78 



JOUKNAL OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



( July 22, 1875. 



after potting. The temperature of the body of the tan generally 

 rises to 110" Fahr. This will not be injarious, as the pots are 

 small, and the heat 6 inches below the surface wiU not rise over 

 100'. This high bottom temperature soon causes roots to form, 

 when the plants may be watered more frequently. In the early 

 stages of their growth Pines require to be kept moderately moist 

 at the roots. In the fraiting house, some fruits are ripe, and 

 others are in different stages ; from the flowering period until the 

 fruit changes colour it is not easy to determine which is the 

 best eouree of treatment. It is, perhaps, best to cut all ripe 

 fruit and place it in a cool room ; it wiU keep in this way for a 

 ■whole month sometimes, whereas if the fruit is not sound when 

 cut it will decay in a week. An overmoist badly ventilated 

 atmosphere is the frequent source of fruit spoiling shortly after 

 it is ripe, and such atmospheric conditions are not adapted to 

 the Pine at any time. 



Oranges.~The fruit is now rapidly swelling on the pot trees. 

 Those plants that have not been repotted require to be surface- 

 dressed daring the present month. 'VTe mis pounded charcoal, 

 bones ground to powder, the best Peruvian guano, and loam in 

 equal proportions. Two handfuls of this placed on the surface 

 of a 12-inch pot three times during the growing season have a 

 magical effect on the plants, causing the foliage to become of 

 that dark green colour indicative of robust health. Mr. W. 

 Paul's Kose manure has a similar effect upon plants when ap- 

 plied in the same way. Those trees that have no fruit upon 

 them have been repotted and are placed out of doors. They 

 will make nice specimens for fruiting next season. Two-thirds 

 yellow loam and one-third turfy peat, with a sixth part of rotted 

 manure, is the best compost for Orange trees in pots. The best 

 sorts to grow are Tangierine, St. Michaels, and Maltese Blood. 



Figs. — The fruit is ripening on the pot plants in the Cucumber 

 house, and to prevent its cracking it is necessary to maintain a 

 drier atmosphere, and not to apply too much water to the roots. 

 Many of the fruits have cracked, or rather have split up the 

 centre, exposing the internal part before the fruit is quite ripe. 

 The Fig is a gross feeder, and is even more benefited by rich 

 surface dressings than the Orange. Young plants struck from 

 eyes or cuttings should be potted-on before the small pots in 

 which they were potted are too full of roots. By good manage- 

 ment a tolerably-sized bush can be formed in two seasons, which 

 will bear a good crop of fruit in a 12-inch pot the third year. 



PL.\NT STOVE .\ND ORCHID HOUSES. 



Considerable attention is now required in this department. 

 Nearly aU the different species of hardwooded plants have 

 either completed their growth or are in a fair way of doing so, 

 they consequently require more light and air. A large proportion 

 of other stove plants are grown for their foliage. Stephanotis 

 floribunda, Ixoras, &c., may stand in the fall sun with advantage. 

 If the wood is well ripened at this season abundant produce of 

 well-developed flowers will be the result next season. If any 

 require to be repotted this ought to be done at once. Some- 

 times it is necessary to reduce the ball of roots and repot in 

 the same sized pot. This can easily be done by working round 

 the sides of the baU with a pointed stick and loosenmg the 

 mould which falls out from amongst the roots. There ought to 

 be a space of from 1 to 2 inches all round the ball, between that 

 and the sides of the pot the fresh mould should be carefully 

 worked in amongst the roots. 



All plants of a quick growth that are best propagated from 

 cuttings annually should be potted-on at once; if allowed to 

 become rootbound all the foliage suffers, and some of it drops 

 off. Of this class of plants may be named Thyrsacanthus ruti- 

 lans, Eranthemum, Impatiens, Torenia asiatica, &c. Old plants 

 of the above will grow and flower well, but where the houses 

 are small nice young specimens propagated from cuttings struck 

 early are the most useful. The plants should be grown near the 

 glass. Centradenia floribunda and C. grandiflora are also very 

 useful winter-flowering plants that may be managed in the 

 same way. They flower abundantly all through the winter and 

 spring months. Ml of the above are of the easiest culture. 



Wash Orchids with soapy water to destroy white scale and 

 thrips. These two pests are very troublesome to Orchid growers. 

 The white scale finds a home under the thin skin coverin" of 

 the pseudobnlbs of Cattleyas, Lfelias, &c., and cannot be "de- 

 stroyed without removing this covering, which is injurious to 

 the plant. Thrips get into the heart of the growing shoots of 

 many Orchids, and they are not easily reached by any appli- 

 cation. Tobacco smoke does more mischief than the thrips if 

 not carefully applied, and it is not possible to reach them by 

 washing. It is a good plan to lay the plants on their sides and 

 syringe them with tepid water. All the Orchids have been 

 surface-dressed or repotted. 



FLOWEB GARDEK. 



Zonal Pelargoniums of the flowering type, Calceolarias, Ver- 

 benas, and, indeed, all flowering plants, have had the flowers 

 very much damaged by the rains, while plants grown for the 

 effect produced by the foliage are much improved thereby. 

 Saturday afternoon was fine, and the mower was run over the 

 lawn, the walks were also swept and the weeds picked out. 



Placed sticks to plants which required support, and looked over 

 Phloxes, Cloves, &c., and fastened them to the sticks. We have 

 commenced to bud Roses on standard Briars, and also on the 

 dwarf seedling. Sad accounts are given in the daily papers of 

 the damage done by the heavy rains. It was stated at the meet- 

 ing of the Metropolitan Board of Works last Friday that the 

 rainfall on the two previous days was 2j inches in London. At 

 Loxford the measurement was on Wednesday, 1.31 inches; 

 Thursday, 0.81 ; Friday, 0.31. Total 2.43 inches.— J. Douglas. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Mr. Wm. Bull, King's Koad, Chaises..— Illustrated Catalogue 

 of Plants. 



Mr. CanneU, Woolwich. — Pavijihlet on Heating. 



Mr. Ch. Vuylsteke, a Loochnsty, near Ghent, Belgium. — 

 Priced List of Azaleas, Camellias, and Rhododendrons. 



HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS. 

 Secbetaries wUl oblige us by informing us of the dates on 

 which exhibitions are to be held. 



Brecon.— July 22nd. Mr. W. J. Roberts, Sec. 



Helexsbcroh, N.B. (BoEe Show).— July SSrd and 24th. Mr. W. Ure 



WaddoU, Sec. 

 Cleckheatos.— July 21th. Mr. S. H. Williamson Hon.-See. 

 BamoE.— Jaly 27th. Mr. E. Hardeman, Hon.-Sec 

 Prestos.- July 28th and 29th. Mr. W. Troughton, 4, Chnrch Street, 



Hon.-Sec. 

 Shrewsbury.— Jnly 29th and SOth. Mr. H. W. Adnitt, Hon.-Sec. 

 SocrHAMPioN.— July Slat and August 2nd. Mr. C. S. Fuidge, 32, York 



Street, Lower Avenue, Sec. 

 Sedoely (Cottagers).- August Srd. Mr. W. M. Hughes, Sec. 

 Weston-scper-Mare. — August 4th. Mr. W. B. Frampton, Sec. 

 Ilkeston and Shipley. — August 4th and 5th. Mr. R. Blount, Sec. 

 Newport (Monmouthshire). — August 5th. 

 Otley. — August 7th. Mr. Jno. Loe, Hon.-Sec. 

 Rossendale—Newchuech.— August 7th. Mr. M. J. Lonsdale, Newchnrch, 



Sec. 

 Canterbury. — August 12th. 



EURNOPFIELD. — August 14th. Mr. J. Hood. Sec. 

 Coventry (at Coombe Abbey).— August 17th. Mr. T. 'Wigaton, 3, Poitlanfl 



Terrace, Sec. 

 Dover,— August ISth. 



Northleach.- August 18th. Mr. J. Walker, Hon.-Sec. 

 Eastbourne— in the Devonshire Park. — August 19th. H. A. E. Ramble, 



Esq., 26, Hyde Gardens, Sec. 

 Glastonbury. — August 19th. Rev. E. Handley, HoiL-Sec. 

 PoNIYPOOl.— August 19th. Mr. Ernest Deacon, Hon.-Sec. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*,* All correspondence should be directed either to " The 

 Editors," or to " The Publisher." Letters addressed to 

 Mr. Johnson or Dr. Hogg often remain unopened unavoid- 

 ably. We request that no one will write privately to any 

 of our correspondents, as doing so subjects them to un- 

 justifiable trouble and expense. 



Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions 

 relating to Gardening and those on Poultry and Bee sub- 

 jects, and should never send more than two or three 

 questions at once. All articles intended for insertion 

 should be written on one side of the paper only. We 

 cannot reply to questions through the post. 



Books (X. r. Z.).—The "Cottage Gardener's Dictionary" will suit yoa. 

 It can be had from this office lor 6s. 6d., or 73, 2d. by post. 



LiLiuM Bloomerianum (Wm. HiUoak). — This is synonymous with 

 L. Humboldti of Roezl. It is a native of Cahfomia. and is found on tho 

 lower hills of the Sierra Nevada at an elevation of 2500 to 3500 feet. It 

 attains the height of 4 to 6 feet. 



Potatoes (Rev. A. BlttthTnan). — We would gladly assist you, but we coulii 

 not undertake to name Potatoes. 



Cocoa-nut Fibre Refuse (T. G. D.). — It is very useful as plunging 

 material, and cuttings of most kinds of plants strike in it freely; but for 

 maldng hotbeds it is not a fermenting material, leaves and tan, separate or in 

 combination, being far preferable. 



Strawberry Fobctng {T. White).— The plants may be forced in the 

 frames as you propose, but tho earthenware pipes of but 6-inch diameter 

 would be liable to choke with soot, and be an ineflicient mode of heating. A 

 2-ioch hot-water pipe all around the frames, and if you have two 4-feet frames 

 together there need be no partition, and one pipe where the division would 

 otherwise be would be sufficient, or three rows for the part which is S feet in 

 width. The frame along the greenhouse would hardly have sufficient heat to 

 be considered as " forcing," but the Strawberries would come in several days 

 before those in the open grotmd. The old plants in the bed are no good for 

 forcing. You should at once layer in emafl pots runners from plants which 

 are bearing or have home fruit this season, and when these are well rooted 

 detach them from the old plants and place io a rather shady position for a 

 few days, and then transfer to 6-inch pots, potting very firmly, and using 

 rather strong turfy loam, with a fourth part of old manure added. Stand 

 the pots on a hard bottom in an open situation, and keep them well supplied 

 with water, removing them to the frames early in November. As the season 

 is far advanced we should fill the 6- inch pots and layer the nmnera into them, 

 keeping them supplied with water, and not detaching them from the old plants 

 until the young plants are strong and well rooted. In estimating the value 

 of produce you will need to allow a large margin or contingencies. A dozen 



