March 7, 1867. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



18J 



Mushroom-house ; after that the most forward out of doors, 

 we hope will come iu with a little protection. Sea-kale out of 

 doors, we hope, will come in a month or six weeks hence, with 

 merely a box or a pot put over it to keep out the light. 



Potatoes. — We did not plant the long earth pit with Potatoes, 

 as alluded to the other week, for the Potatoes were not over- 

 forward, and whilst they remained where they were wo would 

 save some covering in these frosty nights; but we must not 

 delay longer than Tuesday or Wednesday. We find those 

 growing in pots must be moved to afford them more room, as 

 crowding early Potatoes is. like all crowding, anything but 

 true economy. Our friend, alluded to above in reference to 

 Sea-kale, gave us a very good idea, which might be often use- 

 fully adopted in small gardens where suceessional cropping 

 must be generally foUowed. We were discussing the properties 

 of varieties of Potatoes which produced the smallest tops, so 

 as to permit of cropping between the rows, as the various Ash- 

 leaved Kidneys, Haudsworth, Frames, Early May, Coldstream, 

 &c. To surmount the difficulty our friend generally plants 

 his early Potatoes thus : — Two rows are planted 18 inches 

 from row to row ; 30 inches are left between these and__the 

 next two rows, and so on through the space to be planted. 

 In the centre of the 30-inch space he plants in summer per- 

 manent strong-growing winter stuff, each row of which will 

 thus be 4 feet from the other. If the Potatoes threaten to 

 encroach, the heads of the two rows are turned towards the 

 18-inch space without injuring them. Thus the Potatoes are 

 not injured by planting between the rows, the permanent 

 winter crops do not suffer in digging up the Potatoes, and 

 when these are dug up and the ground cleared, lower-growing 

 crops may be planted where they stood. If the Potatoes had 

 large heads the space between every two rows might be a 

 few inches more, and then the interval left might be 3 feel in- 

 stead of 30 inches. We have much practised this successioual 

 cropping by planting between every two rows, but often we 

 ■would have ureferred to have let the crop of Potatoes alone until 

 it was taken up, and have had good strong plants previously 

 pricked out and well rooted to lift again, and such often did 

 best and presented the most regular plantation. We have 

 not for years practised our friend's plan with Potatoes and 

 Winter Greens, but we have no doubt it is well worthy of 

 adoption, as saving so much pricking-out and relifting, and 

 ensuring room for the plants when first turned out, without 

 the liability of their being injured when the crop of Potatoes 

 is taken up. 



Vermin. — V/e are afraid to say liow many beautiful tomtits 

 and blackcaps are hanging on the branches of a tree. We are 

 sorry to look at them, for we know the value of tomtits in 

 summer ; but it is a clear case, that if they are allowed to have 

 their own way now there will be neither Pear nor Plum for 

 them to dab their little bills into next autumn. We know of 

 no other remedy at this season than close netting. Then 

 there were rats and mice to be thinned and driven away. Will 

 some naturalist tell ns if there is war, or at least a feeling of 

 repugnance between the two races, rats and mice ? At any rale, 

 we have frequently found that when we had almost freed our- 

 selves of one kind, we soon had plenty of the other, though at 

 times we have had more than enough of both. Frames over 

 dung-beds are dear places to both, and tarring the bottoms of 

 frames outside, allowing the tar to drop on the dung there, is a 

 good way of keeping them away, so long as the tar continues 

 moist and smells strong. Eats for some time were in great force, 

 and trapping half a hundred seemed to decrease their numbers 

 but httle ; so, having a fortnight ago caught a fine fellow in a 

 trap, we were cruel enough to singe his hair, paint him a little 

 with tar, and let him free again. Since then we have not 

 noticed a single rat. In a few days, however, we had an in- 

 vasion of mice, three or four varieties ; we trapped many, but 

 still they come, and in one night they ate out the hearts of 

 half a dozen Strawberry plants in pots, nibbled Asparagus, cut 

 over Radishes, and cropped over a nice bed of young Carrots, 

 so that, much against our will, we have been forced to resort 

 to poisoning as well as trapping. The varieties of the grass 

 mice, especially, are particularly partial to Strawberry plants 

 in pots just when the centre begins to rise. We used to pro- 

 tect plants in pots in earth-pits in winter, leaving litter over 

 them in severe frost ; but we are afraid to trust them out of 

 sight now. AVe had two plants sent lately with inquiries as to 

 ■why they would not flower, there being many more like them. 

 The centre had been eaten out neatly by mice. If the plants 

 stand plunged in an open bed mice will rarely touch them ; 

 but set them in a frame, or cover them up in a pit, and the 



mice will soon begin to taste them. Strange that mice, like 

 men, should relish most that which is forbidden and most diffi- 

 cult to obtain. 



FEUIT DEPARTIIENT. 



Much the same as last week as respects general work. 

 Cleared out the litter that protected fruit trees in pots in the 

 orchard-house, fresh regulated, fresh surfaced, &c., to give a 

 neat clean appearance ; but some matters here we must defer, 

 and also in other departments, until next week. 



Strawberries. — Took out Strawberry plants that had done their 

 work, and replaced them with others, forwarded, as alluded to 

 above, in frames, where a mild gentle heat had been given them. 

 Liuring the earliest stages of forcing, and especially at an early 

 period, it is of importance that mere growth of foliage should 

 not be greatly encouraged until the flower-trusses make their 

 appearance. The most of the Strawberry plants lately moved 

 into houses and pits, were brought from frames where there was 

 just the slightest heat below them, so that the heat was given 

 gradually — a matter of importance when successions are taken 

 into houses. The beds were formed below the frames, chiefly 

 of the clearings from the flower-beds and i>leasuie grounds, 

 with a few inches of tree leaves above them tiimly trodden, and 

 then sprinkled with coal ashes, and on these beds the plants 

 ■were placed without plunging the pots, as we have long proved 

 that plunging pots full of roots in a bed where there is much 

 heat, before March or April, has a tendency to cause the roots to 

 find their w-ay out at the bottom, and thus encourage a free 

 growth of leaves instead of the free rise of the flower-truss. 

 A correspondent highly satisfied with the vigorous look of his 

 plants tells us, " On the Ibt of January I filled a pit with 

 Strawberry plants, plunged the pots in a bed, t}ie heat at the 

 bottom of the pots averaging 85°, and the top heat ranging 

 from 58' to 05" at night; the roots are striking into the bed, 

 and though the plants are seldom watered, the leaves are so 

 green, and fresh, and large, that I cannot but think giving 

 heat thus at once will far excel the jog-trot, gradual, bit-by- 

 bit-addition system you are always recommending. Why not 

 have-a trial of a more quick slap-dash way? " Ah, why not? 

 What of the crowns of the plants and the flower-trusses amid all 

 this dash and vigour? We should not be greatly surpiised if 

 the fine leaves have taken all the running, and that in many 

 cases the flower-trusses will never appear. Unfortunately fine 

 foliage is not what is most wanted at the dessert table. — R. F. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— Mapx-h 6. 



Thc cool weather has somewhat diminisbed the sujjply of out-door ve- 

 getables, but prices remain nearly as last week. Atjjjiragus is the only 

 article a little dearer. The Potato trade remains heavy; prices are a 

 trifle lower. 



Artichokes each 



AsparajTus bundle 



Beans, Kidney, per lUO 



ScarletRun.J sieve 



Beet, Red doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Brus. Sprouts ^ sieve 



Cahbatre doz. 



Capsicums 1^.^0 



CaxTots buuch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Cucumbers each 



pickling .... doz. 



Endive doz. 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish .. bundle 



3 







2 



2 



3 6 

 2 

 

 6 



4 

 2 

 2 

 

 2 

 3 

 8 



VEGETABLES. 

 d. 8. d 



6 too 8 

 12 

 4 





 



4 6 0! 



Leeks bunch 



Lettuce per doz. 



Mushrooms .... pottle 

 Mustd.& Cress, punnet 

 Onions. . . . per bushel 



Parsley per sieve 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas per quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



Radishes doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Savoys doz. 



Sea-Kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes .... per doz. 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows dz. 



s. d. B. 

 6 too 



3 







Apples ^ sieve 2 



Apricots doz 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bush. 10 



Currnnts A sieve 



Black .". . do. 



Figs doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 



Gooseberries ..quart 



Grapes, Hothouse. .It. 6 



Lemons 100 5 



OtoS 

 



FRUIT. 



Melons each 2 



Nectarines doz. 



j Oranges 100 5 



18 ! Peaches doa. 



i Pears (dessert) ..doz. 3 



kitchen doz. 2 



Pine Apples lb. 4 



Plums i sieve 



Quinces doz. 



d. B. 

 0to4 

 

 10 

 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries lb. 



10 Oi Walnuts bash. 10 20 



TRADE CATALOGUE^ RECEIVED. 



■William Hooper, St. John's Hill, New Wund&wortb, London, 

 S.W. — Catalogue of Vegetable and Flower Seeds, 



