irarch IS. 1365. ] 



JOUKNAJO OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



243 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



or I 



M'Bth 



DtT 



of 

 Wee*. 



» 



w 



so 



Tb 



31 



F 



1 



S 



3 



Sto 



S 



M 



MARCEI :5-APRlL 3, 1S65. 



GoosebenT flowers. 

 Privet foliates. 

 Haxet foUate't. 

 Wool Sorrel flowers. 

 Gronn 1 Ky fljvers. 

 5 SusDAT IN Lest. 

 HoUv foliates. 



Aver.iee 



Temoerature 



Rain in 



last 

 38 years 



San 



Sun 



near 



Loadoa. 



Rises. 



Seu. 



Day. 1 



N'i^ht. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h 



ra. h. 



53.J 1 



34.3 



43.8 



15 



4Gaf5 



2taf6 



53.9 ' 



33.9 



43.9 



12 



44 5 



2S B 



53.S 



34.9 



45.* 



10 



42 5 



27 6 



51.8 



3j.O 



44.4 



16 



39 5 



29 6 



54.9 



str, 



41.3 



21 



36 5 



31 6 



55.5 



3S.6 



44.5 



20 



35 5 



32 6 



56.8 1 



35.2 



46.0 



19 



33 5 



31 6 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Kfoon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock I 

 before I 



Son. '- 



Day of 

 Year. 



h. 

 G 

 6 

 7 

 8 

 9 

 10 

 11 



m. h. 



39 S 



49 9 



11 

 morn. 



4 



53 



43 1 



87 

 W 

 89 

 90 

 91 

 92 

 93 



From ob3orT:>tions taken near London durintr the List thirtr-eisht years the averaje day temperatnve of the lyeekU 54.7 

 temperatnra 43.G-. The greatest heat was 7S= oa the 3rd, 1S13 ; and the lowest ooid, 16=, on the 1st, 18a3. The greatest f 

 1.19 inch. 



and its night 

 fall of rain was 



DAMPIXG-OFF A:N'D ilZLDETT. 



XOWES'G that the pre- 

 servation of bed- 

 ding-out plants 

 during the win- 

 ter months, es- 

 pecially Gerani- 

 ums, Terbenas, 

 Lobelias, &c.. 

 is a matter of 

 very general in- 

 terest to nearly 

 every class of 

 your readers, I 

 Tenture to forward you a few remarks upon two of the 

 greatest difficulties "which have to be contended with 

 durin" the dark days of winter — that is, damping-off and 

 mildew. It is hardly right, perhaps, to class the two 

 together, as they do not always proceed from the same 

 cause : and certain classes of plants, such as Teibenas 

 and Koses. are more Kable to mildew than others, whilst 

 Geraniums, which are very apt to damp-off during the 

 winter, are rarely, perhaps, attacked with mildew. 



I wiU begin with the damping-off of plants, which I 

 think owes its origin more than anything else to de- 

 fective root-action. It is a very generally-received 

 axiom, and one which is confirmed by almost every 

 book on gardening that one takes up : Keep your plants 

 a3 dry as possible during the winter. Xow this rule 

 misleads amateurs or unpractised gardeners more, per- 

 haps, than any other, because they forget that very 

 essential proviso, that the plants are only to be kept as 

 drv as is stiitable to their health. There are many 

 persons who withhold water from their plants just the 

 same in whatever position they may be placed, whether 

 on shelves, stages, or on the floor of the house, and 

 again make no difference between a house heated by 

 hot-water pipes, a flue, or hot air. !N^ow aU these points 

 ought to be carefully borne in mind, because a Geranium 

 in a large pot on the damp floor of a cold vinery, with. 

 just sufficient heat in the hot-water pipes to keep frost 

 out, will, perhaps, remain in a healthy state all winter, 

 without any water ; whereas young autumn -struck plants 

 of Geraniums on a shelf in a house heated by a flue, 

 and kept near the light and air, may require water every 

 two or three days. Tery often it happens that Gera- 

 niums are left on stages unwatered for many days after 

 their leaves have begtm to flag, and till the balls of 

 earth have become so dry that when they are watered 

 aU the water passes down the sides of the pots, leaving 

 the balls as dry as they were before. The consequence 

 is all the young rootlets perish, and then, if a week of 

 damp sunless weather set in, the leaves, which had begun 

 to droop from want of moisture at the roots, will eventu- 

 ally damp ofi" from not being able to breathe — in short, 

 they are no longer capable of performing the functions 

 of vegetable life ; and though, perhaps, in the case of a 

 Geranium, the plant may be able to push some few young 

 K 2G9.— Vol. Tm , Xet Sekhs. 



leaves, or some of the young leaves may not have suffered 

 as much as the old, still it too often ends in the death 

 of the plants. TThen once the young rootlets are killed 

 it is of no use supplying water to the plant, as it will not 

 make fresh roots till the return of spring, or tiH it is 

 put into a warmer atmosphere, or gentle bottom heat. 



Isow what is thus fatal to a Geranium is stdl more 

 fatal to a Verbena, a Lobelia, or Calceolaria. With 

 respect to the latter, nearly all your readers must know 

 that it will more readily stand excess of moisture and 

 cold than of heat or drought : there are no -[dants, there- 

 fore, so easily kept through the winter by means of a 

 cold frame, and which require so little care as Calceo- 

 larias ; but I have often heard complaints of Lobelias 

 damping-off. whereas they will -nithstand almost as much 

 cold and moisture as a Calceolaria, but require rather 

 more ventilation ; and far more plants, both of Lobelias 

 I and Terbenas, suffer from excessive dryness at the roots 

 ' than from wet. 



I During bright frosty weather and moonlight nights, 



I when it "is necessary to keep fires constantly going, the 



I air of a greenhouse becomes exceedingly dry. Ko doubt 



; plants can resist frost better when they are dry than 



when the atmosphere of the house is charged with 



moisture, so that as a general rule it is not wise to water 



plants late in the day so as to have the floors and stages 



I wet when all is shut up for the night. But if it be true 



that plants can stand more frost when they are dry, it is 



equally true that frost will less readily penetrate a moist 



' atmosphere. I have raised the temperature of a house, 



i 2S bv 14 feet high in front and 13 at the back, and all 



surrounded by .glass, except the back wall, from 40" to 



44^ in a very short time on a frosty night, merely by 



pouring water into the openings of the h'.'t-air flues, the 



house being heated by a hot-air apparatus ; and where 



houses are heated by flues (which are apt to dry the air 



too much), evaporating-pans placed on the top of the 



flues, and a slight syringing of the sides of the flues, wOl 



not only help to give a more healthy atmosphere to the 



plants but will materially aid in keeping frost out. "WTiere 



stages and paths are wet the evaporation only produces 



colcl, but a little water on heated flues or hot-water pipes 



helps to raise the temperature. 



I have hitherto said nothing about mildew. This is 

 no doubt the growth of a fungus on the leaf or stem, but 

 what first causes the fungus to grow and how many 

 different kinds of fungi there are which we commonly 

 know by the name of mildew is a far wider question. 

 Mildew is seen under extremely difl'erent circumstances, 

 but I think is generally caused by defective root-action, 

 the roots not being able to supply the sap fast enough to 

 the leaves, or sometimes from the leaves being in a 

 higher temperature than the roots. Terbenas and Eoses 

 suffered very much last year in the early summer, espe- 

 cially in dry soils and sunny places, and it would seem 

 I as though mildew attacking healthy young Eose shoots 

 exposed to sun and air in the open gi-ound must differ 

 very much from the mildew which attacks plants in cold 

 damp houses in the winter, and yet I am still inclined to 



No 861.— ToL. XXXIII., Old Seeies. 



