September S, 1870. 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



189 



place until pretty well rooted, suffering the bulbs to barely 

 touch the water at first. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



The anticipated showers came greatly to our relief, freshen- 

 ing up everything out of doors. Parks and pastures are still 

 rather brown, but lawns are in some cases quite green, and in 

 others greenish yellow, with the green making headway. In some 

 places the rain has commenced to fill the pools and ponds, and 

 the water, dirty as it is, will be a great relief in many neigh- 

 bourhoods, where even the household washing in working men's 

 homes was becoming a serious matter, when every bucketful 

 of water had to be daily paid for. All vegetables feel the genial 

 influence of the showers and the cooler atmosphere. To make 

 amends for the loss of Peas, Scarlet Runners and Dwarf Kidney 

 Beans are exceedingly fine. Perhaps in the case of cottagers 

 and amateurs, and many of the former read these pages, we had 

 better modify a little what we said last week about pulling off 

 all pods too forward for use, especially as respects the Scarlet 

 Runners. A market gardener who largely supplies several towns 

 in this district called the other day, and said that Scarlet 

 Runner Beans must be scarce and expensive next season. He 

 never had poorer crops ; the extreme dryness h*d scorched up 

 everything. Even Scarlet Runuers were very poor, though 

 generally they used to yield abundantly. All but the first 

 early Cauliflower had been nowhere, and even now his winter 

 vegetables looked miserable; the young Cabbages, too, were 

 eaten up with oaterpillars, and whole clouds of fly lodged in the 

 hearts and destroyed the vitality of the plants. It will be well, 

 therefore, for small growers who have healthy Scarlet Run- 

 ners, to allow some of the oldest pods near the base to ripen 

 their seed. We fear that in many cases the plants are too 

 far gone, and so eaten up with red spider as to be of little avail, 

 and in that case it is of little use retaining them where a row 

 of good winter Greens could take their place. Owing partly to 

 the stiff character of the ground, our Scarlet Runners were 

 never better, being tall, and covered with pods. If these frosty 

 mornings continue, we shall most likely suspend over them a 

 rough straw band — that is, a band with a good deal of straw left 

 outside of the band, so as to arrest free radiation upwards. By 

 such means, even after frequent frosts, we have gathered in 

 November. Where cottagers oannot save a few seeds, owing to 

 the plants being too much exhausted, if the roots are still fresh 

 and fleshy they might save themselves buying seed at a high 

 price, by lifting the roots, and packing them in dry earth in 

 any place where frost did not reach them. A good many would 

 begin to push in April, and when planted out would produce 

 rather earlier than plants raised from seed. Some also say that 

 such roots yield more profusely than plants raised from seed ; 

 but we cannot say so from our own experience, having generally 

 found plants from seed the most productive. 



Caterpillars, Fly, and Slugs. — There are many complaints 

 that, besides being smaller than usual, all the Cabbage and 

 Broccoli tribes are eaten-up by these depredators. One gentle- 

 man told us the other day, that the leaves of his Broccoli and 

 Cauliflower were quite riddled with holes, and that after much 

 perseverance in picking off caterpillars. For several days 

 we had a goodly company of white butterflies, which are so 

 partial to depositing their eggs on the Cabbage tribe. When 

 we had little boys in the garden we used to send them to hunt 

 down the butterflies, whioh was as good as play to the boys at 

 first. We did not adopt any such plan this year, and we have 

 been troubled with scarcely any caterpillars as yet. The 

 butterfly is rather a fine gentleman or lady, and is rather par- 

 ticular as to scent. We attribute our comparative freedom 

 from insects to the scent from a little soot and half-burned 

 charred refuse scattered over the ground on some parts of the 

 garden ; this we think, deterred the butterfly from alighting. 



As a whole, we have never known a season in which so few 

 slugs and snails were to be seen. The dryness taught them to 

 keep down where they could find moisture. Now we see traces 

 of them, though not at all plentiful. All the soft molluscs are 

 deterred from crawling on rough surfaces, such as fresh-stirred 

 ground, and more especially if a little rough ashes and lime 

 are strewed over it. Fresh lime will kill them and worms 

 when it reaches them, though sometimes a big snail will escape 

 by quickly getting rid of its outside skin. They may be easily 

 collected on handfuls of fresh brewers' grains, to which they 

 are very partial, or beneath young Cabbage leaves slightly 



heated and greased on the under side before laying them down, 

 and going round with a lantern at night or early in the morn- 

 ing. There is a hard slug or snail with a yellowish-brown 

 belly that nothing seems to kill. There is nothing for it but 

 catching or trapping in some of the above ways. Fortunately 

 it is fond of marching on hard substances, such as a firm, 

 smooth gravel walk, and thus numbers may be picked up in a 

 damp morning. Though injurious, we never found them so 

 voracious as the softer common slug. 



As yet grubs have not troubled ns much this season. Per- 

 haps we have had to replace a score of Cabbage plants, after 

 finding the grub at the roots. All the slug tribe have as yet 

 been scarce, though we hear they are plentiful in some places. 

 We found to-day clusters of bluish fly in the hearts of the 

 young fresh-planted Cabbages. We shall syringe them forcibly 

 with clear lime and soot water. A little water will go a great 

 way, and a double dose will generally settle them. A little 

 soot and quicklime in powder scattered over them will do the 

 same, but sometimes that is rather too much for young plants, 

 and less or more it daubs up the leaves, and in bright weather 

 is apt to scald them at times. The syringing with the caustic 

 water is the cleanest mode, and does the young plants least 

 harm. We have noticed a few Cauliflower plants with the 

 heads just forming thus attacked with fly, and in their case we 

 would use clear soot water, as dusting or even fresh lime water 

 miaht affect the colour, if not the tenderness of the head. 



We tied up our earliest Celery, and ere long will earth-up 

 the first bed, the tying having already commenced the blanch- 

 ing. We are much later than usual, owing to dryness and 

 the scarcity of water ; but as yet we see no sign of a plant 

 bolting, which we attribute greatly to the shade given by green 

 branches, &c. 



FEUIT DEPARTMENT. 



Flies and a few waBps make holes in the best fruit in the 

 open air, but are pretty well excluded from that under glass by 

 gauze netting over the openings. It is well, therefore, to com- 

 mence gathering early Apples, Pears, and Plums before they are 

 dead ripe, and before they drop. They eat all the more juicy 

 if gathered a short time before they are thoroughly ripe. All 

 dropped fruit is less or more injured by falling. The best 

 Plums, Peaches, and Nectarines that drop are good enough for 

 oooking purpose, but a Plum for the dessert will look all the 

 better with the stalk attached to the fruit, and the bloom un- 

 injured. Even an Apple can scarcely fall without leaving a mark 

 or bruise, which, if not seen before, is sure to be seen when peeled. 

 We have Beveral times gone over Red Quarrendens and Kerry 

 Pippins, both good Apples in their way. A little practice 

 enables the gatherer to pick the ripest as if by instinct. To 

 keep the stalk to Plums a sharp knife or small scissors are 

 necessary. The stalk is just as essential to completeness as 

 the 6talk is to the Melon. A fine fruit of the latter looks in- 

 complete without it. 



We gathered in the last days of August a few Peaches from 

 the open wall. We fear we shall not be able to keep the fruit 

 in the orchard houses so late as usual. With double glass roofs 

 much might be done in the way of retarding, as the extreme 

 heat would be kept out, and yet the light allowed to pass to 

 give perfection in colouring. Owing to the heat and dryness 

 our fruit are ripening faster than we wished them to do. ■ 



Strawberries. — The plants turned out of pots have yielded 

 some good gatherings, but nothing to what they would have 

 done in an ordinary season," or if we could have watered them 

 freely. There are plenty of runners coming now. All the 

 earliest-potted Strawberry plants, having pretty well filled the 

 pots with a mass of roots, have received manure waterings, and 

 lately each pot has received over the soil a pinch of soot held 

 between the thumb and two fingers. It is best to err on the 

 safe side, and not give too much, as two dressings are better 

 than one large one. These will be washed down with frequent 

 waterings for a month, and if by rain now and then all the 

 better. The scent of the soot keeps many intruders away, and 

 few manures are so successful in imparting a rich green to the 

 foliage. Perfecting growth should be the main object this 

 month, and ripening the buds the chief object at the end of 

 September and the beginning of October. AH runners from 

 plants in pots have been cat off. as in such a case they are ex- 

 hausters rather than feeders, and were we to allow them to act 

 as feeders we should so far neutralise our object, as they would 

 continue growth and promote luxuriance when we wish the 

 early ripening of the plant, to make it fruitful early in the 

 spring. Our object should be by healthy foliage first to secure 

 a strong, well-shaped bud, and then to mature it early. With- 



