February 18, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



205 



Fruit and Vegetables Under-Glass 



LATE HOUSES 



All jjruning, cleaning, top dressing, etc., should be 

 pushed along now and completed before the end of the 

 month, so that all houses shall be finished before the 

 buds commence to swell. All houses should have a 

 thorough wash down — glass, woodwork, walls, etc. ; this 

 is the first step towards eradicating last year's pest,?. 

 Eemove any loose bark from vine rods and give one or 

 two washings with Gishurst's Compound. The main 

 stems of peach trees can also be washed and the trees 

 sprayed over with X. L. ALL, or Aphine, or other ap- 

 proved insecticide if red spider or other pests were trou- 

 blesome last year. 



Houses intended for late work should be kept as cool 

 as possible. Keep a night temperature of 35 to 38 de- 

 grees and give all the air possible tlirough the day after 

 40 degrees has been reached. Peach and nectarine 

 trees should be tied in before the buds commence to swell 

 ur they will be easily broken oil'. 



TOMATOES 



Tomatoes sown the first of the year will now be root- 

 ing through the soil in the benches. If the latter were 

 only half filled a little top dressing will be beneficial 

 gi\'iiig just enough soil to cover the roots. Feeding 

 should be withheld for a time. Wait until the plants 

 have four or live trusses of fruit set, with the first one 

 half grown. Keep a drier atmosphere about noon and 

 gi\e the plants a sharp shake to distribute the pollen. 

 Any showing a shyness to set should be fertilized with a 

 soft hair brush or piece of fur. Eemove all side shoots 

 when tying. Do not syringe the plants overhead ; suf- 

 ficient moisture can be maintained by damping the 

 walks, walls, etc., two or three times a day, according to 

 the atmospheric conditions outside. 



MUSHROOMS 



Beds made up last fall will now be running out and 

 can be replenished by making up new beds at once. A 

 quantity of manure should be got together as quickly as 

 possible from the stables and placed in a shed or cellar 

 where it will have a chance to dry and also to keep it 

 from the frost. If it is allowed to freeze the aramoni- 

 atod properties are impaired. By getting manure to- 

 gether quickly it is nearly the same age and prepares 

 with a more even tenor than if only a little is got each 

 day. Another point to be guarded against is getting 

 manure from any stable where horses have been having 

 plnsic. Certain chemicals are imparted to such manure 

 which is detrimental to the growth of the mycelium. 

 Beds have proved a failure, and the fault has been laid 

 to bad spawn or other defects in their culture, but, were 

 the truth known, this bad manure has caused all the 

 trouble. 



^Vhen a sufficient quantity of manure has been secured 

 turn it twice a day and pick out most of the long straw 

 until it heats to an even temperature each day and has 

 become sjightly dryer. Make the beds up by ramming 

 tlie manure quite firm into the benches. The harder the 

 manure is made the better it is, for a loose bed never 

 retains its heat as it should. Spawn, when the heat is 

 on the decline, at 75 degrees to 80 degrees and cover 

 over with an inch of virgin loam a week or ten days 

 later when the bed has dropped to 70. Watch that the 

 bed does not rise again over 80 degrees after spawning 

 or the tender mycelium will be injured. Keep an at- 

 mospheric temperature of 50 to 55 degrees. Damp the 



walls, floors and surface of the beds to keep the latter 

 from drying out. 



There is much that is edifying as well as interesting, 

 which has appeared in Horticulture in the letters by 

 ilr. FaiTell and later by Mr. Orpet and my experience 

 has taught me that what has been said by these gentle- 

 men is correct. I should like to endorse Mr. Orpet's 

 statement wherein he says "Many people think that all 

 we have to do is to 'now' the seed" and the rest follows. 

 I would like to add a rider — there is nothing so uncer- 

 tain as a mushroom bed. Even bread is more cer- 

 tain to raise than mushrooms. The one thing that is 

 sure is plenty of hard work. As I have written before 

 the whole secret is in the curing of the manure and here 

 is another point — temperature at spawning. In previous 

 notes I have advocated spawning when the heat is declin- 

 ing from 80 to 75. This I consider the best and safest 

 temperature but looking back to when I was a beginner, 

 I can well remember an old kitchen garden hand who 

 had been raising mushrooms for years and may still be 

 doing so who always waited until his bed had receded to 

 65 to (JO and he I'aised more mushrooms from one bed 

 than it lias fallen to my lot to see since. I watched all 

 the preparations and, conversing with him on the subject, 

 he told me that tlicy might take a week or so longer to 

 come, but tliat when oiiee here the mycelium had come 

 to stay. Theie was much in what he said and it serves 

 to demonstrate the lasting aliilities of a bed when grow- 

 ing cool. 



Speaking of tenqieiatures again,. I once saw mush- 

 rooms grown very successfully in a disused mansion- 

 house cellar, having no heat whatever. This naturally 

 was cool in the summer and the bed kept on bearing 

 until the temperature dropped to 40 degrees but the best 

 results were obtained with the temperatui-e about 50. 



PARSLEY 



Parsley will now be getting scarce and a sowing can 

 be made to help out the fast diminishing old stock. Sow 

 in flats and prick off as soon as ready, using either flats 

 or small pots. By using small pots and potting on into 

 4-inch pots before planting out in the bench or frame, 

 quicker results are obtained than by using flats. Parsley 

 can also be sown in drills on the bench, 18 in. apart. 



PEPPERS 



A sowing of peppers can be made now and gro\vn on 

 cool. An early batch can either be finished in pots or 

 half-gro\vii and planted out in the spring, thus securing 

 an early crop. 



W^bL^x^ 



^ 



--^^vv., 



Rose Silver Moon 



We had the pleasure of illustrating this sterling nov- 

 elty some months ago, but the photograph used did not 

 do justice to the subject and we tliinli our readere will all 

 agree that the picture presented on our title page this 

 week is well worthy of the honor. This rose, introduced 

 by Peter Henderson & Co., is a hybrid between E. Wichu- 

 raiana and the "Cherokee" rose (E. sinica). The petals 

 are waxy white and the stamens bright yellow, the blooms 

 measuriftg 41/2 inches in diameter and delicately fra- 

 grant. The foliage is bronzy green and glossy, and there 

 is no question that in Silver Moon we have a worthy 

 candidate for the hardv rose garden. 



