July 22, 1863. J 



JOtlBNAL OF HORTICDLTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



67 



fire {or three hours, and suffer the fire to die away by five 

 o'clock, shutting up entirely for the night by eii o'clock. At 

 this hoar the piping wilt possess warmth enough to insure a 

 temperature of &':" or 70' throughout the night. This heat, 

 with plenty of moistora sprinkled in the house, and slight 

 syringings, will secure an atmosphere of a most genial characler. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 

 The chief work of the week, besides the routine lately 

 alluded to, has reference chiefly to surface-stirring the soil, 

 mulching, and watering. The surfaca-slirring has been given 

 where possible, to growing crops in all departments. It is 

 astonishing how this alone helps plants, even though newly 

 tamed out, to resist the almost tropical sun which has come 

 upon us at last. Excessive evaporation and the descent of 

 heat is arrested by the loose surface. Even our flower beds — 

 the few open spaces still to be seen — showed signs of cracking, 

 especially round the sides of raised beds, to prevent which 

 nothing is so good as keeping the surface open and loose with 

 the hoe. Hoeing carefiilly among small edging plants often 

 does more good than sprinkling them with water. Some of our 

 best gardeners are using the water pail with great moderation 

 out of doors. In deep good soil established plants can well 

 hold their own, especially when the surface is kept loose. 



.Vu?c/iin// is a great relief where a heated soil is of less im- 

 portance than a moist one. Peas and Beans at midday seemed 

 to show the eiiects of the sun and drooped their points a little ; 

 in such a case we could not expect the younger succession 

 flowers to set and swell well. Even when watering could be 

 given, it was followed either by hoeing or mulching ; but gene- 

 rally with the latter, as the former is usually employed before 

 watering, oven if nothing better than litter or grass can be 

 obtained. We have even mowed some outlying corners to 

 have the long grass for this purpose, and all the short machiu- 

 ings from lawn, ,lL-c., have been taken to the kitchen garden 

 instead of the rubbish or rotting heap, and placed at once 

 among Peas. Cauliflower, .ia. Even this reciuires a little care 

 to pack about the stems and over the ground, but not over the 

 plants. We find that a careless workman had allowed some to 

 drop in the centres of strong Cauliflower plants, and had it 

 not been seen and removed it would have stained and disfigured 

 the coming fine heads. Thickieh mulchings may safely be 

 given to all plants as the 'aeat in the soil is now quite enlBcient 

 for ttem. There is just this danger from a thickish mulching 

 of grass onttings, &o., that after a shower or two, it becomes so 

 close as almost to esclude air ; and on a slope, the raina would i 

 rmi away to the lowest parts. This is easily avoided by break- 

 ing the surface cf the mulching with a hoe or fork, when air and 

 rain will have a free entrance, whilst the soil is kept moiater 

 and cooler than it would otherwise be. i 



In the flower garden we have mulched, as already stated, < 

 Calceolarias with rather tioe hotbed manure, of dung and 

 leaves fairly decomposed. We have done the same lately to 

 Lobelias, Verbenas, Pentstemons, Roses, &c., but we have not 

 yet done anything in that way to Scarlet Pelargoniums, as for 

 them the soil is not too warm, or yet too dry where the plants 

 are pretty well estahlished. If this hot weather should not con- 

 tinne long, we would not mulch them at all, unless from extra 

 free-blooming they should need a little extra help. We never 

 knew them grow less after they were turned out, than they did 

 this season ; which was owing not so much to the cold morn- 

 ings as to the coldness of the soil. The last ten days they have 

 been picking up, growing vigorously, and opening their blooms 

 fairly, but we do not like just yet to cool the soil by watering 

 or mulching ; in fact, when well established. Scarlet Geraniums 

 planted out in deep-stirred soil need but little watering, and 

 their own leaves act as a fair mulching, so far as keeping the 

 sun heat from the grotmd. Extra free-blooming, however, is 

 apt to exhaust the plants before the autumu is over, and to 

 prevent that, and also avoid watering, except what the heavens 

 give ns, nothing is better than a little mulching of rotten dung. 

 Remember that this surface-mulching and manuring has quite 

 a different effect from digging it deep in the soil where the 

 roots would at once take hold. 'The latter plan would encourage 

 vigorous growth, even at the expense of thinner blooming ; the 

 former would tell chiefly in supporting medium-sized foliage and 

 free-blooming. 



Wateelkg. — This is as usual becoming a serious affair, but 

 we hope we shall not experience a repetition of the evils of last 

 summer. A thunder-storm with a heavy rain, which we hope 



is not far off, would give us a good supply and replenish our 

 failing resources. Even here it would be eaey, wi;h more tanks 

 and reservoirs, to store just four times the qaia';ity of ram 

 water we do. Celery, Peas, and Beans have had what we could 

 safely give them, and fine rows of Lettuces have been mulched 

 to make a little liquid go a great way. 



In the flower garden, the outside rows of raised beds have 

 had a little, and the watering has been confined chiefly to 

 them. We mentioned raising a lot of beds at the outsides 

 with stakes about a foot above the lawu surface, aai planting 

 Sedums, Moss Saxifrage, and wild small-leaved I-/y to cover 

 the stakes. Owing to the heat, some of the sides of the beds, 

 as those planted with the Saxifrage, will scarcely be covered 

 this season. Sedums have done their work very well. The 

 raising of the outside of the beds has jii-en us two advantages 

 the machine goes readily round without touching any straggling 

 shoot or plant ; and the raising and thick planting at the out- 

 side prevents the birds scratching the soil all over the lawu 

 near the beds. Though the staking is done neatly, we do not 

 consider the stakes an ornament in themselves, and where we 

 think they would not soon be covered, we have planted some 

 j temporary plants at their base, as Variegated Alyasum, lilac 

 Asperula, &s., just to hide them neatly for the season. One 

 other advantage of thus raising the outside of the beds and 

 i thus draping them with green is, that you have a green outside 

 all the winter, and a good preparation made for apring and 

 ' winter gardening, if that is deemed necessary. We have ioug 

 ; had rais-^d beds with the outsides densely covered with Ivy, 

 and these gave us no extra trouble whatever in the way of 

 watering, as the Ivy kept the outsides cool. The Ivij, be it kapt 

 in mind, not planted in the led, hut at the bas^ of the ftakes 

 ontsidc. On such beds established for many years, we had this 

 season to place some new stakes to keep the Ivy in its place. 

 In many cases it is now strong enough to keep itself in shape 

 without stakes. In the case of the beds freshly done, when 

 the stakes are covered with the Moss Sixifrage, ic, the out- 

 aide edging close to the stakes inside the bed, will need no more 

 watering than any other part of the bed. Bit where the stakes 

 are not well covered, the ground next them inside will become 

 drier, and we have run a little water round them outside to 

 make up for the greater exposure, and stirred the surface 

 shortly afterwards. 



The Calceolarias were never more dense, not an inch of 

 ground is to be seen for their heads of bloom, bat to keep suc- 

 cessions on we shall have to water in the beginning of the 

 week, and our hitherto refraining has been owing to the mulch- 

 ing. Some of our finest beds are defective, from the deer 

 having made havoc of edgings of purple and blue Heartsease. 

 These did us good service, not only in the spiiug, but through 

 the summer of last year, being, we believe the same colours 

 and the kinds used at Cliveden, and which, with the moist, 

 cool treatment given to Calceolarias generally, do well when 

 fresh planted, for the whole summer. We have had them 

 several times cut right into the ground, and other things almost 

 untouched. Nothing was touched but these Heartsease, and 

 some beds of Verbenas that had not a flower left on them. To 

 make the Calceolarias right, we must have a blue or parple 

 edging, and we have a nice lot of good plants in boxes, of 

 L)belia ramosa, which if well watered, will nestle up to and 

 fringe the Calceolarias. This is a Lobelia not estimated as it 

 deserves to be, with blue flowers large for the size of the plant- 

 Mr. Hills, at The Poles, grows it in pots very much for spring 

 and early summer decoration. We saw numbers in 4-inch pots 

 a mass of dense beautiful blue. 



As already mentioned, we will give little water as yet to the 

 Geraniums out of doors, but will rather let them feel the heat, 

 as the soil is not yet too warm for them. If the weather con- 

 tinues so hot, we will surface-stir again, water, and then mulch. 

 Such weather as this furnishes the best of all details about 

 watering plants in pots. " How often should I water ;■ " is the 

 perplexing question often put to us. "Only just so often as 

 the plant needs it," is the only right answer to give, " and then 

 give enough to satisfy its wants." A plant must be treated as 

 v;a would treat ourselves. When a man is thirsty a glass of 

 pure coolish water is the greatest luxury ; if not thii-sty. forcing 

 him to drink it would be a punishment. A plant may do with- 

 out water for more than a week in winter ; once or twice a- week 

 may be enough in cloudy weather in spring ; b'lt in such 

 weather as this, plants in pots may need refreshing twice 

 a-day, and that not a whit too much. Large plants in pots, if 

 mulched, will need less watering, as that wiU prevent eva- 

 poration. All plants under glass should not only ha watered, 



