April 7, 1870. J 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



265 



there exposed to a bright Bun for eight days j bnt a great many 

 refused to vegetate, and those that did so grew very weakly. 



We nsed to sow our Onions in rows in 4-feet beds, with 

 narrow alleys between, in which Lettuces were grown thinly. 

 These spaces gave a good opportunity for cleaning the Onions 

 without trampling between them, and on the whole we do not 

 think we could improve on the system ; but partly to Bave time 

 and labour at firBt, we have lately sown in rows in a pieoe, 

 generally 1 foot apart from row to row. At this distance the 

 Onions may be left a little more thickly in tho row, so that 

 the bulbs do not touch. This plan renders several hoeings 

 necessary, but they are done by a careful man, using a small 

 sharp Dutch hoe, cutting up the small weeds and hoeing very 

 shallow, so that whilst just the surface is loose the ground 

 beneath shall be pretty well compressed to suit the Onion. In 

 cleaning, thinning, &c, the bed system gives, however, a great 

 advantage, as all may be accomplished without setting a foot 

 amongst the Onions, whilst by sowing a piece in rows there 

 must in thinning be careful walking betwixt the rows. 



Where there are early beds of Horn Carrots, the beginning 

 of April is soon enough to sow the main crops of Carrots. In 

 order to have them, not perhaps so large, as sweet and crisp, 

 it is a good plan to have smaller succestional sowings, say in 

 the end of April, the middle of May, and the middle of June. 

 These frequent sowings also furnish successions of thinnings 

 of sweet young Carrots for soups, &c. Beet and Salsafy are 

 generally early enough when sown from the middle to trie end 

 of April. Beet, for many years, we have chitfly transplanted 

 when the leaves were of some size. No dusting or netting 

 would keep the birds from it. Before the seed leaves were an 

 inch above the ground, the leaves and what was beneath them 

 would be cut off. What surprises us is that we have gone into 

 other gardens with more wood and shrubs near than here, and 

 not a Beet seedling or a fruit bud on trees would be touched. 

 The birds must either be kept down, or there must be some- 

 thing more tempting for them to go to. What can be the more 

 desirable bait ? In like manner were we to sow a quantity of 

 Love-lies-bleeding and Prince's Feather, we should never have 

 a plant, though the seedlings came up as thickly as Mustard 

 and Cress, unless we resorted to stringing and netting. When 

 the plants attained from 1 to 2 inches in height they seemed 

 to have no charms for the birdB : hence we sowed under a hand- 

 light and transplanted. It would be interesting to know if in 

 other places the birds are aB partial to young seedlings with 

 high-coloured foliage. Last year we happened inadvertently 

 to leave outside of a frame a box of seedlings, about half 

 an inch above the ground, of Amaranthus melancholicus 

 ruber, and when we went back, in half an hour, there was not 

 a single plant left ; whilst the piping of chaffinches and the 

 defiant chirruping of sparrows left ua in doubt as to whom 

 we were most indebted for taking such quick advantage of 

 our carelessness. 



There is something to us incomprehensible in the tastes and 

 likings of animals, and we should be vastly the gainers if we 

 knew more about them, so as to turn many little matters to 

 our benefit. For instance, it seemed next to impossible to 

 keep deer out of one small place here. Baise the fence as we 

 would, over they would go, until it was something like 7 feet 

 high. In another place, with material inside quite as tempt- 

 ing, a common hurdle, say 3} feet to 4 feet in height, has kept 

 them out, though they could go over it as easily as a cat could 

 mount on a low stool. 



We have mostly relied on the London Market Cauliflower, 

 a good kind, though not so compact as the Cauliflower alluded 

 to last year as grown by Mr. Hill, Mr. Beales, and others in 

 Hertfordshire. Sometimes our hand-light Cauliflowers have 

 Buffered much by mice and rats, and we have had great 

 trouble to prevent such destruction being felt. This year we 

 do not think a plant has been touched in the hand-lights. In 

 an old frame we pricked out a lot of plants, in the autumn, of 

 our old sort, aleo a lot of plants from seed kindly given us 

 by Mr. Beales. Of the older kind, the same as in the hand- 

 lights, with all our care in trapping, &c, hardly a good plant 

 IB left. Most have had their hearts nibbled out, some are cut 

 over close to the ground, more for mischief than anything else, 

 but not one of Mr. Beales's kind is touched, though placed 

 in exactly similar circumstances. Now, could we know the 

 reason of such preferences, we might be able to get on better. 

 Long ago, when our Onion crop Buffered from the worm and 

 maggot, we could only get a good crop by sowing some Lettuces 

 and Carrots along with them. If the grass mice would always 

 pass this kind of Cauliflower, we should not mind giving them 



a few plants of another sort to exercise their nibbling proper- 

 ties, but it is juBt possible that next season they may prefer it 

 to all others. 



In the fine days, as the ground had previously been well 

 turned, ridged, and re-ridged, we planted a good many Potatoes, 

 and, as our space is very limited, chiefly the early and small- 

 topped kinds. The produce of the Prolific Ashleaf last sea- 

 son was wonderful, the ground being scarcely extended enough 

 to allow the tubers to lie when taken up. We expect them to 

 be as fine this season, as the ground was in such excellent 

 order that it was a pleasure to work it. The Potatoes had 

 been kept cool, and in such cold soil it would have been no 

 advantage to plant them earlier. A few tubers that had sprouted 

 nearly 2 inches were placed at the bottom of walls, to come in 

 to succeed those ripe and growing under protection. The 

 shoots of few of the others had elongated above an inch, 

 many not a quarter of an inob, a different thing from planting 

 after the first shoots have been broken off. In the early 

 Potatoes in frames, we have Eeen as yet no signs of the disease. 



As a proof of the coldneaB of the Boil hitherto, we may men- 

 tion that to-day (April 2nd) we have examined seeds of Peas 

 and Beans, some sown more than a month, and find the radicle 

 rootlet freely lengthening ; but it will yet be some time, unless 

 the heat continue, before the cotyledons or seed leaves appear. 

 Hardly a seed remains of what was committed to the ground 

 in the common way. The mice and other vermin, notwith- 

 standing traps, &c, have used them as their property. As yet, 

 of those just referred to as germinating, not one has been 

 touched, not even a hole made, but these were damped and just 

 coloured with red lead. We have sown later kinds of Peas and 

 Beans to follow the earlier ones, but all have been leaded. 

 BadiBh, Spinach, and Lettuce seed has also been coloured ; 

 we have found nothing else so efficient a protection against 

 mice, birds, and rats, before the seedlings appear above ground. 

 Last year some rows were turned up by pheasants, but the 

 Peas were untouched. This Beason, as yet, nothing has made 

 an attempt at them. What a difference there must be to them 

 in the red-coloured seeds and the reddish seed leaves of Beet, 

 Prince's Feather, &c. 



As showing the constant care required in a garden, and 

 especially of what is under glass, we lately mentioned about 

 putting some Cucumber plants in a hot-water narrow pit, and 

 plunging some plants in rather small pots in order to fruit 

 them early, and then to make way for the others. These have 

 answered well, producing good though not large fruit, but still 

 Cucumbers for use. In the cold, dull, leaden-sky days little 

 water was given or needed. On the first sunny morning, on 

 examining the soil with our fingers, we intimated our wish 

 that so much heated water should be given the first thing after 

 breakfast — that is, before nine o'clock, and that the plants 

 should be watched, and if they Bhowed the least signs of dis- 

 tress from the sun they should be shaded. We could not see 

 the plants until between 10 and 11 a m., and many of the 

 leaves were flagging very much. No water had been given aB 

 ordered, no Bhading thought about, but an abundant supply 

 of air put on. The air was reduced, shading given, water at 

 80° afforded the leaves, and the floor and walls syringed ; in 

 less than an hour the plants held their own again, and by one 

 o'clock did without shading. With such dryness in the soil, 

 exposure to such a sun, especially after dull weather, and a 

 large admission of dry cold air, half an hour more would have 

 rendered these promising plants fit only for the rubbish heap. 

 The plants were so robust that, provided the watering had been 

 given, and a fair amount of air, the sun, though powerful, 

 would scarcely have affected the foliage. The plants have feince 

 received a little shade for a couple of hours in the middle of 

 the day, but that, too, would scarcely have been needed but for 

 the above neglect. The great evil of shading is, that if a 

 man put it on, it is very difficult to get it taken off in time. 

 It should never remain a minute longer than is absolutely 

 necessary. We mention this little fact to show that it is not 

 bo much great intelligence and great talent, as the unwearied 

 attention to little things, that will secure success. A man 

 might be able to speak and write well on all the " ologies " and 

 yet that would do nothing to save his Cucumbers in a hot day 

 from the consequences of neglecting to water them when that 

 was required. Such casualties as the above are apt to be 

 followed by insects. 



We must pass over other matters, as our work was chiefly a 

 continuation of that referred to in previous weeks' notices, but 

 the change in the weather was so great — from dullness to 

 bright sunshine — that we sprinkled the roofs of several of our 



