SEPTEMBER. 



697 



SEPTEMBER. 



the stage of growth that the plant or fruit 

 has attained. Cucumbers should be cut as 

 soon as they are fit ; decaying leaves should 

 be promptly removed, and the frames 

 closed early in the afternoon, in order to 

 maintain a suitable temperature within the 

 house, and to promote quick growth. 



Melons. The ripening of fruit not yet 

 ready for the table should be accelerated 

 by placing fresh lining round the hotbeds, 

 &c. Leaves that shade the fruit should be 

 removed, and a temperature of 70 at least 

 maintained at night, the frames being 

 closed between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, 

 and the glass covered with mats as the sun 

 declines. Melons approaching ripeness 

 should be placed on tiles or pieces of thick 

 glass, to keep them from the inroads of 

 insects, and from contact with the earth 

 below. 



Salading) &c. Nothing need be added 

 to the directions given in the Monthly 

 Calendar for August for salading, vege- 

 tables, &c., raised under glass for winter 

 use. 



September. Hothouse, Work 

 in. 



Basket-Plants, and Climbers. Stepha- 

 notis, passion flowers, jasmines, &c., on the 

 roof, must be carefully trained, cleaned, 

 and regulated. Allamandas often make a 

 splendid display when trained as semi- 

 climbers on the roof of a stove. Achi- 

 menes and other plants, suspended from 

 the roof in elegant wire baskets, have a 

 charming effect among climbers, and make 

 the roof at least as showy as either shelf or 

 bed. These plants, with gloxinias and 

 gesneras, will also make a splendid display 

 here during the month. A proper arrange- 

 ment of flowering and variegated begonias, 

 intermixed with marantas, musas, palms, 

 ferns, caladiums, and a few other fine- 

 foliaged and flowering plants, will give 

 the house an air of oriental grandeur and 



magnificence such as our fathers could 

 never have conceived. 



Caladiums. Plants with succulent leaves, 

 such as caladiums, must be gradually 

 inured to as much sunlight as they will 

 bear. This, while it will injure the 

 appearance of some variegated and fine- 

 foliaged plants, will improve others. Some 

 of the caladiums, such as Caladium picttim, 

 C. Newmani, and C. bicolor, assume the 

 most vivid hues when fully exposed to the 

 light. Others, such as C. argyrites, C. 

 Belleymei) and C. violaceum, look most 

 beautiful and delicate when considerably 

 shaded. It is best for the strength and 

 vigour of the roots of all caladiums to have 

 their leaves fully exposed to the sun and 

 gradually matured in the autumn. This 

 process, must, however, go on gradually, 

 and the greatest care must be exercised in 

 getting a plant like Cyanophyllum magnifi- 

 cum, for instance, in full vigour, to bear 

 the full blaze of an autumnal sun with 

 impunity. The smallest drop of condensed 

 water on such a leaf, or on almost any 

 begonia leaf, will, in half an hour, do ir- 

 reparable damage. The heating rays of 

 the sun convert each drop into a burning 

 lens, which quickly parboils the delicate 

 texture of their leaves. Caladiums are not 

 so often injured in this way, as their com- 

 position and structure seem specially 

 adapted for throwing drops of water off 

 their surface. 



Orchids House. More light and air, and 

 less water, must be the rule in the orchids 

 house. However, those plants that are in 

 full growth must not be stinted by any 

 means, as the natural growing season of 

 most orchids is the rainy season ; the season 

 when it rains and rains every day and night, 

 for perhaps six weeks without ceasing. 

 Rapid growth, long seasons of perfect 

 repose, and sudden excitement, seem to 

 be the chief essentials to successful orchid 

 culture. 



