October 30 1S73. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



339 



FRUIT AND FORCINQ HOUSES. 



It is only necessary to allude to the treatment which the 

 Pine Apples receive at this time. In the houses where fruit is 

 BweUing-ofE and ripening the temperature should he ahout C)ii° 

 at night, with a rise of from 5' to 10 by day. It is, however, 

 not absolutely necessary to maintain quite so much heat, as 

 the froit will ripen and be of good flavour if the temperature is 

 5' lower, only in the lower mean it will not arrive at maturity 

 BO rapidly. Considerable attention must also lie paid to atmo- 

 spheric moisture and ventilation. No water should be kept in 

 the evaporating troughs, as enough moisture can be obtained 

 by sprinkling the paths and walls of the house twice daily, and 

 even this amount of moisture should be regulated by the state 

 of the weather out of doors. Very little water is required at 

 the roots of the plants ; those having fruit in any stage of deve- 

 lopment should not be allowed to get quite dry, otherwise the 

 fruit will be juiceless and wanting in flavour, and too much 

 wat«r mil cause it to become black at the core, or to show decay 

 in patches upon the exterior portion, and if it do not this it 

 will not keep long after it is ripe. A well-ripeued Pine Apple, 

 if it is cut as soon as it is ripe and placed in a dry fruit room 

 from which frost is excluded, will keep perfectly sound and good 

 lor three or four weeks. Ventilate the houses in all weather, 

 except cutting frosty winds ; even in very cold weather the top 

 lights should be moved down or opened, if only half au inch. 

 The smallest chink will fill the house with fresh air, and at 

 the same time promote circulation. 



Cucumber Houses. — This is now a critical time for the occu- 

 pants of these, and where houses are badly constructed much 

 care and judgment are necessary to produce a continuous supply 

 of fruit from now until February. Low lean-to pits are the 

 worst places imaginable for Cucumbers, especially if a man 

 cannot get inside to attend to the plants without moving the 

 lights ; no wonder if in such a case damp and canker cause 

 'wholesale destruction. Half-span houses facing the south are 

 the best, and a suflicient quantity of hot- water pipes should be 

 laid down so that the temperature can be maintained at G5°, 

 even in a severe frost, without overheating them ; and the plants 

 must be trained to a trellis fixed about a foot from the glass. 

 We do not require a large supply during the winter, so it is not 

 necessary to overcrop the plants, only two fruit being allowed 

 on a plant at a time. No disease has ever visited us, and our 

 stock of plants is always increased by cuttings. This winter we 

 are growing our own Tender and True, also Blue Gown ; they 

 are, doubtless, the best two Cucumbers that have yet been 

 raised, and both sorts are shy in producing seeds. Our plants 

 are looked over once a-week, to thin-out the growing shoots and 

 to train and stop those that remain. If there is any trace of 

 thrips, fumigate with tobacco until they are destroyed. Bottom 

 heat is entirely supplied by means of hot-water pipes, and when 

 this is the case there is some danger of the plants suffering from 

 want of water, even if the soil in which they are growing be wet 

 on the surface ; when watering, give sufficient to thorouglily 

 wet the soil through. Our beds of soil are about 20 inches in 

 depth, and they require watering once in three or four weeks. 



PLANT STOVE AND CONSERVATORY. 



In the stove the principal work has been to look over all 

 plants infested with "mealy bug, and to wash them when there 

 were any traces of insects. It is very difficult to get rid of this 

 pest altogether, bat it can be done by persistent washing with 

 soft soap and warm water. At this time of the year the plants 

 must be carefully looked over once every week, and all wood- 

 work must be washed two or three times during winter with 

 warm water. Slugs have been troublesome to us ; the young 

 growths of Orchids are very attractive to them. As they in- 

 variably feed at night it is necessary to take a lamp to watch 

 their movements, and they can be destroyed as they are found 

 feeding upon the plants. Greenhouse plants require to be care- 

 fully watered, it will not do to use the watering-pot indiscrimi- 

 nately amongst soft and hard wooded plants. Healthy hard- 

 wooded plants which are not restricted in pot-room require 

 water once or twice a-week, but it will not do to look over the 

 plants so seldom as this. They should be looked over at least 

 every alternate day, and the state of the roots and requirements 

 of each plant ascertained. 



Chrysanthemutns viiW. soon be in fall beanty, and those who 

 have given most attention to their plants during the summer 

 months will now enjoy the fruits of their labours. .Tames 

 Salter and Elaine amongst the .Tapanese, and Mrs. Kundle 

 amongst the large-flowering section, are now in flower. The 

 varieties of Cedo NuUi are amongst the earliest-flowering of the 

 Pompon section. We have been tying and training the dwarf- 

 growing specimens, and we dusted all of them with flowers of 

 sulphur to destroy mildew. This generally appears on tho 

 plants as soon as they are placed under glass. It can always 

 bo destroyed without injuring the plants if sulphur bo used 

 apon them on its first appearance. Many appliances have been 

 invented, more or less expensive, for dusting them with sulphur. 

 The best which has yet come tinder our notice is worthy of 

 recommendation for its smallness of cost and simplicity, at the 



same time it is very efiicient. It is simply a pair of bellows 

 with a small box, at one comer of which there is a hole to fit 

 the nozzle of the bellows, and at the other a smaller hole through 

 which the sulphur is blown out in a regular and fine cloud when 

 the bellows are in operation. 



The earliest of tho Hyacinths are ready to be removed to the 

 forcing houses, and the latest-flowering Dutch bulbs have just 

 been potted. 



FLOWER G.IRDEN. 



Looked over the herbaceous border, and cut away all growths 

 which had got out of bounds ; attention to this is necessary all 

 through the summer, as the smaller-growing species are apt to 

 be smothered and ultimately destroyed by their larger-growing 

 neighbours. Many persons complain that the more rare and 

 small-growing -Vlpines will not succeed in the neighbourhood of 

 London. They will succeed very well even in ordinary soil if 

 they have justice done to them. Many i^ersons want a mass of 

 flower all the summer, and bedding plants amongst Alpines ; 

 the consequence is that the gross-growing Zonal I'elargouiums, 

 Verbenas, &o., overgrow such plants as the alpine Gentian, the 

 dwarf-growing Saxifrages, and others. It is necessary to keep 

 the herbaceous border distinct from the bedding plants, and the 

 smaller-groiving Alpines in a different part from the taller- 

 growing robust species. 



Planted out a number of kinds of Narcissus. These fine old 

 flowers have been sadly neglected recently, but the rage for 

 masses of colour having somewhat abated, we may hope to see 

 them inquired after again. Even the old-fashioned Daffodil has 

 been turned out of the cottage gardens, aud little plots 4 yards 

 by 8 have their rows of Geraniums and Calceolarias, and where 

 there is no accommodation for wintering bedding plants the 

 owner must buy or beg fresh plants every year ; whereas the 

 charm of gardening consists in variety, and attending to the re- 

 quirements of the same plant or plants all the year round. One 

 or two of the best kinds of Narcissus to plant are N. poeticus, 

 N. poeticus flore-pleno, N. Bulbocodium (the Hooi) Petticoat), 

 N. juncifolius, a charming small species with Rush-like leaves; 

 N. incomparabilis and its double varieties; aud N. ceruuus 

 plenus. The last-named is rare and expensive, but it is very 

 beautiful. Having once obtained a supply of bulbs of any of the 

 above, they are little or no trouble afterwards ; all that is re- 

 quired is to divide the roots and plant afresh every third or 

 fourth year.— J. Douglas. 



TBADE CATALOGUES BECEIVED. 



Charles Turner, Royal Nurseries, Slough. — Catalogue of 

 Bases, Fruit Trees, Cuniferce, Hardy Trees, Sliruhs, dc. 



Little & Ballantyne, Carlisle, and 36, Mark Lane, London. — 

 Deseriptivc List of Bases, Bliodadcndrans, dc. 



Jean Verschaffelt, Faubourg de Bruxelles, No. 134, Ghent, 

 Belgium. — Supplement ct E.rtrait du Catalogue des Flantes. 



Jules de Cock & Sreur, Ledeberg, near Ghent.— TratZe Cata- 

 logue — Autumn, 1873, Spring and Summer, 1874. 



Constant Kerkvoorde, Wetteren, Belgium. — Catalogue dss 

 Arbres, Fruitiers, Bosiers, Arbres et Arbustes d'Ornement. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*,* We request that no one will write privately to any of tho 



correspondents of the " Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 



Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing they 



are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 



communications should therefore bo addressed solely to 



The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, dr., 171, Flat 



Street, London, B.C. 



We also request that correspondents will not mix up on the 



same sheet questions relating to Gardening aud those on 



Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them 



answered promptly and conveniently, but write them on 



separate communications. Also never to send more than 



two or three questions at onco. 



Books tFrank TT.).— Balfour's First and Second Bonks of Botany. They 



are two very small volumes in CoUins's Elementaij Series. (jV. CoekU).— 



Sutherland's " Handhook of Herbaceous and Alpine Plants," and \Yilhams 8 



" Stove and Greenhouse Plants." 



3kai'E9 SnANiuNG (C. i3.).— As the Vines arc planted outside the vinery, 

 we arc of opinion tliat the stiankiuf is caused by the roi.ts boiuK chilled and 

 not supplying sufflcicnt sap to the bunches. If the roots were mulched over, 

 and over the miUch a tai-paulin to exclude excessivo wet, tho evil probably 

 would not occur. 



HALF-ciiAKnixo Vine Shoots [A Comlant Su!)»cri(.rr).— Tlio end of the 

 hhont on which a bunch of Orapes is growing is held in the flame of a lamp 

 until partially charred, previously to insertinpt tho shoot m water as described 

 in our number published on tho 1st of last May. 



Driving awav Kats and Mice (S. Broirnc).— Tho old mrvRazine which 

 states that a plant which grows in great abundance in every field, the Dog's- 

 tonguo (Cynoglossnm oflidnalo), if bruised and laid in places where rats and 

 mice abound drives tliem away, may bo correct, for it siuella detestably. 

 Apply to some of the herbalists in Coveut Garden Market. 



