&t 



TODENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Joljr 23, 1868. 



wish to prolong are covered up. See, also, to the young Straw- 

 berry plants layered in pots for forcing, and as soon as tbey aie 

 w*ll roi.ted have thtm np, put them in larger pots, and plunge 

 tlie unall pots again for another lot of plants if you want 

 thtm. When the Apricots begin to change colour, keep a 

 eharp look-ont for snails and woodlice. To keep the first in 

 check, where they are numerous, syringe repeatedly with clear 

 lime water, not doing it too late, as otherwise a thin film of 

 chalk would be formed and spoil the look of the fruit. Lettuce 

 leaves. &c., may be strewed near the wall after being greased on 

 one side, and should be examined every morning. The syringe 

 will also drive away the woodlice, as "they do not like water, 

 and cut stalks of Beans may be inserted among the branches of 

 the trees as traps, but the great remedy is to keep the wall in 

 good order so as to give them no place for concealment. These 

 very hot days are just the delight of the red spider, and if it 

 once establish colonies on the under sides of the leaves of 

 Peach trees it will he secure for a time, defying all the battering 

 from your garden engine. It is recommended to daub the 

 open spaces of your wall with a paste composed of sulphur 

 and water, and then the more intense the heat the stronger 

 the fumes of the sulphur will bo. Look over Vines on walls 

 to stop laterals ; thin-out weak shoots, and keep the rest neatly 

 tied-in. The fruit will now be advancing, and the bunches 

 should be thinned-out with a pair of scissors, which is an 

 operation that is very essential to their perfection both in size 

 and flavour. 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



Put in cuttings of different Scarlet Pelargoniums now, and 

 they will be Stto remain some weeks in the open air to harden 

 off before the winter sets in. Auriculas and Polyanthuses 

 must at this season be kept from excessive rain, and, above all 

 things, avoid a continuous drip. Nothin;; ruins an Auricula 

 so soon as wet lodging in the ciown or heart. The aphis must 

 be sedulously watched for and never allowed to get ahead. 

 Tulip seed continues to ripen ; secuie the heads as soon as the 

 ased ^a eel opens, or the ttalk becomes dead, put them in pa| er 

 bags, and hang them up in a dry place. Contmue to layer Car- 

 nations. A great deal of th.e success of wintering Carnations 

 depends on having strong and early-rooted layers, that tbey 

 may be well-established in their pota before winter. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



As the varieties of Ihunbergia alala are among the best plants 

 for the conservatory at this time, and are coming more into 

 fashion every season, a few suggestions for their management 

 may he acceptable, as some find them difficult to manage. A 

 key to the natural or true management of these plants is given 

 by Mr. Backhouse in his narrative of a visit to the Mauritius 

 and South Africa. He says " Tbey grow in shady places, much 

 in the tame way that Ground Ivy grows in England." From 

 this we may infer that the back border, or under the large 

 specimens planted out in the conservatory, is the proper situation 

 for these plants ; then they might scramble among Ferns, 

 toots, moss, stones, &c., after the manner of Ground Ivy. 

 To prepare them for this purpose they ought to be planted 

 out in pits early in May, using very rich rough compost, and 

 fresh moss placed all over the bed, keeping the moss damp, 

 shadmg the plants in the middle of the day, and allowing them 

 to run all over the mess. As we draw towards the autumn 

 this house will become of more general interest. In the height 

 of summer, especially if like our present one, plants do not 

 keep long in flower in the conservatory, and there is so much 

 to be seen out of doors that people do not spend much time 

 among house plants, but we shall soon have cold mornings 

 and evenings when a houseful of fine-flowering plants with 

 a mild temperature becomes a matter of great luxury, espe- 

 cially if the conservatory is attached to the living-rooms. 

 Ipomsas and Passion-Flowers are the chief autumn climbers 

 for this houfe, and the fragrant Mandevilla suaveolens is now 

 clustered from end to end with large bunches of its delicious 

 fragrant blooms. Plumbago oapensia, cut down last May when 

 coming into bloom, is now blooming the second time, and 

 will be in flower till October. Stephanotis floribunda is the 

 most accommodating plant we have, and ought to be in every 

 collection, and in numbers too. It will flower freely in the con- 

 servatory when first brought forward in a vinery or stove, 

 and it flowers in every intermediate degree up to the roasting 

 or broiling heat of the Orchid house. This is a critical time 

 vrith greenhouse plants out of doors. The fervid heat is now 

 60 great as to produce the tropical winter of vegetation, when 

 the parching heat of the sun acts upon and produces in some 

 •degree a dormancy in the Bjstem of plants. Wheu occasional 



showers fall and we see the surface of the soil in the pots 

 moist, we are satisfied until the drooping or withering foliags 

 upbraid us for our neglect, and, perhaps, particularly with 

 Heaths, New Holland, and similar plants it is noticed when too 

 late to save. These ill effects may be avoided by plunging the 

 pots in coal ashes, and by syringing the plants overhead in 

 the evening, examining them when doubtful on the subject by 

 gently turning one or two out of their pots to see the state of 

 the ball, as it requires some experience to distinguish whether 

 a plant wants water or not from the ring produced by rapping 

 your knuckles against the side of the pot. The Camellias oat 

 of doors should be surfaced with fresh soil if they require it. 

 Cinerarias, whether seedlings or suckers, should have regale 

 attention, and those intended for autumn work ought to be 

 potted forward without delay. 



STOVE. 



About the beginning of August some of the best gardeners 

 treat their established stove plants somewhat like those of the 

 greenhouse for five or six weeks. They either remove the 

 plants to more open houses, or throw thtir stoves open on pur- 

 pose, removing dwarf, tender, and young delicate plants into 

 close frames. Whatever conveniences of this nature may be 

 at hand should be made the most of at this time. Nothing can 

 be more injurious to stove plants than keeping them growing 

 late in the season, and thus preventing the ripening of their 

 wood, which renders them more liable to injury in the winter 

 and prevents them flowering freely next season. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



The lights should now be drawn off at night where the plants 

 are of the hardier kinds. Stout cuttings of Plumbago oapensis 

 struck now will force next spring for the conservatory, and may 

 afterwards be planted out in beds in the flower garden, for 

 which they are admirably suited. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



It is somewhat tantalising to hear and read of the nice rains 

 round London and elsewhere a week ago, whilst in this district 

 up to this the 18lh there has been none whatever, and as yet 

 no appearance of its coming. It is distressing to see the large 

 ponds, on which many farmers depend for common purposes, 

 quite dried up, and the water-cart constantly in use to bring 

 water for the supply of the cattle. Were it not that for a 

 number of miles round the pastnies are bare, many would do 

 what was done four years ago — take pastures for the cattle for 

 a time where there was a water supply, as that was found 

 to be more economical than driving water for four or six 

 miles. 



If the Turnip seed fails from having just germinated and 

 then dried up, it furnishes a good example of how in gardening 

 seedsmen are often blamed for sending out old worthless seed, 

 when it has been young, and fresh, and good all the time. 

 Whether choice seeds are sown most carefully in the open air 

 or in a pot, with glass and other squares of glass over them, the 

 most critical time for them is just when the seeds have chipped, 

 when vegetation has commenced. If they have enough of 

 moisture and air to bring them to that point, and then should 

 he subjected to enough of dryness to ^hrivel•up the young 

 cotyledons and radicles before the former give any signs of 

 their presence aboveground, then no after-tieatment will ever 

 cause these seeds to shoot a second time. An excess of dry- 

 ness is, therefore, to be avoided with all seeds after they begi> 

 to swell, and an excess of moisture is also to be avoided, as 

 that would have a tendency to rot them, owing to the want of 

 enough of air. Old seeds should be kept sumewhat dry rather 

 than wet until they have swelled freely. All small seeds will 

 be treated most safely when managed as directed last week 

 for Calceolarias. 



Planting Early. — The comparative goodness of the Wheat 

 in this parching season, furuithes us with a lesson as to the 

 importance of getting plauts established in the open ground 

 early in the season. The roots can then cater for themselves 

 as respects moisture from great depths. We have several 

 times traced the fibres of the Wheat plant in stiff subsoil to the 

 depth of more than a yard, and that would be nothing to the 

 depth from which moisture in the shape even of va|iour would 

 rise to meet the evaporation from the foliage. Plants from 

 seed sown late in spring have not a similar chance, as in such 

 a season as this they would have a contest for existence al- 

 most from the first, and no reserve of supply stored up in tbe 

 roots to meet the emergency. 



