240 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ llarcli 80, 1871 



now be prunetl, shaken oat, and repotted in readiness to be 

 tamed out of doors in a prepared sheltered situation, where 

 they form beantifal objects late in summer and in the antumn 

 months. Give such plants as young Boronias, Dracophyllums, 

 Pimeleas, Pol.ygalas, Dillwynia^, Leschenaultia?, Eriostemons, 

 &3., a tolerably close corner of the house. Keep them clean, 

 and repot them when necessary. A-.tenrl closely to stopping 

 the young growth aa it requires it, but as roots and branches 

 act reciprocally, it is not a bad plan to allow delicate plants to 

 ramble a little after they are first potted, to encourage the roots 

 and have them well established. 



STOVE. 



The plants hare are now in vigorous growth, and therefore 

 they must be assisted by a lively bottom heat and a brisk grow- 

 ing temperature, with plenty of moisture and air, supplying 

 weat liquid manure to such plants as require it. Cleroden- 

 drons should now be in vigorous growth — at least the first lot, 

 and therefore must be assisted, and the younger stock of these 

 plants must also be encouraged. SAnbertia graveolens, AUa- 

 mandas of all sorts, Gloriosas, Eondeletias, young Ixoras, Dip- 

 ladenias, Franoisceas, and mmy more free-growing plants must 

 be encouraged by potting when necessary, and due attention to 

 cleanliness. A fresh stock of Gesneras, Gloxinias, and Achi- 

 menes must be started. Apply the syringe with caution to all 

 Orchids growing on blocks or baskets. Plunge in tepid water 

 all such as require it, to secure proper moisture throughout 

 the entire materials in which they are growing. Water well at 

 the roots all strong-growing plants of Cycnoches, Mormodes, 

 Galeandra, Ghysis, &a. All Dendrobiums that want shifting 

 must be attended to as soon as they are done flowering, and 

 must be grown in very porous materials. When they have 

 made 3 or 4 inches of new growth they commence forming new 

 roots, and must then be liberally supplied with water both at 

 top and bottom, and set in a warm part of the house. 



PITS AND FKillES. 



Let all annuals or exotic seedlings be pricked out in good time, 

 and watch them closely if in frames or pits for fear of injury 

 by snails, &2. This is a good time to make a liberal sowing of 

 the German Siocks, China Asters, Balsams, &3., and, in fact, 

 annuals in general. — W. Kea>;e. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



AsOTHER most brilliant week of bright sunny weather, which 

 will be very beneficial in the cleaning and preparation of the 

 soil, seed sowing, &3. The week's work has been to a great 

 extent a repetition of that of the preceding week, as in sowing 

 successions of Peas, Beans, Spinach, Eadishes, and Turnips, 

 pricking- ofi seedlings, watering Strawberry pots, potting-oS 

 and making cuttings, and proceeding with changes in ground- 

 work, so as, if possible, to finish turfing before the end of 

 March ; therefore, instead of taking the several departments, 

 we will make a few remarks on some things which have come 

 prominently under our observation. 



Peas. — We have some intended to be forward growing in the 

 orchard house, where, for a short space in front, they will fruit 

 on the ground without stakes, and the plants will be cleared 

 off as soon as the pods become too old for parlour use. After 

 the snow lately noticed, and the smoking with laurel leaves 

 that we gave the house, the Ptjas looked very indifferently for 

 a few days, the points hanging their heads, and being half 

 inclined to wither. Various were the surmises as to the cause, 

 most attributing it to some soot interfering with root action, 

 but on examining the roots nothing could look more healthy 

 and sound. We attribute the result partly to a frost before the 

 snow came, but chiefly ty the smoking with the roof so closed 

 np with the snow. We mention this as a warning that such 

 smoking, it dense and strong, should not be practised where there 

 is young and very sensitive growth. Lots of Strawberry plants. 

 Wallflowers, Roses, &e., were not in the least affected. In about 

 the third day, all traces of any sufiering in the case of the Peas 

 had wholly disanpeared. 



Owing to the Peas just now referred to, we had partly made 

 np our mind to do without a transplanted crop, but as those 

 sown in the open ground did not grow so quickly as we wished, 

 owing to the coldness of the soil, about sixteen days ago we 

 sowed a lot on turves, and placed them on a mild hotbed. The 

 tart pieces were abont a foot long, 2 inches thick, and 3 inches 

 wide. S^ma 2 inches of rotten rough leaf mould were placed 

 on the surface of the bed, the turves with a little trench in the 

 middle of each placed closely together on the leaf mould, the 



Peas sown thinly in the trench, covered half an inch over the 

 turves with rich compost, and watered well with water at abont 

 150'. The Peas very soon peeped through the turf and elon- 

 gated fast, and after having had full exposure during the day 

 for several days, and air at night, they were transferred to a 

 i well-aired and pulverised south border on the forenoon of the 

 25th, and never felt the moving. The roots were hanging out 

 all round the turf, clinging to the rough leaf mould, and each 

 turf was carefully deposited without breaking a root, with the 

 nice warm soil of the surface beneath and around it ; when 

 the roots were well covered, we watered with warmed water, and 

 the common earth was placed over the turf as the planting was 

 finished. The staking was done as the work proceeded, and a 

 few laurel twigs stuck in by the sides of the rows, so that all the 

 border should be left open without a footmark to unnecessarily 

 compress the soil. These details are essential to success. With 

 this little trouble we shall be disappointed if we do not gather 

 ten days earlier than from similar sorts sown in the open 

 ground some time ago. 



We must in candour state that these Peas thus forwarded 

 under glass in a frame were red-leaded before sowing, and not 

 a single Pea was touched by mouse or rat ; but the same kind 

 of Pea treated in the same way and placed in a rather open 

 earth pit was considerably disturbed, the Peas being pulled out 

 of the turves and some nibbled and eaten, though we are not 

 sure whether mouse or rat was the transgressor. This is the 

 first instance in our experience of red-leaded seeds having been 

 meddled with, but having felt so indebted to the system as to 

 praise it highly it is only fair that this one instance should be 

 recorded. 



It is very diflicult to get rid of these mice depredators. It is 

 not uncommon to pick up from six to a dozen flattened large 

 mice in a morning, and still the number does not seem to 

 decrease much. We do not like the idea of poisoning, nor yet 

 of keeping the little things in torture for hours in traps. Hence 

 our partiality for the old figure-4 trap, as with a slate at the 

 bottom and a heavy tile hanging over it, it is either a miss or 

 instant death. 



Deep Planting and Deep Potting. — Wa have several times 

 alluded to the impropriety of deep planting, even as respects 

 hardy trees and shrubs. We examined some little forest "trees 

 lately that had died, and we traced the death to planting the 

 young trees from 3 to 6 inches too deep. Inexperienced 

 planters are almost sure to do so, the plants are so much more 

 easily firmed. The collar of the plant — the point whence the 

 stem goes one way and the roots another — should only be 

 slightly covered ; and if earth is added afterwards it should be 

 given by degrees, only a little at a time. The same rule holds 

 good as respects planting in beds or frames, or potting in 

 general. We have lately seen a lot of fine plants that owed 

 their premature decay to planting their soft succulent stems 

 too deeply, as the heat and the damp soil together rotted the 

 stems through. Even when matters do not go so far as this, 

 many plants are greatly injured from being potted too deeply, 

 and when inexperienced lads have to do such work they must 

 be looked after, so as not to bury the stem of the plant. We 

 have noticed such strong-growing plants as young Scarlet Ge- 

 raniums fog or damp o2 merely from having been too deeply 

 potted. 



Piipened and Uiiripcned Cuttings. — This is a matter which we 

 have intended to allude to for some time, as the kind of cutting 

 makes a great difference in the time of the young plants bloom- 

 ing — more than is generally imagined. This has proininently 

 come under our observation for two or three years. Previously 

 to that, from doing much bedding in the flower garden we had 

 a larger space to go over in selecting cuttings, and could cull a 

 good many more cuttings from near the top of the plant, where 

 they received their due proportion of sun and air. Latterly, 

 from the space being less, and the desire to keep the outlines 

 of the beds as little broken as possible, and having no reserve 

 ground for plants from which cuttings could be taken, we have 

 been forced to go over our beds several times and to slip off 

 small side shoots as near the base of the plants as possible, so 

 that their removal should not be noticed. These little bits 

 taken from the shaded parts of the plants strike and grow very 

 well, but they will not bloom so early in the cutting boxes as 

 those which were taken from nearer the tops of the plants. lu 

 previous years we could, if wo had wished it, have had numbera 

 of blooms of Geraniums from boxes where they were struck, 

 say, from 1^ to 2 inches apart. The plants used to show bloom 

 pretty freely after Christmas. For two or three years we ha\e 

 had scarcely any bloom. We could not find room to pot these 



