382 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 20, 1866. 



prepared soil. In a week these pots will be full of roots, if 

 the plants be kept in a warm pit close to the glass. Those 

 intended to form large plants should be potted into larger pots. 

 In March and April I frequently take these large plants out of 

 the pots they are in, and reduce the ball, cutting away all the 

 outside roots, and placing them again in smaller pots. By 

 treating them in this way I find that they grow much better 

 than in the old soil. 



Mr. Pearson's advice as to the treatment of plants that are 

 unhealthy — viz., "to shake all the soil from them, and repot 

 in smaller pots," is good. Like Mr. Pearson, I was afraid to 

 purchase Lucy Grieve at three guineas, hearing that it had such 

 a bad charaoter for weak growth, and when my plant arrived 

 it had only three leaves ; a poor sickly-looking object it was. I 

 shook all the soil from the roots, gave some of my own compost, 

 and in a short time the plant made six leaves ; but I observed 

 the appearance of decay in the stem just above the soil. Here, 

 then, was a case requiring instant decision ; there was no chance 

 if the plant remained as it was, but would such a poor-looking 

 shoot ever make roots ? It must be tried ; and off went the 

 head, and I was fortunate in being able to make the cutting at 

 a joint above where the brown decayed appearance had reached. 

 The cutting struck, and is now in a five-inch pot growing as 

 freely as Mrs. Pollock, and certainly an improvement on that 

 favourite variety. I have no fear that Lucy Grieve will not 

 grow as well as Mrs. Pollock, and better than Sunset or Italia 

 Unita, which varieties I also grow. I find none of these kinds 

 will grow or keep well in a cold house ; they require heat, in 

 this part of the country at least. In propagating them I keep 

 the pit at 7o°, or higher at times, with a moist atmosphere, 

 and the plants should on no occasion be without water. To 

 grow them well they must not have a poor low system of feed- 

 ing, merely keeping life in without progress. They must be 

 carefully attended to, and liberally supplied with all they 

 require. — Alex. Shearer, Yester Gardiiu. 



I see that Mr. Pearson says that it is not possible to grow 

 these Pelargoniums so as to preserve the brilliant colour all 

 the year round ; and if your readers follow Mr. Pearson's ad- 

 vice they cannot do it, as the fresh stable manure will destroy 

 all the beauty of their foliage. They do not require manure of 

 any description. 



I grow thirty-five varieties of variegated Zonales, and I often 

 exhibit them during the winter months, and it has been thought 

 a great mystery ; yet I can assure you that the cause of so 

 many complaints that Mrs. Pollock and others lose their beauty 

 is the manure that is used in the potting. 



Such a compost as Mr. Pearson recommends is sufficient to 

 turn a plant of Mrs. Pollock quite green until the manure is 

 quite consumed, and then the plant will return to its former 

 beauty. 



I have plants at the present time good enough for any exhi- 

 bition, which you can see by the leaves that I have enclosed. 

 I have also a great number of seedlings quite as good in colour. 

 The only tiling that is necessary to insure good colaur is to 

 strike the cuttings in July in 00-sized pots, placing only one 

 cutting in a pot. The compost must consist of soft fibry loam 

 and a very small quantity of peat, with one-third of coarse 

 silver sand, or some Thames or other river sand washed clean. 

 The cuttings must afterwards be potted or shifted in the usual 

 way, placed on a shelf in a warm house, with plenty of air every 

 day. Plants treated in this way will give satisfaction, and leave 

 no room for complaint or disappointment, will gratify the eyes of 

 all lovers of beautiful plants, and will be an ornament to any 

 conservatory. — John Aldred, 22, lliulriu fttreet, Kilburn. 



[We have inserted this communication with great plea- 

 sure. It is from the pen of a man self-taught, and whose 

 daily occupation as an omnibus conductor is as unfriendly to 

 floral pursuits as could well be devised. However, love laughs 

 at obstacles, whether it be fixed upon a fair maiden or a fair 

 flower ; and Mr. Aldred has proved this beyond dispute, by 

 not only cultivating Zonale Pelargoniums to please his own 

 taste, but so as to produce varieties, and specimens of those 

 varieties, suj erior to most that have been produced even by 

 professional florists. He is the raiser of that very beautiful 

 variety Sophia Dumaresque, sent out by Messrs. E. G. Hen- 

 derson, and of many other good varieties ; and heartily do we 

 hope that he will long continue to achieve similar successes, 

 and that others may be encouraged by his example not to 

 be deterred from pursuing gardening under difficulties. The 

 leaves were good in colouring, but small in size.] 



ASPARAGUS FORCING. 

 The forcing of Asparagus is one of the most simple of 

 garden operations, and one in which success is more dependant 

 on the preparation of the plants, or the strength and quality of 

 those employed, than on their after-treatment. 



The plan which I pursue has been practised by the brethren 

 of the spade for considerably more than a century. It consists 

 iu the ground intended to be planted being trenched from 2 to 

 3 feet deep during a dry period in autumn, a dressing of well- 

 rotted manure, leaf mould, and sand being first given, and pro- 

 perly intermixed as the trenching proceeds. The dressing may 

 consist of 6 inches thick of manure, 3 inches of leaf mould, 

 and the same depth of sand. 



Towards the end of March, or early in April, the ground 

 should be marked out in beds 4 feet wide, with 18-inch alleys 

 between them, and when the plants begin to push their crowns, 

 or grow, a line should be stretched C inches from the side of 

 the bed next the alley (pegs being put down at the corner of 

 each bed to indicate the position of the beds and alleys), and a 

 trench cut, as if for laying Box, but deep enough to allow the 

 roots to be laid out without doubling. The plants should be 

 inserted in this trench at inches apart, and with their crowns 

 2 inches below the surface. The trench is then filled in and 

 another taken out 9 inches from the last, proceeding as before 

 until the last row iu the bed is planted, aud that will be 6 inches 

 from the side of the bed opposite that where the planting began. 

 Passing over the alley, proceed with the next bed, and so on, 

 care being taken to cover the crowns with soil to the depth of 

 2 inches. The plants recommended are those one year old, 

 and they should be taken up carefully with a fork. After 

 planting the soil should be kept moist ; but if losses occur fill 

 up the vacancies with plants kept in reserve for the purpose, 

 and which may safely be planted as late as tHe end of June, 

 for though the foliage may become brown fresh shoots will start 

 from the crowns. The distance at which the plants are put in 

 may seem very close, as indeed it is ; but we must bear in 

 mind that the beds are not intended to be permanent, and are 

 only made to furnish plants of sufficient strength for forcing- 

 purposes by the third year after planting. 



All that is required the first year after planting is to keep the 

 ground clear of weeds, and in autumn the stalks should be cut 

 away when they decay, and 3 inches thick of manure spread over 

 the beds after lightly stirring their surface. In February they 

 should be lightly forked over and left rough until the end of 

 March, the alleys also being forked over, when the surface 

 should be made fine and raked, and the alleys neatly cut out 

 but as the plants are situated near the sides of the bed a little 

 roughness is better than using the spade to make a fine straight 

 edge and going so deep as to injure the roots. The alleys being 

 cut out, give a very slight sprinkling of salt, and in six weeks 

 this application may be repeated. From the end of May to 

 the end of August a thorough watering with liquid manure 

 once a-week will be of very great benefit. In autumn the sur- 

 face of the beds may he drawn off into the alleys, and the beds 

 well dressed with manure, and otherwise treated as in the pre- 

 vious year. The beds are dressed in spring and liberally sup- 

 plied with liquid manure ; and now that the autumn of the 

 third year has arrived and the stalks are cut down, the plants 

 will be such as we should calculate to be in full bearing in 

 the following or fourth year. I find, however, that the plants 

 are strong enough for forcing by the autumn of the third year, 

 and prepare accordingly by placing over those intended to be 

 forced a good covering of loose or long dry litter, so that in 

 case of frost the roots can be taken up and the frames filled 

 independently of the weather. 



About the middle of November a bed should be formed 

 of well-fermented horse-litter, which has been thrown up some 

 time previously, and turned over once or twice to part with 

 its excessive heat and rankness, wetting it if it be dis- 

 posed to become too dry ; but as the demands for litter are 

 often very pressing at this season, I have to content myself 

 with making up a bed of leaves, using no more litter than 

 suflicient to hold the leaves together. The bed is made abou 

 4 feet high in front and 5 feet at back, beating and shaking out 

 the materials as the work proceeds ; but if dung is the mate- 

 rial employed the bed is made 1 foot less in height. In 

 any case it' should be 1 foot wider all round than the frame. 

 The frame and lights are then put on (a two-light frame will 

 afford a fair supply for a moderate family), and iu a few days 

 the heat will have risen. By means of a trial stick ascertain 

 the heat, and when that becomes moderate level the bed, and 



