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JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



[ Juae 1, 1871. 



cash, the receipts, after deduoting incidental expenses, would 

 exceed the interest of many investments which are considered 

 lucrative. I grant there are drawbacks ; for instance, we have 

 this season had to contend with weather which, owing to the 

 coldness of the nights, has been upon the whole unfavourable 

 for setting ; bat now that we can count the fruit likely to stand 

 we may congratulate ourselves upon our prospects of a profit- 

 able yield, as compared with the forlorn hopes of those who 

 this year have to look for a crop upon unprotected walls. 



I still continue to be satisfied with my orchard house, though 

 I must confess that this year I have had a hard entomological 

 battle to fight ; for first, the excessively hot weather during the 

 early part of the spring brought the red spider out of his winter 

 hiding place, and gave him a fair field for commencing his 

 depredations at a time when, for fear of damaging the blossom, 

 the syringe was scarcely available. I found even my Apricot 

 trees infested with red spider, which I notice, inasmuch as Mr. 

 Elvers in his valuable treatise hints that Apricot trees enjoy 

 an immunity from the attacks of the pests of the orchard house. 

 I found the only plan was to go over each leaf that bore marks 

 of the destroyer, and rub the under surface with my finger. 

 The subsequent cold weather seemed to induce honeydew, fol- 

 lowed by myriads of aphides, and these (like the Paris insur- 

 gents) being hard to get rid of, I had to treat to a thrice-re- 

 peated dose of fumigation. Poor Paris, while abandoned to 

 those Bed spiders in human form, the Communists, might be 

 not unfitly compared to an orchard house ia the possession of 

 the insect varmint I have exterminated, and it really seems 

 now to be undergoing the same remedy of fumigation, involved 

 as it is " in fire and vapour of smoke." But there is this 

 striking difference : The mischief wrought in Europe's fairest 

 city is irreparable ; whereas if in our glass houses a tree or two 

 should be destroyed by blight or mildew, your advertising 

 sheets inform us of plenty of complaisant gardeners who, at a 

 trifling cost, will be happy to repair all our damages. 



My trees, which are in perfect health, have a fair but not an 

 abundant crop this year. I am still constantly thinning out, 

 as I much prefer a comparatively few but fine fruit to bushels 

 which not only fail to come to perfection, but also exhaust the 

 vital energies of the tree. I have this year grown a few of the 

 best Eoses in pots in my orchard house, and the ladies are 

 quite delighted at having in the drawing-room such early spe- 

 cimens of this queen of flowers. My Vines beneath the rafters 

 look most luxuriant, only I wish that they did not cause quite 

 so thick a shade. As I look up I am reminded of what Cicero 

 said of the Vine (Vitis) — " Quam serpcnUm, midtiplici lapsu et 

 cryatieo, ferro ampiitans, coercet ars agricolarum, ne silvescat 

 sannentis," " And this (i.e., the Vine), as it creeps along in a 

 winding and erratic course, the husbandman's art by pruning 

 restrains, lest it should run to wood." The above passage was 

 once rendered by a Cambridge undergraduate, who, I fear, had 

 omitted to prepare for lecture, in the following highly ingenious 

 manner — Quam serpcntem, which serpent, multipUci lapsu et 

 erratico, slipping along in many a maze, ars agricolarum, the 

 art of husbandmen, amjjutons/ciTO, chopping in two with his 

 spade, coercet, prevents, 7ie silvescat sannentis, its too many 

 wrigglings. This is a fact.— A Constant Eeadee. 



GREENHOUSE PLANTS.— No. 4. 



Passiflora ctcrulea racemosa. — Growth rather slender but very 

 free, and the plant does well in a greenhouse, which is more 

 than can be said of the majority of the Passifloras enumerated 

 in catalogues as suitable for the temperature of such a structure. 

 The flowers are reddish purple, produced in great profusion in 

 May, June, and throughout the summer, followed by an egg- 

 like fruit, pale yellow when ripe, and of the size of a bantam's 

 egg- 



Passiflora Comte Nesselrodc. — Of stronger habit than the 

 preceding, foliage slightly larger, and of a much deeper green, 

 flowers reddish, green, and purple. It is one of the most 

 desirable varieties, succeeding well in a greenhouse. 



Passiflora Imperatrice Eugenie, with red, white, and blue 

 flowers, is also free in growth, and is suitable for a greenhouse. 



Passiflora Countess Giuglini has fine large white and blue 

 flowers, and is one of the finest of the Passion-flowers, but in 

 a greenhouse it requires time ; indeed, accoiding to my expe- 

 rience, though many of the Passifloras succeed after some 

 time tolerably well in a greenhouse, yet from the late growths 

 that are made, and the consequent imperfect ripening of the 

 wood, they are there precarious subjects. They do best in a 

 B.ove or a warm greenhouse, neither of which I shall take into 



consideration in these papers, confining myself strictly to 

 greenhouse plants. 



The Passifloras thrive in a compost of two parts light fibrous 

 loam, one part sandy peat, and one part leaf soil, with a free 

 admixture of sharp sand. The best mode of training is, per- 

 haps, to allow one shoot or rod to each wire, to permit it to 

 grow to the extent required without stopping, and the side 

 shoots to grow at will ; as they do so in a hanging or drooping 

 manner, the effect when in flower is very pleasing. In autumn 

 the side shoots should be cut back to about a foot in length, 

 and in spring, when they begin to grow, cut them back to 

 within an inch of the rod or shoot whence they proceed. It may 

 be necessary for a year or two, at the spring pruning, to shorten 

 the principal shoots to the firm or ripe wood, as their points, 

 from being made late in summer, are not ripened, and they not 

 unfrequently die back in winter. Another shoot as leader will, 

 of course, need to be trained in their place. The shoots I 

 allow to grow at will, only if they do not show flowers at a foot 

 or 18 inches in length, I take out their points. Beyond the 

 shortening of the shoots in autumn, essential to afiord light to 

 the plants beneath, and the spurring-in during February, no 

 other pruning is given. When any of the rods become worn 

 out they may be cut clean out, and in their places other shoots 

 trained from the base. From October to March they require 

 to be kept rather dry at the roots, and throughout the summer 

 abundant supplies of water are required, affording top-dressings 

 of rich compost, or about an inch of short manure in May, and 

 again about the middle of June. 



Tacsonia mollissima. — Flowers bright shaded pink or rose; 

 very free in growth, foliage bright gre€n, and covered with 

 white down. The flowers, though not equal to those of T. 

 Yan-Volxemi either in size or brilliancy, are, nevertheless, 

 very fine. The plant is of remarkably rapid growth. I 

 planted one out last year, and it has grown up a 20-feet and 

 down a 10 feet length of rafter, occupying five wires on two 

 rafters, and the side shoots hang down from the rafter 6 feet, 

 many much more, and at the time I write (the beginning of 

 May) they are showing flowers at every joint. It usually flowers 

 at the close of May and throughout the summer, and it is the 

 very best of climbers for covering a large extent of roof. 



Tacsonia Tan-Volxemi. — Flowers crimson, very fine ; foliage 

 light green, not downy ; in habit more slender than T. mollis- 

 sima, but quite as free in growth, yet it takes more time to 

 establish itself. It fiowers almost continuonely, but it is 

 well to keep it dry in winter, so as to induce rest. 



The Taesonias should not have the shoots very much crowded, 

 but these may be allowed to hang down if they are likely to 

 become too numerous and crowded on the wires, and in the 

 hottest part of summer they may be taken to the rafter adjoin- 

 ing, making the shoots from the other rafter meet them, and 

 thus festooned they afford not only an agreeable shade but a 

 fine effect. In autumn the shoots should be cut back, confin- 

 ing them to the rafters, and in February all the old shoots, 

 except the main shoot or rod on each rafter, should be cut out, 

 allowing, however, an inch at their base to remain, but leave 

 entire any young shoots at that time not more than from 1 foot 

 to IS inches in length proceeding from the main shoot or rods, 

 and they will show signs of fiowering almost immediately. 



Water must be copiously supplied in summer, with the top- 

 dressing recommended for the Passifloras, and in winter give 

 none, except a little to keep the foliage from flagging. The 

 compost recommended for Passifloras suits the Taesonias. 



Both the Taesonias mentioned produce fruit plentifully, in 

 size and form like a hen's egg ; that of T. mollissima is said to 

 be eatable. A dish of the fruit, however well set up, has too 

 much the appearance of a dish of eggs, and as to flavour I 

 doubt it would not please the English taste. 



The foregoing are all the climbing plants which I can recom- 

 mend for extensive roof-covering. Many hardy climbers, as 

 Clematises, cfec, flne as they are under glass, and half-hardy 

 climbers such as Cobfea, Mutisia, &o., are also omitted, for the 

 simple reason that they are not greenhouse plants. Some of 

 them are not presentable in winter, whilst others, if too hot 

 and dry in summer, fall a prey to insect pests, and are, in my 

 opinion, undesirable. 



CLIMBERS SUITABLE FOR SHORT ROOFS OR RAFTERS. 

 (10 to 12 feet.) 



Dolichos lignosus.— This is a twining plant, evergreen, with 

 pea-shaped flowers, purplish red. It requires to have the 

 shoots well thinned out in summer after flowering, removing 

 the old and weak growths. Water should be abundantly given, 

 with occasional supplies of liquid manure. Soil two parts 



