41 minute read
SIXTEENTH EDITION LONDON SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO; LTD. 1921 All rights reserved PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE, BALLANTYNE AND CO. LTD. LONDON, COLCHESTER AND ETON THE CULTURE OF VEGETABLES A YEAR’S WORK IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER THE ROTATION OF CROPS IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN THE CHEMISTRY OF GARDEN CROPS ARTIFICIAL MANURES AND THEIR APPLICATION TO GARDEN CROPS THE CULTURE OF FLOWERS FROM SEEDS THE CULTURE OF FLOWERING BULBS FLOWERS ALL THE YEAR ROUND FROM SEEDS AND ROOTS THE PESTS OF GARDEN PLANTS THE FUNGUS PESTS OF CERTAIN GARDEN PLANTS THE FUNGUS PESTS OF CERTAIN FLOWERS INDEX...
4 hour read
Horticulture has a full share in the progressive character of the age. Changes have been effected in the Kitchen Garden which are quite as remarkable as the altered methods of locomotion, lighting and sanitation. Vegetables are grown in greater variety, of higher quality, and are sent to table both earlier and later in the season than was considered possible by gardeners of former generations. When Parkinson directed his readers to prepare Melons for eating by mixing with the pulp ‘salt and pepper and good store of wine,’ he must have been familiar with fruit differing widely from the superb varieties which are now in favour. A kindred plant, the Cucumber, is more prolific than ever, and the fruits win admiration for their symmetrical form. The Tomato has ceased to be a summer luxury for the few, and is now prized as a delicacy throughout the year by all classes of...
13 minute read
Asparagus beds to be heavily manured, if not already done, but the beds need not be dug. Be content to lay the manure on, and the rains will wash the stimulant down to the roots in due time. In gardens near the coast seaweed is the best of manure for Asparagus, and the use of salt can then be dispensed with. Beans, Broad , may be sown in frames, and towards the end of the month in open quarters. For early crops select the Longpod varieties. Sow on ground deeply dug and well manured. Cabbage may be planted out at any time when weather permits, provided you possess, or can obtain, the plants; and it is of the utmost importance to secure them from a reliable source, or varieties may be planted which will in a few weeks send up flower-stems instead of forming tender hearts. At every season of...
8 minute read
The work of this month is to be carried on as weather permits, but with greater activity and more confidence, for the sun is fast gaining power. Earnest digging, liberal manuring, and scrupulous cleansing are the tasks that stand forward as of pre-eminent importance. Many weeds, groundsel especially, will now be coming into flower, and if allowed to seed will make enormous work later on. It is well, however, to remember—what few people do remember, because the fact has not been pressed upon their attention—that weeds of all kinds, so long as they are not in flower, are really useful as manure when dug into the soil. Therefore a weedy patch is not of necessity going to ruin; but if the weeds are not stopped in time, they spread by their seeds and mar the order of the garden. Dig them in, and their decay will nourish the next crop....
16 minute read
This is the great season for garden work, and the gardener must be up with the lark and go to bed with the robin, which is the latest of birds to bid farewell to a sunny day. The first care should be to make good all arrears, especially in the preparation of seed-beds, and the cleaning of plots that are in any way disorderly. Where early-sown crops have evidently failed, sow again without complaining; seed costs but little, and a good plant is the earnest of a good crop; a bad plant will probably never pay the rent of the ground it occupies. Keen east winds may cause immense damage, but a little protection provided in time will do wonders to ward off their effects, and the sunny days that are now so welcome, and that we are pretty sure to have, will afford opportunity for giving air to plants...
9 minute read
Vegetation is now in full activity, the temperature increases rapidly, frosts are less frequent, and showers and sunshine alternate in their mutual endeavours to clothe the earth with verdure and flowers. The gardener is bound to be vigilant now to assist Nature in her endeavours to benefit him; he must promote the growth of his crops by all the means in his power; by plying the hoe to keep down weeds and open the soil to sunshine and showers; by thinning and regulating his plantations, that air and light may have free access to the plants left to attain maturity; by continuing to shelter as may be needed; and by administering water during dry weather, that vegetation may benefit to the utmost by the happy accession of increasing sunlight. Artichoke, Globe .—Suckers to be put in the plantations prepared for them last month, in rows three to four feet apart...
43 minute read
High-Pressure times continue, for the heat increases daily, and the season of production is already shortened by two months. The most pressing business is to repair all losses, for even now, if affairs have gone wrong, it is possible to get up a stock of Winter Greens, and to sow all the sorts of seeds that should have been sown in March and April, with a reasonable chance of profitable results. It must not be expected, however, that the most brisk and skilful can overtake those who have been doing well from the first dawn of spring, and who have not omitted to sow a single seed at the proper time from the day when seed-sowing became requisite. The heat of the earth is now sufficient to start many seeds into growth that are customarily sown in heat a month or two earlier; and, therefore, those who cannot make hot-beds...
5 minute read
To some extent the crops will now take care of themselves, and we may consider the chief anxieties and activities of the season over. Our notes, therefore, will be more brief. We do not counsel the cultivator to ‘rest and be thankful.’ It is better for him to work, but he must be thankful all the same, if he would be happy in his healthy and entertaining employment. Watering and weeding are the principal labours of this month, and both must be pursued with diligence. But ordinary watering, where every drop has to be dipped and carried, is often injurious rather than beneficial, for the simple reason that it is only half done. In such cases it is advisable to withhold water as long as possible, and then to give it in abundance, watering only a small plot every day in order to saturate the ground, and taking a week...
5 minute read
For gardeners July is in one respect like January; everything depends on the weather. It may be hot, with frequent heavy rains, and vegetation in the most luxuriant growth; or the earth may be iron and the heavens brass, with scarcely a green blade to be seen. The light flying showers that usually occur in July do not render watering unnecessary; in fact, a heavy soaking of a crop after a moderate rainfall is a valuable aid to its growth, for it requires a long-continued heavy downpour to penetrate to the roots. Summer-sown Vegetables for Autumn and Winter use. As the month advances early crops will be finished and numerous plots of ground become vacant. In many gardens it is now the practice to sow in July and August seeds of quick-growing varieties of Vegetables and Salads to furnish supplies through the autumn and early winter months, and this system...
5 minute read
The importance of summer-sown Vegetables and Salads is dealt with under July, and seeds of most of the subjects there named may still be put in as ground becomes vacant. The supplies of the garden during the next winter and spring will in great part depend upon good management now, and the utmost must be made of the few weeks of growing weather that remain. One great difficulty in connection with sowing seed at this period of the year is the likelihood of the ground being too dry; yet it is most unwise to water seeds, and it is always better if they can be got up with the natural moisture of the soil alone. However, in an extreme case the ground should be well soaked before the seed is sown, and after sowing covered with hurdles, pea-sticks, or mats until the seeds begin to sprout. Artichokes, Globe , to...
3 minute read
Weeds will be troublesome to the overworked and the idle gardener, while the best-kept land will be full of seeds blown upon it from the sluggard’s garden, and the first shower will bring them up in terrific force. All that we have to say about them is that they must be kept down, for they not only choke the rising crops in seed-beds and spoil the look of everything, but they very much tend to keep the ground damp and cold, when, if they were away, it would get dry and warm, to the benefit of all the proper crops upon it. Neglect will make the task of eradication simply terrible, and, in the meantime, every crop on the ground will suffer. The two great months for weeds are May and September; but often the September weeds triumph, because the mischief they do is not then so obvious to the...
3 minute read
Weeds and falling leaves are the plagues of the season. It may seem that they do no harm, but assuredly they are directly injurious to every crop upon the ground, for they encourage damp and dirt by preventing a free circulation of air amongst the crops, and the access of sunshine to the land. Keep all clean and tidy, even to the removal of the lower leaves of Cabbages, where they lie half decayed upon the ground. The heavy rains of this month interfere in a material degree with outdoor work, and are often a great impediment to the orderly management that should prevail. The accumulation of rubbish anywhere, even if out of sight, is to be deplored as an evil altogether. The injury to vegetation is as great as that inflicted on our own health when dirt poisons the air and damp hastens the general dissolution. It is therefore...
4 minute read
The remarks already made on the necessity for tidiness and the quick disposal of all decaying refuse apply as forcibly to this month as to October. The leaves are falling, the atmosphere is moist, and there should be the utmost care taken not to make things worse by scatterings of vegetable rubbish. Now we are in the ‘dull days before Christmas’ the affairs of the garden may be reviewed in detail, and this is the best period for such a review. Sorts that have done well or ill, wants that have been felt, mistakes that have been made, are fresh in one’s memory, and in ordering seeds, roots, plants, &c., for next season’s work, experience and observation can be recorded with a view to future benefit. Consistently with the revision of plans by the fireside, revise the work out of doors. Begin to prepare for next year’s crops by trenching,...
2 minute read
The best advice that can be given for this month is to be prepared for either heavy rain or sharp frost, so that extreme variations of temperature may inflict the least possible injury in the garden. Let the work be ordered with reference to the weather, that there may be no ‘poaching’ on wet ground, or absurd conflict with frost. Accept every opportunity of wheeling out manure; and as long as the ground can be dug without waste of labour, proceed to open trenches, make drains, and mend walks, because this is the period for improving, and the place must be very perfect which affords no work for winter weather. Dispose of all rubbish by the simple process of putting it in trenches when digging plots for early seeds. In sheds and outhouses many tasks may be found, such as making large substantial tallies for the garden; the little paltry...
8 minute read
This is a subject worthy the attention of those who aim at the largest possible production and the highest possible quality of every kind of kitchen-garden crop, for it concerns the natural relations of the plant and the soil as to their several chemical constituents. The principle may be illustrated by considering the demands of two of the most common kitchen-garden crops. If we submit a Cabbage to the destructive agency of fire, and analyse the ashes that remain, we shall find in them, in round numbers, eight per cent. of sulphuric acid, sixteen per cent. of phosphoric acid, four per cent. of soda, forty-eight per cent. of potash, and fifteen per cent. of lime. It is evident that we cannot expect to grow a Cabbage on a soil which is destitute of these ingredients, to say nothing of others. The obnoxious odour of sulphur emitted by decaying Cabbages might...
18 minute read
A Consideration of the chemistry of the crops that engage attention in this country will afford an explanation of one great difference between farming and gardening. And this difference should be kept in mind by all classes of cultivators as the basis of operations in tillage, cropping, and the order and character of rotations. The first thing to discover in the cropping of a farm is the kind of vegetation for which the land is best adapted to insure, in a run of seasons, fairly profitable results. If the soil is unfit for cereals, then it is sheer folly to sow any more corn than may be needful for convenience, as, for example, to supply straw for thatching and litter, and oats for horses, to save cost of carriage, &c. On large farms that are far removed from markets it is often necessary to risk a few crops that the...
2 hour read
Plants, like animals, require food for their sustenance and development, and when this is administered in insufficient quantities, or unsuitable foods are supplied, they remain small, starved, and unhealthy. The chemical elements composing the natural food of ordinary crops are ten in number, viz.—carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and iron. These are obtained from the soil and air, and unless all of them are available plants will not grow. The absence of even one of them is as disastrous as the want of all, and a deficiency of one cannot be made up by an excess of another; for example, if the soil is deficient in potassium the crop suffers and cannot be improved by adding iron or magnesium. All the food-elements are found in adequate quantities in practically all soils and the surrounding air, except three—nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. These are often present in reduced...
25 minute read
Yet one other method of growing annuals calls for special mention. It is not fully recognised that a number of subjects, usually associated only with beds and borders, may also be flowered with the greatest ease under glass in winter and early spring. Those who have not hitherto attempted the culture of annuals in this way will be delighted with the charming effects produced. Among the subjects most suitable for the purpose are Alonsoa; the Star and Dunnettii varieties of Annual Chrysanthemum; Clarkia elegans; Dimorphotheca; Gypsophila elegans ; Linaria; Nemesia Suttoni ; Nicotiana, Miniature White and N. affinis ; Phlox, Purity, one of the most lovely pot plants for the conservatory and of especial value for decorative work at Easter; Salpiglossis; and the pretty blue, Cineraria-like, Swan River Daisy. From the fact that these annuals are of the hardy or half-hardy types it will be readily understood that no great...
3 hour read
Our popular flowering bulbs are obtained from many lands; they are exceedingly diversified in character, and they bloom at different periods of the year. Each variety has a value of its own, and answers to some special requirement in its proper season under glass or in the open ground. In the darkest winter days we prize the glow of Tulips and Hyacinths for brightening our homes. And bleak days are not all past when Aconites and Snowdrops sparkle in beds and borders. The Anemones follow in March, and during the lengthening days of spring there are sumptuous beds of Hyacinths, Narcissi, and Tulips. When high summer begins to decline we have stately groups of Gladioli and many beautiful Lilies in the shrubbery borders. Not least among the merits of Dutch Bulbs is the ease with which they can be forced into flower at a period of the year when bright...
2 hour read
Before proceeding to the duties which need attention in successive months of the year, it may be worth while to consider some of the points which constitute the alphabet of flower culture. To grow any plant in a pot is an artificial proceeding, and the conditions for its sustenance and health have to be provided. Among these conditions are temperature and accommodation. It is useless to attempt to grow flowers which require heat unless that necessity can be met. And it is equally useless to pot more plants than the space will accommodate when they attain their full size. A limited number, well grown, will produce a greater wealth of bloom, of finer quality, than a larger number which become feeble from deficiency of space for development. Nevertheless, there are many varieties raised in heat in the early months of the year which can be grown and flowered in the...
2 hour read
The life-history of plant pests and ground vermin, with the best means of saving various crops from their ravages, are dealt with in a series of valuable leaflets issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. These leaflets embrace a very large number of subjects, several of which belong to the farm and the orchard and are beyond the scope of the present volume. Others are rarely met with, but concerning those which are common to the majority of gardens we offer information which will, we hope, enable readers to safeguard their crops from disaster. When adverse weather operates injuriously on vegetation the plagues that infest garden plants usually acquire increased power in proportion to the degree of debility to which vegetation is reduced. This circumstance perfectly accords with the general law of Nature, and is full of instruction as to the means of saving plants from serious injury by...
36 minute read
Many of our garden plants are liable to the attacks of fungi. Cures are in most instances unknown, but in some cases preventives—which are better—have been adopted with partial or entire success. Plants raised from robust stocks, grown in suitable soil and under favourable conditions, are known to be less liable to disease than seedlings from feeble parents, or those which have been rendered weakly by deficiencies in the soil or faulty cultivation. Whether weakness is hereditary, or is attributable to a bad system, the fact remains that disease generally begins with unhealthy specimens, and these form centres of contamination from which the mischief spreads. It is, therefore, important that seed from healthy stocks should be sown, and that a vigorous constitution should be developed by good cultivation. Anbury, Club, or Finger-and-toe .—The disease known by these various names is common in the roots of cultivated cruciferous plants such as...
18 minute read
Cineraria and Senecio Disease. — Senecio pulcher , soon after its introduction into England, was attacked, and in some gardens completely destroyed, by a fungus named Puccinia glomerata , or rather the Uredo stage of this fungus with simple, not compound, spores. The fungus is well known, being closely allied to that which causes the rust or mildew of corn crops. It is very common on the wild species of Groundsel in England, being especially frequent and virulent on the Ragwort Groundsel, Senecio Jacobea , from August to October. The leaves of infected plants are covered with rust-coloured dusty pustules, the Uredo condition of the fungus, and known in this stage as Uredo senecionis , sometimes termed Trichobasis senecionis . The fungus has a Puccinia stage of growth very similar to that of the Hollyhock fungus, Puccinia malvacearum . FUNGUS OF SENECIO DISEASE Uredo senecionis At A is illustrated a...