448 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ *mt« at, MM. 



flowering so freely as wonld otherwise be the ease. Give every 

 possible attention to plants for antnmn and early winter 

 flowering, as Liliums, Chrysanthetnams, Salvia splendens, 

 Globe AmarantbB, Tree Carnations, Soarlet Pelargoniums, 

 Cinerarias, Gesneras, Begonias, and Euphorbias. Let them 

 have plenty of pot-room, rioh oompost, a moist atmosphere, 

 and plenty of space for the perfect development of their 

 foliage, regulating the temperature according to the nature of 

 the plant, and they will make rapid progress. We have 

 nothing, however, that surpasses tho Epacris, the winter-bloom- 

 ing Ericas, and the Cytisns, and these should not be over- 

 looked in the crowd of suitable plants. Attention must soon 

 be paid to late-growing plants in borders, for while in active 

 growth they require a good deal of water, and insects are more 

 troublesome than in the case of plants at rest. Give Luculias 

 plenty of water at the root, and occasionally supply clear 

 liquid manure to old plants that may not be growing freely, 

 until they have made sufficient wood to ensure a good display 

 of flowers. Manure water, however, must not be given to 

 young specimens in vigorous health, as in this case it would 

 only induce too gross a growth — a condition in which they 

 seldom flower profusely. In order to secure fine heads of 

 bloom from this plant, it should be allowed a few weeks of 

 comparative rest, after, say about the middle of next month, 

 keeping the roots rather dry, and exposing the plants as freely 

 to air as can be done without injury to tho foliage, or the 

 health of their neighbours. 



STOVE. 



As plants will soon be ripening their young wood, they want 

 as much light as possible, and even moderate sunshine. In 

 the case of Orchids this is especially necessary, in order that 

 the young leaves and pseudo-bulbs may be thoroughly ripened. 

 Plants already in this condition, or nearly so, should be re- 

 moved forthwith to a cool house, and care should be taken not 

 to induce them to push again, as a fresh start would interfere 

 with their flowering next year. Dendrobium nobile, and others 

 of that class, sufficiently advanced in growth, should also be 

 moved to a house where they can have a moderate and steady 

 temperature, abundance of air, and little water till their stems 

 are ripe and their flower buds formed. Those Orchids which 

 are still in a growing state should be placed in the most 

 favourable positions, and encouraged by heat to ripen and 

 harden any growths which they may yet make. Afterwards 

 let them be put gradually to rest. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



We were almost at onr last shifts from want of rain, though 

 not despairing, when the frequent cackling of pheasants on the 

 l&th told us that a thunderstorm was impending. Ere long 

 we saw the lightning, and heard the thunder and the sweet 

 rain, the latter falling gently, and though not enough to fill 

 the pools, or even make an impression on them, as roads and 

 fields were so dry, it was quite enough to moisten the soil. 

 The effect was almost magical. Everything looked crisp and in 

 full luxuriance on the next morning. Some good-sized Cauli- 

 flowers that appeared almost forbidding in their hardness, next 

 morning seemed as if covered with some splendid glare, being 

 so soft and pearly. Do what we may there is no watering like 

 the cloud watering, and especially when the electris state of 

 the atmosphere is in gentle disturbance, then every drop of 

 rain brings enriching virtues with it. The accompanying cloud 

 is another great advantage — there is no tierce sun to evaporate 

 the moisture back before it has had time to reach the roots or 

 distend the tissues. 



The genial rain helped everywhere, but it was most per- 

 ceptible in its effects where vegetables and Strawberries had 

 previously had sewage water. We hoped the rain would come, 

 and that made us anxious to water with the enriching fluid, and 

 we would have applied it to maDy other crops if we could. 

 Such watering would effect five times the amount of good that 

 watering in a hot sunny day would do. We have sometimes 

 been taken to task for watering in a dull cloudy day, even when 

 there were symptoms of rain. We are so convinced that with 

 a limited water supply the principle is right, that we wish to 

 see the practice more prevalent. We have not a doubt but that 

 in hot sunny weather many plants are watered out of existence. 



Sowed Endive, Lettuce, Onions for salads. Turnips, Radishes, 

 Peas, Dwarf Kidney Beans, and cleared off the last of Aspa- 

 ragus Kale, to make way for other crops. 



Asparagus. — We haye almost given up cutting this, so that it 



may make good growth for next year. We shall earn giro a 

 gentle salting, and if we can, we may give a little rotten dang, 

 and even manure watering. Now is the time to ermoox*g» 

 growth, so as to have the shoots strong and well ripeae<£ before 

 the end of autumn. The banking up with manure io winter 

 could do little good, except to keep frost from the bads, sad 

 though we have often had Asparagus near the surface, wo have 

 rarely found it injured by the most severe frost. Iifoit people 

 when they cease gathering Asparagus, cease caring far it aolil 

 the next year's gathering time comes. They may rest assured 

 th'it any mulching and manuring given now will not ba it , -own 

 away. 



Gathering Peas seems to be a simple matter, bat then i» a 

 method in it. We have had fine rows next to spoiled by a 

 careless gatherer, who pulled the pods so roughly as to injare 

 the haulm and damage the roots. Young Pea pods are pretty 

 as they glisten in a basket ; but how differently they took 

 when their pearlv coating has been removed by a clammy per- 

 spiring hand. Wo know of no better method of gathering Paaa 

 than nipping the stalk of the pod with the point of a sharp 

 knife, the stalk being held between the knife and thumb. We 

 know of no other mode by which the gathering can be done bo 

 quickly, and done without the slightest strain on the hiulm 

 and roots. We have known cases where the produce was nearly 

 doubled, when tbUwas practised, as compared with the results 

 of a snatching-and-tearing mode of gathering. What is worth 

 doing, is worth doing well. 



FItrjIT DEPARTMENT. 



Owing to the dryness, with abundance of fruit we hhie had 

 very little growth, so little indeed, that we have not yet hod 

 reason to nail-in Peach shoots on the open wall. Kew growth is 

 proceeding more freely in the warm, moist, balmy air ; as we 

 could not syringe or engine, the rain was all the mora c-e£rasn- 

 ing to the trees, and has cleared them of the dust whist kept 

 blowing over the walls for some days previously. A good 

 seoond or third thinning of fruit must now be given, as wo 

 shall have more breathing time, and then we shall leara a few 

 to be removed after stoning. 



In relation to watering fruit trees in pots, though modelled 

 well on the surface, we have found one or two c ises during the 

 week confirmatory of our late insisting on the propriety of 

 making sure that the earth below the mulohin? was wet. A 

 Plum tree, a mass of fruit, threw off most of it its. one day, and 

 one beside it dropped a good many. The waterer would insist 

 he had watered these like the others, but the soil beneath the 

 mulching, which was damp on the surface, was as dry as dust. 

 You cannot ring a pot as you pass, if it is plunged or mostly 

 plunged in the soil, but it is no great matter to examine (he 

 soil with a pointed stick or with the finger. In practise it ifl 

 not, however, so easy to get such a little matter attended: to. 



In the case of pots above ground on stages or shelves, many 

 an anxious beginner would not require to put pusrulirig ques- 

 tions as to when and how often to water, if he would ask his 

 pot plants how they are for moisture simply by ridging tho 

 pots — that is, striking them outside with the knueklee, or, if 

 that would not do for fine fingers, using a knobstick iu prefer- 

 ence. If the sound emitted from the stroke is dull and heavy, 

 then the soil inside is moist ; if the sound is clear, resembling 

 the ring from an empty sound earthenware vessel, tbsa. yon 

 may rest assured that the soil and roots are dry. 



Some time ago an enthusiastic beginner asked us to look at 

 a fine expensive plant, which he had not had long before the 

 shoots began to droop, even though he watered it once or twice 

 a-day. The ring of the pot at once told the reason, bat the 

 owner looked incredulous in the matter, as much as to say, 

 " How can that be ? I water every day ! " and was only con- 

 vinced by turning up the soil, which at 3 inches froai the sur- 

 face was quite dry ; the watering had gone no deeper. Ih this 

 case, as the pot was large, we advised setting it in a tub of 

 water, and allowing it to stand there a few minutes after the 

 last air-bubble came up, and afterwards, when watering, to give 

 enough to let the water come out at the bottom of the pot. 

 The result was that the plant flourished. 



Though we could not get a dish of Strawberries oat of doors 

 on the 14tb, they have come in since, and all the better owing to 

 the rain. Perhaps the cleanest fruit and bsst we have had this 

 season were from plants pricked- out in autumn, taken up and 

 potted, and placed in a mild hotbed in a frame, as lately de- 

 scribed. They stood as closely as possible in the frame until 

 the pots were full of roots, then they were raised oat of the 

 bed — that is, set on it, and ere long were set on shelves, and 

 1 the fruit was thinned to from five to eight in a pot- Ear filling 



