S8 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



r Julj 11, 1867. 



crocks in a very hollow position at the bottom, and over these a 

 pounded mixture of broken crocks and charcoal from which 

 all the very small particles have been riddled. Cover this 

 with very fibrous turf in small lumps before placing the ball, 

 and keep pressing, not ramming, the material close with the 

 fingers during the process of filliug-up, observing to have the 

 compost in a mellow state rather inclining to dryness. One 

 most material point is to see that the. ball is thorougly moist- 

 ened before shifting. If any doubt of this exists let the hall 

 be steeped in water for a quarter of an hour previous to pot- 

 ting. In the greenhouse some of the Statices — as sinuata, 

 puberula, &c., exhausted with blooming, may be shaken out of 

 their pots and repotted. These plants delight in an open com- 

 post with thorough drainage, and some of them are partial to 

 a close and moist atmosphere. Stop gross shoots of the green- 

 house Azaleas, and see to cuttings of the best Pelargoniums. 

 The earliest-sown plants of Primula sinensis may now receive 

 their final shift. These will blossom through October and 

 November when flowers will be scarce. Continue to pinch off 

 blossoms from pot Koses intended for flowering in November 

 and December, and stop every luxuriant shoot. Toung stock of 

 these for winter work should now have theii' final shift. 



STOVE. 



Some of the Bletias and also the old Phajus grandifolius are 

 well adapted for producing winter flowers. Such should have 

 their growth completed with all possible rapidity ; they enjoy 

 abundance of liquid manure. Keep the old shoots of the 

 Busselia juncea cut away .aud healthy shoots trained in their 

 place, and beware of the green fly. Stop the shoots occasion- 

 ally of the young plants of Euphorbia jacquinia;flora, they will 

 produce a succession of somewhat later blooms. Tbunbergia 

 seedlings having been provided, they should have most liberal 

 shifts and receive a good stakiugor trellising in order to secure 

 healthy specimens throughout the autumn, and perhaps the 

 winter. Two or three plants in a mass (one of each colour), 

 produce a pretty effect. — W. Eeaue. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 

 The bright sun and the high temperature were followed on 

 the 3rd and 4th by copious rains that did good to everything, 

 except the hay which was exposed. Even Strawberries were 

 much benefited, as the rain saved the trouble of watering them, 

 aud gave them all a thorough washing and cleansing with- 

 out in our case doing any damage to the fruit, as the ripest 

 had been closely gathered. The rains were also a great draw- 

 back to some country exhibitions of flowers, &c., for which 

 great preparations had been made as out-door fetes. We are 

 happy to learn that owing to the kindness of the possessors of 

 the grounds, some of these were continued ou the following day, 

 and thus the societies would suffer less than expected. In the 

 uncertainty of our climate, an out-door fete is as likely to mar 

 as to make a horticultural society, and should only be ventured 

 on when the funds are strong. So far as we know, in country 

 towns where many young people reside, sufficient advantage has 

 not yet been taken of the practice of keeping the exhibition 

 open in the evening, when many would attend who cannot afford 

 to lose time and pay for entrance as well. 



KITCHEN GAIIDEN. 



Opportunity was taken to plant out a good breadth of Brussels 

 Sprouts, Borecoles, (fee, and we must prick out and wait until 

 we have more ground at liberty. "We lately spoke of pilantiug 

 Potatoes in rows 2 J feet apart, and then 18 inches, in the hope 

 of planting undercrops between the wider rows, but owing to 

 the damp character of the season the Potatoes have become too 

 strong to permit of the plan being carried out to any consider- 

 able extent. Such a season shows the advantage of such kinds 

 of Potatoes as Veitch's Prolific Ash-leaved, in small gardens, 

 sorts which make but small tops and are soon ripe and off the 

 ground to make way for Cauliflowers and Winter Greens. 



Some people complain that though the skins of Potatoes are as 

 firm as ever they will be, yet if tubers are taken up and housed 

 they soon lose the exquisite flavour which a ripe Potato has 

 when taken at once out of the ground to be cooked, in June 

 and July. That flavour may be well preserved if, instead of 

 being exposed, the Potatoes are bedded and covered over with 

 dry earth, and then picked out as wanted. Where there is 

 plenty of room, Potatoes may be .sorted into sizes before this 

 covering, and then there is no difficulty in picking out an extra 

 good dish. Even long before Potatoes are ripe, when the skin 

 hangs in ribbons about them, or would all come easily off when 



rubbed with the hands in water, the tubers will be much en- 

 joyed by many if they are cooked at once ; but all such Potatoes 

 lose their sweet flavour, and instead of being crisp and sweet 

 become leathery aud tough, when kept long before being used. 

 They will be improved by being kept covered with earth as 

 above stated ; but even that will not give them the flavour of 

 those newly taken from the growing plants. 



Long before Potatoes could be obtained in the open ground, 

 unless, perhaps, from those forwarded a little at the foot of 

 walls, the market towns in our neighbourhood were supplied 

 with new Potatoes, at moderate prices, from the Channel Islands ; 

 but though a change in food was thus obtained, the tough 

 tubers bore no comiiarison with good old tubers of the Fluke 

 or Jersey Blue. Green Peas were also supplied from the 

 same parts, a few were said to be brought from the south of 

 France, and even from Algiers, and though the Peas were green 

 and in pods, and were a rarity to many, everything hke 

 delicacy of flavour had long departed. In fact, as one recom- 

 mendation to the holding of even a small garden, we make bold 

 to say, that except by obtaining these vegetables, and even a 

 Cabbage, a short time before being cooked, it is impossible to 

 secure their rich crispness and flavour. 



Greeniiifi Potatoes. — One word in the way of inquiry. In the 

 case of early Potatoes, and as respects the first crops especially, 

 it was found to be a good practice to raise the Potatoes before 

 they were dead ripe, and expose them to sun and air until they 

 were pretty well greened. This was no doubt done on the 

 principle that seeds, young and not over-ripe, vegetate more 

 rapidly aud strongly than older or better-ripened seeds. The 

 reasons have frequently been adverted to when alluding to 

 the processes of germination. At any rate, we had long satis- 

 tied ourselves as to the propriety of thus greening Potatoes 

 intended as the seed for early crops ; but last season, contrary 

 to usual experience, we heard from many quarters that whilst 

 the tubers of early kiuds intended for planting were much 

 injured by the disease in the autumn and the beginning of 

 winter, though housed in tiue — apparently first-rate con- 

 dition, yet that those thus greened by free exposure before 

 housing were rather the worst atfected by the disease. This 

 was so contrary to our usual experience and observation, and 

 so opposed to all we should have expected, that before recom- 

 mending the greening process to our amateur friends we would 

 be glad to receive more definite information on the subject. 



Dwarf Kidneii Beans. — We have sown the last crop in the 

 open air. By the time this is read we will sow in an earth pit 

 — that is, a bed with a low wall of earth back and front, with a 

 green sod on the top of it, and then when the cold nights of 

 October .come, we can put on old sashes and hurdles at night. 

 From such a pit last year we gathered up to the middle of 

 November. Most likely about the end of the month we will 

 sow in good-sized pots in the open air, and when the cold nights 

 come, put the pots under glass, and the plants will bear much 

 better than those sown later in heat. 



I'ms. — Sowed several times within the last fortnight, and what 

 we consider will be the last crop, on the 3rd of July. We have 

 .sown them on the same border on which our earliest Sangster'a 

 No. 1 are still producing, though better kinds are now in. They 

 had been planted out in rows 31 feet apart, with Spinach and 

 Kadishes between the rows, these had been pulled up some 

 time, and laid close to the Peas to keep the draught from the 

 roots ; now the ground between has been forked over, the 

 Peas sown — Sangster's and Dillistoue's — and by the time they 

 are high enough the sticks that did for the first crop will do 

 for the last, and the haulm of the first be removed. We have 

 never done much good by sowing later in the open air, but we 

 have had Peas almost up to Christmas by sowing in pots in 

 the beginning and middle of August, and placing the pots 

 under glass by the end of October ; but, unlike early Peas, these 

 late ones were hardly enough thought of to be worth the trouble 

 and labour. We recollect being much mortified when told that 

 a gentleman when partaking of them in December — and who 

 was a Utile celebrated for his taste in these matters — wished 

 to know from his host how he managed to prcst'irc his Peas ; 

 so that little credit was given to the grower for plucking them 

 fresh from the plants. 



FRUIT OErARTMENT. 



Strawberries. — As soon as possible we must la^'er runners for 

 forcing. We saw lately a tine crop of Empress Eugenie, a large 

 dark Strawberry, and seemingly bearing as freely as Keens' 

 Seedling, the best Strawberry for general purposes. The most 

 of our forced plants last year were not layered at all. they were 

 small runners taken as they showed roots, dibbled into a bed 



