Deoembor 26, 186B. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



52? • 



It is all very well to wash paths in lioiinea nt midRiinmicr, but 

 HOW ns little water as possible elioiilil be spilled. If paths in 

 huuses must bo washed, it should bo dune ■with, a seruldnnj;- 

 brusli and cloth, nnd every bit cleaned and dried up as the 

 work goes on ; nnd the water shmild be ns hot ns the hands can 

 boar, as tlio place will dry all the nuicker in proportion to the 

 heat of the water. In many coid houses it will be the best 

 plnn to brush the paths clean, and then sprinkle them over 

 with dry saud. 



KITCHEN fiAnnKN. 



Our work was very much a continuation of that detailed last 

 week, only as tbo dryness continued we took the opportunity 

 to wheel from decayed hotbeds and rubbish hta;i ou pound 

 intended for trenching down for Carrots, nnd for a fresh piece 

 of Asparaffus. 



A.ipnrnirxi:, we have not been able to top-dress as yet, but 

 we mnst get the young part done before frost come, as we 

 notice that the buds are close to the surfiice. Thi;;ii partly 

 owing to the mode wo have of late years adopted with this 

 crop — that is, gi-owing it on single raised ridges st.me 20 inches 

 apart, instead of in beds. The ground is well manured and 

 trenched in the usual way, then tlirown into little ridges, and 

 the plants jdaccd over them and covered '.! or H inches, and in 

 winter, as we can pet at thein, a little rotten dung in thrown 

 over the ridges. Little trouble is thus given, the produce is 

 generally good, and the roots are more easily taken for forcing 

 than when the plants arc giown in beds. However, any plan 

 does well that answers. We like to plant best when the plants 

 are sprung an inch or two, but then care should be taken that 

 the roots are never parched or dried wlien the planting is going 

 on. We have never seen the necessity for covering Asparagus 

 to any great depth, as the slight dressing of manure, rough, 

 saves the roots ; for, if quite exposed, we have seen the buds 

 killed by frost. We arc. perhaps, wrong in saying that we 

 have never seen the necessity of deep covering, for three or 

 four times we have had many buds of Asparagus, when in a 

 dormant state, nibbled by mice, and snch nibblers would 

 have attacked them less easily if they had been more deeply 

 covered. 



Ki'lnri/ Bfam have done pretty well, but some that were 

 planted r.ather far from the glass in a pit have not done half so 

 well as those gi-own in pots, and the plants elevated so that 

 the tops were within a few inches of the glass. If tho.se in the 

 pit had Ijeen favoured with glass on all sides they would have 

 done better. If there had berji a fair amount of sun they 

 would also have succeeded better. They were nothing. like a 

 failure, but, merely to secure all the light possible, it is best 

 to have Kidney Beans in pots grown in pits, or, if planted 

 out, the soil should not bo more than IS inches from the 

 glass. In houses where there is front glass, and no shade 

 above, there is no necessity for such nicety. We are thus 

 particular as we have several crimplaints from young begin- 

 ners about Beans damping off. Give all the light possible, 

 heat enough to permit of air, and yet keep up a temperature of 

 from '>'>° at night, to &)' and 65^ during the day, and there 

 will be no damping. As we had a little shelf room at liberty, 

 filled it with 18-sized pots, with five or six Beans in a pot. 

 These when up, stopped, and breaking well, will either be 

 planted out or transferred in a piece to larger pots. 



All that was said of Cauliflower, salads, Rhubarb now coming 

 in, and Sea-kale, last week, will apply equilly well now, only 

 we may mention, that at this season we generally grow our 

 Sea-kale in pots, in the Mushroom-house, not for considering 

 anything about light, as in the case of the Beans, hut for re- 

 gulating the heat and the supply. For instance, if we w.iut 

 the Sea-kale quickly, we plunge the pot in mild fermenting 

 material in the house, and cover with another pot, to keep the 

 heat about the buds. Wlieu we do not want it in a hurry, we 

 allow the pots to stand on the j-alh, and insure darkness ; and 

 if notwithstanding this httle care, it comes quicker than we 

 want it, we move the pots into a colder place, and keep them 

 dark there. When th-s vegetable is used from November, it 

 requires a great deal of roots to keep up a supply, more room, in 

 fact, in summer, than can well be spared in a small garden, and 

 when the roots are taken np and planted in a bed, there will be 

 a likelihood of having too much at a time, whicli can be better 

 regulated if the roots are packed nicely and firmly in pots. Of 

 course, the bed-system is quite as good for market, but large 

 quantities at a time of anything should be avoided in a gentle- 

 man's garden. .Tust imagine a large dish of Kidney Beans on 

 the table every day in December, and the Beans would be no 

 more thought of tliau a dish of Scotch Kale. The same would 



be the associations of Soa-kale if it made its appearance every 

 day. Kven the best things fhould never bi- so presented as to 

 pnuluce satiety. 



At ynge .51)8, second column, there occurs the expresBion. 

 " Some of these little Turnijis keep well in winter." It thoald 

 have been, "Some of the smaller yelluw Turnips keep, &o.," 

 which will make nil dear. We are anxious that some of our 

 readers would trv the old Yellow Maltese, the Orange .lelly, or 

 (ioldei! Ball, or even the Dutch Yellow, as these to our taste 

 arc ns good if not richer flavoured than the favourite whites, 

 as the American Red Top, so much run upon, nnd they would 

 make a variety, and, perhaps, yellow Turnijis might thus, from 

 being reported on. <u>mc into fashion. We must confess that 

 when we grew them they remained on our hands, or were sent 

 for the animals to eat, and they knew what was good for them. 



FKIUT CAKOKX. 



Lots of work to do in pruning, lifting roots, washing walls, 

 and washing trees ; but we have been able to do nothing but 

 continue with all departments much the same as noticed last 

 week. The only annoying thing we have met with is finding a 

 shelf of Black I'rince." Strawberries, swelling freely, which we 

 intended for Christmas or the NuW Year, pretty well destroyed 

 bv an inroad of iiiirr. It was very annoying to find lots cut 

 over, Iving in the pots, others on the shelf, !ind from others 

 where the stalk was not cut the seeds in many cases had been 

 nibbled out, and in that case all chance of swelling was over. 

 Some of the depredators were trapi)ed, and we suspect others 

 were poisoned, as lots of pieces of toast and butter liberally 

 dressed with arsenic were taken quite away, nnd, we presume, 

 partaken of bv them. At this season of the year we woiUd he 

 inclined to look even upon our vermin enemies with something 

 Uke kindness, and act on the principle of live and let live, if 

 thev kept at all w.thin bounds ; but such a set-on, and more to 

 gratifv their love of mischief than to satisfy any feeling of 

 hunger, was rather too much even for the benevolence of a very 

 patient philosopher. However, we disUke h.aving anything to 

 do with poison in any shape if it can he avoided, and when 

 used even- crumb should be carefully looked after in the early 

 moining,'so that no other anim.al may come in contact with 

 anv of it. Not a bad plan for putting down such poisoned ma- 

 terial is to place the pieces in a garden saucer, with another 

 saucer over it, but kept far enough apart to i^ermit a mouse to 

 enter freely, with a weight on the top one to prevent its being 

 moved. Such a plan would be of no nse in the case of the 

 cunning rat, but the mouse will often like it all the better from 

 even the appearance of keeping him from the liait, and cares 

 but little for the taint left behind from the touch of the hand. 

 For temperature of houses see last week. When a tempera- 

 ture of from t'lO' to 70° is maintained care should be taken, 

 especially in bright weather.'to see that the air is moist enough. 

 Of late tiie air has been moist enough if the temperature rnnf^ed 

 from 50° to 60°. 



ORXAMEXTAL DEPAr.TMKNT. 



For the management of plants in houses, pits, frames, i-c, 

 see last and preceding week's notices. As the weather is again 

 threatening to he dull, and the barometer falling, betokening 

 more wet, took the opportunity of rolling the lawn again to 

 keep down worm heaps and niake all smooth, and proceeded 

 with alterations in groundwork, moving and transplanting ever- 

 greens, fresh turfing discarded clumps, &c. Here we must 

 notice an en-or in the last line of the first paragraph under the 

 above heading last week ; the word " Strawberries " should be 

 "shrubberies." We notice the word, however, chiefly for two 

 purposes : first, because, properly speaking, wc never dig among 

 our StrawbeiTies, from the time they are planted until they are 

 trenched down out of sight ; and, secondly, for the remmder to 

 say a few words on the digging of t.hru.blicriis. Now, we con- 

 sider carefnl digging is n good plan for encouraging rapid growth 

 among shrubs fresh planted. Ai; the plants advance and the spaec 

 becomes filled with roots, the fork will be better for this purpose 

 than the spade, nnd should be used merely to break the surface 

 where the roots are thick; a rich top-dressing will also gieatly 

 encourage grov.'th, and keep out summer's heat and winter's 

 frost. When shrubberies become established, this digging 

 among them is worse than useless. Many of such shrubberies, 

 however, have a border in front of thtm appropriated to flowers, 

 and of course these borders must be dug, and in such cases the 

 shrubberies, thongh beautiful in themselves, are less picturesque 

 in outline, and are chiefly regarded as a varied background for 

 showing off the more gaybut ephememl summer plants in front 

 of them. A fine specimen of such shrubberies, but very rich 

 in the variety nnd goodness of the plants, may be seen at En- 



