December 31, 1868. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOBXICJULTDRE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



EOg 



house, and when tte plants are of sufficient size prick them 

 out in a frame on a slight hotbed. Celcrtj, the trenches should 

 now be dug out, so that they may receive the benefit of the 

 frost. In the spring Cauliflowers may be planted in them, or 

 dwarf Peas or Lettuce between, which crops will be off by the 

 ttme the trenches are wanted. Pttlniori:. if young ones are 

 required very early, some of the Early Frame or any of it.s 

 varieties may be planted on a slight hotbed ; if it is not con- 

 venient to plant them immediately, they may be placed in a 

 forcing house till tlicy begin to shoot. liadislii's may now be 

 sown on a slight hotbed. Dung should be prepared for forcing 

 vegetables which are required early ; a considerable quantity of 

 leaves may be used with it. In conclusion I would say to gar- 

 deners, as a general maxim. Take the advice of a celebrated 

 nurseryman and "Sow thickly and keep friends with the cook," 

 but attain that object by sending in an abundant supply, and 

 by rendering it imperative on tlie man who serves the house to 

 keep a regular account of all the garden produce, 



FRUIT G.Vr.DEN. 



Orchard trees of large size are often much neglected as to 

 pruning, the heads being allowed to become so thick of wood 

 that fruit cannot be expected except from the points of the 

 outside shoots, and, except when the crop becomes accidentally 

 thinned to something considerably below an average, the fruit 

 ia email and indifferent in quality. Dry frosty weather offers a 

 favourable opportunity for properly thinning the trees, as men 

 can work at this with comfort when it would be too cold for 

 nailing, and advantage should be taken of the first spare time 

 to give a careful pruning. The heads should be liberally 

 thinned, cutting out all branches that cross the others, and 

 dead pieces, leaving the shoots sufficiently far apart that light 

 and air may have free access among those left when the foliage 

 is on. In removing large branches care should be used to 

 make close chaa cuts, and if the wood be coated with strong 

 thick paint this will help to prevent its decaying before the 

 wound be healed over. Let all kinds of fruit bushes be pruned. 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



Every advantage of the present favourable weather should be 

 taken for transplanting shrubs, trees, &c., so that all the princi- 

 pal and choice plants in this department may have sufficient 

 scope to develope their natural characters. There are few 

 situations in a garden more interesting than a well-regulated 

 and well-arranged shrubbery, where every plant from the largest 

 to the smallest has had room sufficient to form perfect speci- 

 mens. Collections of shrubbery plants appear to be much less 

 attended to than their true merits entitle them to. In planting 

 a shrubbery the object is either to form shady walks among 

 fine trees, to hide unsightly views, or to form screens or shelter 

 against strong winds. Suppose the principal object to be a 

 love of trees and a desire to possess large and perfect speci- 

 mens, then it must be wrong to permit them to become so 

 crowded as to destroy their forms ; and it is contraiy to nature 

 to dig the ground among them, because in nature we never 

 find them so situated, and though every pleasure ground ought 

 to be avowed a work of art, the trees should not have the ap- 

 pearance of having been placed there by art, as they mutt 

 have if surrounded by dug ground, but, on the contrary, we 

 wish to make them specimens of nature in a refined and 

 highly-cultivated state. A Persian Lilac, a Kibes, or Ehodo- 

 dendron, if properly planted and managed, will form a bush 

 from 8 to 10 feet high and the same in diameter, in a period 

 of from six to ten years. But where do we meet with such 

 plants? Not in cro.vded and dug shrubberies, but where the 

 great esssentials to vegetable existence — light, heat, air, and 

 water can play their proper parts. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



A free admission of air to the greenhouse at all times if the 

 weather is favourable will be advantageous, at the sau.e time 

 care should be taken to prevent as much as possible strong 

 currents of dry wind from passing through the house, for they 

 invariably prove extremely injurious to vegetation. A few of 

 the earliest, strongest Calceolarias, Cinerarias, and Pelar- 

 goniums adapted for forcing may now have their final shift, 

 using either fi or 8-inch pots, accurding to the size of the plants. 

 After potting let the shoots of the Pelargoniums be carefully 

 pegged down as near to the rim of the pot as possible without 

 breaking, they will require to be sparingly watered for a time, 

 and placed as near the glass as possible. The general collection 

 of Pelargoniums shuuld now be stopped-back for the last time, 

 unless required to flower very late in the season. A lil>eral 

 supply of water will be requisite for Camellias now swelling 

 their flower buds. When they are planted out in the open 



border in the conservatory, they should be carefully examined 

 for fear of any deficiency of moisture at the roots. Should any 

 signs of over-dryness bo apparent, let the soil be forked-up as 

 deeply as the situation of the roots will allow, and give them a 

 good soaking of soft or rain water. Two or three such ap- 

 plications at short intervals will do no harm, provided tha 

 flower buds are fast swelling, more than ordinary dryness i0 

 perceptible, and the drainage of the border such as it ought to 

 be. The same kind of treatment may bo advantageously ap- 

 plied to many plants under similar circumstances. Keep the 

 supply of flowers as abundant as means will permit, and 

 attend strictly and carefully to a judicious arrangement of 

 colours. To keep a house well furnished with handsome plants 

 in bloom at this season, and everything about it in perfect order, 

 is an impossibility when there is not sufficient accommodation 

 for growing plants with which to furnish it; and when this is 

 the case it will generally be found good policy to secure a toler- 

 able display for the winter season, if at the expense of keeping 

 the house somewhat bare when flowers are plentiful out of 

 doors, and if plants in flower are scarce their effect will be 

 greatly enhanced by proper arrangement and strict attention 

 to order and cleanliness. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



The bedding plants must have attention, for in all likelihood 

 many things are suffering from damp, and such plants as 

 appear to be most affected should be removed to other quarters 

 where a drier temperature is maintained. Keep the stock in 

 pits and frames well ventilated, and the surface soil of the pots 

 frequently stirred. Dust with sulphur Verbenas and similar 

 plants attacked with mildew. — W. IJeane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 

 These have been much modified, owing to the Christmas 

 week and the character of the weather. Pj-ovided receptacles 

 large enough had been obtained, there need have scarcely been 

 a place in the country but could have laid up a reserve of 

 water to last through the hottest and warmest summer. After 

 such a saturation of the ground, it is not likely that we shall 

 feel the effects of a dry summer so much as we did the last. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



In this department very little could be done, and the Soil ' 

 having been beaten firm by the rains, the first opportunity of ' 

 fine dry days must be taken to stir the surf.ice Foil, among all 

 young crops especially. We have much wheeling manure, &o., 

 still to do, hut we do not like to commence it in such weather, 

 as when other work can be done it is always bad policy in doing 

 work to make work, which wheeling to any extent must do at 

 present. In such work as making hotbeds, adding to tho 

 bottom heat in forcing pits, i-c, much of this making work 

 may be avoided by using planks for wheeling on, and what is 

 often a simpler and more generally practicable mode, spread- 

 ing a thin layer of long litter, say a yard wide, on the path on 

 which there ia much wheeling. When the work is done, this 

 will only form a part of the sweeping up, and will leave behind 

 the sweeping a clean unbroken path. Wheeling so as to break 

 up paths into deep ruts and slimy mire, almost burying the 

 wheels of the barrows, is such a waste of labour, and that of 

 an unpleasant kind, and in general makes so much work after- 

 wards, that the practice can only be j ustified in cases of peculiar 

 emergency. The maxim is not half so much attended to as it 

 ought to be, "Do not make work in doing work." The man 

 who keeps this before him as a principle of action will go 

 through much more work than one who does not, and with 

 much more ease and comfort to all concerned. We have seen 

 work done under unsuitable circumstances, when, without 

 taking into account the great additional strain on muscle and 

 sinew, even on the score of the extra work thus rendered un- 

 avoidable, it would have been truer economy to have kept tha 

 men in the dry doing nothing, and we have never met with a 

 garden, however small, where there was the slightest necessity 

 for remaining a minute idle under cover. When work is thus 

 timed men will not be seen nailing trees against a north wall 

 with the snow and hail blinding them, and then in a few days 

 cleaning and working under glass, with the sun bright and 

 clear enough to scorch them. 



FECIT GARDEN. 



The chief object now is to have all planting finished as soon 

 as possible, pruning and nailing and tying proceeded with, and 

 birds vvatched and frightened where they are troublesome, as a 

 few hours of their nibbling will make wrecks of the finest- 

 looking fruit trees. More especially shall we require to ba 



