152 



JOUENAL OF HORTICDLTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



[ AogUBt 27, 1868. 



tember will be soon enough. Wallflowers, if they are too close 

 together, must be pricked out into nursery beds for trans- 

 planting when the borders are cleared for the winter. Now is 

 a good time to procure any fresh varieties of Polvanthus, so 

 that they may become well established before winter ; if plants 

 come from a distance, and are planted in the border, a hand- 

 glass should be placed over them, and carefully shaded. Loam 

 and leaf soil in equal quantities will be found a simple and 

 good compost to grow them in. The soil for potting layers of 

 Carnations when they are ready to take off should be loam, 

 river sand, and decayed leaves, well turned, thoroughly ex- 

 amined, and run through the hand, so that no wireworm nor 

 grub may escape. The flower-stalks when there is no seed 

 may now be cut off close to the surface, and the sticks or sup- 

 ports removed, cleaned, and put away till next season. Plant- 

 ing beds of Pansies for blooming next season ought not to be 

 delayed much longer. The following compost is excellent for 

 securing strong healthy plants, and fine blooms. Two parts 

 fresh maiden loam, one part decayed cow manure, one part 

 road scrapings, one part leaf soil or decayed vegetable matter. 

 This, if well mixed and sweetened by repeated turnings pre- 

 vious to forming the bed, will not disappoint the amateur's ex- 

 pectations. Turn over the soil of the Tulip bed, and if fresh 

 compost is required see to it in time. 



GEEENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



The management of the conservatory will be more uniform 

 now than in summer. No syringing will be necessary, unless 

 for a plant here and there which may require it for keeping 

 down insects. Where blinds have been in use to keep off the 

 sun, they cannot be dispensed with yet altogether, but use 

 them as little as possible from this time. Let oil the watering 

 be done in the morning, and givo no more water to stove 

 plants which are brought into this house for their flowers than 

 just enough to keep their leaves from drooping. The few 

 Lantanas which we cultivate in this country are well suited for 

 flowering in this house late in the summer and through the 

 autumn. Turnera elegaus is a very useful and gay plant ; it 

 flowers from April to October in the conservatory, and even 

 out of doors in summer, but it requires a house rather warmer 

 than a greenhouse in winter, and is the first to go off in damp 

 winters. Young plants of it in small pots, well drained, and 

 fiUed with sandy loam only, might now be put in a spare 

 Melon frame to ripen them off ; when they have filled the pots 

 with roots harden them by admitting plenty of air, and in 

 winter place them on a shelf near the glass in a cool part of 

 the stove. 



STOVE. 



The beginning of September, when slight fires will be neces- 

 sary in dull or cold weather, is a critical time for stove plants. 

 The house must now be kept more close, air being given in the 

 middle of the day only. An increase of heat by artificial 

 means is more likely to retard the ripening of plants now than 

 if they were left cool and dry. The thermometer, should not, 

 however, be allowed to fall below 60" for the next six weeks, 

 and during this time it is of much importance to keep the at- 

 mosphere of the house dry as in the dead of winter. These 

 rules, however, do not apply to plants whose habit is to grow 

 in winter, as is the case with many bulbs, Orchids, and a few 

 other plants. Clerodendron splendens is one which grows late 

 in the autumn, and may now be encouraged ; it will flower for 

 a long time in the winter, and established plants of it should 

 be forced to grow in the spring or early summer. Like some 

 other plants it requires a long period of rest after flowering. — 



W. liEANE. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



" It never rains but it pours," is a saying that has held good 

 this week, and coming after refreshing showers, the rain has 

 done much to moisten the soil, almost to as great a depth as 

 the drought had penetrated. Never in our experience had we 

 known the soil to be so dried. In turning up ground after 

 Potatoes, Peas, Arc, we found no moisture for fully 18 inches 

 in depth, the soil falling off instead of holding on to the spade, 

 as if it had been as much sand, or burnt clay. What rather 

 surprised us was, that the firmer and less moved the ground 

 previously, the more moist it was when dug up. Wo do not 

 allude now to cases in which merely the surface of the ground 

 was kept loose and open, and the soil deeper down compara- 

 tively firm and unmoved, for in such cases after passing a few 

 inches from the surface the soil was comparatively moist, but 

 we allude chiefly to cases in which the ground had been well 



' broken for previous crops, and left comparatively open, so that 

 the parching air had more access to greater depths. 



In the case of ground with a rather firm surface, though 

 there were numbers of cracks and fissures, and though there 

 would be a free radiation of heat and a free absorption of sun 

 heat, and thus a free evaporation of moisture, there would be 

 no check given to the rising of moisture from greater depths 

 to meet this constant evaporation from the surface. On setting 

 close hand-lights on such firm, apparently dry soil, keeping 

 them on all day, there would often be a plentiful deposition of 

 condensed moisture inside in the morning, and that all the 

 more it the night was starry and comparatively cool, when the 

 air in general was so dry that even a clear starry night could 

 not condense dew from it out of doors. One of the most me- 

 morable things connected with the hot dry weather through 

 which we have passed, was the clear, cloudless nights, and yet 

 no deposition of dew, owing, no doubt, to the fact that in 

 many of these nights the thermometer ranged from 60' to 70°. 

 In such cases, in several instances we found that the glass was 

 a better condenser of the vapour in a confined atmosphere, 

 than the blades or rather points of grass and other foliage, of 

 the vapour in the general atmosphere ; perhaps owing to the 

 air under the glass becoming hotter than even the open at- 

 mosphere. 



In the case of mere sm-ftice-stirrinr! of the soil, we believe 

 that whilst that arrested absorption and radiation of heat, and 

 thus so far modified the evaporation of moisture, it did not 

 greatly interfere with the rising of moisture from beneath ; and 

 it so, the more frequent this surface-stirring, so as to break the 

 lines of conduction, the more effectual it would be for prevent- 

 ing the escape of moisture by evaporation ; but when the soil 

 was stirred to greater depths, not only would it be dried more 

 effectually by the dry air passing through it, but such a depth 

 — say a foot of open soil, would prevent the free rising of 

 moisture from beneath to supply the place of that so freely 

 absorbed by the dry air. We would be glad if some of our 

 readers would give a better explanation of the facts. As we 

 have endeavoured to explain them, they are in a great measure 

 in unison with the theory and practice of watering to which 

 we have recently alluded. If we are right, the surface-stirring 

 of ground to keep heat out and moisture in, depends more for 

 its effect on the frequency and the shallowness of the stirring 

 than upon its depth; nay, it may be presumed that the 

 greater the depth the less will be the. efficiency of the practice, 

 so far as the keeping-in of moisture is concerned. The matter 

 is of importance, as we believe that the heat and dry air were 

 quite as much against our keeping up a good supply of crisp 

 green vegetables, as the want of rain or surface moisture, and 

 for this purpose, as lately alluded to, it would be interesting to 

 know what is the highest temperature in which green succulent 

 Peas, Broad Beans, &c., can be had in the south of Europe and 

 the north of -Africa, and where there are no means of watering 

 or irrigation to be resorted to. 



The change produced by the rains, and the coolness accom- 

 panying them, have acted like the wand of an enchanter. Blue- 

 coloured vegetables are reverting to their bright green. The 

 prophesyers of bad times, who told us there would not be much 

 green grass until about Christmas, are thoroughly astonished. 

 The pastures that crackled under your feet and looked as brown 

 as a highway are now green, and will soon yield abundant 

 forage. Our lawns, brown and more than brown, are now 

 covered with the most beautiful green, showing that the roots 

 had never been much injured. We could scarcely manage some 

 parts with the machine on Friday, the only dry day of the 

 week ; and now, after such a soaking d.iy as this of the 22nd, 

 we expect we shall be obliged to mow the longest pieces on 

 Monday. 



KITCHEN GAKBEN. 



Even stunted seedlings of the Cabbage and Broccoli tribes 

 have made remarkable progress during the week. Planted these 

 and whatever we could in open spaces ; also, good breadths of 

 Coleworts and the earliest Cabbages, planting so thickly as to 

 move afterwards every other plant — a good plan when water- 

 ing has to be resorted to. 



As our Cabbage ground was not quite ready, and as, un- 

 fortunately, the grubs seemed prevalent, we have pricked out a 

 good piece with plants about 4 inches apart in rich soil, and will 

 lift and transplant with the trowel. Prepared also two beds 

 •1 feet wide, and a few inches below the surface enriched almost 

 as much as for Celery, and planted with Leeks, as they will 

 come in when other vegetables may be scarce. Fulled up aU 

 the Onions, and will size and string them the first opportunity. 



