338 



JOUBNAIi OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



[ May 13, 1869. 



these should be marked to oconpy a more central position in 

 the bed ; others may be short in stem, these, of course, should 

 not be in the middle. Auriculae and Polyanthuses require 

 keeping cool and free from weeds. Top-dress Carnations and 

 Picotees as recommended for Pinks. Tie up the stems as they 

 advance, not too tightly, and thoroughly soak the soil when 

 water is given. Water Eanunculuses between the rows oc- 

 casionally and effectually. By no means stir the surface soil. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSEBTATOBT. 



Many of the commoner kind of plants may be removed al- 

 together from the conservatory, as there will be no necessity 

 for crowding. On the contrary, as none but specimen plants at 

 this season should be allowed a place here, each must have 

 sofficieut space afforded it to display its particular claims to 

 notice. Give abundance of air, avoiding drying draughts, and 

 syringe and water when necessary. Some of the commoner 

 kinds of winter-blooming plants may be removed from the 

 greenhouse, and others as they become unsightly must be 

 turned out to make room for the principal specimen plants 

 now coming into bloom. Place them very thinly so as to dis- 

 play their individual charms, and keep the house cool, moist, 

 and shaded, so as to retain the flowers as long as possible in 

 perfection. Be on the alert with young specimens, keep them 

 stopped, and encourage them as much as possible. Such plants 

 as the Boronias, Leschenaultias, Eriostemons, &c., would now 

 be best in a frame or pit, where, while they have a free venti- 

 lation, they can be protected from chilling draughts. Syringe 

 the young plants occasionally, and sprinkle the vacant parts 

 so as to keep a moist growing atmosphere. 



STOVE, 



Many of the climbers in this bouse will now be growing 

 rapidly and some of them showing bloom, especially the Ste- 

 phanotis and AUamandas. If room can be spared to prevent 

 the plants becoming entangled, it is not advisable to train too 

 soon, or probably some of the flowers may be blind. The 

 most forward of the Clerodendrons will now be showing their 

 bloom panicles, encourage them as much as possible by a 

 brisk bottom heat and plenty of manure water, and guard 

 against red spider and insects of all sorts. Eondeletias, Ixoras, 

 Gloriosas, and the like must be encouraged in a similar manner, 

 as must all young growing specimens. Ventilate freely night 

 and day, and keep a moist free-growing atmosphere. Plants 

 for winter blooming must be attended to, and Gloxinias, 

 Achimenes, &o., may, as they come into bloom, be removed to 

 a cooler house. Look to enccessional crops of them, especially 

 of Achimenes cocoinea.— W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCEEK GARDEN. 



It was well that the ground between most of the young 

 crops in the kitchen garden was Dutch-hoed, as the week, 

 np to the 8th, has been showery, doing a vast amount of good 

 to all growing crops, but not the most suitable weather for clean- 

 ing, or even sowing. We sowed succession crops of Turnips, 

 Radishes, Lettuces, Cauliflowers, and made a first sowing of 

 Coleworts. We also pricked-out Celery, so as to bring it for- 

 ward, and sowed for late crops, though but little of this last 

 will be used until the spring months. 



We potted-oil Cucumber.':, intended for planting on ridges or in 

 the open ground, chiefly for pickling : as, though tastes differ, 

 we think that Cucumbers grown under glass are the sweetest 

 for the table. Some sorts, quite sweet all the summer if grown 

 under glass, are apt to become bitter when grown in the open 

 air. The Cucumber is more given to surface-rooting than the 

 Melon, and, therefore, may have more surface space to feed in, 

 though a great space to ramble over is seldom of much ad- 

 vantage so far as fruitfulness is concerned. About Sandy and 

 Biggleswade, whence great quantities of the Short and Long 

 Prickly find their way to the London markets, the seeds are 

 sown this month in the open air, and the plants thinned-out 

 much as a farmer would do his Turnips. We question if in a 

 certain space under glass so many fruit could be cut by any 

 other mode as growing the plants in large pots, and using 

 frequent rich top-dressings. The quantity of fruit thus pro- 

 duced is amazing, and plenty of fresh vigorous roots are 

 always to be found near the surface. The manure, leaf mould, 

 &c., used for topdrpssing should be sweet, well aired, and free 

 of the spawn of Fungi. Old Mushroom dung is good, but 

 only good if every bit of spawn is destroyed. We have seen 

 Cucumbers die off unexpectedly, because the compost used had 



spawn of Fungi, which permeated the soil, and the roots could 

 not thrive. 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



Had the Strawberry quarters surface-hoed, and would dress 

 them now with a little lime and soot if we had enough of each, 

 or of the soot alone. The lime we use chiefly to destroy slugs 

 and snails, or make them shift their quarters. We shall not 

 be able to use straw for the rows for some time, to keep the 

 fruit clean, nor will it be needed for some weeks. A little soot 

 is of great advantage to Stiawben-ics just before the flowers 

 open, as it may be expected there will be plenty of rain to 

 wash all clean before the fruit is of any considerable size. 

 Drainiuge from the dunghill or farmyard, or liquid manures 

 not too strong, are also of much importance, and if given before 

 rains are expected, all the better, and then may be a little 

 stronger when used. After all the concentrated manures now 

 ready for our disposal, we still have a strong favour for the 

 drainings from a farmyard, proviJed they are not used too 

 strong. However fine Strawberry plants may be, the blossom 

 will not set, and the young fiuit if set will not swell, if the 

 plants be dry at the roots. To secure this dampness at the 

 roots at ripening time, perhaps there is nothing better than a 

 layer of clean tan ; and in extreme cases of wetness the fruit 

 is less liable to decay than when straw or litter is used. 



Later crops of forced Strawberries are doing better than the 

 earlier ones, and fearing we should run short before we had a 

 plentiful supply out of doors, we potted with large balls some 

 hundreds of the plants, showing strongly, that we pricked-out in 

 good soil in the open garden last autumn, and plunged the pots 

 up to their rims in a rough hotbed out of doors, merely to 

 encourage the filling of the pots with roots. We also filled a 

 pit with similar plants, turning the large balls into soil at 

 once, but with a similar rough bed beneath Ihcm, so as to yield 

 a little heat, and covered them with the sashes which had been 

 used for Neapolitan Violets, turned out to be replanted in beds, 

 and to be brought back again in the autumn. By such means 

 we generally secure a late supply before we obtain them out of 

 doors, and with but little trouble except the transplanting. Of 

 course, with all care, the plants will suffer a little from the 

 lifting, but the little bottom heat soon enables them to recover, 

 and to throw np their flowers strongly. In such beds, as fruit 

 is the object, we generally plant them in rows about a foot 

 apart, and thickly in the rows, according to the size of the 

 plants, and the bulk of the balls. We do not for this purpose 

 dig the ground very deeply in the autumn, but we make it tole- 

 rably rich at the surface, or rather for 3 or 4 inches deep, and 

 this encourages the fibres to keep near the surface. Of course, 

 every plant is passed over that does not show flower trusses. 



Now, as to time gained, when we thus raise fruitful young 

 plants and plant them in a bed so as to give a little bottom 

 heat, and then cover them with sashes, we generally obtain 

 the fruit eight or ten days earlier than we could by merely 

 placing a box with sashes over a piece of Strawberries with a 

 favourable exposure in the open ground. From merely placing 

 sashes ofer a south border, and boards back and front, and 

 shutting up rather closely early in the afternoon, we have often 

 obtained Strawberries a fortnight earlier than in the open 

 ground beside the covered part. This, however, depended 

 much on the weather, for in cloudy, dull weather, but little 

 advantage was gained by the glass alone, not so much as when 

 there was a little heat below the roots. Those who cannot 

 resort to either of these means, may yet accelerate the ripening 

 from a few days to a week, by covering the ground close to the 

 plants, and between the plants, with slates or tiles. We prefer 

 for this purpose red-coloured tiles, as neither heating so fast, 

 nor cooling so quickly as dark-coloured slates. 



We thought that the Pear blossom, though abundant, was 

 scarcely so large as usual, but the Apple blossom is magnificent. 

 No season could have been better for late-transplanted trees, 

 the showers came just at the right time. One or two of our 

 large Peach trees out of doors are threatening to die, we believe 

 partly owing to the drought of last season, and a little fly is 

 appearing on others, which will receive a good washing with 

 lime or weak soft-soap water directly. 



In the orchard houses hardly any insect has troubled us, 

 and the wood is coming well, and the foliage green and very 

 dark. A few twigs showed sign? of the brown beetle, and were 

 either removed at once or cleaned. These houses have been 

 gone over once or twice, as to removing shoots, and want doing 

 again, but there are so many things which must be attended to 

 at once, that we are often forced to compromise matters and 

 strive to do work before any injury occurs. The floors of these 



