372 



JOUBNAL OF HORTIOULTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



( May 17, 1877. 



out of doors. The kitchen gardener will do well to take stock of 

 hia work to see that all the salads and vegetables that he is likely 

 to need are either sown or planted and making satisfactory pro- 

 gresB. *' A Kitchen Gardener" gave some appropriate hints 

 last week, and especially that referring to the Carrot maggot. 

 We have not tried Boot and lime, but this can easily be done 

 previous to sowing. We intend to try watering the crop with 

 water qualified with a glass of paralEu to a gallon or so of water, 

 as we have freqaeutly been recommended to do. 



VINERIES. 



In the earliest house the Black Hamburghs are colouring 

 rapidly, and the attention required now is very small. The 

 principal work is attending to the ventilation and damping the 

 paths about twice daily. We have frequently stated that a dry 

 atmosphere, or even dryness in the soil of which the border ia 

 composed, is not likely to be beneficial to the Grapes ; in fact, 

 we are persuaded that the fruit does not colour well under such 

 circumstances. I think it was stated in this Journal that Mr. 

 Meredith, who exhibited such finely coloured Grapes in June 

 and July, constantly kept the surface of his borders in a moist 

 Btate, and used to allege that this was the secret of his great 

 success as an exhibitor. There were not wanting those who in- 

 Binuated that the Grapes were sour; ourownexperienoe with the 

 Black Hamburgh is that sometimes the fruit is coloured before 

 it is ripe, but we have always found that the blackest Grapes 

 in the house were the richest flavoured and had the firmest 

 flesh. The common house spider is a troublesome interloper 

 in the vinery at this time; small specimens get into the centre 

 of the bunches and spin their webs all over the outer berries. 

 The only way to reach them is to thrust a pencil carefully into 

 the bunch where the spider is lurking, when it will let itself 

 down from the bmioh in considerable alarm, and may easily be 

 captured. 



As the fruit is cleared off Vines in pots the canes may be 

 destroyed. It does not pay to grow them on for future crop- 

 ping when young Vines may be raised so easily from eyes and 

 can be grown to a fruiting size in one season. Vines that are 

 being grown-on for fruiting next year must not receive any 

 check to their growth. When the pots are thoroughly filled 

 with roots shift-on into the fruiting pots without any delay; 

 12 or 13-inch pots are sulBciently large. We give abundant sup- 

 plies of tepid water to the roots, but not any manure water. 

 The potting material is good clayey loam, and the top spit of an 

 old pasture is the best. We have used it almost fresh cut, but 

 prefer to let it lie about three months stacked up on a heap with 

 the grass side under. To this loam we add a fifth part of 

 decayed stable manure and a few crushed bones. We drain the 

 pots well, and place over the drainage some of the fibrous part 

 of the loarn from which the finer particles have been shaken; 

 and in potting the compost is beaten in firmly with a wooden 

 rammer, and the more fibrous the loam is so much the more 

 firmly must it be rammed in. Many persons grow their pot 

 Vines in bottom heat; others condemn tin practice, as giving a 

 gross or succulent class of roots, which suffer during the winter 

 season. We have always grown our Vinos on a staging fixed 

 over the hot-water pipes, and thdir growth has been surprising, 

 the canes always being of the strongest description, and this 

 system we can confidently recommend. The treatment may 

 be summed-np thus : Water freely at the roots with water 

 rather warmer than the temperature of the house, and syringe 

 twice a day with the same. Close the house early in the after- 

 noon, but admit air early in the morning and rather freely by 

 day in hot weather. The mioimum temperature ought not to 

 fall below 05°, it may be 70 ' during warm nights. This treat- 

 ment to be continued until the wood shows signs of ripening, 

 when more air and less moisture should be provided, but the 

 transition must be gradual. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



Stage and Fancy Pelargoniums are well advanced towards the 

 flowering stage. We have been careful to fumigate all through 

 the winter on the first appearance of green fly, and at present 

 there is no trace of any in tbe house. Although we fail to see 

 them they may be present, and it will be better to fumigate at 

 once before any of the flowers open. The pots have a watering 

 of manure water about twice a week. Tree Carnations are in 

 flower; in fact we are never without these enjoyable fljwers. 

 The young plants have been potted off and placed in a cold 

 frame, where they will remain until they are established in their 

 blooming pots, when they do better in the open air. As the 

 growths progress it is necessary to tie them to their supports. 

 Green fly if not destroyed does much damage to Tree Carnations. 

 Nothing answers better than tci fumigate tlie plants well when 

 in the frames ; and if they are free from fly when placed out of 

 doors it is not likely to hurt them much before they are removed 

 inside in the autumn. 



A novel feature in the greenhouse are the hardy Cypripediums, 

 at the head of which must be placed C. spectahile. Some pots 

 of it in the shady corner of the house are throwing up many 

 strong spikes, but the flowers will not open until June. The 

 first to open is C. pubescens : this species has one and two 



flowers on a stalk which are just passing away, and 0. Oalceolua 

 is opening. This variety is dark purple with a clear yellow lip. 

 Another very interesting Orchid for greenhouse culture is Orchis 

 foliosa ; it does very well in the greenhouse and freely increases. 

 It is best to place the plants in a corner where they can be 

 syringed once or twice a day. We have tried the beautiful Diss 

 grandiflora under the same treatment, but have failed; and yet 

 it is grown at Chatsworth in a Heath house, where wo saw it 

 growing as freely as the Cypripediums do at Loxford. 



It is now a good time to sow Chinese Primula, Cinerarias, 

 and Calceolarias. The seed should be sown in pots in fine soil, 

 and be covered over but lightly. The seeds vegetate best with 

 the aid of a little heat, and the pots should be placed in a frame. 

 When the seedlings are large enough to handle we prick them 

 out into large GOpots, about a dozen in a pot, and when the 

 plants have made two or three leaves as large as a fourpenny 

 piece they are potted singly into thumb-pots. We sowed Cycla- 

 mens about a mouth ago, and the small plants are about ready 

 to be potted-off singly in small pots. We intend growing them 

 on in a little heat all the summer, and shall obtain a few flowers 

 from each in January and February next year. — J. Douqlas. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*,* All correspondence should be directed either to " The 

 Editors," or to " The Publisher." Letters addressed to 

 Mr. Johnson or Dr. Hogg often remain unopened unavoid- 

 ably. We request that no one will write privately to any 

 of our correspondents, as doing so subjeots them to un- 

 justifiable trouble and expense. 



Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet ques- 

 tions relating to Gardening and those on Poultry and Bee 

 subjeots, and should never send more than two or three 

 questions at once. AU articles intended for insertion should 

 be written on one side of the paper only. We cannot 

 reply to questions through the post. 



Books (F. a. F.i.— Oar " Oar Jea Manual " will suit yon, price Is. 6d.,or 

 froo by post, Is. S^d. 



BasES paoM Cuttings (S. J. W.). — You omit to state the season of the 

 year at which you inserted the Rose cattiogs. Oblige by Bupplyiflg the 

 dedciency, aod your letter ehall have oar atteutiou. 



Red Spideb (ilfdjor 3f.).— We never commauicate the addresses of corre- 

 spondents. A letter sent open to oar oftice would be forwarded. 



Instruments fob Dbessing Flowebs {R. J. S. H.). — ^We do not know 

 where the proper inshrumeuts for dressing flowers are to baobiainoi ; we have 

 never seen them offered for sale. If yoa apply to some of the eminent 

 florists perhaps you will be able to got the information from them. 



Planting a Flower Bobder (Firiei.— Wo do aot considerthe yellow and 

 scarlet objectionable, especially as the Iresine comas next to the Calceolaria. 

 We .should lilie the arran?emoQt better if the variegated Geranium could be 

 placed between the Iresine and Lobelia. 



Floor for Fernerv iTwrnty-yran Subscriber). — In makin'^ a fernery 

 over the boiler cellar we should adopt the plan you name of taming an arch 

 over the cellar in preference to building pillars and covering with flagstones 

 without an arch. Sooner or later the pointing in the latter case would give 

 way, and you might have some trouble with the dust, if not something worse, 

 arising from the boiler shed. With an arch you would be perfectly safe, and 

 yonr foundation would be the more substantial. 



Floweb-garden Arrangejients (7, P.,jiiti ). — We cannot submit modes 

 of plantiui;, brit can only criticise and sugyejt alterations when a proposed 

 arrangement is submitted to ug. Were we to propose a plan of planting 

 your beds we might advise the use of plants which you do not possess, and 

 not utilise others of which you may have a large supply. Your beds are 

 sufficiently large to have ma.'Ses .1 or 5 feet in diameter of say scarlet Gera- 

 niums round the Roses, fllling in the remaining spaces according to taste 

 and the plants at your disposal. 



Gold Fish in Garden Pond (F. J.). — A correspondent states that their 

 management is very easy — "so easy, indeed, that nothing more is necessary 

 than to prevent tho pond from running dry in summer and from being con- 

 tinuously frozen over in winter. I have two ponds ou the highest level of 

 one of the southern counties, in which there are hundreds of gold fish. 

 These ponds are not largo; the smallest is certainly not more than 25 feet 

 by 16 feet, and is not doip. Ab:)ut eight years ago seven or eight fish were 

 put in it, and they have increased wonderfully. The sides and bottom are 

 stiff clay, and in this the fish delight. Gold fish will not do nearly so well in 

 a fountain; they will live an i increase if it is of good depth, but not as they 

 do in a pond. Tbey are easily tamed — that is, they will come to the edge of 

 the pond on the top of the water whcu they hear voices if they are oooasion- 

 ally fed with a lew pieces of bread, over which there is rare scrambling. I 

 can remember gold fish in the larger pond for more than thirty years." 



Repotting kZ'^L.^ks {An Amateur). — Repot at once those that have not 

 flowered, and the others so soon as the flowers have fadel. Only give a 

 moderate shift and make the soil firm in potting, keeping the neck or collar 

 of the plants rather high in the centre of the pots. Place the plants in 

 heat, even those that appear to have made their growth, sprinkling overhead 

 twice daily, maiataining a moist atmosphere and shadiog from sun. They 

 should be continued in heat until the growth is complete, or t ) the end of 

 June or early July, and then have a cooler house with plenty of air and light, 

 so as to thoroughly ripen the wood for securing well-set buds. 



Mevenia erecta (B. C, I).).— Withhold water, but not to tho extent of 

 causing the leaves to be suddenly shed, keeping rather cool and comparatively 

 dry for ah )ut sis weeks, after which cut-in rather freely, leaving ample weU- 

 ripeeed wood for future breaks, and return to moisture and heat, repotting 

 when the new growths are an inch or two long. The plaut will flower again 

 in late summer, and should be kept rather dry over the winter. 



