May 6, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



355 



These remarks are not directed to !the practical gardener, 

 for he will know at a glance how matters stand, but it is to 

 the tyro that they may be of some service. I may be asked if 

 it is wrong to water heavily with a rose pot, and what plan 

 ought to be adopted. Simply as follows : — Have a small water- 

 ing pot with not too wide a spout, and single out each plant 

 for watering. Apply the water carefully, not standing up- 

 right and pouring it in at random and washing half the soil 

 out of the pots. Try this plan against the flushing system 

 with the rose, and make a note of it as to how much time is 

 occupied by such a plan. Suppose the water has to be carried 

 some distance, this will entail much extra labour, which by 

 judicious watering is avoided, there being less water to carry ; 

 and this I think will be found to balance favourably against 

 the extra time it would require in watering, besides being much 

 better for the plants. By this plan only those plants have 

 water that require it. There are times when the rose may be 

 judiciously used if it is thought desirable, but not oftener than 

 once in two or three waterings, unless the weather should be 

 very hot and dry. But many will have to be guided by 

 the supply of water, for in some places it is a very scarce 

 article. 



The nature of water to be used is a great item in the well- 

 being of plants. We all know that rain water is the best where 

 we can obtain it, but how often do we see the supplies drawn 

 from the indispensable garden pump, as hard and as cold as it 

 can well be ? This of itself is a sufficient cause to make plants 

 look sickly. If spring or well water is the only available supply 

 it should be pumped up into some tub or cistern at least eight 

 or ten hours before it is used, so as the action of the air and 

 the sun may warm it ; but so many work on the penny-wise 

 and pound-fooUsh plan that Buoh necessaries are often lost 

 Bight of. — G. R. Allis. 



NOTES ON VILLA and SUBUEBAN GARDENING. 



The AjiiTEURs' Greenhouse, Vinery, and Frames. — At no 

 period of the year are the above structures found so serviceable 

 as at the present time, and speaking generally, I think that 

 at no season is it more diiBcult to manage the plants grown in 

 them, because it is yet too early to trust safely the bulk of 

 bedding plants out in even sheltered spots without ample pro- 

 tection. The keen frosts we have lately had, especially on the 

 morning of the 25th, warns us against the too early trans- 

 ition of tender flower-garden plants from the protection of the 

 houses. Consequently the greenhouse must of necessity be very 

 much crowded with plants that would do elsewhere if room 

 could be found for them. Assuming that in this house there is 

 a mixed collection of plants in and out of flower, it will be ad- 

 visable to always admit plenty of air both front and back if a 

 lean-to house, or at the lop and both sides if a span-roofed 

 structure. 



It will be well to put on a slight shade over the sunny side of 

 the roof, either by a thin blind which can be rolled up and 

 down at pleasure, or by a thin coating of a mixture of whiting 

 and milk, or, in the absence of the latter ingredient, add a hand- 

 ful or two of finely-sifted quicklime, just sufficient to make it 

 cling to the glass. If too much of this is put in it burns as it 

 were on the glass, and it is most difficult to wash-off again. I 

 mention this plan not because I consider it the best, but in the 

 absence of a blind some sort of shading is necessary for such 

 plants as Azaleas in bloom, Camellias making their growth, 

 and also the most of the greenhouse Ferns. The Azaleas should 

 be kept in the coolest part of the house, where they ought to 

 last in bloom for some time. Camellias growing should if 

 possible be grouped together so that they can have separate 

 treatment, which should be a gentle syringing morning and 

 evening. Water freely at the root, and occasionally use clear 

 liquid manure. 



Heaths of the hyemalis, or winter-blooming varieties, should 

 be cut-back at once if not already done, and as soon as they 

 break into growth again let them be potted, giving them a 

 sandy peaty soil with a very little finely-sifted loam added, 

 and powdered charcoal. When they are advanced sufficiently 

 afterwards they may be placed outdoors for the summer, taking 

 care that the sun does not play too strongly upon the pots, 

 which is injurious to their fine hair-like roots. When potting 

 them the nature of their roots requires that the soil should not 

 only be thoroughly well mixed-up by the hand so as to ensure 

 a proper distribution of its ingredients, but it should be made 

 very firm, the fine roots are then more Ukely to take hold of it. 

 Epacrises out of bloom must also be cut-back considerably, say 

 to within an inch or two of the old wood. When these break 

 again treat them the same as Heaths. 



As to the potting of Azaleas and Camellias, I always shift 

 them while they are making their young growth, while others 

 practise such work when they are setting their flower buds — that I 



is, just as growth is finished. In a greenhouse, where so many 

 plants have to be grown, it ia best at this time of the year to 

 place all the blooming plants by themselves, reserving a place 

 to group all youug growing plants and those that want different 

 treatment. They will then have the chance of receiving the 

 treatment they require. 



Fuchsias should be at once shitted and grown-on for autamu 

 blooming ; they will require moisture overhead and frequent 

 stopping of the shoots. They will also, if well drained -iu the 

 pot, need an abundance of water at the roots. If it is necessary 

 to have a few in bloom earlier than the rest leave off stoppiug 

 them, and they will soon flower. Balsams, Achimenes, and 

 Globe Amaranths may be associated with the above, aUo 

 Coleuses, Hydrangeas, Gesneras, and Gloxinias. 



In vineries which have been allowed to come on naturally 

 the Vines will now require attention in thinning out and tying 

 down the shoots to the wires. This process requires care, for 

 the shoots are very brittle, and if tied down too low at first many 

 of them will snap asunder, causing a blank that looks badly and 

 cannot well be filled up afterwards. As soon as the bunches are 

 well out clear of the shoot, sufficient to see what it is likely to be, 

 stop the shoots one or two joints beyond it, and as the extremity 

 of this will break again stop this one joint beyond that again, that 

 will be leaving one joint and one leaf at each stoppiug, which is 

 plain enough for anyone to know how to do it ; iu these matters 

 one can scarcely describe in too plain terms. A little fire heat 

 at night will be required to keep up a temperature of 60° at 

 night, which it ought to be now, and about 70" or to 75° by day. 

 Close the house with sun heat by half-past three p.m., and to- 

 wards the latter end of this month an extra half hour may be 

 taken, and in the next month a little air all night will be an 

 advantage. Of cotirse moisture in the atmosphere and over the 

 foliage at closing time is a necessity to keep in check that dread- 

 ful pest the red spider. 



There is another matter of the greatest importance in Vine- 

 growing, and that is not to delay the stopping of the shoots too 

 long, for when so much has to be taken off at a time it gives the 

 Vines a check and injures them. If the stopping is attended to 

 it can be done efficiently with the thumb and finger, and with 

 ease. The foliage left will thrive amazingly, and become both 

 strong and large. The strength of the bunches and the size of 

 the berries are much improved by a timely attention to this 

 essential practice. 



Now we come to the garden frames, which of course will be 

 crammed with bedding plants ; these must of necessity have all 

 the air possible according to the weather, so as to shift the plants 

 under protection to outdoors as soon as possible. This will give 

 room for such plants as Chrysanthemums, Cockscombs, young 

 Fuchsias, Balsams, and the preparation of Chilies and Capsi- 

 cums, ridge Cucumbers, and Vegetable Marrows for planting 

 out as soon as the beds can be made ready for them ; in fact, I 

 assume that all these are in their seed pots and ready for potting 

 off as spaces are cleared for them. Then there are Melons, such 

 as Little Heath and Beechwood, two good sorts for an amateur 

 to grow; and frame Cucumbers, such as Cooling's Derbyshire 

 Hero or Lord Kenyon's Favourite, should be planted out on beds 

 of mild heat, and grown on quickly. Primulas, Cinerarias, and 

 many other plants for which the frames will be required grow 

 freely at this time of the year if only the proper attention is 

 bestowed upon them. — Thomas Kecord. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST AND WORK FOR THE 

 PRESENT WEEK. 



HARDY raUIT GARDEN. 



A ooNTiNU-iTioN of such fine mild weather as we are enjoying 

 at present will answer admirably for all sorts of out-of-doors 

 fruit trees. A steady frost on calm nights when the ground is 

 dry does not injure the blossoms much if it is not more than 

 2° or 3°; but on Sunday morning, the 25th, the thermometer on 

 the open lawn fell to 21' Fahr., or 8° of frost; the early Potatoes 

 under a wall with a west aspect, and which had been exposed on 

 three previous nights to 4° of frost apparently uninjured, suc- 

 cumbed to a frost so severe as this. The blossoms on Currant, 

 Apple, Pear, and other trees that were in flower do not seem to 

 have suffered from it; indeed not a leaf or petal was browned. 

 Many persons advocate shaking a little rough hay over Currant 

 and Gooseberry bushes when they are in flower, the late Mr. 

 Robert Fish amongst them. It causes the garden to look un- 

 tidy and scatters the seeds of different grasses and strange weeds 

 over the ground, which more than balances the advantages of 

 the practice. 



There is now a good opportunity to look after the different 

 insect pests that attack hardy fruit trees. The Gooseberry 

 caterpillar may be readily hand-picked in its early stages of 

 development, or the affected parts dusted with white hellebore 

 powder. If the mould under those bushes known to be attacked 

 the previous season had been removed to the depth of 3 inches, 

 and some fresh rich soil put in its place, the pest would have 



