248 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 30. 
not wait for much pressing either. Now, let those of my 
readers who are inclined to pay a first visit to a public-house, 
upon any pretence whatever, ponder upon the case of Frank 
Randall, until I can bring before them the remaining part 
of his unhappy story. He has already become a confirmed 
drunkard, after years of steady respectability. Let us 
“watch and pray lest we fall into temptation” also. 
ALLOTMENT FARMING.— July. 
This has certainly been an extraordinary spring: one, 
indeed, made up of extremes. After some five weeks of 
intense sunshine, with barely a shower, we have now, June 
the 14th, had three or four days almost incessant rain ; and j 
such a rain, according to the needs that existed, as I scarcely i 
remember. A continuous sprinkling—fine as that from a 
gardener’s cutting water-pot, yet enough to wet a man 
through in ten minutes. Farmers hereabout had almost 
attained despairing-point; the hay-crops, on which almost 
everything may be said to hinge, in a great cheese district, 
were likely to prove lamentably deficient, and had the rain 
delayed one week more they would have been irrecoverable. 
As it is, the soil through this part of the kingdom is tho¬ 
roughly moistened, and the crops wear a most exuberant 
appearance. 
As for Potatoes, I never knew them come up so true in 
my time; scarcely a “set” has missed, and the fields 
uniformly look in the highest health; not, however, that 
gross and watery appearance which makes the haulm squat 
down in a draggled state with the least shower. This is 
traceable to the continued sunshine they have enjoyed ; no 
crop more delights in sunshine than this. It is to be hoped 
that the gardens of allotment-men are much cleaner this 
year than usual; every chauce has been offered by tiro 
weather for eradicating weeds. The Potato crop assuredly 
suffers more than many from weeds; let us advise that 
every attention be given them in this respect. Those who 
desire to have good crops of every early kind in the next 
year must look out for proper seed for that purpose towards 
the end of this month, or beginning of the next, and place 
it separate from the general stock. Too many leave this , 
point neglected, and when the planting period comes round, 
they have to purchase, and probably pay double price for 
them. Besides, seed potatoes require different treatment 
from ordinary stock; they require light to harden and 
slightly green them ; at least, such is my practice, and the- 
practice of most good cultivators; whilst those for eating 
cannot be kept too dark. Besides this, there are other 
matters, which, both with regard to early and late Potatoes, 
point to the propriety of at once separating those for seed, 
and giving them special treatment. And now let us see 
what the object is, and what the conditions to be aimed at. 
The prime object is, doubtless, to prevent them sprouting j 
until the ensuing January, and this is not accomplished ; 
without much caution. The two chief points are low tem¬ 
perature and dryness. Some of our friends may smile at j 
the idea of a low temperature in July and August; but they 
may remember that all situations are not alike even in those 
levelling months; a front room, or shed, facing the south, 
may average 70°, whilst a cellar, at the north side of the 
house cannot average more than 55° to 60°. However, j 
dampness is more a promoter of germination than mere 
heat; above all things, therefore, let a dry situation be 
afforded them. I have proved that Potatoes will sprout 
more rapidly on a damp floor, at a temperature of 5fi°, than 
they will on a dry shelf, in a dry room, with a temperature 
of 70”. The drier and cooler the place where they are kept, 
therefore, the better. My practice has been to spread them, 
about three inches in thickness, on a boarded lloor in an 
upstairs room for several weeks after taking-up. Here they 
become rather green, and they are turned two or three 
times during this period. I. ought to name here that this 
room faces the north ; it is over the fruit-room. 
Root Crops in General. —Cleanliness and a systematic 
setting-out of the plants are now the points for considera¬ 
tion. Of course, what is termed “ singling out,” has been 
carried forward long since; and about this affair I must beg 
to interpose a remark. Mr. J. Blundell, who writes like “ one 
who has whistled at the plough,” together with a keen ob¬ 
servance of advances of a high character, gives distances, at 
p. 203 of Cottage Gardener, for June 10, which, although 
evincing, and suggestive of, that kind of high culture which 
must one day be the rule, is of too high a character for our 
allotment friends, who cannot so frequently gain access to 
the guano bag, and whose muck heap is very narrow in the 
waist. I see our clever coadjutor recommends for Swedes, 
twenty inches between rows, and fifteen between the plants ; 
Mangold, two feet the rows, and eighteen inches the plants ; 
Carrots, eighteen inches the rows, and seven to eight inches 
the plants. 
Now this, under a very high course of husbandry, may be 
quite correct, and no man can more dislike what I may 
term the cramming system than I do; at the same time, I* 
have learned to distinguish between unpliant systems, and 
those which are capable of modification according to cir¬ 
cumstances. Now the distances between such roots, must, 
and ever will, vary with practical men, who will, of course, 
judge of the distances by the character of the soil and the 
reasonable expectations founded thereon. Mr. Blundell, 
however, has so well anticipated this kind of objection, that 
his closing paragraph all but sets the matter at rest, and I 
merely point to the affair, fearing that our allotment friends, 
who know more about ploughs and spades than pens, may, 
in their haste, lose sight of an important lact. Now, there 
j is land near me, so poor in staple, on which both Mangold 
and Swedes have been repeatedly grown, that two-thirds of 
the distance before quoted is amply sufficient; so our 
readers must herein judge for themselves. 
But most of the main cultural processes will have been 
completed before this monthly notice comes to hand, and 
we may now urge the necessity of cleanliness during the 
remainder of the season—a freedom from weeds. Most 
cultivators object to soiling up Mangold, but we have always 
found it beneficial to the long red sort; now, however, the 
Orange Globe is chiefly grown, and soiling up here is out of 
i this question. Some care must be taken over the Swede 
beds intended for transplanting after Potatoes or other 
crops; all weeds must be kept down, and the beds slightly 
thinned if very crowded; added to this, we generally run a 
scythe lightly over their tops when they begin to get 
lengthy; this, however, must be done with a light hand. 
When transplanted, the best plan is to dip their roots in a 
thick puddle, to which some soot has been added ; the latter 
has a tendency to prevent disease. By the middle of the 
month it wfill be known whether the Carrots will escape the 
grub. If any ravages occur in this or any other root crop, ! 
the blanks may be made good with Swedes or dwarf Cabbages. 
Tiie Carrot and Onion Grubs. —Most of our readers 
are, doubtless, tolerably familiar with these pests, perhaps 
the wbrst the gardener has to deal with, although such 
diminutive creatures. I am not in the habit of executing 
contracts, or gaming speculations, but if the aggregate loss I 
in Carrots and Onions could he calculated, I would not 
accept twenty thousand pounds with the liability to liquidate 
every damage of the kind annually in the United Kingdom. 
Many plans have been suggested for the riddance of this . 
pest, but little of a thoroughly conclusive character can be 
laid hold on. lam at the present moment proceeding as j 
follows—an experiment in which I really have some faith, 
and the merits or demerits of which I shall feel it a duty 
hereafter to state :—Soap water—nearly two ounces of soft 
soap to a gallon, beat up into a froth, is syringed over the 
young Onions, and the operator immediately dusts the plants 
over with fresh soot, the. produce of newly swept chimneys. 
This is done on the principle of creating an abhorrence in 
the fly by the nauseous smell, which, for a long time 
emanates from the beds. 
Cabbage-worts. —Under this head we may include the 
various Greens which are so useful in the ensuing winter. 
July is the principal month for planting most of them out, 
although the operation will necessarily extend into August, 
especally as mixed crops. The Green Kale is one of the 
most profitable, and the Savoy is very useful, but requires 
too much room for small plots, or close cropping. Brussels 
Sprouts are a most profitable green, and will endure the 
hardest winter; they are particularly adapted for mixed 
cropping, as standing in a narrow compass. Those who 
want much profit from any of these, should get them out j 
