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JOUBNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 3, 1865. 



making the buds appear full and prominent, and therefore 

 promising for another year. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Sowed Cauliflowers for a second spring crop. Watered Let- 

 tuces, Endive, <fcc. Planted more Lettuces — some to be raised 

 again. Watered Cauliflowers with manure water, the heads swell- 

 ing for use. Watered also Coleworts, Celery, and young Cab- 

 bages ; dug ground for more Cabbages. Wbeeled lots of Onions 

 into orchard-house, where they cau lie dry on the floor until 

 we find more time to string, bunch, and house them. Cleaned 

 winter Onions, Spinach, Radishes, etc. Went over a bank of 

 Dwarf Kidney Beans, pulling all the pods off that were at all 

 advanced; forked the ground, and gave it a good soaking of 

 manure water, so that if the weather continue flne we may 

 have another month's gathering. Placed some old lights over 

 another piece where the pods are just setting, and sowed more 

 to go under cover and into a little heat as soon as the cold 

 nights come. Exposed late Tomatoes to the sun. Examined 

 a heap of spawned bricks for Mushrooms, and find all as it 

 should be. Extra heat must be guarded against. See a few 

 hints lately in answer to a correspondent. 



Thoroughly smoked our Mushroom-house with burning sul- 

 phur, keeping all shut up for two or three davs. This smoking, 

 we believe, helps to keep us clear of woo'dlicf in 'the winter 

 months ; but that is no doubt partly owing to the manure being 

 well prepared in the autumn, whilst for spring-beds we must 

 use pretty well what we can get, and as heat is dear to the 

 woodlice, no doubt we take them into the house with the drop- 

 pings, &c. At any rate, by March and April we are always 

 sure to have them in-doors, less or more, and all we can do is 

 to keep them down by trapping and scalding. At one time we 

 were so pestered that we could not keep a Cucumber plant safe 

 from them in spring, unless the plant was supported from the 

 ground, and the supports of the trellis and the stems of the 

 plants were surrounded with a circular vessel filled with water. 

 Though found in damp places, woodlice always prefer a dry 

 one. A mere rill of water in a circular vessel will not stop 

 them. The width for the water should be at least from 1 to IJ 

 inch. We havo seen them sitting on the edge of such vessels", 

 and trjing with their feelers or antenuie, if there was any 

 chance of bridging the water. We have never noticed anv- 

 thing among them like the sagacity said to be displayed 

 by some kinds of monkeys and ants, who, hanging together 

 by their tails and hinder ends, make a living bridge over 

 a stream, by means of which their compatriots may pass over 

 without wetting their feet. A little soap, or salt, or" quassia in 

 this circular trough, but open in the middle to let stems, itc, 

 through, renders the water still more distasteful. Once, how- 

 ever, we recollect daubing part of the outside of a pot with soft 

 soap, but it was aU cleared off in the morning, with what 

 sanitary effects on the grey-coloured gentry we never knew. 

 Water alone is a great annoyance to them. Hence, on watering 

 a Musliroom-bed, they are sure to escape from the bed into any 

 crannies at back and front, and there afterwards they may be 

 scalded with hot water, or if a little dry hay be strewed along 

 they will nestle into it, and next morning in^Tiads may be de- 

 stroyed by pouring hot water on them. Small flower-pots 

 with a little dry hay in them, with or without a piece of boiled 

 potato, or carrot, make capital traps, but the finer, the looser, 

 and the drier the hay, the better will they like it. The quickest 

 way to end them, is to tumble the contents of the pots into 

 water near the boiling jioint. In all old gardens it is next to 

 impossible to eradicate them entirely. We hardly know if they 

 are useful to us for anything, but we do think that at time's 

 they are condemned without reason. That they meddle with 

 our young Mushrooms at times is no doubt true ; but they are 

 often blamed for what snails and grubs manage to effect. We 

 have seen them boring holes into young Mushrooms, and yet 

 at other times we have seen numbers on a bed, and not a 

 Mushroom touched for months. Waat could tempt them in 

 the one case, and lead to abstinence in the other, we know not. 

 Many birds are their natural enemies, .and in confined places, 

 as pits and frames, toads, and even frogs, are helps to the gar- 

 dener. The toad in putting a woodlouse out of sight, affords one 

 of the very best instances of physical dexterity. The great 

 Wizard of the North could scarcely exceed it. At any rate, the 

 man who cau see the toad transfix one woodlouse after another, 

 will have no reason to complain of weakness of eyesight. So 

 long, however, as our ])rejudices against the toad continue, it 

 would not do to have him in our Mushroom-beds. We may 

 add that all who keep toads in frames, &c., should keep a little 

 saucer always supplied with water, that they may bathe or drink 



at will. We can well enter into the feelings of revolt and aver- 

 sion, which a correspondent says she cannot help experiencing as 

 regards the toad, notwithstanding his beautiful eyes, and, there- 

 fore, she must lessen the myriads of woodlice that annoy her, 

 without his aid, and of all things must not give them the chance 

 of wandering among her Mushrooms. We mention the little 

 matter of the saucer of water for the sake of those who feel no 

 such aversion to employing the toad as their servant, and who 

 would be as unwilling, knowingly, to abridge his necessary 

 comforts, as they would be to lessen the due remuneration cif 

 any servant that was well worthy of his hire. 



fucit garden. 

 Went on collecting hardy fruit. We hope after such ripening 

 weather the late fruit of Apples and Pears will keep well, as 

 most of the early kinds have shown a disposition to clecay pre- 

 maturely. This is the case especially with all that have dropped. 

 We wished a lot to be cleared off by the men when they would 

 have been useful. Something prevented them taking them, and 

 in three days the scent told how matters were going. All wall 

 fruit, as Peaches, A-c, came in prematurely this season. Late 

 kinds, as Walburton Admirable, Ac, were gathered a fortnight 

 ago, and quite ripe enough, though they kept good for several 

 days. The same kinds have been good, and will be so for a 

 little longer in the late orchard-house, as with a fair command 

 of air fruit may be kept much later there than on the open 

 wall. As stated the other week, we have no doubt that our 

 latest Peaches, and such Plums as Coe's Golden Drop, and 

 Reine Claude de Bavay, could be kept very late in such houses. 

 The Plums especially would be grand in November, if there 

 were the means of keeping out any sudden frost. 



ORCHARD-HOUSES. 



This week we have had a number of notes about these, speak- 

 ing of failures, partial failures, and inquiries about heating, 

 &c. A few words here will meet the most of these cases. First, 

 then, we would wish it to be laid down that all heated houses, 

 properly speaking, cease to be orchard-houses, and become 

 heated fruit-houses or forcing-houses. Mind, that is no reason 

 why such houses as are called orchard-houses should not be 

 heated. We believe that all or most would be the better of being 

 heated, or at least of the heating material being at hand, ready to 

 be used when wanted, if not regularly, at least on an emergency. 

 Merely for distinction's sake, however, it would be well if the 

 title orchard-house were confined to an uuheated house, except, 

 perhaps, one with a portable or brick stove in severe weather. 

 Then, supposing that an orchard-house is made with large 

 squares of glass, instead of so many little pieces, we are 

 incUned to siiy that in all places where it is worth while to 

 build a wall for tender fruit, it would suit the builder's pur- 

 pose to front it with glass, either as a lean-to or otherwise, and 

 if that is done in the economic orchard-houso style, it will soon 

 save the expense in certainty of result, and saving of aU pro- 

 tection. Far north, and in very cold exposed districts, we 

 would not say exactly the same of a span-roofed house, with- 

 out any means of heating, as it would contain no storehouse 

 of heat, as the back wall of a lean-to always is. Even such 

 a span house will give great facilities to the gardener, for the 

 stiU air it secures in winter, and the high temperature it will 

 also afford in summer, if that temperature is desirable. Such 

 a house, to a certain extent, though not quite to the same ex- 

 tent as a lean-to, cau be used as a protecting, accelerating, or 

 retarding-house, even without any artificial heat being used. 

 One principal cause of failure in some eight or ten cases pre- 

 sented to us, in these unheated houses, is owing simply to the 

 fact of having the buds too forward, and the blossoms opening 

 too early in the spring. This is partly owing to not being 

 satisfied with keeping the orchard-house for fruit trees, but 

 filling it in the winter with Lettuce, Cauliflower, &c., which a 

 little frost will injure. Even then, if shut up at night, much 

 might be done with plenty of air during the day when the 

 thermometer rose above freezing point, and leaving the house 

 open at night when frost was not apprehended, ^^'llen the 

 frost oirtside did not exceed some 7° or 10°, it woiild be as well 

 for trees with well-ripened wood to have the ventilators open 

 all the winter. When much besides the trees has to be 

 attended to, a compromise must be made. The chief danger 

 arises from keeping the house too much shut as the spring ad- 

 vances. If there are tender things on the floor, then they had 

 better be covered over to permit of more air being given. 



Some of our friends who have failed, wrote to us in rather a 

 boasting spirit, that their trees were in full bloom in February. 

 Now, we would have been better satisfied if the trees were in 



