THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
280 
[February 28 . 
to be made they should be proceeded with instantly, 
it possible. Tree-leaves make an excellent and long- 
enduring' medium of heat; they are better, however, 
mixed with one-fourth their bulk of dung which has 
been sweated in a heap for a week or so. Four feet 
in depth of this material, slightly but regularly trod 
during the process of filling, will produce of itself a 
heat of nearly 80° until next September. It is cus¬ 
tomary with gardeners to case it over with tan; this 
is a more convenient medium to plunge in, and, 
withal, acts both as an increaser and controller of 
the heat below; for leaves are apt to dry too suddenly 
at the surface, and they moreover lay so loose and 
open as compared with tan that, although the pot 
may be plunged full depth, yet not above one-third 
will receive the benelit of bottom-heat. 
The pits or other structures intended to receive 
pines in any of their stages, had better receive a coat 
of lime-wash; and as it is proper that the bottom- 
heat should be fairly up before introducing the pines, 
there will still be a fortnight to spare before any 
thorough rearrangement takes place, and during this 
period the liming or other matters may be carried out. 
It the heat of such structures depends entirely on 
fermenting materials, our practice is to put about 15 
inches in depth of new tan ; not, however, plunging 
the lull depth by any means on their first introduc¬ 
tion ; indeed, we merely stick the ends of the pots in 
the tan, adding new tan at intervals as necessary. 
Where there is a tank bottom-heat the case is alto- j 
gether different; here no tan is absolutely necessary, 
although Mr. Hamilton, whose system must be known I 
to most ot our readers, chooses to thrust new tan j 
amongst the stems of his pines, on the Hamiltonian j 
system, occasionally. 
Whilst the heat is rising in the pits, we think it ! 
advisable to commence watering where needed. The 1 
Black Jamaica pine with us (see remarks at page j 
203) never receives a drop of water from the begin- j 
ning of November until the middle of February; 
indeed, we have Jamaicas now, strong successions, 
which will not receive water until the very end of the 
month, and we are not thoroughly assured that it 
will even then be necessary. However, the Queen 
section requires a somewhat different treatment; ! 
these will enjoy twice the amount of water which 
some of the Black section require. Still much de¬ 
pends on the amount of pot room the plants possess, 
and whether very full of roots or not; if planted out 
they will not require one-fourth part of the water, 
provided the bottom-heat is rightly contrived. In 
all cases of doubt with the amateur, ho had better 
water too little than too much; the former may cause 
a diminished amount of luxuriance for awhile, but 
the latter may totally destroy the young spongioles, i 
and then a decided and sudden check will be the 
result, which will be exceedingly prejudicial. 
Where the pot system is the order of the day some 
shifting may be necessary in the early part of March. 
AY e think it not good policy to shift young stock 
which lias not yet become j'ot-bound, provided the 
soil is as it ought to be, and always will be under 
good culture, still fresh, and the drainage complete. 
AVe may remark here that the time of receiving the 
final shift into the fruiting-pot should be, in some 
degree, determined by the period at which the fruit 
is required to show or rise. We should say that, ' 
taking pines in the lump, some eight or nine months 
may be fairly counted on as elapsing between the 
last repotting and the showing period; some will be 
more, some less, but this will serve to convey an 
idea to the uninitiated. 
The Potting.— Having provided some soil of a 
good staple, with pots of a proper size, and proper 
materials for drainage, nothing is needed but fore¬ 
cast to secure the plants from injury in their transit 
from one structure to another, and from one pot to 
another. An intermediate structure of any kind, if 
at liberty, may be used as the medium of transit, for 
it is rather tedious work to remove and plunge each 
pot as the performance proceeds. Such expedients, 
however, will naturally be resorted to ; the main 
business being to prevent a sudden declension of 
temperature from chilling the roots; any place in¬ 
doors will give immunity to the tops. 
But we come now to an important matter : how 
to repot them. 
_ Nothing is more eligible than a turfy loam, about 
six months old, which has been piled in a shed, or 
out-house, and has become dry: this is the principal 
ingredient with us. Such may be cut in bits with the 
spade, and those bits being shook in a very coarse 
riddle or sieve, in order to reject all the mere soil 
which falls from it in attrition, will be lumpy, fibrous 
matter, which is almost complete in itself for pine 
culture. We add some old half-decomposed manure, 
generally leaves and dung, in the proportion of one 
part to two ot the loamy turf; we also add some 
rubbly charcoal, to keep the soil open for a length of 
time. It is always best to give a bold shift; small 
shifts are a poor peddling proceeding; the ga in is not 
commensurate with the ceremony and disturbance 
caused to the roots. Drainage is the great essential; 
many persons are apt to trust to only one huge crock 
or oyster-shell over the central hole at the bottom 
of the pot: we do not. AVe place three or four, over¬ 
lapping each other in such a way as that four or five 
bold issues shall bo provided. Over this we strew 
a layer ol imperishable materials, composed of equal 
parts pounded crocks, boiled bone, and charcoal in 
lumps as large as horse-beans. Next, a little turfy 
material—the soil mostly shook out; and on this we 
set the ball. In filling up round the ball, it is 
advisable to keep thrusting small lumps of turfy 
material as the filling proceeds, and thus to near the 
top; continuing to introduce the compost until within 
about three inches of the rim, when we place a layer 
of the chopped turf all over the surface, and on this 
the finer portions of tire compost, until nearly or 
quite level with the rim of the pot. 
AY e must now take leave of the pine, for the pre¬ 
sent, and will return to the subject in a week or two, 
if possible. 
_ A ink forcing.— At page 195, we offered observa¬ 
tions on root-management, we may now give a few 
hints about the course of culture necessary with the 
young shoots. The first process in vine-forcing is 
disbudding; and the second, “ stopping,” as it is 
termed; indeed, they frequently proceed together. 
Disbuddingis absolutely necessary; for most vines, 
in a tolerably healthy state, produce double or treble 
the amount of shoots it is requisite to leave on them. 
They could not perfect the produce in the first place ; 
and, in the second, the trees would become completely 
smothered for want of more training space. As soon, 
therefore, as a selection can be made of the bearing 
shoots, or any necessary to be retained, in order to 
furnish training space, so soon should disbudding 
take place. It is well, nevertheless, that it should be 
done successively; a good vine-dresser removes a few 
shoots almost daily; for vines require constant atten¬ 
tion until the thinning-out of the berry is completed, 
when most of the subsequent proceedings are resolved 
into a proper regulation of the atmosphere, and a due 
