2X8 



JOUENAL OF HOETICTJLTTJEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ September 13, 1864. 



slaty appearance from our vegetables. Cauliflower with our 

 mulching never was better, and succession crops are now 

 coming in between Peas, which we have left standing long 

 after they were withered, that they might give shade to the 

 Cauliflower. No time should now be lost in taking up Po- 

 tatoes in the southern districts. The less time they remain 

 in the ground after the haulm decays the better they will 

 keep. 



It is a good plan to sow Lettuces rather thickly now on 

 hard ground, that has merely been slightly hoed and raked, 

 either at the bottom of a wall, or fence, or on the open 

 gTOund in beds, with shallow trenches at each side, to take 

 off the winter's moisture. The harder and the poorer the 

 ground, provided there is enough loose soil for the plants 

 vegetating, the better will they stand the winter, and the 

 more stubby will they be in spring. 



Now is also a good time for pricking out Lettuces, some 

 2 or 3 inches high, in rich soil about 3 inches apart, to be lifted 

 in a fortnight or three weeks with a trowel, and placed in 

 pits or frames 8 or 9 inches apart for the winter. Such pits 

 and frames are none the worse of having some dry litter 

 placed at the bottom before the earth is put on for the 

 Lettuces. This answers better than an old hotbed, the dry 

 litter and plenty of air being a good preservative against 

 damp and mildew. Snow's Matchless, a hardy green 

 Lettuce, and Brown Cos, are good as Cos Lettuces, and Hardy 

 Hammersmith and Victoria are capital Cabbage Lettuces 

 for that purpose. Such plants may be expected to keep up 

 a regular supply until the middle of March, when those at 

 the bottom of the fences will come in. Two things are 

 essential to success : first, that the plants be pretty well 

 established before winter; and, secondly, that the surface 

 soil be pretty dry by the first week in November. Young 

 plants may be put in the pits and frames at once, if the 

 latter are at liberty. A third essential to success, is not 

 placing the plants thicker than mentioned above, if they 

 have to grow and come in in succession. We have filled a 

 frame at the commencement of winter with good plants 

 lifted carefully then, and though they did for current use, 

 they never throve like those that were planted out young in 

 their winter quarters. In some places Lettuces are as much 

 run after in winter as Potatoes, and in such circumstances 

 some care must be had to secure them. Where it is under- 

 stood that they will not be wanted, of course all the trouble 

 may be saved, and the room be devoted to other purposes. 



"We have now removed most of the branches that shaded 

 our Celery, and they and a little mulching we hope have 

 done much to make amends for no watering for nearly two 

 months in the hot burning weather. The season has con- 

 vinced us more if possible than heretofore, that in such" 

 periods of dryness much may be done by deep stirring, sur- 

 face-moving, mulching, and frequently turning the mulching, 

 if at all thick. What has suffered most with us are autumn 

 Peas. What used to be fine in September are pretty well a 

 wreck. 



Bitidweed-killing. — "No Gammon," writes us to say, "That 

 he has never known the weed destroyed by hoeing as we 

 stated last week ; that he does not believe that it can be so 

 destroyed ; that it is very wrong of us to hold out such vain 

 inducements ; asks if we have thoroughly eradicated it, 

 &c." To the last we reply, No ! just because in the busy 

 season it is apt to obtain the ascendancy before we notice it 

 or get to it ; but we have no doubt the hoe will master the 

 enemy if the attack i3 made in time, and repeated in time. 

 We cannot help any man's belief or unbelief, that is a matter 

 that rests with himself, and if " even convinced against his 

 will," strong-minded people will often pretend to be " of 

 the same opinion stilL" Acting in good faith, we may derive 

 instructions from the doings of men, and yet not be at liberty 

 to mention their names publicly. There might be no great 

 liberty taken in doing so in the present case, though it is 

 best to be sure ; but if " No Gammon," will give us his 

 name and address in confidence, we will in the same con- 

 fidence give him the address of the gardener and the place 

 referred to, and then he can satisfy himself whether we deal 

 in fancies or in facts. 



Mushroom-growing. — " Unfortunate " would be much 

 obliged if we would give a little more elucidation of the 

 expression at page 197, "Whatever the materials are, it is 

 our part to vary our treatment according as we find them." 



Most willingly, though it must be in a few words. We have 

 several times stated that horse-droppings, with a little litter, 

 are the best material ; but we have used for the bulk of our 

 beds almost anything that would yield a mild heat from 

 decomposition. One of the best beds we had last season 

 was made of three parts of stubble and one of long litter, 

 thrown together, and wetted a little to make it heat, and as 

 soon as it smoked a little it was put as firmly as possible 

 into the bed 16 inches deep, and covered over with a couple 

 of inches of droppings. This material we knew would heat 

 and cake itself pretty dry, and thus lose heat ; but by making 

 some holes about 2 feet apart in the bed with a round stick, 

 and pouring in some water, we set the bed working afresh, 

 and thus the crops were prolonged. If the bed had been 

 made of moister materials the plan would not have answered. 

 Again, we have made the great bulk of our beds of fresh 

 fallen tree leaves. They are apt to produce fungi of many 

 sorts. To prevent this throw them into a heap to ferment 

 violently, which will kill most of the fungi of all kinds, and 

 then when trodden in a bed of moderate thickness they will 

 long retain a mild regular heat. These, surfaced with 

 2 or 3 inches of droppings, will make a capital bed. 



If common horse and cowdung, along with litter, is 

 wrought and turned in a heap, so as to be fit for a 

 Cucumber-bed, it will be in first-rate order for a Mushroom- 

 bed. If that should be rather dry you could give a casing 

 1 inch thick of moist manure — horse or cowdung. H from 

 the weather or other causes the material should be too wet, 

 each piece of spawn should be wrapped in a handful of dry 

 short litter. The fresher the materials are, provided there 

 is no overheating, the greater the success. _ The state of the 

 materials, as respects dryness, is also of importance. We 

 have seen horse-droppings turned and dried, and turned 

 again, in sheds, until all the virtue was driven out of them, 

 and then beaten firmly into beds, which did little good, 

 because they were made too dry, and kept too dry by means 

 of a flue without a moist atmosphere. A little more 

 moisture and freshness in the material, and a coating of 

 moist material after the spawning, with a moist atmosphere, 

 would have made all right. In winter, especially, it is some- 

 times difficult to obtain the material dry enough. It is 

 best when it is about the dryness of soil we use for potting 

 — that is, you may squeeze it in your hand, and it will retaiii 

 all the traces of your fingers, but when you lay it down it 

 will crumble into pieces. We have made beds with material 

 so damp that one could squeeze the drops of moisture out 

 of it. This is much too wet for the spawn to run in. It 

 exhausts itself, or is quite destroyed. In such circumstances 

 inserting the spawn into the handful of dry litter, and 

 keeping it pretty close to the surface of the bed, was the 

 safety valve. The spawn ran freely in the litter, and the 

 damp surroundings proved a rich feeding ground. So much 

 then as to materials and their condition, which is nearly of 

 as much importance as temperature, but which was suffi- 

 ciently alluded to in a late article. 



fruit garden. 



Commenced clearing the lines of Strawberries, will sur- 

 face-hoe or slightly fork, and then place litter and dung 

 between the rows. Would have done so earlier but for the 

 drought and the deficiency of mulching material. Gave a 

 little more room to Strawberry plants in pots that the crowns 

 might be better ripened. Have kept them growing chiefly 

 with a little sewage water. They are mostly in 40-sized 

 pots this season. The forced ones planted out have given 

 little fruit this autumn owing to the dryness. Figs out of 

 doors have thrown off a number of their fruit from dryness 

 at the root, and we could not help ourselves. The orchard- 

 houses which have borne amazingly, are pretty well emptied 

 of their contents, with the exception of Pigs in pots, Plums, 

 Pears, &c, in pots, and late Peaches against the wall. Our 

 chief objection to the pots is the water they require, and our 

 scarcity made us resort to some rather questionable liquids. 

 To Eigs planted in the house we gave a good watering with 

 sewage water, and kept the house closer for the second crop 

 which is now coming in. Syringed the trees done bearing 

 in orchard-house with clear soot and clear sulphur water. 

 On a dull day shut up the Peach-house, put a fire to the 

 boiler, and painted the pipes with sulphur, and when hot 

 syringed the house well, as the red spider appeared from 

 the dryness. For two months past we could do little syring« 



