September 22, 18G3. ] JOUENAIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



239 



done flowering, and tying tlie others so as to obstruct light 

 as little as possible. Place specimens ripening their wood 

 in the coolest part of the house, and water sparingly at the 

 root. Achimenes, Gloxinias, and Gesneras that are pro- 

 perly ripened-off may be stored away in any dry place where 

 they will be secure from frost ; but take care to place them 

 where they will be free from damp, and they should not be 

 exposed to a lower temperature than 45° or 50°. To effect 

 this a spare house or pit is best for the purpose, when they 

 can be placed near the glass ; to be supplied with water 

 only to keep them from flagging. This will allow the foliage 

 to ripen gradually, and, as a matter of course, the tubers. 

 Amai-yllis and the different vaiieties of Japan Lilies require 

 the same treatment ; the latter, however, being more hardy, 

 may be ripened-off at the base of a south wall or cold pit. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



Mio-nonette, Stocks, &c., should now be placed in their 

 permanent situation for wintering. The Lily of the Valley 

 intended for forcing should now be potted and plunged over- 

 head. The Neapolitan Violets may also be potted, and 

 plunged in a cold frame in a simny situation. Continue to 

 pot-otf cuttings immediately they have made roots. See to 

 securing as many cuttings as possible of any scarce plants 

 which it may be desirable to increase while there is a fafr 

 chance of rooting them, and also be prepared to protect 

 Scarlet Ger.iniums and other things which it may be in- 

 tended to take up and winter, for we may expect frost at 

 any time at this season. W. Keane. 



DOEN^GS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GAEDEN. 



We hope our friends in the north wiU have a share of the 

 splendid weather we have lately had, instead of the floods 

 which have visited them almost without intermission. 

 Trenched over our Onion-ground, placing some short ma- 

 nure from lawn-mowings, &c., at the bottom ; and planted 

 out with the main crop of Matchless Cabbage. Find afready 

 we will have two enemies in this somewhat exposed quarter. 

 The first morning we saw some twenty plants hanging their 

 heads, and found they were cut over beneath the surface by 

 huge grubs, there being one at each plant so cut down. 

 We tried the gentlemen by placing them on quicklime and 

 covering them with it, and also with soot, &c. ; but we might 

 as well have regaled them with tea and toast, for after a 

 couple of hours they were as ready for a nibble as ever. We 

 know no effectual remedy for this enemy except catching the 

 fellows after they have done the mischief, and treating them 

 as the law is obliged to treat the most incorrigible wrong- 

 doers. All sorts of baits, and traps, and enticements we 

 have found to be of very partial efficacy. Our nest enemies 

 are either hares or rabbits, and we are as yet afr-aid to hunt 

 much for them, especially with dogs, in case they should 

 chase them into oiu- flower-beds, from which these Cabbages 

 are merely separated by a dense Ivy hedge ; for now, with 

 the exception of two or three beds of Calceolarias, from 

 which the flowers have been dashed without succession 

 enough to cover them, the flower garden is as good, or 

 better, than it was in July and August. 



Watered Celery weU ; earthed-up a little bit more, so as 

 to have plenty for table, stewing, &c. On clearing some 

 Peas, planted-out several beds, placing the plants about 

 9 inches apart, as we do not expect them to be very strong, 

 but they wiU be useftU in the spring months. In planting 

 such beds we do not take out much soil — little more than 

 the manure fully fills up, or rather more, as in stiff soil late 

 Celery suffers more from damp than from cold and dryness. 

 Early Celery, on the other hand, when it bolts and runs, and 

 is oidy flt for soups, if even for that with particular people, 

 generally does so from dryness, and this dryness is fre- 

 quently, if not generally, the result of earthing-up Celery 

 bit by bit, an inch or two at a time. The reasons were 

 given in this Journal some years ago. When treated as 

 there stated we have seldom had a single head of early 

 Celery run or bolted. Some amateurs and the holders of 

 small gardens can scarcely credit the economical question 

 involved in the Dwarf Incomparable Celery. Well, all we 

 can say is that we speak of it as we find it ; and merely on 

 the score of economy we think a foot of earthing-up, or even 



less than that, a very different affair from the huge mounds 

 and trenches generally given to Giant Celery. If our adviser 

 "A. Z.," with his few rods of ground, stiU prefers the 

 Giants and the mounds, why, of course, we have no fault 

 to find, as we always advocate that evei-y man has a right 

 to his own individual fancy or whim so long as he indulges 

 it at his own expense. 



Took up our last row of Potatoes, the Dalmahoy, and found 

 an extraordinary crop — some thirty good-sized tubers, and 

 some, too, large at a single root. The tops, however, were 

 gigantic, and in our close cropping we would have had more 

 than two rows of Early Frame or Ashleaved Kidney in the 

 same space. Here, too, we found a few cases of slight disease ; 

 whilst aU that were taken up before the drenching rains were 

 sound. Filled aU the spaces vacant with Brussels Sprouts 

 and Cottagers' Kale, lifting those that had been previously 

 pricked-out ; and, notwithstanding our killing many butter- 

 flies, found a good many caterpillars on them, and, there- 

 fore, dusted them well with Ume and soot, and scattered it 

 well below the leaves with a small birch broom before plant- 

 ing them out. Went over young plantations of Cauliflower, 

 BroocoU, and other Greens in the same way ; as, unUke the 

 grub, very little of the caustic lime does for the catei-pillars. 

 Planted-out more Endive, and covered some of the forwardest 

 with pots, tUes, and slates— anything just to keep the light 

 from it. Short boards, 9 to 12 inches wide, laid along the 

 rows answer admfrably. Sowed a few more Lettuces, and 

 watered the young Cauliflower plants not yet large enough 

 to prick-out. Prepared a slight hotbed for om- Mushi-oom 

 spawn, making it about 6 feet square and some 15 inches 

 deep, so as just to throw in a mild bottom heat. Placed a 

 piece of old latticed fence over the bed to keep the spawn- 

 bricks from the hotbed, and having inserted a small piece of 

 good spawn in the two holes of each brick, and covered over 

 with stiff cowdung to keep the spawn in its place, com- 

 menced building the bricks in an obtuse cone, leaving about 

 an inch fi-om brick to brick, so that the heat should cfrculate 

 freely between them ; then covered all with a little clean 

 straw, and placed a foot of litteiy manure that would yield 

 scarcely any heat over all. This heap will require examin- 

 ing frequently, as the heat should not be more than fr-om 

 70° to 75°. If some bricks be thoroughly permeated before 

 the rest they must at once be taken out. Even when the 

 spawn is running freely much overheating wiU render nuga- 

 tory aU the previous labour. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



Much the same as last week. Will take means for keeping 

 heavy rains from early Vine-borders and those in which Vines 

 are now ripening their fruit. Have been obliged to fill our 

 late house with plants, owing to the necessity of repau-mg 

 and altering the house in which they were kept. Gave more 

 heat and afr in consequence. Gathered fruit as it ripened. 

 Pears are now sv/elling fr-eely, though the roots are scarcely 

 moist enough. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



Much the same as hist week. Pricked-out annuals, 

 perennials, &c. Tree Carnations planted out for wmter- 

 flowering should be lifted before the end of the month with 

 balls, and placed in pots that ivill just admit the baUs. 

 Flakes and Pinks to be forced cannot be too well established 

 in the pots before placing them in gentle heat. Anne 

 Boleyn Pinks and most Cloves and Carnations wUl bloom 

 naturally in the autumn and winter months under glass 

 without any heat worthy of the name of forcing, if they ai-e 

 prevented blooming in summer, by taking off the flower- 

 stems as they appear. When we used to have huge masses 

 of the Perpetual Carnations in winter, in a low-temperatured 

 greenhouse, we never allowed a flower-stem to show until 

 towards the end of August. The most splendid beds of 

 Perpetual Carnations we ever saw we used to have m August, 

 September, and October; but, of course, they were not 

 stopped, and they were useless for spring and winter work. 

 We regret now that other plants becoming favourites 

 we let these fine flowers slip through our fingers, which 

 must often be the case in places with limited room and 

 where there is a constant contest going on between old and 

 new combinations. When Salvia fiilgens, splendens, and 

 gesneraiflora are planted out for winter and spnng-flowermg, 

 they should now be lifted, potted, and placed m a shady 



