116 



JOUKNAIi OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



( August 13, 1868. 



the plants havirig all iiUed their allotted places ; but in a large 

 flower garden containing a great variety of plants more delicate 

 work is noir required than at any other time in the year. 

 Take a bed of Petunias, for example. As soon as the plants 

 begin to mn over the sides of the bed a man must begin to cut 

 all the leading shoots just inside the edges of the bed. In 

 three days more the same work mast be repeated, and in three 

 weeks the sides of the bed form a regular bank 5 or 6 inches 

 high, while the plants in the middle of the bed are from a foct 

 to 18 inches high, with a surface as even as any part of the 

 snrroanding grass, yet no one can see that a shoot has ever 

 been touched. The bed is kept nearly at that level throughout 

 the season by close pruning, and beating down by rain is 

 almost impossible. Now, how different is this from the old 

 system of cutting the sides of the bed with shears and allowirg 

 the strongest plants to tower here and there all over the btd, 

 the first heavy rain, perhaps, levelling them to the ground. 

 JIanaged properly, the Petunias make the best of rows for 

 oiroulftT beds or along a walk. 



GBEENHOCSE AND COXSEHVATORT. 



To do proper justice to forced Hyacinths expected to bloom 

 at Christmas, they ought to be potted not later than the middle 

 of August. They may be flowered as early as Christmas if 

 potted as late as the end of September or beginning of Oc- 

 tober ; but this is too much for the bulbs, the flowers are not 

 30 fine as from early potting, and it takes two seasons' good 

 nursing to bring the bulbs round again, so that they will make 

 their appearance among the early spring bulbs in the beds and 

 borders of the flower garden. They manage differently in 

 Holland, where they know the nature of the Hyacinth much 

 better than we do. There, from time out of mind, the first 

 crop of forcing Hyacinths is potted about the first week in 

 August. They provide against exciting the foliage till the pots 

 are full of roots, by a thick covering of tan, leaf mould, or 

 something of the kind. In about six weeks the pots are full of 

 roots, they are then taken to cold frames and kept close to the 

 glass, with plenty of air, and the natural warmth of the latter 

 part of September and the whole of October, is sufficient to 

 bring up the fohage and flower-buds very gradually, with the 

 least possible injury to the bulbs. Indeed, as compared with 

 our practice, the bulbs can hardly be said to be forced at all, 

 and after one season's nursing the same bulbs are fit to be 

 again forced, or exported in the usual course of business. It is 

 now high time that the Narcissuses which were taken up last 

 June, to make room for other plants, were now planted where 

 they are to flower next April and May, and as they do not push 

 up till after the present crops are over, or are killed by the frost, 

 they will be no eyesore in that respect. Meantime, their roots 

 will pnsh deeply into the soil, and be better able to supply the 

 requisite nourishment at the proper time than if left out of 

 the ground till October. Narcissuses tbat are left in the ground 

 from year to year are now making fresh roots actively, though 

 no signs of vegetation are apparent in the bulbs. This shows 

 plainly enough that we should not put off planting them till 

 the time of planting Tulips. One of the best autumn plants 

 for the conservatory is Lisianthus Eussellianus. It does best 

 when treated as a stove biennial and sown about this time. 

 The varieties of Thunbergia alata sown last February are now, 

 and will be for a long time, very beautiful trained on trelliswork. 

 Vinca rosea and alba make admirable plants for the conserva- 

 tory in autumn. Allamanda cathartica in a pot is also well 

 suited for this purpose, but being of a succulent nature it 

 should not be kept here late in autumn, but should be removed 

 to the coolest part of the stove. All these plants require now 

 less air and water, and the house to be kept somewhat drier. 

 No two Rreenhouses are managed anywhere alike in summer. 

 Where Vines are on the ratters, the house should now be kept 

 more close to ripen the fruit early before the time of housing 

 the plants for winter ; and where plants in flower are the chief 

 study, a drier atmosphere, more air, and attention to cleanli- 

 ness are requisites to be attended to. 



STOVE. 



There is a large nnmber of stove plants that might now be 

 propagated from, and the old plants thrown away after they 

 have done floweriog between this and Christmas ; such, for 

 instance, as Clerodendrons, Justicias, Koellas, Vincas, (fee. 

 Young plants of these might easily be nursed through the 

 winter in 60-sized pots, and as soon as they begin to grow 

 Ireely in spring they may be shifted into pots a size larger, and 

 when the rooti are fairly through the fresh soil they will be in 

 a condition to stand the one-shift or any other system. Tiiis 



would give more room to woody plants in winter, and the 

 younger the plants of softwooded species are the better they 

 always flower. If any of these are too small to form fine spe- 

 cimens singly, propagate more of them, and plant half a dozen 

 of them in a pot at the final shifting. 



PITS AND PKAMES. 



If Acacias intended for forcing next January are huddled to- 

 gether iu some out-of-the-way corner, they will not flower well 

 next spring. Other useful plants would now be better along 

 with them in the open sun. If your plants of Coronilla 

 glanca are planted out in a border to make them fine specimens, 

 the sooner you take them up and pot them the better, as they 

 go on making young wood till overtaken by frost, without 

 ripening wood for producing bloom. If they are full-grown 

 specimens cramped in pots, give them plenty of water, and 

 expose them to the sun in the open air. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GAEDEN. 



At length on the 6th we had a few showers, and early iu the 

 morning of the 7th we had the best rain for an hour that we 

 have had for nearly four months, with slighter droppings during 

 the forenoon, all of which, though not penetrating deeply 

 enough to reach the roots of established plants, did much to 

 benefit those which were newly planted, washed the foliage, 

 refreshed the earth, and gave an agreeable coolness, which to 

 vegetables and animals was a pleasant relief from the arid heat 

 which oppressed everything, and seemed like a heavy load 

 resting on our spirits and our actions. For our own part we 

 were just on the point of the dilemma we were in four years 

 ago, when the only chance we had of preserving many pot 

 plants was to cover them up in a wood until better days should 

 come. 



Owing to a lull in our laundry work our house sewage had 

 failed us, and we had not more than an inch of water above 

 part of the mud in the only pond of water left us, and that we 

 were pumping and using as if every pailful were as valuable as 

 gold dust. Our deep well has long been confined to domestic 

 purposes, and when the rain-water tanks failed it had to be 

 used for the laundry and stable yard. This water is very hard 

 originally; but when it all collects in the sewage tank at a 

 considerable distance, what from the soda, the soap, and the 

 fatty matter, &c., it has never injured any plants out of doors 

 to which it has been applied ; and of course after such a rain 

 as that on the 7th, much would find its way from the gratings 

 of yards, &c., that would make the sewage all the more soft 

 and pleasant to plants. We have for want of better used it 

 freely to our fruit trees in pots, and without any apparent 

 injury, and if we could have obtained enough we would have 

 used it to our bush and pvramid fruit trees in the open air. 

 All these were mulched eaily in the season, but we would have 

 liked to have given them sis pailsful of water each, and then 

 the fruit would have been larger. For months neither from 

 rain nor dew has the foliage been thoroughly damped, and yet 

 on established trees it looks well ; but wo have a good idea of 

 the reason why under such circumstances the foliage is so 

 healthy, and that is simply because in self-defence the roots 

 have gone deeper in search of moisture than we would wish 

 them to do ; and we see in the recurrence of such seasons the 

 necessity of lifting and replanting, or the cutting of the lower 

 roots, all of which work might be avoided could we only entice 

 the roots to remain near the surface. 



But for the burning heat and the depredations of the fly on 

 all the Cabbage tribe, established vegetables would have suf- 

 fered comparatively little from the drought, as their roots, like 

 those of trees, were induced to go deeper. It is succession 

 crops with roots near the surface that have chiefly suffered. 



In such seasons as this the mode of conveying water becomes 

 a matter of importance. A barrel-drain takes all the super- 

 fluous water from the mansion here. It has been built of soft 

 bricks and mortar, and as the drain is a good way from the 

 surface, farther than the loss of water in a dry season the 

 drain answers its purpose well enough, as besides the loss of 

 the fluid from passing through the bricks and joints, no other 

 prejudicial effects result. Owing to the slimy matter that in 

 time will collect in all drains at the bottom, we lose little of 

 such water in ordinary circumstances ; but we have always 

 noticed that after a flooding rain we never get water from that 

 ' main drain in proportion to the rainfall, as after the water 

 ' rises to a certain height in the drain so much escapes through 



