January SO, 186G. ] 



JOUKNAIi OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEBENEE. 



93 



was much the same as detailed last week. The change of the 

 weather has enabled us to proceed with digging and trenching 

 what little spaces we have unfurnished in the kitchen garden. 

 The Dalmeny Sprouts, though not equal to other Brussels 

 Sprouts at this season, fm-nish a nice tender little Cabbage on 

 the top of each stem, as tender when cooked as a nice Colewort, 

 ajid seemingly much hardier, and there is every appearance 

 that from this land the sprouts will come firm and late after 

 those of other kinds have begim to run. In answer to a lady 

 who has sent a note on 'the subject, we would say. Use the 

 common Brussels Sprouts for a winter supply, and these Cab- 

 bage-headed Sprouts for spring, at least that is the impres- 

 sion produced on us by what ours promise to be. Brought 

 home a few leaves, and find that the high winds will leave us 

 short of fermenting material this season. But for this would 

 have had lots of Potatoes on beds before now. At present 

 our forward stock is chiefly confined to pots : but before this 

 appears we most likely will have started some beds under 

 frames, with just a little heat beneath them, which is gene- 

 rally safer than having too much. A quantity in pots are, 

 however, in excellent order. 



FKniT GARDEN. 



Had some trouble with our stokeholes, protected merely by 

 a flap door, as the heavy rains soaking through the ground 

 found access to them. We fear also that the di'ains could not, 

 or would not carry off the water sufficiently. We have made 

 arrangements to carry off all the surface water from them, but 

 still we did not escape altogether, and fear that the dumb weU 

 into which the drainage goes must itself have become full. 

 We had one stokehole, about 6 feet deep, in the Melon ground, 

 that used to annoy us very much, though to keep the place 

 tolerably dry a dumb well had been sunk in the chalk below the 

 clay to the depth of nearly 50 feet ; but in heavy rains the weU 

 used to be filled, and when the water rose above the stokehole 

 level, that too was fiUed, and if we wished the fire to burn we 

 had to lower or empty the well. Now we take all the surface 

 water past the weU, collect it in shallow cesspools, and take it 

 from thence by pipes into a pond made on pm-pose, and thus 

 we obtain a fine sirpply of water and escape a flooded stoke- 

 hole. A vast quantity of water may be thus collected from 

 hard, gravelled, and, better stiU, asphalted paths in a Melon 

 ground. Having known what it is to be without water, and to 

 use for plants what they ought never to receive, we have re- 

 gretted to be obliged to di-ain away so much water tliis season, 

 that would have been invaluable in summer could we have 

 kept it. 



Went on with pruning out of doors, as we could attend to the 

 trees, and trying almost every device to keep birds from the 

 buds ; but we were, nevertheless, often obliged to confess our- 

 selves beaten. It is vexing after the trees are bristling with 

 fine buds, to find all the most forward and best destroyed. On 

 the top of a small Thorn tree, the head about 1.5 feet above the 

 level of the Laurels, and perhaps 12 feet in diameter, we counted 

 the other morning just as daylight was coming in, 250 little 

 birds, and that was not all of them. Every LaiU'el bush is 

 crowded at night. Poor things ! whilst alive they must find 

 food. With all our sympathy for small birds, it is possible to 

 have too many of them. 



Gave plenty of air to Peaches opening their blossoms, and 

 treated other houses much the same as detailed in previous 

 weeks. Were we in this respect to hsteu to all hints, for 

 which, nevertheless, we are much obliged, we would in one 

 case just state every week every httle thing that had been done, 

 though that would be mostly a repetition of what was said the 

 week before, or we would never repeat at all, and only write 

 when we had something new or fresh to say, which would be 

 very seldom indeed. 



OKXAMEST-tL DErAr.T5IE>;T. 



Looked over half-hardy plants in cold pits and frames. In 

 the pit where Calceolaria ruttinrjs were inserted in the end of 

 October and the beginning of November, we find all are growing 

 now — scarcely one has failed. Wednesday being a fine day, 

 pulled out the few weeds that were among them, however 

 small, a very few decayed leaves, and then pulled a pointed 

 stick between the rows, so as to loosen the surface soil a little. 

 This will help them under any circiunstances, but it wiU help 

 them most of all if we should be obliged to shut them up in a 

 continuous frost. If we had the chance we would be inclined 

 to change cuttings with some friends as respects many bedding 

 plants. We believe that even in their case a change from dif- 

 ferent soils is beneficial. From the bloom being very freely 



produced, and then from the heavy rains in autumn, we did 

 not obtain so many cuttings of Aurantia muUiflora Calceolaria, 

 nor so good, as we liked, and we obtained a batch of cuttings 

 from a friend in the neighbourhood ; and even now in the ccS- 

 ting-bed we cm see how far these cuttings extend, as they have 

 a rich luxuriant gi-een about them, which the others do not ex- 

 hibit, though treated in every way alike. We have no fault to 

 find with the others, but stiD these look better, and must soon 

 be thinned, otherwise they will injure each other. As far as we 

 recollect, these Calceolaria cuttings received very little shading, 

 and no regular watering since they were watered when they were 

 ! inserted. We have no doubt that many of oiu' bedding Gera- 

 ' niums that do well would do better stiU could we manage to 

 \ exchange cuttings with another place at a little distance. Even 

 i in the cutting-bed these Calceolarias, which seemed not the 

 . least difi'erent from our own, are quite conspicuous now ; and 

 we believe, taking the evidence of the past into account as 

 something like a guarantee for the future, that they wiQ be 

 more vigorous in similar circimistances throughout the sum- 

 mer. The difficulty in effecting such exchanges arises merely 

 from the fact that many gardeners could take what cuttings 

 they Uked by the middle of August, whilst in other cases where 

 there was a resident family it would be difficult to make many 

 cuttings of bedding plants until September or October. 



Potted a lot of Fuchsias ; pruned more, to prepare them for 

 potting after breaking. Cuttings inserted now wUl make nice 

 flowering plants for the autumn. A little bottom heat is a 

 great advantage for fresh-potted plants where it can be given 

 them. Brought in the most forward Caladiums that were 

 potted in small pots ; and after potting afresh in larger pots, 

 plunged them in a mild bottom heat. The others will be potted 

 as the first pots fiU with roots. No plants are more benefited 

 by a little bottom heat. To have them in perfection they 

 should be grown in a platform or bed, where a bottom heat of 

 about 10° more than the atmospheric heat can be given them. 

 The leaves will then have a size and a richness which they 

 seldom possess when standing on a shelf with the pot exposed, 

 and no bottom heat. Proceeded also with potting fresh Mosses 

 and Ferns, and those of the latter especially, which, after having 

 the decaying fronds cut down, were beginning to break afresh. 

 Many Ferns are especially beautiful when the fi-onds are young. 

 Many small Mosses, as Selagiuella apoda, can only be kept 

 fresh and vigorous by frequent division and potting. When 

 full grown and let alone, a drip will cause pieces to fade and 

 decay. Either for small plants or cut flowers in vases sudi 

 small Mosses become exceedingly useful. In covering pots in 

 small vases, the short green moss found on trees and rocks is 

 also very useful, as these hardy mosses stand the dry heated 

 ah- of rooms much better than those brought either from the 

 gi'eenhouse or the hothouse. Were we a lady or a gentleman 

 with any pretensions even to fitness in taste, we would not 

 have a flowering plant in a pot in a room, unless the common 

 pot were concealed in a vessel whose artistic merits were in 

 unison with the surrounding fumitiu'e. We know that some 

 ladies are very clever in dressing in various ways the outsides 

 of common pots in handsomely- furnished rooms ; but too often 

 the makeshift is easily seen, and that spoils the efl'ect. For 

 window and room plants see last week. — K. F. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



•«* Many interesting communications are in type, but omitted 

 for want of space. We pui'pose giving another Supple- 

 ment next Tuesday, which will enable us to publish them. 



Roses to Bloom ix jAxrABv (JTHUdm). — Having no convenience for 

 forcing, you can only have F.oscs in bloom at this time by cutting the 

 plants in after they have done blooming in summer to four and not more 

 than six leaves, and they will push and show for bloom in autumn. You 

 must then prevent their flowering by keeping them on a north aspect 

 until November, when they are to be removed to a light, aii'j", cool house 

 from which frost only is excluded, and they wiU then give a few blooms 

 late. 



Taking tp Stuattbeeeies for Forcing {Idem). — You may take up the 

 plants, and, mailing sure of a ball, pot them now, plunging the pots to 

 the rim in ashes in a warm sunny exposure, and early in March place 

 them on the shelf of your greenhouse. They will give you a good crop of 

 fruit if they have good crowns. 



Books {T. B. JT.)-— MUls on the culture of the Melon. " The Kitchen 

 Garden Manual " contains full directions about Cucumber culture. It 

 can be had free by post from our office for five postage stamps. 



Liquid ^JIanuke {Thomas Btirnci-).- AW ]iunU of liquid manm'e should 

 be applied only when plants are growing. Your pig-stye di-ainage may 

 be applied undiluted to vacant ground where Cabbages are to be planted, 

 but for watering plants one bucketful should be mixed with Bis buckets- 

 ful of water. 



