Noveaber 18, 1SC9. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



408 



roots become Jropsicil, and the flower-bad is not to decay. H 

 the pots stand unprotected, the roots ure npt to be raptured 

 or killed, and the buds injured, by frost. If the p jts are built 

 on their sides in couioal stacks, they can cftsily be protected 

 from frost and wet, and yet have access to liuht and uir ; but a 

 neglect in one very cold night may itijure thtm severely, and 

 if the win'er is bracing and dry, the soil is «pt to become too 

 dry, and buds and roots would then soffer. Vi^here glugs frames 

 or calico can be had to throw ofi the wet, they will be best. 

 Even in cold orchard houses and frames, with pUnty of air 

 and no rain, care must be taken that the soil do not become 

 dry, otherwise the buds and roots will suffer. Just now it is 

 well to have the plants dry rather than wet, to arrest growth, 

 and concentrate the powers of fruiting ; but until we commence 

 forcing, the plants should not suffer from dryness. 



Most of our inexpeiienced readers will defer forcing for a 

 month or two. In the beginning of the week we shall fill a shelf 

 in a pit with plants that showed flower tri-.sFes prematurely 

 in the open air, and which we set in a cool house where they 

 have had no frost. Soon we shall fill a frame ■svith Black 

 Prince and Keens' Seedling, giving them just a little heat to 

 start them gently. There will be a gentle heat from leaves, 

 ■fee., and we shall set the pots on the surface, or each on a tile, 

 board, or slate. The Strawberry dislikes much bottom heat, 

 and, therefore, beginners would do well never to plunge a pot 

 in a bed when starting it. It will be almost sure to set the 

 leaves growing very freely, whilst the flower truss will be left 

 behind. However started, the forcing in wint; r, and especially 

 early in spring, must be very gradual, commencing with from 

 40° to 45", and mounting up very gradually in a month to 50° and 

 .55', and then slowly to 60°. Thus Strawberry plants placed 

 in such a house as a Peach house before it is started succeed 

 remarkably well, as the changes are so gradn/il, and better than 

 in a pit for early forcing, as there is more room for air and 

 sunshine. A high temperature at once for early Strawberries 

 is the best of all modes of insuring failure. 



Though the plants should not he dry, the soil should be 

 somewhat dry rather than wet, until the truss shows freely. 

 They shsuld have no water in a pan until the fruit is set and 

 swelling, and but little then. It is better to water oftener. In 

 watering before the truss shows, avoid watering overhead. In 

 dull weather this is apt to damp off the bud. 



Many who see how hardy their Strawberry plants are growing 

 in the open garden, may consider all this care with pots to fruit 

 early (juite unnecessary, but they should recollect that the 

 plant in a pot is placed in artificial circumstances, and must 

 be treated accordingly. A hardy plant that no rains or frosts 

 would injure when growing in the natural soil, may be very 

 easily killed, or much injured when growing in a pot standing 

 freely exposed on the surface of the ground, or waterlogged 

 when plunged. When pots strong though porous, are often in 

 such cases cracked and split, how will the tender roots escape ? 

 Last winter some enthusiastic amateurs had their Strawberry 

 pots, and fine plants, too, standing exposed on the side of a 

 walk after New Tear's-day. We did not wonder that the fine 

 plants gave anything but satisfaction at fruiiing time. 



OENAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



Baking, sweeping, and rolling, have been the routine wort, 

 and we placed rough half-rotten manure on lines of Gladiolus, 

 as we could not just now find a place to our mind to store the 

 bulbs. We have had a pit emptied of the rotten manure, and 

 supplied with fresh, preparatory to the eentle forcing of shrubs 

 and a few tender p'ants. Now is a go. d time for setting apart 

 the most rotten of such manure to come in as leaf mould, when 

 well aired and sweetened. The charred rubbish lately referred 

 to is also valuable for this purpose, it sweetens and lightens 

 every soil. 



Many of our bedding and other plants were in rather dark ', 

 and damp places, and clearing out some places has enabled us 

 to move them into other frames, where thoy would receive all 

 the light in this dull season, the frames bei;!;:; mised higher at 

 the back the better to catch the rays of light. Some of the 

 plants had a few warm leaves placed beneath, and then dry 

 ashes to set them on. We thus filled a frame with pots of 

 Mignonette beginning to show bloom, and if there be any 

 signs of damping the pots will he moved to drier heat. Roses 

 and Deutzias will be placed in a gentle heat. 



We are glad we put some VioleU under glass, as the late 

 frost has hurt and taken the scent from the Russian Violet in 

 the open air. Could we manage to spare a two-light box we 

 would next week put a foot or so of hot dung bereath it, 

 3 inches of rotten dang, and then cram it with Russian Violets 



taken up with balls, and packed with rich loam, and then 

 come frost or not we should be sure of sweet-scented Violets, 

 Would some espevienoed grower tell us of the properties of the 

 new sorts advertised — the reds, pinks, ifcc ? 



We potted off some annuals for early blooming, as Collinsias. 

 Gave more room to Cinerarias and Primulas, and took for- 

 ward plants of both to the conservatory. The climbers there 

 we have had greatly to reduce to admit light for the winter. 

 A little shade in summer is all very well. On the pruning oi 

 climbers we shall have something to say. When established, 

 according to the treatment given, they will do well spnrred-in 

 like a Currant, or flowered on the young wood like a Raspberry. 



In all houses where merely a temperate heat is maintained 

 ranging from 38° to 45° at night, great care should be taken 

 not to spill water about, as that is apt to rise by evaporation, 

 be condensed against the glass, and then in cold weather 

 when much air cannot be given, fall like a shower bath over 

 the plants, and most likely in the very places where it is not 

 wanted. 



Heating must be attended to with great cave in this very 

 changeable weather. It is always safest rather to underdo than 

 overdo, and is sure to be more economical too. The fall of the 

 temperature in a house for a few degrees is safer and better for 

 the plants than roasting them with a high dry heat. It is much 

 more pleasant to put an extra shovelful on the fire than to 

 pull a great fire ont of a furnace. We lately discussed fully the 

 whole subject of furnace management. It is too often a matter 

 of haphazard and waste. Three simple things are essential to 

 be attended to by him who would manege the heating of plant 

 houses well. First, he must learn to read the signs of the 

 weather in the sky, at least for short periods, and then he will 

 be less likely to overheat his houses at night, and still more 

 unlikely to allow a strong sun heat and a strong artificial heat 

 to meet together during the day, and more especially if under 

 these circumstances there should be a dry, biting frosty air. Se- 

 condly, he must examine the outside thermometer before going 

 into his houses, and thence make his comparisons. Thirdly, he 

 will not only look at the thermometer in the house, if not so 

 practised as to know within a degree or two when he enters, 

 but he will likewise feel his pipes or flues, &c., and all this he 

 will do before going to the furnace. We put the question in 

 all earnestness. Is it so common to find these simple pre- 

 cautions attended to ? Is it, indeed, so common for youths 

 even to condescend to place their hand on a pipe or a flue ? 

 Is it not quite as common to see a man the first thing in a 

 morning bustle into a stokehole and set a fire going, without 

 previously troubling himself about any one of these matters ? 

 We shall say nothing now of keeping furnaces clear, regulating 

 dampers, keeping furnaces and ashpit doors shut, and thus, in 

 the case of boilers, doing something to keep the heat about 

 the boiler, instead of sending more than half of it up the 

 chimney into the general atmosphere. — R. F. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEnT:D. 

 Kelway & Son, Lingport, Somerset. — Catalonue of Gladioli. 

 William Chater, Saffron Walden.— Ca(«;o(7U« of HoUyltoclis 

 and Eoics, 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— November 17. 



Prices remain nearly stationary, although our market stands are mnch 

 better cleared than they were. Apples .and Pears continue in pood re- 

 quest. Pine Apples and' Grapes are sutHcient for the demand. Foreign 

 imports are light. The Potato trade is more active. 



VEGETABLES. 



.\rtichokes doz. 



Asparagns 100 



Beans,Rnnner H sieve 



Broad bushel 



Beet, Red doz. 



Broccoli handle 



Bras. Sprouts >2 sieve 



Cabbage doz. 



Oapsicums 100 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Coleworts . .doz.bchs. 

 Cnctmabers .... each 



pickling doz. 



Endive doz. 



Fennel bttnch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bimch 



Horseradish ..bundle 



s. d. s. 



S to 6 







6 

 



Leeks bunch 



Lettuce score 1 



Mushrooms. . . . pottle 1 



Mustd.4 Cress.punnet 



Onions bushel 3 



pickling .. quart 



Par.sley sieve 8 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 2 



ICidney ditto 3 



P.adi5hesdoz.bunches 1 



Rhubarb bundle 



Savovs doz. 1 



Sea-liale basket 4 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 2 



Tomatoes doz. 2 



Turnips bunch 



Veget. Marrows.. doz. 1 



