November 20, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
471 
are best kept from the house, as wheu introduced they are often the means 
of re-establishing a stock of those pests which have just been exterminated. 
Ventilate the house freely until it is closed for forcing. 
Vines. — Early House. — When the buds in the earliest forced house 
commence swelling the young rods should be examined, and if terminals 
show signs of taking the lead bend them down to a horizontal position, 
and syringe the dormant parts three or four times a day until they begin 
to move. If fermeniin? materials have been placed in the house turn it 
over at intervals, and add fresh sweetened material from the reserve ground 
to prevent the heat from declining below 75°. Admit a little air daily, 
increasing the temperature to 70° or even 75° from sun heat, and let the 
night temperature range from 55° to 60° for the present. When all the 
buds show signs of breaking remove the fern or litter from outside 
borders and cover up with dry warm leaves to a depth of 18 inches, making 
them very firm, and place old lights or shutters over all, with a sharp 
pitch to the front for throwing oflF rain and snow. 
Early Pot Disbud so soon as the most promising breaks 
warrant its being done, and increase the temperature by day to 70° or 75° 
when the weather is fine, but do not allow it to exceed 60° at night when 
mild, and 5° lower in severe weather. If fermenting materials are used 
keep them turned over frequently and added to as they subside, but not 
increasing the heat to more than 70° or 75° about the pots. Water will be 
needed, but it ought not to be given until the soil becomes rather dry, then 
give a thorough supply, and maintain a good moisture in the house by 
syringing the Vines and other available surfaces two or three times a day 
according to the weather. 
Succession Houses. —The Vines should be pruned as they become 
cleared of fruit and the foliage is all down. The houses should then be 
thoroughly cleansed and the rods dressed, in doing which only remove the 
loose bark, and wash with soap and water before dressing with an insecti¬ 
cide. The loose surface soil should be removed, and if the borders are dry 
they should have a good watering, especially those that are intended for 
starting by the new year, repeating as necessary to bring into a thoroughly 
moist condition, and replace the soil removed with good loam, to which 
has been added some crushed bones and charred refuse. Keep the house 
cool and dry. so as to induce complete rest until the time arrives for 
starting the Vines. Select well-ripened prunings from the midseason 
Vines for making future stock, either as grafts or plants from eyes, and 
lay them in in a sheltered position in the open air. 
Late Autumn Vineries. —Where these are required for plants through 
the winter the bunches remaining may be cut and taken to the Grape- 
room, which should previously have been thoroughly cleansed, and the 
heat put on and ventilated so as to draw out the damp and sweeten the 
atmosphere, as cleanliness is quite as important as in the houses where the 
Grapes are grown. The bottles should be filled with water and a piece of 
charcoal placed in each a few days before they are wanted, as fire heat to 
expel damp after the Grapes are introduced and an excess of dry heat is 
unfavourable to long keeping as an excess of moisture. The Vines being 
free from foliage, each fruit-bearing shoot should be cut to the usual bud, all 
beyond the bunch being left intact to prevent loss of moisture from the 
berries when the atmosphere is unusually dry. The temperature of the 
Grape-room should be kept steady at 45° to 50°, fire heat only being used 
to expel damp or prevent the temperature falling below 45°. When the 
Grapes are cut the Vines may be pruned, or if the foliage is not all down 
it may be deferred, but the roots should have attention, as indicated 
Above ; but it is well not to use the house for plants if it can be helped, as 
a complete rest is quite as essential to a satisfactory crop of Grapes as 
careful and good management during the growing season, and this they 
have not without the atmosphere be kept dry by free ventilation and an 
empty house. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
French and Fancy Pelargoniums. —The plants intended for early 
flowering in spring will now be dwarf, bushy, compact specimens, well 
established in 5 and 6-inch pots if previous directions have been attended 
to. These should now occupy a position as close to the glass as possible, 
a good shelf being a capital place for them if a small house cannot be 
devoted to them. To do these plants justice during the winter they must 
have a light position in some structure where the night temperature will 
not fall below 45°. This temperature should be maintained as long as 
possible without the aid of fire heat, which for the present need only be 
applied on fine days for the purpose of expelling damp. No attempt 
must be made to push the plants into active growth, or the foliage and 
shoots will be drawn soft and weakly. They should be kept slowly 
growing, and if air is freely admitted on all favourable occasions the 
little growth that will be made in spite of the absence of sunshine will be 
strong and sturdy. Water must be applied with great care ; no more 
should be given than is sufiicient to retain moisture in the soil to keep 
the roots in good condition. If these plants are wet at their roots the 
foliage will soon become spotted and disfigured. Later plants, or old 
plants that were cut back and are in a more backward condition of 
growth than the batch of young plants alluded to, may be wintered in a 
little lower temperature, providing the atmosphere can be kept moderately 
dry by the admission of air and a little heat occasionally to expel damp. 
The object to be attained is not exciting them into growth, but preserving 
them through the winter in as good condition as they are at the present 
time. If any shoots are taking the lead of others they may be pinched 
to balance the growth of the plants. The early batch should not need 
pinching, but be allowed to extend until they come into flower. If cut¬ 
back plants have not been potted since they were shaken out, and 
repotted when they had well started into growth, they should now be 
left until the turn of the year, for the least mismanagement in applying 
water to the plants would perhaps end in their ruin. Those well trained 
in watering plants, and know how and when to apply it, may with safety 
pot their plants even at this stage of the year. Every precaution must 
be taken to keep these plants free from aphides by fumigating the house 
with tobacco directly they appear. 
Calceolarias. —These should be kept in cold frames as long as 
possible, for in such a position they will do very much better than in the 
drier atmosphere of a house. When, however, they have to be removed 
to some structure to be safe from frost, avoid placing them upon shelves, 
for they are too dry for these moisture-loving plants. They should have 
every ray of light possible, and be stood upon ashes, gravel, or some other 
moisture-bolding material where a good circulation of air can be 
admitted daily when the weather is favourable. The earliest plants may 
be transferred into the pots in which they are intended to flower in if 
they have fairly well filled the pots they are now in with roots. In the 
cultivation of these plants it is a great mistake to allow them to become 
cramped at their roots before they are placed into the pots they are to 
flower in, for seldom do plants do well after they have become checked 
by insufficient root room. After potting water carefully until the roots 
are working freely in the new soil, but on no account allow them to suffer 
by keeping them too dry at their roots, for if they become checked from 
this cause they soon become a prey to aphides. Avoid as much as 
possible the use of fire heat, and if frost is first excluded it will be ample 
for the well-being of the plants. A suitable compost is good loam, leaf 
mould one-third, and one-seventh of cow manure passed through a fine 
sieve, and a liberal dash of coarse sand. A 6-inch potful of soot to each 
barrowful of soil may with advantage be added. 
Cinerarias. —In some localities where the atmosphere is moderately 
dry these plants can be kept in good condition through the winter in cold 
frames by such protection as mats and dry straw will afford them. In 
other localities this is impossible, for with the utmost care the foliage is 
covered with moisture day after d.ay, and in the end damps off in spite of 
every effort to prevent this, and thus seriously injures the decorative 
value of the plants. Under such conditions the plants should be removed 
from cold frames without delay to some position where the foliage can 
be dried, say, once during every twenty-four hours. They can be housed 
safely in a vinery where the ventilators stand open day and night during 
favourable weather. They can also be kept in good condition in any 
house or pit in which heat can be turned on to expel the moisture that 
settles upon the foliage occasionally. Fire heat for this purpose should 
only be used when absolutely necessary, for a dry warm atmosphere is as 
detrimental to these plants as a too damp one. Plants that are throwing 
up their flower stems should be supplied with weak liquid manure every 
time they need water. Watch for aphides, for they make their appear¬ 
ance and very quickly destroy the plants where growth is slow, if not at 
once exterminated by frequent fumigations with tobacco sm oke. 
Roses. —Where it is necessary to increase the stock of Hybrid 
Perpetuals in pots the plants should be lifted and potted without delay 
while they possess abundance of fresh green foliage. The size of pots to 
be used entirely depends upon the size of the plants, those 7 to 9 inches 
in diameter are large enough for good-sized plants. The former will 
accommodate the ordinary size plants sold by the trade. The pots 
employed should be well and liberally drained, and the soil pressed 
firmly into them. If the plants are worked bury the union of the stock 
and Rose beneath the soil to give them a chance of forming roots and 
becoming independent of the stock in time. Remove the ends of long 
straggling shoots, and plunge the pots outside after potting amongst 
coal ashes, entirely covering the rim of the pots and surface of the soil. 
In this position they can remain until the approach of very severe 
weather, when they should have the protection of a cold frame. Use for 
a compost good fibry loam, one-seventh of decayed manure, and a liberal 
dash of coarse sand—this entirely depends upon the condition of the 
loam whether light or heavy. If very light add in preference to sand a 
little clay that has been reduced to powder by drying and crushing. 
One 6 inch potful of b me meal to each barrowful of soil is also very 
suitable for Roses in pots. 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
6 ) 
PREPARING APPLIANCES FOR NEXT SUMMER. 
Whatever contrivances we employ in improvement Nature can 
never be inverted, and the bee is no exception to this rule. Its natural 
habits and instinct are the same to-day as they were at its creation. 
If these things are studied and thoroughly understood by the begin¬ 
ner it will enable him to surmount difficulties and to manage profit¬ 
ably his own or employer’s bees. I have been prompted to mention 
employer from having before me a letter from a lady, the wife of 
one of our wealthiest merchants, asking me if I could help her to 
procure a good gardener, and one who understood bees. This is 
but one of many similar instances, and is evidence that the love of 
bees is increasing amongst the wealthier class, who are beginning 
to find that honey is as serviceable for the table and is more cheaply 
produced than many things, consequently I would advise all gar¬ 
deners to include apiculture in their other studies. 
