194 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 30, 1S83. 
may also be similarly dried, and it is an excellent way to preserve 
them for winter use. 
Winter Spinach.— Continue to make successional sowings of this 
useful winter vegetable, and as the plants from the previous sowings 
become large enough to handle, thin them out to 6 inches apart. When 
not thinned out it comes in a great mass, but it is only by timely thinning 
that those large succulent leaves so much valued by cooks can be 
secured. 
Early Carrots. —The surplus Horn Carrots which were left in the 
border after the others were drawn in spring are now full grown, 
and should be taken up and stored for future use. Lately we have 
lifted a large quantity. The tops should be cut off, and the roots will 
keep well for a long time in any cool shed. 
Salad Plants. —Lettuce and Endive sown a few weeks ago are now 
ready for transplanting. This should be done when the ground is moist 
and the atmosphere humid, as they grow freely then, receiving little or 
no check. Through lifting Potatoes, taking up Carrots, and clearing 
away old Cauliflower plants there is plenty of empty quarters tor winter 
salads. 
Seed-saving. —Birds are very fond of emptying Pea pods, and as a rule 
it is not safe too allow any of them to remain hanging after they are 
ripe. We gather our seed pods every other day, and spread them on a 
table in an airy shed, dampness or a large heap of pods together being 
very unfavourable to proper harvesting. 
Celery. —Much of this is now ready for earthing, and we would remind 
cultivators to give it timely attention, as such an important winter crop 
as this should be regarded as one of the very foremost to be dealt with at 
this season. Earthing instructions given some time ago apply to the 
present time and onwards. 
Hoeing and Cleaning. —The summer has been one of the most favour¬ 
able we can remember for the growth of weeds, and some little time ago 
when it was raining daily they had a fine time of it; but the weather is 
now against them, and every effort should be made to destroy them 
before they seed. If the garden is well cleaned now it will prevent 
many weeds from appearing next spring, and as none of the winter 
crops can have too much sun now to mature them, time now spent in 
cleaning cannot be regarded as being wasted. 
FRUIT-FORCING. 
Vines. — Houses of Late Grapes. —Whether the Grapes are intended 
for keeping through the winter on the Vines or in the Grape room, the 
houses will require very liberal ventilation ; and as the days decrease in 
length gradually reduce strong laterals, keeping the foliage in a clean 
healthy condition by damping paths and walls sufficiently early in the day 
to admit of the atmosphere becoming dry before night. Assist Grapes 
which have not much colour by a little fire heat and ventilating early. 
Allow the temperature in the day to range from 80° to 90° or 95°, falling 
to 70° at night. 
Ripe Muscats. —The Grapes hanging on Vines having their roots in 
outside borders will keep a considerable time if protected from the heavy 
rains that may be expected soon. A covering of dry fern or bracken 
disposed so as to throw off the wet, shutters, or, better than anything, 
glass lights placed in a slanting direction, answer for throwing off the 
wet and allow the sun heat to pass into the border. Where the foliage 
is insufficient for the protection of the tender skins of the berries a light 
shading on bright days will be found very beneficial, nothing answering 
better than hexagon netting, and it is equally useful in excluding wasps. 
Lifting Vines. —If this be found necessary with early and midseason 
Vines, lifting and relaying the roots should be proceeded with without 
further delay. See that the drainage is satisfactory, and protect this 
with large turves grass side downwards. Use fresh turf liberally inter¬ 
mixed with brick and lime rubbish, charcoal, and crushed bones. Let the 
roots be kept near the surface. Plenty of roots in a comparatively narrow 
border are preferable to a large mass of soil, as they can be fed when 
necessary, and the Grapes always set, swell, and colour well. Dry 
weather should be chosen for making the borders. Cover the border 
when the operation is finished with good stable litter, keeping the house 
close and moist until the foliage shows signs that fresh root-action has set 
in, when the house must be freely ventilated. Vines in most cases should 
be planted inside and have the run of both internal and external borders, 
as the roots can then be lifted in either border without in the least 
injuring the following year’s crop. 
Vines in Pots for Early Fruiting. —These should at once be removed 
to a dry airy house, giving only sufficient water to keep the soil 
moderately moist for the preservation of the roots in a healthy state, and 
if the pots are covered with dry fern or litter the necessity for its 
application will be almost nil. 
Strawberries in Pots. —The earliest potted plants have made good 
progress, the crowns beginning to become plump and prominent, so that 
the fruiting plants can be detected ; those that will evidently not be 
productive should be cleared away at once. The pots should be at such 
distance as to allow the crown to have full exposure to the sun. The 
plants should not be allowed to suffer from insufficient supplies of water. 
Peaches and Nectaeines. — Early and Midseason Houses. —These 
should always have moveable lights, the removal of which exposes the 
trees to the cleansing and invigorating influences of dew and the late 
summer and autumnal rains, and the inside borders are thereby evenly 
and thoroughly moistened, so that there is no danger of the buds falling. 
Lifting and Root-pruning Early Trees. —Where the trees in early 
houses grow too luxuriantly and do not set freely or stone well, they 
may be lifted with advantage ; the time to do this is when the leaves give 
indications of falling, or a little before. The best way to operate is to 
take out a trench around the stem at a distance from it of one-third the 
extent the trees cover of trellis, and down to the drainage. Then remove 
the surface soil, and pick the soil carefully from amongst the roots, and 
without disturbing the small fibres near the collar. The roots should be 
laid in fresh compost, and nearer the surface, working it in with the 
band as firmly as possible ; a good watering should then be given, and 
the surface mulched. This should be practised both on the inside and 
outside borders. Where root-pruning is only contemplated, baring the 
roots, removing some of the strongest according to the vigour of the 
trees, will be left to the discrimination of the operator. A good turfy 
loam, strong and calcareous, with a free admixture of burnt earth and 
old mortar rubbish, forms a suitable compost. Where it is intended to 
plant fresh trees the borders should be prepared without further delay ; 
24 inches depth of border is ample, of which 9 inches should be 
drainage, beneath which should be tile drains, having proper fall and 
outlet. A 6-foot width of border is ample to commence with, planting 
inside, and keeping the roots there for two or three years, when they 
may be allowed a similar run of outside border. 
Late Houses. —As the trees become cleared of fruit remove the fruit¬ 
bearing wood of the current year, in order that the young wood for next 
year may have the ripening influence of sun and air, and if at all 
crowded thin the shoots well. Admit abundance of air, and when the 
wood is thoroughly ripened the roof lights may be removed for a few 
weeks. 
Trees in Pots for Early Forcing. —These should be seen to at once, 
the drainage rectified if it has become defective by removing it, and 
replacing with clean crocks and crushed bones, top-dressing, and placing 
in the open air on a bottom impervious to worms. Place some dry fern 
or litter around the pots to protect the roots from the drying influences 
of the atmosphere, watering as needed to keep the soil moist. Alexander, 
Prince Alfred, Royal George, and Large Early Mignonne are good for 
fruiting early in pots ; and of Nectarines Hunt’s Tawny, Lord Napier, 
and Stanwick Elruge. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Azaleas. —Where these plants are kept under glass instead of standing 
them outside, shading must be discontinued and abundance of ventilation 
given night and day. In no stage should they be unduly shaded, 
especially during the completion of their growth, or their wood will 
remain in an unripened condition, and the plants when required to do so 
will not flower satisfactorily. When the flower buds are formed early 
and allowed to develope naturally under the influence of light and air 
they will expand when required much more readily than when a 
more careless system of preparation is accorded them. The plants 
to flower late next season should now be pushed forward as rapidly as 
possible, and every encouragement given them to complete their growth 
and form their buds before the days become short and sunless ; they can, 
after the flower buds are once formed, be retarded to suit the convenience 
of the cultivator. Any of these plants that have their pots full of roots 
will be much benefited by the application of a little Standen’s 
manure. Azaleas require some stimulating agent even after their growth 
is completed and their buds formed, and a few applications of liquid 
manure assist them wonderfully when root-bound to retain their foliage 
during the autumn and winter months. 
Where these plants require tying and training no time should be lost 
in completing this operation with all the early batches, so that the foliage 
will have time to turn again the right side before they are wanted for 
forcing. 
Camellias. —Where shading these plants is practised it should now be 
discontinued, for if employed after this date it will prove detrimental. 
Ventilate freely day and night. Where the buds have set, apply water 
liberally and syringe freely ; in fact, stimulants should be given more 
abundantly to these plants during the time their flower buds are swelling 
than atany other period of growth. Care must be takeD that they never 
suffer by the want of water at their roots, or their flower buds may fall 
prematurely instead of expanding properly. If the plants are densely 
crowded with flower buds, disbudding should be resorted to at once 
before they exhaust the plants. Cleaning or tying should be pushed on 
rapidly, and if scale or other insects infest the plants syringe them with 
petroleum and water at the rate of 6 ozs. of the oil to 4 gallons of water. 
After this operation the plants must be shaded for a few days from bright 
sun, and then no injury will follow. 
Abutilons. —Plants that have become too tall should be cut down 
without delay, and the tops inserted in the centre of 2 and 3-incb 
pots. These, if plunged in a close frame with a little heat, will soon 
form roots and make useful dwarf specimens for decoration during the 
winter. As soon as they are rooted they should have an intermediate 
temperature, and by the time they are ready for other pots 2 and 3 inches' 
larger they should be placed under greenhouse treatment until the tem¬ 
perature is likely to fall below 45° at night. Few plants are more 
beautiful during the winter either in the stove or intermediate house than 
these when well grown in small pots. This is readily accomplished if 
good tops are selected and frequently rooted at frequent intervals. 
Hybrid Perpetual Roses. —Those used for forcing in pots and 
plunged outside should be turned out of their pots, and the old soil care¬ 
fully picked from amongst their roots until the ball is reduced to about 
half its size. This done, they should be again potted. Place a little moss 
or the roughest of the compost over the drainage, and then press the new 
soil moderately firm round their roots. When repotted at this season of 
the year while the foliage is fresh, they become established in the new 
soil before autumn, and are ready for early forcing when the time 
