152 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICUlfTORE AKD COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ AprU S, UK. 



three or four times a-wock, nntU vritbin ten days or so of the 

 {mit'B ripening, when all water should bo withheld, tlie tam- 

 perature of th« honsc increased, and abundance of air giyen. 

 This will impart tho necessary llavour to the fruit. When the 

 fruit are fairly set and are swelling off, aU the fresh shoots 

 made by the vino should be pinched out, so that tho whole of 

 the energy of the plant ma}- be concentrated on the fruit. All 

 the first and principal leaves made by the plant must be pre- 

 served in a healthy state as long as passible, as these are the 

 ohief langa of the plant by which it receives its atmospheric 

 food- To guard against greon &y and thrijis, the house should 

 bo well fumigated two or three times during the free growth of 

 the plants ; the syringe, too, should be freely used before and 

 after the fruit is properly sot, but in order to prevent scorching 

 syringing should be done pretty early in the morning, so that the 

 fohage may be dry before tho sun shine very strongly on the 

 house, and in the afternoon the house should be shut up, and 

 the plants syringed, as soon as the vertical rays of the son are 

 off the glass. 



The Cucumber requires similar treatment to that recorded 

 above for the Melon, with the exception of the dryingofl pro- 

 ■oess, and the difference in the soil, which cannot be too rich for 

 the Cucumber. It will also do with a higher and more humid 

 temperature than the Melon, and this temperature must bo 

 continued till the fruit be ht to cut. To be successful in 

 setting the young fruit of the Cucumber during the winter 

 months, care must be taken in choosing an opportunity when 

 ihe pollen is quite dry. l''ertilisation is best done with a small 

 hnish, as the fruit is often injured by pressing the male 

 Uoesom on it too hard. A plan of a new range of Melon, 

 Cucumber, and propagating houses, &a., will shortly be ^ven, 

 showing the positions the plants occupy. — J. Wills. 



CULTURE OF VINES IN POTS. 

 {Conlinued from jiaife 245.) 



VTiTEnE the convenience of a house with a suitable tempera- 

 ture, and means for plunging the pots in bottom heat is not at 

 command, it will answer nearly as well to plimge the pots in 

 Cucumber or other hotbed-frames ; the temperature of the bed 

 being 75', and that of the atmosphere G5° by night. In this 

 the pots are to remain until tho eyes have started, and have 

 grown so as to fill the pots with roots. JJy this time another 

 hotbed will most likely be iu readiness for successional crops 

 of Cucumbers or Melons. SoU in which to pot the Vines 

 should be brought into the frame to become warmed, which it 

 murt be, forty-eight hours before they are potted. The Vines, 

 being potted in six-inch pots, should be plunged iu the bed 

 again if the heat is suflicient and can be kept up by linings, or 

 they may be transferred to another Bnd new bed, choosing a 

 warm calm day for the operation of potting or transferring the 

 oanes, so that they may not receive a check. Here they may 

 remain until they can be removed into a house with a tempera- 

 ture of not less than 00" at night. The house may be a vinery 

 at work or any similar house. Previously to removing the 

 Vines from the frame, the pots should be gradually withdrawn 

 from the hotbed, so tliat when removed to tlie house they may 

 not receive a severe check, as they would were they removed 

 direct from the hotbed and placed at once on a cool bottom. 

 In the house the Vines are not to have an inferior situation, 

 bnt the best the strnctnre affords, and that must be light, and 

 not -very airy at this early season. If there is a pit filled with 

 fermenting materials plunge the pots therein to the rim, and 

 vfaea they become full of roots shift the Vines into nine-inch 

 pots, and ultimately into 11-inch or larger pots, after which 

 they are to have a position near the glass. The canes raised 

 in this manner will be of the thickness of the Uttle linger by 

 autumn if at all Uberally encouraged, and the wood will hi- 

 brown and hard if they have had the benefit of all the light 

 possible, by being 1 foot from the glass of an unshaded roof, 

 and had a snfKciency of heat with abundance of air. Many of 

 them will fniit in tlie following year, but will not be eligible 

 for very early forcing. 



Where there is not the conTenience of a vinery that is started 

 in .January or February, so as to have by the time the eyes are 

 removed from the hotbed (where they were placed in January 

 or February), a temperature of from DO' to li.">' at night, anil 

 the means are limited to a greenhouse or other cool house, the 

 eyes may be inserted in the beginning of February, and be 

 plnoged in a hotbed such as is used for raising annuals, and in 

 this they may remain until April, when they may be removed to 



the warmest and least airy part of the house. If there is no 

 hotbed at command in February, they may be inserted in 

 March, and plunged in a mild hotbed ; they then grow rapidly, 

 and, when the bed becomes cold, may be removed to the cold 

 house, giving them a light and airy situation. Pot the young 

 Vines in six-inch pots in April or May, and by June they will 

 have filled those with roots, when they may be transferred 

 into nine-inch pots, training the canes as tLey grow, to the 

 roof if possible, and watering when the jjots become fuU of 

 roots with hquid manure at every alteniate watering up to 

 September. The use of liquid manure should then be discon- 

 tinued, and only half the quantity of that preWously given 

 should be afforded, gradually reducing the supply so as to 

 leave off watering altogether when the wood becomes brown 

 and tho leaves turn yellow. Let the canes grow as they like, 

 and without heeding the laterals. By autumn the result will 

 be strong canes, considering the means, but of no value for 

 fruiting in the succeeding year, though they will do for plant- 

 ing out in the following spring in borders ; but, if this is con- 

 templated, cut in the laterals in September, which will admit 

 more hght to the leaves and cane, and cause the latter to ripen 

 more fuUy. 



Where tliet« is not the convenience of a hotbed, the eyes 

 may he made and inserted in pots in February or March, and 

 be placed on a shelf iu the warmest part of the greenliouse ; 

 the soil being kept moist, the eyes will commence growth when 

 a minimum of 50° of temperature is reached. The soil must 

 not be kept wet, etherwise the eyes will rot, and if kept dry 

 they will not grow. When the Vines have grown so as to till 

 the pots with roots, shift into six-inch pots, and if by July 

 they have grown sufficiently to fill these with roots, give nine- 

 inch pots, and, under hberal treatment, they will merit the 

 name of Vines by autumn. 



Eaised by any of the above means, the canes after the leaves 

 fall may be kept in any place free from frost, though it is not 

 absolutely necessary to exclude it ; only, if no fiEC heat is used 

 to keep out frost, the pots must be protected by a covering of 

 dry hay or litter so as to preserve the roots from injury. The 

 temperature when the Vines are at rest should not exceed 4.5° 

 from fire heat. The soil in the pots should not become so 

 dry as to cause the wood to shrivel ; a httle water should be 

 given if necessary to prevent this. The canes intemded ior 

 fruiting should, immediately after the leaves are off, be out in 

 to the length required, and those not Btrong enough for fruiting 

 should be cut in to two or three eyes. The parts cut off may 

 be kept until required for taking eyes from, with their lower 

 ends in moist soil. 



The Vines not sufficiently strong for fruiting in the follow- 

 ing year being cut in to two or three eyes, may have the soil 

 shaken from the roots and be repotted in nine-inch pots. 

 Spread out the roots as much as possible, and work the soil in 

 between them. This should not be done later than the middle 

 of February, even for the Vines that are to be grown iu oool 

 houses, for though they may not grow they will, nevertheless, 

 make roots. 



If from these Vines ripe Grapes are desired on New Year's- 

 day, select some of the strongest of such as had the wood 

 ripe early in the season ; those from eyes put-in in January 

 and grown throughout in a strong heat, having the wood ripa 

 in August, are the best, and they cannot be too strong. Cut 

 them in to two eyes early in October, him them out of tha 

 pots, shake the SoU from the roots, pot them in nine-inch pot?, 

 and keep them in a cool honse until November. They may 

 then be placed in a house having a temperature of 50°, plung- 

 ing the pots in a hotbed of 75', haH their depth at first, aad 

 then to the rim in a fortnight afterwards; increase the tempera- 

 ture 5' every fortnight, and when a heat of 00' by nigtt is at- 

 tained, that degree is not to be exceeded imtil the let of Feb- 

 ruary, when an increase of 5° more is necessarv\ Whon the 

 nine-inch pots are full of fibres, pot the Vines in 12-inch pots; 

 these will be filled with roots by Februari-, and a shift into 

 18-inch pots will tlien be necessary. The canes, from the first, 

 are to be trained to the roof or rafters, and the laterals are to 

 be stopped at the first leaf; but after the final shift allow the 

 laterals to grow, keeping those at the upper part of the cans 

 closely stopped to one joint — that is to say, when the lateral 

 has been stopped at one joint and it has grown again, stop that 



I growth at the first leaf. The cane should be stopped, or have 



[ its point taken off, when it has attained the length of 'J feet, 

 and the laterals for 3 feet beneath it are to be stopped to one 



I joint as last as growth is made. 



i By May the canes will be strong, and the wood turning 



