74 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 26, 1S64, 



a shady place. Commence the layering of Cloves, Carna- 

 tions, Mule Pinks, &c, of which there is rarely an overstock. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



Specimens that have matured their season's growth should 

 now be more sparingly supplied with water at the root, in 

 order to promote the ripening of the wood. Orange trees 

 or other plants known to be liable to the attacks of red 

 spider must be frequently examined for this pest, and well 

 washed with the engine immediately it is perceived, taking 

 care not to bruise or injure the foliage, and placing the 

 affected part so that every leaf may be reached. In keeping 

 up a stock of plants there must necessarily be, besides 

 those depended on for the principal show of bloom, younger 

 branches of the same family, which are growing onwards to 

 supersede their seniors whenever old age or decay shall 

 consign the latter to the rubbish-heap. Such plants as 

 Epacrises, Leschenaultias, Pimeleas, Aphelexes, and others 

 of the same habit, which have been kept for late bloom and 

 are now over, should be placed in the house with a north 

 aspect, or in deep frames or pits with the sashes turned 

 towards the north, having firs fc picked off the old remaining 

 blooms. Here, with a gentle syringing once or twice daily, 

 the plants may remain till a new growth commences, when 

 any pruning they may require may be given ; and they 

 may afterwards be placed in more favourable positions for 

 ripening their wood. 



STOVE. 



Admit more air into the house as the season advances, 

 because, although this is the period when every advantage 

 ought to be taken of heat and light, still the confinement of 

 the stove is apt to draw the plants, especially if carried out 

 late in the season. Growth is now required in most kinds of 

 plants ; but the great art is to harden or perfectly mature 

 that growth, or the plants will suffer much during the winter. 

 Many of the plants in an advanced state may now be placed 

 in the greenhouse, which should be closed on cold nights. 

 A number of Orchids will by this time have made then- 

 growth, and maybe removed gradually to a drier and cooler 

 atmosphere. Those which still continue growing must have 

 the syringe two or three times a-day, and a humid atmo- 

 sphere must be maintained by well watering every part of 

 the interior. At the same time plants growing on blocks 

 or suspended in baskets should be frequently soaked. 



COLD PITS. 



The stock here will probably require re-arrangement at 

 this time, as some of the specimens, having completed their 

 season's growth, will be better in a shady place out of doors, 

 and their removal will allow of giving more space to those 

 left. Young growing stock and late-flowering plants that 

 have yet to make their season's growth should receive the 

 most careful attention, as, if well treated, they will make 

 rapid and vigorous growth at this season, and nothing in 

 the way of good soil, careful potting, or proper accommoda- 

 tion will compensate for the want of this. Indeed, there is 

 no possibility of securing free growth from hardwooded 

 plants in bright hot weather, except by moderate shading 

 and maintaining a moist atmosphere by sprinkling the 

 plants overhead morning and evening, and air must be given 

 liberally to keep the wood strong, avoiding as much as pos- 

 sible exposure to drying winds. W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



On the 17th we were favoured with a thunder shower, 

 which revived vegetation with us wonderfully. As usual, we 

 on the height had but little of it in comparison with those 

 in the valley ; but we are thankful as we were fast getting 

 out of water. Our first and second Marrow Peas were 

 fast ripening, and, besides mulching, we were helpless as 

 to prolonging the season by other means. The shower 

 gave us some hundreds of gallons in our tanks, but before 

 it came, in our chief reservoir for supply we did not have a 

 couple of hogsheads. But for our sewage tank we must 

 have been very badly situated, and had the mortification to 

 see plants dying without the possibility of helping them. 

 As it was, we could only single out the plants that showed 

 signs of suffering. The excessive heat of the week has pretty 

 well evaporated all that the thunder shower gave us, but it 



came at the right time, and there are signs that it will not 

 be long before we have another refresher. 



We never saw corn crops looking better in this neighbour- 

 hood, and the warm rain of the 17th would do much to swell 

 out and give substance to the grain. Some neighbours, 

 indeed, grumbled that there was not enough of moisture 

 for the Turnips ; but it is the nature of some people ever to 

 be looking for causes of complaint instead of reasons for 

 thankfulness. We believe, however, that in nine cases out 

 ten this grumbling is more a matter of habit than of feeling. 

 The grumble is the safety valve that gets rid of the noxious 

 pent-up steam, and leaves behind it the sturdy, kind, large- 

 hearted Englishman. Let even the go-a-head politician 

 have his grumble out, and it will generally be found he will 

 be the last to seriously think of leaving the shores of old 

 England. Grumble or no grumble, the summers of 1863 and 

 1864, in this part of the country (Hertfordshire), ought to 

 show the importance, especially in the case of contemplated 

 gardens, of making a water supply a matter of primary 

 consideration. We have known of some cases where 

 great expense was incurred in making a garden before a 

 supply of water was taken into consideration. A good 

 position and a good soil, the very things for general field 

 crops, will not be sufficient for succession crops in a garden 

 without water being at command. Even when water can be 

 had, but must all be conveyed by pail or barrel, the labour of 

 applying it is very great when compared with that involved 

 when a reservoir of water can be had in so elevated a posi- 

 tion that by means of taps in the garden and a long hose, 

 any part may be flooded at will. Whatever the primary 

 expense, such gardens, so differently situated, cannot justly 

 be compared as to the necessary labour power. 



We agree very much in almost everything advanced by 

 the writer of the article from the " Scottish Gardener," at 

 page 52. We demur, however, as to the mode of contrasting 

 the value of the produce from the garden of a gentleman and 

 the produce from a market garden. In the latter case quick 

 returns and a quick clearing of the land for another crop 

 must be the chief objects. In the former case a constant 

 successional supply must be the great aim. The cartloads 

 of early Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Lettuces, &c, are what pay 

 the market gardener. Such loads of stuff in a private gar- 

 den would be of little use, unless to give the establishment 

 a distaste for vegetables for months afterwards — a thing the 

 gardener ought to guard against, instead of attempting to 

 promote. True, such produce might be sold ; but here again, 

 the very isolated position of the majority of gentlemen's 

 gardens, which of itself gives an enhanced value to vege- 

 tables and fruit obtained fresh and at hand, would often 

 render the attempted sale a matter of anything but profit, 

 from the absence of, or the distance from, a market. The 

 different circumstances demand a different estimate of the 

 value of produce. So much is this the case, that we know 

 instances of first-rate gardeners declining the offer of a 

 gentleman's large kitchen garden in the conntry, merely for 

 the keeping it up, and without any rent, and go to the 

 neighbourhood of a town, and make money there, though 

 they paid from £o to =£8, or more per acre for their land. 

 , They were wise enough to know that, the establishment 

 having left for some years, they could not procure manure 

 for the garden, and even if some were obtained, that then 

 they might look in vain for customers for the produce. If 

 the garden were very large, they might manage by looking 

 after the fruit, and throwing all the rest of the ground into 

 Potatoes and grain crops, not otherwise. • 



The very circumstances, therefore, that enhance the value 

 of garden produce in the country above that which obtains 

 at Covent Garden, would just so much lessen its value if you 

 were forced to turn it into a marketable commodity. We 

 quite believe gentlemen when they tell us that they could 

 supply their servants cheaper with vegetables from Covent 

 Garden than from their own garden. This must be the 

 case even on the division-of-labour principle ; but we as 

 thoroughly believe them when they tell us that for their 

 own use there is no comparison between that bought in a 

 market and that grown in their own garden, so far as rich- 

 ness in flavour is concerned. This would be still more seen 

 if a more simple system of cooking became fashionable. A 

 satirist has told us that flint soup is a capital thing, if the 

 I flints are well boiled in some rich gravies, and stock liquor. 



