iSgs. 



GARDENING. 



151 



THE WHITE-FLOWERED CATTLEYA TRIAN^ 



tieya culture than a free circulation oiVr'inches or over across the tops, growing 



moist air through the potting material. 

 In and around the hot water pipes there 

 should be only a mild circulation of heat; 

 plenty of hot water pipes sufficient to 

 warm house to 60° to 65° without forcing 

 the boiler and super heating the pipes is 

 ver\- important. Overheated pipes is a 

 great bane to orchid culture and should 

 at all times be guarded against. .\ sure 

 way of propagating insect pests is to 

 keep up a high dry temperature, and too 

 it is a sure wav of enervating good 

 healthy orchid stock. Better let the tem- 

 perature drop a little c 

 than to rush the fires 

 up. 

 rtica, X, V. 



Greenhouse and Window. 



flZflLEflS. 



W. 0. C, Chillicothe, Mo., writes: I 

 have three plants of azaleas eighteen 



n these cool nights 

 unduly to keep it 

 Wm. M.vthews. 



in 6-inch pots. I know they need repot- 

 ting, but always having heard that they 

 are particular as to the soil used, I am 

 afraid to make the venture. Please advise 

 me on this point, also on summer treat- 

 ment after blooming. I keep them in a 

 pit during winter, where they have 

 always formed their buds nicely and 

 bloomed well for the past three years, 

 but after blooming proftisely last spring 

 they seemed perfectly exhausted and failed 

 to regain anj' vigor since. Would a liquid 

 fertilizer be of any benefit to this spring's 

 bloom? 



The azaleas are pot-bound: by the size 

 of head given an 8-inch pot would not be 

 too large. The present pot must be full 

 of roots and it would almost be impossi- 

 ble to give it water enough in the living 

 room for the plant to develop its flowers 

 near their natural size. Give the plant a 

 shift, using any good garden soil with 

 say one-third partof leaf mould and sand 

 added, not forgetting to crock the pot 



properly for drainage. Don't use liquid 

 manure. I set all of my azaleas out of 

 doors in summereither plunged orplanted 

 in the ground. On account of your 

 warmer and drier summers a little shade 

 as given by a high lath shade will benefit 

 them. ' Iames Dean. 



Bay Ridge, N. Y. 



TflE GREENflOUSB. 



("ircenhouse plants may be divided into 

 I wo sets, namely, sun-loving and shade- 

 loving plants, and each of these again 

 into cool house and hot house plants. 

 Some ijeople are fortunatcenoughtohave 

 n separate greenhouse for each set, or one 

 large greenhouse divided into several 

 compartments; one for each lot. But in 

 an ordinary greenhouse run at an inter- 

 mediate temperature we can so manipu- 

 late our plants as to find fairly good and 

 suitable places for all of them; keep the 

 heat loving plants at the end next the 

 lioilcr, the cool plants at the distant one. 



I hose that love the sunshine to the south 

 side, and those that love shade at the 

 north side or in some other part of the 

 house that is artificially shaded for them. 



Roses, carnations, geraniums, fuchsias, 

 camellias, azaleas, genistas like sunshine; 

 licgonias, Chinese and obconica prim- 

 roses, calceolarias, cinerarias a thin shade; 

 palms, marantas, dracjenas, ferns, an- 

 thuriums a thicker shade. But a cool 

 temperature often takes the place of shade. 



Po-rriNG TiiE Plants.— Examine all the 

 permanent plants as crotons, dracanas, 

 marantas, palms, screw pines and ixoras, 

 and if they need repotting attend to it. 



I I is well to get as much of this sort of 

 w ork done now as possible, because re- 

 newed active growth will soon begin. 



III potting use clean washed pots, drain 

 tlicm well, covering the drainage with 

 moss, half rotted leaves or fibrous turf 

 to keep the soil from dropping down 

 among the crocks. Shake or pick away 

 considerable of the old soil from the 

 [ilants, so as to get the ball of roots com- 

 fortably into one size larger pots. Pot 

 firmly from the bottom up. but don't fill 

 the pots ven,- full of earth, leave plenty 

 room for water. After potting water 

 moderately from a water pot rose, but 

 after that while j-ou should keep the soil 

 f:\irlv moist all the time, particularly 

 avoid soaking it. 



Watering.— All well rooted or pot- 

 bound plants should bewatered liberally; 

 newly potted ones more sparingly. In 

 the morning or early in the forenoon every 

 fineday fine foliaged plants should besyr- 

 inged overhead. Azaleas not in bloom, 

 genistas and other cool house plants are 

 benefited by frequent syringings provided 

 it is done early enough to let the plants 

 get quite dry overhead before night. 



Cleaning the Plants— Greenfly and 

 thrios are easily subdued by tobacco 

 smoke. If the tobacco is old or long ex- 

 posed to the weather it loses its strength; 

 get some fresh stems and keep them shut 

 up in a closet or room to preserve their 

 freshness. But tobacco is useless in the 

 case of mealy bugs, scale and red spider. 

 They should be rubbed or washed off" with 

 a small brush and sponge. There are lots 

 of insecticides, but use them experiment- 

 allv onlv till you become accustomed to 

 them, if the plants are got thoroughly 

 cleaned now and freely hosed or syringed 

 after this we are likely to keep them clean 

 easily all summer. 



Sow SEEDS of gloxinias; plants raised 

 now will bloom in summer. Also sow 

 seeds of cyclamen if not already done, and 

 keep the young plants growing alljsum- 

 mer. We also like to sow our Jerusalem 



