In the Garden There is a "blessed word," symbiosis, which
is being much used in garden literature—or, as Lewis Carroll suggested, litter-aturc. The argu- ment is that certain plants flourish much more abundantly if they have congenial neighbours of another sort. The dandelion is one of the weeds to which an almost mystic influence is attributed, both when living and in compost. Since we can scarcely be expected to encourage dande- lions, a more practical example, if true, is proffered by a contributor to the Countryman. Chapter and verse are given for the belief that sweet corn and tomatoes enjoy one another's close company. Not only do the tomatoes bear more fruit, when companioned, but the maize serves also in the place of a supporting stick. The two vegetables also synchronise conveniently in the dates of cultivation. We know that certain neighbours• are antipathetic—for example, and most oddly, anemones and plums— and there seems to be real scope for research into the influence of
congenial neighbours, in shirt, into symbiosis. W. BEACH THOMAS.
Previous page
