262 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[Aprin 22, 
common to all, and one for which all should pay ; 
besides, an increased productiveness of the land isa 
general, as well as a particular benefit. These are 
additional reasons why a general drainage, defrayed at 
the public expense, would, in our view, be preferable 
to all operations of a partial character, the whole cost 
of which would necessarily be thrown upon the land. 
A bill which proposed such ends would be of ines- 
timable value; and we had hoped that Mr. Pusey’s, 
which has lately been brought into Parliament, would 
have been something of the kind. We regret, how- 
ever, to find that it is of quite a different description. 
No general plan of drainage is proposed, but the 
work is to be executed in detail, according to the ap- 
plications which may be made to a Board of Com- 
missioners by parties interested. We greatly fear that 
the effect of this would be to increase the general 
expense and to diminish the general benefit ; for it 
can be hardly possible to determine upon any con- 
sistent plan of operations where only a small part of a 
given district is to be acted upon. If, however, this 
fundamental error is left out of consideration, Mr. 
Pusey’s billappears to promise a certain amount of 
advantage. It is very carefully drawn, has evidently 
been extremely well considered, and shocks as little as 
possible those interests with which we suppose it is 
necessary to be gentle, if it is to be got through Par- 
liament. Instead, therefore, of insisting any further 
upon our own views, we shall endeavour to point out 
in what manner Mr. Pusey’s bill may, as we conceive, 
be improved in its details ; for, in some respects, it 
seems open to practical objections, with reference to 
the very objects it is intended to attain. But this we 
must defer till another week. 
Wiruovrt interfering too much with the manage- 
ment of allotments as to cropping, which may gene- 
rally be left to the good sense of the tenant, it may 
not be amiss to give a few hints, the result of expe- 
rience, which may be useful to those who have never 
cultivated land on their own account. 
¢ most natural course for an inexperienced 
labourer to pursue might be to imitate, on a small scale, 
the operations of a larger farm ; but he will soon find 
that in this way he will have but a small profit, and, 
in fact, be poorly paid for his labour. He must raise 
such produce as he and his family can consume, and 
which will maintain some pigs. “His crops must not 
occupy the ground long, and he must have several 
in succession the same year. Those which require 
minute attention, in weeding, hoeing, &c., and which 
the farmer cannot attend to so well, from a want of 
cheap labour, suit the labourer best if he has a family 
of children, who can do this for him without cost. 
The nature of the crops must depend on the soil. 
Potatoes, Cabbages, and Turnips, can be raised in 
almost any soil which is well cultivated; the best of 
these can be consumed by the family, the remainder 
will feed the pigs. Beans and Barley may be raised 
in small quantities to fatten a pig for winter provi- 
sion; there would not be much profit if they were 
sold. If Wheat is grown, it must be of the very 
finest sorts, carefully dibbled and hoed, and sold for 
seed, so as to sell much above the market-price. Flax 
may be advantageously sown, if he can manufac- 
ture it into thread at home, and have it woven for 
the use of the family; otherwise the labourer 
cannot compete with the manufacturer, Every- 
thing he sells should be of a superior kind, and 
have been raised with care by the minute atten- 
tion which women and children alone can afford, 
whose time is of no value when they are not at work 
in the fields for the farmer. Let us suppose the soil to 
be a poor sand on a subsoil of gravel: this will pro- 
bably not require draining, but may be too dry in 
summer. The ground should be trenched and well 
mixed at first, but afterwards it need not be stirred 
much, for this will only cause it to be too loose, and 
let the moisture evaporate. If clay can be procured 
near, whatever be its nature, it may be wheeled on, 
and will do good by consolidating it. Marl is still 
better, but this is more seldom at hand. If its tex- 
ture cannot be improved by some such means, it must 
be frequently watered with the richest liquor at hand. 
Soapsuds, urine, the draining of a dunghill, will tend 
to consolidate it, while they will encourage the growth 
of whatever roots may be in the soil, which, decaying 
there, when dug up, will fill the interstices of the soil 
with organic matter, and soon improve it. The dung 
used should be well rotten and moist; that of cows 
will be the best, if it can be procured. The only 
Corn crops which may be sown on such asoil are Rye 
and Buck-Wheat, which will thrive in it. Turnips 
may be sown as soon as the Rye is cut, the ground 
being only slightly dug, or the stubble cut up bya 
heavy hoe. ‘They must be watered carefully till they 
come up, and invigorated with liquid manure: a 
ieee is consequently essential ; a good crop may 
tiitabl fe read of ape quick-growing sort, called the 
aay bean Pe Pe ore winter. The Buck-Wheat 
early Potatoes; and if the seed 
does not ripen, the haulm may be dug in before the 
flower is faded, and this will be almost as. profitable, 
by giving a manuring for the next crop, as if the seed 
had come to perfection, Once in the way of raising 
successive crops, the labourer will soon find out him- 
self what is most profitable. 
A heavy tenacious soil, if more productive, requires 
much more labour in trenching, digging, ridging up 
for winter, and continual weeding; but it is more 
easily converted into a good mould than a loose sand, 
and the crops are surer. The great object is to dis- 
sipate the moisture by admitting the air as much 
as possible, Beans find here their proper soil, and so 
do Cabbages. Potatoes will succeed, after good cultiv- 
ation, but not so readily as in alight mould; and as 
the crops are usually later, it is more difficult to have 
two in the same season. High beds, with deep inter- 
vals, are essential ; for the surface of the beds should 
never be trod upon, unless it be in very dry weather. 
Choice sorts of Wheat and Oats may be raised for 
seed, with a little attention, and will soon be eagerly 
purchased by the farmers. Mangel Wurzel and 
Swedish Turnips may be planted in spring to produce 
seed, and the little children, by keeping off the birds 
when the crop ripens, will come in for their share in 
the labour. We suppose that the labourer has a 
small vegetable garden near his cottage, which serves 
his family, otherwise he must convert a portion of his 
allotment intoa garden. It is too much the custom 
of the English labourer to live on bread and meat 
only, without much cooking or variety ; whereas the 
Continental labourer has his vegetable soups and 
stews, which, eaten with bread, are wholesome and 
savoury, and much more economical than bread and 
meat alone. His garden supplies him with a variety 
of roots and vegetables which are unknown to the 
English cottager. The. thick-leaved Beet, for in- 
stance (Beta cicla,) which grows abundantly in the 
gardens in Germany, and the Leek, which is near] 
allied to it, are a great resource to the cottager, as 
well as the close-headed Cabbages. With a small 
piece of salt pork, and plenty of these vegetables 
stewed slowly together, and properly seasoned, a most 
wholesome and palatable dish is prepared. We can- 
not enter into particulars, but Paxton’s Cottage Calen- 
dar, with two cheap tracts published for distribution 
by the Royal Agricultural, Society of England, one 
on the Management of Cottage Gardens, and another 
on Cottage Economy, may be recommended to those 
who have let allotments, and who are desirous of im- 
proving the condition of the Agricultural labourer — MU. 
We perceive, by an advertisement in this day’s 
paper, that a new Society has been organised in Man- 
chester for determining the merits of seedling flowers. 
It can hardly fail to meet with encouragement, if it 
is conducted with fairness, and if its judges are not 
only well acquainted with the properties of flowers, 
but of unimpeachable integrity. This is the main 
point, attention to which may ensure success; but the 
neglect of which is certain to defeat the purposes for 
which the Society is established. 
ON THE TREATMENT OF SCARLET PELAR- 
GONIUMS, 
Tux first week in March, I commence propagating scar- 
let Pelargoniums, by procuring cuttings from the extreme 
ends of the branches of old stunted plants, taking them 
off close below the fifth joint, and inserting them either in 
brick-dust or in equal proportions of finely-sifted leaf- 
mould and light loam, in shallow pans which had previ- 
ously been plunged in a warm frame until their contents 
had a genial warmth and moisture. These, when filled, 
are immediately taken back to the frame without receiving 
any water, as I consider that to be the cause of their turning 
black at the surface of the soil, especially when the nights 
are long and cold, and the atmosphere saturated with 
moisture ; they also strike root sooner without it. 
Cuttings are often much injured by the vapour which 
condenses on the glass and falls down upon the leaves in 
large drops : to obviate this, I place coarse brown paper 
above the cuttings in the morning, when the sun’s rays 
first strike upon the frame; the lights are then turned 
over, wiped, and tilted at the back. After being freely 
exposed, they are, when dry, reversed ; the paper is taken 
out and placed upon the glass, and the lights are shut 
down tight, as a close, moist atmosphere is necessary. 
When, however, a continuance of dull or wet weather oc- 
curs, and the lights cannot be turned, coarse brown paper 
which absorbs the superincumbent moisture, is placed 
inside the frame. When firmly rooted, the plants are 
dipped in tepid water and planted singly in thumb-pots, 
in a soil composed of } sand and the other half of finely 
sifted leaf-mould and light loam, which had been previ- 
ously warmed in the frame. Moss is placed at the bot- 
tom of the pots, which are again plunged in a bed of the 
same temperature without receiving any water. As soon 
as the plants require shifting, the soil is shaken from their 
roots, they are dipped in water, and repotted in clean 
pots of the same size, and treated in precisely the same 
manner as before. By repeatedly shaking off the soil, a 
mass of fibres is obtained in small compass, and the soil 
used being poor, the plants grow little, although they 
make numerous rootlets. By placing Moss at the bottom 
of the pots, the roots run freely amongst it, and are less 
liable to be broken; and by dipping their roots in water 
the soil adheres more firmly to them when they are 
fresh potted. 
As soon as a mass of fibres is formed and the plants 
are to be shifted into 32-sized pots, they are planted with- 
out the mould being shaken from them, in a soil com- 
posed of equal portions of fresh green turf from an old 
pasture and half-decayed cow-manure, chipped with the 
spade and not sifted; plenty of drainage is given, with 
very little water at first; the shoots are all pinched off 
above the third Jeaf, and the plants are plunged again in 
bottom-heat until firmly rooted, when they are placed near 
the glass in a cold pit, and liberally supplied with strong 
liquid manure. 
Towards the middle of June, the plants are plunged 
out of doors in a rather dry, sheltered spot, but freely ex- 
posed to the sun; here they will grow shorter jointed, and 
they can be more copiously supplied with liquid manure 
than in a wet situation. The required number for deco- 
rating the greenhouse is set apart from the rest, and the 
top shoot of each is trained perpendicularly, until three 
perfect leaves are formed; the shoots are then heade' 
down to the third leaf, and the latter also are pinched o! 
at every second ; the plants are turned, in order that they 
may not grow one-sided, and the fibres are removed when- 
ever they make their appearance through the holes in the 
bottom of the pots. 
The plants for the flower-garden are trained so as to 
cover the greatest amount of surface ; all above the third 
leaf are pinched off, and they are allowed to grow one-sided. 
In the second week of August they are taken up and placed 
on a hard surface, sheltered from strong winds and heavy 
rain, but freely exposed to the sun, giving nothing stronge! 
than rain or pond-water, and pinching off the flower-buds 
as they appear. The ends of the branches are thet 
allowed to grow, but the plants are treated in every other 
respect as in the two previous months. By the above 
mode of cultivation, they accumulate in one season the 
sap which they expend in bloom during the next; theit 
stems become firm and woody, their leaves harder and 
less succulent, and they are better able to stand a severe 
winter without fire-heat, than when allowed to grow lux- 
uriantly until they are placed in their winter quarters. 
Upon the first signs of frost they are placed in rows at 
right angles on dry coal-ashes in a cold pit, with theif 
tops one foot from the glass, and are protected from frosts 
first, with one mat tightened and supported one inch from 
the glass, with two wooden spars placed across the lights 
at top and bottom, upon which dry hay is laid to the thick- 
ness of six inches, and above that another wetted mat 
fastened securely down on all sides. In this way I found 
no difficulty in keeping out frost during the severe winters 
of 1839 and 1840. When the out-door thermometer 
stands about 40° in the shade, the lights are taken off, 80 
that the wind may blow freely amongst the plants ; all 
decayed leaves are taken off; and as this is their seaso? 
of rest, little or no water is given. The sunis only allowe 
to shine on them for a short time, to dry up any damp 
ness in the frame ; in fact, the plants are kept as dormant 
as possible. 
About the beginning of February, the greater part of 
the earth is washed from the roots of the greenhouse plants) 
by laying them on a hard oblique surface and pouring 
water upon the balls, from a watering-pot, held several feet 
above them. ‘hey are then planted in clean pots of th? 
same size, in a soil composed of leaf-mould, light loa™, 
and sand, in equal proportions, not sifted. The tips 
the shoots are pinched off and the pots are plunged 1? 
gentle bottom-heat without any water being given. be 
dormant buds are then excited, and the plants becom? 
covered from bottom to top with leaves. When thé 
pots are filled with roots, the plants are shifted into 68; 
in a mixture of fresh green turf and half-decayed coW~ 
manure, not sifted ; plenty of drainage is given, and the 
pots are plunged in bottom-heat until they have rooted 
in the fresh soil. They are then placed in the greenhous 
near the glass, and rain or pond-water is given with cau 
tion, until the pots are filled with roots, when they are 
liberally supplied with liquid manure. The soil is then 
suddenly allowed to become dry, to check the luxul 
ance of the plants and induce them to form bloomins 
buds, When these appear, the tips of the shoots above : 
them are pinched off, a top-dressing of sheep’s-dung 3 
fresh state is given, and they are copiously supplied W* 
strong liquid manure. 7 
Early in April the roots of the plants for the flow’! 
garden are washed and potted in poor, unsifted, 4?! 4 
soil, and plunged in bottom-heat ; when firmly r00rT 
they are placed in a cold pit near the glass and liber® y 
supplied with liquid manure, In the beginning of 
they are planted out in the flower-garden, being laid a 
their sides with the fewest leaves undermost, pegged 40” 
to the surface, and so placed that the branches © 
covers the space occupied by the roots of another. — 
this way they produce a striking effect, by having numeri 
heads of bloom standing at a uniform height above, de 
foliage, and they are less subject to be destroyed bye 
—Robt. R. Drummond, Minto House, Roxburghshire 
ON VEGETABLE MANURES. 
By Prornssor Cuarius Sprencen, (Translated 
the German. 
(Continued from page 244. 
from 
) 
h. Vetch-Straw.—100,000 parts of air-dried ripe mere of 
straw consist of 41,990 woody fibre, 1,320. parts 
wax, and 56,990 parts of substances soluble in wately 
diluted ley of potash. The hay of Vetches contains 5 0 
cording to Boussingault, in 100,000 parts, 1,570 part or 
nitrogen ; consequently, the straw will not contain ™ 
than 1,000 parts. " 
and 
ace 
= 
e 
