38i 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ AprU 27, 1876. 



planted with tubers all roand, and if the baskets are placed 

 in a proper temperature and are carefully watered they will 

 in a few months be perfect balls of flowers. White, mauve, 

 and pink varieties, planted in mixture, have a charming 

 effect. 



A few of the best sorts of Achimenes are Longiflora major, 

 Longiflora alba, Stella, Williamsii, Advance, Dazzle, Am- 

 broise Verschaffelt, Dr. Hogg, Carminata elegans. Eclipse, 

 Margaretta, Pink Perfection, Sir Treherne Thomas, Purpurea 

 elegans. Scarlet Perfection, Sparkler, and Aurora. The above 

 are moderate in price, and if well cultivated will add more to 

 the adornment of the conservatory than almost any other 

 sommer and autumn-flowering plants. — A Scbket Gaedekee. 



PLANTING-OUT CLIMBING KOSES IN 

 GREENHOUSES. 



There are very few greenhouse climbers more attractive 

 when in bloom than a healthy well-blossomed Eose. However 

 beautiful Eoses may be in pots, there is no way they look so 

 well or do better than when planted-out and allowed to ramble 

 about in a semi-natural manner. What clusters of blooms they 

 do produce then ! and the substance is generally quite equal to 

 their numbers. 



In small houses where there are no centre bed the Eoses 

 jnust be planted at the end or under the side shelves. They 

 do not require a very large space for their roots, but what is 

 allowed them must be well prepared. The space for each Eose 

 root should not be much less than a yard all ways. The 

 bottom, before the soil is placed there, should be made so that 

 the superfluous water can pass away freely, and above all 

 things the soU should be of a substantial description. Heavy 

 loam approaching to clay well mixed with old cow dung is 

 an excellent compost. In fiUing this in it should be thoroughly 

 trodden from the bottom upwards. The plants generally do 

 best when they are planted young, but old plants in pots may 

 be shifted also with a little extra attention. 



From what has lately been said in your pages pro and con. on 

 the various roots your readers may take their inferences and 

 act accordingly. For most climbing Eoses I prefer the Manetti. 

 When the Eoses have been growing in pots previously they 

 may be planted out at any time of the season. If in full leaf 

 the roots should not be much disturbed, but they soon recover 

 the change if carefully planted and well watered. Whatever 

 size the plants may be they should in the following pruning 

 be closely cut. 



PUlar or rafter Eoses should never be allowed to become 

 naked near the bottom, and they have always an inclination to 

 irush up at first unless well restricted. As the plants become 

 older they may be allowed to carry more old wood if it will not 

 interfere with the well-being of other inmates. When the young 

 growths can be allowed to hang as they grow until they bloom 

 the effect is much finer than when twisted and tied-up. This 

 is particularly the case on pillars and rafters. When the 

 plants cover a large space on the roof the young growths 

 generally incline towards the glass, and to see and have the 

 blooms in good form the shoots must be tied down in as neat 

 a manner as possible. It is difficuU to say whether some 

 Eoses look finest round a pillar, up a rafter, or covering a large 

 Bpace on the roof. For quantity of bloom with moat subjects 

 the latter mode is vastly the best, but not the neatest. How- 

 ever, most of the climbing Eoses produce plenty of wood, and 

 being very tractable they may be trained according to the 

 space there is at command. 



Generously-treated planted-out Roses in greenhouses are not 

 very liable to be badly affected with mildew or insects. Green 

 fly is about the most troublesome, and it is easily destroyed 

 either by syringing the leaves with water mixed with a little 

 tobacco juice, or fumigating. The trees should always be exa- 

 mined and thoroughly cleaned before the blooms begin to open, 

 as it is more difficult to cleanse them afterwards without doing 

 mischief. 



Before the blooms open, or indeed as soon as the buds are 

 formed, plenty of manure water is of great assistance in swell- 

 ing the blooms. After the second year a rich surface-dressing 

 should be given annually. At pruning time all ties should be 

 loosened, and the wood and everything about it washed and 

 made thoroughly clean. When the plants are in vigorous 

 growth they have a great tendency to become crowded. Apart 

 from the pruning before growth begins, shoots which are very 

 strong and unfruitful-looking should be cut closely back or 

 removed altogether. A few extra blooms may be obtained for 



a short time by a great pressure of wood, but overcrowding 

 ultimately is ruinous. 



One of the very finest Bcandent Eoses for any position, and 

 a favourite of mine, is Marechal Niel. An amateur friend who 

 devotes a small house 12 feet by 8 feet to this variety, has at 

 the present time a thousand blooms and buds on a single plant 

 in this little space. Last year there were more wood and fewer 

 blooms on it. In the autumn more than half the wood was 

 cut out, the ordinary thick not over-old wood being left, and 

 now the result is most satisfactory. This Rose seems to do 

 well under either good or bad treatment. I know a person 

 who is cutting splendid blooms of it now from a plant that 

 has had no attention whatever throughout the whole winter. 

 The blooms have a pendulous habit, and they are alike useful for 

 button-holes or vases. They will open during the end of March 

 in any house without artificial heat, and continue throughout 

 April and part of May, when it is only to be regretted there 

 will be no more blooms until the following spring. 



For continuous flowering, that other excellent climbing 

 Rose Gloire de Dijon is superior to the Marechal. Gloire de 

 Dijon comes in a little later and blooms equally as freely as 

 Maruchal Niel. The half-open flowers of climbing Devoniensis 

 are beautiful in their form and purity, and exceedingly well 

 adapted for bouquets, but for general blooming the variety is 

 not worth the space it has a determination to occupy under 

 good, bad, and indifferent circumstances. I have never seen 

 it in even decent-like bloom, a small cluster of buds here and 

 there being its entire produce. It is not a Rose for indoors, 

 nor out either if space is scarce. 



Other good climbing Roses which are thoroughly capable of 

 repaying any attention which may be given them are Cloth of 

 Gold, generally shy in blooming in the open air, but fine under 

 glass; Belle Lyonuaise, Souvenir de Paul Neron, Ophelia, 

 Gloire de Bordeaux, Marie Van Houtte, Le Nankin, Madame 

 Jules Margottin, all Tea-scented ; and Triomphe de Eennes, 

 Cffine Forestier, and Solfaterre, Noisettes. — J. Mdib. 



NOTES ON VILLA and SUBUEBAN GAEDENING. 



HiKDENiNG-OFF bedding plants is doubtless one of the most 

 prominent matters for villa gardeners to consider now. It is 

 not of so much importanco tliat plants be removed into cooler 

 quarters as it is that they be protected when they are there, 

 and in such a way that they shall not receive a check but still 

 make the desired progress in the short time between now and 

 planting out. 



It is now quite time that such as Tom Thumb and other 

 plain and zonal-leaved Geraniums be placed in earth pits, or 

 trenches just dug out deep enough to shelter them from cutting 

 winds, as these affect them as much as anything after being 

 nursed-up under a more secure covering. Poles laid across 

 these trenches at intervals, and just high enough to clear the 

 leaves, will support the covering, which must be used every 

 night, for although the weather is now fine and warm it is most 

 likely to very suddenly turn cold again. The bottom of the 

 trenches should be well covered with ashes to prevent worms 

 from entering the pots. 



Other plants may be placed on a warm border or under a wall, 

 where they must be similarly protected. Of course if there are 

 plenty of frames to spare there is no need of all this labour, 

 because the lights can be thrown off when required, and if 

 necessary the frame hoisted on bricks to admit air underneath. 

 In such a frame the plants can remain till they are planted in 

 the beds. The variegated sorts and the choice tricolors must not 

 on any account be exposed too much yet, but if possible be 

 kept growing, as they seldom become too large by bedding-out 

 time. 



All spring-struck plants must be kept growing; but some of 

 the Verbenas, such as meliudres and pulchellum, are hardy 

 enough to stand out with Geraniums. Alternantheras, Helio- 

 tropes, Iresines, Lobelias, and similar plants must all be wotked- 

 on as fast as possible, and shifted about in different places most 

 conducive to their health. Stocks, Asters, Perilla, Zinnias, and 

 Phlox Drummondii all should be pricked-out in boxes or earth 

 beds, and as near the glass as possible, to make them dwarf and 

 sturdy. 



Habdy Feekery. — This ornamental place must now be at- 

 tended to— that is, aU the dead fronds and other rubbish that 

 have accumulated most be carefully cleared off, so as to allow 

 the young fronds to come up. Watch often for snails that eat the 

 most delicate of the Ferns, and the most weakly plants should 

 have special care, or they may go off. A top-dreBsing of peaty 

 soil would benefit the Ferns, previously removing a portion of the 

 old surface soil. All faulty places should be repaired now that 

 it can be done easily. In making one of these ferneries it must 

 not be supposed that only a shallow Boil is required ; for although 



