282 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 9, 1866. 



fills, and then all is taken away at once. We know something 

 of the time and labour in lifting numerous heaps of grass from 

 a lawn, and cleaning up the bottom of each of these heaps. 

 Hence when a horse is used, the larger the machine the more 

 economical it will be, and then that economy will be greatest 

 when the lawn is level and open, and unstudded with trees or 

 groups of flowers. When the latter are numerous, and the 

 spaces between them rather narrow, then small, single, one-man 

 hand machines will be the most economical, and in their case 

 at least we would never allow a boxful of cut grass to be laid 

 on the lawn. Emptying at once into a large light barrow is the 

 way to get quickly rid of it. 



Morning and Weeding. — For the above reasons, if the weather 

 do not change quickly, we shall have to mow more than we 

 would wish to do, as it is not so much the mowing as the 

 sweeping up that takes up the time. Lawns are always the 

 better, however, of having the scythe over them now and then. 

 If obliged to mow now we shall take the opportunity to root up 

 a lot of Plant aim, which we could not find time to do in the 

 spring, and of which some of the round-leaved kind have 

 grown to a great size, owing to the moist weather. If we do so 

 we shall scatter some Dutch Clover and other grass seeds on 

 the spaces left bare, and therefore would much rather have done 

 the work in March or April, as when done now the patch will 

 be seen until the grass grow over it, and will look quite as bad 

 as a huge Plantain among the surrounding fine herbage. If 

 Plantains be not taken out by the roots the labour will be of 

 little use. Even when cut an inch or two below the surface, 

 and a pinch of salt put in the hole, that will not destroy the root 

 to any depth, and from lelow the rotten part several stems will 

 come up and make a huge cushion-like mass if let alone. Few 

 things spoil the outline of a fine lawn more than the leaves 

 of the Plantain (Plantago maj'or), as if long let alone they will 

 dip down below the general level as so many hollows for larks' 

 nests. It is hardly possible to find any turf altogether free 

 from these weeds, or any grass seeds in which a few of their 

 seeds will not also be found. In comparison with Daisies on 

 a lawn, Plantains are serious matters. A good switching with 

 the Daisy knives keeps the flowers of the Daisies out of sight 

 in spring and summer, and as the summer goes on the leaves 

 are almost lost in the thickness of the grass. 



This allusion to Daisies reminds us of what we intended to 

 have alluded to under the head of " Strawberries out of Doors." 

 Some time ago we mentioned putting some mown grass be- 

 tween the rows of Strawberries to keep the fruit clean, and 

 stating that the chief objection to grass instead of straw, litter, 

 or tan, was the almost certainty of plenty of Daisies, &c, 

 from the grass. In some places where the Strawberry plants 

 were not over-strong, we never saw such healthy strong Daisy 

 plants as are there growing — a perfect thicket, each of them 

 little less than a fair-sized plant of the Hammersmith Cabbage 

 Lettuce, the vigour being owing to the richness of the ground 

 and the moist weather. In taking Plantains from a lawn, 

 at whatever time, we prefer to mow the lawn first, weed out 

 the Tlantains, &c, taking them up with no earth about their 

 roots, and laying them down to welt on the lawn, and then 

 to brush all up together and take the whole to the rot rubbish- 

 heap, afterwards giving the lawn a good rolling. 



Walks. — We have just now a little labour with these. They 

 have given us little trouble all the summer, with the exception 

 of a little weeding, a sweep, and a roll ; they looked very nice, 

 and were firm and smooth enough, if auythiug too much so; 

 hut now after this drizzly weather, either very small weeds are 

 coming thickly on them — too thick to attempt to hand-weed 

 them, or in more shady places they are becoming green with 

 moss, &c. We could soon have made them clear enough with 

 a good salting in a dry day, but the surface is already too 

 smooth and fine for that, as the salting would make them soft 

 and retentive of moisture all the winter. Slightly or deeply 

 turning them would not do, as though they have worn well 

 for many years, they were made shallow at first. As. notwith- 

 standing the mists, the weather has been dry several days, we 

 have hoed with a Dutch hoe where the little hair-like grass 

 was coming the thickest, have well raked it, and will rake it 

 once or twice as soon as we have sun, which we fimily believe 

 will come before these notes appear, so as to kill all such little 

 green dots before we roll the walks down, drawing the back of 

 the rake nicely to level the walk the last time, so that the roller 

 shall have easy work. On the moss-encrusted parts we will 

 scrape off the moss with the draw-hoe, sweep all off, and 

 sprinkle with some sandy gravel for the winter. 



We could not follow our usual plan with the main pleasure- 



ground walks this season, or we should not have been so likely 

 to have seen a greenish appearance coming on them now. That 

 plan with our smooth walks was to have the edges nicely cut 

 in May, scatter fine salt all over them in a sunny day, and 

 over the salt give a sprinkling of fine-sifted gravel, and then 

 roll. The fresh addition thus became salted as well as the old 

 surface. Few weeds, therefore, came in the fresh sprinkling, 

 and the surface of the sprinkling being free from salt, the water 

 was not held in it, as would be the case with fine-surfaced 

 gravel walks salted now. 



A fresh sprinkling causes a walk to look fresh, but it is not 

 all an unmixed advantage, for though at times we have used 

 such fine gravel obtained from a pit many feet below the sur- 

 face, and not a weed would appear for a long time, we have 

 used other gravel taken from a greater depth still, and it would 

 not be on two months before it was green with seed grass 

 weeds. As these seeds do not fly to a great distance, we must 

 almost come to the conclusion that they were in the sandy 

 gravel, and that contact with the atmosphere brought their 

 long-torpid vitality into action. Be this as it may, wo would 

 advise the disuse of salt now for all walks at all fine and 

 smooth on the surface, except for a few inches along the sides 

 to keep worm-heaps from appearing. 



For plants, cuttings, &c, see previous weeks' notices, with 

 the exception of 



Verbena Cuttings. — These placed in cold frames, and in 

 frames with bad lights, with even a little bottom heat, have 

 damped more than usual owing to the damp air, though plenty 

 of air was given at night, owing to the bad glazing letting in 

 the moisture from the heavens, also from the compost in 

 which they were inserted being rather heavy, and not drained 

 so well as usual. Fresh pots have been well drained, supplied 

 with sandy compost, covered with a little drift and pit sand on 

 the surface, and the pots were set in a slight bottom heat in a 

 pit, with a hot -water pipe for top heat, where we have no 

 doubt the cuttings will soon strike, and where they would have 

 been struck ere now, could we have placed them there at first. 

 — R. F. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— Octoder 6. 



A marked increase in the supply of both fruit and vegetables during 

 the past week has somewhat reduced prices, and particularly those 

 of Grapes, which are now freely imported in very pood condition, and 

 can be had at from la. to It. Gd. per lb. Pears and Apples chiefly consist 

 of the varieties mentioned in former reports. 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes each 



. bundle 



. . bushel 



Ji sieve 



. . . . doz. 



Asparagus . . . 

 Beans, Broad 



Kidney . . 



Beet, Bed 



Broccoli bundle 



Brus. Sprouts J - sieve 



Cabbage doz. 



Capsicums 100 



CaiTots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Cucumbers each 



pickling doz. 



Endive .*. doz. 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish .. bundle 



s. d. s. 

 2 toO 



l) li 



II 



2 8 



2 II 3 

 10 1 



3 S 

 10 2 

 2 



4 



Leeks bunch 



Lettuce per score 



Mushrooms .... pottle 

 Mustd.& Cress, punnet 

 Onions. . doz. bunches 

 Parsley, .doz. bunches 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas per qu rt 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



Radishes doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Savoys doz. 



Sea-kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes per doz. 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows dz. 



s. d. s. d 

 StoO 



1 



6 2 



1 

 1 

 2 



G 

 fi 

 

 6 



3 

 

 



3 



1 







4 



4 



1 



















H. d. 



0to3 













 



Apples $6 sievi 



Apricots doz. 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bush. 12 



Currents ] ■sieve 



Black do. 



Figs doz. 1 



Filberts lb. G 



Cobs lOOlbs. 6 



Gooseberries . . quart 



Grapes, Hothouse.. lb. 2 5 



Lemons 100 8 14 













 2 



1 

 1 



s. d. s. 



Melons each 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranges 100 12 



Peaches doz. 4 



Pears (dessert) . . doz. 1 



kitchen doz. 1 



Pine Apples lb. 3 



Plums Vi sieve 7 



Quinces f- sieve 5 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries lb. 



Walnuts bush. 10 





 10 







10 



1 



1 



3 



7 



5 













 

 



14 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



W. Hooper, St. John's Hill, New Wandsworth, S.^Y.— List 

 of Hyacinths and other Flowrr Boots. 



Paul & Son, The "Old" Nurseries, Cheshnnt, Herts.— 

 Rose Catalogue. 



