September IS, 1800. ] 



JOUIINAL OF HOliTICULTUUK and cottage gardenek. 



225 



dozen of young, crisp pods iu which tho embryo seed can 

 scarcely lie discerned. Succession Into crops though strong, 

 owing to the wet and the dullness, are not setting the pod so 

 freely as the early ones did. Cleared a piece of Dwarf Kidney 

 Beans in an earth pit, over which glass may be put when the 

 weather is colder, and sowed somo in pots to stan 1 in n imilar 

 place, and which may he removed to perfect their crop Lite in 

 autumn where there is a little artificial heat. 



Tomatoes cleared of their extra foliage, are now ripening 

 fast. Took up some of tho most forward Onions, and as soon as 

 possible will prepare the ground for early Cabbage, Planted 

 out a late piece of Coleworts. The first planted are now head- 

 ing well, and are very crisp and nice. 



FRUIT GASHEN. 



Did little here out of doors. We must have drier weather 

 before we can clean Strawberry quarters, or even dig some 

 down to prepare for other crops. Pulled and knocked up some 

 large weeds, as otherwise they might seed before a general 

 cleaning. Cut away all the runners from those plants in pots 

 intended for forcing, and just sprinkled the surface of the 

 pots with soot for the rains to wash in and make manure 

 water for them. Have still a lot of Queens in small pots to 

 pot, as we could not obtain runners early this season. They 

 are now nice plants, however. Will prick out a lot more 

 runners in a border, to bo taken up for forcing if wanted next 

 spring. For late forcing these do very well, but for early 

 forcing the plants must be established in pots and well ripened 

 in the previous autumn. 



Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, &c, in orchard-houses and out 

 of doors wanted looking over and gathering before properly 

 ripe, as some security against wasps and large blue-bottle «7. 

 which for nearly three weeks have been excessively trouble- 

 some, coming upon us all at once this season, as before that 

 time we have scarcely seen a wasp. Nottingham netting is a 

 good protection, and so is any sort of gauze if securely fastened 

 all round, and the gauze stands out from the fruit. We have 

 also found wadding useful, wrapping it thinly round the fruit, 

 the woolly side outwards, as the wasp is much afraid of having 

 its feet entangled. Having none of these remedies at hand, 

 we have syringed the trees and killed great numbers of the 

 wasps when down, terrified them with branches, and left some 

 half-eaten fruit on the ground, where a single slap would settle 

 someftrnes half a score or a score at once. These half-eaten 

 fruit, or even bitten fruit, will always he preferred by them to 

 solid untouched fruit, and, therefore, a good deal may be done 

 by leaving such alike as bait and trap. With all the equa- 

 nimity of a philosopher, the philosopher will have to bite his 

 lips to keep in something unpleasant when he sees the cares of 

 the season in the shape of his finest fruits thus pounced upon 

 and destroyed. The most effectual safeguard in all houses from 

 such destructive insects, is covering all the ventilating and 

 other openings with fine gauze, previously killing or driving 

 out what may be inside. We have been taken unawares by 

 the wasps this season, as having seen nene during the summer, 

 we expected no such hordes in autumn. A nice piece of 

 late Gooseberries on a north border they have cleared, though 

 covered with double netting. They have proved a much worse 

 infliction beneath the netting than blackbirds, thrushes, or 

 lots of small birds. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



Though there was a good deal of heavy rain on the 11th, 

 there was a drying wind during the night, and there being no 

 dew owing to a cloudy sky, it was dry enough on the morning 

 of the 12th to permit of the mowing machine being used on 

 the lawn, which will thus enable us to bring up our leeway. 

 Longer grass was rnotved and carried off in the mornings when 

 at all suitable. A fine opportunity is now presented for rolling 

 lawns and walks in a dry day, as then the roller will go much 

 more easily and press quite enough. 



Took the opportunity of dry intervals to make 

 and walk* fair as respects appearances. Mowed the sides of 

 the approaches and then cut the sides with an edging iron, to 

 make the outline straight. This cutting is generally required 

 for roads and walks onee a-year, and is best done in the spring, 

 as after that the clipping shears will be sufficient, and no raw 

 earth edge will be presented to the eye during the pleasant 

 summer months. We can recollect the time when some gar- 

 deners looked upon a clear earth outline to the sides of walks 

 and roads as something nice and pretty, and the iron used to 

 he pressed in cutting so that the edgings might shine like a 

 pair of well-polished boots. From thus cutting with a stiff 



wrist, wo have made our wrists so stiff and sore, to secure this 

 1 outline, that we could . scarcely raise our- right arm at 

 meal times, and from doing werk which we now consider a 

 deformity. Immediately after cutting the edging the earth will 

 show for a short time in place , but the sooner it is concealed 

 the better, as when all is as it should be, no earth will long 

 obtrude on the eye between the gravel and the grass. Some 

 are so particular on this point, that in forming new v. .ill. 

 through lawns, the sides of the walks are lined with hard bricks 

 set up edgewise, not perpendicularly, but bevelled so that the 

 base side next the walk may be fully half an inch higher than 

 the side next the lawn. The upper angle of the brick should 

 be from 1.J to 2 inches above the gravel. From the top of 

 the side of the brick thus sloping to the lawn, the turf can be 

 placed in line with the walk-edging side. Ere long the bricks 

 will be concealed by the out-jutting grass, and by this means, 

 if shears are constantly used, they can clip close to the brick 

 edging and no cutting with edging-irons will be required. 



In many cases there is a great drawback to the generally en- 

 joyable character of a demesne, from walks and carriage road3 

 with deep raw sides like so many miniature ditches. The fil- 

 ling up of such walks with gravel would generally he a very 

 serious matter, and in most cases uncalled for. We have often 

 been glad of such an opportunity of obtaining a lot of nice 

 fresh soil, and making a very pleasant improvement at the 

 same time. Thus, roll back the turf for a yard, a couple of 

 yards, or double that space, according to the depth of the 

 edging and the character of the ground ; take away to a regular 

 level the soil, so that when the turf reaches the gravel it will 

 be from 1J to 2 inches above it and regular throughout. From 

 such a simple operation we have heard gentlemen declare that 

 they did not know their own carriage roads, and employers 

 who would as soon have their heads scalped as let their gar- 

 dener have a sod out of their park for his compost yard, will 

 often allow him to take the soil, and fine surface soil too, 

 though without turf, that may be obtained from thus equal- 

 ising the edgings of roads and walks. The finest park roads 

 tint we ever saw are at Woburn. There would be no chance of 

 adding to the compost yard by such means there, but of this 

 we hope to say something before long. We have in our mind's 

 eye other great places where the untidy, irregular, ditch-and- 

 mound, rugged appearance of the sides of a carriage road con- 

 jured up impressions which the grandeur and high keeping of 

 other parts did not thoroughly remove. Of course, in advocat- 

 ing low grass verges for roads and walks, and that the height of 

 the grass from the gravel should be uniform, and meeting the 

 gravel, we by no means infer that there should not be plenty 

 of diversity in the level of the ground at a short distance from 

 the road if such be its natural position. 



Once more as to the good and easy keeping of walks and 

 roads. It is important that a good width should be kept mown 

 close to the walk and road. This will do something to prevent 

 the adjacent grass seeding on the gravel. With all this care 

 seed will be wafted, especially from grass parks, on to the 

 roadway. On the hard well-used centre, there is but little 

 chance of their growing, but towards the sides, which are more 

 porous and less used, they will grow rapidly, and soon present 

 a green carpet if let alone. Of course, salt at times would settle 

 that, and especially if the sides of the road were rough and 

 stony. As many, however, have an objection to salt, and as 

 some cases have come under our notice where partridges and 

 pheasants when young have been injured in picking up what 

 they could find in such places, a great ease in cleaning will 

 be secured by having 1 or li foot on each side of the road of 

 fine sifted gravel or sandy matter — say a couple of inches in 

 thickness, through which a Dutch hoe and rake could easily 

 pass, and always leave a fresh, neat appearance behind them. 



Dressed and regulated flower-beds a little, and notwithstand- 

 ing full exposure to winds and rains, they will yet be fine if we 

 should be favoured with bright sunny weather. Auriculas, and 

 the finer Polyanthus, should now be protected from heavy rains, 

 and be kept quite free from weeds, a slimy surface of soil, and 

 insects, such as green fly, on the leaves. If kept too damp now 

 they will be more tender in winter. 



The wet days enabled us to put in a good many cuttings, 

 choosing a dry hour to take them off. An opportunity was also 

 given for cleaning and top-dressing Camellias and Azaleas, 

 tying the latter into shape, and examining the foliage for traces 

 of thrips and mildew. Conservatory and flower-stoves were 

 also thinned as respects creepers, to admit more light into the 

 houses. All such hardwooded plants as Heaths, Epacrises, 

 Aphelexis, Pimeleas, and Diosrnas, should now he brought 



