82 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
January  25,  1900. 
.THE  YOUNG  GAHDENERS’  DOMAIN. 
BITS  FOR  THE  BOTHY. 
To  OuE  Reckuits. 
TEre  the  strains  of  the  new  year’s  march  are  lost  in  the  din  of  more 
pressing  engagements  as  days  lengthen  and  work  increases,  one  would 
fain  marshal  a  few  thoughts  in  review  order  for  our  boys  of  the  bothy 
brigade.  Not  only  is  the  present  time  apparently  opportune  to  do  so, 
but  since  “  An  Old  Boy  ”  exercised  the  young  ones  on  the  drill  ground 
of  this  “  Domain,”  not  a  few  must  have  received  their  commissions  and 
gone  to  the  front  in  the  great  battle  of  life.  In  the  common  sequence 
of  things  there  must  be  many  fresh  faces  in  the  ranks,  those  who  have 
lately  “  listed  ”  under  the  glorions  banner  of  imrerious  Nature,  whose 
orb  is  the  sun,  whose  sceptre  is  the  elements.  Unfortunately  there  is 
no  new  drill  book  to  claim  attention  by  the  charms  which  novelty  ever 
possesses,  but  the  endeavour  shall  be  made  to  introduce  fresh  illustra¬ 
tions  to  point  that  moral  which  is  its  superscription— duty— viz.,  duty 
to  your  vocation  and  duty  to  yourselves,  two  separate  parts  but 
inseparably  bound  up  in  the  single  volume  of  a  gardener’s  life. 
Few,  perhaps,  realise  the  importance  of  gardening  in  the  great 
problem  of  life.  In  its  rapid  growth  and  far  reaching  influence,  how¬ 
ever,  there  are  not  wanting  signs  for  the  seer  to  interpret  and  predict 
its  eventual  development  into  the  highest,  and  possibly  the  noblest^  of 
man’s  administrative  works  ;  to  remain  as  such  when  huge  armies, 
gigantic  navies,  and  the  diamond  mines  of  Africa  have  passed  from 
memory  as  things  no  longer  worth  remembering.  “  That’s  going  a  long 
way  ahead,”  some  will  say.  That  is  so.  It  goes  eventually  as  far  as 
Nature  goes,  and  when  and  where  she  stops  all  things  end  and  time  is  a 
forgotten  circumstance.  One  would  like  (but  how  feeble  must  be  the 
attempt)  to  impress  upon  those  who  have  chosen  the  good  life  of  a 
gardener,  the  beauty,  and  purpose,  and  power  of  this  great  empire  of 
Nature.  Alas  !  It  cannot  be,  “  for  this  great  scene  thought  is  too  low, 
and  majesty  too  mean.”  If  the  precocity  of  youth  demands  something 
more  practical.  Emerson  says,  “  The  mind  that  is  parallel  with  the  laws 
of  Nature  will  be  in  the  current  of  events,  and  strong  with  their 
strength.” 
“  Gardening  is  a  tame  sort  of  business  ”  has  been  said.  It  is  a  libel 
on  it  and  on  Nature.  “  People  are  so  practical  nowadays  ;  they  want 
plenty  of  Potatoes,  and  a  very  little  philosophy  will  go  a  long  way.” 
True,  but  it  seldom  goes  far  enough  to  show  things  as  they  are  and  not 
what  they  seem.  There  is  more  complex  mechanism  and  comparative 
power  in  a  bursting  bud  than  in  a  lyddite  shell ;  but  there  is  an 
epidemic  of  moral  blindness  about  which  shuts  people’s  eyes  to  the 
fact  not  to  speak  of  that  mock  modesty  abroad  which  would  clothe  the 
naked  truth  in  the  khaki  of  shoddy  reasoning,  and  prostitute  the  inflnite 
into  the  fashion  of  an  hour.  But  enough,  if  sufficient  has  been  said  to 
prevent  any  young  fellow  from  even  thinking  that  his  life’s  work  before 
•him  can  ever  be  “  tame.” 
Congratulations  to  each  recruit  now  toeing  the  gardening  line  at  the 
dawn  of  the  twentieth  century.  From  this  eminence  what  a  glorious 
vista  of  possibilities  opens  out.  As  for  the  present,  we  elders  cannot 
help  feeling  a  little  regret  that  fate  had  not  postponed  our  advent  upon 
this  planet  until  we  could  have  been  dropped  down,  just  as  they  have 
been,  among  the  marvels  of  Marconi  telegraphs,  pneumatic  wheels, 
electric  lighted  stokeholes,  telephone  in  the  potting  shed  (all  accom¬ 
plished  facts),  and  all  the  blessings  of  this  life  which  are  ready  to  hand. 
But  above  and  beyond  such  brilliant  things  as  tend  to  throw  into  deep 
shadow  the  decades  of  one’s  early  days  is  that  recognition  of  the  recruit 
as  an  important  factor  in  the  noble  army  of  gardeners.  Veterans  of 
to-day  realise  the  value  of  such  things  by  reason  of  their  own  im¬ 
poverished  youth  when  some  gardens  were  to  them  only  a  kind  of  work- 
honse,  governed  by  such  poor  laws  as  left  lads  veritable  paupers  so  far 
as  sympathy  with  their  aspirations,  and  encouragement  generally,  were 
concerned. 
That  things  were  not  wholly  bad  in  the  days  of  auld  lang  syne  is 
admitted,  but  somehow  it  was  more  the  mailed  fist  than  the  hand  of 
friendship  which  governed  in  the  garden.  How  pleasant  it  is  now  to 
see  a  master  impress  good  counsel  by  a  friendly  hand  laid  on  a  lad’s 
shoulder  as  against  that  grip  of  the  ear  old  boys  enjoyed  (?)  as  it  was 
forcibly  wrung  to  emphasise  the  vituperative  poured  into  it  by  the  vials 
of  wrath !  Exaggerated  ?  No.  In  one  large  garden  such  things  were 
almost  of  daily  occurrence,  and  during  summer,  when  half  a  dozen 
boys  were  employed  pulling  Peas  or  picking  fruit,  unearthly  yells  were 
often  heard  from  lads  who  had  momentarily  mistaken  a  mouth  for  a 
basket.  Nor  was  the  bothy  exempt,  as  witness  that  auricular  demon¬ 
stration  between  “  t’  gaffer  ”  and  a  comrade  who  had  stoned  his  dog, 
a  vicious  brute  whose  partiality  for  calves  was  second  only  to  his 
master’s  fondness  for  ears.  How  it  all  flashes  again  through  the 
cimetograph  of  memory  !  The  “  gaffer”  dogging  him  to  the  bothy  and 
running  him  to  earth  in  the  kitchen,  where  half  a  dozen  of  us  witnessed 
the  humiliating  spectacle  of  M - being  pinned  by  both  ears  from  the 
rear  as  he  was  lustily  kicked  from  the  same  direction,  to  a  duet  of  chin 
music  by  both  master  and  man. 
1900  brings  with  it  such  a  hurrying  of  feet  for  the  front  that  it 
seems  wasted  time  to  pause  and  ponder  over  the  past.  More  haste, 
less  speed,  however.  Going  back  a  brief  space  gives  an  impetus  for 
getting  on.  This  worrying  spirit  of  the  age  seems  to  lash  its  victims 
into  a  fury  of  haste  to  reach  the  goal  of  their  ambition,  and  some  of 
our  recruits  seem  pretty  badly  infected  with  it  too.  There  seems  to  be 
a  dread  of  bothy  life  (that  dear  old  bothy  life  !)  absorbing  too  large  a 
share  of  the  threescore  years  and  ten ;  or  is  it  that  they  think  them- 
selves  so  beloved  of  the  gods  as  likely  to  die  young,  or  what  is  it  ? 
One  can  scarcely  account  for  this  restlessness  in  bothy dom.  Here  is 
a  very  bad  case  in  point.  He  is  two-and-twenty,  bright,  active,  and 
intelligent,  and  loves  his  work.  All  this,  and  more  also,  marked  him  as 
one  for  whom  all  sorts  of  good  things  were  predicted.  “  And  what 
has  he  done  ?  ”  you  will  ask.  Well,  his  own  words  answer  that,  as  he 
said,  “  I’ve  got  the  ‘  missus,’  ”  in  presenting  her  whom  we  had  sup¬ 
posed  to  be  his  sister.  “  Had  to  leave  So-and-so  ;  Mr. - wouldn’t 
keep  a  married  man  (boy  we  mean)  in  the  bothy.”  And  now  he  is 
looking  for  a  situation  ;  they  were  both  looking,  and  “  knew  they  had 
a  friend  in  ’’—The  Old  Brigadier. 
(To  be  continued.) 
FRUIT  FORCING. 
Vines. — Early  Forced  in  Pots. — Thin  the  berries  somewhat  freely 
as  soon  as  well  set,  so  as  to  secure  large  ones,  yet  not  to  the  extent  of 
making  the  bunches  loose  and  unshapely.  Maintain  the  night  tem¬ 
perature  at  65°,  falling  to  60°  on  cold  mornings,  but  raise  the  heat  early 
to  65°  or  70°,  keeping  at  70°  to  75°  by  day,  increasing  to  80°  or  85° 
with  sun  heat,  and  closing  at  80°,  with  a  prospect  of  an  advance  to 
85°  or  90°.  Ventilate  very  carefully,  always  early,  closing  in  good 
time,  then  damping  the  house.  Sprinkling  is  also  necessary  early  in 
the  day.  Afford  copious  supplies  of  tepid  liquid  manure. 
Early  Forced  House. — Duplicate  and  superfluous  bunches  should  be 
removed,  and  the  berries  thinned  as  soon  as  they  become  well  formed, 
not  deferring  it  beyond  the  distinguishing  of  the  fertilised  from  the 
unfertilised.  The  inside  border  may  be  covered  about  an  inch  thick  ' 
with  sweetened  short  stable  manure,  which  should  be  turned  several 
times  before  it  is  introduced,  otherwise  the  ammonia  evolved  may 
prove  injurious  to  vegetation.  Attention  will  be  required  in  tying 
the  shoots  and  in  stopping  the  laterals.  Where  space  is  restricted  the 
shoots  may  be  stopped  closely,  say  one  joint  beyond  the  bunch,  and  the 
laterals  be  pinched  at  every  joint  as  made.  In  other  cases  more  growth 
may  be  allowed,  but  in  all  it  is  important  that  the  principal  leaves  have 
full  exposure  to  light  and  air. 
Vines  in  Flotver,  —  When  coming  into  bloom  maintain  the  night 
temperature  at  65°,  70°  to  75°  by  day,  5°  to  10°  more  from  sun  heat. 
Muscat  of  Alexandria  and  all  the  shy  setting  varieties  should  have  5° 
more,  and  the  bunches  should  have  all  the  light  possible,  and  their  ends 
facing  the  sun,  then  when  in  flower  they  can  be  rapped  on  the  stem 
gently,  or  better  have  the  pollen  dispersed  on  the  stigmas  by  using  a 
camel’s-hair  brush  charged  with  pollen  from  free  setting  varieties. 
A  constant  circulation  of  warm,  rather  dry  air  is  conducive  to  a  good 
set,  and  it  is  advisable  not  to  stop  the  growth  closely  during  the  setting 
period. 
Vines  Started  at  the  Hew  Year. — Continue  syringing  the  rods  twice 
a  day,  but  do  not  keep  them  constantly  wet,  as  this  induces  aerial  roots 
from  them,  and  interferes  with  proper  root  formation.  Syringing  may  be 
continued  until  the  bunches  show,  but  then  damping  the  borders  and 
paths  two  or  three  times  a  day  will  be  necessary  to  maintain  a  genial 
condition  of  the  atmosphere.  Do  not  be  in  a  hurry  to  disbud,  letting 
the  growths  advance  until  the  bunches  appear  in  the  points  of  the 
shoots,  then  the  weaker  and  otherwise  less  desirable  can  be  removed ; 
but  it  should  be  done  gradually,  so  as  not  to  cause  an  appreciable 
check. 
Vmes  to  Afford  Ripe  Grapes  in  July.  —The  beginning  of  February 
is  the  latest  time  for  starting  midseason  varieties  to  finish  after  mid¬ 
summer.  Outside  borders,  even  where  the  roots  of  the  Vines  are 
entirely  outside,  need  not  be  covered  with  fermenting  materials,  but  a 
covering  of  leaves  with  a  little  litter  over  them  to  prevent  them  blowing 
about  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  prevent  the  soil  becoming  frozen.  The 
stems  of  the  Vines,  if  outside,  must  also  be  thoroughly  protected  by 
haybands  wrapped  round  them.  Maintain  a  minimum  temperature  of 
50°  and  allow  an  advance  to  65°  from  sun  heat,  55°  being  the  maximum 
from  fire  heat  in  the  daytime.  This  will  cause  the  sap  to  rise  steadily, 
and  a  light  damping  occasionally  promotes  the  osmostic  action  of  the 
cells,  and  the  transference  of  stored  matter  from  the  wood  to  the 
growing  parts.  Due  moisture  at  the  roots  is  also  imperative,  for  though 
the  moisture  may  not  be  excessive  some  is  necessary.  Therefore 
moisten  the  border  through  to  the  drainage,  using  water  very  slightly  in 
advance  of  that  of  the  house  in  temperature,  and  if  the  Vines  are 
weakly  and  the  border  in  good  order  afford  liquid  manure  after  the 
moisfening  of  the  soil,  which  will  to  some  extent  displace  the  water  and 
afford  nutriment  in  due  time. 
Eyes  and  Cut-hacks. — Eyes  may  now  be  inserted,  using  pots,  pans, 
or  square  pieces  of  turf.  Select  plump  buds  on  firm  well-ripened 
