THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— September 10, 1850. 435 
lie difficult to forward many plants into bloom, but much 
may be done with hardier plants, and making part of your 
pit into a sweet hotbed. For instance, Hyacinths, Tulips, 
i&c., pott§d as soon as you could get the bulbs of the first, 
one in a four-inch pot, and three Tulips and one strong 
Narcissus in the same sized pot, using light, sandy loam, 
I and placed on a bed, and covered with ashes for several 
j inches, would be fit to take out, the pots being full of roots 
in six weeks, and placid in a hotbed they would produce 
flowers about the middle and end of December. Wall- 
Jlowcrs sown in the spring, or struck early and potted off 1 , 
would be coming into bloom in windows in December. 
Chrysanthemums would furnish a fine show in November, 
and the points of shoots layered into small pots now would 
furnish nice little plants for the stage in the drawing-room 
and window in December. Mignonette , sown in pots in July, 
would also be tine during the months of November, De¬ 
cember, <fcc. Many bedding plants would also be serviceable. 
The doublo variety of Chrysanthemum anvitum, bright 
orange, struck after Midsummer, would yield nice flowering 
little plants nil the winter. The same may be said of 
Ayerntnms, though there is nothing attractive in the scent 
of either. Scarlet Geraniums struck in spring, kept from 
flowering during the summer, and allowed to grow from 
November, will bloom most of the winter. All the 
Unique Geraniums are continual bloomers if heat enough 
is given. A small plant in spring, shifted into a six inch 
pot, and most of the flower-buds removed in summer, will 
he a mass of buds in November, and it only requires heat and 
a fair amount of sunshine to open them. Myrtles , though 
not in bloom, will be green. The variegated Coronilla qlauca 
will be almost as gay as a flower. The common Coronilla, 
if at all well used, will produce its flowers through the whole 
of the winter months. Cinerarias, shifted ns early ns July, 
will be ready to bloom from November to February. Chinese 
Primroses, crimson and white, sown in March, will be ready 
to bloom from November to April. Cytisus Atlleana and 
others will produce their yellow flowers through the whole 
of the winter. Fuchsia serratifnlia, cordifnlia, and others, 
will bloom all the winter. Camellias, set in the pit to ripen 
and set their buds in summer, will bloom in the window 
after the end of November. Many bulbs, such as those 
mentioned at page U7S, will come in for the same purpose. 
Shrubby Calceolarias, cut down about Midsummer, will 
generally be in full bloom towards November. In a dryish 
house we have thus had their yellow blossoms all the winter. 
The subject has already occupied considerable attention, 
and lists have been given to suit every month, or we are 
much mistaken ; but we may think over the matter again 
ere long. In the meantime, take the above as hints. In 
addition, we may mention Cyclamens that commence to grow 
early, and Chinese Hoses of all kinds that have been pruned 
back pretty freely in July.] 
MELON TITS AND THEIR FAILURES. 
“ I should feel much obliged if you coubl give me some 
explanation of the cause of a failure in my Melons this 
season, from the following details: —They have been grown 
on dung-beds in the ordinary way, and progressed most 
luxuriantly, setting a vory good crop of fruit, which continued 
to go on favourably till it had almost or entirely attained 
its full size. Just then, when looking for its ripening, every 
fruit cracked, and out of three frames I failed in obtaining 
one of the early-set fruit. Since then, I have had plenty > 
of fruit set on the late laterals, but all small. Some of 
these, I think, will ripen if I can secure sufficient heat by 
linings. My soil, although not altogether of so close a 
texture as Melons like, was, nevertheless, good, and fresh 
lrorn a light pasture. I use manure-water pretty freely 
during the swelling of the fruit, and, although I discontinued 
all watering when I saw it had attained something like its 
full size, yet the plants continued to grow luxuriantly. I 
suspected that the cracking was owing to the manure- 
water, or to the roots of the Melons getting into the dung of 
the bed. Do you think the bed should have been covered 
with slates before putting on the soil ? or would thick turves 
be a better plan for preventing the roots penetrating to the 
dung ? I intend erecting a couple of brick pigeon-holed 
pits, on which to place my Melon frames next year, filling 
the space under the bed loosely with fermenting dung at ’ 
starting, so that when it sinks there will be a chamber be¬ 
tween it and the soil for the heat from the linings. 1 intend ! 
the bed to rest on boards, supported by joists resting on the j 
front and back walls. There will be openings between the 
boards, which will be covered with rubble; this, again, with j 
turves, and the soil on these. What do you think of j 
it? Meanwhile, 1 shall feel obliged for information on the ; 
case given above. I have got a shoot on a plant of Com- J 
man tier in-Cliief Geranium, a variegated sport, such us Mr. , 
Deaton lately wrote about. One leaf is entirely white, 1 
the others having green centres, well arid broadly margined i 
with white. I have, according to Mr. B.’s directions, cut all 
the rest of the plant away.—J. P. M.” 
[The mode you propose for your Melons is an excellent 
one. We like, about eighteen inches in depth of soil for 
growing Melons in, and in most cases a width of eighteen 
inches or two feet would be sufficient. Himce the success 
when growing them in large pots. A grossness of habit 
is produced by having too much feeding room. We. attribute 
your disaster to the manure-watering and the dull weather 
at the time. The plants were forced to absorb nn re than 
they could evaporate. We lost two or three nice fruit from 
the same cause. A very opposite cause will also make the 
fruit crack before they nro ripe. After a few dull days 
the weather comes remarkably bright, and the Melons are 
set in pots and exposed to the influence of the sun. The 
change is so rapid, that the fruit cannot meet it, and the ! 
heat and light together expand and crack it. 'To prevent it ! 
in this case, the fruit should he shaded with gauze paper. ; 
To prevent it in the other ease, the waterings that arc i 
necessary should be given to the roots, and the surface soil 
be kept dry. 
We have had dozens of such white shoots on Commander- : 
in-Cliief especially, and some .others. Mr. Beaton's mode ! 
of preserving them is the best, ns they always strike with 
difficulty, and easily damp off when struck. We had several 
at one time, but we have given over troubling the poor 
blanched things, ns several of them together, being of a 
sickly white, were enough to give one the blues fora week 
to look at them. That is our impression. You may think 
otherwise, and therefore cannot, do better Ilian follow out Mr. 
Beaton’s directions, and cut the rest of the plant away. As 
to the others with green centres and margined with white, 
each and all of these ate valuable, and more valuable still 
if in anything superior to Flower of the Day, Mountain of 
Light, Alma, &c.] 
CUCUMBER PITS BUILT WITH OILY LIME. 
“ I wrote to you near twelve months since for advice on 
my unsuccessful Cucumber pit. I altered it according to 
your directions, and with much trouble I have bad a mode¬ 
rate crop of Cucumbers, but the air being so bad from the 
flue, I have been obliged to make up the ventilators and 
every crevice from the air chamber, which is a great dis¬ 
advantage to me. It has now been at work two seasons, 
and the smell is as had ns ever. I have lately learned that 
the flue and all the inner walls are built with buffers' time, 
having a deal of train oil in it. You know what I mean by 
lime from the buffers’ shops. Do you think this kind of 
mortar is the cause of the bitd air ? if not, what can it he ? 
As soon as the tiue gets warm the smell is bad.—T. W. B.” 
[We do not see how you will ever be able to admit any 
air from your chamber in these circumstances. It will be 
years before all the oil is given off, and while it lasts you 
will have the unpleasant scent. You said nothing of this 
train oil, so far as we recollect, last year. If you want 
beat from the chamber for the atmosphere, you had better 
rebuild the flue, or, what would be better still, have a small 
boiler on the top of the furnace for top heat, and keep the 
chamber for bottom heat. A small boiler and a wooden 
tank like a beer cooler, some three or four inches deep, 
would supply you with both bottom and top heat if the 
tank was covered with slate, or the tank could be of brick 
and cement, and covered with slates. So long as the oil 
remains in your present flue you will have trouble with it; 
and encasing it over even with a good coating of plaster 
would hardly he sufficient to prevent the oil and the smell 
oozing out, though the evil would be mitigated.] 
