December 20, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



467 









WEEKLY CALENDAR. 









Day Day 



of 1 of 

 Month Week. 



DECEMBER, 20 



-26, 



1877. 







Arem (re 



Temperature near 



London. 



Sun 



Rises. 



Sun 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's ! , c, ° c> 



Age. 1 b j >,ore 



c | Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year. 

















Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



h. m. 



h m . 



h. m. 



h. m. 



Davs . 



m. a. 





20 



Th 



Sale of Orchids at Stevens's Rooms. 









44-1 



33.6 



889 



8 6 



3 00 



3 27 



8 81 







2 2 



354 



21 



F 



St. Thomas. 











44.1 



84 



39.0 



8 fi 



3 51 



4 45 



9 22 



j7 



1 32 



855 



22 



B 













45.0 



82.5 



8S.7 



8 7 



3 51 



6 IS 



9 58 



18 



1 2 



356 



23 



Sun 4 Sunday in Advent. 











44.1 



31.7 



87 a 



8 7 



8 52 



7 43 



10 24 



19 



82 



357 



24 



M 











44.0 



81.3 



37.6 



8 8 



3 52 



9 11 



10 43 



20 



8 



85S 



25 



Tu Christmas Day. 











434 



29.4 



86.4 



8 8 



3 53 



10 37 



10 58 



21 



before 



359 



26 



W | St. Stephen. Bank Holiday. 











43.2 



314 



37.3 



8 8 



3 54 



Morn. 



11 12 



22 



57 



360 j 

 ture 



From observations taken near London 



during forty 



three 



years, the average day temperature 



of the week is 4'3.9° ; and 



its night tempera 



S3.4-. 

















KITCHEN-GARDEN NOTES. 



XCEPTIONALLY cold and prolonged wet 

 weather has not been without its effect 

 upon kitchen-garden crops, all of which 

 have suffered more or less from the in- 

 clemency of the weather. 



Potatoes were late. The early crops 

 were not particularly large, hut good in 

 quality, and free from disease up to the 

 middle of August, after which the murrain 

 became very virulent both in the earlies 

 and second early varieties, they with the late kinds being 

 fully three-quarters diseased, and in some instances, par- 

 ticularly in rich and moist soil, .scarcely affording the 

 quantity of sound tubers equal to the seed. The best 

 early was Veitch's Ashleaf, good alike for forcing or out- 

 doors. Early White Kidney (Fenn) is a capital sort, 

 forcing well and cropping heavily. I have tried most 

 early round sorts, but have not found one at all equal to 

 the kidney kinds either in earliness, quality, or produc- 

 tiveness. The best second early was the old Lapstone, 

 it cropped heavily, and was of superior quality. In 

 second early round kinds Rector of Woodstock bore-off 

 the palm, and Snowflake was excellent both as to quality 

 and produce. Those were the best out of over twenty 

 kinds which had been selected from that number multi- 

 plied by ten. The kinds named are the very cream of 

 garden Potatoes, quality and productiveness considered. 



Peas.— Late, but excellent up to September. We did 

 not gather until June 2Sth from William I., an excellent i 

 sort, and from Shah, which is a wrinkled Marrow, a few 

 days later. It is a good cropping variety, about 2J feet 

 high, and of superior quality. First and Best proved 

 very good, and is one of the hardiest and most useful of 

 the first earlies, though for quality I prefer William I. 

 Alpha did not do so well as usual; it, as Mr. Taylor states, 

 is not so hardy as some of the first and second earlies. 

 Dr. Hogg far excelled Alpha as a second early, and proved 

 first-rate. Dr. Maclean did the best of any Pea grown 

 this year, and I esteem it the best of all Peas for quality 

 and crop. Standard gave a heavy crop of well-filled pods 

 of peas of exquisite flavour ; but its constitution does not 

 appear of the hardiest. Marvel had a superior crop of 

 the highest quality. That good old sort Veitch's Per- 

 fection showed what it could do in a wet cold season ; it 

 cropped well and continued bearing for a long time. It 

 is still one of the very best Peas grown. Fillbasket pro- 

 duced an immense crop, but the peas were said to be old 

 when in reality they were not so old as Dr. Maclean and 

 Veitch's Perfection by several days. It does not boil 

 well, and is sure to be rejected when the wrinkled peas 

 of the same age are pitted against it. Prince of Wales 

 (Dwarf Prolific) yielded to none in profusion and quality. 

 G. F. Wilson was not good this cold wet season ; its pods 

 were short and badly filled ; and Omega was little better. 

 Premier, preceded by Best-of-All, were both excellent. 

 Supplanter produced its immense pods sparingly, and 

 they were not very well filled. Of the above, which 



No. 873.— Vol. XXXIII., New Series. 



vary from 3 to 4 feet in height, I should select, were I 

 stinted to three kinds, William I., Dr. Maclean, and 

 Omega or Veitch's Perfection, the first two named being 

 the best for producing early and successive crops through- 

 out the season if only two kinds are required. Amongst 

 taller-growing sorts Culverwell's Prolific Marrow grew 

 8 to 9 feet high, and gave a quantity of its rather short 

 well-filled pods of very large peas of unsurpassed quality. 

 Ne Plus Ultra grew rank; the wet was too much for this 

 very excellent late kind, which was not so good as usual ; 

 indeed we ceased gathering peas daily after the 16th of 

 September, and the last dish was obtained on October 

 12th. The parallel between this year and last as to late 

 Peas was very marked, both summers having been cold 

 and wet. 



Broad Beans were tardy in growth, and blanks pre- 

 vailed in the early crops in consequence of the weak 

 germinating power of the seed. The late crops that 

 should have corne-ia in September were failures owing to 

 excessive wet which prevailed at the flowering period. 

 Seville Long-pod must be pronounced a failure in the 

 north ; it is a scanty cropper, and its long pods tell very 

 little as compared for productiveness with Early Long- 

 pod, which is quite as early. Monarch is a very superior; 

 kind, and a true stock of the Improved Windsor is not 

 yet surpassed. 



Dwarf Kidney Beans. — With too much wet and with- 

 out warmth they came to little. Osborn's New Forcing 

 was the best; but when forced, and also for the early 

 crops outdoors, Williams's Early Prolific was good, and 

 produced longer pods. Negro Long-podded fully sustained 

 its character as a good main and late sort, as did Cana- 

 dian Wonder ; but all were very much below an average 

 yield. 



Bunner Beans were not equal to a quarter of their 

 usual productiveness. Scarlet Champion was surpassed by 

 a new kind which I had for trial with white flowers and 

 white ripe Beed. Premier Runner I have grown during 

 several years, and though it is very prolific it is not in 

 favour at table. Mont d'Or Butter Beans have failed; 

 they require a warmer season than has this year been 

 experienced in the north. 



Cauliflowers have been superb, none surpassing 

 Walcheren ; indeed none other need be grown for affording 

 a succession from June to December inclusive. Veitch's 

 Self-protecting Auturnn Broccoli is, however, a hardier and 

 excellent late kind. 



Cabbages. — It has been a good season for all these. 

 They started slowly, but afterwards grew luxuriantly. 

 Heartwell Cabbage sown in spring has given and is giving 

 grand heads now, very tender and deliriously flavoured. 

 'Jh-re will be no scarcity of Winter Greens, and though 

 Savoys may be somewhat small in size they are very 

 firm. Hill's Incomparable, and Wheeler's Cocoa-nut,, 

 with Heartwell (Carter), I consider the best of Cabbages 

 for spriug, summer, or autumn. In Savoys Drumhead k 

 good, but not so hardy as Green Curled. Brussels Sprouts 

 are shorter than UBual, but the sprouts are unsually 

 compact. The kind grown is Scrymger's Giant. I sow 



No. 1526.— Von. LVIII., Old Series. 



