516 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



laterals as you proceed : this will allow more light and air to reach the shoots in^ 

 tended to carry next season's fniit, and assist towards maturing well-developed 

 fruit-buds. To ripen the wood, close up the house early in the afternoon 

 with a temperature of 85°. In the evening again open the house as much as 

 the sashes will allow : fires should be made in wet weather, accompanied by 

 air. The aim should be a dry and rather high temperature by day, and as 

 cold a one by night as circumstances permit. Keep down red spider by well 

 syringing every morning, with air on the house. When the leaves begin to 

 change colour, and the wood becomes brown up to the point, the sashes may 

 be removed. Fruit-trees in pots, intended for forcing, if the wood is well' 

 ripened, supposing they have been growing under glass, may be removed to 

 the foot of a south wall, and in a few weeks to a shady cool place to rest. 



1614. Melons. — The late crop will be advancing ; and as hght is decreasing, 

 keep the vines further apart, that the leaves, as they are formed, may not 

 crowd each other. Attend carefully to bottom-heat, which must not be 

 allowed to decline. Red spider must be kept in check, by now and then wash- 

 ing the interior walls with lime and sulphur. Water cautiously, but do not 

 allow the growing plants to get dry, which would check them and induce the 

 attacks of spider. To grow melons in perfection, they should progress 

 regularly : hence the necessity for steady bottom-heat, and close watching as 

 regards watering during the entire period of their growth. 



1615. Cucumbers, as the nights get colder, may have a shght covering, and 

 the bottom-heat, if declining, should be renewed. Keep down mildew with 

 sulphur ; the covering by night, and the increased bottom-heat, will, how- 

 ever, help to keep this in check. 



§ 8.— Hotbed and Frame Cultivation. 



1616. In a large establishment there are many pui-poses to which frames 

 can be applied at this time of the year, both for kitchen-garden, floral, and 

 other departments. It is a good time to strike the winter stock of bedding- 

 plants, for raising cinerarias, &c., for which purpose the bed described last 

 month will be useful. Frames without the hotbed are also very useful. Mig- 

 nonette, nemophila, and other annuals sown now in pots, and kept in cold 

 frames, will flower in the winter. Horn carrots sown now in the manner 

 described in January will be useful in the winter ; that is, without making 

 a new hotbed for them, but renewing the soil on an old one. Heat is unne- 

 cessary to raise them, but may be applied with advantage in the winter by 

 means of fresh lining. Cauliflowers are often sown in a frame, to save them 

 from birds, &c. ; but it is necessary to uncover them as soon as the seed is up^ 

 to prevent a spindling gi'owth. It is advisable to look forward to the winter, 

 and sow everything in time to allow of making sufficient growth before 

 •winter. 



1617. Cucumhers, that have been carefully stopped, trained, and pegged 



