Instructions in gardening for ladies

by Mrs. Loudon

Patent Blower and Fumigator.

The leaf-rollers, the saw-flies, and the gnats which occasion the oak-galls, are all very destructive. The leaves of the rose-tree are often found marked, in summer, with pale-brown zigzag lines, with a narrow black line running down the middle of each. These lines are the work of a very small orange-coloured caterpillar, not more than two lines long, that lives on the parenchyma of the leaf; and the pale-brown mark is occasioned by the epidermis drying where the pulp beneath it has been removed. The moth is called the red-headed pigmy, and it is so small as not to measure more than two lines and a half broad, when its wings are fully expanded. The “worm i’ th’ bud” of the rose, is the maggot or grub of one of the kinds of saw-fly; a beautiful transparent-winged little creature that no one would suspect of springing from such a frightful-looking maggot. But of all the insects that infest the rose, the most destructive are the aphides. These little green flies cover the tender leaves and buds of the young shoots in myriads, and are extremely difficult to destroy, without spoiling the appearance of the shoots that have been attacked by them. Tobacco-water is an excellent remedy, if not too strong. It should be made by steeping half-a-pound of the best tobacco in a gallon of hot water; and as soon as the infusion has become cold, the young shoots should be dipped in it, and suffered to remain a few seconds, after which they should be immediately washed in clean water before they are suffered to dry. If this be done carefully, the insects will be destroyed, and yet the shoots will remain uninjured. Limewater may also be tried, if no more lime be used than the water will hold in solution; as unless the water be quite clear in appearance when applied, the plant will be very much disfigured with the white stains of the lime. Another means of getting rid of all noxious insects, is to fumigate them with tobacco; and the best way of doing this is by a small brass fumigator, which costs four shillings, applied to one of Clark’s patent blowers. The fumigator is filled with loose tobacco, which is lighted, and the brass tube is then screwed on the blower, and the fume gently spread through the green-house, or among the plants. By putting a little of the moxa or Spanish tinder among the tobacco, or using it alone, caterpillars, butterflies, snails, &c., may be stupified, when they will fall from the branches, and may be gathered up and destroyed. An excellent preventive remedy is to wash the stems and branches of deciduous rose-trees, in winter, with water heated to 200°, or with a mixture of strong tobacco-water and soft-soap; cleaning the branches well at the same time with a soft brush. The American blight which infests apple-trees is another species of aphis, and may be destroyed in the same manner.

Besides the insects already enumerated, there are several kinds of beetles, which devour plants both in the larva and perfect state. Of these, the cockchafer remains in the larva state four years, and is one of the most destructive insects known; the rose beetle, or rose chaffer (Cetonia aurata) is extremely beautiful, from its splendid wing cases of burnished green and gold. These beetles, notwithstanding their shape, which looks too heavy and clumsy for flying, may frequently, in hot summer weather, be seen upon the wing, making a loud buzzing noise. When taken up in the hand, they draw up their feet, and appear to be dead; but, after having been handled, and even tossed about for some time, they will, if a favourable opportunity appears to offer, suddenly spread out their wings and buzz away, leaving their captor too much astonished to be able to make any effort to retain them. Several of these insects may often be found in one rose; but they are supposed to be only engaged in sucking the honey from the flower, and not injuring it. They undergo their transformations under ground, and the grubs are supposed to live entirely on little bits of rotten wood. Besides the insects already mentioned, the various kinds of weevils, the wire-worm, the thrips, the red spider, or rather mite (Acarus telarius), various kinds of tipula, or Gaffer long-legs, wood lice, and earth-worms, are all found on plants, and are all more or less injurious to them. In the general destruction of insects, the Lady-bird should always be spared, as, both in its larva and its perfect state, it lives on the larvæ of the green fly, or aphis.

Snails and Slugs are more destructive to vegetation than any kind of insect; and they are still more difficult to get rid of. There is a very small gray slug, that is peculiarly injurious to plants in pots; the large grey is also very destructive, and the common garden snail. The beautifully banded snail (Helix nemoralis) is, however, supposed to live partly on earth-worms, and the shell slug (Testacella scutella) lives entirely on them. The usual modes of entrapping snails, slugs, and wood-lice, are laying down slices of raw potatoes or cabbage-leaves at night, and examining them before the dew is off the plants in the morning. As, however, this requires very early rising, a more convenient method is to lay a few flower pots upon their sides, where the snails have committed their ravages; and the snails, which can neither move nor feed unless the ground be wet with dew or rain, will generally be found to take refuge in the flower pots from the heat of the sun. They are likewise often found in the middle of the day, sticking against walls, under ivy, or box edgings. In gardens very much infested with snails, search should be made in winter among all the ivy and box in the garden; and all the snails found in a torpid state should be destroyed. This, though some may escape, will effectually prevent them from becoming numerous; and, as the eggs are not laid till April or May, care should be taken, before that season, to destroy all the snails that can be found. The eggs are round, almost transparent, and of a bluish white; and they are always found in small clusters, buried in the ground.

CHAPTER VI.

THE KITCHEN-GARDEN—THE MANAGEMENT
OF CULINARY VEGETABLES.

In almost all gardens, it is customary to set apart a portion of the ground for the culture of culinary vegetables; and, in villas and country seats, this portion is quite detached from the pleasure-ground, and is called the kitchen-garden. When this is the case, it usually consists of a square or oblong piece of ground, varying from one to five acres in extent, according to the size of the establishment, and enclosed by a wall ten or twelve feet high. If a greater extent of ground than two or three acres be required, it is generally laid out in two or more gardens, communicating with each other, so as to afford an extent of wall proportionate to that of the ground. In front of the wall is a border for the roots of the fruit trees, ten or twelve feet wide, and beyond that a walk usually four feet wide, leaving a plot of ground in the centre for the culture of culinary vegetables and espalier fruit-trees. The central plat is usually divided by a main walk up the centre, five or six feet wide, and two or four side-walks, three or four feet wide; the smaller plots enclosed between these walks being again divided into oblong compartments, or beds.

The general form and arrangement of all large kitchen-gardens being alike, it is obvious that they must have been determined by some general principle; and this principle appears to be utility. The walks are made straight, that the heavy loads wheeled along them may not be in danger of overturning, which they would if the walks took a serpentine direction; while the compartments are divided into oblong beds, for the convenience of digging and cropping; it being found most convenient to sow vegetables in straight lines, to allow of weeding and hoeing between them, earthing up, &c. For these reasons, all pieces of ground in small gardens appropriated to the culture of kitchen vegetables should be made to approximate, as closely as possible, in form and general arrangement, to regular kitchen gardens; and, where there is any portion of the ground that cannot be brought into a rectangular shape, it should be set aside for tart-rhubarb, artichokes, or some other permanent crop; and a square or oblong plot in the centre be reserved for peas and beans, and other annual vegetables.

The best soil for a kitchen garden is a sandy loam, and the surface soil should be from two feet to three feet deep. If it is on a clayey sub-soil, every part of the garden should be well drained; as from the quantity of manure required for cultivating culinary vegetables, if any water should be suffered to remain in a stagnant state in the soil, it would be particularly injurious. The ground, if possible, should slope to the south or south-east; and it should, at any rate, be sheltered from the prevailing winds of the locality.