August 24, 1871. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



147 



to the midday sun in order to ripen the wood, taking care not 

 to do this eo rashly as to iojare the foliage. This, however, 

 will only be proper in the case of such plants as have already 

 made plenty of young wood, but it is advisable after this season 

 to be anticipating the approach of winter, and to use every 

 possible means to forward the growth of valuable hardwooded 

 plants in order to get it somewhat firm and able to resist damp, 

 &c., as soon as possible, and this is especially necessary when 

 the plants have to be wintered in these structures. — W. Keake. 



IXJINGS OF THE LAST WEEK 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Sowing Seeds out of Doors in Dry Soil and Dry Weather in 

 Summer. — At page 127, seventh line from bottom of second 

 column, for " level " read water. Surface watering after sowing 

 in all such cases is often worse than useless. We prefer, on 

 the contrary, that the ground should be moistened for (he 

 seeds, so as to encourage them to germinate freely, and then 

 the covering should be of dry earth to keep the moisture in 

 whilst the dry weather lasts : hence, if we sow in drills we 

 prefer soaking the drills before sowing, especially if we lead 

 the seeds, pat these gently into the moist soil with the head of 

 a rake, &o., and then cover with the dry soil. When we sow 

 broadcast, as we are sometimes compelled to do from want of 

 room, we prepare the ground as in the page alluded to, then give 

 the whole a good watering, allow it to siand a little so that the 

 surface may become friable ; then scatter the seeds equally, 

 gently pat them in with the back of a clean spade, and cover 

 with dry soil to the depth, for such subjects as Cabbages, of one- 

 fourth of an inch, most probably part of that depth being 

 charred refuse. We are thus minute, because, by adopting 

 this simple plan, hardly a seed fails in dry weather, and the 

 young plants come up with a sturdiness which they rarely 

 show when surface waterings have to be resorted to whilst the 

 plants are very young. It will be found best in every way to 

 secure moisture beneath them at firet, and then the dry sur- 

 face will be rather an advantage. 



Even after this moist season, in sowing seeds after early 

 Potatoes, &o., we found the ground very dry, and, therefore, 

 the above precautions were all the more necessary. It re- 

 minded us how dry the ground must be in tropical latitudes, 

 where little or no rain falls in the dry season ; for less than a 

 week of a high temperature turned our rather moist ground 

 into something hke baked earth, and but for the moving of the 

 surface with the hoe, there would have been cracking and 

 fissures in all directions, which in gardening ought, if possible, 

 to be avoided, as besides the dry air' thus entering freely, there 

 is a great risk of roots being snapped and broken in the strain 

 made by these open fissures. 



In sowing seeds as above stated, the young seedlings gene- 

 rally grow at once, and you thus secure a more level crop of seed- 

 lings than by any surface watering. " But," said a friend the 

 other day, "what about the rains wetting the surface of the 

 seed-beds ? Is not that much the same thing as watering on 

 the surface ?" No, we think it quite different, unless the con- 

 ditions which attend the rain are always borne in mind, and 

 such watering is always given in coolness and shade. We had 

 a nice refreshing rain on the morning of the 17th, but there 

 was no scorching air, no bright sunshine, and the effect, there- 

 fore, was very different from haphazard artificial surface water- 

 ing. We would only here bring the same principle into 

 operation, that we have recommended for years in the case of 

 small valuible seeds sown in pots. It is best to prepare the 

 pots, water well, and let the soil become rather dry on the 

 surface before sowing, and then sow and shade a little until the 

 seedlings appear. The shanking-ofi and damping-cff of the 

 young seedlings will to a great extent be prevented, as overhead 

 watering is avoided. Many seedlings never appear, many go 

 off at the surface of the ground because such simple precautions 

 are neglected, and seedsmen are blamed when the blame should 

 rest with ourselves. 



Weeds. — The warm weather after the rains has brought up 

 myriads of weeds, and the pulling-up of weeds is always, if it 

 can be avoided, a great waste of time and labour. In nothing 

 is the proverb more fully realised — "a stitch in time saves 

 nine." A scnflie with a Dutch hoe when the weeds are 2 or 

 3 inches in height, will take little time, will leave a loose sur- 

 face to prevent cracking, and the sun will soon shrivel the 

 weeds out of sight, without giving any trouble in removing 

 them. 



To prevent the ground cracking we moved the surface among 



Broccoli, Greens, fee, where they were not too strong for us to 

 get near them ; though for Broccoli, besides this mere surface- 

 stirring for young plants, we think the plants thrive better and 

 stand the winter better when the ground about the roots is firm 

 and solid instead of loose. A friend of ours generally plants 

 with a crowbar in hard ground after Peas, and though his plants 

 succumbed to a great extent to the frost of last winter, he gene- 

 rally has fine compact heads of Broccoli, and large sturdy plants 

 in the spring. 



Peas. — We have been clearing these eft'. A fortnight of 

 tropical weather has brought in our Peas so fast that we fear 

 our autumn supply will be less than usual. When mostly done 

 with there is no beauty in looking at rows of withering Pea 

 haulm, and yet frequently we let it stand longer than we ought 

 to do for the shade which it aft'ords. Thus, on the ridges 

 between our Celery beds we have not removed the rows of Peas, 

 which are of little use to us but for the shade they give from a, 

 bright afternoon sun. That little shade has saved us some 

 waterings. There is nothing pleasing in the sight of the wither- 

 ing haulm ; still we would rather keep it a little longer, as it is 

 quite possible to overwater even Celery, and a little shade until 

 the days shorten gives the plant one of its natural conditions 

 of growth. We can recollect when young what a hurry-scurry 

 there was in removing pea-haulm, weeds, &c., when the great 

 Loudon was expected to take some gardens under his notice in 

 a provincial tour. There can be no doubt that there is less 

 care taken as respects neatness and high keeping in the autumn 

 as compared with the early summer months, a fact too percep- 

 tible in most gardens ; but still the great Loudon would not 

 have looked upon such in a kitchen garden as a decided eyesore 

 for which there was a seen and felt utility. With a continu- 

 ance of such hot weather as we have lately had a flickering 

 shade would i)e useful to the Celery beds. With little water to 

 give ours last year we managed to obtain a good supply for the 

 season, chiefly by shading. 



We watered Cauliflowers, Lettuces, and late Peas, and mulched, 

 using in some cases the short cuttings from the mowing machine. 



Pickling Cucumbers and Vegetable Marroics have for some 

 time been Ihriving well, but we have observed several leaves 

 affected with red spider, and the last fortnight has been just 

 the time to promote the activity of such an insect. We have 

 syringed with clear soot and lime water, and'most probably wili 

 follow with weak clear soft-soap water. Even these Gherkin 

 Cucumbers when 4 inches long and young, are very sweet to 

 those who like Cucumbers. Our first spring Cucumbers planted 

 in a small bed in pots, and treated much in the same way as 

 described by Mr. Luckhurst, and which we have adopted for 

 years, are still bearing as profusely as ever. We think it but 

 right to say, however, that even that system did not help us 

 with the disease when it visited us ; in fact, nothing helped or 

 palliated, so as to enable us to have a moderate supply, except fre- 

 quent sowing and planting. Hardy and tender kinds, in-doora 

 and out of doors, in all conceivable soils and circumstances, 

 in hot-water pits, in dung beds, on ridges, under hand-lights, 

 in the open air, against walls and fences fully exposed — it was 

 all the same, the disease would manifest itself after a few fruit 

 were obtained, and the plants did little good afterwards. It 

 never showed with us on Melons or Vegetable Marrows, but 

 with pickling Cucumbers raised and transplanted, or sown at 

 once in the open ground, it was all the same, and it is to us, 

 though long free from it, as great a mystery as ever. 



Let us add, that we wish to see the Vegetable Marrow gene- 

 rally grown by cottagers. It would thrive extremely well irs 

 any sunny spot, and especially in soil on a raised dung bed 

 slowly decomposing. It will also succeed admirably against 

 a paling or fence, and it will do so likewise in the open garden, 

 and yield aD the more quickly if a few barrowloads of hot dung, 

 grass, and weeds, are placed in a hole, and then the earth re- 

 turned in a sort of mound above it. The Vegetable Marrow is 

 not so good for pies when ripe as some of the larger Gourds 

 grown for this purpose by cottagers ; but then used when young 

 — say averaging 6 inches in length, it would yield a great 

 amount of rich deUoious food. Even in this state high and 

 low spoil it in the cooking, by slicing and cutting before boiling. 

 It is best to cut it with a good long stalk, and to boil it whole 

 — when the points of a fork go into it easily, it is done ; then 

 cut the fruit in two lengthwise, remove the pulp, use pepper 

 and salt, and if obtainable just a little butter, or better still 

 meat gravy, and you have a dieh that even a king might envy. 



EEUIT DEPAETMENT. 



The general work has been much the same as detailed in 

 previous weeks' notices, finishing summer pruning, syringing 



