ART. IX. Remarks on Sir Henry Steuart's Planter's Guide. By QUERCUS.

Sir, SINCE the able review of Sir Henry Steuart's Planter's Guide by Mr. Main (Vol. IV. p. 115.), I have seen the work : t contains more egotism than might have been expected. I will make a few remarks on the manner Sir Henry speaks of the capabilities of gardeners and wood-foresters, in respect of their knowledge in the transplanting of large forest trees. In the preface he says:-"The gardener knows little about work without the walls of the garden; the wood-forester is only a mere lopper or cutter of wood." Gentlemen themselves are to blame for not having woodmen or planters whose practice combines science also. It is no uncommon sight to see some old domestic, such as has been coachman or groom formerly, or perhaps the cart and plough wright, having the management of the plantations, and that, too, on pretty extensive estates. Such men may do to report a broken fence, if they cannot mend it; or they may report to their employer such and such people for carrying away brushwood, &c.: but they know as little about the thinning for the future welfare of the plantations, or the proper method of planting, so as to produce such and such effects, according to the local situation of the ground and surrounding scenery, as an old tailor would do who had never been without the walls of a city. Let noblemen and gentlemen give the same rate of wages to a first-rate planter as they would do to a first-rate gardener, and engage none who cannot give some proofs of their knowledge in the different parts of forest management, and of the value of fullgrown timber, together with their capability to harmonise the plantations or grounds to be planted with the surrounding scenery. I say, let such, and such qualifications only, be the means of obtaining respectable situations, and then Sir Henry Steuart will see wood-foresters capable of doing something more than lopping off a bough, or cutting down a tree.

But

as I am one of those beings denominated a mere lopper or cutter of wood, I must tell Sir Henry that I have transplanted trees of from 10 to 16 ft. high, without any machine, and not above one in sixty died. The trees were carried about a mile on a low wood-waggon, two, and sometimes three, at one time. After digging well round the tree and below the roots, I made the balls be reduced with a pick (taking care of the small fibrous roots), so that six or eight men could lift them to the waggon with a large hand-barrow.

By the by, I knew how to use this pick before Sir Henry's book was printed; and although my employer was for pruning and shortening the boughs, I answered in the negative. Elms and sycamore I found do best; although horsechestnut and service tree did very well. Spruce and balm of Gilead firs pushed well after being two years transplanted. I consider the elm a good tree for transplanting, from its very fibrous roots. Of course, the trees referred to above are small in comparison of the Allanton trees; but, if care is taken, the success is certain. Where there are plantations of about twenty years' growth on an estate, clumps, single trees, park scenery, &c., may be much improved, at very little expense. I do not consider it needful to have a machine for lifting trees below 16 ft. in height; for trees 12 and 15 ft. high may be lifted, two and three at a time, as I have hinted above. I can assure Sir Henry Steuart, there are gardeners," and loppers and cutters of wood," also, that, if they had the same means as he possessed, would execute work worthy a visit from a deputation of the Highland Society. Through the medium of the Magazine, I wish to pay my respects to John Moggridge, Esq., I never saw the gentleman, and most likely never shall; but he manifests such a spirit of philanthropy in the means he has used to better the condition of the labouring classes, that I have often thought of him myself, and spoken of him to others. The plans he has put in practice are of a more substantial nature than what your correspondent Variegata points out as calculated to educate the feelings of the labouring classes: people must first have a due portion of the necessaries of life, food and clothing, before their feelings will be any way softened by parochial museums, dancing, &c.

September, 1829.

I am, Sir, &c.

QUERCUS.

ART. X. Notice of a new Guard for Single Trees in Parks and on Lawns. By Mr. JOHN HISLOP, Gardener to Colonel Howard, at Ashstead Park, Surrey.

Sir,

I SOME time ago sent you a query for the Gardener's Magazine, as to the best mode of guarding single trees, on lawns or in parks, from the depredations of various kinds of cattle. By the best mode I, of course, meant efficiency, lightness, and economy. The answer returned was (Vol. III.

p. 254.),

"Tie

branches of thorn round their stems with willow shoots; which was any thing but satisfactory.

11

As the subject deserves some attention, I herewith send you a sketch of a tree-guard in use at this place, which I consider to combine all the required qualities, in a degree far beyond comparison with any other mode I have ever seen. It is a hexagon (fig. 11.) composed merely of rustic materials: oak stumps driven into the ground, to rise 16 in. average; and the rails, consisting of split hurdle poles, or any similar material, nailed upon them, and a little inclined, as shown in the sketch. (fig. 12.) It is needless to en

ter into any com

10ft.

parison with other modes of guarding: the advantages of this will be apparent, at a glance, to any one at all acquainted

12

with the subject. I shall only add, that its efficiency has been sufficiently proved by exposure to horses, bullocks, deer, and

asses.

You are quite aware that it is a matter of vast importance to new inventions to bestow suitable appellations upon

them. Our new guards have, no doubt, from a conviction of the truth of the above remarks, been styled Dendrophylactics, which is to remain, when immortalised in the Gardener's

Magazine, their distinctive and characteristic name in all time to come. Whether any may infer that the above very appropriate designation shows any thing like a deriding or ironical aspect towards the lofty and sonorous names frequently attached to trifling inventions, must be left to the judgment of your numerous readers.

Ashtead Park, Oct. 13. 1829.

I am, Sir, &c.

JOHN HISLOP.

ART. XI. An improved Method of planting and protecting Bulbs in Flower Borders. By Mr. W. SEYMOUR.

Sir,

I AM surprised that the beautiful tribe of bulbous-flowering plants are not more propagated and planted amongst the admirers of flowers, as there are a great many of them hardy, as Narcissus, Fritillària, and Scilla; and some of the ixias, gladioluses, and amaryllises are hardy enough for warm situations. As I suppose the objection to the cultivation of them is owing to their liability to being destroyed (while in a dormant state) by the operations of digging and hoeing, I will endeavour to describe to you a method of protecting them, as practised in the garden of Mrs. Saltmarsh, of Saltmarsh near Howden, which is as follows:- Having determined the place for the clump or patch, the earth is taken out to the depth of about 6 in.; and an earthenware rim, of the shape of a common garden pot cut into two at half its depth, is plunged about 1 in. below the surface of the soil, the inside filled to the proper depth with good earth, and the bulbs planted, so that their tops may be about level with the top of the rim by which means they can be taken up and planted at any season of the year, without much detriment to the plants, as the rim holds the ball of earth together.

The rims can be made by any common potter, at about half the price of garden pots of the same width; and, if tolerably hard burnt, they will last a number of years, as they are buried out of the direct action of the weather. I am, Sir, &c.

Carlton, July 25. 1829.

WM. SEYMOur,

VOL. VI.No. 24.

E

ART. XII. Some Remarks on the Culture of Pines, and other Plants, useful or ornamental, in Beds heated by Steam acting on a Mass of loose Stones. By JOHN HAY, Esq., Garden Architect, Edinburgh.

Sir,

THAT part of the pit for the reception of the pine-pots, above the cover of the steam vault or chamber, is 20 in. in depth. As the chamber is covered with Arbroath pavement, a kind of stone of a very hard and impervious quality, and a better conductor of heat than some other sorts of stone or tiles, a layer of small cinders, or soft bricks broken very small, 4 in. deep, is laid above the cover. These retain the heat longer, and at the same time act as a drain for carrying off any moisture that may proceed from the bottom of the pots or otherwise.

You will see from my paper * the reason why the pots of pines at Cunnoquhie had to stand on the layer of cinders, namely, the want of head room for the plants, the pits having been built solely for the growth of melons; but now that these pits are altered to suit the culture of both pines and melons, the depth of the pit above the cover of the bed of stones is the same in both for the melons, 4 in. of cinders, and 15 or 16 in. of soil above; and for the pines, 4 in. of cinders, 3 in. of the same substance in which the pots are plunged, and 12 in. for the depth of the pots. The edges of the pots of pines will then be one inch lower than the top of the steam-flue.

Colonel Paterson mentioned to me that he could procure tanners' bark at Cupar for plunging the pine-pots in. This I objected to, as being the worst substance that could be employed for the purpose, as, being of an open nature, it would permit the heat to escape; but I recommended the use of well rotted leaves, or any free gravelly soil. At Castle Semple, this season, about 16 ft. in length of one of the steam. pits have been planted, by way of trial, with pines without pots, in a bed of prepared soil, with a view of fruiting the plants next summer. I also recommended Colonel Paterson to do the same in one light of his pits, which I suppose has been done. Tanners' bark has not been employed at Castle Semple for plunging the pots in; in general, it has been well rotted leaves, firmly pressed round the pots. This season, however, two small portions of one of the pits have been separated from the rest by boards; and into the one fine sand,

In the Caledonian Horticultural Transactions; it will be given in next Number, with correct copies of the engravings. Cond.