May 8, 1869. J 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



315 



warm days, this must be used sparingly when the weather 

 proves nnsettled, for without abundance of light flowers never 

 colour properly, and they soon fade if Uopt in too shady a posi- 

 tion. Air should also bo freely admitted whenever the weather 

 will permit. When it can be aucompliabed, watering should bo 

 done in the moruini?, in order that tho superfluous moisture 

 may be dried np before evening, so as to avoid damp at night, 

 from which there ia some danger during tho present state of 

 the weather. The New Holland twiners, when done flowering, 

 should have their shoots well triiumed-in before growth com- 

 mences, thinning the msin branches where necessary by cut- 

 ting out weakly ones. Always rememlier to secure plenty of 

 young wood towards the bottom. S irae uf the earlier-flowering 

 half-hardy plants will soon be past their best, and a judicious 

 amount of foreeight and care will be necessary to avoid being 

 short of specimens in bloom with which to supply their places. 

 Many plants in the stove, as Achime.nes, Gloxinias, &c., should 

 now be in a forward state ; but those must be carefully pre- 

 pared for removal to the cooler and drier atmosphere of the 

 conservatory, otherwise there will he grent risk of injuring the 

 foliage, and when circumstances will admit, plants that have 

 been grown in a warm moist atmosphoro should be removed to 

 an intermediate house about a fortuight previous to their being 

 taken to the conservatory, and gradually inured to a free cir- 

 culation of air, ito. By attention to this, and placing the 

 plants in tho warmest corners in the conservatory, Cleroden- 

 drons, Allamandas, and other plants, will continue growing 

 slowly and blooming for three months at a time, whereas, if 

 this be neglected, their beauty may bo very short-lived. 



STOVE. 



As stove plants advance allow them plenty of room, particu- 

 larly plants ohiefly ornamental by their foliage. The syringe 

 must be in constant use to keep down insects, and must bo 

 assisted by fumigation when thrips is likely to establish itself. 

 The white and brown scale are best kept under by carefully 

 handwashing the infested plants with a strong lather of brown 

 soap and water. Soft brushes or pieces of sponge should only 

 be used for this purpose, in order that no injury may be done 

 to the leaves. Amaryllises, &e., should be removed to the con- 

 servatory or show house for blooming; there they are great 

 acquisitions. Mark any striking varieties for saving seed. 

 After blooming plunge them in a little bottom heat in a frame 

 near the glass to perfect their growth. Fires for the stove and 

 Orchid house will still be necessary. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



We ran the Dutch hoe wherever it would go, weeds or no 

 weeds seen, removed exhausted vegetables as Brussels Sprouts 

 and Coleworts, and cut over Scotch Cabbaging Kale, and 

 Veitch's Late Curled, to help a little before the Cabbages be- 

 came firmer and harder. The chief work besides has been a 

 continuation of that of preceding weeks. Having been from 

 home a few hours one day, though we cannot at present give 

 an account of all that we saw, some remarks may be useful, 

 and first as to 



Cucumbers. — With plants of the same age and kind our dung 

 frame has this year beaten the hot-water pit, but there has 

 been little difference between them. In both cases the plants 

 were chiefly grown in sandy soil taken from mounds at the 

 sides of a highway that had accumulated for years, the top turf 

 being thinly taken off and laid aside for other purposes. This 

 soil was enriched merely with a little sweet rotten leaf mould 

 and hotbed dung, thoroughly decomposed and aired, and a few 

 spadesful of charred rubbish. We would have added more if we 

 had had it. The longer we grow plants of all kinds, the more 

 do we fall back on simple composts. We hace known people 

 send twenty miles for a load of some fine loam, when they 

 eonld have obtained nearly as good not m'lny yards from their 

 own homesteads. The sides of roads are a never-failing 

 source of supply, but roadwardens are more particular than 

 they used to be, and we presume that in general such soil 

 cannot be taken without the consent of the landlord of the 

 adjacent land, or the lord of the manor. Wlien it can be ob- 

 tained with little trouble, it renders one independent of the 

 trying after " the top spit of an eld pasture," so frequently 

 spoken about. Many gardeners may long after such material, 

 and get no further than longing. 



As yet we have had no trouble with these Cucumbers ; no 

 trouble with insects, no trouble with disease, no trouble with 



earthing-up, and thus bo far exposing the plants, as all the 

 earth was given at once. We have just done beds for two 

 frames, and in two days the soil was warm enough for plant- 

 ing. Wo must not, however, shout too early, for wo know not 

 how soon tho disease or somo other evil may assail us. 



Mr. Cadger, at Luton H jo, has at present as fine a span- 

 roofed house of Cucumbers as could well be seen, and as the 

 most of the fruit are growing in suBpended rather whitish 

 glasses, you might fancy you were transported to some scene 

 of eastern mignitioenoe. Wa prefer, however, to see the fine, 

 straight, green Cucumbers hanging without such enclosures, 

 as we have seen them there, and in a somewhat similar span- 

 roofed house at Kimptou Hoo. The hanging generally makes 

 the fruit straight enouj/h when there are not too many swelling 

 at one time, and thoro is something at the roots to meet the 

 demands of fruit and healthy fcdiage. Nothing could look 

 more healthy than those Cucumbers ; but Mr. Cadger had not 

 been without his troubles with tho previous or winter crop, 

 which was almost destroyed by beetles, cockroaches, and 

 crickets. At The Hyde, Mr. Young showed us what had been 

 a fine hot-water pit of Cucumbers, containing even then 

 plenty of good Cucumbers, but the bed fresh-surfaced, and the 

 leaves thin, and many of them gnawed all round their edges. 

 Both gentlemen seemed to depend much on water as near the 

 boiling point as possible, slushing it all over the woodwork, 

 brickwork, and every hole and cranny at a cleaning-out between 

 crops. When thit could not be done, glass or glazed earthen- 

 ware vessels were set, with beer or treacle water in them, and 

 some little sticks placed for the beetles to mount up by, the 

 higher end hanging over the vessel, and the beetles on reach- 

 ing it fell down into tho liquor. We recollect once setting 

 such a trap for beetles, &c., and finding in the liquid, in addi- 

 tion to a goodly number of them, half a dozen mice. We have 

 known crickets partake of arsenic and butter spread on thin 

 slices of bread, and the live ones in cannibal fashion feasting 

 on the dead poisoned ones. Nothing, however, was found so 

 effeetnal among growing crops at both places as phosphoric 

 paste, such as that manufactured for mice and rats, merely 

 placing a little of the paste on a tally, and the slightest nibble 

 destroys the crickets. Wo presume the scent and the luminons 

 appearance at night attract them. 



All of these are great annoyances among growing crops in 

 places where there is heat, and for thorough clearance when 

 there was no crop we would have most faith in burning sul- 

 phur, and then washing the walls and everything with boiling 

 water. We recollect seeing several empty houses in a fine 

 street in London that had been untenanted for years. The 

 cockroaches and black beetles had so obtained possession that 

 no one could be found to contest it with them. It was beetles 

 everywhere. 



The pages ot onr back volumes testify to the great success 

 of Mr. Cox as a Cucumber grower. We have never seen such 

 numbers of Cucumbers hanging in the same space as in the 

 span-house at Kimpton Hoo, where Cox's Volunteer was grown, 

 still one of the best kinds for abundant bearing, though not so 

 long as some other kinds, as the Telegraph, &c. For some 

 time Cucumber disease, both the spot on leaves and the gummy 

 exudation on the fruit has visited him, and he says he feels 

 almost unable to contend with the evil, and yet the roots 

 appear healthy, strong, and vigorous. So far as we know, this 

 dire disease is as great a mystery as ever. Somo gentlemen 

 have written to us throwing the whole blame on the want of 

 skill of the gardener, but we consider that skill has nothing to 

 do with it. The most successful growers for twenty or thirty 

 years, have felt themselves nearly helpless when the malady 

 visited them. We had our share of it for several years, and 

 can state that now we do not know what brought it or what took 

 it away. It mattered not what soil we tried, what seed we 

 had, or where it came from, what place we had the plants in, 

 whether dung bed, frame, hot-water pit, hand-light on ridge, in 

 the open air. trained on the ground, or against a trellis or 

 fence, planted out in a bed, or the roots curbed in a pot — tho 

 disease showed itself. We have found no palliative but in 

 simple compost, cleanliness, and airing the soil, and very fre- 

 quent planting, but as to conquering the disease we felt per- 

 fectly helpless. We could obtain Cucumbers only by continually 

 planting and clearing away the old plants when they became 

 affected. It is rather mortifying to say so, but we know of no 

 remedy when once a plant is affected. A gocd gardener is 

 almost powerless, so far as overcoming the evil is concerned. 



Pea-5.— We found in the places visited Sutton's Ringleader 

 was earliest in bloom out of doors. At Luton Hoo there were 



