290 



JOUilXAL OF HOKTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ AprU 4, 1872. 



they can be well handled, I pj-ick hundi-eds of them into cold 

 frames, keeping them near the glass, and also into hand-lights 

 under a wall, or under cloches, or even under the wall without 

 protection. If the winter be mild they will foi-m a welcome 

 addition to the spring stock of plants. I keep them clean and 

 let them grow just sufficiently to get them established, reserve 

 their growth for the spring, and then plant them out, the best 

 into cold pits and frames, and under hand-lights, where they 

 can be kept in a growing state without check until they are fit 

 for use ; and the remainder are planted out in trenches between 

 Pea rows on a south border ; this affords them considerable 

 protection. Another plantation may be made a Uttle later on 

 without any protection whatever, but on a border if possible. 



We often hear of Cauhflowers going suddenly into that pro- 

 voking state called buttoning, and I have frequently had them 

 so among my stock. I have found that this depends upon the 

 .season, and I have never been so free from buttoned Cauli- 

 flowers as when I have been able to plant out my earliest out- 

 door crop without a check. For this puiijose the plants must 

 be small, and should be moved to then- quarters with a ball of 

 soU attached to their roots. It is my plan to keep their 

 gi-owth in check until I place them where they can go on im- 

 interniptedly. If they grow too lai-ge in the store frame or 



seed bed, the chances are that most of them will button when 

 planted out, no matter whether in pits, frames, or out-doors. 

 For successional crops I make a sowing of seed, also under 

 glass, in both February and March. In the latter mouth I 

 make a sowing out-doors also, as the produce from the first 

 crop is uncertain. These sowings must be taken care of and 

 pricked-out under cover, if possible, and afterwards planted 

 out of doors. 



I am not fond of growing a quantity of sorts of any kind of 

 vegetable, especially Cauliflowers, and it is more than ever 

 difficult to get the sorts true. 'We have a vei-y distinct and 

 desirable sort in Ycitch's Autumn Giant, which I like vei-y 

 much. The Early London Cauliflower is a sort I have grown 

 for years, and have every reason to be satisfied with, as it is 

 most reUable when it can be procui'cd true, possesses a delicious 

 flavour, and is close and compact in its growth, and is to a 

 considerable extent self-protecting. The Walcheren is a well- 

 known sort for general cultivation, and many prefer it. Cauli- 

 flowers for store plants I find should be planted in a rather- 

 poor and somewhat adhesive soil, instead of the richest ani 

 lightest that can be got, as is customary with some. They 

 wUl then be of a more suitable size when planting-time comes 

 round. — Thosus Eecoed. 



BASKET-MAKING. 



Wheee my father was apprenticed the head gardener em- 

 ployed him and some others dming the long winter evenings 

 in making baskets. My father emigrated to Canada, and he 

 there foimd his knowledge of basket-making not only useful 

 but very profitable, for 

 Ms baskets sold for high 

 prices, and he made 

 them during his even- 

 ing and other spare 

 hours. I know a Uttle 

 of the basking-making 

 art, but need more in- 

 straction, where can I 

 obtain it ? I pui-pose 

 emigrating to Canada 

 next spiing, and locat- 

 ing where my father 

 died.— H. F. M. 



[You had better ob- 

 tain some instructions 

 from a basket-maker, 

 but the foUowiug, which 

 we copy from one of 

 Ml'. Loudon's works, 



will aid you and other 



young gai'deners. It 



is a handicraft that 



will be useful wherever 



they reside. — Eds.] 

 One year's shoots of the common Willow, or of some other 



species of that family, are most generally used. The shoots are 



cut the preceding autumn, 



and tied in bundles, and if 



they are intended to be 



peeled, their thick ends ai-e 



placed in standing water to 



the depth of 3 or 4 inches ; 



and when the shoots begin 



to sprout in spring they are 



drawn through a spUt stick 



stuck in the ground, or an 



apparatus consisting of two 



round rods of iron, nearly 



half an inch thick, 1 foot 



4 inches long, and tapeiing 



a httle upwards, welded to- 

 gether at the one end, which 



Fig.l. 



Fig. 3. 



is sharpened so that the instrtiment may be readily thrust 

 through a hole in the stool or small bench, on which the 

 operator sits. In using it, the operator takes the wand in his 

 right hand by the small end, and puts a foot or more of the 

 thick end into the instrument, the prongs of which he presses 

 together with his left hand, while with his right he draws the 

 wUlow towards him, by which the bark is at once separated 

 from the wood : the small end is then treated in the same 



manner, and the peeUng is completed. Every basket eonsis_t& 

 of two parts : the framework of the structure, and the filling-in 

 or wattled part. The piincipal ribs in common baskets are 

 tvip : a vertical rib or hoop, the upper part of which is destined 

 to form the handler, 

 and a horizontal hoop 

 or rim, wliich is de- 

 stined to support all 

 the subordinate ribs 

 on which the wands 

 are wattled. The two 

 main ribs are first 

 bent to the required 

 form, and made fast at 

 their extremities by 

 nails or wire. They 

 are then joined to- 

 gether in their proper 

 position, the one in- 

 tersecting the other;, 

 and they are after- 

 wards nailed together,, 

 or tied by wire at the 

 points of intersection. 

 The operation of wat- 

 tUng is next com- 

 menced , by taking the 

 ' '= "• small end of a wand,, 



and passing it once or 

 twice round the cross formed by the points of intersection ; 

 after which one, or perhaps two secondaiy ribs, are "itjo- 

 duced on each side of the 

 vertical main rib. The wat- 

 tUng is then proceeded with 

 a little further, when two 

 or more secondai-y ribs are 

 introduced; and the pro- 

 cess is continued till a suffi- 

 cient number of subordi- 

 nate ribs are put in to sup- 

 port the wattling of the 

 entii-e structure. The whole 

 art, as far- as concerns the 

 gardener, will be under- 

 stood from the following 

 figures : — 

 Fig. 1 shows the handle 

 and rim of what is caUed the Scotch basket, made fast at the 

 points of intersection. 



Fifl. 2 shows the same skeleton, with the ribs of one side 

 added, and the wattling or woven work commenced. 



Fig. 3 represents the commencement of what is called the 

 English mode of basket-making ; m which three parallel rods 

 of 2 or 3 feet in length, according to the intended diameter 

 of the bottom of the basket, are laid flat on the ground, and 



Fig. 4. 



