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.
FOURTH WEEK.
GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.
As fresh air is indispensable for the health of plants, and as fogs occur about this time, it is essential to apply a little fire-heat during the day, to expel damps, and to cause a desirable activity in the circulation of the air. Attend to cleanliness, picking off dead leaves, and the destruction of insects.
Bulbs.—Pot Hyacinths, Narcissi, Tulips, &c., to flower late in the spring; also the Ixiæ and Gladioli, and various other Irideæ; and also Oxalis, Lachenalia, &c. They delight in light open soil composed of peat, loam, and sand, and rotten leaf mould as an addition to, or substitute for, the peat.
Cinerarias.—Give the final shift to the plants intended to flower as specimens in early spring.
Chrysanthemums to be treated with manure water occasionally. All suckers and spindly shoots to be removed, and the flowers to be thinned.
Pelargoniums.—A little fire-heat by day, with plenty of air, will be of service to drive off the damp and stagnant atmosphere caused by heavy rains. Watering, if necessary, to be given in the morning; the principal shoots to be tied into a regular form, and the weakly and useless ones removed; to be placed near the glass, to encourage a sturdy, short-jointed growth. Two ounces of the Gishurst compound, dissolved in one gallon of soft water, will speedily banish the green fly.