526 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 462 



base upward in opposite pairs, and they are linear-lanceo- 

 late, channeled, succulent, bright green, the margins 

 clothed with fine hair-like spines. The flowers are very- 

 numerous, and they are erect, urn-shaped, a quarter of an 

 inch across, colored crimson, with yellow anthers. The 

 leaves root freely and produce young plants in a few weeks 

 if placed upon a pan of moist sand in a warm house. 

 Grown along with and treated the same as the popular 

 Crassula coccinea, this plant would, I believe, prove a good 

 market plant. It was first introduced from south Africa 

 by Mr. Wilson Saunders, and flowered in his garden at 

 Reigate over twenty years ago, but it has not yet attracted 

 the attention of horticulturists. This may be due to the 

 fact that a much smaller and less attractive species — 

 namely, C. impressa — has been grown by the nurserymen 

 and in the parks here under the name of C. rubicunda. 

 This also is a native of south Africa. It forms compact 

 little tufts, three or four inches high, of erect slender stems, 

 bearing semiterete, purple-tinted, pock-marked leaves two 

 inches long and small terminal heads of dull red flowers. 

 Another name for this plant is C. Schmidtii (see Gartenflora, 

 t. 1225). A third species of somewhat similar character is 

 C. recurva, introduced to Kew from Zululand along with 

 Streptocarpus Dunnii. It has fleshy stems a foot high, 

 thick, recurved, down-clad leaves and terminal heads of 

 dull red flowers. When grown in bright sunlight the whole 

 plant becomes a rich vinous-red color. Another good 

 winter-flowering greenhouse species is the old C. lactea, of 

 decumbent habit, with fleshy heart-shaped leaves and erect 

 racemes of pure white flowers. C. falcata is also deserving 

 of general cultivation for the conservatory in midwinter. 



Greenhouses in December. — There are so few really good 

 plants that are to be relied upon to flower under glass in 

 December that a list of them is surprisingly short. The 

 Orchid-houses are, perhaps, the richest in flower display, 

 although, except Dendrobium, Phaleenopsis, Cattleya la- 

 biata and the forms of Laelia anceps and autumnalis, we 

 have nothing additional to what there was twenty years 

 ago. Odontoglossum crispum is always in flower. Cypri- 

 pedium insigne is good in December, as also are the Calan- 

 thes, Oncidium varicosum, O. Forbesii, Cattleya maxima, 

 Angraecum eburneum and Phala?nopsis of sorts. In the 

 stove Brownea Crawfordi is magnificent ; hybrid Anthu- 

 riums, Poinsettias, Euphorbia jacquinia?flora, Begonia Soco- 

 trana, B. Gloire de Lorraine, B. Winter Gem, B. President 

 Carnot, Ruellia macrantha, Jacobinia coccinea and Costus 

 igneus are the chief attractions on the stages. Among 

 climbers the best are Ipomcea Horsfallise and its varieties, 

 I. rubro-ccerulea and Manettia bicolor. The cooler houses 

 look dull after the departure of the Chrysanthemums. Of 

 course, there are forced flowers, such as Roman Hyacinths 

 and Narcissus and the useful Cineraria, Primula Sinensis, 

 Bouvardias, Arums, Persian Cyclamen and various Ericas 

 and Epacrises. Less common plants in flower now are 

 the Reinwardtias, Mackaya bella, Tecoma Smithii, Luculia 

 gratissima, Pleroma macrantha and several species of 

 Statice from the Canary Islands. The most attractive 

 climbers are several species of Bomarea, Senecio macro- 

 glossus, Hibbertia dentata and Lonicera sempervirens. A 

 few Nerines remain, but the best of these were over more 

 than a month ago. Hsemanthus albiflos is worth growing 

 for its drumstick-shaped heads of white flowers developed 

 at this time of year. These are the pick of the flowering 

 plants in our houses in December. Expert florists, both 

 English and foreign, who grow for our market, produce 

 quantities of scarlet Anemone, Carnation, white Lilac, 

 Lilium Harrisii, Tea Roses, Tuberoses, Pyrethrums, Acacia 

 dealbata and scarlet Pelargonium, which are to be seen in 

 quantity in the London flower-shops in December. Here 

 it is difficult to induce plants to flower at a season when the 

 sun does not shine for days together, the dull leaden sky 

 giving place at times to heavy fog, which in London is so 

 poisonous as to destroy most of the flowers that struggle 

 into being. „ r tlr 



London. W. WalSOfl. 



Cultural Department. 



Tomatoes Under Glass. 



TWO crops of tomatoes maybe grown under glass in a single 

 -*- season. Seeds for the first crop should be planted the 

 last week in July. A good method is to pot off the young 

 plants as soon as they are large enough to handle, in two or 

 two-and-a-half inch pots, and plunge them in a bench of coal 

 ashes, where they can remain for three or four weeks. Then 

 the plants may be shifted to four-incli pots to remain until 

 planted in the benches of the forcing-house the latter part of 

 September. The period in which the plants occupy the four- 

 inch pots is a time when the care and handling is of great 

 importance, and will tell on the following crop, not because of 

 lessened or increased vigor of the plant itself so much as in 

 obtaining a form that will admit of training to produce the 

 largest crop in the smallest space. The plants should never be 

 allowed to become "drawn." Drawn plants will often produce 

 large crops in the field, but under glass, and especially if trained 

 to a single stem, it is desirable tohave the first clusterof flowers 

 and fruit as near the ground as possible, and this cannot be 

 from drawn plants. Plants become drawn from being over- 

 crowded or grown in too high a temperature and where 

 there is an absence of light. The best plants for setting that 

 I have ever seen were held back and not forced while in four- 

 inch pots. Kept in a cool house where the night temperature 

 was between 50 and 55 degrees, and ten degrees higher in the 

 daytime, the plants made a slow and stocky growth and blos- 

 somed about the time they were set in the benches. These 

 plants were of the Lorillard variety — which is about the best for 

 winter growing — and on all the plants the blossom clusters, 

 and later the fruit clusters, were only a few inches from the 

 ground. Many of the plants produced seven clusters on a 

 stem, which was pinched off at a distance of between five and 

 six feet above the bench. 



After setting the plants, the house may be kept moist but 

 should be dry enough for the purposes of pollination during 

 the period while the fruit is setting. I am inclined to believe 

 that hand pollination is profitable. In a small house, 16x40, 

 and containing 160 plants, about fifteen minutes is required to 

 go through the operation, a spoon and stick being used. The 

 operation should be repeated each day or every second day 

 throughout the season or until the stems are full. 



Plants set in the benches October 1st should begin to pro- 

 duce ripe tomatoes the 1st of December, and the fruits will 

 continue to ripen for about two months. 



Seed for the second crop should be sown in flats about the 

 middle of December, and the plants will be ready to set in the 

 benches early in February. Ripe tomatoes may again be 

 harvested during the latter part of March and through April. 

 This crop will give a larger yield than the first. The increased 

 amount of light, and therefore heat, causes the individual fruits 

 to grow larger. 



The soil commonly used for forcing tomatoes is prepared 

 by composting turf with from one-fourth to one-third its bulk 

 of good stable manure. This makes a good soil. Tomatoes 

 may be grown successfully in a soil composed of coal ashes, 

 either anthracite or bituminous, with three per cent, (by 

 weight) of peat moss added, both ashes and peat being sifted 

 through a screen with four meshes to the inch. 



Plant food in some form must be added to a soil of coal 

 ashes, and this can be done most easily with chemical ferti- 

 lizers. To each 100 square feet of bench area should be added 

 tour and three-quarter pounds of nitrate of soda, two pounds 

 of muriate of potash, one pound of dissolved bone-black, one 

 and one-half pounds of carbonate of lime. 



The lime is added for the purpose of neutralizing the slight 

 acidity of the peat moss. In three successive crops grown at 

 this station, where both kinds of soil were used — the natural 

 soil, both with and without chemical fertilizers — the greatest 

 yield each time came from the soil of coal ashes and peat 

 moss. The fruit from the artificial soil scarcely varies from 

 that grown in natural soil either in form, size, color, or chemi- 

 cal composition. 



By keeping off all lateral shoots and tying to a string, more 

 plants can be used, and a yield of two pounds per square foot 

 of bench area may be obtained. 



Plants may be grown from cuttings as well as from seed, 

 and this method is practiced by some growers. It has been 

 my experience that cuttings produce fruit earlier than seed- 

 lings, but the yield is much smaller. For this reason seedlings 

 are to be preferred. 



The benches should be eight or nine inches deep in a 

 tomato house. The house should be kept at a temperature 



