May 7, 1868.] 



JODBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



345 



the centre. We know the change will be liked. The Coleas, 

 if it thrive, will make the whole grand. As proposed, there 

 will be too much yellow in line. We consider the foregoing a 

 very excellent and simple arrangement. 



NEW BOOK. 



Synopnis Filicum : or a Synopsis of all known Ferns, including 

 the OsmundaceiB, ScbiziEaceic, Marattiaceiv, and Ophiogloss- 

 acea; (chiefly derived from the Kew Herbarium), accompanied 

 by figures representing the essential characters of each 

 genua. By the late Sir W. J. Hooker, &c., and J. G. Baker, 

 F.L.S., Assistant Curator of the Kew Herbarium. London : 

 B. Hardwicke. 



WiTBODT any reservation, this is the most useful botanical 

 work upon Ferns that has yet been published. It includes all 

 the known Ferns of our globe, about 2400 in number, and 

 groups them in seventy-five genera, the distinguishing charac- 

 ters of ebch of which are rendered readily recognisable by 

 coloured plates. Of each species there is a description and 

 brief history; and all being contained in about five hundred 

 pages, it may be well included among the " handy volumes " 

 of science. 



Only forty-eight pages had been printed when Sir W. Hooker 

 died ; the remainder of the work was confided by his son. Dr. 

 Hooker, for supervision and completion to Mr. Baker, and 

 every page bears testimony to the care and ability with which 

 be has executed the work he undertook. 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



May is always a busy month in the kitchen garden, for young 

 crops have to be thinned out, others have to be earthed up, 

 and some have to be transplanted, watered, and shaded ; while 

 successional crops require to be sown more frequently. Aspa- 

 ranuii, when the plants that were planted in March have pushed 

 two or more heads each, the weakest must be regularly cut 

 away as the strong heads appear, so that at the end of the first 

 season not more than two, or at most three, shoots are allowed 

 to come to maturity on each plant. When the ground has 

 been properly prepared stretch a line, and take out a trench sufli- 

 ciently wide and deep to allow of spreading out the roots, and 

 cover the crowns about 2 inches. The roots should be care- 

 fully taken up, avoiding all cutting or injury, and any that are 

 decaying should be rejected. Daring the growing season keep 

 the ground free from weeds, and the surface free and open by 

 frequent hoeings. A soaking of manure water may be given 

 with advantage when the weather is dry. Beet, sow the main 

 crop in drills 1 inch deep, and from 15 to 18 inches apart, 

 covering with friable soil. If possible, select a dry day, when 

 the ground is in goo'd working order, for putting in the seed. 

 Nutting's Selected and Henderson's Pine Apple are good sorts. 

 Celery. — For transplanting, prepare a bed of rotten manure 

 'A inches deep, covering it to the depth of another inch with 

 light sandy soil. Prick the plants out on this about 3 inches 

 apart, water freely, and until they take hold of the soil shade 

 them from bright sunshine. In the beginning of the month 

 the Celery sown in February and transplanted in March will be 

 fit to plant out in trenches 4 feet apart ; the trenches to be 

 filled to within C inches of the top with good moist rotten 

 dung dug in, and the space between the trenches to be filled 

 with Lettuce, Spinach, or Cauliflowers, planted 12 inches 

 apart. A liberal supply of liquid manure should be given 

 during their growing season. Some soot added to the water is 

 an excellent stimulant occasionally, and all suckers must be 

 removed. Onions, sow a patch very thickly on very poor gra- 

 velly soil, in order to obtain very large bulbs ; these during the 

 first year will make very little progress, and by the time they 

 are ripe and fit for taking up they will not be larger than a 

 hazel nut. Spread them very thinly on a dry shelf during the 

 winter, plant them in March in rows U inches apart every way, 

 covering as slightly as possible ; and as regards gathering, 

 housing, ifcc, treat them in the same manner as the spring- 

 sown. Thin out young crops as soon as they are fit to handle. 

 The thinning should be gradual, and always performed as 

 soon as the young plants touch each other ; for if they start 

 weakly and are drawn they never become so rohnst.and vigorous 

 as when the light and air are allowed to play freely around 

 them. Seeds of Sage, Thyme, and Itvsemary should be sown 



on a warm border, also Hweet Basil and Marjoram two or three 

 times during the season, for use in a green state as well as for 



drying. 



KllUIT OABDEN. 



Proceed with the disbudding and removing young hhoots 

 from Peach and Apricot trees. Where the fruit of the former 

 is too thick a number may now be cut off ; those of the latter 

 will be useful for tarts. In disbudding use a small sharp knife, 

 as pinching the shoots off is apt to cuuse the wound to gum 

 and canker. Where wood i.s wanted pinch oil the tops of strong 

 shoots, as several good bearing shoots may be thus obtained. 

 Where a shoot will be too strong and only one is wanted, cut it 

 back so as to secure one good lateral. When strong shoots 

 appear where they are not wanted, or the tree is over-luxuriant, 

 allow a number of them to run their full length, taking off the 

 leaves from the under parts of the shoots as they advance. 

 They will thus form channels for the extra sap, and will not 

 shade unnecessarily the wood intended for bearing. In re- 

 moving shoots at this season thin them gradually, so as ul- 

 timately to leave no more than can be exposed to the sun 

 and air. 



FLOWKK GARDEN. 



Eustic baskets and vases may now be filled with soil, which 

 should be of a rather retentive nature, and the plants f-hould 

 be turned out when all danger from frost is over. Flowers of 

 a droojiiog habit are the best suited for baskets. Fuchsias and 

 the like, and Ctleeuliiria Uoribunda, with Anagallis ca-rulea 

 grandiflora cr Lobelia hanging down the sides of the basket, 

 will answer well. Auriculas are fading fast, the majority of 

 collections being out of flower. Where seed is not required 

 the heads may be cut oS not too low ; put the plants in a shady 

 situation, giving them the requisite attention as to water and 

 cleanliness. They are too often neglected after bloomiog time. 

 Tie up Carnations as fast as they require it ; and if green fly 

 make its appearance dust Scotch snuff slightly over them, or 

 brush the insects off with a large camel-hair brush. Keep the 

 pots free from weeds, which now spring up fast. Tie Pinks to 

 sticks. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSEKTAIOBY. 



Keep down the temperature in the conservatory by all possible 

 means, in order to prolong the flowering of the plants, and as 

 the syringe would soon injure the appearance of plants in 

 flower, the rose watering pot must take its place. Flood all 

 spare parts in this house morning and evening. Continue to 

 encourage the greenhouse plants to make rapid growth during 

 this month, and keep the atmosphere always moist at night 

 during this period. As few plants are allowed to flower in this 

 house if there is a conservatory, the syringe may be used freely 

 in the afternoons of fine days. Training and regulating the 

 growth of all pot plants, as well as watering and kilUng insects, 

 must be attended to while the plants are growing. 



STOVE. 



The usual routine of watering and keeping the plants clean 

 and properly trained is all that is necessary here for some 

 time. Some few plants may want shifting now and then, and 

 all the young stock must be shifted by degrees as the plants 

 advance, but no precise time can be pointed out for this work ; 

 the whole depends on the state of the plants and the means of 

 the cultivator. 



FORCING PITS. 



This is just the critical time when a little oversight may 

 cause much murmuring next winter. Look over your forcing 

 plants the very first opportunity yon have, and consider how 

 many you may want of those most esteemed by the family, 

 always making an allowance of '20 per cent, for failures among 

 those forced in December. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



These structures will almost be done with for this spring's 

 planting, but they must not be idle, as it is time to commence 

 propagating for next year. Cuttings of dwarf Phloxes, Alyssum 

 saxatile, Arabis, &c., must now be put in. If there is a full 

 supply of autumn-flowering plants to succeed the annuals, one 

 of these pits may be used for something else. If the old Cab- 

 bage Rose is wanted on Christmas-day, take up half a dozen 

 pot plants from the reserve ground, plunge them in i Id tan, 

 sand, or anything el.se in one of the cold pits, and treat them 

 like Heaths till next August, when you may turn them out 

 under the shelter of a north wall, prune in September, and 

 introduce them into a forcing pit on the 1st of October. Con- 

 tinue to increape the slock of Verbenas, Heliotrope?, Salvias, 

 Fuchsias, and all other plants that may be required for filhng 



