December 22, lb70. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



491 



Turnips are required, a crop or two may be brought forward on 

 a gentle hotbed, but generally a first sowing on a cool border 

 under the shelter of a north wall early in March, is soon 

 enough. The method which I have found to answer best, is to 

 sow small beds in the same way as for summer Lettuce — that 

 is, immediately on the appearance of the first crop above 

 ground, to sow another, and so on throughout the summer. 

 This may seem a simple matter, but it is highly important ; 

 for the production of a thoroughly good succession of vegetables 

 is an object worthy the ambition of every gardener, and one 

 which is calculated to cause his servioes to be appreciated. 



Another plan to which I have already alluded, and which 

 was of the greatest possible service, is that of potting Buch 

 things as Lettuce, Cauliflower, Early Dwarf Savoys, and Little 

 Pixie Cabbage. Succession crops of these were constantly 

 brought on in 4-inch pots filled with either leaf mould or old 

 decayed manure. The pots were filled and placed wherever 

 there was a chance of shelter from the midday sun. I re- 

 member somebody objecting to it on the score of the amount of 

 labour entailed, but I have found it a saving of both labour 

 and water; even if it were not so, I would still keep to it, be- 

 cause of its certainty. Strong plants turned out into their 

 permanent quarters with such capital balls of roots as these in- 

 variably possess are almost certain to succeed. 



After giving much attention to the preparation of seed Po- 

 tatoes during the past two seasons, my deductions are — 1st, 

 Always to select the seed at the time of lifting the crop. 2nd, 

 Never to store early or second early sorts in close heaps, other- 

 wise they will sprout quickly, even before winter sets in. 3rd, 

 Never to lay the seed in a damp dark cellar, but always to 

 spread it in single layers if possible, in a cool, tolerably light, 

 airy, frost-proof shed. The Potato crop of this year was most 

 abundant; all kinds attained maturity early, and were lifted 

 and housed in excellent condition altogether free from blight. 

 At Egerton House, even the latest kinds were in the store 

 house by the third week in August, yet when I came into 

 Sussex, a month later, I saw many large breadths in the fields, 

 with very green haulm ; in several instances these crops were 

 not lifted till late in October, and a large proportion of blighted 

 tubers was the result. The loss thus incurred was bad enough, 

 to say nothing of a second crop of Turnips, which might very 

 easily have been gained had the Potato crop ripened early in 

 August. — Edward Lcckhurst, Old Lands, Buxted, Susses. 



GROUND VINERIES. 



I quite agree with what the Editors say at page 457, " Instead 

 of anyone entering largely on ground vineries they would 

 sooner front a wall with glass, where a person could walk in- 

 -side and attend to the Vines in all weathers." I believe I am 

 stated to be the inventor of ground vineries, but it was only a 

 passing thought, and I never carried out the system, although 

 I went so far as to have a frame made of angle iron, which I 

 see is still in existence, but under which a Vine was never 

 planted. I cannot perceive that the slightest improvement has 

 ever been made on this, the first structure, the four iron legs 

 of which were so contrived as to admit of their being pushed 

 into the earth, so as either to give freedom of ventilation or 

 exclude it altogether. The objections I had to the system were 

 that the Vine would be too confined ; that gardeners would not 

 like the stooping position for thinning the berries and foliage ; 

 that the bunches could not be seen so well as when the Vine 

 grew upright on each side of a glass structure ; and that the 

 Grapes were liable to be mildewed in damp weather by being 

 too near the earth. Tfie only thing I could see in favour of 

 these structures was, that any person could make one for a few 

 shillings . — Obsekyek. 



SALES AT COTTAGE-GARDEN SHOWS. 

 I write in the hope that some of your contributors inter- 

 ested in the subject of cottage flower shows will kiudly inform 

 me what is the plan adopted by them with respect to the sale 

 of produce. I act as Seoretary for one lately established, and 

 we have adopted the plan of putting up to auction after the 

 show such things as the exhibitors are willing to sell, and this 

 plan seems to answer well enough where the number of articles 

 is small ; but when the number of exhibitors is considerable, 

 as it is with us, the sale takes eo long that many of the visitors 

 are gone before it is half over, and, besides that, people become 

 tired of continually bidding for Carrots and Potatoes, which 



they do not want. The consequence is that the first lots 

 realise much better prices than the last, and the people are 

 dissatisfied. At the same time it seems desirable to afford 

 to the cottagers some opportunity of disposing of their pro- 

 duce, as it gives them a little encouragement, aud those coming 

 from a distance, especially, do not care to carry what they ex- 

 hibit home again. 



If anyone can give me a suggestion on the subject I shall 

 feel much obliged. — Hortcs. 



THE PURPLE BEECH. 



The various tints which deciduous trees assume when in the 

 sere and yellow leaf have often enough been a theme both in 

 poetry and in prose, but has not the foliage of trees charms 

 at other times as well ? Who has traversed London in spring, 

 and not been enchanted by the fresh green foliage of a La- 

 burnum or Wistaria, perhaps growing agiinst the wall of a 

 residence in an uninviting part of the town, where the very 

 freshness of the new-born foliage contrasts so strongly with 

 the smoke-stained objects around ? and somehow the leaves 

 look fresher there than they do in the country, where other 

 things are less begrimed. But even foliage affords variety, 

 and certainly quite as many tints in the growing season as in 

 the autumn. 



I will now point out one of the most ornamental of all our 

 hardy trees, and ask the reason why it is not planted in greater 

 numbers, for its merits in giving diversity to a landscape are 

 very great. 



Tbe Purple Beech has, I believe, been known in England for 

 a great many years, examples of it are often met with in 

 shrubberies and lawns, and in all cases that I am awure of it 

 is appreciated ; yet it i3 but seldom planted, or when it is, 

 some out-of-the-way place is assigned to it, in order that it 

 may with other trees hide unsightly objects. With this I by no 

 means find fault, provided it has an outside berth, so that its 

 branches may have scope in one direction ; and its beauties 

 will shine in such a place as well as any other. A tree of this 

 kind grouped with others looks remarkably well, and I would 

 always have one or more Purple Beeches in the front row of 

 any clump or group of trees formed in a park, or wherever 

 ornament was considered — that is, if the soil were at all suit- 

 able, and the tree is far from being fastidious in this matter 

 In May, Jane, and July, when the country is expected to appear 

 in its best garb, the Purple Beeches, wherever they do exiBt, 

 are invariably much admired. I do not mean to say an entire 

 plantation would look well, it would be too sombre, but a few 

 trees might be introduced with great advantage. 



To those who may be dubious of the Purple Beech attaining 

 the dimensions of a tree I may mention that a specimen in the 

 grounds at Linton Park, planted, I believe, in 1827, is now one 

 of the finest trees we have ; branches proceed from its stem at 

 about 5 feet from the ground, and stretch out more than 30 feet 

 in every direction. The spread of its branches in one direction 

 is 73 feet and in another 67, while the circumference of the 

 smallest part of the bole below the branches (and this is above 

 where it had been worked), is 10 feet 10 inches, and the htight 

 of the tree must be about 70 feet, the outline being more conical 

 than is usual with Beech trees. The situation, fortunately, is 

 open, so that the branches have had full scope to spread on all 

 sides, the soil dry, and the subsoil accessible to the roots of trees 

 that strike downwards. As this tree has grown very much 

 duriDg the last twenty years, and seems now the picture of 

 health, there is every reason to hope that it will eventually 

 attain, or very nearly so (for it rarely happens fancy varieties do 

 so), the proportions of the common Beech. Even now it may be 

 regarded a good specimen, the colour of its foliage when it first 

 expands being all that could be desired. I may, however, 

 remark that seedlings from it vary much, none I have yet 

 raised being so good as the parent. — J. Bobson. 



Vegetables for the Beseiged. — M. Decaisne, Professor 

 of Culture at the Museum, says Nature, has laid before the 

 French Institute, ot which he is a member, a scheme for the 

 early growing of Cabbages, Badishes, &c, which are to be sown 

 in land richly manured, kept for a fortnight, and used stem 

 and root, as a new description of vegetable. This diet is in- 

 tended to protect Parisians against scurvy when the use of salt 

 beef becomes still more frequent than it is now. The working 

 of this scheme is superintended by M. Joigneaux, the editor of 



