Jane 12, 1873. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



475 



lightly morning and evening, and sprinkle floors, &c., in order 

 to keep the atmosphere thoroughly moist. 



PITS AND FRAMES. 



As I have before observed, the frames for propagation will 

 at this season be better adapted for the purpose if placed facing 

 the north ; the bottom heat should be kept up, and the cut- 

 tings and young seedling plants duly supplied with moisture. — 

 W. Keane. 



DOINGS OP THE LAST WEEK. 

 We have had a week of very favourable weather for all grow" 

 ing crops. A warm shower or two, and a much higher nigh' 

 temperature, have caused luxuriant growth. 



KITCHEN garden. 



With a free growth of all crops, " ill weeds grow apace." _ The 

 Dutch hoe has been kept at work wherever they made their ap- 

 pearance. 



Peas. — We made another sowing of Champion of England 

 and Veitch's Perfection. This will be the last sowing of such 

 late sorts as Perfection. Our next sowing will be of Eastes' 

 Kentish Invicta, Laxton's Alpha, and Taber's Early Perfection. 

 On onr light gravelly sou late-sown Peas seldom do well, being 

 very liable to the attacks of mildew. 



We have been catting very good Cauliflowers from the plants 

 that were put out under the hand-lijjhts in autumn ; the suc- 

 cession lot are also looking extremely well ; they were planted 

 on deeply-trenched highly-manured soil, and have had no artifi- 

 cial watering. The crops of Carrots and Parsnips have had a 

 final thinning, except in the case of the Early Horn, which is 

 singled out, so that a handful can be pulled when required for 

 the kitchen, and the crop be left sufficiently thick. 



The earliest Celery has been planted out in trenches. We 

 prefer a single row in a trench ; others who have less spare 

 ground plant it out in beds, three or four rows in each. We 

 have been hoeing and thinning Sea-kale. Our practice is to sow 

 a certain space of ground every year; a large number of the 

 plants come in for forcing with the small plants of the previous 

 year's sowing, which are planted out early in the year, and of 

 course make the strongest plants. 



ERUIT AND FORCING HOUSES. 



Pine Apples. — Queens are swelling-off in the fruiting house ; 

 as soon as the fruit begins to change colour no more water is 

 applied to the roots. As a rule, the fruit is small with us this 

 year, and it seems that other people are no better oS than our- 

 selves. Though liberal prizes were offered at the last show at 

 South Kensington, very few growers came forward to claim 

 them, and the fruit exhibited were far from first-rate. When 

 the beds were renewed with fresh tan some time ago the pots 

 were not plunged to more than half their depth, in case the 

 roots should be burned; we shall now, if time can be spared, 

 fiU-in the bed with fresh tan up to the rims of the pots. 



Vineries. — In the early houses, where the Grapes are ripe or 

 nearly so, there is very httle work required. Where the Grapes 

 are quite ripe we keep a cool temperature, but withal a dry 

 atmosphere ; it has been necessary all through to guard against 

 mildew. We know the atmospheric conditions that cause it to 

 appear, and so are on our guard ; prevention in this case is 

 much better than cure. In the late houses we do not remember 

 ever to have seen such strong growths ; the foHage is also stout 

 and healthy, and as the roof is quite covered with it, all after- 

 growths are stopped as soon as they appear. It is necessary to 

 go over the houses about every fifth day, so that the young 

 shoots may be stopped as soon as they begin to grow. All the 

 Grapes will be thinned before this appears in print. There is 

 no trace of red spider in any of the houses ; should it appear, it 

 is best to wash the infested leaves with a sponge dipped in 

 water in which soft soap has been dissolved. It is not advisable 

 to paint the pipes with sulphur until the Grapes have arrived 

 at the stoning period, as when they are in an early stage of their 

 growth they are very liable to rust. 



Melons ripening in our earhest house have a drier atmosphere, 

 with a brisk heat from the hot-water pipes, and ventilation at 

 the highest part of the house at night. We have an excellent 

 crop of Tomatoes from the back wall ; the pots have been re- 

 moved to an airy cool house to retard the plants until they are 

 required. In the second Melon house there is a good crop of 

 Figs in pots. The Brown Turkey was our favourite at one time, 

 but we find Bourjassotte Grise a better-flavoured and more pro- 

 lific variety. Gros Verte is also a very dwarf-growing prolific 

 sort of excellent flavour. In a third house a few St. Michael's 

 and Tangerine Oranges are grown in pots ; they are some 

 trouble to keep clean, but we get a few dishes of remarkably 

 fine fruit from them about Christmas. 



ORCHABD HOUSE. 



The Strawberries are ripening, and necessitate much care 

 in syringing the fruit trees. A variety obtained from the 

 Continent named Alexander II., is one of the earliest to ripen, 

 and carries a most abundant crop of even-sized fruit, which is 

 large, cone-shaped, and of a bright crimson colour. President is 



our standard sort ; it is also coming in. Amateur we will report 

 upon at another time; it is the most subject to mildew of any in 

 our collection. 



Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, and Pears have been surface- 

 dressed. Nothing suits them better than the mixture recom- 

 mended by Mr. Bivers, of Sawbridgeworth — horse droppings 

 picked up from the roads, and an equal quantity of malt or kiln 

 dust added. We use horse droppings one part, malt dust one, 

 and one part of loam. This dressing starts the trees into luxu- 

 riant growth ; we have sometimes used weak manure water as 

 well, but this is injurious to the trees. 



CONSERVATORY AND PLANT STOVE. 



In the stove we have been repotting and rebasketing those 

 Orchids that were not done earlier. Nearly all the subjects here 

 are making rapid growth, and require a moist atmosphere with 

 a high temperature. Shutting up early in the afternoon, and 

 allowing the sun to shine on the glass for an hour or so, is better 

 than too much artificial heat at this season of the year. The 

 paths aud stages should be well sprinkled with water, and all 

 plants that require it should be syringed before shutting-up. 

 A gentleman who had hved in India came into our stove after 

 the house was shut-up on one occasion, and he exclaimed at 

 once, " This is exactly like Bombay in the rains." 



The work here has been similar to that of last week, tying and 

 training cUmbers, picking decaying flowers and seed-pods from 

 Azaleas, Geraniums, ttc, and potting-on any plant requiring it. 

 Placing sticks to Liliums and Phloxes in pots. The LiUuma 

 succeed well with us; they are grown in cold fiames until 

 the growths come in contact with the glass, when the sides of 

 the frame are raised a foot higher on bricks, and by the time 

 the growths have again touched the glass the plants are placed 

 out of doors. We do not find L. auratum quite so hardy as the 

 varieties of lancifoUum. Tree Carnations have become infested 

 with green fly ; we have cleared them off with a camel-hair 

 brush ; this is sometimes more convenient than smoking when 

 only a few plants become infested. 



FLOWER G-UIDEN. 



Weeds are appearing in the flower borders, and the ground is 

 hard on the surface. We ran the Dutch hoe through all borders 

 and beds, and, the weather being favourable, planted out aU the 

 more tender bedding plants. Notwithstanding so much uncon- 

 genial weather, the bedding plants are looking very well and 

 making good growth ; under favourable auspices the beds will 

 be pretty well covered in ten days. Planted out Asters, Stocks, 

 and other half-hardy annuals. They had been pricked-out in 

 boxes, were well hardened-off, and having been lifted with good 

 balls of earth at the roots, they wiU grow away at once. — J. 

 Douglas. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

 *,* We request that no one will write privately to any of the 

 correspondents of the " Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing thoy 

 are subjected to unjustifiable troublo and expense. All 

 communicationB should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, dc. 111, Fleet 

 Street, London, E.G. 

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

 week. 

 Books {B. Adams). — '* The Treaauiy of Botany," Longman & Co., defines 

 botanical terms. " The Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary " explains many 

 gardening terms. 



Horticultural Shows near London {T. TT.). — There is one at the Royal 

 Botanic Society's on the 9th of July. 



PiNK-PLOwERED LABURNUM ( W. Qrfen). — We believe from the leaves yoa 

 enclosed that your tree is Cytisus purpureas. It occasionally bears some 

 yellow flowers, as the common Laburnum also sometimes bears purplish 

 or pink flowers. See what we said to a correspondent last week. 



Rose Leaves Brown-spotted (E. Rathar). — Yonr Boses, as also yonr 

 grass, suffer from poverty of soil. Carefully scrape the top soil away from their 

 roots without disturbing them, aud mulch with good short pig manure. Re- 

 placing the soil, give guano water. Syringe the trees in the evening with clear 

 soot water, made by putting fresh soot into a tub of water, stirring well, and 

 using the liquid when it has settled. It must not be used too strong. Water 

 the grass with liquid manure, and sow White Clover and Medicago lupulina, 

 dusting a little tine soil over it. This had better he done in September or 

 March. 



Gloxinia Seedlings (J. F.). — We never saw an unattractive Gloxinia, but 

 we do not think yours differ materially from many already in our houses. If 

 you like, you can send pot specimens to the next meeting of the Boyal Hor- 

 ticultural Society's Floral Committee. 



Moles Destroying Garden Crop {A DUheartened Amateur). — We do 

 not know of any mode of destroying them except by trapping, which, how- 

 ever, requires some dexterity, especially in loose-dug ground ; for the mole, 

 instead of traversing its old run, is most likely to make a fresli one. In such 

 a case we have sometimes succeeded in catching it by trampling the ground 

 on each side of an important run very firmly, and carefully setting the trap 

 at that place, placing stones or other hard substances at each side of it 

 Moles often do much mischief ere they can be taken. Probably the Belgian 

 trap recently described might be adopted with advantage in light tillage 

 ground, for which it seems well adapted. The traps in common use, and of 



