November r», ; 



.] 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



345 



answered in winter, so long as we kept the beds on, and tbey 

 were also useful in hot weather in July, for the shed ia chieHy 

 BSed for summer Muslirooma, though they often continue to 

 produce all the svinter. It is a low structuro ugainst a dwarf wall, 

 and shaded by trees on the open side. Wo have twice had it 

 roughthalihfd with straw, using old hurdles for the roof below 

 the straw, aud something must be done to renew it before 

 long, but though wo have once or twice been offered a tiled or a 

 slated roof, we prefer the straw as a non-conductor of heat, and 

 because coolness is the chief essential for Mushroom culture in 

 summer. From this rough-thatched place we have had most 

 of the advantages of a cool collar in summer. We have tried a 

 similar shed roofed with feather-edged boarding, and with tiles 

 and slates well smeared witli lime, to prevent the absorption of 

 heat, but in neither case in hot summers did they act so well 

 as the rough-tbatohed roof. Were it not for the harbour given 

 to vermin, there is something more than the picturesque in 

 thatched roofs for dwelling-houses for man, they are so cool in 

 summer, and so warm in winter. As a mark of progress, it is 

 pleasing to notice all through the country sheds and workshops 

 close to the slates, having the slates outside well whitened, so 

 that the people below should not be half roasted in summer, 

 and frozen in winter. A friend had a small shed for summer 

 Mushrooms erected against a wall, but he was too neat in his 

 tastes to think of thatch, and too averse to the glaring in colour 

 to think of a staring white roof, aud to compromise the matter 

 had the roof covered with brownish tiles. Even they proved 

 too hot in July and August. After a little mutual thinking 

 over of the matter, a pretty picturesque roof is now formed. A 

 little earth was strewed over the tiles, and that was planted 

 all over with the little green yellow-flowering Sedum acre, and 

 it is now a dense mass, and in the hottest days of the last 

 summer the lower side of the tiles felt quite cool to the hand. 



Our chief difficulty with the shed bods for two seasons has 

 been owing to the inroads of numerous moles. Tarring their 

 runs has set them to make fresh ones, and some beds have 

 looked in the morning as if a miniature plough had been at 

 work all over the bed. In the garden aud pleasure grounds 

 nearly a hundred moles have been caught. They were not 

 satisfied with Mushroom beds, but worked into Cucumber and 

 Melon beds, everywhere in fact where the soil was at all soft, 

 and though we find no great fault with their heaps in a meadow, 

 as these make an excellent top-dressing, they do not look attrac- 

 tive on a lawn close to the principal windows. One of the best 

 modes of trapping moles is for the trapper to carry a dead mole, 

 or the skin of one, with him, and to draw that over the traps 

 and the ueighbouriug soil, so as to take away all scent of his 

 own hand. Looking on the mole as in many respects one of 

 our co-operators, and admiring its indomitable energy and per- 

 severance, we should be glad if some better means than have 

 been noticed in these pages could be mentioned, to drive moles 

 away from particular places, instead of trapping and thus 

 killing so many of them. Our better feelings are apt to give 

 way when we find a good Mushroom bed made for a time 

 next to useless, and more especially when we know that the 

 bed contained little that would suit the mole in the way of 

 lood, as, if the bulk of such beds were dry rather than wet, there 

 would scarcely be a worm or other little animal for the mole. 



We threw some droppings and litter into a heap to dry by 

 fermentation in order to make another piece in the Mushroom 

 Louse. Finished earthing a second piece and spawned a third, 

 and wiU watch the latter for a few days. It is generally best in 

 a shelved house to fill the upper shelves first, as these will then 

 be assisted by the heat in the beds beneath them when getting 

 ready. 



rnUIT GAKDEN. 



We have housed all the hardy fruit at last. Apples seem to 

 keep better than Pears. We have lost of the latter some 

 splendid Marie Louise, Beurrc Bosc, and Napolfon, and all 

 required to be looked to often, as when they began to decay 

 they soon became little better than a skinful of juice. With 

 these exceptions the fruit has been good and of excellent 

 flavour. That some should thus be excessively stored with 

 juice might be owing to the wonderfully rapid swelling that 

 took place after the first rains, and the more humid atmo- 

 sphere which then prevailed. Before the rains came there was 

 every appearance that the fruit would be small and deficient 

 in moisture, but, on the whole, all Apples, Pears, and other 

 fruit have turned out of fully their usual size. 



From the orchard house we are still gathering every day 

 Beine Claude de Bavay, a few Jefferson, and a good supply of 

 Coe's Golden Drop Plums from pots, and with due preparation. 



as previously instanced, we see no reason why the latter Plnnj 

 should not keep well through November and part of December 

 at least, and it would be diHicult to find any other fruit at this 

 season to beat it in quality. In the first house Figs and Grapes 

 aro ripening well. 



ORNAMENTAL DErARTMENT. 



Much the same as in previous weeks ; the falling leaves pre- 

 vent the grounds being so clean as wo would wish. — B. V. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— NovioinKR 4. 



Our market remains so Bt;itionary, botli as to supply und domntid, at 

 present, that we have little worth reportiuj^'. IJrucolis of the diOyrent 

 varieties havo remarkably improved duriu^ the past fnrtnit,'ht, and 

 Winter Greens are abundant. Pears now consist or Chaumontel, Gloa 

 Morgcau, Winter Nolis, and liourre Diet ; Apples of Uibston Pippin, King 

 of tile Pippins, Nonpareil, and Foam's Pippin, j 



s. d. 



B. d 



Apples )<; sieve 1 6 to 2 



Apricots doz. 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bush. 10 16 



Currants 3-:! sieve 



Black do. 



FiKS 



doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 



Gooseberries . . quart 

 Grapes, Hothouse, .lb. 2 

 Lemons 100 10 



Melons each 2 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranfrea 100 8 



Peaches doz. 10 



Pears (dessert) ..doz. 2 



Pine Apples lb. 4 



Plams }^ sieve 4 



Quinces doz. 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries . . per lb. 



Walnuts bush. 10 



do per 100 1 



d. B. 

 0to5 

 



2 6 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes doz. 



.Asparaprus 100 



Beans, Kidney ^ sieve 



Boot, Red doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Brus. Sprouts K sieve 



CabbaRo doz. 



Capsicums 100 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Cucumbers each 



Endive doz. 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish .. bundle 



R. d. B. d 

 3 0to6 

 





 4 

 8 



2 







8 







2 



8 

 8 





 8 

 8 5 



Leeks bunch 



Lettuce per score 2 



Mushrooms .... pottle 2 

 Mu8td.& Cress, punnet 



Onions per bushel 5 



Parsley per sieve 8 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas per quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney de. 



Radishes doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Sea-kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes per doz. 



Tomips bunch 



d. B.d 



4 too e 





 



s 





 

 

 



6 



7 

 

 

 

 

 S 

 2 

 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



F. and A. Dickson &■ Sons, lOG, Eastgate Street, and Upton 

 Nurseries, Chester. — Catalof/uc of Rosea. 



Andr6 Leroy, Angers, France. — DescniMvc Catalogue of Fruit 

 and. Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, <f'c. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



•»• We request that no one will write privately to the depart- 

 mental writers of the "Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. AU 

 communications should therefore be addi-essed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, d-c., 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, B.C. 



We also request that correspondents will not mix np on the 

 same sheet questions relating to Gardening and those on 

 Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them an- 

 swered promptly and conveniently, but write them on 

 separate communications. Also never to send more than 

 two or three questions at once. 



N.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered until next 

 week. 



Books {T.M). — " The Gardener's Assistant" is published by Blackie 

 and Son, London. The "Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary .Supplement" 

 can be had free by post from our office for twenty postape stamps. 



Cherry Plum (JUijt.t King). — Any of the principal nurserjTnen who 

 advertise in our Journal could supply it. 



Apple Trees [Medicus). — The six kitchen Apples that would suit your 

 purpose are Bedfordshire Foundling, Alfriston, Dumelow's Seedling, 

 Yorkshire Greeninc. Norfolk BeefinK, and Rymer. The Prune Damson is 

 the finest. For cider you had better consult some orchardist in your 

 county — Hereford, for soil and climate have an aU-controllinff influence 

 over the flavour of the cider, and the variety which produces an excellent 

 liquor in one locality often produces an inferior liquor in another district. 



Large Pear (R. H. F.). — Your Pear is Hacon's Incomparable. The 

 specimen sent was fine and hiph-flavoured, but deficient in sweetness and 

 juiciness. This may be occasioned by its being grown against a south 



