JANUARY. 



582 



JANUARY. 



be completed this month. The reason why 

 pruning cf vines should not be too long 

 deferred is that as soon as the sap begins to 

 rise the vine bleeds most profusely from its 

 wounds, and this causes a useless, and in 

 some cases, fatal waste of vital force. The 

 young shoots of last summer are the only 

 bearing wood on the vine. If the pruning 

 is done on the spur system, one bud, or at 

 the utmost two, should be left at the base 

 of the shoot, and all the rest should be cut 

 away. If the shoots are laid in to cover 

 wall space, the young branches and shoots 

 should be trained very carefully at a dis- 

 tance of 10 to 12 inches apart, either hori- 

 zontally, obliquely, or vertically, as the 

 space of wall at command may allow. 

 Therefore, in pruning, care must be taken 

 to leave a sufficient supply of last year's 

 shoots, that every part may be abundantly 

 furnished with them. 



Work that May and Must be Done. In 

 January, planting may be done, but prun- 

 ing ought to be done, or, to speak in even 

 stronger terms, must be done. It is better, 

 in fact, to prune now than at an earlier 

 period, because pruning, when deferred till 

 January, retards flowering, and the later 

 the flowering the more certain is the crop. 



January. Hotbeds, Frames, &c., 

 Work in. 



Beans, Kidney. These beans may be 

 grown on a hotbed, but they are better 

 raised in pots, or they are apt to run all to 

 haulm and leaf. In an ordinary hotbed, 

 as if made for cucumbers, place as many 

 6-inch pots as will stand 15 inches apart. 

 These pots being filled with good loamy 

 soil, in each plant, triangularly, three beans 

 of any sort, of dwarf habit. As they grow, 

 give them regular waterings, and do not 

 let the heat fall below 60. Kidney beans 

 are very susceptible of frost, and will re- 

 quire careful protection from it, in common 

 with all forcing plants. Nothing can be 



better for covering the lights than hurdles 

 made of lath and straw. If sown in Janu- 

 ary or February, they will bear in April or 

 May. They sometimes require supporting 

 with sticks. 



Carrots, Early. These may be grown 

 as directed for radishes on a hotbed 2 or 3 

 feet high, covered with about 10 inches of 

 soil, which should be perfectly sweet, and 

 free from the larvae of insects ; a bushel of 

 pounded chalk mixed with it will be 

 advantageous. The early horn variety is 

 the best for early culture ; but, as the seed 

 is very light, and hangs together, it requires 

 for the purpose of separating it, to be rub- 

 bed up in a peek or so of tolerably dry soil, 

 which will help to bury it when sown, 

 using the rake to press it in. When up, 

 and sufficiently large to handle, the plants 

 should be thinned to 2 inches apart, and 

 plenty of air given, or they will be drawn 

 all to top. 



Cucumbers. These may be had in hot- 

 beds, or under glass in properly heated 

 j structures, at any time of year, and all the 

 year round. The main thing to be borne 

 in mind is that when cucumbers are wanted 

 in winter, three months are required from 

 the time of planting the seed to that of cut- 

 ting the fruit, ripe and ready for table. 

 Therefore, if cucumbers are wanted in the 

 middle of January, the hotbed should have 

 been made and in a proper condition for 

 the reception of the seed by the middle of 

 October. If they are wanted in March, the 

 bed must be ready, and the seed planted, 

 in December, and so on. 



Dahlias. Place scarce varieties of 

 dahlias in heat for the purpose of securing 

 plenty of cuttings. Proceed with potting 

 off singly all cuttings in store pots, using 

 48-sized pots for geraniums, and large 60 

 for verbenas, &c., where abundance of 

 space is available. Where this is not the 

 case, the potting off must be deferred till 

 another month. 



