Angnst 4, 1870. 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



89 



greenhouse, look well after winter-flowering plants of a rather 

 commoner order, Buch as Cinerarias, Verbenas, Scarlet Pelar- 

 goniums, Heliotropes, Robos, &c. Cinerarias must now be 

 potted off, whether from seed or suckers, also Chinese Prim- 

 roses, remembering to give the last shift immediately to those 

 intended to blossom in October and November. Scarlet Pelar- 

 goniums and Heliotropes, in order to bloom, must be potbound. 



STOVE. 



Successions of Brugmansias, Clerodendrons, Euphorbias, and 

 Poinsettias should receive a last shift directly, in order to pro- 

 vide a rich autumn display in the conservatory. Climbers on 

 ornamental trellises should be occasionally cut back, in order 

 to have a succession later in the season when flowers become 

 scarce. A quantity of such plants as Thunbergias, Ipomceas, 

 Pergularias, Jasminums, Stephanotis, and Passifloras, &c, 

 should be trained up ornamental trellises without delay. — 

 W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN OAEDEK. 



Though there have been next to deluges at places not far 

 distant, we have only had showers so soft as more to resemble 

 dew than rain on several mornings ; and this, along with cooler 

 weather, has given everything a rest, if not some encourage- 

 ment to growth. Nothing could so well show the advantage 

 of a syringing overhead in hot weather, where it could be given, 

 as these misty showery wrappings in the morning. The whole 

 tops of the plants were so swelled out with the gentle bedew- 

 ings that they stood the sun well. We feel sure that many 

 plants would have been completely burned up but for the 

 change in temperature, these drizzling dews, and shading and 

 mulching. It was pleasing to note how even a mulching put 

 on roughly assisted plants that could hold their own with great 

 difficulty. Leaves that were prostrate one day held up their 

 heads the next, and that when there was no more difference as 

 respects the sun heat than there was between the '22nd and 

 23rd ultimo, and where no watering of any kind could be given. 

 If the mulching was Bhort and put on rather roughly it acted 

 better than longer litter, though that, too, helped. Our theory 

 for this is, that the shorter litter, though keeping the sun from 

 so fiercely aoting on the soil beneath, did not, like a surface- 

 watering, arrest the rising of moisture from considerable depths, 

 and then the closer texture of the shorter litter kept that rising 

 vapour about the roots instead of permitting it freely to escape 

 into the atmosphere. By such means, and the help of some 

 sewage water from the 25th and onwards, until that, too, was 

 exhausted, we feel that now we can breathe somewhat freely 

 again, and hope that the worst of the season is past, as the 

 longer and colder nights will give us refreshing dews. 



This season ought to be a lesson to many. We know of 

 some farms where several horses have been employed every 

 day in drawing water in barrels for a distance of from three 

 to four miles. Syringing or engining any kind of wall trees has 

 been with us quite out of the question. 



We dug down a large quarter of three-year-old Strawberries, 

 and found the ground bo hard that neither spade nor fork was 

 of any avail, but we had to use the pick to break it up, and 

 then to turn it over with the spade when broken. This ground, 

 though so hard, was not so dry as ground whence crops of vege- 

 tables had been taken. The tops of the Strawberries and the 

 mulching given had prevented in this respect the free action 

 of the weather, but we never recollect finding the ground 

 so hard. We were half inclined to dear off the Strawberries, 

 make holes with a crowbar, and plant in the firm soil, as thus 

 thus frequently Broccoli and other vegetables do well ; but then 

 we thought of the wheeling involved in clearing off the large 

 Crowns of the Strawberry plants, and the manure that would also 

 thus be lost, so we resolved on trenching all down. When well 

 broken and levelled we rolled the ground well, and then drew 

 drills, and planted Broccolis, Borecoles, and Brussels Sprouts in 

 the usual way, first watering them well in beds, lifting and 

 Soaking them, and then watering after planting with a little 

 sewage water. This will be our second main planting. The 

 first is pretty well holding its way in defiance of the dryness, 

 the watering of sewage in their case having been given to the 

 roots and not over the ground. In such weather as we have 

 lately passed through, all surface-watering was worse than 

 useless, unless it was merely given for the purpose of refresh- 

 ing the foliage, or given in such quantity and manner as tho- 

 roughly to reach the roots of the plants. 



We would have used much more water than we could obtain, 



but our observation and experience tell us that millions of 

 gallons have been used in gardens to the injury rather than the 

 benefit of the crops. 



Sowed Lettuces, Radishes, Turnips, and a few Cauliflowers 

 for early work, reserving our main sowing until the end of the 

 month. By means of sewage, &c, we sowed in damp soil, and 

 covered over with dry soil, for reasons several times given. 

 Our Dwarf Kidney Beans have done well under this treatment 

 with little or no watering. The Scarlet Runners have grown 

 and bloomed very well, but they have not set so freely as we 

 should have liked. Taken altogether, we suffered more from 

 the heat and excessively bright sun of July 22nd than in all 

 the days of the summer. On that day myriads of Scarlet 

 Runner blossoms fell, as if there was nothing to suppoit them. 

 Now they seem all right with mulching, and we have no doubt 

 will be benefited by sewage water if the warm weather con- 

 tinue. 



We shall most likely sow a few rows of Spinach and Onions 

 for the earliest winter crop by the time this is in print. The 

 Onions with us, though plentiful, will he small, owing to the 

 dryness. The spring-planted ones, though fair, are nothing to 

 what we have had them. A good rain would increase the size 

 of all these useful bulbs. We shall have none this season from 

 10 to 15 inches in circumference, even with the advantage of a 

 heavy rain. Fine rains in June are what tell most on the 

 Onion crop. Were we sure of their coming, and just when they 

 were ooming, a slight dusting with guano or bone dust between 

 the rows, will have an astonishing effect. On the other hand 

 the dressing with guano, if dry weather succeed, will do more 

 harm than good. We gave a slight dressing of superphosphate 

 and sewage water to an early piece of Onions planted out in 

 spring. The state of the atmosphere and the readings of the 

 barometer led us to expect a plentiful rain. Had the rain 

 come we should have gained our purpose. We only had a few 

 drops, and our kindness in other respects did more harm than 

 good. We do not believe our sewage watering reached the 

 roots, and the damped surface did the mischief. It kept the 

 roots dry when they might have had plenty of moisture, as it 

 passed them to escape into the atmosphere. In this case the 

 tops soon began to show signs of exhaustion. The bulbs will 

 only average some 3 inches in diameter. If we had merely let 

 them alone they would have been larger. If the expected rain 

 had come, they would have been much better still. The water- 

 ing we gave would not have gone above an inch or so deep — a 

 mere nothing to the rooting of an Onion, but a great help if 

 only the heavy rains expected had come. 



During the week we have seen some nice Onions at the 

 cottagers' show at Woburn, but though fine they exhibited 

 traces of the dry season. We have generally thought that we 

 would not be much out of the way if our crops at all corre- 

 sponded with those of our friends, Mr. Manning, of Tingrith, 

 and Mr. McKay, of Woburn Abbey. In both cases their general 

 crops of Onions will not be as they used to be in better seasons, 

 though there would be plenty. At Woburn we noticed a very 

 fine piece of winter Onions in a border. As a merely passing 

 notice, we should judge many of the bulbs were from 4 to4| and 

 more inches in diameter. We know the garden is pretty well 

 supplied with water, but we do not know whether these had 

 any given artificially or not. Some weeks, ago, however, they 

 had one good soaking rain. 



Cauliflowers. — Two gentlemen the other day took notice of a 

 border of Cauliflowers, one of them a gardener, the other a 

 nurseryman, and the first especially well conversant with the 

 ideas of watering we have fully set forth in these pages^ 

 This border is something like our fifth succession, for where 

 there is little ground and a large establishment, the supply is 

 best made, not by great gluts, but by regular, if small, suc- 

 cessions. At present this border will be our third ; one lot is 

 almost done, another is just coming in, and by the time they 

 are mostly gone this border will be coming in, and be suc- 

 ceeded by small plants just turned out. Now, the border had 

 carried a rather heavy mixed crop of Peas, Spinach, Lettuces, 

 and Radishes. On clearing them off we never found a piece of 

 ground so dry. On planting the Cauliflowers we made rather 

 deep drills and soaked the plants in with sewage, and covered 

 the surface with the dry soil. The leaves of these plants 

 fell to the ground on the 22nd as if struck with paralysis. 

 We could do nothing to help them, and we felt convinced they 

 had that at their roots that would enable them to recover on 

 the slightest change in the weather. By the 24th they showed 

 they would bear the weather. The other day they looked 

 tolerably well, so well, indeed, as to be admired by our friends, 



