48-{ 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



I Dcccmbor IC, I86». 



poses, and will serve many tarns in the coarse of a season. 

 For snch temporary purposes, the frames are best to be sballow 

 and ligbt — say II inches high in front, and 15 inches at back, as 

 they can stand above the soil, itc, in the bed, be easily raised 

 at the corners to give more room to the plants inside if needed, 

 and bo easily moved. A good slope to suit the winter is secured 

 by making the back of the bed much higher than the front. 



Much of the refuse and cleanings from the garden come in 

 very useful for the bottom of beds when they do not f jrm part 

 of the rubbish-heap. Many things from the garden when de- 

 caying would yield a valuable heat for various purposes whilst 

 fermenting and decomposing, and there need be no fear of bad 

 steam if such rough beds be covered with from to 'J inches 

 of half-decayed, rather dry old hotbed dung. If it be ne- 

 cessary to help on in such frames, plants in pots in winter 

 which are liable to damp in moist weather, that will be greatly 

 prevented by a covering of dry ashes from a furnace, or from 

 the house 6res, kept dry on purpose. A few lumps of un- 

 slaked lime will assist in this and do no harm whatever. It is 

 astonishing how little air w^ill keep such plants dry on the top 

 and comfortable under such circumstances, even in close damp 

 ■weather such as we have lately had. The little boat beneath, 

 but from which no steam and but little vapour can rise, enables 

 one to give air more continuously, and that continuous air- 

 giving is more important than sliding off the sashes partly or 

 altogether in a fine day. When the plants become inured to 

 the change the more sunlight they can have the better, if 

 the weather is mild ; and when plants are hardy, except to 

 frost, the lights may come off for a short time in the middle 

 of the day. Eobust health will greatly depend on the cleanness 

 of the glass, and especially when rough coverings are used. 

 Hence, in drizzling but not wet days, much time was taken up 

 in washing sashes inside and outside. We fully concur with 

 what a correspondent lately said about the importance of neat 

 substantial coverings for protection, and the cleanliness and 

 the tidiness thus secured about pits and frames. Still where 

 much of this kind of work is to be done, and neatness for a 

 time must be sacrificed to utility, nothing is so economical as 

 rough litter for meeting all cases of extremely cold weather. 

 Even then it is well to have a close covering next the glass to 

 keep it clean, but that must be often dispensed with. 



By attending to the details given last week, many things 

 here shut-up and covered-up for about a week during the frost, 

 looked when uncovered just as if they had been covered-up for 

 an ordinary night. Of course, this would not have been the 

 case if they had been helped with artificial heat. 



Sea-kale. — Many amateurs with little room will thank Mr. 

 Beoord for his plan, detailed in page 102. We force a good 

 quantity in pots, as the heat can be easily regulated — more 

 easily than when the roots are placed at once in a bed. When 

 such plants come in faster than we want, the pots can be moved 

 to a cooler dark place. But for this moving, and when 

 amateurs come to know what a bed of a certain size will do, a 

 small bed covered with any old box will afford much cutting. 

 Such a box without a bottom and with a moveable lid set over 

 the plants would be an improvement over covering a pot with 

 another pot of the same size, as the atmospheric heat would bo 

 more equal. The instructions about raising from seed are 

 very good, but, as stated, fly and other intruders are very 

 troublesome. When once a crop is forced seedlings will be less 

 needed afterwards, as the roots, gradually hardened, and cut 

 ap into pieces of (> inches in length, make excellent plants and 

 grow strongly. Practical papers, such as Mr. Becord's, will 

 help to bring this luxury in winter within the reach of the 

 many having small gardens. With the roots packed in pots 

 and boxes, we have known of many fine dishes obtained with 

 no other help than darkness and the vicinity of a kitchen fire. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



Much the same as last week, only we turned aside the light 

 covering placed on the Vine borders in the end of autumn, re- 

 moved the now rotten mulching that had been given in sum- 

 mer, slightly forked the ground just to break the surface, gave 

 a sprinkling of bone dust, a little fresh soil, 2 or 3 inches of 

 horse droppings as a mulching, and then about 1 foot of warm 

 leaves to communicate a little heat to the soil, and to be used 

 as a bed for Strawberries, covered with old sashes to give them 

 a little start for houses, pits, &c. With the early covering of 

 Vine borders with dry litter or fern, there would be little ne- 

 cessity for much fermenting material even for early forcing, 

 as if the covering were put on, say about the end of Septem- 

 ber, the sun's heat during the summer would be prevented 

 escaping. Though we had only a few inches of litter and 



leaves on the border, scarcely G inches, and loose and open, 

 the heat of the soil in the border was fully 10' higher than in 

 the open ground at (1 inches from the surface. Much injury, 

 we believe, has often been done by huge mounds of hot fer- 

 mernting material. There is a common opinion that heat 

 rises and will not go down, but it does go down by conduction, 

 as may easily be proved by placing sticks and thermometers 

 in the soil at different depths in covered borders. Much may 

 bo done and with perfect safety by preventing the escape of the 

 heat given to the soil by the summer's sun, and when hot fer- 

 menting material is used, it is safest to use it in moderation. 

 The heat should not average more than 75° at from 4 to 

 G inches from the surface. 



Wo looked over late Grapes, and the fruit in the fruit room, 

 where, on the whole, it is keeping better than last year, and 

 Pears are unusually rich in flavour. The heat and the dry- 

 ness were too much for tuem in 1^08. Many trees were much 

 injured by the dryness, and no waterings could be given them. 

 The heavy rains of this afternoon (the 11th) will be a great 

 boon to this part of the country, as water was anything but 

 picntifal. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



In wet days much time was takeu up in cleaning, picking, 

 potting, etc. A few tree leaves enabled us to raise our frame 

 heds higher from the ground, as those on the ground level 

 containing forward Mignonette, &c., were beginning to show 

 some signs of damp. A higher pos:ti6n where the plants could 

 get more light made them all right. In all plant louses, as 

 well as frames, there has been little occasion to look after at- 

 mospheric moisture, as the evaporation from the pots and the 

 soil was quite enough in such misty weather. Even if now we 

 should have brighter weather, less artificial vapour will be 

 needed if we lessen our fire heat when we can obtain sun heat. 

 By giving little air then, and that early, we do not give such 

 free opportunity for the moistest air to escape, and, therefore, 

 do not require to secure so much vapour artificially in tbe at- 

 mosphere of the house. This becomes a question of economy 

 in houses kept at a rather high temperature, as it should never 

 be forgotten that in obtaining moist vapour from a heated 

 surface, you so far cool that surface, and, therefore, the more 

 the vapour raised the more fire needed. 



Daring this weather in all cold pits and frames, and in all 

 houses heated merely to be safe, great care should be taken 

 in watering to water only when required, and to spill or drop 

 as little as possible. In the ease of plants in pits and frames, 

 where there is a dry surfacing to help to secure a drier at- 

 mosphere, and only a few plants need watering, it is safest to 

 lift the plants out, and only replace them when the excess of 

 moisture has dr.iined away. Such things as Calceolarias and 

 Cinerarias rarely suffer from a damp standing-ground or a 

 moist atmosphere. 



i'7;;i's. ^Thanks to Mr. Eobson for the article on flue-heating, 

 page V>G. We may expect more inquiries about them. We 

 know that bis round cement pipes answer admirably. We 

 forget whether they pass under the doorways or not. There is 

 no dit;';culty in this when the chimney is high enough. When 

 the chimney is short it is better that there should be no dip. 

 We find that what we have said of small outlet pipes from a 

 stove in a house has led to misconceptions as the size of a pipe 

 that could be taken from a furnace to act as a flue round the 

 house. The two circumstances are entirely different. We 

 would, therefore, be obliged to Mr. Bobson and others to 

 let us know the smallest diameter of a pipe that they have 

 known to act well as a flue from a furnace. Six inches is the 

 smallest bore we have known to act at all well, and that in 

 a small house, and we would recommend that flues should 

 never be less than !^ inches. As we have had many inquiries 

 as to the small flues lately alluded to under the floor, part of 

 the tiled floor forming the top of the flue, we may say that, 

 inside measure, they are close on o inches wide and 8 inches 

 deep, as the three bricks-on-bed have very narrow joints. 

 These flues have no plastering inside or outside, except the 

 joints, and the crossing the joints as described at top, as the 

 heat of such simple flues tells mostly from the exposed surface. 

 Where stability and economy in material are great objects, we 

 believe that two bricks-on-bed would give a good flue. We 

 think, however, that when a third brick is used, as with us, the 

 draught would be rather more free, and there would be less 

 necessity for frequent cleaning. We have never had much 

 soot in ours when cleaned even at long intervals. 



In reply to others, we would say that with good, sound, well- 

 burned bricks, well eoaked before being used, so as to take firm 



