July 4, 1868. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



ir, 



syringe ami surfaco-water if we will, but we must not expect 

 the results of a Rooil wateriiif^ that reaches every libre of the 

 rootlets. We tliink we luue jireviously mention<'il about a 

 gardener beint; fouml fault with for watering his dry flower- 

 beds in a dull drizzling day. wlion the barometer showed there 

 was no liliclilKiod of much rain. He ought rather to have been 

 commended. Watering in hot .sun should only be resorted to 

 when it cannot be avoided. Unless care, by mulching and 

 surface-stirring, is used, the moisture we give will soon rise as 

 vapour to improve the general atmosphere : lience one ad- 

 vantage of surface-stirriug and of loose mulching, is that, 

 whilst the gi-eat heat is excluded, the air, with its vapour, can 

 enter. 



Made arrangements for soon sowing the last Peas. Planted 

 a good space of Dwarf Kidney Beans. Will make another 

 sowing, and then will sow where protection can be given. We 

 have thus freciuently gathered up to November. Sowed the 

 main crop of Endive and Lettuces for succession. We always 

 look upon early Endive where there is plenty of Lettuce as 

 something like waste. Though veiy jjretty in the salad-bowl, 

 wo consider Endive as merely a substitute for, and not a com- 

 petitor with a crisp Lettuce. We lately saw splendid specimens 

 of Carter's and Sutton's Chamjiiou Lettuces, excellent where 

 size is an object. The flavour also was very good. The 

 London and Paris Cos are useful for small gardens. Planted 

 out more Cauliflowers, shading them and Celery with tree 

 branches. The liulk of winter stuff we must leave a little 

 longer in liopes of having rain, as the plants are easier kept 

 in the beds and in the rows where tliickly pricked out. Re- 

 gulated Cucumhers. Spawiied Mushroom-bed in open shed, 

 and could we spare the time, would make some fresh spawn as 

 it now dries quicldy, and the spawn would run but with little 

 trouble. We have had as yet a fair supply in the house, which 

 is a lean-to to the north, by syringing all the walls and floor, 

 and giving air so as to promote coolness. Heat is the gi'eat 

 enemy to Mushrooms in houses above gi'oimd in summer, and 

 draughts of air do not suit them so well as an open shady shed. 

 We have had them very good under the shade of Vegetable 

 Marrows and Gourds, but the spawn should not be placed 

 nearer than a yard from the main stem of the Gourd or Marrow 

 plants. Sometimes when we have spawned a ridge used for 

 such plants, the spawn injm-ed the roots of the MaiTow ; but 

 if placed near the outside it did no harm, and the large leaves 

 kept the Mushrooms cool and also delicate in colour. All such 

 fimgi require rich organic matter to thrive in, otherwise the 

 Mushroom will grow in any rich ground. A friend of ours had 

 some fine gatherings last season on a north border. He jilaced 

 the droppings from his iiony about i inches thick on the 

 jground just as he got them, put some bits of spawn in it about 

 9 inches apart, and covered with an inch of soil, beat it down, 

 and covered with a sprinkling of litter to prevent rapid drying. 

 He had plenty and to spare before the cold weather came. As 

 fine a bed as ever we saw was in the comer of a stable. With 

 a little covering the farmer had plenty all the winter and spring 

 months. 



FROIT O.Vr.DEN. 



Proceeded with watering Strawberries, stopping the shoots of 

 fruit trees, regulating Melons, banking-up linings round frames 

 with Utter to prepare for a change in the weather, and attending 

 to other things with watering, thinning, much as detailed in 

 previous weeks, .^t length some red spider has appeared in 

 the lean-to orchard-hoiise, and as a preventive have daubed 

 all open spaces on wall with a paint formed of soft soap and 

 sulphur. The fumes of both when the sun shines are disliked 

 by these insects. Out of doors the birds are troublesome, 

 getting at fine Cherries imder the closest netting, and a lesson 

 may well be learned from the patient and persevering scrutiny 

 they evince, to find the slightest break or hole in your defences ; 

 but, i^oor things, they are objects of pity this season. Many 

 of the larger birds — as blackbirds and thrushes, are perfect 

 skeletons from their inability to find worms, and grabs, and 

 snails in this dry weather. The word " quinine," in second 

 column, page 491 of the volume just concluded, should be 

 ^'quassia." 



OllNAMENTAL DEPARTMEMT. 



Without any watering the Roses on our stiff soil have been 

 large and good. In lighter soils even with watering they have not 

 been so good as usual. Gathered a great many when full blown, 

 for drying for pot pourri. We question if the gathering system I 

 is not the most economical on fine lawns, as when they shed 

 the flowers and there is the least wind the sweeping-up is end- 

 less. On this account alone we!should incline to banish them 



altogether from a nice-kept lawn, and place the Roses in a 

 roaery, or in front of a shrubbery where a few shed flowers would 

 be of less consequence. To our eye nothing disfigures a lawn 

 more than being dotted over with tree Roses with small mop- 

 heads on the top of a walking-stick stem. Such tree Rosck 

 are only tolerable when they are trees — that is, when the head 

 has a ilianieter of from li to 12 feet, and droops gracefully. 

 Many pretty gardens are quite spoiled by these puny mop- 

 heads rising out of the turf. 



With the exception of a little filling-up when wo thought 

 the ]>lants would bo rather thin, finished all our bedding-out 

 last week. All the earlier-planted will now pretty well look 

 after themselves. The Calceolarias are jjroducing Inige cauli- 

 flower-like heads of bloom, but where uuich exposed, as on 

 raised beds, they are not making such gi'owth for succession as 

 we would like in this dry weather, and with the ability to give 

 them none but a minimum of water. 



Mulchinii. — For these and (jeraniums not covering the ground, 

 and indeed for things in general, and as the ground is warm 

 enough for anything, we have proceeded to mulch to keep the 

 ground cooler and moister about the roots. We are not well 

 off for materials this season, and have been obliged to use it 

 rougher this season. For the centre of large beds we have 

 used half-rotten leaves from the Vine-border, breaking them 

 well up with the jioints of a five-tined fork, until they are 

 pretty well as loose and flossy as the hair that is jjrepared for 

 hair mortar. Even then this would be tempting for the birds, 

 if placed near the sides of the beds, as 'they woidd soon pick it 

 over the lawn. They have little chance of doing it from the 

 middle of the beds, in consequence of the thickness of the 

 plants, and the twigs to keep them all right and safe from 

 winds. The front of the beds and borders will be slightly 

 mulched, as far as the material goes, with from half iin inch 

 to an inch thick of a mixture of leaf mould and old Mushroom 

 dimg, passed through a sieve with openings an inch wide. This 

 makes a nice finish, and is a gi'eat help every way, rendering 

 much watering unnecessary, and economising what is used, 

 and, in raised beds, preventing the nmuiug of the soil when 

 watering is resorted to ; whilst, if rain comes, the nourishment 

 in the material is washed down to the roots. A little soot 

 and lime, in the outside mixture, would help to keep the bills 

 of the birds from it. But for scarcity of the material we would 

 have used this riddled mixture alone, for the sake of neatness, 

 and for most of the beds in this dry weather. By promoting 

 surface-rooting it also promotes free flowering, instead of extra 

 luxuriance, which much manme dug into the beds is apt to do. 

 Moss is also a capital mulching, and gives a nice gi-oimd colour, 

 if kept green, until the leaves hide it ; and so is the cocoa-nut 

 fibre. Some of our amateur friends write of it to us in ecstacies, 

 and ask why we do not commend it for general use for this 

 mulching process. Well, we agi'ee in much of their enthusiasm ; 

 but then the expense of so mulching a large garden ! 



Lau-m. — In such weather, the less mowing and gi'ass-cutting 

 with the machine the better, so long as neatness is secm-ed. 

 A deep cut with the mowing machine is sure to promote brown- 

 ness and a rusty appearance. If the lawn looks flossy and a 

 little rough, and pieces are long, especially round the sides of 

 beds, a man who takes a pride in his work will so hold and 

 regulate the machine as to knife the long points, and will soon, 

 with a 14 or Ki-inch machine, go over a large space of ground. 

 When a few Bents, Plantains, and Daisies appear, the daisy- 

 knife is the tool to remove them with, and the sun will make 

 short work in sending them out of sight. The beautiful low 

 yellow Lotus corniculatus, which would make a capital yellow 

 bed, has been rather prominent on the lawn here this year, 

 and the extreme dryness is also giving us lots of white flowers 

 of the Dutch Clover ; and the yellow and the white are apt to 

 stud the green of the grass, and yet be so low that neither 

 knife nor scythe can get hold of them ; but as soon as they 

 rise the least above the level of the short grass the knife soon 

 settles them. A visitor told us, some time ago, that in a 

 public garden he saw seven men toiling .away with daisy-rakes 

 on a lawn, and that they did not do half as much work as one 

 man was doing easily with the daisy-knife. As yet our lawns 

 are pretty green, but a good cutting with the machine, without 

 rain, would make them brown enough. 



Flnri.iti' Flmcers. — Auriculas, Polyanthuses, and Pansies will 

 now do best in a shady place. The last two may be diWded 

 and ])lanted out or potted. Pansies, to be kept good, should 

 have a shady place, plenty of rich top-dressing, and abundance 

 of water to keep them moist and cool. Cuttings of favourite 

 kinds may now be inserted in sandy soil in a shady place ; 



