CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



failed, and hence it is well worthy of a trial hy all 

 who have suffered from this mysterious — and other- 

 wise incurable — malady. 



Neither need any amateurs or small gardeners 

 hesitate to adopt the express culture of the 

 Cucumber, because of their limited means or 

 areas. In summer the whole practice may be best 

 described as a simple method of bottling- up and 

 utilising sunbeams. Every glass-house, however 

 small, if fairly well built, is a trap set to catch 

 and hold these ; and these alone, in favourable 

 weather, combined ^dth night coverings, would 

 render the express culture of the Cucumber possible 

 and fairly successful from May to October. Artificial 

 heat and clear light render it possible at all seasons. 

 But, just as all express trains do not run at the same 

 speed, so in express Cucumber growing, the tempera- 

 ture and speed may vary as v>ddely as from 75'' 

 to 120° ; and with a mean of 90^ many of the 

 advantages of the system may be reaped, with 

 less risk, perhaps, but in much longer time, than at 

 higher temperatures. The principles are the same in 

 each mode of express culture, though the speed may 

 vary. These principles are incessant growth, per- 

 petual bearing in a close semi-saturated atmosphere, 

 a high temperature, full exposure to light, no checks 

 nor exhaustion from any want of food or water at 

 the roots, nor from over-bearing- or seed-forming or 

 ripening. 



For this mode of culture plants raised from cuttings 

 are to be preferred to those raised from seeds. Not 

 only do they come into bearing much sooner, but 

 they continue far more fertile. Under the high 

 temperature and moist atmosphere needful to make 

 the most and best of express culture in the least time, 

 many of the branches near the ground will put forth 

 roots. These cut off and planted seldom look behind 

 them. 



But failing these natural layers or cuttings, no 

 plant roots more readily than Cucumber from cut- 

 tings of the ordinary kind. Growing shoots with 

 one or two joints placed in the moist soil, pui'e sand, 

 or blocked pots or bottles of water, damp moss or 

 cocoa-fibre refuse, will be sufficiently well rooted to 

 plant out in their fruiting quarters within a week or 

 ten days of the time of insertion, and these will pro- 

 ceed to show and swell off Cucumbers at once, and will 

 continue in bearing so long as desired. The pro- 

 pagation of Cucumbers by cuttings hastens produc- 

 tion, and augments their fertility. Almost before 

 seedlings have reached to the stage of rough or 

 proper leafage, cuttings are showing or even swell- 

 ing several fruits. This saving of time would be 

 important under any system, but is of course still 

 more so under express culture, as this renders the 

 production of seed almost impossible. 



GEEEN-HOUSE PLANTS. 



By William Hugh Gower. 



Camellia. — The species of this well-known and 

 highly popular genus of plants are natives of China 

 and Japan, where they are found in a wild state, but 

 have long been carefully tended in gardens by the 

 lovers of horticulture in those countries. In Chinese 

 paintings their chief favourites take a prominent 

 position, the three principal being the Camellia, 

 Chrysanthemum, and Abutilon. 



Camellias are perfectly hardy in England, but as 

 the flowers open in the early spring months their 

 beauty as border plants is much deterioi-ated by wind 

 and wet. On this account they are usually grown in 

 the green-house, where, with their large symmetrical 

 flowers and glossy dark green leaves, they form 

 splendid ornaments during the dull months of 

 winter. 



CamcUia japonka was the first kind introduced 

 to Europe, and although the flowers of this species 

 are only single red, it was considered a great 

 acquisition at the time, which was in the year 1739 ; 

 it is now entirely discarded, except for the purjDOse 

 of grafting or inarching the better kinds upon. 



Soon after the single red a double white form was 

 introduced, which stands in good repute at the 

 present time, and is kno"mi in gardens as the " old 

 double white," or Alhn plena ; and after this several 

 other double forms were brought to this country, 

 showing that the almond-eyed gardeners of the 

 Celestial Empire had long been busy with the 

 improvement of the Camellia. So great a favourite 

 has the plant become, and European gardeners 

 have so persistently followed up the work com- 

 menced by the Chinese and Japanese, that the 

 varieties now in cultivation in this country are very 

 numerous. 



In large establishments a house is frequently 

 devoted to the cultivation of the Camellia, and under 

 such conditions the plants are seen to the best 

 advantage, because so treated the atmosphere and 

 temperature can be regulated to suit theia^ require- 

 ments, both in the growing and flowering stages. 

 Nevertheless, it is not essential to good development, 

 for with ordinary care good plants and an abundant 

 crop of flowers can be obtained in a mixed collection 

 of green-house plants. 



Camellias thrive in either peat or loam, or in a 

 mixture of both, and also in leaf mould ; this latter 

 soil is usually adopted by the Belgian gardeners, who 

 use leaf mould as a substitute for peat, but the 

 plants when imported to this country do not thrive 

 well in it. 



For growing Camellias quickly into fair-sized 

 plants without a thought of flowers, we ad-^dse them 



