128 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 14, : 



quate to the expense and trouble of collecting and cleaning. 

 We merely allude to those showy species and varieties, some 

 of which every flower gardener possesses and cultivates, and 

 which, not being easily procurable from the seedsman, it is 

 desirable we should endeavour to preserve. Take the oppor- 

 tunity of fine days for collecting; tie up in bundles, and label 

 correctly. Seeds of plants which have burst their seed-vessels 

 should be gathered in pans ; place them in the seed-room 

 till a wet day occurs, when the seeds can be rubbed out. Pro- 

 pagation of stock for next season must now be commenced 

 and carried on with expedition, so as to secure strong, well- 

 established plants before winter, and without the necessity of 

 keeping them so close and warm as to induce weakly and watery 

 growth. Hollyhocks are general favourites, but they do not 

 afford cuttings freely, and are in general not over-plentiful in 

 most places ; these should, therefore, be examined often in 

 search of any cuttings which they may afford, as those rooted 

 about this time will make strong plants for next season. Attend 

 to the tying-np of these and Dahlias. Sow Ten-week and 

 Intermediate Stocks for spring flowering ; transplant Brompton 

 and Queen Stocks, and if the situations in which they are to 

 flower are not at liberty, prick them out in nursery-beds, allow- 

 ing them plenty of room to prevent weakly growth. Keep 

 gravel walks perfectly clean and smooth by weeding, sweeping, 

 and rolling as may be necessary. Keep climbers on walls 

 within due limits. Continue to remove dead flowers from 

 Roses, and give plenty of manure water to the autumn-bloom- 

 ing varieties. Plant-out rooted cuttings of Pansies in nursery- 

 beds in a shady situation, keeping them well watered, if the 

 weather proves dry, until they become established. Finish 

 budding Roses at once, if not already done, and also let border 

 Carnations, Picotees, and Cloves be layered without further 

 loss of time. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



It will he much to the advantage of the inmates of plant- 

 houses, to reduce the shading after this time, to enable the 

 plants to ripen their summer's growth, allowing more air to 

 keep down the temperature, and so check any tendency to a 

 second growth, which may show itself, and which can only 

 take place at the expense of next season's bloom. Brugmansias, 

 Clerodendrons, and other large soft-leaved plants should be 

 frequently washed to keep down red spider, and be well sup- 

 plied with liquid manure to keep them in a vigorous state of 

 growth, which adds so much to their beauty. Remove Achi- 

 menes, Gloxinias, Tuberoses, and plants of the same habit from 

 the conservatory when on the wane, and replenish from the re- 

 serve-houses to keep up the display. Epacrises, winter-flowering 

 Heaths, and other plants requiring to have the wood ripened 

 early may now be placed in a sunny exposure. As the wood is 

 already formed, nothing remains but to get it well ripened ; 

 and although water must be given equal to the demandsof the 

 plant, a dry and warm atmosphere are essential to the per- 

 fect ripening of the wood, and consequent formation of flower- 

 buds. Should the weather prove unfit for out-of-door work, 

 it would be advisable to take the opportunity thus afforded to 

 effect any arraugements necessary internally. It would be a 

 favourable moment for carefully regulating conservatory climb- 

 ers, and thoroughly cleansing "the house, at the same time a 

 fresh arrangement of the plants might be carried out, and 

 some necessary potting performed. It is injudicious to defer 

 this last operation, when at all necessary, until late in the au- 

 tumn. Plants out of doors must be frequently examined, and 

 carefully secured against all chances of injury from ungenial 

 weather. Continue a system of stopping and training with 

 young plants intended for specimens. Give a shift to Chinese 

 Primulas, Cinerarias, and Chrysanthemums. Salvias and other 

 autumn-flowering plants should be placed in their blooming- 

 pots. Passifloras, and, in fact, most conservatory climbers, 

 will be growing fast, and will require frequent training. Thin 

 out weak and overstrong shoots, and reserve only sufficient to 

 produce the desired effect ; the blooms will be considerably 

 £ner, and the plants themselves more capable of producing 

 well-matured wood when these little attentions are performed 

 regularly. 



STOVE. 



Such of the inmates here as are intended for the decoration 

 of the conservatory in autumn and early winter, should be care- 

 fully looked over, shifting all that are "likely to want more pot 

 room without unnecessary loss of time, so as to have the pots 

 well filled with roots before the flowering season. Also, keep 

 the shoots tied out rather thinly, and expose the plants to as 

 much sunshine as they will bear without scorching their foliage, 



in order to promote sturdy growth. Give clear liquid manure 

 to young growing specimens, and repot any of those that are 

 intended to have another shift this season, so as to have the pots 

 well filled with roots before winter. Maintain a moist growing 

 atmosphere, and ply the syringe vigorously upon any plant at 

 all infested with red spider. Various stove climbers, as Com- 

 bretums, Quisqualis, Allamandas, Sea., will bloom for a con- 

 siderable period, if the shoots on which the flowers are borne 

 are slightly cut in when the blooms decay. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Heavy rains have been succeeded by rather rough stormy 

 winds, and as these have been followed by a fair amount of 

 sunshine, the ground was speedily dried for general operations ; 

 and when it was too wet a good opportunity was afforded for 

 bringing up arrears of shed work, washing pots, preparing 

 sticks, grinding scythes, &c, though the latter should seldom 

 be necessary with a good scythe and a man who wields the 

 sharpening stone properly. 



Potatoes. — Seized the opportunity of the dryness to take np 

 most of the early Potatoes in the garden before they were sub- 

 jected to more wet, as continued wet and a close moist atmo- 

 sphere are almost sure to bring on the disease, and also because 

 the ground was wanted for succession crops of winter Greens, 

 &c. The Potatoes on sloping banks and in free open situations 

 produced wonderfully heavy crops, and at present show no 

 signs of disease ; but those on flat ground, and more confined 

 by bushes or rows of staked Peas, ifcc, every 10 feet or so, and 

 which had received no earthing-up, did show signs of the old 

 malady. Although some of our correspondents are impressed 

 with the inutility of earthiug-up the Potato under any circum- 

 stances, our own experience and observation would lead us to 

 the conclusion that in somewhat stiff land it is better to plant 

 rather shallow and earth-up the stems in a flattish ridge, to 

 save the tubers from greening by exposure, and also in wet 

 summers and autumns in order to insure the extra water run- 

 ning away from the tubers instead of resting about them. 

 The grand remedies against disease are, however, fresh soil 

 and free exposure, which cannot be easily obtained in closely 

 cropped small kitchen gardens. The most puzzling fact of all 

 is when, by due preparation of the soil in kitchen gardens, you 

 obtain something like marvellous crops, as we had last season, 

 and, just as in this, not a trace of the disease in sloping banks 

 and open spaces ; and yet, after housing the tubers quite dry 

 and in thin layers in a cool dry place, ere two months have 

 passed a third of the tubers are affected by the disease where 

 one could not be found so affected at lifting-time. There is 

 hardly a seeming evil but is attended earlier or later with a 

 countervailing advantage ; and the importance of fresh soil 

 and an airy position for Potatoes may lead to the existence in 

 new places of much smaller kitchen gardens, where only the 

 earliest Potatoes shall be grown, and the main crops of these, 

 Turnips, and Carrots, shall be obtained from open fields 

 passing through the regular rotation of crops. Carrots and 

 Turnips will thus be produced sweeter for the table than they 

 can be obtained in old kitchen gardens, however attentive you 

 may be to give them fresh soil by trenching and rotation of 

 cropping. 



Turnips, A'C. — Thinned some sowings entirely of Radishes, 

 and in other late sowings thinned the Turnips. Sowed a good 

 piece only 15 inches apart in the rows, instead of 2 feet, 

 as in the general crops, as the heads will not be expected to be 

 so large, and just scattered a sprinkling of Radishes between 

 them. A correspondent the other day was doubtful what kinds 

 of Radishes to grow, there seemed to be such a variety in the seed 

 lists, and asked what we thought of the long white and blackish 

 winter sorts ; to which we merely reply that we think just 

 enough of them not to grow them, though we would not under- 

 value them, as tastes differ, and a single Radish is quite enough 

 for us for a twelvemonth. Of long sorts we use the Long 

 Scarlet and the Early Frame, and of Turnip-rooted kinds the 

 White and the Red ; but our Red this season is more of a dark 

 crimson, and on biting it we do not think it is so tender as the 

 Red Turnip-rooted. The White Turnip Radish when young — 

 that is, little more in diameter than the size of a sixpence, is 

 generally very sweet and nice, and it looks well on the table. 



Of all Turnips, the sweetest to our fancy is the American 

 Stone, or the American Red Top, from the purplish appear- 

 ance of the top of the tuber, but which is of a clear white 



