January 30.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 273 ! 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
In describing the different operations and cares periodi¬ 
cally necessary to the successful cultivation of any kind 
of plants, there must of necessity appear a considerable 
amount of repetition, although the writer may exert his 
utmost skill, and bring all his knowledge to bear upon 
the subject. In our variable climate, for instance, we 
have (and it is our bounden duty) continually to remind 
our readers of the indispensible necessity of being con¬ 
stantly on the alert to protect their favourite flowers from 
the changes from heat to cold, from drought to wet 
weather, and immediately to apply the necessary pro¬ 
tection, either from frost or too much sunshine, and to 
supply the necessary amount of food in the shape of 
water, or to withhold it when the weather is against its 
application. We trust the parties interested in these 
matters will bear with us if we appear at times to imagine 
they may have forgotten our oft-repeated warnings and 
instructions. In our next we shall write something more 
fully under this head, and particularly on the subject of 
Roses in pots for exhibition purposes. T Appleby. 
THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 
The early planted Gabbaye should be properly looked 
over; for after so long a continuance of mild open 
weather it is not unlikely that some of the early sown 
may start; and if any such are to be found, lose no 
time in pulling them up, and filling the vacancies imme¬ 
diately from those pricked in autumn, or some of the 
strongest plants from the seed-bed. Plants growing in 
gentle heat should be pricked as early after they can 
be handled as possible, either on a gentle hot-bed where 
they can be sheltered with hoops and coverings, or in 
some warm comer where they may be protected for a 
time. 
Cauliflowers and Lettuce should meet with the same 
treatment; and all those that were sown and sheltered 
in autumn should be kept quite clear from decayed leaves, 
frequently surface stirred, and occasionally dredged with 
dry dust. Young- Carrots and Radishes in frames should 
also be treated in the same way, and a succession should 
by all means be sown in drills at this season of the year. 
We press the drills eight or nine inches asunder for the 
Carrots, and a drill of Radishes between them. The 
latter are early, and are kept well thinned, and their 
growth is encouraged by dredgings of dust, surface 
stirrings, and applications of tepid water; so that they 
are soon out of the way of the Carrots. 
Kidney Beans planted in pots at this season should be 
kept high or cone-shaped, and a rill or cavity should be 
left between the earth and the outside of the pot, so that 
the water may be applied without touching their stems, 
at the base of which they are liable to shank in dull 
dark weather. If liot-beds are prepared for their culture, 
the fermenting materials should be well wrought and 
sweetened in the same way as for Cucumbers and Mel¬ 
lons, and the bed made of about the same substance. 
The soil for the Beans should be placed in ridges fifteen 
or eighteen inches asunder, and the Beans should be 
planted on the summit as close to the glass as can be 
allowed for the setting of the bed, and the growth or i 
height of the kind of bean cultivated. 
Sprouted Potatoes should be planted in succession on i 
the same beds on which Asparagus has been forced, or 
on slightly made beds, protected with hoops, mats, &c. 
Cucumbers and Melons grown in structures erected for 
their culture, and heated with a hot-water apparatus, 
are very easily managed by keeping up a kindly heated, 
humid atmosphere, and when once in a fruit-bearing j 
state, assisting their growth by applications of tepid j 
liquid manure, and syringing them occasionally with i 
clear soot water; but those cultivated in pits and frames 
will require skilful attention, if vigorous growth and an 
abundance of fruit is desired. The materials with which 
the beds are made requires to be well wrought, healthy, 
and sweet, and to be kept in this condition by the appli¬ 
cation of linings of similar materials, effectively placed 
and well protected with thatched hurdles, furze, or 
other evergreen fagots, and the top well wrapped up 
with dry litter, mulehy hay, dry leaves, or any other 
thing that will attract the principal heat to the summit 
by which an healthy, kindly interior atmosphere may be 
obtained and kept up. 
Stopping and training also require constant attention ; 
but at the same time opportunities for performing these 
operations must be watched. Cold currents should be 
avoided when giving air; and it is sometimes necessary to 
place a little open straw or a few evergreen boughs before 
the cavity. The seed of either Cucumber or Melon, if a few 
years old, should be sown in a strong kindly heat; the 
pot or pan should be plunged to the rim, and a piece 
of glass placed over it. As soon as the young plants 
are observed to be coming through the soil, the glass 
should be taken off, and in a few hours afterwards 
the pot or pan should be lifted up, and placed close to 
the glass. A little kindly soil and some small pots 
should be placed ready crocked in heat, and when potted 
they should be placed on a temporary shelf close to the 
back of the frame so contrived that it may easily be 
lowered as the plants progress. 
Cucumbers should be stopped at the first joint that is 
made after the first rough leaf appears, and should then be 
allowed to make three joints; after which they will show 
fruit, and then they should be stopped at every fruit 
showing. 
Melons may be allowed to make three joints previous 
to stopping; after which, if they break properly, they 
will make three shoots, which should be pegged and 
trained till each shoot has made six or seven joints, 
and then stopped. They are then expected, with good 
management, to break at every joint, and to show plenty 
of fruit. We generally practise stopping one joint above 
every fruit showing, giving them good encouragement 
with heated air and kindly humidity until in blossom, 
and contriving to have the reqrrisite quantity of fruit 
set, as nearly as possible, at the same time, at which 
period extra heat should be applied;’ they should be 
shut up earlier, and a very moderate moisture maintained 
in order to start all the fruit into a kindly growth toge¬ 
ther. Abundance of fine swelled fruit will be the result i 
of such attention if their growth in the after-manage¬ 
ment is encouraged by liberal applications of tepid liquid 
manure. James Barnes. I 
I 
