March 25, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND OOTTAQE QARDENER, 



241 



Potato only, but haa also been found to attack the young 

 shoots and leaves of Cirsium lanceolatum, Amaranthus retro- 

 flexus, Lisymbrium officinale, Polygonum hydropiper, Solanum 

 nigrum, Ohenopodium hybridum and album, and even of 

 Hyoscyamua niger. This variety of plants shows that the 

 insect has great powers of adapting itself to its food, and to 

 this it must be ascribed that it can only with the greatest 

 difficulty be got rid of. The home of the insect was in the 

 Rocky Mountains ; with the westward progress of agriculture 

 the cultivation of the Potato approached the birthplace of the 

 insect, and it transferred its dwelling to the Potato fields, 

 which of course were welcome food ; thus in a short time it 

 became a general plague. In 18.j9 it began its eastward pro- 

 gress, and has now reached the coast of the Atlantic ; whether 

 it will cross this ocean and begin its devastations in Ireland 

 remains to be seen ; much may, however, be done to prevent 

 its appearance in Europe. The means used for its destruction 

 are various; the most successful one has been the so-called 

 Schweinfurt green (arseno-acetate of copper). This is mixed 

 with flour and water, and the plants are sprinkled with 

 the mixture. Although highly poisonous to animal life, the 

 Schweinfurt green does not poison the soil, as it is perfectly 

 insoluble in water, and the destruction of the noxious insect is 

 almost complete. Dr. Kaleuder finally draws the attention of 

 agriculturists to another Potato enemy, the Brystopha solanella, 

 a minute moth which has made its appearance in Algeria ; its 

 larviB completely destroy the Potatoes themselves, so that they 

 become unfit even for pigs' food. The Journal de la Societe 

 Ccntralc d' Horticulture en France warns seriously against the 

 importation of Algerian Potatoes. — (Nature.) 



Among the late Prince Consort's many excellencies was 



a love and a superior taste for gardening. How highly appre- 

 ciated is thus well told in one of his letters in the interesting 

 "Life" just published. "As an art modelling is even more 

 attractive than painting, because in it the thought is actually 

 incorporated : it also derives a higher value and interest from 

 the fact that in it we have to deal with the three dimensions, 

 and not with surface merely, and are not called upon to resort 

 to the illusion of perspective. As the artist combines material 

 and thought without the intervention of any other medium, 

 his creation would be perfect it life could also bo breathed into 

 his work ; and I quite understand and feel with the sculptor 

 in the fable, who implored the gods to let his work descend 

 from its platform. We have an art, however, in which even 

 this third element of creation — inward force and growth — is 

 present, and which has, therefore, had extraordinary attrac- 

 tions for me of late years, indeed I may say from earliest 

 childhood — namely, the art of gardening. In this the artist 

 who lays out the work, and devises a garment for a piece of 

 ground, has the delight of seeing his work live and grow hour 

 by hour; and while it is growing he is able to polish, to cut 

 and carve, to fill up here and there, to hope and to love." 



Every member of the vegetable world in California is de- 

 scribed as " vast " or "gigantic," and the following is another 

 example published in the San Francisco Alta. "It has been 

 supposed that the Sierra Sequoias, or big trees of California, 

 are confined to a few small and isolated groves. It was dis- 

 covered last summer that a body of big tree timber in Fresno 

 county is not properly a grove, but a forest extending for not 

 less than seventy miles in a north-west and south-eastward 

 direction, with a width in some places of ten miles, and inter- 

 rupted only by the deep canons which cut across the general 

 course of the forest. Different persons have traced the forest 

 from the basin of the Tule river in latitude 3fi' 20' across those 

 of the Kaweah and Kings to that of the San Joaquin. The 

 elevation has not been carefully measured, but is supposed to 

 vary from 4000 feet to 0000 feet. Unlike the groves further 

 north, this forest consists mainly, and in some places almost 

 exclusively, of the big trees, and there are also a multitude in 

 all the ages of growth, some just sprouting and others saplijigs 

 only 2 or :> feet through. The largest standing tree as yet 

 measured is 40 feet in diameter ; a charred stump — the tree itself 

 having disappeared — measures 41 feet across. A tree '24 feet 

 in diameter 4 feet above the ground is precisely the same 

 thickness 00 feet higher. A fallen trunk is hollow throughout 

 its length, and the hole is large enough to drive a horse and 

 buggy 72 feet in it as in a tunnel. The wood is similar in 

 general character to the coast Sequoia, or common Redwood, 

 straight in grain, splitting freely, even enough in grain for 

 furniture, and far superior to Oak in its keeping qualities in 

 positions exposed to alternations of drought and moisture. The 



Sierra Sequoia does not throw up sprouts from its stump as 

 does the Redwood, and can therefoi'e be felled out more readily. 

 It was wise in Congress to make a reservation for pleasure 

 purposes of the Mariposa Grove, which is near Yosemite, small 

 and conveniently accessible to tourists by the present routes of 

 travel ; but the Tulare-Fresno forest — it is all in those two 

 counties — cannot be converted into a public reservation. Nu- 

 merous sawmills will be built on its line, and flumes will carry 

 the lumber down to the consumers." 



NOTES ON VILLA and SUBURBAN GARDENING. 



Kitchen Garden. — If previous advice has been acted upon — 

 that is, if the soil of the garden has received its preparation 

 by digging, trenching, manuring, c^c, it will be found in an 

 excellent condition to receive the seeds of various crops which 

 ought to be now sown. The plan still adopted by many, not- 

 withstanding that instructions are given to the contrary, of 

 digging and manuring the ground at the time of cropping, is not 

 giving the crops a fair chance. The aim of the owner of ever so 

 small a garden should be to so work his soil as to have it in the 

 best possible condition at cropping time, and this cannot be well 

 done unless it is turned up in a rough state during the autumn, 

 when it becomes pulverised and cleansed by the severity of the 

 winter. A soil so treated will now be found to work down 

 admirably, and it will not be bound down or thrown out of con- 

 dition by being trampled upon during the process of cropping. 



There is another matter I ought to mention, which is that 

 some crops, such as Potatoes and Onions, do not turn out so well 

 with manure applied at the time of cropping, especially if that 

 manure is at all green or not much rotted down. The oljject 

 should be to apply the manure at the earliest opportunity, and 

 in such a state of decomposition that it can be appropriated by 

 the crops at the time it is needed for their development. But 

 there are some who will not move out of their usual track to 

 benefit themselves, even though there is the prospect of in- 

 creased produce from other and better plans which have been 

 advised. 



It is now time to make sowings of the general crops, to bo 

 grown whether the garden be large or small. If early Potatoes 

 have been planted on warm borders watch for their coming up 

 and protect them from frost, a little of which we are having 

 every night. Plant Myatt's Prolific, American Early Rose, 

 Brezee's Prolific, Early Shaws, York Regents, and Lapstono 

 Ividuey as soon as possible ; the later sorts, such as Flukes, may 

 be deferred later on if, as I presume, that all the space intended 

 for Potatoes is not yet vacant, but if it is I would advise that all 

 sorts be put in immediately. 



As to the manner of planting Potatoes most of it is under- 

 stood, but I do not advise anyone to adopt the plan of dibbling 

 them in. It may save time, but it is the worst plan of any. The 

 hole is made and the soil is compressed at the sides, which in a 

 stiff soil is a greater disadvantage, because the roots are unable 

 to obtain that freedom they need at starting into growth, and 

 which is given them by adopting the plan of planting them 

 either in drills or putting them in with the spade. And further, 

 unless a very peculiar dibbler is used, the Potato does not go 

 to the bottom of the hole, which is another disadvantage. 



Of Peas there are many good sorts, both tall and dwarf growers. 

 I should now sow a row of Veitch's Perfection and Williams's 

 Emperor of the Marrows; the former grows 3 feet, and the 

 latter feet or more in good soils. If sown both at the same 

 time they come in good succession, and are most excellent 

 croppers and good in flavour. 



Sow also the main crop of Onions on well-prepared ground, 

 the White Spanish and .James's Keeping are two good standard 

 sorts. If it is necessary to manure the ground now use any 

 old manure, but I prefer using the space occupied by Celery, as 

 that being manured the year previously, and the ground being 

 well worked. Onions generally do well. It being a deep-rooting 

 plant a deeply cultivated soil is indispensable. Sow the seed in 

 drills about an inch deep, and if the soil is light tread the seed 

 in as it is covered. Those who grow the Giant Rocca and other 

 autumn-sown sorts must now stir the soil between the rows and 

 thin out where thick, and fill up vacancies by picking out some 

 of the best. 



Some early Horn Carrots to succeed those sown in frames or 

 sheltered places may now be sown, leaving the main crop till 

 the beginning of next month. 



Plant a few rows of Broad Beans, either the Broad Windsor 

 or Longpod ; there is also the Dwarf Fan and Beck's Green Gem, 

 both branching kinds and do not exceed 15 inches in height. 

 These are excellent in quality and prolific. 



If Spinach is required a few rows may now be sown, but this, 

 being a crop which soon comes to perfection, should be sown 

 between rows of Peas, yet on good rich soil. As its produce de- 

 pends upon the size of the leaves, it requires thinning out to 

 about 8 inches from plant'to plant. 



Make sowings in small beds or narrow borders of Brussels 



