December 14, 1876. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



519 



similar attention, and when frosts set in the ground around 

 hand-lights should be covered with manure. It is not necessary 

 to throw any protecting material over the glass. 



VINERIES. 



Except Lady Downe's, Grapes generally are not keeping well, 

 owing to the damp atmosphere, although with us Royal Vine- 

 yard and Paul's Waltham Cross have kept hitherto, and suffered 

 but little from damp. We have not yet had fruit upon Pearson's 

 Golden Queen, and cannot say from experience how that sort 

 will keep. It is said to be a good setter, and is also recommended 

 as a good late Grape. Royal Vineyard and Waltham Cross are 

 both of them rather shy setters at Loxford. We keep up the 

 temperature to 70? when the fruit is setting, and nearly all 

 sorts of Grapes that are usually grown set well in this tempera- 

 ture. There is no difficulty with Royal Vineyard if a small 

 globule of moisture which gathers on the Btigmais dispersed, 

 and this is done by drawing the hand gently down the bunoh 

 when it is in flower. 



The importance of removing decaying leaves and berries has 

 been frequently urged, and it is dangerous to allow the tempe- 

 rature to fall much below 40° at night. Ventilate as much as 

 possible, except in wet, thick, or foggy weather. A draught of 

 air through the house at such times carries destruction to the 

 berries. 



Forcing should be carried on steadily. Until the buds start 

 we do not care to have the night temperature much over 50° 

 until a few small leaves are formed. After that the night tem- 

 perature may be gradually raised to 60°, and in a week or two 

 more to 65°, and in the case of a house devoted to early Muscats 

 to 70°. We keep up a good supply of atmospheric moisture, but 

 do not syringe after the leaves are formed. Vines in pots that 

 have been started in November for the earliest Grapes will now 

 have started into growth, and as it was recommended to plunge 

 the pots in bottom heat the roots will be making as much pro- 

 gress as the canes are doing above ground, so that, if neces- 

 sary, a higher temperature may be kept up in the earlier stages 

 of growth. Great care is necessary in order that the Vines may 

 not suffer from want of water. 



ORCHARD HOUSE. 



The fruiting trees aro still out of doors in the plunging mate- 

 rial. Soaked they must be at the roots with wet, but we have* 

 not observed that injury by this cause hasbeen done in previous 

 seasons. When sharp frost sets in, if the trees are not removed 

 to the house by that time, some dry cocoa-nut fibre refuse placed 

 over the leaveB in which the pots are plunged will keep the frost 

 from the roots, and this iB necessary, as they make considerable 

 growth during the winter months, and it is not well to check 

 this growth. 



Young trees ought now to be potted to form fruiting trees for 

 next season. This may be done by purchasiDg " maiden " trees 

 — that is, those which have made but one year's growth from 

 the bud. They may be purchased in any large nursery at a 

 cheap rate, and if well treated make good fruiting trees for next 

 year. Some of the large trade firms grow trees in pots, and 

 those who intend "taking to" orchard-house trees in pots and 

 who do not care for the trouble of managing one-year-old trees 

 for a season, would do well to purchase such trees ready trained 

 for fruiting. A season is gained by doing so, and the trade can 

 do the work far better and cheaper than any gardener or amateur 

 can. Strawberry plants have been removed to the shelves near 

 the glass,' and when the Chrysanthemum plants are removed no 

 time will be lost in taking in the trees. 



PLANT STOVE AND ORCHID HOUSES. 



Although at this Beason of the year nearly all the objects in 

 these structures are passing through their resting period, still 

 the temperature of the house in many instances must not be 

 allowed to fall below a certain Btandard, else heat-loving plants 

 Buffer. In the Pine house where are several different species 

 and varieties of Ixora, it is found that the plants will not paBS 

 3afely through the winter months in an average night tempera- 

 ture of 60°. I. Williamaii waB the first to show signs of distress 

 by some of the leaves falling off, and others showed blotches of 

 decay, but on the plants being removed to a house with 5° more 

 heat a change for the better was Bpeedily apparent. I. javanica, 

 I. Colei and otherB do not show any signs of distress as yet, but 

 it is evident that all this class of plants including Dipladenias 

 ought to be wintered in a house where the temperature does not 

 fall below 65°. Other plots usually grown in the stove do 

 better with 55°, or from tt t to 60°. However, by far the largest 

 number of our readers have only one, or at most two houses for 

 the different classes of plants ; when this is the case much can 

 be done by placing the heat-loving plants at the warmest end 

 of the house, and those that require cooler treatment in the 

 position most suitable for them. Any observant gardener will 

 bear us out in saying that a plant will do exceedingly well in a 

 certain position. Remove it from that place to another in the 

 same house and it refuses to thrive ; take it back to its old posi- 

 tion and an improved condition is evident. 



A very good form for a house intended for a miscellaneous 

 collection of stove plants is a span-roof, wide enough to admit of 



a centre pit for fermenting material, and a slate platform round 

 the sideB and ends about 2 feet wide. The centre of the house 

 will be a few degrees warmer than the outside, and if the pit is 

 filled with tan or oak leaves a genial lasting heat will be obtained, 

 and if it does not rise above 85° or 90° the pots may be plunged 

 to within a few inches of the rim. Under such circumstances 

 the plants would not suffer in a slightly lower temperature than 

 would otherwise be required. Then another class of plants 

 should be arranged on the side platforms, beginning with those 

 requiring most heat at the warmest end. In our stove, 28 feet 

 by 20, there is a difference of 5° between the temperature at 

 the end nearest the boiler and that furthest removed from it. 



Orchids require considerable attention during the winter 

 months. Very little water is necessary at the roots, but the 

 drying-off system may be carried too far even at the dullest 

 period of the year. Cattleya Warnerii is just now starting into 

 growth, but it is not necessary on that account to do more than 

 keep the compost moist. If the plants are potted in turfy peat 

 and sphagnum allow it to become quite dry before watering ; 

 although the pseudo-bulbs are being formed for next season, the 

 roots will not be in an active state until midsummer. The same 

 maybe said of Lielia purpurata ; the growths are further advanced 

 than those of Cattleyas, but the roots are not yet productive. All 

 other Cattleyas and Lajlias of the same class require Bimilar treat- 

 ment. Those on blocks and brackets will require more water 

 according as the roots have less or more material around them. 

 Odontoglossums in the cool house require a considerable supply 

 of water, as many of them, such as O. crispum, O. triumphans, 

 O. odoratum, O. cirrhosum, and others of this section, are just 

 making their growth. They do not require a high temperature ; 

 from 45° to 50° is quite sufficient; but the glass ought to be 

 washed quite clean, and must not be allowed to become obscured. 

 After a day or two of our thick London fogs the glass outside 

 may be washed with a syringe or garden engine. Some of the 

 Masdevallias are also making their young growths, and the 

 plants require very similar treatment to that of Odontoglossums. 

 If any slugs are in the house they must be searched for after it 

 is dark at night; one of them may destroy at one meal a plant 

 worth many pounds. There had been no trace of slugs in 

 our cool house for months until one night a strong growth of 

 Masdevallia Veitchii was observed to be eaten off. The in- 

 truder was caught next night as soon as it was dark. Had no 

 search been made for an hour or two perhaps another growth 

 would have been destroyed. Slugs are also very fond of eating 

 through the stems of Odontoglossums just coming out of their 

 sheaths. The paths and stages of Orchid houses ought to be 

 damped over at least once every day. — J. Douglas. 



HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS. 

 Secretaries will oblige us by informing us of the dates on 

 which exhibitions are to be held. 



Newcastle-upon-Tyne. March 21st and 22nd, 1877. Messrs. J. H. French, 



Benwell House, and J. Taylor, Rye Hill, Hon. Sees. 

 Leeds (Spring Show). April 2nd and 3rd. Mr. A. Walker, Neville St., 



School Close, Leeds, Hon. Sec. 

 Wisbech. June 28th. Mr. Charles Parker, Hon. Sec. 

 Tonbeidge. July 18th. Mr. W. Blair, Sec. 

 Isle or Thanet. August 30th. Mr. C. D. Smith, Hon. Sec. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Books (B.). — The " Garden Manual," price Is. Gd., can be had free by post 

 from our office. 



Fungi (C. B. P.). — The specimens were smashed by the post-office punches. 



Carpet Bedding Plants (Q. B. T.). — After the reservation you have 

 made we cannot think of more than three which you may raise from seed — 

 namely, Oxalis tropffloloides, CeraBtium tomentosum, and Mesembryanthemum 

 cordifolium variegatum. 



Chilian Beet {Beetroot). — It will throw np flower stems next spring, but 

 the rootB Bhould be at once transplanted to their seeding quarters — not taken 

 up and stored until spring. 



Tarring Tree Trunks (Eoyal Oak). — The gas tar will not do the trees 

 any good, but it may save them from being denuded of the bark by hares, 

 rabbits, or horses, if the latter have acceBS to the trees. We have not 

 noticed any great injury result to the trees from coating them with gas tar, 

 but we do not advise the use of tar except as a preventive of hares, &c. 



Temperature for Orchids (Bus). — Cselogyne cristata should now be 

 kept dry, and in a cool stove or warm greenhouse. It is one of the cool 

 Orchids, being from Nepal ; it would succeed probably in a not very airy green- 

 house. Dendrobium formosum does not need a higher temperature in winter 

 than an intermediate one — i.e., a cool stove or warm greenhouse. Poinaet- 

 tias require a temperature in winter of 55° to 60° at night, and 60° to 65° by 

 day, with a rise to 75° from sun. 



Hothouse Arrangements (Bosa). — Tour term " hothouse "is very indefi- 

 nite. If you mean a Btove, which is a common acceptation of the term hot- 

 house, you will require four 4-inch hot-water pipes — two flows, with their 

 returns along three sides of the house, or better still all round, excepting of 

 course the doorway. We should have shelving along two sides and one end 

 of the house, omitting the doorway — 3 feet wide, and beneath this shelving 

 place the hot-water pipes. At the other end of the house we should arrange 

 a rockery for Ferns, with a base of abont 8 feet ; a walk all round the 

 houBe (3 feet) will give you a central bed of some 9 feet in width. The path- 



