852 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



the bricks are removed, and the frames rest on the ground. In all dry and temperate weather the plants 

 are exposed to the air, very little water is given, and the plants are kept free from decayed leaves, and the 

 surface of the pots from mouldiness. From the second week of February, and during March, the plants 

 are allowed the benefit of gentle rains for an hour or two; they are top-dressed, such as require it are 

 shifted, and suckers are taken off where they are large, and while all possible air is given during day, the 

 frames are shut close at night, to prevent the opening blossoms being nipped by the frost. 



6378. The Lancashire growers have no frames or lights, but make use of weather-boarding, with hinges, 

 fixed against some wall or fence, in a south aspect, to defend them against the rain and snow, resting, 

 when shut close, upon a board nine inches high ; but this is never done except in very severe weather : 

 the pots are plunged up to the rim in sawdust or coal-ashes. {Hogg.) 



637'J. Justice places his auriculas in what he calls a bunker or shed, on the 10th of October. This bunker 

 is a stage with boarded ends, front and cover, placed against a wall with a north-eastern exposure. He 

 gives water sparingly, but as much air as possible ; by the end of February he top-dresses the plants, and 

 if they are weak he adds the proportion of one eighth of fullers' earth to the compost. 



6380. Blooming-stage. [Jig. 605.) This, according to 

 Maddock, should have a northern aspect, that the sun 

 may not shine on the flowers ; it should consist of four rows 

 of shelves, in the form of steps, but must not exceed five ; 

 the front, or lowest shelf, should be two feet five inches 

 from the ground, the second about three inches higher than 

 the first, and the rest in the same proportion ; these shelves 

 should be about six inches wide, strong, and well supported, 

 otherwise the weight of the pots will cause them to bend or 

 give way. If the stage consists of four rows of shelves, its 

 depth, from front to back, ought to be about two feet eight 

 inches ; the north or front elevation of the stage should not 

 be less than seven feet, gradually sloping to about five feet 

 8ix inches on the south side : the roof should consist of 

 frames of glass. The frames of glass made use of on the 

 south side of the winter repository will answer extremely 

 well for this purpose ; but as they will not be wide enough" to form the roof completely, without addition, 

 a single row of feather-edged boards may be placed on the lowest part of the slope, and the lower edge of 

 the frames of glass may rest upon them ; these boards will answer another good purpose, by preventing 

 the sun, which at this season of the year has obtained a considerable degree of altitude, from shining on 

 the first and second rows of plants, during the middle of the day, when it has most power; although the 

 plants of the back row will, in consequence, have rather less light, yet it is not so materially injurious as 

 the former. The posts supporting the roof of the stage, on the south side, maybe so constructed, and 

 placed at such distances from each other, as that the wooden shutters, made use of on the north side of 

 the winter repository, may fit between them, and form a regular shed, as low or lower than the higher 

 shelf: the remaining space to the ground may be left open in mild calm weather, or may be easily closed 

 up, by a line of mats sewed together, when it is otherwise. The east and west ends of the stage should 

 be entirely boarded up from top to bottom, and the front left open, unless in unfavorable weather, and at 

 night ; at these times, it may be defended by frames of wood covered with canvass : these should be about 

 six feet wide, suspended from the front edge of the roof by hinges ; they will serve both to defend the 

 bloom, when let down, and also by each having two small iron rods, about five feet six inches long, con- 

 nected with their lowest edges by staples, that will allow them to move in any direction, and support them 

 when up, will defend the path in front from rain, take off the glare of light when the sun shines, and at 

 the same time defend the spectators from its heat. The inside of the back and ends of the stage, and 

 the shelves likewise, should be painted black, or some very dark color, by way of contrast to the white 

 eyes, &c. of the flowers : and if a large looking-glass be placed at each end of the stage, the effect pro- 

 duced will be very pleasing, by apparently lengthening the stage each way as far as the eye can reach. 



6-381. As auriculas and hyacinths generally blow exactly at the same time, the beauty and elegance of the 

 scene is considerably increased by having a stage of the former, and a bed of the latter, under the same 

 awning, with an intermediate path, about six feet wide ; in which case, if the cloth covering of the hya- 

 cinths is fine enough to admit a sufficiency of light, it may be continued over the auricula-stage, instead 

 of the glass and boards, and will answer all purposes tolerably well with little trouble : or otherwise, the 

 edge of the cloth covering, for the bed and path, may be nailed to the upper or front edge of the glass 

 frames, over the auriculas, in such manner as effectually to prevent rain dripping through in that quarter. 

 A row of fine polyanthuses, in pots, may likewise be introduced in front of the hyacinths, as they likewise 

 blow at the same time; it will add to' the variety, and form altogether a more elegant assemblage or 

 beautiful fragrant flowers than any other season of the year can afford. The tallest blowing auriculas 

 should stand on the last or most distant shelf, and the shortest in front ; those stems which are weak and 

 bend should be supported with small wires, fixed in the earth behind them, so as not to be easily dis- 

 cerned. If any of the sterns and blossoms of those in the back row incline forward too much towards the 

 light, they may be easily recovered to an erect position, by turning the pots for a few hours in the morn- 

 ing ; but the glass roof will render very little of this trouble necessary : the pots must be regularly 

 watered, two or three times every week, during the bloom. No person can depend on a complete stage 

 of auriculas, who is not provided in autumn or early in the spring with twice as many blowing plants as 

 his stage will contain, because some will eventually prove defective, and fail in one respect or other : and 

 a succession of proper plants in bloom will be required to replace such as, being earlier than the rest or of 

 shorted duration, are no longer eligible to remain on the stage, and ought, in consequence, to be taken 

 away, and more suitable ones brought on in their stead. 



6382. When the bloo?n is declined, the plants are to be removed into their summer repository, where 

 they will soon recover their former strength and vigor, which, notwithstanding the utmost care and pre- 

 caution, will have been, in some degree, impaired by standing two or three weeks upon the stage. 



6383. Emmerton says, " to bloom your auriculas well, too great attention cannot be paid to them for 

 about four or five weeks, viz. to use the language of a florist, to prevent them from being set, when all 

 trouble and danger will be completely over. This strict care commences about the 20th or 22d of March, 

 and ends, as I calculate, by the 25th of April, or thereabouts. Around London, many fine plants of the 

 choicest sorts have always been spoilt by nursing them as they do their geraniums, that is, by keeping 

 their plants under glass so many weeks, night and day. Many florists keep their lights continually over 

 their flowers, day as well as night, from the 1st of January till the 1st of May, and only admit a current 

 of air behind their frames : this is the rock, fatal to bloom, which so many split on. This mode of treat- 

 ment, I am convinced, is highly improper ; it draws up the flower-stem, and renders it weak and spind- 

 ling, in a state unfit to bear or produce a bold truss. To bloom an auricula in perfection, it does not 

 require to be continually under glass night and day, longer than twenty-four days, or thereabouts ; as a 

 criterion, say from the 4th to the 28th of April : you will find your middle pips expanded, or nearly so, 

 and well adapted to be exhibited on the stage at this time." Previously to this period, however, say from 

 the 10th to the 16th of April, he removes them from the frames (which have a south aspect), and places 

 them under hand-glasses in a full or north-eastern exposure. Here they remain till the 26th or 28th of 

 April, and are then removed to the stage in a full north aspect. 



63S4. Hogg keeps the lights over his auriculas, in April, night and day, to preserve their beauty unimpaired. 

 Air he admits by raising the sashes behind ; he covers up close at night, " this being the very crisis of 



