1879. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



261 



Green House and House Gardening. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Those who have greenhouses, pits or frames, 

 will now see to having any necessary repairs at- 

 tended to. Whitewashing annually is service- 1 

 able, destroying innumerable eggs of insects, in 

 the war against which the gardener should 

 always take the initiative ; sulphur mixed with 

 the whitevvash is also serviceable. Powerful 

 syringing is a great help to keeping plants clean, 

 and should be frequently resorted to. Those 

 who continually use the syringe, and are watch- i 

 ful for the first appearances of insects, are sel- j 

 dom on the search for remedies. It is so with 

 window as with greenhouse plants. The one 

 who looks at each plant every day, turns up 

 the leaves and examines them, and watches for ^ 

 the first abnormal appearances to trace out the 

 matter, almost always has healthy plants. Often 

 plants in these situations cannot well be syringed, 

 but a sponge is a very good substitute. 



This is the most active season for striking cut- 

 tings with the view to have plants for next Spring. 

 It is not among the least signs of advancement 

 that striking cuttings is now a very simple oper- 

 ation, when once it was one of the great mys- 

 teries in the art of gardening. We were told to 

 be very careful about watering, but now we find 

 that if the cutting is properly selected and the 

 temperature just right, the more water the bet- 

 ter. Indeed saucers without any holes, so that 

 when watered the sand in them is like mud, are 

 found to be among the best of all propagating 

 pans, and the little patent devices, or curiously 

 constructed pots for propagating, which in the 

 past were among the most important outfits of 

 a new beginner's attempts at gardening, are 

 now found cracked or rusting in some old shed. 

 But even with the simplification of this cutting 

 business some art must be used. Indeed it re- 

 quires experience to succeed well. The very 

 soft wood will perhaps rot, and so will the very 

 hard wood ; and then the position may be too 

 hot or too cool. Generally a half ripe cutting 

 put into a pot or box of sand, put right in the 

 full sun, and kept copiously and continuously 

 wet, will rot in a few days. Those who try it 

 for the first time may fail either wholly or in 



part ; but if they are observing they will soon 

 trace the cause of failure, and have better luck 

 next time. 



It is a very good time to look around for soil 

 for potting purposes. The surface soil of an old 

 pasture forms the best basis, which can be after- 

 wards lightened with sand, or manured with any 

 special ingredients to suit special cases, as re- 

 quired. The turfy or peaty surfaces of old wood 

 or bogs also come very " handy." A stock of 

 moss should also be on hand for those who 

 crock pots, in order to cover the potsherd; moss 

 also comes in useful for many purposes con- 

 nected with gardening, and should be always on 

 hand. 



People not in the secret are often puzzled over 

 the terms used by gardeners in potting. Soil 

 they regard as the earth— earth of any kind that 

 is ready to receive the plant or seed. A heavy 

 soil is that in which clay preponderates over 

 sand. A sandy soil is that in which sand is 

 abundant with the clay. Loam bothers some 

 people — generally it is used as the equivalent of 

 " soil," writers often using " sandy loam " when 

 they might just as well say " sandy soil." But 

 strictly it is the upper surface of clay land which 

 has become black by contact with the air and 

 culture. A loamy soil would be understood as 

 a rather heavy earth lightened by culture. 



Plants intended to be taken from the open 

 ground and preserved through the Winter should 

 be lifted early, that they may root a little in the 

 pots. A moist day is of course best for the pur- 

 pose, and a moist shady place the best to keep 

 them in for a few days afterwards. Anything 

 that is somewhat tender had better be housed 

 before the cold nights come. Some things are 

 checked without actual frost. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



NOTES ON PALMS. 



BY F. AV. POPPEY. 



Now that palms have been found not to re- 

 quire such a high skill to grow them, nor that 

 all need be supplied with so much artificial heat, 

 as some natives of the hottest parts of the 



