62 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 16, 1871. 



Deeding winter. This year the plants are not making such free 

 healthy growth as we have been accustomed to ; we shall there- 

 fore have to trust more to the smaller plants that were planted 

 out in the spring, and to the old roots that were forced. One 

 cause of the backward state of many crops is the frosts that we 

 had about the middle of June. Plants that were not quite cut 

 down nevertheless suffered severely from the effects. 



We have kept the hoe at work amongst Brussels Sprouts and 

 all Greens. The rains a few weeks ago g-^ve the weeds a start, 

 but since then hot dry weather has been suitable for hoeing 

 them down. 



Last season was a bad one for small fruits being picked for 

 preserving. It was barely possible to get them in a dry state, 

 so that preserves kept badly. This year the fruit has been 

 gathered in capital condition. 



Mushroom House. — The samples of Mushrooms exhibited in 

 Mr. Quilter's grounds at Birmingham went to show that they are 

 not at their highest state of perfection at midsummer. If possible 

 the Mushroom house should be a lean-to against a wall facing 

 north ; it will therefore be in the best position to secure a cool 

 atmosphere inside at this season. If the house, as is usually 

 the case, has a slated or tiled roof, some thatched hurdles, or 

 thatch in some form, should be placed over the roof to keep the 

 heat out. Shut-up closely in the daytime, but the windows and 

 doors ought to be thrown wide open at night. The house be- 

 comes in this way cool iuterually; and the object of shutting 

 up closely in the early morning is to retain the cool air and 

 prevent the heated air from getting inside, and the thicker the 

 walls and roof are the better. Thick walls and roof are equally 

 desirable for winter, as they then keep the cold out, and an 

 equable temperature ia thus obtained summer and winter. 



FRUIT AND FORCING HOUSES. 



Pineries. — Pines are not likely to suffer from excessive heat, 

 but the thermometer standing at 93'^ in the shade, as it registered 

 at Loxford last Thursday, necessitated shading the houses and 

 throwing the ventilators as wide open as possible. Pines that 

 •are swelling are very easily injured by excessive sun heat acting 

 upon the fruit. During the present hot weather fire heat will 

 not be necessary. As a rule, fire heat may be dispensed with 

 from the middle of June until the end of August ; of course, if 

 a cold period should set in, the fires may be lighted and a little 

 heat kept up, letting them go out again with a favourable 

 change of the weather. 



Orchard House. — Sarf ace-dressing the trees is, perhaps, the 

 most important work in connection with the summer manage- 

 ment of Peach and Nectarine trees ; the space in which the 

 roots are confined is so small, that unless sufficient nourishment 

 is washed down to them by these surface-dressings the fruit will 

 be of small size and poor flavour. The value of the surface- 

 dressing is apparent by the rapidity with which the roots run 

 into it. Watering the trees with liquid manure has also been 

 tried, using it weak and using it strong, but the trees do not 

 seem to like it ; the leaves become spotted and otherwise un- 

 healthy. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



At this time of the year, when Azaleas have been removed to 

 a warm house to make their wood, and nearly all the hard wooded 

 plants are out of doors, and the conservatory is filled with Gala- 

 di'ams and other stove plants, it is necessary to shut-up the house 

 at night and syringe Camellias, Lapagerias, &c., finishing their 

 growth. Our Camellias were in bad health a few years ago, 

 owing to a change iu the potting material. When the discussion 

 on freshly-cut loam was in progress in this Journal, the Camel- 

 lias at that time requiring potting, they were potted in the 

 loam cut from our own fields. The plants made very good 

 growth the first year, but declined afterwards, and it was soon 

 evident that our loam did not answer for them ; using it with 

 three parts of turfy peat added they succeed well. 



Stage Pelargoniums have been removed out of doors to ripen 

 their wood, and iu a week or ten days the plants will be cut 

 down ; and of those that it is required to increase the stock 

 cuttings will be put in, four or five in a 5-inch pot. The cutting- 

 pots should be placed iu an open airy position in the greenhouse 

 or cold pit, but they must not on any account be subjected to a 

 close moist atmosphere, otherwise many of them will die. 

 Spirisa palmata is also a most distinct and useful greenhouse 

 plant. It is very liable to be attacked by red spider, still this 

 can easily be destroyed by syringing; but, indeed, it will not 

 appear at all if the plants have been syringed when in growth. 

 The time when this and other plants of the same character 

 are neglected is after flowering. Anyone acquainted with 

 plant-culture knows very well that from the time the flowers 

 fade until the growths are ripened is the time to study the 

 growths for next year. The leaves of Spiricas and those of 

 all other herbaceous plants should be kept green and healthy as 

 long as possible after flowering, and just in proportion as the 

 prolongation of the leaves is insured, bo much the stronger will 

 be the growths the fi")llowing season. 



In many gardens Grapes are grown in the conservatory. The 

 plants that would be injured by shade and heat may now be 



placed out of doors; and the Grapes would be much improved 

 if the house could be shut up early, say between fuur and five 

 o'clock in the afternoon. If, on the other hand, a succession of 

 flowering plants has to be kept up all the year round, it would 

 be much better not to grow Vines in the house at all, aa the 

 treatment required by the former is not suitable to the Vines. 

 Flowering plants require a cool airy atmosphere with ventilation 

 night and day ; Vines require light, and a warm, moderately 

 moist atmosphere. Auriculas may also be classed iu the green- 

 house department, as they will not succeed if without a glass 

 protection. Green fly has been troublesome, and the plants are 

 not in a position where they can be fumigated, so that it has 

 been necessary to brush the insects off. The plants are about 

 starting into growth, and will be potted as soon as an oppor- 

 tunity offers. 



FLOWER GABDEN. 



On Friday and Saturday nights the longed-for rain came with 

 a vengeance. A terrific thunderstorm burst immediately over 

 us, and in an hour or two 2.15 inches of rain fell. On Saturday 

 afternoon we had another storm, and 0.80 inch fell in little more 

 than an hour. Where the ground was not covered with any 

 mulching material it was much hardened with the heavy rain. 

 The usefulness of decayed manure has not only been proved by 

 the excessive drought this season, but also by the excessive 

 rain. Pegged-down Verbenas, Heliotropes, ifcc. Picked withered 

 flowers from Roses, and hand-picked the weeds from flower 

 beds. Tied Phloxes to the sticks : no flowers are more easily 

 damaged than these if the spikes are allowed to hang about in 

 a loose manner. — J. Douglas. 



PKOVINCIAL HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS. 



[Secretaries will oblige us by informing us of the dates on 

 which exhibitions are to be held. Although we cannot report 

 them fully, we shall readily note anything especially excellent, 

 and we wish for information on such specialities to be sent 

 to us.] 



JDLY. 



Grange on-Sanda 17 



Bury (Lancaskire) 17 and 18 



Cleckheatoa Id 



Bramley 20 and 21 



Erewasb Valley 21 



EKoid 22 



Cambiidgesbire 23 



Li3keard 23 



Grantham 23 and 24 



long and Dudley Hill 25 



Hales Owea and Hagley 28 



Buckingham 28 



DitchinRham 28 



Tewkesbury 28, 29, and 80 



Errol 29 



Castle Donington (Derby) 29 



Eoyal Oxfordshire 80 



Woolton 80 



august. 

 Earlsheaton and Chickerley 1 



AUGUST. 



Hey wood 1. 2, and S 



Southampton 1 and 3 



Woburu 3 



Whitwick 4 



Ilkeston and Shipley 5 and 6 



Felton 6 



East Neuk of Fife 7 



Aldborough and Boroughbridge.. 7 



Horainglow S 



Clay Cross U 



Hartlepool 11 



Meldrum 11 



Weston-super-Mare 11 



Ellon 12 



Royal Hort. Society of Ireland. ... 13 



Taunton Deane 13 



Malmesbury IS 



Birmingham 14 and 15 



Kyhope 18 



KeevU, Wilts 19 



Eckington 19 



TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 



Ant. Roozen & Son, Overveen,near Haarlem, Holland. — Cata- 

 logue of Hyacinths, Tulips, Crocus, and other Dutch and Cape 

 Bulbs, i£c. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*,* It is particularly requested that no communication be ad- 

 dressed privately to either of the Editors of this Journal. 

 AU correspondence should be directed either to " The 

 Editors," or to "The Publisher." Letters addressed to 

 Mr. Johnson or Dr. Hogg often remain unopened un- 

 avoidably. 



Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions 

 relating to Gardening and those on Poultry and Bee sub- 

 jects, and should never send more than two or three 

 questions at once. AU articles intended for insertion 

 should be written on one side of the paper only. 



We also request that no one will write privately to any of our 

 correspondents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable 

 trouble and expense. 

 Books (A. A. J/.).— No periodical is published relating only to garden ie- 



slKniDg. " Flower Garden Plans," published at our oflioe, might suit yonr 



American friend. You can have it free by post if you enclose 5*. 'Id. with 



yoitr address. 

 SEEnLTNG Striwbehry (0. C. 5.1. — The berries arc medium-sized, very 



high-coloured, aud flavoured like Keens' Seedlmg. If it baa any superior 



merit it must bo in beiog a profuse bearer, and of this we have no information. 

 Candle Plant (Brisbatw). — Your specimen ia the species referred to. 



Thanks fur your obliging offer, but plants have been procured. 

 British Wild Flowers (J. P. ff.).— Six volumes are completed, price 



2l8. each. The work ia completing in monthly numbers at Is, each. 



