54 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 19, 1864. 



these next the point are frequently taken off. This prevents 

 the plants having a naked appearance. The stems are so 

 juicy, however, that the plants will generally stand a good 

 amount of disleafing. This is almost the only thinning 

 that Tomatoes have, except when it is desirable to have^ 

 a few very early fine fruit. In this case the above disleaf- 

 ing will have to be attended to, and all fruit on the plant, 

 except the three or four first-formed clusters, should be out 

 off as they appear. When grown on the open ground they 

 should be stopped and trained very much the same as Cu- 

 cumbers are done. It is rather surprising that the fruit has 

 been little used by us in the green state, or as a component 

 part of salads, though largely used in this way by our cousins 

 in America. 



We are very anxious to defer planting out the Winter 

 Greens, that have previously been pricked out, until the 

 ground has been moistened, as, where other crops have been 

 removed, the ground is excessively dry, and we can more 

 easily keep the plants slowly growing where they are, in 

 temporary beds, than supply them with water after planting. 

 The planting has, therefore, been chiefly confined to turning 

 out smaller plants by means of the dibber. In doing this 

 we followed the good old custom of first watering the seed- 

 bed before pulling up the plants, and then placing each 

 handful of plants in a thin paint, made of water, soil, and 

 rotten dung. By this means each plant, before being turned 

 out, was well charged with moisture — a matter of import- 

 ance when turned out into dry ground, and where all the 

 watering that could be given was only a little drop close to 

 the roots, extending little farther than the dibber hole. 



If we recollect aright, we said something about planting 

 by the dibber some weeks ago. We recur to it now because 

 we have never seen a man, who had not been previously 

 instructed, use the dibber without a great waste of labour 

 power. _ Only the other day we counted the strokes made by 

 an uninitiated person in satisfactorily fixing a Savoy plant, 

 and found that the strokes for each plant averaged from 

 five to ten ; and then we could be quite sure that five out of 

 the ten were hung— that is, all the potching had failed to 

 fix the earth firmly about the roots, the chief thing to be 

 attended to in dibber-planting. 



We shall never forget how Mr. Joseph Knight, the pre- 

 decessor of Mr. Veitch at the Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, taught 

 some clever fellows how to make a pointed flower-stick, rang- 

 ing from less up to more than half an inch in diameter, by two 

 strokes of the knife. The first stroke in a sloping direction 

 took away half the diameter of the stick at its°base, the 

 other stroke took away more than the half of what was left, 

 and there was the stick pointed at once. Previously the 

 sticks were receiving numerous strokes and whittlings. Just 

 so with dibbling. So far as small things are concerned, two 

 strokes are quite sufficient. For larger things in the open 

 ground, three strokes may be necessary. First, There is the 

 perpendicular stroke into the ground, to make the hole for the 

 plant. Then, whilst the roots of the plant are suspended in 

 this hole, there is stroke second, the dibber entering the 

 ground two or more inches from the first hole, in a slanting 

 diagonal manner, the point passing beyond the roots of the 

 plant ; and then a drawing quickly of the head of the dibber 

 towards the stem of the plant leaves the roots and the buried 

 part of the stem pretty well as firm as if they had been placed 

 in the vice of a blacksmith. This is all that is necessary for 

 planting. On removing the dibber, however, the hole left 

 might admit too much air, and thus dry the roots of the 

 plant. To prevent this the point of the dibber is drawn 

 through the ground towards the planter over the mouth of 

 the second hole, which just fills it sufficiently. Every pat- 

 tering stroke beyond these three is just labour lost— a matter 

 of no great consequence when only some half a dozen plants 

 are to be put in, but a matter of some moment when the 

 plants are numbered by hundreds or thousands. Besides, 

 where many strokes are employed, the second diagonal plant- 

 ing stroke is apt to be given imperfectly. We recently noticed 

 a row or two of young Cauliflower plants, that though re- 

 freshed with water once or twice, looked woe-begone whenever 

 the sun rested on them. On inspection we found that the 

 roots of almost every plant were hung when planted— that 

 is, the earth was not firmed about the roots. Though 

 numbers of pattering strokes had been given by the dibber, 

 the second stroke we have alluded to had not been given, 



and the slightest touch moved the plants out of the ground. 

 Wheeled lots of fine, large, bolted Lettuces to the rubbish- 

 heap, whence they might go to pigs to nibble. Without 

 plenty of water it is next to impossible to keep them long in 

 open positions. We were thankful we had lots on the north 

 side of banks and walls, and beneath the shade of trees, 

 where they needed but little water. Sowed Dickson's Fa- 

 vourite and Sangster's No. 1, early Pea ; succession of 

 Turnips, Radishes, Spinach, &c, and a bed of Kidney Beans, . 

 where they can be protected late in autumn. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



Proceeded with laying runners of British Queen Strawberries 

 in small pots, to be afterwards moved and potted. Would 

 have done it sooner, but even now find we cannot place the 

 pots down without injuring the fine fruits, and the watering 

 of the little pots will also be apt to injure them. Most 

 likely will cut off a number of runners and prick them out 

 in rich soil 4 inches apart, and then lift in balls and pot for 

 forcing. Keens' and Black Prince previously layered will 

 soon be fit for being transferred to their fruiting-pots. These 

 runners, just showing roots, will establish themselves quickly 

 in beds if shaded from bright sun and sprinkled with water 

 two or three times a-day. 



This dry weather has brought on us whole clouds of birds. 

 Nets they seem to laugh at. We have a small border 

 planted with dwarf standard Cherries loaded beautifully, 

 and the undergrowth British Queen Strawberry equally 

 fine, and to save them we put a frame of posts to support 

 the nets, and double-netted the whole ; but as we went past 

 yesterday morning five huge blackbirds were enjoying them- 

 selves, and singing out their notes of defiance. They one 

 and all, with the impetus of a combined movement, broke 

 through the net and escaped. The other day we stood at 

 a short distance unseen, whilst a thrush went round and 

 round the net trying to get his head in between the net and 

 the ground, as, if they manage the head and shoulders, they 

 will wriggle in the afterparts of their body. We had no 

 gun with us, and if we had it would have been too bad to 

 punish such patient determination. Lots of blackbirds and 

 numbers of smaller birds escape by the same means, and 

 when once they have found out this way of getting success- 

 fully in and out there is nothing that will stop them except 

 killing them. A net is no safeguard unless put on securely. 

 The very sight of it tempts them into the forbidden enclosure. 

 We hope that plenty of rain ere long will furnish them with 

 other moist food. We have been obliged to gather Rasp- 

 berries just as they ripen to prevent the birds getting all, 

 for as soon as the fruit was coloured they were sure to be at 

 it ; and so hard up are they for moist food, that the ground 

 in some places is strewed with strings of Currants almost 

 green, which they had pulled off to get one or two ripe berries. 



Has any one ventured to decide how far there is a con- 

 sciousness of doing right among the feathered tribe ? What 

 a contrast between the shrieking out " Murder ! Murder '. " 

 cry of the blackbird, when he is thieving your fruit, and you 

 approach him, and the graceful confidence with which the 

 wagtail trips over the lawn, almost to your very foot, in 

 pursuit of an insect; or the quiet deliberative hop from 

 spray to spray of the white-breasted wall bird, in an orchard- 

 house, looking so much at home in searching for insects as 

 if he would like to be caressed, contrasted with a thrush, 

 which, being disturbed at a Cherry tree, rushes to the end of 

 the house, and stuns its faculties against the glass, which, 

 if not strong, it also breaks. Why the seeming trust in the 

 one case, and the terror in the other, but from some rather 

 clear ideas of right and wrong? 



If every tree and bush round a garden are to be sacred 

 game preserves, the time is fast coming that, if we wish out- 

 door fruit, the fruit garden must be enclosed and covered 

 all over with fine wire netting. Our old friend the robin, 

 which we should be sorry to touch, is one of the most acute 

 at getting under a net. None, however fine, will keep him 

 out, unless it is fixed into, instead of on, the ground. 

 Wherever he can pass his head between the net and the 

 ground, he will get in and out his stumpy body. 



The weather being so hot, we have just spattered a little 

 whitened water on the orchard-house with a syringe. A 

 very little dulls the force of the sun's rays. The first shower 

 will take it off, and it is not likely we shall have much dull 

 weather before we have rain, as, in dull weather, and in 



