June 13, 1890 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
665 
In reply to W. B. G. (p. 628,) my experience does 
not extend to Marguerites as a stock for the " Mum," 
although it can be easily understood that they would 
make very good stocks. There are generally plenty 
of spare plants which can be utilised for grafting; 
but both stocks could be tried so that the grower 
might be the gainer by experience.— W. 
FRUIT UNDER GLASS. 
Early Peaches and Nectarines. —As soon as 
the fruit has all been gathered in the earliest house 
the syringe must be started to work again with the 
same regularity as it was employed before the fruit 
commenced to ripen. In order to obtain well- 
flavoured fruit a dry atmosphere is absolutely 
essential during the ripening period, and it may well 
happen that red spider has taken the opportunity to 
creep in. At all hazards it must be as promptly 
turned out again, for the leaves must be allowed to 
perform their office without let or hindrance if the 
trees are to remain in good health. Hitherto the 
attention has been divided between the shoots that 
have been bearing the fruit of the present year, and 
those which are destined to perform a similar office 
next season; now, however, the latter will claim all 
the attention. They must be laid iD, and tied 
neatly, and where they are somewhat crowded, room 
may be made by cutting out the shoots from which 
the fruit has just been gathered down to the succes¬ 
sion shoot at the base. 
Any hay or straw with which the borders have 
been covered must be removed at once, and the 
borders forked slightly up with a small grained fork, 
taking care the while not to injure the delicate 
rootlets. A thorough watering may then be given 
and repeated until it is certain that every particle of 
soil is sufficiently moist. Air should be given plenti¬ 
fully, both by night and day ; in fact it is the custom 
of many cultivators, where the top lights are movable, 
to remove several of them entirely. 
Bananas. —This fruit has come into a full share of 
popularity lately, and there are many establishments 
in which a few plants are grown for the sake of their 
delicious fruit. Musa Cavendishii is the best 
species for indoor culture, as it is of dwarf and 
compact habit, thereby differing greatly from M. 
sapientum, which requires a deal of room for its 
accommodation. Bananas revel in plenty of heat 
and moisture when growing. Plants, therefore, 
which are still in full swing, and carrying heavy 
trusses, must be fed liberally with liquid manure. 
Others which are commencing to ripen the fruits at 
the lower part or shoulders of the truss may be given 
less water, and no manurial stimulant at all. The 
suckers thrown up at the base of the fruiting stem 
will now have reached a good size and will soon be 
calling for more room overhead. In this case it will 
be better to cut the fruit truss, and hang it up in 
some sunny place to ripen. In such a position the 
fruit will ripen more quickly than it would upon the 
plant. The old fruiting stem may then be cut down, 
and room thus given for the young suckers to develop. 
Ripe Grapes. —Houses where these are hanging 
will now be ventilated pretty freely during the day, 
and some watch must be kept to see that small birds 
do not seize the opportunity offered by the widely 
opened ventilators to engage in a tasting expedition. 
The best plan is to spread some ordinary fish netting 
over the apertures, fastening it carefully over the 
ventilators so that the latter can slide up and down, 
or lift, as the case may be without catching in and 
disturbing the netting. 
General work in the succession vineries.— 
Where mealy bug is very prevalent, constant care 
will be needed to keep it under. If the wood and the 
leaves are frequently looked over there will be little 
fear of the insidious pest creeping into the bunches. 
A mixture of petroleum and warm water, well 
stirred and applied with a soft brush, is very effec¬ 
tive but needs very careful handling, for the oil does 
not readily mix with the water, and if it is not kept 
well stirred rises to the top, adheres to the brush, and 
is applied very nearly neat. A better plan is to mix 
a little petroleum and soft soap together first, and to 
dissolve this in warm water, when a more perfect, 
and hence less dangerous mixture is obtained, and 
one that is very efficacious. Keep all lateral growths 
pinched out at the first leaf. Air freely but 
judiciously, and above all see that the water supply is 
ample. 
Strawberries. —As soon as the fruit begins to 
show colour, preparations should be made for pro¬ 
tecting it against feathered marauders. If possible 
the nets should be spread so that they are not resting 
directly upon the foliage. A framework composed 
of long iron rods laid upon, and fastened to, posts 
driven into the ground at intervals should be put up, 
and over this the nets may be spread. In all 
cases the borders of the nets should be securely 
pegged down to the ground. 
Pear trees on walls. —These will now require 
to have the foreright shoots pinched back to within 
6 in. or thereabouts. Operations should be com¬ 
menced at the top of the tree, whither the sap naturally 
flies the quickest, and carried on downwards. It is 
well to allow a week to elapse between the pinching 
of such shoots in the upper and lower parts of the 
tree. 
Lately planted trees. —Trees that were put in 
during the late planting season and were left untied or 
unnailed to allow for the subsequent settling of the soil 
which always takes place to a greater or less extent, 
should now be looked over and tied or nailed in. In 
other cases where sinking of the soil has taken place 
the trees ought to be looked over to see that none of 
the ties are tight enough to strangle and cut the wood 
they enclose. 
--*•- 
THE FLOWER DARDEN. 
Surely the month of May which has lately passed 
must have been one of the most trying on record; 
and the pristine splendour of the spring grass has 
given place to the brown dried-up appearance that 
speaks of scorching sun and absence of rainfall. 
The work of watering has, threfore, been increased 
to a tremendous extent, for the grass upon tennis and 
croquet lawns, as well as upon the stretches near the 
mansion must at all cost be kept comparatively 
green and fresh looking. Where there is a good 
water supply, and a sufficiency of hose ready to hand, 
it is not so difficult to give the grass the necessary 
waterings. A little labour may be saved, on the 
other hand, in the way of mowing, for the machine 
and the scythe are having easy times of it. Still it 
will be necessary to run the machine over the grass 
occasionally, or the “ bennetts ’’ will get long and too 
tough for the knives to touch. 
Bedding-out should now be practically finished, 
and steps should be taken to clear away any of the 
remaining material out of the way. In far too many 
instances we see pots and boxes lying about all over 
the place, some with no plants in, and others with 
one or two stragglers that are fit for little but throw¬ 
ing away ; and yet these self same odds and ends are 
allowed to linger on, are watered everyday the same 
as other more useful plants, until perhaps near to the 
end of the summer, when, after all, they are con¬ 
signed to the rubbish heap. If they have to go there 
it is surely as well to let them go first as last, and 
not allow them to remain only to give trouble with 
no prospect of a return. 
Gravel Paths. —These will need a good deal of 
attention now in order to keep them in really good 
condition. Advantage should be taken of every 
good shower that falls, to run the roller over the 
paths that are near to the mansion and have to bear 
a good deal of foot traffic. If the weather continues 
to be dry these paths should be watered occasionally 
and then rolled, for it is only by constant attentions 
such as these that a firm even surface can be main¬ 
tained. A coating of crushed shell, evenly spread 
over, also makes a very pleasant foothold, although 
the use of this material would seem to be chiefly in 
favour in the public parks and gardens of the Metro¬ 
polis, and other large towns and cities. 
Palms on Lawns.— Although we cannot boast of 
a climate so genial as that of our neighbours across 
the channel, there is no reason why Palms of various 
kinds should not be more frequently used for the 
decoration of lawns and out-door flower gardens than 
they are. During the summer months there is a 
number of Palms that will do very well out of doors, 
and their graceful foliage, being so different to that 
of the usual run of our hardy plants, adds a charm 
and a pleasing variety to the beauties of the flower 
garden. Holes large enough to hold the pots should 
be dug, the plants simply stood in them, and the 
turf neatly relaid right up to the rims of the pots. 
Water and plenty of it, during the summer months 
is an absolute necessity to the well-being of these 
plants, and an occasional pinch of nitrate of soda 
will work wonders in imparting a rich green hue to 
the fronds. Plunging the plants in this way has this 
special advantage, viz , that after the summer is 
over the plants can be easily lifted and placed under 
shelter whenever frost threatens to intervene. 
Carnations. — Although disbudding is not ( 
perhaps, so necessary in dealing with these subjects 
as it is with some others, a little of it may be 
practised with advantage, for as a rule many more 
buds are produced than the plants are capable of 
developing into fair sized flowers. Complete the 
staking of all Carnations at an early date, if any of 
them have not hitherto been attended to. A mulch¬ 
ing of cocoa-nut fibre or short stable refuse will be of 
great service ; the cocoa-nut fibre forms rather the 
better material of the two, as it is more cleanly, and 
there are no straws to blow about. 
Herbaceous Borders.— There can be no excuse 
this year for the presence of weeds, for once they are 
cut through at the roots the sun will do the rest. 
The Dutch hoe should therefore be put to work 
whenever occasion offers. The staking and tying of 
various subjects as growth proceeds will need constant 
attention. Stakes of various sizes, and in sufficient 
quantities, will have been got in readiness during the 
winter months, and will now come in very useful.— 
A.S.G. 
- - 
THE QRDHiD HIISES. 
Treatment of newly-imported Orchids. Having 
just received a large quantity of Odontoglossums and 
Cattleyas, it may interest amateurs if I give our 
mode of procedure. The first thing then we 
do is to go carefully over each plant, cutting 
away all the decayed matter, such as dead roots, 
faulty pseudo-bulbs, etc. With Cattleyas it is very 
necessary to be particularly cautious, 0 r you might 
learn to your cost that some of the plants are infested 
with the Cattleya fly, which, if not detected, will soon 
multiply and the whole collection becomes infested. 
A good plan where possible is to put the newly- 
imported plants into a house by themselves, until such 
times that the young growths are large enough to be 
able to detect their presence, which to the practised 
eye is discernible at an early date by the swelling of 
young pseudo-bulbs to an unusually large size. The 
only remedy and safest plan is to cut away the 
affected parts and burn them. • It is a sacrifice of 
course, but it has to be done. There is yet another 
fly which attacks the roots of Cattleyas. This one 
lays its eggs on the points of the new roots, which at 
once begin to swell; and here again the best way is 
to cut away the infested parts, and at intervals to 
fumigate the house until there is no trace of them. 
The XL All Vaporising Fumigator is a fine thing 
for all purposes. 
That this particular fly is imported with them 
goes without saying, for on looking over some newly- 
imported C. Gigas to-day we found it necessary to 
cut away all the roots alive or dead, so badly are 
they infested with the little maggot that causes these 
root galls. Assuming then that all these preliminary 
precautions have been taken, the plants may be at 
once potted up, for we do not believe in keeping them 
hanging about, on or under the stages, at this time of 
year too long; they have been out of their natural 
element quite long enough. 
The pots or pans should be cleaned and well 
drained, and only just large fenough for the reception 
of the plants, as too much compost about them at 
this early stage is about the worst error a grower can 
fall into. I know some of the best growers advise 
potting them up in crocks alone until they have 
started well into gro-vth. In the winter time, this is 
no doubt a good plan, but at this season it is not 
necessary, as the plants begin to root into the new 
compost at once, if the temperature is a genial one. 
Good peat is what we use for Cattleyas, and only 
when it is rather inferior in quality do we use sphag¬ 
num moss with it. But for Odontoglossums there is 
nothing better than a compost of peat and moss in 
equal parts. Some recommend Polypodium fibre; 
but only when there is no peat to be had will I 
willingly use it.— C. 
