December 21, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
801 
Digging. 
Continue to dig vacant ground and trench 
the Pea and Onion plots. 
Mushrooms. 
Manure for Mushroom beds should be 
under cover. This succulent fungus can 
be grown in any shed or cellar if frost is 
kept out. 
Celery. 
Celery is apt to spoil a great deal in very 
frosty weather; some litter should always 
| be kept handy. 
Get up a full supply of Parsnips, Celery, 
j- Scorzonera, and Artichokes in case hard 
| weather pays an unexpected visit. 
Brussels Sprouts, etc. 
Keep Brussels Sprouts and other greens 
free from decaying leaves. 
The present is a good time to dig in 
vaporite, for killing wireworm. 
Hokti. 
The Amateur’s Greenhouse. 
Hints on Watering. 
Of all the ways of rendering plants un¬ 
healthy in winter, and even killing them, 
there is none to equal the unskilful use of 
the water-can. Even plants in the most 
robust health do not now require watering 
every day, while weakly ones and any that 
have been recently repotted require watering 
with the greatest care. There is no plan 
like that of rapping all pots with a piece of 
hard stick, and only giving water to those 
which emit a clear, ringing sound. Such 
things as Arum Lilies, bulbs of all sorts, 
Cinerarias and Calceolarias will take plenty 
of water without harm; but Geraniums, 
Fuchsias, Yallotas, Clivias, Agapanthuses, 
and Primulas will be suited by far less. 
All Cacti and succulents may be kept with 
dust-dry soil, as long as they do not shrivel 
badly. When shrivelling is noticed, care¬ 
fully give enough quite warm water to 
plump the plants up again, and no more 
for weeks. 
Ripe Grapes. 
If all of these have not been cut for the 
Christmas festivities, it is a good plan to do 
so. Not that I am hinting that the growers 
need keep Christmas up on the Grapes, or 
even send a bunch, via the Editor, to Sunny- 
side ; far be it from me to do so. But the 
Grapes are better cut now and out of the 
way, so that the effects of the Christmas pud¬ 
ding may be worked off by a good honest 
day’s toil in cleaning the vines and renew¬ 
ing the borders. The Grapes will keep quiffi 
a long time in a dry room if cut with r> T '--nty 
of wood attached, and the end of the latter 
is inserted in a wine bottle of water. The 
bottles should be slanted a little so that the 
Grapes hang clear of them. If the vines 
have been troubled by mealy bug or vine 
- scale, well rub in Gishurst compound round 
the spurs with a good stiff paint brush, 
afterwards dressing the whole of the rod 
with the same mixture. When finished, fork 
off the top foot of soil from the border, and 
wheel it into the garden, replacing it with 
nice new loam, broken into lumps as big as 
the fist. 
In the Peach House. 
Probably many readers do not possess a 
Peach house, but I take it that most of them 
have a tree in the greenhouse. Where this 
is the case, the Peach tree affords a caDital 
means of killing off what remains, of the 
Christmas holiday after the vine is finished. 
There are worse jobs on a wet Boxing Day 
than smoking a nice cigar and clearing a 
Peach tree of scale. A pointed stick, a paint 
brush, and some Gishurst compound will be 
found valuable aids to the cigar. After 
cleaning the wood, tie this out nicely and 
evenly, and treat the border as advised for 
the vine. Some readers may have neglected 
the pruning of their trees, though this is 
best done after the crop is gathered. In 
any case, pruning consists in simply cutting 
away the shoots which carried last year’s 
crop of fruit, and tying in the younger 
growths at their base, on which the next 
crop should be borne. 
Pot Roses. 
There is still time to purchase these, and 
if a Rose nursery is in the neighbourhood 
it will pay to stroll round during the holi¬ 
days, and try and pick up a few bargains. 
If no plants established in pots are obtain¬ 
able, it is quite likely that the nurseryman 
will have some surplus ground plants for 
sale cheap at this season. This will give 
some capital early blooms if potted now and 
plunged in ashes in a cold frame for a few 
weeks. They should then be taken to the 
greenhouse and treated as before advised. 
If got in at the end of January and pruned, 
then they will commence to flower about 
Easter, especially if we get the weather to 
which the last two Easters have accustomed 
us, 
Van Thol Tulips. 
Where these are forced early, and especi¬ 
ally where they are wanted as cut flowers, 
one often hears complaints that the stems 
are too short. There are two ways of 
remedying this defect, if defect it be. One 
is to place a layer of damp moss on the top 
of the pots when they are brought from the 
ashes; the other is to keep the plants as far 
away from the glass as possible. In carry¬ 
ing out Christmas decorations, it should not 
be forgotten that these Tulips may be 
Orchids for Amateurs. 
Calanthes. 
The species and hybrids of the deciduous 
section of Calanthes will now have their 
flowers fully expanded ; this will give ama¬ 
teurs an opportunity of seeing for them¬ 
selves and selecting suitable kinds'for cul¬ 
tivation. As I have previously stated in 
reference to these plants, they are more fre¬ 
quently seen growing in private places, 
where there is no pretence to cultivate 
Orchids than in places where Orchids are 
extensively grown. There are very few in¬ 
deed of our prominent Orchid collections 
that have them represented to any extent, so 
that little advantage is gained in visiting 
Orchid places to make selections of Calan¬ 
thes, and as there is very little value in the 
plants, the trade do not cultivate them to 
any extent, and really only keep them to 
supply their customers. 
There is always a difficulty in successfully 
flowering these plants in smoky manufactur¬ 
ing districts and in the neighbourhood of 
London and other large towns, where the 
prevalence of fog is so destructive to plant 
life in general during the winter season. I 
would point out this particularly, because 
any attempt to grow the plants where un¬ 
favourable conditions prevail will prove un¬ 
satisfactory, and they are best left alone, to 
give place to other plants that may be suc¬ 
cessfully cultivated. They must also have 
a stove heat to develop their growth in 
summer. Amateurs are so apt to secure un¬ 
suitable plants that I may be excused for 
pointing out here any difficulties that may 
be anticipated, thus affording them some 
guidance which may be of use in making 
suitable selections. 
As soon as the flower scapes have fully 
expanded their blooms, water may be gradu¬ 
ally withheld, and as soon as the flowers 
are removed keep the plants entirely without 
handled with impunity. Thus, a potful 
may be broken up and planted with small 
Ferns to fill a large fancy vase on the 
dinner table; or the bulbs may be placed 
singly in little vases. In fact, there are no 
end of ways of using the bulbs without de¬ 
taching the flowers; if all the bulb will not 
go into some much-desired receptacle, a 
portion may be cut off to make it fit; even 
this drastic treatment will not affect the 
flowers. 
Mustard and Cress. 
This rapidly comes into an eatable state 
if kept near or on the hot water pipes after 
sowing. It should be sown thickly on the 
surface of good soil in shallow boxes, and 
pressed down after sowing, but not watered 
in. If kept dark and warm germination is 
extremely rapid, but once the plants have 
broken into growth the boxes should be 
moved to cooler quarters. I always like 
to make a few sowings in Strawberry pun¬ 
nets, as these are nice for taking to table 
as grown. 
Pelargoniums. 
It should always be remembered that dry¬ 
ness at the roots, that is, pronounced dry¬ 
ness, brings green and white fly. There¬ 
fore, give the plants enough water to keep 
the soil nicely moist. They should also 
have plenty of air at all times, and a tem¬ 
perature not exceeding 45 degrees. 
May every reader of “ GAY.” manage to 
keep his soil nicely moist and his tempera¬ 
ture a little in excess of normal during the 
festive season ! 
To Everybody : A MERRY CHRIST¬ 
MAS. SUNXYSIDE. 
water and place them on a dry shelf in a 
position where they may have the full bene¬ 
fit of the available light. Another good 
method, and one that can be recommended, 
is to turn the pseudo-bulbs out of their pots, 
and after the potting compost has been 
shaken away cut off all the roots and stand 
the bulbs in a shallow box, having pre¬ 
viously placed a thin laj'er of dry sphagnum 
moss intermixed with sand in the bottom. 
The varieties may be separated by placing 
sticks across the box. This will be found 
of considerable advantage where storage 
place is limited. The bulbs may remain in 
this position until the return of the potting 
season in the spring. 
Watering. 
In the depth of winter, discretion is neces¬ 
sary on the part of the cultivator in the 
manner water has to be afforded to the plants 
in their charge. I am quite sure that on 
the proper supply of water to meet the re¬ 
quirements of the plants depends a great 
deal of the success in their cultivation. 
There are many gardeners, as well as ama¬ 
teurs, who do not acquire the proper art of 
affording root-moisture, and carelessness in 
this matter can only produce unsatisfactory 
results. In dealing with Orchids especi¬ 
ally, when the outside atmosphere is so 
heavily saturated with moisture, such as we 
have generally experienced of late, more 
than ordinary care should be observed to 
see that the plant requires water before it 
is given. Nothing keeps our plants in 
health so much at this season of the year as 
seeing that the potting compost becomes dry 
between waterings. With cold, heavy rains 
the water in the tanks will be found below 
the normal temperature of the houses. Care 
should be taken to chill such water before 
using for watering purposes. A tub or pan 
kept full in the house is a good plan, especi¬ 
ally when used for spraying small seedling 
Orchids. 
!Ji_ H. J. Chapman. 
! 
