August 9, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



413 



you will find some who do not see that a clean cut and a nice 

 adjustment of the bark of the stock and scion are essential 

 in grafting, nor that in budding it is at all important not to 

 break the inner rind, nor to pull the eye out of the bud in 

 taking away the wood. Such practitioners wonder that they 

 have so many misses ; but the wonder should be the other 

 way, for their hits belong to the chapter of accidents. On 

 the whole, then, it is beyond doubt that some eyes afford 

 evidence of a higher education than others. It is perhaps 

 equally certain that some eyes are naturally endowed with 

 keener and finer powers of perception than others. But it 

 may be safely asserted that careful training will render the 

 eyes of all equal to the work they have to perform, and 

 capable of complying with the demands of good taste. A 

 great point is gained when a man can see that his eye needs 

 anything in the way of education. This is the first step on 

 the road to a clear, discriminating, and tasteful vision. It is 

 sometimes said of a person that " He has an eye like a hawk, 

 and that nothing escapes his notice," but this power can 

 seldom be attained without a close and lengthened practice 

 of observing minute details. Careful inspection of the forms 

 of flowers and parts of flowers, as well as of the leaves and 

 seeds of plants, such as the study of botany involves, is 

 excellent training for the eye. From small things it gradu- 

 ally begins to appreciate and love the harmony of Nature 

 on a larger scale, and the result is a quick discernment of 

 beauty and deformity, or what we may call the fitness of 

 things. Thus by practice and painstaking, the eye acquires 

 a natural but not conventional liking for nicety and order, 

 and that valuable faculty of arranging, combining, and 

 suggesting, on which the occupation of a gardener or florist 

 makes incessant demands. — An Old Spade. (West of Scotland 

 Sort Mag.). 



WORK FOE THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



To those who would insure a constant succession of 

 choice kinds of vegetables and salads, the nest fortnight 

 will be the most important of the whole year. Should the 

 present dry weather continue, the water-barrel will be in 

 constant requisition morning and evening. Surface-stirring 

 must also be frequently resorted to for the purpose of pre- 

 venting too rapid evaporation. Carrots, now is a good 

 time to sow the Early Horn to stand through the winter. 

 Endive, planting must now be proceeded with in earnest, for 

 what is now planted will constitute the great bulk of the 

 autumn and midwinter salads. Let elevated beds of 4 feet 

 in width, and possessing a bold curvature, be provided in an 

 open and dry situation. Such beds should be a foot or more 

 above the ground level, and must be made very rich. These 

 beds may be hooped over in the end of October, to be readily 

 covered with mats when frost arrives. Lettuce, keep up suc- 

 cessional sowings of this and of Radishes, the growing 

 crops of which must be liberally supplied with water. 

 Onions, sow a good breadth of winter Onions; the Strasburg 

 and Tripoli are good sorts. Sow thickly for drawing young 

 for salads and for transplanting. Let the ripening Onions 

 be bent down by hand in order to get the ground clear for 

 Winter Greens. Parsley, sow for winter and spring use. 

 Spinach, about the middle of the week is the proper time to 

 sow Prickly Spinach for the winter. The ground should be 

 good, but not too richly manured, as it is apt to make the 

 plants grow too strong, which renders them more liable to 

 injury from frost. Whatever remains undone in the way of 

 planting-out Broccoli and Winter Greens must be completed 

 without delay. Pay due attention to the thinning-out and 

 surface-stirring amongst all advancing crops. Gather and 

 store seeds of such choice vegetables as it may be considered 

 advisable to preserve ; but anything very extensive in this 

 ■way ought never to be attempted in gardens exclusively de- 

 voted to the purpose of cultivating vegetables for families 

 having any pretensions to taste, as in most cases disappoint- 

 ment and inferior quality will be the result. Whoever is 

 conversant with the nature of kitchen-garden produce is 

 well aware how much the qualities of vegetables become 

 deteriorated when grown, seeded, and produced on the same 

 ground year after year. 



FKUIT GAEDEN. 



The preservation of wall fruit from birds and insects should 



occupy attention. Haythorn's hexagon or any other small- 

 meshed netting may be employed with advantage to protect 

 Green Gage or other Plums. Look carefully over- Peach and 

 Nectarine trees, and remove nails which are too close to the 

 swelling fruit. In stopping and arranging the wood let only 

 as much as can conveniently be laid in be allowed to remain, 

 and that convenience must be qualified by due consideration 

 for the perfection of the fruit and the proper ripening of the 

 wood, which only the influence of the sun and air can accom- 

 plish. It is also an error in another respect to retain a large 

 amount of wood to be removed at the winter pruning, for an 

 undue excitement and extension is given to the roots, which, 

 with a superabundant supply of sap, induces in the spring 

 the growth of rank and unmanageable wood. Pear shoots 

 which have been left, or only partly shortened, should now 

 be pruned back to three or four eyes. Proceed with Straw- 

 berry planting. Remove runners from established plants to 

 relieve and strengthen them. 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



Much watering will be necessary here during the great 

 heat we now experience. Advantage must be taken of the 

 first shower of rain to put out young seedling Wallflowers, 

 Brompton Stocks, Sweet Williams, and other biennials into 

 nursery-beds. Hollyhocks are general favourites, but they 

 do not afford cuttings freely, and are in general not over- 

 plentiful about most places : these should, therefore, be 

 examined often in search of cuttings which they may afford, 

 as those rooted about this time will make strong plants for 

 next season. Attend to the tying-up of these and Dahlias, 

 and frequently go over the masses of Verbenas, &c, for the 

 purpose of regulating the growth, so as to keep it orderly 

 and neat. The present dry weather has been rather preju- 

 dicial to Polyanthuses. After rain put out seedlings ; a north- 

 east border will be most suitable, the soil of "which should be 

 composed of loam, decayed leaves, and cowdung reduced to 

 a black unctuous mass, in about equal proportions. We would 

 again urge the necessity of layering Carnations and Picotees 

 without loss of time. Attend to the gathering and saving 

 of choice perennial and biennial flower seeds ; these should 

 be watched daily, and collected as they ripen. We do not 

 urge this operation to be carried on to a great extent, as the 

 returns would not be adequate to the expense and trouble 

 of collecting and cleaning them. We merely allude to those 

 showy species and varieties, some of which every flower 

 gardener possesses and cultivates, and which it is desirable 

 to preserve. 



GEEENHOTTSE AND C0NSEEVAT0R1. 



It will be much to the advantage of the inmates of plant- 

 houses to reduce the shading after this time to enable the 

 plants to ripen their summer's growth, allowing moi'e air to 

 keep down the temperature and to check any tendency to a 

 second growth which may show itself, and which can only 

 take place at the expense of next season's bloom. Remove 

 Achimenes, Gloxinias, Tuberoses, and plants of the same 

 habit from the conservatory when on the decline. Passifloras 

 and, in fact, the greater part of conservatory climbers will bo 

 growing fast and will require frequent training. Epacrises, 

 winter-flowering Heaths, and other things requiring to have 

 their wood ripened early, may now be placed in a sunny ex- 

 posure. As the wood is already formed nothing remains but 

 to get it ripened; and although sufficient water must be 

 given to supply the demands of the plants, a dry and warm 

 atmosphere are essential to the perfect ripening of the wood 

 and consequent formation of bloom-buds. The different 

 varieties of Epiphyllum, if their growth is sufficiently ad- 

 vanced, should have similar treatment. Give a shift to 

 Chinese Primroses and Cinerarias. Chrysanthemums, Salvias 

 and other autumn-blooming plants should be placed in their 

 blooming-pots. 



STOVE. 



Various stove climbers as Combretums, Quisqualis, Alla- 

 mandas, &c, will bloom for a considerable time if the shoots 

 on which the flowers are borne are slightly cut-in when the 

 blooms decay, and anything which prolongs the period of 

 beauty with those favourites is worthy of adoption. 



PITS AND FEAMES. 



Where bedding-out on a large scale is practised, the pro- 

 pagation and preservation of the annual supply of plants 

 becomes an important part of the gardener's duty. That 



