KITCHEN GARDEN. 
101 
UNDER GLASS. 
Plants which are being forced in common 
hot-beds, pits, or stoves, require much water 
as they advance to bloom; and all plants grow- 
ing fast, whether in stoves or other buildings, 
should be carefully watched, that they be not 
injured for want of nourishment, as they rapidly 
absorb moisture. It is impossible to be too 
careful in respect to watering plants under 
glass. All general directions are sure to be 
wrong for two-thirds of the plants; the only 
safe way is to examine each for itself. While 
plants are at rest, very little moisture is suf- 
ficient; when they are growing, or flowers 
advancing, they must be well supplied; but 
even then they require examining before they 
are watered: it is as bad to give it them be- 
fore they want it sometimes, as it is to keep 
them too long without it. As the flowering 
parts are coming into bloom, they should be 
removed into a cooler place, that they may be 
longer opening, and also that the flowers, when 
open, may be longer in perfection. Other 
plants" may be placed in the forcing-house, or 
pit, or hot-bed, to succeed those put in last, 
and the supply must be apportioned to the 
demand. These remarks apply generally to 
the place selected for forcing, which may be a 
different contrivance in every garden; some 
may use common garden lights and dung beds; 
others a warmed pit; others again a tan bed: 
these remarks apply to all, and should be well 
attended to, if success is to be secured. 
THE STOVE AND ORCHIDEOUS HOUSE. 
The plants which have been at rest will 
now require starting. Many bulbous-rooted 
kinds, such as all the family of Amaryllidea, if 
the pots be filled with roots, may be shifted 
into those of a size larger. Bulbs of Gesnera, 
if not yet shifted, or (if preserved out of 
ground) potted, should be attended to at once ; 
so also should the bulbs of Tropeolum, and all 
the bulbous tribe ; but it is not the time to be 
chosen — last month was better. Nevertheless, 
the directions apply to bulbs imported or 
newly procured, rather than those in collec- 
tions ; for it is better to let all such sub- 
jects rest in their pots, and when they start of 
themselves is the time to supply them well 
with their requirements ; mostly they want 
room — fresh compost to work in — and water- 
ing. Stove climbers must be trained and 
directed the way they are to go. If there be 
any more shoots than are required, take away 
some to give strength to others. Orchideous 
plants will require syringing frequently, and 
the house, generally, must be kept moist. 
Plants which are being grown fast, for speci- 
mens, must have their shifts, and may be 
plunged in the tan ; but a plant may be grown 
too fast for its beauty. The rapid growth 
always makes thinner foliage ; therefore, some 
are better for moderation. Plants, however, 
likeRussellia Juncea, where there are no leaves 
to care about, cannot be grown too fast : Home 
of the Cacti are of this nature also. Euphorbia 
Splendens and Jaquiniflora may, for they hold 
look better for compactness, and the propor- 
tion of bloom to the size of the plant is always 
greater when the growth is moderate The 
glass may average between 60 and 70 at night, 
and between 70 and 85 by day. 
CONSERVATORY AND GREEN-HOUSE. 
Light fires in damp weather, and give air at 
top of the house, to dry the place. Let this be 
done in the morning, and continued all day; 
apportioning the opening at the top to the tem- 
perature, which the ventilation should prevent 
from being materially raised, the object being 
to dry the house, and not to raise the heat. 
In watering, waste as little as possible, as the 
frequent necessity of closing the house against 
frost, makes the damp the principal enemy to be 
feared, and slopping quantities of Avater about 
unnecessarily increases the evil. Train climb- 
ing plants on their trellises as they grow, that 
the face of them may be always fair ; and if 
any are of a form to require a face all round, 
the plant must be turned to the light daily. 
Stir the surface of the soil in all the pots that 
have indicated damp and moss : examine the 
drainage of any that appear more moist than 
others, and see that all is clear, for the wet 
would soon destroy a plant. Many of the 
hard-wooded plants will begin to swell their 
bloom-buds, and must have constant attention 
paid to the degree of moisture in their com- 
post, for they must not have too much ; and 
what they have should be soft, pure, and 
rather of a higher than a lower temperature 
than the house. There is great good or evil 
administered in watering plants. Keep the 
house, as well as the plants, clear of dead 
leaves, and all the crevices and corners should 
be well brushed out, to clear the places of 
insects. Now is the time when the gardeners' 
enemies begin to appear in great numbers ; 
and there is nothing like beginning in time to 
extirpate them. If the green fly appear, 
fumigate the house with tobacco smoke, and 
syringe afterwards with clear water. 
KITCHEN GARDEN. 
Potatoes. — Begin your planting, if you 
have not before commenced. This may be 
done many ways, and all of them right. For 
the first or earliest out-of-door planting look 
to last month's directions. There is a very 
successful way, however, that is all but forcing 
them ; — dig a trench a foot deep ; put hot 
stable dung in it, and tread it down, which 
will compress it into half the compass ; let 
