Aptil SO, 1888. ] 



JODBNAIi OF HOBIICULXXJBB ASD COTTAGE GAfiDENEB. 



3t» 



cannot keep np bottom he&t withont frequent tnming and | 

 making tieah linings. The second goes on pretty well with ' 

 the back of bis bed, bat the front soon becomes cold, espeeiallv 

 il mnch rain falls and runs down from the glass ; and the 

 third is in straits whether he should make his bed on an ele- 

 vated piece of ground or sink it partly below the ground level. 

 and adds that he must make the most of his material. To the 

 first we would say that we scarcely trouble ourselves with 

 linings, if at all, until towards the end of summer ; but then 

 we, as it were, make bed and linings at once by having the 

 bed some IS inches wider back and front than the frame. We 

 keep banking np on that well np the outside of the frame, 

 so as to supply atmospheric heat without increasing bottom ! 

 heat. We save the heat also by sticking laurel boughs, or 

 placing old hurdles thatched with laurels, round the sides of the 

 bed — a matter of importance, especially in cold windy weather, i 

 We think the plan on the whole saves labour and trouble, but [ 

 we by no means expect or wish that others should think and i 

 act just as we do. We would at once change if we could do i 

 better and on the whole make more of our material. I 



What our second correspondent says is perfectly true, and 

 holds good with all frames on dung beds. In heavy rains the 

 water will run from the glass on the lining or front of the bed, j 

 and it will soak inwards until it robs the front of the bed of its | 

 heat. The simplest plan to obviate this is to have a board or 

 boards sloping in front to throw the rain water off. The next I 

 Bimplest, and better, is to have two slips of wood the length 

 of the frame, 3 inches wide, and three-quarters of an inch ' 

 thick, two of the sides bevelled, so as to form an acute angle 

 when joined together, and thus make a handy spout. A little 

 tar run along the bottom of the letter-Y spout will make it all 

 tight, and even a little clay will do, and the water can thus 

 be easily taken away. We say nothing of what would be better 

 still — a small spout of tin or zine, but the wooden one 

 will answer admirablr, and do mnch to prolong healthy sweet . 

 heat in hotbeds. 



To our third correspondent we would say that in early beds 

 we prefer that they should be partly sunk, say from IS inches to 

 2 feet or 30 inches, partly because they are more easily worked 

 and managed, when you have neither to stoop too low, nor 

 raise your body too high, and partly because what is thtis sunk 

 is less exposed to wind and air, and is not, therefore, so quickly ' 

 cooled. Another reason is that great mounds of dimg hotbeds 

 raised wholly above ground make a striking appearance, and i 

 look like something that never could be exhausted ; but hM ' 

 stmk in the ground they become very petty-looking, and hardly 

 arrest the attention of those most intimately concerned in sup- i 

 plying the gardener with manure, and the best of it is they do 

 not contain a barrowload of material the less, though thus so 

 unobtrusive in their appearance. , 



TRVn GABDES. j 



Went on nailing as we could, when other work and weather | 

 permitted. One advantage of all the pruning being done is, 

 that the mere nailing can be done more pleasantly than in j 

 winter, and such as MoreUo Cherries can have an extra prun- \ 

 ing, as the wood buds can now be better seen. A press of 

 other matter has kept us back here, but we will soon have all 

 straight. The few laurel boughs have not quite saved Apricots 

 from the frost, but a considerable number seem all firm. The 

 wet followed by frost did the mischief. Hence when protected 

 at all, a covering to keep the blooms dry is the chief precaution 

 necessary. It requires a sharp frost to hurt an Apricot bloom, 

 if it is dry. Peaches have suffered little, but we see some fly 

 coming on the young shoots, and will give a good washing with 

 the garden engine during a fine day. Cherries and Plums 

 seem all right ; Pears are in bloom, and Apples beginning to 

 open, and looking well, as from our little trees we have kept the 

 birds off. In a small orchard not worth keeping, and too 

 small to be worth watching, hardly a wood bud, let alone a fruit 

 hud, is to be seen. 



Orchard Houses. — Merely for shelter these can now be 

 erected so cheaply, that in all cold places they will be much 

 cheaper than protecting against the open wall. On trees on 

 walls, and in pots, the young fruit will give plenty of work, 

 being as thick in many places as ropes of Onions. In the latest 

 houses, the bloom f ailin g from Cherries, Plums, ic, a slight 

 syringing was given, and after warm days a good syringing was 

 afforded to the more forward trees, and once or twice a-week 

 the syringing was done with soot water as clear as brown 

 brandy. We would rather keep insects from appearing than 

 have to destroy them afterwards, and as yet we have succeeded 

 well. We noticed to-day a curl on the point of some Plum 



shoots that told of a caterpillai being housed there, and these 

 shoots were at once carefully nipped ofi, held firmly, and taken 

 to the nearest fireplace. The shoots needed nipping at any 

 rate. The syringing two or three times a-week renders less 

 watering necessary. 



In the most forward orchard house we moved some Straw- 

 berry plants in pots set on rich leaf mould near the front, 

 moving them much against cur will, because when the roots 

 begin to come out at the bottom of the pot it checks the plants 

 to disturb them ; but they had thrown up such an abtmdanee 

 of strong flower trusses that they would have injured each other 

 without more room. 



Moved a lot of British Queen into a pit, setting them on 

 a bed surfaced with fine soil, as if the roots run through now 

 we hope it will not tend to encourage the leaves too mneb, 

 instead of throwing more strength into the flower trusses, as 

 would have been done at an earlier period. We were obliged 

 to fumigate a fine row, just setting well, of Keens" Seedling in 

 the late vinery, as some fly began to cluster on the pedicels 

 of the florets and young fruit. Now. whence came these 

 insects ? The house was filled with flowering plants, and 

 nothing of the insect on them. The Strawberries a few days 

 ago were equally clean, and now they would sodu have been 

 smothered if let alone. Had the eggs kept their vitality all 

 the winter and owed their development to the greater heat of 

 the house ? Some plants in the first orchard house are nearly 

 as forward, only a few days behind, and as yet nothing appears 

 on them, but we should not be surprised to see some there too 

 in the course of a week. Heat is the great friend of these 

 marauders, and cold is their great opponent. Extremes are 

 often valtiable ; hence, we value a eool temperature and hot- 

 water washings, especially when plants are in comparative 

 repose, as good resources for keeping insects aloof. We were 

 obliged to smoke the Peach house because the Strawberries 

 when at about the same stage were also visited in a similar 

 manner, though a day or two before not an insect was to be 

 seen on them. When only a few appear the fingers can soon 

 settle them, but when numerous there is nothing like smoking^ 

 and generally doing it twice. Strawberries for two or three 

 years have made u-s resort to this disagreeable work, when 

 otherwise the houses wanted nothing of the sort. Proceeded 

 with thinning and regulating vineries, ic. 



OESAlCESTiL DEPAETMEXT. 



In potting Ferns and other plants, hardening bedding plants, 

 and getting those potted that do best with a ball, as Helio- 

 tropes, and making the last cuttings of those things likely to 

 be useful, the most of otir time has been taken up. but there 

 was little difierent from what has appeared in recent numhers. 

 We put in some hundreds of little slips from the bottom of 

 the Cineraria maritima, as many of the old plants in low 

 grotmd have died, and because these cuttings, which will be 

 good plants ere long, will have the fine silvery foliage which 

 seedlings never have the first year. These cuttings will average 

 2 or 3 inches long, and they were taken on with a little heel 

 just as they were showing on the old stems and coming above- 

 ground. They will have a gentle heat. — E. F. 



TILU)E CATALOGUE BECEITED. 

 Charles Tamer, Eoyal Narseries, Slough. — Gaieral Spring 

 Catalogue, 1868. 



COYENT GARDEN MARKET.— Apbil an. 



We have stiU a ^eat abandonee cf produce when compared with the 

 demand, -whicb. however, is somewhat improved, and ^trswt^^mes^iiaTe 

 slightly advanced in price. French imports comprise Pci=. Eeaits, Cauli- 

 flowers, Artichokes, vonng Carrots. Ttmiips, and the nsoai salads, wiifa a 

 few hoses of Cherries from the south. Old Potatoes are a heavy trade j 

 good new Lisbon range from Zd. to Sd. per lb. 

 FBtrrr. 



Apples Jffleve 



Apricots doB. 



Cherries lb. 



Chestccts bnsh. 



Corr^nts ^sieve 



Black do. 



Fig3 doa. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 



Gooseberries . . quart 

 Grapes, Hothotue. .lb. 

 Iienxons 100 



«. s. 

 S 0to5 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 9 

 



a 

 



d ■ s. 



Melon? each 



Xectarines doi. 



Orac-res 100 3 



Peaches doa. 



Pears dessert) . . do«. 4 



Pine Apples lb. S 



Plnms isiere 



Qoince? doz. 



e Raspbetrios lb. 



Strawberries . . per lb. 6 



15 Walnuts bosh. 10 



IS do perlOO 1 



d. B. a 

 OtoO 

 o 



7 

 



8 

 10 















16 



s 



