64 



JOUENAI, OP HORTICUIiTUBE AND COTTAGB GAKDENEB. 



[ January 28, 1869. 



dry weather, are enbject to become crooked. The best means of 

 keeping them straight are glass tubes that are made for the 

 purpose ; but they are costly and liable to breakage, therefore 

 three pieces of wood may be nailed together, having a piece or 

 strip for the bottom 3 inches wide, and to the sides of this 

 strips 2J inches wide may be nailed, so as to form sides, the 

 ■whole having the appearance of a box without ends or lid. 

 These are sometimes lined with strips of glass, but I do not 

 consider such necessary, though the fruit is said to grow more 

 freely in those lined, which effect, however, I consider has no 

 existence except in the imagination. The boxes will need to 

 be of- different lengths according to the length of the fiuit of 

 different kinds ; a number can be made very easily, and they 

 are very useful, and answer every purpose of keeping the fruit 

 straight, quite as well as the glass tabes. 



Aetificial Fertilisation. — It was a very common opinion 

 at one time that to effect the setting of the female flowers, 

 and secure the swelling of the fruit, the former should be fer- 

 tilised. This opinion hrs been some time exploded, fertili- 

 sation of the female flowers not being necessary, except when 

 seed is required. Fertilisation of the female flowers ought not 

 to be practised when the fruit is grown for use, as the fruits con- 

 taining seed are not nearly so free in swelling, and they swell 

 irregularly, and seeds are a great blemish in a Cucumber for 

 table. Though the fruit for use is best unfertilised, for seed 

 the female flowers should be fertilised with pollen, for the Cu- 

 cumber produces male and female flowers on the same plant. 

 The female flowers are borne at the end of the embryo fruit, and 

 consist of petals and stigma, having all the organs of fructi- 

 fication, except the stamens, the male consisting of petals 

 and stamens only ; and it is the yellow dust or powder on the 

 latter that must be placed on the stigmas of the female flowers. 

 It should be done when the flowers are fully expanded, and 

 during the early part of the day. 



After-management of the Bed. — The frame will frequently 

 sink after the dung begins to rot, and it becomes so deeply im- 

 bedded that the plants are too near the glass, owing to the 

 dnng beneath the soil of the bed not decaying in a correspond- 

 ing degree. The plants' foliage should never be allowed to 

 touch the glass, as it will be liable to scorch ; therefore, so 

 raise the frame by placing bricks on flat under the comers, 

 that there will be about 1 foot space from the soil to the glass, 

 and it is well if it do not exceed 15 inches. In raising the frame 

 see that any cracks made in the soil are filled up, closing any 

 interstice between it and the woodwork of the frame, and press 

 it down rather firmly, so that in watering the water may not 

 run off without wetting other portions of the bed. The linings 

 around the frame, after the latter is raised, should be made good 

 to the sides of the frame with dung or litter. — G. Aubet. 



WINTER M.VNAGEMENT OF PELARGONIUJIS. 



The remarks of Mr. Peach on the winter management of 

 Pelargoniums may be said to illustrate two extremes in the 

 vrintering of a class of plants, the right method of doing which 

 is very simple. 



The system of management quoted by your correspondent as j 

 being that recommended by many gardeners is one which, I 

 ■venture to assert, no good gardener would either recommend 

 or follow himself if he could possibly avoid it. That hundreds 

 of gardeners do keep the most of their stock of Pelargoniums 

 in cutting-pans is doubtless right, but that many are kept in 

 the same pans till required for the beds can hardly be so cor- 

 rect ; for even it there is no space under glass, nor any pots 

 to be had, yet, with a little management, a good start may be 

 given to the plants long before they are wanted for the beds. 

 In support of this assertion I may instance a plan I have suc- 

 cessfully followed in such an emergency, which, although it 

 may not possess much merit or the score of originality, yet, as 

 being an excellent makeshift, may be worthy of note. 



The plants are shaken out of the cutting-pans early in March, 

 and planted thinly in a rich free soil on a warm border, and 

 protected by means of a rough kind of frame made of some 

 9-inch boards, nailed together to form the sides, over which 

 thatched hurdles are put at night and during cold windy days. 

 Plants so treated make a quick strong growth — so strong, in 

 fact, that they are not unfrequently larger and better plants by 

 the bedding season than those which have passed the winter in 

 separate pots. I do not, of course, pretend to infer that crowd- 

 ing a number of plants together in cutting pans is by any 

 means the best method of wintering them — far from it ; but 



when a gardener must keep a stock of many thousands of plants 

 through the winter, unless he is better provided with spare 

 glass houses than most of the fraternity, he will gladly avail 

 himself of any practical contrivance which may offer. 



With regard to tie other system which is so strongly recom- 

 mended by Mr. Peach, it seems to me to be a matter of regret 

 that the treatment of a class of plants, whose proper manage- 

 ment is simphcity itself, should be made to appear so difficult 

 and expensive as to dishearten vast numbers of the readers of 

 " our Journal," who have no such resources as your corre- 

 spondent appears to possess. Again, as to the " work of de- 

 struction " in taking cuttings, he must be a poor gardener 

 indeed who is unable to fake a cutting or two off each plant 

 without materially affecting its appearance. In the case of 

 new or scarce varieties, of which it may be desirable to increase 

 the stock as largely as possible, Mr. Peach's plan may be appli- 

 cable, as then every catting to be had would be utilised ; but 

 so far as regards the general stock I for one must prefer an 

 earlier, more easy, and more certain method of propagation ; 

 I also do not think it is at all likely that many employers 

 will be inclined to put themselves to the expense of erecting 

 houses specially for bedding plants while these can be wintered 

 so easily, and so well too, in such places as vineries at rest, 

 orchard houses, and, in fact, in any cool house that has a spare 

 shelf or two. 



And now a few words on checking damp amongst Pelargo- 

 niums in cold pits. I have lately tried several experiment?, 

 such as sprinkling charcoal dust over the surface of the soil 

 and amongst the plants, which doubtless does some good ; but 

 the most effectual remedy is to scatter over the damp foliage 

 enough dry silver sand to absorb the moisture, which evapo- 

 rates more quickly from the sand than it would othei^wise have 

 done. When the sand appears to have become quite dry again 

 it is dusted off the foliage with a soft hair brush, and this 

 process is repeated as often as it is necessary witla the best 

 results. — Edwaicd Luckhuest, Egerton House Gardens, Kent. 



GARDENING IN TOWNS. 



My first operation to commence the year is with bulbs. As 

 the borders and beds are all filled with Chrysanthemums up to 

 December, I am compelled to put in nearly all the bulbs tem- 

 porarily under some trees. In the first week in October I fork 

 up the soil and spread 6 inches of loam and leaf mould, one- 

 half of each, well mixed together, all over the piece of ground. 

 When the surface is levelled I put in the Hyacinths, Tulips, 

 and Narcissuses 4 inches apart, and the Snowdrops and Crocutes 

 3 inches apart. They are then covered over with rotten leaf 

 mould or cocoa-nut fibre. 



In December, when the Chrysanthemum bloom is over, I 

 take up the bulbs, lay them in temporarily, and fork up the 

 beds, mixing with the soil a little rotten durg and fresh loam. 

 I then level the beds, and with a hand-fork carefully lift the 

 bulbs from their temporary quarters, place them on a hand- 

 barrow, and take them to the prepared blooming beds, being 

 careful not to break off more roots than can possibly be avoided. 

 The Hyacinths and Narcissuses are planted from 6 to 8 inches 

 apart, each variety by itself, so that those in each bed are all 

 of one height and bloom at the same time. The Crocuses and 

 Snowdrops I plant round the outside, so that when their bloom- 

 ing is over the foliage forms a green edging for the other bulbs. 

 The Tulips I plant 4 inches apart in the same compost, but 

 with a slight sprinkling of sand on the surface to keep away 

 worms. 



When the bulbs are placed on the beds the whole are covered 

 to the depth of 3 inches with light loam, then with '2 inches of 

 cocoa-nut fibre. If they could be oil grown in .5-inch pots and 

 plunged they would bloom much better when turned out of 

 the pots, but this I am not able to do ; still, in the way I treat 

 them they bloomed well last year, there not being one shabby 

 flower out of some hundreds. If very sharp frost sets in I 

 stick in and bend over some long hazel sticks, and throw mats 

 over the top. 



The following are the varieties I find best for border culture — 



Hyacinths. — Wiiite. — Grand Vainqueur, Anna Paulowna, 

 Grandeur .4 Merveille, Bichardson, Grande Vedette, and Hannah 

 Moore. Blue. — Baron Yon Tuyll, Charles Dickens, Belle Afri- 

 caine, Orondates, William I., and L'Ami dn Caur. lied. — 

 Robert Steiger, Amy, Charlemagne. Pink. — Belle Coiinne, 

 Norma, L'Ami du Cceur, and Jenny Lind. 

 Tulips. — )(7ii(t".— La Candeur, Pottebakker, Eojal Standard. 



