426 



JOUKNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jane 15, 1871. 



cast with hard lead-coloured clouds, and not a speck of dew 

 to refrcBh the stunted foliage. On the afternoon of the 9th, 

 lioweyer, we had a few minutes of a sunny shower, and 

 since then the weather has been more genial, and we hope that 

 it will continue so. This change has led to a change in our 

 treatment. 



We never saw things stand still more than they have done 

 lately. For eight days Cauliflowers, though looking healthy 

 •enough, made no advance ; the little heads seemed resolved 

 not to budge an inch. In the usual June weather we should 

 have made them do so by a free manure-watering at the roots, 

 taking care that it did not reach the hearts or even the leaves 

 of the plants to any extent. Bat when the air was so cold and 

 the earth so cold we had little faith in a deluging with cold 

 ■water. Vegetables would often be better without it. The 

 comparative warmth of the lOib, however, induced us to give 

 a good soaking with sewage, which was soft and not over-cold. 

 As the Cauliflowers were standing on beds no extra water was 

 likely to remain. After this sunny afternoon we expect to see 

 a great change in two or three days as respects the firm flower- 

 heads. Cabbages we also assisted with such waterings, as we 

 want free gatherings now. Successions of all things have been 

 attended to as have been frequently referred to, and it will be 

 well to thin Turnips, Lettuces, &e., in good time. 



Asparagus. — There have been extra demands for this during 

 "the present season, and it has never been better. Now, as Peas 

 are coming in pretty freely, we must let the Asparagus run and 

 grow for next season, gathering the heads much more sparingly. 

 From what we intend forcing no heads have been gathered for 

 fully three weeks. We scattered enough salt to make the 

 ground whitish between the rows. A slight sprinkling of salt 

 is of advantage in old kitchen gardens, and especially for all 

 plants which belong naturally to the sea coast. It is one of 

 the best means of settling worms, slugs, and snails. A greater 

 dressing, such aa suits Asparagus, keeps the ground moist in a 

 dry season — one reason why salt should never be applied to 

 gravel walks, except early in the year. 



Cucumbers. — dir plants in frames over a dung bed in the 

 usual way have done very well, but they have not borne so 

 heavily as those in a 6-feet-wide pit with a SJ-feet bed in front 

 and a pathway sunk behind, so as to do the work inside. The 

 extra fertility we attribute to the plan adopted as described 

 some time ago — namely, not turning the plants out in the 

 narrow bed, but planting in 15 -inch pots, and sinking the pots 

 in sweet manure covered with soil, and fresh surfacing the 

 plants as they grew, until the pots were surfaced over and the 

 roots passed out and ran along the surface of the bed, to be 

 slightly covered again and again. We know no plan to equal 

 this, where there is little roof-room. When the gardener has 

 a wide span-roofed house he may boast of fine parasol leaves, 

 and also have fine fruit and in fair abundance ; but when the 

 -greatest quantity of fruit in a small space becomes the chief 

 ■object, then the number of the fruit is of more importance than 

 the huge size of the leaves, for the latter are only good for 

 looking at. By curbing the roots in the first instance the leaves 

 are kept comparatively small though healthy, and the fruit 

 •oome in such abundance that many of the small ones must be 

 cat away. 



Jilushrooms. — We put up an additional piece in the Mush- 

 ioom house, and spawned a bed in good order for the purpose ; 

 previous beds bearing profusely. The bed which we described 

 lately as being barren in the centre is now over, and we have 

 not quite made up our mind as to renewing it, for we can 

 hardly expect the weather to remain as cold as it is now, and 

 though we have had fine Mashrooms all the season in a Mush- 

 room house above ground, we prefer from the end of June to 

 have the beds in cellars, or shady open sheds. In answer to 

 Borne inquiries, we are sorry to say that we can add nothing to 

 what has frequently been advanced. Too great heat at spawn- 

 ing-time is a fruitf al source of failure ; 80' with a tendency to 

 fall is a good average heat. It in the least degree higher, the 

 spawn should be laid but little in the manure. If much lower, 

 say averaging GO', the spawn will not ran so quickly, but it 

 will run at a low temperature, as we have had beds out of doors, 

 from which we gave up gathering about November, left with only 

 a slight covering all the winter, and they produced freely the 

 following Mirch and April, after watering with warm water. 

 For constant supply we prefer shallow beds, say about 1.5 inches 

 deep, and to make a piece often. Some time ago we saw a fine 

 bed in a horse-box, the sizs of two stalls, which the farmer did 

 not want for six months. The bed was made flat, with 16 inches 

 deep of well-wronght stable manure, and 6 inches of horse drop- 



pings on the surface, and spawned when about 78", and as the 

 bed kept falling towards 70°, it was earthed-over with stiffish 

 soil, and then a little dry litter was placed over it. In seven 

 weeks the gentleman, besides what he used himself, had the 

 pleasure of sending baskets of nice JMushrooms to his friends. 

 He was never so successful again, to punish him, he said, for 

 his boasting that he would beat the gardeners. The truth 

 is, that he was less attentive to the minor points necessary 

 to secure success. Considering how the Mushroom flavour 

 helps many a fine dish in which it is not seen, we wonder 

 that more farmers do not have a bed in some shed or out-of- 

 the-way corner. 



FEUIT GARDEN. 



The work has been very much the same as in previous weeks. 

 We commenced shortening shoots of Apple, Pear, and Pium 

 trees, picking out their points. This is preferable to cutting 

 them when larger, as answering the purpose better, and giving 

 a less sudden check to the system of the plants. 



OKNAIIEKTAI. DEPAKTHENT. 



Pinks now want supporting, also Picotees, Cloves, and Car- 

 nations. The frost of the winter has made havoc with fine 

 lines from which we expected sheaves of cut bloom. Young 

 plants with a flower-stem or two are all that are wanted for a 

 few fine blooms, but they are almost worthless when great 

 masses of bloom are required. Having but limited room we 

 were forced to let Perpetual Carnations, &c., go into abeyance, 

 but now we should be glad of them again. They formed splen- 

 did beds in summer, never ceasing to bloom, and for winter 

 blooming they were invaluable. Like many others, we have 

 been under the necessity of making some things special for a 

 time and then giving them up for something else. A corre- 

 spondent asks us how to treat his Eiuunoulus, which, he 

 says, were given to him as a valuable collection. First, let 

 them not suffer from want of water, but yet keep them cool 

 and the soil round them firm. The easiest way to do this 

 we found to be to firm the plants well when the bloom-stalks 

 began to appear, then loosen the surface soil a little, water 

 liberally, and cover the ground between the plants with rough 

 riddled rotten dung or leaf mould. If more watering is wanted 

 there will be the richness of this mulching added, and, it 

 not required, it will do much to secure moisture and coolness 

 below. 



We have had much potting and much more left to do, but 

 we shall pass all for the present, only saying that we have 

 broken the back of our bedding-out, though there will be still a 

 considerable amount of making-up, and such plants as Colens 

 we shall keep where they can be protected for a week. 



Watering. — It is quite common to find directions in contem- 

 poraries about watering bedded-out plants three or four times 

 a-week. That we consider to be drenching indeed in such 

 weather. What we planted out, though mostly raised from the 

 soil and not turned out of pots, we watered rather sparingly 

 when planted, and from that time we gave no more water until 

 this day, after the greater warmth of yesterday, and because 

 the leaves had become enveloped in a misty fog. Strange 

 though it may seem to some, such a misty warm day is just the 

 day to water. Our plants have suffered a little from the cold 

 weather, but if we have warm weather it will not be noticed a 

 fortnight hence; they would have suffered more if we bad 

 added to the coldness of the roots by watering. We have not 

 lost a single plant turned out, though a few Coleus plants put 

 in just to let it be seen what was intended are very much 

 browned. 



Now is a good time to repot Salvia siylendens, and all the 

 smaller-leaved flowering Begonias for autumn and winter 

 blooming. This Salvia does well plunged cr planted out of 

 doors at the end of June, and raised and potted carefully in 

 the autumn. It makes quite a blaze in the fir=t winter months. 

 We have tried it repeatedly in the flower garden, but our place 

 is too windy and cold for it. In sheltered localities much 

 farther north it does well out of doors. We have seen single 

 plants on lawns like a burning bush for brightness. Cuttings 

 of Begonias put in now will make pretty, small, flowering plants 

 before winter. 



Achimenes coming into bloom like a saucer to stand in, thty 

 do admirably when treated as semi-aquatics. The finest we 

 ever saw had the pots standing in the inner row of a conser- 

 vatory fountain, and the bottom of the pot was in from one- 

 eighth to one-quarter of an inch of water. Necessity is some- 

 times a fair instructor. Everyday we have less faith in general 

 shading, less faith in sulphur as a deterrent to red spider, 



