I873-] 



CALENDAR. 



573 



Ehubarb, and place them under warmth 

 in the dark to force and blanch. When 

 they are kept in an ont-of-the-way spot, 

 the old system of covering them on the 

 ground with pots or boxes, thickly 

 coated with manure and leaves, answers 

 well. This should be beside the man- 

 ure heap, where Vineries, Peachhouses, 

 or other structures, are at work, and 

 heated from 55° and upwards answers 

 admirably. For JRhubarb, under the 

 stages of stoves and forcing-pits are 

 capital positions ; and in towns where 

 no gardens exist, good Rhubarb is often 

 grown in boxes placed in sculleries, &c. 

 Hard driving with heat at this season 

 does much mischief, and sacrifices the 

 finest qualities of the crop. Tomatoes 

 in pots require similar treatment to 

 potatoes. Keep them thin, and allow 

 plenty of air ; stop the shoots above the 

 fruit. Those which have given us sup- 

 plies since May are again started into 

 free growth, and fruiting abundantly. 

 They are on the back of melon pits, 

 rooting through the bottoms of the pots 

 into the melon soil. Autumn-sown ! 

 plants are now in fruit on back of an 

 early peachhouse now closed, andstrings 

 of those from outside hung up in warm 

 dry sheds, &c., are ripening; but the 

 disease met with in so many places is 

 doing some damages here also. Mush- 

 rooms are generally abundant at this 

 season ; but they are often said to be 

 a "mysterious" crop. A friend visit- 

 ing us the other day, said he never in 



his experience failed with Mushrooms. 

 We regretted that we could not say the 

 same, as we had failed at times under 

 the best attention, and at other times 

 had superabundance, when no atten- 

 tion whatever was given, and the latter 

 is our experience at present. Horse- 

 manure, neither wet nor dry, and full of 

 ammonia, mild warmth, soft healthy 

 loam for covering the beds, and, above 

 all, good spawn, which has not run in 

 the cakes, may be said to be the sum and 

 substance of some of the volumes writ- 

 ten by some of our most successful 

 mushroom-growers. Where they are 

 grown on ridges of manure, shaped like 

 long potato pits in the open ground, 

 they should be kept dry, if possible ; and 

 boarded covers are usefvil for this pur- 

 pose, placing them over the litter. 

 The success of some market men by 

 these simple means is astounding. 

 Keep up salad by frequent sowings ; 

 but Miistard and Cress should not be 

 kept close and warm after it has grown 

 a little. Get all operations advanced 

 which are likelj'' to help labour in the 

 busy season. Box edgings may be re- 

 newed, and walks repaired when weather 

 will allow. The herb ground may be 

 trimmed and put in order, and the 

 usual herbs may be lifted under pro- 

 tection and for forcing. Mint, Tarra- 

 gon, Sorrel, and Fennel, are generally 

 what are used in a green state, and 

 kept growing in a mild warmth. 



M. T. 



FORCING DEPARTMENT. 



Pines. — To have a good many ripe 

 Queens in May and the early part of 

 June is a desideratum with most 

 Pine-growers, and means must now 

 be taken to secure them. Look over 

 the stock of the earliest Queens and 

 select the required number of those 

 most likely to start without making 

 much growth, and plunge them about 

 the middle of this month in a bottom- 

 heat of 85° to 90°, with a night tem- 

 perature of 65°. Let them have as 

 much light as possible by placing 

 them near the clearest glass that can 

 be devoted to them. If very dry, 

 water them with tepid weak guano- 

 water, but do not keep them over- 

 moist at the root, or the tendency — 

 where such exists — to their growing 

 on instead of starting into fruit will 

 be encouraged. Eather keep the air 

 more moist, with less water at the 



root, until it can be clearly seen that 

 the fruit is coming. Last autumn has, 

 in many places, been most unfavour- 

 able for producing plants that are 

 likely to fruit thus early without 

 much trouble, and too much moisture 

 now will increase the evil. Plants in- 

 tended to start at this season should 

 be under instead of over potted, and 

 grown with a minimum of water at 

 the root. Keep the remainder of the 

 stock of Queens intended to form a 

 succession to those just referred to 

 quiet for the present. 55° at night is 

 heat enough to keep them in good con- 

 dition. Any suckers that are ready 

 to pot on Smooth Cayennes and Char- 

 lotte Eothschild, and other winter fruit- 

 ing sorts, and from which ripe fruit is 

 now being cut, should be potted in 6 

 and 7 inch pots, and ])lunged in a 

 bottom-heat of 85° to W\ kept near 



