May 12, 1670. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



343 



early Cauliflower is one of the finest vegetables of the season. 

 As long as we can we keep the top lights on at night. Onr 

 plants were becoming too large for this confinement ; we could 

 easily have raised the lights, by placing a brick or something 

 of that kind at each corner, but that would have let in the air 

 all round, and the bricks would have had to be brought, and to 

 be taken away when done with. We prefer lifting off the hand- 

 light, top-dressing the plants well inside with rotten dung, &c, 

 and earthing-up outside, so as to raise the ground 5 or G inches 

 higher for the glass to stand upon. A little trench is thus made 

 on each side of the Cauliflower ridge, and in very dry weather 

 litter or short grass is placed along the Bides of the ridge. 

 Sometimes we use these little trenches for early Celery, the 

 leaves of the Cauliflower being of much service by shading it 

 at first. By this earthing-up we can keep the hand-lights on 

 at night for several weeks longer than we could do without 

 elevating the glasses, and we gather Cauliflowers proportionably 

 early, if all goes on well. When the plants reach the top again 

 the glasses are removed, the inside fresh mulched, and the 

 outer plants bent a little towards the outside, so as to give 

 more room to the foliage. 



We have tried many modes, as potting in autumn, repotting 

 early in spring, and turning out good plants, so as to have early 

 Cauliflowers, but on the whole we have found no plan better 

 than turning out small plants under hand-lights in October, 

 and if vermin let us alone we have generally had very satis- 

 factory results. The only time the hand-lights were beaten, 

 was by plants potted in small pots in October, kept in a frame, 

 shifted into 4-inch pots in January, into 6-inch pots in the 

 middle of February, and turned out with good balls in an earth 

 pit protected with old sashes, mats, &c, at the end of March. 

 These furnished compact heads in May. The coldness of the 

 season will make our first hand-light Cauliflowers later than 

 nsual, but they will be as early as we want them, for Broccoli 

 is little valued when the crisp Cauliflower comes in. 



Many of our readers who must dispense with hand-lights or 

 boxes, may yet have rather early Cauliflowers if they keep 

 their plants as much as possible from checks. Thus, if the 

 plants must be procured with little or no earth about the roots, 

 let the roots be well soaked in puddle before planting them. 

 In mo6t cases it would hasten cutting-time if such plants were 

 pricked out in a little bed 4 inches apart, the bed having some 

 rough rotten dung in it, where the plants could be easily watered 

 and shaded from bright sun, and then, when all right, lifted with 

 balls, and turned out carefully in finely pulverised mellow soil. 

 Even then, in such dry parching weather as we have had, an 

 evergreen twig or two stuck round them would break the force 

 of the sun's rays, and a sprinkling on the leaves would do more 

 good than watering at the roots where there was moisture 

 enough. 



This little matter of avoiding checks is yet most imperfectly 

 acted upon even by some of our keen enthusiasts. We observed 

 a case in point not long ago, though we should have gone out 

 of our way to notice it then. A man was anxious to have a 

 score of Cauliflower plants, and as he had a conveyance, they 

 were carefully lifted, and placed each with a little ball firmly 

 in a box. " Oh, never mind the box," said the obliged person ; 

 and seizing the Cauliflower plants by their tops, he roughly 

 shook all the earth from them, and a good portion of the fibres 

 with it, and wrapped them in piece of newspaper, looking as if 

 he had done something very clever. It is not very easy to kill 

 such plants. We presume they grew after a time, but one 

 thing we are sure about, and that is that the crop would be cut 

 three weeks later than it might have been if the plants had 

 gone home in the box, and received fair attention afterwards. 



.Then as regards seeds and seedlings. No seeds with us have 

 been touched in the ground that were crusted with powdered 

 red lead, but the young Greens as they appeared above ground 

 were caught by the young leaves and pulled out. We have 

 run strings with pieces of newspaper attached to flap about, 

 and thus kept them off for a time. Netting is, perhaps, the 

 moBt effectual, but we never yet could so net the ground that 

 green linnets and other birds would not find their way in. 

 We have found clanking pieces of tin, looking-glasses, and guys 

 of all sorts useful for a time, but all fail to keep the birds 

 away when they become used to them. Variety of expedients 

 is therefore useful. For Peas, toe., the tops of which were 

 picked before we were out of bed, chiefly by wood pigeons and 

 partridges, we have tried the pepper remedy, and though we 

 dusted the pepper very slightly, we as yet see no signs that 

 the dusted part ha3 been touched. 



We may here mention in reference to grass mice, that made 



such havoc among our Strawberry plants and young Cauliflowers, 

 that a man has caught a good many very large ones with the 

 figure-4 trap by simply putting a piece of tender Lettuce from 

 a frame on the point of the stick, instead of, or along with, a 

 Bean or piece of cheese. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



Run the hoe again through the Strawberry ground, and all 

 places where it could go, and watered the most forward Straw- 

 berries on a south bank, as they were becoming rather dry. 

 We should like the ground to be a little warmer before we water 

 generally. A fine crop in the open air, however, depends greatly 

 on moisture at the roots. We UBed house sewage rather strong, 

 undiluted, but keeping it between the rows of plants, not close 

 to them, and then in case any Bhould have gone too near, 

 we followed with a sprinkling of clear water over the foliage. 

 The season is so late, that we most likely will take up some 

 plants pricked out late last autumn, but many of them showing 

 strongly, so as to keep up a succession, for we think what we 

 have will scarcely give us a supply to the middle of June, and we 

 question if we shall gather many out of doors until after that 

 time. But for mice, toe., eating out the buds of our plants, we 

 should have had enough in pots to keep us to the end of June. 



There are two modes we often use to prevent a blank being felt 

 between forced, assisted, and natural-grown Strawberries, and if 

 we have mentioned them before, old readers will excuse reading 

 an old tale. Of course, as a sort of precaution, we like to prick 

 out a few rows of runners rather thickly in the previous season. 

 A great many of these will Bhow well, and thus we can select 

 our plants. The first mode is to pot these plants firmly, one 

 or two plants in a pot, raising them with a ball, after having 

 watered them a day previously. These pots are plunged to the 

 rim in a mild hotbed, formed of litter, a little grass, and from 

 G to 9 inches of half-rotten leaves, or rotten dung. We do not 

 care for a frame over these ; if one is handy we use it, with a 

 briok under each sash back and front. We like the bed in the 

 open air as well, with a few twigs round it and in it just to 

 break the force of the sun's rays. The object of the heat 

 beneath is to fill the pots with roots before the trusses extend 

 or expand much. As the pots are thus filled with roots they 

 are gradually raised out of the bed, and taken to any place de- 

 sirable under glass, and in general produce fine crops. The 

 second plan is to make a Blight hotbed in a pit, or fir frame, 

 place over it some G inches of good soil, raise the young plants 

 showing trusses as above with balls, plant in rows some 

 15 inches apart, water well, leaving the dryish soil on the sur- 

 face, give air early, and shut up early, and a critical fortnight's 

 time may thus be bridged over, as even in dull weather the 

 little heat below is of great advantage. A third mode we 

 ought to mention, as in bright sunny weather we can by it 

 gain eight or twelve days, and that is merely covering a border, 

 better a south sloping bank, with sashes. This is quickly 

 done by placing a row of 8-inch pots at the back, and another 

 in front, at from G to 8 feet apart, layiDg a rail on these pots, 

 setting the sashes on the rails, and putting a board against the 

 pots and rail in front, and at the back. Air may thus be given to 

 any extent. The earliness of gathering depends on shutting up 

 rather early in the afternoon. As stated, in sunny weather 

 much time will thus be gained ; in dull weather hardly any- 

 thing. We are generally content with having the ground in its 

 natural state, or with the customary straw or litter covering. 

 We have used tiles, slates, &c, for covering the ground, but 

 the advantage was scarcely equal to the labour. Bed, or light 

 brown tiles were, perhaps, the best. Slate absorbed heat, it is 

 true, but in bright sun the berries resting on it were apt to be 

 scorched. We have coated slates with sulphur and lime, and 

 then the fruit near the slate were burned by the reflected 

 heat. We never found anything of the sort from the brownish- 

 coloured tile. We have had such coverings in the open border, 

 and with similar results, and we mention these matters that 

 many with small means may strive to have Strawberries before 

 these come in without help. 



There is one warning we feel constrained to give. Young 

 plants may be raised and treated successfully as above, after 

 March and April. Such plants would be of no use for early 

 forcing. To succeed early — that is, to have fruit in March, 

 the pots must be full of roots early in the previous autumn. 



The frost has done little damage to fruit trees. The foliage, 

 as yet undiminished, saved Peaches and Apricots. We noticed 

 lots of Cherry blossom looking as if scalded at the ends of the 

 bloom, but the pistil and young Cherry seemed quite safe. 

 The foliage of Currants and Gooseberries though stiff in the 

 ' morning, acted as a defence to the fruit, and the Apple 



