than any manure; and the next best application for them is very rotten cow-dung. However, if you prefer cutting down your beautiful shrubs, April is the best time, and you need only cut down every other plant the first season. You may cut them to any degree, even to the ground, for no plants bear the

knife better.

THE FRUIT-GARDEN.

FRUIT-FORCING.-Having, at page 72, assisted in launching the amateur on the somewhat perilous voyage of fruit-forcing, it is next our duty to warn him of the rocks and shallows which will, of necessity, beset his track. We before merely dwelt on a few abstract principles; now it will be best to commence handling the subject in its details,

THE PINE-APPLE.-The month of January is a dormant period with this fruit. Early fruiters cannot be urged forward, as yet with safety, by means of a sudden increase of heat; and successions do not, by any means require it. Light-increasing light-with the natural advances of the seasons, is the signal for an increased temperature. Our London commercial gardeners, however, contrive to "sail against wind and tide" in these respects; for unless they produce ripe fruit very early-that is to say, before Parliament rises the value of their produce becomes so much depreciated, that it scarcely pays for culture. Hence they grow principally the Queen varieties of the pine-apple; and, by contriving to grow them up to the very showing point in the autumn, the plants start early in spring with even a moderate increase in temperature. With the amateur grower the case is widely different. If he happens to possess surplus fruit, for which there is no immediate demand in his own family, why, of course, they would be turned to account in this way: such, however, would be the exception to the rule.

We have digressed thus much, in order to make one fact plain, which is, that the amateur's course of culture, and that of the commercial gardener, do not lie precisely the same way, although the main principles of culture are strictly the same. There has been so much misconception in this, as in other cases, that we are very anxious clear views should be taken at the outset; and, although it may be that many of our readers are perfectly aware of such facts and features in pine culture, yet we can but crave their patience whilst endeavouring to guide the tyro; it is a duty to endeavour to assist the rising generation in taking their first steps in gardening.

We repeat

The amateur, then, we will suppose, is not confined to season in his pine affairs. He is, perhaps, not a Parliament man, and therefore we must suppose him thoroughly domesticated, and that, from the gooseberry upwards, he desires to enjoy at all seasons, all that Pomona can afford, backed, as she is in Britain, by an artificial clime. We before said, that in our humble opinion, the Hamiltonian mode of culture is the best for the amateur. this recommendation. If, however, we happen to ride our hobby too hard, some kind friend must nudge our elbow, and we shall then, doubtless, relax our whipping and spurring, provided sound reasons can be shown. We are quite aware that, in adhering so tenaciously to the Hamiltonian method, we shall lay ourselves open to severe remarks from those who strenuously advocate the Meudon plan, amongst whom is a friend we highly respect, as we may well do. It will be seen that allusion is here made to the

gentleman who has assumed the euphonious title of "Mirabile dictu," than whom, nobody is more competent to form a good estimate of the comparative value of the various modes in use. The Meudon plan, for aught we know to the contrary, may be the best for tumbling a host of pines into the market at once; it also may be the means of producing larger fruit; the latter point, however, is scarcely secured by the Meudon advocates as yet. And, again, we are quite ready to admit that it looks somewhat more systematic on the face of it. We, however, feel, that if the culture of pines, and other exotic fruits, is to be placed within the reach of thousands (which they will one day), that economy both of labour and material must be the polar star of our calculations. By the Hamiltonian method we do think that a house might be so constructed, that the amateur, or those engaged in professional duties, might at any period be absent for a whole week, and their pines, thus established, unlooked at and unattended, save a servant of some kind to keep the fire in. We really do not want to give the amateur the trouble of removing or shifting, for these things are a serious drawback to their extensive culture. Thousands of amateurs, and keen cultivators too, cannot afford to keep a very expensive staff, yet they are perfectly ready to widen their horticultural views, and to embrace more objects, provided the purse-strings are not drawn too wide. Now, we would so have it, that such gentlemen should be so far relieved from potting, shifting, &c., of pines, as to be able to attend well to the potting of their floral pets; for our worthy and clever coadjutor Mr. Fish, would doubtless be very cross if the shifting of his crack fuchsias, or achimenes, must be compelled to stand over a week or two because our pines must be shifted. If, however, any one is really desirous of having merely the largest pine-apple at the exhibition, he will, perhaps, do as well to adopt the Meudon plan, or some modification of it.

We have thus trespassed much, for once, on the patience of our readers, in order to be well understood; for, in these carping times, it behoves us all "to keep our gunpowder dry."

In a succeeding paper, we will go farther into detail about Hamilton's plan; and in the mean time, we must proceed to other in-door matters.

VINE-FORCING.-It happens with most of our amateur readers, that the roots of the vines they intend forcing are outside the house. This is somewhat unfortunate, and, as a question of principle, should be examined a little closer by those interested; for it so happens that excellent grapes are, in reality, produced under such circumstances, in certain situations. As this will seem perplexing, we must beg to say a few words about it. A few years since we called, in the course of a gardening tour, on a much-esteemed old friend, Mr. Holland, gardener to the Misses Timms, of Taplow Lodge, near Maidenhead. It was either at the end of April or at the beginning of May; and Holland had a house of Black Hamburghs just ripe, certainly as fine as it was possible to imagine. A discussion immediately arose about inside and outside roots, and Holland astonished us by observing, that one half of the house were from an inside border, and the other from an outside one, at the same time challenging as to the difference. And truly no difference could be perceived; all were equally fine. Mr. Holland, however, always covered the border outside with leaves and rakings of the woods in the autumn; we think he said about six inches in depth. Now, we do not suppose, for a moment, that any fermentation heat

was imparted to the ground; such was not Mr. Holland's aim. It is obvious, however, that the nonconducting powers of leaves in a fresh state must be much greater than people commonly imagine. Herein is a beauteous illustration of the great wisdom, as well as the apparent simplicity, of the principles in which God has founded the order of things: leaves are not only the chief ornaments of our trees whilst existent, and the great elaborators of all the juices, which are convertible, respectively, into fruits, starch, gums, &c., or timber; but when decaying, are made to subserve the purpose, in some degree, of protecting the roots from sudden extremes of temperature.

In

We may now offer an opinion as to how it is that outside roots sometimes succeed in early forcing. First, then, the vine root, when in action, is more susceptible to injuries than most of our fruit-trees. addition to its impatience, as a tropical tree, to sudden depressions of temperature, it adds an equal amount of dislike to stagnant moisture. Secondly, we know, by long experience, that not one border in half a dozen (as they have hitherto been constructed) has proved a sufficient guarantee against the above excesses during extreme seasons. Thirdly, that no thorough success can be expected if the young and tender fibres are but once destroyed, or seriously impeded in their operations, any time between the blossoming and the ripening period. Now, if such arguments be admitted-and they are something more than mere suppositions-it will be no marvel that we find such anomalous results arising from grape forcing in various quarters. Indeed, the whole question is simple, and lies in a nut-shell: some writers, however, have managed to invest the subject with a considerable amount of mystery, as, indeed, hath been done in most other gardening matters.

Let us advise, then, those who cannot confide in their border, not to commence forcing too early. But let them instantly set to work and examine the roots carefully, and, if stagnant waters exist, to make as many outlets for its escape as possible, even making holes in various parts of the border, and filling them nearly full of bricks and stones, and having, if possible, an outlet into a drain or escape. Let those who will begin forcing cover the border immediately, getting up, if possible, a slight fermentation in the covering; and, as they cannot meddle with the roots, they may throw out an open gutter as close to the extremity of the roots as possible, provided they do not mind appearances. R. ERRINGTON.

THE FLOWER-GARDEN.

HARDY CLIMBERS.-The white vine, or Traveller's joy, called by botanists Clematis vitalba, which I instanced last week, in order to point out how plants of that character, which have been neglected for a time, should be dealt with at first, is the British representative of a very useful family of hardy climbers--natives of various countries in the temperate regions of the old and new world-which are not grown nearly to the extent they deserve to be, and no doubt would be, if they were better known to amateurs, or to the great body of the people, amongst whom the different writers in THE COTTAGE GARDENER are all so anxious to infuse a healthy and sound practical knowledge of all departments of gardening.

The English name of this family, to which our Traveller's joy belongs, is The Virgin's Bower; not, as many suppose, because they are all well adapted to cover arbours, bowers, or summer-houses, in which maidens might sing, or coo, or dress their flower

wreaths, but because the first species of the genus, the Vine-bower clematis, was introduced here from Spain, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in 1569; and the name of virgin's bower was given, to convey a complimentary allusion to her Majesty, who, as is well known, liked to be called "the Virgin Queen.” Clematis, the scientific name of this family, is derived from the Greek word kleema, a small branch or tendril of a vine, because most of these plants climb after the manner of a grape-vine. Although the word clematis is as currently in use as virgin's bower, nine persons out of ten in the country unfortunately pronounce it wrong, by putting the accent on the a, as in tomatoo, instead of on the e and having the a short thus,-clématis.

Some one or other of the species of clematis, will come in for all the conceivable ways in which strong, hardy climbers can be grown or trained. Almost all of them are quick growers, and would soon cover a large space, and live to a great age, if planted in deep, rich, light soil, on a dry bottom: but a damp clayey bottom does not suit them well. I shall notice, when considering each species, those that will do best in stiff or wet soil. The whole of them grow remarkably well over a chalk bottom, as I can affirm from my own experience here, where we grow a good selection of them, and the first of them begins to flower, some years in February, but never later than March. The name of this is cirrhoza, with the accent on the o. The meaning of this name is, that the footstalk of the leaf clasps round any thing for support, like the leaves of the Maurandia, and the tendrils of a grape-vine; being, if literally translated, tendriled. There are two or three varieties of it, as calycine and polymorphace, but they have all the same habit; are very nearly evergreens, with small delicate leaves, and therefore, and for their early flowering, are suitable to train up the pillar of a veranda, or somewhere not far from the windows, whence they may be seen in dull weather, and when flowers are scarce. The flowers are produced singly, or one in a place; are large, dullish white, and hang down gracefully with a bell-shaped mouth. plant is not liable to get naked below, like some of them, and is said by some not to be very hardy; but that is a very great mistake-not an inch of it was hurt here in an open situation, and against an iron arch exposed to all weather, without any covering, during those very hard winters of 1838 and 1841. The only secret in growing it to perfection is, to have it planted on a perfectly dry bottom. It is well suited for sunk areas in large towns, to be planted above the pavement in a raised border, eighteen inches deep, supported with a box-like edging, the wall forming one of the long sides of the box. I never pass through London without "thinking to myself," what a grand place they could make of it after all, if they would but grow hardy climbers against their street doors.

The

But I must follow out this idea a little further, and show how it could best be accomplished. In country towns and villages, where the houses have no sunk areas, we often see vines, and other plants, doing very well trained against the houses, and their roots covered with the flag stones of the pavement, and the street beyond; so that one wonders how they can exist at all. I have seen the grape-vine produce fine successive good crops of fruit, even while the roots were so situated, that they did not receive a drop of water all that time. Still, I would be very loath to plant climbers in the natural soil, in the sunk areas of town-houses, as we often see them, and

doing well too, in some places; but that only happens where the subsoil is of the right sort, and properly drained, and even then a long summer's drought parches up the leaves, in too many instances, and there is little possibility of getting water to their roots. The only serious objection I ever heard to having raised borders for these climbers against a house, is the danger of admitting damp to the walls; because borders of that make, must be constantly kept moist with rain and rich water, during the growing season: but this could be guarded against by a coat of cement over the bricks, and to reach a few inches higher than the soil. I believe, from what I have seen of it, that the Parian cement is is the best for this purpose. If the space is long, say not less than eight or ten feet, the depth of a raised border need not be more than eighteen inches; but for a shorter space, two feet in height would be necessary to give good capacity for the roots-as all such borders are necessarily rather narrow-not more than a foot wide in many places. Builders in general know so little about the requirements of these climbers, that I would never entrust them to make up these borders, in the case of newly-built houses. It is better, and far cheaper in the long run, to get some respectable nurseryman to superintend these things, but with this stipulation, that he will provide the best kinds of climbers for the particular locality and aspect, and to call in occasionally to advise about their treatment for the first twelve months in short, to be responsible for the whole until the plants are set properly afloat; and thus, his credit being at stake, the plants, some how or other, are sure to get 'on all the better and faster.

Two of the best borders I ever made for climbers were obliged to be raised in this manner, owing to the previous arrangement of the conservatory, and the following is the way they were made a single layer of brickbats was put over a stone floor next to the walls, two feet wide; long slabs of slate about half an inch wide were laid down for a border, their corners and middle resting on small pieces of slate, an inch thick; this was to allow an inch opening all along the bottom for drainage; four inches of very roughlyground bones were laid over the brickbats to facilitate the drainage and feed the roots; then a thin turf with the grass side downwards; and, after that, a good rich compost, pretty rough with bits of turf, charcoal, and broken bones; but this slate edging did not answer so well as a wooden one when a border was raised against an outside wall, because the heat of the sun in summer would warm the slate to such a degree as would be dangerous to young roots growing in contact with it: therefore, I recommend wooden edgings, and, to insure them against speedy decay, I would line their inside, that next the soil, with a row of the thinnest roofing slate set on end and lapping a little over each other at the edges; and the way such edgings are held up is by T-pieces of iron, with a wedge end, which is driven in the wall, and the T-end screwed into the wood. Now, there is no reason why any one, with ordinary capacity, should not grow climbers, that will stand the smoke and dirt, in such borders as these, in any part of a town or village all over the kingdom; and, before I have done with climbers, I shall name some for all kinds of situations and aspects. If I either miss anything, or say what any one cannot make out properly, I shall be obliged to any reader who will write to our Editor for further information, because no part of gardening do I like, or succeed in, better than climbers of all sorts.

The Mountain clematis (C. montana), from Nepal, is the next of the family which flowers with us, and as early as May. It is a very strong and fast-growing one, and is highly ornamental when in bloom. If this will bear the smoke of large towns, it will be found one of the very best of them for London houses, as it comes into flower in the middle of the gay season; and, when it blooms, the place would look as if covered with the white Wood anemone, for that is just the appearance of the flowers at a short distance. This clematis is easily increased by cuttings or layers.

The Sweet-scented clematis (C. flammula), of which there are several varieties, is better known than our own Traveller's joy, which it much resembles. Both of them produce immense quantities of small white flowers in the autumn, and bearded seeds afterwards. For covering a large space in a short time, the Travellers' joy is the best of the two, and has by far the longest beard, or feathery tail, to the seeds; but it will very soon get naked at the bottom, and is not willing to produce suckers so freely as C. flammula ; therefore, when a climber is wanted to cover the tops of trees, or high up against a house, without reference to the bottom, the Travellers' joy might be carried up a long way with a naked stem; but where it is desirable to have the space covered from the bottom, the C. flammula is the best.

At Shrubland Park, we make a fine edging of the flammula to large flower beds, for scarlet geraniums, by training it on a flat trellis, eighteen inches from the ground, and about two feet wide, and by stopping the points of the young shoots occasionally through the summer, they flower profusely in the autumn, looking remarkably well against the scarlet mass inside; and after the flowers are over, the white feathery tails of the seeds look almost as rich as the white flowers which fill the air around with their fragrance.

The VIRGINIAN CLEMATIS is not unlike these, and might be used for either of them. Another one, much in the same way, and flowering as late as October, is called C. grata, or the grateful-scented clematis, and is from the north of India. Henderson's clematis is the best of the blue flowering strong growers, and is a beautiful climber, which ought to be in every garden. It was raised by Mr. Appleby's employers is called after them, and shows what could be done if people of leisure were to amuse themselves with crossing such beautiful and useful plants. There is a smaller blue one, a variety of C. viticella, or vine-bower clematis, which does not grow so strong as C. hendersonii, and would answer for a limited space. There are purple and reddish flowering varieties of vitisella, and some with double flowers, all more or less slender, and well suited to confined places. They might be cut down to the ground annually, and would all flower after midsummer; or they might be planted to fill up the bottoms of the stronger growing ones. C. cylindrica, a blue flowering one, from North America, is also well calculated for filling up the bottom of the strong ones, being quite a slender grower, and coming into bloom after viticella. Another one, with dull yellow small flowers, called C. orientalis, is grown here solely on account of its fine foliage, which is glaucous, or greyish green. This one spawns much by suckers. C. ciorna is another slender one, from North America, with purplish red flowers, well worth growing. This finishes my list of the best sorts, with the exception of those from Japan, which I shall mention soon.

D. BEATON