October 11, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



333 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



AUTUMN WORK. 



HA.T a relief to the flower gardener to bid 

 farewell to the suramer of 1875 — if such 

 a season as we have had is worth the 

 name — when aU his ingenuity, his time, 

 and strength have been exhausted in an 

 ineffectual attempt to produce something 

 hke harmonious colouring ! The work 

 has been quite double to that of ordinary 

 seasons; weeds and grass liave grown as 

 they never gi-ew before, while the more 

 tender plants in beds have scarcely grown at all. Now 

 and then we had a gleam of sunshine to cheer and encou- 

 rage us to make another effort, and again and again as 

 soon as we began to get a Uttle tidy came a thunder- 

 storm or a hurricane, thwarting all our attempts at neat- 

 ness. Gardeners, however, never give up for trifles, and 

 it is not till October is here that we acknowledge our- 

 selves beaten. 



The trees are now putting on their autumnal tints ; 

 Elms and Tulip Trees are being arrayed in the brightest 

 of gold, by the side of which our so-called Golden Feather 

 and Golden Ghickweed pale into a sickly green. Maples, 

 Scarlet Oaks, and deciduous Cypress quite reconcile us 

 to the loss of our' Alternantheras and Iresiues. The 

 delicate tracery of our carpet beds, so much admired a 

 short month ago when the woods were verdant, is very 

 insignificant now when we look beyond them and catch 

 a gUmpse of the timber-covered hills with such bold 

 masses of brown and gold. 



Leaves of every hue are playing about in the gentle 

 breeze as they fall to rustle beneath our feet. What a 

 mistake to run after every leaf with a barrow and a 

 besom as it fulls ! what a waste of time and a want of 

 taste ! Gather them up certainly before they begin to de- 

 cay on the walks and so discolour them. But, employers, 

 please remember that October is a month in which 

 trimness is impossible out of doors, and if it were not 

 impossible it would still be undesirable. And there is 

 another reason for not insisting on too much trimness in 

 October ; it is a month in which the professional gardener 

 has two seasons at once. In one respect his new year 

 begins somewhere about Michaelmas, the same time as 

 the Russian Violet commences flowering. Forcing has 

 to be prepared for in earnest, planting pushed forward 

 with all possible speed — evergreens first, and frnit trees 

 immediately afterwards. Pruning has also to be finished, 

 with the modei'n gardener, before Christmas, and where 

 there is much to do must be commenced with early. 

 Currants are already fit for the secateur, Gooseberries 

 ■win shortly be, then Plums, Morellop, and Peaches. 

 After the principal leaves are ripe the sooner such trees 

 are pruned the bettei-. 



The secateur, or French pruning-shears, is a very hacdy 

 little instrument ; its total length is about 9 inches, and 

 its weight half a pound. It can be gripped with the 

 whole hand, and consequently does not tire the operator 

 like the ordinary shears ; it makes a cut as clean as a 



No. 759.-V01. XXIX., New Semes. 



knife, and by its aid the pruner can do his work much 

 faster than with a knife. No one having used it for one 

 season will go without it till a better intlrument is in- 

 vented, which will probably be some time first. 



Digging, trenching, potting bedding plants, planting 

 Box-edging, laying turf, storing fruit and vegetables, 

 sheltering tender plants, and a multiplicity of other things 

 too numerous to write of, all want doing now, and it is 

 altogether an exceedingly busy month. 



Gardeners generally have a comparatively leisure time 

 of it during August and September. They are enabled 

 to look round themselves at home, and often to make 

 a little tour and pick up useful hints from others of the 

 fraternity ; they then begin about October with renewed 

 vigour to work for another year. This year, however, I 

 know many have found it impossible to keep up with 

 their work, and consequently anything like relaxation 

 baa been out of the question. This continued-unbroken 

 work is already telling severely ou several strong and 

 able men of my acquaintance, and I have no doubt that 

 many more yet will suffer from it. The work is bo ex- 

 citing and so intensely interesting that it is almost im- 

 possible for an enthusiast to think of his health while he 

 is behind with his work, and consequently many go on 

 till nature can no longer stand it. I would ask employers, 

 then, if they happen to possess a good and enthusiastic 

 gardener whom they value, to be careful just now and 

 not tax him too much, for there are some hundreds at 

 this moment who if they had another straw placed on 

 their backs would break-down. But enough of this. 



Autumn is here. Bright and breezy autumn, I give yon 

 a hearty welcome ; you shut out of sight for ever our dis- 

 mal wintry summer; you release me from floricultural 

 millinery, and put an end for a time to my polychromatic 

 disappointments. I go to enjoy my vacation with a spade 

 and a pruning-hook, for the most perfect rest is a change 

 of occupation. — William Taylor. 



RENOVATING VINES. 



By going the right way to work, and setting about it at 

 the right time, it is surprising what great improvement 

 may be made in Vines which are apparently approaching 

 dissolution. I know no plant so tractable as the Vine, and 

 none which answers to the whip, so to speak, so promptly 

 and clearly. Vine borders may be renewed at almost 

 any period of the year, and the roots be taken from an 

 ungenial soil and placed in fresh compost, providing due 

 care is exercised in the work and a correct system of 

 treatment is subsequently given to the Vines by shading, 

 temperature, moisture, &c. The eac-iest time, however, 

 to do such work is during the present month, before the 

 Vines have cast their foliage, and before the soil has 

 parted with its summer's heat. These are two important 

 conditions, and both are assent 'al to the speedy re-esta- 

 blishment of the Vines. 



A few years ago I found it necessary to lift the roots of 

 some old Vines, and my employer found it necessary to 

 warn me that he should expect a crop of Grapes the 



No. im.— Vol. LIV., Old Series. 



