November 4, 1860. ] 



JOTJENAL OP HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



365 



were put in slanting, and thus the leaves served to a consider- 

 able extent as a protection. These we covered with old sashes 

 and hurdles to throw off the wot. Our great enemies, however, 

 to this valuable crop, which we have frequently had all the 

 winter, are mice, rats, and even rabbits. When once they taste 

 the crisp Cauliflower heads in winter they scorn traps and 

 baits. The best defence has been a cordon or ring of fresh 

 tar placed thinly all round the pit, and the dose repeated as 

 the tar dries and loses its smell. Severe weather, when cover- 

 ing is necessary for days, is just the time for these intruders to 

 invite themselves to a feast. 



Lettuces. — Placed a little litter over forward ones out of 

 doors, and took up a good many nearly full grown and half 

 grown, and gave them a similar position to the Cauliflowers. 

 Orchard houses are very suitable for such purposes, but we 

 shall not use ours if we can avoid it, but will try to have early 

 Lettuce from the latest house. We also stored a quantity of 

 Endive. We should have no difficulty with it, using wattled 

 and thatched hurdles for protection, but for mice and rats 

 going underneath them. We have had a hundred Lettuces and 

 Endives rendered useless in a night, the heart being nipped 

 out, and the large outside leaves only left. A cat, a good friend 

 to the gardener, is quite out of the question. 



Broccoli. — As soon as time can be found, we shall lay these 

 down a little so as to cover the stems more, placing the heads 

 to the east or the north ; the leaves thus act as a protection, 

 and in bright sun after frost, the head, if formed, thaws more 

 gradually, and thus escapes being injured. Dwarf-growing 

 kinds are the better of having a little litter packed about the 

 stems. In very severe weather a little litter or fern placed 

 lightly over them often saves a crop, and no injury is done if 

 the covering is removed in time. 



Beetroot, Carrots, Sea., are now as well within doors. We 

 think of taking np a bed of small Datch Carrots, and placing 

 them in sand, for soups, and the last sowing but one will 

 stand where it is for small Carrots. Beetroot is injured if 

 frosted much. 



Peas and Beans. — The clearing-oiJ of Cauliflower, &c., has 

 made room for wheeling, digging, trenching, and preparing for 

 early Beans and Peas, if to be sown at this time. As a saving 

 of room, we think of trying a piece again, though for many 

 years we have sown under protection in spring, and planted 

 out, and if anything gained in time of gathering over November 

 sowings. If we sow now we shall red-lead the seeds, and scatter 

 the ground afterwards with our burnt rubbish heaps. 



EadisJus. — These are crisp where protected with litter. 

 Younger beds had a mat a foot above them in the coldest 

 nights. 



Celery. — Besides earthing-up, we protected with long litter 

 overhead during the coldest two nights of the week. The wind 

 of the last night rendered the protection almost unavailing. A 

 few large branches are good for keeping the litter in its place. 

 Clean straw is better than litter. Had we had plenty of litter, 

 stubble, or even dry leaves, we would have finished banking 

 up with them, and thus have rendered protection on the top 

 less necessary. Celery is tolerably hardy, but if much frosted 

 on the top it soon deteriorates the plant farther down, as then 

 the damp affects it more, and damp, on the whole, is a greater 

 enemy to full grown Celery than even frost. Hence, though we 

 approve of beds of Celery, on the principle of saving room and 

 labour, we are well aware that single rows can be so "treated 

 as to be much more secure from damp. One great cause of 

 damping, too, is growing the Celery in a deep trench. This is 

 Tery useful for receiving the manure, and for giving the con- 

 ditions of quick growth provided by rich soil and moisture, 

 but these conditions are not the best for long keeping. For the 

 latter purpose, it is better that the trench, when supplied with 

 the manurial matter, and dug and prepared, should be rather 

 above than below the general ground level. 



Prepared for taking up Sea-kale, Ehubarb, and Asparagus. 

 Hoed among young Cabbages, Spinach, &e., as doing so helps 

 to keep the frost out, and we shall draw a little earth to the 

 most forward Cabbages to prevent their being moved by the 

 wind. The earth also protects the stems up to the leaves. 



Coleworts and Savoys, especially the Early Ulm Savoy, are 

 now in fine condition. The first may want a httle protection 

 if the frost prove severe. What a change a little frost makes 

 to the little Ulm Savoy. It becomes exceedingly sweet when 

 well cooked. Need we say that all frozen vegetables should be 

 placed in the coldest water before they are placed in hot or 

 boiling water ? From want of this simple precaution, we have 

 on great occasions seen vegetables at table that, instead of 



being as tender as marrow and as green as when growing, were 

 as yellow and tough as so many pieces of dressed sheepskin. 

 Boiling frozen vegetables is next thing to giving the partakers 

 a dose of poison. 



FECTT GAEDEN. 



The odour from the leaves of Apples and Pears, made like 

 tinder by the frost of the 19th, is rendering the garden anything 

 but pleasant. A handful of leaves, when slightly rubbed in 

 the hand, becomes a mass of fine dust. We have no recol- 

 lection of having seen such a result previously from one 

 night's frost, and especially when more tender plants, as Pelar- 

 goniums, Calceolarias, &c., escaped with but little injury. We 

 shall be glad when these leaves fall and are cleared off, bxit 

 they seem to hang firmly to the trees. The frost of this week 

 has brought down most of the Horse Chestnut and Sweet 

 Chestnut leaves. The leaves of the Beech were shed partly a 

 month ago — more the result of dryness and a high wind than 

 of the cold ; and partly owing to the copious crops of Beech- 

 mast. We never saw such heavy crops of seeds, nor yet in 

 general such perfect seeds. With nuts and Beech-mast, we may 

 expect that squirrels, mice, and many birds wiU have a com- 

 fortable time this winter. The foliage of the Ash fell very 

 generally after the severe mornings of this week, having with- 

 stood the first frosts well. Unlike the Hazel, the Thorn, the 

 Holly, the Beech, &c., we never saw fewer seeds or keys on the 

 Ash than this season. 



Strawbeirles in Pots. — Bemoved a few of the most forward 

 under protection, and the bulk out of doors, we protected from 

 the severity of the frost by laying a little straw over them. It 

 is astonishing what a small covering of litter keeps frost from 

 injuring plants that are close to the ground, and thus within 

 the reach of the heat in the ground, which is prevented escap- 

 ing. As Saturday threatened to be a wet day, we put the 

 Strawben-y pots down on their sides, to prevent the soil becom- 

 ing soaked, as it is sure to be wet enough now. Ere long we 

 must contrive to take the plants under protection from wet and 

 frost, as either is apt to be more prejudicial to them than to 

 plants growing in the natural ground. 



In the wet day of Saturday employed part of our available 

 labour in washing and thoroughly cleaning the glass, wood- 

 work, stages, &o., in a vinery, preparatory to filling it with 

 plants ; going through much the same process, in the way of 

 prevention, as lately described for the Peach house. More 

 hands would have been set to this work, but we were anxious 

 to take up a number of bedding Pelargoniums, and store them 

 in little room. 



We looked over the Grapes in the late vinery for a damp 

 berry here or there, and gave a little fire heat, chiefly during 

 the day, to keep the air dry and in motion. The Vines in 

 the orchard house have had discoloured by frost the foliage 

 that came against the glass, but these leaves and some small 

 laterals we shall, let alone, as they will furnish some pro- 

 tection to the Grapes. We put a fire in an iron stove in the 

 coldest nights, and it has kept the house safe and without a 

 damped berry. Owing to the large squares of glass the wood 

 is hard and well ripened. The Grapes will be useful to us in 

 November and later. A good many border plants are in this 

 house, but as little water as possible is given to them. These 

 plants are in, because we were afraid that 10' of frost might 

 mount up to 20^, and as they stood in a house where there was 

 no stove, and therefore might have been injured. The other 

 house when the leaves are more loose, will do for a lot of Straw- 

 berry pots. We put a few Chestnut leaves and some litter on 

 Vine borders, to prevent their being very much cooled by the 

 frost. 



OKNAMEKTAL DErABTJrEKT. 



Much of the work here has been incidentally alluded to. We 

 merely finished putting in Calceolaria cuttings and filled some 

 lights with Neapolitan Violets, lifting them with balls, nipping 

 off every bit of rimner, and placing them firmly near the glass 

 in rich, light, fibrous loam, with some sweet rotten dung and 

 leaf mould beneath. We were gathering Violets— viz., Eussian, 

 Czar, and Double Blue rather freely out of doors, but the frost 

 has checked them, and even what flowers show have little or 

 no scent. We are inclined, next week, to lift enough of these 

 sorts to fill two or three lights of a frame or pit, so as to be 

 more independent of the weather, as by clearing the vinery 

 thoroughly we may make room for this purpose. 



Scarcity of room prevents the faculty of scheming and con- 

 triving from ever getting comfortably moss-grown ; but scarcity 

 of room under glass, or out of doors, often greatly increases 

 labour in moving, &a. There are but few common gardens 



