180 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March 4, 1886. 
is the worst insect we have to deal with in this department, the syringe 
must be vigorously applied until the pest is destroyed. Dryness at the 
roots and a dry atmosphere are favourable to its spreading rapidly, whilst 
the check to the trees consequent on its attacks is often the cause of the 
young fruit falling off. As an aid to the syringe every part of the b >rder 
inside should be well mulched with short horse manure, and thoroughly 
soaked with tepid water a few degrees above the mean temperature of the 
house. Proceed with disbudding, thinning, and tying in the young shoots 
from the lower parts of the bearing wood, and pinch back where it is 
thought desirable to form spurs. Ventilate early and gradually as the 
temperature rises, reducing it by degrees, and endeavour to make up for 
lost time by running it up to 80° with sun heat and moisture after closing 
for the day. A night temperature of 55° to 60°, according to the con¬ 
dition of the weather, until after the stoning process is over, will be quite 
safe. The day temperature from fire heat should range from 60° to 65°, 
and 70° to 75° with sun. 
Succession Houses. —Trees now in bloom may have a free circulation 
of air, with just sufficient fire heat to prevent sudden depressions of 
temperature, maintaming 50° at night, and a few degress less on cold 
nights. A temperature of 50° to 55° will be suitable in the daytime, 
advancing to 60° or 65° from sun heat, with a free circulation of air. 
Shake the trellis frequently, pass the camel’s-hair brush or feather over 
the flowers once a day, and give extra attention to the shy-setting varie¬ 
ties by conveying pollen from others that produce it in abundance, as for 
instance Royal George. Keep the paths well damped on fine days, and 
be more sparing of water when the weather is dull and cold. 
Late Houses. —Retard the blossoming in houses inefficiently heated 
by abundant ventilation with a view to escape injury from spring frosts 
Keep a keen eye on the borders ; have them mulched and moist. Lack 
of water at the roots early in the season is the cause of many failures in 
the culture of Peaches. 
Cucumbers, —Tying, stopping, and thinning the shoots should be 
regularly attended to, and all superfluous and misshapen fruits removed. 
Plants in full bearing will require liberal supplies of tepid liquid manure. 
Syringe the plants twice a day in bright weather, which will keep red 
spider and fly in check, and close the house with plenty of atmospheric 
moisture at 2 to 3 p.m. Keep the evaporating troughs filled with liquid 
manure, the ammonia vapour being beneficial to the plants and inimical 
to insects. Young plants now making vigorous growth, and having been 
stopped previously on reaching the third wire of the trellis will need to 
have the growths trained regularly and not too closely over the trellis. Add 
some more soil to the hillocks as the roots push through the soil, repeating 
until the allotted space has been filled. See that the linings of dung- 
heated frames or pits are duly attended to, having a quantity of ferment¬ 
ing material in reserve for application as needed. 
Melons.— Occasional glimpses of sunshine with which we have lately 
been favoured have helped the Melons wonderfully, the plants making 
satisfactory progress. Nevertheless, every effort must be made to compen¬ 
sate for lost time through cold and the long absence of sun by making the 
best use of bright sunny days for entrapping the sunbeams by early 
closing, and affording a congenial condition of the atmosphere by damping 
available surfaces or syringing the plants. The plants growing in hot- 
water-heated pits over dung beds, and which have been stopped at the 
third leaf some time back, will now have made some laterals, about four 
of which should be trained over the surface of the bed, and stopped when 
they have made about 18 inches to 2 feet of growth, or when they are 
about 1 foot from the sides of the pit, which will result in the pushing of 
sub-laterals or fruit-bearing shoots that may be stopped at one joint 
beyond the fruit, after which, with the necessary stopping and thinning 
of the shoots, the plants may be allowed to furnish the allotted space. 
Fertilise the blossoms on fine days when the pollen is dry, and maintain, 
as far as practicable, a rather dry atmosphere whilst the plants are in 
that stage of growth, and until the fruit is set. When the plants in the 
Melon house have reached the fourth wire of the trellis they must be 
stopped, and the shoots trained horizontally to the wires. Earth up any 
young plants that may require it, and shift into larger pots before they 
become root-bound, or plant out before that condition is reached. Suc- 
cessional sowings and plantings must be made according to the require¬ 
ments of the establishment in order to maintain a succession equal to 
the demand 
VlGS—Earliest Forced Trees in Pots. —The first swelling of the fruits 
will soon be completed, when they will remain apparently stationary for a 
considerable time'; and as this is the most critical stage in their culture 
every care must be taken not to give a check, whether caused by excessive 
heat or want of moisture will, in all probability, cause them to drop when 
the time arrives for them to commence their last swelling. Should the 
weather prove mild the temperature may be kept at 60° to 65° at night, 
but if cold 5° less will be found safer. What is lost at night may be 
gained in the daytime by closing with plenty of heat and moisture, 
when a rise of 10° to 15° may be indulged in without producing a weak 
or elongated growth, keeping through the day with gleams of sun at 70° to 
75°. Copious syringing on all favourable occasions will be absolutely 
necessary, as red spider is almost sure to attack the leaves in close 
proximity to the pipes. It is very important that a steady supply of tepid 
liquid be afforded the roots, as Figs in full growth require generous 
support, providing it does not remain stagnant, which can hardly happen 
when the pots are stood on brick piers well above the floor of the pits. 
Succession Houses. —Attention to thinning and disbudding must be 
given if there is any probability of the growths becoming crowded, stopping 
at the fourth or fifth leaf it it be thought desirable to form spurs, from 
whieh the second crop of fruit will be obtained. Syringe the trees twice 
a day, and keep the mulching constantly moistened with diluted liquid 
manure. 
Young Trees in Pots. —Shift those intended for next year’s forcing, 
and place them in or over bottom heat. Shade slightly from bright 
sunshine for a few days until they show signs of having taken to the new 
soil, when they should be fully exposed to sun and light. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Nepenthes. —Plants that have grown tall and ceased to pitcher freely 
should be cut down to within 4 or 5 inches of the base. If done at once 
they will soon break into growth, and before the season is over will be 
well furnished and pitcher freely during the autumn and winter. It is a 
mistake to allow these plants to run up until they become pitcherless, for 
if pinched from time to time when growth has been made a few inches 
long they will continue growing and pitchering for years without being cut 
back. By this means a regular supply of pitchers is secured the whole 
year round, and large specimen plants are the result. Plants grown on 
the pinching system, or young ones that need larger baskets, should be 
placed in them at once. The whole of the old ball must be carefully 
lifted out of the one in which it is growing and placed into the larger one 
without disturbing the roots. Previous to this the baskets should be 
liberally drained and a layer of the compost placed at the base ; the 
remaining spaco should be filled with peat fibre and charcoal, and the 
surface covered with a layer of sphagnum moss in a living state. These 
plants will grow well in loam, charcoal and sand, sphagnum moss and 
peat in equal proportions, but after trying these and other mixtures the 
one advised above is preferred for its lasting qualities. These plants 
should be liberally syringed and never allowed to suffer by an insufficient 
supply of water. If necessary to increase the stock of these plants the 
stems from those cut down should be cut into lengths, two joints for each 
cutting being sufficient. Insert these singly in 3-inch pots filled with 
sphagnum moss and a little coarse sand for the base of the cutting to rest 
upon. The top of the cutting only should be left out of the moss, then 
watered and plunged in brisk heat and covered with a handlight. It is 
necessary to keep them airtight until they are rooted. The stems cut 
into lengths root freely, but the greatest difficulty will be experienced in 
hardening them to bear full exposure in the atmosphere of the house in 
which they are to be grown. 
Bertolonias. —These are charming foliage plants when well grown, 
but to do them full justice they require to be kept in a case or covered 
with bellglasses in the house in which they are grown. This, however, 
is only necessary when a liberal system of ventilating is practised. They 
stand exposure well in a close moist shady house where the ventilators are 
seldom opened. To have them in the best condition cut them over at the 
present time, and the heads or side shoots may be rooted singly in small 
pots. The cuttings root quickly in the propagating frame or under bell- 
glasses if shaded from the sun and kept in brisk heat. They should be 
inserted in sphagnum moss and sand ; to this peat fibre may be added 
after the plants are rooted and need larger pots. After the plants are re¬ 
rooted, with good treatment they will grow rapidly and develope large 
beautiful leaves. The old plants from which the head or cuttings have 
been taken will break again into growth, and very often make very fine 
plants if they are potted deeply, so that the young shoots can root out of 
their stem and thus become independent of the old stool. 
Sonerilas. —Charming small-growing stove foliage plants. To have 
these in the best condition through tbe summer all the growing shoots 
should now be taken off and rooted. The cuttings of these plants root 
very well under the same conditions as Bertolonias, only they should be 
inserted in sand, as they can be lifted out more easily than when a mix¬ 
ture of moss and sand is employed. When rooted pans can be filled with 
the compost advised for Bertolonias, raising it well above their rims, and 
the young plants should be planted over the surface of the pan about 
1 inch apart. These must be kept close for a time until they are 
established, and then gradually exposed in the stove. By this treat¬ 
ment the whole pan is furnished in a very short time, and very few 
small-growing plants are more beautiful. 
Fittonias. —These plants are very useful and very few ar9 more effec¬ 
tive when used in association with mosses for furnishing the outer edge of 
baskets or large vases used for room decoration. These strike easily in a 
close propagating frame, and when rooted may be grown in any light 
open compost in boxes or pans and lifted out when desired. They cer¬ 
tainly last longer if established in small pots and plunged in boxes 
amongst sand or moss to prevent them drying. Well-furnished pans 
well elevated in the centre are very pleasing in the stove during the 
summer. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN AND PLEASURE GROUND. 
Propagating Bedding Plants. — Solanums. —These are almost 
indispensable in the sub-tropical garden, beds filled principally with one 
of such handsome) bold-foliaged sorts as S. robustum, S. Warscewiczii, 
8. giganteum, S. marginatum, and S. pyracanthum rarely failing to attract 
admiration. All are raised from seed, and as they are slow-growing the 
seed should be sown at once in order to have them sufficiently large to be 
effective when first planted out. The seed may be sown in pans or pots 
filled with light sandy soil, lightly covered with a little fine soil, and then 
stood on or plunged in a fairly brisk bottom heat, covering closely with 
glass till the seedlings appear, when it must be removed, and the plants 
be encouraged to grow sturdy. When large enough to handle rather more 
than the requisite number may be potted singly into 2^-inch pots, or they 
may be pricked off thinly in pans of light and fairly good soil, potting 
them off singly before they become crowded. They must be still be kept 
> growing in a fairly warm house, being given a final shift into 6-inch pots 
