32 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[October 17. 
be permitted to ascend above 65° under such circum- . 
stances, for what the gardener terms “ drawing ” will [ 
take place (a strange term, which, in common with 
' scores of other gardening technicalities, The Cottage 
I Gardener’s Dictionary will thoroughly explain). Let 
it, however, be understood, that although so severe a 
caution is given as to temperature in dull, or rather 
dark weather of a continuous character, yet no chance 
must be lost of increasing the temperature very consi¬ 
derably when light intervals occur. Such are the pe¬ 
riods when the true secretions are formed out of which 
the future produce must arise. Even during the winter, 
’ when the sky is bright, 75° may be indulged in from ten 
o’clock a.m. until one o’clock p.m. ; and an addition 
of 5° may be made until three p.m., when the heat 
should gradually decline to the night standard, which 
at fire time, say nine p.m., should not on an average 
exceed 58°, nor sink below 55°. 
Culture. —We lately had an application, in the form 
of a query, as to whether cucumbers and melons could be 
struck now from cuttings to bear during the winter. 
The nature of this inquiry, plainly shows that those 
who undertake to guide the million, should not take 
too much for granted on behalf of their readers, a small 
minority of whom understand these little points as well 
as our best gardeners, whilst, shall we say, a majority 
require leading up, step by step, “ precept on precept, 
Hue on line;” and such, then, be our apology for minute 
detail. And we would here beg to inform our querist, 
that it is an established practice amongst gardeners—a 
practice based on real scientific principles—to have 
their winter cucumbers well established before the dark 
days arrive, well knowing that in later periods, although 
the tissue of the plant may be elongated by mere heat, 
that consistency of parts and a fruitful habit will not 
accompany such elongation. An ounce of silver wire, 
for ought we know, may be made to circumscribe a 
whole county; but when gathered tegetlier and weighed, 
it is still but an ounce. Now from this, by way of 
illustration, our readers will see that we mean that a 
correspondent development of parts, coincident with 
mere lengthening, is absolutely necessary. 
If the winter cucumbers are to be raised from seed 
specially for the purpose, it should be sown in the early 
part of August; if cuttings are to be struck from estab¬ 
lished plants, the middle or end of August will be soon 
enough. The usual routine of sowing, propagating, &c., 
hardly need be mentioned here, as it is so familiar to 
everybody, whilst there is pdenty of summer heat to 
back the operations. The “ tug of war” commences 
with the latter part of October, when the glooms of 
November begin already to present themselves. It 
may be remarked, that cuttings require a more generous 
mode of treatment than seedlings; the latter are apt to 
“ run to bine” too much, and the former arc too apt to 
produce blossoms before the plants are established. These 
blossoms must be plucked away as fast as they show 
i themselves, and the plants receive weak liquid-manure 
occasionally, until they become stout and growing freely. 
The seedlings, on the other hand, will ramble fast 
| enough, and will require stopping occasionally. By 
these means, strong plants may be procured ready for 
their final planting by about the middle of September, 
when they must be put in their winter quarters. We 
j have been supposing that they have been previously 
j reared iu a comfortable frame or pit. 
J We may now speak of soil or compost. It is usual 
| for some who cultivate the cucumber very early in dung 
beds, to use a considerable portion of bog earth or dark 
moor soil in the compost; and a good plan it is, for such 
is a well-known absorber of heat, and presents a mellower 
surface than most other soils. For those, however, in 
houses or where fire heat is used, something of a sounder 
I character is necessary, something, indeed, which will not 
, become dry in a fitful way—especially if the plants be 
I confined to boxes or tubs. One half of the soil, there¬ 
fore, may be sound turfy loam, in which the turf has 
become mellow with age, and the other half equal parts 
of coarse leaf mould, half rotten manure, and the boggy 
soil before alluded to, adding a little sand or charcoal 
dust. 
As the cucumbers grow, they must be trained carefully; 
and the close stopping practised in summer may be 
omitted for a while, or until the plants have begun to | 
partially cover the space allotted to them, when stopping 
must again be had recourse to. As soon as any fibres j 
appear on the surface of the soil some mulching may be 
applied; and half decayed manure, somewhat coarse, 
will be found very eligible. 
Above all things, during their subsequent culture, avoid 
insects of any kind; they will be almost sure to appear. 
Fumigation must be had recourse to occasionally, in¬ 
deed, as soon as a single aphis appears; and sulphur 
must bo employed as an antagonist of the red spider. 
Plenty of atmospheric moisture, however, will be the 
best guard against the latter pest; and syringing with 
tepid water should take place about three o’clock on the 
afternoons of sunny days. 
Those who would like to build a small house pur¬ 
posely for the cucumber and melon, may refer to page 
38, No. 81, for 1850, of The Cottage Gardener, where 
they will find a sketch of one that would answer the 
amateur in a small way very well. It will be seen that 
room is highly economised in order to save expense. 
R. Errington. 
THE ELOWER-GARDEN. 
Gladiolt. —From some communications which have 
reached me lately about this family, the three following 
conclusions may be gathered :—First, that half the 
young growers of them suppose it necessary for success 
that the bulbs should be planted in October, at the same 
time as the Ixias, from an idea, I suppose, that all the 
African species have been imported from where the Ixias 
come from in the Capo colony, which is far from being 
the case. Gladiolus psittacinus and oppositiflorus, or 
Jl.oribundus, as it is called in the shops, are not found in 
the country of the Ixias at all, but far to the east in the 
neighbourhood of the Natal river. Secondly, that 
certain kinds refuse to grow well in a soil where the 
generality of the species arc found to succeed; but we 
are now so well acquainted with them, that we can pro¬ 
nounce with confidence that this disposition has been 
brought about by cross breeding with old kinds or 
species which are known to be too delicate for common 
cultivation in our climate; as, for instance, G. versicolor, 
which is a tempting species for those who are expert at 
crossing, and like showy colours. G. recutvus, also, and 
hirsutus have been crossed from, but both can only 
weaken the corTstitution of others having the blood of 
cardinalis, blandus, or carneus in them; and from these 
three all the best of the older varieties have sprung. 
Except for the sake of experiments, few people would 
grow the old seedlings from tristis, augustus, and injlatus, 
because, though they are very curious in dull shades, 
and delicately spotted and speckled, they want the clear 
white and scarlet for which those from cardinalis were 
and are still highly prized. Thirdly, seedlings of very 
high merit stillkeeji coming on the stage; some of which 
are improvements on the older varieties, and some are 
in a new strain or new style of colouring. 
A particular friend, with whom I had fonnerly con¬ 
ducted exciting cases of cross breeding, sent me a box of 
Gladioli seedlings the other day, which bear out my third 
inference to the letter. They were not only beautiful, 
but three of them were exquisitely so, and in a new 
