278 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



Fupliorbla Jacquiniflora will soon be 

 in fine condition, if carefully treated. Let 

 it have good stove temperature and plenty 

 of light, but be careful to give it very 

 little water. It is ofcen spoilt by amateurs, 

 who think as the p'ant is in a flowering 

 state it ought to have abundance of water, 

 which is a mistake. If kept very wet at 

 the roots, the leaves will fall off. At the 

 same time it must not go dust dry. 



Forced Flowers. — Put in Provence, 

 Tea, Bourbon, and Perpetual Roses, Sweet- 

 briar, Lily of the Valley, Lilacs, Weigelias, 

 and bulbs according to stock. 



Orchid House. — Orchid house to be 

 kept at as low a temperature as is con- 

 sistent with safety. The use of'excessively 

 high temperatures has been the cause of 

 more mischief than all the rest of the 

 mistakes in orchid culture. Keep the at- 

 mosphere of the house moderately dry, 

 and as sweet as possible. One of the 

 most important matters for the young be- 

 ginner is to learn to decide when the 

 pseudo-bulbs are ripe and ought to be at 

 rest, and to proportion the period of rest 

 to the habit of the species — matters which 

 depend more on personal observation than 

 on the precepts of books. 



Pits and Fbames. — Cucumbers that 

 have been in bearing some time may 

 always be restored to a youthful condi- 

 tion by the use of the knife. If we have 

 a length of lights occupied with bearing 

 vines at this time of year, we prepare for 

 their renewal by opening a trench all 

 round the roots of every alternate plant 

 at a distance of one foot from the stem. 

 This of course shortens in the roots to that 

 length. We then fill the trench with a 

 mixture of chopped turf, leaf-mould, and 

 rotten dung. There will be new roots 

 formed in this mixture at once, and a 

 week after the operation we cut back the 

 vines to within a foot of the soil, and then 

 take np new runners, and stop and train 

 as before. As soon as these show fruit, 

 the remainder can be dealt with in the 

 same way. They want extra bottom-heat 

 after cutting back. 



Mushroom Beds should be kept covered 

 during bad weather with dry straw, and 

 over that reed or straw hurdles, to throw 

 off the wet and prevent entrance of frost. 

 During mild bright days, take off all the 

 coverings, expose the beds to the air, and 

 cover up again with fresh dry straw. This 

 management will keep the beds in bearing, 

 and without deterioration of the produce. 



Fines in fruit will need a moist air 

 and a good bottom-heat; the late sunny 

 weather lias been very beneficial to pines 

 colouring, and if the colour is right, the 



flavour is generally the same. The ge- 

 neral stock must have as low night tem- 

 peratures as will be safe, say 55° for a 

 minimum, and by day 70' to 75', and not 

 higher. Dung-heat is rather troublesome 

 this time of year, and there must be always 

 at hand materials for lining and covering 

 up, in case of a sudden change to severe 

 weather. 



Gkeenhotjse Plants in Flower. — 

 AmpMooma arguta is a beautiful green- 

 house Bignoniad, scarcely known. It is 

 an evergreen, and forms a shrub twelve to 

 twenty inches high, and resembles aPents- 

 temon when in flower. The flowers are 

 lilac, and are produced in the open border 

 in August. 



Andromeda pMllyreafolia is one of 

 the smallest of the race; it is from Florida. 

 It has exquisitely beautiful dark green 

 foliage, and flowers freely, requiring the 

 same treatment as Azaleas in forcing. 



Billbergia thyrsoides and Wetherelli. 

 — Bromeliaceous stove plants now in full 

 beauty, and must have a temperature of 

 60' by day and 50° by night, or the blooms 

 will fall prematurely; but kept at a proper 

 temperature, the pretty tubular flowers last 

 a long time. We recommend of this genus 

 thyrsoides, scarlet ; Wetherelli, blue and 

 yellow; amasna, green and blue; fasciatus, 

 blue and red; iridifolin, scarlet and yellow; 

 pyramidalis, crimson. The soil should be 

 equal parts turfy loam, leaf-mould, peat, 

 and thoroughly-rotten cow-dung. The 

 plants may be divided annually for fine 

 flowers, but for massive effects may be 

 allowed to stool from year to year till they 

 fill large pots, and then they throw up 

 numerous spikes of bloom, but the blooms 

 are individually poorer than from offsets 

 grown singly. 



Chimonanthus fragrans and sinense. — 

 These fine half-hardy deciduous shrubs 

 require to be somewhat aged before they 

 bloom well. Any rich light soil will suit 

 them ; and the easiest way to keep up 

 a supply for forcing is to grow them 

 from layers made in September; plant 

 out in nursery rows, pinch in aH. sum- 

 mer, protect during frost with old mats 

 tied to stakes amongst the plants, and 

 take them up for potting when three 

 years old, when they ought to be compact 

 dwarf bushes. We have grown it as a 

 wall shrub for twenty years, without an 

 accident, till the winter of 1S60, and then 

 our old and young trees were alike de- 

 stroyed root and branch. C. grandiflora 

 is a very handsome wall-tree, and produces 

 its yellow flowers in mild seasons along 

 with Jasminum nudifiorum. 



CitrioboUts multiflora. — A diminutive 



