86 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Febmary 3, 1876. 



of Kale, or " Curly Greens," as the vegetable is designated by 

 the oonntry folks in Scotland. On a nearer inspection the 

 whole npper surfaces of the leaves are thickly studded with 

 beautifully curled secondary growths or leaflets; they grow so 

 thickly on the ribs of the leaves as to conceal them quite when 

 the plant is growing. I had one of the " Greens" cooked, 

 and it proved to be of most excellent quality. As far as I am 

 aware this is a distinct vegetable, aijd as it was shown at 

 South Kensington well worthy of culture. — J. Douglas. 



WAB WITH INSECTS. 



It is very fortunate for gardeners that the treatment best 

 calculated to grow plants vigorously and healthy is also that 

 most distasteful to insect life. Let a cold draught or a dry 

 heat cripple the tender newly grown foliage, and red spider, 

 thrips, and aphis are delighted ; they increase and multiply 

 by myriads. On the other hand a sturdy dark green foliage 

 will generally be shunned by them ; there is, then, a double 

 reason for keeping plants in a fresh thriving condition. The 

 amount of injury done by insects is not sufficiently taken 

 into account, and it is, perhaps, more because they are loath- 

 some to the sight than for anything else that they are looked 

 after as well as they are. But I am persuaded that there is 

 hardly a plant grown which, if it receives a severe check from 

 insects or otherwise, can quite recover from it. It will, like a 

 patched-np member of the animal kingdom, have a weak point 

 somewhere in its constitution, where it will be more susceptible 

 to injury than others which have not received such a check. 



There is very httle apparent difference between the treat- 

 ment given by a successful and an unsuccessful grower. The 

 principal difference consists in the former paying attention to 

 very small details which the latter thinks useless and con- 

 temptible. What if a plant should droop a little, or have an 

 insect or two hid away in its foliage ? It is of no great conse- 

 quence to the one, while the other would almost as soon see 

 his plants dead as that such a thing should happen. Success 

 is always gained by strict attention to very small matters. I 

 will endeavour to point out a few of them which I think 

 merit more attention than they usually receive, and which if 

 attended to would materially lessen the labour employed in 

 cleaning plants. 



I will pass over the question of high night temperature kept 

 by artificial means, as I have reason to believe that is nearly a 

 thing of the past. But what about giving air in the morning ? 

 Is it never given too late or too abundantly ? Imagine a house 

 with a temperature of 70° while the air outside is frosty. Fill 

 the house with tobacco smoke and watch how very rapidly it 

 all escapes through the smallest apertures. The air, I imagine, 

 of the house changes in nearly as short a time as it takes the 

 smoke to escape, and of course would change just as rapidly if 

 there were no smoke there, the smoke only making the move- 

 ment of the air visible. The greater the difference between 

 internal and external temperatures the more rapidly will the 

 air change in the house, and therefore the openings for venti- 

 lation ought to be regulated according to such difference. 

 People are too much afraid of letting the sun help them to do 

 their forcing ; they neutralise its good effects by letting in a 

 rush of cold air. We are getting better in this respect, but 

 there is still room for much improvement. There must be 

 more nature-forcing ; the more hght the more heat and mois- 

 ture should there be. Many people would be surprised at the 

 amount of heat some plants will flourish in when they have 

 suffieient sunlight and moisture, if they have not previously 

 been drawn out too much with Bre heat during dull weather. 



I have at times been much abused for recommending low 

 figures for night temperatures, such as 55° for Cucumbers, 

 Muscat Grapes, &c,, and perhaps some people have even 

 been inclined to doubt my statements because they them- 

 selves have not succeeded under such conditions. The fact 

 is my mean temperatures in bright weather are as high as 

 those of any other cultivator because I allow a very high 

 maximum. Very often, instead of giving air on every favour- 

 able occasion as the old calendars recommend, it is better 

 policy to shut-up as close as possible when the sun shines in 

 winter and early spring. This kind of forcing, however, re- 

 quires more care and judgment than the old-fashioned way, 

 but, at the same time, when properly done it is much more suo- 

 oessful and far more economical. 



AH the air a house is likely to require during any part of 

 the day ought to be given before the sun has shone on that 

 house half an hour, and before the thermometer has risen 5°, 



a little the instant the sun touches it, a little more in a few 

 minutes when it is seen the mercury is inclined to rise, and so 

 on by degrees, till as much is given as former experience has 

 taught to be necessary. I would much rather a man under 

 my command remained in bed all day than that he should 

 commence giving air after the sun has been shining on a house 

 half an hour. It may be thought I am running from my text, 

 but it is not so, as I will endeavour to show. 



The French Bean is generally supposed to be a likely home 

 for the red spider, and probably many people never saw it 

 forced through the winter without that pest. Now I have 

 French Beans at the present moment in five houses in all 

 stages, from thoEo just peeping through the soil to others 

 which have been in bearing some time, and there is not, and 

 never has been, a red spider on them. This is almost en- 

 tirely due to moderate night temperatures and giving air in a 

 proper manner. Of course a very strict look-out for the 

 enemy is kept, and it would be vigorously attacked on its first 

 appearance. Prevention is much more economical than curing, 

 as well as being better. 



Another common way of checking plants and making them 

 more liable to insect attacks is by using water which is too 

 cold. In every well-arranged hothouse there is a tank in 

 which the water is supposed to be of the same temperature as 

 the house ; but this is sometimes misleading to young men. 

 Probably early in the morning it is sufficiently warm, but after 

 the sun has been shining on the house, and perhaps on the 

 pots in which the plants are grown, it is not so. It is always 

 better, when it can be done, to water early in forcing houses, 

 but when we are obliged to do it after the sun has been shin- 

 ing some time the water should always be tested with tha 

 hand if not with the thermometer, and it is better to have it 

 a little too warm than too cold ; while that for syringing 

 should always be 5° warmer than the house. 



One other way of propagating insects and I have done for 

 the present. It is by neglect of forced plants — principally 

 those forced for the sake of their flowers — after they have 

 done their duty for the season. What becomes of them then ? 

 How are they treated ? Are we sufiiciently grateful to them 

 for the pleasure and high encomiums they have brought us? 

 Or do we forget them tiU we want them again ? I am afraid 

 many must plead guilty. — Wm. Taylor. 



DWARF PEAS. 



AccoEBiNG to circumstances, I am urged to allow all the air 

 and light possible to circulate and shine upon my Potatoes : 

 hence I eschew tall Peas and will venture to prescribe for 

 folks having small gardens, to whom a maximum of Peas and 

 a minimum of Pea-sticks and labour are compatible. 



This (Woodstock) is a late cold soil. To secure a certainty 

 of crop I do not sow Peas early, rarely till such time as the 

 ground is become warmed by the spring sunshine, when the 

 Peas will grow quickly out of the way of ravages from creeping 

 things and others that hop. Referring to my note book of 

 1875 I find that I, on April 17th, sowed Maclean's Multum in 

 Parvo, Laxton'a Unique, Dr. Hogg, Supplanter, Connoisseur, 

 Omega, and somebody or other's Robert Fenn, and Richard 

 Dean Peas. June 26th, gatheredfi om Unique and Dr. Hogg. 

 The latter grows 3 feet. Unique grows 1 foot only in height, 

 and is properly an early-border Pea, a site whereon it would 

 have proven quite a week earlier. July 3rd, gathered from 

 Multum in Parvo ; grows 3 feet. July 17th, gathered from 

 Laxton's Supplanter and Richard Dean ; each grows 3 feet 

 high. July '24th, gathered from Robert Fenn ; grows 3 feet 

 high. July 31st, gathered from Laxton's Connoisseur and 

 Omega. 'The latter grows 3 feet 6 inches high, and Connois- 

 seur grew with me verging to 9 feet in height ; we renewed 

 taller sticks to it six times over, and it still cried for " more." 

 I read its height on the packet as "3 feet;" it must have 

 meant 8. It is a capital Pea for a garden of over 3 acres in 

 extent ; but for me, in my circumscribed sphere, " never more." 

 I intend to substitute for it Turner's Dr. Maclean. The above, 

 sown on the same day, served us with Peas daily and consecu- 

 tively from June 3rd to September 15th. 



On May '2nd were sown Maclean's Multum in Parvo, Laxton's 

 Omega, and Robert Fenn Peas. The first came into bearing 

 by the middle of September, followed on the 1st of October by 

 Robert Fenn, and from the 15th of October to the latter end 

 of November, by Laxton's Omega, good and fine flavoured to 

 the last. This and Connoisseur may be truly termed to- 

 gather-and- come-again Peas, for on the Slst of July I picked 



