March 24, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



221 



he ia disappointed if he does not see in his own garden the 

 following year Pelargoniums and Roses of equal size, and 

 perhaps the capacity of his gardener is doubted. Could he but 

 see the plants from which these " fat " Roses were out, all bare 

 and budlese, the mystery would be explained, without taking 

 into account the " handling " the flowers are often subjected 

 to. Of other flowers, if it be autumn, the show-goer stands in 

 eostacy over a group of Dahlias, unconsoious of the fact that 

 this or that flower before him is made up of two or more indi- 

 vidual flowers, and " dressed" with all the artistic skill of an 

 accomplished milliner. I have seen Hyacinths shown for com- 

 petition with small pins sticking the flowers close to the stems, 

 and the drooping flowers of a loose truss brought to look you 

 in the face by the flower-stalk being tied to the stem by an 

 almost invisible ligature of fine green silk. Recently I saw 

 some well-grown Camellia flowers with a military cravat placed 

 under their chins, the shoots tied erect to a stiff stick, the 

 shoots and flowers resembling a gun-barrel placed on end, with 

 an egg stuck on the muzzle. I believe that the disfavour into 

 whioh many of the old florists' flowers, as Piuks, Carnations, 

 &c, have fallen is mainly due, 1st, to the artificial dressing 

 which makes them appear other than they really are ; and 2nd, to 

 the breeders of novelties concentrating their attention on the 

 flower only, to the utter neglect of the habit and constitution 

 of the plant. 



Bat it may be said that the raisers and growers are not the 

 only men in fault here. They may plead that they are only 

 following the law of supply and demand in producing what is 

 sought after. They may turn round and tell you that they are 

 obliged to meet the requirements of even a false public taBte, 

 and accuse the promoters of our flower shows of fostering and 

 encouraging it. The main object of the latter has doubtless 

 been to realise the greatest possible display, a gaudy show, 

 heedless of the means by which it may be obtained, or the 

 results by which it may be followed. No matter the constitu- 

 tion, and in some cases the habit of the plant, so that they get 

 a " fat " sensational flower. 



Thirty years ago and later, lovers of plants and flowers used 

 more commonly to visit the nurseries. Later on they forsook 

 the nurseries and took to the flower shows, where, note-book 

 in hand, they selected the most bewitching examples, purchased 

 them, but never saw them afterwards in their own gardens 

 what they were at the flower bIiows. This proved a souroe of 

 disappointment, and has doubtless led to what has become a 

 fixed idea with some, that prize-growers keep all their best 

 things for themselves. Certain it is that showing does not 

 bring the business to the exhibitor that it used to do. Many 

 purchasers would no more think of applying to a general prize- 

 grower for their plants than they would to the exhibitor of a 

 fat pig or sheep for their pork or mutton. Time works changes. 

 Purchasers are now forsaking the flower shows and returning 

 to the nurseries, where, among the million of subjects, the 

 " dressing " above condemned is impossible. If they find the 

 objects they seek in full dress they also find them in undress ; 

 they select their sorts, transfer them to their own gardens, 

 where they subsequently realise all they expect of them. This 

 is satisfactory, and on this sound basis gardening will prosper 

 and endure. Men of taste and with a good knowledge of plants 

 are now often heard to exclaim, " It is useless to judge of 

 flowers by what you see at the flower shows. A good nursery, 

 (and there are now plenty such), offers a truer test of quality, 

 and affords more pleasure and instruction, than a good flower 

 show." 



To conclude. I doubt if any efforts of our horticultural 

 societies can, for some time to come at least, render flower 

 shows as popular-as of old ; but those of them which discourage 

 the deceptive practices of " dressing " will do the most to en- 

 courage and perpetuate the true art of gardening. — William 

 Paul, Paul's Nurseries, Waltham Cross, N. 



HOPS AS MANURE FOR EARLY POTATOES 

 IN CORNWALL. 



I notice in your last week's number some remarks by 

 " T. M." on the use of hops as a manure for Potatoes. Spent 

 hops are very heating and stimulating — too much so for Po- 

 tato manure when used alone. I have frequently used them 

 alone, but found that the young shoots were killed, or grew too 

 rapidly and tenderly, so that they were blown off by tho high 

 winds, which we often have when the young tubers are forming. 



I have every year for the last twenty years planted several 



acres of early Potatoes, and have dug them up ripe some years 

 as early as the first week in May, but usually commencing to 

 do so about the 18th of that month. I use the whole of the 

 spent hops from the brewery here, with other refuse, such 

 as stale grains, old yeast, pediments from ale, &c. These I 

 place in a pit with the stable liquid and manure, which all 

 ferment together. The contents of the pit are drawn to the 

 field in the autumn, and mixed with seaweed and sand in alter- 

 nate layers. In winter the whole is well mixed together, and 

 when required for use in the spring is strewn on the land when 

 the Potato sets are drilled in. 



The frost this year has delayed the planting, but the shoot8 

 of the early sorts are already peeping above ground. I find 

 spent hops answer well for forcing Sea-kale.— E.S. P., Penzance. 



LETTUCES AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 



(Continued from page 159.) 

 The first week in April make a sowing of the different 

 varieties of summer Lettuces on a south or west border, or 

 in an open situation, but the weather being often stormy in 

 April, a border is preferable. For the successional summer 

 sowings an east border, from its being cooler than a west or south 

 border, is desirable, and failing that, an open situation should 

 be chosen both for sowing and planting. The first sowing of 

 the summer kinds being made in the first week in April, to keep 

 np a succession it will be necessary to sow every second or 

 third week up to the middle of July. I find seven sowings are 

 necessary, and at intervals of three weeks, the sowings being 

 made as follows : — 1, in the first week in April ; 2, in the third 

 week in April ; 3, in the second week in May ; i, in the last 

 week in May ; 5, in the second week in June ; 6, in the last 

 week in June ; and 7, in the second week in July. 



The plants from all the sowings must be thinned out as 

 soon as they can well be laid hold of between the finger and 

 thumb. Thick sowing is bad ; but to make sure of sufficient 

 plants from each sowing, and to meet casualties from birds, 

 slugs, and other vermin, tolerably thick sowing may be neces- 

 sary. The plants should be thinned out by the time they 

 show their rough leaves, so that they may be not less than 

 from 1 to 1\ inch apart. Plants drawn up weak in the seed 

 bed are apt to run to seed prematurely ; they do not form large, 

 close, solid heads, or hearts, nor do they transplant so well as 

 those which from the first rough leaves have been grown far 

 enough apart. 



To insure the germination of the seed in dry weather, copious 

 waterings of the seed-bed are necessary, and after the plants 

 appear water will be needed in dry hot weather to keep up free 

 growth. If, from drought, the plants become stunted in the 

 seed-bed, they frequently do very indifferently when planted out. 

 When the plants have three or four rough leaves, and before 

 they become crowded in the seed bed, they should be planted 

 out. They will be fit to plant out in a month or six weeks after 

 sowing. Each sowing will afford two plantings, a first plant- 

 ing of the strongest plants, and in ten days another planting 

 may be made, so that the plantings-out will be twice as frequent 

 as the sowings. 



The ground cannot be too well and deeply dug, and for sum- 

 mer crops it cannot be too heavily manured. It is an excellent 

 plan in light soils to take out trenches or spaces i feet wide, 

 with 2-feet spaces between, removing the soil to the depth of 

 G inches, and then give a 3-inch dressing of rotten manure and 

 fork it in. After replacing the soil give another dressing of 

 manure, and fork it in ; the bed will then be in excellent con- 

 dition for planting. Instead of rotten dung, fresh Bhort manure 

 may be used for the bottom, but in double the quantity, and it 

 ought to be dug well in and mixed with the soil in the sunk 

 space before replacing the surface soil. To encourage the root- 

 ing of the plants a dressing of old manure and leaf soil, or other 

 decayed vegetable matter, should be applied to the surface, and 

 neatly forked in before planting. Soils of better heart, as clays 

 and strong loams, need not have the top soil taken out, but if 

 deeply dug in the previous autumn they will only need to have 

 the surface-dressing of manure, forking it in before planting. 

 A supply of crisp juicy Lettuces cannot be expected unless the 

 gardener has the requisite supply of manure. Deeply dug 

 well-pulverised soil, plenty of manure, and a situation not 

 shaded by walls or trees, are wanted for the growth of summer 

 Lettuces. Kitchen gardens with fruit trees overshadowing the 

 ground may be very agreeable promenades ; for growing vege- 

 tables, andespecially Lettuces, they are useless. 



