i88i.] HINTS FOR AMATEURS. 1G3 



or divisions, may be planted in their flowering quarters. These useful plants 

 either should be done well, or not grown at all. The amount of work some re- 

 quire is considerable ; but there are others, again, which need almost no 

 attention after being well planted. 



Auriculas, Carnations, Picotees, and similar plants to flower in pots, should 

 not be kept coddled. Fill the lights up back and front when weather is wet, 

 and when dry take them off altogether. Surface them with rich loam and 

 rotten cow -manure. Worms and bid drainage will soon ruin the stock, 

 should such exist. A shady but airy position suits them well. Chrysanthe- 

 mums should be grown with plenty of air and light, and not allowed to be- 

 come pot-bound. These easily-grown plants are often ruined by coddling them, 

 and undue stopping of the shoots, 



HARDY FRUITS, 



It is expected, as a matter of course, that all training, staking, and other 

 requirements of fruit-trees have been attended to. Rather than leave undone 

 such work, do it "late" in preference to "never," Gooseberries, Currants, 

 and all bush-fruit should be mulched if practicable. Caterpillars are often 

 supposed to be cleared off' and the trees saved for the season, by taking a 

 quantity of the soil away from, say, 3 or 4 feet round the collars of the bushes, 

 and replacing it with old tan, good manure, or something else. We last season 

 did this, and mulched well with cow-manure, but never had such attacks of 

 aphis and caterpillar before ; and the attacks were repeated till late in the 

 season. Mulching of Rasps is a good practice, especially where soil is light 

 and exposed to the south. Disbudding may now have due attention : take off 

 all growing outwards first, and go over the trees at intervals of a week in 

 ]>reference to clearing off" all at once. Sudden checks mean soliciting the 

 company of aphis and other vermin. Young trees may require a soaking of 

 water, if soil is light and dry ; but seldom is this the case during April, If 

 they are sending out unequal shoots, pinch the tops out of the strong ones 

 to aid the weakly growths. Now is the time when dying off" is seen among 

 Apricots, and with gross free-growing trees it is generally more common. We 

 have more than once referred to wholesale dying of branches, A few weeks 

 ago we visited a number of gardens of fame (among the amateur class), and all 

 had more or less been under the lash of Apricot disease— whole walls cleared to 

 the stumps of the trees ; indeed scarcely an Apricot was to be seen, and the 

 more thrifty growers had changed their tactics, and, giving up Apricot and 

 Peach growing, had planted in their stead Cordon Pears and Plums ; others had 

 filled the borders with Pyramid Pears, and left the wall to keep out prowlers 

 (plenty of them being in the adjacent towns). The soil, we observed, was 

 light and gritty, evidently spongy and loose— the very opposite of what we 

 have examined where growers in Oxfordshire have gained their fame for fine 

 Apricots, If lime is deficient in the soil, it may be added with advantage. 

 It is singular that Apricots are often seen doing well on cold exposed positions, 

 while in favoured districts the tantalising disease is often worst ; but we 

 would advise the " afflicted " to give up the growing of these stone-fruits, and 

 try Pears, Morello Cherries, and Plums in their stead ; and enough Apricots 

 might be purchased with the overplus of the Pears, if sold in a proper market. 

 If aphis appears among Peaches, Plums, or Cherries, which it often does, 

 "Fir-tree oil" may be found a simple remedy, as prevention and cure. Tobacco- 

 powder, mixed in soft-soap water, syringed over the tree before the flowers 

 and leaf-buds burst, might prove a friend in need. M. T. 



