JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ June 16, 1863. 



depth, the plant ia not likely to want water for several days ; in 

 foot, it is likely not to require watering any more, as it will 

 not absorb any until it begins to grow, and it is not likely the 

 ground will part with all its moisture by evaporation. If, how- 

 ever, the adjacent part not watered be exceedingly dry, and dry 

 hot weather still continue, the dry soil will abstract moisture 

 from the wet, and it may require replenishing again. The second 

 watering, however, ought to be done at a time when Nature 

 lends some assistance that way also. Should a slight shower 

 fall, then give a good, sound watering to everything wanting it, 

 or a dull day may be chosen for the purpose, or in the evening 

 or early morning it may be done with like good effect. 



The above is one of the examples of good and bad watering ; 

 but there are numberless others, to which it is well to call 

 attention. Supposing a seed-bed did not promise well during 

 the past dry spring — and there were many which did not — it is 

 not unusual to pour on deluges of cold spring water in bright 

 sunshine, flattening and caking the soil on the top of the bed 

 into a hard mass, through which the seedlings in vain try to 

 arise, and to remedy this, repeated applications from the water- 

 pot are made, the water each time making little channels in the 

 smooth, or rather water-worn surface of the bed. Now, thiB is 

 not as it ought to be. Bright, unclouded sunshine accompanied 

 with a dry, parching atmosphere rarely follows immediately after 

 heavy rain. Even the sunshine after a thunder shower differs 

 widely from the same sun shining on a bed newly and heavily 

 watered by hand. To give artificial watering as near a resem- 

 blance as possible to the natural, the ground watered ought to be 

 shaded from the bright glare of sunshine, and also from the 

 over-drying effects of a north-east wind, which extracts moisture 

 from substances that have none to spare as fast as the sun itself. 



It is, therefore, prudent on all occasions, when practicable, to 

 shade seed-beds that have received heavy waterings in dry weather 

 until such time as the seeds germinate, or, perhaps, a change of 

 weather may render shading no longer necessary. Some Blight 

 and temporary shading will be all that is necessary, giving at 

 the time the bed ia watered as much water as will moisten the 

 soil at least 3 inches deep. After that, if it be necessary to 

 repeat watering, let the quantity given be a liberal one again. 



Most seeds are fed by moisture drawn by capilla.-y attraction, 

 and they will germinate and live with a much less amount of 

 surface-moisture than will suffice for small plants that are newly 

 planted. Eor example, a bed of small Celery plants newly 

 prick d-out requires more constant attention in watering than 

 any description of plants that have merely vegetated on the bed 

 they are then occupying. The healthy and vigorous roots of an 

 undisturbed seedling will search out its food with unerring 

 instinct, and until it come in contact with other roots of its own 

 or a kindred kind, against which it has to withstand a keen com- 

 petition for the food it is in search of, it will flourish and do 

 well ; but mutilate this root and transport both it and the plant 

 it supports to a place foreign to it, and unless the elements be 

 propitious some artificial assistance from the water-pot will be 

 needed. 



The foregoing are only two of the commonest instances in 

 which the water-pot ia applied judiciously or otherwise, but 

 there are many others. A newly-planted tree, of which the roots 

 have been cut somewhat severely, requires water, or is supposed 

 to do so, for I am not certain that the distress it evinces arises 

 altogether from the want of that fluid alone. Water and the 

 necessary juices to maintain a healthy growth are two different 

 things. I will, however, suppose a deciduous tree to have been 

 planted in the autumn or winter, and a very dry Bpring or early 

 summer to follow ; a good watering once will in most cases suffice, 

 provided that something be done to prevent evaporation. A good 

 mulching being the best obstacle to that, it is hardly likely to 

 require repeating, as when the tree begins to withdraw moisture 

 from the ground for its support, moisture will be forthcoming, 

 and to encourage this to be put off beyond the proper time 

 will only create a greater evil than that which it is attempted to 

 avoid. Watering newly-planted deciduoua treeB need not, there- 

 fore, be carried out later than the end of June, in an ordinary 

 way, unleBB in special cases, or where, as in the following 

 instance, other cauaeB render watering more urgent, perhaps, 

 than any I have hitherto named. 



Perhaps there ia no case in which the use of the watering-pot 

 ia attended with ao much real benefit as where the ground ia 

 exhauEted by an overcrop. Let ua take, as an example, a 

 Peach-wall, the border of which has maintained a heavy and 

 exhausting crop of Peas, Cauliflowers, or some such moisture- 



suckine vegetable, to the great detriment of the Peach, and 

 assuming the ground to be very dry, a good watering will be of 

 service. In fact, we might add, that a good moistening with 

 manure water will be highly beneficial by restoring to the ground 

 in some measure what the vegetable crop has extracted from it, 

 and will give the Peach and other trees a chance to restore 

 themselves to the position they would have occupied had vege- 

 table crops not usurped the fat of the land. In this caBe the 

 watering-pot is of essential service, giving the ground a thorough 

 watering, adding some warm water to the mixture, if pond water 

 be not to be had, so as not to chill the ground too much ; and in 

 the case of Peach trees, I would not advise any covering of the 

 ground, but aa soon as the surface of the aoil is dry enough 

 let it be stirred so as to give the sun power to play on the loose 

 mould, and thereby warm the ground, and not cake and harden 

 it. Peach, and similar trees require all the warmth of our 

 English summers to perfect their growth, which need not be 

 prolonged late in autumn. Hardier and more common things 

 may be treated differently, or rather they may be kept growing 

 later in the season, and, after watering, their roots may be pro- 

 tected by a covering of some kind. J. RobsoN. 

 ( To he continued.) 



CONSTRUCTING AND MANAGING A 

 ;MTJSHKOOM-HOTJSE. 



In answer to the inquiries of " Atf Old Sr/BSCBIBEB," we 

 would say that there is no better plan for a Mushroom-house than 

 that given in the " Cottage Gardener's Dictionary," as adopted 

 by the late Mr. Oldaker ; and if the treatment there recom- 

 mended is carried out, there can be little doubt of securing 

 plenty of good Mushrooms. As an old subscriber we could not 

 honestly recommend you any work on Mushroom-culture, which 

 we considered more clear and trustworthy than the articles 

 which have appeared in these pages ; in which not only the beat 

 methoda, and the beat materials have been described, but also 

 directions given how to make the most of unsuitable materials 

 when the best cannot be had. As there are several inquiries on 

 the subject, and these chiefly relating more to our own particular 

 practice than to general detaila, it may not be out of place to 

 throw a fewparticulars together on this subject, and many of our 

 friends seem to have come to the conclusion that there can 

 scarcely be highly refined cookery without the assistance of Mush- 

 rooms in one shape or another. 



Position of Souse. — The house adopted by Oldaker, and gene- 

 rally followed, ia a lean-to house facing the north. Ours is a lean-to 

 at the back of the vinery. It was originally a cloae shed ; and 

 when we grew Mushrooms in it we had no means of giving 

 extra heat, except by placing a fermenting heap of dung and 

 leaves in the middle of the house, and giving an extra covering 

 to the beds. By this means we could get plenty of Mushrooms 

 from the middle of October to the middle of June. After that 

 time in summer we could scarcely keep the place cool enough, 

 and the Muahrooms came thin and sometimes maggotty, as the 

 afternoon sun beat strongly on the slated roof. This roof, owing to 

 the ateam from fermenting matter, became rotten and unsafe, and 

 in putting on a new roof the rafters were made of well-seasoned 

 larch ; lath was tacked on the lower side for plaBter, the 

 upper aide waa cloae-boarded before receiving the slates, and 

 the apace between the boarda and the plaster wa8 stuffed tight 

 with clean straw, alike to keep heat in and heat and cold out. 



After the second 8mooth plaBtering of the roof inBide, inatead 

 of being whitened, it waa, when dry, bruahed over with boiled 

 oil ; and this haa prevented any moisture from the beds pene- 

 trating or affecting the plaster or lath. This houae is 30 feet 

 long, 10J wide, 12 high at back, and 8 high in front, above the 

 ground level. Four strong eroBS-beama go at regular intervals 

 from the top of the front wall, and are let into the back wall. 

 The inaide of the houae is sunk a foot below the outBide level, 

 and ia paved with tiles at the bottom. A pathway is aet off in 

 the middle of 3£ feet, and beneath that are two three-inch pipes. 

 A nine-inch wall eeparates this apace from the lower beda, and 

 epara of wood across resting on sleepera on the top of this wall, 

 make the pathway on a level with the ground outside. We had 

 hot water substituted for the dung, aa many were deterred 

 from going to the Mushroom-house before, on account of the 

 dung-heap, which was necessary in cold weather. 



Such a house is just the size for having three beds on each 

 side, like Oldaker's ; and there would be no difference in the 



