490 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE QARDENEK. 



f Jane 13, 1?:4. 



lack this we must fall back on the frame and hotbed. In con- 

 junction with (_!ucumbers and Melons the Sensitive Plant can 

 be grown admirably in its early stages, and until the weather 

 is warm enough to permit its removal into a cooler frame, 

 conservatory, or window. And here let a common evil be 

 noted, and a word of caution given. Measure first space and 

 convenience, and do not attempt to grow more than can be 

 well accommodated. Six plants well grown will give more 

 satisfaction than six dozen indifferently managed. When more 

 is attempted than can be carried out, both plants and Cucum- 

 bers are spoiled. This contingency must ever be guarded against. 

 ];ut anxious that the greatest possible number should enjoy 

 this interesting plant, and recognising what is a fact, that a 

 small healthy specimen grown in a makeshift way yields as 

 much real pleasure to the owner as the most perfect example 

 of culture does to those having the best appliances at command, 

 I wiU go a step further 

 on the point of structural 

 convenience, and say that 

 those having neither a 

 stove nor a hotbed may 

 yet have httle Sensitive 

 Plants to instruct and 

 please their little home 

 treasures — the "dear 

 bairns," and if that is so 

 we may trust the plea- 

 sure of pater and mater- 

 familias to take care of 

 itself. 



And now to the third 

 point — attentive care. 

 Having due convenience 

 to grow the plants well, 

 seed should be sown in 

 February, and treated as 

 to heat and moisture 

 exactly as for young Me- 

 lons, with this exception, 

 that Melons potted singly 

 from the seed pan make 

 new roots at once, and 

 receive little or no check 

 if well attended to. With 

 the Sensitive Plant it is 

 different. It is frequently 

 forgotten that the roots 

 as well as the foliage of 

 this plant are sensitive. 

 Seed is accordingly sown 

 in a pan , the young seed- 

 lings shaken out and 

 potted singly or several 

 in a pot. Although plants 

 may do well by that plan, 

 it is not the best. This 

 13 far preferable: Take 



clean — mind, scrupulously clean — ?> or 4-iucli pots ; drain 

 thoroughly ; fill with turfy peat and loam half-and-half, and 

 £1 nice admixture of pure sand and charcoal. If single plants 

 are required, insert three or four seeds. When up, remove all 

 but the best with a sharp knife just within the soil's surface. 

 When the pots are full of roots — that is, just matted round, 

 shift into 6 or 7-inch pots, increasing the drainage but decreas- 

 ing the peat. The top may be removed when 5 inches high, but 

 do not top and pot at the same operation. The next shift may 

 be into 8 or 9-inch pots, using rich open loam, with a layer of 

 good manure over the crocking. When full of roots stand in 

 saucers, and when the soU is exhausted give clear weak soot 

 water, and if syringed with it at times it will be beneficial in 

 keeping insects down and the foliage of a rich healthy green. 

 That mode will result in fine healthy plants. If huge bushes 

 are wanted, sow more seed to begin with, and grow-on three or 

 five plants in a pot. That is for large plants and full con- 

 venience for producing them. For handy decorative plants 

 where there is only a frame and greenhouse, treat the same 

 but sow later. If sown too early they are driven out of the 

 frame by the Cucumbers before the greenhouse is warm 

 enough to receive them. When sown in April they will easily 

 transfer into the greenhouse, as by the time they are ready the 

 natural temperature of the latter structure will be sufficient to 

 receive them, say in June. Such plants will grow on and 



flower. They can, of course, be sown later, even up to now ; 

 but in this case they should be grown four or five in a pot, and 

 not be stopped at all, and then, perhaps, they will not flower, 

 but yet will please. 



And how for the million who have no hotbed, and perhaps 

 no greenhouse, but a lot of bright eyes and rosy cheeks to 

 decorate their homes ? Well, let the little decorators have a 

 plant to obey their touch and make them dance. Provide as 

 many 6-inch pots as pairs of eyes ; initial them ; drain them ; 

 fiU with light soil — no, not fill them, but leave rather more 

 than an inch from the surface of the soil to the rim of the 

 pot ; make the soil tolerably firm, then water it thoroughly. 

 After this sow a dozen seeds one-eighth of an inch deep, and 

 cover over with a square of glass. Stand the pot in a saucer 

 of water sufficiently deep that it will rise through the Boil, and 

 keep the surface moist without making it decidedly wet. The 



seed will soon germinate 

 in any warm window or 

 greenhouse. As the plants 

 grow tilt the glass a little 

 more and more until it 

 is removed altogether. If 

 all the seed grow a few 

 of the seedlings may be 

 thinned-out ; the rest will 

 make quite nice little 

 plants during the sum- 

 mer, and please very 

 much the little children, 

 an«l mayhap some great 

 ones too. 



Sensitive Plants are 

 subject to the attacks of 

 all sorts of insects if 

 starved into ill-health by 

 neglect of water or iu- 

 difl'erent culture; kept 

 really healthy they are 

 but little troubled by 

 them. Belonging to Class 

 23, Polygamia, they pro- 

 duce some hermaphro- 

 dite flowers, as may be 

 seen by the accompany- 

 ing engraving. The 

 branch has been caught 

 napping, but whether 

 just going to sleeper just 

 waking up " deponent 

 saveth not."-.T. WaionT. 



Tewkesbory Hokti- 



CDLTOE.u. Fkte. — This 



Mimosa pudica. town has been famed for 



the last eight years for 

 having most successful shows. The liberal schedule of prizes 

 offered this year entitles us to expect that the Exhibition in 

 July next will eclipse even former ones, especially as it is to 

 be held in connection with the county agricultural meeting 

 and the annual regatta. 



KNOWSLEY HALL. 



THE SE.\T OF THE BIGHT H0.\. THE EAHL OF DERBY. 



Amongst those families who have left their mark on English 

 history, the Stanleys of Knowsley Hall hold no mean place ; 

 and to those who are for ever prating of the degeneracy of 

 race, it is well to be able to point to two such men as the late 

 and the present Earl, men of whom all true-hearted English- 

 men are proud, whatever be their political creed, for they 

 recognise in them those who, in their very different characters, 

 have each had the welfare of our land at heart. No one can 

 easily forget the noble manner in which the late Earl headed 

 the movement on behalf of the Lancashu'e operatives at the 

 time of the cotton famine ; and on every side, and from all 

 parties, we hear continually that the honour of England is 

 safe when the Foreign Office is presided over by the present 

 Earl. 



In looking back on the fortunes of Kuowsley we must go to 

 the times of liichard II., when Sir John Stanley, who is de 



