Jnna 5, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



459 



largo conservatories becoming too hot and injuring the plants in 

 summer, but it is the want of moisture in the atmosphere and 

 not the heat which causes the mischief. 



STOVE. 



One of the chief ornaments of the stove we consider to be 

 climbing plants. Where the shrubby plants are large, the 

 climbers, hanging in loose disorder, give the house a sort of 

 tropical character which is highly interesting. Although they 

 may hang iu loose disorder, they require pruning and regulating 

 so as to prevent their becoming one entangled mass of wood and 

 foliage, and it is only by constant attention that this can be 

 prevented. See that young growing stock is not allowed to 

 suffer for want of pot room. Attend carefully to watering, giving 

 manure water to all "plants in free growth that require it. Gar- 

 denias and other plants that have been in the conservatory while 

 in bloom should be replaced in heat as soon as their beauty is 

 over, in order to allow time for getting their growth ripened 

 before short days and dull weather have arrived. Orchids in a 

 growing state will require encouragement. Shading must be 

 promptly attended to in bright weather. Allow, however, as 

 mucli light as they will beai- without injury, using a very light 

 screen, and that only when absolutely necessary. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OP THE LAST WEEK. 



TnE weather continues fine, but crops make little progress as 

 the ground is dry, and though, during sunshine, it is com- 

 paratively warm, yet the wind is cold, and it is very chilly at 

 night. A warm shower would refresh and invigorate all grow- 

 ing crops. On examining the fruit crops in the open air in the 

 kitchen garden, there seems to be a good set on all small fruits. 

 Gooseberries, Currants, Raspberries, and Strawberries are abun- 

 dant. Apples and Pears seem to have set well ; Cherries and 

 Plums, considering the abundant crop of blossom, are only 

 moderately good. The frost on the 20th did no damage to any 

 out-doors fruit, excepting Strawberries ; where the tlowers were 

 expanded a large number of them are now quite black, but they 

 can be spared, as the plants are literally sheets of bloom. 



ZITCHEM GAKDEN. 



Early Potatoes on a sheltered border escaped the frost and are 

 nearly ready, indeed many would use them in the stage the seeds 

 are. I have heard of an amateur who has had a dish from the 

 open ground, but the quality was very indifferent. The sort I 

 prefer now is Myatt's Prolific Ashleaf, kindly sent by " D., 

 Deal." It is rather earlier than the old Ashleaf, and a much 

 better cropper. Veitcb's Perfection, round, is not quite so for- 

 ward, but will come in for succession. 



Last year we had the first dish of Peas from the open ground 

 the first week in June. The slats are now just formed, and are 

 a miserable crop, owing to the wet state of the ground when the 

 seeds were sown. The Early Horn Carrots are ready at the exhi- 

 bitions early in June. Our Carrots generally hold the first place, 

 not that they are better grown than those from others, only earlier. 

 We had 28 feet of Rivers's ground vinery, and under these 

 Carrots, Lettuces, and Radishes are sown about the first week of 

 February. Refuse soil from the potting-shed sifted, or any fine 

 dry loam is laid on the surface to the depth of 3 or 4 inches ; the 

 Carrots and Lettuce are sown in rows 9 or 10 inches apart, and 

 Radishes between the rows. These are pulled before they do 

 any harm to the other crops. These ground vineries can be 

 made cheaply, and are invaluable for forwarding crops of vege- 

 tables, placing over rows of Strawberries to hasten their ripen- 

 ing, &c. 



We have been hoeing and earthing-up Broad Beans and 

 Scarlet Runners, as well as placing sticks to the latter. The 

 Strawberry beds are clear of weeds, but we had the Dutch hoe 

 run amongst the rows to kill any incipient weeds and to loosen 

 the ground ; they will not require any more hoeing. All the 

 Cabbage tribe are doing well this year. The plants of the second 

 sowing of Cauliflowers are dwarf and healthy. Frequent hoeing 

 amongst such crops is very beneficial. 



TBniT AKD FOECINO BOUSBS. 



The Pine Apples are now growing freely. The houses where 

 fruit was ripening required to be shaded by the end of May in 

 previous years, as yet we have not had a day of scorching sun- 

 shine. The ripening fruit is apt to be injured by the sun if it 

 is too powerful. Owing to the season we have not much used 

 the evaporating-troughs, as a moisture-laden atmosphere causes 

 the crowns to grow out of all proportion to the fruit, especially 

 with such sorts as Charlotte Rothschild. In the succession- 

 house the plants are acquiring a dwarf healthy growth. 



Vineries. — Much the same as last week. Grapes iu the Mus- 

 cat house are thinned, and in the late house mostly planted 

 with L idy Downe's and Black Hamburgh, they are now being 

 thinned. Golden Champion is doing badly with us this year. 

 It was jjlanted in three different houses, ripening at different 

 seasons. In the latest house it was destroyed last year. In the 

 earliest house it promised well early in the season, the berries set 

 well, and the bunches were large. Now, what with shanking and 



spotting, there is not a single bunch presentable ; it must also 

 go next year. In the second early house it has always dono 

 pretty well, but it is not so good as it has been in previous years. 

 I wish I had never seen any of the new Grapes. I often think 

 of the remark made by a very old gardener when I told him that 

 we had planted over twenty sorts of Grapes. *' I'll tell you what 

 I think, Douglas ; you had better have planted Muscat of Alex- 

 andria and Black Hamburgh only." Young gardeners, make a 

 note of this. It is not the extra guineas required to purchase 

 the highly-lauded novelties ; it is the valuable space taken up, 

 the expectant waiting, and the final disappointment. 



Melons in the second house are now set and swelling nicely ; 

 they are remarkably healthy, and show no signs of disease. 

 Stopping and training the shoots. They are not grown in frames, 

 but in houses trained to a trellis overhead. The Cucumbers 

 are grown in a similar house. The Tomatoes grown on the 

 back wall of those houses are now in ; the fruit is remarkably 

 fine. The Orangefield is the best sort we have grown for forcing ; 

 the plants are dwarf, and bear a good crop of large even-si^ed 

 fruit. 



OBCHAKD HOUSE. 



The fruit trees in pots have ouly required the usual attention 

 as regards watering, thinning some of the fruit whei'e it had 

 been left too thick, and pinching the vigorous-growing shoots 

 as opportunity offers. 



CONSEEVATORT AXD PLANT STOVE. 



We have been necessitated to leave other pressing work to 

 wash with water, in which soft soap has been dissolved, bug- 

 infested plants. At this season mealy bug spreads with singular 

 rapidity, and if not destroyed in time will become quite a nui- 

 sance. There is a probabihty, if the plants can be thoroughly 

 cleansed at this time, of getting rid of it altogether ; but it re- 

 quires extreme vigilance to look out for its appearance after- 

 wards and wash it off immediately. All flnefoliaged plants 

 are in full growth, and require attention. Many of the Aloca- 

 sias become infested with red spider, likewise some of the 

 Crotons; these must be kept quite clean by syi-inging, as, if 

 red spider is allowed to increase, the beauty of the plants will 

 be sadly marred. Palms requiring repotting should be done at 

 once ; good turfy loam, with a little fibrous peat (if not suffi- 

 ciently porous add a little sand), seems to suit them well, but 

 by all means avoid overpotting. A plant that has well fiUed 

 a 5-inch pot with roots may be shifted into a 7-inch pot, or 

 sufficient space may be allowed between the ball and side of the 

 pot to permit of not more than an inch of soil all round, 

 which ought to be pressed iu quite firmly; thorough drainage 

 is also essential. Orchids are grown in the same house with 

 flowering and fine-foliaged plants. Those in flower must not be 

 spattered with water when the syringe is being used, as it will 

 cause the flowers to become spotted, which sadly mars their 

 beauty. 



Chrysanthemums have required attention as regards training 

 the shoots ; this must be done before they become hard, other- 

 wise it is very difficult to bend them without snapping them off 

 at the joints. This year as well as last the autumn-struck cut- 

 tings nearly all run to flower. The plants go on all right rmtil 

 AprU, when the points of all the young growing shoots become 

 furnished with flower buds, and as fast as they are pinched off 

 fresh buds are formed, so much so that the plants have to be 

 destroyed. Spring-struck cuttings seem to succeed well. All 

 the plants have been infested with aphis. They were fumigated 

 frequently when under glass, but could not have been quite 

 clean when placed out of doors. Dusting the points of the 

 shoots with dry Scotch snuff kills the aphides, so will dipping 

 them in water wherein soft soap has been dissolved, and 2 oza. 

 of tobacco to each gallon of water. We have appropriated a 

 small house entu-ely for Rose culture. The plants had become 

 too crowded, and as a consequence the shoots were drawn. 

 Half of the plants were placed out of doors iu a sheltered place, 

 and will, from being grown under glass for some time, ilower 

 earlier than those growing out of doors. 



We put in cuttings of stage Pelargoniums, one cutting in the 

 centre of a small 60-pot, the compost used being about equal, 

 parts loam and leaf mould. The pots were placed in a cold 

 frame and plunged in cocoa-nut fibre refuse ; the cuttings would 

 have done as well on a shelf near the glass in a cool greenhouse. 

 We have been training and thinning-out the growing shoots 

 of climbers, re-arranging plants, removing those which have 

 flowered out of doors, and replacing with young specimens which 

 will come into flower at once. 



FLOWER G.UIDEN. 



The lawn requires frequent mowing, as Daisies continue to 

 bloom, and the flowers, if not cut off, spoil the appearance of the 

 lawn. A full crop of weeds has appeared on tlie flower beds, 

 and as the surface of the ground was a little caked, the Dutch 

 hoe run lightly between the rows will desti'oy the weeds, and by 

 loosening the soil be of great benefit to the plants. We do not 

 Uke to water so early in the season, but if it do not rain soon 

 the Calceolarias and Verbenas must be watered, as they show 

 signs of distress in sunshine. Put in cuttings of Phlox Bufiruti » 



