464 



ooubnaij of hobticultubb and cottage gabdeneb. 



I December 17, 186S. 



and airy, and should not be allowed to suffer from want of pot 

 loom; but these should not be trusted in cold pits after this 

 period, for they are exceedingly impatient of frost. Forward 

 plants of stock intended for flowering early should be encouraged 

 with a gentle heat, keeping them near the glass, and admitting 

 air at every favourable opportunity. 



STOVE. 



Although a kindly sweet atmospheric Ihuraidity is in this 

 structure requisite to maintain vigorous health, the season is 

 now arrived when it must be supplied very moderately, and so 

 must heat. Clear days should be taken advantage of for any 

 little extra application of either. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Little has been done here except slightly hoeing and forking 

 among young crops to leave an open surface, and removing 

 the withered leaves from old Cabbage stumps. Savoys, and 

 Brussels Sprouts in bearing, as these, especially after frost, 

 would be sure to emit anything but a pleasant odour. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



Examined stores of Apples and Pears, and have found during 

 the last month that many are likely to keep worse than usual. 

 We were rather afraid of this, as after the dry summer they 

 swelled so fast when the rains came, and then there seemed to 

 be a deficiency of sunlight afterwards to dissipate the watery 

 juices. Many of the Pears and Apples were more than usually 

 well flavoured, but others were too juicy ; and when. they began 

 to decay could scarcely be moved, turning to little else but 

 juice. Some kinds of Apples, such as Margil and Cox's Orange 

 Pippin, have kept extremely well, but they did not swell so 

 much after the rains as many others. As a rule, most of the 

 fruit that increased so rapidly after the rains have kept worse 

 than usual, and even with the greatest care in looking over 

 them some had to go to the rubbish heap. 



The season has been so open, that planting, lifting, and 

 root-pruning may still be proceeded with ; but in the case of 

 email bush or pyramidal trees but little of these processes will 

 ie needed when the tree arrives at a bearing state, if the roots 

 are kept near the surface. One of the charms of a garden is, 

 that chiefly by mere labour alone you can make an old garden 

 look Uke a new one any day by changing and altering its pro- 

 minent features. Even old proprietors are apt to weary at 

 seeing things day after day and year after year in the same 

 position ; and old associations, however delightful at times, 

 may become wearisome from their very monotony. A change 

 may not always be an improvement, but nevertheless the change 

 may be well worth making even for the sake of change, and to 

 afiord something fresh to engage the attention. In the little 

 we have been able to notice of what is doing around us lately, 

 we observe that there is a growing desire to do something in 

 4he way of opening up old places, by clearing away old trees, 

 shrubs, .&c., and throwing more into grass lawn — all very well 

 if, in these days of economy, the future keeping of the lawn is 

 taken into consideration. It would be well if proprietors and 

 gardeners would bear in mind that a large lawn involves a 

 large expense, for which there is little or no return except 

 pleasing the eye. Other things may want attention now and 

 ihen ; but a lawn, to look well, will in general want weekly 

 attention from April to November, and frequent rollings in 

 winter. We know of some places where there is always a yearly 

 attempt made to curtail the gardening expenses, and yet al- 

 most every year sees an addition made to the short grass, 

 which, if it is to be kept ornamental, must involve the neces- 

 Eity of more labour. It is always well in such cases that a 

 j)roper understanding should be come to between employer and 

 employed, as in a case that a short time ago came under our 

 cognisance. A gardener was very anxious to extend the dressed 

 grounds in one direction. There could be little question as to 

 its not merely being a change, but a great improvement. The 

 gentleman saw it exactly in the same light, approved of the 

 idea, which had often suggested itself to his own mind ; but he 

 added — "lean let you have extra help to make this change. 

 iut I cannot afJord to give you more constant help to keep it 

 up afterwards, and unless you can manage with the help you 

 BOW have after the change has been made, we must let the matter 

 alone." And it was let alone, though, no doubt, it will be done 

 some day. 



Years ago we attempted in a part of the enclosed gronuda 

 to combine the useful with the ornamental, and have a small 



orchard in union with a bounding shrubbery, and a walk with 

 the sides much diversified, and the ground chiefly appro- 

 priated to low flowering plants, Alpines, &c. This place, 

 from the great variety at all seasons, and especially in the 

 spring months, used to be a favourite resort, but as the orchard 

 trees grew, it became less and less an object of interest so far 

 as the useful was concerned. Unfortunately we had not taken 

 into account the proximity of the farm buildings and the 

 thatched roofs of the buildings most contiguous. This, and 

 the feeding of game in the immediate neighbourhood, en- 

 couraged such crowds of birds, that every season we had the 

 mortification to see each tree made a perfect skeleton, so far 

 as the fruit buds were concerned, and even the prominent 

 wood buds would be picked out ; and the place was too small, 

 and the number of trees too limited, to give occupation to a 

 boy or a man to watch them, and even to do so the watcher 

 must have got up before the sun. From this space, less than 

 an acre of ground, we have frequently not gathered so much 

 as from a bush tree iu the kitchen garden, which would have 

 been served in the same way but for dressing and the presence 

 of workmen. 



It has been resolved to change the whole aspect of the place 

 by making it into a separate lawn, studded chiefly with speci- 

 mens of Cypress, Pinus, and other trees, and as such it will, 

 with its evergreen boundary, be a pleasing change at last. Lots 

 of the largest trees were grubbed-up, but some of the best, with 

 heads from 20 to 25 feet in height, were worth transplanting to 

 some back settlements, where they would be more under the 

 observation of passers-by and the workmen, as though the 

 birds are impudent enough to go anywhere and everywhere, 

 they are more shy in committing their depredations on the 

 buds where their human enemy can be frequently seen, anc) 

 the report of a gun at times be heard. 



In ordinary circumstances we should have raised these trees 

 with less or more of a ball, and used a small timber gig and itB 

 pole for bringing them down and carrying them, but as for 

 several reasons this could not he well done, we dispensed with 

 the ball, traced out the roots for about 4 feet from the bole, 

 saved all the fibres possible, and carried the tree to its de- 

 stination by men, with the assistance of levers. 



Here several things may be worth noting for the sake of 

 beginners. These trees, though so thoroughly picked every 

 spring, generally made fresh buds every summer, so that if we 

 could have found a suitable place we would have transplanted 

 more of them. As the trees had little or no ball, the first 

 thing to do on getting the tree down was to lessen the head 

 a little, not so much by cutting it in as by thinning-out many 

 of the smaller branches. This we consider much the better 

 plan, as it leaves the points or axes of growth untouched, and 

 there is then, we believe, a quicker reciprocal action between 

 the roots and branches. The next thing was to sot the tree in 

 the hole prepared for it, so that it would stand perpendicularly, 

 and no higher in the ground than it did before, in order that 

 the collar of the plant might not be at all buried. To keep the 

 tree perpendicular some packing under the roots as well as over 

 the roots would be required, doing what was wanted under 

 them chiefly at first. The firming of the tree in its position 

 we generally like to do before packing the roots ; the firming is 

 not of much consequence for trees of that size when a good ball 

 is taken, but of great importance when little or no ball accom- 

 panies the roots. The most simple support for trees such as these 

 is a pole or stake, and we have seen infinite trouble taken in 

 getting steps, &c., to mallet such stakes into the ground, and 

 then proving, after all, a very poor security against high winds. 

 We do this matter much more simply. Two stakes, or rather 

 poles — such as the top of a Larch tree, &c. — from 10 to 12 or 

 more feet in length, will support a tree larger than those 

 referred to, and require no pointing or malleting. Before the 

 tree is set in the hole make a small hole beyond in the firm 

 ground, say a foot in depth ; in this place the base of each 

 pole, and bring the point of each to meet at the bole of the 

 tree, fasten them firmly there with straw bands and rope yam, 

 mallet the soil round the base of the pole, and a hurricane will 

 hardly move the stem of the tree. We planted some trees in a 

 high wind, and they never flinched a bit, even before the roots 

 were covered. When we thus use these poles, they are generally 

 placed almost east and west. When secured, we can pack the 

 roots better, using the best surface soil amongst them; and, 

 when all packed, we give from four to half-a-dozen pails of 

 water, aud when that has sunk in, we put on, and beat pretty 

 firmly tho rest of the soil, leaving a basin to catch the rain, 

 and to receive another watering in the end of March if the 



