160 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 25, 1892. 
'bsen well manured for the previous crap. In finally transplanting set 
the plants 2 feet apart in drills, the same distance from one another, and 
about 3 inches deep, letting the plants down to the bottom leaves in 
holes made with the setting-stick, and rendering the soil moderately 
firm about them in planting. Cottagers’ Kale should be given from 
•6 to 9 inches more room every way, as it is a tali and strong-growing 
variety. Before planting Borecole, or, for that matter, any of the 
Brassica family, the roots should be dipped in a “ puddle ” made prefer¬ 
ably of clay, sufficiently thick to adhere to the roots, and into which a 
double haniful of fresh soot has been stirred. This will protect the 
roots from the attacks of grubs, which are sometimes very destructive. 
All the after attention necessary is to draw a little soil up to the 
plants on each side after they have started well into growth, and to keep 
them free from weeds. If dry weather prevail at planting time supply 
water until the roots have taken to the soil. If the latter is inclined to 
be heavy once will be sufficient, but should it be of a light texture 
several waterings will be necessary. These remarks are equally applicable 
to plantings of Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, and Broccolis. 
—H. \V. Ward, Longford Castle, 
COTTAGE GARDENS AND ALLOTMENTS. 
This formed the subject of discussion at last Thur.-day’s meeting of 
the Newcastle and District Horticultural Mutual Improvement Society, 
held at the Lit. and Phil., under the chairmanship of Mr. Heslop. Mr. 
Bernard Cowan of South Shields was the introducer, and in the course 
of an interesting and practical paper said the charge could not be 
brought against gardeners that they had tried to keep the knowledge 
of their profession from the general public, and he thought that the 
hundreds of amateurs in the northern counties, whether pitmen or any 
other clas.=, would be ready to admit that they had baen taught to grow 
flowers, (See., by some friendly gardener. It behoved them to give all 
the practical hints they could in the management of cottage gardens 
and allotments. The great agricultural depression of past years and 
the fact that a large amount of land was going down to pasture, was 
receiving the serious consideration of statesmen, and it was no doubt 
one of the burning questions of the hour. Now that the allotment 
.system had been recognised he thought they might fairly expect some 
further legislation on the land question soon, and it was to societies 
like theirs throughout England that he ventured to think the public 
would look for advice and g»idance as to what was the best to grow. 
He trusted the time was not far distant when a conference of horti¬ 
cultural societies would be convened so as to watch legislation on this 
subject. Some southern County Councils had employed gentlemen to 
^ive technical instruction in gardening ; others had adopted the same 
course, and it was to be hoped that the northern Councils would soon 
follow the lead. 
In 1890 there were in England 46,200 acres of land devoted to the 
cultivation of small fruits, but last year this had advanced to 58,700. 
Small fruit-growing was increasing in every cmnty in England, and 
there was now more land under it than there was devoted to the growing 
of Hops. In Northumberland during 1890 there were 401 acres under 
small fruit, and in 1891 this had risen to 440 acres. The acreage in 
Durham was 263 in 1890, and 337 in 1891. Grouping the five northern 
counties, they found that there were 3120 acres laid out for the growing 
of small fruit in 1890, and 3970, or an increase of 85 acres, in 1891. 
This was due, no doubt, to the impetus given by the Allotments Act and 
the energetic action of the British Fruit Growers’ Association. It was 
necessary for them to do all they could towards keeping the industrial 
population from migrating to the towns in such large numbers, and to 
this end he would suggest that they should approach the County 
Councils with the object of securing technical instruction in gardening 
for the rural population, and that examination should be held. Then 
they should form a committee of inspection or survey for allotments or 
cottage gardens to give the people advice as to what to grow, and some¬ 
thing should be done in the way of co-operation for the disposal of the 
produce. So far as the rural districts were concerned, he would go in 
for building jam factories on the co-operative system, and, if there were 
a large number of allotments together, these could be worked on a small 
scale, and the fruit raised could be converted into jam rather than be 
allowed to run to waste. In addition to this prizes ought to be offered 
for the best treatise on what they could best grow in the northern 
counties, and the work should be printed and circulated at a price to 
cover cost of production. There were other things that might be done 
by their societies to assist in this direction when they got farther legis¬ 
lation, but in the meantime they should do what they could. He did 
not see his way to any good scheme unless it was one that would enable 
the allotment holder to become the absolute owner of the land on a 
system similar to that adopted by the building societies. 
A short discussion followed, and Mr. Cowan was heartily thanked for 
his contribution. 
EUPATORIUMS. 
Useful winter and spring flowering plants are the two species of 
Eupatoriurns—viz., Eupatorium Weinmannianum and E. riparium. 
Their graceful appearance amongst the other occupants of the green¬ 
house or conservatory when in flower makes them very desirable to 
cultivate. They may either be staked erect or trained on flat or small 
balloon-shaped trellis, the slender growths of the plants rendering them 
most suitable to the latter style of training. Cuttings of the young 
shoots may be inserted during the present and following months. Any 
sandy soil with a sprinkling of silver sand will suit them. Crock some 
4-inch pots, and insert four or five cuttings in each pot. Placed in a 
warm house they will soon root, when they may be placed separately iu 
small pots, using loam three parts and one part leaf mould, with sufficient 
sand to keep it porous. Keep them in a growing temperature, and 
pinch the points out when 6 inches high. About the end of May they 
may be placed into their largest pots, which must not be too small, as 
the plants are strong rooters. The compost may consist of loam three 
parts, well-decayed manure and sand. When all danger of frost is oyer, 
they may be plunged out of doors and kept pinched, the last pinching 
taking place about the end of July. Weak liquid manure at intervals 
will greatly add to their well being. As frost appears take them to the 
shelter of a greenhouse, where the flowers will soon commence expand¬ 
ing, and prove of great value for decorative and cutting purposes, the 
season of flowering extending over a considerable period. 
E. Weinmannianum has sweet scented flowers, and is the first to 
bloom. E. riparium follows, and is at present beginning to open its 
flowers. After flowering, they should be cut well back if they are to 
be grown into a large size. If not, cuttings may be struck annually, 
following the same routine of treatment. In conclusion, I may mention 
that E. riparium, if placed on a layer of ashes in a cold frames when 
flowering is over, will produce seedlings in abundance.—R. P. R. 
CHRYSANTHEMUM MRS. ALPHEUS HARDY. 
Much his been written upon the culture of this most beautiful 
variety, and many are the methods which have been adopted to bring it 
to perfection ; but alas ! how many have been the failures and disap¬ 
pointments. It will be well for us who are desirous to do better in the 
future than in the past, to consider which will be the best method to 
adopt, so that we may obtain blooms of greater depth and solidity. 
Some growers plant it out in the greenhouse in a suitable position, keep¬ 
ing it as near the light as possible to prevent its being drawn, and with 
good results ; others grow it in the ordinary way, but use a lighter coin- 
post, and do not place it in the open until the first or second week in 
June, housing it again about the second week in September, this in my 
opinion being as yet the most successful way. But is there not some 
method we may adopt by which to give it a stronger constitution, and so 
make the blooms retain their freshness for a longer period ? As yet, 
when the flowers are fully expanded, they seldom keep in perfection 
longer than a week or ten days, owing, no doubt, to the lack of substance 
in t°he florets. It occurred to me we might possibly obtain the desired 
effect by grafting it upon Etoile de Lyon or Stanstead White, both being 
robust varieties, and my idea was confirmed by Mr. Molyneux, who in 
answer to my question, thought it advisable to try grafting it, but pre¬ 
ferred Elaine to graft upon as being more “ in kind ” than the two 
varieties mentioned. Such advice as this will, I am sure, be welcoined 
and adopted by those who are desirous to obtain still better results with 
this variety.—H. P., The Knoll Gardens, Wimborne. 
MICRO-ORGANISMS. 
People who have never studied nature through the microscope have 
but little true conception of the real living world around us. The 
number of plants and animals with which we are familiar through the 
naked eye is insignificant when compared with the countless myriads of 
living bacteria which surround us, and can be seen through a powerful 
microscope. 
The Dutch naturalist, Antonius Van Leeuwenhoeck, as early as 1675, 
observed and studied bacteria, but our knowledge of these micro¬ 
organisms have been mostly attained during the last thirty years. In 
1848 Fuchs observed these minute bodies in animals dead from sceptic 
infection, and in 1849 and 1850 Branell and Davaine observed them in 
the blood of sheep dead from anthrax ; but no efforts seem to have 
been made to establish any genetic relation between bacteria and 
disease until Pasteur's work on Fermentations appeared in 1861. Since 
that date, remarkable and interesting discoveries on bacteriology have 
been made by Pasteur, Koch, Klebs, Cohn, Virchow, Burdon-Sanderson, 
Tyndall, and many others, from whom we have been given convincing 
proof of the validity of the “ germ theory of disease.” 
It is now almost universally admitted that bacteria, or microbes, 
belong to the domain of botany, and are the simplest and minutest 
organisms in the vegetable kingdom. The great majority of these 
micro-organisms are harmless to the human system, and are beneficial 
agents in nature ; but some of them are infectious, the diseases that 
they produce being called zymotic, in consequence of their course 
resembling a process of fermentation. Such diseases as cholera, typhoid 
fever, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and erysipelas belong to this class. As 
long as the cause of these diseases was undetermined, the science of 
their medical treatment was groping in the dark, and it is only since 
the genesis of many of the most dangerous diseases has been traced to 
micro-organisms that the right treatment of them has become probable. 
Since these are microbe diseases, it may be well to state briefly a few 
facts concerning the germs of disease. Many bacteria are not more 
than one-fifteen-thousandth or one-twenty-thousandth of an inch in 
length, and it has been estimated that it would require four hundred 
million of them of average size to cover one square inch of surface. 
Bacteria are present in many kinds of matter. They always inhabit 
the air we breathe and the food we eat, and even the purest natural 
