October 18, 1870. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



291 



the surface soil extends ; then saturate the subsoil with water, 

 and next thoroughly pulverise the soil intended for filling in 

 round the root. After this is completed rake together a body 

 of tree leaves, weeds, sticks, &c, and throw 3 or 4 inches 

 (sometimes a foot), to the bottom of the hole to set the ball or 

 roots on, putting little or no soil beneath the tree. The tree 

 being carefully removed — not a fibre suffered to dry if possible 

 during the operation — is placed on the leaves, and the process 

 of filling up commences. Decayed vegetable matter is mixed 

 with the soil ; this is sometimes obtained on the spot by raking 

 or paring the surface of the ground contiguous. The soil, being 

 in a mellow state, is slightly trodden as the filling proceeds, 

 and when filled level with the ball, or rather above it, the whole 

 receives a thorough watering, using several cans of water at 

 slight intervals. The next business, and a most important 

 affair, is to thoroughly stake the tree to prevent wind-waving. 

 When this is completed a thick mulching of half-rotten manure 

 or leaves will finish the process. Such trees should have one 

 thorough soaking of water in the early part of April, afterwards 

 they may be safely left to themselves. 



CONSEEVATOEY AND GEEENHOUSE. 



The climbers in the conservatory, at least some of the most 

 rambling, will now want a good dressing where they obstruct 

 the light in any material degree. Such as flower on the young 

 wood, and which are now in a ripening state, or approaching 

 a state of rest, may be pruned-in exceedingly closely. Such as 

 the late-blooming Passifloras, the Combretums, Eehites, Ipo- 

 mceas, Stephanotis, Thunbergias, Pergularias, and Mandevilla, 

 which are still thriving, must be regulated with a more gentle 

 hand, merely cutting off barren shoots, and drawing the re- 

 mainder into somewhat closer festoons, in order to admit sun- 

 light to the interior of the house. Some skill will be neces- 

 sary in the mixed greenhouse, especially at this period ; there 

 will be so many candidates for admission that confusion and 

 consequently failures will be inevitable, unless some things be 

 discarded or removed to a cold pit or plant hospital. Better 

 grow a few plants well than many badly. Now that the gems of 

 summer are gone, or are on the eve of departure, let a strict eye 

 be kept on those plants which, although of no botanical interest, 

 are yet of great importance as cheering the mind amid the 

 gloom of winter, when out of doors all appears a wreck. Let 

 all flowering plants be kept near the glass in the lightest situa- 

 tion to be found, and, if possible, let those from warm olimates 

 enjoy bottom heat until they commence flowering, when they 

 will do tolerably well without it. Let the stock of Pelargoniums 

 have abundance of air, and sink gradually down into a sort of 

 quiescent state, limiting the supply of water in proportion to 

 the decrease of light. Preparations for hard weather should 

 now be completed. All tender stock intended for protection 

 under glass should be at once placed in winter quarters, plung- 

 ing the pots, as before observed, in ashes or sawdust. A good 

 supply of garden mats should be immediately provided, for 

 although expensive they must be procured before frost. A 

 good stock of new sawdust should be laid by in a dry shed 

 to put round the stems of tender Roses or half-hardy plants. 

 It should always be obtained as new and fresh as possible, 

 but ought not to be applied to the plants for some time. 

 A dry time should, if possible, be chosen, as a casing of such 

 material immediately after heavy rains would probably be 

 very prejudicial, for confined damp is in many cases a greater 

 enemy than frost. Wooden shutters are very useful, whether 

 to lay on as a temporary framework to exclude wet and the 

 keenest of the frost, or to be employed instead of mats to cover 

 pits and frames. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 

 The barometer having stood high without moving for the 

 greater part of a fortnight, it fell considerably on the 7th and 

 the 8th, and that with little apparent cause, as but a small 

 quantity of rain has fallen, and there is no great appearance of 

 much more coming, while there is but little wind to account 

 for the change. It has induced us to look about, however, and 

 put things in order. 



KITCHEN GAEDEN. 



Before the rains came we took the opportunity to earth-up at 

 once a lot more Celery, so as to come in about three weeks hence, 

 using some burned refuse to go immediately round the stems 

 of the plants. This, with the previous lime-dusting, would help 

 to keep soft-skinned intruders away. Of course this dry rather 

 acrid material was quite cold before using it. a A very small 



quantity does for going round the Celery, if short lengths of old 

 semicircular tin or zinc spouting are set round the plants. The 

 earth is filled in in the usual way, using it well broken from 

 the sides, and when sufficiently high the dry fine soil or ashes 

 are put down inside the pipes, and when well pressed the pipes 

 are drawn up, and the soil formed round the ashes. This takes 

 more time than using the finely-pulverised earth alone, but it 

 secures closer, and, therefore, better-looking Celery. Though 

 not disapproving of large kinds, we still consider the Dwarf 

 White Incomparable the best for small gardens, it takes up so 

 little room, and requires so little earthing-np. A good plant 

 15 inches high will produoe from 10 to 12 inches of blanched 

 material for the table. 



Apprehending rain, some time was devoted to the removal of 

 Pea stakes where the crops were over, and of decayed leaves of 

 vegetables which could not well be pointed-in. We forked the 

 ground slightly among Cabbages, Coleworts, &c, so that the 

 rain should have free entrance when it came, instead of caking 

 the surface and running off. Planted also Lettuces and Cab- 

 bages to stand the winter, as the dry weather had deterred us 

 from doing so before, and we scattered a little soot and char- 

 coal dust among young Cauliflower plants, that the fly, so pre- 

 valent, should not molest them. It is rather singular how 

 capricious the Cabbage fly is in its tastes. We have a nice 

 piece of the Little Pixie Cabbage in one of our earth pits, where 

 it succeeded bedding plants, and though the little heads are 

 firm, not a fly appears on the foliage. Near to them, and in a 

 similar position, is a bed of the earliest Coleworts hearting 

 nicely, but these have been attacked several times with clouds 

 of fly. From our old Cabbage quarter, bristling with young 

 Cabbages, we could not gather a dish without having to wash 

 them well. If the rains do not help us, we shall give a clean- 

 ing to the quarter, and then syringe with soot or clear sewage 

 water. The youngest Cabbage plants are the most infested ; we 

 have had to syringe and dust them repeatedly with fine soot, to 

 save the little heart-point from the fly's ravages. On the 5th 

 and 6th the air was quite darkened here about 4 p.m. with small 

 flies. We have seen none on Savoys. 



Mushrooms. — As we cannot use our Mushroom house, we 

 have turned out the first piece we made in the open shed, and 

 filled again with material for another bed. That piece gave 

 us a fine lot of Mushrooms, but it is hard satisfying us, for 

 we expected it to bear a few weeks longer. On examining it, 

 however, the spawn seemed so run that we had little hopes of 

 what it would do, and more especially as the litter that formed 

 the chief part of the bed had heated itself rather dry. The 

 second piece has been producing several weeks, and the third 

 piece has been spawned and earthed-up. The first piece will 

 now form the fourth succession in the shed. As it will have 

 to produce after the cold weather sets in, we have made the 

 bed deeper — about 18 inches deep at the back, and 14 inches 

 deep in front. It is chiefly formed of litter, wetted sufficiently 

 with sewage to make it heat and sweeten, but not to decay too 

 much, and then surfaced with 2 inches of droppings. This, 

 watched before spawning will, we have no doubt, do well. The 

 roof of the shed, by keeping off wet and snow, renders the 

 management of the bed much easier than if the bed had been 

 a ridge out of doors. Such ridges must be well covered in 

 winter, and in all our district straw will be very scarce this 

 season. 



This is a good time to make Mushroom spawn, where the 

 cakes can be dried sufficiently before spawning them, but the 

 process all through has several times been described fully. All 

 who are contented with a small bed or two v,ill find it by far 

 the most economical way to obtain their spawn from a nursery- 

 man who takes a pride in sending out a good article. 



There is jast as much care required to make a few bushels 

 as in making hundreds or thousands of bushels, and it is here 

 that the large spawn-maker can sell cheaper than the small 

 maker. It is quite right to encourage work being done at 

 home for the benefit of the neighbourhood ; but provided home 

 work is plentiful, there are many things connected with a gar- 

 den which can be made more economically by machinery than 

 by hand labour. For instance, we like to see garden sashes 

 made in a carpenter's yard, with the use of the common tools ; 

 but no carpenter could compete in the matter of price with 

 sashes where the most of the work was done by steam machinery. 

 More will yet be done by acting on the division of labour 

 principle. The great drawback is that machinery, as in our 

 corn-thrashing machines, does at first lessen the amount of 

 labour required without lessening the number of labourers to 

 be employed. 



