Maroh 18, 1875. 1 



JOURNAL OP HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



213 



for it throws up hardly any snokers, but it certainly is a trifle 

 too excitable. 



Now for the Teas. Mart'ohal Niel, you are aa usual too for- 

 ward. Here is one climbing over the warm side of a poultry 

 house covered with bloom buds already. Nice havoc there 

 would have been had it not been sheltered with a few yards of 

 unbleached calico. As it is there is no damage done, and we 

 may look for some early blooms. Four or live plants of the 

 same variety against a woodeu fence facing south-east left un- 

 protected are all cut. Climbing Devouieusis not quite so for- 

 ward againet walls and houses, very slightly frostbitten. Strong- 

 growing Teas in open border look well. Madame Berard, 

 where not moved last autumn, a little too forward. This is a 

 good Kose. Moderate-growiug Teas all alive and doing well. 

 Now we will bid farewell to the garden. 



But what is that little glass house in the corner there ? Can 

 we induce our steed to enter, or is his head too high ? " That, 

 sir, is our forcing house — small, it is true, for we are not rich, 

 nor can we measure our gla;S by the thousand feet, neither 

 have we a dozen gardeners at command ; but, sir, we love 

 Eoses, and Koses we must have summer and winter if possible. 

 Enter, and you shall enjoy vernal — yea, summer pleasures, 

 though the paths outside are white with snow, aud icicles 

 dangle from the shoots. Behold the Mnrechal clothing the 

 back wall, and one of the sides ladtu with some two hundred 

 buds, many of them just about to expaud. See there pale 

 Eubens smiling with modest joy in this haven of rest where no 

 rude blast can enter. Here, too, is Catherine Mermet just 

 unfolding its shelly petals ; and here are Princass Mary of 

 Cambridge, gentlest and most tractable of all Koses for forcing ; 

 Comtesse d'Oxford, Marie Baumann, Madame Eothschild, 

 Aohille Gonod, Marguerite de St. Amand, Madame A. de 

 Eougemont, and many others clothed in summer dress, and 

 well set with buds." 



Did you ever read what the veteran Elvers wrote with re- 

 ference to the grafting of Roses? " What can be done," says 

 he, " in the way of propagation in so small a house (12 feet 

 by 8) with method is quite astonishing." Aud I may echo his 

 words and say, " What can be done in the way of forcing both 

 Eoses and other flowering plants with a very small house is 

 truly astonishing. You may, at all events, keep your green- 

 house, or conservatory if you have one, always full of flowers, 

 and cut a Rose if you are so minded every day of the year." 

 — R. W. Beachey. 



STRAWBERRY FORCING. 



Strong, healthy plants are necessary to success, and the way I 

 have found to produce them may be acceptable. I do not con- 

 cur in the plan of layering the runners on the ground where 

 the plants are growing, for if it is a wet season they are apt to 

 be choked by weeds and other runners, and must suffer root- 

 mutilatiou by removal. If layered in their fruiting pots it is 

 difficult to make the pots stand level, besides bruising the 

 fruit in watering. Some prefer the plan of layering in small 

 pots, using a peg or stone to keep the runners down, and urge 

 that they derive support from the parent plant, which is about 

 all the support they do get, for what moisture can such pots 

 retain in a midsummer sun ? 



The best plan, in my opinion, is to procure in the latter 

 part of June strong healthy runners free from red spider, out 

 them with about an inch of stalk before and after the runner, 

 pot in thumb pots in light soil, place in a frame, giving them 

 a good watering ; shade with mats whenever the sun shines on 

 them, syringe morning and evening, and keep them close, and 

 with good management they will be ready to pot in a month. 

 I use 6-inch pots and a compost of turfy loam with one-third 

 rotten manure, no leaf soil being required. As soon as potted 

 they are placed on ashes close together (as if a distance apart 

 they only dry more) in a position partly shaded from the mid- 

 day sun by distant trees. In the beginning of September 

 they become too thick, and are x-emoved to a more sunny 

 position along the sides of walks running east and west. If 

 worms are troublesome we use lime water. The pots are 

 turned on their sides daring heavy rains, but not put in frames 

 till frosts occur, then the lights are always drawn off, excepting 

 frost and rain. 



The varieties are Keens' Seedling, which I find is still the 

 best early kind ; Viscomtesse HC-ricart de Thury, this is a good 

 grower, very prolific, and of excellent flavour; and Sir Joseph 

 Paxton, a variety that produces fruit of better shape in pots 

 than outdoors, is very solid and of excellent flavour. Victoria 



(Trollope) is discarded, for it is of poor flavour, keeping but 

 very little time after gathering, and a pale colour ; the only 

 point in its favour is heavy cropping, and is suitable for those 

 who prefer quantity to quality. Keens' Seedling is grown in 

 48's. These are large enough for the earliest gatherings, the 

 rest in C-inch pots, which I consider are not too large. I never 

 water with liquid manure until after the fruit is set. A moist 

 atmosphere prevents red spider. Turf placed on shelves may 

 be all very well for 48's, but with careful watering I think it is 

 not required for larger pots. 



Now a word or two as to outdoor cultivation. If the 

 ground is trenched and manured heavily plants ought to re- 

 main in good condition for at least five years. The first seaEon 

 or two the crop may be heavier than subsequently, but they 

 are not exhausted. Plant in September, bo as to obtain a 

 good start before winter, 'i feet G inches from row to row, and 

 2 feet in the rows. Old forced plants, as they are a season in 

 advance, are preferable to young plants. Give a good coating 

 of rotten manure in November alter having given the ground 

 a good Dutch hoeing to cleanse it of all weeds. Do not 

 attempt to dig the manure in, for the heavy rains during 

 winter will wash-in all the goodness, and digging would only 

 destroy the roots. Before flowering give the ground a cover- 

 ing of clean Utter. I do not use hay, aa it may turn mouldy 

 and destroy the fruit. — G. P., jnN. 



CALANTHES AT DRUMLANRIG. 



Calanthes are grown to greater perfection at Drumlanrig 

 than at any other place at which I have seen them tried. The 

 principal varieties are C. vestita rubra, C. Veitchii, C. vestita 

 lutea ooulata, aud C. vettita lutea flava. The second last named 

 produces large pure white blooms, which are exquisitely pretty 

 and afford a nice contrast with C. Veitchii. When I saw them 

 last autumn they were nearly in full bloom ; some were grow- 

 ing in 6-inch pots, and others were growing in those 4 inches 

 larger. The bulbs in some of these were as large as a 3-inch 

 pot, consequently a 10-iuch pot did not contain a great number 

 of them. 



In pots of the last-named size I counted as many as sixteen 

 and eighteen flower spikes, some of them being a yard long, 

 and carrying from thirty to forty-five blooms each. The 

 greater number of the flowers were open, a few only at the end 

 of each spike not being fully expanded. 



Your readers can form some idea of this marvellous sight 

 when I say there were upwards of seven hundred open Calanthe 

 blooms in a 10-inch pot ; dozens of potfuls were in the same 

 splendid order. Armfuls of them were used as cut flowers when 

 the family were stajing in the Castle, and when they went to 

 Bowhill a large boxful was sent once a- week to them, and 

 many decayed without ever being cut. 



Tljey are very valuable for vase and room decoration, as they 

 keep fresh a long time in such a position. The mixture they 

 are grown in at Drumlanrig consists of rough peat, silver sand, 

 a sprinkling of loam, and a little sphagnum. When in full 

 growth they are occasionally watered with manure water. 

 They are rested after flowering, but not allowed to dry-off or 

 starve at any season. — J. Muir. 



LINUM TRIGYNUM AS A WINTER-BLOOMING 

 PLANT. 



This beautiful evergreen shrub is usually described as having 

 been introduced from India in 1799 and as flowering in June. 

 Don describes it as a greenhouse shrub which flowers in July. 

 There is no doubt that this is the period of its blooming in its 

 native habitat — the Adivaanee Mountains, and also as culti- 

 vated in the gardens around Cawnpore and Lucknow. Dr. 

 Smith has, however, published a figure of it in his "Exotic 

 Botany " for February, 1785, and informs ug that it flowered 

 in the stove of Mr. Greville at Paddington in the preceding 

 December. It has therefore been known as a winter-blooming 

 plant for nearly a century. 



It is not often we see justice done to this fine old plant, it 

 being generally found in a half-starved state in greenhouses, 

 and producing a few straggling flowers towards the end of 

 summer. That was evidently the case in the time of Don, and 

 it is the case now ; but it is worthy of better treatment, and, 

 it this be accorded, it will give a reward by a profusion of its 

 clean bright yellow flowers in the depth of winter. When in 

 bloom the lower temperature of the conservatory or greenhouse 

 appears to be in no way prejudicial to the plant, but during 



