Angnst 21, 18C6. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AKD COTTAGE GARDENER. 



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inducing them to bloom at Hie timo wanted. Daphnes, Oranges 

 of different; kinds. Myrtles, and Gardenias intended for forcing, 

 should be removed to a cool airy bouso to rest. 



STOVE. 



Many of the hardwooded spring-flowering specimens -when 

 kept growing late in tbe autumn, when there is not sufficient 

 sunshine to properly ripen the wood, seldom flower strongly : 

 therefore give every enoouragement to such as havo not made 

 their growth, and use tho shading very sparingly after this 

 time. Tho twiners here will now he in their glory; keep them 

 well supplied with water at tho root, and give frequent at- 

 tention to regulating tho shouts and disposing the blooms in 

 the most effective manner. The Allamandas are fine plants 

 for pot-culture, hut to have them in perfection they must be 

 planted out in tho border of tbe stove, and trained to the 

 pillars or back wall, whero they flower magnificently during a 

 great part of the year. The brilliant Clerodendron splendens, 

 the Combretums, Echites splendens, and StephanotiB flori- 

 hunda, do splendidly when treated in tbe same manner, and 

 trained near tbe glass. — W. Kea>:e. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



For the sake of the harvest wo hope that a slowly rising 

 barometer will be attended with more settled weather. The 

 extreme changes from slight frosts in the morning to a close 

 moist atmosphere almost resembling that of tropical climes 

 will soon tell on the corn crops, and has already affected Po- 

 tatoes unfavourably in man} - places. Had we plenty of ground 

 to devote to Potatoes we would have a fresh field every year; 

 and either plant on raised beds, as in many parts of Ireland, 

 or in rows far enough apart and sufficiently raised for the 

 water not to lodge about them. Most raised beds will be moist 

 enough from the absorption of moisture from beneath, and then 

 there would be a better chance of escape from the heavy autumn 

 rains. In crowded gardens the only security will be found in 

 planting early kinds and taking them up before the autumn 

 rains come. As alluded to last week, we find that some fine 

 samples of ours, clear and without a spot, are showing some 

 specks of tbe disease after being housed dry and in the best 

 order. This is most unaccountable. 



Sowed more Cabbage seed, and Cauliflower for tbe main crop 

 next season. In the case of those who have early light soil it 

 will be time enough to make this sowing in the first week in 

 September, or later. It is also a good time to sow a little 

 Savoy seed and Scotch Kale, or Borecole, if these are wanted 

 early next season. In England Scotch Kales are little used 

 until they have been a little frosted ; but in many parts in the 

 north they are sown largely about the middle of August, and 

 planted out and kept in beds like young Cabbages ; and then 

 in the spring, long before the Cabbages come in, tbe larger 

 leaves are cut half in two, taking away the more tender part, 

 and they boil beautifully tender either in broths or soups, or as 

 a separate dish. We attain much the same object in England 

 by sowing in spring and not cutting before winter, and all 

 through the next spring we obtain a large quantity of nice 

 stubby side shoots, so that tbe plants may well be called 

 " cut and come again." The Tall Curled Scotch Borecole is 

 the best for this continuous supply. The Scotch Cabbaging 

 and a variety sent out by Mr. Veitch are the best dwarfs, yield- 

 ing amazingly, and affording very late gatherings before they 

 begin to run to seed. We instanced the other week the simple 

 but important fact, that if a Cabbage plaut runs to flower-stalk 

 instead of forming a head, cut how you may, all the young 

 shoots are almost sure to run to flower-stalks ; and the con- 

 verse of this holds so equally true that when we first grew the 

 Cabbaging Colewort we thought so much of it, and were so 

 doubtful of obtaining it true from seed, that we grew it several 

 years by slipping off the side shoots in spring before they 

 began to show signs of starting for bloom, and planting them ; 

 and though they looked a little welted at first, they soon rooted 

 and made excellent plants. The same wiil hold good in all 

 the Cabbage tribe we have tried, but it must be done before the 

 flowering or fruiting tendency has been regularly developed. 

 When that has taken place it requires an extra amount of 

 trouble and care to make a plant out of a flowering shoot. 

 Hence in making cuttings of flowering plants we avoid tbe 

 flower-stalks, and select firm side shoots, that we may first lay 

 the foundation of the necessary amount of growth to carry the 

 flowering process to completion. 



Sowed also more Lettuces and Onions, the latter wo will sow 

 again in about a fortnight, and they will be generally the best 

 for transplanting in spring; also sowed the first crop of 

 Winter Spinach, to be followed by another sowing in a week 

 or a fortnight. 



rianted out more Cauliflower on a raised bank, young Cole- 

 worts on a tree border, under i bade, not so good as in an open 

 place; also Lettuces and Endive. Made up beds of I'm Igy 

 where there were some blanks. Make a point of always having 

 fresh ground for this, as otherwise it is apt to go off. ft is 

 difficult to account for failures at times ; we sowed two pieces 

 of ground in rows, each piece being as much alike as possible, 

 and only a walk between them, and both pieces were treated 

 exactly alike, as far as we could see, receiving about the same 

 amount of seed out of the same packet, and yet one piece will 

 bear almost any nmount of thinning, and the other will require 

 to be helped. We have a small row in an orchard-house, just 

 coining through the ground, which will be found invaluable in 

 bad weather in winter. Those who have no such convenience 

 should now place some good plants in large pots or boxes, so 

 as to afford protection in winter. To be without Parsley in 

 winter is rather more uncomfortable than being without Mint 

 in the height of the Pea season. Forward Parsley should now 

 be cut well down to make it bushy before winter. 



Celery. — We stated lately that some of the beds were ac- 

 quiring a lighter hue in the foliage than we liked, and we may 

 here note that the dusting of soot all over them, which has 

 now been mostly cleared off by the rains, has made the foliage 

 of a black green again. We would like to give them a good 

 soaking, even after these showers, with strong house-sewage, 

 as it generally does wonders, when the plants are thoroughly 

 established, but at present we are afraid to have anything to do 

 with it, in case the men should be injuriously affected in this 

 j muggy weather, and with the dread enemy Cholera hovering 

 I around us. As respects this sewage, two things are required 

 from our scientific friends — a cheap disinfectant, and safe for a 

 common labourer to apply ; and, secondly, an assurance that 

 when the odour is removed, the danger of affecting the human 

 system will also be removed when tbe sewage is used. 



Sow Thistle. — This has been a troublesome visitant to us 

 this year, and generally in this neighbourhood, and is mostly 

 confined to the variety of Sonchus oleraceus, having plain 

 leaves serrated at the edge. In some places it looks as if it had 

 been sown, but we know too well what even a single plant will 

 do if left undisturbed to mature its seeds, and to scatter them 

 by the wind, the fine down giving to each seed the wings with 

 which it can fly. We have noticed that in the present season, 

 this and the common field Thistle, far more difficult to extirpate, 

 are more prevalent than usual by the sides of some highways. 

 It would be a wise act if our Legislature were to compel the 

 surveyor of highways, or those holding lands adjoining, to at 

 least cut every Thistle before it bloomed, if not take it up by 

 the roots, in the case of the common Thistle. Even in the 

 ease of the Sow Thistle, if a single flower-head should have 

 changed its yellow blossom for the head of down, it would be 

 v i c policy to go and pick all these heads off before attempting 

 to cut up or pull up the plant, as the very act of pulling or 

 cutting, will be sure to spread the seeds, and the first brisk 

 wind will do so without our aid. As to pulling up this Sow 

 Thistle, it is next to impossible in most soils, the stems are 

 so brittle, and the roots are so strong ; and as to cutting the 

 plants over at the surface of the ground, or a little below it, 

 that is only a temporary relief, as they will send up numerous 

 shoots from the collar ; but if cut 1 or 2 inches below the 

 surface there will be little more trouble, as from the annua! 

 character of the plant, the fleshy roots will soon decay, if 

 there is no reciprocal action from leaves and stems above 

 ground. If the annual character of tho plant is kept in mind, 

 there will be no necessity for grubbing up the roots with a fork 

 or mattock, as in the case of the common Thistle. But how- 

 ever cut or grubbed, just as in the case of the common Ground- 

 sel, it is never advisable to leave large plants on the ground 

 when so cut up, or to remove them to that general receptacle, 

 called the rubbish-heap, hut which may be made one of the 

 best adjuncts to the garden, as then from the juice contained 

 in the succulent stems, the seeds will often be perfected and 

 scattered. It is better in every way to remove such plants to 

 the burning or charring heap, where the excessive heat will 

 destroy all seeds even when imperfectly formed. 



Upon the cvi Initio, what-good '.' principle, a very favourite 

 topic with our utilitarian philosophers, but which may be 

 carried too far when everything is ignored for which in their 



