4U 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTDBK AMD COTTAGE GABDEMEB. 



( Job* UiUM. 



lioofe. Very few pliintfi arc left in tlie vineries now, with tbo 

 exception of fine-leaved Begonias, Geenems, Gloxinias, fee, 

 as the Bhade is too dense for anything else doing much good. 

 Some Ferns will have the hest places ere long as under-altrac- 

 tions. \Ve care lees about having plants as under-furnishing 

 beneath the Vines until the crop begins to ripen, and then we 

 wish all plants out, bo as to have no necessity to water any- 

 thing. II this wet weather continue, will take the opportunity 

 to give all the inside of orchard-houses, and other houses where 

 the roots art- in the soil, a good watering with drainings from 

 the farmyard, because snch can he obtained in seme quantity, 

 and there will be more time for ap| lying it when we can do 

 little out of doors. 



OBNAMENTAL DEPABTMEKT. 



Proceeded with planting-out a good many bedding plants. 

 The rains stopped ns on Wednesday, but they did great good 

 to all that were fresh planted, and everything that was growing, 

 causing even the stunted grass to shoot with fresh vigour. In 

 sandy soils the planting need not have been interrupted, but 

 in stiff soils it is a waste of time and labour to do anything on 

 the ground when it is wot. When parched it will scarcely ever 

 become kindly all the season tlirongh. '^"henever the soil is 

 too damp not to part freely from the hand, the trowel, or the 

 dibber, we consider it wisest, however great the necessity of 

 doing the work quickly, to wait for a more suitable time 

 Even after the heavy rains of MonJay and Tuesday, the brislt 

 Enn between the showers soon made the surface of the giound 

 nice and mellow, and planting could be proceeded with to great 

 advantage, more especially when a board was used to save the 

 edgings, and another smaller board for setting the feet on when 

 it was necessary to step on the bed. Even then our planting 

 was confined chiefly to beds which could be reached across by 

 merely leaving one foot on the board on the bed. 



Had the month of May not been past we should have de- 

 ferred even such planting, as half of a bright day would make 

 the surface soil mellow, and we have often proved how import- 

 ant such a state of the ground is at planting to the future wel- 

 fare of the plants during the season. 



In such drizzling days, too wet for planting and not wet 

 enough to stay in-doors, though there was also plenty to do 

 there, a good deal done in mowing, weeding, clipping the sides 

 of walks, which we always prefer to do when the weather is 

 rather damp, as the clippings are so much more easily picked 

 np by the hand and basket — the quickest and best way in 

 general of doin;,' it. It no doubt may look nice and picturesque 

 to see a tall young man draw a broom along the sides of the 

 walk after clipping, too tall to bend to dislodge even a good- 

 sized weed, and very systematically draw all the clippings into 

 EC many pretty little heaps, which either he himself or some one 

 else must follow after to clear all away, and clean up the bottom 

 of each heap. Kow, whether one or two shall manage this 

 work, we make it a point to insist, in almost all cases, that no 

 heap shall ever be made, but all shall go in the basket and 

 barrow at once, and thus we avoid the scraping and peddUng 

 over the bottoms of heaps. Had we our way we would never 

 send men to this work at all, but entrnst it to active boys, as 

 in general with less pay they will do more of this kind of work, 

 and do it well, too, when they are induced to take a pride in it ; 

 and it must be easier for a stout, short boy, even from the 

 little space he has to go through in stooping. We have had 

 boys that would clip in first-rate style and straight ; and as for 

 clearing up the chppings, though giving a word of encourage- 

 ment, it would not have been quite safe to let the men know 

 how much pleased we were with such work. It is such boys 

 as these that may be depended on for becoming first-rate work- 

 men, that can turn their hand to anything; and this is what 

 is expected from many gardeners now. 



The present is a good tirce for inserting in a shady place in 

 Bandy soil, with or without hand-lights, cuttings of Wallflower, 

 single and double. Evergreen Candytufts, Alyssum saxatile, 

 and others, Cheironthus alpinus and Marshallii, and many 

 other spring-blooming things. Many of the old kinds of the 

 doable Wallflower are very pretty, and chiefly because they 

 branch so nicely. The great drawback of many of the German 

 Wallflowers that come double from seed is, that too often the 

 plant throws up merely one beautiful flower-stem. We like 

 onr old branching single kinds better. As soon as we con we 

 will prick out lots of seedling Wallflowers in a border, to be 

 ready to be transferred to where they may bloom in autumn. 

 Pansies, or Heartsease, may now also be struck in a shady place 

 lor early autumn blooming. Firm side shoots will strike best 



and make the best plants ; and it ma; be a delusion, bat we > Apple-houses, iio. — K. F. 



have generally imagined that, such cattings bloom more frcelj 

 limn plants made by dividing the old plant into so many pieces. 

 Pinks and Carnations will want watching for slugs, and early- 

 struck Pinks for forcing had better be potted, and as soon as 

 they will bear the full sun be plnnged in an open space that 

 the buds may be ripened early. Several kinds of Mulo Pinks 

 force nicely, and now is a good time for putting cuttings in 

 sandy soil under a handlgbt. Ceutzias, Weigelas, Prunus, 

 .tc, may now all be struck and grown on for winter and spring 

 decoration. 



In wet hours when the men could do no good out of doors, 

 had the flowers of A:aleas, partly or wholly gone, carefully re- 

 moved with scissors, or by using a sharp narrow knife, and 

 bringing the faded flower and stalk between the knife and 

 thumb. From such work we have frequently had our thumb 

 as will scored vilh the knife as to become quite tender, the 

 slight cuts resembling the finest lacework. This must not be 

 done in the case of plants particularly poisonous, or the effects 

 would be serious. Now, after we have thus cleaned such plants, 

 what are wo little people to do with them, so as to bloom them 

 moderately early, and where one house is mostly all that can 

 be allowed for showing them off, and growing them too ? We 

 understand all about how Messrs. Turner and Veitch manage 

 such splendid specimens as were shon-n at the Exhibition at 

 Kensington, and which divided the honours with the Roses, 

 the Orchids, ml the finefoUaged plants. As soon as the plants 

 were out of bloom with them, they would be cleared of all 

 faded flowers, be well syringed, be kept for a week or ten days 

 in as low a temperature as the plants bloomed in, and then 

 they would be removed to a house where a high tcmperatnre, 

 and a close, moist atmosphere could be given to them, with 

 every attention in watering, shading, syringing to encourage 

 growth, with more air and light to set the buds, and then 

 plenty of air and li^jht to keep the plants all right until they 

 were wanted to be gently excited again, to show their wondioos 

 beauty. Some friends will correct this if we are wrong. Of 

 course, in a regular Azalea-house, or one divided into two or 

 three divisions, each division might be set apart to treat plants 

 distinctively, so as to have so many successions. Gentlemen 

 should take all these things into consideration when in their 

 multum-iti-i>an-os, and one or two places for everything — fruit, 

 flowers, and e. rlj vegetables — tho same wondrous resalta are 

 not attained. 



Many of us could Jo a good deal of what is done in regular 

 Azulea-houses, by bringing the plants, when rested after bloom- 

 ing, into our forcing-houses, such as beneath the shade of 

 Vines. We can recollect that once, though we detected no 

 thrips on the Azaleas, it must have been there, and we not 

 knowing it, for the presence of a few nice Azaleas in the vinery 

 incurred three years less or more thrips on the Vines, and 

 ever since then we have felt shy of introducing Azaleas into 

 ^■ineries, either to make their wood, or to force them into bloom. 

 As a sort of compromise, we have generally placed Ihom to- 

 gether when done flowering in the conservatory, and kept them 

 as close as we could consistently with a due regard to other 

 things when making their wood ; but at that time they possessed 

 nothing striking in themselves, and it would have been better 

 every way to have had their place supplied with something more 

 showy, and the Azaleas placed where their interests would have 

 been "the chief consideration. At this season of the year a cool 

 glass house would answer admirably for such a purpose, as sun 

 heat in general would give all the heat required, tho regulation 

 of air and moisture being the chief points to be attended to. 



To have plants in bloom in winter and early spring, how- 

 ever, the great point is to have them early excited into growth, 

 and then they will next to come early of their own accord, or 

 with but little forcing. AMiilst granting to tho full the grand 

 results accomplished by the Exhibition at Kensington, it ought 

 not to be concealed that the proprietors of small gardens can 

 only hope to equal such wondrous results when they grow no 

 more than what they have ample room to do full justice to. 

 Perhaps it would not be out of place to state here our profound 

 conviction, with respect to which we have no fear of being con- 

 tradicted, that to make the most of our ornamental plants, in- 

 stead of, as now in many private gardens, being under the 

 necessity of keeping them on the move from place to place 

 as best we can to suit their wants, and often standing them 

 out of doors to their injury, these plants should have abodes of 

 their own, and then Azalea-houses, and Camellia-houses, and 

 Heath-houses, and Rhododecdrou-houses for the tenderest, .fee., 

 will be as common as Peach-houses, and Tineries, and Pine 



