May 2, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENEH. 



371 



should be immersed iu tepid water until the soil be thoroughly 

 soaked. — Vi'. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 

 Nevek was there a better exemplification of an April month 

 — sunshine aud cloud, storm and tempest, haU, sleet, suow, 

 and frost, all in rapid succession, aud demanding, therefore, 

 care and watchfulness on the part of the gardener. Many of 

 the changes have been quite beyond our foresight. For in- 

 stance, after an exhaustive day on the 26th, with a rapidly- 

 rising barometer, aud expecting a beautiful night, we were 

 roused by a psrfect flood of raiu between 11 and 12 p.m., which 

 set all waterspouts at defiance, the water running over them 

 iu torrents. Fortunately the raiu, though heavy, was warm, 

 aud therefore, except by flooding, did good. 



KITCHEN GAEDEN. 



Our chief work has been clearing off Lettuces, earlier Broc- 

 coli, etc., so as to find room for succession Peas aud the first 

 ^,owiug of Scarlet Eunuers. We used to transplant the latter 

 iu the middle of May, and they transplant well ; but fre- 

 (jueutly, from press of other work, they were too advanced 

 before we could transplant, aud, though we still transplant, we 

 chiefly depend on sowing, red-leading the seeds and placing 

 some limy mixtm'e over them to i.ae]> slugs from touching 

 them. We sowed our first Dwarf Kidney Beans out of doors 

 in a sheltered place. Sowed also in small pots to transplant 

 und.-ir protection. 



We never sow many Radishes out of doors at one time, but 

 as soon as one croj) of seedlings is fairly above ground we sow 

 again. Radishes and summer Spinach we take as temporary 

 crops between Peas and Beans ; further on we sow Turnips and 

 Radishes in alternate rows, the Radishes being removed to give 

 room for the Turnips. We sowed the latter out of doors. 

 This year we have dispensed with forward Turnips under 

 glass aud other protection, though few things are sweeter than 

 a fjrced Turnip, or rather forwarded one, when from 3 to 

 1 inches in diameter. Potatoes forward are good, aud as yet 

 show no signs of disease. The most forward out of doors 

 were injured by the frost aud snow of last week, but we do not 

 think they will suffer much. 



FKDIT GAKDEN. 



Strawbsrry plants are looking well, and promise to be fruit- 

 ful. We gave the ground a good shallow hosing, and raked 

 off some of the roughest of the manure that had been laid 

 between the rows all the winter. A di'essing of lime aud soot 

 will now be of great advantage, not only as manure, but to 

 drive away slugs and snails. Even a very sUght sprinkling of 

 salt between the rows, applied so as not to touch the plants, 

 we have also found useful. The salt also helps to keep the 

 ground moister iu dry weather. 



As stated last week, we find that the bloom of fruit trees 

 exposed suffered considerably. Some bunches of Pear bloom 

 look as if scathed with lightning. One tree especially has 

 suffered severely. We removed foreright shoots from Apricot 

 aud Peach trees. In the orchard house we thinned out the 

 young shoots, but left plenty for a second or thnd thinning, 

 as it is always bad policy to give a suddeu check to upward or 

 downward growth. Nipped out the points of shoots of trees in 

 jiots ; this is always better than taking away the ends of the 

 longest shoots. The mere nipping out the terminal bud causes 

 little check, aud yet the shortening is more effective. Some 

 years ago we had a strikiug proof of this. In growing Potatoes 

 in frames the shoots grew to a greater length thau we wished. 

 In one light, with a small knife, we merely nipped out between 

 the thumb and finger the terminal bud, so that growth should 

 be more lateral thau extending upright. In the other Ught 

 we nipped off from 1 to 2 inches of the points of the shoots. 

 Several frames were treated in the same manner. The nipping- 

 off the points of the shoots caused the tubers to be fully three 

 weeks later iu becoming fit thau where the mere terminal bud 

 was nipped out. As regards the time at which the tubers 

 ripened, there was no difference between those nipped and 

 those of which the shoots were untouched. Even as respects 

 fruit trees, unless when a check is desh-able, it is as weU to 

 avoid it by nippiug out the points of young shoots instead of 

 cutting away some inches from the points. 



Plenty of air is the great safety-valve for orchard houses 

 built with large panes of glass. Already we hear of several 

 bad casuixlties, entirely owing to keeping the house shut up 

 too late in the moruiug. It would be safer to give au' all night, 

 when it could not be admitted early in the moruiug. 



We watered trees iu pots aud borders. The vegetables, such 

 as Lettuces, that proved so serviceable during the winter iu 

 the orchard house, are almost cleai'ed out, as there arc now 

 plenty on raised banks out of doors, not a plant having failed 

 on these ridges notwithstanding the changes of the winter. 

 Peach houses and vineries have also been watered inside, aud 

 some time has been taken up in removing and replacing Straw- 

 berry plants in pits and houses. We have only one good place 

 for early Strawberries — shelves in a Peach house having a roof 

 with an angle of 1-5'. In low pits we have always too much 

 damp in the early months, which, even with air on night and 

 day interferes with the free setting. Wo hope to have a Uttle 

 house for Strawberries alone in their season, and where the 

 body of air enclosed would be four times that found in a 

 common pit. On the whole the plants have done fairly, but 

 not so well as last year. On tiUing a pit with fine plants of 

 British Queen we gave the walls, piping, etc., a good coating 

 of sulphur, and will admit au- freely for a week or ten days to 

 bring them on gradually. 



OKNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



Moving, rolling, preparing, and much other work have been 

 the order of the day. We shaU turn up uncropped flower-beds 

 once more iu the rough state, and in ten days or so will pro- 

 bably have them dug level. The more turned and the rougher 

 their surface now, that the soil may be mellowed and sweet- 

 ened, the better will the plants succeed. If we had time, and 

 the weather were sunny before planting out, we should like to 

 turn over the beds with a spade every second day, thus turn- 

 ing down the warmth of the sunbeams, and so making every 

 bed a sort of hotbed. There can be no comparison between 

 beds thus treated aud others merely dug and made ready 

 before planting. We know that such care can rarely be giveu, 

 but that is no reason why the best way should not be men- 

 tioned. Even as respects kitchen-garden crops, we never gave 

 an additional digging without the crop paying for the extra 

 outlay. 



We shall finish propagating for the flower garden this week, 

 but will have much work to do iu pricking-off and forwarding 

 Lobelias, Pyrethrums, Amaranths, Lesines, and Pcrillas. Many 

 of these will succeed all the better lUtimately from being rather 

 small now, as they grow fast iu a little heat, and on Monday 

 we shall make some slight hotbeds to bring thom on, but giving 

 a little air at night at the top to guard against anything like 

 steam or condensed vapour. 



Most of our readers will have their Asters, Zinnias, and' 

 similar subjects forward. We only sowed last week in a mild 

 hotbed. With scarcity of room when we sowed early, the 

 plants wore injured by standing about, and this led us to sow 

 later ; aud the plants, experiencing less check, did on the 

 whole better, and gave less trouble. For those who are con- 

 tent with an everlasting flower in winter. Zinnias should be 

 sown, and transplanted about the end of May. The blooms 

 will be found most useful. 



Our trenches of Calceolarias have been left exposed during 

 fine nights, but a little protection has been given to variegated 

 Geraniums. Geraniuim will do very well jslanted out without 

 potting, but when it is desirable not to see them welt at all, it 

 is well to put them in small pots. A thousand 60-sized pots 

 have to do good service with us as respects Geraniums, potted 

 singly, kept under glass, and encoui'aged to grow, say in 

 the viuery border covered over. As soon as the roots form 

 a ball, out the plants go into a trench of rich soU and leaf 

 mould, and the pots are used for another succession. This 

 involves some labour, it is true, but then from September 

 cuttings we obtain stout flowering plants by the end of 

 May, that make a show at once, and never seem to suffer from 

 the removal. These plants, turned out iu a trench with a 

 little ball, thrive far better thau those turned out at once from 

 a pot. In the former case the fibres are protruding from the 

 ball, and ready to strike into the ground at once. Where 

 time can be afforded, nothing is better thau the turf pots we 

 described last year — that is, turf 2 inches thick and of fibry 

 material cut up into pieces 3i to 4 inches square, a hole of 

 2J inches scooped out in the middle, the rooted cutting placed 

 there aud covered with light rich soil, and the pieces of turf 

 set side by side m a bed \vith a little heat. These cuttings 

 when estabUshed, planted turf and aU, mth the fibres brist- 

 Img all round the turf, do exceedingly well. We have also 

 from our store boxes, iu which we rarely give more than 

 1^ inch to a cutting, planted out Geraniums in temporary 

 beds, Ufting and planting without any attempt to secure much 

 of a ball. These succeed admirably ultimately, but for a fort. 



