340 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  21, 1898. 
to  root  cuttings  is  during  March  and  April.  Short-jointed  shoots  of  the 
preceding  year’s  growth,  and  about  4  inches  long,  should  be  selected, 
cutting  these  below  a  joint,  hut  not  trimming  off  the  lower  leaves  and 
buds,  as  it  is  from  these  buds  below  the  surface  that  strong  growths 
ought  to  start  during  the  first  two  years  or  so.  Insert  the  cuttings 
singly  in  small  pots  filled  with  sandy  peat,  plunge  them  in  bottom 
heat  of  75°  to  80°,  and  keep  close  till  well  rooted,  this  occupying  about 
one  month.  Give  an  early  shift  into  4-inch  pots,  and  it  is  just  possible 
that  a  second  small  shift  may  be  given  safely  the  same  season,  but 
overpotting  at  any  period  of  the  plant’s  life  is  a  great  mistake,  which 
has  led  to  many  partial  or  complete  failures. 
I  have  been  fairly  successful  in  growing  Ixoras  in  what  may  be 
termed  loamy  compost,  but,  all  things  considered,  favour  the  orthodox 
mixture  of  two  parts  good  fibrous  peat  in  a  lumpy  state  for  the  larger 
shifts,  one  part  each  of  leaf  soil  and  fibrous  loam  of  a  light  character, 
adding  silver  sand  and  crushed  charcoal  freely.  If  good  fibrous  loam 
is  not  available,  no  loam  should  be  included  in  the  compost.  It  need 
hardly  be  added  that  only  clean  well-drained  pots  ought  to  be  used, 
and  that  the  potting  should  be  done  somewhat  firmly.  No  shifts 
ought  to  be  given  later  than  September. 
Ixoras  thrive  in  strong  heat,  ranging  say  from  75°  to  85°  during 
the  spring  and  summer  months,  resting  them  daring  the  winter  in  a 
temperature  of  60°  to  65°.  They  ought  to  be  shaded  from  bright  sun, 
and  to  have  the  benefit  of  abundance  of  moisture  in  the  atmosphere, 
also  frequent  forcible  syringings  with  tepid  water.  If  young  plants  are 
topped  they  will  not  flower  till  very  late  in  the  season,  if  at  all ;  but 
topping  naturally  helps  to  make  them  bushy,  and  to  force  up  strong 
shoots  Irom  below  the  soil.  While  resting  in  a  light  position,  apply 
enough  water  to  keep  the  wood  plump  and  the  leaves  from  shrivelling, 
and  do  what  pruning  is  necessary  in  November.  Ixoras  will  stand 
moderately  hard  pruning,  and  are  best  kept  in  good  form  by  the  knife 
rather  than  by  training. 
Late  in  February  or  early  in  March,  when  the  temperature  can  be 
raised  without  the  expenditure  of  much  fire  heat,  start  ihe  plants  into 
active  growth.  They  will  thrive  best  if  arranged  on,  rather  than 
plunged  in,  a  hotbed  of  leaves,  or  leaves  and  manure.  Repot  before 
much  progress  has  been  made,  in  the  case  of  the  older  specimens 
removing  much  of  the  soil  unoccupied  by  roots,  and  so  reducing  the 
balls  as  to  admit  of  repotting  in  sizes  only  a  little,  if  any,  larger  than 
they  were  previously-  in,  not  forgetting  to  allow  space  for  ample 
drainage.  Plants  required  to  flower  late  in  July  or  early  in  August 
ought  to  be  started  extra  early,  and  in  the  case  of  I.  coccinea  supeiba 
there  must  be  no  topping  of  the  young  shoots,  or  the  flowering  period 
will  be  too  late. 
The  other  varieties  recommended  should  not  he  topped  later  than 
March.  I.  Duffi  flowers  on  the  strong  well-matured  growths  formed 
during  the  year  previous,  and  plants  cannot  be  depended  upon,  there¬ 
fore,  to  flower  every  season.  The  way  out  of  the  difficulty  is  to  have 
two  sets  of  plants.  When  Ixoras  are  first  repotted  water  very  care- 
ftilly',  so  as  to  avoid  souring  the  new  soil  before  it  can  be  well  occupied 
by  roots  ;  but  when  roots  are  abundant  copious  supplies  of  water  are 
needed.  Plants  strongly  rooted  are  also  benefited  by  liquid  manure, 
but  this  must  not  be  very  strong.  That  formed  by  placing  sheep’s 
droppings  in  coarse  bags,  and  steeping  these  in  tubs  of  water  for 
several  days,  is  recommended ;  and  it  is  safe  and  good  practice  to  apply 
Standen’s  manure  sparingly  about  twice  during  the  season. 
Many  failures  with  Ixoras  may  be  traced  to  attacks  of  insect  pests. 
The  plants  would  appear  to  be  peculiarly  liable  to  be  infested  by 
mealy  bug,  and  once  overiun  by  this  pest  are  very  difficult  to  clean. 
With  Mr.  J.  Cypher,  the  noted  exhibitor,  the  remedy  is  Fir-tree  oil, 
diluted  and  applied  as  advised  by  the  vendors,  coupled  with  frequent 
forcible  syringings  with  tepid  water,  clear  soot  water  also  doing  good. 
A  close  look-out  should  be  kept  for  any  stray  insects  that  may  survive 
the  remedies  suggested,  destroying  these  saving  much  labour  subse¬ 
quently.  It  ought,  perhaps,  to  be  added  that  all  plants  should  be 
laid  on  their  sides  when  heavily  syringed  with  either  insecticide  or 
clear  water,  and  every  precaution  taken  to  keep  the  soil  in  the  pots 
from  being  saturated  with  it.  Both  thrips  and  green  fly  used  at  one 
time  to  be  troublesome,  but  since  the  introduction  of  nicotine 
vaporisers  their  eradication  is  both  safe  and  simple. 
Keeping  the  plants  well  supplied  with  water  at  the  roots  during 
the  hottest  part  of  the  year,  sheltering  them  from  currents  of  dry  air, 
and  syringing  freely  and  often,  are  preventives  of  red  spider.  Scale 
can  be  got  rid  of  in  the  same  way  as  mealy  bug,  and  it  only  remains 
to  be  added  that  any  comparatively  violent  remedies  for  destroying 
either  of  these  pests  should  be  applied  while  the  plants  are  at  rest. — ■ 
Grower  and  Exhibitor. 
PROFITABLE  FRUIT  GROWING. 
{Oontinued  from  page  323.) 
To  show  the  difference  there  is  in  the  stuff  some  men  are  made  of, 
I  may  instance  the  case  of  two  men  I  knew  well,  who  both  started  for 
themselves  after  serving  about  the  same  time  in  the  same  market 
establishment.  One  took  a  piece  of  old  pasture  land  in  a  good 
locality,  near  a  good  market.  He  had  a  Tomato  house  built  100  feet 
long,  at  a  cost  of  some  £90  or  so.  He  laid  out  a  large  portion  of  his 
ground  in  Strawberries  and  small  bush  fruit,  simply  digging  down  the 
turf  and  planting.  The  consequence  was  that  weeds  and  foul  grass 
after  the  first  year  got  the  upper  hand.  He  had  a  good  crop  of 
Tomatoes  the  first  year,  as  almost  anyone  will  have  on  fresh  soil. 
The  second  was  not  so  good,  and  the  third  year  was  a  complete 
failure.  He  had  to  clear  out  last  year.  His  whole  stock,  including 
the  Tomato  house,  did  not  bring  much  more  than  £30.  This  was  a 
square  man  trying  to  fill  a  round  hole. 
The  other  man — he,  too,  made  Tomatoes  his  mainstay  the  first 
year.  He  started  in  an  old  market  garden  entirely  overrun  with  weeds 
and  rubbish,  as  it  was  not  payiug  the  party  who  had  it  previously. 
He  entered  at  a  November  term,  and  what  he  did  the  first  year  I  leave 
him  to  tell  in  his  own  words : — “  Dear  Sir, — I  send  you  the  particulars 
you  asked  for ;  you  can  use  them  as  you  think  fit.  I  will 
begin  with  the  glass.  One  house  is  a  lean-to,  200  feet  long 
and  14  feet  wide,  with  three  rows  of  pipes,  two  flows  and  one  return. 
The  other  is  span-roofed,  220  feet  long  and  20  wide,  with  four 
rows  of  pipes,  two  flows  and  two  return.  Two  new  fined  saddle 
boilers  3  feet  long.  The  pipes,  boiler,  bends,  valves,  and  fittings 
complete  cost  us  £62.  The  glass,  which  is  21  oz.,  18  inches  by  24, 
cost  £40.  The  wood,  second  quality  red  pine,  also  cost  £40,  the  whole 
coming  to  £142.  The  extras,  such  as  bricks,  lime,  paint  and  putty, 
came  to  £20.  Our  labour  for  erecting  the  two  houses  at  the  rate  we 
were  working  at  is  twenty  weeks  at  £1  per  week — £20.  Total  for 
material  and  building,  £182,  or  8s.  8d.  per  foot  run.  We  planted  2000 
Tomatoes  and  gathered  6  tons  of  fruit,  or  an  average  of  6f  lbs.  per 
plant.  The  average  price  was  6d.  per  lb.,  which  made  £336,  or  £154 
more  than  it  cost  to  erect  the  houses ;  and  we  hope  to  do  better  this 
year,  as  we  are  at  the  present  time  quite  two  months  ahead  with  our 
work  to  last  year.  I  think  we  have  done  fairly  well,  coming  into  the 
place  and  not  a  vestige  on  it  of  any  good,  but  plenty  of  weeds  and 
dirt.  We  knocked  over  £400  out  of  it,  and  it  is  not  2  acres  in  extent.” 
I  may  tell  you  that  I  have  seen  the  two  houses  referred  to,  and  they 
are  as  good  and  substantial  as  any  of  their  kind  in  the  country.  This 
was  the  right  man  in  the  right  place,  with  brains  in  his  head,  and  not 
more  than  one  thumb  on  each  hand. 
I  have  said  more  on  this  point  than  I  intended,  but  I  am  anxious 
to  emphasise  the  fact — for  it  is  the  Very  root  and  foundation  of  success 
— that  unless  you  are  possessed  of  ability,  energy,  perseverance,  and  a 
love  for  your  work, "all  the  knowledge  and  experience  in  the  world  will 
avail  you  little.  Some  men,  though  they  had  served  their  time  in  the 
hanging  gardens  of  Babylon,  and  been  in  all  the  best  places  in  the 
world  ever  since — and  to  hear  some  of  them  talk  you  would  think 
they  had — if  thrown  on  their  own  resources  to  make  a  living  would 
make  a  very  poor  one  indeed.  Before  leaving  this  part  of  my  subject, 
I  should  like  to  say  a  word  or  two  to  the  young  men. 
I  say,  first  of  all  have  an  aim.  Get  your  whole  heart  into  your 
work.  You  will  find  how  much  easier  and  pleasanter  your  duties  will 
become.  Read  everything  you  can  lay  hold  of  bearing  on  your 
business.  Think  for  yourselves.  Try  and  get  to  the  bottom  of  things. 
Begin  early  to  practise  your  brain  in  scheming  and  planning  the 
easiest,  the  quickest,  and  the  cheapest  way  to  do  a  given  piece  of  work. 
Have  a  method  in  everything  you  do,  for  method  is  the  hinge  of 
business.  Try  as  far  as  possible  to  have  certain  jobs  finished  at 
certain  times,  and  that  at  meal  times  and  stopping  times.  It  makes  a 
great  difference  in  the  amount  of  work  gone  through  in  a  week  if  a 
fresh  job,  or  fresh  part  of  a  job,  is  begun  each  starting  time  of  a  day. 
Never  look  in  a  careless,  indifferent  way  at  a  tradesman,  such  as  a 
joiner  or  mason,  doing  a  job,  but  “glower”  at  him  and  his  work. 
Take  note  of  how  it  is  done.  The  day  may  come  when  you  "will  wish 
you  had  paid  more  attention.  A  knowledge  of  other  trades  is  a  great 
service  to  a  head  'gardener,  and  doubly  so  to  a  market  gardener.  Not 
