3Si 



JOTTENAL OP HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ March 28, IS&S. 



Iming. After a continuance of dull weather, the plants are 

 £^t to flag for the first few clear days, when this is observed 

 they may be slightly shaded. Herbs, should now be pro- 

 pagated, seeds being sown of the annual sorts and such as 

 do not supply cuttings or admit of being divided. Potafoes, 

 put in the main crops where the ground is in good working 

 order. Plant in trenches in preference to dibbling the sets 

 in. Salading, keep up a succession by sowing once a-week. 

 Young Radishes may be drawn from the frames where they 

 are too thick. S^nnach, sow a few rows for succession, limit- 

 ing the supply to the demand. Tomatoes, pot them as they- 

 require it, so as to have well-established plants by the time 

 the weather will permit of their being turned out, fiir if very 

 small at that time, they seldom ripen their fruit well before 

 firost sets in. 



PKtrrr gasden. 

 To obtain good earJy Grapes from 'V'ines on the open walls, 

 all that is necessary is established Vines, a common hotbed 

 frame or two having three or four lights, a load or two of 

 dung and leaves, and a few slates or plain tiles. If the Tines 

 are pruned, which they should have been before this time, 

 make a bed of leaves and dung of the size of the frame about 

 4 or 5 feet high, and 2 feet from the wall. Use t!ie short 

 dung at the top, and put on the frame immediately. After ; 

 the heat is up, fork it up a Uttle once or twice, and if it i 

 becomes dry water it slightly. After the violent heat has 

 somewhat subsided, cut notches in the backs of the frames ' 

 and bring down the branches of the Vines. A trellis should 

 then be fixed inside at about 6 inches from the glass, to 

 which the Vines must be tied. When this is completed close 

 the frame, and let it so remain unless the bed is very hot, when 

 a little air must be given until the buds begin to push, after 

 which they must have air according to the state of the 

 weather. When the buds are about breaking, the dung 

 should be covered with slates or tiles to keep down excess of 

 heat and steam. When it is necessary to thin the Grapes, the 

 lights may be drawn off, as also for stopping and thiiming. 



FLOWEE GARDEN. 



Those who force Neapolitan Violets should for the next 

 three weeks or a month propagate a stock, either by means 

 of cuttings or runners. Look well to recently transplanted 

 trees and shrubs, especially such as may have been shaken 1 

 or partially uprooted by the recent high winds. When the i 

 weather shall have become warmer, a sprinkling overhead i 

 with the engine on the evenings of di-y days will be of service 1 

 to large evergreens. Seeds of perennials and biennials to : 

 be sown, such as Wallflowers, Sweet WUljams, Polyanthuses, 

 Canterbury Bells, Pinks, Carnations, and Picotees for flower- | 

 ing next year; Heartsease, Antirrhinums, and Sweet Scabious 

 sown now will flower in the autumn. When the flower- i 

 stems of Auriculas are rising an abundance of air should be ' 

 supplied by drawing off the lights every fine day, and re- i 

 placing them at night, covering during frosts with mats or j 

 straw. It is necessary to be cautious not to expose the 

 plants too hastily to the sun in a morning after frost, but to j 

 allow every appearance of it to vanish before they are un- i 

 covered. Sow choice Eanunculus seed in shallow pans or 

 boxes, cover the seeds as lightly as possible, and place the 

 pans in a cool frame. 



GEEENHOCJSE AND CONSEEVATOKT. 



The application of fresh soil and humidity will, in many 

 cases, be required to supply the necessities of growing plants. 

 Greenhouse plants for the most part reqmre a considerable 

 amount of pot-room, as many of them, particularly the soft- 

 wooded sorts, are free growers ; but the tender or more 

 weakly-growing kinds must be slufted with caution to avoid 

 overpotting. When rcpoltiny plants it is generally recom- 

 mended to use the soil in a rongli state — that is, not sifted, 

 bat made fine by rubbing it through the hands, picking out 

 the small stones, Ac, and also to use plenty of drainage. 

 If plants were to be treated on the one-shift system — that 

 is, removing them at once from a small to a very large pot, 

 such drainage would be necessary to keep the mass of soil 

 in a dry and healthy state ; for it would otherwise become 

 sodden after waterings before the roots had made much 

 progress ; but according to the general practice of shifting 

 to the next larger size of pot so much drainage with a porous 

 •oil is unnecessary at this season — at the approach of warm 

 weather it is a disadTantage, because with such free drain- 



age and a rough porous soil the watering-pot must be in 

 frequent use, and almost at the same time that the water is 

 applied to the top of the pot it is seen or heard to pour out 

 at the bottom. When plants are shifted in the autumn a 

 porous soil is then more necessary to ke?p' the roots in a 

 dry healthy state during the many dull, damp, and dreary 

 weeks of winter, but no«- so much porosity is not necessary, 

 and, therefore, it should be considered and acted upon 

 during the spring and summer potting of plants. If speci- 

 men plants are in good health, and the pots well filled with 

 roots, they will grow and flourish all the better if they now 

 receive a liberal shift, and be kept rather close and moist for 

 a short time until they make fresh roots, when they may 

 be more freely exposed to sun and air. It is necessary to 

 be very carefiil not to give too much water to recently- 

 potted plants as it is frequently the cause of their death. 

 Fuchsias should now bj making free growth in the warmest 

 part of the greenhouse ; to be syringed overhead every fine 

 afternoon, stopped if long-jointed to form compact bushy 

 plants, but if intended to be planted along the sides of 

 walks or as single specimens on grass, they should be grown 

 with one main stem, from which the branches will spring 

 all round and form fine pyramidal specimens for pleasure- 

 ground scenery. Attention to be paid to cleanliness in every 

 particular by removing dead and decaying leaves, keeping 

 a sharp look-out to destroy green fly and mildew. 



PITS AND rEAJESS. 



It will be necessary to keep up a kindly heat in the cut- 

 ting-frames, to top all cuttings that have taken root and are 

 beginning to grow. The autumn-struck cuttings that were 

 potted oif last month to be removed to a cold frame or pit, 

 and protected from frost W. Kbane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEX GAEDEN. 



Here little was done out of doors, owing to the frost, 

 which ranged from 6° to 16° below freezing on the three 

 first days of the week. A good opportunity was presented 

 for trenching i'or Sea-hale and Asparagus. Notwithstanding 

 the coldness of the weather. Asparagus, Sea-kale, ic, in 

 the open ground, are moving nicely, and the long tubular 

 roots are becoming covered with fresh spongioles. If an 

 opportunity offers, we may be inclined to plant a piece 

 of Asparagus before the shoots appear above ground, 

 though in general we prefer planting when the tops are 

 from 1 to 2 inches in length. However, this does not much 

 matter if the roots are carefully taken up, kept moist, and 

 shaded, so as not to hurt the young spongioles by exposure. 

 On this account plantations generally do better when the 

 roots are merely taken from one part of the garden to 

 another. When the plants are sent any distance it will be 

 found better to have them taken up just as the roots begin 

 to move, and before the tops show at all above ground. 

 Eemoved a lot of Sea-kale from Mushroom-house into a 

 sheltered shed, where it can bo hardened off gradually 

 before planting again in the open air. If this is not done 

 it is advisable to place some protection over the heads when 

 planted out at once. It is always wise to avoid any sudden 

 check if possible. The same plants of Sea-kale may thus 

 be "rown and forced even when taken up a long time ; but 

 it fs as well to give them the ensuing and the second 

 summer's growth before taking them up. The crown ends 

 will, however, do very well the next winter, but pieces of 

 the root, all of which will grow, like two summers' growth. 

 This taking np, and placing the roots thickly in any dark 

 warm place, is the cleanest and most economical mode for 

 having this delicate vegetable early in winter. Such forced 

 plants, as stated above, should be well hardened off before 

 planting them out again ; and they should not be cropped 

 too hard — not more than two cuttings on the average. We 

 have sometimes taken three and four cuttings ; but in that 

 case, do as you will, the old roots are of but little use, as all 

 the strength is taken out of them. Bhularb stools, forced and 

 hardened off, may also be divided and planted in the same 

 way. They will just grow slower at first than old plants in 

 the ground, taken up and divided. Now is a good time for 

 that operation, as the buds can now be well seen, and old 

 stools may be divided into pieces having two or three buds 



