Jannaiy 25, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENER, 



59 



larly known aa " Everlasting Spinach," is a plant of extreme 

 hardiness and great endurance, and I am particularly acquainted 

 with beds which have continned yielding produce for more 

 than a quarter of a century without once having been dug up 

 and renewed. More than once have I endeavoured to persuade 

 the humble owners of Mercury of the superiority of the garden 

 Spinach (Spinacea oleracea) ; but invariably after a " boiling" 

 of the latter they have clung more tenaciously to the former 

 than before, and I am not sure that they are not right in doing 

 80. Mercury is a firmer vegetable than Spinach, and its 

 flavour is agreeable. It is in use very early in the season, and 

 is extremely productive, requiring next to no care to produce 

 a supply. Beds are fstablished by planting crowns during 

 the winter, dibbing them in about 6 inches apart, when they 

 continue to push up their growth yearly with the persistency 

 ol Dandelions or Bindweed. The Chenopodium is a very 

 nseful and wholesome vegetable, and is well adapted for cottage 

 gardens.^A LiNCOLNsniKE Gaedenek. 



LOOKING FOBWARD. 



The new year is opening before us, and we are looking for- 

 ward hopefully, trustfully, and I would fain add patiently, for 

 those of us having much tree and shrub planting on hand 

 have need of patience in such an exceedingly wet winter. Not 

 that we are content to sit down and wait for better times, far 

 from that ; we will never forget while looking forward that the 

 present time is always the best time to do all we can in, not 

 only for the present but also for the future so far as is possible; 

 and so now while the planting must remain in abeyance, we 

 are pushing on all such work aa Vine-dressing, pruning, pot- 

 ting, and training plants, cutting shreds, labels, and flower 

 sticks, sharpening pea-boughs and stakes, repairing and paint- 

 ing garden frame lights, making shallow boxes for cuttings 

 and seeds, repairing netting, pot-washing, and, in fact, doing 

 everything we can to prepare for the coming spring and sum- 

 mer, to both of which seasons, but especially to spring, I must 

 own to looking forward with considerable anxiety and great 

 expectations, for fruit trees of all kinds are so full of promise, 

 the firm well-ripened wood being so abundantly furnished with 

 blossom buds, that with a favourable spring, and especially 

 after so much rain, it is reasonable to anticipate a summer 

 of more than ordinary abundance. Vegetables and flowers 

 may also be expected to be somewhat above par in well- 

 drained soils, through which the almost incessant downpour 

 has soaked with as much rapidity as it fell, leaving behind it 

 a most precious store of wholesome, purifying, nourishing 

 salts. Let me call the attention of such persona aa have a 

 saturated nndrained soil to this important fact. All should 

 know and understand clearly that the effect of drainage ia 

 something more than to afford a ready passage for superfluoua 

 moisture, the free unclogged soil having power to absorb and 

 retain the nourishing salts which rain water has been proved 

 to contain. 



Perhaps the thought concerning the future in which moat of 

 TLB share, ia regarding the effect of so mild and wet a winter 

 npon the coming spring and summer. From the published 

 tables of the Koyal Observatory, Greenwich, extending over 

 the greater part of a century, I find that several hot sum- 

 mers have been preceded by warm winters. It by no means 

 follows that such will be the case this year. On the contrary, 

 a cold nngenial season may follow, as was the case in 18.53. 

 Mr. Prince in his valuable book, " The Climate of Uckfield," 

 says that " the heavy rains of 1852 and January, 1853, satu- 

 rated the earth with moisture, and as the temperature of 

 December, 1852, and .January, 1853, was uunsnally high, vege- 

 tation during these two winter months waa kept in a very 

 warm and moist condition, which rendered it the less able to 

 withstand the cold weather which prevailed in February, 

 March, and April, the temperature of even the latter month 

 scarcely exceeding that of the previous December." I hope 

 this quotation will be regarded as " a word to the wise," and 

 that we shall all be on the alert to use every means at our dis- 

 posal to protect tender plants in the severe weather which will 

 very likely occur before summer smiles upon us once more. 



Another matter to which I am looking forward is the better 

 management of open Vine borders in summer and autumn with 

 the view of keeping Grapes really well. Never in my experi- 

 ence has there been a more trying time for Grapea hanging 

 npon Vines growing in exposed borders than that which we 

 experienced after the hot dry weather of last July and the 

 early part of August. The pouring rains saturated the outside 



border, and caused the sap to flow with such vigour and 

 abundance aa to burat the skins of all such delicate kinds as 

 Madreafield Court Muscat, in many instances ruining the 

 entire crop. It ia true that aomethinj^ may be done to prevent 

 the mischief by cutting the branches partly asunder, and, as 

 Mr. Taylor has told us, in the manipulation of the foliage; 

 but neither of these plans possess the merit of thoroughness, 

 and it appears to me that, upon the principle that prevention 

 ia better than cure, a suitable covering for throwing off the rain 

 must be used. I have seen and admired glazed coverings, such 

 as Mr. Walker has at Dunorlan, and consider them quite the 

 beat for the purpose, and when made as he has them, in the 

 form of ordinary frame lights, they can be applied to a variety 

 of useful purposes besides. Failing these, there are many 

 makeshifts answering this one purpose very well, such as felt- 

 ing stretched npon frames, and thin feather-edged boards over- 

 lapping each other, and temporarily pinned upon rafters to pre- 

 vent mischief from high winds. Whatever may be the form or 

 material of the covering, now ia the time to prepare it, so that 

 when the full flow of summer work is upon us all may be in 

 readiness for prompt and timely use. — Edwabd Lcckhdest. 



NOTES FROM MY GARDEN IN 1876.— No. 1. 



Neithek the size of my garden nor the excellence of my 

 culture entitle me to say much about it, but it ia perhapa be- 

 cause it ia a type of very many possessed by the readers of 

 the Journal that I have received so many expressions of interest 

 and wishes that I should not discontinue my "notes;" and 

 then I receive from time to time many novelties, or so-called 

 novelties, on which I am asked to give an opinion, that I find 

 it preferable to do so in this form rather than by writing 

 special notes about them. 



I was going to write that the season was an exceptional one, 

 but then it struck me that we have not had anything but an 

 exceptional season for a long time past. The years seemed 

 to have forgotten quite how to behave orderly. The weather 

 proverbs of old time, which no doubt had some foundation in 

 fact, are entirely out of date. All out-of-door work has had 

 to shift aa it beat may, and calendars of operations are only 

 approximately correct. Thus, when we in these regions expe- 

 rienced that tremendous fall of snow in December, 1875, we 

 congratulated ourselves, when our roads were blocked up and 

 neither butcher nor baker could get near ua, that we were 

 having a real old-fashioned winter and that we should have a 

 genial and pleasant epring. But, then, we had no spring. 

 We were deluded into the notion that it was coming, and then 

 came a sharp and nipping frost, or another fall of anow, or 

 cold biting easterly winds, and this continued on until June, 

 and then all at once we jumped into summer; and then came 

 a broiler. The cold winds of May had prevented the growth 

 of many things ; and as they were dry at the same time, when 

 June came there was a deficiency of grass, and in our gardens 

 water became a prime necessity. After th3 drought had ceased 

 we had aome wretched weather in September, to the infinite 

 disgust of sportsmen. The early part of October waa indeed 

 fine, but since then what a deluge ! Bnlba still in their paper 

 bags, Eosea heeled-in, shrubs nut moved, and the whole land 

 either soaking like a sponge or aticky like a pudding, and so 

 wet that neither spade or fork can be used in it. Yes, certainly 

 it was an exceptional season. I have just (January 11th) cut 

 a lovely bud of lU-ve d'Or Eose, which has opened in the house 

 and is as good and perfect aa in June, and there are plenty more 

 on the tree. But then, shall we not pay for all this'.' And aa 

 one sees the swelling buds visions of late frosts come before 

 our eyes ; and nipped shoots of Potatoes, and fruit blighted, 

 and flowers stripped of their beauty form no pleasing onlook 

 for the gardener. By-the-by, in writing of our prospects in 

 horticulture last week I spoke rather despondingly of onr big 

 shows, and this week's papers unfortunately add a deeper 

 shade of colour to this ; for I see that the magnificent collec- 

 tion of plants of good James Cypher of Cheltenham, which 

 have been a pride and glory of many of our provincial shows, 

 notably Manchester, Bath, Cheltenham and Taunton, are to 

 be sold ; and that, owing to the death of Mr. Wilkins, the fine 

 collection of specimen plants which have been quite a mainstay 

 of our metropolitan exhibitions under the care of Mr. Ward, 

 are to be dispersed. 



And as I have mentioned Potatoes, suppose that my first notes 

 are on this favourite root, so much valued and praised, but 

 which, owing to the ignorance of cooks and the prejudices of 

 mistresses, one seldom eats good. I have become pretty well 



