THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



109 



rooted. An incision is first made in the 

 bark, say of a rose shoot. When that has 

 healed, the shoot is drawn through a pot, 

 which is fixed by some support according 

 to the requirements of the case. The pot 

 is then filled with light soil, and kept 

 moist, and in about three weeks it is full 

 of roots. The shoot is then separated from 

 the parent plant by cutting it through close 

 under the pot. Of course when the pot is 

 placed some of the leaves and buds must 

 be removed where the shoot is to be covered 

 with soil. This is the best time to propa- 

 gate by this method, and it is of great 

 value to get plants on their own roots 

 which it is difficult to strike by other ordi- 

 nary processes. 



Reserve Plants. — There will be a cer- 

 tain number of geraniums, verbenas, cal- 

 ceolarias, etc., etc., left after the beds are 

 filled, and these may be grown into speci- 

 mens for keeping the houses gay, and to 

 make good any gap* that occur in the 

 planting. A few cuttings of geraniums of 

 all the sorts in stock should be taken now 

 and potted singly in thumbs, which they 

 will soon fill with roots in a warm house, 

 and form stocky plants for autumn bloom. 

 Odds and ends of plant stock for which 

 there is no immediate use should be placed 

 out fully exposed to the weather, and the 

 best material to stand the pots on is the 

 cocoa-nut refuse, in which no insects will 

 harbour. It is always sweet and moist. 



Forced Fruits. — Give air freely to 

 these, or they will lack flavour and colour. 

 Blouses in which fruits are forced should 

 have the lights merely screwed on, so as to 

 allow of their removal altogether when the 

 weather permits, which it will now, and to 

 the advantage of the crop, especially of 

 peaches and cherries. Avoid that bad but 

 common practice of laying in an abund- 

 ance of wood, for instead of furnishing 

 plenty to choose from at the winter pruning, 

 it is more likely to furnish none at all, for 

 the crowding of walls and trellises renders 

 all alike soft and sappy. Lay in wood as 

 required, and thin away all other growths, 

 and you will get wood worth keeping, in- 

 stead of a forest of mere spray. 



Peaches ripening to have as much air 

 night and day as can be given ; if the 

 lights are off all the better. Keep the 

 atmosphere pretty dry, but the border 

 must he moist while the trees are still 

 growing. As soon as the trees show that 

 they have made sufficient growth, assist 

 them to ripen the wood by letting the bor- 

 der get rather dry, and the more the sun 

 roasts them the better. We have fre- 

 quently advised the clothing of the lower 

 parts of leggy trees by inserting grafts. 



Where that was neglected at the proper 

 time, the object may be accomplished by 

 inserting buds, which will now take 

 directly. 



Vines. — Where crops are ripening, 

 raise the temperature to a maximum of 

 90°, with a minimum of 6'5°. Muscats are 

 worth nothing in a low temperature. Stop 

 laterals, remove superfluous shoots, and on 

 all the wood left, whether young wood or 

 bearing shoots, let every leaf remain. 

 The removal of leaves to admit light to the 

 bunches, is almost as bad as putting the 

 bunches in an oven to ripen them. 



Orchard House. — ■ Orchard House 

 Trees are now swelling their fruit, and 

 need the help of manure water. Use it 

 rather weak at first, for fear of causing 

 stone fruit to fall. After two or three 

 doses, alternating with plain waterings, 

 increase its strength. Stone fruits not yet 

 beginning to swell should be kept without 

 it for the present. As the mulch in the 

 pots has now become dry and chippy, take 

 it out, and replace with fat half-rotted 

 dung. Use the syringe freely, and with 

 force, to wash off withered blossoms ; give 

 air night and day, and pinch in to the third 

 or fourth leaf from the base all the side 

 shoots, to cause a production of fruit spurs. 

 If the shoots have g>t too far, and the 

 thumb-nail will not cut them clean through, 

 use a small knife or scissors. Wherever 

 you see a curled leaf, search for the cause 

 of it, and you will find either grub or fly, 

 with either of which deal promptly. 



Vines to be again thinned in cool 

 houses, and the operation accomplished 

 without handling the beiries. Crops ripen- 

 ing to be kept rather dry, and with a tem- 

 perature not less than 90' with sun heat, 

 and 65' by night. 



Pits and Frames. — Cucumbers in fruit 

 may be kept going now by linings of grass 

 mowings. We have for many years used 

 grass mowings, mixed with dry straw and 

 other such waste, in trenches on either side 

 of the beds ; and though the heat is sud- 

 den, fierce, and of brief duration when 

 gra's is heaped up by itself, when mixed 

 with dry litter it is more moderate and 

 lasting, and one dressing will last well 

 until the next mowing takes place to fur- 

 nish a fresh supply. 



Melons in fruit to have less water as 

 soon as the fruit begins to ripen. Let them 

 have the full sun, no matter how it may 

 roast them ; shut up early with a good heat, 

 and sprinkle the leaves at the same time. 

 Those lately pla:-ed out to have soil added 

 to the hills as required, and linings if the 

 heat declines. Do not allow fruit to swell 

 until you have a good plant. As to setting 



