Ojialur 31, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



351 



planting, and at this uncertain period wet may set in and the 

 soil be wholly unfit for a long time, to the great injury of the 

 bulbs. Never plant with a dibble when the soil is moist; I do 

 not like the system at the best of times, but when the soil is 

 wet it is absolute destruction to them. The last day of this 

 month is the latest period at which I would advise anyone to 

 procure Carnations and Picotees. They do not get established 

 well before winter, and when that is the case the foliage withers, 

 and is more suceptible of mildew, spot, &c, than when the 

 roots are performing their proper functions. The late heavy 

 rains are very unfavourable to recently-potted layers, and by all 

 means every protection should be given. The lights from Cu- 

 cumber-frames afford excellent shelter. It is advisable that 

 they should have all the air possible for some time to come. 

 There is no greater error committed in the cultivation of these 

 flowers than stewing them up in frames too early. Attend to 

 routine operations. The lawn should be frequently swept, and 

 another mowing will be requisite, which will bring this laborious 

 operation to a close for the season. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSEBVATOBY. 



The period has now arrived in which the increased scarcity of 

 flowers in the decaying parterre should be compensated for by 

 those conservatory flowers peculiar to winter, and by retarding 

 summer things. These together, under good management, will 

 lead imperceptibly up to the products of the forcing pit, which 

 form a distinct section, and, of course, require a separate course 

 of treatment. The Camellias will form a most prominent ob- 

 ject in this structure for the next six months, and those which 

 have been managed according to previous directions will be 

 in full gaiety until Christmas. Such should now have weak 

 and clear liquid manure, and a temperature of 50° to 55° secured, 

 descending at night to 45° in dark weather. A very considerable 

 amount of atmospheric moisture should be afforded them ; drip, 

 however, must by all means be avoided, and the syringe is out 

 of all question. The Chrysanthemums may be treated with 

 manure water constantly, and all suckers and waste shoots 

 trimmed away. Early Cinerarias should now be coming into 

 bloom, and above all the tribes for winter flowering these re- 

 quire all the light which the season affords. They should be 

 kept close to the front glass until in bloom, be frequently 

 syringed in a light way, and if the shelf is warmed by means 

 of a flue or pipe beneath, so much the better. The Chinese 

 Primroses will do in a more shady situation. Strong plants 

 sowed last March will bloom now under any ordinary circum- 

 stances ; they do not endure dry heat. The hybrid Roses, as 

 before observed, will enjoy a similar treatment to the Chrysan- 

 themums, whilst the Tea Eoses will class better with plants of 

 intermediate character, requiring a little more warmth with a 

 permanence of atmospheric moisture. Such are the Euphorbia 

 jacquiuiffiflora, Gesnera zebrina, Achimenes picta, Gesnera ob- 

 longata, Linum trigynum, Plumbago rosea, Begonias, &c, all of 

 which should have a temperature of 60° secured by day, rising 

 to 80° in sunshine, and sinking to 50° at night. One of the 

 chief evils we have to contend against at this season of the year 

 is humidity. While we are anxious to afford our plants the 

 advantages of a continuous supply of fresh air by the ordinary 

 contrivances of our plant structures, the admission of the grand 

 essential is the introduction of the crude unwholesome fogs so 

 fatal to many exotics. The remedy lies in an improved system 

 of ventilation, by which the air could be rarified prior to its 

 entrance into the conservatory. A series of small orifices below 

 the hot-water pipes, and ventilators at the back of the house, is 

 a, ready method, would secure a constant supply of fresh air, 

 and cause a desirable activity in its circulation. Restrict water- 

 to all plants which have perfected their growth ; withhold it 

 entirely from bulbous plants from which nothing further is re- 

 quired this season. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST WEEK. 



KITCHEN GABDEN. 



We placed a little litter ready to protect forward Cauliflowers 

 if a frost should suddenly occur. The cleanest protection under- 

 such circumstances will be two or three of the best leaves 

 folded over the heart, or the flower, and if the frost be too 

 much for that, put a handful of clean litter or old hay over each 

 head. _ We kept Veitch's a month over the New Year last season 

 with, in addition to the above, banking up the stems with litter. 

 If we could do so with the bulk of our Broccoli plantation we 

 should not trouble to lay the plants down. The chief objects in 

 laying these down are— first to check luxuriance, and secondly, 

 to protect the heads from attacks of frost. Laying-down has a 

 little influence in lessening the size of the flower-heads. The 

 banking-up with litter, and protecting the crowns as stated 

 above, are equally a safeguard against frost, and there is no 

 such check as would prevent the production of large swelled 

 heads ; and though not so suitable for gentility, a huge firm 

 head of Broccoli is generally sufficiently prized by all with 

 whom bulk of good matter is ever a prominent consideration. 



We laid some litter ready to cover fine rows and beds of 



Radishes if a sudden frost should come. We also sowed 

 Radishes in a frame with but little heat beneath, as heat, how- 

 ever valuable at times, is apt now to make Radishes leg too 

 much. Planted out more Lettuces on ridges and south banks, 

 and took up a lot of plants, and also of Endive, placing them 

 thickly, so that we can cover them with old sashes or other 

 protection. Our great drawbacks in this respect, and but for 

 them we could calculate on a constant supply to a nicety, are 

 rats and grass mice, which attack the hearts of the plants as 

 soon as they are shut up and covered from the frost. 



FEUIT GARDEN. 



As the weather was so wet we began to get our Strawberry 

 plants in pots placed under protection, to prevent then- being 

 soaked. The evil in our case is, that if covered up, we are so 

 liable to have the crowns nipped out, and little of that is done 

 when they are freely exposed in the open air. Keeping pots for 

 a time moderately dry is a fine preparation for forcing. 



OENAMENTAL DEPABT5IENT. 



We have lately said much about lawns, walks, &c. Chrysan- 

 themums we have mostly tied and got under cover. For two 

 months, along with Salvias, &c, they make a fine display, and 

 yield plenty of blooms for cutting and filling shallow dishes and 

 epergnes. Already we find them very useful. For this purpose 

 we do not trouble ourselves with thinning the flowers much, 

 but thin thern out when they are fully expanded, leaving the 

 buds to swell in succession. When splendid blooms are required, 

 and fewer of them, then we thin the buds freely, though by 

 doing so we cannot cut half or quarter the number of fine 

 flowers. We like to have plenty of young plants raised from 

 cuttings or suckers every year, but when the object is to 

 obtain huge sheaves of bloom without so much regard to fine 

 foliage over the rims of the pots, for that purpose no plan is 

 simpler or better than dividing and repotting the old stools in 

 spring. No young plants will yield with so little trouble such 

 a mass of blooms to cut from. After the buds begin to show, 

 the pots will take the manure water freely, and if that is not 

 convenient, a little soot, superphosphate of lime, a slight pinch 

 of guano, or a rich top-dressing of sweet dung, will greatly add 

 to the size of the blooms, and keep the leaves green. It is an 

 advantage when such helps can be given in rotation, say a week 

 of each kind, for plants, like animals, enjoy a change of diet. 



In warm places Chrysanthemums do well in beds out of doors, 

 and it is best to plunge their pots ; and altogether, against 

 fences of all aspects they bloom profusely, and make a place gay 

 when everything else begins to feel the effects of the approach- 

 ing winter. Plants turned out in spring and lifted carefully do 

 not feel the moving much either for transplanting or repotting, 

 as they make such a number of fibrous roots. For small 

 dwarf plants we have used two modes with success. First, take 

 off the shoots 6 inches long when well studded with flower-buds, 

 and strike them in small pots with a little bottom heat, but 

 keeping the top temperature cool with air ; and secondly, layer- 

 ing the tops of shoots in small pots and cutting them off when 

 rooted. The latter involves least care, but we have often had 

 the neatest and best plants by taking off cuttings at once. We 

 have thus had nice heads of bloom in 4-inch pots, and on plants 

 some 9 inches in height taken from plants that were from 3 to 

 5 feet high. Beds of a dwarf character can easily be formed 

 by layering and pegging the strong shoots ; but for in-door work 

 it is better to have plants of several varieties, in height from so 

 many inches to as many feet. 



Salvia splendens, and even fulgens, come in well to vary the 

 colour of Chrysanthemums, and so do yellow and especially 

 crimson branching Cockscombs, also all the varieties of scarlet 

 and variegated Pelargoniums. All these are useful where much 

 cutting is required, as the leaves, when ornamental, accord well 

 with Ferns for outside borderings to the flowers. 



The rains have made sad havoc with the blooms of Geraniums 

 out of doors. Many of the Calceolarias still stand well, and 

 Ageratums and Salvias are yet fine ; but as the leaves of de- 

 ciduous trees are now falling freely we may consider that the 

 glory of the pleasure grounds is past for this season, though a 

 fortnight of fine weather would yet bring out rich bloom. 



Much of the work has been devoted to finding room for florists' 

 and fancy Pelargoniums, and cleaning and washing the places 

 where they were to be placed. We have cut down late-flowering 

 kinds of the same, and put all together — scarlet, variegated, and. 

 fancy and florists' Pelargoniums that will bloom in winter and 

 spring, getting them into vineries, &c, where they will remain 

 in a temperate atmosphere until we want a higher temperature 

 for the Vines. This sort of shifting and cramming, but no 

 longer than the plants will stand it, is of vast importance in all 

 places where much must be done in little room. 



Fearing damp even more than frost, we have had a good por- 

 tion of our cuttings for the flower garden next season, just so 

 late as to be beginning to root, placed in vineries and Peach 

 houses ; and as they are mostly in portable wooden boxes, the 

 most of the care they will require for some time will be a skiff 

 from the syringe in sunny days to prevent too free evaporation, 

 and a trifle of fire heat to keep out frost. 



