98 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 7, 1866. 



water to keep the stems from shrivelling and the leaves from 

 flagging. 



In March, if the weather is mild, the plants will hegin to 

 grow, and should be watered more freely ; and during sunny 

 days and mild showery weather, it will he very beneficial 

 to place the boxes outside under a wall for a few hours in 

 the day, returning them to a place of safety at night. This 

 mode of treatment is to be continued until the middle of 

 April, when a bed should bo made of dung and leaves to a 

 height of from 2 to 2J feet, and covered with 4. inches of turfy 

 loam two-thirds, and leaf mould one-third, the frame having 

 previously been placed on the bed. In a few days the leaves 

 and dung will have heated sufficiently to warm the soil through. 

 If the heat be more than the hand can bear, the plants must 

 not be put in until it has declined to a gentle heat of 70° or 75°. 

 Then the plants are to be taken out of the boxes, and planted 

 in the bed, cutting all roots to within 1 inch, or 1J inch from 

 the place whence they take their rise. The plants may be 

 put in 3 inches apart every way. A frame of two lights, G feet 

 wide, 7 feet long, will hold upwards of six hundred plants. After 

 planting they are to have a good watering, but not a soaking, 

 and the lights should be put on, and kept close, and if shaded 

 for a few hours during the hottest part of the day, the cuttings 

 will quickly form roots, and commence growing. Their points, 

 if not previously taken off, are to be removed at once, which will 

 cause them to become stiff and branching. A sprinkling of 

 water early in the afternoon will be of advantage, but heavy 

 waterings are to be avoided. None should be given at the root 

 until the soil evidently requires moisture ; then afford enough 

 to moisten the mass. 



When the plants have made shoots an inch or two in length, 

 gradually admit air; in fact, admit it plentifully, and by the 

 middle of May if all has gone well, strong vigorous plants will 

 be the result. The frame may now be removed and placed on 

 a bed of leaves and litter, as in the former case, the bed being 

 covered with soil as before. When the bed is no more than 

 warm turn out in it any plants of the variegated kinds which 

 there may be in boxes, treating them in precisely the same 

 manner as the first, and with the mild bottom heat they will 

 speedily emit roots plentifully, and grow rapidly. By the be- 

 ginning of June they will be sufficiently advanced for harden- 

 ing off, by admitting more air gradually until the lights can be 

 entirely withdrawn. On the removal of the frame, sticks 

 should be bent over the plants so that on frosty nights mats 

 can be thrown over them, and in severe nights it will be neces- 

 sary to cover the frame with mats to protect the plants from 

 frost. 



The frame, then, will be of no service whatever to the Gera- 

 niums until spring, and even then it may be used for the 

 raising of half-hardy annuals, the plants being retained in the 

 boxes up to the time of planting out, the points of the shoots 

 being taken out in March. The supply of water should be 

 increased as growth may render necessary ; as a rule, no water 

 should be supplied until the soil requires it. After March, 

 however, keep the soil moist, but not saturated. After the 

 middle of May the plants may be kept outside day and night 

 in a warm situation, protection being at hand to cover them on 

 frosty nights. The plants in this case may be planted out 

 from the boxes towards the end of May, taking them up with 

 all the root practicable, and a good watering being given they 

 will soon become established. In this case the frame will be 

 dispensed with so far as the Pelargoniums are concerned, and 

 that is all the better, as it may then be used for other purposes. 

 The plants, however, will not fill the beds so soon, whilst 

 those transplanted from the boxes into good soil on a mild 

 hotbed may be removed with balls of earth at their roots, and 

 will make a good show by the beginning of July. 



I have omitted to mention, that a box ii feet 6 inches long, 

 and 7; inches wide, will hold five rows of cuttings, and twenty- 

 eight in each row, or 140 cuttings in all. The boxes can be 

 ' of any length and width desired. The dimensions pre- 

 viously stated are the sizes used by myself ; not that I winter 

 my Wants in windows, fori am favoured with glass, but I 

 took the pattern from some boxes that were made and used in 

 the manner already described, being in length the exact width 

 of the windows. I manage to squeeze 150 cuttings into each 

 box, and this year, owing to want of room, they were planted 

 out direct from the boxes, and have done well. 



I do not think it necessary to say anything as to putting in 

 the cuttings in pots, for these take up much room, and the 

 plants are no better, if so good, as those inserted in boxes. 



The varieties which I would recommend are Stella, Tom 



Thumb, LittleDavid.andCrystalPalace Scarlet, of the scarlets; 

 pink, Christine ; white, Madame Yaucher ; and Bijou, as a 

 silver-edged Geranium. There is scarcely a dwelling in which 

 a boxful of each of these, and in many cases twice that quan- 

 tity, could not be wintered. I may add that any injury to the 

 window-board may be prevented by placing the box on a piece 

 of zinc. 



The earlier the cuttings are put in after this appears the 

 better. The wintering of old plants will be treated of in 

 another article. — G. Abbey. 



VISITS TO GARDENS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. 



Mil. Fraser's, Lea Bridge Nursery. 



There is unquestionably a vast deal of difference between 

 the north and south of London. Go five miles away from 

 the General Post-office on the south side, and you feel you are 

 still in London ; suburbs are there which contain a good deal 

 of the " urbe," but very little of the " rus ;" bricks and mortar 

 predominate over trees and shrubs, and you involuntarily ask, 

 " Where does London end ?" But go the same distance on the 

 north side, and you are among hedgerows and meadows, and 

 quaint old country houses, unknown on the south side, and, 

 despite railways, you feed that the people there enjoy a vast 

 deal more quiet than they do elsewhere. So I felt, at least, as 

 on a warm day in July I committed myself to the tender 

 mercies of the Great Eastern, and finding myself safe at the 

 Lea Bridge Station, walked along the road that leads to Epping 

 Forest. There was plenty of life ; there were pleasure parties 

 making their way to that favourite resort ; there were vans 

 full of Sunday-school children from the crowded city, making 

 their way to scenes of which they had been dreaming for the 

 last six months, and which will afford them matter of talk 

 for the next six ; but with all this there was a quietness one 

 in vain looks for at the same distance along any of the lines 

 that go south out of London. It seemed the very place for a 

 nursery; and I felt sure that the fame which Mr. Fraser's 

 nursery has so long enjoyed would prove not to be undeserved. 

 The soil was good, and the situation all that could be wished. 



In their general features all large nurseries must be some- 

 what alike. Each proprietor has some speciality, for which he 

 has made his name famous ; but in their general features — 

 their fruit and forest trees, their bedding and greenhouse 

 plants, there is great similarity. Mr. Fraser has of late years 

 been distinguished for his new Roses, Pelargoniums, Azaleas, 

 and greenhouse plants ; but of the last he has no longer 

 the large stock of magnificent plants that he used to have. 

 Finding it impossible to grow everything, and seeing that the 

 sale of new plants, was more profitable than keeping up a 

 laige number of unwieldy specimens, he this spring disposed 

 of them by auction, and has since turned his attention more 

 to the production of larger numbers of smaller plants. July 

 is not the month for greenhouses, and therefore my observa- 

 tions were confined to plants out of doors, notably to the Roses. 

 These were still in fine bloom, and most of the varieties of the 

 present and former years were to be seen amongst them. I 

 noticed as very good JosGphine Beauharnais, of which I have 

 already spoken ; Mademoiselle Marguerite Doinbrain, this had 

 all been cut away, as the foreman considered it one of the very 

 best of the year, and had therefore determined to propagate as 

 much as possible of it ; Prince de Porcia, a very bright-looking 

 and excellent flower ; Alba Mutabilis, pretty and distinct ; 

 Alfred Colomb, excellent ; and Jean Cherpin, very good and rich 

 flowers. Of those of the previous year there were fine ex- 

 amples of Marie Boissue, a Rose I had not seen before, light- 

 coloured and good ; Semiramis, another light-coloured Rose, 

 very much like Rosa Mundi ; Duke of Wellington, a beautifully 

 rich-coloured flower, but somewhat uncertain, I fear; Docteur 

 Andry, a beautifully-shaped and good Rose ; Marguerite de 

 St. Amand, alovely Rose, and when well grown a most valuable 

 addition to any collection ; Madame Elise Yilmorin, somewhat 

 rough, but a very showy Rose in a garden, though hardly fit 

 fdr an exhibition stand ; Madame Charles Yerdier, a beautiful 

 light-coloured Rose. I have not found it very vigorous with 

 me, but it seemed to be so here. Of the older Roses there 

 was a very large collection, and Mr. Fraser had that very day 

 been performing the disagreeable but necessary process of con- 

 signing to the dunghestp a large number, which are now only 

 cumberers of the ground, however much they may have been 

 esteemed formerly. All the plants appeared in excellent con- 

 dition, and free from that horrid black spot which has so 



