396 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jane 3, 1870. 



ont of existence. Of course, maDy this season will suffer from 

 an opposite canse. 



Remunerating Labour.— The active workman, even if the 

 labour hours be shorter, is by far the most desirable helper, 

 not only because he does more wort, and does it better, but 

 because be does it in such a way as to tell you unmistakeably 

 that he cannot help himself, he must so work in order to 

 secure his own happiness and comfort. Such a man is a 

 treasure. We have long felt, and we trust our Editors will 

 help us to give utterance widely to the feeling, that in the case 

 of garden and farm labourers, a change is much wanted in this 

 respect. As a general rule they are mostly paid alike all over, 

 just as if there had been some labourers' union law to secure 

 the uniformity. It has often grieved us to have to pay the 

 same money to two men, whilst merely common justice, and 

 the equivalent for labour done, demanded that there should 

 have been a great difference, and the man who cannot be happy 

 without working, must sometimes have the thought paBS 

 through his mind, " Why need I exert myself? I get no more 

 than M, who takes it so easy." But what inducement is there for 

 the easy-going workman to alter his conduct ? Did he perceive 

 that N received something substantial more a-week than him- 

 self, he might be induced to think a little more widely, and try 

 to solve the problem, why he should not make his labour as 

 valuable as that of M, if he did not go a step further, and get 

 an inkling of the fact that he would work with more oomfort 

 and pleasure if he worked more energetically. It is one of 

 many pleasant reminiscences, that we were enabled to help to 

 do away with the distinction in the wages of married and un- 

 married labourers, a system which did so much to foster early 

 and imprudent marriages, with the many consequent evils, and 

 we should be pleased if in garden and farm some attempt were 

 made to discriminate in the tangible shape of wages between 

 the active, conscientious, interest-taking workman, and the 

 workman who was merely a clock man, who thought of nothing 

 but how he could moBt lazily and easily pass the time away. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Owing to the sewage-watering the main early supply of Cab- 

 bage so covers the ground as to bid defiance to the fiercest sun, 

 and the roots may go down as deeply as they like, to pump up 

 moisture. We have been obliged to give water to Lettuce, and 

 if the fierce sun continue we Bhall place some boughs of trees, 

 or even a thin scattering of clean litter over them, to keep 

 them cooler, as our water is nearly exhausted, and we must 

 reserve a little clean water that we have in one tank for the 

 most particular purposes. It is almoat useless to think of 

 transplanting Lettuces without being able to water them. 

 They flourish tolerably well, however, even in dry summers if 

 sown thinly, as stated last week, merely securing a little mois- 

 ture beneath at first, and left to perfect themselves where 

 sown. With the ground kept surface-stirred we have thuB had 

 good Lettuces in dry summers without any watering, though 

 they might have been a little more juicy with it. 



Partly from having fewer birds, and partly from running 

 small string well supplied with pieces of newspaper over the 

 rows, we find that our Beet that we sowed in the ground has 

 been little meddled with. For years we could obtain none 

 without transplanting j as soon as the red leaves appeared off 

 they went. We mulched Beans, and our first and second 

 Cauliflowers, and several rows of Peas, especially those sown 

 on the ridges of beds intended for Celery. Peas in pots, re- 

 ferred to last week, and placed in the Celery trench, the pots 

 covered all over with the dung intended for the Celery, have 

 done remarkably well, and have been very useful, as our most 

 forward PeaR out of doors will scarcely be in when this appears 

 in print. When danger from frost is over, they seem to suc- 

 ceed better out of doors than under glass. Had we more room 

 we should be inclined to grow more in 10 and 12-inch pots 

 under protection, and then plunge the pots in the ground at 

 the end of April. 



Something better than a monument should be awarded to 

 the man who first practised red-leading seeds. A few years 

 ago all the Peas here, except the very latest, were sown in pots, 

 &c , and planted out. It was perfectly useless to sow at once. 

 Even with the help of nets, every morning the rows would be 

 turned up from end to end. This season it is quite a treat to 

 look on the rows of Peas without net or anything else, and not 

 a Pea meddled with ; as referred to before, not a hole was 

 made in quest of them, showing the wondrous instincts of 

 birds and animals. 



We proceeded with staking Peas, and here we must notice, 

 that though approving much, if we had them, of the Pea 



hurdles lately advertised, we do not join issue with a corre- 

 spondent, who thinks they ought to come together at the top 

 like a triangle. That is how a good many of our Peas are 

 Btaked, do as we will. Bringing the two rows of stakes to a 

 point, or slightly to cross each other at the top, looks neat, 

 is easily done, and it answers well enough for dwarf Peas that 

 do not rise so high as the stakes ; but for all tall-growing kinds 

 the stakes furnish little holding room for the Peas that get 

 through, fall over, and have their stems broken. We greatly 

 prefer to have the Pea stakes nearly perpendicular, as the 

 figure of the Pea hurdles iB shown to be. We think that the 

 open space in the centre would suit much better than bringing 

 the hurdles to a point. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



With the exception of the young Cherries being nipped off, 

 as lately referred to, they have set very freely on the treea not 

 interfered with. We gave little or no protection this year, and 

 we have suffered nothiog in consequence, as the fruit in many 

 cases would require severe thinning to enable it to have any- 

 thing like justice. Some of our Apricots seem to have suffered 

 from dryness, and we fear that in one or two cases we watered 

 rather late. Noticing signs of distress, we would not have be- 

 lieved that the soil had been so dry, if we had not examined it. 

 We must try, and for want of better, give a soaking of sewage 

 water, as the water will be pretty pure before reaching the 

 roots. From several cases we have closely examined, we feel 

 persuaded that the sudden giving way of Apricot trees has often 

 been owing to dryness at the roots. As a rule, they need more 

 moisture than the Peach. The thinnings now come in useful, 

 and so have the thinnings of Peaches in the orchard house. 

 In the latter place Cherry and Plum trees, as well as Peaches 

 in pots, have Bet their fruit freely, and are swelling well. The 

 latter must be thinned several times more, for in many cases 

 they were as close as ropes of Onions. We must mulch them 

 all again to save watering. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



The grass on lawns is still green, and if the drought has 

 lessened growth, it has saved mowing, and machining. The 

 Daisy knife has kept a green surface, and with comparatively 

 little labour. 



We are now busy filling the flower beds, and the plants seem 

 to do well with a very limited supply of water given at the 

 roots and the drier soil left at the surface. The preparation of 

 the beds was completed as referred to last week, the surface 

 being chiefly kept to the surface. We noticed a remark that will 

 be new to many in Mr. Keane's last week's paper — namely, that 

 in the case of strong-growing Pelargoniums it is well to make 

 the hole in rather firm ground, so as to lessen growth and pro- 

 mote blooming. The mode will have moBt of the effects of 

 plunging the pots with the plants. Both modes would be useful 

 in moist places, but in dry districts it is important to en- 

 courage free growth, as moderate luxuriance is always pleasant 

 to the eye, and a well-stirred pulverised soil is one of the best 

 modes of securing it. 



Most of our plants are planted out in temporary beds, and 

 the chief care, besides lifting them carefully, is to water them 

 some hours before they are wanted. No plant turned out with 

 spade or trowel, or even transferred from a small pot to a 

 larger one, ever does well when transplanted or repotted with 

 the roots or the earth round them dry. It is hardly possible 

 to wet such dry soil afterwards, unless, in the case of a potted 

 plant, the pot be soaked in a tub, which would make the fresh 

 scil like a morass. From all the dry soil, or ball, the water will 

 pass into the freeh soil, leaving the former unmoistened, just 

 as rain would trickle from the wing of a duck. 



We sowed more annuals, placing the seed on the damp soil 

 beneath. Marigolds, Stocks, Asters, etc., want planting out 

 and pricking out. The latter plan will be adopted if the dry 

 weather last, as then they will lift with balls, and one gentle 

 watering will do. The same rule will apply to dwarf annuals 

 sown in rows ; they will be lifted and transferred in patches 

 with a ball adhering. All annuals, transplanted now with the 

 I dibble will want more watering than we can give them, and 

 the water must unfortunately be applied at the surface. Plenty 

 of room will be obtained by turning out the best bedding plants ; 

 and annual Phloxes, everlastings, Salpiglossis, &c, will do all 

 the better if pricked out or potted previously, as then they can 

 be established before going out. It is easier to water some 

 hundreds together in a bed than some scores scattered about. 

 We pricked off and repotted Balsams, Feathered Cockscombs, 

 and Primulas, potted Pelargoniums for autumn blooming, and 

 proceeded as fast as we could with Achimenes, Begonias, Cala- 



