460 



JOUENAIi OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ December 5, 1865. 



the 3oil to become very dry nor, on the other hand, very wet, 

 and they should not be kept there after the young shoots show 

 above the soil, and have grown an inch or two. The plants 

 require light after that, and will bloom earlier by a fortnight 

 than those in the frame, and the latter a fortnight earlier than 

 those placed out of doors. — G-. Abbey. 



;1.P-'1 Jl/ld I'.-Jlll. 



RIPENING THE MAtsfGOSTEEN. 



In vol. xi. of the " Botanical Magazine " (third series), in the 

 Number for ilay, 185.5, will be found a fuU description of the 

 Mangosteen alluded to by " UpwAitns \nd Onwaeds," in his 

 letter last week, together with a well-coloured plate of the 

 flowers and fruit, which are certainly those of the true Garcinia 

 Maugostana. My plants had, however, much larger blossoms 

 of a beautiful crimson colour, and the fruit was generally brown, 

 or reddish brown, spotted with yellow or green. There are 

 many varieties of this splendid tree, no two raised from seed 

 being exactly alike in either flowers or fruit. The one men- 

 tioned above seems to me from the picture to have had very 

 inferior blossoms to most which I have seen. 



I have no idea who first fruited the Mangosteen in England, 

 although I believe it has been done several times previous to 

 1855. It was the JIaugo, not the Mangosteen, which was 

 ripened at Walcot Hall, in 182G, and afterwards presented to 

 T. A. Knight, Esq., and a paper was read on the subject in the 

 same year to the Horticultural Soci^ty,^-J. H. 



POINSETTIA PULCHEE.RIMA CULTURE. 



Few, if any, oi our stove plants are so atti-active at this dull 

 season of the year as the Poinsettia. It is, however, its usual 

 fate- to be tortured ; for you rarely see it in a healthy con- 

 dition. If the following rules be strictly followed out success 

 will be almost certain : — Take in January or February eyes 

 from stout well-ripened wood in the same way as for Vines, 

 insert each singly in a small pot in a mixtm-e of peat, loam, 

 and sand ; plunge the pots in a good bottom heat of from 

 70 to 75". In about three weeks the eyes will start into 

 growth and make roots, and as soon as tliese have tiUed the 

 pots the plants sliould be shifted into the next size of pot, with 

 the soil as before, and replunged. A dung-bed is the most 

 suitable place in which to start them, and to grow them till 

 they become too large for it, which they will veiy soon be, but 

 after they are well started any ordinai-y stove will suit them. 



When about 8 inches high they sh'(juld be stopjied, I shall 

 presume it to be about May, at which time they should have 

 theii- tiual shift into 10 or 12-ineh pots. They should be kept 

 as near to the glass as possible ; the natural habit of the plants 

 being lengthy, they are apt to become drawn. 



To have them fine they should not be stopped after May. 

 I would rather have three or four fine heads than six or seven 

 small ones. The soil for the last shift should be rather heavier, 

 adding a little more loam than for the first pottiugs. Give 

 plenty of drainage, placing one large crock over the bottom of 

 the pot, and the remainder should be charcoal. Some recom- 

 mend cowdung to be mixed with the soil, but this I do not 

 agree with, for it is then almost impossible to keep the soil 

 from becoming sour. I find it much better to give them their 

 manure in a liquid state ; for I know of no plant that is so 

 nice about water as the Poinsettia. If you give the plants only 

 verv little too much you turn them yellow, and if they are 

 allowed to become dry off comes the foliage. They like, as most 

 plants not aquatics do, a happy medium. AVater shotild never 

 be given without knowing their condition. I sometimes find 

 it necessary to give them water twice a-day, and sometimes 

 they will go two or more days without any, according to the 

 weather. They like a good growing temperature, plenty of 

 moisture, and constant sjTinging to keep down insects. I 

 know of no plant that is so fond of the fumes of ammonia 

 from the evaporating-pans, it seems to animate it and ap- 

 parently it is almost impossible to keep the foliage entire 

 without stimulants ; I constantly keep my trough full of ma- 

 nure water from the dung-heap. All the stove plants seem to 

 like it, especially fine-foliaged plants. At sbutting-up time I 

 syringe it in amongst the pots. It will not do to keep it in 

 the trough towards winter when strong fires are used, if it is 

 it must be very weak. As the pots become well fiUed with 

 roots weak manure water may be given three times a-week. 

 Be sure not to give it too strong. 



About November the plants will show signs of blooming, at 



which time the points should be turned to the positions in 

 which they can be best seen when enteiing the house. They 

 may be turned in almost any (hrection, it is better to do it 

 before they are fully expanded. Nothing can he more beautiful 

 than about a dozen of pure scarlet points from 1-1 to 16 inches 

 across, as I have them at this time. These, with some of the 

 winter-llowering Begonias of a light colour, make the stove 

 very attractive at this dull season. 



As soon their beauty is over water should be gradually with- 

 held, and about January they should be cut down to within 

 two eyes of the bottom, and cuttings made if any are required. 

 Unless a large number of flowers, or rather their showy bracts, 

 are wanted on one plant, I prefer young plants to those that 

 have been cut down. The old plants should be shaken out, 

 repotted in small pots, and plunged like the yoimg ones. Of 

 com-se more heads are jjroduced ,oi^, tl^e old plants. — CniRLES 

 Edwards. "... ' , 



CLOTH OF (JOiLD'AN© GOLBEN CHAIN 



GERANIUMS. 

 As experience in different parts of the country when compared 

 tends to confirm our estimate of the merits or demerits of 

 plants, I think it right to answer the question put by Mr. Fish. 

 We planted two beds with good established plants of Cloth of 

 ( iold Geranium where the sun, unobstructed, shone on them 

 from 9 A.M. till -1 p.m. The plants began in the first week in 

 June to retrograde, and by the end of July they had not more 

 than two leaves on them. Golden Chain in the same place did 

 tolerably. We planted the same number of beds where they 

 had only two hours' sunshine the whole day ; they were all that 

 could be desired. I have seen Cloth of Gold planted in different 

 gardens in different situatious, but it will not stand the sun- 

 shine. Next year this would-be favourite must have its bed in the 

 shade, and Mrs. Pollock must try the sun. — D., near Newark. 



GROWING STRAWBERRIES FOR THE MARKET. 



I PURPOSE planting with Strawberries in July and August 

 next, a field of about three statute acres, which has been for 

 some years in grass. I do not enter into possession of the 

 land until Christmas, and wish so to arrange that without 

 horse labour I may employ as f uUy as possible the time of one 

 man from January to July, with only occasional assistance. I 

 have sufficient runners of the present year to plant half an 

 acre in the month of March, and from these and my old jilants 

 wiU have enough in the course of the summer for the rest of 

 the field. The land has been well drained and is a good loam, 

 varying from 12 to 18 inches in depth, resting upon clay. I 

 do not wish to have early Potatoes, or any other crop uijon the 

 land in the meantime, my only object being to have it in such 

 condition as will allow of the planting of half an acre in 

 March and the remainder in Jiily, with as Uttle additional 

 labour as possible at planting-time. 



Oblige me with such hints as will be of service in securing what 

 I aim at. It would, I think, be of interest to your readers gene- 

 rally, to have a paper in the Journal descriptive of Strawberry- 

 growing as practised in the great market gardens round London. 

 In Lancashire the practice seems to be, to plant in spring in 

 rows, with intervals of 3 feet between the rows, and Potatoes in 

 the intervals. The runners are allowed to ramble, and when the 

 Potatoes are taken up the intervals are kept clear with a light 

 ciUtivator drawn by a pony. In September every alternate 

 space is planted with Cabbage or Broccoli, aud weeded by hand, 

 the cirltivator being stiU employed on the others. The fruit is 

 taken to market almost exclusively in baskets of one dozen 

 quarts, a quart weighing about 18 ozs. Pottles and punnets 

 are almost uuknown in the Lancashire markets, except in the 

 employment of the latter for Plums of extra quality. — F. E. 



[As you purpose to take no other crop off the land, we would 

 trench down the turf surface, after forking or picking the clay 

 subsoil and leaving it there, thus stirring the groimd com- 

 pletely to the depth of the staple of from 12 to 18 inches. If 

 the ground is in pretty good order, we would supply no manure, 

 at the trenching, but depend chiefly on the sods at the bottomj. 

 Having thus rough-treuched we would give a coating of shor 

 rotten manure on the sm'face, and point it in so as to give 

 assistance to the young plants at once. For a continuance we 

 would plant in rows 2 feet apart, and 1 foot apart in the rows. 

 If the plants do not grow strong in the neighbourhood, we 

 would be content with 20 inches from row to row ; but in 



