AnguBt 24, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



157 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 







Average 













Clock 



Day 



of I of 



AUGUST 24—30, 1876. 



Temperature near 





Sets. 





Seta. 





before 



of 



Month Week. 





London. 













Sun. 



Tear. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



h. m. 





h. m. 



h. "i. 



Days. 



m. s. 





24 



TH 



Carshalfcon Show. 



71.6 



47.9 



58.7 



5 2 



7 2 



11 28 



8 28 



5 



2 4 



237 



25 



F 



Largs and Fairlie, and Sandy Shows. 



74.1 



49.7 



61-9 



5 4 



7 



0a 46 



8 46 



6 



1 47 



238 



28 



S 



Seatoa Burn Show. 



72 5 



484 



60 4 



5 5 



6 58 



2 3 



9 11 



T> 



1 31 



239 



27 



Son 



11 Sunday afteb Tkinity. 



73.3 



491 



61.2 



5 7 



6 55 



3 14 



9 45 



8 



1 14 



240 



28 



M 





72.7 



49 7 



61.2 



5 8 



6 58 



4 14 10 32 



9 



56 



241 



29 



To 



Dover Show. 



71.2 



47.6 



59.4 



5 10 



6 51 



5 ; 11 32 



10 



88 



242 



30 



W 



Margate Show. 



74.5 



48.2 



61.3 



5 12 



6 49 



5 34 morn. 



11 



20 



243 



From observations taken near London during forty-three years 



the average day temperature of the week iB 72.8^; and its night temperature 



48.6°. 











THE PROSPECTIVE SCARCITY OF VEGETABLES. 

 SPINACH. 



WING to the extreme heat and long-con- 

 tinued drought vegetables are likely to be 

 unusually scarce during the ensuing winter 

 and spring. In some districts the crops of 

 Kale, &c, could not be planted at the right 

 time, and the plants have since made little 

 or no progress, and what little there are left 

 of them are half devoured by caterpillars 

 and other marauders which are incident to 

 a dry season. Especially in the vicinity of 

 large towns and populous cities will the scarcity, and 

 consequent dearness, of vegetables be greatly felt, and it 

 becomes a matter of importance as to what can at tbis 

 late season be provided to eke out the scanty supply. 

 Advice has been seasonably given to plant Cabbages 

 freely, but long before the earliest-sown Cabbages can be 

 ready for use tbe lack of vegetables will have become a 

 great inconvenience. 



Owing to the quick ripening of many crops — Peas, 

 Beans, Potatoes, &c. — vacant ground is provided, and the 

 question arises, How can a portion of such ground be most 

 profitably turned to account? Many would doubtless 

 plant large breadtbs of Coleworts, but unfortunately it is 

 difficult to find the plants. Where they can be bad they 

 should be planted freely as soon as rain falls, for assuredly 

 would stout plants planted during the present month 

 yield valuable produce at a time when it cannot fail to be 

 serviceable. Plants thus late in the season need not be 

 planted wider than 9 inches to a foot apart, according to 

 their size. The earth is now warmed by the many days, 

 almost weeks, of unclouded sun, and when heavy showers 

 fall it will steam like a hotbed, and the crops will grow 

 rapidly. Plant Coleworts, therefore, where plants can 

 be obtained, and plant them freely. Failing a supply of 

 these plants any of the Kales now lingering in the seed 

 beds would, if planted similarly closely together, probably 

 prove extremely useful. 



Many may imagine that it is " too late " to plant plants 

 of this nature : so it is if they are expected to attain to 

 their full size, but we must remember that if they only 

 attain to half size they may be most valuable, and if 

 planted at the rate of nine plants to a square yard the 

 ground will probably be found to have been profitably 

 occupied. During the extremely hot summer of 1S68 

 gardeners were in much the same state that they are 

 now, and winter vegetables had scarcely made any pro- 

 gress at the corresponding period of the year. In Sep- 

 tember the rains fell, and a good gardener, whom I need 

 not further mention, had every plant of whatever kind 

 belonging to the Brassica family planted thickly on vacant 

 ground. I am afraid that the men whose duty it was to 

 do the work did it reluctantly, and that allusions the 

 reverse of complimentary were made in reference to 

 him who ordered the work to be done. A long mild 

 autumn followed and was succeeded by a comparatively 

 mild winter, and the vegetable supplyjmainly produced 

 No 804.— Voi. XXXI,, New Semes. 



by the scrubby plants planted in September was sufficient 

 for all purposes, while in the surrounding neighbourhood 

 there was little short of famine in the land. I may as 

 well place on record that simple and useful lesson which 

 was then taught me — teachirjg which I have since turned 

 to account during other dry seasons. Do not be frightened 

 by the little words " too late," or by the small unprofit- 

 able-looking plants dragging out an apparently miserable 

 existence in the seed beds ; but, on the contrary, plant 

 quickly when the rains fall, and plant thickly, and mayhap 

 a dripping autumn and a mild winter may contribute to 

 a valuable supply of " green stuff." 



But in many cases plants cannot be had, and recourse 

 must then be had to seed-sowing. Large breadths sown 

 with Turnips, sown thinly, or the plants thinned quickly, 

 would in all likelihood yield useful produce in due time, 

 the Tise of which would enable the choicer vegetables 

 to be preserved for special purposes. Turnip and Swede 

 "tops" are not to be despised at a time when little be- 

 yond root crops can be used for everyday table purposes. 

 Such " tops" often afford cuttings throughout the winter, 

 and in the earliest days of spring give many valuable 

 basketfuls, making the vegetable boy smile, and the cook 

 to go so far as to inquire kindly after the health of the 

 gardener. Do not, therefore, despise plain Turnips, but 

 if " green crops" are scarce and groui.d is plentiful sow 

 seed on the first opportunity when it is likely to grow 

 freely, and in due time the tops of the Turnips, and 

 possibly the bottoms too, may be as highly valued as the 

 flowers in the greenhouse. 



Another crop which will, if seed be sown at this period 

 of the year, produce a large supply of "green stuff" 

 during winter and spring is Spinach. This valuable old 

 vegetable has been grown in Europe for upwards of five 

 hundred years, being included, it is said, in a list of vege- 

 tables consumed by the monks on faBt days in 1351. 

 Spinach is a productive and healthy vegetable which 

 would possibly be more valued if less common and more 

 difficult to cultivate; it is, however, "miffy" enough in 

 some places, and the crop of winter Spinach has not. 

 unfrequently been a source of trouble to many a good 

 gardener. The plants canker, shrivel, or decay — indeed: 

 do anything but grow in some gardens, but fortunately 

 in most ordinarily good soils Spinach grows luxuriantly. 



For summer cultivation the soil for Spinach cannot 

 well be too rich and moist, but for winter supply manur- 

 ing of the ground may easily be overdone. It iB aha 

 possible that errors have teen made in sowing the seed 

 to produce the winter's crop in sheltered places, for it 

 is almost certain that the crop would stand better in 

 the ordinary soil of an open field than in the heavily 

 manured soil of a sheltered garden. It is thus also with 

 Cabbages and Broccolis and most large-foliaged crops of 

 a succulent nature. Such crops need a full sweep of 

 autumn air to render them hardy from infancy, and it iB 

 seldom that they will then succumb to the vicissitudes of 

 winter. 



For some years I have been able to sow Spinach in an 

 open field as well as in a sheltered garden, and in no one 



No. 1456.— Vol. LVI., Old Semes. 



