December 30, 1869. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTDBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



525 



should, however, like to have the opinion of others more ex- 

 perienced in m&liing the most of all such refuse from the house 

 and garden. In this we shall aU agree, that every weed that 

 grows in a garden, when cut up, fermented, and decomposed, 

 will help to give vigour and luxuriance to something more valu- 

 able. The chief point here to be guarded against is, that all 

 seed weeds, with seeds approaching ripeness, should by heat or 

 otherwise have the vitality of the seeds destroyed, or along 

 with the means of increased fertility we may, in the number of 

 perfect seeds taken back to the ground, give ourselves extra 

 labour in eradicating them. The seeds of Groundsel, Thistle, 

 and some o;her weeds, are not easily killed in a fermenting heap, 

 and if the seed in these is formed, though not half ripe, it is 

 safest to take the tops to the burning heap. A good strong 

 plant of Groundsel just showing flower, if merely cut np and 

 left in a shady place, will often perfect its seeds. 



Remembrancers. — It is a good thing for us that the year is 

 divided into bo many landmark periods, as thus our habits of 

 observation are brought into play and quickened. Many a gar- 

 den receives an extra clear-up, that all may be nice and clean 

 at Christmas, and the New Year. Many a cottager who would 

 be ashamed of such things in May and June, is in danger of 

 having decayed haulm, refuse, and plenty of weeds in his 

 garden in winter. When we do anything well, we are apt to 

 forget how long it has been done. A fresh-arranged house will 

 be looked upon as a fresh-arranged house for weeks afterwards ; 

 it may be, when it ought to be freshened up again. It is some- 

 times desirable not to look at every thing and place too often. 

 We then more easily detect what is amiss. What breaks in on 

 the everyday monotony tends, therefore, to greater nicety, and 

 neatness, and good management. An anxious amateur, then a 

 bachelor, had his attention directed to the glass roof of his pet 

 house. It required no shade, there was quite enough of slime 

 and the lower forms of vegetable life. " Dear me ! what a state 

 it is in ! There must have been an ill-natured magician here. 

 It is no time since I had it thoroughly cleaned — not a spot left on 

 glass or woodwork." But the no time honestly reckoned up, 

 turned out to be fully twelve months, and during that time, if 

 our friend thought at all of his glass roof, he thought of it as 

 fresh-cleaned. If a certain fair- haired fairy had merely hinted 

 the honour of a visit, would not the glass, plants, walks, 

 grass, and everything out of doors and in-doors, had a regular 

 inspection and cleaning? We fear that without breaks and 

 spurrings-np, many of us would be too like our friend with his 

 glass. Work done to-day is too apt to be looked upon as done 

 for days, weeks, and even months afterwards. 



Earthed-np Cabbages, put dung over Asparagus in rows, and 

 protected Cauliflowers and salading. Placed more Sea-kale 

 and Rhubarb in heat ; the first gatherings from pots were very j 

 good. Watered the Mushroom bed with cow dung water as 

 previously stated, spawned another piece, and laid the earth on 

 loosely at first. Kept up successions of small salading, pro- \ 

 tected Broccoli where forward, sowed Radishes and Carrots on a 

 BUght hotbed, and set a number of Potatoes in small pots on a 

 sUght bed in the Mushroom house, to start them, and to 

 be transferred when several inches high to frames. Mice 

 are our chief enemies to Strawberry plants. Endive, and Cau- 

 liflowers. Much against our will, we have been obliged to 

 poison a number of them. It is bad policy to use poison in 

 any enclosed place, and especially in a dwelling house. A dead 

 mouse which you cannot get at, is much worse than a living 

 one, however mischievous. 



Fr.UIT GAEDEN. 



Used great care in watering Straicherry plants swelling and 

 ripening fruit, especially when manure water was used. As to 

 plants beginning to move a little, too much care cannot be 

 taken to keep the water from falling on or lodging about the 

 crown or bud. It is bad practice to water in or at the centre 

 of a pot containing a plant of any kind. It often ruins fine 

 plants by causing gangrene or spot on the stem. It is safest in 

 every way to sail the pot round the sides. One reason why many 

 of our best old gardeners used to have the collars of their 

 Heath plants raised considerably in the centre of the pot was, 

 no doubt, owing to the difficulty of getting them watered with- 

 out the water being lashed against the base of the stem. The 

 same object can be attained with the plants no more elevated 

 than usual, with good drainage, and careful watering, making 

 the water flood round the sides instead of falling at the centre 

 of the pot. Those Strawberry plants we have under old sashes 

 have just the smallest amount of bottom heat, and plenty of 

 air in mild weather. In iH forcin'j it is best to give time, and 

 allow the rise of temperature to be very gradual. In such 



cases as Vines, Peaches, and Figs, after cleaning, &c., a little 

 more moisture, either in the air, or by the slight use of the 

 syringe, assists the buds to swell and break more regularly ; 

 but a week or two more time in bringing them to this state 

 will not be time lost in our latitudes, where most of the pro- 

 cesses of vegetation proceed very gradually. A gentleman well 

 acquainted with cold northern latitudes, where almost imme- 

 diately on the melting of the snow there is at once a rapid 

 and even somewhat luxuriant vegetation, owing to the sun's 

 power in the short summer, once asked us how it was that 

 having heat at command we could not effect equally sudden 

 transformations in our houses. We fear any reply we gave was 

 far from satisfactory. We doubt if any reason could be given 

 now much better than that "such a thing is, because it is," 

 and experience proves that a sudden transition from a low to a 

 high temperature is one of the best means of neutralising 

 successful results as respects the forcing of fruit and flowers. 



ORNAIIENTAL DEPAKTMENT. 



We must refer the reader to last week for the general work 

 of cleaning, planting, itc, the latter work likely to be stopped 

 by frost and a rising barometer, but affording, if the frost con- 

 tinue, a good opportunity for carting, wheeling, pruning, cutting 

 wood, and ice-collecting. 



Calceolaria Cultinijs in a cold pit are now beginning to root 

 — quite early enough, as they will not stand quite such rough 

 treatment afterwards, as they will need more light and air. 

 Except where a mouse has nibbled a few, and a solitary spot 

 where four or five close together have damped off from no 

 assignable cause, and thus have left a few inches square empty, 

 not a cutting has yet gone wroug, or shown signs of doing so. 

 We should have liked as well if the general rooting had been a 

 little later, as the plants must be kept stubbier afterwards, or 

 they would injure each other before we could move them to 

 temporary beds. Up to Christmas-day some beds of Aurantia 

 multiflora which we had left out of doors were quite fresh and 

 green, though they had had 12° of frost. How they will stand 

 the present frost time \iill show. 



The most forward Chinese Primroses are in full bloom, and 

 then, and even in any case in dull weather, they are easily in- 

 jured by drip, watering overhead, or even drenching the centre 

 of the plant. Much trouble is frequently experienced with begin- 

 ners in inducing them to water at the sides of the pot, so as to 

 wet the ball without wetting the collar of the plant much or 

 at all. In a cold house, where Grapes were hanging, we were 

 anxious to have a number of small pots looked over, and a 

 little water given, where needed, carefully with the spout of a 

 small pot, but to anything but our satisfaction the standing 

 ground was as much drenched, snd the leaves as much wetted 

 all over, as if a large watering-pot had been used with a rose, 

 without the least idea of sparing the water. Such treatment 

 as the above would scarcely suit anything in a low temperature, 

 with, perhaps, the exception of Cinerarias showing their flower- 

 stalks strongly. At all times this plant relishes a damp, cool 

 standing place. A high temperature will cause it to bloom 

 earlier, but a high temperature and a dry atmosphere, or dry- 

 ness at the root, or very great dryness on the standing place, 

 are fruitful sources of green fly and other evils. 



Looked over cold pits and frames. The great enemy for 

 December and the first part of January is damp, especially 

 when frames such as ours are used, standing over old exhausted 

 hotbeds, as damp ia more likely to rise than when frames 

 stand on raised solid platforms without any old decomposing 

 material beneath them. Every bit of damped or decayed leaf 

 should be carefully removed in a fine mild day, and all the air 

 and sunlight possible given. lu frosty days the airing should 

 be very moderate, and chiefly at the back. The sunlight, with 

 its heat, will not draw up the plants weakly. Plants set on 

 ashes, &c., will need but little watering. Still the plants will 

 want looking over ; and when a few pots are rather dry, if the 

 waterer cannot make sure of his hand so as not to give too 

 much or spill any beyond the pot, it will be good pohcy to_ lift 

 all the few pots out, water them outside, and when well drained 

 replace them. After having cleaned and fresh arranged plants 

 in pots in a frame, removing the dampish surface and replacing 

 it with dry ashes to assist in securing a dry atmosphere, it 

 is not the most pleasant thing to see a thoughtless wielder o£ 

 the waterpot slushing them all over with a rose as if it were 

 the month of June, and thus neutralising all the well-meant 

 efforts to avoid too much damp. With a little of such care, 

 plants in cold frames and pits are often less subject to damp 

 than in low-temperatured houses, as the frames, &a., can be 

 covered up in cold nights, and thus the plants will escape the 



