August 29, 1878. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
175 
give the ground before planting a dressing of salt, lime, soot, and 
wood ashes—half a peck of salt, half a bushel of lime, half a peck 
of soot, and a peck of wood ashes—which may be applied to 
304 square yards in the quantity named. The plants should be 
kept free of grubs, caterpillars, slugs, &c., by dusting them with 
quicklime or dry wood ashes, and they should be planted before 
they become gross and leggy, planting them 18 to 20 inches apart, 
as they will not be allowed to stand long after comingin, Planta- 
tions of Globe Artichokes should be gone over and have all use- 
less stems cut away and any decayed leaves removed, so as to 
admit light and air to the base of the crowns. Remove the leaves 
from over the clusters of Tomatoes, and keep the shoots well 
stopped so as to aid the swelling of the fruit, watering well in dry 
weather. The fruit when it changes colour may be placed in a 
house or upon slates in a frame or pit to ripen, where it will do so 
perfectly. 
FRUIT HOUSES. 
Figs.—In Fig houses the trees not unfrequently grow rampantly, 
and consequently produce thin crops of fruit. In that case root- 
pruning may be resorted to, and the roots be confined to a border 
of from 8 to 4 feet in width. If the drainage be defective it will 
be necessary to lift the trees in the autumn so soon as the leaves 
commence falling and replant in fresh soil. Place 9 to 12 inches 
of rough stones or brickbats for drainage, and over it a covering 
of rather rough lime rubbish, using the finer parts for mixing 
with the compost in the proportion of a tenth to turfy loam, and 
a twentieth of crushed or half-inch bones, and in replanting ram 
the soil well about the roots, for short-jointed fruitful wood can- 
not so well be secured by any other means than by a solidified 
compost. The border should be 30 inches deep. Should the 
drainage be good it will only be necessary to confine the roots to 
the narrow border and removing some of the old soil from amongst 
them, top-dressing with turfy loam with an admixture of lime 
rubbish and crushed bones as above stated. See that those in 
pots placed outdoors do not root from the base of the pots ; cut off 
all such roots, top-dress with decayed manure or rich loam with a 
sprinking of crushed bones, and afford a good watering, after 
which afford no more than to keep the foliage fresh. 
Pines.—Suckers obtained from the summer-fruiting plants will 
soon be ready to repot. It is well to divide the plants into two 
batches ; one, the strongest, should be shifted into their fruiting 
pots as soon as ready, employing 10-inch or 11-inch pots according 
to kind, affording them a position near the glass in a light airy 
house, keeping them gradually growing on through the winter. 
The plants so treated will be readily excited into fruit next May 
or June, and will afford a good supply in late summer or early 
autumn, The other plants, suckers from the summer fruiters, not 
large enongh to shift into fruiting pots, winter in the 7 or 8-inch 
pots, transferring them to the fruiting pots as soon as ready in 
the spring, which with suckers of Smooth-leaved Cayenne that 
were started last March will provide a successional supply of fruit 
through the winter months. A re-arrangement of the plants 
should now be made in order to separate the fruiting from the 
non-fruiting plants, as many of those that were started from 
suckers of last summer’s fruiters will have fruit swelling off. 
Those plants not fruiting will have completed the growth, and 
should have air very liberally for the next six weeks when the 
temperature exceeds 80°, maintaining the bottom heat steady at 
80° ; and all plants well established—i.e., well rooted, should have 
2 bottom heat of 80° to 85°, but recently potted plants, or those 
not having roots well established in the fresh compost, maintain 
at 90°. Plants swelling off the fruit should have moderate atmo- 
spheric moisture, admitting air just alittle at the top of the house 
early in the morning, so as to allow of any superfluous moisture 
escaping before the sun’s rays act powerfully or directly upon the 
fruit. Any fruit it is desired to retard should be moved to a rather 
eool or shady house, affording an abundance of air. 
Melons.—In pits and frames the last batch of plants will haye 
set or be setting the fruit. Ours are well set, the atmosphere 
having been kept dry, and are swelling away freely. We now 
sprinkle the plants with tepid water and close early in the after- 
noon at 80°, admitting air at 75°, increasing with the advanced 
sun heat to 85° or 90°. Those in frames should be attended to as 
required with linings of sweetened fermenting material as the 
nights become cold, so as to prevent the temperature falling below 
65° in the morning ; and if mats are placed over the lights after 
the sun leaves the frames, and removed shortly after the sun has 
risen, very much greater success will be had with late Melons than 
usually results from frames. Maintain a night temperature of 
70° to 65° at night and 75° by day in Melon houses heated by hot 
water. As the days are shorter lessened supplies of water will be 
required ; yet give sufficient to keep the soil in a moist state 
whilst the fruit is swelling, but after it is full-sized or ceases 
swelling afford no more than to maintain the foliage from flagging. 
Keep the laterals well stopped to one leaf and rub off superfluous 
shoots as they show, allowing nothing to interfere with the prin- 
cipal leaves or to retard the swelling of the fruit. Plants with 
fruit advanced for ripening should be kept dry at the roots and 
have air very liberally, with, if practicable, an advance of tempe- 
rature, avoiding a close moist atmosphere, which invariably results 
in cracking of the fruit or inferior flavour. The last batch of 
plants will have been planted in houses and will be growing freely. 
The leader must not be stopped until it reaches the trellis, when 
it may be pinched out if more than one leader is wanted, or may 
be allowed to grow two-thirds of the distance up the trellis if only 
one leader is wanted and then be stopped, removing every alter- 
nate lateral directly they can be handled. Maintain a moist and 
warm atmosphere—70° to 75° by artificial means, with the bottom 
heat at 80° to 85°. Keep a sharp look-out for canker at the collar 
and upon the stem, rubbing quicklime well into the parts affected, 
Burying to maintain a clean growth and healthy collars to the 
ast. 
Cucumbers,—The autumn fruit should be encouraged to make a 
strong growth by earthing-up betimes, affording plenty of water 
at the roots, and in the atmosphere during bright weather, syring- 
ing at 3 to 3.30 P.M., damping two or three times a day, closing at 
80°.. Maintain a temperature of 70° to 75° from fire heat, and 
attend well to thinning the shoots and training. There must be 
no want of attention to thinning-out old growths in fruiting 
plants, training and stopping, and the removal of bad leaves. 
Plants in frames that have fruited for some time will be restored 
to vigour by a good thinning-out of the old shoots, and the ad- 
dition of a little fresh loam as a top-dressing, laying some of the 
young growths in the loam, giving a moderate watering, and a 
sprinkling overhead on bright afternoons, closing at about 3 P.M. 
With linings and the protection of mats over the lights Cucum- 
bers will be produced for a lengthened period. Houses that are 
intended to be used for a supply of fruit at Christmas should be 
cleared with dispatch, so that the needful cleaning, repairs, or 
painting may be done thoroughly before the house is wanted. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Stove——Clerodendron fallax is one of the brightest of stove 
plants, and is best raised from seed, which will now be ripe, and 
should be sown at once in small pots, the plants not transplanting 
well. Place the pots in a shady part of the stove until the seed- 
lings appear, when they should be put on a shelf near the glass, 
shifting into 6-inch pots when they have made a pair of leaves. 
They must be kept near the glass, and in spring shifted into 8 or 
10-inch pots. They thrive well in turfy loam with a fourth of 
leaf soil and a free admixture of sand. Old plants which have 
ceased blooming may have the shoots shortened back a little, 
which will induce some growth, but before winter they must be 
headed-back rather closely. If kept warm and damped with the 
syringe every evening they will soon break, when they may be 
turned out of the pots, the ball being partially reduced, and potted 
in smaller pots for the winter. Luculia gratissima is not a stove 
plant and not exactly a greenhouse plant, but it does best in an 
intermediate house or a cool stove. The plants should now be 
afforded plenty of light, and be kept rather cool and well venti- 
Jated so as to induce flowering, for if kept moist and warm they 
will continue growing. Too much water must not be given at 
the root, and by subjecting a portion of the plants only to this 
treatment at present, and a batch later on, a succession of bloom 
will be obtained. Amaryllises will now be fast completing their 
growth and should have a lessened supply of water, but avoid 
anything like a parching dryness at the roots. The evergreen 
kinds, of which there are too few, must have sufficient water to 
keep the foliage fresh, and be placed in a light airy situation in a 
cool stove to solidify their growth. Winter-flowering Begonias 
must not suffer by want of pot room, yet afford sufficient soil to 
secure a good growth with healthy foliage, assisting plants that 
are required to flower in small pots with weak liquid manure 
frequently. Euphorbias that have been placed some time in cooler 
quarters must not remain too long or the roots will suffer, par- 
ticularly if the watering be excessive, in which case they will be 
of little value. They should have a house or pit with plenty of 
air and all the light practicable. Poinsettias should not be kept 
too long in frames or pits, or they will when moved to warmer 
and drier quarters lose the lower leaves. They with the Euphor- 
bias should have a night temperature of about 55°. Ixoras that 
haye been employed in conservatory decoration must be returned 
to the stove—placed in the warmest part, cutting off all their 
old flowers. Medinilla magnifica should now be kept rather drier 
and have a light airy situation, ceasing to syringe overhead. Cle- 
rodendron Balfouri and Bougainvillea glabra which have been for 
a time in cooler quarters must be returned to the stove, but the 
coolest and most airy part should be selected, and water should be 
gradually withheld, yet not so as to destroy the foliage pre- 
maturely. Aischynanthuses coming into flower must be well at- 
tended to with water, especially those grown in baskets, or the 
flowers will be of short continuance. Any varieties of Gloxinias 
it is desired to increase should have the leaves inserted four or 
more around the sides of a 6-inch pot well drained and filled with 
sandy loam and peat, with half an inch of sand upon the surface. 
Any scarce sorts may have the leaf laid flat on the surface, pre- 
viously severing the midrib three parts through on the under side, 
placing a pebble on the upper side of the leaf over each incision. 
See that the plants that have ceased flowering are not dried 
off too quickly, but are afforded light, air, and the requisite 
