Thrid Week

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.



The decline of temperature and less watering must go on progressively,

more especially in dull weather, with free ventilation at all

favourable opportunities. If the weather be cold, use a little fire-heat

occasionally during the day, especially where there are many plants in

bloom, that ventilation may be given to expel damp and stagnant air.



Cinerarias.--Plants that have filled their small pots with roots to be

shifted, according to their size and strength, into larger pots. The

compost to be one part turfy loam, one part peat or leaf mould, and one

part rotten horsedung. They delight on a cool bottom, and will thrive

tolerably well in a cold pit, protected from frost during the winter.

They should be placed on a dry bottom of coal ashes, and kept as near to

the glass as possible.



Heaths.--They may, if there is no room for them in the greenhouse,

be kept in a cold pit, or frame, during the winter. Water to be given

carefully on the forenoon of a fine day. Frost to be excluded by mats,

or other covering; but they can be grown sufficiently hardy by free

exposure to bear a few degrees of frost without injury if they are

shaded from the sun's rays until gradually thawed.



Mignonette.--Sow, to come into bloom about the end of February. The soil

to be rich, light, and the pots to have a good supply of crocks at

the bottom, as the success of growing this favourite plant through the

winter will depend in a great measure upon the drainage and keeping the

plants dry and untouched by frosts. Those who have a hotbed frame will

find it useful to start the seeds by moderate heat. Others who have no

such convenience may place their pots in a cold frame in a sheltered

situation, and upon a floor of rough stones overlaid with ashes.



Pelargoniums.--The more dormant they can be kept during the winter the

better. Therefore, only a very moderate supply of water should be

given to keep them from flagging, and a liberal supply of air at all

favourable opportunities.



Verbenas.--To be placed on swing or other shelves as near to the glass

as possible. They require plenty of air, the extirpation of green fly,

and a moderate supply of water to preserve them in a healthy condition.





STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE.



Ferns.--Sow the seeds, or spores, when ripe. A convenient sized pot to

be filled with sandy peat, finishing with a few rough lumpy pieces to

form an uneven surface. The seeds to be shaken over the tops and sides

of these pieces of soil, by which there is more probability of some of

them vegetating than if they had been sown on a level surface where

the whole of the seed would be subjected to the same kind of treatment,

which might with ordinary care be either too wet or too dry. The pot

to be set in a saucer that contains a little water, which will feed the

whole mass with sufficient moisture without a drop being required on

the surface of the pot. The seedlings succeed best in a cool part of the

stove where evaporation can be most effectually prevented; but they do

not like to be continually kept close under a bell-glass.





FORCING-HOUSES.



Cucumbers.--Top dress the plants in pots or boxes with leaf mould,

supplying those that are rooting freely with an abundance of atmospheric

moisture, and free circulation of air, stopping at every second joint,

and setting the fruit as the blossom expands.



Strawberries.--It is usual, when the stock of plants in pots is large,

to lay them on their sides on the south side of a wall or fence, packed

in dry coal ashes, and topped with boards, or any other such covering,

to protect them from heavy falls of rain until they are wanted for

forcing.