394 



JOrSNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ Jun« e, 1867. 



/ 



have often seen tbree men at work at a hotbed, two filling and 

 wheeling from the heap 20 or 30 yards off, and one making the 

 bed. My plan is to have the manure drawn to the garden 

 door, have it wheeled in and shaken up on a day when no 

 other work presses, and then when the hotbed is to be made it 

 requires one man only, and he will do it in a \cry thort time. 

 I also have pits 2 feet deep for my beds. This saves much 

 time in measuring the ground and in making up the bed ; and 

 much less skill is requi^te, as anybody can raito a bed 2 feet 

 high, which is quite sufficient above the ground line. 



Fourthly, I have all work done in mnter that can be done. 

 The whole garden is dug and manured in winttr, and thus the 

 cropping is far less laborious. 1 have seen crops of Teas ready 

 to stick, when the man has had to take a horse and cart to 

 bring the sticks, and then to spend a day in cutting and sharp- 

 ening them, and then to carry them to the Peas. I have such 

 ■work done in the winter, and the sticks stacked close to the 

 ground intended for Peas. 



These are just examples of the many trifles in which I think 

 labour in small gardens may be well or ill applied. 



My own help is not great, as I have much work on my hands. 

 I am a country clergyman with a wide parish and a large school, 

 and my time is, of course, very much taken up ; but I manage 

 every morning to go round my garden and give directions for 

 the day's work, and in the evening I can often do a little 

 nailing or pruning. 



I have omitted to state that I think it great economy to 

 have plenty of tools, water-pots, wheelbarrows, and every work- 

 ing requisite. 



If " SuEscniEER" really thinks of putting up an orchard- 

 house, and would like to see mine, I hope he will let mo know 

 his nearest railway station ; and if within distance of me I 

 hope he will come for the day, when he shall know all my 

 secrets if I have any to communicate. Most probably he is 

 already far in advance of me in gardening knowledge. 



I would just add, that while I of course look up to Mr. Elvers 

 as the father of the orchard-house system, and doubt not that 

 in his soil and climate his lules are perfect, I think they 

 require considerable modification in other soils and climates. 

 I cultivate my trees with considerably less trouble than his 

 rules advise. This is my fourth year, and I have departed 

 more and more from his rules each year with manifest advan- 

 tage, and this year I am perfectly satisfied. I do not see many 

 orchard-houses to compare them with my own, but I cannot 

 imagine one nearer perfection. I have forty-nine trees in it, 

 of which one is blank, three have small crops, and the re- 

 mainder are really pictures — full of fine fiuit now, numbers of 

 them 3 inches in circumference — not a vestige of insect or 

 cnrl, except here and there a little scale, which springs into 

 being after the tree seemed quite free — in a single day appa- 

 rently ; but you may look a good while before you find one of 

 these. 



I ought to add that I have 100 yards in length of wall, 

 covered with fiuit trees, varying in height from 7 to 12 feet. 

 — C P. 



POOLER'S TOBACCO POWDER. 



In my article on this insect-killer in your last number I find 

 it stated that this powder should be ajiplied before the dew was 

 " on " the leaves and insects; it should be before the dew is 

 " off," sincG it is the dew, impregnated v.'ith tobacco dust, 

 ■which kills the insects. Since I last wrote on this subject I 

 have tried various other experiments with the powder, all of 

 ■which were most satisfactory. Another person, to whom I gave 

 BOme of the powder, used it on a Honeysuckle completely 

 covered with aphides. On my inspecting it the day afterwards 

 I found all the insects dead. — Obsf.rvee. 



[We have inserted this and the preceding communication 

 having faith in an old subscriber who is known to us ; but we 

 are not surprised at having a letter, from which the following 

 is an extract : — 



"What are we to infer from the statement of " Observer" 

 at page 377 ? Can it be that the boon so long sought by the gar- 

 dening public— the remission of duty on tobacco for horticul- 

 tural purposes, has been actually granted by the Government ? 

 It seems to me that you should at once either confirm this 

 assertion, that " the Board of Customs has remitted the duty 

 on ground tobacco," or repudiate it, or, at least, explain how 

 much of this irresponsible statement is really valuable to us. 

 If it is dependable, under what forms is untaxed tobacco 



allowable, and how is it to be procured ? Who is Pooley ? and 

 where is his preparation to be obtained ? and at what price ? 

 —P. H. G."] 



FLOWERS BLOOMING DURING MAY— 

 CAMASSIA ESCULENTA CULTURE. 

 I WOULD say a word in praise of one flower during May, 

 which is not so well known as it ought to be — viz., Camassia 

 esciilcnta. As a pot jilant in early spring it deserves a place in 

 all cool greenhouses. It is a bulbous plant of easy culture, 

 thriving in a compost of fibrous sandy loam and leaf mould, 

 with thorough drainage. After flowering it should be carefully 

 attended to until the leaves are matured ; then it may be stored 

 in the pots in any cold dry place nntil the autumn, when it 

 may again be potted. It should then be placed in a cold pit 

 where it can be kept from the frost during winter. Six or 

 eight bulbs placed in an eight-inch pot when in bloom form a 

 verj' desirable object. Treated as above and planted out in the 

 border or spring garden in a sheltered situation, it will repay 

 any little care that may be bestowed upon it. In appear- 

 ance it is almost like one of the Ornithogalums ; its flowers are 

 of a lovely blue colour, and the plant is abont 15 inches in 

 height. A few bulbs planted together in patches, or massed, 

 have a beautiful effect, especially in spring gardens and among 

 herbaceous plants. — M. H., Acklam Hall, Middlesborough-on- 

 Tecs. 



May Srd. Purple Orchis 



„ Mabalcb CbeiTT 



„ Aubrietin Caml'bolli 



„ Uvuliu'ia nmplL'Xicuulis 



,, Epimcdium rubrum 



May 6th, Pa'ouiae of various kinds 



„ Euphorbia cjpariSKius 



„ Corjdalis lulea 



May 9tb. Camaxsia L-sculenta 



„ Laburnum 



„ Common Broom 



„ Pyrus malus (Apples.) 



„ Cerabus padus 



„ Dapbiie laureola 



May lllh. Aucuba japouica 



„ Deutzia gracilis 



„ Azalea pontica. Tare. 



„ Asphodulus lutcuB 



„ HyacinthuB non-scriptUB 



., Malcolmia maritima 



May 18th. LUy of the Valley 



May ISlh. Slountain Ash 



„ Houeyauclde 



„ Solomon's Seal 



„ Londou Pride 



„ Lilacs of various kinds 



„ Dble.-blosMomed Cherry 



,. Narcissus bidorus 



„ I^arcissus pocticus 



May 10th. Horse- Cheatuut 



„ Yellow Kibes 



„ "N'iburnum opulus sterile 

 May 18th. Mimulus cuprous 



„ Aucbusa .semperrirens 



May iiOth. Saxifrnga hypnoidea 



„ Trullius europa3UB 



„ Limuauthes Douglaaij 

 May '.i'ind. Polemouium coeruieuin 



,, CoroniUa emerus 



May '.iSth. Quince 

 May :^bth. Khodiola rosea 



„ Bhodudeudi'ons, varions 



EARTHING-UP POTATOES. 



I AM in doubt whether to earth Potatoes or no. I find it 

 stated in the " Garden Manual " that earthing-up diminishes 

 the crop one-fourih ; ^hile, en the other hand, I find the uni- 

 versal custom in this neighbourhood is to earth them np. 

 What is the object of earthing-up ? and in cases where it is 

 not intended to do so, is it necessary to plant deeper? If the 

 object be to produce tubers instead of leaves I should have 

 thought that the operation should have been performed much 

 earlier than it is usually done. 



Is liquid manure of any use to Potatoes, or is it likely to be 

 detrimental '! — Tyro. 



[Wo never earth-np Potatoes. We plant the sets uniformly 

 6 inches deep, hoe frequently to keep down weeds, and draw 

 the earth over any tubers which may have formed exceptionally 

 near the surface. Our experiments convinced us that earthing- 

 up diminishes the produce and retards the ripening of the 

 tubers. 



Ko liquid manure should be applied to Potatoes.] 



GOOD CROPS OF STRAWBERRIES. 

 In April or May, 1865, I obtained some Strawberry plants 

 from Mr. Rivers ; I did not allow them to bear any fruit that 

 year, but last year (1866), they bore what I consider a beau- 

 tiful crop ; but as I am only an amateur grower, you will cor- 

 rect me if my idea of a good crop falls short of what it might 

 be. The whole of the plants were laden with berries, but it 

 was not tmtil the third time the fruit was gathered that I took 

 particular notice of the quantity, when 1 selected a fine-looking 

 plant, and took from it at that gathering sixty-one fine large 

 berries ; they failed a dessert-dish full. At the next, or fourth, 

 gathering I Irad twenty berries, and at the fifth thirty. How 

 many were gathered at the first and second gatherings I can- 

 not say. The Strawberry was called President by Mr. Elvers ; 



