40 



THE UAiiDENElVS AlUJ^TULY 



[ February, 



■REEN Mouse and Mouse &rdening. 



SEA SO A'.-l II L E II I A 7 X 



This is tht' jscasoii when ninny things will re- 

 quire re-potting. Many have a set time and 

 season to do this; hut some things require re- 

 potting at various seasons. The best time is just 

 before they are about to make a new growth. 

 Camellias, Azaleas, and many plants, for in- 

 stance, start at this season. It is not necessary 

 to re-pot so often as some think, especially if 

 bloom, and not very large specimens, is chiefly 

 wanted. If the pot is very full of roots, and the 

 plant growing weak, it may need re-potting. 



In potting, see that some provision is made 

 for allowing the water readily to escape, by put- 

 ting broken crocks over the hole. Use soil 

 rather dry, and ram it firmly about the old ball. 

 Prefer pots only a little larger, to very large 

 shifts, as less liable to accidents. Trim the 

 plants in a little, if unshapely, to encourage the 

 new growth where wanted. 



Many who have but small houses and wish to 

 have a variety, are troubled with valued plants 

 becoming too large. To keep them low, as soon 

 as the plant has matured its growth, cut it down 

 as low as may be desired. As soon as it shows 

 signs of breaking forth into a new growth, turn 

 it out of the pot; shake or tear away the old 

 ball of roots, and put it into as small a pot as it 

 can be got into; and when it grows again, 

 and fills the pot with roots, re-pot again as 

 before. 



Sometimes the plants get "sick," which is 

 known by luihealthy, yellow leaves. This is 

 usually by over-watering, generating a gas, or. 

 as gardeners term it, a "sourness," destructive 

 to the roots. The remedy is to cut the plant 

 back a little, shake out the soil, and put? the 

 plant in a small pot with new soil, and place the 

 plant in a house only moderately warm, and 

 which is naturally moist — so that the plant can 

 live for a while without requiring much water. 

 It will generally recover. 



Every one interested in plant growing must 

 be continually on the watch for small insects, 

 which destroy more })lants than manj' are aware 

 of. The little Black Thrip is very troublesome to 



Azaleas; the green fly to all scjft-wooded plants; 

 the scale to Camellias, Oleanders, Cactuses ; and 

 the mealy hug to almost all hot house plants. 

 Continual syringings with warm, greasy water, in 

 which sulphur has been mixed, is the best rem- 

 edy. Tobacco smoke is still the most ajiproved 

 mode of destroying green fiy and thrip. 



In window culture tobacco smoke cainiot very 

 well be used in rooms, but plants may be put under 

 a tub few at at^e, and by the help of fumigators, 

 now common in most florists' stores, the smoke 

 may be injected. Some plants are injured by 

 too heavy doses of smoke. It is better to give a 

 light dose on two successive niglits. Whenever 

 fine, warm days occur, the plants, if insect-cov- 

 ered, may be taken out of the windows, laid on 

 their sides on the grass, and thoroughly 

 syringed. 



Plants in hanging baskets often suffer from 

 too much water if in glazed or earthen ware, or 

 from too little, if the basket be of wire, or some 

 other open material. There is nothing more 

 difficult than to tell to another how or when to 

 water plants. It is a matter that can only be 

 well learned by experience. We are often asked 

 for a list of good basket plants. In this part of 

 the world almost anything that will grow in a 

 greenhouse is made to do service in baskets. 

 Those we most commonly meet with now-a-days 

 are Othonna crassifolia, Ivy-leaf Geranium, vari- 

 ous varieties of evergreen Ivy, Begonias in nu- 

 merous varieties; Ice-plants, especially Mesem- 

 bryanthemum crystallinum, M. cordifolium, 

 and M. spectabile, Abutilon vexillarium pictum, 

 Acorns gramineus, Duranta Baumgartneri, 

 Cuphea platycentra. Cineraria maritima, Cen- 

 taurea gymnocarpa and ragusina; various dwarf 

 Palms, such as Palmettos, Cereus speciosissimus, 

 C. fiagelliformis and C. Jenkinsonii, Ficus stipu- 

 lata, Gelsemium nitidum (advertised in our 

 last by Mr. Barker), Muhlenbeckia complanata 

 and platyphylla, Mahernia odorata, Kcnilworth 

 Ivy, Money-wort, Wandering saxifrage, Sweet 

 Alyssum, Mignonette, Petunias, Lobelia, Helio- 

 trope, Reineckia carnea, Rondoletia anomale, 

 Peristrophe angustifolia, Pilea muscosa, Pepero- 

 mia maculosa, Nierembergia gracilis, Oxalis 



