July 7, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
8 
Artificial heat is only necessary in cold dull weather, then 
gentle warmth in the pipes is necessary to maintain a night tempera¬ 
ture of 60° to 65°, and 70° to 75° by day. Ventilate early, especi¬ 
ally on bright mornings. Figs detest “ stewing,” yet no other 
fruit is more benefited by a high temperature from sun heat; there¬ 
fore keep through the day at 80° to 85°, and close early so as to 
increase the heat to 90°, or even 95° to 100°, providing plenty of 
atmospheric moisture, and allow the temperature to fall to 60° 
or 65°. 
When the fruit changes colour afford a circulation of air con¬ 
stantly, and a free movement of the atmosphere by top and bottom 
ventilation whenever circumstances allow. Reduce the moisture 
gradually, and keep it from the fruit, which should be exposed to 
the influence of light and air as much as possible, then the fruit 
will be wholesome and delicious. 
During the swelling of the fruit a mulch of lumpy short 
manure 2 inches thick attracts the roots, and the manurial 
elements become assimilated and washed into the soil at each 
watering. There must not be any lack of water, and trees 
carrying heavy crops will need liberal supplies of liquid manure. 
Withhold it, however, from those having a tendency to over¬ 
luxuriance. Trees in borders well drained, properly constituted, 
and of small area, can hardly be overfed ; but wide, deep, 
rich borders produce overgrowth in the trees, abundance of 
wood, and grand leaves, but no fruit. Lifting and circumscrib¬ 
ing the rooting area constitute the only way to transform fruit¬ 
less into fruitful trees. Syringe the trees twice a day in fine 
weather, for the last time early in the afternoon. Ventilate early 
in the morning, so as to avoid scorching and scalds of all sorts 
by dissipating the moisture deposited during the night before the 
sun acts powerfully upon the foliage. Early ventilation secures a 
long day’s work, because evaporation begins soon, and elaboration 
and assimilation go on with the increasing sun. Rest at night, 
the temperature falling to a safe minimum, insures the certainty 
of a renewal of the work with unabated vigour. 
Trees under wall cases yield fruit abundantly in August and 
September. Those do best which are confined at the roots to 
narrow borders of calcareous soil well drained. The structure 
must be light, and well ventilated. Keep the growths thin ; let 
the sun shine into the axils of the leaves and on the points of the 
shoots, then the trees will be sturdy and fruitful. Stop side 
shoots at the fifth leaf where there is not room for extension 
growth ; but do not crowd the trees with spurs, and avoid late 
pinching. Ventilate early ; retain the sun heat by early closing, 
with plenty of atmospheric moisture, and keep the borders well 
watered and mulched. Such is the routine followed in summer, 
which results in a long supply of delicious fruit.— An Old 
Grower. 
SARRACENIAS. 
Kew is one of the few gardens in which Sarracenias are culti¬ 
vated with success ; there they are grown in a sunny porch adjoin¬ 
ing the Orchid house, and they are always a source of considerable 
interest to visitors on account of the extraordinary structure of 
their pitcher-like leaves and their supposed insectivorous pro¬ 
pensities. They are, however, specially interesting during the 
months of April and May, when they develop new pitchers and 
produce their handsome flowers, which in colour, size, and singu¬ 
larity of structure are sufficiently attractive to rank with first-rate 
greenhouse-flowering plants. A well-grown specimen of S. Drum- 
mondi, S. Patersoni, S. ornata, or S. Stevensi could not well be 
overrated as an ornamental greenhouse plant. 
How they should be grown does not appear to be generally 
known ; a few notes on their treatment may therefore be useful 
to readers of the Journal of Horticulture. The six true species of 
Sarracenia known to botanists are natives of North America, where 
they grow only in swamps or marshes. They are semi-aquatic in 
a wild state. It is important to bear this in mind when the plants 
come to be treated in the garden, for although they are not easily 
killed, even by drought, they do very little good unless they are 
freely and abundantly watered all the year round. They have a 
short thick rhizomatous stem, not unlike that of the German Iris, 
and their roots are very fine and soft. In repotting them in March 
the plants should be shaken or washed clean of all old soil, dead 
parts cut away, and then repotted in a mixture of equal parts 
of peat and sphagnum, pressing this firmly about the plants and 
just burying the stems. They should then be placed in a sunny 
greenhouse and kept close until the new pitchers push up, watering 
them well at least once a day. The flower buds will show at the 
same time, and if the plants are strong enough they may be 
allowed to carry a few flowers. A profusion of these, however, 
can only be had at the expense of the pitchers, so that if good 
pitchers are wanted few flowers should be allowed to develop, 
After the pitchers have grown to their full size more air may be 
given, until by June the house may be kept as cool as an ordinary 
greenhouse. The plants must not be shaded ; plenty of sunlight 
and warmth, sweet soil, and abundance of water are the most 
essential points in the successful cultivation of Sarracenias. 
The pitchers have an attraction for flies of all kinds, which 
appear to become intoxicated through taking the secretion on 
FIG. 1.—SARRACENIA STEVENSI ( reduced ). 
the lid of the pitcher, and consequently fall into the pitcher, out 
of which they cannot escape. It often happens that through 
catching too many flies the pitchers become overgorged, and the 
putrid mass formed by the dead flies becomes a source of disease, 
causing the pitchers to decay. To prevent th's it is advisable to 
stuff a little cotton wool in the mouth of the tube low enough 
down to be out of sight, and yet near enough to the top to enable 
the flies to escape. 
There are numerous hybrid Sarracenias now, and some of them 
are larger and handsomer, both in pitcher and flower, than the 
species. The first hybrid was raised by the late Dr. Moore of 
Glasnevin, who exhibited it in flower for the first time at the 
International Botanical Congress held in Florence in 1874. It was 
