VET INDEX | ANIMAL INDEX - OLD VET TREATMENTS AND REMEDIES.
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FARMING INDEX - OLD FARM PRACTICES AND REMEDIES FOR ANIMALS, PLANTS AND FIXING THINGS.
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74
THE FRIEND OF ALL.
THE GARDEN AND ORCHARD.
Antiquity of Gardens................ 74
Approximation, only an.............. 78
Arbor, a Rustic...................... 76
Calendar for the Year................ 76
Choice of Situation................... 74
Cropping and Delving............... 75
Delving and Cropping................ 75
Drainage and Water................. 74
GARDENING.
Ferneries............................ 76
Flower-Beds......................... 76
Forming the Garden................. 75
Gardens, Antiquity of................ 74
Ground-Plan of Garden.............. 75
Laying Out.......................... 75
Manuring............................ 75
Needed Tools......................... 75
Plan, a Specimen..................... 75
Preparation of the Soil............... 74
Rustic Arbor......................... 76
Situation, Choice of.................. 74
Soil, Preparation of the.............. 74
Tools Needed........................ 75
Water and Drainage.................. 74
Yearly Calendar..................... 76
ANTIQUITY OF GARDENS.
Horticulture (Latin, hortus, a garden, and cul- tura, cultivation), or the art of cultivating gar dens, is a very ancient art. At the very thresh old of Hebrew antiquity, man was put into the “Garden of Eden,” to dress it and to keep it. On the monuments of Assyria and Egypt, most interesting and elaborate representations of gar dens are preserved. History has brought down to us the record of the hanging gardens of Baby lon and the floating gardens of Cashmere and Mexico. From the earliest times great attention was paid to them in Assyria, Chaldea, Palestine, Persia, Japan, China and India; and references to them are continually to be met with in all literature.
CHOICE OF SITUATION.
Where circumstances permit a choice, a gar den ought to be as fully as possible exposed to the rays of the sun, and a gentle slope to the south, southeast or southwest is prefera ble to a level. Its form, unless some peculiarity of situation determines it otherwise, is usually a parallelogram; and it is considered desirable that it should be longer from east to west than from north to south, in order to have as much as possible of the best exposure. A brick wall is the best inclosure, next a good hedge, or a fence.
PREPARATION OF THE SOIL.
The soil of a garden should be prepared with a degree of care almost impossible to apply to a whole farm. A deep, rich and easily pen etrable soil is desirable; and where it can be afforded, the soil of a garden is sometimes al most entirely artificial; more generally, means are used for bettering the original soil. Of
these means, one of the most important is trenching, by which the soil is deepened, and it is desirable that the soil of a garden should be at least three feet deep. The proper depth of trenching, however, depends on the original depth of the soil and the nature of the subsoil; where the soil is pretty uniform to a considerable depth, the deepest trenching is advantageous; and the available soil may often be deepened by incorporating a portion of the subsoil with it; but if too much of a subsoil unsuited for vegeta tion is at once thrown up by trenching, it may communicate its own barrenness to the soil, be fore it is mellowed by exposure to the air, ma nures and the processes of cultivation. A stiff clay soil is very unsuitable for many of the crops required in a garden, and ought to be mixed with as much sand and vegetable matter as can easily be procured, both at the formation of the gar den and afterward.
DRAINAGE AND WATER.
It is of course necessary in all cases that a garden be thoroughly drained. It is also of great consequence to have the means of irriga tion, or at least of abundant watering, which, even where the climate is generally moist, greatly tends to increase the product in dry seasons, and is almost always necessary to the perfection of certain crops. Indeed, if water can be obtained to form a small pond, or to pass through the garden as a rivulet, it may not only be turned to account for purposes of ornament, but also of utility, in the production of many plants which cannot be successfully cultivated otherwise. The use of water is far from being so common as it might be in our gardens; even a cranberry-patch, although a pleasant thing and
THE GARDEN AND ORCHARD. 75
of easy attainment, being seldom thought of. | The Chinese are better acquainted with it, and cultivate aquatic plants to an extent that has never been equaled among any other people.
MANURING.
A liberal supply of manure is necessary for a garden ; the kinds of manure must be accommo dated to the soil and to the different plants, and must often also depend in part on other circumstances. Care must be taken not to overdose with guano, or indeed with strong manure of any kind, by which plants may be killed rather than nourished. Farmyard or sta ble manure ought in general to be subjected to a process of decomposition in heaps before being used, and great advantage is derived from mix ing it with other substances to form composts. Nor ought any of the weeds and other refuse vege table products of the garden to be thrown away or burned, but all should be gathered into some designated corner, there to decompose and form a heap of vegetable mould, which is for many purposes one of the best manures that can be used.
DELVING AND CROPPING.
A garden ought to be delved or dug with the spade in the end of autumn, except where the presence of a crop prevents, the ground be ing left very rough, to expose the soil as much as possible to the influences of the weather. When the crops are planted in spring, a slight stirring of the surface is all that is required. The usefulness of a garden, however, is much increased by making a considerable part of it produce crops nearly the whole year. Of course, constant cropping requires frequent and abun dant manuring; and care must be taken that each crop be succeeded by one of a totally dif ferent kind: a rule which is indeed applicable as far as possible to agriculture as well as gardening.
LAYING OUT.
The garden, if in the form of a parallelogram, is usually divided into smaller ones, and these into plots and beds for different kinds of plants. Paths within the plots, intended only for a single season, may be made by merely treading with the feet. The permanent walks should be more carefully made, usually by throwing out the earth to the depth of eight or ten inches, and filling the place with stones, cinders, broken bricks, slag or some such substance containing no nutriment for plants, and covering this again with gravel. The borders of the plots are often occupied by currant and gooseberry bushes.
A SPECIMEN PLAN.
A plan is here subjoined. Of course, situation and other circumstances so far vary that you
may not be able to adopt this style ; still you may derive such lessons from it as will assist you in carrying out a different design.
TOOLS NEEDED.
A pair of soft leather gloves, a spade, a small hand-fork, a trowel, a Dutch hoe, a gallon water- pot, a garden-line, a peck rubbish-basket, a ham mer, a draw-hoe, a dibble, a rake, a small pair of shears, a three-foot rod, a pair of pruning-scissors, a garden-knife, a wooden basket for seeds, etc., a wooden mallet and an apron with a pocket in front. If the tools can be kept in a sheltered spot near the garden during the summer months, it would be an advantage ; in the winter, when not required, they should be taken indoors, and, after being cleaned, the parts liable to rust should be oiled with a brush and marked, for sake of distinction, with the initials. It would be well to be provided with a good deal box, divided into compartments, for containing the small tools and other sundries, as flower-sticks, labels, pegs, string, nails, shreds, tallies and seeds, which should be properly arranged, so as to allow of ready access to them in the busy season.
FORMING THE GARDEN.
The gratification of your taste must be deter mined by the space at your disposal. The edg ings on each side of your main walks should be of such a kind that, in case of heavy rain, they will prevent the soil being washed into the walks. Box edgings are not desirable, as, from frequent raking and brushing, they are apt to decay; thus gaps are left here and there, which can only be
76 THE FRIEND OF ALL.
properly replaced by planting the whole afresh. Bricks are to be discarded. A rustic edge formed of round pieces of wood, cut in equal lengths, and fastened in close together with a mallet, is good and easily repaired. Ivy and all kinds of growing edges harbor slugs, snails and other va rieties of destructive vermin. Some of the orna mental tile-borderings for flower-gardens are very pleasant to the eye, answer all purposes, and with care will last for years.
FLOWER-BEDS.
If you have sufficient space for flower-beds, let them be of the oval and circle shape. A raised bed or mound in the center of the garden for growing flowers relieves the flat surface. The size and number of the beds must accord with the extent of your garden. With flower-beds you can better harmonize the colors by massing them ; that is, supposing you to have a piece of ground each side of the center plot, these por tions may be devoted to the culture of the chrysanthemum, herbaceous plants, etc. If you have not this advantage, it would be better to dispense with beds, and plant on the mixed sys tem, practicing as much method as possible in the arrangements of color, height, season of flowering, etc, so as to have few blank spots throughout the year. If you design beds, there will be no need to employ the same labor and materials in making the walks that encircle the beds as in the case of the divisions. A slight coat of gravel to distinguish them will suffice, as it is possible that in the following season you may alter your plan. This can be more readily accomplished if the walks are not made for per manent use. The edgings round the beds can be made of a very hardy plant, viz., Cerastemum tomentosum, which can be propagated in the spring by division, and planted two inches apart. It will increase and spread very fast. Do not let it flower, but keep it evenly clipped with the shears both in width and height. You need not afterwards disturb it, except for the purpose of reducing it.
A RUSTIC ARBOR.
Against the fence, wall or similar shelter in the rear of your garden, construct a rustic arbor; in the absence of such an advantage, form a back with little difficulty of upright stakes well secured in the ground ; the sides the same ; but the roof should be willow or ash stakes, as they bend to any shape. Dip the ends of the stakes to be in serted in the ground in tar previously, as it will preserve them for a greater length of time. In splicing the stakes, notch the parts where you tie them together; the same with the stiff rods used as cross supports to the upright. Having
erected the arbor, make a seat inside, where in the hot days of summer you may read and study. The flooring can be made of small stones, collected at convenience, and may be formed into some device. Select some species of climbing plant to cover the arbor. Hops are pretty and rapid in growth ; but they often become so infested in the autumn with green fly, as to make them un pleasant to handle. As annuals, nasturtiums, convolvulus major and scarlet runner are suit able.
FERNERIES. Each side of the arbor raise a mound of earth. The under portion can be composed of any rub bish which makes a good drainage; over this form a rockwork, either with stones, blocks of wood, stumps of trees or any similar material that can be obtained. On this, when finished, plant a collection of ferns. They do not require a great depth of soil, but like their roots screened from the scorching rays of the sun ; their fronds develop themselves luxuriantly in shady nooks; though fond of moisture, they dislike being satu rated. Syringing or watering with a fine rose at the close of a warm summer day is what they delight in.
CALENDAR FOR THE YEAR.
Having executed your plans in the formation of the garden, and quite prepared it for the re ception of plants, you must now consider how you shall furnish it with those kinds of plants that will make it attractive and interesting, not only at the present but at all seasons, and that you may do so we will begin with the year, and say something of what is to be done in every month of it.
January is a month in which very little can be done out of doors, unless you can on favorable days benefit the soil by digging in any leaves or other nutritious substances you may have col lected in a heap during the autumn in some out- of-the-way corner. If not sufficiently decayed, you had better turn it over three or four times with your fork before you use it. In digging, the rougher you leave the soil for the present, the more will it be benefited in the future. Be care ful not to disturb crocuses, snowdrops, or any other bulbous roots you may have planted, as they are fast pushing upwards, especially the snowdrops. It is to be hoped that you have marked their positions by carefully-written labels. If you have any plants whose roots are likely to be injured by the frost, as hardy fuchsias or tea-scented roses, cover them with some coal- ashes.
Your leisure time in the house should be em ployed in making pegs with sharp points from old birch brooms, making and painting flower-
THE GARDEN AND ORCHARD. 77
sticks, and preparing labels, as in a few weeks you will be requiring them. During the summer months you will have kept a memorandum of any improvements that may have been sug gested to you: now is the period to prepare for carrying them out. Do not clear away the decayed fronds or leaves that may be deposited on the surface of the fernery, as they are a pro tection to the future fronds. A little earth sifted over them will prevent them being scattered by the wind. If you have a small frame for keeping calceolarias, stocks, etc., it would be a great help. Protect them by coverings from severe frost, but on all fine days admit air and pick off withered leaves.
February.—Let your spare moments be em ployed in the same way as recommended last month. Any bulbs, such as tulips, etc., that are not planted, should be during the first fortnight of this month.
March.—You may now divide any perennial and herbaceous plants which you may wish to lessen or increase. Never let any of this kind of plants get too large, because they rob the soil of its nutritious properties. No garden is com plete without that beautiful autumnal flower, the chrysanthemum. Now is the season to propa gate it. The dwarf or pompone varieties are most desirable for small gardens, because they flower early and in more profusion than the larger varieties. Three or four rooted pieces will make a good patch ; but, if you cannot ob tain that number, one will do, as, by stopping the shoots at intervals till the beginning of July, it will make a nice plant. They are fond of plenty of water, and rich manure applied to their roots.
If you can do so, you might grow one of each in a pot. They should be managed thus: as soon as the stem has made five or six eyes, pinch off the top. It will then push out shoots from each eye, which train and tie to neat sticks as they grow. When they have made four joints, stop them again. Thus treated, by the autumn you will have good bushy plants, either for de corating your window or presenting to your friends.
You should now stir the soil with the Dutch hoe and level it with your rake preparatory to the sowing of seeds. If you possess a frame, sow asters, stocks and sweet-peas in pots. In doing so put plenty of drainage in the pots and fill them with soil to within an inch of the edge; then with a rose give the soil a good soaking of water. Then you may sow the seed, covering it with some fine mold, intermixed with a little silver sand. Keep them shaded till they begin to grow. This will prevent them from requiring water till they have vegetated, as frequent water ings previously are apt to rot the seed.
You should now think of purchasing any seeds you may require, as all annuals do better if sown not later than the first week in next month. The present is the proper season to prune rose-trees. Cut the strong shoots back, leaving three of the dormant buds.
April.—The garden is fast becoming cheerful. Polyanthuses and wallflowers are now beginning to bloom freely. The annuals must be sown without delay. Use a small hand-fork for loos ening the soil after you have sown the seeds. Pat them in the earth with the back of the fork. As soon as they have grown so that you can handle them with your thumb and finger, pull up the weakest and leave the remainder an inch or more apart; after which, if the days are warm, you may, towards evening, sprinkle them with a fine rose. If the earth is rich with manure, they will grow strong and weedy, in which case they will exceed their usual height. As they progress, it would be advisable to stick a few pieces of birch or brushwood among the weakest growers, to enable them to withstand heavy rains and wind.
May.—Get some of the bedding varieties of plants. Do not select strong growers, as they often yield the least flowers. The dwarf sorts of scarlet geraniums, calceolarias and verbenas are in general the most abundant bloomers. There is a dwarf white flowering dahlia, named Alba nana, that needs no sticks to support it, and will continue to produce a great quantity of flowers till the frost destroys them. It is useful to cut from for bouquets.
Keep the ground free from weeds by the use of the Dutch hoe. Do not give your young plants too much water, but a gentle sprinkling over their foliage of an evening: such practice refreshes them very much, besides cleansing their leaves of any dust that may accumulate. Tulips will be in bloom this month. If you wish to prolong their beauty, you must contrive some kind of covering to protect them from the rays of the midday sun and heavy showers.
June.—The summer roses will be in full bloom this month. Keep the buds clear of green fly, for which purpose use a soft brush or feather; look also for the maggot. The curling of the leaf is a certain sign ; examine it, and you will find the insect. It destroys the bud by piercing a hole in it; therefore the leaves must be con stantly watched. Pinks will now be in perfec tion. Keep them tied to neat stakes, and if you want large flowers you must pick off some of the smaller buds where there are more than two or three on the same stalk. The white variety is easily propagated, and much grown on account of its scent. For increasing them by cuttings, cover the soil about an inch deep in silver sand,
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THE FRIEND OF ALL. ‘
then put a propagating-glass over them, and shade them till rooted, which you will observe by their commencing to grow. Then gradually admit air till you entirely remove the glass. At tend to the training of your climbers; put sticks to your sweet-peas. You may by the end of this month dig up the tulip or any other bulbs you may desire, dry them, after which clean and put them in bags till required for planting.
July.—If you wish to bud any rose with other varieties, this is a favorable month for the opera tion. Remove decayed flowers and seed-pods from your annuals and other plants; it will ex tend their time of flowering. Your geraniums will be fast coming into bloom. If very hot weather, give them a liberal supply of water. Endeavor to keep your garden in good trim ; tie and peg all plants that require it. If by accident you should break a geranium-shoot, put it in the ground: it will root. You must discontinue syringing or sprinkling plants in flower, as it damages the bloom and causes them to lose their flower. When using the Dutch hoe, don't let it go in too deep, or it will injure the roots. Uproot all annuals that have done flowering; at tend to the training of the shoots of your chrys anthemums. If they and the dahlias get attacked with earwigs, have a thumb-pot, put some dry moss in it, and lodge it in the plant or on the stake that supports it; every morning take the pot out, remove the moss, and empty the con tents into water or crush them with your feet. Cloves and carnations may now be increased by laying. The operation is simple: loosen the earth about the plant with the hand-fork, then make a cut half-way across the third joint of a shoot, then peg it into the soil.
August.—Bedding plants may be said to be at their best during this month. If the weather is very dry, continue to water freely. If you have, or can obtain, convenience for wintering gera niums or suchlike plants, you should commence propagating them during the early part of this month: they will root in the open ground or in pots out of doors. You may increase the num ber of your violets by division. Choose the time when we are likely to have warm showers, as they will assist them to root at once. Select a shady spot on which to plant them. Proceed to note in your memorandum such alterations or arrangements as you may wish for another year.
September is apt to be a humid month ; plants grow very fast; less water is needed. French and German asters will be in perfection. When they have attained their full size, cut them for bouquets ; that will increase the size of the after-blooms. Supply the roots of dahlias with plenty of water; cut out all weak shoots ; gather
the seeds of plants you may wish to save, as they are now ripe (you can clean them indoors at your leisure). Plant wallflower, sweet-william, etc.
October.—Although many plants are yet gay, still the beauty of the greater number is on the decline. Towards the middle or latter part of this month you may expect sharp frosts; place any plants that you have struck, or any others that need protection, so that, should there be signs of a frost, you can immediately protect them. Many plants, such as fuchsias, scarlet geraniums, etc., will exist in a room during the winter, where they can be properly secured from the admission of frost, and you must keep them from growing till the spring, by not giving them more water than will just keep them alive. Cut tings of yellow calceolarias will now root quickly in coarse sand. They need no other protection than a cold frame for preserving them during the winter. Chrysanthemum buds will be swelling fast. Towards evening search for and destroy earwigs. If you want fine flowers, pick off all small buds, leaving one to each shoot. In tying them out, afford all the room you can for each stem.
November.—As leaves fall, collect them together in a tidy heap, and by turning them over often during the winter they will become excellent manure for your garden in the spring. This is the best month in the year for planting tulips, crocuses, hyacinths, and other bulbs. Tulips and hyacinths should be planted six inches deep; the smaller bulbs three inches. If you have a spot that you could plant a line of crocuses in three rows of distinct colors, say yellow, white or striped, and blue, the effect when in flower will be dazzling. Dig up your dahlia roots, and after allowing the water to drain out of the flower- stalks, hang them up in a cupboard or cellar where the frost cannot penetrate. If you have not that convenience, put them in a box, and cover them with dry sand.
December.—Any stalks or refuse of plants can be consumed by fire: the ashes will improve the soil if mixed with it. Now the trees have shed their leaves, clean up and put your garden in tidy order.
ONLY AN APPROXIMATION.
Of course, this calendar cannot be accurately followed, but allowances must be made for dif ferences of position and climate, and for varia tions in the seasons. When the dilettante asked the painter Opie what he mixed his colors with, the gruff answer was, “ With brains, sir.” Any gardening calendar will have to be taken with the same condiment.
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