74 



THE WHITE BELLEFLEUR APPLE. 



growth in the house as not ; for it is not 

 desirable to expose them too much, nor do 

 the lovers of plants like to see the green- 

 house empty. 



As camellias and azaleas, cactuses, epi- 

 phyllums,and many other subjects are turn- 

 ed out to harden their growth and get the 

 benefit of air in summer, the green-house 

 may be supplied with annuals. Balsams, 

 cockscombs, clintonia, salpiglossis, rho- 

 danthe, and other tender annuals, may be 

 sown in a hot-bed in March or April; and, 

 although they require particular treatment 

 for large specimens, may be planted out in 

 pots and grown still in the hot-bed, until the 

 time they are wanted to supply the shelves 

 of the greenhouse. 



In August, everything ought to be cleared 

 out, and the roof of the green-house should 

 be well syringed ; all the dirt washed from 

 the glass, the walls, posts, shelves, and eve- 

 ry part. Cleanliness is everything with 

 plants ; and the house should be thorough- 

 ly clean before the plants are put in for the 

 winter. Nor is it at all a bad precaution 

 during the period that it is empty, and be- 

 fore the syringing, to fumigate it well with 

 tobacco, and afterwards with sulphur. The 

 one will kill everything upwards, the other 

 anything downwards. The syringing should 

 be done with such force as to drive every- 

 thing out of the corners. 



When the plants are taken into the green- 

 house, let the surface of the earth be stir- 

 red, the pots cleared from anything that they 

 may have attained in the way of dirt, snails 

 or vermin, or anything that will cling to the 

 outside or in the holes at the bottom. 



Let the paths and floor of a green-house 



be kept dry and clean : it ought to be a 

 paved floor or a concrete, or some other im- 

 pervious to wet; and provision should be 

 made for the running off of all the water 

 that may fall to the ground ; for if the 

 ground absorbs wet it too often engenders 

 mildew. 



Plants should never be trusted to the open 

 air before the middle of May, nor remain 

 out after the middle of September. All 

 before or after this is running a considera- 

 ble risk. 



Grapes may be grown in a green-house, 

 if the growth be confined to a branch for 

 each rafter to fruit, and the shoot which is 

 trained alongside of it for the next year's 

 bearing. This does not materially exclude 

 light, but any more would be injurious ; 

 and even this must not be attempted if the 

 shelves are to be filled after the present 

 crowded fashion, in which the plants touch 

 each other and form a complete shade for the 

 backs of the whole. The Sweetwater and 

 Black Hamburgh are the only sorts which 

 should be tried. 



Hot-water pipes are the best means of 

 warming a green-house in winter-time, but 

 better avoid lighting a fire as long as pos- 

 sible. Mats hung up in front are a great 

 protection to the plants, and that is always 

 the coolest part of the house ; [shutters are 

 still better;] but when the glass is down to 

 thirty-five, there may always be expected a 

 frost in the night, or at least it should be 

 provided against. The man who looks af- 

 ter the fires should be on the alert, and the 

 mats in front should always be hung up in 

 doubtful weather, because it is little trouble, 

 and does no harm to the plants. 



THE WHITE BELLEFLEUR APPLE. 



BY A. II. ERNST, CINCINNATI, OHIO. 



Dear Sir — Pomological investigation seems 

 just now to be an absorbing subject with 

 horticulturists. "With a view to throw in 

 my mite, and aid in removing some of the 

 stumbling blocks. Permit me to give you 

 the result of my inquiry concerning the 



apple which has here been cultivated as 

 the Detroit, and which is extensively known 

 as the White Bellefleur. My attention 

 was aroused to this fruit more than twenty 

 years since. I traced its supposed intro- 

 duction here to be from Detroit, and hence 



