COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION. 
3,73 
August 14. 
shield-like trellis, but I prefer an upright pillar-shaped 
trellis, either made of wire, or a number of sticks 
thrust in close to the rim of the pot, and kept in 
their place by an iron ring, the same diamoter as the 
pot, placed at the top of the stakes, and each stick tied 
to it at equal distances. Wire-trainers, however, are 
the best, because, if kept painted, they last almost for 
ever. As the plant is naturally a twiner, it requires 
constant attention to prevent the shoots twisting together, 
or round the uprights of the trellis. This propensity 
would soon cause confusion and irregularity, unless the 
shoots are kept constantly trained in a regular manner 
round and round the trellis, so that every side and space 
is covered alike with shoots. When so carefully trained, 
the plant will form a dense evergreen pillar, which, 
during the blooming season, will be covered from top to 
bottom with buuches of white, deliciously - scented 
(lowers. 
It will be of great service to the plant if it bo placed 
out-of-doors, in a sheltered situation, on a bed of coal- 
ashes for a month or two after the bloom is over— 
taking care, however, to remove it into the greenhouse 
before any frosty nights come to nip the tender shoots. 
This exposure gives a robust character to the shoots, 
and induces a more stiff, healthy growth, besides keep¬ 
ing under the Red Spider, which sometimes attacks and 
preys upon the foliage. 
Propagation. By cuttings. —The best are the short 
side-shoots, though any will grow readily. Prepare, in 
May or June, a cutting pot in the usual way, that is, 
half-full of draiuage, covered with either moss or rough 
siftings, and then filled to within an inch with the com¬ 
post ; that remaining inch to be filled up with white 
silver-sand. Take the cuttings oft', trim off the lower 
leaves, and plant the cuttings in ths sand. If a cucum¬ 
ber or melon-bed is at work, place the pot of cuttings in 
it, giving water previously. Shade from bright sun 
till they begin to grow, then gradually harden them off, 
and pot them into small pots, replacing them in the 
frame till fresh roots are formed; then place them in 
the greenhouse, subjecting them to the regular routine 
of management. If no hot-bed is handy, then place the 
cuttings under a hand-light in a warm stove or propaga¬ 
ting house ; treating them in a similar way as to shad¬ 
ing and potting off. T. Appleby. 
SEASONABLE NOTES. 
Although the various appliances of good cultivation 
tend in a great measure to overcome the consequences 
of a backward season, yet there are some which no 
management can entirely control; winter must cause 
! winter effects, in spite of all that can be done; and even 
| the establishment of whole acres of “ winter garden,” 
in the sense it is generally understood by covered-in | 
1 spaces, must still, more or less, succumb to the iron- 
I bound king of the season, or the equally potent, dull, 
! cheerless atmosphere which prevails at that time. But 
as it is unlikely for extensive glass structures to take the 
place of kitchen-gardens, it would be well to consider 
what can be done to remedy some of the evils we suffer 
under from a protracted severe winter. 
Gardening, like many other pursuits requiring that ; 
I degree of foresight which alone commands success, it is 
■ important that the party entrusted with the duty of 
prying into futurity should bo possessed with those dis¬ 
criminating qualities which alone entitle his policy to 
respect. Success will alone prove this, and vice versa ; 
. and, as I have said, the farthest-sighted may be now 
! and then deceived, from causes over which they have no 
| control. 
It would be better not to depend entirely on one re¬ 
source alone; this was exemplified in a pointed manner 
last year, in numberless instances around here. Large 
breadths of Cabbages, which had been sown and planted 
out about the time they usually were on former years, 
ran to seed in an almost wholesale manner in many 
places the last spring. This was accounted for in many 
ways; the most probable one being the fine autumn of 
la9t year, where the young plants attained a degree of 
growth and perfection which thay had not been accus¬ 
tomed to in former years ; consequently, when spring 
arrived, which is the usual period for things of that 
sort flowering, they were ready to start instead of per¬ 
fecting the vegetable beforehand. Now, if any one 
has been so far gifted as to foresee the kind of autumn 
we were likely to have at the time of sowing the seeds, 
and delayed sowing them for a week or ten days, it is 
likely the “seeding propensity” would have been 
avoided, and the crop of 1855 would have been better 
than it really was; for it was no unusual thing to see 
the greater bulk of all the early Cabbage plantations 
start into seed last April. Even varieties that had been 
tried by former years were more disposed last spring 
“ to bolt” than on any previous occasion. 
Now, this ought to teach us not to rely entirely on one 
sowing alone; for, however well we may have by 
several years experience found out the precise period 
when to sow to the best advantage, now and then a 
case will arise wherein the system is entirely upset, as 
I the one above. 
1 may here mention that, for the north of England, 
and very late situations, a little Cabbage-seed may be 
sown the last week in July, and again the first and 
second weeks of August, Lettuce being sown at the same 
time; but for the south of England and early situations, 
the beginning of August will be soon enough, and one 
I or two sowings afterwards, the 12th of that montn | 
being a favourite time for sowing that vegetable; this, J 
however, as stated above, is liable to be influenced by 
the weather so as to nullify its intended uses, that more 
than one sowing ought to be made use of, lest the par¬ 
ticular one fail. I need hardly add that Cauliflower 
and the whole of the Brocoli family are subject to the 
same rule, only the latter are so in a less degree, that 
we may safely pronounce a fixed sowing-time for all 
t these things as imprudent, however well the causes in 
all their bearings may have been studied. 
I may observe, that the best description of early 
Cabbage, whether it be the Fulham, East Ham, Battersea, 
or York, or any of the other sections of that family, 
ought to be sown about the time specified above; and 
if it should be very dry weather t at the time, some 
watering or shading, or both, should be done, so as to 
ensure the proper germination of the seed, which is of 
the utmost importance ; and as natural shade for beds 
of this vegetable is objectionable, on account of their 
after evil tendency, it would be well to substitute some 
temporary contrivance. I generally cover the beds, after i 
sowing, with pea-stakes that have done duty elsewhere, 
and over them scatter a little of the pea-haulm, taking 
care to give a good watering before this is done, and 
covering the beds slightly with sifted leaf-mould, which 
prevents its getting so hard at top as is usually the 
case when repeated waterings are done on the same 
ground, even when it is shaded ; for, somehow or other, 
the influence of a dry atmosphere is felt in spite of all 
the care that can be called into action; nevertheless, a 
little shading as above has a beneficial effect, and I 
have always been able to effect a crop, save when the 
“fly” has been very destructive; but even then much 
may be done on the small scale of a seedling Cabbage- 
bed to prevent that enemy from annihilating the 
whole. A like remedy may be applied to Cauliflower 
and other things, lime, soot, or wood-ashes are all | 
useful, as imparting an unpleasant taste to the small I 
