37S 



JODBNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAPLDENEE. [ November 16, 1871. 



as wherever water stands upon walks there will be an acou- 

 mnlation of slimy matter that will not only look unpleasant, 

 but will cling to the feet. A walk may be overlooked in 

 summer when it is so pleasant to traverse the soft dry velvet 

 lawn, but a good walk for exercise is a comfort and luxury 

 in winter.— E. Fish. 



HAKDY AND HALF-HAKDY PLANTS FOR 



TABLE AND ROOM DECORATION. 



Lilt of the Valley {Convallaria majalis). — I know no 

 more beautiful and fragrant hardy plant for blooming in-doors 

 or for cut flowers than this. The handsome leaves of tenderest 

 green, and the chaste sweet flowers arching elegantly on their 

 stalks, present a union of charms rarely beheld in one plant — 

 3 fact which the flower-loving public appear duly to appreciate. 

 For to say nothing of the estimation in which it is held for 

 button-hole and other bouquets, and other purposes to which 

 is is applied in the cut state, the thousands of pots forced 

 annually in nursery and florists' gardens about towns, to sweeten 

 and enliven sitting-rooms, sufficiently show the admiration 

 bestowed upon it. A very large proportion of this supply is 

 imported annually from Holland. The Dutch have sent us in 

 the few bygone years Eufiieient to have stocked hundreds of 

 acres to overflowing, but we are no richer in Lily of the Valley 

 for it ; imported stock is not even equal to the demand the 

 present season, and the home-grown supply is not plentiful; 

 nor is it so well favoured as the foreign. And what becomes of 

 it all, the thousands of pots of home-grown and imported to- 

 gether, that find ready customers in winter and spring ? In 

 private gardens where much of it is forced, the gardener knows 

 well the value of the old plants, and would as soon think of 

 destroying anything else that is deemed worth keeping as of 

 throwing them on the rubbish heap. A year's nursing and 

 extra good cultivation will put forced Lily of the Valley in con- 

 dition for forcing again ; and no doubt nurserymen and florists 

 would be glad to get back their old plants from their customers 

 in such a state as that there would be a reasonable chance of 

 recovering their lost stamina. As it is, however, they never 

 return. They become the property of the police, falling into 

 their hands by the way of the dust-bin and the agency of Polly 

 the housemaid. This is a poor fate for a thing of beauty that 

 is yet capable of being made beautiful as ever ; for the same 

 care and skUl that developed its charms before are able to re- 

 vive them again in due time. 



Our present subject is one of perennial duration, and is, 

 moreover, hardy and enduring to the utmost. It will even 

 survive the dust-box, if quickly reclaimed while yet a little life 

 remains ; but it loves generous treatment, and well repays it. 

 The imported Dutch clumps and crowns give flowers superior 

 to our home-grown ones ; it is even held to be a distinct variety, 

 differing from ours in being more robust and luxuriant. It 

 does not, however, retain this peculiarity, but quickly degene- 

 rates when subject to the conditions of our commonplace treat- 

 ment. Any superiority it shows under forcing is due, I think, 

 rather to the bettc- climate and soil of Holland, and the special 

 treatment given it by the Dutch. TVe should not expect many 

 or fine Strawberries in winter and spring from plants lifted to 

 force from the quarters a week or two before putting them into 

 heat ; and though Lily of the Valley is better adapted for forcing 

 than tho Strawberry, our expectations of (he best results from 

 it by ordinary efforts is only, therefore, a little less unreason- 

 able. Forced as it usually is about private places, in clumps 

 lifted from an old-established bed, the pots have as many 

 crowns in them producing leaves only as there are crowns with 

 flowers and leaves ; and the abortive ones, besides leading to 

 overcrowding, compete from first to last with those that flower 

 for the food the pot contains, the contest being always more or 

 less to the detriment of the latter. 



There is no reason to doubt but that, if we adopted some- 

 thing like the Datch plan of preparing our plants for forcing, 

 the results would be quite as good in every way with our own 

 as with their plants. We would require to break up our beds 

 in the first instance, and carefally divide and select the crowns 

 to such an extent as our demands suggested, and to plant 

 them, the strongest and weakest by themselves apart, in rich 

 well-trenched ground, IJ inch asunder. The best time to do 

 this is early in October, as it is also the best time for lifting 

 and potting for forcing, but it will not yet be too late to do it 

 when this comes to the hands of our readers, if the weather 

 is open and mild. After planting — and in doing so the crowns 

 ought to be almost buried — a mulching of old manure to the 



depth of 2 inches should be laid on the beds, and be beaten 

 moderately firm with the spade, and blinded afterwards with a 

 slight coating of soil. Anyone having old-established beds, 

 and unwilling to break them up for this purpose, need not do 

 so necessarily. The crowns in such a bed may be thinned ont 

 by means of a knife carefully inserted below the one to be re- 

 moved, so as to sever it from the underground stem without 

 injuring those that are to remain. Only the strongest in this- 

 case should be taken, and those that are left wUi benefit by 

 their removal. 



On this plan of treating Lily of the Valley, improved plants 

 for forcing would not be our only gain ; our stock would also 

 greatly increase, and this, to the nurseryman and florist at 

 least, is a very important point. It may be grown at home at 

 half the cost of the imported roots, and everyone who indulgea 

 in the luxury of a pot in his room would ultimately share in 

 the good of this economy. When lifting for forcing, or any 

 other purpose, it is usual to discard all underground stems as- 

 useless. This is a mistake, for they may be made the means 

 of largely increasing the stock in hand ; every joint is prone to 

 send up a crown when circumstances are favourable — that is^ 

 when there is room enough and pasturage sufiicient for their 

 development ; and for the first two years it need not take up 

 much room— a bushel of it may be put in a bed 4 feet by 6 feet. 

 It is necessary in laying it in, to draw the soil oft the bed wholly 

 to the depth of a couple of inches, laying it on either side for 

 handiness in putting it on again. The stems are laid on the 

 bed thus prepared equally and evenly, and covered up with the 

 soil, finishing off with a mulching in the same way as with the 

 nursing bed for crowns, as described above. 



Everyone that has to supply cut flowers or plants in flower 

 for conservatory and room embellishment in winter, knows how 

 to force Lily of the Valley ; and our remarks on its treatment, 

 to aid beginners, may be very brief. As early as the leaves are 

 ripe the crowns should be lifted and potted, using rich sandy 

 loam to pot them in. Put no manure in the soil; any enrich- 

 ing it may want is better applied in the liquid state after the 

 plants are well started. Pot very flrm ; it is scarcely possible 

 to make the soil too flrm by pressure of the flngers merely, 

 supposing it is in the proper state of dryness for potting. 

 When flnished, the tips of the crowns only should appear above 

 the soil. They may then be watered, and put away in a cold 

 frame tiU they are required for introducing into heat. It is 

 always desirable to have the roots in action before the crowns 

 begin to swell much. Mild bottom heat, applied in a cool 

 atmosphere, secures this. I have started Lily of the Valley 

 and other commonly- forced hardy subjects on the top of a heap 

 of heating leaves in the open air in winter, giving them such 

 top protection of straw or Spruce boughs as the weather ren- 

 dered necessary, and was well pleased with the results. Plants 

 so treated come away quickly and sturdily when they are 

 brought into heat. 



Our subject will not bear rapid or hard forcing ; a tempera- 

 ture ranging from .50° to 60° suits best in early winter, but later 

 on it will bear a few degrees higher. Keep it moderately moist 

 till after the leaves and flowers burst the crowns, when the 

 supplies of water must be gradually increased, and be alternated 

 with applications of clear mild liquid manure. The syringe, if 

 used at all, should be discontinued some time before the leaves 

 and flower-spikes are half grown, especially if they are crowded 

 in the pot; but it is preferable never to use it, taking the other 

 ordinary means rather of keeping up atmospheric moisture 

 instead. An over-meist atmosphere is favourable only to the 

 production of fine flabby leaves and scanty weakly flowers that 

 are liable to damp off on the occasion of the first check in tem- 

 perature, and which under no circumstances continue to be 

 long beautiful. 



HoiEiA jAPON'ioA. — This gracefully pretty plant, so very liable 

 to get injured by late frost in spring in most parts of Scotland 

 and northern England, is a very good subject for room and 

 table decoration. It may be very successfully forced, if not 

 hurried too much or started too early. The present is a good 

 time for lifting and potting it, but an early start is desirable, 

 and I would advise lifting early in October, and the general 

 treatment recommended for Lily of the Valley. The soil may 

 be lighter, but equally firm potting is necessary ; and manure 

 of any kind, except liquid manure, is objectionable, causing, 

 when applied to the majority of herbaceous plants that are 

 forced, too much leaf growth, while the flowers are benefited 

 little or nothing by the application. A little peat, however, is 

 a very good addition to the compost for this plant. I would 

 advise giving this a ifortnight of bottom heat, either in the 



