72 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. f January 24, 1867. 



pots placed in heat ; as soon as tbo plants are an inch or two 

 high, put them in small pots and replace them in heat ; after- 

 wards shift them when necessary, until the end of May, when 

 they may he planted out on a south horder. Cucmiibers, the 

 plants in bearing in the forcing-house should have a top-dress- 

 ing of fresh rich soil ; use every means at command to keep 

 them free from insects. When the young plants in the seed- 

 hed have made one rough leaf, the leading bud above it should be 

 removed so as to cause the plauts to throw out two shoots from 

 the axils of the seed-leaves. Cuttings put in and struck in the 

 seed-bed will come into bearing quicker than seedling plants. 

 Herbs, keep up a supply by introducing some potted plants into 

 any forcing house, or in*,o a frame or pit where there is heat. 

 Letluci\ sow Green or Brown Cos in shallow boxes placed in 

 any situation where there is a command of heat. This sowing 

 will only be necessary where there is a deficiency of autumn- 

 sown plants, otherwise no seed need he sown till the middle 

 of next month. Puttitocs. plant in pits or frames where there 

 is a slight bottom heat ; the sets should have been previously 

 laid in a forcing-house to shoot. Sets may be planted in pots to 

 be placed in any convenient part of a forcing-house until the 

 shoots are several inches high, when they may be planted in 

 frames, but we do not much approve of this plan as we have 

 found it result in a deficient production of tubers. 'Tomatoes, 

 sow seed of the Large Red immediately, so as to have good 

 plants when the weather shall permit of their being turned out. 



FRUIT GAKBEN. 



It is now a good time to wash fruit walls, and we would 

 strongly recommend our readers to do so, particularly walls 

 against which Peaches are trained. The washing should he 

 done before the trees are pruned, as if a few buds are rubbed 

 off it will not he of so much consequence as it would be after 

 pruning. A good mixture is composed of lime, sulphur, and 

 soot, brought to the consistence of paint with strong soapsuds. 

 About 1 lb. of sulphur should be used in every pailful of lime 

 after being mixed with the soapsuds and sufficient soot to give 

 it a dark grey colour. The trees should be tied from the wall 

 and the mixture laid on with a whitewash brush. Prune and 

 remove the suckers from Filberts, which rarely, except in 

 Kent, are managed as they should be. The making of fruit-tree 

 borders, particularly for the finer kinds against walls, requires 

 the use of fresh turfy loam ; let that, therefore, be in readiness. 

 The only addition should be road scrapings, or something 

 similar, whore the loam is heavy, for the Peach and Apricot ; 

 use loam alone for Cherries and Plums, adding a small quantity 

 of rotten cowdung for Pears, but not if the loam is rich. Dust 

 over on damp mornings with soot and lime Gooseberries, &c., 

 which are attacked by birds. Raspberries may have the old 

 wood removed and the new shoots thinned. Leave the shorten- 

 ing of them till another time. 



FLOWER Cir.DEX. 



With the exception of pruning and thinning, or wheeling 

 when the weather is frosty, little can be done in this depart- 

 ment at present. Any of the shrubbery borders which may 

 require a dressing of fresh soil or manure, should, however, 

 be attended to whenever the weather is favourable for such 

 work. Proceed with any alterations in hand involving the 

 removal of a considerable hulk of soil, cutting walks, or any- 

 thing which can be judiciously done now, in order to have the 

 hands at liberty for the ordinary routine of spring work which 

 will soon be demanding attention. 



GKEENHOnSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



As the season i-s at hand when the business of increasing 

 onr stock of plants will demand particular attention, it will 

 not be inappropriate to suggest the advisability of preparing a 

 place calculated to afford the required convenience. There is 

 scarcely a gardener who is not called upon to apply his skill to 

 replace the losses that invariably and necessarily attend the 

 occnrrence of a rigorous season like the present, and yet we 

 rarely find a proper situation appropriated for the purpose. 

 For the plants principally in demand for decorating the flower 

 garden, such as Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, and Verbenas, the 

 common plant-houses are unfortunately found suflicient in 

 many cases ; and we see them crowded with pots of cuttings, to 

 the destruction of all order and propriety, in addition to the 

 insects which are often introduced along with them. What 

 we wish to recommend is a small pit constructed with beds to 

 contain plunging materials, and provided with a heating appa- 

 ratus capable of supporting a bottom heat of 'J()°. This, with 

 a complement of bell-glasses, would enable the gardener not 

 only to raise his stock of summer plants with certainty and 



expedition, but give him the opportunity of multiplying his rare 

 and more difficult plants at the seasons most suitable to them. 

 The unsettled state of the weather lately has called, and most 

 probably will continue to do so, for much judicious manage- 

 ment in regulating the temperature of large greenljouses. 

 Naturally plants will make little progress at this season, hut 

 they may be stimulated to unhealthy activity if attention he 

 not directed to the regulation of the temperature. Eradicate 

 scale and other insects from climbing conservatory plants, at 

 the same time tie and arrange them. Care must be taken that 

 Camellias receive no check, or their buds will be endangered. 

 Brugmansia sanguinea, a noble conservatory plant, demands 

 similar attention. In greenhouses it will be necessary to exa- 

 mine softwooded plants in order to remove decaying leaves, 

 and make an arrangement that will give them liberty to receive 

 the full benefit of light and air. 



FORCIKG-riT. 



No diminution of temperature must be allowed here. Pinks 

 after they have jnade a little growth require to be removed to 

 a cooler place, or the buds will fall. Gardenias require a warm 

 moist atmosphere, which may now be slightly increased as 

 they exhibit activity. Much care is necessary with Dutch 

 bulbs. Hyacinths, &c,. in removing Ibeni from the plunging 

 material. If they are suddenly exposed to light a premature 

 development will be the consequence. They should be placed 

 in a somewhat dark part of the pit for a few days, and abun- 

 dance of atmospheric moisture applied; on the last much 

 depends. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK, 



Never has the changeable character of our climate been more 

 conspicuous than during the first fortnight of the year. The 

 thermometer on the 3rd and ith was close on zero as a minimum, 

 up above 50' as a maximum in the shade on the 7th and 8th, 

 and then swept down again from the 10th. The frost on the 

 last of these dates, though scarcely so severe, was, from the ab- 

 sence of snow, likely to do more damage to young exposed crops 

 of all kinds than the frosts preceding it. The little skifi's of 

 snow which we have had, such as half an inch on the 14th, and 

 as much more on the night of the 15th, will do something to 

 mitigate the evil in this respect. Another favourable circum- 

 stance was that when the frost was unusually severe the atmo- 

 sphere was very still, and, therefore, the cold did less to lower 

 the temperature of houses and injure plants than a frost of 

 scarcely half the intensity accompanied by a dry, searching, 

 scorching wind that would find its way into every hole and 

 cranny. The weather has been so exceptional that it would be 

 weU to notice a few simple matters which, owing to circum- 

 stances, occupied a considerable share of our attention. 



Protecting ilaterial. — Dry straw, litter, and old hay are in- 

 valuable for protecting purposes, and their value is greatly in- 

 creased in proportion to their dryness, a matter which is very 

 frequently forgotten, as, in uncovering, the men are very apt-- 

 say in the case of glass — to collect the covering in fi'ont of the 

 frame or pit, just in the place where, if a shower come, the 

 water will run off the glass and into the covering. This is 

 not of much importance if that covering is to be turned into 

 fermenting material, but is of great moment where there is, as 

 in most places, a difliculty in procuring dry material, and not 

 without paying well for it. It would be easy to avoid this by 

 placing the covering in little heaps where the rains would not 

 wash into it or into the base of the heaps, and thus be raised 

 through the whole by capillary attraction. Without much 

 trouble such little heaps cannot be defended from the rain that 

 falls, but if thrown together like little haycocks, it is only the 

 outsides that will become wet ; and very little practice will show 

 the great difference between dry and wet litter in excluding 

 cold, and that which is much the same, in excluding heat. 



Owing, we believe, to the comparative stillness of the air in 

 the severest frosts, and the somewhat dry state of the litter, 

 we have never known such hard frosts kept out by such a small 

 amount of covering. Sometimes in a very sharp morning, 

 when at first sight we thought it would be prudent to shake 

 up the surface of the covering, and thus break the lines of 

 radiation and conduction, and so force the frost to begin its 

 work afresh on the surface, or even to add a fresh sprinkling to 

 the surface, we have been saved either labour by examining 

 and finding that the frost had not been able to penetrate the 

 slender covering. Let us, however, add here that a covering 

 of litter would be greatly increased in its protecting properties, 



