340 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COUAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 28,1885. 
thinning, and judicious cropping of the plants during the season, with an 
occasional top-dressing of light loam, to which a third of short well- 
decomposed manure has been added, and copious supplies of liquid manure 
given to the roots when necessary, which in some cases will be daily and in 
others weekly, or more frequently according to the extent of the root 
space. If plants are growing vigorously in narrow borders with plenty of 
drainage, and having the bottom heat supplied by hot-water pipes, there 
is little fear of giving too much water, whilst with plants growing upon a 
bed of fermenting materials, and with scope for root-action, the case is 
reversed, the plants requiring comparatively little water at the roots. The 
syringe must be employed twice a day during bright sunny weather, and 
air admitted freely on all favourable occasions, which will cause the plants 
to make a short-jointed growth, but avoid cold winds and cutting currents. 
A slight shade may be given for a few hours in the hottest part of the day. 
Keep the plants free from insects by the free use of the syringe ; but if 
green and black aphides cannot be subdued in that manner fumigate on 
two or three consecutive calm evenings, having the atmosphere cool and 
the foliage dry, being careful not to give an overdose. 
Cherry House. —The trees having been started and treated as 
advised in previous calendars the Cherries are ripening rapidly ; indeed, 
those in the most forward part of the house are fit to gather. The fruit, 
therefore, under those conditions must be kept perfectly free from moisture 
in any form. The ordinary dampings, however, may be continued in the 
morning and afternoon, provided ventilation be left on the house at its 
apex, to prevent condensation taking place in a manner that will affect 
the fruit. Ventilation should be free at all times according to the 
weather, and whenever favourable allow a constant current of air to pass 
through the house. If black aphides appear they must be destroyed by 
dipping the infested leaves or shoots in tobacco or quassia water. Some 
netting placed over the ventilators will be necessary to exclude birds, 
which must have meshes small enough to exclude sparrows, as they are 
the most daring in their depredations. As the shoots elongate those which 
are to be retained must be tied in, and those not required should be 
stopped at the fifth or sixth leaf. 
Strawberries in Pots. —The fruit is now plentiful and fine, 
especially Mr. Radclyffe, one of the very best varieties for forcing. President 
and the later kinds, as James Veitch, British Queen, Cockscomb, and Sir 
C. Napier may be pushed forward, as the light is now very favourable. 
To grow late-forced Strawberries well, and these in particular, they should 
on the appearance of growth he raised near the light, and set wide 
enough apart to admit of a free circulation of air by having the plants set 
so that their leaves do not touch each other, as their long leafstalks and 
flower spikes have a tendency to become weakly and drawn if they are 
kept too closely together. It should be borne in mind that these do not 
like hard forcing, and they have the advantage of early varieties in 
keeping for a few days when ripe in a cool house, with the fruit turned 
from the light. For nobleness of appearance James Veitch is worth a 
place. It always makes an acceptable dish, and is a capital traveller. In 
order to give the bright sparkling scarlet colour so much valued in 
Strawberries, the fruit should be ripened in a high temperature, G5° to 
85° or 90° in the full sun. Afford liquid manure liberally when the fruit 
is fairly swelling, and allow the fruit for home use plenty of time to 
thoroughly ripen, whilst that for packing should be gathered as soon as 
fully swelled and coloured. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Gardenias .—As these plants discontinue flowering they should be 
cut closely back and started again into growth in brisk heat where the 
system of retaining old plants from year to year is practised. A few of 
the youngest and best-formed specimens should be grown without 
pruning, and if their growth is brought to completion early in the season 
they will yield a good number of their fragrant flowers during late 
autumn and winter. It is a good plan to restrict plants grown for this 
purpose at their roots, so that their growths are short and stuidy. The 
young stock for the main supply of flowers next spring, if raised and 
treated as previously directed, will now be ready for placing into 6-inch 
pots. If these plants are grown in heat and moisture they will make 
bushy specimens 18 inches or more over by autumn, and produce from 
twenty to thirty flowers each. Those plants rooted early in the year must 
be pushed forward with all possible speed ; stopping the shoots to induce 
them to branch, and repotting as the roots advance, are the main 
points to be attended to. When the plants are established in their pots 
give liberal supplies of water, and syringe twice daily during bright 
weather. Use for a compost good fibry loam three parts, one part leaf 
soil, a little decayed manure passed through a fine sieve, and sufficient 
coarse sand to keep the whole porous. 
Dracoenas .—Plants that have become bare at the base and possess 
good heads should have them taken off and rooted, when they will in a 
very short time make fine well-furnished specimens. The heads can 
be rooted by mossing them round and nicking them just below, and 
in a very short time they will fill the moss with active roots, when they 
may be taken off and potted. Another, and perhaps a better plan, is to 
take them off and insert them in bottles of tepid water, stood in a close 
moist structure where they can be shaded from the sun. By either of 
these systems they can be established without losing a leaf. Shoots of 
D. gracilis and D. Goldieana will root with certainty if taken off where the 
wood is not too firm, inserted in small pots of sandy soil, and placed in 
the propagating frame. Young plants wintered in small pots and trans¬ 
ferred into 5-inch pots early in the year are now growing rapidly, and 
have filled their pots with roots. If large plants are required transfer 
them at once into pots 2 inches larger. If good specimens are needed 
plenty of root space must be given, or they are liable to become checked 
and stunted. The roots and stems of plants that have been rendered 
useless by employment for various decorative purposes in the dwelling 
house should be cut into lengths and inserted amongst sandy soil in pans 
for further increasing the stock of plants for the various purposes 
required. Dracaenas do well in a mixture of loam and peat in equal 
proportions, with about one-seventh of old Mushroom-bed refuse and sand 
added. The treatment recommended for these plants will suit Dieffen- 
bachias required for the same purpose. 
Crotons .—These root freely the whole year round, and where 
quantities are required in small pots for purposes of decoration it is 
necessary to propagate a batch of plants frequently. Good tops are 
decidedly the best for this purpose, as they possess large well-developed 
foliage, for they can be rooted without losing a leaf if inserted in a close and 
warm propagating frame. When good tops are taken they should be in¬ 
serted in the pots in which they are to be employed. It is often difficultto 
procure sufficient good tops for this purpose, and therefore side shoots 
are rooted and grown for supplying well-developed tops, which are not 
long before they are ready for decorative purposes after they are once 
rooted. When the plants are required for standing singly they must be 
shapely, and in order to accomplish this they must have proper room for 
development. Grow the plants as near to the glass as possible, fully 
exposed to light and sunshine, or they will fail to colour well. Well- 
coloured Crotons are very effective in almost any arrangement. 
Impatiens Svltani .—There is no question about the usefulness of this- 
single Balsam for decoration either in the stove, intermediate, or cool 
house. For room-decoration it is useless, as few plants are more quickly 
destroyed by gas, the flowers falling off in a very short time. Seedlings 
are the best and make the most bushy specimens, as they branch with 
greater freedom than those raised by means of cutting*. A good batch, 
of plants should now be raised by one or both means and grown for a 
time in heat for conservatory decoration, where they will be found very 
effective, and continue flowering freely for a long time. Insert cuttings 
singly in small pots, for they root with greater freedom on a shelf shaded 
from the sun ; if placed in the close propagating frame they are liable to 
sufEer from damp. This plant will do well in any moderately rich 
compost. 
Achimenes .—The tubers started as directed now yield abundance of 
cuttings. These should be taken and inserted together in 5-inch pots or 
pans, and then grown for a time in heat. They will make valuable 
compact dwarf specimens for conservatory decoration towards the end of 
June. Few flowering plants are so useful for conservatory decoration as 
Achimenes, and plants raised by means of cuttings are always dwarf in 
comparison to these grown from the tubers. Generally they are a. 
week cr two longer before they come into full beauty. The cuttings root 
freely in a Cucumber or Melon house without the confinement of a close 
frame if shaded from the sun. 
ECONOMY IN BEE-KEEPING. 
It is impossible to overvalue the advantages of a liberal 
education, for however valuable familiarity with the classics 
may be we have often wondered whether it might not have 
been better for us to have been taught how to keep accounts, 
instead of leaving us to pick up this knowledge in after life. 
We would advise all bee-keepers to keep accurate accounts if 
they want to make bee-keeping pay; for to the novice in bee¬ 
keeping, with all that enthusiasm so essential to success, 
there are difficulties to be passed and temptations to be over¬ 
come which he, in his ignorance, hardly dreams of. 
Bright visions of enormous profits, far exceeding the 
simple beauty of the three per cents, dazzle his sober eyes, 
and reckless of consequences he plunges into buying costly 
hives and various bee appliances, only to find too often that 
he has needlessly wasted his money, and that at the end of 
the year he has very little to show for his outlay. 
if he is a sensible man taught by experience—that severe 
mistress—thenextyearhe is more cautious, finds out fromsomo 
still more experienced bee-keeper what appliances are abso¬ 
lutely necessary, and shuts his eyes against all the captivat¬ 
ing catalogues of the hive-makers, and in amusing letters to 
the Journal pours out the vials of his wrath upon them. 
The question naturally arises, Who is to blame ?—the novice 
or the hive-makers ? and in nine cases out of ten we should 
say the former. The standard of honesty differs in this as 
well as in all other trades, and it may be that our friend has 
been unfortunate in his choice; but from a long experience 
in bee-keeping, and in getting others to start as bee-keepers, 
