m 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEK, 



t March 2, 187 G. 



by this means that the first spring-sown crop can follow im- 

 mediately on the heels of the crop raised from seed sown in 

 the antamn. I have often foand the advantage of planting a 

 portion of the autumn-sown plants on a north border, and so 

 retarding them and obtaining a natural sucoeseion from two 

 plantations from the same sowing. I have frequently found 

 that practice to be very valuable, and in fact only by it should 

 I have prevented the blank which is so common — the blank 

 oocarriug between the maturing of the last autumn and first 

 spring-sown crop which occurs in July. By retarding some 

 plants now and sowing also some seed nnder ylass the blank 

 may be averted, and I am not conscious that it can be pre- 

 vented by any other means. 



The heat of summer is a natural impediment to Cauliflower 

 production. I have occasionally surmounted the difficulty by 

 adopting the trench mode of culture, not only growing the 

 plants, but sowing also the seed in trenches. I had observed 

 that notwithstanding all I could do in watering and surfaoe- 

 mulchirg that the plante would button and shrivel away — I 

 mean those which had been transplanted — while those remain- 

 ing crowded in the seed bed and receiving no attention would 

 preserve tbtir freshness as it in mockery of my cultural efforts. 

 Turning the fact to account I have formed trenches similarly 

 prepared as trenches for Celery, and in these have sown the 

 seed very thinly, subsequently thinning out the plants, but 

 not to distances of 2 feet to produce heads a foot across, but 

 thinning only to 9 inches to a foot apart, and obtaining small 

 heads 3 inches in diameter. Those are the heads coveted on 

 a penth matiV table, four of which can be served in a vege- 

 table dish. Huge Caulifloweis I hold to be a huge mistake, 

 involving a waste of space and manure— that is, when they 

 are required for the tables of the educated and refined. I 

 have never failed in the hottest summers to produce sweet 

 serviceable heads by sowing thinly and growing thickly in 

 highly manured trenches, while I have failed completely by 

 the usual mode of transplanting. 



For the first sowing I employ Dwarf Mammoth, and for 

 Bucccseional sowings I find no sort superior to Waloheren, 

 taking care to have a large supplementary breadth of Veitch's 

 Autumn Giant sown at the same time, and transplanted and 

 grown in the same manner as the general crop of Broccolis, 

 only planting in richer soil. This sort never fails by drought. 

 Thus do I produce a full supply of Cauliflowers and Broccoli 

 " bU the year round." — R. Fish's Pupil. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS AND THEIR CULTURE— 

 "EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES." 



No. 2. 



In essaying the culture of Ohrysanthemnms it is first of all 

 necessary to consider the special requirements of a place or 

 owner. If large blooms are the primary object and the form 

 of the plants of secondary moment, then plants on single 

 Btems receiving but little stopping must be grown. These 

 plants for intermixing with the green foliage of Catnellias in 

 large conservatories are very effective. Although the blooms 

 are few they are tine, and with care are lung-lasting — more so, 

 indeed, than are smaller and more closely crowded flowers. 



In order to have very tuperior blooms the plants should EOiV 

 be establibhed in small puts and be growing sturdily in cool 

 frames ; jet fine flowers may bo produced from cutting.^ inserted 

 now, which is the ordinaiy time of commencing preparations 

 for the supply of these fine autumnal plants. 



But any isort of cuttings will not do. An expeiieaoed grower 

 knows at a glance which cutting to select. A short-jointed 

 vigorous sucker springing direct from the soil will, with good 

 culture, retain its specially robust habit throughout the season. 

 Weakly cuttings, and especially shoots springing from the 

 stems of the plants, cannot by any course of culture be ex- 

 pected to equal cuttings which come clear from the soil and 

 are stout and strong from the first unfolding of their foliage. 

 After choosing the best cuttings they should be rooted in a 

 cool temperature, having all the light they can possibly endure. 

 Rather than be shaded densely, to prevent flagging they 

 should be sprinkled — dewed frequently, and by no means 

 must they b(j drawn-up in heat. The cuttings are best potted 

 singly, and a gentle bottom heat of (>0° aud top heat of 50' 

 wi 1 be euitablH to a cutting of medium texture. If potted in 

 the autumn they require no bottom heat at all, but it the 

 striking is deferred until spring, and the crowth is succulent, 

 the cuttings will damp-off unless afforded brisk beat ; they 



must, therefore, be treated according to their condition and 

 other circumstances affecting their treatment. 



The plants must be shifted as required, and each time before 

 the pots are matted with roots. Tuat is a very important 

 matter, and equally, if not more so, is keeping the soil regu- 

 larly and continually moist. If the plants in their early, or, 

 indeed, in any stage, are permitted to receive a check by a 

 neglect of potting or watering, no after-attention can atone 

 for the injury which will inevitably follow, however skilful and 

 unremitting such attention may be. To prevent injury by 

 drought the pots should be partially plunged in ashes during 

 the summer, and as near as possible to the water tank. In 

 hot weather tne ground amongst the plants should be kept 

 constantly moist, and the plants should be frequently syringed, 

 for if an arid atmosphere is permitted to surround them the 

 foliage, by extreme transpiration, will become exhausted and 

 will shrivel and fall. Syringing the plants occasionally with 

 clear soot water is of great advantage both in fostering their 

 healthy growth and as a preventive of aphis and mildew. 

 Chrysanthemums, as a rule, in the majority of gardens, receive 

 injury by an irregular and insuffioient supply of vater to 

 roots and foliage during the sultry days of summer. They 

 cannot always have an autumn temperature, but they may be 

 provided with an autumn moisture-laden atmosphere, which 

 is whit the plants delight in. 



If fine blooms are the primary object, the autumn-struck 

 plants may be topped once, but spriug-struck plants should 

 not be stopped at all. But if, on the other hand, shapely 

 plants are required, stopping may be practised as olten as is 

 necessary with the large-flowering varieties up to the middle 

 of June, and with the Pompons nntil July. They may be 

 trained to any form required, and must not be broken by the 

 wind. A site that is sheltered but not shaded should be 

 selected for their summer growth. 



When the plants are well established in their blooming pots 

 they must have liquid manure twice a-week nntil the blooms 

 show their colours (these to be fine must be thinned, leaving 

 the best bud on each point). Soot and cow-dung water is good, 

 varied with guano water at half an ounce per gallon strength, 

 and now and then a pinch of superphosphate of lime sprinkled 

 over the soil and washed in will be beneficial. 



The soil should consist of one-half of free loam, one-third 

 of well-decayed manure, and one-third of leaf mould in the 

 early stages of growth; but the final potting material should 

 be of richer loam, substituting manure for leaf mould, using 

 sand in both cases as needed. An admixture of crushed bones 

 or oyster shells is highly beneficial to the plants. Still let it 

 be remembered that those who have many duties to perform 

 ought not to be expected to produce blooms equal to those 

 who make Chrysanthemum culture a speciality, and who 

 devote their whole energies in perfecting their work. Pro- 

 vided a man is able and does his best he is justly entitled to 

 be judged by his whole work and not by a section of it ; in a 

 word, It is to him that should be applied " extenuating circum- 

 stances." 



My visit to London has sharpened me up and taken a little 

 conceit out of me; it has impelled me, however, to greater 

 perseverance, and constrained me to aid oiht is of my calling 

 whose travels are circumscribed by garden walls. — A Country 

 Gardener. 



DWARFED FRUIT TREES. 



Mr. Shirley Hibberd's paper on fruit-culture read before 

 the Society of Arts will evoke a good deal of adverse criticism, 

 and as I think, very deservedly, for his condemnation of dwarfed 

 trees is too wholesale to be trustworthy. What he should 

 have condemned is the misuse of dwarfing, not its use. I 

 have had sixteen years' experience in growing fruit trees in 

 small gardens situated on the borders of one of our largest 

 and smokiest manufacturing towns. When I commenced fruit- 

 growing I had little or no experience ; 1 had read Mr. Rivera's 

 excellent treatise on " Miniature Fruit Trees," and most of 

 Mr. Errington's articles on fruit-growing which appeared in 

 the Cottage Qardencr. From my subsequent experience I am, 

 I feel certain, justified in saying that the advicj given by both 

 these authorities is perfectly sound, and may bo followed (if 

 followed properly) with a positive certainty of suocoas. 



I began with a fuw Apples, Pears, and Plums. With Pears 

 I succeeded from t!ie very first; with Apples I failed at first, 

 but have since sue eeded thoroughly ; with Plums I have been 

 less EUOcesBful, but last year my trees bore well, and they are 



