Book II. 



WOODY GREEN-HOUSE PLANTS. 



915 



ter. Towards the commencement of the new year, many of them will begin to grow, therefore the 



glasses must be taken ofF such as soon as necessary. With the advancing season, these will likewise 

 advance, and soon require to be parted, and potted separately. (^Exotic Gard. KTl.) 



6023. Almost all the woody green-house plants may be propagated by cuttiiigs j but a few are occa- 

 sionally layered, inarched, or grafted, as the camellia, citrus, daphne, &c. which have been already 

 treated of. 



6634. General culture of woody green-house plants. We shall commence with the 

 shifting season, which generally takes place about the end of May, and trace, from Gush- 

 ing, an outline for their general culture and management throughout the year. Green- 

 house plants, this author observes, for the most part require a considerable share of 

 pot-room, as many of them are very free growers ; but still great caution is necessary to 

 avoid over-potting the tenderer weak-growing kinds. When shifted, let them be neatly 

 tied up, if requisite, and well watered. Any dead or ill grown parts can now be, with 

 propriety, cut away, so as to give the heads a regular neat appearance. In bright sun- 

 shine it may be also necessary to shade them for a few days from the influence of the sun 

 and winds, until they are perfectly established in the fresh mould. 



6635. Placing in the open air. By the middle of June, it will be time to think of preparing the 

 out.door departments, in which it is intended the plants should stand during the summer months. The 

 most eligible situations for this purpose are, the north aspect of vacant walls or hedges, where they will 

 be a little shaded from the noonday sun, or between rows of close hedges, particularly planted for, and solely 

 appropriated to this purpose. By no means set them close under the shade or branches of large trees ; as 

 the plants are thereby inevitably drawn into a weak state in a few weeks, and those who adopt such situa- 

 tions are not unfrequently under the disagreeable necessity of throwing av/ay many of, perhaps, their 

 most rare plants, every autumn : and even those that remain will have a bad unsightly appearance. In- 

 deed, shelter from the winds is the great desideratum to prevent their being upset, for most green-house 

 plants are- fond of the warmth of the sun, except when recently potted, provideiJ their roots are kept 

 moderately moist The practice of some gardeners is to plunge them amongst the shrubs and flowers of 

 the pleasure-ground ; this answers pretty well with the strong-growing-kinds, such as myrtles, geraniums, 

 coronillas, &c. old plants or supernumeraries that will not be wanted to house in the autumn ; and even 

 has a very pretty effect when judiciously done ; but it will by no means do for the tender species. There- 

 fore, upon the whole, the most unexceptionable situations are such as at the same timfe afford a moderate 

 portion of shade, and are so situated as to break the force of those strong gales which frequently blow in 

 the summer and early autumn months, and yet allow that free circulation of air so necessary to the well- 

 being of plants in general, and at all seasons. Having fixed on the place where they are to stand, it must 

 be thoroughly cleansed from weeds, and the hedges, if any, neatly clipped. It should then be well rolled, to 

 make it perfectly firm and level, over it a layer of good lime, slacked and made into the consistency of 

 thick white-wash, should be poured, and left to soak into the surface, as a preventive against worms 

 getting into the pots. When this is dry, let about an inch of finely sifted coal-ashes be regularly laid on, 

 and firmly rolled a second time. Being thus prepared, the plants may be brought out and set regularly 

 and level on the surface, in whatever form or aiTangement may best suit the situation or the taste of the 

 cultivator. 



6636. Housing in autumn. As the young tender shoots of the summer's growth are 'extremely liable 

 to be injured by the frost, as soon as any symptoms of this appear, they should be removed to their win- 

 ter quarters, where, if the green-house is built on a proper principle, they can still have the benefit of the 

 free air, and at the same time be in a situation to be protected when necessity requires. They should, at 

 all events, be removed in the earlier part of September. Therefore, about a fortnight before that time, 

 they should be regularly examined, and any roots that may have extended themselves through the holes 

 at the bottom of the pots, cleanly cut away : this tends to stop the too luxuriant growth, and being exe- 

 cuted at a proper period, before their final removal, they have time to recover themselves from the partial 

 check they may have received by it ; which would come doubly severe, if deferred until the time of re- 

 moving them into the house ; the transition from the cool bottom on which they stood, to the dry boards 

 of the green- house stage, being so materially different. Whatever may be the mode of arrangement 

 adopted (6205.), the plants must not be set too close when first put in, as it would occasion most of their ten- 

 der leaves to turn yellow and fall ofi^; neither should they, if the house happens to have been built on 

 a close construction, be by any means taken in when their leaves are wet. 



6637. When they are all housed, and dirt of every description taken away, let as much free air be given 

 as possible in the daytime ; and even at night, should the weather prove moderately mild, and free from 

 any appearance of frost. Frosts, at this early season, are seldom so severe as to injure any green-house 

 plants that were not immediately exposed to its perpendicular effect ; therefore the front windows may be 

 kept open continually, unless there is a prospect of its being particularly severe, or accompanied with 

 cold driving winds, in which case it will be necessary to have them pretty close. If air is too sparingly 

 admitted at this season, when many of the plants have not yet finished their summer's growth, it will in- 

 evitably cause them to produce weak and tender shoots, which will be extremely liable to damp off at a 

 more advanced season, when the house must be unavoidably kept close on account of the severities of the 

 external air ; and besides, it will tend to give them a more general tender habit, and render them less 

 able to resist the .winter colds than they otherwise would. Hence it is evident, that they cannot receive 

 too much air, whehever the state of the external air will admit of it, by being free from all appearance of 

 frost, as it will be so iftuch to their advantage to be thus hardened before the winter assumes its greatest 

 severity. 



6638. Water should also be plentifully administered when they are first taken into the house, as the dry 

 boards on which they now stand, as well as the elevated situation and free circulating air, occasions them 

 to require more than when they stood on the moist earth j however, by no means go to the extreme, giving 

 it only when evidently necessary. 



6639. As the close foggy weather advances, water must be given more sparingly, else it will conspire with 

 the atmosphere to increase the damps of the house, which will inevitably injure the plants, by rotting their 

 leaves. These, and dead flowers, should be picked ofFas soon as they are observable, otherwise they will 

 make a very disagreeable appearance. 



6640. The months of November a7id December seem to be more noxious to the health of plants than any 

 other season, by reason of their being full of young sappy leaves, and the remains of many of the autumn 

 flowers still on them, when the weather (which at this time generally becomes close and chilly,) renders 

 it necessary to keep the house shut and warm ; this occasions a most pernicious damp to exhale from every 

 part of the house, and even from the earth in the pots, which fixes on the leaves, and other parts of the 

 plants, to their inevitable injury, particularly the younger parts, such as were the produce of the preced- 

 ing summer. If this kind of weather continues for any considerable time, it will be advisable to give a 

 little fire-heat, to help in drying up these baneful exhalations, and also as much air as can be safely ad- 

 mitted by the doors and front windows, more especially when fire is added, otherwise the heat of the flues 

 will, instead of expelling the contaminated air, rather occasion it to exhale more freely, and be of worse 

 consequences. At this season also, #he plants should be regularly examined to clear them of all dirt, and 



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