437 
June 29, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
binning Pears, etc. 
j Continuq to thin out fruit on Pears, 
ipples and Plums. Wall Cherries need a 
ttle summer pinching. 
pricots. 
Apricots generally push forth a lot of 
reastwood that cannot be trained in. Cut 
way such shoots. Keep all wall fruits well 
-atered. 
urrants and Raspberries. 
Currants and Raspberries need protection 
rom birds. Pinch back the flowers to en- 
ourage fruit spurs. This applies to red 
ad white sorts only. Black Currants should 
lake; all the new wood possible, so that old 
ems may be cut away later on. 
eaches, etc. 
Peaches and Nectarines should have their 
rowths looked after. Pinch back side 
toots. It is too early to so treat Apples and 
ears. To do so now will cause the basal 
uds to break into growth. 
oeing and Watering. 
Keep the hoe on the move round all trees 
ot mulched. Water in plenty must be given 
i things needing it. 
The Kitchen Garden. 
lair as Manure. 
On several occasions of late I have seen 
lquiries respecting the value of hair as a 
lanure. There is a little story about a 
entleman who being much struck by the 
eautiful Potatos shown by one exhibitor at 
little village show, asked the grower how 
e got such samples. “Well,” replied the 
lan, “ I puts it down to the quantity of 
tir I gives ’em.” . “ Air,” exclaimed the 
isitor. “ How do you get more air into 
le soil than other people ? ” 
i: Well, you see, sir, I’m a barber, and I 
lways puts the ! ’air ’ on the garden.” 
here is no doubt that hair has some value 
s a manure, for it contains nitrogen among 
ther things. Hair from tan yards is used 
irgely by some people, but it-needs stacking 
or some time. 
inions. 
Onions will pay for liquid manure. A 
ittle nitrate of soda in damp weather will 
elp them. Salt and soot, too, is splendid. 
sparagus. 
No more Asparagus should be cut, and the 
trongest growths should be staked to prevent 
reakage. Free the beds from weeds, and 
lulch with manure if possible. To my mind 
his is the time for manuring Asparagus, as 
he roots are making crowns for next year. 
elery. 
Set out more Celery and see it is kept 
Wist. Always be on the look-out for the 
laggot. Spray the plants with water, in 
’hich a very small quantity of tar has been 
issolved as soon as the fly shows itself. 
omatos. 
Keep Tomatos trained up and-stop all side 
rowths. 
ctatos. 
Never use the hoe among Potatos now. All 
■’feds must be pulled out by hand. Potatos 
hould be fully earthed by this time. 
eas. 
Seme early sort, of Pea may still be sown 
o give a late picking. 
Harrows and Cucumbers. 
Marrows and Cucumbers must have plenty 
f liquid when once they get on the move. 
.ettuces. 
^ Lettuce is best sown where wanted now. 
hin out as soon as possible. 
Keep the hoe going among Turnips. 
Horti. 
The Amateur’s Greenhouse. 
Tomato9. 
Owing to the comparatively sunless sum¬ 
mer so far, Tomatos have required more 
than the usual amount of fire heat to keep 
them growing satisfactorily. I may point 
out in this connection that it is a very un¬ 
wise policy to seek to husband heat in a 
Tomato house by closing the structure at 
night. Thousands of flowers drop annu¬ 
ally, leaving no “ set ” fruit behind, from 
this cause alone. If the house is not heated, 
it should be kept as dry as possible, even 
to the extent of mopping up moisture on the 
floor or stage, and a little air left on all 
night. The cold will not hurt the plants 
nearly so much as a close and moist atmo¬ 
sphere would. In heated houses, one should 
always be able to feel the air circulating 
when the plants are flowering. Then the 
pollen will be dry, and in a state to effect 
fertilisation by falling on the sticky stigma 
in the centre of the flower. This process is 
facilitated by smartly tapping the plant 
stems during the hottest, driest part of the 
day. 
Chrysanthemums. 
Cut back and bush plants may be pushing 
up too many shoots, and these should be 
reduced in number as soon as it can be seen 
which are the best ones to retain. Late 
struck plants should now be ready for their 
■ flowering pots, and an effort should be made 
to keep a fair number in 6 in. and 8 in. 
pots, these sizes being very useful for mak¬ 
ing up small groups, or forming the front 
of larger ones. In pottingj I like to pick 
out all the best plants first, and give each 
a pot to itself. The weaklings I place on 
one side as I come to them, and finally place 
them three together in a large pot. If well 
done, the made-up specimen cannot be dis¬ 
tinguished from one well-grown plant, and 
often comes in very useful; at the worst, 
such specimens give a lot of useful cut 
flowers. Firm potting should be the order 
of the day, and plenty of space should be 
left for holding water. 
Ripening' Pelargoniums. 
Under a proper system of management, 
decorative Pelargoniums can be kept in 
quite small pots for a number of years. 
They are extremely floriferous so treated, 
and come into bloom earlier than other 
plants. As soon as the flowers fade the 
plants should be stood outdoors, in the full 
sun. If greenfly is present on the leaves, 
syringe it off, or follow my plan of im¬ 
mersing each plant, greenfly or not, in a 
tub of soot water. When outside they must 
have a little water to keep them from drying 
off too suddenly, but in the end' the soil 
should be allowed to become so dry that the 
leaves turn yellow, then brown, and shrivel. 
If rain interferes with the drying off pro¬ 
cess, lay the plants on their sides for a 
while. If increase of stock is required, the 
half-ripe ends of the shoots can be made 
into cuttings, and struck in pots stood in a 
cold frame, or even plunged in ashes out¬ 
doors. 
Potting Young Cinerarias. 
The early plants, transplanted once into 
pans, should now be ready for single pots. 
Three-inch pots will suit the majority, but 
weaklings should be given 2^-in. pots. Use 
a compost of loam 2 parts, leaf mould 1 part, 
and coarse sand £ part, and leave plenty 
of room in the pots for water. Should 
greenfly be present on the undersides of the 
leaves, brush them off with a soft brush ; a 
worn out lather brush is excellent, provided 
the shavet has sufficient respect for his face 
to leave some bristles on it—the brush, not 
the face. A shaded cold frame will be best 
for the plants at present, and they should be 
kept rather close and syringed for a few 
days. 
Poinscttias. 
These must not be allowed to suffer for 
want of pot room, or yellowing leaves will 
soon tell the tale. The best yellow loam 
obtainable should be given them, with one- 
third its quantity of peat, and a liberal 
dash of coarse sand. If peat is not avail¬ 
able, use leaf mould, but then give a 
sprinkling of some good artificial manure. 
Keep the plants in the warmest part of the 
greenhouse after repotting, and if the roots 
are not disturbed, stand them in the full 
sun. Care should be taken not to damage 
the leaves or stems, as the loss of the milky 
sap has a pronouncedly weakening effect on 
the plant. Later, the plants will do very 
well in a cold but sunny frame, while a few 
weeks outdoors will not hurt them in hot. 
dry summers. 
Coleus Cuttings. 
There are some operations in the green¬ 
house which pay so well that they may be 
regarded as essential; one of these is the 
insertion of a nice batch of Coleus .cuttings 
at the present time. There is now no diffi¬ 
culty in securing strong, well-coloured tops 
of shoots, and these strike with the greatest 
facility. Place four of them round the edge 
of a 5 in. pot filled with a mixture of equal 
parts of loam, leaf mould, and coarse sand, 
put a little sand at the base of each cutting, 
and make fairly firm. Then stand the pots 
in a warm, moist corner and keep the cut¬ 
tings moist with the syringe, when they will 
be rooted in a few days and ready for pot¬ 
ting up singly. They will be splendid 
little plants by early autumn. 
Freesias. 
If the foliage on the pots of forced 
Freesias has not yet ripened off, stand the 
pots outdoors in the full sun, or lay them 
down should rain be about. It is imperative 
that the bulbs be well and quickly ripened, 
as the time for again potting them up for 
forcing will soon be here. When ripened, 
shake the bulbs out, and keep them in a 
saucer or shallow box in a sunny spot until 
potting time, early August, comes round. 
Sunnyside. 
Orchids for Amateurs. 
Cymbidiums. 
There are few species of Orchids that are 
more worthy of cultivation by amateurs than 
those of the genus Cymbidium. They not 
only comprise a considerable variety, but 
with few exceptions are among the most 
easily cultivated and are suitable to be in¬ 
cluded among the kinds that can be grown 
in the somewhat limited accommodation 
usually found in the greenhouses of ama¬ 
teurs. 
They are as a rule classed as intermediate 
house Orchids, but the majority of the kinds 
are best grown under the same conditions 
as for Odontoglossums, that is in a cool 
fernery during the months from March to 
October, and where the temperature of the 
cool house is retained at a normal tempera¬ 
ture of from 50 to 55 degrees they may be 
successfully cultivated throughout the year. 
Repotting. 
Repotting requirements are best attended 
to soon after the plants pass out of flower at 
the time the new roots are being emitted 
from the base of the recently-developed or 
developing growth. Like many other kinds 
of Orchids possessing thick fleshy roots, 
they should not be annually repotted, even 
when apparently pot-bound ; they do satis¬ 
factorily if due consideration is given to 
their requirements under such conditions. 
It may naturally 7 "be concluded that any plant 
that hlas filled its pot with roots will re¬ 
quire a greater amount of root moisture 
when in an active state of growth develop¬ 
ment than one that has ample accommoda¬ 
tion, and this is one of the chief considera- 
