40 



JOURNAL O'P HORTICULTURE AKD CoTTAGE GARDENER. 



1 ^anaary 8, 1871. 



PLANT STOVE AND CONSEEVATOIIY. 



The plan we pursue with the plants in our stove at this 

 season may commend itself to olhers who grow mixed collec- 

 tions of plants in the same house. There are many species of 

 plants which thrive best in a moderately moist atmosphere 

 with a minimum temperature of G5° — such subjects as Nepenthes ; 

 some of the Palms, as the noble Phccnicophorinm sechellarum ; 

 and Orctids, as Phalmnopsids. All hardwooded plants that are 

 expected to flower freely durinj^ the ensuing spring and summer 

 months should not be wintered in this house. Many species of 

 Orchids require a lower temperature and drier atmosphere to 

 insure freedom of flower and robust health, such as Vanda 

 tricolor, V. suavis, V. insignis, Aiirides odoratura, affine, Field- 

 ingii, and many other species, East ludian Dendrobes, &c. 

 Our plants are removed to the Pine house, where the Pines are 

 at rest. 



A succession of flowers can be obtained by removing Gar- 

 denias, Clerodendrons, Allamandas, &c., from such a house as 

 this to the stove, at intervals of two weeks. We do not approve 

 of potting any plants during the winter months, but it is some- 

 times necessary. Some choice new Ferns were growing freely, 

 and the pots had l)ecome matted with roots, these were potted, 

 and Dendrobium chrysotis commencing to grow was also fresh- 

 basketed. Plants of tills Orchid, though not imported much 

 more than twelve months, have made growths nearly a yard in 

 length. Thrips persist in attacking the Orchids. Cypripedium 

 Veitchii is their favourite feeding ground. Many splendid 

 specimens have been disfigured by this pest. We fumigate 

 periodically during the winter months, first removing tender 

 Ferns and Orchids from the house. Every plant known to be 

 infested with bug or scale has been overhauled and thoroughly 

 cleansed with a sponge and tepid water in which soft soap has 

 been dissolved. We are rather short of flowers in the conser- 

 vatory. Boman Hyacinths are nearly over, but Tulips, Hya- 

 cinths, and other Dutch bulbs are coming in. 



A few plants of Azalea indica have been placed in the forcing 

 house, also Deutzia gracilis, Spirasas, Lily of the Valley, &e. 

 A batch of Bases in pots, which were recently pruned, were 

 placed in an early vinery at rest. The house has been started ; 

 the Koses and a batch of dessert Orange trees, with Figs in 

 pots, will remain. The temperature commencing with a mini- 

 mum of 50^ is suitable for all ; the plants are syringed daily 

 with water which has been over the hot- water pipes for twelve 

 hours previously. Koses in pots are subject to two pests, which 

 must be watched for and checked on their very first appearance ; 

 they are the bud worm and green fly. The first must be 

 picked out of the centre of the young shoots with a needle or 

 pin, the fly must be destroyed by fumigating with tobacco 

 smoke. Many varieties of Roses throw three times as many 

 shoots as should be allowed to remain ; these ought to be 

 thinned-out when the growths are about 3 inches in length, a 

 little judgment being required, so that a well-shaped plant 

 may be produced. Bemoved all the late-flowering Hyacinths, 

 Tulips, and Polyanthus Narcissus to the cold pit from the 

 plunging material out of doors ; many of them have made 

 growths an inch in length. As soon as the plants were taken 

 out a small pot was inverted over the crowns, as the sudden 

 exposure to light and air is disastrous to the plants. 



If possible, all the Chrysanthemum cuttings will be put in 

 this week ; those intended to form specimen plants were potted 

 late in November, but a lengthened experience has proved to 

 ua that such early cuttings frequently run to flower in April. 

 When this happens it is well to fall back upon the cuttings 

 struck in January. The pots in which are the cuttings are 

 placed for a week or ten days in a cold frame, when they are 

 removed to a very gentle hotbed. It has been necessary to 

 dip all the cuttings in an insect-destroying compound to kill the 

 aphis before potting them. 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



We continue to pot-o£f Zonal Pelargoniums as opportunity 

 offers. Spring-struck cuttings of Verbenas, Ageratums, and a 

 few other bedding plants are preferable to those struck in 

 autumn. Batches of all such will be put in at once, and struck 

 in bottom heat in the early Cucumber and Melon houses ; it is 

 too early yet to place them in hotbeds. — J. Douglas. 



London, W.- 

 Seeds, d-c. 



■Catalogue of Kitchen Garden, Farm, and Flower, 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Sutton & Sons, Reading. — Suttons' Spring Catalogue and 

 Amateur's Guide for 1874. 



B. S. Williams, Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, Upper 

 HoUoway, Loudon, N. — Descriptive Catalogue of Flowe Vege- 

 table, and Agricultural Seeds, 1874. 



J. C. Wheeler & Son, Gloucester, and 59, Mark Lane, London, 

 B.C.—" Little Book," or Select Seed List, 1874. 



J. Blackley, Leyton, London, E. — Catalogue of Tree and 

 Climbing Carnations, tic. 



Eobert Parker, Exotic Nursery, Tooting, Surrey. — Catalogue 

 of Agricultural, Flower, and Vegetable Seeds, ttc. 



Pine-Apple Nursery Company, Maida Vale, Edgware Eoadi 



*,* We request that no one will write privately to any of the 

 correspondents of the " Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, dc, 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, E.G. 



We also request that correspondents will not mix up on the 

 same sheet questions relating to Gardening and those on 

 Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them 

 answered promptly and conveniently, but write them on 

 separate communications. Also never to send more than 

 two or three questions at once. 



N.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered until next 

 week. 



KuBus ARCTici's (F. R.). — Xevpr havini; tasted its berries we can Rive no 

 opiniun relative to their excellence. Krman, in his travels in Siberia, met 

 witli thera at Easoslovwk, in Siberia. lie says that it wa« first iliscuvtred in 

 that district, and that the flavonr of the berries is snperior to that of the 

 Strawberry, and little inferiur to that of the Pine Apple. 



James's Prolific Mamiow Pea (J., .Swjfo/fc).— The best answer to your 

 query is the following, which Dr. Roden snid in this Journal last Aupiist : — 

 " .James's Prolific is a very handsome white wrinkled variety, about 3 feet 

 high, with fine larj^e pods of a lisLt green colour, containing from sii: to nine 



James's Prolific UaiTow Pea. 



laree peas of the finest flavour. This is a grand Pea, and ripens-nS its crop 

 pretty much at one time, so that the ground can be at once cleared fo isomo 

 other occupant. I am bo much pleased with this Pea that I iatend to adopt 



