JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 27, 1870. 



ov two more to be taken off at the time of grafting, when a clean 

 out should be made. Fresh-planted orchard trees should be 

 securely staked, using a little hay or moss at the tie to pre- 

 serve the bark. In making fruit-tree borders, particularly for 

 the finer kinds against walls, fresh turfy loam is required, 

 therefore have it in readiness. The only addition should be 

 road scrapings, or something similar, for the Peacb and 

 Apricot, where the loam is heavy ; use loam itself for Cherries 

 and Plums, and add a small quantity of rotten cow dung for 

 Pear trees, but not if the loam is rich. Dust over on damp 

 mornings with soot and lime Gooseberries and other bush 

 fruit attacked by birds. Two or three dressings will be suffi- 

 cient to preserve the buds of these useful fruits. Where the 

 stock of fruit trees in pots is prepared for forcing the advantages 

 of a deep pit with a bed of leaves will be apparent ; the slight 

 bottom heat thus afforded will be found beneficial in setting 

 the roots in action. Cherries and Raspberries are the most 

 impatient of heat, and should be brought forward in a very 

 low temperature, and unless they are required very early they 

 will succeed better when started later. Peach trees should be 

 started with a top heat ranging between 40° and 00°, with a 

 gentle syringing daily, and air according to the state of the 

 weather. Here they may remain till they are nearly in bloom, 

 when a drier atmosphere being necessary, they may be re- 

 moved to vacant shelves or stages in any house at work, where 

 a moderate heat is kept up. 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



Where any beds or borders require a dressing of fresh soil, 

 this should be provided, in order to have it in readiness to 

 wheel on when the weather is favourable. Fresh soil, as 

 formerly stated, is, in most cases, preferable as a dressing for 

 flower-beds, manuring which is apt to cause too luxuriant a 

 growth for a first-rate display of flowers. On soils that are 

 naturally poor, however, and when neither fresh soil nor de- 

 cayed leaves can be had, a moderate dressing of well-rotted 

 farmyard manure will be useful ; but this should be well mixed 

 with the soil to the full depth of the bed, and not carelessly 

 •tnmed in and left in lumps near the surface, for in this case a 

 gross habit of growth would be promoted early in the season, 

 and as the principal part of the roots would be near the sur- 

 face in the manure, the plants would soon feel the effects of 

 dry weather, whereas if the manure is well incorporated with 

 the soil to the depth of about 18 inches, no ordinary amount of 

 dry weather will injure the plants after they are once fairly 

 established. Wherever there is a large extent of mixed shrub- 

 bery some care is necessary to prevent the stronger- growing 

 bushes from overgrowing the weaker ones, and it will be found 

 better every few years to lift and replant the former, than to 

 prune them severely, for doing so, by inducing the growth of 

 luxuriant wood, prevents profuse blooming. Never allow a 

 margin of bare earth to intervene betwixt the grass and the 

 plants ; any interval should be covered with low-growing plants, 

 as Periwinkles and others of similar habit, and the plants over 

 the remaining space should be made to cover as much of the 

 border as possible. The pruning of the more common kinds of 

 Roses may now be done ; should, however, a part of the Pro- 

 vence, Moss, and other summer-flowering kinds be required to 

 bloom late, reserve a portion till April for that purpose. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



When it is found necessary to water the beds in the con- 

 servatory, choose a fine morning for the operation, and give 

 enough to well moisten the soil, using lukewarm water for the 

 purpose ; and be careful to guard against damp for a few days 

 afterwards, by giving air, or, when this cannot be done, use 

 sufficient fire heat to secure a gentle circulation of the atmo- 

 sphere. Go carefully over the plants every morning, and re- 

 move any decaying leaves or flowers as soon as they are per- 

 ceptible ; for no amount of floral display will render a house 

 agreeable nnless accompanied by cleanliness and neatness. In 

 the arrangement of plants strive to produce as good an effect 

 as possible, by a judicious contrast of colour and form. The 

 larger kinds of Ferns, and some dwarf Palms, have often a good 

 effect when skilfully introduced among flowering plants. See 

 that Ericas have due attention as to water, and above all give 

 a free circulation of air day and night. Epacrises, Correas, 

 Polygalas, Acacias, &c, will now begin to blossom freely ; let 

 them all be carefully watered. The Acacias enjoy much moisture. 

 Pelargoniums which are rather early showing bud, and cramped 

 in pots, may soon have a shift. These shifts, for general garden- 

 ing purposes, are best given to a few at a time successively. Keep 

 up a regular succession in the show house, by bringing forward 

 stock as wanted. Roses, both dwarf and standard, Honey- 



suckles, Hybrid Rhododendrons, and Azaleas, with a host of 

 other plants, will enable cultivators, in addition to the usual 

 occupants of the houses, to make a good show. Hyacinths, 

 Narcissuses, Tulips, Lily of the Valley, and other plants of the 

 same class, must be duly forwarded as wanted. 



STOVE. 



A few Achimenes and Gloxinias should be set to work for an 

 early display, choosing those that have been the longest at rest. 

 It would be a good maxim to date the commencement of their 

 resting at all times on their labels, for, where these plants are 

 grown in a long succession, it is important to know such 

 matters. Achimenes set at rest last August will be found more 

 readily excited to a kindly growth than those put to rest in No- 

 vember. Some potsful of Gesnera zebrina first in flower should 

 soon be induced to rest for early work next autumn. This is 

 easily accomplished by withholding water, and keeping the 

 foliage still exposed to the light. The above should, if possible, 

 have a bottom heat of from 70° to 80° when set growing. Some 

 of the Orchids which are commencing growth, if very dry, may 

 have a little water applied at the roots ; this must be done cau- 

 tiously, the best way is to apply the water round the sides of 

 the pot, and by no means to saturate the 3oil round the collar. 

 — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



The frosty mornings, and even frosty days without sun, gave 

 us an excellent opportunity for wheeling manure, rubbish heaps, 

 &c. It is much better to have a clean barrow-wheel than not. 

 This object is to a great extent secured by having a little long 

 litter scattered thinly near the manure heap, as then the wheel 

 passes off clean, and scarcely leaves a mark where it goes. It 

 is always advisable whilst doing work to avoid making more. 

 We have known before now one day of wheeling requiring the 

 greater part of another day to make walks and paths all right 

 again. 



No better weather could be had for digging, trenching, and 

 turning over again roughly the ground that had been ridged 

 up. Talk as we may, there is no pulveriser and sweetener 

 equal to a good sharp frost, and the more loosely we leave the 

 soil the better will the frost penetrate into every cranny and 

 crevice. This is quite a different affair from the frost, if severe 

 enough, penetrating to great depths by free radiation and con- 

 duction ; but for a limited depth, and as a pulveriser, frost acts 

 most effectually when the soil is rough and loose, so that though 

 free radiation, &c, be somewhat impeded, the keen frosty air 

 finds its way into every opening however small. As a mere 

 pulveriser, then, we consider that in economy no agent is equal 

 to a sharp frost acting on land roughly turned up. As a sweet- 

 ener of what is lumpy, sour, and acrid, the most severe frost 

 in December and January acts but a very secondary part to the 

 cold winds but bright suns of March and April. 



Lime. — Having the chance, we gave a dressing of lime to a 

 border and bank intended for Potatoes, turning the ridges after 

 throwing the lime upon them, so as to give it a better chance 

 to act. Most stiff soils resting upon clay would be greatly 

 benefited even by a dressing of chalk. That, however, tells 

 merely as a mechanical calcareous agent. Lime which is at 

 all fresh and quick will do this as well ultimately, but at first 

 it will do much to render insoluble organised material soluble 

 and ready to be absorbed, and taken into the system of plants. 

 There is hardly an old kitchen garden that has received a fair 

 allowance of manure, that would not be greatly benefited by a 

 moderate dressing of fresh lime incorporated with the soil. In 

 poor, hungry land, where there is nothing to decompose, the 

 application of quicklime would be of little benefit, unless there 

 were a great scarcity of calcareous matter, and in this case 

 chalk and marl would be as effectual and cheaper than the 

 lime. In old gardens, owing to the abundance of humus from 

 old hotbed dung and rotten tree leaves, a dressing of lime 

 well incorporated with the soil will often be as effective aa 

 when it is applied to a boggy soil, rendered almost barren pre- 

 viously by the astringency of decaying vegetable matter. We 

 can recollect several cases in old gardens where Carrots were 

 a most desirable crop, but where it was almost impossible 

 to obtain anything like a good crop ; but when such ground 

 was ridged up early in autumn, had a fair application of burnt 

 lime, and was turned several times before the end of March, 

 the crops of Carrots were to be looked at and admired. Thero 

 are many old gardens where lime and a little fresh soil would be 

 more benefioial than heavy manuring. It is true " Dung 



