324 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ October 7, 1875. 



Victoria Parks, and in the Kew Eoyal Gardens, and the plea- 

 sure grounds Hampton Court. If the clergy, school commit- 

 tees, and others interested will make application to the Super- 

 intendent of the park nearest to their respective parishes, or 

 to the Director of the Royal Gimlrts , ICew, or to the Superin- 

 tendent of Hampton Court Gardens in the cases of persons 

 residing in those neighbourhoods, they will receive early in- 

 timation of the number of plants that can be allotted to each 

 applicant, and of the time and manner of their distribution. 



The Cryptogamio Society of Scotland held their first 



Exhibition at Perth on the 29th ult. The display of Fungi, 

 Ferns, Lichens, itc. ,was extensive and varied. Round the 

 walls of the hall were hung hundreds of sheets of dried Ferns 

 and Mosses. On the centre table, which was beautifully and 

 scientifically arranged, all the specimens were placed accord- 

 ing to their species. There were also several drawings illus- 

 traticg the Peronospora infestans, or Potato fungus, magnified 

 five to seven hundred diameters by Mr. Worthington G. Smith, 

 London. On this table there was also a hat made from Fungus 

 (Polyporus fomentarius) from Transylvania, Eastern Hun- 

 gary, exhibited by Professor Dickie, Aberdeen. Nearly the 

 whole of the sheets on the walls containing Mouses, Lichens, 

 and Ferns were shown by Mr. Howie, Largo. His collection 

 included forty-eight sheets obtained from Mr. Thomson, Secre- 

 tary to the Field Naturalist Club, Dunedin, New Zealand, the 

 specimens being collected there ; and also 461 sheets of foreign 

 Mosses from Professor Simper, Straeburg. Mr. Croall, Stir- 

 ing, had a fine coUtclion, comprising two hundred specimens 

 of Mosses, Ferns, anatomical dissections of Seaweeds, and 

 microscopic Fungi. Specimens were also sent from the seats 

 of the nobility and gentry of Scotland. The Exhibition was a 

 great success. 



NOTES ON VILLA and SUBURBAN GARDENING. 



Undodbtedly it is a very essential point at this time of the 

 year to fully consider the means to be adopted in the matter of 

 wintering the necessary stock of plants for both bedding and 

 decorative purposes. The resources tf a villa residence are 

 often too limited for plants to be preserved according to the 

 owner's wibhes, and various plans must of necessity bo resorted 

 to. Although there may be no immediate danger by frost, 

 yet as it often comes suadenly it is well to be prepared for it. 

 In the first place I know cf no better opportnnity than the 



E resent for tbe preparation of the greenhouse by either scrab- 

 ing the paint, cr if necetsary giving one coat of paint before 

 placing plants of any kind in it. After it ia dry such plants as 

 Azaleas and Camellias, as well as most other greenhouse plants, 

 should be brought in ; but if a pit of any kind, whether of wood 

 or brick is provided, I would prefer the Azaleas and Camellias 

 going in that for a month or two, as tbe atmosphere of a green- 

 house is too dry, and the change would be too great perhaps for 

 the benefit of the plants. This would give the room in the 

 greenhouse for the most tender plants, and several others still 

 in growth or bloom, such as Coleus, Balsams, Fuchsias, Be- 

 gonias, Achimenes, &o. 



Primulas, Cinerarias, end Calceolarias in pots should be placed 

 in frames and protected from wet by the lights, but not without 

 an abundance of air being given in mild weather, and taking 

 care that the plants are kept nearly close to the glass, which 

 keeps them dwarf and causes the foliage to spread out instead 

 of curling-np in a cup-shape as we sometimes see it. It is the 

 extreme wet that we occasionally have at this period of the 

 year that injures snch potted plants as mentioned above. This 

 wet, accompanied with cold airy nights, soddens the soil and 

 cools the roots too much, rendering Camellias liable to shed 

 their buds, and preventing Azaleas ripening their flower buds, 

 which is so essential to a plentiful supply of good-foimed 

 flowers. 



After having these housed, the next thing is to secure all 

 those plants from the flower garden that are wanted for autumn 

 and winter use, or for the bedding season of next year. These 

 are chiefly the berried Solanums, which should be well watered 

 before taking up, and the soil sufficiently removed from the 

 roots to prevent injury, yet to enable them to be potted into as 

 small pots as possible. These must be kept well watered aud 

 free from the sun until they have rooted afresh, or the berries 

 may drop. These are useful decorative plants, and should 

 be grown by everyone. The Chrysanthemnms in the open 

 ground which it is desired to take up should be treated similarly 

 m every respect; and those already established in pots should 

 be well tiedout, and not once neglected in the matter of water- 

 ing with clear water overhead, and every other time with liquid 

 • manure at the roots, and if necessary give them a top-dressing of 

 rich loam and manure. Some thinning of the buds should take 

 place now, especially of the Pompon kinds which produce so 

 many ; but if any flowers are wanted for a special purpose of 



larger than the ordinary size the buds must be thinned more 

 severely, even to one on a twig if necessary. 



Again, there are few places where there are not a few Geraniums 

 grown for some special purpose, such as covering a dwarf wall, 

 or as single specimens in borders. These must soon be taken- 

 up although they may be still flowering well, unless there is 

 means of protecting them from frost. I have many similar 

 plants doing good service, which 1 usually leave out till the 

 middle of November, but they are properly protected every night. 

 These are not potted when taken up, but brought as careful as 

 possible to a shed well lighted by a skylight, and as the boiler 

 is there no frost reaches them. The roots are plunged in leaf 

 mould and common garden soil mixed and pressed firm. For 

 a time they are watered overhead till the leaves die-off, after a 

 time these are picked-off and the bare stems allowed to remain 

 dry all the winter, and the roots moderately so till about March. 

 The young foliage appears then, and they are encouraged a 

 little, afterwards worked-out under protection, and encouraged 

 to grow in a similar soil to iio duly as before. Other Geraniums 

 are treated similarly, that is such as are scarce, but being small 

 they are tied in bundles of from six to a dozen. Variegated 

 sorts being more delicate are kept in frames or the greenhouse 

 in pots each holding a dozen plants. These are cut down in 

 the spring, and when beginning to grow again divided and 

 potted, grown on, and then hardened-off for the purposes 

 required. 



Now that is as little trouble as possible, and is a plan which 

 an amateur may imitate, though, perhaps, not on so large a 

 scale. When the late- flowering plants above spoken of in the 

 greenhouse are stowed away, the spaces are gradually fiUed-up 

 with Primulas and Cinerarias, as well as the bedding plants 

 from frames. Such other plants as Iresines, Tropieolums, Helio- 

 tropes, and others similarly tender are generally propagated 

 best in the spring; therefore, they may be at once put thickly 

 in pots and put into the dry places in the greenhouse. — Thomas 

 Record. 



DOINGS OP THE LAST AND "WORK FOR 

 THE PRESENT WEEK. 



HABUY FRUIT GARDEN. 



Apples and Pears are being rapidly gathered and stored. 

 After a long-continued drought, at the time that fruit ia nearly 

 ripe, a heavy rainfall more than anything else tends to the 

 speedy ripening-off of these fruits. Cox's Orange Pippins have 

 coloured-up in a most remarkable manner during the few bright 

 days we have had. Suffolk Thorn and Dr. Nelis Pears that 

 showed but little signs of ripeness when the ground was dry, 

 ripeued-off directly and began to fall from the trees when 

 the ground was saturated with the rains. We would also 

 draw attention to the fact that many persons gather their fruit 

 from the trees before it is ripe enough to gather. They see 

 fruit lying on the ground at the base of the trees, and if a slight 

 gale should arise more of it may fall off, yet if the fruits are 

 carefully examined many of them will he found to be defective, 

 and some of them may be attacked by the Apple maggot. The 

 true and best test of ripeness is when the fruit parts easily from 

 the trees; if one of the fruits is gently lifted up, and it will part 

 without any effort on the part of the gatherer, then it is ready 

 to be taken from the tree. The fruit ought also to be quite dry 

 when it is gathered. 



Peach and Nectarine trees upon the walls now require atten- 

 tion; the leaves will begin to separate themselves from the 

 growths, and should be removed as soon as they part readily. 

 Many persons use a birch broom about half worn, and if this is 

 handled carefully all the leaves can be removed without the 

 buds being knocked off. Those who have but a limited extent 

 of wall surface covered with these trees, and have time to spare, 

 will remove the leaves by hand. Any shoots that are being 

 injured by shreda or ties cutting into the bark should be loosened 

 from the wall and fastened -up more loosely. Walls that are 

 furnished with wires, to which the trees are trained, require 

 more attention at this season than tbe ordinary wall-trained 

 trees nailed to the walls with shreds ; the wires cut the bark if 

 the shoots are tied tightly to them, and canker is sometimes 

 induced. If wires are used they ought to be of iron and painted. 

 Uupainted galvanised iron wire is the worst of all to train the 

 trees to by the roughness caused by the process of coating the 

 BUI face, if there are any loose branches it is quite necessary to 

 nail them in at once, as the equinoctial gales which may now 

 be expected may break off or otherwise injure loose growths. 



We continue lo look over the Strawberry quarters, and cut off 

 all the runners as soon as they are formed ; we also hand-weed 

 if necessarv, as but little good can be done with the hoe at this 

 season. We never dig between the rows at any time. Red 

 spider is very troublesome to us, and seriously retards the 

 growth of the plants during hot weather. The most mischief is 

 done when the runners are badly attacked in the early stages of 

 their growth ; but at this time the pest can be the more readily 

 destroyed, the plants can be taken in the hand and the leaves be 



