March 6.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
353 
propagated by cuttings, under a bell-glass, with bottom heat; 
it likes a light loam and abundance of water. It mav be 
kept within bounds by cutting back the leading shoots —B. J. 
THE ERUIT-GARDEN. 
The Vinery. —We must now depart from the con¬ 
sideration of out-door fruits for a week or two, in order 
j to aid our amateur friends in their little forcing affairs. 
The vine may claim first attention, as being, perhaps, 
the very first in-doors consideration with the majority; 
and as this is an excellent period to commence, for good 
and substantial crops, we must just suppose that every 
one possessing a vinery and plaut-honse combined, is 
anxious to know how to proceed, without what is termed 
“ drawing" the pot-plants. 
Now this is a delicate procedure, for it will not avail 
to conceal the difficulties of the case, we would rather 
show them forth in bold relief, in order that young be¬ 
ginners may learn betimes to steer clear of the extremes 
of heat and cold—those injurious extremes which con¬ 
stitute the Scylla and the Charybdis of in doors gar¬ 
dening. It is but fair to suppose, also, that persons 
thus situated possess a frame or two, or a pit; and 
when such is the case, they undoubtedly will do well to 
appropriate one of such structures, at least, to the con¬ 
servation of some portion of their stock which will not 
endure the heat and moisture of the vinery. Supposing 
this to be the case, we will advise accordingly. Now. 
so various are the inmates in such houses in these days, 
that, without seeing them, it is a matter of difficulty to 
advise. We would have wished, moreover, the matter 
in the hands of our clever coadjutor, Mr. Fish, whose 
province, indeed, it really is; but, as the thing may 
not at this moment occur to him, and as we can each, 
now and then, just jump over our neighbour’s hedge 
without the danger of being indicted for trespass, some 
thing may be said on this head. 
Geraniums in general, constitute a prime article of 
garniture in such structures. A good sprinkling of 
what are termed “ hard-wooded plants,” also, including 
the Camellia , may be met with; and for the rest they 
are generally of the soft wooded classes, in every sense 
of the word. Then there will be that numerous and 
interesting group, the Achimenes, Gesneras, Sinningias, 
&c., and we may, for the present, close our analysis by 
pointing to the Begonias. 
And now as to choice of situation in the house; 
here we may be able to find at least three distinct 
positions with regard to heat and light. With respect 
to the latter, the front shelf or shelves will of course be 
the lightest; and, as to heat, the end where the heat 
enters, will, in general, be the hottest. 
Geraniums will mostly succeed best on the front 
shelf, at the cooler end of such a house ; for there they 
will receive fresh air copiously, and this keeps them 
from drawing weakly. The Achimenes , Gloxinias, &c., 
are partial to a somewhat shady situation, and of 
course the warmer the better. As for the New Hol¬ 
land, or hard-wooded plants in general, the best way 
will be to separate them in two lots for awhile; the 
one lot containing young stock and kinds for late 
flowering, and the other early blooming kinds, or those 
which have recently blossomed, such as the Epacris 
family, and now require to be “forced into wood;” a 
mode of treament which has been found to answer well 
with these lovely plants, especially if intended for early 
blooming in the following winter. Any true stove 
plants, orchids, &c., must be retained, of course, with 
the latter lot, and such may be placed thinly about the 
house, keeping, in general, the tall things very thin on 
the back stage, and if any must be placed somewhat 
| thickly, let it bo on the front or end shelves. However, 
we would weed out all that can possibly be spared; for 
even a portion of the geraniums can be retarded by a 
timely removal into cool pits, or frames, and become of 
eminent service when the earlier ones are exhausted 
with blooming; thus prolonging the season, and ena¬ 
bling the cultivator to cut one portion back betimes, 
and thus get early cuttings. 
We now proceed to consider the vines. These, of 
course, have been pruned long since, and perhaps 
dressed ; if not, the latter must by all means he carried 
out forthwith ; for we need every precaution in these 
mildew times. Sulphur is now well known to be antago¬ 
nistic to this sad visitation, and the superiority of 
preventive over remedial measures need not here be 
enlarged upon. Our practice is to strip away carefully 
every portion of loose outer bark; arid, for a dressing, 
we use nearly the same as recommended for the peach. 
Two or three ounces of soft soap to a gallon of tepid 
water, well whisked up ; to this add three or four good 
handfuls of sulphur, and some thick clay paint; the 
whole well beat up, will make a mixture about the 
consistency of paint, and this must be worked into every 
crevice of the vine stems, not missing a point, and of 
course applyiug abundance of the mixture. In addition 
to this, we advise a liberal use of sulphur bn all the 
cooler parts of the flues or hot water-pipes ; remembering 
not to apply it to any portion which ever becomes so 
hot as that the operator would be shy in touching it with 
his hand. We practice this early in spring, again just 
before the grapes turn for ripening, and again the 
moment the grapes are finished cutting; indeed, in 
suspicious cases, much oftener. 
And now for the earlier stage of forcing—if we may 
so term it—perhaps we had better say the “ breaking 
period,” which is the usual mode of technically expressing 
it. If there is a pit for fermenting materials within the 
house, by all means, we say, make use of it. Tan, tree 
leaves, warm dung, saw-dust, any of these, or all mixed, 
will answer well; but of all things, a mixture of dung 
and leaves covered over with tan is the best. If such is 
used, and plants are retained in the vinery, attention 
must be paid previously to rendering the fermenting 
materials sweet. See advice about the fermentation of 
dung for early cucumbers atp. 267. 
Vines always unfold their buds with more freedom 
and health under such circumstances; and were it not 
for the culture of pot plauts, which is almost invariably 
carried on in such houses, we should constantly advise 
the use of fermenting matter; placing it on the floor of 
the house in a ridge—if no stage. If, however, pot 
plants are to stand on a pit containing fermenting 
materials, care must be taken to prevent the worms 
entering. The syringe must be used daily whilst the 
vines are budding, and floors and other parts kept 
moistened morning and evening. 
A constant attention must be given to disbudding; 
every barren shoot, and those not required for future 
purposes, should be rubbed away the moment their 
inutility is discovered. No barren shoot should be left, 
for which a particular reason cannot be given ; and it 
is bad policy to reserve a portion, on the ground that 
they may be wanted. All the energies of the vine should | 
be concentrated as much as possible in the neighbour- ; 
hood of the fruit. The shoots should be stopped as 
they progressively develop their bunches; this tends to 
husband the resources of the vine, and to give later, or 
subordinate shoots, a chance of a better development. 
If any suspicion exists of the roots being somewhat 
torpid, it is well to allow the leading shoots to ramble 
considerably before stopping; this, although somewhat | 
opposed to size in the berry in the lateral shoots, tends : 
much to improve and renew the constitution of the tree, 
by enlarging the sphere of root action. During all these 
proceedings, let the utmost cleanliness prevail; this, of . 
