Febrnary 7, 1««7. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB, 



107 



ehould be planted ; for the main crop the Green Longpod will 

 be found very useful. A portion of the Celery may be taken up 

 to check " running," and laid in by the heels very deep. Let 

 a bed or two of Cslery be sown directly on heat ; also of Por- 

 tugal or Tripoli Onion intended to be grown to a good size. 

 Spinach, Round should shortly be sown on a warm border, and 

 a little Parsley. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



Proceed without delay with all pruning, nailing, training, and 

 planting. Apricots and Figs may, however, be pruned when the 

 bearing wood can be distinguished. The nailing of Plums, 

 Pears, and Cherries, ought to be forwarded at all favourable 

 opportunities. At this time a commencement may also be 

 made with Peach and Nectarine trees. It is a good practice to 

 wait till the buds begin to swell a little, as too early pruning 

 only hastens that event, which is not desirable in our fickle 

 springs ; by disbudding all superfluous shoots in summer, the 

 knife has very little to do except in shortening the shoots. 



FLOWER OAEDEN. 



Every arrangement should now be made for planting Ranun- 

 culuses. Prepare the tubers for planting by removing all small 

 ones. These should be immediately planted by themselves, 

 as but few will flower in the coming season ; they will gather 

 strength and size for the next. As the present is the season 

 when the mosses attain their greatest perfection, it will be 

 found the best time to eradicate them ; a sharp-toothed iron 

 rake or light drag will be the best implement for this purpose, 

 working it sulBciently to bring up the moss, which should be 

 cleared off and the lawn left for some time, when a second 

 operation may, perhaps, be necessary. In March, sow thickly 

 Sheep's Fescue Grass and Crested Dog's-tail, and apply a 

 dressing of lime rubbish sifted and fresh soil, or the latter and 

 fine bone dust, which, with occasional rollings to keep the land 

 firm, will soon produce a good sward. 



GREENHOOSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



Now we have sunshine once more, a slight advance may be 

 allowed in the atmospheric heat, especially on bright days, re- 

 membering that in proportion as we advance in heat so must we 

 in atmospheric moisture and a free circulation of air. In ad- 

 dition to keeping the conservatory gay with blooming plants, 

 let the arrangement of the interior be occasionally changed by 

 grouping the plants somewhat differently, and adding a few 

 Striking ones, as some of the hardiest Palins, for effect. 



STOVE. 



The plants here will now require an increased amount of 

 atmospheric moisture with a slight advance in heat. I prefer 

 all such advances for the most part on the afternoons of bright 

 days, when solar heat may be enclosed early, and with it a 

 moist and wholesome atmosphere. Begin to repot Orchids, 

 taking them exactly in the order in which they bud ; be sure 

 that your material is scalded or half charred to destroy insects. 

 Keep the plants well elevated, and use plenty of charcoal in 

 lumps of considerable size, fastening the whole at last so that 

 the plants cannot be loosened by agitation. Sphagnum or 

 other moss pegged on the top makes a good finish, and is to 

 be recommended in houses which are unavoidably deficient of 

 atmospheric moisture. Syringe plants on blocks occasionally. 

 Keep a sharp eye on insect baits at this period. 



FORCING-PIT. 



Follow up a proper succession of the plants named in former 

 calendars. Take care to maintain a circulation in the atmo- 

 sphere as often as the heat will permit. This secured, use 

 abundance of atmospheric moisture, especially in the afternoon 

 and evening. 



COLD PITS. 



Having now turned our back on, I should hope, the severest 

 part of the winter, one of the first acts in spring should be, to 

 use a commercial phrase, " taking stock." Some havoc will be 

 found both in the flower garden and in the culinary depart- 

 ment, and steps should be taken without a moment's delay to 

 recover lost ground. The cold pits or frames containing stores 

 of half-hardy plants should be closely examined. Most of our 

 best cultivators of half-'nardy flowers for the modern improved 

 massing system lay in their stock by propagation during July 

 and August of the preceding year. Among these, in the 

 majority of cases, will be found blanks, and some of the best 

 store pots or established plants should be introduced into heat 

 in order to procure early cuttings. No delay can be permitted 

 in this matter, for much of the success in massing depends on 

 having plenty of forward, well-established, and well-hardened 

 plants at bedding-out time. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



Though our stiff ground is still very wet, took the oppor- 

 tunity of trenching and leaving rough-ridged any ground now 

 uncropped, as that lately occupied by Celery. Cleared oS for 

 the same object of trenching, two pieces of Turnips in good 

 condition, that were transplanted last autumn, and which were 

 not at all injured by the frost, owing to the slight covering of 

 snow. These Turnips were placed in a heap in a shady position, 

 and a little litter thrown over them, and they will keep sound 

 and crisp much later in the spring than if they had been left 

 growing in the ground. 



Storing Turnips. — The neatest, and seemingly the most work- 

 man-like mode of doing this is not always the best. We shall 

 presume that in either case the Turnips are put away before 

 they are injured by frost. We have sometimes noticed, when 

 nice dry Turnips and Mangolds have been carefully built in 

 large round heaps, or in long, span heaps, thatched and 

 earthed, with straw wisps, or wooden openings left for air, that, 

 nevertheless, the roots had heated and grown prematurely, 

 and been taken out much injured, many being decayed and 

 rotten, whilst from other heaps, and especially in the case of 

 Turnips, when thrown carelessly together to a depth of 2 feet, 

 or less, and merely a little litter strewed over them to keep out 

 severe frost, they would come out as fresh and as juicy as when 

 they were thus placed in a heap. If the rains should pass through 

 to the heaps, and these were not deeper than those referred to, 

 the roots would not suffer in consequence. It is as well to 

 keep Mangolds dry, as if wet a little frost injures them. 



There is little doubt that we often injure by mistaken kind- 

 ness. We had a piece of fine Endive in an earth-pit, over 

 which we put some old patchy sashes, as the weather became 

 severe, and threw some htter over the sashes when the cold 

 was greatest. The position was unfavourable to the Endive, 

 the autumn being so wet, and though we had a pretty fail- 

 supply, the Endive would not have kept, if we had been never 

 so anxious, as it (the Batavian) has done in front of a south 

 wall with merely a little rough hay shaken over it in a few of 

 the coldest nights, and where it is now green and healthy. We 

 have had the same sort standing out of doors all winter, each 

 row planted on a slightly elevated ridge (and consequently, 

 there was a vaUey between every two rows), with but little or 

 no protection, while those coddled in frames suiiered from 

 damp. Lettuces in frames over old hot'oeds, required a con- 

 siderable thickness of litter over the glass to keep them fit for 

 use, whilst a lot, pretty forward, in an open orchard-house was 

 kept quite healthy with a mere sprinkling of litter, and that 

 because the atmosphere of the house was so much more open 

 and dry than that of the frame. 



Sowed Early Hurn Carrots, with Radishes between, over a 

 hotbed ; thinned the smallest from the first Kadish-bed to give 

 more room for those that will soon be fit to pull, the present 

 supply coming from an earth-pit protected all the winter by 

 old sashes and a covering of litter in severe weather ; filled 

 another light with Asparagus, the last filled just appearing 

 whilst the first bed is about over. Sowed Tom Thumb Peas in 

 pots to fruit there, and DiUistone's Early in semicircular drain- 

 tiles, to produce under protection ; and will sow Sangster's, 

 &c., in turf for transplanting in the open air in a week or two, 

 as sowing out of doors is of no use with so many eyes looking 

 I after the seed to feed as many mouths. Turned out a lot of 

 Potatoes from small pots into producing pots, put a number 

 more of Ashleaf and Veitch's Early into small pots, to be trans- 

 planted into beds, where they can have protection, and will 

 start others ere long to go out of doors. Our seed Potatoes 

 have not kept well this season, having suffered much from dis- 

 ease, though they were housed in good order, a fine sample 

 then, and kept cool ever since. Put in successions of Sea- 

 kale, Rhubarb, &c., and sowed Celery and other things in 

 heat. Repotted Cucumber plants which have put on a fine 

 green livery since we have had a Uttle sun. Finished a hot- 

 bed for a frame, put the earth in the centre, covered aU 

 over with soil, and hope to plant out in a few days, as we like 

 to have the dung-frame and the hot-water pit to have a race 

 with each other, and they generally prove pretty equal anta- 

 gonists after this time, when litter can be had to bank up the 

 frame. Planted out in a pit three lights of Dwarf Kidney 

 Beans, from small pots, to succeed those now in pots, as 

 after this time planting-out saves much labour in watering, 

 though nothing does better in pots ; but now we shall want 

 almost every pot to be at liberty for other purposes. 



The first piece of Mushroom-bed in the Mushroom-house 



