December &, 1865. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



401 



general after the second year, 2 feet will bo found not too far 

 apart. Uid wo plant half an aero in March at the distance, 

 of 24 by 12 inchoH, and purposed planting so raiioh more in 

 July and AuKust, wo would uso the Kpaces between tho rows 

 for planting temporary rows at from (> to it iniJios apart, and 

 lift and plant them as wc got more ;^round ready. Wo would 

 clear all such (ground in autumn, surface-stir, and manure be- 

 tween the rows in winter. If you contemplate cleaning and 

 doing much of such work by means of a pony and cuitivator, 

 then you must have more space between tho rows.] 



ROSES. 



As " D.,"of Deal, asks about Belle Normande.I'eaii'giyb him 

 the foUowinf! information, though I do not possess the Rose: — 

 At the Blaudford Floral Show in August, I had a chat with 

 Mr. Keynes on the novelties. lie said, his experience was, that 

 Madame Kousset, Madiuno Uoroau, and Belle Normande were 

 tho best three, and grand Roses. He promised to write, and 

 tell me the names of the best twelve, but he has not yet done 

 so. As regards Belle Normantle I saw a line of them at Mr. 

 Gill's, Dorset Nurseries, Blandford ; the blooms were overdue, 

 but they appeared to be large and fine. The growth was 

 moderate. The best full-sized Roses of light character that I 

 have seen lately, are Elizabeth Vigneron and Belle Nonnaude. 

 " D." says, " As far as my memory sen-es me, wc have only 

 some second-rate Roses of Granger's." I have two foreign 

 lists : one attributes Maurico Bemardin — a most magnificent 

 Rose liere, a very strong grower, a most abundant and contin- 

 uous bloomer — to Lovcque, and the other assigns it to Granger. 

 Whether Levt^iiuo or Granger raised it I cannot say, but I beg 

 to acknowledge the raiser's gi-eat merit. 



1 must now thank " D." for his kind expressions. They 

 have been copied by the Dorset County C'liroiiicJc, accom- 

 panied by very kind expressions, for which I thank the editor. 

 I shall leave Rushton in April. I have removed the rlite of 

 my Roses, amounting to some hundreds, to my north-east 

 garden at Rawston, which the future rector has kindly per- 

 mitted me to hold till I can lix on a residence. The garden 

 is nearly full, and the Mauetti plants are excellent. I have 

 been obliged to give away my fine array of the choicest sum- 

 mer Roses. Jly three plants of Schismaker (slate), and Tri- 

 color de Flandre (variegated), and Madame Zoutman (white), 

 are all that I shall retain for want of room. It costs me a 

 groan to give them up ; they are so hardy, so handsome, so 

 free-flowering, and so finely scented. Moreover, j'ou may hack 

 them for bounuets day after day without injuring the next 

 year's prospects. I have oflfered them to Mrs. Farquharson, of 

 Langton House. They are far better than when I bought 

 them of Messrs. Cranston and Rivers some ten years ago. — 

 W. F. Radclyffe, Tarrant Ilushton. 



EARLY-BLOOMING CYCLAMEN SEEDLINGS. 



SEVEB-iL interesting papers, on Cyclamens and their culture, 

 having recently appeared in your Journal, and which have 

 elicited some further information from your correspondent, 

 "G. H.," showing that this beautiful tribe of plants can, by 

 careful management, be induced to bloom in one year, I ven- 

 ture to give my own experience on the same subject, should 

 you consider it likely to prove interesting to any of your 

 readers. ' 



This year I have obtained the same results as " G. H.," but 

 without the assistance of artificial heat — an advantage to such 

 as have not the means of forcing at their disposal. I began to 

 cultivate Cyclamens about five years ago, having in the autumn 

 of 1860 purchased a collection. Since then I have raised many 

 hundreds of seedlings of the varieties of 0. persicum, which are 

 my favourites , though I also cultivate to a more limited extent 

 the other kinds, including Atkinsi, coum, and vemum, and I 

 have invariably succeeded in obtaining abundance of bloom in 

 the second year from sowing the seed, which at the time I com- 

 menced, was, I believe, a step in advance of the ordinary mode 

 of cultm-e. 



The course I then adopted, and to which I in a measure 

 attribute my success this year, was to sow the seed, if possible, 

 immediately after it was picked — say from the commencement 

 to the end of July ; the compost used being a mixture of rich 

 garden loam, leaf mould, and a little sharp sand, and I have 

 generally found that germination takes place in from six to 

 eight weeks from the period of sowing; but if the seed is 



allowed to dry up, which it does very soon after being picked, 

 the period it takes to germinate is considerably increased. 



When once tho plants have shown their first leaves, I am 

 careful that by frei|Uont watering thoy should be kc|)t in a 

 growing state for about eighteen months — that is to say, till 

 after the second spring, at which period they would naturally 

 rest. The seed-pans, which had from the period of sowing 

 been placed on the back shelf of ray greenhouse, are then re- 

 moved to a situation out of doors, where they only receive a 

 small amount of the summer rains, although I am careful 

 never to allow the soil to become hard and dry, which is the 

 cause, I believe, of so many failures in the ciiltivation of this 

 plant. 



As soon as tho bulbs which have been resting for three or 

 four months show signs of returning growth, they are removed 

 from tho seed-pans, the old soil being carefully shaken from 

 them, avoiding, as far as possible, breaking any of the numerous 

 roots, and are potted olT into GO-sijied pots, in which they bloom 

 in the following autumn, frequently as early as November. 

 The compost used is similar to that in which the seeds are 

 sown, with the addition of cowdung and small pieces of charcoal 

 on the top of the drainage. 



The only difference in tho treatment I have pursued this 

 year has been to supply the young bulbs, raised fi-om seed sown 

 in July, 1864, with additional nourishment, by means of occa- 

 sional waterings of very dilute guano and water, the result 

 being, as I at first stated, that I have at present on the back 

 shelf of my greenhouse, a pan containing, I suppose, at least 

 fifty bulbs of persicum album, almost every one of which shows 

 signs of bloom, one having boon expanded a fortnight, this 

 being the 25th of November. — G. P. C, The Vale, Jerney. 



KITCHEN GARDENING. 



OcTOBEft .\ND No\'ElIBEK. 



The first thing now to be considered is whether enough 

 Cabbages have been planted, and, if not, they should be planted 

 at once, as after this time the ground is rarely in good working 

 condition. Give Cabbages intended to stand the winter in the 

 seed-bed a good thinning and hoeing, and serve the Cauli- 

 flower-bed the same, but by all means make sure of plenty 

 under protection of some kind. The Lettuce-bed should also 

 be thinned, planting the thinnings on a part of the south 

 border, say where the Chrysanthemums have been plunged, as 

 that will be the only vacant spot in the garden. 



The first dry day that we may have (and they have been few 

 and far between lately), the earliest low of Red Celery should 

 receive a final earthing-up, giving the late rows a little earth 

 at the bottom, but not too much yet. The Asparagus-beds 

 may be cleared of the ripe grass, and left just as they are till 

 the first dry morning, when some of the best manure that can 

 be had should be spread about 3 inches thick aU over the 

 beds and alleys, which dressing should be left on till spring, 

 when the httery portion may be dug into the alleys, and the 

 rotten part, which will by that time be as dry as dust, should 

 be forked very lightly into the beds as it lies. 



If it is intended to force Beans they should be started in 

 November in gentle heat, though I think they are more useful 

 and give more satisfaction when started immediately after 

 Christmas. It is also a good time to provide the winter store 

 of Potatoes, as they can be bought as good and as cheap this 

 mouth as at any period of the year. I find that the York 

 Regents do weU before Christmas, and the Flukes after Christ- 

 mas, till the early ones come in. 



As the leaves will now be falling, it is a good plan as they 

 are swept up to have them shot down with the stable manure, 

 as a good heap of forcing material for the Rhubarb and Sea-kale 

 will be formed without much trouble ; the dead leaves, too, 

 should be taken off both the last-mentioned, or at any rate 

 that part which is intended to be forced for Christmas. I 

 generally force them in the old-fashioued style, that of coveiing 

 with pots and hot material about the middle of November ; and 

 in this month I generally wheel all the manure that is on hand 

 into the garden wherever it is possible to lay a ban-owfid. as 

 the barrows can be loaded back with the refuse of the crops, 

 such as the decaying haulm of Dwarf Kidney Beans and Scarlet 

 Runners, Colewort stumps, &c. 



I may here mention that I have picked Beans this year 

 without any protection whatever up to the middle of October. 

 This autumn has been very favourable for the supply of vege- 

 tables ; here we have had Spinach in capital condition, Turnips 



