180 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICTJLTDRE AND COTTAGE GARDEI^ER. 



[ roliraary IS, 1806. 



Prcceeileil -willi nil in-door crop|iiiig, ns Kidney Beans, Sea- 

 kale. MiHlirooms. Kluibnrb, Asimrngiia, .tc, as detailed in pre- 

 vious weeks ; ntuiivcnt on with |)liiiitin(,' for cover out of doors, 

 where holes wero nimle in turfy or liilly prouud, nud the damp 

 was rather nn lulviiutiiKc than otherwise, the ground beiuR 

 rendered softer ami more friable in consequence. Whore ground 

 lies on a slope, a prnssy turfy covcrinR is almost as good for 

 preventing anything like soaking as it is for keeping out any 

 great cmount of frost. Trapped, and though rather averse 

 to such a course, put poison in places where nothing else conld 

 reach it fi>r mice and rats, which arc becoming very trouble- 

 some. Thov have completely stumped in and destroyed most of 

 our earliest Cauliflowers. Our reserve of Cauliflowers for the 

 table is now over ; but Broccoli is coming in. Those garden 

 enemies will throw us back for early Caulillowcr. The plants 

 were stumped in one night, and tlie most provoking circum- 

 stance is tliat the whole seemed done for mischief more than 

 anything else, as leaves and stems were left lying in heaps, and 

 little or nothing had been consumed. 'We h.avo a wire trap or 

 two for rats, with the spring so strong that if caught at all 

 death must bo next to instantaneous. It is horrible to think 

 of even a rat being tortured for hours, caught by the leg in a 

 common steel tra)<. Even a trap should have something of 

 the humane about it. We may have the right to kill what we 

 call our vermin enemies, we can have no right to torture. 

 rnriT I>^;r.lr.T^rKN■r. 



Ojving to the weather and the wetness of the gi-ound we liave 

 done little in the way of pruning or nailing out of doors. Had 

 we been scarce of in-door or other more suitable work wo could 

 have gone on by using planks, &c., to stand upon, thus taking 

 the weight from the soil. Some time ago we took advantage of 

 the snow covering to give our orchard-houses a good smoking 

 with bruised laurel leaves, so as to penetrate into every hole 

 Tmd comer of the house, merely by way of precaution'; and 

 in the same way of ]irecaution we washed all the glass and 

 woodwork thoroughly with weak soap water, so as not to spoil 

 the paint, and syringed and cngincd the same, as well as the 

 trees and walls, with clear water. As we see little chance 

 of washing the trees, which we generally do, we did the next 

 best thing — .syringed them thoroughly, also the wall at back, 

 ■with weak soap water at a temperature of about 140°. If there 

 should be any eggs of insects, that temperature should pretty 

 well kill them. As soon as pruned we will paint the trees ail 

 over with a thin paint made of lime, soot, sulphiu-, and clay, 

 with about a pound of Gishurst to the six gallons. This, when 

 dried, heiug of a lightish colour, will help to keep tlie trees 

 back in opening then- buds, and the more backward they are 

 in openirig the blossom, the less liltclihood is there of the trees 

 heing injured by a severe frost ; and mild though the weather 

 is now, we have known the thermometer to range from 40° to 

 50° in January and February, nnd yet stand at from 20° to 25° 

 below freezing-point in the middle of March, and even a di^ 

 and quiet atmosijherc would hardly save blossoms then, though 

 they will stand a gi-eat amount of "cold when the atmosphere is 

 still and dry. We do not, therefore, envy s.irac of our friends 

 who tell us that the buds in their unhealed nrcbard-houses are 

 ■now opening, and some are proud to think that they will gather 

 iruit all the sooner— we hope they will ; and if there should be 

 no frost to speak about, this will certainlv be the case. As, 

 however, we are anything but beyond the usual time of frost, 

 we would advise all, and especially beginners who have fruit 

 trees in these imheated houses, to keep them b-ick as much as 

 possible by air night and d.ay fur a few weeks ; and oven a little 

 ehade, if the sun should be very powerful, will be useful for 

 retarding. 



Ijike all trees under glass, the roots of onrs were becoming 

 -rather dry from no water being given late in autumn or through 

 the winter. If the soil become very dry manv of the buds 

 •wiU be apt to drop off before the blossom expand. Some 

 Iriends are much alarmed at a few of the buds dr-opping off 

 before the blossom appears ; but if tliis take place moderately it 

 just saves thinning the fruit afterwards. If the dryness at the 

 roots, however, continues too long with troos that have well- 

 Tipeucd wood, not only wUl the buds be apt to drop too freely, 

 hut this will take place if you at once water too freely. In the 

 one case the buds will drop from want of moisture ; in the 

 other they will be thrown off by too much excitement given at 

 once. It is advisable, therefore, in tlie case of trees planted 

 out, to water only about a third of the roots at once, waiting a 

 ■week or so between the times of watering ench of the other 

 ■two-thirds. The only advantage of the compiirative dryness 

 m autumn and the first part of winter is, that it securer 



greater ripeness and induration of wood, and consequently 

 more perfect flowers. One noticeable fact of such well-ripened 

 wood is that, under similar circumstances, it will expand the 

 blossoms later than trees of which the wnnd was not equally 

 well indurated. Chiefly by shutting up with sun heat we had 

 one little orchard-house considerably earlier than another 

 with more air left on ; but the house that was latest last sea- 

 son has the buds much more forward this spring, and though 

 the wood in both is studded with buds and looking well, the 

 wood in the first house that had more sim heat shut up in it 

 is, if anything, the harder and the firmer. On the same 

 principle hard, well-indurated shoots of Tines break more 

 slowly than shoots not so well indurated when placed in similar 

 circumstances. Hence in the case of Peach trees out of doors, 

 after a dull autumn, there will be Uttle danger of the fruit- 

 I buds dropping in spring — they will even be more easily excited 

 I and expanded than after a bright sunny autumn ; but most 

 likely after a dull autumn, having consequently less indurated 

 wood, many of the fruit-buds will be apt to be defective, either 

 in their female or male organisation, and very likely in both. 

 One drawback to washing Peach trees, itc, with brushes, and 

 even painting them with a smother-up i^aint, as safeguards 

 against insects is, do the work ns carefully as you may, some 

 of the buds will be unsettled, and will fall off when freely 

 swelling ; but where there is an abundance of buds the loss of 

 a few is of no consequence, and washing and painting to keep 

 vermin and insects away is much more economical nnd better 

 every way than smoking and woshingto destroy them when they 

 come. Prevention in this case is better than cure. It is well 

 known that in some of our great mercantile establishments, 

 insects, though kept pretty well under, cannot be eradicated : 

 so much so, that pmchasers, especially of tender plants, should 

 for some time keep them in a sort of hospital if their col- 

 lections are all clean and right. 



In sunny inteiTals drew the hand dry through the trusses of 

 Strawberry blooms, ami waved a hoai'd like a fan over Peach 

 trees in bloom ; and where the flowers were at all thin brushed 

 them gently with a camel-hau- brush, or the soft side of a 

 feather. In consonance with what is said above, we may 

 mention that in the case of Noblesse Peaches and other kinds 

 that bloom very freely, it is often of great advantage to select 

 the best blossoms — those that have fine prominent pistils and 

 well-loaded anthers, nnd to thin the others out pretty UberaUy. 

 We cnce had a Noblesse Pcacli tree under our charge that 

 was said to have bloomed very freely for a number of years, 

 and yet set its fruit very sparingly. By simply taking off fully 

 three-fourths of the blossoms there was always plenty of fruit 

 as long as wo knew or heard of the tree. This made less 

 thinning of the fruit afterwards necessary. Potted off Melon 

 plants, sowed more seed. 



In other departments went on much as in previous weeks, 

 allowing everything to come on slowly until we have a change 

 of weather. " For Peach-house and similar structures Uttle 

 fire he.it is necessary, as, though stoi-my and windy, the tem- 

 perature is high. We have had to ])in the most of our sashes, 

 doors, and ventilators to keep them secure. 



LIME -IND SCLrnUI! MIXTURE. 



This, alluded to by " J. M., i:.Ttiioiitli" page 103, is none the 

 less useful, though it can lay no claims to novelty, as, a num- 

 ber of years ago, and several times since, we gave the recipe and 

 the mode of its application in this Journal. We borrowed the 

 chief part of it from a Frenchman, whose name we forget, who 

 used it as a preventive of the mildew on the Vine, and also for 

 effecting the cure of that evil. " J. M." gives the exact quan- 

 tity of the materials, and what strength to use it. quite cor- 

 rectly. Wo may just add, ns confirming his statements, that 

 it should not be used for Melons at above half the strength 

 specified, and never used at all if the leaves afterwards are not 

 quite dry before the sun touches them. For nothing else in a 

 growing state should it be used stronger than he specifies — that 

 is, half a pint to the four gallons of water. In no case should 

 it be given to Strawberry plants swelling their fruit. The 

 boiling of the suliihur and the quicklime makes the mixture 

 very strong and acrid, a pound of sulphur v.^ill thus go a great 

 way. '\^'ben the liquid cools before bottling we generally boil 

 a second time, and this second brewing is not so strong as the 

 first. It is a useful wash, but for general purposes it will be 

 safer to diminish the quautity rather than increase it, and 

 especially for everything growing and tender. Our chief reason 

 for alluding to it now. however, is for stating that if Peach 

 trees and Apricots in late uuheatcd houses are not washed and 

 ' painted -with clay and sulphur composition, &c., then such a 



