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JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Juns 13, 1867. 



and now begins the propagation by grafting of Camellias, Eho- 

 dodendronp, and Azaleas ; when expedition is preferred, these 

 may be kept in a strong, moist, and close heat till they are 

 united, but they will do perfectly well in a close cold frame, 

 well shaded, only they take longer time in this way. — W. Keanf:. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN OARDEN. 



The routine has been very much the same as last week — 

 hoeing, planting, and taking means to forward crops that were 

 injured by the frost. Pricked out plenty of Cehru, and fully 

 exposed what will be the first crops, as we have not yet manure 

 at hand to plant in the trenches, or, rather, three-rowed beds, 

 but we shall be able to attend to that presently. One advantage 

 of planting large plants with good balls is, that the base of the 

 plant can be examined, and everything like subsidiary shoots 

 or suckers removed before final planting. When the plants 

 are turned ont young this dressing must, in a great measure, 

 be done after they have giown in their allotted places, and with 

 much more trouble than at planting-time. Large plants with 

 good balls can be moved without the necessity of taking away 

 a leaf, except with these axillary shoots or suckers, .\lthough in 

 Tery sunny weather the plants may require an extra .sprinkling 

 overhead, this, even, will not be necessary if they can have the 

 flickering shade of staked rows of Peas between the beds. 



Caulifott'iis that were brought forward under hand-lights, 

 and a good portion of which still remains, were finally banked 

 up by digging a trench between the rows where the glasses 

 ■were, and then for keeping them moist enough at the roots 

 they were well banked up with short grass. They are much 

 beneiiled by this mulching, especially when on a bank sloping 

 to the south. Looked after succession crops, pricked out seed- 

 lings, and sowed for the last crops out of doors. AVe have had 

 good returns by sowing in the beginning of .July in patches, 

 and allowing the plants to remain without transplanting ; but 

 the middle of June is late enough when they are to be trans- 

 planted. In small gardens there must be frequent sowings of 

 everything to keep up a supply and have nothing to run to 

 waste. Until the last sowing of Turnips it is advisable only 

 to BOW a small space at a time, and then the crop is always 

 young, sweet, and tender. 



Cucumhcr^. — Regulated those on a ridge intended for Gherkins, 

 &e., also Vegetable Marrows. Banked up the linings of those 

 in frames by placing short grass and a little litter above it, 

 pretty well as high as the frames. The linings, properly speak- 

 ing, have never been meddled with. The beds were made so 

 much wider than the frames at first as to admit of this bank- 

 ing-up above the level of the bed, as it were, and thus heat is 

 thrown in by forcing the wood to be a conductor, and there is 

 ro danger of too much bottom heat. These frames are so 

 shallow that the soil inside is below their lower edges, except 

 where some is beaten firm all roimd the insides to prevent any 

 access of deleterious steam. 



When such material as that referred to above is used for 

 banking-up, care must be taken in giving air, to prop up the 

 sashes, instead of sliding them up or down. The proppiug-up 

 system is always the best in every way, and .should always be 

 adopted where there are linings of fermenting material. The 

 fumes from rank dung will destroy a bed of Cucumbers as 

 effectually as burning sulphur among them would do. 



As soon as we can, we will take the soil from a bed that did 

 good service for early Potatoes, remove a foot or more of the 

 npper tree leaves, &c., mix dung from stables and short grass 

 ■with the lower layer, replace that taken off, as well as the old 

 soil, add a quantity of fresh, put frames on, and plant with 

 strong Cucumber plants for succession, either to ease or take 

 the place of those bearing freely as yet. There are so many 

 casualties that may come, that it is best to be ready. 



Cucumber Disrnxc. — This either in its gummy secretion, or 

 curled or spotted leaf, we are as yet free from ; but in answer 

 to many inquiries, we must say that we neither know what 

 brings these evils, nor what will keep them away, as we had 

 them for several years, and under every imaginable condition — 

 in pits heated by hot water, in dung-beds, on ridges, in the open 

 ground, it mattered not where, in what soil, or in what tem- 

 perature. We even sowed in warm places out of doors, in the 

 Sandy fashion, but it was of no avail ; by the time the plants 

 began to be useful they showed signs of the disease, and our 

 only partial remedy was frequent sowing, using seed from a 

 distance, and fresh soil each time. Now, we mention this pro- 

 minently here that it may attract the attention of all who 



have Buffered, particularly ef any one who has discovered a 

 remedy, and more especially because one of the best Cucumber- 

 growers in the country, whose house, pits, and frames, used to 

 be remarkable for the fertility and health of the plants, and 

 who never had anything of the sort before in a long practice, 

 has it now among all his Cucumbers, and he says he feels 

 powerless to arrest its progress. Like ourselves, he is not aware 

 of any difference as to treatment, soil, itc.,and we had worked 

 at least a quarter of a century among Cucumbers without ever 

 having anything to do with such troublesome pests. At present 

 we would venture to state, that the gardener who is thus 

 troubied is to be pitied rather than blamed. We know there 

 are many who make light of all this, but if they only once 

 have a visit of the enemy, as our friend referred to has, they 

 will find it too serious to make sport of. Who will make 

 known a remedy for this evil? 



Potatoes Disi'ascd. — It is only right to mention another evil, 

 as to the cause of which we are forced to confess our ignorance. 

 This season early crops in pots and in frames have been very 

 good. We mentioned planting a wide earth pit, with just a 

 little heat at bottom, heat given by tree leaves, &c., not higher 

 than 80' when highest, the heat in the soil ranging from 50' and 

 a little more when highest ; soil a rather hght sandy loam. The 

 Potatoes had been set on leaf mould in shallow boxes, and were 

 sprung about 3 inches when planted. The rows were 18 inches 

 apart, and there was nothing between them. Up to May nothing 

 could look better, stems thick and sturdy, foliage of a dark green, 

 and on examining them with the fingers several times the young 

 Potatoes were found coming all right. All at once, after a 

 thunderstorm followed by some days of bright sunshine, the 

 tops showed signs of distress. On examining the soil we found 

 it was in a healthy state, neither wet nor dry ; but to keep the 

 plants in a healthy growing state we gave them a slight water- 

 ing, which revived them until the next fierce sun, when many of 

 the tops flagged again. On examining more closely those that 

 flagged, we found that a little below the surface of the ground, 

 the underground main stem was a mass of rottenness, and on 

 these the young tubers progressed no more. On taking up 

 what was thus, contrary to our expectations, a scanty crop, the 

 soil if anything was dry, sweet, and friable, just the very oppo- 

 site condition to that which would encourage rottenness. On 

 many of the stouter stems thus decayed below the ground, 

 there had been an attempt to throw out fresh roots and runners 

 near the surface. The Potatoes taken from plants that escaped 

 this infliction were good, clean specimens. Another puzzling 

 circumstance is, that one end of the bed is still perfectly healthy , 

 and is well supplied with good tubers, though treated in every 

 way exactly as the rest, with these differences —This part was. 

 planted a fortnight or three weeks later, and whilst the earlier 

 part consisted chiefly of varieties of the Ashleaf, the second^ 

 and as yet sound part, consisted chiefly of Early Frame and 

 Prince of Wales. The latter was merely tried and promises 

 well, though the stems are rather luxuriant for this system of 

 early growth. The sets of the Prince of Wales were not home- 

 saved. On some of the decayed stems we found a few small 

 worms, &c., but, as it appeared to us, they came as the result 

 and not as the cause of decomposition. There was no appear- 

 ance of fungus of any kind — in fact, that was partly guarded 

 against by mixing a little quicklime with the soil and forking 

 it over several times before planting. Before this giving way 

 of the underground stems no plantation could have looked 

 more robust and healthy, for they had plenty of air except in 

 very cold weather. Who will help us to account for a lot of 

 the earliest planted thus suffering, and the later planted escap- 

 ing under precisely similar circumstances in other respects ? 

 Have any of our readers noticed similar manifestations ? For- 

 tunately, though our genera! crops of Potatoes out of doors 

 suffered a little from the frosts, those at the foot of walls 

 escaped and are tubering well. 



Proceeded with thinning Carrots, Parsnips, and Onions, 

 hoeing the ground at the same time ; the thinnings of the 

 Onions, put in thickly, will do for salading and for forming small- 

 buttons. Carrots sown now will yield rich sweet pullings in 

 autumn. Planted out Beet, as for years we have found it folly to 

 sow, as it would require fine netting to keep the birds from it just 

 as it comes through the ground. They are quite as destructive 

 to the coloured young leaves of Prince's Feather and Love-lies- 

 bleeding ; but once the leaves have grown a httle they cease to 

 meddle with them. 



FEUIT EErABTMENT. 



Nipping, thinning, watering, looking after insects, as detailed 

 in previous weeks' notices. Nipped the stronger forerighti 



