December 9, 1869. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AKD COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



459 



who is anxious to grow a few small trees of Peaches and Plums 

 in poti in a small glass house which he has put up ; and he 

 thinks he could manage very well, only he cannot have his 

 plants until the middle of January, and he must, from the 

 esponse of carriage, have thom sent without their pot?, and 

 as light as possible to bo safe. He therefore dreads he will 

 lose a season from not having them sent in the autumn, as 

 Plums and some Cherries mr.st be lifted out of the ground, 

 though furnished with fruit buds. Of course it would have 

 been better if such plants had been potted early in autumn — 

 better still if the plants were sent in the pots in which they had 

 grown the previous summer, so as to be well established. If, 

 however, he obtain good plants even later than stated, there 

 is no reason to despair, as he is merely going to place the:a 

 altimately in an unhealed house. These simple modes which 

 we have followed will almost be sure to be attended with sue- 

 eesB. The first point as respects trees raised from tho ground 

 dependij much ou tho fruit-tree merchant and those he cm- 

 ploys. Such trees should be raised carefully — net pulled up — 

 the roots damped with the rose of a watering-pot, and then 

 packed firmly in damped litter, the tops, of course, beicg 

 merely secured in the usual way. Such trees, when they 

 arrive, should be potted, choosing pots merely large enough. 

 If the roots are somewhat damp, procesd at cnee. If, notwith- 

 standing the care taken in packing, the roots seem dry, and 

 have little earth about them, place Ihem for a few minutes in 

 a tub of water at about CJ°. In potting, pack the roots neatly, 

 and firm the soil well. Before this is done, or whilst doing 

 so, make up a rough simple hotbed, say from 12 to 15 inches deep 

 of litter, tree leaves, or any rubbish that will raise a gentle 

 heat of from "o" to 80", and iu this plunge the pots to the 

 rim, with a few leaves or some litter over the surface. 'V\'atch the 

 bed, and if the heat rise higher than SD' raise the pots, or 

 pull the material of the bed away from their sides. If it fall 

 to CO' or C0° turn it over, or merely add a few inches more 

 to the surface. Suppose you do this in the middle of January, 

 the bed will have come down to much the same temperature 

 as the earth will be in your nuheated house by the first or 

 second week in March, and if these points have been attended 

 to, on examining the pots you will find fine, vigorous, fresh 

 roots before even there be much appearance of growth in the 

 top of the trees. 



One great element of success is thus gained — the roots are 

 made to move in advance of, and not after the motion of the 

 buds. The great advantage of autumn planting and of autumn 

 potting in such a case as this, is that the heat in the ground 

 acts much in the same way as the above slight hotbed would 

 do. Planting, and in such a case as the above, potting in spring 

 in the usual way, exposes the plant to the liability of haviug 

 the buds excited by the growing heat of the season, whilst the 

 roots have scarcely begun to move to sustain the necessary cor- 

 relative action. 



We allude to thi? helping with a mild hotbed the more pro- 

 minently, as the plan will succeed with all shrubs, Boses, itc, 

 and even herbaceous plants that are lifted from the ground to 

 be forced. Two things are essential to success — first, the heat 

 given should never be so high as to weaken the roots, and 

 though, in cases of forcing, the roots when growing will net 

 suffer from going iuto a temperature a little higher under glass, 

 when no forcing is attempted the temperature in the bed 

 should have fallen as low as the earth of the house to which 

 the plant is taken, so that no check may be given to the fresh 

 roots in moving them from a warmer to a colder position. 



One other condition is necessary to success, so far as the 

 occupiers of this open-air slight hotbed are concerned, and it 

 is that excessively bright sun should be kept from the shoots 

 and buds with a little shading — say evergreen boughs, but iu all 

 dull and coldish weather, the freest exposure should be given, 

 as the later in such circumstances the flower buds open, the 

 more certain will you be of a crop the first season. 



The retarding of the swelling and opening of the buds will 

 be helped by free air ; and this will be promoted still further it 

 the tops be whitened with limewash, which will fall cC partly 

 as the buds swell. We have not yet, as a body of observers, 

 made so much of cohnr as we might have done. Same time 

 ago a philosophical enthusiastic amateur gardener was next to 

 horrified at seeing a row of busk Pear trees as white in the be- 

 ginning of March as if covered all over with snow, partly for 

 the purpose of deterring birds from the buds, as white is 

 rather distasteful to them. "Why, Mr. F., you will bum and 

 scorch up buds and shoots alike I I lately had all the leaves of 

 my Cucumber plants near the top of that steep-roofed lean-to 



house parched and scorched up, because, for the sake of neat- 

 ness, I could not get the wall made too white. Nothing could 

 stand the terrible heat of thr.t white wall, and see if you do not 

 be oorved in a similar manner." Our clever friend for a 

 moment massed together in one things that differ. It was not 

 the heat of or on the wall, it was the reflection of the heat of 

 the sun from it, and that in a confined atmosphere, which did 

 the mischief. Our trees would actually be kept cooler than if 

 robed in their natural dark brownish livery ; the reflection of 

 the heating rays from them would only help to warm the 

 neishbonring atmosphere. 



We want mere facts and proof3 as to how far this may act in 

 the neighbourhood of fruit trots iu the open air or against 

 walls. It our ideas should be right, it is just possible that two 

 or three lines of the " Science and Practice of Gardeninpr," 

 which we recommend to all who aspire to be something more 

 than routine workmen, may need a Utile modification. Ba 

 this as it may, the matter is sufiicieutly important to refer to 

 again, and perhaps to justify this seeming digression that has 

 come to our pen without previous consideration, the reason, 

 no doubt, why so many digreseionB Lad butler have remained 

 unpenned. Be this as it may, the ceason has proved to ua 

 that circumstances must regulate rules and operations. How- 

 ever beneficial autumn planting, iu this ntighbourhood it 

 could not have been done to any extent, owing to the dryness 

 of the ground and the scarcity of water. 



OKXAIIENTAL DEPAETUENT. 



The frosty weather, and being engaged in ice-collecting, gave 

 us a good chance for practising the principles referred to in 

 writing of Cauliflowers. Everything iu cold pits, as Calceolarias, 

 Koses, Cinerarias, Verbenas, &c., has been left to itself for four 

 or five days, the covering remaining ou night and day. We 

 know the plants are cool enough not to grovr, and when un- 

 covered the long night will be to them like an ordinary one. 

 It is very difierent when there is heat enough shut in to 

 stimulate extension, if not true growth ; then light for a time 

 should be given. 



Having lately referred to planting bulbs and necessary pre- 

 parations, we shall leave other matters to refer to the in-door 

 treatment of 



Bulbs. — Potted a second lot, aud set the pots on a dry place, 

 on ashes covering a layer of lime to prevent worms rising; 

 then covered over with finely-sified leaf mould, and surfaced 

 with fine coal ashes. Some old boards were set round them, 

 enclosing the bulbs as it were in a box, and a cordon of tar 

 ■2 or 3 inches wide was run all round the box, so as to keep rats 

 and mice at a distance, for if they were left alone they would 

 soon make havoc of Crocuses, Tulips, &c. The first lot of 

 bulbs we shall place in a sweet hotbed, when the pots are more 

 crammed with roots. Frenv.ently, when we have obtained 

 bulbs late, we have brought them into flower early by the fol- 

 lowing mode: — After potting, we have plunged the pots up to 

 the rim in a mild hotbed, with a bottom heat averaging from 

 75' to 7S', and a top heat in the frame or box of from 45° to 

 50', by merely covering with glass, and leaving air on at top 

 and bottom, in mild weather. The top heat was kept low so aa 

 not to bring up the flower stalk at all until the soil was 

 crammed with roots. This plan in an emergency will give an 

 advance cf several weeks. When bulbs can be potted early, 

 there will be no necessity for it. Of all bulbs, Crocuses wUl 

 least bear forcing, and they should be potted rather more 

 deeply than other bulbs. The Large Yellow, and the finer 

 varieties, do very well in pots, aud stand more upright and 

 robust when the corms are covered at least 1 inch. Under no 

 cii'cumstances will they be better of hotbed treatment, such as 

 a Uyacinth would delight in. Nowhere will they do better 

 than iu the window of a cottage, where the heat of the room is 

 not too high, nor the air too close. With the Large Yellow, 

 fine purple, blue, white, and striped kinds, an effective show 

 may thus be made, and successions may be had for some time. 



A few remarks, now, as to soil and potting. Bulbs will 

 flower with but little assistance, merely from the support stored 

 up in the bulb, but when so treated the bulbs would require 

 years to recover themselves so as to bloom well again. Thus 

 Hyacinths will bloom well in glasses with almost nothing but 

 common soft water to help them, but such bulbs are more in- 

 jured as respects the future than those grown and slightly 

 forced in pots. Soil, therefore, is something, though not so 

 particular a matter as many would insist upon. Any light, 

 loamy, rich, sweet, soil will grow bulbs in great perfection. All 

 worn-out soil should be avoided, and all that is clammy, wet, 

 and sour. If a compost is to be made, the following is what 



