338 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTDEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( October 30, 1873. 



Ivy, and enable it to adhere to the wall it climbs, are adventi- 

 tious roots. That they can perform the functions of true 

 roots we are convinced, for we have seen Ivy plants retaining 

 their verdure on walls after the stems of those plants had 

 been severed from their roots. Then there is the common 

 Dodder (Ciiscuta), which by the adventitious roots of its stems 

 abstracts the sap of the plant it embraces unto it brings death 

 to that plant. 



INQUIRY. 



Have any gardeners been visited by a Scotchman in Norfolk 

 and Suffolk selling cloth that proves useless ? He makes 

 various statements as to who are his uncles. 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Every part of the garden should now be kept free from litter. 

 Celery and all other vegetables should be trimmed at the rub- 

 bish heap, and not on the quarters, as is sometimes the case ; 

 the latter method gives an unsightly appearance, and serves to 

 encourage slugs and insects injurious to gardens. Where .Is- 

 paragus is required throughout the winter, beds should now be 

 made for forcing it ; half-spent dung mixed with a small portion 

 of fresh manure and some beech or oak leaves will maintain a 

 steady heat for a length of time. Make a bed 4 feet high, and 

 put on the frame immediately; when the heat is up and has 

 become regular, level the bed and lay on a coating of leaf mould 

 3 or 4 inches thick, then place the roots as thickly as possible 

 oyer the bed, aud cover with 3 inches of the same soil; nest 

 give a good watering, and afterwards close the frames until 

 the heat rises, when air must be given according to the state 

 of the bed and the weather— from 5;5° to 60^ of heat will be 

 quite sufficient at any time. Dress the out-door beds if not 

 yet done. Where Broccoli has grown very vigorously, and is 

 required late in the spring, it may yet be laid down as recom- 

 mended last mouth ; the roots should be deprived of as little of 

 the soil as possible. Cucumbers in pots must be supplied with 

 manure water if the plants are growing vigorously, it being 

 necessary to afford them nutritious matter pretty freely to 

 make up for the deficiency of soil. Plantations of Lettuce for 

 spring use should be looked over frequently in the morning, 

 ajid all slugs destroyed ; if they should be very plentiful sprinkle 

 lime over the whole of the ground either early iu the morning 

 or late at night when the weather is mild. Secure from frost 

 any now ready for use. The Mushroom beds now coming into 

 bearing should be carefully looked over twice a-week. If any 

 very dry spots are observed on the beds, slightly sprinkle them; 

 this will scarcely ba necessary if dung is used to maintain the 

 necessary temperature. The whole of the main crop of Potatoes 

 should now be taken up and carefully stowed away. Those 

 planted in August should be protected from frost with pea 

 haulm. In favourable soils and situations these will afford a 

 supply of new Potatoes from the end of this mouth till Christ- 

 mas. Sea-kale can be forced in a similar manner to Asparagus, 

 but it is mirch less troublesome to force it iu the open ground ; 

 by placing pots over the roots, and covering with leaves and 

 dung, it may be had in perfection by Christmas. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



At the risk of being charged with repetition I cannot avoid 

 urging the importance of early autumn planting ; if put off till 

 December scarcely any advantage is gained over planting in 

 March or .-Vpril, but a great disadvantage will be experienced 

 if severe weather should set in immediately afterwards. If the 

 leaves are still somewhat green, the check given by raising 

 the plants will have a tendency to accelerate the ripening of the 

 wood ; and if, after watering, the bark of the young wood should 

 present any appearance of shrivelling, the stems of the trees 

 may be twisted round with hay or straw bands, and a slight 

 shading given to the top for a few days with frouds of ferns, 

 &c. The straw bands should be twisted hard, so as not to retain 

 much moisture, and for tender trees they will be as serviceable 

 in moderating the rays of the sun in summer, as iu guarding 

 against the severity of the frost in winter; if, in addition, the 

 roots are well mulched with dry litter they will continue to grow 

 aU the winter, and thus be well fitted to supply the expanding 

 buds in spring. In many gardens an extinction of many of the 

 old trees should be gradually effected. I say gradually, because 

 frequently gardeners ardent after noveltv get themselves into 

 scrapes by clearing away too much at a time, and thus render- 

 ing the supply deficient until their voung trees come into bear- 

 ing. In planting, care should be taken to select the most ap- 

 proved sorts. The improved varieties of Pears should be intro- 

 duced into every gai'den either by planting or by grafting on 

 estabhshed trees. In addition to their other good qualities, 

 most of them are great bearers, and produce fruit when the 

 trees are comparatively young. No Pears need be grown on 

 a south wall in favourable places, with the exception of, per- 



haps, a Jargonelle, to supply early fruit; this, along with the 

 Citron des Carmes aud one or two more varieties, will be quite 

 sufiicient. 



PLOWEB G.ARDEN. 



Fuchsias aud similar plants that usually shoot up if killed to 

 the ground should have a coating of leaf mould, decayed tan, or 

 some Ught material laid over the roots. Also protect tender 

 shrubs with baskets and mats ; cut down and clear away the 

 stems of herbaceous plants. The weather is now favourable for 

 planting, and it should therefore be proceeded with expeditiously. 

 Where large trees or shrubs are to be removed they should be 

 taken up with the greatest care ; every root should be carefully 

 preserved, more particularly the small ones, this being of greater 

 importance than that of preserving an immense ball of earth to 

 a few of the larger roots. Should a tree or shrub lose by acci- 

 dent many of their roots at the time of removal, a part of the 

 head should be pruned away, as the head and root should always 

 bear some proportion to each other. After planting they should 

 be securely staked, that the wind may not have sufficient power 

 to loosen them. 



CONSERVATORY AND GREENHOUSE. 



When the principal collection of Chrysanthemums comes into 

 bloom, a selection should be made of the best and most useful 

 sorts. Give timely attention to providing a succession of blooms 

 with which to keep the house gay, and avoid as far as possible 

 the expense of forcing, which is injurious to most plants. Be 

 careful not to let plants in bloom suffer from want of water, giving 

 weak manure water to Chrysanthemums, Salvias, Camellias, &c., 

 and use every means to preserve the beauty of specimens in 

 bloom as loug as possible. Damp and mildew are the great 

 enemies to be guarded against at present in conservatories and 

 greenhouses, and these must be sharply looked after, especially 

 in the case of plants that have not ripened their growth well, and 

 are iu a rather soft state. If not already done, get plants tied 

 into proper form with the least possible delay, for it is difficult 

 to tie a plant so that it will not look a little stiff and unnatural, 

 and the sooner all this kind of work is done the better the speci- 

 mens will look when iu bloom. 



STOVE. 



Most of the plants should now be kept as much as possible iu a 

 state of rest. No woody plants should be allowed to become quite 

 dry, but they should only have sufficient water to enable them 

 to retain their foliage if evergreen, which is the case with most 

 of the plints in this department. W.atch narrowly for insects, 

 and destroy them as soon as perceived. 



PITS AND FRAMES, 



The pits aud frames containing Auriculas, Carnations, and 

 similar plants should have the lights drawn off every mild day. 

 If any of the plants should waut water give it sparingly, and 

 only to those in actual want of it. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OP THE LAST WEEK. 



A CONSIDERADLE fall of raiu during the past week has some- 

 what retarded out-of-door operations. It has been cold too, the 

 thermometer being occasionally down to the freezing point in 

 the morning. We would just notice the state of the Potato 

 crops in this neighbourhood. They are rapidly lifting them on 

 the farm, and the result is as follows : — Dalmahoys and Wbite 

 Dons, which seem to be the most susceptible, are almost totally 

 destroyed. Regents (Walker's) are not quite so bad. Rocks are 

 very good in quality, aud are not much diseased. Flourballs 

 are not diseased ; indeed all the sorts introduced from America 

 seem to be free from bUght ; so that if the quality is somewhat 

 inferior to our own standard sorts, there is compensation in the 

 freedom froni disease and the weight of crop, the yield in many 

 instances being enormous. 



KITCHEN G.ABDEN. 



The bush and pyramidal fruit trees now that the fruit is 

 gathered should be looked over, aud aU superfluous shoots 

 and branches removed. Our own require to be looked over, but 

 work of a more pressing nature demands attention, and where 

 this is the case the trees will sustain no injury if they are 

 attended to at the earliest convenient opportunity. In doing 

 so it is well to give an eye to any insect pests, which by being 

 destroyed at this time will cause a great saving in labour in 

 spring and summer when there is little time to attend to it. 

 For instance, the eggs of Bombyx Neustria, or Lackey Moth, 

 can readily be detected in clusters on the small branches; they 

 are generally glued together and fastened firmly round twigs 

 as thick as a cedar pencil. The Quick hedges and orchards of 

 Apple trees are frequently defoliated before midsummer by the 

 ravages of this pest, though hand-picking iu winter, or destroy- 

 ing the caterpillars as thev form iu clusters shortly after they 

 emerge from the eggs, would have to a large extent prevented it. 



We cut over the Asparagus close to the ground, and carried 

 off the tops at ouce to prevent the seeds falling on the beds, 

 where they would vegetate during the eneuing summer, and 

 cause much labour with the hoe. 



