262 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 14, 1863. 



root-action at a critical time. Used all the thinnings, bruised, 

 put in a tub, and covered with boiling water, to syringe the trees 

 ■with when the water was cool, poured through a cloth and other 

 water added ; so that a bushel of such shoots bruised, and that 

 is easily done, would make about eighteen gallons of cold weak 

 prussicacid tea, which no insects like, and which at that strength 

 most stone fruits like oyer their foliage, and the houses after the 

 Byringing will smell as sweet as a confectioner's shop. Watered 

 Figs, and stopped and regulated shoots, and will soon have to 

 move the Scarlet Geraniums beneath them. Planted out more 

 Melons. Potted Vines in pots, &c. Those who grow Pines 

 must water carefully j and instead of overwatering, it will be best 

 to shade in these very bright dayB, so apt to be succeeded by 

 dull, cloudy, and wet ones. Extra moisture at the roots is apt 

 to make fruit showing come deformed, and with huge unwieldy 

 crowns. 



We notice in page 265, first column, a good plan for getting 

 good Grapes in a frame, by Mr. Keane, and we have often been 

 surprised it was not more adopted. When we used to try it we 

 did not make any slit in the boxes to let in the Vines, but merely 

 brought them in through the dung beneath the bottom of the 

 box ; and if a lot of roots ran ultimately into the dung from the 

 stem, we did not trouble ourselves in removing them. Also, we 

 generally allowed the stems to lie either close to or only an inch 

 or two from the dung, before they were broken 2 or 3 inches in 

 length, and then by some simple means, as sticks or trellis, they 

 •were elevated within 12 or 14 inches of the glass. When the 

 bed was covered with slates or tiles, these were painted with 

 sulphur and lime, if the foliage was at all thick, and with sulphur 

 and a little soot if the foliage was rather thin. The stems not 

 in the box were wrapped round with haybands to prevent sudden 

 extremes of temperature. 



We have also seen good Grapes against a wall by placing 

 sashes that were to spare against them, something in the Pax- 

 tonian fashion, and perhaps the very best were thus managed. 

 The wall was about 7 feet in height, the Vines grown en the 

 long-rod system — that is, the stem that fruited was cut out every 

 year, and a young one grown in summer to take its place. Unless 

 in very severe weather the Vines were exposed all the winter. In 

 the end of February they were pruned, painted with sulphur, 

 and laid down at the foot of the wall, with just a Blight sprink- 

 ling of straw over them, which kept them from frost, and also 

 tended to make them come later, and induced them to break 

 regularly, which they seldom did until the end of April. They 

 were then fastened to the wall, and the Bashes put against them. 

 This also was done in a very simple way. Stout iron brackets 

 stood out a foot from the coping of the wall, and to these were 

 screwed a batten of wood all the way, 2£- inches square. To that 

 featten in turn the tops of the sashes were screwed by two screws 

 in each sash ; this left room between the batten-slip and the 

 wall of more than 9 inches, in which a nine-inch board, lying 

 flat, moved easily, and the space being 30 feet in length, two 

 fifteen-feet boards just filled it. There were no hinges or any- 

 thing of the kind ; but a small ladder stood at each end, and 

 the board could be moved to give an inch of air, or Bet up againBt 

 the wall to give fully 8 inches.just as was desirable. The bottoms 

 of the sashes rested on a flat rail supported by posts 9 inches 

 from the ground. When the sash was set on the rail, a stout 

 nail in the rail in front of the sash kept it in its place. The 

 loose board did for air in front, but unless in very hot days was 

 seldom used. If the house were Bhut up at night, a very little air 

 was always given early in the morning, to prevent the heat accu- 

 mulating too fast, and much of the success we attributed to the 

 comparatively cool temperature at night, and the high tempera- 

 ture, but with air, in hot sunny days. We recollect seeing the 

 thermometer between 90° and 100°, and yet the Vines and Grapes 

 stood it well. The temperature at night would range from 45° 

 to 60° at these times. The one end was covered with stout calico, 

 and a door, also covered with calico, instead of wood, was at the 

 other end. The sashes were used for salads and bedding plants 

 from the end of October to the end of April. The rail for the 

 sashes was 3J- feet from the hack wall 



OENAMENTAL DEPABTHENT. 



Rolled lawn preparatory to mowing. Would like to cut Box- 

 edgings, but will put the cutting off for a time, fearing we yet may 

 have a frost, as, when fresh cut, Box turns black and looks un- 

 sightly for some time afterwards. Dug over beds as opportunity 

 offered, doing this roughly in all cases where planting and sowing 

 were not contemplated. In beds and borders, where planting and 

 sowing were to be done, dug and made fine. In borders, regu- 



lated herbaaeous plants ; planted Heartsease, Pinks, Carnations, 

 &c. ; examined Hollyhocks and Phloxes, firming the earth about 

 them, and placing round them some burnt rubbish to keep 

 slugs, &c, at a distance. Ranunculuses, Anemones, &c, should 

 be well firmed round the necks of the plants, and protected 

 from deluges of rain and sharp frosts if they come ; and the 

 same may be said of Hyacinths and Tulips. To have fine strong 

 flowers of Ranunculuses, a good plan, after firming the soil 

 round the plants and the ground all over, is just to stir it half 

 an inch deep or bo, and then cover the ground with half an inch 

 of fine riddled old cowdung, which will keep the tubers moist 

 and permit of nourishing waterings when rains come or the 

 watering-pot is used. Most of the hardy annuals may now be 

 sowed. In cold soil it will be as well to defer Mignonette until 

 towards the end of the month ; but if wanted early out of doors, 

 a lot may be sown in pots to be transplanted, placing these pots 

 under protection. All the half-hardy annuals used for bedding 

 should also now ba sown in a slight hotbed ; or the bed may be 

 as much as 18 inches deep, with 3 inches of old dung on the 

 top, and as much of fine 6oil to sow in if you do not have 

 glass to cover with. Stout calico is a capital covering for such 

 a purpose, but it is dear this season. We had a piece not stout 

 the other day, about If yard wide and \0\d. the yard run, which 

 not so long ago might have been had for 5d. or 6d. per yard 

 run. We trust that calico will yet be more reasonable, and that 

 more for the sake of our Lancashire friends than even gardening 

 purposes, though for the latter it is very useful for makeshift 

 workings at this season, as nothing can equal unbleached coarse 

 calico for hardening-off bedding plants. Another substitute 

 will, no doubt, be obtained when thoroughly demanded. Frigi 

 domo, 2 yards wide and Is. 6d. per yard run, is a good pro- 

 tection ; but it is too thick and dingy for hardening-off bedding 

 plants. Many half-hardy plants will lift in patches from such 

 a bed as the above, hardly feel the moving, and do much better 

 than those sown in pots and coddled in houses. 



We must stop, and wish we could stop or find more room for 

 cuttings of bedding Geraniums — among others, Cloth of Gold, 

 which seems to strike very fast; Ageratums, Verbenas, &c, 

 which must be done now wholesale. Have filled all our earth 

 pits with bedding plants, and have nearly filled the old cabbage 

 ground with wide Celery-trenches (5 feet), and these, too, are 

 being filled with Geraniums planted out of boxes or turned out 

 of 60-sized pots, that the pots may be washed and filled agaia 

 with smaller things, so as to give them a better chance. Plant- 

 ing-out at once is the best for all things that make bunches of 

 fibrous roots. Such plants as Verbenas we plant separately early ; 

 but after this season those struck in half-circle drain-tiles are 

 turned out of the tiles, and planted in rich soil just in lumps as 

 they are. By this means no check is given, and when taken up 

 to plant they separate easily, as the fresh roots do not get too 

 far away. This is also a good plan with the Variegated Alyssum 

 if the young plants cannot be kept in pots. If you turn out 

 little plants into a temporary bed as a Celery-trench, they will 

 riBe badly, because the roots may wander too far ; but when 

 pots of cuttings, or tiles of cuttings, are turned out, and planted 

 in a piece as stated above, the new roots do not wander so far 

 from home, the plants grow freely, and when raised up with a 

 fork in a piece they will plant-out nicely, and scarcely show a 

 flag of distress. If we can spare a frame or two we will make- 

 up a slight hotbed for Verbena-cuttings, cover with 3 inches of 

 rotten dung, 2 inches of rough riddliugs of Boil, and 2 of finer 

 on the top, with half an inch of drift sand over all, plant the 

 cuttings about 2 inches apart, and in May these would rise with 

 nice balls of rough soil and dung adhering to them. Such 

 methods might not do in a commercial establishment ; but 

 something of this kind must be done when the most is to be 

 made of limited means. — R. F. 



Eebatdm.— At p. 256, second column, 19th and 20th line from top, the 

 words "pit" and "pits" in the respective lines should be "pot" and 

 "pots." 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Azaleas Dying after Flowering (J. McN".). — As a precaution, it 

 would be well to be certain that the plants are thoroughly soaked to the 

 centre of the balls, either by placing the pots for half an hour in a tub of 

 water, or making a number of small holes a good depth into the soil with 

 a stout pointed wire, and then watering. The plants should also be kept 

 cool for a week or two after flowering, and be syringed overhead. 



Deawing Flowee-beds ( W. W. 3.).— There is no book upon the sub- 

 ject. We hope to begin publishing a series of communications upon 

 geometrical drawings, &c , next week. 



