May- 15, 1897. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
&83 
fancy sections have only, comparatively speaking, a 
limited stock of admirers the single, Pompon, and 
Cactus sections are in great favour in the majority of 
establishments. The Cactus and single varieties are 
especially valuable for cutting from, and hence a good 
stock of plants is desirable. 
Hollyhocks. —This fine old-fashioned flower, 
although somewhat stiff in appearance has yet a 
stately character all its own. Planted in clumps of 5 
0/ 6 in the herbaceous border they always render a 
good account of themselves, and although the flowers 
are of no use for cutting they are effective enough 
on the plants. In the warmer parts of the country 
the plants were put out about the middle of last 
month. It will now be safe to plant out where things 
generally are more backward and where hard frosts 
may be expected until the spriDg is well advanced. 
A stout stake will be necessary for each plant, and 
this may be given at once if desired. 
Mignonette. —Bearing in mind the popularity of 
this sweet-scented favourite it will be well to make 
frequent sowiDgs of it in various positions where it 
may flower undisturbed. Transplanting may 
certainly be done, but the young plants do not take 
kindly to it, and as the rays of the sun become 
hotter and hotter with the advancing season there 
will be an increasing difficulty in getting them to do. 
If there are vacancies to be made good, however, the 
young plants should be lifted with good balls of earth 
attached so that their roots are disturbed as little as 
possible. Pretty severe thinning out may be 
practised as the plants, if allowed sufficient room 
grow strongly, but this thinning should be gradually 
performed. Vacant spaces in the mixed border, 
spaces between Rose bushes, or small shrubs or trees 
of any description, may be turned to good account 
thus, and the material thus obtained will be always 
useful for cutting. 
* 
Pot Peach and Nectarine Trees. —As soon as the 
fruit on these shows signs of colouring every 
assistance in the way of light and air should be 
given them. Being in pots it is very easy to shift 
the plants to a position where this will be forthcom¬ 
ing. Syringing must be knocked off when the fruit 
commences to get soft. Manure water may be given 
rather later than would be advisable with planted- 
out trees, but in the last stages of maturation 
nothing but clear water must be given. It would be 
dangerous, however, to diminish the supply of this 
to any very great extent, for with the limited 
amount of soil and space such a proceeding would 
be dangerous to the roots. 
In the early permanent house the fruit is swelling 
fast, and will soon be fit for the table. Carry out 
the instructions given in the last calendar with 
regard to syringing and watering, for the trees have 
now a very great strain upon them. A great deal 
may be done to assist the fruit in ripening by push¬ 
ing aside any leaves that are shading it. 
Succession Houses. —Here the work of laying in 
the shoots to act as next season’s fruit bearers is 
actively in progress. Even where disbudding has 
been carefully and well performed, there are usually 
a few shoots for which it is difficult to find room. 
These should be cut out at once, for one good shoot 
is far better than two moderate ones. Young trees 
will need particular attention, for in this case they 
have to be built up, and the larger circle over which 
this season’s growths are disposed will call for two 
or occasionally more shoots to properly cover the 
space. Thorough and consistent syringing is of the 
utmost importance, for it is only by keeping the 
foliage clean, healthy, and free from insect attacks, 
that success can be obtained. A specially sharp eye 
must be kept upon portions of the trees that are near 
to the pipes, for it is in such positions that red 
spider first makes its appearance. An occasional 
fumigation or vapourising may be necessary to keep 
down black fly. Air must be left on all through the 
night to some extent both by the top and bottom 
ventilators. It need not be enough to create a 
draught, but sufficient to prevent stagnation of the 
atmosphere of the house. 
Early Vinery.—As soon as the Grapes here 
hegin to' colour, any plants in pots that are in the 
house should be moved out, for a drier atmosphere . 
is now wanted for the ruit, and this the pot plants 
will not like. As soon as the brown of the ripening 
berries commences to merge into black it will no 
longer be advisable to give manure water, and the 
supply of clear water may be considerably 
diminished. Damping down must cease entirely, 
and more air must be given all round. The tempera¬ 
ture may be kept up to about.70° by night, and this 
can now be done without much trouble. 
Succession Houses. —Here the routine of venti¬ 
lating, watering, damping down, and pinching of 
laterals must be proceeded with. Possibly the 
greatest danger to be feared is that of scorching, but 
this can easily be obviated by proper attention. 
Faulty glass may be, and doubtless is blamed in 
some instances, but good glass is cheap enough now, 
and thus the one excuse for allowing the leaves of 
Vines to be scorched is fast vanishing. If the night 
temperature is kept from falling too low, and the 
deposition of moisture on the leaves thus prevented, 
whilst proper attention is paid to airing early in the 
morning there will no harm result. 
Melons in Frames. —It is with a glad sense of 
relief that many gardeners are watching the gradual 
clearance of the bedding stuff which in such an 
infinite variety has been blocking up the pits and 
frames for some time past. Some of these frames 
will come in for the accomodation of Melons, which 
given a fairly favourable season, can be grown suc¬ 
cessfully in this way. Deep brick pits which were 
filled up with leaves for early Potatos also answer 
very well. After the tubers have been dug the soil 
should be taken out and replaced by some good 
mellow loam. A barrowful of this placed in the 
centre of each light will be sufficient to plant the 
Melons in, an addition of soil being given in the 
shape of a top-dressing when the young plants have 
rooted through. Heat from the pipes will also be 
wanted, through the first few weeks at least, although 
the sun will supply increasing heat as the summer 
comes in. Movable frames placed on the top of hot 
beds will also suit Melons well. The only difficulty 
is with the syringe, which will need to be used much 
more carefully than in the houses. A spell of dull 
weather and a green hand at the end of the syringe 
will together work a good deal of damage among 
Melons in frames, although during bright weather 
the plants will stand copious supplies of water over¬ 
head.— A. S. G. 
-■*-- 
THE ORCHID HOUSES. 
East India House. —With such cold cheerless 
weather as we are now getting, it would not do to 
raise the temperature much above what was recom¬ 
mended in a previous calendar. To do so you would 
be compelled to have recourse to extra fire-heat, and 
that is not desirable. As the days lengthen, how¬ 
ever, we hope the outside temperature will become 
more favourable to plant life; then we shall be able 
to give air more freely, and at the same time keep 
the heat up to its proper height, without the use of 
that necessary evil fire-heat. 
For the welfare of all occupants of this division 
great care and attention must be paid to what we 
call the working of the house, that is, the heat, 
moisture and air must be so balanced that there is 
a humidity in the air without being stuffy. Also 
special attention should be paid to the shading. 
The exact time of running down the blinds on bright 
mornings depends greatly on the position of the 
house. Those running as ours are east and west 
require the blinds on the south side down by nine 
o’clock, but for houses running north and south, a 
little later would be best, as the sun strikes them in 
an oblique direction, Any tender plants can 
generally be so protected that no harm would come 
to them by placing temporarily sheets of news¬ 
paper or tiffany over them. 
Cattleya House.— This division is becoming gay 
with the advent of the first batch of Cattleya 
Mendeli; and as the season will last some time it 
behoves each one of us to ry and set them off to the 
best advantage so that visitors may view them with 
ease. 
■ We bring all those that are .fully open to one end 
of the division. Here they are arranged with other 
things that flower at this season such as Vanda 
sqavis, which makes a fine background, Miltonia 
vexillarja,. Odontoglossom cityosmum, Hendrobiums, 
&c., with which are mixed a few Palms and Maiden¬ 
hair Ferns. When damping down, be careful not to 
allow any water to touch the expanded flowers, as it 
causes them to spot and to prematurely loose their 
freshness. 
Cool House —Here, too, it would be much better 
if the plants in bloom were grouped together, instead 
of being dotted about here and there. Odonto- 
glossums of the O. crispudf type are now plentiful, 
and when arranged with the brown O. triumphans, 
O. luteo-purpureum, &c , they produce a charming 
effect. 
It is most unusual for us to use fire heat in this 
division in the month of May, but so cold are the 
nights that in one of our houses that is not connected 
with a warmer division we have been compelled to do 
so to keep it from running down too low. When con¬ 
nected with the intermediate house this is hardly 
necessary, as by opening the door the first thing in 
the morning, the temperature soon runs up to its 
proper height, and the plants will be in a regular 
sweat in no time. This just suits Odonto- 
glossums.—C. 
«»■ 
©flattings front ffjq JDorlb 
of Science. 
The undermentioned subjects were brought before 
the Scientific Committee of the Royal Horticultural 
Society on the 27th inst. 
Tulips Diseased.—With reference to the Tulips 
" Golden Crown ” sent to the last meeting by Mr. 
Thomas, of Polegate, the following is the report 
received from Kew :—" The leaves are attacked by a 
fungus called Botrytis vulgaris, a destructive parasite 
to various bulbous plants. The mycelium of the 
fungus travels down the tissues of the host plant and 
forms minute sclerotia in the bulb and also in the 
soil in which the plant is growing. These sclerotia 
remain dormant during the winter, and commence to 
grow the following spring when the young leaves 
appear. Your correspondent is right in supposing 
that he will get no blooms. The wisest thing to do 
would be to remove all the diseased plants. It 
would not be wise to plant bulbs in the soil where 
the diseased plants have grown for the next two 
years. If this cannot conveniently be avoided, then 
let him plant ‘ trap-plants ’■—that is, comparatively 
worthless bulbs—to take up the spores and sclerotia 
present in the soil, and then remove them early in 
the summer before more sclerotia or spores are 
formed.” 
Podisoma Sabinae—Mr. E. Pollard, of Colwall. 
Great Malvern, sent a specimen of Savin having the 
yellow jelly-like outgrowth from the stem of this 
fungus. It is dimorphic, the second stage being 
called Roestelia cancellata, and is found growing on 
rosaceous trees. 
Pinus torreyana.-—Dr. Masters exhibited speci¬ 
mens of the large rones of this tree. It was found on 
the extreme southern coast of California, extending 
over about three to four miles only, and the group 
consisted of from 200 to 300 trees. It has since been 
discovered on the island of Santa Roza off the same 
coast It is now in cultivation. 
Lilies Diseased.—Mr. Noy, of Brentford, sent 
some Lilies; some grown on land heavily manured 
with sewerage matter and ashes ; others on land 
which had not been manured for several years, 
being a very light soil. They were attacked with a- 
species of Peronospora, allied to the Potato 
disease ; so possibly a treatment similar to that for 
Potatos might be advantageous. 
Tulip with Axillary Flower.—Mr. Townell, of 
Heaton, Newcastle-on-Tyne, sent a specimen of the 
Tulip " Proserpine,” in which an additional small 
flower sprang from the axil of a leaf on the scape. It 
is not a common production, but similar growths 
occasionally occur. 
Cineraria Crosses.—Messrs. James & Son, of 
Farnham Royal, sent several fine grown plants, 
which they had raised (1) between Cineraria cruenta 
crossed with garden forms, and four plants (2, 3, 4, 
5,) resulting from this; also (1) again crossed with 
C. Heritieri (6); also this last true species crossed 
with the first named (i). It had white flowers, with 
pink tips to the petals. Of the four plants, numbered 
2, 3, 4, 5, No, 2 had foliage more resembling that of 
C. cruenta, but 3, 4, and 5, that of C. Heritieri, 
while- three had a white ray and pink dise ; -5 had - 
both ray and disc of a crimson colour. 
