August 23, 1888. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
161 
Tieap in the instance before us was abolished. The garden where 
-this is carried into effect is of considerable size, and forms part of 
-the grounds of the Metropolitan and City Police Orphanage at 
Twickenham. Consequent upon the number of orphans who are 
cared for at this excellent institution, precautionary measures are 
freely employed to prevent the outbreak of disease. It is with 
this object in view that Mr. Gardiner, the superintendent, has 
studiously avoided a rubbish heap owing to the impure vapours 
which arise from such during fermentation and decomposition. A 
deep trench is formed across one of the quarters in the kitchen 
garden, and the garden refuse as made is deposited in it and 
covered with a sprinkling of soil. When the trench is sufficiently 
full it is covered in, leaving another by its side ; this in time is 
served likewise, and so the operation continues till the whole 
•quarter has been traversed. By this process the soil receives a good 
dressing, and is thoroughly trenched into the bargain, the ground 
being cleared and cropped as the work proceeds, so that at n i time 
will there be any great amount of land unoccupied. The plan 
answers admirably, and excellent crops are the result. Nothing is 
simpler or more effectual, and may be adopted in most gardens, 
thereby dispensing -with the unsightliness of the rubbish heap, which 
in some cases amounts almost to a nuisance.—J. H. E. 
A CHAPTER ON FAILURES. 
I AM glad to see that much of my advice is verified by practical 
men, and maybe some of your readers may be inclined to think I 
lhave no failures ; but I have, and, further, I never knew a 
•gardener who had not. I have been under a few good ones. I 
have seen the work of others in many parts of the country, and in 
all cases I found failures ; some, it could be seen, would not own 
to them, while others, and these generally the best gardeners, made 
no secret of them. Indeed, the plants which come under the 
•care of a gardener are so numerous and varied in their require¬ 
ments that no one who considers the matter fully need be surprised 
that they should have failures, and the wonder is they have not 
more. But probably the reason some are afraid to own to their 
failures is because their employers do not expect them and make a 
disagreeable fuss when they occur. For instance, I have known 
some employers visit nurseries and buy the most tender and rare 
kinds of plants when they had no proper accommodation at home 
for them, and they could not possibly receive the same treatment as 
they were receiving in the nursery, the result being that they died 
or remained sickly ; but although this might be regarded as a 
failure by some it is unreasonable to blame anyone for it, more 
particularly the gardener, who is unfortunately connected with the 
■case. I have also known garden owners so much charmed with 
Muscat Grapes that they did not feel satisfied until they had 
planted some, but as their houses were only fit to mature cool¬ 
growing Grapes the Muscats were not a success, and culture was 
■thought to be deficient. I am, fortunately, not referring to myself 
in these cases, as I have a reasonable employer, but I could tell of 
those to whom the remarks apply. 
Some years ago I had a capital stock of Calanthes. They were 
potted in the spring as usual, but they were overwatered before 
they had formed sufficient roots, became sickly, and it was two years 
before they recovered, ^rchids bring many failures, and this, I 
believe, is whythey remain so expensive and the demand for im¬ 
portations never lessens. I have killed many. I once had some 
Masdevallias which I hoped to improve by placing them in a little 
extra heat, but it did not agree with them. Some of them died, 
•and none was improved. Early Carnations are wanted with us. 
■One autumn we lifted a number of layers from the open borders 
and planted them in the bed of a conservatory. They existed and 
grew a little, but they were a long w T ay from the glass, and in a 
good deal of moisture, and although they produced flowers some 
weeks before they would have bloomed in the open, the blossoms 
were small, and the plan was not a success. Marechal Niel Roses 
are favourites here. We have tried them in many corners under 
glass to obtain them early. Two or three plants that were placed 
in the bed of a Cucumber pit with bottom heat and a close atmo¬ 
sphere to urge them on made huge growths, but never produced 
flowers worth looking at. Several Peach trees were planted in the 
■open in deep heavy soil. They tried to grow, but did not, and 
after tw r o years they were dug up, given to a cottager, planted in 
very shallow soil above ample drainage, and at the present time 
they are pictures. 
Mealy bug is an enemy we have had to contend with. Through 
growing all sorts of plants in a vinery it attacked the Grapes. It 
was eradicated, but not without failure. A well-recommended 
insecticide was put on so strongly and freely that it burned the 
skin of some of the young green berries, but the bug was hardly 
injured. A year or two ago a new insecticide was received. I had 
no experience of it, but I trusted t:> the advice of others, syringed 
a few Peach trees with it according to directions, a id in le;s than a 
week half the foliage had fallen. 
Sensational crops are always seductive ; more than once I have 
allowed double the number of bunches to remain on the Vines than 
ought to have been left, and the result almost invariably was small 
berries and poor colour. One year I thought to still further 
improve our good Celery by earthing it up with finely siftel ashes. 
The sun in July and August made the ashes so hot that they 
scorched the leaves and stems and the plan was a complete failure. 
Extra fine Vegetable Marrows have been expected more than once 
from plants grown in little else than manure, and most luxuriant 
growth with a few badly formed fruits followed. We have sown 
early w r rinkled Peas in trenches early in spring, when three parts of 
the seed perished by cold and wet, and little failures of this kind 
have occurred with other vegetable crops. 
Conditions of weather and other circumstances have so much 
influence over all the gardeners’ live stock that I hold it is impos¬ 
sible to go on without failures ; and although I am strictly in 
favour of trying the utmost to avoid them all, should overlook them 
so long as they are not too numerous and severe. In gardens where 
failures are the rule the cause is obvious, but where they are the 
exception and occur chiefly by trying experiments to imorove the 
condition of things I would exempt all connected with them from 
blame.—Iv. G. 
CABBAGES—A CRITIQUE. 
I thought at the time of reading the bold assertion of “ A 
Kitchen Gardener,” on page 90, that it would “never answer” 
to sow Cabbage seed early in July, someone would show he was in 
error. Had your correspondent been content to say early July 
sowings had not answered with him he would have been on safe 
ground. He appears to have ascertained “without doubt” that 
the last week in July and the first week in August is the best 
period for sowing. That may be so in his case and many others, 
but it is not the best for all varieties, districts, and purposes. I 
have seen Ellim’s Early command higher prices in the market, the 
plants raised from seed sown early in July, than I ever expect to see 
any larger and later sorts realise when sown as advised by your corre¬ 
spondent ; and if that is not a test of merit both as regards a variety 
and time of raising I do not know what is. The value of Cabbages de¬ 
pends on their earliness, not only for market but equally so in private 
gardens, and in the latter small Cabbages are usually preferred ; 
moreover, as two of these can be grown in the space required by 
one of their larger congeners, the smaller are the more profitable. 
Sow the true Ellam’s about the 10th of July very thinly, so that 
the plants do not touch each other till they are large enough for 
planting, and not one out of a hundred will bolt; and I shall be 
surprised it’ any of the large varieties sown with Ellam’s now, at 
this late period, will equal it in the spring. 
Although “ A Kitchen Gardener ” writes with much confidence, 
his communications suggest that he has still something to learn, 
even on Cabbages and their culture. He has nothing, however, to 
learn in the art of laudation on the one hand or condemnation on 
the other, according as a variety may please him or the reverse. 
There is n> shading in his word-painting, and black or white appear 
to be his favourite colours, first one and then the other predominat¬ 
ing, as he is disposed to “ lay it on.” He condemns the Early 
York Cabbage in his bold way, for he says “it will never be 
a favourite again.” “Never,” is rather an awkward word to use in 
that sense, as it has a bearing, not on illimitable time only, but on 
numberless persons, for it means, if it means anything, that the 
variety can never become a favourite with anyone. I am on quite 
safe ground in saying he is wrong there, for it is a favourite of 
mine, because it has served me and others well. It is condemned 
on page 90 because it “ bolts.” May I venture to submit that 
the variety is not so much at fault as its judge? “A Kitchen 
Gardener” sows his Early York at the wrong time, and if he will 
sow at the right period he will have a different result. 
I can scarcely understand a person learned in the art of Cabbage 
growing by years of experience sowing Early York in the autumn. 
It should be sown in the spring for use in the autumn, not sown in 
the autumn for use in the spring. I do not hesitate saying that 
until a grower has raised plants of it in April and May for use in 
the autumn is in a position to give a true verdict on the variety. 
Like your correspondent I have even grown from “ tw r elve to 
eighteen ” varieties of Cabbages, and probably more than twice the 
number, and I have this to say about Early York, that will “ never ” 
be in favour again, that I know not one out of all the twelve that 
excels it for late autumn use, not one that has given more satis¬ 
faction to, well, not bad judges of what is good. Have it in at the 
right time and the best condition, and it surpasses Coleworts, 
readers Savoys coarse by comparison, and is preferred even to 
