May 2, 1867. ] 



JOUBNAL OP HOBTICOLTUaB AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



31S 



Forget-me-not, and other useful little flowers, as also Pansies, 

 may be transferred with balls, to fill up blanks. See that 

 runners of the Neapolitan Violet are provided for the next 

 winter. Many excellent herbaceous plants have been lost or 

 rejected to make way for novelties. Auriculas are now in full 

 flower, and in order to prolong the bloom it will be necessary 

 to remove them from the frames to a north-east or northern 

 aspect, protecting them from rain by an awning of calico. 

 When seed of fine quality is a desideratum, artificial impregna- 

 tion may be resorted to. As seedlings attain a sufficient size 

 to handle, prick them out into store-pans. If Polyanthuses are 

 grown in beds and are intended for exhibition, the plants should 

 be lifted with a ball of soil and potted overnight, at the same 

 time watering well ; they may be returned to their places after 

 the competition is over, sustaining little or no injury by the 

 removal. Tulips are now colouring fast and when sufficiently 

 forward should be partially shaded, and especially protected 

 from hail storms, which usually occur at this time. Support 

 those requiring it with neat sticks, and keep the bed free from 

 weeds. Insert the whole of the sticks intended for the support 

 of the flower-stems of Garuatious. Late-planted layers must 

 be carefully attended to. If the beds of Pinks are not already 

 top-dressed let it be done without delay. Continue to pot-off 

 rooted cuttings of Dahlias, and harden those already potted. 

 Pansies may now be readily propagated by the small side-shoots. 

 Prick them out under a hand- glass on a shady border. 



GREENHOUSE .4N'D CONSERVATOHY. 



_ No tribe of plants is better adapted to keep up a constant 

 display than Azaleas. The numerous varieties of Azalea indica 

 are remarkable for brilliancy, whilst the hardy American 

 species delight with their agreeable fragrance. The principles 

 followed with regard to the Camellia to produce winter flowers, 

 are in the main applicable to the Azalea indica. Forcing into 

 wood betimes in the spring, a trifling amount of check to form 

 the bud, and a partial rest for a considerable time before excite- 

 ment, are the main features. The Azalea, however, will do 

 with more heat than the Camellia, and with rather less shading. 

 Plants intended for flowering next January and February should 

 be forced into growth without delay. The early-fiowering 

 plants of Primula sinensis, now exhausted, should be removed 

 to a cold pit or frame ; likewise early-bloomed Cinerarias or 

 other fading stock. It is of the utmost importance to have a 

 pit or frame for this purpose, as it enables the cultivator to 

 thin out the remaining stock now in rapid growth. Pelargo- 

 niums will now be making rapid progress, and the early plants 

 will now be coming into flower. Attend to tying them neatly, 

 and never allow them to suffer for want of water, and even a 

 little manure water will benefit them. Keep the foliage free 

 from dust, by syringing and washing, in order that the leaves 

 and flowers may be shown to the best advantage. 



STOVE. 



Attend to shifting all the free-growing plants, which will 

 now be making great progress, such as Clerodendrons, Glox- 

 inias, Gesneras, and similar showy kinds which contribute to 

 the decoration of the stoves and even greenhouses in summer 

 and autumn. The great art in cultivating these plants is 

 never to allow them to flag for a moment, but to keep them in 

 rapid growth by an abundant supply of heat and moisture, 

 and occasional shading in scorching sunshine, until their flowers 

 appear : they may then be gradually exposed to more air and 

 a lower temperature. Follow up frequent sj'ringing to stove 

 plants in general morning and evening. Do not suffer plants 

 to become crowded, or weakness will be the certain result. If 

 any room can be snared in the other plant-structures, a few of 

 the_ commoner or hardier kinds should be removed. Continue 

 to increase the temperature gradually, more especially when it 

 can be done by solar heat, accompanied by a very considerable 

 arnount of atmospheric moisture. This will be best accom- 

 pUshed from three in the afternoon till six, when the thermo- 

 meter may sink to 65° for the night. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



Annuals that were sown last month will now require to be 

 potted oft'. German Asters, &c., might be pricked-out in beds, 

 under mats supported by hoops, previous to transplanting. 

 Stocks and other annuals might be pricked out in the same way. 

 Pot-off tender annuals, with Convolvulus major and minor, 

 into pots, and protect them under glass until all danger from 

 frost is over. Tender plants that were potted off early should 

 be shifted if they require it; for if they get pot-bound before 

 being planted-out they seldom succeed so well afterwards. 

 Continue to increase the stock of Verbenas, Heliotropes, Salvias, 



Fuchsias, and all similar plants that may be required for filling 

 boxes, vases, and blanks in the beds or borders in June. — 

 W. Keake. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Shirji and Snails. — The weather has brought out these from 

 their lurking-holes in vast numbers. A hard, black-backed, 

 yellow-bellied kind, which nothing will settle but catching and 

 killing, has been holding high-festival peregrinations on the 

 hardest walks of the kitchen garden, and the quickest and best 

 way to destroy them is to pick them up on a dewy or damp 

 warm morning, and dispose of them according to fancy and taste. 

 If not sharply looked after, the common slugs and black and 

 striped snails would soon make short work of all crops of Let- 

 tuce, Turnips, &c., just as they come through the ground. 

 ^Vhere there is reason to suspect that they abound in the soil, 

 a sprinkling of salt scattered over the ground about three weeks 

 before sowing is good. In such moist weather, when slugs will 

 be sure to attack young seedlings, a slight dusting of powdered 

 quicklime will be a good protection, so long as the lime remains 

 quick ; but when by exposure it becomes mild, or chalk, it offers 

 no more inconvenience to their moist bodies than so much soil. 

 When thrown on the young plants, and the lime is very fresh, 

 it is as well to mix it with equal parts of burnt earth, wood 

 ashes from the men's fire-place, or roughish coal ashes from 

 which the dust and the larger pieces are excluded. Finely- 

 sifted ashes are of no use, but if the ashes are somewhat rough, 

 ranging chiefly from the size of Radish seeds to that of the 

 smallest Peas, the rough angularities of the ashes will distress 

 the slugs very much ; and even such will be more efficacious 

 if a little fresh soot is added, one advantage of which is, 

 that whilst the ammonia it holds is distasteful to the de- 

 predators, there is not a crop out of doors that will not be the 

 better of all such dressings with soot, and for the manuring 

 process it should be applied like guano just before rain is ex- 

 pected. For keeping off slugs and snails, the longer the soot 

 remains dry the better. Where labour can be spared, there is 

 nothing so effectual for keeping such slimy enemies as slugs 

 and snails at bay as picking them up early ii; the morning, 

 and this will be much facilitated if little mounds of brewers' 

 grains or greased Cabbage leaves are laid down the evening 

 i before. These, however, should be examined early, if before 

 daybreak all the better, and a sharp boy paid for the work is 

 the best for the purpose. 



Cuetimlers. — The brighter weather and the smoking seem to 

 have arrested the fly, and the production is everything that 

 could be wished. In the frames snails have been more than 

 usually troublesome ; and in some small pots, with a bit of 

 Potato or Carrot in them, and covered with dry hay, we have 

 caught a good many, though very few woodlice, for which we 

 had set the traps, and that in circumstances where we would 

 have expected to find them, as it is almost impossible for 

 an old garden to be free from them, especially when fermenting 

 material is used for forcing. Potted-off plants intended for 

 ridges and pickling, and put them under glass, where there was 

 just a little heat. We have tried these hardier plants many 

 ways, but, except in warm seasons, we could not do much with 

 them on the plan followed at Maldon, Sandy, and Biggleswade, 

 from which places so many Gherkins and short Cucumbers 

 for salad find their way to the London market, and prove a 

 very profitable crop. There the growers generally sow them in 

 rows, some 4 feet apart, like Peas, but shallow, in the first 

 fortnight of May : and all they do to them in a good season is 

 to thin them out like Turnips, let them grow as they like, and 

 gather the fruit. One of the oldest and best plans we have 

 followed in cold places is to make a ridge of fermenting 

 material from 2J to 3 feet in height and 4 feet wide, place 

 10 or 12 inches of soil on it, plant under hand-lights, remove 

 them when the plants are established, and let the plants run 

 over and down the sides of the ridges, and almost as far 

 as they like. Jf such ridges can be formed in the first week in 

 May it is best to sow four or five seeds under each hand-light, 

 as the plants then sustain -no check. The next best method is 

 to dig a trench 18 inches deep, fill with hot dung a little 

 higher, and then throw back the most of the soil. The ad- 

 vantage of the first mode, where the ridge is all above gi'ound, is, 

 that in a wet autumn the plants will suffer little from the 

 damp. The third best plan, where the open ground is re- 

 sorted to, is to dig holes — say 4 or 5 feet apart, and put a good 



