September 20, 1877. 1 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



241 



duced, well-trained Vines look remarkably well on any wall, or 

 trained to out-houses or the gable end of a dwelling-house. 

 The bunches of the white varieties 6hould be exposed to the 

 sun when the berries become soft to the touch. In our neigh- 

 bourhood they do not as yet show signs of being ripe early, but 

 if the weather is fine for two or three weeks longer Royal Mus- 

 cadine on a favourable position will ripen fairly. The small 

 Black Cluster is also a useful Grape. These fruits are not much 

 grown in aristocratic gardens where Black Hamburgh is grown 

 under glasa ; but those who are not so fortunate as to own any 

 glass structure can appreciate the Royal Muscadine from an 

 open wall in favoured districts in the south of England. The 

 lateral growths Bhould be pinched off, and the young wood 

 should be f ally exposed to the sun. During mild dry weather 

 about the end of September or in October red spider and other 

 insect peBts make much progress on the trees if they are not 

 checked. As soon as the fruit is gathered from any of the trees 

 the garden engine may be brought into requisition, and the 

 trees be thoroughly syringed with clear water. If the trees are 

 thoroughly cleansed from insect pests in the autumn they will 

 not be likely to be attacked in the following spring or early 

 summer. 



There is usually a border in front of the walls, and this must 

 be kept free from weeds and be raked occasionally. The crops 

 that can be grown on such borders are Lettuce, Endive, and 

 other small salads. If it is necessary to plant them with early 

 Peas, Potatoes, or Beans, these crops ought not to be nearer the 

 wall than 3 feet. 



CUCUMBERS AND MELONS. 



Preparation must now be made to plant out the Cucumbers 

 for winter bearing. It is not well to delay this too long, else 

 the plants do not become well established before the dull dark 

 days of November. The trellis ought to be well oovered before 

 the first week in November, and the plants must not be allowed 

 to bear too much after that date, else speedy exhaustion will 

 follow. Before planting-out see that the house is thoroughly 

 cleansed by washing the glass and woodwork; the hot- water 

 pipes should be painted, and the walls washed and be afterwards 

 painted over with lime water. If there are any plants in the 

 house infested with insect peste, such as red spider, thrips, or 

 mealy bug, they must either be cleaned or removed. If the 

 Cucumber plants are quite free from any of them when they are 

 put out probably they will not be attacked in the winter if proper 

 precautions are used. It is not desirable to make a large border 

 for the roots, a Bpace for the Boil about 2 feet wide and from 

 9inohes to a foot deep is amply sufficient; the roots work near 

 the surface more in a shallow border, and they can be encou- 

 raged by frequent dressings with rich soil. In the Cucumber 

 house at Loxford the bedB are much wider than is necessary, 

 and our plan is to build a wall down the centre of the bed with 

 bricks, not using any mortar. On one Bide of this wall is the 

 oompost for the plants, on the other some fermenting manure. 

 This bed of manure answers two purposes — it excites by its 

 warmth to immediate root-action the newly-planted Cucumber 

 plants, and the bottom heat is very useful for propagating pur- 

 poses ; moreover, insects do not like the moiBture from stable 

 manure in a fresh state. 



Melons on which the fruit is ripening should have a rather dry 

 atmosphere, the house should be freely aired, and the tempera- I 

 ture at night to range between 60° and 65°. When the fruit is 

 not in such an advanced stage as this the usual precautions 

 must be taken to keep the leaves free from the attacks of red | 

 spider. Too much syringing is apt to injure the plants by 

 causing them to rot off at the neck. It is best to syringe 

 thoroughly during the morniDga of fine days ; 65° at night with 

 a rise of about 10° by day is a very suitable temperature. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



Where there are large houses and pits devoted to the culture 

 of greenhouse plants there is plenty to do all through the 

 Beason. At present the winter-flowering plants demand at- 

 tention. Before this appears in print a batch of Hyacinth and 

 Tulip roots will probably be potted for early flowering. We 

 pot one root in the centre of a 5 -inch pot, or three small roots in 

 a 6-inch. When potted the pots are placed on a hard bottom 

 of ashes, and are then covered over with cocoa-nut fibre refuse. 

 Cyclamens have also just been potted. Those in 7 and 8-inch 

 pots were turned-out of the pots, the balls of earth consider- 

 ably reduced, and the plants were again potted into similar 

 pots from which they had been turned out. Primula cortusoides 

 amcena, and varieties white and lilac, have also been repotted. 

 Before doing so the plants were separated, each clump being 

 broken into four or five pieces, and when potted in fresh pots 

 fresh compost was worked-in between them. The Cape and 

 New Holland plants potted a few weeks ago have taken kindly 

 to the fresh compost and are making freBh roots abundantly. 

 The house was kept rather close for a few days, but we now 

 ventilate freely, leaviDg the ventilators open at night as well as 

 in the day. Some of the plants require to be staked-out, but 

 this is work that can stand over for a time, and it is just as well 

 to leave such work if possible for rough weather later in the 



year. It is best to use sticks made of good deal for hard wooded 

 plants, and strong black linen thread to tie with. The sticks 

 should be painted of a green colour. Most of the buds on Chry- 

 santhemums are now set and swelling freely. The late-flower- 

 ing sorts, such as PrinceBs of Wales, Princess Teck, Her Majesty, 

 Lady Slade, Venua, &c, should be set the last week in AuguBt, 

 or at least in the very earliest days of September, the early- 

 flowering sorts a week or ten days later. Now is the time to 

 look out for mildew, not only on Chrysanthemums but many 

 other greenhouse plants, including Cinerarias, also Heaths and 

 many other similar plants. Sulphur thrown as a cloud of dust 

 on the leaves will soon destroy it in its earliest stages. 



FLORIST FLOWERS. 



In writing two or three weeks ago on Auriculas it was stated 

 that a certain variety was " dorty," a phrase much UBed in 

 Scotland, but the printer made it out "dirty," which is a 

 blunder. Auriculas are now making their autumn growth, but 

 many of the plants are also showing trusses of bloom. We do 

 not find that these interfere much with the spring bloom, if 

 they are picked off as soon aB possible a new heart is formed in 

 the course of a few weeks ; the plants require picking over again 

 to remove the decaying leaves and weedB. The plants are still 

 under the shelter of a north wall in frames, and the lights are 

 removed as often as weather permits. We never allow the 

 leaves to be exposed to rain ; as they are sheltered by the wall 

 high winds do not injure them. 



Pinks. — The earliest-Btruck pipings of these have been planted 

 out in the beds where they are intended to bloom. It is usual 

 to plant them in October, but we would rather plant about the 

 middle of September, when the plants have been duly hardened 

 off. The treatment so far is this — about the end of June or 

 early in July the pipings are put into boxes, and they strike out 

 roots in about two weeks, aided by a little bottom heat. When 

 it is seen that the plants are rooted air freely, removing the 

 lights altogether in calm weather. After a while, say from the 

 beginning to the middle of August, remove the boxes to an ex- 

 posed position out of doors, and then plant out the young plants 

 3 inches apart in a bed of light soil. In a month after being 

 planted out they are ready for removing to the beds where they 

 will flower. Plant in light rich soil 9 inches apart, or less if 

 space is limited. We have just finished potting-off the Car- 

 nations and Picotees. We pot a pair in a small pot except 

 Bcarce and choice varieties, these are placed one in a pot. It 

 would be as well to pot the plants singly, but then it requires a 

 double quantity of pots, and we cannot spare frames for so 

 many. The only pest to us is the wireworm, and as it works 

 like the mole under ground it is very difficult to oatch it 

 until the plant is destroyed. We pick the soil over carefully 

 two or three times before potting, as a wireworm in a pot is sure 

 to destroy at least one of the plants, probably both. The potting 

 material is of the simplest description — loam four parts, leaf 

 mould one part, rotted manure one part, and some sand to keep 

 the compost open. 



Pansies. — Cuttings of these were put in a few days ago and 

 they have struck roots freely. The young plants are speedily 

 attacked by green fly and mildew under glaBS. It iB beBt to 

 turn them out of doors as soon as they are rooted. We have also 

 pricked-out a number of seedling Pansies, intending to plant a 

 bed of them about the end of October. 



Dahlias and Hollyhocks require attention. All flowers that 

 have begun to decay Bhould be at once removed. The shoots 

 should be tied to the Bticks to prevent their being broken by the 

 high winds prevalent at this season. See that the ground is 

 kept free from weeds and the plants from decaying leaves. — 

 J. Douglas. 



Death of Professor Parlatorb. — It is with much regret 

 that we have to announce the death of Filippo Parlatore, Pro- 

 fessor of Botany at Florence, of which we received an intima- 

 tion as we were going to press. Professor Parlatore died full 

 of honours on the 9th of this month at the age of 6ixty-one. 

 The list of honorary distinctions which accompany the an- 

 nouncement of his death occupy nearly a whole page of a 

 quarto sheet. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

 *,* All correspondence should be directed either to "The 

 Editors," or to " The Publisher." Letters addressed to 

 Mr. Johnson or Dr. Hogg often remain unopened unavoid- 

 ably. We request that no one will write privately to any 

 of our correspondents, as doing so subjects them to un- 

 justifiable trouble and expense. 

 Fuchsias [Mr. Boyle). — Fuchsias virgata and graoilis are not identical. 

 The window plant you describe is probably Kichardia sethiopica. 



Vines in Pots [S. N.). — You may grow them for one year, and then turn 

 them out into the border. The spray you enclosed is Pyrus Aria, the "White 

 Beam Tree. 



