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JOURNAL OP HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ Jtme 15, 1871. 



there is auch a difference, but I would prefer first to know if 

 others have bad a similar experience. — A Yoeky. 



PLANTS SUITABLE FOR TABLE DECORATION. 



iECHilEA FULGENS. 



Akokg the many varieties of plants suitable for dinner-table 

 decoration the Dracaena as a fine-foliaged plant is worthy to 

 stand first ; and out of a great number of flowering plants 

 which I have tried, none have been more pleasing than J3ohmea 

 fulgens. Its rich green foliage and handsome form make it 

 attractive when in its growing state, but when graced with its 

 spike of coral-like flowers it cannot but be admired by all who 

 see it. If you have an old plant by yon it will be very little 

 trouble to increase the stock ; if not, in making a purchase it 

 is best to get two plants, no matter how small, so long as they 

 are rooted and are both the same size. If they have not filled 

 their pots with roots allow them to remain in them until they 

 have, but at the same time be careful not to let them get pot- 

 bound ; then shift them into the size of pots you use on the 

 dinner table — 4 or 5-inch are large enough, and are the size I 

 nse myself, but a size larger will do them no harm. The soil 

 should be two parts peat, one part fibrous loam, one part tho- 

 roughly rolted cow dung, with a good sprinkling of silver sand. 

 Let this be well mixed together, but not rubbed, as the soil 

 ought to be in pieces about the size of Spanish nuts. It is a 

 good plan to water the young plants thoroughly, if they are 

 dry, about an hour before you shift them into larger pots, and 

 then after they are potted let them stand two or three days 

 lefore you water again ; and if it is winter time they may stand 

 aweek or ten days before they require water. The pots should 

 either be new or washed clean and well dried, as no plants 

 thrive well in dirty pots. If the pots are new they shonld be 

 dipped in water, as pots fresh from the potteries, if not wetted 

 and allowed to dry, slightly slack when the plant is watered for 

 the first time, and this is not good for the roots. The plants 

 will now require very little water, except what they get by 

 syringing. I have sometimes let them stand all winter with- 

 out giving water more than once or twice ; but as soon as the 

 plant begins to show its flower-stem, it will require water when- 

 ever the soil gets dry ; if not, the flower will be small. The 

 plant should occasionally be inverted, to let out the water which 

 is sure to lodge in its heart when the syringe is used. This 

 should be done by placing the neck of the plant between the 

 fingers, with the rim of the pot resting on the hand : by this 

 means you will prevent the soil from falling out of the pot. 



About the time the plant is in full flower, young shoots will 

 make their appearance at the neck of the plant, and when these 

 have grown to about 5 or 6 inches long, they may be cut ofl 

 close to the parent with a sharp knife, and placed in the middle 

 of a thumb-pot, using a mixture of peat, leaf mould, and silver 

 aand, in equal parts, and they will very soon root and make 

 nice young plants, which can be shifted as soon as they have 

 filled their pots with roots, using the soil described above. 

 "When the old plants have done their best, they may be thrown 

 away to make room for yonng ones ; or ic a number of young 

 ones are wanted, they may be cut down, and they will soon 

 send up three or four suckers, which may be parted with roots 

 to them ; or cut off and struck, whichever is preferred. The 

 cuttings will strike in the stove or in a warm dung frame. 



It is a good plan to take three or four cuttings whenever you 

 can get them, as then you will have plants in flower at different 

 times of the year. Last year I had plants in flower from the 

 last week of July until the last week in December. They came 

 into flower in succession, at intervals of about a fortnight. 

 And now some cuttings that were struck in May will, I have no 

 doubt, flower by April ; and some more that were struck in 

 September have grown considerably, and will most likely flower 

 by May or June ; and plants struck in February and March 

 will flower in the following August and September. So by 

 taking a few cuttings all the year round, you may be sure of 

 plants flt for table decoration almost whenever they may be 

 required. And should they not be required for table decoration, 

 their beauty, and the length of time they flower, will amply 

 repay the trouble. — William Nokes, Blake Hall, Ongar, Essex. 

 —(in The Gardener.) 



Heavy Peach Chops. — The large Peach shipments of 1C1,9G8 

 packages of Peaches frtm St. Joseph, Michigan, during the 

 season of 1870, have been quoted by Western papers, and also 

 some foreign ones, as the " largest known to the present gene- 



ration." We must give better credit- to little Delaware, by 

 saying that from one station alone, on a railroad 17.5 miles 

 long, there were shipped from Middletown, Delaware, last year, 

 175,000 baskets and packages of Peaches, and from the town of 

 Dover there were shipped, both by railroad and steamer, the 

 enormous amount of 460,000 baskets. The produce of the entire 

 peninsula of Maryland and Delaware was 3,000,000 baskets, and 

 the value nett to the growers about 1,200,000 dols. ! Is there 

 any other section of the world that can make as favourable an 

 exhibit as this ? — {Horticulturist.} 



STRAWBERRY PROSPECTS. 



I HAVE read very interesting remarks on this subject during 

 the last few weeks, and the writers seem desirous of informa- 

 tion from others interested in the cultivation of the Strawberry. 

 When I read the remarks of " Pi. F." I felt a little anxiety for 

 the time being, but that gradually wore away. 



I have had heavy crops of Strawberries daring the last 

 fifteen year?, but last year the produce was not quite so heavy 

 as in previous seasons, still I had plenty for my employer's 

 use and some to spare. All my beds at present are very pro- 

 mising. We have three plantations ; I destroy the oldest 

 plantation every year, and I make a new one of the same size. 

 The varieties which I cultivate are all old proved kinds — viz., 

 Black Prince, Keens' Seedling, Myatt's Queen, Alice Mande, 

 Sir Charles Napier, British Queen, Admiral Dundas, and Sir 

 Harry. The last-named variety is a very heavy cropper with 

 me. I have frequently gathered fruit as large as a pigeon's 

 egg from plants bearing heavy crops as well. 



Previous to making a new Strawberry plantation I dig deeply 

 and use plenty of rotten leaves and manure, equal parts of 

 each, and I frequently give a surface-dressing of soot or lime, 

 just as I may happen to have it at hand. The first runners 

 which I can obtain I take up carefully with a trowel from be- 

 tween the rows of the Strawberry plants, and I am particularly 

 careful to have the young plants lifted with all the roots and 

 the soil that adheres to them, with as little disturbance as is 

 possible while removing them to the new plantation. As the 

 planting is carried on I give each plant a thorough soaking of 

 water, and should the weather continue dry after planting I 

 water for a few evenings to give the new plantation a good 

 start. After the plants are fairly established in their new 

 quarters I give no more water, even if the season be as dry as 

 that of 1870. I never water fruiting plants. 



From November to March I give all my beds, young and old, 

 a good dressing of dung and leaves, and dig it in about 2 inches 

 deep. As soon as the flower-stems are perceptible I lay just 

 enough fresh stable litter round each plant to keep the fruit 

 clean. Ttie litter, being laid on early, sweetens before the 

 fruit ripens, and at the same time prevents so much evapora- 

 tion as would take place were the litter used at a later period. 

 — MosMoniH. 



MIGNONETTE CULTURE. 



[The following is in answer to several inquirers who wish to 

 grow Mignonette for exhibition.] 



Sow two seeds in a 3-inch pot, placing them about half an 

 inch apart, and cover them with fine soil about one-eighth of 

 an inch deep. The soil should consist of light fibrous loam 

 two parts, and one part of leaf soil, with half a part of silver 

 sand, and the same proportion of charcoal not larger than a 

 pea, the whole well mixed. Water gently, and place the pots 

 in a hotbed of about 70°, shading until the seedlings appear, 

 and then remove the shading, and elevate the pots so that the 

 plants may not be nearer the glass than 3 inches, nor farther 

 than 6 inches from it. Keep the soil just moist, sprink'e over- 

 head every afternoon about 4 p.m., and close the frame, for I 

 presume it is convenient to have them in such for a time, and 

 when the plants are an inch high remove them to a cold frame, 

 setting them on inverted flower pots, so as to bring them about 

 6 inches from the glass, calculating from the tops of the plants. 

 The lights should be drawn down about G inches by 7 a.m. in 

 clear weather; at 4 p.m. water, if required, and sprinkle over- 

 head, shutting up for the day. If the weather is clondy and 

 showery draw off the lights altogether, and employ them only 

 in case of very heavy rains, and then tilted at the back and 

 front so as to admit abundance of air. 



When the roots are slightly matted round the sides of the 

 pots shift into 4.t-inch pots, not placing the plants deeper in 

 the soil at this nor any subsequent potting than they were at 



