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The Greenhouse, Month to Month 
By W. R. Fowkes, New York. 
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SPRING time ever brings back fond memories 
and, though the clouds of winter have been 
hanging- over us, we can look forward with 
joy to the promise of Spring and change the familiar 
hymn a little. "Change and decay in all around I see" 
can be altered to "'change and improvement." How 
much happier are those of us who have the green- 
house. It is summer all the time and Americans are 
becoming alive to the fact that there is something 
more in life than the rush of business and so the}' are 
getting familiar with Nature's charming gifts, which 
will help to make this prosperous clime a garden of 
flowers. 
In the same greenhouse the Primulas, \'iolets, 
Sweet Peas, Orchids and Ferns have given a lovely 
display all winter and the Liliums for Easter are ap- 
proaching to maturity. The sweet scented Wall 
Flowers and Jonquils in the house among the peaches 
will be a source of joy and together with the bees so 
industrious among them, will awaken anew the inter- 
est of all. The culture of many of our loveliest flowers 
is getting to be gradually understood, and readers of 
the Gardeners' Chronicle, following the cultural de- 
tails of the general run of plants, will soon become 
experts. 
The peaches that have set their fruits should have 
all dead blossoms or petals cleansed ofi' to give the 
fruits an unblemished appearance. The young 
growths that so quickly run away, as it were, from now 
on will need to be disbudded or thinned out. Take 
out every second shoot, being careful to leave the 
leader at the end and sufficient to furnish the i^lant 
with fruiting wood next year, for on this young wood 
depends the future crop. 
Peaches and Nectarines usually set too many fruits 
but the weaker ones will fall off and the others had 
better not be thinned out too soon, because during 
the stoning process many more may fall. But one 
good fruit, ten inches apart is sufificient for the present. 
The atmosphere of the house must now be more 
moist. These trees love and revel in a moist atmos- 
phere and they should be gently syringed every fair 
morning and the ventilators carefully handled in 
order not to blast the foliage. At this period the green 
fly will show in spite of precaution. I always fumi- 
gate with a vaporizing compound which is safer for 
fruit trees than any form of tobacco paper. Atfer a 
trial I have dropped all in favor of Nikotiana which 
is particularily adapted for this purpose. Once a week 
will be sufficient to keep the aphis away. 
Visitors to the shows will note the kind of tulips and 
other bulbs they would like to grow next year and 
much can be learned from these visits. 
Some people have no idea as to the perfection 
Schizanthus can be grown to until a glance at an ex- 
hibition has revealed it. F.verybody has not space for 
large specimens and need not be discouraged, at all 
because their own small plants are just as pretty, but 
the exhibition shows the full extent of the perfected 
plant in many kinds and varieties. 
Gladiolus of many varieties can now 1)e planted if 
there is a vacant space in the bench of Mignonette or 
among Carnations or the Snapdragons. Merely press 
107 
the bulb into the soil, and soil and conditions will suit 
admirably. 
Buddleia Asiatica is a grand plant to grow in a cool 
house. Cuttings should now be made and they will 
make good plants by the fall and can be potted on 
until nine inch pots are reached. Any ordinary loam, 
sand and well rotted manure will do. They require 
regular syringing and spraying with Aphine because 
red spider is its worst enemy. 
Acacias will be noted at the flower show. They have 
been the emblem of the ancient order of Free Masons 
from time immemorial. Their culture is of the 
simplest. Loam one part, peat and leaf mould two 
parts, sharp silver sand the other. They should be 
]30tted very firmly, the pots well drained, and will 
thrive in a house where frost is excluded the greater 
part of the winter. During summer stand outdoors 
plunged in ashes. 
The rose lover will be looking for the novelties but 
the old ones are hard to beat. Mrs. George Shawyer, 
as a pink, will never be excelled in my opinion, and 
only careless folks complain about it. Most roses 
thrive better grafted, but Mrs. George Shawyer 
succeeds better on its own roots. It will thrive 
grafted imtil it becomes servicable and then frequently 
it dies at the union, but it is the most prolific pink in 
existence and does splendidh^ on its own roots. The 
new yellow rose, Madame Collette Martinette has the 
same fault and like Sunburst does best on its own 
roots. The roses should have a topdressing of good 
manure and a half inch of soil to cover it. 
Carnations will require good nourishing now and a 
rich liquid of blood and soot will be ideal, given weak 
and often. Give all the air possible and the ventila- 
tors should never be closed. 
Sow a packet of Celosia Thomson], or Castle Gould 
in light soil and as soon as one inch high, place in pots 
The}- \\\\\ have their place when the palm-house is 
empty. 
Gloxinias that were started will require potting on. 
They are shallow rooted subjects and Azalea pots or 
pans are best suited for them. They delight in light 
soil and one half the compost should be leaf movild 
made from oak or beach leaves, the rest turfy loam, 
rotted manure and sand. 
Gloriosa Rothschildiana is a grand summer blooming 
vine. It does finely exposed to the light. Tubers can 
be started in shallow boxes in a compost of peat dust, 
sjihagnum moss and sand. Then transferred either 
singly into seven inch pots or three bulbs in ten inch 
pots in a richer compost of one half cow manure, the 
rest sods and the pots to have two inches of crocks 
for drainage. 
Seedlings of all kinds should be transplanted. 
In the orchid line Cattleya Schroederae will be 
blooming, and afterwards if they require repotting, 
just take out and wash the roots and place in as small 
a receptacle as possible, for orchids do better if the 
roots are confined. Osmunda fibre will do fine and 
must be firmly packed around the roots together with 
lilenty of crocks for drainage. Sponge all orchids. 
Palms and Rubbers with a weak solution of Aphine 
mixed with a little dissolved Ivory soap. 
