Desembei i, 1873. J 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE OiRDENER. 



447 



iag, but trust to tho manure that may be left in the ground 

 fiotn the previous crop; bat they seldom pick the pods more 

 thaa twice, there not being a sufficient quantity after this to 

 pay for the labour of gathering. In our garden, unless the ground 

 13 specially prepared in the autumn, we are left in the same 

 predicament ; the soil is light, shallow, and resting on a dry 

 gravel subsoil, so that during the time the pods are filling they 

 are very apt to suffer from drought. By trenching now and 

 placmg some good manure in the bottom trench we look for and 

 obtain good and continuous gatherings. The difference between 

 a market gardener and a private grower is this : The first aims 

 at making as much money as possible out of a given piece of 

 ground, the other to prolong the supply for as long a period as 

 possible. 



Cuttinj Turf for Potting. — This is a diflScnIt matter in 

 many places; few gentlemen like to have their parks or old 

 pastures cut up for the use of the garden, and in the neighbour- 

 hood of London, since the new regulations came in force with 

 regard to the forest and open places, amateurs and others are 

 driven to their wits' ends to obtiiin a supply of good potting 

 material. Soil dug out of the garden, mix it with what you 

 will, is no substitute for turfy loam from an old pasture. For 

 ordinary potting we stack the turf in a square heap, a layer of 

 turf and a layer of manure alternately ; after this has been laid- 

 up for three months or more it may be broken-up and mixed 

 with a little leaf mould and sand, when it will be adapted for 

 all classes of softwooded plants. We also put up a heap without 

 manure for plants not requiring stimulants. 



FORCIXO noi'sES. 



Dwarf Kiilncij Beans. — We do not require a supply of these 

 until late in spring, but noticing them in a neighbouring garden 

 reminds us that they may now be put iu. Probably the best 

 way to treat them is to sow thickly in boxes, and when the first 

 rough leaf is formed pot them — five plants rouud the sides of a 

 7-inch pot. They require a substantial compost ; good turfy 

 loam three parts, and one part rotted manure, will be found well 

 adapted for growing them. They will do in any house arti- 

 ficially heated, and will bear more freely if they are placed near 

 the glass. By supplying them with manure water and surface- 

 dressing the pots, we have continued to pick from the same 

 plants for two months. The variety best adapted for small 

 houses is Newingtou Wonder ; the pods are not large, but the 

 plants are dwarf and free-bearing. We give plenty of water to 

 the roots, and syringe with tepid water twice a-day, which keeps 

 red spider in check. 



Strawberries in puts are slow to move, but we do not care to 

 give a temperature above 5o^ until the flower trusses appear ; a 

 high temperature before that will cause many of the plants to 

 become blind. Five-inch pots are quite large enough for all 

 plants intended to be placed in heat before the first week in 

 Januarj*. A moderately moist atmosphere and syringing the 

 plants once or twice a-day, according to the state of the weather, 

 is the treatment they receive, and as the pots are packed almost 

 to bursting with roots, a good supply of water is required. 



Cucumbers as yet are growing freely and producing abun- 

 dantly ; they are also free from insect pests. The weather 

 being mild, it has not been necessary to overheat the pipes to 

 keep np the temperature to 6-V or TO" at ni^ht. When hot-water 

 pipes have to be overheated to maintain a sufficiently high 

 temperature no plant will do well, and Cttcumbers show the 

 result of it almost sooner than any other. 



In the early vinery we are also very careful to maintain a low 

 temperature until the Vines break; .00° is a good minimum 

 until the buds are well started. A high night temperature pre- 

 vious to this invariably causes weak and irregular growth. In- 

 stead of wetting the wood with the syringe, which washes oft 

 all the dressing that has been applied to destroy red spider, 

 mildew, &c., some fresh stable manure is placed on the border 

 inside the house ; the steam from this, and the moisture from 

 evaporating-trougha fixed on the hot-water pipes, with atten- 

 tion to night temperature, will cause the buds to break in a 

 regular manner. 



STOVE AND GREENnoi'St;. 



We have previously alluded to cleanliness in the stove de- 

 partment at the present season, and this will bear repetition. 

 Plants that were known to be infested with mealy bug in sum- 

 mer are looked over once a-week with a quick eye ; it is to be 

 found at this season closely ensconced in crevices of the bark 

 and axils of the leaves. Of course, it is necessary to sprinkle 

 the paths and stages of the house with water, but Orchids and 

 tender plants should not have the foliage wetted now. Spot on 

 Orchids is caused by wetting the leaves at this season, and 

 when they become affected it is some years before they recover. 

 Extreme caution is necessary as regards watering all bard- 

 wooded plants, such as Ixoras, Francisceas, itc. The same re- 

 mark applies to bardwooded greenhouse plants. Give enough 

 water to keep tho plants from nagging. 



Kepotted the Bones for early forcing. This is generally done 

 in September, so that the plants may be well established before 

 placing them in heat, but they were overlooked this year. 



Many of the plants are ten years old, and are shifted year after 

 year into the same-sized pots ; these are from 13 to 1.5 inches 

 in diameter. The yearly renewal of mould about the activo 

 rootlets serves to maintain the plants in robust health, and 

 they annually produce a large nximber of good flo^-ers. The 

 way they are treated is this : The ball of roots is turned out of 

 the pot, all the material which had been used for drainage, with 

 an inch or \\ inch of tho compost, is removed from tho outside 

 of the ball by means of a piece of pointed stick or iron. The 

 plant is then transferred to a clean pot, and the compost for 

 such old plants requires to be rich ; three parts of turfy loam to 

 one of rotted manure, with some crushed bones added, will 

 suit them well. This is rammed-in rather firmly round the 

 ball with a piece of wood, which can be pushed down between 

 the ball and sides of the pot without injuring the roots. As 

 soon as the leaves fall the plants are pruned. It must have 

 been apparent to all who have grown Roses in pots, that if the 

 plants are kept iu a house from which frost is excluded by arti- 

 ficial heat, the buds continue to swell all through the winter 

 month.'?, and, if the plants are not pruned, those buds nearest 

 the ends of the shoots will swell the most, and this has been 

 proved to a certain extent to be detrimental to the buds nearer 

 the base ; so that if Hoses are intended for early forcing, the 

 sooner they are pruned after the leaves fall the better. Rose 

 trees in pots are never dormant, unless they are exposed to a 

 temperature at or below the freezing-point. Some growers do 

 not take account of this, and keep the pots so dry that the wood 

 almost shrivels; this is barbarous treatment, and cannot be too 

 strongly denounced. Under such treatment many of the small 

 fibrous roots, which are the life of the plants, are killed ; and 

 the plants, when placed in the forcing house, do not start 

 readily, unless the surrounding circumstances are more than 

 ordinary congenial. 



As this is a good time to piu*cha*e Roses, a short list of tho 

 best sorts for forcing may be useful to some. Anna Alexieff, 

 Beauty of Waltham, Duke of Edinburgh, General Jacqueminot, 

 John Hopper, La France, Lyounais, Madame Charles Verdier, 

 Madame Noman, weak growth, but very beautiful when half 

 expanded ; Madame Victor Verdier, Scnateur Vaisse, and Victor 

 Verdier (the above are Hybrid Perpetuals) ; Charles Lawsou 

 Hybrid China, is a grand pot Rose. Nearly all the Tea Roses 

 are adapted for pot culture. Niphetos, Safrano, and Madame 

 Falcot are beautiful in bud, and Marcchal Niel the finest of all 

 the yellow Roses. 



ChrgsantJieinnins are now going off; we remove all decayed 

 leaves and flowers as soon as possible after they show signs of 

 decay. The Japanese sorts, with their quaint and briUiant- 

 coloured flowers, are yet making a good display. Many of 

 these are late-flowering, and such sorts as Dr. Masters, Comet, 

 Grandiflorum, with its full deep golden flowers, and the pure 

 white Fair Maid of Guernsey, are at their best when the in- 

 curved section are over. 



The Tree Carnations did not open their flowers well iu a 

 greenhouse, but on being introduced to a warmer temperature 

 the flowers opened perfectly. Cyclamens were also much im- 

 proved by being placed in a house with a comparatively dry 

 night temperature of from 50° to 55°. — J. Douglas. 



Mussel Scale os Apples. — The most sueoessful remedy I 

 have tried is paraffin applied in winter. — G. S. 



TRADE CATALOGUES KEOEIVED. 



Little it Ballantyne, Carlisle, ami ;ti.>, Mark Lane, Loudou. — 

 Descriptive List of Rosrs, HJiododeiidrons, tOc. 



Robertson it Galloway, l')7, Ingrain Street, Glasgow, and 

 Helensburgh. — Catalogue of BoseSy Gladioli^ and General 

 Nursery Stock. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



N.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered uutil next 

 week. 



Peat (0. U, M,).~1hQ example is of a peat quite uufit for pottmg pnr. 



pOisC-S. 



Floweb-oarden Plantinq {J, 0.).— In No. 1 border continue the Ceras- 

 tium inside the scrolls at 2, in place of Bijou, in order to impart a crisp, well- 

 define<i outliuo to the scroUs and circleti, in which last CoIpus VerschafTolti 

 would be preferable to tho Perilla; and wo would repeat the IroBine at 7. 

 Scarlet Geraniums may be used in the acrollB as you propose, hut the effect 

 will bo somewhat harsh. Try and procure sufficiont stock to plant tho scroll 

 iu alternate colourB of blue and pink, whicJi with the deep crimson of tho 

 Colous upon the aoft grey carpetin;^ of Ceraslium would be very chaste. Do not 

 alter No. 2 border. Tho varioticH of bedding plants which ynu name form 

 much too limited a list to do full justice to the famous old Dropmoro plan 

 which you in common with so many others have adopted. The following is 

 about the host that can bo done with such poor materials : — 1, Itijou, edged 

 with Blue Lobelia ; 2, Chriwtine freranium ; 3, 'i, and 4, 4, Blue Lob lia, edged 

 with Mesemhryanthomum cordifolium varicgatum. Of the eight beds num- 

 bered 5, there might bo at each end two of Xresino edged with ycUow Pansy, 

 and two of Viola edged with Curaatium, arranged on the method of cross- 



