<lOV«iihl^ OF> UQMTfCVhTVm /tK0' OOTTAPB Gi^ia>Sl!lBB. 



[ llMvb so, urn. 



them ovec witb burol; «ATti) O'lid {urui^ce ashes, tbo latter Act- 

 ing, too, as a preventive to a certain extent against wieo and 

 birds. Whenever there is a hole made by a bird, we shall run a 

 string or thread along the row a few inches above it. Turned 

 over the upper npit of riJpes intended /or Carrots, Parsnips, 

 .tc. Took up a lot of Celery, and set it close among earth and 

 fujnac'o dshe?, after pnttiug a little *arth to the roots and 

 watering it, iu order that wo might trench and ridge the ground 

 orossxrise, so as to make the dung from the Celery-beds go 

 ejttajlj' over tlie gronnd as preparator;' for Onions. It "would 

 be of no use sowing cuj-lj- in such weather. Onion seed will 

 stand almost any amount of cold, and young Onions, when 

 fairly up and established, are anything but tender ; but many 

 Onion-beds prove failures from a severe frost attacking them 

 when the seeds have pushed from' half iin inch to au inch. 

 Prepared a border for sowing vegetable seeds, and for Turnips 

 out of doors as soon as it becomes milder. It is of little use 

 just now, las, after the Tiuuips are \i\k a very little frost will so 

 injure them ae to cause tliem to spend their energies iu throw- 

 ing up flowoY-stems, instead of making nice juicy tubers. 



Planted Potcilm-^ in an earth-pit, covered with old patched 

 sashes, as alluded to last -week. There will be very little heat 

 from a few leaves below tho Potatoes. Until tlie lladishes are 

 fairly up, and the Potatoes appearing, will take all the help 

 from sun heat possible to warm the soil, and, therefore, give 

 little or nO aid, and throw a little clean litter over the gl.-iss at 

 night to keep the heat accumulated from radiating away again. 

 In the case of early Potatoes in frames, removed the pots and 

 tiles oS other things placed temporarily between the rows that 

 the sun might act more fi'eely on the soil. Such intruders do 

 little harm until the Potato tops are from C to 8 iuches long. 

 When ours gi'ow as much as 12 inches, wo often nip out the 

 terminal bud, which docs nothing to check growth, and yet 

 keeps the plants more dwarf and bushy. 



Doublr Cmpjnnij. — Tho making the most of every inch under 

 glass, by temporary or intermediate crops, is not all gain, as 

 much of what'is obtained in room is wasted in extra labour 

 in moving, and tho head of the gardener is kept constantly at 

 work in contriving that all this moving shall be done to the 

 best advantage. In other cases double cropping is not all gain, 

 there are disadvantages to counterbalance the profits. For 

 instance, we generally have a nice supply of Radishes from au 

 early Carrot-bed. These Il.adishes iu alternate rows with the 

 Carrots have been good for some time, and do not yet interfere 

 ■with the Carrots farther than this, that to keep the tops of the 

 Radishes short and stumpy, and near tho root, we are obliged 

 to give more air than we otherwise would give to the Carrots, 

 and thus, for the sake of the Radishes, we cannot take the help 

 wo might from the sun to hurry on the Carrots for pulling, and 

 few luxuries beat a sweet, nice crisp Horn, or early Dutch 

 Carrot as thick as your thumb and not so long. It is hardly 

 possible to have every advantage by any one system of opera- 

 tions. -...!-■ 



We have a lot of Peas and Beans in tiles and boxes, which 

 ■we shall keep under protection a little longer before turning 

 them out iu the open ground. There are sad complaints of 

 autumn-sown Peas iu some places being injured and destroyed. 

 For Sea-kale, Rhubarb, French Beans, &e., see last and pre- 

 ■("ious week. V,, '. , -. 



Cucumbers — jPt'fa Ver«its Frames. — Though we like biick pits 

 heated or not heated, we have still a lingering partiality for the 

 old-fashioned frames. They are easily moved from place to 

 place, and are never much out of ouiployment. We also have 

 a weakness iu liking them for hotbeds ; and one advantage 

 they have over a fixed pit is, that by the level of your bed on 

 which the frame stands you can place the glass frame at au 

 angle so as to command the greatest amount of sunlight. Our 

 partiality for them, not yet quite gone, may be owing to the 

 fact that in our young days we were nearly as successful in 

 obtaining early Cucumbers and Melons from such hotbed frames 

 as ever we have been iu pits heated by hot water, unless, 

 indeed, in the midwinter mouths. Our earliest Cucumbers 

 are in a small pit. We could not well take uji more room iu 

 tho pit, owing to a crop of Kidney Beans ]uodueing freely ; and 

 for the purpose of giving more room iu the meantime, we 

 planted out iu a frame, as stated the other week, strong plauts 

 .showing fruit. Tho bottom heat was about SO , the top heat 

 at night a little above fiO', and we allowed a good rise from 

 sunshine, and the plants were going on capitally ; but one 

 morning on uncovering, our partiality for hotbeds and frames 

 received a damper. Several large holes were seen in the bed, 

 earth was thro\vn over the leaves, part of the leaves were eaten. 



and every little fruit and stem of the plants was cut and 

 gnawed, se«n)ingly more for mischief than for food. Wu Uid 

 the blame to rats ; but attar borrowing a ferret we found none 

 about that bed, but half a dozen huge barn and grass mice, 

 finding, however, some rats ehsewhere. Wu could not expect 

 the plants to do any more good, and it is fortimalo thoy were 

 not the earliest ; and even now we fear to turn out o^bcr strops; 

 plants, iu case they should share tho same fate, beiofi .<n,e; 

 continue a course of trapping and poisoning, &c. • 



One drawback to the use of hotbeds and frames ia, that the 

 bed and the litter form such attractive nestling places for all 

 such vermin. The other evening we looked over the fence 

 into a little wood before roosting-time for the pheasants ; and 

 to our surprise and consternation, there wore numbers of rats 

 feeding close to the pheasants. If something is not done ia 

 some districts tho rats will clear everything before them, Jis 

 they are said to bo doing in the Highlands. They will soon 1)6 

 dissatisfied with merely resting and bm-rowing in a hotbed, or 

 IJUrloiuing tho best garden produce. Last autumn we coali 

 scarcely have saved a Pea-pod for seed, even if we had tried 

 our utmost. Very considerately of them, the rats let tho Peas 

 alone when they were nice and soft for the parlour, and even, 

 when harder for the hall ; but no sooner did they approach 

 ripeness than up tho rat mounted tho sticks, and cleared out 

 the pods at his leisure, or cut them off and carried them to his 

 burrow. It is sad to poison, with its attendant risks and 

 cares, and too much caro cannot be taken — sad to trap, with 

 its attendant cruelty — sad to tar and feather, or rather frizzle, 

 and tar — and then sadder still to find that the enemy in its 

 legions shows no sign of retreating. The new comers from 

 exhausted fields to what are to them "pastures fresh and new 'V 

 are the difficulty, and to be surmounted must be cncounter^d" 

 at a distance from the garden. 



Brick-pits are so far a security that the vermin cannot so 

 easily find a burrow beneath the bed, cannot so easily gain 

 access through the walls, but in all pits where the sashes are^. 

 lifted to give air both mice and rats will gain access by that 

 means. Whilst in a quiet brown study at this time of year, 

 noticing some ripe Strawberries on a shelf in a pit mauled 

 a)7parently by mice, and the seeds on tho surface of tho berry 

 nipped out, we cast our eye along the wall, and, ere we could 

 prevent them, two mice mounted the wall and whisked in at 

 the opening tilted up for air. Traj) and poison were our only 

 alternatives, and the difficulty is to find a bait more tempting 

 than the httle seeds of the Strawberry. It is rare they eat 

 much except the seeds, but that is more than enough. When 

 a hole is made, or half a Strawberry devoured, tho mouse is 

 sometimes blamed for the doings of the slug, or snaiL The 

 above occurrence, and t<io many like it, showed that even pits 

 are not secure against such depredators, unless the ventilators 

 are placed iu the walls, and these again are secured by plates 

 of fine wire or perforated zinc. 



We give this )iromineuoe to such vermin in hotbeds, as from 

 several letters we find we are not alone in our experience of 

 the evil ; and iu answer to inquiries as to what else is to be 

 doue to secure against future loss, especially in frames, we 

 may mention what we are douig, and what we intend to do. 

 In the middle of the day, when warmest, we will remove the 

 Kidney Beans iu pots to another place where they will finish 

 off their crop, and prepare the pit for Cucumbers, keeping 

 Melon plants there too until they ai'O a good size so as to find 

 room for them. Then as respects frames, before wc plant 

 Melons or Cucumbers out into them, wo will bank up a space 

 of (■> inches on the slope all round the frame, where it touches 

 the hotbed, with clay or stilT loam, kneaded and watered, and 

 left with a smooth surface. This is to prevent any noxious 

 smell penetrating there. Then wo will smear the lower part 

 of the frame outside, aud part of the dung beneath it, with 

 coal tar, the smell of whicii is disliked by mice and rats, aud 

 the touch of which ou their fur coats they detest stiU more. 

 This, with watchfulness, traps always in use, and the visit of a 

 ferret now and then to leave at least his scent behind him, is 

 about all we c.iu think of at present to enable us to conquer 

 these intruders. If any of our readers can suggest something 

 better, we and many more will be thankful. 



It is of little use recommending tho best friend of the gar- 

 dener — a good cat, or a company of them, as if kittens are ob- 

 tained in most places they disappear as they emerge from their 

 kittenhood, and begin to be really useful. The gamekeeper 

 knows that no animal is so easily enticed from its usual haunt 

 to its own destruction, and acts accordingly ; and poor, faithful, 

 affeoLionate pussy is hung up. 



