JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. I SepUnber 16. \m. 



ever, that are fairly establisbed after repotting caa bardly be too 

 freely exposed to the air, or kept too cool. Let Cinerarias also 

 be kept cool and moist, and attend to repotting sucb as may 

 require it. Trimulas must likewise be carefully attended to iu 

 order to encourage lliom to make rapid growtb, particularly the 

 double varieties. Summer flowering twiners, which usually 

 become unsightly about this season, should be cut back rather 

 freely, likeivise any others that will bear this treatment. 

 Shade can now well be dispen'sed with ; therefore, not a spray 

 that can be spared should be left to obstruct the light. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



Continue to pot-off cuttings from the first batch of bedding 

 plants. It is important to have Scarlet Pelargoniums esta- 

 blished and hardened before winter. Pot Neapolitan Violets, 

 and let them be plunged in a frame. Lily of the Valley for 

 forcing should now be potted, and Mignonette placed on an 

 exposed and warm shelf in the greenhouse. A week or two 

 after the cuttings are struck, let them have a few weeks out 

 cf doors if possible. This will revive them much before 

 winter, and will also enable them to bear confinement better. 



— W. EzAXE. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



What a pity that fine bright weather should ever do harm ! 

 For a month or six weeks, we question if the flower beds ever I 

 looked more full of bright blossoms, and the foliage, though not 

 massive, was of a healthy preen. By the 7th one of our chief 

 reservoirs of water was "exhausted, and watering flower beds 

 became quite out of the question. On the afternoon of the 9th 

 the plants in some beds began to flag, though they had been 

 mulched to keep moisture in. We had lightning all night 

 on the inh, and thunder and rain on the 10th, and though 

 the rain has been a blessing to fields, pastures, gardens, and 

 even eventually to flower gardens, it has in the meantime, in 

 connection with the strong winds in the afternoon, shorn the 

 beds for a time of their beauty. Blooms that would have stood 

 the dryness a few days longer, fell or became blotched under 

 the force of the rain and winda. Some excellent masses of the 

 old Brilliant Pelargonium looked on Saturday morning like so 

 many half-drowned mice. Fortunately we had picked a number 

 cf beds, removing the decayed flowers, and these picked beds 

 stood the rains well. If it can be accomplished, it is better to 

 remove such flowers before than after rain, as many faded 

 blooms disfigure and discoluur what would be sound blooms. 

 The refreshing showers, the most effective we have had since 

 May, will give us a fine appearance again in a few days, and, if 

 we have a fine open autumn, will render us independent of 

 much rain for some time. The frost hurt us a little, still 

 nothing to speak about, but the drought, notwithstanding all 

 our care, was beginning to tell upon us, and all the more as we 

 were husbanding the little water left. We went over a bed 

 lately to gather a handful of Heliotrope flowers, as these were 

 dropping and withering from the dryness, but now they are 

 coming plump again. The lawn, just showing a little sign of 

 distress, is now assuming its bright green mantle, which helps 

 to make everything look so much better. For some time we 

 have allowed the machines to do no more than just nip the 

 outjutting points, as it is bad policy to cut close in such dry 

 weather. The effects of the rain on the kitchen garden have 

 been such that we shall not need the water barrel, except for 

 fresh-planted crops. Turnips will be greatly benefited. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Cleared oil a part of our crop of DnUms, placing the bulbs 

 under cover until we find time to string them. Put a little 

 dung on tne surface, and trenched it down fully IS inches, 

 thinking the ground rich enough to bear a heavy" crop of Cab- 

 bages. In this ground planted our earliest plants intended for 

 the spring, in rows, makiug a furrow for the plants, so as to 

 hold water. Our Onions, though there is a heavy crop, are not 

 individually very large, and in trenching up the ground our 

 only surprise was, that the bulbs were so fine as they are, as, 

 for the depth specified, the soil seemed to be next to dust-dry ; 

 so dry that, though it is rather stiff, it would scarcely lie on the 

 spade to be turned over. Roots of Onions were found, however, 

 deeper than our trenching. There seemed to be a good quantity 

 of sweet decayed dung in the ground, and we preferred giving 

 no more, as too much at this time, if at all rank, is apt to make 

 the plants over-luxuriant in winter, and, therefore, more liable 

 to be injured by severe frosts, and if the weather is very mild, 

 makes them liable to bolt instead of heart in the spring." 



Almost every one has his pet vegetable, bat commend as to 



a crisp Cabbage in spring, just hearted enough to begin to 

 blanch its heart leaves a little without being hard. To obtain 

 a nice Cabbage early, and yet prevent running to flower, is a 

 matter demanding some consideration, and one means of se- 

 curing it is to avoid heavily manuring with rank dung at this 

 season. If an Onion quarrer was well treated in spring, the 

 dung given now should chiefly go to the bottom of the trench. 

 As rotation, we like Onions to follow Celery, and Cabbage to 

 follow Onions. Without extra preparations. Onions after Cab- 

 bages are one of the worst of rotations : under ordinary treat- 

 ment we should expect to see all the ills to which Onions are 

 liable. 



Sowed the last Cauliflowers and Lettuces ; we merely scratched 

 the surface of the ground for the latter, and covered with 

 fine soil. These are intended to be thinned, and to stand and 

 perfect themselves in spring. When thinned, it is easy to give 

 a little help from manure then, if deemed necessary. They 

 will withstand the winter all the better if the soil beneath them 

 is comparatively hard and poor. Firm, not luxuriant, growth 

 is desirable. Cauliflower viiU often succeed well if sown at the 

 foot of a wall, and treated in the same way. In fact, we have 

 often known the plants withstand a severe winter, when those 

 protected by frames and hand-lights had gi%en way. Sowed 

 Radishes, thinned and hoed Spinach, itc. 



FRUIT GAEDEN. 



We shall not be greatly troubled with late fruit on walls this 

 season. Even Plums will soon be over, and we gather them 

 when about ripe, or rather before it, to keep flies and wasps 

 from them. The most forward Apples and Pears are being 

 gathered for use, and such kinds as Williams's Bon Chrttien 

 are gathered at intervals, and forwarded in rotation in a warm 

 place, so as to prolong the season. 



ORNAMENTAL DEP.lETltENT. 



The rains, as already stated, have tarnished for a time the 

 brightness of the flower beds, but less so than might be ex- 

 pected. The dryness of the beds so far increased the evil, as 

 then the flowers and their petals are more easily shaken off. 

 We have often proved that when plants are artificially watered 

 at the roots previously, rains, though heavy, do less injury to 

 the blooms. In our case we saw clearly, that without rain or 

 watering, some of our best beds would not have stood many 

 more days of such scorching weather. There are some plants 

 that no rains will over hurt, as Heliotropes and Ageratums. 

 Calceolarias are only deprived of the blooms that would soon 

 fall naturally, whilst the very thing is given that will ensure a 

 continuance. Scarlet Pelargoniums with many massive heads 

 of bloom fully ripe, suffer most. The Nosegay section suffer 

 least, and in proportion to the smallness of the petals, as the 

 wind and the rains pass between them. The other kinds suffer 

 in proportion to the size of the truss and of the flowers indi- 

 vidually. Here, this season, we observe a difference among 

 the large-petaled kinds, as the scarlets, like Punch, Boule de 

 Feu, Defiance, the old kind of Excellence, i-c, have suffered 

 more than the rose-coloured ones, as Trentham Rose, Rubens, 



i Admiral Porteous, Ac. Such light scarlets as Donald Beaton 

 have also stood better tban the dark scarlets. Donald Beaton is 



1 very good as a late bloomer. It does not mass so early as some 

 of the others. The deep pink kinds seem also to stand better 

 than the dark scarlets. In Verbenas the same rule holds good 

 — the largest-petaled flowers feel the effects of rainy weather 

 most. No rains we have seen would affect the trailing Verbena 

 pulchella, except to make it brighter. We have a line of Im- 

 proved Ariosto that was splendid in the dry weather, but to-day 

 is looking washed and dull, whilst a broad line of Purple King, 

 owing to the comparative smallness of the trusses and flowers, 

 is looking all the brighter. Both wanted moisture at the roots, 

 and both will be fine when we have bright sunny weather. 

 Under ordinary circumstances we may calculate on a fine show 

 for five weeks. We notice that some foreboders of evil are 

 already counselling taking up the best bedding plants. If such 

 work must be done in the beginning of September, then the 

 doom of the grouping system with tender plants must be nearly 

 consummated. With favourable weather we expect increased 

 brilliancy in a few days — but this will mainly depend on sun- 

 shine—and that with but little trouble further than picking off 

 some decayed blooms, and removing some of the larger leaves, 

 that there may be a due proportion between flowers and foliage. 

 In the dry weather this was scarcely the ease, as some beds, 

 as of Christine pink Pelargonium, were so densely covered 

 with bloom that there was not enough seen of the pretty green 



