240 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 20, 1864. 



evaporation from the soil, and give besides occasional water- 

 ings at the roots when the earth becomes dry, and then only 

 sprinkle the tops well each evening, wetting the bark and 

 foliage completely. Plant early bulbs. Protect Auriculas, 

 from heavy, rains. Pot the layers of Carnations and Picotees. 

 Tie-up and regulate Dahlias as they bloom, removing all bad 

 and small blooms. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



House greenhouse plants before heavy rains come on, the 

 tender sorts first ; clean the pots and soil, stake, relabel, 

 and clear off insects before they are taken in ; Camellias and 

 Azaleas to have a cool airy place. Herbaceous Calceolarias 

 and Cinerarias to be shifted and grown on. Heaths and 

 New Holland plants to have all the air that can be given by 

 the sides and sashes being left open in fine weather. The 

 most desirable objects to secure in the management of the 

 majority of plants in these structures is procuring a robust 

 and hardy growth, and lessening their vital activity that 

 they may gradually accommodate themselves to the changing 

 circumstances of the season. 



STOVE. 



Give abundance of air here at every convenient opportu- 

 nity, to assist the plants to complete their growth in a strong 

 and healthy manner. Sprinkle the walls and pathways twice 

 or thrice daily, and dew the plants over occasionally with 

 tepid water on bright days. Maintain a brisk temperature 

 in the daytime, but allow the thermometer to fall to about 

 60° during the night. Twiners on the roof should now be 

 more than ever kept within bounds, cutting back all shoots 

 that have done flowering and tying the others, so as to 

 obstruct the light as little as possible. Achimenes, Glox- 

 inias, and Gesneras that are properly ripened off may be 

 stored away in any dry place where they will be secure from 

 frost ; but take care to place them where they will be free 

 from damp. Let any growing plants that require more pot- 

 room be shifted as soon as convenient, in order to have them 

 well rooted into the fresh soil before winter. 



FORCING-PIT. 



Those who intend to provide a rich display early in the 

 spring should now select the plants adapted for that purpose. 

 As one important division of good forcers we would recom- 

 mend the ordinary American shrubs, many of which, although 

 too large for the drawing-room stand, are well adapted for 

 placing in conspicuous stations in the conservatory or mixed 

 greenhouse. Of such are the various Rhododendrons, Azaleas 

 of the nudiflora class, with various hybrids, the Rhodora 

 canadensis, Ledum latifolium and thymifolium, Kalmia lati- 

 folia, angustifolia, and glauca, Andromeda pulverulenta, and 

 Daphne, especially cneorum, and even the old Polygala 

 chamsebuxus. Such should be obtained forthwith, potted in 

 rather small pots, and plunged in the warmest corner of 

 the garden, whence they may be successively introduced to 

 the forcing-pit from the middle of November until February. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



Continue to afford young stock in pits and frames careful 

 attention, and endeavour to have it well rooted and strong 

 without keeping it so close and warm as to render it sappy 

 and liable to damp off on the first approach of wintery 

 weather, as is often the case with stock brought on in heat 

 late in autumn, and then stored away in cold pits for the 

 winter. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



<Jaohages. — In most places at all moist the most forward 

 crop for early spring work must now be put in. We could 

 not do so ourselves, as the ground was so dry. Our Cabbages 

 will follow Onions ; and for a depth of 2 feet the ground was 

 white with Onion roots, and as dry as ashes taken from 

 under a grate. No wonder that most of our September and 

 October Peas refused to grow and produce as usual. The 

 rain of Thursday night and Friday will help us greatly, 

 and has given us a good supply in our tanks. Previously 

 to its coming we had pricked out lots of the second sowing 

 of Cabbages, with two or three small leaves. In mild 

 winters these will stand better than the larger plants pre- 

 viously pricked out, and which, when raised in balls, will 



suffer but little from the moving. Watered with sewage 

 Coleworts, and Early Ulm Savoys, cabbaging nicely, and just 

 needing a little more moisture to make them vigorous and 

 tender. Went over the old plantation of Cabbages ; cut off 

 any split heads, stripped off any withered leaves, and left 

 them between the rows, which will alike shade the ground 

 and afford noui'ishment by their farther decomposition. 

 Some of the larger outside leaves, stripped off previously, 

 and scattered along the rows, maintained a degree of 

 moisture about the roots of this useful plantation, which 

 kept yielding most effectually, though from the beginning 

 of June until Friday morning we have not had enough of . 

 moisture to penetrate the ground above a quarter of an inch. 

 Now, after this rain, we shall know little more of drought this 

 season. 



We will not now regret the great care taken to keep 

 things moving in the right way, when we could not give 

 them the water they needed. We have never forgotten what 

 was said by Mr. Barnes, of Bicton, some years ago, on this 

 subject. It was to the effect that when fine weather came 

 after frost, or, we may add, excessive drought, people were 

 little inclined then to make any excuse for the deficiencies 

 resulting therefrom. It is certain that, if by a little extra 

 care and attention we could have prevented a disaster, and 

 did not use that care, we should be haunted at least by our 

 own self-accusations, and that, to sensitive minds, would 

 be punishment enough. Extraordinary care to keep off a 

 looked-for evil, even if the evil do not come, is much better 

 than fretting and fuming over a disaster we did nothing to 

 prevent. 



Cauliflowers. — Watered with sewage water those that are 

 coming nicely in. A few here and there are spindling pi-e- 

 maturely; but the little sewage water and mulching have 

 kept them generally in fine condition. We shall now be 

 able to dispense with the old Peas that we kept standing, 

 though rather unsightly, for the shade they yielded from the 

 bright sun. The late Mr. Loudon, who did so much for 

 gardeners and gardening, had an especial horror at seeing 

 plantations of old faded Peas in a garden ; so much so, that 

 when he contemplated a northern tour in the autumn, a 

 friend, who suspected that some northern gardeners were 

 a little easy in this respect, wrote them to give them a 

 hint to have all the offensive subjects removed. Even Mr. 

 Loudon, however, with his fine taste for the tidy and the 

 beautiful, would at once have agreed that there were occa- 

 sions when these, usually so undesirable, should be made 

 subservient to the useful. Utility will always have a beauty 

 and an interest peculiarly its own. Not long ago one of our 

 enthusiastic amateurs expressed his surprise at seeing seve- 

 ral rows of these withered-haulmed Peas in our garden ; but 

 when he was desired to observe the fine Cauliflower between 

 them, he out with his note-book to remind him, as he said, 

 of the " wrinkle," as, even with the assistance of moderate 

 waterings, he had not been able to obtain a close head of 

 Cauliflower for the previous six weeks. With the smallest 

 modicum of water these Cauliflowers owed their luxuriance 

 and good heads chiefly to mulching and the flickering shade 

 from the old Peas. We will now need the shade little or no 

 longer. Our succession crops even when earthed-up are all 

 mulched with long stable-litter, as we had nothing better 

 to give them. Some younger ones had it spread over the 

 ground, and but for the rains we would have done the same 

 with the last plantation, put out chiefly for the purpose of 

 lifting and placing under protection, or protecting where 

 they are. 



Pricked out a lot of young Cauliflower in a bed, the leaves 

 the size of a shilling, as they were thick where sown, and 

 this will render them stubby for being transferred to pots 

 or under hand-lights. Both plans answer well ; those in pots 

 are kept under protection, shifted once or twice until the 

 middle of March, and then turned out into rich soil. We 

 generally obtain the heads pretty well as soon from hand- 

 lights. In the larger size we plant out nine or more plants, 

 and then thin in February or March to five. In the first 

 part of the winter we do not mind the plants being frosted, 

 as they are then small ; and if the frost should be severe 

 we then cover the glasses with litter, or a hood, made 

 like that often used for bee-hives, and allow the cover to 

 remain until the thaw has come and softened the soil inside, 

 giving all necessarv air to keep the plants, stubby and hardy, 



