February 10, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Ill 



requisite. As soon as they show signs of growth, let them be 

 introduced to this structure, and give a trifling amount of 

 water, increasing it gradually as the leaves unfold. Select 

 some of the best young plants of Euphorbia, Rondeletia, Bruns- 

 felsia, Jatropha pandunufolia, &c. and place them on bottom 

 heat. Cut back Poinsettia pulcherrima, Eranthemum bicolor, 

 E. pulchellum, Justicia peruviana, and J. coccinea ; shake out 

 and repot in open fibrous loam, half decayed, with some sand 

 and charcoal, the bulbs of Gloriosa superba, and place them 

 in bottom heat. No water should be applied to the bulbs 

 until they have commenced their growth. This, when well 

 cultivated, is a beautiful and very cuiious plant. Some of the 

 large specimens of Orchids, such as Stanhopeas, Gongoras, and 

 Catasetums, which require shifting, and then have become very 

 dry, had better be immersed in tepid water for an hour or two, 

 a day or two previous to shifting. 



FORCING PIT. 



Keep the bottom heat to 80°, and increase the atmospheric 

 heat to 80°, likewise, for a couple of hours on sunny afternoons, 

 with occasionally a slight syringing at such periods. If the 

 pit has a hot-water pipe or flue, great care must be taken to 

 insure moisture in the atmosphere. If there are two pipes, a 

 flow and return, as is generally the case, the bottom pipe 

 should rest in a cemented trough deep enough to enable the 

 water to cover the pipe when necessary, and from 6 to 8 inches 

 wide. Water, less or more, should be at all times kept in the 

 trough, at least after this period. 



COLD PITS AND FRAMES. 



Keep stock in pits and frames well ventilated whenever the 

 weather will permit, and the surface soil of the pots frequently 

 stirred. Dust with sulphur Verbenas and similar plants 

 attacked with mildew. Be particular in keeping the interior 

 of pits containing plants of the description just mentioned as 

 dry as possible. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



Oub general work has been to a great extent a continuation 

 of that of previous weeks. In the pleasure grounds and kitchen 

 gardens we kept turning and turning again soil that had been 

 thrown up while the frost lasted ; and since the frost has again 

 left ns, the frequent rains have prevented us doing much on 

 our heavy ground. Potting, cutting-making, and clearing out 

 and washing different houses have occupied a considerable por- 

 tion of our time this week. Cutting down some Laurels and some 

 fresh turfing had to be done according to the weather. Laurels 

 that had been planted chiefly for shelter have been cut down, 

 so as to be kept low for undergrowth, as other trees now ad- 

 vancing will afford considerable protection, and the Laurels 

 will not prevent a good view being obtained over them. Large 

 breadths of the common Laurel, when forming one low level 

 mass, look well in summer and winter. The only drawback to 

 such somewhat low level verdure is the frequent cutting to 

 which the plants must be subjected. This is a matter of time 

 and labour where the levels or banks are of great extent, but 

 on the whole the labour will scarcely be so much as with short 

 grass well kept. With neat specimens of ornamental trees far 

 enough apart for each to attain its full size and leave enough 

 room round it to show off its individual beauty, a thick under- 

 growth of the common Laurel, say 18 inches in height, has a 

 fine appearance at all times, and especially in winter, as the 

 green will ever be rich, when grass would often be brownish in 

 summer and winter. We can see some places where Laurels 

 so treated would be beautiful, but they should never be so 

 managed unless where labour can be afforded to cut them pro- 

 perly, and so as to leave few marks of the cuts to offend the eye. 



This leads us to state how important it is in planting speci- 

 mens to give them enough of room. We speak feelingly on 

 this subject, because we have ourselves often greatly erred in 

 this respect. When you put out a tree, some IS or 24 inches in 

 height, it seems such a difficult matter to keep in view at the 

 same time Jhat the period will come when that tree would 

 require for itself -10 or 50 feet in diameter : hence intended 

 specimens are placed too close together, and frequently several 

 are spoiled, because the owner feels it such a difficult matter 

 to decide which to sacrifice for the benefit of others. 



Another error of an opposite character is very common, and 

 that, too, when early results are wanted — namely, planting 

 trees with few or no temporary plants between them. This 

 will generally secure fine well-formed specimens ultimately, 

 but such specimens will often grow very slowly, and be stunted 



for years, and in some cases hardly ever become vigorous. 

 Young trees, like young children, thrive best in company, and 

 grow faster in the warm nursery than on the exposed down or 

 fell. Hence, to obtain good specimens early in a new place, it 

 is no bad plan to resort to something like the shrubbery thick- 

 planting system, but removing everything in time that would 

 interfere with the good specimens. Some of the finest Oak 

 woods we have seen have been drawn up with clean lofty boles 

 by the help of nursing plants taken away in time, and when 

 they were useful. We have frequently seen Oaks that have 

 been planted very thinly in parks thirty years or more, and 

 others planted at the same time in clumps and woods, the 

 spaces filled up, say -U feet apart, with Larches, Spruce, &c, 

 and now when all the nurses are removed, and the Oaks stand 

 out singly, these Oaks in height, elegance, and luxuriance far 

 excel those planted singly and thinly. Planting thickly is, there- 

 fore, not only the best mode for the tree raiser, but when ac- 

 companied in practice with " thin quickly," it is the best for 

 securing at the earliest period good timber. As respects the 

 two cases, planting in the open and planting in a thicket at the 

 same time, the trees now standing in the latter case would by a 

 stranger be considered at once at about double the age of those 

 in the former, whilst the thinnings of the timber would of 

 themselves have yielded on the whole a pretty fair rent for the 

 land. 



There is a great excuse for gentlemen planting thinly at first, 

 as the second part of the old adage, "thin quickly," has been 

 eo frequently neglected. We have seen an infinity of ruinous 

 results, whether planting has been done for covert, shelter, or 

 for timber. When this thinning is neglected, the object in 

 planting is entirely frustrated. For cover, what :an be better 

 than a nice Spruce, with its lower branches the longest, healthy, 

 and sweeping the ground ? What can be its use, with its lower 

 branches dead from want of light and air? It is good for an 

 Oak to be drawn up to make headway at first ; but how feeble 

 must its constitution become, when it is over-nursed from air 

 and light. The very thinning of such neglected woods re- 

 quires caution, as with so many trees in a limited space, the 

 root-room for each is small, and everything like free openings 

 to the winds would very likely be followed by the trees being 

 uprooted. Dilatoriness in thinning is often attended with 

 another evil, arising from the small space of ground for each 

 tree, so that even from want of nourishment, after a thinning 

 is given, the trees left never get out of a stunted state. We 

 have no doubt that rottenness at the heart of Spruce, <tc, 

 and piping at the heart of Larch, are often owing to a want of 

 sufficient nourishment, from thinning being so long delayed, 

 and the ground being thus called upon to do more than it 

 was able to accomplish. 



As the planting season will soon be over, and spring plant- 

 ing this season will have to be resorted to, where, on account of 

 dryness it could not be done during the past autumn, when trees 

 of some size are moved from a warm to an exposed place, it 

 will greatly help them if a straw or hayband be wound ob- 

 liquely round the stem and principal branches. These will 

 defend the fine bark until the tree becomes used to the position. 



We have found it a difficult time for fresh levelling and 

 turfing. Good turfing can hardly be done in wet weather. If we 

 do not think, as we ought to do. of the men's backs and knees, 

 it is next to impossible to level the ground and pack the turf 

 properly. Rain after the turf is down is a very different affair. 

 There is little danger of turf, that is laid down in the course 

 of this month, drying and giving trouble afterwards. When 

 such turfing is done near the garden, a little fine soil on the 

 surface beneath the turf is a great help to levelling. Every 

 space should be properly levelled before the turf is laid down. 

 For large jobs, we use several cords, and the level is made to 

 them. Provided the level is well made, and the earth beneath 

 of the same hardness, you can scarcely avoid leaving the 

 desired level behind you, if the turf-cutter take up the turf 

 of uniform depth. When you have to use various thicknesses 

 of turf, it requires art to pack the turf well. When uniform 

 in thickness little packing is required. When laid, and well 

 swept, the turf is first beaten, and then quickly, and finally 

 more slowly, rolled ; it rarely gives any more trouble. We have 

 turfed every month of the year, but it is best to do it from No- 

 vember to March. For large jobs leather knee-caps are a greut 

 help to the turf-layer. We know of no better concealer of 

 defects, and, therefore, no better exhibition of hypocrisy in its 

 way, than nice turf, which would pass muster for the scythe, 

 and yet give trouble to the mowing machine. A stranger 

 might pass along such turf, and never perceive heights, hollows , 



