416 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ November 22, 1S64. 



jobs has resulted from the cutting down of anumber of trees 

 close to the mansion and offices, which a few years ago 

 would have been considered as an act of wanton destruction ; 

 but even in exposed places now the importance of air and 

 sunlight round a dwelling is considered of more value than 

 shelter accompanied by shade. The spray and the faggots 

 from such cutting will give us a good supply of little pieces 

 for lighting fires near at hand ; and it is always advisable 

 to have a number of these tied up and stored in a dry place 

 ready for use. Where Willows are plentiful they are capital 

 for tying them with. We generally use a little band of 

 "wheat straw. Say eight straws or so are laid down ; a small 

 handful of shavings, or straw, or stubble laid on it ; and a 

 good handful, say 6 inches through and 15 inches long, of 

 the chopped twigs and branches, over which the two ends of 

 the straw are brought, twisted round and stuck underneath 

 the band ; and with one of these nice and dry a fire may be 

 very quickly set going in a furnace. This work is best done 

 in a fine day in the open air, but we generally defer it to 

 a ; wet day, as Eriday proved itself to be. For the same 

 reason, having been very busy with various other matters, 

 the same wet day that set us away from the lawns and beds 

 furnished a good opportunity of looking over a lot of 



Scarlet Geraniums in the sheds. Some of these that we 

 wished for centres of pyramids nerfc season we stripped of 

 all their leaves larger than a florin piece and many of the 

 smaller shoots, and potted separately in four and five-inch 

 pots, retaining the plants at their full length. The great 

 proportion, however, we cut over some 6 or 8 inches from 

 the collar, stripped off all the leaves, shortened any long 

 roots, dipped the cut tops in lime and charcoal powder, and 

 allowed the roots to stand some five minutes in chilled 

 water, and then packed them closely in pots, boxes, or beds, 

 say from twenty-five to thirty plants in a 12-inch pot, hang- 

 ing well out round its sides, however, and set them beneath 

 stages, or in beds, pits, or frames, &c. 



One of the best lots of such Geraniums we ever had, as 

 there was scarcely a miss in the shape of a dead plant among 

 some 400, were thus managed : They were stripped as above 

 stated, and then they were packed closely on the floor of a shed 

 in soil neither wet nor dry. The shed had a window to the 

 west, and a door that opened to the south. We made three 

 beds in the shed, some 4 feet in width, with a two-feet path 

 between them. The door and the window we opened in 

 bright days and mild weather during the winter, but in dull 

 foggy periods, and in frosty weather we kept all shut up, 

 and in the latter case hung a mat inside the window. No 

 frost under from 6° to S° interfered with the interior of the 

 shed; but when the temperature fell lower than that we 

 spread a little hay over the beds of plants, and removed it 

 as the weather became better. So managed these old plants, 

 that bloomed splendidly the next season, cost little more 

 trouble during the winter than roots of Dahlias and Potatoes 

 would have done. We have as a general rule ceased to 

 regard these as superior for our purposes to the small plants 

 that we have struck and standing in boxes, and occupying 

 from 1 to 1-1 inch square each ; but, then, each of these 

 plants must be carefully attended to during winter with light, 

 air, and watering, and must receive more room for pottinc 

 and transplanting in spring, whilst these old plants require 

 scarcely any attention all the winter through, except being 

 protected from frost, and will keep alive though little light 

 or air be given them as their portion. What was done in 

 that shed may be done in any spare room, garret, stable, 

 or dry cellar, only it would be advisable in all such cases to 

 pack the plants in pots and boxes, firming the soil about 

 them when it is in just a medium state being neither wet 

 nor dry. If the roots are rather dry, instead of watering the 

 soil to encourage damp, it would be much preferable to 

 place a handful of such roots up to the collars of the plants 

 for five mi nutes in chilled water. Unless the beds, pots, or 

 boxes are dried by some artificial means, such plants will in 

 general need no water until the fresh young leaves about 

 the size of a sixpence are breaking all over them about 

 March, and about April they will be in need of more room. 



Some amateurs with very small parterres, plant out their 

 Geraniums in pots, and in their case it would be the best 

 plan to strip the plants of the foliage and pack them away 

 in the pots — that is, supposing they had no glass to place 

 them under. There will be enough of roots in the pots to 



keep the plants slowly growing, and when turned out next 

 season the roots that go beyond the pots will secure enough 

 of luxuriance. 



Plants grown in boxes outside the window during the 

 summer will be still more easily kept in these boxes all the 

 winter on the Harry Moore system. All that is necessary is 

 to allow the soil to become rather dry, and place the box after 

 the plants have been stripped of most of their foliage in an 

 airy place, and where protection can be given in severe frosty 

 weather. 



Thousands of these showy Scarlets might thus be easily 

 kept all over the country, and the cottager may make sure 

 of them, as he does with a Dahlia or a Potato-root, if the 

 frost is excluded, and the roots are neither over-damp nor 

 kiln-dried, and the tops are neither skeletonised with fire 

 heat, nor damped nor rotted by being placed in a continual 

 fog. All things considered, no place is better than a hay- 

 loft or a garret, where light and air can be given them in a 

 bright warm day. 



Calceolarias. — -Finished putting in the last of our cuttings, 



j or nearly the last, on Thursday, as we expect some novelties 



i yet to come to us. We would have liked as well if all these 



I had been in by the 1st of the month, but we could not well 



get at them, and we have no fears of their not being all right 



before March, if we can keep the frost from them. Such 



things rarely suffer from damp. A close atmosphere that 



I would cover a Verbena with mildew, will just suit the hardier 



I and moisture-loving Calceolarias. Having placed our Am- 



plexicaulis cuttings in wooden boxes, we moved them from 



the cold pit, in a place where, if necessary, extra damp and 



frost can be excluded by a little dry heat, as they are not so 



I hardy as the other shrubby kinds. Those who grow the 



herbaceous and semi-herbaceous kinds for show in April, 



j May, and June, should see that the most forward have plenty 



of pot room, as if confined too much at the roots they will 



throw up the flower-stems prematurely. 



Cold Pits and Frames.- — A great proportion of our smaller 

 plants, and cuttings striking of bedding plants, were under 

 glass frames that had been used for various purposes during 

 the summer, with less or more of a hotbed under them. 

 These are about the worst receptacles we can have in dull, 

 foggy, damp weather. H we use a frame for such protecting 

 purposes, it is much better to place it on a raised platform 

 of hard soil, so that all the moisture may run away from the 

 sides and ends of the frame. When placed over an old bed 

 the moisture soaks into it, and is sure to rise inside in the 

 shape of thick vapour. That with foggy days combined, is 

 almost sure to bring damp, at least in such cases as ours, 

 where for economy of space we are under the necessity of 

 i placing the cuttings and young plants very thickly during 

 j the winter months. We went over the most tender of 

 l these, picking off any damped leaf, and set the pots on 

 shelves in airy houses, where a little fire heat can be given, 

 and by fresh surfacing the beds with dry coal ashes, the 

 hardier plants left may be set a little thinner. 



Lily of tlxe Valley may now be taken up for forcing, and 

 all hardy shrubs intended for forcing from Eoses to Ehodo- 

 dendrons, will be all the finer if a bottom heat of from 70° 

 to 80° can be given for a month before the top temperature 

 is much advanced. Bulbs will have to be looked at, and 

 mice kept from them, and those planted thickly out of doors 

 in leaf mould may be lifted with their roots and balls and 

 transferred ;to flower-beds, after these have been suitably 

 prepared for them. The same will answer admirably for 

 early flowering also in glasses, it being only necessary to 

 take the ball of roots and earth in the two hands, wash them 

 in a pail of water until nothing but the ' roots are left, place 

 them carefully in the glass with a few bits of charcoal, and 

 then fill with water. 



Agapanthus in pots, which do so well with the bottom of 

 the pots in water at the sides of a reservoir in summer, will 

 stand very well all the winter in a dry shed, the pot plunged 

 in, and just covered with fitter or coal ashes, and so will all 

 the varieties of the Japan Lilies. The Lancifolium group 

 are just a little more tender, good pots of them will be kept 

 nicely in a common cellar, as the damp of the floor will 

 afford sufficient moisture until growth commences in spring, 

 when the pots may be brought out, the drainage examined, 

 and fresh surfacings of a rich compost given, which with 

 manure waterings wlllrender fresh pottingoften unnecessary. 



