i873.] 



CALENDAR. 



93 



Beans should now be getting plentiful. 

 Sowings made frequently, keep up 

 regular supplies. When heated pits 

 can be spared for planting them out 

 they do much better, and much labour 

 and annoyance with red-spider is saved. 

 When those in pots are fruiting, they 

 may be well supplied with clear man- 

 ure-water. If surfacing is given, let it 



be rich and open material. Where 

 forcing of vegetables is done under 

 glass, much will be gained by shutting 

 up early, harvesting sun-heat. A con- 

 tinuous close stagnant atmosphere is a 

 great evil. Sow a pinch of Celery ; but 

 uneven temperatures, dryness, or 

 drenchings of cold water, will cause 

 "boltiug"" to seed. M. T. 



FORCING DEPARTMENT. 



Pines. — The earliest-potted suckers 

 of last year should now be examined, 

 and if they are becoming pot-bound 

 take the earliest opportunity of 

 shifting them. If dry, they should 

 be watered five or six days before they 

 are shifted, so that they may be suit- 

 ably moist for shifting. The necessary 

 quantity of soil should also be put 

 in a warm place, to have the chill taken 

 off it before it is required. A calcare- 

 ous turfy loam that has been stored a 

 few months is the best, mixing an 8- 

 inch-potful of bone-meal, and about 

 half that quantity of soot, to every 

 large barrowf id of it. Jf the soil is damp, 

 it shou.ld be spread out thinly in some 

 dry airy place, to get dry before potting 

 with it. Such open soil should be put 

 very firmly into the pots. In turning 

 the plants out of their pots, shake out en- 

 tirely any that may have been standing 

 in a drip and have the soil soured and 

 sloppy. Those too that are much pot- 

 bound should have their roots carefully 

 disentangled, for if potted with a severe- 

 ly-matted ball, they have a tendency to 

 start prematurely into fruit. "When 

 all are potted, plunge them in a light 

 pit near the glass. Keep the night 

 temperature at 60° in cold, and 65" in 

 mild weather, with a bottom-heat of 85°. 

 Avoid crowding them thickly together 

 if possible. Two feet by two is suffici- 

 ently close. Look over later suckers 

 also, and water such as may be getting 

 very dry. By the end of the month 

 raise the temperature for them to 65°, 

 and give air on all favourable occasions, 

 to prevent them from drawing. Early- 

 fruiting Queens that have l>een subject 

 to an increase of temperature for the last 

 month or six weeks, should in most 

 cases be showing fruit by the end of 

 this month. Immediately it is noticed 

 that they have started into fruit, give 

 them a watering with guano-water 

 sufficient to well moisten the whole 

 ball. Some plants may show a disposi- 



tion to grow instead of starting into 

 fruit, and these must be kept rather 

 dry than otherwise, or the chances are 

 that they will continue to grow. When 

 it is clearly manifest that they are go- 

 ing to miss fruiting, there is no better 

 way of dealing with them than to cut 

 them over at the surface of the soil 

 and repot them. This seldom fails to 

 cause them to fruit. After they are 

 started, and it is desirable to push them 

 on to succeed as closely as possible the 

 latest fruit, the night temperature may 

 range to 75°, especially if coverings 

 can be applied to the glass at night. 

 Shut up early, so as to make the most of 

 sun-heat. Do not much increase at- 

 mospheric moisture till the fruit are 

 bloomed off. At the same time, do not 

 allow the atmosphere to be j)archingly 

 dry. Range the bottom-heat from 85° 

 to 90°. Any plants that have started 

 in October and November, and that have 

 been properly attended to, may now be 

 pushed on to ripen at a time when 

 Pines are scarce and much appreciated. 

 Succession fruiting plants intended to 

 be started in March and Aj^ril should 

 still be kept quiet and rather dry at 

 the root. Suckers potted in the dead 

 of winter may now be subject to more 

 heat and moisture, giving air on every 

 tine day in the forenoon. 



Vines. — Where one or two vineries 

 have been started, another may be 

 started about the middle or end of 

 the month, according to circumstances. 

 See former directions as to tem- 

 perature, &c., connected with start- 

 ing them. The temperature may now, 

 however, range 5° higlier than in the 

 case of those starte 1 in December. 

 Prime and otherwise ])repare the late 

 Vines for starting immediately the 

 fruit is all cut from them. Where 

 Grapes are still hanging, continue to 

 look over them at least twice a-week, 

 and remove every sign of decay or 

 mouldiness. Continue to air these on 



