i8g6. 



GARDENING. 



7i 



A CORNER IN AN AMATEUR S GREENHOUSE. 



Wintering auriculas. — M. D. writes: 

 "I have a iew pots both of yearling and 

 seedling auriculas; what is the best treat- 

 ment for them fromthis time forward?" 



As we have several hnndred of much 

 the same thing at Sehenley Park we will 

 tell you what we are doing with them. 

 We raised them from seed last spring, and 

 grew them planted out in a frame all 

 summer, the frame was open but slightly 

 shaded by a nearby apple tree. In Sep- 

 tember we lifted the strongest and potted 

 them, two or several in each vessel, in 

 pots or pans for bl oming in the green- 

 house in late winter and spring. These 

 pots shall be plunged to their brims in a 

 well-drained cold frame and we shall try 

 by banking around it and covering it 

 with sashes and shutters to keep hard 

 frost out of it, not to save the plants 

 from the cold, but to save the pots from 

 bursting by frost. Ventilate freely in 

 favorable weather. The plants left in the 

 frame were planted up a little closer to- 

 gether to save room, and we shall cover 

 the frame in winter with sash, and may 

 be a shutter to exclude wind, storms and 

 warm sunshine in severe weather. Al- 

 though auriculas are hardy enough in 

 their native alpine home, they often suffer 

 here in winter on account of our strong 

 light in frosty weather, and exposure to 

 to searing winds. 



The Greenhouse. 



AN AMATEUR'S GREENHOUSE. 



Here is a view in an amateur's small 

 greenhouse. The photograph from which 



our illustration was engraved was sent 

 to us b\- a subscriber in Mahoning. It 

 shows a miscellaneous collection of plants 

 — ferns, palms, draca?nas, orchids, etc., 

 grouped at the end of the central bench. 

 In just such a little greenhouse as this is, 

 hundreds o c active business men of the 

 country find recreation and rest before 

 and after city business hours. Growing 

 plants is a pleasure to them, and they 

 usually succeed in obtaining excellent 

 results with their flowers. Not only do 

 the men folks find happiness in a little 

 greenhouse, but the ladies of the family 

 take a special pride and pleasure in it, 

 and if there is an invalid in the family the 

 greenhouse is sure to be her special de- 

 light. You can grow as good plants in a 

 plain every-day little greenhouse as in an 

 elaborately built and expensive one, and 

 now-a-days when you can buy every bit 

 of the framework ready made at the fac- 

 tory, and any jobbing carpenter can put 

 it together, the expense is very moderate. 

 If you haven't got one, put one up and 

 enjoy life. 



THE OREENflOUSE. 

 For an ordinary greenhouse a safe 

 night temperature is 50°, and 60° by day, 

 or with sunheat a few degrees more. In 

 such a house as this is, bouvardias, carna- 

 tions, stevias, primulas, cyclamens, bego- 

 nias, azaleas, genistas, callas, and the 

 like, and many orchids can be grown to 

 perfection. In a warm greenhouse a night 

 temperature of 60° with 10° to 15° 

 higher by day is about right. In a house 

 of this sort palms, ficus, dracanas cro- 

 tons, marantas, anthuriums. nepenthes, 

 and such orchids as vandas and phalam- 

 opsis thrive to perfection. But if a per- 

 son has only one greenhouse he can grow 

 most all plants mentioned above in it by 



arranging the cool-loving ones at the 

 cool end of the house, and the heat-loving 

 ones at the warm end of it. In the win- 

 ter far less shading is necessary than in 

 summer; carnations and roses, don't need 

 any, but Chinese primroses, cinerarias, 

 calceolarias and cyclamen, are benefited 

 by a thin shade; in the warm house while 

 crotons, ficus and some other plants 

 would luxuriate in open sunshine, it is 

 seldom convenient to separate them from 

 those that do need a little shade, and as 

 they thrive well enough in slight shade, 

 it is well to have the house thinly shaded, 

 then there will be no fear of palms, ferns, 

 mosses, begonias and such like. Callas, 

 roses, cinerarias and other plants in vig- 

 orous growth must be watered copiously, 

 so must palms, anthuriums, and other 

 evergreen vigorous stock, but the general 

 tendency at this time of year is to some- 

 what lessen the water supply at the root, 

 consistent with the lower temperature 

 and less incitement to growth, but al- 

 ways keep up the moistnessof the atmos- 

 phere, and the more artificial heating is 

 used the more water we should spill 

 about the flooi , benches and walls of our 

 greenhouses to moisten the air. Down 

 with insect vermin. Keep the hose or 

 syringe at work against red spider, with 

 a little brush and whale oil soap remove 

 scale and mealy bugs, and use tobacco 

 smoke or tobacco vapor to kill thrips 

 and aphides. We have lots of patent in- 

 secticides each one better than the other; 

 choose for yourself and follow theinstruc- 

 tions given with them, except in the 

 strength of the mixture; to begin with 

 try it at one-half strength and if that 

 doesn't hurt, at three-fourths. Fumigat- 

 ing with tobacco is exceedingly disagree- 

 able work, and if any one tells you that 

 you can "smoke" a greenhouse without 

 that smoke pene rating into an adjoining 

 room opening from the greenhouse; or 

 that you can put plants into a cupboard 

 in the cellar and "smoke" them there 

 without the smoke coming out into the 

 cellar, or that you can smoke them under 

 an improvised tent made of a wet sheet 

 without the smoke escaping from there, 

 don't you believe one word of it. We 

 use fresh stems in large quantity on and 

 under the benches, and on the heating 

 pipes, and sprinkle them with water once 

 or twice a day to cause them to exhale 

 that pungent vapor which is so fatal to 

 thrips and greenfly, but, mark, perfectly 

 harmless to scale, mealy bugs and red 

 spider. 



A BOYS' GREENHOUSE. 



By an appropriation of the Michigan 

 legislature of 1895 the Industrial School 

 for boj'S at Lansing was enabled to erect 

 a greenhouse, and engage a gardener to 

 teach the boys. We endeavor to be prac- 

 tical in our work, leaving theory to be 

 acquired in later life. Our first house was 

 erected in the fall of 1985, but was not 

 used until the next spring. It is intended 

 as a store house (dimensions 50x20 feet) 

 but for want of a better stock is now 

 used for bedding plants, begonias, chrys- 

 anthemums, etc. In July of this year, we 

 erected a 50x20 feet short span to the 

 -south, rose house, and also a work shop 

 with bulb cellar and loft. The roses were 

 planted August 1, and consist of Meteor, 

 Beauty, Bridesmaid, Mermet and Perle. 

 They are doing very nicely and we are 

 cutting some superb Meteors. We like 

 the short span to the south first rate, but 

 can talk better next spring of course. 

 The boys do all the work and the way 

 they learn and the amount of interest 

 they take in horticulture and botany 

 does one's heart good. We hope to have 



