July 16, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
3 ® 
able to gardening, but the soil is heavy and cold, and rests on 
nearly solid clay, otherwise we might compete more successfully 
with still more southern counties Varieties with a weakly 
constitution are of no use any more than they are in colder 
localities or other cold soils. At one time 1 used to be under 
the impression that the weakness or inclination for one par¬ 
ticular variety in a district was a mere fad, but I have been 
obliged to modify that opinion, as there are strong proofs that 
a certain variety and a certain time of sowing are desirable and 
wise in many districts. Sown on July 10th Ellam’s Early 
bolted; sown a fortnight later the plants remained stationary 
till the spring, and were, in fact, scarcely in advance of those 
not planted till early in the spring. Veitch’s Matchless, on the 
other hand, under precisely the same treatment, succeeded 
admirably, and this variety, being sufficiently robust without 
approaching coarseness either in habit or quality, will be the 
most extensively planted this autumn 
Market growers that I am acquainted with round London 
seldom sow Cabbage seed before the third week in July, and 
in some parts of Kent if 1 remember rightly the first week, and 
even the second week, in August is considered the proper time 
for sowing. As large Cabbages are preferred for the markets, 
such as Early Enfield, Battersea, and Heartwell Marrow are the 
most extensively grown, but for private gardens I prefer the last 
named, as the others are usually somewhat inferior in quality. 
Immense close hearts are not appreciated by anyone who knows 
what is good in the way of vegetables, but neat little conical¬ 
shaped and only moderately firm heads are. Three of these can 
be and ought to be grown where one of the large ones are pro¬ 
duced, and if a second crop is to be taken from them such as 
Ellam’s Matchless and Heartwell will yield these quite as well 
as the coarser growers. Hill’s Dwarf Incomparable is also 
worth a trial. Jt can be planted as thickly as Coleworts, as 
it makes but few outside leaves, and the hearts small and 
conical in shape are of excellent quality. Reading All Heart 
is a great favourite with many, and deservedly so, as it is 
very profitable, the quality being first-rate. In no case would 
I advise anyone to rely exclusively on one variety of Cabbage 
for the spring crops, as they vary in habit somewhat accord¬ 
ing to the season, and a variety, excellent in every respect one 
year, may prove disappointing the next. 
Having decided what shall be grown, and when it is advisable 
to sow, the next proceeding is to prepare the seed beds. An 
open spot is best. A liberal dressing of leaf soil or some sub¬ 
stitute should be well mixed with the surface, and the plants 
later on will lift all the more readily. If the seed is to be sown 
broadcast, first well damp the finely broken surface, then dis¬ 
tribute the seed thinly, and lightly cover with fine soil. If drills 
are preferred and one plan will do as well as the other, have 
them about 1 inch deep, and as thickly as they can be drawn, 
well moisten them if at all dry, sow very thinly, and level over. 
In some gardens birds are very apt to pull up the newly ger¬ 
minated seeds, and in this case it is either necessary to net over 
the beds or to red-lead the seeds before they are sown. The last 
is a very simple and most effective remedy, though why the birds 
should refuse to touch the tasteless red lead is a mystery to me. 
We moisten the seeds in a damp cloth and then well shake them 
up in a tin containing a small quantity of dry red lead. If the 
seeds are unduly wetted, say by sprinkling with water, they are 
apt to clog together in the lead and cannot be sown readily, but 
since I hit upon the plan of using a damp cloth the birds have 
not tasted any of our Broccoli, Cabbage, Turnip, and other seeds. 
Slugs must be kept down by hand-picking and occasional coatings 
of soot and lime, and if the seedlings come up thickly they ought 
to be freely thinned out in order that sturdy plants may be 
obtained. If the first sowing fails or is inadequate, sow more 
seed at once, and two sowings at an interval of a fortnight 
between may well be also made by those who are uncertain 
about the time to sow. As before pointed out, the plants if 
reared too early are liable to bolt prematurely, while if too 
late they may not have time to become established before the 
winter. 
It is useless to attempt to grow really good Cabbages on 
poor ground. They should either be planted on newly and 
freely manured soil, or in succession to a crop for which the 
ground was heavily manured, nothing being more suitable than 
the bed recently cleared of the spring-sown Onions. In the 
latter case no digging is necessary, all that need be done is to 
clear off all weeds and generally break up the surface with hoes. 
The plants will not thrive on land poisoned with manure, as in 
such positions, if they escape the disease known as clubbing, 
they yet refuse to root freely, and unless they take good hold of 
the soil it is very certain the produce will be poor. Light, and 
perhaps over-manured soils, will be benefited by a sprinkling of 
common salt or nitrate of soda, while medium and heavy soils 
will be improved by a liberal addition of either lime, soot, wood 
ashes, burnt garden refuse, or a mixture of all procurable, a 
sprinkling of salt being of good service on all but the heavy 
clays. In some cases, or where there is a good depth of work¬ 
able soil, a little of the subsoil may well be mixed with the 
surface as the ground is being double-dug. It amounts to 
this, if we manure heavily we must also crop closely, or other¬ 
wise the soil is apt to become sour and inert, but we must not 
expect heavy crops from poor and badly manured ground. The 
plants should be put out before they are crowding and spoiling 
each other, and in our case are usually established by the end 
of September. We also plant rather more thickly than is 
generally done, as we can neither afford to follow nor believe in 
the practice of wide planting. For the larger sorts distances of 
15 inches in the rows, and the rows 18 inches apart is ample, 
while those of medium growth, such as Ellam’s Matchless and 
Heartwell, may be safely and most profitably planted 15 inches 
apart each way, every inch of ground being thus utilised and no 
coarse heads grown. We plant in shallow drills, well ram¬ 
ming the soil about the roots, and water them in. If it is 
necessary to p'ant in dry weather both the seed beds and drills 
are well moistened a short time prior to planting, this greatly 
facilitating the work. 
Where clubbing is prevalent, or if the plants lift badly, the old- 
fashioned plan of puddling the roots in a mixture of clayey soil 
and soot is to be commended; this, to a certain extent, check¬ 
ing the ravages of the insect causing the disease, as well as gives 
the plants a good start, puddled plants not flagging so badly 
as others lifted without a ball, and not so treated. Dustings of 
soot and lime serve to keep down the slugs, and occasional 
surface hoeing is all that is necessary till the crop is perfected. 
If left for a second or third crop they frequently prove very 
profitable, but they exhaust the ground surprisingly. Sewage 
applied rather strong between the rows appears to suit Cabbage® 
admirably.—W. Iggulden. 
ORCHID CULTURE —PRUNING. 
On a of the most showy Orchids we have is Dendrobium 
densiflorum, but the great drawback to its usefulness is the 
short time its flowers remain in perfection. This may be over¬ 
come in some degree by having a dozen or more of plants, and 
placing them into heat at intervals to get them into bloom. 1 
have grown this species in several different ways, but have 
found it succeed best with the following treatment:—When a 
plant ha? flowered I remove all the old growths that have lost 
their leaves, or have flowered from every node likely to produce 
blooms, and place it in a temperature of about 60° at night, and 
from 70’to 80’by day. I am not particular to a few degrees, 
but act according to the outside temperature. There the plants 
soon make their young growths. They remain in this tempe¬ 
rature until they are matured, when they are removed to a more 
airy house to thoroughly ripen and rest During the time the 
plants are growing they are shaded from the sun and well 
supplied with water; in fact, they are never allowed to become 
dry when at rest, for if they lose their roots the young growths 
do not start so strongly another season. 
I have some plants of D. densitlorum that have already 
finished their growths ; these will be removed to a more airy 
house soon, when by autumn they will be thoroughly ripened. 
Some of this year’s growths are more than 2 feet long, and 
3 inches in circumference round their thickest part, with six 
broad green leathery leaves on the upper part of the pseudo¬ 
bulb ; from the base of these I hope to get some fine racemes of 
flowers. Plants that have now finished their growths and are 
well ripened will flower on this year’s growths next season, bat I 
have never succeeded in getting more than two racemes from, 
one growth at the same time, therefore I always keep the growth# 
on the plant until they are two years old, and then, if by chance 
they are not flowered from every node, they are allowed to re¬ 
main on another season. These that do not make their growth# 
early in the season seldom flower on the one-year old pseudo¬ 
bulbs, and often when they are two years old they have not 
flowered from more than two nodes. These growths should be 
allowed to remain on the plants till they are three years old, 
after that age it is seldom they bloom. I grew two plants side 
by side, one was pruned—that is, had all the old useless growths 
taken out, the other had all the old growths kept on the plant, 
both were treated in the same way exactly in other respects. 
The pruned plant made the best growths and flowered the best. 
I use nothing but peat and charcoal for potting D. densiflorum 
in, sometimes a little soot water is given them Suring their 
, growing season. My late employer was so enamoured with 
