Mrs. Loudon

“ The natural, or English style, as it is called abroad, however beautiful it may be in pleasure-grounds, is very ill adapted to a flower-garden, which is essentially artificial. The principal beauty of a flower-garden consists, indeed, in the elegance with which it has been arranged, and the neatness with which it is kept; or, in other words, in the evidence it affords of the art that has been employed in forming it. This being the case, it is quite clear that an artificial mode of arrangement is more suitable to it than any other, as it is best adapted for keeping up the harmony of the whole. ”

“ To remember that the manure of cows and all animals that chew the cud, is cold and suited to a light soil; and that the manure of horses, pigs, and poultry is hot and suited to a firm soil: also that all manure, when well rotten, becomes cold in its nature, and should be treated accordingly. To remember that all mixed soils are more fertile than soils consisting only of one of the three primitive earths, viz. lime, sand, or clay; and never to forget that too much manure is quite as injurious to plants as too little. ”

“ The seats in a garden or pleasure-ground are generally purchased ready made; but an agreeable variety may be occasionally produced, by having the stump of an old tree formed into a seat, and twining ivy, and creeping flowering shrubs, round it. Where it is an object to save trouble, a plant of the Virginian creeper may be planted with one of the giant ivy; and if both are left to nature, the effect will be very good, as the brilliant deep red of the Virginian creeper in autumn will be relieved by the dark green of the ivy. ”

“ Thus, the root is necessary, not only to form a base to support the plant and to keep it upright, but to supply it with food; and nature has given it a tendency to bury itself in the ground, not only to enable the plant to take a firm hold of the soil, but to preserve the root in a fitting state for absorbing food, which it can only do when it is kept warm, moist, and secluded from the light. ”

“ A place regularly dotted over with trees at equal distances is quite featureless; has nothing to attract the eye, and nothing to interest the mind. But if the same trees are planted on the same ground in masses, with a broad expanse of lawn between; the trees sometimes projecting, and sometimes showing a smooth glade of grass, running in among them, the end of which the eye cannot reach, the imagination becomes excited, and a degree of interest is instantly created. Where the lawn is large, a few single trees may be introduced ”

“ A trained tree is a most unnatural object; and whatever care may be taken of it, there can be no doubt that training shortens its life by many years. The principal object of training is to produce from a certain number of branches a greater quantity of fruit or flowers than would grow on them if the plant were left in a natural state; and this is effected by spreading and bending the branches, so as to form numerous depositions of the returning sap, aided, where the plant is trained against the wall, by the shelter and reflected heat which the wall affords. ”

“ Every ripe seed in a dry state is a concentration of carbon, which, when dissolved by moisture, and its particles set in motion by heat, is in a fit state to combine with the oxygen in the atmosphere, and thus to form the carbonic acid gas which is the nourishment of the expanding plant. For this reason, seeds, and newly sprung-up plants do not want to be supplied with manure, and air is much more essential to them: they have enough carbon in their cotyledons or seed-leaves, and they only want oxygen to combine with it, to enable them to develope their other leaves ”

“ Grafting differs from budding in its being the transfer of a shoot with several buds on it, from one tree to another, instead of only a single bud; and as budding has been compared to sowing seeds, so has grafting to making cuttings. The art of grafting consists in bringing two portions of growing shoots together, so that the liber, or soft wood of two may unite and grow together ”

“ Digging for the purpose of exposing the soil to the action of the weather, trenching, and ridging on a large scale, are operations too laborious to be performed by any one but a gardener’s labourer. To be done well, the earth in all these cases should be mixed in large spitfuls at a time, and turned over without breaking, on which account they are best performed in moist weather, when the earth is in an adhesive state. Ridging on a [Pg 19] small scale may be useful in a flower garden, when the soil is much infested with insects, or where there are many weeds. ”

“ Of all these, one of the most permanent appears to be the fox-tail meadow-grass (Alopecurus pratensis) ; it is one of the principal grasses in rich natural pastures, and it should always form one-fourth part of the seeds used for laying down a lawn. The sweet-scented spring grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum) grows best in deep moist soil; but it is worth sowing in every situation for its fineness, its dwarf growth, and for its habit of continuing to vegetate, and to throw up fresh stalks nearly all the year. It is this grass which gives so delightful a fragrance to new hay. ”

“ In the first place, roses are said to require removing every third year; as their roots exude a great deal of matter unfit for them to reabsorb, and as their fibrous roots are few, small, and not widely extended from the hole of the plant. It is not perhaps necessary to take this rule strictly au pied de la lettre, but it is as well to keep it in view, and to remember that when rose trees look sickly, or fail to produce a due proportion of flowers, removing them to a fresh soil will generally restore their vigour. ”

“ When any soil, except sand or loose gravel, remains unstirred for any length of time, it becomes hard, and its particles adhere so firmly together as not to be separated without manual force. It is quite clear that when soil is in this state, it is unfit for the reception of seeds; as the tender roots of the young plants will not be able to penetrate it through without great difficulty, and neither air nor water can reach them in sufficient quantities to make them thrive. When a seed is put into the ground, it is the warmth and moisture by which it is surrounded that make it vegetate. ”

“ In spring, when the sap first begins to be in motion, and the young plant is every day unfolding [Pg 66] fresh leaves or blossoms, it requires abundance of water; as it does when in flower, or when the fruit is swelling. In autumn, on the contrary, when the fruit is ripening, and in winter, when the plant is in a state of perfect rest, very little water is necessary, and much is positively injurious, as being likely either to excite a morbid and unnatural action in the vessels, or even to bring on rottenness and decay. ”

“ By persevering in this mode of treatment for some time, and never advancing more than one size at a time, a plant may be grown to a large size, and made to produce abundance of flowers; while by the contrary treatment, that is, suffering it to remain in a very small pot, or shifting it suddenly into a very large one, the stem will become weakened and elongated, and the flowers will be few and very poor. In short, on the skilful management of repotting, or shifting, as the gardeners call it, a great deal of the art of growing plants in pots depends. ”

“ Plants should never be repotted when in flower; the best time is indeed when they are growing, till their flower buds begin to swell, when they should be allowed to remain undisturbed till the flowering season is completely over. Sometimes the soil in a pot looks black, and covered with moss. When this is the case, the plant should be turned out of the pot, and the black sodden earth partly shaken off the roots, which should be pruned, and should have all their decayed parts cut off. ”

“ It must never be forgotten, that unless the spongioles of the roots are permitted to imbibe the carbonic acid gas always floating in the atmosphere, with the moisture they take up, the sap of the tree will never be rich enough to produce fruit. The fruit and seeds of every plant are in fact concentrations of carbon, precipitated by the action of light; and where any plant is deficient in carbon, or deprived of light, it cannot produce much fruit. The culture of the nectarine is exactly the same as that of the peach. ”

“ In the same way a lady, with a small light spade may, by taking time, succeed in doing all the digging that can be required in a small garden, the soil of which, if it has been [Pg 9] long in cultivation, can never be very hard or difficult to penetrate, and she will not only have the satisfaction of seeing the garden created, as it were, by the labour of her own hands, but she will find her health and spirits wonderfully improved by the exercise, and by the reviving smell of the fresh earth. ”

“ It must be observed, however, in all situations, that flowers never do well under the shade of trees. Where no ground can be spared for a flower-garden but a spot surrounded by tall trees, it is better to give up at once the idea of growing flowers in it in beds, and to ornament it with rock-work, fountains, vases, statues, &c., interspersed [Pg 246] with a few flowering trees and shrubs, so arranged, that though their flowers, if produced, would augment the beauty of the scene, the want of them may not destroy it, if they should fail. ”

“ In April, an awning of thin canvass, is erected over each bed, under which the plants are to flower; and by the middle of this month they will be in all their beauty. As soon as the flowers begin to fade the flower-stalks should be cut off and instantly removed. They should never be suffered to lie on the bed, and should not even be put where by any chance they can mix with the earth intended for a hyacinth bed in another year, as the exudations proceeding from them in their decay would cause the bulbs to rot. ”

“ The best soil for dahlias is a sandy loam, not too rich, as, in rich or moist soils, the plant will produce more stalks and leaves than flowers. Where the soil of the garden in which dahlias are to be planted is rich, or heavy, a quantity of sand or gravel should be mixed with it. Striped or variegated flowers will soon lose their markings if grown in rich soil. The tubers of the early kinds are planted in April, to flower in June; but those of the finer kinds are not planted till May and June. When they begin to grow, the side-shoots are removed from one foot to three feet from the ground ”

“ In fields, and uncultivated places, the surface-soil is almost as hard, and as coarse in its texture, as the sub-soil on which it rests; but in gardens which have been long in cultivation, the surface-soil becomes so thoroughly pulverized by frequent diggings, and so mixed with the manure and decayed vegetables which have been added to it from time to time, that it is changed into the soft, light, fine, powdery substance, called garden-mould. ”

“ The culture of the auricula, when it is to be grown as a prize-flower, demands a degree of care and attention that no one but a professed florist would think it worth his while to bestow. The great points appear to be to make the soil as rich as possible, only, however, using the cold manures, such as cow-dung, &c.; to let the pots be very well drained, by placing about an inch and a half deep of broken pot-shreds in each pot; and to keep the plants well and regularly watered. ”

“ This being allowed, it is evident that the first step towards promoting the growth of any plant is to provide a fitting receptacle for the root; and this is done by pulverizing the ground in which the seed is to be sown so as to render it in a fit state for the roots to penetrate it easily. Thus they will neither be checked in their growth for want of room, nor be obliged to waste their strength in overcoming unnecessary obstacles; such as twining themselves round a stone, or trying to force their way through a hard clod of earth. ”

“ When apple-trees are planted in the kitchen-garden where they are to remain, each tree should always be placed on a little hillock; as no tree is more liable to become cankered from having its collar buried. The tree succeeds best in a [Pg 220] deep strong loam, provided it be well drained, and rich rather than poor; and when the soil appears exhausted, it may be renovated by laying on it what the farmers call a top-dressing of manure, taking care not to bury or even to touch the collar of the tree. Apple-trees will, however, flourish in any soil except sand or gravel. ”

“ It is, indeed, very provoking, after watching the ease with which a gardener digs a bed, and looking at the perfectly smooth and even surface that he leaves, to find how very hard it is to imitate him; and yet it is essentially necessary to be done, for if there are any irregularities in the surface, the hollow places will collect the moisture, and the plants in them will grow vigorously, while those in the raised places will be speedily dried by the sun and wind, and will look poor and withered. ”

“ If peas are sown in freshly-manured, very moist, or clayey soil, they will run to haulm, that is, they will produce more leaves and stalks than peas: and, if grown in calcareous soil, they will boil hard and tough, even when young, and when old will never become floury.
The early peas are small, and few in each pod, and with so little flavour, that we never have them sown in our little garden, but have the green Prussians sown early for a first crop, and again, a little later, for a second. The early dwarf peas are, indeed, of little use, except for forcing. ”

“ It has been already observed, when speaking of the laying out of a kitchen garden, that beyond the fruit-border there is generally a walk, enclosing the compartments devoted to culinary vegetables in the centre. Now where espaliers are grown, there should be a second chambered border, exactly like the fruit border under the wall, which should be shut out from the culinary compartments by a low wall under ground, or flat stones placed edgeways, or boards, or, in fact, any thing to prevent the roots of the espaliers from spreading into the ground devoted to the culinary crops. ”