Thrid Week

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. The plants occupying the beds in the conservatory to be arranged, cleaned, and pruned. If the health or habit of a plant, or other considerations, should render it desirable to prolong the season of blooming, the pruning may be postponed for



a week or two longer. Continue to pot Cinerarias, Calceolarias, Pelargoniums, and all other such plants when they fill their pots with roots. To be then kept close for some days until fresh root-action begins. Green fly to be kept down. Verbenas.--Put them in heat, to get cuttings; as also Heliotropes, and all other such plants, of which there is a scarcity, for bedding-out purposes. STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE. Increase the moisture and temperature gradually as the days lengthen. Start old and young plants of Clerodendrons, Dipladenias, and Stephanotis, in a sweet bottom heat. Rondeletias to be cut in, and started in the same manner. Shift all Orchids that are starting into growth. As a high temperature causes a premature and unhealthy growth it is advisable to keep up a healthy atmosphere of from 55 deg. to 65 deg., with an increase of a few degrees in sunshiny weather, when a little air, if only for a very short time, should be admitted; but be careful to avoid draughts at this early period of the year. All growing plants to be watered at the roots only, being careful not to allow any water to lodge in the axils of the leaves to cause decay. To preserve the roots of some Orchids in a healthy state it is necessary to grow them on blocks of wood; the blocks to be made proportionate to the specimens they are intended to bear; and the heel of the plant to be placed close to the end of the log, to give as much space as possible for the plant to grow upon. The following thrive well on blocks without moss:--Barkeria spectabilis, Leptotes bicolor, Phalaenopsis amabilis, and Sophronitis cernua, the Brassavolas, the Cattleyas, nearly all the dwarf Epidendrums, all the Laelias, and nearly all the dwarf Maxillarias and Oncidiums, and all the Schombergias. FORCING-HOUSES. Cucumbers.--Attend to the thinning and stopping, and impregnate the fruit blossom when open. Figs.--Care to be taken that cold currents and sudden changes of air are excluded from the trees. The roots to be well supplied with water, and the trees to be occasionally syringed overhead. Peaches.--When set, thin the fruit and shoots as required; to be done gradually, a little at one time, to prevent any sudden and injurious change in the system of the tree. A liberal supply of moisture to be kept up, with a temperature ranging from 55 deg. to 65 deg. and 70 deg. by sunheat. A drier atmosphere is advised for trees in bloom; the bloom to be thinned if the trees are weak; and if shy setters, to be artificially impregnated, using a camel-hair pencil for that purpose. Pines.--Be watchful about the bottom heat, and lose no time in raising the pots nearer to the surface if an approach to a burning temperature is apprehended. To be thoroughly watered when they require it, and to be syringed overhead in the morning and evening of every clear day unless the plants are in bloom, or ripening their fruit. Any crowns, suckers, or small plants not well established will do well in a pit or frame on a bed of leaves, or well sweetened dung, where they will make a rapid and vigorous growth during the summer. Vines.--Attend to last week's instructions as to stopping all laterals, &c., and thinning the bunches in good time; and tie up all the principal shoulders with soft strands of matting. Never allow the head or hand to touch the berries. Give them plenty of air-moisture during their swelling season; to be discontinued when they begin to colour. Shy-setting sorts--such as the Black Damascus, Cannon Hall Muscat, &c.--will set better by thinning the blossom-buds before expansion, by which a more regular and compact bunch will be produced. Late Vines should be pruned and dressed; and if not frosty the lights to be removed, which will retard their breaking, and benefit the trees.

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