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JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ June 20, 1867. 



Turnips, this is a good time for a liberul sowing of autumn 

 Turnips, the Dntch or Stone is best for the kitchen garden. 



FKUIT uahijex. 

 The ground having acquired its usual summer warmth, with 

 abundauco of moisture, wall trees are making rapid growth, 

 and prompt attention must accordiugly be paid to their regu- 

 lation. The foreright shootR of Pear trees will require to have 

 their points cut or clipped oli, but do not cut their points back to 

 the extent usually practised. Two or three inches off their points 

 will generally be sufficient, and if the shoots appear crowded 

 in places they may be thinned by cutting some out close to the 

 base, and others to about 3 inches from it. If any shoots are 

 overtopping the wall they should be reduced in the first in- 

 stance. The fruit of Peach and Nectarine trees should be 

 finally thinned. Laterals must bo stopped above the second 

 bud. Advantage should be taken of moist weather to remove 

 the clay from grafts where the growth of the scion requires the 

 matting to be loosened, but this must at all events be attended 

 to before there is danger of the scion being galled by the liga- 

 ture, which will be the case iu proportion to the quantity of 

 the foliage that the shoot has made. Layer Strawberry-runners 

 iu small pots for forcing. 



FLOWEK GAEDEN. 



All recently-planted beds should be regularly watered, ob- 

 serving to stir the surface as soon as it again becomes a little 

 dry, to keep the earth moist beneath and to prevent the ground 

 from cracking. Rockets, Phloxes, and other herbaceous plants 

 now coming into bloom should also be watered if the weather 

 continues hot and dry. Dahlias would be greatly improved 

 by a slight mulching of rotten dung during very hot or dry 

 weather. Do not mow grass lawns too frequently if the weather 

 continues hot, but ply the Daisy-rake during the heat of the 

 day. Gentian edgings should be regularly attended to with 

 water, nothing injures this beautiful plant so much as drought. 

 Seedling Auriculas which have been pricked out in store 

 pans must be protected from drenching rains, at the same time 

 taking care that they do not suffer from extreme drought. 

 Occasionally look over old plants, keep them free from weeds, 

 and carefully notice whether the drainage is free. No plant 

 suffers so soon as the Auricula from deficiencies in this respect. 

 Shade Ranunculuses from intense heat where it is desired to 

 prolong the bloom, or where the flowers are to be exhibited. 

 Flowers intended for cross-breeding ought not to be shaded. 

 Pinks are in various localities unusually late this season, but 

 are now making riipid progress. Tie-up the buds with waxed 

 thread, retaining only one or two on weak plants. Pipings 

 may now be put in. The most successful mode of propagation 

 is to prepare a border on the north side of a wall or fence, to 

 dig it one spit deep, to rake the surface fine, and to cover it 

 about 4 inches deep with about a barrowful of light sandy soil ; 

 then water with a fine-rosed watering-pot. Instead of cutting 

 off the piping at the third or fourth joint, it is pulled oiit of 

 its socket, and, being held between the finger and thumb, it is 

 pushed into the soil. Not a blade of grass should be cut, and 

 no knife ought to be used in the operation. In a month or 

 five weeks the pipings will be struck and fit to plant out in 

 beds in showery weather. Pipings of Carnations and Picotees 

 will strike freely if treated in a similar manner. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSEKVATORT. 



The conservatory being thoroughly relieved of all superfluous 

 stock, nothing remains but to carry out a cleanly system of 

 cultivation, and to introduce fine specimens from other houses 

 or pits. All available surfaces should be moistened with water 

 morning and evening, thorough ventilation afforded, and a thin 

 canvas screen kept on during bright sunshine. In the mixed 

 greenhouse use abundance of water morning and evening, with 

 a free circulation of air. Camellia stocks may now be grafted, 

 choosing the young wood which has the leaves perfectly 

 developed, andwhich is of a ripening brown colour at the base. 

 We use the bottle plan, .and find it answer well if the plants 

 receive close or cutting treatment for a month afterwards. A 

 slight hotbed with a bottom heat from fresh fermenting matter 

 {to yield much steam), of 80°, will do well, placing a foot deep 

 of cinder ashes over the bed to keep down the worms. Remove 

 aU young Heaths into frames or pits ; if lo frames, make them 

 face the north, when little shading will be required. Place the 

 plants on a bottom of coal ashes, and supply them liberally 

 with water. As many of the specimens which flower freely 

 are apt to go off without giving warning, pay particular atten- 

 tion in watering, that the ball is quite moistened through. 

 This tribe of plants suffers more just now from waut of au 



abundant supply of moisture than from all other causes com- 

 bined. Many of the plants also, from long confinement 

 under glass, when succeeded by hot and dry weather, suffer 

 extensively from mildew. » When this is perceived sulphur 

 them well, and place them in the open air under a wall, or 

 better, behind a hedge in a north aspect. In a few days the 

 sulphur may be syringed off, first laying the pot on its side, 

 and then plying the syringe in all directions. 



STOVE. 



This will now be a good time to increase many of the valuable 

 sorts of stove plants, they being now in a free-growing state. 

 Take off short and rather firm shoots, plant them in sand in 

 bottom heat under a hand-glass, and most of them will strike 

 root in a few days. The Luculia, of which so much has been 

 written, will root with certainty and freedom. The main point 

 is to catch the wood in a proper state; select short young 

 shoots, and the difiiculty of propagating it ends. A very free use 

 of the syringe, with abundance of air night and day, should be 

 persisted in, the main business being to produce sturdy plants 

 with short-jointed wood. Liquid manure, composed of cow- 

 house drainage, guano, and soot water, should be constantly 

 in use, taking care to apply it in no other way than clear and 

 weak. Give air most liberally to Orchids, syringing them 

 freely early in the morning, and shutting up much solar heat, 

 together with wet floors, walls, &a. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



All late-struck cuttings, if not wanted for turning out, should 

 be potted off for store plants, or for filling beds in the autumn. 

 Continue to shift any plants that require it. A little air should 

 be given during the night, if the weather continues hot, to 

 prevent plants from becoming drawn. Shade during the heat 

 of the day, and water freely. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Though still very busy in all departments we are beginning 

 to have the prospect of mastering the work. No weather has 

 been more suitable, from its sunshine and showers, for encou- 

 raging weeds, as well as more useful growths, and the hoe has 

 been unsparingly used at every favourable opportunity among 

 growing crops. 



Walks which a month ago were, as respects cleanliness, every- 

 thing that could be desired, have again demanded attention. 

 A broad smooth walk was becoming green at the sides, robbing 

 the fresh growth of the Box-edging of its beauty, and after a 

 shower the sides were hoed, raked, to be followed by a rolling, 

 when the small weeds have been withered out of sisht, for pick- 

 ing them up would have been a serious affair. The centre or 

 main point of the walk being clean was left untouched. Had 

 the verges been tiles or slates we might have ventured on a little 

 salt, but we never like to put salt nearer to Box-edgings than 

 12 or 15 inches. The central part of the walk was too fine and 

 smooth to permit of salting to advantage, even if it had needed 

 it, as the salting would nlwajw have a tendency to make the 

 surface smoother, and then in wet damp weather it would 

 increase the tendency to rise and clag with the boots. Another 

 side walk was becoming rather green, conspicuously so when 

 the small weeds were glistening with the dew, but as this had 

 a rough pebbly surface we merely hoed and raUed the sides, 

 and salted the centre, as that will make short work of the weeds 

 there, and if the salt does crack and lessen the size of the 

 pebbles in the gravel, it will make it all the more pleasant 

 and agreeable to walk upon. 



We are particular on this matter, because several inquiries 

 have been made as to the circumstances under which it is ad- 

 visable to salt walks, and we have half a dozen complaints that 

 firm smniith walks have been rendered unfit for wnlking upon 

 after salting whenever the weather was damp. "Argo" tellg 

 us he has a broad smooth walk becoming completely green, 

 and he dreads breaking it up, and wonts to know how to clean 

 it, unless by a layer of salt. We would advise scraping off the 

 surface if that can be done, and adding a sprinkling of sandy 

 fine gravel. The quickest way would be to salt it all over, and 

 on the salt place a good sprinkling of fine sandy gravel. The 

 fresh gravel will become partly saturated with the salt, and the 

 surface will yet be so free from it that there will be no sticking 

 to the feet in damp weather. To heavily salt a smooth walk 

 without such a surfacing is almost to make sure of a soft walk 

 all the winter. Salt, therefore, we consider the cheapest and 

 I quickest way of freeing walks from weeds ; but our experieno* 



