Novoruber IZ7, IBM. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Ill 



paratory hotbeds, of a slight boating character, for various pur- 

 poses ; as wo rind that everything that will heat by decom- 

 position must be made to yield that heat for some useful pur- 

 pose before it is thoroughly rotten and no more heat can be 

 obtained from it. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 

 Before the frost cnine took off a two-light box from a bed 

 that had been used for Cucumbers ; and as tho frame and bed 

 had sunk too level for the winter's sun, took out the earth, 

 turned over the half-decayed material below, adding a little 

 more litter, and raising the bed much higher at the back, so as 

 to give the frame a rather steep inclination to the south when set 

 on the bed again. Filled the inside to within a foot of the top 

 of the frame with half-decayed leaves, and then with G inches 

 of soil, trod it nil over, levelled it, and sowed with Radishes 

 to succeed those protected in the open ground. Those fresh 

 sown being now in the seed-leaf will require light, and air too 

 in all suitable weather, to prevent their becoming drawn up 

 weakly. All crops that are cool may be kept covered up for 

 a time in bad weather ; but whenever artificial heat is applii 'I. 

 all the light passible must also be given, or the plants will 

 suffer from the stimulus imparted to mere oxtension, without 

 being able to obtain the means for consolidating (heir tissues. 

 We have seen Radishes grown on a slight hotbed destroyed as 

 to the stubby beauty of their appearance, from being shut and 

 covered up in severe stormy snowy weather for three days, 

 whilst those in the open ground with a rough frame thrown 

 over them, and kept from the light for three weeks, were, when 

 uncovered, just as fresh as when they were covered up. Twice 

 or thrice in our experience, in severe weather, we have had 

 Cauliflower under hand-lights, just after the ground was 

 crusted and the leaves of the plants a little hardened with 

 frost, covered up from four to six weeks, night and day, and 

 after this long enforced sleep the plants looked just as they 

 would have done had they passed the usual hours of one 

 winter's night under such protection. Their safety and ulti- 

 mate hardiness consisted in the dormant state in which they 

 were kept, and the absence of all stimulus to extension. 



Asparagus. — Prom just such another bed as was used for 

 Radishes took out the soil, and raised the frame at back a foot 

 higher to give it more [slope. Turned over the old hotbed, 

 adding enough of grass and leaves to raise the bed to the 

 greater height of the frame at back ; put in 4 inches of half- 

 decayed leaves and 1 inch of soil, and on that packed the 

 lifted roots of Asparagus, placing them so that the frame 

 should be pretty well filled, with the crowns close together ; put 

 a little fine soil over all. watered with warm water, and then 

 covered with 2 or 3 inches of leaf mould left loose, and put the 

 sashes on. The turning of the bed and the addition of a littlo 

 fresh material have yielded a nice mild heat, such as forced 

 Asparagus delights in. Light will be of little consequence for 

 this crop until the shoots are 2 or 3 inches in length. Put a 

 nice piece of Mint, tc, in a corner. Such a two-light box well 

 packed will hold a large quantity of roots from the open air, 

 and will yield in proportion a great amount of cutting. 



Rhubarb and Sea-kale. — Made a small hotbed in a corner of 

 the Mushroom-house, from 12 to 15 inches deep, and on that 

 placed roots of Rhubarb with good balls, and a number of pots 

 filled with the roots of Sea-kale well packed together. We | 

 prefer at present to havo these roots in pots when placed in 

 the Mushroom-house, as we can thus have it iu our power to | 

 hurry on or retard the cutting. What is rather singular as ! 

 respects Rhubarb, we find that the large-growing kinds come 

 earliest when forced at this season, though several of the 

 smaller kinds produce much the earliest in the open air. To 

 have forced Rhubarb green, and to have Rhubarb and Sea-kale 

 in the simplest way t>y a hotbed, and a close wooden box, see a 

 recent Number. 



Cauliflower. — Took up a nice lot with balls, and turned them 

 into an earth-pit, where they can have the protection of some 

 old sashes, and where they would do well if we could keep 

 marauders from them. The very first night the Cauliflowers 

 were in their new quarters a rat left his leg behind him in a 

 trap, and that the poor thing had gnawed through with his 

 teeth to get off. Nearly fifty have been trapped in about a 

 month, and still they come. 



MuthrooTttrhouse. — Earthed down a second piece, and sur- 

 rounded the spawn heap out of doors with some mowings from 

 the lawn and litter, as it was becoming too cold, though the 

 spawn was running. We are now needing much a good quan- 

 tity of tree leaves for all such heating purposes, but the high 

 winds have carried Elm and Beech leaves far beyond our juris- 



diction, and Oak leaves have not yet fallen sufficiently here 

 to make it worth while to collect them. 



Tho Cjief work, whilst the ground was hard and dry, was 

 wheeling manure and compost, as it is always important in 

 doing work not to make work. In places where manure was 

 wanted, and the ground not cleared, heaps were mado, so that 

 the work could be done at any suitable time, and no necessity 

 involved of wheeling on the walks. A barrow should never be 

 seen on a walk unless as an absolute necessity. In bad weather 

 the wheel cuts the walks up, and renders future work necessary 

 to put them right, and in fine weather the wheels leave their 

 marks behind them, and t'-:us do away with the ideas of pri- 

 vacy and high-keeping. When much wheeling is done from a 

 soft heap, a little long litter thrown down will keep tho wheels 

 of the barrow clean at starting, and thus avoid future brushing 

 up ; but this simple expedient, if not insisted on, will run a 

 good chance of being neglected nine times out of ten. 



FECIT GARDEN. 

 Much the same as iu tho previous week as to Strawberry- 

 plants in pots for forcing ; as they are now chiefly out of doors 

 we threw some dry litter all over them, as after such mild and 

 wet weather they would have been easily injured by frost. 

 They would have been under protection long ago, but we had 

 no place to put them iu at liberty, except earth-pits, where we 

 could keep frost from them well enough, but where last season 

 we suffered woefully from rats, having had to wheel away 

 barrowloads that had not a vestige of an eye or a bud left. We 

 think we must try and house them in the orchard-house, though 

 that is scarcely ready. We have found they are safer on the 

 open ground protected as above, than in any earth pit, for the 

 very appearance of protection seems to bring rats and mice 

 to them. A good many will be placed in frames now empty, as 

 soon as we can obtain a few leaves merely to make the plants 

 semew!.:at warmer than they would be outside, and that will be 

 a good preparation for placing them afterwards in houses. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



The frost has not yet been severe enough to stop transplant- 

 ing and planting, but our chief worfi has been clearing up, and 

 taking the now unsightly materials from flower-beds. 



Housing Plants. — By the 18th we managed to have nearly all 

 tender plants, except Calceolarias, in quarters where, in very 

 severe weather, a little fire heat could be applied. This has 

 enabled us to set some old sashes at liberty, which will come in 

 for such things as mentioned above, and" for early Potatoes, 

 when we can obtain something a little warm to place beneath 

 them. This moving of the plants, besides saving time in pro- 

 tection, prevents the losses that are apt to lake place from 

 damping in cold pits and cold frames in winter. 



Pusiti, n of Plants. — Where there are numbers of houses all 

 thought on this subject may be reduced to a minimum, but the 

 matter is of importance where only one house is employed 

 for ornamental purposes. Then plants that will stand most 

 air and most cold should be set as far apart as possible from 

 those requiring more heat. Thus Cape Heaths, New Holland 

 Acacias, at least a good portion of those grown in greenhou.es, 

 will bear a rather free current of air, if it ranges from 35° to 

 40°, and so would Andersonias, Beaufortias, Camellias, Casu- 

 arina, Clianthus, Coronilla, Cytisus, Dolichos, Eugenia, Lep- 

 tospermum, Metrosideros, Myoporum, Psoralen. I'ulleiiaa, ,tc, 

 whilst such families of plants as follow* should stand at the op- 

 posite end of the house, so as to have no direct current of air 

 beating on them at that temperature, but enjoy an average 

 temperature of little less than 45' : — Chorozema, Podolobium, 

 Platylobium, Gastrolobium, Gompholobiurn, &e., Kennedya, 

 Leschenaultia, Timelea, and more especially such plants as 

 Crowea saligna. The Epacris, and the Zonale Pelargoniums, 

 and softwooded plants, as Cinerarias and Primulas, would well 

 occupy an intermediate site : and thus, though the air of the 

 house may be freshened for all, the plants will be exposed to 

 the force of the current very unequally, and the temperature 

 at the closer end of the house will be higher than at the other 

 end. 



Watering. — This should now be done with great care, and so 

 as to spill as little as possible, to prevent an undue quantity 

 being raised by evaporation to be deposited on the glass, and 

 thus condensed, to fall over the house like a shower. Even in 

 greenhouses, if we have a continuance of severe frost, and 

 much fire heat be wanted, it may be necessary to damp the 

 paths and shelves that moisture may be easily obtained for 

 the atmosphere of the house, instead of the dry air sucking 

 moisture from the stems and leaves ; unless, however, we bo 



