426 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 6, 1884. 
checks them, and the present surplus should be carefully looked after. 
Cut all the heads now ready with G inches of stem attached. Cut the 
rough leaves off, sharpen the point of the stem, and then insert them as 
close as they will stand in boxes of moist sand or leaf soil, and place them 
in a cool dry shed, where they will remain fresh and sound for a month or 
more. 
Hotbeds .—One or two good hotbeds in autumn and winter are always 
convenient for forcing roots, fee., and as the fallen leaves can now be 
collected in quantities, take advantage of them to secure some good beds. 
When leaves are collected into large loose heaps they soon begin to 
decay, and do not heat so well or last half so long as when made into 
firm beds when fresh and dry. 
Digging and Trenching .—These operations should now be included 
amongst the regular weekly work. Never make fine surfaces at this 
season, but allow them to be as rough as possible, that the soil may be 
fully benefited by the fertilising influences of the weather. Look over 
Onions and Potatoes which have been stored for some time in sheds, and 
take out the bad ones. Look weekly to the straw or hay covering the 
surface of Mushroom beds, and always keep it fresh and dry, 
PEUIT FORCING. 
Peaches and Nectaeines. — Early-forced House .—The final thinning 
of the shoots in the earliest house should have immediate attention. Wash 
the trees in the first instance with warm soapy water, and afterwards 
dress the treees with an insecticide. Thoroughly cleanse the glass with 
water, the woodwork and trellis with soap and water, and whitewash 
the walls. Tie in the trees loosely, allowing the growth to swell 
without binding, letting the young shoots be laid in so as to secure an 
even spread of foliage, and sufliciently wide apart to admit of next year’s 
growth being trained without crowding as the fruit approaches maturity ; 
and to effect this the shoots should be a foot apart, and not closer on the 
main branches than 18 inches. A shoot of 12 to 18 inches in length will 
give a heavy per-centage of fruit for thinning, providing the wood be well 
ripened, and a Peach worthy of the name to every foot of trellis covered 
by the trees is quite as much as trees under early forcing can support 
year after year. If the lights have been removed they may be kept off 
if the weather be mild until the middle of the month, or if put on venti¬ 
lation should be freely given until the house is closed. If the roof lights 
are fixed the doors and ventilators may be constantly open, and see that 
the inside borders of such houses do not lack moisture, but give a 
thorough soaking of water if necessary so as to moisten the soil 
thoroughly down to the drainage. 
Trees Intended to Ripen their Fruit in June .—Trees that are to be 
started at the beginning of January will now be leafless, and should be 
pruned without delay, which, if the wood on which the fruits were borne 
this season was cut out when the fruits were gathered, will be light 
indeed. Beyond removing any weak growths and where they are too 
crowded the knife will not be needed, for however long the shoots, they 
will, if the trees are healthful, be ripened to their points, having stout 
short-iointed wood well set with flower buds. Trees extending may have 
the leading shoots cut back so as to originate others for furnishing the 
trees, being careful in all shortening the shoots of the current year to 
cut back to a wood bud, or, if to a triple bud, making sure that the centre 
is a wood bud, as trees in some cases form triple fruit buds at a joint. 
The house and trees should then be thoroughly cleansed and secured to 
the trellis. The roof lights having been removed some time ago should 
not be replaced until the middle of December, or the autumnal rains 
will thoroughly moisten the borders and keep the trees in a complete 
state of rest, which is a matter of some importance, as trees that ripen 
their fruit and growth early are easily excited, and excitement in 
November by putting on the lights, should the weather prove mild 
followed by a check, is very often the cause of the flower buds falling 
when they should be expanding. 
Houses Started in February .—These trees will now be parting with 
their foliage, and should have all the air possible. Any lifting or root- 
pruning yet in arrears should be seen to and brought to a close as soon as 
possible. When the leaves are all down it will be an advantage to 
remove the roof lights and expose the trees for a month or six weeks, but 
if the roof lights are not moveable admit air freely in all but severe 
weather, and see that there is not any deficiency of moisture in the 
borders. If the trees are not lifted remove the surface soil down to the 
roots and supply fresh stiff loam, to which has been added some charred 
refuse and bone dust, 
late Houses .—The lifting and root-pruning of trees in these structures 
should be taken in hand at once and completed without further delay. 
During the operation the house must be kept rather close, the trees 
syringed, and the roots as little exposed as possible. When the roots 
have taken to the fresh material ventilate freely. If the trees do not 
require lifting it will be well to keep the house rather close by day, 
especially from sun heat, and to throw it open at night, which will soon 
ripen the growths, especially if the wood be thin so as to allow of light 
and air having free access to the wood. If the wood be at all crowded it 
should be well thinned. There must not be any deficiency of moisture at 
the roots, or they will not develops the buds perfectly, falling when they 
should be expanding in spring. 
CucuMBEES.—Plants which have been in bearing the past three or four 
months will be considerably renovated by receiving a good surface-dressing 
of a mixture of three parts light tufty loam, one part peat and charcoal, 
and then mulching with well-decomposed dung free from worms, the 
manurial properties of which will be worked down by each successive 
watering. Examine the soil, and when water is needed give a thorough 
soaking at the same temperature as the house. Ventilate freely during 
mild weather, which must not be done to lower the temperature, but to 
prevent it becoming too high, admitting in progressively as the temperature 
increases, so as to prevent chilling draughts, which are highly injurious to 
the plants. Maintain a night temperature of 65°, but on cold nights 60° 
is sufficient, with 70° to 75° by day with fire heat, advancing 10° to 15° 
with sun heat. Close early in the af ernoon. If canker appear rub quick¬ 
lime well into the infested parts. 
Winter Fruiters .—Add more soil to the hillocks or ridges of late 
plantings ss soon as the roots show through the sides, and complete the 
earthing of the first autumn plants, and then put on a mulching of well- 
decayed dung, which will not only act beneficially by maintaining the 
roots in an equable condition, but as a stimulant by its substance being 
washed down to the roots. Keep the bottom heat steady at 80°, and use 
as little fire heat as possible, turning off the heat on fine mornings about 
eight o’clock, by which time the solar heat will be acting on the house, 
and keep up the required temperature without having to resort to much 
ventilation to keep it from rising too high, as would be the case when the fires 
are kept going until the maximum day temperature is reached.^ The heat 
should be turned on again in the afternoon when the sun is going off the 
house, so that by the time the heat husbanded by early closing has fallen 
to 70° the heat radiated by the hot-water pipes will be sufficient to main¬ 
tain the temperature through the night at 65°, to maintain which in severe 
weather there should be plenty of pipes, as nothing is so injurious to 
Cucumbers as heat radiated at a very high temperature. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Calanthes.—VixQ earliest of these plants will be pushing up their 
flower spikes rapidly by this time, and therefore require the most careful 
treatment. Feeding with weak stimulants need not be discontinued until 
the first flowers open on the spike, when further applications are useless. 
Considerably less water will be needed by these plants ; sufficient only 
should be given, whether stimulants or otherwise, to prevent the soil 
becoming dry. It is a great mistake to water liberally up to a certain 
time and then discontinue applying it suddenly, which brings the pseudo¬ 
bulbs prematurely to a ripened emdition. The work of maturation must 
be gradual, and this is accomplished by maintaining a drier atmosphere 
and supplying the plants with water judiciously until they can do without 
it altogether. Those in a more backward condition should still be 
liberally supplied with water and stimulants ; the soil shouM not be 
allowed to become in any way dry before the flower spikes are visible near 
the base of their pseudo-bulbs. 
Phajus grandifolius .—This useful old Orchid will have completed its 
growth if subjected to stove treatment as advised early in the season. 
The flower spikes will be making their appearance at the base of the 
growth, and if they are not wanted to come forward into flower naturally, 
but would prove more serviceable later, they may be retarded by placing 
them at once in a temperature that ranges about 55° at night, or even a 
few degrees lower. They should be removed gradually from the stove to 
the lower temperature advised, so that no check will be given them. In 
the temperature indicated they can be retarded for a very long time with¬ 
out the slightest injury. Where many of these plants are grown they 
should be divided into two or three batches and brought into flower suc- 
cessionally. This is one of the most useful of Orchids for conservatory 
decoration, for when in flower the noble spikes of bloom stand well 
above dwarf flowering plants, and have a very commanding appearance. 
Considerably less water will be needed from this time, or the thick fleshy 
roots will soon perish, and the flower spikes will have to draw their sup¬ 
port from the pseulo-bulbs, the growth the following season being 
weak in consequence. Careful feeding may be continued until the flower 
spikes are well advanced, but no more should be given than is really 
necessary to keep the soil in an intermediate state of moisture. While 
these plants are flowering in a cool house no water should be given them, 
for they are better and safer in a dry state at their roots. 
Cypripediums .—Such varieties as C. insigne and C. venustum that have 
completed their growth and have been in a cool structure for some weeks 
past may be introduced into a stove and forced into bloom. The former 
will come into flower first and the latter follows it. When the blooms 
of the former are forced out in heat they are not only larger and brighter 
in colour, but they stand higher above the foliage than they will do when 
allowed to develops under cool treatment. C. villosum, that has been 
grown in heat, and is required for the same purpose, may need retarding in 
a cool house. Our plants of this variety are showing their flower spathes 
much earlier than usual this year, and to be of service after the varieties 
named above are over they will be kept in a cool house for some time. All 
Cypripediums will bear conservatory treatment for a few weeks while in 
bloom, providing cold water is not applied to them and the plants are pro¬ 
tected from cold currents of air. At this season C. Spicerianum, which is 
likely to supersede the useful old C. insigne, is a beautiful plant when 
used for this purpose. The whole of these plants require a good supply 
of water at their roots, even during the resting season, for, unlike many 
Orchids, they have no pseudo-bu’bs to rely upon for support during the 
period of rest. These plants are best rested by lowering the temperature 
considerably for some weeks or months during the season of inactivity. 
Dendrobiums .—These plants must be examined from time to time, and 
as growth becomes completed and ripened they must be removed to cooler 
and drier quarters. While in this position no more water should be given 
them than is necessary to prevent the pseudo-bulbs shrivelling. Some of 
