March 2, 1901. 
THK GARDENING WORLD. 
4‘23 
JOURNEYMEN. 
Having read the articles in The Gardening 
World, February 23rd, under the headings 
"Gardeners’ Grievances,” and "Journeymen,’’ my 
opinion, as an individual, and his matters for example 
of the diary, is, I think, he would be the better of 
another ounce of experience before he goes another 
hour in front of the present time. When the boys 
are prepared to face the revolver shots, &c., they will 
find me here. I am seldom from home, whether in 
the bothy or in lodgings. Some chaps are left longer 
with their mother than others are. I suppose when 
one comes up to be fit for bothy life he is none the 
worse of a " Guid feer 0’ the auld wife. I’ve he’rd 
the like o' 'im afore.” As regards the cooking, I 
prefer to chum the cook; and for the ’prentice being 
punished for swearing, poor boy ! Only it is a grand 
thing to bring up the younger gardener in the true 
faith, if that be what it means. In bygone days I 
was aye a true Gordon, would never have run away 
from the midst of war without making some attempt 
to assist the next to follow. As for the time of 
attending to the diary it does not matter, should one 
not forget altogether. The suppers in the bothies I 
have seen are not of a very spoiling kind. Iam 
pleased to learn that another chap is comfortable. 
The bothy here has seldom been seen, but will stand 
a visit of inspection with the majority of the best.— 
Wullie, Ross-shire. 
THE PLAIT HOUSES. 
The Conservatory. 
Li ltd ms for early summer flowering should be potted 
on in succession to those that are being grown for 
Easter. Such species as L. auratum, L. specicsum, 
L. eximium (syn. L. Harrisii), and others are most 
frequently grown. A compost, consisting of peat and 
loam in equal parts, with one part of good leaf mould 
and some coarse sand, should be given. The plants 
for Easter should now be maintained in a tempera¬ 
ture of 6o° to 65°. They like to be syringed on 
bright sunny days, and vigorous syringing helps to 
keep them free from pests. It is well to fumigate 
the plants once in three weeks, for even with all the 
syringing one may give, aphides will find their way 
to the tips of the shoots. The above injunction is 
specially necessary where the plants are growing on 
the shelves of fruit houses. 
Cinerarias. —Successional batches of these beau¬ 
tiful greenhouse plants come along steadily. The 
cooler they can be maintained the better they will 
be, and the longer they will last. The plants in 
small pots will benefit from having weak applications 
of liquid manure about twice each week. Those 
who have been so well advised as to raise a batch of 
the Star Cinerarias will soon be delighted by their 
magnificent grace and bright, attractive inflores¬ 
cences. 
Sweet Peas in pots demand little notice further 
than to suggest that pinching should now be discon¬ 
tinued. During the growth of the plants it is good 
and necessary to keep them dwarf and bushy. Now, 
however, they can be allowed to develop flower buds 
as soon as they will. A house with a temperature 
ranging from 55° to 60 9 will suit them. The stages 
upon which they stand would be well to be covered 
with ashes ; and it is certainly to their advantage to 
damp between the pots; especially on bright days. 
Sweet Peas are susceptible to thrips and greenflies, 
and a mild occasional fumigation with XL All will 
do them good in this connection. 
Richardias or Callas are valuable in the green¬ 
house and conservatory because of their handsome, 
dark green foliage. Placed toward the back of the 
stages, provided they are allowed freedom of space, 
they are indeed very attractive. According to the 
time they were potted and started, and also accord¬ 
ing to the after method of treatment, will their 
appearance and condition of growth now depend ; 
many will be in flower; some may be showing 
flower, and others may not be expected to throw up 
their spatbes for weeks. R. elliottiana and R. 
Pentlandi, of course, require slightly warmer treat¬ 
ment than does the common Arum. Still, I have 
seen R. elliottiana flowering in the open air (in the 
neighbourhood of London) during summer, so that a 
warm greenhouse really suits it when grown under 
glass. 
Roots and bulbs for forcing should be attended to. 
The young batches of Cyclamen, zonals and fancy 
Pelargoniums, &c., for the later part of the season's 
display, should be potted on as they need it. At all 
times give them as light a position — consistent with 
their needs—as possible. 
The Stove. 
In the stove potting occupies a good deal of time 
and labour. The Palms rarely require a complete 
shift, unless it be the young ones. The older speci¬ 
men plants are more often only reduced and top 
dressed. Many fine exhibition specimens are per¬ 
sistently subjected to the " cutting-in ’’ method ; that 
is, the roots are turned out of the pots, and about 
i in., or perhaps 2 in. of the circumference is 
removed by sharp cuts. The same size of pot thus 
suffices for a constantly increasing Palm. Beyond a 
certain stage, however, it is not advisable to continue 
this barbarous practice. It is barbarous in so far 
that it is very unnatural, but it is a good way of 
saving space, and from a practical point of view is 
commendable. After being treated in this way they 
should be kept in a warm stove with a temperature 
of 65° at night. Such a house ought also to be 
maintained in a humid condition. Tepid or per¬ 
ceptibly warm water should be used for watering 
them. 
CALADiuMs-should now be sought out for potting. 
An earlier batch of course may have, in some cases, 
been prepared previous to this. Propagation of a 
special variety is best and most easily effected by 
means of offsets and by dividing the tubers. A light, 
moderately enriched compost suits them well. A 
stove temperature must, of course, be accorded to 
them. 
Crotons (or Codiaeums as one should call them) 
and Dracaenas are the pride of all collections of 
Stove plants. Cuttings may now be taken of both 
the genera, and it will be well to dispense with some 
of the larger plants to make room for younger and 
fresher specimens. It is a practice all too commonly 
followed—and perhaps naturally too—of hording up 
old plants even while there are, or could be, younger 
and better stock to take their place. This fault of 
crowding ought to be completely overruled ; it is bad 
in every way.— J. H. D. 
=*> 
Early Peaches and Nectarines. —The weather 
recently experienced has been unfavourable to fruit 
forcing, and at present the conditions do not seem 
to bean improvement. The night temperature in the 
earliest Peach house should register 50° to 55°, but it 
should not fall below 5o p in the hardest weather. 
The day temperature may rise up to 65 9 or 68°, but 
judicious ventilation must be practised. With the 
present state of the early houses, disbudding must 
be constantly attended to. It does the trees an 
infinite amount of harm to leave them until the 
growth absolutely requires to be removed. The 
foreright shoots (that is, those on the upper part of 
the old shoots when trained to curvilinear trellises 
or those in front growing outwards, on trees trained 
upright) may be removed at once, and the side 
shoots, other than the base laterals that will be 
required for next season’s fruiting wood, should be 
pinched back to form spars. The thinning of the 
fruits will also engage attention, the best fruits being 
retained and those that are least promising being 
removed. One fruit per square foot is usually the 
percentage of fruits retained. When syringing the 
trees, use chilled water ; the syringing, by the way, 
should be done morning and afternoon, omitting the 
second or afternoon syringing on dull, cold days. 
The soil beneath and around the pipes must, how¬ 
ever, be kept well damped. 
For houses started about eight weeks ago, in 
which the trees have just got through the setting 
period, less syringing will be necessary. A night 
temperature of 50° may be allowed, and up to 75° 
from sun heat. Of course, the day temperature 
when it has to be maintained artificially, need not 
rise higher than 58° or 6o°, and on mild days venti¬ 
lation may be given from 6o°, enlarging the amount 
if there is a tendency for the warmth to increase. 
No cold draughts should ever be tolerated. It will 
be found rather trying to prevent high temperatures 
on days that are intermittently cloudy and sunny, 
while there is at the same time a cold cutting wind 
blowing. It is better to let the temperature run up 
somewhat, and only to keep on a chink of top air. 
One is apt to shut off all fire heat on such days, but 
spring weather is very deceptive, and though a house 
may become heated during a blink of sunshine, that 
heat soon dissipates when the sun withdraws. The 
heating system must be watchfully and thoughtfully 
managed. The borders of the second early house 
may require a good soaking with tepid rain water. 
The evaporating troughs (which should always exis>) 
ought to be kept filled with liquid from the farm 
manure heap. The ammonia which arises from this 
liquid manure is never strong enough to do any 
harm to the trees ; but, on the contrary, especially 
in vineries, it does good. Of course, the odour is 
not agreeable, and might be sufficient to deter 
visitors from inspecting and interesting themselves 
in the growing crops. The houses for midteason 
supply should be closed in March. 
Figs. —The earliest batch of pot Figs require to 
be kept in a close and moist house. They can now 
be placed a little wider apart upon the stages so as 
to afford the leaves and fruits more air and light. 
Supplies of weak liquid manure should be given 
thrice a week. Vary these stimulants every other 
week. A handful of Thomson’s or Clay’s manure in 
a gallon can of water acts beneficially. The succes- 
sioDal planted-out Figs should have the borders top 
dressed with decayed dung. The trees enjoy plenty 
of soft rain water at the roots. The night tempera¬ 
ture should not be lower than 55°, but may rise 15° 
or 20°, according to the condition of the weather 
during the day. 
Cherry House. —The low night temperature 
(40 9 to 45°) is beneficial at the present time for per¬ 
manently planted Cherries. It is advisable to fumi¬ 
gate the house before the flowers expand.— D, K. 
KEEPING QUALITIES OF APPLES, &e. 
Everybody knows that some varieties of Apples are 
ready for use in September and are out of season in 
a week or two, while others come later and are 
"good keepers.” The Canada experimental fruit 
farms have been making tests with Apples, Cherries, 
Plums and other iruits to see which varieties of 
these would keep longest under certain conditions. 
They tried twenty-three varieties of Apples (the 
names of which are not well known to growers here) 
and tested their relative keeping qualities. They 
thus obtained a knowledge of the percentage of 
sound, of partly decayed or of rotten fruits that each 
variety would give after being subjected to the test. 
The fruits were stored in a cellar, the temperature of 
which ranged from 35° to 40° Fahr. for three months, 
with the exception of one very cold snap v.hen it 
fell to 26”. The Apples were undoubtedly frozen 
but they were in the dark and thawed out gradually. 
Four of the twenty-three varieties went rotten ; 
eight had 40% and upwards of rotten fruits; while 
I7s% of the fruits of the remaining varieties were 
totally decayed, and a large percentage were partly 
decayed. The Ben Davis Apple returned 10;,% of 
sound fruits, while Newell, Wagener, Rawles Genet 
and Walbridge had all over 80% of good Apples. 
Grapes in sawdust gave better results than those 
in baskets or open trays. The berries seem to hold 
to the stem better than in either of the other cases. 
They were slower to show mildew, owing to the fact 
that the sawdust absorbed the moisture that evapor¬ 
ated from the Grapes and kept them moist. A 
difficulty with sawdust packing is that it adheres to 
the fruit and stem so that in shaking it off, the 
berries are detached. Cut cork suggests itself as 
better packing material than sawdust. Dryness is 
essential to the successful preservation of Grapes. 
Plums differ much in their behaviour in cold 
storage. Tomatos picked when they were just about 
to redden, wrapped separately in tissue paper and 
placed in a crate packed on the bottom and top with 
"excelsior,” were kept about two months. Green 
Tomatos may be kept for several months, but when 
removed to undergo ripening, they simply rot. At 
present the Cucumber is not a success in cold 
storage. Strawberries kept fairly well for three 
weeks in a temperature of 30°, but ii was necessary 
to surround the fruit with cotton wool. Black Cur¬ 
rants remained fresh and saleable for ten days ; Red 
Currants for six weeks ; Cherries covered with wool 
kept for a month when maintained at 36 Q . Green¬ 
gages kept for ten weeks, and Victoria Plums for 
nine weeks, but cooking varieties of Plums with this 
exception did not lend themselves satisfactorily to 
cold storage. The above particulars appear in The 
•Canadian Horticulturist for December. 
