164 



JOUiJNAL OF HOBTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDKNEB. 



[ March 4, 1869. 



ooneervatory, it is net desirable to pot a fresh stock every season, 

 as a number of deciduous sbrabs, such asEoses, Lilacs, Thorns, 

 Honeysuckles, to., may by proper treatment be made to bloom 

 for several successive seasons. Select, therefore, the most 

 suitable plants when removed from the houses, and give them 

 some kind of temporary shelter to gradually harden their foIia<;e ; 

 those cramped for pot room shift into rich turfy loam in larger 

 pots, and towards the middle of next month plunge them in an 

 open situation in order that the wood may ripen eaily. Follow 

 np propagation, and see that cuttings i.f young stock are care- 

 fully shaded when necessary.^ W. Keake. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GABDEN. 



The breezy days of the 26ih and 27th enabled ns, as the 

 ground had become dry on the surface, to do a considerable 

 amount of work in the kitchen garden, as hoeing, digging, 

 turning over ridges, sowing Peas and Beans, and planting 

 Potatoes. It is all ve)y well to do work according to a specified 

 time, but it is much letter to do it according to circumstances. 

 All crops will thrive better if sown or put in the ground under 

 faTOurable circumstances, than when the ground is claggy and 

 wet. It is better in such cases to wait than to hurry. A week 

 later in sowingwill be more than compensated f jr in the crop ; 

 aad even the time of production, when contrasted wiih crops 

 sown or planted in wet claggy soil, will be eight or ten days 

 earlier. Scatleied a little burnt earth, ashes, &c., over the sets 

 of Potatoes to keep enemies from the sets ; and to save the 

 trouble of wire netting, i-c, covered Peas and Beans with an 

 incrustation of red lead in powder. For this purpose the Peas 

 are slightly damped, a little of the powder sprinkled over them, 

 and the seeds well stirred together with a stick until all are 

 coloured. Very little lead goes a great way; a pinch or two 

 would do for a sowing of small seeds. It is as well to have a 

 pot or saucer for the purpose, and then less will be wanted 

 each time in succession. 



We found seeds treated as aboTe last season, turned up with 

 bill, nose, and claws, but not taken, and the turningup was 

 soon let alone. Neither birds nor four-footed depredators seem 

 to partake of seeds so treated. If the non-paitaking of seeds 

 thus treated is general, there will be no danger of poisoning 

 pheasants or domestic poultry, and iu this respect confirmation 

 IS much desired. We ourselves have no proof that seeds treated 

 with lead have been eaten, and we have tried nearly all sorts 

 from Lettuce and Cabbage up to Peas and Beans. In tbis 

 matter we cannot, however, speak so authoritatively as we 

 could wish, and, in fact, for some years we almost gave up the 

 practice, after finding some rows of Peas pretty well turned up, 

 and without perceiving that the P.'as had been taken, we ytt 

 found a couple of swelled dead rats iu the vicinity. They most 

 likely had tsken a little of the lead. As a general fact, the 

 colour seems to act to some extent as a deterrent. If tbeie is 

 something that keeps all such intruders away, nnd thr.t with- 

 out eating, a few pence for red lead would save many a yard of 

 netting. When seeds are put in the ground as soon as thus 

 coloured, we have not found the lead at all a hindrance to free 

 healthy germination. The seed sufifers, however, when kept 

 long dry and above ground after such colouring. It is well, 

 therefore, to colour no more than is wanted for a particular 

 sowing. One caution as to the sower. When we have had 

 outs or scars on our fingers we have used an old glove for the 

 hand, or a small scapula for dispersing the seed regolarly. 

 Even when the bare hands without wound of any kind are 

 used, they should be washed well immediaiely afterwards, and 

 care taken that none of the lead is left at the nails, as that in 

 some cases might be dangerous. 



Cucumbers in a frame had quite enough of bottom heat, but 

 scarcely enough of top heat in such stormy weather ; and as 

 the frame had sunk more at the back than the front, it was 

 raised about 6 inches higher, and all danger from steam, &c., 

 guarded against. The banking-np the back all that higher, 

 enabled us to raise the atmospheric temperature. We all Know 

 that wood is a bad conductor, but stilfit does conduct heat, 

 though slowly, and once heated parts with it slowly. We 

 have no doubt that for forcing purposes /ramcs made of iron 

 sides and ends, juined by rods at the corners, would be cheaper 

 in the end, aud answer the purpose better than either fnimes 

 of wood, or pita with brick walls — that is, as long as the sides 

 were surrounded with heating decomposing mateiiHl, as dung. 

 The advantage would be from the celeiity with which he.a from 

 the outside would be conducted and radiated into the inside 



atmosphere. For mere protective purposes where no heat was 

 .to be applied, as in cold frames and pits, the iron, on the same 

 principle, would be much inferior to a brick pit, aud still more 

 to a strong frame or wall of wood. The last time we noticed 

 nioe-Iookiug iron frames and iron fur sashes, the gardener 

 cornplained that he could hardly keep Lettuces, &c., in them 

 during the winter. We can easily conceive how in severe frosts, 

 with the outside of the iron plates unprotected, the au: inside 

 the frame would soon become almost as cold as that outside. 

 Something would be gained if for such a mere protective pur- 

 pose the outsides, at least, were well painted with light-colotured 

 paint. But merely as a place for protecting plants the iron 

 fiamo is much inferior to a brick pit, or even to a turf pit with 

 coping, or a good frame of wood 2 inches thick. Paradoxical 

 though it may seem, it is no less true, that we have seen frost 

 penetrating 9-inch walls, that did not find its way through 

 2 inches of wood. 



The above remarks may meet the case of " A Fakmep.," who 

 can obtain some iron frames if we think they would suit his 

 purpose. For meie protection, we consider them inferior to 

 wood. If he means to place thefC iron frames in his yard, so 

 as to use dung heat for Cucumbers and other crops, then we 

 would say. Have them by all means, paint the inside of a 

 darkish rather than of a very light colour, tar well the out- 

 side, and when dry, keep the fermenting manure packed up to 

 within 2 or 3 inches of the top, to leave room for a board or 

 slab to walk upon. We would rather in such cases not enter 

 on the question of profit and loss, for it is seldom the farmer 

 can give his attention to the details of gardening ; but we have 

 not rarely met with huge mounds of dung wasting their sweet- 

 ness on the air for the most part of a summer, and during that 

 time they might have been used for forwarding many vegetables 

 without at all interfering with tbe ultimate value of the manure. 

 Growing Cucumbers on such mounds would greatly depend as 

 to profit on the intelligence and attention given. 



From what has come under our observation, failures in farm- 

 yards have not resulted so much fram want of attention, for 

 provided air is given early, very little is requited, as from 

 having too much bottom heat in the bed, and tbe extra atmo- 

 spheric heat passing upwards throirgh the soil instead of being 

 partly sent inwards through tbe sides of the box. By this 

 latter mode there is little danger of burning the roots — a very 

 common source of failure. 



FEDIT GARDEN. 



As our work here was cLiefly a continuation of matters al- 

 ready referred to, we shall just notice that no^v is a good time 

 for preparing the material for renewing the beds of fermenting 

 matter for 



Pine-Apple Planti. — For all such beds, we have met with no- 

 thing better than a mass of good tree leaves, covered with a thick- 

 ness of from G to 12 inches of tan, partly sweetened, but still 

 fresh, before being used. Adding a little fresh by means of a fun- 

 nel will beep up the heat a long time, and in a fresh bed it is 

 always advisable not to plunge more than half the pot at first, 

 leaving a bank round it, which may be levelled down with a 

 small hoe as the heat declines. No plant suffers more from 

 rough usage and moving about than the Pine Apijle. A leaf 

 once cracked or bruised will never recover. Were we entering 

 again on Pine-growing largely we would not mind growiiag 

 young plants in dung heat, as ouo of the best modes of keep- 

 ing them clean and healthy ; but for the main stock we should 

 prefer planting out aud growing them ia a bed of heated soil, the 

 pipes for heating mertiy covered with a few inches of clinkers, 

 brickbats, &c. When desirable v7b could send rich water among 

 the clinkers. A bed thus well drained and heated would give 

 the least trouble. Turning huge tau btds in houses used to be 

 a serious affair. Much of that work, and the necessary de- 

 spatch attouiling it, would keep people muscular. One of the 

 chief causes of dissatisfaction when using hot water for bottom 

 heat is having the heating mediiim too far from the body to be 

 heated. Another evil is having the roots too near the heat- 

 ing medium, when that is higher than from 80° to 85°, for a 

 voiy high temperature is enervating rather than invigorating. 

 Though bottom heat is a very good thing, it is an easy matter 

 to have too much of it. 



OENAMENTAi DEPAETHENT. 



Hand-glasses versus Wooden Boxes. — A correspondent tells 

 us, " I am much obliged for the idea of the window propagat- 

 ing box, but you will say I have improved upon it. I had a 

 little table rather more than 3 feet long by 20 inches wide. I 

 have taken off the tup, made the drawer watertight with a 

 vessel of tin, and had a top made of zinc, merely screwed down 



