396 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jane 6, ISar. 



/ 



house have a thorough circulation of fresh air early in the 

 morning, and if the atmosphere is warm give air most abun- 

 dantly. If the fire is put out betimes the air may be some- 

 what reduced by eleven o'clock. Some of the free-growing kinds 

 will be benefited by increased pot room, and those on blocks of 

 wood and in wire baskets may have a little additional moss ap- 

 plied over the roots. When vigorous growth is going on never 

 allow the young and succulent roots to perish for want of 

 moisture, which at this season they are apt to do. Gradually 

 expose plants coming into flower to a colder temperature if 

 you desire to enjoy them for any length of time. 



FORCING-PIT. 



This pit may be profitably filled with numerous ornamental 

 plants requiring the aid of additional warmth to bring them 

 kindly into bloom. Among these may be classed Balsams, 

 Cockscombs, Hydrangeas, Gardenias, &o. The propagation of 

 Pelargoniums miy also be carried on at the same time in this 

 pit, as well as that of many kinds of softwooded plants. 



riTS AND FRAMES. 



Shift specimen plants as often as they require it, shade a 

 little during the middle of the day if the sun is hot, and attend 

 •arefully to watering, giving manure water to such plants as 

 have filled the pots with roots, but not too frequently. Do 

 not use it too strong, and let it be as clear as possible ; many 

 plants are destroyed by a too-frequent application of manure 

 water. Let the young stock be brought forward in small pots 

 forthwith. Achimenes, for late flowering, may be brought on 

 in a cold pit. Of the young stock of New Holland plants, and 

 Heaths, Epacrises, and Cytisus, many wiU do best here, the pots 

 being plunged in sand or coal ashes to keep them cool and 



liESERVE GARDEN. 



Double Wallflowers, Mule Pinks, and some common Dian- 

 thuses, Alyssums, Phloxes, Iberises, and many kinds of dwarf 

 Cistuses and Helianthemums may be propagated under hand- 

 glasses in a shaded situation, and will be found very useful 

 next spring. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OP THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Never was there better weather for keeping the Datch hoe 

 going wherever it could find access, so as to knock up all weeds 

 before they were an inch in height, and to keep a loose surface 

 with the view of preventing heat and dryness from penetrating, 

 and in stiff soils preventing cracking. A press of other work 

 alone prevented us from so treating every piece of ground 

 where the hoe could be used. For such purposes the draw-hoe 

 is altogether out of date, and one drawback to its use is that 

 you tread on the ground after hoeing, and to this may be added 

 that the ground is left more in ridges, whilst the Dutch hoe, 

 well managed, leaves a level surface and little or no trace of 

 its working. Where weeds are ouly peeping through the ground 

 the Dutch hoe goes over much more ground in the same time. 



The work has chiefly been of a routine character. Being a little 

 short of common vegetables, we have used what have been con- 

 sidered a great delicacy, and what in most cases find their way 

 to the rubbish-heap — Sea-kale flower-heads, even at the risk of 

 scarcely having enough of heads to produce seed, but which in 

 general is easily obtained from the seed merchants. These flower- 

 ing heads make an agreeable change at the hall table, or, indeed, 

 any table with Spinach, Cabbages, or Sprouts. We consider 

 they are best just when the bloom begins to open, and we 

 advise those to try them who have never done so, boiling them 

 like other Greens, with just a little carbonate of soda in the 

 water. 



Turnips. — This has been a bad season for Turnips. What- 

 ever preventive one might adopt, the fly would be almost 

 oartain to do much damage. The farmers will mostly have the 

 advantage this year, against their will, owing to the weather 

 and the recent rains, especially in stiff land, of sowing late, 

 which, owing to the greater heat in the soil, will cause the 

 Turnips to come more quicldy and stronger, and so far present 

 a better opposition to the fly ; at any rate late crops are little 

 meddled with in comparison with early ones. Our first-sown 

 crops in the open air are a little irregular, and this failure in 

 the early part of the season first led us to transplant the early 

 Turnips when the rough leaves were well formed. From our 

 earliest Turnips, sown under the protection of glass, we 

 thinned out as many as planted regularly a piece of a sloping 

 bank, and hardly one has failed ; they will come in before the 



first sowings out of doora, and with the exception of twice 

 sprinkling with water gave no trouble, as they were too strong 

 for the fly to nibble at. We have two patches under hand- 

 lights which we will transplant if the weather should be dull, 

 though we perceive that the last sowing, fully exposed, is ag 

 yet untouched. Of course we dust with almost everything in 

 the way of ashes, soot, and lime to keep off the fly, but we 

 never met with anything so elfectual as Spruce branches. For 

 many years we never were troubled with the fly, for then ws 

 used to have a lot of old fence hurdles, through which we drew 

 branches of Spruce in winter, and most of the needle-lik» 

 foliage had fallen before we wanted them for seeds. On sowing 

 Turnips, the hurdles were placed on the ground. When the 

 seedlings were up the hurdles were raised on six-inch pots, and 

 ere long on larger ones, and wore removed as the plants be- 

 came strong. Whether owing to the scent of the Spruce, or 

 something else, the fact remains that under such treatment 

 the Turnips were scarcely ever touched by the fly, a fact that 

 may be of importance to the possessors of small gardens, who 

 thus might easily protect a small piece of Turnips. We have 

 of late been unable to lay our hands on Spruce branches, and 

 therefore for regular early crops we have partly resorted to 

 transplanting. For field culture, nothing is so good a preven- 

 tive of the fly as fine tillage and a forcing manure, which 

 help to make a strong plant quickly. Even then, however, 

 frequent sowings at times will be necessary. Notwithstanding 

 all attempts at dusting, rolling to crush and to destroy the fly, 

 other enemies sometimes appear. Oue of the be^t farmers of 

 the day lately told us that on high-priced land he had a large 

 field of Turnips that came up beautifully, but which would have 

 soon been a desert from an invasion of black snails. He 

 turned out all his own ducks, and all the young ducks he could 

 beg or buy in the neighbourhood, shut them up when full, and 

 turned them out again when hungry to help him whilst they 

 helped themselves ; and he thus saved his Turnips. A few 

 young ducks are very useful in a garden. 



Cabba(te Tribe. — Our seed-beds have suffered much, the young 

 plants dwindling away less from fly than the heavy rains, hail, 

 and frosts, and, therefore, we shall sow over again, and that no 

 time may be lost, we will use a mat, a cloth, or even a sash 

 for covering them, until fairly up. It is well to make sure, 

 even by a late sowing, and then though, as in our own case, 

 we hope there will be pretty well enough left, still it is best at 

 the expense of a few seeds to be sure. 



Scotch Cabbaijing Kale. — Of all last season's planting this 

 is now almost the only thing from which gatherings can be 

 obtained, and that only from a free cutting-down of the flower- 

 stems as they appeared. The young shoots that come from 

 the base are very tender and sweet, and will still do to make a 

 change for a week or two. Of most of the new Greens and 

 Brussels Sprouts we cannot say they are more useful than the 

 older kinds. 



Sowed successions of Peas, digging the ground well and en- 

 riching it moderately. After this sowing future sowings will 

 be more for the sake of having Peas late than for the profitable 

 returns they will render. What is sown after the day begins 

 to shorten does not do so well as that which has the lengthen- 

 ing day to help it. 



FRUIT DEPARTMENT. 



Much the same as last week : thinning, tying, regulating, 

 pinching, and above all watering. The Peas in the orchard- 

 houses almost hid the stems and leaves with the profusion of 

 pods. 



A correspondent writes to say he is surprised that we did 

 not mention cocoa-nut refuse as one of the best substances to 

 lay along rows of Strawberries to keep the fruit clean. We 

 have no doubt whatever that it is excellent ; but, cheap as it 

 is, where severe economy is practised it could hardly be recom- 

 mended for use in a wholesale way, either for this purpose or 

 the covering of flower-beds as a mulching when the ground had 

 been rendered hot enough by the rays of the sun, though for 

 small neat places it would do admirably for both purposes, and 

 if carefidly taken off might be repeatedly used season after 

 season before it became decomposed. The refuse from flax 

 mills also answers well for such a purpose. Another corre- 

 spondent is surprised we did not allude to tiles and slates 

 placed between the rows, were it for nothing but their forward- 

 ing properties in fully-exposed places. In thaukiug both cor- 

 respondents, we would just remind them that the most easily 

 obtainable materials, so as to be most generally useful, must 

 form a main point in these cursory observations. For our own 

 part we have found tiles and slates placed between the rows 



