March 3, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



169 



case of old plants shaking all the earth from the roots and 

 soaking them in clean water a few minutes before repotting. 

 This cleans the roots, and prevents the necessity of much water- 

 ing at first. We have commenced overhauling Ferns, using 

 for all potting purposes soil that is well aired, and warmed 

 in shed6 where there are stokeholes. Many plants suffer from 

 being potted in cold soil. All watering, even in greenhouses, 

 should be done with water slightly warmed — say nearly 60°. 

 In stove houses the water should be from 75° to 80°. More 

 air may now be given to the conservatory and greenhouse, and 

 especially at the top. Blooming Epacrises, Heaths, &c, and 

 even bulbs, should not have direct front air on them in cold 

 days. 



We find that the great fault of common waterers is, that they 

 send the water too much to the centre of the pot, instead of 

 allowing it to percolate through from the outsides of the ball. 

 This injures many hardwooded plants, as Epacrises and 

 Heaths, as the collars of the plants are injured by the damp, 

 and many a fiue plant of single and double Primula has thus 

 been irretrievably injured in dull, damp weather. When the 

 collar of the plant 13 wetted and kept wet in dull weather, 

 rottenness and gangrene are almost sure to ensue. A lady 

 used to beat us with Chinese Primulas in her windows. They 

 were gems to attract every passer-by. She used to laugh and 

 tell us she acted on the advice we gave, which it seems we 

 could not act on ourselves — namely, to sail the outside of the 

 ball all round, so as to moisten the roots, but to leave the 

 collar of the plant dry. The same rule holds good as respects 

 early Strawberries in pots. Watering overhead in dull weather 

 often rots the flower-bud, and destroys the flower-truss. 



As the sun gains strength, we gave weak manure water to 

 Camellias and Azaleas, and as respects the first nearly finished 

 blooming, we shall move them where their growth can be 

 encouraged. The only secret for having Camellias early in 

 winter i3 not to force them, but rather to let them come in in 

 a »ather low temperature, but to help growth and the early 

 setting of the buds in spring and early in summer. Thus 

 treated nothing is so obedient to the wish of the gardener as 

 the Camellia. We may say almost as much of the beautiful 

 varieties of the Indian Azalea, only they will stand a little 

 forcing ; but they will only do this when growth and bud- 

 setting are accomplished early. We have known cases in 

 which gardeners with their one greenhouse, or the help of a 

 little pit, were blamed because they could not equal the splendid 

 Azaleas exhibited early by Messrs. Veiteh and Mr. Turner, 

 but it would never pay to show such plants, except for the 

 orders they help to bring. The secret of this early blooming 

 is just this, clearing the plants of their blooms as soon as 

 possible, and placing them in a light house where growth may 

 be encouraged quickly by giving them the heat and atmo- 

 spheric moisture that would suit a house of Orchids, and 

 giving more air and dryness of atmosphere when it is desirable 

 to set the buds. The gentleman who cannot afford or give 

 similar means, must not expect similar results. In this respect 

 the Camellia is more under command. A man with one house, 

 by keeping his plants at one end, by damping, syringing, and 

 little air, may insure early growth, and this is the first 

 essential to early bloomiDg. Could we have our way, either 

 with plants in pots or planted out in houses, we feel we should 

 have little difficulty with Camellias, and where there are ladies 

 to please, what is moie useful in winter and spring ? Even in 

 a single house, and with Vines on the rafters, what a fund of 

 enjoyment may be realised even from a few plants in winter 

 and spring, such as Camellias, Epacrises, Cytisuses, Daphnes, 

 Primulas, Cinerarias, and Violets. 



We have been putting in a good many cuttings, and every- 

 thing strikes best eow in a little bottom heat. If under glasses, 

 or such little boxes, covered with a square of glass, as lately 

 described, all the more readily will the cuttings strike if rightly 

 attended to ; but much of our propagating is done in the open 

 bed under glass, and so long as a distance of 18 inches or so 

 from the glass, and a slight skiff from the syringe, keep them 

 from flagging we do not shade, as all shading tends to elon- 

 gate the' cutting without hastening its rooting. By covering 

 with glass you may have the rooting in half the time, but the 

 plants thus obtained want more hardening off afterwards. The 

 great secret of striking quickly is never to let the cutting feel 

 more than is absolutely necessary the check of its severance 

 from the mother plant. Hence, except in special cases, no 

 cutting if it can be avoided should ever flag, either before or 

 after being inserted. A moist atmosphere or a dewing from the 

 syringe will often prevent that and render shading unnecessary. 



We have sowu many flower seeds intended for the flower 

 garden — as Lobelia, Perilla, &c. ; and for pot plants, as com- 

 mon Cockscomb, feathered Cockscomb, See. All these will be 

 benefited by bottom heat. The soil in all cases should be sweet 

 and well exposed to the air. The only thing particular is to 

 have the soil fine and moist for all dust-like seeds as of Lobelia, 

 Calceolaria, &c. ; give merely a sprinkling of fine sand, press 

 down, cover the pot with a square of glass, and shade. We 

 often dispense with the glass, place the pots close together, 

 and cover with a double thickness of newspaper before the 

 seedlings make their appearance. We do not now state how 

 the pots should be prepared, cleaned, moistened, drained, sup- 

 plied with soil from rough to very fine, as that has frequently 

 been done, but we would merely remark, that if these matters 

 are attended to, we should never hear the twentieth part of the 

 blame that is thrown on nurserymen for sending out bad 

 seeds. Unfortunately the habit, though a bad one, is easily 

 learned of trying to throw the blame from ourselves on some- 

 one else. For early-blooming, Cinerarias, and more especially 

 Chinese Primulas, should be sown early in March. The seeds 

 of the latter are alwayB expensive if good, and those who have 

 good-coloured varieties should bo reminded that they will 

 have little chance of obtaining seed, unless they take the 

 trouble of artificially assisting the flowers in the usual way, by 

 bringing the anthers into juxtaposition with the pistils when 

 both are ripe for the operation. — R. F. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 

 In the Suburbs of London lor the week ending March 1st. 



23.— Overcast ; cloudy but fine ; densely overcast. 

 24.— Overcast ; fine ; clear and fine at night. 

 25.— Clear and frosty; very fine, fine, very mild. 

 26.— Very fine ; cloudy but fine ; overcast. 

 27. — Fine but cloudy ; fine ; clear and fine. 

 28. — Overcast ; densely overcast ; clear. 

 1. — Boisterous ; densely overcast ; rain at night. 



TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 



J. Carter & Co., 237 and 238, High Holborn, London, W.C.— 



Carter s Practical Garden' r, Fourth Edition. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*** We request that no one will write privately to any of the 

 correspondents of the "Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture^ dc, 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, E.G. 

 We also request that correspondents will not mix up on the 

 same sheet questions relating to Gardening and those on 

 Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them an- 

 swered promptly and conveniently, but write them on 

 separate communications. Also never to send more than 

 two or three questions at once. 

 N.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered until next 

 week. 

 Books (Wimblctu}iia>i).—The book is out of print. A better and fuller 

 one will be published before long. 



TJvedale's St. Germain Pear (F. Sooden).—The Belle An^evine, if 

 true, as is that exposed for sale by Mr. Solomons, is the same as Uvedale's 

 St. Germain. It has more than twenty other synonymes, which you will 

 find detailed in Hogg's ** Fruit Manual." You may have a Pear wrongly 

 named. 



Hyacinths and Narcissuses after Flowering (D. E. N.).—lf Hya- 

 cinths and Narcissuses are left in the pots in which they have bloomed 

 they will not be any better thaa were they taken out when the foliage 



