92 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 31, 1867. 



heap, or stack, which will be very useful for gardoning pur- 

 poses, lightiag tires, &c. Daubed the cut parts with a jpaint 

 of cowdiing and clny. 



The fall of snow afforded a second opportunity to give our 

 orchard-houses a good smoking with bruised laurel leaves, and 

 a repetition of the proceeding will be wholly unnecessary. The 

 roof was so covered with snow that only a little smoke escaped 

 next the wall at the top, and that was trifling. The snow 

 became discoloured with the smoke, and retained a strong 

 scent of the laurel leaves even when melting in heaps in front 

 of the houses on the "JSrd, when there was the commence- 

 ment of a gentle thaw. Proceeded with washing the trees, well 

 washing tie wall with hot soap water, and then with limewash 

 toned down with lampblack to take off the bright white of 

 the lime. If we be as little troubled with insects as we were 

 last season, we shall be quite satisfied. 



Open IValli. — The weather prevented all work here except a 

 little pruning on fine days; the snow hung on the trees pretty 

 well until the 23rd, and that partly kept us from doing what 

 we intended, namely, syringing the trees with warm water 

 containing either a little salt in solution, or enough quicklime 

 to give the trees and walls a coating. This we have long proved 

 good for cleaning the trees and walls of moss, and preventing 

 the attacks of many insects and snails, when followed by a 

 sharp frost. If salt is used, no more should be employed than 

 enough to make tha water saline, say a handful of salt to five 

 gallons, for if at all strong it will make the wall moist, and if 

 the bricks or stones are old and soft, it will cause them to scale 

 off and become softer and powdery. We had no quicklime at 

 hand, or we would have contrived to have had this work done. 

 It always proves most elTective, even to loosening scale on the 

 bark, if followed by a sharp frost. Warm water will be better 

 than cold. Of course, when lime is used, the trees and wall 

 will look whitish afterwards, but that is mostly concealed 

 when the leaves open. If the colour is objected to, it may 

 be darkened with a little soot. 



Pcach-hoi.'sc. — To keep the frost out from lots of plants, even 

 the necessary little fir« heat is beginning to have an effect on 

 the_ trees, and, therefore, as we have no wish to hasten them 

 on in such weather, we will remove forward Cinerarias at the 

 first favourable opportunity. We removed as many young 

 Pelargoniums, as would set two long shelves at liberty, and 

 filled them with Strawberry plants from frames in the mild 

 day or two between the frosts, filling the frames again in 

 ■which there is just the mildest bottom heat. The few fruit of 

 Black Prince Strawberry from a low pit were deficient in 

 flavour, owing to the sunless weather, and plants in fine 

 bloom have not set over-well from the same cause. We have 

 no doubt they would have done better on shelves, in a steep- 

 roofed house, where they could have had all the light which 

 the season would have given them. Our Peach-house is at a 

 pitch of about 45°, and there we have no trouble with Straw- 

 berries setting, but less or more trouble with early Strawberries 

 in all houses, and especially pits, with low, flat roofs. A low 

 house is better than a pit for this purpose, because containing 

 according to its bulk more air, and because the light passes 

 into the house past the Strawberry plants. 



We have a lot of plants in a pit set on the top of a bed, near 

 enough the glass, and where help from tire heat can be given 

 them, and we expect if left there they will do tolerably well; 

 but they will require more watching now than if they had been 

 set on a stage, or boards, in the same pit, and we "would not 

 expect them then to do so well now, as if ranged on shelves in 

 a house with a steep roof ranging from -15' to 3.5'. A couple of 

 months after this the flat-roofed pit and frames will answer 

 much better than now. 



ORN.-IMF.STAL DEPAET5IENT. 



The last charred and clay-burned heap was wheeled on the 

 ground in tbe frosty mornings, and another heap nearly 

 finished, that will clear up everything that can be so applied 

 for the present. We hope after the 23rd, if the thaw fairly set 

 in, to move a great many plants, and obtain more room for 

 potting. In the meantime went on potting Fuchsias, &e., in 

 soil warmed by standing in tha Mushroom-house, over fur- 

 naces. .Tust as at this season it would be injudicious to supply 

 water colder than the temperature in which the plants are 

 growing, so nothing is so successful for covering plants with 

 insects than fresh-potting them in soil much colder than that 

 previously about their roots. In both cases, the water and the 

 soil should be a few degrees warmer than the atmosphere in 

 which the plants stood. 



As respects the general management of plant-houses and pits 



see notices of previous weeks. The wateriuq in such weather 

 should be done in no careless manner. As a general rule, the 

 above precei>t as to the water being quite as warm as the at- 

 mosphere, ought never to be departed from. The second great 

 rule is, never to water a plant until it requires it, and then to 

 give enough to reach every fibre, but not to run much through 

 the pot, as, unless when the air wants moistening, in very 

 severe weather the less water that is used the better. 



It will often happen, even when the roots are damp enough, 

 that plants will flag under a bright sun, when they have passed 

 through a week or even a few days of close cloudy weather. 

 Under such circumstances the whole processes of vitality wero 

 working in a most languid state, and, therefore, roots and 

 leaves were acting iu perfect harmony, but a bright sun breaks 

 out suddenly, and the quickened activity of the leaves in evapo- 

 rating cannot at once be met by the action of the roots, though 

 moist enough, and flagging and signs of distress follow. The 

 uninitiated at once pour water over the soil that was moist 

 enough before, and which leaves it afterwards too moist, to Le 

 cooled inordinately by evaporation, and thus frequently pailful 

 after pailful is used without quite redressing the evil, when a 

 few quarts thro^vn as a sort of mist over the foliage would pre- 

 vent all the mischief and most of the labour, and leave the 

 soil in a more healthy condition. In a bright sun the leaves 

 would soon dry, and, therefore, no danger would ensue frcm 

 the foliage being left in a damp state at night. Such a slight 

 syringing will most commonly be required during the forenoon. 

 A slight shading would often answer equally well, but there is 

 no remedy so quick, so refreshing, and so natural as a skiff 

 from the syringe under such circumstances ; and though it 

 might injure some very tender plants with delicate foliage, it 

 is very seldom that any harm will thus result to the generality 

 of plants. When thus syringed in sunshine, there would be 

 a little air in the house, and under such circumstances we have 

 never realised among plants in general those evils of burning, 

 spotting, and lens-blotching of leaves, which are so much 

 enlarged upon as the consequence of the sun shining on damp 

 foliage. Of course, we would not advocate this system to any 

 great extent, and especially in summer, for then it would be 

 less needed, as the changes from dullness to brightness are not 

 so rapid as in winter and early spring; but there can be little 

 doubt, when a bright day succeeds several of a dark dull 

 character, that a skiff from the syringe will often be better for 

 plants that rapidly perspire in sunshine than repeated drench- 

 ings at the roots when the soil is moist enough. 



These, and the remarks of a visiting gardener, have reminded 

 us of what is worth noting, as respects watering. In a large 

 nursery establishment, a good many years ngo, we were em- 

 ployed turniug out a great many plants in rows, in a hot May. 

 The plants were turned out, the trench about half filled, and 

 firmed against the roots, and well watered, and then the dry 

 earth was put over all, to prevent evaporation and yet secure 

 plenty of moisture and coolness about the roots. The nursery- 

 man on passing seemed pleased, asked us why we did the work 

 so, and was satisfied — naj", more, said something very pleasing 

 about thought and work going together. In a similar establish- 

 ment lately, in an equally hot May, a young man had turned 

 out Mignonette from pots into boxes, had packed them well, and 

 watered them well from tbe spout of a pot ; but as the sun was 

 powerful, and the boxes stood in the sun preparatory to their 

 being removed to a sunny verandah, the tops of the plants began 

 to flag a little, and the young juan was just giving them a whisk 

 from the rose of a watering-pot, to refresh them, and check 

 evaporation, when one of the firm passed, and ordered some one 

 else to take the watering-pot from the young man, as he knew 

 nothing at all about watering. Now, if the young man had 

 intended to water the boxes in that way, the proprietor might 

 have been right. As it was, inquiry into the subject would 

 have shown that he would have found reason to praise, instead 

 of to blame. Whoever again deluged tbe roots of such plants 

 was only throwing water away. A very little on the foliage 

 would arrest evaporation, and this was all that was wanted. 

 But for the time it would take, watering from the rose is often 

 better than watering from the spout, because the water from 

 the rose takes so much more air along with it. Time, how- 

 ever, is an objection to such a mode iu general cases, and, 

 no doubt, the sweeping condemnation of the nurseryman was 

 based upon it. The young man was actually attending in the 

 best way to his employer's interests, when he received the 

 reproof. A little inquiry would often save much unplea- 

 santness, and the greatest and the wisest are only falUble at 

 best.— R. F. 



