180 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAHDBNEB. 



[ iliroh 4, 18^5. 



but even then if possible avoid a window facing the midday 

 Bnn, or one in a room where there is a fire. If these pre- 

 cautions are attended to it will induce a gradual growth, and 

 cODBeqnently a much stronger foliage and finer bloom. 



When the roots have nearly reached the bottom of the glass 

 there will be at the extremity of each a covering of mucous 

 matter. This soon stops the absorbing power of the roots by 

 which the food of the plant is conveyed to the leaves, when 

 the plant is injured and often the whole set of roots are de- 

 stroyed. To prevent this the roots should be drawn carefully 

 out "of the glasses, and in a wide vessel partly filled with clean 

 soft water the roots of the bulb should be placed, drawing 

 them carefully through the hand, yet using a gentle pressure. 

 This should be done two or three times until the roots appear 

 quite clean. The glasses in the meantime should be thoroughly 

 washed-out and wiped clean and dry, then graduaUy work the 

 clean-washed roots into the washed glass before puttiag-in any 

 water. If the roots aie numerous it will be found necessary 

 to twist them round and round till they reach their old quarters 

 and the bulb rests on the neck of the glass. Now fill the glass 

 with clean soft water and replace it in the window. Once 

 washing the roots will be sufficient to carry the bloom through. 

 The regular changing of water will be all that is required. 



After having bloomed the bulbs should be taken out of the 

 glasses, preserving the roots, and lay them in a border. A 

 sUgbt watering will be necessary, and they will ripen the bulb 

 and the leaves will gradually turn yellow and decay. They 

 should then be taken up and keep them dry and cool until the 

 middle of October, then plant in the borders. — J. H., Gardener 

 to Lu(hj Caroline Legge. 



PROTECTING SEEDS FROM BIRDS. 

 FoK the information of your 

 readers who believe in the ser- 

 vices of small birds, and do not 

 therefore care to kill them, I suggest 

 the following simple mode of pro- 

 tecting Peas and other seeds. I ^ CZ 

 have adopted it, and know that it 

 answers well. Take a lath and cut 

 from it three pieces, 1 foot, 6 inches, 



and ,3 inches long respectively, then c ; 



fasten them by nailing or tying in 

 the following form. Place them at 

 intervals of about 6 feet along the 

 rows of seed, and stretch fine twine 

 along the sticks, fastening it at the 

 points a,b, c. Tho five lines thus 

 made will frighten the birds, and 

 prove as effective a protection as 

 wire at 9rf. a-yard. Seven lines are 

 better than five.— P. Kg- 4S. 



necessary aid. Any assistance we can render will be most 

 willingly afforded. — Ens.] 



FLOWER MISSIONS. 



HiviNfi read the deeply interesting paper on the " Flower 

 Mission " in your Joarnal of Horticulture for December 2-lth, 

 1S7-1, 1 am inclined to think your sympathies are in favour of 

 this 'beautiful work among the sad, and sick, and poverty- 

 stricken inhabitants of our great city. With considerable 

 success the ladies have carried on similar missions in Scotch 

 towns. I believe Miss Stanley has a successful one in West- 

 minster. In connection with one mission last year we saw the 

 wonderfully softenmg influence the little flowers exercise even 

 in the lowest courts, where without flowers it would be weU 

 nigh impossible to venture. 



It is my desire this year to organise a regular flower mission 

 for the east end of London, with lady workers at one or two 

 central depots. The great hindrance is the expense of carriage ; 

 but I think tho railway companies might be influenced to 

 convey them for the flower mission free, and I hope to write 

 to them, bu'. I thought a strong influence could be brought to 

 bear on them by sending copies of your paper on the subject 

 to them. My object in writing to you, then, is to ask if you 

 have any old dibused numbers containing the account which 

 jou could let me have for this purpose.— E. A. H. 



[We regret that we have no copies such as " E. A. H." asks 

 for, nor do we think that railway directors would need such a 

 detail. The humane object need only be stated, and requires 

 no advocacy. The eecretaries would in most cases give the 



CUCUMBERS, SUMMER AND AVINTER. 



Mncn has been written on Cucumbers, their mode of culture, 

 ifec, but nothing has been said as to how long the plants will 

 last after being planted out in the house. . 



The winter Cucumbers of your correspondents hitherto have 

 been planted in the autumn. I will treat on plants that were 

 struck and put out in tho spring, and answered for summer, 

 and also continued through the winter. I had charge of a small 

 Cucumber house in a former situation under Mr. J. Batters. 

 I went there in January, 1872, and a plant was covering half 

 of the trellis in the house. This plant had been bearing since 

 the preceding February, or nearly twelve months. The same 

 plant with two top-dressings of old muahroom-bed manure 

 carried as good a crop of handsome and healthy fruit through 

 the following summer and winter as the young plants of 

 spring, 1873, which were planted soon after I went to the 

 place. It would no doubt have continued another season had 

 not the woodwork given way on wliich the soil wherein it grew 

 rested, thus compelhng us to have repairs made good with 

 new materials. 



The pit in which the Cucumbers were planted was 12 feet 

 by 6. Three rows of 4-inch pipes ran the length of the bottom 

 of the pit, and 3 feet above the pipes was the framework on 

 which the soil rested. Only 4 inches of soil was used, with the 

 exception of the ridge which was 8 inches in thickness. The 

 variety grown was Telegraph, raised from cuttings taken off 

 about tlie middle of February ; these were inserted in a pot 

 under a bell-glass and placed in a good bottom heat, and when 

 struck potted-off singly into 60'b previous to being planted out 

 in the house. 



The soil both for potting and planting was warmed previous 

 to being used : this was composed of loam mixed with a 

 httle old mushroom-bed manure and a small portion of leaf 

 mould. A ridge was formed and the plants put in, and when 

 the roots began to show through the surface the rest of the 

 soil, 4 inches thickness, was placed over them. With this 

 small amount of soil, and always warm water, occasionally 

 liquid manure, and two top-dressings of old mushroom-bed 

 manure, these plants flourished and bore an abundance of 

 handsome fruit free from disease of any kind. I should state 

 that an aperture was made in the wall of the pit facing the 

 pathway ; this was closed with a shutter, so that on very cold 

 nights we could leave the space open, and so let tho heat into 

 the house. There being only one 4-inch pipe round tho front 

 of the house, which returned into the pipes underneath the 

 bed, we had great difficulty in keeping the house at the 

 proper temperature through the winter season, it often being 

 as low as 60' ; and but for the aperture before mentioned, even 

 with a flow and return pipe at the back of the house we should 

 not have succeeded so well as we did. 



Plenty of warm water at the roots was a point of much im- 

 portance, and a standing order was to never use cold water, 

 but to keep the plants clean, the fruit thinned-out regularly, 

 and never allow the foliage to become overcrowded. This 

 practice will always produce Cucumbers both summer and 

 winter, the plants being well established and more capable 

 of bearing through the winter season than those planted in 

 the autumn. Telegraph I find to be the best winter Cucumber 

 for general purposes, it has few superiors, being productive 

 and good. — F. H. F. 



THE LILY OF THE VALLEY. 



This plant is so well known by all, and I think I may say 

 is such a general favourite with most people, that it needs no 

 praise from me. It is prized by all lovers of sweet flowers, 

 and is much sought after by dwellers in both town and country. 

 To such I address the few remarks I have to mako on the 

 forcing of this ever-welcome Lily. 



How often do we see it in both largo and small gardens as 

 soon as it has served its purpose — that is as soon as it is out 

 of bloom, cast out of doors as if unworthy of better care ? 

 Its fate is often to be taken from the greenhouse and pitched 

 at once behind some north wall, exposed to cutting winds and 

 occasionally may have to submit to 10' or 12' of frost. This 

 I must call barbarous treatment. But I may be asked, 

 " What are we to do with aU these forced roots after bloom- 

 ing ? We have so many other thirgs to attend to that we can- 



