October 9, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



271 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



WINTERING BEDDING PLANTS. 

 (Continued from page 144.) 



ALCEOLARIAS.— " An Ama- 

 teur Gardener" and "A 

 Young Amateur" will now 

 prepare, the former the re- 

 maining half and the latter 

 the whole of his frame for 

 the reception of Calceolaria cuttings. The site in the first 

 case is fixed, and in the second the situation should be dry, 

 open, yet sheltered from the north and east. It is also 

 desirable to have the ground properly drained either by 

 rubble, if very wet, or by slightly elevating the frame on 

 bricks laid on the flat. My frames are placed on a row of 

 bricks laid flat all round on a hard bottom. There is thus 

 a space of 3 or 4 inches for soil, and I fill it with loam 

 from rotted turves two-thirds, and leaf mould well reduced 

 one-third, properly mixed, and on this I place 3 niches of 

 pit sand. This is all the preparation which my beds for 

 Calceolaria cuttings receive, and I seldom lose any. I set 

 the frame so that the lights may face the north, 1st, to 

 retard as much as possible rooting in autumn ; '2nd, to 

 prevent shfftling the cuttings, and at the same time to 

 counteract the drying influence of the sun ; and 3rd, to 

 save them from too powerful light and heat after a thaw. 

 when they may have been in darkness and cold for weeks. 

 The frames are prepared by the middle of October, which 

 is earlier than I like to put hi the cuttings, but it is as well 

 to be in readiness, though deferring to take off the cuttings 

 till as late a period as safety from frost can be insured. 

 So long as frosts do not occur, he in no hurry about making 

 cuttings ; but it is necessary to take them before the shoots 

 are frosted. I generally put them in from the middle to 

 the end of October, and nearer the latter period than the 

 former. For cuttings, choose- shoots 3 or 4 inches long 

 springing from the sides of the old flowering shoots, and 

 that do not exhibit signs of flowering, or which have grow- 

 ing points only. Let them he strong and healthy, and from 

 plants not overcrowded. Slip them from the plant, pare 

 the base below the lowest joint, if they have one close to 

 the heel, or where slipped off; but if not, cut them trans- 

 versely below the lowest joint, taking the leaves off for 

 two-thirds the length of the cuttings. They are now ready 

 for insertion. Commencing at one side, make holes with 

 a small dibber 3 inches from the side of the frame, and 

 H inch apart in the lines, and insert the cuttings up to 

 the lowest leaves ; it is of no moment whether the sand be 

 closed up around the cutting or not. Proceed in this man- 

 ner, allowing 3 inches between the lines and 1{ inch from 

 cutting to cutting in the rows, until the frame is filled ; and 

 if it be well filled it will hold, if G feet wide and in two 

 lights of 3 feet each, upwards of a thousand cuttings. 



No. 289.— Vol. XI., New Seetes. 



After the cuttings are inserted give a good watering, 

 sufficient to cause the sand to fill up the dibber-holes, if these 

 were not closed when the cuttings were put in. Put on the 

 lights, and keep close until the foliage recovers, and then 

 draw them down whenever the air is not either frosty or 

 foggy ; also keep them on when there is rain, tilting them, 

 however, at back. If the weather should prove dry and 

 sunny keep the lights on in the middle of the day, but 

 with air, and draw them down morning and evening, 

 closing them at night, so that the foliage may recover the 

 moisture expended during the day. This will only be 

 necessary for a few days, and generally not at all ; for 

 unless the days are unusually sunny the foliage, if it flags 

 in the daytime, recovers at night. All that the cuttings 

 require is air whenever the external atmosphere is above 

 freezing, and of that they can hardly have too much ; at the 

 same time the lights must be used to protect them from 

 heavy and cold rains, as well as from frost, and their 

 becoming too much flagged from excessive evaporation. 

 The sand will remain sufficiently moist without watering, 

 it should be moist without being either saturated or desic- 

 cated. "What we have to do is to keep the cuttings well 

 aired and cool, and if this be properly effected not many, if 

 any, will have rooted before December ; and this is all the 

 better, as their not rooting will have kept them from grow- 

 ing, and growth made in autumn is only a drawback to 

 their wintering safely, for if made then it is tender and 

 succulent, and frost cuts it off more readily than that which 

 is more sturdy and hardy. Air. then, and coolness, with 

 safety from frost, are the chief requisites. 



A covering of mats will mostly be sufficient to keep out 

 frost until Christmas ; but in December the sides of the 

 frame may be banked up with coal ashes, which will pre- 

 vent frost penetrating to the interior, though I am not par- 

 ticular about this, as, having plenty of dry litter, the sides 

 of the frames, as well as the lights and their covering of 

 mats, are protected with it during very severe weather. For 

 a frost of « 3 or 10° below freezing a double covering of mats 

 is all that need be given ; but if the frosts are more severe 

 the sides of the frames must be protected by ashes or earth, 

 all the better if dry, or with dry litter, and in addition to 

 the mats a covering of dry litter or straw should be put on 

 the mats, and allowed to hang over tho sides ; a thick- 

 ness of G inches I have always found sufficient covering, 

 not, perhaps, proof against frost, but sufficient for the 

 safety of the plants. Should the wi ather be so cold that 

 the covering is not thawed during the day do not remove 

 it, and so long as the ground remains frozen it should 

 not be removed, but be kept on constantly day and night 

 from the commencement of the frost until a gen : 

 begins, and then it should not be removed until the 

 ground has thawed on the north as well as south side of 

 the frame. The covering should be thorough!;. I ! 



before any attempt is made at removing it, and then do 

 tliis by degrees — the litter one day. ami the mats the 

 leaving a single covering of mats for the third day. I do 

 not remove any part of the covering until the third day 

 after a general thaw, and, being three days in uncovering, 

 nearly a week expires before the plants are exposed to 



No. Ml.— Vol. XXXVI., Old Srngsa 



