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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Angnst 25, 1870. 



ground, to be ready for planting when rain comes, or we can 

 obtain water. Frequent hoeing, even though there be few or no 

 weeds, greatly helps to prevent the escape of what moisture is 

 left in the soil. In ground which had been rather heavily 

 cropped, we found scarcely a trace of moisture at the depth of 

 18 inches. Planting, without being able to water, was out of the 

 question. We find all round here that Potatoes are beginning 

 to grow again ; the sooner they are taken up the better, as the 

 tubers become hard and stringy when fresh ones are allowed to 

 come from them. 



FRUIT GAP.DEN. 



Many trees, as Peaches on walls, are so suffering from these 

 dry bright days that we would have soaked the roots if we 

 could have done so. We may have to resort to some mode of 

 shading to preserve the crop, but unless a change come soon 

 all fruit will be smaller than usual. Trees in houses, whether 

 in pots or otherwise, have been greatly assisted by slightly 

 shading the glass with whitened water. We have been forced 

 to apply it to almost every house, to enable us to do with as 

 little moisture as possible. We have used gauze netting for ven- 

 tilators, in some cases removing the ventilators — to keep wasps 

 and flies out, but now, after doing this, few wasps are to be 

 seen again, though for three or four days they were in myriads. 

 Melons, as a rule, have been good this season, being none the 

 worse, perhaps, of having had less of the syringe than usual. 

 It must be pretty well put aside when water haB to be carried 

 from three to four miles. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



With a little picking flower beds and borders still look very 

 well in places where Peas have been burnt up as if with a hot 

 blast from a furnace, and even Cabbages blue-coloured and 

 hard. With rain to refresh the grass, the flower garden will 

 stand out the season. We are doubtful as to the results with 

 another ten days of this weather. The lawns have neither been 

 mown nor machined for a long time, except in the ease of 

 little pieces here and there, that were too long for the daisy 

 knife to manage. It was altogether too dry for Daisies to show 

 themselves, but Bents, Plantains, and the pretty yellow Lotus 

 corniculatus would appear, and the knife soon settled them. 



Walks. — These have needed little care this season, but we 

 were apprehensive that they might trouble us in the autumn 

 if it should prove damp and drizzly, and then walks are diffi- 

 cult to clean. We have had them all put in good order, which 

 we generally do rather earlier in the season. The sides were 

 neatly cut, the walks hard-swept, and then a slight sprinkling 

 of salt was thrown all over them, followed by enough of fine 

 sandy gravel passed through a half-inch sieve ; the back of a 

 rake was passed over this, and then they were rolled when dry. 

 As soon as rain enough comes to wet the walks they will be 

 swept to take out all inequalities, and when well rolled will 

 give little more trouble through the autumn and winter. By 

 adopting this plan we rarely break the surface of these walks, 

 and in general they are dry, smooth, and pleasant to walk 

 on in all weathers. The slight sprinkling of hard sandy 

 gravel causes them to look bright and fresh, especially after 

 they have been rolled when damp. But for that sprinkling 

 we would not salt walks so late, as they would be apt to be 

 damp, and even to adhere to the feet in winter. The slight 

 sprinkling of sand above the salt neutralises that tendency, 

 whilst it also insures the salt being equally absorbed instead 

 of being washed to the sides. Salt when merely scattered 

 over the surface acts most effectually when so scattered in dry 

 weather. It is also the easiest way to apply it, and the salt is 

 quite as effectual as when presented in a strong solution of hot 

 or cold water, which we could not contemplate. Even in dry 

 weather the salt will disappear in a few days. It is no orna- 

 ment to the walks, however, so long as it remains white, and it 

 does not do to traverse walks and lawns alternately. The 

 slight covering of sand remedies both inconveniences ; it also 

 ensures^ a dry surface instead of a clammy one in winter. 



Nowis a good time to sow Mignonette for winter and spring 

 blooming, Stocks for spring blooming, and many hardy annuals, 

 &c., to be protected a little in winter. Such as Schizanthus, 

 Collinsia, Clarkia, Nemophila, as well as Wallflowers, potted, 

 come in useful for cut flowers in spring, and good pots of them 

 in full bloom look very well. A fine specimen of Collinsia 

 bicolor might grace any drawing-room. 



Pinks, Cloves, Carnations, and Picotees. — We are rather late 

 with cuttings of these this season. The better kinds of Car- 

 nations and Picotees do best layered if suitable "graBs"can 

 be had, but they strike freely enough as cuttings, and a cutting 

 can often be obtained when a layer could not be made without 



some trouble. Pinks and Cloves of all kinds may be struck 

 now, either under hand-lights or in a frame, if just a little 

 mild bottom heat be given them. They will do planted out 

 in fresh sandy soil, with a little sand at the top. If at all 

 doubtful, the best Cloves and Carnations might as well be put 

 round the sides of a small well-drained pot, and the pot be 

 plunged, for then there is the advantage that you can renew the 

 mild heat if it be wanted. Where space in a frame can be 

 spared, this plan involves far less trouble on the whole than 

 layering. 



No kind of cuttings can be more quickly made. It is seldom 

 that a knife need touch them. We think that years ago we 

 detailed the simple process, which also has the advantage of 

 mutilating to the least possible extent the old plant. Proceed 

 thus : — Take hold of the shoot that you are to take the cutting 

 from in your left hand, to keep it firm and steady, and take the 

 point of the shoot in your right hand near to the second joint, 

 give a sharp pull, and out it comes at the joint cleaner and 

 more neatly than ever you could cut it with a knife after much 

 stripping of leaves. Sometimes a little film may be left at one 

 side, and that should be removed with a clean knife. In general 

 nothing whatever is wanted, but the cutting or piping will be 

 in the best possible condition for planting. A clever lad will 

 slip out these cuttings as quickly as one can write a letter in one 

 of these words. 



Propagating Bedding Plants. — This must often depend on 

 circumstances. Where there are reserve gardens for cut flowers, 

 it may be done early. We have not such a garden, and there 

 is always a little reluctance to spoil the contour of a bed or 

 border, which taking many cuttings from a small place is sure 

 to do. On the same principle the question may be settled as 

 to the advisability of taking large or small cutting3. Had we 

 plenty of room for wintering, and other matters suitable, we 

 would take off strong cuttings of Scarlet Geraniums, insert 

 them at once in small pots, and winter them in these pots. 

 We might save time at first by planting the cuttings in an open 

 border, and then lifting and potting, but ultimately we should 

 gain but little, and the plants struck in a border are likely to be 

 more succulent than those struck in a pot. One advantage of 

 large cuttings is, that provided some of the larger leaves are 

 removed, they need little or no protection or shading, as 

 there will be enough of moisture stored up in the cuttings to 

 enable them to bear sun and air before roots are formed. Even 

 light drooping does them little harm. We seldom, however, 

 for reasons indicated, take large cuttings, and thus we break as 

 little as possible the outline of the bed, and save a great many 

 in little room in winter, but we give them a little help in spring. 

 Some gentlemen looking at large plants in vigorous growth 

 in beds would scarcely credit that these plants were cuttings 

 from lj to 2 J inches in length last September. These we 

 generally place thickly in pots and shallow boxe?, preferring 

 the latter, leaving them about l£ inch apart. The cuttings 

 when obtainable are chiefly short, stubby side shoots slipped 

 off close to the stouter stems, and most of these cuttings, 

 therefore, will have the point or axis of growth. With such 

 small cuttings, especially of the variegated Geraniums, it is 

 well to protect them at first with old sashes, mats, or calico, 

 the last the best, until the base of the cuttings swell so as to 

 be ready to protrude roots. 



With such plants as Verbenas, Heliotropes, Pentstemons, 

 Salvias, Iresines, Coleus, &c, we prefer the small side shoots 

 as cuttings, and such plants as Verbenas we put in more closely 

 than Geraniums, seldom giving them more room until spring, 

 when they are cropped for more cuttings, and encouraged with 

 weak manure-waterings. The most of these plants are the 

 better of being placed under glass, kept close during snnshine, 

 and, if near the glass, shaded. If from 20 to 24 inches from 

 the glass they will not need shading if given a skiff from the 

 syringe about midday. We like to get these at least partly in 

 before we begin with Geraniums, as they always succeed beBt 

 when struck cool — that is, in a cold pit or frame without any 

 artificial heat. The heat of the sun during the day we neu- 

 tralise by keeping them cool at night — by giving air then, the 

 best of all securities against damping. From C or 7 p.m. to 

 7 or 8 a.m. the young cuttings will bear a little air well, and 

 be all the more robust in consequence. 



We frequently use small pots, as 60's and 48's, for Verbenas, 

 and sometimes shift into larger pots when the cuttings are well 

 struck, but we prefer wooden boxes averaging 3 inches deep for 

 our main stores, and just of the size we can find wood to suit, 

 but averaging a foot in width and 2£ to 3 feet in length. The 

 pots are generally filled from a fourth to a third with drainage, 



