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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Augu3t 3, 1871. 



obtained. The number of new plants is so great that an annnal 

 trial is necessary to keep what are really acquisitions. Dahlias 

 are growing very rapidly, and will require to be gone over 

 frequently to keep the side branches securely tied-in, for when 

 left untied they are readily broken cS by a thunderstorm. 

 Hollyhocks must be securely tied to their stakes. Continue to 

 remove dead flowers from Roses, and give plenty of manure 

 water to the autumn-blooming varieties. Plant out rooted 

 cuttings of Pansies, &e., in nursery-beds, in a shady situation, 

 keeping them well watered, if the weather proves dry, until 

 they become established. Finish budding Roses if not already 

 done ; also layer border Carnations, Picotees, and Cloves with- 

 out further loss of time. 



GKEENHOnSE AND CONSEEVATOET. 



It will be much to the advantage of the inmates of plant 

 houses to reduce the shading after this time, to enable the plants 

 to ripen their summer's growth, allowing more air to keep 

 down the temperature, and to check any tendency to a second 

 growth which may show itself, and which can only take place 

 ai the expense of next season's bloom. I have previously 

 indicated where a second growth is desirable, as in the ease of 

 young plants growing into specimens, but wherever a perfect 

 ahow of bloom is expected, every means should be taken to pre- 

 vent it. Epacrises, winter-flowering Heaths, and other things 

 requiring to have their wood ripened early, may now be placed 

 in a sunny exposure ; as the wood is already formed, nothing 

 remains but to get it well ripened, and although water must be 

 given equal to the plants' demands, a dry air and warm atmo- 

 sphere are essential to the perfect ripening of the wood, and 

 consequent formation of bloom-buds. The different varieties 

 of Epiphyllum, if their growth is sufficiently advanced, should 

 have the same treatment. Give a shift to Chinese Primulas 

 and Cinerarias ; and Chrysanthemums, Salvias, and other 

 autumn-flowering plants should be placed in their blooming- 

 pots if not done previously. A thin arrangement of the pot 

 specimens will be advisable on account of the permanent occu- 

 pants of the beds or borders, which at this season should be 

 allowed plenty of space in order to secure strong, well-ripened 

 wood, for unless this is obtained they will not bloom finely. 



STOVE. 



Brugmanslas, Clerodendrons, and other large soft-leaved 

 plants should be frequently washed to keep down red spider, 

 ■and be well supplied with liquid manure to preBerve them in a 

 vigorous state of health. Ixoras which have been out down 

 ior next year's blooming should have their shoots neatly staked 

 out as they advance, and will require to be placed in more light 

 and to be kept somewhat drier, that the gradual ripening of 

 the wood may be assisted. Remove Achimenes, Gloxinias, 

 Tuberoses, and plants of the same habit, from the conservatory 

 when on the wane, and replenish from the reserve house to 

 ajeep up the display. Passifloras will be growing fast, and will 

 require frequent training. Thin out weak and over-strong 

 shoots, and reserve only sufficient to produce the desired effect ; 

 the blooms will be considerably finer, and the plants themselves 

 more capable of producing well matured wood when these little 

 attentions are performed regularly. Various other stove climbers 

 as Combretums, Qaisqualis, Allamandas, iSre., will bloom for a 

 considerable portion of the summer if the shoots on which the 

 'flowers are borne are slightly cut-in when the blooms decay, as 

 anything which prolongs the period of beauty with these fa- 

 vourites is valuable. The above should be constantly prac- 

 tised. The growing season for Orchids is far advanced, there- 

 fore encourage any backward plants with plenty of heat and 

 moisture while this can be safely done. See that plants growing 

 •on blocks and in baskets are properly supplied with moisture 

 at the root ; to prevent any mistake handle every plant at 

 least once a-week, and immerse those found to be dry in tepid 

 water until the material about their roots is well soaked. — 

 IV. Eeane. 



DOINGS OP THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GAEDEN. 



Of this we have said enough in recent weeks' notices. We 

 sowed Radishes, Turnips, Onions, Lettuces, Spinach, Cabbages, 

 and a sprinkling of Cauliflower. We staked Peas, the last for 

 this season, and lined with soft cord some that were bearing 

 heavily and getting beyond the protecting sticks. A gentleman 

 said to UE the other day, " While the best early Peas are grown 

 in fields for feeding purposes, and even some of the best new 

 kinds are thus grown in fields, how is it that you gardeners 

 make so much to do about sticks, and bolstering Peas up when 



they thrive so well on the open ground without such care and 

 trouble?" Our reply is that we have grown Peas in rows 

 without any staking, but space for space we had not the return 

 in quantity and quality which we obtained from staked rows. 

 Then, for daily gathering, the ground had to be trampled, and 

 the plant of the Pea more injured, and when thus grown and 

 allowed to sptead about as the plants liked, nothing else could 

 be grown on the ground ; whilst between rows staked up, fre- 

 quently more than the value of the main crop could be taken 

 oiJ the ground in temporary crops, as Spinach, Lettuces, 

 and Radishes, and if the spaces were fair for width, also Turnips 

 and Potatoes. 



We instanced lately how a little shade in the hottest months 

 did BO much good to Celery by giving to it the natural condi- 

 tions it desired. For these and similar reasons it will in 

 general in small gardens be the most economical and the best- 

 paying mode to keep up Peas by some mode, whether stakes, 

 hurdles, wire, or cord lines. In our practice we have had heavy 

 crops of Peas grown as in a field without sticks, but they would 

 compare neither in yield nor quality with those staked up, 

 ground for ground, and then we lost all the intermediate crops, 

 ease of gathering, &c. 



FEUIT GARDEN. 



Here the work has chiefly been a continuance of that of pre- 

 vious weeks, broken in by gathering fruit for preserving on the 

 two best breezy days, and thus housing it in good condition. 

 Our chief .defect this year has been in Strawberries, that did 

 not out of doors show the usual amount of bloom, and there- 

 fore we could not send the usual quantity for preserving. 

 Even for table they are now becoming thin, though we shall 

 obtain fair gatherings from those forced and first turned ont. 



From some dwarf standard Cherry trees we have had little 

 to gather — not worth netting, in fact, but trees against walls 

 have been well loaded, and the fruit very fine. The bloom on 

 the standards was as plentiful as usual, but it was bathed al- 

 most constantly in wet or hoar frost, and the bloom nearly all 

 fell. The protection of the wall and earlier blooming saved 

 the others. These are now getting thin, with the exception of 

 such kinds as the Florence, which will require some weeks to 

 ripen. Morellos promise to be a heavy fine crop, and as the 

 birds had begun on them as soon as they showed the least 

 change of colour, we have had to net them up securely. 



There has been great devastation among the Currants in thie 

 neighbourhood, the whole plant as well as fruit being covered 

 with fly, the plants in many cases dying. We had on waUs 

 some plants that suffered severely, though we used the engine 

 freely, but those in the open ground suffered hut little, and the 

 rains washed the fruit clean. The rains also provided soft 

 food for numberless birds, so that we have been less troubled 

 by them than usual. In dry days we were obliged to gather Rasp- 

 berries, or we soon would have had all the ripe fruit nibbled. 

 These have been good with us, though there are many com- 

 plaints about the thinness of the crops and the smallness of 

 the fruit in many cases. 



In the dry weather before the rain the birds carried off green 

 fruit of Cherries, Raspberries, Strawberries, and even Currants 

 when they were quite hard, and long before they showed any 

 signs of colouring, but after the rain they gave up their de- 

 predations. It is as well not to cry out too soon. A friend 

 who grieved over the short bloom of his earliest Strawberries 

 has told us that later kinds never did better, and thus he was 

 enabled after the forced ones were over to keep up a good sup- 

 ply. We do not like a break in gathering, but nevertheless, 

 after Strawberries have been in use from forcing for four 

 months, we sometimes think that those from the open ground 

 would be more valued if there were a little interval between the 

 in-door and the out-door gatherings. Perhaps there was never 

 such a difference in the yield of the different kinds of fruit 

 than has been apparent in different parts of the county this 

 season. Some friends tell us that they have had abundance 

 where we find scarcity, and they have had a poor crop when 

 we have had abundance. A friend in Devonshire informs us 

 that the Cherries on walls were next to a failure ; here they 

 have been unusually good, though Cherry trees as small bush 

 standards, as already stated, were next to a failure, though for 

 many years they never missed a crop. Could we note and 

 register the circumstances and causes of such various results, 

 we might gain much useful information. In the case of frnit, 

 very little will often make all the difference between a heavy 

 crop and no crop. 



OENAMENTAIi DEPABTMENI. 



Oh ! for a nice little laion, never to be seen but at its best, 



