412 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTORE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jiicc S. 1876. 



Muscadine, Frontignans, or even the Black Hamburgh. These 

 large-berried kinds it not sufficiently thinned become jammed, 

 and the berries burst before they are ripe. Over-thinning is 

 an evil, bat it is not such a great one as under-thinning, espe- 

 cially \Thero the fruit has to be kept throughout the greater 

 part of the winter. AVhen the berries are closely packed against 

 each other at that time they ferment and decay, but when 

 the air can circulate amongst them it prevents anything of 

 the kind from taking place. In clipping-out the berries the 

 largest should always be left and the smallest removed. Some 

 berries wiU swell to the normal size of the variety, and others 

 in the same bunch will ripen not half the size. To the un- 

 accustomed it ia not easy detecting the difference at thinning 

 time, but if the extreme berries are always left they will have 

 every chance of turning out the biggest. 



It is a great advantage in thinning to know and bear In 

 mind what size the berries of any variety attain as a rule. 

 Small bunches on languid Vines do not generally swell the 

 berries to the full size, and this and all such like considerations 

 muEt be taken into account. Unless in exceptional instances 

 pot Vines do not sweU their fruit to the extent of those planted 

 out in borders. It may be finally stated that no standing gauge 

 can be given or adhered to in Grape-thinning, but in ordinary 

 cases the bunches will be found not far from being correct if 

 the berries are thinned eo as the point of the forefinger can be 

 put in between each two of them. — J. MuiR. 



AUTUMN-FLOWEEING PLANTS FOR THE 

 MANSION. 



During the dull wioter months flowers are particularly ap- 

 preciated, and the blighter they are the better, but in autumn 

 there is so much natural beauty outdoors that most of us 

 become satiated with colours in the formal flower beds. We 

 have plenty of elegant foliage with the subtropicals, and flowers 

 in the herbaceous borders can hold their own against all 

 comers. Still there are boxes and vases in the mansion which 

 must be filled. 



If we attempt to compete with the flower beds for colours 

 we shall fail, and in my opinion the subtropicals outdoors 

 while they are in their prime are quite equal to any effect or- 

 dinary people can produce with foliage plants indoors. Ricinus, 

 Acacias, Zea, Cannas, &a., may be thought more common than 

 Palms and Draceenaa, but that does not make them less beau- 

 tiful in my estimation so long as they are well arranged and 

 the place is not overdone with them. 



The great fault of English gardeners is to overdo and then 

 condemn altogether. Subtropical gardening has long been over- 

 done in many places, but I shall not condemn it any the more 

 for that. There is room for this style as well as for the com- 

 mon bedding plants, carpet bedding, herbaceous, and mixed 

 borders, and for that which I must own I have a weakness for, 

 semi-natural gardening — i.e., so arranging plants that with 

 the uninitiated exotiC3 may pass for natives, and at the same 

 time not ofiend the eye of the best informed nor the taste of 

 the most refined. Because a Lily happens to grow well and 

 look well in a space between Rhododendrons, it must not be 

 imagined that a hundred Lilies there would add a hundred- 

 fold to the beauty : they would probably produce a vulgar and 

 glaring failure. A bit of Forget-me-not taking care of itSelf 

 amongst the bushes is very pretty, but repeat it in half a dozen 

 other places and it would look weedy. This, however, is not 

 my subject at present ; I have written about it before, and hope 

 to do so again. 



August, September, October, and November have to be pro- 

 vided for indoors, not in a beautifully lighted and well-warmed 

 couEervatory — that is a comparatively easy matter — but in dry 

 rooms and corridors, which are dark and draughty however 

 beautiful. The plants when they have been there for a time 

 will, if not in a suitable condition for the rubbish heap, require 

 at least a considerable amount of nursing to bring them again 

 into a respectable form. They must be plants which look well, 

 or the architectural and other ornaments would throw them 

 quite in the shade. They must be different to those in the 

 flower beds or they would appear vulgar, and still it will not 

 do to use rare and costly plants. Some plants, however suit- 

 able for conservatories, will not do for the mansion ; they do 

 not last in condition there a sufficient time to pay for the 

 trouble of growing them. I have found Fuchsias very dis- 

 appointing in this respect. I have never had them more than 

 a week in first class condition, and have consequently given 

 up growing them for this purpose. 



Campanula pjramidalis is the best plant I know for lasting ; 

 it is sometimes good for seven or eight weeks — from the 

 beginning of August to the end of September. It is not much 

 trouble to grow, and it is hardy in sheltered spots ; but if 

 grown outdoors it should always be taken inside to expand its 

 flowers, as they are incomparably better than when they open 

 outside. It is best treated as a biennial, sown in May and 

 grown-ou in 6-inch pots during summer, sheltered in a cold 

 frame from severe frost, and potted as soon as the flower 

 stems commence rising in the spring. Pots may vary from 

 7 to 12 inches in diameter according to the vigour of the 

 plants and the size they are required. Turfy loam suits them 

 well. 



Tuberoses associate very well with the above, and are as 

 easy to grow but not so hardy ; they are very sweetly scented. 

 The roots are received from abroad in December and January, 

 are potted at once in rather heavy loam, and plunged in 

 bottom heat. When they have started fairly into growth they 

 are not particular about temperature, but will do well in either 

 a hot house, a cold one, or a pit, according to the season they 

 are required to bloom. I am growing a second time those I 

 had last year, and they promise to be as good as the newly 

 imported bulbs. 



Vallota purpurea ought to be everybody's plant. There ia 

 nothing easier to grow, and there ia certainly nothing more 

 beautiful. Turfy loam with charcoal and a few half-inch 

 bones with a greenhouse temperature suit it admirably. 



Lilium auratum though flowering generally in July will, if 

 grown behind a north wall, last well into August and some- 

 times even to the end of it. I, however, prefer this noble Lily 

 outside, where it does almost if not quite as well as indoors, 

 and its scent is too powerful for some people when confined. 



LiUum punctatum flowers in August, and is decidedly best 

 when its flowers expand indoors, as ia also L. lancifoUum and 

 its varieties which flower in September. Turfy peat suits 

 them best. They should be disturbed as little as possible, and 

 when repotted it should be done immediately the leaves have 

 become discoloured. 



Begonia Weltoniensis is very useful and easily grown, like- 

 wise Balsams and Salvia splendens, with Mignonette and 

 Heliotrope for scent. — William Taylor. 



SYRINGING.— No. 2. 



The presence of insects under the leaves, which syringing 

 is intended to subdue, is mainly attributable to too high a 

 temperature, too dry an atmosphere, and dryness at the roots. 

 Under those conditions plants cannot long be free of thrips 

 and red spider. Weakness of constitution is no criterion to 

 go by as affirming the presence of these and other insect 

 attacks, for weak plants may escape their ravages whilst a 

 robust one of the same kind is severely infested ; yet I consider 

 that with a large extent of leaf surface imperfectly exposed to 

 the action of air and light the tissues of the leaves will be so 

 weakened as to receive greater injury from insects than plants 

 with robust foliage. In almost all instances of early forcing 

 of Vines and Peaches the foliage, for obvious reasons, is 

 thinner in growth than that which is produced at a later 

 period under the influence of more light and air. Thin 

 flabby foliage can never by any after- exposure to light and air 

 become stout and perfect in texture, and hence is particularly 

 liable to injury by thrips and red spider. Thin flabby leaves 

 do not usually become stout upon a return to bright weather, 

 bat more frequently the leaves are more or less browned and 

 occasionally scorched. This in a great measure may be pre- 

 vented by shading, or by early air-giving so as to prevent 

 moisture from continuing on the leaves — a matter which may 

 be uselally alluded to at the present time. 



The neglecting to make any difference in the apportioning 

 of moisture as between bright weather and dull is a cause of 

 sappy growth, resulting in scorching or browning of the foliage 

 and inviting the attacks of insects, which usually commence 

 after the leaves are full-sized. 



But it has been urged that syringing ia a certain antidote of 

 thrips and red spider. My observation and experience point 

 in a different direction, convinced as I am that water driven 

 against plant leaves has no other effact than freeing the leaves 

 from parasites ; but in no wise can water forcibly ejected over 

 plants by a syringe ba considered as a preventive measure — 

 it acts by removing the insects, neither preventing their pre- 

 sence nor recurrence. A due amount of moisture in the 

 atmosphere and of nutriment soppUed by the soil are far more 



