44 S 



JOUENAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



[ M»y 30, 1872. 



removing the lights aud covers. Plants that are kept to 

 succeed Tulips, Hanuuculuses, Ac, next month, should have 

 plenty of room given them. Attend to air-gi'ving, watering, 

 and shading. The late-struck plants also require attention ; 

 they will come in rery useful by-and-by to fiU-up vacancies in 

 beds. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEX GiEDES. 



Theee has been a fine change in the weather, but up to the 

 25th frost eveiy morning ; stiU, the weather being diy, we do 

 not think it has done any harm. 



Our chief work has been protecting from vermin, and Dutch- 

 hoeing among advancing crops, so as to cut off all weeds, and 

 leave the surface soil open. 



Jerusalem Artichokes may still be planted, and exceUeut 

 they are when well cooked. We are surprised that the lovers 

 «f game, especially pheasants, do not plant every open space in 

 their woods with this Artichoke, as, besides the cover the tops 

 ■would yield, the roots are eagerly sought after by pheasants 

 not too highly fed. The tubers to us are not to be despised, 

 but we would never taste one if we could get a nice lloui'y 

 Potato, though changes are pleasant. 



Globe Arlirhokcs. — For a continuance of table suppty we re- 

 commend planting a row every season. If strong plants are 

 turned out iu ilarch and --Vpril, they will throw up theu' heads 

 late in autumn. When we do not so plant we select a row or 

 two, and give them more surface-manming and manm-e-water- 

 ing, so that they may come in later. In dry summers nothing 

 jidds more to the crispness of the heads than a good watering 

 through a syiinge, or with hquid manm-e. 



Broccoli, lOc. — We are quite vexed that some miscliievous 

 urchin has taken away the label from two rows of late Broccoli, 

 -which has been splendid — quite as good as, and supplementing, 

 the earhest CauHflower. The Cauliflower has been well laid out, 

 lichly top-di'essed, and in the warm days had a fair allowance 

 of sewage water. In small kitchen gardens the great object is 

 to supply the best vegetables aud have continuous successions, 

 lately we had a visit from an old gardener. He was not sure 

 ■whether he was seventy-six or seventy-eight, but he was hale 

 and hearty, and one of the objects of his -visit was to find out 

 if we practised the system of successions we had talked to him 

 about eight years ago. 'WeU, he would see our successions of 

 -Cauhflo-wer, Onions, Cabbages, &c., and he gave us this an- 

 nouncement — "It is aU folly to glut people." Anything pre- 

 sented iu too large a quantity and too often is sure to be 

 despised. 



Potatoes. — Those forced and protected have been very good, 

 and showed no signs of disease. Those on banks and borders 

 ■out of doors had the soil much consolidated by the rains, so 

 we used a light steel fork to stir the soU, and will earth-up ere 

 long. We have tried almost all modes, and now we find in 

 •every way an advantage in a slight earthing-up. Where ground 

 is scarce other crops can also be coming on iu the fuiTows. 

 We tried Potatoes on the flat for years, but we had not such 

 fine tubers, and some of the best were apt to be greened from 

 leing too near- the sui-face. 



FKCrt GAKDEN. 



Strawberries. — Since the sunny weather our Strawberries in 

 pots have been weU coloured and high flavoured. With air 

 aud su)i there is no reason for the statement that forced 

 Strawberries are never equal to those gathered from the open 

 ground. The reverse is the truth when the conditions are 

 favoui^able. Granted that after a fortnight of duU weather 

 fine-looking Strawberries are insipid iu houses, what is the 

 value of their flavour out of doors after ten d-ays of duU 

 <lrizzling weather? We have had all our rows and beds out of 

 ■doors v,-ell dressed with soot and lime. The out-door crop 

 looks very well — abundance of bloom, and only one here aud 

 there touched with the frost. But for the strain in other de- 

 partments we should have covered aU our Strawben-y ground 

 ■n-ith stable Utter, well shaken before it was used. Of com^se 

 ■clean straw is better, but the litter does very well, as the first 

 shower thoroughly washes it, and after the ground is well 

 soaked the litter keeps the moisture in. We have tried many 

 modes— sticks and strings, tiles, itc, but the htter after all is 

 the cheapest where it can lie had from the stable for nothing. 

 Where litter has to be bought, the next cheapest and most 

 effective mode is to fasten some httle sticks along the rows, 

 and ruu a cord, however email, on each side; the fruit is good' 

 and ought not to be splashed with soU or pelting rains. 



I On the whole nothing is better than litter and straw. We 

 i have used tanners' bark, aud man3- other things, short grass 

 being about the least desirable, not only because the rains are 

 apt to beat the giass into the fruit, but also because there is 

 not enongh of free drainage in damp weather, and there are 

 generally niunerous seedling weeds from the gi^ass. 



Heating with Fermentinii Material. — ^W'e read the first 

 article of last week with much interest. For four or five 

 years we used to follow the plan largelj-. Then we had plenty 

 of stable dung. When we thought of starting a house — say a 

 vinery, we used to have a huge mound placed in the house, 

 bringing it at once from the st.able, and supplying water if 

 necessary. For two or three weeks it was hardly safe to enter 

 the house, as it was clouded with fumes and steam from the 

 dung. The only thing to be cared for was to get this mound 

 of dung sweet before the buds opened. In cold mornings we 

 used to turn the dung over when sweet, fill the house with 

 dung steam, and Vines aud Peaches luxuriated in it. Very 

 little air early giren was our safety valve. We have never 

 had better Grapes, &c., since, and when we thus forced with 

 dung, we never had au insect in the house. In one thing 

 we differ from Mr. Douglas : He recommends all such 

 material to be taken out as the Grapes begin to colour ; we 

 used to allow our mounds to remain until the Grapes were cut, 

 and not only so, but when not wanted for heat we made 

 Mushroom beds of them, and frequently towards autumn, the 

 same day when we cut a basket of Grapes, we would gather 

 half a bushel or more of Mushrooms. A slight sprinkling of 

 hay or short litter over the bed prevented that bed at all in- 

 terfering with the Grapes. We are quite within bounds when 

 we say that under these circumstances the Mushrooms would 

 have more than paid all the expenses of forcing the Vines. 



ORX.\MEXI.iL DErABTMEXT. 



Excessively busy mowing, daisy-kniving, and preparmg beds. 

 We have much to plant out next week. Let us urge on all 

 lovers of pereuuials, biennials, Ac, as Hollyhocks, Bromi^ton 

 and Intermediate Stocks, to sow -without delay, and in the 

 open ground. Such fine old flowers as Canterbury Bells, Delphi- 

 niums, Ac, should not be forgotten. These will bloom freely 

 next season. All hardy annuals if sown now will bloom freely 

 in the autumn. Even tender annuals, as Zinnias, Asters, and 

 Stocks, sown now wiE make a splendid autumn display. — K. F. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*,* We request that no oue will write privately to any of the 

 correspondents of the " Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Comitry Gentleman." By so doing they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, etc., 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, E.G. 



The GinDENEns' Te.u: Book {True Blue).— Ii is stiU in print, and can 

 be obtained at our of^ce. 



Deebv SEEDSatEN {A Siibscrihcr).- — ^As there are many seedsmen in Derby, 

 and not being spiritualists, we cannot tell wlio sold you the black-seeded 

 Cucumber. 



Labour foe Garden {A Constant Bender). — You will require five hands — 

 viz., a head-gardener, two under-gardeners, a labourer, aud a handy man to 

 see to the cows, &c., and make up his time in the gardens. 



Sulphate of AaraosiA (It. 0.). — Not more than a quarter of an ounce to 

 the gallon of water for plants in pots. Two hundredweight per acre for 

 kitchen garden crops. 



Azalea GiBSONn (TI^ D., York). — It ought to be disqualified if shown as 

 an Azalea. It is a Ehododendron. 



Select GoosEBERp.rES (Governor H. S. S.). — For gathering green, the 

 following are good; — Antagonist, Companion, London, Queen of Trumps, 

 Dan's Mistake, aud -Whitesmith. Red -VVarrington for preserving. 



Rhododendron (A Clare Subscriber) — Tour Rhododendron flowering in 

 the open air is R. Blandfordiffiflorum, found by Dr. Hooker iu the Himalayan 

 mountains of Sikkim and Eastern Nepaul, at elevations of even 12,000 feet. 



Seedling Pansies {E. M.). — The flowers sent to us are very fine and beau- 

 tiful. We advise you to exhibit a stand of them before the Floral Committee 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society. 



Grapes Spotted (3/. F. W.). — Your Grapes are attacked by the gangrene, 

 called by gardeners *' the spot." If vou refer to our number published on 

 the 16th inst., on page 411 you will find all we can recommend to be done. 



CcLTtTBE OF Fraste CccmrBEns (Cambria). — The present season has been 

 very trying for frame Cucumbers, but where there is plenty of heating ma- 

 terial, fruit fit to cut ought to be produced long before June. We had them 

 this year the first week in ilay from a two-light fi-ame. Om^ practice is as 

 follows : — Early in January we commence by throwing into a heap a suffi- 

 cient quantity of fresh stable litter for the formation of the bed, and if dry 

 we give it a good wetting. It is allowed to lie until it has acquired a good 

 heat, and is then again turned over, putting the outside inside, and wetting 

 it if dry. In about a week it will have heated again, and may be very hot ; 

 turn it over and wet any dry portions. In another week it will have parted 

 with its rank steam ; the object of the turnings is to cause this result, aud 



