July 81, 187a ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUfiB AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



85 



■using it sufficiently strong to kill the insects, but not so much 

 so as to injure the leaves. It should be applied in the evening 

 when there is a prospect of a bright night, using a fine syringe 

 or fiue-rosed watering-pot, and giving enough to moisten the 

 whole of the foliage. Where the stock is growing vigorously 

 pegging and training will involve considerable attention, und it 

 will be necessary to inspect the beds frequently, removing 

 decayed flowers and cutting-back such of the shoots as may 

 incline to encroach upon the edging of the beds. Keep herb- 

 aceous plants neatly tied-up, and cut off the flower stems of any 

 that are becoming unsightly. Keep the gravel walks smooth by 

 weeding, sweeping, and rolling. 



GKBENHOUSE .\NP CONSERVATORY. 



Now when most kinds of hardwooded greenhouse plants are 

 oat of doors, pEunting and other repairs for the houses should 

 be done. As has been already stated, it is now time to provide 

 and encourage an assortment of ilowers adapted for blooniing 

 late in the autumn and early in wint-er. Camellias if forced into 

 wood will be tolerably forward. They should be kept out of 

 doors in a good place on cool flags or coal ashes to prevent 

 worms from deranging the dndnage. Chrysanthemums should 

 now or very soon receive their last shift, if possible, using chiefly 

 good fibrous loam for the purpose with plenty of charcoal. This 

 is the best way to keep them stiff in habit and to preserve their 

 lower leaves. Any necessary amount of strength may be im- 

 parted to them when the flower buds ai-e formed by good liquid 

 manure. Successions of Brugmansias, Clerodendrons, Euphor- 

 bias, Poinsettias, etc., should receive a last shift, in order that 

 they may produce a rich display in the conservatory. Climbers 

 on ornamental trellises should be occasionally cut back with the 

 view of having a succession late in the season when flowers are 

 scarce. A batch of such plants as Thunbergias, Ipomo^as, Jas- 

 mines, Stephanotis, Passifloras, &c., should be got up orna- 

 mental trellises without delay. Clematis bicolor and C. azurea 

 grandirtora force well early in spring, provided they are rested 

 behind a shady wall for a month or two about this season. 

 These latter plants, although perfectly hardy, are well adapted 

 for the couseirvatory trellis. 



STOVE. 



About the beginning of August some of the best gardeners 

 treat their established stove plants somewhat like those of the 

 greenhouse for five or six weeks. They either remove the 

 plants to more open houses, or throw their stoves open on pur- 

 pose, removing dwarf, tender, and young delicate plants into 

 close frames. Whatever conveniences of this sort may be at 

 band should be made the most of at this time. Nothing can be 

 more injurious to stove plants than keeping them growing late 

 in the season, and thus preventing the ripening of their wood, 

 which renders them more hable to injury in winter, and pre- 

 vents their flowering freely next season. 



PITS AND FKAMES. 



The lights should now be drawn off at night where the plants 

 are of the hardier kinds. Stout cuttings of Plumbago eapensis 

 struck now will force next spring for the conservatory, and may 

 be afterwards planted out in beds in the flower garden, for 

 which they are admirably suited. Propagate largely from those 

 half-hardy plants which cannot be quickly struck in the spring, 

 or that cannot be hud of suflicient size to turn into the borders 

 at that time. Sow Mignonette and a few showy annuals for 

 decorating the plant houses during the autumn and winter. — 

 W. Kje.vne. 



DOINGS OP THE LAST WEEK. 

 Since writing last week we have had some very hot days ; on 

 two or three occasions the maximum temperature in the shade 

 rising to 90^. This on our hot gravelly soil has been very trying 

 to vegetation, but it has demonstrated to us the high value of 

 deeply working the soil in winter ; especially in the case of such 

 plants as are not considered deep-rooting. The ground for our 

 HolUjhocke is trenched 2 feet deep, a good layer of rich manure 

 is placed at the bottom of the trench, a spit and a shovelling of 

 earth are thrown over the manure, another similar coat of 

 manure is jiiaced on it, and then another spit and shovelling. 

 On this plot of ground the Hollyhocks have thrown-up immense 

 spikes as thick as a man's arm, and are flowering grandly. Not 

 a drop of water has been artificially applied to them. We also 

 planted another lot of similar plants on ground which had not 

 been trenched last winter (although it had been trenched and 

 heavily manured two or three winters previously), and the 

 l)l:i:i;i now present a miserable ayipearanoe ; the largest pro- 

 porii^m have not thrown-up any spikes, and those that have are 

 VL-ry weak. Liberal applications of manure water would have 

 had the desired effect, out daring the press of work in summer 

 we cannot find time to do this. The same with the bedding 

 plants ; for many weeks the beds have been quite full, and are 

 in profuse bloom. Nor do we ever water them, always depend- 

 ing ou oar deep trenching and manuring ; be it also understood 



that this system of culture applies more especially to dry 

 gravelly soils in dry districts. Our average raiufall is about 

 '11 inches. 



FKUIT .AND KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Here the same remark will apply as to trenching. We seldom 

 get a crop of green Peas at this time of the year from the ground 

 that has not been trenched. The plants show signs of distress, 

 and the leaves turn yellow before the flowers open. In this 

 department much time has been taken up in gathering the fruit 

 for preserving purposes, and in looking over crops and picking- 

 out any weeds that the hoe has missed ; in such hot forwarding 

 weather as we are now experiencing they soon run to seed. 



We picked a good dish of Strawberries last Saturday ; the 

 variety was Frogmore Late Pine. This and Cockscomb have 

 been our best late sorts in the present year. With such a. 

 Strawberry as Frogmore Late Pine we wonder that anybody 

 can recommend the Elton. Of Cockscomb we had many fruit 

 weighing 2 ozs. each, and none of them were thinned out, nor 

 were the plants watered. We are cutting away the runners 

 that have been rooted into small pots for planting out, and also 

 for pot culture. We shall cut all the old plants up at once, and 

 devote the ground to some other purpose. We read Mr. Wright's 

 paper on the Strawberry and our experience is somewhat 

 different from his. Vicomtesse Hc'ricart do Tlrary has been 

 disappointing to us ; it was not so early as Black Prince, but 

 come in with Keens' Seedling. Late Prince of Wales we shall 

 not grow again ; it bears freely enough, but the fruit is of in- 

 ferior quality, and ouly medium-sized. 



The pickling Onions have just been pulled up and laid out to 

 dry. A variety named the Two-bladed is grown for this pui- 

 pose ; we do not know a better sort. It is of very little use 

 planting out any green crops during this weather, but we get 

 the ground ready for doing so. 



FRUIT AND FORCING HOUSES. 



We have the winter Ouctmibers ready for planting oxit, but we 

 have not been able to do it yet. It is always best to have such 

 work done as soon as the plants are ready, but when it is not con- 

 venient to do so the plants should be shifted into larger-sized pots 

 before they become pot-bound. We have one house which con- 

 tinues to bear very freely. The only insect pests that have been 

 a trouble to us this year have been red spider ; syringing the 

 house twice daily has kept it in check. Thrips, when once 

 firmly established, is not easily got rid of, but persistent fumi- 

 gation will ultimately overcome even this enemy. I think we 

 fumigated one house at least six times before we thoroughly 

 destroyed this pest. 



Shading the houses becomes expensive ; no material that has 

 been yet tried lasts more than two years, so that it was dis- 

 pensed with in the Pine houses this year. The plants look very 

 well, but where fruit is ripe or ripening we place a sheet of 

 paper lightly over it to prevent the sun from scorching it ; if it 

 do so the fruit will decay at once. 



In the late vinery some of the bei'ries on the Lady Downe's 

 Grapes have become scalded thi-ough the house being inadver- 

 tently shut up too early one hot afternoon ; it was not shut up 

 entirely, but the lights were drawn up too closely. We have 

 watched this Grape narrowly, and can freely say that the berries 

 will not scald if due precaution be taken. The ventilation 

 must not even be reduced uuless the house falls to 6.5" or 70" in 

 the evening. Lateral shoots had made some growth, and had 

 to be pinched-off ; even in the early houses wo do not allow any 

 laterals to grow after the Grajjes aie cut. 



CONSERVATORY AND PLANT HOUSES. 



The Camellias have now set their buds, and we have just 

 repotted them. The pots are very carefully crocked, and the 

 potting material is the most fibrous turfy loam that can be ob- 

 tained, with turly peat added to it. We did not disturb the 

 roots very much, especially where the tender white rootlets 

 had clustered thickly round the outsides of the balls. lu 

 cases where the roots were not in good condition the soil was 

 picked away w-ith a pointed stick, and the plant returned into a, 

 pot of the same size. The plants were placed in a house where 

 they could be syi-inged daily, and the house shut up at B p.m. 



Chri/saniliL-mums have been again dipped to destroy fly, 

 which' continues to infest the points of the growing shoots; 

 where it is not convenient to dip tbem they are dusted with dry 

 snuff. The growing shoots on specimen plants have been 

 trained down and tied to sticks ; care must be taken in doing- 

 this, as the shoots are very liable to snap off at the joints, which 

 spoils the symmetry of the plants. 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



The bedding plants have not required much attention, and as 

 to the lawn, it is very brown imleed ; it shows the nature of 

 the soil ; in deep clayey loam the grass would still bo quite 

 green. It will at least require no more cutting until rain 

 come. Hollyhocks, wliicli had previously been fastened to the 

 sticks, have to be looked over every third day to prevent the 

 spikes from being injured. — J. Douglas. 



