoots, as the Ribston Pippin apple, or the Jargonelle pear. For the more twiggy kinds, the form represented in fig. 5 is more suitable. In this the horizontal branches are eighteen or twenty inches distant, and the small shoots are trained in between them, either on both sides, as below letter a in the figure, or on the under side and downwards, as below b. This last is an excellent method of reclaiming neglected trees of this description. Every alternate branch being taken away, and the spurs cut off, the young shoots are trained in, and soon produce good fruit. It is rather singular that the late M. Thouin, in his account of the École d'Horticulture pratique du Museum, classes the horizontal form among les tailles hétéroclites, and says, that, in consequence of its invariably producing a tête de saule, that is, a hedge of young shoots at the top, it has been long since abandoned. From this remark, we cannot help drawing the conclusion, that in France the theory of training must be in advance of the practice.

The other principal form is called fan-training. In this there is no leading stem, and the branches are arranged some-

![Fig. 6]

what like the spokes of a fan. Fig. 6 represents this shape, as it commonly occurs in gardens. In the case of apple and pear trees, this mode, though frequently adopted, is not superior, perhaps not even equal, to the horizontal configuration: it is evident, that when the branches reach the top of the wall, where they must be cut short, a tête de saule is inevitable. It would be better to adopt a modification of the fan shape used for stone fruits (fig. 7); to establish a certain number of mother branches, and on these to form a series of subordinate members, chiefly composed of bearing wood. The mother branches or limbs should not be numerous, but well marked, equal in strength, and regularly disposed. The side branches should

![Fig. 7]

be pretty abundant, short, and not so vigorous as to rival the leading members. To ensure regularity, training should commence with maiden plants, or such as have only one year's growth from the graft; leaders of equal strength should be selected, and encouraged to grow out longitudinally as much as possible, and all crowding among the inferior shoots should be prevented. In riders this form passes into the stellar arrangement. The French have made considerable improvements in this mode of training, some of which will be noticed when we come to treat of the training of the Pesch.

Intermediate between horizontal and fan training, is the half-fan. It is nearly allied to the horizontal form, but the branches form an acute angle with the stem, and this disposition is supposed to favour the equal distribution of the sap. In the winter pruning, three and sometimes four central branches are cut back; the shoots which arise from these are

arranged in the fan order, and, as they elongate, are gradually brought into the horizontal position. The tree is finished at freezing, will be found sufficient. Standard fruit-trees must be left to their fate, and, indeed, from the lateness of their flowering, they are generally more injured by blight, and by drenching rains, which wash away the pollen of the flowers, than by the direct effects of cold.

CULTURE OF HARDY FRUITS.

We now proceed to the more special culture of the inmates of a British fruit-garden. We shall begin with the more tender, but for details regarding these, we must, to a considerable extent, refer to the forcing department, in which alone many of the finer fruits can be perfected. We will confine our lists of fruits to selections from the very best kinds in cultivation. Those who are curious in this department of pomology, may further consult the "Fruit Catalogue of the London Hort. Soc.," "The Book of the Garden;" for American fruits, "Downing's Fruits and Fruit-trees of America;" for apples alone, "Hogg's British Pomology;" and for coloured representations, the "Pomological Magazine," and "Pyrus Malus Brentfordensis." The recently established "Pomological Society of London" will hereafter be the medium through which information will be gained of all that is interesting regarding the nomenclature and merits of new fruits.

The GRAPE VINE (Vitis vinifera) can scarcely be said to be a hardy fruit in our climate. In every case it requires a good aspect; and north of York, a crop of dessert grapes cannot be expected without the aid of a hot wall. In the extreme south-west districts of England, indeed, grapes fit for the manufacture of wine, perhaps equal in quality to those in the north of France, might be produced on dwarf standards; and there is abundant historical evidence that productive vineyards once existed in that part of the country.

In the Lond. Hort. Soc. Catalogue, 197 varieties of grapes are enumerated. Some of these, however, have not as yet been well ascertained; some are pronounced indifferent, and others worthless. We shall name only a few of those most deserving the attention of the cultivator.

Black Damascene. Bunches large, with round berries and sweet juice. This valuable late variety does not set well, and the bunches are improved by the blossom being dusted with the pollen of some hardy kind.

Frontignan (or Frontignac). Five varieties under this appellation, and distinguished by the names of Black, blue, grizzly, red, and white, are mentioned in horticultural catalogues. They vary in colour and form of the cluster. The berries are round, the skin thick, and the juice of a rich muscat flavour. They are all of the highest excellence.

Black Hamburgh. This is a well-known grape, of great value, and perhaps more generally cultivated for the length of its season than any other sort. It ought to be in every collection. Of this excellent grape there has long existed several varieties, and late years have added to their number the following, viz.:—Wilmut's Black Hamburgh; Black Prince Hamburgh; Pope's Hamburgh; Judson's Richmond Villa Hamburgh; Mill Hill Hamburgh; and more recently a white variety said to be a hybrid between the muscat of Alexandria and Black Hamburgh.

White Muscadine (or West of St. Peter's.) Bunches large, berries round, skin thin, with a rich flavour; an excellent late sort. The fruit will hang on the vine till March.

Chasselas Muscat. Bunches medium size, long and loose, berries globular, yellowish when ripe, and apt to crack if grown in too damp an atmosphere; one of our very best grapes.

Royal Muscadine. L. Hort. Cat. or White Muscadine of Lindley, Usual Chasselas of Paris. This, though not a first rate grape, is a favourite with many. Bunches large, berries white, round, with sweet flavour.

Muscat of Alexandria. Bunches long, berries white and oval, with a delicious muscat flavour. This most admirable variety requires a high temperature, and should properly have a small vinery for itself.

White Sweet Water. Bunch loose, berries round, flavour sweet. It ripens early, generally from the middle to the end of September; and in the south of England it succeeds against the open wall. The bunches should be allowed to hang until they are perfectly ripe, when the berries acquire a slight russet colour. It has long been a favourite grape.

Nice, or White Nice. Bunches extremely large, berries medium size, greenish white, globular. Habit robust, foliage large and downy; midseason, keeps long after ripening.

Stillard's Sweetwater, or Chasselas prédéce. It is desirable for earliness, and the bunches possess the property of keeping good on the plant for two or three months after the berries are ripe.

Trébbiana, a comparatively new grape, somewhat resembling the Tokay, esteemed for its keeping long after ripening.

The Black Prince is of easy cultivation, and the berries are of a pleasant flavour.

The Verdelho has loose bunches, berries of a greenish-yellow colour, small, oval, numerous; when fully ripe, of a rich saccharine flavour. It is the principal grape cultivated in Madeira for making the celebrated wine of that island.

Barbarossa. Of this kind there are a black and a white variety, both recently introduced and esteemed for their properties of long keeping.

The Esperionne, or Turner's Early Black, has the bunches large and shoulderied, not unlike those of the Black Hamburgh. The berries are of a fine dark colour, with a bluish farina or bloom; the pulp adheres to the skin; and though neither highly flavoured nor melting, it is very pleasant. This grape ripens on the open wall near London.

The Syrinx Grape is remarkable only for the extraordinary size and beauty of its bunches; it is a late variety, and the berries are sweet and not without flavour, when properly ripened; but, in general, it is a worthless variety.

For an ordinary vineyard the following may be recommended:—Black Hamburgh, Black Tripoli, Chasselas musqué, Stillward's Sweetwater, Royal Muscadine, White Frontignan, and Black Lombardy. For a stove or late vineyard may be particularized the Grizzly Frontignan, Black Tripoli, Muscat of Alexandria, Canonhall Muscat, Barbarossa black and white, Hamburgh, Nice, and Chasselas musqué. For training against the rafters of a greenhouse, the Black Prince, Verdelho, Esperionne, and Black Cluster, are among the best.

The kinds commonly grown against the open wall in England are the Miller Burgundy, Esperionne, White Muscadine, White Sweetwater, Early Black, Grove-End, and Pitmaston White Cluster. In the north of England, and in the south of Scotland, vines always require hot walls. Vine culture on the open wall, in this country, can never be calculated upon with any degree of certainty.

THE FIG.

The Fig-Tree (Ficus Carica) is not generally a favourite in this country. Every good garden ought, however, to contain a few trees to furnish a supply during the natural season. The foliage of the tree is large and elegant, and the mode of fructification is curious: the pulpy part, which we call the fruit, being, in fact, a common receptacle, and the anthers and stigmas being produced inside.

The following are the most esteemed:—Angélique, Brunswick, Large White Genoa, Black White, and Brown Italian, Malta, Lee's Perpetual, Marseilles, Nerii, Brown Turkey, and Pregnasata.

Of these, the Marseilles, the Black Ischin, Lee's Perpetual, and Brown Turkey, are the best adapted for forcing; the others are suitable for walls.

Fig-trees should be propagated by cuttings put into flower-pots, and placed in a gentle hothead. They are, however, most speedily obtained from layers. The shoots laid down should be two or three years old; and these, when rooted, will form plants ready to bear fruit the first or second year after planting. Suckers ought never to be used.

In some places in England fig-trees are planted out as standards; and in Kent and Sussex a few small fig orchards exist. In Scotland a south wall is indispensable, but if this is procured in a good situation, and when the trees are old enough, they bear remarkably well. The best soil for a fig border is a rich friable loam, on a subsoil not retentive of moisture, or which has been effectively drained. To correct the over-luxuriance of their growth, the roots should be confined within spaces surrounded with walls enclosing about one square yard.

It is the nature of the fig-tree to produce two sets of shoots, and two crops of fruit in the season. The first shoots generally show young figs in July and August, but these in our climate very seldom ripen. These should, therefore, be rubbed off. The late or midsummer shoots likewise put forth fruit-buds, which, however, do not develop themselves till the following spring, and then form the only crop of figs on which we can depend in this country.

Various modes of training fig-trees have been proposed. Lindley recommends the horizontal form. Mr Knight carried up a central stem perpendicularly to the top of the wall, and then radiated the side-branches horizontally and pendently, in close contact with the wall. Luxuriance of growth is supposed thus to be checked, and the branches thrown into a bearing habit. Root-pruning and walling-in the roots have more effect in inducing fruitfulness than any other sort of pruning.

The Rev. G. Swayne in recommending rubbing off all the young figs which appear in autumn on shoots of the same year, observes that for every young fig thus displaced, the rudiments of one or perhaps two others are formed before winter, and developed in the following year.

The winter dressing of the fig-tree takes place immediately after the fall of the leaf. The immature figs which may remain are removed, irregularities are corrected, and the shoots nailed neatly to the wall. Various modes of protecting the branches during winter have been adopted. Mr Swayne mentions that he wraps up the young shoots with waste paper. Mr Forsyth recommends covering wall fig-trees with the spray of laurel or yew, and then tucking in short grass or moss (hygrom) among the spray.

Sir Charles Monck states that the same fig-tree seldom produces fruit containing both perfect stamens and pistils, and conjectures that this is the cause of the fruit being so often prematurely shed. Caprification, or assisting the fructifying and maturation of figs, has often been sneered at; but here we see the propriety of that kind of it which consists of hanging or shaking the branches of the wild fig (caprificus) over the cultivated tree at the time when both are in blossom.

The Peach (Amygdalus persica) is a stone-fruit of oriental origin, said to have been brought from Persia by the Romans, about the beginning of the empire; but the precise period of its introduction into our gardens, of which it has long been the pride and ornament, is not well ascertained. There are two principal varieties: the Peach, properly so called, with a downy skin; and the Nectarine, with a smooth skin. These, following the authority of Linnæus, we consider as one species; and as their culture is precisely the same, we shall speak of them as distinct only when referring to their sub-varieties. Each of these varieties is again divided by gardeners into freestone or pêches, and clingstone or paries, according as the stone parts freely from the pulp, or adheres to it. We shall here treat chiefly of the freestones, as being most hardy, and fittest for the open wall in Britain.

Mr George Lindley, whose arrangement is the best that has hitherto been published, enumerates 60 kinds of peaches and 28 of nectarines. In the Horticultural Catalogue, the names of 183 peaches and of 65 nectarines are recorded. We shall notice only a few of those which are most distinct, and best adapted to our climate. Red Nutmeg, or Avant rouge. This is one of the earliest peaches, ripening about the beginning of August. The fruit small; colour pale yellow towards the wall, bright vermilion next the sun; pulp white, but sweet at the core; the juice rich and musky. The tree is an abundant bearer.

Acton Scot. This was raised by Mr Knight between the noblease and the nutmeg peach, in 1814. The fruit is red next the sun, and white on the other side; the pulp rich, juicy, and saccharine; the tree is a good bearer, and not apt to be affected with mildew. It ripens in August.

Spring Groce. This is another of Mr Knight's peaches, raised from the grosse mignonette crossed with the pollen of the nutmeg. It is dark red on one side, and bright yellow on the other; pulp firm, but melting, and of excellent flavour. The tree is a good bearer, but has not been on an apricot stock. The fruit ripens in the beginning of September.

Grosse Mignonette. Fruit large; skin pale yellow, and deep purple next the sun; flesh melting; juice plentiful, and of delicious flavour. This excellent peach is a good bearer, and forces well, but the fruit does not bear carriage. It ripens in the end of August and beginning of September.

Madeleine de Courson; Red Magdalene of Miller. Blossoms large; fruit rather below the middle size; colour yellowish white next the wall; beautiful red next the sun; flesh pale white, tinged red at the stone; juice rich and vinous. "A good bearer," fruit ripening about the beginning of September. "An excellent peach," says Mr Lindley, "and ought to be found in every collection."

Royal George. This is a well-known peach, much cultivated. By nurserymen it is often given out as the Red Magdalene; but it is at once distinguished from the Red Magdalene of Miller, by the blossoms being small. Against a good wall it ripens in the beginning of September, even in indifferent seasons. Fruit large, purplish red next the sun, whitish where shaded; flesh white, varied with red next the stone, which is free; melting rich, with an abundant juice. It is also one of the best fruits for a peach-house, fruiting freely, and ripening well. The foliage is, however, rather subject to mildew.

Noblessa. This has long and deservedly been a favourite in our gardens. It is a very large fruit; the skin pale red when ripe, the flesh juicy and rich. The tree is a good bearer, and the fruit ripens in September.

Bellegarde; the Galande of the nurseries. Fruit large and globular; skin deep red, with purple streaks on the sunny side; flesh white, very melting; juice rich. An excellent peach; the tree forces well, and the fruit ripens on the open wall about the middle of September.

Late Admirable, or La Royale. Fruit large; skin pale green next the wall, pale red on the sunny side; flesh greenish white, red at the stone; juice abundant, and, when well ripened, of a high flavour. "One of the very best late peaches," says Mr Thomson, "and ought to be in every collection; it is very proper for the peach-house, to succeed the earlier sorts."

Nearly allied to the preceding is the Tebon de Vence, a beautiful fruit, but requiring a good situation. In a good season, it ripens at the end of September; is said to have a fine, strong flavour.

Among other excellent peaches may be mentioned—Freestone, Barrington, Chancellor, Knight's Early, Downtown Early, Malta, Morissans Pound, Royal Charlotte, Royal George Mignonette, William's Early Purple, Early Admirable, Albergo, Late Warburton, and Petite Mignonette; Clingstones, Catherine, Heath, and Old Newington.

Nectarines.

Fairchild's Early. A beautiful little freestone, chiefly, however, cultivated for its earliness. It ripens about the middle of August.

Elrige is an excellent fruit of a moderate size; flesh white, almost to the stone, which is free. The tree forces well, and is a good bearer. Fruit ripens about the beginning of September. The best sort grown.

Heads Tawny. Size moderate; skin pale orange next the wall, russet-red towards the sun; flesh deep orange, juicy, and well-flavoured; a freestone. A very distinct sort, worthy of cultivation for its qualities.

Early Newington. A fine large clingstone; pale green on the shaded side, bright red next the sun; juice saccharine and well-flavoured. Ripens in August.

Red Roma. An excellent old clingstone, now seldom to be found genuine, but worthy of re-introduction.

A few other first-rate nectarines may be enumerated—Freestone, Heinsen, Downtown, Murray (i.e., murrey-coloured), Pitmaston Orange, Violette grose, Violette hative, Duo de Tello, Hardwick Seedling, New White, The Barker and the Stanway nectarines are very recent acquisitions, and are natives of Syria. Clingstones, Imperatrice, Newington Tawny. The above sorts are equally suited for open air culture or for forcing, with the exception of the last.

To perpetuate and multiply valuable varieties, peaches and nectarines are budded upon plum or almond stocks. For dry situations, almond stocks are preferable; and for damp or clayey loams, it is better to use plums. An almond budded on a plum stock may be rebudded with a tender peach, greatly to the advantage of the latter. The peach border should be composed of turfy mellow loam, such as is suitable for the vine and the fig, put in as rough as possible, or not broken small and fine. It should be vaulted to render it free from latent dampness. It need not be of greater depth than eighteen inches; for the peach-tree thrives best, and is most productive, when the roots are near the surface of the ground. We believe that in many instances, all that is required to remedy sickly and unfruitful trees is to bring up their roots within five or six inches of the surface. In this country nothing is a greater obstacle to success in peach culture than trenching the borders, and cropping them heavily with culinary vegetables.

The fruit of the peach is produced on the twiggy shoots of the preceding year. If these be too luxuriant they yield nothing but leaves; and if too weak, they are incapable of maturing the fruit. To furnish these, then, in sufficient abundance, and of requisite strength, is the great object of peach training and pruning. All twiggy trees naturally fall into the fan form; and, accordingly, this has generally been adopted in the culture of peaches.

We shall first, therefore, notice the old English method, and then briefly the French, and other new modes of training.

The old fan form is very nearly that already given (fig. 6) as a specimen of fan training for twiggy trees. The young tree is often procured when it has been trained for two or three years in the nursery; but it is generally better to commence with a maiden plant, that is, in the first year after it has been budded. It is then in ordinary practice headed down to five or six buds, and in the following summer two to four shoots, according to the vigour of the plant, are trained in; the laterals also being thinned out, and properly nailed to the walls. Suppose there are four branches; in the subsequent winter the two central ones are shortened back to produce others, and the inferior ones are laid in nearly at full length. In the following season additional shoots are sent forth; and the process is repeated till eight or ten principal limbs or mother branches are obtained, forming, as it were, the framework of the future tree. These mother branches are occasionally raised or depressed, so as to maintain their equilibrium, and are as much encouraged to grow outwards as is consistent with the regular filling up of the tree. The laterals are carefully thinned out (by pinching off with the fingers) in summer, and the remainder are nailed in, to afford subordinate members and bearing wood. When the centre of the tree has been filled up, all the training necessary is merely to prevent the inferior members from acquiring an undue ascendancy over the mother branches. It is highly advantageous to have abundant space, and to draw the tree outwards, so as to render it thin, without being anywhere destitute of young shoots.

Meanwhile the pruning for fruit has been going on. This consists in shortening down the laterals which had been nailed in at the disbudding, or summer pruning. Their length will depend on their individual vigour, and the luxuriance of the tree. The buds, which are generally double, or rather two together, with a fruit bud between them, seldom occur quite close to the insertion of the shoot. Perhaps two or three pairs are left with a wood bud at the point to afford a growing shoot, in order to act as its lungs; for it is necessary that there should be leaves above the fruit. The extent to which the fruit is thinned must depend on the vigour of the tree; a pair of fruit to each square foot of wall being an average allowance. When the fruit begins to swell, the point of this leading shoot is pinched off, that it may not drain away the sap. Any young shoot from the wood-eyes at the base of the bearing branch is carefully preserved, and in the following winter it takes the place of the branch which has borne fruit, and is cut out. If there be no young shoot below, and the bearing branch is short, the shoots at the point of the latter are pruned for fruit; but this must be done cautiously; and if the bearing branch be long, it is better to cut it back for young wood. It is the neglect of this which constitutes the principal error of the English fan system as it is usually practised. Several times during summer the trees ought to be regularly examined; the young shoots respectively to be topped and thinned out; those that remain to be nailed to the wall, or braced in with pieces of peeled willow, and the whole trees ought occasionally to be washed with the force-pump.

The Montrouillet form is represented by fig. 9. The principal feature is that which constitutes the great principle of all French training, viz., the suppression of the direct channel of the sap. Four, more commonly two, mere branches are so laid to the wall that the central angle contains about 90°. The other branches are all treated as subordinate members. This form is open to the objection, that if the under branch should die, the upper one cannot be brought down into its place.

The form à la Dumoutier (so called from its inventor, and described at great length by Lefleur), is merely a refinement on the Montrouillet method. It will be sufficient to mention to the experienced trainer (and none other can be expected to execute this form), that the formation of the tree commences with the inferior limbs and proceeds towards the centre, the branches being lowered from time to time, as the tree acquires strength. What is most worthy of notice in this method, is the management of the subordinates in the pruning for fruit. When a shoot promises blossom, it is generally at some distance from the point of insertion into the old wood, and the intermediate space is covered with wood buds. All the latter, therefore, which are between the old wood a and the blossom c, in the outer figure, except the lowest b, are carefully removed by ébourgeonnement. This never fails to produce a shoot b in the inner figure, the growth of which is favoured by destroying the useless spray above the blossoms, and pinching off the points of those which are necessary to perfect the fruit. A replacing shoot is thus obtained, to which the whole is invariably shortened at the end of the year. The branch thus treated is called the branche de réserve.

The form à la Sicule is another modification of the Montrouillet training, of which fig. 13 will give a general idea. The two mother branches are laid in very obliquely, and are never shortened. On the subordinate branches only three buds are left at the winter pruning, one terminal, and two at a considerable distance from each other on the sides of the shoot. This method is not well adapted to our climate.

Mr. Seymour's form approaches more nearly to the French methods than any other practised in this country. It will be seen, however, from the annexed figure (fig. 14), that he does not suppress the direct channel of the sap. This circumstance, although considerable stress seems to be laid upon it, is not essential to the plan, nor is perhaps the best part of it. The principal novelty is, that the bearing shoots are all on the upper sides of the mother branches, and that these bearing shoots are wholly reproduced once a-year. The one side of this figure represents the tree after the winter pruning, the other side before it has undergone that operation. It will be observed that on this latter side there are pairs of shoots on the upper parts of the mother branches. The lower shoot, that, namely, which has borne fruit, is cut out, and the other is brought down into its place. This replacing shoot is shortened to about eight or nine inches, care being taken to cut at a wood-bud; and at the time of disbudding, the best situate buds, together with those nearest the base, are left for the future year's bearing. To this plan it has been objected that the annual excision of the bearing shoots produces a series of rugged and increasingly ugly protuberances at their base and along the upper surface of the principal members; an objection which also militates against Dumoultier's form. Others, on the other hand, declare that Mr Seymour's mode is the most perfect in theory that has been described. For ourselves, we are inclined to prefer the old fan form, when well executed, as nearest the natural habit of the tree, and as best adapted to our uncertain climate. In the training of peaches, "whatever is best administered is best;" and there is no doubt that many ingenious gardeners have only partial success, because, from the multiplicity of their engagements, their trees can receive only partial attention.

For cold and late situations, Mr Knight has very judiciously recommended the encouraging of spurs on the young wood, as such spurs, when close to the wall, generate the best organized and most vigorous blossoms, and ensure a crop of fruit. They may be produced, by taking care during the summer pruning or disbudding, to preserve a number of the little shoots emitted by the yearly wood, only pinching off the minute succulent points. On the spurs thus procured, numerous blossom-buds form early in the following season. This practice is well adapted to cold situations.

Peach-trees, particularly in the north of England, and also in Scotland, require protection from atmospherical influences, especially at the period of blossoming. Canvas or bunting screens are most effectual. If the protecting screens be applied early in the season, great benefit may be derived from retarding the blossom till the frosty nights of spring be past. If the night frost has been severe, a copious sprinkling of water over the whole tree, before the influence of the morning sun be felt, has been found by Harrison to be very useful in gradually raising the temperature of the foliage and blossoms, and thus preventing injury from the sudden transition.

The Almond-Tree (Amygdalus communis), a native of China, may be noticed here rather on account of its affinity to the peach and apricot, than because of its importance as a fruit-tree in this country. Every good garden should contain a tree or two trained as standards; for in very fine seasons they will yield a crop, and they are always ornamental in spring from the beauty of their blossoms. The sorts most worthy of notice are:—the Tender-shelled Sweet Almond or Jordan, and the Common Almond or Bitter.

The Almond is generally budded on seedlings of its own kind; but for heavy soils, plum stocks are preferable.

THE APRICOT.

The Apricot (Prunus armeniaca) is a native of the Caucasus and China; it was cultivated by the Romans, and was introduced into England from Italy in the reign of Henry VIII. It has always, and deservedly, been a favourite. The principal varieties are the following:—

Blanche. Flowers large; fruit large; form oval; colour orange, tinged with deep yellow; flavour good; stone roundish and imperious; kernel bitter; a good bearer, and of English origin.

Breda. Flowers large; fruit roundish, sometimes almost four-eighths orange-coloured; juice rich, stone small and imperious; kernel sweet. The sort Breda is an apricot of first-rate excellence, and in the south of England the best bearer used as a standard.

Roman. Flowers large; fruit oblong; colour pale yellow; flesh soft; stone imperious; kernel very bitter. The tree is a good bearer, but the fruit is fit only for preserving. It is sometimes called the Brussels,—a name also occasionally given to the preceding.

Moorpark. Flowers large; fruit roundish, compressed, orange and red; flesh parting from the stone, juicy and rich; stone imperious; kernel bitter. This is generally considered the best apricot in this country. There are several sub-varieties known under different names; and among these Shipley's is the best. It scarcely differs from the Abricot Peche of the French.

Hemkirke. Like a small Moorpark, but with a more tender and juicy pulp, and with the rich flavour of a greengage plum; kernel small, sweetish. A desirable early fruit, ripening on an east wall in the end of July or beginning of August.

Turkey. Flowers large; fruit middle-sized, spherical, deep yellow; flesh juicy and rich, parting from the stone, which is imperious; kernel sweet. This is an excellent late variety.

Kaisa, new early. Introduced in 1847. Alepo. A valuable early variety, completely superseding the Red and White Masulines, which were formerly our earliest sorts.

Musch-Musch. Fruit small; tree rather delicate, requiring a dry soil and warm situation. It is extensively cultivated in Upper Egypt, where the fruit is dried as an article of commerce.

Besides these we may mention the Large Early, the Orange and Royal. The last is a French variety; it is excellent, and ripens earlier than the Moorpark.

Apricots are propagated by budding on muscle or common plum-stocks. Mr Knight recommends the wilding apricot as a stock for the Moorpark variety. Some gardeners have adopted the horizontal form of training; but the most usual, and certainly the best, is the common fan arrangement; for the larger the tree, the greater the produce of fruit. The fruit is produced on shoots of the preceding year, and on small close spurs, formed on the two-year-old wood. The apricot is a tree of much stronger growth than the peach, and therefore requires more room; this and the peculiarity of the spurs being kept in mind, the observations made on the training and pruning of the peach may be readily applied to this tree. It requires a summer and winter pruning. The former should begin early in June, at which period all irregular fore-right and useless shoots are to be pinched off; and, shortly afterwards, those which remain are to be fastened to the wall, to become bearers. At the winter pruning, all worn-out branches, and such as are not duly furnished with spurs and fruit-buds, are removed. The young bearers are moderately pruned at the points; care, however, being taken to leave a terminal shoot or leader to each branch. The most common error in the pruning of apricots, is laying in the bearing shoots too thickly.

The blossom comes early in spring, but is more hardy than that of the peach: the same means of protection, when necessary, may be employed. The fruit often sets too numerously; and in this case it is thinned out in June and in the beginning of July, the later thinnings being used for tarts, for which purpose they are in much request. In the south of England, apricots are sometimes trained against espalier-rails, and occasionally planted as dwarf standards; and in good seasons the fruit from such trees is more highly flavoured than that from walls. In general, however, the protection of a wall is required. An east or west aspect is preferred in England, the full south being apt to induce mealiness of pulp. In Scotland the late varieties require the best aspect that can be afforded.

THE PLUM.

The Plum-Tree (Prunus domestica) is considered a native of England. Many of the best cultivated varieties, however, have been introduced from France. The Horticultural Society's Catalogue enumerates 274 sorts, though probably all of these are not well ascertained. We shall first notice a few of the best dessert plums, and then give a list of select kitchen sorts.

The Greengage is the Reine Claude of the French, a great favourite at Paris (as it is everywhere else). It is supposed to have been introduced into England by the Gage family, and the foreign name having been lost, it obtained its present appellation. It is a fruit of first-rate excellence, the flavour being exquisite. The tree deserves a place against an east or west wall, where the fruit acquires a larger size without materially falling off in richness of flavour. Treated as a wall-tree, it seldom bears well till it is old. and it is very impatient of exact training, as indeed most plums are. In warm situations it may be properly grown on an espalier-rail, or as a dwarf standard.

Angelina Burdett, along with Standard of England and Woolston Black Gage, originated a few years ago from seed by Mr Dowling of Woolston, near Southampton, are all plums of the highest excellence. Of them Mr Thomson says: "These plums are first-rate, and I should recommend their extensive cultivation. As regards the last, it throws the Green-gage into the shade; for it possesses all the proprieties of that fine plum with more sugary sweetness."

The Drop d'Or is a small yellow plum of high flavour, ripening in the beginning of September. On a light soil the tree is a tolerable bearer; but on a heavy soil it seldom succeeds. The fruit precedes the Green-gage in ripening, and resembles it in quality.

Coe's Golden Drop is a fine large oval plum; excellent either for the table or for preserving. It keeps well; and Mr Linley informs us that he has eaten it exceedingly good twelve months after it had been gathered. It requires a wall of the best aspect, and will scarcely answer on a bleak climate.

For Standard, Gibson's Early Plum is one of the best and most productive that can be recommended, particularly for the northern portion of Britain.

Jefferson, a comparatively new plum, of American origin. Fruit very large, golden yellow, tinged with purple on the side next the sun; tree hardy, and an abundant bearer. This is the best of all American plums, and only surpassed with us by the Green-gage, Angelina Burdett, and Woolston Black-gage.

The Precious de Toulouse is an early sort; of a dark blue colour, with a violet blush on pulp, and of a very pleasant flavour. The tree succeeds as a standard.

The Blue Imperatrice is a fine late plum; the tree is a good bearer, but requires an east or west wall.

Reine Claude Violette. A very high-flavoured variety, resembling, colour excepted, the Green-gage. It succeeds on standards, but is improved by a wall. The tree is a good bearer.

Washington. Fruit large, roundish oval, pale yellow on the shaded side, and of a fine glaucous light purple on the exposed side; of excellent quality, little inferior to the Green-gage. The tree is vigorous and bears well against a wall, the fruit ripening about the middle of August. Being an early plum, it will, in favourable situations, succeed as a standard. It is, as the name imports, of American origin. It ought to be in every collection.

Reine Claude de Bavière. The most valuable late plum of its class. Originated with M. Ravay, of Vilvorde, near Brussels.

Copper's Large Red is a plum of large size, oval; stature deeply cleft on one side; skin of a bluish glaucous appearance on the same side; on the other dull red; flesh firm, adhering to the stone; ripens in the second half of September. The tree is a good bearer.

The following are also first-rate plums:—D'Agen, Coe's Late Red, Downton Imperatrice, Kirke's Blue Perdizene, White Perdizene, and Lawson's Golden-gage.

The Chester, Fotheringham, Goliath, Orleans, Willmot's New Orleans, La Royale, Sharpe's Emperor, Morocco, and some of the Damasks, though generally regarded as only second-rate plums, deserve attention, and should always have a place in large gardens.

The Early Violet was excellent, and strongly recommended by Lidley to be planted in cottage gardens. Lincoln's Nonanuch plum should not be omitted; for when well ripened, it makes an approach to the Green-gage in flavour.

As kitchen and preserving plums, we may specify the Shropshire Damson, Imperial Diazene, Isabella, White Magam Bonum, Red Magam Bonum or Imperiale; the Caledonia or Nectarine Plum, a large and handsome fruit; the Mirabelle, St Catherine, Wine Sour, and Bullace. Dean's Jedburgh Spelling, Denniston's Superbi, Guthrie's Guthrie's new Apricot Plum, Tay-bank Plum, Tepper, Guthrie's Minette, and Pond's Spelling.

Plums are propagated chiefly by budding on Musele or St Julian stocks. They are sometimes grafted, but gum is apt to break out at the place of junction. The damson, wine sour, and other varieties, planted as standards, are generally increased by suckers, which the old plants afford plentifully. For placing against walls, trees which have been trained for two years in the nursery are to be preferred.

Plum-trees require ample space. On common walls they should be allowed from twenty to twenty-five feet of breadth over which to extend themselves. The horizontal mode of training is adopted by many. The fan form is also very commonly followed, and undoubtedly, where there is room, it is the best. The shoots ought to be laid in at full length. The fruit is produced on small spurs, on branches at least two years old. The same spurs continue fruitful for several years.

Standard plum-trees require only to have a portion of their wood thinned out occasionally when they are young. The hardy kinds grown in this way are very productive, and in some places in the north of England, their produce forms a considerable article of food for several weeks, and also an article of commerce, particularly the wine sour and damson, which is in great request for preserves. It is matter of regret that this branch of fruit culture has not, as yet, met with due attention in Scotland.

The Cherry-Tree (Prunus Cerastis), is said to have been introduced into Europe from Pontus, by the celebrated Lucullus, n.c. 73. From the "London cries" of Lydgate, it appears that "cherries in the ryse," or in twigs, were hawked in London at the beginning of the 15th century. Excellent sorts have at various times been introduced from the Continent, and, of late years, several first-rate new varieties have been raised in England. Geams included, the Horticultural Society's Catalogue enumerates no fewer than 219 varieties; the following may be accounted some of the best:

The Early Purple Griotte may be first mentioned as being the earliest of all cherries, generally ripening in the end of May.

The May-Duke is one of the most common, and, at the same time, one of the most valuable cherries. In fine seasons, and on a good aspect of wall, it begins to colour in May; and in such situations it is generally ripe from the middle to the end of June. The tree also bears well as a dwarf standard, but against a wall the fruit gets larger, and does not fall off so easily.

The Late Duke is a very sweet cherry, with most of the qualities of the May Duke. It is identical with the Arch Duke.

Bigarreau or Grégouin. This is an excellent fruit, especially when it gets the protection of a wall. In the cherry orchards of England, this sort is now pretty extensively cultivated, the fruit meeting with a ready sale, and vast quantities being required for the London market.

Harrison's Heart is nearly allied to the Bigarreau; it is rather of larger size and of finer appearance in the dessert, but inferior in flavour. The fruit has this advantage, that it is not liable to crack in the weather.

Belle de Choisy, an excellent cherry. The fruit come in pairs, red, mottled with amber colour, tender and sweet. The tree bears well as a standard.

Black Tartarian. Fruit large, obtuse heart-shaped; flesh half tender. "The quality is good, and in appearance it is one of the finest." It is a good bearer, and well adapted for forcing.

Waterloos. Raised by a daughter of Mr Knight, from the Bigarreau and May Duke. Fruit black, large, obtuse heart-shaped, pulp tender. It ripens in July, and the tree is a fine bearer.

Elmow. Raised by Mr Knight, from the Bigarreau and White Heart. Fruit large, heart-shaped, pale red, with a sweet delicious juice. The tree is a good bearer and hardy; the fruit ripens shortly after the May Duke.

Kentish Cherry. One of the oldest and most prevalent cherries in England, abounding in the orchards of Kent. When ripe, it is of a full red colour, and its subacid flavour is very agreeable. It is commonly grown on standards, and ripens in the end of July. The Hort. Cat. distinguishes this from the Flemish or short-stalked, also a good cherry, to which it is closely allied.

The Morello. This is a well-known late cherry, much in request for confectionery. The tree is a copious bearer as a standard, and on a south wall the fruit acquires a peculiarly rich subacid flavour. It succeeds perfectly well on a north aspect, where its fruit may be retarded to the end of October.

The Amber, or Yellow Spanish, is a late fruit, and useful in prolonging the cherry season till the beginning of September. It requires a west wall.

Among other excellent varieties may be mentioned the Black Eagle, Black Heart, Bowyer's Early Heart, Carnation, Downton, Florence, Knight's Early Black, and the White Heart.

Buttner's October Morello. An excellent German variety of this useful section of cherries, remarkable for its hanging on the tree till the end of November. The Late Duke, White Tartarian, and Buttner's Black Heart are also valuable. To that useful section (the Morello), we may add a new acquisition, the Frogmore new Morello, and Rumsey's late Morello.

What are called geans or guignes, are cherries less removed from their natural state. They are usually grown as standards, and bear abundantly, particularly when old. The principal sorts are the Amber gean, a plentiful bearer, with sweet tender fruit; and the Lundie gean, a small black cherry of high flavour.

In the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, the black-fruited cherry-tree, or Guignier, is considered as a variety of Prunus Cerasus. The forest cherry-tree, P. avium, is named Merisier; and, besides varieties with red and with black fruit, there is a marked variety called Bigarrister.

The great quantities of pale-coloured cherries yearly sold in the London market are chiefly of the kinds called White Heart and Bigarreau. The dark-coloured cherries are chiefly the Courone, which is often passed upon buyers for the Black Heart.

The stock preferred for cherries is the wild gean. Mr George Lindley recommends that dwarf cherry-trees should be grafted, and two or three year-old stocks will do for them.

For standard trees the stocks should be at least four years old, and they should be budded or grafted five or six feet from the ground. High-stemmed cherry-trees, or riders, are often temporarily employed to fill up the vacant spaces on newly planted garden walls, till the dwarf trees make sufficient progress; for these, stocks six or seven feet high are required. For dwarf cherry-trees, the best stocks are procured from the Prunus (or Ceranus) Makaleh, the sweet-scented cherry.

Cherries are generally produced on small spurs which appear on the wood of the second year, and these spurs continue productive for an indefinite period. Any form of training may therefore be adopted; but as the fruit is always finest on young spurs, perhaps fan-training, which admits of the frequent renovation of the bearing branches, is the most advantageous. A succession of young shoots should be laid in every year. For the Morello, which is of twiggy growth, and bears on the young wood, the fan form is absolutely necessary. Whatever method be adopted for general practice, care should be taken not to crowd the branches; for nothing is more unfavourable to the productiveness of the trees than overcrowding of branches.

The Prunus Maraschino, from the fruit of which is prepared the celebrated liqueur called Maraschino di Zara, is a native of Dalmatia, and would doubtless succeed in Britain, if fairly tried.

THE PEAR.

The Pear-Tree (Pyrus communis) is considered by botanists as a native of England. Many cultivated varieties seem to have been introduced by the monks. Remains of perry orchards attached to monasteries of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are not uncommon, even in Scotland, and very ancient trees of the finer dessert pears, such as the Colmar and Longueville, are occasionally found.

The list of cultivated pears amounts to more than 600 names; but the number of those truly desirable is not large. We shall specify some of the best dessert fruit, following the usual division of Early and Late; the former class being in season in the months of August, September, and October, and the latter in November, December, and January. It is only a few years since pears fit for the dessert in January were known in Britain; such as the Glout morceau, the Easter Beurré and the Winter Beurré; and they deserve the best attention of horticulturists. It is to be premised, however, that even within the limits of Britain, climate makes an important difference in the culture and ripening of pears, of which a remarkable and extreme example may be seen in the Chaumontelle—a fruit which is produced abundantly and ripened on standards in the southwest of England, and even in the environs of London, while it requires a south wall near Edinburgh.

1. Early.

Citron des Corneaux (Madeleine de Léville, and in Scotland often called the Premature). This is the earliest pear; it ripens in July, acquiring a yellowish-green colour; it is sweet, but without much flavour. One tree may suffice. It requires a sheltered situation.

Beurré d'Amalie. Above medium size; colour greenish-brown; form obvate; quality excellent; ripe in September.

Doyenné Blanc. Colour pale yellowish; about medium size; pyriform; quality excellent; ripe in September and October.

Doyenné. Brownish-green; above size; large; obvate; quality first-rate. Tree hardy and an excellent bearer; ripe in September.

Flemish Beauty. Colour russet-red; obvate; size large; quality excellent; tree hardy; ripe in September.

Poudrée d'Automne. Colour pale green; obvate; under medium size; quality excellent; ripe in September and October.

Léon d'Automne. Pale green and brown; size large; oblong obvate; quality excellent; ripe in September and October.

The Summer Rose. A handsome pear of a russet-red colour, much resembling an apple, flesh white, rich and sugary. This is an excellent variety, succeeds on a standard, and ripens in August.

The Jargonelle of Britain is the Grosse Chine Moderne of the French. This is the most common and most esteemed of our early autumn pears. Against the wall the fruit attains a large size and a beautiful appearance; but it is not of so high a flavour as from standard or espalier-rails. The fruit does not keep well, and the tree should therefore be planted in various situations to prolong its season, as it rather quickly, when it disappears, immediately to supply its place in the dessert.

The Summer Francréal, or the Yat of Holland, may be noticed as another pear to follow the Jargonelle, as it ripens about the middle of September. The tree proves, in general, a great bearer.

The Duhamel is a good autumn pear, with a delicate flavour. From a wall, it comes in immediately after the Green Yair, and helps to fill up a gap in the pear season, especially in Scotland; standard produces freely, and their fruit is ready in November.

The Seckel is a good pear, of medium size, suited for a border standard, and it seldom fails to yield a crop. The fruit is small, but melting and perfumed. It does not keep.

The Red Doyenné, or as it is sometimes called Gray Doyenné, is also an excellent autumn pear, succeeding best on a quince stock.

The Elton. Capital as a standard, in ordinary situations. The tree produces healthy wood, and the fruit ripens in September and October.

The Early Bergamot was introduced from France in 1820. It is one of the very best early pears, as the tree bears freely as an open standard.

The Autumn Bergamot, or English Bergamot, has been long known as one of the most highly flavoured pears. It is not the Bergamotte d'Automne of the French, which is liable to canker in this country, while the English bergamot is not. In England the tree succeeds perfectly well as a standard; and in Scotland it answers in good seasons, where it is deserving of a west wall. The fruit is of a depressed globular shape, not large; the flesh juicy, sugary, and rich, a little gritty next the core. It ripens towards the end of October, but does not keep.

The Van Meuleman Leclercq is one of the best autumn pears, ripening from the middle to the end of October. It is of the size and shape of the Duchesse d'Angoulême; sugary, and with rich pine-apple flavour.

To the list of summer and early autumn pears might be added the Musk Robine, Summer Francréal, Summer Bonchretien, and William's Bonchretien, generally requiring the protection of a wall; and Ambrosia, Caillot Rosat, and the Hazel Pear.

2. Late.

The Brouss Beurré (Red, Gray, Royal Beurré of various authors). This is a first-rate melting pear. Against a wall with a good aspect, and with a fresh soil, the tree is an abundant bearer. Ripens in October and November.

Belle et Bonheur. Yellowish green; size large; roundish; quality good. Ripens in September and October.

The Beurré de Capignonnet. This is one of the best Flemish varieties. The fruit is beautiful and well flavoured. It ripens in October and November. The tree is a great bearer and hardy.

The Moorfoot Egg. There are two varieties, both of Scottish origin, of which the Galston Moorfoot Egg is the best. The fruit is not attractive in appearance, but it is of admirable quality. The tree is hardy, and should be grown as a standard. The Gansel's Bergamot (sometimes called Brocas Bergamot). This noble pear, which has scarcely been rivalled, certainly not surpassed, by any of the imported varieties, is of English origin. Its blossoms are too tender to enable the tree to succeed as a standard; but it deserves a wall, and it should be placed on various aspects to prolong its season. The fruit ripens in November and December.

Gansel's Bergamot, having many of the properties of the original, but is harder and sets better.

Beurré de Hollande. Esteemed for its long keeping. In use from March till June.

Beurré Rose. Russet coloured; size large; pyramidal; quality excellent. In use in October and November.

Beurré Gris d'Hiver. Size large; quality first-rate; very productive; one of the best pears in cultivation. In use during February.

Beurré Drol. Yellowish brown; obovate; size large; quality excellent. In use in October and November. One of the most profitable of the Flemish pears.

Beurré Longelier. Size large; obovate; quality first-rate. In use in October and November. One of the very best autumn pears, and exceedingly hardy.

Beurré de Las Motte. Pale yellowish green, with russety dots; size medium; roundish; quality good. In use in October. Deserves a place in every garden.

The Meurion. This excellent and large pear was raised by the Abbé Dupuyne. "It is," says Mr Thompson, "one of the very finest, even as a standard, on which it bears abundantly; it succeeds also well on a north wall." In Scotland it is the better for an east or west aspect; but on a standard in a sheltered garden at Luffness, East Lothian, the fruit has attained the weight of 15 ounces. It ripens in October and November.

Beurré d'Arenberg. Is perfectly melting and without grittiness, and rich, sweet, and high-flavoured. The tree succeeds either trained against an east or a west wall, or as a standard in any sheltered situation.

Cordier. An old French sort, of excellent quality, with a tender and finely flavoured pulp. The tree deserves an east or west aspect on the wall, and it succeeds also on an espalier-rail. The fruit ripens in November and December.

The Urbazette is a very good variety, of a large size, and ovo-globular shape; skin of yellowish colour, with small russety spots; flesh white, melting, with a sweet well-flavoured juice. In Scotland ripens about a month earlier than the preceding.

Colmar. This is a fine late pear, with a white flesh, and of high flavour. In Scotland the tree succeeds on a south wall. This is the Peir d'Anch of the Continent. It keeps till February or March.

Puisse Colmar. An admirable Flemish variety; of excellent flavour; hardier, and a more abundant bearer than the preceding, and more easily ripened. It is in maturity in December and January.

Poire Neill was raised by M. Van Mens of Louvain. It is a large handsome fruit, with a very white pulp, mellow, and abounding with a saccharine and slightly musky juice. It is in season during the month of October, and should be gathered a few days before it is ripe. The tree succeeds as a standard at Edinburgh, and bears freely.

The Easter Beurré. Fruit large, obovate, green and brown; flesh whitish-yellow, buttery, and extremely high-flavoured. "It is," says Mr Thompson, "hardy and a good bearer; one of the most valuable spring sorts, compared with which the early pears of short duration deserve not a wall; its extensive cultivation for a long and late supply is, without hesitation, strongly recommended." In Scotland it ripens in April. As the tree ripens its wood readily, it succeeds as a standard, even in Scotland, and yields fruit superior in flavour to that from the walls.

Beurré Racine. A Flemish variety, raised by the late M. Hardemonpt: "the best very late sort yet known," Hort. Cat. It ripens with difficulty in Scotland.

The following, also, may be considered highly valuable sorts as late autumnal and winter pears:—Autumn Colmar, Aston-town, Echassery, Delices d'Hardenpeat, Beurré Spence, Bezi Vief, Bezi de la Motte, Chausseur, Sylvange, Delices de Grand Morceau, Chausseur, Druif, Druif d'Angoulême, Hacan's Incomparable, Winter Nellie, Swan Egg, Druif d'Anjou gris, Flemish Beauty, Napoleon, Beurré d'Arenberg, Bonheureux, Fondant, Broussan, Calebasse, Chapital, Comto de Lamy, Althorp Crasanne, Winter Grassane, De Louvain, Damas, Elton, Emerald, Eyewood, Fondante du Bois, Forelle, Fulton, Groom's Princess Royal, Jean de Witte, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Mocca, Knight's Monarch, No Pins Meuris, Thompson's.

Of the Kitchen Sorts, or stewing pears, we may name the Bellissime d'Hiver, Catillac, Uvedale's St. Germain, Warden or Black Worcester, and the Gilogil. These are placed on inferior walls, or upon espalier-rails, or kept as dwarf standards. The Uvedale's St. Germain fruit often attains a large size, especially against a wall.

Pear-trees are grafted either on what are called free-stocks or on dwarfing stocks; for the former, which are intended for full-sized trees, the seeds of the wilding pear should be sown; but frequently the pips of the perry pears, and sometimes of the common cultivated sorts, are used. For dwarfing, the quince is preferred; but the white-thorn, as already mentioned, is occasionally employed. Where the space is limited, or the ground is damp, the dwarfing stocks are the more suitable. It is a favourite doctrine with some, that by budding or grafting on quince or hawthorn, pears of too melting and sugary a quality acquire firmness and acidity; to what extent this holds good has not been correctly ascertained, but that the stock exerts a certain degree of influence on the fruit is beyond dispute. Some of the finer pears do not take readily on the quince. In this case double working is resorted to. For example, the Virgoulouse may be easily budded on the quince, and the Beurré d'Arenberg will afterwards succeed freely on the Virgoulouse. It may be mentioned in passing, that the ancient horticulturists seem to have supposed that a fruit was improved by double working; and that the term renette, a name applied to a class of apples, is considered as having been derived from the Latin renata, that is, a tree grafted upon itself.

In selecting young pear-trees, some prefer maiden plants, that is, plants one year grafted; but if good trees, trained for two or three years, can be procured, so much the better. It is important to ascertain that the stock and stem be clean and healthy, and to take great care that no injury be done by bruising or tearing the roots, in lifting and removing. The trees should be planted immediately after the fall of the leaf. Wall-trees require from 25 to 30 feet of lineal space when on free stocks, and from 15 to 20 feet when dwarfed. Standards on free stocks in the orchard should be allowed at least 30 feet every way, while for dwarfs 15 feet may suffice. Where the trees are trained en pyramid or en queueville (see figs. 2, 3), they may stand within eight feet of each other. It is very desirable that the pear orchard should be in a warm situation, with a soil deep, substantial, and well drained, or free from injurious latent moisture. Without attention to these circumstances, pear-trees seldom succeed. Mr Rivers, one of our most successful pear cultivators, recommends planting pear trees on quince stocks, so that the stock may be covered up to its junction with the graft. This is effected by raising up a small mound of rich compost around it, a contrivance which induces the graft to emit roots into the surface soil, and also keeps the stock from becoming hard or bark-bound.

The fruit is produced on spurs, which appear on shoots more than one year old; the object of the pruner therefore ought to be to procure a fair supply of these spurs. The mode most commonly adopted of training wall-pear-trees is the horizontal; but each of the forms already mentioned has its advantages, and is peculiarly adapted to some particular habit of growth in the several varieties. For the St Germain, and other twiggy sorts, the fan form is to be preferred; for the Gansel's Bergamot, and other strong growers, the half-fan or the horizontal. In the latter form the trees may often be found fifteen, twenty, or even thirty years old, during which time they acquire an undue projection from the wall, and become scrappy and unmanageable. On the other hand, the finest fruit is produced on young spurs, clearly indicating the necessity of a frequent renovation of the spurs. This would lead to a preference of the fan form, not, indeed, that which is commonly practised, for in it the spurs are as immovable as in any other

arrangement; but rather that recommended for peaches, in which there is a continual renewal of the branches. Or, if the horizontal form, which has certain advantages, be adopted, it should be that modification exhibited in fig. 5, a. This is the method followed by Harrison in treating the Jargonelle. Or a portion of the old spurs should be cut out annually, which will induce young ones to form.

The summer pruning of established wall or espalier-rail trees, consists chiefly in the timely displacing or rubbing off the superfluous shoots, retaining only those which are terminal or well placed for lateral branches. In horizontal training, the winter pruning is nothing more than adjusting the leading shoots, and thinning out the spurs, which should be kept close to the wall, and allowed to retain only two, or at most three buds. In fan-training, the subordinate branches must be regulated, the spurs thinned out, and the young laterals, which had been loosely nailed in during summer, must be finally established in their places. No crowding of branches should be permitted. When horizontal trees have fallen into disorder, they may be renovated in the manner represented at fig. 5, b, a method approved by Knight; or all the branches may be cut back to within nine inches of the vertical stem and branch, and trained in afresh, as recommended by Mr Lindley. Or they may be grafted with other sorts if a variety is wanted.

When some of the finer pear-trees produce an abundance of blossom, but do not set well, as not unfrequently happens, artificial impregnation may be partially resorted to; that is, the blossom of some other kind of pear, plentifully provided with pollen, may be taken, and the farina dusted over the best-looking blossoms of the less productive tree.

Summer and autumn pears should be gathered before they are fully ripe, otherwise they will not in general keep more than a few days. The Jargonelle, as Forsyth rightly advises, should be allowed to remain on the tree, and pulled daily as wanted, the standard fruit thus succeeding the produce of the wall-trees. In reference to the Crasanne, Mr Geo. Lindley recommends gathering the crop at three different times, the first a fortnight or more before it is ripe, the second a week or ten days after, and the third when fully ripe. The first gathering will come into eating latest, and thus the season of the fruit may be considerably prolonged. It is evident that the same method may be followed with the Brown Beurré and Gansel's Bergamot, or with any others which continue only a short time in a mature state.

THE APPLE.

The Apple-tree (Pyrus Malus) is, under the name of the Crab, known as a native of Britain. Most of the cultivated sorts, however, are of foreign origin. The finer, high-flavoured apples are prized for the dessert; the juicy and poignant sorts are in request for tarts and sauce; while those of a more rustic nature are manufactured into cider, and on the continent very largely into brandy. In the second edition of the London Hort. Society's Catalogue, no fewer than 1400 varieties are enumerated; many of them doubtless not well ascertained, but about 175 are pronounced to be excellent sorts. And a few have been since added in the supplement to the 3d edition, the best of which will be noticed. With such a multitude before us, it would be vain to attempt detailed descriptions; we shall therefore do little more than give a list of those most worthy of attention.

Table Apples.

The earliest of these are the following:—The Juncating, or White Geniton, which begins to ripen in the end of July, and being sugary and slightly perfumed, forms a welcome addition to the dessert. The Early Margaret, or as it is sometimes called Red Juncating or Striped Juncating, and in Ireland Peach Apple. The Summer, or White Crofton, is of Irish origin; the tree bears abundantly; and if the fruit be scarcely equal to the demands for the dessert, it is very desirable for culinary purposes in August. The Coler Ariadne Pippin, and the Early Julien of Clydevale, also deserve notice. The Summer Golden Pippin, the Red Quarendon of Devonshire, and the Early Harvest, are likewise excellent early dessert apples.

To succeed these in the autumn we have many fine sorts, such as the Early Nonpareil or Hicks's Fancy; the Donside; Autumn Pearmain or Royal Pearmain of the London Nurseries; Shepherd's Fame; Baird's Favourite; White Astrachan; Red Astrachan; Maclean's Favourite; Pearson's Plate; Pomme de Nègre, and Pomme Franklin's Golden Pippin, from not equal to the Old Golden Pippin, but the tree most productive; Old Golden Pippin; King of the Pippins or Hampshire Yellow, a valuable sort; Kerry Pippin, one of the finest Irish apples; and the Cole Apple or Scarlet perfumed; Leisham's Pippin, a large fruit; Longville's Kernel, of good quality.

The winter dessert apples are very numerous, so that only a few can be mentioned. The Ribston Pippin has long maintained a pre-eminent character, for its rich juiciness and highly aromatic flavour. Hubbard's Pearmain is a Norfolk apple of the very finest quality, and too well known, especially in Scotland. The Dutch Mignonne is another apple of great merit, too little known or attended to. The Golden Harvey, or Bradly Apple of Forysth, is a beautiful though small fruit, and Mr Lindley characterizes it as rich, juicy, spicy, and high-flavoured: the tree is not a large grower, is very hardy, and a great and constant bearer; and no garden, adds Mr Lindley, "capable of containing ten trees, ought to be without one of it." The Downton Pippin, raised by Mr Knight from the Orange Pippin of Herefordshire, dusted with the pollen of the Old Golden Pippin, must not be omitted. The tree is a good producer, and the apples, of a rich orange colour, till January. The Yellow Imperial, raised by the same gentleman, is likewise excellent. To these may be added the Beachamwell Borsdorfer; Court of Wick Pippin, excellent, though of small size; Wood's Transparent; Margill; Scarlet Crofton; Golden Pearmain; Scarlet Pearmain; Dutch Mignonne; Fearn's Pippin; Gravenstein; Paradise Pippin; Old Nonpareil; Ross Nonpareil; Bradly's Nonpareil, very fertile; Scarlet Nonpareil; Pimstain Nonpareil; Stormer Pippin; Kirke's Golden Renette; Reinette de Cassel; Reinette de Vienne; Reinette de la Ferté; fine for quantity; and the Sam Young, an excellent Irish apple brought into notice by Mr Robertson of Kilkenny. The Contrepoids plant is a capital winter dessert fruit: the tree is hardy and productive, and the blossom being late in expanding, it is a kind well adapted for cold situations. The Norfolk Beaumis is the best apple for drying and preserving, making an excellent winter preserve.

Dessert Apples.

Ashmead's Kernel; Baddow Pippin; Barton's Incomparable; Breckon Pippin; Christie's Pippin; Clara Pippin; Cockle Pippin; Colonel Vangold; White Crofton; Cornish Gilliflower; Crofton's Margill; Clifford Pippin; Former Crofton; Scarlet Golden Pippin; New Golden Pippin; Golden Russet; Winter Golden Pearmain; Lincomb's Pine Apple; Morris's Court of Wick; Morris's Russet; Newtown Pippin; Pitmaison Nonpareil; Ord's Apple; Adams's Pearmain; Claygate Pearmain; Herefordshire Pearmain; Mannington's Pearmain; Lamb Abbey Pearmain; Scarlet Pearmain; Hubbard's Pearmain; Royal Pearmain; Raveston Pippin; Reinette Franche; Reizette Grise; Powell's Russet; Keeping Russet.

Of American Apples, the best for our climate is the Boston Rustic. Mr Thomas states that the tree is quite hardy, very productive, and suitable for dwarf training; the fruit juicy, with a flavour between that of the Ribston and Nonpareil, and in season from December till April. The Newton, or Long Island Pippin, seldom comes to perfection in this country.

Kitchen Apples.

Or such as are chiefly used for tarts or for sauce, are very numerous, and the names of a few of the best can only be given. The Red Falwood, the Nonesuch, Minshul Crab, Hanwell Scouring, Cat's Head, Alexander Wheeler's Russet, Blenheim Orange, Hunsthous of Yorkshire, and Forman's Great Wall are good. The Bedfordshire Foundling is a large and handsome apple, and the tree a sure bearer. The Celliers is a good kitchen apple for November, the tree hardy and very productive, and the fruit beautiful. Among the best long-keeping apples are the Scottish Geogar Pippin, sometimes called Moncreiff Pippin, or Stone Pippin; Wormaley Pippin; and the Yorkshire Greening and Northern Greening, particularly the latter; Baxter's Pearmain; Winter Strawberry Apple; the Tulip, a small Dutch fruit, of a dark red colour, and with a lively juice; Calvill Malagre; Dutch Mignonne; Winter Lud; Pent- caitland Pippin; Cambusnethan Pippin; The Cockle Pippin or Nutmeg Apple, an excellent apple, and the tree a fertile bearer. Dunelow's Seedling is a very juicy kitchen apple, and keeps firm till April, and the tree is not liable to canker. The Green Falstaff is a good kitchen apple, and keeps till May. The apple may be said of the Hoary Morning; and the tree is a great bearer. The Cockle is a useful ordinary apple for winter; the tree hardy and a great bearer. The New Cockpit is an excellent apple, remarkably perfumed. An apple called the French Crab (but which is of a considerable size, notwithstanding this name), keeps firm in substance till the return of the apple season; and the subvariety of this, called Hambledon's or Deuxans, is described in Romilly's "Pomona" as still superior. Africton; Beauty of Kent; Bellota Bonne; Bess Pool; Brabant Seedling; Carline Bartlett d'Etat; Calville Blanc de Hossegor; Chalmers Allan Bank Seedling; Cobham; Kentish Codlin; Manx Codlin; Carline Codlin; Dunelow's Seedling; Easter Pippin; Escouville Seedling; Flower of Kent; Gloria Mundi; Glory of England; Hawthornden; Hoary Morning; London Pippin; Melrose; Pope's Apple; Royal Russet.

Several kinds of stocks are used for apple-trees. The Dutch parvulae, propagated by layers, has long been used as a stock for dwarf apple-trees, whether intended for the wall or for standards. The duculae of the French seems closely allied to this, if not identical with it. The bar-knot varieties increased by cuttings, or young codlin plants procured from layers, furnish convenient stocks for trees of a very diminutive habit. For common purposes, the stocks raised from the pips of crabs or of cider apples are preferred. Stocks kept one or two years in nursery-lines are fit for grafting upon; but if a considerably tall stem be wished, they must remain three or four years in the nursery, and be pruned up, till they attain five or six feet of height. Any common soil, provided the subsoil be dry, suits the apple-tree. Shallow planting should, in all cases, be practised, and young trees should be carefully staked, to prevent wind-waving.

The fruit, as in the pear-tree, is produced on spurs, which come out on the branchlets of two or more years' growth, and continue fertile for a series of years. There is, therefore, no very material difference in the pruning and training of the pear and of the apple tree. On walls, the horizontal mode of training is commonly followed, as best calculated to repress the too vigorous growth of the tree; but for the Nonpareil, and other twiggy varieties, perhaps the fan form, or some modification of the fan form, is preferable. For standards, where the soil is rich and the growth rapid, all that is necessary in pruning is to thin out the branches, and to prevent their crossing and rubbing against each other. Where there is little luxuriance, as in the case of all dwarfs, it is useful to shorten the branches occasionally, and to remove useless twigs. Dwarfs on paradise stocks may be treated almost like currant-bushes; that is, making them open in the centre, or cup-shaped, to the great advantage both of the size and beauty of the fruit. The general winter pruning may take place any time from the beginning of November to the beginning of March. After the winter pruning, some cultivators delay the shortening of the young wood of the former year till the middle or end of April, when the buds have swollen. Cankered or diseased wood, and all unfruitful snags or ragged spurs, are then to be neatly cut out. Where the scars are large, they should be laid over with some composition calculated to resist the action of the air and rain.

If the American blight, or woolly aphis (the Eriophyes Malts of Leach) make its appearance on a tree, the utmost care should be taken to clean every part of the bark with a hard brush and some searching wash; for, should the insect be left unmolested, it will speedily spread over all the apple-trees in the neighbourhood. Mr Waterton, in his Essays on Natural History, recommends a simple remedy, which he found effectual, viz., mix clay with water till it be of a consistency to be applied like thick paint to the injured parts, either with a trowel or a brush; a second coat upon the first fills up every crack which may show itself when the first coat becomes dry; the clay resists for a sufficient length of time the effects both of sun and rain, and before it gradually falls off, every insect is completely smothered. Painting the trees during winter with vegetable spirits of tar is also an effectual remedy.

For the Storing of Pears and Apples, there should be attached to every considerable garden a commodious fruit-room, well ventilated, and fitted up with a variety of shelves, drawers, &c. A northern aspect is the most suitable; and it is also desirable that there should be a dry, cool cellar under it, to be employed in retarding the maturation and decay of some of the more fugitive varieties. All the fruit intended for keeping should be plucked with the hand, and when it is perfectly dry. For the finer dessert fruits the shelves should be made of hard wood, not of fir, and the fruit should be laid upon cartridge or writing paper, to prevent its imbibing any taint from the wood. The kitchen fruit may be kept in layers two or three deep, but not in heaps, and should be occasionally examined when decaying fruit is to be removed. The excutting of apples and pears, formerly much practised, is now abandoned, as being attended with no useful effects. Darkness, and a low uniform temperature are essential conditions. To ensure the latter, the walls should be built hollow, and lined internally with boarding kept an inch or two from the walls. The roof must also be rendered impervious to sun, heat, and frost.

THE QUINCE.

The Quince (Cydonia vulgaris), allied to the apple, is a native of the south of Germany. It is but little cultivated in Britain. The fruit, which is austere when raw, is well calculated for giving flavour and poignancy to stewed or baked apples. The two principal sorts are the Portugal Quince and the Pear Quince, of which the latter is the most productive, while it serves the usual culinary purposes equally well as the other. Quinces may be propagated by layers, or by cuttings, or by grafting. Two or three trees planted in the slip or orchard are in general sufficient. In Scotland, the fruit seldom approaches maturity, unless favoured by a wall.

THE MEDLAR.

The Medlar (Mespilus germanica) is a native of the south of Europe, but has been naturalized in some parts of the south of England. The varieties worth notice are the Dutch Medlar, with broad leaves; and the Nottingham Medlar, with narrow leaves; of these the latter is considered the best. The fruit is gathered in November, and kept till it begins to decay, when it is served up in the dessert, and highly relished by some. The treatment recommended for the Quince may be applied to the Medlar.

THE SERVICE-TREE.

The Service-Tree (Pyrus domestica) is a native of the mountainous parts of Cornwall, and though not much cultivated, may be here noticed. The fruit has a peculiar acid flavour, and is used only when thoroughly mellowed by keeping. There is a pear-shaped, and also an apple-shaped variety, both of which may be propagated by layers, and still better by grafting on seedling plants of their own kind. Two or three trees may have a place in the orchard, or perhaps in a sheltered corner of the lawn. The tree is seldom productive till it has arrived at a goodly age. The fruit is brought to Covent Garden Market in winter; but it is never seen at Edinburgh. Near Paris, the tree is a good deal cultivated under the name of cornier; and there are several varieties of the Service grown in the north of Italy.

THE MULBERRY.

The Mulberry (*Morus nigra*) is a native of Persia, and in this country requires a warm sheltered situation. The fruit is in request for the dessert during the months of August and September, having a rich aromatic flavour, and a fine subacid juice. Where it is abundant, wine is made from it. In Devonshire, a little of the juice added to full-bodied cider, produces a delicious beverage, called Mulberry Cider, which retains its flavour for many months. The Mulberry is propagated by cuttings or by layers, and also by branches of an inch or more in diameter. Mulberry standard trees succeed only in the southern counties. These require no other training than an occasional thinning out of the branches. They are generally planted on grassy lawns, so that when ripe fruit falls from the higher branches, it can be gathered up without having sustained injury. In the middle districts, espalier-rails may be employed. In colder situations, the mulberry must be treated as a wall-tree; and it has been recommended that the bearing shoots should be trained perpendicularly downwards. The Mulberry as a fruit is little known in Scotland; but a few aged trees exist in old gardens, and in favourable seasons afford berries.

THE HAZEL-NUT.

The Hazel (*Corylus Avellana*), one of our indigenous edible nuts, is the original parent of the red and white Filbert, Cobnut, Cosford-nut, Frizzled, Spanish, and other improved varieties. These succeed best on a rich dry loam, carefully worked, and receiving from time to time a slight manuring. They are generally planted in the slip, but thrive best in an open quarter by themselves. The varieties are propagated by layers or by suckers; but where there are stocks of the common hazel, the other kinds may be grafted upon them. The Cosford is generally preferred, being thin-shelled, and having a kernel of high flavour. If the Filbert or the Cosford be grafted on small stocks of the Spanish nut, which grows fast, and does not send out side suckers, dwarfish prolific trees may be obtained; and by pruning the roots in autumn, the trees may be kept dwarf.

The neighbourhood of Maidstone in Kent has long been celebrated for the culture of nuts for the London market; and as the best Kentish practice is scarcely known in other parts of Britain, we may enter a little into detail. The young plants are almost always suckers from old bushes, and are planted about ten or twelve feet apart. They are suffered to grow without restraint for about three years, and are then cut down to within a few inches of the ground. They push out five or six shoots; and these in their second year are shortened one-third. A hoop is then placed within the branches, and the shoots are fastened to it at nearly equal distances. In the spring of the fourth year, all the laterals are cut off close by the principal stems, and from these cut places short shoots proceed, on which fruit is expected in the following year. Those which have borne fruit are removed by the knife, and an annual supply of young shoots is thus obtained. The leading shoots are always shortened about two-thirds, and every bearing twig is deprived of its top. In the early spring-pruning, attention should be given that a supply of male blossoms be left, and all suckers should be carefully eradicated. These Kentish nut-plantations sometimes resemble large quarters of gooseberry-bushes, few of the trees exceeding six feet in height.

THE WALNUT.

The Walnut (*Juglans regia*) is a native of Persia, and the south of Caucasus; in Britain, therefore, the fruit seldom comes to complete maturity, except in the warmer districts. Besides the common walnut, there are several varieties cultivated, particularly the Large-fruited or Double Walnut, the Tender-shelled, and the Thetford or Highflyer, which last is by far the best walnut grown. The varieties can be propagated with certainty only by budding; but the operation is rather nice, and not unfrequently fails. Plants raised from the seed seldom become productive till they are twenty years old. The fruit is produced at the extremities of the shoots of the preceding year; and therefore in gathering the crop, care should be taken not to injure the young wood. In Kent, the trees are thrashed with rods or poles; but this is rough; and far from being a commendable mode of collecting the nuts.

THE CHESTNUT.

The Chestnut (*Castanea vesca*) like the preceding, has long been an inmate of our woods, in which it grows to a great size; but it seldom ripens its fruit in the northern parts of the island. Several varieties, remarkable for their productiveness and early bearing, have risen into notice, particularly Knight's Prolific, the New Prolific, and the Devonshire. These are propagated by grafting upon stocks raised from nuts; and when grafts are taken from bearing wood, fruit may be produced in a couple of years. The tree thrives best on a dry subsoil.

SMALL FRUITS.

The Red, White, and Black Currant, the Gooseberry, the Raspberry, the Strawberry, and Cranberry, are usually cultivated in our gardens, under the title of Small Fruits. Their economical uses in cookery, confectionery, and in the manufacture of home-made wines, attach to them considerable importance, and render desirable a separate account of them, however brief.

The Currant.—The *Ribes rubrum* includes as its varieties our Red and White Currants. The principal subvarieties are:

- Dutch Red, Ruby Castle, Wilmot's Large Red, Knight's Sweet Red, Knight's Early Red, Woolly-leaved Dutch, Goodwin's Red, Champagne, Dutch White, Wilmot's New White, Victoria White, which to us appears to be identical with Speary's White, and Pearl White. - Black Currants comprise the Common Black, Black Naples, and Ogden's Black Grape.

Red and white currants are readily propagated by cuttings. They succeed in any sort of common garden soil; but seem to thrive best in warm moist situations, where they enjoy an abundance of air. A few plants are sometimes placed against walls, on which they are trained perpendicularly. They are best when planted in compartments by themselves, and trained as dwarf standards or as bushes, from single stems of about a foot in height, care being taken to prevent the main branches from crossing each other. They are sometimes trained with stems three or four feet high, after the manner of standard Roses. In winter the young bearing wood on the sides of the branches is shortened down into spurs from an inch to two inches in length. The leading shoots are left about six inches long. Some careful cultivators reduce the young shoots to about half their length as soon as the fruit begins to colour; an operation which, in consequence of the more free admission of sun, is found to increase the size and improve the flavour of the berries.

The black currant thrives best in a moist, deep soil and shady situation. Its culture is much the same as that of the other currants, but the young shoots are not spurred. All the pruning necessary is to keep the branches free of each other, and to promote a succession of young wood.

The Gooseberry.—Botanists distinguish two species; *Ribes Grossularia*, or rough-fruited gooseberry, and *R. Grossularia Uva-crispa*, or smooth-fruited gooseberry. The gooseberry has always been a favourite fruit in Great Britain, and is said to be produced in the middle districts of the island in greater perfection than in any other part of the world. Many very large sorts have originated in Lancashire, where the culture has been carried to a high degree of refinement; but it is to be regretted that weight seems, unreasonably enough, to be regarded, in the prize competitions in that duchy, as the sole criterion of excellence. Berries of 30 or even 34 pennyweights are boasted of; but such Goliaths are almost always inferior in flavour. The following are some of those sorts recommended in the catalogue of the London Horticultural Society:

- **Red.**—Red Champagne, Ironmonger, Rob Roy, Small Red Globe, Keen's Seedling, Lord of the Manor, Leigh's Billman, Red Warrington, Wellington's Glory, Shipley's Black Prince. - **Yellow.**—Yellow Ashton, Yellow Champagne, Golden Yellow, Smith's Beauty, Smith's Collingwood, Smith's Beddington, Sulphur. - **White.**—Bright Veins, White Champagne, Cheshire Lass, White Crystal, White Damson, Whitesmith, White Honey. - **Green.**—Green Gascongie, Pitmaston Green-gage, Langley Green, Late Green, Green Laurel, Gregory's Perfection, Green Walnut, Jolly Tar, Copper's Bonny Lass.

In forming his collection, the horticulturist should especially select a few early and a few late sorts, and by properly disposing the bushes in various situations in his garden, he may prolong the fruit season by several weeks. The same object may be further promoted by defending the fruit of the late sorts from the attacks of wasps, which is accomplished by surrounding the bushes with bunting (the thin stuff of which ship's flags are often made); and still better with Haythorn's hexagon netting; and also by retarding the ripening of the fruit, which is done by planting the latest sorts against north walls. This last contrivance answers equally well with currants as with gooseberries.

The gooseberry-bush affects a loose rich soil, which readily imbibes, but does not retain, much moisture. Gooseberries, like currants, may be grown in lines or compartments. They are propagated by cuttings, and should be transplanted as early in autumn as the beginning or middle of October. They are trained with single stems, from six inches to a foot high; and all suckers, which are apt to spring up from the roots, should be carefully removed. Formerly it was the practice in Scotland to spur all the annual wood; but now the black-currant system of pruning is more generally and advantageously followed. The ground on which the bushes stand should be slightly forked over once a year, and manure applied, either as a top dressing or else in a liquid form, since disturbing the ground so deep as to cover it in the ordinary manner would be extremely injurious to the roots. No further culture is requisite than keeping down weeds, and preventing the extensive ravages of caterpillars. This last object is best attained by dusting the leaves with powdered hellebore, syringing them with lime or tobacco water, and in many cases covering the surface of the ground with fresh tanner's bark has been found efficacious. Gooseberry plants are sometimes trained on walls or espaliers, to accelerate the ripening, or increase the size of the fruit.

The Raspberry (*Rubus Idaeus*) is, like the preceding small fruits, a native of Great Britain. The principal varieties are:

- Red Antwerp, Yellow Antwerp, Barnet, Red Globe, Cornish, Williams' Double Bearing, Belle de Fontenay, Cox's Honey, Franconia, Rivers' large-fruited Moseley, Roger's Victoria, White Globe, White Monarch, Folstaf, which last is the most profitable.

Raspberries are propagated from suckers, which are planted in rows five or six feet apart, and at three feet from each other in the rows. The fruit is produced on small branches which proceed from the shoots of the former year. Every year they throw up a number of shoots or canes from the root, which bear fruit the subsequent year, and then decay. In dressing the plants, immediately after the crop is gathered, all the decayed stalks are cut away, and of the young canes only three or four of the strongest are left, which are shortened about a third. As the stalks are too weak to stand by themselves, they are sometimes connected together by the points in the manner of arches, so as to antagonise and mutually support each other, and sometimes they are attached to stakes. The best support is obtained by fastening the points of the shoots to a slight horizontal rail or bar about four feet high, and placed a foot and a half on the south side of the rows. By this means the bearing shoots are deflected from the perpendicular to the sunny side of the row, and are not shaded by the annual wood. The ground between the rows should never be disturbed by digging. Fresh plantations of raspberries should be made every six or seven years. The double-bearing varieties, which continue to bear during autumn, require light soils and warm situations. It may be mentioned that the crop of any of the varieties may be retarded by breaking off the points of the bearing shoots at an early period in spring; but, like all other fruits, the flavour of the raspberry is highest when it is allowed to ripen at its natural season.

The Strawberry (*Fragaria*) belongs to the same natural family as the raspberry. Amongst the numerous kinds cultivated in our gardens, botanists have distinguished several species, but as these distinctions imply no difference in culture, and as it is difficult to trace them amid the sportings of the hybrids, we shall not pretend to enumerate them. Scarcely any plant more readily slides into seminal varieties, the nomenclature of which was a mass of confusion, till revised by Mr Thompson. In the Catalogue of the London Horticultural Society, no fewer than 112 varieties are enumerated; but the following are sufficient, and most worthy of cultivation in any garden:

Grove End Scarlet is the most proper for preserving; on account of its fine carmine colour. Collier's Black Prince, for its early ripening. Myatt's Fine Elton, on account of its late ripening; British Queen, Dejardin's Pine, Eleanor, Keen's Seedling, Ingram's Prince of Wales, Princess Alice Maid, Princess Royal, Nicholson's Ajax, Trollope's Victoria, Large Flat Hautbois, White and Red Alpine, Sir Harry, Myatt's Mammoth, and Comte de Paris, allied to the Elton.

The strawberry plant is propagated either from runners or from seed. When runners are employed, they should be taken off as soon as their first rootlets are formed—the sooner the better—and be planted in nursery beds, in well prepared soil, and about seven inches apart. They should be shaded and watered till their roots have been formed, and the plants excited into growth, so as to be strong and well developed the same season. They may be then transplanted either in October or early in November, or the operation may be delayed till March. By this process a good crop of fine fruit will be obtained in the first season.

The desire of new varieties has encouraged the practice of propagating by seed; and Keen, Knevet, Myatt, and others, have been extremely successful. The late Mr Knight having observed that the young runners of the alpine strawberry flower and ripen fruit the first year, was led to adopt this mode of reproduction, and followed it with the happiest success. Early in spring he sowed the seed in flower-pots, which were put into a hotbed; and as soon as the plants attained a sufficient size, they were transplanted into the open ground. They began to blossom soon after midsummer, and continued to produce fruit till interrupted by frost. Thus Mr Knight was inclined to treat the alpine strawberry as an annual plant.

A clayey soil or strong loam is considered as best suited to strawberry plants. On a sandy or very light soil they seldom succeed; and in very close situations, and over rich ground, most varieties produce little else than leaves. Before planting, the ground should be manured and trenched, or digged over deeply, and when stiff and compact it should be very carefully worked. The market-gardeners in the neighbourhood of London grow their strawberries in beds, three rows in each, with an alley between them; while those of Edinburgh plant them in rows two feet asunder, and from a foot to fifteen inches in the rows. High cultivators allow three feet between the rows, and two feet between each plant in the line. When the weather is dry, the young plants are watered till they are well established. In May the runners are cut off, with the view of promoting the swelling of the fruit. During dry weather careful cultivators water their plants after the fruit is set, and occasionally till it begins to colour. The old practice, from which the fruit derives its name, of laying straw between the rows to prevent the soiling of the fruit, has been recently revived; and where there are dressed lawns, the short cut grass may be employed for the same purpose. As soon as the fruit season is over, the runners are again removed; the straw or grass is taken away, and the ground hoed and raked. In October the runners, but not the leaves, are cut away, and the surface of the earth is stirred with a three-pronged fork, great care being taken not to injure the roots. Strawberries may be raised from the same ground for an indefinite space of time; but the plants should be renewed every second or third year. They are, however, never so good after the third year, unless the soil is a stiff and rich clay. In the garden they are generally put in a quarter by themselves, and it should be one fully exposed to the sun and air. The alpine and wood varieties may be placed in situations rather moist and shady, or in rows behind walls and hedges, in which situations they succeed perfectly well, and produce fruit late in the season.

The culture of strawberries is the most lucrative part of the employment of the market-gardener, at least near large towns. It is not uncommon for him to realize a clear profit of £25 or £35, or even more, per imperial acre of strawberry ground. The greater the diligence and assiduity of the cultivator, the greater will be his returns. It is a common and just remark, that too little labour is in general expended upon the strawberry, and by the ignorant and unskilful gardener least of all.

Strawberries are extensively forced. Keen's Seedling, British Queen, and Cuthill's Black Prince, are the best. Some cultivators have their plants in a state of preparation for nearly a year before fruit is expected. Others provide new plants for forcing every year. But the same plants may be forced for several successive years, provided they are shifted in August, and, at the time of re-potting, the black torpid roots are cut off, leaving only those of a paler colour, and those which are connected with the new shoots or offsets. Entirely new plants are, however, the best. They should be potted as early in summer as it is possible to procure rooted plants, and encouraged in growth till autumn, by shading till rooted, watering, &c. By the beginning of November they should be placed under the cover of glass pits or frames, to protect them from too much damp, but not to induce them to prolong their growth. By the 1st of January they should be plunged into a mild bottom heat, admitting abundance of air, in order to excite the roots into activity before the tops. When this is effected they are to be placed in a mild temperature in a pit, or on suspended shelves near the roof of a forcing-house close to the glass. After the fruit is set, additional heat may be applied, and during their growth they should be abundantly supplied with water.

THE CRANBERRY.

The American Cranberry grows freely, and produces fruit readily in any damp situation; but where there is a pond, it may be cultivated with the greatest success, if planted around its edges in a bed prepared for the purpose. A layer of small stones is deposited in the bottom, and over these, peat or bog earth, mixed with sand, to the extent of about three or four inches above, and half a foot below the usual surface of the water. Plants of the American cranberry placed on this bed, soon cover the whole surface with a dense matting of trailing shoots. There is a variety which is very shy in yielding its fruit, and this should, of course, be avoided. If the prolific variety be employed, from a bed thirty or forty feet in length, by five or six in breadth, a quantity of berries may be procured sufficient for the supply of a family throughout the year. The fruit is easily preserved in bottles.

The native Cranberry (Oxycoccus palustris) may be treated in the same manner, and in some places is very successfully cultivated. At Guiseley Castle, Yorkshire, the cranberry ground was surrounded by a ditch, the water of which was made to filter through among stones and stakes to the interior, so as to keep the cranberry plants constantly supplied with moisture. In the same garden a second compartment was dedicated to small fruits of this class, having in the centre a rock-work planted with whortleberries (Vaccinium Vitis Idaea), and around the rock-work beds of American Cranberry, of Scottish Cranberry, and of Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), also native.

The following plants produce fruit, some of them abundantly in a wild state, others sparingly in our gardens; but they can scarcely be said to come within the province of Horticulture: Berberis darwis, and other species of Barberry; Sambucus nigra, the Elder; Prunus spinosa, the Sloe; P. insititia, the Bullace; and Rubus Chamaemorus, the Cloudberry, with various species of Vaccinium and Gaultheria Shadwell.

THE FORCING GARDEN.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

The term forcing is strictly applicable only to those artificial processes by which vegetation is in a considerable degree accelerated; but in common language it has been applied to all those operations in which glazed frames or houses are concerned, though they may be employed merely in aiding the common progress of nature, or in counteracting the great vicissitudes of our climate. For the sake of convenience, we shall adopt the term in its broadest acceptation. After some preliminary observations, we shall first treat of the structures, and then of the fruits and vegetables which are cultivated in them.

The principal object of hothouses, and other structures of a similar nature, is to produce an artificial temperature and humidity of the atmosphere, which shall resemble, as nearly as possible, the climate in which the fruits or plants naturally flourish. A command of heat is obviously a primary requisite. A regulated admission of air, and the presence of a certain degree of moisture, are, in the next place, necessary. Lastly, without the free access of light, plants become blanched, or are destroyed by the moisture which they generate. These, then, are the conditions which limit the form of hothouses; when these are attained, any form may be adopted which invention can devise, or wealth execute; but every true lover of the art will aim at simplicity, and will deprecate useless expenditure, so often exhibited in this department, as injurious to the character as well as to the progress of horticulture.

Artificial Heat.—Forcing-houses are heated in various ways; by means of flues conveying smoke and heated air; by pipes conducting steam or hot water; by so constructing the glazed house as to increase the calorific action of the sun's rays; and sometimes by the heat generated in the course of the fermentation of vegetable substances.

Smoke-flues have been long in use; but they are now very properly almost universally superseded by hot-water pipes. The latter have many advantages over the former. They are far more durable, they occupy much less space, they can be placed in situations where flues can not, they give out a more steady and uniform heat, and can seldom be overheated, they require no repairs or cleaning, and are more elegant in appearance. Flues, on the other hand, are liable to bursting, from the explosions which may arise by the ignition of inflammable gases. Noxious gases cannot be prevented from entering the structure, be the flue ever so well built, and when we consider that these gases consist of sulphurated, phosphorated, and carburetted hydrogen, besides various comparts of nitrogen and carbon, all of which are exceedingly injurious to animal and vegetable life, we need not wonder at the preference given to the one mode of heating over the other. The difference of expense in erection is somewhat more for hot-water pipes than for flues, but they, on the other hand, are the cheapest in the end.

The bricks employed in building flues have, from their soft nature, the property of very strongly absorbing from the air of the house the moisture necessary for the health of plants. Hot-water pipes, on the other hand, being unabsorbent, produce no such effect.

The Furnace.—Very much of the success of all modes of heating depends not only on the construction of the furnace, but also on the working of it afterwards. The most perfect furnace is that which gives the greatest amount of heat from the smallest amount of fuel, and which is capable of being applied to the purposes for which it is intended in the most convenient and most effective manner. Although this has been the study of engineers for above a century, truth compels us to admit that no perfect furnace has hitherto been constructed.

The construction of furnaces, whether for smoke-flues or hot-water boilers, is in principle nearly the same. Hood, an engineer of eminence, and author of the best practical work on heating, observes of furnaces, that "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 upwards to the bottom of the boiler, which will act as a reverberatory, 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 proportioned 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." Tredgold assumed that a furnace for burning a bushel of coals per hour should have a fire grate not less than eight, nor more than sixteen square feet, and the surface of the boiler should be four times the area of the grate, with 32 feet of side flues. This we believe to be considerably more than necessary. Hood, on the other hand, says, in the work already quoted—

"Supposing the ordinary kind of furnace bars afford about 30 inches of opening for the air in each square foot of surface measured as the bars are placed in the furnace, and allowing half-inch openings between the bars, where the bars themselves are about 1½ inches wide, then the relative proportions between the area of the bars and the length of the pipe should be as follows:—75 square inches of area of bars will supply 150 feet in length of a 4-inch pipe, 200 feet of a 3-inch pipe, and 300 feet of a 2-inch pipe; 100 square inches of area of bars will supply 200 feet of a 4-inch pipe, 266 of a 3-inch pipe, and 400 feet of a 2-inch pipe; 150 square inches of area of bars will supply 300 feet of 4-inch pipe, 400 feet of a 3-inch pipe, and 600 feet of a 2-inch pipe, and so on in proportion.

All the air necessary for causing combustion of the fuel should be made to enter from below, that is, through the ash-pit, and not through the door or sides of the furnace, as by so doing it becomes heated to between 900° and 1000° before it comes in contact with the fuel. To produce this effect it is necessary to have double furnace doors and ash-pit registers, the first suggested by Dr. Black, and the latter by Count Rumford. By such arrangements only can the gardener have control over his furnace, for by shutting up the ash-pit and furnace door closely combustion is lessened, and the fire may be kept almost in a state of suspension for many hours together; while, on opening either the door or ash-pit register, air is admitted and combustion goes on.

Smoke-consuming Furnaces.—The attention of modern inventors has of late years been very properly directed to the consumption of smoke. That of Witty, or rather of Chanter, was amongst the first, and has been found to work well for garden purposes. The very best constructed furnace will not work satisfactorily, unless proper attention is paid to it by the fireman. A vertical section of

Witty's furnace is given in fig. 15. The fuel is supplied by the door at a, and is pressed down the inclined plane towards the grate, c, by a screw placed at the head of it (but this method has given way to the use of the common tools used for feeding furnaces); b is the door for regulating the fuel on the grate c. In its progress the whole surface of the coal along the inclined plane is constantly kept in a state of inflammation, the flame having naturally a tendency to burn upwards. In this way the greater part of the fresh coal is carbonized, that is, the gas is separated from it and inflamed, leaving only coke. The strong combustion of the coke at the grate produces heat enough to carbonize the coal, and air enough to inflame the gas. This furnace, therefore, not only consumes most of the smoke, but effects a considerable saving of fuel.

The principal smoke-consuming furnaces adapted to garden purposes are, Williams' improved or argand furnace, that of Mr Wye Williams of Liverpool, and Mr Joseph Williams of the same city. Experiments made as to the action of the latter have shown that in the front flue of a furnace of common construction the thermometer seldom rose above 1100°, and often fell below 900°, the mean being 975°; while in the same furnace, while consuming its smoke upon Mr Williams' principle, the mean temperature was 1160°, ranging between 1400° and 1000°.

The consumption of smoke not only economises fuel to a very considerable extent, but also prevents surrounding buildings, &c., being discoloured by the escape of unconsumed carbon.

Steam as a heating medium has been so completely superseded by hot water for all horticultural purposes, unless it may be in cases where the waste steam of manufactories, &c., may be turned to account in some adjoining garden, that our observations on it here will be brief. The first expense of a steam apparatus, its expense of maintenance, and liability to get out of order, are some of the principal objections to its use. It is also less uniform and certain in its operation. This is explained by the high authority of Hood, who says, "The weight of steam at the temperature of 212°, compared with the weight of water at 212°, is about as one to 1694; so that a pipe which is filled with water at 212° contains 1694 times as much matter as one of equal size filled with steam. If the source of heat be withdrawn from the steam-pipes, the temperature will soon fall below 212°, and the steam immediately in contact with the pipes will condense; but in condensing the steam parts with its latent heat, and this heat passing from the latent to the sensible state, will again raise the temperature of the pipes. But as soon as they are a second time cooled down below 212°, a further portion of steam will condense, and a further quantity of latent heat will pass into the state of heat of temperature; and so on until the whole quantity of latent heat has been abstracted, and the whole of the steam condensed, in which state it will possess just as much heating power as a similar bulk of water at the like temperature, that is, the same as a quantity of water occupying 1-1694, the part of the space which the steam originally did." It has also been proved that a given bulk of steam will lose as much of its heat in one minute as the same bulk of water would in three hours and three quarters.

Hot Water.—Heating by causing hot water to circulate in iron pipes or vessels was brought into notice in 1827, and may be said to have now superseded all other modes of heating whatever, which is a sufficient proof of its superiority. For several years after its invention the true cause of the circulation of the water in the pipes was misunderstood; nor was it till the publication of Mr Hood's "Treatise on Heating, &c.," that this was explained. The erroneous opinion of Mr Tredgold, which has found its way into many standard works, requires to be noticed. This can, however, best be done by quoting Mr Hood's own words—"Let us suppose heat to be applied to the boiler A (fig. 16); a dilatation of the volume of the water takes place, and it becomes lighter—the heated particles rising upwards through the colder ones, that sink to the bottom by their greater specific gravity; and these in their turn become heated and expanded like the others. This intestine motion continues until all the particles become equally heated, and have received as much heat as the fuel can impart to them. But as soon as the water in the boiler begins to acquire heat, and to become lighter than that which is in the opposite vessel B, the water in the lower horizontal pipe d is pressed by a greater weight at z than at y, and it therefore moves towards a with a velocity and force equal to the difference in pressure at the two points y and z. The water in the upper part of the vessel b would now assume a lower level, were it not that the pipe c furnishes a fresh supply of water from the boiler, to replenish the deficiency. By means of this unequal pressure on the lower pipe, the water is made to circulate through the apparatus, and it continues to do so, so long as the water in B is colder, and therefore heavier than that which is in the boiler; and as the water in the pipes is constantly parting with its heat, both by radiation and conduction, while that in the boiler is as continually receiving additional heat from the fire, an equality of temperature never can occur; or else, if it did, the circulation would cease. We see then that the cause of circulation is the unequal pressure on the lower pipe of the apparatus, and that it is not the result of any alteration which takes place in the level of the water," as erroneously stated by Tredgold, Atkinson, and others.

Fig. 16 referred to in the preceding quotation, representing the common tank boiler, surrounded by a flue, with a cistern at the extremity of the pipes, exhibits the form in which the apparatus was first erected; but as in this arrangement the process of heating was very slow, many changes have been made; the cistern has generally been abandoned, and boilers of various configurations have been adopted. Fig. 17 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 18 is a transverse section of a fluid tank boiler, in which the surface exposed to the heat being increased, the effect required is accelerated, and at the same time a considerable saving of fuel is effected. The conical boiler, invented by Mr Rogers, of Seven Oaks, Kent, is formed of two truncated concentric cones, with a space of two or three inches between them for the water, the furnace being in the inner cone, and the fuel supplied from the top.

Mr Rogers' boiler was originally surrounded with brick-work, but several modifications and improvements of it have been introduced; in some cases it has been fitted up in a sheet-iron case, like Arnott's stove. In Fig. 19, the boiler is placed in a cast-iron stand, with ground circular furnace, and register ash-pit doors,—a being the furnace, b the boiler, c flow and returning pipes, d the furnace door, e smoke-pipe to the vent, f ash-pit, g grating, h hole for cleaning the furnace. The best kinds of fuel for this furnace are coke, gas-cinders, and anthracite; but common coal which does not cake very much has been found to be well adapted for the purpose, as it is soon formed into coke.

The following is the rationale of the process of the heating of this boiler, as given by Mr Rogers in the Gardener's Magazine:

"As fuel cannot be consumed without air, if a furnace be constructed of considerable depth, and filled with fuel, and air be admitted only at the bottom, that fuel alone is consumed which lies immediately on the bars, and first receives the draught of air. The fuel above, provided it transmits the air, becomes red-hot, or nearly so, but does not consume until that below it is destroyed. In this manner, one of these conical furnaces being lighted and filled with fuel, that portion in the upper part of the furnace which cannot burn absorbs the heat of the burning fuel below, and radiates or transmits it to the water on every side. So perfect is this absorption of heat, that for several hours after the furnace has been filled up with cinders, though there may be a fierce fire below, little or no heat escapes by the chimney—the whole being taken up by the surrounding water. The economy, therefore, of fuel in such an apparatus is very great. It is evident that excess of draught must be carefully guarded against, so much only being allowed as will consume the fuel steadily, but this is easily learned by experience. The necessity, also, of keeping the aperture in front close, so that air enters the furnace only through the ash-pit, is hence evident. The water (as may be observed from the above figure) is in close and immediate contact with the red-hot fuel on all sides, no black smoking coals intervening, as in most kinds of boilers; hence the great power in proportion to size."

The economy of fuel in these boilers is not their principal advantage; their great recommendation is a long-continued and steady heat. When properly managed, they may be depended on for preserving the heat for from fifteen to twenty hours. They have been successfully applied to all descriptions of hothouses, but for pits they are eminently useful from the small space they occupy; and when fired with coke, gas-cinders, or anthracite, they give off very little smoke.

The number and variety of forms recommended for boilers are now very great, although many of them, it will be admitted, are of no practical utility. The simpler the form and least complicated the whole apparatus the better, at the same time, these forms are the best that present the greatest surface to the action of the fire, forcing such as Bailey's (fig. 20); and Cottam and Hallen's (fig. 21) boilers, which of themselves form the dome (fig. 22) or roof of the fire-place, having the fire burning below them and round their sides, are valuable in that respect. Burbidge and Healey's fluted boiler presents a larger surface to the flame than a plain surfaced one of the same dimensions; and Weeks and Co.'s tubular boiler possesses this merit in an eminent degree.

Boilers constructed so that several hothouses may be heated by one fire, deserve attention, as they are more conveniently wrought, and are less expensive than having stop-cocks or valves placed upon the pipes at various distances from the boiler. In practice we have found Waldron's boiler (fig. 23) to work well. As will be seen by the diagram, the hot water from the boiler rises in a vertical pipe, and flows into an iron box fixed on its top, from which issue as many pipes as there are houses or pits to heat, allowing one pipe for each. Each of these pipes is furnished with a stop-cock, by which the water is turned off or on as may be desired. The return pipes are all connected with a similar box fitted to the end or side of the boiler, and from it through a single pipe the cold water enters the boiler near its bottom.

Connected with this distribution of heated water is Crichley's patent heat-regulator, figs. 24, 25. It is placed a little on one side of the boiler, and to prevent the loss of heat by radiation should be enclosed within double walls of brickwork.

It is unnecessary to describe all the numerous modifications of this apparatus; but it may be proper to direct the attention of the reader to the close boiler represented in fig. 26, in which is shewn how the circulation may be conducted over a door or other obstacle. In this case the upper pipe must not ascend and descend twice: air-tubes ought also to be placed in the boiler, and on the highest part of the pipes; and the whole must be made considerably stronger than on common occasions, to resist the pressure.

To cause heated water to descend below the level of the boiler, by carrying it under a passage (which should be avoided if possible), it is necessary to raise the water, as it is heated, to as great a height above the boiler as it is intended to carry it below it. This depression must take place once only.

In the early stages of this mode of heating, flat pipes were used for the flow or upper range of pipes, from a mistaken idea that they presented a greater radiating surface than round ones of the same calibre. These are now abandoned, and both flow and return pipes are made cylindrical. The number of pipes must be regulated by the extent to be heated, and the degree of temperature required. Hence it is often well to have three or even four upper or flow pipes, and only one under or return pipe. As to size, 4-inch pipes are almost universally employed.

As to position, they should be placed near the front or lowest part of the house, and should, to prevent loss of heat by conduction, be supported clear of the ground, upon cast-iron chairs, so as to clear them of the borders not less than six inches.

An ingenious mode of heating has been shown by Mr. Fowler in his tract on the Thermosyphon, as he calls it, by which he has shown how walls, as well as glasshouses, may be heated. He says, "Any one may prove that hot water will circulate in a syphon, by taking a piece of lead pipe, say of half an inch bore, and four or five feet long, bending it like a syphon, but one leg a good deal more bent than the other, in order to give the descending water time and space for giving out its heat; and then, filling this tube with water, and placing one hand on each end to retain it full, immerse the extremities in a pot of water over a fire, as represented in the annexed fig. 27. Supposing the water of a uniform temperature in both legs of the syphon, no circulation would take place; but supposing it to cool sooner in the long leg \(a\) than in the short leg \(b\), then the equilibrium would be destroyed, and the water in the long leg \(a\) would descend, and draw up water through the short leg \(b\); and this circulation would continue as long as the water \(c\) was maintained at a temperature above that of the surrounding atmosphere."

Mr Kewley's adaptation of the syphon is one of the simplest and most efficient that has been proposed. fig. 28, a, c, e, are the two legs of a syphon, through the upper of which the heated water ascends, and by the lower descends. Immediately over the descending bend, a pipe connected with an air-pump is inserted, in order to fill the pipes, or remove the air which collects in the superior limb. Instead of the air-pump, a funnel with air-tight valves is sometimes employed.

Hot water may be beneficially applied to garden-walls, whether they are covered with glass or not. To this end the walls must be built hollow, and the pipes placed near the bottom of the cavity, and supported on cast-iron chairs placed on the top of the foundation course of material. This method was first exemplified by Mr Atkinson in the gardens of the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey in 1828. The most extensive application of the principle is to be found in the gardens of the Duke of Buccleuch at Dalkeith House, where the whole of the principal brick walls are heated in this manner.

Mr Perkins has constructed an apparatus of small tubes hermetically sealed, in which water circulates, of a temperature varying from 300° to 400° Fahrenheit. The contrivance is very ingenious, and has been pretty extensively employed in London and Edinburgh, in heating public offices and warerooms. It is not, however, adapted to horticultural purposes. For further information we may refer to McIntosh's Book of the Garden, in which above 250 illustrations of various methods of heating are given; and for the principles of heating, to "Hood's Treatise on Heating and Ventilation," new edition, "Tomlinson on Warming, &c," "Berman's History of the Art of Warming and Ventilating, &c."

Mr Corbett introduced what has been called the gutter mode of heating. From a common boiler proceeds an upright tube, and this tube leads to a continued series of open gutters. Heat being applied to the boiler, the water rises in the tube and flows forward in the gutters, giving out moisture in proportion to the degree of heat. As the water cools or becomes more dense, it gradually falls back to the bottom of the boiler, through a connecting pipe.

Mr Rendle, of Plymouth, has also introduced a mode of heating, in which he employs tanks instead of pipes, or gutters, for both surface and bottom heat. These tanks are formed of wood, brick, stone, or cast-iron. When formed of wood, they require to be made of good sound plank, not less than two inches thick, properly jointed, and are usually covered with slates. If they are formed of stone or brick, the insides require a thick coating of Roman cement, and for covers, stone, slate, or brick pavement is employed. The cast-iron tanks have covers of the same materials.

When only one tank is fitted up in a house or pit, a division is made along the centre, leaving an opening at the end farthest from the boiler, for the water to flow through, the hot water or flow pipe from the boiler being fixed to the end of the tank, on one side of the division, and the cold water, or return pipe to the boiler, being fixed to the end on the opposite side of the division. When two tanks are used, they are joined to the flow and return pipes respectively, and united at the extreme ends. In pits, the tanks may be carried round the sides and ends of the pit, with a division between the flow and return pipes.

The principal advantage of the application of this mode of heating consists in the production of bottom heat. Proper provision ought, however, to be made for preventing no more of the steam or vapour rising from the hot water (into the house) than is requisite; for, if this precaution be not adopted, there will be too much damp in the winter season for the proper growth or preservation of the plants.

The rays of the sun, especially by being reflected from walls and other surfaces, become a source of artificial heat. This species of heat, however, is materially affected by the admission of the air necessary to the growth and healthy state of the plants. Solar heat, if properly regulated by ventilation, is of immense importance in the ripening of many of our finer fruits. In the orchard houses recently brought into notice by Mr Rivers, fruits are ripened by the influence of solar heat alone. The idea is, however, by no means new. We have known many glass houses in which peaches and grapes have ripened in the greatest perfection, without any other heat than that from the sun. Mr Rivers' orchard houses are by far too small, and of too temporary a character. They should be permanent structures, covering a considerable space, and, at the same time, must be kept low. The management of the temperature consists solely in the proper regulation of the ventilators, securing as much solar heat during the day as possible, ventilating early in the morning, and shutting up early in the afternoon.

The use of vegetable substances in the production of heat, is rapidly disappearing from our best gardens before the application of hot water, which is far more economical and certain in its effects.

In the management of artificial heat, a considerable degree of caution is required. All the operations of nature are gradual; and in forcing, it is well to follow these as the safest examples. The judicious gardener will therefore apply his heat very gradually at first; he will increase it by degrees for several weeks, and, in particular, he will guard against any sudden decrease of warmth, as nothing is more necessary to success than that the course of vegetation be continued uninterruptedly through foliation, inflorescence, and fructification. He will cause the temperature to increase by day and decrease by night, to rise in summer and fall in winter. He will, in short, imitate, as much as possible, the natural and varying influence of the sun.

It is scarcely necessary to say that a Fahrenheit thermometer is an indispensable instrument to the gardener, not only in the forcing-house, but in every department. Six's Registering Thermometer is very convenient for pointing out the extreme temperatures during night or day. Besides the thermometer the hygrometer is equally necessary in all hot-houses. Its use is to ascertain the degrees of humidity by measuring the quantity of elastic vapour in the atmosphere. The hygrometers of Daniell, Mason, Leslie, and Simmons are the best. It is justly remarked by Dr Lindley, in his Theory of Horticulture, that "skilful balancing of temperature and moisture in the air, and a just adaptation of them to the various seasons of growth, constitute the most complicated and difficult part of a gardener's art. An excess of dampness is indispensable to plants in a state of rapid growth, partly because it prevents the action of perspiration from becoming too violent, and partly because, under such circumstances, a considerable quantity of aqueous food is absorbed from the atmosphere, in addition to that obtained by the roots. But it is essential to observe that, when not in a state of rapid growth, a large amount of moisture in the air will be prejudicial rather than advantageous to a plant; and if the temperature is at the same time high, excitability will remain in a state of continued action, and that rest which is necessary will be withheld, and the result of which will be an eventual destruction of the vital energies. But on the other hand, if the temperature is kept low while the amount of atmospheric moisture is considerable, the latter is absorbed The Admission of Air.—The deteriorating influence which all living plants are supposed to exert on the atmosphere, must operate with tenfold force in a glazed house, where the proportion of air to vegetable substance is infinitely smaller than under the open sky, and where the corrective agitations of the wind, and the changes of temperature, are much less perceptibly felt. The respiration of plants, and the exhalations of putrescent vegetables, require a constant circulation of the aerial fluid, and this is maintained by means of moveable ventilators in the roof and walls of the house.

The best modes of securing a proper amount and equal distribution of air in hothouses, we may as well add in dwelling-houses also, has until lately been little understood. "All ventilation is founded upon the simple principle that cold air is heavier, and has a tendency to sink downwards, while hot air is light and rises to the top. At first sight it may appear that for the purpose of ventilating any building, it is only necessary that holes should be made at the bottom of the apartment for the air to enter, and other holes be placed in the upper part, for the hot air to escape. Practically, however, ventilation is far from being so simple an affair."—(The Book of the Garden, vol. i. p. 271.) Plants in the open atmosphere are constantly surrounded with air, which is itself incessantly in motion, and this motion is increased during the night; the time when they are feeding most especially. "The atmosphere," as Dr. Lindley rightly expresses it, "is their pasture, and its ever varying density is a natural phenomenon most intimately connected with the maintenance of vegetable health. It is a beautiful compensation for their want of locomotion; as plants cannot move to the atmosphere, the atmosphere is ever moving towards them. It is therefore certain, without inquiring into the exact philosophy of the matter, that free access of abundant air must be secured, if the health of plants in glass houses is to equal that in the open air."

To secure this important end, it will be necessary to abandon the means, hitherto almost invariably in use, namely, by throwing open the sashes, whether at the top of the house or in front. The sliding down of one sash over the other, as in the former case, greatly augments the shade in oblique sunshine, a glimpse of which we can ill afford to spare in our cloudy atmosphere, and in the latter case the openings being opposite the tender foliage are hurtful to it, particularly when the external air is, as it often is, many degrees below that of the internal.

Fixed roofs should therefore be adopted, and ventilation effected by bringing in fresh air through the parapets, and so close to the floor that it cannot reach the plants in a direct manner. The vitiated or exhausted air should be made to escape through the apex of the ridge.

Most commonly, air is given only during the day, and is excluded at night, with—as is too often the case—an increase of fire-heat. Judicious horticulturists should always reverse this process, since in all countries chilly and cold nights usually succeed the hottest days, and plants require air by night as well as by day.

An injudicious admission of air is often attended with consequences as bad as its almost total exclusion. Cold, dry air, admitted into a glass-house in which the air is moist, and at a much higher temperature, has the effect of abstracting from the plants and the soil in which they grow a great part of their moisture, and thus producing a very injurious effect upon their constitution. The rapid evaporation too, which takes place by the admission of cold, dry air, produces a degree of cold upon the leaves, which, although not measurable by instruments, produces an effect somewhat analogous to the chill experienced by persons sitting in a warm room and exposed to the cold draught from the door or window.

To remedy this defect in ventilation, what has been called late years aeration, or subterranean ventilation, has been adopted. This is effected by bringing in supplies of fresh air through tubes or drains placed several feet under the surface of the borders, and having one end opening into the open air, while the other opens through various parts of the floor or border, and often very properly under the hot-water pipes. By this means we admit fresh air at almost the same temperature as that of the air, close to the front of the house, and also charged with the moisture which it receives in passing through the damp pipes or drains.

Air admitted in this manner is often beneficially allowed to operate during the night as well as during the day. For plants, like animals, cannot long exist without their necessary supply of that element by night as well as by day.

The Admission of Light.—In addition to the heat with which natural light is always accompanied, it seems to possess another property necessary to vegetation, which, from some cause hitherto unexplained, is partly deranged by its transmission through glass. This fact, though strange, is evident from the circumstance that though the intensity of light is apparently undiminished, plants thrive better near the glass than at a distance from it. The distance from the glass at which this phenomenon takes place has never been determined, although it is an optical problem, the solution of which would be of much importance to the garden architect. The amount of solar light which plants in glass-houses require for the fullest development of their various parts is probably more than even our best hot-houses transmit. Certainly it is much greater than is transmitted through the roofs of houses as generally constructed. Let us first see the beneficial effects of light on plants placed under such circumstances, and then consider how it can be best insured. "It is the property of solar light, when striking upon the leaf of a plant, either directly or indirectly to cause—First, a decomposition of carbonic acid; secondly, an extrication of oxygen; and thirdly, invisible perspiration. By their vital forces plants appear to decompose water, independently of the action of light. Carbonic acid is originally introduced into the interior of a plant, either dissolved in the water it imbibes by its roots, or by attraction from the atmosphere, or by the combination of oxygen—resulting from the decomposition of water or from other sources—with the carbon in its interior. When a leaf is exposed to the direct influence of the sun, it gives off oxygen by decomposing the carbonic acid; whereupon the carbon remains behind, in the interior of the leaf, in a solid state. In the total absence of solar light, there is little or no extrication of gaseous matter, and what little is given off will be found to be carbonic acid, which plants exhale at all times in small quantities; oxygen, however, which was before expelled, is inhaled. Hence plants decompose carbonic acid during the day, and acquire it again during the night, and, during the healthy state of a plant the decomposition of this gaseous matter by day, and its recovery by night, is perpetually going on. The quantity of carbonic acid decomposed is in proportion to the intensity of light which strikes a leaf, the smallest amount being in shady places; and the healthfulness of a plant is, ceteris paribus, in proportion to the quantity of carbonic acid decomposed; therefore the healthiness of a plant should be in proportion to the quantity of light it receives by day."—Theory of Horticulture. Can we, therefore, with glass-houses constructed as they have generally been hitherto, secure light, if not to its fullest, at least to its necessary extent? Certainly not. Nor can we expect it with so large a proportion of their surfaces rendered perfectly impervious to light, with dead walls, massive rafters, framed sashes, and inferior glass, inserted in small fragments with numerous overlaps, and either cross-putted or filled with dust or muscoid matter. The calculations made in regard to obscurity occasioned by the above, irrespective of solid walls, amounts to 10 feet taken up with laps choked with dirt out of every 60 superficial feet of glazing; and from 18 to 20 feet of unnecessarily heavy timbering and multiplicity of astragals. Hood, in making his calculations of the loss of heat by radiation in glass-houses, arrives at pretty nearly the same conclusion. He estimates the surface of wood alone at an eighth of the whole roof, and adds, that in the generality of horticultural buildings, the wood work fully amounts to this quantity.

Connected with the admission of light, is the determination of the pitch or angle of elevation of the roofs of glazed houses. It is evidently of advantage that the rays of light should fall upon glass perpendicularly, as loss by reflexion is then a minimum, or indeed little or nothing. The angle necessary to obtain this result is easily deducible from the sun's place in the ecliptic. At the equinoxes, the sun's meridional height above the horizon at any point of the earth's surface is equal to the complement of the latitude of that place; and hence, in order that the sun's rays may be perpendicular at that period, it is only necessary to make the elevation of the roof of the hothouse equal to the latitude of the place. The angle, for any other season, may be obtained by subtracting from the latitude the declination of the sun, if at that time to the north of the equator, or by adding it, if to the south.* These periods are of course selected in accordance with the time at which the direct rays are most required. Mr Knight proposed a general elevation of $34^\circ$ for the latitude of London, an angle which corresponds to the 20th of May and 21st of July. This would afford four months, from the 20th of April to the 21st of August, during which the angle of incidence at mid-day would not at any time amount to $90^\circ$, while the deviation at the winter solstice would be $43^\circ$, and the loss of light from reflexion would be little more than $\frac{1}{5}$. The Rev. Mr Wilkinson recommended $45^\circ$, a pitch extremely suitable for early vineeries and pine-stoves. In this case, the midsummer deviation would be $15^\circ$, and the loss $\frac{1}{4}$, and the midwinter deviation $30^\circ$, while the loss is nearly the same. From these statements, however, it is manifest that much greater exactness has been sought in this matter than is at all necessary. The reduction of the opacity of the roof, arising from the breadth and depth of rafters and astragals, is of much greater consequence. Accordingly, the best hothouse builders now construct these roofs, whether of metallic substances or timber, entirely without rafters or framed sashes, and only use glass of the best quality, and in panes 12 inches in breadth at least, and from two to four feet in length.

Hothouses are in general constructed of the best Baltic pine timber, and unless they are of gigantic dimensions, this material is found to answer better than any other. Metallic structures are far more expensive in their erection, and are liable to great and sudden changes of temperature on account of their being both conductors of heat and cold, whereas timber is a non-conductor of both. The relative difference in cost between metallic and wooden houses, may be taken in ordinary cases as two to one, and in many cases as three to one.

In order to secure the greatest possible influx of light, some scientific horticulturists recommend hothouses with curvilinear roofs. It was remarked by Sir George Stuart Mackenzie, to whom the merit of the proposal is primarily due, that if we could find a form for a glass-roof, such that the sun's rays should be perpendicular to some part of it, not on two days, but during the whole year, that form would be the best. Such a figure is the sphere, and he therefore proposes a quarter segment of a globe, or semidome, the radius of which is about fifteen feet.

This form of hothouse roofs was warmly patronised by the late Mr Knight, who, however, was of opinion, that the house proposed by Sir George Mackenzie was too high, in proportion to its length and breadth, and therefore recommended a smaller section of a sphere, with a greater radius. His dimensions are forty feet long, fourteen wide in the centre, and, including the front parapet, twelve feet high. The late Mr Loudon, who, it is believed, was the first that actually erected hothouses on this principle, proposed several sub-varieties of form. He describes, in his "Encyclopaedia of Gardening," the accumulated semidome, the accumulated semiglobe, the semi-ellipse, and the parallelogram with curved roof and ends.

As far as we are aware, no very satisfactory experimental investigation of the comparative merits of curvilinear houses has hitherto been made. A writer in the "Gardener's Magazine" (vol. ii.) states, that he found it necessary, during the summer months, to shade his pine-apples growing in such a house, from nine or ten o'clock in the morning, to three or four in the afternoon, in order to prevent the plants from assuming a rusty tinge, and unhealthy appearance. Another practical gardener complains (vol. vi.), that "the circular roof concentrated the sun's rays so immoderately, that the tops of the vines were actually scorched, even when the doors and ventilators at the back were all open. This was always the case in summer; and in winter, it was with the greatest difficulty, and only with the assistance of mats, that they could keep out frost; the thermometer frequently indicating only $40^\circ$ when strong fires were burning." A considerable portion of the superior lightness of the curvilinear houses is due to the absence of rafters, and as these may also be dispensed with in plain roofs, the effect of these ought to be deducted in making a comparison. Span, and ridge and furrow roofs are now the prevailing forms. Amongst the advantages of these forms is their admission of the greatest amount of light which our climate affords, especially when they are glazed to within a few inches of the ground. The former should always be placed with their ends towards the south and north, and apart from walls and all opaque surfaces. The latter has the advantage of being carried (without sustaining walls) to any extent of area, even whole gardens may be thus covered in—the internal columns of support being neces-

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* The following is part of Bouguer's Table of Reflexions.—Of 1000 incident rays, when the

| Angle of incidence | Rays reflected | |-------------------|---------------| | 75° | 299 | | 70° | 222 | | 65° | 157 | | 60° | 112 | | 50° | 57 |

| Angle of incidence | Rays reflected | |-------------------|---------------| | 40° | 34 | | 30° | 27 | | 20° | 25 | | 10° | 25 | | 1° | 25 | sary at the same time for conducting the rain water off the roof to underground drains or reservoirs. Indeed, it has been proposed to support such roofs to a great extent upon suspension principles. Any form is better than that of the lean-to, both for internal arrangement as well as effect.

Since the repeal of the duty upon glass, small panes have been disused, and glass not only of much larger size, but of greater strength and better quality is now always employed. The advantage of this is the greater admission of light, an element of all others over which we have the least control. The greater the surface of glass, and the less space is occupied by rafters and astragals, as well as overlaps, the better; for these latter, whether cross-pattied or not, all tend to the exclusion of light. The height of such structures has also a good deal to do with the healthy development of vegetable life, as the rays of light pass so as to be beneficial to plants only to a supposed distance beyond the surface of the glass, but what that distance is, appears not to have been very accurately determined. This is the more extraordinary, for while it is universally admitted that the heat of the sun is the cause of growth, and also that light is the cause of maturity in the vegetable kingdom, no one has said whether the beneficial effects of light extend to the distance of six inches or sixty feet beyond the inner surface of the glass, or at what intermediate distance it is most effective.

In closing these preliminary remarks, it is proper to observe, that although the construction of a forcing-house is always a matter of considerable importance, it is not the only, nor even the most important condition necessary to insure success. Much care in management, skill in pruning, and knowledge in physiology must be possessed and applied, in order to obtain abundant and regular crops of fine fruit.

The more minute details respecting the structure of glazed houses, we shall notice along with the peculiar culture required in each; and we shall take them in the following order:—The Vinery, the Peach-house, the Cherry-house, the Fig-house, the Pinery, the Orangery, and the Melonry. The greenhouse and other botanical structures, will come more appropriately under review in treating of the Flower Garden.

The Vinery. Structure.—The vinery is susceptible of great variety of form; and, indeed, in this respect, seems more pliable than any other forcing-house. That form, however, which has been most commonly used, till of late, is the plane roof with sliding sashes, of which fig. 29 is offered as an example, Span-roofed

houses are now preferred, as affording a greater surface for training the vines to, being more elegant in form, and constructed at a much less expense, that is, presuming that the back wall has to be built. Fig. 30 is an example of this form. The parapet walls all round are supported

Fig. 30.

on a foundation wall pierced and linteled over just under the surface line. The parapets themselves consist of a base course of ashlar 12 inches thick each way. The stone piers 18 inches in height, and a foot thick, are placed 3 feet apart, the spaces between being filled with glass ventilators, made to open and shut simultaneously. A cope 6 inches in thickness is placed on the top and upon this the superstructure rests. The sides and roof are of glass and fixtures, but without rafters or framed sashes. The top ventilation is secured by the sides of the lathwork top being furnished with gun-metal rollers, and made to slide upon an iron rail. The vines are planted within, and trained to a trellis under the roof, sides, and ornamental arched supports, as shewn in the cut. An ornamental cast-iron grating forms the passage which runs along the centre of the house. In the case of span-roofed vineries, double the breadth may be given, and where hot water is employed instead of flues, several such houses can be heated by the same fire. The trellis used for training is generally formed of wires drawn across the roof, at the distance of a foot from each other, and 18 inches from the glass, and attached to iron ribs placed under it. Sometimes the trellis is placed vertically, but this is more appropriate for the peach-house than the vinery. This form, exhibited in

Fig. 31.

fig. 31, is called the hanging trellis. It must, however, be admitted that, according to the experience of some, this arrangement is inferior to the common trellis, that is, so far as vines are concerned.

It is of importance that the included soil and front border of a vinery should be fresh and rich. It should not exceed 2½ feet in depth, and should be laid over a vaulted foundation, or one rendered perfectly dry by drainage, and all borders of forcing-houses should be elevated in height equal to their depth above the general ground level. The soil is of far less consequence than a dry bottom, and the following is as good as any—"one-half of good loamy soil with its turf, one quarter of rich old dung, and one quarter of brick and lime rubbish; the turf well rotted, and the whole well incorporated." Plants raised from eyes, and prepared for two years in pots, are preferred for the furnishing of a vineyard; and when planted inside the house, there should not be fewer than two plants to each four feet of space.

It is scarcely necessary to enumerate the particular varieties of the grape-vine, as adapted for a vineyard, for every good variety deserves a place where there is room, and all those which have been already mentioned are occasionally planted. It may be remarked, however, that the kinds should be assorted according to the order of their ripening. The early grapes, such as the Muscadines, Chasselas Musqué, and Hamburgs, should be planted in a house by themselves; those of a medium character, the Frontignacs, for example, may occupy a second; while the Tokay, the Muscat of Alexandria, Nice, Syrian, Barbarossa, and others, would be fit inmates for a third. This would produce a regular succession, and admit a uniformity of treatment in each house. Where there is not a suite of vineyards, but only one large house, the late varieties should be planted near the entrance of the hot-water pipes.

Pruning and Training. Very numerous have been the directions given in reference to these particulars; but we cannot here go into such details, nor is it necessary. The great object is the reproduction of bearing, that is, annual wood, over the whole surface of the house. When this is accomplished, the next matter to be determined is the number of eyes or buds to be left on each shoot, that is, whether we shall adopt the short or the long system of pruning. The former is most allied to the practice of foreign vineyards, and has been most successfully employed in this country. According to this method, all the lateral shoots are cut down to single eyes, as described in Loud, Hortic. Trans. iv. 104. For a particular description of the long system, we refer to the same vol., or to "Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Gardening." To these references we add a few general remarks. (1.) In this country, it ought to be the great aim of the gardener to make his vines grow as luxuriantly as possible; for the quality of the grapes, when properly ripened, is generally commensurate with the size of the berries. The borders should therefore be made rich; but they ought to be rather wide than deep, deep planting being adverse to the ripening of the fruit. (2.) In order to secure a proper degree of vigour, vines should be limited in extent, and pruned rather severely than otherwise. To enable us to circumscribe the plants, it would be well to introduce as many separate plants into the vineyard as can be done without confusion. (3.) From the peculiar mode of growth in the grape-vine, the bearing branches have a tendency to recede from the centre to the extremities, and are often found in abundance only at the top of the trellis. Every young shoot near the front of the house should therefore be carefully husbanded, and cut back by way of reserve. Old wood ought to be removed as frequently as possible; and the skilful pruner will look at least two years before him. Nothing contributes more to regularity in the succession of bearing wood than simplicity in pruning and training; and therefore, all bending, and twisting, and traversing of branches should be avoided.

The summer pruning consists in removing with the fingers the useless lateral shoots, and pinching off the tender points of the bearing branches. The extent to which these bearing branches are allowed to run will depend on their vigour, and the position which they hold in the plant. Sometimes it may be needful to leave them ten or twelve feet long, but, in general, two or three feet will be sufficient. The shorter the better. They seldom or never fail to send out secondary laterals from their points; these and the others which succeed them are stopped at the second or even first eye, and the operation is continued until vegetation ceases. When the fruit is set, all superfluous branches should be cut off, leaving only the best, and the number of these ought to be in proportion to the strength of the vine. When the young grapes begin to swell, the bunches are thinned out, that is, berries are removed wherever they are too much crowded together; and the shoulders or sides of the bunches are supported by slender threads of bass-mat. The quality and weight of bunches should be regarded rather than their number. Nothing seems more contemptible than numbers of small and ill-ripened bunches of grapes, smeared, as they frequently are, with dust and honey-dew. Avarice not unfrequently cheats itself in this matter; and it generally happens in the vineyard, as elsewhere, that not he who desires most has most. The ripening, colour, and flavour of grapes on the tree are promoted by free ventilation; this is to be done, however, only after the fruit has attained full size and is beginning to colour.

The forcing of the earliest vineyard may commence in January. At first the temperature may vary from 50° to 55° Fahrenheit in the mornings and evenings. When the buds have burst, it may be raised to 70°, and in the flowering season it may be kept at 75°. At this season it is necessary that the air should be preserved moist by frequent syringings. Upon the appearance of colour in the fruit, the waterings cease, and air is copiously admitted. In the early vineyards, it is necessary to continue the fire-heat without intermission; in the later houses this is not required, but it must be used occasionally, even in warm weather, to obviate the effects of damp.

The Peach-house.—A peach-house, of the lean-to form, like the vineyard of the same configuration, intended to be commanded by one furnace, is generally about forty feet long, ten or twelve feet wide, and fourteen feet high; but these dimensions may be varied considerably, according to the time at which the crop is desired to come into season. For early forcing, perhaps twenty-five or thirty feet in length, and seven or eight in breadth, are sufficient; while a house, in which the operations of nature are only to be slightly accelerated, may be extended to fifty feet. The span, and ridge and furrow-roofed houses are equally adapted for peaches as for vines, as in such the trees can be treated as standards, which is their natural habit; and in them the fruit is placed in a better position as regards light and air, than in any form of training that can be employed. Fig. 32 is an example of this form. As in the vineyard, the front wall is pierced to permit the egress of the roots. A common form of a peach-house is represented, of which fig. 33 is a vertical section; a, a, are the flues or hot-water pipes, placed side by side, b is the table trellis, c the trellis on the back wall; along with which, a hanging trellis, as in Tropical Fruit-Houses.—Several uncommon kinds of exotic fruits are occasionally grown with success in this country. They should, however, be grown in a house, or houses, by themselves. Such now exist, and are denominated Tropical Fruit-houses. Among tropical fruit may be mentioned the Loquat, *Eriobotrya japonica*; the Jamrosse, *Eugenia Jambosa*; the Purple Granadilla, *Passiflora edulis*; the Granadilla vine, *P. quadrangularis*; the May-apple, *P. incarnata*; the Water-lemon, *P. lanuginosa*; and the Sweet Calabash, *P. maliformis*; the Papaya, *Carica Papaya*; and the Banana, *Musa sapientum*. The Leechee, *Euphoria Litchi*; the Long-yan, *Euphoria Longana*; the Mango, *Mangifera indica*, the China Guava, *Psidium Cattleanum*, and the Carambola, *Averrhoa Carambola*, of the East Indies. These have all ripened in great perfection in the tropical fruit-houses of the Duke of Northumberland at Sion House, and several others have ripened in various other establishments in Britain. Indeed, tropical fruit culture has now assumed an important place in British horticulture.

The Fig-house scarcely differs in form and management from the Cherry-house, the trees being trained to a back trellis, with the addition, however, of dwarf standard trees in front. Figs are very successfully cultivated in the forcing-houses of the Royal establishment at Frogmore, near Windsor. This delicious fruit is, however, less popular in Britain than most others, and is therefore not found in all gardens. The fig succeeds very well as a dwarf standard in the front of a vineyard, provided the roof be not too closely covered with the foliage of the vines. Of late, small standard figs have very commonly been grown in large pots, fourteen or fifteen inches in diameter, and placed in any of the forcing-houses. In this way considerable crops of fruit have been raised. The *Figue blanche* and the *Marseilles* are amongst the sorts best adapted for forcing.

The Orange Tribe (*Citrus*) are cultivated in Britain, rather as objects of curiosity and beauty, than for the purpose of affording a supply of fruit. Commerce with Portugal, Spain, Italy, and China, has brought this class of fruits within the reach of every one; and the copious importations which annually take place, have no doubt discouraged the cultivation of the plants. A few orange trees are nevertheless to be met with in most collections, and in large and sumptuous gardens, it is not uncommon to meet with glazed houses set specially apart for their reception.

*C. Medica*, the Citron, the Cedrate of the Italians, is a small evergreen tree. The fruit is large, of a oval form, covered with a rough skin or rind, which is charged with a highly fragrant oil. The citron is generally used in confections. It is supposed to be a native of Media, and will not ripen without protection in Britain. Three subvarieties of citron are described by Risso.

*C. Limetta*, the Sweet Lime. This is rather a tall tree, with diverging branches. The flower is of a fine white colour, composed of five oblong petals. The fruit is globose, with a black nipple-like projection at the stalk, having a firm rind, and sweet pulp. The colour is pale yellow. It is a native of Asia, but cultivated in Italy. Seven varieties have been described.

*C. Limonum*, the Lemon. The petioles of the leaves somewhat winged; fruit oblong, with a thin rind adhering closely to the pulp, which is very acid. This, like the preceding, is a native of Asia, but is cultivated in the south of Europe. There are numerous varieties.

*C. Aurantium*, Sweet Orange. The petioles almost naked; fruit globose, with a thin rind, and sweet pulp. Risso has enumerated nineteen varieties; of which the principal are, the China, the Portugal, and the Maltese.

The Cherry-house, in its general arrangements, has hitherto in general resembled the peach-house, with the exception of the front trellis, the place of which is commonly occupied by a stage for pots of early strawberries or kidney beans. The cherry trees are trained against the back wall; the house should therefore be narrow, and the roof steep. The operation of forcing generally commences early in January, with a very moderate temperature. Air is admitted freely till the flowers begin to expand, when great caution becomes necessary. When the fruit is setting, the temperature is kept as steadily as possible at $50^\circ$; after it is set, abundance of water is applied to the roots and foliage of the trees. When the fruit is colouring, water is almost entirely withheld, and air is now freely admitted. During the whole process of forcing cherries, any excessive heat from the sun's rays must be carefully guarded against, by shading or by the admission of air. The kind of cherry usually preferred for forcing is the Common May-duke. A cherry-house ought to form a part of every large garden establishment; for nothing graces the tables of the opulent, in March and April, better than ripe cherries and strawberries in the dessert at that season of the year. The best construction of the Cherry-house is the span-roof, whether the trees be planted permanently in the borders, as they sometimes are, or grown in large pots, which they generally are. In the Cherry-house apricots and plums should also be found, their treatment being almost the same.

The Pine Apple, *Bromelia ananas* (Linn.) is a native of the new world, although it has been found in such abundance in Africa as to have led some botanists to consider it to be indigenous there also. It reached China from South America, and is now naturalized in most of the West India Islands, to which it was introduced from Peru by Europeans. It appears to have been introduced into Europe about the middle of the 17th century, to England about 1690, and to Scotland by James Justice of Crichton prior to 1744, as he gives plans of his own pine stoves in his British Gardener's Directory, published in that year.

The pine is propagated rarely by seed, frequently by crowns which grow on the top of the fruit, but more generally by suckers which rise from the stem.

Select list of Pines. Black Antigua, Eaville, Globe, Russian Globe, Old Jamaica, New Jamaica, Montserrat, Queen, Antigua Queen, Moscow Queen, Ripley's Queen, Smooth Cayenne, Prickly Cayenne, Prince Albert, Providence.

Its propagation and culture have long been carried on in three separate structures, each capable of affording the necessary bottom and atmospheric heat congenial to it. These are denominated the nursing-pit, succession-pit, and fruiting-stove. Many excellent cultivators carry on its various stages of growth in one and the same structure. We shall, however, yield to common custom, and speak of them separately.

The nursing-pit has occasionally assumed a great variety of forms, respecting which, however, it is not necessary to go into minute detail. For summer use, the Alderton Melon-pit, and Atkinson's Melon-pit, described under the head Melonry, are very suitable. In winter, it is desirable to have the assistance of fire-heat from hot water.

The succession-pit performs the same functions as the nursing-pit, but at a more advanced stage of the growth of the plant, and consequently, requires an increase of size. With this difference, Atkinson's Melon-pit does very well for summer use. In colder seasons, we should prefer a pit similar to that represented, figs. 34, 35, in which a hot-water apparatus on the siphon principle is employed to heat the atmosphere of the pits, and the bottom-heat is communicated by the circulation of hot water from the same boiler, in troughs resting on the bottom of the pit. The boiler \(a\) is placed nearly on a level with the bottom of the pit; \(b\) pipes on the siphon principle for warming the air of the pit; \(c\) troughs for communicating the bottom-heat, placed in the bottom of the pit on a level with the boiler. The water is drawn from the boiler to the ends of the troughs \(d\) by small moveable siphons, which promote its circulation. The bed \(e\), in which the plants are plunged, is supported by a flooring of slate, resting on brick piers between the troughs. A boiler placed in the centre is sufficient for a range of sixty feet. Another form of a succession-pit is exhibited in fig. 36, entirely heated by hot water. The surface-heat is supplied by pipes in front; the bottom-heat is kept up by small pipes from the boiler, passing through cisterns of water extending the whole length of the pit. In this case it would be necessary to apply the top heat only during the day.

In the fruiting-house, more room, greater height, and a more powerful temperature, are requisite; and to attain these objects, many varieties of structure have been devised: we shall notice those only which are most worthy of attention. Fig. 37 is a section of Baldwin's Fruiting-pit. The roof is unequally ridged, the north or shorter side being slated and furnished with ventilators, to admit air. With the exception of the slated part of the roof, and the absence of hot-water for bottom and top heat, both of which are great defects, these differ little from the excellent pits of Mr Fleming at Trentham. They have, however, the advantage of being low-roofed, and easily wrought. The sashes are immovable, and the laps of the panes are closely putted. There is a path within, and a single turn of a flue behind. We should prefer the form exhibited by fig. 38, in which there are also ventilators \(a\), and a hot-water apparatus surrounding the whole pit. The dimensions of this may be fifty feet long, and nine feet wide; the glass being two feet and a half from the curb of the bark-pit in front, and five feet behind. Fig. 39 is a section of a pine-pit with a curvilinear roof, in which the astragals are parallel. A segment of an elliptical arch somewhat less than a quadrant, the origin of the curve being on the front wall, seems better adapted for a pit than any portion of a circle. This pit is supposed to be heated by a small steam-pipe passing through a large iron tank or cistern filled with water. A section of the old-fashioned pine-stove is given in fig. 40. This was a lofty structure, in the vinery form, with front sashes. It used to be forty or fifty feet long, and twelve or fourteen feet broad, and was commanded by two flues. The flues ought to be exchanged for hot-water pipes, those at the back being placed under the passage, with sufficient cast-iron moveable ventilators let into the pavement for the upward escape of the heat. Or the whole passage ought to be covered with an open cast-iron grating to allow the heat to ascend. In addition to the pine plants in the pit, the roof was also partly covered with vines, a practice justly condemned by Nicol. We are also disposed to agree with that experienced writer regarding the disuse of the pine-stove itself. Besides other grievous faults, a single house affords too little room; and it is a matter of experience, that where the stock of pine plants is not extensive, certain and abundant crops of fruit cannot be expected. Instead, therefore, of a succession and fruiting-house of the old form, with two fires each, involving an enormous waste of fuel, it would be better to have four pits, all of which could be wrought by one fire and boiler. There might be two succession-pits of the form of fig. 34 or fig. 36, and two fruiting-pits similar to fig. 38 or fig. 39. These would contain a much greater number of plants than two pine-stoves, would be much less expensive in erection, and, as the number of fires would be reduced to one, would not consume so much fuel.

The pine being a plant which grows naturally under a tropical sun, it requires all the light our murky climate affords. It is, therefore, better to build the pits of a much greater width than those shewn in our illustrations, for the greater the distance between the side-walls, the more will be the light which obtains access to the plants. A pit, therefore, on the span-roofed principle, 35 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 8 feet from the floor of the passage to the ridge, would be an improvement upon those mentioned. Such a pit could be supplied with both bottom and atmospheric heat from one boiler, the former by placing hot-water pipes within a shallow tank of water placed under the beds, and the latter by carrying a flow and return pipe along the whole length of the sides. Still further to economise fuel, a smoke flue should be placed under the passage, so as to get the benefit of such heat as is not taken up by the water in the boiler, and which usually escapes at the chimney top.

The pine is to be cultivated in its highest state of perfection only when grown in low pits, just sufficient for the full development of the foliage and crown of the fruit. So closely is this adhered to by Mr Fleming of Trentham, one of our most successful cultivators, that he has had occasion to take out a pane of glass to allow the crown of the fruit to protrude into the open air. A passage along the centre of such pits is exceedingly useful, particularly in the fruiting department.

Bottom-Heat. As a substitute for the warmth absorbed by the earth from the powerful rays of the sun in tropical countries, the pots of pine-plants are generally plunged in a bed of tanners' bark, decaying leaves, or other fermenting substances. Tanners' bark is most commonly used.

We have elsewhere stated that no vegetable matter undergoing fermentation can be so economically applied as hot water circulating in properly constructed vaults immediately under the bed in which the plants are set. That the heat may reach by conduction to the roots near the top of the soil in the pots, it becomes necessary that they be plunged in heat-conducting media. When plunged in fermenting material, young pine plants may no doubt be successfully enough grown during summer, nay, even during winter. The question, however, is, does the saving of fuel and the interest on the outlay for the apparatus at all balance the expense of labour and material, the waste of valuable manures, to say nothing of the litter occasioned, and the accidents to which the plants are liable from having their roots burnt or their leaves frozen during winter.

The proper management of bottom-heat is a matter of some difficulty, and in this there have been more failures than in any other part of the pine-apple culture. The heat arising from violent fermentation is greater than the tender roots can bear, and if great watchfulness be not employed, the labour of many months may be blasted in a single day. Bottom-heat is almost universally kept too high. Perhaps the upper limit of its temperature may be fixed at blood-heat, or at most 100°, while the under or winter limit may be brought down to 70° or 75°. The principle of the application of bottom-heat has, until lately, been little understood. In practice, its value has been acknowledged for ages, having been an element in Roman gardening in the days of Claudius. The roots of fruit-trees, even of the hardiest description, become paralyzed whenever they descend too deep into the soil, and this paralysis is one of the evils of deep planting. The summer temperature of our ordinary garden soils is 61° at 6 inches under the surface, 57° at 18 inches, and 44° at 36 inches, but these temperatures are very much diminished if the land is wet or un-drained. The roots of trees, therefore, when placed within 6 inches of the surface, or at 61° of temperature, as shown above, are very differently circumstanced from those which are buried 3 feet, and in a temperature of 44°, when the mean temperature of the air is about 63°. In the former case, there is only 2° of difference, while in the latter there is 19° between the temperature of the air at the roots and that of the air around the leaves, a most serious difference, yet one of frequent occurrence. Hence the necessity of surface-planting and shallow borders, if such borders are not artificially heated below.

The advantage of having the temperature at the roots higher than that in which the leaves are placed, is easily accounted for. Warmth acts as a stimulus to the vital forces, and its operation is in proportion to its amount, within certain limits. If, therefore, the branches and leaves of a plant are stimulated by warmth to a greater degree than the roots, they will consume the sap of the stem faster than the roots can renew it; and therefore nature takes care to provide against this, by giving to the roots a medium permanently more stimulating, that is, warmer, than to the branches and leaves." In all countries where the temperature of the soil is highest, vegetation is strongest, and vice versa. Bottom-heat must, however, be regulated, particularly in our forcing-houses, with great care to prevent excess or defect. In its application, bottom-heat must be regulated by the amount of light and of temperature in the air; and hence, so far as practicable, it should be less during the night than during the day, and also less during winter, when we have a deficiency of light, than during summer.

Bottom-heat must also be regulated by the season of the plants; during their winter or season of rest it should be comparatively low—during their summer or season of active growth, it should be considerable; and during their ripening season, it should be highest of all. The necessity of studying these three points may be shown from the condition of the roots of vines in a cold damp border during the season of forcing, when there is often a thermal difference of 20° between the roots and leaves. This is forcing in the true acceptation of the term. It causes the grapes and peaches to set badly, or not at all, it causes stem or aerial roots to appear on the vines, it causes shanking in the fruit, and the exhaustion and ultimate death of the plants. The malformation in the fruit of the pine, and its starting into fruit at too early a stage of its growth, are also owing to a want of proper unison between the bottom and top temperatures. It is the want of warmth in the soil, fully more than in the atmosphere, that prevents the fine American apples and Flemish pears from ripening so well with us as in other countries, where the winters are much colder than ours, but the summers and soil are much warmer.

Soil. Various nice and minute directions have been given respecting composts for pine plants. Any compost, however, will be found suitable, which is at once rich, fresh, and simple. A mixture of the top-soil, including the turf of an old pasture, and about a half of good, well-rotted dung, combines these qualities as completely as possible. When it is necessary to lighten these materials, a compost of decayed leaves, and a little sand, may be added. It is of importance that the compost, whatever it may be, should be prepared a considerable time beforehand, and frequently turned over. It should be broken with the spade, but not screened; and when used, it should not be too moist. Pine-apple plants are found to show fruit more readily in a rich light soil, than in strong loam, but do not produce large fruit. In selecting his compost, the cultivator must make his selection between these advantages. At all events the soil must be rich; it can scarcely be too rich. "The pine," says an intelligent writer in the "Gardener's Magazine," vol. ix., "is a gross feeder, and will thrive in vegetable manure, however rich and fresh."

Propagation. The pine is propagated by planting the crowns which grow on the fruit, or the suckers which appear at the base of the stem. These, when removed from the fruit or the stem, are laid aside for a few days, till the scar at the place of separation has dried or healed, as a precaution to prevent their rotting; after which they are potted immediately. Sometimes late in the season, they are merely thrust into exhausted tan, without pots, where they remain till the following spring. In general the offsets should be as large as possible. Speechly did not break off his suckers before they were twelve or fourteen inches long, and he reserved only the largest crowns. These large suckers and crowns grow with greater rapidity, and come sooner into fruit than those of smaller size; and in this, in truth, consists the principal secret of what has been called the short method of culture, by which fruit is obtained in a much briefer space of time than usual. The soil employed in propagation is rather lighter than that afterwards applied. The pots may be from three to six inches in diameter, and, to promote draining, should contain at bottom a layer of shivers or clean gravel. For some time the plants are shaded from the rays of the sun, and in about eight or ten days they receive a little water. As already stated, the older and more common routine of pine-apple culture embraces a period of three years; but recent improvements have reduced these to two years, or even to eighteen months.

Biennial Course. The method of culture which we have denominated the biennial course, was first brought into notice by Abercrombie, and afterwards strenuously recommended by Baldwin. Its chief feature is the acceleration of the growth of the plants by the application of higher temperatures than it was formerly supposed they could bear. They are, in fact, made to attain the growth of two summers in one; and this is the course followed by the best cultivators of the present day.

About the beginning of March, the most forward of the plants potted over winter, or the suckers kept in tan, are taken out, and the earth or tan is shaken away. They are then put into pots about five inches in diameter, which are plunged into frames or pits heated with tan or leaves. They are shaded as usual, and after they begin to grow, receive moderate waterings. When the roots appear around the balls of soil, which will be about the middle of June, the plants are again shifted into larger pots, from six to seven inches in diameter, and, if the heat be declining, are removed into other pits or beds. In the beginning of August they are transferred into larger pots, in which, unless they are intended for early spring forcing, they stand during the winter; and in February they are finally shifted into pots twelve or fourteen inches in diameter. For spring forcing, the last shifting takes place in October, and the pots may be two inches narrower. At every shifting the ball of earth is preserved entire. From March the temperature is gradually increased; air is admitted, and a lively bottom-heat is kept up. When there is danger of burning the roots, the pots are partially drawn up, or even set upon the surface of the bed. The following table will give an idea of the temperature (Fahrenheit's thermometer) and its progressive increase: After the beginning of August, the heat is allowed to decline by degrees, until it arrives at the winter temperature of 60°. Where fire-heat is used, and it should always be through the medium of hot water, the nocturnal temperature should only approach towards 80°; and there should be some expedient for the slow admission of steam into the atmosphere of the pit. During the whole summer, care is taken to prevent the plants from being drawn, and for this purpose they are allowed much space, and are placed as near the glass as possible. In August and September abundance of air, and more copious supplies of water, are given. In winter the chief care is to preserve the roots from damping off, and for this reason, winter pits should have the command of fire-heat.

This mode of driving, as it has been significantly called, is by some thought applicable only to the varieties called the Queen. Most of our best cultivators, however, adopt this course, and the fruit produced is larger than that formerly grown upon the triennial course. Those who wish to cultivate such large and coarse sorts as the Providence, may, to a certain extent, adopt the triennial course, either as to time, or to a limited number of plants. This plan will necessitate the following additional routine.

Fruiting-House.—About the beginning of August, the plants, now two years old, are shifted for the last time. The pots are from twelve to fourteen inches in diameter, and the balls are preserved entire. They are then plunged into the bed, and the plants are so treated as to keep them in a growing state during the whole of autumn. In winter, the nocturnal temperature is kept at 60°; but towards the end of January it is gradually raised to 70°. This rise, however, should follow, and not precede or be a cause of, the vernal growth of the plants. About the middle of February, the second fruiting-house may be prepared for the reception of the plants in the biennial succession pit. These are existing in a mild temperature, and start during the general progress of the season.

That period at which pine-apple plants first show their fruit-stalks, or, as it is technically termed, start, is the most critical in their whole culture. It is generally desirable that this should happen at a certain age, and at a particular season; but these are circumstances over which the cultivator can scarcely be said to have a direct control, and accordingly, while the most successful can hardly deem themselves beyond the reach of failure, the less skilful are almost sure to err. We are not aware that the rationale of starting has been investigated on the principles of vegetable physiology; and it is certain that the most absurd practices have been resorted to, in order to force the plants into fruit. We pretend not to give a theory; but a few practical remarks may be of advantage. It is evident that the plant must be of a certain age, or at least of a certain magnitude, before it will start freely or to good purpose. Suckers of the first year are wholly taken up with the production of roots and foliage; and if any of them happen to start, they exhibit little more than a tuft of leaves where the fruit should be. In the second year a Queen pine is capable of producing a perfect fruit; and in the third year the New Providence and other large varieties arrive at puberty. The solid part of the stem is then observed to have increased in bulk, and to have ascended considerably above the soil.

It is of more practical importance, however, to remark, that the fruit-stalks do not appear until the pot is filled with roots. Apparent exceptions there may be to this principle, but in every case where it does not hold good the plant will be found to be diseased, or the roots to have been violently destroyed. The grower should therefore take care that the roots shall have nearly occupied all the new soil before the end of autumn, and that in the course of the winter the tender fibres be neither exsiccated by drought, nor rotted by excessive moisture. Again, it is probable that at starting there is a peculiar check in the growth of the plant, which causes it to divert the sap from the formation of leaves, and, like most other vegetables in straitened circumstances, to provide the means of reproduction, by throwing out flower-buds. This diversion of the sap is influenced by the quantity of vigorous fibres, for it is observed that when, from some accident, plants not well furnished in this respect, do shew fruit, they bestow the greater part of the sap upon the leaves. Lastly, it is probable that the proper check consists in a transition from growth, however slight, to a temporary suspension of vegetation, which again is followed by a copious flow of the sap, circumstances which, as might be easily shewn, occur both in the winter and summer starting. If these observations be correct, it follows that starting is a natural process, requiring certain conditions in the state of the plant, and therefore not to be forced by violent treatment, or any sudden changes in temperature and watering.

After the plants have shewn fruit, they are never shifted; but the surface soil may be removed, and replaced by a little fresh and rich compost. Water is supplied from time to time as necessity requires; but it is impossible to give any definite rule on this subject. The observant gardener will soon, from experience, discover the proper measure. Water should never be given in a colder state than the average temperature of the house; when, therefore, there is no tank within the house, the watering-pots should be filled, and left in the house for some time before the water be applied. Fire-heat is kept up either continuously or at intervals, during the greater part of the season. It should always be moderate, never exceeding, by itself, 70°. During sunshine, the temperature may range from 70° to 100°. The greater proportion there is of the latter the better. Whilst the fruit is swelling, care must be taken to carry on the growth of the plant with equability and moderation. Violent checks are pernicious; they debilitate the stalk, and cause a stringiness and deformity in the fruit. As the fruit approaches maturity, water is gradually withheld, lest the flavour should be injured. Pine-apples should be cut a short time before they obtain complete maturity. The larger varieties will keep only a day or two; the smaller varieties a week or more.

The Melonry—a department deriving its name from the melon, the principal plant cultivated in it—is an important appendage of the forcing garden. After noticing some of the most necessary apparatus employed in it, we shall treat of the melon, cucumber, &c., and their culture respectively.

The common hotbed frame is most usually employed in the absence of more complete structures, and is so well known as to require no description.

The Alderston Melon Pit, of which fig. 41 is a section, is partly above and partly below ground. The front and back walls \(a, a\) are of brick, supported on piers or stone pillars; \(b, b\) are spaces enclosed within outer walls, and covered with boards to contain linings, which communi- cate, without any object intervening, with the fermenting substances in the interior of the pit. These spaces may be two feet wide; the interior pit should seldom be more than six feet in breadth. A principal quality of this structure is its neatness and cleanliness.

West's Melon and Cucumber Pit is also built of brick. It has (fig. 42) a chamber \(a\) to contain dung; \(b\) a square opening by which the dung is introduced; \(c\) rafters of wood or cast-iron, sustaining the interior soil; \(d\), openings to permit the ascent of steam. The walls are nine inches thick, and the pit may be seven feet wide, inside measure.

Atkinson's Melon Pit (fig. 43) is a brick structure. The back wall \(a\) and the end walls are four inches thick, built in the pigeon-hole fashion, that is, with square interstices between the bricks. The front wall \(b\) is double; the interior portion is brick in bed, the exterior brick on edge, with piers under each rafter. The included space communicates with the inside of the bed \(c\). The pit \(d\) is filled with fermenting litter or tanners' bark; \(e, e\), are spaces for linings. The whole is sometimes formed of wood, or sometimes only the part above ground.

The extent of the melonry must depend upon the size of the garden, and the amount of the demand. Where there is a large family, and especially where pine-apples are cultivated (to the forwarding of which some portion of the melonry may frequently be auxiliary), sixty or seventy sashes may be considered as a moderate complement.

Until within a few years, both the melon and cucumber were grown on beds of fermenting material, or in such pits as have just been described. As a matter of course, the fruit in both cases lay on the damp soil in which the plants were grown; in general only separated from it by having a piece of slate or glass placed below them. That neither of these fruits could be brought to their fullest state of perfection in such circumstances will be apparent, when it is considered that they were grown in a high moist temperature, largely charged with ammoniacal and other gases evolving from the vegetable substances employed to produce heat. The underside of the fruit in both cases being deprived of light and air never assumes its natural colour, and the whole fruit often becomes flattened and deformed by its own weight.

The improvements of the present day have provided for these defects by the erection of both Cucumber and Melon-houses, and th employment of large pits, heated by hot water, the plants being trained to trellises under the roof, and the fruit thus allowed to hang suspended in a pure wholesome atmosphere, and exposed on all sides to the influence of the sun and air. These structures are chiefly of the span-roofed form, and are, except in size, exactly similar to span-roofed vineeries.

In such structures, cucumbers can be grown during winter with a success unknown in former times, and as the melon is not worth growing during that season on account of the absence of solar influence to ripen it, the Melon-house may be used for forcing kidney-beans or strawberries during the winter months.

The Melon (*Cucumis Melo*) has long been cultivated in Britain, but the period of its introduction and its native country are not well ascertained. The plant is a tender annual, requiring considerable care and skill to rear it in perfection; but it repays the labours of the horticulturist by affording a large, and to most persons a highly palatable fruit. The varieties are numerous, and, from their tendency to sport or vary, are rather fugitive in their duration. Many of the old favourites have disappeared, and those at present in vogue will doubtless take the same course, or will at least assume new forms, while they retain their old names. In these circumstances, it is deemed unnecessary to enter into minute description, or to do more than give a list of the sorts at present deserving of cultivation. It may be premised that they all belong to the species usually called the Musk-Melon (*Cucumis Melo*). The Water Melon (*Cucumis Citrullus*) appertains to the same genus, and is seldom reared in this country except as a curiosity.

Select List of Melons.—Beechwood; Bromham-Hall; Trentham Hybrid, green fleshed; Cotell's Early Cantaloupe, remarkable for its hardiness and earliness; Green-fleshed Musuliputan; Green-fleshed Egyptian; Cassaher; Sweet Melon of Isphahan, and Green Valencia.

It is important that none but such seeds as have been procured from approved genuine specimens of the several sorts should be sown. In general, the fresher or more recent that garden seeds are, the better; but the case is different with the melon. Here it is desirable that the seeds should have been kept in a dry state for some years: it is found that plants produced from recent seeds push too vigorously, sending their shoots to a great length before they show a single fruit; while those from old seeds are less luxuriant in growth, but more fruitful.

The melon succeeds best in a strong, rich soil. A compost, formed of two-thirds of rotted turf, and one-third of old cow-dung, will be found very suitable. This should be prepared some months before being employed in the melon bed.

It is seldom expedient to sow before the middle or end of January, and sometimes it is soon enough a month later. A seed-bed capable of receiving a frame with a single sash is previously prepared. This bed, composed of fermenting stable litter, should be of considerable thickness, perhaps about five feet. Immediately upon its formation, the frame and sash are placed on it, and they are kept close till the heat begins to rise, when the hot vapour is permitted to escape. Three or four days after the bed has been formed, it is covered over to the depth of three inches with earth prepared beforehand. Rich, light, dry earth, is best adapted for this purpose; and that it may be dry enough, it is proper to use such as may have been protected from rain during winter. A few small flower-pots are filled with the same earth, and kept in the hothed, that the soil in them may acquire a suitable temperature. The seeds are then sown in the flower-pots, and covered half an inch deep; after which the pots are plunged a little way into the earth of the bed. This bed, of course, answers for rearing the early supply of young cucumber plants, and afterwards Chillies, and seeds of other tropical plants. This method is found now to be less expensive than manufacturing the necessary temperature in legitimate Melon or Cucumber-houses during the process of preparing the plants for planting out where they are to produce their fruit.

When hot vapour rises copiously, fresh air is admitted by raising the sash a little. The frame is covered every evening by sunset with mats, and is again exposed in the morning about nine o'clock, sooner or later according to the state of the weather. A single mat is sufficient at first, as the heat in the bed is generally strong. In two or three days after the seed has been sown, the plants appear, and the glasses are raised a little, to admit fresh air, and permit the escape of vapour. Unless this be done, the plants are apt either to damp off or become yellow and sickly. To guard against the casualties of the season, and the chance of miscarriage, it is proper to make two other sowings at short intervals, so that, if any accident befall the first plants, the others may supply their place. Two or three days after the plants have come up, they are transplanted into other small pots, only two or three being put in each pot. If the earth be very dry, it is now moistened with a little tepid water. The pots are then plunged into the earth, and much care and watchfulness are necessary to prevent the roots from being scorched. When the transplanted seedlings begin to grow, they are watered occasionally in the warmest part of the day. As the heat of the hotbed declines, it is supported by linings, applied from time to time, around its outer surface. The lining should not exceed fifteen or eighteen inches in thickness, and should rise above the level of the bed, upon the sides of the frame.

About a month after the seeds have been sown, the beds are prepared in the Cucumber and Melon-houses for the reception of the young plants. This is done by setting the hot water apparatus to work, and by placing upon the beds a supply of compost to become warmed for the reception of the young plants. By the following day, the compost and atmosphere of the house generally acquire a sufficient warmth, and the bed is ready for the reception of the plants. After the tops of the hillocks of earth have been flattened a little, in the centre of each a hole is made capable of containing one of the balls of earth which is to be turned out of the pots. Some of the pots containing the strongest plants are selected, and the young melon-plants are planted out, with balls entire, into the ridges or hillocks already prepared. After this operation has been performed, they receive a gentle watering. When the roots begin to show themselves through the surface of the hillocks, a quantity of fresh earth is applied all around them, and from time to time additions are made till the whole surface of the bed is covered nearly as high as the top of the hills.

When the plants have got two or three rough leaves, the top of the stalklet, which now begins to elongate, is trained upwards until it reaches the trellis to which the shoots are to be trained. The top is then pinched off, and lateral shoots are produced, which are trained to the trellis as they advance. These laterals will sometimes show flowers at the second or third joints; if they do not, they are topped in their turn, and afford laterals, which seldom fail to be fruitful. As these runners advance, they are trained along the trellis, and all weak useless shoots are removed. This should be done frequently, as it is found injurious to cut out a great quantity of shoots and foliage at one time. No plant, as has been shown by Mr Knight (Hortic. Trans. vol. i.), is more beholden to its leaves, both as respects health and flavour of fruit, than the melon.

It is seldom proper to leave more than one fruit on each shoot, and in the large kinds perhaps not more than four or five fruit should be left on one plant. During the process of growth, the fruit is, from its suspended position, fully exposed on all sides to the rays of the sun. At this period water is given with moderation, and abundance of air is admitted. The fruit should be gathered before being quite ripe. Its approaching maturity is known by the appearance of a number of cracks near the footstalk, and by the emission of a rich odour. It is cut in the morning, and is kept in a cool place till served up; if this precaution be not attended to, there will be a considerable deficiency of flavour.

The average heat required for the successful growth of melons is about 70° Fahrenheit. In the common hotbed, this is maintained by defending the bed during the night, and by applying linings from time to time. In pits or houses heated by hot water circulation, this is easily effected at any season; and such pits doubtless supersede the hotbed frame altogether.

The Cucumber (Cucumis sativus), like the melon, is a tender annual, requiring the assistance of artificial heat. It properly belongs to the class of culinary vegetables, being used in salads and pickles, and has long been cultivated in this country. Its culture, however, requires the closest attention of the gardener.

Select List of Cucumbers.—Like the melons, these run into endless varieties, if more than one sort be grown in the same structure. The present leading varieties are—Victory of Bath, Tiley's Captivatives, Tiley's Phenomenon, Victory of England, Cathill's Black Spine, Lord Kenyon's Favourite, Hunter's Prolific, Sir Colin Campbell's Canoevert, Conqueror of the West, Allen's Victory of Canada, Snow's Prize, Duncan's Victory, and Sussex Hero.

The culture of early cucumbers so much resembles that of the melon, that it would be useless repetition to enter into minute details. The cucumber, indeed, is somewhat hardier, and therefore in summer requires less heat; but in every other respect the management of the plants is precisely the same. The first crop of cucumbers is generally sown in the end of December, or the beginning of January; a second in March, and a third in June. In summer, cucumber plants, after they have been fairly established, require scarcely any other attention than to thin them out occasionally, and to supply them with water. Seed for a winter supply is sown in August.

Cucumbers, particularly the prickly sorts, are often raised in the warmer months under hand-glasses. A cavity is made in a border in front of a wall or other warm place, and is filled with hot dung. This dung is covered with earth, and two or three plants are put into it, and sheltered with a hand-glass. They are watered and dressed from time to time; and by this means a sufficient supply of small cucumbers, or gurken, is obtained for pickling.

In the southern counties of England, pickling cucumbers are easily raised without any artificial heat, being sown in drills in the open ground. The earth is made fine and level, and shallow circular hollows are formed with the hand, a foot wide, and half an inch deep in the middle. The distance between each hollow is three feet and a half, and the distance between the rows five or six feet. Eight or ten seeds are deposited in each cavity. This is done in the beginning of June. When the plants appear, they are thinned out to three or four, the weakest or least healthy being rejected. They are watered occasionally, according to the state of the weather. The cucumbers are gathered chiefly from the middle to the end of August. Vast quantities of these open ground girkens are taken to the London market. The village of Sandy, in Bedfordshire, has been known to furnish 10,000 bushels of drilled cucumbers in one week.

Gourds, species or varieties of the species of the genus *Cucurbita*, may be grown like drilled cucumbers, or trained against walls or on pales. Though occasionally used as esculents, they are regarded chiefly as curiosities. The *Succa* or vegetable marrow, is a very useful sort, and in request for the table, being eaten stewed with sauce or mashed like turnips. It may be raised in an exhausted melon-frame or pit; or it may be sown under a hand-glass, and afterwards transplanted into a good aspect, and trained against a wall or trellis.

The Mushroom (*Agaricus campestris*), though not properly an inmate of the Melonry, may appropriately enough, from the nature of its culture, be taken along with the plants grown in this department of the garden. It is a well-known fungus, a general favourite, and esteemed a delicacy during winter and the spring months.

Mushrooms are much grown in England on ridges or prepared beds, in sheds, or covered with litter in the open air. The Russian form of the mushroom-house was introduced into Britain by Mr Isaac Oldacre, and is now in very general use. Its arrangement is simple enough, and may be understood from the following description:—Two tiers of boxes, three in each tier, and supported by a strong frame-work, are constructed round the whole house, with the exception of the spaces occupied by a door and two windows. The boxes may be from two feet and a half to three feet and a half broad, and about a foot deep. The house is supposed to be heated by hot water circulation. In the centre is a narrow pit, by which the house may be worked by means of fermenting litter instead of the hot water, or in which rhubarb stalks, &c. may be forced. The windows are furnished with shutters to regulate the admission of light, and are moveable, to permit the ingress of air.

It was long, and by some is still, considered essential to grow mushrooms in darkness. This view is erroneous, and upon correct principles they are grown in houses with as much light as is found in almost any other forcing-house. Mr John Hawkin has shewn that the principal requisites for their successful culture are heat, light, air, and a humid atmosphere. His manner of making up the beds does not essentially differ from that of Oldacre, except that instead of earthing them over with soil, he covers them with turf, having the green or grassy side uppermost.

Mushrooms are propagated from what is technically called spawn, which is a collection of vegetable threads pervading dried dung or other similar substance, having the smell of mushrooms, and is apparently the fungus in its undeveloped state. It may be obtained from old pastures, decayed mushroom beds, or purchased from nurserymen in the form of bricks charged with spawn. When once obtained, it may, like leaven, be indefinitely preserved. If not otherwise procured, it may be produced, or in a manner generated, by placing quantities of horse-dung and rich earth in alternate layers, and covering the whole with straw, to exclude the rain and air. Mushroom spawn commonly appears in the heap in about two months after the dung and earth have been laid together. The droppings of stall-fed horses, or of such as have been kept on dry food, are found preferable for this purpose.

The old or ridge method of growing mushrooms has been referred to above; and, as it has some conveniences, particularly for those who have not extensive apparatus, it may be proper to give some account of it. The beds are formed of horse-droppings which have been laid out for some time without having fermented, and may be made two or three feet broad, and of any length. A layer of dung about eight or ten inches thick is first deposited, and covered with light dryish earth to the depth of two or three inches; then another layer of dung of the same thickness, covered like the former; and lastly a third layer, with its covering. The whole should grow narrower as it advances in height. When the bed is finished, it is covered with straw to protect it from rain, and from the parching influences of the sun and wind. In ten days the bed will be ready for planting or spawning. Pieces of spawn-bricks are inserted in the sloping sides of the bed, about four or five inches asunder. A layer of fine earth is then placed over the bed, and the whole is covered with a thick coat of straw. When the weather is temperate, mushrooms will appear in about a month after the bed has been made; but at other times, a much longer period may elapse. The principal things to be attended to are to preserve a moderate state of moisture, and a proper degree of warmth; and the treatment at different seasons must vary accordingly.

Of the many other methods of raising mushrooms, Mr Oldacre's, already referred to, may deserve to be particularized. In forming the compost, he procures fresh short dung from a stable, or from the path of a horse-mill. To this is added about a fifth part of sheep-droppings, or of the cleanings of a cowhouse, or of a mixture of both. The whole ingredients are thoroughly mixed and incorporated. A stratum of the prepared mixture, about three inches thick, being deposited in the boxes already described, is beat together with a flat wooden mallet. Another layer is added, and beat as before; and this is repeated till the beds are rather more than half a foot thick, and very compact. The boxes are then placed in the Mushroom-house, or any outhouse where a slightly increased temperature can be commanded. A degree of fermentation generally takes place; but if heat be not soon perceptible, another layer must still be added, till sufficient action is excited. When the beds are milk-warm, or between 80° and 90° Fahrenheit, some holes are dibbled in the mass to receive the spawn. The holes are left open for some time; and when the heat is on the decline, but before it be quite gone, a piece of spawn-brick is thrust into each opening, and the holes are closed with a little compost. A week afterwards the boxes are covered with a smooth coating, an inch and a half thick, of rich mould mixed with about a fifth part of horse-droppings. The apartment is now kept as nearly and equably at 55° Fahrenheit as circumstances will allow. When the boxes become dry, a little soft water may be sprinkled over them, but sparingly and with circumspection. The more that free air is admitted the better is the flavour of the mushrooms; but the exclusion of frost is indispensable. If a number of boxes has been prepared at first, a few only at a time may be covered with mould and brought into bearing, the rest being covered and cropped in succession, as mushrooms may be in demand.

Mr Callow, in a tract on the artificial growth of mushrooms, describes a method in which the pits are wrought by means of dung heat. His structure somewhat resembles Aitkinson's Melon-pit, only the roof is covered with thatch, and a suite of air-flues is formed within the interior of the pit, with branches crossing the principal bed which occupies the floor. Linings of fermenting litter are applied to the exterior of the house at

In this department those plants are cultivated which, after being subjected to various culinary processes, are used as articles of food. They may be enumerated in the order of their importance, each, for the sake of precision, being accompanied by its botanical name.

Cabbage Tribe.

The Brassica oleracea, Lin., is a plant indigenous to our rocky shores; but no one, seeing it waving in its native habitat, could possibly anticipate that it would ever appear in our gardens, disguised as the ponderous drumhead or sugar-loaf cabbage, or on our tables as the delicate cauliflower and broccoli. The cultivated varieties are numerous; but the following are the most important.

Common White Cabbage. The economical uses of this vegetable are well known. Its principal subvarieties are the following:

Atkin's Matchless, Knight's Early Dwarf, Sutton's Dwarf Comb, Sutton's Imperial, Early Dutch Twist, McEwen's, Cattle's Dwarf, Barn's Shilling's Queen, Enfield Market, King of the Cabbages, Chappell's Colewort, London Market, Sprottobore, Pomeranian, Large Drumhead, Flattened Drumhead. The names in seed lists are endless.

The Cabbage is propagated from seed, which may be sown in beds four feet wide, and covered over with a thin layer of earth. The proper seasons for this operation are the middle of August, the beginning of March, and midsummer. By observing these times, and employing different sorts, the succession may be kept up through the year. For the early spring crops, the late sown plants are in October transferred from the seed-bed to some open and well manured ground, where they are arranged in rows two feet asunder. The principal supply may be put out in February, affording the larger sorts more width between the rows. The crops sown in spring are planted out in May and June. For subsequent culture, all that is necessary is, to keep the ground clear of weeds, and to draw up the soil about the stems. In some situations watering in summer is beneficial.

The cabbages grown late in autumn and in the beginning of winter are denominated Coleworts, from a kindred vegetable no longer cultivated. The object is to have them with open or slightly closed hearts. Two sowings are made, in the middle of June and in July, and the seedlings, when they acquire sufficient strength, are planted out in lines, a foot or fifteen inches asunder, the rows being eight or ten inches apart.

The Red Cabbage, of which the large or Dutch red is the common variety, is much used for pickling. It is sown along with the white varieties in August and in spring, and the culture is in every respect the same.

The Savoy. This variety, like the preceding, forms into a close head, but is distinguished by the wrinkling of its leaves. It is a very useful vegetable during the winter months. The principal subvarieties are:

The Early Green, Globe, the Yellow, the Winter, Marcellin, Flat Green Curled, Large Green German, Early Ulm, and the Feather-stemmed, of which there are various forms.

The seed is sown in autumn and in the end of spring, and two plantings may take place, in April, and in June or July.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS. This vegetable is allied to the foregoing, but does not close or cabbage. From the axil of the stem-leaves proceed little rosettes or sprouts, which resemble Savoy cabbages in miniature. The seed should be sown in spring, and the seedlings planted out before midsummer, during showery weather. In October the plants should have additional earth drawn to their roots, to firm them, and save them from being destroyed by frost. The earliest sprouts become fit for use in November, and they continue good, or even improving in quality, till the month of March following. Mr Van Mons of Brussels mentions that by successive sowings the sprouts are there obtained for the greater part of the year. In spring, when the plants have a tendency to run to flower, their growth is checked by lifting them, and replanting them in a slanting direction, in a cool shady situation.

Open Kale. The principal subvarieties are:

German Greens or Curled, Scotch Kale or Green Borecole, Purple or Brown Kale, Delaware Greens, Buda Kale, Jerusalem Kale, Woburn Kale, and Coute Tronchuda or Portugal Kale.

Of these the first three are considered the most valuable, and are the sorts chiefly cultivated in this country. The seed is sown at various times from February to May, and the seedlings are planted out in moist weather during summer, in rows two feet asunder. The Buda Kale is sown in May, planted out in September, and being hardy, affords a supply in the following spring.

Turnip-rooted Cabbage, or Kohl-rübe. Of this there are two varieties, one swelling above ground, the other in it. There is nothing peculiar in the culture, unless that, in the case of the first mentioned, the earth should not be drawn so high as to cover the globular part of the stem, which is the part used. The seed may be sown in the beginning of June, and the seedlings transplanted in July; they are thus fit for use at the approach of winter.

Cauliflower. This variety is cultivated for the sake of the flower-buds, which form a large dense cluster or head, and afford one of the most delicate products of the kitchen-garden.

The varieties are Early London White, Early Dutch, London Particular, Large Asiatic, Walcheren, Wait's Alma.

The sowing, for the first or spring crop, is made in the latter half of the month of August; and, in the neighbourhood of London, the growers adhere as nearly as possible to the 21st day. A second sowing takes place in February on a slight hotbed, and a third in April or May.

The cauliflowers being tender, the young plants require protection in winter. For this purpose they are sometimes pricked out in a warm situation at the foot of a wall with a southern exposure, where, in severe weather, they are also covered with hoops and mats. A better method is to plant them thickly in the ground under a common hotbed frame, and to secure them from cold by coverings, and from damp, by giving air in mild weather. For a very early supply, it is useful to be at the pains of potting a few scores of plants; these are to be kept under glass during winter, and planted out in spring, defended with a hand-glass, and watered when necessary. Sometimes, as in market-gardens, patches of three or four plants are sheltered by hand-glasses throughout the winter in the open border. It is advantageous to prick out the spring-sown plants into some sheltered place, before they are finally transplanted and committed to the open ground in May. The later crop, the transplantation of which may take place at various times, is treated like early cabbages. Cauliflower succeeds best in a rich soil and a warm situation. After planting, all that is necessary is to hoe the ground, and draw up the soil about the roots.

It is found that this vegetable, being induced to form its large and crowded clusters of flower-buds in the autumn, may be kept in perfection over winter. Cauliflower which have been planted out in July, will be nearly ready for use in October. Towards the end of that month, the most compact and best shaped are selected and lifted carefully with the spade, keeping a ball of earth attached to the roots. Some of the large outside leaves are removed, in order that the plants may occupy less room, and at the same time, any points of leaves that immediately overhang the flower are cut off. Where there are pits unoccupied, the plants may be arranged close together, but without touching. Or they may be placed in the same manner in hotbed frames. In mild dry weather the glass frames are drawn off, but they are kept close in rain; and in severe frost they are thickly covered with mats. In this way cauliflower may be kept in an excellent state for several months.

Broccoli has a close affinity to cauliflower, being, like it, of Italian origin, and differing chiefly in the greater hardiness of its constitution. The subvarieties are numerous, and exceedingly diversified. The following are those which are in most repute at present:

- Purple Cape, Green Cape, Grange's Early, Early Purple, Early White, Cream-coloured, Sulphur-coloured, Spring White, Late Purple, Late Danish, Gillespie's, Elliotson's Gigantic Late White, Wilcoxe's Late White, Hammond's White Cape, Dilcock's Bride, Knight's Protecting, Chappell's Large Cream, Portsmouth, Russian Dwarf, Stewart's Early White, Addison's, and Pezzance.

Of the autumnal sorts there should be two sowings, one in the middle of April, and one in the middle of May. As the plants acquire strength they are shifted into the open ground, where they are placed in lines two feet apart. The Cape varieties are of great excellence, being of a delicious flavour when dressed; but on account of the plants being apt to start into flower, their cultivation has in many places been neglected. With proper management, however, this tendency may be overcome. The first sowing may be made on any border of light soil, scattering the seed very sparingly. In about a month the plants may be transferred directly into a quarter consisting of sandy loam, well enriched with rotten dung. The greater part of the second crop should be planted in pots likewise directly from the seed-bed. These pots are to be sunk in the open ground till the heads are formed; and in the end of November they are to be placed under a glass frame, where very fine broccoli may be produced during the severest weather of winter.

The spring varieties are extremely valuable, as they come at a season when the finer vegetables are scarce. They are sown in the middle of March or the beginning of April, and afford a supply from March to May inclusive of the following year.

To obtain seed of the Brassica tribe, true specimens of the different varieties should be selected, in such a state of advancement as that they will flower as early as possible in spring. They should be planted in an open situation, and kept as far apart from other kinds of the same tribe as possible. As they are very liable to cross or hybridize, it is perhaps better, except in the case of some favourite variety, to procure supplies from a respectable seedsman, from whom they are almost uniformly to be had genuine, the extensive seed-growers being at great pains to prevent intermixture of crops.

Leguminous Plants.

Of the Pea (Pisum sativum), there are two principal varieties, the Field or Gray Hog Pea, and the Garden Pea. The latter alone requires our attention here. Its chief subvarieties are:

- Bishop's New Long Pod, Prince Albert, D'Auvergne, Dancer's Monastery, Knight's Dwarf Marrow, Fairbeard's Surprise, Fairbeard's Champion of England, Flack's New Large Victory, Victoria Marrow, Bedmar's Imperial, Hair's Dwarf Mammoth, Lyn's Prolific, True Early Frame, Warwick. The last two and Prince Albert are adapted for early crops, and the others for succession supplies. In the Sugar Pea, of which there are two sorts, the tall and dwarf, the inner fleshy lining of the pod is absent, and the young legumes are used like kidney-beans.

The first crop of peas is sown about the beginning of November, in front of a south wall; and these, after they have appeared above ground, are defended by spruce fir branches, or other spray, throughout the winter. In January and February other sowings are made, and sometimes the seed is put into flower-pots and boxes, and the young plants afterwards planted out in spring. From the end of February moderate sowings should be made twice a month till the middle of August, thus insuring a supply of successive crops of delicate green peas. For the latest crops, the Early Frame and the Charlton are the best. Peas are in general sown in rows from three to five feet asunder, according to the height which the different sorts are known usually to attain; but it is better to sow them in single lines at from ten to fifty or sixty feet apart, and sow the intermediate spaces with other crops. As they grow up the earth is drawn up to the roots, and the stems are supported with stakes, a practice which, in a well kept garden, is always advisable, although it is said that the early varieties, when recumbent, arrive sooner at maturity.

The early crops come into use in May and June, and by repeated sowings, the supplies are prolonged to November. Peas grown late in autumn are subject to mildew, to obviate which, Mr Knight has proposed the following method. The ground is dug over in the usual way, and the spaces to be occupied by the future rows of peas are well soaked with water. The mould on each side is then collected, so as to form ridges seven or eight inches high, and these ridges are well watered. On these the seed is sown in single rows. If dry weather should at any time set in, water is supplied profusely once a week. In this way the plants continue green and vigorous, resisting mildew, and not yielding till subdued by frost.

Of the Garden-bean (Faba vulgaris), amongst many varieties may be mentioned:

- The Early Mazagan, Early Lisbon, Long Pod, Green Genoa, Windsor, Green Windsor, White-blossomed, New Royal Dwarf Cluster, Marshall's Early Dwarf Prolific, Green China, Dwarf Crimson-seeded.

The Mazagan and Lisbon are sown in November, and are defended during winter in the same manner as early peas, but they are more difficult to preserve. The same sorts should be sown again in January and February. In March the New Royal Dwarf Cluster and Long-pod may be put in the ground for a general crop, and subsequently the Windsor and White-blossomed. The latter is a variety of considerable merit, and when the pods are taken at an early stage, they have little of the peculiar bean flavour, or only enough to render them pleasant. During the growth of the bean crop, all the culture necessary is, that the earth be drawn up about the roots. Topping the plants is usually practised, being found to promote the filling of the pods.

Kidney-bean. Under this general title are included the common kidney-bean (Phaseolus vulgaris, Linn.) of many varieties; and also the Scarlet Runner (P. multi- Kidney beans are the haricots of the French, who enumerate upwards of 200 varieties. The sorts usually cultivated in this country are:

- Early Red Speckled, Early Black, Early White, White Battersea, White Canterbury, Black Speckled, Brown Speckled, Scarlet Runner, Dutch White, Early Dwarf Dutch, Fulmer's Early Dwarf, Wilmot's Forcing Cream-coloured, Black Belgian, Newington Wonder—the last two are the best of the family—Dwarf Negro, Long-podded Negro, Batte.

The first three, and Fulmer's Early Dwarf, are the earliest; the others are more productive, and better fitted for a general crop. As the plant is of tropical origin, our climate is scarcely sufficient for the extensive cultivation of the ripe beans, which are the principal object in France and Italy. The immature legumes are chiefly used in this country.

It is seldom advantageous to sow kidney-beans in the open ground before the middle or end of April; after which period successive sowings may be made every fourteen days to the end of July. The plants are grown in rows two feet apart, and the earth is carefully drawn to the roots. Kidney-beans are well adapted for forcing, in hotbeds, or in hothouses; the climate of the Peach-house, when it can be obtained, being considered the best. The sowings may begin in January; they are made in pots, and a supply may be thus obtained in the months of March, April, and May. Wilmot's, Fulmer's, and Newington Wonder, are the best for forcing.

**Exculent Roots.**

The **Potato (Solanum tuberosum)**. This well-known plant is a native of the elevated regions of equatorial America. It was introduced into Europe about the middle of the 16th century, but remained little known or regarded till within the last hundred years; it is now so generally cultivated, as to have effected almost an economical revolution in this country. Most of the original British sorts were derived from Ireland. Its multitudinous varieties now set enumeration at defiance, and many are indeed appearing and disappearing every year. The descriptive list of Messrs P. Lawson and Son contains 175 sorts. The culture of the late sorts properly belongs to the farm, and when the gardener has to take them under his care, he will find it best to adopt such as are common in the agriculture of the district. Of the early kinds, most of which are supposed to have originated in Lancashire, the following may be esteemed the best:

- Early Royal Dwarf, Early Ash-leaved, Early Frame, Early Kidney, Walnut-leaved Kidney; Tyer's Early and Golden Dwarf are the best fitted for forcing and very early crops; and the Forty-fold American Early, Lapstone Kidney, Flake, Alsotone Kidney, are the best for general crops; while the Prince Regent, Stafford Hall, and Pink Eyed, continue good till May or June.

Potatoes are commonly propagated by dividing the tubers, leaving to each segment one or two eyes or buds. The sets are then planted by the aid of the dibble or spade, in rows at a distance varying from fifteen inches to two feet. It has been suggested by Mr Knight (London Hortic. Trans., vol. vii.), and his views have been amply confirmed by experiment, that by planting whole tubers, and at greater distances, a larger produce will be obtained. Mr Knight proposed to leave four feet between the rows, a distance which, except with the larger varieties, was found to be too great. An experienced horticulturist in Scotland states, that by planting whole tubers, and by leaving in the case of dwarfs two feet, and in the tall varieties two feet and a half, between the rows, a return from one-third to one-half more was obtained than could be had by the old method. Of course a greater quantity of tubers is required for planting, but this bears no proportion to the great increase which results; and besides, early potatoes at the planting season being unfit for eating, there is little economy in sparing them.

The earliest crops should, if possible, be placed in a light soil and in a warm situation, and be planted about the middle of March. Sometimes the eyes of the tubers are made to spring or vegetate on a hotbed, and the plants are put out as soon as the leaves can bear the open air. When the sprouts are about two inches long, they may be planted out towards the end of March. Young potatoes are thus procured in seven or eight weeks. A secondary planting of tubers should be made before the middle of April. When the stems are a few inches above ground, the earth should be drawn to them; an operation, however, which, while it improves the crop, delays its maturity for two or three weeks. Mr Knight recommends removing the flowers as they appear, and states that by this means the produce is increased by a ton per acre. The fine early varieties, however, scarcely produce any flowers.

An important fact in the cultivation of the potato was observed about the year 1806, by Mr Thomas Dickson of Edinburgh, viz., that the most healthy and productive plants were to be obtained by employing as seed-stock unripe tubers, or even by planting only the wet or least-ripened ends of long-shaped potatoes; and he proposed this as a preventive of the well-known disease called the Curl. This view has been confirmed by Mr Knight. An intelligent writer in the Gardener's Magazine (vol. ii. p. 171) states a method by which sprouting of the eyes is accelerated. He takes up the seed potatoes a considerable time before they are ripe, and exposes them for some weeks to the influence of a scorching sun. The resulting crop is at least a fortnight earlier; but it is not said how this practice affects the curl.

The forcing of early potatoes on hotbeds has long been practised; but it is attended with considerable trouble and expense. Small supplies of young waxy tubers are now often produced during winter, in boxes placed in a Mushroom-house, or in a common cellar, if free from frost. In October, old potatoes are placed in layers, alternating with a mixture of tree leaves and light mould. Vegetation soon proceeds; and there being no opportunity for the unfolding of stems and leaves, the energies of the plants are expended in the production of young tubers. Before midwinter these often attain the size and appearance of early potatoes; but they are much inferior, being watery and of little flavour. Of late years the potato has been so seriously attacked by an epidemic disease, as almost to threaten its total extinction. The cause of this has led to much controversy without any satisfactory result. Potatoes were more healthy in 1855 than they have been in any year since the appearance of the disease, and there is hope that the malignity of the epidemic is passing away.

**Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus),** or tuberous-rooted sunflower. This plant, which is a native of Brazil, derives its epithet Jerusalem from a corruption of the Italian Girasole, a sunflower, and Artichoke from the resemblance, in flavour, which its tubers bear to the floral receptacles or bottoms of the artichoke. It is propagated by means of its tubers in the manner of potatoes. In March they are planted out in rows three or four feet asunder, and in autumn the new tubers are fit for use. For the sake of convenience, it is advantageous to store them, though the roots are hardly enough to bear the winter frosts. Some, indeed, allow them to remain in the ground, and dig them up when required. In this way a sufficient number of sets is generally left in the ground, and the stalks are thinned into rows in summer; but this is a slovenly mode of treatment, and seldom produces well-flavoured crops. To insure large tubers, a rich soil is required, and if of a peaty nature so much the better.

The Turnip (Brassica Rapa), like the potato, has, to a great extent, migrated into the fields, and become the care of the husbandman more than of the gardener. The following are the most esteemed garden sorts:

- Early White Dutch, Early Stone, Green-topped White, Long White, Early Yellow Maltese, Dutch Yellow, Aberdeen Yellow, Long Yellow, Robertson's Golden Stone, Yellow Jelly, Finland, Early Six Weeks.

Besides these, the Naret of the French (Brassica Napus v. exculenta) is occasionally cultivated, and more frequently the Swedish Turnip (Brassica campestris v. Napo-bros-sica, L.), which is a most excellent winter sort, though it belongs more properly to the farm. For early crops, the white Dutch is the principal variety; the other white sorts, and the beautiful yellow Maltese, are useful in summer and in the beginning of autumn. The yellow Dutch, being capable of enduring any degree of frost, affords the best winter supplies.

Turnips succeed best in a rich, well-worked soil, of a light or medium quality. The first sowing is made about the end of March, in a warm situation; and it is usual to put in additional sowings, once a fortnight or three weeks, till the end of August. The early crops are sown broadcast, and the later in drills. After the plants have shewn a rough leaf or two, they are thinned out, being left at the distance of eight or ten inches in the drill; and the ground is hoed and kept free from weeds. As turnips which have stood the winter throw up their seed-stalks early in spring, after which their roots become stringy, and are much deteriorated, it is useful to store the turnips in winter, keeping them in a close place, and covering them with straw. Seed from three to four years old is better than that of the preceding season, particularly for the early varieties, the plants from such being less liable to run to seed without forming bulbs. The same holds good in field culture, while the plants run less to leaves and expend their energies in the formation of larger and better formed bulbs.

The young plants, while in the seed-leaf, are often destroyed by a small beetle called the turnip-fly (Helotia nemorum). Many remedies have been proposed; it has been found beneficial to dust the rows with quicklime; but perhaps the best precaution is to sow thick, and thus insure a sufficient supply both for the insect and the crop.

The Carrot (Daucus Carota) is one of our native Umbelliferae, but has been much transformed by cultivation. The best varieties are the Early Horn and the Long Horn, the former for early, the latter for general cultivation. The Altringham is also a good garden sort. The carrot loves a light, deep, fresh soil, in which it may be at liberty to push down its long spindle-shaped roots. A few Early Horn carrots may be sown in February on a moderate hotbed. In the beginning of March, the same sort may be sown in the open air. In April, the other sorts may follow as a general crop; it succeeds best in drills. In many old gardens the early plants are liable to the attacks of a small grub, the larva of Pala ross, or carrot-fly; it is therefore a useful precaution to sow a moderate crop of the Early Horn variety in July. After sowing, it is only necessary to thin the plants and keep them clear of weeds. The roots are stored in winter in the manner of turnips.

The Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) is now less cultivated than it was in Catholic times, when it was a favourite accompaniment to dried fish in Lent. To some its flavour is not agreeable; but it is a very nutritious vegetable, and of easy digestion. Like the carrot, its root is long and tapering, differing chiefly in being of a whitish colour. Its culture is also very much the same. The best sorts are:

- The Long Jersey, Early Short Horn, Turnip-rooted, and Hollow-crowned.

Red Beet (Beta vulgaris) is a biennial plant, a native of the shores of the south of Europe. The boiled root is eaten cold, either by itself or as a salad; it is also often used as a pickle. The varieties are numerous, but the best are:

- Barrat's New Crimson, Whyte's Black, Glen Dwarf Red, Atkin's Crimson, and New Blood-red or Mulberry.

There is a fine French variety called Castelnaudary, from a town in Languedoc, which is esteemed for its peculiar flavour.

Red beet prospers in a rich, deep soil, not recently manured, and which has been well pulverized by the spade. During April the seeds may be sown in drills, fifteen inches asunder, and the plants are afterwards to be thinned to eight inches from each other in the lines. In the northern parts of the island, the roots are stored in winter, care being taken not to break them or cut off the leaves too closely, as they bleed when injured.

Skirret (Sium Sisram) is a native of China, too seldom seen in our gardens. Its tubers are used like parsnips. It is a perennial, and may be propagated by separating the roots in spring; but it succeeds better by annual sowings, which may be made in April.

Scorzonera (Scorzonera Hispanica) and Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius) are generally associated together in gardens, and are now less cultivated than they deserve. The roots are used in soups, and sometimes as dressed side dishes. They are sown in lines, and treated like the crops of red beet or parsnip.

The Radish (Raphanus sativus) is a native of China. There are two principal varieties, the spindle-rooted and the turnip-rooted radish; and of these the subvarieties are numerous. The following may be mentioned:

- Early Frame Scarlet, Short-topped Scarlet, Scarlet Salmon, Long White, White Turnip, Yellow Turnip, White Spanish, Black Spanish.

The first two and the white turnip radish are best suited for early crops; the scarlet salmon for summer, the yellow turnip for autumn, and the white and black Spanish for winter.

Some cultivators sow their earliest crop in November, in a warm situation, at the foot of a wall or in front of a pinery, and continue sowing once a-month, if weather permits, during winter. Others grow their first radishes under frames, aiding vegetation by a slight bottom-heat. As the season advances, successional supplies are sown once a fortnight. From the middle of July to the middle of September, the turnip-radishes are sown from time to time; and on the approach of frost they may be stored up in sand like carrots, and kept throughout winter.

Oxalis Roots (Oxalis crenata, Jacq.; O. arracacha, G. Doy.) and some other species of the genus, have of late years been cultivated for the table in this country. They are not, however, held in much esteem, and are very rarely cultivated. The same may be said of the recently introduced Dioscoria Japonica.

**Alliaceous Plants.**

The Onion (*Allium Cepa*) is too well known to require description; it has been cultivated in this country from time immemorial. Among the varieties may be enumerated:

- Strasbourg, Deptford, James's Keeping, Silver-skinned, White Portugal, Blood Red, Potato Onion, Brown Globe, New White Globe, Reading, Tripoli, Madeira Large, Lisbon.

Besides these, the Welsh Onion or Ciboule (*Allium fistulosum*, L.), a native of Siberia, is sometimes grown for scallions. For a general crop, the Strasbourg, Deptford, and Globe varieties may be esteemed the best. The White Portugal grows to a large size, but does not keep well. The Silver-skinned is chiefly used for pickling.

The onion affects a light, rich, well-worked soil, which has not been recently manured. The principal crop may be sown in the course of the month of March, according to the state of the weather and the dryness of the ground. Onions are grown in drills, ten inches apart, and are regularly thinned, hoed, and kept free from weeds. About the beginning of September the crop is ripe, which is known by the withering of the leaves; the roots are taken up, and, after being well dried, are stored in a garret or loft, where they may be perfectly secured from damp.

Towards the end of August a secondary crop is sown, to afford a supply of young onions or scallions, as they are called, in the spring months. The Strasbourg and White Portugal may be used for this purpose. Those which are not required for the kitchen being allowed to stand, if the flower-bud is picked out on its first appearance, and the earth stirred about them, frequently produce bulbs equal in size and quality to the large ones that are imported from the Continent.

Some horticulturist recommend the transplanting of onions. Knight sows the White Portugal onion in spring under the shade of a tree, where it remains of a diminutive size. The onions are kept over winter, and are planted out in the succeeding spring. Some cultivators used to collect all the minute bulbs of the ordinary crop, and use them in the same way; while others confined the operation to one summer, and sowed in February on a slight hotbed, or sometimes merely under a glass frame. In the first or second week of April, according to the state of the weather, they are transplanted in rows, eight inches asunder, and at the distance of four or five inches in the row. Previously to planting, the roots of the seedlings are dipped in a puddle of one part of soot to three parts of earth, an expedient which is found to secure the transplanted onions from the grub. Onions thus treated attain a large size. Autumn-sown onions submitted to a similar treatment produce excellent crops.

The Potato Onion is propagated by the lateral bulbs, which it throws out, under ground, in considerable numbers. It is planted about mid-winter, and ripens in summer. Its flavour is strong, and not unpleasant; but the plant being rather delicate and troublesome in cultivation, is not likely to supersede the common onion.

The Pearl Onion produces clusters of small bulbs at the root. These little bulbs are of a fine white colour, like the silver-skinned onion, and very fit for pickling.

The Leek (*Allium Porrum*) is a native of Switzerland, but has probably been cultivated in this island for many centuries. The varieties are:

- The London flag, Musselburgh, Dutch flag, Erfurt, and Rouen. Of these the Musselburgh leek is considered the most hardy.

Leeks are sown in beds in spring; and in June or July are planted out in rows fifteen or eighteen inches apart, and six inches asunder between the rows. When the weather is moist, it is found beneficial merely to lay the plant into the hole made by the dibble, without closing the earth upon it, the stem being by this means encouraged to swell out and fill the hole, as well as being blanched at the same time.

**Shallot (*Allium Ascalonicum*)** is a native of Palestine. It is much used in cookery for high-flavoured soups and gravies, and is sometimes put into pickles. It is propagated by offsets, which are commonly planted in September or October. Some recommend the mixing of soot with the manure as a protection against maggots, by which this plant is greatly infested. Autumn planting, however, is found the best expedient, as the bulbs are ripe before the larvae commence their depredations. There are two sorts, the Common, and the Russian which is much larger and less pungent.

**Garlic (*Allium sativum*)** and **Rocambole (*Allium Scorodoprasum*)**, though common ingredients in Continental cookery, are comparatively seldom used in this country. A few rows will generally be found sufficient. They are propagated by offsets from the roots, or by the bulblils which grow on the flower-stem. The Chive or Cive (*Allium Schoenoprasum*), a pleasant little native plant, is used occasionally as salad and alliaceous seasoning. A single row may be planted as an edging, and it is easily increased by parting the roots in spring and autumn.

**Spinaceous Plants.**

**Spinach (*Spinacia oleracea*)** is an annual plant, and is a native of Western Asia. It has long been cultivated for the sake of its succulent leaves, which, when properly dressed, form a pleasant and nutritious article of food. There are three varieties; the round-leaved or smooth-seeded, the angular-leaved or prickly-seeded, and the Flanders. The two latter, as being the most hardy, are used for the winter crop.

The first sowing is made in August, in some sheltered but not shaded situation; the plants, as they advance, are thinned, and the ground is hoed. In the beginning of winter the outer leaves become fit for use; in mild weather, successive gatherings are obtained, and, with proper management, the crop may be prolonged to the beginning of May.

To afford a succession crop, the seeds of the round-leaved variety should be sown in the end of January, and again in February and March. From this period it is proper to sow small quantities once a fortnight, summer spinach lasting only a very short time. The open spaces between the lines of peas will generally afford enough of room for these transient crops. They are generally sown in shallow drills, and are thinned out and weeded as may be required.

**White Beet (*Beta Cicla*)** is cultivated for the leaves, which are used as spinach. The midribs and stalks of the great white beet, when separated from the leaves, are stewed and eaten as asparagus, under the name of Swiss Chard. The culture does not differ materially from that of the red beet.

**Garden Orache (*Atriplex hortensis*), Wild Spinach (*Chenopodium Bonus Henricus*), and Garden Patience** Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is a perennial plant, a native of the shores of Britain, where it occurs sparingly, and of the steppes in the east of Europe. Though somewhat unpromising while in a state of nature, it affords, in cultivation, an esculent of considerable value, and is therefore grown extensively both in private and in sale gardens. The principal varieties are the Red-topped and the Green-topped, of which the latter, while it is less succulent, is considered the better flavoured. There are numerous subvarieties, such as the Battersea, Gravesend, Giant, &c., which differ only slightly or not at all from those already mentioned.

Asparagus, growing naturally on loose sand, loves a light deep soil, through which it may be able to shoot its long stringy roots. Two feet and a half is considered a desirable depth, but in France the ground is sometimes prepared, by sifting to double that depth. A considerable portion of well-rotted dung or of recent sea-weed is laid in the bottom of the trench, which may be from two to three feet deep; and another top-dressing of manure should be dug in preparatory to planting or sowing. The older horticulturists used to grow their asparagus in beds four or five feet wide, with intervening alleys of about eighteen inches in breadth. At present, in Scotland, it is customary to sow or plant in rows from three to four feet asunder; a method which, in every way, is found to be most convenient. Except where the garden is new, when, of course, it is advantageous to procure a supply of ready grown plants, it is thought preferable to keep up the stock of asparagus by sowing.

The sowing is made in March, in slight drills; and, as a portion of the seed often fails to germinate, it is a good precaution to employ nearly a double quantity of seed. If the plants come up too thickly, they may be thinned out towards the end of the first summer, to the distance of about six inches in the rows. The ground is hoed, and kept clear of weeds. It is a common practice to take slight crops of onions, lettuce, cauliflower, or turnip, between the lines of asparagus during the first, and, if the rows be wide, also during the second year. The young heads or stalks, the part used, should not be cut before the third spring, and they are not in perfection till the fourth or fifth.

The asparagus quarter can scarcely be over manured. The proper time to perform this operation is in the end of autumn, when the annual flower stalks are removed, preparatory for winter. When beds are employed, their surface should be stirred with a fork; a layer of well-rotted hotbed dung is then laid on, and the whole covered with a sprinkling of earth from the alleys. If the plants are grown in rows, the manure is simply dug in by means of a three-pronged fork, care being taken not to injure the roots. This operation is repeated annually. No other culture is required; but it is necessary to observe a due moderation in reaping the crop, as the shoots, when much cut, become progressively smaller and less valuable. Hence a considerable quantity of ground is required for the cultivation of this vegetable, and it is a general rule never to gather it after peas have come into season.

Asparagus readily admits of being forced. The most common method is to prepare, early in the year, a moderate hotbed of stable litter, and to cover it with a common frame. After the heat of fermentation has somewhat subsided, the surface of the bed is covered with a layer of light earth or exhausted tan-bark, and in this the roots of plants five or six years old are closely placed. The crowns of the roots are then covered with two or three inches of soil. A common three-light frame may hold 500 or 600 plants, and will afford a supply for several weeks. After planting, linings are applied when necessary, and air is occasionally admitted. Care must be taken not to scorch the roots. Where there are pits for the culture of late melons or succession pine plants, such as the Alderton-pit, or the succession-pit with the hot water circulation, they may advantageously be applied to this purpose; but a pit heated in the tank manner is by far the most convenient and certain.

It has been recommended (Lond. Hortic. Trans. vol. v.) to force asparagus on the ground on which it grows. This practice is very generally followed on the Continent, but the result is by no means to be compared with that of taking up the roots and treating them as above. A succession of crops must be maintained by annually sowing or planting new beds so as to keep up the supply.

Before leaving this subject, it may be mentioned, that about Bath, the young flower-spikes of Ornithogalum pyrenaicum, found native in that neighbourhood, are used like asparagus, under the name of Prussian grass.

Sea-kale (Crambe maritima) is a perennial plant, growing spontaneously on the shores of the southern parts of the island. The roots are spreading, the leaves waved, glaucous, and covered with a fine mealy bloom, and the stalks rise to about two feet high, bearing white flowers, which smell of honey, followed by seed-pods, each containing a single seed.

The country people in the west of England have long been accustomed to use in spring the young shoots, which, by passing through the sand and gravel on which they grow, are somewhat blanched and rendered tender. In conformity with this practice, the cultivation formerly recommended consisted merely in covering the beds on the approach of spring with a little dry earth or sand, in order to blanch or intenserate the shoots. These were cut as they appeared in March and April. Now, however, the blanching is not only much more completely effected, but simple means have been devised for supplying the table for half the year, including all the winter months. It has, within these few years, become a vegetable of common occurrence in the markets both of London and Edinburgh.

Sea-kale seems partial to a light dry soil. If manure be added, it should consist of sea-weed or leaves of trees. The plants may be propagated by offsets, or small pieces of the roots having buds or eyes attached to them; but the most eligible method is by seed. We have seen very tolerably blanched stalks produced by plants only nine months old from the seed, and after two summers, seedling plants will have acquired sufficient strength for general cropping. The sowing is made in March, the seeds being deposited in patches of three or four together, the patches being arranged in lines three feet apart, and two feet in the line. In order to secure a succession, and to obviate the bad effects of forcing, it is proper to sow a few lines of sea-kale every year.

With the aid of pots, sea-kale is forced in the open border in the way now to be described. In the latter end of autumn, the plants are dressed, that is, the stalks are cut over, and the decayed leaves are removed. The ground is, at the same time, loosened about the eyes, and a thin stratum of gravel or sifted coal-ashes mixed with salt, is laid on the surface to keep down earth-worms. A pot with a moveable cover is placed over each plant or each patch of plants. Leaves of trees are then closely packed all round the pots, and raised up to about a foot above them; the whole thus assuming the form and appearance of a large hotbed. When fermentation commences, a thermometer should be occasionally introduced into a few of the pots, to ascertain that the temperature within does not exceed 60° Fahrenheit, and the depth of the leaves is to be regulated accordingly. The vegetation of the included plants is speedily promoted; so that, in the space of a month or six weeks, the shoots will be ready for cutting, and, being thus excluded from the light, they are most effectually blanched, and are exceedingly tender and crisp. By means of the moveable lids, the plants are examined and the shoots gathered without materially disturbing the covering. By commencing at various times, a supply for the table can be readily furnished from the middle of November till the middle of May.

The Artichoke (Cynara Scolymus) is a perennial plant, a native of the south of Europe, and is a well-known inhabitant of our gardens. It resembles a thistle on a large scale. In France, the entire head or whole leaves of the involucre of the artichoke are eaten, when in a young and tender state, en poivrade, or with pepper, salt, and vinegar; but in this country the only parts used are the base of the leaves of the involucre, and the immature floral receptacle, or phoranthium, commonly called the bottom, freed from the bristly seed-down which has been called the choke. The varieties are the Conical or French, the Globe or Red Artichoke, and the Dwarf Globe. Of these the first is the highest flavoured, the second is well adapted for a general crop, and the third is prolific, and occupies little room.

The artichoke loves a deep cool dry soil. It is propagated by parting the roots in April, the sets being planted in rows four or five feet asunder, and two feet apart in the rows. The young plants generally afford a crop which succeeds that of old plants; and for this reason a new plantation is made in some gardens every year. During summer the plants are kept clear of weeds, but require little other attention. In November the decayed stems and leaves are removed, and the ground cleared. In some gardens the earth is ridged slightly around the roots, in order to defend the stools from the frost. This, however, is done more effectually by a covering of sifted coal ashes or rotten tan, of the depth of a foot, drawn close round the base of the leaves. In April this protection is taken away, the stocks are examined, and two or three only of the strongest shoots are permitted to remain. The offsets, which are carefully removed, afford materials for a young plantation. The ground between the rows is forked over. At this time manure may be applied; well-rotted hotbed dung, and above all seaweed, being considered preferable.

The Cardoon (Cynara Cardunculus) is a perennial plant, a native of the south of France and Spain. It has a close resemblance to the artichoke, but surpasses it in size. The edible part, or chard, as it is called, is composed of the blanched and crisp stalks of the inner leaves. Besides the common sort there is a prickly variety, known in France by the name of the Cardoon of Tours. The common artichoke is also used for the production of chard. Cardoons are found to prosper on light deep soil. The seed is sown annually about the middle of May, in shallow trenches, like those for celery, and the plants are thinned out to ten or twelve inches from each other in the lines. In Scotland it is preferable to sow the seed in small pots, one seed in each, placing them in a mild temperature, and when the plants have attained the height of eight or ten inches, to transplant them into the trenches. In dry weather water is copiously supplied, not only to increase the succulence of the leaves, but to prevent the formation of flower-stalks, which render the plant useless. In autumn the leaves are applied close to each other, and wrapped round with bands of hay or straw, the points of the leaves only being left free. Earth is then drawn up around the leaf-stems to the height of fifteen or eighteen inches. Sometimes cardoons are blanched by a more thorough earthing up, in the manner of celery, but in this case the operation must be carried on from the end of summer. During severe frost the tops of the leaves should be defended with straw or litter.

The Rampion (Campanula Rapunculus) is an English native biennial, the roots of which, under the name of rampions, are used as a salad, or boiled like asparagus. It is but little cultivated in this country. The seed is sown broadcast about the beginning of June, in a cool situation, and the young plants are merely to be thinned and kept clear of weeds. On the approach of frost, the roots, which somewhat resemble small radishes, are stored in sand, and will keep fresh and firm till spring.

Salads, &c.

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is a hardy annual, but of what country it is a native is unknown. Some suppose it to be a seminal variety of the native L. virginea, a poisonous plant, "which," says Professor Lindley, "would not be more remarkable than the fact, that the indigenous celery is one of our strongest poisons." Besides its well known uses, it may be mentioned that the late Dr. Duncan senior, of Edinburgh, prepared from its milky juice a medicine denominated Lactocorinum, similar in its action to opium, but capable of being administered in cases where that powerful drug is inadmissible. There are two principal varieties, the Cos or upright, and the Cabbage-lettuce. The subvarieties are numerous; we may mention the following:

Early Facing Cos, White Cos, Gliese, White Cabbage, Brown Dutch Cabbage, Imperial Cabbage, Grand Admiral, Green Paris Cos, Paris White Cos, Brown Cos, Wail's White Cos, Neapolitan Cabbage, Malta Cabbage, Hardy Green Hammersmith, Tennis Ball, Black-seeded Grotte.

By proper care fresh lettuce may be had throughout the whole year. The first sowing is made in January, in some sheltered situation, or under hand-glasses, or in February on a gentle hotbed. The seedlings are transplanted as soon as the weather will permit. A second sowing may be made in the beginning of March, and another in April. Besides the ordinary compartments, the seedlings may be planted on celery ridges, between rows of slight crops of other vegetables, and, in short, in any odd corner which may occur. To obtain a winter supply, a sowing is made in August or September, and the plants are pricked out in October, along the bottom of walls, or under glazed frames.

Endive (Cichorium Endivia) is an annual plant; a native of China, from which it was introduced in 1548. It is the lettuce of winter, the blanched hearts being used for salads and in soups.

There are two highly marked varieties, namely, the Batavian or broad-leaved and the Curled, and of these there are many sub-varieties, the best of which are, the Broad-leaved Batavian, Narrow-leaved Batavian, and Lettuce-leaved Batavian. Of Curled sub-varieties, Large Green Curled, Small Green Curled, White Curled, Italian Green Curled, and Triple Curled Moss.

A sowing may be made in the beginning of June, and another in July, the seeds being scattered very sparsely, that the plants may not come up in clusters. The seedlings are transplanted into a rich soil, and are arranged in rows twelve or fifteen inches asunder, and at the distance of ten inches in the row. Sometimes they are planted in drills to facilitate the operation of blanching. The latter crop should be placed in a sheltered situation, where it may be able to withstand the winter. When the plants have reached their maturity, the leaves are gathered up, and tied together an inch or two below the tips, and afterwards about the middle of the plant. In two or three weeks they are found sufficiently blanched for use. In winter it is necessary to draw the earth quite up about the leaves. At that season, too, the plants may be inserted into a sloping bank of earth, or blanched in boxes in the Mushroom-house, or in a cellar.

**Succory (Cichorium Intybus)** is an indigenous plant, the cultivation of which may be said to have been introduced by the foreign refugees during the French revolutionary war. By the French it is much esteemed as a winter salad, and when blanched, is known by the name of *Barbe du Capucin*. When intended for winter use, the seed is sown in May or June, commonly in drills, and the plants are thinned out to four inches apart. If at first the leaves grow very strong, owing to wet weather, they are cut off perhaps in the middle of August, about an inch from the ground, so as to promote the production of new leaves, and check the formation of flower-stems. About the beginning of October the plants are raised from the border; all the large leaves are cut off; the roots are also shortened. They are then planted pretty closely together in boxes filled with rich light mould, and watered when needful. When frost comes on, the boxes are protected by any kind of haulm. As the salad is wanted, they are removed into some place having a moderately increased temperature, but with little light, such as a Mushroom-house or cellar off the kitchen. Each box affords two crops of blanched leaves, and these are reckoned fit for cutting when about six inches long. The roots of this plant, it may be added, have been employed as a substitute for coffee-beans, and in Flanders, and some parts of France, a portion of them is very often mixed with coffee.

**Parsley (Apium Petroselinum)** is a biennial plant, of well-known use in cookery. It is said to be a native of Sardinia, but it now grows spontaneously in various parts of Britain. The varieties are the Common, the Curled-leaved, and the Hamburg, the last of which is cultivated for the sake of its tuberous roots. Parsley loves a light rich soil. It is sown in drills about the beginning of March, and the seed lies some weeks in the ground before the plants appear. As they grow up they are thinned out, and are defended by branches or other coverings from hard weather in winter. The Hamburg variety being cultivated for its roots, is sown about the same time in a well trenched soil, in drills a foot apart, and it is thinned to about nine inches in the rows. In the beginning of November the roots are taken up and stored in sand.

**Celery (Apium graveolens)** is a native biennial, an inhabitant of the sides of ditches near the sea. In its wild state it is of an acid nature, and of a coarse rank flavour; but by cultivation it is improved into one of the most agreeable salads. There are two principal varieties; celery properly so called, with upright stalks and fibrous or slightly tuberous roots; and celeryce with large turnip-shaped roots. Of the former, the principal subvarieties are:

- Cole's Superb Red, Cole's Superb White, Lion's Paw, Seymour's White Champion, Nutt's Champion, Manchester Giant Red, Wall's White, Cole's Crystal White, and Cole's Dwarf Red.

Celery is usually sown at three different times; on a hot-bed in the beginning of March, and in the open ground in March, and again in April. The seedlings, when about two inches high, are pricked into rich soil, in which they are allowed to stand till they are four or five inches high. The first crop is defended by frames or hand-glasses, and is planted wide to admit of being lifted with balls of earth adhering to the roots. Towards the end of May trenches for blanching the celery are prepared. These trenches are three and a half or four feet apart, fifteen inches wide at the bottom, and about a foot below the natural level of the surface. The soil at the bottom of the trench is carefully digged and manured, and a single row of plants is placed in each trench. Sometimes where a large supply is required, the trenches are made six feet wide, and after a similar preparation, rows fifteen or eighteen inches apart are planted across the trenches. As the plants advance in growth, earth is laid up about the stalks of the leaves, an operation which is repeated at the end of every ten or fifteen days, care being taken not to choke the plants. Many delay the earthing up until the plants have nearly attained their full size, when the operation is performed at once, and it is believed that by this process the stalks are rendered more crisp and tender. As the celery approaches maturity, scarcely anything but the tips of the leaves appear above the ridges, and, when lifted, the stalks are found to be completely blanched. Successional crops should be planted out from the 1st of June till the 1st of August. Celery loves a rich light soil and an abundance of moisture.

**Celeriac**, or turnip-rooted celery, is treated at first like the early crop of common celery. In the beginning or middle of June it is planted out in a flat bed, in drills fifteen inches apart. A single earthing afterwards suffices. Its large round roots are used in soups, and are much relished by some. It is, however, more attended to in France and the Low Countries than in Britain.

**Garden Cress (Lepidium sativum)**, and **White Mustard (Sinapis alba)** are generally associated in their use as salads, and in their culture in the garden. They are annual plants, and are eaten only when very young. In winter they may be raised on a slight heated, or in shallow boxes or pans placed in a temperature of 60° or 65°, in spring under hand-glasses, or in drills near a south wall, and in summer, when they should be sown once a fortnight, in drills, in any cool shady situation. Table mustard (which is made from *Sinapis nigra* L.), belongs rather to the department of agriculture. Durham mustard, which is distinguished for its pungency, though not remarkable for fine colour, is said to be made principally from the seeds of the common yellow field mustard or charlock (*Sinapis arvensis* L.)

Of **Rhubarb (Rheum)**, several species and many varieties are cultivated for the purpose of supplying materials for tarts, the foot-stalks of the leaves being well adapted for that purpose, and coming into use at a most convenient season. *R. rhaponticum* and *palmatum* were the species first employed; but the sorts now preferred are seminal varieties, mostly allied to *R. hybridum* and *R. rudulatum*. The following are the most worthy of notice:

- Myatt's Victoria, Myatt's Linnaeus, Royal Albert, Britannia, Goliath, Elford or Buck's Early Scarlet.

They may be multiplied by dividing the roots, and this is the common practice; but they thrive much better when grown from seed. Sir Joseph Paxton recommends sowing on a slight hotbed in spring, and transplanting out in rows in the month of May. No stalks are gathered from them for the first two years, but in the third season they are fit for use. A portion of the crop is allowed to come on under the general influence of the season; but much also is forced, which may be done in a variety of ways. Some treat it like sea-kale, covering the root, which is allowed to remain in the ground, with a large pot or box, and wrapping it round with litter. Others take up the roots in autumn, pot them, and force them in the pits or Mushroom-houses. The best method is to procure long narrow boxes of a moderate depth, and to place them, packed full of roots, in a Mushroom-house or cellar, where there is a considerable temperature. The rhubarb soon throws up its stalks, and these being partially etiolated, possess a delicacy and flavour superior to those grown in the open air. It is easy, by varying the time of subjecting the boxes to the increased temperature, to keep up a succession of rhubarb stalks, from the period at which kitchen apples become scarce or begin to lose their flavour, till green gooseberries come into season.

The following annual plants are occasionally used in cookery, or as salads:—Chervil, Scandix celerfolia; Parsley, Petrosela eleocharis; Lamb's-lettuce, Fedia olitoria; Indian Cress, Tropocolum eleocharis; Marigold, Calendula officinalis; Borage, Borago officinalis. These may be sown in spring, or in the beginning of summer, in any fresh light soil, and will grow in any situation.

The Common Sorrel, Rumex acetosa; and the French Sorrel, Rumex scutatus, which should give place to the Large Dutch; and the Horse-radish, Cochlearia Armorica, are perennial, and are increased by parting their roots. They thrive in any cool shady situation.

The Capsicum or Chile, Capsicum annum, and the Love-Apple, Solanum Lycopersicum, are tender annuals from tropical climates. Both are sown in hotbeds in spring, and after being transplanted and nourished for some period, are set out either in a warm border, and the latter against a wall. In Scotland, the Capsicum will scarcely mature its fruit without the aid of glass.

Dill, Anethum graveolens, and Angelica, Angelica archangelica, are umbelliferous biennials, which have been for a long period, though not extensively, cultivated in our gardens. They are easily raised from seed. With these may be associated the beautiful perennial, Fenugreek, Anethum Foeniculum, used in salads and sauces. It may be propagated either by parting the roots, or by seeds, which should be sown in autumn soon after they are ripe.

In every garden there is a small department set apart for the culture of Sweet Herbs and Medicinal Plants. We need not here enter into details respecting their uses or culture, but shall merely give classified lists.

Shrubby Plants increased by parting the roots, or by cuttings:—Thyme, Thymus vulgaris; Sage, Salvia officinalis; Winter Savory, Satureja montana; Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis; Lavender, Lavandula Spica; Hyssop, Hyssopus officinalis; and Rue, Ruta graveolens.

Perennial Herbaceous Plants, increased by parting the roots:—Sage-root, Mentha viridis; Pepperwort, M. piperita; Peppermint, M. pulegium; Balm, Melissa officinalis; Torregon, Artemisia Dracunculus; Tansy, Tanacetum vulgare; Costmary, Balsamita vulgaris; Chamomile, Anthemis nobilis.

Biennial or Annual Plants, increased by sowing the seeds:—Clary, Salvia Sclaris; Coriander, Coriandrum sativum; Caraway, Carum Caroli; Sweet Marjoram, Origanum majorana; Summer Savory, Satureja hortensis; Sweet Basil, Ocimum basilicum; and Bush Basil, O. minimum. These last are herbs, which are natives of the East, and in much request for their delicate flavour, are raised on beds in spring, and transplanted with balls into some warm situation. In Scotland, they are mostly treated as tender annuals, and are grown, under glazed frames, in flowerpots.

There are besides a few others, which, in each of the classes, more properly belong to Dietetics, and Materia Medica. The young green leaves of Prunus Laurocerasus (under the name of laurel), may properly enough be employed in garnishing; but they ought never to be used, as they too often are, for giving a nutty flavour, or for greening other articles; hydrocyanic acid being given out and proving injurious, even in small quantities.

THE FLOWER GARDEN.

The cultivation of flowers, if not the most useful, is at least one of the most pleasing occupations of the horticulturist, and has generally shared largely in his attention. It is probable that at first, flowers, as objects of curiosity, were confined to a few patches or borders in the garden, as is still the case in many old places; but in the progress of art, and the diffusion of taste, separate departments were allotted to them under the name of Flower Gardens. After some general remarks on style and situation, we shall treat of the component parts of flower gardens, their various decorations, and of floriculture.

The designing of flower gardens unquestionably belongs to the fine arts, involving in it, the exercise of invention, taste, and foresight. Its principles are more vague and evanescent than those of any of the sister arts. The hand of the designer is not here guided by the imitation of nature, for his work is wholly artificial in its arrangements and appliances; neither does utility come in, as in architecture, to supply a form and frame-work, which it is the artist's part to adorn. "As flower gardens," says Loudon, "are objects of pleasure, the principle which must serve as a guide in laying them out, must be taste. Now, in flower-gardens, as in other objects, there are different kinds of tastes; these embodied are called styles or characters; and the great art of the designer is, having fixed on a style, to follow it out unmixed with other styles, or with any deviation which would interfere with the kind of taste or impression which that style is calculated to produce. Style, therefore, is the leading principle in laying out flower gardens, as utility is in laying out the culinary garden. As objects of fancy and taste, the styles of flower gardens are various. The modern style is a collection of irregular groups and masses, placed about the house as a medium, uniting it with the open lawn. The ancient geometric style, in place of irregular groups, employed symmetrical forms; in France, adding statues and fountains; in Holland, cut trees and grassy slopes; and in Italy, stone walls, walled terraces, and flights of steps. In some situations these characteristics of parterres may, with propriety, be added to or used instead of the modern sort, especially in flat situations; such as are inclosed by high walls; in towns, or where the principal building or object is in a style of architecture which will not render these appendages incongruous. There are other characters of gardens, such as the Chinese, which are not widely different from the modern; the Indian, which consists chiefly of walks under shade, in squares of grass; the Turkish, which abounds in shady retreats, boudoirs of roses and aromatic herbs; and the Spanish, which is distinguished by trellis work and fountains; but these last gardens are not generally adapted to this climate, though, from contemplating and selecting what is beautiful or suitable in each, a style of decoration for the immediate vicinity of mansions, might be composed preferable to anything now in use." It may, however, be remarked, that the flower garden properly so called, has generally been too much governed by the laws of landscape-gardening, and these often ill-understood, and misapplied. In the days of "clipped hedges and pleached alleys," the parterres and flower-beds were of a description the most grotesque and intricate imaginable. At a subsequent period, when the natural and the picturesque became the objects of imitation in the park, there appeared the most extravagant attempts at wildness in the garden. The result has been unfortunate. It is not meant that when there are merely a few patches of flowers by way of foreground to the lawn, they should not be subordinated to the principles which regulate the more distant and bolder scenery; but wherever there is a flower garden of considerable magnitude, and in a separate situation, it should be constructed on principles of its own. In such a spot, the great object must be to exhibit to advantage the graceful forms and glorious hues of flowering plants and shrubs; and it is but seldom that mere elegancies in the forms of compartments, and other trickeries of human invention, can bear any comparison with these natural beauties. To express the peculiar nature of garden scenery, as distinct from the picturesque in landscape, Loudon has invented the term gardesque; and, whatever may be thought of the term itself, it is very desirable that the distinction should be preserved.

Two varieties of flower gardens have chiefly prevailed in Britain; one, in which the ground is turf, and the pattern, so to speak, is composed of a variety of figures cut out of the turf, and planted with flowers and shrubs; and another, when the flower-beds are separated by gravel walks, without being interspersed with grass at all. The choice of one or other of these varieties ought greatly to depend upon the situation. When the flower garden is to be seen from the windows, or any other elevated point of view, from which the whole or the greater part of the design may be perceived at once, perhaps the former should be preferred. Where the surface is irregular, and the situation more remote, and especially where the beauty of flowers is the chief object of contemplation, the choice should probably fall on the latter. This variety, too, seems preferable, on the principle of contrast, where there are large lawns in the outer grounds, in order that kept (or smoothly mown) grass may not be found everywhere.

Respecting the situation of the flower garden, no very precise directions can be given, as it must be influenced by the nature of the lawns, and of the site of the mansion to which it is attached. Generally speaking, it should not be at any great distance from the house; and in places where there is no distant view of importance, it may be constructed under the windows. In retired scenes, it is delightful to step out of the drawing-room into compartments of flowers, in the vicinity of a greenhouse or conservatory. On the other hand, when the park is spacious, and the prospects extensive and picturesque, it is perhaps better that the flower garden should be at some distance, say not more than a quarter of a mile, and out of sight of the house, but with an easy access in any sort of weather; an arrangement which would give an agreeable termination to a short walk, a desirable matter in most cases, for it has been often remarked that many parts of extensive grounds remain unvisited, because they afford no remarkable object to attract the attention.

The particular form of a flower garden is equally beyond the inculcation of specific rules. Indeed, it may be of any shape, and, except where the dimensions are extremely limited, the boundaries should not be continuously visible. The taste of the proprietor or designer, and the capabilities of the situation, must determine not only the external configuration, but also the arrangement of the interior parts. By judicious management, it may be made to pass through shrubbery, gradually assuming a more woodland character, and groups of trees, into the park on the one hand, and into the kitchen garden or orchard on the other. In most cases, even when it is in the vicinity of the mansion-house, the flower garden should be encircled with some sort of fence, in order to convey the idea of protection, as well as to furnish security to the vegetable inmates of the parterres, it being impossible to carry on floriculture to any great extent in open places which are accessible to hares and rabbits. In detached localities, the fences may be made sufficiently strong to preclude the intrusion of every species of vagrant; and these it is not difficult to mask with shrubs and trees. The style of the mansion should determine that of the flower garden, and also its position. The flower garden attached to a highly architectural mansion, should, for the most part, occupy the lawn on the south, the east, or the west front; and the carriage-entrance, where possible, should be on the north front, the park extending close up to the front door. There are cases, however, where this arrangement must be departed from, and the flower garden must occasionally be placed even on the north front. These deviations are caused in a great measure by the difficulties of providing a proper approach to the entrance-door; and also by the position of the principal sitting-rooms, which should always command a view of the flower garden. A flower garden on the north front, if sufficiently distant from the house to prevent injury from shade, has this advantage, that the flowers will naturally turn towards the windows, whereas, when placed on the south front, their faces are directed towards the sun, and much of the effect of colour is lost. Flower gardens in connection with highly architectural mansions should be in the geometrical or systematic style, and bounded by parapet walls, with the appropriate mural decorations of balustrading, piers, vases, &c. When upon a large scale, and especially where a natural inclination in the ground exists, or can be formed artificially, winding terraces and parapet walls should be introduced, with flights of steps, and the necessary embellishments in connection with them, as well as a profusion of fountains, statuary, sculpture, &c. Grass terraces have always a mean appearance in such a position. The parapet walls afford excellent accommodation for half-hardy and beautiful flowering plants.

Formerly the flower-beds were made either circular, straight, or in curves, and were turned into knots, scrolls, volutes, and other compartments; and this taste prevailed, perhaps, in some measure from a desire on the part of the contrivers, to compensate by their ingenuity for the paucity of the ornamental plants which they then cultivated. Now that the riches of Flora have poured into our gardens, a simpler taste has obtained. It is needless as well as impossible to specify the numerous configurations of flower-plots, for they abound in kaleidoscopic variety. Good taste will suggest that those only should be associated which harmonize well together; and it is better to incur the hazard of an apparent monotony, than to excite wonder by incongruous combination. When the figures are separated by turf, it is necessary that the little lawns or glades should have a certain degree of breadth, as nothing has a worse effect than overcrowding. A multitude of little figures should also be avoided, as they produce what Gilpin calls spectinness, and which, as he has correctly pointed out, is a grievous deformity. In this sort of flower garden, it is desirable that a gravel walk should skirt along at least one side of the principal figures; in our humid climate, the grass would otherwise render them inaccessible with comfort during a great part of the year. In those gardens in which turf is wholly or partly excluded, the compartments should be of a larger and more massive character. Narrow borders, bounded by parallel straight lines and concentric curves, should be avoided. The centres of the figures should be filled with tall-growing shrubs, and even with an occasional low evergreen tree, such as a yew or a holly. The walks, arranged in long concave curves, may communicate here and there with one another. A dial, a few seats and arbours, with an urn or two or a vase, may be introduced with good effect. It is to be regretted that few good specimens of this species of flower garden have hitherto been executed in Britain.

Amongst the accompaniments of the flower garden may be mentioned the Rock-work. This consists of variously grouped masses of large stones, generally such as are remarkable for being figured by water-wearing, or for containing petrifactions or impressions; and into the cavities between the stones, filled with earth, alpine or trailing plants are inserted. In proper situations, a small piece of water may be introduced, for the culture of aquatic plants. One of the walks is sometimes arched over with wire-work, and covered with ornamental climbing shrubs, forming a delightful promenade in the glowing days of summer. A separate compartment, generally of a regular figure, is set apart for roses, under the name of the Rosary. A moist or rather a shady border, with bog earth, is devoted to that class of shrubs, commonly, but not very accurately, designated "American plants." In extensive places, a separate "American Garden" is often formed, in a locality which, if not damp, has at least the command of water, and occupies generally some warm corner of the park.

Some writers have advocated the formation of Winter and Spring Gardens in separate localities; but we are not aware that their ideas have ever been embodied to any great extent. It is proposed that in the winter garden should be assembled all the most beautiful evergreen shrubs and plants, together with the few flowers that bloom during the winter months. The situation, it is recommended, should be well sheltered, and open only to the warm rays of the sun, which are peculiarly grateful in our cold winter seasons. Masses of evergreens have a sombre and monotonous effect, even in winter, unless occasionally broken and varied by deciduous trees, which to some extent may be introduced. The contrast of these leafless neighbours relieves the intenseness of the gloom, and sets off the brilliancy of the rest. If the shrubs be grouped carefully according to their habits, instead of being planted promiscuously, the monotony will be softened down by the irregularity of surface which such groups present, and still more so when plants with variegated foliage are grouped together in masses proportionable to the extent of plantation. Though a winter garden, the very name of which is chilling, is perhaps in the estimation of some not very desirable by itself; the object to be attained in it should be kept in view in the formation of the park or flower garden. We can easily suppose a particular section of the latter to contain a predominance of evergreens, and to possess the principal characters of a winter garden, without the formality of its name and purpose. In the immense variety of situations, it is not difficult to imagine a sloping bank, for instance, facing the sun, with a long walk skirting its base, the lower side of which might be adorned with a border or narrow parterre planted with arbutus and periwinkle, whilst the slope is covered with the higher evergreens, and the summit of the scree is crowned with groups of deciduous trees, interrupted by a few struggling firs, through which the wind, unfeet below, might sigh its melancholy music. Again, the spring garden, which need not be of very great extent, may take refuge in the vicinity of the greenhouse or conservatory, with which it is naturally allied.

Soil.—A variety of soil is required in the flower garden, to suit the very different kinds of plants that fall to be cultivated. American plants require a peaty earth, varying from boggy peat to almost pure sand. Alluvial peat, that is, boggy earth which has been washed away and incorporated with white sand, is to be preferred; peat, cut from its natural bed and only partially decomposed, is of no value at all, or is positively prejudicial to plants. In collecting soil from the surface of a moor, it is proper to take no more than the upper turf or sod, with the peat adhering to it, and only from the driest parts of the ground, where, besides the common heath, fescue-grasses occur. Where this cannot be procured, a good substitute is found in vegetable mould, that is, decayed leaves swept from lawns or woods, and allowed to lie in heaps for a year or two. For the general purposes of the flower garden, a light loamy soil is advantageous; and where the natural covering is thin, or requires making up, recourse should be had to the surface-earth of old pastures, which, especially when incumbent on trap-rocks, is found to be excellent. It is expedient to have a large mass of this material in the compost yard. The turf, and the surface-soil adhering to it, should be laid up in a rough state, in which way it is continually ameliorating by the decomposition of the vegetable matters, and the action of the air.

Garden Walks.—During the prevalence of the Dutch taste, grass-walks were common in our gardens; but, owing to their frequent humidity in our climate, they have in a great measure disappeared. Their disuse is perhaps to be regretted, as in some situations, particularly behind lengthened screens of trees, or in gardens from which grass has been in a great measure excluded, an example or two of them would be agreeable. It is justly observed by Sir William Temple, that "two things peculiar to us, and which contribute much to the beauty and elegance of our gardens, are the gravel of our walks, and the fineness and almost perpetual greenness of our turf;" and therefore no trouble should be spared in securing excellence in these respects. In old times grass walks were formed with much care. After the space which they were to occupy had been dugged and levelled that it might subside equally, a thin layer of sand or poor earth was laid upon the surface, and over this a similar layer of good soil. This arrangement was to prevent excessive luxuriance in the grass. In selecting the seed, all annual, wiry, and coarse sorts of grass should be avoided. The best mixture of grasses for this purpose, and their proportions per acre, is as follows, viz.:—Cynosurus cristatus, 5lbs., Festuca duriscula, 3lbs., F. tenuifolia, 2lbs., Lolium perenne terrestris, 20lbs., Poa nemoralis, 14lbs., Poa nemoralis var. semper-virens, 14lbs., Poa trivialis, 14lbs., Trifolium repens, 7lbs., and T. minus, 2lbs. This is also very suitable for lawns upon light soils.

Gravel-walks, in this department, are formed precisely in the same manner as those in the kitchen garden. It may, however, be remarked, that a multitude of gravel-walks, particularly when narrow, have a puny effect. All the principal lines should be broad enough to allow at least three persons to walk abreast; the others may be narrower. Much of the neatness of walks depends upon the material of which they are made. Gravel from an inland pit is to be preferred; though occasionally very excellent varieties are found upon the sea-coast. The gravel of Kensington and Blackheath has attained considerable celebrity; and is frequently employed in remote parts of the kingdom, the expense being lessened by its being conveyed to different sea-ports as ballast for ships. In summer a gravel-walk requires hoeing and raking from time to time, to clear it from weeds and tufts of grass. After this operation, or even after a simple sweeping, it is rolled down with a hand-roller; and this is repeated as often as the surface is ruffled. Nothing Edgings.—Walks are generally separated from the borders and parterres by a variety of plants planted closely in line. By far the best edging is afforded by the Dwarf Dutch Box. It is extremely neat, and, when annually clipped, will remain in good order for many years. It may be planted at any season, except when in full growth or mid-winter. Excellent edgings are also formed by Sea Pink (Statice Armorica) and Double Daisy (Bellis perennis). Dwarf Gentian (Gentiana acutila) and London Pride (Saxifraga umbrosa) are also sometimes used. Indeed, any low-growing herbaceous plant, susceptible of minute division, is fitted for an edging. Edgings may also be formed of narrow pieces of sandstone flag, slate, fire-clay tiles, wire, or cast-iron. In shrubberies and large flower-plots, verges of grass turf, from a foot to three feet in breadth, according to the size of the border and width of the walk, make a very handsome border to walks. These should not be allowed to rise high above the gravel: an inch and a half may be assigned as the limit they should not exceed. The grass is kept short by repeated mowings, and the edges are defined by clipping with shears, or cutting once a year with a paring iron.

Shrubs.—Much of the beauty of the pleasure garden depends upon the proper selection and disposition of ornamental trees and shrubs; and it is to be regretted that this department of the art has often been greatly neglected. In many gardens we still find only a few evergreens, and a parcel of rugged deciduous species, introduced probably before the age of Miller. No wonder is it, therefore, that we sometimes hear of the insipid scenes of the shrubbery. Nevertheless, shrubs are highly elegant in themselves, and they afford a most efficient means of diversifying garden scenery. Of the many beautiful species now to be had in Britain, and affording the materials of exquisite decoration, we can mention only a few.

Of Evergreens, besides the Common Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) and the Portugal Laurel (P. lusitanica), we may notice the American Arbor Vitae (Thuja occidentalis), as adapted to large masses of shrubs; and the Chinese Arbor Vitae (T. orientalis), whose size and mode of growth fit it for smaller compartments. The different varieties of Rhamnus Alaternus, and the species of Phillyrea and Juniperus, have long and deservedly been favourite evergreens. The Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis), in favourable situations, rises into a handsome shrub or low tree, and may convey to the student of the classics an idea of the Delphic laurel. The Strawberry tree (Arbutus Unedo), a native of Ireland as well as of the south of Europe, will always find a place as one of the most elegant of plants, equally beautiful as regards foliage, flower, and fruit; nor should its countryman, the Irish Yew, ascending like the pillared cypress, be forgotten. The Cypress itself, though rather a denizen of the park, may be sparingly introduced. The Laurustinus (Viburnum Tinus), with blossoms approaching the snow in whiteness, enlivens the winter season, when nothing else is in flower in the shrubbery. The Swedish and Irish Junipers deserve a place. Different species of Daphne will not be forgotten; it may be sufficient to enumerate pentica, collina, Cneorum, and hybrida. As extremely low evergreens, we may mention Gaultheria procumbens and Shallon, Polygala Chamaebuxus, and Astragalus Tragacantha; but these would probably be better placed among what are popularly called American plants. Of the more tender evergreens, we should name the Andracline (Arbutus Andraclinis), a beautiful shrub, but liable to be injured by severe frosts. The Broad-leaved Myrtle (Myrtus romana), in warm places, and with the aid of a covering in the depth of winter, may be made to clothe the walls with its brilliant verdure for eight months in the year, and with its white flowers for some weeks in the end of summer. Aucuba japonica and Buxus balearicus are handsome shrubs, of a somewhat stronger constitution; the former is very ornamental in dull shady places, where no other shrub will grow. The beautiful tribes of Cistus and Helianthemum, some of which are quite hardy, are admirable for adorning sloping banks.

Amongst the shrubs that require a peaty soil, or at least a damp and shady situation, the splendid genus Rhododendron holds the principal place. Of the larger species may be mentioned R. ponticum, Catawbiense, and maximum, with their many beautiful varieties. In early spring, R. diaricum expands its blossoms among the first of flowering shrubs. Nor should we overlook R. punctatum, hirsutum, ferrugineum, and Chamceustus, of humbler growth, but not inferior in beauty. With these the closely cognate genus of Azalea, with its multitudinous species and varieties, disputes the palm of elegance. The pale and drooping Andromedas are scarcely of inferior interest. The more recently introduced are the Taxodium, Cryptomeria, Torreya, Podocarpus, Dacrydium, and smaller growing Coniferous. The hardy Heaths, particularly Erica carnea, Tetralix, and stricta, Menziesia polifolia and corulea, and the Canadian Rhodora, combine to bring up the rear of this department of Flora's train.

The deciduous flowering shrubs are too much neglected in many gardens. They are seldom well managed, either in point of arrangement or in the evolution, by pruning, of picturesque effect. Very often they are huddled together promiscuously, and grow up into the shape of huge sheaves of rushes. With judicious management, there is not a finer object in the vegetable kingdom than the common Lilac (Syringa vulgaris), or the hybrid var. (S. rothmagensis). Even the old Guelder-Rose (Viburnum Opulus) is worthy of the poet's eulogy; the "scentless rose," which he describes as "tall,"

"And throwing up into the darkest gloom, Of neighboring cypress, or more sable yew, Her silver globes, light as the foamy surf That the wind severs from the broken wave."

It would lead us into disproportioned detail to specify a tithe of those showy shrubs which should be dear to every floriculturist. Suffice it to name Ribes sanguineum, Daphne Mezereum, Spartium of many species, Cytisus, Amygdalus, and Pyrus. The Ribes speciosum, or Fuchsia-flowered gooseberry, seems to require the protection of a wall, but deserves it. The fine suffruticose plant Paeonia Moutan, requires the most sheltered position in the shrubbery, where, in May and June, its flowers excel all others in magnificence.

There are many fine climbing shrubs, such as the species of Clematis, and of Lonicera, or Honeysuckle. Others, though not precisely of this class, are much beholden to the shelter of a wall, such as the beautiful Magnolia conspicua, Edwardsia tetrapetala, microphylla, and grandiflora, Glycine sinensis, Eccremocarpus scaber, and Jasminum nudiflorum. The numerous species or varieties of Fuchsia, Escallonia, and Ceanothus, when planted against a wall, or even in the open ground, and shaded with an occasional covering in winter, convey to us a better idea of the riches of Chilian vegetation, than when they are confined to the shelves of the greenhouse. Many roses are also well adapted for walls, such as the varieties of Noisette, Boursault, and the different species from China. A separate compartment, called the Rosary, is generally devoted to the cultivation of roses. It is often of an oval or circular form, with concentric beds, and narrow intervening walks of grass or gravel, but it may assume any configuration which is suited to display this favourite plant. Of the thousand varieties of roses which exist in the nurseries, we pretend not to give any selection. It may, however, be remarked, that in planting the Rosary, care should be taken to classify the sorts according to the sizes and affinities, otherwise the effect will be much impaired. The climbing sorts may be advantageously introduced, being trained to pillar-like trellises. When the rosary is extensive, it is judicious to intersperse some of the most showy hollyhocks; for thus the beauty of the quarter is maintained in the later months of autumn, when the roses are chiefly past. Standard roses are well adapted to stand singly on the little lawns in flower gardens, or to break the uniformity of low flower borders.

Nearly all shrubs may be propagated by layers, some by budding or grafting, many by separating the roots. In planting, shrubs may be arranged either singly or in masses: the latter method is the most efficient in the production of effect, but it should not be very servilely adhered to, as it is apt to beget monotony. Some kinds should never appear in masses: the white Portugal broom, for instance, when so arranged, gives a limy tint to a garden. Perhaps it is better that groups should contain a predominance of one shrub, set off by a few others of a contrasting figure or colour, than that they should be entirely homogeneous.

Herbaceous Plants.—Common perennial flowers, whether strictly herbaceous or bulbous, afford the principal materials for floral decoration. Botany supplies, as it were, the colours for the picture, and gardening grinds and prepares them for use. The painting is continually varying, and new shades are arriving and departing in succession. The least consideration of the subject will suggest the rule, that in planting flowers they should be arranged according to their stature, otherwise many of the most beautiful little flowers would be lost among their taller companions. The lowest plants should therefore stand next the margin of the border or parterre, and they should increase in height as they go back. To produce a full show, a profusion, just not amounting to crowding, is requisite. The flower-plots should present a regular bank of foliage and blossom, rising gradually from the front; but as this might convey an idea of too great precision, a few straggling plants, on the same principle as those employed in greenhouses, should be thinly scattered over the surface. These may be shrubs, or any tall showy plant, such as Boeconia cordata, Papaver bracteatum, Gladiolus Byzantinus, or Lilium candidum. The management of colour is more difficult. When the length of the flowering season is considered, it will be obvious that it is impossible to keep up the show of a single border or plot for six months together, and consequently that much of the labour employed in mixing colours is misspent, since plants, as they are commonly arranged, come dropping into flower one after another; and even where a certain number are in bloom at the same time, they necessarily stand apart, and so the effects of contrast, which can be perceived only among adjacent objects, are entirely lost. To obviate this defect, it has been recommended that ornamental plants should be formed into four or five separate suites of flowering, to be distributed over the garden. Not to mention the more vernal flowers, the first might contain the flora of May; the second that of June; the third that of July; and the fourth the tribes of August and the following months. These plants should be kept in separate compartments, arranged either singly or in masses; but the compartments themselves should be so intermingled, as that no particular class should be entirely absent from any one quarter of the garden. The May parterres should, however, chiefly occur in the vicinity of the greenhouse or conservatory, or, when these are absent, in a warm sunny situation. The flowerings of June and July, as being highly showy, should occupy the most conspicuous parts of the garden. The autumnal perennials, not being so imposing, may retire into the more secluded situations, as they are supplanted by the superior brilliancy of the annuals, which fill the vacant beds of florists' flowers, or are scattered over the faded clumps of May and June.

Before attempting to plant, the floriculturist would do well to construct tables or lists of flowers, specifying their respective times of flowering, their colours, and altitudes. These tables, when skilfully used, would prevent mistakes, produce a greater facility of execution, and put the colours nearly as much under control as they are on the painter's pallet. To diversify properly and mingle well together the reds, whites, purples, yellows, and blues, with all their intervening shades, requires considerable taste and powers of conception; but if success is not attained in the first attempt, inaccuracies should be noted, and rectified at the proper time next season. Certain series of colours have been given, but these it is needless to mention, as it is quite immaterial whether the first flower in a row be red or white. The principal object is to preserve an agreeable contrast; and as at particular seasons a monotony of tint prevails, it is useful at such times to be in possession of some strong glaring colours. White, for instance, should be much employed in July, to break the duller blues and purples which then preponderate. Orange, too, is very effective at this season. On the other hand, yellows are superabundant in autumn, and therefore reds and blues should then be sought for.

Besides mere vividness of colour and elegance of form, there are other qualities which render plants desirable in the flower garden. Whoever has visited a botanic garden, must have been sensible of an interest excited by the curious structure or by the scarcity of some plants. Even quaintness of form is deserving of attention. The writer of this article has seen Allium fistulosum (the common Welsh onion) making a conspicuous figure in a flower garden; and he remembers well a plant of sea-kale (Crambe maritima), which the good taste of the owner had introduced into the parterre, to the great disturbance of the ideas of the gardener. At the same time, it must be admitted that such expedients should be employed with reserve. No handsome plant should be rejected because it is common, nor any inconspicuous weed preserved merely because it is scarce. The flower-gardener should have a small nursery, or reserve garden, for the propagation of finer plants, to be transferred into the borders as often as is required.

We shall enumerate merely the names of a few of the most showy flowers, adapted to the British flower garden.

Vernal Herbaceous Plants.—Helleborus niger, lividus, olympicus, atrorubens; Erica hispanica; Hepatica triloba var.; Fritillaria vulgaris, alba, chloris, margaritata, helvetica, nivea, viscosa, imperialis, cortusoides; Cortusa Matthiolii; Soldanella alpina, Clusii; Viola odorata, tricolor, biloba, altana; Dodecatheon Media vars.; Orobus vernus; Adonis vernalis; Ompheodes verna; Corydalis lutea, longiflora; Sanguinaria canadensis; Iris pumila; Anemone apennina, Halleri, Pulsatilla.

Vernal Bulbous Plants.—Galanthus nivalis; Leucojum vernum; Crocus, species; Cyclamen coem., vernum; Corydalis bulbosa; Erythronium dens canis; Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus, moschatus, odoros, Jonquilla, &c.; Fritillaria imperialis, melicagris, persica; It is with regret that we thus confine ourselves to a dry list of border flowers; but to do them any thing like justice, would require many pages. Within the last few years great accessions have been made to our stores. The Lupins and Pentstemons from the Columbia River, the Verbanns and Calceolarias from South America, and the Potentillas and Geraniums from Nepal, have in a great measure changed the face of our flower gardens, while the industrious florist has added an almost countless number of hybrid productions, combining every shade of colour and diversity of form. While thus our riches have increased, the difficulty, as well as the necessity, of making a selection has increased also.

Most herbaceous perennial plants are propagated by parting the roots, or by cuttings; but some most conveniently by the sowing of seed.

Biennial Plants.—Plants whose existence is limited to two years, in the latter of which they flower and then decay, are called biennials. Many of them possess considerable beauty; and by their easy propagation and rapid growth, they afford a ready means of decorating borders. The following may be considered most worthy of notice:—Agrostemma coronarium; Antirrhinum majus; Hedyarum coronarium; Lunaria biennis; Campanula media; Enothra sinuata, biennis; Verbascum formosum; Hesperis matronalis; Scabiosa atropurpurea; Matthiola simplicicaulis. When a very desirable variety is procured, such as the striped Antirrhinum majus, attention should be paid to the striking of cuttings during the summer, as the only means of continuance.

Biennials are sown in beds in the end of spring, and are generally transplanted in the course of the autumn, into the places where they are intended to stand, that they may be confirmed before winter, and shoot up readily into flower in the following summer.

Annual Plants.—Many of the annual species, though of fugitive duration, are possessed of much beauty of hue and elegance of form. They are further valuable from their phiality, so to speak, and the promptitude with which they may be used. They are besides of easy culture, many requiring nothing more than to have the seeds sown in the spot where they are to grow. Annuals may be divided into three classes, the hardy, the half-hardy, and the tender. The first class, as stated above, are sown at once in the ground which they are to occupy; the half-hardy succeed best when aided at first by a slight hotbed, and then transplanted into the open air; the tender are kept in pots, and treated as greenhouse or stove-plants, to which departments they properly belong. It is scarcely necessary to remark that the hardy and half-hardy sorts may be grown either in patches or in beds, and are subjected to all the rules which regulate the disposition of common border flowers.

Hardy Annuals.—Anagallis; Baronia; Calliopsis; Iberis umbellata; Knautia orientalis; Alyssum, several species; Linaria, various species; Delphinium Ajacis, consolida; Silene Armeria; Campanula specularis; Lored; Lavatera trimestris; Malope trifida; Papaver somniferum, numerous varieties; P. Rhams, varieties; Gilia capitata, tricolor; Collessia grandiflora; Kaufmannia ameloides; Clarkia unchella; Lysimachia Géorgiana rosea, rosea-alba, tenella, Lindleyana, Romanzovii; Rudbeckia hirta annua; Scabiosa elegans; Matthiola annua; Lupinus, several species; Godetia; Nemophila; Lathyrus; Leptosiphon; Oxypoda; Platystemon; Saponaria; Silene, &c.

Half-hardy Annuals.—Callistemon horanienus; Lepidium campestre; Tagetes patula, erecta, racemosa, &c.; Zinnia elegans, paniculata; Xeranthemum annuum; Helichrysum fulgidum; Chrysanthemum carinatum; Amaranthus candatus; Schizanthus pinatus, purrigens, Grahamii, Hookeri; Salpiglossis atropurpurea, straminea; Petunia nyctaginea; Mirabilis Jalapa; Ageratum; Argemone; Brachycome; Chamastra; Clintonia; Cuphea; Grammanthus; Hemimeris; Lotus; Phlox; Rhodanthe; Podolepis; Portulaca; Senecio; Talinum, &c.

Tender Annuals.—Impatiens Balsamina; Browallia elata; Celosia cristata; Gomphrena globosa; Solanum melongena; Mesembryanthemum crystallinum.

We have been able to enumerate only a small selection of species out of a multitude which is continually receiving accessions. Many of the sorts mentioned above have been introduced during the last few years; and we doubt not that, at no distant period from the present, many more will come into notice.

Before leaving this part of the subject, it may be proper to mention that it is now the practice to grow and treat as annuals, or rather as biennials, great quantities of the more hardy Pelargonia, Verbena, Salvia, Calceolaria, Fuchsia, Hemimeres, and other genera. Many gardeners every season propagate, by cuttings, or seeds, several thousands of these plants. Grown in moderate-sized pots, they are kept in cool pits, yet protected from frost during winter. About the end of May, or as soon as there is no longer any apprehension of injury from frost, the plants are taken out of the pots and planted in the open ground in the flower garden. Some cultivators shift their plants, particularly scarlet geraniums, into pots nine or ten inches in diameter, in spring, and plunge them into the parterres instead of planting them out, with a view to lessen the size of the foliage, and induce a disposition to a more profuse production of bloom. Towards the middle of July they begin to grow vigorously, and in August or September present, in luxuriance at least, if not in magnitude, a better representation of their native vegetation than we see elsewhere in our gardens. Upon the approach of frost, they are, with the exception of the Fuchsias, taken up and potted and placed in pits till the following season, at least the best grown plants are, and a supply is also secured by striking them for cuttings during July and August. These plants, with the fine new annuals, and the gorgeous Dahlias, give a splendour to the autumnal flower garden which in former times it did not possess.

Florists' Flowers.—This technical appellation has been restricted to certain flowers, which have been especial favourites with florists, and have consequently received a large share of their attention. Though pos- seceded of great individual beauty, few of them are calculated to make a show at a distance, and the arrangements requisite for their culture do not harmonize well with the general disposition of a flower garden. It is, therefore, desirable, particularly when considerable refinement is aimed at, that a separate garden, or a separate section of the garden, should be set apart for their culture. The more robust or less valuable varieties, however, which are often as showy as the most esteemed, may be introduced into the general parterres. We shall notice the most considerable, in the order in which they naturally attract attention.

The Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis), one of the most beautiful and fragrant of the spring flowers, is a native of the Levant, where it occurs abundantly, in form not unlike our common harebell. It has long been a favourite in the East; but it has been brought to its present artificial perfection in Holland, chiefly since the beginning of last century. The catalogues of the Haarlem florists used formerly to enumerate 2000 sorts, some of which sold as high as £200 a bulb; they are now less numerous, and much less expensive.

Hyacinths are either single, semidouble, or double, and exhibit a great variety of tint.

The criterion of a perfect flower of this sort is given by Mr Glennay, in his little work on the "The Properties of Flowers and Plants."

"Each pip or flower should be round and not ragged. The petals should be broad, thick, blunt at the ends, not pointed, and reflex enough to throw up the centre well. The foot-stalk should be strong, and hold the flower out stiff in a vertical position, and by no means weak, to allow the pip to hang with the face sloping downward. The foot-stalk should be of a length to make the petals touch and no more. The pips should be large, and the flowers close on the stem. Double flowers should have the rows of petals above each other very regularly imbricated, so as to throw up the centre. The spike should be bold, round, compact, and pyramidal. The flowers should be very strong, and diminishing to a single flower at top. They should be always very upright and upright, and no part of it should be seen in consequence of the union of the tips to each other. The colours should be bright, clear, and dense, whatever the shade, and any better approach to scarlet, blue, or yellow, than those shades we now possess, would be highly esteemed."

The hyacinth delights in a rich light sandy soil; and it is chiefly owing to the want of these qualities in his composts, that the British florist fails in the growth of this beautiful plant. The Dutch compost is the following:—One-third coarse sea or river sand; one-third rotten cow-dung without litter; and one-third leaf mould. The natural soil is removed at least two feet deep, and the vacant space filled up with compost, previously prepared and well mixed. These materials retain their qualities for six or seven years, but the Dutch do not plant hyacinths upon the same place for two years successively. In the alternate years they plant it with narcissus or crocus.

About the 25th of October is the best time to plant the bulbs. They are arranged in rows, eight inches asunder, there being four rows in each bed. The bulbs are sunk about three or four inches deep, and it is recommended to put a small quantity of clean sand below and all around them. As the roots are liable to be injured by frost, it is usual to cover the beds with decayed tan-bark, with litter, or with awnings. The first may be considered the neatest during winter, but an awning is indispensable in spring, when the lingering colds prove exceedingly hurtful to the young flower-stems. As the flower-stems appear, they are tied to little rods, to preserve them from accident. In order to perfect the colours, the rays of the sun are admitted in the morning or in the evening, but the glare of mid-day and the cold of the night, are both excluded. When the season of blossom is over, the awning is removed or only replaced to keep off heavy rains. Much of the success, in the culture of this flower, depends on the subsequent management of the bulbs. It is the practice in Holland, about a month after the bloom, or when the tips of the leaves assume a withered appearance, to take up the roots, and, cutting off the stem and the foliage within half an inch of the bulb, but leaving the fibres, to lay the bulbs sideways on the ground, covering them with half an inch of dry earth. After three weeks, they are again taken up, cleaned, and removed to the store-room. In the store-room the roots should be kept dry, well-aired, and apart from each other.

Where forcing is practised, a few bulbs may be forced in deep flower-pots filled with light earth, and when coming into flower, transferred to the greenhouse, which they enliven at the dullest season of the year. In chambers, they are grown in water-glasses made for the purpose; or, with still greater advantage, in boxes filled with damp hypnum moss.

New varieties of hyacinths are procured by sowing the seed; but this is a tedious process, and seldom followed in this country. The established sorts are propagated by offsets, or small bulbs, which form at the base of the parent bulb. Almost all the hyacinths cultivated in this country are imported from Holland, and the quantity of roots annually introduced must be very considerable.

The Tulip (Tulipa Gesneriana), is a native of the East, whence it was introduced into Europe about the middle of the 16th century. Gaudy as it is, it has no proper corolla, but only a calyx of six coloured sepals. About the year 1635 the culture of the tulip was very engrossing; and, indeed, the rage for possessing rare sorts had become so great in Holland, as to give rise to a strange species of gambling, known to the collectors of literary and scientific anecdotes by the name of Tulipo-mania, which has tended to bring unmerited discredit on this fine flower. At present the finer tulips are mostly of moderate prices, and, though not to be met with in every garden, have yet some ardent cultivators.

There are some varieties, such as the early Duc Van Thol, the Clarimond, the Parrots, and the Double Tulips, which belong, properly speaking, to the general cultivator. In this country, the florists' tulips are arranged under four classes. 1. The Bizarres, which have a yellow ground marked with purple or scarlet. 2. The Byblemen, with a white ground marked with violet or purple. 3. The Roses, with a white ground marked with rose-colour. 4. The Self or Plain-coloured tulips, which are of one uniform colour, and are chiefly valued as breeders. The Byblemen class includes most of those tulips which are held in highest esteem in this country.

The properties of a fine late tulip, as specified by Mr Glennay, are the following, somewhat abridged:

The cup should form, when quite expanded, from half to a third of a hollow ball. To do this the petals must be six in number; broad at the ends, smooth at the edges, and the divisions between the petals scarcely to show an indentation. The three inner petals should set close to the three outer ones, and all being so close as to show no openings between them. The petals should be smooth; thick and stiff, and should keep their form well. The ground colour should be clear and distinct, whether white or yellow. The least stain, even at the lower end of the petal, would render a tulip comparatively valueless. Whatever be the disposition of colours or marks upon a tulip, all the six petals must be marked alike, and be therefore perfectly uniform. The feathered flowers should have an even close feathering forming an unbroken edging, all round. If the flowers have any marking besides the feathering at the edge, it should be a beam, or bold mark down the centre, but not to reach the bottom of the cup; the mark or beam must be similar in all the six petals. Flowers not feathered, and with flame only, must have no marks on the edges. None of the colour must break through to the edge. The colour must be perfectly uniform in all the petals, and not to go too near the bottom. The colour, whatever it be, must be decided, distinct in outline, and neither shaded, flushed, or broken. The height should be from 18 to 36 inches, the former is right for the outside row in a bed, and the latter is right for the centre or highest row.

Tulips prosper in a light sandy soil, similar to that for hyacinths, and their season of planting and after-management is so much the same as to require no separate notice here. After the sepals have fallen, the seed-vessels are broken off close by the stem, to prevent the plant from exhausting itself in perfecting seed, and to direct its energies to the forming of the new bulb. When the leaves have withered, the bulbs are taken up, dried, and stored until the planting season come round.

Tulips are readily propagated by offsets, which are taken off from the parent bulb, and nursed in separate beds till they be full grown. New varieties are raised from seed; they are from five to seven years old before they flower, and, if raised from promiscuous seed, they often turn out worthless. Seedling tulips, it may be remarked, present this anomaly for the first two or three years, that they form their new bulbs several inches below the old ones, so that an inexperienced cultivator is sometimes apt to miss them at the time of lifting.

The Ranunculus (R. asiaticus) is, like many of the other florists' flowers, a native of the Levant, where it is a favourite of the Turks. It has sported into innumerable varieties, and those now in cultivation in this country are mostly of British origin.

According to the canons of floral criticism, laid down by Glenny, the properties of a fine double ranunculus are the following:

The flower should be of the form of two-thirds of a ball, two inches in diameter, and the upper part of it square or horizontal. The outline of the bloom should form a perfect circle. The petals should be thick, smooth on the edges, and gently cupped; they should be close, so that little, but the edges should be broad. The flower should be symmetrical to the centre, which should be clear, so as not to conceal the seed vessel. The colours should be very dense, whatever be its hue; if an edged flower, the edging should be well defined, and the marking even and uniform; in no case should the ground colour break through the edging; but spotted flowers with one spot on each petal are allowable. The stem should be strong, and long enough to raise the flower clear six inches above the foliage. Striped flowers are not perfect, nor are flowers speckled at the edges; they ought not to exhibit a single break.

The ranunculus requires a stronger and moister soil than most other flowers. Maddock preferred a fresh, strong, rich loam. Hogg recommended a fresh loam, with a considerable portion of rotten cow or horse dung. The Rev. Mr Williamson (Hort. Trans. vol. iv.) uses a stiff clay loam, with a fourth of rotten dung, and this compost is still used by more modern florists. "The bed should be dug from eighteen inches to two feet deep, and not raised more than four inches above the level of the walks, to preserve the moisture more effectually: at about five inches below the surface should be placed a stratum of two-year-old rotten cow dung, mixed with earth, six or eight inches thick; but the earth above this stratum, where the roots are to be placed, should be perfectly free from dung, which would prove injurious if nearer. The fibres will draw sufficient nourishment at the depth above mentioned; but if the dung were placed deeper, it would not receive so much advantage from the action of the air." The principal object, however, is to maintain throughout the bed a genial moisture; and this is to be done by avoiding all hot gravelly earths, and particularly soils that are apt to cake. The tubers are planted late in autumn or early in spring, in rows five or six inches apart, and three or four inches separate in the rows. They should be so close that the foliage shall cover the surface of the bed, for in this way a salutary degree of shade and moisture is preserved. The autumn planted roots must be sheltered from frost by old tan or sifted coal-ashes. When in flower, the plants are covered with an awning. When the leaves wither, the roots are taken up, dried, and stored.

Scarcely any florists' flower is more readily propagated from seed, or sooner repays the care of the cultivator. The seed is obtained from semi-double sorts, which are often of themselves very beautiful flowers. It is generally sown in boxes in autumn or spring. We have often seen it committed with success to the open ground. The young plants thus raised flower often in the second, and always in the third year.

The Anemone of the flower garden includes two species, Anemone coronaria, a native of the Levant, and A. hortensis, a native of Italy. These have long shared the attention of the florist, and in his arrangements have generally been associated with the ranunculus, resembling it in its natural affinities and mode of culture. In a fine double anemone, the stem should be strong, erect, and not less than nine inches high. The flower should be at least two and a half inches in diameter, consisting of an exterior row of large well rounded petals, in the form of a broad shallow cup, the interior part of which should contain a number of small petals, mixed with stamens, imbricating each other. The colours should be clear and distinct when diversified in the same flower, or striking and brilliant when there is only one tint.

The soil and culture are so nearly the same as in the ranunculus, that it is needless to specify them. The plant continues longer in flower, and the leaves often remain so long green, that it is difficult to find a period of inaction in which to take up the roots. It has been recommended, that as soon as the bloom is over, the bed should be screened from rain by mattings until the leaves wither. As the roots are rather brittle, they require considerable care in handling. Anemones are easily raised from the seed. A bed of single anemones, it may be remarked, is a valuable addition to a flower garden, as it affords, in a warm situation, an abundance of handsome and often brilliant spring flowers, almost as early as the snowdrop or crocus.

The Narcissus is an extensive genus, including a great many interesting species and varieties. It belongs, however, rather to the botanico-florist than to the florist proper; but as it contains many plants of great elegance, it ought to receive more general attention. The Polyanthus Narcissus (N. Tazetta) affords the varieties which are chiefly cultivated by florists. These prosper in a rich light soil, containing a little dung. The roots should not be stirred more frequently than once in three years; and this remark applies also to Narcissus Jonquilla and odorans, the small and large jonquil, of which fragrant plants there should be beds in every flower garden. N. Tazetta, like the hyacinth, may be grown either in pots or in water-glasses.

The Lily. Of the genus Lilium there are many species, some of which have not been exhibited to the extent of their capabilities in the flower garden. The old white Lily (L. candidum, L.), after supplying the poets with so much imagery, has retired into the modest station of a common border flower. The flaunting Orange-Lily (L. bulbiferum) may be allowed, if it pleases, to follow its example. L. Martagon may occupy the same place. The scarlet Turk's Cap (L. chalcedonicum) is worthy of more care, as being more beautiful and more tender. It does not relish being disturbed, and it dislikes pent. On the contrary, the splendid Tiger Lily (L. tigrinum), which propagates rapidly by axillary bulbs, succeeds best in peaty soil. The same remark applies to the rarer L. canadense, and superbun (magnificent species), as well as to L. concolor, pennsylvanicum, and others, which ought to be more common in our gardens. L. japonicum and longiflorum, in which the genus attains its greatest magnificence, unfortunately require a finer climate than ours, and must therefore be grown in pots under glass.

The same may be said of L. eximium, and the more recently introduced L. lancifolium and its hybrid varieties.

The Dahlia, of which there are two species (D. variabilis and D. coccinea), is a native of Mexico, from which it was introduced in 1789, but afterwards lost by our cultivators. It was reintroduced in 1804; but it was not till ten years later than it was generally known in our gardens. At present the varieties are endless, each district of the country possessing suites of its own, and cultivators occasionally raising at one sowing a dozen or two of sorts, which they think worthy of preservation. The results have been most propitious to the flower garden, from which, indeed, the Dahlia could nearly as ill be spared as the potato from the kitchen garden.

A perfect Dahlia flower, according to Glenny, should be circular, the petals should be broad at the ends, smooth at the edges, thick in substance, perfectly free from leaf-veins or points; it should cup a little, but not enough to show the under surface. The flower should form two-thirds of a ball when looked at sideways. The petals should rise above one another symmetrically, each petal covering the joinings of the two under it. The centre should be perfect, the unopened buds lying with their points towards the centre, should form a button, and also the highest part of the flower. The petals should open boldly, without showing their under side, and should form circular rows, uniformly laid, evenly opened, and enlarging by degrees from the row of all. The flower should be very double. The petals should cover each other almost very nearly; not more should be seen in depth than half the breadth; the more they are covered so as to leave them distinct, the better in that respect. The scale, therefore, though cupped, must be shallow. The size of the flower should be four inches in diameter, and not more than six. The colour should be dense, whatever it be, whether tipped or edged, it must be free from splashes and blotches, or indefinite marks of any kind.

New varieties are, of course, procured from seed. If sown in flower-pots, and aided by a little heat, the seedlings, speedily planted out, will flower the first season. Established varieties are propagated by dividing the large tuberous roots, but in doing so, care must be taken to have an eye to each portion of tuber, otherwise it will not grow. Sometimes shoots of rare varieties are grafted on the roots of others.

They are best, and most generally propagated by cuttings, and for this purpose, the old tubers are placed in heat in January, and as the young shoots, which rise freely from them, attain the height of three inches, they are taken off and planted singly in small pots filled with fine white sand, and plunged in a moderate heat. They root speedily, and are then transferred to larger pots in light rich soil. Their growth is encouraged until the planting out season arrives, which is about the middle of June.

Dahlias succeed best in an open situation, and in rich deep loam; but there is scarcely any garden soil in which they will not thrive, with manure. They are, however, injured by being repeatedly planted on the same spot. They may stand singly like common border flowers; but have the most imposing appearance when seen in masses arranged according to their stature. Old roots often throw up a multitude of stems, which render thinning necessary. As the plants increase in height, they are furnished with strong stakes, to secure them from high winds. Dahlias generally flower till they are interrupted by frost in autumn. The roots are then taken up, dried, and stored in a cellar, or some other place, where they may be secured from frost and moisture.

The Auricula (Primula Auricula) is a native of the Alps and the Caucasus. It has long been an inmate of our gardens; and has generally been a favorite with those florists whose means and appliances are of a limited kind.

Besides the double varieties which have never been in much repute, Auriculas are classed under two divisions: the selfs or plain-colored, and the variegated or painted sorts. Professed Florists confine their attention to the latter: it must, however, be confessed, that their criteria of fine flowers are often arbitrary, and that although many of their favourites are examples of undoubted beauty, the eye of the uninitiated would generally prefer the simpler hues of the self-colored flowers.

The auricula, though now almost wholly an artificial plant, and strangely transformed from its original appearance, still leaves a moist soil and shady situation. The florists' varieties are grown in rich composts, for the preparation of which numberless receipts have been given. We quote that of Mr Hogg, an experienced grower, as stated in his Supplement, p. 165. "One barrow of rich yellow loam, or fresh earth from some meadow or pasture land or common, with the turf well-rotten; one barrow of leaf mould, one ditto of cow-dung, two yards of peat at least; and one peck of river, not sea sand. For strong plants intended for exhibition, add to the same composition, as a stimulant, a barrowful of well-digested night soil; with the application of liquid manure before the top-dressing in February, and twice more, but not sooner, in March. A portion of light sandy peat-earth may be added, as a safe and useful ingredient, particularly for plants kept in low damp situations." The treatment of modern growers does not differ essentially from this.

Auriculas may be propagated from seed. It is to be sown in January or February in boxes, which are kept under cover, and exposed only to the rays of the morning sun. When seed has been saved from the previous year's operation it is one of considerable nicety, as it not unfrequently happens that the seedlings are at first exceedingly weak. They generally flower in the second or third year; and the florist is fortunate who obtains three or four good sets out of a large sowing. The established varieties are increased by dividing the roots, an operation which is performed in July or in the beginning of August.

Fine auriculas are grown in pots about six inches in diameter. These are kept in frames, or stages constructed for the purpose. For winter use, a stage there is nothing better than a common hot-house frame; this admits of the exact adjustment of air and temperature, things to which attention is always necessary when the plants approach the flowering season. After the blooms are over, the pots may be placed on stages slightly elevated, and facing the south. Though not absolutely necessary, it is useful to have the power of sheltering them from long continued rains. It is usual every year to shift the plants, shortening the roots, and giving them a large portion of new soil, soon after the flowers have decayed.

The Polyanthus is supposed to be a seminal variety of Primula vulgaris, and is much cultivated by some florists. Like the auricula, it has been divided into many hundred varieties. It is not necessary to give a detailed account of its culture, as it scarcely differs from that of the auricula. The polyanthus, however, is the hardier of the two, and seldom perishes from cold. It may be mentioned that there are several beautiful double varieties of the common primrose, which are deserving of a place in every garden.

The Carnation (Dianthus Caryophyllus) has long been a favorite flower, not only for the beauty, but for the delightful fragrance of its blossoms. It is a native of Germany, and is occasionally found in an apparently wild state in England. The cultivation of it, however, by no means easy, and calls forth all the resources of the florist. The varieties, which are very numerous, have been arranged under three heads: Flakes, having two or more stripes running quite through and along the petals; Bicolors, irregularly spotted, and striped with not fewer than three colours; Picotees, spotted, with serrated or fringed petals. Mr Hogg, who wrote a treatise expressly on this flower, has given a catalogue of nearly 350 sorts.

Carnations are propagated by layers or pipings: the former method is most practised, but with some weak sorts piping should be preferred. Layering is performed when the plant is in full bloom. Press a shank of the stem from the foot of the flower, and then remove; an incision is made a little below a suitable joint, inserting up through it, and the shoot is then pegged down and covered with some fresh soil, the tip being left above ground. Layers are generally found to be rooted in about a month after the operation has been performed. Pipings are little cuttings, separated at a joint, and planted thickly under bell-glasses on a slight hotbed. They require great attention, and are precarious in their success, but form excellent plants.

Various directions have been given respecting composts for carnations. These differ more in words than in material. The following is that generally employed: Take three bushels of loam, one-and-a-half of garden mould, two of horse-dung, and one of coarse sand; let these be mixed, and thrown into a heap, and turned over two or three times in the winter, particularly in frosty weather. Towards the end of November a barrow-load of lime is added, while hot, to aid in the decomposition of the soil, and to destroy worms. For the varieties which are liable to sport, a poorer compost may be recommended.

The more robust carnations are planted out in beds or singly in the flower garden; but the finer and tenderer sorts are grown in pots of about a foot in diameter. The time of potting is about the end of March. When the flower-stems show themselves, they are furnished with rods, to which they are tied as they lengthen, to prevent their being broken by the wind or other accident. When Botanical structures dedicated to the cultivation of exotic plants and the production of tropical fruits, which are now generally regarded as indispensable appendages of the flower garden. The former has been in use in this country for nearly two centuries; but the latter is comparatively of recent introduction. The earliest notice we have of either is given by Plato in his Phaedon; and after him, Columella speaks of similar structures, as used in Italy in his day, for the cultivation of the plants and trees of India and Arabia. In Seneca we have a description of the application of hot water as a means of securing the necessary temperature. The earliest plant-houses in the north of Europe were those of the botanist Jungerman at Altorf in Saxony; while those of Loader, a London merchant, and the conservatory in the Apothecaries' Botanic Garden at Chelsea, may be noticed as the first structures of the kind in Britain.

The construction of these, however, was ill adapted to the end in view, as they consisted of little else than a huge chamber of masonry, having large windows in front, and the roof was invariably opaque. The next step was taken, when it became fashionable to have conservatories attached to mansions, instead of having them in the wilderness, as the pleasure grounds were then denominated. This arrangement brought them within the province of the house-architects, and for nearly a century, utility and fitness for the cultivation of plants was sacrificed, as it is in many cases still, to the unity of architectural expression between the conservatory and the mansion. In other words, the conservatory was made an appendage to the house, and so disguised by massive architectural details, as to form merely a part of it. The admission of light, which is the principal element in plant culture, was completely disregarded, and is so still, when the construction of such houses is extended to those who are destitute of a knowledge of the laws of vegetable physiology.

Garden architecture has now, however, undergone a complete revolution, and such structures are now erected on principles of their own, elegance of design being invariably combined with utility or practical fitness for the purpose of their erection. For this we are mainly indebted to the late Sir George McKenzie, and to Messrs T. A. Knight and Loudon, who directed their practical and theoretical skill to details of this subject. The abolition of the duty on glass has greatly aided in carrying out these views, and the improvement in that material has left us little more to wish for. Without going into the details of recent changes, we may briefly state that the smallest extent of opaque surface consistent with stability, and the largest extent of glass, and that of the best quality, are the principal things to be aimed at in such erections. To attain these ends, the early improvers of hothouse architecture dispensed with massive wooden rafters, and expensive framed sashes, and for the most part, with the costly and useless masses of back-walls. In their zeal, however, they unfortunately fell into an opposite error by the employment of metallic substances instead of timber for their roofs. With a greater amount of light thus secured, the conducting power of metal caused a great irregularity of temperature, which it was found difficult to control; and notwithstanding the great elegance of metallic houses, this circumstance, together with their greater cost, and it is feared their limited durability, has induced most recent authorities to give the preference to wood. The combination of the two, however, as in the Crystal Palace of 1851, and more recently in that at Sydenham, shows clearly that, without much variation of heat or loss of light, spaces to any extent may be covered, and houses of any degree of altitude may be constructed.

The next improvement on the curvilinear structures of the authorities above quoted, was the ridge and furrow form, first suggested by the late Mr Loudon, but brought into use by Sir Joseph Paxton. This form, besides presenting better angles to the sun's rays than the antiquated lean-to buildings, has the advantage of being capable of extension to an indefinite extent without side-walls, whereas the other could not be extended in breadth beyond twenty or thirty feet, and even then involved the construction of a back-wall of corresponding height, which often cost as much as the half of the rest of the structure. The span-roof is a modification of the ridge and furrow style, and adapted to small as well as large houses. Figs. 30 and 32 are cross-sections of this style in its simplest form. It is now extremely popular, not only for greenhouses and conservatories, but for fruit-producing houses also. In these it will be observed the superstructure stands on a basement or parapet only two feet and a half in height, and is broken up into panels, better seen in fig. 47, into which glass ventilators are placed for the supply of fresh air, as near the floor of the house as possible, thereby avoiding the evils of cold draughts of frosty or cold dry air blowing in upon the tender foliage. The escape of heated and impure air is through the lathwork ventilation along the apex of the ridge, the whole of the rest of the structure being a fixture.

When such forms are used as greenhouses, and it is universally admitted that it is the best form for such a purpose, the plants are set on a centre stage or stages, and along the sides, as shown in the cross-section of the conservatory, fig. 46. When it is desirable to have a perspective view along the centre of the house, the side stages are increased in breadth, leaving an open passage down the middle.

Fig. 44 exhibits a greenhouse upon the old or lean-to principle, the plants being set on a stage reclining towards the back of the house. Plants so situated present only one side to the light, and hence soon become unsightly and one-sided, which no care on the part of the cultivator can remedy, short of turning them round once a day, and even that is attended with great labour and a small amount of benefit.

The conservatory may be, and often is, built in connection with the mansion, so as to be opened into from the drawing-room or boudoir. In many cases this arrangement has the defect of suffering from the shade of the building, and therefore, where circumstances will admit of it, it may be placed at a convenient distance from the house, and a connection formed by a glass corridor, so that a dry and comfortable communication may be at all times secured. It is also desirable that a conservatory connected with the mansion should be kept gay with flowering plants; and to accomplish this, the plants must be kept in a portable state, so that as they go out of bloom they may be removed to a subsidiary structure, and others brought in to replace them. Hence arises a vital objection to planting out flowers in beds of earth, as is so often done. There are also other objections to this, of a strictly cultural nature.

Conservatories are often with great propriety placed in the flower garden. Fig. 45 is offered as an example of this arrangement, and shows a conservatory constructed for Lord Overstone, in Northamptonshire, under the superintendence of Mr M'Intosh. Fig. 46 is a cross-section of the same. The plants are arranged in pots, placed on highly ornamental cast-iron stages, which occupy the centre, with a passage down the middle, and another crossing the house at right angles with the former, while a third passes round the centre stages, separating them from the elegant plant tables of elaborate casting, which surround the sides and ends of the house. Fig. 45 shows the structure placed upon an elevated terrace, and forming the termination of a long and spacious gravel walk. The basement is of highly polished Yorkshire ashler, richly moulded, panelled, and pierced. Within the panels are placed plate-glass ventilators, opening three feet by twelve inches each, and extending all round the structure. The upright sides of the superstructure are constructed of open pilasters filled with plate-glass, one-fourth of an inch in thickness, and eighteen inches in breadth. The fan lights above, which are also moveable for extra ventilation during very warm weather, and the whole of the spaces between the pilasters, is glazed with the same material.

The roof is covered with Hartley's patent glass, one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The top compartments of the pilasters are furnished with elegant cast-iron ornaments placed in front of the glass, and a series of similar ornaments is carried round the gutter for the reception of the water from the roof, and others of a smaller size are placed round the sides and apex of the top ventilation. The ventilators open and shut simultaneously by machinery. The roof is supported (vide cross-section) by ornamental iron columns, which also serve as conductors for creeping-plants. The floor is laid with polished Yorkshire pavement, and is twelve inches above the level of the terrace walk, admitting of three steps at the entrance porch. The astragals of the roof are supported by a bar of T or angle iron, which goes round the house, and to it is connected the ornamental upright columns and the arches which spring from them. The columns are anchored to large stones placed below the pavement-floor, thus tying down the roof and supporting it at the same time.

Glass-houses, in any of the forms we have referred to, are infinitely superior to the old shed-looking forms, which have scarcely a redeeming quality. The former are cheaper in construction, in proportion to the accommodation they afford, better adapted to all the purposes of culture, and more elegant in appearance. Ranges of span-roofed houses, having their end or gables facing the south and north, and connected together by a glass corridor either running through their centres, or placed along their northern ends, have a connected and elegant appearance, and may appropriately be placed in the centre of a flower garden, whether intended for the cultivation of flowering plants or of fruits. Figs. 47 and 48 give a front view and section of such a structure. There is no incongruity in such a construction, nor does it in the least interfere with the routine of culture. The whole being heated by hot water, the smoke is carried away in an underground tunnel beyond the precincts of the garden, and the stoke holes, with the coals and ashes, are placed in vaults under ground. Such a range should be placed on an elevated terrace, from two or three feet above the surrounding ground line, and have a broad terrace walk and narrow flower parterre occupying the space between the houses and the extreme parapet wall.

The Plant Store differs in no respect from those we have alluded to, except in having a greater extent of hot water pipes for the purpose of securing a greater degree of heat, which tropical plants require, compared with those from extra tropical countries. Indeed, to grow to perfection plants whose native habitat is under the brightness of a tropical sun, houses having the greatest amount of light become absolutely necessary.

Aération, or subterranean ventilation, is one of the most important features in the new order of hothouse building. The roots of trees, when planted within our glasshouses, require warmth and air as well as the leaves and buds. Beyond this, also, aération, properly conducted, brings in a healthy supply of air to the atmosphere of the house, night and day, and in all states of the external temperature. This is effected either by vaulting under the borders, or by laying down a system of four-inch drain-tiles, four feet apart, level with the foundations, and covering them, to the depth of eighteen inches, with rubble-stones, brick-bats, flints, &c., and upon these forming the soil borders. These vaults, or air-drains, have a connection with the external air, which, entering them, will diffuse itself through the drains or open joints of the pavement, and thus reach the roots. Vertical openings are also made upwards through the borders, to cause an in-draught of atmospheric air into the house, and air so procured has the advantage of being modified in temperature, and charged with humidity during its passage from the external orifice, and thus being in a state of all others the most beneficial to vegetation. The orifices of such air-drains are usually placed in the terrace wall which encloses the gravel walk and parterres, and which should in all cases surround such ranges of houses. In some cases the air is made to descend through vertical openings in connection with the horizontal pipes.

The inner openings should be placed either under the hot water pipes, or as near the boilers as possible, the difference of temperature at these points increasing the in-draught current. In plant-houses, even where there are no borders, this system of aération should not be neglected. In fig. 45 the floor is elevated four feet above the foundations, thus affording a capacious vault beneath, which is supplied with atmospheric air from the exterior. This air is admitted into the interior of the house through brass ventilators placed in the pavement-flooring, which can be opened and shut at pleasure. Night aération is important, when we consider that plants, like animals, breathe, and require fresh air during the night as well as during the day.

Greenhouse Plants.—This beautiful class of plants has become so numerous, that, in a sketch like the present, it is impossible to give the names of even a limited selection. The recent increase of species makes the work of selection at once more necessary and more difficult; a work which it must be confessed is often negligently performed. Many of the finer sorts of woody plants are propagated with difficulty, and consequently, being high priced in the nurseries, are possessed in requisite abundance only where there is considerable liberality on the part of the proprietor.

Light mould, produced by the rotting of turf from pastures, and reduced with sand if necessary, or enriched with leaf-mould, is well adapted for most greenhouse plants. Some require a mixture of peat earth; others thrive only in pure sandy peat. The common mode of propagation is by cuttings inserted in earth or sand, and covered, if necessary, with bell-glasses. A few sorts are increased by grafting or layers. Nearly all may be raised from seed, large quantities of which are annually imported from abroad; and, it may be added, many greenhouse plants ripen their seed in this country.

Many of these plants require shifting and fresh earth twice a year; all of them should be repotted once a year at least. It is the common practice to examine their roots in spring or the early part of summer, and, uncoiling or loosening the matted fibres, to put them into larger pots if necessary. As room is extremely valuable in limited greenhouses, it is desirable that the plants should be kept of a moderate size; and they are, therefore, rather to be under-potted than otherwise. Many of the free-growing plants require to be shifted again in August; at which period of the year it is considered preferable to repot those which require to be disturbed only once a year. During the summer months, a great proportion of the inmates of the greenhouse are placed in the open air, on a spot paved or laid with ashes, to prevent the entrance of earth-worms into the pots, and not too much exposed to winds. Meanwhile, their place in the greenhouse is occupied by balsams and other tender annuals of a showy character. On the approach of winter the plants are again placed under cover. All that is necessary in the management of the greenhouse in winter, is to keep up a steady but very moderate temperature, to preclude the access of damp by regular airing in mild dry weather, and to attend to moderate watering where it may be needed.

Of late years, particular genera of plants have come greatly into vogue, and it would be an omission not to notice some of them. Among the foremost may be mentioned the Pelargonium, with its affinities. This beautiful tribe has varied nearly as rapidly as the Dahlia; to the discomposure of some botanists, whose scientific logic has been brought into jeopardy. Pelargoniums are of easy culture, propagating readily by cuttings, and requiring only to be shifted from time to time. Equal to these in point of beauty of colour, and certainly superior in elegance of form, is the family of Cape heaths, the Ericae of botanists. Of this genus there is said to be 600 species, considerably more than the half of which exist in our collections, and a very great number of hybrids have been raised in Britain, many of which are superior in beauty to the original parents. Many heaths may be raised from seed, which occasionally ripens in this country; the most common mode of propagation, however, is by cuttings, and this in some species is attended with difficulty. Heaths require a peaty soil, and attention in watering. For further information, we may refer to the excellent little treatise of the late Mr M'Nab of the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, whose success in this department was quite unrivalled, and in whose hands heaths attained a splendour which, we believe, they never reach in the environs of the Table Mountain itself. The superb genus Camellia is the only other that particularly claims our attention. To the elegance of the finest evergreen it unites the beauty of the fairest rose. The Camellia, though a native of Japan, is not particularly tender, but from some peculiarities in its constitution, its culture requires a considerable degree of attention and care. Cuttings of the single red variety strike freely, and upon these as stocks, the finer sorts are grafted by inarching or side-grafting. The soil generally employed is a mixture of peat and light loam. Care must be taken not to allow the roots to become matted in the pots. The young plants should be shifted at least once a year; when old, and in large tubs, once in two years will be sufficient. It is found beneficial to apply a certain degree of heat while the plants are growing, and till they form flower-buds for the following season. To have Camellias in perfection, a house with a span roof should be appropriated for their reception. There are some splendid collections of this noble plant in the nursery-gardens in the neighbourhood of London, and also in private gardens.

Conservatory Plants.—These are composed of a selection from the numerous inmates of the greenhouse. They should be naturally of an elegant form, capable in general of sustaining themselves, and somewhat hardy in their constitution. Many of the Australian plants, particularly the genera Acacia, Banksia, Dryandra, Chorozema, Correa, Daviesia, Dillwynia, Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus, Gastrolobium, Goodia, Gompholobium, Hovea, &c., are well adapted for this purpose. The ascending Proteas of the Cape, and many others of a similar habit, may likewise take their place in this department. To these may be added a few of the hardier Heaths and Camellias, together with Azaleas from Japan, double-flowering Pomegranate, Camphor-laurel, Tea-tree, and some of the varieties of the magnificent and consecrated Rhododendron arboreum. Such climbing plants as Lonicera flexuosa, Passiflora, Cantua, Bignonia, Kennedya, Mandevilla suaveolens, Zizyha, Tacsonia, and the trailing Pelargonium. In the management of the conservatory, abundant air should be admitted, and care should be taken not to draw the plants; that is, not to cause them to become too tall and spindle-formed by over-crowding. They should be so pruned as to keep them comparatively short and bushy; but after all pains have been taken, the sorrowful time at length arrives, when they either disfigure themselves by pressing against the glass, or must submit to the no less distorting process of a violent amputation. To meet such exigencies, it is recommended that, wherever there is also a greenhouse, a few plants should be kept in training for the conservatory, and substituted in the room of any that become unmanageable. After all, the fourth, fifth, and sixth summers of the conservatory will always be the finest; and when a longer series of years have gone by, and the plants have outgrown the space allotted to them, perhaps the best thing that can be done is to change the whole interior of the house, plants and all. If this operation be anticipated, and for a year or two prepared for, sufficiently large plants may be had in readiness, and the appearance of a well-furnished house be attained in one or two seasons. It is scarcely needful to add, that the neatness which is so desirable everywhere in the flower garden is absolutely indispensable in the conservatory.

Stove Plants.—There are many beautiful plants, natives of tropical regions, which are cultivated in our stoves, but which, from the elevated temperature they require, can be only occasionally visited with pleasure. This may account for the fact that stoves are seldom found except in first-rate gardens, even where the price of fuel is inconsiderable. It is unnecessary to be minute respecting their culture, which is precisely that of greenhouse plants, differing only in the degree of heat. Many stove plants are succulent, such as the Cactus, Aloe, and their congeners, and of course require an arid soil, composed of a little light loam mixed with lime-rubbish or shivers. The compost generally employed consists of 1 part of rotted dung, 1 rotted leaves, 1 heath mould, 1½ loam, and 1 coarse sand, all well mixed together; and the pot filled nearly one-third with shreds, so as to form an effectual drain. Some of the species, such as the Cactus speciosus and Cereus flagelliformis, are improved and made to flower more freely by being kept growing Calendar. Vigorously in the greenhouse during summer, and also by being grafted on the stronger growing species of the same genera. Stove plants thrive best in the tepid vapour peculiar to the equatorial climes. In order to furnish bottom-heat, a pit is prepared in form of a vault, through which hot water is made to circulate in pipes. Over this a bed of small stones or gravel is laid, and in it the pots are plunged, or set on the surface, according to circumstances. On the front shelves are occasionally placed the smaller and younger plants, that part being most accessible to light and air. Small cisterns too are introduced to contain tender aquatics. Along the roof some of the more elegant species of Passiflora, such as P. quadrangularis, may be trained; and through the branches of some of the woody plants, Cuscutea, Combretum, Quisqualis, and other tender climbers, may be allowed to twine themselves. In the pit may be plunged some of the Palms, those princes of plants. In short, there is no end of those numerous tribes, "the potents sons of moisture and of heat," with which the teeming regions of the equator are filled; and no suit of stoves in this country, however extensive, can come up to the wishes of the botanist. The management of this department of floriculture is laborious and trying to the constitution. A strong heat, both in the pit and in the atmosphere, must be maintained; the air must be kept charged with vapour, and the plants require frequent shifting and repotting. To these, if space allowed it, we ought to speak of such structures as are devoted to the cultivation of Orchids, the Camellia, the Geranium, Succulent-plants, and others, as well as of pits in which young plants are nursed and brought forward.

CALENDAR.

JANUARY.

Kitchen Garden.—Sow early frame and other early peas in the beginning of the month, and dwarf marrow-fats about the end of the month; early mazagan and longpod beans during the first and last weeks; onions on very light soils; as also parsley, if not done in August, on a warm border; short-topped radish in two or three sowings, at a week's interval, in the same situation. In the last fortnight, plant hardy geraniums and brown Dutch lettuce.

Plant fruit-trees. If not done in autumn, when is the proper season, in open weather, mulching over the roots to protect them from the drought which may occur in spring. Plant shallots.

Prune all sorts of fruit-trees in mild weather or in moderate frosts, nailing only in fine weather; wash those trees infested with insects, with soap-suds and flowers of sulphur, and tobacco liquor.

Forcing Department.—Prepare for making up hotbeds for early cucumbers and melons, at least where pits heated with hot water is not in use. Sow salads, carrots, and kidney-beans on slight hotbeds, and set out tall plants for transplanting. Force asparagus, sea-kale, and rhubarb in hotbeds, in pits, in the mushroom-house, or in the open garden by covers, well ventilated with little air, in fine weather, and water sparingly, in the pioneer, and cold-frame pit, and to other forcing-houses, according to the progress of the trees. Attend to the forced kidney-beans and strawberries. Give abundance of air to the greenhouse, conservatory, and alpine frame, but little water. Begin to force roses, kalmias, rhododendrons, &c., and hardy flowers and bulbs.

Flower Garden.—Plant dried tubers and bulbs of bordered flowers, if not done in autumn; but roots of the finer florists' flowers ought to be deferred till next month.

Transplant herbaceous plants in light soils, if not done in autumn; also deciduous trees, shrubs, and hedges. Lay edgings in fine weather.

Sow mignonette, stocks, &c., in pots; sow sweet peas, and a few hardy annuals, on a warm border. Give stage auriculas and carna-

February.

Kitchen Garden.—Sow beans and peas in the beginning and end of the month; a few early cabbages, to replace the last sowing in August; red cabbages and savoys in the last week. Sow also early horn carrot; Dutch turnip; onions for a full crop in light soils, with a few leeks. Sow chervil and fennel, and lettuces for succession, with radishes and round-leaved spinach, twice in the course of the month, and take off the fourth.

Plant Jerusalem artichokes, garlic, horse-radish, and early potatoes. Strawberries may be planted about the end of the month. Transplant for seed, if not done before, all the brassica tribe, including cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, &c.; also carrots, onions, beet, celery, endive, leeks, and parsnips. Transplant to the bottom of a south wall a few of the peas sown in November for the first crop.

Prune apricots, peaches, nectarines, and plums, before the buds be much swelled; also apples, pears, cherries, gooseberries, currants, and raspberries, before the end of the month. Finish the dressing of vines, keep the fruit clean from spoiled fruit, and shut it close.

Forcing Department.—Plant cut onions, and set out plants on hotbeds and in pits, sowing more for succession. Sow carrots, turnips, and early celery; cauliflower, to be afterwards planted out. Plant early potatoes on slight hotbeds. Continue the forcing of asparagus, rhubarb, and sea-kale. Pine-apple plants require little water at this season; young plants in dung-frames ought to be kept free from damp. Shift fruiting plants by the middle of the month, if not done in August. Continue the forcing of all sorts of fruits. Those who have not commenced sooner will find this one of the best seasons to begin. Be careful to protect the stems of vines that are outside of the forcing-house.

Let the greenhouse and conservatory have plenty of air in mild weather. Put in an extra quantity, if not done in autumn, of cuttings of Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Calceolarias, Heliotropes, and Salviyas, &c., for the flower garden. Sow stocks, a few tender annuals, and dahlias on, a slight hotbed, or in pots.

Flower Garden.—In good weather plant dried roots, including most of the finer florists' flowers; continue the transplanting of hardy biennial flowers, and herbaceous plants.

Sow in the last week mignonette, and hardy annuals, in a warm border, for subsequent transplanting.

March.

Kitchen Garden.—Sow main crops of peas, beans, cabbages, onions, leeks, carrots, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, bercoles, lettuces, and spinach. In the beginning, and also in the end of the month, sow turnips and savoys. In the last fortnight sow asparagus, cauliflower, sea-kale, cardoons, celery, and most of the culinary aromatics, as dill, fennel, parsley. Small salads should be sown every ten days.

Plant early potatoes in the first week, and a main crop during the last fortnight. Jerusalem artichokes, sea-kale, asparagus, and potatoes raised in frames, may now be planted. Full crops of cabbages should now be planted out, and cauliflowers under hand-glasses. Propagate by slips the various pot-herbs, as mint, sage, savory, tansy, &c.

Fruit Garden.—Finish the pruning of fruit-trees before the middle of the month. Protect those coming into blossom. Begin grafting in the third week; dig and dress between the rows of gooseberries, currants, and other fruit-trees, if not already done. Kill wasps when they first appear, for the death of every individual now is equal to the destruction of a colony in autumn.

Forcing Gardens.—Proceed with the forcing of melons and cucumbers, giving air, and maintaining the proper temperature. Examine pine-apples, and crown-settings that have been kept in tan during winter; repotting those that require large pots, and dressing the roots of such as are sickly; about the middle of the month, shift to the succession pit, and give a top-dressing to the fruiting plants; turn the tan, and add new bark to the pits, to keep up bottom-heat, where such is used. In the viney and peach-house, attend to the keeping down of insects by watering; and promote the growth of the young shoots, by gentle steaming in the evenings. Sow the seeds of capsicum and tomato.

Greenhouse.—More warmth may be given than formerly. Sow seeds of greenhouse and hothouse plants; also the different sorts of tender animals; put off those sown last month; shift greenhouse

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1 We have deemed it unnecessary to treat separately, or at length, of the means of destroying insects; many of the nostrums recommended proving very inefficient. The wash here mentioned is perhaps the best and simplest for the stems and branches of wall fruit-trees. Some prefer making it of the consistence of paint, and laying it on with a brush. One advice we would tender to all gardeners—not to be anxious to kill the smaller kinds of the feathered songsters, the soft-billed warblers of the garden, which are often suspected of attacking blossom or fruit, when they are only picking off caterpillars or aphides, their favourite food. In hothouses, the keeping of the walls and frame-work clean, by frequent white-washing and painting, is very important; and much benefit results from occasionally filling them with the smoke of tobacco paper, and then thoroughly syringing. Calendar, and stove plants; plant tuberoses in pots for forcing. Begin to propagate greenhouse plants by cuttings.

Flower Garden and Shrubbery.—In the last week sow hardy annuals in the border, with biennials that flower the first season; also perennial flowers. Plant dahlias and ramunculus roots. Transplant from the nursery to their final sites annuals sown in autumn, with biennials and herbaceous plants. Propagate perennials from root-slings and offsets. Protect tulips, hyacinths, and choice flowers, from severe weather. In the first week put into heat the finer sorts of dahlias, so as to spring them, and prepare them for propagation by cuttings and by division of the roots. Likewise finish the pruning of all deciduous trees and hedges as soon as possible. Attend to the dressing of shrubberies, laying of turf-edging, and to the state of gravel walks.

April.

Kitchen Garden.—Sow asparagus, sea-kale, beet, salsify, scorzonera, skirret, carrots, and onions on heavy soils; also peas, beans, turnips, spinach, celery, cabbages, savoys, and German greens, for succession. Sow broccoli and kidney-beans both in the second and in the last week; and small salads should be sown twice or thrice during the month; also all sweet herbs, if not done last month. Plant cauliflowers, cabbages, sea-kale, lettuce; and finish the planting of the main crops of potatoes. Propagate all sorts of potatoes, and attend to the hoeing and thinning of spinach, onions, turnips, &c. Plant cucumbers, cauliflowers, peas, beans, and early potatoes. Stake up peas; Blanch sea-kale and radishes in the open air, by covering with straw or leaves.

Fruit Trees.—No pruning ought to be left undone till this period; stone fruits, in particular, are much injured by spring pruning. If vines have been neglected, rubbing off the buds that are not wanted is safer than pruning. Protect the finer sorts of fruit-trees on the walls.

Forcing.—Continue the preparation of succession beds and pits for cucumbers and melons. Sow gourds and basil. Pot heave-apples and carrots. Attend to the routine culture of the plants, giving water and air when necessary. In the forcing houses, from the variable state of the weather, considerable vigilance is required in giving air. Keep down red spider (acarus) in the more advanced houses by frequent syringings. Continue the usual operations of disbudding and thinning of fruit, and take care to keep up the proper temperatures.

Greenhouse.—Still sow all sorts of tender annuals. Proceed with all necessary shifting. Propagate rare and fine plants by cuttings or grafting. Pot off tender annuals, and cuttings of half-hardy greenhouse plants put in in February for the use of the flower garden.

Flower Garden and Shrubbery.—Sow main or succession crops of annuals of all sorts; half-hardy annuals in warm borders, or on slight hotbeds. Biennials and perennials should be sown before the middle of the month. Plant Tigrilla pavonia and fine stocks. Finish the transplanting of herbaceous plants by the end of the first week. Protect stage auriculas and hyacinths from extremes of even dryness by shading, and tulips from hoar-frosts and heavy rains. Plant out tender deciduous trees and shrubs raised in pots. Remove part of the coverings of all tender shrubs and plants in the first week, and the remainder at the end of the month. Form and repair lawns and grass walks, by laying turf and sowing perennial grass-seeds. Plant evergreens.

May.

Kitchen Garden.—Sow small salads every week; radishes and lettuces thrice; spinach once a fortnight; carrots and onions for late sowing; kidney-beans in the first week and last fortnight. Peas and beans, cauliflowers, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, bokchoi, broccoli, and savoys for German greens for late crops. Sow pumpkins and cucumbers on a warm border in the last week. Continue the various operations of hoeing and earthing up the different crops.

Fruit-Trees.—Disbud peaches, nectarines, and other early trees against the walls; also attend to the thinning of fruit. Give occasional washings with the engine to keep down insects. Pick caterpillars from gooseberries and wall trees on their first appearance. Mulch, if not done before, all newly planted fruit-trees, watering abundantly in dry weather. Remove from raspberries and strawberries all suckers and runners that are not wanted.

Forcing.—Plant strawberries, and cucumbers, and some basil, on the hotbeds prepared for vegetables. Prepare and manure new. Plant out pumpkins on dung-ridges, under glass-glasses. Sow late crops of cucumbers and melons; attend to the various particulars in their culture, heat, air, water, shade, and insects. Go on with the usual culture of the pinery; give abundance of heat and water, keeping down all manner of insects.

Greenhouse.—Turn out hardy plants about the middle, and the more tender at the latter end of the month. Sow tender annuals for succession; potting and shifting those sown at an earlier period. Pot off likewise all rooted cuttings. Put in cuttings of the different desirable species which are now fit for that purpose. Sow a few hardy annuals and ten-week stock, &c., for late crops.

Flower Garden.—Sow annuals for succession; biennials in the last week, in the nursery compartment, for next year. Propagate by cuttings dahlias, pansies, double wall-flowers, rockets, scarlet larkspur, and lilies, by dividing the roots. Plant out, during the last week, dahlias, lily pelargoniums, stocks, and calceolarias, protecting the dahlias from slight frosts. By the end of the month, masses of the following plants may be found with good results in various localities—pelargonium, heliotropium, fuchsia, salpiglossis, nicotian-bergia, salvia, verbena, bonvardia, and lobelia. Protect tulips, ramunculous, and anemones, from the mid-day sun, from rains, and winds. Remove the coverings from all tender plants in the open air.

Shrubbery.—Transplant all kinds of evergreens this month and September, being the proper seasons. The rarer conifers should be planted now and in June, after they have commenced to grow. Proceed with the laying down of lawns and gravel-walks.

June.

Kitchen Garden.—Sow peas and beans for late crops. The kinds used for early crops are likewise best for this purpose. Sow salading every ten days; also carrots and onions for drawing young. In the beginning of the month sow endive for an early crop. In the first week sow turnips for succession; and in the third week for a late summer crop. Scarlet and white runners for a late crop; cabbages for colewort.

Plant full crops of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, savoys, German greens, and leeks; ridge out early celery, successional crops of cabbage and cauliflowers. In the first fortnight of the month, plant cucumbers for pickling, in a warm border, placing hand-glasses over them. Pull and store winter onions, if ripe.

Fruit Trees.—Train and prune the summer shoots of all descriptions of wall and trellis trees. Standards do not require this, except those trained as pyramid or en quincuniole. Mulch and water apple-trees and strawberries in dry weather, desisting from watering as soon as the soil begins to drip. Net over cherry-trees, to protect the fruit from birds. Disbud frequently and frequent washings, and directing tobacco-smoke against them, or by sprinkling (or the fine powder of tobacco) over them. In the first week plant out love-apples in vacant spaces along the bottom of a south wall.

Forcing and Greenhouse Department. Hotbeds and Pits.—Proceed with planting melons and cucumbers raised from seed and cuttings, for late crops. Keep up the necessary temperatures for ripening of the fruits. Continue the operations in the pinery stated until last month; but, if very large sized fruit be desired, remove the whole plants from the hotbeds and roots, and apply heat and water in abundance. Shift suckers and runners of strawberries in the beginning and middle of the month, as the state of the plants may require.

Forcing-houses may have the same treatment as stated last month. Little water and abundance of air must be given to those houses where the fruit is beginning to ripen. Those in which the fruit is past, ought to be constantly under a system of thorough ventilation.

The Greenhouse will now be occupied with tender greenhouse plants and annuals, and the more hardy plants from the stove, for later they will remain no longer in flower. Shift, re-pot, and propagate all plants, fine perennials, biennials, or annuals, and cuttings of all sorts that are desirable. Sow fragrant or showy annuals, to flower in pots during winter.

Flower Garden.—Take up bulbs and tuberous roots, and dry them in the shade before you remove them to the store-room. Fill up with annuals and greenhouse plants those beds from which the bulbs and roots have been raised. After this season, keep always a reserve of annuals in pots, or planted on beds of thin layers of fibrous matter, from which they are easily removed with balls, to fill up any blanks which may occur in the border or parterre. Sow perennials, if neglected last month, to be planted out in the spring. Lay and pipe carnations and pinks in the end of the month.

July.

Kitchen Garden.—In the first week, sow peas for the last crop of the season. In the last week, sow yellow turnip for a full winter crop, and spinach for an early winter supply. Endive, for autumn and winter use, in the beginning and end of the month; also succession crops of lettuce and small salads.

Plant full crops of celery, coltsfoot, endive, about the middle and end of the month, of the heads of broccoli, cauliflower, and celeriac, in the last week. Gather and dry medical and pot herbs; also propagate such by slips and cuttings.

Fruit-Trees.—Continue the summer pruning and training of all wall and espalier-rail trees, with the destruction of insects. Plant strawberries in pots, for forcing next winter. Propagate different sorts of fine fruit-trees, by budding on other trees, or on prepared stocks. Forcing.—Attend to the pruning of melons and cucumbers, giving air and water, and maintaining heat, &c. Go on with the usual cultivation of the pinery, but withhold water from the plants when the fruit begins to ripen. Have the old plants with suckers on them cut out to form bottom-rooting, giving proper supplies of water; this will increase their size very much, and materially shorten the period of their coming into fruit. The forcing-houses ought to have the same treatment as stated for last month.

In the Greenhouse, little alteration will take place in the culture and management from that given for last month; necessary attention being paid to potting, shifting, and setting in cuttings, and giving abundance of water to the potted plants, both in the house and out of doors.

Flower Garden and Shrubbery.—Take up the remainder of tuberous roots, such as anemone, ranunculus, &c., finishing by the end of the first week; fill up their places, and any vacancies that may have occurred, with annuals from the reserve ground. Propagate herbaceous and other plants that have gone out of flower, by means of cuttings and slips; also roses and American shrubs, by layering, budding, or cuttings. Go on with the laying and piping of carnations and phlox; attend to the staking and tying up of dahlias and strong herbaceous plants.

August.

In the Kitchen Garden, sow winter and spring spinach in the beginning and about the end of the month; parsley and winter onions, for a full crop, in the first week; cabbages, cauliflowers, savoys, and German greens, about the middle of the month, for planting out in spring; lettuce in the first and last week; small salads occasionally; black, Spanish, red and white queen radish, for winter crops.

Plant and earth up celery and endive. A few celeriacs may still be earthed.

In the Fruit Garden, proceed in the training and regulation of summer shades of all fruit-trees as directed for the three last months. Net up, in dry weather, gooseberry and currant bushes, to preserve the fruit till late in the autumn. Every exertion must now be used by the gardener to preserve the ripening fruits on the walls from insects, and to destroy wasp nests.

Forcing.—The same routine of cultivation in hotbeds and pits may be proceeded in as stated for last month. Sow, and propagate by cuttings, in the beginning of the month, primulas, to be afterwards grown in hot water pits or in boxes in the frame, the latter stored away in the pit. The ripening of the fruit will be cut by the middle of the month, when a general shifting of succession plants will take place; as also a potting of suckers; but these will be strengthened by being allowed to remain on the old plants until the end of this month. In the forcing-houses where the crops are past, part of the sashes may be removed, so as to permit thorough ventilation.

Greenhouse.—Attend to the propagation of all sorts of greenhouse plants by cuttings, and to the replacing in the greenhouse and above the more tender species, by the end of the month, in ordinary seasons, but in wet weather in the second week. Sow half-hardy annuals, as Clarkia, Schizanthus, Coreopsis, &c., to flower during winter.

Flower Garden and Shrubbery.—Sow in the second and the last week, on a warm border of a light sandy soil, with an east aspect, for planting in spring, Clarkia pelochra and elegans, Coreopsis tinctoria, Gomotherium Lindleyana and rosea-alba, Collinsia grandiflora, Schizanthus pinatus, &c. Auricula and Primula seeds in pots and boxes. Propagate all sorts of herbaceous plants by rooted slips; lay chrysanthemums; take off layers of carnations, phlox, and pansies. Transplant evergreens in moist weather, about the end of the month; and propagate them by layers and cuttings.

September.

Garden.—Sow a few small salads for late crops; lettuce and spinach, if not done last month, for spring crops. Plant endive and lettuce. If broccoli be too strong or tall to withstand the winter, lift them and lay them nearly up to the neck in the earth. Lift onions, and lay them out to win on a dry border or gravel walk. Lift potatoes and store them.

Fruit Trees, &c.—Finish the summer pruning and training. Assist the maturing of the fruit, and what is equally important, the ripening of the young wood for next year, of peaches and nectarines on hot walls, with fires during the day. Gather and lay up in the fruit-room with care the autumnal sorts of apples and pears. Plant strawberries for a main crop.

Forcing.—Take care that late crops of melons and cucumbers be not injured by damping, from getting too much water and too little air. In the pinery the usual routine of cultivation may be carried on; in the first week take off and pot all strong suckers, if not done in the middle of last month; the remainder may be taken off at the end of the month, and planted in old tan in a frame or pit prepared for that purpose. In this way they will be found to keep much better over the winter, and to be better supplied with roots than if they had been potted, which ought never to be done after this season. Expel damp, and assist the ripening of late crops of grapes and peaches, with fires during the day. Prune early vines and peach trees.

Flower Garden, &c.—Sow in the beginning of this month all half-hardy annuals stated for last month, if not done at that time. Sow also the different species of primula; and the seeds of all such plants as, if sown in spring, seldom come up the same season, but if sown in September and October, vegetate readily the succeeding spring. Continue the propagation of herbaceous plants, taking off the layers of carnations, phlox, pansies, and chrysanthemums, by the end of the month. Plant evergreens; lay and put in cuttings of most of the hard-wooded sorts of shrubby plants.

October.

Kitchen Garden.—Sow small salads and radishes in the first week; mazagan beans and early frame peas in the last week. If the winter prove mild they will be somewhat earlier than those sown next month or in January.

Plant cabbages in beds or close rows till wanted in spring. Cauliflower in the last week, to receive the protection of frames, or, at any rate, at the bottom of a high wall or hedge in a sheltered situation.

Sow potatoes, beet, radish, scorzonera, skirret, carrots, parsnips, by the end of the month.

Fruit Garden.—Such fruit-trees as have dropped their leaves may be transplanted, for which this is the best season, whether the leaves have fallen or not. Protect fig-trees, if the weather prove frosty, as soon as they have cast their leaves. Cover late crops of grapes on hot walls with woollen nets or mats, to prevent injury from frost. Store and lay up very carefully during the month all sorts of apples and pears, the longest keeping sorts not before the end of the month, if the weather be mild. A part of them may be placed in a close cellar.

Force the hottest hotbeds and pits with fresh linings, to keep up the declining heat of such beds as have not ripened off their crops. Give abundance of air in good weather. Gradually lower the heat of the pinery.

Dress vines and peaches; clean and repair the forcing houses and their flues.

Greenhouse.—Replace all sorts of greenhouse plants. Fill the pits with pots of stocks, nigronette, and hardy annuals for planting out in spring, along with many of the hardy sorts of greenhouse plants. The whole ought to be thoroughly ventilated, except in frosty weather. Begin to force roses, hyacinths, and a few other bulbs, for winter and early spring decoration.

Flower Garden.—Sow a few pots of hardy annuals in a frame, or on a sheltered border, for spring use, as directed for August.

Plant the greater part of the common border bulbs about the end of the month, with a few anemones for early flowering. Transplant strong plants of biennials and perennials to their final situations. Protect alpine plants, stage auriculas, and carnations, with glass frames; half-hardy greenhouse plants, such as fuchsias, &c., about the end of the month, with coverings of broom or spruce-fir, preserving the latter. Take up, dry, and store dahlias and all tender tubers in the end of the month; pot lobelias and similar half-hardy plants in the open border.

Transplant all sorts of hardy evergreens and shrubs, especially in dry soils, giving abundance of water. Put in cuttings of all sorts of evergreens, &c.

November.

Kitchen Garden.—Sow early frame peas and mazagan beans, in the second week, for an early crop. Protect endive, celery, artichoke, sea-kale, with stable-litter or ferns; mulch asparagus with holed dung; take up endive, late cauliflowers, early broccoli, and lettuces, and lay them in an open shed, or in old cucumber and melon pits, which will protect them from frost, and afford a supply during winter. But pits constructed for the express purpose are much better. They should be placed behind a north wall. Force rhubarb and sea-kale in the open border under boughs or canes, supported and covered with well-formed stable-dung. Plant all sorts of fruit-trees in fine weather—the earlier in the month the better. Commence and carry on the various operations of pruning and nailing when the weather may permit. Take off such late sorts of apples and pears as may remain on the trees, and lay them carefully past in the fruit-room; which place will require frequent examination, and the removal of all decayed fruit.

Forcing and Greenhouse.—In hotbeds and pits keep up the requisite degree of heat. Cucumbers and pines, on hotbeds, will require more than ordinary attention, to prevent them damping off from too much moisture. Where a circulation of hot water in pipes is employed for heating, the necessary temperature and dryness are