Thrid Week

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. As the majority of greenhouse plants are out in the open air, or in pits, where they have either set, or are setting, their blooms, preparations should be made for their return, by scrubbing and washing all the shelves of the



greenhouse, and clearing out all crevices and corners, to banish all insects that may be secreting there. When by scrubbing, brushing, &c., you have brought everything to the ground, let no time be lost in clearing the insects, rubbish, &c., off the ground, and also out of the house. If painting and glazing are necessary, the sooner they are done the better, leaving the house entirely open for three weeks or a month, that the effluvium from white lead, which is prejudicial to plants, may pass off before the lights are put on again. STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE. Shift into pots a size larger any small plants, or indeed any plants that you are desirous to grow fast, or to make specimen plants, as soon as they have filled their pots with roots. Cuttings inserted in pots of light, sandy soil, well drained at the bottom, will readily strike when plunged in the tan-bed, where there is a little bottom heat, and covered with bell-glasses, that will allow of the edge being pressed into the soil inside the pot. Henceforward a certain degree of care and consideration will be necessary to have the summer growth of plants generally--and especially that of all those whose period of excitement is continued over a certain portion of the autumn--so arranged and circumstanced as to secure its perfect maturity, or, in gardening terms, to have it "well ripened." For that purpose it is necessary to avoid the application of moisture beyond what is necessary to prevent a decided check in the growth of the plants, to expose them to the influence of light, by not suffering them to crowd or overhang each other, and to prevent from what cause soever the too sudden declension of the average temperature to which they are exposed. The Orchidaceous Plants that are growing to have plenty of moisture and heat, it will be easily seen when their growth is completed, and then it is proper to let them go to rest by gradually lessening the supply of water, and removing them to a cooler part of the house. Any Orchids that you are desirous of increasing may be separated or potted into small pots, or fastened to blocks, or placed in baskets. Fill pots with pieces of turfy peat the size of Walnuts, and peg them altogether until they form a cone above the pot. On the summit place your plant, which is, in fact, a piece cut off another plant, and with four pegs or wires make it fast. Let the roots go where they please in the pot, or outside it. Orchids depend more for sustenance upon the atmosphere and moisture, than upon the soil. FORCING-HOUSES. Peaches.--It is advisable, when practicable, to get the lights off the early houses, presuming that the trees are fast advancing towards a state of rest. The practice is certainly not absolutely indispensable, but it is of much benefit to the trees. Whether the lights are off or on, attention may now be given to the repairs of glass or woodwork where necessary, and to finish with a coat of paint and whitewashing, if possible. Pines.--The plants swelling their fruit to be carefully looked over in hot weather that they may receive no check for want of water. Continue to pot or plant suckers as soon as they are taken off the parent plants, as they are apt to shrivel much at this season, if left out of the ground. Attend to the state of the linings to dung pits, as all Pine plants, in whatever situation, will require a lively bottom heat of 90 deg.. Vines.--The houses containing late Grapes to be shut up warm and rather early (about four o'clock), in order to dispense, if possible, with fires, giving air by seven o'clock in the morning, and increasing it abundantly towards noon, and to be then diminished at intervals, in accordance with the state of the weather.

Previous: Second Week
Next: Fourth Week

SHARE

ADD TO EBOOK