July 8, 1669. 1 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



29 



the ground, and some of the more tender or badly rooted plants 

 look sickly. As the grounds and shrubberies are much more 

 frequented by company att his season, pay attention to preserv- 

 ing the greatest neatness and order in every part. Where 

 there are enough hands to admit of it, flowering shrubs as they 

 go out of bloom should have the dead flowers and leaves re- 

 moved and be sliRhtly cut back. For the same reasons remove 

 the seed pods of Ehododendrons and Tree Pironies. Ihese 

 little attentions will be followed by au increased growth of the 

 plants, and a greater certainty of their blooming every season. 

 See that Hollyhocks, Dahlias, and the taller-growing herbaceous 

 plants are properly secured to stakes. When growing, cut back 

 the perpetual-blooming Eoses as they go out of flower, and 

 supply them with the richest manure water, to encourage a 

 second growth and bloom. Strong shoots of Chrysanthemums 

 may now be layered in pots to produce dwarf, compact plants. 

 Carnations and Picotees will now be in bloom. Let plants in 

 pots be moved under au awning. Here they may be arranged 

 on a raised platform, or not, according to taste. Picotees may 

 be grouped on one side and Carnations on the other, taking 

 care that the tallest plants are at the back, at the same time 

 contrasting the colours as much as possible. Pipings may be 

 put iu on a gentle bottom heat. Layering may also now or 

 very soon be proceeded with, as much of next year's success 

 depends on this. All seedlings should be marked, noticing 

 their various properties of form, colour, and substance. 



GREENHOUSE AND COSSEKVATOKY. 



The conservatory should now be kept as gay as circumstances 

 ■will permit. It is not desirable, however, to crowd it with 

 flowering plants ; the aim should rather be to have a moderate 

 number of handsome specimens effectively arranged, which 

 will yield more interest and pleasure than a greater amount 

 of floral display from plants of no individual merit. We 

 would recommend a thin arrangement of the pot plants, on 

 account of the permanent occupants of the beds and borders, 

 which at this season should be allowed plenty of space, in 

 order to secure strong and well-ripened wood, without which 

 they cannot be expected to bloom freely. Use every means 

 to keep down insects, and let order and neatness be strictly ob- 

 served. Hardwooded plants, including most of the genera 

 from New Holland, which bloom early in spring, and which, 

 after blooming, received the necessary pruning, will now be so 

 far advanced in their new growth, that any requiring to be 

 repotted should at once have a shift. After turning them out, 

 loosen the outside roots before placing them in their new pots, 

 to enable them to take to the fresh soil the more readily. 

 Keep them close for a few days, especially if the roots have 

 been much disturbed, and damp them once or twice daily over- 

 head ; water carefully at first, taking pains to insure the old 

 ball having its proper share until the roots are established in 

 the new soil. Attention at this season should be directed to 

 the stock of plants intended to furnish the supply of bloom 

 through the next winter, as it is requisite plants should com- 

 plete their growth early for this purpose. Among Heaths, 

 those which flower through the winter should also be en- 

 couraged to complete their growth, as they are great favourites 

 in most places, a considerable number of such kinds as 

 E. hyemalis, WiUmoreana, gracilis, vernix, regerminans, &a., 

 should be grown. Keep Epacrises under glass till their growth 

 is complete ; but more air and light should be allowed them, 

 increasing it as the wood gets firmer. Towards the end of the 

 mouth they may be placed out of doors in an open situation, 

 but where they can be protected from heavy rains. 



STOVE. 



Stove plants which are intended for the decoration of the 

 conservatory in autumn should now be carefully looked over, 

 moving such as are likely to want more pot room, with a view 

 of having the pots well 'filled with roots before the plants are 

 required to flower ; keep also the shoots tied out rather thinly, 

 and expose the plants to as much sunshine as they will bear 

 without scorching their foliage, in order to keep them low and 

 bushy. Give clean weak manure water to young growing speci- 

 mens, and repot any that are intended to have another shift this 

 season. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Size of Gardens.-— yfe are thus far gratified by the attention 

 excited by what has lately been stated about the sizes of gar- 

 dens, and the impossible returns expected from small ones. 



We know some very comfortable places where the kitchen gar- 

 den is far too small to supply the establishment, but all con- 

 cerned are satisfied, simply because Potatoes, Carrots, Turnips, 

 and even mosi of the Cabbages are, with the exception of a 

 few early ones, grown in the open field. Many of our roots 

 are thus obtained sweeter and better, though not larger, than 

 in an old kitchen garden. We hear of a number of other cases 

 where the proprietors say, " We must not expect impossi- 

 bilities, get what you can, and then we will purchase what you 

 cannot produce for us." In the last ten years we could re- 

 member at least twenty cases in which clever, superior gar- 

 deners, left employers whom they would gladly have serveO, 

 merely because they saw plainly ihat with the ground allotted 

 to them they would every year be less able to meet the wants 

 of an increasing estabUshment ; and because, though the matter 

 was more than hinted at, no remedy was forthcoming, ihey 

 thought it more prudent to leave when all was going smoothly, 

 than be obliged to leave after any unpleasantness about short- 

 ness of supplies. Some employers, like these, have expressed 

 their wonder that a gardener should have left them—'; Liked 

 him much ■ never had a cross word with him ; never, m fact, 

 had occasion ; offered him more money ; would have done any- 

 thing in reason ; were perfectly satisfied, but could not make 

 the garden ground larger." That was just the reason ; an acre 

 or even half an acre of ground would have made all the dif- 

 ference, were it only surrounded by a wire netting fence in the 

 corner of afield. , ,,■ , j. 



It is pleasant to know that the heads of an establishment 

 are satisfied ; but the prudent man knows that repeated com- 

 plaints of short supply at the tables of the establishment may 

 in time turn the satisfaction of an employer almost to dissatit- 

 faction. A good display in the dining-room is all very well, 

 but that wi'l not atone for scarcity and lack of variety at the 

 other tables in the house. After some experience we have 

 come to the conclusion, that for a gardener to be comfortable 

 and respectable in his position, he must have the means ot 

 giving a varied supply according to the season, not only to tbe 

 dining-room, but to the other eating-rooms, be it steward s 

 room nursery, or hall— to glut, as it were, at least to give 

 plenty to the head of the kitchen ; and if that cannot be, then 

 to have it iuUy recognised that you merely produce what your 

 ground will give, and if more is wanted, the market must be 

 resorted to, especially for early vegetables. It is no drawback 

 to a gardener's reputation that Potatoes appear in the markets 

 from Cornwall and farther south before his out of doors are 

 half grown. We can only grow them better for the parlour by 

 glass and other protection. 



The matter has been brought more before onr notice in con- 

 sequence of our having been on two days a few hours from 

 home, and having seen some large kitchen gardens, two of 

 which though large were fully cropped, whilst another had 

 plenty of uncropped ground, with whole quarters left for winter 

 vegetables ; whilst we had to think where we could find a piece 

 on which to sow the first Cabbages ; for almost every bit was 

 crammed, and then we could hardly have enough. Of course 

 in large gardens there is more space to go over, but there is not 

 the same scheming necessary to produce as many crops as 

 possible off the same piece of ground. , , . , ■ 



Cottagers and allotment-holders often run us hard in making 

 the most of the ground by adopting the simultaneous cropping 

 pystem— that is, having two or three crops on the same ground 

 at onoe, or one crop quickly following the other ; for matanee, 

 this season our old Cabbage quarter has been thrown into wide 

 bed trenches for bedding plants, and is now used for Oeiery, 

 with Peas en the tops of the ridges. This is the successful 

 mode, but frequently when these trenches were made early 

 we put a little hot dung in them, planted early Potatoes just 

 sprung, with Lettuces and Eadishes between the rows. The 

 Eadishes and Lettuces with a little protection were just cleared 

 off in time to make way for the Potatoes, which came in early ; 

 and with an additional layer of rotten dung, the ground they 

 occupied made an excellent bed for three or four rows of 

 Celery, which was tied up. The Pea ground was not en- 

 croached upon for earthing-up until the Peas were gathered, 

 whilst they gave the exact shade required by the Celery in the 

 earliest stages of growth, as in the autumn it needed none. 

 This Celery ground would most likely bear Onions the yeaj 

 following, and be cropped in autumn with Cabbages to stand 

 all next season and over the second winter, the ground then 

 coming in for Peas, Potatoes, and Celery again. 



Here we would notice, that many cottagers in this neighbour- 

 hood take up their Potatoes before they are very ripe, and 



