November 22, 1861. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



411 



for there is no plant that can be kept healthy -without an 

 annual period of rest, whether that rest be effected through 

 dryness or through cold. 



According to our correspondent's description of his treat- 

 ment it would seem that he treats the Tritonia as an 

 aquatic during the winter, lessening the quantity of water 

 when the plant shows for bloom, when it seems it should be 

 allowed to become dry, or not be watered so copiously as 

 when growing vigorously during the winter. Surely a 

 blooming plant should be well watered when showing for 

 and in flower ! 



We pot them, when the foliage turns yellow, in soil mode- 

 rately moist, and place on coal ashes out of doors — it may 

 be in a frame. When the flower-spikes are quite gone we 

 cut them away, and we do not pot until then, if any increase 

 is desired; and after potting new roots we water them to 

 settle the earth about the roots. We plunge them, whether 

 divided or undivided, in coal ashes in a cold frame in October, 

 before frost sets in. Air is daily given during mild weather, 

 and a protection of mats sufficient to prevent injury from 

 frost. No water is given during the winter, from October 

 to March, for there is moisture enough in cold pits, and 

 cold greenhouses too, to prevent the young shoots, as yet 

 under ground, deriving their sole support from the root- 

 bulbs. Were they watered as our correspondent recom- 

 mends, and should they be frozen with the soil in the state 

 of mud, as it will be through constant watering, we should 

 find the roots as if parboiled — those young shoots our corre- 

 spondent is so careful about as to give soakings of water to. 

 After growth has fairly commenced in the spring we water 

 copiously, and continue to do so until the flowering is passed, 

 when the plants are repotted, and treated to no more water or 

 moisture than what they receive by being placed or plunged 

 in coal ashes. So opposite is this to the treatment recom- 

 mended by our correspondent that we have entered into it 

 at length, not to show that he is wrong, but to prove that 

 circumstances alter cases ; and in answering correspondents' 

 queries special cases are the rule rather than the exception, 

 and no one can form an opinion of the answers unless the 

 query be before him. We have another mode of treatment, 

 different only because the plants are wintered in a heated 

 structure, and this consists in our keeping the pots on the 

 floor in the coolest part of the structure, and with the mois- 

 ture absorbed from the damp floor, very little water is neces- 

 sary to prevent the soil becoming dust dry, but if it should 

 become very dry we give a little to prevent the roots drying 

 up. We keep them dry, but not dust dry, and the result is 

 we have our plants with 178 spikes of bloom, about 4 feet 

 through, and between 3 and 4 feet high, and not those miser- 

 able things which our correspondent speaks of. Such are 

 produced by an undue excitement in winter, and the discon- 

 tinuance of water before the foliage is properly matured, 

 and the latter is so much preyed on by red spider as to 

 form imperfect roots, resulting in weak growths in the fol- 

 lowing season. — G. A.] 



THE CHASSELAS VIBEET GKAPE. 



This Grape requires to be well grown, and then few can 

 . beat it. It ripens early, and the berries are very large, 

 round, and of an amber colour, and the flavour that of the 

 Sweetwater. I have twice carried off prizes at the Crystal 

 Palaee with this Grape, the first year a first prize, and the 

 following year a second. The roof of my orchard-house 

 (2400 square feet), has been for some time covered with the 

 finest ripe Grapes ; the rods were introduced into the house 

 about the end of April, the Peaches and Nectarines having 

 been sufficiently forwarded by heat, so as not to be injured 

 by the shade of the Vines ; forty-eight dozen of Peaches and 

 Nectarines were gathered in one day, and the flavour was 

 excellent. — A Constant Reader. 



Large Cucumber Crop. — It is estimated by men who 

 liave facilities for ascertaining the truth that there have 

 been salted this year in West Chester County not less than 

 100,000,000 of Cucumbers. Besides this, some producers 

 have sent their entire crops to the city, right from the 

 .field. We know that a great many tons of Cucumbers have 



been sent down on the New Haven, Harlem and Hudson 

 River Roads, and many by boats, so that we do not think 

 we are over-estimating the production of Cucumbers this 

 year in West Chester Co., New York, at 130,000,000, or 

 1,300,000 dols., cash value. — (American Tribune.) 



HOW MY PEIZE HYACINTHS WEEE GEOWJST. 

 It may seem presumptuous for an amateur of not many 

 years standing to lecture the whole gardening community 

 on the cultivation and management of the Hyacinth ; but as 

 my flowers have been more than once prizetakers, I am 

 about to commit the results of my experience to paper. 

 Great numbers can only be well grown by nurserymen who 

 grow them not only for general decorative purposes but for 

 sale. The better way, in my opinion, is to make a selection 

 of sorts that turn out invariably good, and grow two or three 

 of each. Competitors, if they wish to have uniform stands 

 of choice spikes, must grow a few of each sort. When I first 

 began cultivating them I did very many foolish things, 

 which told much against the production of fine spikes, but 

 fortunately I was much easier satisfied then than now, and 

 I persevered, and with a degree of success which I never 

 anticipated. In my eagerness to have finely developed 

 flower-spikes and flowers, Isought information from the most 

 trustworthy sources. I read uj) all the articles that I could 

 find bearing upon their cultivation, and what with feeling 

 my way, and using a little common sense, I overcame many 

 of the little difficulties that first prevented my success. I 

 thought at first that large pots and very rich compost were 

 absolutely necessary, and having furnished these things I 

 watered the soil very freely — having reasoned within my 

 Own mind that, as they sometimes were grown in water 

 alone (in glasses), the earth must be saturated upon the same 

 plan. As a matter of course, I lost a few altogether, and 

 the remainder only languished out a miserable existence, 

 producing mere abortions of flower-spikes, and ill-coloured, 

 substanceless flowers. A little more reflection might have 

 taught me differently, but it is astonishing how very foolish 

 and unpractical many people are who have their business 

 engrossing their attention all day, and little time left for 

 indulging in any favourite whim. I was considerably mor- 

 tified at seeing such a grand array of well-managed flowers 

 at the shows in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and determined, 

 there and then, to state exactly how I had treated my bulbs 

 to one or two good gardeners that I knew, and solicit their 

 advice for future treatment. As doctors differ in their pre- 

 scriptions so do gardeners seemingly ; for one advised me one 

 thing and another another thing ; and although both modes 

 might be productive of equally good effects, their conflicting 

 opinions had rather a tendency to confuse me. However, I 

 managed to get hold of some fine yellow turfy loam full of 

 vegetable fibre ; and out of that heap, which I have carefully 

 preserved under a wooden shed, I grow my prize Hyacinths. 

 I introduced a little river sand, and a very little pigeon 

 dung, the ammonia from which imparts a beautiful dark 

 green to the foliage. I use seven-inch pots with wide holes 

 at bottom, so that strong-growing sorts may have an extra 

 benefit in the potfuls of soil. I plunge them, preparatory 

 to their removal to a fine low-built pit I have for preserving 

 a few choice things over winter. I bury the bulb all but out 

 of sight in the pot when planting, I then place the pots in a 

 two-fight frame within 18 inches or 2 feet of the glass, and 

 take care to have all my sorts placed together, the larger 

 bulbs at the back, and the smaller ones at the front, so that 

 I may see at a glance how they grow. Just now they are all 

 in such a place ; and from the state of the roots when planted. 

 I have great hopes of coming in among the winning competi- 

 tors next season. I give no air or ventilation for the first 

 two months ; but as soon as the crowns begin to get properly 

 developed, I admit it freely on fine sunny days. I only take 

 up a few of the worst for forcing, reserving the greater portion, 

 of my stock for the two grand field days in the east and in 

 the west. I study the time for having the flowers fully 

 open by the middle of March, and by adopting the cold-frame 

 treatment, and taking them afterwards into my pit at the 

 beginning of February, they neither require retarding nor 

 forcing to have them in time for the days appointed for the 

 great shows. I find that it is a bad plan for a competitor to 



