1876.] 



AND HORTICULTURTST. 



fREEN tHOUSE AND tEOUSE GARDENING. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Many of our readere have only a few window 

 plants. These are often kept too warm, too wet, 

 have too little sunlight, and have too many in- 

 sects. In towns, in addition to all these, they 

 have often too much of the fumes of burning gas. 

 Leaks or escapes from the gas pipe are well- 

 known to be an injury to plants, but it is not so w^ell 

 known that plants suffer,. though in a less degree, 

 from the common burning of coal gas. The trou- 

 ble with most room cultivators is to know when 

 plants get too much attention. Too many insects 

 are easily known, one — a single one — is by far too 

 many. We still think there is nothing like coal 

 oil to destroy all kinds of insects. A very little, 

 just enough to make a colored scum on the sur- 

 face of a tub of water, is sufficient, and in this the 

 insect covered plant may be dipped, inverting the 

 pot and plunging only the plant, and not the pot 

 of course. If too much oil is used the plant may 

 be injured. Too wet, is when a plant seldom gets 

 dry — a healthy plant should get drj-, and have 

 light dry looking surface soil, every too or three 

 days. As to heat, a temperature of about 55° or 

 60° is best for room plants ; below that they do not 

 flower freely ; above they grow weak, especially if 

 they have not a great deal of sunlight. Indeed 

 heat should be in proportion to direct sunlight 

 on the plants. 



Roses, when they are forced, do much better 

 when the pots are plunged in some damp mate- 

 rial. When no better plan offers, they may be 

 eet inside of a large pot, with moss betw^een the 

 space around. All plants that come into flower 

 through winter should have those positions af- 

 forded them that have the most sunlight, espe- 

 cially the early morning light. 



Ferneries are now so deservedly popular, that 

 we must have a word to say for them at times, 

 though their management is so simple, there is 

 Kttle one can say. It is probably their ease of 

 management, and the great results obtained for 

 the little outlay of care, that has rendered them 

 so popular. It should not, however, be forgotten 

 that the cases in which they are enclosed are not 



to keep out the air, but to keep in the moisture, 

 as ferns will not thrive in the dry atmosphere of 

 heated rooms. A few minutes airing every day 

 will, therefore, be of great benefit to them. De- 

 cayed wood (not pine), mixed with about half its 

 bulk of fibrous soil of any kind, and a very small 

 proportion (say a tenth of the bulk) of well-rotted 

 stable-manure, makes a good compost Most 

 kinds particularly like well-drained pots. This 

 is usually effected by filling a third of the pots 

 in which the ferns are to grow with old pots 

 broken in pieces of about half an inch square, 

 on which a thin layer of moss is placed, before 

 filling the pots, to keep out the soil from choking 

 the drainage. 



Many very pretty ferneries are made up en- 

 tirely of native ferns, some species of w^hich are 

 within the reach of every one. Of the exotic 

 ones, however, that are now general in most 

 flori.sts' establishments, and are remarkable for 

 their elegance and beauty, we may name, 

 Selaginellas (formerly Lycopodiums) S. stoloni- 

 fera, S. densa. S. Mertensii, S. denticulata, S. 

 cordifolia, S. flabellaris ; Adiantum concinnum, 

 A. pubescens, A. cuneatum ; Pteris longifolia, P. 

 serrulata, P. hastata; Polypodium Sieboldii, P 

 glaucum ; Doodia caudata, Gymnagramma chry- 

 sophylla, Platyloma rotundifoha, Nothoclsena 

 nivea, Pteris geraniifolia, Hemionites palmata. 

 This will form a good and easily obtained collec- 

 tion to commence with. Ferns are easily raised 

 from seed. Shallow pans of very sandy soil 

 should be procured and filled within an inch of 

 the rim. The seed, which is obtained from the 

 brown lines or spots (called by botanists, Spor- 

 angia) on the under surface of most mature 

 fronds, should be sown on the surface of the soil, 

 well watered with a very fine rose, window-glass 

 placed closely over the pans, to keep in the 

 moisture and keep out small insects, and the pans 

 themselves set in a heat of about 50°, when the 

 spores will germinate in about two months. 



Where the air is dry, if in rooms or greenhouses, 

 frequent syringings are of much benefit to plants. 

 Besides, cleanliness keeps down insects and 

 checks disease in plants as in animals. Most old- 



