226 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTDKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ September 10, 1871. 



manure, such as a spent liotbed affords, and in thia the Cab- 

 bages are planted. Lettuce and other salad plants are treated 

 in a similar way. Peas and Beans are sown upon trenches 

 filled with dung as for Celery, and similar trenches are pre- 

 pared for Jerusalem Artichokes. 



If it were necessary many other similar details might be 

 adduced, but I think enough has been stated to illustrate the 

 contrast with suflicieut force and clearness, and to show how 

 greatly one garden may differ from another, and therefore how 

 it is possible for two gardens of equal size and presenting a 

 very similar appearance to require a diametrically opposite 

 mode of treatment, a greater or lesser number of men, more 

 or less seeds and manure, and consequently a very different 

 expenditure, to obtain equal results. The foregoing example 

 of a poor soil is undoubtedly an extraordinary one, such as is 

 very rarely to be met with ; but there are many gardens where 

 diflicultiea of a similar, though modified, nature exist, and 

 which are only to be overcome by a proportionate allowance of 

 each of my three grand powers. It is surprising to find new 

 gardens being constantly made without any care or provision 

 for a supply of water, and yet it is an acknowledged fact that 

 in the majority of summers the success of many of our most 

 important crops depends almost entirely upon its constant use. 



Now this is what the culture of good vegetables amounts to : 

 Get your land into good culture and keep it so. Follow a 

 regular method of cropping, but let it be an elastic one — that 

 is, not ruled so strictly by certain dates as by the peculiarities 

 of the seasons. In providing seeds, always allow a margin 

 for failures, just as in calculating the quantity of vegetables 

 that will be required, you allow a certain surplus for visitors 

 and dinner parties. Never allow vegetables to sustain any 

 check, particularly from drought, but always strive to maintain 

 a vigorous growth from the sprouting of the seed till the crop 

 is fit for use ; to which end there must be a soil that is well 

 drained, sweetened by exposure to the air, especially iu winter, 

 containing plenty of rich manure, well watered, and with the 

 surface frequently stirred and opened -up with hoes and forks. 

 Let your tools be light, strong, and in good working order; 

 and lastly, death to the weeds. — Edward Ldckhurst. 



POINSETTIA PULCHERBIMA CULTURE. 



DuEiNo the winter a lack of bloom in the conservatory 

 and other glass structures is too frequent, yet this might 

 to a certain extent be obviated by a little more forethought 

 on the part of the gardener. Again, where sufficient bloom 

 exists, there is too often such a sameness of colour in the 

 arrangement that a feeling of disappointment instead of 

 pleasure is apt to take possession of the mind of the observer. 

 To obviate tljis, I advise a few dozen Poinsettias being grown. 

 No plant at that season excels it for table ornament, con- 

 servatoi-y decoration, or for the manipulation of the bouquetist, 

 to whom its brilliant crimson bracts are invaluable. 



The plant may be grown in a greenhouse temperature, but 

 to secure an abundance of vivid green foliage, and heads vary- 

 ing in diameter from 15 to 20 inches, I advise the following 

 mode of culture to be adopted : — As soon as the plants have 

 finished flowering they should be removed into a late vinery 

 or other suitable place, and be gradually dried-off in order to 

 cause their wood to ripen. This will have taken place by the 

 end of March or beginning of April, when they must be cut- 

 back to two or three eyes. The eyes on those shoots removed 

 should be cut off and be inserted singly in the centres of 

 thumb-pots, crocked and filled with a compost of peat, leaf 

 mould, loam, and sharp sand in equal quantities. They 

 should be plunged in a bottom heat of 70° Fahr., and in the 

 course of a month or six weeks they will strike root. As soon 

 as this ha^ taken place they must be repotted into 4-inch pots 

 in a mixture of peat, loam, and well-rotted sheep or deer dung 

 in equal quantities. A few handfuls of powdered charcoal 

 should also be added to the compost, and it will be found that 

 crocking the pots with lumps of the same material will tend to 

 promote a brilliantly green foliage. They should be placed iu 

 a pit or frame as near to the glass as possible, and on a firm 

 bottom of cinder ashes ; and a day temperature of 65' or 70° 

 must be maintained. A little air should be admitted on 

 favourable opportunities, but on no account must the plants 

 be subjected to draughts, which in nine cases out of ten are 

 the cause of their leaves turning yellow and falling off. They 

 should also be slightly syringed overhead every evening, pre- 

 vious to leaving them for the night, with water from which the 

 chill has been taken off. 



By the end of August it will be found that the roots touch 

 the sides of the pots, and the plants will then require another 

 shift. This time they should be placed in 6-inch pots and iu 

 a similar compost, and they may be again set in their old 

 quarters, the pit or frame. 



From the first they must be kept well supplied with water 

 at the root, and as I have previously mentioned, their fohage 

 all through the growing period should be slightly syringed 

 every evening with chilled water. As soon as they are esta- 

 blished in the latter pots they should be watered solely with 

 liquid manure made from sheep or deer dung, with the ad- 

 dition of a little soot. At the end of September they should 

 be removed into a span-roofed house if possible, where a mini- 

 mum day temperature of 70' is maintained. The Cucumber 

 or Melon house might be made convenient for them. From 

 this period they will not require syringing overhead, but a 

 moist temperature should be secured them by keeping the 

 evaporating pans filled with water, and by occasionally damp- 

 ing the floor and walls of the house. Eyes struck and treated 

 in the above manner form excellent objects for table and other 

 ornament; but they will not, of course, form such large speci- 

 mens as the parent plants, to which I will now turn my 

 attention. 



The plants on being cut down should be watered but very 

 sparingly until they have commenced to break. As soon as 

 this has taken place the old soil should be carefully shaken 

 from the roots, and they should be potted-back — that is, be 

 placed in pots a size or two less than those in which they were 

 formerly growing, and in a similar compost to that recom- 

 mended above for striking the eyes. They may be placed 

 along with the former, and as soon as the roots touch the sides 

 of the pots they must be again repotted. This time a similar 

 compost to that recommended for the eyes after they have 

 struck root should be used, and if a few extra large specimens 

 be desired at this period, two or more plants may be placed ia 

 a pot together. As soon as they have become established iu 

 these pots their tops should be nipped-off, which will cause 

 them to throw out lateral shoots. T'he tops may be made use 

 of as cuttings, and will form nice little plants by the end of 

 the yeir. The plants should now be staked, care being taken 

 to slightly bend the strongest and most robust shoots in order 

 to divert the sap to those of less maguitude. Similar attention 

 to watering, &a., to that recommended for young plants must 

 also be paid them, and the result will be all that can reason- 

 ably ba desired. — Edward Freeman, The Gardens, Blundeaton 

 Lodge, Loifestoft. 



THE PELARGONIUM SOCIETY. 



Believing, as I do, that the ultimate success of the Pelar- 

 gonium Society, so auspiciously inaugurated at South Kensing- 

 ton on the '2ud inst., will depend upon the support and 

 encouragement it receives at its outset, I shall be excused for 

 earnestly appealing for the immediate co-operation of all inter- 

 ested in its welfare. First, to my brother workers for the im- 

 provement of the Zonal Pelargonium, for whom it is hoped by 

 the Society's promoters that it may constitute a bond of union 

 between us, and be the medium of introduction to the goodly 

 fellowship of kindred spirits, as well as the means of affording 

 mutual assistance in carrying out our undertaking, and to 

 whom perhaps the Society may be considered more especially 

 to belong. I appeal also to horticulturists generally, be they 

 amateurs or professional. Pelargonium growers or not, for aid 

 and support ; begging of all to bear in mind that horticulture, 

 whether regarded and esteemed as a science, or its popularity 

 desired commercially, its success and advancement will mainly 

 depend upon the improvement of our fruits and flowers, and 

 upon union amongst ourselves. 



Having urged upon my friends the necessity for their aid, I 

 will pass on to consider the best means of developirig the 

 Society, and forwarding the object it has in view. 



The first step the Society deemed it expedient to take was to 

 offer the highest amount of prizes its means (at present) ad- 

 mitted, as supplementary to those offered by the Eoyal Horti- 

 cultural Society for Zonal Pelargoniums at their Show to be 

 held in July, 1875 ; considering that by offering some Uberal 

 prizes in addition to theirs, a large and well-grown oolleotion 

 of all the best varieties would be secured. 



If the prizes offered produce what the Society has a right to 

 expect, the raisers of novelties would be enabled to compare 

 notes, to profit by experience, and probably be stimulated to 

 increased exertions ; while the public would be afforded an 



