,Taniui7 16, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



53 



several hours in the middle of the day. Water early in the 

 day, and keep the plants constantly clean from dust and insects. 



STOVE. 



A few plants will now or soon begin to grow in large collec- 

 tions. Some time ago this used to be the first note of pre- 

 paration for potting, but now few gardeners will pot or shift 

 plants for the next six weeks. A good criterion for the time of 

 3pring- potting any plant is when the roots are observed to 

 grow freely. It follows, therefore, that plants which aro grown 

 in bottom heat will require shifting much sooner than those on 

 shelves. Pruning is more or less necessary for almost all 

 plants, and the time for this work is regulated by that when 

 the plant is expected to flower. The management will entirely 

 depend upon the time the plant is wanted to flower ; but he 

 who flowers his plants nearest their natural time will, of 

 course, have the most success. Little water should be given 

 this month, and the house should be kept at a comparatively 

 low temperatuie. Now that some of the Orchids are begin- 

 ning to grow, gi-eat .attention must be paid to tlie young and 

 tender shoots, to see that no moisture lodges in their centres 

 or inside the stems or bulbs. 



FonCING PIT. 



Roses of all sorts do better when first brought into a tempe- 

 rature of 53', with a bottom heat of 75', and not to pass CO" 

 till all the eyes are fairly started. A dry atmosphere is best 

 for very early forcing ; we can always supply moisture as we 

 think necessary. Recently built pits, and especially where 

 tanks are used, are troublesome for this branch of gardening, 

 owing to the amount of moisture they have in their atmosphere. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



When the weather will not permit the lights to be taken off, 

 yon can improve and sweeten them very much by turning them 

 during the day — that is, let two men take hold of the light, 

 one at top and one at bottom, and then turn it over. The in- 

 side will thus be exposed to the air, and the inner surface of 

 the glass will be dried. All sorts of pits, whether for hardy 

 plants or for forcing, should occasionally have the lights turned 

 during the season, particularly in winter and spring. — W. 

 JCeane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST ^VEEK. 



Much o£ the work up to and including the 11th instant was 

 done in-doors, except when such work as wheeling, turning 

 heaps of soil, and chopping wood for furnaces was carried on. 

 Many cuttings of bedding plants were put in, and placed where 

 they would have a little bottom heat. Plants were shifted, 

 houses cleaned, and orchard-house trees pruned, washed, and 

 regulated. We might have trenched and ridged but for our 

 reluctance to bury snow in the ground, which with us is gene- 

 rally cold enough without doing so, and as the house work 

 wanted attention we put off what might have been done out of 

 doors until more seasonable weather, making preparations to 

 sow many seeds under glass in the beginning of the next week. 



The 11th was a very singular day with us. When the ther- 

 mometer against a wall, at 5 feet from the ground, indicated 5' 

 below the freezing point, rain was falling heavily ; and though 

 during the day the temperature rose to nearly 32°, the rain froze 

 almost as fast as it fell, rendering walks that had been pre- 

 viously swept like so many sheets of glass, and therefore 

 dangerous to traverse. Copings of walls, and even walls them- 

 selves, exposed to the south, as the wind was due south, be- 

 came a sheet of ice. Doors in garden walls that go very 

 easily were so frozen in their places as to become immoveable ; 

 and one or two which we could not well allow to remain shut, 

 we had to relieve by beating all round the sides with a mallet, 

 so as to break the ice. The covering of the wall and wood of 

 the trees with ice will do the latter no harm ; but when the 

 bricks are soft we have seen large holes show themselves after 

 a thaw. As to insects, none living could well escape, and even 

 myriads of eggs would be destroyed. We once noticed some 

 Pear trees that were much covered with the small scale insect ; 

 but such an ice covering as the above for a couple of days 

 left the bark almost free of them. The next spring they and 

 the injured bark fell off, or could easily be brushed off with 

 a hair broom. Since then we have sometimes syringed such 

 trees all over when we have anticipated a sharp frosty night, 

 and we have noticed that this was most effectual when warm 

 water was used to wet the trees and the wall. 



Guttrr^ and SpoiiU of Hoiixes. — These wanted looking after, 

 even in gardens, and more especially in mansions, where the 

 rain from the rocfs passed to lead gutters surrounded by a 



parapet. The danger in snch a day as Saturday arose from the 

 orifices of the carrying-off pipes being frozen up. We had 

 all ours cleared out on account of the snow ; but the pipes 

 were so frozen on the 11th, that if they had not been opened 

 with large weeding irons the water would have accumulated 

 in the gutters, and then have found its way through the roofs 

 and the ceilings below. Even in the garden wo found at the 

 top of the discharge pipes the little tanks that received the 

 water from the spouting filled with masses of solid ice, 

 though quite free and open in the morning. It is of compara- 

 tively little use crying out after the mischief is done ; but for- 

 getfulness of the tops of discharge pipes becoming firmly ieed- 

 over in such a day as the 11th might cause much discolouring 

 and faUing of ceilings in upper rooms. In the case of com- 

 mon spouts round buildings, we expect to hear of much in- 

 jury to them from the weight of ice in them, and hanging in 

 huge icicles from them. Whilst in such a state they could not 

 serve their purpose of taking the water away from the walls. 



This reminds us that the whole subject of spouting requires 

 consideration, and those who have had much experience with 

 it would confer a favour by stating the best material to use. 

 On the whole we are inclined to favour zinc or galvanised iron, 

 only the galvanising renders it brittle. Tin is the most easily 

 managed, and when kept painted will last a considerable time ; 

 but if the painting is neglected it soon rusts out. Cast-iron piping 

 in lengths of 6 or 9 feet, well painted, is very lasting where it 

 is not likely to be interfered with ; but in places where work- 

 men come in contact with it, it is found to be very brittle in 

 severe frost. Even when placed in a lofty position, such pipes 

 are apt to chip and crack when filled with ice, which they are 

 very hkely to he, as spouting round buildings does not generally 

 have a greater fall than is necessary to take away the rain 

 water. This is all very well in weather that is not frosty ; but 

 in such weather as that which occurred on the 11th, and even 

 in circumstances less favourable for producing the same re- 

 sults, the pipes soon become filled with ice, even with the out- 

 lets from them all open. Iron pipes are more apt to crack and 

 break from frost if painting is neglected. In large establish- 

 ments, keeping the spouting in good order forms such an item 

 of expenditure, that any suggestions on the subject would be 

 interesting. One objection to cast iron is the weight, involving 

 the necessity for stronger brackets for fixing ; and when used 

 for garden houses or pits it is well to have the best hard 

 wood, in the shape of bricks, fixed in the wall for fastening the 

 brackets to by means of screws. 



General work has been much the same as last week. All 

 things protected under hand-lights, and in cold pits and frames, 

 as Calceolarias, Cauhflowers, Lettuces, Endive, and Radishes, 

 have given little trouble, as they have not been uncovered for 

 eight days, and even what was uncovered, as Asparagus in a 

 hotbed frame, was little the better for it, as the weather was 

 too duU to green the shoots properly. The wind on the 11th 

 turning to the south-west, we may expect ere long the dis- 

 appearance of the snow, and brighter and sunnier weather, 

 when everything will be again exposed to the light. The snow 

 has been a great protection for all out-door vegetables, and 

 even Turnips and Wheat in the fields. Our best farmers have 

 long since secured their Turnip crops in heaps, protected from 

 frost and vermin. 



Our window-gardening friends have had rather a troublesome 

 time, but there has been nothing to prevent success, if the 

 plants are kept clean, kept close to the window during the day 

 after the room was warmed by the fire, and placed in the 

 middle of the room in the coldest nights. Bulbs will now be 

 very attractive, and it will be well to have some in glasses 

 that the young scions of the family may be interested in see- 

 ing the rooting process. The fostering of such tastes in those 

 beyond babyhood often proves a source of enjoyment for a 

 Ufetime.— E. F. 



TEADE CATALOGUES EECEH^ED. 



B. S. Williams, Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, Upper 

 HoUoway, London, N. — Dcscriptirr Catalogue of Flmoer and 

 Virjctablc Scrds. 



Lucombe, Pince & Co., Exeter. — Sckct List of Ncic and Rare 

 Plants, Conifers, Trees, and S/irwfcs, (Cc. 



Robert Parker, Exotic Nursery, Tooting, Surrey. — Catalogue 

 of Agricnhiiral, Flower, and Vegetable Seeds. 



Smith & Simons, 1, Buchanan Street, Glasgow.— Cm Jtera? 

 Guide and Descriptive Seed Catalogue. 



James Cuthbert, Clayton Square, Liverpool, — Deseriptive 

 Catolngue of Vegetable and Fhv:cT Seeds. 



