114 



JOUENAL OF HOKTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 8, 1865. 



their appearance. Since the 31st we have had heavy, continu- 

 ous, drenchiHg rains, and almost every day; and scarcely a 

 day has passed without visitors coming to inspect the drenched 

 beds and borders, and trusting their feet, and often with thin- 

 soled boots, on the saturated lawns. It would be the height 

 of rudeness to say what, however, most gardeners would think 

 in such circumstances, and that would be that they wovdd have 

 been as pleased that the visitors had stayed at home imtil the 

 weather changed. Extra hours and extra care may have been 

 exercised in anticipation of some particiJar company, and then 

 some twenty or forty hours' rain and wind give all the flowers 

 that would have been bright a woe-begone miserable appearauce. 



KITCHEN GAEDEN. 



Kept on much the same as in the pre\-ious week. Taking up 

 Potatoes that were ripe, planting out Broccoli and other gi-eens, 

 staking Peas, cleaning Celeiy, and planting out lots of Endive 

 and Lettuces, and banking up with grass and htter the sides 

 of Cucumber and Melon-boxes to keep them comfortable. 



FKUIT C.UiDEN. 



Much as in the previous week. Chiefly thinning fruit and 

 shoots, and exposing the fruit in the late orchard-house, and 

 giving a good watering with manure water to help them in the 

 last swelUng. Om- Peach-house is now nearly cleared of all 

 but the Walburton Admirable, which will keep us on imtU the 

 earUest in the orchard-house come in. Potted Strawbei-ry 

 plants, &c., and watered Fig trees. 



OENAMESTAI. EEPAKTJIEST. 



Thinned the plants of large Chrysanthemums, as they were 

 standing too thickly. They are so strong and stubby that as 

 yet they have received no tying, and we would dispense with it 

 altogether if we could. AH staking is just so much stilting, 

 and instead of making stakes a prominent feature, as we have 

 seen them stuck in in sheaves, and nicely whittled too, we 

 would rather see the sticker show his taste by concealing evei-y 

 stick. Went over single plants of Mignonette in largish pots, 

 training them aud taking off the flowers, as such single plants, 

 whether as standards or pyramids, bloom more freely in winter 

 than pots of seedlings grown in the usual wav. Top-dressed 

 large plants of Balsams and Fuchsias to seciire fine blooms, 

 and though they do not continue long, few things are more 

 striking than fine-grown Balsams. Proceeded with potting 

 on wet days, and commenced putting in cuttings of Verbenas 

 for next season. We have gone to them because they are at 

 preseiit healthy and cleau, whilst in dry autirmns they are apt 

 to be interfered with by tUrips, and the cleaning of the' cuttings 

 then is a troublesome affair. In such oases we draw all cut- 

 tings through tobacco or quassia water : at present that is not 

 needed. In the flower garden the heavj' rains have rendered 

 more twiggiug-up with small branches necessary, or the beds 

 would be deprived of their symmetry. Some rows of Gera- 

 niums also required fine string nm along them to keep them 

 in their place. No better time could be found for weeding, 

 and roUing walks and lawns, and where the mowing machine 

 could not be worked owing to the wet, the scythe was just in 

 its element. Pelargoniums, pnmed-in and breaking, were laid 

 on their sides, to prevent extra soaking. Fine clear weather 

 now would greatly advance harvest work. — R. F. 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes each 



Aspar;i;,'us. . . . bundle 

 Beans ]Jroad. . bushel 



Kidney do 



Beet, Ked doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Brus. Sprouts. .A sieve 



Cabbaf,'e doz. 



Capsicums 100 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Cucumbers each 



piuldiug .... doz. 



Endive score 



Fenuel bunch 



tiarUc and Shallots, lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish . . bundle 



Leeks bunch 



Lettuce per score 



Mushrooms. . . . pottle 

 Mustd. & Cress.punnet 

 Oiiions. .doz. bunches 



pickling .... quaii 



Parsley ^ sieve 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



New bushel 



Radishes doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Savoys doz. 



Sea-kale basket 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes doz. 



Tuinips bunch 



Vegetable MaiTOWS dz. 



8. d. a. d 

 3to0 G 

 9 16 



1 



4 

 4 

 1 

 

 



COVENT GARDEN MAPJffiT.— August 5. 



Hothouse Grapes, Peaches, and Nectarines are very abundant, and 

 moderate in price. Chen-ies are now confined to the Morello, Straw- 

 berries are over, and Goosebemes are nearly so. Pears chiefly consist of 

 BeuiTc d'Amanlis, Jargonelle, and Lammas. Pluma are very plentiful. 

 The vegetable market is well supplied. 



Apples 1 sieve 



Apricots .'. doz. 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bush. 



Currants, Red ^ sieve 



- Black do. 



Figs doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs do. 



Gooseberries. . 4 sieve 

 Grapes, Hambro.. . lb. 



Muscats lb. 



Lemons 100 



s. d. 



d 











13 



Melons each 2 Oto 5 



Mulberries punnet 6 1 



Nectarines doz. 8 



Oranges 100 10 20 



Poaches doz. 10 20 



Pears (kitchen)., doz. 



dessert doz. 10 2 



Pine Apples lb. 3 6 



Plums A sieve 2 6 4 



Quinces j sieve 



Raspberries ...'... lb. 6 



Strawberries lb. 



^'alnuts bush li 20 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*** ^N't3 request that no oue ^vill write privately to the depart- 

 mental writers of the "Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, aud Country Gentleman." By so doing they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. AU 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Juunial of Horticulture ^ <£*c., 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, E.C. 



Time Requiiied by Peas to Come into Bearing. — I wish to give you my 

 experience of Veitch's Perfection and Hairs' Dwarf Mammoth, which, in 

 a late Number, were stated to require fourteen or sixteen weeks to bo 

 ready for picking. I planted Veitch's Perfection on May 9th, and they 

 were fit for picking on July 22nd — ten weeks and 4 days. Again, I planted 

 Hairs' Dwarf Mammoth May '20th, and have to-day (August 1st) gathered 

 a good crop from them— 10 weeks 3 days. I should have preferred their 

 coming in later, as, since the lattL'r pai-t of May, although my kitchen 

 garden is only 84 feet by 42, and well stocked with other vegetables, i 

 have had more Peas than my family could consume. — Rowland Wheeleb, 

 Veninor. 



Mrs Pollock Geranium ( W. P. Si8singhur8t).—T:he difficulty of growing 

 this well is more imaginaiy than real. The secret lies in giving it very 

 rich soil, and such can hardly be too rich. See also Mr. Pearson's 

 remarks last week. 



Insects (A. E. E.). — The caterpillars sent are young ones of one of the 

 species of Agrotis (probably the Heart -and -Dart Moth, A. segetum), which 

 last year did so much mischief all over the eouutrj'. There is no other 

 remedy \vith which we are acquainted to prevent their pre^^ent attacks than 

 that of laying traps of shced vegetables, or Cabbage or Lettuce leaves, just 

 below the suiface, and examining them every other morning. The cater- 

 pillars are produced from eggs, deposited in June by the parent moths, 

 which were, of course, numerous this year; and if we do not have a con- 

 siderable quantity of wet the caterpillars will be agiiin very injurious. — W. 

 Apricots Decaying (John Richards). — ^ From your description, and 

 without seeing them, we should think that the fruit had not ripened 

 from a deficiency of nutriment, and that is most likely occasioned by 

 the branches gumming. We notice that ants and earwigs have this year 

 eaten holes in the fruit before it was ripe, and the rain penetrating into 

 the holes has caused the fruit to rot in that part before the other was 

 ripe. Perhaps your fruit is similarly affected. We have not seen a 

 mildewed fruit during our practice. Surely your mildew is only the 

 mould found on all decayed and decaying fruits. 



Rose Celine Forestiek not Flowep.ino {G. C. A.). — We would tr>- 

 removing or hfting, aud root-i)runing. Do not prune much, and always 

 to a good eye at the top of the matiu-ed shoots. It requires very little 

 pruning, and never flowers much agaiust a wall, or if it do the flowers 

 do not open well. 



Club in Cabbages, &c. (Siinbjini). — Before planting your Cabbages, 

 Brussels Spouts, &c., tread or roll the ground so as to make it solid, then 

 with a dibber make good-sized holes ; fill these up with a mixture of 

 burnt soil and rubbish from the rubbish-heap, then put out your plants, 

 and if the weather continues dry give them an abundant supply of water. 

 We have often found this treatment succeed when every other stratagem 

 has failed. 



Making Rhododendbon-eeds {Drina). — You will best make the bed by 

 digging out the liglit sandy soil, where the bed is to be formed, to tha 

 depth of 2 feet, and then filling in to the depth of a foot with your not-very- 

 heavy clay. On this place a foot of peat, and then plant the Rhododen- 

 di'ons in it. The soil most suitable for Rhododendrons is bog soil, or 

 black fibry peat. Your sandy peat will do, unless very sandy, when one- 

 thkd clay mixed with it would vastly improve it. The best position for 

 Rhododendrons is an open situation, sheltered by trees at a distance, so 

 as not to shade the bed, and yet protect it from strong winds, which I'uin 

 the foliage. 



Books (J. W. M.). — We do not know when a new edition will be issued, 

 or even that such is in contemplation. Vou might, perhaps, pick up a 

 copy cheaper at some of the bookstalls. You will find nearly all the new 

 plants which have been recently introduced fully described in the several 

 issues of the '* Gardeners' Year-Book," which is pubUshed at this ofiice. 



Propagating Bedding Plants {G. Z.). — Verbenas, Heliotropes, Age- 

 ratums, Petunias, Cupheas, Fuchsias, and. indeed, all kinds of bedding 

 plants may now be propagated so as to have them well established before 

 winter. "They will all readily strike without artificial he.it. Keep the 

 cuttings shut up close during the day, and pull the lights off early in the 

 morning for a short time, also in the evening for an houi' or two if tho 

 air is uot too dry. 



