474 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 10, 1883. 
warm, moderately moist, rather heavy, and press it down firmly. Give a 
thorough soaking of water as soon as the fruit is the size of an egg, and 
follow in the course of a day or so with tepid liquid manure, then mulch¬ 
ing with horse droppings, exposed for a few days in an open shed and 
turned over daily. Water will be required about twice a week, or only 
once in dull weather. In narrow borders the waterings will need to be 
more frequent : in large borders, or beds over fermenting materials, it 
will not be needed so often. Remove all fruit but three or four on a 
plant, and all staminate and pistillate blossoms, and afford the needful 
supports. Stop or remove laterals freely—not great reductions at a time, 
hut little and often, not allowing secondary and tertiary growths to inter¬ 
fere with the principal. Syringe twice daily—in the afternoon not later 
than four o’clock, having the foliage fairly dry before night, and sprinkle 
the house about 5.30 to 6 p.m. with water if the droppings are used, or if 
not with liquid manure, and give a little ventilation at the top of the 
house when looking round the last thing at night. This will save some 
trouble if no air is given early in the morniDg. On bright mornings com¬ 
mence ventilating about seven o’clock, or at 75°, and increase it with the 
advancing sun, keeping through the day at 85° to 90° with bright sun, 
and 80° to 85° with alternating gleams. Close at 80° to 85°, running up 
to 90° or 95°. Fire heat will only be necessary on cold nights and in dull 
weather, for we must guard against a sluggish circulation of sap. 
Plants Setting Their Fruit. —The plants should be thin in foliage 
that the light and air has free access. The growth will be stoutand short- 
jointed, and the leaves stout in texture. The blossom will be strong. 
Ventilate a little constantly, and if dull have sufficient warmth in the 
pipes to cause a circulation of air, and falling below 65° at night or 70° 
to 75° in the daytime. Withhold water from the roots, but the soil must 
be sufficiently moist to prevent flagging, and only moderate moisture will 
be required in the atmosphere, damping in the morning and again in the 
afternoon, but keep it from the plants and blossom. To prevent the de¬ 
position of moisture on the blossom provide a warm buoyant atmosphere. 
Fertilise the blossoms about noon of fine days, and when several blossoms 
are expanded on a plant, so as to insure uniformity of swelling, stop at 
one joint beyond the fruit. 
Young Plants. —Train with one shoot for trellises, and rub off the 
laterals up to the first wire, and then every alternate one on opposite 
sides afterwards, stopping the leading shoots when about two-thirds up 
the trellis. Flowers ought to show on the laterals ; if no blossom shows at 
the second joint stop at that. Plants for training over the surface of the 
bed should be stopped at the second leaf. Select four of the resulting 
shoots, training two to the front and two to the back of the frame or pit. 
Remove all others carefully with the point of a knife, but if only two 
shoots result stop them at the second or third leaf and make selection of 
the best for training as before advised. Keep the stem clear of laterals 
and leaves for a space of at least 6 inches from the collar. Remove every 
alternate lateral on the shoots, stopping the shoots when 12 to 15 inches 
from the sides of the pit or frame. Let there be no deficiency of moisture 
at the roots, and add fresh warm soil to the ridges or hillocks as the roots 
protrude, but the soil being put in in quantity as advised none will be 
required in pits or frames utilised for Melons after Potatoes and bedding- 
out plants. Syringe at closing time, but avoid wetting the stems, as it 
may lead to canker, which should be kept under by rubbing quicklime 
into the affected parts until dry. Keep the house well ventilated, so as 
to insure a short-jointed sturdy growth. Continue to put out plants as 
pits or frames become vacant, and if a gentle warmth at the roots can be 
afforded it will give the plants a start and be all that is necessary. Close 
early and keep the growths well regulated, not less frequently than once 
a week. Shade only to prevent flagging ; it will only be necessary for an 
hour or two at midday under powerful sun. 
Solving for Late Fruit —A last sowing should be made at once for 
planting in dung-heated frames or pits, the plants from which will be 
useful for getting successions where crops have already been taken, or 
being takeD, and the plants are not kept from collapsing through red 
spider or other disaster. Plants from this sowing will afford useful fruit 
at the latter part of September. Those with light well-heated structures 
may continue to make sowings as required up to the end of July. The 
plants from the last-named will continue the supply up to the beginning 
of November, after which it is useless thinking of having fruit of good 
quality. 
Figs.— Early-forced Trees. —Generous treatment will be needed after 
the first crops are gathered to enable the trees to swell the second. 
Syringe twice a day to keep red spider in cheek, and afford liquid manure 
when watering is necessary, trees in pots requiring it daily, sometimes 
twice a day, and trees in borders once or twice a week, according to the 
extent of the rooting area. The second crop should be thinned before the 
fruit is the size of walnuts, and in thinning reserve the largest fruit at the 
base of the shoots. Mulch trees in pots with rich miterial. 
Succession Houses. —When the fruit commences to ripen, a free circu¬ 
lation of warm dry air should be afforded, which is essential to high 
quality, not less so being the tying-in and regulating of the shoots by 
thinning and stopping, so as to afford the fruit the benefit of all the light 
practicable. The moisture in the atm sphere will need to be moderated, 
not weiting the fruit; though if red spider attack, the fruit should be 
gathered closely and a good syringing given, which will not injure the 
remaining fruit, provided it is done early on a fine day, so that the 
moisture does not remain long on the fruit. Do not allow any lack of 
wafer at the roots, yet give lessened supplies than when the fruits were 
swelling. 
Young Trees in Pots for Next Year's Early Forcing. —These must 
not be neglected or disappointment is inevitable. They must have all 
the light possible, and be kept as near the glass as practicable without 
touching, so as to secure sturdy well-ripened growth, keeping clean by 
syringing, and affording liquid manure to effect a stout growth. The 
growth complete, they may be stood outdoors to induce rest, but the wood 
must be well ripened previously, and to be of use for early forcing the 
wood must be matured early. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN AND PLEASURE GROUND. 
Late Bedding Out. —The very unfavourable weather experienced of 
late will have had the effect of retarding this work, and on the whole the 
majority of the plants will succeed all the better for being kept out of the 
cold and wet ground for a time longer than usual. Those that were 
planted early look very miserable indeed, and will be some time before 
they form fresh roots and growth. Take the first opportunity of loosen¬ 
ing the surface of the soil about them, and this will let the air and 
warmth into the roots, and at the same time arrest rapid evaporation and 
cracking of the soil. Many probably are only just commencing in 
earnest, and these may now complete the beds as they proceed, Iresines. 
Coleuses, and other tender plants having now been sufficiently hardened 
off to admit of their being planted out. Should, however, the weather 
still remain cold, spaces ought to be kept for them, and the planting 
deferred for a few days longer. The outer rings ought always to be 
planted first, finishing in the centre. Those who have had but little 
practice in planting ought to have the lines marked for them either with 
the back of a rake or with large wooden compasses, the latter being 
especially useful for giving correct marginal lines. If it is proposed to 
peg down the plants in order to make them cover the ground evenly and 
neatly, all the strong growers, such as Zonal Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, 
and Iresines, should be planted in a sloping direction, this rendering them 
less liable to snap off. 
Odd Corners. —There are many corners that have to be filled after 
the principal beds are completed, and for these there are frequently an 
insufficiency of plants. When this happens with us we fall back upon 
the old stock plants of Heliotropes, Ageratums, Verbenas, Iresines, 
Abutilons, Petunias, and such like, supplemented, if need be, with strong 
old pot plants of Fuchsias, double and single Zmal Pelargoniums, 
Plumbago capensis, Begonias, and Marguerites, and these judiciously 
mixed not untrequently surpass in attractiveness the more formal beds. 
As many of the plants used are in the first instance in a semi-starved 
state, we take the precaution to add some rotten manure or plenty of leaf 
soil to the beds or borders, as without this the plants make but poor pro¬ 
gress. Corners are generally neglected as far as renewing the soil or 
manuring is concerned, hence the stunted appearance of the plants 
occupying them. Strong pot plants when first planted soon get dry at 
the roots, and this should be guarded against, mulching with leaf soil, 
short manure, or other material, in addition to occasional waterings, 
which are necessary in most seasons. 
Carpet Beds. — These are generally taken in hand after the other 
beds are nearly completed. If the hardy neat-growing plants forming the 
groundwork are already planted the work of filling in the figures is a 
comparatively simple matter, and an immediate effect is the result. As 
the Sedums, Mentha, Antennaria, and Herniaria have necessarily to be 
pulled to pieces prior to planting to insure a neat and well-covered sur¬ 
face, it follows that if this is done in hot sunny weather they must be 
properly fixed in the soil, be frequently lightly watered overhead, and be 
shaded from bright sunshine for a time. Thus treated they soon become 
established and will spread rapidly. As the lines have to be very neatly 
planted, the use of the trowel has to be discontinued, the dibble being the 
best tool for the work. Small plants of Golden Pyrethrum direct from the 
seed bed are the easiest to plant, and they should be disposed about 2 inches 
apart. If disposed further apart they grow too coarsely, and are not so 
easily kept to a fine line. Alternantheras may also be planted with a 
dibble, or better still with the hand, and they should just touch each other 
all round, as they sometimes get smaller instead of larger when first put 
out. Our plants are strong ones, but the large Laves soon disappear, and 
are replaced by neater and more highly coloured shoots. Alternanthera 
paronychoides major is a good dwarf yellow sort, while A. magnifies and 
A. amcena spectabilis are very richly coloured and distinct. Lobelias are 
apt to fail early in the autumn ; but in large figures L. pumila magnifies 
is sometimes used with good effect. A<tr.tum Cannell’s Dwarf is very 
neat and floriferous, and is well adapted for carpet beds. Iresines as a 
rule are too tall, but I. Liodeni can 1 e used in large figures. Single 
plants of Echeverias metallica and met i ilica glauca, Pachyphiton bracte- 
osum, Agave americana, Chamsepeuce diacantha and Cassabonse, Cen- 
taurea ragusina campacta or candioissima are suitable for planting singly 
in the centre of circular figures, or fur dotting among dwarf plants in 
large figures, while for the centres w • ■ f plants of Grevillea robusta and, 
better still, Cordyline indivisa, are effective. 
PLACING AND REMOVING SUPERS. 
At pages 430, 431, “ Felix ” gives very plain and valuable instruc¬ 
tions regarding placing and removing supers, and desires to learn 
whether I can give any other “ useful hints ” that he has not men¬ 
tioned. I fear I cannot from the standpoint he takes, but I will take: 
