9i 



THE GARDENER. 



[Feb. 



allowed to p;row three or four joints be- 

 yond the bunch, or till they meet the 

 shoots from their neighbour rods right 

 and left. Start succession vineries in 

 the manner directed in January, and 

 see that all Vines now started have their 

 roots, if outside, properly protected 

 from heavy falls of snow and rain, if 

 not covered with litter and leaves to 

 try and warm them. We thiuk this 

 old-fashioned practice is perhaps at- 

 tended with more good and less evil 

 than some have recently saddled it 

 with. It may perhaps not throw much 

 heat into the border, but if put on 

 sufficiently early in autumn it prevents 

 at least the escape of heat and throws 

 off rains, while, if the surface of the 

 border be first loosened and dressed 

 with 2 or 3 inches of open soil, 

 such a warm covering has a tendency 

 to entice the roots nearer the top, 

 which is desirable. Put Vine-eyes into 

 heat, and start them gradually, as in 

 the case of Vines themselves. 



Peaches. — Still continue to force 

 with caution if the weather be cold. 

 Do not much exceed the temperature 

 recommended last month for the vari- 

 ous stages. Gently syringe with tepid 

 water when the fruit is set, giving a 

 vigorous syringing or two to free those 

 just set from their old blooms. Pay 

 particular attention to inside borders, 

 and see that they do not become too 

 dry ; and except in the case of young 

 vigorous trees, manure-water may be 

 given to them after the fruit is formed. 

 Trees in bloom that require a circula- 

 tion of dry air must at the same time 

 be so ventilated as to prevent strong 

 currents of frosty air, which so fre- 

 quently prevail at this season, and which 

 are fatal to the fructifying organs, and 

 injurious to the tender young leaves. 

 Where there is a great superabundance 

 of young fruit formed, thin off a por- 

 tion of the smallest regularly all over 

 the trees ; but let this be done by de- 

 grees, leaving the final thinning till the 

 fruit stones and all danger of its drop- 

 ping off" is over. Prune late houses, 

 and in doing so avoid leaving too much 

 wood to crowd the trees and render 

 fine mature growths for next year more 

 uncertain. Dress them over with a 

 mixture of sulphur, cow-manure, soot, 

 and a little soft soap, especially on soils 

 that are productive of red -spider — 

 namely, dry gravelly soil. Complete 

 the planting of young trees as soon as 

 possible now ; and in cutting young 



trees back avoid the too-common prac- 

 tice of cutting "hard back," which 

 simf)ly retards the trees for twelve 

 months at least. It is best to cut back 

 no further than to mature wood, and 

 to regulate and balance the growths by 

 summer pinching and disbudding where 

 such are required. Disbud and pinch 

 forward trees as soon as the growths 

 are an inch or two long, and do it by 

 degrees instead of all at once. 



Orchard- House. — The inmates of 

 this structure will have been kept dry 

 at the root throughout the late severe 

 weather, and their pots protected at 

 the same time from severe frost by being 

 plunged or covered with some dry lit- 

 ter. In those days of cheap boilers and 

 cement jointings the expense of keeping 

 frost from such structures is trifling, 

 while many ends are gained by hav- 

 ing them heated in winter, and all risks 

 of injured blossoms by sudden severe 

 frosts further on in the season avoided. 

 The trees in winter can be stowed away 

 closely at one end of the house, and 

 flower-garden plants wintered in the 

 rest of it ; or it may be used for winter- 

 ing Lettuce, &c. The trees should 

 early in February be topdressed with a 

 mixture of loam and horse-droppings in 

 equal proportions, and be plunged in the 

 positions in which they are to stand for 

 the season, giving all that are dry suffi- 

 cient water to moisten their balls. In 

 plunging them see that the bottoms of 

 the pots stand so that water can freely 

 escape from them. Apricots, Pears, 

 Peaches, &c. &c., will soon be on the 

 move if the weather be mild ; and 

 where it is desirable to force them 

 gently, let it be very gently, for the 

 present, simply applying heat to keep 

 the temperature from falling below 4.5°. 

 In unheated houses it is best to keep 

 the trees back in most localities, for if 

 brought early into bloom the danger 

 from severe late frosts can never be left 

 out of the count ; hence it is desirable 

 to heat. 



Figs. — Continue to put last month's 

 directions in force ; increasing the heat 

 a few degrees as the plants begin to 

 break freely into growth, and increase 

 the moisture in the air as light and heat 

 increase. Look well to the regular sup- 

 ply of water at the root, and keep the 

 bottom-heat steady at 80°. 



Strawberries. — In some instances 

 fruit may be sufiBciently early to be 

 colouring by the end of the month, in 

 which cases it is necessary to keep a dry 



