362 



JOUKNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



( November 14, 1867. 



Rrowth, and when the gardener has time this is all removed. 

 I have known barrowloads of green foliage taken out of a house 

 in one day. Can we wonder tlje Vine roots are soon unhealthy, 

 whatever the border may be in which they are planted ? Does 

 not a Chinese Tea-grower let his trees flourish till they are of 

 a certain size ? Is he not aware that they will gradually be- 

 come unhealthy when cropped, and that he must provide a 

 new plantation to succeed? I think our Vines are in much 

 the same case. 



Formerly, when the long-rod system was more in vogue, a 

 young shoot, or perhaps two, was grown every year ; these 

 carried healthy foliage and no fruit, and kept the Vine in 

 health. The evils of over-stopping the fruit-bearing cane were 

 then not so apparent. Shall we go hack to this plan ? I 

 say. No, the single rod is by far the prettiest way of cultivating 

 the Vine, but we can let it carry much more foliage, and we 

 can avoid denuding a growing Vine of its leaves. Stopping a 

 growing shoot by pinching out the point is necessary, and, 

 done in moderation, beneficial; there is no other way of regu- 

 lating the growth of a Vine. It would not do to let one shoot 

 take all the sap whilst another was starved ; but to prune a 

 Vine in summer is barbarous. Is this all theory ? I answer. 

 No, because I have seen Vines on which the Grapes used to 

 Bhank and red spider flourish, restored to health, and bear fine 

 crops when the treatment was changed. I can show Vines 

 which were condemned some three years since now perfectly 

 restored to health and vigour, and will undertake to produce 

 all the evils above mentioned, even where the Tinea are planted 

 in the best soil and situation. 



Without wishing to discourage proper attention to Vine 

 borders, I think good summer management stUl more impor- 

 tant.— J. E. Peaesos, Chilwell. 



WINTERING BEDDING PELARGONIUMS. 



In no class of plants have greater advances been made than 

 in bedding Pelargoniums, and certainly no other bedding plant 

 is BO well calculated to gratify the lovers of the flower garden. 

 Indeed, so fully is the importance of the bedding Pelargonium 

 recognised that special exhibitions of it are now held. This it 

 merits, for if the Hose is rightly called the queen of flowers, 

 the Pelargonium may be styled queen of the borders. 



Moreover, if all the varieties do not prove to be good bedders 

 yet many of them are useful, nay, indispensable for other pur- 

 poses. If we require a deep pink for a vase or bouquet, what 

 so good as a truss of Helen Lindsay? or if a more delicate 

 shade is wanted, what can surpass the lovely Eve or Mrs. 

 William Paul, or the brighter Eose Eendatler ? and so I might 

 go on and enumerate a multitude of varieties, ranging from 

 the most delicate pink to the deepest crimson ; and so numer- 

 ous are the varieties, and so fast are they increasing, that no 

 sooner do we acquire a sufficient stock of a new and apparently 

 indispensable sort than a better is introduced, and we have to 

 commence our labours again. 



It is pot my purpose, however, to enter upon a discussion of 

 the various sorts, but to offer a few remarks on wintering them. 

 So important has the consideration of this become, that such 

 remarks as those of Mr. D. Thomson (page 280), are read with 

 the greatest interest, and I am sure all those who have 

 wintered Pelargoniums in at all a similar manner will appre- 

 ciate the soundness and excellence of his advice. 



My practice in wintering Pelargoniums in cold pits has 

 hitherto been confined to old plants taken from the beds and 

 planted in the pits in common garden soil. Dwarf unpruned 

 plants are selected for this purpose, these are generally to be 

 found in the outer rows of the beds ; if enough of such plants 

 cannot be had, others pruned at the time of taking cuttings 

 are sought after, so as to avoid the necessity of shortening 

 them when they are planted in the pits, causing fresh wounds, 

 which frequently lead to decay. Any long or bruised roots are 

 cut off, and they are planted far enough apart to allow the air 

 to circulate freely amongst them ; this is done about the first 

 week in October. Water is given at the time of planting 

 and occasionally during the month, the pit-lights are drawn 

 off every day and are only replaced at night or during rain, 

 and the greater part of the fohage decays and is carefully 

 removed. 



By the 1st of November the plants are in a fit state to go 

 safely through the winter. Water is withheld from this time 

 till the foUowiug spring, as damp is even more to be dreaded 

 than frost. The pit walls are protected by a foot in thickness 



of moss packed closely and kept in its place by stakes driven 

 into the ground a yard apart ; between these stakes a cross is 

 formed by taking two laths and passing one end of each be- 

 tween the moss and the base of each stake, and bringing the 

 other ends to the tops of the opposite stakes. This is continued 

 all round the pits, which thus present a very neat appearance. 

 The lights are protected by mats and dry litter. Air is given on 

 every favourable opportunity. 



Frequently during the most severe weather, when the earth 

 is covered with snow and King Frost apparently reigns trium- 

 phant, an hour of sunshine will occur ; at such times the cover- 

 ings are removed sufficiently to admit of the thermometer being 

 examined. If the temperature of the pit is a few degrees above 

 the freezing point, the whole of the coverings are taken oS 

 and the lights tilted. Before the transient sunbeams are with- 

 drawn the lights are again closed and dry coverings put on, 

 shutting in a portion of the warm dry air, and thus literally 

 setting " a trap to catch a sunbeam." Great caution is re- 

 quired in this operation, for should it be found that frost has 

 " crept in " the coverings had far better remain on. 



About the third week in April the plants are taken out of the 

 pits and pruned-iu closely, and each plant has its roots packed 

 in a handful or two of rich sandy soil enclosed in moss and 

 bound up with bast, forming a neat compact ball. The soil in 

 the pit is beaten down firmly with the back of a spade, on this 

 the plants are placed, the spaces between the mossy balls 

 being filled up with soil of a similar description to that in 

 which the roots are enclosed ; enough of this is used to quite 

 hide the moss from sight. A liberal syringing is then given, 

 and syinging is afterwards continued night and morning. Very 

 little air is admitted till the plants break, the amount is then 

 increased in proportion to the growth of the young shoots, 

 until at length the lights are taken quite off. 



By the time the plants are wanted for the beds or borders 

 they are all that can be wished. As they are taken from the 

 pits roots are seen piercing the moss in all directions and 

 taking ihold of the soil around them. Nothing can surpass 

 plants of this description for ribbon-borders or centres of beds. 

 The moss is very useful in retaining moisture about the roots 

 in the hottest weather. I may just add, that the pits are at 

 once cleared out, fermenting materials introduced, and a crop 

 of Melons taken during the summer. — Edwarp LncKHUKST, 

 Egcrton House Gardens, Kent. 



MANAGEMENT OF MARECHAL NIEL ROSE IN 

 SMALL POTS. 



Tnis most beautiful of all the Tea-scented China Eoses may 

 be had in great beai'.ty in 48-Eized pots, if managed in the 

 following way ; and what, I would ask, is more beautiful and 

 sweet, or more acceptable in a lady's boudoir than compact 

 little plants of the sweetest of all Tea-scented Boses, with five 

 or six beautiful flowers on them in various stages of develop- 

 ment ? 



The way to have plants so bloomed in such small pots is to 

 place a stock plant at once in a stove or any house where there 

 is sufficient warmth to start the plant into growth. When 

 shoots about 3 inches long are produced, they should be taken 

 off with a little piece of the old wood, if possible. It proper 

 care be exercised these cuttings can be taken off with a little 

 heel at the base, but a sharp knife must be used so that the 

 severance from the old plant may be as clean as possible, and 

 without injury to the cuttings. These should be placed in 

 small thumb or 60-sized pots well drained, and the soil most 

 suitable is a soft sandy loam, about one-third of clean river 

 sand being mixed with two-thirds of loam and leaf soil. The 

 soil should be pressed moderately firmly into the pots, which 

 should be filled to within three-quarters of an inch of the rim 

 or top, placing a quarter of an inch of clean river sand on the 

 surface of the soil. After pressing the soil moderately and so 

 as to be level, with a dibber a little larger than the cutting, in 

 the centre of the pot make a hole about an inch deep, place 

 the cutting in the hole, and be particular that its base rest flat 

 on the bottom. Then with some very dry fine sand fill up the 

 space between the cutting and the sides of the hole ; if the 

 sand is fine and dry it will trickle into every little crevice. 

 Next, water the cuttings, which will render them quite firm in 

 the pots, which should then be set on a kerb or shelf in the 

 stove where they will be partly shaded by other plants and 

 not too near the heating medium. It is also important for the 

 well-being of the cuttings that the foliage should be preserved 



