September 19, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 









WEEKLY 



CALENDAR. 















Day 

 of 



Month 



Day 



of 



"Week. 



SEPTEMBER 19—25, 1S72. 



Average Tempera- 

 ture near London. 



Rain in 

 43 yearB. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 



Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Age. 

 Days. 



Clock Day I 

 after of 

 Sun. Year. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. n. 



m. a. 





19 



Th 



Twilight ends, 8.3 p.m. 



67.3 



45.3 



56.3 



21 



42af5 



5af6 



21 7 



13 af 8 



16 



6 27 



263 



20 



F 





68.0 



44.0 



56.0 



20 



44 5 



2 6 



38 7 



34 9 



17 



6 48 



264 



21 



a 





66.4 



45.6 



56.0 



24 



46 5 



6 



8 



53 10 



18 



7 9 



265 





Sun 



17 Sunday after Trinity. 



66.4 



44.7 



55.6 



21 



48 5 



58 5 



28 8 



after. 



19 



7 30 



266 



23 



M 



Autumn commences. 



66.3 



45.7 



55.9 



22 



50 5 



56 5 



9 



17 1 



20 



7 51 



267 



24 



To 





66.1 



43.5 



548 



19 



51 5 



54 5 



43 9 



21 2 



( 



8 11 



268 



25 



W 





65.8 



43.1 



54.4 



21 



53 5 



52 5 



36 10 



12 3 



22 



8 32 



269 



From observations taken near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 66.6° ; and 



its night temperature 



44.5°. The greatest heat was 82°, on the 25th, 1872 ; and the lowestcold 2 



7°, on the 25th, 1863. The greatest fall of rain was 1.21 inch. 







AUTUMN-SOWN HARDY ANNUALS. 



ECENTLT, in "Work for tlie Week," a re- 

 minder was given of the advisability of pre- 

 paring for a spring and early summer display 

 of this very easy-grown, cheap, and pleasing 

 class of flowers. It is just one of those simple 

 affairs of gardening to have these things to 

 admire, that by its vei-y simplicity is some- 

 times overlooked. There is nothing great 

 and glorious and noble about annuals. Then- 

 cultivation does not demand any special 

 display of skill and care in production. It is not in their 

 nature to add any wreath of honour to those who grow 

 them, or any particular renown to the gardens which 

 they are made to decorate. They are not the stately 

 plants, but the little twinkling stars of earth studded in 

 chaste and quiet beauty, and they brighten up many a 

 place otherwise dull or monotonous by lack of variety in 

 habit or colour. 



No, annuals are not rubbish; they are flowers inter- 

 esting and attractive when afforded the trifling care and 

 attention they demand. They are in truth rubbishy 

 enough when the seed is thrown in heaps in the ground, 

 and a hundred plants left to straggle in the space that 

 would barely suffice for half a dozen. A practice so care- 

 less and unreasonable would be simply ruin to any class 

 of plants, bring them into disrepute, and unjustly con- 

 demn them as unfit for that which in their very, nature 

 they are specially adapted to do — viz., to give beauty 

 and pleasure. Annuals should have reasonable care be- 

 stowed on them or be let alone altogether. In many 

 gardens and under particular systems of decoration 

 plants of this class are not required, but in many others 

 they may advantageously play an important part in the 

 general display. In places where bedding-out must be 

 completed at the earliest possible moment, annuals 

 would be in the way, and would have to be cleared off 

 when in the height of beauty, and this is always a dis- 

 appointing proceeding. 



There is only a limited number of annuals, limited in 

 colour and variety, that are naturally over before the 

 middle of May. Amongst these are the Forget-me-nots, 

 but they must be sown in June, and the Silenes, which 

 must be sown in August to be off in May. The same 

 may be said of Collinsia verna, the little blue Veronicas, 

 and the yellow Lasthenia. These, if sown early enough, 

 may be cleared off m time for ordinary summer bedding, 

 but it is now too late to sow them with that special end 

 in view. Under another plan of summer bedding — the 

 ubtropical, the above, however, and many other annuals 

 are the very plants to convert the dreary blankness of 

 the garden in May and June into a scene of fertile 

 beauty. 



But in the mixed garden, where every week fresh blos- 

 soms are unfolding, autumn-sown annuals are most ap- 

 propriate. Every year I can see what a great amount of 

 pleasure these simple flowers are capable of affording. I 

 know no time of the year when the garden is so attractive 



No. 599.— Vol. XXm, New Semes. 



and so generally admired as at the end of May and 

 throughout June, when annuals may be said to form 

 the staple display. Dazzling masses of Larkspurs and 

 Clarkias, never so fine as when sown at this season ; rich 

 glowing groups of Viscaria eardinalis ; and dense masses 

 of Campanulas, especially C. pentagonia and Tenus's 

 Looking-glass, with floriferous tufts of Saponarias, Lep- 

 tosiphons, and many others, including Collinsias, Candy- 

 tufts, and especially Nemophilas. Such are never seen 

 in full beauty except in the early summer months, and 

 from seed sown now. They have a brightness, a robust- 

 ness, and continuance that spring-sown annuals never 

 possess. In all gardens where this class of plants can 

 Be fitly introduced, and they are not a few, they should 

 be given a fair trial, and, in proportion to cost and 

 care, not many things will return better iuterest for the 

 outlay. I never yet saw the lady who did not admire 

 greatly a garden in which these easily-grown plants 

 were represented in spring and early summer,, and I 

 have heard many regrets that then cultivation is not 

 more general. 



With regard to the management, the first point to 

 attend to is to sow the seeds at once. Every day's delay 

 will at this date tell against their success. I generally 

 put in mine from the 1st to the 16th of September, and 

 have never yet failed in preserving a good stock safely 

 through the winter. Indeed, there is no valid reason 

 why annuals should perish any more than autumn-sown 

 Cauliflowers, Lettuce, or Spinach ; but who could expect 

 these vegetables to survive if left standing thickly in the 

 seed bed, each plant making the other tender by over- 

 crowding, and inviting destruction by the vicissitudes of 

 winter ? It is so with annuals. They cannot survive 

 the winter if left thickly together, but they will do so 

 if tlrinned-out in time and sufficiently. This thinning is 

 an all-important point, and if it cannot be attended to 

 the seed had better not be wasted by sowing. 



The position selected for the nursery bed for wintering 

 annuals should, if possible, be sheltered from the full sweep 

 of cutting winds. It should also be distant from old walls, 

 shrubs, or vegetables likely to harbour slugs or snails. It 

 is important that this be attended to. It matters little 

 what the nature of the soil is so long as it is not fight and 

 rich, for if it is so, over- succulent growth will be induced. 

 If it is made loose with the hoe and fine by the rake to 

 the depth of an inch, that will be sufficient for every pur- 

 pose. The seed should be sown in drills 9 inches or a 

 foot apart, and covered very lightly according to its size. 

 If the soil is not naturally fine, preparing a little and 

 sowing it by hand from a basket over the seed will not be 

 labour lost. When the seedlings are above ground ran 

 the hoe through them frequently, and keep slugs at bay ; 

 but, above all, thin-out in time, and let each plant stand 

 separately. In very severe weather some Asparagus 

 tops laid over them will be good protection, but the 

 best protector is the snow, and the greatest enemies 

 slugs and a neglect of thinning-out; The young plants 

 may be planted in spring where required to bloom. They 

 are sure to be attractive, and are within the reach of all 



No. 1251.— Vol. XLVm. Old Seejes. 



