266 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTDRB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( SopUsnibM SO, 1809. 



a rather soft state nben taken io-doors ; apply Bolphor freely 

 on the fixet appearance of the enemy. 

 COLD riTS. 

 Plants which have mude their Beason's growth Bhould bo 

 freely exposed to sun and air on every favourable opportunity, 

 in order to ripen the wood well; bat those still in free growth 

 shoald be encouraged by every possible means while fine weather 

 oontinueti, keeping them rather close, guarding them carefully 

 from cold winds, and giving a liberal supply of water at the 

 root. If any plant requires more pot-room, let it be shifted as 

 early as convenient, keeping the atmoephere rather moist, and 

 watering very caulioualy for some time afterwards, until the 

 roots take hold of the fresh soil. — W. Kkane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



Improving Croppuig Ground. — Now and farther on in the 

 season are good times for all such work. All ground that is 

 at liberty, if deep enough, will be improved by trenching and 

 mixing the different layers. If the soil is rather light it will 

 be best left rough on the level ; if stiff, leave it in rough ridges, 

 that the frost and even mild air may have free access, as frost 

 ia one of the best and cheapest of pulverisers. If the ground 

 is thin and the subsoil bad, but little of the latter should be 

 added every season, but it should be broken up at bottom and 

 left there, and thus it will bu gradually improved. Very light 

 sandy soil will be greatly improved both by clay and chalk. 

 The former will render it more cohesive ; the latter will make 

 it more retentive of moisture. Quick or caustic lime is chiefly 

 useful, when there is much rough insoluble organic matter 

 in the soil that needs to be decomposed. Very stiff soil is 

 greatly benefited by sand, by lime and chalk, and by burning 

 a portion of the clay and using it as a dressing. As a mere 

 lightener of the soil chalk is as good ss lime, nnd merely as a 

 mechanical agent it thus has a great effect on the produce and 

 ihe ease of cultivating. "When we used it with good results 

 we have often been surprised how soon it would sink away 

 from the surface and find its place in deeper layers ; hence the 

 importance of trenching, and mixing the layers. We have 

 inown garden soil resting on clay so stiff as to be unworkable 

 in damp weather, and yet at from 1,5 to 30 feet from the surface 

 there was a deposit of chalk, which by means of a shaft could 

 have been raised in quantities to the surface, and would have 

 greatly ameliorated the texture of the soil and rendered it 

 much easier to work. When a stiff soil rests on clay it will be 

 greatly improved by burning a piece of the subsoil every year, 

 nsing prunings aid rubbish for the purpose. When fairly set 

 going but httle fuel is necessary. Clay when burnt is as good 

 and even a better lightener than sand, and in our experience 

 does not so soon sink away from the surface. Many stems 

 and weeds, hardly fit for the charring-heap, might be used for 

 this purpose ; but hall-burned, halt-charred rubbish and earth 

 are among the best improvers of stiff soils, and come wrong 

 to no soil if used moderately. When clay is used for light 

 soils an inch, or from that to 2 inches, will generally be enough, 

 and that if possible should be applied dry and in a finely- 

 divided condition. We have known it used more freely and 

 in a damp close condition, and for years it seemed to do harm 

 rather than good, as whenever roots came in contact with the 

 clay, they turned away from it and would die sooner than pierce 

 it : hence the importance of using it in a finely-divided state. 

 In some cases clay may be used with great advantage as a 

 substratum for securing a cool moist bottom. We knew a pretty 

 flower garden on sandy soil, with a subsoil of open gravel and 

 porous rock. In a dry season no watering would keep the 

 plants moist, and the more water was given the more were the 

 nutritive properties of the soil washed away, unless, indeed, 

 manure water was used. The only chance in hot dry seasons 

 was a copious rich mulching at the surface, and this was out of 

 the question, as the owners liked to see the soil present a dressed 

 fine surface, almost as smooth and fine as the surface of a 

 dining-table— a degree of fine keeping which we always look 

 upon as worse than waste of time and labour, as the plants 

 have not the same chance as in soil with a rougher, more open 

 surface. Clay was not mixed with the soil, but the soil of the 

 beds, which were not large, was turned out between IS and 

 2-t inches deep, and 2 or H inches of clay were firmly hammered 

 at the bottom, some rough rubble placed over it, and then the 

 soil, and the plants have required not nearly the same amount 

 of care and watching since. The firm damp bottom in such a 

 case proved of great advantage to them. 1 



KITCHEN OAJIDEN. 



Much of the work was of a rontioe nature, as earthing-np 

 Celery in the fine, dry days, planting out Cabbages, pricking 

 out the same to be lifted as the ground becomes ready for them, 

 planting out some of the most forward Cauliiluwers in patches 

 for hand-lights, to come into use in spring, placing nine in a 

 square, to be thinned afterwards to four or five, and not giving 

 them the handlights for some time yet. Besides digging the 

 ground and firming the surface, we strewed a little drift sand 

 on each square patch, as snails and slugs do not like to craw) 

 over it, and the crop never looks so regular and well after it 

 has had several fillings-up, owing to deaths and depredations. 

 Scattered some fine ashes among the last-sown Caulifiowers, 

 Lettuces, Radishes, itc, which will help to keep intruders at 

 bay until washed off by the next rains, and even then wood 

 ashes, from their saline properties, will help to keep the 

 ground free of slugs, snails, and worms. The chief work, 

 however, has been hoeing and forking among all crops to keep 

 down icceils, and to prevent the surface caking after the rains. 

 Where not a vestige of a weed was to be seen a short time ago, 

 the rains soon presented us with a surface of tiny green weeds 

 that would soon become larger if left alone. We noticed in a 

 corner quite a mass of Groundsel, some '2 or 3 inches in 

 height — hundreds, it not thousands, of them, the progeny of a 

 single plant that was unnoticed before it arrived at the seeding 

 state. How far the seeds from that plant extended it would 

 be difficult to say. The other Sunday our coat was whitened 

 with Thistle down that must have come from some little dis- 

 tance. There is no hope of keeping down weeds except by 

 cutting them up as soon as they appear, and leaving the Bim 

 to scorch them up. It is a great waste of time and labour 

 when other utensils besides the hoe must be brought into 

 operation. Frequently, however, the stress of work is such, 

 that the weeds cannot be attended to in time, and pulling up, 

 or hand-wteding, and raking up must be resorted to at a sad 

 outlay of time and labour. We cannot always practise what 

 we teach, but the easiest and best way of keeping a place clean 

 is never to let weeds grow above 1 or at most 2 inches in 

 height. 



Grubs on Cabbages. — As yet we have nearly escaped these, 

 so destructive to fresh-planted Cabbages, but they have been 

 very prevalent in this neighbourhood during the present 

 season. Some tell us that they lose half their plants in a night ; 

 others that they have filled up their plantation three or four 

 times, and still the plants go at the rate of from twenty to 

 thirty per cent, in a night. The only sure remedy is to 

 examine the cut-over plant, collect the fat lumpy grubs at 

 the roots a little below the surface, and make short work witb 

 them. Watering with soot water, lime water, soapsuds, itc, 

 will help to keep them away, and so will smearing the stems 

 with soot and lime previously to planting, as the plants are 

 generally cut-over close to the roots, and it is not uncommon 

 to find three or four of these grubs at one root. Wo have not 

 found such surface applications as soot or lime, or even a 

 sprinkling of tar between the rows, of much benefit; but fre- 

 quently stirring the ground annoys the grub, and strong bad 

 scents seem to deter the perfect winged insect from depositing 

 its eggs in the soil. A slight sprinkling of tar, even in winter, 

 seems to help to keep them away. Putting baits of sweeS 

 Carrots, Turnips, and even split stems of Cabbages, will help, 

 but only a little, to keep the visitors under, chiefly because of 

 all baits nothing is so agreeable to them as a young Cabbage 

 plant, and especially when the plant is in a languid state from 

 being recently dibbled out. Singularly enough, we have seldom 

 known these grubs attack the young plants in the seed bed, 

 and when they have done so, a watering of strong lime and 

 soot water has generally dislodged them. Neither do they so 

 often attack plants which are tolerably well established. We 

 have been recommended to hunt for them at night with a Ian- 

 thorn, but though others may be more fortunate, we never found 

 one, partly, no doubt, because thoujh the grubs are large, 

 generally from 1 to Ij inch in length, they are of a whitish 

 drab tint, and thus resemble the colour of most soils, and 

 partly because we have doubts if they ever show themselves 

 much at the surface, as during the wholeof their long existence 

 they seldom appear above ground, except in the winged state, 

 and even then do most of their work at night, instead of during 

 the day. 



Besides catching the grubs as stated above, but too often 

 after they had done the mischief, we have in extreme cases 

 resorted to the following plan, as even the largest bed of seed- 

 lings would soon be exhausted in Ming np, when the grabs bad 



