August 18, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



133 



stances their bulk one-half, will require to be moved from the 

 situation they hold in the best bed, as they will not bloom 

 satisfactorily, and their places filled from the reserve beds or 

 other quarters with bulbs which will bloom in similar charac- 

 ter, so that the uniformity of the collection may be maintained. 

 Pay strict attention to the soil for the ensuing planting season, 

 turning it over occasionally in order to sweeten it. Continue 

 to put out Pink pipings, and attend to the directions given last 

 week relative to potting the layers of Carnations and Picotees. 

 Pansies will now strike very freely, and when the weather is 

 suitable plant out seedlings in beds of rich-prepared com- 

 post. Examine Ranunculus roots, being careful that they do 

 not contract damp, and pray strict attention to Dahlias, which 

 now require much care. Young shoots may be struck in brisk 

 heat, and the regular routine of tying, disbudding, &c, must 

 be persevered in, not forgetting to carry on continual war 

 against earwigs and all destructive insects. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSEBVATORY. 



The time haB now arrived when plants intended to supply a 

 floral display under glass during autumn and winter must have 

 attention. Let Begonias have another shift if not already in 

 pots sufficiently large. Keep the plants thin that their foliage 

 may be preserved from injury. Crowea saligna and Plumbago 

 oapensis are both valuable autumn-blooming plants, and the 

 latter furnishes large supplies of cut flowers. Attend to Chry- 

 santhemums, and water freely with liquid manure ; good speci- 

 mens should be aimed at rather than a few fine blooms. The 

 earliest winter-flowering Heaths and Epacrises must soon be 

 placed under glass, as it will forward their blooming. The 

 appearance of bulb catalogues, too, tells us that Hyacinths and 

 Narcissus for forcing must soon occupy attention. About equal 

 portions of good loam and decayed leaf mould, with silver 

 sand, will be the best soil for them if for forcing, but well- 

 deeomposed cow dung must be substituted for the leaf soil when 

 the bulbs are intended for late flowering. After potting place 

 them on a dry bottom, and cover the pots 2 or 3 inches deep 

 with old tan or ashes, preserving them at the same time as 

 much as possible from heavy rains ; under this treatment they 

 will fill their pots with roots, and will be in readiness for forc- 

 ing when wanted. Van Thol Tulips for forcing may be potted 

 early next month. Place them on coal ashes, cover them as 

 recommended for Hyacinths, and early in November remove 

 them into heat ; the principal bulk need not be potted until 

 late in October, and a last batch of Tournesol or Rex Rubrorum 

 towards the end of November. Where conservatory borders or 

 beds exist, see that they are duly watered. Examine the plants 

 individually, as their wants will be various. Arrangements 

 must be made forthwith for housing tender plants. There is 

 in many cases no necessity to have them all in at once ; let it 

 be done progressively, according to their wants. A few of the 

 more showy annuals, such as the Collinsias, Clarkias, Lepto- 

 siphon, Erysimum, Iberis, Lasthenia, Eutoca, Nolana, and 

 Calandrinia, may be sown now in pots and kept in cold frames 

 through the winter. They will serve to decorate the shelves of 

 the mixed greenhouse early in spring, as well as to enliven the 

 early flower beds or borders. A nice turfy loam, rather old, 

 will be better than rich composts, the object being to obtain a 

 stiff and healthy plant, capable of enduring a hard winter. 

 There will also be more colour in proportion to the amount of 

 foliage — a most important matter in the cultivation of annuals. 

 Where valuable stove plants have been kept in the conserva- 

 tory in bloom, they will require careful management to prevent 

 their being injured by damp, and they must not be overwatered 

 at the root, as stove plants are soon injured by a low tempera- 

 ture if the soil is kept too wet. Give air freely in bright days, 

 but if the house contains many stove plants, it will be advis- 

 able to shut up rather early in the afternoon, so as to retain a 

 little warmth for the night ; and in the event of wet, cloudy 

 weather continuing, it will probably be found necessary in old- 

 fashioned, badly-glazed houses to use a little fire heat to preserve 

 the blossoms of tender plants, and this should be seen to before 

 handsome specimens become disfigured or ruined for the sea- 

 son, for those in bloom are not over-plentiful in most places, 

 and are therefore worth caring for. Keep everything in this 

 house as clean and neat as possible, removing decayed leaves 

 and flowers immediately they are perceived. 



frequently, turning them partly round in order to expose all 

 their sides equally to light and air. — W. Keane. 



STOVE. 



Bipen growths for the winter, day by day. Continue to 

 increase the amount of air in general, and to slightly decrease 

 the amount of atmospheric moisture. Examine pot specimens 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 

 We had a slight rain for a short time on the 7th and 10th 

 inst., but not enough to do more than moisten the surface a 

 little, without placing anything appreciable in tanks or reser- 

 voirs. Better harvest weather there could not be, as even 

 these showers and some heavy dews helped to swell the grains 

 of corn. For everything growing the weather has been most 

 trying. The drizzling rain on the forenoon of the 10 th helped 

 to refresh the foliage, and until the moisture at the surface 

 was evaporated the foliage felt the benefit of the vapour as it 

 passed upwards. But, singular to say, the plants thus refreshed 

 suffered greatly from the bright sun of the following day — far 

 more than they did in the bright days before the refreshing 

 shower came. We account for it on the principle frequently 

 alluded to — that the surface-damping before it was quite eva- 

 porated prevented the roots absorbing moisture from beneath, 

 and thus they were unable at first to meet the rapid evapora- 

 tion of the foliage when the sun shone brightly, and the surface 

 moisture was nearly evaporated. Those placed under similar 

 circumstances, who watched such results on a large scale, would 

 be taught the impropriety of resorting to mere surface-water- 

 ing, and that it was in general better not to water than so to 

 water as not to reach the bulk of the roots. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Artichokes. — The Jerusalem Artichoke, with its tubers, and 

 the Globe Artichoke, with its rough heads, have suffered much 

 with us, though both were mulohed, and the latter once well 

 watered with sewage. The former, like our Hollyhocks, have 

 such short stems that they will suffer little from high winds 

 this season ; the latter, though yielding a fair produce in the 

 first part of the season, look now as if the autumn produce 

 would be scanty indeed — a matter of importance where such 

 things are much in demand. 



Asparagus and Sea-kale never looked more healthy, though 

 watering them was quite out of the question, but a slight salt- 

 ing about May has helped to keep the ground moister than it 

 would otherwise have been. 



A utumn Peas, we fear, will be thin and scarce, notwithstanding 

 all our trouble ; but Dwarf Kidney Beans and Scarlet Runners 

 are abundant, though in some cases suffering from the dryness. 

 We sowed Spinach, Tripoli Onions, Radishes, Turnips, 

 and Lettuces in well-pulverised soil, but to the depth of at 

 least 18 inches it was so dry that sowing in the usual way 

 would have been seed and labour thrown away. There could 

 be no vegetation until there was a good heavy rain, and we 

 may yet wait a long time for it. All the vegetables named 

 were sown in rather deep drills for the seed, the drills having 

 previously been well drenched with sewage put on twice at a 

 short interval between the applications. In about an hour the 

 surface of the watered drill was sufficiently dried to permit 

 sowing, and then the seeds were Blightly covered with the dry 

 soil at the sides. This encourages germination at once, and 

 the rootlets have something to entice them to go down. 



Cauliflowers. — Until lately we never had better, larger, more 

 compact heads ; but the heat and the dry air are becoming 

 rather too much, many of the heads losing compactness, and 

 coming like loose Sprouting Broccoli. Even a fair water- 

 ing with sewage has not in a good many cases arrested this 

 evU. In hot, dry summers August and the first half of Sep- 

 tember are the most difficult times to obtain fine, compact 

 Cauliflowers. Partly on this account we like to gather all for 

 preserving and pickling early. In the cooler times — towards the 

 end of autumn, the Cauliflowers will again be close and crisp. 

 A dripping, rather shady summer suits the Cauliflower best. 



Potatoes. — All the early kinds have proved extra fine, pro- 

 lific, and clean. With us the later kinds will be smaller than 

 usual, especially where, from crowding, they scarcely had 

 justice. It was astonishing to find such masses of tubers in 

 soil so dry that it might have come from a hot oven. In many 

 cases the small feeding fibres had gone to a good depth. A few 

 tubers have commenced growing again, a sure sign that they 

 will do no more good by remaining. We noticed this among a 

 few of the Walnut-leaved Kidney, and had them taken up 

 forthwith, as they are ripe enough. Still, but for the above, we 

 would have given them a week or ten days more to make the 

 tubers more mealy. 

 Most of such ground, though very dry, we have planted with 



