204 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTTTOE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[March 17, 1863. 



is screwed on beneath the pistons, and which can be fixed when 

 needed on the end of the jet. 



Wherever a man with a buoket can pass there can the hydro- 

 pnlt he brought into operation ; so that narrow walks, and other 

 places inaccessible with a garden barrow-engine, are no impedi- 

 ment to the approach of this very simple and very effective 

 contrivance. 



PAESLEY. 



Common as is this kitohen-garden plant, and very often only 

 indifferently treated, there is, perhaps, nothing which forms so 

 universal an item in the daily wants of the household of a family 

 of position ; and it is far from being an easy affair to apologise 

 to the kitchen authorities if it should not be forthcoming in 

 early spring, even after an unusually severe winter. Such is 

 the case now and then ; and there is no doubt that the plant 

 deserves a little more attention than it frequently receives, in 

 order that its services may be reckoned on with greater cer- 

 tainty, if only to save the grower of herbs from some not-over- 

 gpod-tempered mistress of the saucepan, who, in cases of " No 

 Parsley ! " may give vent to her disappointment in terms any- 

 thing but complimentary. 



After a very severe winter — such, for instance, as that of 

 1860-61 — Parsley, as well as many other things, suffers sadly. 

 In that winter many plantations were wholly destroyed ; and 

 what was left was rendered so weak that, excepting where pre- 

 cautions had been taken to leave some under cover, the supply 

 for some weeks was- very limited. In mild winters this evil is 

 not so likely to bappen, but it sometimes does so from other 

 causes. PlantB die off, and the dearth is equally great. As a 

 means of preventing these calamities, let us look at the common 

 practice and compare it with that likely to be more successful, 

 and in fact proved by experience to be so. 



In very many gardens it is not unusual to sow rows of Parsley 

 as edgings to the walks bordering other crops. For instance : 

 A square or plot consists of Beveral kinds of vegetables, and a 

 row of Parsley is sown as a boundary between them and the 

 walk or pathway. This practice is not only excusable but highly 

 to be recommended, only it must not, as is frequently the case, 

 be done too often, otherwise the ground becomes tired, and the 

 plant dies-off at the trying time in winter. It is, therefore, 

 better to change the ground every time a fresh crop of Parsley 

 is sown, and by that means one of the evils will at least be 

 lessened if not entirely removed; as this change of soil is equally 

 necessary wbether the plant occupy a single row or part of a bed, 

 border, or plot, the practice of sowing Parsley where it is most 

 convenient to get at when wanted will not bear carrying out 

 too long. 



Wireworm is also another cause of Parsley dying-off. The 

 root, thick and fleshy as it is, is nevertheless eaten through by 

 these pernicious intruders ; tbe top withers, and on examination 

 it is found to be separated from the root an inch or so below 

 the surface. The best remedy for this is a liberal dressing of 

 soot and wood ashes, and, in default of these, lime is useful ; 

 but it muBt be used more liberally, being dug into the ground at 

 the time of sowing, and a dressing given afterwards. Some 

 soils are so much infested with this pest that it is not an easy 

 matter to save Parsley over the winter; other crops, it is need- 

 less to say, suffering also. 



Perhaps the most certain way to secure a supply of good 

 Parsley in the months of February and March is to take up 

 some plants in autumn, remove a part, but not all, the leaves, 

 and plant them in boxes, pots, or pans, not too shallow. Place 

 these for a time anywhere in shelter, removing them about 

 Christmas to a warmer place where they will have light ; and 

 by the time above mentioned there will be some excellent Parsley, 

 if the variety be good and other circumstances favourable. 

 Digging up the frozen ground and carrying the hard-frozen 

 plants at once into a hot vinery or other forcing-house, at a 

 temperature of perhaps 60", is an unnatural process ; and though 

 it will succeed, as we all know, it does so because the plant is so 

 extremely hardy as to be difficult to kill, still the process carries 

 its own impropriety on the face of it. A gradual forcing is 

 unquestionably the beBt for everything that has to undergo that 

 ordeal — Nature performs all her operations in this gradual way. 



With regard to the proper time for sowing Parsley in the 

 open ground much depends on the season. I generally sow a 

 quantity in April and another batch in July. The seed lies 

 longer in the ground before germinating than that of moBt other 



vegetables, Celery perhaps excepted. The plants ought to be 

 thinned, and they also bear transplanting pretty well. The 

 main point is to have the ground deeply cultivated rather than 

 enriched at top, in order to entice the roots downwards, and 

 thereby lessen the chance of running to seed in August ; but 

 nothing can prevent the plants from doing so in spring, for after 

 a year's growth Nature's law must be obeyed, and it is vain, by 

 repeatedly cuttitg-out the seed-Btems, to attempt making them 

 into nice useful plants again. Other plants ought to be coming 

 on to succeed them. The plant, being a Bort of biennial, dies- 

 off after ripening seed. It is, therefore, advisable in spring to 

 stop the seed-Btems of a few in order to obtain some leaves for 

 garnishing while the new crop is coming on, the remainder being 

 destroyed if not wanted for seed. I may also observe that it is 

 a good practice to cut down a good batch of the most forward 

 Parsley in the first week in September, in order that it may 

 make a fresh growth before winter. Another portion cut once, 

 a fortnight or three weeks later, will also furnish a later lot, 

 taking care to insure always plenty to serve the purpose of the 

 time being, as well as that which is to come. 



It is needleBS to enter into the respective merits of the varieties 

 of thiB plant, for every one knows what good Parsley is. It 

 must be borne in mind that the finer the variety the more deli- 

 cate it is. A plant or two of a plain kind will endure a harder 

 winter than anybody's "Improved." This loss of constitutional 

 hardihood is a sacrifice to improvement which other things as 

 well as Parsley have to suffer ; but in the case of the plant now 

 before us the remedy is tolerably easy ; it is only to protect a 

 little and the object ia attained. And, though Parsley likes good 

 ground, that grown on soil of a medium character, not too rich, 

 is more likely to stand the winter well, other things also being 

 favourable. J. Eobson. 



HYACINTHS. 



The lovers of this flower — thoBe at any rate within reach of 

 London, will have for the next fortnight an opportunity of 

 seeing a fine Bight, in Messrs. Cutbush's annual exhibition of 

 these and other spring flowers at their nursery at Highgate. It 

 has never been my good fortune to be in London at that time, 

 but I hope this year to be more favoured; and although the 

 season has not, generally, owing to the cold and wet time in 

 Holland during May and June, when the bulbs were ripening, 

 been as good a one as usual, yet I believe that Messrs. Cutbush's 

 exhibition will be in no way behind those of former years. 

 Probably it will be the more valued, from the fact that the show 

 for them at the Royal Horticultural Society was fixed in Feb- 

 ruary, and that unless the enterprise of our leading growers 

 induces them to come forward, we shall not see the same display 

 as in March last year, The task of describing Mr. Cutbush's ex- 

 hibition has fallen generally into the better hands of Mr. Beaton. 

 I am sure that I am only expressing tbe sentiments of every 

 reader of The Jottenai, oe Hoeticuitube, when I say that we 

 all regret the absence of his genial and chatty pen, and to know 

 that that absence is occasioned by illness, and that we, one and 

 all, heartily trust that he may soon reappear amongst us, to be 

 cheered and welcomed as an old friend. — D., Deal. 



EFFECT OF GISHUEST COMPOUND ON 



FEUIT BLOSSOM-BUDS. 

 HatdtG continued my experiments with a view to ascertain 

 under what circumstances Gishurst compound can injure fruit- 

 buds, I have obtained the following reBults, which I am induced 

 to send to you in consequence of an article in your Number of 

 10th inst. The first instalment of my trees were, in consequence 

 of the season being so early, washed early in December, the solu- 

 tion being 8ozs. to the gallon, fresh dissolved some forty -eight 

 hours previously as recommended ; the next instalment of the trees 

 early in January. Neither, at the time the solution was applied 

 nor a month later, showed any apparent effect ; except in the 

 cases of a few not-healthy trees, hardly a bud was touched on 

 most of the trees — none on Apricots, Plums, Apples, and on the 

 great majority of Peaches and Nectarines. Some of the Pears 

 had a number of buds deBtlroyed ; others, Winter Nelis for in- 

 stance, had not one. The trees which lost most have enough 

 left for a full crop. I should have said that the trees were 

 more thoroughly soused than they are at all likely to be in other 

 hands, the object being to have the extreme effect of the strength. 



