October SO, 18CC. J 



JOUBNAE; OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



:;:::-, 



them ; but as the reason was becoming advanced, and the 

 bricks were pretty mellow, though care ' > dry as we liko 

 them, »i' tilled the two boles left in each brick with a piece 

 of good spawn in each hole, and kept the spawn in its place by 

 daubing a little moist cowdung over it. Thi □, I avin • prepared 

 a shgbt hotbed, chiefly of litter and leaves, and set a sparred 

 piece of old fencing over it to keep the bricks fn m the litter, 

 we built them in a very open pigeon-hole fashion over this 

 piece of fencing, placed some straw all over the heap, and then 

 covered the heap with about 9 inches of litter. This 

 add to or diminish. What is wanted is that a temperature of 

 from 80° to W shall permi il reen the bricks, 



so as to heat them equally, and this we must 1 1 watch- 



ing. The spawning and the hi rill ee e the bricks to be- 

 come dry, and "when thoroughly permeated by the 

 and that not spent by moisture or an over-high temperature, 

 it will keep in a dry place for many years. One or two cakes 

 broken up for Bpawning these fresh bricks were as fine as 

 ever we saw, and we knew, from the shape, they must have 

 been made at least five or six years. Prot ided that the Bpawn 

 is gsod, the great proportion of the failures in Mushroom- 

 beds take place from subjecting the spawn to too high a tempe- 

 rature. The old rule of our grandsires is yet a most valuable 

 one : In no case ought the spawn, when at work, ever to be 

 warmer than the blood in the human system. 80' is a good 

 temperature for a bed, and from 55° to 60° is a good heat for 

 the atmosphere round it. Such shallow beds as those referred 

 to are easily managed ; but they cannot be expected to keep 

 on so long as a thicker or deeper bed. Sometimes shallow 

 beds do wonders when supplied with warm manure water, es- 

 pecially if made strong from sheep or deer droppings. 



Fr.UIT GAP.DEN". 



Having a small iron stove in one of the orchard-houses, put 

 a little fire in it to ripen the Grapes and the wood of the Vines 

 that are in it. We believe that wood and fruit would have 

 ripened pretty well without such help ; but in order to prevent 

 a glut of Peaches, left air on night and day, when the Vines 

 would have been all the better of an early shulting-up in the 

 afternoon. Cleared a vinery and Peach-house, and had the 

 glass and woodwork well washed on one of the wet days, and 

 as soon as pruned and the bearing wood well washed, will have 

 these houses to set flowering plants in for several months. 

 Strawberry-quarters out of doors, we have been unable to 

 finish cleaning and mulching owing to the weather being so wet 

 lately. Strawberry plants in pots, we will protect from drench- 

 ing rains ere long. We can turn them on their broadsides at 

 present, but we should like a lot of the earliest to be under 

 glass before long, and there will be room for them in earth 

 pits, as we take the bedding plants, Primulas, &c, into the 

 bouses which are now being emptied of their fruit. See what 

 was said respecting Strawberries in pots lately-. Any pots 

 showing bloom may be put into a drier atmosphere, and a 

 few fruit may thus be easily obtained. The late fruit from 

 these forced in spring has not done so well this season. 



OKNAHENTAIi DEPARTMENT. 



Out of doors there is now much eleaning-up, and what is 

 made nice to-day wants it again as much to-morrow. Near 

 the mansion, and where the lawn must ever be brought under 

 the eye, it is very desirable so to clear away fallen leaves as to 

 prevent a feeling of melancholy. However beautiful our de- 

 ciduous woods look in their rich autumn tiats, all their poetical 

 associations are gone when the leaves drive along, the sport of 

 the breeze, or cover our walks and lawns. In all places that 

 seldom come under notice and review, mere economy in labour, 

 whilst so many other things demand attention, would say, Clear 

 these places up less frequently, and give a final clearing up 

 when all the leaves have fallen. A good brushing and rolling 

 of the lawn will then carry us on for some weeks. 



We found, rather to our inconvenience, that the drizzling 

 weather had made our lawns grow too long and soft for our 

 mowing machines, aud even though loaded with fog and dew, 

 the grass was too woolly for the scythe ; but we made beautiful 

 work by mowing and cleaning up in the first part of the day, 

 and then running the machine over the same ground when the 

 grass was thoroughly dried after sweeping. The flower-beds 

 began to look so well for a few days before the 22nd, that this 

 mowing gave a good opportunity for dressing the beds, making 

 them look much lighter and brighter, and taking up some of 

 the prominent weeds on the lawn, as Plantains, <fcc, as all was 

 swept up together ; and this being done when the lawn was dry, 



there was nothing to mar the rich green hue, and the machine 

 following took out every wrinkle, and left the glass as level 

 and soft as a rich carpet. Whin, however, we were fully ex- 

 pecting a fine show in the end of October, which the frost 

 alluded to last week did little to mar, the continuous rains that 

 have since fallen have now taken away all hopes of having 

 masses of colour this season ; and though the beds are still 

 green enough, the small number of flowers and the swirling of 

 leaves tell us that the interest of the flower garden for the 

 season is gone. 



Meanwhile the grass grows with such rapidity that seethe 

 and machine must be almost constantly employed; and one 

 advantage is, that the grass and fallen haves come in now 

 mi ist usefully for forming at least the bottom parts of temporary 

 hotbeds, for giving fresh-lifted, fresh-potted subjects, as varie- 

 gated Geraniums Mrs. Pollock, Golden Chain, See., a fresh 

 start in the rooting process. Heat may be obtained from such 

 rough dangerous materials without doing any injury if all 

 steam is kept down by from to 'J inches of half-rotten leaves 

 or cinder ashes. 



With respect to taking up plants from the flower garden, 

 see what was said last week. We have as yet done little in 

 this way, having had a good deal to do in placing plant3 in 

 pots under protection from frost and rain, washing the pots 

 that had been exposed, fresh draining, and top-dressing when 

 wanted, clearing out Balsams and most of the Fuchsias from 

 the greenhouse and conservatory, thinning the creepers for 

 winter light, washing thoroughly glass, stages, and shelves, 

 and preparing for filling for the winter, so as to give us more 

 room in other places for getting bedding plants more secure 

 than in their present temporary habitations. 



Prepared a lot of rough bay and litter in a shed for use in 

 an emergency, taking it from our reserve stack, which is thus 

 formed : The bottom part is rough hay obtained from the 

 least visited parts of the pleasure grounds, and this was 

 covered to a good depth with long litter that came from the 

 stables in summer, and which was pretty dry when well exposed, 

 and all the droppings were carefully shaken out of it. Such a 

 rough stack of materials is a capital resource in winter, for 

 when a sudden frost comes a yard of it may be cut down with 

 a hay-knife for protecting-purposes. 



Planting Trees and Shrubs. — No weather could be better for 

 this purpose, except, indeed, a day of continuous rain, and 

 here we would refer the reader to what has lately been ad- 

 vanced. Let two things be particularly attended to : Be sure 

 that the collar of the plant after removal is not lower in the 

 ground than it was before ; pack the roots nicely, and pro- 

 vided they are sufficiently moistened, and the soil round them 

 damp, do not consider it essential to make the earth like the 

 mud in a pond. If the earth is moist, as it is here, no water- 

 ing will be much better than extra watering. If the stems 

 should suffer from a keen frost, or a dry parching air, in ex- 

 treme cases it might be advisable to syringe the heads of the 

 plants. 



Bulbs. — Plant out of doors as soon as may be, and where the 

 ground requires much preparation, plaut temporarily, that the 

 strength of the bulbs may not be exhausted. In addition to 

 using these bulbs liberally in gardens, who will begin to in- 

 stitute bulb gardens by themselves, in places distinct from the 

 general flower gardens, and where everything could have full 

 justice, without planting too late or moving again before the 

 bulbs were fully ripe ? What pretty designs, as scrolls and 

 lovers' knots, and interlaced serpents, &c, might be formed 

 with the distinct varieties of one kind of bvdb— say one for 

 Tulips, one for Hyacinths, and one for Crocus, flow well 

 would these designs of Mr. Earley look — say the last one at 

 page 278, if each circle were planted with a distinct colour of 

 Crocus, and the other spaces were in grass ! and even how nice 

 it would look as a composition of bidbs entirely — the rounds of 

 the circles as stated above of Crocus, the ovals of the prettiest 

 Squills, and the larger heart-shaped figures filled with the 

 dwarfest earliest Tulips, and a few Hyacinths of one colour 

 in the middle ! Who will do something like this, and ask his 

 neighbours to see it? — E. F. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



John Jefferies & Son, Cirencester. — Catalogue of Forest, 

 Fruit, and St I et Ormm ' ■' Vr< es, Shrubs, and Roses. 



Louis Van Houtte, Ghent, Belgium.— Catalogue dc PlanUt 

 de Serres et dc Plci I Air. 



