386 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 14, 1872. 



They are untidy, unsightly, and troublesome in wet or windy 

 weather, and are also expensive and not durable. I would 

 recommend the substitution of mats made of straw, worked 

 and bound together after the manner of targets and bee hives, 

 taking care, however, that they are not so tightly bound 

 together as to prevent their being rolled up when not in use. 

 These mats should be made the length and width of the frame, 

 about three-quarters of an inch to 1 inch in thickness, and 

 I feel confident they would last two or three seasons with 

 ordinary care. 



Some years ago the poor living in the districts surrounding 

 Manchester used such mats as mattresses for their beds, but 

 they have now become more luxurious in their tastes, and such 

 an article is no longer to be met with. I have made several in- 

 quiries in this and other neighbourhoods where such mats could 

 be obtained, and have applied to the makers of bee hives and 

 targets, but they do not seem disposed to undertake them. I 

 should feel greatly obliged if some one of your numerous 

 readers would kindly inform me where I could procure them, 

 or give such instructions as would enable a gardener to make 

 them. — R. 



[Mr. Fish has frequently described in our columns the 

 method of making straw mats, though not of the kind you 

 mention. — Eds.] 



JOTTINGS ON THIS YEAR'S GARDENING.— No. 3. 



Peas after the middle of August were not good, but up to 

 that time they were excellent. Dickson's First and Best gave 

 fully double the crop of Eastes' Kentish Invicta, a blue Pea, in 

 my opinion no recommendation, as many of these are no better 

 than, if so good as, the white kinds. The last-named is as 

 early as the earliest white kinds, which evidently are selected 

 stocks of the true Dillistone's Early. 



Princess Eoyal produced a capital crop, the pods well filled 

 and numerous. It is a white kind, of delicious flavour ; one 

 of the best for succeeding the first earlies. It is of moderate 

 growth, not exceeding 3J feet in height. Huntingdonian I 

 pitted against Champion of England. The former beats the 

 latter in the number of pods produced, but they are smaller, 

 and the peas are also of less size. Champion of England is 

 still one of our very best Peas, if not the very best for flavour 

 in its season ; it is clearly a mid-season variety. Laxton's 

 Supreme had smaller pods than usual, but nevertheless pro- 

 duced a fine crop. It was in use at the same time as Hunting- 

 donian. The last three attained a height of 6 to 7 feet. My 

 soil just suits Peas. It is neither light nor heavy loam, and 

 is full of grit stone of various degrees of size, and loose to 

 more than 2 feet in depth. All are sown 6 feet apart, and the 

 ground between the rows is cropped with late Celery. This 

 distance answers well for the kinds from 4 to 6 feet high; 

 they form grand rows of 4 and 5 feet through, leaving just 

 enough room for a person to pass between to gather the crop. 

 Six feet is, however, too close for the tall sorts ; they meet, are 

 difficult to gather on that account, and are not nearly so good 

 as at 7 or 8 feet apart. 



Maclean's Wonderful, Maclean's Premier, and Veitch's Per- 

 fection, which I depend on for the August and September crops, 

 have not been nearly so good as in former years. The wet 

 told on them disastrously, but I must say they were not 

 sticked so early as they needed ; the haulms became a little 

 laid, and I find again, as I have seen before, early requirements 

 neglected are not by late attention to be made up for. Peas 

 can hardly be sticked too soon after they are above ground. 

 The Pea is in every sense a climber and needs sticks. All 

 laying on the ground diminishes the quantity and quality of 

 the produce. Emperor of the Marrows offered a favourable 

 comparison to these kinds. It is a large Pea, with fine pods, 

 the sweetest Pea I have tasted, and as Mr. Rivers would 

 say, had it been a new Pear, " buttery, meltiag, aud most 

 excellent." As a late Pea I have grown it against Ne Plus 

 Ultra. Emperor of the Marrows is a much stronger grower ; 

 the haulm goes up straight as an arrow, does not show a 

 blossom, and, of course, a pod under 3, often 4feet; it branches 

 little or not at all until it has grown 5 or 6 feet, and very little 

 even then. It is over 9 feet in height. Compared with 

 Ne Plus Ultra the pods are about half as numerous, they are 

 twice the size, and the peas are much more tender. It does 

 not appear to be so hardy as Ne Plus Ultra, the latter not 

 being at all affected by the 8° of frost we have had, but some 

 of the leaves of Emperor of the Marrows have been slightly 

 blackened ; the pods, however, are not affected by the frost. It 



is very much too tall, and so is Ne Plus Ultra, for in exposed 

 positions like mine they are liable to suffer from autumn winds 

 and rains ; nevertheless, we send in Peas every day as yet (Oc- 

 tober 29th), and may for weeks if weather permit. 



Premier and Mammoth Dwarf Green (Lord Raglan) I have 

 along with the two tall kinds, and from previous experience, as 

 also this season, it seems they grow so near the ground as to 

 make growth so succulent in consequence of the autumn rains, 

 or from the lessened height, as to be cut off by frost, whilst the 

 taller sorts escape. It may be that they receive more wet 

 from dew and retain it longer than the tall kinds; but, what- 

 ever the cause, after September the 3 or 4-feet sorts are un- 

 productive. 



Cauliflowers have been as good as we may expect in a 

 moist season. The late crops will have quite enough to do to 

 come in, even with mild weather. Veitch's Autumn Giant 

 with its firm close head, and hardier than most, is only just 

 now " buttoning," and Walcheren, with Stadtholder, are in a 

 like plight. Nothing but fine mild weather will bring this late 

 lot on, but when they have heads like a teacup they will be 

 taken up and laid-in, the smallest in a frame, the larger in a 

 spot where they can be covered up during frost, and those 

 in the frame also, with protecting material, as dry litter. 

 Coming into use late, they are as much esteemed as the 

 earliest — often more. Lenormand's is a fine kind for summer, 

 and Dwarf Erfurt Mammoth for sowing in spring to succeed 

 those wintered in hand-glasses or frames. 



Beoccolies have not grown well ; they are small, but grow 

 fast. They will not be laid-in; the stems are so short that we 

 can put litter between the rows when we have frost, and it 

 answers just as well or better than laying. Besides, the litter, 

 by the time the crops are cleared, is fit for digging-in. I con- 

 sider there is no greater loss in thus applying the manure than 

 when it is laid up in heaps or hotbeds. In the latter it heats, 

 the ammonia escapes, whilst we entirely lose that carried off 

 by wet. On the ground we secure the fertilising properties 

 washed down by wet ; and as the manure does not heat, and 

 evaporation is not great, have we not more ammonia reserved 

 for the soil ? All our ground occupied with winter greens will 

 be manured in this way. As for appearance, it has not been 

 termed bad ; I think it gives a comforting look. 



Except Savoys, which are large and good, also Borecoles, 

 winter greens are poor and late. I put out some Cabbages at 

 the same time as winter greens (middle of July) , and they have 

 now some fine hard hearts. I also planted a later lot, with 

 nearly a thousand Savoys, Borecole, and Brussels Sprouts in the 

 second week of August, and they are turning-in well. Brussels 

 Sprouts are very dwarf, the sprouts not half so good as 

 expected, or as they were last season. I give all the Cabbage 

 tribe a dressing of salt at the end of September. I have an 

 idea it is taken up by them , and the plants are not so liable to 

 suffer from cold. It is put on so as not to come in the hearts 

 of the plants. Salt also makes quick work of slugs, which 

 have been a plague this year. Had it not been for quicklime 

 frequently dusted over many crops as soon as they were above 

 ground, and in some instances before, as Lettuces and Dwarf 

 Kidney Beans, I fear they would have failed. What a curious 

 thing it is that slugs will not eat Endive ! It is about the only 

 vegetable I know they will not. How partial they are to Mush- 

 rooms, eating away the gills ! I may mention the only harm- 

 less help I have known in a garden is the quick and pretty 

 pewitt. I have one now, pinioned of course. In summer we 

 got a companion for it, but whether from the loss of blood 

 in cutting the wing at the first joint, or from the excessive wet 

 which followed its captivity, it died. Whilst on the subject of 

 birds I would say, though seagulls will eat mice and not turn 

 tail on a small rat, they will set to and take every leaf off and 

 the delicate heart out of a lot of Cabbage or Cauliflower. 

 Ducks, young or old, with their webbed feet, break the neck of 

 every seedling put in, and what is a Cabbagewort good for 

 after that? Fowls scratch everywhere but where wanted. 

 I have no doubt insect food is good, and I believe essential for 

 the health of fowls, but I believe anything that will act the 

 part of an efficient destroyer of the pests they are put into gar- 

 dens to feed on, and at the same time will serve as a fertiliser, 

 is better than any insect-devouring fowl. I state this from 

 dire experience. Dressings of lime, salt, soot, guano, and 

 nitrate of soda kill every slug they come into contact with, and 

 are fertilisers which no gardener ought to be without. 



Dwakf Kidney Beans were good, but entirely cut off by 

 frost at the end of September. Canadian Wonder out of doors 

 had the longest pod of any, but I only grow Sir Joseph Paxton 



