370 



JOUHNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ Ortober 81, 1865. 



by some of tie leading Scotch gardeners lest he should -visit 

 them in September and October. Notwithstanding the general 

 attention to neatness, they dreaded the account that might be 

 given of compartments of the remains of used-up regetables, 

 quarters of wet decaying haulm of Teas, with somewhat slimy, 

 green, or rough walks in the axitumn months. The difference 

 in many gardens in spring and autumn might well lend force 

 to the, "we beUeve, imsound dictum that man is, or ought to be, 

 the creature of circumstances. This is, perhaps, if anything, 

 more observable in the gardens of the amateur and the cot- 

 tager than among us professed gardeners, though too many of 

 us have our omissions to remember, but for the present we say 

 nothing of the causes of these omissions. 



Look at the cottage garden in April, May, and June, every 

 plant attended to, and secured ; the alleys neat and straight, 

 not a weed on the walks, not a dead leaf to be seen — everything 

 in unison, with the balmy breezes, and the glorious cheering 

 march of the sim as he progresses towards his highest point in 

 the heavens. Contrast all this cheerful inspiring neatness 

 with what now so often meets the eye — Honeysuckles and 

 Eoses that were over the porch subjected, unfastened, to the 

 sport of every gale ; stalks of cut Cauliflower with their flabby 

 decaying leaves, and those of cut Turnip.? scenting the breeze ; 

 tops of Carrots, and Parsnips covering the ground in which the 

 roots had grown, and pieces of Pea and Bean haulm in their 

 wet shmy rottenness conjuring up in such a day as this all 

 that is melancholic, intensified, if that be possible, by the walks 

 being covered over up to the doorway with fat strong weeds, as 

 if intended not to be walked upon cleanly and comfortably, but for 

 sheep to nibble at and pasture on. WTiy should the short- 

 ening day, the lessening light, and the falling leaves, sadden- 

 ing enough in themselves, be increased in their sadness by the 

 woe-begone aspect of such gardens ? Talk and reason as we 

 may, no man or woman can come out of a cheerful room with- 

 out being unpleasantly affected by such slovenUness in the 

 garden. Did we study our own happiness the garden should 

 have extra pains bestowed upon it, to secure neatness and 

 cleanliness in autumn and winter. When rain, and wind, and 

 irost, and snow render it uncomfortable on the open wold, is 

 that any reason why we should abridge our comforts around 

 a blazing fire and a clean hearthstone ? AVhen Natm-e outside 

 is disrobing herself of her summer attractiveness, is that any 

 reason why the pet and profitable garden should he left to 

 look after itself in the autumn months, and to speak chiefly 

 of carelessness and untidiness, aye, and wastefulness too ? for 

 what is offensive to the eye and the nostrils would be valu- 

 able in the rot and the rubbish-heap, covered with soil to 

 keep the enriching virtues from polluting the air we breathe. 

 In many districts it is fashionable to give prizes for the best- 

 kept and best-managed g.ardens, and the results have gene- 

 rally been very beneficial. Before such prizes were awarded, 

 we think the gardens should be visited more than once, and 

 one of the times we would specify to be from the middle to 

 the end of October. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Storin;] Carrots and Farmips. — Here we have done very little, 

 except tying-up and earthing-up Celery on a dry day, and taking 

 up all our Carrots and part of the Parsnips on a dry day, and 

 spreading out the roots under cover that they may be better 

 dried before building them in heaps or bins. We lately met 

 with a recommendation to use dry sawdust for packing among 

 the roots ; but scarcely anything could be worse. If the saw- 

 dust is from wood at all fresh, whether Pine or hard wood, it 

 will less or more flavour the roots, and if at all freely used it 

 wiB cause the heap of roots to heat and decay to a certainty. 

 Dust-dry sand, earth equally dry, or dry bm-nt clay and earth, 

 are the most suitable for this purpose. WTiere these cannot be 

 had, and the roots are so juicy as to be inclined to heat in a 

 heap, a good plan is to place layers of branches of trees between 

 each two layers of Carrots. Air thus circulates freely among 

 them. Covered over with old sashes our last piece of Dwarf 

 Kidney Beans, still bearing nicely, and added another covering 

 over the glass at night. Brought pots, sown imder protection, 

 under glass where they can now have a little heat. 



FKUIT GARDEN. 



Selected the only dry breezy day we have had, and gathered 

 aJ], or nearly all, of our Apples and Pears left. This was so 

 far fortunate, as there was a stormy gale during the night that 

 would have dislodged most of them. A number had been 

 pecked within a few days, and among others the rats had their 

 nibble, and also began to carry to their burrows some of the 

 best Plums from the orchard-house. Having found some holes 



we set some ferrets to work, and killed several, and the smell 

 of the ferret will keep them away for some time. It is amazing 

 the instinctive ingenuity the rat, and the mouse too, will exhibit 

 in securing a free outlet and inlet. It matters not how large 

 the house, or how large the garden, they will never be satisfied 

 until they have free access to every part of both, and a free 

 outlet to the ground beyond. This instinctive habit must be 

 kept in \'iew, or w-hilst we watch at one hole the rats will es- 

 cape at another. We have known a single mouse keep the resi- 

 dents of a house from sleeping by his constant gnawing, be- 

 cause, though he had every other room and closet open, two 

 bedrooms had their doors shut, and he wanted free quarters 

 there as well as elsewhere. The poor little mouse, however, 

 has on the whole but a Httle of the great sagacity of the rat. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPAETMENT. 



Owing to the wet a Uttle clearing, mowing, and rolhng was 

 all that could be done. In addition to taUies, stakes, pot-wash- 

 ing, &-C., potting and cleaning and top-dressing pot plants, 

 tying Azaleas, regulating climbers, &c., our chief work has been 

 getting on with Calceolaria cuttings, as detailed last week, and 

 taking up and repotting Fuchsias, Cassias, Scarlft Gcraniiinu!, 

 itc, from the centre of flower-beds. After these di-enching 

 rains we cannot expect the beds to do much now. All these 

 plants above will be potted separately, in as small pots as the 

 roots can be made to go into, and we retain the Geraniums for 

 centres at their full length, merely taking away the larger 

 leaves. Few of these take up with balls, but they soon make 

 roots. We shall endeavour to stand them under glass, and in 

 a few weeks most of the leaves will wither and decay. We 

 never care for this if we can keep the stems sound, and a leaf 

 or two fresh at the end of the stems. Thus kept, merely, in 

 winter in a cool dryish place, these plants come in useful where 

 beds are planted in the pyramidal style. MTiere flat beds are 

 wanted, or nearly so, there is no necessity for keeping more 

 than from 4 to 6 inches of the strong summer shoots. 



We have several times mentioned how, after removing every 

 leaf from such cut-in plants, we have packed them firmly and 

 thickly in shallow wooden boxes and in cold pita. The only 

 objection to cold pits is, that some of the plants will be apt to rot 

 in very damp, frosty, foggy winters. Two or three con-espon- 

 dents tell us they become confused about pits, boxes, and pots, 

 and would wish to have the simplest plan by which they can 

 save the greatest number stowed away in fair-sized pots, say 

 from 8 to 12 inches in diameter. WeU then, we wiU tell them 

 what we think is the very best method after a good deal of 

 practice with different plans, and by which the Scarlet Gera- 

 niums, in the beds of their lawns or parterres may fill the same 

 beds next year, and with little care or attention during winter. 

 The chief essential is a dryish place to keep them, and we will 

 mention a few places, the best being named first. The best 

 place, then, would be a cool greenhouse, where frost and extra 

 damp could be kept out, with a Uttle dry heat ; the second best 

 underneath the stage or by the sides of the path, in a cool 

 greenhouse, anywhere so that there shall not be much drip 

 from the plants above ; a third place would be a small spare 

 room, in which a fire could be placed in very severe frosty 

 weather ; near the windows would do equally weU in sitting- 

 rooms, kitchens, Arc, only in the latter case the plants must 

 not be kept too hot nor too dry ; a fourth place would be an 

 imheated room, but where in severe weather you could throw 

 a cloth and a little dry hay or litter over the plants and pots ; 

 a fifth place would be a dry garret, hay-loft, corn-loft, di-y light 

 stall of a stable, dry cellar with a little hght, or any place 

 naturally dry, where light could be given in mild weather, and 

 frost kept out by covering in cold weather. In all these latter 

 cases the plants would give less trouble than in cold pits or 

 frames out of doors, and all could be done in the dry. If leaves 

 the size of a sixpence come by the beginning of March the 

 plants will be early enough. 



Now for the minuti;e. To please you we shall take 12-inch 

 pots, merely premising that for pots larger or smaller we would 

 just cram them with more or fewer plants. We drain these pots 

 in the usual way, and fill them one-third full with any rough 

 sweet material, as turfy loam and rough leaf mould, that we 

 can obtain. What we mean to pack among the roots will be 

 sandy loam, and leaf mould that has passed through an one-inch 

 sieve. Both of these are to be in a nice friable condition, 

 neither wet nor drj-. We now go to the flower-bed, and with 

 fork or spade dig up the plants. It does not greatly matter 

 which tool is used, as, provided the roots near the collar of the 

 I plant are secm'ed, we are less concerned about those that run 



