403 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
| May 16,1689. 
There is a fault in setting, but not serious. The black specks will 
disappear. Wednesday morning’s letters are too late to be fully 
answered in the current issue. 
Mushroom Bed (Sub.). —You should read “ Mushrooms for the 
Million,” and follow the advice there given on keeping the beds moist. 
They often get dry round the edges, and if water is poured in there as 
often as may be required, and the beds covered with rather damp litter, 
water will seldom be needed all over the surface ; still, must get quite 
dry, and when water is given it must be in a tepid state. The tempera¬ 
ture you mention is right, if you do not possess the work mentioned it 
can be had post free from this office for Is. 2d. 
Fig's Decaying {Horace ).—You have either overfed the trees or 
kept the house too close and moist, perhaps both. The sap has not been 
sufficiently elaborated by the foliage, and the so-called fruit has not 
opened at the apex to admit air for- the purpose of fertilisation. The 
flowers in the interior are abortive. Make the soil firm, and keep the 
atmosphere drier, and possibly the later fruits may ripen. You say 
nothing about temperature and ventilation, but instructions on these 
important matters have appeared from time to time in our “Work for 
the Week ” columns, and are reliable. 
Mildew on Vines (./. B.). — Fruit cannot be grown successfully 
under glass without adequate means for ventilation. You had better 
not wait till the Vines cease flowering before applying sulphur to the 
leaves on which mildew appears, or it may get such a firm hold as to 
baffle all your efforts to subdue. Avoid anything approaching a close 
damp atmosphere, even if you have to employ a little extra fire heat for 
the purpose. A low night temperature and late morning ventilation 
are favourable to the increase of the scourge. Pinch the sub-laterals as 
they form, and avoid overcrowding the foliage. 
Strawberries for Forcing ( F ., Cantab ). —The quantity of 
bone flour to mix with a bushel of soil depends on the loam. If this 
is taken from a pasture containing a large share of Clover, much less 
will suffice than if the grass is free from Clover. In the former case a 
pound will probably suffice ; in the latter, twice the quantity may be 
used. It is better to use it somewhat sparingly than in excess, and 
supplement as may be required with surface dressings. Some persons 
prefer Sir Joseph Paxton for late crops in pots, others Sir C. Napier, and 
no one can tell which would prove the most satisfactory in vour case. 
We know of one very extensive grower who prefers La Grosse'Sucree to 
either of them. 
Melon Flowers not Opening ( E. V. C.). —You give no informa¬ 
tion whatever to enable us to form a definite opinion on the subject. 
V hen lawyers and doctors are consulted they naturally desire to have a 
history of the case that may be presented. We can only say that if 
several varieties are grown and the flowers of all of them are in the 
condition of those you have sent there must be something seriously 
wrong with the house, if they are in one, or your treatment, but being 
in total ignorance of the precise circumstances that may influence the 
plants, it is obviously impossible for us to suggest a remedy for their 
unfortunate state. If all the plants are of one variety the peculiarity 
may be inherent and beyond remedy. We are sorry you have not 
enabled us to give a more satisfactory reply. It is much easier and 
more pleasant to give definite and useful answers founded on informa¬ 
tion supplied than to treat in a speculative manner subjects that are 
brought before us without a hint to guide us in the search for the 
origin of an existing evil. 
Auriculas { Belfast ). —We suspect your plants have become drawn 
by being grown too far from the glass, or not had sufficient air. They 
will be much better with the pots stood in a cold frame on a thick layer 
•of ashes for excluding worms. We should at once remove them from 
the house, and after they have been in the frame for a week or two they 
•may be shaken out of their pots and have the Carrot-like roots cut off to 
the fibrous roots above them, repotting deeply in turfy loam, a fifth of 
crumbled manure, and a little pounded lime rubbish and charcoal for 
maintaining porosity. Press the soil down firmly in clean well-drained 
pots, and if turfy portions are packed well round the stems and kept 
moist roots will start from them for supporting the plants. The frame 
should, if practicable, be on the north side of a wall, or where the plants 
are shaded from the midday sun. They may be kept close and shaded 
for a week or ten days after being potted, with sufficient moisture for 
keeping them fresh. When growth starts they cannot have too much 
air, and the sashes may be drawn off when the sun does not strike 
powerfully on them and night dews refresh and invigorate the plants. 
The sashes must be placed over them and well propped up during heavy 
rains. Some expert growers take off the tops of tall Auriculas and 
strike them, but inexperienced amateurs should proceed cautiously and 
■experimentally in adopting the same method, only trying it at first with 
a plant or two which they can afford to lose. 
Temperatures (M. G. MI ).—A minimum temperature means the 
lowest reading of the thermometer as indicated by the figures to which 
the mercury falls. This usually occurs early in the morning, about 
sunrise, in glass structures, because the heating surfaces of pipes or 
flues are cooler then than some hours earlier, also on clear mornings the 
outside temperature often falls lower then than at night. This proves 
the necessity of attending to fires very early in the cold weather when 
forcing operations are in progress. Thermometers in hothouses should 
always be shaded from the sun, and this can easily be done by hanging 
them in small wooden cases, the sides projecting sufficiently to cast a 
shadow over the instrument in the morning and afternoon, the back of 
the case being to the south, the front open to the north. The coolest 
position in the house is probably the best for the instrument to occupy, 
and it may be suspended from the roof at a distance convenient for ex¬ 
amination, yet contiguous to what may be grown, whether Vines on the 
roof, or plants in the body of the house, and should be at least 6 feet 
from hot-water pipes, more if practicable, this depending on the size of 
the house. You ask about preventing radiation. This can only be done 
by covering the roof with blinds on rollers ; but if these are kept on too 
late in the morning injury is done by excluding light from Vines or 
plants. It is not necessary to adhere rigidly to stipulated temperatures, 
or, as gardeners say, to “ fire to a degree and in mild nights with pipes 
only moderately warm, a few degrees above the minimum is not in the 
least injurious nor is a slight fall below if the pipes are very hot indeed, 
but if they are cold, or nearly so, a serious chill may be given to the 
occupants of the house. If you proceed on the lines suggested you 
will not make any serious mistake. Bottom heat temperatures refer to 
the heat of the bed at the base of the pots, or at a depth of 8 inches, if 
8-inch pots are plunged to the rim, less or more according to the size of 
the pots. 
Ventilating- Greenhouse (Idem ).—Undoubtedly sharp currents 
of air driving directly against Roses that are being forced are followed 
by mildew, whether the air rushes through the front or top ventilators, 
and there is, as a rule, greater danger with the former than the latter, 
but obviously much depends on the direction of the wind. The point 
of importance is to commence ventilating early in the morning at this 
season of the year ; very slightly at first, gradually increasing the open¬ 
ings as the heat increases, avoiding great and sudden inrushes of air, and 
never allowing a house to get so hot that the sashes and doors have to 
be thrown wide open for lowering the temperature. That method is 
usually followed by mischief in the form of mildew, insects, or unhealthy 
growth ; indeed, it is a check to growth that invites the attacks of those 
enemies. Prevent the heat rising unduly in the way we propose, first 
by opening the top ventilators on the principle recommended, and sub¬ 
sequently those in the front if the day is mild, and cold currents do not 
rush through them, causing a chill to the plants. If you proceed as 
directed, and afford adequate moisture to the roots, yet avoid excess, 
also sprinkle the paths and stages now and then on dry days for main¬ 
taining a genial atmosphere, you will have little occasion to shade your 
Roses, except when they are flowering, for prolonging the beauty of the 
blooms. Act in accordance with the weather in all things, and you 
ought not to fail in your object. At present we suspect you are keeping 
the house too close, and do not admit a little air soon enough in the 
morning, or, say, half an hour after the sun shines on the house. Close 
the ventilators an hour before it leaves the roof, syringing thoroughly 
the plants and every part of the house on bright dry days, not in dull 
damp weather. 
Chrysanthemums—Crown and Terminal Buds (S. LI ).—We 
answer your last question first. The same treatment, if it is the right 
treatment, in respect to soil, potting and manuring, will be suitable for 
all the varieties you name, assuming the plants are all equally strong, 
but any which may be somewhat weak may have rather lighter soil 
with advantage to encourage free root-action. In respect to the plants 
that were rooted at different times the same general treatment will 
apply to all, except the time of potting and the size of the pots 
employed. This, however, we gather from a remark in your letter you 
appear to understand, and will repot the plants as they require it, and 
in pots suitable to their size and strength. Now to the “ nipping back, 
cutting down, letting grow, and taking buds.” If, as we understand, 
your object is to produce the best exhibition blooms, we advise you to 
let all the plants grow naturally, whether they have one stem or two, 
picking out the growths when they form in the axils of the leaves. The 
fiist buds which form will be crown buds, and may be removed. Three 
growths will then start from below them, or at least that is the usual 
number, and they will form if the bud is not removed, this perishing. 
We should allow two of the best growths to extend from each break on 
the plants with two main stems, and all three, if three form, from the 
one-stemmed plants. The buds that form eventually on these extended 
growths will also be crown buds, and if they appear in June or July 
remove them promptly, in order that the breaks may go on and form a 
bud after the middle of August. That also will be a crown bud, and 
must be “ set ” by carefully removing the surrounding growths, also 
those below, from the axils of the leaves. If a bud does not form in 
July all the better. When a bud forms at the apex of a shoot and growths 
break from it that bud is a “ crown ” regardless of the date, and if other 
buds (not growths) cluster round a central bud that bud is a “ terminal,” 
because growth terminates in it. As a rule crown buds give the largest, 
terminals (disbudded!, the neatest blooms. Except in the case of a few 
late varieties crown buds set during the last days of August or first in 
September expand about the right time in the south of England. Do 
you not possess Mr. Molyneux’s book ? You ought to read it attentively. 
It can be had by post from this office from Is. 2d. If you wish to try 
the cutting-down system you had better limit it to half a dozen strong 
plants till you gain more experience, and you will find the requisite 
particulars on page 389 last week. 
Tomatoes Unhealthy (F. IF.).—Unfortunately we did not re¬ 
ceive the specimens with the desired promptitude, but that was not 
