January 6, 1S63. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GASDENE R. 



and some of the very dusty parts of the peat should be excluded 

 before the silver sand is added. Eor 6ueh plants as require 

 from an eight to a ten- inch pot, the soil should be three parts of 

 good fibry sandy peat, and one part should consist of equal 

 parts of silver sand, rough pieces of charcoal without dust, and 

 broken pieces of pots also without dust. In such sizes there 

 may be pieces of soil as large as walnuts ; in six-inch pots, 

 pieces as large as Mazagan beans ; whilst in smaller sizes, the 

 rough pieces should be little larger than peas. 



Watering. — As a general rule pure rain water is the best, and 

 the plants should never be very dry. The quantity of water 

 required will be regulated by the weather and the state of the 

 plant. When resting after pruning, little moisture will be re- 

 quired ; and a rather-close atmosphere, and a skiff from the 

 syringe overhead, morning, noon, and night, will be better than 

 much watering at the root. Most water will be needed when 

 the plant is making its new wood, and when it is in bloom. At 

 these periods weak clear manure water, made from cowdung, 

 sweet, and from twelve to eighteen months old, will be an ad- 

 vantage. No artificial manure should be trusted unless very 

 weak — as one ounce of guano to at least six gallons of water. 



Pruning. — This should be done as soon as the plants have 

 finished, or have nearly finished, flowering. Take care that the 

 plants are not extra-watered beforehand. The mode of pruniug 

 depends on circumstances, and what is chiefly wanted. Bear in 

 mind that in no case, except very young plants, will they bear 

 the wood to be out that is older than one season's growth. A 

 clever young fellow once did me out of a good collection in a 

 few minutes by using his knife on well-established plants as if 

 they had been so many willow stools. It is safest to confine 

 the pruning to the shoots of last season's growth. In the case 

 of our correspondent, who wishes large specimens as soon as 

 possible, I would, as a rule, prune back these shoots to from 

 ■A to 8 inches from their base, put a string round the rim of the 

 pot, and with threads bend these shoots to it, so as to cause them 

 to break somewhat regularly all over. This will secure a plant 

 well stored next season with a great many flowering-shoots ; but 

 there will be few shoots covered with flowers from 12 to 20 inches 

 in length. To secure these fine long shoots of bloom, the bulk 

 of the young shoots now should be cut back when done flowering 

 to 2 or 3 inches in length. In fact, for this purpose I have 

 often treated them as willow stools — never touching the old 

 wood, however, as my man did unmercifully, but cutting-in the 

 young wood pretty closely every season. Something of the first 

 plan is the best for symmetrical specimens. As already hinted, 

 the plants after pruning should have a rest for a fortnight or so 

 — that is, should not be excited by extra heat or moisture. 



" Time of Repotting. — The best time is when the new shoots 

 are 2 or 3 inches in length, after pruning. Care must be taken 

 that the roots are moist previously, and the plants should be 

 kept close and be sprinkled overhead, and shaded from bright 

 sunshine until the roots and tops are progressing freely, when 

 move air and light should be admitted by degrees. 



General Treatment and Position. — In winter the plants Bhould 

 occupy an airy position in the greenhouse, which should seldom 

 be below 40° at night, and seldom above 50°, with a rise from 

 sunshine of from 10° to 15°. Water to be given according to 

 weather. Erosty ah* to be kept from beating directly on the 

 plants. After pruning set the plants together, and be careful 

 not to overwater. In a fortnight, if they can be kept closer and 

 warmer in the house, it will cause them to break more freely ; if 

 not, taking them to a house or pit where the heat would rauge 

 from 50° to 65°, would be all in their favour, syringing the 

 stems several times a-day to encourage them to break freely. 

 Examine the drainage, and top-dress or repot as stated above. 

 Keep the plants in a simdar temperature, shading from brightest 

 sunshine until the shoots are growing freely. Remove the plants 

 then to a cold pit where more air can be given to them. Keep 

 them there, if possible, all the summer under clean glass, with 

 plenty of air back and front. In September and the first half of 

 October leave the sashes off entirely in fine sunny weather ; but 

 if wet is anticipated, place the glass on with air on back and front. 



This will ripen the young shoots and cause them to show bloom 

 at almost every joint along them, except the soft younger points. 



House in good time in October. If not convenient to give the 



plants the shelter of a cold pit in summer and autumn, the pots 



should be protected from the sun, so that the fiue hair roots are 



not injured. 



Of Insects end Diseases there are few that trouble the 



Epacris. The worst insect to eradicate is the white scale. If 



the plants are large it is hardly worth while attempting to cure 

 them. I once cleaned a fine large plant, much infested, by 

 dipping it wholly in a thin paint of clay made with weak soap 

 water. The plant was set in the shade in a close shed, and the 

 clay was allowed to dry on the plant for four or five days ; and then, 

 when the fingers and some brushes were rim through the branches, 

 the clay and insects came away together. The plant was then 

 well swinged in a pond of clear water, and afterwards showed 

 little trace of the doctoring and grew well. Smaller plants might 

 also be tried in a weak solution of glue water, or size or gum 

 may be used. The water, if just a little sticky, shuts up the 

 insect from atmospheric air ; and it would appear that few insects 

 can stand this so long as plants can. Eew plants when growing 

 freely can stand such treatment above forty or fifty hours. 



R. Fl3H. 



TANGERIN ORANGES. 



Allow me to correct your report on the Oranges placed 

 before the Fruit Committee at Kensington on the 9th ult. 

 They were, it is true, sent by me ; but, as I stated in my letter 

 to the Secretary, from J. Stoveld, Esq., of Stedham Hall, near 

 Midhurst. 



His mode of cultivation has been the past season such a 

 perfect success, that a few words as to the modus operandi may 

 not be unacceptable to your readers. 



The trees, some four or five years old, were wintered in a 

 greenhouse with Camellias and other plants, and removed in 

 March to a pinery, the pots being plunged in warm tan. They 

 bloomed in April, and set a large crop of fruit. As the months 

 of June and July were so wet and cold it was thought proper to 

 allow them to remain in the pinery all the summer. From their 

 first entrance into this house the trees were syringed regularly, 

 but only on the stems and lower branches, so as to avoid wetting 

 the blossoms, while they were in bloom. Under this treatment 

 the crop was most abundant, so as to weigh down the branches 

 of the trees. The fruit commenced to ripen in September, and 

 continued to do so all through October and November. 



They were larger than those usually imported, and being 

 suffered to ripen on the trees, they were so full of juice as to 

 make their rinds crack ; their richness of flavour and fine aroma, 

 were most remarkable. In the hot summers of 1857-8-9 these- 

 Oranges ripened well in orchard-houses, but not so in 1860 and 

 last summer; so that to cultivate them in high perfection . in 

 ordinary seasons the trees, after being wintered in a greenhouse, 

 should be placed in a pinery or vinery where Grapes are forced, or 

 in any other house where forcing is carried on. — Thos. Rivees. 



CALCEOLARIA LEAVES TURNED BLACK. 



Can you tell me the cause of all my young Calceolaria seed- 

 ling plants being affected in a manner that destroys the outside 

 leaves by turning them black, so that there is little left besides 

 the stem? My gardener changed the little yacht stove I had in 

 the greenhouse to obviate frost for a larger and more close one, 

 as he thought the leakage of the former affected his plants. Can 

 it be the heated metal of the present stove ? Two other remarks 

 I made to him about the seedlings before this defect was ob- 

 served — viz., that he watered too frequently, and pinched out 

 the centres too early, having done this with both Calceolarias 

 and Cinerarias fully six weeks ago. — Thos. Peaesox. 



[The leaves were so dried-up before we received them, that we 

 could scarcely make out whether the effect was produced by air 

 burnt by au iron stove or by thrips. We think that very likely 

 both had an influence in making them leafless. If you have read 

 "Doings of the Last Week," you would see that Mr. Fish 

 objects to fire heat altogether, if it can be avoided, for Calceo- 

 larias ; and also you would find that, provided moisture and cool- 

 ness be secured, they can hardly go wrong, if frost be excluded. 

 Whenever airiness, coolness, and moisture are neglected, thrips is 

 almost sure to seize the plants. If on examination you find your 

 plants are much occupied with that jumping insect, the best 

 thing you can do in their present stripped state would be to 

 throw them away. If, however, the stems are strong, we would 

 place all the plants close together and smoke them with the best 

 shag tobacco ; the second day afterwards place the hand over the 

 surface of the pot reversed, and Bwinge the head of the plant 

 through a pail of sulphur water, or of size water, as recommended 



