104 



JOUENAL OF HORTICDLTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB, 



Januai7 29, 1874. 



them, for a Manetti plant in a row of new-budded stuff is 

 such a nuiaance, it grows at such a rate as to smother the 

 young plants right and left. Where any buds have missed 

 altogether I puU-up the stocks to avoid the evil consequences 

 of their great growth, as, when you are well off for stocks, a 

 few are of no great note, especially when not wanted. Care- 

 fully remove any suckers that may appear, as, let the cuttings 

 be ever so well prepared, a few will show themselves the first 

 year ; an old chisel is a capital tool for the purpose. In bud- 

 ding stock plants, the only difference is that you plant your 

 cuttings in a piece of spare ground very closely, leaving room, 

 however, to hoe between the rows to keep down weeds, and in 

 the autumn of the following year lift them and plant very 

 shallow in rows, or as you hke. Earth-up the same as for 

 cuttings, and in budding let the bud be put in as near the root 

 as possible. This is reaUy the royal way to work Manetti, as 

 you can get the bud so much closer to the roots than by work- 

 ing the cuttings as planted ; but in either way the practice is 

 the same, and the instructions for working struck cuttings 

 wUl apply in every respect. The new shoot from the bud will 

 require staking and tying, or the wind will blow many out, 

 and is almost as fatal, if not tied, as it is to the worked Briar. 

 I have only now to say that in setting the plants out, plant 

 them deeply, so as to cover the union of the stock and bud 

 4 inches below the surface (see /ij. 6). 



I have seen Manetti-worked plants, when they have been 

 worked too far from the roots, stuck in with the union 5 or 

 6 or more inches above the ground and — doing wonderfully 

 bad! 



In pruning the plants cut them down in March to from 2 to 

 12 inches, according to the strength of the shoots, and so as 

 to leave the top bud pointing outwards — that is, from the centre 

 of the plant. It is always well to have an eye to the future 

 form of the plant (see/uj. 6 a) and keep the plant well open by 

 thinning-out. Keep a sharp look-out for suckers ; they will 

 not trouble you much, but iJt one do get ahead it will utterly 

 spoil and kill the plant, the growth is so strong and rapid. 

 I was in a garden last summer where the dwarf Hoses were 

 almost without exception Manetti plants, and the proprietor, 

 and his lady especially, wondered they never bloomed. Truly 

 they must have been very badly worked, but in the present 

 state of competition and love of cheapness I do not wonder at 

 that. I am sure properly-worked Manetti plants cannot be 

 grown at the price I have seen them advertised. 



In No. 063, December 11, 1873, p. 463, Mr. J. Hinton speaks 

 of the Manetti having flowered for the second time in his 

 garden. This is a common thing with me every year, and on 

 looking about a day or two back I found a ti'uss of ripe heps 

 which, out of curiosity, I have since gathered and sown. By- 

 the-bye — a lucky thouglit — Mr. Hinton is mistaken in thinking 

 I am " his anonymous correspondent." I never do anything 

 anonymously ; besides, I love La France, and have had to do 

 battle on its behalf many times in this town, one or two 

 amateurs here abusing it unjustly — most unjustly, I think. I 

 consider it one of our very best Eoses, and I think I can see why 

 such men as Mr. B. Cant call it names. They grow maiden 

 plants only, on which it, hke some others, is hardly ever fit to 

 show ; but use it well and grow it on and it is simply grand. 

 If you want to find the way to a lady's heart, give her a good 

 bloom of La France and ask her to smeU it ! " Amateur " — 

 on the same page 463 — doubts the vigour of Eoses on Manetti. 

 I have now in my garden John Hopper, Duke of Edinburgh, 

 Charles Lefebvre, and others, with shoots made last year 7 feet 

 long and as thick as your thumb, enough for one season and 

 all purposes. — W. Faeren, Cambridge. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST AND PRESENT WEEKS. 



FBUIT AND KITCHEN GABDEN. 



Since January came in we have been enabled, almost without 

 interruption, to continue out-of-doors operations in this depart- 

 ment. Pruning is finished, and dig(;ing well advanced. Should 

 any fruit trees remain to be planted the work ought to be done 

 at once ; they seldom succeed well the following season if ijlanted 

 after the buds have swelled considerably. The fruit buds on 

 our pyramid Pear trees are in a very forward state. 



Attention must be given to quarters of Cabbatje plants ; any 

 spaces where plants have died-oif to be filled with plants from 

 a reserve bed. Stir the gi'ound between the rows. Sow Cauli- 

 flower in boxes, to succeed that sown in autumn and now growing 

 in hand-lights or under a wall to be plauted-out. Celery for 

 the earliest crop may also be sown in the same way as the 

 CauUflower; place the boxes in a very gentle hotbed. 



Those who have not a forcing house for Cucumbers may now 



sow in a hotbed. The best way is to make up a small bed for the 

 seeds, and grow the plants on in pots till they have made good 

 growth, when the frame should be ready for the plants ; but 

 do not plant them out if there is much steam, even if it smell 

 " sweet." It is a good plan to place 3 or 4 inches of old manure 

 over the surface of the beds, and above this some freshly-cut turf 

 with the grass side under ; tliis will to a very large extent serve to 

 keep the steam under, and allow the plants to be put out sooner 

 than they otherwise would. Perhaps the best materials for a 

 hotbed are leaves and stable manure in about equal proportions, 

 to be thrown together in a heap, and allowed to Ue for ten days, 

 and to be turned over once or twice in that time. Before com- 

 mencing to buUd up the frame some rough faggots of wood 

 should be placed on the ground, and on these the fermenting 

 material should be put ; the princii^al object of this is to cause 

 the heat to penetrate underneath the manure when Unings are 

 applied after the heat has declined in the frame. 



Mice have been troublesome : they unearthed the newly-sown 

 Radish seeds, and dug out the early Peas which are just coming 

 through the ground. 



FORCING HOUSES. 



Piyie Apples. — Plants throwing up fruit will now require a 

 moderately moist atmosphere, and the temperature not to fall 

 below 05^ in cold weather ; on mild nights 70° will be better. 

 It is well for head gardeners not to draw a hard-and-fast line in 

 regard to temperature, especially in forcing houses. As the 

 temperature varies out of doors, so it ought, to a certain extent, 

 in the houses. To-night the thermometer may register 7° of frost, 

 and on the following night it may not fall below 45°, and very 

 often even gi'eater discrepancies occur than are noted. Is it not 

 folly to try to keep up an even temperature in hothouses under 

 such circumstances ? The suckers which were potted early in 

 the autumn last year must now be potted ; most of them will be 

 planted at once in their fruiting pots. 



We do not now use 15-inch pots even for the strongest-grow- 

 ing sorts, but we cannot obtain large fruit in 9-inch pots. 

 When on a visit to Mr. W. Thomson's establishment at Cloven- 

 fords, near Galashiels, two or three years ago, it was marvellous 

 to see the large handsome fruit swelhng and ripening on plants 

 of the Smooth-leaved Cayenne variety that would weigh 8 or 

 9 lbs., and none of the pots seemed to be more than 9 inches in 

 diameter. It may be owing to the soil, or it may be owing to 

 superior culture, to houses specially designed to the wants of the 

 plants, or all combined. In our own experience we cannot get 

 such fruit in 9-inch pots as in those 11 or 12 inches diameter. 

 The loam to be obtained here is light and sandy, and in it 

 the plants grow very freely, but the soil seems to become 

 exhausted before the fruit is thrown-up. In this, as in many 

 other tilings, circumstances alter cases. A good potting material 

 is composed of rotted turf, crushed bones, and a sixth part of 

 decayed stable manure. An 8-inch potful of bones will be 

 sufficient for a barrowload of turf. Drain the pots well, and 

 place some fibry material over the drainage, disentangle the 

 roots a Uttle, and ram the compost in quite firmly. Plunge the 

 pots in a bottom heat of 90°, and fresh rootlets wlU. soon form. 

 Do not give any water at the roots for a week or ten days after 

 the plants are potted. 



We have been getting ready the soil for the first house of 

 Melons. There is no old-cut turfy loam available ; but we ha.ve 

 some old spit loam of a clayey nature. This wUl be mixed with 

 an equal proportion of the light turfy loam, and with the addition 

 of a sixth part of rotted manure will make an exceUent_ com- 

 post for Melons. There is no fermenting material used in the 

 beds— the bottom is filled up with brickbats, leaving about 

 18 inches for the soil ; and only one-half of the bed is fiUed at 

 the time the plants are put out, the other half being made-up 

 with fresh soil as soon as all the fruits are set. Where Melons 

 are grown in beds or pits by the aid of fermenting material alone, 

 the seeds may be now sown as has been directed for Cucumbers, 

 the method of making up the beds being the same in each case. 



Cueumhers in heated houses owing to the want of sun are 

 making but little growth, and that very feeble. A minimum 

 temperature of G5° is maintained, with a moderately moist atmo- 

 sphere ; too much moisture in the house causes an unhealthy 

 growth. The earliest Strawberry plants are flowering profusely ; 

 going over the blossoms every forenoon with a smaU camel- 

 hair brush faciUtates setting. Every alternate watering ought 

 to be with manure water. Cow manure or sheep's droppings 

 is as good as any other. Guano water is easily made, but it is 

 not desirable to use it on Strawberry plants in pots. Dwarf 

 Kidney Beans should be well attended to, as a regular supply of 

 this vegetable is very desirable, and is usually much appreciated. 

 The pods should be gathered as they are ready, tied-up in small 

 bundles, and placed in shallow dishes with just enough water 

 to covL-r the stalk ends. Make fresh sowings if necessary. 

 Perhaps the best way is to sow in boxes thickly, and as soon as 

 the seed leaves are fully developed pot-off four plants in a 7-inch 

 pot. Sowed Tomatoes in a little bottom heat in the Cucumber 

 bouse. We do not require a larger supply of this wholesome 

 escnient than can be gi-own in a dozen pots. The fruits are 



