308 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 23, 1866. 



■will set the atmosphere of the pit in motion, especially when 

 the external air is cold. 



Apart from pit-building I promised a few hints on the 

 ■wintering of Geraniums without the aid of artificial heat, by 

 which I wish it to be understood that no fire heat is meant, 

 and equally so that no damp cold pit is to be used for such a 

 purpose. The pit must be dry, and then the Geraniums may 

 he placed in it any time before severe weather sets in, not 

 with a view of keeping them close, but to preserve them from 

 wet and to mature the growth made. No more water is to be 

 given than sufficient to keep the leaves on, and the soil by the 

 middle of November should feel quite dry, or exhibit every 

 appearance of requiring water. The pots or boxes of cuttings 

 should be placed on boards, and not on the bottom of the pit, 

 as that may communicate moisture to the pot and soil. From 

 November to March the plants will not require a drop of water 

 in an ordinary winter, but should they grow, from the mildness 

 of the weather, give a little to prevent their drying up ; yet be 

 cautious, for once you make the soil wet it is next to impos- 

 sible to get it dry again, and should severe weather ensue the 

 safety of the plant is by no means secure. Very rarely indeed 

 will it be necessary to furnish the plants with water during 

 winter, and if the soil can be kept dry the danger of injury 

 from frost is extremely small, for a covering of mats, double, 

 will protect from 10' of frost, and 9 inches of dry litter or straw 

 upon this will exclude any frost we have in our climate, if I 

 may take the frost of December 25th, 18C0, as a criterion, when 

 the thermometer fell to 3° below zero with me, and then I had 

 old plants of Geraniums in dry sand in brick pits side by side 

 with Endive, and the former were uninjured, whilst the latter 

 was destroyed. In very severe weather the lights must not be 

 opened nor the covering removed ; Geraniums will endure as 

 much darkness as Calceolarias, and so will any plant if the 

 atmosphere be so cold as to prevent growth. Airland plenty of 

 it whenever the weather i-; mild, i; essential, for no attempt to 

 encourage growth must be made u ' -- E ; l>ut, on the 



contrary, every means should be taken to prevent it, and that 

 object is effected by keeping the soil and atmosphere dry and 

 cold. The plants will not grow much, if at all, before March, 

 and then water must be sparingly given. Early in April they 

 maybe potted off, advantage being taken of the moveable shelves 

 to remove them from the pit ; and form a hotbed of leaves, 

 which, covered with a few inches of sawdust or spent tan, will 

 be an excellent medium to plunge the pots in, the bed being 

 made so as to bring the plants almost within touching distance 

 of the glass. They will now grow rapidly, and must be pro- 

 tected from frost by mats thrown over the lights at night, and 

 be watered when necessary. The points of the shoots may be 

 taken out, and that will induce them to branch. In this way 

 by the middle of May a stock of fine plants will be secured, and 

 if hardened off they will be fit for planting out at the end of the 

 month. 



Damp being the great evil to be guarded against, air is the 

 chief requisite. This and protection from frost being secured, 

 and damp avoided, there is no greater difficulty in wintering 

 Geraniums than Calceolarias. 



Old plants may be taken up before they are frozen, and after 

 ; picking off all the leaves, closely packed in dry sand in boxes, 

 ', the root portion only being covered. Any dry place, no matter 

 how dark, will do, so long as it is not warm. If it were pos- 

 sible to keep them at 33° that would be well ; but as cellars and 

 pits are generally much warmer, keep the plants as cool and 

 dry as you can without subjecting them to a temperature lower 

 than 33°. They will just do as well in sand in a cellar as in a 

 house affording much light, and keep as safely as Dahlia roots. 

 They will require occasional looking over, any mouldy shoots 

 being cut clean off. Here they may remain until the begin- 



(ning of April, when they may have a hotbed made up so as to 

 produce a gentle heat, and be potted after having the roots 

 trimmed. The shoots may also be cut back, and if placed in a 

 frame over the hotbed the plants will soon push new shoots, 

 and with proper care in watering, air during the day, and pro- 

 tection at night, will make fine plants by bedding-out time, 

 for they seem to grow more rapidly after a long rest. It will 

 answer almost as well if the plants are placed in a green- 

 house on being removed from the cellar, pit, or other place 

 where they may have been wintered. Sometimes, when taking 

 up the plants, if I find the shoots very sappy, in addition to 

 removing the leaves, the points are cut off also. It is only the 

 common kinds that are treated in this manner. 



Besides Geraniums, the pit will be available for wintering 

 Guphea platycentra and strigillosa, Ageratums, Salvias, Lo- 



belias, Alyssums, and other plants which, like Geraniums, 

 need protection from frost as well as dryness. A few plants of 

 the kinds named, for the purpose of affording cuttings in spring, 

 will be found useful ; and of such, and the raising of annuals 

 for bedding-purposes in heat or in a frame, I hope to treat in 

 due season. — G. Abbey. 



CONIFER.!', AT LINTON PARK. 



(Continued from page 292.) 



C'RTrTOMEEiA japonica, 39 feet high, and 15 feet in diameter, 

 having grown 10J feet in the last five years. This tree is 

 beautifully straight, and tapering from the bottom to the top. 

 In some seasons it has scarcely shown any symptoms of turn- 

 ing brown in autumn, while in others it has done so ; it cer- 

 tainly is not the cold that causes this, as in the seasons in 

 which it does so the change takes place before cold weather sets 

 in. The tree is, nevertheless, a useful addition to the pinetum ; 

 its fine, straight, pyramidal form, and the graceful curve of its 

 branches, give it a handsome appearance. Cones of a globular 

 form have been produced upon it for many years. The situa- 

 tion which it occupies is sheltered and tolerably dry. There 

 is a variety called viridis, said to be less liable to turn brown, 

 though its properties in this respect appear to be doubtful. 

 There is also one showing a more robust character, called 

 C. Lowii ; but, having only young plants of it, I cannot give an 

 opinion of its distinctive features. It Eeems to grow freely, 

 and I should think will become more thickly furnished at 

 bottom ; but it has not with us arrived at an age sufficient to 

 determine this. 



Cbyptomeeia elegaxs. — Only young specimens of this are 

 planted out, but it promises to be a fast grower. I fear by its 

 appearance that it may not be quite hardy ; but it would be 

 premature to give an opinion as to this. Last winter, though 

 unprotected, the plant did not appear to sustain the least injury ; 

 but it was a mild season. If it prosper, as it promises to do, 

 it will be an important addition to the pinetum ; the peculiar 

 tint of reddish brown or purple which it acquires in winter 

 differs widely from the yellow tinge of C. japonica, more re- 

 sembling the peculiarly rich hue of Retinospora ericoides. It 

 does not appear to be very much planted yet, and, no doubt, 

 its success will depend on its hardiness. 



Cupivessus maceocabpa or Laheertiaxa, 34J feet high, and 

 19 feet in diameter, having grown 13.J feet during the last five 

 years. This fine tree was planted in the spring of 1854, being 

 then not more than a foot high, so that its average growth for 

 twelve consecutive years has been a little more than 2 feet 

 9 inches, and it has become densely bushy in proportion. In 

 outline it forms a cone, of which the greatest diameter is about 

 4 or 5 feet up. I can endorse all that my friend, Mr. McDonald, 

 of Woodstock, Ireland, has said in its favour at page 165, ex- 

 cepting in one respect — I am at a loss to understand his success 

 with it, as he mentions having transplanted it five years ago. 

 In my own practice I have always considered it most difficult 

 to remove, small plants only 1.J foot high often going off 

 entirelv, or dying so much back as to be disfigured for some 

 time, and I should much like to hear how Mr. McDonald suc- 

 ceeded so well. I exp'ect the moist climate of Ireland favoured 

 him much, and, no doubt, the proper season was chosen for the 

 work of removal. Still, one-half of the plants will generally die 

 if they have been more than one year planted before removal ; 

 but when once established their progress is so rapid that they 

 quickly make up for lost time. 



The rich green colour of the foliage, and the compact habit 

 of Cupressus macrocarpa, render its appearance conspicuous 

 even amongst trees of a like character, at the same time 1 

 fear that it will not attain the importance of the Cedars as 

 detached or isolated specimen trees. A tree so fast-growing 

 and so densely clothed with foliage, must necessarily suffer 

 much from high winds, though I have never known a branch 

 broken in this way, nor yet by heavy falls of snow. The tree 

 is now and then uprooted by high winds, more especially if its 

 roots have remained undisturbed in a pot. As regards the 

 specimen described above, especial care was taken when it 

 was planted to stretch out all its roots to their utmost length, 

 and fortunately they were so small as to allow of the sudden 

 turns and bends being laid straight without much injury, 

 though not without some. I would always advise this to 

 be done rather than leave the plant to the uncertainty or al- 

 most certainty of after-strangulation, as the following case will 

 exemplify. Some years ago a fine specimen of Pinus Sabmiana 



