June 14, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



449 



It is only where the plants are well eBtabllshed and growing 

 vigorously that fertilisers should be given ; to attercpt to force 

 the plants into growth is snre to result in failure. Ocoa- 

 fiionally go over and pick off all dead or decaying leaves, 

 and destroy any insects which may be disfiguring the plants. 

 — {American Cultivator.) 



DOINGS OF THE LAST AND WOBK FOB 

 THE PRESENT WEEK. 



HARDY FRUIT O.UiDEN. 



Now that high drying wituls have succeeded the long-con- 

 tinued cold and wet weather it will be well to look to fruit trees 

 which were planted last season, and especially to such of them as 

 were planted late in the spring. If previous instructions have 

 been attended to, the trees will have been secured to stout sticks 

 to prevent their being shaken by the wind. It will be well to see 

 that the fastenings are secure, and if the bads do not break 

 freely let the trees be syringed twice a-day — in the morning 

 about six, and at about the same hour in the evening. If the 

 soil around the roots is dry let it be well watered, and the 

 mulching of short manure that was recommended to be placed 

 over the roots will serve to retain the moisture. 



Horizontal-trained trees on I he walls have made much healthy 

 growth ; this has been cut back to within two or three eyes of 

 the base of the growths, and the yonug wood on such trees 

 which have not filled the space allotted to them has been care- 

 fully secured to the wall. It is usual to train the leading growth 

 of such trees in a vertical position, and if the growth is allowed 

 to grow to the ecil of the season it may run-up about C feet. 

 Instead of this, stop the leader when it has grown about 

 12 inches, back to 9 inches, when it will start again and also 

 throw-out lateral growths. Let the leader be again trained 

 upright, and the two lateral growths horizontally ; in this way 

 the wall will be much more quickly furnished than if the lead- 

 ing shoot had not been stopped. 



The Strawberry beds ought now to be well watered and 

 mulched with manure. We hope that the blossoms will set 

 well on the plants out of doors to compensate us for those in 

 the orchard houEe, which have set very badly indeed. They 

 happened to be in flower just at the time that the dull cold 

 weather and severe frosts at night set in, and as it was not con- 

 venient to heat the house, the result was that we have scarcely 

 ever had such a bad set of fruit. The plants out of doors are 

 crowded with blossoms. All that is wanted now is some 

 tropical weather to carry the fruit to perfection. To have pro- 

 duce of the very best quality it is necessary to thin the fruit 

 out, and some clean straw must either be placed utider it as it 

 begins to ripen, or small branchlets from the ends of Pea sticks 

 must be stuck round the plants to support the trusses. The 

 fruit always ripens best in that way in a dull cold season, and 

 being raised above the ground is much more readily protected 

 from wet. 



It is a good plan to look over Gooseberry and Currant bushes 

 and to thin-out any supeiflnoas growths. It is quite as neces- 

 sary to do this as it is to thin-out and train the young wood on 

 wall trees ; air and light are more freely admitted to the fruit, 

 and the wood having more space is stronger and better ripened. 

 We have kept the Dutch hoe at work amongst Raspberry bushes. 

 Strawberries, herders of dwarf and pyraojid trees, and all open 

 spaces where there might have been .any weeds. If the dry 

 weather continues we shall mulch and water when necestary. 



PINE HOUSES. 



Unless it is necessary to hasten the ripening of the fruit it 

 is quite as well not to use much artificial heat from the hot- 

 water pipes. Nothing is gained by it when the weather is warm ; 

 indeed, it is a question whether the plants are not injured 

 thereby. Of course there ought not to be any insect pests on 

 the plants, bnt if there should be they will spread much more 

 rapidly in an atmosphere artificially heated than they will in 

 one where artificial heat is reduced as much as possible or alto- 

 gether. The house onght not to be shut np close if there is any 

 fruit ripe or nearly so, but if no fruit is swelUng-off the house 

 may be closed at four in the afternoon, or earlier or later as the 

 sun may act upon it. All plants not potted into their fruiting 

 pots and intended to ripen early next season should be attended 

 to at once. It is well to have the fruiting pots thoroughly filled 

 with roots by September, so that the plants may enjoy com- 

 parative quiet for two or three months. It is not possible to be 

 regularly and completely snccessfal in the culture of any fruits 

 unless a rest cf this length can be provided. Strong suckers put 

 in now and grown-on without any check would make good fruit- 

 ing plants for next season, but they are not as a rule adapted 

 for very early forcing. 



PEACn HOUSE. 



The earliest trees will now be producing fruit for the dessert. 

 It has been rather a difljcult season for furcing Peaches, but the 

 earliest houses have done pretty well, as at the time the trees 

 were in blossom the weather was not nnfavourable to the setting 



of the fruit, and, this over, all the rest is easy enough. A net 

 ought to be fixed under the trees in some way to catob the fruit 

 and prevent its being bruised. It is not a bad plan to look over the 

 houses daily and carefully gather all fruit that will part readily 

 from the trees. It requires a little experience to do this, but 

 those who are accustomed to it can tell which fruit are ripe and 

 may be most readily gathered without injury. No fruit is easier 

 injured, and if it is bruised in the least it rapidly decays. It 

 ought to be laid carefully in a fiat basket on a sheet of cotton 

 wadding and tissue paper, and no more handling should be 

 allowed until it is to be used. Peaches and Nectarines gathered 

 just before they are ripe and removed to an ice house will keep 

 for a considerable time. They will also retain their freshness in 

 a cool room behind a north wall, and the more equable the tem- 

 perature can be kept the better. The fruiting house should have 

 the ventilators quite open night and day, and no moisture is 

 needed from evaporation. As soon as all the fruit is gathered 

 give the trees a thorough watering over the leaves with the 

 garden engine. In later houses, where fruit is swelling freely 

 afts r stoning, syringe freely with tepid water night and morn- 

 ing, and shut up as early in the afternoon as possible ; if the 

 temperature rises to 90° it will do no harm. Of courte when 

 the fruit approaches the ripening stage less heat is desirable, 

 and the syringing must be discontinued. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



We alluded a week or two ago to the difiiculty of doing equal 

 justice to plants in flower and those which have ceased flower- 

 ing and are making their growth. This is more apparent at 

 this season than at any other. Many hardwooded plants are 

 injured if they are placed out ef doors at this season of the year ; 

 and what they require is a light well-ventilated position pro- 

 tected alike from hurricanes of wind and heavy rain. A canvas 

 structure will not answer, as it is too dark and draws the plants. 

 Where there is a house specially for such plants no diffictdty 

 arises. In our case we have not such a house, but we have a 

 few frame lights available, and these have been utilised by 

 erecting a light framework and placing the plants under the 

 lights. They are protected from rain, and if a high wind should 

 arise some shading material will be nailed on to the exposed 

 side. Heaths, Epacriees, Hedaromas, Aphelexes, &c., have been 

 placed out under the lights, and they will receive that treatment 

 best adapted to their several requirements. Of course all plants 

 which are in flower are kept in the greenhouse until the flowers 

 fade, when they are also removed out under the glass lights. 

 During the present drying weather flowers rapidly fade, and the 

 house does not look well unless they are removed at once. 



It is usual to insert cuttings of stage Pelargoniums when, 

 the flowering period is over, but there are always some short- 

 jointed cuttings to be had early in June, and if these are taken 

 off at once and each cutting planted singly in a small pot, they 

 speedily form roots and make very fine plants by the autumn. 

 Each of such plants if managed well in the way of stopping and 

 potting will produce from a dozen to a score of good trusses of 

 flowers in C and 7-inch pots. Lapageria rosea and L. alba are 

 now making very rapid and good growth. The best treatment 

 for the summer months is to keep the plants in a cool house 

 and syringe freely once or twice a-day. The growths must be 

 carefully trained as they advance, else they twine and in- 

 terlace each other in a way that makes it difficult to untwine 

 them again without breaking-off many of the leaves. Azaleas 

 which have finished flowering have had all the seed-pods re- 

 moved, and the plants have been placed in a house where they 

 can enjoy a stove temperature and be freely syringed. Any 

 strong growths that seem inclined to rob the others of their 

 proper share of nourishment are stopped, and plants that require 

 repotting are attended to at once. 



FLORIST FLOWERS. 



The National Tulip Show was held on the 5th, and the North- 

 ern Counties Show on the 8th. As far as we can hear most 

 of the principal growers were not able to show their best blooms 

 owing to the lateness of the season. It was not so with us, as 

 every one of the blooms are over, and the seed vessels h^ve 

 been removed to prevent their doing any injury to the bulbs. 



Pinks come next in order, and they ought to be at their best 

 at the date of the next great} show at South Kensington, but we 

 doubt if a dozen flowers will be out on at least 150 plants ; they 

 are quite two weeks behind, but are looking remarkably well. 

 The beds are mulched, and are watered as they require it. 



.Vnrioulas are now in ordinary garden frames behind a north 

 wall. This is the best position for them in all gardens south of 

 tho Trout. In the north of England and in Scotland, if the 

 back of the frames are turned to the north it may bo suflicient. 

 The flower stalks of Carnations and Picotees aro fastened to 

 sticks as they increase in growth. The plants must not suffer 

 for water at this season, else the blooms will not be good. — 



J. DOUOLAS. 



TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 



.1. Linden, 52, Rue de Chaume, Ghent, Belgium. — Illustrated 

 Catalogue of New and Bare Plants. 



