September 20, 1864. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



241 



By the end of February we give less air, using the heat of 

 the sun to make the plants grow, and covering them every 

 cold night, and as the plants become large they are pro- 

 tected until the weather is warm enough to enable them to 

 stand without their glasses. In planting under these hand- 

 lights, or even in a bed to stand the winter, we usually 

 cover the surface of the soil for half an inch or more with 

 rough sand or roaddrift, which to a certain extent is a pre- 

 servative against damp and slugs. A little dry slaked finie 

 may also be put between the rows. The sand is what our 

 amateur- friend would have called a wrinkle. An old gar- 

 dener of the old school, who was very fortunate with his 

 early Cauliflower, told it to us as a great favour, and a secret 

 we were to keep. He has long been beyond any regretting 

 that we have not made the best of the secret in what he 

 then considered the best way of treating it. 



Lettuces. — Tied-up some behind a wall to succeed those at 

 present in use. Planted out more in borders, some to be 

 protected for winter use if necessary. Sowed the last crop 

 as stated last week on rather hard ground out of doors. 



Endive. — Watered the most forward and planted out more. 

 Our Chicory will do little good this season, as owing to the 

 drought it made no headway. However, we always find that 

 Chicory and even Endive, however nice, are generally at a 

 discount when a good Lettuce can be had. In our own case 

 winter salad was once a matter of importance, but now it is 

 comparatively seldom called for. In such cases some must 

 be kept in case it should be wanted. It would generally be 

 more satisfactory to the gardener if such things were wanted 

 regularly or not at all, as then the best could be made of 

 the room. 



Cucumbers. — The same as to Cucumbers. What is the 

 use of keeping up a winter supply, when a Cucumber is 

 scarcely tasted at table from the middle of October to the 

 middle of April ? The places had better remain empty for 

 several months, and fuel, fermenting material, &c, be saved. 

 Those in frames should now have the linings banked up, to 

 keep up internal heat, and the inside be kept rather dry, if 

 we should have dull weather. Those bearing in pits should 

 also have a little artificial heat in cold dull weather. Young 

 plants, with two or three rough leaves, should now be in- 

 troduced for winter supply, where winter Cucumbers are a 

 feature. They are most easily grown in houses heated by hot 

 water, and do best for winter in large pots or boxes, or in 

 pits, where the roots are somewhat confined. One cause of 

 success is to have the plants as strong as possible, and free 

 from all sorts of insects, before the dark days come on, the 

 plants being kept sturdy, instead of drawn, by plenty of air 

 at all favourable opportunities. A second means of success, 

 where the fruit is wanted chiefly at Christmas and onwards, 

 is to allow the plants to bear little or none before the middle 

 of December. We have seen plants loaded in November 

 that were intended to carry on through the winter and the 

 spring, but they mostly refused to do much good after the 

 new year. We believe, ourselves, that one Cucumber before 

 the new year will distress plants more than two or three 

 Cucumbers after that period, when the sun, instead of 

 waning, is gaining power. 



Beetroot. — As we are upon salads, we may mention that 

 our transplanted Beet has done well, and been in use for a 

 month past. We think we shall transplant in future. For. 

 several seasons we have not been able to keep a seedling in 

 the open air. No sooner did the red seed-leaves appear 

 than it was whisked off. Even netting was not effectual, 

 for the birds managed to find their way under it, and after 

 chattering defiance with all the energy of terror, generally 

 escaped before we could catch them. Sparrows and green 

 linnets seemed the principal depredators. Toung plants of 

 the Lobelia kermesina were treated the same way. We 

 were obliged to thread and net the lines to preserve them. 

 There is so little in common between the Beet and the 

 Lobelia, except the colour, that we are anxious to know if a 

 similar crimson colour has been equally attractive elsewhere. 

 We found the lines of small thread were quite as effectual 

 in scaring the birds from the Lobelia as nets, or even more 

 so; for they will walk round and round the nets until, 

 acquiring courage, they will walk or crawl under them, 

 getting their head in first, and, thief-like, their body after- i 

 wards. The stretched thread seems to impress them with 

 some indefinable dread, I 



Celery. — We found our little heads of the Dwarf Incom- 

 parable Celery better than we expected, and have been 

 using it for table for eight days. In ordinary seasons we 

 could have had it good by the middle of July, though, like a 

 good many other things, even Celery loses its zest when 

 given too early or for too long a period. Our late friend 

 Mr. Beaton found this out when he sent young Potatoes to 

 table in November and December. He found it more pru- 

 dent to send them in after the shortest day was passed and 

 the new year had commenced. The new year gave a charm 

 to the new Potatoes which they wholly wanted in the murky 

 cold days of December. So long as prejudices are innocent, 

 there is no harm in humouring them, and all the more when 

 we are paid for doing so. We allude to this Incomparable 

 Celery chiefly for impressing the importance of its being 

 grown by the cottager and the amateur, who have little room 

 at their disposal. Of course, our heads are rather small, but 

 almost every bit except the outside leaves is fit for table, 

 and we send from these little heads, about a foot in length 

 to table, from plants about 15 inches in height. We have 

 just measured the bed from which we are now raising the 

 plants for cheese, &c, every day. It is 4 feet wide and 

 52 feet long, and has four rows in the bed, and seventy-one 

 plants in each row, making 284 plants in the bed. The 

 plants are just close enough in this dry season, about 10 inches 

 apart, but there is still room for their growing larger, and 

 in a dripping season were there some thirty or forty plants 

 less in a bed, there would still be a great number of plants 

 in a little space. Even now, small as the plants are, there is 

 as much in them fit for table as is often met with in great, 

 rampant, Giant Celery that requires much room and a great 

 bank of earthing-up, besides the labour of doing it. From 

 15 to 18 inches on each side of the bed will be ample space 

 for earthing-up. In fact, if the Celery were to stand long-, 

 15 inches would be quite sufficient ; so that for a space 

 altogether from 6i to 7 feet wide and 52 feet long, you might 

 not only plant but earth-up 284 heads of Celery in fine order 

 for the dinner-table. In a more dripping season some 230 

 to 240 very fine heads could be obtained. Our friends who 

 can spare their 20 or 30 feet for a bed, may see how many 

 heads they may have in little space. The landlord of a large 

 hotel who has a large gai-den but never can obtain a tithe of 

 the Celery he wants from it, took us to see his rows, and 

 poor miserable stuff it looked after all his watering. He 

 is now convinced that on the bed-system and with this 

 dwarf kind he can have better produce and four times the 

 quantity from the same ground. For early taking up, a 

 trench may be dug out in the usual way. When intended 

 to stand the winter and the spring, we prefer taking out 

 little of a trench, but having the surface of the bed, after 

 the addition of the dung, quite as high as the general level. 

 When we dig a narrow trench to give the little earthing-up 

 that is necessary, that helps to keep the bed dry in winter 

 — almost as necessary to prevent rotting then as moisture 

 is essential to growth in summer. 



We have earthed-up finally another piece of the bed, so 

 that our last earthed-up shall be ready for us in from twenty- . 

 five to thirty days ; but owing to the plants being thick, 

 they have not wanted that blanching time this season. In 

 fact, when a string is placed round them the heart becomes 

 white, whilst the top keeps growing freely. We use a 

 few coal ashes next the stem, which keeps slugs, &c, from 

 nibbling them. 



Though the Celery is shorter than usual, owing to scarcely 

 having any water after planting until the 10th of September, 

 we have not, either with the Dwarf or a tall Red, noticed as 

 yet a single bolted plant ; and under the circumstances, the 

 weather being so dry and no water at command, we attribute 

 this result to the surface-stirring, the mulching with half- 

 decayed leaves, and sticking a row of evergreen branches on 

 each side of the beds. We are thus particular as to these 

 points of detail, as some visitors, even after inspecting our 

 empty ponds and reservoirs, would scarcely believe that we 

 had not been watering at least twice a-week, and also be- 

 cause we should like to see a little bed of Celery in every 

 cottage garden where the inmates of the cottage liked such 

 a vegetable, and which they now generally consider beyond 

 their reach. 



The work done in other departments will be detailed next 

 week.— R. F, 



