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JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



r July 31, 186& 



a small knife, must be used in summer instead of the saw or 

 the chisel in winter. 



Strawberry Plants. — The season of Strawberry-gathering will 

 with us be much shorter than usual, owing to the great heat 

 succeeding the drenching rains. Planted-out the most of those 

 we had forced. We had filled some frames with plants which 

 did us excellent service after we had removed most of the 

 plants from the houses. From these we obtained some good 

 runners. The plants, having been turned out in good stuff, 

 became very strong when bearing, and afterwards, and though 

 it is contrary to our usual practice, we thought we would try 

 an experiment with them. We cut off all the leaves except a 

 few small ones in the centre, gave the plants a good watering 

 to encourage them to grow afresh, and when they have formed 

 a few more squat healthy leaves we intend taking them up and 

 potting them in large pots, being pretty fully convinced that 

 such plants will ripen their buds earlier than those taken from 

 runners of the present season. We have done so in a few cases 

 with plants that had been forced in pots, and found that they 

 usually produced very plentifully and early, but did not gene- 

 rally yield individually such fine fruit as was obtained from 

 younger plants. The dry, warm weather has made the run- 

 ners of some kinds come later than usual. Our favourite 

 mode of preparing them is to layer the runners in small pots, 

 with a stone or pebble over them to keep them in their places, 

 and when rooted to take them up and shift into larger pots ; but 

 this season, to save time, we have taken up many runners as 

 soon as formed, with a piece of the string attached, and at 

 once potted them in small pots and set them where we could 

 keep them close, and a little shaded either with glass or calico, 

 &c, and they are rooting nicely. We did this chiefly to avoid 

 the trouble of watering these where they were growing 

 naturally. 



Orchard-houses. — These required frequent syringing to keep 

 them right in the hot weather. Moisture, and plenty of it 

 where the moisture will not be stagnant, is now an important 

 agent in assisting the swelling of the fruit and the perfecting 

 of the wood of such trees as Cherries, from which the fruit 

 has been gathered. Having nothing else handy we sprinkled 

 all the ground thinly with soot, and watered well with house 

 sewage; but we gave it to no plants in pots, as some time 

 back, when owing to dearth of water we were obliged to use 

 sewage water or none, some of the plants in pots suffered 

 from it. Notwithstanding the drawbacks in the shape of 

 economy as respects watering, we are not surprised that many 

 people with little room so much admire the pot system. What 

 can be more beautiful than a compact Cherry in bloom ? and 

 again, wheutloaded like so many ropes of Onions with its ruby 

 fruit ? and then all the care in watering, &c, seems to be for- 

 gotten. We would here make one suggestion to an " Old 

 Grumbler," and that is, as his trees become older he must 

 not stop and pinch the shoots quite so much. When every 

 little bit of a shoot bristles with fruit-buds, and the clusters 

 seem larger every day, then it would be kindness to let the 

 shoots grow for a few inches, and even that growth will keep 

 the fruit-buds more secure, for if you keep stopping-in closely 

 you may induce these fine clusters of buds in self-defence to 

 elongate into wood-buds and young shoots. 



Judging from our own experience we would advise all having 

 orchard-houses to go over them regularly now, not merely for 

 arranging the shoots, cutting-in laterals, Sea., but for well 

 thinning the fruit. The evil with most of us is that as the 

 fruit comes so thickly, though we remove bushels of young 

 fruit, we are apt to leave hundreds too many. The thinning 

 is generally a serious thing in these orchard-houses, even with- 

 out any help but the glass and sun heat. 



We will clear the Peach-house this week, a tree of the Wal- 

 hurton Admirable having prolonged the gathering fully a fort- 

 night or three weeks after the others were gathered — a matter 

 of importance in small families. As a rule, Peach-houses ought 

 either to be small, or, if large, should be planted with a suc- 

 cession of kinds, as a much greater quantity of Peaches at an 

 earlier period than can be used is next to a loss, unless they are 

 made a marketable commodity. 



Gave a good soaking to Fig trees bearing abundantly. The 

 fruit to be packed should be gathered at mid-day as soon as 

 they begin to crack. Those to be used at home may hang 

 until they are much riper, and then they are good for those 

 who love anything sweet and luscious. We had long been in 

 the habit, as respects pruning and training, of letting them 

 have a good deal of their own way, and we were farther con- 

 firmed in this by n. visit to Mr. Tillyard, at Bentley Priory, 



some time ago. The Fig trees were doing first-rate, bat bore 

 no marks of much pruning or training. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



What with the rains and the heat, lawns have been no 

 sinecure, but have required much extra work in cutting, rolling, 

 ifcc, and fresh-laid portions and turfed-down beds have been 

 especially troublesome, as they grew much faster than the 

 older turf near them, telling every one, if not kept down, of the 

 changes, whilst the beauty of a lawn greatly consists in looking 

 all of a piece. At times, when we could not overtake the 

 cutting so as to keep all green and short, we have secured a 

 uniform green, by switching off with the daisy knife all plants 

 of Bents, Plantain, and other things that appeared above the 

 green level, and a man that can sail or swing the knife above 

 the green herbage, will go over a large space in a little time. 

 The sun soon puts all such cuttings out of sight, and a few 

 hours' work even on a large lawn soon makes a great difference 

 in the appearance. True, it is a makeshift, but provided an 

 effect is produced, people now-a-days do not examine too closely 

 into how the effect is produced. We admire colouring in flowers, 

 from whatever source they come. We can revel in the bright 

 orange of the Buttercup in the meadow, and we can become quite 

 romantic on seeing boys and girls gathering their pinafore3 

 full of the starry Daisy, as we did in the times long ago. We 

 have stood wondering if anything would make a more charming 

 little yellow flower-bed than the Lotus corniculatus, so abun- 

 dant in some pastures and lawns ; but then to enjoy the sense 

 of the beautiful, in unison with our advanced ideas of taste, 

 there must be a place for everything, and everything in its 

 place. Just as we would consider the furniture quite suitable 

 for a working man's cottage not exactly in character amid the 

 surroundings of an elegant drawing-room ; so the flowers that 

 deck and beautify the meadow would do nothing but detract 

 from the rich green of the lawn. Where the lawn is too large 

 to be kept uniformly green, then prudence and good taste alike 

 recommend that there should be less ambition as to extent, 

 and more striving to keep what is attempted to be kept, in good 

 condition. Everything that rises naturally above the green 

 surface of a lawn so far destroys its beauty. A green level 

 should be its only characteristic. 



Hollyhocks will now want securing, and they will be benefited 

 by frequent syringings with clear soot water, which in hot 

 weather will keep off attacks of thrips and other insects. A 

 good watering with manure water at the roots will also assist 

 in producing noble spikes, if that be the object. Removing 

 some of the side shoots will also contribute towards the attain- 

 ment of this result, and these may be struck in a shady place, 

 with or without the assistance of hand-glasses. This is the 

 best plan for securing huge single spikes, but not in our opinion 

 showing off the majestic plant to advantage. It never looks 

 better than when towering in grandeur, with numbers of sub- 

 sidiary flower-shoots coming from the main stem, and attend- 

 ing the main central spike ; but that would not do for a flower 

 show. 



Dahlias growing freely will need staking. We like best grow- 

 ing to a single stem, securing to a single stake, and fastening 

 up the subsidiary shoots, doing it so loosely that little of the 

 stake or tying is to be seen. These, too, if the weather do not 

 change, will need watering at the root and overhead. A good 

 syringing in an evening with clear soot water is one of the 

 best means of keeping away the attacks of thrips, which, if 

 once they obtain a lodging, will spoil the blooms much for that 

 season. 



Carnations aiid Picotees grown in pots or beds will now want 

 securing, well watering, syringing, and cleaning ; and if per- 

 fection is desired the flower-buds should be tied to prevent the 

 calyx bursting at the bottom. For out-of-door work no stakes 

 are comparable to a wire twisted in corkscrew fashion. Instead 

 of tying, all that is necessary is to place the stems in the twists, 

 and they will be held securely. Fine masses of the commoner 

 kinds are grand in flower gardens, where they can be free from 

 the devastations of rabbits and hares, and grass mice, which, 

 especially in winter, will make sad work with the best col- 

 lections. 



Pinks will now be in a good condition for striking. The 

 taking off and making the cuttings used to be a nice job for the 

 shed. The days of progress are now on us, and we take 

 off the cutting, technically piping, and make it with one sharp 

 pull, taking hold of the shoot to steady it with the left hand, 

 catching the cutting at the second joint with the right hand, 

 and giving a brisk pull, when it comes out of the socket of the 



