October IC, 18C8. ) 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



287 



as " Maud " pleasantly tells ub, are also apt to forget tliat they 

 may have had much to do in toning down the enthusiast into 

 a mere plodder, a worker williout heart and mind in the work. 



In our first orchard /wksc, there being besides Grapes not yet 

 thoroughly ripened, lots of Figs that require a little more 

 heat in this weather, we have in dull wet days put a fire into 

 our iron stove. We have also replaced the glass ventilators at 

 the apex of the roof, which we had removed, and put gauze 

 in their place to keep the wasps out. But for retarding the 

 Peaches as much as possible, the Grapes and Figs would have 

 been ripe in such a season as this. The Figs now coming in 

 are chiefly the second crop. We are often asked many questions 

 about such composite houses — that is, having Grapes, Peaches, 

 Plums, Figs, &c., under one roof, and without divisions. It is 

 best to have only one kind in one house ; but then that would 

 not suit nine-tenths of onr readers, and very good returns can 

 be had from all, if sudden checks are not given to one kind of 

 fruit, to meet some desired condition in another kind of fruit. 

 For instance, in this first orchard house, could it have been 

 convenient to ufo the Peaches as they ripened, without chang- 

 ing the little forcing they were receiving from sun heat, then the 

 Grapes would have progressed also without a check so as to 

 perfect their growth and ripening. The means, however, which 

 we took by slight shading, and giving all the air possible night 

 and day, to retard the Peaches for a few weeks later, some- 

 what checked the free swelling of the Grapes. Thoi, also, it is 

 well, in all such mixed houses, where many kinds of fruit are 

 grown, to make one kind, be it Peach, Plum, Cherry, or Vine, 

 the principal object, and make the others subsidiary to it. 

 Thus we made Peaches and Nectarines the chief objects in this 

 house, and though we shall have good gatherings of Grapes, 

 they would have been finer and earlier, could we have given 

 them the full benefit of the sun in such a fine summer. This 

 would have been of importance even in the case of late Grapes, 

 as those will keep better that were ripened in September, than 

 those ripened much later. 



Strau-berries in pots have needed no watering of late, and if 

 the rains continue it will be as well to turn the pots on their 

 sides. A dusting of soot over the soil in the pots will also do 

 them good. Our plants are not so strong as usual ; we had 

 such a difficulty in securing runners, and feared at one time 

 that we should lose the established plants. The pots are be- 

 coming so full of roots, that, provided we have a fortnight of 

 fair weather, we shall have little fear of the plants not fruiting 

 very fairly when fruit is wanted. We will have all our outside 

 beds cleaned and mulched as soon as we can, and such work 

 we never like to do except when the weather is fine and dry. 



We have pruned and washed the front of our early Peach 

 house, so that we might fill the front with bedding plants. The 

 back, not so forward, we will leave for a few more days ; and 

 cleaning the walls and washing the trees can be done in a wet 

 day. Transplanted a tree to fill a small vacancy, as it is a pity 

 to have a foot unoccupied under glass. 



ORN'AilEKTAL DEPAETMENT. 



Potted a number of stove plants. Gave less water to those 

 intended to flower in winter. The fine showy Euphorbias, 

 &e,, should now be rather dry. Water now chiefly in the 

 morning, that the houses may be dry before night. We shall 

 ere long prune-in climbers on the rafters, to give all the light 

 possible in winter. 



We took our cuttings later than usual this season, and a 

 great number of Scarlet Pelargoniums being out of doors in 

 boxes, and just beginning to root, but apt to be tender from so 

 much rain, wo have had them transferred to the Peach house, 

 where they will be safe from rains and slight frosts, which we 

 may now expect. Our first vinery will also be filled with 

 flowering plants, which we cannot yet take into the conserva- 

 tory. The Verbenas, Heliotropes, &c., that were put in pots 

 as cuttings in the cold pit, have on the whole done well, and 

 where they had double sashes they gave scarcely any trouble, 

 as with air at night they needed no further attention. All the 

 most backward of these have been placed in another pit. where 

 a httle bottom heat can bo given them, not so much that 

 they require it, as because we need the cold pit for inserting 

 our Calceolaria cuttings, which we hope to do about the middle 

 of the month. We would as soon do this at the end of the 

 month, only we may have a frost, hut we hope not for a month, 

 and if not, there will be a fine late display in the flower garden. 

 The moving even of these cuttings does them good, as we can 

 run a pointed stick over the surface, and perform any little 

 cleaning that is necessary. We have a large number of cut- 

 tings of bedding Pelargoniums, itc, put in thickly in small 



pots, and the moving of bo many other things will give ns 

 more room to turn them over, pick off any bad leaf, and give 

 them a little more room in the old frames, in which they now 

 stand. l!y leaving few leaves on such cuttings, and putting 

 them in very thickly, we winter a large number in very little 

 space, and in ordinary seasons in autumu we are rarely troubled 

 with a damped leaf; but now we see there are some leaves 

 going, owing to tho dull, damp weather, and our sashes being 

 anything but perfect, so that they will bo all the better ol 

 being picked over, and having the benefit of full exposure in 

 fine sunny days, as even variegated Pelargoniums are juicy 

 enough for tho cuttings to stand that for short intervals, even 

 before they aro rooted. If the cuttings arc large, they will 

 stand all the sun they are now likely to have ; if small, they 

 will feel the full exposure to tho sun more. 



We have taken off a lot of the white-leaved Centaurea, 

 though rjither late, but wo have taken large cuttings with firm 

 bottoms close to the old stem, and cleared the bottoms nicely 

 for an inch or so, that there may be no risk of damping. Part 

 of these in small pots we have put in a bed with a little bottom 

 heat, and part on an open shelf in the vinery. The bottoms 

 being so firm, we have little doubt the cuttings will escape the 

 damping, so apt to befall small soft cuttings at this season. It 

 is best to take cuttings in July and August, but ours were not; 

 large and firm enough. We took up our plants from the beds 

 last year, and, treating them as then described, we did not lose 

 one, but they require much room in winter. — E. F. 



CO"\rENT GARDEN MARKET.— October 14. 



The mnrket iu respect to home-grown produce exhibits but little 

 variation froin our last report, a fair amount of business being done in 

 articles of general request. Among imports from abroad we may now 

 include new Oranges from the south of Spain. The report from the 

 Potato martlets is not so satiefactory, a large quantity i>roving very in- 

 ferior when taken up. 



FECIT. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Charles Turner, Eoyal Nurseries, Slough. — Select List of 

 Pelargoniums, Auriculas, Carnations, Pinks, Picotees, Camellias, 

 A-aleas, cC'C, 



Godwin & Sons, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, and Edmonton, 

 London. — Catalogue of Poses, (.Cc. 



Julien Monnier, a la Pyramide, prcs Angers (Maine-et-Loire). 

 — Wholesale Priced Catalogiie of Ornamental Trees and Shmhs, 

 Fruit Trees, (Cc, 1868-C!). 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



N.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered until next 

 week. 



OnoNTOGLossrsr cRA^^>E.— In the last Floral Committee Report, it is 

 stated that an Odontoglnssum grando from the Society's gardens with 

 six flowers in great perfection, received a certificate. It should havo 

 •been with sixty-two flowers in great perfection. 



Books (E. S. S. H,).—li you send twenty postage stamps with your 



