Jane 2, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



S95 



larias, Roses, and other gay and popular flowers. If a canvas 

 screen is used, some of the Orchids may be removed to the 

 conservatory for the sake of prolonging their beauty. See that 

 the Fuchsias have abundant watering. Continue to train 

 Kalosanths neatly, and water with liquid manure occasionally. 

 Specimen Scarlet Pelargoniums should likewise have liberal 

 encouragement. Show and Fancy Pelargoniums for late 

 blooming will thrive better in a rather shady situation, and 

 the latter especially where they can at the same time be pro- 

 tected from heavy rains. The glass must be entirely taken off 

 Japan Lilies and Gladioli, unless very early blooms are desired. 

 Keep a portion in the shade of a north wall for a succession of 

 bloom. 



STOVE. 



Continue to shift young and growing stock, and to remove 

 early-grown plants for autumn or winter flowering to the cool 

 shelves of the greenhouse, in order to harden their wood and 

 prepare them for early excitability. This is a principle not 

 sufficiently acted upon. Much of the success in obtaining 

 winter flowers lies here. Stanhopeas will now be blooming ; 

 the baskets should be well examined, or fine buds will be lost 

 through contact with the sides. Let the house have a thorough 

 circulation of air early in the morning, and if the atmosphere 

 is warm give air most abundantly. If the fire is allowed to go 

 out early the air may be somewhat reduced by 11 o'clock; 

 pour water about, and the canvas screen may be thrown over 

 the roof if sunny. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



Let a stock of young plants be forwarded in small pots forth- 

 with. Achimenes for late flowering may be brought on gently 

 here ; it is astonishing what an amount of dryness for a great 

 length of time these will endure if well ripened. The stock of 

 Balsams and other annuals grown for filling the vacant places 

 in the greenhouses, &c, should be encouraged by frequent 

 shifts. Keep the plauts in bottom heat, and near the glass ; 

 pick off the early-formed bloom buds, as the plants should 

 attain a considerable size before being allowed to flower. Fu- 

 migate whenever green fly appears, as if suffered to establish 

 itself it soon disfigures the plants. Make a sowing of Cineraria 

 seed for winter blooming. Varieties of Schizanthus which are 

 coming into bloom should be occasionally watered with liquid 

 manure. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 

 Watering. — In a day from home which we lately had, one of 

 the things that struck us most was the abundance of water. 

 Inside the houses, and outside in the garden, water was used 

 without stint. In lake, river, rivulet, and water-works, there 

 seemed to be water everywhere. In one of the neatest nurseries 

 we have seen — well kept, and for its size rich in portable 

 specimen trees and shrubs — that of Mr. Sheppard, of Bedford, 

 they were moving evergreens in very dry weather so as to give 

 them more room, but a long gutta-percha tube enabled the 

 workmen to flood the rows. Under such treatment we should 

 be surprised if a tree or shrub failed, and all the more because 

 in our quiet walk round we noticed that the water was given 

 immediately to the roots in the trench, and the drier soil put 

 on the surface. In another nursery which we often see, and 

 where part of the ground has the benefit of a running stream, 

 vast numbers of fine shrubs that had been moved, and where 

 no water could be given, have failed, and thus entailed a very 

 great loss, even though the shrubs were moved in winter and 

 early in spring. 



Several notices have been made as to what our correspon- 

 dents say is a " new mode of watering and digging," so as to 

 keep moisture in the soil. We do not think there is anything 

 new in either. The keeping of the dry surface to the surface 

 is chiefly applicable and advisable when we wish to prevent 

 the moisture beneath escaping. If we wished to increase the 

 heat of the soil we should turn down the surface after being 

 well heated by the sun, and with a stream or a hose of soft 

 sun-heated water at our elbow, we would most likely adopt that 

 plan in order to produce rapid growth from a well-heated soil. 

 We are not yet sufficiently aware of what may be done by 

 turning the heated soil down and bringing the colder up to be 

 heated by the sun. In our case we were obliged to do what we 

 could to keep moisture in, even if by so doing we kept out heat 

 to a certain extent. 



As to the mode of watering at the roots, instead of on the 

 surface in spring, and early in summer, that too is very old. 



Many years ago the late Mr. Joseph Knight, of Chelsea, the 

 predecessor of Messrs. Veitch, noticed a youth in transplant- 

 ing acting on this principle, and inquired his reasons, with 

 which he seemed perfectly familiar. The practice is chiefly 

 applicable to the circumstances and times mentioned. The 

 same shrewd business-man at another time, in the heat of 

 summer, noticed the water poured freely from the spout of a 

 watering-pot on slightly sunk beds of fine American plants. 

 There was no question as to the quantity of water necessary 

 to reach the roots, nor yet as to the dispatch in using the 

 spout of the watering-pot, a hose then not being applicable ; 

 nor yet as to the propriety of the mode if forced to water near 

 the noonday hours ; but as it was then about 4 p.m., Mr. Knight 

 suggested that it would be better, though it took a little longer 

 time, to use the same quantity of water by going over the beds 

 several times with a rose on the pot, thus cleaning and re- 

 freshing the foliage as well as the roots, and to hold the pot 

 as high in the hand as convenient, chiefly that the drops of 

 water might carry as much air down with them as possible. 

 This idea is well worthy of attention, and has not been worked- 

 out so much by many of us as it might have been, chiefly first 

 from scarcity of water, and then, again, from the water being 

 so much the reverse of clear that it would not improve the 



These American plant beds suggested another valuable prac- 

 tice — that of surface-mulching. At that time the chief supply 

 of water for the Exotic Nursery was obtained from a large tank, 

 which was filled by a pump from a well, and many a youngster 

 dreaded the hour in rotation at the pump, as the ground fore- 

 man was pretty rigorous in enforcing that so much height of 

 water should be in the tank in an hiur. From frequent water- 

 ing in very hot weather the surface of the bed became smooth 

 and hard, and therefore, from the absorption of heat, evaporated 

 the moisture given very quickly — so quickly that the surface 

 roots were apt to suffer from alternate extremes of cold and 

 heat, and moisture and dryness. When well moistened, mulch- 

 ing would have reduced the watering to a minimum. It mat- 

 tered not so much what the mulching was. The best would 

 have been rough dry peat for American plants, the next rotted 

 leaf mould or decayed dung ; but as the spaces between the 

 beds consisted of the common soil, a little of that thrown over 

 and left loose would have saved a vast amount of watering, 

 caused the plants to flourish even better, and when the weather 

 changed, or towards autumn, taking most of this earth away 

 and placing it in its original position would have involved little 

 labour in comparison with frequent watering, even where water 

 was plentiful but had to be carried or wheeled, and would be 

 a good makeshift where it was scarce. Surface-stirring the 

 ground, aB with a Dutch hoe, not only keeps weeds from grow- 

 ing, but it acts as a mulching to the soil beneath, and therefore 

 is peculiarly useful in such summers as the present. 



There is nothing in which beginners and enthusiasts err 

 more than in watering. As timely, though old in these pages, 

 let us advise them never to water a plant except when it needs 

 it, and never to water without giving enough to reach the roots. 

 Do not forget that if intended as waterings, frequent surface- 

 sprinklings that do not go deep enough do more harm than 

 good, as surface rootB are first encouraged and then burnt up. 

 If water is applied at the surface and enough is given to reach 

 the roots, think of the modes referred to above for keeping the 

 moisture in. Notwithstanding, very slight surface-sprinklings 

 from a syringe or the rose of a watering-pot are very useful 

 when regarded as sprinklings and not as waterings. They are 

 especially useful to all fresh-potted and fresh-planted-out plants 

 when the roots are damp enough, and yet cannot contend at 

 first with the evaporation from the foliage in a bright sun. 

 Such a sprinkling refreshes the foliage, and what little falls on 

 the ground soon rises as vapour, and thus, even when the sun 

 shines, the sprinkling from the syringe will act much the same 

 as a shade in arresting free evaporation. Just now it is most 

 effectual when given about 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., but in the case of 

 bedding plants we have made a pailful of water go a good way 

 at midday. Let it be clearly understood that this sprinkling 

 is never intended to act on the roots, except as refreshing and 

 lessening evaporation from the foliage. The drenching the 

 roots of plants wet enough already is much worse than useless. 

 We have several time3 been forced to prove, when suffering 

 from thirst, that nothing is so sweet and refreshing as a 

 draught of pure, cool, and yet not too cool water. When 

 thoroughly satisfied and the thirst was gone, it would be a great 

 punishment to force us to drink a pint or a quart more. Many 

 a plant if it could speak would tell how it had been drenched 



