136 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
[ February 14,1884. 
enriching the soil in connection with plantations from which spring cutting 
has to be clone should have immediate attention. Top-dressings of half- 
decayed manure, soot, salt, and guano are of the greatest benefit to 
Asparagus, especially in poor soils. 
Mushroom Beds .—Those to produce crops in April and May should 
be formed at once. A cool shed we find the best situation for them. 
Old beds which show no energy and are dry and lifeless may be revived, 
as a rule, by giving them a thorough supply of water heated to 90°, cover¬ 
ing them immediately afterwards with a thick coating of dry hay or 
straw. 
Celery .—A pinch of seed may be sown in a G-inch pot to produce a few 
scores ot early plants, which are often required, and are valuable before 
the main sowings come in. The seed will germinate and the plants grow 
freely in any place where the temperature is 60°. 
Cucumber, Tomato, Vegetable Marrow, and Egg Plant seeds may al^ 
be sown singly or in small groups in pots. Good soil and a gentle heat 
suits them all. Plenty of light will produce robust fruitful plants, but 
none of them must as yet experience any check at the roots, and the 
utmost care should be taken that all young plants have timely attention 
in being potted or planted out. 
FRUIT-FORCING. 
Peaches and Nectarines. — Earliest House .— The fruit in this 
structure having commenced swelling freely, and the set being thick, 
the thinning should go on gradually, removing the smallest and worst 
placed until there are few more retained than will be required for the 
crop, about one fruit to every square foot of trellis covered by the trees. 
With the trees in good health and proper treatment there is no need to 
fear any of it not stoning safely, yet it may be advisable to leave a few 
more fruits to meet casualties until the stoning is effected, when they 
must be at once removed. 
Disbudding .—Daily attention is necessary with trees subjected to 
early forcing. Begin with the gross foreright shoots, as these would 
take from those at the base, which it is desirable to encourage, so 
that strong bearing shoots may be secured for another season. Remove 
those not required for extension a few at a time, stopping those retained 
for attracting the sap to the fruit about the third leaf, and these must be 
on a level with or above the fruit. It is advisable to remove those on 
the under side of the trellis first, and then commence with those on the 
upper, from which the shoots for next season’s fruiting should be 
selected. Avoid giving a check to the roots, as this may cause the fruit 
to swell imperfectly, if not to fall. 
Feeding .—If fermenting materials have been used in the house they 
will now be cooled, or should be allowed to do so, as there is danger of 
the foliage being damaged if fresh material is introduced so as to give off 
a large amount of ammonia vapour. The materials, if any have been 
employed, may now be spread over the surface of the border as a mulch, 
or well-worked horse manure introduced to the extent of 2 or 3 inches 
thickness, and the borders and paths may be sprinkled two or three times 
a week with liquid manure. Liquid manure may be given whenever 
water is required in the case of trees that are weak from age or hard 
forcing, but it must not be given to trees in a vigorous condition until 
a later stage. If the roots are outside they must be well protected with 
litter or Oak leaves, with shutters to throw off cold rains or snow. 
Syringing .—Do this twice a day, in order that every part of the old 
wood and foliage may be thoroughly cleaned with water, which ought to 
be soft, clear, and a few degrees warmer than the house. If the syringing 
be properly attended to there will not be any red spider. In dull weather 
syringing must be lessened, and the afternoon syringing must always be 
done sufficiently early to allow of the tree becoming fairly dry before 
dark. 
Temperature .—Do not exceed a temperature of 55° at night except on 
mild nights, and on severe nights the temperature may fall to 50° in the 
morning, and from fire heat in the daytime allow an advance of 5° to lCP, 
running up to 80° from sun heat, with a circulation of air, commencing 
to ventilate at 65°, and close at 70° with a copious syringing. 
Succession Houses .—The trees in the house started early in the year 
are in splendid condition, blooming strongly, and must have attention 
daily after the pollen becomes ripe for dispersion. The weather is so 
mild that bees if at all near will find the blossoms out, and do the work 
of* impregnation far better than any brushing or shaking. Although we 
do not advise syringing the trees when in flower, we always sprinkle the 
floors, borders, See., in the morning and early afternoon unless the weather 
be damp and dull, when it is of course omitted. 
Late Houses .—The trees are not so forward as was at one time 
anticipated, but they are looking well and promise abundant bloom. 
Where the trees are at all weakly draw the hand the reverse way of the 
growth on the under side of the shoots after the buds are sufficiently 
swelled, so as to remove those on the under side of the trellis. Look to 
the roots of trees in inside borders, and give a thorough soaking of water 
if there be the least evidence of dryness. Give abundance of air, and so 
retard the blooming as much as possible. 
Fines .—Plants that have been wintered in 7 or 8-inch pots should be 
placed in their largest pots before they are weakened by the roots 
becoming too much matted together. As the operation must be carried 
out shortly a sufficient quantity of potting material should be housed at 
once, in order that it may become drier and in a fit state for breaking up, 
which should be done by hand, tearing the sods into pieces with the 
hands, discarding the small and retaining the fibrous portion. Pots 
11 inches in diameter will be suitable for Queens, and 12-inch pots for 
the more robust-growing varieties. Let the soil in potting be firmly 
rammed round the old balls of soil, water at once to settle it, and plunge 
the pots in a brisk bottom heat of about 90° or 95°, keeping the top heat 
G0° at night, 65° by day from fire heat, and from 70° to 80° from sun heat. 
It is not advisable to encourage much top growth until external influences 
are more favourable from the increased light. Make the needful provisions 
for potting suckers which are to be started next month. If space will 
admit it will be advisable not to remove the suckers from the &ti els until 
they are wanted for starting, as there is a decided advantage in having 
them fresh. 
Fruiting Department. —Early-started fruit will be well advanced for 
flowering. Avoid wetting the flowers, as the moisture which forms at 
the base of the fruits results in the discoloration which sometimes exists 
about the base of the pips. Watering must be attended to as necessary, 
never water until it is needed, and then apply it liberally. Maintain a 
steady temperature of 70° to 75° at night, 75° to 80° in the daytime, 80° 
to 90° with sunshine, ventilate at 80°, and close at 85° with a moderate 
amount of moisture obtained by damping available surfaces. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Odontoglossums .—Without further delay these plants should be 
repotted, if not already done. Remove carefully from amongst the 
roots the whole of the decomposed material, and wash their roots in 
tepid water. The plants may then be repotted in the same or larger 
pots, according to the quantity or quality of their roots. The pots to be 
used should be three parts filled with crocks or charcoal, and then 
covered with a layer of moss. The compost should consist of one-third 
peat fibre and the remainder living sphagnum moss and lumps of 
charcoal, which should be carefully laid amongst the roots, and the 
plants when finished well elevated above the rim of the pots and sur¬ 
faced with a layer of living moss only. After repotting every attention 
should be given to watering, damping amongst the pots, and syringing 
the moss, so as to encourage it to commence growth as rapidly as 
possible. 
Cypripediums ,—The majority of these may now be repotted, but in 
turning them out of their pots or pans be careful not to injure their 
roots, for they generally cling tenaciously to the sides of the pots in 
which they are growing. In many cases it is necessary to break the 
pots in which they are growing, and this had much better be done than 
injure their roots in trying to turn them out without. All the smaller 
plants are repotted annually, while those of a larger size are only 
operated upon every second year. From the latter pick away all the 
surface mateiial that it is possible to remove and supply fresh, while 
from the smaller specimens remove the whole. Use for these plants 
equal parts of peat fibre and sphagnum moss, with lumps of charcoal or 
pieces of crocks added. These plants while in active growth require 
abundance of water, and the material about their roots soon becomes 
decomposed. 
Dendrobiums .—Some of the earliest plants of D. nobile, D. hetero- 
carpum, D. Wardianum, and others have just commenced to form roots 
from the young growths, and should be repotted or top-dressed without 
further delay. These do well either in pots or baskets suspended from 
the roof of the stove ; the first is useful in pots for removal to the 
conservatory when in flower. If repotted last year they need only be 
top-dressed at the present time, but if not turn them out of their pots, 
and pick aw T ay all decomposed material. Do not disturb portions of 
charcoal or crocks to which their roots adhere. Replace them in the 
same or larger pots in a mixture of peat fibre three parts to one of moss, 
with charcoal used liberally in lumps. The other varieties may have 
if grown in baskets all the material possible removed from them and 
fresh supplied ; for these the moss should predominate. Syringing, with 
an occasional soaking of water, will be ample until the roots are working 
freely, when abundance of water should be given. 
Calanthes .—Those who retarded a batch of these as late as possible 
before starting, and then brought them forward in a temperature of about 
55° after they commenced showing their flower spikes, will find them 
invaluable when the main stock of these are over. C. v. Turnerii is the 
best late variety, but other forms of C. vestita, as well as C. Veitchii, may 
by careful and judicious treatment be had in flower at the present time. 
Those that have flowered may be turned out of their pots and stored 
amongst sand or moss in boxes in any warm shed where the tem¬ 
perature will not fall below 50°. 
Gardenias .—These will now be showing and producing flowers in 
quantity—that is, those that have been forwarded in brisk heat. Give 
weak stimulants in the form of liquid manure every time watering is 
done ; or, better still, sprinkle on the surface of the soil some artificial 
manure. If fine flowers are required remove the young growths from 
the base as soon as they are formed. These when large enough make 
the best of cuttings that can be obtained, and will root quickly in heat 
under a bellglass, and if an increase in the stock is required the sooner 
they are rooted the better. Where the stock for spring flowering is 
grown annually from cuttings a good number should now be rooted. 
Plants rooted last August, and now bushy specimens in 4-inch pots, may 
be placed in 6-inch pots. These plants can be grown successfully in 
either good loam or peat ; but a mixture of both is preferred—three 
parts of the former to one of the latter—with a liberal quantity of sand 
added and a little bone meal. A little prepared cow manure rubbed 
through a fine sieve is also beneficial. After potting, if practicable, give 
bottom heat for a time until the roots are growing again freely. 
