iSyi.] PRUNING EARLY VINES FOR A CROP. 513 



is always desirable to have the roots in action before the crowns begin to swell 

 much. Mild bottom-heat, applied in a cool atmosphere, secures this. I have 

 started Lily of the Valley and other commonly-forced hardy subjects on the top 

 of a heap of heating leaves in the open air in winter, giving them such top pro- 

 tection of straw or Spruce boughs as the weather rendered necessary, and was well 

 pleased with the results. Plants so treated come away quickly and sturdily when 

 they are brought into heat. Our subject will not bear rapid or hard forcing ; a 

 temperature ranging from 50° to 60° suits best in early winter, but later on it will 

 bear a few degrees higher. Keep it moderately moist till after the leaves and 

 flowers burst the crowns, when the supplies of water must be gradually increased, 

 and be alternated with applications of clear mild liquid manure. The syringe, if 

 used at all, should be discontinued some time before the leaves and flower-spikes 

 are half-grown, especially if they are crowded in the pot ; but it is preferable never 

 to use it, taking the other ordinary means rather of keeping up atmospheric moisture 

 instead. An over-moist atmosphere is favourable only to the production of fine 

 flabby leaves and scanty weakly flowers that are liable to damp off on the occasion 

 of the first check in temperature, and which under no circumstances continue to 

 be long beautiful. 



Hoteia japonica. — This gracefully pretty plant, so very liable to get injured by 

 late frost in spring in most parts of Scotland and northern England, is a very good 

 subject for room and table decoration. It may be very successfully forced, if not 

 hurried too much or started too early. The present is a good time for lifting and 

 potting it, but an early start is desirable, and I would advise lifting early in 

 October, and the genei-al treatment recommended for Lily of the Valley. The 

 soil may be lighter, but equally firm potting is necessary ; and manure of any kind, 

 except liquid manure, is objectionable, causing, when applied to the majority of 

 herbaceous plants that are forced, too much leaf-growth, while the flowers are 

 benefited little or nothing by the application. A little peat, however, is a very 

 good addition to the compost for this plant. I would advise giving this a fort- 

 night of bottom-heat, either in the open air or in a freely-aired pit or frame, 

 before putting it in a higher atmospheric temperature, such as that of a forcing 

 house or pit; and in other respects the treatment should be the same as for Lily 

 of the Valley. W. S. 



MiNTO. 



PRUNIlSrG EARLY VINES FOR A CROP. 



The time is fast approaching when everything connected with our 

 early vinery must be put in readiness for another season's forcing. 

 The usual routine is generally gone through with no doubt a measure 

 of success ; but is it not possible in some instances to make a little 

 deviation from the trodden path to insure with greater certainty a 

 crop of fruit "^ 



Our early vinery, I am sorry to say, is showing the same effects as 

 hundreds have done in various places before it. It has been forced 

 so that the system of the Vines is completely worn out ; and although 

 I believe that it is not impossible for them to be again renewed, it 

 would not pay to do that ; and it is preferable to try the common 



