Chapter III: Part 3

Two other races of garden hybrids are of extreme importance in late summer, the Pentstemons and Phloxes, the latter being among the most valuable of border plants. In selecting varieties of either of these flowers one should be careful to avoid the very washy and hateful magentas and purples which are but too frequently seen. The Pentstemons are worthy of greatly increased culture, for they often continue to flower until the frosts of November.

The great race of hybrid Gladioli derived from _G. brenchleyensis_ and _G. gandavensis_ are now fashionable, as they deserve. The scarlet _G. brenchleyensis_ is itself very hardy and should be grown in quantity.

The hybrids require some care and should be planted in March at a depth of three inches and a distance of nine inches apart in deeply dug, rich, well-drained soil, free from fresh manure. About the second week in September, before the foliage has died down, the corms should be lifted and thoroughly dried off in a freely ventilated shed.

But most brilliant of all the flowers of August are the scarlet Lobelias, _L. cardinalis_ (described by Parkinson), and _L. splendens_ with their varieties. They are not very hardy, but with a little protection during winter can be grown in most well-drained gardens. Moisture during summer is essential, so that a slightly shaded position should be selected.

THE GARDEN IN AUTUMN

It is the deciduous trees and shrubs which announce the arrival of autumn. Green leaves take on a colouring of yellow, brown, or red more pronounced than the yellows and reds of spring. As the wind blows, a few of the ripest leaves fall, and one becomes conscious of a feeling of evening, of the end of a play, or of the end of a beautiful poem. If it were but by these autumnal colourings, and by the feelings which the fall of the leaf produces, one would be well repaid for the planting and cultivating of trees and shrubs.

Because the active life of these larger plants is over for a season, however, one need not imagine that the well managed garden is suddenly to become flowerless. Roses and Pentstemons, Potentillas and Phloxes, Sweet-Peas and Nasturtiums, and a host of other summer bloomers still remain and often continue to bear flowers till hard frost pulls down the curtain. But it is not on summer flowers that we need rely, for there are numerous beautiful hardy flowers peculiar to autumn itself. Dahlias, Rudbeckias, Sunflowers, Tritomas, Michaelmas Daisies, Japanese Anemones, Fuchsias and Chrysanthemums are those which immediately rise in the memory.

The common Torch Lily, or Red-hot-Poker, is almost the hardiest of the Tritomas--or Kniphofias, as they are now called--and in a moderately light soil will live year after year with little or no attention. Often, in neglected cottage gardens at about the end of August, a group of these Flame flowers, burning red and glowing yellow, arrest the attention and cheer the landscape. The variety known as grandis is even more effective, often reaching a height of nine feet or even more.

The dark crimson _Kniphofia Burchelli_ is valuable on account of its long blooming period, as also is the orange and scarlet _K. Saundersii_, but all the kinds are good, though not all are distinct. Considering that it was introduced from the Cape nearly two hundred years ago, it is somewhat curious that the Kniphofia is still comparatively a rare flower.

Although it was mentioned by Hernandez in his History of Mexico, as long ago as 1651, the Dahlia was not introduced into this country until 1789, when Lady Bute brought a plant from Madrid. It is scarcely hardy in heavy soil or in the northern half of England, and it will generally be necessary to lift the roots in late autumn, and, having ripened them in a shed, to store them for the winter in a cool dry place, where the temperature will not fall below freezing point. In the spring, the separate tubers may be planted in deep rich soil; or the roots may in February be placed in a hot bed, and as the young shoots which form are about three and a half inches long, they may be separated together with a small piece of the tuber, and potted in small pots which should be placed in the hot-bed until the young plants are ready to be planted out. The old double kinds are much inferior to the single and cactus varieties. Dahlias compass a very wide range of colour, and there are so many good sorts that each grower may well be left to select for himself. In choosing Cactus Dahlias, it is wise to select kinds in which the flowers stand out well beyond the foliage.

The vigorous Sneezeweeds or Heleniums are among the easiest of all plants to grow, and will exist on almost any soil. Like other hardy plants, however, they pay for deep cultivation and manure. They bear yellow composite flowers, and grow to a height of five or six feet. _H. autumnale_ is the most generally valuable.

The Cone-flowers, or Rudbeckias, are also handsome American plants, the best being _R. speciosus_, which bears orange flowers with dark yellow centres, and is a very fine bloomer.

But even more useful and important than Heleniums and Rudbeckias are the various perennial sunflowers, of which _Helianthus multiflorus_ and _H. rigidus_, with their varieties, are perhaps the best worth cultivating.

All these North American composites are such very vigorous growers that they should not be placed in close proximity to small or delicate plants, and it is advisable--except in quite wild places--to take them up every two years and divide the roots.

The Michaelmas Daisies, or tall-growing Asters, are steadily growing in favour coincidently with the growth of the popular taste. Deep cultivation, moderately rich soil, and division every two or three years, are the conditions of their successful culture. _Aster ericoides_, _A. amellus bessarabicus_, _A. acris_, _A. Shortii_ and _A. vimineus_ are a few good kinds.

Both the white and the rose-coloured varieties of _Anemone Japonica_ should be grown, and are of the easiest culture. They may be rapidly increased by division, and should be allowed to develop into bold clumps. _Megasea cordifolia_ and the Pampas Grass are among the autumnal bloomers, as also are the Crocus-like Colchicums, the even more delicately coloured autumn Crocuses, Sedum spectabile, Sternbergia lutea, the late-flowering Gladioli, and the beautiful Amaryllis Belladonna.

Quite unlike all other autumn flowers--indeed unlike all other flowers--the Japanese Chrysanthemum gives us the latest display of brilliant colouring of the garden year. For border decoration, they may be treated much as other herbaceous plants and divided in the spring. Owing to the season at which they flower and the frequent occurrence of violent storms at that period, it is desirable to grow Chrysanthemums against a wall or hedge. The varieties are infinite in number, so that when ordering plants for out-door use it is advisable to instruct the florist as to the purpose to which you intend to devote them. A few very hardy kinds are Madame C. Desgrange, Lady Fitzwigram, Roi des Précoses, and Ryecroft Glory.

The autumn tints assumed by the leaves of many deciduous trees and shrubs are very interesting and beautiful. Of such, the following short list may be of a little help:--

Acer colchicum rubrum.
Acer platanoides laciniatum.
Acer Schwedleri.
Azalea pontica.
Amelanchier canadensis.
Berberis Thunbergii.
Cornus (of sorts).
Liriodendron.
Parrotia persica.
Rhus (of sorts).
Rubus (of sorts).
Spiræa Thunbergii.
Silver Birch.

In one of his most suggestive essays, John Burroughs pointed out that in autumn the battles of the spring are fought over again. But, whereas in the spring it is the summer warmth which eventually, in spite of many mishaps and reverses, wins the victory, in the autumnal ebb it is the cold which finally gains the day. This constant strife between succeeding seasons at the points of meeting lies at the root of the peculiar charm of the English climate and of the English flora.

The following lists are borrowed from my _Chronicle of a Cornish Garden_:--

A FEW GOOD TALLEST BORDER PLANTS.

Hollyhocks.
Delphiniums.
Pæonies.
Aconitum napellus.
Aconitum autumnale.
Rudbeckia maxima.
Rudbeckia laciniata.
Doronicum plantagineum excelsum.
Digitalis.
Tritomas.
Campanula macrantha.
Campanula pyramidalis.
Galega officinalis alba.
Phlox (in variety).
Spiræa aruncus.
Helianthus (in variety).

A FEW GOOD TALL BORDER PLANTS.

Anemone japonica alba.
Aquilegias (in variety).
Papaver orientale.
Iris germanica.
Lilium candidum.
Achillea ptarmica fl. pl.
Dicentra spectabilis.
Scabiosa caucasica.
Campanula persicifolia.
Campanula latifolia alba.
Campanula Van Houttei.
Campanula turbinata.
Primula japonica.
Coreopsis.
Carnations.
Helleborus niger.
Helleborus orientale.
Adonis vernalis.
Alstroemeria.
Erigeron speciosus.
Montbretias.
Gladioli.
Pentstemons.
Lobelia cardinalis.
Asters.
Chrysanthemums.
Geum chiloense.
Marguerites.

A FEW GOOD DWARF BORDER-PLANTS.

Veronica prostrata.
Veronica saxatilis.
Veronica rupestris.
Silene Schafta.
Silene acaulis.
Silene alpestris.
Campanula isophylla.
Campanula pulla.
Campanula turbinata.
Anemone apennina.
Anemone blanda.
Anemone coronaria.
Anemone fulgens.
Anemone nemorosa.
Dianthus alpina.
Dianthus deltoides.
Dianthus plumarius.
Gentiana acaulis.
Gentiana verna.
Iberis coriaefolia.
Iberis sempervirens.
Phlox amœna.
Phlox subulata.
Auricula (alpine varieties).
Cyclamen (various).
Viola pedata.
Campanula carpatica.
Campanula pumila.
Campanula pelviformis.
Hepatica (various).
Aubrietia (various).
Primula rosea.
Primula vulgaris.
Primula Sieboldi.
Primula nivalis.
Viola (various, violas and pansies).
Papaver nudicaule.
Cistus (various).
Helianthenum (various).
Alyssum "
Fritillaria "
Crocus "
Galanthus "
Narcissus "
Tulipa "
Scilla "
Iris "
Leucojum "
Chionodoxa "
Eranthis hyemalis.

SHELTER AND SHADE

There are many ways of growing hardy flowering plants, and of growing them to advantage, but all these different methods have certain fundamental conditions in common. Of these conditions the most important are the possession of a suitable site and the provision of suitable soil. Children are raised in slums and hovels, and even in besieged and famine-stricken towns; and, in like manner, there is no site so bad, no aspect so dull, no air so vile, no soil so poor and shallow but plants may be found which will there exist. But in order that we may grow any considerable variety of beautiful flowers we must screen our garden from bitter winds, and so prepare our soil that it shall be adapted for vigorous plant growth. Wind-resisting screens may consist either of walls or of suitable trees and shrubs. Which of these forms of protection should be selected depends on circumstances which vary with different gardens. In any event, it will be generally agreed that a garden should be so enclosed (Hortus--an enclosed space) as to afford not only shelter to plants from the more strenuous forces of Nature, but also that privacy from the vulgar gaze which we call seclusion. If the garden is to be enclosed by walls, let these be of a fair height--not less than ten feet; and let them be clothed with a variety of the lovely climbing plants now at the disposal of the gardener. There is considerable room for choice both among deciduous and evergreen climbers. Among the best of the former section are the self-clinging Ampelopsis Veitchii, the blue and the white Passion-flowers, numerous varieties of Clematis, the winter-blooming Jasminum nudiflorum, Wistaria, Honeysuckles, Bignonia radicans, and many of the Roses and Vines; whilst against walls facing north we may grow Tropæolum speciosum, Clematis flammula, the Evergreen and Boursault Roses and the Virginian Creeper. The Evergreens mostly prosper with any aspect. Among the best are the various Ivies and Cotoneasters and Crataegus pyracantha.

The trees and shrubs which may be used are numerous; but for dense hedges perhaps the most useful are Holly, White Thorn, Privet, Barberry, Laurel, Box and Yew. Where possible, the straight line of a long clipped hedge may be broken by groups of shrubs planted within, unless a formal garden effect be desired. It is well to distinguish between the use of shrubs or trees as bounding fences or screens and their use as beautiful individual plants; and, when a dense screen is required, to obtain it by means of suitable trees and a properly made and properly shorn hedge rather than by a thickly-planted and therefore overcrowded "shrubbery." Whether it be trees or shrubs or climbing plants that we propose to plant, the ground should be deeply trenched and well manured, so that annual meddling about the roots may not be required. Whilst a certain proportion of evergreen shrubs, such as the beautiful hollies and barberries, should be used, it is undesirable to make too free a use of non-deciduous plants. The ordinary overcrowded laurel and privet shrubbery is hideous and depressing.

Trees and shrubs, however, are useful not only for the shelter and seclusion which they yield, but also for their delightful summer shade. In one of his essays, Emerson quotes an Arabian poet's description of his hero:--

"Sunshine was he
In the winter day;
And in the midsummer
Coolness and shade."

That is a beautiful description of a perfect friend, but it might serve equally as a description of a perfect garden. The flowers of July are infinite in their number and exquisite in their beauty, yet, if they are grown in a large, tidy, treeless, shrubless garden, they will yield but little pleasure. A garden is not a place merely for the exhibition of floral wonders, but a place wherein to rest, to talk, to read or to dream. With the blazing sun of July beating on one's unshaded head, dreaming, resting, and reading are equally uncomfortable and unprofitable.

A shade-giving tree is worth all the flowers of midsummer, though fortunately one is not called upon to sacrifice either. Trees and shrubs yield welcome shade, but, quite apart from this, they help to throw up, and provide suitable backgrounds for, the dwarfer plants which make up the majority of our garden contents. We have been too fond of cutting down trees, and many a suburb has reason to regret the revision of the old forest law of King William: "Gif the forestier or wiridier finds anie man without the principall wode, but sit within the pale, heueand dune ane aik tree, he sould attack him."

According to our soil and site, must we select the shrubs and trees which will be happiest under the conditions we can offer them. When we have ample space, no trees can surpass in beauty our native deciduous trees, such as the oak and hornbeam; but it is from the smaller trees and larger shrubs that owners of more moderately-sized gardens must chiefly look for shade and backgrounds. Japan has given us many things of infinite value, but few more precious than the white-flowering species of Styrax. The dense, bright foliage, the sweetly-scented, snow-white bells, and the general habit of the tree render Styrax obassia one of the most valuable constituents of a garden. Japan, too, has given us a number of Maples which afford a feast of colour unrivalled by any other group of trees in the world. They are worth trying in any mild or protected situation, though they should be planted on a small, experimental scale at first as they do not thrive everywhere. They seem to like partial shade and a north aspect. Those who have mild and weather-favoured situations may glory in the fragrant and--when well grown--handsome Magnolias, though with these again success is not to be fore-counted a certainty. But few are so badly placed but they may grow the Lilacs, Laburnums, Hawthorns, Guelder Roses, Spiræas, Dogwoods, Weeping Birches, Weeping Willows, and Flowering Currants. As decorative as most, however, and more useful than any, of the shrubs and trees worth growing in a garden, are the apples and pears, medlars and quinces, plums and cherries whose flowers and fruits have always impressed the traveller as a beautiful feature of English landscape.

Beneath the shade of deciduous trees there are many plants which will live healthy and flowery lives. In the spring we have for such situations the great array of bulbs, together with many of the Primroses, Sweet Woodruff, Hepaticas, Hellebores, Fair maids of France, Doronicums, and other early bloomers; and, even when the trees are in full leaf, we may enjoy, if the soil be but properly prepared, such pleasant flowers as those of the Martagon Lily and Lilium speciosum, Campanulas, both dwarf and tall, Foxgloves, Knotweeds, and Columbines; whilst ferns of many kinds, together with several of the Saxifrages and Megaseas, and such plants as Acanthus mollis and the herbaceous Geranium, all help to produce the pleasant effect which is yielded by the draping of the floor of coppice or of forest. When the shade is so dense and the soil so poor that even these plants will not thrive, we may fall back on Ivy, Creeping Jenny, and Periwinkle; though, where the soil is enriched with old leafmould and manure and properly dug, no shade of trees is too dense for many of the ferns, both deciduous and evergreen.

SOILS AND THEIR PREPARATION

Many people imagine that in some mysterious fashion plants eat soil much as we eat beef-steak; and that, all soil being just "soil," one has but to make a hole in the ground and thrust the roots of a plant into it, in order to make the desert bloom as the rose. This idea is incorrect, just as was the idea of a Devonshire farmer whom I once saw feeding his month-old baby with cheese and cider. "Feed 'un on milk?" said he. "I'd zooner gee 'un zope-zuds. Let 'un 'ave summat wi' zum strength in't."

Soil is to plants not a source of food alone, but is a suit of clothes, a blanket and coverlet, a cooking-range and a drawing-room fire. It is a _pied-à-terre_ in its most literal sense, and it is a cellar and tankard combined. To all the great and beautiful world of flowers, the soil is indeed mother earth, giving them warmth and nourishment in their infancy, affording them a root-hold throughout their life, and offering them sanctuary for their bodies when their earthly life is done.

He who would grow beautiful flowers must therefore first study the soil from which he would raise them. He must get to know it, to learn its wants, and learn also how he may best satisfy them. In time, if he be indeed a lover of flowers, he will grow also to love the earth and to understand it. He will become one of those true and happy gardeners so beloved of the gods that every flower they lovingly plant is made to flourish and multiply.

First, then, let us think of what this soil is made, and of how it came into being. Look at the surface of any old stone-built church or house and you will see how every stone is partly covered by moss or lichen or other lowly plant. These plants are growing in soil--formed by the slow action of rain and air on the surface of the walls. Similarly, in the gradual pulverisation and decomposition of rocks, has all soil taken its origin. Similarly also, as a rule, have lowly plants been its first offspring, the bodies of which have been afterwards incorporated with their mother soil. By the further action of the weather, coupled with the action of the accompaniments of the decomposition of these early plants, the soil becomes deeper, and becomes also furnished with dead vegetable matter, or humus, without which none of the higher and more developed plants are able to live.

According to the nature of the original rock, and according also to the sort of natural "weathering" or "watering" to which it has been subjected, so will the resultant soil be mainly sand or mainly clay, or an equal mixture of the two. Mixed with these will usually be found a certain amount of little stones or gravel, and a certain amount of dark coloured humus. In a soil which is nearly all sand, or in one which is nearly all clay, few flowers will thrive, but in what is called a loamy soil--that is, one in which clay and sand are nearly equal--nearly all plants will grow and prosper if other conditions be favourable. The presence of humus in the soil is important in many ways, for not only does it contain much that is essential food for plant growth, but also it assists the earth in retaining that moisture without which life is impossible. By its chemical activity, also, it produces useful heat and liberates stores of food from the mineral soil itself. Therefore it is that we add dead leaves, farmyard manure, sea-weed and the like to our garden soil. But, though moisture is essential to the health of plants, the presence of stagnant water is little less fatal than drought. If we find that a hole dug in our gardens to the depth of two feet soon contains water not obtained from above, we may usually assume that drainage is required.

If our soil be too light (_i.e._ sandy) we may improve it by the addition of dried and powdered clay, meal and organic manure, from cowshed or stable; if it be too heavy (_i.e._ containing an excess of clay) we may make it more suitable for our garden use by mixing with it sand, ashes, lime, gritty road-scrapings, or old mortar.

We all know how very much hotter in summer and colder in winter is a starched linen shirt than is one made of flannel or of some cellular open-woven fabric. This is of course due to the fact that the former is the better conductor of heat. In like manner, a loose, cellular, "open-woven," porous soil is a much worse conductor of heat than the caked and baked soil which we often see in ill-kept gardens.

The roots of plants like coolness in summer, but in winter they desire all the warmth that they can obtain. Hence the desirability of always maintaining the surface of the ground to the depth of an inch or two in a loose open condition by means of the hoe. This is of value also in checking evaporation, for, by keeping the surface inch of soil loose and fine, the capillary connection between the air and the deeper layers of soil is broken. Surface mulchings of litter, moss, leaves or manure act in the same way as does the simpler mulch of hoed soil. Of course the process of top-dressing with leaves or farm-manure, in order to add to the soil the food elements which they contain, is quite a different matter, and cannot be replaced.

Very few gardeners can be said to make anything approaching adequate use of the soil which they cultivate. The majority of amateur gardeners, and not a few professional ones, never get their spade more than a foot or, at the outside, more than eighteen inches below the surface. As a matter of fact, all garden soil should be dug to a minimum depth of two feet, or preferably to a depth of three feet when possible. In preparing a piece of ground for planting, it should, therefore, be trenched as deeply as possible, preferably to a depth of three feet.

This operation may be performed as follows:--

Let _A B C D_ represent the piece of ground to be trenched. Measure off _A E_, _E G_, _G M_, _D F_, _F H_, and _N H_, each the distance of one foot. Stretch a line from _E_ to _F_ and notch the surface with a spade along this line. Proceed in the same way from _G_ to _H_. Next dig the piece _A E F D_ to a depth of one foot, wheeling this surface soil to form a heap at _B_. Also dig to the same depth the piece _E G H F_ and add this soil to the heap at _B_. Next remove the subsoil from the piece _A E F D_ to the depth of another foot, and wheel it to _C_. The deeper subsoil in the piece _A E F D_ should then be dug to a depth of another foot and left in its old position. The subsoil from _E G H F_ to the depth of a foot should now be placed with the spade on _A E F D_, and the deep subsoil below it dug and left _in situ_. A layer of farm-yard manure may next be placed on the _A E F D_, and on this should be placed the top foot of soil from _G M N H_. The subsoil from _G M N H_ should next be placed on _E G H F_, on this being placed a layer of manure covered in turn by fresh top soil. In this the work should be proceeded with until the last two feet of the patch are reached. The subsoil from _I B C J_ is to be placed on the deep subsoil of _K I J L_, on this a layer of manure covered by one half of the surface soil in the heap at _B_. The heap of subsoil at _C_ and the remainder of the surface soil at _B_ are to be placed in the space _I B C L_.

This proceeding may strike the novice much as a problem of Euclid strikes the mentally lazy, but the importance of deep cultivation is so great that everyone who would be a successful gardener should thoroughly understand its practice. By the method of trenching above described, the three layers of earth called here soil, subsoil and deep subsoil are maintained in their respective orders of depth, for nothing is more fatal than to bury the "living earth" of the surface below the reach of the roots of our plants, bringing to the surface in its place the barren subsoil devoid of humus and devoid of those living bacteria so essential to the fertility of the soil. By proper and continuous cultivation, the actual living soil attains an ever increasing thickness, so that in time the top two feet may be correctly described as surface soil and become freely interchangeable throughout its thickness.

MANURES

The idyll of manures has been written by the Dean of Rochester, who has placed on eternal record his devotion to Sterculus, the son of Faunus, whom he imaged as riding proudly, pitch-fork ("agricultural trident") in hand, in his family chariot, the _currus Stercorosus_ (_Anglice_, muck-cart). As I can confess to no such love, I will merely state the few facts which all plant-growers must bear in memory.

The great and safe manure for hardy flower culture is that of the stable or farm-yard, which is so valuable, not only for the actual food elements which itself contains, but also for the mass of straw and other organic material which by its fermentation sets up chemical activity in the soil, and so liberates a small continuous supply of the plant-foods therein contained. This latter property is what gives much of its manurial value to the mixed "rubbish" of the ash-pit--containing as it generally does such waste organic matter as cabbage leaves, potato-peelings, and "bits" of all kinds. Buried weeds, leaves and "garden refuse" act in a precisely similar way. These organic manures are, moreover, of the greatest service in keeping the soil open, porous and friable, in retaining water and so retaining also mineral plant-foods dissolved therein, and in adding to the warmth of the soil both by engendering heat in the process of fermentation and by mechanically rendering the soil a worse conductor.

In the preliminary preparation of borders or beds, provided the soil be well dug to a depth of two or three feet, a really heavy dressing of farm-yard manure should be well incorporated--say about a ton to every two hundred square yards. The manure should not be buried, but should be intimately mixed with the whole depth of soil. A light sandy soil will take a heavier, and a heavy soil a lighter dressing than the average one suggested. The beds should be manured and otherwise prepared sometime before the planting is to take place, as many plants and especially many bulbous plants cannot stand the proximity of fresh and rank manure.

When the ground is thus properly prepared at the start, little more actual cultivation is needed in the case of most hardy herbaceous plants beyond annual top dressing with manure, occasional loosening of the surface soil where not covered by dwarf plants, weeding, and occasional thinning or division of big clumps. Whenever a plant is taken up, the opportunity should be seized to add a fork-load of rotten manure to the spot vacated. Top dressings should as far as possible be placed round plants in early spring, just before new growth starts, as the manure is then soon covered and concealed by foliage.

Bone meal, finely-broken bones, small quantities of guano, and even carefully-applied nitrate of soda (half-an-ounce to the square yard) have their respective values, but the novice will be wise in placing reliance on farm-yard manure for the bulk of his plants.

SEED-SOWING AND TRANSPLANTING

The gardening beginner will be well advised to obtain the greater number of his perennials as plants; but there are some which are easily grown from seeds, and seed-sowing is the method by which all the hardy annuals and biennials are to be raised. In the case of annual and biennial plants, such as sweet-peas, mignonette, nasturtiums, convolvuluses, nigellas, and the rest, the seed may well be sown in the open borders or beds, if the soil be but well dug and finely divided. It is advisable, however, to mix a little sand and leafmould with the soil, and to give the seed-bed a good watering on the night previous to sowing the seeds, if the soil be otherwise dry. At the same time it is necessary to avoid sowing when the ground is sticky after or during heavy rain. The seed having been sown in finely-pulverised soil which is neither too wet nor too dry, it is a good practice to press the seed-bed, either by the use of a roller, or by patting it with the flat of a spade. This tends to promote the flow of a continuous supply of moisture from the deeper parts to the surface of the soil by means of capillary attraction. As, however, this proceeding also promotes a continuous loss of soil-moisture by evaporation, the surface should be loosened by hoe or rake as soon as the young plants appear--indeed, in the case of the more deeply-buried seeds, such as sweet-peas, the surface should be slightly disturbed as soon as the sowing and pressing have been performed. In dry weather, evaporation from the seed-bed may be checked by shading it with a screen placed about two feet above the surface.

As to the depth at which seed should be sown, much depends on the variety, as also on the nature of the soil and the season of the year; but it may be taken as a general rule that small seeds should be covered by a depth of soil about equal to their thickness, whilst seeds such as sweet peas should be sown two inches deep. The soil must not be allowed to become quite dry, but great care is to be taken in watering, which should be done, when necessary, with a watering-pot provided with a very fine rose. Those perennials, such as the columbines, campanulas, poppies, and primroses, which are easily to be raised from seed, may be sown in open beds, but, as they are somewhat slower in germinating, it will usually be found more satisfactory to sow them in shallow earthenware pans containing a mixture of loam, sand and leaf-mould. The soil in the pans can best be kept moist by occasionally dipping the seed-pan in a vessel of water, being very careful not to lower it so that the surface of the soil is below the surface of the water. A sheet of glass may be placed as a cover to the seed-pan until germination takes place; but, in order to check evaporation from the surface, care should be taken not to "damp off" the young seedlings through excessive moisture and insufficient air.

There is one great rule to be borne in mind in sowing all kinds of seed, and that rule, printed in largest type, should be placed wherever gardeners are to be found:--SOW THINLY. Do not rely too much on subsequent thinning out, but allow space for development from the first, for at no stage of its career should a young plant be pressed upon by its neighbour. A knowledge of the size and habit of the mature plant is therefore necessary in order to estimate the requisite space between the seeds. It must, however, be remembered that a certain proportion of seeds will fail to germinate, and that a certain proportion of seedlings will fall victims to disease and snails. In the case of plants which are intended to be transplanted from the seed-bed or seed-pan, it is of course the size of the seedlings at the transplanting stage which has to be borne in mind in judging of the correct distance between the seeds. But it is a point which cannot be too often drubbed into young gardeners--and old ones too for that matter--that one well-grown plant is better than twenty badly grown ones. Also it should ever be remembered that a plant starved in infancy suffers for it throughout its career.

Seeds of hardy plants may be sown at almost any time during spring, summer, or autumn, provided that due attention be given in the matter of watering, preparation of the soil and the like. Most of the biennials and perennials may with advantage be sown in June and transplanted to their flowering quarters in September. Annuals intended to bloom in the summer or autumn should be sown in March, April and May; whilst those intended to flower in the following year should be sown in August and September.

Most plants may be transplanted at any season of the year if the operation be properly performed. A dull day or an evening should be selected, and a ball of earth should if possible be removed attached to the roots. The ground into which the plant is to be removed, should be well and deeply dug, and a deep and capacious hole be made with a trowel or dibbler. Into this the plant is to be carefully placed, its roots being well spread out and well settled by means of water. For a day or two after being moved, it should be shaded from the hot sun, and for the first few evenings should be liberally watered.

LAYERS AND CUTTINGS

The division of the rootstock is a method of propagation applicable to the majority of perennial plants. In the case of most corms and bulbs, it is necessary, in order to increase the supply, to separate the young bulbels or cormels and to plant them out in a nursery bed until they develop to a useful flowering size. But in the division of the rootstocks of herbaceous plants a certain amount of violence is usually required, and a strong knife, a cold chisel and a mallet will be found useful tools. Each plant, if it is to develop into a new plant, must include at least one eye or bud and must usually also be provided with a supply of rootlets.

Many plants may be propagated by the process known as layering, which essentially consists in pegging down a shoot to the ground by means of a little crotchet stick, having notched with a sharp knife half way through a joint at the point where the shoot touches the soil, and covering the pegged down part of the shoot with a few inches of good gritty loam. In a little while, roots will form at the point of section and the shoot can be separated from its parent as an independent plant. The Carnation is usually propagated in this way, the layering being performed in July and the young plants being separated a few months later. Roses may be pegged down and layered in a somewhat similar way, but in their case it is the middle of a branch and not its base which is cut and pegged beneath the soil.

Another method by which many plants can be increased is that of cuttage. This is the method usually employed by growers of chrysanthemums, pansies, and certain other plants. To effect this, a cut should be made in a slanting direction through the stem to be severed, just below a joint. As a rule cuttings of herbaceous plants should be made in the spring. Some cuttings will root readily in light soil in the open air if a shady position be selected, but usually it will be found to be desirable to plant the cuttings in pots of sandy loam and to place in a hot bed, shading from the sun until they are rooted.

WEEDS

"Let the painfull Gardiner expresse never so much care and diligent endeavour; yet among the very fairest, sweetest, and freshest Flowers, as also Plants of most precious Vertue; ill savouring and stinking Weeds, fit for no use but the fire or mucke-hill, will spring and sprout up." So wrote Boccaccio nearly six hundred years ago, and the truth of his observation has not lost its savour in spite of the centuries--though I, for one, should be sorry to apply to any plant of my acquaintance the adjectives of abuse which Boccaccio so naturally uses.

Of course one tries, and must ever try, to keep the garden free from weeds, but it is a matter for congratulation that we can never entirely succeed. Probably the earliest gardening memories of most of us are associated either with weeds, or with that branch of gardening usually first delegated to children--the operation of weeding. A great deal of the pleasure of growing flowers is undoubtedly due to the difficulties which one has to combat, and gardening with no weeds to worry us, with no snails, slugs, or green fly for us to fight, would be about as insipid an occupation as that known among the provincial middle-class as "paying calls." What beauty there is in these much despised weeds! Few wall plants, for instance, surpass in general "usefulness" the little Ivy-leaved Toad-flax (_Linaria Cymbalaria_), which bears its dainty purple snapdragon-like flowers nearly the year through. It is a tidy little plant, too, for, as soon as its flowers have been fertilised and are beginning to fade, it bends them aside so that the seed vessels may rest in some suitable crevice where the ripened seed may safely be born. The flowers which stand out from the plant, therefore, always look fresh and attractive.

Not everyone can grow the Gentians, but certainly everyone can grow--though not all of us can exterminate--those beautiful Veronicas, the Germander Speedwell and the Field Speedwell, with their brightest of blue flowers. Merely to name the dandelion, daisy, plantain, convolvulus, dock, pheasant's eye, and even the groundsel, is to remind ourselves of the great beauty which our garden weeds possess, and of the essential place which they occupy in the mental picture of a homely garden. Yet is there one "weed"--or "good plant in the wrong place," as a weed has been well defined--more prevalent than all others, hardier than most, and as beautiful as any. No garden, no road, no wall or fence even, but grass does its best to drape and to beautify it. And if gardening has made men blind to the beauty of the grass leaf, so blind that they needs must roll and cut it for appearance's sake, then is gardening to be ranked with that spirit of vestrydom, of which Mrs Meynell says such true, sarcastic things. But gardening need have no such tendency. Rather should it tend to make its devotees observant and admiring where plant beauty is concerned. Still, with weeds, be they ever so beautiful, ever so interesting, must the gardener wage eternal war. Nature, like the artist she is, abhors bare earth as much as she abhors a vacuum, and, where she sees a piece of ground uncovered, there she sows her seeds or projects her roots. One of the best ways of keeping weeds within bounds, therefore, is to have as little earth as possible uncovered by plants, for then weeds have small chance of entry and smaller chance of development. There is a hackneyed saying to the effect that one year's seeding means seven years' weeding, and there is wisdom in it; but rare indeed must be the gardens where in some odd corner weeds do not succeed each year in ripening and scattering their seeds. As soon as a weed is seen, it should be pulled up, or Dutch-hoed off, and, if it have not a perennial root, straightway buried in the garden or used as a mulch round shrubs or herbaceous plants. In addition to its primary object, the mere pulling up of weeds, or hoeing off their heads, is of the utmost value in loosening the surface of the ground, and so checking evaporation and the conduction of heat. In fighting with weeds, garden flowers will be much assisted by deep cultivation, rich soil, and a provision of those general conditions which conduce to their health and vigour. As a rule the annual weeds are kept under with comparative ease, it usually being the perennials with spreading roots which give the real trouble. In preparing a piece of ground, every piece of such root--be it of couch grass, bindweed, or what not--should be picked out and burnt. Then, if, through several seasons, every shoot of perennial weed be pulled off directly it is seen, they will eventually be subdued or even vanquished. For weedy paths, it is no longer necessary to spend hours or days in hand-weeding with basket and knife--historically interesting though that practice is. All that is now required is to water the paths, when dry, with a solution made by boiling five ounces of powdered arsenic in a gallon of water, stirring the while, and then adding two gallons of cold water, and half a pound of soda.

Such is the fate of the man who would be a gardener. He must wage constant battle with flowers whose beauty he can but acknowledge. He must be full of zeal for the murder of plants he is bound to love and admire. It is a little like hitting a woman; and, when one sees the weed, which has been violently hurled from bed and border, patiently trying to live its humble life on wall or rubbish-heap, smiling as sweetly as it may on the "owner" of the soil, one is reminded of that pathetic--even if fictitious--story of the vivisector's dog.

INSECT AND OTHER PESTS

Vigorously growing plants are far less liable than are feeble ones to the attacks of the various living enemies which the gardener is called upon to combat. Therefore the most important item in the suppression of insect or fungoid pests is careful and correct culture. But, even in the best kept gardens, green-fly and earwig, slugs, snails and wireworms will appear, and must be dealt with by repressive as well as by preventive measures.

The green-fly, which is sometimes such a trouble to our roses and fruits, should be treated with vigorous and repeated syringing or hosing with water. If this is found to be inadequate, the affected plants may be washed with tobacco water (made by pouring half a gallon of boiling water on an ounce each of soft soap and shag tobacco, and allowing the strained infusion to cool), or with an emulsion made by stirring well together half a pint of petroleum oil, two ounces of hard soap, and a quart of nearly boiling water, afterwards adding half a gallon of cold water, and thoroughly mixing. This last application should always be applied in the evening.

Wireworms, which are such a foe of the carnation grower, may usually be destroyed by spreading gas-lime at the rate of two pounds per square yard over the unoccupied soil in the fall, ploughing or digging it into the ground a month or two later. If this is impracticable, the wireworms may often be trapped by burying pieces of potato at intervals, removing them every few days.

For destroying the fungus of mildew nothing is more effective than sulphur mixed with soft soap and water in the proportion of one ounce of sulphur and four ounces of soap to four gallons of hot water.

Earwigs, which so often spoil the Dahlia blooms, may be trapped by crumpling a newspaper and placing it among the plants, or by filling a flower-pot with moss and inverting it over a stake--in either case examining the traps daily and destroying the victims.

Snails and slugs should be caught at night and killed by placing them in a bucket and covering them with salt. They may be trapped by placing cabbage or lettuce leaves at intervals about the garden, examining beneath them each morning; or they may sometimes be destroyed by watering the plants which they frequent with lime-water (made by adding a gallon of water to a quarter pound of freshly burnt lime, and straining).

Birds are sometimes harmful, but on the whole they do more good than harm in a garden, and I am inclined to agree with an old gardener, who, having caught a blackbird among the gooseberries, was asked by his master what he had done with it. "Oh," he replied, "I just gave 'im a warning and let 'im go."

POINTS

1. Grow no plant which does not strike you as either beautiful or interesting.

2. Learn the requirements of every plant as far as possible before ordering it, and have everything ready before its arrival.

3. Do not overcrowd, but allow every plant to develop and display its own form of beauty. On the other hand, show as little bare earth as possible at every season of the year.

4. Have few beds and many and wide borders. It will often, however, be found convenient to grow in beds such flowers as Carnations, which require to be frequently replanted, and which will not tolerate the competition of other plants; but even with Carnations may be planted many bulbs, such as Crocuses, Tulips, Spanish Irises and Gladioli. In any case, aim at being a four-season gardener, and make your garden interesting in every part the year through.

5. The borders should generally be wide--where there is ample space not less than nine to twelve feet. They should be backed by a plant-covered trellis or wall, or by flowering and evergreen shrubs.

6. Cultivate the soil to a depth of two or three feet in the manner described in this book, and in dry weather supply _abundance_ of water, and keep the surface mulched either with moss or manure, or with loose soil.

7. In arranging mixed borders, avoid dottiness, preferring rather to plant bold clumps or masses of individual species. Let the surface of the soil be carpeted by low-growing, surface-rooting plants, such as the dwarf Campanulas, Aubrietias, Arenarias, Silene acaulis, S. alpestre, Linaria alpina, Veronica saxatilis and the like. Let the taller growing plants be mostly towards the back of the border, and the smaller plants mostly near the front, but avoid primness by allowing an occasional clump of tall plants (especially those, such as Gladioli and Lilies, which need special care) to break the front margin, and by letting the dwarfer carpeting plants spread towards the back of the border.

8. Keep in a shed or in a corner of the garden a compost heap composed of two parts sand, one part fibrous loam (such as the top spit of meadow land), one part of two-year-old leaf mould, and one part of two-year-old stable manure. Whenever one is transplanting a herbaceous or other plant, it will be found very helpful to cover the roots with a few inches of this soil. Mixed with an equal quantity of sand it will also be useful to place round bulbs when planting them.

9. When planting, always dig a hole sufficiently large and deep to contain the roots well spread out. Place the plant in position, cover the roots with a few inches of the compost just named, and give a bucketful of water to settle the earth. Then fill up the hole with ordinary soil, firmly pressing with the foot if necessary, though the liberally watering often does away with the need. In any case the surface should be ruffled up into a state of looseness in order to check evaporation.

10. Keep a special garden notebook in which to note things which want correcting or developing. If not noted when recognised, they are likely to be forgotten when the season for making the change comes round. Also note any good plants or good effects which you may see in the gardens of others.

11. Buy your seeds of the best seedsmen, regardless of price. Buy your plants from the best nurseries, even though they may be listed a little cheaper elsewhere.

12. Do not be content merely to copy the "arrangements," "groupings" and such which you may see suggested in books or practised by your friends. Study books, study gardens, and study wild nature, but use your own brains.

13. Make, or remake, one border every year. You will thus always have sufficient surprise to afford spice or seasoning to the "settled" part of your garden.

14. It is interesting, in addition to cultivating a large variety of flowers, to grow one flower or one race of flowers as a specialty.

* * * * *

THE most satisfactory Plants for the Garden, and amongst THE MOST BEAUTIFUL are the following improved varieties of

HARDY PERENNIALS

CULTIVATED BY

KELWAY & SON

THE ROYAL HORTICULTURISTS

LANGPORT, SOMERSET

KELWAY'S PÆONIES

Collection D--42s. per dozen; 50 for £7 7s.

KELWAY'S DELPHINIUMS

Collection D--42s. per dozen; 50 for £7 7s.

KELWAY'S GAILLARDIAS

Collection C--18s. per dozen; 100 for £6 6s.

KELWAY'S PYRETHRUMS

Collection C--21s. per dozen; 100 for £7 7s.

Nearly all the best new varieties of the above-mentioned important families ORIGINATED in the Langport Nurseries.

More Certificates and Awards of Merit for improved varieties of Hardy Plants have been awarded by the R.H.S. to KELWAY & SON than to any firm.

KELWAY'S "MANUAL OF HORTICULTURE" for 1901, by far the best Horticultural Catalogue and Guide published, will be sent post free for 1s. 6d. It contains interesting particulars of all the best Hardy Herbaceous Plants, &c., and of KELWAY'S "ARTISTIC" BORDERS (registered).

133 GOLD AND SILVER MEDALS--London, Paris, Chicago, &c.

KELWAY & SON, LANGPORT, SOMERSET

Handbooks of Practical Gardening

Under the General Editorship of

HARRY ROBERTS

Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Cloth. 2s. 6d. net.

Vol. I.--THE BOOK OF ASPARAGUS. With sections also on Celery,
Salsify, Scorzonera, and Seakale. By CHARLES ILOTT, F.R.H.S.,
Lecturer on Horticulture to the Cornwall County Council. Together
with chapters on the History, Decorative Uses, and Cookery of these
Vegetables, by the Editor.

_The Pilot_--"Every point is carefully dealt with, and the book
should prove extremely useful to scientific gardeners."

_The Daily Mail_--"The admirable chapter contributed by Dr Harry
Roberts on the Cookery of Asparagus."

_The Speaker_--"The work of a specialist. Mr Ilott gives us--for a
matter of half-a-crown--the ripe experience of a life-time well
illustrated."

_The Gardeners' Chronicle_--"The author is eminently qualified for
the task he has undertaken.... In a careful, thorough manner
the cultivator is instructed in every operation involved in the
cultivation of the plant."

_Gardening Illustrated_--"The author has handled his subject in a
thoroughly practical manner, and is to be congratulated on having
compressed so much valuable matter into so small a compass."

_The Scotsman_--"Most serviceable.... The letterpress is beautifully
and usefully illustrated, while the get-up of the book generally is
very tasteful."

_The World_--"This very useful series should by no means be missed
from the library of the sincere gardener."

_The Daily Chronicle_--"THE BOOK."

_The Morning Post_--"Particularly sound advice.... The information
throughout is treated in a simple and intelligible manner."

_The Garden_--"Very plain and practical. Many useful illustrations
from photographs and sketches are dispersed throughout the book.
The best kinds of Asparagus for decorative purposes are described
by Dr Roberts, who gives also many interesting details concerning
the history and cookery of these vegetables. Altogether a very
readable book."

JOHN LANE: LONDON: VIGO STREET, W.
NEW YORK: 67 FIFTH AVENUE.

Handbooks of Practical Gardening--_Continued_.

Vol. II.--THE BOOK OF THE GREENHOUSE. With a special chapter on the
little Town Greenhouse. By J. C. TALLACK, F.R.H.S., Head Gardener
at Shipley Hall.

Vol. III.--THE BOOK OF THE GRAPE. By H. W. WARD, F.R.H.S., for 25
years Head Gardener at Longford Castle, Author of "My Gardener."

Vol. IV.--THE BOOK OF OLD-FASHIONED FLOWERS. By HARRY ROBERTS, author
of "The Chronicle of a Cornish Garden."

Vol. V.--THE BOOK OF BULBS. By S. ARNOTT, of Carsethorne, near
Dumfries.

Vol. VI.--THE BOOK OF THE APPLE. By H. H. THOMAS, Assistant Editor
of "The Garden," late of the Royal Gardens, Windsor. Together with
chapters by the Editor on the History and Cooking of the Apple and
the Preparation of Cider.

Vol. VII.--THE BOOK OF CLIMBING PLANTS. By G. H. WOOLASTON, M.A.,
F.G.S.

JOHN LANE: LONDON: VIGO STREET, W.
NEW YORK: 67 FIFTH AVENUE.

AN IDEAL GARDEN BOOK

The Chronicle of a Cornish Garden

BY

HARRY ROBERTS

_With Seven Illustrations of an Ideal Garden by_

F. L. B. GRIGGS

Crown 8vo. Cloth. 5s. net

_The Outlook_--"A pleasant and instructive account of the manner in which Mr Roberts transformed a Cornish Wilderness into a garden fair. He is particular to give the exact names of the plants employed. This will be found of great assistance to any one who undertakes a similarly enchanting but difficult task.... Gossipy, instructive; prettily illustrated."