CULTURE OF THE ORANGE. 



533 



stronger. Let them pass through the winter in a green- 

 house, where the temperature must not descend lower than 

 40° Fahrenheit, and in early summer put them on another 

 hotbed in the open air plunged in leaf mould or cocoa fibre. 

 Leave them plunged on this hotbed through the summer, 

 and give them plenty of water, and from time to time a 

 little liquid manure. 



About the end of August in the same year graft them by 

 the same method as that practised for Roses in the winter, 

 and put them on a hotbed, keeping as much damp vapour 

 about them as possible. Shade them during the sunshine, 

 cover at night, and keep them close as long as the grafts 

 are not well united together; they will be safe long before 

 the early frost. Keep them in the frame during the winter, 

 and the next spring divide and pot them in rich light soil 

 mixed with a very little silver sand to prevent the soil be- 

 coming hard : put the pots on a hotbed in a frame, and 

 after they are rooted give them plenty of air. In the 

 middle of J une, make a hotbed in the garden and put them 

 on it without any covering whatever, giving plenty of 

 water during the hot weather, and three or four waterings 

 of liquid manure to encourage active growth. Before the 

 first frost they must be housed, and they will do through 

 the winter in a greenhouse where the temperature is kept 

 three or four degrees over the freezing point. 



During the spring of the following year pot the plants 

 afresh, and place them on a hotbed covered with a frame ; 

 keep it close until the roots begin to shoot, and give 

 air carefully ; shading the frame against the burning rays 

 of the sun, and when frosts are no longer to be feared, 

 taking the lights off" entirely. When they have done their 

 growth, and the wood is sufficiently ripened, pot them afresh, 

 and leave them in a greenhouse for a week or two. In 

 June make a hotbed in the open aii', covered five or six 

 inches with dung-mould or cocoa refuse, and put them in 

 it. This is the last season during which the Orange need 

 be grown upon a hot dung-bed. The greatest obstacle to 

 the success of the Orange as a terrace-plant is the persis- 

 tence of the gardeners and nurserymen in treating it as a 



