144 GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



minimum night temperature of 45 degrees with a rise of 5 degrees to 

 10 degrees during the daytime being sufficient. When the weather is 

 very severe the thermometer may fall five degrees lower than the tem- 

 peratures given without injury. As spring advances and the sun gains 

 power a moister atmosphere is necessary, and to maintain this the plants 

 should be occasionally syringed, and the floor and exposed portion of 

 the stages damped. By the middle of March if the greenhouse is fully 

 exposed to the sun, shading for a few hours during the brightest part of 

 the day is beneficial to plants in flower, and unless the structure is 

 differently situated, it may be kept up until October. Shading, however, 

 should only be given as a protection from the full sun, because, used at 

 any other time, it tends to weaken the plants. Permanent shading' 

 alluded to previously cannot be recommended for this reason. By the 

 end of May many greenhouse plants that have finished flowering may be 

 placed out of doors, and the structure used for numerous summer bloom- 

 ing plants. Such things as Azaleas, Heaths, and Rhododendrons set 

 their buds in preparation for a future display of bloom more readily in the 

 open air than when grown altogether under glass. Remember, however, 

 that by the end of May the sun is very powerful. Shading from bright 

 sunshine will be necessary for a few days for the plants brought from the 

 greenhouse, otherwise the foliage is apt to turn brown, and being per- 

 manent, injury of this kind is serious. Water must be cautiously given 

 to greenhouse plants placed out of doors, particularly during showery 

 weather, for with the surface slightly moistened, one is apt to be deceived, 

 and two or three hours' sunshine and wind will work havoc. As worms 

 quickly injure many plants by choking up the drainage, stand the pots 

 on a firm and level bed of coal ashes or some other rough material. The 

 trouble of watering is greatly lessened if the pots are plunged, but this 

 should not be the practice in ordinary garden soil. Ashes are vastly pre- 

 ferable, or cocoanut fibre refuse may be used. About the middle of Sep- 

 tember is a good time to return again to the greenhouse those plants that 

 have spent the summer out of doors, as by then frosts and heavy rains 

 frequently occur. A free circulation of air should, if possible, be 

 allowed for a week or two after their change of quarters, as if kept too 

 close many leaves are liable to drop. 



Insect Pests were at one time a source of great tribulation when 

 the only method of destroying aphides or green-fly was by means of 

 fumigation, but the different forms of vaporising that is, distributing 

 the nicotine in the form of steam are now so simple and effectual as to 

 occasion no personal discomfort whatever. The XL- All Vaporiser has 

 been before the public for some years, and grows in favour. A small spirit- 

 lamp is the medium of disseminating the steam. Not only are aphides 

 destroyed by this insecticide, but thrips also, while mealy-bug is greatly 

 checked by its occasional use. Scale that stick principally on the under 

 sides of the leaves and on the stems may be removed by one of the 

 various washes sold for the purpose, while the following method is also 

 effective. Heat some water to a temperature of about 120 degrees, 

 but not more, and to every three gallons of this add a lump of soft soap 

 quite the size of a hen's egg, and two wine glasses of petroleum. Stir 



