708 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



which is most conveniently taken off and put 

 on, and capable of resisting wet and frost. Now, 

 the usual covering employed— namely, Russian 

 mats— are anything but this. They soon become 

 saturated with wet, are not capable of throwing 

 it off, are untidy in appearance, troublesome to 

 put on and remove, become heavy with moisture, 

 break the glass by their weight, and, being of a 

 perishable nature, are very expensive. Vide Cover- 

 ing the Roofs of Glass Houses and Pits for the 

 Exclusion of Cold or the Retention of Heat, vol. 

 i. p. 551 . Many of the London growers have ex- 

 cellent pits for this purpose, constructed of 9-inch 

 brick walls, and varying in depth from 12 inches 

 to 2 or 3 feet, according to the size of the plants 

 to be placed in them, but always so that the tops 

 of the plants may be near the glass. They are 

 usually about 6 feet wide. Many, however, use 

 means which are simpler, although less to be re- 

 commended, and secure protection by the use of 

 turf pits, garden frames surrounded with dry lit- 

 tering matter, and covered with glass sashes, and, 

 in severe weather, with one or more mats, and 

 sometimes a covering of straw. Although these 

 rude means are suitable to commercial growers, 

 they are not to be recommended for use in pri- 

 vate gardens; we notice them, however, to show 

 how easily heaths, and, indeed, most hard-wooded 

 greenhouse plants, may be protected during 

 winter, and to give confidence to amateurs of 

 limited means. Putting heaths in order to be 

 wintered in such pits, it is well to examine the 

 state of the roots, by turning them out of the 

 pots to see that the drainage is perfect, and that 

 no worms have taken up their abode in the ball; 

 the branches should be thinned out if requisite, 

 tied up where straggling, and the pots plunged 

 in finely-sifted coal-ashes up to their rims, taking 

 care not to huddle the plants too closely together, 

 but to give such room that no two plants touch 

 one another. The intention of the coal-ashes is 

 to secure the roots from frost, keep them in a 

 uniform state of humidity, so as to lessen the 

 necessity of applying much water during the 

 damp months of winter. The coal-ashes also 

 act as an absorber of humidity, and tend, there- 

 fore, to keep the air within the pits free of 

 damp — a thing to be carefully guarded against, 

 particularly when the pits have been for days 

 shut up, as will be the case during severe frosts. 

 At all other times the more air given the better, 

 even to the extent of taking the lights off alto- 

 gether on fine days. Ventilation should be 

 secured by openings in the back and front walls, 

 just level with the surface of the pots, so that a 

 circulation of air may pass freely through. All 

 the attention heaths require in such pits during 

 winter is excluding frost by covering, ventilating 

 on all fitting occasions, giving as little water as 

 possible, and taking care in applying it that none 

 be unnecessarily spilt on the plants or surface 

 of the pit. In severe frosts, heaths will submit 

 to being shut up for several days at a time ; and 

 should even frost to the extent of several degrees 

 enter, and even should the mould on the surface 

 of the pots become hard, no injury will follow, if 

 the process of thawing be allowed to take place 

 in the dark. It is, therefore, absolutely neces- 

 sary that the covering, whatever it may be, shall 



be kept on, and light excluded until the frost 

 has gradually been removed from the pit. In 

 preparing heaths for occupying their - winter 

 station in the heath-house, the same care must 

 be taken in examining the roots, state of drain- 

 age, &c, as noticed above. The pots should be 

 cleanly washed, the surface of the soil examined, 

 so that all mucous matter may be removed. 

 The plants should have a general overhaul, their 

 shoots be regulated and tied in, and such as 

 require it be topped and supported with neat 

 stakes. We prefer wire about the thickness of 

 a quill, or that known as No. 4, cut into 

 lengths suitable to the size of the plants, as 

 supports, instead of those made of laths, as 

 they are more durable, cheaper, stronger, and, 

 when painted, more elegant in appearance. In 

 arranging the plants upon the stages or plat- 

 forms, due care should be taken that they have 

 abundance of room, that each be equally exposed 

 to the light, and that the most delicate be placed 

 in the best situations. At this time the discard- 

 ing process must take place, and all defective or 

 worn-out specimens be removed. Ample ven- 

 tilation is now required, and unless damp occur 

 in the house, fires need not be lighted unless in 

 very intense frosts ; and when for the removal 

 of damp, they should be lighted early in the 

 morning, and the fullest extent of ventilation 

 given at the same time to allow the damp to 

 escape. And when this can be put at defiance 

 by covering of some sort or other, it is better to 

 adopt this than to risk the danger of one hour's 

 fire-heat. For efficient covering, vide vol. i. figs. 

 788, 789,790. 



Summer treatment. — As the spring advances, 

 more water should be applied ; some require it 

 more than others, but these can only be detected 

 by close observation. Air must also be progres- 

 sively increased as the days lengthen and the 

 warmth of summer approaches, even to the ex- 

 tent of admitting it day and night also. It was 

 long held as a necessary part of good culture to 

 turn the plants out of doors about the month 

 of May, and to allow them to remain so till the 

 beginning or middle of October. The propriety 

 of doing so has been greatly doubted. It is 

 quite evident that many of the very best kinds 

 would suffer by such exposure ; and hence all 

 good cultivators retain them in the house during 

 the whole year, giving abundance of air at all 

 times, and keeping them thin on the stages by 

 the removal of the smaller plants to cool pits, 

 and setting only the more hardy and robust in 

 the open air. 



The following species, with most of their varie- 

 ties, should not be set out in the open air during 

 any part of the summer : Massoni, colorans, 

 gemmifera, vestita, Niveniana, tricolor, fer- 

 ruginea, Irbyana, jasminiflora, ampullacea, am- 

 pullaceoides, Bandoniana, Shannoniana, retorta, 

 Russelliana, Aitoniana, aristata, aristella, muta- 

 bilis, juliana, elegans, Thunbergia, ardens, physi- 

 odes, campanulata, propendens, Hartnelli, impe- 

 nalis, Doniana, Cavendishii, Macnabiana, odora- 

 rosea, Murrayana, &c. 



Young plants should certainly be kept under 

 the protection of glazed pits or frames, as then 

 abundance of air can be given them by the 



