460 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 5, 1865. 



current of air can ahvays be obtained. Auriculas and Poly- 

 anthuses in fi-ames require very little water, with the simiile 

 attention of remo\-ing decayed leaves. — ^W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



The continuous wet, dripping, foggy weather has greatl.T 

 hindered all out-door work in the garden. Where lawns would 

 not be disfigured, planting aU tinds of forest and ornamental 

 trees and shrubs night be proceeded with to gi-eat advantage 

 whenever it is fair enough above-head ; but wheeling and weed- 

 ing lawns, or even sweeping them in such weather, would 

 almost make as much work as that ^\hich was done, and much 

 of the cleai-iug-up of leaves. &c., in the kitchen garden has 

 been left uutU the weather be a little drier. Much of the in- 

 door work of previous weeks has therefore been continued, ajid 

 we need not recapitulate it. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Mild Mothecls, and Fermtnlinri MattriaU. — Took occasion, 

 when at all di-y, to turn over, several beds covered with frames, 

 and which had been used for Cucumbers and Melons, and then 

 for bedding-stuff, taking out what earth was left, raising the beds 

 at back, placing a piece of board beneath each corner, and then 

 a block, or some three or four bricks above that, thus giving the 

 frames a slope of from 65° to 70° or less, instead of 80° or 85% 

 so as to throw off the water better. Some frames from stand- 

 ing so long had nearly levelled themselves, and the weight of 

 the old sashes, from which the paint had long gone, was con- 

 siderable. With more of a slope they would not have had the 

 chance of retaining the water about them. Then from the 

 beds that were covered with the frames thus elevated at the 

 back, we took away a little of the most rotten dung and leaves 

 at the surface, laid a little aside to go on the surface again, and 

 having turned over the bed to let the air in, so as to cause what 

 was not thoroughly wasted to ferment, we filled up with tree 

 leaves, that had been placed in a heap near at hand to prevent 

 wheeling, the depth of these being from 15 to 18 inches at 

 the back. Over the leaves a little of the more wasted ma- 

 terial was placed, and then a little of the dry burned soil from 

 the burning and charring heap, and then the'beds were used for 

 young Geraniums, i-c, not yet fully rooted, and Cinerarias that 

 were wanted to come on, keeping them cool by plenty of air, as 

 the extra heat from the leaves was mild indeed, but useful for 

 many things ; and other beds were filled with Shawberiy pots, 

 just to set them going gradually, plunging them in the soil, &c., 

 an inch or two to keep them level. To secure such frames from 

 rosts, the sides were banked up with the stems of Ageratums, 

 Phloxes, Verbenas, Variegated Alyssum, &c., brought from the 

 pleasure grounds. Even such a little matter as the setting and 

 fresh arranging of these frames required a Uttle consideration. 

 We had no more hot and fermenting leaves than would have 

 been sufficient for one good bed, and that would have been too 

 hot for such pui-poses as we required. With that quantity we 

 have made eight or nine two-light boxes vei-y sen-iceable for 

 what we want for some six or eight weeks to come, the little 

 mild heat below keeping the things safer in any emergency, 

 and permitting of more ail- by tilting the glass in damp weather. 

 Then the placing of the new leaves close to the surface is also 

 of mportance, as when these bedsmust be renewed ul timately 

 for hotbeds, the new material is easily separated from the old, 

 to be used again, whilst the well-rotted fermenting material 

 comes in for other purposes. 



As our Cauliflower ]ilants are not quite so forward as usual, 

 we potted a lot, and pricked-out others into boxes, placed them 

 in one of these beds, and will continue them there for a month 

 f r six weeks to encourage them. Those saved over the worst of 

 the winter in pots generally do so well, that this season we have 

 placed some fom- plants roimd a six-inch pot ; when estabhshcd 

 we will shift them into nine-inch pots, and when again esta- 

 blished in these will turn them out of doors in a lump in weU- 

 aired rich soil, either with or without a hand-light over them. 

 Some half a score of our early Cauliflowers buttoned last year, 

 but there will be little chance of their doing so this season. We 

 sowed a fortnight later than usual. The Uttle extra care otU 

 make them early enough. If they had been a little earlier no 

 care would have been necessary-, except keeping them from 

 slugs and severe frosts. Large plants at this season are apt to 

 button— that is, present you with a flower the size of a button 

 in spring, and every one that does so is so much time and 

 labour wasted, and this has led us to sow later and later every 

 year. The end of September, in a cool aiiy place, will gene- 



rally be late enough. The plants become too strong with us 

 when the seed is sown in August or the beginning of September. 

 Such beds might have done on an emergency for Asparagus, 

 Sea-kale, Ehubarb, Eadishes, early Carrots, &c., but the height 

 of the old beds was rather against them, and there would not 

 have been the continuous mild bottom heat which is required 

 for such of the above as we could not well put in the Mushroom- 

 house. To keep us going, therefore, we contrived to make a 

 small space of fresh beds for some of the above by saving a few 

 of the leaves referred to, turning a couple or so of these old 

 beds to their bottom, placing all the rotten and thoroughly 

 decayed materials on one side, to he wheeled away in the first 

 favourable weather, and putting aU that would yield heat from 

 farther decomposition also on one side, and then mixed part of 

 that with a heap of litter and refuse from the pleasure ground 

 beginning to heat nicely, putting a covering of 3 or 4 inches 

 of the half-decayed material over the surface. A nice mixing 

 of such materials will furnish a genial mild heat for a long 

 time, and then the material by the time the longest has heated 

 itself dry will be used, with some addition, for hotbeds to carry 

 us through the summer. 



Cu-cumstances have compelled us to make the most of our 

 fermenting-heap, and thus everything not very succulent, be it 

 clearings from the flower-beds or otherwise, is mixed with the 

 fermenting-heap to give out the heat stored up in it before it 

 decays ; and the same circumstances have long compelled us to 

 give up sweetening fermenting-heaps until they become quite 

 sweet, and almost as dark and short as if a good spade could 

 cut them. We find no fault with the system, it answers very 

 well where material and labour are abundant ; but we want the 

 heat that is thus lost in the processes of preparation, and we 

 want bulk rather than such fine quality, and therefore we re- 

 sort to a careful mixture of rather fresh materials, and secure 

 sweetness by a layer of old half-decayed substances at the sur- 

 face, which keeps down all deleterious steams and gases. All 

 the good dung we can procure in winter and spring would 

 scarcely suffice for Mushrooms. 



A good many years ago, though only having the dung of two 

 or three, never more than foui', horses, we had almost as much 

 fermenting material for beds, and of the best kind, as we could 

 wish, and that is saying a good deal, and the garden and plea- 

 sure grounds reaped the benefit. A good part of the park had 

 not been mown, nor had it been grazed heavily, and, therefore, 

 it presented a very rough appearance, with its dried bents and 

 tussocks of grass. The notion was entertained that these dry, 

 withered tussocks, although they might shelter four-footed 

 game, would injure the grass of the following year, and render 

 it less fit for hay. We gladly took the opportunity of offering 

 to clean them all off, and a nice job it was in the dark, wintry 

 mornings, when it was not frosty, to turn out so many wielders 

 of scythes to chop over these tussocks, not too low, and in 

 regular swathes. We soon collected loads of this beautiful 

 material, which, mixed with a few tree leaves, became perfectly 

 sweet, and when built in a bed with a layer of diy litter, or of 

 small tree branches every 9 or 10 inches, gave for a long time a 

 gentle, continuous heat. We recollect with the help of such 

 tussocks almost alone, we cut fine Melons in April, under a com- 

 mon frame, as early as ever we had them with hot water. After 

 some seasons, however, it began to be perceived that the park 

 was none the better for what we had taken from it, and there- 

 fore in this direction we were arrested in our willingness to 

 oblige. No better material for a nice, sweet hotbed, however, 

 can be found. 



Almost the only other material not generally used, was moss, 

 and that, too, is excellent, but not quite equal to the tussocks 

 of withered grass. Sometimes good lots of this can be pro- 

 cured fi'om the raking and harrowing of grass lands that rest 

 on a clay bottom. We offered to clear a large bank with rakes, 

 where in winter the moss grew so strong as completely to hide 

 all appearance of herbage. We soon collected a number of cart- 

 loads, and useful it was for many pui-poses, besides becoming 

 a part of the heating fennenting-heap. Our own opinion is, 

 that the giass in the following season was much improved, 

 even from tliis clearing away of the moss, but those more and 

 chiefly interested considered that the laying bare of the roots of 

 the grass tended to hurt, and even to kill them. We believe that 

 if a top-dressing had been given to the cleared part both the 

 grass land and the garden would have been mutually bene- 

 fited. We could not quite go that length about a continuance 

 of clearing oif the tussocky grass. We fear there was a little 

 of " beggar my neighbour " in the question ; at least it would 

 be so if the cutting went too low, or was repeated frequently 



