97S 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ May 21, 1B08. 



yoniig stock may have some light shading thrown over the 

 glass in tho middle of the day when the sun is strong. See 

 that none of the plants suffer from the want of water. 



PITS AND FKAMES. 



When the finer plants are brought into these you may keep 

 them a little closer, and, probably, many of the plants will 

 want a little shading in the middle of the day at first. After 

 the pits are well watered in the afternoon give the whole a good 

 sprinkling with the syringe, not, however, if it has been a dull 

 cloudy day. — W. Keane. 



I>OINGS OP THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN Gir.DEN. 



The rain of which there was a prospect did not come, and 

 scarcely ever had we a drier week and wai-m as well. We have 

 been forced to water some Peas that seemed as if they needed 

 something, but by means of surface-stirring and mulching, as 

 in the case of Cauliflowers, everything stood better than we 

 expected, which was fortunate, as our water is becoming 

 scarce. 



Cleaning Tank;. — Sometime ago we were obliged to a corre- 

 spondent for telling us of charcoal as a means of sweetening 

 foetid water. We charred some large boles of trees, and placed 

 them in the water, and they have much improved it ; but as 

 the water was getting low, we had the tank cleaned out, as it 

 had a large deposit of rotten leaves, which had been blown into 

 it in the course of two years. This tank receives most of the 

 water from a range of sheds and glass houses. We preferred it 

 4o be open to keep the water soft, but the neighbouring trees 

 have grown much since then ; but for the softness of the water 

 we would prefer a covered tank, as no leaves or rubbish can 

 be blown into it. 



We have another large reservoir of water not far from it, 

 which will be very valuable until we have rain. That is merely 

 dug out in the clay, and is supplied with the surface water 

 that falls on the glass of pits and the gravel round them, the 

 water being conducted in open culverts in the gravel to cess- 

 pools, whence it is taken beneath a road to this rough-made 

 reservoir ; the road itself being made on a slope, so that nearly 

 all the water that falls on its hard surface finds its way quickly 

 to this reservoir. Before we hit on this plan most of the water 

 about pits, &c., found its way to dumb wells in the chalk 

 40 or 50 feet in depth. These wells took away the water until 

 the chalk became slimed over, and then the water rose in the 

 wells, and after heavy rains u.sed to find its way to our stoke- 

 holes, and caused the expenditure of much time and labour to 

 wheel it out. By cutting ofi all such rain water from these 

 wells, and taking it from hard surfaces to cesspools commu- 

 nicating with the pond-like reservoir, we keep our stokeholes 

 dry, and have a large quantity of useful water, which, thougii 

 it goes in muddy off the roads, soon settles down and clears 

 itself. We are generally scarce of water every summer, but 

 there need be no scarcity if we have tanks or reservoirs to 

 collect what runs off hard roads or walks. 



A good rain now would do wonders in this neighbourhood in 

 garden and field. There have been heavy thunderstorms at no 

 great distance. Those perched on a hill must expect often to 

 see rains falling heavily in the valleys, whilst they are privileged 

 with none, and hence in such cases water is to be husbanded if 

 much is done in gardening. We can recollect of a small tap, 

 and the half of a barrel standing beneath it, being all the 

 means available for watering. Our tanks and reservoirs are 

 now pretty fair, but we would rather double than lessen them. 

 Juat think of the water that might be saved when it pours 

 along hard walks 3 or 4 inches deep ! We have nothing to 

 say against metal, stone, and other culverts, but for catching 

 surface water on roads and walks nothing is so economical and 

 so little observable as a shallow curve in the gravel, saj" 15 or 

 18 inches wide, and the centre "2 or 3 inches deeper than the 

 general level, and which difference is rarely noticed unless 

 when the rain water pours along to the cesspool, from which it 

 is taken to the reservoir. 



Circumstances compelled us to do more mowing than we 

 intended, and the grass was at once taken to a place where we 

 intend to do away with winter stuff, and have a, trench cut out 

 to assist Vegetable Marrows and Cucumbers. But for the press- 

 ing nature of the affair we would Lave had the trench cut, so 

 as not to have to mow the grass, &e., twice ; but as it is, the 

 distance will be short. Let beginners bear in mind, that in 

 •utilising short grass it is best to use it rather fresh ; it is very 



unpleasant to work in a fermenting heap of it. The rankest 

 dung is nothing to it. When used as it often is for linings, 

 care must be taken that the steam and gases from it do not 

 penetrate into the frame or pit. Its heat will keep tolerably 

 equable a long time if it is duly mixed with long dryish litter. 



Watering was the chief thing attended to, and that mode- 

 rately, as imless when absolutely necessary we prefer surface- 

 stirring and mulching. 



FEUri GABDEN. 



Watered Strawberries out of doors that were coming into full 

 bloom. From this they received only a tithe of advantage, as 

 the sun was so bright ; and no watering is like rain, as then 

 we have the cloud and dulness along with it. With gentle rains 

 the Strawberry crops promise well. Of some of the earliest 

 kinds a few of the forward blossoms were blackened with the 

 frost, but plenty remained to produce heavily. 



PeacJws and Nectarines out of doors, went over these, remov- 

 ing foreright shoots, Cn,';ering where there were signs of fly, 

 and giving a good lashing with the engine the first thing in the 

 morning, as it is hardly safe to do so in the evening or the 

 afternoon as yet. These trees, protected merely by a few twigs, 

 are but moderately supplied — in some places thin, and in other 

 places a thicket of fruit. Perhaps we hardly gave them so 

 much attention as when we had no orchard house. , 



Orchard Houses. — We have been twice over these, and have 

 not yet nearly thinned them enough. From the latest one the 

 other day we took two bushels of small fruit of Peaches and 

 Nectarines, and far too many are still left ; but the Peaches 

 when a little lai-ger will be useful, and will do little to distress 

 the tree until the stoning has commenced. From what has 

 lately been said by BIr. Brehaut and the inquiries of several 

 correspondents, we are induced to say a few words on thinning, 

 and first on thinning floiuers. We did nothing in that way this 

 season, and could hardly have found time if we had desired to 

 do so. We felt sure that many more would set than we wanted, 

 and resolved to wait until then for thinning. We have found 

 thinning the blooms of much value under two circumstances. 

 First, when there was a great display of bloom buds, and yet 

 we had reason to fear that the wood was green and imperfectly 

 ripened. In such a case the removing with pointed scissors or 

 a sharp-pointed knife the side and more backward buds, left a 

 greater share of the more matured sap for the diminished buds, 

 and setting was a matter of more certainty. The second case 

 in which thinning was even more effectual was in that of 

 old trees, and where we had reason to believe that the action 

 of the roots was rather in arrear of the swelling and expanding 

 of the buds. In such a case we have known trees that ]j&di 

 their fruit buds thinned set well and ripen their crop well; 

 whilst when left thick, as they showed, they either set imper- 

 fectly, or, if they sat thickly, they often afterwards gradually 

 disappeared, dropping off by degrees until few or none were 

 left. It seems to be at the early stage in such a case that nou- 

 rishment is scarce, and that is more effectual when directed to 

 few channels instead of many. As the season advances and 

 growth becomes more luxuriant there seems then to be no diffi- 

 culty in getting the fruit to swell. The hitch is just at the setting 

 and afterwards. In the case of old Noblesse trees we repeatedly 

 found that leaving the tree to itself was followed by a meagre 

 crop, and a good crop was the result of a free thinning of the 

 bloom buds, leaving the best-placed. When trees are mode- 

 rately healthy and not too old, or the roots too deep, and the 

 wood fairly matured, as iu orchard houses, the thinning of the 

 blooms may be looked upon as a substitute for so much thin- 

 ning the fi-itit, and therefore maybe dispensed with by those 

 who like to see clusters of young fruit like ropes of onions. It 

 would not be advisable to leave these thus thick and too long ; 

 nevertheless it is not bad policy, after a little thinning, just to 

 wait a little and see what fruit is disposed to take the running, 

 and then prefer that to the smaller ones. We may thus bring 

 in the principle of natural selection to assist us in thinning. 

 The chief point is not to wait so long as to get the trees ex- 

 hausted with a lot of fruit that must be removed. We find 

 this waiting plan a good one with Plums, as many of them 

 after seeming to set will drop, and it is as well to see 

 which takes to swelling freely before we thin much. On this 

 account we do not care much to thin Plum buds, even of trees 

 in pots, and a very heavy crop of Plums does not seem to 

 distress a Plum tree so inuch as an overcrop the Peach. As 

 a general rule, however, a fruit tree will not be overtaxed with 

 impunity. To fill a gap we greatly overcropped a rather old 

 Vine last season, but it will nearly require this season to recruit 

 ' its exhausted energies. 



