506 THE GARDENER. [Nov. 



but they should not be exi3osed to sudden changes or to frosty winds. 

 They will bear a good deal of cold after they have been hardened off, 

 and be none the worse for it ; but the hardening must be gradual, not 

 done by fits and starts. The middle or end of May is as early as they 

 should be planted out. This process may be gone through every 

 season if large numbers of plants are required ; but if only a few plants 

 of large size are wanted, it is better to lift as many roots as may be 

 wanted, and a few over to cover casualties in the autumn, and store 

 them away in dry earth or sand, where they can be preserved from 

 frost and wet. These may be brought out and potted in March or early 

 in April, and will make rapid progress. The soil in which they are 

 to be potted should be loam and well-decomposed manure, with sand 

 enough to make the whole porous. Give water sparingly till the 

 plants start growing, after which they will want copious supplies of it. 

 A good growing temperature of 60° or 65° should be kept up till the 

 plants have attained a considerable size, when they may be inured to 

 a cooler atmosphere. Seeds ripen freely wherever the plant does well 

 and flowers early enough, and as much should be saved as may be 

 requisite for stock. A deep soil well manured, in a spot with a sunny 

 aspect, is best adapted to grow Marvel of Peru in. 



W. S. 



FAILURE OF PEACH CROPS IN UNHEATED HOUSES. 



Several cases of the failure of Peach crops in unheated houses have 

 come under our notice this season. Considering the very sunless sum- 

 mer, and especially autumn, of 1872, in a great many districts such 

 a failure is just what might have been predicted ; and any gardener 

 who had it not in his power to apply artificial heat to his Peach-trees 

 in the October of 1872, cannot reasonably be blamed for the want 

 of fruit this year. Under such circumstances, the fruit-buds never 

 get properly developed, nor the wood ripened. The foliage clung 

 to the trees unnaturally late ; and when the time of blossoming 

 arrived, not only were the blooms and their sexual organs weak, but 

 the whole trees were in such a condition that the blooms were thrown 

 entirely off before they set. This result is none the less likely 

 to occur to Peaches in spring, on account of their being enclosed in a 

 glass case, but the reverse. Hence in some cases there were outdoor 

 crops, while in unheated cases there were none or next to none. 

 Trees under glass are, from the effects of bright suns, more hkely to be 

 excited at a pace which outdoor trees are not subject to ; and the more 

 violent the flow of sap, the wood-buds are more likely to take the 

 flow and start into growth, while as a consequence, and at the same 



