Novombor la, im. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



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ago is not wanted. Even in soils where, owing to the open 

 subsoil, Jeep drainage is not necessary, aud would only be a 

 needless expense, much may often be required in order to 

 carry off aud to husband superfluous surface water. Even in 

 a sanitary point of view, unless in the case of diseased lungs, 

 a dry atmosphere is generally inoro healthy than one loaded 

 with moisture, and the air that passes over stagnant moisture 

 will not long remain pure aud healthy. " The Metropolitan 

 Sanitary Commission gives some interesting facts about drain- 

 age. For every inch of. depth of water drained off, which 

 would otherwise pass into the air as vapour, we are told as 

 much heat is saved per acre as would raise 11,000 cubic feet 

 of air 1 in temperature. The dew point is also raised, hence 

 less mist; and dampness, as we all know, is more uncomfort- 

 able than cold. A farmer, says the Parliamentary Report on 

 drainage, was asked the effect of some new draining, ' All I 

 know is,' replied he, ' that before it was done I could never get 

 out at night without a great coat, and now I never put one on. 

 It just makes the difference of a coat to me.' A doctor took 

 one of the Sanitary Commissioners to a hill overlooking his 

 district. ' There,' said he, ' wherever you see those patches of 

 white mist, I have frequent illness, aud if there is a cesspool 

 or other nuisance as well, I can reckon on typhus every now 

 and then. Outside the mists I am rarely wanted.' Damp, it 

 seems, gives double energy to ill odours of all kinds. What a 

 pity everybody cannot live on a hill side with a good gravel 

 subsoil."— (Pall Mull Gazette, October 23r<(.) 



As already hinted, the dry hill side would not do for every 

 one, but the Boards of Health have done great good in our 

 country towns, villages, and hamlets, by insisting on the re- 

 moval of nuisances. It is a pity that such energy is chiefly 

 exemplified after typhus and cholera have commenced their 

 ravages. Even when cottages and mansions are built in a 

 valley, much may be done to insure health and comfort by secur- 

 ing dryness all round the homestead. The seething pool and 

 the dunghill close to the doorway will soon be among the 

 things of the past. Often now, however, the workman as he 

 goes to his homestead must pass through mud and pools of 

 water, when, if such surface water had been collected in a 

 rough pool or reservoir at the farthest point from his dwelling, 

 it would have been invaluable in summer for gardening 

 purposes. 



We used to have much trouble with wet pits and flooded 

 stokeholes, until we sent the surface water from heavy rains 

 to a large pool at a distance, and which proved invaluable in 

 summer. With more of such clay-puddled receptacles enough 

 of water could be collected from hard-surfaced walks alone to 

 make us pretty well independent of the driest summers, aud 

 something of the kind could be done in many a cottage garden, 

 where now there is not a drop of water to give a plant in sum- 

 mer. In many places where drainage is necessary, it would 

 be desirable to store at least a portion of the drainage water for 

 use in dry summers. 



In some low-lying positions, where there is scarcely an out- 

 let to be found for surplus water and house slops, a deep dumb- 

 well is often resorted to ; but this, to be safe, should be at the 

 farthest possible distance from the house, and the farthest 

 possible distance from the water well, as until the sides of the 

 dumb-well are thoroughly encrusted, there is the danger of a 

 connection being formed through the different strata from one 

 to the other ; and no such percolation, though it may make 

 sewage water perfectly , clear, will deprive it of the organic 

 matter which it holds in solution. 



In order to insure ease to the inhabitants of small, well- 

 arranged houses, there is often a trapped sink near the back 

 door to receive all offensive liquid matter to be taken to a main 

 drain or dumb-well. In such a case three things should be 

 attended to : The joints of the conducting pipes should be 

 cemented ; the cesspool, in addition to being trapped, should 

 have a cover over the grating ; and the landlord should see that 

 the sinks are kept clean aud clear. There is such a difficulty 

 in making people attend to the latter matter, that in all cases 

 where there is a garden attached behind the cottage, it would 

 be as well to have no cesspool near the house, but to have all 

 soapsuds and other slops carried to the manure-heap or water 

 tank at the spot farthest from the dwelling-house. It is gene- 

 rally better, too, that the water-closet, &c, should be placed 

 there ; and the mauure-heap, which will do so much to pro- 

 mote the fertility of the garden, aud be all the richer from re- 

 ceiving the slops, can be cured of all unpieasant effluvia by 

 frequently sprinkling dry earth or any earth over it. If there- 

 is a slop-water tank, that could be covered to keep all noxious 



vapours down. Much may thus be done to secure health and 

 comfort, aud with but little outlay — with none, we may soy, 

 which the extra value of the manure would not pay. 

 KITCHEN QABDEN. 



Cabbu'ics.' — What used to give us no trouble are now becom- 

 ing a source of anxiety, as all our netting will not keep rabbits, 

 and especially pheasants and partridges, from attacking the 

 plants. The wet weather, too, has been unfavourable to them, 

 by making the young leaves and their little centrum so tender 

 as to tempt depredators such as those referred to. If so de- 

 structive now with so much elso to choose from, we see littlo 

 chance during the winter except in netting the ground all over 

 a couple of feet or so above the plants. 



Qarrats. — Took up in dry days, as tho drier they are taken 

 up the better they will keep. Nothing is better for packing 

 them iu than dry sand, and hardly anything is worse than 

 sawdust whether wet or dry. They do very well in thin layers, 

 with leafless branches of trees separating the layers. 



Parsnips may remain in the ground if it is not wanted, but 

 packed in saud they will keep as well out of the ground as in it. 



Beet should now be carefully raised aud as few fibres broken 

 as possible, and the top leaves merely twisted off. A little 

 frost often greatly injures this valuable component of the salad- 

 bowl. 



Salsafy aud Scorzonera may as well bo housed. 



Qlobe ArtMiokcs. — Dug the ground, enriched with a coating of 

 manure, among the stools, and ere long will put some burnt earth 

 over the latter, and cover with a little litter held in its place 

 by some clods of earth. Now or in the spring is a good time 

 for taking away some large pieces with the spade and mattock, 

 aud planting a fresh row or two, as these will hear much later 

 in the autumn than the old plantations. For such plantations 

 the ground should be well trenched aud well manured, and 

 the plants be protected from extreme frost, like those esta- 

 blished in their position. A very little litter will keep the 

 frost from penetrating to any considerable depth, just as a 

 covering of snow will keep the soil beneath it, if not previously 

 frozen, from falling much below 32°. 



Sen-kale— Cleaned most of the plantations, and put dry 

 burnt refuse over the crowns to keep vermin from them. Will 

 take up a lot for forcing ere long. No better plan for small 

 establishments, where there is no Mushroom-house, can well 

 be resorted to than the following : — Build a small hotbed— say 

 about 18 inches deep, and 30 inches wider and longer than a 

 bottomless box — say 5 feet long and 3 to i feet wide, and from 

 18 to 24 inches deep. Set the box on the bed and place in it 

 some leaf mould, and on that pack the Sea-kale roots, leaving 

 the crowns a couple of inches or so apart, and then cover with 

 the leaf mould or ashes, and settle with watering. If there 

 is rather much heat, a few holes may be bored through beneath 

 the box to let air among the rdots and into the atmosphere 

 of the box, or the lid may be left open. If not quite enough 

 heat, litter may be placed round the bed and over the box, and 

 this, as regards the latter, will require to be done iu severe 

 weather at any rate. The moving of the lid will enable the 

 manager to see in a moment the condition of the Sea-kale, and 

 such a box will furnish a large amount of cutting. A couple of 

 boxes kept going would supply a large establishment. 



Jllnibarb. — This may be done in the same way, but if 

 blanched Rhubarb is objected to, a light might take the place 

 of the lid of tho box. We have alluded to many other modes 

 of obtaining this vegetable early. 



Asparagus could also be obtained in the samo way, and used 

 wheu long enough, if the blanched colour is not objected to ; 

 or the shoots may be cut and allowed to stand, with the ends 

 on damp moss, wool, or paper, in a saucer, in the window of 

 ■a living-room for several days before cooking; but for early 

 work no plan is better than taking up the roots and packing 

 them close together over a hotbed, with a frame and clean- 

 washed sashes over it, plenty of air being given in mild weather, 

 but bearing in mind that great draughts of air in cold weather 

 will be apt to make the points of the shoots hard and stringy. 

 By the above mode fine, green, succulent, tender heads may be 

 obtained easily, but at the expense of the destruction of good 

 roots. For late general supplies beds forced where the plants 

 grow, as we have several times recommended, are the most 

 economical. It is seldom that the roots are fit to force when 

 less than three or four years from the seed. 



Turnips. — Took up a lot and cleaned them, and put them in 

 a heap to be covered with litter. This is better than allowing 

 too many to run the risk of being frosted and nibbled in the 

 ground. They are also kept more juicy and sweet than when 



