FeiniarrU, 1865.] 



JOTTRIfii OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



135 



ascend from the damp leaves. One reason for having the 

 Potatoes at once in the ridge form was that the hollow 

 between might be appropriated to 



Peas SoiL'n on Turves. — These were cut 4 inches wide, fi-om 

 2 to 3 inches deep, and 15 inches long, and had a groove 

 1 inch deep cut along the centre, in which the Peas were 

 sown, and covered with light soU and leaf mould.^The kinds 

 used were chiefly Sangster's No. 1 ; Sebastopol, a kind sent 

 to us last year, and which promised to be early ; Tom Thumb, 

 Bishop's Dwarf, &c. These would be transplanted in pieces 

 to rows in the open air, when the roots were peering aU 

 through the turf, and the soU outside was nice, wai-m, and 

 mellow ; and after many years' trial, we find this plan gives 

 us rather eai-lier Peas, and with much less trouble than 

 having to look after slugs, rats, and mice all the winter. 

 Broad or garden Beans were sown in t'ne same manner, only 

 the groove in the middle of the turf was made deeper. Some 

 were the Dwarf Fan, the Mazagan, and the Eai-ly Long- 

 pod. Th3 last is a veiy sweet prolific Bean, and in our 

 opinion much more profitable than some of the crack Wonder- 

 fdls, which do not produce in proportion to the length and 

 size of the pods. 'When it becomes fashionable to dress the 

 young pods like young fresh Kidney Beans, then, of course, 

 the size of the pod might be an object. 



Gave more room to the Tom Thumb Peas in S and j 

 12-inch pots in a frame, as we cannot as yet give them a 

 better place. They would be more forward if they had a i 

 little dry heat. Everything seemed to prick up the foliage ; 

 to the sun of Thursday, as we have scarcely seen his rays for 

 three weeks, and much growth in such circumstances was I 

 rather to be avoided than encouraged. 



Can-ots. — !Srade up a slight hotbed chiefly from tree leaves \ 

 for a two-light bos, and after covering with fresh light soil 

 for 7 inches, sowed with Early Horn and Eadishes. "We 

 often sow broadcast, but this time we drew slight drills 

 4.i inches apart, and sowed one row with Carrots, and the i 

 other with Eadishes, of the Early Frame kinds. This wiU 

 enable us to draw the Eadishes without distui-bing the ' 

 ground about the young Caarots. If these Carrots are left 

 rather thick and the most forward regularly pulled, we 

 know of nothing so eeonomicrd for produce as such a bed. , 

 The Dutch Forcing Carrot will give a great number of little 

 dots, half the size of the Horn Carrot. Seedsmen should be 

 careful of the quality of the latter, so as to save only from 

 high-coloured specimens, as though lighter-coloured ones ! 

 may be eiiuaUy sweet, they will not please tie cook. The ] 

 same remark applies to Beet. It cannot be too dark. Even ; 

 if equally rich in saccharine matter it will not please ; but 

 the darker in colour the richer it will generally be. The size 

 is of less importance ; in fact, many prefer roots from 1 to 

 2 inches in diameter to those which are larger. 



FETJIT GARDEN. 



Out of doors pruned a little on such days as Thursday. 

 On a wet day pruned the trees. Peaches and Nectarines, on 

 the back wall of an orchard-house. The trees are tied to 

 cast metal nails fixed in the wall as studs at regular dis- 

 tances, which prevents the necessity of fiiiing either a new 

 or old wall with nail holes, one of the best refuges for 

 insects and their eggs and larvs. The old pieces of Ust, and 

 clippings from the clothiers, are just as nice nests for eggs. 

 &c., as the best breeders among insects could wish. We 

 will wash all these ta-ees. and also the wall, slightly with 

 soap water, as soon as we have another suitable day, before 

 painting them over with clay, sulphur, or a little G-ishurst. 

 In the mean^jne we have syringed all the wood and the wall 

 with soap water at about 160* ill temperature. 



Strawherries. — No weather could have been worse for early 

 ones swelling or in bloom, but a few days lite Thursday will 

 make them all right. "We have moved all the most for- 

 ward where they could have most sunlight and air, and 

 took in a lot more from frames, where they had just been 

 started slowly and gradually. Frames or pits wi'th just a 

 little bottom heat below them are very good for this pur- 

 pose ; but unless with those having considerable practice it 

 is dangerous to plunge the pots into anything like a hotbed. 

 A place with a little dry heat, which you could make moist 

 at wiU, would be better than any place of a hotbed character. 

 "When the latter is used the little heat from it wiU bring on 

 the plants gradually, but it will be safer to set the pots on 

 the surface, or merely fix them in the bed an inch or two in 



depth. We have known of hundreds of fine plants that 

 did little or no good just from plunging the pots, and thus 

 allowing them to get too hot at the roots. Last year we 

 prophesied great results fr-om a set of plants, but the owner 

 did but little with them, and sent us a sample of the pots to 

 look at them. ^Vhen we turned the plants out in October, 1863, 

 the ball of roots was as firm as a Dutch cheese — fine bold 

 roots, through as well as round the outside of the balls, so 

 thickly that you could scarcely have inserted a needle point 

 between them. "When we turned out the pots sent in 

 February there was nothing but brown decayed roots round 

 the ball — not a vigorous spongiole to be seen. Further dis- 

 closures made all apparent — the hotbed had overdone the 

 roots, and the top suffered in consequence. "Where there is 

 the least chance of extra heat from beneath the pots should 

 not only stand on the surface, but it would be better if they 

 stood not on the bed at all, but on slips or shelves of wood. 

 Even if no danger accrues to the bud fi'om plunging, any 

 gi'eat stimulus by heat at fii-st is apt to encourage foliage 

 and leave flower-buds lagging behind. 



"When a vinery or Peach-house is to be started, it is just 

 as well to set the Strawberries in their place at first, and 

 thus they come on gradually without any danger of the 

 roots being injured. "We have always gathered earlier, how- 

 ever, in a Peach-house, when the plants had been encouraged 

 a little under glass previously, and for aO succession crops 

 it is better to have the plants used to heat before they are 

 taken into the forcing-house ; but in all such cases whatever 

 bottom heat reaches them should be very moderate indeed. 



Owing to the heat and di-yness of last season, our plants 

 are in smaller pots than usual, except where two or three are 

 in a large pot. The bulk of our eai'ly plants are in four and 

 five-inch pots. Of these we may give more room to a few of 

 the latest used, but we wLU not repot any to be used for a 

 month to come, if at all, as a good produce may be had from 

 small pots with rich nourishment. As soon as we can we 

 will give a lot of plants, runners of last season, more room 

 in a border, with leaf mould and rough loam placed firmly 

 round them, and after March we can lift these with large 

 balls, and either pot or plant under glass at once. Such 

 fresh-potted plants would be of little use now. Those thus 

 taken up later do very well even in pots, especially if the 

 pots are plunged in a mUd hotbed, and plenty of aii- given 

 to the tops to keep them cool. Here a little heat at bottom 

 would bring the roots into activity and cause them to press 

 against the sides of the pot, which is a different thing from 

 roasting and parboiling roots that were as thick as they 

 could be clustered there the previous autumn. 



In a fine day the blossoms shoidd be shaken, and a fine 

 brush or a feather drawn over them to scatter the pollen. 

 In a fine sunny day a slight dewing from the syringe, not 

 a drenching, will also help the same process, just as it is 

 helped out of doors by a warm, sunny, slight shower. An 

 excess of damp would be apt to wash off the pollen. A dewy 

 drizzle attended with heat and sunshine seems to open and 

 disperse the contents of the pollen-cases. In December 

 and January it is not itncommon to find flowers with but 

 very little pollen, or imperlect anthers, but if the female 

 organs are all right the dusting of the pollen from other 

 flowers wQl make up the deficiency. 



Sprinkled fr-om the syringe "Vines and Peaches, and Figs 

 moving. Where there is a moist atmosphere this is of less 

 consequence ; but if these fruit trees have been painted over 

 with Gishiurst or other paints, as sulphur ajid clay, it is as 

 weU to soften it a little by the syringe before the buds open. 

 "We forgot to say, as respects the orchard-house, that we 

 watered the ground for a width of some 3 feet fr-om the wall, 

 as when pruning we found a few buds came off as we run 

 oui- hand along them when cutting, which we attributed to 

 overdryness. Now, were we to soak all the space at once, 

 the evil might be increased by a too great stimulus at once. 

 We forgot, also, to say, that after syringing the back wall and 

 the trees on it, we would have let the frost, 5« or 6^ at least, 

 into the house, but we could not do so at present, as our 

 fr-uit trees in pots are crowded together as closely as possible, 

 and the rest of the floor is covered with Geraniums and 

 bedding plants, which' we have kept by shaking a little rough 

 dry hay over them in fi-osty nights, and by putting a small 

 fire in an iron stove when the frost was very severe. We 

 shall be glad when we can get all these things out, in order 



