172 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ totruary 19, 1874. 



straw should be thrown over theta when there are any signs of 

 frost. Earth-up early Cabbages. 



FRUIT AND FORCING HOUSES. 



Vineries. — In our early houses we have been tying and training 

 the growing shoots. The growth of the Vine ia very rapid, and 

 a few days of inattention now might lead to results that could 

 not be remedied during the whole of the season. All leading 

 growths are trained where they will not be too much shaded by 

 the leaves of the laterals ; these are stopped two eyes beyond 

 the bunch as soon as possible. The young growths must also 

 be carefully handled ; if they are bent down too much at one 

 time, they will either snap off during the operation or the follow- 

 ing night. With care the growths may be trained into any 

 position, and all of them should be brought underneath the 

 wires. Some sorts of Vines are more difficult to train than 

 others ; those with gross wood are easily damaged. Of this 

 description Golden Champion may be taken as one. A person 

 who did not know its character, and who would train it as 

 he did a Black Hamburgh, would find a number of the best 

 varieties broken-off in the morning. A good supply of atmo- 

 spheric moisture must be kept up, but saturation must be 

 avoided. Damp the paths, walls, and borders twice a-day, and 

 oftener if the sun is powerful ; shut-up as early as possible in 

 the afternoon, and keep the night temperature about 65'. If the 

 weather is mild the Muscat house may rise to 70', but do not 

 try to get up to this if the days are cloudy and the nights cold. 

 When there is little sun at this season, forcing houses require 

 as much firing by day as at night. It is a common mistake with 

 young gardeners to act contrary to this. They start their fires 

 in the afternoon to get-np the heat ; and in the morning, if the 

 heat in the house is all right, it is a common practice to 

 bank-up the fires for the day. This answers very well if 

 there is a chance of sunshine. In dull weather the fires must 

 be maintained. 



Peach House. — In the earliest house, if the fruit is set, it will 

 not be necessary to be so very cautious in regard to atmospheric 

 moisture. The trees should be thoroughly syringed every day : 

 at present this is best done in the morning. A portion of the 

 fruit should be thinned out, but too much should not be taken 

 off the trees at one time. It is as well to make three thinnings, 

 and the same in regard to disbudding. If too large a portion of 

 the growing wood or leaves is removed from a Peach tree or 

 Vine that is being forced, it tends considerably to paralyse the 

 functions of the tree. Many Peach-growers leave a large portion 

 of the fruit to be thinned-out during stoning, but if the trees 

 are in good health and not overburdened with fruit there is no 

 danger of its dropping off at that time. 



Orchard Houses that are not furnished with a heating appa- 

 ratus should be freely aired, so that the trees may be kept in a 

 backward condition. The later they are in flowering the less 

 danger will there be of the blossoms being damaged by frosts. 

 If the trees are in pots they will not require water once a-week, 

 but it is well to look over them as often as this, and water those 

 that require it. If the trees were infested with aphis last season, 

 even though none can be seen now, it will be as well to give the 

 house a good fumigation with tobacco smoke. This pest begins 

 to increase when the trees are in flower, and it is better to kill 

 it before the trees are so far advanced. 



STOVE AND GREENHOUSE, 



It has been necessary to make a re-arrangement in the stove : 

 some Orchids which are wintered in a drier and cooler house 

 have now been removed hither. Orchids, Ferns, and some other 

 plants have been repotted. Lycopods are also found useful in 

 the stove for jilacing near the edge of the staging to hide other 

 plants ; to be kept in the best health they require frequent pot- 

 ting. One of the commonest but most useful is Selaginella 

 denticulata, and the variety having the growths tipped with 

 white is very pretty. S. apoda is a neat species, and one of the 

 prettiest trailing species is S. cfesia. Many of the species are 

 very elegant grown in large pots, and they make very handsome 

 specimens indeed. Of these the best are Selaginella africana, 

 formosa, Lobbi, Lyalli, Walhchi, Warscewiczii, and Wildeuovi. 

 The last-named is a very neat-growing pretty species, which 

 does well in a greenhouse. 



Any hard wooded plants requiring training should be attended 

 to at once. The same remark applies to greenhouse plants of 

 a similar character. The temperature of the greenhouse and 

 conservatory should be warmer, presuming that the houses con- 

 tain forced flowers. During the recent cutting east winds much 

 attention has been required to keep up a proper temperature to 

 suit the different occupants. Hardwooded plants are apt to 

 suffer if air is not admitted freely ; and stage Pelargoniums 

 become a prey to green fly in a close atmosphere. It has been 

 necessary to fumigate for this. Where a continuous display of 

 flowers is required, it is necessary to remove fresh batches of 

 all the different sorts of spring-flowering plants and bulbs to the 

 forcing house once in two or three weeks. Such subjects as 

 Hyacinths and Roses should bo placed near the glass, though 

 all plants should have as much light as possible at this season. 

 Stage Pelargoniums have been potted into their flowering pots. 



Turfy loam, leaf mould, rotted manure, and some bone dust were 

 the potting material used; the plants not being intended for 

 specimens, but to produce good trusses of flowers, the shoots 

 have not been stopped nor tied down. 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



We had pruned a large portion of the Roses before the froat, 

 the remainder have been finished since. The ground has been 

 well manured, and is to be forked over as soon as convenient. 

 Phloxes may now be planted. Plants from cuttings struck early 

 last season, and which flowered in pots in the autumn, are the 

 best, the spikes being much stronger than when division of the 

 roots is resorted to in order to increase the stock. The Phlox is a 

 gross feeder, and luxuriates in deeply trenched soil that has been 

 highly manured. We have a good stock of all bedding plants 

 except Alternanthera amosna ; this is the prettiest of all, and at 

 the same time the most difficult to grow. If there is a scarcity 

 of it the plants should be in heat, and cuttings should be taken 

 off as fast as they can be procured. — J. Douglas. 



TRADE CATALOGUE EECEIVED. 



E. G. Henderson & Son, Wellington Road, St. John's Wood, 

 London, N.W. — Catalogue of Flower, Vegetable, ami Agricul- 

 tural Seeds. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*.*• We request that no one wUl wiite 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 addi'ossed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, <6c., 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 questiona must remain unanswered untU next 

 week. 



Personalities. — It is only from courtesy to oar correspondent " An Old 

 SciiscRiBER," who has sent us an extract from our Irish {jardeninfj contem- 

 porary containing one of the strictures alluded to by " A Well-wisher " a 

 week or two a^o, that we again make any reference to the subject. It is 

 really too contemptible to take any notice of. The only allowance we can 

 make for " the strictures " is, that they mast have been written by some half- 

 educated person who cannot appreciate the writings of gentlemen, and we 

 can but pity him. He, like many of that class, like to have everything reduced 

 to their own standard, which is a very low one ; but that would not suit the 

 readers of this Journal. We cannot allude to this subject any more. 



Books (Z). li. C.).— " The Orchid Manual." You can have it free by post 

 from our office if you enclose thirty-two postage stamps with your address. 



Christmas Rose {W. L.). — You had better advertise if you require a 

 riuantity. 



Stove {A Constant Reader). — We do not know it, and not one is admissible 

 among plants that has not a smoke- tiuc. 



Pruning Peach Trees (C. S.).— Shoots th,at have only a small portion 

 of youn;^ wood at the point of a long shoot or branch ought to be cut out, and 

 their place taken by younger and more vigorous shoots. The main branches of 

 the tree should he about a foot apart, and from these a young bearing shoot 

 should be trained-in at every foot, and if more than a foot long they should be 

 shortened to that length, but if strong they may be left at tueir fuU h-ngth. 

 We always, however, shorten ours to as near a foot as we tind a wood bud. 

 Full instructions for pruning Peach trees are given in the " Modem Peach 

 Pruner," which you may have by post from our oflice for 3.^. 8(f. 



ErcHARis amazonica in Glass Case {R. 2?.).— It would grow well in a 

 heated case, but wo fear would not flower unless \ou were to remove it for a 

 few weeks in summer, or even place it in a window so as to induce rest ; after 

 about six weeks it might be returned to the case, and would probably flower. 

 The time to remove it would be when it had made a good growth, and the 

 leaves were full-sized, the plant appearing stationary as regards growth. 

 Plants may be obtained of any of the principal nurserymen. 



jEraniums Growing (Biaps). — The Geraniums are starting into growth 

 from the warmth, and would be better removed to a cooler place, the cooler 

 the better, if safe from frost. Place thera where they will have light. Cut 

 away all the long straggling horn-like shoots to within an inch of their base. 

 There is no doubt the plants will be much injured by the warmth and 

 premature growth, but by giving them a Ughter and cooler position it is likely 

 they will recover. 



Salt tor Garden lldnn). — You may benelieially apply the salt to your 

 kitchen garden ground in March, scattering it evenly over the surface, but not 

 upon growing plants, though it may be distributed between the rows and 

 about the plants, at the rate of twenty bushels per acre. 



Pear Tree Gruji-eaten (IiU:vi). — From your description we tliiok the 

 " worm " in the trunk of your Pear tree is the larva of the goat motli. The 

 caterpillar should be destroyed by thrusting a wire up the hole, even if it be 

 necessary' to enlai'ge the hole to get at it. It has been found that chloroform 

 closed in the hole destroys the caterpillar, and no doubt linseed oil injected 

 would do the same. Tobacco smoke blown in has also been found useful. 



Hyacinths in Glasses Rootless (Iilcm). — Probably tlio want of roots is 

 a result of the glasses being in too strong light. Cover them with paper jiiet 

 level with the roots dowuwaids, and wo think you will hud the roots will 



