Ootobor 8, 1867. ] 



JOURNAt, OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



263 



off for fear of wot or frost. Watering must now be done in the 

 morning, and sparingly. — W. Keank. 



DOINGS OP TPIE L.VST WEKK. 

 Wh.it a remarkable end to the month of September ! and 

 what a blessing to late places iu the north of our land where 

 the harvest had not been garnered safely ! Uut for a breeze 

 the heat on tlio "iTth would have been oppressive, and from 

 some of us engaged in open-air work the perspiration poured 

 as freely as in the dog days. By the end of September we 

 generally reckon it about time to give re.st to the water-pail as 

 regards everything planted in the common soil; but so fierce 

 and trying was the sun's power, that we were obliged to water 

 many things to keep them from flagging, as massive rows and 

 centres of Salvias and Dahlias in the flower garden, and Celery 

 and Cauliflowers in the kitchen garden. 



KITCITKN- CAUnEN. 



Cdgrrj. — .\s already noted, we have had little trouble this 

 season with Celery. The rains came s'o op|)ortunely, that after 

 watering at planting we watered only once until we gave it a 

 soaking the other day, after having trimmed and tied up each 

 bead with a small band of matting. This tying is a matter of 

 importance when inexperienced hands are employed. They 

 are almost sure to tie the heads too tightly, and that prevents 

 the heart of the plant rising freely. We had to cut the strings 

 of a lot of ours that were tied first, as they would have cut 

 into the Celery, and the centre of the plant would have been 

 cramped instead of being allowed to grow freely. The string 

 may be put a foot or l.j inches from the ground round large 

 Celery, and 8 to 12 inches around dwarf Celery. Such a tie is 

 chiefly useful when the Celery is grown on the bed style, as 

 there is no difliculty iu the earthing up, and the tying prevents 

 the soil going much into the heart of the plant ; but, as stated 

 above, the ties must be left loose to allow for the plant's grow- 

 ing. The tying also brings on blanching gradually without 

 earthing up early. If Celery is worth growing at all it is worth 

 tying neatly but somewhat loosely. 



CiuditUicrs coming in also required a good soaking to pre- 

 vent them flagging, and so did young turned-out Cabbage 

 plants. 



Onions. — We have taken all under some spare sashes to dry 

 well before being strung up in a wet day. In most places the 

 crop this season has been very good. 



ViUaijc Slinws. — The weather has been most propitious to 

 those that were held in the end of September. We trust the 

 time is coming when there will not be a parish but will have 

 at least its one horticultural show in the year. That may often 

 be successfully grafted on a harvest-home thanksgiving, and 

 be assimilated with, or rather substituted for, the village wake, 

 feast, or fair. Were we asked the time most suitable for the 

 one show of a parish to be held, we would say. From the last 

 days in July to the second week in September. After the 

 latter period it will generally be too late. Many of the most 

 striking flowers in the cottage garden are gone, and many of 

 the prime vegetables, and the show will have to depend chiefly 

 on Apples and Pears and the root crops, and what may be Ijft 

 of Dahlias, &c. If the last fortnight of the month is wet and 

 stormy, as it often is, the flowers, without more care than a 

 cottager can well give, will be much battered and their freshness 

 mnch gone. By the end of the month the Peas are mostly 

 gone ; nevertheless, even in the end of this month there have 

 been some fine village shows that have reflected honour on all 

 concerned, and owing to the fineness of the weather flowers 

 were shown in rich variety and perfection. Still, the time is 

 not to be depended on, and it will be wise, if other matters 

 permit, to have all such shows at the beginning rather than at 

 the end of the month. 



From what we have heard and what has come under our own 

 observation, the great feature at these late shows besides the 

 flowers were Potatoes and Unions. Despite the disease. Pota- 

 toes were shown in most excellent condition, though sharp 

 sorutiuy would detect here and there a speck of the disease. 

 Of course, every such speck when discovered would be a draw- 

 back, and that is often hard when there could be no doubt as 

 to the general superiority of the cultivation, and when the 

 disease is so much a matter beyond human control. Some- 

 times these little drawbacks are made the most of. The finest 

 plate of Keens' Seedling Strawberry we ever saw was passed 

 over at a show, and every one was surprised, until one of the 

 judges turned up a Strawberry with a hole in it made by a 



small slug. Now, these are tine points when nearness of ex- 

 cellence comes to be decided on ; and no doubt some of our 

 cottage readers would think they were rather hardly judged 

 when very fine Potatoes of theirs were placed lower because a 

 speck of disease had been discovered. We allude to the matter 

 for two reasons : First, much to their honour, most of these 

 village and parish shows owe their origin to the energy and 

 good feeling of the clergyman of the parish, who undertakes 

 most of the management, and the providing and collecting the 

 prize money as a labour of love, prompted by the desire to do 

 good to and to furnish a pleasant recreation to his parishioners. 

 Those clergymen may be expected to wield an influence that 

 few others could possess, and in the meantime they would do 

 much good by urging the villagers to grow more root crops, as 

 Carrots and Parsnips, instead of nearly filling their groand 

 with Potatoes. We have been told by many frequenters of 

 these shows that Carrots and Parsnips were very scarce in com- 

 parison with the Potatoes. Apples and Pears were also scarce 

 this season in many places, and the scarcity so far detracted 

 from the show. 



Another reason for mentioning this matter of Potatoes is, to 

 inform the uninitiated what are the general rules for showing 

 and judging Potatoes, as thus some misconceptions may be 

 prevented, and wo would wish to know what is the practice in 

 various parts of tlie country, as great diversity of opinion 

 exists as to what constitutes a kidney or a round Potato. In 

 j the general outlines there can bo no mistake, it is when the 

 I one kind merges into the other that there is such variety of 

 ! opinion. Potatoes are generally shown iu three classes, Whites, 

 Reis, and other colours, and these, again, are sub-divided into 

 I kidneys and rounds. The more like a kidney the Potato is, 

 ] the more smooth its sides, and the more imperceptible the 

 eyes the surer is the Potato to stand first in the judge's 

 decision. There are many large fine Potatoes partaking of the 

 kidney shape, but the sides are not smooth, and the eyes are 

 deep-set, and in this case these large Potatoes will be passed 

 over for a fine-shaped kidney, or by some judges will be classed 

 among rounds. Then among the rounds a similar practice 

 holds ; and, therefore, a man who takes a dish of huge round 

 Potatoes, good quality too, each one almost enough to be a 

 supper for a working man, with some savoury addition, feels 

 disheartened when his huge boulders, but with uneven sides 

 and deep-sunk eyes, are passed over, and the prize given to 

 Potatoes not half the size, but almost round as balls, and with 

 no deep-set eye on one of them. The judge says truly, that 

 such uniformsurfaced Potatoes lose nothing in peeling before 

 I boiling, and there is no waste in scooping out the deep-sunk 

 eyes ; but, then, the cottager if he is wise prefers boiling or 

 roasting such large Potatoes in their jackets, and in that case 

 there is not the same loss sustained by the deep-sunk eyes. 

 We will not discuss what force there maybe in this, but merely 

 wish it to be known by all cottagers, that at present the smooth 

 kidney and the smooth compact round Potato will carry off the 

 honours, though mnidi smaller than unshapely Potatoes with 

 sunk eyes. We believe that as yet. Reds, Blues, and other 

 colours have been less influenced by the disease than the 

 Whites. 



FIIUIT OAnDEN". 



Here the work has been a repetition of that recorded in 

 previous weeks, ttathorcd some of the ripest fruit, and in the 

 case of Apples and Pears find there is a great advantage in 

 having small bush and pyramidal trees instead of trees in the 

 orchard form, as respects merely the force of the wind, as it 

 exerts but little influence in throwing down the fruit when 

 growing in bush trees. Went over Peaches, Nectarines, Vines, 

 itc, removing almost every lateral, and shortening many 

 shoots to help the full maturation of the wood. Plums are now 

 becoming thin, except the Reine Claude de Bavay, Coe's Golden 

 Drop, and the Impcratrice, the value of which last we have 

 always thought depended entirely in its late ripening. Between 

 that "and Coe's Golden Drop there could be no comparison. As 

 already instanced, we fear that as far south as this, October 

 Peaches will be scarce after the first and second week of October. 

 We expect to have them later in the orchard-house than out 

 of doors. 



Brown Turkey and White Marseilles Figs have ripened to 

 lerably well in the orchard-house, and the former has been 

 good out of doors against a wall, but the branches allowed to 

 hang in the bush form, a hint we obtained from Mr. Till- 

 yard who had long practised the plan very successfally. We 

 had previously found that Figs in an orchard-house, as well aa 

 a forcing-honse, when the fnxit was exposed to the sun, was 



