August 13, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



149 



rally scarce, it ia admirably adopted, whether planted-out and 

 trained up the pillars or against the walls, or grown in pots, 

 producing multitudes of large yellowish-white bell-shaped 

 flowers, streaked and spotted on the inside with rosy purple. 



The handsome Rhododendron CAJirYLOCAnpuM flowered 



in the greenhouse at Dysart House, Fife, N.B., for the first 

 time in the month of March. 



At a recent meeting of the Berlin Academy, a paper 



•was read by Professor Dove on The General Character of 

 Mild Winters. One fact which appears from his figures is 

 that several such winters often follow one another in close 

 succession, or with little interruption. It also appears (1) that 

 sudden exceptional moderating of the temperature in the last 

 third of December is very frequent ; but does not always be- 

 token a continued mild January of the following year ; (2) that 

 a cool November and cold first half of December generally 

 point to a mild January following ; and conversely, a mildness 

 in the former period points to a severe midwinter. The 

 phenomena, lastly, show that the earth's surface at a deter- 

 minate time falls into determinate weather systems ; and the 

 rules found for one of these are without signiticance for an- 

 other. As these systems depend on air currents, they can 

 have no universal application. — {Englisli Meclianic.) 



— — The influence of forests in drawing moisture from 

 the heavens, says the " Californian Horticulturist," may be 

 seen from the experience of San Diego, California. Previous 

 to 1863 there was yearly a rainy season, which made the soil 

 nourishing and productive. In 1803 a destructive fire swept 

 over the greater part of the country, destroying the forest, and 

 blackening the hills. Since then there has been no rainy 

 season at San Diego. 



The employes of Messrs. Button, of Reading, accom- 

 panied by their wives and relations, went on the 5th inst. 

 for their annual excursion — the cost of the journey being de- 

 frayed by Messrs. Sutton, who also presented each with a good 

 round sum for recreation and refreshment. At 7 a.m. more 

 than two hundred of the employes and their friends, accom- 

 panied by some of the members of the firm, took their de- 

 parture by special train for Hastings, where they enjoyed for 

 several hours the attractions of that beautiful watering place. 

 This is another instance of that kind and considerate feeling 

 which exists between the employers and the employed of the 

 great Beading seed firm. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST AND PRESENT "WEEKS. 



kitchen G.UIDEN. 



Except clearing ofE sticks and Pea haulm from which the 

 crop has been gathered, also the last of the spring-sown Cauli- 

 flower, hoeing-up and gathering-off the weeds everywhere, little 

 else has been done. Just a word in reference to the spring-sown 

 Cauliffotvers. For the last ten years we have sown seeds in 

 the autumn, and also early in the spring, the latter sowing being 

 made under glass lights. The auturau-sown plants have fur- 

 nished US with good heads, white and firm, from the middle of 

 May onwards. The spring-sown plants are intended to succeed 

 them, and this they do in a way; but although the seeds are in 

 most cases taken out of the same packets, the produce is as 

 different as lif^ht is from darkness. The produce of the latest- 

 sown is such that we are ashamed to send it to table; and in 

 whatever part of the garden the plants are grown the result is 

 the same — the heads are green and loose. This year the plants 

 were put out on the Gladiolus ground, and that is very rich : in 

 fact, the same ground is selected for both sowings. We have 

 now come to the conclusion that the fault lies in our light 

 gravelly soil, which does not seem to have sufficient holding 

 power for this class of vegetables to succeed in the summer 

 months. But do we not learn a useful lesson from this in the 

 way of charity to the gentlemen who supply the seeds ? It 

 would be very easy to point to the quarter of bastard-looking 

 plants, and so lay the blame on the seeds, if the fine crop that 

 had been previously cut did not give the lie to the assertion. 



Then about the iceeils. These should never be allowed to 

 become so large that it is necessary either to rake or gather them 

 off. We very seldom use a rake during the summer months. 

 The hoe is kept at work whether weeds are to be seen or not, 

 and the surface remains as it is left by the hoe. 



Sowed early Cabbages for use in April, May, and June. It 

 is always best to sow on hard poor soil, and thinly, so that 

 stocky plants may be produced. Some persons, as soon as the 

 young plants have formed the rough leaf, prick them out, say 

 3 inches apart : this certainly produces better plants, but we 

 have no time for it. Peas generally fail with us at this time, 

 but to make up for it Dwarf Kidney Beans and Scarlet Runners 

 do famously. Any quantity of fine succulent pods can be 



I gathered from a row or two of the latter. If it is necessary to 

 sow two or more rows together, a distance of feet should be 

 allowed between them. There is not a more profitable vegetable 

 for cottagers' gardens than Runners, and when well cooked few 

 are more wholesome. When the plants show the least signs of 

 distress from excessive drought, a drill should be drawn about 

 3 inches deep, at a distance of G inches from the roots, to be 

 filled up three or four times with water. It is not desirable to 

 pour the water against the stems of the plants. 



Potatoes are turniug-out well in the fields. Dalmahoys and 

 White Dons are extra good, but a few diseased tubers have been 

 found, and one badly affected was found in a basket of Extra 

 Early Vermont. By-the-way, this last is a Potato that can be 

 recommended for small gardens ; it is very early, the tubers are 

 large (four fine-shaped specimens just weighed are only half an 

 ounce short of 3 lbs.) The haulm is very short, more so than 

 that of the Ash-leaved Kidney. 



fecit and fokcing houses. 

 Fineries, — Suckers that were put into pots about the end of 

 July or earlier should now be treated to a warm moist atmo- 

 sphere of from 70 ' to 75° at night if the weather is mild ; indeed, 

 the best instructions would be to say. Keep up a good heat in 

 the hot- water pipes, and shut-up early. With a bottom heat of 

 90° or 95° the plants will grow rapidly, and when their roots 

 strike through the bottom shift them into their fruiting-pots at- 

 once ; in fact, they ought to be in them now if they are to be 

 started to fruit in January next. Our own Queens and some 

 Smooth-leaved Cayennes put in about this time last year are 

 now coming-in. Before potting the suckers it is well to examine 

 them carefully, and to pick and wash-off any insects or scale 

 that may be hidden in the axils of the leaves. It used to be a. 

 common practice to lay the suckers out to dry for a few days 

 before potting them, but that was in the days of old, when 

 Pines were grown in pots that required two men to move them, 

 and from two to four years was the time required to produce the 

 fruit. The only motive for drying the suckers would be to prf- 

 vent them from rotting at the base, but this never happens if 

 the pots are not watered for a week after the suckers are potted- 

 In the house where fruit are ripening and swelling-off admit air 

 freely, and unless it is necessary to hasten the maturation of the 

 fruit very little artificial heat is necessary. If the plants are in 

 good health it will not be necessary to shade after this time. 



Orchard Souse. — The trees still require abundant supplies of 

 water at the roots, and such late sorts as Lord and Lady Pal- 

 merston, Salway, &c., are syringed in the morning. A larger 

 proportion of the Peaches than usual have split stones, nor is 

 the fruit large. The Nectarines are good, but this is not the 

 only season in which, though the Peaches have only been of 

 average quality, the Nectarines have been first-rate. An ex- 

 tensive experience leads us to the conclusion that the Nectarine 

 is more amenable to pot culture than the Peach. One thing par- 

 ticularly noticeable is, that should the trees have suffered from 

 a deficiency of water at the roots. Peaches would be " woolly," 

 or what a Scotchman would call " duffy," and it would not be 

 so with Nectarines. Except looking over the trees daily and 

 gathering the fruit as it ripens, the trees have not required any 

 other attention. We used to place bags made of gauze under 

 the fruit, into which it dropped when quite ripe ; this is not 

 such a good way as gathering the fruit daily when it parts 

 readily from the stalks. 



greenhouse and conservatory. 

 Many of the usual occupants of these structures have been . 

 shifted out to other quarters ; for the present, however, it is an 

 easy matter to keep these houses gay with Zonal Pelargoniums 

 and other hardy subjects, not to mention such fine and distinct 

 flowers as Phloxes and Gladiolus. The latter need not be grown 

 in pots; all that is necessary is to cut the spikes, and insert 

 them in bottles of water. The bottles should be quite concealed 

 by the pots or foliage of other plants, and the deception is com- 

 plete. Too much cannot be said in praise of the Plilox for de- 

 corative purposes, but to be utilised in the greenhouse the plants- 

 must be grown in pots ; it will not answer to cut the spikes in 

 the same way as those of the Gladiolus. One of the principal 

 marks in their favour is that they are so easily grown, and are 

 exactly suited for the owners of small gardens, who have not 

 much time to spare to look after their plants. In their culture 

 glass may be dispensed with entirely. If the cuttings were 

 ttruck according to previous instructions, and grown-cn in pota 

 out of doors, the plants will now be in full beauty, and may he- 

 arranged in the greenhouse. 



A::aleas are now in a moist atmosphere and a stove tempera- 

 ture, and to grow this plant well no other treatment is preferable 

 to tbis. Our plants were potted shortly alter they had done 

 flowering, and placed in heat at once ; they soon show that the 

 treatment answers by the way in which the new rootlets lay 

 hold of the fresh fibrous peat in all directions. Heaths, Epacrises, 

 and all the more robust-growing New Holland plants are better 

 oitt of doors until the first week of September ; they must be 

 removed indoors two weeks earlier than this if there is no pro- 

 vision made to throw off the rains. 



