110 



JOURNAL OF HORTICDLTDBK AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ Febrnary 11, 1869. 



vious to the growing Beasou. Some little increase of tem- 

 perature may now take place, and that chiefly in the afternoon 

 by shutting up early. For mixed greenhoases it is somewhat 

 difficult to give precise directions. Plants of all countries 

 occasionally obtain a place here, and no special treatment in 

 regard to temperature can long be indulged in with impunity. 

 As a principle, therefore, of frequent and somewhat harmless 

 application, I would advise a rather free increase of heat on 

 sunny days early in the afternoon for a few hours, sinking 

 at night to 40' or 45'. Proceed as diligently as possible with 

 the repotting of such of the hardwooded greenhouse plants as 

 require it, so as to aiiord them every chance of making a 

 vigorous start. Be careful, however, before potting, to have 

 the ball in a moist state, and avoid giving large shifts to weakly 

 growers. Orange trees in tubs or pots should be carefully ex- 

 amined, in order to ascertain whether or not their roots are in 

 a healthy state, and those requiring more room should be 

 shifted at once. In many instances, however, it may not be 

 possible to afford large specimens a shift. In that case, remove 

 as much of the surface soil as can be done without injuring the 

 roots, and replace it with a mixture of loamy turf, broken bones, 

 decayed cow dung, and sand ; and see that the balls of the 

 plants are in a quite healthy condition. Manure water is of 

 great service to Orange trees, and may be applied freely at all 

 seasons, particularly when they are starting into growth. This 

 family of plants — that is to say, the varieties of Orange, 

 Lemon, Citron, Lime, and Shaddock, is fully deserving of 

 much more attention in culture. 



STOVE. 



Some little increase of temperature may also take place here, 

 and that too in the afternoon, by shutting up early, and using 

 plenty of moisture, taking care to thoroughly dry the foliage 

 previously by means of a free circulation of air. For Orchids, 

 a temperature averaging 65° by day may suffice, allowing it to 

 range to 70° or 75' on sunny afternoons, by closing the house 

 early. Look over the fastenings of those on blocks, or in 

 baskets, and renew the wires where necessary. Fasten a little 

 fresh material on those not to be shifted, but beware of burjing 

 the buds on the eve of their vegetating. Apply baits for snails 

 and cockroaches most assiduously, and attend closely to the 

 extirpation of scale. Examine, and shift where necessary, 

 stove plants in general, and cut back some of the kinds after 

 flowering, to produce cuttings. 



PITS AND FEA3IES. 



Attend carefully to the stock of bedding plants, and pot off 

 rooted cuttings as soon as they are fit, encouraging them with 

 gentle bottom heat and careful management to make quick 

 growth, for after this season there is no time to be lost with 

 young stock. Calceolarias if well established may be planted 

 out next month should the weather be favourable, in a turf pit, 

 in poor sandy soil, where they can be protected from cold 

 winds ; but they must be prepared for this by previously in- 

 uring them to full exposure to sun and air whenever the weather 

 will permit. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN OAKDEN. 



With but one bright sunny day — that of the 6th inst. — the 

 work in the kitchen -garden has been very little. There has 

 been no lack of vegetables from the open air this winter. 

 Cauliflowers from under protection are nearly over, but Broccoli 

 will soon be coming in plentifully. More as a precaution than 

 from necessity we have placed some strong Lettuces between 

 rows of Potatoes in frames, as they will thus be forwarded, and 

 be cleared out before the Potatoes take up all the room. The 

 dull weather has caused the Potatoes to push higher than we 

 care to see them, notwithstanding plenty of air, and to neu- 

 tralise this so far we picked out the terminal buds of the shoots. 

 This will cause little or no check, and encourage side shoots 

 rather than inordinate length of the main stems. 



Growing such crops in frames has this advantage over grow- 

 ing them in pits, that the soil and young Potato shoots can 

 be kept rather close to the glass at first, thus encouraging 

 sturdiness of growth, and then as the shoots gradually lengthen 

 the frame can be raised at the corners. Bricks or blocks of 

 wood are very good for this purpose. We generally keep some 

 bricks handy, which do year after year. When this process is 

 followed it is a good plan to have pieces of board, say 9 inches 

 wide and 15 or 18 inches long, placed flat on the bed, across 

 the angles at the coiners of the frame, and these boards will 



sustain the bricks or blocks that may be necessary for raising 

 the frame higher. When this is done the outsides should be 

 banked up again to the frame to prevent air, &c., entering 

 there when not wanted. 



Planted a large earth pit with Potatoes, which we can pro- 

 tect with old sashes, straw covers, &c., laid aross, and without 

 any artificial heat, as these will succeed those in 8-inch pots 

 and in frames over slight hotbeds, and come in before those 

 planted close to the bottoms of walls and fences with south, east, 

 and west aspects. The best-looking store Potatoes are liable 

 now to be deceptive to purchasers. In several cases that have 

 come under our observation, though the outside of the tuber 

 looked all right, the disease manifested itself in the interior 

 parts. The cutting with the knife was necessary to see the 

 defects. We noticed a fine sample of Eegents the other day 

 that showed no appearance of disease until they were cut or 

 cooked. 



Gave abundance of air to Radishes, took up more Sea-kale 

 and Rhubarb to place in the Mushroom house, sowed Dwarf 

 Kidney Beans in heat, daubed with flowers of sulphur the 

 walls of the pit where the plants are yielding, to keep thrips 

 and red spider at a distance ; potted young Cucumber plants 

 iu a dung frame, and cleaned the glass, to enable the plants 

 to obtain all the light possible in this dull weather. Where 

 economy is an object, even in hot-water pits, we prefer that 

 the young plants should become strong in dung heat before 

 being planted out where the heat is to be given by flues or hot 

 water. A two-light box will hold a considerable number of 

 plants, and before being wanted for the Cucumber plants, will 

 be useful for cuttings and bringing on Hi/acinHis. When 

 the Cucumber plants are small one light may be devoted to 

 them, with a division between the two lights, and then more 

 air may be given to the Hyacinths or cuttings. Before Hya- 

 cinths are moved to a greenhouse or sitting-room they should 

 be raised out of the bed for a day or two, and more air given 

 to them before removal. It is an error to allow these to re- 

 main until the flowers are all, or nearly all, expanded. Then, 

 no doubt, the spike will look better, but it will soon begin to 

 fade. When the place where the bulbs are moved to is warm 

 enough to continue healthy growth, it is more pleasing to see 

 fresh florets opening every day, and therefore the plants may 

 be moved when a few of the lower florets are expanded. 



Though not belonging to this department, we may here state 

 in reference to some remarks on the position of bulbs in 

 houses, that a lady, we presume, writes to say, " That if I 

 choose to have blooming Hyacinths even in dark passages, or 

 in corners of rooms farthest removed from the light of windows, 

 what is that to anybody ? " What, indeed ! we also reiterate. 

 Surely in such matters one may follow his or her own taste and 

 inclination. The healthy influence of plants under such circum- 

 stances is, however, quite a different affair. We feel assured 

 all the same that no Hyacinth, and no other plant that natur- 

 ally rejoices in the light, would ever grow in such positions if 

 its inclinations were consulted. According to the time that 

 such bulbs are kept in dark places will they be of little or no 

 use afterwards for future blooming. This latter fact may well 

 be kept in mind. 



Rotten and tlecai/infi spratj along with tree leaves for hotbeds. 

 An " Old Friend " tells us " that in clearing out an old place 

 he has some waggonloads of this material, rotten, half rotten, 

 acd fresh leaves in about equal proportions, and the half or 

 rather more consists of twigs and short branches, from the 

 thickness of a quill to that of the finger — some rotten or partly 

 rotten, and others fresh, and he wants to know if such mate- 

 rials would be of any use for a mild lasting hotbed. We fre- 

 quently in clearing out obtain a few cartloads of similar mate- 

 rials, and our experience enables us to say that hardly any 

 decomposing substance could be better for the purpose. The 

 bits of wood keep the bed from becoming too compact, and the 

 decomposition, therefore, and the heat thus produced, proceed 

 more gradually ; so the sticks answer the purpose of faggots in 

 beds as used by our old gardeners. Let us guard our reader, 

 however, from one unseen source of danger, and that is the 

 production of fungus from the half-rotten leaves and partly- 

 rotten wood. In such cases we like to pile the heap com- 

 pactly together until it heats somewhat strongly, before spread- 

 ing it out into a bed and making it up in the regular way. We 

 have no difficulty in this respect, as we can place some stable 

 manure either beneath or incorporated with the heap, and 

 thus, if we obtain a good heat in the heap, the spores, iic, of 

 the fungus will be destroyed. With these precautions and the 

 help of a Uttle stable manure or other fermenting substance. 



