230 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



impatient of wet, quite hardy elevated on 

 rockwork, and worth growing in pots. 

 Arabis alpina : this, an old favourite, we 

 are getting rid of (though not without 

 some reluctance), as it is quite superseded 

 by the evergreen iberis, so far as effect is 

 concerned. Common coltsfoot : useful to 

 cover banks for the sake of its flowers in 

 February ; it will flourish in the darkest 

 of town gardens in a mixture of good loam 

 and chalk. Double wallflowers : we only 

 grow two varieties now— the tall double 

 yellow and the dwarf double yellow; and 

 we generally have a lot of each potted to 

 perfume tbe sitting-room ; they should be 

 taken up now and potted, and put in a pit. 

 Hepaticas, primroses, polyanthuses, and 

 violets, must have a place among the best 

 of spring flowers — in fact, the garden will 

 be dreary without them. Of bulbs, secure 

 and plant a good assortment of jonquils, 

 snowdrops, crocuses, Narcissus, early tulips, 

 hyacinths, dog's-tooth violets, etc. 



Greenhouse. — Ericas can be better 

 wintered in a pit than in the greenhouse. 

 It is certainly best to let them taste as little 

 as possible of fire-heat, though they must 

 he kept safe from frost. A damp, still 

 air, especially if a little warmed to suit the 

 growth of soft-wooded plants, is most in- 

 jurious to these nearly hardy and free- 

 natured plants. Water only ou fine days, 

 and then as early as possible ; keep the 

 plants hardy, and if they get three or four 

 degrees of frost on them, they will take no 

 harm if kept dark till thawed. The result 

 of such treatment will be short joints and 

 a fine bloom. 



Fuchsias may be kept in bloom till 

 very late in the season by keeping them 

 rather close ; plants going out of bloom, 

 and which are to be grown another season, 

 should be put out of doors to harden them, 

 and left unpruned till they have tasted a 

 very slight frost; then cut them in slightly, 

 and house in any moderately dry place, 

 either light or dark, till they begin to 

 break in the spring. 



Revise the whole stock of plants in 

 pots as opportunities offer ; to remove 

 worms from pots, renew the drainage where 

 it has got stopped up, and otherwise prepare 

 for the casualties of winter. Greenhouse 

 plants that have been standing out must 

 now be housed, and those to be forced must 

 be repotted, if needful. 



Straivberries to fruit in pots and 

 troughs ought now to have plump crowns, 

 and be quite at rest, the pots full of roots 

 and free from worms. Now lay them on 

 their sides on coal ashes under a fence or 

 wall, and by means of a few hurdles, or 

 some other rough contrivance, shelter them 



from rain, and there leave them till taken 

 in to force. Runners well rooted may be 

 planted now in beds, to bear next season. 

 Plantations made at this late period should 

 be of carefully-sorted plants — the best 

 only of the runners that have rooted 

 farthest away from the parent stools, and 

 these to be taken up with good balls, and 

 planted in the beds directly. 



Verbenas and Petunias from autumn 

 cuttings are best kept with cinerarias and 

 primulas, as the same treatment will serve 

 for all, and they will require fumigating 

 more frequently than other plants. All 

 these things should be grown very slowly 

 now, as the worst times for them are yet to 

 come. Give plenty of air. 



Pits and Frames. — Plants in Frames 

 will soon be infested with mildew now, if 

 kept close or damp. Though nothing 

 should go dust dry, it will be best always 

 to defer watering till the weather is clear 

 and bright, and then water well the first 

 thing in the morning, that the pots and 

 plunge material may be somewhat dry 

 before night ; one good watering will go a 

 long distance now. During keen north- 

 east wiuds — not very prevalent at this 

 season — soft-wooded plants suSer severely 

 if kept very dry, and at the same time 

 they will not then bear so much exposure 

 as at other times. Keep the plants clean 

 by removing dead leaves, and cutting off 

 the soft tops of any green shoots of gera- 

 niums, etc., which show signs of mil- 

 dew. 



Cucumbers to fruit during winter will 

 now be showing signs of fertility, in which 

 they must not be too much encouraged, 

 unless the plants are strong. If allowed 

 to bear too early, they will soon cease to 

 bear, and the fruit will be small and in- 

 ferior. Keep them carefully trained ; take 

 the leaders up their full length before 

 stopping, then stop every side-shoot at the 

 second joint. Pinch off the young fruit 

 till the plants are in a robust state, with 

 plenty of large healthy leaves ; if fit to 

 begin bearing, thin the crop moderately. 

 Encourage root action by top-dressing 

 with a mixture of leaf-mould and rotten 

 dung. The usual advice to set the blos- 

 soms we consider fallacious ; there will be 

 just as good a crop without any such waste 

 of time. 



Forcing to be prepared for according 

 to the demand for asparagus, sea-kale, 

 rhubarb, etc. Take up all the roots that 

 are to be used in the first batch, and lay 

 them in by the heels ; the roots force bet- 

 ter if taken up some little while before- 

 hand, especially for the earliest supplies, 

 for which the plants are still in a some- 



