50 



THE GARDENER. 



[Jan. 



for potting next month prepared and 

 put into some dry place where it will 

 get warm by the time it is wanted : a 

 moderately light loam that has been 

 stacked eight or nine months, with all 

 the finer particles of soil shaken out of 

 it, is best, where the loam is of a heavy 

 nature. Mix pounded charcoal and 

 sand with it to keep it open. All 

 pits that can be covered with frigi- 

 domo or mats at night in severe 

 weather should be so dealt with ; it 

 not only saves fire, but is much better 

 for the plants : most especially is this 

 applicable to Pines now swelling off, 

 and that do not make much progress 

 at a lower temperature than 70°. 



Vines. — What has just been said 

 about hard firing in the case of Pines 

 is applicable to Vines that have been 

 started a month or six weeks ago. 

 Avoid high night-temperatures, and 

 make the most of sun-heat by day. 

 Vines now bursting into leaf will make 

 weakly wood, with long joints and thin 

 yellowish leaves, if forced hard at 

 night when the nights are long and 

 cold. Fire-heat is a necessary evil, 

 but when accompanied with darkness 

 the evil is much aggravated. There- 

 fore let the chief of the firing be done 

 by day with light. Where Grapes 

 are wanted early, a night temperature 

 of 55° when cold, to be run up by day 

 to 70° or 80°, according to the aid 

 derived from sun, is sufficient. An 

 amount of moisture must be put into 

 the air to counteract the parching 

 effects of the fire-heat, but no more. 

 Avoid steaming from hot pipes as a 

 great evil. Stop the young growths 

 two joints beyond the best bunch, and 

 tie them down before their points 

 touch the glass ; but do not attempt 

 to bring them to the wires at once, or 

 they may break off. In thinning off 

 superfluous branches leave the most 

 compact and shortest -stemmed ones. 

 When the young growths are broken 

 about an inch, do not raise the night 

 temperature much, but take advan- 

 tage of sun-heat by day to make up 

 for the slower growth at night. A 

 succession -bouse maybe started by the 

 end of the month,; and as the days are 

 longer and the sun stronger, the start- 

 ing temperature may be a little in ad- 

 vance of that directed for early-started 

 vines. A night temperature of 55°, 

 with a rise of 10° or 15° with sun by 

 day, will not be too much, unless the 

 weather be severe and sunless, when 



it may be regulated at 5° less. Where 

 there are only two vineries, the ear- 

 liest may be shut up by the end of 

 the month and the night temperature 

 kept from falling below 50°. See that 

 the inside borders are kept healthily 

 moist, and that outside ones are, to say 

 the least, well protected from frost and 

 cold winds. All Vines started before 

 the 1st of January should have their 

 roots in inside borders exclusively. 

 Prune all Vines from which the fruit 

 is cut, and dress the wounds with 

 styptic, to prevent their bleeding when 

 the sap rises. If there has been any 

 spider or thrip on them last season, re- 

 move all loose bark, scrub the Vines 

 well with soap and water, and then 

 dress with Simpson's Wash or Gish- 

 urst's Compound. Eegulate the tem- 

 perature of vineries where fruit is still 

 hanging from 45° to 50°, and give air 

 when fine, but shut up closely when 

 drizzly or foggy. In any houses where 

 most of the crop is cut, the remainder 

 may be bottled, and the Vines can then 

 be pruned and put ready for starting 

 at the proper time. Where sites are 

 being prepared for new Vine-borders, 

 let the drainage be through not less 

 than a foot of broken stones or bricks ; 

 and if the subsoil be a cold clay, the 

 foundation should be paved or con- 

 creted, with a good fall to a front main 

 drain, so as to make sure that water 

 can never become stagnant or the roots 

 get into bad soil. 



Peaches. — Where early Peaches are 

 set and have cast their blossoms, the 

 night temperature may be advanced 

 to 50°, and to 55° by the end of the 

 month, with 5° to 10° more by day. 

 Syringe the trees every fine day, and 

 give more or less air daily. See that 

 the inside border does not become too 

 dry, especially that part of it about 

 the hot- water pipe. Disbud the young 

 growths by degrees, ultimately leaving 

 a strong bud at the base of each fruit- 

 bearing shoot and the leader. Where 

 the fruit has set in abundance, the 

 trees may be relieved at once of all 

 fruits that are malformed, and those 

 that are on the right, left, and north 

 sides of the shoots, but always leaving 

 plenty on which to "come and go." 

 Go over trees in bloom in the middle 

 of the day, and impregnate them 

 either by dispersing the pollen with a 

 fine brush or by a few raps of the hand 

 on the trellis. If the weather be 

 bright, they set equally well when the 



