32 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 10, 1866. 



As many of the principal plants will now be in the conser- 

 vatory, advantage must be taken of their absence to encourage 

 the plants for winter blooming, especially such as Justicias, 

 Erantbemums, Begonias, Aphelandras, Euphorbias, &c, and 

 a batch of Achimenes picta and Gesnera zebrina must be 

 started for the same purpose. Rondeletia speciosa is an ex- 

 cellent winter plant when sufficient heat can be afforded, and 

 Torenia asiatica and Pentas carnea, especially the latter, are 

 very useful plants. Luculia gratissirna and Pinceana must be 

 placed in a sheltered corner in the open air to ripen the wood 

 and set the bloom ; never mind the leaves turning brown, they 

 will soon recover that when placed in heat again. Maintain 

 a moist growing temperature with plenty of air, and guard 

 against insects. So far as Orchids are concerned, those show- 

 ing indications of matured growth may be removed to the cool 

 end of the house for a few weeks, and afterwards placed in 

 quarters where the temperature and atmospheric moisture will 

 not interfere with the slow progress of the plant towards a 

 state of rest. Dendrobiums and others of that class should 

 be grown on till the shoots are of sufficient height. Remove 

 the first appearance of every form of weed or insect, aud keep 

 the sponge constantly at work, for much of the health and 

 vigour of plants depend upon this. See that no plants are 

 neglected in consequence of standing in corners or behind large 

 plants. Arrange and re-arrange frequently, for doing so tends 

 materially to promote the well-being of the plants, while it 

 heightens in a high degree the interest of the house. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



The thunderstorms and the rains which we expected have 

 come, and, if injurious to some things, have furnished a good 

 opportunity for turning over and filling with Winter Greens 

 every bit of unoccupied ground. 



Planted out a good piece of Coleworts between Peas that will 

 soon be off. These we generally plant a foot apart in the rows, 

 and the rows are a foot apart. Planted out also a border of 

 the Early Ulm Savoy, a sweet little vegetable that comes in 

 early, and which does well a foot apart. These are as useful 

 in the autumn and early winter as the dwarf and larger Savoys 

 are at Christmas. Our manure for these, Brussels Sprouts and 

 Scotch Kale, has chiefly consisted of mowings, short and longer, 

 allowed to lie iu a heap until in strong heat and incipient 

 decomposition, and then trenched down in the bottom of the 

 trench. This manure gives assistance to the plants long be- 

 fore the roots reach it, and before that takes place it will 

 have lost its raukness. When we used to pride ourselves on 

 having large Celery fit for use in July, we took out deep 

 trenches, say 2 feet in depth and 4 feet in width, put in 

 18 inches of this hot grass and litter, trod it firmly, covered it 

 with G inches of soil, again trod it firmly, aud then put on 

 6 inches of rotten dung and soil. The heat from the decom- 

 posing grass pushed the Celery along, and it was becoming 

 sweet and mild and much reduced in bulk before the Celery 

 roots took hold of it. Where there is labour at command 

 there need be no standing still for bottom heat after such 

 mowings come in. When mixed with rather dry litter such a 

 mixture will afford heat a long time, until, in fact, the litter 

 has become decomposed ; and if there is from 12 to 15 inches 

 of sweet or more decomposed material above it, the rankness 

 will not hurt anything ; but of course, if either the roots or 

 leaves came in contact with that rankness directly it would be 

 very prejudicial. 



We recollect when, from want of anything better, and wish- 

 ing to have all the benefit of the heating short grass in the 

 ground, we first used it as a heavy dressing for a piece |of 

 Cauliflowers ; the Cauliflowers grew wonderfully fast, but 

 owing to the trenching being carelessly performed — the ground 

 left level, some shoved in hills and dales— there being great 

 depressions over the trenches where an extra quantity of such 

 manure had been placed, and in those places where the mow- 

 ings had been left near the surface some plants suffered, looking 

 in bright sun as if the roots had been nibbled by wireworm. 

 We knew well enough what was the matter, and kept our own 

 council. Such fresh material should, for all fresh plant- 

 ations, be from 12 to 18 inches from the surface. When 

 people shall be less frightened to use such rank stuff the 

 mowings and sweepings might often be taken to a quarter in 



the kitchen garden, and two wheelings instead of one might 

 be avoided. 



Those who would be afraid to use such rich manures as 

 these grass mowings and sweepings make when in this rank 

 state, instead of allowing them to lie aud rot (and most of 

 their best properties thus escape into the atmosphere), should 

 have them covered over with earth or with part of the general 

 rubbish-heap, and then the latter will be greatly enriched 

 in its manurial properties. Even when used fresh, as manure, 

 or for giving heat to plants in frames, danger will be averted 

 if the materials do not come near the roots, and no steam 

 or vapour escape into the atmosphere of the space occu- 

 pied by the leaves. When used, therefore, for bottom or for 

 top heat, no crevice should be left to allow the sSrong steam to 

 pass upwards, for it will assuredly kill all that it can reach in 

 a close atmosphere. 



Celery. — Took the opportunity to plant out several large 

 beds. We use the beds of any convenient size, as the width is 

 of but little importance where the earthing-up is done well. 

 This season our beds are i feet wide, with 3. J -feet- wide spaces 

 between them, these ridges being cropped alternately with 

 Peas, staked, and with dwarf crops of Kidney Beans, &c, so 

 that there may be no difficulty in passing along the dwarf- 

 cropped ridge to water the two beds of Celery ; and then the 

 rows of Peas, with the stakes, give a shade to a certain extent. 

 When we used each ridge for Peas we had them wider, and the 

 beds also wider. These beds were taken out about 15 inches 

 deep, and the soil laid on the ridges on each side. Then in the 

 bed was placed about inches deep of half-rotten dung from 

 old hotbeds, aud that was dug-in and incorporated with the soil, 

 and then was added about 6 inches more of rotten leaf mould 

 aud hotbed dung, with a little soil chopped from the sides mixed 

 with it. In such beds we have often put four rows, but this 

 season we have only put three rows, the plants standing a foot 

 apart each way, and the outside rows being nearly a foot from 

 the side of the trench. Even such kinds as the Dwarf Incom- 

 parable require that space to form nice stubby plants, and 

 strong-growing kinds need more room. Where room is scarce 

 the beds may be from 6 to 8 feet wide, and then a bed will give 

 a large number of plants. When the plants are tied before 

 earthing-up, the mere width of tho bed does not interfere in 

 the least with their easy management. 



So far as our experience goes, plants in wide beds are not 

 so apt to bolt, even when planted early, as those in trenches 

 from 9 to 12 inches wide, as the roots do not come so readily 

 against the firm sides of the trench. When merely some 

 3 or 4 inches of rotten manure are given to a trench a foot 

 wide or so, strong Celery plants would soon begin to feel like 

 a plant in a pot, which will ever have a tendency to throw up 

 a flower-stem as the roots become firm round the sides of the 

 pot. Plenty of water and doing away with the bit-by-bit 

 earthing-up of early Celery, are, however, the great preventives 

 against running-up flower-stalks. The whole theory of this 

 has already been explained. We must not say what the Celery 

 will be this season, but this we can say, that where such 

 simple details can be attended to, there need not be a single 

 run head of early Celery. 



The planting, too, though trifling, is also of some importance. 

 A farmer friend used often to speak of a row which be once 

 had, and the perspiration into which he was thrown in carry- 

 ing the plants home. He had the plants with large balls of 

 roots, and in his rotten muck they did grow, and never suffered 

 from the moving. 



We noticed in some of our beds a few plants flagging, which 

 they had no business to do with the balls with which they ought 

 to have been lifted from the pricked-out bed. The man had been 

 planting with a hand trowel, a very nice implement for ordinary 

 purposes, but not at all calculated for such fine plants with 

 large masses of fibrous roots in the rotten leaf mould. It could 

 only be done properly by making good trenches with the spade ; 

 for then the ball could be laid in at the proper depth, and the 

 fibres would not be crushed by the ball being squeezed into a 

 hole too small for it. This little matter is often neglected when 

 planting with a trowel. The hole should always be large enough 

 to permit of the fibres going out freely into the loose fresh- 

 turned soil. 



Even when plunging plants in pots in a bed, where nicety 

 as to appearance and the welfare of the plants are considered, 

 the hole made should always be large enough ; it is in every 

 way better to throw a little material into the bottom of the 

 hole iu order to keep the pot to the right level, instead of at- 

 tempting to squeeze the pot down, for then it will not long 



