108 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
December 25. 
the late Mr. Smith, of Deanston, is progressive improvement 
and deepening, preceded by draining where necessary. The 
working of the process is this: draining, by emptying the 
' wedged-up soil, admits the air, the air carries heat from 
the surrounding atmosphere, besides a considerable amount 
of gaseous matter; the former has, at least, a mechanical 
! agency, the latter is of a chemical character. Their joint 
action, in due time, performs changes of importance; inert 
portions of the subsoil are, after a while, improved, and 
j thus fitted to blend with, and to deepen, the surface soil; 
i and, with regard to this latter, such materials as weeds, 
i straw, clots of raw manure, &c., are thereby brought into 
I action, and prepared to present food to the young plant 
in a digestive state. Our agricultural chemists have much 
I to say on this subject, but this may suffice for those of our 
! allotment friends who would, with a laudable emulation, fain 
know the chief arguments for thorough draining and sub¬ 
soiling. 
The matter, however, does not stop here; when a man 
manures a plot of ground, he certainly raises its value for a 
year or two. Thorough draining and subsoiling, judiciously 
performed, raises its value for ever, or, in other words, as 
long as vegetable culture shall prove remunerative. And 
1 now about deepening the soil; what does this accomplish? 
1 Everybody must know that a few inches of soil burns, or 
dries up, sooner than a foot or two. Now, in summer, when 
! our most productive crops are, or ought to be, in vigorous 
growth, every stoppage, from whatever cause, is a positive 
loss—a loss which can never be regained. Here, then, lie 
the two extremes of agriculture and horticulture—wet and 
cold, hot and dry. A little farther explanation is necessary. 
1 Deep soils encourage deep roots; deep roots have a surer 
guarantee of a permanency of moisture than shallow ones ; 
i hence deep roots are “ at work ” in extremes of drought, 
when shallow ones languish. With the Swede turnip, and, 
indeed, many other crops, these temporary checks are every 
one inducements for the enemies of vegetables to commence 
their attacks, whether it be insects, or the no less destructive 
fungi. The mildew in Peas, the Swede, the Common Thorn 
or Quick in our hedges, all appear to have their rise in this— 
a 'perverted state of sap; for it is well known, that whether 
in the vegetable or animal kingdoms, the more healthy the 
subject and the better the conditions connected with its 
being, the less it is liable to disease. 
Enough for the present about these matters; our apology 
for the introduction of which must be, the extra opportuni¬ 
ties afforded in this, the dormant period of the year. 
Ridging or Fallowing. — Disturbing the soil, in any 
known way, during the winter, is always of much service; 
but deep digging, and forming the soil in high ridges, parti¬ 
cularly so; this will sometimes cause soils to produce crops, 
which, by ordinary means, they could not do. The bringing 
up to the surface fresh material, whether organic or inor¬ 
ganic, so freshens and improves the soil, that with the addi¬ 
tion of the mechanical breaking down of the soured lumps 
of soil by frost, a new bed is prepared for the fibres of the 
future crop. The destruction of insects, too, and their eggs, 
is alone worth the trouble. We make a point of deep trench¬ 
ing every portion of our land once in three years at farthest, 
much of it every second year. 
The Dunghill. —As evaporation does not proceed duiing 
cold weather with any loss worth consideration, those who 
are out of employ cannot do better than turn their midden, 
first throwing a good coating of salt over it, if at hand. 
Any soot, well-burnt ashes, chaired materials, sawdust, leaves, 
vegetable matter, &c., lying about, and not for any particular 
purpose, may be first strewn over the heap, and care taken 
during the turning to thoroughly mix the whole. Very 
long, and fresh, or tough manure, may be separated from 
the mass, and passed on for a succeeding dunghill, or for 
I other purposes. The latter article, indeed, is very useful 
for early potatoes, if it can be thrown together and slightly 
fermented; this, and plenty of burnt, or rather charred, 
material, will make a capital dressing, and a little brine 
might be added just before it is dug in the soil. Although 
it is not well to use much manure in the present state of 
potato culture, yet, for very early potatoes, some mellow 
manure is very serviceable, unless the ground be naturally 
; very good. 
I Existing Grots. —Little besides greens will be found in 
small gardens at this period, and these should be princi¬ 
pally of kinds that need no protection. If, however, any of 
our allotment or cottage friends have raised a lot of Cole- 
worts, according to former advice, let us warn him that such 
are tender, and that if he cannot protect them with a little 
litter during very severe weather, he had better bunch them, 
and hurry them into some thriving market. Our practice is 
to take all these things up, and keep them close together, 
by which means three or four bundles of clean and new 
straw will protect some thousands. Those who resort to the 
covering process, either with these or any other vegetable, 
should observe a few simple rules, founded on well-known 
principles. 
1st. When a sharp frost sets in, and the soil is frozen 
nearly an inch, be sure to cover your vegetables before the 
sun can possibly melt their stiffened foliage. 
2nd. Do not uncover at all whilst the frost lasts; en¬ 
deavour to keep them constantly frozen, and to ward of 
cutting winds. 
3rd. When a thaw ensues, still leave them covered until 
they are fairly thawed beneath the covering ; and even then 
leave a flickering shade over them to avoid a too sudden 
sunlight. These maxims we have proved for some twenty 
years to be sound and applicable to almost everything that 
carries living foliage. 
Cropping for January. —Little can be done in this way 
at present. If it is necessary to have a few very early peas, 
some of the Prince Albert kind may be sown in the middle 
or end of the month. If a succession is required, a row of 
the Chariton, or Prussian, may be sown at the same time. 
Longpod Beans may also be planted at any period after the 
middle of the month; crops got in at that period may be 
relied on, those sown in December cannot, and however we 
may wish the small holder to enjoy a goodly lot of vegetables, 
we dare not recommend uncertain crops. 
Radishes.—A pinch may be sown in the end of the 
month ; but as we shall have to name this as a mixed crop 
we pass on. 
The Horn Carrot. —Again we recommend this to the 
earnest attention of the allotment man and cottager; we 
could pay the whole rent of their plot with a few beds sown 
in the end of January. A light soil is by far the best; and 
very old crumbling manure, with a little sand blended, is 
excellent dressing. We have had capital crops with old tan, 
or leaf-mould, fine with age. The beds should slope slightly 
to the sun, and a sprinkling of radish seeds, of the frame 
kind, may be thrown over the beds before covering. We 
will advert to their subsequent culture in next. 
Cabbages. —Towards the end of the month a plot of 
ground may be prepared for a plantation of cabbages, from 
those plants sown in August. The soil must be rich. 
Next month will usher in the spring as to cropping pur¬ 
poses ; and in the meantime let us urge all who desire to 
reap both satisfaction and profit from their little plot, to 
endeavour to excel; now is the time to lay down sound plans 
to that effect. R. Errington. 
APIARIAN’S CALENDAR— December. 
By J. H. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-keeper's Guide.'' 
In noticing the hives exhibited in the Crystal Palace, 1 
would say, first and foremost in my opinion stands Mr. 
Taylor’s Eight-bar hive, and Messrs. Neighbour and Son’s 
Improved Cottage hive, both exhibited by Messrs. Neighbour. 
Mr. Taylor’s combines all the requisites of a good hive with 
nothing superfluous, more perfect simplicity there cannot 
be, consequently the cost is reduced to the minimum, to 
those who choose to place it in a bee-house, l'or like Mr. 
Taylor’s other box-hives, it is adopted cither for in, or out- 
of-doors. For the latter purpose, outer cases of half-inch 
deal can be added, with a roof and stand similar to those 
adopted in his original double bar-hives. The set comprises 
three boxes; the dimensions, as now being made, are 
thirteen inches-and-a-quarter square, with eight bars. The 
height inside, to the top of the bars, is seven inches in the 
stock-liive, six inches in the super,'and four inches-and-a- 
half in the triplet, or centre box; which, as it will only 
occasionally be required, is not furnished with bars. Alto¬ 
gether, the boxes aro made in conformity with the modern 
