October 5,1882.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 329 
Melons .—The last fruits are swelling well, and will need supporting 
in good time. Remove all superfluous growths as fast as they appear, 
it being important that the plants have the advantage of every ray 
of light, and the fruit be exposed to the sun as much as possible. 
Only moderate supplies of water will be needed, and the syringe 
must be used very sparingly over the foliage. A light sprinkling on 
bright afternoons, with damping available surfaces occasionally, will 
be sufficient, as too much moisture at the roots or in the atmosphere 
tends to encourage canker, for which a vigilant watch should be 
kept, and upon its appearance quicklime must be pressed well into 
the affected parts. The temperature should be maintained at 70° to 
75°, with an advance to 85° or 90° from sun heat, closing early. 
Maintain the bottom heat steady at 80°. 
In dung-heated pits or frames watering should cease, as a dry con¬ 
dition at the roots will accelerate the ripening and improve the 
quality of the fruit. Linings will be necessary to maintain the heat 
of the beds, and the lights should be covered with mats at night 
The fruit from exhausted plants not yet ripe should be cut with a 
good portion of stem attached to each, and be placed in a sunny 
position in a warm house. 
Cucumbers .—Liberal attention must be given the autumn fruiters 
to insure a strong growth, as much of the after-success depends on 
the foundation now laid. Remove all male blossoms and tendrils, 
avoiding overcropping, and do not allow the fruit to hang too long 
on the Vines. Syringe only on bright warm afternoons, gradually 
reducing the atmospheric moisture as the days shorten, continuing to 
earth up the roots from time to time, pinching out the growing point 
every week or ten days, reserving only as much growth as will have 
full exposure to light and air. 
The plants for winter fruiting should have a light position, so as to 
keep them sturdy, and the fermenting bed—if such be employed—be 
prepared. Good stable dung and Oak or Beech leaves well incorpo¬ 
rated and turned over every three or four days, moistening if neces¬ 
sary for a fortnight, form a good bed, and next ; to this tanners’ bark, 
■which should be had fresh, thrown into a heap, and when fairly 
warmed through it can be placed in its final quarters. The plants 
for fruiting at Christmas should be placed in the beds without delay. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
Pelargoniums of the tricolor, bronze, and other ornamental-leaved 
varieties are difficult to winter if at all affected by frost; it is, there¬ 
fore, necessary to have suitable quarters, and preparations should be 
made for potting them quickly directly a change in the weather 
necessitates their removal. Prom their slow growth it is not desir¬ 
able to cut them back much, merely removing any crowded branches 
and stripping them of their leaves. The remaining shoots may with 
advantage be left their full length to afford an early supply of cut¬ 
tings in spring. A little frost will not much affect the green-leaved 
var eties. They should be cut well back and potted singly after the 
roots have been trimmed, or they may be packed close and stored 
away in boxes. Coleuses, Iresines, and all tender plants should be 
placed under cover at once. The tender succulents, such as Echeveria 
metallica, Pachyphytums, Kleinias, and SempGrvivum tabulaeforme, 
should be removed, or if it be desirable to continue them out a time 
longer it will be necessary to have some light protecting material to 
place over them when frost is expected. Where winter or spring 
bedding is contemplated let all the plants be ip readiness and fully 
arranged, so that no delay may occur when it is necessary to clear 
and refill the beds. 
In the mixed border many of the autumnal plants will still be 
attractive, and a little extra attention to ensure neatness will com¬ 
pensate in some measure for the paucity «f flowers. Lead and 
decayed leaves and flower stems should be retnoved as the plants 
cease blooming. Hollyhocks which are cut doym will produce cut¬ 
tings, which may be taken off with a heel and struck in slight heat. 
Seedlings of these may be potted singly and wintered in cold frames ; 
they will make strong plants for next season. Any gaps in the 
mixed border should be filled with Bromptom Stocks, Wallflowers, 
Canterbury Bells, Antirrhinums, and other biennials or perennials, 
Pansies, Pinks, Carnations, and Picotees may yet be planted out, the 
earlier the better, firming the soil well about the roots. Most of the 
Rose buds will ere this have taken, and all ligatures should he 
removed and the Briar shoots reduced in length. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Orchids .—The temperature for the East India house must be kept 
at a mean of 70° by day and 60° at night, Cattleya house 65° by day 
and 55° at night, and for the Odontoglossum house 55® by day and 
45° is advisable at present. Very little ventilation will be needed 
except during mild weather. The atmospheric moisture must be 
reduced and syringing discontinued, except in the case of plants 
making growth to restore plants becoming shrivelled, and in the 
case of newly imported plants, in which cases syringing will be neces¬ 
sary. Phalsenopsis must be very carefully supplied with moisture, 
as the leaves at this season are liable to decay. Calanthes now 
producing their flower spikes should have every encouragement 
with heat and moisture. Dendrobiums, Cattleyas, and any other 
Orchids which have completed their growth will require very little 
water ; but Zygopetalums and other plants commencing to grow will 
need moderate moisture, and the most favourable position in the 
house for growth—plenty of light and moisture, repotting if neces¬ 
sary or surface-dressing with fresh material. Some of the Oncidiums 
are useful for autumn and winter flowering, especially O. aurosum, 
O. bicallosum, O. flexuOsum majus, 0. macranthum, 0. incurvum, 
0. ornithorhynchum, and O. tigrinum. These will bear a cool dry 
atmosphere when in flower, and the flowers last much longer than 
when in a moist atmosphere. Sufficient water only should be given 
to prevent the plants suffering. Vanda cserulea, with Odontoglossum 
grande and the Pleiones when in bloom, will also bear a cool dry 
temperature (50° to 55°). Let the glass and woodwork in all the 
houses be thoroughly cleaned both inside and outside, taking ad¬ 
vantage of wet weather to give the plants a thorough cleaning, 
neatly staking all young shoots. Search- for slugs by lamplight, as 
they are very destructive to the young growths, flower spikes, and 
roots of Orchids. 
GREENHOUSE. 
Camellias that have been outdoors should at once be transferred 
to their winter quarters, and the plants thoroughly cleaned. Plants 
that have not been out should likewise be similarly treated. 
Plants of Cassia corymbosa that have flowered may be cut back 
and placed at the warmest end of the greenhouse, where they will 
commence growth slowly. Any plants which have a number of 
heads to open should be placed in a house slightly warmer than an 
ordinary greenhouse, in which the bright yellow flowers will open 
and be very useful. Neriums are not so much grown as they deserve 
to be, nor are they treated in such a manner as to make the most of 
them for decorative purposes. Cuttings now taken from plants that 
have the wood thoroughly ripened and their flowers set, and struck, 
as they will readily in a good bottom heat, and shifted into 6-inch 
pots, will form beautiful plants very useful for decorative purposes. 
Some of the most forward and promising plants of Daphne indica 
may be placed in a temperature of 50°, and they will not only flower 
earlier, but admit of more bloom being cut from them than later- 
flowered plants, which when cut hard do not break again freely. 
Croweas bloom nearly two months at this season, and yet they are 
seldom seen, their pretty. star-shaped pink flowers contrasting well 
with most other plants. They are not difficult to grow, and in a con¬ 
servatory slightly warmer than an ordinary greenhouse they bloom 
freely. Witsenia corymbosa, with its beautiful though small bright 
blue flowers, is too much neglected, its colour being rare at any time* 
especially at this season. 
Mignonette grown in pots for winter flowering should have the 
growths neatly secured to stakes as they advance, and have a light 
airy position in a house with a temperature of 45° to 50°. The 
plants, if the flower spikes' are not cut as they become fit, must have 
the seed vessels removed, or they will impair the vigour of the plants 
more than a similar number of flower spikes. If the plants are not 
as large as required, the bloom as it shows should be pinched out 
until the size of specimen desired is secured. The plants are im¬ 
patient of fumigation, hence if it be resorted to for the destruction 
of aphides it must be moderate, but it is better to syringe with clear 
tobacco water. Heliotropes that have been prepared for autumn and 
