268 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. c September ie, iseo. 
repeating the application as may be necessary. Cracked fruits will 
need to be guarded against by the reduction of the moisture both at 
the roots and in the atmosphere. The temperature should be main¬ 
tained at 70° to 75° by day artificially, which may fall to 05° in the 
morning. The house will need damping morning and afternoon 
where crops are swelling oft, but only on very bright days must the 
syringe be employed over the foliage, and that early in the afternoon. 
Earth-up the roots of the last batch directly the fruit commences 
swelling. Plants in frames and pits must be sparingly watered, and 
when necessary afford it early so as to have the foliage dry before 
nightfall. Renovate the linings to finish off the crop directly the 
heat is found to be waning, and employ a covering over the lights on 
cold nights. 
Cucumbers .—The temperature should be maintained at G5° mini¬ 
mum and lb 9 maximum from fire heat, with a rise of 10° to 15° with 
sun heat. Remove unhealthy leaves and old growths, stopping and 
training the others as necessary. Employ the syringe sparingly, 
only clamping the foliage on bright days so that the foliage may 
become dry before nightfall. Damping will require to be done in 
the morning and again in the evening. Continue the preparation of 
fermenting materials whether tan or dung ; the former will only re¬ 
quire to be turned over once, but the latter will need be turned over 
about every fourth day as soon as warmed through. Pot off seed¬ 
lings as they become fit, and keep them near the glass to ensure 
sturdy growth, pinching out the growing points at the second rough 
leaf. Be sparing with moisture to plants in pits and frames, main¬ 
taining the temperature above indicated by renovating the linings, 
and employing a covering of mats over the lights on cold nights and 
closing early. 
Pines .—Young plants that have been liberally and properly treated 
show at this season luxuriant growth, and as the influences inducing 
this state of the plants are decreasing both in force and duration it 
will be necessary to take steps to prevent the growth becoming soft 
and attenuated. A drier atmosphere about the plants should be 
maintained to consolidate the growth, employing fire heat when 
unfavourable weather prevails. Syringe occasionally early in the 
afternoon on sunny days. When water at the roots is necessary 
give a plentiful supply of weak liquid manure at the same tempe¬ 
rature as the bed ; keep the bottom heat steady between 80° and 90 °; 
attend well to the ventilation, closing the house at a temperature of 
80°, maintaining the night temperature at G5°. Encourage plants on 
which the fruit is swelling with heat and moisture, the night tem¬ 
perature ranging from 70° to 75°, and in the daytime from 80° to 90°, 
closing the house at 85°. Plants for starting into fruit early in the 
ensuing year should be selected from those which were started last 
March, and be brought together about the end of the month where 
they can be rested for about six weeks. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
With shortening days and genial night dews grass is growing fast, 
and will require frequent mowing and rolling to secure a good solid 
greensward for the winter. Weeds on gravel walks also grow freely 
in late summer and autumn, and should be eradicated even if the 
walks have to be broken up. Hand-weeding may be saved by water¬ 
ing with salt water, the surface having a good sprinkling during 
sunny days, which will not only destroy weeds but will check worms 
from casting up and disfiguring the surface. The leaves of deciduous 
trees in some instances—notably Beech, Sycamore, and Lime—are 
already falling, and should be swept up frequently. Pick off all 
decayed flowers and foliage as soon as perceived, keeping the sur¬ 
roundings as well as the beds as trim as possible. All propagation 
to be finished excepting Violas and Calceolarias, for which there is 
ample time, all cuttings being closely watched to prevent damping, 
and expose them fully on fine days to thoroughly harden them for 
successful wintering. 
The bulb season has begun, and these should be procured at once, 
not only to ensure good bulbs, but to have them in readiness for 
planting directly the ground becomes vacant. For borders there are 
many that should be planted now, as the border Narcissus, which are 
among the most useful and beautiful of spring-flowering bulbs ; some 
of the best of which are maximus, nobilis, cernuus and var. pleno, 
bicolor and vars. Horsfieldi and Empress, moschatus, rugilobus, 
Incomparabilis vars. alba, flore-pleno, Stella, aurantiacus plenus, and 
sulphureus plenus, biflorus, poeticus, and vars. angustifolius, ornatus, 
and flore-pleno. The common varieties should be planted extensively 
in shrubbery borders, &c., such as N. pseudo-Narcissus (Lent Lily)> 
N. Telemonius plenus (Double Daffodil), major (Trumpet major)’ 
N. incomparabilis vars., and N. poeticus vars. Jonquils also do well 
in borders, particularly Campernelle. It is hardly possible to have 
too many of such plants as Snowdrops, Winter Aconite, Scillas, 
Muscaris, Crocuses, Anemones, Triteleias, &c., all of which should be 
planted with as little delay as possible. Hyacinths and Tulips are 
indispensable for a display in beds, and are equally valuable for 
mixed borders. Roses will be better for having the dead flowers cut 
off and long sappy growths shortened, to ensure the plumping of the 
buds at the base, but not so closely as to start the buds into growth 
that the shoots will need to be pruned to in winter for next season’s 
flowering, otherwise that will be destroyed. The stocks recently 
budded should be examined, loosening or removing the ligatures as 
required. Cuttings of well-ripened wood strike readily inserted in 
sandy soil on a north border. Annuals may still be sown in patches 
where the plants are intended to flower, thinning them out when 
large enough. Anemone japonica and var. alba are now fine, the 
latter especially, also Sedum Telephium purpureum. Phloxes make 
a grand display. Senecio pulcher (very fine), Sedum spectabile, 
Veronica spicata, Polygonum vacciniifolium, Tritomas, Spiraea Fili- 
pendula, Hypericum calycinum, Hyacinthus candicans, and Pucbsias 
are all beautiful. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Greenhouse .—Hardwooded plants must be at once placed into their 
winter quarters. The weather lately being favourable to the ripening 
of the wood will have induced a free disposition to flower, and the 
wood will be in good condition for resisting mildew. Every plant, 
however, before being taken indoors must be examined, and if the 
least trace of mildew exists it must be destroyed, or it will spread 
with amazing rapidity when the plants are taken indoors. Dusting 
with sulphur is an effectual remedy, the plants being laid on their 
sides and syringed, and whilst wet apply the sulphur, the plants 
being allowed to remain on their sides until dry, when the sulphur 
should be thoroughly washed off and the plants still continued on 
their sides until the plants are dry, for on no account must the 
sulphur be allowed to pass into the soil. Plants that have the soft 
leaves and make growth in the winter should be given the lightest 
positions, such as Boronias, Gompholobiums, Pimeleas, Tremandras, 
and Phoenocomas. If Heaths have to be wintered in the same house 
they should be kept at the coolest end, and by ventilating more freely 
at that part they may be managed, but a separate house is much 
better for them. The general stock of hardwooded plants will re¬ 
quire the night temperature kept at 35° to 40°, but Leschenaultias, 
Aphelexises, and a few others must not have the night temperature 
lower than 40° to 45°. Heaths that require more root room may now 
be repotted, proportioning the shift to the character of the plants 
and the condition of the roots. Free-growing kinds that have been 
in 12-inch pots and have plenty of active roots will bear a shift into 
15 or lG-inch pots, but it is not safe to give large shifts to very hard¬ 
wooded kinds, as they produce roots slowly. See that the ball in 
each case is thoroughly moist before potting. After potting place 
the plants in a house where the side lights can be kept closed for 
about three weeks, and a sufficiency of air given by the roof lights. 
Camellias .—The plants if they have been placed outdoors should 
be taken in before there is danger of frost or drenching rains, which 
causes loss of roots or the buds to drop. The thorough cleaning of 
the foliage will be of advantage to the plants, and if the plants are 
infested with scale it must be removed with a brush and sponge. 
Plants that flowered early and were well attended afterwards would 
set the buds early and will now be well advanced ; they will flower 
freely in a house kept a little warmer than an ordinary greenhouse, 
but there must not be any attempt at forcing them, or the flowers will 
in all probability fall before opening. To accelerate flowering in¬ 
creased temperature and a little more moisture are all that are needed. 
Azaleas .—Plants that flowered early or were forced will now have 
matured the buds. If the plants are wanted to flower early again 
they should not be retained too long, but be moved to a house where 
