JanniU7 9. 1868. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTORE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



.n 



snUtlcient o( some kinds, introduce a few plants into licat to 

 supply cuttings for propagation. Where there is the advuntiige 

 of a little heat, a sowing of Ton-week and Intermediate Stocks 

 may be made ; and if strong plants of Clintonia and Brachy- 

 come are required for bcddingout, seeds of these may also be 

 sown. — W. Kkank. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 

 Tde weather has been a hindrance to much of the usual 

 routine of out-door labour, and many workers have been un- 

 able to pursue their usual employment. For all, and especially 

 for those frozen-out, it is good that " Christmas times " do 

 come once a-year. 



KITCHEN GARDEM. 



Wheeling, trenching, collecting ice, and preparing for plant- 

 ing have been the chief work out of doors in the severe 

 weather, little of the weather as yet being sufficiently stormy 

 to render house work necessary, which, therefore, has been 

 kept in abeyance. Fresh successions of Sea-kale, Rhubarb, 

 &c., were placed in the Mushroom house. The Celery was 

 allowed to remain covered-up, and hardly anything in the 

 vegetable way that was coming on and protected received light, 

 except Asparagus, which otherwise would have become very 

 white. The little snow has been a good protection to Cabbages, 

 Broccoli, and Greens in the open garden ; no vegetable seems 

 to have suffered as yet. It is advisable to go over early Broc- 

 coli, such as Snow's and Grange's, and not only turn over a 

 leaf, but place a little clean hay over the heads that are forming. 

 Our Cauliflowers heading in an earth pit will do good service if 

 ■we can manage to keep vermin at a distance. 



FEUIT GARDEN. 



Much the same as in previous weeks, only we gave, in a 

 snowy daj', when the glass was covered, a good fmnhjathm to 

 one of our orchard houses, with cut and bruised laurel leaves 

 and twigs. The smoke would enter every cranny where even 

 hot water might miss. Eight or wrong, we attributed our free- 

 dom from insects last year to this smoking. We do not mind 

 how dense and suffocating the smoke is, provided there is no 

 flare or flame, and the smoke does not become hot. Wlien 

 fairly lighted, therefore, we generally cover the laurel leaves 

 over with damp grass, to prevent anything like flame. These 

 houses are very open, no glazed laps, and therefore smoking 

 would be useless unless the glass was covered, and there is 

 no covering so good or so economical as snow. 



We know it is not common to fumigate trees when thus in a 

 state of rest ; but it takes little time, and prevention is better 

 than cure. We might have used tobacco but for the price, and 

 we have not yet tried any of that exempt from duty, but mixed 

 with sulphur, as we do not know what quantity of sulphur 

 may be in the mixture. Most likely such a mixture might be 

 used safely for such trees and plants when in a state of rest if 

 the wood were thoroughly ripened, and there had been no 

 movement in the buds, as we have frequently used sulphur 

 al«ue, cove red-up with damp moss, to prevent it flaring ; and 

 for empty pits and houses such smoking is beneficial before 

 cleaning and filling them afresh. 



As stated, however, in answer to correspondents lately, huni- 

 ing sulplnir with open flame, or flame smothered as above 

 stated, will kill every green growing plant, and it will kill wood 

 of a deciduous plant when in a state of complete rest, if the 

 wood is not thoroughly ripened. The late Mr. Errington used 

 it, mixed with sawdust, for vineries, &c. ; but it should never 

 be used by beginners, unless in empty houses and pits ; for if 

 the wood of Vines, even, is not thoroughly ripened, the burning 

 sulphur will seize on every part at all green, and kill as far as 

 it is green. We have had the bark of the young shoots of 

 Peach trees affected by it in spots, when we thought the whole 

 was sufficiently indurated to stand it ; and though it did not 

 injure the future swelhng of the fruit, these shoots thus 

 spotted we did our best to cut out and replace with fresh in 

 the following season. In answer to " Alpha," then, we say, 

 first, that we have not yet tried the Government-permitted 

 tobacco mixture ; secondly, that we should be chary of using 

 it in houses at rest, unless where the wood of Vines was 

 as hard and firm as the shoots of Oak trees ; and thirdly, that 

 for all green-leaved growing plants its use as smoke by burn- 

 ing would be ruinous, and that in proportion to the sulphur 

 contained in it. 



Were we much troubled with insects we would be inclined to 

 try the strong tobacco water, advertised as manufactured from 



untaxed tobacco. If sure that there was nothing in that but 

 tobacco we should know what wo were about, and wo could 

 make a smoking material from it, most likely much more 

 cheaply than we could cultivate and preserve home-grown to- 

 bacco, for if not properly sweated and cured it is of little use 

 for the destruction of insects. The worst that can be said 

 against tobacco paper, much of which is very good, is that not 

 knowing what it is made of, we are always somewhat uncertain 

 as to " how " to use it. We have seen smokings from tobacco 

 paper kill every insect and not injure a single leaf. We have 

 seen it used with equal care, and if it did not kill the insects, 

 it nearly destroyed the plants : hence the importance of pre- 

 vention rather than cure. In all smokings of green growing 

 plants two conditions are essential to safety and success ; 

 The leaves and stems of the plants should be dry, and the air 

 confined also pretty drj', and the smoke must be cool. Hot 

 tobacco smoke, however pure the tobacco, will injure any 

 growing plant, and just in proportion to the heat and the 

 vigour of the plant. As frequently observed, when plants are 

 covered with insects it is lost labour in general for that time 

 to waste tobacco on them. A smoking box is extremely useful 

 and economical in most places. A few plants may thus be 

 cleared as effectually by means of a pinch of tobacco as would 

 have required ounces or pounds in large houses. 



Where the spade would penetrate the ground — which it would 

 easily do where the ground was carpeted with rough grass — no 

 time could be better for collecting the soil for composts, bor- 

 der-making, and similar purposes. We shall be more particular 

 in allowing our fruit trees to have the soil about them mostly, 

 if not altogether, to themselves, when we become thoroughly 

 convinced that many trees in small compass will yield a better 

 and more interesting return than a few large trees, for which 

 ladders and other appliances must be obtained to reach and ga- 

 ther the produce. As nothing can be produced beneath these 

 trees.we trust the time is at hand when, if kept, they will be kept 

 to themselves in the orchard, with long grass for the fruit to fall 

 on, and be completely banished from the kitchen garden. Even 

 dwarf fruit trees we would prefer to be planted in quarters or 

 groups by themselves, and then they could be easily protected 

 from frosts and their many enemies. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



Moving plants, potting, watering, cleaning, and placing soil 

 over furnaces and in stokeholes to warm and mellow, formed 

 om- principal work, in order to be ready for many purposes as 

 the weather improves ; confining the potting and top-dressing 

 as far as possible to the houses or the sheds adjacent, without 

 taking the plants out of doors, as in general the wind was very 

 cold for the degree of cold indicated by the thermometer. 



CUmhcrs and Tiviwrs. — The dull weather has given us an 

 opportunity for regulating these. A considerable uncertainty 

 exists among amateurs as to cutting and pruning. In the great 

 proportion of climbers the flowers are produced on young 

 shoots of the current season's growth, as Passifloras, Tecomas, 

 Stephanotis, and Mandevillas. In young plants, therefore, 

 the aim should be to obtain one or more vigorous shoots, and 

 to have these well ripened, and then by merely shortening these 

 shoots a little, so as to remove the greenest part, the buds behind 

 will break into shoots, and be flowering shoots just in propor- 

 tion as the primary shoot was well ripened. Such climbers 

 may therefore be treated as Vines bearing on the long-rod 

 system, dispensing with all the small shoots and flowering 

 part, and supplying with fresh rods every season. This, 

 however, involves much trouble, and is chiefly useful to be 

 followed until the plant has filled its place, and then it wUl be 

 more easily managed on the one-main-shoot system — or rather 

 principle — like a spurred Vine. Some of the finest Passion- 

 flowers we ever saw were run as a main stem all the length of 

 a house, and were thickly studded with flowering shoots hang- 

 ing down all the way. These were cut back in winter, when 

 more light was requu-ed, generally at twice, with an interval 

 between the two operations, leaving only a bud or two at the 

 base, next the main stem. Next spring the flowering shoots 

 came again from these buds, just as in the case of the Vine, 

 and the pruning and treatment were thus reduced to the least 

 amount of trouble and supervision. In all cases free-flowering 

 shoots can only be obtained from well-ripened wood. — E. F. 



TILiDE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



James Carter & Co., 237, '238, and 201, High Holbom, Lon- 

 don, W.C. — Gardeners' and Farmer's Vade-2Ieanii. Part I.^ 



