December 22, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
557 
water until the fruit is taking the first swelling and entering on the 
stoning process. Trees under fixed roofs seldom have the soil thoroughly 
moistened, therefore the buds are imperfectly formed, aDd are cast when 
they should be developing into blossom. 
Unheated Houses .—We remove the roof lights from these directly 
the leaves are all down, and they remain off until the beginning of 
March, earlier or later according to the season. The buds are then 
commencing to swell, some having burst their scales and showing the 
downy integuments that protect the blossoms. Up to that stage they are 
simply frost proof, for it is not the buds that suffer from severe frost, 
but the unripe wood, and that is worse than useless, as it falls a prey to 
gum disease. We also defer the pruning of these trees until the spring, 
which is a light affair, as they are grown on the long-pruning system, and 
all the useless wood is cut out directly the fruit is gathered, so that the 
wounds heal at once, and the winter pruning is rendered almost nil. 
Fines. —We again direct attention to the necessity of making pre¬ 
parations at once for producing ripe fruit during May and June. Black 
Jamaica—an excellent fruit, especially in winter—Charlotte Rothschild, 
and Smooth-leaved Cayenne plants, which, however promising now, 
failed to show fruit during October and November, will not throw up in 
time to ripen at the time named. Attention must, therefore, be directed 
to such as attain perfection in less time, as the Queens, Enville, and 
Providence varieties. Select at once those plants which have an en¬ 
larged base with a tendency to open in the centre, evidence that the 
fruit will shortly be visible, and place them in a light house or pit, 
affording brisk bottom heat, say 85° to 90°, a top heat of 60° to 7O' 5 at 
night, 70° to 75° by day artificially, and 10° to 15° more from sun heat. 
When the external conditions are favourable, a moderate amount of 
ventilation must be given, and the atmosphere should be genial, 
syringing the plants once or twice a week, and then very lightly, damp¬ 
ing all available surfaces in the house, except the hot-water pipes, on 
fine afternoons. Water will be required at the roots about every ten 
days, but do not supply it irntil the soil becomes dry, and then in a 
tepid state, with a little guano (1 oz. per gallon) or some other fertiliser 
in it, and always copiously, dribbles doing more harm than good. 
Cucumbers. —The weather has been tantalising, and necessitated 
sharp firing sometimes, but there have been bright and mild intervals, 
so that the growth has not suffered like it does when the days are cold 
and the sun obscured for lengthened periods. Cucumbers like light, 
heat, and moisture ; the glass should be kept clean both inside and 
outside. Add a little soil over the roots as they protrude through the 
sides of the ridges or hillocks, using warmed sweet soil, and moderately 
moist. A few sweetened horse droppings sprinkled on the surface of the 
bed occasionally will attract the roots and supply them with food. 
Supply water only when the soil is getting dry, then afford a soaking. 
Plants in limited borders, pots, and boxes should have liquid manure, 
always tepid, and not too strong nor too often. Damping available 
surfaces, or the paths and sides of the bed and house, will be sufficient 
to maintain a genial atmosphere if it be attended to in the morning and 
in the afternoon of fine days. Remove surplus fruits as they appear, 
also tendrils and male blossoms, unless they are required for impreg¬ 
nating the fruit-bearing flowers. Stopping and thinning will not be 
much needed, but it must not be neglected, as crowding is the precursor 
of evil consequences. Tie in the growths as necessary. Do not overcrop 
the plants, and be careful not to allow the fruit to remain longer on the 
plants than to attain a useable size ; they keep fresh several days after 
being cut if the heels are inserted in a saucer of water in a cool place, 
but safe from frost. Red spider is sometimes troublesome, especially in 
structures that are badly heated, necessitating, as it does, sharp firing. 
Sponging the infested leaves with a solution of softsoap, 2 oza. to a 
gallon of water, is a sure, and, all things considered, the safest remedy ; 
but it requires to be taken in time, for when the pest has obtained a 
footing it is difficult to prevent its rapid spread. White fly succumbs to 
repeated fumigation, only damp the floor, but not the plants, prior to 
commencing. Mildew may be kept under by dusting the affected parts 
with flowers of sulphur, or the hot water pipes may be brushed over 
with a mixture of sulphur and skim milk, the fumes of the sulphur 
being fatal to red spider, white fly, and mildew. Green and black 
aphides may be destroyed by dusting with tobacco powder or fumigation 
with good tobacco paper or rag on two or more consecutive evenings, but 
be careful to deliver the smoke cool and not give an overdose, as the 
foliage is at all times, especially at this time of year, thin and soon injured. 
THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 
Tomatoes. —Plants put out on ridges of soil on narrow borders too 
late in the season to attain a productive size before the winter sets in 
are very liable to collapse suddenly, a disease attacking the stem just 
above the soil. Apparently there is no certain remedy for this, though 
keeping the plants somewhat dry at the roots is a fairly reliable 
preventive. Pot culture is the best for winter Tomatoes, few or no 
plants being lost when the roots are confined to 10-inch or rather larger 
pots. Given a light position, a fairly brisk heat, ranging, say, from 55° 
by night to 60° in the daytime, accompanied, when possible, by a circu¬ 
lation of dry air, the plants will grow strongly and produce bunches of 
flowers in due course. In order to set these go over the plants every day 
at about 12 A.M., and smartly tap the footstalks of the bunches with a 
light stick, this being sufficient to distribute the pollen, some of which 
is certain to lodge on the pistils. Give water somewhat sparingly till at 
least three good clusters of fruit are set on each plant, then pinch out 
the points and treat more liberally at the roots. Pot plants in full 
bearing may well receive moderately strong liquid manure each time 
they are watered, a top-dressing of rich compost also being good. Those 
plants that are on the roof and now yielding fruit plentifully need not be 
cut out after their crops are cleared off ; this is advisable if badly infested 
by the white fly known as Aleyrodes. Such strong plants, if retained 
and liberally treated at the roots, would soon form abundance of fresh 
shoots, which, if laid in thinly, will produce early and valuable crops. 
Seedlings or rooted cuttings in small pots should be placed in their 
fruiting quarters early in the new year, otherwise they will very 
probably be surpassed in productiveness by others which may have 
been raised from seed sown early in January. A hard sturdy growth 
is desirable, but this can best be brought about by planting in a firm 
bed of fresh but not very rich soil, keeping them starving in small 
pot3 being anything but a good preparation. 
Diseases and Insect Pests. —A free use of fire heat accompanied 
by a good circulation of dry air effectively checks the spread of diseases 
of a fungoid nature, and that is the reason why less of them is seen during 
the late autumn and winter months. If the same conditions were 
persevered with in the spring disease might simply be defied, maintain¬ 
ing a moist atmosphere such as suits a variety of other growing plants 
really invites an attack which nothing short of a return to a more 
rational treatment will obviate. At the same time if the old plants 
are at all diseased, these and any small ones that have been prepared 
with the idea of making a good early start, ought all to be thrown away, 
and a thorough cleansing process given the houses. Starting afresh 
with new soil and healthy newly raised seedlings the progress made will 
be rapid and in the end a decided gain will be scored. Especially ought 
those who grow Tomatoes for the markets to strive to make a clean 
start, though the temptation to be among the earliest to consign fruit 
not unfrequently induces them to run risks in the direction of putting 
out autumn-raised plants. Prices are good in May, and it ought to be 
possible to have fairly large quantities of fruit ready to send to the 
market during the early part of that month from January-raised plants. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Freeslas. —As these start into growth they should be placed on a 
shelf moderately close to the glass where the temperature does not 
exceed 50°. If the tubers have been covered with cocoa-nut fibre refuse 
until they started into growth light must be admitted to them gradually 
until the stems are green. This is best done by standing them at the 
base of some house or pit where the temperature is suitable. If required 
to flower in batches the majority of the plants should be allowed to come 
forward under cool conditions. 
Primula obconlca. —This plant does better where the temperature 
ranges from 45 u to 50° at night than in a perfectly cool house where 
frost only is excluded. In the latter the foliage assumes a sickly yellow 
appearance ; in fact the plants are starved. By the aid of gentle warmth 
growth continues, and flowers are very freely produced. 
Chrysanthemum Cuttings. —As cuttings can be obtained they 
should be inserted without delay before they become drawn or weakly. 
All kinds needed for the production of large blooms ought to be inserted 
singly in thumb pots filled with a light sandy soil. They root so freely 
that scarcely one will be lost if placed under handlights stood in a cool 
Peach house or vinery. When propagated under cool conditions there 
is no fear of the young plants receiving a check during the process of 
hardening. Those needed for decorative purposes may be inserted 
thickly together in handlights in which a few inches of light soil has 
been inserted. Directly these are rooted they should be potted singly, 
or two or three placed together in each pot. Free-flowering kinds only 
should be selected for bushes when allowed to grow and flower in a 
natural manner. 
Dillum candidum. —Plants that were potted as advised in previous 
calendars will be now showing their flower stems. These should be 
given a temperature of 45° to 50°, where they will grow slowly. These 
plants must not be hurried in their present stage, or they will be spoiled. 
Give air daily when the weather is favourable to insure steady growth. 
Watch for aphides, and destroy them at once by fumigating with tobacco 
smoke. 
Xilllum Harrlsl. —If not removed from the ashes in which they 
were plunged when, potted these should be taken out at once. Stand 
them for a time in the greenhouse until their steins are green, and then 
place them on a shelf close to the glass. We find these plants always 
start best in a frame with the surface of the pots covered with 2 inches 
of cocoa-nut fibre refuse. In this position the plants remain until they 
grow through, and then they can be removedandp'aceddirectuponashelf. 
Water as soon as the pots are removed from the plunging material, and 
be careful not to allow them to become dry afterwards. Select from the 
earliest batch the most forward plants and place them in the temperature 
advised for L. candidum. Under these conditions the plants will move 
forward and flower early. 
Hyacinths, Tulips, and narcissi.— These and other bulbous 
plants plunged under ashes should be removed if ready before the 
material in which they have been placed becomes thoroughly frozen. 
Those not ready should have a good layer of litter covered over them, so 
that they can be examined and removed when sufficient roots have been 
made. Those that are removed must have light ad mitted to them gradually, 
but be careful not to place them close to hot-water pipes that may be 
used to keep out frost. In such positions they become unduly excited 
and dried. The later batches of the early Roman Hyacinths will move 
forward rapidly enough under greenhouse treatment, unless an extra 
quantity are needed for any special purpose. Early Tulips needed for 
Christmas may be pushed forward in the forcing house it sufficient heat 
is maintained; if not place them in the propagating house. If the plants 
haye been properly prepared and are well rooted heat will not harm them. 
