THE HARDENING WORLD. 
- Sept. G, 1884. 
5 
WINTER CUCUMBERS. 
In every gardening establishment of any preten¬ 
tions to completeness. Cucumbers are in demand 
all the year round, and to meet this demand the 
plants are, as a rule, raised by seeds sown or 
cuttings struck in early spring and again in the 
autumn. For yielding a supply of fruit during 
the winter and early spring months we find that 
Rollisson’s Telegraph true to name is the best 
variety, and' seeds of this should be sown at once 
singly in 3-inch pots, nearly three-fourths filled 
with soil consisting of three parts of light loam and 
one of leaf-soil. Cover the seeds with a little of 
the same compost, and then place them in heat, 
where, after a few days the little plants, if the seeds 
be good, will appear. They should then be placed 
on a shelf near the glass and after they have made 
a couple of inches of growth be top dressed, and 
finally be planted in their winter quarters before 
the pots become full of roots. 
The best place to grow winter Cucumbers in, is a 
narrow border running east and west in the front 
of a lean-to house facing due south. This border 
should be about 2 feet 3 inches deep and 2 feet 
As the roots push through the sides of the 
mounds, add a couple of inches of the same compost 
as that in which the plants are growing, and 
continue to make such additions until the interven¬ 
ing space is filled with soil. The base of the plants 
and the soil within six inches should, however, be 
left a couple of inches higher than that between the 
plants to prevent the stems and the soil immediately 
surrounding them from becoming too damp by the 
lodgment of water. If this simple precautionary 
measure were more generally observed in the 
planting of Cucumbers and Melons, less Would be 
heard of the plants being affected with canker. 
Should, however, this disease attack the plants, a 
mixture of fresh lime and soot rubbed into the 
affected portion of the stems will arrest its further 
progress, but as it is best not to await the approach 
of the disease before taking action to repel it, a little 
powdered charcoal should be placed around the 
collars of the plants as a preventive. This—other 
points such as atmospheric moisture being attended 
to—will have the desired effect. 
If the supply of Cucumbers can for a time be 
kept up from other sources, such as plants in flames 
ADI ANT IIM PACOTTT. 
wide, with a flow and l’eturn 4-inch pipe underneath 
for bottom heat. Over the pipes about 3 inches 
thick of old brick rubble, the finest on the top 
should be placed for drainage ; to be followed with 
15 inches deep of long stable dung (including tbe 
droppings) trodden firmly together, after which the 
mounds, consisting of 3 parts of light loam and one 
of peat and leaf-soil, can be made 3 feet apart along 
the centre of the bed, and the plants which should 
be thoroughly moist at the roots before being turned 
out of the pots, set therein. The soil should be 
pressed moderately firm about the roots, and after¬ 
wards be watered with tepid water to settle the 
soil. Shade the plants from bright sunshine until 
the roots have taken to the soil, after which it 
should be discontinued. Syringe the plants over¬ 
head morning and afternoon on bright days to pre¬ 
vent the attacks of red spider, and ventilate freely 
during favourable weather to secure a short-jointed 
sturdy growth in the plants, to each of which a 
stick should be put for support and secured to the 
first wire of the trellis, which should not be nearer 
to the glass than 15 inches. 
or houses, it will be advisable to allow the plants 
to l-each the top wire before stopping them, and to 
keep all the young fruits picked off until the trellis 
is well covered, but not over crowded, with short- 
jointed shoots, which then may be allowed to bear 
sufficient fruit to meet the demand for the same, 
always remembering that the greatest strain is 
brought to bear on the strength of the plants from 
the middle of December to the middle of March. A 
good supply of Cucumbers may also be obtained 
from plants grown in 12-inch pots, by keeping the 
roots well supplied with tepid, diluted manure water, 
when the plants are in bearing, and in other re¬ 
spects treating them the same as those growing in 
borders, which, owing to their having more scope 
for root action, will not require water at the roots 
so often. But regarding this matter no hard and 
fast line must be drawn. The cultivator must be 
guided in the application of water to the roots and 
leaves by such circumstances as the condition of 
the weather, the health of the plants and condition 
of the soil in which they are growing, together 
with the drainage and the mode by which bottom 
heat is supplied to the roots, When, however, the 
condition of the soil and plants indicate dryness at 
the roots, let the supply of water be sufficient to 
thoroughly moisten the whole mass. A humid 
rather than an arid atmosphere will be congenial 
to the plants in all their stages of growth; and it 
should here be mentioned that overcrowding of the 
shoots and over cropping are evils to be strictly 
avoided in the cultivation of Cucumbers. 
A night temperature of from GO deg. to G5 deg. 
according as the weather is cold or mild should be 
maintained, and 70 deg. to 75 deg. during the day 
with fire heat, running up 10 deg. higher with sun 
heat and plenty of atmospheric moisture when shut¬ 
ting up in the afternoon. In the matter of putting 
on and taking off air, the cultivator should also be 
guided by the nature of the weather, and the stages 
of growth at which the plants may have arrived, 
but cutting winds should be guarded against as 
they would check the growth of the plants. 
ADIANTUM PACOTTI. 
Under this name, an invaluable little fern for 
button-hole boquets, said to have been raised on 
the Continent, by M. Pacott, has been introduced 
somewhat lately into our nurseries, and is rapidly 
becoming a favourite. On the continent it is re¬ 
garded as identical with the plant sent out by Mr. 
B. S. Williams, and described by Mr. Moore, some 
five years ago, as Adiantum mundulum. This plant 
Mr. Williams bought on the Continent as a seedling 
from A. cuneatum, and it may be that the two owe 
their origin to the same parentage, but for garden 
purposes, as we saw them in Mr. Bull’s nursei'y the 
other day, they appear to be sufficiently distinct. 
The frond shown in the accompanying wood-cut, 
with a flower of Dendrobium Ainsworthii, obtained 
from Mr. Williams, fully illustrates its character 
and beauty. The plant scarcely grows more than 
six inches high, and the fronds seldom exceed three 
inches in width at the base. 
PROPAGATING HARDY PLANTS. 
Many of the beautiful herbaceous and alpine 
plants, such as Androsace, Aubretia, Arabis, Gvpso- 
phila, Pyrethrum, Saxifraga, and others of a like 
tufted habit of growth, are apt during the summer 
to grow away from their centres and become ragged, 
and are consequently not in a fit condition to stand 
the rigours of winter. At this season of the year, 
therefore, it is very necessary to go over all the 
hardy plant beds and borders, and divide up and 
replant all those which do not appear to be in a 
fit condition to go through the winter safely, and 
furnish stout healthy plants in spring for the next 
season. By going over them at once, the plants will 
have plenty of time to get thoroughly re-established 
before the winter sets in, and they will be sounder 
in every respect than they would have been if left 
undisturbed. 
These pretty plants are now so extensively used, 
and are such general favourites, that the multiplica¬ 
tion of desirable Kinds should be an object in every 
garden, and as a great assistance in securing a stock 
of them a sheltered open border with movable 
pit lights over it, or a small cold frame with a bed 
made up in it, should be devoted to the purpose 
of their increase. The bed or border only wants 
making up with some fine loam and a little sand, 
and the divided plants or cuttings can at once be 
placed in them, at distances varying according to 
the size of the pieces inserted. When the cuttings 
are in, they should be well watered once, and, after 
that, be allowed to go until they are getting dry 
before any more water is given. Subsequently only 
water them sparingly until they are rooted. In a 
few weeks some of the strongest of them will be 
ready for removal to the open borders, but such as 
are not well rooted, or are not of robust habit, had 
better be kept under the protection of the frame 
until spring. 
Another very good plan with small-growing and 
delicate hardy plants, such as Houstonia coerulea, 
Hntchinsia alpina, &c., is, at this season of the 
year, to divide them up, pot them into small pots, 
