Angust 4, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



77 









WEEKLY 



CALENDAR. 















Day 



of 



Month 



Day 



of 

 Week. 



AUGUST 4—10, 1870. 



Average Tempera- 

 ture near London. 



Rain in 



last 

 43 years. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 



Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 before 

 Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year. 



4 

 E 

 6 

 7 

 S 

 9 

 10 



Th 



F 



S 



Sou 



M 



Tu 



W 



Stafford Horticultural Show. 

 East Nenk of Fife Horticultural Show. 

 Duke of Edinburgh Bokn, 1844. 

 8 Sunday after Trinity. 

 Length of day 14h. 53m. 



Anniversary Meeting of Royal Botanic 

 [Society. 



Day. 



75.9 

 74.5 

 73.2 

 74.6 

 74.5 

 74.9 

 75.1 



Night. 

 50.6 

 50.9 

 50.8 

 50.9 

 49.4 

 49.6 

 51.9 



Mean. 



62.8 



62.7 



62.0 



62.7 



61.9 



62.2 



63.5 



Davs. 

 17 

 19 

 21 

 16 

 18 

 16 

 19 



m. h. 

 30af4 

 31 4 

 33 4 



35 4 



36 4 

 88 4 

 40 4 



m. b. 

 41 af 7 

 40 7 

 38 7 

 36 7 

 34 7 

 82 7 

 31 7 



m. h. 

 after. 

 24 2 

 40 3 

 53 4 

 56 5 

 47 6 

 27 7 



m. h. 

 lOafll 

 40 11 

 morn. 

 18 

 4 1 

 1 2 

 6 3 



Days. 

 D 



8 



9 

 10 

 11 

 12 

 13 



m. s. 

 5 51 

 5 46 

 5 39 

 5 33 

 5 25 

 5 17 

 5 8 



216 

 217 

 218 

 219 

 220 

 221 

 222 



From observations taken near London dnring the last forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 74.6°, and its night 

 temperature 60.6°. The greatest heat was 93', on the 10th, 1842; and the lowest cold 35°, on the 4th, 1865. The greatest fall of rain was 

 1.08 Inch. 



PEA CULTURE. 



O generally recognised is the importance of 

 obtaining a supply of Peas as early in the 

 season as possible, that any mode of cultiva- 

 tion tending to do away with the feeling of 

 uncertainty respecting the success of the 

 first sowings is worthy of attention. I will 

 therefore describe, long before such sowings 

 should be made, a method by which I have 

 been very successful. 



A mode of culture now somewhat obsolete, 

 but which, notwithstanding its speculative character, has 

 still its advocates, was to make the first sowing in Novem- 

 ber, some sowing on a warm sheltered border, while others 

 having greater resources sowed a double quantity — half on 

 the south side of a wall and half in a more exposed situa- 

 tion. In mild winters the sowing on the warm sheltered 

 border would grow so fast, and become so tender, that the 

 first sharp frost would be sure to destroy it. A row or two 

 in the open ground, across one of the garden squares, had 

 a much greater chance of success. This success, however, 

 was never certain ; even if the Peas escaped the ravages of 

 the mice and the tender attentions of the sparrows — to say 

 nothing of the operations of snails, which, concealed from 

 view, made their Christmas dinner off the abundance of 

 rich succulent matter with which the gardener had so 

 abundantly stored their winter quarters — the chilly blasts 

 of lingering winter or tardy spring frequently destroyed 

 the young plants. 



The way in which I have avoided all this uncertainty 

 and loss has been by sowing in boxes made in the following 

 manner : — Some half-inch deal boards, 9 inches wide, were 

 sawn in halves, and cut into lengths of 3 feet for the 

 sides, and smaller lengths of 5 inches for the ends ; these 

 were nailed together, and thus a number of narrow frames 

 were formed, each measuring 4 inches wide, 4j inches 

 deep, and 3 feet long. Pieces of board were next "cut of a 

 suitable size to form a bottom to each frame. The loose 

 bottom boards were ranged side by side on a warm sheltered 

 border, and the frames placed on them, and filled with rich 

 soil, in which the Peas were sown in the second week in 

 January. I may say I was pleased with the plan so far, 

 but then came the thought, " How about the mice and 

 sparrows ? " True, I could defy the sparrows by placing 

 some netting over the boxes ; but then netting is no pro- 

 tection against mice, and I began to fear for the result, 

 when I suddenly remembered that I had nearly 100 feet of 

 glass on hand, in squares 9£ by ?t inches, just a handy 

 size for the purpose. Nothing could be better ; the entire 

 surface of the soil in the boxes was at once covered with 

 the sheet glass, which not only protected the Peas, but the 

 soil was warmed by the sun heat it transmitted, and the 

 seed vegetated very quickly. The glass was allowed to 

 remain till it was fairly lifted up by the young growth, 

 when it was removed, and laid flat on the soil over 

 another crop which had, meanwhile, been sown in the 

 open garden. As crop followed crop, the glass was kept 

 constantly in use with the best possible results. The 



No. 488.— Vol. XIX., New Semes. 



mice were decidedly puzzled, traces of them were visible 

 at places along the edges of the glass where they had 

 tried to burrow underneath, but the labour was evidently 

 too great for one night's work, and before the next night 

 the holes were filled up and traps set. Should any of 

 your readers adopt this means of protection (and I would 

 strongly recommend it to all whose crops suffer from the 

 depredations of sparrows and mice), they will find the size 

 of squares I have mentioned the best for laying lengthwise 

 over rows of Peas. 



When the drills are drawn, if the soil is found to be at 

 all dry, it is necessary to give a thorough watering after 

 the Peas are sown before laying on the glass. If the glass 

 is used for the summer sowings it must be removed imme- 

 diately after the young growth becomes visible, as the sun 

 is then so powerful that it will burn the tops of the young 

 plants if they be suffered to come in contact with the 

 glass. 



To return to the first crop in the boxes. When the glass 

 was taken off, as the plants were somewhat tender and, 

 consequently, likely to suffer from frost, stumps were 

 driven in the ground on each side of the boxes, and some 

 slight poles laid across and nailed to the tops of the stumps, 

 thus forming a light framework a few inches above the 

 Peas, on which a couple of thatched hurdles were placed 

 nightly and during snowy weather. As an instance of the 

 utility of the thatched hurdles, I may mention a fall of 

 snow 2 inches deep on the night of March 12th ; the morn- 

 ing of the 13th being clear and bright, the hurdles with 

 their load of snow were lifted off, and so the Peas enjoyed 

 the genial sunshine while other things were buried under 

 the snow. 



The spring of this year was so cold and changeable that 

 the Peas were not turned out of the boxes till April 1st, 

 when a narrow trench was made to which they were taken 

 one by one, the loose bottoms removed, and the sides, 

 after a slight shake, lifted up, leaving the Peas in the trench, 

 where the lengths were fitted against each other, form- 

 ing one long row. The soil was a mass of roots, so that 

 the wooden sides were drawn off without any mishap. 



After the Peas were planted out the frames were again 

 placed on their moveable bottoms, filled with soil in which 

 some dwarf Kidney Beans were sown, and set under the 

 stage of a vinery at work. In six days the cotyledons 

 were to be seen forcing their way through the soil, and the 

 young plants were at once taken out of the vinery, and the 

 boxes once more occupied their original position. The 

 Beans were protected for awhile at night by the hurdles, 

 and at length turned out in a warm border. Thus 

 two early crops were obtained by means of these useful 

 boxes. 



In concluding this paper, a few remarks on Pea-culture 

 generally may not be out of place. One of the chief points 

 is the maintenance of a constant supply of young Peas 

 throughout the season, and as an important means to this 

 end, well-tried sorts only should be selected. If novelties 

 are cared for (and they should certainly have a trial), a 

 small quantity may be sown, but they should form no 

 link in the regular cropping. Dwarf-growing kinds are, 

 No. 1140— Vol. XLIV., Old Series. 



