12 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUEB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 3, 1373. 



unless the Committee go bick to the old times. The Show 

 must bs kept special, or it will utterly collapse, and more 

 common sense must be exercised in selecting tlie date. An 

 exhibition of Bases for the midlands in the middle of June is 

 simply an impossibility ; no Kose Show can or should be held 

 here earlier than the first week of July. Until this year our 

 Rose Show has been equal to anything achieved even in 

 London. I sincerely trust that the Committee will seriously 

 consider its present condition aud quality, and do something 

 to restore it to its old prestige. — Z. O., Birmingham. 



WOBK FOR THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Immediately a crop is done with, either remove or dig it in. 

 la either case sprinkle the grouad with lime to destroy slugs, 

 but more abundantly in the latter than in the former case. In 

 all cases of earthing-up crops in dry weather give them a good 

 fioakiag with water previously. A few Mazagan Beans may yet 

 be put in, which will produce late in the season if the weather 

 prove favourable. Cape Broccoli and Grange's may now be 

 planted where the early Peas have been removed. The main 

 crop of the other sorts must be got-in as early as possible. If 

 the weather continue dry they will require an abundant supply 

 of water. Sow a little more Cabbage seed immediately, if the 

 sowing we recommended last month has failed. Another sow- 

 ing of Chervil should now be made for succession. Put in a few 

 cuttings of Cucumbers. Sow a little seed so as to have a few 

 plants to i)lant-out for a succession till Christmas. Continue 

 to pay every attention to those in frames ; they must have a 

 liberal supply of water twice a-week, and should be sprinkled 

 every afternoon. Continue to plant-out a few J^iuliee about once 

 a-fortnight to keep up a succession ; another sowing should be 

 made. The last principal sowing of Dwarf Kidtiei/ Beans should 

 now be made. Earth-up^the advancing crops. Those in flower 

 will be greatly benefited by a good watering. Those Leeks 

 sown in drills should be thinned to a foot apart in rich gi-ound ; 

 the thinnings will do to plant out. Make a sowing of Parsleij 

 so as to get strong plants by the winter. Earth-up aud stick 

 the advancing crops of Peas, water those that are in bearing. A 

 few more may yet be sown, which will come into bearing if the 

 autumn is favourable. Make a sowing of the various sorts of 

 Radishes. The Turnip-rooted, however, are generally preferred 

 at this season. Vegetable Marrow plants will require a pretty 

 liberal supply of water during the continuance of dry weather. 

 Stop the main shoots to cause them to throw out laterals. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



Grape Vines against walls now require unremitting attention. 

 Train up young shoots from the lowerpart of the wall forbearing 

 nest year. Stop the bearing shoots at two joints above the fruit ; 

 remove all useless aud superfluous shoots. Wash wall trees to 

 free them from dirt aud insects. Thin the summer shoots of 

 Gooseberries aud Cui'rants. Protect fruit from birds. Haug up 

 bottles of sugar and beer to entice and catch wasps. Encourage 

 the growth of Strawberry runners. The packing of fruit to tie 

 sent to a distance is a very important matter, and one that is 

 deserving of more attention than is usually paid to it ; at least, 

 if I may judge from what I have lately seen, I do not think 

 it necessary to pack Grapes in bran, or Peaches in cotton, to 

 insure their safe carriage. The former can scarcely be freed 

 from the bran, and the cotton sticks to the skin of the latter, 

 which is with difljoulty removed. Experience leadsme to believe 

 that the best method of packing Grapes is to put a layer of moss 

 or dry short grass at the bottom of a shallow box, which is after- 

 wards covered with a sheet or two of silver paper; a layer of 

 Grapes is then placed iu, and over them a few more sheets of 

 paper and more moss, so as to keep them tightly packed when 

 the cover is on. Peaches and Nectarines should be wrapped up 

 separately in silver paper, and then packed in cotton, moss, or 

 dry short grass. If a box is to take more than one layer, a false 

 bottom should be placed between each one. The usual fault iu 

 packing is giving the fruit too much spring. The tighter they 

 can be packed in any soft material withont injury to the fruit 

 the less liable are they to sustain injury by carriage. The boxes 

 should afterwards be placed iu a liamper, which gives more 

 epring than they otherwise have. 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



Remove suckers frooJ" Roses, and clear the stems of wild 

 ehoots. Strong shoots of Chrysanthemumsmay now be layered 

 in pots to produce dwarf compact bushes. Those iu pots may 

 soon receive their final shift. Carnations and Picotees will 

 soon be in bloom ; let plants in pots be moved under an awning 

 like that used for Tulips. Here they may be arranged on a 

 raised platform or not, according to taste. Picotees may be 

 grouped on ono side aud Carnations on the other, taking care 

 that the tallest plants are behind, and at the same time contrast- 

 ing the colours as much as possible. Pipings may be put iu on 

 a slight hotbeS ; layering may also now or very soon be pro- 



ceeded with. Much of next year's success depends on this 

 matter. All seedlings should be marked, noticing their various 

 properties as to form, colour, substance, &c. Ranunculuses 

 may be taken up as soon as the fohage has turned yellow, for 

 should wet weather ensue they might emit fresh fibres, and if 

 taken up then they are likely to be worthless. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



There is a scarcity of flowers generally in the conservatory 

 now. The usual routine of training the climbers and keeping 

 the other plants in order, together with neatness, is all that is 

 immediately wanted, but keep a good eye to your winter stock. 

 Camellias that have formed their flower-buds maynowbepotted; 

 those of them that are to flower early should be kept in-doors 

 all summer, but the spring-flowering ones may be turned out 

 soon. Attend to Violets and Chrysanthemums. The China 

 Rose, called Cramoisie Supi'rieure, is the best of them all for 

 winter forcing, and takes the place of the old Sauguinea in the 

 bouquets at Christmas. Anue Boleyn Piuks for forcing ought to 

 be now in a forward state, and if they show symptoms of flower- 

 ing, pinch off the stems as they appear. In short, this is just 

 the time to attend diUgently to such plants as will flower from 

 October to May. .\\\ but the very best specimens are now re- 

 moved from the greenhouse ; you will have room to introduce 

 annuals, planting three or four of them in large pots ; with a 

 little care they will come in useful for the conservatory. 



STOVE. 



If you imagine tliat any of your established stove plants will 

 require another sliiffc this summer, let it be done soon, but avoid 

 shifting large specimens so late if you can ; rather encourage 

 them with a little liquid manure occasionally. Your young 

 plants may be potted as they require it for the next two months. 

 Do not neglect to make cuttings of .Tusticias, Clerodendrons, 

 and such useful plants early in .July for flowering next year; 

 these will form beautiful plants before the end of October. 

 Pentas carnea belongs to this chass ; it is a very useful plant in 

 winter, and may be had in flower all the year round. Air, 

 moisture, and cleanliness, as usual, are requisite. 



PIT.S. 



For growing a stock of young plants in summer no structures 

 are so good or economical as good pits. Place the pots on a 

 bed of sifted coal ashes, and if you can procure clean moss free 

 from slugs, &c., it is an excellent plan to place a thin layer of it 

 between the pots after it is well damped. You have thus a source 

 of constant moisture, which, passing up among the foliage, is 

 very beneficial to all plants iu summer, and they require less 

 shading when they aro-thus managed. The pits and frames 

 used for propagation must be kept shaded throughout the day ; 

 give little or no air; where bell-glasses are used, wipe them 

 occasionally. Cuttings of Roses and many Heaths may now be 

 put in with every prospect of success ; shade them aud keep 

 them moderately moist. Pay strict attention to young seedling 

 exotics. Continue to put in cuttings of all plants required which 

 can be propagated at this season ; pot-off those cuttings that 

 are rooted. — W. Keaxe. 



DOINGS OP THE L.\ST WEEK. 



No rain, but a week of high winds, which have been very 

 injurious to vegetation by tearing-off aud lacerating the leaves 

 of tender plants. Such weather is also injurious in another 

 form, as it brings hordes of aphides into the garden. So much 

 is this the case, that many persons argue for spontaneous gene- 

 ration ; of course we believe in no such thing ; what we do be- 

 lieve is that certain states of the atmosphere are more favourable 

 to the increase of this pest than others, and the wind carries 

 them hither and thither until they find a suitable breeding- 

 ground. We ;had some hand-lights filled with plants perfectly 

 free from green fly ; they were carefully watched every day, ami 

 it was found that this pest was blown on to them very often from 

 some Roses about eighteen paces from the hand-lights — at leas t 

 there was no other apparent cause of their presence. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Notwithstanding the dry weather, the Peas are doing very 

 Well, and are continuing to bear abundantly ; it would be as welt 

 to note that the best early Pea for flavour is Laston's Alpha ; 

 and the best-looking pod, which fills very early, and is of a very 

 deep green colour, is William I. The later Marrow Peas are 

 coming in ; one of the very earUest and best is G. F. Wilson ; it 

 is very near to Veitch's Perfection, but comes in much earlier. 



Celeri/. — We have been planting successioual crops of Celery 

 in trenches not so deep as usual. We have much difticulty to 

 keep Celery from rotting in the winter, be we never so care- 

 ful iu earthing-up ; whether it is the climate or soil we know- 

 not, but all sorts are alike ; cocoa-nut fibre I'efnse was tried, but 

 we did not succeed with this, and only tried it once. Lettuces 

 and other small salads are grown on the ridge between tlie 

 trenches. After this Cauliflowers will not succeed with us ; 

 they become club-rooted, aud have never yet been worth the 

 ground .and labour bestowed upon them. We beat the gardeners 



