November 28, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



431 



require very. similar treatment, except that they are very subject 

 to the attacks of thrips unless afforded a moist atmosphere; they 

 must, therefore, be narrowly watched, and smoked lightly two 

 or three evenings successively if this pest makes its appearance, 

 keeping the atmosphere moist on every favourable opportunity 

 to prevent the foliage from nagging. Cinerarias for late bloom- 

 ing must also be kept cool and airy, and should not be allowed 

 to suffer from want of pot room. These must not be trusted in 

 cold pits after this season, for they cannot endure much frost. 

 Plants intended to flower early should be encouraged with a 

 gentle heat, keeping them near the glass, and admitting air on 

 every favourable opportunity. 



COLD PITS. 



Expose the stock here freely to air on every favourable oppor- 

 tunity, so as to check growth and get the wood firm, in which 

 state the plants will be less liable to sufferfrorn the confinement 

 which may soon be necessary, than if kept close and coddled 

 with too much warmth and moisture now. Yexy little water 

 will be "'re quired at the roots, but look over the stock every few 

 days, withholding water until it is absolutely wanted, and then 

 giving a moderate soaking, which is the only safe method of 

 watering at this season. Heaths and other things subject to 

 the attacks of mildew must be closely watched, and sulphur ap- 

 plied the moment that the enemy is perceived. But neither this 

 nor .green fly will be very troublesome unless the plants are kept 

 too close and damp ; therefore, be careful to keep the stock 

 rather dry, giving plenty of air when this can be done with 

 safety. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Broccoli this season will be all the better of being laid down, 

 as that will to some extent arrest the too free growth, and thus 

 enable the plants to stand frost better, if it should be severe. 



Borecoles of all kinds generally need little attention. "We 

 prefer the dwarfs, as Veitch's and the Scotch Cabbaging ; but an 

 immense return can be taken from the taller kinds, more 

 especially if the tops are taken early, so as to foster fine gather- 

 ings all along the stems. "We always think that these small 

 side shoots are the sweetest. 



Brussels Sprouts. — Nipping-out the points always helps the 

 side shoots or sprouts' to come early. The top of a Brussels 

 Sprout has always a flavour of its own, but it is as well to cut 

 the plants over early in October or November, so that the frost 

 shall not influence the cut stem. After cutting the tops of some 

 rows of Brussels Sprouts we have often gone along and daubed 

 each top with a paint of clay and lime, and a little soot. This 

 prevented all cracking. "When we neglected this, after cutting 

 off the tops, we have had huge plants split from top to bottom 

 by a severe frost. As hinted above, the advantages of taking off 

 the top are twofold — first, the flavour of the top is different 

 from the sprouts, good as they are, and then when the head is 

 nipped out or cut for use the sprouts on the side come quicker 

 and better. Well cooked, we scarcely know anything better than 

 compact Brussels Sprouts. 



Asparagus —The weather being so mild we were obliged to 

 give more air than we like, as too much cold air at this season 

 hardens the shoots. Our first, without this precaution, would 

 have been a week earlier than we should have cared to have it 

 when wanted. 



A great mistake is often made by ladies and gentlemen in not 

 giving notice to their gardeners of the when, the number, and 

 the period of staying of expected visitors. We have known 

 scores of cases of great disappointment from this simple caiise. 

 It is well that a gardener, like every other servant, should be 

 courteous and obliging, but men of sterling worth and honest 

 independence of feeling will not condescend to ask as a favour 

 for intelligence from other servants, when it ought to come 

 directly as a mere matter of business. Some of the best gar- 

 deners to our certain knowledge have changed places from want 

 of an understanding on this simple matter. Of course, anyone 

 can see at a glance that there would be perfect waste if the pre- 

 parations for a common general establishment were to be just 

 the same as were wanted for some ten to thirty in addition as 

 visitors. 



Mushrooms. — In reply to some ten inquiries, we wish to state 

 that for a short time we shall not be able to treat practically on 

 the growth of Mushrooms in summer in open sheds, &c. The 

 matter has been frequently alluded to, and if any reader gives a 

 particular case and wants to make the most of it, we shall do our 

 best to suit our reply to the circumstances. 



For many years we have never tasted or hardly seen a park 

 Mushroom. Where Mushrooms are in constant demand the 

 gardener will soon find out in these days of game, &c, that it is 

 better to avoid all contact with the interests supposed or real of 

 keepers, &c. A man might go through an open space of a park 

 and not do much harm to young birds or leverets, but, then, he 

 may easily have the full credit of doing so ; and just as a gar- 

 dener does not like the idea of a keeper poking into his houses 



and pits, so neither should he intrude on the keeper's domain 

 be it never so open and wide. 



Two remarks more. First, We look upon it as a perfect fallacy 

 to talk of the superiority of a field or park Mushroom to a cul- 

 tivated one. The latter are, in our estimation, as a matter of 

 taste and safety, far superior. We have known scores of cases 

 in which clever gentlemen, and ladies too, who if they did not 

 actually possess, had quite enough pretensions to epicurean lore, 

 talk learnedly and authoritatively, that such Mushrooms were, 

 never grown in July and August by Mr. F. or anybody else, but 

 that they felt sure they must have come from such and such a 

 rich meadow where they had gathered them themselves some 

 ten or twenty years ago. There are cases in which it is scarcely 

 worth the trouble to disabuse people of their learned prejudices. 

 One thing we do know, that a really good meadow Mushroom- 

 advocate was a long time in thoroughly forgiving us when we 

 showed him, and what was rather unfortunate, other friends 

 with whom he had been an authority for years on Mushrooms, 

 that the rich meadow Mushrooms came from a little ridge 

 slightly covered with litter under a good-sized Horse Chestnut 

 tree. We feel sure that now the good Mushroom authority 

 when he reads this will have a good hearty laugh over the re- 

 miniscence. 



We forgot we had a remark to make — it is just this. For 

 many years we had no trouble in getting Mushrooms from Sep- 

 tember to May. We had fair success from May to September in 

 a sort of shed house. For many years we grew largely out of 

 doors in summer, say from May to September, choosing shady 

 places and open sheds, and although we were as fortunate as 

 most people in a Mushroom house, we never obtained such fine- 

 results in a house as in sheds under the shade of trees, and even 

 in cellars in summer. Of course, but for the labour, deep cellars, 

 in summer are first-rate. We have, however, found shady 

 places and open sheds very good, and from May to September 

 far preferable to a regular Mushroom house. — R. F. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



N.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered until next 

 week. 



Cocoa-ndt Fibre Dust (R. C. P.).— You can obtain it from the manu- 

 facturers, Messrs. Barsham, Kingston-on-Thames. 



Apples fop. South Wales (F. PA — The sorts that will suit you at Hay 

 for dessert and culinary use combined are Cellini, Cox's Pomona, Blenheim. 

 Piprin, Beauty of Kent, Reinette du Canada, and Wormsley Pippin. 



Ivy on Fruit Trees (W. C). — Whether in small or large quantities, Ivy 

 twining round the trunk of a fruit tree lessens that tree's vigour. 



Address. — "H. J. T.'e" direction is 17, Alpha Eoad, Regent's Park. 



Window Box (F. Wright). — For ten postage stamps you can have by post 

 " Window Gardening for the Many." It will give you more information than 

 we can afford space for. The box is best made with drainage holes. 



Veitch's Autumn Giant Cauliflower. — " I sowed this about the second 

 week in April, and in the first week in July I pricked-out the strongest plants 

 on ground that had already produced an excellent crop of Shallots, and by 

 the third week in September I cut as good Cauliflower as might be desired. 

 On Saturday last from the same bed my man brought home three more- 

 heads, which surpassed any I ever grew before, and I exhibited them in my 

 shop the whole of the evening, when many passed an opinion that they had 

 not seen the like. I might add that a bed of Walcheren growing by the sid& 

 of the above bears no comparison to it. — W. Horlev, Luton." 



Currant-bush Shoots Pithless {H. Wills). — The shoots of your Red 

 and White Currants being pithless and the place brown, is caused by the 

 larva of the Currant Sphinx, Trochilum tipuliforme, Sphinx tipuliforrnis, 

 Sesia, or iEgeria, or Bombecia tipuliformis, or Bembecia tipuliforme of others. 

 The caterpillar is fleshy, whitish, with four yellowish brown spots near its- 

 head. The parent moth. 

 is beautiful, and may be 

 seen at the end of May 

 and early in June during 

 hot sunshine, either 

 settled on the leaves of 

 the Currant, or flying 

 around the flowers of the 

 Syringa and Lilac. It is 

 about three- quarters of 

 an inch across the wings 

 when these are quite 

 opened ; the prevailing 

 colour is bluish black, 

 with various ports yellow ; 

 the antennae black ; the 

 breast with a yellow line 

 on each side; the abdo- 

 men, or lower port of the 

 body, has three yellow 

 rings round it in the fe- 



Currant Sphirfx. 



males, and four in the males; the fore wings are barred and veined with 

 black; it has a brush of fine scales at the 2ad of its abdomen, which fan it 

 can expand as it pleases. The Red, White, and Black Currant, and, we think, 

 the Gooseberry, are all liable to its attacks. It lays its eggs at this time in 

 openings of the bark of a young shoot ; and the caterpillar, immediately it is 

 hatched, penetrates to its pith, and eats its way down this until it reaches the 

 pith of the main branch. The only securitive measures are to kill the moth 

 whenever seen, and to split open the withered branches and serve the cater- 

 pillars similarly. 



Mice Destroying Crocuses, &c. {A Young Reader). — The only thing likely 



