January 28, 1869. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICDLTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



69 



remoTed. Potted also some seedling Cacumbers under a 

 frame, with a bed formed of fresh dunf? and a layer of tree 

 leaves. We find young Caeumber and Melon plants do beEt 

 at an early stage in such manure heat. 



KUlni'u Beans. — Top-dressed those coming in with old Mueh- 

 room-bed dung, &c., and sowed for succession. The difQculty 

 now is to find a foot of spare room under glass, and to obtain a 

 little space we must often change and move plants — a very 

 desirable practice but for the time and labour it takes. 



rUriT GARDEN. 



Proceeded with pvuiiing as we could find an opportunity. 

 Had the orchard-house walls whitewashed with limewash, the 

 white glare taken off with some blue-blacking, and some cement 

 added to the whitewash. When cement is added, the wall 

 should be damp when the wash is applied. This will be the 

 case it the wall be well washed down previously. The trees, 

 washing, tying, &c., must be lelt for a wet or stormy day, and 

 also the fresh-surfaeing of the soil in the case of trees in pots. 

 We shall fix a rim of tuif 3 inclies or more above the pot ; and 

 this season we shall use for the purpose thin turf, doubled so as 

 to have the grassy part in the centre, which therefore will give 

 little trouble, as the ridge of the double part will form the 

 new rim. 



Slrawberiics set first on the top of a mild hotbed in a frame, 

 not plunged, are now showing bloom strongly in a pit where 

 fire heat can be given. From the same beds two rows of Straw- 

 berry plants have been placed in the Peach house, now started, 

 the bottom still filled thickly with bedding plants. The frames 

 were again filled with Strawberry pots, to be gently excited in 

 the same way. Beginners will notice what we said previously 

 about not plunging such pots in a bed. We think we thus 

 gain in lime when we do not take the plants to a forcing 

 house at once. As a rule, we have never been able to treat the 

 forced Strawberry otherwise than as a subsidiary crop ; but 

 though good results are thus obtained, we would advise all who 

 wish everything to have justice, and to see everything in the 

 right place, to have a regular Strawberry house, such as de- 

 signed by Mr. Ingram, or lately if not now at work at Enville. 

 The Strawberry will never have its rich Uavour if the plants 

 be shaded or crowded beneath other things. In the frosty 

 mornings wheeled rotten manure to go between the rows of 

 Strawberries out of doors, and also to mulch the surface near 

 dwarf fruit trees. Both for them and Strawberries we have 

 great faith in this surface-dressing. In fact, from the time of 

 planting the Strawberry in moderately stirred and enriched 

 soil, we never wish to see the soil in which it grows stirred, 

 even with a fork, above an inch or so in depth until the plants 

 themselves are dug down. 



OKNAMENTAL DEPAUTMEXT. 



The out-door work was chiefly a continuation of that pre- 

 viously described — pruning, turfing, levelling, and in the frosty 

 mornings wheeling, and especially making mounds of fresh 

 soil where some of the Pine tribe are to be planted as speci- 

 mens. Except a few that prefer the fen and semi-morass, the 

 great bulk of this tribe decidedly prefer being planted on a 

 mound, and this, no doubt, because most of them flourish 

 naturally on hilly and mountain slopes, where, at least, the 

 roots near the collar will never encounter stsgnant water. 

 Kept on pruning and nearly cutting down large Laurels, not 

 because it was the best time to do it, but because there was 

 a better opportunity for dting it than in the spring. This 

 cutting-in rather freely is almost essential in many places 

 if a healthy vigorous appearance is to be presented, as if left 

 alone for many years the heads become thin and scrubby-look- 

 ing, and can only be kept in healthy luxuriance by a rather free 

 use of the bill, the knife, and the saw. Daubed all the large 

 cuts with dark paint to keep wet out, and this will prevent 

 nearly all d.anger. In general they break freely enough in 

 spring. Cut-in also some Ivy fences and arches freely on the 

 same principle. They will be green enough in summer. 



Pruned Hoses, &c., against a wall for the summer season, 

 having more time now, and the Roses and shrubs had been 

 left rather rough, and the wall wanted a thorough cleaning. 

 To keep the plants secure, a little litter was fastened over 

 the soil near the stems, and some laurel boughs fastened 

 against the Roses, itc, which we have f.enerally found suffi- 

 cient even for the more tender of the Tea kinds. 



Until the 2ith, Scarlet Pelargoniums, Cassia corymbosa. 

 Salvias, &c., had stood in a corridor, fronted with glass, roofed 

 with zinc, and unhealed. We cleared this all out, as some of 

 the plants were too large to lose, and removed several of the best 

 to one end, lofty, and with a glass roof, as well as glass in front 



abntting against the mancion. Here at one end we had placed 

 a small iron stove, the inside lined as far as the fireplace with 

 thin firebrick, and have no doubt it will enable us to keep the 

 place safe, though we now see that a larger stove would be 

 better. It is not what a stove may do that ought to be the 

 question, but what it will do with the greatest ease and security 

 for the plants, with the lowest effectual heat in the ttove. An 

 extra row of pipes in a house used for hot water, will often 

 make all the difference between the easy healthy, and uneasy 

 unhealthy heating of a house. To secure healthy heating from 

 hot water, the water should not be within some 30" or 40° of 

 the boiling point. Ou the same principle, lOs., 20.-.-., or SOs, 

 more for a larger stove would often be a great economy in at- 

 tendance and consumption of fuel, and a milder heat over a 

 larger-surfaced stove, would be more healthy than a greater 

 heat over a smaller surface. In this place set a number of 

 Hyacinths and Crocuses opening their blooms, in boxes and 

 vases, and even edged some boxes with Snowdrops taken from a 

 warm sheltered place out of doors. We feel sure that Ca- 

 mellias and Oranges, Pelargoniums, Epacrises, and Cinerarias 

 will be secure for the winter. We hope the whole place will 

 some day have a couple of hot-water pipes, but then the stove 

 will be anything but lost. We would have no objection to 

 having two or three of them in our stores. 



Fresh-regulated conservatory. The clearing away a few lights 

 of Cucumbers enabled us to make a hotbed for cuttings, bulbs, 

 and fresh-potted plants ; and potting, clearing, watering, and 

 looking after Eoses and shrubs in heat formed the chief work 

 in this department, along with taking plenty of soil under 

 cover and putting it in warm places. — E. F. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Hooper & Co., Central Avenue, Covent Garden Market, 

 Loudon, V!.G.— General CaUihiyue fur 1SC9. 



Barr & Sugden, 12, King Street, Covent Garden, London, 

 W.C. — Descrii>tivc Hiring Catalogue of Floieer and Kitchen 

 Garden Seeds. ^]'lth Appendix. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— Januakv 27 . 



We have an excellent as^oitment of vegetables for the seaEon, includ- 

 iag Green Peas, Artichokes, and new Potatoes from Algiers; also 

 AsrarsguB and Lettuces from Pari', three days a-week. The supply of 

 fruit is ample for the trade, and of Grapes especially ; these consisting oJ 

 HamhurghB, Alicante, Lady Downe's, and Gros Guillaume. 



s. 



Apples ^- sieve 1 



Apricots doz. 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bush. 10 



Cun-ants i. sieve 



Black do. 



Figs doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 1 



Gooseberries . . quart 



Grapes,HothouBe..lb. 6 



Lemons 100 4 



FKUIT. 

 s. d 



d 



6to2 











16 















1 

 1 6 

 

 8 

 8 



Melons each 2 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranges 100 2 



Peaches doz. 



Pears (dessert) . . doz. 2 



Pine Apples lb. 4 



Plums ^:i sieve 



Quinces doz. 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries lb. 



Walnuts bush. 10 



do 100 1 



d. s. d 

 0to5 

 



6 







6 



6 







1 6 

 

 



la 



2 G 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes doz. 



Asparagus Itio 



Beans, Kidnoy . . hd. 



Beet, Red doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Erus. Sprouts i- sieve 



Cabbage doz. 



Capsicums 100 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Cucumbers .... each 



Endive doz. 



Fonuel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish ..bundle 



d. s. 



0to6 































4 







6 











3 



8 



3 







Leeks bunch 



d. s. 

 4 too 



8 0,. Lettuce score 2 



3 j Mushrooms pottle 2 



3 I Mustd.&Cress,punnct 



2 , Onions bushel 5 



i Parsley sieve 3 



2 1 Parsnips doz. 



1 Peas quart 



8 



6 



3 



2 



















5 



Potatoes bushel 4 



Kidney do. 4 



Radishes doz.bunches 1 



Rhubarb bundle 



Sea-kale basket 2 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 2 



Tomatoes doz. 1 



Turnips bunch 



3 



7 



a 



6 



7 

 







3 



2 







TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



AnoEESs {Definite).— Yy'e Cannot state the address of any of our corre- 

 spondents. 



Pelaegonidm (.•(. B.).— The white leaves, probably, will not be perma- 

 nent, and the plant short-lived. It is impossible to form an opinion 

 about it from seeing a single leaf. 



Mushroom Spawn (T. i.'.— It may be tbtainedof any of the leading 

 seedsmen who advertise in this .Journal. 



Decayed Damson Teee (Spoldi ii<j).—1he interior of the trunk being 

 decayed, !s quite snfacient explanation of the hole yon describe. Decay 

 spreads from the centre to the exterior, the decayed part harbours insects, 

 and the small insect-eating birds resorting thither soon make a cavity. 



