The ground having been dug and raked, and otherwise prepared, is fit for the reception of the seed. Radishes, carrots, parsnips, are sown by the hand broadcast; the way of sowing carrot seed is to mix it with the earth in a large flower-pot, and then to scatter it very thinly over the bed: at least, that way is suited to the boy"s garden; in the open garden and the field they sow carrots and parsnips in drills. Peas are sown in drills about three inches deep and four feet apart. Broad beans are put in with a dibber in straight lines about five inches apart, the rows being four feet from each other. French beans are sown thinly in drills about four feet apart. Scarlet runners are put in by the dibber singly about three inches apart, and should have bean sticks placed near them as soon as they appear, upon which to climb. Cabbage-plants should be put in by the dibber about nine inches apart, in rows about four feet distant from each other. Cauliflowers should be planted eighteen inches apart either way, as should Scotch kale and sprouting brocoli. Spinach may be sown thinly in drills three feet apart, or broadcast in beds.
Lettuce-seed, cabbage-seed, cauliflower-seed, and all kinds of flower-seeds should be first sown in warm situations in good mould very thinly, and then the plants should be transplanted as they grow of sufficient size. Potatoes should be planted with the dibber nine inches apart, in rows three feet apart, as should Jerusalem artichokes. Onions should be sown broadcast, in beds about six feet wide and fifteen or twenty long. The beds for parsnips and carrots may be six feet wide and thirty long.
TRANSPLANTING.
[Ill.u.s.tration: TROWEL.]
This is a most important operation, and is indispensable in the art of gardening. A vast number of seeds must be sown in beds, and afterwards transplanted into their final situations; this is particularly the case with regard to flowers. The instrument with which transplanting is performed is called a trowel, of which there are both small and large.
In using it the princ.i.p.al thing to be attended to, is to take the best and most vigorous of the plants raised in the seedbed, without injuring their roots, and with the earth around them, and placing them, with as little disturbance of their roots as possible, in their new situations.
In transplanting shrubs, &c. from pots, the planter should very slightly break the earth round the roots of the plant, so that its fibres may have free play in the new earth. In transplanting shrubs, &c. particular care should be taken in digging them up, so that the young fibres of the roots are not injured. When shrubs, &c. are first transplanted, they should be moderately watered, and of course it is bad management to plant shrubs at a time when they are likely to suffer from sun. The right time to transplant is in the autumn and spring, when the ground is nice and dry, and "in good working order," as gardeners term it.
WATERING.
Nature is the best waterer of plants, and it is good policy to leave the matter as much as possible in her hands; but we must a.s.sist her now and then by applying it ourselves. In watering, pond water is much better than pump water; and in warm weather, if no pond water can be procured, it is well to pump the water into some large tank or tub, and let it stand for some hours exposed to the sun and air before using it. Morning and evening are the proper times for watering; the middle of the day, or during a hot sunshine, is a very improper time for using the watering-pot in summer-time, although it is the best time for using it in the winter. In watering plants in flower-pots the finger should be first pa.s.sed round the pot where the mould joins the sides of the pot, so as to close up the little crack or crevice between them, otherwise the water will pa.s.s down this crack, and go out at the hole at the bottom of the pot without affording it any benefit. In watering, never let the water pa.s.s from the watering-pot close to the stem, but rather turn up the earth in a little circular s.p.a.ce for a few inches round the plant, so that the water may soak down to the extremities of the roots, where the spongelets are which draw up the nutriment from the earth to support the plant. When you water, water well and thoroughly, and then there will be little need to do it often. To water frequently, and give a little at a time, is very bad gardening.
VARIOUS MODES OF PROPAGATION.
Plants are reproduced or propagated in various ways; some by seeds, some by offsets, as tulips and hyacinths; some by dividing the root, some by layers, some by cuttings. Currant and gooseberry-trees, as well as rose-trees, and also the vine, are propagated by cuttings; _i. e._ pieces of the young last-year branches are cut off about six inches in length, and, the top being taken off, are placed with the thickest end in the ground. Strawberries are reproduced by dividing the root, or by taking the runner which the plant has itself fixed in the ground as the nucleus of a new plant, and putting it in a proper situation.
Raspberries give out suckers from the parent root, which may be taken off and replanted, like the lilac, the rose, and many other plants; but in taking them off, which is generally done by a spade, they should be taken pretty near to the parent stem, and should have fibrous roots attached. In taking offsets, such as those of bulbous roots, it is only necessary to take those which nature herself separates from the parent bulb; in tubers, such as the artichoke and potato, the tubers of middle size are to be taken and planted; or in regard to the latter root, the eyes or shoots only are sometimes planted, the root being cut into various portions.
LAYERS.
If we observe the strawberry plant, we find that at a certain season of the year it throws out offsets, and at certain distances a k.n.o.b or knot arises, from which roots shoot into the earth, while from its upper centre a bud appears, and then a new plant is formed. The process of layering is to artificially produce this, and similar operations of nature. Some plants throw out roots whenever their stump or branches come in contact with the soil, but others require the a.s.sistance of art.
The art of layering, therefore, consists in taking the shoot of a growing plant as near the root as possible; this is first to be cut half through, and then a slit is made in an upward direction, and, a piece of twig being placed in the divided part, the shoot is pegged down with the joint buried in the ground. After a time this joint begins to throw out roots, and when these are firmly established and begin to draw nutriment from the earth, the shoot may be detached from its parent stem, and it then becomes a new plant. Layers may be made in the spring months, and also in the month of July.
PIPINGS
Are cuttings of carnations, pinks, &c. They are tubular stems, having joints at certain distances, and they are pulled asunder by the fingers at these joints; the lower leaves are then pulled off, and the pipe is placed in some nicely prepared soil, leaving its upper portion, consisting of the sprouting leaf bud, to grow, while the lower pipe shoots into a root.
GRAFTING.
Grafting, inarching, and budding, are generally performed in the month of March. The operation of inarching is sometimes performed by nature.
When two branches of a tree lie in contact, the rough winds of winter often cause them to rub against each other, so that a wound is produced in one or both, and the juices that flow from the wounded parts gradually cause an incorporation of the substances, so that the two branches become united into one. This is not to be wondered at in branches of the same tree, or in those of the same kind, but it is a matter of some surprise to find that a tree bearing small and unpalatable fruit may be cut down, and the remaining part grafted with a scion from a species bearing large and delicious fruit, instead of the small sour fruit of the stalk. Thus it is then that by grafting, we preserve and multiply a favoured variety of trees which could not be propagated from seeds with any certainty of success.
In order to the full success of this operation, grafting must be performed according to the rules that experience has laid down. The first is to graft or unite only such species as have a relationship subsisting between them. The operation never succeeds unless this union of nature is attended to, and the plants belong to the same genus. The next rule requires that the inner bark of the scion, and the inner bark of the stalk, be exactly united together, in order to facilitate the free course of the sap.
The most common method of grafting is whip-grafting, or tongue-grafting.
The name of whip-grafting is given from the method of cutting the stock and the scion sloping on one side so as to fit each other, and then tying them together in the manner of a whip-thong to the shaft or handle. The scion and stock are cut obliquely, and as nearly as possible at corresponding angles. The top of the stock is then cut off nearly horizontally, and a slit is made near the centre of it downwards, and a similar one in the scion upwards. The tongue, or wedge-like process forming the upper part of the sloping face of the scion, is then inserted downwards in the cleft of the stock, the inner barks being brought closely to unite on one side so as not to be displaced by tying, which ought to be done immediately with a riband, or matting, or ba.s.s, brought in a neat manner several times round the stock. The next operation is to clay the whole over an inch thick all round, for about half an inch or more below the bottom of the graft to an inch over the top of the stock, finishing the coat of clay in a kind of oval form, closing it effectually, so that no light, wet, nor wind, may penetrate.
TONGUE-GRAFTING.
Tongue-grafting is not very different to whip-grafting, and is performed as follows. The stock being ready, cut it off at three or four inches from the ground, and, with a very sharp, straight, and narrow-bladed knife, cut a thin slip of wood and bark upwards from about two inches below the top of the shortened stock. Make this cut at one pull of the knife, inserting the edge rather horizontally, and when it has gone through the bark and into the wood a little short of the middle, pull straight upwards. Then at less than half-way down this cut a thin tongue, not more than three-eighths of an inch long. Proceed in the same way with the thick part of the scion, making a sloping cut of about the same length as the cut of the stock, and make a tongue to correspond with that in the stock. Bring the four edges of the bark, that is, the two edges of the cut in the top of the stock and the two corresponding edges of the cut in the bottom of the scion, to meet precisely, which can never be the case unless the first cut in the stock and that in the scion is even as a die, and performed with a knife as sharp as a razor.
The two parts thus formed, the tongues and the stock clasping one another must be bound up as before.
BUDDING.
Budding is the art of taking a bud from one tree and making it grow on another. A bud can only be planted upon a tree of the same kind as itself, and the operation is generally performed in the month of August.
The bud should be taken from a shoot of the same year"s growth, and, in taking it, should be neatly cut out by incisions made above it, below it, and longitudinally on either side, and the piece taken should include the bud, without injury to the bark, and a small piece of wood of an oblong form pointed at its extremity. A place is now cut to receive the bud in the shoot of a stock, and the best place is near the fork of a branch; the method of cutting is similar to that adopted for taking out the bud, and the bark is open on both sides of the slit, and the piece of bark to which the bud is attached is then filled in, and the bark of the stock closed over it; the two parts are then bound together with strips of fresh matting tied in bows and ends, for the purpose of being easily loosened as the bud increases in growth. The operation of budding requires the aid of a budding-knife, which may be readily purchased, and the success of the operation depends upon the care and nicety with which it is performed.
INARCHING.
We have already mentioned how nature performs what is called inarching.
The gardener"s art consists simply in bending a branch partly cut through, and inserting the belt thus formed into a slit made downwards in the stock to receive it. The parts being nicely fitted are bound with matting. In five or six months the head of the stock may be cut off, and the plant removed.
GRAFTING-CLAY.
Most of the operations of grafting require clay to be put round the parts. This is made of three parts of stiff yellow clay to one of horse-dung fresh as it falls, with a little cut hay, well mixed together; another kind of clay is made of a pound of pitch and a pound of yellow wax, mixed with two pounds of cow-dung. The use of them in covering the grafting posts is to keep them moist and cool till a proper union has taken place.
PRUNING.
The proper time for pruning trees is in December or January, for then the sap is down, and no injury can be done; and the art in pruning consists in cutting away the "water shoots," or non-bearing wood, "dead wood," and "superfluous wood." The water shoots, as they are called, appear to be strong growing branches, but generally produce neither flowers nor fruit; the superfluous wood are those shoots which grow in the way of each other, or cross each other, which should always be removed. The great principle in pruning a fruit tree is to leave all the tree free and open, so that the air and sunshine may pa.s.s through it, and to preserve the buds of the bearing wood. The shoots should be cut off as near to the stem or branch as possible, and all growths or suckers which appear below the crown of the tree should be taken off.
The present practice of thumb-pruning is very excellent; by this means the superfluous shoots, &c., are removed by the thumb nail as soon as they appear, and thus the tree does not exhaust itself by the growth of useless wood. The young pruner should be very careful in cutting away, and recollect that what he cuts off he cannot put on again.
TRAINING.
The training of trees applies princ.i.p.ally to those that are fastened to wooden trellises, to poles, or to walls. The principle of the art is to extend the bearing branches of a tree or plant, so as to improve its growth, its beauty, and its produce. Peaches, nectarines, apricots, vines, &c., are trained against walls by shreds of cloth being placed round the branches, and the two ends nailed to the wall. In doing this, care should be taken to give the branch room to play, and yet to confine it, not to hurt the tender fruit-shoots in the operation, and to let all the branches be free of each other. Roses and jasmines are often trained round verandahs by their different parts being tied with ropes" end or tarred twine to different parts of the trelliswork. Sometimes flowers are trained by being tied to stakes or long poles, and others are brought to pa.s.s through the round of an ornamental ladder, or through the meshes of wirework of different forms. But in every kind of training the principle is the same, namely that of keeping the branches clear of each other, and of preserving the flowering and bearing shoots. Neatness and taste are also indispensable requisites to the training and management of trees and flowers, whether for use or ornament.
INSECTS AND DEPREDATORS.
There are various kinds of depredators which find their way into gardens;--worms, slugs, caterpillars, moles, ants, birds, b.u.t.terflies, snails, &c. These must be got rid of, or kept down, otherwise the gardening labours are soon at an end. In wild nature all the above "vermin," as some people designate them, are of the greatest service in some way or other; even worms and moles, which are very destructive in gardens, are of great service on commons, and therefore in destroying them we should always do so with as little pain as possible to the individuals; and, as prevention is better than cure, the young gardener should look out in winter for the eggs of various moths and b.u.t.terflies, which may be often seen encircling the twigs of trees, or under the eaves of paling, &c., and destroy them. Caterpillars are best got rid of by picking them from the plants; and slugs, and snails, and worms, are often eradicated by turning a brood of young ducks into the ground for a short time, where they can do no injury to the beds. They may also be entrapped by laying cabbage leaves in different parts of the garden, under which they will creep in the night time. Moles must be caught with a mole-trap set in the line of their march. It consists simply of a bent stick, and a wire formed into a noose, slightly attached to the neck of a peg, into which the animal runs his head and gets strangled, by the elasticity of the rod drawing up the noose when the peg is disturbed.
Ants are best got rid of by destroying their nest and eggs, the latter of which are excellent food for young chickens, pheasants, &c. The most destructive insect is the aphis, which attacks the rose, and this is best destroyed by the fumigation of tobacco-smoke, either through a pair of common bellows, or by means of the whirl-fumigator, which may be purchased for a few shillings; but the most certain mode of destruction is to obtain a few "golden beetles," and put near the plants infected by aphides; these are their natural enemies, and where they are placed the aphides will soon become extinct.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
PROTECTION FROM FROST.
The common trees and fruits of the garden require but little care as regards frost in our comparatively mild winters, but many plants, trees, and shrubs, coming originally from warmer climates, require much attention during winter to keep them alive. It is useless to attempt preserving geraniums, myrtles, and a great many of our common summer plants, without keeping them through the winter in a greenhouse of some kind or other. A small greenhouse may now be cheaply erected, but for the preservation of a small number of plants the greenhouse pit is the cheapest and most convenient subst.i.tute. It consists only of a hole twelve feet by four dug in the ground to the depth of six feet, having at the top a skylight. It should if possible be dug in a sheltered situation, open to the south and well backed behind, and the gla.s.s-top, which should merely consist of one frame laid in a slanting position to the south over the top of the hole, the back of which is raised to support it, the front being slightly lowered. The entrance to the pit is at the side, to which a stout wooden door nailed over with straw bands should be attached, and two or three steps should lead to the interior of the pit, where a few shelves may be arranged upon which to place the flowers, &c. In this pit flowers, cuttings, bulbs, and a variety of other things, may be preserved through the winter, with very little cost or trouble, and it will be of a great deal of use in many other respects.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
THE YOUNG GARDENER"S CALENDAR FOR THE WORK TO BE DONE IN ALL THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR.
JANUARY.