THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— October 7, 1856. 
13 
[Neither; hut a medium course should he adopted. Old 
Fuchsias that are to be kept healthy must not be quite dry, 
or the roots and wood too will shrivel. It’ at all in a damp 
place, or standing on a damp floor, they will require litile 
water in winter, and frequently a slight syringing of the 
branches, to keep the wood plump, will be preferable to 
watering the roots. "When it is convenient to do so, plung¬ 
ing the pots in a damp medium, as moss or rotten dung, will 
keep them in a better state than when the position they are 
in, from having tbo pots exposed, requires watering the 
roots frequently to prevent the soil being dusty dry. Now, 
these young plants, even taking the different sizes into 
consideration, have far less organisable matter stored up 
than these older plants; and, therefore, they must be 
watered so long as the flowers come and the foliage is 
healthy, diminishing in frequency and quantity as the 
nights get longer; and even when the leaves wither and 
fall off, these young plants should not be so dry as older 
ones may be, and, if possible, should have access to light, 
that an elaborating process may go on through the bark all 
the winter, and more especially if, though the plant be 
pruned-in in spring, it is yet desirable to retain all the 
main stem it now possesses. If it is resolved upon to 
cut such plants down to the surface of the soil next 
spring, then the keeping of the plants in light, and not 
so dry, will be of less consequence after the leaves have 
fallen, as the lower part of the stem will be pretty well ma¬ 
tured. Even in that case, however, the giving more atten¬ 
tion to young plants will repay the extra trouble. In the 
case of old, well-established Fuchsias, they will keep well in 
any place in winter from which frost is excluded, be it dark 
or light; but if in the dark, the plants must be moved as 
soon as the buds break in spring.] 
Chrysanthemums planted out. —“ Our plants flagged 
very much last season when taken up; many leaves got 
yellow ; and the flowers were smaller than when they were 
grown in pots. How can I avoid these this season?” 
[As soon as the first buds appear on the points of the 
shoots the plants should be prepared for lifting, by loosen¬ 
ing them with a fork all round, and giving them a good 
watering a few days before you commence lifting them and 
potting them. A four or flve-tined light fork, such as those 
of Parkes’, is the best instrument for lifting them. AVlieu 
potted, place them on the north side of a wall, or other 
fence, and even under an awning if there is much sun, and, 
after giving the pot a good watering, do not deluge them sub¬ 
sequently if the soil is moist enough, but keep the standing- 
ground moist, and lessen evaporation from the foliage by 
frequent syringings until the roots are working freely, and 
the balance between them and the leaves restored, when 
the plants should be gradually exposed to all the light they 
can get. When the flower-buds appear pretty thickly, and 
the pots are all light as respects their roots, manure-waterings 
may be frequently given. The plants should be got into the 
house, if possible, by the second or third week in October ; 
if later, mildew will be apt to trouble the leaves.] 
Stoiting Chrysanthemums. —“My plants looked thin 
and leggy, and I stopped them all in the middle of August. 
Did I do right ? I have plenty of shoots now, but they are 
not very strong.” 
[You took the best way to get more shoots, but the worst 
mode any one could have adopted to get good flowers, or 
even flowers of any sort; for I suspect very few will honour 
you with their presence. Disappointments are severe school¬ 
masters, but they are useful ones at times. I would advise 
repotting some of the old plants from the borders, of which 
you say you have abundance, as there is but little hope of 
your young bushy plants. As a general rule, never stop 
Chrysanthemum shoots after July.] 
Temporary Hotbeds. —“ I want to strike ever so many 
things,—Verbenas, Calceolarias, Geraniums, Ac., for beds, 
and a clever gardener tells me that, after the end of Sep¬ 
tember, they ought to have artificial heat, and I have no¬ 
thing but a quantity of grass, a little stable dung, and some 
tree leaves more than half rotten; and he tells me that, be¬ 
fore I get such rank material worked and made sweet, the 
season will be too far gone. Now, what am I to do?” 
[You see what procrastination has done for you. You tell 
us that you road The Cottage Gardener constantly; and, 
if so, you would find that, with your hand-lights and frame 
or two, you had as much need for a hotbed as your favourite 
Cochin-China has for three legs. Your Geraniums might 
have been struck in the open border if put in in August. 
Your Verbenas would have rooted under a hand-light; and, 
though Calceolarias would not quarrel greatly with a very 
little artificial heat now, still they would do quite as well 
under a hand-light on the shady side of a hedge or fence. I 
have just put some in, and shall put in many more in a cold 
pit, on the north side of a fence, thus formed :—A bole of a 
tree forms the back ; another smaller bole the front; and 
two other pieces the ends; and old sashes laid across, 
without rafters or anything else, form our roof. So, you see, 
we are never above reverting to the simplicities. Such a 
contrivance has an advantage and a disadvantage as com¬ 
pared with common hand-lights. In a very rainy autumn 
the sashes turn the rain on to the ground in front; whilst, 
in the case of hand-lights, the rain falling all round them 
makes the inside, at times, rather too damp, though Calceo¬ 
larias will stand a great deal of moisture. The hand-lights 
keep the cuttings closer, on the other hand, than my old 
lights, and can be more easily regulated as respects air, &c., 
as the plants begin to grow. Rut all this is only tantalizing 
you about your hotbed. Well, on the whole, we agree with your 
adviser, the clever gardener ; and while we shall always be 
glad to hear from you, we may frankly tell you, that if per¬ 
mitted <o see his practical operations, you may gain more in 
a short time than you will be able to do from several of our 
articles, however plainly written. I hope, however, you will 
be benefited by both, as, without readers, we might seal up 
our inkstand ; and, if that was no great loss to the commu¬ 
nity, it would be a great loss of pleasure to us. Well, as to 
the hotbed, if you waited until the material sweetened, it 
would be too late to try much with advantage, though the 
initiated will root cuttings at all times. The grass, if very 
short, will be like a blaze of tow—very hot at first, but soon 
over, as there is not fibre enough for continuous fuel. Long 
grass, say from six inches to a foot in length, will also heat 
violently and retain heat longer, but not long enough ; while 
the steam and gases from both will destroy every growing 
vegetable confined within its influence. The long littery 
dung from the stable, from the fibre it contains, will regulate 
the heat, and, therefore, there will be no difficulty as to the 
heat for a month or so; the job is to get rid of the noxious 
steam, and yet not lose the time required for sweetening it 
by frequent turnings. Now, as a saving both of time and 
material, I often adopt the following plan for such temporary 
purposes—in fact, did so, the other day :—Throw the grass 
and littery dung into a heap, mixing it well. In two or three 
days it will have heated violently. Then mark out a place 
for your bed, wheel the mixture to it, and shake it regularly, 
patting it down with the fork. When you have got, from a 
foot to fifteen inches deep mix, say other six inches, witli 
rotten, decayed dung, or your half rotted tree leaves. On 
this put other eight inches of the rotted tree leaves, set 
your frame on, and then place within it two or three inches of 
coal-ashes, or, if they are not handy, a sprinkling of dry 
earth or sand, or burnt clay, the latter being about the best 
thing for sucking up all noxious gases and steams. In this 
you may put your cuttings at once. It will soon give you a 
gentle heat, which will last for a month or so, and the top 
covering will keep down all noxious gases. A little air will 
require to be left at the back, especially at night. The bed 
I have thus spoken of may seem high for such a purpose, 
but, not being trampled, it will sink quickly, but equally. 
The chief thing is a sufficiency of sweet old material for the 
top covering. Earth itself would do; but then it would not 
keep the heat so long as half-rotten material, because, until 
thoroughly decomposed, it will of itself give out heat, when 
thus exposed to a fresh fermentation, until all the fibre is 
destroyed, or the air is denied access to carry on the process. 
— R. Fish.] 
FERNS IN A CUCUMBER AND MELON-HOUSE. 
“ I am building a small house for the purpose of growing 
early Cucumbers and Melons in the summer; it is heated 
by six-incli pipes with tanks. Would you be so good as to 
