November U, 1369. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



373 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



01 



Month 



Day 



of 

 Week. 



NOVEMBER 11—17, 1869. 



Th 



P 



S 



Son 



M 



Td 



w 



Bristol Cbrysanthemnm Show. 



25 Sunday after Trinity. 



Royal Horticnltaral Society, Frnit, Floral, 

 [and General Meeting. 



Son 

 Rises. 



h. 

 12a£7 



Snn 

 Sets. 



m. h. 



18af4 



Moon 

 Rises. 



m. h. 

 60 aJ 1 

 15 2 



Moon 

 Sets. 



m. h. 

 28a£ll 

 morn. 

 35 



38 

 43 

 48 

 63 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Days. 

 }) 

 9 

 10 

 11 

 12 

 18 

 14 



Clock 

 after 

 Son. 



16 48 



15 40 



15 32 



15 23 



14 5D 



Day 

 of 



Tear. 



815 

 816 

 317 

 818 

 819 

 330 

 821 



From obsorrations taken near London daring the last forty-two years, the average day temperature of the week is 49.3°; and its night 

 temperattire 84.1'>. The greatest heat was 63°, on the 12th, 1841 ; and the lowest cold 18°, on the 15th, 1848. The greatest fall of ram was 

 1.24 inch. 



_ 



THE GREAT ADVANTAGES AND SMALL 

 DIFFICULTIES OF SMALL GARDENING. 



'^ NOWING liow gladly I always receive any 

 •^ information through your Journal on the 

 cultivation of my garden, I am led to believe 

 that many of your readers will accept a few 

 remarks from a cottage gardener on the 

 minor points of cultivation. 



My own greatest difficulty has arisen not 

 so much from not knowing how to grow any- 

 thing as in making a choice of what is really 

 worth growing, from the great diversity of 

 kinds to be found in seed lists : and whilst agitation is going 

 on about the alteration of the land laws, in my opinion 

 every householder who desires it ought to have the option 

 of possessing a garden, to give him some chance of healthy 

 recreation, and to counteract the evil influences of the 

 tap-room. 



In a few words I will state how I overcame the diffi- 

 culty of securing gardens to the working classes in my 

 native village— Chester-le-Street. After looking out for a 

 long time I obtained a live-years lease of a line old pasture 

 field four acres in extent. It had not been broken up for 

 a very long time ; but the prejudice against the breaking 

 up of old pastures was overcome by stating the fact, that 

 if at any time it were found desirable to again lay it down 

 in grass, in consequence of the liigh cultivation of cot- 

 tagers it would bo greatly enriched, and correspondingly 

 enhanced in value. Immediately on coming into posses- 

 sion last November, I divided it into patches of 22^ yards 

 square, and readily found twenty-four tenants at i'l each, 

 and in some instances two joined to take one garden. 

 A large space was left in the centre of the field for a 

 recreation ground at all times open free to the public. 

 The result has been not only the satisfaction of benefiting 

 the place, but a profit of about £7 a-year. My reason for 

 giving the above instance is to encourage others with more 

 means, to bring tlieir influence to bear on so desirable 

 an object as securing a piece of ground i sinking both 

 the profit and pleasure to be derived by its cultivation), 

 where the mechanic, after attending in a confined atmo- 

 sphere to, in many instances, an unhealthy employment. 

 can resort with his family at pleasure, and obtain all the 

 blessings of that great disease-destroyer — the bracing, 

 fresh air. As regards the first j'car's produce, with a few 

 exceptions, to which I shall probably refer, it has exceeded 

 our most sanguine expectations. 



In naming a few flowers worth growing and stating my 

 experience in growing them, let it be understood that I 

 am not a professional gardener, but only give the experience 

 of an amateur. I shall commence with my favourite the 

 Gladiolus, and describe as plainly as possible the cultiva- 

 tion of six dozen bulbs in a bed in one of the new gardens. 

 Having plenty of soil and turf, I raised the site of my 

 bed about 1.5 inches above the general level, thus obtain- 

 ing a depth of about i feet of soil with good drainage. 

 I then collected all the old wood I could lay hands on, 

 placed it upright, levelled it with a quantity of tiu-f, and 



No. 150.— Vol. XVn.jNzw SnarES. 



burnt the whole, thus securing a good supply of charcoal 

 and ashes. I spread the latter, about ;> inches thick, 

 over the bed, and gave a good dressing of rotten hops 

 I am of opinion that rotten hops form one of the very 

 best of manures for the Gladiolus. I then turned over 

 the whole several times. I next potted the bulbs in 4-inch 

 pots, surroimding them entirely with charcoal, and placed 

 them in a Cucumber frame, giving water very sparingly 

 until thev had pushed well through, when I removed them 

 to a cold" frame. I planted out when the plants were about 

 6 inches high, giving to each another handful of charcoaL 

 The result of this mode of cultivation was my obtaining 

 the first pri.-^e in the open class for seven varieties at 

 our exhibition on the 17th of August, there being_ three 

 competitors, and the third prize for three varieties in 

 the cottagers' class, in which there were five competitors, 

 failing in this instance solely through my blooms not 

 being sufficiently expanded, as in quality they far exceeded 

 the others. Subsequently I obtained five prizes at other 

 exhibitions, all in the open class. 



The Gladiolus, if good drainage be secured, likes plenty 

 of water, but on no account use it fresh from any spring or 

 deep well. You musL secure what no garden ought to 

 be without— a good-sized tub, the wider the better, that 

 the sun may have the more surface to act upon, and two or 

 three smaller ones for guano, soot, or any droppings one 

 can collect. Should the spikes at any time show a yellow 

 tinge, give a good drenching of soot and water, which will 

 generally have an improving efiect. The grower must 

 not lose heart if they occasionally go wrong notwith- 

 standing all his care and ingenuity. I will give an in- 

 stance : I had a fine bulb of Stuart Low which threw up 

 five spikes of a sickly yellow : when 4 or 5 inches high I 

 washed and examined the bulb very minutely, and found 

 that whilst the others were tilling the pots with roots, in this 

 instance they were not more than an inch long, ^yter 

 washing, I could not detect the slightest trace of any 

 disease^or grub ; I carefully repotted it, and planted it 

 out with the rest, but the "spikes never grew more than 

 a foot high, retaining the same sickly hue until they all 

 died down. On taking it up I found that the roots were 

 entirely decayed, and that it had formed two bulbs of 

 about the size of a horse bean, the old bulb still remain- 

 ing comparatively fresh. With two or three exceptions 

 the rest have all done well, and produced a fine collection 

 of bulbs. 



I shall now give an opinion of the Idnds I think the 

 cottager ought to secure in making his first purchase, 

 especially if intended for exhibition, and as the sum of js. 

 is as much as can, on an average, be reasonably expected 

 to be invested, I will try to lav it out to the best advantage. 

 If you buy three bulbs for the money the chances are a 

 hundred to one that you will not have three spikes on the 

 day vou want them ; and .selections at 4s. or m. per dozen 

 for exliibition purposes will probably be just so much 

 money thrown away. I recommend the purchase of four 

 Brenchleyensis, the price being low. nnd to make almost 

 sure of having one spike in a fit state for exliibition on tlie 

 day of the show. Occasionally, even where good collections 



No. 1102.— VOL. XLII., Old Seeiss.' " 



