578 



THE GARDENER. 



[Dec. 



tention. When frost sets in, turu com- ! 

 posts, make stakes for Peas, &c, re- i 

 pair tools, pick over Onions and all 

 roots in store, clean sheds, and perform i 

 every operation if weather prevents J 

 outdoor work from being forwarded. 



Forcing of vegetables will now be ' 

 general, and a regular Bupply can only 

 be kept up by sowing and planting 

 frequently. French Beans should be 

 sown in pots (smaller than after the 

 New Year) three parts filled with 

 turfy loam (using proper drainage) 

 every ten or twelve days, according 

 to demands. The seed need not be 

 spared at this season — they can be 

 thinned out after they vegetate, and 

 the plants earthed up with light rich 

 soil as they develop : a forcing heat 

 of 60° is suitable at night. Sun -heat 

 may always rise higher by 15°. Damp- 

 ing of the stems is often experienced 

 when a moist atmosphere is kept, 

 accompanied by a low temperature. 



Water should be warmed to 70° before 

 being administered to plants in heat. 

 Fresh air for French Beans may be 

 admitted when warm out of doors. 

 Osbom's and Williams's are two good 

 forcing French 1 Jeans. Gentle hotbeds 

 for Carrots and Radishes should now 

 be prepared — mix leaves and manure 

 well together till they are "sweet: " 

 a very mild bed suits these. The 

 Radishes may be sown between the 

 Horn Carrots ; and when the former 

 are ready for use, the latter will be 

 coming forward, and require the space. 

 Crowding and absence of air would 

 soon render them useless. Keep up 

 supplies of Mushrooms, Asparagus, 

 Seakale, Chicory, and Rhubarb as de- 

 mand requires. Tomatoes for early 

 work should be kept growing with 

 plenty of light and air. Those bearing 

 fruit should be kept thin of growths 

 and cropped lightly. 



M. T. 



FORCING DEPARTMENT. 



Pines. — Suckers that were potted ! 

 early in autumn will now have well 

 rilled their pots with roots ; and as it 

 is not desirable to shift them at this 

 dull season, they must, especially if 

 plunged over hot-air chambers, be 

 carefully seen to in the way of water- 

 ing, to prevent their becoming too dry, 

 and so producing a stunted condition 

 of growth, resulting in their starting 

 into fruit with a higher temperature 

 in spring. Look over them twice 

 weekly and water such as are dry. 

 The temperature should now be 

 reduced to its minimum : in cold 

 weather 55°, and in mild 60°, is quite 

 sufficient. Keep the atmosphere from 

 becoming arid by sprinkling the paths 

 and placing evaporating troughs on 

 the pipes. Give these young plants 

 air every day when the heat touches 

 65°. If they have become crowded, 

 replunge them, giving them more 

 room ; for an attenuated growth now 

 defeats all efforts to make fine sturdy 

 plants of them afterwards. Keep a 

 moist atmosphere and a temperature 

 of 70°, except in very cold weather, 

 where fruits are still swelling off, and 

 range the bottom -heat about 90°. Keep 

 the soil steadily moist up to the point 

 of colouring, when no more water 

 should be given; for if ripened with too 

 much moisture at this season, large 



Pines especially are apt to become 

 black at the heart before they are 

 fully coloured. Where ripe Queens 

 are required in May, a selection of the 

 plants that are most likely to start 

 without much growth should now be 

 made, and placed by themselves in a 

 light pit or pinery where there is a 

 good command of heat, so that a night 

 temperature of 70° can be kept up 

 after the middle of the month without 

 overheated pipes. Let them have a 

 bottom-heat of 90° ; and if they are 

 very dry, give them a watering after 

 they are plunged, but afterwards 

 water very sparingly until they show 

 signs of starting into fruit. After such 

 a sunless summer these plants are 

 more likely than usual to grow in- 

 stead of fruit if freely watered. The 

 remainder of the stock of fruiting 

 plants should be kept quiet for the 

 present, not allowing the night tem- 

 perature to rise nor sink much below 

 60°, unless in very extreme weather. 

 Suckers on stools of Cayennes in a 

 Charlotte Rothschilds from which the 

 fruits have recently been cut, should 

 now be potted, and plunged in a 

 bottom heat of 90°, in which they 

 will soon root and make a most use- 

 ful succession to earlier stock. The 

 surest way of keeping up a continu- 

 ous supply of Pines is to have sets of 



