40r> 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 25. 
hand out of their pockets ; and, wo may indeed add, to pro¬ 
duce a few shillings in the market. The first thing I will 
allude to, then, is the Potato. 
Everybody knows, too well, that the disease has been at 
work again; and in earnest. Nevertheless, I do not think that 
it by any means increases, but rather the contrary. It does 
not present exactly the same features now as when it first 
paid its afflicting visitation. To be sure, from the high prices 
occasionally realised, in consequence of scarcity,much greater 
breadths have been planted than we were ever accustomed 
to previously. The history of the Potato is, indeed, sorae- 
i what extraordinary in this respect: disease, or no disease, 
the increase of breadth, annually, since its first recognition 
as a useful vegetable, has been, perhaps, greater than that of 
any of our corn or root-crops. If any thing can match it in 
this respect, it is probably the Swede Turnip. High culture 
of this invaluable root has been very generally recognised, in 
later years, as the basis of good husbandry; as leading to 
increase of stock, and a consequent increase of the mildew; 
and about the importance of the latter consideration we 
shall find very little difference of opinion, providing it in¬ 
creased as a necessary consequence of improved systems. 
But the Potato: what shall we say is the difference in 
the character of the disease now, as compared with some 
half-dozen years since? It is, I think, in this: that the 
decay once commenced, in its early visitations it ran on in 
a more continuous way, and for a much longer period: we 
now seem to reach a crisis betimes, and one of a much more 
favourable character than occurred in its first developments. 
That crisis, I do hope, is now at hand, August 12th, for it 
certainly has not proceeded with the virulence with which it 
commenced for the last week or so. If this be correct, it 
would seem to point to its entire cessation in another year 
or two, providing all parties will look well to their seed, and 
be not so eager to force the crop to an unusual degree of 
luxuriance, which looks, indeed, most flattering whilst the 
plant is young, but is altogether deception. 
Our friends, like ourselves, will be puzzled to know how 
to make the best of their Potatoes ; they will come to hand ! 
too fast for them. Perhaps, the very best plan is to make j 
them into pork. This is my plan, and that of many in these j 
quarters. It is only buying another pig or two, according to j 
needs; but these pigs should be of the prick-eared kind— ! 
half-bred China, or Neapolitan, are capital, as they lay on ! 
flesh directly, at any age ; and this is’ a most essential point j 
at this period, especially as an extra pig, to a poor man, 
tends to compromise the feeding of his principal hog, and ! 
many depend on this for paying their rents. Certain it is, 
that much of the Potato stock, unless speedily worked up, 
is lost. Fowls are particularly partial to these half-decayed 
Potatoes ; and it is common practice, in this quarter, to let 
them have the run of the worst Potatoes, which they will be 
constantly picking at. But such, steamed or boiled, and I 
crushed with a little meal of any kind, or bran, mixed, 
makes a capital diet for them. 1 do still think, that where j 
Potatoes are a strong crop, and the haulm much injured by J 
disease, that it is good practice to cut off the haulm at once, 
and to leave them in the ground until the soil is dusty, and ! 
| the weather dry, and then to dig them, and, after carefully j 
j sorting them, to spread them on a dry floor. I practised 
| this last year, and I never had Potatoes kept better in my 
I days ; they were the astonishment of those who saw them. 
They were spread over a boarded-floor in an upstairs room ; 
: they lay there for nearly three weeks, at the end of which 
; time they were looked over, and any decaying ones removed; 
j they were then bagged or pitted, but not below the ground 
j level. A high and dry piece of ground was selected, and a 
little dry wheat straw placed beneath and around them; 
the Potatoes were piled to a sharp ridge of three feet; they 
were then soiled over two inches in thickness, the soil 
being taken from each side the pit caused them to appear 
quite above the ground level. In the beginning of De¬ 
cember, nine inches more soil was laid on, and this was all 
the trouble they caused. I did not lose five per cent, and 
they remained some time in the pit—until April. 
I must now turn my attention to other root-crops in 
succession, for these, as I have often observed, are the 
allotment man’s chief consideration in ordinary cases. 
Mangold.— Little can be done beyond a thorough clean¬ 
ing, if any weeds remain. I like to draw a little soil to the 
long red kind, in order to preserve the surface roots, but 
our farmers have been against the practice, though why, I 
cannot tell. 
Swedes. —Those transplanted after Potatoes, or other 
summer crops, will require the hoe through them, to break 
the crust, and, of course, all weeds thoroughly subdued. 
Those sown in April, to remain, will now be bulbing fast; 
let weeds be removed here also. 
Common Turnips. —Those sown in July and the early 
part of August will need a careful hoeing and thinning, and 
if there be any coarse weeds they had better be hand¬ 
picked. Turnips are generally hoed at twice. At the first 
they are merely “singled or roughed," and at the second, 
about a fortnight after, set out at final distance. The Early 
Dutch may still be sown in the first week, on warm plots, 
for spring Turnips. 
Carrots. —If the grub has taken these, their ground will 
offer a good chance for a crop of Coleworts, from a sowing 
in the end of June. Those, as before observed, will pay 
well in market at Christmas. Carrot crops will require 
hand-weeding, and, in some cases, a final thinning. If any 
of the Early Horn kind are left, they will bo ripe enough to 
remove. 
Parsnips. —Weed and thin, if requisite. 
Onions. — By the time this reaches our readers our 
Onions will be housed, their ground manured, and a crop of 
Coleworts, at about one foot apart, planted. We have the 
finest crop, this year, I ever saw; the admiration of every¬ 
body. The bulbs nearly touch each other over the bed; and 
T have three beds, each fifty yards long, by four feet in 
width, uniformly covered in this way, without a blank, 
and this, too, on soil fearfully liable to grub. The soil was 
trenched three feet deep, bringing up subsoil, and they were 
dressed with soot twice—once in the beginning, and once in 
the end of June. They are sown in beds raised one foot 
above the surface * by throwing up the alleys, and this 
always gives us an earlier harvest by a fortnight or three 
weeks than any we see. 
Cabbageworts. —Coleworts I before alluded to. It is still 
time to plant a breadth for late purposes. They should, 
however, be got out in the first week, and the ground 
manured. Such, if an early-liearting and dwarf kind, will 
come into use in February and March. Brocolis, Kale, 
Brussels Sprouts, Savoys, Ac., have, of course, been got out 
long since. They will require cleaning of weeds, and, of 
course, the hoe plied liberally. It is a common practice to 
heap soil up their stems, but this practice must not be 
carried too far. It certainly is a very off-hand and con¬ 
venient plan to do so, in order to prevent storms from 
throwing them prostrate. I must confess, that I was once 
of opinion, that liberal earthings were of much advantage, 
but I have seen reasons to doubt any extreme application 
of the principle. Nevertheless, I still think, that when 
deep hoeing, and a thorough extirpation of weeds can be 
effected, that in the end of August, or first week of Sep¬ 
tember, the drawing a little soil to the stems will be a real 
benefit—all things duly considered. Such things as Brussels 
Sprouts, Green Kate, and Brocolis, suffer much at times, by 
the storms of old October, and the high level of fibres en¬ 
gendered by this soiling is a pretty good safeguard. 
Those who desire to have early spring Lettuces must sow 
I some Bath Cos, and Hammersmith Cabbage Lettuce, on a 
I high, dry, and warm bed, in the first week. Little else 
will be needed now. As concluding remarks, I will say, let 
I extra diligence, during the former portion of the autumn, go 
! far to compensate the industrious for the saddening effects 
j of a bad summer; and let us all take heart, by feeling 
assured there may yet be excellent seasons in store for us, 
when, by the blessing of God, we shall feel as much reason 
for warmheartedness, as but too many have, through the 
past weather, for depression of feelings and gloom. 
R. Errington. 
A PI ARIAN’S CALENDAR— September. 
By J. IT. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee Keeper's 
Guide,” dc. 
Removing Supers. —It is now quite time to remove glasses 
and supers of every kind from hives intended for stocks, and 
to see that each one contains at least twenty pounds of honey, 
i 
i 
; 
I 
I 
i 
