October 24, 1865. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



3S7 



right to iisk this after the positive manner in which he denies 

 the truth of tlio ti'mijcraturo I gnve — 110° to 120°. The house 

 I referred to liiid bucn on the diiy of my visit at l'2<i°, so I was 

 told by the foriumn, who said the thermometer often rose to 

 120° ; the tin)o was tlie second weel; in Aiit-nst. 



I do not tliiuk 1 am authorised witliout asliiug leave, to give 

 the name and place ; but it is not important, as my Pine stove 

 will go as high as I said. 



Mr. Rivers writes in so amusing a strain, that it is difBcult 

 to tell wlien lie is jolsing, and to uuderstaml liis comparison of 

 " a man at a window" with a I'each tree going to rest, lie 

 Bays mine "were put to their unhealthy rest in August, by 

 management so bad as to he almost incredible." Oovent 

 Garden can testify that the Peaches were ripe in May. Is Au- 

 gust then untimely ? and will it hurt their feelings more to be 

 put to rest by means of a soft August wind, than by the same 

 process iu October and November? fold nights will alone 

 send trees to rest, and as long as they continue vegetation is 

 kept in check. 



Iu his last preface Mr. Rivers says, " he feels that he is now 

 a central authority iu matters appertaining to orchard-houses," 

 so even in this my practice is, I am pleased to tind in as per- 

 fect accord (as is possible under the circumstances of one set of 

 trees being fixed, and the other moveable) with what the 

 Fenians would call the " head circle." Mr. Rivers, speaking of 

 the trees he raises for sale, says, that he grows them iu his 

 houses till .luly ; by this means he gains for them several weeks 

 at the start, when .lane comes he lets iu the night air ; iu July 

 more impatient than I am, or, perhaps, I should say, having a 

 better knowledge of the importance of stopping their growth 

 that they may have the longer jjeriod wherein to mature their 

 buds, he turns them out of doors. Why ? Because he tells 

 us ho secures for them by this meaus a ten-degi'ees-colder 

 night temperature. The trees he sent me I am ready to testify 

 were beautifully set with buds, and this must confirm us both, 

 I am sure, iu the opinion that we cannot do better thau 

 continue to follow this treatment, and I am only son-y that 

 he should have thought " it was delightfully original on my 

 part." 



This subject, the effect of night temperatures on vegetation, 

 is one that merits more attention from gardeners thau it has 

 received, and I should like to send you long quotations from 

 Dr. Beunct's interesting book on Mentone bearing upon it, but 

 as I have already written a good deal, I must limit myself. 

 The night temperatures of the four winter months he gives at 

 from 40° to -iS'. In January, 1861, he sat out of doors reading 

 two hours each aftemoou, " I was, however, always obliged to 

 screen myself by the lined parasol, without this precaution 

 the position would have been (juite untenable. A thei-mometer 

 in the shade near me marked 50° to 02°. " " The deciduous 

 trees lost their leaves iu December, as soon as the nights be- 

 came cold, and did not regain them until April, when they 

 were becoming warmer." " On the other hand, in the sheltered 

 situations exposed to the south, the heat of the sun so wanned 

 the soil, that it had not time to cool at night, and such situa- 

 tions became regular forcing-beds, producing, as I have stated, 

 Violets in December, Anemones iu January, and all our spring 

 flowers early iu Februaiy. Where the sun did not penetrate, 

 on the other hand, the ground vegetation remained toi-jiid, hke 

 the deciduous trees, till March." 



Am I not, then, simply working by Nature's own In-.s, and 

 nsing those faculties of observation which I received l.om her 

 for this purpose ? 



In conclusion, I beg to thank Mr. Rivers for his most cordial 

 invitation. I have already partaken several times of his hospi- 

 tality, and I shall hojie to visit him again when I come up to 

 the Great International next year. — G. H. 



P.S. — In reply to "Live and Learn," if you will undertake 

 to forward it to him, I shall be very glad to send a working 

 plan from which he can get an estimate of the cost. I think 

 you will agree with me, it would be improper that I should 

 give one. This will answer most of his questions. On the 

 angles of houses, as affects sunlight, I can add nothing to 

 what he will find in your Journal for May Kith, 18(55. All 

 practice in gardening tends one way iu planting rows of trees, 

 that the hnes should run north and south. Orchard-houses 

 are built this way, and market gardens and orchards follow the 

 same rule. 



that I have in my garden (Weston-super-Mare), a second crop 

 of Rasphemes, and also a few Strawberries. They are quite 

 ripe and sweet, and equal in flavour to the first crop. — F. W. B. 



te' 



SuMiTER Fruit in October. — As a remarkable instance of 

 the effects of this year's prolonged summer may be mentioned, 



ORCHARD-HOUSE TREES. 

 Allow mo to call the attention of cultivators to the great 

 netit derived from elialk or lime rubbish, when finely pow- 

 iTfred and mixed with the compost for repotting or the au- 

 tumnal toi)-dressing of all stone-fruit trees. For Apricots I 

 believe it to be quite indispensable, judging from the unvarying 

 success of .their culture here, the soil used being full of com- 

 minuted chalk. As fur as I can judge, one-tenth of the jiotting- 

 compost should bo of the above materials. This mode of 

 making an artificial calcareous compost is perfectly safe, and 

 may probably lead to perfect success in .\pricot culture. 



-May I be permitted to correct two slight misprints in the 

 article at page '2i)l ? It should be '■ closed at night," instead 

 of " closed by day ;" and iu page 2U2 " base " should be " bad." 

 — T. R. 



IQTCHEN GARDENING. 



SEriEMBEK. 



DuniNo this month there wiU be a few more summer crops 

 to be removed that their places maybe taken up by winter ones. 

 In the first place, there will be the Champion Peas now over, 

 which may be at once removed, and the ground which they 

 occupied should be prejiared, and sown with Corn Salad ; or, 

 if so much Corn Salad is not required, the spare part of the 

 gi-ound may bo planted with Colcworts. as I am an advocate for 

 the last-named vegetable, though I am aware there are many 

 parts of England where it is scarcely known, or, if so, not 

 appreciated as it deserves to be. The variety we grow here is 

 called Rosette-leaved Hardy Green, and I always make it a rule, 

 to continue planting this on every spare foot of gi-ound till I 

 have a thousand plants in successions. 



Early in the month I plant my first lot of Cabbage for spring 

 use in the ground that was prepared for the purpose six weeks 

 or two mouths previously, aud which by this time will be in 

 first-rate order. I plant for this batch seven rows at 2 feet 

 apart and 11 foot asunder in the rows, drawing drills, and 

 watering these the day before planting. Towards the end of 

 the mouth the last lot of Peas (Knight's Dwarf Green Marrow) 

 will be useless and should be cleared on, and the Beet and 

 Carrots being adjacent these may be taken up and stored away, 

 thus setting a good piece of ground at liberty. This I have 

 well manured, deeply dug, and then planted with what I term 

 my second lot of Cabbage, aud four or five rows of Coleworts. 

 This second lot of Cabbage does well for standing for sprouts 

 a year or so if wanted. One great advantage that we London 

 gardeners have is the facility of obtaining plants of Cabbages, 

 Colcworts, &c., of any size and in any quantity from the 

 market gardeners, but of course where this privilege does not 

 exist plants must be prepared at home. 



The Cauliflower plants will by this time require pricking out 

 under the hand-lights, but by no means put the tops on till 

 frost renders it necessary to do so, as the more they wither and 

 flag to get a good root-hold the better will they stand the 

 winter, and, for that reason, I generally put mine in a row- 

 across the open part of the garden, about nine to each hand- 

 hght. Previous to protecting them I find it a good plan to 

 cover the earth about their roots with about half an inch of 

 cinder ashes, which keeps out the frost and also keeps them 

 dry. 



The established crops of winter stuff should have the ground 

 between the rows kept continually stirred wiien practicable, as 

 this month with such crops is almost of as much importance 

 as the time a crop of Grapes is swelling is to that crop. The 

 Turnips aud Spinach should be hoed occasionally to keep the 

 gi-ouud open aud the weeds in check. The first row of white 

 Celery should, in the beginning of the month, have its final 

 earthing-up so that it may be ready for use at any time, and it 

 is as well to use it while it is good, for if kept too long it is 

 sure to pipe or rot. The red Celery for second and late crops 

 shordd receive every attention, aud I think this year they 

 have given more trouble than au)-thing on account of the 

 Celery fly, which has been here very troublesome. The 

 only plan to master it which I find eft'ective is to pick off the 

 affected leaves about twice a-week. Two rows of Late Red that 

 I had were literally stripped to the bare stalks, and I had 



