December 27, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETTCOLTtTEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



515 



WOKE FOE. THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



The weather must now decide the operations to be per- 

 formed in the kitchen garden. If frosty all manures ought 

 to be wheeled to where they are wanted. If the Asparagus- 

 beds are not soiled up for the winter, no time should be lost 

 in getting it done. In open weather trench or dig all vacant 

 spaces ; trenching is a prospective operation, therefore the 

 bottom ought to be manured well, as by that process land 

 will remain in heart three or four years, and after that time 

 a second trenching will bring up the soil from beneath. 

 Brussels Sprouts, when gathering do not cut out the crowns 

 until spring. Some do so in the hope of inducing them to 

 throw out more sprouts, but we think it injurious at this 

 season, as it admits moisture, which in the event of severe 

 frost, proves fatal to the whole stem. Cauliflowers, stir the 

 surface of the soil amongst the plants under hand-lights, 

 and sprinkle some charcoal dust or wood ashes amongst 

 them ; it will sweeten the surface of the soil, and prevent 

 the green growth over it, which stagnant air is apt to 

 produce. For land that has been long cropped with vege- 

 tables, a dressing of fresh loam would in many cases be pre- 

 ferable to manure, and where this is wanted, and can be ob- 

 tained, it should be at hand, in order that advantage may 

 be taken of frosty days for wheeling it upon the ground. 

 "Where fresh soil cannot be obtained, charred vegetable 

 refuse, such as prunings of shrubberies, edgings of walks, 

 and many things which turn up in course of the season, may 

 be cheaply made to form an excellent manure. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



Figs against walls will require some protecting material 

 placed over them in the midland and northern counties. 

 When the frost sets in lay a coat of manure — say 3 inches 

 thick around the Gooseberry and Currant bushes. Continue 

 to prune and nail wall trees ; however judicious the system 

 of summer management, many small bits will require re- 

 moving before nailing, if the trees are to be kept handsome. 

 We are also alive to the great importance of having a just 

 equilibrium betwixt roots and branches, and in rich garden 

 soil this can only be attained by lifting the trees every 

 two or three years or by root-pruning. 



JLOWEK GARDEN. 



Many persons object strongly to planting shrubs or trees 

 in winter, believing that the roots if hurt at this season are 

 liable to rot, and certainly early in autumn is a much pre- 

 ferable season; but with favourable weather we would not 

 delay such work a single day, and if the soil is properly pre- 

 pared by draining, &c., where necessary, as should always be 

 done before planting, there will probably be fewer failures 

 from planting now than if the work w r ere delayed till March. 

 But where the garden is of a clayey nature, and in an unkind 

 state at present, it will be better to defer planting until 

 spring. Where Rhododendrons are grown in masses, and 

 exhibit any indications of having exhausted the soil, a top- 

 dressing of rotten cowdung 3 inches deep, and extending 

 as far as the roots, should be applied at once. This will 

 strengthen the plants for flowering, prevent rapid evapora- 

 tion in summer, and keep the ground cool and moist, which 

 is essential to the well-being of this handsome tribe of plants. 



GREENHOTJSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



The changeable weather which we are now experiencing 

 will render it necessary to carefully attend to specimen 

 hardwooded plants which have to be wintered in these 

 houses. Many of these are impatient of heat and a confined 

 atmosphere. Use no more artificial warmth, therefore, than 

 is absolutely necessary, and endeavour to counteract its 

 drying effects, either by means of evaporating-pans, or by 

 sprinkling the paths or borders, &c, in order to prevent any- 

 thing like a dry parched state of the atmosphere. 



STOVE. 



If there is any prospect of a scarcity of plants in flower 

 next spring, a portion of the Gloxinias and Achimenes 

 which have been the longest at rest may be started at once, 

 as also a few Clerodendrons. The latter should be cut back 

 to the lowest eyes so as to secure bushy specimens, with the 

 pots covered with foliage, and when the plants have fairly 



started into growth the balls should be reduced sufficiently 

 to allow of giving a good shift in fresh soil without increas- 

 ing the size of the pots. A few of the Allamandas may also 

 be pruned and placed in heat, provided the wood is well 

 ripened. A plant or two of Echites splendens and Dipla- 

 denia crassinoda may also be started. Let Ixoras and all 

 other hardwooded plants that have made sufficient growth, 

 be kept rather dry at the roots in order to check their 

 growth, and induce a tendency to form bloom-buds, but do 

 not let the soil in the pots become so dry as to affect the 

 foliage. 



FORCING-PIT. 



This structure will now be kept in full activity to supply 

 the various calls for plants in bloom, which at this season 

 of the year are more or less in demand in most establish- 

 ments. Care should be taken before plants are moved to 

 sitting-rooms to gradually harden them for a day or two, 

 either by placing them in the conservatory or an inter- 

 mediate house. Dutch bulbs should be largely used for 

 present forcing. Do not forget to introduce a good batch of 

 Roses, choosing the most promising plants of Teas, Bour- 

 bons, and Hybrid Perpetuals, which are the best kinds for 

 winter flowering. Next to Camellias, Azaleas are, perhaps, 

 the most showy plants that can be had in bloom at this 

 season, and where there is a good stock of these to draw 

 from, some of the most forward plants of the common 

 varieties should be placed in heat at once, moistening them 

 overhead two or three times a-day ; but unless the plants 

 have set their fiower-buds early in the season, they can 

 hardly be expected to flower so freely or finely as under 

 more natural circumstances in the spring. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



The inmates of these structures will require but little 

 water for some time, and the little that may be necessary 

 should be given early in the morning of a fine day, when 

 air can be given to dry up the atmosphere before night. 

 Also, guard against the ill effects of damp by giving air 

 whenever it can be done without risk, but do not expose the 

 stock to cold north, or north-easterly winds, which seldom 

 fail to turn the foliage brown and rusty. — W. Keane. ■ 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



The frost came as was anticipated, 5 10, 15, and more 

 degrees, but with an inch of snow that protected things 

 very much, which was a great advantage after the warm 

 muggy weather had kept plants growing without enough of 

 sun to consolidate that growth. An inch of snow is a matter 

 of importance in such cases. We can offer no better pro- 

 tector. Every flake as it falls on another flake shuts in so 

 much air, and that air so shut in becomes a nonconductor v 

 . Our chief care as to vegetables was confined to Cauliflower, 

 Celery, and Lettuces. The Celery we banked up with 

 stubble, placing a little all over the ridge of the bed, be- 

 tween the plants and over the plants; all the rest will 

 now remain for the season, except what is over the plants, 

 which will be removed that the tops may have sun and air, 

 and may with a few branches of spruce and other ever- 

 greens be replaced on a frosty night; and the current of 

 wind and the slight freezing would seem to say we shall 

 not be long without it. These changeable days, ranging so 

 soon from 4.0° to 26° or lower, render n uch more care and 

 attention necessary. The Cauliflower under hand-lights 

 was covered over with litter after the soil inside was crusted, 

 and the leaves hard. We thought v/e were in for a fort- 

 night's frost, or we would not have waited so long. We 

 knew that the frost allowed would do no harm, and after a, 

 slight freezing, the plants being in a state of rest, we knew 

 they would take no harm if shut up for a fortnight, a month, 

 or even two months. We once had Cauliflowers shut up 

 thus for ten weeks, and we never had earlier or better Cauli- 

 flower. The temperature for all that time must have been 

 from 28° to 32° under the covering. Had it been from 40° 

 to 45° we should have expected to have seen a sickly blanched 

 vegetation. As it was, the covering remained on for twenty- 

 four hours after the thaw set in, and the Cauliflowers being 



