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378 



JOURNAL, OF HOBTIGULTUBB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t May 80, 1887. 



attending to the general routine culture when required. Pansies 

 should also be shaded from excessive sunlight. They have 

 been severely attacked by the legions of slugs which have every- 

 where abounded this season. Hand-picking appears to be the 

 only effectual remedy. Dahlias which are sufficiently forward 

 shonld be staked. 



GREENHOUSE AKD CONSEKVATOKY. 



Climbing or trained plants now require attention in regard 

 to thinning, training, stopping, &a. It the sun shines very 

 brightly a slight shading would be of benefit for a few hours 

 on very hot days. The inmates of such structures, however, 

 are sometimes very various in character and habit, and the 

 foregoing advice would be more applicable, perhaps, to the 

 various New Holland plants. Oranges, Camellias, Arc. In all 

 mild weather the fires in the greenhouse may be nearly or 

 entirely dispensed with. If the weather is genial and accom- 

 panied with bright sunshine, heat sufficient for the night may 

 be secured by shutting-up early, not, however, soon enough to 

 scorch. A general rule can scarcely be laid down in such cases 

 to guide the inexperienced. On sunny afternoons the air may 

 be reduced one-half at three o'clock, and altogether shut off at 

 four o'clock. Attend to the various points of cultivation as 

 before recommended, remembering that now is the period for 

 rapid growth. Camellias should be placed in a little warmth 

 to make wood and set their flower-buds ; be particular in never 

 allowing them to suffer from want of water. Keep up a gentle 

 moisture by occasional syringings. Azaleas as they go out of 

 flower may also be similarly treated ; indeed, all kinds of green- 

 Louse plants are benefited by being kept rather close and warm 

 when making their wood. Rhododendron arboreum and its 

 varieties should be fully exposed to the sun imder glass, if you 

 wish to have perfect foliage and abundance of iiower-buda. 

 Partial shading to these is their ruin, both as regards their 

 foliage and the forming of their flower-buds. 



S10TE. 



Thorough cleanliness, free ventilation, plenty of atmospheric 

 moisture, and occasionally a slight shading in very bright sun- 

 shine are the prime requisites in this house. No means should 

 be neglected to encourage a free growth at this period in the 

 Orchidaceous tribes in order to have their pseudo-bulbs firm, 

 well-fed, and well-ripened at an early period. As the weather 

 still continues changeable, take especial care that the young 

 shoots of all plants in this house shall not be checked or in- 

 jured by cold draughts, or scorched by sudden outbursts of sun. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



Shift and carefully attend to such plants as are intended to 

 form specimens ; sprinkle with water and shut up closely late 

 in the afternoons of hot days. Put in cuttings of choice green- 

 house and herbaceous plants, in order that tliey may be rooted 

 before the pits are again wanted for cuttings to supply the 

 flower garden next year. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WTiEK. 

 Many of us will remember the Derby day of 1867, for its hail 

 and snow, and bitter north winds, and the keen frosts which 

 occurred on the succeeding mornings of the week, cutting down 

 to the ground all our Scarlet Runners, and Dwarf Sidney Beans 

 not under protection, blackening our forward Potatoes, and 

 causing the pods of forward Peas to look as if they had been 

 scalded by a spattering of water close on the boiling point. 

 Strawberry plants have, as yet, suffered less than we expected, 

 though early on Thursday morning the leaves were like boards, 

 and the bloom encased in sheets of ice ; but fortunately for us 

 on that morning, which was the coldest, the sun did not appear 

 until late, aud not much then, and the thawing process was 

 effected very gradually. If we had many such seasons, it W(|uld 

 be well to revert to the old-fashioned style of flower gardening — 

 the mixture of shrubs, herbaceous plants, annuals, &c., filling 

 up all vacancies with bedding plants, instead of making these 

 the principal decorative objects. This we do know, that not 

 a few, who were kindly but somewhat ostentatiously pitying us 

 for being so far behindhand, are now wishing that they had 

 tui-ned out fewer of their tender plants. We should not like 

 to yentui-e for a fortnight, unless there were a great change, 

 Heliotropes, Perillas, Amaranthus melancholicus, &c. Such 

 plants when thoroughly chilled, seldom do much good after- 

 wards. It is not desirable not to be able to finish combination- 

 beds at once, but in such weather it is safest to do the work at 

 different times, turning out the hardiest plants first, in their 



allotted places, and afterwards the more tender as the weather 

 becomes more settled. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



One of the first matters attended to after the frost, was 

 sowing Scarlet Pamners, Dwarf Kidney Beans, &c., in boxes for 

 future transplanting, placing them where they could be for- 

 warded by heat ; and then, as the weather was dry and parching, 

 though cold, ran the Dutch hoe through all the borders and 

 quarters where it could be worked. We likewise earthed-up 

 Cabbages, Potatoes, and Cauliflowers, where possible. Our 

 earliest Cabbages, that we had to forward in pets before trans- 

 planting, owing to the four-footed vermin having left a desert 

 of our autumn-planted quarter, are hearting well, and became 

 too thick before we could earth them up. The somewhat 

 forcing treatment which they have received, first potting the 

 little plants, putting them under glass, and then after planting 

 giving them a dash of manure water, has rendered the stems 

 too small in proportion to the heads ; therefore, a little earthing- 

 up would have been desirable. 



We mention these Cabbages thus particularly for two pur- 

 poses — first, that it may be clearly known that when all this 

 trouble has to be taken, even such a common vegetable as a 

 Cabbage cannot be obtained quite so soon, or at the same cost 

 as respects labour, as when the plants can be put out at once 

 and be secured from hares and rabbits. It would be sheer folly 

 for a man to meet the competition of the market with Peas for 

 the season, if, instead of casting his seed into the ground, he 

 found he must either transplant his Peas when 3 or 4 inches 

 high, or protect the seeds and the seedhngs by wire netting. 

 When people talk about a garden costing so little, it must be 

 clearly understood that there must be none of this wasting, 

 and, what is worse, harassing labour, of doing, having the work 

 undone for you, aud then the doing it again as best you can. 

 Secondly, we would say, Let the importance of this doing and 

 doing again in such circumstances never be forgotten by gar- 

 deners, as they may rest assured that employers will not forget 

 to look for their favourite dishes at the usual times ; though 

 they will very likely forget all about disasters to crops, brought 

 about less from any fault or carelessness of the gardener than 

 their own regulations as to other matters, which will certainly 

 consign a good portion of the garden produce to other quarters 

 instead of lending attractions to a gentleman's table. We do 

 not at present philosophise on the right or wrong in the matter ; 

 we merely wish to state the too general fact, that when produce 

 is wanted the destruction from frosts and from the predations 

 of two-footed and four-footed game are apt to be quite forgotten. 



Sliir/s and Seedn. — From all quarters we hear of the numbers 

 of slugs and snails this season. One of our best gardeners 

 has informed us that he has had fifteen distinct varieties this 

 season, and of every variety legions. After the severe frosts one 

 would have thought they had had a nipping. One peculiarity 

 in our own case is, that though we saw too well where they had 

 been, we have been able to find but comparatively few on the 

 surface of the ground, even in mild dewy mornings, when they 

 are generally most abundant. It is just possible, too, that 

 great as their depredations have been, they have been blamed 

 more than they actually deserve. Our own opinion is, that 

 seeds in general have not been quite up to the mark this season, 

 whether owing to the dull wet autumn of last year, or other 

 causes, we could not take upon ourselves to decide ; but there 

 can be no question, that in some cases where snails and slugs 

 were blamed, they never had the chance of doing mischief, as 

 the seed rotted iu the ground, though receiving all proper treat- 

 ment. We have received many complaints as respects even 

 Peas, and though some sorts have come up as well as ever, 

 others that were thin were found to have many seeds mould- 

 ing and rotting that had never germinated, or had come weakly 

 as old seeds wiU. For ourselves from close picking, the wet of 

 last autumn and an invasion of rats, we did not have the chance 

 of saving any seeds of Peas. 



We h.ave already alluded to the general hoeing of all ground 

 where the Dutch hoe can go. Where neatness is an object, a 

 back draw with the hoe will leave all level and neat, but this is 

 seldom necessary, aud the svm aud the breeze soon put the 

 weeds out of sight. 



The dretLdei Bindweed has been cut twice already, and where 

 plenty of time cannot be afforded to dig out its roots the Dutch 

 hoe is the grand remedy, as, if the shoots are constantly cut 

 by the time they grow 3 or 4 inches above the soil, the great 

 milky-white roots will be forced to yield up their life in de- 

 spair, though if left alone half an inch of these roots would 

 ere long make the progress of a garden. Oi all weeds .this^ is 



