August 9, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICTJLTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



115 



best, and may well consult their own tastes as to how they 

 will spend their income. "When the gardener is anxious to 

 have some addition or some improvement made, they may 

 tell him that they have no objection whatever, provided no 

 additional expense is incurred and no additional labour in 

 keeping up is required ; as on these matters their mind is 

 quite made up. If we gardeners get into a fix after this as 

 respects labour we have only ourselves to blame. One 

 thing many of us forget, which is simply this, that a small 

 place well kept is far more satisfactory to all parties than a 

 large place, the work of which can never be mastered from 

 January to December. The best thing in such circum- 

 stances is to keep the principal parts well and let the rest 

 go wild. "When some people go to a large well-kept garden 

 and begin deprecating their own little place, and say they 

 will lose all zest and interest in it, it would m ake us very 

 sorry but for the conviction that the illusion would only be 

 of very temporary continuance. Small gardens ought to be 

 the best managed. If a brother workman has a single 

 flower-bed more beautiful than the Duke of Sutherland 

 possesses at Trentham, he may well divide the honours even 

 with a Henderson. "We candidly own, that in small places 

 we have seen single beds of flowers, that out of our many 

 beds we should have found it difficult or impossible to find a 

 bed equally good in all its properties. Extent is apt to 

 bewilder, but for. comparison we should come back to quality. 

 Hence the florists with their few yards of ground may well 

 claim more than equality with the largest gardens. The 

 cultivation of the sense of the beautiful wherever found, is 

 the best antidote for even the rootlets of everything like 

 envy or covetousness. 



In the flower garden the sun has pretty well done all the 

 mowing and machining for us, but the grass is now becom- 

 ing green. As yet the flower-beds have kept going on 

 pretty well, independently of the drought. "What have 

 chiefly suffered are the Calceolarias and Salvias. We have 

 never had the former better. As yet we have saved them 

 chiefly by mulching, and a few homoeopathic doses of liquid. 

 Without water we fear another week will finish them. In 

 our ground they would not disagree with a nice shower three 

 or four times a-week. A wet season, therefore, suits them 

 better than a dry one. Scarlet Geraniums on the other 

 hand, that have scarcely had any water after they were 

 established after planting out, seem just to be in their 

 element. Their foliage covers the ground, and the bright 

 sun and dry atmosphere just suit the large corymbs of 

 bloom. 



This may, therefore, be an appropriate place to say a few 

 words in answer to some inquiries respecting planting out 

 Scarlet Geraniums at once, or plunging them in the pots in 

 which they grow. The proper course to pursue will depend 

 almost entirely on the natural or the artificial supply of 

 moisture. We have previously mentioned four large Gera- 

 nium plants that have been in the same pots many years, 

 and which have the pots plunged in the flower garden. In 

 wet summers these plants were always great balls of scarlet, 

 because the roots were confined and comparatively dry, 

 whilst beds of Scarlet Geraniums planted out were only 

 middling as respects blooming, the foliage being abundant 

 and requiring much thinning. These four plants are also 

 good this season, but at the expense of watering them twice 

 a-week, whilst, as stated above, those planted out have had 

 none, and are pretty well as much supplied with bloom in 

 proportion to their size. We could manage to water these 

 few plants, but, for hundreds and thousands, we must have 

 let them take their chance ; and if these had been in pots 

 we know they would have been scarecrows by this time with- 

 out watering, whilst planted out they are very fair indeed 

 without any watering. 



The inferences we draw from these facts, then, are — that 

 in dripping, rainy districts, as about Liverpool and Glasgow, 

 or where water can be given in abundance where required, 

 Scarlet Geraniums will bloom best if turned out with their 

 five or six-inch pots plunged in the ground, as the confine- 

 ment and comparative dryness of the roots will encourage 

 bloom, and discourage excess of foliage. But, on the other 

 hand, in districts where there is generally little rainfall in 

 summer, and in places, especially, where watering cannot be 

 resorted to, it will be found best to turn the plants out in the 

 usual way, without their pots. In some wet summers and 



autumns some beds in which Scarlets were plunged with 

 their pots were magnificent here, whilst others planted out 

 were rather too much disposed to give foliage instead of 

 extra bloom. Both in the last and present summer the beds 

 of plants turned out in the usual way have done very fairly, 

 and give healthy foliage and fine trusses without a drop of 

 water. The four fine plants that have been, we think, 

 seventeen years in the same pots, and are plunged in the 

 centre of beds in their pots, and which show after three 

 days at most that they need another drink, just tell us that 

 our beds of Geraniums had been in a woful plight if they 

 had consisted of plants turned out with their pots plunged, 

 and we could have given them no water. With a little 

 water we have been able to keep Calceolarias alive as yet. 

 With no more at our command, and Geraniums plunged in 

 pots also needing help, it is most likely that both would 

 have perished. 



The character of the district, then, as to rains, and the 

 supply of water when needed, are the best test to regulate 

 our practice. So apt are Geraniums to become over-luxuriant 

 in wet summers, that we would be much disposed to plant 

 out and plunge them in pots, could we give water when the 

 season proves a dry one. In such a season as this in Hert- 

 fordshire, most likely the most of such plants would have 

 dried up and died before now, if there were nothing better 

 than rain water to depend upon. Circumstances, therefore, 

 become the best regulators of our practice, and what would 

 be the best practice at Liverpool might not be the most 

 suitable one here, and still less so along the dry east coast. 

 In catering for the interests of all cultivators, the practice 

 and the testimony of practical men in different localities 

 will ever be most valuable. — K. F. 



COVENT GAKDEN MAEKET.— August 6. 



The lone: continuance of dry weather has affected the supply less than 

 might have been expected; still it must be remembered that the demand is 

 less, owing to families going out of town. Hothouse Grapes and Pines are 

 sufficient for the demand ; Peaches, Nectarines, Gooseberries, and Currants, 

 plentiful; Strawberries and Raspberries scarce; Apples and Pears are 

 coming in in quantity. Imports from abroad consist of Pines, Apricots, 

 Pears, and heavy consignments of Plums. Cabbages and Cauliflowers have 

 advanced in price. 



FRTJIT. 



Apples £ sieve 1 



Apricots doz. 1 



Cherries lb. 



Currants, Red...£ sieve 2 



Black do. 4 



Figs doz. 2 



Filberts «fc Nuts per lb. 



Gooseberries . ...4 sieve 1 



Grapes, Hamburghs lb. 2 



Muscats 4 



Lemons 100 4 



Melons each 2 



d. 8. 

 tol 

 3 



Mulberries quart 



Nectarines .. doz. 8 



Oranges 100 12 



d. a. 

 OtoO 



Peaches doz. 



Pears (kitchen). ..bush. 



dessert doz. 



Pine Apples lb. 



Plums £ sieve 



Quinces do. 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries ...punnet 



Walnuts .bush. 14 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes each 



Asparagus bundle 



Beans Broad \ sieve 



Kidney h sieve 



Beet, Red ... doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



BrusselsSprouts £ sieve 



Cabbage doz. 



Capsicums 100 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Cucumbers each 



pickling doz. 



Endive score 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic and Shallots, lb. 

 Gourds & Pumpks. each 



Herbs „ bunch 



Horseradish ... bundle 



d. 

 4 toO 



Leeks bunch 



Lettuce score 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustd. & Cress, punnet 

 Onions bunch 



pickling quart 



Parsley & sieve 



Parsnips doz. 



Pea3 quart 



„ bushel 



Potatoes sack 



New bushel 



Radishes doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Savoys ...doz. 



Sea-kale basket 



Spinach « sieve 



Tomatoes doz. 



Turnips „bunch 



VegetableMarrows doz. 



d. s. d 

 4 toO 6 

 9 1 



2 















1 

 1 

 1 



5 



12 

 4 

 

 

 

 

 4 

 3 

 

 2 



6 

 

 4 

 6 

 8 

 6 

 6 

 

 

 

 6 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 6 

 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



■ We request that no one will write privately to the de- 

 partmental writers of the " Journal of Horticulture, 

 Cottage Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so 

 doing they are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and 

 expense. AH communications should therefore be ad- 

 dressed solely to The Editors of the Journal of Horticul- 

 ture, Src, 171, Fleet Street, Lo7idon t E.C. 



