JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Septombev 19, 18C5. 



clean, and search to be made for wonns Tvlien their casts appear 

 on the surface of the soil. Sometimes the soil is so porous with 

 worm-holes as to render repotting necessary, and this should 

 he done at once. Any moss or weeds on the surface of the soil 

 in the pots to be removed, and the soil fresh siu'faced if needed. 

 If any indications of worms appear in large tubs, or large pots, 

 ■which are more unmanageable, an application or two of lime 

 ■water will banish them. When housed aU the air possible to 

 be given in fine weather, even to the entire withdrawal of 

 the lights, only reducing the ventilation when unfavourable 

 changes in the weather take place. Each plant to be allowed 

 .sufficient space for the air to play freely around it. 



STOVE. 



This house to be tastefully arranged, and heat and humidity 

 to be diminished by degrees in accordance with the decline of 

 solar heat. All plants that require it to be top-dressed, and 

 all imperfect drainage to be corrected, more especially the es- 

 tablished plants that have been repotted for a considerable 

 time. 



PITS AND FIUMES. 



The sooner the Hyacinths and other bulbs for forcing are 

 potted the better. The principal cause of success is having 

 the pots fiUed with roots before the top growth commences. 

 The bulbs to be selected for weight or substance in preference 

 to size, to be potted in half leaf mould, or decomposed cowdung, 

 and half loam, ■with a sprinkling of silver sand. The quality 

 of the soil is not of primaiy importance, as the flower-stalk 

 ■will depend in a great measiu-e ujjon the organised matter 

 stored up in the bulb and brought to perfection under the 

 favourable influences of heat, light, and air. The bulbs when 

 potted should be placed in a fame or pit, and covered with 

 6 inches of dry sawdust in preference to coal ashes. "When the 

 pots are fiUed with roots and the heads begin to sprout, the 

 potted bulbs should be taken out of the plunging material and 

 treated with a supply of heat according to the time when they 

 may be wanted in bloom. They grow stronger and bloom 

 larger when gently excited by heat and supplied with air. Pot 

 Neapolitan Violets, and let them be plunged in a frame. Lily 

 of the VaUey for forcing should now be potted. — W. Keaxe. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEK GAEDEN. 



A CONTINUATION of the same glorious sunny weather has 

 made us resort to our sewage-tank to give a lift to Peas, Let- 

 tuces, and Cax^diflowers ; and weeds have been again well cleared 

 off, the hoe and the bright sun soon putting all that were to be 

 seen out of view. If this weather continue we shall slightly 

 shade oiu' Celery. At present we are allowing some withered 

 rows of Peas to remain, on account of the shade which they 

 afford. Gave sewage water to Globe Artichokes to keep them 

 longer in producing, as the great heat is apt to stop the form- 

 ation of nice young heads. Spawned Mushroom-beds, and 

 earthed-up, and smoked the Mushi-oom-house ■with sulphur, 

 and wiU have all washed and Ume-washed before making beds 

 in it. 



We are sorry to say that the Potato disease is manifesting 

 itself much in this neighbourhood. We fully expected it to 

 appear among the late kinds after such a coiu'se of wet, muggy, 

 sunless weather ; but what all along has been mo=;t unaccountable 

 to us is, that early kinds, and from magniflcfit crops that were 

 taken up before the rains came, .and bar", jsted in first-rate 

 condition, mostly intended for seed, are now going bad — that 

 is, a considerable number of them, though xuitil lately not a 

 single speck appeared upon or among them. In the gardens 

 and fields it is lamentable to see the best and largest Potatoes 

 left behind unfit for any use. We think that cottagers are 

 ■wise in demurring to give such diseased samples to the pigs ; 

 for in these days of murrains and cattle plagues people cannot 

 be too careful, and the pig-distemper last year was a great loss 

 to many a cottager as well as to the farmers. In some farms 

 not a i)ig was left, but all died, and within a few days of each 

 other. Many a laboiuer was put to great straits who depended 

 on his pig as a help to meet the demands of rent-day. 



Here we would remark that in many places in the country 

 it would be an act of true charity and kind feeling to take the 

 rents of cottagers much oftencr than once a-year. If once 

 a_year cannot be departed from, then shortly after harvest 

 ■would be the best time, as then working people are generally 

 best supplied with means ; and when these means are plentiful 

 there is a great temptation to spend what ought to be rigidly 



set apart for rent-day. Demands that might easUy be met in 

 September or October can often be very Ul met in December. 

 We have met with some sad cases of ^n■etchedness, and illness, 

 and fevers produced by next to starvation in ■winter, because 

 the year's rent had to be ready at that time, and to get it, or 

 most of it, husband, wife, and children did not have nearly 

 enough even of bread. It is of little use to talk pliilosophicaUy 

 about sa^ving up to such people ; for if such hard knocks wUl 

 not prove an efficient schoolmaster for the future nothing else 

 can be hoped to be effectual ; and we have too much e^vidence 

 that even these hardshijis v.iU fail to convince, as again and 

 again the plenty, and even the indulgence of luxuries and fine 

 things in autumn, wiU be followed by the same scraping, and 

 scre^wing, and pinching, and next to starvation in winter, to 

 meet the rent-day about Christmas. Did such indi^riduals 

 alone suffer even then it would be lamentable, but it becomes 

 more serious when the diseases and low fevers thus engendered 

 are so apt to sweep over a hamlet or village. Much may be 

 done by landlords ensuring payments at shorter intervals or 

 more suitable times. With a diminished supply of Potatoes 

 and the high price of meat, most labourers will need all possible 

 preparations to lighten the weight of the coming ■winter. 



Gave Celei-y a good watering previously to earthing it np, 

 tying it up iJreviously, and only earthing-up what wOI be 

 wanted in three weeks or a month. General work much as in 

 previous weeks. 



FRUIT GAKDEN. 



Went over Apples and Pears, gathering the ripest before they 

 fell, and put some kinds of Pears in a warm place to ripen 

 them more quickly when wanted. Our Williams' Bon Chretien 

 has done ns good service for several weeks, and we have still a 

 few gathered quite hard and green, and some others on a tree 

 harder and greener stiU, that will be prime a fortnight hence. 

 Such Pears should never hang imtil quite ripe, for then they 

 will be sure to be flat and mealy, instead of crisp and juicy. 

 Birds have pecked our Marie Louise and others a little, but 

 they have left us lately, and the chief annoyance proceeds from 

 clouds of large fUes. On a white wall the other night they 

 actually blackened it, and Nectarines they will attack by hook 

 or by crook. Peaches they meddle httle with, which is so far 

 good ; and we have not noticed they have troubled late Straw- 

 bemes at all. A few more swallows and other insect-eating 

 birds would be an advantage. We see more and more that 

 there is a law of compensation in these matters, and though it 

 is rather annoying to find the best fruit pecked by birds, we 

 beheve that without them we should soon have no fruit at all. 

 If the little fellows would only be moderate we would pepper 

 them no more ■with shot, as the gun always detracts from the 

 calm interest of a garden, and far less would we trap or 

 poison, as both these systems are more cruel than shooting 

 them at once. Who will invent a trap that for all things called 

 vermin shall insure death instantaneous ? Who with a par- 

 ticle of land feeling could sleep comfortably with the thought 

 that some living thing was writhing for hours, maimed and 

 mutilated by the teeth and claws of a trap '! 



Gave a good watering to orchard-house, fi-om which aU the 

 fruit is gathered, except some Figs in pots. Syringed the 

 house, and shut up early to harden the wood, and also to ripen 

 the Figs. Owing to keeping the house so open the Figs are not 

 so forward as those out of doors, which have come in nicely, 

 and will fiU the gap between the succession crop in the Fig- 

 pit. Gave also second orchard-house a good watering, and have 

 sprinkled the surface frequently to keep it cool for the later 

 Peaches. In the first house we planted some Vines, but we 

 hardly know whether we shall be able to keep them ■without 

 turning out some of the Peaches in pots beneath them. Here 

 we have, so far, met with a disappointment. We made sure 

 we could ripen Buckland Sweetwater in such a house, and 

 therefore planted three Vines of it and some later sorts, which 

 we wanted to hang, if ever we should heat the house. There 

 has been a little bit of fruit on all these Sweetwaters, but to 

 our .annoyance they tm-n out to be Chasselas Musque, a beauti- 

 ful Grape, but liable to crack, and not what we wanted. Even 

 now, though not quite amber-coloured, the flavom- is delicious, 

 and the flies know it as well as we do. Wliat surprises us, 

 not a berry cracked until the flies cracked them. We are in- 

 clined to leave some of the plants for another year, and as 

 the bimches take the last swelling, encase these in very fine 

 muslin to keep the flies, &c., fi-om them. We find, even now, 

 that the sMn is so tough that they have considerable difficulty 

 in penetrating it ; but then they disfigure the berries left with 

 perambulating over them with their dh-ty feet. The Vines 



