THE GARDENING WORLD. 
feb. 14th, 1885. 
378 
Fruit Culture under Glass: Vines. — Give 
copious supplies of tepid diluted liquid manure to 
the roots of vines grooving in pots, and which are 
now swelling their crops, and close the house at 
85 degs. with plenty of atmospheric moisture on 
bright afternoons. The same remarks are applicable 
to permanent vines in the same stage of growth. 
Aim at a minimum temperature of 60 degs. to 65 
degs. Pot vines—if the object is to secure ripe 
Grapes from them as early as possible—should have 
5 degs. more heat at night and the same by day. 
The vines in successional houses will require atten¬ 
tion in the way of disbudding. This is an operation 
that should be performed as soon as the buds have 
bursted, when all the superfluous and weakest ones 
should be immediately rubbed off, leaving of course, 
the strongest and most promising shoots at 15 ins. to 
18 ins. apart on either side of the rod. The tempera¬ 
tures at this stage of growth should be at from 55 degs. 
to 60 degs. (according as the weather is cold or mild), 
by day with fire-heat, and 10 degs. more with sun- 
heat and air. Damp the house in the morning and 
in the afternoon, at closing time. If the vineries are 
air-tight, it will be advisable to open the ventilators 
sufficient at night to cause a circulation of fresh air 
in the house during favourable weather. 
Peaches. —Attend to the disbudding of trees in the 
early house, doing it by degrees so that the tree may not 
experience any check in the operation, and in the 
carrying out of which, the formation of the tree for 
next year should not be lost sight of, as the side-buds 
now left, as close to the bases of the individual shoots 
as possible, will balance the growths of the trees for 
another year. 
Melons in Hotbeds. —The plants raised from seeds 
sown as advised in The Gardening World of 
December 27th, p. 268, will now be ready for being 
transferred to the mounds in the frames on the hot¬ 
beds. Put two barrowfuls of rich fibry loam or road 
parings, to which one-fourth of horse-droppings or 
rotten dung should be added in each light, a couple 
of days prior to planting to allow of it becoming 
slightly warmed. The young plants being thoroughly 
moist at the roots should be turned carefully out of 
the pots, and two planted 9 ins. asunder along the 
centre of the ridge the same depth in the soil as 
before, and press the soil firmly about the roots without 
disturbing the latter any more than can be helped. 
Then give sufficient tepid water to settle the soil 
around the roots, make a circle of fresh soot and 
lime about 4 ins. in diameter round each plant as 
a protection from injury by slugs as much as to 
prevent a superabundance of moisture from settling 
around the stems of the plants, which would cause 
them to damp. Shade the plants from bright sun¬ 
shine until the roots have pushed well into the new 
soil, when it should be discontinued, and the points be 
pinched out of each plant—assuming that they have 
then made three or four rough leaves each. Train 
the shoots resulting from this stopping, three laterals 
from one plant and two from the other, regularly over 
the surface of the bed under each sash, having pre¬ 
viously filled in the space between the ridge and the 
side of the frame with 6 ins. or 7 ins. thick of the 
same compost as that composing the ridge.— H. W. 
Ward. 
The Golden Spire Apple.— This variety attracted 
special notice at the Apple Congress held at Chiswick, 
and it has also been commended as a handsome, 
useful variety that ought to be more generally known. 
I can fully confirm all that has been said in its favour. 
Five years ago I grafted it, along with several other 
good sorts, on the free stock, and with good care and 
special attention I have had two good crops off the 
Golden Spire, considering the age and size of the tree, 
while the other varieties have yielded but very few 
fruits. Its fruit resembles those of the Keswick 
Codling in shape, but somewhat larger, of a bright 
yellow colour, flesh white and of a crisp, acid flavour. 
It is an excellent keeper, and altogether an Apple 
that deserves a place in any garden,— D. Wilkie, 
Sundrum, Ayr. 
The Duchess de Bordeaux Pear. —At the meet¬ 
ing of the Fruit Committee on Tuesday, Messrs. Geo. 
Bunyard & Co., of Maidstone, exhibited some fruits 
of this old variety, and gained a First-Class Certi¬ 
ficate for it. At first sight it might be taken for a 
good sample of Knight’s Monarch, but it is quite 
distinct from that sort in all other characteristics. 
The skin is lemon-coloured, heavily covered with 
russet; and the flesh yellowish, melting, and richly 
flavoured. It is in season now, and will keep 
good for another month. Mr. Bunyard states that 
the tree is a good grower, hardy, and a free-bearer. 
Dr. Hogg states that it was raised by M. Seeker, at 
Gohardiere Montjean, near Angers, and was first 
exhibited so long ago as 1859. 
Seasonable Work in the Plant-houses.— 
Hitherto it will have been the aim of all who have to 
produce flowers in quantity, to push on everything 
that would add to the supply; but the time is now 
coming on when it will be necessary to take steps to 
prolong the flowering season of some classes of 
plants, and this may be done considerably by using 
a little judgment and forethought. In the case of 
Azaleas, some of the latest flowering varieties should 
be selected and kept in the coldest position available. 
A house with a northern aspect is a good place, if 
plenty of air can be given, and in case of frost, just 
sufficient fire-heat to keep the thermometer above 
freezing point. Genistas may be treated in the same 
way, but care must be taken that these are not allowed 
to become too dry in the pots, especially as the bloom 
spikes begin to show, for if once allowed to become very 
dry at this stage, the flower-buds are sure to fall oil 
instead of opening. 
Bulbs. —Most of these will now be starting into 
growth naturally and must be uncovered before they 
have become too much drawn, and care must be taken 
to prevent having too many in flower at the same 
time. Mignonette.-—A good batch of this may now 
be sown. In preparing the pots, good rich loam should 
be used, with a little addition of well-rotted stable 
manure and a little old lime-rubbish, the pots must 
be well-drained, and the soil should be pressed as 
firmly as possible. Bhodanthe.—This is another 
very useful annual for pot-culture, and may be treated 
similar to Mignonette, except that the pots should 
not be filled so firmly, or it may be sown in pans or 
boxes and be pricked off afterwards. All kinds of 
bedding plants must be got forward as opportunity 
occurs, and some of the hardier kinds may soon be 
got into the cold frames, if they can be well protected 
with mats or other covering in case of frost. 
Imantophyllum mirdatum. —This plant is so 
useful and so beautiful throughout the winter season 
that I cannot refrain from writing a few lines in its 
praise. Being a native of Natal, where the tempera¬ 
ture may be described as medium, this plant does not 
require much heat to force it into flower at mid-winter 
provided it has been subjected to a good period of rest 
during the late summer and early autumn months, by 
being placed out-of-doors in an exposed position and 
kept moderately dry. About the middle of September 
it should be placed in the greenhouse until the middle 
of October, and should then be transferred to the 
forcing-house, where a moderate temperature is main¬ 
tained. The bloom spikes will shortly afterwards 
appear, when good supplies of liquid manure should 
be given, so as to give additional strength and colour 
to the flowers. It should be kept in this temperature 
till the end of April, and then be transferred to the 
greenhouse till the end of June, when it may be again 
placed out-of-doors. It blooms more freely when pot- 
bound, but so as to maintain it in health and vigour a 
portion should be potted every second year. This 
should be done early in March; the compost most 
suitable is two parts turfy loam and one qrart sandy 
peat, in which it assumes that intense green which 
gives it such distinction of character. When potting 
the plants should be selected as nearly as possible of 
one size, and all offsets removed. If large specimens 
are desired, about nine plants should be placed in a 
15-in. pot, and three in an 8-in. and single plants in 
6 -in. pots for smaller vases and baskets. As a winter 
decorative plant or for cutting it has special charms, 
and when associated with Arums and Encharis it is 
very telling, its warm orange umbellate spikes of flower 
being much appreciated at this dull season. When 
well grown in a large mass there is scarcely a plant in 
cultivation which produces such a gorgeous effect. It 
is, moreover, one of those good-natured plants that 
will endure any amount of hard treatment.— Scribo. 
- t -t< - - - 
Begonia hybrida floribunda. — I do not 
remember to have seen a note in your columns 
respecting this Begonia, which is certainly worth 
growing for its flowers only, though there are 
many things grown for their foliage alone that 
are not the equal of it. The leaves are of a dark 
bronzy hue, so that a plant which has ornamental 
foliage, and good flowers as well, is well worth having. 
It may be urged that the flowers are not adapted for 
cutting purposes, owing to the short time they last; 
never mind, there will soon be more to cut from. 
Moreover, it can be had all the year round, and 
perhaps that is the reason why it is not thought 
worth writing about, as I know full well it is to be 
found in most gardens in large or small quantities. 
For autumn flowering I have had good results from 
cuttings put in about March, and for winter and 
spring use I put them in about May or June in single 
thumb pots in any hothouse, but not in a propagating 
frame or under bell-glasses, and after striking and 
filling the pots with roots, I put them into 4-in, or 
5-in. pots, the sizes in which they are most useful to 
me. During the summer I grow them in a heated 
pit sufficiently near the glass to keep them dwarf, 
and under these conditions they form nice bushy 
plants. The blush-coloured flowers intermixed and 
protruding beyond the foliage have a very pleasing 
effect either for arranging with other plants in groups, 
or for standing about singly in rooms, more particularly 
in close proximity to old-fashioned things. By not 
allowing the plants to remain more than a week at 
a time in the house they will, when returned to the 
plant-houses, develop any trusses of flowers that may 
be in a bud state, and soon regain their fresh appear¬ 
ance, when they may again be used. A cool stove or 
intermediate-house is perhaps as good a place as any 
for growing them in during winter, but where houses 
are set apart for forcing plants or cut flowers, one not 
too heavily charged with moisture would suit them 
best. For use during summer I pot on the best of 
those that have flowered during the winter, dis¬ 
carding any leggy ones after taking their cuttings 
for producing future plants.— E. Dumper, The Gardens, 
Summerville, Limerick .— [Mr. Dumper has sent us 
some flowers and foliage of this really useful plant. 
It deserves all the praise bestowed upon it.— Ed.] 
-»*-(- 
The Propagator.—There are some plants which 
do not strike root readily when severed from the 
parent plant, so that other means than cuttings have 
to be adopted with them. Among these I may 
mention Aralias, Cordylines, Cyanophyllum magni- 
ficum, and Sphserogyne latifolia. The simplest and 
safest method of propagating these that I know of is 
to split a flower-pot in half, say for the Aralias one of 
the 3|-ins. size ; there will be some waste in getting 
the pots to split properly, but I do not know that 
that can be avoided. After a suitable number of pots 
have been split, some soil suitable to the requirements 
of the plant should be mixed, and a stoutish stick cr 
two, of sufficient length and strength to hold the pot 
of soil at the height at which it is necessary to operate 
on the plant, the point of the stem at which the wood 
is neither too soft nor too hard. Remove the two 
leaves on either side at that point, and with a sharp 
knife slit the wood for an inch or two in an upward 
direction immediately under one of the joints, and a 
little below the same, the small portion below the 
joint can afterwards be removed, and a piece of stick 
or crock placed in the cut to keep it open, or probably 
it will partly unite instead of forming roots. At this 
juncture care must be taken that the head does not 
break off when cut. Place the two halves of the pot 
one on each side, and put a little rough compost in 
the bottom to keep the soil from running out, then fill 
in with the compost already prepared, taking care that 
some of the finest and sandiest of the compost is placed 
around and well into the wound. From the descrip- 
