THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 14.] 
ourselves chiefly to those who have almost every¬ 
thing to learn. 
Vines In-doors. —We need say little more at pre¬ 
sent, having so recently dealt with the subject; we 
must, however, remember that many hundreds of 
amateurs in a small way, having but one greenhouse, 
are compelled to grow their fancy plants beneath the 
shade of vines. • With the pot-plants we have nothing 
to do: our good helpmates, Messrs.'Apple by and Fish, 
will see to that. We have, however, a duty of a 
peculiar character to perform, in regard of advice as 
to vines in a general plant-house; and the advice 
offered may; of necessity, at tunes appear somewhat 
divergent from the principles heretofore laid down 
as to vine culture, for here again sheer expediency 
must step in to warp and bias principles. 
It becomes the plant cultivator, at this period, to 
relieve his grapery of all stock for which lie can find 
a safe shelter, especially such as is not wanted for 
immediate effect, in order that his truly yoocl things, 
and his precocious gems of the early spring, may 
have room to unfold their beauties, and that the 
vines overhead may receive a proper amount of 
attention. Some persons commence what they term 
forcing their vines in the greenhouse in February; 
others are content to wait until their buds shew 
signs of expanding, and then apply artificial warmth. 
Indeed, it not unfrequently happens—where stove 
plants, or, it may be, orchids, are grown together 
with geraniums and other ordinary greenhouse 
plants—that so much artificial warmth has been 
sustained during a tedious winter, that the vines are 
excited betimes whether or not, and that the culti¬ 
vator begins at this time of the year to feel rather 
anxious about them. We may here observe, that 
vines once stalled and beginning to expand the leaf 
must not be permitted to sustain what is termed a 
check; our readers, nevertheless, must beware how 
they understand the term “ check.” There are those 
who would, we fear, rush into what has been aptly 
termed a “ coddling system,” and this would be cer¬ 
tainly prejudicial to the plants, and everything but 
favourable to the vines. Now to explain further: 
to vines in the state above described, the too free an 
admission of cold currents of air on a windy day 
would be a check ; a sudden lowering of the tempe¬ 
rature (whether day or night), beyond 50° would be a 
check; and we may fairly add, that in the event of 
snow falling, the suffering a coating of this to melt 
over aud saturate the roots would be a check. Under 
these circumstances, therefore, a steady and medium 
course should be pursued, a compromise between the 
plants on the one hand and the vines on the other. 
From the early part of March until the middle of 
April, a day temperature ranging from 55° to 65°, 
and a night heat of from 55° to 00°, may be indulged 
in without injury on either side. One thing may be i 
observed, that where it is necessary to hasten the 
vines as much as possible, a considerable advance in 
the thermometer may be permitted on sunny or 
bright days; and from half-past three o’clock in the 
afternoon until seven, the thermometer may range as 
high as 75°, if really necessary. Of course disbudding 
and stopping must proceed at the proper periods, 
according to directions before given; and as it is not 
convenient to be disturbing the pots too much, such 
must be performed less frequently, but with a more 
liberal hand than is practised where vines alone 
occupy the house. If any very heavy and rich top- 
dressings were applied to the borders in the end of 
autumn, as is or should be the practice, we advise 
that such be entirely removed immediately, and the 
19 i 
surface of the border made into a smooth incline, as 
steep as possible, in order to carry off a portion of | 
the heavy rains which may be expected at this 
period. We should even count it good practice to 
tread the surface firm, provided the soil was very 
dry on the surface; this will facilitate the descent of 
the rains. By the end of May, the volume of soil in 
a well drained and shallow border will have attained, 
at least, the average heat of the atmosphere; and in 
many cases it will then be expedient to apply a rich 
top-dressing again, of which more anon. 
Peaches In-doors.— Our last advice of any im¬ 
portance was given at page 207. We there said so 
much about the general principles of peach-forcing, 
that it will not be necessary here to go into length¬ 
ened details. One or two points, however, we must 
refer to : the first— 
Disbudding. —To no fruit is this of more import¬ 
ance than the peach. A healthy tree suffered to re¬ 
tain all the shoots produced, would speedily become 
an entangled mass, destructive of the character of 
the tree, and defeating the ends of training. It 
seems strange at first sight that such trees as the 
peach and the vine, which fight their way in a state 
of nature, unassisted by the hand of man, shoidd re¬ 
quire so much trimming and dressing under artificial 
culture. But the strangeness of the matter will 
vanish, when we take into full consideration the 
great difference of the circumstances under which 
the trees are placed. In the first place, our amount 
of light is by no means so great in the aggregate as 
it is in tropical climates; for it is not improbable 
that the peach, in Persia, or the vine in Syria, per¬ 
forms a greater amount of the elaborative process in 
one week than in three weeks in Britain. Again; there 
the tree enjoys freely those fluctuations of the atmo¬ 
sphere which lead to a solidification of the tissues ot 
the plant; tending to development of parts rather 
than mere extension ; for in Britain, what is termed 
forcing has, of necessity, a tendency to “ draw,” or 
elongate the parts. And thus it is. that he who— 
carrying these principles continually in his mind— 
treats his trees in as natural a manner as possible, 
avoiding a “ coddling system” on the one hand, and 
extreme declensions of temperature on the other, is 
certain, other matters being right, to excel in the 
culture of tropical fruits; Besides, we must not for¬ 
get the difference in the destiny of the trees thus 
situated; nature merely aims at the perpetuation of 
the species; man, at obtaining the greatest quantity 
of the largest and finest fruit: man has most to do ■} 
with the enlargement of the pulp; nature, with the 
perfection of the seed, and the thorough maturation 
of the wood; the last, indeed, almost a necessary 
consequence of the former. We do not deem any 
apology necessary for this apparent digression; for 
we would fain have The Cottage Gardener some¬ 
thing more than a mere “ cut and dry ’ calendar’; 
leading the minds of the readers, who honour its 
pages with an attentive perusal, to dive into the very 
essence of things; then, and then only, can know¬ 
ledge take a firm footing, and become a luxury in¬ 
stead of a toil. 
And now a little advice about disbudding. Much 
depends on the degree of luxuriance in the subject 
to be operated on; a weak tree will produce little 
more foliage than is requisite; a strong, or gross one, 
much more. We say foliage, for, after all, let it be 
well understood by beginners, that a certain amount 
of healthy foliage presented to the light, is the con¬ 
dition requisite to a proper elaboration of the juices ; 
on which point both the present success and the 
