JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 7, 1870. 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



Those who f irce Neapolitan Violets should for the next three 

 weeks or a month propagate stock, either by cuttings or runners. 

 Young stock cf choice Pansies of last autumn's striking should 

 now be planted out in the flower-garden beds or borders. If 

 the soil is in any way exhausted, a little fresh should be put in 

 the hole. Sow Sweet Peas and Mignonette. The water which 

 is apt to lodge in the cavity formed by the advancing Tulip 

 leaves ocght to be scrupulously removed, as at this season it 

 is of the first importance that every part of the plant should 

 be dry when frosts occur, it appears that the best means of 

 preveu'ing injury from hail storms, so prevalent at this season, 

 is to keep the beds covered with small-meshed nets, but these 

 should be sufficiently high to prevent the plants from being 

 drawn. Ranunculuses are now beginning to make their ap- 

 pearance above ground ; as they advance it will be a necessary 

 precaution to keep the soil well round the crown of the plant ; 

 when this is neglected the bloom is sure to suffer, though if 

 the surface of the bed be composed of sand to the depth of half 

 an inch there will not be much danger. In consequence of the 

 severity of the late spring frosts, it will be advisable to throw 

 mats over the beds, unless they are in a very sheltered situation. 

 Take special care that the frames in which Auriculas are kept 

 are well covered during the night ; should the expanding 

 blossom^ receive a cheek they become in florists' phraseology 

 set, and they will have great difficulty in expanding. Seedlings 

 will now be blooming in the southern counties. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



Propagation by cuttings is one of the most important parts 

 of the gardener's profession. Selection cf wood is the first 

 important point. The wood, as a general rule, should be short- 

 jointed, somewhat mature, and, for plants in an active state, 

 possessing leaves perfectly developed. The due care of the 

 leaf is the next great object ; this should never be allowed to 

 flag or droop from the moment it is taken from the mother 

 plant : hence the propriety of using striking glasses, which, 

 although enclosing a somewhat vitiated atmosphere, prevent 

 any undue perspiration in the leaf, which circumstance is of 

 more importance than the character of the atmosphere. In 

 making cuttings, the more healthy leaves that can be retained 

 the better, provided they can be carefully preserved, but in 

 order to find room for the multitudes required for modern 

 plantations, it often becomes absolutely necessary to reduce 

 these organs. In doing this, there is no occasion to strip the 

 catting like a hedge Poplar ; every stump of the leaf, and even 

 footstalk, that can be left without crowding the adjoining 

 cutting, contributes to the success of the cutting. Those who 

 desire to have the Camellia in blossom from October until 

 May, which it is quite easy to do, must, of course, force their 

 plants into wood successively. If a given stock were divided 

 into three portions, and one portion subjected to this process 

 in February, a second in March, and a third in April, this ob- 

 ject would be thoroughly accomplished, provided the subsequent 

 treatment was what it ought to be. Among the various dressy 

 flowers which should find a place in the greenhouse, a shelf or 

 a portion of the house should be reserved for some of the free- 

 blooming hybrid Roses. Cuttings of these struck last summer, 

 and kept throughout the winter in store pots, if potted in 

 moderately rich soil, and subjected to high cultivation, will 

 make nice bushes for next autumn and spring. They should 

 be forwarded in-doors for a month, and when established in 

 5-inch pots should receive their final shift at once. All blos- 

 som buds should be pinched off throughout the summer, if the 

 plants are intended for winter or early spring bloom. Cuttings 

 of young wood struck now will flower well late in the autumn, 

 if they are duly cultivated. Encourage afternoon and evening 

 warmth, but give air freely all the early part of the day. Take 

 care to fumigate little and often in all plant houses or pits, if 

 the green fly make its appearance. 

 [stove. 

 Increased heat and moisture may now be given to stove 

 plants in general, but above all, atmospheric moisture of a 

 permanent character. Have shading always at hand to ward 

 off intense sunshine for an hour or two. Use liquid manure 

 constantly to stove plants in general. If not attended to before, 

 it is now time to put in cuttings of the winter-flowering stove 

 plants, such as Eranthemums, Begonias, Justicias, Gesneras, 

 Euphorbias, &c. 



FORCING PIT. 



This department will soon find its occupation gone, so far as 

 the forcing of flowers is concerned, and therefore you must 

 take advantage of the breathing room to give encouragement 



to Clerodendrons and other free-growing plants, which now 

 require plenty of space. Some of the plants may al6o be re- 

 moved from the dung frame to this pit, to make room for Bal- 

 sams. Cockscombs, Amaranthuses, and such other plants as it 

 may be deemed necessary to grow for the Bummer and autumn 

 decoration of the greenhouse and conservatory. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



As we expected, the last of March and the first two days of 

 April gave us sunny days, reminding us of the middle of June, 

 or the first days of July. This, the 2nd of the month, however, 

 is the first morning that has not been frosty, if not wet. Seeds 

 of most of the main crops, as Parsnips, Onions, and Carrots, 

 have been committed to the ground. Could we have made 

 sure of such fine weather we would have deferred sowing until 

 the end of the month, but as time was going on, and stiff soil 

 needs all the time that can be given, we began to feel anxious 

 chiefly about the Onions, as our most forward, sown in the 

 autumn, had been cleared out of the ground, as well as a large 

 bed of Leeks, by unwelcome four-footed intruders. Our soil, 

 though frequently turned over, was not so dry and mellow as 

 we Bhonld have liked it to have been, and therefore, after tread- 

 ing, raking, drawing drills, &c, we resorted to an old palliative 

 under such circumstances, and covered in the rows with riddled 

 light sandy loam, merely drawing the back of a rake over the 

 whole to make it neat and level, and waiting until fine dry 

 weather had set in, and the seedlings were beginning to peep 

 through the surface of the soil, to pass a light roller over the 

 soil to consolidate it there. 



Where the soil is light, easily worked, and quickly dried, all 

 such care in covering seeds would be quite unnecessary, unless 

 the covering contained something in the way of rich con- 

 centrated dressing. In all soils rather stiff and retentive of 

 moisture — the best soils after all for holding crops, though 

 not for growing them early — in the largest gardens, as well as 

 the smallest, it will be an advantage to have a heap of dry soil 

 to go to for seed-covering. When, as in our case, the soil was 

 wet enough at sowing time, the dryness of the covering was a 

 great advantage. There was quite enough, and more than 

 enough, of moisture below to cause the seeds to swell and ger- 

 minate when sufficient heat reached them, and the young 

 shoots would grow strongly and healthily through the drier soil. 

 If severe frosty mornings should set in, the dry soil would be a 

 good protection. It would be some time before showers would 

 thoroughly wet it, but when they did the rains would pass 

 freely through, which they rarely do when wet soil is used for 

 covering. In the latter case the water would be retained as if 

 in a sponge, keeping the air from reaching the seeds, and often 

 causing them to decay instead of germinating. Hence the 

 great difference between working such soils when they are wet 

 and when they are dry. We have seen days spent in working 

 ground when wet, although it would have been more econo- 

 mical to have let it alone. Having stiff soils in summer free, 

 open, and easily worked, or hanging unkindly together like 

 huge blocks, will depend very much on the treatment we give. 

 In seed-covering, in most gardens plenty of material will gene- 

 rally be found in the refuse beneath potting benches. In the 

 smallest gardens a few barrowloads of fine, dry, light soil 

 will often come in most useful for seed-covering, and with 

 such help seed-sowing maybe practised almost in all weathers, 

 wet as well as dry. No seeds will ever be 6hut out from atmo- 

 spheric influence when such a covering is used. 



To avoid covering seeds with wet soil some, in the case ef 

 small seeds, merely sow them on as fine a surface as they can, 

 and slightly pat them into the ground, giving no covering. Some 

 seeds do very well thus treated, especially those which germi- 

 nate very quickly ; others that lie some time before swelling 

 and germinating, succeed tolerably if the weather is dull and 

 heavy, if not moist. But failures frequently take place when 

 such Beeds, partly exposed, are subjected to the influence of 

 bright sunshine. Moisture, heat, and access to air, are the 

 great essentials to healthy germination, but most seeds germi- 

 nate best in at least comparative darkness. The Blight covering, 

 proportioned to the size of the seed, keeps it in more equable 

 condition as respects moisture, temperature, &c. Exposure 

 to bright sunshine does much, in our opinion, to weaken or 

 destroy the vital powers of a seed. We once put a lot of seeds 

 — Peas, Beans, Cabbage, Turnips, Melons, Cucumbers, &c, 

 thinly on the shelf of a hothouse, and allowed them to remain 



