March 27, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



24& 



principal leaves, for unless these are kept free of this pest the 

 eyes at their axils will not be properly matured. The mois- 

 ture and the syi-inging should be continued until the wood is 

 becoming brown and hard, when both are to be gradually dis- 

 continued. 



Air is to be given freely, fully, and early, as from a defi- 

 ciency of air and light the canes will be long-jointed. Give 

 air then early, and particularly whilst growth is being made, 

 for if ever the wood become long-jointed, no amount of air and 

 light afterwards will remedy the evO. It must, however, be 

 given without lowering the temperature, and the amoimt 

 should be reduced before this fall much, so as to aii'ord a rise 

 of a few degrees after the air is taken off for the day. A Uttle 

 may be left on aU night, but currents of cold air should at all 

 times be avoided ; and when the thermometer shows less heat 

 a short lime after air is given than before, it is an indication 

 that too much has been admitted. Either it was given too late, 

 or it was not needed. Air day and night should '.be given after 

 the ripening of the wood begins, and it should be more freely 

 admitted then than when the canes are growing. 



The temperature up to the time of the wood turning brown, 

 and the completion of the growth, should be 6.5° at night, or 

 rather in the morning, from 70' to 75° at mid-day without sun, 

 from 75° to 80° on cloudy days with clear intervals, and from 85° to 

 90° on clear days. After the wood has turned brown, and the 

 growth is on the decUne, the temperature should be 5° lower 

 at night, aaid this should be rather from leaving more air on 

 than from keeping the heating surface cooler. By day the 

 same temperature should be maintained, for hot days and com- 

 paratively cold nights favour the thorough ripening of the 

 wood. 



The eyes being inserted during the first week in January, 

 and treated as above described, the Vines will be ready for their 

 final shift in April, and by the end of August the wood will be of 

 the thickness of the little finger, brown, and hard. They may 

 then be placed close to a south wall, where the leaves will soon 

 faU, when the canes are to be cut-in to 6 feet. If the eyes are 

 not inserted until the first week in February, and grown on as 

 already mentioned, the canes wili not be strong enough for 

 their final shift until May, and will not have the wood brown 

 and hard until September. In this case they should not be 

 taken out of the house, but kept in it, trained near the glass, 

 and when the leaf falls they should be pruned. The first de- 

 scription of canes will be eligible for forcing in the November 

 and December following, in order to yield trxxit in April and 

 May, whilst those of the latter description should not be 

 started before the days begin to lengthen. — G. Abbey. 

 (To be continued.) 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GAEDEU. 



The operation of surface-stirring amongst advancing crops 

 mast be persevered in. lieans, earth-up gi'owing crops. Broc- 

 coli, sow the Purple Sprouting and Lee's New Early White 

 Sprouting. Cabbage, sow for the main autumn crop the En- 

 field Market and the Battersea. Cajyriicums, pot-off as soon as 

 they are fit. Cauli /lowers, stir the soil round those under 

 hand-lights, and earth them up. Sow the Frogmore for an 

 autumn crop. Celerij, prick-out the early crop. Cucumbers, 

 earth-up during dry weather, and give air freely, preserving the 

 heat by fresh hnings if necessary. Kidney Bean,-:, put in a 

 small breadth of the Dim-coloured or Fulmer's on a warm, dry, 

 sheltered border, and plant a quantity in small pots, to be raised 

 in a cold frame, and planted out as soon as all danger of 

 frost is over. Potatoes, the main crop may now be ).lanted. 

 Spinacli, sow small crops of the Round in drills, but little at a 

 time, as it soon runs to seed. Tomatoes, these should now be 

 potted off. Sea-kale, see that the gi-ound for this, Rhubarb, 

 and Aspara/]us, is in readiness to be planted soon. These re- 

 quire a deep rich soil, which should be trenched 2 feet deep, 

 plenty of rotten manure being well incorporated with the bot- 

 tom spit ; indeed, the ground can hardly be made too rich, 

 particularly for Asparagus. This, when planted in well-pre- 

 pared soil, is very productive, yielding a large number of fine 

 strong shoots every season ; whereas if planted on poor shallow 

 soils no after-attention in the way of surface-manuring or 

 watering with liquid manure will serve to secure first-rate 

 heads, and it is so much esteemed in most families that the 

 trouble and expense necessary to properly prepare the ground 

 should not be complained of, particularly as beds rightly made 



last for many years. Sow seeds of herbs and other vegetables 

 that may have been omitted during former weeks. Remove aU 

 litter and weeds. Earth-up early crops, strewing a little soot 

 about them to prevent the attacks of slugs. 



FKUIT GAKDEN. 



The season for disbudding fruit trees i.-J fast approaching. 

 The importance of this operation is gene.nlly acknowledged, 

 and upon the proper perfoi-mance mainly depends the produc- 

 tion of a suitable quantity of healthy clean wood of a fitting 

 quaUty. Take, for instance, a single branch of a Peach tree 

 when it first starts in the spring. If in a healthy fniit-bearing 

 condition it will throw out probably fifty wood shoots, and 

 perhaps a greater number of blossoms ; if the whole of these 

 were left on it is probable that two or three of the leading 

 shoots would, by drawing all the nourishment to themselves, 

 become rank and overluxuriant, whilst the remainder would be 

 weak and worthless ; the fruit, too, would be small, ill-flavoured, 

 and a great portion of it abortive : hence the necessity of a sys- 

 tematic course of disbudding, by which we mean the entire 

 removal of every fruit and every shoot that is not required to 

 be brought to perfection, and if this system of disbudding be 

 rightly carried out through the whole of the tree, it will induce 

 that proper equilibrium of .the sap by which the trees are pre- 

 vented from growing into overluxuriant wood. Every tree in a 

 good soil is capable of producing and bringing to perfection 

 that quantity of wood and numbers of fruit which are propor- 

 tionate to its age and the healthy condition of its roots : con- 

 sequently, if by carefully thinning the fruit and removing 

 superfluous wood, the sap is directed to all parts of the tree 

 at nearly equal distances, the result will be that each indi- 

 vidual shoot will have the power of drawing to itself that 

 amount of sap which is necessary to its healthy support. In 

 order to have fine trees it is necessary to begin with them from 

 the time of planting, and the selection should always be made 

 with care. Those only are worth planting which are well fiUed 

 with clean healthy wood from the centre to the circumference ; 

 if they are not so, they should be closely headed back until 

 they have formed good heads. Supposing the tree to be ope- 

 rated upon to possess from eight to twelve branches of young 

 wood springing from the centre, the object proposed to be 

 attained is that the branches may not elongate themselves to 

 a greater circumference, but produce healthy branches from 

 the centre ; and this is attained by remo\ing, at four different 

 thinnings, every shoot but the terminal one and the one nearest 

 the base on the upper side of the shoot. If this were done all 

 at once the trees would be injured, but from being done at 

 intervals, the shoots to be left acquire sufficient strength to 

 absorb all the nourishment the tree can give, and the sap being 

 thus equally distributed, no shoot will be able to take to itself 

 an undue preponderance. We have entered into this subject 

 more at length on account of the great show of blossom on fruit 

 trees this season. 



FLOWEB GABDEN. 



Prosecute vigorously, till finished, improvements of every de- 

 scription. Bring speedily to a close the digging and raking of 

 borders, sowing grass seeds, laying down turf, and the planting 

 of evergreen and deciduous shrubs. Make new plantations of 

 Russian double blue and white Violets. For this purpose select 

 the young runners, but give the preference to seedlings of the 

 Russian Violet ; they make stronger plants, and flower more 

 abundantly than offsets. 



GKEEN'HOUSE AND CONSEKTATORY. 



Now that the new growth has commenced, abitndance of air 

 and Ught should accompany it, if short-jointed wood and healthy 

 foliage are to be obtained. To allow sufficient air to green- 

 house plants, with the keen piercing winds we are now experi- 

 encing, requires some management, for with a bright sun air 

 must be supplied freely. Hardwooded plants, whose pots are 

 full of roots, and which it is not convenient to repot just at pre- 

 sent, should be carefully attended to with water, for if allowed 

 to flag, many plants, particularly such as have fine hair-like 

 roots, scarcely ever recover. The growth of plants intended 

 to bloom next autumn and winter will require attention ; if 

 numbers are grown they will be easier managed if placed by 

 themselves. The early-started Chinese Azaleas wUl be making 

 growth, which should be encouraged by frequent syringing and 

 a genial temperature of about 50° by night. Straggling shoots 

 should be at once removed; and to obtain perfect flowering 

 specimens, the gi'owth should be uniform to enable the wood to 

 ripen at the same time. Some of the earhest-bloomed Camel- 

 has may be added, and occupy the shady parts of the house: 



