260 



JODKNAL OP HOKTICUIiTDEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ AprU 2, 18C8. 



stick to give form to a plant that can be managed by pruning 

 and stopping. Many plants will require slight shading in 

 the middle of the day, but this should be removed early. 

 After shifting the greater part of the plants keep the house 

 closer for a week or two to encourage the roots to strike freely 

 into the fresh soil ; keep up a moister atmosphere also, and 

 give less water to the roots, as the fresh soil after the first 

 watering will be moist enough for some time. Rondeletia 

 speciosa is an excellent plant to flower iu the conservatory for 

 seven or eight months in summer. It is rather diiUeult to 

 grow it so as to form a good specimen, and more so to propa- 

 gate it by cuttings ; but if there are 30ung shoots low enough, 

 layer them in the pot, and they will root freely in three weeks. 



PKOPAGATINO PIT. 



After the supply for the flower beds is propagated and a little 

 forwarded, put in for a reserve a quantity of cuttings of such 

 plants as flower late in the autumn to take the place of those 

 which go off iu September. All the Heliotropes for forcing 

 next winter should be propagated now, and kept cramped in 

 small pots through the summer. Any other plants that are 

 found difScult to preserve through the winter should now be 

 propagated while the pit is at work, and if kept stunted in 

 small pots during summer they will become so hardened and 

 stocky as to keep with ease through the winter. As these pits 

 are the last places for propagation, and as this work does not 

 admit of large portions of air being given, they must be regu- 

 larly shaded in hot dry weather ; thin bunting or calico should 

 be used for this purpose, mats darken too much. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



Proceed with potting-off all plants for bedding-out ; those 

 which have become established and hardened may be removed 

 to temporary pits, and covered at night with mats. — -W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Dwarf Kidney Beans. — Not having a pit at liberty, turned 

 out a number of strong plants of Kidney Beans from 5-inch 

 pots into 10-inch pots, and gave them the benefit of a pit for a 

 time, in order that they may succeed those now producing. 

 After the present time this useful vegetable will do very well 

 in a frame with a mild bottom heat. No vegetable is more 

 partial to a dry heat in winter and early spring, provided the dry- 

 ness in the atmosphere is counteracted by syringing and eva- 

 poration from saucers, i-c. The plants will produce more plenti- 

 fully in a roomy house than in a dung pit even now ; but there 

 is always a risk in taking them into houses. We have grown 

 them for years in vineries, and never had a thrips on them; 

 but we have also had them so infested that we were glad to 

 remove them carefully, so as to leave as few of the insects as 

 possible. Clear soot water for syringing is good for keeping 

 red spider and thrips away, and we have more faith in pre- 

 ventives than in cures. Many a pound goes for fumigating 

 plants, when it would be the best economy to clear all out and 

 save the trouble. When smoking is resorted to there should 

 be no waiting to see a second or third insect, one should be 

 sufficient. Smoking after the leaves are incrusted with insects 

 is worse than labour lost. It is rarely that such plants do 

 good afterwards. Smoking will kill thrips ; but as it always 

 appears on the older leaves, if these be removed carefully in 

 good time, and the syringe freely used, the thrips will gene- 

 rally be kept under. When we grew very early Cucumbers we 

 examined the leaves carefully, and if a solitary thrips was dis- 

 covered we pounced on it with the point of a wet finger. This 

 could be done only when the plants were grown on a trellis, 

 and in such a place that one could walk or pass underneath 

 them. Quickly as they jump, the eye and the finger of a young 

 lad can be more nimble still, and they cannot jump when en- 

 cased in moisture. Plants can be fit for little else but the 

 furnace when thrips is seen on the upper surface of the leaves. 



Cucumhcrs. — Those in frames and in a pit heated by hot 

 water are running a very equal race. Those in the frame have 

 required much less attention. In low pits, heated by hot 

 water, the plants require more watching in changeable weather. 

 It is advisable to use shading as little as possible, and in dull 

 days to moderate the beat given, instead of affording too much 

 air ; but after two or three days, when no sun appears, the 

 plants are apt to suffer when the sun comes out bright all at 

 once. Sprinkling the floors and walls with water will often 

 then neutralise the change, and if the glass is good the plants 

 may even be sprinkled, especially on the lower side of the 



leaves. In such bright sun, after dull weather, it is of import- 

 ance to have the heating medium tolerably cool before the sun 

 strikes strongly on the glass. In large Cucumber houses this 

 additional care is less needed, as, from the greater body of air 

 to be heated, sudden changes are less felt. When Cucumbers 

 are wanted regularly in winter, there can be no comparison 

 between steep-roofed houses and flat pits, and the same may 

 be said of Melons in summer, for though fine Melons are. 

 grown in frames and flat pits, we have no hesitation in saying 

 that Melons grown on a trellis and with plenty of sun will, 

 size for size, be generally heavier than those grown and trained 

 on a bed. 



rr.UIT GARDEN. 



Sliawherries. — There was only one little operation out of 

 the routine alluded to iu previous weeks' notices, and it may 

 be interesting to mention it for the benefit of beginners. Asa 

 general rule with us this season. Strawberries have been longer 

 in setting than usual. There was a good deal of dull weather, 

 but there was also sun enough now and then to complete the 

 fertilising process. Even in our Peach house, with the roof at 

 an augle of 45°, and shelves tolerably close to the glass, the 

 best position we have ever had for free setting, the pots con- 

 tinued longer iu full bloom than usual before the berries began 

 to swell. We used to grow many on solitary shelves in pits, as 

 what may be termed stolen crops ; but these positions always 

 did better for swelling-off the fruit than for setting them well, 

 owing to two causes — viz., the comparative flatness of the roof, 

 and the greater moisture iu the pits, proceeding from the other 

 plants grown in them. We considered we would escape this 

 latter drawback by appropriating part of a pit to Strawberries 

 solely, and it is to a simple fact connected with it that we wish- 

 to allude. The bed in the pit was chiefly rather dry soil, and 

 we raised a temporary stage with boards from 20 to 21 inches 

 above this floor, the stage sloping the same as the glass, so 

 that each row should have all the light possible. No plants 

 could have looked better, or shown bloom more strongly, but 

 both foliage and flower trusses became rather longer than usual 

 and almost touched the glass. The consequence was, partly 

 fi'om the moisture in the pit, partly from the glass condensing 

 the vapour, even with the help of a little air on at night, that 

 the foliage and flowers were often so wet in the morning that 

 one might have washed his hands amongst them, and on a dull 

 day they would scarcely te dry before night. We tried covering 

 the glass at night to arrest the radiation of heat from the glass, 

 and thus lessen its powers as a condenser of watery vapour ; 

 but even this was not quite effectual, the blooms were still too 

 wet to allow of the process of fertilisation being thoroughly ac- 

 complished. We then took the plants and stage out, lowered 

 the latter 6 inches, and used a thicker coveting at night, and 

 since then the plants were dry in the morning with just a few 

 dewdrops here and there on the points of the leaves, and the 

 setting and swelling proceeded rapidly. Now, this simple fact 

 shows — first, that in confined pits it is possible to have Straw- 

 berry plants too near the glass ; and, secondly, that it is very 

 eas3', even with hot-water piping, to have too much atmo- 

 spheric moisture. We could have dissipated the latter by 

 giving more air and more heat, but we could not well give 

 more heat under the circumstances. The lowering of the 

 plants and the covering of the glass in cold nights proved an 

 effectual remedy. The points of the fohage were not so much 

 cooled when farther removed from the clear radiating body of 

 glass, and the condensation of moisture was next to entirely 

 neutralised by the covering of the glass. Every leaf hanging 

 with dewdrops in the morning told the tale, that the points of 

 these leaves became colder than the surrounding air before they 

 could condense the vapour contained in it. When Strawberries 

 are grown in houses of even moderate size, it is very rarely 

 that they will suffer from excess of condensed moisture. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



For general work, see previous weeks' notices. We will 

 to-day confine ourselves to a few words on hnnlcning-off bcihlint} 

 lilantf, merely premising that we have had much to do still 

 with propagating, sowing, and pricking-off seedUngs. Many 

 small things, as Lobelias, we prick-out in little bunches until 

 they become larger, ns it is advisable not to have them long in 

 their seed pots. W>' mentioned last week having our earth 

 and turf pits made leady, forking them over, itc. The sharp 

 frost of several mornings did good to the soil, but prevented 

 us using it until it should be rather well warmed. Before this 

 is printed, if the weather be at all favourable, we shall have 

 a great msny plants under protection out of doors, and thus 

 have something like moving room in our houses. Calceolarias . 



