MS 



JOUENAL OP HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDBNER. 



[ May 16, 1867. 



some lights over the border, from which we intended lifting, 

 and which fortunately faces the south. It is very eaRy to make 

 a glftsB-covered bed under Buch circumstances. One of the 

 qnickest ways, perhaps, is to place ilower-pots back and front 

 for the sashes to rest on, with or without a rail from pot to pot, 

 and then a wisp of litter from pot to pot, giving air iu the usual 

 way, and taking it away early in the afternoon. In dull 

 weather this covering with glass will be of little advantage, but 

 in bright weather it will Oring in the crop from eight to ten 

 days earlier. In such hot weather much time was occupied in 

 watering Strawberry plants in pots, fruit trees in pots. Figs, 

 Vines, and Peaches, using for the purpose clear manure water, 

 or drainings from the dunghill alternately with clear water. 

 We also used now and then clear lime water and clear soot 

 water for syringing Strawberries not more than half grown, 

 and Peaches, &o., overhead, having for many years given up 

 syringing Vines, as we cunnot obtain water clear enough for 

 that purpose. Such washings, it the water is clear, help to 

 keep Peach trees clean, and, in the case of the soot water, 

 assist also in giving them greater luxuriance and a better green 

 hue to the foliage. 



Clear Lime mid Soot Water. — Though we have often given the 

 modes of making these, we repeat them, to meet the request of 

 several correspondents. For clear lime water — say for a barrel 

 of fifty-eix gallons, add a spadeful of quick lime, stir it well, 

 and leave it for twenty or thirty hour.s. Then remove the thin 

 pellicle of carbonate of lime from the surface, and use it for 

 syringing or otherwise, but let the operator keep it off his 

 clothes as much as possible. If the barrel should be nearly 

 emptied at once, fill again, stir the lime well, and use as before. 

 When tilled again add more lime. 



To make soot water. For a similar barrel use fully a peck 

 of fine soot, beat it up with a little water, with broom or 

 spatula, into a thickish paste, as then it will mix thoroughly 

 with the water, without any dry knots. Add the water, and 

 then add about a pound of quicklime, or as much as would lie 

 on a trowel, and stir all well. In twenty-four hours remove ' 

 the scum on the surface, and you will have a liquor as clear as 

 brandy. Tliie would do for watering some plants, but for syring- 

 ing it ehouM have fully a half of clear water added. When the 

 tub is nearly emptied, it may be filled, stirred, and allowed i 

 to settle as before; but this lime-it will be weaker, and the 

 next time of filling fieih soot should be added, nearly as much 

 as at first. After several such fillings, the barrel should be 

 emptied out, and a fresh commencement made. It is astonish- 

 ing in such cases, and in that of other manures, how soon a 

 little quicklime clears the liquid. 



Cement tanks are very useful for such purposes, built under 

 the surface line of the ground, but an old wooden barrel would 

 be more economical. For several years we had a number of old 

 barrels that stood on a solid platform some 6 inches above the 

 ground level, and these were fitted with rough wooden taps, 

 but they became so decayed that we could do nothing with 

 them, and we could not manage either to obtain new, or rather 

 old, oil and other barrels that would have served our purpose, 

 though unfitted for their original use. We therefore dug a 

 trench in the clay, put down the old barrels so as to be about 

 level with the surface, rough-mended the worst places, daubed 

 them with tar outside, and packed them firmly with the clay 

 all round, running tar down by tlie outsides of the barrel as we 

 did so, and the old useless barrels thus treated have done good 

 service for some half dozen of years, and, kept full, are likely 

 to last a long time. Any old barrel useless for much else may 

 thus become very useful to the cottager and the amataur, from 

 merely sinking it in the ground. Our clay gave us an advan- 

 tage, but any soil the most open and sandy would do if firmly 

 rammed when a little damp ; and a few pence were spent for 

 tar from the gasworks, which was allowed to mix thoroughly 

 with the soil for several inches outside the barrel. We have our 

 eye on a huge butt that bad been used as a horsecart water- 

 barrel, but which is too far gone to be of use for that purpose. 

 The press of other matters alone has prevented its being put out 

 of sight below ground, when we have no doubt that what is 

 useful for nothing but firewood would do.good service for ten or 

 twenty years. However, all who can obtain them should have 

 good barrels and tanks, and what we have not yet had, but would 

 have were we gardening solely on our own account, would be 

 the means of heating a tank of clear or manure water as we 

 Uked, by either having a boiler on purpose or hot- water pipes 

 along the bottom of the tanks. 



ORNAMENTAL PEPART5IENT. 



After the rains on Friday a considerable amount of mowing 



was done, though we were behind with other work, as th» 

 ground was too wet for doing much on it. Before that W9 

 were proceeding with fresh planting hardy edgings, as Ceras- 

 tiums, &c. The Cerastium died off much last winter, but 

 even if it had not done so, it is always best when fresh planted 

 every spring. The soil at the outsides of beds is generally in 

 the most unfavourable state as respects air, oonsisteuce, &c., 

 so that in making up these edgings afresh we find it a good plan 

 to take out a spit at the sides, place that near the middle to ba 

 incorporated with the bed, and refill at the sides with better- 

 aired and pulverised soil from the surface of the bed. This il 

 especially necessary when the same edging is to be repeated in 

 the same place. 



Much time has also been occupied in potting Pelargoniums, 

 pricking off the last seedling Lobelias, and putting in the 

 last batch of Verbena cuttings, planting them out at once in 

 light soil over a hotbed. These will make good plants to lift 

 with small balls in little more than a fortmght. We are a 

 little late with some of these plants, though the bulk is early 

 enough ; but though not a single foot of glass has not had its 

 several crops all the winter, something must be late when there 

 is a constant contest going on as to which is to be preferred, 

 the useful or the ornamental — that which, in a word, has to 

 appear at table to be eaten, and that which is merely to please 

 the eye by looking at it. For all pricking-out and hardening- 

 off processes, and where some covering at first is necessary, 

 we have found nothing better than calico not over thick. We 

 have covered beds of Pelargoniums and Calceolarias with this, 

 watered when put out, and they required no more trouble 

 than exposing them gradually a few days before planting out 

 finally. 



Finished in the meantime fresh arranging verandahs, con- 

 servatories, &c. Two correspondents have sent us a line in re- 

 ference to previous remarks. One has a small lean-to house, 

 the other a small spau-rooted house, and they ask how they 

 are to change the appearance of such houses. One having 

 always kept the tallest plants at back, falling regularly to the 

 front at the pathway, and the other having always kept the 

 tallest in the centre, and the lowest at the sides, of course, in 

 either house, whenever you open the door, you see the whole. 

 Well, what we mean is simply this — Lei such arrangements 

 remain as they are for a week or two, and then try and arrange 

 the plants not in a regular sloping bank, but as so many 

 pyramids, with low valleys between them, and, perhaps, a taller 

 plant or two in the middle of such valleys, as a point for the 

 eye to rest on. Even in a small lean-to house, you might have 

 two or three higher ranges across the house with lower ba.ys 

 and valleys between, and an infinity of plans could be adopted, 

 which would enhance the attraction by preventing your ever 

 seeing so much as the whole at once. Had w-e only one such 

 house, and could have our way, we would fresh arrange the 

 plants in pots every week, so as to have variety, instead of 

 sameness, to contemplate. It is well that change and variety 

 are so pleasing to human nature, and even the gardener will 

 act wisely if he avoid as much as possible the stereotyped in 

 manner and design. 



Shading. — We noticed last week the spattering the glass with 

 white-coloured water. If not enough be given at once it may 

 be repeated, or put on thicker, or a brush may be used. Let 

 us warn all, however, that for this shading purpose whitening 

 or chalk be used; avoid lime by all meaus. if you would not 

 injure paint or putty. We have never had shading for our con- 

 servatory ; in fact, have no regular shading material for any- 

 thing. Many plants taken to the conservatory had a slight 

 shade from plants above them, as late Vines, &c., before, 

 and therefore such a fierce sun as we have had would have 

 been prejudicial to them. We therefore wanted a shade 

 that would be enough for the purpose, stand until autumn, 

 and not be unsightly, nor yet too dense for a dull day. We 

 have tried many modes, and successfully enough, but we have 

 found none more simple than skim milk, with a little powdered 

 whitening mixed with it — say as much whitening as the size of 

 a walnut — reduced to a fine powder, and thoroughly mixed 

 with two or three quarts of milk. We would advise those trying 

 the scheme to do a piece of glass first, let it dry, and add to 

 the milk or whitening as they require less or more shading. 

 We have not applied the shading mixture quite so well as 

 usual, as it looks a little run; but if it be put on quickly and 

 thinly by one man with a brush, and another follow with a 

 dry duster brush, merely daubing it quickly with the points of 

 the dry brush, the shading will have the appearance of shaded 

 ground glass, and look neat enough for anything. The least 



