14 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 8, 180C. 



kept in heat they will be apt to make a second growth, which 

 mu6t be avoided, as it prevents their flowering so freely as would 

 otherwise be the case. Give every possible attention to plants 

 for autumn and early-winter flowering — as Lilium laneifolium, 

 Chrysanthemums, Salvia splendens, Globe Amaranths, tree 

 Carnations, Scarlet Geraniums, Cinerarias, Gesneras, Begonias, 

 Euphorbias, &c. Let these have plenty of pot-room, good rich 

 compost, a moist atmosphere, and plenty of space for the per- 

 fect development of their foliage, regulating the temperature 

 according to the nature of the plants, and they will make very 

 rapid progress. Selago distans is an exceedingly useful winter- 

 flowering plant, requiring merely a cold pit to grow it, and 

 flowering through a long season ; but we have nothing that 

 surpasses the Epacris, the winter-blooming Ericas, and the 

 Cytisuses. Among comparatively modern plants Sericographis 

 Ghiesbreghtiaua is really good for the decoration of the conser- 

 vatory in winter, as also the blue Conoclinium. and the singular- 

 looking Tbyrsacanthus rutilans is first-rate for a rather warm 

 house, but it is not generally found to answer for winter use 

 in the conservatory. The atmosphere of plant-houses can 

 hardly be kept too moist at this season, but it is easy to err 

 in the opposite direction : therefore sprinkle every available 

 surface frequently, and syringe growing stock lightly twice 

 a-day during bright weather. Avoid a too free use of shading, 

 and ventilate freely in order to secure compact growth. Her- 

 baceous Calceolarias which have done blocming should have 

 their flower-stems removed forthwith, and the plants should 

 afterwards be placed in a shady situation under the protection | 

 of a frame. Take care that they are perfectly free from insects ; 

 and to keep the thrips, which is a deadly enemy, at bay, fu- 

 migate the frame about once a-lortnight with tobacco. 



STOVE. 



Many of the basket Orchids will soon he protruding their 

 roots through the moss or soil, and a little additional fibrous 

 peat or moss should he added in due time. Stove stock in 

 general will gain some more room by the removal of large 

 specimens into the conservatory or greenhouse. Let young 

 growing things be stopped in due time, and keep up a moist 

 yet free atmosphere. 



TLANT-rlTS 0K FRAMES. 



These will require abundance of air and the most careful 

 watering daily. Some of the delicate stock will at times re- 

 quire shading through the middle of the day, especially where 

 unplunged. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



Vert hot drying weather, preparatory, we expect, to another 

 thunder-storm ; but meantime, in the brightness of the sun 

 very trying to newly planted things, and causing many plants 

 pretty well established to hang their heads. 



KITCHEN* GARDEN". 



Delayed putting out Celery, but got the beds ready; and as 

 the large fine plants are as yet doing no harm to each other, 

 they will suffer little from transplanting with large balls. Pre- 

 pared ground for Winter Greens and Coleworts. but will wait for 

 duller weather before planting, more especially as there is so 

 much besides to do, and we would rather lessen the labour of 

 watering as much as possible. In fact, we are not so forward 

 as we would wish a good many of our readers to be, and have 

 been obliged to do mf.ny things by snatches, which it would 

 have been truer economy to have finished at once. 



Here is one of the great differences between a gentleman's 

 gardener and an artisan. The former must often do merely a 

 portion of a job to serve its turn in the meantime, when the 

 finishing it off and letting other things wait would be the most 

 economical as respects labour ; but then in the jarring of in- 

 terests, and each interest calling out to be first served, the 

 wholly-finishing process would often interfere with the ques- 

 tion of supply and demand. This, too, is often forgotten 

 when comparisons are instituted between gentlemen's gardens 

 and market gardens. In the former a great supply of any one 

 thing at once is often tantamount to so much waste, and in- 

 duces at least a feeling of satiety. In the other case so long 

 as there is a market it signifies nothing, unless it be more ad- 

 vantageous that a great supply should come in at once, and the 

 ground be thus cleared for a future crop. The cultivating of 

 80 many acres, in acres of this and acres of that, and the culti- 

 vating the same number of acres in merely poles of this and 

 quarter rods of that, to come in in regular succession to each 



other, presupposes a very different affair as respects even the 

 labour involved. In the first case, merely as abridging labour 

 and clearing the ground, there can be no question as to the 

 economy and profit when a suitable market is to be found. 

 As little question can there be of the advantage of the gentle- 

 man's-garden plan, where a constant supply, and not a glut at 

 any one time, is required. Possessors of gardens are apt to say 

 that they can purchase cheaper than they grow, and this is 

 very likely, and on the simple principles alluded to above ; but 

 they should recollect that in the country they could not so pur- 

 chase at all without considerable additional expense in the way 

 of carriage, and the further from the market the greater would 

 he the uncertainty of getting served with what they want, and 

 the greater certainty of being served with stale produce instead 

 of fresh. Every possessor of a garden ought, besides, clearly 

 to understand that it is very different as respects labour 

 alone to grow only one crop on an acre of ground, and in 

 a space of the same extent to grow a score or a hundred. 

 The freshness of the produce and the regular succession do 

 and ought to constitute the most valuable returns from a gentle- 

 man's gafden. 



A correspondent tells us that some gentlemen far north, 

 when they go to London, visit Covent Garden two or three 

 times a-week, and send an account of all they see to their gar- 

 dener, with his couple of men, and wonder why they cannot have 

 such things, and as early. The articles referred to they give 

 no means for forcing, and yet those they had seen had either 

 been forced, or at a later period brought by steamer from the 

 north of Africa, the south of France, the Channel Islands, or 

 the south of Devonshire and Cornwall. It would be a good 

 thing if such observers would do more than observe, that they 

 would purchase at an early period, and the lesson might not be 

 quite forgotten. We recollect a case in point. What seemed 

 a basket of very early Cherries, was taken hold of, and was to be 

 made much of in the way of jogging up the county folks, where 

 the trees were scarcely out of bloom, and as there were ladies in 

 the case, the price for once was not allowed to be a matter of 

 moment. We were told in confidence afterwards, that instead of 

 a little basketful there was only one layer, and that each Cherry 

 cost nearly a shilling. The same person was " done for " with 

 a basket of nice Strawberries, which he presented to a lady, 

 but there was something like an appreciation of his gardener 

 which he had never felt before, when the bill f.r the nice basket 

 was handed in, and he paid 4s. M. per ounce for them. It 

 ought to be clearly understood, that no single garden can ever 

 equal Covent Garden, where are collected the produce of thou- 

 sands of gardens, and from great varieties of climate at homo 

 and abroad ; but a knowledge of Covent Garden prices, and 

 especially for early productions, would often do much good, and 

 make the country garden more valued, merely in an economical 

 point of view. 



Had enough of ground trenched and dug to sow some more 

 Peas, Dwarf Kidney Beans, and Turnip Radishes, and used the 

 tops of Celery trenches for planting out Peas from semi- 

 circular drain tiles, after they were sufficiently high for the 

 pheasants not to meddle with them. These, when well watered 

 and staked, had the ridge covered over with old stubble and 

 short grass, to keep the heat and dryness out, for the groundis 

 now quite hot enough for Peas. The last sowings will consist 

 of such kinds as Dickson's Favourite, Maclean's Advancer, to 

 be followed by a few of Sangster's, and probably Tom Thumb, 

 under protection. Cauliflower stands the hot days rather 

 badly, though all crisp and erect enough in the morning ; and to 

 save watering placed some litter, long dung, and grass, all over 

 the quarter, to keep the fierce sun off the ground. If we have 

 a thunder shower by or before Sunday, the virtues of the mulch- 

 ing will increase the vigour of the plants. This mulching alone 

 enables the plants to stand well, even in the bright sun. When 

 the leaves hang wetted for two or three days, the flower or 

 head of young plants is apt to button prematurely, and either 

 a small or a scattered head, instead of a large close one, is the 

 consequence. If the bright weather continue we shall be 

 obliged to shade Lettuces even on sloping north banks. This 

 is a substitute for watering, and takes much less time. 



Took the chance to have a general hoeing of weeds, the late 

 warm rains having caused them to grow with great rapidity. 

 Thinned before the ground became hard most of the spring- 

 sown Onions, and pricked out some as previously detailed. We 

 could not find time and opportunity to transplant in spring 

 the Onion's sown in autumn, and they are not so good in con- 

 sequence. We have uniformly found that such Onions as were 

 transplanted early in spring made better, larger, and firmer 



