April 17, 18fi«. ■] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



291 



lower down they will always be strongest. Now, to cheek this, the 

 npper part of the plant should not be stopped beyond four or 

 six joints at a time, shoots midway up the plant to three, whilst 

 those near the rim of the pot will hardly need stopping at all. 

 All weak shoots are not to bo stopped tmless they become 

 straggUng or otherwise interfere with the formation of an evenly- 

 balanced specimen. The shoots will need tying down and regu- 

 lating so as to have every part furnished. It is well, however, 

 for those shoots tied horizontally if the ends curve upwards 

 a little, for horizontal shoots do not grow nearly so strongly as 

 those more erect. 



In April an increase of from 5° to 10° by the end of the 

 month wiU tend to encourage the swelling of the buds, water 

 being given corresponding in amount to the increase of tempe- 

 rature and solar heat. When the plants are in bloom their 

 beauty will be prolonged by placing them in a cooler tempera- 

 frnre, and shade from sun is indispensable. 



After flowering let the plants have a fortnight's rest by keep- 

 ing them cool and dry, then prune or cut back the growths aU 

 over the plant rather closely, leaving, however, enough of the 

 last year's growths for new shoots. If the plant is to bloom in 

 the following year it must not be cut-in much ; the pruning 

 should, therefore, in this case be confined to removing or short- 



ening irregular shoots. Subsequently, growth should be en- 

 couraged by a close and moist atmosphere, and ahadiag from 

 bright sun. Pot, if necessary, at once if the plant is not cut-in 

 much, but not until the growths have attained an inch or two in 

 length if the plant has been cut-in hard, it being then shaded 

 and syringing overhead until the roots are working freely in the 

 fresh soil. Afterwards admit air and Ught, exposing fully (still 

 keeping the lights on), in August, and housing in good time for 

 the winter. 



For old plants nse a compost of equal parts of turfy peat 

 and loam, well turned and aired, chopped with the spade ; 

 and to this may be added one-third of leaf mould, old rotten 

 manure, and bits of charcoal, in equal proportions, and one- 

 sixth of silver sand. During growth, and when the flower-buds 

 are showing and swelling, manure water may be given at every 

 third watering ; but not when the wood is ripening and in 

 winter. The great point is to have the young wood well 

 ripened. To have very &ne specimens it is well to have two 

 sets of plants, so as to allow one year's rest for preparation, 

 whilst the other is brought on for blooming. 



If aphides attack the plant fumigate with tobacco ; and if 

 thrips appear syringe freely when growing, fumigating with 

 tobacco when syringing c8,nnot be practised. — G. Abbey. 



WINTER CUCUMBER-HOUSE. 



YotJB correspondent, Mr. O'DonneU, has given in your last 

 Volume, page 524, a description of a winter Cucumber-house, 

 and as he thought it would be beneficial to some of your 

 readers to have a description of other houses, I shall proceed in 

 a simple manner to give the particulars of one that has been 

 erected about five years, and has afforded me great satisfaction. 



It is a span-roofed house, 

 as will be seen by the ac- 

 companying section, and is 

 48 feet long by llj feet wide. 

 The height is 8^ feet to the 

 ridge. There is a bed on 

 each side, with a walk in the 

 centre. I have a partition in 

 the centre, which divides the 

 length into two parts, which 

 gives me the advantage of 

 growing Cucumbers all the 

 year roimd. In the summer 

 I grow Melons in one pai-t 

 and Cucumbers in the other. 



It is heated by a largo 

 square boiler, of which I wiU 

 give a description at some 

 future time. There are four 

 four-inch pipes for top heat 

 in each house, two flows and 

 two returns, and one four-inch 

 fiow-and-retm-n under each bed for bottom heat. In each house 

 there are four evaporating-troughs attached to the pipes to give 

 moisture when required. Air is admitted at the top and sides 

 by ventilators 18 inches wide by 1 foot deep. 



The plan I have sent is on the scale of a quarter of an inch to 

 the foot. The pipes are represented by small circles ; b b, beds ; 

 w, walk ; c c, chamber ; r r, ventilators ; s s, iron stays to sup- 

 port the centre of the roof. 



In reading your Journal for the last eight or nine years I 

 have at different times come across inquiries made respecting 

 the construction of treUises. I have adopted a plan which 

 may not be new to your readers, it is simply Barnard 

 and Bishop's galvanised wire netting (commonly used for 

 the purpose of making sheep-folds), strained on frames 



made of small round iron. 

 The mesh is sufficiently large 

 to allow the hand to pass 

 through for the purpose of 

 training the plants. This 

 netting is stretched about 

 15 inches from the glass 

 on small crooks fasteued on 

 eyes, which are screwed to 

 the rafters. This is vei-y 

 convenient, as the netting 

 can be removed at any time 

 when the house requires 

 cleaning or painting. I think 

 this preferable to wooden 

 trellises, which are adopted 

 in a great many houses. 



Mr. Veitch, of the Koyal 

 Exotic Nurseries, Chelsea, 

 saw my Cucumber-house in 

 January, 1S65, and said that 

 the Cucumbers were the best 

 he had seen for the season, some being 18 inches in length 

 or, I may say, even more. I think it is more economically 

 constructed than the house described by Mr. O'DonneU ; but 

 still I must allow that that has one advantage over mine, 

 which is the inner door and partition at the entrance, which 

 excludes the cold draughts on the outer one being opened. — 

 W. Halleit. 



GRAPE BUNCHES BECOMING TENDRILS— VINES BLEEDING. 



The Vines from which the enclosed specimens were taken 

 are Muscat of Alexandria and Canon Hall Muscat. Thoy have 

 only been planted about seven years, I beUeve, and I think they 

 have been heavily cropped, as I found on taking charge last 

 summer that some of them were carrying seventeen or eighteen 

 bimches, and scarcely any of the Vines are more than IJ inch 

 in diameter, some not more than 1 inch. They are in a good- 

 sized weU-coustructed house, heated by hot water. The house 

 was closed in the end of January, heat applied on the 1st of 

 February, not much, and the temperature kept at about io" at 

 first, and gi-adually increased, with plenty of moisture; the 

 highest it has ever been since starting was 73'. I give these 

 particulars in order to make it plain what sort of treatment 

 the Vines have had for the last few months. 



Among other Vines in a late vinery we have two West's St. 



Peter's. One day in February, when the Vines were being 

 cleaned, one of the St. Peter's was left hanging, partly tied to 

 the rafter, and the end resting on the floor all night. lu the 

 morning seven or eight of the topmost spurs were bleeding pro- 

 fusely. I crushed the ends with my teeth and bound them 

 tightly up with a bit of fine wire, which stopped the bleeding 

 at once. There has not been any heat on the house since the 

 last Grapes were cut in January, only enough to keep out frost, 

 in fact, it was so all winter. The buds are pushing no\y 1 or 

 2 inches long, and about a fortnight ago almost every Vine in 

 the house commenced bleeding. I give a little heat now, so as 

 to bring them on quietly after the first house. I do not know 

 what sort of borders they are in, but am told these were well 

 made. In the early house the Vines are planted inside the 

 house ; in the late one they are planted outside. Both borders 



