Jannary 26, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF EOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGH GAEDENEE. 



71 



loxas Scarlofc Geraninms, which they either cut down in the 

 hoses in which they grew, or out down, took up out of the 

 ground, and packed firmly like faggots. The complaint is, that 

 from covering up in a dry room in the hardest frost, the plants 

 seem alive, but make no growth. All the better for them if 

 they do not f'or a month or more. It such plants make some 

 leaves the sizo of a sixpence by the middle of March, they will 

 be quite early enough for blooming in a balcony or garden in 

 June. 



The great enemy to window plants grown inside of onr rooms 

 in winter is the dust, which will collect on the foliage, and soon 

 makes the plants sickly and woebegone. The great cure is 

 frequent sponging and washing the le^jves. The plants look 

 very difioreut after such a bath. The wiiter used should be 

 fully as warm as the room, say from C0° to 65°. If used warmer, 

 it is apt to make them tender. A very quick way of doing this 

 washing, in the case of moderate-sized plants, say in 5 or 6-inch 

 pots, is to have a pail of the warmed water, place a piece of 

 cloth firmly over the surface of the pot to prevent soil falling 

 out or. the water wetting it too much, reverse the plant, and 

 pull the head gently through the water, so as to wet every 

 leaf and bit of stem. Then use a sponge, or draw your fingers 

 softly through and along the leaves, so as not to injure them, 

 and then swinge the head again in a pail of clean water. At 

 this season excess of watering is to be avoided. If the room is 

 hot and dry a sprinkling over the top will often be more bene- 

 ficial than saturating the roots. In no ease, except, perhaps, 

 that of a strong vigorous flowering bulb, should any water be 

 left, except for a minute, in the saucers. Pricking up the 

 surface of the soil, and adding a little fresh, will much improve 

 the appearance of the plants, end they will also rejoice in clean 

 pots. A dirty slimy pot is a disgrace to s window, and a plant 

 will not thrive in it so well as in a clean pot. AH such pots 

 are apt to be tell-tales in more ways than one. 



When we advise very careful watering we do not wish that 

 the soil should be allowed to be dust-dry. When it is necessary 

 to water, give enough to moisten all the soil containing roots, 

 and then wait patiently until your services are required. Do 

 not be afraid to turn a ball out now and then, "or put your 

 finger down into a pot, so as to render yourselves sure as to its 

 condition. Without such trouble perhaps you may gain the 

 knowledge wanted jnst by ringing the pot \-'ith yonr knuckles. 

 If it emits a dull heavy sound you may keep away the watering 

 pot. If it emits a clear sound like a clean whole vessel of 

 earthenware, you may be sure the soil is dry. 



There is hardly, however, any rule without exceptions. Thus 

 some of our window gardeners have taken to Cinerarias and 

 Calceolarias in winter and spring. Both like moisture, and 

 they will thrive all the better from standing on a cool bottom, 

 such as a little moss kept moist in the bottom of the saucer. 

 Saoh treatment would ruin the Cactus tribe, which we are glad 

 to find are becoming favourites with many window gardeners, 

 owing to the splendid colour of the blooms in summer. If the 

 [room is not very warm, they will need little or no water in 

 winter, unless the succulent stems show signs of shrinking. 

 Damping the stems will often be better than watering the roots 

 until the days become longer and yield more funlifht. Eachsiaa 

 kept in cellars or spare rooms, if now beginning to bresk, show- 

 ing little leaves, should be brought to the Uaht, and ere long 

 be repotted in the same-sized clean pots, getting lid of a good 

 portion o! the old soil. The more growing plants are exposed 

 to the full light the better, and much may be done in a window 

 by freqaently turning and moving, so that all may obtain a due 

 share of light. The safest place for all such favourites in 

 severe frostis the middle of the living room at bedtime, and 

 even then in very severe weather a clean cloth thrown over 

 them will be a great means of protecting them, and keeping 

 them clean. 



In alluding to old Scarlet Geraniums either saved in the boxes 

 in which they grew, or taken up and packed, the great point 

 after all the leaves have been removed late in autumn, is to 

 keep them over the winter, and give no encouragement to growth 

 until the spring. Yery little water will be required in winter it 

 they are kept in a cool airy place, free from frost, and nothing 

 is better than a little dry hay or short litter shaken over 

 them, and then any spare room will keep them well. If a little 

 water should be necessary to prevent their becoming dust-dry, 

 instead of deluging the pot or box it is better to make a few 

 holes with a pointed stick, and pour the water gently into tbem, 

 allowing it to percolate gradually through the mass. Were 

 many of our readers thus to treat old S'jarlet Geraninms, they 

 might have the same plants on their balconies year after year, 



for a score of years, by merely picJ-.ing away the surface soil ia 

 Bpring, and adding rich compost. The succulence stored up in 

 the old shoots acts as a reservoir of supply, just like a tuber or 

 a bulb. It is very different with all young plants raised from 

 cuttings in summer and autumn. These must have light and 

 air, and be kept slowly growing all the winter. The old- 

 established plants are, therefore, the best for the millions cf . 

 window gardeners who have no house or pit to help them. 



Raised Banlis in the Kitchen Garden. — Besides what was 

 lately alluded to, we have met with instances of the advantage 

 in such severe weather of dry and even northerly exposures. 

 For instance, on a bank on a north aspect young Coleworts- 

 have stood untouched by the frost, whilst those on a southern 

 exposure and on the level have somewhat suffered. Lettuces 

 sown and planted out at the foot of walls, &c., wiih east, west,, 

 and south exposures, have snffered severely, though protected 

 with laurel boughs and a little litter, whilst plants on broad 

 ridges having a row along the centre and three or four rows on 

 each side, have as yet stood, uninjured. The greater dryness 

 no doubt helped them. 



We have been colleoting material for hotbeds, some to bo 

 rather permanent, and others for temporary purposes. As 

 stated in previous years, we make the moat of stable manure, 

 not working it too much before using it, and covering with c- 

 layer of sweet warm tree leaves. We have some excellent 

 dung at present, pretty well made to our hand. In the severe 

 frost it was not safe to take the horses out for exercise, and 

 a ride was made in the stable yard by spreading the dung 

 there day after day. It has thus been well cut up and mingled 

 by the horses' feet, and after lying a few days will be in fine 

 condition for Cucumber beds, and even first-rate, after one or 

 two turnings, for Mnshroom beds. 



Prepared beds for early Potatoes, Horn Carrots, Eadishes, 

 Lettuces, &a., as referred to last week. We think we gather 

 Ashleaved Potatoes earlier when we have ihem several inches 

 in height in small pots, and the pots filled with roots before 

 planting them in a bed. There is no better plan of secnriEg 

 early Potatoes than growing them singly in 6 or 8-inoh pots, 

 earthing the pots over as the plants grow, but letting the 

 tubers coma on in the pot. They in general come considerahiy 

 earlier than when planted out in a bed, snd where the roots 

 have more free space to run in. 



Eadi.i]ies protected in an earth-pit are stiU pretty good, but 

 are not so crisp as younger ones raised on a little beat. We 

 generally grow a good many in an early Carrot bed, the eeecl 

 being sown broadcast, and in various ways ; but we think we 

 obtain the largest supply of Radishes and Carrots, and the one 

 interfering but little with the other, by sowing the Carrots in 

 rows 7 or 8 inches asunder, and the Radishes in rows between. 

 The Radishes will be gone by the time the Carrots want all the 

 room. There is nothing that can yield better than a small bed 

 of the Dnfoh or Early Horn Carrots, and they are very sweet 

 when assisted with a little heat. Instead of thinning so much, 

 we prefer thinning as wo pull for use. 



Coolness for Calceolarias. — We have alluded to the import- 

 ance of a small heated house for an amateur, over a pit or a 

 frame. Perhaps there is just one thing where artificial heat 

 would not be of much advantage, and that is in the case of our 

 bedding Caleeolatias. We feel sure that bad results in the 

 summer and autnmn are often owing to the coddling the plants 

 receive in heated places in winter. We think they do better 

 when, from taking the cuttings in October up to planting-oub 

 time, they never in any way receive fire heat ; not but that 

 they will thrive very well in a house that is a little heated, but 

 they ought to be as cool and airy as possible, and must be kept 

 much moister than would suit Geraniums of any section. Ours 

 seem all right as yet in a cold pit, though it was covered up 

 more than a fortnight, but they were too cool to grow much. 



Verbenas. — It is only fair that failures and misfortunes 

 should be chronicled as well as successes. Generally we have 

 had no trouble with Verbenas, striking them thickly in pots in 

 autumn, keeping them in these pots all the winter, end cutting 

 the tops oil for spring propagation, as we generally preferred 

 spring-propagated plants for free growth and free flowering. 

 Last autumn we used fresh sandy loam, and other modes the 

 same as usual, and the plants struck well and looked well until 

 the winter fairly set in, and then they began to show brown 

 and black blotches at the points, and then the same discolor- 

 ation proceeded farther down until the plants almost died out- 

 right. A number of years ago we prided ourselves on having 

 a good collection of bedding Calceolarias, but the most tender 

 of them began to be affected in much the same way, and many 



