Jal7 13, 1867. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE OARDEMEB. 



43 



Pink3, herbaceous Diloxos, itc, either under hand-glassea or 

 in ontting-pots, and place them in cold frames or pitj. Those 

 already rooted must he hardcnod-olT by defirees to bo ready (or 

 planting out. Shitt l!alaam.s, Chrysanthemums, &c. Chrysan- 

 themums which have been planted out and are now growing 

 tall may have their branches regularly pegged out, so as to have 

 their tips turned up preparatory to their being layered towards 

 the end of next month. The Phloxes, Ac, should be slightly 

 watered when the cuttings are put in, and should receive a 

 slight shading in sunshine for the first month, after which they 

 may be gradually inured both to sunlight and air. — W. Iveank. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST -WTSEK. 



KITCHEN 0.iRI)EN. 



General work much the same as in previous week. Would 

 have planted out winter stuff, but had no ground at liberty. 

 Will have some ground cleared of Potatoes before this ia 

 printed, which ground wUl bo immediately filled ; and as soon 

 as a Strawberry-quarter is cleared of its fruit, that will bo 

 trenched and planted. This is one of the disadvantages of 

 having a enmU kitchen garden in proportion to the demands 

 made upon it, so that a piece of ground can never bo many 

 days empty. If we feel the least promjitiugs of envy, it is on 

 observing in April and May whole quarters undergoing fallow- 

 ing treatment before they are filled with Broccoli and Winter 

 Greens. Sowed Cabbages for the first spring crop, and will 

 sow again in eight or ten days. 



We are anything but insensible to the value of novelties in 

 Peas, or anything else, hut there are three old Peas now that 

 no one with a small garden should bo without, when their 

 wonderful fecundity is taken into consideration, and these are 

 Sangster's No. 1, for being early, though not so early as some 

 others ; Dickson's Favourite for a second succession, that boars 

 such loads of its large well-filled pods ; and the little sweet Pea, 

 Knight's Dwarf White Marrow. This for size has no chance 

 with the Ne Plus Ultra, Veitch's Perfection, Dwarf Mammoth, 

 Excelsior, &c., but it is very sweet and a wonderful bearer. 



Much timo has been taken up in keeping irrciLi down before 

 they became too large for the hoe, as the fine rains followed by 

 such hot weather brought them up in shoals. When we could 

 not get at them all at once, we had the scattered plants of 

 Groundsel taken up and carried away before the bloom opened. 

 In the ease of strong plants showing bloom, it is little use cut- 

 ting them up and leaving them in dull weather, as the plant in 

 such a case will have enough of succulence to perfect the seeds. 

 It does seem amazing where all the weeds come from. A 

 few weeks ago every bit of ground was hoed, and yet lately the 

 surface in many places was getting green. Last year we were 

 overspread everywhere with Sow Thistles, as if a crop had been 

 sown, but this year we have scarcely seen any. We believe we 

 acquire many weeds by collecting compost from the sides of 

 the highways. Infact,'in most places the hedges by the sides 

 of the highway are disgraceful. From one hedge we; have 

 seen enough of Thistle-down Hying with the seed at its bottom, 

 to make suro that the Thistle shall not be got rid of in that 

 county. Wo little think when we allow a few Groundsel plants to 

 seed and scatter their progeny, how much work we are preparing, 

 not only for ourselves, but even for those who come after us. 

 We have frcjucntly removed G inches of surface soil, dug up 

 what was left 18 inches deep, placing the lowest layer carefully 

 on the surface, and covered with close hand-lights, and in the 

 summer the tops of the hand-lights would he pretty well lifted 

 up by varieties of wild plants, chiefiy weeds. We hardly know 

 bow long some seeds will retain their vitality if placed beyond 

 tho reach of air, nor yet how soon they will germinate when 

 having enough of moisture and exposed to atmospheric in- 

 fluence. Tho only economical remedy for weeds in a garden is 

 to get them cut up before they are much more than an inch in 

 height, when the sun will soon shrivel them out of sight. We 

 see before our eyes a proof of thij. In the press of matter a 

 piece of new herb ground was let alone too long, and to save 

 the herbs we shall have to pull up the larger weeds, which will 

 involve a great loss of time, as much as would have sufficed to 

 drive the hoe slightly through it a dozen of times. 



Slopiiiri Bunks. — These are of great utility in a garden, espe- 

 cially when the banks run from east to west, and thus have 

 one side exposed to the south, and the other to tho north, as 

 thus early and late crops are secured. The banks may be 

 made of any size, from 8 to 18 feet or more at the base, and 

 merely require to have ground thrown from the sides to tho 

 centre, so as to leave the bank in a pyromidal shape like tho 



roof of a span-roofed house. A bank 10 feet in width at base, 

 and about 3 feet in height at the centre, or ridge, is very useful. 

 This, if the bank is equal on each side, will give a slope of 

 about feet, thus increafiag the surface from 10 to 12 feet. 

 A more useful bank, however, is formed by having the top of 

 the ridge nearer the north than tho south side, so as to have a 

 slope of 7 feet to the south, and a rather more steep slope of 

 5 feet to the north. The south side comes in admirably for 

 early salads, early Potatoes, Turnips, Cauliflower, Sec, and the 

 north side does well for summer salading. Turnips, itc. The 

 south also answers well for early Strawberries, and the north 

 side for late ones. We find, also, that, owing to being free from 

 sudden changes, the north side does well for Lettuces, See., in 

 winter, where they often stand uninjured, wliilst cut up on the 

 south side. For early work we often stick a row of evergreen 

 branches on the ridge, which gives the plants on the south 

 side the advantage of a fence or hedge in moderating the force 

 of the north winds. These banks come in as a good substi- 

 tute for tho fruit-tree borders in front of walls with a south 

 aspect, which are generally too freely used, because in reality 

 tho position for early crops is so useful. These banks when 

 onco thrown up will not be hastily thrown down again, though, 

 as they depend entirely on the soil in tho garden, they can be 

 levelled down again when people got tired of them. They can 

 ho more easily made high in the centre if two or three banks 

 are made as "the valley that forms a small pathway on each 

 side of them may bo taken out deeper, and thus it will operate 

 as a surface drain as well as a pathway. 



Their general usefulness acknowledged, there are just two 

 things wo would notice concerning them. First, there is the 

 objection made, that from tho slopes the plants want more 

 watering than when grown on the level. We do not find this 

 to hold true in practice. Even on the south side the greater 

 power of the sun is counteracted by the greater depth of soil, 

 especially when kept surface-stirred. The second objection, 

 whilst acknowledging the benefit of the two chmates, denies 

 that we obtain any more available surface than would be ob- 

 tained from the base of our triangular-looking ridge. It is 

 contended that no more plimts can be grown on these slopes 

 than would be grown on the level base. We lately had a 

 friendly chat on this subject with a reverend and learned gen- 

 tleman, and like most discussions, we presume, it ended in 

 each being strengthened in his own opinions. In such small 

 ridges we agree that in the case of tall plants little would be 

 gained by the increase of surface ; but in all low-growing plants 

 we are of opinion that the increased surface is just so much 

 increased available space. Stand in front of a border, which is 

 again in front of a wall, and you can easily count how many 

 plants it will require to go across from walk to wall on the flat ; 

 but now stretch a rod from under the coping to the wall and 

 the side of the walk, and in proportion to the width of the 

 border will you increase the surface line, so that there you will 

 require more plants to go from front to back at equal distances, 

 and these increased numbers will each do as well as if on the 

 flat, and have nearly as much direct light, just because they 

 stand tier on tier above each other. Wo are supposing that 

 the plants are dwarf, say from 12 to IS inches in height. 



We know that learned men have insisted, as a self-evident 

 proposition, that the steep sides of a lofty mountain can grow 

 no more trees in perfection than would have grown on the base 

 of that mountain, as though the surface is increased, the base 

 line and perpendicular lines to the light are not increased. 

 We believe that even more lofty trees can be grown on the in- 

 creased surfaces, and all the more the more lofty the hill, other 

 things being equal, because the higher trees receive direct light 

 without robbing the lower trees of their due portion. Another 

 famihar illustration we may give. Take a greenhouse with a 

 sloping roof, either lean-to or span-roofed. If that house is to 

 be filled with large plants, it matters little whether there be a 

 stage or not, wo can place no more in it than will get access to 

 light, if we wish them to thrive. Hut in this house we wish to 

 give justice to as many plants as possible— say ranging from 

 t; to 18 inches in height. Would wo on the base of the moun- 

 tain, or tho base of the bank theory, consider we could do no 

 bettor than fill the floor of tho house, or a flat table stage to 

 bring them near the glass ■' With that plan we have no fault to 

 find, it has its conveniences, but assuredly we should not think 

 of resorting to it, but would at once have sloping stages, and 

 have the plants placed thickly tier above tier, if we wished to 

 give the greatest number of low plants the best chance for room 

 and light in such a house. However, in this and all other 

 matters, we are open to conviction. Only if wrong in our ideas, 



