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JOUBNAL OF HOBTICDLTDRB AND COTTAGE GARDENEB, 



{ July 9, 1874. 



Baker BPcoud with Ne Plus Ultra, and Mr. A. Dean third with 

 James's Prolific. Mr. Thomas Laxlon, of Stamford, gives prizes 

 for Peas of his own raising — viz., Laxton'a No. 1, Fillbasket, 

 Superlative, William I., Popular, and Omega; four sorts to be 

 selected from these six. Mr. J. Richardson is first— he has Fill- 

 basket, Omega, Superlative, and Popular; Mr. E. Gilbert is 

 second, and Mr. G. T. Miles third. 



Onions. — In this class very fine Early White Naples are sent 

 by Mr. W. Cox and Mr. G. T. Miles ; bat their dishes, through 

 Bome unaccountable means, were pasised over, and the first prize 

 given to Hurst's White Tripoli Onion, from Mr. E. Smith, 

 Upper Alstone, Cheltenham, the second prize going to Red 

 Tripoli from Mr. J. Turk, Tewkesbury Road, Cheltenham. Mr. 

 0. Arkell is third. 



Cucumbers. — Mr. J. Douglas is first with a brace of his Tender 

 and True ; Mr. J. Holder second with a fine white-spined variety 

 named Dreadnought; and Mr. E. Chadwick third with Improved 

 Cbampion White-spine. Twenty-one brace are exhibited. 



EoDNET Beans (fifty pods). — Mr. G. T. Miles is first with 

 Canadian Wonder, very fine; Mr. R. Gilbert second with the 

 same variety ; Mr. J. Hall, Daventry, third with Negro. 



Celery (three slicks). — The white variety which gains the 

 first and second prize is remarkably fine for the time of the 

 year; it would be fine for September, and is named Lion's Paw. 

 Mr. O. Arkell and Mr. A. Smith are the exhibitors. The third 

 prize goes to Mr. G. Bloxham, Brickhill Manor, Bletcbley. 



Of OTHER Vegetjbles, Kbubarb comes from Mr. E. Smith, 

 Mr. W. Cox, and Mr. J. Mitchell, Escrick Park, York ; very 

 fine Carrots from Mr. 0. Arkell, Mr. E. Smith, and Mr. J. 

 Baker. For Turnips, Mr. H. Holder, Mr. Joseph Douglas, 

 Retford, and Mr. J. ISarnwell, of Hereford, are the prizetakers. 



Cabbages are fresh, and come from Mr. E. Ford, Mr. O. 

 Arkell, and Mr. W. Brown. Cos and Cabbage Lettuce are well 

 represented ; Mr. W. Brown, Mr. W. Cox, and Mr. A. Dean, of 

 Bedfont, have the best examples. Cauliflowers are overdone, 

 though Mr. Barnwell has three nice heads. Mr. E. Ford and 

 Mr. Miles are also prizetakers. 



There are some good dishes of Asparagus. Mr. C. Arkell has 

 the best, Mr. E. Smith the second best, and Mr. J. Turk the 

 third. Of Broad Beans Mr. Miles has a fine dish of Improved 

 Longpod, and Mr. J. Richardson has the second prize. Mush- 

 rooms are not first-class, the best bein^ those from Mr. J. T. 

 Cushon ; Mr. T. Allen, gardener, TeddesTey Park, has the second 

 best, and Mr. J. Holderis third. The first-prize dish of Tomatoes 

 are those from Mr. W. Cox, and are very fine ; and Mr. G. T. 

 Miles has a nice dith of Hathaway's Excelsior. A good dish 

 Iso comes from Mr. Arkell. 



A class is also made for baskets or trays of not less than twelve 

 varieties of salads. Four very nice baskets indeed are exhibited, 

 although we do not think the Marigold, Nasturtium, and other 

 cut flowers introduced, and which faded in an hour or two, are 

 an improvement. The first prize is well deserved, and goes to 

 Mr. E. Smith; his Celery, Endive, and Lettuce are very fine. 

 Mr. Holder earns the second award, and Mr. J. Turk the third. 

 These baskets were much admired, especiaUy by the ladies. 



DESTKOTING WASPS' NESTS. 

 Hating seen a receipt in this Journal for destroying wasps' 

 nests by cyanide of potassium, I tried it this year on the first 

 nest 1 found ; and though I used it twice at two or three days' 



Fig. 7. — Wasp-destrojirg Apparatus. 



interval the wasps came to life again, and on digging out the 

 nest the queen was found alive and well. The next nest was 

 taken in the following manner : In a common flower pot of 

 medium size were cut two holes, one near the bottom, and the 

 other at the opposite side near the top. A piece of old tin 

 was placed on the top, and after some pieces of corduroy and 

 tobacco had been put inside and lighted it was fastened tightly 

 down with a bit of clay. Each of the holes being fitted with 

 a tube (in this case two elder sticks with the inside taken out), 

 the one from the upper hole was placed in the nest, while 

 someone blew down the other, so that all the smoke went into 

 the nest. In about five or seven minutes the nest was dug up, 

 and all the wasps were quite stupefied, so that it was easily 

 lifted whole into a bucket of water. I enclose a rough sketch 

 of the apparatus (fig. 7}, to render my meaning clear. As it 



seems probable that this will be a very bad year for wasps, If 

 anyone knows a simpler plan perhaps he will make it public. 

 — B., Breconshire, 



BELGIAN FARM GARDENS. 

 The possibility of making a decent living for a family out of 

 a farm depends in a large degree upon soil and climate. A 

 small farm of a few acres in England, and more especially in 

 Scotland, means semi-starvation. We have seen several 

 instances in which the thing has been tried, and lamentably 

 failed. A case occurred not long since within our personal 

 observation, in which a land proprietor, by way of experiment, 

 let a piece of ground, extending to about eight acres, with a 

 house upon it, for a merely nominal rent. The laud was good 

 though a little rough, and the tenant set stoutly to work 

 upon it. In two years he gave it up as hopeless. Another 

 person made the attempt, and he also, in the same length of 

 time, begged to be released of his lease, which was taken off 

 his hands. The experiment was then very properly given up, 

 and the land absorbed into a larger holding. It is quite a 

 different matter trying to farm on a small scale in the Bay of 

 Naples or in Belgium. There the farming is in reality a kind 

 of gardening. Soil and climate, as well as old engrafted 

 habits, conspire to make it practicable for a man, wife, and 

 children to extort a living from a mere patch of ground. It is 

 a pity that theorists who talk confidently about land-distribn- 

 tion, do not, from any personal knowledge, tell us how it is to 

 be satisfactorily accomplished. We say distinctly that the 

 cultivation of lands in Great Britain will not prove advan- 

 tageous unless on a considerable scale, with professional 

 knowledge, and capital to hire labourers, to buy and keep 

 horses, to purchase artificial manures, and lie out of returns 

 in the ordinary course of business. As regards that garden of 

 northern Europe, the more fertile part of Belgium, the ap- 

 pearance of things there is certainly very fascinating — the 

 neat whitewashed dwelling and outhouses, the trim miniature 

 fields, the orchards in blossom, the industrious and simple 

 habits of the people, the spires of village churches peeping- 

 out among the trees, all give one notions of the golden age, 

 " when every rood of ground maintained its man." The very 

 fertility, however, which produces this result is for the most 

 part not natural. It is the effect of centuries of dihgent sp- 

 plication with the spade or plough, constant drugging with 

 manure, and tact in changing the crops. But there is more 

 than this. It is the result of intensely economical habits, of 

 which we can hardly say there is any parallel in England. 

 Without enumerating all the plants to which the Belgian 

 farmer gives his care, the Colza, Poppy, Hop, Flax, Hemp, 

 Chicory, Wheat, Kye, Buckwheat, and Haricot Beans may be 

 named ; and as root crops or forage. Turnips, Beetroot, Cab- 

 bages, Peas, Vetches, Oats, and the common or scarlet Clover. 

 This variety gives to the country a very pleasing aspect ; there 

 are no large fields lying bare, as with us, waiting for the 

 Wheat, but they rather appear like a garden, where are large 

 beds of flowers of every hue. In early spring, the scarlet 

 Clover alternates with the bright yellow Colza, then the beauti- 

 ful blue Flax ; the little white stars of the Buckwheat contrast 

 with the gaudy purple Poppy, and the large Tobacco-leaves, 

 whose intense green recalls the vegetation of the tropics. 

 Without these plants the owner never could pay either for the 

 manure he puts in or his high rent, as Wheat grows very 

 poorly. They require much labour, and the soil has no repose ; 

 the labourer is always digging with the spade, turning over 

 the soil, hoeing, weeding, or harvesting. 



English and Scotch farmers might take a lesson from the 

 Belgian agriculturists in their prodigious care of manure — no 

 wasteful exhalation, no neglect of the liquids which enrich the 

 soil. We might almost say that the Belgian farmer is a re- 

 verential worshipper of manure. It is his idol, his treasury. 

 In the first place, there is the manure produced in the cattle- 

 sheds. No cow is allowed to go about iu the open air ; all 

 stay within-doors, and liquids which we too often see running 

 to waste are carefully conducted into covered tanks. Neither 

 is the solid part allowed to be in the open air ; it is covered 

 from sun and rain, which destroy the ammoniacal salts, and 

 trodden by three or four young cattle daring the winter. In 

 addition, the farmer collects from his ditches and streams 

 aquatic plants, which he mixes with the manure, or uses them 

 at once to hasten the growth of the Potato. He sends to a 

 distance for the mud dredged from canals, and lime ; in the 

 nearest town he bays the refuse from tanneries and mana- 



