34 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 13, 1863. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHBU GAEDEX. 



Attended to vegetables as mentioned last week. Took up 

 more Sea-kale and Rhubarb. Gave all the air possible to Radishes, 

 Lettuces, and Asparagus under glass, the two-light frame of the 

 latter still furnishing excellent cutting. See the mode of packing 

 iu a previous Number. " Hectob " says he has very little from a 

 two-light box ; but, no wonder — he had placed his old lump of 

 roots as thinly as he would put Cauliflower plants in a quarter. 

 According to his own account a quarter of a light would have 

 held all his roots and not been much crowded. There is nothing 

 gained by thinness in such a case, as the roots are of no more 

 use after being forced, and, therefore, the less room they occupy, 

 provided the buds have free opportunity to lengthen, the better. 

 It is this fact of the uselessness of the old roots after forcing that 

 makes Asparagus so costly in winter. The great advantage is, 

 that the soil from whence the Asparagus is taken is fit to grow 

 anything else afterwards. To obtain Asparagus in November and 

 on to the 1st of January, all things considered, I question if there 

 is any mode more economical than taking up part of an old bed 

 and packing the roots closely over a bed of dung and leaves. But 

 circumstances must alter treatment. For instance : here i3 a 

 " Loveb oe Asparagus," who writes to say, " I have little 

 ground for kitchen-garden purposes. I am anxious to have 

 Asparagus after Christmas — say about the 10th of January, but 

 if I succeed I must have the plants to bear continuously, and 

 though I have sufficient litter to give enough of heat, I must 

 have that litter concealed. I could use at that time five sashes 

 5 feet long and 4 feet wide, and I have wooden covers to match 

 the sashes. What had I better do ? " The best plan for you 

 would be to have Asparagus-pits, either raised above the ground 

 or mostly sunk beneath it, if there is no danger of water lodging. 

 Suppose the last to be the case, I would fix on a suitable place 

 and mark out two pits 21 feet in length and 8 feet in breadth, 

 with a six-feet space between them. These eight-feet widths I 

 would excavate to the depth of 2i feet. The outsides I would 

 elope a little from top to bottom, and keep all tight with brick 

 on bed, leaving a little more than 18 inches for lining. The 

 •centre space would be a brick pit, the wall pigeon-holed until 

 you came near the level of the ground. The front wall might 

 be a couple of courses above that level, and the back wall four 

 courses or five, which would give a slope when the sashes were 

 put on. Now, inside of that pit I would fill-in 15 inches of 

 any rough boulders or clinkers, to secure effective drainage, and 

 sIbo admit the heat freely from the linings. On the top of this 

 I would have 15 inches of good loamy soil two parts, and the 

 other parts of equal proportions of drift sand and Bweet leaf 

 mould. On that I would plant two-year or three-year-old plants 

 rather thickly, and as soon in the spring, and not before, as the 

 plants had grown a couple of inches in length. These should 

 be watered and shaded a little at first, and top-dressed with rich 

 manure surfacings and manure waterings several times during 

 the summer. A little hot dung in the linings until midsummer 

 will cause them to come strong the first year and ripen early, 

 and will thus produce a gathering the next season, though it 

 would be as well to wait until the following year. I am sup- 

 posing that both pits are treated exactly alike. I am also sup- 

 posing that fillets are placed on each Bide of the lining, or that 

 li inch of brick has been left out all the way along to receive 

 wooden covers, about 6 feet long, which will thus conceal all the 

 •dung. 



Well, the first season it is designed to force the Asparagus the 

 heads should be cut down as soon as the foliage becomes yellow, 

 the bed be cleaned, forked-over a little, some fresh mulching 

 with a little salt added, and then covered-up with either the 

 sashes or wooden covers to keep drenching rains from the bed. 

 About the middle of November fill the linings half up with hot 

 dung and leaves, and cover with the boards, and in a few days 

 water the beds with manure water at about 100". In a fortnight 

 fill up the linings. As soon as the Asparagus is a couple of 

 inches in length endeavour to use the glass sashes to secure 

 greenness. By this time the second bed may be slowly excited, 

 and the wooden covers would do for that until the glass could 

 be spared from the first bed. By using these beds as the first 

 alternately, and giving rich manuring during the summer, these 

 beds would continue bearing a great number of years, and, if 

 anything, be yearly becoming better. Much would depend on 

 the free growth in summer and the early ripening of the shoots 

 in autumn. I have often resorted to a medium mode between 



such established pits and taking up the plants, by having some 

 beds well raised in the open garden, with alleys 18 inches 

 deep between them, filling these alleys with fermenting dung 

 and then covering that with straw, and either laying loose sashes 

 across the beds or setting hand-glasses on them. I have also 

 obtained a gathering a fortnight before the usual time, by setting 

 four-inch flower-pots thickly over the beds as soon as the shoots 

 began to peep above the surface, with a tile over the hole of the 

 pot. In sunny weather the heat inside the pit caused rapid 

 growth. In a frosty night some litter sprinkled all over kept 

 the shoot3 all right. 



For some years I found blanched Swedish Turnip-tops rather 

 liked in the winter months, but my man says they seem not to 

 be much cooked now. In severe winters, however, they would 

 be very useful in many circumstances. We can have as many 

 as we like by merely sticking the tubers in a little moist earth 

 or litter in the Mushroom-house. Any place averaging from 

 50° to 60° of temperature would produce them in great quantity. 

 No doubt they would be good green, grown in light; but I 

 think they are richer when yellow from having been grown 

 in the dark. The head should not be above 6 or 7 inches in 

 length before it is cut ; and if not longer, the Turnip is not 

 much injured for cattle. 



Potatoes, started in small 60-pots, have been transferred, three 

 plants to a 12 or 15-inch pot, and two to a nine-inch pot. The 

 pots were drained, half tilled with light loamy soil containing 

 a good portion of leaf mould, and the plants, each with one 

 stem, placed close to the sides and the pots filled-up to within 

 1 inch of the top, pressing the rather dry soil firmly about 

 the plants. If left loose these will grow as well if not more 

 freely, but they will not tuber so well. 



EBT/IT GABDEir. 

 Proceeded with nailing and pruning as the weather would 

 permit. Looked after insects which have not quite left the 

 Peach trees in pots. Removed all traces of decay or shrivel 

 from branches of late Grapes, keeping the house empty and dry, 

 and a fire every damp day. Rather more than half of the house 

 being cleared, contemplate pruning and clearing that portion, 

 keeping a cloth between it and where the fruit is, and then cram 

 it as well as every other place with plants. Placed some Straw- 

 berries in vinery from a frame where they stood for several weeks, 

 on a hotbed, not plunged in it. Put a few more leaves in the 

 frame to bring the bed nearer the glass, and filled that again with 

 Strawberry plants, standing on the surface so as to be coming 

 on for the Peach-house, which now, with the exception of 1 foot 

 of path, is crammed above and below with bedding plantB, but 

 the»e will be removed as soon as the buds swell. All the air 

 possible is given, unless on frosty nights, as we do not want the 

 crop so early this season. No black fly or beetle have appeared 

 since the smoking, washing, and painting of the shoots. When 

 painting the shoots is resorted to, be it Gishurst, some com- 

 bination of sulphur and clay, or even clay and soot alone, I 

 think it important that this should be done as long as possible 

 before the buds break. Washing just as they are swelling fast, 

 can be of little use for keeping insects and their eggs shut up 

 from the air. 



Put in a fortnight ago a number of Vine-cuttings in a mild 

 hotbed, and moved them to a warmer bed to encourage quicker 

 growth. There are many ways of treating these cuttings or buds. 

 Perhaps the oldest is as good as any. Take a shoot, or shoots, 

 of the Vine to be thus propagated ; cut it into as many pieces as 

 there are good buds, leaving about a Bpace of 1 inch on each 

 side of the bud, thus making the cuttings 2 inches long. The 

 two ends may as well be cut clean across. This is all that is 

 really necessary in making the cutting of well-ripened wood ; 

 but, in addition to this, I generally slip off a thin shaving on 

 the side of the cutting opposite to the bud, bo that more liber 

 and alburnum are exposed. Then, taking a number of six-inch 

 pots well drained, and filled to within 1 inch of the top with 

 sandy loam neither wet nor dry and pressed pretty firm, the 

 cuttings are placed somewhat thickly with the shaved part next 

 the soil, pressed rather firmly, and, with the buds thus uppermost, 

 I cover them with half an inch of sandy soil. If the pot is plunged 

 in a hotbed and covered over with a saucer, there will be no 

 necessity for watering until tho buds are appearing. When 

 great nicety is necessary, as when it is required to fruit the Vine3 

 from these cuttings the following year, the cuttings should 

 be separately put into small pots, and then the roots receive 

 little or no check in potting. Removed the Vines in pots that 



