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JOUBNAL OP HOBTICTJLTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ July 4, 1872. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



Alpine plants in pots should now have a little attention. 

 These miniature beauties are fully entitled to and deserve all 

 the care they require ; they add not a little to the beauty of the 

 flower garden during the spring months, for "though small 

 they are lovely gems." They should now be collected together. 

 Some will require division of the roots to increase the species. 

 Many -will require weeding and top-dressing, and others shift- 

 ing into larger-sized pots ; finally, plunge the pots up to the 

 rim in sand, or finely-sifted coal ashes if sand is a scarce 

 material. They should now he regularly syringed with clean 

 water early in the morning and late every evening. These re- 

 peated waterings will tend to cool the atmosphere in the frames, 

 as the majority of these plants grow in high altitudes, and are 

 indigenous to northern countries. Keep a watchful eye after 

 slugs, mice, and other vermin that generally find a refuge in 

 this quarter at the present season. Keep store plants in a healthy 

 state by paying attention to watering and the destruction of 

 insects. Collect all empty pots together, and have them tho- 

 roughly washed before they are stored away. — TV. Keane. 



DOINGS OP THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Souse Sewage. — As instanced the other week, we are no 

 admirers of cesspools and dirty water near a cottage door or 

 window, but we have no hesitation in saying that the contents 

 of such a receptacle of dirty water, be it a covered hole or 

 barrel at the farthest distance from the house, when applied 

 to the rougher-growing vegetables not too strong, will nearly 

 double the weight of the produce, and even a heavy watering, 

 though somewhat strong, is soon deodorised by the earth. 

 All our experience leads to the conclusion that such rich 

 waterings mainly affect growing crops. If size were a chief 

 object we could do almost anything with Cauliflowers, Cab- 

 bages, &c, by a free use of rich sewage. For the cottager and 

 his family a huge Cauliflower will never be a drawback, but 

 the gentleman's gardener must be careful not to sacrifice the 

 idea of quality to quantity. When we frequently see rich 

 dark-colom'ed liquid running to waste, we wish that some 

 cottager had it at the roots of his Cabbages and Beans. 



Staking Scarlet Runners. — A little stopping when these are 



3 or 4 feet in height keeps them more at home, and renders 

 them more productive. Staking should always take place in 

 good time, as soon as the shoots run fairly off, and we like to 

 see the noble lines ; but those who have not stakes need not 

 despair. We have gathered quite as many pods from rows 



4 feet apart and not staked at all. These we topped several 

 times, and the chief precaution was mulching with clean 

 Utter or long grass to keep the pods clean. We know that it 

 is a common practice after gathering the pods to wash them, 

 or put them in water when sliced, and let them lie some time. 

 If the pods are quite clean, the less they have of water before 

 they are tumbled iuto the boiling liquid holding a little car- 

 bonate of soda in solution, the richer will be the flavour. When 

 we used to go more from home than we do now, we wished 

 that some one would teach the proprietors of inns and hotels, 

 and gardeners' wives too, how to cook vegetables. The late 

 Mr. Loudon used to say that not one lady of the house in 

 twenty knew anything of the matter. We have too often seen 

 what , when sent from the garden , must have been fine vegetables , 

 hardly fit for being placed in a hogtub ; for the hog, despised 

 though he often is, has his ideas of the tasteful and the nice. 



Peas. — The hot weather, with occasional heavy showers, has 

 been all in favour of this queen of vegetables. For many years 

 we have run a tight race with the ducklings, but with out-door 

 Peas we were beaten this year, the ducklings being ready be- 

 fore our Peas were sufficiently swelled. As regards gathering 

 Peas, some men are perfect savages, pulling the pods off as if 

 the strength of a giant were required for such a lilliput affair. 

 The greater the strain on the stem of the Pea, the greater the 

 injury to succession of pods. No better or simpler plan has 

 ever been devised than taking a clean, small, open knife in the 

 hand, and severing the footstalk of the Pea between the knife 

 and the thumb. One word more : The gatherer should see that 

 all the pods are uniform in size and age, otherwise no cook can 

 boil them properly. We have frequently gone over a basket of 

 Peas after a man had gathered them, aud picked some twenty 

 to thirty pods out. Even these few would have marred the 

 uniformity of the dish, and when this is done several times 

 the gatherer becomes more careful. Even those picked out 

 would have come in well for soups. 



We missed a fine opportunity of estimating and contrasting 

 lots of the finest new Peas at Luton Hoo last year. This 

 season Mr. Cadger has beaten us with Sutton's Eingleader, 

 but he sowed earlier. He says, however, that though not quite 

 so early, Dickson's Early is a better podder ; but in our ex- 

 perience we can hardly draw a line between these and Carter's 

 Early and Chafer's Early. One thing we should like to do, 

 and that is to recommend to everyone who has only a small 

 garden Maclean's Gem. It is a very superior Pea, little behind 

 those earliest, and though not more than a foot in height, 

 yields a profusion of large well-filled pods, and the flavour 

 is above the ordinary run of early Peas. The dwarf-growers 

 are of great importance where ground is measured by feet and 

 yards. 



Celery. — We used to pride ourselves on early Celery, but 

 owing to circumstances we are behind this season, and must 

 make up for lost time. If any of our readers are in a similar 

 predicament, let them beware of ever allowing their Celery 

 plants to be dry. If kept damp enough they will soon make 

 progress. 



Onions. — The spring-sown, after being thinned and hoed, 

 have grown amazingly. The autumn-sown ones in three suc- 

 cessions are fine. There is a little secret, and, as usual, we 

 must out with it, to get them to bulb well and early, and that 

 is, not to wait until a central flower-stem appears, but to nip- 

 oat the centre of each plant long before there is the appearance 

 of a flower-stem. Just try a row, and leave another row longer, 

 and mark the result as respects early free-bulbing, instead of 

 huge neck-bulbing. We all have our surprises at times. 

 After showing a rather particular man how to do it we were 

 mortified on visiting the ground to find it covered with the 

 remains of Onion tops, three or four times the quantity being 

 taken from the plant that we wished. Of course the check 

 was great, but nevertheless the plants bulbed freely. It is, 

 however, always best to avoid checks, unless on an infinitesi- 

 mal principle. The nipping-out the centre of a large autumn- 

 sown Onion increases the tendency to bulb freely, and arrests 

 anything like a seeding process as effectually as if more of the 

 centre had been removed. The taking away more arrests free 

 growth, which is not at all desirable. 



Cauliflower, Peas, &c. — Instead of taking our machine-mow- 

 ings to the rubbish-heap we have lately used them largely as 

 mulching. The grass is so short that it takes with it no seed 

 weeds, and keeps the ground moist for the roots. 



ERUIT DEPARTMENT. 



Thanks to " J. A." for his note on Strawberries. We must 

 find out the cause why Dr. Hogg Strawberry dies with us out 

 of doors. Such notes are most valuable to all concerned, and 

 show clearly how a candid record of failures is often as valuable 

 as a record of successes. It did mortify us to find such fine 

 fruit in pots, and such wo-begone and dead plants out of doors. 

 As " J. A." states, the crops of Strawberries seem plentiful 

 out of doors, and the foliage in many cases is extra fine, but 

 we fear we shall not be able to gather the splendid single 

 specimens we have been having for months in pots. 



Orchard Houses. — We have still a few Strawberries in pots 

 excelling at present those coming-on out of doors. We have 

 watered these houses freely with sewage water — that is, water 

 that goes from all parts of the mansion, laundry, etc., and is 

 taken from a tank. If very strong we add some clean water to 

 it. Cherries in pots for the last three weeks seem, from their 

 size and brilliancy, as if they liked it. Some of our readers 

 err in giving manure water too thick aud too strong. We like it 

 clear, so as to leave little or no sediment on the surface of the 

 soil. It is best to err at first on the side of weakness. Brandy 

 itself is a good medicine, and it is often a valuable stimulant, 

 but what would soon become of the man who used it without 

 being diluted with five or six times its bulk of good water ? 

 Two of the cheapest and best washes for plants under glass, 

 or even in the open air, we know, are soot water and soft-soap 

 water ; but the first we use as clear as sherry and water, and 

 the latter, though greyish in colour, without a particle of sedi- 

 ment, merely by dissolving a pound or so in hot water, allow- 

 ing it to stand, and pouring it off clear into thirty-six gallons 

 of clear water. As far as insects are concerned that appli- 

 cation, forcibly applied, will beat all the costly nostrums that 

 are so enticingly spread-out before us. Though there is a 

 trace of a greyish colour on the water, nothing of that is seen 

 as the leaves get dry. Of course, just as in the case of the 

 useful Gishurst, it is easy to overdo with soft soap, and to kill 

 wood as well as insects. We generally use it weaker than 

 stated above, and if used now and then insects will be kept at 



