MARCH. 



616 



MARCH. 



bed will soon produce young shoots or 

 leaves available for culinary purposes. 



Radishes, Salading, &*c. Radishes may 

 still be sown in frames or in the open air. 

 Mustard and cress should be sown for 

 succession every week. Chicory planted 

 in a hotbed and blanched by excluding 

 the light will be founc 1 useful as salad- 

 ing. 



Seakah, Potatoes, French Beans, &*c. 

 The same means as those prescribed for 

 forcing asparagus may be also taken for the 

 vegetables named here. 



Strawberries. Advantage may be taken 

 of frames and hotbeds which are not in im- 

 mediate use, or which are not completely 

 filled by other tenants, for forcing some 

 strawberry plants and procuring some fruit 

 at an earlier period than that at which they 

 will have ripened in the open ground. 

 There is no better position for these plants 

 during winter than the floor of an orchard 

 house, cool, dry, and free from frost, which 

 preserves them in a healthy, dormant state. 

 They may now be looked over, top dressed, 

 raked, and plunged in a pit with a bottom 

 heat of 50, giving air in sufficient quantity, 

 dry and bright, to keep the top for another 

 fortnight at 40 to 45. This will secure a 

 root action in advance of the top ; so that 

 when the top moves and the trusses appear, 

 plenty of active roots may be ready to 

 minister to its wants. After that period 

 the temperature in the pit may be raisec 

 from 45 to 55 ; and this should not be 

 much exceeded until the fruit are set. They 

 will then bear ten degrees more heat during 

 the ripening period. 



Strawberries in Vineries. Plants may 

 also be introduced upon shelves in vineries, 

 &c. ; but a pit for themselves is the bes 

 place for them. For succession, introduc< 

 a fresh batch of plants every fortnight. Dr 

 Hogg, Black Prince, and Garibaldi, other 

 wise Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury, ar< 

 useful, early sorts. Nothing, however, i 



etter than Keen's Seedling for the early, 

 and British Queen for the late crops. 



Vegetable Marrows. The seeds should 

 DC sown in threes in pots, and placed in a 

 cucumber or melon frame. When up, they 

 are separated and planted out, two or three 

 n a 4-inch pot, where they may either 

 continue till their final planting out, or 

 separated again, and potted singly, to pre- 

 vent their getting potbound. At the end 

 of the month, or early in April, plant them 

 out on a bed of manure of sufficient heat 

 o start them, covering them with hand- 

 jlasses. In May, plant them out, without 

 any such stimulus, on ridges in the open 

 ground. 



March. Hothouse, Work in. 



Forcing Pit. Introduce fresh batches of 

 azaleas, lilacs, rhododendrons, roses, &c. 

 Remove pinks, as soon as they fairly show 

 flower, to a cooler house. Hydrangeas 

 introduced now will force well, and make 

 useful plants for the conservatory. Part 

 of the pit should now be devoted to 

 sowing tender annuals in pens or boxes 

 a first sowing of balsams, amaranthus, 

 egg plants, mesembryanthemum, ipomea, 

 thunbergias, Primula Sinensis, humea, &c. 



Roots for Cuttings, Management of. 

 Dahlia roots, and roots of Marvel of Peru, 

 Salvia patens, and old pelargoniums may 

 now be placed in a warm part of the pit, 

 in order to stimulate them into growth for 

 the sake of obtaining cuttings from them. 

 When the cuttings have reached a length 

 of from I to 2 inches, cut them from the 

 parent stock with a sharp knife in such a 

 manner that a heel may be left to them, 

 the heel being part of the old growth. 

 Insert these cuttings in smaller pots 

 singly, or in twos or threes, or in 

 numbers in shallow pans or boxes. 

 When a sufficient number have been 

 obtained, the roots themselves may be 



