338 



JOUKNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ November 2, 1871. 



EpiDESDEnii PsEUDEPiDENBBUii (Epidendrnm False-Epideii; 

 "rnm). Nat. ord., Orchideas. Linn., Gynandria Monandria. 

 — A parasitic plant, growing on a species of Ficns in the 

 uorthern part of the Cordilleras of New Grenada. The sepals 

 and petals are bright green, and the lip and upper parts of the 

 column orange vermilion. — {Ibid., t. 5929.) 



EcHiDsopsis cEKEifOEiiis (Cerens-likc Echidnopsis). Nat. 

 ord., Asclepiadeas. Linn., Icosandria Monogynia. — Belongs to 

 the tribe Stapelia, and is often known by the name Stapelia 

 cylindrica. Its original home has never been discovered. 

 Flourishes at Kew in a warm succulent house, and blooms 

 from June to October. Flowers bright yellow, produced on 

 cylindrical eight-grooved stems. — {liid., t. 5930.) 



AeisjJita cuevaium (Carved ArisKma). Nat. ord., Aroideas. 

 Linn., Monceoia Polyandria.' — A common plant. in the Hima- 

 layas and in some other parts of India. Its tuberous roots 

 are employed like those of the Arnm macnlatum for food, but 

 are previously deprived of their deleterious properties by wash- 

 ing. Spathe of a brownish purple colour outside, green inside ; 

 spadis lone, tapering and curved; fruit a mass of fleshy red 

 berries.— (I&id., t. 5931.) 



EosE — Princess Beatrice. — "It is a full-sized, regularly- 

 shaped, globular flower, perfectly double ; the colour a deep 

 but delicate shade of pink, with a clear blush margin ; the 

 petals are beautifully rounded, and of great substance, so that 

 the durability of the flower is unexceptionably great. Flowers 

 produced under glass in March last remained in condition a 

 fortnight, and in the open ground in June and July they lasted 

 twice the time of any other Eose. 



" The flower in character and outline resembles Alfred 

 Colomb, although differing widely in colour from that admir- 

 able variety. The growth is more like that of Victor Verdier, 

 the vigorous shoots producing large, bright, handsome foliage. 

 One great quality which must not be overlooked, is that it 

 flowers as freely in September and October as in the summer 

 months. It has received a first-class certificate from the Eojal 

 Horticnltnial Society." — (Florist and Pomologist, 3 s., iv., 217.) 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



At no period of the year is there a greater temptation to 

 relax one's efforts in the trim keeping of a garden than now, 

 when the lengthening nights and the paling leaves denote the 

 approach of winter. The season of growth is past, repose or 

 decay takes the place of the vigour of vegetable life, and gusty 

 autumnal winds scatter the falling leaves on all sides. The 

 tendency of autumn is to impart an air of neglect, and more 

 especially to those gardens where deoiduona trees abound, so 

 that unless great care is taken a dreary untidiness prevails, and 

 aU the pleasures of the garden seem to have departed with the 

 bright days of summer. This is not right; autumn has its own 

 peculiar attractions, and care should be taken that they do not 

 lose any of their beauty or enjoyment through carelessness or 

 neglect. 



Amongst the more important work to be done now lawns 

 especially require close attention. The excessive moisture, 

 resulting from dewy nights, lies thickly on the turf, and worm- 

 casts abound ; the roller must, therefore, be set in constant 

 use. In all gardens, besides the heavy iron roller, there 

 should be a light roller, just heavy enough to pass briskly over 

 a lawn to disperse dew and press down wormcasts, so that an 

 active man can pass over a large area of turf in a short time. 

 Lawns much seen can be rolled daily, after any stray leaves or 

 other unsightly objects have been removed. The grass-edgings 

 should also be constantly clipped, the walks well weeded, swept, 

 raked and rolled, and flower borders kept neat and trim by 

 removing all decaying leaves or plants as they occur. It is 

 well to prolong the summer display in the flower beds as long 

 as possible, but when " sere and yellow leaves" predominate, 

 the beds should be cleared of their occupants, and the soil 

 either turned up to the sweetening influence of winter, or 

 planted with suitable winter plants. 



I know it is a difficult matter to do all this as well and as 

 promptly as one wishes ; but apart from its being a matter of 

 duty, it is worthy of our best efforts at a season of the year when 

 the high keeping and exquisite neatness of a well-ordered garden 

 are rendered all the more conspicuous and attractive by their 

 contrast with the daily increasing wildnees of Nature's garb. 

 Nor do these remarks apply only to the flower garden and 

 shrubbery, but they bear with equal force upon the kitchen 

 garden and glass houses. Neatness should ever form a leading 

 feattue of kitchen-garden management. No spent crops or 



useless plants should disflgure the beds, or be suffered to need- 

 lessly exhaust the soil ; the place for these is the rubbish- 

 heap, where they may decay into manure, and the soil, instead 

 of lying sodden and inert, is cast roughly up to become_meUow 

 and sweet by spring. 



At the decline of the year it is very gratifying to look back 

 upon a successful season, but its failures should be carefuUy 

 remembered, and measures taken to guide our future efforts. 

 A glance through the daily entries of the garden journal, which 

 every gardener should keep, may now remind us of any blanks- 

 among the collection or selection of plants, fruit trees, or 

 shrubs. It is well to do this annually, principally with the 

 view of at once replacing a valuable variety of any species, and 

 also because vacant places, wherever they occur, point to tk 

 scarcity of supply, besides implying carelessness and neglect. 



All persons would like to attain perfection in what they do, 

 many strive for it with more or less earnestness of purpose t 

 hence the closer an object resulting from skill and application 

 approaches perfection the more generally is it admired. It is 

 by bringing such principles as these to bear upon every action 

 of one's lite that even a bed of Cabbage or Lettuce may be 

 made to present so much excellence as to excite a feeling of 

 admiration. Let it not be thought that this view of so simple 

 a matter is at all overstrained. " Whatever is worth doing at 

 all is worth doing well," is the maxim upon which my theme is 

 founded, and it is the mainspring of all earnest efforts, however 

 humble may be the object sought after. Autumn, then, is by 

 no means a time of repose in gardens, much may be done now 

 for another season ; in reality the gardener's new year begins 

 with the fall of the leaf — his measures now are productive of 

 no immediate result, they are rather adopted and executed for 

 the benefit of the crops of another season, and the glowing 

 masses of floral beauty or the free succulent growth of vege- 

 tables of another summer will alike owe much of their excel- 

 lence to the careful forethought of the cultivator at this period 

 of the year. — Edwabb Luckhuest. 



MARKET GARDENING. 



[Conchtdedfroni jpage 323.) 

 The Bedfoedshiee Disteict lies in Biggleswade, Sandy, and 

 adjoining parishes. The soil is a sandy or gravelly loam, of 

 excellent quality when not too light or thin, resting on sharp 

 gravel, sand, or sandstone rock. The river Ivel, formerly 

 navigable, runs through the district, joining the Onse at Temps- 

 ford. Water is generally found at a depth of 16 feet. In order 

 to shelter a level tract, rows of lofty Elms, trimmed into ex- 

 cessive ugliness, are allowed to disfigure the country in every 

 direction. The same object might perhaps be attained, with 

 agreement among proprietors, by the planting of fast-growing 

 timber at salient points to break the currents of wind, and the 

 neighbourhood might be ornamented as well as protected by 

 such means without injury to the crops. 



The crops grown include a considerable breadth of corn, 

 Turnip, Kohl-Kabi, and Onion seeds, and a few Carrots and 

 Parsnips. Scarcely any Peas are grown, and none of the 

 " fancy crops," such as flowers and culinary herbs. The main 

 crops are Potatoes and Onions, both for pickling and for 

 " lofting " — i.e., storing in airy lofts constructed for the pur- 

 pose, with louvre boards for ventilation. A large portion of 

 the produce is sent to the manufacturing districts. It is com- 

 mon to sell largely to the dealers or agents who visit Bedford- 

 shire after the middle of June for the purpose of buying the 

 growing crops of Potatoes, which are lifted and marketed under 

 their direction during the following three months before the 

 Scotch supply has commenced. This intervention of middle- 

 men seems to be practically necessary, in order to regulate and 

 distribute the daily supply of vegetables at the various distant- 

 markets. 



The succession of crops is not regular. It is observed that 



Turnip seed is a good, and Potatoes a bad preparation for 



Wheat, and that Onions ought not to be taken from the same 



ground oftener than once in five years. A common rotation is r 



—1, Onions ; 2, Turnip seed or Potatoes ; 3, Wheat ; followed 



by such crops as Onion seed (after Potatoes), Cucumbers, 



Carrots, or Parsnips. The most important crop is Onions, 



which receive enormous dressings of manure, and sometimes 



yield a handsome return. The method of cultivation is the 



same as at Barking — one ploughing, 6 inches in depth, and the 



i manure harrowed in with the seed; 50 tons of dung per acre 



I are sometimes applied, costing &. per ton at the railway, and 



' 10s. when spread in the field. Small dressings of guano are 



